Chapter 50: The Shield
"So, it seems that, by copying me, you only got a fraction of my full power, but that fraction was more than enough to allow your mind to fight off the corruption naturally. It must be a natural defense that I developed thanks to my Void Energy-manipulating ability. I don't even have to think to resist the corruption of all that Phazon in this planet, it just happens," Sweetie Belle after she analysed Gandrayda's condition.
Gandrayda, still looking like Sweetie Belle, nodded. "It's exactly what happened. As soon as I turned into you, my mind began to become clearer and clearer until I had regained enough of myself to destroy all remaining corruption in one go. Wait, I only have a fraction of your power? I feel like I could take on the whole Space Pirate armada by myself and blow up this planet while I'm at it!"
Sweetie Belle grinned. "I can blow up stars if I desire. And not just the dwarf ones. And I can open miles-wide gashes in the very fabric of space and time to damage this universe bit by bit until it collapses."
Both Gandrayda and Samus gulped, the first one asking, "But... I always managed to copy everything until now!"
"Because you never encountered someone like me, who get the totality of their power not from their body but from their soul which you clearly can't copy. What you got is simply what I can do without the help of my soul's power. I'm relieved, you know. It means that, if we had fought each other, I would have defeated you without this planet and its whole solar system ending as collateral damage. And yes, I would have still defeated you because there's another thing that you can't copy: my skill." Sweetie Belle revealed her own ten double beam swords. "I'm pretty good with these. Not as good as some masters that I know, but good enough to win against an amateur in the art like you. And that's not speaking of my other talents."
Gandrayda pouted. "Hey! I'm pretty good with a blade! You aren't the first that I copied who used some kind of sword!"
"But did you get into sword fights? Or did you simply use these swords to stab your targets when they expected it the less?"
"Ehm... Okay, point taken."
"In any case, now that you are free from the corruption, we need to take care of that Seed inside you, or you will be corrupted again when you will stop being me. Also, as long as you have it, Dark Samus may come to absorb you like she absorbed Rundas and almost absorbed Ghor. I'm surprised she hasn't tried yet with you."
Gandrayda giggled. "You left a very big impression to her. She refuses to be on the same planet as you."
Sweetie Belle burst into laughter, and Samus let out a chuckle with a "No kidding..."
"As for that Seed..." Gandrayda continued before she began to focus. With a grunt, she was able to use her powers, or rather, Sweetie's powers inside her body to destroy the Seed where she could feel it. Almost immediately, she felt all the Phazon inside her body disappear. "There. It's gone."
"Yup. I feel no Phazon inside you anymore," Sweetie Belle confirmed.
Samus congratulated Gandrayda with a thumb up before she said, "However, you should remain in the form of Sweetie Belle as long as you are on this planet. With all that Phazon around, you would get yourself corrupted again in a matter of hours at best."
Gandrayda nodded as she got herself rid of her PED. "Of course, Sammy. I have seen oceans of Phazon on this planet. I would have to be very stupid to not move around without an adequate protection. And I won't turn myself into a Marine. It would just ask to be killed by the pirates. At least, as Sweetie Belle, I have the protection and the power to take on the pirates if they spot me." She grinned, letting out a cackle. "So much power in fact that I could just go and destroy the pirates by myself."
"You could do that, or you could wait for the Federation to launch their assault for a big Let's-Destroy-The-Pirates party all together. I suggest the later, group activities are always funnier. And it will be epic," Sweetie Belle said.
"Good idea! But we will have to take care of the shield protecting the base first."
"We will work on this! We saw the generator when we passed by the tunnels under the command room. We just need to find a beam to destroy the Phazite security gate that blocks the way," Sweetie Belle said.
"Ah yes, the Nova Beam. You should find one in the mines. They are used to power the mining cannons here. The access is from the pirate command facility. Remember the hallway access to the Command Station? You remember that shield with the terminal that needs to be powered down? It's right behind. There's a Landing Site in the mines themselves, but you won't be able to go far from here without the Nova Beam itself."
"But we first need a way to power down that terminal beside the shield, and we don't have one yet," Samus remarked.
"Oh, I can give you one! But couldn't you just blast your way through the gate yourself," Gandrayda asked to Sweetie Belle. "Or better yet, blow up the whole planet and be done with this?"
Sweetie Belle shrugged. "I could. But then, we would miss a lot, and it would be less fun than fighting the pirates."
Gandrayda laughed. "I can't hold this against you. These pirates are so fun to mess with."
"It's more that I love the adventure and the action that comes with it. And it helps create a bond between me and Samus, without forgetting the others that I meet on the way like you and Ghor," Sweetie Belle said before she sighed sadly. "If only we had saved Rundas... I'm sure he would have been a great friend."
Gandrayda sighed sadly too. "Damn... I will miss that big boastful idiot and the epic bar fights I had with him. And I laughed when I learned about his death, thinking about how he had just been a useless weakling. Ugh..." The same electricity than before then sparkled all over her body, some of it gathering into a single point of pink energy that she then sent right into Samus' Suit.
The Suit informed Samus that it received a new upgrade for the grapple, the Grapple Voltage, which will allow her to give or drain energy.
"Give that dark bitch hell," Gandrayda then said before she flew up. "Now, I'm going to join the Federation armada to wait for the assault. Have fun!"
"No need to search for a ship! You can directly fly into space in my form!" Sweetie Belle shouted as Gandrayda flew toward one of the shutters."
"Cool! Thanks!" Gandrayda shouted back before she crashed through the shutter and flew away.
Both Sweetie Belle and Samus watched her fly away, taking some time to destroy a few pirate defense turrets, before the filly said, "Things went really unexpectedly."
"And for once, in a good way," Samus said before she moved toward a shield that blocked the exit (beside the elevator which was now deactivated). "I wouldn't mind this to happen more often." She then tested her new Grapple Voltage on the terminal beside the shield and drained its energy. This not only shut down the shield but it also reactivated the elevator. As an added bonus, it even replenished her own energy that she had lost fighting the Commandos.
This new upgrade immediately became one of her favorites. She hoped that she won't lose it.
"Let's go. We must now search the Spider Ball."
"Darn. We forgot to ask Gandrayda about it," Sweetie Belle said.
"I'm sure we will find it behind one of these paths unlocked to us thanks to the Grapple Voltage."
Exiting the arena, they entered what revealed to be a Transit Station that, according to a map, led back to the Landing Pad where the ship currently was. Samus had to scan a control panel first to activate a Hand Scanner that she then used to call the transit tram. The tram quickly arrived and opened a door to let them in, and once inside, Samus had to pull, move, and push a lever on another terminal to initiate the travel. The door closed, and the tram began to move.
Then, after a few seconds of silence, Samus asked, "How bad this would have gotten if you had fought Gandrayda?"
"It probably would have ended with half the base blown up, with or without the Leviathan. Most of this would probably have been a result of Gandrayda's own carelessness, but some stray beams of my own would certainly have caused quite the damage. I don't think this would have ended up with the planet blown up. Gandrayda has the power to do it in my form, but I would have done my best to avoid this outcome. I would have easily overpowered anything she would have sent."
"I'm really starting to wonder if you aren't a god who has taken a mortal form."
Sweetie Belle giggled. "I'm not one... yet."
"Say what?"
Sweetie Belle didn't answer as the tram reached its destination and opened its door. She then walked out followed by bemused Hunter, coming face to face with another pirate entry which described how Dark Samus taught the pirates to improve the Colossus, and how they converted the first Leviathan that Dark Samus had shown to them into some kind of living dreadnought. They then left the station, returning in the Landing Site from the entrance they hadn't been able to reach because of a shield. Samus took down said shield by draining the power of the nearby terminal.
Then, as they returned to the ship, Samus received a transmission from AU 242 informing that AU 217 discovered evidence of hidden Chozo artifacts in SkyTown that may be useful to explore more of the pirates' base.
Sweetie Belle and Samus immediately knew that it was the Spider Ball. They did remember that path that was blocked by a gate that was low on energy.
And they could use the occasion to explore the rest of SkyTown and get what they missed. There were some other parts that needed the Grapple Voltage, and since they were about to get the Spider Ball, they will be able to use it to get the remaining map data from the Observatory. However, without the Nova Beam, there are still some things they won't be able to do, like destroy that Phazite panel in the Observatory. They will deal with that after destroying the Leviathan.
So, back to Elysia it was.
It wasn't long before they landed back in SkyTown. Thankfully for them, they didn't have to land all the way back at the first Landing Site where they fought Ghor. Even if the Spire Pod was gone, the kinetic cannon of the pod with the second Landing Site (where they landed) could fire Samus directly at the pod with the circular hallway which was their destination (but they couldn't go to the Aurora Unit's pod from here anymore). After destroying a group of Tinbots with Samus bowling them with the Boost Ball, they then opened the door that led to the zipline blocked by that gate that needed energy.
Samus used the Grapple Voltage on it, having to transfer a bit of her Suit's energy, and the gate opened, giving her access to the zipline. Like before, some gates were on the way and had to be fired at to let Samus pass. Some of the gates were in really bad condition, so firing at them not only opened them but outright destroyed them.
Further, Samus got the bad surprise of seeing Aerial Repair Drones sabotage the zipline. Sweetie Belle quickly destroyed the drones, but the deed was done and parts of the zipline collapsed. Thankfully, Samus was right above a floating platform when this happened so she landed on it. From here, she was able to use the Screw Attack to reach the pod that was their destination. On the way, Sweetie Belle spotted and grabbed an Energy Tank on a Spider Ball track.
Inside the pod, Samus drained the energy of a terminal to remove a shield blocking the path, allowing them to continue through a Morph Ball tunnel. After it, they passed a Blue Door and entered a room where they immediately spotted an spherical energy grid currently offline with four nods linked to it and to some grid below. Using Seeker Missiles on the nods activated the grid and opened the gate, revealing another Morph Ball tunnel that led to a room just below.
In it was a cylindrical metal barrier and a big gear on the floor. Above was a mechanism missing a piece. Finally, there was a Databot that held the final log of the Elysian who wrote them. Like with the final mural of Bryyo, it was depressive, maybe even more. It described how the Elysians fell victim to the PHazon-based virus until nor many of them remained with their free will. Then, Ghor came, only to be corrupted by the Phazon too and to help the pirates taking over the rest of the station, converting or destroying the last free Elysians who could only wait for their now inevitable end.
Well, this put a dump in the mood... But this didn't stop Sweetie Belle and Samus. The filly grabbed the gear with her magic and put it in its place, repairing the mechanism and removing the barrier. This revealed the statue of a sitting Chozo holding a capsule with the Spider Ball upgrade on its palms as if it was an offering.
Samus took it.
The statue then moved backward, revealing a hatch leading to a tunnel that was the only way to exit the room. In this tunnel, Samus was able to test her new Spider Ball to follow a long series of tracks around the pod's reactor, avoiding flames pouring out of cracks and openings. As Samus followed the tracks, Sweetie Belle flew beside her, keeping an eye on the many drones that flew around. Most of these drones were just cargo drones that transported crates, but there were a few repair drones too, and after what they did earlier, the filly didn't hesitate to destroy them.
At the end, a secondary track led to a Missile Expansion, Samus having to use the Boost Ball to propel herself and reach the next part of the track two times to reach it. A last track with more Boost Ball propelling then led back to the room with the spherical energy grid, and from here, they left the pod.
To return to the pod with the circular corridor, Samus had to jump back on the floating platforms with the Screw Attack to reach another series of Spider Ball tracks and Morph Ball tunnels, a long one that took a detour to give them a nice view of the pods around. The tracks eventually ended on another floating platform from which Samus jumped to reach the pod with the circular hallway.
And now, it was time for some exploration! With the help of the new upgrades, they explored SkyTown, finding Expansions they had missed. During the exploration, they discovered a new enemy, floating creatures made out of corporeal Phazon energy that formed after the destruction of the Leviathan that could only be killed by Phazon attacks. They were named Phazooids, and while most of them were blue, some of them, very rare and more powerful, were red.
An interesting moment of their exploration was when they returned in the pod where they fought the Defense Drone and Samus got the Boost Ball. Returning to the room where all this happened was much easier as Samus was able to reactivate the lift leading to it (through a tunnel) with the Grapple Voltage, avoiding the whole platforming session. As this happened, Samus received a transmission from an admiral of the Federation, Admiral Dane, who informed her that the Federation fleet warped to the pirate Homeworld to ready the assault. Gandrayda also successfully joined them and, like Ghor, was confirmed to be totally freed of Phazon and was ready to join the assault.
When she repeated the news to Sweetie Belle, the filly was very excited, but also a bit nervous. While it wasn't her first war, it was the first one that she will get to participate directly. Against Hyness' cult, it had mostly been the others who battled, gaining the attention of the Jambastions to allow her and her friends to reach Hyness unopposed. But here, she will be an actual part of the conflict. She will kill pirates, fighting alongside marines, while bombs and projectiles will rain everywhere and turrets will fire at the origins of these bombs and projectiles.
But I will have to get used to this, uh?
Also, thanks to the Screw Attack, Samus was able to reach a Databot that they had missed, this one recounting how, one week after the AU was deactivated because of the virus, Phaaze sent the Leviathans and one of them crashed on Elysia, destroying a big part of SkyTown on its path, and how the Leviathan began to spread Phazon that the Elysians recognized from the events of Tallon IV and others they witnessed.
After that, Sweetie Belle and Samus reached the room where the Hunter got the Boost Ball and they ended up fighting a Steamlord - probably the one who had caused them problems on the collapsing bridge the first time - that was quickly defeated like the first one. Thanks to the schematics given by AU 217, they were able to neutralize it without destroying its CPU (which they still weren't sure if the first Steamlord's CPU had survived). And the Steambots here weren't a problem at all as Samus melted them with her Plasma Beam in just a few seconds while Sweetie Belle dealt with the Steamlord.
After having dealt with the Steamlord, Samus used the Grapple Voltage to overload two turbines that supplied power to a lock that they had spotted the first time, destroying them and opening the lock.
It didn't reveal an Expansion, but an Energy Cell that Samus took.
"We are starting to have a nice collection of these things. Why do we keep them by the way?" Sweetie Belle asked.
"I have a feeling that they will be useful later," Samus answered.
Finally, once they were done exploring this part of SkyTown, finding eveything there was to find, they took the tram to the other part.
First thing they did as returning to the Observatory. Now that Samus had the Spider Ball, she could reach the remaining bomb slots here, gaining the map data of SkyTown indicating the emplacement of all remaining Expansions (which was none. They actually got all the Expansions of Elysia, but this confirmed that there were none left). They were also able to launch satellites to two more planets, Tallon IV and Aether, getting information about them and how the situation on these planets was evolving for the better after Samus' intervention.
There was still that Phazite panel left however.
Finished on Elysia, they returned to the ship and took off, returning to the Pirate Homeworld.
Landing back in the Research Facility, they decided to take the tram to reach the room where the Hazard Shield was stocked faster, passing by the arena where they almost fought Gandrayda. As Samus pushed the lever to make the tram move, she received a transmission from Admiral Dave again informing that the armada was now in orbit above the planet and was ready to begin the assault. However, they needed Samus to disable the shield.
Samus replied that this will take some time because she still needed to get the Hazard Shield, and then to find a Nova Beam to destroy the security gate protecting the access to the shield's control center.
Admiral Dave understood but still told Samus to hurry. He didn't want to give the pirates time to launch an assault on the armada.
Nothing more was said and the tram arrived not long after. From here, Sweetie Belle and Samus took the lift in the arena and returned to the hallway before the room with the Hazard Shield without encountering any pirate. The next part only involved Samus as the Hunter used the Spider Ball to reach a Morph Ball tunnel to enter the room. Well, the tunnel actually led into a chamber from which she had a better view of the containment unit with the Hazard Shield. She then entered another tunnel that led to the base of the two part rotating tower. Thanks to Spinners, she rotated the two parts, first creating a path that led her to a Missile Expansion, then creating another path that led her to a chamber with a Hand Scanner. Using it activated a crane that lifted the containment unit with the Hazard Shield into the chamber, and another crane opened the unit, letting Samus take the upgrade.
This visibly modified her Suit, adding pulsating purple hexagonal plating on her shoulder pads as well as an extra plate below the nape of her neck. Now, she could move through Acid Rain and even Fuel Gel.
But then, two Aerotroopers, ones equipped with that armor that can deflect missiles, came and fired explosive projectiles at the glass windows of the chamber to attack her. Samus quickly jumped out of the chamber, into the acid rain, to have more space to fight the pirates. Sweetie Belle joined her, already dealing with one of the Assault Aerotroopers by teleporting him into the Phazon river. This left one Aerotrooper for Samus who killed him without problem.
Samus then used another Hand Scanner, at the base of the rotating tower, to open the shielding glass from which she and Sweetie Belle first saw the Hazard shield. At the same moment, an Assault Pirate Trooper ran in and raised one of these orbs, setting off the alarm. By the time two Commandos appeared, the Assault Trooper was already dead, Sweetie Belle having forced the orb that activated the alarm down his throat.
Sweetie Belle and Samus then each dealt with a Commando like they did before.
They then jumped on platforms that served as steps to climb back to the hallway where Sweetie Belle began to move toward the transit station.
"Wait," Samus stopped her. "We aren't going in this direction."
"Uh? Why?"
Samus pointed above her shoulder, at the opposite direction. "According to my map, there's another transit station that we can now access over here. Remember that path behind the White Blast Shield in the room with the Metroids?"
"Oh yeah, we couldn't take it because of the acid rain."
"Exactly, and I think that the transit station here leads back to the Pirate Command. We won't need to use the ship."
"Okay."
Before long, they were back to the room where they ended up having to kill a few more Metroids before they passed the door that had previously been blocked by a White Blast Shield. Then they were able to continue under the acid rain, destroying a drone before climbing on a ledge while not minding the Metroids that were contained in both sides of the path. Samus then had to use a Hyper Missile to destroy a cluster of Phazon crystals blocking the path to the exit.
Behind the crystals, among Phazon infestation, was also another pirate entry that revealed some worrying news.
Under the orders of Dark Samus, the pirates under her control attacked the Valhalla and stole the Aurora Unit in it. They then jettisoned the surviving crew (made of recruits on a training mission!) into space to die before leaving the wreck of the Valhalla "as a warning to the Federation."
"So this is what happened," Sweetie Belle said, anger boiling. "But why would Dark Samus need an Aurora Unit?"
"I fear that I understand why..." Samus said without saying more.
The next room revealed to be heavily infested by Phazon, and looked partially organic. An activated Spinner allowed Samus to raise an empty tank concealed in the ground before opening its lid, propelling her up into a bomb slot. Using it activated another Spinner that did the same thing. The second bomb slot activated a third Spinner on a ledge, only for the lid of the tank it was part of to immediately open.
Flying out of it was a large creature with four tentacles. The creature had a Phazile-like shell that protected most of its body excepted the mouth and the tentacles themselves.
Most particular was its ability to fly without wings, like Metroids.
A quick scan of Samus revealed why: because it was a Metroid! A mutated version of the Phazon Metroid called a Metroid Hatcher, and like its named suggested, it could spawn Phazon Metroids. Also, it could leech life energy with a simple contact with the tentacles.
Letting out a series of curses at the fact that such a creature even existed, Samus began to fire at its tentacles with Seeker Missiles, and Sweetie Belle copied her with her own projectiles. Hitting the tentacles, however, quickly revealed to be a pain because the Metroid just won't stop moving, especially spinning around with them, so the projectiles often missed their mark. But one by ones, the tentacles were hit and the Metroid retracted them into its body as a result. Once all four tentacles were retracted, the Metroid opened its mouth to recover energy while spawning Phazon Metroids from it. Sweetie Belle killed the Phazon Metroids, giving Samus the opening to fire at the mouth, stunning the Metroid Hatcher. The Hunter then used the occasion to grapple one of the retracted tentacles before pulling. Sweetie Belle quickly did the same with another, and they both ended up ripping off a tentacle, making the Metroid bleed a big quantity of Phazon.
With only two tentacles left, repeating the operation was faster, and before long, Samus and Sweetie Belle ripped off the last two tentacles, killing the Metroid which exploded.
"A Metroid that can spawn other Metroids that can phase through matters... That's probably the scariest thing I ever encountered," Samus commented.
"I can imagine. One of these things in the wild could ruin the ecosystem of a whole planet. Or unleash it on an enemy base and its spawns will kill everyone in it," Sweetie Belle said, the images chilling her.
Stopping thinking about this, Samus used the Spinner on the tank from which the Metroid came to propel herself into a series of tunnels and Spider Ball tracks to reach, at the end, an Energy Tank. She then reused the Spinner to return at the beginning of the tunnel, taking another path that led to a bomb slot that she activated.
This removed panels that blocked two surfaces to Wall Jump, allowing her to reach the exit of the room.
The transit station was just behind, along with a recharge station that was much needed to replenish Samus' missiles after this fight.
They then took the transit tram which indeed led back to the Pirate Command facility.
This tram took a bit longer to reach its destination than the previous one, which was normal since it was leading to another facility instead of linking two opposite points of the same one. But it still was faster than taking the ship.
Before long, they were back in the Pirate Command, just behind that mechanised door under the acid rain. From this side, Samus had access to the bomb slot, making the door spin until she was at the other side.
Now, they were back in the hallway to the courtyard. Now that samus had the Grapple Voltage and the Hazard Shield, she could remove the shield blocking the access to the Leviathan, but they judged it preferable to first deal with the shield and allow the Federation to start their assault. However, when they returned in the hallway to the command center to deal with the shield at the right, they saw something that they hadn't remarked the first time because they didn't pay attention.
There wasn't a terminal to drain the shield's energy at this side. There was only one at the other side.
They both groaned.
"Now, we need to find another way to reach the other side," Samus said.
"Gandrayda would have told us if there wasn't a terminal. Maybe the pirates removed it without her knowing," Sweetie Belle remarked.
"Maybe. To ensure that we won't reach the mines so I don't get my hands on a Nova Beam."
Backtracking, they took the only path that was now available to them: the courtyard. As soon as they entered it, the alarm was triggered, and three Assault Troopers came to attack them. Three Phazite panels were also deployed, and the pirates used them as cover.
Sweetie Belle flew up to attack the pirates from above, gaining the attention of two of them while the third one continued to fire at Samus. Samus turned into a ball and rolled toward the pirate, slaloming to avoid his beams. When she reached him, she then jumped, turned back to normal mid-air, and gave the pirate a drop kick on the face, sending him on his back on the ground. She then turned into Hypermode and finished him before he could recover.
She turned to fire at the two other pirates only to see that Sweetie Belle already killed them, and the filly landed beside her.
"I spotted a pirate entry over here," she said as she pointed to a sheltered area in the upper level, at the left.
Samus nodded and used the tunnel on the ledge, the one passing under the walkway and most of the floor of the upper level, to reach the sheltered area where they had gotten the Energy Cell the first time. From here, she used the walkway to reach the other sheltered area where she indeed found the entry.
This one was actually a much more recent one. It talked about how Samus and Sweetie Belle managed to defeat Ghor and defeat the pirates on Elysia, helping the Federation regain control of SkyTown and destroying the Leviathan here. The pirates were now worried that the Federation will find the source of Phazon (aka Phaaze), but Dark Samus apparently wasn't. However, she was very angry at Sweetie Belle (who the pirates now called "the Little White Monster" much to the filly's amusement).
The pirates knew however that their Homeworld was the next in the list, and had readied themselves to face the girls.
Clearly they hadn't been ready enough.
"I'm sure there must be an entry about our exploits on Bryyo," Sweetie Belle said with a big grin.
"We will find it eventually."
They returned to the lower level and Samus used the Grapple Voltage to remove the shield blocking the access to the Leviathan. Then, after traversing a corridor full of drains in the ceiling releasing acid from the rain into a piping network below and after destroying a large group of Phazon-feeding vermin called Scritters, they reached another place without a ceiling.
Again, they triggered the alarm, causing three huge gates to close on the exit door and two Commandos to appear. Once the two Commandos were killed, Crawltanks came out of small passages in the walls, but they weren't a problem despite their number.
The alarm finally stopped, but the gates remained shut.
"Okay, what now?" Sweetie Belle asked.
Samus pointed at one of the passages from which the Crawltanks came out. This passage didn't have its lid anymore, now destroyed by the Crawltank probably because of poor maintenance. So it could now be used as a Morph Ball tunnel to who knew where.
But before, Samus scanned another entry that revealed what Samus had feared.
Dark Samus placed the stolen Aurora Unit inside Phaaze to gain control of the sentient planet. Dark Samus then commanded Phaaze to send a Leviathan right toward the Pirate Homeworld to convert the rest of them and eventually create a second Phaaze.
That was it. Dark Samus wanted to create more Phaazes that she could control the corrupted Aurora Unit to spread more Phazon, create even more Phaazes, spread even more Phazon, create EVEN more Phaazes, and so on and so on until all that remained in the universe were Phaazes with Dark Samus as the all-controlling god.
Well, Sweetie Belle and Samus will make damn sure that this won't happen!
They entered the tunnel...
And they arrived right where they wanted to go, behind the shield in the hallway to the command center. Samus immediately drained the terminal beside it to ensure that they won't have to do the detour again before she used a Spider Ball track to reach an upper part of the room that led to their destination, the transit station to the mines.
A few minutes later, they arrived at the mines. The arrival station also had a recharge station that Samus used, thinking that the Nova Beam will be heavily guarded and that she will need all her ammunition and energy.
She did good, because as soon as they entered the quarry after exiting the station, they were spotted by an Assault Troopers that raised the alarm. In total, Sweetie Belle and Samus had to fight two Assault Troopers and two Commandos among many crates that littered the room. One of them, still cloaked, actually attempted to attack the filly from behind, but she felt him approach and blasted a hole through his chest.
Once all the pirates were killed, seeing no exit at their level and no way to reach the upper level where there was a Blue Door and a Green Door, they entered a control chamber and Samus activated the control terminal to bring a mining drill into the room and use it to carve a U-shaped section to reach the Blue Door as well as a passage to a Missile Expansion they had spotted.
After taking the Missile Expansion, Samus used the Boost Ball on the U-shaped section to reach the Blue Door that they passed. After ripping off a weakened gate that blocked the way, they reached an elevator that was held in place by two clamps. So, after destroying two Crawltanks, Samus used a Spider Ball track to go up and reach the Spinners that controlled the clamps.
When the first clamp was removed, the elevator slightly dropped down, causing Sweetie Belle who was still on it keeping an eye to let out a surprised shriek. When Samus moved to the second spinner, the filly quickly flew up.
When the second clamp was removed, the elevator dropped all the way down in the shaft, revealing surfaces for Wall Jumps that Samus could use to return at the top.
Sweetie Belle landed on the elevator while Samus let herself drop.
"Not a fan of elevators dropping under your feet... uuh, hooves?"
"It can be fun, but when you don't know in which state the elevator will be once it hits bottom, it's preferable to not remain on it. It seems I didn't have to worry however. But give me a Tower of Terror in a theme park and I will say yes right away."
"I don't think you have the age."
"I don't have the age to do a lot of stuff that I do anyway. Like helping a bounty hunter saving the universe in the middle of a galactic war against merciless pirates."
Samus laughed. "True."
As they walked in the small corridor leading to the next door, Samus scanned another pirate entry that described their recent operation, sending three Leviathans at Norion, Bryyo, and Alysia to cripple the Federation and turn the planets into new Phaazes that would then be used as footholds.
Thankfully, Sweetie Belle and Samus made this operation fail despite a first victory of the pirates on two planets.
They then arrived at a room open to the acid rain. At first, they could only see a bridge that was destroyed by something as they approached. They quickly saw the origin of that destruction, a giant drone that was apparently a Phazon Harvester. The thing seemed to be partially organic and looked to have some creature's shell. It was clearly heavily armored and it was armed with a powerful beam. And according to Samus' scan, it couldn't be destroyed with her armament. The ship could destroy it, but the drone was apparently equipped with an anti-aircraft defense system.
Sweetie Belle and Samus could see that the path was passing by walkways linked by many more bridges above a deep pit of Phazon ore, so falling was out of the question.
As it was going, they will have to run on the walkways and the the bridges while avoiding the shots from the drones and while being careful of not falling when the drone will destroy the bridges.
Sweetie Belle decided that this won't do, so she charged at the drone and proceeded to have some fun with it, gaining its attention so it wasn't firing at Samus as she advanced on the walkways and bridges. The filly smashed the drone and sent it crashing into a wall, then threw it toward the pit of Phazon ore before she fired several beams that stunned it. While it was stunned, Sweetie Belle grabbed one of its 'legs' and slammed it on a while before tearing the 'leg' off. By now, the drone panicked and began to fire randomly in all directions, only for Sweetie Belle to use mirrors to deflect the beams back at it, doing huge damage. When she saw that Samus had reached the exit, she then charged right through the shell of the drone and, once inside, destroyed its systems until the drone dropped into the pit and exploded.
She teleported beside Samus who had been waiting her.
"Had your fun?" the Hunter asked.
"Yup!"
After passing the Blue Door, they reached another room with a deep pit, but this one had no bridges so they had to jump from platform to platform to reach the other end. However, the room was guarded by drones (not Harvesters, the more common ones), and cannons using high frequency beams fired at the Phazon deposits below so the jumps had to be time so they weren't hit by them. A tube at the right used a tractor beam to suck up the produce so it could be processed.
On a platform beside the last one, there was another entry that recounted the pirates' failure of taking Norion as well as their victory over Bryyo and Elysia. Despite the failure of Norion, the pirates rejoiced that Dark Samus managed to defeat Samus and the other Hunters and to plant the Seeds in them, knowing that it meant that the Hunters will eventually become slaves of the dark doppelganger and work for them.
"Like hell I will work for them," Samus said.
They then passed the door not far and entered a room where they immediately spotted the Nova Beam upgrade at the top of another mining cannon. The cannon fired the Nova Beam to cut up the Phazon deposit, then used a tractor beam to suck it up. Four glass pipes coming out of the cannon then distributed the Phazon to be used to various stuff, like creating armors. However, Sweetie Belle and Samus couldn't reach the Nova Beam as it was behind glass. So they had to follow the path as it circled around until reaching a lift, not minding the Green Door on the way. After the lift was some kind of Phazite door that stopped them from going further.
So they took the lift to the lower part of the room where they could probably do something to the cannon. As soon as they arrived, three hatches opened and Assault Troopers and Commandos began to come while a hatch made of Phazite closed behind the girls, blocking access to the lift. When the cannon fired the Nova Beam, several pillars rose all around that could be used as cover. When the cannon used the tractor beam, handrails were deployed instead for the pirates to hold onto to not be sucked into it.
Sweetie Belle and Samus exchanged looks of understanding.
When the cannon fired the Nova Beam, the girls used this time to kill the pirates. When it was the turn of the tractor beam, it sucked the corpses (that weren't turned into ash by the Plasma Beam) into it, and the girls made sure that the pirates holding onto the handrails knew the same fate.
As a result of the pirates, dead and alive, being sucked into the cannon, it was overloaded and an array with four nods was deployed. Samus fired at the nods while Sweetie Belle continued to kill the pirates that were still coming. When one of the nods exploded, it rendered the glass pipe above it unusable, electricity appearing in it.
The cannon then restarted firing, and the operation repeated. Dozens of pirates were killed and one by one the nods were destroyed. When the fourth nod exploded, the four glass pipes shattered and the cannon dropped with the Nova Beam upgrade.
Samus jumped on the destroyed cannon to collect it.
She immediately got to use it to open the Phazite hatch that blocked the lift. Nods were hidden behind the Phazite, so Samus had to use the X-Ray Visor to spot them, and then use the Nova Beam to fire through the Phazite. Hitting all the nods activated a terminal that Samus then used (still with the X-Ray Visor to open the hatch.
Back in the top level of the room, Samus used a similar method to open the Phazite door, accessing a Blue Door. But before taking it, they went to the Green Door and used the Nova Beam to open it.
Now in a corridor, Sweetie Belle dealt with a group of small drones named Crawlmines (because they were walking mines) while Samus used the X-Ray Visor and the Nova Beam to open a wall of Phazite at the right, getting a Missile Expansion after killing a Phazon Metroid that had been behind.
Samus discovered that she could use the X-Ray Visor and the Nova Beam together to spot and hit the vital organs of the creatures to one shot them. Thus she didn't even have to use an Ice Missile to kill the Metroid. She just saw its vital organ and fired at it with the Nova Beam, killing it immediately.
In the chamber where the Missile Expansion and the Metroid had been, another entry was present, this one talking about how they lost contact with the outpost at Bryyo and received images of Rundas falling in battle against Samus and Sweetie Belle (then called the Hunter's pet), then learned of the destruction of Bryyo's Leviathan. Apparently, they had spies in the Federation that warned them that Samus was then going to Elysia, so they had prepared a welcome party with Ghor as the host.
Which failed, of course.
But they will have to warn Admiral Dave about these spies.
Sweetie Belle and Samus then reached the mines' Landing Site, which was littered with metallic deposits that they had to dispose off to free the place for the ship to land. Samus then called her ship in case it was needed.
After that, they returned to the cannon room and took this time the Blue Door that had been behind the Phazite Door. In the room behind, a mining drill partially made of Phazite was struck in the ground. After firing at an internal mechanism thanks to the X-Ray Visor and the Nova Beam, the drill rose, leaving behind a hole that let the girls drop into a corridor that led, through a Green Door, to the quarry, into a balcony area that they hadn't been able to reach before.
Here, Samus took an Energy Cell (their sixth), opening a door that allowed them to jump back into the main part of the quarry. From here, they returned to the transit station that they used to return to the Pirate Command facility. Once they returned in the hallway to the command center, they did a quick detour to go open the door that was locked back in the room with the map station, giving the terminal nearby energy to open it. Samus then fired at the damaged cable holding the lift behind to make it drop and reach a Missile Expansion.
With nothing else to do inside the pirate base for now, they returned in the hallway and Samus used the X-Ray Visor and the Nova Beam to finally open the security gate, then the Green Door behind, finally entering the command center.
They were welcomed by an Assault Trooper and a turret that didn't last long. At this moment, they saw that the Phazite panel on the generator had a metal shield, so they had to find something else. Draining the energy of a terminal only deactivated a shield at the entrance to the Morph Ball tunnel below, where they got the Missile Expansion the first time. This left only a long series of platform that let them climb up, up, and up into the room. As they climbed, another pirate and two more turrets tried to stop them but failed, and they spotted two more Phazite panels protected by metallic shields.
Once at the top, three energy shields blocked access to a control unit in the generator, and a terminal was present on the wall. Samus interacted with it with the X-Ray Visor, entering a code that disengaged the metallic shields on the Phazite panels.
Almost immediately, Commandos appeared and began to attack the girls. Thanks to the combo X-Ray Visor plus Nova Beam, Samus was able to one shot them as she descended back on the platforms to reach the first Phazite panel. As Samus destroyed the energy cores behind it, Sweetie Belle covered her, killing more Commandos that continued to come. Samus then did the same with the two other Phazite panels, disabling the three energy shields back at the top.
Now, it was a matter of returning to the top of the generator while dealing with the Commandos that appeared on the way. Then, once at the top, Samus turned into a ball and entered the control unit before using a bomb, finally deactivating the shield covering the base.
Through a window, they could see the Federation immediately begin the assault on the base. Turrets activated to defend the base, but they were quickly destroyed. Federation carriers then came, beginning to drop marines all over the base while the smaller ships continued to give aerial support.
As she admired this, Sweetie Belle said, "Here we go..."
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Does the transformation in Sweetie Belle also give memories? Or that is also part of the soul? I guess she could know by instinct how to do each abilities and what they do but not sure
Not me. Wild rides can leave me disoriented, especially when I don't see a drop or sharp turn coming...
10966034
Mostly instinct and feelings I guess. I don't think she gets the memories or this would really be OP, and weird.
10966038
Same. I'm not the kind of guy who goes on roller-coasters and other attractions of the same kind.
hey Lucar,remenber how we talk about a possible Random Aparition of Gilgamensh cuz he is Dimension-Hoping like sweetie?
well,there is also this chick named Elizabeth from persona 3 who Canon-wise is also currently Hoping Dimensions,and since persona's games from 3 to 5 happens are in the same world then...yeah.
and who Knows,there could be more Dimensional travelers hidden in the other franchises of Smash,but maybe you already are aware of that.
just say.
10966074
I didn't know about this Elizabeth, and I don't know any other dimension-hoping character beside Gilgamesh.
10966082
When are you going to show the entry about Sweetie scaring Dark Samus?
10966110
There are no entry about that. Pirates avoid speaking about this incident unless they are suicidal. The closest there is is the entry about Elysia.
10966082
Well,long story short,she is a velvet Room attendant(what that is you should look it up yourself or this would be longer)that got attached to the P3 protagonist,and in her ending of persona 4 arena she began a journey to find a way to release The P3 protagonist from being eternally stuck as the great seal of Nyx
10966154
Oh yeah, I saw the final boss of Persona 3. I will look up Persona 4 Arena. Thanks.
10966161
No problem,anything that will help you make a story that every fan of the franchises of smash can enjoy.
10966116
Huh, think you could make an omake of Sweetie and Samus finding an entry about that that one stupid pirate made? And when I say stupid, I mean as in he didn't realize making that entry would get him killed stupid.
10967079
Sorry, but no. The pirates weren't able to see what Sweetie Belle did anyway. They just saw the giant beam (from rather far away) and know that she somehow managed to force Dark Samus to retreat.