Chapter 10
(AN: I would like to note that the speed boost tactic does NOT work in the game)
"I am surrounded by incompetent fools." Mother Brain grumbled. She had watched Ridley fail again, and her temper had all but completely been breached. She knew that Ridley would lose against a direct fight with Samus, but she had to give the creature credit for it's stubbornness. With a damaged wing, his left eye now blind and his jaw nearly hanging off, he still wished to have a final one-on-one confrontation with Samus. All her realm guardians had been defeated, except for Ridley, But in his injured state, he wouldn't stand a chance. It didn't matter anyway. She knew that Samus would have no possible chance of beating her this time around. She would simply wait for the inevitable battle. It would be one she would savor.
* * *
A jet of flames burst up in front of Samus. She instinctively went to wipe her brow of the sweat that would have been there. But her suits enclosed environment kept her cool. Her new gravity suit was definitely worth the trouble. She leapt over another pool of acid and made her way through another door. On the far side of the room, she saw a chozo statue offering up his hands in acceptance, but as she made her way to claim it, the floor beneath her gave way. A quick space jump kept her from falling into a large acid pool. She leapt into it's open hands and curled into her ball form. The acid started to drain from the room, leaving a large cavern below. She made her way down and was about to leave the room when another chozo statue nearly fell on top of her. She looked at the statue as the stone started to crack.
"Please no… Not another one." She thought, her voice catching in her throat. The chozo stood up, it's yellow eyes scanning her for a moment. Then the battle began.
"Quothos had warned me there would be a second one. I just wish I didn't have to fight it." She thought, firing a volley of missiles. But this one was smarter then it's predecessor and dodged them all. It showed immunity to power bomb blasts as well. She charged up her beam and let it fly, but it retaliated with a volley of fire bombs. How could she beat this creature? It knew all of her tactics and was either immune or able to counter with severity. What other weapons did she have? She ran up to strike it's core physically, but it's long arm and sharp talons kept her at bay. She ran to the far side of the room and felt the soft blur of her speed boost kick in. She thought of something then. The little alien creature had taught her how to charge her energy and do a power thrust jump. Nothing could stand in it's way except the hardest of ground surfaces. She started to run around the room, building up her speed. The chozo's attacks couldn't hit her as she zoomed around the room. Then, when she felt she had enough speed, she knelt and charged the energy into her suit. A resounding yellow glow surrounded her and she looked at the chozo. She did a small leap, then let all the stored energy explode as she flew with tremendous speed at the chozo. She passed through it's core as though the chozo had been tissue paper. She slammed into the wall, stunning herself. She managed to turn just as the chozo exploded, sending fragments everywhere. In it's wake, she collected the screw attack upgrade and continued to Ridley's chamber.
* * *
Ridley sat quietly in his chamber. His meager self-regeneration skills had given him partial blurred vision in his left eye again, but his jaw would remain broken. As for his wing, his other would compensate enough to get him off the ground, but he would have less maneuverability. He heard his pirate ninja's engage in battle and knew Samus was close. He saw the door to his chamber open and her purple suit leap down to the platform.
"I see you have come to end this Samus." Ridley snarled.
"You can't seriously wish to fight me Ridley. Unless of course it's death that you want?" Samus goaded.
"We shall see who has the last laugh Samus." He growled leaping up and extending his wings. He dove down on her, but she morphed into a ball and dodged to the side. He swung upwards, but his wing slowed him down and by the time he had turned around, an ice beam caught him in his damaged wing. It froze solid and he was forced to land.
"I hate to bully the weak." Samus grinned. Ridley growled and charged at her. She let a missile fly, but he jumped over it and struck her with his spiked tail. She was sent flying hard into the solid stone wall. Her breath was forced from her momentarily and Ridley used that time to lunge at her. He stood over her ready to drive the spiky end of his tail down through her chest. But before he could strike, Samus rolled to the side and launched a super missile at his frozen wing. It exploded into shards of ice and Ridley howled in pain.
"Damn you, hunter." Ridley roared, slashing with both his clawed hands to rip Samus into shreds. Samus leapt backwards but felt her suit take a hit. A few inches and he would have easily punctured her armor resulting in certain death. The heat and acid would have quickly killed her if the lack of oxygen didn't do it first. Another missile forced Ridley backwards, but he quickly took the offensive again. He dove down on top of her, but she was already rolling away. They both stood up and looked at their respective rivals. Both were breathing heavy, the battle taking it's toll on them.
"You're finished Ridley." Samus called.
"Don't be so hasty to judge Ms. Aran. I may be losing the battle, but you've already lost the war." He smirked.
"What do you mean Ridley?" Samus asked coldly. Instead of answering, he lunged at her once more. Samus let a volley of missiles fly, each one hitting it's target in a vital area. Ridley fell to the ground, and struggled to get up.
"I took the metroid from you. You came to rescue it. Too bad you won't be able to. You've failed Samus." Ridley chuckled, green blood trailing from his mouth.
"Shut up. Don't you dare taunt me demon." She cried.
"The metroid larva is no more. I've gotten rid of the last thing important to you. I have w….." Ridley could no longer finish. A large smoldering blob remained of his head. Samus loaded another super missile and destroyed the remainder of his body. She blew open the door behind him and ran inside. In the middle of the room lay a broken glass container. There was no trace of the hatchling.