A Metroid Among Zoanthropes
A Metroid/Bloody Roar Fan Fiction Crossover
by Derald Snyder
Part 2- Searching for Busuzima
*Old ZLF Headquarters*
"Ugh..." Alice groaned as she, Uriko and Samus got out of the car. "Even abandoned, this place still gives me the creeps..."
"Me too," Uriko nodded with a frown. "But, we should be okay with Mommy! Just make sure that Bus-whatever doesn't put you in a glass tube again, okay?"
Samus gave a little sigh. "Three things, Uriko: One, it was Shenlong that captured me, two, I wasn't wearing my Power Suit at the time, and three, I was trying to keep you from being captured. Speaking of which..." There was a bright flash as Samus' suit materialized over her body, in the familiar orange Varia configuration. "Alright, let's stick together, and try to keep quiet..."
"Right," Alice nodded, following the hunter as she opened the door, the trio heading inside... as expected, the interior was abandoned, a thin layer of dust over what scant furniture remained. "Doesn't look like anyone's been here recently..."
"My thermal visor's not picking up any heat signatures," Samus confirmed as she scanned the room. "Even if Busuzima was using his camouflage ability, I'd have picked him out right away..."
"Um, Mommy?" Uriko spoke up.
"What is it?"
"Cats have a good sense of smell, right?"
"I think so. Why do you..." Samus trailed off as Uriko suddenly transformed to her half-beast cat form, promptly putting her nose to the ground, sniffing about. "Oh. Well, I suppose that's worth a try..."
"I thought it was dogs that were used to sniff out criminals," Alice said facetiously. Suddenly, Uriko stopped, letting out a long meow before abruptly dashing off through a nearby door! "Wait, did she find something?!"
"We better follow her," Samus grunted, the two ladies running after Uriko... Fortunately she wasn't going too fast for them to keep up, following her through several rooms, until entering one that was all too familiar to the hunter. "Wait... this is where..."
"Where you were being held by Busuzima," Alice finished, noting the broken stasis tube at the far wall. Also, several wrecked pieces of equipment were strewn about, having been blasted apart by Samus after freeing herself. As for Uriko, she was pawing at a certain spot on the floor, looking about in confusion... then she reverted to human form, sitting on her knees with a pout on her face. "Did you find something?" Alice asked.
"I thought I smelled something, but... it just stops right here! There's nothing! I messed up!" Uriko complained.
"...Wait, maybe not," Samus said as a thought came to her. "Uriko, move away from there, I want to try something." Uriko promptly stood up and sauntered over to Alice's side, watching as her mother went into morph ball mode, rolling over the spot she'd just vacated, laying a bomb... the small explosion revealing a hole in the ground! "Just as I thought," Samus said after unmorphing. "A secret passageway. Busuzima must be down there."
"All right! Let's go get him!" Uriko cheered.
"No, Uriko. I'll go down by myself. You stay here," Samus instructed.
"Aww, but why?" her daughter whined.
"Because, if Busuzima manages to slip by me, I need you and Alice to intercept him. He's a chameleon, remember?"
"Oh yeah, he can go invincible!"
"Invisible, Uriko," Alice corrected. "All right, we'll stay and watch the entrance. Good luck."
"Thanks," Samus nodded, morphing again and dropping down the hole...
*Underground Sewer*
After almost getting washed away by the water current, Samus had unmorphed and space jumped to a platform above. Actually, it was more like a straight pathway between two sewer gates, with chain-link fences forming the walls of the 'hallway'. Keeping her arm cannon at the ready, Samus slowly walked down the straightway, her feet lightly splashing in the ankle deep water... Hearing sounds that certainly weren't coming from her or the rushing water nearby, Samus promptly engaged the Phantom Cloak, keeping her breathing steady as she approached...
"...good thing I had the sense to stash some stuff down here," A male voice grunted, soon revealed to be none other than Busuzima himself, pulling out what seemed to be a steel crate of some sort. "Once I get these backup systems up and running, I'll be as good as back in business, uwee hee hee!"
"Freeze!" Samus called out, de-cloaking and pointing her arm cannon at the mohawked man. "Don't move a muscle, Busuzima!"
"Wahhh! Y-you again?!" Busuzima cried in panic. "How'd you find me down here?!"
"I have my ways," Samus deadpanned. "You'd be surprised how good I am at finding hidden passageways. Now come along quietly or else."
"Nuts to that! I ain't going back to prison so soon!" Busuzima cried defiantly, promptly transforming to his chameleon form, then going invisible.
"Fool..." Samus muttered as she activated her thermal visor, enabling her to easily find the scientist's heat signature. Before she could fire, however, a long tongue snapped out, wrapping around her cannon and pulling her in close, Busuzima then smashing her in the helmet with his massive head! Cursing internally for getting cocky, Samus quickly morphed into ball form and rolled away a short distance, then unrolled and fired a missile, striking the chameleon in the snout!
"Ow! Oh yeah?!" Busuzima cried, "Let's see how you like THIS!" His rear end flashed, his beast form suddenly enveloped in an electrical aura! He then charged, striking with speed faster than he had ever shown before!
"Gah!" Samus cried as she was pummeled mercilessly, one energy tank already gone. (This... this must be the power of the XGC!) Curling into morph ball again, she rolled under Busuzima's legs to escape... His tongue lashed out again, but Samus managed to ball jump and avoid it, unmorphing and Flash Shifting to the far steel gate. (Yugo said the boost doesn't last very long... I just have to wait him out.)
"Come back here!" Busuzima cried as he ran awkwardly toward the hunter... but then he abruptly reverted to human form, tripping and face-planting in the water as a result. "-Plah! That's yucky! What happened?!"
"Your trump card fizzled out," Samus deadpanned. With a cry of frustration, Busuzima lunged at the hunter, only to get knocked back by a melee counter, staggering-
Samus' left hand glowed with power as she tried to lunge at her foe, stopping at the last moment! (Argh! Fine time for my Metroid powers to flare up!) Then again, she hadn't eaten in a while, food or otherwise... gritting her teeth, she managed to curl her fingers into a fist, decking Busuzima with a brutal left hook, then kicking him in the groin for good measure! As the zoanthrope doubled over in pain, Samus grasped her arm cannon with her still-glowing hand, fighting the urge to feed... (He's not worth it, not worth it...! I need him alive...!) Finally the urge receded, the glow fading from her hand. Danger past, Samus grabbed Busuzima by the shirt, slamming him into the fence. "All right, I want answers. What do you know about the XGC?!"
"Th-the XGC!? I dunno what you're talkin' about!" Busuzima protested.
"Lies. You used it's power just now..."
"Wait, y-you mean that weird tattoo that suddenly appeared on my butt?! I dunno! It just showed up outta the blue one day, right after I busted outta jail!" the scientist said. "Th-that's why I came back here, to see if I could use my backup equipment to try and research it!"
"So you don't know who gave you this mark?!" Samus pressed.
"No idea! I swear it wasn't me this time!" Busuzima asserted, his arms flailing a bit.
"...I believe you," Samus eased up a little, "because you're clearly too scared to lie to me."
"Oh... oh, good, good," Busuzima sighed in relief. "So, ah, does this mean I don't have to go back to jail?"
Samus just narrowed her eyes.
"...right, of course, I thought so," Busuzima averted his gaze.
*To be continued...*
