After the silence hung for a while, Anthony finally spoke up. "If I have to tell this part, it's going to be pretty short!"
Spike and Samus both managed to chuckle at that. "Alright," Samus stated finally. "Well, as we were about to enter the Geothermal plant..."
As Samus and Spike approached the entrance to the Plant, both paused. Above the door, the shape of the creature they'd been pursuing could be seen, split open and discarded like the shape of the Little Birdie had been. Both steeled themselves at the sight. They were about to face an unknown threat...and they had to be extra careful when they did.
A few chambers beyond, and they found themselves in the Plant itself, dark from everything being turned off. The pair made their way carefully onto the central platform, glancing around to see any threat that might be there. As they walked, Spike froze. "Mom..." he whispered, his eyes tracking from her boot up her body.
Glancing down, Samus saw the red light of a laser sight tracking up her body. Spinning, she saw a figure in Federation Trooper armor with a heavy plasma cannon aimed towards her. On the assumption it was the Deleter android, she prepped her arm cannon.
"Samus!" Anthony shouted out. "Get out of the way!"
Reacting instantly, Samus dove to the side. A figure behind Samus leapt into the air, the sound of leathery wings echoing in the chamber as Samus and Spike raced to back up Anthony.
"Damn!" Anthony swore as he tried to track the creature. "I can't see a thing in here! We gotta clear out!"
"The exit's over there-" Spike began, only to witness a blast of flame destroy the bridge between platform and exit. "...no..." he whispered. It was familiar...too familiar. "Not again..."
"Spike, what-" Samus began.
"Samus!" Adam interrupted. "None of you can fight in the dark like that. Use your super missiles to blast open the eruption port to get the magma flowing for the Power Plant."
Nodding, Samus isolated the Eruption Port and unleashed a Super Missile. The Port exploded, magma pouring in and illuminating the entire chamber. As she spun to track the target...Ridley erupted from beneath the flowing magma, his glowing eyes locked on her with baleful rage.
Samus staggered back. She'd fought Ridley several times...but each time, he had been different. Whether amplified by cybernetics or Phazon, or simply the ravages of time, he was a distinctly different figure in each confrontation. But here before her, in sight, sound, and even smell, was the very same visage she had seen when her parents died on K-2L...when he ravaged her Chozo home on Zebes. He was once more the face of her nightmares.
Samus struggled against the fear and rage that raced through her being, doing her best to maintain the mental control the Chozo had taught her...but her concentration slipped as the nightmares returned. She saw her father exploded right in front of her eyes to protect her from Ridley. She saw the scorched ruin of her world. She smelled the charred flesh that had spattered her in her dark hiding spot.
She heard Ridley all but gloating over how he'd eaten her mother to sustain himself after her father's suicidal tactic had only damaged him. The death screams of those who counted on her, whom she'd failed, echoed in her ears.
Unable to completely fight off the nightmare images, to completely separate reality from nightmare, her Power Suit began to fail as her focus wavered.
"Samus! Do you copy?" Adam yelled in her ear...but she barely heard him. "Samus! Use your Plasma Beam!" Her suit registered the command and reactivated the functionality...but Samus continued to fall back. "What's your status? Samus, do you read me?"
...but his words were swallowed by the nightmare.
Spike and Anthony lunged forward to try and get between Samus and Ridley, trying to draw his attention. As soon as they were in sight, Ridley let out an enraged shriek and lunged for Spike, his lashing tail smashing Anthony's plasma cannon and knocking him aside almost contemptuously.
Spike struggled to match Ridley in battle...but it was much like his first fight with the dragon. Except this time, Ridley was the young and strong dragon in the full power of first flight. Spike was the one having to marshal his power to keep from breaking the world around him. Ridley had no such compunctions. Before Spike knew what had happened, Ridley had hurled him into the wall of the chamber before leaping forward, slamming both hind talons into his gut.
Spike struggled to break free, but Ridley moved too fast. Catching hold of Spike's skull, he brought it down in both claws to slam his knee into Spike's jaw, dazing him. Ridley then hurled him to the platform below and dove in, digging claws into his foe's back and driving his barbed tail through his right wing. Spike screamed in agony.
Something inside Samus snapped. Spike's scream of pain cut through the storm in her mind. "GET AWAY FROM MY SON!" she roared out as her suit responded.
Samus paused in her tale. "I...I don't actually remember what happened next," she admitted. "All I know is what my suit logged at the time of what settings I altered somehow, and the damage it did to the suit in the process. Something about putting it into Overdrive, risking permanent damage to the suit...and interlinking Upgrades to unlock new systems...something about an Electromorph..." She shook her head. "Probably not what you want to hear..."
"Heck no that's not enough for this part!" Rainbow Dash complained. "Anthony, you describe the battle!"
"No can do," Anthony admitted. "When I got hit by Ridley's tail, I fell into the magma below. Missed the whole fight."
Twilight gasped in shock. "How did you survive?"
Anthony smirked, a wicked twinkle in his eye. "How do you know I did?" he teased.
"Yeah, I already did that bit with Spike during the Aether section," Pinkie pointed out. "Not gonna do it twice."
Pouting, Anthony lowered his head. "Froze a magma monster with my freeze rounds," he grumbled.
"Spike, at least tell us you saw the whole thing!" Scootaloo pleaded.
Spike grinned widely, his eyes somewhat starry. "I certainly did..."
"GET AWAY FROM MY SON!"
Spike glanced up as he heard that roar, as did Ridley. A blaze of light that Spike recognized as Samus in Shinespark slammed into Ridley, driving him back and slamming him against the far wall. As dazed as Spike was, all he could manage to think was, Where did Mom get room and time to trigger Speed Booster?
With Ridley pinned against the wall, Samus' Speed Booster jets and Space Jump Boots triggered, keeping her hovering in the air in front of Ridley as she proceeded to wail on him with punches, kicks, headbutts, and charged plasma blasts that diffused through his whole body. Even as she unleashed an unbelievable wave of punishment, her Power Suit fluctuated, rippling with the colors of every suit configuration ever stored as data in its systems. Ridley attempted to swipe at her to push her away, only to receive three Super Missiles energized with the Plasma Beam in quick succession to his shoulder, elbow, and wrist joint, atomizing his right foreleg.
Screaming in agony, Ridley finally managed to kick Samus away before turning to try and run, bombarding a far wall with his weapons to open a hole. Samus landed heavily on the platform as her suit shifted, briefly taking on the yellow of the standard Power Suit and the black of the Phazon Suit. "GET OVER HERE!" she roared at him, hurling a grapple beam that was a lot thicker than normal. It latched onto Ridley's tail and dragged him back to the platform.
As Ridley thrashed in desperation, Samus grabbed his left wing with her free hand and ripped it from the joint as easily as if she were pulling a roast chicken apart. Screaming, Ridley spun to try and attack, only for Samus to slam a Power Bomb into his crotch, the explosion somehow tightly focused so it only blasted forward to obliterate his lower body.
At this point, Samus' arm cannon shut down, no longer able to handle the strain it was undergoing after focusing the blast of a Power Bomb. Undeterred, Samus leapt onto Ridley's torso and delivered punch after punch to what was left of the dragon. In desperation, Ridley tried to lunge in for a bite...and Samus' arm plunged straight down the dragon's throat. When it jerked back out, it held a lump of flesh that pulsed and wept blood. She crushed it in her hand.
As Ridley fell backwards, Samus stalked forward and brought her foot down on his skull, crushing it beneath her. As she caught her breath and turned towards Spike, the young dragon slunk up to his mother, finding himself purring as he nuzzled her hand, soliciting affection.
Relaxing, Samus stroked Spike's head. Then she glanced around. "W...what happened here?" she marveled.
Just to check, Discord dropped a pin. The sound of its fall - let alone its landing - was plainly audible throughout the entire castle.
I see someone was a fan of Third Derivative.
Ahh... Mama-Bear Rage Shifting... such fun.
i0.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/872/113/a45.png
Holy shit! She went Goku on his ass!
So Samus channeled Scorpion there for a moment?
I'm not The Fiery Joker, and I'm not familiar with the original, but I think that worked pretty well.
Rest in pieces, Ridley.
Holy Mary Mother of God...
Daaaaaaaaamn. Talk about mother bear reactions... Samus just beat the ever loving shit out of Ridley... and likely gave him some nightmare fuel for the future as well. Though, that part where she crushed his heart was just a bit too far in my eyes, but meh. You're story, take it as far as you want.
Yikes.... Remind me not to get her on her bad side....
Samus Wins! FATALITY!
7079231 To be technical, she went Scorpion from Mortal Kombat on his ass
GET OVER HERE!
HOT DAMN. Also I'm glad you made Ridley a threat again even if it was just for this chapter.
This is basically what I thought about the entire 'fight' that Samus and Ridley had...holy shit 0_0
YIKES!! Mortal Kombat got nothing on Samus right now.
Oh, sht. That was a hell of a beat down. Ridley just got the Samus Aran 30-second seminar on why moms are the most dangerous beings in the universe.
There are no words that I can think of that compare to what I just read.
I still stiffen and get ready to turn around to punch someone if I'm touched unexpectedly from behind...nearly fifteen years AFTER my last incident of being bullied in school. I'll buy the minute or so of mental shutdown here as the same kind of mental rebooting that I have honed to the point where I only give a faint twitch before asking people not to touch me without warning.
That said...good job. You made this scene only suck as hard as a whirlpool with a 12-for diameter instead of turning into the black hole of hatred upon which so many focus as the epitome of everything wrong with this game.
7079267
Yeah, that too. Seriously though, that was far better than canon.
As much as I actually enjoy Other M, that particular scene is cringe-worthy; at least without background, something that a lot of fans may or may not lack. Even with background understanding, it could have been handled better.
Uh... I've never played Other M...
But that seems very momma bear.
Honestly, the only difference is the reaction Samus has when she snaps out of it.
Because people have headcannons that did not match Samus's actual character, and threw a hissey fit, other M was given more flack than it deserved. So many arguments devolved into, "Other M is bad because I heard form this guy who heard from this unprofessional review that this game is bad" but when I looked at it, I saw an engaging gameplay system with only one rough patch (looking at you, first person cement feet mode) a well crafted story, and fantastic voice work. That's right, fantastic. Because someone who is in mourning over the death of her THIRD father figure in a row Dam better be feeling something, and not talk about those events like any other day.
"Hell hath no fury like an angry mother". Those are the words Ridley got served.
Another note: Samus just Ridley that mutch of her bitch that he devolved and turned into a puppy, She just pushed his shit so far in so that everytime he sneezes he is going to launch a log. And I am not talking about the sort made of timber.
... GOD DAMN!
7079226 Soooo... how much energy do you think she lost from that?
And that's why you don't anger the hybrid mother of the only good space dragon in the universe.
Holy shit
Me: ........... *Jaws dropped*
Megatyson: ..............*Jaw also dropped*
Megajohn: *Looking at this story with wide eyes*
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Me:*Faints from the awesomeness of the absolute beat down ridley got*
Megatyson:*Brain explodes and he falls down*
Megajohn: *Starts slowly clapping* And I thought I had seen everything the universes could throw at me. Well played Tatsurou well played
... uhhhhh... what 7079681 said...
7079267 Yup! as soon as 'Get over here' poped up, he was done
You know, I remember you said you were going to change/fix this game, but so far you just seem to be providing explanations rather than changes. Not that this is a bad thing, it's just not what I was expecting.
7079785
Since these explanations are fixing the canon incongruities, I consider it the fix I mentioned.
From a technical standpoint, Other M was a good game, with a few problems. The plot was the major divisive moment. That's what I've majorly tweaked.
Okay, that brings you to 4 extra s total for making this scene make sense.
Okay, That... was AWESOME!!!
7079430 The problem with Samus freezing up when she meets Ridley in Other M is not that she's encountering the creature that killed her parents and haunts her nightmares, or even that she's encountering the creature that killed her parents and haunted her nightmares until she finally killed it back from the dead - it's that she's encountering the creature that killed her parents etc back from the dead for the 5th time, and this is the first time she's been shown having a breakdown on encountering him.
Tatsurou does a fair job of explaining it as the first time she's encountered Ridley as he was when he killed her parents, but the game doesn't.
7079934 the problem with people saying that this was the problem, is that they are ignoring the fact that this is Ridley appearing as Samus first saw him, after he was confirmed dead, and it's not even the first time Samus has frozen up on seeing Ridley.
YES.
FUCK. YES.
HELL. FUCKING. YES.
(::::::Metroid: Prime: Third Derivative::::::::::: for the win!)
Ridley is now a girl. Permanently.
Mom gona cook some deep space rocky mountian oysters tonight.
7080185 Maybe THAT version, but the Fusion version... Unless power bombs can vaporize DNA, that version is going to still be a guy.
Then again, by that point in Fusion all Samus will be missing is Screw Attack and Ice Beam, so she'll be free to screw him up all over again.
An excellent chapter. Great job.
7080000 The kicker here is that Other M does NOT go into any depth on WHY Samus is freezing when she see's Ridley. In the canon Samus has only ever frozen for longer than a few moments ONCE, and that was during her encounter with him on Zebes in her comic, where she straight up snaps and becomes suicidal. All the other times it's only for a few moments. As for the "Well she killed him last time she saw him so she's shocked he's alive" that information is Meta. Given OUTSIDE the game by the creators and AFTER the game was released. It's the Word of God/Author Saving Throw they gave to try and justify something that, taken only in context of the games themselves, looked like a complete asspull. And not the only asspull in the game either. (Looking at you zebesians...)
The Prime series 'logs' even talk about how the Pirates had to all but clone Ridley to get him back into fighting shape. Thus without that bit of Meta from the creators it very much appeared that Samus 'left him for dead' every single time. Sure his deaths were almost always of the Disney Villain kind, but she certainly believed him to be dead.
As for the voice acting, dull, emotionless monotone might seem fitting to convey that Samus is having a rough time dealing with the loss and horror of her life lately. However the problem with that is that even with the best actor, someone that broken over something WILL show emotion, no matter how much they try to hide it. Samus' voice never changed in the slightest. You barely tell if she's retelling some of the terrible shit she's had to live through, or simply reading a script out loud when she would rather be busy doing crack off some stripper's shaft. Retelling recent, AGONIZING memories, and this kind of trauma certainly qualifies, is going to be the kind of thing that makes even the most controlled person show some emotion. And if the memories were NOT recent enough so that she could tell them without cracking, then they certainly wouldn't be recent enough to have her speaking with less emotion than my answering machine.
The game does a very poor job showcasing Samus at all, neither as a brokenbird trying to keep up appearances nor as a nigh unstoppable badass feared by half the galaxy. All in all she feels more like a machine than a person. A machine that can't decide what it's supposed to be mimicking. Her scenes where she portrayed as weak/vulnerable are far cries from the woman who causes Space Pirates to all but piss themselves in terror that she's nearly always been shown as. (They also seem, IMO, to be badly chosen moments to make Samus appear human/weak/whatever) And the moments when you expect her to BE emotional/unstable Samus' VA is just as dull and monotone as ever, making it seem like Samus is made of ice and nothing phases her.
7079845 I want to hate you for doing that... I REALLY WANT to... Even as I read Samus' little breakdown I was moments from typing an angry bitchfest comment at you for it... But you did what Other M failed to do, convey the breakdown, and the reason for it, PROPERLY. I could almost hear the scared little girl Samus used to be screaming in terror at the sight of her oldest and worst nightmare. Bravo you bastard.
7080359
...I take it as a high compliment that I conveyed a moment you hate in a manner that made it believable enough that you applaud instead.
Oh dear.
What? What is it?
Ah yes, one of the most reviled scenes in Other M, which made gamers around the world groan, turned into absolute NIGHTMARE FUEL. Courtesy of the same guy who wrote Fortresshy.
Eeep. Also, spLattered. As an aside, I love how horrific you manage to make Ridley, all fics with him I've seen treat him seriously for the most part, but this is the only time I've actually been a bit scared myself.
She doesn't read you Adam. I honestly don't want to even imagine what Samus's Tantabus nightmare would be.
This is like Darkseid vs Superman...
And what happened next? Well, if you all remember how f*cked Mother Brain ended up when she destroyed Squishy, well, this kind of rage is probably similar.
Oh but I DO.
This is pretty funny.
She wouldn't normally. However, Overdrive in this case is pretty much using Gameshark or CodeBreaker for abilities you wouldn't otherwise have. Like in this case, the 5 Step Speed Booster.
Damn...
...
Eat your heart out Mortal Kombat. Samus just outdid anything and everything in every game ever. Just, damn.
The sheer comedic timing of this, I was shocked speechless by Samus's sheer brutality, and this, just, this was pretty damn funny.
(Vegeta, what does the scouter say about the amount of points this guy receives? image.lang-8.com/w0_h0/d17e3655c3a548908eddea8ccaa12ce6cb5b1b39.jpg )
jfc samus... like... DAMN.
Remind me not to hurt this universe's Spike in any way, shape, or form.
N-noted.
7079439 "hell hath no furry" huh?
7080515
Two things.
First, spatter definition.
Second, actually what Overdrive did was link the Morph Ball, Screw Attack, and Speed Booster systems together to put the matter/energy conversion system all three run on into Overdrive, to temporarily give her the Electromorph upgrade...which unleashes the Shinespark from a standing start.
7080535
That's even cooler.
7080529 Fixed it.
HOLY HELL that was epic tatsurou. One of your best fight scenes to date. Samus's rage just completely blew me away. I knew she was hardcore but just wow
7080359 Everyone is so used to Hollywood grief, that they don't know what REAL grief sounds like. Other M portrays the emotion of Grief Realistically. It is a hollow, broken EMPTY feeling. WHY DO NONE OF YOU GET THIS?! I know, because I was in that state myself for a whole year. Sure, it wasn't because anyone close to me died, but arguably, what triggered it for me was even worst. My best friend in the whole world, my ONLY friend at that, decided to deny having ever known me, and when I confronted him about it... let's just say you shouldn't try to brain someone with a French horn when they know Taekwondo. I was in that exact funk for a whole YEAR because of that, so don't ANYONE try to tell me that Samus's monotone state is Unrealistic, or poor voice acting.
... Holy Hell...
7080710 My problem with the portrayal of Samus in Other M is not with the portrayal itself - as a stand-alone game with an original character, it may have been fine (it's been long enough since I played the game that I can't remember in enough detail to criticise it from that perspective) - it's with the game presenting Samus in a way that there's no hint of in any of the other games, and not justifying the change.
Samus in Other M acts differently than Samus in any other game in the series even when presented with similar situations, and the game doesn't offer any explanation as to why her behaviour has changed.
7080805 Would you act differently under the gaze of a disapproving parent?
Samus went Mortal Kombat on Ridley.... Damn woman, get a grip
7080710 I don't know you, and you don't know me. Do not EVER assume someone doesn't know what real grief is like. I stand by my previous post.