Lying upon the floor of the captain's room, James looked up with a shiver at Ridley who had also been thrown onto the floor.  The dark-winged captain shook his head with a snarl, staring around his room at the disturbance that had shaken the place.

        "What now!?"

The leader walked over to his desk pressing the intercom.

        "Status report!"

        "I-it's Samus, sir!  She's found us and wrecking the labs below!  ACK, SHE'S GONE THROUGH THE TUBES, SOMEONE GET IN 'EM AND BLAST THEM DRY!"

        "That...filthy.....hmmm..."

Ridley looked down upon the bleeding scarred James and grabbed him by the neck, jeans hanging under him still crumpled around his legs as he dragged his prisoner out of the cabin and through the corridors to where Samus was last reported.  By the time he caught up with her, they were within the lower deck nearing the cargo bay in the hull.  His keen sense of smell detected her presence behind a set of large cargo doors to the storage bay.

        "SAMUS!" called out Ridley defiantly.  "You will be pleased to know I have a hostage here...and if you do not cease your warpath, I will end him."

        "Wh-wh-what?!"

James had gone from prisoner to harem slave to hostage in one day, confused and violated with pains in his lower body.  He tried to get away from Ridley, but he had become too weak to even fight back.

        "Now Samus...you and I realise you are not incapable of mercy, despite your tendency to kill every moving thing in sight...almost every moving thing.  What about this pathetic little alien who helped you before?  Surely you will not throw his life away, not even to kill me."

Nothing was heard still as the doors slowly opened up.  Ridley kept one claw close to the raptor's throat to slit him instantly the moment he saw her.  But no Samus.  He walked carefully into the spacious room, keeping James close and his senses alert, flapping his wings to glide into the hold and scanned over every single wall space for the hunter, smelling her everywhere.  James kept an eye out for her as well to plead for help, but also saw not a trace.

Then a blasting shot came from Ridley's right from above, hitting close enough to shoot at his claw and overload the energy cuffs on his wrists to the point of deactivating.  The space pirate dropped his captive in surprise not expecting Samus to shoot at him, allowing James to hobble away desperately with still-bound feet as Ridley rolled towards the wall seeing the bounty hunter come out at last.  Clad in red and yellow armour, she brought her lean emerald-steel cannon arm towards Ridley as James kept out of the way whilst the human and space dragon battled throughout the cargo hold exchanging cannon shots and fire blasts.

Scorch marks slowly began to cover every inch in the area as Samus dodged with expert athleticism, managing to strafe with such speed and forcing Ridley to turn and strike with his tail to slash across her body.  He damaged the armour, but she was undeterred as she shot off a missile into Ridley's back making him lurch forward in pain as he flew up into the air with the momentum from the missile blast and reached out his talons to swoop and slice at Samus, scoring some hits on her helmet and shoulders.  Samus kept up a steady stream of cannon shots and missiles at the beast's underbelly, before Ridley was eventually forced to overtake her and go straight for the wall, rebounding back with his limbs to fly straight towards Samus' back with murderous intent.

His direct course however was thrown off-target when, hiding beside the crates, James threw a small box at Ridley's face that made him swerve and swoop past Samus leaving him wide open for a blast in the back.  He screeched as the shots made him slam fully into the wall, his beak cracking slightly from the momentum as the bounty hunter took this opportunity to free James of his other cuffs.

        "W-wow...heh, two times for each other right?"

She nodded and pointed the way out, shooting a doorway open that would lead James out of the ship.

        "Wait no, no no no, I gotta help you against this bastard!  I need to fuck him up, I have to do this!"

The hunter noticed the stains from the raptor's legs, her eyes reflecting faintly in the green visor as she still insisted pointing out at the door.  The first words he ever heard from her were in a strong low voice.

        "Leave, now.  He is my enemy alone."

The voice surprised the raptor.  Cold and powerful with utmost authority that he knew arguing against would be futile.  He slowly got up, adjusting his jeans with the freedom of his limbs regained and ran for the opened doors frantically.  He finally escaped  leaving the Hunter to face them herself not doubting for a second the power she wielded in after all he had seen and heard of her, the way they almost feared her.

As he found himself outside again, pouring down with unending rain, he ran across the open grounds as puddles splashed underfoot, leaving him cold and shocked after all he had been through.  His mind finally caught up with things, fighting alongside an armoured woman, raped by creatures and now all alone a planet far from Earth.  He wanted to go back in and help Samus, but the look she gave him made him shiver.  He didn't want to disobey the woman who would give such a look.  It was the same look that Sarah gave him when he tried to argue with her on something she had no time to argue on.  

It was one of the last looks he remembered seeing from her.  He ran all the way back underground, scared and alone, his breathing ragged, needing to feel the cool walls and plants to comfort him.  Somewhere to be away from Ridley, away from his terrible crew.  As he finally found a safe space, the sound of the rain drumming across the roof of the small cave inlet he now huddled in, he let his adrenaline drain out at last when the shaking fear and exhilaration stopped, before he began to weep.  He held his sore throat tenderly as if ready to vomit, wanting to let the pain of his body out through his face.  The raptor snivelled in shock and horror, his lower body feeling sore and filthy full of space pirate seed.

Sobs choked up in his throat before turning into mewling howls, his skin started to shudder and shake in disgust.  He had always heard of stories like this, but until now had never been able to comprehend what a horrible experience it would be.  Sympathy for those like him burned deep into his heart, fear and sorrow coursed through his veins from such painful degradation.  He even felt ashamed at having to sit down and remind himself of the pain all over again as he went on his knees instead, slowly draining out his anguish through shivering tears and braying screams.  He rocked back and forth desperate to shake off the feeling of being violated as he cried and clenched his fists hard enough to tear up the roots of the grass underneath.  When there were no more tears left in him, he felt another emotion entirely.  Anger.

His shaking hands turned into brazen fists, shivering lips formed into a vile snarl as his horror became outrage.  He punched at the rock walls beating at it like hammers as he screamed into the rockface.  He pounded hard enough to make them hurt, to make something else in his body hurt other than his own insides, something to take his mind off the pain as his knuckles became scarred from the screaming blows he rained upon the craggy walls.  When they began to throb and bleed, he crumpled into a heap and curled into a foetal position, hugging his knees close whilst sniffling to himself.

After a long 40 minutes of trying to calm himself amongst the soothing flora, he slowly got up with eyes as red as his tailhole and walked deeper into Zebes.  He tried to distract himself with various questions to ponder, questions that would help him move on with his gait slightly crippled.

Who the hell WAS that girl, was his first question.  What's her whole deal with those space pirates?  She really hated that Ridley guy too, and he hates her like fuck too.  Well, that makes her a friend of mine, god she was amazing.  She didn't even flinch, saved my life, took down that fucker without even blinking.  I should really thank her next time we meet.

The awe he felt for her started to border on hero worship, his worldly praise for the hunter making him forget about his misfortune more as he passed through various doors heading further into the planet.  He did his best to avoid the hostile wildlife with his own natural reflexes despite his wounds, wondering still about the mysterious Samus and if he could ever be like her.  He had enough agility, but he lacked the force, experience, and the precision of every attack like she did.

If I ever see her again, pondered James, I'll ask her.  Simple as that, ask her.  She's a human right, I mean...she might have sounded cold as hell but she's still a person.

By the time he realised how far he had gone, he felt the ground beneath him turn wet, and the smell of fungus grew stronger than before.  He opened another door to find himself in a transparent tunnel, revealing a whole world of water before his eyes.  Strange fishlike beings floated past, dotted kelp plants waved listlessly in the currents, the soil now sandy with a dull yellow as he traipsed through puddles that squelched underfoot.

The beasts seemed a little less friendly than the ones that found him when he first awoke on this world, eyes on stalks peering at him with primal suspicion as James decided to skirt round them and head on through the caverns.  The planet seemed to have a false sense of peacefulness in that whilst the creatures went about their lives of eating, mating and defending their territories, the battle between the space pirates and the bounty hunter was ongoing above ground.  Was this a base to them, or just a place to land on and check supplies?  Whatever the case, the more he thought about them, the more angry he became.  His steps turned more stiff, more tense with a fury in him for how their captain violated him.  He wanted revenge.

You know what, doesn't matter what she said, I have a goddamn right to get revenge.  Even if she managed to kill him, I still want the chance to kill some of his fucking crew.

He considered going back the way he came, but his hands started to shake.  He was terrified of both Ridley and Samus.  One for what he had done to him with strength beyond his own, the other for her legendary status amongst them.  Her presence alone was enough back then to make him run with little thought, so the thought of facing her again was withering.  What if she decided to get violent with him?  Was she really a good person, or was she just making sure not to have some idiot in the crossfire distracting her?  Living his teenage life with a strong woman had made him fearful of such retributions, so he decided to find another way or perhaps even a separate pirate ship or base to smash up as payback.

James traversed the undergrowth avoiding creatures as best he could whilst occasionally having to fight them.  One kind hopped on two springy legs with wings fluttering across a distance.  Another kind flew out of pipes to hurtle themselves at him as he punched and slashed at anything attacking him, unless it was larger than him to which he ran or avoided entirely.

He was too angry to care about the wounds or potential infections he built up from trying to fight the creatures.  He fought like a child in a playground fight, swinging his claws out with wild haymakers and frenzied slashes, gaining a new cut or bruise with every encounter against things he had never dealt with before.  Soon he had to rest, sitting in an isolated cave in a wall clutching at his knees.

As he tried to figure out where to go next, he also thought back on his home wondering how he could possibly get back.  Maybe steal a space pirate ship?  Force one of them to fly him back home?

They must have other places around here to station themselves at.  Alright, first I just gotta get my strength back up then I'm gonna find the nearest place and fuck them up.  Simple.

Heading through various doors he found mysteriously placed within the underground as the habitat turned industrial.  Pipes and machines replaced waterfalls and fauna gently humming in the background, a whole network of tubes spreading throughout the wet sandy caverns.

        "What the hell they want all these tubes for?" he said out loud.

The tubes themselves were too small to crawl through, but he did find one larger pipe with a blue door across it.  As soon as he opened it, he was sucked inside to a more water-filled region, his jeans now soaked as he kept traipsing onwards, wading through the underground rivers.  He tried his best to keep out of the water, but the quicksand effect would occasionally catch his leg and each time it happened which was surprisingly often, he became more annoyed until around the fifth time when he roared:

        "GODFUCKINGDAMMIT WHAT IS WITH THIS FUCKING CUNT PLANET!?"

Needless to say, his exploring of Zebes was meeting quite the resistance just to find a way off the planet, if there even was a way out for him.  More surprises came to him in the shape of water-filled rooms that made him panic and run, but as soon as he dodged back for the door to close again, nothing came out.  Not even the slightest dribble.  His mind almost overloaded with disbelief.

        "F-f-fffff...fuh...WHY IS THE WATER NOT DRAINING OUT OF THE DOOR, HOW DOES THAT EVEN WORK!?"

Fury only grew within him as he tried to climb back the way he came, frustrated with the yellow watery caverns.  The raptor managed to climb back to the same pipe he went through before it sucked him back up, which only further irritated him by this pointless venture.  He went in the opposite direction back through the glass tunnel which he found, only to receive a rather terrible surprise.  It was somehow broken all of a sudden, and so ended up with him falling into the deep water, gargling in shock as he swam to the other door and headed through sputtering with fury.

        "WHY DOES THIS PLANET HATE MEEEEE!?!"

He brought his hands to his face and screamed to let some of his rage out, nearly crying with pure contempt for this habitat.

        "I just...want...to get out of heeeeere..."

James sighed heavily and walked on, navigating through various red and green regions until he was outside once again.  The rain was still unending.

        "I...am so sick of water right now."

He was at a loss, the strange planet constantly throwing him off in a loop with its everchanging geometry and constant perils that exhausted him.  He also realised that he had not eaten for a number of hours as he hid himself in a small inlet, sheltered from the rain.  Then, he saw something, a group of space pirates heading for his direction as he hid behind a rock to see them pass by straight towards the watery region.  Following them as discreetly as he could, slipping through the doors they opened so they wouldn't be alerted by their opening for him, they navigated through a secret passage that strangely felt like a ventilation shaft, the pirates crawling through as  warm air blew through it.

Curious, he headed inside after they had gone through, his jeans dirtying but at the same time drying off as the air started to become hotter.  The further he travelled the warmer it became until it felt like a volcanic vent that was hot enough to make the raptor sweat, but he pressed onwards until he found thr source of the heat.  A tremendous magma cavern, the heat boiling as he started to think that this wasn't a good idea after all.  Keeping on the trail of the space pirates, one of them was eventually told to wait behind on guard as the rest went in to a carved rock tunnel.  A perfect opportunity for some interrogation.  The raptor grabbed a sizeable rock and sneaked round the cavern walls that glowed amber with heat.  When he had the chance, he clubbed the pirate hard with the rock and pounced on his back immediately to beat him down.

        "Alright, fucker, you're gonna tell me what the hell this place is, where you lot were going and how I can get off this planet."

        "Wh-what, you're the-"

        "Never mind who the fuck I am, now tell me or else I kill you!"

        "You don't threaten a space pirate and live you maggot!"

        "I'll gladly be the first when I bash your head in!"

Another blow to the head broke the guard's stubby snout, spitting bright green blood from his nostrils with eyes stinging from the pain.  As a final way of convincing his hostage, the raptor pushed the rock down on his neck to choke him fiercely.

        "Well?!?  Spit it out bitch!"

        "F-fine!  FINE!  You wanna leave, you have to get back to our ship.  But that bitch hunter's wrecked the place so we're relocating to our base underground in Norfair."

        "Alright, where's your captain, he still on it?"

        "He also moved down to Norfair, down to his lair.  You'll never reach him with your pathetic skin, you'll burn to death if you go anywhere deeper than where we are right now!"

        "Fine, that saves me a trip.  Any way to get on your ship, like vents or something, any escape pods still used?"

        "We have a few...I don't even know if they work anymore, some of us stayed behind on the ship."

        "Bullshit, you must have something."

Another squeezing of the neck with the rock made the guard choke out the truth.

        "G-GHHHUK-ALRIGHT!  Alright, there's a vent underneath, it's shaped like a rectangle with Emergency Output written on it!  Just pull it open, now release me, you worm!"

        "Oh, I don't think so."

With psychotic frenzy, James clubbed the space pirate to death, much to the beast's dismay as its roars turned guttural with a crushing wallop to his throat, choking from a crushed windpipe.  The raptor returned upwards to the ship, using his memory to reach it once again now more determined by the fact that there were now less of them, as well as no Ridley.  Presumably Samus was also gone, having no reason to stay if her enemy was elsewhere.

Soon enough, he managed to reach the main pirate ship looking in considerably worse state than before.  Fires were pockmarked all over the thing, burn marks along the hull with pirates running back and forth to deal with the flames as shouts of urgency echoed from within.  He had forgotten the size of the beast, a flagship that could hold probably 200 or more within it, and the size of a house.  Ducking under the ship when he had the chance, he looked around for the vent entrance in the shadows, despite all the signs underneath having a strange alien language.

        "Fucker said it was Emergency Output, what the shit IS this stupid-ass language?!"

Eventually he found one rectangular panel with some sort of valve on it, turning it with his hand before it opened easily as he managed to slip inside.

        "No wonder Samus got inside, sheesh."

Crawling through the vents with his claws helping to climb through, James could hear muffled orders barking at everyone as he soldiered on to find a suitable drop point.  The changing room, judging by the rows of compartments, was a good place to ambush one as he realised that, where Ridley had gone there would be no chance of him reaching it due to the heat.  But the pirates could stand the heat, and that perhaps they had a suit for that, or were just able to naturally handle it.  Eventually one of the pirates came into the locker room, the raptor hiding until he was alone.

        "I have to clean my suit," said the soon-to-be-assaulted pirate, "just give me a minute to wash the acid off!"

Soon as he was on his own, the raptor ambushed him in a chokehold against the wall.

        "WHU-ARGH, who are you?!"

        "A very angry stranger.  Now you're gonna tell me what I want to know or else I break your spine."

        "Y-you're the captive, aren't you?"

        "WAS a captive.  Now...where's your escape pods?"

        "Wh-wh-what?!"

        "I want to get off this fucking planet, now TELL ME!  Where's your fucking escape pods!?"

        "They were all broken in the attack!  Th-the Hunter, she destroyed them to stop us escaping!"

        "....you have got to be shitting me."

        "I'm a scientist, I don't joke.  We can't leave this planet either, even if we wanted to!"

        "God...nnngh, fine, then where's your captain!?"

        "He-AGH-went down into the depths of Norfair, it's where he always hides when there's trouble!  But you can't go in, the lava's too hot, you'll melt!"

        "Then tell me if there's a way that I can get in there without being boiled alive!"

        "Like what!?"

        "I dunno, some kind of protective suit or something, you're the fucking scientist!"

        "Alright alright-GAK-ALRIGHT!  We're naturally adept with extreme temperatures but...we were experimenting with something."

        "Liiiike?"

        "The Hunter's Varia Suit.  It can resist heat except actual contact with lava.  We were trying to mimic its design to rival her in combat, but we kept failing with the Morph Ball function.  But you can still wear it like a second skin."

        "Alright you get me that suit then.  If it gets me in Norfair without me bursting into flames, I want it."

        "Okay...but one small problem."

        "What's that?"

        "How are you going to get me to my lab without all the guards seeing you?"

        "...fuck."

        "And you need me to open the case it's in too."

The space pirate scientist grinned at outwitting his captor, before the raptor chuckled with a look upwards.

        "How about you go the same way I got in?"

The scientist looked worried as James dragged him over to the vent opening, pushing him inside much to his dismay.

        "Hey s-top, no!"

        "Get the fuck in there now!"

        "I get claustrophobic!"

        "Well the sooner you do this, the sooner you get out, now MOVE!"

James climbed in after him and threatened him onwards, the two crawling through the vents single file as the temporary captive checked along each ventilation window to make an approximation.  Every room had an opening, but not all were connected by the same vent, however they did manage to reach the lab after a solid 14 minutes with James breaking through first.  He pulled the scientist through so he didn't escape, holding him by the neck again.

        "Now, point me over to where the suit is."

He made a weak motion over to a large metal cabinet in the corner, the raptor dragging his hostage over and pushing him against it.

        "Open it."

Irritated by this, the scientist input a code on the keypad through a surprisingly long sequence of numbers that annoyed the raptor before the cabinet opened and revealed its prize.  For a moment it looked as if Samus were standing right there, except the visor was now more shaped for reptilian snouts.

        "There, here's your suit, now leave me alone and let me repair my ship!"

        "Fine fine I don't care."

He grabbed the suit and put it on as soon as possible, each piece connecting magnetically into place.  The metal greaves for his feet were tight and felt weird against his claws, the left-handed gauntlet almost squeezed his wrist and couldn't be properly placed, and then lastly the arm cannon felt heavy on his entire arm.  And yet, he felt a certain spring in his step when he walked, feeling oddly light despite wearing this steel cool suit, the visor over his head offering him a slightly glazed view of the world.

        "Are you done yet?"

        "Ohhh yes.  Welp, bye now!"

With smiling send-off he clambered through the vents again, crawling out of the ship by half-remembering where the emergency exit was before he fell unceremoniously from the bottom before running off.  Or at least trying to whilst occasionally tripping on the metallic greaves.

        "AGH f-f-fucking stupid boots!"

He noted to himself that he had to be more careful as he traversed downwards to Norfair.  No doubt the pirates would be on high alert if the scientist reported on him, or if they found the guard's body.  He tried to experiment with the suit in terms of jumping, shooting and running.  Jumping felt weird since he had to rely on the suit's ability rather than his own, but shooting became strangely the most natural thing in the world when he could just clench his fist somehow to power the cannon and it would fire off a pure blast of plasma.  But running made him incredibly clumsy, staggering with the added weight on each foot but he didn't plan on using this suit for long.  Just long enough to traverse into the depths of the planet and confront his new fearsome enemy, his fear masked by a slow-burning rage.