Chapter 8

A trip to Maridia

AN: When you see ~text~ it means that mother brain is communicating with Quothos

"Release him Mother Brain or I'll make you regret your existence." Samus growled. Quothos laughed deeply.

"Foolish girl, you can not hope to retrieve him. His mind is under my influence now. He will obey only me." Quothos said. Though the voice came from Quothos, it was obvious that it was Mother Brain speaking.

"We'll see about that. Quothos, you have to break free. Please listen to me." She cried. Quothos raised his cannon and let off a single shot. She dodged it easily, but hesitated on returning fire.

"Poor Ms. Aran." Quothos chuckled. "You try to protect mankind and instead you doom them time and time again. You've already endangered the hatchling by making it my own and now I control this boy. How much more damage can you do this day?" A single tear escaped Samus' eyes. The hatchling. The poor defenseless creature. She would have to rescue it as well.

"Oh I assure you, you will be unable to rescue either the boy or the metroid." Quothos stated.

"Get out of my head you vile creature." Samus said. "Quothos I hope you can forgive me." She leapt at him and drove her fist into his stomach. On a normal being, it would have easily crushed their innards, but the armor absorbed most of the blow. It did manage to knock her possessed colleague unconscious though. She knelt down and lifted Quothos into her arms, before placing him over her shoulder.

"I'll save you. You have my word." She said before returning to her ship.

* * *

Upon returning to her ship, she proceeded to bind Quothos' arms and legs. She also deactivated the suit so that he would be unable to fire the cannon. She sat back in her command chair and sighed. It wasn't long until she heard the motion of Quothos stirring.

"Samus…" He gasped.

"Quothos are you alright?" She asked. He looked up at her.

"I can't fight her much longer. I'm so tired. You have to defeat her. But you can't do it yet. Head to Maridia and beat Draygon there. You'll get the Space Jump and you'll need that for your final meeting with Ridley." He said, his head falling to his chest.

"Quothos, you can beat her. Just focus." Samus pleaded.

"It's too late Samus, he's mine again." He sneered.

"I'll return to help you Quothos. Try to be strong." She said upon leaving the hatch.

~Good she's gone. Alright now boy, I want you to blow up this ship.~

"I won't do it. You can't control me."

~You have no choice but to obey me. If you refuse I will destroy you're mind.~

"You think I'll surrender that easily? I happen to know you're weakness you slimy excuse for a being."

~You talk big for someone with no will of their own. Observe, even now you're body obeys my bidding.~ True to her word, his arms fought the bonds and seemed to break them with relative ease. Her possession of him must have also given him some of her strength. He began walking towards the console.

"Oh you'd like to think that wouldn't you?" He said, his fingers beginning to push random buttons.

~What do you mean? Even know you're entering the destruct code. You're just fooling yourself into thinking you're in control.~

"Oh that's not the destruct code." Quothos grinned. He then reached under the console and grabbed a handful of wires. With a quick tug he ripped one apart and grabbed the end of it. An electric shock suddenly pulsed through Quothos body. His body screamed in agony, but even more so was Mother Brain's cries of anguish. The electrical discharge was affecting his brain, and since they were psychically linked, Mother Brain was also feeling the pain. She had no choice but to release her control on him. Quothos body fell backwards, his skin was softly sizzling. How had he survived that massive shock? He looked down at his arm console. He had 5 energy units remaining. Of course! He recalled the strategy he had used to beat Draygon. The suit would conduct the electricity through itself, and only the pain would be felt by the host. Of course once the suit ran out of energy, being electrocuted would have been the pleasant way of going. He was lucky that the brain had released him when she did. He quickly pushed a few more buttons and a small hatch opened. He attached his suit to the ships uplink and felt his energy recharge. He noticed that his cannon had been disabled. He'd have to contact Samus to have her re-activate it, but she failed to answer his communication. He'd just have to stay put and wait for her return.

* * *

"DAMN HIM!" Mother Brain roared. "How dare he!" Mother Brain continued to rant about her loss of control over Samus' ally. She would have to take more direct measure next time.

"You called for me Mother Brain?" Ridley asked, entering her lair.

"It's about time you got here." She growled. "I want you to return to the surface. This time I want you to capture him and bring him to me!"

"I suppose this means you're plan to capture his mind has failed?" Ridley asked.

"Unfortunately, he was a little more resourceful than I had predicted. I will take no more chances. Bring him to me at once. Samus foolishly left him defenseless so you had better not fail me!" She ordered. Ridley nodded and flew off towards the surface.

* * *

"Is that all you've got?" Samus cried as she dodged and let another Super Missile loose into the creatures soft stomach. Draygon floated by, swinging it's tail madly. Samus checked her missile reserves. She was running out and fast. The charged beam seemed to have no effect on the creature. It turned and came about for another attack. But this time it slowed down. Instead of attacking, it started spewing out globs of gray matter. Samus did her best to dodge, but a few of them made contact with her. She found that she suddenly lost almost all of her mobility. She somehow managed to dodge an energy shot from the wall turrets, but Draygon had used this time to come in on top of her. It snatched her up into it's claws.

"Let me go damn it!" She growled struggling to break free. She saw the large spiked tail swing around and catch her in the leg. The power suit protested, but held strong. It had never let her down before, but under this punishment it was weakening. She needed energy. She finally managed to get an arm free, and with two super missiles to it's under belly, Draygon roared and released her. She landed on the soft sand of the lair and rolled. Her energy was severely low. She thought of a way to get energy, and then she remembered Quothos.

"Just take 10 of each weapon and an extra power bomb." He had said. She checked her reserves. She had plenty of missiles and power bombs. But did she have the 10 super missiles to spare? She had no choice. She curled into her morphing ball and planted a power bomb. She quickly charged her systems with the weapons and soon the explosion enveloped her. Her suit seemed to come apart as her body was consumed in a white sphere. She could feel her strength returning quickly. Soon the light faded and she was standing in her suit once more, with full energy.

"Remind me to thank you yet again Quothos." She uttered, before resuming the fight. Draygon swung around, intending on ending the battle. However, Samus' renewed vitality gave her a new vigor. She leapt up and grabbed on of Draygon's claws. It roared with furry being unable to strike her. She quickly dispatched another wall turret and saw the crackling energy.

"Hey Draygon, you look like you need an energy boost. Let me supply it for you!" Samus cried as she shot her grappling beam into the nearby turret. The electricity surged through her body and up into Maridia's guardian. It howled with an unholy pain and soon Samus saw it's stomach explode outwards. She disengaged the grappling beam and fell softly to the sand. She saw six miniature versions of Draygon come from the surrounding area, but ignored her. They continued on to Draygon and carried her beneath the sand. She retrieved the Space Jump, as well as a few energy and missile tanks, not to mention the spring ball, then made her way out of Maridia.

"I'd better check on Quothos." She thought, returning to the surface.

AN: Well another chapter done. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. Chapter 9 is soon to follow