Chapter VIII: The Bounty Hunt on Sora
An hour has passed ever since Sora and company left Kongo Bongo. Luigi and Sora have stopped fighting with each other and went about their business. Luigi was playing with a Gameboy Advance rapidly pressing buttons.
"Come on!" Luigi shouted. "Jump over the pipe! Jump over the cliff!" The sound when you lose a life in the original Super Mario Brothers was heard on the Gameboy. "Mama-mia! Another life down the drain!"
Sora had been sitting in his seat thinking of everything that has happened so far. "I feel like those heartless are trying to accomplish something, but what? So far it seems like certain people can control them but how is that possible. And what about Dixie? Where did she disappear to?" Sora then made a sad look. "And will I ever see Riku and Kairi again? This is hopeless!"
Sora sniffled a little bit and looked out the window.
"Sora?" Yoshi asked softly.
Sora turned to see Yoshi looking up at him.
"Hi Yoshi." Sora said sadly.
"Is Sora okay?" Yoshi asked again.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Sora lied with a little smile.
"Now Sora, it okay to tell Yoshi the truth." Yoshi said with his hands on his hips a little upset.
"I guess nothing gets by you, huh?" Sora chuckled. "I'm just trying to figure out what these heartless are trying to accomplish and I'm still worried about Riku and Kairi. What happened to them? Are they all right?" Sora put his head down. "Will I ever see them again?"
Yoshi jumped onto Sora's lap and nudged Sora's cheek with his nose. "Don't be sad Sora. Yoshi, right here to help find friends. But remember what Luigi told Sora; no frowning and no sad faces, okay?"
Sora looked at Yoshi and nodded. "Thanks, Yoshi. I'll try to be happy. You make me feel so much better."
"Yoshi! That's what Yoshi do best!" Yoshi smiled proudly.
"Hey, I don't mean to interrupt this touching moment, but we'll be at another world any second." Luigi announced. "It should be coming into view on your left!"
The trio turned to the windows on their left and looked out to see a dark world with lava on it and a giant building.
"Okay, that's just creepy." Sora said raising his eyebrow with a little fear.
"What is that world?" Luigi asked.
"It's called Zebes." Toadsworth explained walking in. "We have discovered that strange life forms live in that world. A space lab that is run by Space Pirates steal rare species and use them in their own experiment."
"How does Toadsworth know?" Yoshi asked.
"Been researching this world with our on board scientists." Toadsworth responded.
"You have scientist on board?" Sora asked confused.
"Hey, when this ship belongs to a princess anything is possible!" Toadsworth laughed.
"Boy, if I had a private plane I would have arcade games and free soda." Sora thought gleefully.
"Kid!" Luigi interrupted. "This isn't the time to daydream, we have work to do!"
"Sorry."
"Sora, Luigi, and Yoshi really going down into scary world?" Yoshi asked nervously.
"We have to!" Sora said. "We have to find Luigi's brother and my friends!"
"But I don't think that world is exactly poison gas free." Luigi gulped.
"Correct, Mater Luigi." Toadsworth nodded. "But don't threat because our scientists have created uniforms to not only help you breath but to get used to the gravity."
"Cool!" Sora said.
"No way!" Luigi said upset. "There is no way I'm getting out of my favorite clothes!"
"But-"
"Not buts!" Luigi interrupted "There's no way!" Sora and Yoshi turned to each other and nodded. "W-what are you doing?"
"Grab him!"
Sora and Yoshi grabbed Luigi and pulled him into another room. A few minutes later the trio came out wearing an orange/yellow suits that fit perfectly on each of them. The also held red helmets with a green seeing glass.
"I can't believe I have to wear this stupid outfit." Luigi grumbled.
Sora just stretched for a bit. "It's amazing! It has a lot of flexibility. How did you guys make these?"
"During an exhibition around the worlds last year we met the Choso tribe who gave us three of these suits as a piece offering." Toadsworth explained. "It's power is infused with their blood, giving extraordinary capabilities You will learn the possibilities of these suits while exploring your new world. Also, I added built in microphones so you can communicate with each other."
"Thanks!" Sora nodded. "Let's get going guys!" Sora put on his helmet and walked up to the door.
"I have a bad feeling we're going to run into trouble." Luigi sighed.
"Luigi always say that." Yoshi said giggling.
"Because I always end up getting beaten, burned, and..."
Before Luigi could finish Sora opened the door knocking it into Luigi who then fell over. "Oops, sorry Luigi!"
Luigi was on the floor dazed. "No..problem...kid."
After a few minutes of getting Luigi back up the group ventured out into the world.
World Name: Planet Zebes
Sora, Luigi and Yoshi arrived outside of the Toad Express to see the planet looked deserted. The ground had holes with lava in them.
"Ya think anyone would live here on a planet like this?" Sora said looking around.
"Maybe there's someone in that building over there!" Luigi said pointing to a building. The building wasn't too big and it was worn out and old. As they began to move, blue and yellow space pirates appeared before them. "Oh, no! Not these guys again!"
Sora stabbed one of them and threw it at another one. One tried to grab him but then the unexpected happened; Sora turned into a tiny golden ball and rolled around the space pirates.
"What happened to Sora?" Yoshi asked Luigi in shock.
"He turned into some sort of ball." Luigi gasped.
The ball jumped into the air and it produced a small ball with a flashing circle in the middle which landed on the ground near the space pirates causing an explosion. Luigi and Yoshi shield their eyes from the explosion. As the smoke cleared, Sora returned to normal.
"How did I do that?" Sora asked himself stunned.
"Remember what Toadsworth said." Luigi said. "These suits we're wearing have special powers, and I think you've just discovered one of them."
"What else do you think this suit can do?" Sora asked Luigi.
"Beats me." Luigi shrugged.
"When you master their power, you become one of them and feel their blood moving through your body." Called a female voice.
"Who's there?" Sora asked bravely.
A person wearing the exact same suit appeared out of nowhere. The persons figure was female and she had a gun on her right arm.
"Is that you Toadsworth?" Luigi asked the person.
"Um, Luigi, are you blind?" Sora groaned. "Toadsworth is shorter then us and I think she was about to tell us something."
"What?" Luigi cried out. "Please forgive me ma'am! I didn't know er.. I mean I just was just...
"It's okay." The woman chuckled. "People always mistake me like that."
"That not nice for people to say that." Yoshi said a little upset.
"I know, but people always say that the great Samus Aran, the savior of this world, two faced, take no prisoner was female."
"You're a bounty hunter Samus?" Sora asked baffled.
"What's a bounty hunter, Sora?" Yoshi asked Sora.
"Well, a bounty hunter is someone that hunts something else to receive cash and cool prizes." Sora explained to Yoshi.
"Are you three space bounty hunters?" Samus asked them suspiciously. "You don't look very professional."
"Actually, we're..."
"Of course we are!" Luigi lied. "Why else would we come here?"
"I don't know, but still you three are in my way." Samus said. "I'm here to stop an evil space pirate dragon named Ridly that kidnaped a baby Metriod.
"A Met...what?"
"Metriod is a jelly fish like creature that sucks the life out of life forms." Samus explained.
"Y-you mean like that?" Luigi pointed nervously.
A small jellyfish like creature with a heartless symbol on it flew at our heros.
"Look out!"
The four jumped out of the way of the Metriod. Sora tried to attack it, but it floated under Sora's legs and sneaks attacks from above.
"Kid, heads up!" Luigi called out to Sora.
Sora turned to see the Metriod hit him in the face. It began sucking on Sora and began growing.
"Sora!" Yoshi and Luigi cried.
"An ice beam should stop it dead in it's track!" Samus said putting a blue sphere into her gun. She fired the gun knocking the Metriod off and turning it into ice. Luigi and Yoshi ran to over to Sora.
"Kid!" Luigi said. "Are you alright?"
"I feel like it really suck the life out of me." Sora said weakly.
"That's because it did." Samus said. "Luckily, it didn't take a lot from you but you would have been killed if it did."
Luigi used his cure spell to revive Sora to full power.
"What we do know?" Yoshi asked.
"Well, I guess I have to team up with my fellow bounty hunters for right now." Samus sighed. "I shall be your guide through Zebes until we find that Metriod."
"Okay, my name is Sora, and these are my bounty hunter pals Luigi and Yoshi." Sora told Samus pointing to his friends. They waved hi to Samus.
"Then let's get going!" Samus announced.
Samus walked away but Sora's group stayed behind for a minute.
"Why did you lie to Samus like that?" Sora asked Luigi. "We're not bounty hunters."
"Kid, she is a bounty hunter! She could have blasted our brains out!" Luigi shouted.
"All Luigi could have said was that Yoshi not space pirate." Yoshi said
"I know but if we didn't say anything she might have gotten suspicious." Luigi gulped. "And she had some major artillery! She could have kicked our butts!"
"That's not the reason, is it Luigi?" Sora snickered. "You just wanted to impress her."
"I already have a girlfriend, kid!" Luigi yelled at Sora. "I was not trying to impress her!"
"Sure you weren't." Sora said sarcastically. "Come on, guys!"
"He doesn't believe me about having a girlfriend." Luigi groaned.
"I'm only teasing Luigi." Sora chuckled. "But seriously, I don't think Samus would hurt us. After all we are wearing the same thing she is."
"I guess you're right." Luigi sighed with relief.
"Hey! Are you three going to chat all day or are we actually going to go in?" Samus called to the boys.
The three ran and caught up with Samus. As they headed for the lab, a camera was hiding on a boulder. The camera was hooked up to a giant monitor in a science lab area. There were giant tubes in the room where one of them had a baby Metriod floating around in it. At the chair where the giant screen was, a purple claw was resting on the arm of the chair.
"Everything is going according to plan." The creature said with a sinister voice. "Not only will I get Samus Aran for my plans and use the baby Metriod to give re-birth to Mother Brain, but I'll also kill that keyblade master and his pathetic friends."
Back outside of Zebes, the group encountered more Space Pirate Heartless. Sora slashed at a few with his new keyblade. It was able to reach the heartless more easily but when they fired magic spells, it was harder to deflect the attacks.
"Boy, why is there a catch for everything? Including this improved keyblade?" Sora sighed sadly.
"Well, there's a catch for everything kid." Luigi responded.
The heartless tried to attack Samus but she did a cannonball over it and fired a plasma beam at it. She next fired homing missile at three and they all explode. Two ran at her but she turned into her morph ball form and dodged the attack. Another one then grabbed the ball, but Sora kicked the heartless out of the way and Samus returned to normal.
"Thanks. Sora." Samus said. "You've got some impressive strength there."
"Ha! Watch this!" Sora laughed. Sora snapped on his Sonic Blade badge and rushed through the heartless destroying them.
"Hooray, Sora!" Yoshi cheered.
The group continued running through the outside of the planet destroying the heartless until they reached the lab.
"We're here." Samus announced
"Release the pigeons!" Luigi said jokingly.
"Um, are you sure it's in this place?" Sora asked Samus with confusion. "It looks like this place hasn't been up to date in awhile."
"Yes, but there is a secret lab below here and our only chance to get in there is to go through here." Samus explained.
Sora grabbed the handles of the door and tried to open it but it wouldn't budge. "We can't get in! This door is as old and rusty as Luigi's jokes!"
"I heard that!"
"Stand back!" Samus cried out to her friends.
Sora and his group stood behind Samus as she charged her plasma gun at the door. She fired a beam out of it causing the door to explode in a flash of light.
"Wow! That was cool!" Sora said in amazement. "Can that thing make an ice cream sundae?"
"Never tried." Samus said. "But let's not try now because we have to save that Metriod!"
"Right!" Sora nodded. "So, let's go in!"
The four heros entered the building. Inside, the lab was very worn out. There were broken wires and broken test tubes. Sora noticed giant computer screens that were still running and he walked over to it. The Nintendo characters looked around the room.
"Boy, my Nona would have a heart attack if she had to clean up this mess." Luigi chuckled.
"What happened to place?" Yoshi asked.
"Every decade the great time of lava happens causing lava to appear all over the planet." Samus said. "Ten years ago the lava destroyed this entire lab, and no one survived. Today is the tenth year and I fear the lava may come. "
"Leapen, linguini!" Luigi cried. "It's time I made like a drummer and beat it!"
Luigi tried to run but he ran into a wall and fell down and a piece of ruble landed on top of him.
"The exit's that way." Samus said pointing to her right.
"Thanks for the warning, kid." Luigi muffled sarcastically on the floor.
Sora typed on the computer for a bit. "This computer seems to be running perfectly. But how? If Samus said was true, then this lab shouldn't be running except for underneath."
Yoshi helped Luigi up. "Is Luigi okay?"
"I've been in worse situations kid, so don't worry." Luigi groaned.
"Hey, guys check this out!" Sora called to his friends. The others turn to Sora. "This computer monitor is still running."
"Impossible!" Yoshi said.
"He's right!" Samus exclaimed. "Active scanner!" A red square appeared on Samus's helmet and she goes "hmm". She then turns to the others. "This computer was running twenty-five minutes ago."
"Which means someone has been here recently." Luigi said suspiciously.
"I bet it was that Ridly guy!" Sora added. "But where did he get to?"
Just then, a group of heartless jumped down from a platform. Yoshi turned around and saw them. He panicked and tapped Luigi on the shoulder who was still looking at the monitor.
"Luigi." Yoshi whimpered.
"Hold on kid." Luigi snapped. "Can't you see we are trying to figure things out?"
"But...'
"Not buts, no gluteus maximus." Luigi said.
"Dear Diary, another corny joke." Sora sighed.
The heartless closed in on our heros and Yoshi hugged Sora's leg and whimpered. "Sora!"
"What's the matter pal?" Sora asked Yoshi sweetly while turning to him and patting his head.
"Heartless!" Yoshi cried.
Sora turned to see them and gasps "Oh, no! Luigi, Samus we've got company!"
Luigi and Samus turned to see the heartless.
"Why didn't you say anything before kid?" Luigi panicked to Sora.
"Yoshi try, but Luigi no listen!" Yoshi said angrily at Luigi.
"Well I would apologies, but first lets kick some butt!" Luigi cried.
Sora jumped into the air and kicked down a space pirate heartless. A heartless Metriod tried to attack Luigi but he sucked it up with the P 3000. Samus used her photon lasers to destroy the heartless surrounding her. Yoshi shot eggs at some of the heartless knocking them down. Samus transformed into her morph ball form and rolled down the hall.
"Quick, transform into morph ball and follow me!" Samus called to her friends as she rolled down the hall.
"But how?" Sora asked.
"How did you do it before?" Luigi asked Sora.
"Well. I thought about ducking down and when I did..." Sora ducked down and turned into the ball. "Hey! I did it! Try it guys! It's so cool!"
Luigi and Yoshi ducked and they both became morph balls.
"Ooh, Yoshi bouncy ball." Yoshi giggled moving around.
"Not so fast, Yoshi!" Luigi said. "You'll ruin something. I feel like I don't have a spine or muscles. Wee! I can't feel pain anymore!" He then rolled into a wall. "Ouch! Guess, I spoke too soon!"
"Quickly, follow me to that hole in the wall!" Samus instructed.
The four rolled down the hall being chased by the heartless. Samus left a bomb behind and the four quickly rolled into the hole as the bomb exploded destroying the heartless. The four morph balls crashed into each other in the wall.
"Ouch! Watch it! Careful!"
"We're getting nowhere fast here!" Sora shouted. "Everyone stop moving!" The morph balls stopped moving. "Okay, now there's a path way to our left, let me move first and then you three follow."
Sora rolled down the hole on the left and everyone else followed. They continued rolling until they saw an opening. After they entered it, they arrived in a small room with a door in the shape of a hexagon. The group then transformed back into their normal forms.
"That fun!" Yoshi cheered.
"But this isn't the time for playing games." Samus said. "According to my built in map, we have reached Ridly's under ground base. Just through this door!"
"Okay, but how do we get through?" Sora wondered looking curiously at the door.
"It's just like the ones at the Super Market, Sora." Luigi said with confidants. "Walk up to the door and..." He walked into the door slamming his face and fell down. "Why am I receiving so many blows today?
"Looks like it's not your lucky day, huh?" Sora chuckled.
"Okay, these doors can only open by a plasma beams, which means only I can open them." Samus said. "Stand back!"
Samus fired a beam at the door and it opened.
"Cool! Let's go in!"
"That thing really is handy." Luigi chuckled.
The four entered a giant lab room where there was giant podium stand. A small robot entered the room making the sound of a trumpet. Above the podium was a purple dragon who had a long nose and giant wings.
"Ridley!" Samus cried to her enemy. Samus ran up to the podium and stopped. "Give me back that Metriod!"
"Sorry, Ms. Aran but I can't simply give you the Metriod without a fair trail." Ridly snickered.
"What are you talking about?" Samus asked suspiciously. Just then a cage landed on top of her. "What is the meaning of this?" Samus tried to use her gun but it deactivated. "Huh?
Sora ran up to Ridly angrily. "What have you done to her?"
"What I've done boy is set up a game for you and your friends." Ridly snickered. "If you ever want to see your friend again you'll do as I say. And I disabled Samus's weapons so she can't escape."
"We accept your challenge!" Sora said with confidence. "We'll do what we can to free Samus!"
"Kid we can't." Luigi said sadly.
"We outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?" Yoshi asked.
"Meddling!" Luigi said correcting Yoshi.
"But she helped us!" Sora responded angrily. "It's not nice to let a friend be captured and leave her here. You guys can go but I'm going to help her!"
Luigi just sighed and joined Sora. "Okay, kid. We'll help."
"Yoshi help too!" Yoshi said joining his friends.
"Okay, here is how the game works." Ridly explained. "You three are going to be committed of a crime and there are 4 pieces evidence in the pirate lab and they look like presents. Three are very simple but the fourth you may need to keep your eyes peeled. Bring it back to me and your fate will be decided."
"Could we trust him?" Luigi asked Sora.
"Trust or not to trust." Ridley smirked. "That's for you to decide."
Sora then walked over to Samus.
"Sora, I'm sorry." Samus said sadly. "I didn't want to get you involved in all this, but now...
"Don't say that." Sora interrupted softly "It's the least we can do and if it wasn't for you, I would've become a lifeless zombie."
"I still don't understand why Ridly would want to capture you." Luigi wondered.
"Let's try to not figure it out now." Sora said. "We have to rescue Samus!"
The three heros headed into the next room and arrived in a giant laboratory room. As soon as they arrived they encounter space pirate heartless. Sora slashed through them, Luigi sucked them up and Yoshi ate them. After quickly disposing of the heartless the group continued on. They also found Pikmin in the ground and Sora stored them in the cube. As they continued on Sora noticed a little present on the ground.
"Ooh, a present for Yoshi." Yoshi said excitedly.
"Hold on, kid!" Luigi interrupted. "We found one of the clues!"
"But Yoshi want present now!" Yoshi whined.
"Tell you what. Yoshi." Sora chuckled. "When we get back to Isle Delfino I'll buy you an ice cream!"
"Hooray!" Yoshi cheered.
After collecting their first clue, more heartless appeared around the trio but they defeated the heartless pretty easily. Sora then noticed a hi-potion on the ground and picked it up.
"Look, I see another present!" Luigi cried looking up.
The group looked up to see a present on a metal platform. Sora noticed a ladder and climbed up it. As he reached the top, he encountered more space pirate heartless. One attacked him but he ducked under it and it fell off the bridge.
"Ooh, that leave big boo-boo." Yoshi said shutting his eyes.
Sora slashed at another one and kicked another one off the bridge. One fired an ice attack at Sora and Sora countered with his fire spell causing an explosion knocking Sora off the building. Luigi and Yoshi ran around trying to catch him.
"I gotch ya kid!" Luigi shouted out to Sora.
"Yoshi got Sora!"
The two ran into each other and Sora landed on top of them. Sora sat up and rubbed his head.
"Thanks for the catch guys." Sora sighed with relief.
"No problem." Yoshi groaned.
"Now could you get off?"
Sora stood up and held up the second present. "We only need two more. This shouldn't be so hard."
"But Ridley said that the forth one would be hard to fine." Luigi commented. "We would need to look extra hard."
"Look!" Yoshi called.
The two turned to notice a note floating down from the sky. Sora grabbed it.
"Is it a scroll?" Luigi asked.
"No, it says 'add the Hi-potion to the green formula to get your answer." Sora replied reading the letter. "This might help us find one of the clues but who would give us this?"
A mysterious person who made a quick flash of his white hair dashed out of the room. Sora walked over to the beaker and poured the Hi-potion in and it turned red.
"Now what?" Luigi asked again.
"Now it says drink it." Sora said.
"Wait, it could be a trap!" Luigi said stopping Sora from drinking it. "What if it's poisoned?"
"It's a risk I'm willing to take to save Samus!" Sora said bravely. Sora took off his helmet really quickly and drank the potion and he began growing, "Whoa!"
Luigi and Yoshi ran out of the way and both looked up dropping their mouths. Sora was a giant and could barley fit in the room.
"Kid, have you put on some weight or are you just happy to see me?" Luigi chuckled jokingly.
"Watch it or I'll step on you!" Sora threatened. With that said Luigi shut right up. "How is this suppose to help me find the forth clue?"
Sora then bumped his head into a button on the sealing and a trapped door opened below the middle of the room.
"It trap door!" Yoshi exclaimed.
"It may lead us to the special clue!" Luigi said excitedly. "Let's go!"
"I would love to go, we could have a ball." Sora groaned sarcastically. "Oh, but wait there's a problem, I'M 40 FEET TALL!"
"Oh, right, sorry." Luigi laughed nervously. "How do we get you back to normal?"
"Beats me." Sora shrugged. "But, I'm not going to spend the rest my life as big as Godzilla!"
"Right you are." Luigi said. "It could get ugly!"
"Drink the pink potion to shrink." A voice whispered in Sora's head.
"Who said that?" Sora asked himself looking around.
"Who said what?"
"I just...never mind." Sora sighed. He took the pink potion, took his helmet off for a quick second and drank it. After a few seconds Sora returned to normal. "It worked!"
"How did Sora know what to do?" Yoshi asked curiously.
"I heard a voice and it told me to drink that potion." Sora responded.
"Yeah, right!" Luigi laughed. "And I'm the King of Italy!"
"But it's true Luigi!" Sora protested. "It happened, I heard a voice and..."
"Kid, you need to cut back on the pasta." Luigi groaned. "You over did before we left today. Come, on! We have work to do!"
Luigi jumped into the trap door and Sora looked down sadly. Yoshi then took his hand and looked up at him.
"Yoshi believe Sora." Yoshi said warmly to Sora.
"Thanks Yoshi." Sora said happily. "But you're just saying that because..."
"No, no, Yoshi believe." Yoshi interrupted. "Yoshi can see it in Sora's eyes even though Yoshi can't see eyes through helmet."
"That's what I like about you Yoshi." Sora chuckled. "You're funny, but loving and generous at the same time."
"Aw, it nothing." Yoshi chuckled sheepishly. "It what Yoshi do best!"
"Come, on! Let's get going!"
The trio arrived at an underground sewer where they saw the present.
"We found it!" Sora cheered. After picking it up, a scroll appeared in front of Sora as well as a note.
"It's a scroll and a note!" Luigi exclaimed. "Read the scroll first!"
Sora read the scroll. "When you wish to be free of heat and be at ease. Give me the power to give a big freeze!" Sora shot an ice spell out of his keyblade. "Whoa! I must have learned a freeze ability!"
"You've learned Blizzard." Luigi told Sora. "We could use this incase we have a fire."
"Or in your case, a fire on your behind." Sora chuckled.
"What's that suppose to mean?" Luigi growled angrily.
"What about note?" Yoshi asked holding up note.
Sora looked at the note and dictated it. "You may have the special clue to free Samus but what about yourselves, you're not safe!"
"Wh-what that mean?" Yoshi asked nervously.
"Not sure, but we should keep our eyes open for the final clue and we better be careful." Luigi said.
The trio made their way back up to the top and encountered more heartless. With Sora and Luigi's new Blizzard move, they easily defeated the fire space heartless. As they ran trying to find the last clue they saw a green pipe on the ceiling.
"A warp pipe!" Luigi said looking up. "Wait here!" Luigi took a giant jump into the pipe. He jumped back down holding the last present.
"You're the best Luigi!" Sora cheered.
"Ah, I know I am." Luigi chuckled.
"Come on! Let's head back!"
The trio headed through the door they first came in and arrived back at the court room. Ridly just smirked upon seeing them.
"Well done boy." Ridly said clapping his hands. "Now we can begin the fun. You even managed to find the secret one. Impressive."
"Let's get this over with so we can rescue Samus!" Sora said.
Seconds later, Sora was at the stand while Luigi and Yoshi were behind him. Four normal space pirates brought up the four presents.
"Now bring forth my evidence!" Ridley said. The pirate placed a fifth one on the ground. "Now you must choose one of them and that will decided who is guilty. If you, your friends, or Samus are chosen you lose and she and the Metriod are mine. As for you three, you will enjoy a slow and painful death." The trio gulped. "But if it's not all of the above, you win, which I doubt!"
"You're just a cheater but I'll win this game!" Sora said with confidence.
"Then choose a box!"
"Kid, our future, better yet everyone's future is resting in your hands." Luigi said. "Pick the wrong box and we're done."
"We're all counting on you Sora." Samus said.
"I'll do my best!"
Sora approached the boxes and observes them.
"I don't know which one to pick." Sora thought. "What if I pick the wrong one? What's going to happen to me and my friends?"
"Pick the one on the far right." The voice whispered in Sora's head.
"It's that voice again! It sounds so familiar but I can't put my finger on it. I trusted it once and I can do it again."
Sora pointed to the far right box.
"Are you sure?" Ridley asked. "You don't get another chance!" Sora just nodded. "Now reveal the culprit!" The box opened and a shadow appeared out of it. Ridly's eyes widen and he was in shock."WHAT? BUT HOW?"
"Nice going kid!" Luigi cheered.
Ridly just slammed his claws on to the podium.
"I've won, so release Samus!" Sora demanded.
"No! This wasn't suppose to happen!" Ridly snarled. "I'm not beaten! Not yet!" He then turned to his guards. "Kill them all!"
"Huh?" Sora said in shock. "But we had a deal!" Ridly flew off and a curtain covered Samus's cage and floated in the air.
"What do we do now?" Luigi panicked.
"We have to fight!"
The pirates drew out their swords and the fight began. Sora jumped into the air and clashed with two of them but they both knocked him back. Sora ran at them again and kicked one aside and got into a sword fight with the other one. Yoshi jumped into the air and using his strong legs he gave a hard, quick kick at another pirate. Luigi shot ice and fire spells at a few of them. Sora sweep kicked three away. Sora then looked at the cage floating up. He noticed one of the space pirates holing a remote. Sora tried to run but two pirates smacked him aside knocking him into Luigi and Yoshi.
"Okay, we need a new plan!" Luigi groaned.
"You guys distract the space pirates, while I run for the remote!" Sora instructed. Sora charged at the space pirate. More heatless were about to attack him when Yoshi turned into an egg and rolled the pirates over. Sora jumped into the air and kicked the pirate down with the remote and grabbed it. Sora pressed a button and the cage floated down. Sora slashed through another pirate and kicked two more aside. Five then tackled him, pinning him down. "Help!"
Luigi used the P 3000 to fire an ice spell at the pirates freezing them up. Sora broke through the pirates and the three charged at more pirates. Sora clashed with a few of them and he did a back flip over one and kicked it into three others.
"Kid, we need to finish them off quickly!" Luigi called to Sora. "We'll never catch up to Ridly!"
"Leave it to me!" Sora said. Sora snapped on his Sonic Blade badge and he slashed through all of them at once.
"Wow!" Luigi said. "That move really comes in handy!"
Sora finished off the last of them and he quickly ran over to the cage and pulled off the curtain and gasped in horror. "Guys, come here quick!"
Luigi and Yoshi ran over and they both saw that the cage was empty.
"It empty!" Yoshi exclaimed.
"She must've gotten kidnaped while we were fighting!" Luigi cried.
"Come on!" Sora said. "Ridly went back into the lab with that Metriod, and I bet Samus is there too!"
The trio quickly made their way back into the lab. As they entered, another note appeared on the ground and Sora read it.
"Lose something? In order to find it, you must take a right towards the main generator to where the darkness grows."
"Who keeps giving us these notes?" Luigi asked. "Somebody must love us up there!"
"And somebody must love us down here, too!" Sora said in a panic.
The group noticed Metriod heartless flying at our heros.
"Look out!"
The trio quickly jumped out of the way and Yoshi ate them all up. They ran the right way and opened the door. They arrived in a swampy room with a poison liquid on the ground. Sora jumped and grabbed a branch and jumped over it. Luigi jumped on Yoshi's back and Yoshi shot his tongue at the branch and jumped over. More heartless attacked our heros but they slashed their way through. The next room they arrived in was a giant room with two red switches on a cat walk. In the middle was a giant door and a note floated down from above and Sora grabbed it and read it.
"Looking for the shadows? Activate the switches!" Sora dictated.
"Okay, let's open the switch! It could lead us to Ridly." Luigi said.
As they ran to the door, heartless appeared. Sora jumped over the big heartless and slashed them from behind. Yoshi fired eggs at the space pirate heartless and Luigi sucked up the normal heartless and shot them at other heatless. After plowing their way through the swarm of heartless they jumped onto the catwalk. Sora and Luigi pulled each switch and the giant door opened. They quickly jumped off the catwalk and ran into the door. They arrived at a giant room with two giant glass tubes. One contained the Metriod and the other was a creature with a brain sticking out. In the middle of the room was Ridly pressing a few buttons on a control pad.
"Now, arise Mother Brain, use the power of the Metriod to revive yourself into this world!" Ridly commanded the Mother Brain.
"Ridly Stop!" Sora cried.
"You're too late boy!" Ridley laughed. "As we speak Samus is no longer in this world and soon Mother Brain will be by my side ruling this world!"
"No! We won't let you!"
Sora took his keyblade out and attacked Ridly but he jumped out of the way and landed behind the container containing Mother Brain.
"Fools, you don't know who you're messing with!" Ridly said. "I am Ridly the ultimate space pirate and soon ruler of this world!"
As Ridly talked the Mother Brain in the tube formed a giant body and began growling. Sora and his friends mouths dropped wide open.
"It's m-m-moving." Luigi said nervously to Sora.
Just then the, glass cracked on the tube and broke.
"Oh, no!" Sora cried. "Watch out!"
Mother Brain broke out of the glass and looked down at Ridly.
"Huh?" Ridly asked in shock.
The Mother Brain brought it's foot down on Ridly making a giant hole on the ground. Dust covered the area so no one saw what happened to Ridly under there. The Mother Brain then turned to Sora's group and they drew their weapons.
"Well, this is a fine mess Ridly go us into!" Luigi cried.
"I'm sure we can beat this thing, it may look ugly but it can't be that tough!" Sora said with confidence.
Mother Brain stomped it's foot down sending a major impact at the gang. They all crashed into a wall.
"Kid, why do I even bother." Luigi groaned.
"Heads up!" Yoshi cried.
Mother Brain threw a punch at our heros and they jumped out of the way. Sora ran up a wall and sent a flying kick at Mother Brain. Sora hit Mother Brain but it didn't effect it. It grabbed Sora's leg and threw him into Yoshi and Luigi. It shot a bomb at our heros but Yoshi ate it and spat it back out at Mother Brain exploding on it's head making if fall over. Sora and his friends attacked Mother Brain with everything they've got. Mother Brain then sent out a sonic wave sending our three heros flying into walls. Sora attacked again but the Mother Brain smacked him aside and he fell down.
"We can't beat this thing." Luigi said out of breath.
"We have to keep trying!" Sora said also out of breath.
The Mother Brain opened it's mouth, ready to fire a laser out of it when the Metriod attacked it causing it to growl.
"Look!" Yoshi cried.
"It's trying to help us." Luigi said. "Kid, now's our chance! We can beat this guy while that Metriod is distracting it."
"But..." Sora began.
"We have no choice." Luigi sighed sadly. "The Metriod it sacrificing itself for us and it won't hold out much longer. We've got to do this!"
Sora nodded. "Okay!"
Sora and Luigi shot an ice spell both at the Mother Brain and Metriod causing them to freeze up. Sora threw his keyblade up into the ceiling where it caused a crash and tons of rocks and ruble fell on top of the frozen Mother Brain and Metriod. The ruble fell to the ground creating dust and our heros shielded their eyes. As the dust cleared, Sora walked up to the ruble and looks around. Sora just looked down sadly. Luigi walked up to Sora and pat his back.
"Sorry kid." Luigi said. "There was nothing we could do to save it. It wanted to help us because we helped it. It learned friendship and trust. It put our faith in us and helped us win. It made a brave sacrifice and I suggest we take a moment of silence. "
The trio stood quietly for a minute honoring the Metriod that helped them win but killed itself by doing so. Sora then could see a glow and he looked up. A keyhole appeared in the wall where the Metriod was and Sora walked up to it.
"It's another keyhole!" Sora exclaimed.
"But what do keyhole do?" Yoshi asked.
Just then Sora's keyblade appeared in his hand again and fired a beam at the keyhole causing a locking noise. The keyhole then disappeared with a piece of the Toad Express popping out.
"It's a piece of the Toad Express, just like the one we found at Kongo Bongo." Luigi said observing the piece. "I'm going to hang on to it and we'll show it to Leon later."
"What about Samus?" Yoshi asked Sora.
"I don't know." Sora said. "We would ask Ridly but he was crushed by Mother Brain which means we won't get the answer.
Another note floats down from the sky and Luigi grabbed it. "Another letter from our mysterious helper. I'll read it; 'you may have saved Zebes from Mother Brain but the shadows have taken your friend Samus!"
"No!" Sora cried out.
"Relax, maybe they haven't gotten very far." Luigi said. "Maybe we'll run into her again in another world." Just then Zebes began shaking. "Whoa!"
"Oh, no! The lava thing is starting!" Sora gasped. "If we don't get out of here, we're going to be burned alive."
"No!" Yoshi cried. "Yoshi don't want to be burnt alive."
"I have a plan!" Luigi said arousing with an idea. He then turned to notice Lakitu with the camera. He then called into the camera. "Toadsworth, if you can hear me, get the Toad Express to the top of this building! We shall meet you there!"
"Good idea, but how can we get up there in time?"
"Easy, just follow those broken platforms." Luigi said pointing up.
The trio looked up to notice broken platforms going up. The trio jumped on each one (Just like when Samus had to escape) hurrying as the lava began to rise. At one point Sora almost fell but Yoshi helped him back up. The trio continued to scale the entire building heading up. They finally reached the top floor, wear a glass window was on top. Luigi jumped up and opened the window and climbed out. Yoshi got on Sora's shoulders and reached for Luigi who pulled them up. The lava got very close as they finally made it to the top. The Toad Express then pulled up and the door opened with Toadsworth waving.
"Master Sora! Master Luigi! Yoshi!" Toadsworth called to the trio. "Quickly jump!"
The trio jumped just in time as the lava was about to appear before their feet. The Toad Express flew away into space. Sora and the others removed their helmets and sighed with relief.
"Thanks goodness I can finally get out of this suit." Luigi said running to change.
Sora just looked sadly out the window at the planet being covered by lava. Yoshi patted Sora on the back.
"Don't worry Sora." Yoshi said comfortingly. "Samus will be safe."
"I hope so." Sora sighed.
Luigi walked back out in his original clothes.
"Mama-mia! Am I glad to be out of those." Luigi chuckled. "And no more accidents for me!"
Yoshi snickered and placed his tongue out on the floor and Luigi tripped over it. Sora noticed this and started laughing. Luigi sat up and waved his fist at Yoshi.
"Hey!"
"Sorry, Yoshi couldn't resist!" Yoshi laughed.
Soon Luigi joined in laughing and the three were having a good time. Toadsworth just rolled his eyes and chuckled. The ship began to make it's way back towards Isle Delfino...