Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Fusion of Destinies ❯ Light and Shadow ( Chapter 16 )
It's rematch time, when Harry and Samus once again take on, well...themselves.
Anime/Manga: Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Sci-fi / Fantasy / Action | Type: Crossover | Uploaded On: 02.05.2006 | Pages: 2 | Words: 7.5K | Visits: 444 | Status: Completed
a Harry Potter/Metroid crossover
Chapter 16: Light and Shadow
2-5-2006
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 producer 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.
Samus stared down the Erumpent that stood almost thirty feet away, which likewise stared fixedly back at her. The two of them were in a rather small, claustrophobic, hollowed-out cavern which had a single tunnel leading out, which sloped upward slighlty. Samus had come down through that tunnel, coming face to face with the rhincoerous-like magical beast.
Even though she was still using her x-ray visor, Samus could see how tense this X-host was. The movements of its bones appeared rigid and stiff, and it moved slowly and cautiously. Even though its hide repelled her beams and missiles, it knew Samus still had ways of killing it.
Then it attacked. The Erumpent bowed its head slightly and fired its four horns at her. But Samus was ready; one blast from her arm cannon caused all the horns to explode well before they reached her. But then the Erumpent began to charge, it horns already growing back. Samus had anticipated this, and immediately sidestepped while switching to her grapple beam. As the magical beast sped past, she lashed out with her wisp whip. The long cord of searing blue flame wrapped around the Erumpent's midsection, and with one mighty yank, her whip caused the beast to be sliced in two.
"Gotcha," Samus spat triumphantly, a hint of amusement in her voice. The wisp whip was proving to be a very satisfying new means of wiping out X-hosts. The screw attack would have torn through the Erumpent just as easily, but she had found herself preferring to use the wisp whip.
As the two halves of the Erumpent collapsed lifelessly onto the ground, three X parasites rose from its remains. Samus quickly charged a shot to draw them to her, and they were quickly absorbed by her suit's systems.
Too easy, Samus thought disdainfully, staring at the ground where the Erumpent had fallen. These creatures had at first reminded her of the motos from SR388, but at least they were vulnerable from the back; the Erumpent's protective hide covered its entire body. And of course, a moto doesn't shoot explosive horns.
As she continued to look at the ground, however, she noticed something odd. The floor in this particular room was not solid rock, but loose dirt. The footprints of the patrolling Erumpent were all over the dirt floor, but another type of footprint was present as well: a bootprint.
Samus switched off her x-ray visor and charged her arm cannon. She then bent down to look closer at the bootprints, allowing the light from her charging shot to illuminate the ground. Samus recognized the bootprint instantly; it was identical to the footprints her old suit of armor left behind.
That could mean only one thing: the SA-X had been here. And knowing her luck, the SA-X was still here in the nocturnal sector, seeking her out.
Samus felt herself shudder involuntarily. Fighting her parasitic doppleganger anytime soon was not a prospect she relished. Shortly after her resurrection, the SA-X displayed far more power and deadly skill than before. And hearing about the carnage she and the HP-X had wrought at the Handu Mountain Preserve were downright chilling.
But she's probably one of the X-Cores keeping that door on the main deck locked, reasoned Samus. That means I'll have to wipe her out anyway. There's no way around it.
Resigning herself to the knowledge that she and her double would eventually clash, she checked her map to see how much ground she had covered. She was what seemed to be the bottom of the nocturnal sector, and it appeared that most of the sector had been mapped out. She noticed, however, that near the middle of the sector, there were some paths she had left unexplored.
Looking around the room, Samus noticed that the sole hatch in the little hollowed-out area was heavily damaged and impassible. Destroyed by SA-X? she wondered silently. One thing was clear, though: this room was essentially a dead-end. So she ran back up the sloping passage from which she had come, deciding to check out those unexplored areas in the sector's middle next.
"Eat this!" Harry bellowed as he released another charged spazer-wave shot at the Space Pirate blocking his path through the winding tunnel. The triple blast of electrical energy struck the Pirate in the chest, and Harry could hear cracks form in its chitinous armor. The Pirate retaliated by releasing two of its own blasts; one flew harmlessly past Harry's head as he tried to sidestep the attack. But the other struck his left shoulder, causing a burning sensation that was in sharp contrast to the cold that still lingered.
The Pirate fired again, but Harry jumped to the left and backward, and this time the blasts missed him entirely. Before it could attack again, Harry aimed at the Pirate's torso and yelled "Incendio!" As he had hoped, the Pirate's chest was now ablaze, the fire seeping through the cracks in its armor. The X-host was in too much pain to attack again, and another charged shot was all that was needed to destroy it completely and release its parasites.
After summoning the X parasites to him and absorbing them, Harry turned on his visor's map. The snaking tunnel he was in went on for quite a while longer, but fortunately, that Space Pirate was probably the last bit of resistance lurking in there with him. But what really caught his attention was where the tunnel ended: it led out to the sector's entrance chamber. The two dementors, the Erumpent and the Space Pirate were probably still there, but after disposing of them, he'd be free to leave the sector.
Harry just stood there for a moment, staring at the map hologram and thinking about his options. OK, I know there are some places I haven't explored yet, he thought. But it looks like I did cover most of the sector, and there probably aren't any more X-Cores here. I should go to another sector. Besides, this sub-zero air is still making me nervous.
Having made his decision, Harry trudged onward through the winding tunnel. All the twists and turns made Harry feel like he was inside a giant snake.
Snakes.... Harry thought uneasily. This was bringing a lingering uneasiness back to the forefront of his mind: whether or not Voldemort was the one controlling the X.
This whole thing sure smells like something he'd try, Harry thought furiously, going over what he knew. While in that graveyard, Voldemort had talked about having 'an army of creatures whom all fear.' Having a horde of parasites that could take the form of anything they had infected - dementors, trolls, giants, dragons, and all sorts of hideous aliens - would be something beyond Voldemort's wildest dreams. And if anyone could pull off such a complex and demanding time-travel enchantment, Voldemort would be the one to do it.
But there were many things ruling Voldemort out. For one thing, there was the space station itself. Harry knew very well that Voldemort hated anything that had to do with Muggles, and he simply couldn't see him magically rebuilding a space station created by Muggles and using its technology, even a station from centuries in the future. And even if he did, why hadn't he redesigned its interior to make it look like a base for Dark wizards, like the Chamber of Secrets and the Blacks' Grimmauld Place had been? Why did it essentially look the same as how Samus described it?
Also, the X parasites had attacked those loyal to Voldemort. At the Handu Mountain Preserve, the HP-X had almost killed Lucius Malfoy, and at Hogwarts he had taken Vincent Crabbe - the son of a Death Eater - hostage. And before all that, the HP-X had assaulted Snape (who, as far as Harry knew, was pretending to be loyal to spy on Voldemort) to probe his mind. And of course, all the members of the Order of the Phoenix had repeatedly said that they had no knowledge Voldemort was planning anything like this, that the X was NOT the weapon he was after.
But what made Harry the most doubtful was his scar. Ever since coming to the station, his scar hadn't so much as tingled. Despite the size of the station, Harry was certain he'd be able to feel Voldemort's presence if he was anywhere onboard. And besides, with the way he and Samus were wiping out X-Cores, certainly Voldemort's ire would be aroused if he was the one behind all this. He would definitely catch flashes of Voldemort's anger, but so far his scar hadn't burned even once.
Too bad, I was starting to hope it IS him, Harry thought as he neared the end of the tunnel. I'm starting to think even HE couldn't beat Samus. And with these new powers I'm getting, maybe I can finally take him head-on.
Harry opened the hatch at the tunnel's end and went through, stepping out into the bottom of the canyon-like chamber. Looking up, he saw that high above was a rocky ceiling with fluorescent lamps and crisscrossing steel beams. Also, there was a series of circular, metallic platforms kept aloft by a gas-based propulsion system underneath them, which led up one side of the artificial canyon.
The X-hosts were gone, but this was undoubtedly the first room of the sector he had entered about an hour ago. However, it did look a little different. Most of the bulbous, alien plants that shot up through the jagged rock walls were now withering, no doubt because of the change in temperature. And though it was barely visible, an ominous white mist lingered at the very bottom of the canyon.
Ugh, I'll be glad to get out of here, Harry thought morbidly. Even though the varia shield now made him immune to the cold, the sector's freezing temperatures still unnerved him, and it would be a relief to take off his breathing mask. Harry kicked off the ground and jumped toward the first platform, which hovered almost thirteen feet above the ground.
But the instant his feet touched down onto the platform, Harry heard the gas propulsion underneath it fade out. A second later, it clattered to the floor, filling the canyon with an impossibly loud crashing sound. Harry had jumped off it before it hit the ground. Looking up, he saw that the gas propulsion devices underneath the rest of the platforms were dying out, and one by one they began falling to the floor, embedding themselves into the rocky ground.
"What the hell!?" Harry exclaimed as he jumped backward to avoid getting flattened by one of the platforms. He had reason to be frustrated; the easy path out of the sector was now gone. Now he had to find a way back up to the other ledge and use Carpe Retractum to swing across to the exit. But as he turned to go back, Harry saw that the hatch wasn't getting any power. And neither was the one other hatch at the bottom of the canyon.
Harry wildly glanced all around the canyon, holding out his wand and brandishing it like a firearm. In the wake of the crashing of the falling platforms, an ominous silence hung over the canyon, broken only by the sound of Harry's breathing device filtering air for him. But Harry knew that the power drain could only mean another X-Core was in there with him, but for the moment it was refusing to show itself.
As Harry glanced upward again, he caught a flash of bright, green light coming from one side of the canyon. Almost instinctively, he jumped backward again, and a second later a bright beam of green light struck the spot where he had stood. Harry recognized what it was immediately: the Avada Kedavra curse.
Harry looked up again, and saw what he had been dreading: the HP-X was standing at one edge of the canyon, pointing his finger at him, and it was glowing green. Without hesitation, Harry aimed up at him and fired a shot. But the HP-X avoided it by jumping forward, and then it made a hundred foot drop down to the canyon's bottom, touching down with the grace of a gymnast about ten feet away from Harry.
The HP-X stood up and faced Harry, his glowering, yellow-green eyes staring at him pitilessly, as if he was watching and waiting for his next move. But Harry took the opportunity to scan his doppleganger and finally learn what he was up against.
Morphology: HP-X
An X parasite that has copied your biophysical structure, but exhibits a greater overall level of power and has several modifications made to it, such as having retractible insectoid wings and a protective, armor-like covering. Scans reveal presence of phoenix feathers in fingers, which act as wands, and subject can cast all spells nonverbally. Resilient layer of outer flesh repels most attacks, but penetrating weapons such as the Wave and Plasma Beams may have an effect. Extreme caution is recommended when engaging this enemy.
Oh really? Harry thought as he read that last sentence, fighting to repress a snort. He reverted to his standard visor and locked onto his double, all thought of leaving the sector forgotten. He could probably magically open the powerless hatches, but he had no intention of fleeing. He had no intention of running away from this enemy. The time had finally come to wipe out his doppleganger, or die trying.
The HP-X continued to stand there and stare at Harry, which made him even more apprehensive. X-hosts were supposed to attack their prey on sight, without the slightest hint of hesitation, so why was it holding back? Is it somehow scanning me too, probing me to find weaknesses? Harry wondered. Or does it just want me to make the next move? Well, if that's the case....
Harry flung his wand out in front of him as fast as he could. "Ince-" he began, but the instant he began the incantation, HP-X pointed his finger at him, which was once again glowing green. Harry had only a second to act, and did a dash-jump to the right to avoid the curse. He didn't know if his shields could block the power of the Killing Curse, and he didn't really want to find out.
Harry pointed his wand at HP-X again and began charging, but HP-X was already on the offensive again. He used Avada Kedavra again, but this time he swept the room with its beam as he turned to face Harry. Harry leaped straight up with a double-jump, barely avoiding the deadly beam of light. By then, his shot was finished charging and he fired the triple blast of power at HP-X as he was coming back down.
HP-X began to back away, no...it was gliding away backward in the manner of a dementor, its feet hovering a few inches above the ground. Fortunately for Harry, the path of his charged shot curved and followed HP-X, eventually striking him and engulfing him in electricity. It was then that Harry finally realized an important detail: his charged wave beam shots slightly homed in on whatever he was targeting.
But HP-X didn't react to his attack, and it merely kept gliding about the room, keeping its distance from Harry. Harry tried using charged blasts again, and he scored another direct hit. But the next one he tried was deflected back at him by a Shield Charm, and Harry had to jump out of the way. Then HP-X suddenly stopped gliding around and reached out with both hands. Harry saw swirls of wintry air appear around its arms.
Uh-oh, thought Harry panickingly, knowing what was coming. He double-jumped upward to avoid it, but the HP-X aimed up at him and a supercharged jet of billowing, frigid air blasted forth from his hands. The rush of freezing air was on target, engulfing Harry at the apex of his jump and blasting him backward. His backside collided painfully with the canyon wall and he was momentarily pinned against it, but for some reason, the attack didn't freeze him solid like the Sheegoth's breath. Nevertheless, the extreme cold almost made Harry pass out.
After a few seconds, the rush of air subsided and Harry, shaking from the cold, dropped back down to the floor. He took a second to examine his HUD's data: three batteries left, 24 units in the current one. Then he noticed HP-X was a few feet away and bent over, as if it was bowing to him. He also saw that his body was starting to glow a bright green, as if it was being supercharged.
Harry didn't know what was going on, but he knew it wasn't good. Ignoring the pain in his back and the deathly chill that still engulfed his body, Harry dashed aside. Just as he did, HP-X's energized body began to somersault forward at an incredible speed, as if it was using Samus's screw attack along the ground. His rolling body crashed into the stone wall, shaking the entire canyon with the force of its impact.
HP-X backflipped away and touched down a few feet away from the wall, hunched over. Realizing his double was wide open to attack, Harry charged a shot and fired, then began peppering him with regular spazer-wave shots. After a few seconds, though, HP-X managed to recollect himself, and deflected Harry's final shot with a Shield Charm. It bounced back and hit Harry before he could jump away, draining more of his energy.
Damnit! Harry thought furiously as the lingering electrical shock faded. Now the HP-X was on his feet again, and lurched toward Harry, trying to slash him with his talon-like fingers. But Harry simply backed away and pointed his wand at his nemesis. "Impedimenta!" he shouted, and the jinx struck HP-X's left arm. But he slashed at Harry with his left hand and his talons scraped against his shields, draining more power. The jinx had had no effect.
"Urgh!" Harry grunted as he began charging a shot, realizing he had to get out of range. As HP-X pointed at him again, preparing to use another spell, Harry double-jumped over him, fired his charged blast straight down at him, and landed a few feet behind his parasitic clone.
Harry turned around to see HP-X facing him again, pointing at him with a finger that was glowing bright green. He dashed aside, and the Avada Kedavra curse rushed harmlessly past him. He cast Incendio on HP-X, and for a moment his upper body was engulfed in flames, but they soon faded away. Then the HP-X tried using his supercharged form of the Glacius spell, but Harry jumped backwards to the right and out of the way, putting enough distance between them. This time, HP-X missed entirely.
But just as the last of the wintry blast of air faded away, HP-X was already launching a new form of attack. Harry noticed that several loose rocks, most of which were about the size of basketballs, were being pulled out of the walls by some unknown charm from HP-X. The rocks began spinning around HP-X, like moons orbiting a gas giant, as he glided about the far end of the room, far away from Harry. Then Harry noticed the rocks were beginning to glow, and soon they became balls of red-hot magma. Uh-oh, not good, he thought, nervous sweat forming on his brow despite the lingering chill.
One of the magma balls rocketed toward Harry, and HP-X readied another Killing Curse. Harry ducked to avoid the jet of green light, and hit the blob of magma with a Reductor Curse, causing it to fragment and explode. As Harry righted himself, he noticed the HP-X had moved in closer, and another ball of magma was coming toward him fast.
Harry raised his wand and said the first thing that popped into his head. "Aguamenti!" he screamed, and a blast of water shot out of his wand with the force of a fire hose. The magma ball was instantly cooled, and not only that, it was forced back right at HP-X. The rock struck HP-X squarely in the chest, and the force of the water splashing all over him knocked him down. But the remaining magma balls suddenly shot toward Harry, who was forced to jump, dodge or deflect each of the incoming projectiles.
Harry stared at HP-X as he got back up, its blueish-black sheath drenched with water. The sight of his soaked enemy gave him an idea. Why didn't I think of it before! he thought angrily. Water and electricity don't mix, so....
He began charging up a shot. As the HP-X moved in, gliding while pointing a glowing finger at him, Harry released his charged beam. HP-X had no time to counter it and the blast hit him, and electricity crackled all over his body. This time, though, he slumped to the ground for a moment, his face contorted.
It worked! Harry thought triumphantly. As HP-X stood up, he aimed at him and yelled "Aguamenti!" Once again, the blast of water knocked him down, drenching his entire body. While he was down, Harry charged another shot and fired it before HP-X got a chance to block it.
As purple electricity crackled around him once more, the HP-X began to stand up. Harry tried hitting him with Aguamenti again, but the blast of water was blocked as if it had struck an invisible wall. Then, Harry noticed that the HP-X's wings were sprouting out of his back.
Before Harry could attack again, the HP-X leaped more than thirty feet into the air and began hovering there, his powerful wings filling the canyon with a horrible buzzing sound. And then, out of the corner of his eye, Harry saw one of the metal platforms rise out of the ground and dart up towards HP-X. The circular platform was positioned in front of HP-X and angled downward, its surface facing outward toward Harry, acting like a shield to protect himself. Then Harry saw another platform fly up toward HP-X and become positioned in the same manner behind him.
These platforms proved to be an almost perfect defense for the HP-X. Whenever Harry tried to slip underneath him, HP-X simply flew away to another spot, and usually fired off a Killing Curse down at him for good measure. Whenever he jumped to aim over a charmed platform, it was raised upward slighty to block his beams and spells. And when Harry kept his distance, locked onto HP-X, and tried to strafe around him, the platforms turned to block any incoming attack as Harry tried to circle around HP-X. All the while, HP-X kept sending balls of lava Harry's way, all of which he deftly evaded.
But Harry, refusing to give up, kept trying to get past HP-X's defense. At one point as he was circling around HP-X, he saw he had an opening. He fired a charged shot before the platform could turn in time to block it. Harry briefly saw electricity consume HP-X's body before the platform swerved around to block his view.
Then Harry noticed an odd green glow enimating from behind the platform, and Harry steeled himself, ready to jump and avoid another assault with Avada Kedavra. But instead, a green beam of light fountained upward from the HP-X. As it neared the room's ceiling, it fragmented and branched out into smaller beams of light...all of which came rocketing down toward Harry. Damn! Harry thought, taken unawares by this new form of attack. He tried to leap aside to evade the deadly beams, but one struck him in the head.
For a few seconds, Harry's entire body felt numb and his brain was in a muddled fog. For a brief instant, he thought that the Killing Curse was slowly taking effect, but a second later he eyes came back into focus. He saw that his shields had lost more than a whole battery's worth of power.
OK, so my shields can stop Avada Kedavra, but they take quite a hit, Harry realized. He looked back up at HP-X, expecting him to try that attack again. But no green glow was seen behind that shielding platform. Instead, Harry saw jagged ice crystals start to form along the rim of the platform. Soon, it looked like a gigantic saw blade.
Then, the platform titled forward at a 90 degree angle, and Harry guessed that HP-X was INTENDING to use it like a giant saw blade. The HP-X made a slashing movement with his arm, and an instant later the platform flew toward Harry, spinning rapidly.
But Harry had been ready. He kicked off the ground and charged a shot just as HP-X willed the platform to fly at him. When the platform was about nine feet above the ground, Harry's feet briefly touched down on it, and an instant later he kicked off of it and double-jumped toward HP-X. Harry caught a glimpse of the HP-X's shocked expression, his glowing eyes staring dumbly at his rapidly ascending foe. Then, when Harry was right in front of HP-X, he fired his triple blast of electricity at point-blank range.
HP-X did not cry out in pain, but Harry saw him grit his teeth as he plummeted back down to the floor, firing more spazer-wave shots as he fell. After connecting with a few more hits, the HP-X's wings ceased flapping and he fell to the ground as well, along with the two platforms he had charmed.
Harry watched warily as the HP-X lie there on all fours, his dragonfly wings drooping limply and his head hung in defeat. Harry aimed his wand at him, ready for anything. There was no telling what this monster would try next.
Suddenly, HP-X looked up at Harry, leering at him hatefully. Harry began charging a shot, certain that he was going to attack again. But instead, he saw cracks form in the HP-X's armor-like sheath, and light was shining through them. As Harry looked on, he noticed cracks were forming in his face as well, and those sinister eyes were glowing even brighter.
And then, the HP-X's entire outer layer of flesh flew apart as if he had exploded, revealing an exposed X-Core that was giving off an impossibly bright glow. Harry instinctively shielded his eyes with his arm, but then realized this was his chance to absorb HP-X and finish him off. Harry dropped his arm and was about to run at it, but he saw it was beginning to float upward.
"No!" Harry screamed vehemently as he reached up and jumped up at it, but he was too late. The X-Core had risen too high, and Harry's fingers grasped at nothing but thin air. As he touched back down, Harry saw the X-Core seep into the room's ceiling and vanish completely.
It was over. Harry had faced his parasitic copy head-on, and single-handedly beaten him back. But he had eluded him yet again. Harry had no doubt that the HP-X would lick his wounds and then return, stronger than ever.
"Next time," Harry called out vindictively, even though he knew no one could hear. "Next time, I'll finish you. This universe isn't big enough for two Harry Potters." But after he said that, he realized how horribly cheesy that sounded....
Harry looked around, and noticed that power has been restored to the doors. Not only that, but the gas propulsion devices underneath the circular platforms had kicked in again, and were rising to their programmed heights.
Harry just stood in place for a moment, breathing heavily, exhausted from the ordeal. But he knew he couldn't stay idle for too long; he had failed to wipe out the HP-X, but there were other X-Cores out there to hunt down and destroy.
"And people think I enjoy doing stuff like this, being a hero?" Harry thought aloud as he jumped up from platform to platform to reach the sector's exit. "This makes everything I went through the last four years look like a game of Quidditch."
Samus went through another hatch and stepped into a small earthy chamber. In the rocky wall in front of her, there appeared to be a tunnel that was more than wide enough for her morph ball mode. To the right, there was a rocky incline that led up to a vertically planted hatch in the ceiling. Also in the small chamber were two side-hoppers; their exoskeletons were ghostly opaque when viewed through her x-ray visor. The giant insect creatures began jumping toward her, but Samus easily destroyed one of them with a charged shot. Then she sliced the other one apart with the wisp whip.
After absorbing the released parasites, Samus examined the small tunnel in the wall. It was blocked up by some strange blocks, and since she could see them with her x-ray visor, she knew they weren't composed of bendezium. After a quick scan, she discovered that the blocks could be cleared away with the screw attack.
Huh? How am I supposed to use the screw attack to clear away all that? Samus wondered. Sure, I can destroy the little bit blocking the very front, but it's stuffed with these rocks for another two meters....
Letting out a frustrated sigh, Samus ran up the incline, opened the hatch in the ceiling, and jumped up into it.
The hatch had led up to another cavern, one with defunct, robotic arms protruding from the ceiling high above. Two rows of ladders extended along one of the walls, which led up to another area, and a row of thick, wide stalagmites were at the far end, beyond which Samus could hear the powerful rush of an artificial waterfall. Samus noticed there were some light fixtures in the ceiling, so she turned her x-ray visor off. It was still fairly dark, but there was enough light to get a better idea of what was in the room.
As Samus was looking around, she heard a sound that was vaguely familiar; it was like a giant, rolling boulder....
A few seconds later, what looked like a giant grey ball - about seven feet in diameter - came rolling through the row of stalagmites that had been blocking the way to the waterfall, smashing them into tiny fragments. Upon closer inspection, it looked like a giant, rolled-up armadillo. Oh, you've got to be kidding me, Samus thought disbelievingly as it stopped and unrolled, revealing itself to be what she had anticipated: an Arachnus, one of the native creatures on SR388. An X-Core was wasted mimicking this weakling?
But instead of facing Samus directly, the Arachnus turned to the side and sverved it neck around, then breathed out fireballs. Samus easily dodged the fireballs but did not retaliate, for the Arachnus kept turning in place, making sure the side of its hard shell was facing her.
Ah, making sure its underbelly isn't exposed, Samus realized, a little impressed at how this time the creature had wised up. Too bad it won't work, she thought, jumping to avoid more of the Arachnus's fireballs, and then she started using the space jump and screw attack. She came at Arachnus, hoping to fly over it and fire missiles straight down. But the creature rolled itself up again, then bounded upward as Samus was right above it. The impact knocked Samus out of her space jump and she landed painfully on the ground with a thud.
While she was down, the Arachnus breathed more fire. The flames cascaded along the ground, temporarily engulfing Samus. But Samus pushed past the pain and sat up; the Arachnus was now facing her directly, ready to breathe fire again. Before it could turn around, Samus fired an ice missile. The deadly projectile hit Arachnus in the neck, and it cried out in pain, but otherwise it was paralyzed.
I know a way to finish this quick, Samus thought as she got back up and switched on her grapple beam. Before Arachnus could move again, Samus wrapped the blazing whip around its head. It screeched as the ghastly flames ate away at its flesh, and then Samus gave her whip a yank. Her efforts were rewarded by the sight of Arachnus's head being torn clean off.
A moment later, the body of the slain Arachnus transformed itself back into an X-Core, encased in its protective shell. But Samus had no trouble cracking it open with a few missiles, exposing her prey. Way too easy, she thought as she walked up to the floating, immobilized X-Core. But what a waste; it probably won't grant me any power I don't already have, but oh well....
Samus plunged her fist into the writhing mass, and it was instantly absorbed into her arm. As she watched some of her energy tanks refill and the number of her missile stock go up, a message suddenly flared across her visor.
SCREW ROLL ACQUIRED
Screw WHAT!? Samus thought, perplexed. Never before had she come across an ability like this. She looked through her suit's data, and eventually found a new entry that explained what the new power was: she could somersault along the ground and use the screw attack as easily as she could roll around in morph ball mode.
Interesting, Samus mused, and decided to try it out. She sprinted forward and went into a somersault, and could feel her screw attack kick in. She rolled forward just as if she was a ball, and not only that, she found that she could will herself to be propelled forward along the ground and renew her momentum. It was like using the old boost ball ability, only without having to be in morph ball mode.
And Samus knew exactly where to use this new power. Deciding to forego exploring the area above the cavern and the expanse beyond the smashed stalagmites, she went back down to the room below. She stared at the blocked tunnel, and saw it was just wide enough to somersault through using her new ability.
Here we go, Samus thought as she ran forward and somersaulted. With the screw roll, she barreled into the tunnel, slicing apart the metalloid blocks that plugged it up. After a few seconds, she reached the other side of the tunnel. It led to a little niche with a single hatch. Let's see what's in here, she thought as she fired a blast and opened it.
On the other side was a narrow transport tube with glass walls on the sides, and outside the tube was the cold, emptiness of space. The tube acted as a passageway, leading from the nocturnal sector to sector 4. Samus knew that sector 4 housed the aquatic environments. Well, I was just about done with checking out sector 6, and this saves me the trouble of going back to the elevator deck.
Samus ran through the transport tube, staring out through the glass. Outside, she could see the moon's dark side, and she knew that beyond it was Earth. Earth, a homeworld I never really knew, she thought somberly.
When she was almost halfway through the transport tube, however, the sound of the hatch behind her hissing open snapped her back to attention. Samus had a bad feeling she knew what was coming through. Oh no, not here! Not in these close quarters! she thought fearfully as she wheeled around.
She was greeted by the sight of a charged ice-spazer blast heading right for her.
"Gyaaah!!!" Samus screamed as piercing cold ripped through her suit, and the pain was so intense, she reflexively screwed her eyes shut. She felt normal ice-spazer shots repeatedly strike her suit, which made her body even more numb. She raised her arm cannon and blindly fired an ice missile, praying it would hit her doppleganger. Then the SA-X stopped firing.
When she opened her eyes again, she could see the SA-X was right in front of the sector 6 hatch, which was now open. However, she was now in morph ball mode; obviously, the missile had flown over her and opened the hatch. And she had just laid a power bomb....
Samus's eyed widened in panic, realizing what the SA-X had planned. She turned back around and fired a shot at the sector 4 hatch to open it, then she somersaulted forward and began using the screw roll.
A microsecond later, the power bomb detonated, and as Samus rolled away, she caught glimpses of the tube's glass walls shattering. And as air was being blown out into space, she caught a glimpse of the SA-X standing in the sector 6 hatch, glaring back at her as the door closed.
Samus could feel herself being tugged backward as air continued rushing out into the vacuum of space, but she continued using the screw roll to propel herself toward the open hatch. Thankfully, the screw roll granted her enough speed with each boost of power to overcome the vacuum's pull and reach the hatch.
Once inside, the door closed behind her. Samus stood back up as the hatch repressurized, breathing heavily and her heart thumping rapidly. Her upper body still felt numb from the SA-X's ice beam blasts, and an instinctive feeling of dread gripped at her heart. She knew she should've felt relieved she had thwarted SA-X's attempt to kill her, but for some reason, she still felt unnerved. Something about the SA-X's actions didn't quite add up.
Was the SA-X intelligent enough and clever enough to wait until she was in such a vulnerable position to attack? To possibly even LET her absorb that X-Core, granting her the screw roll so she would access the transport tube, and then use a power bomb to destroy it and blow her out into space? Most definitely. But Samus's instincts told her that there was more to this than met the eye.
Even if I had been blown out into space, Adam could've retrieved me and returned me to the docking bay, reasoned Samus as she stepped out of the hatch's other side. She stepped out into another tiny niche, only the walls were composed of pale green metal plating instead of a dark-purple stone. Another tunnel that was blocked with that same sort of metalloid block lay before her. This would lead her to sector 4, which would be entirely different from the aquatic sector she remembered.
So maybe it wasn't just an attempt to kill me. Maybe SA-X wanted me trapped in unfamiliar territory, with no way to backtrack to sector 6, Samus thought, trying to make sense of it all as she used the screw roll to smash through the tunnel. But why? Are the X trying to keep me away from something? What do they have planned now?
Harry entered the defunct navigation room, beyond which was the elevator that would take him back up to the main deck. He couldn't wait to get out of this sector. Please let the next one be a bit warmer, he thought dejectedly as he walked by the inoperative control panel, pulling off his breathing filter.
But as he was about to open the hatch, Harry turned back and looked at the computers. He had been able to contact Adam using a room just like this. He desperately wished he could contact him again. Perhaps he had information that would lead him to more X-Cores, or maybe he even knew where the HP-X had fled to. But these computers simply weren't working, and he had no idea how to fix them.
Well, maybe I can use magic, he thought hesistantly, slowly raising his wand. He doubted, however, that a simple spell could restore such complex machines. Nevertheless, he reasoned it was worth a try. "Reparo," he muttered, and a second later he thought he heard wires snaking around within the terminals.
But other than that, there were no signs the spell had any effect. The computer screens remained blank. "Reparo," repeated Harry, but once again, nothing happened.
Sighing, Harry turned around, ready to leave. But as he was about to open the hatch, he heard a strange sound behind him. It was similar to the sound of one of Dudley's computers being switched on. Harry whirled around, and saw that the computers screens in this room were now ablaze with activity and all the panels and buttons were lit up.
Harry darted toward the main terminal, and saw that once again, a Galactic Federation signature was being received. He immediately hit the 'Receive' button, and awaited word from Adam.
"At last, one of you has contacted me," said Adam, but somehow, his words sounded rushed. "Harry, we've got trouble. You need to get back to the docking bay right away," he continued, the urgency in his voice palpable.
"W-what's going on?" Harry asked, his voice shaky. By now he knew that Adam wouldn't talk like this if the situation wasn't dire.
"I'll be brief. My ability to scan through the magical interference has improved, and ten minutes ago, I detected an uninfected human bioform in the docking bay. I also detected that the space shuttle I destroyed is slowly being reconstructed."
"Whoever's repsonsible for all this is magically rebuilding it," Harry said uneasily.
"Exactly. I tried to re-enter the docking bay and put a stop to it, but some sort of energy wave that's acting like a tractor beam now has me immobilized. In time I'll realign my deflector shields to repel it, but by then it'll be too late. The repairs are nearly finished, and I've detected X flocking to the docking bay...."
"They're preparing to go to Earth," gasped Harry. "And since you're frozen in place...."
"You see our problem," Adam said darkly. "Get moving."
Harry didn't need any more explanation. He darted toward the hatch leading to the elevator room and went through.
Y'know, the more I work on this fic, the more I realize how badly I want a Harry Potter video game that doesn't suck. Let's face it, the console versions of Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban that Electronic Arts churned out were nothing but half-assed rip-offs of the 3D Zelda games that merely served as guided tours of the books' plots...and most of the time they couldn't even get that right. After both those disappointments, I didn't even bother with the Goblet of Fire game.
My formula for a killer Harry Potter game? First of all, base it off an original story and get J.K. Rowling on board to co-write it, for starters. Then, take the license away from Electronic Arts and hand it to Konami, and put Hideo Kojima in charge as producer and director. I can think of no one else who could translate a gripping, twist-filled Harry Potter story into a game better than the man behind Metal Gear. The thought of Rowling and Kojima working together on a game...it's almost enough to make me wet myself.
So long,
Grey