Darkness Remade Part Two By Michael Bridge - nintendogamer794@hotmail.com Samus Aran was dead. She had been killed in the SA-X onslaught on Twin Tablula by the Black SA-X. Ridley, now stuck in her body and form, had avenged her, but had been forced to watch her die at the the bittersweet victory of the battle. She was still confused as to why she was still in existance. The chozo had obviously done something to her, but she wasn't sure what. The pool of... whatever it was, had something to do with it, she was certain. It seemed to be going to- " Tallon Four!" she said as it came into view. When they entered it's atmosphere, the blue sphere she had been following headed for the chozo ruins' Sunchamber. Where the Flaaghra creature had once lived. The bud where it had been was now gone, revealing a hidden door. Samus saw the anomaly go through the door, so she followed it. The chamber was small, but filled with inscriptions on the wall, and a piece of Chozolore. Samus managed to read it. Travel We chozo have left this planet in the hopes that it may someday be cleansed of the great poison that slowly consumes it. We leave a gift for the Hatchling Samus, in the hopes that she will find it and use it to aid us in our sttruggle against the Worm. A pedestal rose out of the floor, there was a glowing sphere on the pedestal. Samus moved towards it, it glowed brighter, she reached out to grab it, when she touched it, she suddenly felt... warm. As if she was- Her body! She had her own body back! Her Varia suit aswell! She immediatly scanned the sphere, it possessed a large quantity of energy. She checked her suit's functions: 20 energy tanks, 250 missiles, and all beam weapons! She turned and saw that the thing she had been tracking was right behind her! It began to reform itself, she didn't know what it was turning into, but she did not want to find out. " Not this time!" she said, then she fired a charged plasma beam at it. It stopped. It slithered out of the room, Samus was quick to follow. When she went outside she saw that it was transforming again. She tried to destroy it, but all of her beam weapons had no effect on it. When it had finished, it was an exact copy of her. " Not again!" Samus was getting tired of all her clones. ----- " But, how did you do that?" She asked her papi. " Concentration of the mind allows for unbeleivable accomplishment in whatever you put your mind to. Now, Samus try again." the old chozo replied. The young girl tried to mimic what her father was doing, but she couldn't seem to do it just right. " Never give up, no matter what the circumstances. Samus, you were born for unbeleivable things, you can do whatever you want to. If you beleive in yourself..." ---- Samus was unsure why that memory had suddenly flashed through her mind, but she knew what she had to do. " This ends now!" She charged at the figure before her. It opened fire on Samus. It was using her ice beam weapon, she countered it with her own plasma beam. The two circled one another, continuously firing at each other. Samus got hit in the leg, it was momentarilly frozen, but that was enough to cause her to fall down. The "other Samus" stood over her, placing it's foot on her chest. It then aimed it's gun at her face. " You die now." It said. " You first!" Samus aimed her own gun between her adversary's legs and fired a Super missile that sent her opponent flying. It landed on it's feet, suprisingly quick to react it then charged straight at Samus, who was still getting up. Then, from out of nowhere a plasma beam hit the copy in it's back. "Not this time!" It was Ridley! ( cheering in the background) Ridley continuously fired at it, each time, pushing it farther and farther away. Samus slowly got up . Ridley walked up to the defeated clone. " What are you!" He demanded. " I am X. Servent of IT..." The weakened creature spat. It then turned into a Core-X and flew into space. " Quickly! After it!" Samus yelled. " We'll use your ship. It's not far from here." Ridley responded. Ridley quickly led Samus to her old ship. They hurredly entered it, and shot out after the X. " It's long gone. Any ideas on how to find it?" " One of the shots I fired was a tracking beacon. We can find it easily." " Good thinking, how did you find me?" " Adam detected an enormous energy spike coming from Tallon Four, so I came to find out what it was, but I didn't expect to find you there." " The Core-X is heading for... Lady, you better take a look at this." Adam said worriedly. Samus walked over to the controle panel. " It's heading for... SR-388!!!" -------------------- " It's heading for... SR-388!" Adam said. " No! ...No! It's gone! I destroyed that hell hole two years ago! You know that! Check again!" Samus shouted. " I've already checked the coordinates three times. It's SR-388 alright, and if that's true, then we can expect to see the-" " The research station... This doesn't make sense. I destroyed that deserted planet long ago. It blew up when we crashed the station onto the planet's surface." Samus interrupted. " We're approaching SR-388 now. See for yourself." Adam powered on the holographic projector. Ridley checked the hologram. " That's not the same SR-388." She stated. " We know that! We crashed-," Samus noticed something wrong with Ridley",... what do you mean?" " It's the same planet, same material, same coordinates. But the surface is... New... As if the planet had been reborn as it had when it was first created... Adam, magnify the image." " Lady?" " Do it." Samus ordered. The image went in closer to the planets surface, revealing volcanos, large continents, but no evidence of life. " See what I mean. It's new..." " Approaching station, shall we enter docking bays?" Adam asked. " Yeah, I think it's about time we figured out just what's going on here." Samus replied. They entered docking bay 1, which was the same one Samus had been in the last time she had visited. They then made their way to the navigation room. They first went to the main deck, which was completely empty. " This place is deserted..." Ridley remarked. " Well, it's better empty than full of X." Samus pointed out. " I agree, but don't you think that the Core-X would have left behind a guard of somesort to avoid us following it?" " Yeah, unless it wants us to follow it..." They finally arrived at the navigation deck, Samus leaped to the top of the room, which the door leading to the operations room was. They both entered, then Samus went to the console and powered it on. " Ridley, stay by the door incase we need to make a quick getaway." Samus told her. Samus then turned back to the console. The monitor read: Station records accessed. Please wait.... Flight Path Records Found. Displaying..... Statio- BIOFORM SAMUS ARAN DETECTED. THREAT LEVEL: HIGH. SECURITY FORCES ENGAGED. TERMINATING FILE... "NO GODDAMN IT!" Samus yelled. The alarm went off, Samus turned around to see a hidden door open. Robot guards came in. She immediatly fired her wave beam at the machines, disabling them. " Samus, we've gotta go!" " Not until I find out just what the hell is going on here!" She punched in several commands into the console. ACCESS DENIED Samus switched her arm cannon mode to communicate with her ship. " Adam. Initiate security override, NOW!" Samus ordered. " Right away. Samus, what's happening?" " Not now, are you done yet?" "...... Yeah, done. But I only have temporary control of the systems, another override is being accessed. Hurry up." Samus punched in more commands as more robot guards came in. " Ridley!" " On it." She said as Ridley jumped in, taking out several units as she did so. " Computer, download data files to ship records. Adam, get ready to save those records as soon as you get them! Ridley, let's go!" Samus then dashed away from the console and went for the door. Her and Ridley jumped from the tower as more security robots came in. They resembled Federation space suits, but were fully automated, and without any insignia. They jumped down after them, Samus and Ridley continued running to the elevator that would take them down to the main deck. Samus turned and fired a wavebuster cannon, which shorted out all of the robots. Then, just as they were about to reach the door, Samus heard a familiar Dragon-like shreik. " Oh, hell no!" ------------------- The original Ridley came flying down at them, fireballs erupting from it's elongated beak. " s**t! Ridley come on!" But the "newer" Ridley had already engaged in battle with her former self. Ridley fired super-missiles at the dragon, while the demon used it's massive tail to swat oncoming projectiles away at the same time causing damage to Ridley. " Hurry up! If it's an X we won't be able to beat it! It will destroy us! We have to go NOW!" Samus called out to her as she then began to assist her companion in the battle. The dragon-like creature landed between them, with it's tail facing Ridley. It then lunged at Samus, ramming her against the wall. Half of her energy was immediatly depleted. The other Ridley then jumped into the air and began firing a barrage of missiles onto the beast. The dragon let out an ear piercing shreik and turned to face it's new opponent. Then Samus fired a Super missile at Dragon-Ridley's back, burning a hole into it's back. It stumbled somewhat, then collapsed into the ground. It then transformed into a Core-X. " RUN!" Samus yelled. The two turned to the now opened door and ran through it just as it closed behind them. " To the ship! Quickly!" Samus said. They ran through the still somewhat empty ship, X parasites not far behind them. They arrived at the docking bay where their ship still waited, they boarded just as the X entered the bay. " Full power to rear thrusters!" Samus told Adam. And they sped out into space... ------ A lone figure stood in the docking bay. Tall and silent it watched as the hunter left the area. Another then joined it. " The hunter still lives... Your forces have failed." " It matters not, she is no longer a threat to us. All that remains is the extermination of the remaining chozo." " You must terminate them now, before they aid her in the rebirth of the metroids. If they succeed, IT may be in great danger." " Yes. Agreed." -------- Samus' ship came out of Hyperspace. It moved towards the planet Earth. A now uninhabited planet that had once been the homeworld of the humans, but global warming had made it inhospitable to most life forms, making it the ideal place for federation headquarters to orbit. " Adam, open a channel to H.Q." " ... channel open." Adam responded. " This is Bounty Hunter Samus Iligian Aran, I come bearing vital information concerning the X parasites: Two years ago, I was sent to exterminate these creatures as they had infiltrated your research station in orbit above SR-388. In order to complete my objective, I was forced to eliminate their homeworld aswell as the station. In doing so, I prevented you from commiting a critical error which potentially may have threatened the universe. You then attempted to find me, and put me on trial for the afore mentionned "crime" and so I went into hidding. I recently disscovered that the planet SR-388 has been rebuilt by unknown means, aswell as the B.S.L research station, which is now infected with X parasites. My power-suit has been... degraded and I am now in need of a metroid DNA sample, which I am fully aware that you possess. I request that you-" Samus was cut off by Adam " Samus, they're attempting to reply." " Play message." A young voice that could not have been older than twenty came on: " This is prime-minister Michael Conowell of the galactic federation. We have received your transmission and are ready to dispatch a DNA sample of the "metroid" species immediatly. Please prepare to land on the western continent to receive the requested goods." The message ended. " Something's not right here... I expected the Federation to at least argue, or request my surrender... They never comply to a request that fast... Adam, can you give me a visual recording of that message?" Samus asked. " Yes, I'll display it immediatly." The holoprojector came on, showing a young man with brown hair in a white room. He began to speak. " Adam, turn off audio and accelerate message speed by two times original speed." Samus told him. " What are you looking for?" Ridley asked. " Pause message!" Samus said, then she pointed to the top left corner of the screen. There was a red, gelatinous substance floating in the air where Samus was pointing on the screen. " X parasites...." -------- Samus' ship remained in orbit above Earth. The now infected planet that had once been the homeworld of the Humans. " End transmission." Samus said flatly. " What do we do now?" Adam asked. " We should attempt to contact any humans that are still alive. If there are any sur-" Ridley was cut off by Samus. " No. If we go down, we're as good as dead... We should go back to SR-388 to see if we can get any information on what happenned to make the planet suddenly reappear." Samus said. " I advise a level of discretion upon our departure. If the X on Earth beleive that we realise that a trap has been set, they will use the planet's weapons to destroy our ship, perhaps even capture us..." Adam pointed out. " ... O.K, I've got an idea: Adam, open a channel to Earth, tell them that we have just received information that a metroid colony has just been discovered on Tallon Four, and that we have been ordered to investigate. Then make a jump to Hyper space. If they beleive that we are going to Tallon Four, they'll send a ship there after us as soon as they can. Meanwhile, we will be en-route to SR-388, out of their reach." " SR-388's only two light years away from the Tallon sector. If they figure out where we are really going, it won't be long before they catch up with us. It's risky, but right now it's all we've got. So go ahead with it..." Ridley sounded distracted. She had her back turned to the others, and was observing her arm... Samus went over to see what she was doing. Ridley quickly withdrew her arm from sight. " What is it?" Ridley asked her. " ...Nothing. Adam," She said turning back to the ship's controles", have you sent that message yet?" " Sending... now. Done." " Then get us the hell out of here." Samus ordered. " Initiating " Getting the hell out of here manuver"." Adam said. ( Thank you, Babalon 5). The ship turned away from earth and shot itself into Hyperspace and GB 10 ( I'll explain that at the end). Leaving the now lonely planet to it's doom... ------ " The hunter is going to Tallon Four, sir. She told us that she had found a colony of surviving metroids there and that she is going to investigate. Our units are on their way to tallon four as we spe-" Conowell was cut off by the dark figure. " IDIOT! Did you not consider looking to where the hunter was actually going!?" " Sir, I didn't-" But Conowell was killed before he had a chance to finish his sentance. " Useless human filth... Never good for anything..." The SA-X spat as it came out of the shadows. An X emerged from the dead man's corpse, the SA-X then absorbed it and went to the dead man's desk. It activated the intercom system. " Send Kraid to SR-388 immediatly with a small group of space pirates. Tell them to engage Samus Aran, but to avoid any contact with the Chozo." It said. It then went to the window, and looked out at the empty city it now controled. " You will die soon Hunter. And when you do, our plans will finally succeed!" It vowed. ------------ Samus exited Hyperspace above SR-388. " Take us down, slowly, we don't want to draw any attention from that station." Samus said, gesturing towards the B.S.L research station. The ship began it's descent into the atmosphere, as it began to sink into the clouds, another ship come out of Hyper space and followed the gunship. " I can see the ruins in the distance... Go towards that mountain and land us near there." Samus told Adam. The planet's surface was mostly barren, with very few mountains or sources of liquids. Samus finished modifying her arm cannon and moved out towards the mountain. Samus beleived she remembered a Chozo city having once been there, so it was a good place to start looking. Her COM device then turned itself on: " Samus... trap... out of there..." It was Adam, but there was too much static interferance for her to hear all of the message, but she understood it perfectly. " Ridley! It's a trap, run!" The ground between them collapsed, opening a large crater, both samus and Ridley fell in. Samus then looked up to see the cause for the sudden tremor. A giant reptile, the size of several tall buildings, rose up from beneath the ground and fired an orange beam from it's mouth at Samus Ridley saw sparks erupt from her suit as she flew backwards from the impact of the blast. She couldn't beleive that Kraid was attacking them. But it was obvious that it had been sent to destroy them. Ridley aimed her arm cannon at the creature's head and began firing missiles. they all hit the back of it's haed, but they still seemed to do considerable damage. It roared out in pain, and was momentarilly distracted. Ridley ran to Samus' side, Samus was weakened, but still alive and conscious. Her visor was flashing red, her suit's systems were damaged. Then Samus looked up, and managed to say: " ... Watch... out. Behind you." Just as Kraid's tail came down on them. Ridley had had just enough time to shove Samus away, but Ridley's legs had been crushed. " AAAAAAHHHH!!" Ridley screamed out in pain. Kraid then reached for Ridley with it's massive claws. It brought her up in front of her face, it then opened it's mouth and powered up for a shot. " Fine, you wanna fight. Then let's do this!" Ridley's body began to glow. Her suit seemed to sink into her body, revealing the skin beneath. Her skin then changed purple, what looked like wings began to grow from her back. Her entire body morphed, until it had become what it used to be, back when she had loathed Samus, and served the Mother Brain with the Space Pirates. Ridley, the old one, was back. And it was angry. " Eat flames!" It said as it finished it's transformation and shot a blast of flames at the giant. Samus looked up to see the Purple Space dragon, that had an instant ago been her double, break free of Kraid's grip and began firing massive balls of flames at the giant lizard. " Sweet..." Samus said as she observed Ridley attacking Kraid. She was amazed at how much damage Kraid had done to her with only one attack. All he had done was fire a single beam of energy at her, and she had lost ten energy tanks. " Ridley! Take 'im down!" Samus tried to encourage, but found that her voice was dry and raspy. She realised that they hadn't had access to the ship's water for longer than she had originally thought. --------- Ridley wasn't sure how he had regained his old form, but his transformation's timing couldn't have been better. He circled Kraid like a hawk hunting a mouse, or at least, an immensly large and scary mouse that was more than twice his size. But Ridley had alway's been stronger than Kraid, so he would normally have been confident that he would win. But this wasn't Kraid, and Ridley knew it. Something had happened to him, and Ridley wanted to know what. He continued his assault, aiming for the mouth and dodging the various projectile weapons that Kraid was using to attack him. He then whiped out his tail ( he was extremely pleased to have his tail back) and began slashing at Kraid, aiming for the stomach to avoid killing him. Kraid recoiled, backing away to try and avoid the attacks, while clawing at the air to try and hit Ridley. Ridley felt this was a good opportunity to assert his curiosity. " Kraid, what has become of you? When last we fought, you followed under our *colors and under my command. Now, why do you attack us?" ridley called out in his native tounge. Kraid was struggling, as if fighting some unknown force that was controlling him. " Do you now follow the one we sought to destroy? Have you pledged alleigeance to darkness? To, IT?" Ridley was certain now. " IT... commands... IT... DEATH!!!!" Kraid roared out. " Fight it! Resist!" Ridley called out to him. Meanwhile, Samus was trying to contact Adam, but there was too much static interfearence. " Come on, Ridley." Samus said to herself, not actually looking at him. But she knew what he was doing. " Fight with us! Free yourself from this... Being!" Ridley spat. " I... Can't... kill... death... destroy... ME!!!" Kraid said. He then flung himself at Ridley. " I am sorry..." Ridley said sadly, then he quickly turned back into "Samus" and fired a barrage of Super missiles into Kraid's mouth as he came down on him. Just as Kraid was about to crash into Ridley, Kraid was destroyed. A large explosion engulfed the area, knocking Samus and Ridley unconcious, and attracting the attention of a Chozo that was flying nearby. It went in the direction of the explosion. It found two weakened humans in Power-Suits, and the carcus of a... a Slonar! This was a shock to the Chozo. It mentally activated the suits' morphball function, then it picked up the spheres and carried them away towards the city, where it hoped to find out why a Slonar had been there and what connection it had to the hatchling... ---------