Phase IV
Log 4,398
I didn't get far before more acid pools blocked the path. As expected, a side passage split off, and once again Metroid life signs are strong. Very strong. The passage splits in two, one arm sloping upwards, the other downwards. I don't want to backtrack, so I'm going up.
Log 4,399
The sound is back. More Chozo ruins. For perhaps the first time, the thought does not reassure me. Ambient temperature rising marginally, humidity rising significantly. No indications of cause immediately evident.
Investigating.
Log 4,400
It's a weapons factory. Not a conversion, not a last-minute, desperation measure. A designed, purpose-built Chozo weapons manufacturing plant. I . . . don't know what to think. Internal security drones dart around, attacking incessantly. Designation: TPO. Automated workers flitter from long-shattered machine to machine, endlessly and hopelessly trying to bring them back online to build more and deadlier weapons. Designation: Proboscum.
There are several observation posts, hardened glass portals overlooking deep shafts. A testing ground of some sort.
…
One of the viewports was shattered, broken from the inside. Somehow, they put too much animal in their weapons, pushed too hard, and lost control of them.
There was no orderly retreat here—there was a slaughter.
I've located two more upgrades. The first, Designation: Space Jump, improves and further powers the light maneuvering jets on my bad, designed for minor course corrections, to give them enough power to significantly improve my vertical range far beyond even the High Jump Boots. Clearly it was used by these . . . these weapons manufactures to enter and exit their testing grounds below to check on their experiments.
Likewise, the Plasma Beam was doubtlessly intended to put down any test subjects that grew . . . unruly.
…
…
Two Gamma Metroids encountered and eliminated. 24.
Metroid life signs are strong below.
Moving to engage.
Log 4,401
Ambient temperature and humidity both very high. Whatever they were testing prior, the Metroids are clearly at home in this sort of environment. They seem to emit some sort of webs which choke the area. In this sort of ideal environment, I would expect to see high levels of native life, but there is surprisingly only normal levels. Are the Metroids killing them off?
The webs seem to radiate out from a central point, a honeycomb-like structure.
A hive. Moving to engage.
[WARNING: Energy levels dropping.]
[WARNING: Missile levels dropping.]
[WARNING Missile levels low.]
[WARNING: Energy levels low.]
[WARNING: Missile levels critical.]
Log 4,402
Two Alpha Metroids destroyed. 6 Gamma Metroids destroyed.
The hive and surrounding tunnels are clear. Earthquake signals drop in acid levels.
16.
…
16.
Phase V
Log 4,403
This area has clearly been submerged in acid for some time. Very little animal life is present, with one exception.
Designation: Octroll. Clearly more at home while submerged, this creature nevertheless retains sufficient mobility in atmosphere to be a threat. Like most life forms on this planet, it relies on ambush tactics to stay hidden from larger predators and to hunt. They favor small crevices, folding its soft, malleable yet muscular form in on itself before uncoiling rapidly, like a snake, and latching on to prey with four surprisingly powerful sucker-tipped arms.
The plasma beam virtually disintegrates it, making closer inspection impractical.
…
This place is almost eerily empty.
Acid blocks the way further, which means a Metroid is hiding here somewhere, but life signs signals are weak.
A single rear-guard, meant to slow me down, to buy time? For new, even more dangerous evolutions?
…
No, I can't overestimate them. They're animals. Dangerous and somewhat intelligent, yes, but just animals that need to be put down.
Log 4,404
This tunnel is exceptionally long and narrow. Even now, I am struggling forward in morph ball. It is difficult to tell how far I've come, how deep, or even if this tunnel is moving up or down. If this is a delaying tactic, it is an effective one.
Log 4,405
A Gamma.
15.
Phase VI
Log 4,406
Little progress before another acid blockade. Pursuing Metroids down side passage. The area has little animal life. Appears to be another Chozo weapons test biome, this one a swamp instead of a sauna.
Log 4,407
Gamma and Alpha. More evidence of webs, though more than there should be for just two Metroids.
…
They're running.
13.
Phase VII
Log 4,408
Even the primary shaft has narrowed to a small fissure leading ever deeper. Significant backfill and loose rock require frequent stops to blast open a path. The path is half-flooded with water that descends with me as I blast open a channel. There may be another Chozo ruin ahead.
…
I fell asleep while in morph ball.
Log 4,409
I've stumbled across the largest chamber yet, by a significant margin. The cavern is dominated by a huge, black tower. Flying creatures have burrowed into the tower's outer layer, like maggots in the tower's dead flesh. Still-functional floodlights atop the tower rotate sullenly, sending shadows skittering across the walls.
It's a fortress. Occasionally, a flying hard-shelled creature will wander into range of one of the handful of still-functional wallfire and Autrak emplacements coating the tower, puncturing the dark with a flash of light and a brief howl of pain.
This was the Chozo's final line of defense.
The Metroids are here in fore. Time to go hunting.
Log 4,410
I've blasted my way into the base of the tower and located a power station. This will serve as my base of operations, from which I will mount small expeditions into hostile territory.
Log 4,411
I've made my way up the tower, destroying debris and encroaching, nesting predators. There is a full armory here, with the spazer beam, wave beam, and plasma beam.
The Chozo went to war . . . and they lost.
Log 4,412
The passages to the top of the tower, the most secure position, are blocked. It looks like the Chozo collapsed the passage as a last-ditch defensive effort. I can hear something heavy moving above, which means it's not a metroid. Another Arachnus? The last one made its lair in Chozo ruins.
Regardless, it means there is an access point. The roof?
Investigating.
Log 4,413
The ascent has proven difficult. The Chozo's initial efforts to preserve native wildlife here mean there are large numbers of senjoo and other flying creatures that choke the cavern and must be exterminated to progress upwards.
Even with the High Jump Boots and the Space Jump, rocky outcrops sturdy enough to support both me and my power armor are few and far between, requiring precise jumps and careful landings.
Twice the rock has crumbled beneath me. Once I overshot. The Space Jump maneuvering jets have compensated and let me land on my feet. About halfway up I jumped to a crack in the cavern wall, and it crumpled inward, revealing a narrow side passage. A crude attempt to disguise this passage?
Pointless.
None of them can escape. The Metroids turned the Chozo into the monsters they tried so hard not to become, then killed them. I am not a Chozo, just one of their creations, but I will finish what they started. I will exterminate them.
Log 4,414
Gamma destroyed.
12 more.
Log 4,415
Continued ascent. The senjoos, pincher flies, and halzyn are thick, constantly fighting for territory. They are no match for the plasma beam. The roof access has likewise been blocked from the inside, but three-quarters of the way up a hole was blown through the outer wall.
Investigating.
Log 4,416
The Chozo are dead. They made their final stand here, where they were slaughtered. Dozens of them, their bones still wrapped in power armor. There were no injuries, no shattered skeletons or broken armor. The life was sucked out of them, one by one.
The Metroids.
The Metroids did this.
And whoever threat X was, the Metroids finished them off, too.
All that remains is to—
Rooooargh!
Wha-unnnngh
[Log auto-terminated to conserve processing power.]
[Warning: Power Armor energy low.]
[WARNING: major blunt force trauma detected.]
[WARNING: temperature exceeding armor tolerance thresholds.]
[WARNING: Power Armor energy critical.]
[Warning: Missile reserves low.]
Log 4,417
Threat assessment added.
Designation: Zeta Metroid. Smaller than the Gamma, and no longer capable of flight. The spindly limbs are now oversized for its relatively small body, but are quick and powerful. Between its two arms, two legs, and tail, it is highly maneuverable, capable of climbing on walls and even the ceiling. It is also strong, able to throw even the weight of a power-armored form across the room.
It has developed a segmented neck, which supports a larger head with a large plated covering. It retains the ability to emit electrical discharges, and has developed venom sacks of potent acid in its neck, which it spits with great accuracy.
The larval membrane remains in the Zeta's chest, though like earlier forms, it retains only a single red nucleus core. This remains its most vulnerable point, but continues to be hardened with each evolution. The Gamma's protective core membrane was twice as thick as the Alpha's, requiring ten missiles to penetrate. The Zeta continues this trend. 20 missiles . . .
The Zeta was guarding a final upgrade for my power armor, Designation: Screw Attack. The ultimate expression of war by the Chozo, a total rejection of their culture and beliefs, the screw attack transforms the bearer into a living weapon. While airborne, the armor condenses half-way into morph ball and rotates violently, discharging electricity indiscriminately and destroying everything in the immediate vicinity, friend or foe, natural or artificial.
…
What it does to the bearer, half-way in and out of morph ball, is irrelevant.
It's perfect.
11 more.
Log 4,418
With the screw attack, I've decimated the airborne predator population on the tower, ripping out their corruption.
Log 4,419
Gamma Metroid spotted. It fled into a fissure near the cavern's roof. Target pursued and destroyed.
10.
Log 4,420
Another Gamma attempted to flee.
9.
Log 4,421
There is another Zeta. I've tracked it down to the cavern floor. It's running, but without the ability to fly, it doesn't have far to run.
Log 4,422
8.
Log 4,423
Earthquake. Pursuing.
