Disclaimer: Yeah whatever. Btw this Chapter and the "Dredd" chapters are happening at the same time, you'll understand why I mentioned this.
Chapter 9 Ridley's on Tallon IV: Samus Aran is Salvation?
All Riku could see was dark, he could hear sparking sounds and loud booming noises, it took him a couple of seconds to realise that he was still alive. He tried to move but something was blocking his view, he kicked forward moving a piece of metal out of the way. There was water everywhere, it wasn't too deep but he was glad they hadn't landed deeper.
"Xion!" he cried out searching for his partner, he found her lying against a wall, she was unconsciousness. Her head was bleeding, he tried to wake her but was stopped when he felt the room shake, the room began to compress and the roof started to cave in.
He quickly pulled Xion over his shoulder and ran as the room filled with water, he jumped through a hole and into what looked like a huge lake, and he quickly pulled Xion to the surface and swam to shore. He pulled her onto the beach, he checked her breathing in case he had to use CPR, he found that she was still breathing but very faintly, he pushed down on her chest to push the water out, once she started coughing and spluttering he sighed in relief.
He looked over where they had crashed, it was in the middle of a huge ravine, most of the ship was underwater but the very top was sticking out. "Riku" Xion said weakly, forcing his attention back to her "What happened?" she said as he helped her up "Ridley destroyed our ship and then we crashed down with the freighter, somehow we're alive"
She looked round, the lush alien vegetation and unfamiliar landscape uneased her "This is Tallon IV" she said in surprise, from the surface she had expected more of a desert like world. They dried their cloths as best they can, Xion transformed as she was much colder than Riku and he travelled to the only exit he could find.
After crawling form underneath a waterfall and seeing some strange looking mushrooms, he found himself in another large open area, in the middle there was what looked like a space ship. He immediately ran over to it, he couldn't find any exit until he realised it could only be accessed from the top, he jumped and found a man hole and tried to prise it open.
Instead a female voice came on "Subject does not match DNA scan, retreat now or lethal force will be used" he jumped away instantly. "Dammit" he said to himself looking round.
What the hell were they went to do? They had lost their ship, were stranded on an alien world with no way to contact anyone. He wasn't sure what to do, "Xion, I'm gonna be honest with you, I really have no fucking clue what we're gonna do, I mean we don't even know what lives on this planet"
He could tell she was thinking, "Damn it this is my entire fault if I hadn't let Ridley destroy my ship then this would never have happened" said Riku as he held his face in his hands, Xion transformed and placed her hand on his shoulders and leaned against him "It's not your fault Riku, I'm just glad we're both ok. Now let's try see if we can find any one that can help us, that ship looks like a Federation ship so maybe there's somebody here who can help us"
Riku nodded "Yeah your right, you always know what to say to me when things are getting down Xion, I really appreciate it" he kissed her on the head. They then continued on their way, completely unaware of the eyes watching them. The Aeropirates sent a message to headquarters "Subjects have been identified as humans from the DC academy, awaiting future orders from Central Command"
Riku and Xion quickly found that traversing through the world of Tallon IV was a lot more difficult than they had anticipated; the Tallon Overworld was a wet rainforest like area filled with fearsome giant insects and plantlife. Even the very ground seemed to move and in some cases wiggle beneath Riku's feet as he climbed, crawled and leapt around the lush jungle.
Eventually they found a large elevator which took them away from the lush jungle in the Chozo Ruins; here the area was more desert like with huge ruins of some kind of ancient civilisation. "Ever heard of the Chozo?" asked Riku as he scanned some of the hieroglyphs on the walls. "Not much really, I heard that they were this great technologically advanced race that created some super weapon and then got wiped out by it" said Xion. Riku looked over at his scanner and read out some of the information.
"Our sanctuary grows by the day. We Chozo know much of technology, but we have chosen to leave it behind on this journey. Our home here on Tallon IV will be a place of simplicity: structures hewn from the stone, bridges worn by branches, hallways caressed by pure waters. We build around the ancient and noble trees, drawing from their strength and giving them our own in return. All that is wild will flow around us here: our race will be just one more group of creatures in the knit of nature. It is our hope that such a state will bring with it greater wisdom, a greater understanding of the nature of the universe. Once our city is complete, we will peer inward and discover the truth."
Riku looked impressed "So they were this mighty race of technological gods essentially, makes you wonder what happened here?", Xion agreed "Well lets go find out" she suggested and he pressed on. He found many doors had once had locks on them but now they were gone, it looked like they had been destroyed by some kind of weapon.
He kept going through the ruins, he noticed how the wildlife mostly seemed to ignore him but there were also surprises like veins with scythe's on the end that would pop out of walls and swing violently, he had to keep his eyes open for the. As he read more Chozo logs he discovered that some kind of meteor had fallen onto the planet long ago and had brought with it some kind of poison, he theorised that this was what was poisoning the water.
He had noticed that as he had been moving through the ruins, the water was green murky and smelt like petrol, nothing lived in it and when he threw in a coin, it dissolved like it was in acid. He had a feeling that this had something to do with the space pirates.
Space Pirates, Riku felt sickened thinking about them, he could remember it clearly.
A young Riku ran through the wave of destruction going through his town, monsters had come during the night led by a giant dragon with yellow eyes. He could hear its shrieks as it flew through the air, setting his town alight "SORA! KAIRI! XION!" he shouted desperately searching for his precious friends, he was the oldest and the most responsible, he had promised to protect them.
Then it appeared, giant leathery wings, purple skin and glowing yellow eyes, it roared so loud he thought his eardrums would burst, it reared its head back and he knew that this was it, he was about to die, he thought of his friends, his dead family, his home, his everything.
It had always been a blank, what had happened after Ridley cornered him, next thing he knew he had been found by Mickey and brought into the Academy. He would never forget the face of the monster that destroyed his family.
He also couldn't help but feel that he was being followed, every time he entered a room he felt like something was watching him and on more than one occasion he had seen blue lights and heard distant screeching like a phantom.
He found a room which his scanner called the Sunchamber and when he entered the door behind him suddenly locked itself, three lights appeared out of the ground before manifesting into ghost shaped like the Chozo, Riku blocked an attack and fired a magic attack at one of them but it disappeared before he could hit it. He kept trying to hit them but they were too fast and kept teleporting.
Then one of them hit him with an attack stunning him, he couldn't move. The ghost began to move in closer to him and there was nothing he could do. He tried to move but couldn't, the ghosts made a mad screeching noise as if they were laughing.
Then one of the ghosts disintegrated, a man classed in armour appeared and started to fire beams of energy at them, he had what looked like a cannon for an arm and his armour was purple and yellow. The ghosts were annihilated, then the man turned to Riku and pointed his cannon at Riku, he stuck his hands up and motioned for him to stop "Wait, wait I'm not gonna hurt you, me and my partner are from the DW academy, we were sent here to help the Federation stop the Space Pirates"
The armored man lowered his weapon and moved closer to Riku, when he looked into his helmet Riku was surprised "You're a girl?" he said without thinking. Sure enough when she removed her helmet he was met with a young woman with long blonde hair tied up in a ponytail, she was very beautiful but also very fierce looking, Riku had a feeling this wasn't someone you messed around with.
"Yes my name is Samus Aran, I'm a bounty hunter who works for the Federation, how did you end up on this planet?" her voice was rather robotic and Riku guessed that she didn't talk much.
"We were investigating a distress call from a pirate freighter called the Orpheon; there had been an accident and all the pirates were dead, we were attacked by a creature called Ridley", Samus's cold face changed for a moment and she almost looked sad. "You know Ridley?" she said.
Riku's face fell "Yeah when we were younger the Space Pirates destroyed our home, our parents, me Xion and our friends Sora and Kairi, Ridley was the leader in our village's attack, I heard he was destroyed but it was definitely him" said Riku, Samus sighed and sat down "I'm the one that destroyed him, he..killed my parents too" she said, Riku was shocked.
He sat down across from her and leaned in interested "What happened?" she looked rather uneasy, Riku could tell that she didn't like talking about it, he didn't want to pressure her and was about to say sorry when she started talking.
"I lived on planet called K-2L with my parents; we were part of the many human colonies' that had traveled to the furthest reaches of space. Life was peaceful until one day when the pirates came, led by Ridley. I was just a small child and I was naïve, I did not understand the brutality or the lack of empathy that these creatures bestowed. I approached Ridley like he was some kind of domestic animal and when he tried to kill me, my mother took the blast. My father and many other members of the colony were able to destroy the pirate's mothership at the cost of their own lives. I was found and raised by a race called the Chozo, they taught me how to fight and gave me my armour, I made it my goal to purge the universe of Ridley and the Space Pirates"
Riku sat back trying to take it all in, he had lost his parent when he was about ten but she had lost her parents when she just a little girl, he couldn't even imagine how it must feel for her. She turned to him her cold demeanour returning "How much do you know of the Space Pirates activity here?"
Riku pulled out his scanner; Samus looked interested and leaned in to look "A meteor crashed to this planet and corrupted it with Phazon, this is what the Pirates are interested in and it why they're here, the Chozo mentioned on their ruin that there is some kind of temple above the impact crater and twelve artifacts have to be collected" he said, Samus typed into her arm cannon.
"I have already been collecting these Artifacts, from what I have seen of this planet the pirates have some kind of mine which they are using to mine for Phazon, I think we should head there and stop their operations before they begin infusing their own warriors with Phazon" she said as she placed her helmet back on, Riku nodded and she pressed her hand onto his armour.
"I have given your armour the same protection as my Gravity suit, you'll need it for the battles ahead, this planet's surface is very dangerous so stay close to me, watch yourself" she said and then they were off.
As they moved through the planet Riku began to understand what Samus meant by the planet being dangerous, they had to traverse through the Magmoor Caverns, a land filled with lava and fire breathing monsters, it was clear that Samus had done this her whole life, she didn't seemed fazed at all when a giant fire breathing worm appeared out from the lava and started firing plasma at her, she froze its head with a shot from her beam and then blew it up with a missile, Riku was glad she was on his side.
They went from very warm to very cold as they reached the Phendrana Drifts; it was a land of snow and ice populated by monsters of all shapes and sizes. There were the giant Sheegoths, dinosaur like monsters with armored backs, Samus's Plasma beam and Riku's Firaga attacks made short work of these ferocious creatures. They also encountered strange electrical beings that could only be destroyed by Samus's wave beam.
Riku began to realise, as they were traversing, that he hadn't used his dark powers once since the mission had begun, that urge that he always felt was still there but he had been so focused on what had been happening he hadn't noticed it. He couldn't help but feel interested in Samus, despite her cold demeanour he could tell that deep down she was rather lonely, having a companion was something alien to her and she often give him thumbs up or a pat on the shoulder when he helped her out, they eventually reached another of the many elevators through-out the planet. "This will lead us to the Phazon Mines, are you ready Riku?" she asked as she activated the elevator. He nodded and looked down at The Way to the Dawn; Xion appeared and nodded to him.
"Yeah, I'm ready"
As soon as they entered the Phazon Mines, Samus scanned the blue substance "Yes this is definitely Phazon, I would avoid contact if I were you" she said as they entered the main plaza. They were almost immediately noticed by a dozen Pirate Troopers, they took cover as they started firing at Samus and Riku.
"I'll freeze them with my Ice Beam, you shatter them with your magic attacks ok?" she said over the noise of the firing pirates, Riku nodded and charged up some Fire spells. In a short time they took care of all the pirates in the main plaza.
"Ok there is a resting point near here, we should heal up before moving forward" said Riku looking at his scanner which had downloaded a map of the area. Samus nodded and after disabling the shield, destroying the turrets guarding the entrance and healing they were ready to move in.
The Phazon mines was filled with Space Pirates of all shapes and sizes, they're were one that could turn invisible called Shadow Pirates, using the Thermal Visor ability that Samus gave him, Riku was able to take these out with his sword with relative ease. Their first problem came with the Wave Pirates; it turned out the Pirates had been making Pirates that were immune to most of Samus's beams with the exception of the beam that matched their colure.
This one was purple which meant it was susceptible to Samus's Wave beam only; after some charged shots she was able to take it down. As they kept moving through the base they encountered more of these pirates and she had to change her beams numerous time to deal with them, Riku dealt with the normal pirates while she dealt with the Beam Troopers.
As they moved deeper into the mine they found that Samus had been correct in her hypothesis on that the Pirates had indeed been experimenting with Phazon, they had to fight giant Pirates infused with Phazon that took several Super Missiles from Samus to destroy and they found scan that were leading up to something called the Omega Pirate.
As they reached an area called the Metroid Quarantine A Samus stopped Riku and motioned for him to kneel, they could hear voices.
"How long is this going to take? We should have completed this research in the Phazon ages ago, the Devils Machine has to be repaired soon otherwise this entire operation will have been pointless" said a deep voice, Riku looked over and saw a strange looking creature. It was some kind of humanoid, green with an insect like body complete with black wings and a tail ending in stinger like barb, despite its monstrous look it had a near human like face.
"Patience Cell, the Space Pirates have almost completed their work and once they do then we will have access to the perfect storage for your machine" said a dark robotic voice which Riku realised was Ridley and sure enough there he was, he was above the others hunched over amongst the wires. Riku had never heard Ridley's voice, he had always imagined that the beast couldn't talk, and clearly there was more to him than Riku had first thought.
"That's all good and done Ridley, but what about your little friend Samus Aran? I'm sure you wouldn't want her medalling with our affairs would you?" said Cell mockingly.
Ridley hissed "My Beam troopers are dealing with her as we speak, there is no way Aran will reach this base alive and if by some miracle she does I'll rip her limb from limb" he said angrily.
"To get back at you for your last defeat I imagine?" said Cell grinning, Ridley let out a roar of anger that shook the entire room. "When I get my hands on her, she will suffer a thousand times the agony I felt as my body was slowly pieced together again by this cybernetic body I know have!" he shouted in anger, he grabbed a random Pirate and crushed him in his hand, the other Pirates kept their distance and worked quicker than usual, even Cell looked disturbed.
"It more than deserved Ridley" said Samus standing up and pointing her gun at him, Riku was surprised but he decided to trust her. He moved with her until they were facing their enemy. Cell chucked and clapped his hands "Welcome Samus Aran, I have heard a lot about you from my companion" he said nodding upward to Ridley who kept his eyes on Samus.
"I see you've escaped from death again Ridley, I'll have to make sure this time I kill you properly" said Samus as she pointed her gun to Ridley. He growled and landed next to Cell "Trust try it you little bitch! I'll make you pay for damaging my body like this!"
"What exactly is going on here?" questioned Riku, earning an interested look from Cell "And you boy. I don't believe we have met. I'am Cell an android created by the brilliant scientist Dr Gero. You can call me the perfect weapon if you prefer" he said mockingly. Riku kept his sword pointed at Cell "I don't care what you are you ugly freak! Why are the Space Pirates planning to do with Phazon?"
"At the center of this Planet, there is a creature of devastating power, we need this creature to complete the Devil Machine, and then we can create our own Heartless and use them to conquer the universe" said Ridley sneering wildly while keeping an eye on Samus.
"Heartless? Why would you try to create something you obviously can't control and what is this Devil's Machine you keep going on about?" questioned Riku, Ridley looked like he was about to respond when another voice came on over the speakers "Ridley, come in Ridley this is Beezlemon! I have a situation developing in Peach Trees in Mega City One and I need your assistance immediately"
"Mega City One, that's were Kairi is!" said Riku in alarm. Ridley grinned and turned to look at Cell "You deal with Aran and the boy, I'll have to cut our little reunion short dear Samus, hopefully next time I see is in a million pieces" he said before flying up and away before Samus could shoot at him.
"Dammit!" Riku heard her say, Cell clicked his fingers and the force field behind him disintegrated, several green jellyfish like creatures with large talons and small nuclei entered the room "Have fun with these little devils Miss Aran, I do hope we meet again" said Cell before he disappeared.
"Metroids" shouted Samus in alarm as the creatures surrounded them, the Pirates also took aim. "You ready for them?" she asked Riku whom looked over at her and grinned "Let's go!".
A/N Kind of a shitty cliff-hanger but I had to find a way to end this absurdly long chapter, definitely the longest one I've done. So yeah anyway Cell (from Dragon Ball Z) joins the large collection of villains I will be using. Bet you weren't expecting Samus and the others to have the same back story. This is also were Ridley was before he went to Mega City 1 a couple chapters back.
Anyway in the next Chapter the "Metroid Prime" arc will finish and we will find out more about what the Pirates are up to and what this "Devils Machine" is in Chapter 10 Into the Impact Crater: Do the Space Pirates have Metroid Prime?".