Chapter 10
"But you don't know if it's there!" Dedede protested once more as he and the female bounty hunter moved closer to the canyon. He didn't want to go in the canyon, he wanted to turn and run as far away from the place as possible. "It could be anywhere else, like in the Boomadooma volcano, or even-"
"Or even where?" Samus turned to look at him, frowning. "The ocean? This is the only logical place it could be, unless of course it decided to take up residence somewhere in your castle?"
As if to prove her point two small Metroid's suddenly came floating out of the depths of the canyon. Dedede stared at the metroids, open mouthed, then at Samus who smirked. "Any more excuses?" she asked.
She grabbed his hand like a mother taking their child to their first day of preschool and marched toward the canyon with him, even as he protested. But they hadn't gone more than a step when the hunter caught sight of a large, round, winged figure swoop down at the two metroid and cut a large slice in one of them, causing it to fall with an unhappy squeal. Two seconds later the entire canyon was shook by a very loud, very angry, roar that would have sent Dedede fleeing back to his castle if Samus didn't have a firm grip on the collar of his robes.
Even as he tried to flee Samus just held on, not even phased by his struggling. She was too busy staring at the figure who had attacked the baby metroid, with a thoughtful look on her face. Though it was a pretty good distance away, something about it seemed familiar. She tapped the side of her helmet and her visor changed color as she changed the settings to zoom in on the figure. After a moment she could see it clearly.
Meta Knight.
I found you. I finally found you.
"Come on," she said to King Dedede, beginning to walk into the canyon and dragging him with her. "Let's get this over with."
"What!?" he exclaimed. "Didn't ya hear that? Ya really want to go and confront that thing and make me do it too?!"
"You know why," she said to him. "Now man up and face your responsibilities like a proper king."
"But I don't want to be a proper King!" he protested, digging his nails into the ground, creating long furrows as she continued to drag him along. "I wanna be a sloppy king who over eats and plays video games all day!"
Samus continued to ignore him. She pulled him into the canyon with her, looking around herself as she went further in. She wasn't just looking for the metroid queen while she was down there but any other signs of Meta Knight as well. She knew he hadn't flown off after he'd harmed that baby metroid so he was somewhere down there, probably after the same thing she was. She just hoped he didn't try anything foolish once he found it. While the queen wasn't freezable like some of the early stages of a metroid's life cycle, it would still take more than just a sword to take her out.
But at the moment he wasn't the biggest problem she had. King Dedede was still protesting loudly and, for the moment, it hadn't attracted any unwanted attention but who knew how long that would last? If he didn't shut his mouth he'd draw in all the metroids in the canyon and then he would have something to cry about.
"Will you be quiet?" she hissed, giving his robe another tug. "If you keep up that racket you're going to attract unwanted attention. Do want more metroids to attack us?"
The question had the desired affect and he fell silent, though his expression said he really wanted to just get out of there. She couldn't really fault him for that, this wasn't how she wanted to spend her evening either but thanks to the king's actions she didn't have a choice. They would just have to deal with it.
Samus didn't see Meta Knight anywhere so it was time to solely focus on finding the queen. If she allowed herself to be distracted by thinking about him she risked leaving herself open for attack. She switched the function on her visor again and looked around again, this time picking up on a faint heat signature deeper in the canyon.
Meta Knight was regretting attacking the baby metroid. While it had actually confirmed where the Queen was located it had also most likely clued in the metroids that predators were nearby which would put them on the defense. Much as metroids seemed to only be mindless energy draining animals the higher forms of them actually did seem to have some kind of intelligence, especially queens.
Most definitely queens...
He found a place in the canyon and landed, folding his wings under his cape, and looking around himself. He saw no metroids, but that didn't mean there weren't any around. One could be close by but out of sight, waiting for a chance to pop out of the shadows and drain him dry.
He couldn't just stay where he was , he was going to have to get moving and find that queen, much as he was not looking forward to it.
Okay, time to get going.
Pushing his fears aside he stepped out from behind the rocks he'd landed by and started moving further into the canyon. Nothing came out to attack him and he felt a little better and confident enough to keep going, but just to be sure he unsheathed Galaxia and gripped the hilt firmly as he proceeded.
"I knew I would find you down here."
Meta Knight paused at the sound of the voice. Slowly he turned to face the speaker, knowing who the voice belonged to even without seeing her face. He didn't want to see her but she spotted him and he couldn't avoid her any longer.
"Hello, Miss Aran."
The bounty hunter walked up to him, dragging King Dedede behind her as she did. "I was hoping our reunion would be at a better time but it looks like trouble will always follow us." she remarked, looking down at the old star warrior.
Meta Knight nodded at her. "Indeed."
"Now I would be asking why you have been avoiding me all day but we have more important things to worry about right now," she said, looking away from him and pointing further into the canyon. "Something tells me that our target is just a little further down so it's best we ready ourselves for it."
Meta Knight nodded again and was about to say something when King Dedede shouted. 'Hey Meta Knight! You work for me! I command you to make her let me go!"
"Sorry, your highness," Samus spoke up, lifting him off the ground and throwing him over her shoulder. "But you have no say in the matter when it comes to this. I don't care if Meta Knight is working for you, until this is over you have no command of anyone, especially a star warrior." She looked down at Meta Knight again. "Shall we proceed?"
"Very well."
They started walking, King Dedede still wriggling in her grip and protesting all the way.
"By the way, why do you have the king with you?" Meta Knight asked after a moment. "He does not seem to be the proper thing to bring along during this kind of mission."
Samus placed her hand on the king she was carrying to get a better hold of him. "Your king here is the reason the metroids are here," she explained. "So I am taking him with me to face his responsibility."
"But he will be of no use once we have located the queen," the star warrior explained to her. "There will be nothing he can do against it.
The bounty hunter considered this for a moment. Meta Knight was around Dedede every day so he would know more about dreamland's monarch than she would which meant he was probably right. "If things get out of hand I will allow him to flee," she assured the knight. "I don't want to be responsible for your king's demise." She paused then slowly set Dedede down on the ground, he stared at her in disbelief.
"I think you probably have learned your lesson now," she spoke to him. "so I will allow you to get out of here before things start getting intense. Now, if you don't want to die, I think you should be heading back to your castle."
King Dedede needed no second bidding. He was up on his feet and dashing back the way they had come in less than a second. She watched him flee, surprised at how fast he was for someone so fat then looked back at Meta Knight. "Satisfied?"
The star warrior didn't respond to that. He turned away from her and walked silently forward. She followed, not wanting to continue the conversation anyway.
As they walked Samus was tempted to start up a conversation with Meta Knight and make him explain why he had been avoiding her but decided now was not the time to discuss it since there were more pressing issues to deal with, and said nothing. Instead she looked around herself, left hand resting at the ready on her arm canon. While she knew the queen would stay in one area to guard her eggs she would likely send her offspring out to deal with them. While she couldn't freeze the metroids more advanced forms she didn't have as much of a hard time dealing with them at earlier stages. The zetas and omegas were her biggest issue but maybe things would be easier with Meta Knight there to help her.
At least she hoped so.
"The queen shouldn't be much further," she explained to Meta Knight in a hushed voice. "I'm not expecting her to just sit there and wait for us to come to her without retaliation. Last time I had to take out a queen I had to deal with an Omega metroid and a few Zetas. They are stronger and more fierce than the normal ones and can't be frozen, however they do have other weaknesses. Your sword beam should be strong enough to, if not kill one, at least injure it quite severely."
"How do you know Galaxia can even harm them?" the star warrior wanted to know. "I was led to believe they are only weak to ice."
"They have other weaknesses, Meta Knight," Samus assured him. "Especially the later forms. I have used super missiles and power bombs against them in the past when ice didn't do anything and it worked just fine." she glanced at him, frowning slightly. "Are you all right?"
"I am fine," he answered her. "Why would you get the impression that I am not?"
"Nothing," she said, looking away. Maybe she'd been imagining the slight tremble in his body. "It's not important, I was just making sure you were ready for what's about to come."
"I am ready."
She would soon see if that statement was true. Something was telling her something was wrong with the knight but she couldn't figure out why. He was inexperienced so that was probably why. Unlike her he didn't deal with metroids on a daily basis like she did so maybe he was nervous even though he didn't want to admit it and that was why she'd caught that slight trembling in his frame. She couldn't blame him. It wasn't like she enjoyed fighting metroids either, especially ones that had been experimented on by the space pirates.
A few minutes later the duo heard an ear splitting scream and looked up. Metroids in their zeta forms clung to the cliffs above like gargoyles, their many eyes all focused on the two warriors below. Samus raised her arm, aiming her blaster at the metroids as about a dozen of them lunged. She fired a charged blast of energy, knocking some of the monsters back. Meta Knight rushed at two more, swinging Galaxia in a wide arch, sending the beasts scattering.
The female bounty hunter jumped over him, firing a charged blast of ice at another metroid Zeta that jumped down from the cliffs. The blast knocked it back, sending it crashing into more Zetas that joined it.
"Find the Queen!" Meta Knight called out to her as he dispatched two more. "I will deal with the rest."
Samus looked back at him then nodded, rushing deep into the canyon.
Meta Knight would be okay by himself, he was a highly capable warrior. Plus zeta metroids were easier to keep track of during battle over the smaller ones. Even if he didn't use ice on the beasts Galaxia would be more than capable to take them out.
She saw the broken egg shells before she saw the queen. The shells were still dripping liquid which meant larvae had hatched from them recently. Probably the babies Meta Knight had attacked earlier. Lifting her head she spotted more eggs laying around, some broken and some unhatched. She raised her arm cannon and aimed it at one of the unhatched eggs. Now to ensure there would be no more metroids on Popstar.
Before she could fire a loud screech made her look up. A large, clawed hand was coming toward her. Jumping quickly out of the way she turned into her morph ball and rolled away, dropping power bombs which exploded and put some distance between her and her attacker. The attacking creature roared in protest. Samus uncurled out of the morph ball and faced her opponent.
Standing before her was a large, bulking, many eyed beast covered in sharp spines and heavy, impenetrable armor. It's back and front legs dug into the rocky ground with sharp and deadly claws. The beast stared her down and before roaring angrily right into her face. Samus took it, unflinching and when the beast pulled back its head to glare down at her once more and she went into an offensive stance, planting her feet firmly on the ground and aiming her arm cannon defiantly in its face.
Meta Knight might have made a mistake telling Samus to go off and deal with the queen while he took care of the Zetas. The beasts wound up being harder to take down than he thought. The creatures might not be weak to ice like their younger forms but other types of attacks didn't make them suddenly weak to everything else. He did manage to harm the beasts but it took some effort and so far he'd only taken out two of them.
If he didn't do something soon he wasn't going to make it out alive. He was going to have to release his full power to take these things out. It had been so long since he'd done so however so he wasn't sure how effective it would be.
A Zeta pounced at him, breaking him out of his thoughts. He slashed at it, making a large slice across it's body. It fell backward screeching only to be replaced by two others.
Suddenly he found himself surrounded. He looked around himself at the metroids penning him in an all sides. Realizing he no longer had any other alternative he tossed away his cape, revealing his wings and, focusing his energy, he released a devastating tornado that sent the zeta's into the air. He flew into the tornado and unleashed all of his power, reducing the zetas to pieces in a matter of seconds.
After defeating the beasts he sheathed Galaxia and rushed off to join Samus against the queen.
The star warrior came upon them just as he saw Samus land a short distance away and crouch down. She was facing a giant hulking beast who loomed over her. The hunter glanced his way, not turning as she faced the beast. She straightened and raised her arm cannon only to have to jump out of the way when it swiped at her with it's claws.
Meta Knight also saw the blow coming in his direction as well and jumped up, unfurling his wings to get even further out of its range.
Samus landed on a large boulder, ducking behind it when the queen breathed fire in her direction. She pressed her back flat against it and lifted her arm canon to change the settings on it before jumping out and firing a charged blast into it's face.
The impact caused the metroid queen to let out a ear splitting screech, making the entire canyon shake.
Suddenly Meta Knight froze. The impact of the roar seemed to penetrate him to the soul, smacking him hard and destroying a mental block in his mind that he'd spend years putting up. A long buried memory sprang to the surface, filling his mind with gruesome images. Present day vanished from his vision as he was thrust back in time to a past event where he'd also gone up against a metroid queen.
Roaring, screaming, the sight of many star warriors being massacred by a queen, one as big as the one he was currently facing, and her offspring. Voices screaming for his help, begging for any kind of help.
"Meta Knight!" Samus voice brought him back to the present. He looked down at the female bounty hunter who was standing near some metroid eggs, while firing her charge beam at the metroid queen. The sight of the eggs brought back another flashback of beasts breaking out of eggs and instantly attaching themselves to their victims, reducing them to empty husks. Then he was thrown back into the present once more in time to spot one of the eggs cracking open.
He was hit with another flashback before returning again, this one of an Omega metroid grabbing a a star warrior right beside him, and then his vision clear. He heard Samus shout his name again, but the queen roared a second time, scrambling his thoughts and sending him into a blind panic. Before he could even get a chance collect himself and think rationally, he'd turned away from the bounty hunter and the queen, flying rapidly off in the opposite direction.
00
Samus caught a glimpse of the metroid hatching out of the egg and jerked sideways, hitting the larva with an ice missile. It let out a screech as it froze then crashed to the ground, shattering. It's mother roared in anger at the death of its child and swung at her with its claws. She ducked the blow, curling into the morph ball and rolling away.
Once she was out of range, she changed back and turned her head, looking around for the star warrior as she called out his name again. "Meta Knight!"
But he was gone.
Swearing at this unexpected turn of events she spun to face the queen who was baring down on her. Once again she curled up into the morph ball and rolled away from it, leaving power bombs in her wake to serve as a deterrent. She rolled up a slope and launched into the air, uncurling and twisting backwards to fire after the queen and the larva that had hatched out of more eggs.
The ice beam took down some of the babies, though it did nothing more to the queen than anger her.
Samus landed on a ledge a good distance from the raging queen and the many larva who had hatched from the eggs scattered around. She raised her arm to fire a charged shot at them.
"Kirby!"
Samus turned at the sound of the voice and spotted two figures near the canyon entrance that led into the queen's nest. She recognized them right away as the girl named Tiff and the baby star warrior Kirby.
What were they doing there?!
The bounty hunter jumped off the ledge and rushed toward the children. She didn't know how the children got there but she had to get them away from the nest before they became metroid dinner.
She heard the queen roaring behind her which were joined by screeches and more roars. She glanced back, spotting more metroids in differing stages of development coming after her. She swore and looked ahead, reaching out and grabbing up both Tiff and Kirby off the ground before making her exit from the canyon.
Time to retreat for now, if she'd continued fighting she would be overwhelmed and killed. For now she would get out of there and get the children to a safe place before deciding her next plan of action.
While she was at it she was going to find Meta Knight and make him explain his actions down in the canyon. It was about time she got to the bottom of his weird behavior and this time she would get the whole story, even if she had to tie him down and force it out of him.