• Published 3rd May 2015
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Another Hatchling - Tatsurou



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

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Aether: Power in Torvus

After a time of discussion of the logbook entries, Spike and Samus were convinced to continue their story.

"Well, you can probably guess how things went in the Torvus Temple," Samus began.

"Holographic message from dead Torvus Sentinel," Rainbow Dash guessed.

"Lecture about the dangers of Torvus and Dark Torvus," Scootaloo added.

"New translator patch to let you access paths blocked by the next color of holograms," Twilight offered. At Rainbow and Scootaloo's surprised looks, she shrugged. "What? I play video games sometimes, too."

"Warnings that most of the Temple was underwater due to the ravages of the war?" Celestia asked, smirking at Twilight.

"Discussion of new Ing types you hadn't encountered, how many of the creatures of Aether had been brought to Dark Aether while possessed, making them even more dangerous, and about how water on Dark Aether would be especially dangerous, to the point that you were warned to not even touch it?" Luna concluded. At the stares the others gave her, she stuck her tongue out at Rainbow and Scootaloo.

Samus blinked in shock. "...I was being facetious about you guessing...but apparently you can," she replied. "That's...pretty much exactly what happened. In that case, we might as well cut straight to where we went from there..." Despite Spike's laughter, Samus began her tale anew.


Opening new paths with the translator program, Samus and Spike began exploring more of Torvus. When they encountered a Grenchler in an enclosed tunnel, Samus at first worried that it would prove difficult to surround it. However, the enclosed space proved more problematic for the Grenchler, as it was unable to avoid Spike's charge. Pinned to a wall, it was only so much meat to the hungry dragon.

In a wide open chamber, they came across three canisters of Phazon left under a tall tree, its roots branching to three points around where the Phazon was sitting, with the tree itself directly above it.

"Well if that isn't an obvious trap for me," Spike grumbled.

"How so?" Samus asked calmly. She saw it too, but she wanted to see how Spike's tactical mind had developed.

"Completely open chamber, so I can be attacked from any direction," Spike explained. "The three roots provide perfect cover for attacking Pirates to shoot at me from. The tree itself would prevent me from taking off. And to top it all off, the high walls all around us provide perfect points to attack from."

Samus nodded proudly. "Very good. Excellent analysis of the situation. Now, what are you going to do about it?"

"Walk right into it," Spike replied.

"...what?"

"I'm going to walk right into it like I'm a big dumb animal," Spike explained. "Since I'm expecting them, I'll catch them off guard."

"And do you have any idea what you'll end up fighting? What force they'll bring to bear? Or how much?" Samus demanded.

"Won't matter," Spike replied as he walked right in, looking right at the Phazon canisters, letting himself drool for added effect. He paused over the Phazon canisters, drooling as he reared up as though ready to chow down.

Samus was caught off guard as a dozen Space Pirate Commandos - fully armed and armored, ready to take on a dragon - charged down from their cover up above, surrounding Spike and ready to take him down fast and hard. She leveled her arm cannon, but knew she wouldn't stand a chance against this many this focused.

Before she could even blink, Spike exhaled a blast of flame straight into the three canisters, causing them to explode. The explosion ripped through the Commandos' armor, incinerating them. Spike stood in the center of the blast zone as the light faded, unscathed.

"My body absorbs the Phazon energy released when Phazon under pressure, like in canisters, explodes," Spike explained. He then grinned widely. "Theirs don't."

Samus smirked under her helmet, flashing Spike a thumbs up.


The gathered audience applauded their appreciation of the tactic. "Excellently planned and executed, Spike," Luna called out. "Huzzah!"

Spike chuckled. "Well, that was a nice victory. Pity the next part didn't go as well."

"Oh?" Celestia asked curiously.

"After that we went into Dark Aether...and Mom went up against the Boost Guardian."

"Only Samus?" Twilight asked. "Why didn't you help?"

"I couldn't," Spike explained. "The area she fought it in was a confined space, the only entry a passage too narrow for me. Even when I found it outside, I couldn't get in. It was too sturdy for me to break through."

"Wait, that was you?" Samus asked in surprise. "Thanks. It made the fight a whole lot easier."

"How do you mean?" Spike asked.

Samus grinned. "Well..."


This trip through Dark Aether had been a pain for Samus. Not only were the Hunter Ing even harder to kill than the Dark Pirate Commandos - even knowing where they were at all times didn't help locking on, especially when they tended to faze out when she looked at them funny - Dark Aether's water proved intensely damaging just to touch. And then the only readily available path had forced Spike to withdraw and catch up by air due to a morph ball tunnel with pockets of Dark Water in the ground around it, keeping Spike from just digging his way through the soft earth.

And to top it off was the Boost Guardian. While at first it just seemed like a stronger Warrior Ing, similar to the Jump Guardian, it soon proved how different it was when it started using the stolen technology in ball form. Not only did the ball form make it a much harder target to hit, it deflected all damage while boosting - which it did constantly - and she was only able to break it out of ball form by placing bombs that would go off right as it came out of a boost but before it started a new one.

By the time her HUD showed it was half dead, her suit energy was almost fully depleted. Even with all the extra ammo and energy Spike had gathered for her, she was almost beaten. She'd gotten a bit too used to always having Spike at her back. She made a mental note to incorporate one on one combat practice between her and Spike so she could regain her edge.

Assuming I survive this, she thought silently as the Ing charged up another Boost.

Right at that moment, the entire structure of the battle chamber shook, and several lower sections of the roof cracked off and fell. Samus swerved in shock, staring at what had happened. Several chunks fell around the Guardian, causing it to lose its boost momentum. Several more chunks fell when the chamber shook again, causing the entire floor of the room to become uneven with broken rock.

The Guardian attempted to boost again, but it lost all momentum over the uneven ground, leaving it wide open to a barrage of Light Beam shots. It wasn't long at all before it fell, and Samus was able to reacquire her Boost Ball.


"Your shaking the chamber by slamming into it from above saved my bacon there, Spike," Samus explained.

Spike chuckled. "Heh, guess we're a good team even when we don't know it."

Everyone around smiled, seeing how supportive of each other the pair were...though Twilight's smile was just a bit sad.

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