Poison

The forest parted into a clearing, revealing a small hut and a fire pit, the ashes cold and forgotten. Samus scanned the area, but detected no life other than Dust.

"This place used to belong to Cora…" he whispered, a hint of sadness in his voice.

"Did something happen here?" Samus asked.

"Nothing dangerous, if that's what you're asking," he replied. "Cora was an elderly woman; passed away not too long ago."

"Be glad she reached her end naturally," Samus said, surprising Dust. "Too many die young."

"A sad truth indeed, Samus…" said Ahrah. "Dust and I have seen the end of many lives; it is good that at least one ended in age rather than at the end of a blade…" Dust remained quiet, but nodded in silent agreement with the sword.

"More death waits if we- wait a moment…" Samus rushed over to a pair of cyan mushrooms sprouting from the side of the hut.

"Is something wrong?" Dust asked.

"Pray there isn't…" Samus said, scanning the mushrooms in hopes that her suspicions would be proven false.

Scan complete. Phazon mutation detected in local mushroom species.

"Oh no…" Samus breathed, turning to face Dust, whose expression became grim as she spoke. "It's already begun…"

"W-what has?" Dust asked, concern riddled across his face. "What's the matter?"

"It's time to explain things in full…" Samus sighed. "As I've said before, I was sent here to eliminate a toxic substance that arrived on the meteor by my employers at the Galactic Federation. However, I did not tell you the true nature of the substance…" She pointed at the mushrooms. "Do you recognize these?"

"I think those are Blue Mushrooms," he said. "I can't tell though… They're… odd looking. But what does it have to do with anything?"

"They are no longer Blue Mushrooms; they've been corrupted by phazon," Samus said. "Phazon is the name of the substance that arrived on the meteor, or the Leviathan as the Federation has named it."

"Phazon?" Dust was more than taken aback by the revelation. "Did it… change those mushrooms?"

"That it did," Samus comfirmed. "Phazon is highly mutagenic; any organism that survives contact with it will be corrupted by it. Their natural abilities and traits will become powerful weapons, though any intelligence they possess will be replaced with pure bloodlust."

Dust stood with mouth agape, struggling to grasp this new information. "What… what could create something so evil?"

"We do not know how phazon was formed, but it came from a distant planet called Phaaze," Samus said. "Phaaze was a living, sentient planet, and made entirely out of phazon. It was also responsible for the creations of Leviathans, and it sent them into the cosmos to infect planets with phazon in hopes of it becoming a second Phaaze. When Phaaze was destroyed, so was all phazon in the galaxy… or so we thought."

"Do you know where this Leviathan came from?" Ahrah asked. "Perhaps a second Phaaze was created, and this is a result of its creation?"

"It's certainly possible," Samus said, "Though the fact that this is the only Leviathan that the Federation detected in the entire galaxy says otherwise."

"Are these Leviathans numerous?"

"I've dealt with five other planets that have been struck by them, and there are more that were unable to be saved before Phaaze's destruction or were simply undetected; to say they are numerous is an understatement."

Dust approached the mushrooms, observing them closely. "If these made contact with phazon, then there's source nearby…"

"Meaning that the settlement you told me of is in great peril," Samus added. "This gives us two options; have the citizens evacuate to a safer area, or locate and destroy the source of the contamination before the situation becomes critical. Of course, if the village has been corrupted by this point, however unlikely, neither of those options are valid. We'll be forced to euthanize the corrupted population."

"Wait, what?!" Dust shouted, anger filling his voice. "Why would we do that?"

"It would be a mercy kill, Dust," Samus replied. "Phazon is no mere poison; death is the only escape from the monstrosity you become. Would you rather take the life of a phazon-maddened abomination, or have it take the lives of countless innocents?"

Dust opened his mouth to protest, but found himself unable to argue against Samus' logic. Defeated, he simply said, "Then let's go; we can still save them."

He began sprinting toward the village before Samus could say anything, leaving her alone in the clearing. The village might be saved, but there would be those unfortunate, or fortunate enough to be corrupted. It was a fool notion to believe that disaster could be prevented when faced with its immanency, thus making Dust a fool in Samus' eyes. He was capable, and a skilled warrior, but his mind was as naïve and inexperienced as a child's; a deadly combination when combined with mind-altering substances such as phazon. Samus took off after him, though as she did one thought embedded itself in her mind.

Dust would threaten the mission so long as he traveled with her.

This was a shorter chapter simply because I didn't want to force anything like I did last time. Slow and steady doesn't win the race, but it sure does help ensure quality... mostly. I'm looking at you Chapter 4...

Slower updates will be inevitable now that school's starting up again, but I downright refuse to give up on this. It may not be the best story ever to grace this site, but I started it and I will see it through 'till the end. However, without reviews it'll just be a long, mediocre story. With reviews telling me what I did wrong, it'll be a long, possibly less mediocre story! :)

**EDIT: An anonymous reviewer informed me that I misspelled "mutagenic". Rest assured this has been corrected, and Spell Check has been punished accordingly.