Lucky for you guys! You get two chapters this week. I don't own Samus, and please leave a review:D

Pipe Dream

The centipede reeled back in surprise as Samus shot at its eye. It blinked hard, trying to regain its sight, its mouthparts clacking angrily. Samus turned around, intending to run back the way they came, away from the monster, but the creature leapt up and burrowed into the ceiling. It was so long that it had not fully pulled through the tunnel by the time it reemerged from the ceiling in a different place on the other side of them. It now had them surrounded. To their backs was one section of the centipede, blocking the way like a giant spiny pillar. In front of them was the centipede's head, protruding from the ceiling, swinging back and forth, looking for the perfect moment to attack.

Samus sprung into action, firing volleys from her gun at the creature's single eye. Caern was standing, still shocked, staring at the creature in complete horror. He was swaying back and forth slightly.

"Don't just stand there, do something!" Samus yelled helplessly, still firing a barrage at the thing. It didn't seem that Caern even heard her. Frustratedly, Samus pulled out her second gun and fired with both at the creature.

The creature, now in a good deal of pain and mostly blinded, screeched in fury. It closed its eye and lashed out blindly at the pair of humans. It missed. Samus had jumped back, but Caern just stood there, completely unflinching. It was as if he wasn't even there anymore.

The centipede blinked a few times. It didn't seem to be hurt by the gun anymore, now that it had its eye closed. It also couldn't see Samus and Caern, so it was blinking rapidly, trying to catch sight of one of them. Samus' guns weren't working anymore, so she dropped the one and ejected her wrist blade.

Samus took a deep breath, and charged the creature. It saw her, but too late. Samus managed to plunge the blade into the creature's eye as soon as it opened it. It squealed in pain, and recoiled. At first, Samus feared that it would retaliate and that she would not make it (being so close to the thing) but it did not. Instead, it burrowed into the floor. It took a few seconds, but the rest of its body followed, leaving the corridor quiet and empty again.

Samus looked over at Caern, and was surprised to see him lying on the ground, unconscious. He had a bloody scrape on his forehead. Samus realized that he must have passed out at the sight of the creature.

Samus ran over to him, and gently lifted his head, to see how bad his injury was. It wasn't too bad. It seemed he had hit his head pretty hard when he fell. She looked for a way to dress his wound, and, upon finding nothing else, she tore a bit off of the end of his sleeve and wrapped it around his head. He would be fine for now. The problem was that they were now sitting ducks. They could not move any further until he woke up, and Samus did not have the heart to leave him behind (although she did realize that he was slowing her down.) All that could be done now was to find a safe hiding spot and wait.

Samus saw some large pipes in the wall, so she went over to check them out. They were open, and large enough for somebody to crawl through. Samus paused a moment, and then crawled through the pipe a bit to check for wild creatures. Finding none, she crawled back out backwards and walked over to Caern. Her clothes were now covered in dirt from the pipe's walls.

She lifted Caern and carried him to the pipes. Caern was heavy, but Samus had been training with the chozo, and thus was strong enough to pick Caern up. She set him down, his head nearest the pipe, and slowly and carefully shoved him in. After he was in far enough, Samus crawled into the pipe backwards so that she could see out of the opening of the pipe and fire at any intruders if necessary.

At first, Samus was impatient and annoyed. She hated waiting around, especially when a space pirate could come around and find her (or a native creature could devour her) at any moment. She remained poised for what seemed like hours, her blaster at the ready.

After a while, though, Samus relaxed, and began to realize that this was a blessing in disguise. She wasn't sure how long she had been here, and she hadn't had much sleep. This was her opportunity.

It took some time, but Samus finally managed to drift off. She slept fitfully, waking many times, but it was better than nothing. After what seemed to be an eternity, Samus started to hear Caern move. She started to crawl out so that she could turn around and pull him out.

Unfortunately, Samus did not get to Caern before he woke up. He yelled in surprise at his inability to move, and he began to flail about, shouting in terror.

"Hey, hey! Shut up and calm down! You're in a pipe! I'm going to pull you out now," Samus called to him. He stopped screaming and flailing, but he was now breathing heavily.

"Samus? Is that you?" He said worriedly after a moment.

"Yes. Now just sit still for a moment: I need to grab your feet and slide you out." Samus crawled back into the pipe. She felt blindly for Caern's feet, and, upon finding them, she gave them a good tug.

It was considerably harder getting Caern out of the pipe than it was getting him in, mainly because it was easier to push into a confined space than it was to pull out of it. She eventually got him out, and stood up, slightly frustrated that it was so hard to do.

Caern slowly stood up, rubbing his sore head. He had banged it on the pipe after he had awoken, making the injury on his forehead even worse.

"What exactly happened to me?" He asked Samus.

"You fainted and hit your head on the floor. Now come on, we need to move," Samus urged. Caern obeyed, following her deeper into the cave.

It wasn't long until they hit a dead end. The whole cavern was walled up, and there were pipes running through the wall.

"Darn. I guess we'll have to turn back…" Caern muttered dejectedly. Samus swore.

"I'm not turning around. We're going through the pipes," She decided.

"Through them? Are you sure? What if they are blocked off?" Caern looked nervously at the pipes.

"Then we inch our way back out of the pipe," Samus explained. Caern still looked nervous. "What? Don't tell me you're claustrophobic!"

"Well, no, not really, but…" Caern trailed off, biting his lip. Samus turned and faced the pipes.

"Do what you want, but I'm going through. You can follow me if you want to, or you can stay here. I don't really care," Samus announced coldly. She really did want Caern to follow her. As annoying as she found his cowardice, his company did make her feel calmer. She knew that Caern would not want to be left alone in these caves, and would have to follow her eventually.

She was right: As soon as she started to crawl through the pipe, she heard Caern shuffling in behind her. She surprised herself when she let out a sigh of relief. She could have done without him, couldn't she?

Samus was glad to find that the pipe did indeed go all the way through the wall. She stood up and waited for Caern to emerge. He pulled himself out of the pipe, and got up.

Samus checked out the room. Directly in front of them was a large stone, and ahead of that were some huge mushrooms. They walked around the stone and headed towards the mushrooms. Samus glanced back at the stone for a moment, and did a double-take. The stone was not a stone at all!