"This," Ashen Feather said, "is the training chamber."
Samus looked around in awe. The room was enormous, dwarfing even the long shafts present in Brinstar. A large bridge was in the center of the room, with bubbling lava below. "The training chamber is connected to all three major areas of Zebes," Ashen explained. "Maridia from above, Norfair from below, and Brinstar to the side. We've captured several native creatures to train you with…are you ready?"
Samus nodded her head. "Bring it on," she said.
"All right, then. Step onto the bridge. You have your Gravity Suit upgrade, right?"
Samus nodded again.
"Good. Then it won't make a difference when I do this." He pressed a button on the wall. Instantly, the door was sealed shut, though there was a window for Ashen to watch through. Moments later, a hatch on the ceiling opened, and water came flooding into the room, filling it almost completely.
Moments later, Samus heard a familiar roar.
The monstrous crustacean, Draygon swam downwards, letting loose another roar. The hatch closed after it, leaving Samus alone with the beast.
Draygon swooped down, attempting to grab Samus with its claws. The bounty hunter quickly rolled into her Morph Ball, narrowly escaping its grasp. She unrolled, then shot a few missiles at it. The explosives bounced harmlessly off of its thick hide.
Samus swore. When she had first fought a Draygon, she had used her Grapple Beam to conduct electricity from a short-circuiting machine in order to defeat it. This time, though, she didn't have her Grapple Beam…nor did she have access to such a device. She'd have to figure out another way to kill it.
There was no time for thinking now, though; Draygon was attacking again. This time, Samus was unprepared, and the crustacean's claws closed around her. She fired frantically, but it was to no avail. Draygon swam around, gaining momentum, then slammed Samus into a wall. Her armor cracked slightly with the force of the impact.
As she rose to her feet again, Samus fired a few more missiles. Most of them bounced off again, but one of them hit its exposed belly.
Draygon roared with pain.
A smile grew across Samus's face as she developed a plan.
Taking aim at Draygon's belly again, she fired off several missiles and a charged shot. Again, Draygon's pain was evident; in desperation, it attempted to grab her once more, but Samus was prepared this time. She rolled into Morph Ball form and lay a Power Bomb as she rolled off.
The crustaceous beast was smarter than it appeared, though; now knowing that Samus knew its weak point, it hovered above her now, not allowing her a clear shot at its belly. Occasionally, it would descend, swiping at Samus with its sharp claws, then quickly retreating to safety again.
Samus tried to get a good angle on it, but nothing seemed to work. Draygon was too fast for her to outrun, even with her Speed Booster.
Then, suddenly, she remembered why she was fighting – to hone her Metroid abilities…
Perhaps if she tried to tap into them…?
She took a deep breath, then concentrated on the part of her that was infected with Metroid DNA. As if in response, her claw-like hand seemed to pulsate.
Suddenly, the ground started getting farther away.
She had gained the ability to levitate.
Now, she was level with Draygon, allowing her to easily target its belly. She took aim, and blasted it to bits.
"Game over," she said smugly as the carcass sank to the ground.
Then, suddenly, she felt a brief pain in her arm. She quickly took off her armor to see what was the matter.
The Metroid DNA infection had spread to her elbow.
-=-=-
The color was drained from each and every one of the troopers' faces. In the aftermath of the battle, they were trying to decide what to do next.
"We have to get out of here," Wesley repeated for the fifth time. "It's too dangerous here. We need reinforcements. We need a LOT of reinforcements."
"By now, they'll have alerted the main pirate force," another trooper pointed out. "Even if we had the entire Federation army with us, we wouldn't stand a chance. They're completely prepared for us, and this is their home turf."
"We still have to get out of here."
-=-=-
Meanwhile, White Voice's face paled as he received the newest data. He hurriedly went to show Ashen Feather and Samus.
The X Parasites had discovered the underground caves.
-=-=-
"I'm not denying that we need to leave," the trooper responded. "But you need to calm down a bit. Stop hyperventilating and think- "
The sound of a large explosion from above interrupted him.
Everyone was silent. Several seconds later, the noise of heavy footsteps approached them.
"Everyone hide behind the giant lizard," hissed one trooper. They all gathered their weapons and did so. Wesley peered around the edge to see if he could discover what was approaching.
Moments later, he saw.
It was Samus Aran.
Without any thought but his own safety, he panicked. Abandoning his companions, he ran as fast as he possibly could, away from her. He knew that she would kill him for betraying her. He knew it.
He wanted to live.
Shouts and sounds of gunfire erupted behind him, but he didn't look back.
-=-=-
Ashen Feather stared at the screen grimly. "It's only a matter of time now," he said. "Tourian is difficult to reach, but it isn't impossible. The X Parasites will find us."
He turned to Samus. "When the X Parasites reach us, you must escape. You're the only one in the universe who can fight them. If they kill you…" He deliberately left the sentence without an ending.
"But what about you and White Voice?" Samus asked. Ashen Feather sighed. "We must remain here. We'll need to terminate the Mother Brain, first of all. If the X Parasites got their hands on it, they'd have access to our entire database. They'd know the location of every planet in the galaxy, exactly where every trace of civilization was. They'd spread through the galaxy more quickly than you could imagine. Plus, we need to destroy any ships we have here; if the X Parasites gained access to a space-faring vessel, it'd be just as catastrophic."
-=-=-
The pilot, after a long nap, awoke, suddenly. He quickly found out why; the communications radio was crackling. He quickly turned it on. "Pilot of GFS Odin to ground squad; do you read?"
The message came back quickly. "We read you, captain. We've successfully taken Samus prisoner. Please land ASAP."
"Right away."
He maneuvered the ship to where he had dropped them off, then landed. There were six of the troopers remaining. With them, Samus Aran stood with a large-scale explosive tied to her back.
The pilot frowned. Something seemed…off…about them. The troops and Aran herself all seemed…different.
He shrugged it off as nothing. He led them all aboard. As she passed him, though, Samus glanced at him briefly. He managed to catch a glimpse of the face inside the visor.
The eyes were completely blank.
Suddenly, blob-like creatures erupted from Aran and all the troopers, and everything went black.
Heavy footsteps echoed through the long corridor, accompanied by noises of hissing and spitting. Occasionally, the footsteps would stop, but they would soon resume their methodical march. Soulless eyes, masked by a green visor, flicked back and forth as the SA-X hunted its prey.
Tarus Wesley held his breath as the terrifying figure plodded through the tunnel. When he had bolted, he had been seen by the SA-X. After it had disposed of his comrades, it had begun its slow search for him. This on its own was frightening enough, but what absolutely terrified him was what he had witnessed it do later.
It multiplied.
Wesley was, of course, still under the belief that he was being hunted by the real Samus Aran. A display of an oddity such as this would only serve to make him more fearful.
A buzzing noise filled the air. Wesley had long since identified all of the SA-X's techniques. The buzzing was an indicator that it had just launched itself through the air, surrounded by a swirling mass of destructive energy. He had nicknamed it the "Screw Attack", as it resembles a bolt being screwed in, somewhat.
The SA-X was approaching his rock, now. He was trying to gauge when he should swivel around it in order avoid being seen when a loud snarl filled the air.
"URMSHGA!"
Space Pirates.
-=-=-
"How far have the X spread now?" Ashen Feather questioned. White Voice conveyed the question to Mother Brain, who promptly replied, "They have reached the gate, but they are bewildered by the lock you have placed there. It is only a matter of time, however, before they call upon the X clone of the Hatchling in order to solve this dilemma."
Samus clenched her fist slightly.
"Samus," Ashen Feather said softly. "You'll have to leave now."
"No," Samus replied curtly. "Not yet."
"Samus, I know -"
"It's not about that," she responded, knowing what Ashen Feather was about to say. "It's a part of it, I suppose, but this is something else, mostly. I'll leave…but I want to do this, first."
Ashen Feather looked at White Voice for guidance. The mute Chozo nodded slightly. "All right," he conceded. "You know where the elevator is."
Samus smiled and hugged them both. "I'll see you again soon," she promised. She grabbed her helmet from where it lay on the floor and put it over her face. The familiar green visor greeted her, and it turned transparent after a moment. Her status appeared on the sides of the visor.
"Energy tanks…full. Missiles…full. All suit technology functional. Time to go kick some parasite ass," she muttered.
The rest of her armorsuit formed around her, and Samus left Tourian at full speed.
Mother Brain's eye gazed after her. "Suicidal girl," it commented before returning to its duties.
-=-=-
Wesley peered out from behind the rock at the confrontation that was occurring. A squad of Space Pirates, numbering two dozen, faced the emotionless SA-X, whom he still believed to be Samus. Their condition, though, oddly enough, seemed strange. Most of them had some form of injury. One of them had half its arm missing; another had a long slash along its abdomen and was bleeding a disgusting yellow fluid. What had happened to this group of pirates? Wesley wondered.
What appeared to be their leader – a pirate with its face brutally maimed – snarled again. The rest of the pirates snarled in response, and they all charged.
This was not a battle, Wesley quickly realized – this was a slaughter. The SA-X seemed unphased by the shots the pirates fired at it. It walked up to a pirate, still firing at the frightening figure, and knocked it over the head with its arm cannon. The next pirate's neck was snapped.
Despite the odds being against them, the pirates continued to fight even as they fell one by one.
Wesley noticed movement up above, on an overhang. He glanced up at it, and spotted broad wings, glowing yellow eyes, and a beak-like mouth.
Ridley. His eyes had been restored.
Their eyes connected for a moment, and they seemed to share a common understanding – that this battle was hopeless.
Then the space dragon flew away, and Wesley returned to watching the battle as if nothing had ever happened.
There was but one Space Pirate left, now. The SA-X approached it, seeming to take pleasure in causing this pirate's death.
And then a missile killed it before it could.
There, standing behind the collapsed pirate, was the real Samus Aran, standing in all her glory.
The SA-X wasn't impressed. It immediately fired off an Ice Beam shot at her.
Aran dodged and rolled into Morph Ball form. She lay a Power Bomb beside her foe as she rolled past it, but the SA-X countered by freezing the Morph Ball in its tracks before it could escape the blast radius.
Samus unrolled and fired a charged shot at the SA-X. The clone Screw Attacked its way through the shot, then fired one of its own. Samus Screw Attacked over it in turn. They both then leapt into the air as swirling balls of destructive energy, and crashed into each other. They both fell to the ground, harmed an equal amount. For now, it was a stalemate. The SA-X began its next volley of attacks.
Wesley was so busy watching this extraordinary battle that he failed to notice Ridley landing right beside him until it was too late.
He felt a claw close around his abdomen and a voice whisper into his ear, "You're quite the sneaky little rat, aren't you?" Cackling softly, Ridley flew off into the darkness with Wesley as his prisoner.
Samus leapt to one side, firing off a volley of missiles as she did so. The SA-X, in turn, rolled into Morph Ball mode and swiveled around behind Samus before she could discern what had happened. Several bombs were layed at Samus's feet, and the bounty hunter found herself knocked forward by the blasts.
Samus held her hands out in front of her and turned the fall into a frontward flip, however. She quickly turned around, and, spotting the ball out of the corner of her eye, fired a missile at the place where it would be in a moment. The sound of the SA-X in pain rewarded her.
Her nemesis returned to its normal form. Its blank white eyes, just barely visible behind the green visor, were narrowed into slits. It clearly hadn't expected Samus to be so skilled.
Samus made the next move, firing off a charged blast at the SA-X. It quickly dived out of the way, firing several shots at Samus. Much to her confusion, though, all of them missed. Surely the SA-X was a better shot than that…?
She got her answer in a moment as a giant form tackled her to the ground.
Samus found herself looking straight into the draconic face of her old enemy, Ridley.
"Surprise," Ridley snarled as he raked his claws across her armorsuit.
As the SA-X approached, the space dragon lashed his whiplike tail out at the Samus clone, sending it smashing into the wall. Samus used this opportunity to fire off a missile into Ridley's face, forcing him to let her go. The three combatants each separated, surveying the situation before engaging in an all-out three-way brawl.
Samus, gauging the SA-X to be a more immediate threat, instantly fired a missile at it. The clone had been concentrating on Ridley, so the attack caught it off-guard. The force of the missile caused it to go flying several feet before landing unceremoniously on its back. Immediately, Samus trained her sight on Ridley – or, at least, where Ridley had been an instant before. Where had he...?
Samus's unfinished question was answered in an instant as she and the SA-X were bombarded with fireball blasts from above. Ridley was flying above, using the high ceiling to his advantage. Samus sighed in frustration. She wasn't used to fighting a two-fronted battle with such powerful enemies.
In order to better combat Ridley's aerial capabilities, Samus tapped into her Metroid DNA and began levitating into the air.
A look of complete and utter disbelief crossed the space dragon's face as he witnessed this strange turn of events.
The SA-X's blank stare followed after the two of them, coldly calculating its options. Realizing that the aerial combatants would be hard-pressed to defend themselves from a ground attack while they were preoccupied with one another, it raised its arm cannon and waited for the proper time to strike.
Samus ducked under a swipe from Ridley's claws, and used the opportunity to smash his head with her arm cannon. The space dragon was dazed for a moment, and he lost some altitude. At that moment, the SA-X started firing.
Samus flew to one side just before a Super Missile collided with her. Ridley, however, was not so lucky; as it hit him, he was launched back…right into Samus. The force of the impact caused the bounty hunter to fall to the ground. The SA-X used the opportunity to fire off an Ice Beam blast at her, chilling Samus to the bone.
An enraged Ridley hit the SA-X with a flying tackle before it could do any further damage, though, allowing Samus to briefly catch her breath. She glanced at her energy and missile reserves, and started at how quickly her energy reserves had depleted. Of her original fourteen, Samus only had four energy tanks left. While she hadn't been hit by too many attacks, those attacks had been damn powerful…she had a decent amount of missiles remaining, at least.
The SA-X bludgeoned Ridley with its arm cannon, dazing the space dragon, then, with extraordinary strength, kicked him off of it. Climbing to its feet, the clone instantly fired three missiles at Samus. She managed to dodge the first two, but the third caught her off-guard, sending her crashing into a wall. She was then snatched up by Ridley, who flew up to the ceiling and held her against there.
"You and your little friends have been quite the nuisance," he growled. Little friends…? Samus thought, dazed. What was Ridley talking about?
"Either way, though, most of them are either dead or captured by me, and you'll be dead in a few moments, so your futile resistance will be over soon. Rot in hell, Aran!"
At that moment, Ridley began charging a large fireball to release at point-blank range.
Samus felt a distinct sense of déjà vu, and grinned smugly as she remembered a similar situation to this one that had occurred only a few days before.
"Space Pirates never learn," she murmured to herself as she latched onto Ridley's flesh with her arm. Claws extended from her fingertips and dug beneath the space dragon's skin as she began absorbing his energy.
This time, though, Ridley didn't back off. Despite the obvious weariness that was increasing as Samus absorbed more of his energy, Ridley continued charging the fireball. Only when he couldn't go on did he release the destructive burst of flame.
He then let go of Samus and fell to the earth, exhausted. The SA-X, knowing he could do little to resist, approached him.
As the fireball hit the bounty hunter, she felt as if she was being boiled alive. Her screams of pain reverberated throughout the caverns of Zebes, and she fell to the ground after Ridley.
Gasping with pain and exhaustion, Samus glanced at her energy reserves once more. No additional energy tanks left, and only 23 energy units. If she hadn't absorbed some of Ridley's energy beforehand, that fireball would have been enough to kill her.
The SA-X looked between its two helpless opponents, as if unable to decide which one to finish off first.
This moment of weakness was its downfall.
With the last of his strength, Ridley's fist collided with the SA-X, sending it flying back several meters…and landing right next to Samus.
Samus seized the opportunity immediately, plunging her Metroid-like claws into her clone and absorbing the X Parasite within.
The SA-X let loose an inhuman shriek, writhing and howling as its very essence was absorbed into Samus. The blank eyes disappeared beneath the visor as the very last of its life was sucked dry. Moments later, the armor disintegrated into dust.
Suddenly, Samus felt a movement behind her, and spun around just in time to block Ridley's tail whip.
Samus and Ridley stared at each other for a full minute, neither one moving. And then Samus noticed an emotion she had never seen before in Ridley's eyes.
Fear.
Ridley was still severely weakened, and Samus, after absorbing the SA-X, was at full power. Samus had the advantage here, and Ridley knew it. With a single shot, Samus could probably kill him.
Ridley was at her mercy.
Samus tried to press the trigger within her arm cannon to fire a missile, but her finger wouldn't seem to move. It was as if there was some unseen force preventing her from enacting her revenge on the being that had caused the death of her father and killed her mother before her very eyes.
Finally, Ridley leapt up and flew away, leaving Samus standing there with her arm cannon raised.
She swore to herself. She had just had the perfect opportunity to finally kill Ridley once and for all, and she had let it slip between her fingers. What was wrong with her?
Then, she noticed something strange. Even though Ridley was beyond her sight, she could still feel his presence. It was as if she had been given a sort of sixth sense.
But she could feel something else around her, too – something much more distinct.
X Parasites.
-=-=-
Tarus Wesley had seen many odd things during his lifetime. But this? This beat them all.
There was nothing stranger than seeing a band of Space Pirates treat a Galactic Federation trooper with civilty.
Admittedly, this particular band wasn't in the best condition; like the ones he had seen earlier, this one was in poor condition. Each pirate had one or more terrible wounds – it was a wonder that some of them were still even alive, and he felt sick looking at some of them. But he'd take this civil, wounded band over the one he had just been rescued from any day.
They numbered no more than ten, yet they had been good enough to rescue him from the two dozen that Ridley had left him with without any casualties. Despite their wounds, they were good – Wesley would give them that.
One of the pirates served him a makeshift cup with some translucent yellowish-white fluid in it. Wesley sniffed it apprehensively, and realized with a note of surprise that it was a human beverage: lemonade.
"How did you get this?" he asked, bewildered. The pirate looked at him with annoyance, and Wesley realized his mistake. "…Right. Sorry. I forgot."
The pirates were drawing out their plans for something, that much was certain. They were huddled around one of the walls, holding some sort of black fluid that they seemed to be using as ink. Occasionally, one of the pirates would wipe the ink off and start anew.
When they finally withdrew from the wall to look at their handiwork, Wesley recognized one of the drawings there:
Samus.
Behind her were several Space Pirates, shooting at her. Were they planning a sneak attack?
But then his attention was drawn to what was in front of Samus: more Space Pirates – these ones bigger and stronger – led by Ridley. Wesley then realized that the pirates behind Samus weren't shooting at her, but at the other pirates.
They were planning an alliance with Samus Aran.
-=-=-
"President Rodriguez, sir. The ship sent after Samus Aran has returned with her in tow. What do you want to do with them?"
Rodriguez's eyes gleamed with triumph. "Send General Arvo and Tarus Wesley in with Aran."
There was a brief pause. "Sir, they've reported that both of them perished while trying to capture Aran."
Rodriguez considered this, then shook his head. It was a shame…Arvo was one of his best generals, and Wesley had potential. Oh well. He'd send a message to Wesley's family and memorialize their achievements.
"Right, then…just send in Aran with some of the ship's crew to escort her."
"Right away, sir."
Several minutes later, three people entered the office of one of the most influential men in the galaxy: Samus Aran and two crew members from the mission to capture her.
The moment they entered his room, Rodriguez could tell that something was wrong. He stood up to greet them, nevertheless, not betraying his suspicions.
"Well, I never thought I'd see the day when the great bounty hunter, Samus Aran, would be bound in chains," he said mockingly. Aran's head was downcast. Grinning on the outside, Rodriguez walked around his desk and stood directly in front of Aran. "Look at me while I'm talking to you," he hissed.
Slowly, Aran's head rose, and Rodriguez caught a glimpse of two blank, pure white orbs where Aran's eyes should have been. At that moment, yellow globs erupted from all three of them and rushed toward Rodriguez.
He recognized them immediately as X Parasites.
Rodriguez dove out of the way, trying to dodge the attack, but the parasite swerved suddenly and latched onto his body. Rodriguez watched with horror as the yellow glob disappeared into his skin.
The X Parasites had infected him.
Already, he could feel them multiplying within, absorbing his DNA. His vision blurred, and he began slipping into unconsciousness.
Then, his eyes latched onto a single object of hope lying on his desk, and he tried to walk over to it.
As soon as he stood, he was overcome by a wave of nausea, forcing him to sink back down to his knees. His head felt like it was spinning. Gulping, he went on his hands and knees and tried crawling to his desk. When he was halfway there, he erupted into a series of spasms and convulsions.
Attempting to get his body back under control, Rodriguez crawled the rest of the way to the desk, and collapsed at the foot of it. He tried to lift his arm, but it felt as if it was being weighed down by a two-ton object. He tried the other arm, and felt the same result. This was the end, he thought.
Then, he tried one last time. With strength he didn't know he had, he managed to lift one hand up onto the desk. It grasped around for the object of his desire, and felt the handle. He brought the hand down, and dropped the object beside himself. He didn't have much time left.
His hand shaking, he picked up the syringe and injected the green Metroid DNA into himself.