Chapter 11
"Quothos come in! This is Samus do you read me?" Samus called into her communicator as she ran towards her ship. She was nearing Brinstar. He should be able to hear her. Unless Ridley had gone back for him. He did say he had gotten rid of the last thing important to her. She shuddered and put her speed booster into overdrive. Her extra speed let her cut through the enemies and soon she was standing near her ship. It hovered there lifeless. She jumped to the roof and opened the hatch. No Quothos. Where could he be? Suddenly her map kicked in and a new beacon went off. A large power source was detected somewhere in Brinstar. Mother Brain no doubt. Did she have Quothos? A renewed fury filled her.
"First the chozo race, then the hatchling, and now you take Quothos from me? Your torment ends this day you demon creature." She said as she headed towards the elevator to Brinstar. But on her way there, she had to skid to a halt. There was Quothos walking towards her. He had two missile packs and an energy tank in his arms. He tapped his helmet and she nodded. His comm. system was down. They walked back to the ship.
"Sorry to worry you Samus." Quothos apologized. "I knew of a few extra supplies that might help you out so I decided to pick them up for you. I heard you calling me, but when I tried to reply, it was obvious you weren't receiving me." Samus shook her head.
"It's okay Quothos, no need to apologize. I was just a little concerned. You knew about the hatchling didn't you?" She asked. He nodded slowly.
"Samus, I couldn't tell you before. I'm sorry. The hatchling is alive, but there's nothing you can do to help it anymore." He said slowly.
"Why not? Is it under Mother Brain's control?" She asked. He shook his head.
"No it's resistant to her control. But it's surviving on pure instinct right now. It will attack you if you meet it." He said. He had played the game, but would the same thing happen in real life? Metroids knew only feeding, or did they?
"Are you okay Quothos?" Samus asked. She could read his worried look.
"Samus, I know you have to finish this, but I…" he choked on a sob. He looked up at her, brushing back a tear. Her soft look was like a laser beam to his heart. He stood and walked up to her.
"It's time to go Samus." He said. She nodded and stood up, but before she could attach her helmet, he leant up and kissed her. She was stunned momentarily, but took it as a compliment.
"Just come back alive." He finished. She flashed him a smile, then was gone. Quothos sat back down in the ship. His mind was tearing itself apart. He only had a weak suit. He'd be useless to her. He looked at his arm panel. Three full energy tanks and something else. It read '05'. What was it? He called out to Samus, but then remembered that his comm. system was still down. That '05' might make the difference in her battle. He had to give it to her. His mind made up, he set the auto-defenses, and jumped through the hatch.
* * *
"The gateway of guardians?" Samus thought, looking at the enormous statue of the area masters. She went up and touched the part that resembled Kraid. As she did, the green jewel that was it's eye suddenly flared. Samus jumped backwards, cannon at the ready. The gem shattered, and something flew up and out of the stone. The other three jewels flared up, before shattering and also releasing something white. Then there was this tremendous rumbling and Samus was forced to her knees. The statue in front of started to crumble, then sink. Sink? Where could it sink to? Her scanner mentioned nothing but solid stone beneath them. Yet the statue sank into the floor, and when it was gone, a small chamber could be made out. She squeezed through the rock floor and found herself in an elevator room. With determination marked on her face, she stepped on and awaited her descent.
* * *
Quothos had to leap aside from the space pirates shots.
"Hold still you waste of flesh!" Quothos growled, letting his own shots fly. The pirate raised it's spiked arms and deflected the small orbs of energy. Quothos rushed in to get a better shot. The pirate raised it's one mantis like arm and brought it down hard. Quothos caught it with his free hand and held it at bay. He switched his cannon off and quickly grabbed the second appendage.
"You… will not… get in… my WAY!" Quothos said, pushing back. The pirates eyes circled with confusion at the humans persistence. Quothos forced the arms back towards the pirates neck, and then pulled as hard as he could. The spiked forearms shredded the pirates neck like tissue paper. Blue ooze seeped from the creatures neck and spilled onto the floor. Using it's spikes to cut away the arms, Quothos fashioned himself to short swords from the arms. They could deflect the pirates shots as well, and would be great physical weapons. He charged into the statue room and noticed the statue already gone.
"Wait for me Samus. I'm coming." He said to himself.
* * *
"I hated myself for nearly eradicating the species, but I will not be some one's meal!" Samus thought to herself as she froze another metroid in it's place. It fell to the ground and shattered.
"Please forgive me." She thought to herself. Each metroid she killed reminded her more and more of the hatchling. Each one she killed could be the one she had spared and saved. Yet she had to stop mother brain at all cost. Another metroid moved in to attack and she froze it. It fell a few short feet but did not shatter. This one would live. Even if only one survived, she wouldn't feel so bad. She passed down another hallway and entered a room where a chozo stood ready to attack her. She let off a quick shot and it exploded into dust.
"What the hell?" She thought. She noticed other denizens of Zebes had been reduced to nothing but dust. What had done this? She entered the next room and saw another of the jumbo jumpers. She quickly ducked behind a pillar. It would jump over her and when it did, she would quickly dispatch of it. But as she waited, she heard an unholy cry. One that chilled her to the bone. What else was in that room with her? She loaded a super missile and waited. The jumped leapt over top of her, but before she could fire, a metroid five times bigger than she had ever seen attached itself to the jumper. In record time it had sucked all the energy from Samus' target. Then the creature turned to dust. So that was why. It had drained the enemy so badly that it had sucked out it's pure life essence. Then the metroid swung around and hovered above Samus. It hadn't been satisfied by that meal alone. It was going to consume her. She fired off her ice beam, but the oversized metroid shrugged it off. Even a missle didn't hold it at bay. It latched on and she could feel her suit being drained. So this was how she would die. A species she thought she had nearly wiped out was going to finish her off. She braced herself for her suit to overload, but suddenly everything around her stopped. The pain of energy loss, the sound of the metroid, even her alarm system seemed to be suspended. Then a soft cry came from the metroid above her. It hovered over head, just waiting. Was it full? Did a metroid ever get 'full'? Why didn't it finish her off. Then it appealed to her. She looked up.
"Hatchling?" She breathed. The metroid cried once more, then flew off down the corridor. Samus could only sit and rest for the moment.