Chapter 8: The Nest.
"There is more power in unity than division." -Emanuel Cleaver
After Zelda's harrowing experience with the zeta metroid, Samus and Link take her to the nearby ship for the night, as the metroids become more active now. Also, Zelda was in no condition to carry on today; her injuries needed to be looked at. After entering the ship, Samus asks Link to pass her the still unconscious Zelda, deactivating her suit as well, and sets her on a retractable table that functions as a medical zone.
"Virginia, give me a report on her condition."
"Scanning...multiple injuries detected, moderately deep wound on left arm, no broken bones."
"Copied. Let's patch her up."
Samus gestures for Link to go sit in the pilot seat to give her some space. Afterwards, she removes Zelda's tattered clothes and injects her with an anesthetic to keep her unconscious. After bandaging the smaller wounds, Samus moves on to her left arm, which thankfully healed partially in a way that required moderate suturing, thanks to Zelda using her sleeve as a makeshift tourniquet to keep the wound as closed as possible. Lastly, Samus injects her with antibiotics to prevent any possible infections. After clothing Zelda with a white robe and then covering her with a blanket, Samus walks off to speak to Link.
"Well, the good news is that her injuries weren't too severe. She's sleeping now, so her wounds should heal quickly." Samus explains to Link, who has removed his suit and is sitting with the master sword leaning on his shoulder and hanging his head down, ignoring all of Samus's remarks. "Link, did you hear me?"
"I never should have brought her here…" Link says in a repentant tone.
Samus sighs before speaking. "It's not your fault Link; she wanted to come with us. Even though it looked bad, she held her own against a Zeta Metroid, not something many others could do." She then puts her palm under his chin so that they're eye to eye. "Alright? She did a great job and now she's safe."
"You don't understand; I'm her appointed knight. It is my duty to make sure that no harm befalls her. By bringing her here, I completely disregarded her safety." Link grips the master sword tightly in frustration. "Is that someone you'd want to trust with your own life?"
"Look, this could have happened to anyone; me, you or her. Just by bad luck, it happened to her. Once again; this was no one's fault." Samus retorts, earning a scowl from Link.
"Is that all you can say? Don't you even care?! She's lying on the table, riddled with injuries. Creatures that defy reality now infest the land in droves. Our world is only just recovering from ruin and now it's on the brink of collapse once again! And all you can say is that 'no one is at fault'?!"
Samus, keeping her calm demeanor, looks directly into Link's eyes before speaking. "Things won't always go the way you want them to; I've got plenty of experience to back up that claim." Samus speaks with a serious tone. "You're her personal guard, I get it. But, beating yourself up because you had a momentary lapse in your duty won't help you at all."
Link, hearing all her words, breaks eye contact and looks to the side. "...Then, what should I do?"
"Don't let her down again. That's all." Samus then puts her hand on his left shoulder. "And keep moving forward. Don't forget about the kingdom, Calamity, the champions, the people you've lost or K2-L. They are the force that should keep you moving forward to a better future."
Link, still with a somewhat somber expression, nods in acknowledgment. Samus gives him a soft smile before reactivating her suit. "Now, wait here; there's something I need to check in the house. I'll be back in a moment."
"Alright, I'll make sure nothing gets in." Link answers with conviction and as Samus begins to open the bottom hatch, Link stops her. "Hold on, what's K2-L?"
Samus's eyes widen with shock. "Where did you hear that…?"
"Samus, you just mentioned it."
Realizing that she brought it up unwittingly, Samus gives an answer. "Oh right, it was...just one of my missions that went bad. I took it a little personally, but I moved on." Samus opens the hatch and quickly walks out. Link, not fully convinced by her answer, goes to the ships console.
"How may I be of service?" Virginia asks.
"Do you know about something called K2-L?"
"I am sorry Link, but I am not authorized to answer your question."
"Hmm, may I see Samus's other mission records?"
"Of course." Virginia shows on the screen several labels with different dates. "Touch the screen to check whichever one you want."
Link nods and then pretends to scroll through the entries. He actually had no real interest in the others, but the fact that he was allowed to see the other missions with the exception of "K2-L" means that Samus was definitely hiding something. After 4 minutes of meaningless scrolling, he decides to stop and sits down next to the sleeping Zelda. He places his hand on her cheek and, to his surprise; she leans on it and smiles slightly. Link then closes his eyes and exhales deeply.
"I won't let it happen again…"
Back at the house where they found Zelda, Samus reaches the second floor and begins an analysis of the zeta metroids corpse.
"What are we looking at, Virginia?"
"Subject is a deceased zeta metroid, supercharged with an abnormally potent energy. Origin of this energy confirmed to be Princess Zelda." Virginia confirms
"I see. And what would this energy do to the metroid?"
"This energy would have allowed it to mature into a category 4 metroid within a matter of minutes instead of days."
Samus's eyes widen in shock as she realizes why the metroids go berserk when they sense Zelda; her immensely strong life force, a result of her sealing power, would allow the metroids to rapidly mature into their adult stages. Her task finished, Samus drags the metroid carcass outside and incinerates it with her flamethrower and, hearing the screeches of many metroids, she rushes back to the ship. Upon entering, she explains to Link about what she discovered from the zeta metroid.
"So, what should we do about this?" Samus asks.
"Even though I don't like the idea of moving her around, it wouldn't be a smart idea to just leave her in one place either. We should just keep moving as a group, but if only there was a way to 'mask' her energy somehow…." Link ponders.
"Well, I might have a solution. I just need to reconfigure a device that I have. It will also have the added bonus of protecting her from phazon exposure."
"I'd like that." Link smiles. "Can you make it?"
"It'll be ready by the time we have to leave. Until then, you should get some rest. We'll be up bright and early." Samus walks over to her console to have the device prepared. Before this, she is stopped by Link.
"Listen, I'm sorry for what I said earlier. I was just angry at myself for being careless; I didn't mean to take it out on you."
Samus pauses before smiling. "It's alright. Everybody gets these moments from time to time. No one is perfect after all."
"Regardless, thank you for helping me out of my rut."
"Everyone needs help sometimes, even a superhero like you Link." Samus pats Links shoulder before returning to her console to prepare the device. Link pulls out a rollout bed and places it next to Zelda, mumbling to himself, "superhero, huh?" After a while, both of them fall asleep, Samus at her pilot seat.
The morning after. Zelda awoke to the sound of Link and Samus talking to each other, not catching most of it due to drowsiness. The chat ends with them shaking hands and then noticing that Zelda is awake.
"Ah, good morning Zelda. You've been asleep for a while." Samus says as she walks up to her.
"Did you sleep well?" Link gently asks.
"I slept fine, I think." Zelda says before putting her palm on her forehead. "How long was I out?"
"Just evening yesterday until this morning. You handled yourself well against that metroid. How did you fight it off?" Samus asks.
"Urbosa taught me some swordplay whenever she had the chance. My father didn't like the idea of me picking up a sword, but she thought differently, so she taught me some basics without him knowing about it."
"A rebellious princess, huh? I like it." Samus crosses her arms and smiles.
"Easy for you to say, you weren't the one who had to see her 'rebellion' daily." Link quips, causing Zelda to playfully stick her tongue out at him.
"Alright, you two." Samus says as she lowers the blast shield on her cockpit. "Let's just get ready to head to the domain once again-" She cuts off as a blue glow enters from outside, they look out and see several blue tendrils across the wetlands, the water with a blue mist like shroud and several monsters roaming the area with piercing blue eyes and veins.
"What's happening?" Zelda asks with worry.
"It's the phazon. It's changing the ecosystem to suit its growth. This barrier is probably like a large bio dome to promote its development." Samus adds.
"This is bad…we need to get to the domain immediately." Link declares as he reequips his suit.
"Agreed. But first, you should get dressed, Zelda; I have a new device for you." Samus asks, earning surprise from Zelda as she reaches into the pack that has extra clothes that Link brought for the both of them. As she starts to pull off her robe, Zelda pauses as she and Samus stare at Link. Getting the message, he quickly turns around, apologizing for not giving her privacy, much to the two ladies laughter. Finally back in her usual attire, Samus hands Zelda a headband, broach, elbow guards and leg guards, each one with a single pulsating purple hexagonal plate. Intrigued, Zelda places each one in its designated area. Now, Samus instructs her to get near the hatch, causing Zelda to tilt her head in confusion, but does as instructed. Reacting to the phazon outside, an orange force field envelops her body, much to her surprise.
"Hazard shield active and fully functional." Virginia reports.
"Before you ask, this is meant to protect you from environmental dangers such as fire, electricity and even radiation. It also has the added effect of hiding your energy signature from the metroids; they won't be able to detect you anymore."
"Thank you, Samus." Zelda says while smiling, earning a nod from Samus.
"Now, I think we should head out to the domain."
Link, in response, places the master sword on his back and gives Zelda an ancient short sword recovered from the house. "Ready."
The trio exits the ship and makes their way back upriver, fighting off the occasional monster along the way. Now that Zelda was armed, fighting off the monsters was much quicker than before. Upon reaching Oren Bridge, they stop to hear a low growling sound. Going past some bushes, they spot an injured Lynel on the ground, which growls upon seeing them.
"What have we got here?" Samus questions while scanning the beast.
"No phazon detected on the creature. Subject is riddled with injuries, all of which are consistent with talons belonging to an Omega Metroid." Virginia reports.
"What's an omega metroid?" Link asks.
"The adult stage of a regular metroids life cycle. It's actually around the same size as our man-beast friend here. Speaking of which; what should we do with it?"
"I know." Zelda responds before kneeling down next to the Lynel and, using her power, begins to heal its wounds.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" Link shouts in alarm.
"He can barely move, we can't just leave him to die." Zelda retorts while Samus looks on with intrigue.
"But it's a Lynel; he'll attack us!"
"Link, we can't just leave him to die. We all have a common enemy; and it's those creatures. I'm sure he understands that at least." As she says this, the Lynel stares at her intently.
"But…"
"You trust me enough to come along with you on this journey and you even gave me a weapon. Can't you trust me enough to do this?"
Before he can answer, the Lynel stands up, surprising the three. Realizing that its injuries are, for the most part, healed, the Lynel picks up its weapons and then stares at Zelda. While Link and Samus ready for an attack, the Lynel, surprisingly, nods at Zelda and then runs off, leaving the group stunned.
"You see? I knew it would recognize that we were no threat to it."
"Hmm." Link drops his guard and decides to keep moving. Samus, on the other hand, remains speechless by Zelda's selflessness in helping a creature which would normally be an enemy, instead of finishing it off. Several minutes later, they reach the entrance to Zoras Domain.
Zora's Domain, the Great Zora Bridge.
"Finally, there it is." Zelda breathes a sigh of relief.
"Alright, you two, here's how it's going to work; we're going straight in, stay alert at all times, destroy any phazon afflicted creature or metroid and above all, don't stray from the path. Clear?" Samus concludes and the pair nod. "Alright. Now, where is this divine beast located?"
"It's in Toto Lake, above and behind the domain." Link states while pointing in its direction.
"Hmm." Thinking it through, Samus consults her map of the area. "I think Upland Zorana to the west would be our best bet to reach the lake. To climb the rocky areas, you'll just hold on to my arms and I'll jump on the ledges."
Agreeing to the plan, the three move across the Great Zora Bridge into the domain, taking note of all the viscous fluid on the floor, stairways and pillars. A few steps inside and they hear rumbling underneath them, Link and Samus nod at each other and prepare their weapons with Zelda following their lead and drawing her sword. As expected, two large phazon tentacles erupt from the left and right of the bridge, releasing bokoblins and lizalfos upon them.
"Corrupted!" Link shouts while slashing at a bokoblin. Samus, in response, fires several power beam shots at the incoming monsters, but is restrained by the lizalfos tongues on both of her arms. Just then, one of them is immediately decapitated and the attacker is revealed to be Zelda. Samus nods at her and propels the other lizalfos towards herself and blasts it with her dark beam, point blank. Link fires bomb arrows in an attempt to stem the tide of attacking monsters before switching back to his sword and killing the bokoblins one by one; he slashes downward on one, moves on to the next slashes diagonally upwards. A lizalfos tries to blindside him from the right, but he shield bashes it away then follows up with thrust to its abdomen. Another lizalfos rushes towards him, but Zelda runs up, blocks its spear and runs the sword through its head. Now back to back, they become surrounded by the monsters.
"You two; hang on to something grounded!" Samus shouts and Link responds by driving the master sword into the ground and, with his free hand, holds on to Zelda. Samus, using the dark beam once again, fires a small purple-black orb that travels behind the monsters and expands into a small black hole, sucking the monsters in (Darkburst). After a few seconds, the black hole dissipates and the pair look back to see that a decent number of monsters have been eliminated. Their astonishment is short lived as more of the monsters charge at them.
"We're so close! Let's finish this!" Link shouts as he readies a skyward strike. Before he can unleash it, a loud roar interrupts the fight. The monsters look towards the domain before running away in fear. Confused, the group looks back at the domain.
"What was that?" Zelda comments.
"It's an Omega Metroid." Samus answers while arming herself. "That's the former apex predator from SR388. Be on your guard."
From the interior of the domain, two zeta metroids crawl out to meet the group, hissing all the while.
"Which one is the omega metroid?" Link asks while readying himself. As if to answer, thundering footsteps are heard behind the two metroids, growing in intensity as they come closer. From the shadows, a large reptilian like creature emerges, around double the size of the zeta metroids, with long arms ending in two fingered talons, a long tail, green spine-like armor on its back, five red eyes on each side of its head and a thick rib-cage coating protecting its nucleus.
"That's the omega metroid." Samus confirms while taking aim. The omega responds by roaring, signaling the two zetas to charge. One of them tackles Samus to the ground and the other engages Link and Zelda. The zeta menacingly circles the pair, its mouth twitching as it waits to sink its teeth into them.
"Be careful Link; these creatures are very agile."
"Got it. Stay close to me." Link says as the zeta shoots a green bolt of energy, which they dodge to the right. Zelda manages to slash its back, leaving a cut on its carapace. It responds by swinging its tail, knocking her back and rushing at Link. He tries to stab its nucleus, but it overpowers him and drives him to the ground, leaving a large claw mark on his on his chest armor. It tries to bite down on his helmet, but Link holds it back with his left arm and punches its head with his right, which it responds by driving the claws on its left leg into his own, only protected by the quickly weakening armor that he wears. Getting up, Zelda sees Link struggling with the zeta, grabs his ancient bow, runs to the nearby shop and grabs a bundle of ice arrows (while mumbling 'they can bill me later') and shoots one at the zetas side, causing it to roll off of Link and attempt to pull off the arrow. Link gets up and slashes it across its nucleus, making it fall to the ground and he walks off. Zelda runs towards him and notices the zeta trying to attack him from behind. She hurries and runs her sword through its mouth and out the back of its head, finally killing it.
"Thanks." Link says while out of breath.
"No problem." Zelda responds reassuringly.
Meanwhile, Samus pushes the zeta off of herself and parries its lunges, making it fall on its back and then she shoots several missiles at its nucleus, ending its life. Afterwards, she shouts at the two to get down; they duck down as a red stream of energy flies above them, originating from the omega metroid.
"So, that's what was firing at us from the wetlands!" Link shouts as he stands up.
"Yes, it was guarding this area." Zelda comments while readying herself.
The omega charges at them, Samus fires a missile at it, but it lowers its head and the missile explodes harmlessly on its carapace. With its brute strength, the omega rams Samus against a pillar, disorienting her, and Link jumps on its back, holding its head up as Zelda slashes at its nucleus. However, its rib-cage like shielding prevents her from harming it.
"It's too hard!" Zelda shouts amidst the omegas increasingly angry roars. Finally, the omega tosses Link over its shoulder and gears up to shoot another stream at the ground and Link grabs Zelda to move them out of the way. Grabbing his bow, Link shoots a bomb arrow, slightly damaging its shielding and angering the omega.
"That's it! Keep hitting its shielding, you'll expose the nucleus!" Samus shouts while offering suppressing fire. Zelda uses her power to try and hold it back, but becomes surprised when her hands glow from golden to red.
"What is this- ahh!" The omega brings its fists down as she avoids being crushed. Link lets loose another bomb arrow, finally cracking its shield and exposing its nucleus. Desperate, the omega lunges at the pair as Link shield bashes its head, stunning it and giving Zelda ample time to slide under it and pierce its nucleus. The omega roars as it falls over backwards, croaking its last breaths. As the pair walks away, the omega suddenly regains consciousness, tail swipes Link away, then grabs Zelda and holds her aloft. Zelda holds on to the omegas muzzle to keep it from biting her until suddenly it roars in pain as her hands glow red once again, revealing them to be red hot. Before she can process what's happening, Samus rolls forward and shoots the omegas nucleus causing it to drop Zelda (who Samus swiftly catches) and Link delivers a horizontal slash, splitting the nucleus in half and finally killing the omega as it pathetically drops to the ground.
"Ok, that wasn't easy." Link says breathlessly. "Also, there was more than one of the blasts back at the wetlands. I take it that means that there are more of those?"
"Yeah, we should be very careful." Samus then scans the area and is shocked to see several hundred oval shapes in the domain and the cliffs surrounding it. "Link, do you see all of that?"
"See what?" Samus activates the organic detector on Links helmet as he sees the shapes as well. She does the same thing with Zelda, which appears as a monocle like apparatus from her headband.
"What are those things?" Link quietly asks as Samus responds; "Metroid eggs."
"There's so many of them…" Zelda says with astonishment.
"Now we know why the metroids were so desperate to keep us out; this is their nest." Samus begins calculating the probabilities of destroying the eggs. Virginia concludes that she'll lose power before freezing all of them and fighting off the attacking metroids, as well as estimating that the eggs will all hatch in about 3 hours.
"We'll worry about this later, for now we need to get to Vah Ruta." Link comments as they push on to Upland Zorana. Upon reaching the cliffside, Samus holds on to the pair and jumps up the cliffside and landing on the upland, they see several metroid eggs on the ground. Looking towards Toto Lake, Vah Ruta is seen glowing blue with several splotches of the same color all over it and its trunk pointed upward, releasing a glowing blue beam into the barrier.
Samus steps up to scan it from afar. "Now, that is one big elephant." Scanning Vah Ruta shows that it is releasing phazon which is powering the barrier, concluding that purging the phazon from the divine beast would remove said barrier.
"So, Vah Ruta is causing all of this." Zelda quietly adds.
"I stopped it once, I can do it again." Link determinedly proclaims.
"I hate to interrupt, but there are 3 Omega Metroids in Vah Ruta's immediate vicinity." Virginia reports to the group.
"And which way are they headed?"
"That's the thing; they're not moving at all, they're standing in front of it. It is as if they're protecting it."
Concerned, the group head towards Toto Lake, only to be spotted by a Gamma Metroid which then begins calling out. The call brings an assortment of larval, alpha, gamma and zeta metroids from their hiding places (behind small hills, in the grass, camouflaged on mossy walls, etc.), as well as an omega metroid barreling in through the trees.
"There's too many of them! What do we do now?!" Link shouts in alarm.
"I'm thinking, I'm thinking…" Samus answers, the worry present in her voice.
"Vah Ruta is in our sights, we need to do something!" Zelda shouts in worry while wielding her sword. The next thing they see is an ice arrow strike an alpha metroid, killing it and spreading ice at three larval metroids surrounding it. The group turns around to see none other than Sidon, holding a silver bow.
"Then just leave everything to us, princess." Sidon smiles as a group of zoras, including King Dorephan (holding a larger than average silver longsword) and Muzu (holding a silverscale spear), appear from behind him, having swam up the Veiled Falls. "We will not stand idly by as you fight our battles. We are here to reclaim our home from these beasts!"
"I think the odds are tipped in our favor." Link confidently says while smiling.
"Soldiers! Open a path for our friends!" Sidon shouts as the Zora soldiers charge forward with spears and swords ready, attacking the besieging metroids. Two guards escort the trio past the fighting, however they don't get very far before being intercepted by two gamma metroids. They shout at them to run before engaging their foes. Reluctantly, they run for the lake as Sidon shouts that the omega is about to intercept them. Samus prepares to shoot at the incoming omega, but to their shock, it is tackled by a Lynel and tossed against a wall. The Lynel roars at the omega, which shakes off the impact and furiously roars at it in response. Zelda realizes that it is the same Lynel she helped earlier, which then looks at her briefly before tossing its bow at her feet, which she picks up. Understanding its intentions, they continue towards Toto Lake as the Lynel and Omega Metroid charge and collide with each other and begin to fight.
"I admit it, you helping that Lynel was a great idea." Link speaks up.
"I told you; we have a common enemy." Zelda responds. "I just hope we can restore Vah Ruta before they lose too many people…"
"We'll make it. We have to." Samus sternly retorts. "Come on! It's just over these hills!"
The three begin to run even quicker, determined to stop the metroids once and for all.
At Toto Lake, the 3 omega metroids stand in front of Vah Ruta, growling and snarling as they await the trio to approach. From the lake and underneath Vah Ruta, the water bubbles unsettlingly as growls are heard from beneath it…
To be continued.
Author's note: Well, there you have it; they finally reached the divine beast! Now, I should point out that, according to the Hyrule compendium in BotW, Lynels are known for being intelligent unlike the other monsters, which is why I took the idea of having an injured Lynel aided by the heroes that would then help them in return. Now then, I'm off to start the next chapter (I don't know when it will be done, because I don't have an actual schedule, heheh) and once again; rate and review please! :)
