Ridley reflected on how this whole misadventure had started. After his last defeat at the hands of the Hunter, Ridley had been caught in the explosion as the Space Pirate Base on planet Zebes self-destructed. Again. This was not enough to actually kill Ridley, of course, even as the planet itself was destroyed in the blast. But it did take longer for him to recover from his injuries than normal. Drifting aimlessly through space while desperately clinging on to life through sheer spite against the universe was not exactly an opportune situation for recovering from fatal injuries. But he eventually drifted into orbit around an inhabited planet and crashed onto its surface, where he was able to engorge himself on the local wildlife to recover the biomatter he required to make a full recovery. Once he felt that he was back in top shape again, he then took off and flew through space back to the space pirate homeworld to resume his duties among their leadership. He could see now, in hindsight, that this is when his life had truly begun to change.

It had not been the first time that the Space Pirates had lost their queen, the technogenic supercomputer designated Mother Brain. The first time it had happened the Space Pirates had spent years working on a way to bring her back, eventually hatching a convoluted scheme that involved a major heist on a Federation warship to steal one of their experimental Aurora Units to convert it into a new Mother Brain. It was an ingenious plan from Science Team. Wildly out of character for them, in fact. But it turned out that the Space Pirates only had one such scheme in them. With the other Mother meeting the same fate as the original, the Space Pirate's command structure had fallen apart completely. The pirates that Ridley returned to were not the major transgalactic superpower they had once been but had reverted to the chaotic group of unorganized marauders they had been before Mother Brain had found them. Ridley didn't mind too much when he found out, this was the same state they had been in when he had first joined up with them. He simply used the opportunity to captain his own ship again: the Frigate Wyvern. He had actually enjoyed returning to his old skirmishing days while it lasted.

But then he had decided to fly out to a restricted region of space while laying low from the Federation, where his ship had picked up a transmission coming from planet SMB-985. This transmission had turned out to be a request from one of the planet's inhabitants for a hit job in exchange for a hoard of treasure. Excepting that job had been the catalyst that kicked off the sequence of events that lead Ridley to where he was now.

Rosalina lead the way as the group marched onward to some kind of old haunted house built atop a nearby mountain on the way to Darkland. Behind her walked Luigi and Roshi, the yellow dinosaur having offered Princess Daisy a ride on his back so that she could rest her feet. The two humans seemed to be deep in conversation about something, but Ridley wasn't sure what. He was walking at the back of the group, keeping pace alongside his most hated enemy, his archrival, his nemesis, the one whom he had fought to the death countless times in a conflict that had spread throughout the known universe as legend.

"So, what have you been up to lately?" Ridley asked her, trying to make light conversation to alleviate his boredom as they trekked. Normally he would just fly straight to his destination, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know what Rosalina would do if he tried to split off from the group.

"You mean besides rotting away in a prison camp?" Samus replied sarcastically. "Not much. I had a bit of a falling out with the Federation a while back when I blew up a research station where they were developing dangerous bioweapons and technically stealing a ship. Since then I've been doing freelance bounty gigs outside of Federation space. Not as glamourous as my old work but it pays the bills."

"You've also got your own crew now," Ridley noted. "Where did you even pick them up, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Ooh, now that's a long story," Samus sighed.

"It looks like we have time," Ridley gestured towards the hill they were headed to.

"Fine, I'll tell you," Samus relented. "Well, first there's ADAM, my ship. He was originally a Federation gunship lent to me during my last mission but, well, I've already told you how that ended up. While on the run we ended up settling on a deep space station on the fringes of Federation Space which happened to be home to the best mechanic I've ever met. That'd be Diesel, the little hamster thing in the hover pod. He didn't start coming with me on missions until after Joey joined, though. Armstrong Houston is the guy with the blue armor similar to my old Power Suit. He was a rival bounty hunter who I got into more than a fair share of skirmished with over my career, particularly after he started trying to collect the bounty on my head. Over time we eventually started to see eye to eye though and even started working together. And then there's Joey Apronika…"

Samus trailed off for a moment and sighed before continuing. "I met him when I tracked down a Space Pirate ship to a small frontier world called Liberty. The pirates had managed to create a genetically modified Metroid subspecies that they called a Megaroid. With Joey's help, I was able to defeat it and take down the pirate leader, I think his name was Dragud, and before I left the kid convinced me to let him tag along so that he could learn how to be a hero like his dad was."

Ridley snickered. "Let's see… theft, kidnapping, and bounty on your end and of course plenty of property damage along the way. It sounds like it won't be long now until the Hunter ends up the captain of her own Space Pirate fleet!"

Samus held her hand up to her head in exasperation. "No, just… no…"

Ridley continued to laugh until a shudder rippled down his spine and a look of horror fell over him. "Wait a minute… you said Apronika… from the planet Liberty. Of course, that energy shield he used in our fight, that must have been the Barrier Knuckle! That boy is the son of Rand Apronika!"

"You… know Joey's father?" Samus couldn't hide her surprise at this revelation.

"Of course I have!" Ridley snapped at her. "You weren't always the Space Pirate's greatest enemy, you know. Before there was the Hunter there was the Warrior, Rand Apronika. And now the Warrior's son is being trained by the Hunter… Perhaps I chose the right time to defect from the Space Pirates?"

"Defect?" Samus repeated questioningly. "Are you really leaving the Space Pirates, then?"

"Huh, I hadn't thought about it." Ridley mulled over the idea. "I've been so caught up in everything that's happened since I arrived on this planet that I haven't considered what's next. But, I think I may end up staying here, even after this adventure is over."

"I can't say that's something I ever expected to hear from you," Samus replied. "Maybe this place really has changed you."

"I don't think it's the place," Ridley said wistfully as looked over at their other companions. "But I have changed a lot since I got here. I still don't know how to even process what- who I've become now."

Samus sighed, trying to think of a response. "You know, for as long as I can remember I've wanted you dead. For good reason, mind you. But now… Now I'm finding it harder and harder to keep hating you. You don't seem like the monster I've known all these years. I don't know what you are now… and it's making me wonder who I am now…"

"The only natural end to our rivalry was for one of us to kill the other. Permanently, I mean, as you've killed me plenty of times but that never changed anything. But now… now that's not an option for either of us. But what does that leave us?"

"I don't know…" Samus admitted. "I guess we move on, but… I don't know how. I'm not sure I even know what that means."

"I know that I don't." Ridley gave a strained smile. "But, I have this… feeling… that I'll learn. Is this… faith? Hope? I've been using a lot of words lately that I've never needed before."

"It must be hard," Samus said before deciding to change the topic. "So right now we're going to try and bring back the dead guy that you've been filling in for, right?"

"Mario." Ridley nodded.

"Well ignoring, for now, the absurdity of bringing a dead man back to life, what would that mean for you if they do somehow bring that guy back? Would there still be a place for you here? And if not, what will you do? What would stop you from just going back to your old life?"

"I… hadn't thought about that yet…" Ridley looked over at Luigi, Roshi and the princess whose name he had neglected to memorize, then the space witch leading their group, before finally staring up at the too blue sky. "It's not like I could just keep filling Mario's place forever, anyway. No matter how things turn out, I'm going to have to find my own way eventually. But that will be then and I'd rather just… enjoy… the time I have now. The one thing that I do know is that I can't go back to who or what I was before. I've changed too much for that. I have feelings that I've never imagined… I think I've even started developing a conscious, as uncomfortable as it is."

"I can't imagine how painful that must be, not being a sociopath," Samus said in a painfully mocking tone.

"Yes…" Ridley trailed off. "I think I've had enough introspection for now. I'd rather just walk the rest of the way in silence."

"You read my mind."


After hiking for what felt like too long, the group finally reached their destination, a decrepit old manor built atop the highest mountain along the border of Dark Land. The Ghost House lived up to its name. From the mysterious fog that settled in as they approached but dispersed if they backed away, to the fact that the building was in such disrepair that it shouldn't have remained standing, it was clear that the place was haunted.

"Is this place really full of g-ghosts?" Roshi stammered as the group walked up to the front door.

"Yes, that's why they call it a Ghost House," Rosalina pointed out. "And it's the reason we're here. This place has a strong connection to the afterlife, and as such is the best place to try and contact someone who's moved on, aka Mario."

"Right…" Roshi said unenthusiastically. "I, uh, think I'll wait out here and, um, stand watch."

"I-a think I will, too." Luigi chimed in. "You guys can-a go ahead."

"It's your brother we're trying to bring back," Rosalina replied.

"Oh, right…" Luigi glanced around nervously. "I guess I-a should go with you."

"Well, I'm not afraid of any ghosts." Samus cocked her arm cannon. "I've fought them before."

"What? When?" Ridley turned to his ex-nemesis.

"Talon IV," Samus said simply.

Ridley wracked his brains remembering the events of the 1st Phazon Incident. "Wait, you mean those energy things guarding the Artifacts were actual ghosts?"

"More or less." Samus shrugged. "Technically they were Chozo that had corrupted by Phazon while in the process of ascending beyond their physical forms, but basically they were ghosts."

"What's Phazon?" Daisy asked.

"Pray that you never have reason to find out," Rosalina replied before opening the doors with a swish of her stolen wand. "Now, let's move on."

Rosalina, Daisy, Luigi, Ridley and Samus all stepped through the doorway into the haunted manor, while Roshi stayed behind outside. The doors slammed shut behind them as a high-pitched cackle filled the air.

"I-I hope they'll be alright in there," Roshi muttered to himself while wringing his hands together and glancing around.

"I wouldn't be too worried if I were you."

"You're right, they've all been through worse than just a haunted house before." Roshi turned to the tall, hooded figure floating beside him "Thank you- Ah! W-wait a minute. Y-you're d-d-d-"

"Death."