I feel sad knowing that many of these characters will need to die at one point or another. Many people had reactions that can be summed up with "NOT CROCOMIRE!" And this is what happens when I introduce someone far too early and make them likeable. I'm kind of a dick.

Only one Mother Brain cameo today. I think I might reveal all of them in the last chapter...

Published March 20, 2012

Powering Through

"Have you found it yet?" Jikarvl asked over the radio.

"No." Phantoon phased through another wall, straining his eye to find the main generator. He was a General, not a mechanic. How was he supposed to know where this thing was? If more of his mechanics had survived, this would have been easy. One of them could have either been sent in instead or they could have directed him to the sector he never took the time to visit before. Kraid was to thank for this difficulty.

"I'm hoping you find it soon. With the increase in cloning output, we've been losing power even faster than before. It looks like we'll be down on our last light bulb in less than an hour."

Another room was shown to yield nothing. "If there's one good thing that came from Crocomire's death, it's that Aran is on the other side of the site right now. I'll get the generator and everything should run smoothly from there."

-Outside the crashed ship-

Samus hopped from platform to platform, crossing the wide lake until she was right next to the wreckage of the Everflying. "I wonder what's in here?"

-Inside-

"The good news keeps on coming. Reports show that Kraid hasn't broken a single thing of ours since Ridley put the plan into operation. Sure, he's caused a few cave ins, but nothing hurting us," Jikarvl continued happily. "Aside from Crocomire, everything's been going great since you crashed here."

"Speaking of which, any word from the homeworld on getting us another ship?"

"They sent a nearby transport. It should be here by the end of the day in the most preferable conditions, tomorrow morning at the latest."

"Fantastic."

A faint explosion reached Phantoon's ears. Pausing, he tried to trace the direction of the noise.

A few rooms over, Samus was able to remove the dysfunctional doors from her path with a super missile to each, happily whistling as she strutted through the dark corridors. "Oh, loot!" She swiped a missile ammo expansion, proudly holding it up into the air. It caught a hanging power cable, zapping her. "Ow..."

It was this scene that Phantoon entered to: Samus shoving her hand into an electrical current and getting zapped. "That's so sad to watch."

Samus whipped around, firing one of her new missiles at the apparition. It flew through him and exploded harmlessly on the opposite wall.

"Are you done?"

-Lower Norfair-

"Those are your orders. Any questions?"

One of the many space pirates Ridley was briefing raised his hand.

"Still not the academy, Roerwell."

"Sir, why are we so far down here?" the sweating trooper asked, receiving murmurs and agreements from his co-workers. "I mean, wouldn't it be easier to find Aran when she's near the surface?"

Ridley picked up a small canister from beside his foot, holding it up for all his men to see. "What is that?" one asked. "It looks empty."

"Maybe it's full of invisible ear monsters that burrow into your head and reduce you to a brain dead state where all you can do is cook vegetables," another suggested. Everyone took some time to stare at him.

"N-no," Ridley quickly said. That one would be the fodder. "It's the container for the infant Metroid Samus came to find. All units like this are equipped with tracking modules, something I admit I realized a little bit too late... but anyway, she'll follow the signal, and she'll waste all her energy and ammunition trying to get to us. Once that happens, and she's as helpless as a newborn kitten with a half tonne of armour and infinite beam ammo, we strike!"

"Sir, that's not very helpless."

"Unless we break into her house and jump her on the shitter, it's as helpless as she'll ever get."

-The crashed ship-

"HEEEEELP! GHOOOST!"

Samus ran out of the ship, pumping her legs as fast as they'd carry her. She didn't even need to use the grapple beam to cover the large gaps between land anymore, instead clearing them with one leap.

Just behind her, Phantoon casually shot a fireball over her head. "Here I come, little mortal. Bogyman's gonna get you!"

Samus either didn't hear him over the screaming or had no urge to respond, instead blasting open a door in the cliff and running through. Phantoon became intangible, following. "Here I... come?"

The bounty hunter leapt out of her ship, a giant mechanism strapped to her back. Attached to it via a hose was some type of firearm, and she was pointing it at him without a hint of fear. "Gotcha, bogeyman." She pulled the trigger.

Instead of being shot at, the gun seemed to pull Phantoon in. "What the hell is THIIIS-!" He was unable to resist, quickly being sucked up by the device. Satisfied, Samus hopped back onto her gunship and dropped the sack inside, brushing her hands off. She then returned to the crashed ship, whistling a cheerful tune.

-Lower Norfair-

"Crocomire AND Phantoon?" Ridley was livid. His eyes were bloodshot and bulging from his skull, claws flexed to the point that the veins were bulging from every finger, a steady twitch developing in the High Commander's neck.

"Unfortunately, yes," Jikarvl sighed. "We're losing more sane pirates every day. It's just you and me at this point."

"If you die, I swear, every member of your family is going to be dead within a week."

"Noted. Als- Shit!"

-Tourian-

Without Phantoon's generator, the power for the facility reached a dangerous low. Mother Brain cut the cloning but it was too late; the lights were flickering and even security systems were starting to glitch out. The brain focused all power on the central chamber, the one housing it, Jikarvl and Victum.

"We just ran out of power," the technician grumbled into his radio. "Looks like we're at the limit of our current abilities."

"And the Metroids?" Ridley growled.

"They're in their containers, fortunately."

"The containers locked electronically?"

"...Shit."

Going quiet, he could already hear the life sucking aliens buzzing around outside. The mooks trapped outside were already a lost cause, knowing the feeding habits of Metroids.

"WATAI OINOO," Mother Brain grunted in lament.

"Let's go out the back exit," Victum said. "Those foul monsters cannot get there unless they come through here, comrades."

"Find the original," Ridley hissed. "Capture it however you have to, but make sure you have the original."

"Sir, we-"

"DO IT."

"...Oh captain my captain."

"Now get to it. Ugh, Draygon's calling. What does he want?"

-Maridia-

Draygon sat deep in the watery maze, resting in the most comfortable sand he could find as he waited for Ridley to pick up. Eventually, the dragon did so. "High Commander Ridley here. What do you want, jackass?"

"How petty. I'm just calling to let you know that Aran is inbound to my position. She'll be dead within the hour. I wanted you to think about how bad you're going to look ahead of time."

At first, Ridley didn't respond. Draygon was confident that his nemesis was weeping in a corner, but then the space dragon produced a weary sigh. "What? What are you sighing over? I'm about to succeed at your life's goal, and you just sigh?"

"Drayon... I don't give a fuck. You can do whatever you want, fight who you want and die how you choose. If making me look bad is worth dying against someone who's beaten every single higher up in the confederation at one point, then go ahead. Go after Samus, lose your life over some petty rivalry that's barely worth either of our times, and get out of my hair forever. I don't give a fuck."

"You wish you had hair."

"...I hope your death is quick and pathetic. Goodbye."

The signal ended. Chuckling, Draygon turned around and was instantly face-to-face with a Gravity Suit garbed Samus Aran.

"Hello."

Draygon paused, his shock lasting long enough for Samus to pump his face full of super missiles to severely wound the crustacean. "AGH! YOU..." He lunged forward, barely missing the agile bounty hunter.

"Aw, no friendly banter? You're nowhere near as fun as Ridley."

Draygon roared in rage, going at her again. "RIDLEY? Ridley is an ant compared to me! I'm Draygon, the most powerful space pirate enforcer in the entire legion! Never compare me to Ridley!"

Samus ducked, his tail skimming her shoulder. "Man, some of you guys are uptight. You've got to be the most serious pirate I've fought so far." She jumped onto his back, bombarding his spine with plasma.

Draygon jerked around, snatching Samus before she could fall back to the floor. "I have you now!"

"And like Ridley, you wait too long." She aimed her cannon, firing the grapple beam at a broken turret. The electricity surged down the energy tendril, going into both of them. Naturally, the unshielded aquatic beast did not handle this well.

-Tourian-

"DRAYGON KIPITO VALVOGA, KA," was broadcasted among the still living pirates' radios.

"Another has fallen!" Victum exclaimed, dropping to his knees and throwing his hands into the air. Before he could let out a dramatic scream Jikarvl clamped his jaw shut, glaring.

"There are Metroids around every corner," he hissed, releasing the Sub-General. "Make a noise, and we will die. If you don't make a noise, and we are about to die, I will shoot you and grant you a quick death. If you alert them, I will watch them suck the life force out of your every cell. Got it?"

"Yes, sir- Wait, do I outrank you?"

"Probably. But shut up anyway."

For ten minutes, they were shadows. Most of the Metroids were distracted by their cohorts, taking turns feasting on the life of whatever pirates were unfortunate enough to not be killed outright during the escape. "Which one is the original?" Victum whispered.

"It'll be bigger than the others."

"Like that one?" The Sub-General pointed at a nearby Metroid. It dwarfed them easily, being four metres across and three tall, and seemed content to just float haphazardly around the area.

"All right, we're getting out of here."

They snuck past the dozens of aliens yet again, returning to Mother Brain's chamber. "Well, that's a lost cause," the scientist reported. "But let's not tell Ridley we gave up so quickly, okay?"

"MIPPO."

"I knew you'd understand."

On cue, Ridley's image appeared on the monitor to their right. "Back already?" the High Commander asked with far too innocence in his tone. "I'm impressed by your proficiency."

"U-uh uh-uh, y-yes, sir, we are very good, aren't we comrade?" Victum said, harshly jabbing Jikarvl in the ribs.

Jikarvl shoved him away. "He can see us. Look, sir, the Metroid is far-"

"It doesn't matter," the dragon interrupted, his eyes filling with fury. "Samus is on route to my current location, and this time one of us is going to die. There has not been a single operation over these last few years that she hasn't sabotaged. She mentally destroyed Kraid, pumped my throat full of missiles, blasted Thardus to bits, vaporized the Omega Pirate, invaded our homeworld, burned Crocomire to bones, did god knows what to Phantoon, and I've had enough!"

"She also killed Draygon, comrade."

"Fuck Draygon. The point is, when she gets down here there will be no more problems for us. We'll have as much time as we need to capture up the Metroids. I am going to do what I wish I did all those years ago, what I would have if fucking Draygon didn't call me back because one of his bastards clogged the toilet and he lacked the necessary limbs to use a plunger, and I am going shove Samus Aran's body down my throat! Ridley ou-"

"Sir, can we leave?" Victum asked.

"...Yes."