QOTM: Fern Spike 4 – Revenge of the Spores

Pix1001 was the first to wake up in the cave’s chamber. Her stasis capsule hissed open at 15:17 on April 4th 2118…100 years later. They had failed. The asteroid had hit Earth. It must have done, or else why was she in stasis? Her memory was hazy…the others…did anyone else survive?

She wasn’t sure why she’d got involved in this. Sure, she’s handy with a frying pan but that isn’t a skill required to survive an asteroid apocalypse. She thinks it might have been Nathan’s idea. Yeah, Nathan and his Hurricane Thought Process. It was all his idea. She didn’t have to agree to it, but it was just that Nathan’s plan had been so well executed by Kim when the call for volunteers went out back in April 2018. Pix remembered that Kim had been with the Later Levels troop, one of the many who were making preparations for the apocalypse. She hoped the others were OK.

Pix’s troop had teamed up with Samus Aran and her magnificent golden spaceship, complete with ingenious grapple beam. It was supposed to divert the asteroid. Pix didn’t know what had gone wrong but a glance around the room showed her that at least Samus had returned safely.

Sssssssssss…the three other capsules fizzed open. Pix had already got the rations out and first to pick one was the blonde boy. Link I think his name was. He picked the ration labelled Gourmet Meat. It probably tasted nothing like the real thing but he went for it anyway – it ought to restore a few hearts. Samus goes next, she picks the one labelled Phazon Sherbert. Pix isn’t sure about this choice, what if it had become corrupted over time? Last but not least is Sharla. The medic looks suspiciously at the flavours on offer and eventually goes for Ruby Mangosteen. The others wondered what a real Ruby Mangosteen tasted like or if it even existed.

After eating it was time to brave the surface, although Pix decided she’d hide in the cave until they returned. After a long climb, they reached the cave’s entrance. It was overgrown with wild and vicious looking plants. It hadn’t been like that when Samus rolled in 100 years earlier – a fern spike must have taken place after the asteroid’s impact. Sharla and Link looked at each other cautiously. The entrance was so overgrown that they could not fit through. Link swung his sword but was repelled by the ferns. He tried again, but was knocked back. He shot a fire arrow and flames took hold briefly but they were soon extinguished. It would take an age to break through like that. There was only one thing for it – Samus would have to power bomb them out. This was hardly her first time facing plants, seeds and spores, so she knew what to do. Soon the hole was big enough to allow the others to escape, but what faced them on the outside was terrifying. Huge Jurassic Ferns with leaves as sharp as razors stretched as far as the eye could see. Link swung the master sword once more but the Ferns stood tall, throwing him back against the wall. Samus looked to the stricken boy and nodded, before rolling off into the jungle. She would have to take care of the plants herself. Returning to her humanoid form Samus sighed. Couldn’t they for once have brought someone useful?

But Link was useful. Even if his fire arrows were of limited use, he still had other skills. He was a renowned collector of ingredients so he could surely scour the paths Samus was creating to find food. After recovering from his concussion he began searching. He found some Hylian shrooms growing out of the wall of the cave, wildberrys and acorns lay under the remnants of the killer ferns. There was even the odd blueshell snail here and there. Taking the ingredients back to the cave he tried his hand at Cordon Bleu, only to end up with some dubious food and a scowl from Pix. At least he had collected plenty of ingredients and firewood. Pix could get something cooking herself.

Sharla felt uneasy in this company. She was no hero like Link or Samus, and she couldn’t even cook. Seeing Link thrown back by the killer ferns however helped her realise her purpose. She rushed over to examine him and leaned against the wall looking perplexed. “This is tricky…” she whispered to herself. After a moment of contemplation she loaded an ether bullet into her Forest Sniper Rifle. The ether coursed through him, healing his wounds. Judging by what she had seen, if any homs were going to survive this she was going to need to be on top form with that ether gun. She wondered how long it would be until the rifle needed to cool off – she didn’t want it overheating at the wrong moment.

Sharla knew Samus was their best hope for taking back control of the planet, so decided to load her rifle with phazon infused ether and follow the mercenary. Keeping a safe distance she could completely refill Samus’ energy tank with just one shot. They came across pockets of survivors who Sharla patched up and sent back to the cave. She couldn’t help but wonder if they would find Juju amongst the survivors.

Returning to the cave at nightfall, the group ate around a campfire whilst Link played a minuet on his ocarina. Tomorrow the fight against the plants would continue, but for today their work was done.

THE END

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This post was brought you as part of Later Level’s Question of the Month for April 2018 and based on the question set by Nathan from Hurricane Thought Process. If you want to know the actual question you’ll just have to head on over and check out the other entries!

Thanks for reading,

Pix1001 x

The featured image in this article is used courtesy of NASA/JPL-Caltech.