//------------------------------//
// Tallon IV: Final Growth 
// Story: Another Hatchling 
// by Tatsurou 
//------------------------------//

	"So how come the Power Bomb's so useful?" Twilight asked eagerly.

Samus smirked.  "It releases a massive, high heat explosion that tears through most known armor types.  Almost anything caught in the explosion is incinerated.  The damage even ignores most specific damage type defenses.  It also destroys many materials that block paths, including some that can be destroyed in no other way."  She shook her head.  "The only thing holding it back from being a go to weapon for any time is that I can only generate a very small amount at any given time.  I was able to tweak the balance of my systems to carry and generate more during my later adventures, but back on Tallon IV and the missions soon after, I was lucky to carry 10."

Twilight nodded in understanding, then paused.  Rainbow was taking notes.  "Rainbow?  Why are you taking notes?"

"Are you kidding?" Rainbow demanded eagerly.  "This story is awesome!  It would make a great video game!"

Discord and Pinkie both laughed, reaching out to knock on a wall that - to everyone else's perspective - wasn't there.

"What was that all about?" Samus asked.

"Nothing important," Pinkie replied.  "So what happened next?"

Samus stared at her for a time, then shrugged.  Despite Discord's strange appearance, Pinkie was the one who seemed strangest to her.  "Well, after that, we had to backtrack a bit..."





On the way back from acquiring the Power Bombs, Samus and Spike encountered another Elite Pirate.  The fight was much easier this time, as both Spike and Samus knew a few things to speed it up.  As soon as Spike clashed bodily with the Elite, he destroyed the missle launcher with his plasma breath.  Once he had the Elite grappled, Samus shed her awe induced paralysis much faster and raced up Spike's back.  Leaping off his shoulders, she landed on the Elite's back and delivered a Super Missile right to the back of its head.

The creature roared in pain and frustration, throwing its head back to knock Samus off.  As this exposed its neck, Spike lunged in, bit down, and tore away.  The beast fell, gurgling as it bled out blue, its blood glowing with the Phazon it had been infused with.  Spike promptly spat out the mouthful.  "Disgusting!" he complained.

Behind a door blocked by a pile of Bendezium alloy which Samus had to clear with a Power Bomb, they found a map station that allowed Samus to download a full map of the Phazon Mines.  This included a few details that she was certain would help them locate anything else they needed to find.

Clearing another Bendezium blockade at the top of a tall chamber that Spike helped her climb to the top of, Samus reacquired her Grapple Beam.





"Another one of my more useful upgrades," Samus explained.  "Although it's normally easier to reacquire when I lose it.  It has a number of uses, though the primary one is letting me lock onto various Grapple Points with the right magnetic properties in order to swing to new locations."

"Like this?" Pinkie called out, swinging from Discord's tail as he swung from the tree root chandelier, clutching the center of it very carefully.

"Discord, get down from there!" Twilight shouted, a bit of panic in her voice.

Once some semblance of order was restored, Samus answered Pinkie's question.  "Yes, like that," she explained.  "It also opened up the chance to backtrack to several areas I couldn't get into before, which enabled us to pick up several other upgrades for me, along with a couple artifacts we weren't able to get earlier."

"In the peak of the Tallon Overworld, we were able to pick up Mom's X-Ray Visor," Spike explained, "which, amongst other things, let her see through objects and track the Chozo Ghosts when they were fazed out."

"Of course, Chozo Ghosts aren't the only enemies that have cloaks the X-Ray Visor could penetrate," Samus pointed out.  "Though in the same chamber, we were able to pick up the Artifact of Chozo."

"After that was a detour to Magmoor Caverns so Mom could find her Plasma Beam," Spike concluded.  "One of her more powerful beam weapons."

"It would have taken me a lot longer without Spike," Samus explained.  "If I'd had to follow the Spider Ball tracks to the room the Plasma Beam was in, it would have taken forever.  Instead, I just hitched a ride on Spike's back as he scaled straight up the wall."

"Something tells me Spike's been very useful that way for you," Rainbow chuckled.

Samus nodded.  "Indeed."  Reaching over, she scratched behind one of Spike's ears, and he leaned into the caress.  "At any rate, after another brief detour to Phendrana to pick up the Artifact of Spirit, we made our way back to the Phazon Mines."





The narrow pathways proved difficult to maneuver again, but they encountered far fewer enemies on this trip.  This was not to say there were fewer Space Pirates, but those they encountered seemed content to remain where they were at their posts, pretending not to see Samus and Spike as they passed by.  It might have had something to do with the loud grumbling from Spike's belly, or possibly the overall irritable expression on his face, and the way he approached obstacles by smashing them rather than going around them.  Either way, they were both glad to get back to larger chambers after a brief stop to collect the Flamethrower Charge Combo for the Plasma Beam, which resembled Spike's standard fire breath, but red instead of green.

Not long after, they paused in the Elite Research.  Spike's eyes locked on a massive stasis chamber with a heavily mutated Elite Pirate inside.  "What's wrong, Spike?" Samus asked worriedly.  She was half afraid he was eager for a fight with the beast inside.

"There's an Artifact," he whispered.  "That thing inside there...is draining energy from a Chozo Artifact."

Samus scanned the capsule, seeing it was constructed with Bendezium ore.  "Then we'll just have to kill him and get it," she pointed out, dropping a Power Bomb.

As the capsule shattered, the massive creature staggered out.  As its body bulged with Phazon, Samus grew concerned.  It had shrugged off the blast of the Power Bomb like it was nothing.



Spike moved to clash with the beast, but the Phazon Elite instead smashed its fists into the ground, releasing a massive energy shockwave that knocked Spike off his feet.  As he fell backwards, he lashed out with his tail, managing to knock the creature off its feet.  Both scrambled back to their feet rapidly, and Spike released his intense flame stream at the same time Samus released a charged plasma blast.

After the first barrage, it raised its hand, a device in its palm absorbing the energy blasts.  As it stalked forward to advance, Spike lunged, still blasting his breath, then stopped exhaling just in time to latch onto the Elite's wrist, holding its arm down so it couldn't use its energy capture device.  The beast roared, delivering energy charged punches to Spike's head, neck, and back with its other hand.  Samus took the chance to get behind it and unload several Super Missiles into its head, back, and joints, trying to take it down before it did too much damage to Spike.

Before long, the beast went down, and Spike staggered back, a bit bruised and battered.  "Spike?" Samus called, rushing to his side.

"I'll be okay," he groaned.  "I'll...be okay.  Just...a little dizzy...a little achy."  Truthfully, he was a lot worse off than he was letting on, but he didn't want to worry her.  Beyond that, a deep ache was starting in his bones and along his back, unrelated to his injuries.  "I just...need some clean Phazon or something to recharge..."

As the Artifact rose up, Samus nodded.  "We'll find something soon," she promised, collecting the Artifact of Warrior.

As they progressed towards the strong Phazon readings Samus had detected on the map, another Elite Pirate burst out of cold storage to attack them.  Despite Spike's weakened state, they were able to handle it the same way they'd handled the previous one, their teamwork becoming even smoother as they got used to each others capabilities.

"I wonder if you'll grow wings someday," Samus mused.

"Eh?" Spike asked.  "Why?"

Samus chuckled.  "I just think it would be amazing to sit on your shoulders and blast away at the Pirates in an aerial bombardment as you flew over them," she explained, somewhat dreamily as she visualized it.

Spike laughed.  "Yeah, that would be amazing," he replied, the vision seizing him as well.

Shortly thereafter, their path took them through the Metroid Quarantine areas.  As those areas had a great deal of Phazon scattered around, Spike was able to reenergize, and snacking on a few Metroids that foolishly charged him helped him ease the ache in his bones and back somewhat.





"We didn't know it at the time," Samus explained, "but those Metroids had an unusually high concentration of Phazon in their systems from feeding on it in their Quarantine.  It had some...unusual effects for later."

"How so?" Fluttershy asked curiously.

"Well," Spike began, "high concentrations of Phazon tended to have an effect on how I developed.  The...exact nature of the effects didn't become apparent until much later...not until we checked my physiology after we left Tallon IV."

"At any rate..." Samus continued.





Before too long, Spike and Samus made it to the Elite Quarters.  At the center of the massive chamber was a gigantic stasis chamber containing an Elite Pirate that stood nearly twice Spike's height.  From all the data Samus had collected from Pirate computers, she knew as it burst its way out that this could only be the Omega Pirate.



She swallowed.  "This is going to be tough," she murmured to herself.

The beast fought more or less the same as the Elite Pirates had, except on a much larger scale.  As it was too big for Spike to clash with, the pair took separate paths of attack.  Since the phazon buildups on its arms and legs seemed to be the vulnerable points, Samus targeted the legs while Spike climbed walls to target the arms.  One Power Bomb planted close to the legs caused both leg buildups to shatter, making the beast rear back.  Spike focused his Plasma Beam like breath in intense streams on the arm build ups, managing to shatter one before the Omega Pirate turned to face him.  When the Omega used the energy collector to counter Spike's flame breath, Samus took the last buildup out with a Super Missile.

With all four build ups destroyed, the beast reared back for a time, then discarded the majority of its physical body, revealing a pure Phazon internal construct as it teleported away.

Plasma Troopers dropped down to act as a defense for it, but Samus and Spike were able to take them out quickly.  Switching to X-Ray Visor, Samus was able to track it as it reappeared in a large pool of Phazon.  Spike was able to sense its presence in the same way he could the Chozo Ghosts.  The two of them opened fire, causing the beast to take further harm before teleporting away again.

This pattern continued as the Omega Pirate attempted to evade them to repair itself.  Plasma Troopers that appeared were quickly dealt with using beam weapons, while others Spike seized and hurled into the Phazon pools, killing them instantly.

Before too long, the Omega Pirate had taken all the damage it could, and staggered, defeated.  Samus panted for breath as she stared up at the gargantuan form, not doing much better herself.  As a result, she was unable to move fast enough to escape the beast falling on her as it dissolved into a massive pool of Phazon.

"Mom!" Spike shouted in fear, racing forward as fast as he could to try and dig her out.  Unfortunately, he wasn't in much better condition, so he wasn't able to run very fast.  By the time he reached it, it exploded, revealing Samus, her Power Suit altered.

It was now pitch black with red lines of circuitry visible here and there, her visor crimson instead of the usual green.  She stood slowly.  "...I'm alright," she replied softly, checking her suit's status update.



Phazon Suit acquired.
Varia Suit has been infused with pure Phazon.  This corruption prevents damage from Phazon radiation.



"It seems like I've gained something of a bonus," Samus explained as she turned back to Spike.  Right at that moment, Spike fell over.  "Spike!" she called out, rushing to his side, her and her suit reenergized from the upgrade.

"So...tired..." Spike groaned out.  "Feel...funny..."

A quick scan told Samus what was happening.  "Spike, you're going through another metamorphosis, like when you grew to this size.  That's going to cause a massive energy surge that'll draw every Pirate on the planet here!  We need to get you somewhere more defensible before you lose consciousness."

"The...Phazon pool..." he murmured, groggily pushing himself to his feet.

Samus set herself under his shoulder, helping him to one of the large pools of Phazon in the Elite Quarters.  Once there, he dove in, burrowing himself into the half liquid energy ore.

Samus waited for the energy reaction...but didn't detect anything.  Using her scan visor, she discovered that the Phazon concealed the signature of the energy reaction.  There was nothing to indicate to anyone that there was anything unusual about the pool...except for Samus standing there.





"So I did the only thing I could," Samus replied.  "I reached in to hide a communicator inside his ear so he could reach me when he woke up...and left.  The longer I remained, the more danger I put him in.  My map showed there were several large open areas nearby, and he'd have an easy time following me."  She rubbed her arm.  "Didn't make me worry any less, though..."