Harry Potter - Series Fan Fiction / Other Fan Fiction / Crossover Fan Fiction ❯ Fusion of Destinies ❯ Hot and Cold ( Chapter 19 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Fusion of Destinies
a Harry Potter/Metroid crossover
Chapter 19: Hot and Cold
2-22-2006
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 Gumpei Yokoi (1941-1997) .

This fic is dedicated to Razor Knight and CubedCinder128, whose support gave me the confidence I needed to write this thing.

---

Back in the freezer again, Harry had thought once he saw what awaited him in sector 5.

The environment of the arctic sector was far colder and deadlier than what sector 1 had become; in here, the temperature was well below 50 degrees celsius, frost covered the walls and floors, and icicles dangled from the ceilings. Even with the varia shield, Harry felt a chill he usually associated with advancing dementors. He could hear the steady hum of the refrigeration units in the walls, transferring what little heat energy remained to other areas, possibly back to sector 3. Rime covered the pipes that jutted out of the walls, as if a powerful, icy wind had blown through the chambers and hallways, and a white, opaque mist lingered along the very bottom of the floors.

But right now, Harry didn't take notice of any of that. He was too busy running at insane speeds, barreling down an absurdly long hallway. He ran down the narrow hallway, running up and down inclines and stairs, ripping through the bodies of any Space Pirates unlucky enough to be in his way. After running through each Pirate, Harry would aim his hand backwards to summon the freed X, but he was travelling so fast that they couldn't catch up to him.

Harry saw that the hatch at the end of the hallway was coming up fast, and he tried to skid to a halt. But the slipperiness of the tiled floor, coupled with Harry's inexperience with using the speed booster, conspired against him. He only slowed himself to about 50 miles per hour before comically slamming into the hatch, winding up flattened against it. He was certain that every bone in his body would have shattered had it not been for his personal shielding; still, he felt shaken and very sore.

Harry slowly slid down against the hatch, and leaned against it while squatting. Then he felt a tingling sensation course through his body, and knew that the summoned parasites had finally reached him. A quick glance at his HUD revealed that he had seven full batteries, but an eighth one was empty; he had found another one embedded in a ceiling shortly after arriving in the sector.

Ugh, I'm glad no one will ever see that, Harry thought as he picked himself up. Maybe I'm not cut out to use power like that, he thought morosely, his exhaled breath coming out as frosty and opaque through his filter. He couldn't help feeling he wasn't using his new powers as expertly as Samus did, despite how much he had already done. But Harry forced down those feelings of self-doubt, remembering that Samus had said she wasn't perfect either, and opened the hatch.

Once on the other side, Harry saw that he was at the top of another vertical shaft. Harry grimaced at the thought of another long drop, despite knowing he could drop over fifty feet and land harmlessly. But as he looked over the tiny ledge he stood on, though, he saw something even worse: the shaft below him was submersed in water.

"What the bloody hell!?" Harry exclaimed, and then he realized that the steady hum that had lingered in the other rooms was absent here. He looked at the walls again, and noticed they were devoid of any icy coating. A quick scan confirmed what he suspected: the refrigeration units in this room had shut down, due to shoddy maintenance. Not only that, the readout also said that the units in adjacent rooms were out of order too. Whoever rebuilt the station clearly didn't know how to maintain all the systems very well.

Oh that's just great, Harry thought, now in an even more saturnine mood. But he realized that, knowing his luck, the X-Core he was after was probably beyond the submerged rooms, or even in one of them. But since Adam's breathing filter would let him get oxygen from the water, there was no danger of drowning. Until the oxygen in the water runs out, of course. Harry was unable to supress that disturbing thought.

Get a hold of yourself, Harry. Samus wouldn't hesitate, she'd keep going until the job was finished, no matter what. Taking a deep breath, Harry crouched down, then leaped forward. A second later, he plunged into the water and slowly sank to the bottom.

---

One thing was for certain: the X had boosted security in the tropical sector, undoubtedly because they knew Samus was on the way. And now that she was finally here, X-hosts had been assaulting her every step of the way.

She was standing at the bottom of a large, spacious chamber that, unlike the rest of sector 2, was devoid of any plant life and had resplendent, turquoise walls on two sides, and dull grey walls lined with a hexagonal pattern along the other two. Three hatches were at the bottom of the chamber, and Space Pirates were pouring through them, clearly eager to rip Samus to shreds.

As they closed in around her, Samus switched on her grapple beam and extended her wisp whip. She then lashed out with her arm cannon and spun around on one foot like a top. Her whip sliced through any Space Pirate that was within an eight-foot radius of her. Samus retracted the whip and wildly fired beams all around her, making them back off and giving her time to charge a blast, drawing the freed X to her before they could retreat and reform.

But it wasn't long before the Pirates advanced again. Samus released her charged shot at the nearest one, and it ripped through it and took out another two behind it. Samus then went into a screw roll, propelling herself forward and absorbing the exposed X. She turned around and barreled into the crowd of Pirates, a blazing whell of destruction. They promptly dived out of the way, and Samus felt the retaliatory energy blasts of several Pirates pelting her spinning body, almost making her disengage her screw roll.

But Samus broke her roll voluntarily, unrolling and standing up when she sensed she had neared two Space Pirates that had taken position beside a wall. As she righted herself, she willed her fins to extend, and came at the nearest parasite with an upward slash, bisecting it from the crotch up. Then she made a horizontal swipe at the other Pirate, beheading it.

Samus felt more powerful energy blasts strike her armor, and she began powering up a missile (which attracted the recently freed parasites just like a charged beam did) . She wheeled around and, seeing half a dozen Space Pirates standing about twenty feet away, aimed her diffusion missile at the nearest one. The blast of swirling, icy air it released froze them all, allowing Samus to pick them all off with ease.

This is getting too easy, she thought disdainfully as she drew the remaining parasites to her. Indeed, with the options granted by her new abilities - the wisp whip, the screw roll and the fin slasher - defeating X-hosts was becoming even more ridiculously easy, even when she was grossly outnumbered. But Samus mentally warned herself not to get too complacent. There was still the X-Core lurking in sector 2 to deal with, not to mention the SA-X and HP-X, and then whoever started this whole crisis. And that was assuming Harry succeeded in absorbing the X-Cores he was hunting....

Samus shook her head, trying to force her concern for Harry into the back of her mind. Worrying about him would accomplish nothing, and she still had her own task to attend to. She simply had to trust him to pull through on his own.

Letting out a heavy sigh, Samus looked up, and noticed, for the first time, that there was a recessed area within the wall over a hundred feet above her. Samus had checked out all other available routes (she had come through the bottom of this chamber several times before being ambushed) but hadn't found the X-Core. So she began space jumping up to the niche in the wall, and when she reached it, she found another hatch there.

On the other side was a long hallway, with three more Space Pirates awaiting her arrival. Luckily, Samus had had the foresight to power up a shot before exiting the hatch. She fired the blast at the nearest Pirate, and it ripped through it and annihilated another one directly behind it. A few ice missiles were all that were needed to finish off the final Pirate.

Samus looked around the hallway she stood in as she drew the freed X to her. She was back in an area that mimicked a tropical environment. The walls were a dark, pale olive green, as were the huge cylindrical tanks and the segmented pipes that ran from them. Thick, branching patches of vines were wrapped around those tanks and pipes, looking as if they were about to constrict and crush the metal. All manners of grasses and small, leafy plants sprouted from the tiled floors, and thick clumps of moss dangled from many parts of the ceiling. Lastly, the air was clearly hot and humid, evidenced by the condensation forming along the outer edges of her visor.

Samus was briefly reminded of the lush, rain-drenched area on Tallon IV she had landed her ship in, but as she ran down the hallway, she also thought of what sector 2 would make Harry recall. All the vegetation would surely remind him of that giant hedge maze, she reasoned as she used the x-ray visor to search for unseen passages. Or maybe those trips he made into that huge forest.

After a while, despite herself, Samus's thoughts inevitably drifted back to how Harry was doing. If Harry's taken out the one in sector 3 by now, then he'll be moving on to find the other one. The arctic sector...another environment where the air will kill him if his shields drop....

No, don't think about it, Samus thought scoldingly as she reached the other end of the hallway and opened the hatch. He's doing this for you, and you just have to have faith in him. You've got your own job to do. Focus on that.

And with that final thought, Samus rushed into the hatch, determined to find the X-Core she was hunting, so she could then rendezvous with Harry. However, she couldn't fully supress her frustration over the fact that Harry had stowed away on her ship, and Adam had let him.

---

When Adam had first given Harry his breathing filter, he immediately wished he had had something like it when undergoing the second task in the Triwizard Tournament. He had thought a way to breathe underwater indefinitely was bettter than using gillyweed, which would wear off over time.

After delving into the submersed chambers of sector 5, however, Harry quickly realized the fallacy of such thinking. His filter let him get oxygen from water, but that was the limit of its usefulness here. The gillyweed had also given him webbed hands and flipper-like feet, as well as make his body more sleek and agile, perfect for swimming.

But now, the water hampered his movements, making him sluggish. Even more troublesome was how his shields - which had to be up constantly in this sector - seemed to kill his buoyancy. He could make two short jumps in the water, but he only rose about five feet, and he could swim upwards a few more feet before his limbs would become exhausted. Then he would slowly sink again. What was worse, though, was how his space jump and speed booster didn't work in water.

Needless to say, Harry desperately wished he had some gillyweed. He wished he somehow had had the foresight to nick some from Snape's office before stowing away on Samus's ship.

Harry trudged through the water and into an open hatch. On the other side, company was awaiting him. Two merpeople, armed with strange, futuristic-looking weapons in each hand, were about forty feet away. They immediately opened fire once they saw him. Harry tried to dive out of the way, but the water slowed him down too much. Weapons fire danced across his shields, and by the time the merpeople stopped to let their guns recharge, almost two batteries' worth of shield energy was gone.

Realizing he had to do something before they fired again, Harry aimed his wand and yelled, "Expelliarmus!" The sound didn't travel through the water and only bubbles came out of his filter, but the charm worked. A blast of light rocketed toward one of the merpeople, and upon impact, both of its guns flew from its hands. Harry then used the charm against the other one before it could fire.

Harry then cut loose with his beam before the disarmed merpeople could swim away. Somehow, the water didn't diminish its extreme heat, and the electricity ensured that the merpeople were in for quite a shock. After several seconds of relentless bombardment, the X-hosts were destroyed.

After summoning the freed X, Harry looked around, and despite the haziness of the water, he saw another hatch about fifty feet away. Sighing, Harry slowly started running through the water toward it, praying he'd make it out of the submerged areas soon enough.

In the following areas, there were much more X-hosts; more merpeople armed with those bizarre guns, as well as Space Pirates that now that a huge fish-tail instead of legs. Miraculously, within the next few minutes, hardly any of the X-hosts managed to land a blow. Well aware of how vulnerable he was in water, Harry attacked them all relentlessly with his beam before they even had a chance to fire back. He was even able to replenish his shield energy, almost to the maximum amount.

Eventually, Harry came across a corridor that branched upward, and after making the highest double-jump he could, he managed to reach out and grab the ledge. FINALLY! he thought excitedly as he pulled himself up and looked around. A long, narrow hallway awaited him. He ran down it and went through the hatch at the end.

After exiting the hatch, Harry stepped out into a large chamber that was very dimly lit. Harry strained his eyes as he waited for them to adjust, and as he looked around, he noticed something strange about the walls. Maybe it was because of the poor lighting, but the wall looked as if they were made up of several large machines simply jumbled together. Harry suddenly got a bizarre mental image of a troll lifting massive machine parts, and then thrusting them into the wall so that they became indelibly embedded.

When Harry's eyes finally adjusted to the low light, he turned to look in front of him again. At the far end of the chamber, about ninety feet away, something else was attached to the wall...something that looked alive. W-what is it? Some sort of...giant robot? Harry thought nervously as he cautiously stepped closer, trying to make out what it was. He resisted the temptation to light the chamber with magic, afraid it would cause this thing to spring to life.

Something monstrously huge, with a bizarre, grotesque shape, was held up against the wall, supported by cables coming from the wall and ceiling. It gave off a metallic glint, and Harry could make out what looked like a metallic sphere with a square frame surrounding it. On that sphere were two circular, recessed areas, positioned in such a way that it looked like they were eyes....cold, black, unfeeling eyes. Like Snape's, Harry mused. Harry could also make out what looked like long, thin arms that dangled from the sides of the main body, separated into loosely connected segments.

His curiosity mounting, Harry switched on his visor's scan mode. Once the results of the scan were displayed, Harry couldn't surpress a startled gasp.

Morphology: The Nightmare
Cybernetic organism engineered by the Galactic Federation and Biologic for use in military applications, magically reborn and reconstructed using data stored organically by the X. Subject possesses powerful beam weapon systems and can manipulate gravity. Its dense armor repels most weapons, but the plating surrounding the turbine is much thinner. The Nightmare is an exceptionally dangerous cybernetic weapon and extreme caution is recommended.

Harry gulped after rereading the scan's results. So, here was the other X-Core he was after, and it was housed within that robotic monster Samus had faced before. Well, I finally found it, Harry thought nervously as he raised his wand. Maybe I can do something before it....

As if the Nightmare had read his thoughts, the cables connected to it detached noisily and its recessed eyes glowed a bright green. It slowly started to hover away from the wall, and now Harry could see it more clearly: its spherical head and dangling arms were attached to what looked like a giant, metal snail shell. But where the shell would have began to curve upward and form into a spiral, there was a cylindrical machine with a blood-red glass plate at the tip. Its central, armored body was more than twice Harry's height, and its drooping arms grazed the floor as it hovered about seven feet above it.

So much for that idea, Harry mused grudgingly as he focused on the slowly advancing cyborg, willing the targeting sensors of his visor to search for weak spots. With a reticule formed on his HUD, it pinpointed the strange machine at the bottom. Oh, so that's its 'turbine', Harry realized as he charged a blast and released it.

His three plasma blasts ripped through the turbine and electricity crackled around it. The Nightmare let out an odd screeching noise, then it started to floating more quickly toward Harry. In addition, Harry noticed that along each of the Nightmare's arms, three segments were beginning to glow with a dangerous-looking light....

And then, a bright laser beam issued forth from each segment. A total of six lasers sped toward Harry, and now that the Nightmare was less than sixty feet away, Harry had little time to react.

Harry tried to avoid them by jumping, but he reacted a little too late. He felt two of the laser blasts strike his leg, and gritted his teeth as he noticed 60 units of his shield energy drain away. He clutched his leg as he began charging another shot, and it was ready by the time he touched back down. Harry fired his blast at the turbine again, and this time jumped away before the Nightmare's lasers could hit him.

OK, this isn't too hard, Harry thought, his hopes rising. But almost as soon as he had thought those words, the Nightmare's turbine suddenly began spinning, and an eerie hum echoed throughout the dark chamber. I don't like the sound of that, Harry thought nervously as he powered up another blast, waiting apprehensively for the Nightmare to try something.

As Harry stood there, carefully observing the Nightmare, he began to feel something odd happening to him. For some reason, he felt...heavier. Not only that, it felt as if dozens of invisible hands were forcefully pushing him downward.

And then the Nightmare prepared to open fire again. Panicking, Harry tried to run to the side, but found that each movement required a supreme effort; it was like he was underwater again. He couldn't move quickly enough, and all six laser blasts struck him dead-center, making him feel as if he had been dunked in molten rock again.

"Yeargh!" Harry screamed, his cries of pain mixing with the hum of the Nightmare's turbine. It was then that he remembered what the scan results had said: the Nightmare could control gravity. He suddenly realized that the Nightmare had increased the gravity in the chamber, making him an easy target.

I can never catch a break, Harry thought with a frustrated sigh, noticing that the lasers had drained almost three batteries so far. Then he noticed the Nightmare powering up more shots. It was too late to try and evade them, for his movements would be too slow. So Harry stood his ground and decided to take a desperate chance.

As the six laser blasts sped toward him, Harry raised his wand, ready to use the Shield Charm. Because of the gravity, it was difficult to do the necessary wand movements. Yet he managed to do it, and shouted, "Protego!" The barrier he created caused all six shots to ricochet wildly. One struck the wall behind the Nightmare, four hit its armored body, and Harry was pleased to see one had hit its turbine.

The Nightmare screeched again, then glided toward the right. It readied another barrage of lasers, but Harry managed to get in another charged blast before it could unleash them. And then he deflected the laser beams as he did before, and this time two of them struck the Nightmare's turbine.

Harry grinned, despite how he felt as if the very air around him was slowly crushing him to death. At this rate, he could keep deflecting the Nightmare's own beam back at it, and then follow up with a charged blast of his own. I don't know how the Shield Charm can possibly be strong enough to reflect those lasers, but lucky for me it can, Harry thought. And that turbine...that must be what's upping the gravity. If I destroy it....

Harry continued following this plan of attack; once again, his battle with an X-Core became a rhythmic pattern. The Nightmare would float around forty or so feet away, firing laser beams from its arm segments while increasing the gravity to a crushing degree. And Harry would retaliate by sending its own laser beams back at it, and occassionally one or two would hit the turbine, then he would fire at it with his beams. However, sometimes he would cast the charm a second too late, and a few beams would get through and hit him, whittling away more precious energy.

He had no long how long the battle kept going this way, for he was losing all track of time. All Harry knew was that it felt like if he didn't smash the turbine soon, the gravity would crush his bones and his heart would burst; it was already beating as if he were running a marathon. His whole world...his every thought was focused on sending the Nightmare's lasers right back at it, on destroying that turbine....

After a few minutes - which felt like hours to Harry - the turbine shorted out after it was hit with another charged blast. Almost at once, the crushing pressure that surrounded Harry died away, and he could freely move again. Harry flexed his arms and legs to alleviate the numbness, then turned to look at the Nightmare.

The turbine was no longer attached, and Harry saw pieces of it scattered underneath the Nightmare. Furthermore, its destruction seemed to have set off a chain reaction; small explosions went off within its shell-like body. And then, the spherical mask that covered its head suddenly fragmented and was blown off, revealing a face that looked like a mass of green slime. Six eyes protruding from stalks, like a slug's, glared at Harry, and oddly sad look in them.

Harry felt more disgusted than sympathetic. That slimy, pudgy face reminded him of Umbridge. "Blimey, you are one UGLY motherf...."

Before he could say that last word, the Nightmare opened fire with another barrage of lasers. But Harry, unhindered by increased gravity, space jumped over the laser beams, then tried to get atop the Nightmare. Maybe that trick with the hippogriph'll work again here, he thought hopefully.

The Nightmare had other plans. Before, the Nightmare also seemed hampered by the gravity it itself manipulated. But now, it was clear it was much swifter than it let on. It sped toward Harry as he space jumped, colliding with him in midair and knocking him to the ground.

"Ow," muttered Harry as he got up, and noticed that only three batteries were filled. He realized it was in his best interests to finish off the cyborg, and soon.

Harry wheeled around, and saw the Nightmare swooping down at him again. He took one look at its slimy, six-eyed face, aimed his wand at it and yelled "Incendio!", then flattened himself against the floor. He heard the Nighmare let out another long wail as he felt one of its mechanical hands rush over him, missing him by mere inches.

Harry got back up and turned around, and saw the Nightmare facing him again. Flames were still roaring around its head, and its face looked as if it was drooping, turning to liquid. Once again, Harry smiled to himself; it was doubtless that he was gaining the upper hand.

The Nightmare cut loose with its lasers again, but Harry easily dodged them. He charged a blast and fired it at the Nightmare's face, followed up with a few regular shots, then once again shouted, "Incendio!" The Nightmare's slimy face drooped even more, melting to the bottom of its square frame and it turned blood-red....

And then, more explosions went off from within its armored body. The arms fell off, one segment at a time, and the armor shielding its main body broke apart, sending sharp, metal fragments everywhere. Harry was forced to Banish a couple of shards flying toward him.

Only the X-Core that had once been the Nightmare now remained. And Harry, having dealt with them plenty of times in the last three hours, wasted no time. He immediately bombarded its membrane with Reductor Curses, and in less than a minute, a writhing X-Core was hovering in the center of the chamber, giving off an odd, purplish-green glow.

Harry jumped up into it, and the X-Core was absorbed into his body. The instant he did, he felt himself hovering in midair, and blinding light seemed to emanate from his body. Just as quickly as it had began, though, the light died away and Harry dropped down to the floor. As Harry expected, another message was displayed across his visor.

GRAVITY SHIELD AND SCREW ATTACK ACQUIRED

Harry looked down at himself, and saw that his clothes had magically changed color again. His sweater had changed from a bright yellow to a dark, dull shade of violet, and his pants were now a ugly, brownish-green color.

As he was examining his clothes, he heard the telltale hum of crystal batteries coming from the remains of the Nightmare's armor. Pointing his wand at the mass of twisted metal and ruined circuitry, he said, "Accio Crystals!" Three magically-charged crystals emerged from the wreckage and flew toward him, giving him a total of eleven batteries.

Well, that's it. I've taken out my two X-Cores, and Samus must've found hers by now, thought Harry as he made his way to the hatch. I guess I should get to a computer room and call Adam. He might even know where to find HP-X and SA-X now.

That thought both thrilled him and scared him. He was anxious for a chance to finally rid the world...rid the UNIVERSE...of that twisted, vile monster that had taken his form, but Harry was certain that he'd be even more powerful when he found him next.

Once on the other side of the hatch, Harry saw he had to choice but to backtrack through the water-filled caverns. Sighing, Harry jumped into the water, but immediately noticed it felt different from before. When he reached the bottom, he broke out into a run, and now, he was no longer hindered by the water. He could move as easily as he could on solid ground.

Yes! Harry thought, but then he noticed a fist-tailed Space Pirate heading his way, poised to fire energy blasts. Harry jumped over the blasts, and went into a space jump. Not only that, as he was jumping, he felt his entire body radiate energy outward and his body glowed, just like when he used the speed booster....

I know what this is, Harry thought as he remembered the second ability he had just earned. While spinning, he came down onto the advancing Pirate, and it was sliced apart as if a gigantic saw had ripped through it. Harry scooped up the released X parasites with his hand, then continued backtracking through the submerged areas.

---

After spending a few more minutes traversing the unexplored regions of sector 2, Samus was beginning to feel apprehensive again. After the ambush by the small army of Space Pirates, she had hardly run into any more X-hosts, and she didn't dare hope that that meant fortune was with her. The lack of powerful X-hosts was giving her the feeling something nasty was being planned for her. It reminded her of how there were no other living things along the path that led to the Queen Metroid's lair....

Samus went through another hatch, entering a small room that was rife with the usual tropical vegetation erupting from the ceiling and floor. But there was a different kind of plant on the floor that caught her eye. Among the much larger and more lush plants that sprouted from the floor, Samus could make out a series of smaller, tufty plants with leaves that had a sickly, purple shade. What are those? Samus wondered as she edged away from the hatch, toward them. This might be one of the plants Harry tried to warn me about. Small, purple, tufty...which plant had properties like....

And then, Samus remembered exactly which plant matched that description, and she let out a gasp. With a mental command, she had her suit shut off all the mechanisms that let her hear the sounds around her; now the only thing she could hear within her helmet was the sound of her own breathing.

It wasn't a second too soon. Something erupted from underneath each of the tufty plants. They had been attached to what looked like a muddied head of a human baby, and all of them looked like they were wailing. But thanks to how swiftly she had acted, Samus couldn't hear any of them.

Mandrakes, thought Samus. According to Harry, the cries of these creatures would instantly kill anyone who heard them. Thankfully, no external sounds were reaching her ears, rendering the Mandrakes completely harmless.

Knew it. The X set a trap for me, hoping I'd get too complacent, Samus thought contemptuously as she picked off all of the Mandrakes with her beam, then drew the exposed X parasites toward her. Good thing Harry warned me about those, otherwise I'd be dead for sure.

Now that the deadly trap set by the X had been thwarted, Samus took a good look around the small room she was in. Another hatch was directly across from her, but Samus didn't open it. Experience had taught her to examine everything thoroughly, and the fact that the Mandrakes were set here must have meant she was getting close to something important.

Soon enough, something unusual caught Samus's eye. Along the base of the wall to her left, cracks had formed in the metal plating. Wasting no time, she went into morph ball mode and rolled through the lush foliage, over to that wall. She slowly rolled down the length of the wall's base, laying bombs along the way. It wasn't long before her bombs exposed the entrance to a small, narrow tunnel, just large enough for her to roll into.

Samus rolled into it, deciding to keep shutting out all sounds in case more Mandrakes were hidden in the tunnel. She had made the right call, for she encountered two more of the deadly plant creatures in there. Luckily, a single bomb was all that was needed to dispose of them.

As Samus continued rolling, however, she eventually rolled onto a spot where the tunnel beneath hher crumbled away, and then the spot UNDERNEATH that spot crumbled underneath her weight, and then the process repeated. Breakaway blocks, lovely, Samus thought bitterly as her rolled-up body continued to slowly and helplessly plunge downward.

Several seconds later, she landed in another tunnel, one that would only let her roll forward. Sighing, Samus pressed on, and within a few seconds she had rolled up against a solid block of metal. A single bomb cleared it away, and when she rolled onward, she realized she had exited the tunnel system and could unroll. Samus did so, and saw that she had stumbled upon an incredibly large chamber, over two hundred feet in length and width and the ceiling was over a hundred feet high.

There were copious amounts of vegetation here as well, but completely different from what she had seen in the other rooms. Those had plants more reminiscent of the flora on planets like Earth and Tallon IV, but the plants here looked more like the flora that had flourished in the Brinstar area of Zebes. Along the walls, there were large columns of turquoise organic matter, five in all, that rose to the ceiling, looking as if they were support pillars. Slimy, purple polyps dotted the walls as well, and small, green plants sprang from the floor, having the resemblance of spongy tubes and had bulbs instead of leaves.

Samus tried to ignore how much the flora reminded her of Zebes and focused instead on finding a way out; those breakaway blocks had reformed and she couldn't backtrack. Reasoning that more Mandrakes could easily be hiding in a room this large, Samus kept all sound blocked, relying solely on her radar to warn her of approaching danger.

As Samus was carefully walking through the chamber, she eventually saw a blip on her radar. It was something fairly large, coming her for, and fast. Looking up, she saw what looked like another two-week-old infant dragon. But this one was a species that Samus hadn't seen before. Its scaly skin was an ebony black, and long, sharp spikes came out from its head and the tip of its tail.

The infant dragon roared as it barreled toward Samus, ready to spew fire. But Samus simply fired an ice missile, and it was frozen solid and suspended in midair. A charged blast was all that was needed to finish it off.

But the defeated X-host did not reform into free-floating X parasites...at least, not the standard ones. The infant dragon had transformed into an X-Core.

"WHAT!?" cried Samus, not believing what she was seeing. There was no way absorbing this sector's X-Core would be that easy. Even the Arachnus had taken more effort than this. For a moment, Samus stared at the writhing X-Core as it hovered twenty feet above the ground and about thirty feet away, afraid it was some sort of trap. But after a while, she decided she might as well take advantage of this. She readied herself to jump up for it....

All of a sudden, every bit of vegetation in the chamber seemed to expand, eventually transforming back into X parasites. Hundreds, maybe thousands of them, swarmed toward the exposed X-Core, and then began swirling around it, creating a tornado composed of parasitic yellow-green slime. Samus simply stared at the spectacle, completely nonplussed and suddenly filled with anxiety. There were far too many X parasites for her to absorb, and unlike Harry, she had no other way of destroying them before they reformed again.

As Samus watched helplessly, the overwhelming mass of X parasites began to converge upon the X-Core and take shape. A long neck, expansive wings, a powerful tail....

And then, the X parasites reformed into solid organic matter, completing the transformation. Now, standing in the chamber now devoid of any flora, was a fifty-foot-tall, black-scaled dragon, with long bronze spikes that jutted out from the top of its head and the end of its tail. To Samus, it looked like some bizarre fusion of Kraid and Ridley, and that made her even more uneasy.

The dragon stared down at Samus, and she gazed back into its vile yellow eyes, which had vertical slits for pupils. Then it reared its head back and let out a roar, but Samus still couldn't hear that, or anything else around her.

Realizing that there were no more Mandrakes to worry about, Samus mentally changed her suit's settings back to their defaults, then switched on her scan visor. Samus had a hunch she knew exactly what this dragon was, judging from its looks.

Morphology: Hungarian Horntail
Vicious dragon with an extremely aggressive nature. Its fiery breath can reach temperatures in excess of 6000 degrees, and with enough force put behind them, the bronze spikes on its tail can penetrate titanium-alloy armor plating over a meter thick. Its scaly exterior is impervious to almost all known conventional weapons, but the eyes and tissue lining the inside of its mouth are vulnerable, especially to concussive blasts. Exercise the utmost caution when engaging this creature.

I thought so, Samus mused as she backed away from the dragon while aiming her arm cannon up at it. It was indeed the same type of dragon Harry had faced less than a year ago. But all Harry needed to do was get past it alive. Samus, however, would have to bring the beast down. And from the looks of things, that would be a feat easier said than done.

Samus continued to back away from the creature, forcing down those feelings of anxiety as she tried to think of a plan of attack. Meanwhile, the Horntail stared down at Samus again, and she had the feeling that it too was carefully considering its next move. But all of a sudden, the dragon let out a low growl, and swiftly turned to the side. Samus caught on immediately: it intended to ram her with its tail and impale her with the spikes. She flattened herself against the ground, and the spiked tail zoomed over her harmlessly, though she heard the rush of air it created.

When she got back up on her feet and looked up, just in time to see the Horntail ready to breathe fire. Samus made a huge leap backward just as an enormous stream of billowing flame shot out of the Horntail's mouth. If any plants were still on the chamber floor, they would have been incinerated instantly. Samus locked onto the Horntail's head, aimed up and fired an ice missile, hoping it would go into its mouth. But the Horntail closed its maw and lifted its head, and the missile struck its neck instead.

Samus then tried charging up shots and firing them at tis underbelly, hoping its scaly skin was weaker there. But the Horntail didn't even react when her blasts landed; it merely continued to leer at her with its glowering, yellow eyes. And then, the Horntail was on the offensive again, in a way that took Samus completely by surprise. It began flapping its massive, powerful wings, creating huge gusts of wind, which steadily became more forceful. The gales that the Horntail was sending Samus's way were strong enough to blast her off her feet and propel her backward.

Her backside slammed into the chamber wall, jarring her to the very marrow of her bones. Then the dragon breathed fire again, and Samus was in too much pain to jump away. The flames engulfed her completely as Samus stood there helpless, feeling the intense heat despite her suit's protection. By the time the flames subsided, almost four energy tanks had been drained.

Samus slumped down against the wall, paralyzed by the fiery pain. Seeing that it was gaining the upper hand, the Horntail started walking toward Samus, and she felt the chamber shake with each step it took. What it planned to do next...breathe more fire, lash out with its tail...Samus didn't know. All she knew was that she had to fight past the pain and get moving.

A glance at her radar showed Samus that the Horntail had drew very near, and she thought she heard the dragon breathe in deeply, which meant another volley of flame was on the way. Mustering all her strength and courage, she stood up and somersaulted forward, going into a screw roll. She had been more than fast enough; the blast of fire came several seconds after she was on the move. When she rolled underneath the dragon, she went into morph ball mode and deployed a power bomb.

Samus unrolled about twenty feet away from the Horntail, then turned to see if the power bomb had done any damage. Unfortunately, it didn't look like the dragon was hurt at all. The scaly skin underneath it was giving off a faint glow, but it hadn't melted off as she had hoped.

Another roar snapped Samus to attention, and she saw it starting to twirl around again, undoubtedly in an attempt to smash her with its tail. This time, Samus decided to avoid it by using the space jump, thinking she could then come at its head with the screw attack.

But this time, the Horntail was too swift. The tip of its tail smashed into Samus after she had made a second midair bound, and once again she was soaring backward, only to collide painfully with the wall. She also felt where one of the spikes had grazed against her midsection, leaving a deep gash, and a glance at her HUD data revealed she was down to eight energy tanks.

This has gone on long enough, Samus thought vindictively as she struggled to stand up on wobbly legs. She finally realized she was holding back and giving the Horntail too many opportunities to go on the offensive, and whenever she counterattacked, it was in a way that couldn't hurt it. The scan visor doesn't lie. I can't damage that scaly skin and I shouldn't bother trying. The eyes, the mouth...it's just like Kraid.

Once she was back on her feet and could see clearly again, she realized that the Horntail had moved in once again and was readying another volley of fire. Ignoring how her body ached with each movement she made, she locked her sensors onto tis head and dashed aside just as the dragon cut loose with its fiery breath. After successfully dodging the flame, she fired an ice missile, and this time it went into its open mouth. The Horntail reared its head back and roared in pain. That's one direct hit, thought Samus. But how many more will it take?

Samus looked up and around the room while the Horntail was stunned. If the dragon's eyes were vulnerable, then maybe firing at them would coax it to roar at her angrily: it was the same way she defeated the oversized Kraid. But it would be too hard to do that on the ground. What she need was a platform on the walls that was level with its head....

And then, along the wall directly behind the dragon, she spotted one. About forty feet up from the floor, there seemed to be a long, balcony-like platform along the length of the wall. Samus immediately began flying toward it, but by now, the Horntail had recovered. It was still too weak to breath fire, so instead it snapped at Samus as she space jumped by.

It barely missed, and Samus continued to fly over to the wall. As she got closer, she realized that the platform didn't extend outward from the wall all that much; it was barely wide enough to stand on. But it would have to do. Careful not to slice into it, she landed on it and carefully turned around. The dragon was on the move again, slowly flying toward her, fluttering about ten feet above the floor. And it was ready to spew flames again.

Before Samus could even target its head, a torrent of flame rushed toward her. Samus carefully edged along the platform to avoid it, but the fiery breath still came dangerously close to her, and actually drained some energy. Before the Horntail could close its mouth, Samus fired another missile into it, and once again it roared at her, stunned by the pain. Samus fired five more missiles into its open maw before it snapped shut. The Horntail then glared at her, its eyes betraying intense rage and pain.

Then it tried a new form of attack. It stepped closer to Samus and lashed out with its head, trying to smash her with it, all the while keeping its mouth closed. Samus jumped up to avoid getting crushed, then carefully landed on the narrow platform again. The Horntail reared its head back again, but Samus decided now was the best time to test her theory. She carefully aimed at its eyes and opened fire. One of the three blasts struck its left eye, and it immediately let out a reflexive roar. I knew it! Samus thought triumphantly as she unloaded a total of six missiles into its mouth.

But once the Horntail recovered, it didn't try ramming Samus with its head again. Instead, it did a 180 turn and tried smashing Samus with its spiked tail. Samus cartwheeled to the left to avoid the tail, which took out a sizeable chunk of the platform. Thirteen missiles, still no sign of it weakening, Samus thought wearily. Ugh, just like the Queen Metroid. I kept using missiles, and she only got madder and madder until....

And then, it hit her....

The Horntail lashed out blindly with its spiked tail again, but it came nowhere near Samus. It did, however, take out more and more of the long platform, but Samus had no use for it anymore. She space jumped away from the wall, landed beside the dragon, and fired ice missiles at its belly to get its attention. It turned to glare down at her, and she rapidly fired beams at its head, even though she knew there was little chance of hitting its eyes from her vantage point.

However, the Horntail was getting so agitated it rashly let loose another stream of fire. Samus deftly evaded it by strafing, then fired an ice missile. As soon as she fired it, she began space jumping up to the dragon's head. She was within ten feet of it once the missile detonated within its mouth and stunned it. Once she was near enough, she reached out and grabbed onto its lower lip, then pulled herself up and went into morph ball mode. Then Samus forced herself down its throat, into the pit of its stomach.

The Horntail's eyes widened with panic as it heard a familiar humming sound come from within its belly, its gaze betraying pure terror. It possessed enough knowledge to realize what was coming....

Samus's power bomb went off, and the thermonuclear fire it released tore apart the Hungarian Horntail from the inside. Almost immediately, every cubic inch of the Horntail's biomass reverted to the form of X parasites. But thanks to the power bomb, almost all the parasites that had made up the lower part of it body were drawn toward the point of its detonation. Samus unrolled and jumped up, absorbing them all.

It was almost too much energy for her body and her suit to cope with, and for several moments, she merely stood on the floor, hunched over. Her heart was beating so fast, she could hear it pounding in her ears. But eventually, she got over the rush of power, and looked up.

Most of the hundreds of other X parasites weren't their usual yellow-green color, but instead were an unhealthy-looking grey. Moments later, Samus saw them shrivel up and crumble into black powder that gently fell like snow. They overexerted themselves this time, forming a creature that massive, Samus reasoned. The remaining parasites that survived simply floated up into the ceiling, seeping through it. Living to fight another day, mused Samus bitterly.

Samus was so wrapped up in watching what became of the remaining parasites, however, she had forgotten about the X-Core. And its spiky membrane slammed into her from behind, knocking her to the ground.

But that was the first and last time it would ram her. Samus lay on the ground for a few seconds, still exhausted, but she eventually got back on her feet and unloaded her ice missiles at it. In no time at all, the membrane shattered, and Samus jumped up into the exposed X-Core.

When she touched down again, she felt a familiar tingly, prickling sensation along every square inch of her skin. Not only that, radiant light filled her vision...light that was coming from her suit. Samus knew what this meant: she was receiving a suit upgrade. A suit upgrade? How could my suit possibly get any stronger? she thought. And right on cue, another self-explanatory message scrolled across her HUD.

SCALE SUIT ACQUIRED

Scales!? thought Samus curiously as she looked down at herself. She expected to see her suit become as black as the Horntail's scaly skin, but the color scheme her suit now sported was a complete surprise. The area around her helmet was still a bright red, and the reflective, yellow, metallic portions of her suit remained so, though the gash made by the dragon's spiked tail was gone.

But the teal membraney areas...they now had a glossy, white veneer, as if they had been coated with white ceramic glaze. She raised her left arm up to examine it, and upon closer inspection, she could make out what looked like tiny, reptilian scales. Also, Samus noticed a hint of bronze metal out of the corner of her eye. Turning to look at her shoulder, she saw that more than two dozen long, thin, bronze spikes now protruded from her shoulder area.

Hmmm. I like the new look, Samus thought to herself, smiling. Even though she couldn't see herself, she wagered that she looked even more menacing than before, especially because of the spikes.

Samus then brought up her database to read the information about her new suit. It turned out that her fusion suit's exterior now had a magical quality, letting her resist supernatural assaults in the same way that the strongest magical creatures, such as dragons were capable of.

This'll come in handy once I face whoever's responsible for all this, Samus thought, a righteous anger beginning to boil in the pit of her stomach. Whoever brought the X into Earth's past was undoubtedly a powerful wizard or witch, and Samus knew she would need every advantage she could get. And she had faith that Harry had managed to wipe out the X-Cores he was after; now all that stood in their way were the doubles of Harry and herself.

And Samus had a feeling that that showdown would come soon. Deciding to get moving, Samus looked around the expansive chamber again, and for the first time noticed an important detail: there were no hatches.

Great, now how do I get out of here? she thought, thoroughly annoyed.

---

Well, that's it. I hope these Metroid-y chapters didn't bore you too much. But if they did, don't worry. Like I said, after this chapter, the REAL fun begins. I've got some real surprises in store....

So long,
Grey