Chapter 4 - The Second Secret of Alinos

The Alimbic Cluster was nearer, covered in flames. The Goreas had taken over, and were fighting for supremacy. The other hunters, all ahead, could not get past the falling Goreas. There was almost a solid wall of them.

"Oh my God. They have already spread the Omega Cannon," Samus stated. She had just seen a huge explosion on the Vesper Defense Outpost.

"I'll take care of this," Spire said, confidently. He stepped right out of the boulder-like ship, and started firing Magmaul blasts.

"I think I just found their weakness. They always change to different elements, as we already knew. But, apparently, they all change at the same time! That's why your Magmaul was able to blast through them all!" Samus exclaimed.

Spire then came back into the ship and immediately flew into the rain of Goreas. "Yeah, but eventually they'll be too powerful for these weapons. They always raise their defense, in case you haven't noticed. And... they also have an "alt-form," in a way. Remember, you need the Cannon to defeat that form?"

"Oh cra- Wait a minute. How come there's more fighting on Arcterra, VDO, and the Celestial Archives than on Alinos? Spire, set course for Alinos. There's something wrong there," Samus ordered. She was right. Something was wrong on Alinos... but what?

"Ok, we're here. Now what?" Spire asked, bored.

"Get Trace. We're gonna need stealth here. And if you can, repair my ship. It was slightly damaged from being towed. We'll need it later," Samus ordered.

"Right." Spire unhooked Samus's ship from his own, thenmessaged Trace.

"Trace. This is Spire. We need your help on Alinos; stealth is necessary. Come A.S.A.P. Over."

Almost immediately, Trace came down to the Alinos Gateway. Spire started to get to work on the Samus's starship.

"All right. Samus, you'll need this. It's a cloaking medicine. Usually, we Kriken use them for viruses that disable our natural cloaking ability. It has never been tested on a human, though, so it may be fata-"

Without letting him finish, Samus immediately took off her helmet, held her breat, and swallowed the medicine.

"-al. Did you really just do that!" Trace finished.

"Well, apparently it's safe. Hey, wait. Why are you trying to help me in the first place?" Samus asked, suspicous of Trace.

"Long story. I'll tell you later. We gotta hurry, though. That medicine will wear off if taken by anyone other than a Kriken. Oh, and in order for it to work, you'll need to be in your Morph Ball, or have the Imperialist equipped. Now, let's hurry!" Trace ordered.

After almost an hour of searching, the two hunters had no idea why the Goreas were afraid to come here, except for a few. And one of those few was right in front of them! Trace immediately held out his arm to block Samus's path.

"What are you do-" Samus began, but was silenced by Trace.

"Gorea. Stand completely still. Even these things can't detect cloaked lifeforms. The cloaking will only be in effect if you stand completely still," trace whispered to Samus.

The Gorea started walking towards them. Trace was right; the Gorea cannot detect them.

"Raaagraah!" The Gorea screamed, frustrated. It then went down into the Council Chamber, out of sight.

"That was close. But... is it just me or is that thing headed to the core of Alin- The core! Years ago, it imploded. That's why Alinos is a molten planet now! Hurry, we have to make it to the core first!" Samus exclaimed.

Trace just shook his head. "No, impossible. I tried when I was looking for the Octoliths. No way down."

"Yes, there is. There is a room near the Combat Hall. it's where I had to place the Octoliths to reveal the Oubliette. There was this thing on the wall, I couldn't scan it or anything. It's probably a new path!" Samus immediately grabbed Trace by the arm and started running towards the Combat Hall.

"C'mon, these things are just gonna keep on coming!"

Kanden and Sylux were on the Oubliette, seeing if there was anything here to defeat the Goreas.

"It's no good! Just run! That place where we were almost killed!" Sylux ordered.

"You mean...," Kanden began to say.

But before he could finish, another ten Goreas were after them. They were in BattleHammer mode!

"Barrage! Go in alt-form!" Kanden shouted.

Kanden easily folded up into the insect-like StingLarvae, as Sylux did into the LockJaw. Leaving behind tons of bombs, they reached the dome-like room, leading to a portal. But, another Gorea was blocking the door!

Coming out of alt, Sylux said in shock, "Oh crap! It's turning black, invincible! It's gonna USE THE OMEGA CANNON!"

And after a huge explosion, the Goreas left this area. Sylux and Kanden were nowhere to be found...

"What the hell is that...?" Samus said, staring into the (now dry and cold) core of Alinos. There was some kind of huge craeture's body lying there.

"I don't know, but I sure hope it's dead..." Trace said, shocked.

At that moment, Samus accidently released a shot from her arm cannon, shooting the ground below her.

"Nice going, Samus. You just made me realize that... that thing... is... alive..." Trace said, now starting to back away.

The creature then started to stand. A six-armed, mutant reptile-like thing, and... it looked even stronger than a Gorea!

"If we can just find a way to train this thing, we'll be able to- OH MY GOD!" The creature just grabbed Samus in the middle of her idea. She could feel her suit slightly snapping under the power of this creature.

"Samus, I just found out what it is! And I could've sworn Metroids weren't in the Alimbic Cluster!" Trace shouted. But then, he immediately started firing Imperialist shots at it.

"Aim for the eyes, Trace! The eyes!" While shouting this, she looked at the thing trying to suffocate her. It was... some kind of fusion of an Omega Metroid and a Metroid Prime!

"Samus, try to use your ice beam! This thing lives on Alinos cause it has a giant weakness to cold!" Trace commanded.

Samus was starting to feel dizzy. She would pass out at any minute. just one chance, she thought. Getting some energy into her arm cannon, she fired her Ice Beam. Wait. I also have Noxus's Judicator! Realizing this, she tried to combine the two, just by using the energy in her right arm. A slight fusion shot, and now she just had to FIRE!

The creature's arm immediately froze! "Trace, missiles! Fire as many as you can!"

Under order, Trace shot at least twenty missiles at the Metroid's forearm. Trace's plan worked. The arm cracked off and samus was freed.

"Trace, c'mon. We gotta get out of here! This thing'll kill us if we stay any longer!"

"We just have to remember it. We may be able to free it and have it kill the Goreas later on" Trace said, while running for the exit.

"We can only use that as a last resort. It's too dangerous. Just worry about getting out of here alive!" Samus yelled.

"Ok, we're all gonna need some training. The first day of this war, and all seven of us were almost defeated. Alinos is basically deserted of Goreas. There are only about seven or eight there. We head there in the morning." Samus was sending a transmission to the other hunters. They were all in their own ships on the outskirts of the Alimbic Cluster. They could still see Goreas orbiting around the five planets. The Goreas may be the universe's dominant species soon...