//------------------------------// // Corruption: Olympus part 2 // Story: Another Hatchling // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// "The pirates attacked the Olympus?" Twilight gasped in shock. "Actually, they were attacking Norion," Samus clarified. "They were after the planetary defense system." "Why would they want to break that?" Rainbow asked curiously. "Well, we didn't know it at the time," Samus began, "but-" She paused as she noticed Pinkie reaching around in her mane, only to become confused. She then ducked under the table. When she came back out, she was holding her 'Spoilers!' sign and looking rather put out about something, and could be barely heard to be muttering about 'spartans' and 'robot ponies'. "The Space Pirates were working for Dark Samus, and had accessed the source of Phazon and were trying to crash a Phazon meteorite into Norion, amongst other worlds," Ghor explained. "Of course, we didn't get the full details of that for quite some time." "Nor were we able to do much about it," Rundus admitted, lowering his head. "I'd say we did okay as far as Norion was concerned," Gandrayda countered. "At any rate," Samus continued, "Rundus, Ghor, and Gandrayda were ordered immediately to the planet's surface to assist the ground troops. While Spike and I had the same orders, we decided to make sure everything was more or less stable in orbit and the Olympus before heading for the surface..." As Samus and Spike made their way back to the docking bay, they bore witness to a single massive energy blast disabling another warship through a view screen. Continuing on, they spotted Pirate Militia troops attacking some of the techs. While they were able to take out the milita, they had already killed the techs. Also, the fighting had led to the security doors locking shut, forcing Samus and Spike to take an alternate route. On the way, a pirate boarding craft slammed into the side of the ship. Pirate troops poured out, but were quickly taken down by both Samus' Power Beam and Spike's flame breath, keeping the few troops in the hall alive. In the next hallway, another Trooper was pinned down by Pirate automatons, which fell rapidly to the pair's joint assault. Spike tossed the trooper a med pack as they raced by. In the next hallway, a fighter crashed into the side of the ship, creating a vacuum that sucked several Pirates out. Seeing two of the troops being pulled towards the opening, Spike leapt forward. He managed to catch the first troop in one claw as he sank the other claw into the floor, his tail snaking out to grab the other trooper just before he was pulled out. Some quick thinking on Samus' part triggered the shutters to seal the breach, giving Spike just enough time to pull his tail back before it was cut off. Both troops clung to the hull as they caught their breath. Turning back to seek another path, they encountered a swarm of pirates, who managed to pull an Energy Cell from its housing, disabling several security measures. Unfortunately for the Pirates, while Samus had lost most of her weaponry from previous adventures, Spike's breath had lost none of its potency. The scent of cooked pirate quickly filled the passageway, making Spike gag and Samus glad her suit purified any air it absorbed from the environment. The retelling was paused as several of the gathered audience members gagged. "Did ya have ta tell that part?" Applejack gasped out desperately. Samus scratched her chin. "...probably not-" "Yes," Spike growled. "Ugh...this helm needs an air freshener attachment or something..." "Now I know why you were so happy after saving me," Rundus commented. "We'll explain when we get to that part of the story," Samus stated quickly as she saw everypony turn towards her with curious faces...and one sign waved like a bludgeon. "At any rate..." Putting the Energy Cell back in its socket restored power to the room, which - much to Spike's appreciation - also activated the air circulation system, which rapidly purged the stench of the dead pirates. Unfortunately, it also heralded the approach of numerous explosive automatons. Samus was able to escape by way of air vents in her Morph Ball, while Spike took the path the Pirates had blasted inward to escape. "My route involved me taking a brief detour outside the ship, as well as regaining my Missile Launcher from the ship's armory," Samus explained. "Mine involved a detour through the ship's mess hall," Spike explained. "Which was even more of a mess thanks to the Pirates' attack. There wasn't even anything left worth eating...except that bento Gandrayda'd hidden away for me on her way through." As several pairs of eyes turned to her, Gandrayda chuckled and shrugged. "What? I was on that route myself, and boys of any race are always hungry. When he shot me the thumbs up over my pretending to be Samus, he piqued my interest, and I figured leaving a meal for him would earn me some points if he were looking." "The thought would have been more appreciated if you hadn't cut the weenies into miniature hearts and images of you," Spike pointed out from his hiding spot in the chandelier. "Aw...didn't you like eating little old me?" Gandrayda asked teasingly. "Can we skip to the Berserker Lord?" Spike pleaded. "Berserker Lord?" several ponies asked. "A new mainstay of the Pirate forces," Samus explained. "Large and bulky, with crystalized Phazon armor and launching Phazon based projectiles. Best way to fight it was to hit its own projectiles back at it with charged shots or, in Spike's case, breath attacks." "One of them caught up to us at the ship," Spike continued. As the Berserker Lord stomped up, Samus sent the command to her ship to get out of range of the fight. The Berserker Lord's primary attacks involved spraying liquid Phazon from its mouth and Phazon based lasers. Spike and Samus started the battle by focusing on the Lord's shoulders, where they could tell the armor was weaker. They each took one shoulder to speed the fight up. Once it had taken enough damage, it started launching the Phazon spheres, which Samus and Spike shot back. After four shots were reflected that way, the armor plating broke off, and Spike lunged in, digging his claws into the exposed flesh, tearing it to shreds. The Lord did not remain standing for long, especially after he'd dug a big enough hole to fire a blast of flame straight into its brain. "Impressive," Rundus commented, nodding to Spike. "You've done well incorporating your instinctive side into educated combat," Ghor praised. "Few can manage that." "Wish I'd seen more of you fighting if you fight like that," Gandrayda purred. "Rar!" Samus sighed. "After that, we took the ship down to Norion...and I'll tell you about that just as soon as I get Spike out of the chandelier..." "So, did Spike master size changing as a way to hide from Gandrayda?" Rainbow Dash joked as Samus went in amongst the roots in her Morph Ball. Laughter and Gandrayda's pout greeting it.