CHAPTER 16: THE BATTLE OF ARMAGEDDON
Hunter
Log 3852
I couldn't stop Malachi from
reassembling the remaining pieces of the planet. Now I'm incredibly
outnumbered. Instead of the limited resources of each planet
fragment, 75 of the total power of the planet has been restored.
That includes all of the fighting forces from each fragment. Due to
my taking the path of least resistance, so to say, that leaves a lot
of adversaries, willing AND otherwise.
I assume that the pirate and hunter forces are gathering on the surface. I would be no match for such an army. I do however, know how to get some help.
I hope I don't regret this.
Samus out...
Samus exited the control room and passed through the statuary. She then stood in the familiar tether room.
She entered the small room and flipped a switch. The large pinball structure rose from the floor and slid back to seal the room shut. Then the room lurched as a sign of movement.
Going back was really the only option. She couldn't fight the pirates and hunters without the help of the Chozo. She hated to ask, especially since they wished to be separated from the whole conflict. Surely they were yearning for retribution.
This trip from Tourian to the planet fragment was much more abbreviated than the last. When the room finally shook and stopped movement, Samus engaged all of the locks to hold it in place. The large back plate disengaged and rose into the ceiling, once again exposing the hole Samus had used for her entrance.
She climbed through the hole and called for the bridge. While she was waiting, the re-entered the room and began to retract the grappling beam.
In order to finish her mission, she had to complete the planet and meet the enemy face to face.
Samus left the room and boarded the elevator. While it had taken several minutes on the trip down, it only took a few moments traveling upward. When it came to a stop, Samus felt her feet briefly leave the ground.
The sound of the lift had gathered the attention of the Chozo, who had already congregated around it, the chief at the front.
"I need your help once again...one final time. It has to end now," Samus pleaded.
The chief nodded as he turned to his tribe, then raised his hand into the air.
The crowd responded by raising their hands and yelling a
passionate call to war.
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Samus knew where
the final confrontation would occur. It had already been determined.
It was the valley she had seen from the escape deck of the wrecked
ship. An expansive stretch of land situated between two mountain
ranges. The valley seemed to go on for miles. There would be no place
to run or hide. An all out battle...for peace, for those who died,
for victory...
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Samus and the Chozo chief
took the lead and marched toward the far side of the hidden utopia.
On the way, the avian creatures armed themselves.
Each warrior selected a long staff and an ornate helmet. On the ends, each staff had a green stone mounted into the metal. It was seemingly a way to charge power through the staff itself. The helmets seemed to be more of a ceremonial adornment with gold and silver accents.
After all of the fighters had taken up arms, the chief led them all to a room very familiar to Samus. It was the way back to the laboratory and the ship. When the planet was still in fragments, it was an energy bridge terminal. The trip would now be much shorter.
The army continued through the passageways and chambers. The Chozo marveled at the room with the dead Ultimates. They spent several minutes surveying the corpses. Only one dead body mattered to Samus, however. The body of the young girl. No one had retrieved it. It lay, paled and lifeless against the wall. Her eyes in a never-ending gaze. The sight was enough to chill even the coldest hunter to his bones. It didn't chill Samus, though. It tore her apart inside.
She had thought about this extensively. The voice of the president echoing through her head. Acceptable losses. There was no such thing to Samus. Every life had the potential to be saved...or so she had thought. Throughout her journey after returning to Zebes, she had been forced to learn that many things were out of her control and some lives could not be saved or spared. Things happened that couldn't be stopped and people did what they were told to do first. It took her a long time, but Samus had finally come to terms with lessons like these. It was a good time to do so, being on the verge of an all out war.
The chief placed his hand on Samus' shoulder, snapping her back to reality, as if she wasn't already there in thought. They proceeded out of the room and down the long hallway. When they opened the door at the end, the sight nearly floored Samus.
In the giant dome room, there was no longer a massive pile of corpses frozen in time, but a host of fierce Chozo ready for battle.
When Samus had destroyed the micropulse orbs, the spirits of the Chozo were released. Evidently they returned to their bodies, seeking vengeance against those who had imprisoned them. The chief entered the room and raised his hands in praise. The revived creatures returned the gesture.
They got down to business quickly as the chief explained the plans to the newly acquired warriors. They were willing to go into battle as is, with no weaponry. They would fight until their dying breath.
The former prisoners led Samus and the chief to a hole that had been busted out of the far side of the dome. The tunnel inside led into the downward passageway inside the wrecked ship. The passageway still flickered with broken circuits.
Samus and her entourage passed through the tunnel and opened the door, emerging in the massive main reactor room. The metroids cooed and floated toward Samus.
Seeing the approaching metroids, the Chozo brought their arms to the front and aimed them at the creatures.
The metroids halted and pulsed as Samus threw her arm back and warded the Chozo back. The chief called for them to lower their weapons.
Metroid after metroid approached Samus and nudged against her like pets. After a while, the metroids dispersed and returned to their nests. Samus, then, motioned for the Chozo to follow her upward.
The avians were still uneasy and displayed little trust for the metroids despite Samus. As they proceeded, many gripped their weapons a little more tightly than before.
Samus led them to the very top of the escape deck. From the shattered windows, she could once again see the great valley. This time, it wasn't serene farmland. All of the animals were gone. Only remnants of the fence and house lay in piles, symbols of the ruin that would settle in on the landscape.
They continued on through the window and onto a peak worn flat by the crashed frigate. Multitudes of Chozo followed Samus out of the ship and into the slopes of the blue mountain range.
Samus looked across the plain as she was descending. The enemy was already gathering. Ultimates could be seen at the front line, accompanied by elite pirates and hunters. The force was massive.
After several minutes, the entire Chozo force had reached the bottom of the range and formed ranks. Samus climbed up on part of a cliff and surveyed the scene. She had about 8,000 Chozo warriors. From her best estimate, the enemy had over 10,000. An uphill battle...but she had faced that before.
A dark figure emerged from over the opposite range. It descended and landed in front of the evil force...Ridley. The commander-in-chief. He opened his wings and let forth a shrill roar. The evil forces echoed his call.
The Chozo chief, who had made his way to the front of the ranks, raised his hand into the air again and yelled in an almost human tone, and the rest of his people returned his beckon.
After the two rally cries, the plain fell numb. The air was still and the clouds seemed to stall in the sky. The blades of grass even fell flat as if bowing to the incredible power that had gathered in the valley.
A bolt shot through the silence and pierced the head of one of the Chozo. It fell to its knees and collapsed face first into the ground. The thump sounded like a massive war drum, and the rest of the avians treated it as such.
They stormed forward, yelling as loud as they could with their staves and spears in hand.
The evil forces responded by charging forward.
The cacophony dominated the environment. The massive stampede would have registered on the Richter scale.
Before the forces met, Ridley took flight and soared over the Chozo ranks. They opened fire with their energy poles, the green stripes ripping through the air. In a flurry of spins and twirls, Ridley managed to dodge each of the beams. He dropped two meson bombs and unleashed a plume of fire from his mouth. The bombs connected with the ground and detonated, incinerating Chozo and throwing others several feet away. The fire ignited others and caused them to run in a careless charge to the front of the lines. Ridley was headed directly for Samus.
The Chozo ignored the flying terror and headed for the other line.
The two forces finally collided in the center of the valley like two waves clashing into each other.
Bodies immediately began flying. Ultimates swiped with their massive claws, throwing Chozo to and fro. Chozo swung with their staves, batting pirates into the air. Hunters blasted into the thick crowd, sure to hit any target.
An ultimate fired its massive cannon, but it dissipated in the crowd of Chozo, energizing them with the spirits of their sacrificed comrades. Chozo immediately overtook the foolish behemoth and ripped it to shreds.
The hunters began forming assault groups and mowing through the broken Chozo ranks. They were more skilled and much more agile than the pirates and Ultimates.
Behind the fierce melee, Ridley had reached Samus. He landed in front of the small cliff she was on, and she somersaulted down to his level. Just as good and evil met on this field, storied rivals now met. Each showed a mutual respect for the other's abilities...as well as an intense hatred that burned like the hottest plasma.
Samus began circling Ridley, and he kept a watch on her. It was like a game hunter stalking a lion. The lion was the stronger of the two, yet the hunter had the right equipment to dispatch the wild beast.
Ridley struck at Samus, but she jumped to the side, avoiding the gnashing teeth. His quick tail however, caught Samus in the side, knocking her down. Ridley tried to take advantage by raising his foot to step on her. His mistake was bearing his chest. Samus unleashed the spirit blast. Ridley shrieked as the beam burned through his hide and boiled it. He slyly rolled off of the beam and clutched his chest with his large claw as he breathed desperate breaths glancing at Samus.
She pulled herself off of the ground and began walking toward the beast. When she approached the injured pirate, she once again watched the wrong thing. His tail whipped through the air and knocked Samus airborne. Ridley followed up by hurling two meson bombs at Samus. The first one connected with her back and knocked her out of the air. The second bomb whizzed by. Propelled by incredible force, it kept going.
Samus belly flopped on the ground with a small bounce. The bomb had melted away her Chozo armor in one section. Her burn proof undersuit was unburned, but her skin had boiled to blisters underneath, the bumpy texture showing through.
Samus tried to lift herself. She managed to straighten her arms, but the pain consumed her. It felt like she was engulfed in fire. The meson bombs also contained a nerve toxin. She must have absorbed the residue after the heat had melted her suit.
Instead of flopping back on her stomach, she managed to fall onto her side and look at her predator. Ridley still clutched his chest, strips of charred skin hanging from between his digits. He now stood over her.
She could see his breath...even smell it.
He tried to sense her fear...he found none.
Ridley raised his free arm to administer the death strike, but a noise paused him.
A massive explosion was heard in the distance. Samus turned her head to see.
Smoke was rising from the side of the wrecked ship. Some black, some a strange grey color. After a minute of scrutiny, the grey smoke seemed to be moving toward the valley instead of rising into the air. Samus would continue to watch, but a gut feeling told her otherwise. She turned back toward Ridley.
He had changed his focus back to Samus as well. He smiled with his saurian teeth. Samus could nearly feel his sadistic glee. He once again raised his claw.
As soon as he began his downswing, Samus closed her eyes and raised her arm.
Then she felt a rush...
...
...but no pain...
She opened her eyes, fully expecting to see an omniscient deity telling her that she was dead, but that wasn't exactly the case.
Ridley had a metroid attached to his arm. He was swinging it wildly, trying to remove the creature. As he raised his claw to strike it, another metroid latched onto his other claw. The dactylian shrieked in terror and pain as he was rendered helpless by the energy sapping creatures. One after another, the metroids locked onto Ridley. At first, he fiercely fought them, but the injured pirate lost his energy quickly. Soon, he shrunk to the ground, then crumbled into a pile of dust.
The metroids cooed and floated around Samus.
She rolled to her other side and gazed upon the field of battle. The metroids had attacked the pirates and ultimates. Piles of dust were blowing away in the wind as the metroids floated above the now quiet battlefield.
Samus gathered her strength and forced herself to get up. She made her way slowly to a very still mass of Chozo. They had surrounded a group of hunters.
Inside the circle were four hunters standing back to back, prepped for conflict.
One by one, the Chozo turned and acknowledged Samus, allowing her to enter the ring.
When the hunters saw her, they stood up straight and faced her.
"Samus Aran?" one of them asked.
"I am Samus," she responded.
"Samus, we were ordered to dispatch you. I assure you the rewards are high," the hunter said.
"I'm sure you are, but as you can see, I'm in no shape to fight, of course, neither are you," Samus said.
"Well, ma'am. You can't very well get paid if you're dead," the hunter replied.
"So that means..." Samus started.
"By your leave, ma'am. We'll be on our way back to the combine," stated the hunter.
"Oh, by all means. And hunter..." Samus remarked.
"Ma'am?"
"Don't screw up again. I'll get better," Samus said as she removed her helmet, glancing directly into the facemask of the hunter.
"Understood," acknowledged the hunter as he and his troupe filed through the Chozo and disappeared into the mountains.
Samus looked around bodies of fallen Chozo, hunters, pirates, and ultimates seemed to line the valley. The mountains had acted like the sides of a bowl, containing the bloodshed in a trough, not allowing the destruction to flood over into the rest of the planet.
The Chozo chief and his remaining warriors celebrated in triumph.
The mission was complete. The threat had been eliminated.
