Not much of the lovable Kraid this chapter but he'll be more prominent next time. This chapter took way too long to write but from here things should be a bit easier, I've already made a bit of progress in the next one.

Published February 19, 2011

The Invasion of Norion

"Catch!" The pirate threw the energy cell across the room and into the arms of its comrade just before a fiery hole erupted in its midsection. The pirate who received the cell began to run.

Samus ground her teeth together in frustration. She shot the first pirate in the head, finishing it, before turning her sights to the new pirate. Before she could put a shot into him he ducked around a corner, the energy cell still in hand.

The pirate ran over to a third, panting. "I think I lost her."

"We're behind a glass panel." Sure enough, they could see Samus stalking over to them, cannon charged.

"We should move."

"Let's. You take left, I take right. Throw me the cell if she catches up to you."

They split up, running away from the hunter in an attempt to stall her. Without that cell the doors would not open, keeping her trapped inside and unable to help the fleet. Samus fired off a few shots before chasing after the pirate who currently had the cell. He ran around the room erratically, barely staying ahead of the enraged hunter.

"Catch!" The pirate tossed the cell across the room. It soared through several small holes in the many walls and windows of the core room, falling right into the other pirate's hands. Samus killed the thrower in rage.

Knowing that he was not going to make it out of this with his body intact, the pirate decided he would go out pissing off Samus.

-In Norion Orbit-

"We have cleared a path through the Federation Fleet," one of the pirates announced. "Proceeding in five."

Their navigation screen, a giant twenty foot television displaying the status of the invasion as well as how many ships were still operational, was suddenly covered by an image of Kraid. "HAI RIDLEY!"

Ridley's neck twitched, a spark shooting from his helmet. "Give me a status report of your invasion."

"You mean that thing where we go in and kill everybodies? Ya, we won that."

Ridley's mind performed a double take on Kraid's words. "You've already won?"

"Ya, it was easy."

Kraid's image was vertically compressed and sent to the left side of the screen. "Sir, we have defeated the defenders of Elysia and have left the planet defenceless," Commander Swatllum reported. "So do I just wait now? 'Cause I'm good at sitting around doing shit all."

"HAY!" Kraid turned to face Swatllum's picture. "I was talking with Ridley! Don't be bumming with other people."

"Kraid, I am rejecting your right to speak. From here on you shall only communicate with me through either text or an intermediary." Ridley closed Kraid's window, spreading Swatllum across the screen. "Keep your distance from the planet while maintaining visuals. You don't want to be caught in the meteor's shockwave."

Kraid's visage suddenly reappeared, forming on top of Swatllum. "RIDLEY, can I come watch you guys kill people?"

"No. Stay on Bryyo. I want everyone to stay at the targets and make sure that no Federation fools try to interfere with the meteors." Ridley closed his eyes and began to mentally count down from three.

Just as he hit one, Kraid said, "Okai. So... what's up?"

"I'm leading the climactic assault on one of the Federation's most well defended bases. It is extremely likely that most of our men won't make it out alive. And seeing as Aran is somewhere down there I'm probably going to need a new set of armour by the end of this. As you can tell I'm at the top of my game, complete sunshine and lollypops."

"I like lollypops."

"Kraid, our soldiers are not lollypops. You have never tasted one before. Stop eating our god damn troops and play with yourself in a corner!" He immediately ended the call. "Status report!" he barked in a much harsher tone than intended.

"We are low enough in Norion orbit to deploy ships," a pirate nervously told him.

"Open the hatch. I'm itching to murder some humans."

Suddenly, the widescreen flared to life. "Hey Ridley, how do I play with myself?"

"Stick your dick in a volcano you fffffFFFFFFFFFFFF..." He froze in place, a random hose running up the back of his neck springing from its confines as he was stuck at a single moment in time.

A nearby pirate pulled out a manual. "Anyone know what page has fixing the Incorporator Tube?" he asked.

"Seventy," another answered. "You can do it. I fixed his anger issues last week."

-On the Olympus-

"So what did you learn today?" Samus asked the pirate of whose throat she had her sole pressed upon as she tossed the energy cell up and down in her free hand.

The pirate struggled to take in enough air to speak. "You're the badassest, most skilful, greatest bounty hunter ever and I was stupid to think I'd accomplish anything," he eventually choked out.

"Very good. However, I'm afraid that 'badassest' isn't a word so despite your good intentions you'll have to die. My twisted sense of justice tells me this is fair."

-Later, on Norion-

With a flap of his mighty wings Ridley soared over the Federation ground troops, the wind currents following him knocking them to the ground. He turned, letting out a blast of his kinetic energy breath and incinerating them all. It was good to be on top of the food chain.

Something hit Ridley's wing joint; he tried to turn only to find it frozen in place. Using sheer brute force he tore through the ice, preventing a spiralling fall. The dragon whirled around, firing his breath attack at the opponent.

Rundas surfed around the blast on his instantly generating ice. "Nice to see you again," the hunter said to him.

"Likewise. I was beginning to miss the feeling of my fist impacting with your face." Ridley thrust his chest forward, releasing a barrage of missiles almost point blank at his foe. Rundas attempted to deflect them but ended up taking three to the chest, almost blasting him out of the air.

The dragon flew over to Rundas as he recovered, grinning. "I've been dealing with a lot lately. My people have been mentally enslaved..." He dodged an ice scythe, striking out with his tail. "...I've dealt with Kraid more than usual..." Rundas evaded the attack. "...and today's just been annoying. I think I'll take it out on you."

"I appreciate the sentiments, but I don't think I'll let you beat me around like a Plygonian Smok Tok."

"No idea what that is."

They fought momentarily but Rundas broke away when Samus called his radio. "Generator A is back online. How're you doing on B?"

"Just having a few problems, nothing I can't handle." Rundas created a shield of ice to block Ridley's kinetic breath. It held for a few seconds, long enough for him to get out of the way. "You should get going onto C."

"Already going. Talk to you in a bit."

Ridley suddenly charged him, grabbing the ice man in one of his giant claws. "And who was that you were talking to?" he hissed, increasing the power of his grip.

Rundas formed a spear of ice above his head and smashed it on Ridley's arm, breaking his grip. He put some distance between himself and the dragon. "A friend whose name doesn't concern you."

"How cute, trying to keep me here so she can complete her mission. Let me guess, first name starts and ends with an S?" He shot forward with more speed than you'd expect from one of his size and backhanded Rundas, sending him into a short freefall. The hunter crashed on the path to Generator B before he could form ice to stop his fall.

Ridley landed next to him, watching him slowly make his way to his feet. "I love having metal hands," the dragon commented. "Makes hitting people much more painful."

Rundas finally stood up, ignoring his aching body. "I like your wings more personally. They've got a nice colour scheme to them. They'd make a good trophy."

"You just don't know when to shut up, do you?" Ridley walked forward, reaching out to grab him by the skull. Unfortunately for the space dragon he hadn't been watching where he was walking and slipped on a quickly created sheet of ice, falling to the floor in an undignified slump.

Ridley expected him to be attacking almost immediately and braced himself, preparing to get hit by a lot of frozen water. All he got was a "What the hell...?"

Looking to where the hunter was staring, he saw the object of interest: Dark Samus' leviathan seed had just emerged from a rift and was going straight for Norion.

"Sorry Rids, but I've gotta go. I'll make an appointment to collect your wings some other time."

Ridley stood up, watching the hunter speed off into the building, their fight unfinished. He roared loudly, tearing an important looking machine from the wall and hurling it across the facility in rage. "Something needs to die, now!"

-Meanwhile-

A fancy looking ship landed on the pirate homeworld's docking bay. Its door opened but, instead of using it like most would, Phantoon simply fazed through the wall. "I want someone to find me either Ridley or Draygon," he spoke in a soft, ghostly voice to one of his crew members. The pirate nodded and walked off.

Several minutes later the pirate returned, Draygon in tow. "Welcome back my friend!" Draygon exclaimed, floating to his eyeball monster ally. "Did you hear the good news and come rushing back?"

"No, actually. I heard no news or even any communications at all and returned to see if Kraid had destroyed us yet."

"No, no, of course not. Silly me, I completely forgot to tell you!"

"...Tell me what?" Phantoon had begun to subtly float back, away from the out of character monster.

"That we have found our true leader, the great one! Dark Samus has come and enlightened us all, explaining her ways and had led our greatest forces on a mission to destroy the Galactic Federation for good! All of the others have gone on their crusade, leaving me and my wisdom to command those who are maintaining our home. Stay a while, I'm sure that she will enlighten you upon return."

"Oh, all right. Just allow me and my crew to fetch our supplies from our ship..."

"Of course! Material possessions are very important after all."

-Back on Norion-

Samus rolled through the tube, her Morph Ball form fitting perfectly. Rundas could be trusted to handle Generator B, leaving only C left.

Her thoughts were interrupted with a roar; Ridley perched himself on the pipe, his talons stabbing through it at both sides and preventing passage. "Aran!" the dragon roared, his eyes glowing fiercely.

Almost immediately Samus noticed that he was really damn angry. He wasn't even this angry in the Impact Crater, fifteen minutes after she had screwed with his head and thrown him off of a cliff. And then she realized that she was inside a small pipe with angry Ridley. This was going to hurt.

The dragon bit down on the pipe, tearing at it with his breath. Samus boosted out of the way, dropping a bomb as she did so. It detonated in Ridley's mouth; he recoiled, one of his feet releasing the pipe letting quickly escape.

"GET BACK HERE!" He didn't even fly, he just jumped to the next pipe, splitting it in half behind her. Samus was forced to boost upwards so she wouldn't roll down and fall to the planet below.

What was going on with him? He usually wanted to humiliate her before killing her which is why she managed to beat him. He was too prideful. Now, however, he was crazy, almost desperate to kill her in any way possible.

Samus finally escaped the pipe, sprinting inside. She'd deal with him after getting this generator online.

-With Ridley-

"Fucking great, another failure. Have I ever succeeded?" He looked up at the building containing the generator, spreading his wings. Without another word he flew at it, circling it to the top and landing with a skid on the roof. He blasted it with breath and missiles, tearing the metal to shreds. He clawed at the small hole until he could slide inside.