Rage of the Rathalos (Saga)

[Samus Aran]

It was chaos. Villagers spilled out in every direction, blocking the hunter’s path as she struggled to get through. She’d already abandoned her geshilin, not wanting to trample anyone. The green-outfitted kid from the Scramble was there too. Had everyone come to fight this dragon? The wizard – apparently the newcomer was a wizard – had used some kind of magic to hold the creature still, enough time for the villagers to get clear. But the others had barely closed in on the beast before it ripped itself free, unleashing a bellow that stunned the nearby fighters, hands clamped over their ears.

It was time. Back in the Dataverse’s library, Samus had used her omnilium to craft a new upgrade she’d been itching to try out. For the criminal rabble of Coruscant, it was overkill. But for a dragon, it was perfect. She pointed her arm cannon upwards. As she did so, three ‘wings’ slid out from the barrel, folding at right angles until they pointed away, revealing tiny cannons of their own. The wings lit up and began to spin. Samus clenched the trigger and unleashed a volley of energy bolts towards the dragon.

Even with her skill, half of the shots missed. But the other half rained into the dragon, bouncing off in tiny sparks. The great lizard flapped its wings and stamped its feet, turning to see the source of the irritation. Samus let her gun arm spin down as the reptile’s eyes landed on her.

It charged. Samus knew that she wouldn’t outrun it – even before the effects of the Omniverse had weakened her armor, it hadn’t been built for sprinting. She had to stand her ground. So she planted her feet, spun up the Gatling Beam, and powered it up to full strength. As the dragon closed in, her accuracy went up. The creature’s eyes filled with rage as bullets exploded against its dark red carapace. Now it was scarcely its own length away from Samus, and she tensed her body, ready to move out of the way.

And then suddenly, the beast tripped, crying out in pain as it crashed to the ground. Samus rolled out of the way, pivoting to face the downed creature. Perhaps defeating the beast wouldn’t be so difficult after all. She switched her gun arm back to default mode and began charging a shot.

“Careful!” yelled a voice from somewhere. “It’s gonna rage!”

Samus’s soldier instincts kicked in, recognising the truth of those words a moment too late. The lizard’s eyes snapped open, wisps of flame now licking at its lips. It reared its head up violently, then threw it back down towards Samus, belching a ball of fire as big as the hunter herself. It exploded and Samus felt herself lifted from the ground.

The landing did not feel good. Samus was dazed, ears ringing. There had been scarcely any warning. She’d underestimated it. Perhaps it wasn’t as smart as Ridley, but it made up for it in brute force and animal emotion.

“Idiot!” came the same voice as before. “Haven’t you ever fought a dragon before?”

If she could have, Samus would have retorted. But she felt the ground rumble as the beast stamped over to her, its shadow over her head. Shit! was all she could think as she grasped her bearings and managed to lift her gun arm.

Then the world went white. All the deafening noise – the screams, the yells, the sound of the dragon’s breath like the billowing of some giant forge … they vanished. Did I die? questioned the hunter. Am I back at the Nexus?

And then the sounds rushed back, slowly as though coming through water. Samus felt herself being pulled up, and she staggered to her feet, landing against the weight of someone shorter than herself. As her vision cleared, she saw that it was a woman. Her spiked armor was reminiscent of the very type of monster they were fighting, and her voice had a fiery tone to match.

“What was that?” asked Samus.

“Flash bomb,” replied the other hunter, brandishing a plain looking sac of some white plant material. “You really are a noob.”

Samus felt an urge to protest, but the roar of the dragon cut her off. Now it was really mad.