Matt smashed onto Ridley's back, digging into the dragon's exposed flesh with his claws. "Now!"

Readying a charged blade, Hugo leapt off as Matt prodced his own energy sword, and they both drove their weapons deep into Meta-Ridley's backside.

Meta-Ridley growled as Matt crashed into his back, staggering him and causing him to deactivate the Kinetic Breath Weapon. Then he screamed, screamed in pain as the two blades cut through armor and the synthetic flesh binding it to his form, and his gigantic energy wings spread out. With a powerful flap he took to the skies, the motion dislodging Hugo's smaller form.

"Matt!" R.D. shouted as the mechanical dragon grew smaller and smaller in his vision, leaving energized steam in his wake. Higher and higher the two went, and soon Matt could see out for dozens of miles, from the Impact crater to the cold wastes of the Phendrana Drifts to the northwest and the deathly quarries of the Phazon Mines to the south. Meta-Ridley screamed in rage, spinning wildly to dislodge Matt before turning and diving straight at him, murder in his blazing eyes.

In freefall, Matt looked up at the giant dragon bearing down upon him, and he clenched his teeth. "Come on, you bastard!" He flew up at Meta-Ridley and grappled with his neck, wildly bashing his fists across the dragon's skull over and over again.

As Hugo went spinning through the air, blue-swathed hands reached out and caught him as he fell near the edge of the Cradle. "Gotcha!" Ileyna said, leaning back in towards the safety of the towering statues.

Meta-Ridley's roar was deafening at the close range his head was near Matt's, mixed in with the howling wind and rain as gravity yanked them back down towards the planet. The long, cruel, teeth-filled mouth snapped wildly at Matt's head, though Matt's wild attacks to his head managed to deflect the bites each time. The creature tried a new tactic as its tail arched up and back, making a lethal stab at Matt over Meta-Ridley's shoulder.

This thing was taking too many fucking hits! Matt practically wrenched the dragon's neck, he was struggling to hold on amid the loud roaring and slick and wind. As Meta-Ridley stabbed with his tail, it narrowly grazed his shoulder as he swung back. He clenched his fingers, unnatural blue fire crackling about them, and smashed them into Ridley's lower jaw with a yell.

"Take me back up!" Hugo shouted. "I gotta help him!"

"Hugo, it's not going to work!" Helena said. "We can't fight that thing!"

"Shut up!" the Mettaur snapped. "I'm not giving up yet!"

R.D. looked at the scattered rubble of the destroyed obelisks and the totem, then looked up at the battle as they two finally came through the cloud cover at an extraordinary rate. "You don't have the firepower, Hugo, but I do!" R.D. shouted, activating the matter converter. The rubble was consumed in a prismatic mist, particles of matter being built into cannons attached to R.D.'s back and hips.

"What are you doing?" Samus demanded as R.D. looked upwards.

"I'm gonna blow that fucker out of the sky," responded the amnesiac, eyes glowing yellow beneath the dark visor.

Ridley's head snapped up and back as the eldritch blue fire smashed into jaw, and roared. It suddenly spread out its wings, flaring them and catching the currents to cut his speed dramatically. The sudden brake would more than likely dislodge Matt from his frame.

The sudden halt threw Matt's body outward. Only his deep hold in Meta-Ridley kept him from being flung away toward the pavillion, but he was still dangling for dear life. "Damn it!" he said, reaching up and clamping another part of Meta-Ridley's neck. "You're not getting rid of me that easily!"

He reared back, and smashed his forehead into the dragon's face with as much force as he could muster.

Despite the power of Dragon Drive, Matt's strike did little but anger Meta-Ridley. The monster's tail lashed out again, slipping through the gap between their two bodies, then swiped out to knock Matt off of him.

R.D. saw that a chance was opening up, and leaped up to grab the bird statue over the window, swinging up on it and leaping up towards the other statues.

"Gahhhhh!" Dragon Drive finally gave out. Thrown aside from Meta-Ridley and momentarily powerless, Matt spiralled back toward the pavillion.

Helena ran foward. "Nooooo!"

A quick glance from Hugo, and he aimed his pickaxe. "Capture Option!" Bolos launched from the end and expanded, unfurling into a padded net that caught Matt just before he hit and send him tumbling toward one of the totems.

Matt struggled against the net and pushed it aside. "Get this damn thing off me!"

"You're welcome," Hugo muttered as Helena ran over to Matt.

Meta-Ridley stared down at Matt as he plummeted, opening his mouth and readying his Kinetic Breath Weapon to strike him down while he couldn't retaliate. Light trailed through his armor plates as he drew upon the might of the Omega Essence once more, and flames licked out from his mouth as he locked on.

R.D. bounced himself up through the rising statues until he reached the top and leaped upwards, the HUD of his visor system locking on repeatedly to five different points on Meta-Ridley's armored form; each lock seemed to reflect into his eyes as he stared ahead at the cybernetic dragon. With the lock-on achieved, R.D. activated all weapons.

The twin back cannons swung up and over onto R.D.'s shoulders, while the hip-mounted guns swung up and locked into place. The energy gathered into the four barrels and R.D.'s right fist for a brief moment before they fired all at once. In an instant, the beams shredded through Meta-Ridley's yellow wings, while one of the beams smashed into his chest armor. The dragon screamed as the beams tore through the wings, disrupting the energy as electricity blazed down the limbs and into the ruptured chest armor and back.

Slowly, the dragon fluttered down onto the middle of the pavilion and landed on its hind legs with a loud crash, flames igniting on the skeletal limbs of his wings. The energy between the limbs faded, and the beast roared angrily at them, shaking its wings to disperse the fire.

Samus aimed her charged Power Beam at the creature. It was time to end this fight.

"Fuck," Matt said, sitting up.

"Stay there," Helena said. "I'm going to go help."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." She looked back toward Ridley as the beams struck, and she took a few steps foward, each one causing claws and limbs to burst from her body. Silent, she raised her fingers toward the mecha dragon, gathering power.

"Inferno Spiral!"

The budding fireball launched, exploding into thin, spinning shots of flame that curled toward Meta-Ridley, each one streaking toward a different part of the dragon.

Her first attack name...Matt was naturally proud.

As Meta-Ridley made to attack, the cybernetic dragon felt the energy gathering in Helena, and looked over his shoulder, through his skeletal wing limbs. Seeing the girl gather flames into her hands, he whirled around, slashing out through two obelisks with his tail in the process and forcing Samus to jump over it.

Hunched low to shield his chest, Meta-Ridley roared in challenge at Helena, even as the flames spiraled out in random patterns at him--despite the intense heat, his armor withstood the shots, though a few scraped against his chest as they managed to make it past his head. Stretching out his wings, Meta-Ridley suddenly bolted forward at the girl, as if gliding over the floor, trying to ram her with his gigantic body.

As Mata-Ridley shot in her direction, the bravery Helena had mustered vanished, and she screamed, eyes wide.

"Avalanche Dragon."

Behind Helena, a massive serpent assembled from angled boulders exploded forth, rising up and curling over the girl to crash into Meta-Ridley with tetonic force.

The stone serpent crashed into Meta-Ridley's form, preventing his advance from smashing into Helena. Despite this, the serpent was quickly destroyed by the impact, the cybernetic dragon's armor proving superior to it. It roared again, only for an energy blast to crash into his head from above.

R.D. descended down as Meta-Ridley looked over his shoulder at him. It roared, only for R.D. to chuck another blast wave of energy to smash right into his open mouth. The attack overloaded the dragon's systems for a brief moment, and he reared up, mouth agape towards the sky, leaving the damaged chest armor open.

Samus' charged Plasma Beam seared through the air into the creature's chest, knocking it backwards. It bellowed in anger as its systems recovered with the shock, and it darted forward once again, catching both of them by surprise. R.D. and Samus yelled out as the dragon collided with them, sending them skittering across the pavilion.

Helena ran back over to Matt as he stood, nursing his shoulder. "This is getting ri-God-damn-dicilous," he muttered.

"What are we going to do now?" Helena asked. "That thing just won't die!"

They'd tried a whole bunch of their best tricks against Meta-Ridley, but the dragon refused to fold. What else did they have? Matt clenched his fist.

He felt his armored fingers grind into his palm. Of course.

"Get back as far as you can!" Matt shouted to Helena, and bolted toward the dragon.

Edited by The Helldragon on January 25, 2009 at 20:38:03.

Meanwhile, the dragon took a swipe at R.D. with his claw, catching him across the leg and shattering the armor there as he jumped up. Despite the sudden pain in his leg, he swung out with the Phase Scythe, aiming for the creature's head.

He only managed to get his blade stuck as Meta-Ridley bit down on it, holding him at bay despite his thrusters igniting. Samus charged up and fired once more, but the shot only glanced off of Meta-Ridley's armor, which was inexplicably trying to repair itself. With a sudden roar, Meta-Ridley threw R.D. off of him and spun around, smashing his tail into Samus in the process, and she landed against the back wall with an audible grunt.

Seeing Matt charge him, Meta-Ridley roared out a challenge and charged, shooting across the ground even as missile ports opened up in his back.

"Matt!" Hugo shouted. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Letting out a great yell, his hand charged with that familiar energy, Matt smashed his hand into Meta-Ridley, and they were overcome by a magnificent field of bright light.

Helena shielded her eyes. That light...the same light that happened during the fight with Prometheus!

As the two were thrown back, Matt landed, flourishing his new arm. Details became clear as the light faded-a metallic dragon's maw replaced his right hand, and smaller wings flared from the arm and shoulder, with lining mimicking the energy wings that Meta-Ridley had.

Matt peered over his glasses at the mechanical beast. "Genesis Arm: Dragon Strike!"

As the light cleared, R.D. lowered his hand and gazed upon the new form Matt's Genesis Arm had taken, which looked remarkably like Meta-Ridley's own head. The monster in question roared as the light cleared, having used the energy to power up its own attack as Matt used his data to craft his weapon.

Flames gathered in Meta-Ridley's open jaws, while the light of the Omega Essence shone in his armor, lines of it tracing in towards his chest. He raked his head from left to right, firing the Ultrathermal Flamestrike Projector as a powerful red beam at Matt, Helena, and Hugo, leaving a wave of char and ash across the stone in its wake.

Matt leapt backwards, the wings of Dragon Strike extending in size and increasing his speed. Gathering up Hugo and Helena, he made one mighty bound toward an edge of the pavillion.

"Wait here," he said, dropping them off.

Dragon Strike's eyes glowed white-hot as Matt ran back into the battle. He chambered his arm, feeling the power flow, before releasing it at Meta-Ridley-a wide and thin, but strong fireball. "Shokouken!"

The Shokouken fireball flew true and smashed into Meta-Ridley's mouth, exploding violently. Once again, the cybernetic dragon's systems were overloaded, and energy arced around his body as his head was thrown upwards toward the sky, an erratic hum of energy emanating from his form as his chest was left open.

R.D. and Samus wasted no time in attacking. R.D. darted around the left side of the creature, using his dash thrusters to skate in the air over the stone floor of the pavilion, angling around and drawing the Phase Scythe. He lunged at Meta-Ridley and slashed, dragging the blade of the weapon across the creature's chest in a diagonal cut from Ridley's left shoulder down. As he cleared the attack, Samus came into range, her Plasma Beam fully charged. She locked onto the wound R.D. had left and aimed her weapon at it, firing an immense stream of magma from its barrel as she activated the Missile Launcher with the Plasma Beam.

Flames splashed down across the floor and over Meta-Ridley's chest, seeping in, and the creature screamed in rage. As his systems came back online, he screeched and spread out his useless wings, readying to charge forward again. The light of the Omega Essence once again shone through his chest wound.

"R.D.!" Matt shouted. "Help Ileyna get close to the Omega Essence!" He ran toward Meta-Ridley, firing a constant stream of fiery shots at the leg facing him.

"Oh yeah, real good plan there!" R.D. snapped as Meta-Ridley charged forward in an effort to smash them. There was no way Matt could survive such an attack, R.D. realized, and they needed him. R.D. dashed forward and slammed himself into Matt's side, knocking him out of the dragon's path.

With a triumphant roar, Meta-Ridley collided with R.D., the sheer brute strength of his superior body, cybernetic enhancements, and the Omega Essence easily prevailing over his weakened Lumiya-empowered strength, and he was sent flying into the edge of the pavilion wall, nearly going over it were it not for a quick grab at the ledge. "Bitch needs to quit moving," R.D. growled as he pulled himself up, even as Meta-Ridley turned his attentions on the others.

"Hey, asshole!" Matt leapt up on the dragon's back and took a heavy swat at its neck to distract it. "Don't leave me hangin'!" Dragon Strike sunk its teeth into Meta-Ridley's vulnerable flesh. "Whoops! Bad joke ahoy!"

Meta-Ridley snarled as Matt came into contact with his head and neck. His armored skull whipped around as he tried to get a good look at Matt while Dragon Strike bit into his shoulder, and he whipped around in the frenzy.

R.D. took his chance and locked on with his arm cannon, aiming at the creature's legs. Ice energy gathered into his fist, charging and condensing, while the pistons slid out, readying for the blast. They filled with energy and smashed downwards into his forearm, firing a freezing wave of cold across the pavilion and into Meta-Ridley's leg. It froze over in an instant, the cold ice forming in large chunks in the stone floor. The cybernetic dragon staggered upon trying to move, and looked down at his foot, ignoring Matt completely.

Samus' eyes widened in realization, and switched to her Ice Beam. She charged up her own blast as Meta-Ridley was distracted, and activated her Missile Launcher. The missile that was fired smashed into the other leg and sprayed out cold mist, which solidified into hard ice that coated the ground and Meta-Ridley's other leg.

R.D. pulled himself up and ran towards the angry dragon, who was roaring in fury now. Jumping up, he grabbed onto the creature's left arm, planted his feet on the creature's hip, and pulled, trying to restrain it. "Hugo!" he shouted at the Mettaur. "Get the other one!"

Hugo ran into range. Planting his feet, he aimed his grapple and fired with a notciable recoil. The hook wrapped around Ridley's arm. "Helena! Grab me! Now!"

She ran foward and picked him up. "Good!" Hugo said. "Now hold on tight!"

"It'll just fling us around!" Helena shouted.

"You're strong enough! Trust me!"

Helena reached out and grabbed the rope, keeping it as steady as she could.

Meta-Ridley thrashed and roared, trying to escape his bindings. Cracks were beginning to form in the ice, even though Samus repeatedly tried to repair them by firing the Ice Beam into them. Meta-Ridley let loose with a terrifying roar, and renewed his struggles.

"Ileyna!" R.D. shouted as he struggled to hold onto the herculean monster. "Now!"

Ileyna looked down when R.D. called her name, then nodded once as she screwed up her courage to confront the leader of the Space Pirates' security forces. The light of her power bloomed around her, wings extending out, and she fluttered down, holding her left arm out, fingers adjusted into a hand sign.

"Recro!"

Meta-Ridley snarled at the girl, trying to lunge out with his jaws, but she was just out of range with the way Matt was holding onto his head. The girl continued her strange chant, readying to Purify the monster of the Omega Essence he had obtained.

"Singulus... restituo... animus..."

Her eyes opened as the power welled up within her, and she swung her hand down, aiming her fingers at Meta-Ridley's wounded chest.

"Substantia!"

It struck in an instant, light wavering around him as energy was pulled from his cybernetic body. The particles of blue light gathered into a single point, and flashed, reappearing as a single shard of the Omega Essence. Quickly, Ileyna's hands snatched the shard, and she flew back.

The dragon unleashed a bloodcurdling roar as the girl escaped his sight, replaced with a black-armored amazon standing behind her, an arm cannon charged up with the golden energy of the Power Beam aimed directly at his chest.

"This one's for my mother, you son of a bitch," she sneered, firing a Super Missile. The projectile streaked through the air and smashed into the creature's chest, exploding with untold force. The ice shattered beneath him, and the others found themselves dislodged from Meta-Ridley's form by the blast.

Helena hit the pavillion with a thud, crying out in shock. Matt landed on his feet, aiming Dragon Strike. "All right, guys!" he shouted. "Let's finish him off!"

"Right!" R.D. said, throwing himself back up onto his feet.

"There's no need," Samus suddenly said, lowering her weapon as Meta-Ridley staggered back several steps, clutching a chest that was spouting out an obscene amount of erratic energy. He roared in pain and fury, looking about at them all as his stumbling took him closer to the edge of the pavilion. Even as the red light of the Cradle began to--wait, red light?

Up above, the lines of light that shone within the Cradle's statues turned an angry crimson, the lights of the statues' eyes changing from blue to red, now that Meta-Ridley, who had disturbed and defiled its sacred grounds, awakened the wrath of the Chozo. Thin beams of energy lanced down at the cybernetic dragon, slamming into a single point in his chest. Once more the dragon roared in pain, staggering backwards further and further.

Energy exploded from him, and Meta-Ridley toppled backwards over the edge. Down he plummeted, his roars cutting through the air as gravity drug him down into oblivion, disappearing past the mists that filled the Impact Crater. Without his energy wings to sustain him, there was no hope for Meta-Ridley to recover and retreat.

His body smashed into the ground and his core went critical--in an instant, he exploded, the fires obliterating the mists as they covered nearly the entire floor of the crater itself. The shockwave rocked the entire temple.

Matt spread his stand to keep himself steady, while Helena once again fell back down due to the aftershock. When it stopped, he looked out toward the edge, wiped off his forehead. That took way too long. "We did it."

Almost immediately, the red lines of light set into the temple reverted to their original cool blue color, and strange mist erupted from the points where the twelve obelisks of the Artifacts had stood. Samus spun around from the edge of the pavilion, watching as the Chozo created another miracle. Faintly, holographic images of the destroyed obelisks appeared for the briefest of seconds, and the rain seemed to fall that much harder.

As they faded from sight as quickly as they appeared, spectres appeared, causing R.D. to recoil in shock away from one that appeared right in front of him. He fell down with a cry as ghostly, long appendages lifted up and cupped around an invisible point, beaked, avian faces staring ahead at the center where the totem had once stood and where the portal had once been. The obelisks began to fade back in once more as more and more power gathered.

Energy blazed between the hands of the Chozo Ghosts, lighting the path to the inner sanctum of Metroid Prime. They faded from existence, together as one, their duty complete. The path to the Impact Crater was open.