CHAPTER 5: CREATURE FROM THE GREEN LAGOON

Hunter Log 3842
That was a close one, but it really ended in a fun way. I haven't had a good dive like that since my days at the academy.

As for the weapons, that's a welcome addition. I'll have to load up here just in case it's a while before I see another cache like this.

The ice beam should come in handy as well. The one I had before was fried back at the asteroid base along with my plasma cannon and wave beam.

It would be best for me to get moving now. The way the acid is pouring out of that hole, the water level should start rising shortly, and I don't want to be around for that.

Samus out...

The water level WAS rising. It had gone up nearly a foot in depth since Samus exited the lake. Before long, the flow from the high corridor stopped. Not to a trickle or a small stream, but completely shut off. The corridor exit itself began to move. It slowly grew smaller, just like a sphincter muscle contracting. After a few brief moments, the exit could no longer be seen, but a flush wall, devoid of asymmetrical form.

After witnessing the "disappearance" of the corridor, Samus turned toward a blue door. As she took her first step, a metal cover began to extend over the surface, shielding the blue.

Samus knew that it must have been the only other way out. She also knew that she probably wouldn't like the reason it had closed.

In the lake room, nothing but silence. The same sound as death. Samus cautiously scanned the room, looking high, and looking low. Nothing was apparent. Then she sensed movement...

A drop of green fluid...a single drop...fell from the ceiling and struck the water, however, that couldn't have been a normal drop...

The reaction of the globule hitting the lake was anything but what was expected. A large splash of green erupted upwards into a massive green column. Instead of falling, the column rose upward 50 feet into the air and stalled. It appeared to have a continuous flow to maintain its height.

Samus readied herself.

A large blob came flying out of the top of the column and landed on the shore. It splattered and then began to recoil and take shape. A head began to form, with a gooey mouth and hazy green eyes...from that, a set of shoulders and a back...both raised by a set of thick arms that formed in much the way the column had...then a pair of bent legs with no distinct feet.

"Great...living slime...I knew how to handle them at the combine, but I doubt this will be the same..." Samus thought with a half smirk on her face.

The creature began to charge at Samus, much like a gorilla or chimpanzee, its arms leading its legs. It made a loud gurgling noise as it jumped toward her. Samus leapt toward the side and fired a blast back at the creature as she landed on her right shoulder.

The blast struck the creature in the head and caused it to land awkwardly. Samus got to her feet quickly to observe the effects of her blast.

The creature raised back up, half of its face missing. It howled into the air. In response, a glob of fluid dispelled from the column and landed on the head of the creature. The glob replaced the part of the creature's head that had been dispelled.

Its health renewed, the creature charged at Samus again. This time, she wouldn't play games. She fired a missile directly at the creature. It hit the creature right in the mouth...and flew out the other side, exploding on the shore...and the creature continued without hesitation. Samus had to think fast.

This creature wasn't nimble, so dodging obviously wasn't its strongpoint. She switched to the ice beam and shot without looking. It struck the creature in its left arm. When the arm hit the ground, it snapped off and the creature went skidding across the ground.

Samus jumped over the creature and noticed another glob from the column was shooting toward the creature as it lie screaming.

She fired upon the glob and struck it in mid-air. It hit the creature and shattered like a rock hitting the bottom of a canyon. The creature howled in pain.

Two more shots flew from the column, and Samus blasted both of those in the air as well, and like their predecessor, they crashed down on the creature.

Samus noticed that the creature looked dented in, like it was losing its structural integrity.

Three shots erupted from the column this time, and Samus shot them in the air just like the others, but this time, she managed to fire a blast at the creature as well, freezing it.

This time, when the frozen globs connected with the creature, they all shattered in an explosion of ice shards.

The column shrunk by about ten feet. Samus charged her ice beam and unleashed a furious blast at the column. It struck it about 20 feet up and froze it completely through to the other side. Samus followed up with a missile that sliced the column in half.

The chunk that broke off dissolved into green tinted bubbles that popped into nothingness. Samus noticed that the remains of the creature did the same.

In moments, multitudes of globs shot out of the side of the column directly at Samus. She shot as quickly as she could and froze many of them, but there were too many for her as three globs shot through and connected with her shoulder, torso, and leg. The impact threw Samus against the wall, where the slime held her firmly.

She heard a gurgling sound from the column and witnessed more globs hurtling toward her...then darkness. Samus was completely engulfed in green slime. She could see nothing, and hear nothing but the sound of being underwater.

Unbeknownst to Samus, the column began to shift and take form. It grew a large white belly and short arms. Then a long tail grew out the back as dinosaur-like legs formed at the base. At the top, a large mouth full of teeth formed, as well as three conjoined eyes...THIS was the new Kraid.

From under the slime, Samus heard a familiar roar, and impact vibrations.

Kraid saw his prey pinned against the wall...helpless. A testament to his new power. He would feast this day.

Suddenly, the slime began to change. It dulled in color, then changed to ice.

Kraid grunted.

The ice exploded as Samus emerged from her prison, leaping off of the wall. Upon observing her new target, she flipped over and stopped.

Both Samus and Kraid paused to survey each other. Though a new creature entirely, the new Kraid retained memories from the cells of its deceased predecessor. It knew the capabilities of the small being. It had to use its new powers to its advantage.

Samus knew this wasn't the same creature as before. She had to figure out a way to dispatch of him. She had figured out that the slime couldn't hold up against her ice beam, but she wasn't sure if it would work directly on Kraid. She had to try.

Kraid charged at Samus, moving with quickness she had never seen before. She somersaulted backwards against the wall and shot towards his head. His arm extended and knocked her back to the ground.

The new Kraid was obviously more nimble than the other was.

Samus gathered herself again and ran towards his legs. His tail whipped around at her, but she jumped over it. Before she could think again, it backswept toward her. She back flipped over it as an instinct. She looked up and saw a massive thorn coming at her. She dodged to the side, and at the same time, ducked a swipe from the tail.

The giant thorn connected with Kraid's own tail and he roared in pain. Samus witnessed, however, the thorn melting into green slime and melding with Kraid's tail, filling the wound and healing it. This would not be easy.

Samus managed to get behind Kraid and began blasting ice beam shots at his back. The shots landed, froze, then melted immediately. The temperature was too high to stay frozen. Kraid then turned around to face his foe, who was now stuck between the lake and himself.

Samus fired a missile followed by a super missile, both aimed at Kraid's face. He saw them well in advance.

Kraid opened his mouth as to swallow the missiles, then a hole opened through his head, allowing them to pass directly through and detonate on the wall. Kraid looked slyly at Samus, and charged at her.

She had to think quickly...she had to use the environment...

Kraid, in a move never attempted before by a large lizard, jumped and attempted to perform a bellyflop on Samus.

She ran as quickly as she could and dove towards Kraid. He flew overhead as Samus landed safely on the other side. She turned to observe and saw Kraid actually bounce and land in the lake.

THAT'S IT! This was her chance.

Samus fired a flurry of ice beam shots at the lake. She had never blasted so quickly before in her life. She panned her shots from left to right, freezing the water in place. The ice spread across the lake and froze Kraid as he was trying to right himself in the water. Before too long, he was secured in place; his body heat not enough to thaw an entire lake. Samus calmly walk out on the ice and onto Kraid's chest overlooking his face. She readied a super missile to end it.

Kraid made a noise and began to melt slowly into the green liquid once again, trying to escape.

Samus knew this would happen...

As Kraid finally finished melting into the liquid, Samus let a charged ice beam blast go directly at the green puddle. It froze over along with the rest of the lake.

Now it was time for the knockout punch. Samus jumped as high as she could and shot a super missile straight down. The impact shook the entire room as ice rocks flew all about the room in a wintry chaos.

The pieces of frozen slime dissolved into bubbles and disappeared.

Samus landed in the lake bed and looked up.

Snow had begun to fall in the massive room. This would be the only weather Samus would see on this trip.

A noise toward the door drew her attention. The metal cover had retracted and exposed the blue door once again.

It was time to leave.

Samus took time to reload her weapons and then blasted the door to continue through. The next room had a power elevator to go down, and a control to extend an energy bridge across space to another one of the massive planet fragments.

"Hmm...which one..." Samus asked herself with a hint of attitude.