Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Fusion of Destinies ❯ Fork in the Road ( Chapter 14 )
Nothing to read here. Move along to the actual chapter, move along....
Anime/Manga: Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Sci-fi / Fantasy / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 01.25.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 6.5K | Visits: 476 | Status: Completed
a Harry Potter/Metroid crossover
Chapter 14: Fork in the Road
1-25-2006
by Grey
Disclaimer: The Harry Potter series and all of its characters are the creation and property of J. K. Rowling. Samus Aran and the Metroid series are the creation and property of Nintendo, and was originally masterminded by Gunpei Yokoi (1941-1997) .
This fic is dedicated to Razor Knight and CubedCinder128, whose support gave me the confidence I needed to write this thing.
After a minute that seemed to last an eternity, the elevator finally reached the access shaft that led to the station's six sectors. It was just as Samus had remembered it: at one side was a door that led to the even numbered sectors, and at the other was the door that led to the odd numbered ones.
Samus shot a blast at the hatch leading to the odd numbered sectors, but for some reason, it remained shut. She stared at it for a second, confused, then ran a quick scan. It turned out it had an extensive array of internal locks, and for some reason, she couldn't trigger them to open with her visor. I'm sure it'd be no problem for Harry, Samus thought. With one wave of his wand he could....
But Samus shook her head before she finished the thought. No. I know he meant well when he offered, but...I won't let hem get himself killed because of me. I've seen that happen before too often....
Samus turned around as she fought back bitter memories, and saw the hatch leading to the even numbered sectors was colored white. She could guess what that meant: it required the ice beam to open. She quickly switched her beam's ice effect on and fired a shot, then ran down the shaft to the open hatch.
On the other side was another elevator, located in a wide, metallic, circular column, but the number displayed on the left wall within it was '6', not '2' like last time. The nocturnal sector? Oh well, she thought as she stepped onto the elevator and went down.
As soon as the elevator touched down, Samus hopped down from the suspended unit and opened the hatch to her left. She stepped into a navigation room, and from the looks of it, the computers, screens and panels were all fully functional.
Good, a chance to get in touch with Adam, Samus thought as her hand deftly flew across the panels, activating long-range communications. She found herself eagerly awaiting a conversation with her friend, which was a bit ironic. Back on the real B.S.L, she had hated every trip to a navigation room, resenting the fact she had to take orders from a computer. But now that Samus knew the truth about her ship's computerized C.O., she regretted how little she'd be able to rely on his input this time.
"Samus, that's you, right?" came Adam's churlish voice, though it sounded a little staticy. "Can you give me an update on our situation?"
"Yeah, I found something interesting," replied Samus. Then she explained to Adam about the sealed door on the main deck.
Adam didn't respond right away, but after a few seconds, he said, "I see. Hopefully, this means you'll be able to find the culprit easily once all the cores are eliminated."
"I know, but it still bothers me how we don't even know who's controlling the X," said Samus. "What if it's this Voldemort...."
"If it is, I'm sure you can handle him. From what you've told me, he doesn't sound any tougher than the scum you've wiped out in the past," said Adam reassuringly. "Or should I say, WILL wipe out in the future? Anyway, for now, just continue hunting for the X-Cores, and I'll continue to maintain my position outside the station. But don't contact me too often. As I said before, our communications will certainly be intercepted."
"Alright. Samus out," she said quickly, then she shut down communications. Once again, she found herself lamenting how little she and Adam would be in contact. Completing dangerous missions alone was what she was famous for, but that didn't mean she was totally immune to the sting of isolation....
After Harry had defeated the Mecha-Desgeega and absorbed the X-Core it left behind, he found making it through the rest of the main deck was fairly simple. Although he did find some areas he was unable to reach, despite his newfound jumping power. His scans had revealed some walls that would only give way to objects moving at extreme speeds, and one hatch was on the other side of a room that he would have to fly across to reach, and he didn't have his Firebolt....
But he was encountering more and more X-infected hosts, most of which were aliens from the worlds Samus had visited in the future. Some quick scans revealed their names: Rios, Zoomers, Hornoads and Barbed War Wasps. And he had come across Space Pirates more than once.
Fornutately, Harry found it was rather easy to take out most of the hosts, and by absorbing the free X parasites he replenished most of the shield energy he lost. Still, fighting them was a bit exhausting, and as he went through yet another hatch, Harry found himself breathing heavily.
Stepping through the hatch, Harry found a hallway stretching about thirty feet with a hatch at the end, and in the middle of the hallway on the left side there was another hatch. Harry decided to go through the door at the far end and shot a power burst at it, its light reflecting off the metal walls as it sped through the hallway.
Through that hatch Harry found the elevator room which, unknown to him, Samus had used moments before. A quick scan told him what it did and where it led.
OK, I've searched everywhere else in this area and didn't find any more X-Cores, so I might as well go down, he thought as he walked over to the elevator platform. Once Harry stepped onto it, it automatically began its descent, taking him down further into the depths of the X-infested station.
When Harry arrived in the access shaft via the elevator, he saw he had two choices of where to go. But his instincts told him there was something strange about both hatches, so he scanned them.
It turned out one had the same type of internal locks as some of the hatches he had run into on the main deck. The other required a concentrated blast of extreme cold to open, and Harry had no intention of trying. There was no way he would use Glacius again if he could help it.
So he went through the hatch requiring Alohomora to open, and found another elevator within a wide circular column in the center of the small room. Also, within the column, on the wall to his right, there was a huge glass panel shaped like the number one, which steadily flashed on and off.
"Might as well," Harry thought aloud as he strode toward the elevator platform and stepped on it. After a second, it began moving downward.
When it completed its descent, the platform touched down onto a small unit suspended by support beams coming out of the wall. He quickly hopped down and went through the hatch, stepping out into a small room that apparently housed a host of computer systems on the left side, as well as huge readout screens that loomed overhead.
Unfortunately, all the computer screens on the control panels, as well as the screens along the walls, were blank. Furthermore, none of the control panels seemed to be receiving any power. Just as well, Harry thought with a sigh as he went through an adjacent hatch. I wouldn't know how to use this stuff anyway.
Harry was greeted by an unexpected sight on the other side. A narrow tunnel, about sixteen feet long, stretched out ahead of him, but the walls, floor and ceiling were no longer covered with metal plating. Now, it looked as if he was in an underground cave, and the walls of the tunnel were composed of strange jagged, red-orange rocks. "Weird," he muttered nervously as he went through the tunnel, holding his wand out in front of him.
When Harry reached the end of the tunnel, he found something even more unexpected. The tunnel led out to a long rocky ledge that jutted out from a stone wall. There were stone walls on both his left and right, and about seventy feet across from him was another ledge. This one was laden with stalagmites and had a hatch embedded into the rocky wall it protruded from.
Harry leaned over the edge and cautiously peered down; it was almost like an artificial canyon. The ground of whatever room he entered was almost a hundred feet beneath him, and down below two dementors glided about, patrolling the area, along with a Space Pirate and a rhinocerous-like creature which he recognized as an Erumpent. A series of circular metal platforms suspensed in midair, each about five feet in diameter, led up from the ground and up to the ledge he was standing on, but not to the one across from him.
Uh-uh, no way I'm going down there, Harry thought nervously as he watched the dementors swoop around the floor below; he doubted he'd be able to fight off that many powerful X-hosts at once without Samus there to help. He could see two hatches down below, but he wasn't willing to take on all those creatures to reach them. But now where do I go? he thought as he looked back up. That ledge is too far across for me to jump to. Ugh, I can't believe I didn't think of bringing my Firebolt! Then Harrry noticed something odd about the ceiling...light seemed to be coming down from it. Looking up, he saw a series of fluorescent lamps that illuminated the entire enclosed chamber, as well as supportive steel girders that crisscrossed the ceiling.
Harry looked back over to the ledge, then back up at the girders. It looked like there was some space between the rocky ceiling and the girders, perhaps enough to let him....
I really hope this works, Harry thought as he took a couple steps back, then he dashed forward. With one huge leap, he soared off the ledge and toward the adjacent one, which was still more than thirty feet away.
As the station's artificial gravity began to pull him down, Harry looked up, pointed his wand at a support girder, and softly muttered "Carpe Retractum!" A shining golden band shot out of his wand and wrapped itself around the girder, allowing him to swing across the chamber, using the spell's effect like a grappling hook.
By repeating this process, he safely made it to the other side. But the instant he did, he heard the faint sound of a hatch slowly sliding open, and it came from the ledge he had leaped from. Uh-oh, Harry thought fearfully as he ducked behind one of the ledge's stalagmites and flattened himself against it. He had a bad feeling he knew what was coming.
After a few seconds, he dared to peer out from behind his cover and glance over at the other ledge. Just as he had feared, the HP-X was standing on it, looking around the chamber with his glowing, yellow-green eyes. Now would NOT be a good time for a rematch, not in here, Harry thought. And I only had an edge last time because of my friends backed me up, and he's probably grown a lot more powerful since then. Then a terrifying thought came to Harry: what if the other creatures knew he was here? The dementors were blind, but what if that Space Pirate or Erumpent had seen him and alerted his doppleganger? Or maybe they had heard him?
But it didn't look as if that was the case, for the HP-X didn't cross the chamber to come after him. Instead, he merely hopped down to the ground far below, and Harry thought he could hear a hatch opening somewhere down below.
Harry let out a huge sigh of relief, but he stayed flattened against the stalagmite for about a minute longer. After that, he opened the hatch on his ledge and went through. Another showdown with his doppleganger was inevitable, but thankfully, that time still looked like it was a ways off.
Samus came out of yet another hatch and entered yet another long, winding, rocky tunnel. As Samus had expected, most of the areas in this sector had almost no light whatsoever, and the looming, suffocating darkness had seemed to close in all around her. She had long since been forced to switch on her x-ray visor and use it to get through the chambers and corridors. Viewing the world with x-ray vision was a bit hard on her eyes, though. Still, confusing as the x-ray visor was, she could still make out the flying creatures that greeted her: four doxies and three war wasps had been waiting, fluttering in the middle of the corridor.
At the sight of her, the doxies began spewing out wads of inky-black venom and the war wasps shot out poisonous barbs. Samus was caught off-guard and their attacks all struck her chest. But she suffered only minimal damage; all of their combined attacks hadn't even drained a whole energy tank.
With a smirk, Samus immediately retaliated with a single burst from her arm cannon. Her beam ripped through all seven X hosts and exposed the parasites. Samus then simply ran into them, absorbing them and replenishing her some of her energy and missile supply.
Samus continued to run down the corrridor until she reached the hatch at the other end. But with her x-ray visor on, she noticed something odd: directly below her, there was a tunnel that ran perpendicular to the one she was in. And the ground directly under her feet was completely invisible to her, so she guessed she was standing on bendezium blocks.
So Samus rolled into a ball and laid a power bomb, and the bendezium blocks melted away and allowed her to drop into the tunnel below. As soon as she landed, however, she felt weapons fire strike her rolled-up form. She quickly unrolled herself and looked around.
At one end of the corridor, there was a Space Pirate firing at her. Not only that, but there was a defense turret positioned directly above a hatch.
With practiced quickness and agility, Samus locked her sensors onto the turret, fired a missile, and hopped to her left, avoiding taking further damage. Her missile froze the turret solid, allowing her to focus on the Pirate, which fired more shots at her. She leaped to her right while charging a shot, then released it, disintegrating the Pirate. She charged up another shot to draw the exposed parasites to her, then fired it at the turret, blowing it off.
Now that she was out of danger, Samus took some time to look around. She then noticed the walls and floors of this tunnel were not composed of stone, but had the metal plating and power conduits of the maintenance tunnels.
Samus also noticed there seemed to be light fixtures attached to the walls, so she switched off her x-ray visor. What a relief, she thought as she closed her aching eyes, then opened them again to readjust to normal vision. It was then that she also noticed that she lost quite a bit of energy; only eight of her fourteen functional tanks were full.
"Damn dementors," she muttered as she went through the hatch that the turret had guarded. Samus hadn't been surprised to find that the dreadful creatures lurked within the larger chambers in the sector, and her suit's energy dropped drastically whenever they got near her.
Samus walked into a large, spacious chamber that had the same makeup as the maintenance tunnel. There was a hatch on the wall to her left, but it didn't seem to be receiving power. She scanned it, and found that interference from within the room was preventing power from reaching the door. Turning around, she saw that the hatch she came out of wasn't receiving power either.
"Uh-oh, what's going...." she began to say. Then her voice trailed off as a horrible feeling of piercing cold washed over her. Not only that, the hairs on the back of her neck were standing on end. One thing was clear: she was not alone in that chamber. Something ghastly was lurking nearby.
Wha...more dementors?! Samus thought nervously, glancing all around the chamber. But there were no dementors in there with her.
Then she realized that her suit's energy wasn't being depleted, so it couldn't be dementors causing this rush of frightful cold. Besides, this cold penetrated into her very soul, deeper than anything the dementors could manage. And it felt vaguely familiar....
All of a sudden, a ball of blue flame burst into existence, hovering a few feet above the ground. Then another one appeared. And then another, and another. Within seconds, a large ring of blue fireballs had formed within the chamber.
Oh no, it can't be!! thought Samus, unable to accept what she was seeing. Not that, it's impossible!! How...how could the Federation get a DNA sample of.... And then, above the ring of fire, the monster finally appeared: nearly eightenn feet in height and glowing bright-red, it had a bloated head like that of an octopus's main body at the top, and on the bottom was what looked like a severed, scaly neck. Two swishing tendrils were on either side of it, and at the front in the center was a huge, open mouth with pointy, fang-like teeth. And in its maw was an enormous eyeball, glaring at Samus hatefully.
Samus didn't bother scanning it; she knew what form this X-Core had taken. It was Phantoon, one of the monstrous Space Pirate guardians that had been on Zebes.
The ring of fireballs began spinning around rapidly, then expanded outward. Samus jumped up, and one of the fireballs zoomed underneath her, smacking into the chamber wall. While still in midair, Samus fired an ice missile at Phantoon's eye. It let out a roar and began swooping haphazardly around the chamber, and Samus saw it was fading away. She fired more missiles; two more hit Phantoon, but her third missile passed right through what remained of its body. Then Phantoon vanished completely.
Samus could hear Phantoon's disembodied voice, roaring at her furiously. Then more balls of blue plasma began appearing above her, and they dropped down onto her. Samus aimed upward and tried to destroy them before they fell, but there were too many, and several fell to the floor and bounced around.
"Ack!" Samus screamed as two balls of plasma bounced off the floor and hit her, taking out nearly half an energy tank. And she swore she heard Phantoon laughing at her. All the while, that feeling of soul-draining cold still lingered....
Fighting past the lingering feeling of dread induced by Phantoon, Samus jumped up again and began flying all around the chamber with the space jump. Thanks to the screw attack, the descending balls of plasma harmlessly dissipated upon contact with her body. Oh that's right, you never fought me while I had the screw attack, Samus thought with a contemptuous smile. This'll be way easier than last time. I'll wipe you out for g-
All of a sudden, Samus felt a burning sensation in her midsection, as if white-hot wire had been wrapped around her armor. Then she felt herself being slammed hard against the ground, and the agonizing feeling of burning increased. Samus looked up and saw Phantoon glaring down at her with its eye, and one of its tendrils was stretched out toward her, ablaze with plasma.
Samus deduced what had happened in a second: Phantoon had snared her with one of its tendrils and brought her down, and now was sending waves of plasma across her armor. She noticed she only had six tanks left, and the number indicating the remaining energy in her current tank was ticking down dangerously fast.
Fighting back the pain, Samus aimed her arm cannon upwards and shot a missile into Phantoon's eye. Phantoon roared angrily and its mouth shut over its eye, but it did not relinquish its hold on her. Samus fired three more missiles up at its head, but still the tendril remained wrapped around her. The burning pain continued to get worse, and now she had only four tanks left....
Samus reached out and grabbed the tendril wrapped around her midsection, and pulled upward with all her strength. The tendril stretched out, giving Samus enough room to morph into a ball. She quickly rolled underneath Phantoon, then unrolled her body and jumped up at the wall. She kicked off the wall and turned around, curling up her body and activating the screw attack. Samus was pleased to see Phantoon had turned around and its mouth was open again, and she slammed her spinning body into its eye.
Samus's body bounced off its eye like a rubber ball, but she could tell from the blood-curdling scream of pain that the screw attack had done a lot of damage. Not only that, as she was space jumping away from Phantoon, she caught glimpses of it reverting to the form of an X-Core encased in a glassy shell.
Samus landed back on the floor, only to see the Core-X swoop down and try to ram her. Samus fired off a missile, forcing it back slightly, then it moved in again. Samus jumped to the side and it passed by harmlessly, then she fired another missile.
After three more missile blasts, the shell finally cracked open, exposing the X-Core. Samus jumped at it and absorbed it, and then some words appeared in the center of her HUD.
WISP WHIP ACQUIRED
Huh? Wisp whip? Samus thought confusedly. She then sifted through her suit's system data and eventually came upon a new entry titled 'wisp whip'. She pulled it up and read it, and was somewhat surprised to find out about the new ability she had gained.
Her grapple beam had been transformed from a simple magnetized energy beam into a long cord that would be ablaze with blue, ghostly plasma. Not only that, it wasn't used simply for grappling across chasms anymore; now the beam could be brandished like a whip with which to attack X-hosts.
Wow, that's certainly...different, Samus thought as she reverted to her combat visor. She found it a welcome change though. Now the grapple beam had some use again; after gaining the space jump, it had become obsolete back on Zebes....
Zebes.... Samus thought dishearteningly, slumping against the chamber wall. Facing Phantoon again like that...brought back horrific memories, more vividly than anything a dementor could evoke. It was a grisly reminder of the second mission that had ended in what was, to her, a total failure.
Samus fought down the feelings of burdensome guilt and looked at the data on her HUD. She now had seven filled tanks with 23 units left in her current one, as well as 181 missiles remaining. She picked herself up off the wall and noticed that power had been restored to the doors, so she opened the chamber's other hatch, then went through.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!!"
A shining, silver stag burst from the tip of Harry's wand and galloped forth. "Jump up and get it!" Harry commanded, and the stag made a huge leap upward - no less then fifteen feet into the air - and headbutted a dementor that had been hovering over a floating platform. Instead of flying away, it exploded, leaving behind two X parasites.
"Accio X!" Harry yelled, pointing his wand at them. The viral blobs then flew toward him. He absorbed them, and they refilled 20 units of his shield's energy.
But he heard the raspy breath of another dementor to his left. He turned to face it, wand at the ready, but it had already closed in. That feeling of cold swept over him again as his shield's energy dropped, and Voldemort's malicious laughter echoed in his mind....
With a supreme effort, Harry kneeled down, then jumped up and over the dementor. He did another jump in midair when he was above it and aimed his wand downward. He pictured Ron and Hermione's faces, then yelled "Expecto Patronum!"
Another silver stag shot out his wand like a missile and dived down head-first. It rammed into the dementor before it could glide away, and all that was left were two more X parasites. Harry then simply dropped down onto them, absorbing them as well.
For a moment, Harry just stood there, his heart pounding and his breath coming in short gasps. All the strange alien creatures lurking in this sector, and the other dangerous magical creatures that accompanied them...none of them were as horrific as the dementors (though the Space Pirates came close) . And this was the fourth time he had run into them.
After a while, Harry glanced at the top of his HUD, and saw the number displayed was merely 19. But thankfully, he had found another magical crystal battery while in the sector, and all three batteries were full.
Harry then looked up, studying the vertical shaft he had dropped down into. He had descended this corridor moments before, hopping down from platform to platform. When he had reached the bottom, the dementors had moved in from above. The walls were made up of that strange red-orange stone, and bizarre, bulbous plants were growing out of some crevices. It looked so alien, yet somehow, familiar at the same time....
As he was surveying the shaft, he remembered that the HP-X was somewhere in the sector with him, and realized it wasn't wise to stay in one place for too long. Letting out a sigh of frustration, Harry walked over to the only hatch that was at the bottom of the rocky corridor.
Now I have an idea of what Samus goes through in her line of work. How does she do it? he thought to himself. Having to go through all these weird areas, not really sure where I'm going, fighting off so many creatures at once...and doing it all alone? People say I have a stubborn streak, but I sure wish Samus was here right now....
Harry opened the hatch and went through, still wrapped up in his brooding thoughts. Or maybe...I wish I really could've brought Ron and Hermione along. I'd even accept some help from Snape! But it'd be too risky...without Metroid DNA, the X would devour them....
He was so wrapped up in his thoughts that he didn't take note of his surroundings until he had taken a few steps out of the hatch. He was in a large cavern that had dimmer lighting than most of the other earthy chambers, and there was another hatch about ninety feet across from him. But a locking mechanism had slid over it, blocking the way.
Huh...locked? thought Harry, then he became aware of a strange noise echoing softly in the cavern. It sounded like a burbling, viscous liquid spreading over something.
Harry glanced around curiously. To his left, at the far end of the cavern, he saw what looked like the skeleton of a monstrous, four-legged animal, and within the rib cage he could see another X-Core. Smaller X parasites swarmed all around the skeleton, spreading out and forming into muscles, blood vessels and organs.
But what REALLY caught Harry's attention was what was forming at the front: three massive skulls.
"Oh no!" Harry thought aloud as he stared stupidly at it, feeling a twinge of fear. "You've got to be kidding me!"
At last, the creature's formation was complete, and it had become what Harry feared it would. Standing about thirty feet away was a gigantic, snarling, black-furred, three-headed dog. It looked exactly like Fluffy, the beast that had once guarded the Sorceror's Stone at Hogwarts.
Harry screwed up his courage and prepared to jump, expecting Fluffy to come charging at him. But Fluffy did nothing of the sort. Instead, it stayed put and opened all of its mouths, its center head lifted up above the other two. Harry stared at it for a moment, pointing his wand at the creature, wondering what it was up to. Then, within each of its mouths, a tiny violet ball of energy appeared, and Harry heard the air crackle with electricity. The balls of energy became bigger, and small sparks of purple lightning cascaded all around Fluffy's heads.
"This can't be good," Harry muttered nervously as he jumped to the right. He had no idea what Fluffy was doing, but he knew it couldn't possibly be good news for him.
He had moved just in time: the three balls of energy shot out of its mouths and began spinning around as they moved forward, leaving a triple helix of bright purple sparks in their wake. The triple blast collided with the wall behind Harry, and the whole cavern shook from the force of the impact.
Harry looked behind him, and saw that Fluffy's blasts had left deep burn marks in the red-orange stone wall, and sparks were crackling where they had hit. Harry felt the slight sense of panic in his heart begin to swell; he doubted his shields could withstand that sort of firepower if Fluffy made a direct hit. He looked back at Fluffy, who was readying another lethal blast. "Uh-oh!" exclaimed Harry as he readied himself. Just as Fluffy released its triple blast of electricity, Harry jumped upward and it passed underneath him. At the apex of his jump, Harry aimed his wand at Fluffy and yelled "Stupefy!"
The blast of red light struck Fluffy on its back. When Harry landed, though, he saw Fluffy didn't look the least bit dazed. Harry realized that its hide must be resistant to spells, and had a feeling his charged shots wouldn't do much either.
Instead of charging up another electrical blast, Fluffy lunged at Harry, its snarling, drooling maws opened wide. This surprise move caught Harry off guard and he didn't have time to jump away. He tried strafing to the right, but Fluffy's right head clamped down on Harry's left arm with its powerful jaws. Had it not been for his shields, his arm would have been bitten off. As it was, Fluffy had depleted almost half a battery.
Harry, in a world of hurt, tried desperately to think of a means of escape, and one possible idea came to him. He took his wand and jammed it up into Fluffy's nose.
"Stupefy!" he bellowed, and red light flashed through Fluffy's nostrils. The beast immediately opened its maw, howling in pain. Harry double jumped over Fluffy and landed a few feet behind it. He turned around as he nursed his aching arm, and saw Fluffy turn about, preparing another power blast. But that was just what Harry wanted it to do. He had just figured out something he felt he should have realized from the beginning: Fluffy's INSIDES weren't so invulnerable....
Harry pointed his wand at the right head and a targeting reticule appeared on his HUD, helping him aim. Just as Fluffy released its blast, Harry jumped to the side again and charged one of his own. Fluffy's right head still had its mouth open, and Harry fired his shot into it.
All three heads let out an eardrum-piercing howl, but Harry fought the impulse to cover his ears and repeatedly fired smaller shots into the right head's open mouth before it could close. Eventually, the inside of Fluffy's right head caught fire, and soon the whole head was consumed in the flame.
YES!! It worked! thought Harry triumphantly as the burned-up right head sagged lifelessly. Now if I can only take out the other two....
But Fluffy began charging at him again, forcing Harry to double jump over it, his head grazing against the rocky ceiling. Harry landed gracefully and whirled around, only to see Fluffy coming at him again. He jumped to avoid it once more. Come on, shoot at me again! he thought impatiently as he charged up the tip of his wand. Just give me another shot....
When he landed and turned around again, he saw Fluffy doing just that. But before Harry could aim at one of the heads and fire, two electric blasts came at him. One struck him dead-center, and even though his shields protected him, his body reeled from the force of the electric shock.
Thankfully, he recovered in time to avoid another charge from Fluffy by jumping over it yet again. He glanced up at the top of his HUD and saw he had two batteries left and only 5 units left in his current one. He landed, began charging a shot, and turned around. Fluffy was readying two more blasts to fire at close range. Luckily, Harry was done charging his, and fired it into the left's heads mouth.
Both heads howled again, allowing Harry to fire more shots repeatedly into the left's heads maw. Soon, it burst into flame just as the right one had. Too easy, Harry thought smugly as he watched the left head sag lifelessly. Two down, one to go!
The center and final head began readying another electric blast, but Harry was ready with another charged shot. Within seconds, he finished off the last head, and Fluffy's entire body slumped lifelessly to the floor.
Harry sank to his knees, exhausted from the harrowing battle. But the fight wasn't over just yet: the flesh and innards of Fluffy's body began melting away as if acid had been poured onto it. And up from the glop of organic matter rose an X-Core encased in its protective, spiky membrane.
Harry quickly got back on his feet, pointed his wand at the X-Core, and vehemently yelled "Reducto!" But his curse rebounded off the glassy membrane and smacked into a rock in the craggy wall, reducing it to powder. As Harry gaped at the core, wondering why his curse had no effect, a small hole formed in the front of the shell, and electricity crackled around the membrane.
Uh-oh, thought Harry as he ducked aside, and a swirling triple blast of penetrating, electrical energy struck the spot where he had been standing. Before the hole in the shell closed, Harry pointed his wand at it and yelled "Reducto!"
His spell made it throught the hole, and this time there was an effect. A sound like the crunching of glass echoed throughout the cavern, and deep cracks spread outward from where the hole had been. Harry began circling around the floating X-Core, his wand aimed at it and his visor's sensors locked onto it. When another hole formed, he was ready, and shot another Reductor Curse into it. This time, the membrane shattered completely, exposing the parasite within.
Harry stared at the levitating, writhing blob for a moment, once again a little hesitant to absorb it. Oh, I might as well, he reasoned, then he leaped up at it. When his body made contact with the exposed X-Core, it was immediately drawn into him. The moment it did, Harry felt a surge of power course through his entire body, even greater than the last time. It felt as if every cell in his body had becomed charged with energy, and it made him feel so elated, so invigorated....
Get a hold of yourself, Harry thought to himself scoldingly as he touched down again. Don't get too hopped up on power. That's something Voldemort would do. As he forced himself to calm down, he noticed some words flashing across his visor:
SPAZER AND WAVE BEAM ACQUIRED
"What?" Harry blurted out as he stared down at his wand. It was crackling with that same purplish electricity that Fluffy had used. Curiously, he held it out in front of him, and willed it to fire a shot....
His wand didn't shoot out a single, tiny sprut of power like before. Now, three wavy streams of purple energy flowed out of his wand at high speeds. One remained in the center, while the other two rotated about the first one as they travelled across the room, forming a double helix of purple light around the central stream of light in their wake.
"Whoa, that looks pretty powerful," Harry said to himself, marvelling at the power he had gained from Fluffy. Indeed, if this new ability was as powerful as it looked, it would certainly give him an edge in battle. It might even help him beat the HP-X, though he still wasn't too anxious to face him.
With a renewed sense of determination, he headed out of cavern's other unlocked hatch, eager to hunt down more X-Cores.
Well, there's some more Metroid-y themed goodness for you. It's not as long as the last few chapters. But considering the size of the behemoths I've churned out as of late, maybe that's not such a bad thing.
So long,
Grey