• Published 3rd May 2015
  • 29,539 Views, 6,224 Comments

Another Hatchling - Tatsurou



On instructions from the Chozo, Samus raises a baby dragon brought to her possession by magical means.

  • ...
115
 6,224
 29,539

PreviousChapters Next
Aether: Exploration

Celestia glanced back and forth between Spike and Samus. "Somehow I get the feeling that...something rather untoward happens during this journey."

Samus was silent for a time. "Yeah. Something...rough happened. Towards the end, though."

"The Agon Wastes were actually rather enjoyable for me," Spike pointed out. "See, it was all desert and open skies." His eyes got somewhat dreamy. "The intense heat from the sky hitting the sand..."

"The thermals..." Rainbow breathed in awe. Scootaloo's wings buzzed just from the thought of riding them.

Grinning, Spike began to explain.


Stepping out into the Agon Wastes, Samus and Spike discovered that it lived up to the name. All sand and rock, high heat, and nearly all the biological life forms were either insectoid or sand diggers, long worms that burrowed through the sand.

Spike's first reaction upon reaching the wide open area that was the first hub of the desert area was to spread his wings wide. Grinning widely, he flapped into the air. "I'll scout out the path!" he called back to Samus.

"Keep me posted!" Samus called back.

"Will do," Spike replied over comms.

Samus chuckled. "Forgot you have a comm unit now," she joked.

With Spike in the air above, a quick path was easily plotted to the Agon Temple, their next destination. "Say, Mom?" Spike asked over the comms. "Couldn't I carry you? It'd be faster."

"No," Samus insisted. "You're still not fully recovered. Not only that, until you adjust to the armor, you're functioning at less than peak efficiency. What if we encounter a Pirate aerial vehicle while you're focusing on not dropping me?"

"...guess you're right..." Spike replied. "It just...it feels bad that I'm so maneuverable here, when you've lost most of your tech."

"I'll get it back," Samus promised.

As they continued, Spike sent a warning. "Watch out," he pointed out. "Pirate presence in the next area. Want me to provide aerial support?"

"Only if you can do it without getting in range of their attacks," Samus countered. "I don't want you taking too many hits just yet."

"Got it," Spike replied.

Spike's solution was surprisingly straightforward. For a dragon, medium sized rocks were quite light. When dropped from a great height, they were quite devastating to whatever they landed on, and Spike was good at plotting intercept courses for his rock bombs.


"You...hit them with rocks?" Discord asked, nonplussed.

"What can I say?" Spike replied with a shrug. "I was all out of razors and hot oil.(1)"

As Discord and Pinkie giggled, everyone else looked confused. Samus buried her face in her hands as she continued the story.


After defeating the Pirates, Samus continued onward, along with spotter updates from Spike.

"You're approaching an area that looks a lot like an arena," he pointed out. "...ten to one something big's going to attack you there."

"No bet," Samus replied. "Help if you can safely."

As Samus entered the open air arena-like area, she was sealed in. An Alpha Sandigger - a much larger version of the sand worm like creatures she'd been dealing with before - came out of the sand to attack her. After she'd fought it off for a time, an Ing came out of a rift in its gaseous form and possessed it.

"Mom!" Spike called out. "That Ing's got your Morph Ball Bombs!"

"Then we'll just have to take it back!" Samus pointed out, prepping her arm cannon.

Samus focused on shooting the two heads of the worm like Bomb Guardian, trying to keep it towards the middle of the arena. Every so often, however, Spike would dive down, seize the worm in his claws, and drop it to slam into the side of the arena as he swooped back into the air.

With the multi-pronged attack, it wasn't long before the beast was slain, and Samus reclaimed her Morph Ball Bombs, which let her escape the arena.

The Bombs also allowed Samus to interface with the seal on the Temple, allowing her and Spike access to the entrance. Within, an automated holographic message played for them.

A hologram of a nearby dead Luminoth spoke to them. "Welcome. I am I-Sha, Sentinel of the Agon Temple. This message survives my death, as guidance for one who would fight the Ing. A portal to Dark Aether lies nearby. With it, you can travel to this land's shadow. You must locate a Dark Temple, a twisted mockery of this sacred place. Inside, you will find the Energy Controller that you seek."

The hologram conjured an image of three keys. "The temple door is held fast by three locks. The keys for the locks are hidden throughout that dark land."

The hologram had more information for them, but it was all things they already knew from U-Mos. At the end, the hologram gave Samus and Spike's visors the capacity to interact with Amber holograms. They were then instructed to bring the energy from the Dark Temple back to the Light Temple immediately upon recovery.

It didn't take the pair long to find the portal in question, or to dispose of the Pirates that attacked them when they entered. This time, Spike used his flame breath in diving runs, since he was limited in how high he could get within the chamber. This proved especially difficult when the Pirates became possessed by Ing, becoming Dark Pirates. However, it turned out that Spike's flame breath had similar properties to the Light Energy the Luminoth had designed to battle the Ing, and was exceptionally effective.(2)

It took a bit of work to reactivate the portal device. Once it was active, however, Samus and Spike approached it.

"...time to see just how effective this armor is," Spike commented worriedly.

"Indeed," Samus agreed, just as worried.

"...well, if it's not effective enough, I can still help on this side," Spike commented. "I'm sure things will work out."

"...yeah..." Samus agreed.

The pair dove through the portal.

...

Once back in Dark Aether, Spike discovered that the energy shields of the armor were effective protection against the atmosphere itself, although they drained his energy quickly. Unfortunately, it wasn't very effective at protecting his mouth, so he had to keep his mask up, racing from safe zone to safe zone, using only his claws and tail to fight.

It wasn't long before they encountered another Ing possessing some of Samus' tech, this time the Jump Guardian, possessing her Space Jump Boots. To Spike's surprise, within a 'Safe Zone', he was still able to use his flame breath, which made defeating the Ing go quite fast, letting Samus recover her missing gear.

Finding no other safe path to explore from there in Dark Aether, the pair returned through the portal.



(1) I wanted to link the clip I was referencing from the episode of "Batman: The Animated Series" I was referencing (from the episode Trial), but I couldn't find it.
(2) This is in reference to how similar the Light Beam and the Plasma Beam of Prime functioned relative to each other.

PreviousChapters Next