Chapter 4
The first mini-boss
"Listen Quothos. That suit I gave you won't take more than a few hits. And I'm sure you're aware of it since our battle with the chozo. So why don't you return to the ship? You can give me advice and directions from there, and you'll be out of danger." Samus said looking at him.
"Thanks for your concern Samus, and I know that shortly the heat from Norfair will prevent me from continuing, but what about you? I mean I'm a second pair of eyes, a second weapon and…"
"An extra target!" She said, cutting him off. "It's not worth the risk. You'll be of more help if I don't have to worry about you." Quothos stopped and sat down on a ledge.
"Okay I'll go back to the ship. But only after you've finished Kraid. He's nearby and once we finish him I'll show you a shortcut back to your ship." He said. She started to protest, but he gave her a look that said he wasn't taking no for an answer. She sighed and continued on. After collecting the Spazer beam and getting the high jump boots, they were ready for Kraid. They entered his chamber and fought off some more flying mantises. They approached a weird looking door.
"Oh you'll get used to this. When the eye opens, hit it with a few missiles, and it'll disappear." Quothos said. She did as he suggested and sure enough after 3 missiles, the door turned to a normal one. Quothos hung back a bit as he saw a corpse leaning against a pipe. He had seen it in the game, but nothing compared to real life. The center of the suit had been torn open and his insides gutted. Quothos had to look away for fear of vomiting. They entered a room with a low ceiling and the ground covered in spikes.
"Now what?" She asked him. Though nothing happened. The cavern seemed to go on forever, and the spikes were razor sharp and poisonous.
"I don't get it. He should appear when we enter the room!" He said. "KRAID! Get your lazy ass up here so we can send you back to the gene pool!" Quothos bellowed. A loud roar could be heard underneath.
"Oh great. I think you've pissed him off." Said Samus, though she had a slight grin on her face. A low rumbling started in the distance then grew louder as Kraid started to rise out of the ground. "He's a lot bigger than I remember." She said. Quothos fired a shot at his eye. It struck and the creature roared in fury. Samus fired a super missile into his waiting mouth.
"I see you know how to beat these creatures." Quothos said.
"The only soft spot is on the inside, so that's where it's gotta hurt." She nodded. Kraid rose completely out of the ground, standing a good 200 feet in the air.
"Oh wow, this is great." Quothos said, jumping on a claw that Kraid fired at him. He then jumped to another claw and up to a ledge. He fired a shot at Kraid, but a huge claw blocked it. He turned to see where Samus was, only to see her right behind him.
"Quothos move!" She cried, but it was too late. A claw caught Quothos mid-section and pinned him to a wall. He cried out in pain as one of the sharp claws had slightly pierced his flesh, through the suit.
"Are you okay?" she called. No response. She turned on Kraid and fired on him. The beast roared again, which she launched another super missile at. Kraid stumbled backwards, but pressed on, trying to reach its pinned meal. But Samus would have nothing of it. For some reason she kind of liked Quothos. He was knowledgeable, a fighter, and sort of reminded her of herself. Another two rounds of super missiles down the gullet were all Kraid could handle and he sank into the ground to perish.
"Quothos!" Samus cried, rushing to him. The claw had started to disintegrate and Quothos started to fall, but she managed to catch him and lay him on the ground. A sharp grimace on his face proved he was still alive, though in much pain.
"God damn that hurts." He said through gritted teeth. His hand went to his wound. He brought it back up and saw blood. "How bad is it?" he asked. She looked down.
"Thankfully it's not fatal. But I'd better get you back to the ship before it becomes infected. Oh I'm so sorry Quothos. I should have made you go back sooner." She said.
"Ugh, don't worry about it Samus. It's my own fault. But before we go back, go into the next room. You'll find a suit upgrade there." He said. She hesitated then went to get the suit. She then hurried back.
"Now about this short cut." She said. Quothos grinned. They made their way up to the ship and went inside. She removed his suit and his shirt, then placed a bandage around the wound.
"Samus how many of each weapon do you have right now?" Quothos asked. She looked at him oddly, then checked.
"25 Missiles, 15 Super Missiles and 5 Power bombs. Why?" She replied.
"Not enough. Though it doesn't matter. I probably wouldn't be able to use it anyway." He said. She looked at him funny, and he decided to explain.
"If you have 10 of each, and an extra power bomb, you can use a special healing technique. You'll be fully healed, but at the cost of your weapons. Though since you can recharge them both here and in hidden places in Metroid it hardly matters." She nodded.
"Thanks, that information will come in handy. How do you activate it though?" She asked. Quothos gave her a brief but precise instruction of the healing technique and then leaned back against the hull. His injury was making him very weary.
"You'd better rest. Knowing Kraid there's probably some venom on his claws. But it won't be fatal, at least not that dosage. Had you been fully skewered or even deeper penetrated, I'd be worried. You take it easy now." She said. Quothos nodded, but he fought the oncoming darkness.
"Before you… go Samus. You'll need the speed booster… to run fast enough to get to Krocomire. Head all the way east when you enter Norfair. You shouldn't have trouble finding it." He said. She nodded, and it wasn't sixty seconds later when Quothos could no longer fight the venom and he drifted off to sleep.