//------------------------------// // Zebes: Crateria // Story: Another Hatchling // by Tatsurou //------------------------------// Samus and Spike both stared at the table for a time, lost in their memories. It took a while for them to notice that they were being hugged again. "...thanks," Samus eventually spoke up. "So you went after him, then?" Luna spoke up, stepping back from the embracing once the pair were responding again. "Yeah," Samus replied. "Followed him all the way back to Zebes." "Isn't that where the Chozo gave you Spike's egg?" Twilight asked, remembering the early part of the story. "Yes," Samus confirmed. "It was like reliving my first mission all over again." "Complete with picking up the same power ups!" Spike joked, earning himself a punch on the arm from his bounty hunter mother. "Didn't you have all your upgrades in the ship's computer?" Rainbow asked, confused. "I mean, I know you said you downgraded to not damage the station..." "My ship's computer only has so much space," Samus explained. "An emergency protocol during Ceres' self destruct protocol was to download all information into the nearest ship granted clearance...and since I brought in most of what the information came from, my ship had clearance. And the only data on my hard drive marked 'non-essential' for the station to overwrite was the data on my upgrades." "At least we were able to save their work..." Spike murmured softly. "I'm guessing this adventure ran a bit longer?" Cadence inquired gently, thinking to distract them with storytelling. "And perhaps a bit nostalgic for you, Samus?" Samus shrugged. "A bit," she admitted. "The ship settled down in the only viable landing spot, in the region called Crateria..." The ship settled down amidst pouring rain and crackling thunder, the storm seeming to mirror the moods of the two Hunters. The blue stone of the ground was interspersed with patches of green grass, sending small echoes as the pair followed the path into the cave systems that were nearly the entirety of the planet. The stone crunched under their feet, both metal boots and scaled claws, each setting up their own distinct echoes. Spike followed Samus closely, since she knew the way through. The entrance to the cave system was sealed by a blue energy door, which irised open from a single shot from Samus' arm cannon. Knowing exactly where to go, Samus made her way down a long passage that varied between natural stone and carved walls, the sure sign of a Chozo structure. What she found beyond there, however, was definitely not Chozo. Recognizing the old Pirate base where she'd destroyed Mother Brain all those years ago, she continued to scour for a sign of Chozo tech or Squishy. An elevator took the pair down to Brinstar, where Samus found a replacement Morph Ball module- "Seriously?" Rainbow demanded, stupefied. "You disabled your Morph Ball for fear of damaging the space station?" "My upgrade programs had all become intertwined because of the PED functionality," Samus explained. "I had a choice of 'full arsenal' or 'restore suit defaults'. Since I thought I might actually have been able to rescue survivors, it was a no-brainer." "...oh," Rainbow replied lamely, wilting in on herself. "Sorry..." "It's alright," Samus replied. "I didn't really explain that well..." "So..." Twilight began, "once you had the Morph Ball, you had to recover the rest of your arsenal?" "Yup," Samus confirmed. "Thankfully, having Spike along made navigating the place easier, even if he wasn't able to open any but the blue doors." Noticing shocked expressions, she chuckled. "Unlike the other worlds, the doors - except the blue ones - required specific energy reactions to disable shield locks, after which they'd be blue. Reds required the energy of five missile explosions. Green required one super missile, and yellow required a power bomb." "So we were limited to what we could get through via skill," Spike explained. "Thankfully, we managed it well. Although when Mom grabbed the Morph Ball, security systems activated, causing both the native wildlife and various old mechanicals to become both active and hostile." "Thankfully, I was able to recover my Missile Launcher shortly thereafter," Samus continued. "Five Missiles for enemies and doors. And the first red door trailing back had a missile expansion behind it." "After that, it was back up to Crateria for her Bombs," Spike concluded. "Unfortunately, not only had both the local wildlife and Space Pirates come out of the woodwork to fight us, the Bombs were guarded..." After grabbing the Bombs from the Chozo Statue that was holding it, Samus turned to join Spike in leaving the room. Before she could get there, the door irised shut, the brown coloration showing that the locking mechanism had kicked in. Both she and Spike tried to blast it open anyway, to no avail. Behind them, the stone covering of the Chozo Statue broke off as the inner mechanisms activated, its normally peaceful systems overridden by an unknown signal as it stood up, its eyes glowing a malevolent red. It then let out a roar as it charged them, hurling bombs and releasing explosive energy from its talons. Samus and Spike split to either side of it, readying for battle. Spike's breath attacks were effective, but getting too close for melee resulted in him taking bad hits from the explosive energy. Samus used both her missiles and her arm cannon when she ran out of them. Eventually, the chest of the statue burst open, letting its internal circuitry fall out. A few more shots and its head exploded. After that, it collapsed, its structure totally compromised. As the door unlocked, Samus approached the ruined statue...and examined the name engraved upon it in Chozo text. She owed it to the spirits of the Chozo to remember the one whose statue she'd been forced to deface and destroy. "After that, we returned to Crateria," Samus finished. "I was able to collect a few expansions and map data for the region before making our way to the next region...Brinstar."