Metroid Prime 2 Echoes This guide was written by, and is copyrighted to, Ryan Parra. If you have any questions about the guide, or if you would like to ask my permission to use this guide elsewhere, then email me at ChaosUnit22@aol.com, or Instant Message me at ChaosUnit22. Don't use this guide and claim it as your own. If you want to use it, ask me first. I?ll probably say yes, but you still have to give me the credit. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Introduction. The Luminoth?. For centuries, this sentient race of moth-like beings has lived in peace on their home planet of Aether. Centuries ago, during their Golden Age, they lived free of conflict and suffering. The Luminoth had developed four Energy Controllers that would harness the power of Aether itself, and disperse it throughout the land for all to use. These four Energy Controllers were built at the top of their sacred temples in each land; Agon, Torvus, Sanctuary and the Great Temple itself. Because the Energy Controllers drew power from Aether itself, whosoever controlled them could control the planet itself. Then, 80 years ago, a great meteor struck Aether. The meteor contained large amounts of Phazon, a radioactive substance that was terribly chaotic and unstable, capable of wiping out an entire ecosystem. The collision of the meteor and the high quantities of Phazon created a dimensional rift on Aether, creating a parallel world. This world would come to be known as Dark Aether, Aether?s poisonous twin. The Ing Horde, terrifying beasts born of this darkness, attempted to claim Aether as their own. When Dark Aether was created, the planetary energy held within the Energy Controllers was divided amongst the two worlds. After long years of war, the Luminoth devised a method of turning the tables on their opponents; the Energy Transfer Module. With this device, Luminoth warriors could venture into Dark Aether and take back the energy within, transferring it to Aether. When all the energy from one world was gone, that world would collapse and cease to exist. However, the Ing stole this technology, and the Luminoth?s plan backfired. One by one, Aether?s Energy Controllers fell to the hands of the Ing, and the Luminoth were driven to the brink of extinction, until only the Main Energy Controller remained. Soon, the Ing will win the war and plunge Aether into eternal darkness, unless they can be stopped. As a legendary bounty hunter, Samus Aran has been sent to Aether by the Galactic Federation to track down a missing team of Galactic Federation Troopers that was in pursuit of a band of Space Pirates. Space Pirates, whom Samus vanquished during her previous operations, are a race of villainous creatures bent on universal domination. After their fall on the planets Zebes and Tallon IV, they set out to find a new source of Phazon. As if a great war, a missing squad of soldiers and a band of dangerous creatures weren?t enough for Samus, a great evil also stalks Aether, one whom has returned for vengeance in a brand new and deadly figure?. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Walkthrough. This section describes the game with full detail. When you read through the walkthrough, take note of CAPITALIZED words, which indicate important items such as new enemies, suit augmentations, weapon expansions and more. The walkthrough has been divided into the following thirteen chapters: 1. A World Apart. 2. The Ing Horde. 3. The Hunter?s Echo. 4. Dark Agon Temple. 5. Metroid Pinball. 6. The Depths of Torvus. 7. Swamp Thing. 8. Heavy-Metal Hunting. 9. Seeing Sound. 10. Attack of the Skyscraper. 11. The Nine Keybearers. 12. The King of Ingland. 13. Prime Revenge. ============= Chapter 1: A World Apart. ============= Chronologically, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes takes place soon after the first Metroid Prime. A short while ago, Samus received word that the Galactic Federation Squad Bravo had gone missing on the planet Aether after pursuing a fallen Space Pirate warship that the squad had battled. Samus?s contract agreement required that she locate the missing troopers and assist them. After Samus tracks the team?s location and arrives on Aether however, a strange atmospheric storm causes her to make an unscheduled landing on Aether?s dangerous surface. This is where your game begins. The planet Aether is divided into five areas, each containing unique environments, wildlife and architecture. These areas are connected by transports that take you from area to area. Additionally, each area has a light and a dark side, but you needn?t worry about that just yet. The room you begin in is the Landing Site, which is within the Temple Grounds area. You can always return to the Landing Site to use SAMUS?S GUNSHIP. Although the ship is incapable of flying after the crash, its save and ammo refill functions remain intact. Take a few seconds to get used to the game?s controls. Veterans to the series will find that they are the same as before. Using your Scan Visor, scan your ship to download it as an entry in your Log Book. To exit the room, walk forward from your ship and target the gray webbing ahead. Shoot the green center so that the web dissolves. Repeat this process on two more webs to reach a blue door. Use your Power Beam to open the door, and continue. The passage beyond is the Hive Access Tunnel. Up ahead, the path will split into two directions, but the left fork is blocked by a gate with a strange violet symbol on it. You have no choice but to take the path on your right. Drop down into the foggy pit at the end of the path. After you drop to the bottom of the pit, you?ll be in Hive Chamber A, the first chamber in a series of derelict caverns filled with danger. The room is filled with various boxes and crates; scan if you must, and then head towards the back end of the room. You?ll find the exit blocked by a GF GATE MK VI, a Galactic Federation security gate operated by a pair of locks just above it. To open the locks, scan the control panel module next to the gate. This will open the locks above the gate. Shoot the locks to raise the gate, and then continue down the path until you can go no further. Once again, an indestructible obstacle bars your path. The control panel to this gate isn?t openly visible, but if you follow the cables that run along the ground from the door, you?ll find the control panel hidden in a crevice on your right. Scan the controls to cause the gate to retract. Once you?re in the second half of the Hive Chamber, turn right and locate the rotating hologram in the back of the room. This is a Map Station. Step into the hologram to download the area map from the station. You?ll find an area Map Station in most of the other areas, but this one only provides a partial map of the Temple Grounds. A second Map Station that you?ll find later on will allow you to upload the rest of the Temple Grounds layout. Now, turn left and shoot the gray webbing out of your way to get to another blue door. The Hive Tunnel is pretty creepy, and it quickly becomes apparent that something very wrong happened to the Bravo team. Dead Federation Troopers hang from the ceiling, while rogue insects scavenge their bodies. Take a moment to scan the corpses, which will provide clues as to how the troopers died. Also, scan the WORKER SPLINTERS prowling around. The Worker Splinters seem too preoccupied with the troopers to give you any trouble, and they aren?t that dangerous anyway. Blast them all with the Power Beam, and then continue by shooting down another gray web ahead. Continue to the next room. The Command Chamber is the center of the Galactic Federation?s ill-fated underground base. There are more splinters and dead feds inside, including the soldier in front of the entrance who can be scanned for the trooper log of GSGT C. BENET. The control panel Benet was trying to operate lacks power, so you?ll have to find an alternate way around. To your left, you?ll see a cargo gate. You can use your Morph Ball to slip underneath the structure, but don?t roll under before scanning the trooper along the wall for the log of SPC B. REEVS. On the other side of the cargo gate, follow the scurrying splinters into a small opening in the back wall. The tunnel leads to a chamber in the back of the room. Use a Morph Ball Bomb to break apart the obstacle midway through. When you emerge on the other side, pass through the littered corpses and head to the back of the chamber, behind the center structure. The circular device on the other side is a BOMB SLOT. After scanning it, roll into your Morph Ball, and then bomb-jump (use a bomb to propel yourself upwards) up into the slot. Drop another bomb while inside to activate the slot. This will restore the power to the control panel back in the main chamber. Things go wrong from here on out. As soon as you try and make your way out of the room, something creepy happens to the dead troopers within the room. A dark mass of a mysterious shadowy substance seeps into their bodies and somehow brings the troopers back to life! Scan these newly-animated DARK TROOPERS and prepare to fight. They aren?t really that tough to defeat, but you must battle about a half dozen of them. Dodge their blaster shots and bombard them with Power Beam blasts. Collect any pickups (health units and missile ammo) that appear and roll back through the tunnel. Back inside the main Command Chamber, a few of the troopers that were lying dead before will also become possessed with the strange dark substance and attack you. Use missiles to kill them quickly if you want. When the calm is restored, return to the control panel that the trooper named Benet was attempting to open. With the power restored, you can scan the control panel and move the cargo gate out of the way, exposing an exit along the left wall. More zombie troopers will attack you from the path beyond. Defeat them and continue until you reach the blue door. The Hive Storage holds nothing interesting other than some large boxes that can be shot open for pickups. Use missiles or the Charge Beam to break open the larger crates. Turn a sharp left and continue through the passage to the next blue door. Your second peculiar encounter with the mysteries of Aether will be within Hive Chamber B. As you step into the room, a dark being that resembles Samus will appear from the fog and drift through the room, before disappearing into the portal in the back of the chamber. You?ll have no choice but to follow the dark hunter into the dimensional rift. The portal will warp Samus to Aether?s parallel dimension counterpart; Dark Aether. This is Samus?s first taste of Aether?s dark side. Even the air within this twisted land of darkness is toxic to most life forms that breathe it. Samus?s only means of protection from the atmosphere is the glowing crystal generating a protective bubble of light around her. When Samus emerges, she confronts the dark hunter, who is busy absorbing energy from the blue Phazon behind her. Dark Samus shoots out the protective light crystal, and then leaves Samus for dead as a watching pack of shadow creatures attack. Samus manages to escape just in time, but at a great price. When she returns to the Hive Chamber, she finds that the shadow monsters managed to steal her gear before she was able to get away. Your Missile Launcher, Morph Ball Bombs, Boost Ball and Spider Ball have all been pillaged by the shadow creatures of Dark Aether, leaving you only with your basic equipment. The portal you reemerged from has burnt out, so you have no chance of reclaiming your lost gear right now. You?ll have to do without it and continue to the end of the room. The exit to Hive Chamber B is blocked off by another solid gate, and this time there are no control panels to this gate to grant you access through it. To get by the gate, shoot the green, acidic plant forms growing near the base of the gate. After you shoot them all out of the way, a Morph Ball tunnel will be revealed along the right wall. Roll through the tunnel to get to Hive Chamber C. Four more possessed Dark Troopers will attack you once you roll out of the tunnel. Without your trusty missiles, they?ll be a bit tougher to defeat. Use the Charge Beam to deliver a single-hit kill to the zombie troopers. Now, blast the crates to your right to reveal a door to a Save Station. By stepping into this station, your energy will be restored and you?ll get to save your game. Use this station before moving on. To exit the hive network, use the second door back in the main chamber. There is a small elevator in the Hive Transport Area that will take you out of the hive system. To operate the lift, scan the control panel next to it and then step into the hologram that appears. After your ascent, you?ll find yourself on the other side of the Hive Access Tunnel, which you previously couldn?t get through thanks to the gate with the purple symbol. Another similar gate blocks this end of the passage, so you?ll have to turn around continue through the blue door at the far end of the room. The Industrial Site?s main clearing is closed off by another GF Gate. Scan the control panel and then shoot the two locks to open the gate, just like before. There is plenty to scan inside the Industrial Site. As you step out into the open, look for the GREEN KRALEE on the wall, above a ledge on your left. Green Kralee are pretty harmless and spend their time prowling amongst walls and other surfaces. If they get in your way, just blast them. Continue forward and then turn to the right. Up ahead, you?ll find a control panel. Scan the panel to raise the large cargo crate in the path out of the room. With it out of your way, head right, but stop to scan one of the three objects along the back wall before you get too close. SPLINTER COCOONS each house a dormant splinter. By shooting the cocoons, you?ll eliminate the splinter inside, but you?ll also awaken the remaining splinters. If you approach them, all three will emerge and attack. Either way, you?ll end up fighting SPLINTERS. Splinters look just like Worker Splinters, but they?re more aggressive and will attack you, so destroy them before they cause you too much trouble. Ignore the door with the purple symbol on your right, and climb up to the ledge on the left side of the room. Follow the ledge up and around to the front of the Industrial Site. Shoot the Green Kralee on the wall as you make your way to a gap. The large metal bridge ahead is a GF BRIDGE. To lower it across the gap, scan the nearby control panel and then shoot the pair of locks at the top of the bridge. Cross the bridge to the opposite ledge and use the blue door here. In the Collapsed Tunnel beyond, scan the deceased trooper, PFC M. VERONI. The tunnel is blocked off by rubble, but there?s a Morph Ball tunnel along the ground that takes you through the obstruction. After going through, shoot the pair of Green Kralee on the other side and enter the next room. Step out into the Temple Assembly Site and watch the short introduction to the Temple Grounds. The Temple Grounds acts as a hub to the three other main areas, and it also surrounds an ancient temple at the top of a mountain. But before you can explore these new areas, you?ll need to seek further clues as to what happened to the doomed Galactic Federation Troopers. You?ll see a few Splinters roaming around, so shoot them and then climb up to the ledge in front of the sealed gate. More Splinters will attack you from their cocoons when you get up there. Now turn from the gate and locate the control panel in front of one of the six statues. Scan the panel to lower the suspended crate that?s hanging off to your left (the same crate you moved earlier). When the crate drops, its weight will weaken the cable holding it. Shoot the cable until it snaps, dropping the crate to the ground. You can now jump onto the crate and use it as a platform to reach the door in the back. You?ll have to return later to see what?s behind that red door near the entrance. In the Dynamo Chamber, scan the open gate above you. A GF GATE MK VII has no locks, but a nearby control panel can be used to operate it. The gates can also be broken when you use the Power Bomb, which you won?t get until much later. Ahead of you, you?ll see another gate. To the left of this gate is the device that operates both gates. Scan the device so that the gate ahead of you opens and the one behind closes. You won?t be able to go back to the previously-explored rooms anymore, until you find an alternate way. Anyway, shoot the Splinters that appear from the other side of the gate and proceed. The path through the Communication Area is pretty straightforward. Walk along the path, killing Splinters as you go, until you see a gate. Walk around the gate and scan PFC L. BROUDA, the fallen trooper. You?ll also find a control panel near the trooper. The panel affects the radar dish above you, but because of atmospheric interference, the dish?s transmission will fail when you scan the panel. Continue down the path, and defeat the Dark Troopers that rise from the dead at the end. When you get to the Trooper Security Station, some Splinters and a GROWLER CLASS TURRET will attack you. To kill the stationed turret, shoot it with a single charged shot. If you hang back far enough, the turret will start to kill the Splinters in the room for you. Be sure to scan the Growler Class Turret before you leave, because they?re exceedingly rare to find. The path ahead is blocked by more Mk VII gates. The gate on the right has a control panel behind it, but you?ll have to get in front of it to be able to scan it. Locate the Morph Ball tunnel along the right wall and roll through to get to the panel. Scan it, and SPC M. ANGSETH, before rolling back through the tunnel. The panel will cause the gate on your left to open and close erratically. Roll through the gap while the gate is open, but don?t let it close on you. Use the blue door at the end of the tunnel. Enter the GFMC Compound. This is the site of the Galactic Federation team?s initial landing on planet Aether. Walk forward until the cut-scene plays. When Samus checks to see if a nearby fallen trooper may still be alive, she finds a record log of Bravo team?s operations on Aether. The team was battling a Space Pirate vessel above Aether and managed to ground the defeated frigate. When the troopers pursued however, they were forced to crash-land when their ship was damaged upon passing through the strange atmospheric storm. The team split into two groups; one to stay and repair the ship, and one to establish a nearby ops base. Unfortunately, both teams were slaughtered when a swarm of dark-possessed creatures invaded the premises. After the scene ends, you?ll be free to explore the rest of the room. When exploring the compound, watch out for the cliff behind the ship with the pretty view. If you fall, you?ll start back at the top of the cliff with ten less health points. Also, make sure to scan as much as possible to update your Log Book. Start by scanning the Galactic Federation ship, the GFS TYR. Now, scan the bodies of the dead troopers in the area for the log entries of CAPT A. EXETER, SPC F. TRIPLETTE, PFC G. HALEY, PFC S. MILLIGAN, LCPL J. BRODE and PFC I. CRANY. Crany?s body is located on a ledge in front of a yellow door, in front of the ship. After scanning everything, enter the ship and walk towards the back end. Scan the closed door along the back wall to reveal a Map Station behind. Step into this station to upload the rest of the Temple Grounds layout. After that, head back outside and find the large yellow and black crate in the clearing, to the left of the Tyr. Charge your Power Beam and shoot the crate to reveal its contents; the MISSILE LAUNCHER. Lucky for you, this weapon in particular happens to be a spare that the GF Troopers left behind. After you reclaim the weapon however, you?ll be attacked by the same dark-possessed creatures that defeated the troopers. Several DARK SPLINTERS will warp into the room, ready to pounce. Dark Splinters behave similarly to regular Splinters, but the added dark substance possessing them makes them stronger and tougher to kill. What better way to test out the Missile Launcher then on them? After the Dark Splinters are defeated, head back inside the ship and locate the opening along the right side. Jump out onto the ledge and head left until you find a control panel. This panel will activate the KINETIC ORB CANNON on the floor next to it. For a Log Book entry, most Kinetic Orb Cannons must be scanned before you activate them. This is the only one that can still be scanned after activating it though, so don?t miss out on the Log Book entry. Roll into the Morph Ball and use the cannon to blast yourself over to a ledge on the other side of the room. From here, you can leap over to the ledge with the red door. Use a missile to break the red blast shield covering the door, and then head through to the next room. Enter the Sacred Bridge. The way through this short room is blocked by a large gate up ahead. To get past it, you can roll through the small Morph Ball tunnel to the right of the gate?s base. Before going through however, scan the body of PFC E. DENYS, nestled inside the left tunnel. His entry should be your final Trooper Log entry. Anyway, when you roll through the hole, you?ll end up inside a pit. Scan the large wasps that appear to attack. WAR WASPS usually emerge from their hives and will continue to attack until the hive is destroyed, but these solitary specimens don?t have a hive to work from. Kill them before they fire their toxins at you. Now, scan the control panel on the ledge ahead of you to activate the Kinetic Orb Cannon on the ground. Use the cannon to blast yourself up to the exit door. When you get to the Sacred Path, you can scan the WAR WASP HIVE to your right. Before more War Wasps emerge from the hive, shoot it with a missile. Unfortunately, there are more hives within the room, so shoot as you go, or just try to ignore the wasps. To proceed, you?ll have to find a way up to the ledge at the back end of the room. A Morph Ball track will take you there, but the entrance to the track is sealed behind the stone wall on the left side of the room. Use the Scan Visor to locate the weakened section of this wall. Shoot it with a missile to crumble it. In order to break through the wall completely, you?ll have to use the Kinetic Orb Cannon in the back of the room. The cannon can be found at the base of the ledge in the back. Its control panel is tucked away in a corner next to it. Use the cannon to blast yourself through the weakened wall. The path inside will lead you to the Morph Ball track. Follow the track until you emerge in front of a blue door. Take note of the dead creature lying next to the doorway. This is the body of a Luminoth, the sentient residents of Aether. The Luminoth are nearly extinct, but their copses and ruins can be found almost everywhere on Aether, and some will provide useful information when scanned. This one won?t help you however, so just use the door next to it. The transport in Temple Transport A will take you up to a new area, the Great Temple. Scan the control panel in front of the transport platform, and then step into the hologram. The Great Temple is sacred to the Luminoth and is the home to the very last of their kind. As far as size goes, the Great Temple is the smallest area in the game, but it?s still fairly important. It serves as the crossroad to different sections of the Temple Grounds, which in turn take you to the three other main areas of Aether. After you ride the transport to the top, walk up the path and use the blue door. The access passage to the transport connects you to the Temple Sanctuary. As you pass through the room, you?ll be notified of a Save Station behind the left wall up ahead. As you walk forward, a swarm of flying creatures will pass overhead. These are SANDBATS, and if you can, try to scan them before they disappear. Sandbats travel in large groups and fly in fast, cyclical patters, but they aren?t much of a threat to you. Don?t worry if you missed the chance to scan them now; they?re plentiful in the next area. The Save Station behind the wall can be reached by rolling under the small opening to your left. It?s recommended that you save and heal before you enter the next room. This following room is the Temple Sanctuary, the Great Temple?s main room. When you approach the center, a force field will enclose you inside the room and you?ll be forced to fight Splinters that emerge from their cocoons on the ceiling. Before the fight actually begins, the Splinters will be overcome by dark matter, turning them into Dark Splinters. Try to conserve your missiles as you fight them and stick to the Power Beam. Pick off the splinters one by one until all are defeated. Try to grab the pickups they leave behind if you get hurt. After the battle, the massive cocoon hanging from the ceiling will rupture and a huge ALPHA SPLINTER will emerge to attack. If you want a full Log Book, scan the Alpha Splinter immediately, because it won?t be long before the creature becomes possessed by more dark matter, converting it into the DARK ALPHA SPLINTER. Both the Alpha Splinter and the Dark Alpha Splinter are a one-time deal for scanning, so make sure you?ve tagged them both. In both forms, the Alpha Splinter attacks by lunging at you from a distance. When it becomes possessed, it will also inherit the ability to shoot blasts of dark energy at you before it strikes. Stay locked on so that you can dodge and evade the splinter?s attacks when necessary. If you have missiles, now is the time to use them, but otherwise use charged Power Beam shots. Keep smacking the Dark Alpha Splinter until its health drops. Because it?s a mini-boss, you can tell how much life is left in the bug by looking at the health meter that appears on your screen. After the Dark Alpha Splinter is defeated, it will leave behind a strange luminous device, the Unknown Technology. When you approach it, the device will absorb itself into your body. To exit the Temple Sanctuary, use the only door in the room that isn?t blocked by a Luminoth gate. This door isn?t the same door you entered from though, so you won?t be able to save just yet. The door takes you to the Controller Transport. Scan the control panel and then ride the small lift to the top of the shaft. Enter the blue door up here. Grab a seat kids; it?s storytelling time?. As you approach the center of the Main Energy Controller, you?ll meet an actual living, breathing Luminoth. His name is U-MOS, and he is the Sentinel of Aether and the very last active Luminoth that remains. The remaining survivors of the Luminoth race are held within stasis chambers down in the Temple Sanctuary. After U-Mos greets you, he?ll tell you the history of Aether. Ages ago, the Luminoth had built Energy Controllers to harness the planetary energy of Aether and supply their civilization with it. They lived in peace and prosperity, until a meteor fell from the sky and struck Aether with great force. The meteor?s impact devastated the land, turning green fields into desert and great forests into swamps. Additionally, the meteor caused a convulsion in time and space, creating a rift between light and dark. Dark Aether was born. When the planet divided, so did the Energy Controllers and their power. Half of Aether?s energy went to Dark Aether, and half remained in Aether. However, with Dark Aether also came a terrible horde of beasts known as the Ing. The Ing waged war against the Luminoth, possessing Aether?s native creatures and attacking the Energy Controllers. Eventually, the Luminoth came up with a way to beat the Ing, by using the Energy Transfer Module. They could use the module to take back the energy from Dark Aether and return it to Aether. Should one world lose its energy, it would cease to exist. However, the Ing stole the Energy Transfer Module and in turn used it to steal the energy from three of the Luminoth?s four Energy Controllers, weakening the world. Now, the only active Energy Controller left in the hands of the Luminoth is the Main Energy Controller, which U-Mos was left to guard. U-Mos asks for your help in fighting the war against the Ing. The device you just obtained in the Temple Sanctuary is the reclaimed ENERGY TRANSFER MODULE. This object will allow you to transfer energy from Dark Aether?s Energy Controllers to Aether, restoring the power to the Luminoth. After talking to U-Mos, he will restore your energy and update your Scan Visor, allowing you to open the violet Luminoth gates you?ve been coming across. Afterwards, scan both him and the ENERGY CONTROLLER behind him for Log Book entries. Your mission now is to seek out the remaining Energy Controllers and bring their energy back from Dark Aether. If you ever get stuck in your mission, you can return to the Main Energy Controller and seek guidance from U-Mos. Before leaving, scan the violet symbols near the entrance to upload the Luminoth Lore, ORIGINS, to your Log Book. Give old U-Mos a wave goodbye and head back to the Temple Sanctuary. ============= Chapter 2: The Ing Horde. ============= Three Luminoth gates block the remaining exits in the Temple Sanctuary. Two of them are locked by symbols that your Scan Visor?s translator cannot yet decode, including the door taking you to the Save Station. The Luminoth gate on your right, however, is coded with a violet symbol. Scan the gate to lower it, and then enter the new path. This access passage leads to another transport. Scan the mysterious blobs of light floating around. LIGHTFLYERS are energy-based drones that drift in the air. They shoot bolts of electricity at you if you get too close for comfort, so take them out from afar. Lightflyers have an additional feature that makes them useful to you, but you won?t find out what it is until you find one in Dark Aether. Two more Lightflyers can be found as you walk to the end of the passage. Use Temple Transport B to get back down to the Temple Grounds. The room you end up in after going back down the transport is the Temple Assembly Site. Scan the Luminoth gate in front of the transport door to get back to the center of the room. When you head to the back of the room, several Splinters will attack from their cocoons. Kill them quickly before the dark matter that appears turns them into Dark Splinters. After you destroy them, use a missile to break the red blast shield covering the door along the right wall. Enter the door afterwards to get your first ENERGY TANK. These valuable items increase your maximum health capacity by 100, and for every one of the fourteen total tanks that you find, you?ll last that much longer in battle between saves. Now backtrack to the Industrial Site, which is the next major room from the Temple Assembly Site?s south entrance. From the Industrial Site, you can head back to your ship in the Landing Site to save and restock on your missile ammo reserves, or you can continue to the next area. If you want to heal and save, head to the door leading into the Hive Transport Area. Instead of taking the elevator down to the hives, scan the violet Luminoth gate in the back blocking your way to the Hive Access Tunnel. Bring down the second Luminoth gate after the door, and then continue until you reach the Landing Site. To continue, head back to the Industrial Site and locate the Luminoth gate in the back left side of the room. When you bring down the gate, scan the body of the Luminoth lying behind it for the J-FME?S TESTAMENT entry. This lore piece falls under a category in your Log Book known as Keybearer Lore. Whenever you scan one of these from the bodies of the fallen Luminoth warriors, try to remember its location because it?ll be important near the end of the game. Now enter the door behind the body. The door takes you to the Agon Transport Access, which leads to the transport that will take you to the next area. The tunnel is being patrolled by a Green Kralee, so kill it to avoid contact. Before you take the transport down, turn to your left at the Transport to Agon Wastes and find another gray web. Your first MISSILE EXPANSION is hidden away behind the web, so shoot it down and grab the item for an extra five missiles. Throughout the game, you?ll be able to collect a total of 49 Missile Expansions, each increasing the number of missiles you can carry by five. Now walk out by the cliff and scan OUR HERITAGE (a piece of Luminoth Lore). Lastly, scan the control panel that activates the transport and ride down to the Agon Wastes. The Agon Wastes area used to be a fertile plain of grasslands, but is now nothing more than a scorched and barren wasteland. This area is also where the Space Pirates have managed to establish a research base, and it?s also the first area in which you?ll get to explore Dark Aether. Inside the Transport to Temple Grounds, scan the bluish cactus-like plants growing along the edges. These are AGON BEARERPODS. They?re plentiful in the Agon Wastes, and serve to supply you with pickups by shooting them open. Continue to the Plaza Access and scan the flying LUMITES that you see. Lumites are relatively harmless for the most part, but are painfully annoying in Dark Aether. They can shoot light energy at you, and they can also become invisible. Shoot or ignore them and continue to the end of the room. You should also scan the tall SANDGRASS before exiting. The Main Plaza is the focal point of the Agon Wastes. Several doors lead to and from the plaza, including a door on your right blocked by a red blast hatch. Your goal however, as indicated in the introduction cut-scene, is the blue door at the far end of the room. As you head to the red door, just past the small clearing, watch out for the SANDIGGER that surfaces from the soil. These big worms are double-ended, so you?ll have to destroy the head and the tail to ultimately defeat the creature. Watch out for the green fluid that the Sandiggers spit out as well. Shoot the red door with a missile afterwards and head inside to save. If you didn?t get to scan the Sandbats earlier, you can do so now as they swoop past the Save Station, or back outside in the Main Plaza. Head back out to the Main Plaza and make a right from the Save Station doorway. Cross the second clearing and kill the additional Sandigger that you disturb. Behind the clearing, jump up onto the ledge that leads up and around the south wall. Turn right when you find the Agon Bearerpods to face a column of black stone. The base of the column is made of weakened stone, so fire a missile at the fracture point to topple the structure. Use it as a bridge to reach the central platform, but watch out for the Sandbats that will begin circling the bridge. Walk through the small pathway in the center structure (ignore the orange hologram for the moment) until you reach another collapsible column of black stone. Create a new bridge and cross to the next ledge. Turn left and follow the ledge until you get to a metal gate and a few more bearerpods. Face away from the metal structure and leap over to the topmost part of the central platform. Cross the bridge beneath the ornate solar lenses to reach the designated blue doorway. There?s treasure inside the Mining Station Access tunnel, but nothing within your current capabilities to obtain, so just roll through. When you emerge, use the door to get into Mining Station A. As you approach the clearing in this large room, you?ll provoke a group of the infamous Space Pirates. The deadly Space Pirates come in many different varieties, each one more dangerous than the last. Pirates are intelligent foes; they are capable of dodging weapon fire and they can even use mounted turrets against you. The three that appear here are the basic PIRATE TROOPERS, armed with energy blasters for long-range attacks and melee scythes for close combat. Use missiles to take them out quickly. Once the room is clear of its Space Pirate infestation, hop on the platforms on the other side of the room behind the cascade of flowing sand. Ignore that blue door and continue to the right. You?ll encounter a crawling bug called a BRIZGEE. Brizgees have a poisonous stinger at the tip of their tails that they will use to defend themselves. They also have a durable shell of hardened sand around them that only missiles can penetrate. Use one missile to crack a Brizgee?s shell, and then use Power Beam shots or additional missiles to destroy it. Now turn to face the center of the room and jump to the three platforms in the clearing. Turn from the third platform and jump back to the ledge above the blue door. From the orange Luminoth gate, make your way around the room until you reach your third Brizgee, but watch out for the sand currents that can push you back down to ground level. Eventually you?ll find another collapsible stone column that will make a bridge for you to the red door. Use a missile to enter the door. The Temple Access passage will take you to the Agon Temple. As you pass through, be ready with the Scan Visor so that you can scan the SHRIEKBATS that attack you. Shriekbats are territorial flying creatures that will dive-bomb you kamikaze-style when you approach their roosts. Simply shoot them as they fly at you or step back to avoid them. Use the door at the end to get to the Agon Temple. The coliseum-like Agon Temple will take you directly to the Agon Energy Controller, but you won?t get through without a fight. Step into the central enclosure and prepare to defeat a new mini-boss. The exits to the enclosure will seal, and the ALPHA SANDIGGER will rise and attack. Like the Alpha Splinter, it is highly suggested that you scan the Alpha Sandigger immediately because in a few seconds, it will turn into something else (thanks to the possessive darkling energy that appears) and you?ll have missed your shot at the Log Book entry. Try to dodge the sandigger?s attacks until it becomes the BOMB GUARDIAN. Guardians are darklings employed by the Ing Horde to guard the weapons that they stole from you. They possess Aether?s native predators and not only guard your gear, but they also use it against you. That being said, you can tell from the Bomb Guardian?s name and its attacks that it will use your Morph Ball Bombs against you. After scanning the Bomb Guardian, target its head and avoid it as it slithers along the ground. As it moves, it will drop bombs in its path continually. They don?t cause much damage, but it?s still wiser to avoid them and the creature itself. When the Bomb Guardian?s tail glows pink, lock onto it and start shooting. Occasionally, the Bomb Guardian will raise its head and glow. Before it unleashes a massive spray of bombs, target the head and blast it to damage the guardian. Repeat this process about four times to vanquish the creature. The Bomb Guardian will also from time to time make a dash for you, so be quick to dodge its speedy strike. When it dies, you?ll be able to reclaim the MORPH BALL BOMB. Collect it and the pickups, and then use the bombs to break down the blue glass gates enclosing you within the arena. Use the door on the opposite side of the entrance. This door takes you to the Controller Access. Every temple has a Controller Access room that follows it, in turn preceding the Energy Controller itself. All Controller Access rooms are designed identically; use the Bomb Slot on the Luminoth security statue to rotate the room?s walls and reveal the doorway to the Energy Controller. This is the Agon Energy Controller, one of the Energy Controllers whose energy has been depleted by the Ing Horde. When you find the energy in Dark Aether, return to this room to restore the Energy Controller?s power. Like in the Great Temple, this room is supposed to be guarded by a Luminoth, but this one is dead. Nevertheless, he managed to leave behind a hologram message before his passing. Scan the hologram projector next to the Luminoth?s body to hear the message of I-Sha. Like U-Mos, I-Sha will give you a bit of Aether history, like how the Luminoth managed to develop a system of Light Crystals to protect them from Dark Aether?s poisonous atmosphere. I-Sha will also tell you how to find the Dark Agon Energy Controller. In order to reach the Dark Agon Temple, you need to find three Dark Temple Keys hidden throughout the Dark Agon Wastes. After your chat, I-Sha restores your health and updates your Scan Visor, allowing you to scan amber Luminoth symbols. Use this new ability to upload SAVING AETHER into your Log Book, the Luminoth Lore hidden behind a nearby structure on the left side of the room. Now you can head back to Mining Station A, the room in which you battled the Space Pirates. On your way there, prepare for bombardment from War Wasps that have colonized the Agon Temple. Mining Station A is now populated by Lumites. Ignore them and find the Luminoth gate with the amber symbol, across from the Temple Access door. Bring the gate down, and then enter the Sand Cache to find a MISSILE EXPANSION. Now roll back through the Mining Access Tunnel, and as you do, use a bomb to break down the block of sand in the middle of the path. You?ll fall into a Kinetic Orb Cannon that will launch you up to an ENERGY TANK. Now head back to the Mining Plaza. When you get to the Mining Plaza, cross the bridge and drop into the lower trench of the central platform. Scan the amber symbols here for PARADISE. Now, turn and hop down towards the amber Luminoth gate at the north side of the room. After you open the gate, use a Morph Ball Bomb to clear away the rock blocking the Morph Ball tunnel. Roll through to find the Agon Map Station. You?ll also be able to scan the translucent plants growing inside the chamber; BLUEROOT TREES. Although harmless, these phantasmal plants blind you if you walk through the larger ones. Now you can return to Mining Station A. There are only two other doors inside the Mining Station that you haven?t been through yet, and only one of those is accessible at the moment. The door is across from the Mining Access Tunnel entrance and underneath the Sand Cache door, behind the falling sand. When you get to the Portal Access room, you?ll have to use the set of Kinetic Orb Cannons to launch yourself up onto the path above the structure blocking the passage. After being blasted up to the top of the structure, roll along the tunnel and drop off at the end to the other side. When you reach this side, turn to face the dead Luminoth. Behind its body is a MISSILE EXPANSION. Roll behind the structure next to where the Kinetic Orb Cannon lies to get it. Continue through the blue door at the end of the passage. The next room is the Portal Terminal, your gateway to Dark Aether. Before you can do anything productive however, you?ll have to kill a few Pirate Troopers. At first, there are only three pirates in the room, but as soon as you kill them, a few more will appear. To add to the fun, Ing darklings will appear as well, converting the unwilling Pirate Troopers into sinister-looking DARK PIRATE TROOPERS. Dark Pirate Troopers use the same weapons as their un-possessed selves, but the added strength of dark energy makes them much tougher to take down. Keep moving and use missiles to damage them quicker. Once you defeat the pirates, the Bomb Slot in the back of the room will become active. Climb up to the slot by using the large ramp in the back, but don?t forget to scan LIGHT OF AETHER, located to the left of the ramp. When activated, the Bomb Slot will activate the conveyer system on the wall next to it. Using the Morph Ball, enter the conveyer belt and let it take you to the path above. Follow the path until you get to a red block. Use a bomb to clear this block away. When the block is removed, the first solar lens in the room will adjust to become a platform. Follow the Morph Ball path until you emerge inside a circular hole in the wall. Kill the attacking War Wasps, and then jump across the newly-created platform to reach a second conveyer belt and Morph Ball path. Repeat the process inside this tunnel, bombing the red block out of the way and aligning a second solar lens platform before using it to reach the next tunnel. When you jump across to the second platform, scan the bugs crawling around the next Morph Ball tunnel. PILLBUGS roll around inside tunnels causing trouble, but they can be killed using Morph Ball Bombs. While they?re fairly common, Pillbugs are hard to come by in a way that you can scan them, so don?t miss this opportunity to do so. When you enter the tunnel, bomb-jump up the path and deal with the Pillbugs until you reach the final red block. Destroy it to align the third and final solar lens. The lenses will concentrate a beam of sunlight onto the device in the front of the room, which in turn will feed power to the portal machine in the back of the room. By scanning the control switch on the portal machine, you?ll activate the portal and take your first real trip into Dark Aether. Before you go and start causing trouble to the Ing, there are vital things about Dark Aether that you need to know in order to travel safely through the dark realm. The atmosphere in this world is poisonous to most life forms, and that includes you. Being exposed to Dark Aether?s atmosphere will cause you to take heavy damage at an alarming rate. Although you?ll be able to reduce and even completely cut the damage you take from this darkness later in the game, the only way you can stay safe now is by staying inside the glowing, bubble-like ?Safe Zones?. There are three main kinds of Safe Zones. Some are generated by the Luminoth?s Light Crystals, such as the first one after the portal area. Others, known as Light Beacons, must be shot with a beam weapon to function, and they only last for a short amount of time. Lastly, Safe Zones are sometimes produced by certain enemies, or remain constant to surround key areas, like portals and Save Stations. All Safe Zones will recuperate your lost energy when you stand in them at a rate of about one energy unit per second. It isn?t a very reliable way to heal, but it?s much better than nothing when the air around you drains your health at a much faster rate. To begin, quickly dash forward from the initial Safe Zone and scan the LIGHT CRYSTAL producing the second Safe Zone. Now scan ahead to find the glimmering LIGHT BEACON. Both Light Crystals and Light Beacons can be influenced with different beam weapons, and each form can be scanned for unique Log Book entries. Also, when you get the chance, scan one of the slender, black BLADEPODS growing in the area. Bladepods are found almost everywhere in the Dark Agon Wastes. They are the dark equivalents of the Agon Bearerpods. If you run low on health or ammo, shoot the Bladepods open to reveal possible pickups. Now, shoot the beacon ahead to activate the Safe Zone, and then run over from there to the Light Crystal surrounding a Bomb Slot. Back in Aether, this Bomb Slot was partially visible, but unusable due to its state of dimensional flux. When you activate it, the gate in front of you will open, and the same gate will open back in Aether, exposing a new path in both worlds. The door here leads to the next room. Inside the Crossroads room, quickly shoot the beacon ahead so that you don?t lose health. When you reach the first stable crystal, you?ll be attacked by dark creatures. These are INGLETS, the weakest members of the Ing Horde. Like all Ing, they can dissolve into a puddle of dark goop and ooze around to a new location. To attack you, Inglets fire blasts of dark energy at you, but they?re fairly easy to kill and a good source of pickups. Shoot the Bladepods in the room to collect additional pickups. Activate the next Light Beacon and then use a missile to open the red exit door. Follow the path through the next room until you reach a Save Station in the back. Ignore any Inglets that get in the way, as they?ll only slow you down and prolong the time you spend in the darkness. From the Save Station, you can scan the swarm of NIGHTBARBS flying nearby. Nightbarbs are Dark Aether?s version of the Sandbats. There?s a blue door next to the Save Station that will take you to the next room. Enter the Duelling Range and turn left, and then walk to the next Safe Zone. As soon as you enter it, a new enemy will appear. This mighty beast is a WARRIOR ING, the very same type of creature that stole your gear earlier. Warrior Ing are the most common and standard of the Ing Horde, but they?re still quite deadly. Like most creatures of Dark Aether, Warrior Ing hate light and will take a lot of damage from light-based attacks, but without anything of that sort, you?ll have to stick to the Power Beam or Missile Launcher. Warrior Ing can convert themselves into puddles of darkness and move around, and you won?t be able to target them or effectively damage them while they do so. To attack, the Warrior Ing will summon concentrated beams of light energy and fire them at you, and it?ll also slash at you with its sharp legs. Later on, Warrior Ing will even try to possess you by turning themselves into darkling energy and covering themselves over your body. The Ing won?t actually possess you, but it will cause significant damage while it?s touching you, so do your best to avoid this attack. Although this Ing probably won?t do that, it?s good to be prepared for later encounters. Do your best to stay inside the Safe Zone until you kill the Ing, and then move on. Go to the next Safe Zone, in front of a black door. Turn right and scan the creature ahead on the ledge that?s producing a mobile Safe Zone. Rare LIGHTBRINGERS constantly generate Safe Zone bubbles around them, and you can use them to cross dangerous expanses of Dark Aether. They cannot hurt you or be harmed in any way until you have the Dark Beam, but why would you want to destroy such a useful creature anyway? Wait for the Lightbringer to come by and then step into its Safe Zone. Let it walk you to the next crystal. It moves slowly, but patience is the key. From the crystal up by the sealed door, you need to shoot a beacon on the central platform of the room and then use the next Lightbringer on the bridge from there to reach the door on the east side of the room. Travel quickly through the Junction Site tunnel, using Safe Zones and Bladepods to acquire health if needed. When you reach the Judgment Pit, step into the luminous Safe Zone in the center of the clearing. A new beastly-looking Ing will appear and wage battle with you. Meet the JUMP GUARDIAN, an Ing guardian who has taken control of the Space Jump Boots. Scan the mini-boss as soon as you can, and then begin fighting. The Jump Guardian shares most of the same abilities as the Warrior Ing, with a few added tweaks thanks to its jumping ability. Like the Warrior Ing, it can fire light energy at you and slash at you. And while it can?t melt away and reform elsewhere, it can leap incredible distances. Whenever the Jump Guardian lands after it leaps, it creates a great shockwave that will damage you if you get hit by it. Use your own jumping ability to avoid the shockwaves. Continue firing missiles and Power Beam shots at the Jump Guardian whenever you get the chance. As it jumps, the guardian will protect itself with a force field, so wait for it to land and start running around before you continue shooting at it. If the Jump Guardian moves too fast for you to hit it, try peppering it with uncharged Power Beam shots. The lower the Ing?s health gets, the more franticly it will start running around and leaping, giving you less of a chance to damage it while its force field is down. Once you defeat the Jump Guardian, take your SPACE JUMP BOOTS, which allow you to jump higher by leaping a second time while in midair. The door back to the Portal Site is on the south side of the room. Before returning to Aether though, use your new boots to explore the rest of the room. Make your way up to the red door above the entrance in the same way you got up earlier in Aether to reach the temple. Use a missile to open the door and head through to the Dark Agon Temple Access, which precedes the Dark Agon Temple itself. You need three keys to open up the lock system that allows you into the center of the Dark Agon Temple. As of now you have none, but you can find the first by turning left and continuing until you find a blue door. Make sure you activate the Safe Zones as you go along. Inside the closet-sized Trial Tunnel lies the DARK AGON TEMPLE KEY 1, the first key to the Dark Agon Temple. There isn?t anything else you can do now in Dark Aether, so head back to the Judgment Pit and enter that blue door that takes you back to the Portal Site. There is no Safe Zone inside the Portal Access room, but there is a Lightflyer you can gun down to make your own Safe Zone. In Dark Aether, killing a Lightflyer will produce a temporary Safe Zone, but once it expires, the Lightflyer will revive itself, so be hasty to cross. When you get to the Portal Site, go ahead and activate the portal to return to Aether. By the way, if you want two new Log Book entries, scan the active Light PORTAL before you return. Scan any active DARK PORTAL to get the second entry. Now you?re back in Aether?s Portal Terminal. Remember the door in Dark Aether that you opened with a Bomb Slot? Well the same door is open back in here, so avoid the Pirate Troopers that appear and head into the next room on your left. To advance in the Transport Center, you need to use another Bomb Slot to bring down the gate in your way, sequentially revealing a free MISSILE EXPANSION. In the next room, avoid the Sandbats and roll down the sand river until you reach the Save Station next to the Mining Plaza. ============= Chapter 3: The Hunter?s Echo. ============= For your first real trip to Dark Aether, that wasn?t too bad. Now that you own the invaluable Space Jump Boots, you?ll soon wonder how you ever got along without them. Many new areas are yours to explore, while many old areas, like the Mining Plaza, are much easier to travel through. After you save, head back once again to Mining Station A. When you get to the station, climb up to the eastern ledge of the room, where the main sand current is coming from. There?s a crude Luminoth statue towards the back in front of the metal sand processing gates. Use the Space Jump Boots to hop onto the flat upper surface of the statue. Turn towards the right wall (from the statue?s point of view) and jump into the path that leads to the metal bridge up ahead. When you get inside the bridge, scan the control panel to adjust the sand processing equipment so that a new door is revealed behind the Luminoth statue. And need I point out Luminoth Lore: CATACLYSM, which is quite obviously placed? I didn?t thing so. Head back out to the statue and use it jump up the new door. When you pass through the next room (the Central Station Access), you?ll hear pirate talk up ahead. There are two pirates guarding the entrance to the Central Mining Station and if you sneak up on them, you can use a missile to blow up the Phazon containers next to them. The intense explosion will decimate the pirates before they know what hit them. If they do happen to see you, shoot the containers anyway, since they probably won?t be able to get far enough away from the blast to save themselves. You?ll find a red door hatch at the end of the passage, so use a missile to get through. Walk out into the Central Mining Station until the pirates in the room start attacking you. Some of the pirates will flee aboard some sort of transport vehicle instead of fighting you. As soon as you can, scan the vehicle before it flies out of sight. PIRATE SKIFFS are used to transport pirate forces into and out of the heat of battle. Although they?re weaponless, they cannot be destroyed. If you missed this opportunity to scan the skiff before it flew off, don?t worry; there will be other chances. When you kill the first set of pirates, two more will bring themselves into battle. Go postal on these troopers and then prepare to fight the final wave of pirates. The last two troopers, rather than fighting you head on, will operate the large mounted VIGILANCE CLASS TURRETS from the upper ledge and start bombarding you with these heavy-duty weapons. Do you want a full Log Book? Then listen up; this next bit is for you. Scan. Now. These pirate-operated turrets will only show up here and now, and once you destroy them both, you will never get a second chance to do so again (despite the fact that you?ll be able to use them later on?). Keep dodging the turrets? slow but devastating blasts and pummel them with missiles until they explode. When you destroy a turret, you?ll also kill the pirate manning it. After the battle, the exit door at the other end of the room will unlock. If you need health or ammo, break open the Space Pirate crates inside the room to reveal pickups before leaving. The next room connects to the Command Center, but the exit door at the end of the passage is dark, something your current beam weaponry can?t handle. There?s an alternative way in by taking the Morph Ball tunnel beneath the floor. Use a bomb on any of the two weakened portions of the floor panels to get underneath. Use an additional bomb to clear away the crates, and then roll through the red tunnel. When you enter the Command Center, you?ll still be beneath the floor, completely undetectable by the pirates above you. As you roll beneath their feet, several pirates will run into the active Dark Portal in the back of the room. Before you can learn anything more, you?ll have to find a way out of the floor tunnel. The path ahead is laden with electrical traps that will damage you when you touch the active bolts of electricity. Carefully get past the first two traps, and then take the right path to the end to get a MISSILE EXPANSION. Backtrack to the main path, and then continue carefully through the straightforward tunnel until you reach the opening in which you can un-morph. When you emerge from the floor, some of the remaining pirates will attack you. The exit door will also seal itself behind a large blast gate, so you?ll have to find the controls before you can proceed. After wasting the pirates, scan everything in the room. There is a lot of information to scan here, so don?t miss any of it. Five of the computer monitors on ground level contain the Space Pirate?s logs entries LOG 44681, LOG 48853, LOG 50086, LOG 54421 and LOG 62217. Also, the two holographic models of AETHER and DARK AETHER can be scanned for Research entries. After you finish scanning, look for the control panel to the right of the inactive portal, which will activate the small lift next to it when scanned. Use the lift to reach the upper level of the room. Hop across to the west ledge and turn right, then continue walking. The door up ahead (not the white door on your left) is locked, and it?ll only unlock when you defeat the wayward Pirate Trooper that appears in front of it. An additional trooper will begin shooting at you from the glass control room on your right. Take him out now so that you don?t have to deal with him when you loop around. After you kill the first pirate, the door will unlock. The Security Station passage is blocked by a metal gate, but a separate path loops around to your right, leading you to the door to the Command Center?s control room. As soon as you enter the room, you?ll have your second encounter with Dark Samus. The evil being will crash into the room through the ceiling before drifting mysteriously away into the background. After the encounter, follow the right path to the door, which you?ll need a missile to bust through. When you get into the control room of the Command Center, scan the control panel amongst the computer monitors to open the blast gate back in the main part of the room. Retrace your steps back to the room and use the exposed doorway to get to the next room. The Biostorage Access passage is fiercely guarded by a pair of HUMILITY CLASS TURRETS. The turrets are nearly identical to the GF Growler Class Turrets, but they pack a slightly harder punch in their shots. Use a missile to take them out quickly. And as if the security in the room wasn?t tight enough, the path to the blast shield-blocked exit door is set with a laser grid security system. Don?t touch the moving laser beams as you pass. You may find it easier to travel through them with the Morph Ball. Use a missile on the exit door and enter the Biostorage Station. When you enter the Biostorage Station, another Pirate Skiff will take off from the ground, but not without leaving some Pirate Troopers for you to play with. After you destroy the troopers, head to the back of the room and activate the lift to get up to the upper walkway. Walk around the path, passing the black door, and then cross the bridge to the platform ahead. A few more pirates will appear up here as well. When you get to the platform, take a look inside the tank. The red creatures feeding on the pirate carcass inside are none other than TALLON METROIDS. Metroids are parasitic life forms that originate from the planet SR388. During the Space Pirate operations on Zebes and Tallon IV, the pirates managed to breed a handful of these creatures in an attempt to use them for biological warfare. The Metroids here won?t attack you, so walk around the right side of the tank to get to the other side. Note that if you scan the Metroids being held within the smaller stasis tanks along the right wall, they won?t count for your Log Book, but they will yield some interesting information nonetheless. On the other side of the tank, scan the computer monitors for LOG 63622, and then take the door to exit. Shoot the turret in this next passage and then move forward to find a Bomb Slot. Activate it to rotate the security gate along the perimeter of the room. The rotated gate will expose a new path to the exit door, but it?ll also close off the entrance from the Biostorage Station. Reuse the Bomb Slot if you wish to return. The spacious Bioenergy Production center is the final major room before you get to a Save Station, so if you?re low on health, you only have to hold out a bit longer. Unfortunately, when you enter the room, you?ll be ambushed by a pair of dreaded PIRATE AEROTROOPERS. These flying Space Pirates use jetpacks to maneuver through the air with unmatched agility, all the while firing a deadly barrage of energy blaster shots and torpedoes. Don?t get too discouraged though, because the Pirate Aerotroopers are still weak to missiles. When you shoot them down, make sure to dash out of the way to avoid their explosive suicide strikes. When the dust settles, you?ll be free to explore the rest of the room. The exit door is high above on the other side of the room, so you?ll need to find some way to get up there. Along each side wall is a set of computers and control switches. Walk up to the computer platform to the right of the entrance and scan the central control panel. This will raise three sets of adjustable storage racks in the center of the room. Now head over to the opposite side of the room. Each rack corresponds to a dual set of controls that will raise each of the three sections of each rack for every time you scan the controls. You?ll need to arrange the racks so that they create steps to the doorway above. Scan each of the power modules first, and then scan the small nodes on either side to arrange the blocks (they are labeled Alpha, Delta and Gamma). Before making the stairway to the exit door, arrange the racks so that they take you up to the south wall. When you do, you can use the racks to reach an ENERGY TANK on the upper ledge. After you obtain it, rearrange the racks to get to the exit door. You?ll know when the racks are set properly to reach the door when you see a brief cinematic and the Pirate Fear theme music resumes. Beyond the blue door lies Ventilation Area B, a short but mildly complex Morph Ball tunnel. The lower path through the tunnel is blocked by a set of deadly blue lasers. They leave you with no other option but to take the upper path, which is riddled with red laser traps that go on and off at regular intervals. Hone your bomb-jumping skills and time your moves carefully as to avoid getting hit by the lasers. Twice, you?ll also need to bomb some obstructions out of the path. When both obstructions are destroyed, the blue lasers blocking the lower path will disappear, meaning that if you ever pass through this tunnel again, you can take the safer lower path. The next room (accessed through the red door) is a handy Save Station. In addition to taking this chance to heal and save, you can also scan LOG 67135, which, like the actual Save Station, is located inside the glass enclosure. Continue through the next door, to the Sand Processing room. Kill the turrets in the back of the room, and then use a missile to break apart a weakened section of the glass half-pipe, to the left of the turrets. Take the door at the end of the passage and prepare for your fourth mini-boss battle. This room is the Reactor Core. Upon entering, you?ll begin to hear the distinctively creepy theme of Dark Samus, which you?ll hear many a time as you reencounter the foe over the course of your mission. Follow the path around to the left until you reach the opening into the main area down below, in front of a black door. Samus will jump down from the drop-off and confront her Phazon-hungry doppelganger. Dark Samus isn?t really human, nor is she Samus?s dark copy born from Dark Aether. She is in fact a reincarnated Metroid of unknown origins, previously known as Metroid Prime. When Samus battled Metroid Prime on Tallon IV, it took all of her strength to defeat the creature. Just as Samus managed to seemingly destroy Metroid Prime however, the wicked entity managed to absorb Samus?s Phazon-infused Power Suit, using it as a sort of exoskeleton to survive in. Dark Samus?s purpose on Aether is vengeance on the hunter, but on the way she?ll absorb as much Phazon energy as possible to enhance her strength. As Samus and Dark Samus prepare for battle, the two hunters exchange Arm Cannon volleys, and the true battle begins. Start, as in any boss battle, by scanning Dark Samus. In your Log Book, she?s listed as DARK SAMUS 1, an obvious suggestion that this won?t be the last time you duel the dark hunter. She isn?t terribly difficult the first time around, but her impressive arsenal and lightning-quick strikes shouldn?t be taken lightly. Try to stay locked onto Dark Samus and fire away with shots from your Power Beam. Stay away from missiles, because Dark Samus will simply generate a Phazon energy barrier on the spot to deflect them. Also, try to keep good distance between yourself and Dark Samus, because if you get too close, she?ll use that same energy barrier to damage you. Dark Samus uses several attacks, including the rapid-fire Phazon beam you witnessed during the opening cinematic. She can also utilize a Missile Launcher similar to your own, and a few more powerful techniques that she uses during the second half of the battle. The key to defeating Dark Samus is to get her while her shield is down. One you knock about half of her health off, Dark Samus will go spastic and the second phase of the battle will begin. Your foe?s new aura of Phazon energy will give her protection against all of your attacks whenever she?s making an attack on you. You?ll only be able to hit her as she floats around the room; any attack on her while she?s making a move will just bounce off. The Charge Beam can be rather inaccurate at times, so use the faster uncharged shots against her. Additionally, Dark Samus will use much stronger moves during the second stage of the fight, including powerful Super Missiles and a Phazon charge attack in which Dark Samus uses her own body as a devastating energy projectile. Her techniques will make short work of the architecture here, so don?t be surprised if one of the four corner pillars you used for cover is suddenly not there anymore. The central Phazon tank is stable enough to withstand her onslaught however, so use that to avoid her relentless attacks. Eventually, you?ll beat Dark Samus, causing her to explode into a mass of Phazon particles. Is she gone for good? Don?t count on it, but at least she?s out of your way for now. To escape the lower chamber of the Reactor Core, use the elevator that presents itself after the battle. Before you leave, scan the tanks of PHAZON along the wall. Phazon is much more common in Dark Aether, but deadly all the same. Should you ever encounter it, don?t make contact or you?ll suffer radiation damage. After you get back up to the upper platform, you?ll find a blue door. The way back to the Save Station is blocked by a metal gate, so check inside Storage D to see if you can find an alternate way out. Inside this small storage chamber, you?ll find the DARK BEAM, an ancient Luminoth weapon that utilizes dark energy to damage foes. The Dark Beam is very unique. Its properties make it an effective weapon against enemies you find in Aether. The Dark Beam?s charged shot is pretty cool too; once it strikes, the dark particles of goop will hunt down any nearby enemies and surround them in darkness, temporarily immobilizing them. Just beware; the Dark Beam runs on an ammunition system. After you collect it, you?ll begin seeing different types of Dark Beam Ammunition pickups. The good thing about these pickups is that they will automatically be drawn in towards you, rather than just floating in the air like regular pickups (though you can still use your Charge Beam to draw them in as well). A single shot from the Dark Beam requires one round of ammo, while a charged shot requires five. If you run out of ammo for the Dark Beam, you can still charge the beam to fire a normal shot, incase you need to use it to open the black doors. After you get the beam, scan Pirate Data LOG 69898 and head back out to the Reactor Core. Use the Dark Beam to open the metal gate that blocks your way. The gate will open when you hit the crystal on it with dark energy. Now retrace your steps to the Save Station and take a respite. ============= Chapter 4: Dark Agon Temple. ============= As great as the Dark Beam is, it?s meant to have synergy with the Light Beam, another Luminoth weapon you?ll be able to obtain shortly. Without it, you won?t be able to use the Dark Beam to its fullest potential. Aside from tracking that down, there?s also the matter of collecting the remaining Dark Agon Temple Keys that you need to see to. Whenever you return to the Reactor Core, use the black door on the left wall to get to the Security Station that links to the Command Center, where you encountered Dark Samus prior to the battle. The gates that blocked your way earlier can be opened similarly to the gate in the Rector Core. Target the light crystals on the gates and shoot them with the Dark Beam. You can also scan LOG 70136 along the left wall before continuing to the Command Center. When you reach the Command Center, skip through the room and try to avoid the Space Pirates that attack. These pirates are PIRATE GRENADIERS, special troopers equipped with grenade launchers rather than blasters. Grenadiers will lob their explosives at you, and they have a pretty good reach, so don?t underestimate them. Their only real disadvantage is that they can only effectively damage you from a distance. If you get close to them, they won?t be able to hit you. Also, the grenades they fire are somewhat slow and take time to reload, but they do hurt. Continue through the Command Center and the Biostorage Access until you reach the Biostorage Station. The second time you visit this room, the tanked Metroids along the walls will break free and attack. Traditionally, Metroids were defeated by using ice attacks to freeze them, and then missiles to shatter their frozen bodies. Although Samus has long since abandoned her Ice Beam, the Dark Beam?s charged shots will affect the Metroids similarly. Hit each Metroid with a charged Dark Beam shot to encase it in dark matter, and then fire a missile destroy it. Metroids can also be defeated with other weapons, but it takes longer. If a Metroid attaches itself to you, it will begin to sap the life out of you. To get it off of you, roll into the Morph Ball and drop a bomb. After you kill them all, use the lift to get to the upper walkway. Enter the black door on your right by using the Dark Beam, and collect the MISSILE EXPANSION inside Storage B. Now, return to the Command Center. Defeat the Pirate Grenadiers in the Command Center again, and then walk over to the portal in the back of the room. Some portals, like the first one you used in the Portal Terminal room, are operated with machines that must be scanned in order to activate. Most however, like the one in this room, are activated whenever you shoot them with either the Dark Beam or the Light Beam. The Dark and Light Beams activate Dark and Light Portals, respectively. Use the Dark Beam to activate this portal, and then step into it to enter Dark Aether. There is no way back out through the Doomed Entry once you head through; there is no return portal, and you don?t have the Light Beam to energize one anyway. You?ll have to tough it out and venture into the gloomy chambers of Dark Agon Wastes to find the Light Beam and the remaining Dark Agon Temple Keys. You needn?t look far for the first of the remaining two, as it?s floating in the air up ahead. You won?t be able to get to it from the ground though, so you?ll have to make your way up to the top platforms. Turn right and activate the nearest Light Beacon, and then quickly get to its protective Safe Zone. Continue around this side of the room until you get to a beacon in front of a white door, directly across from where you entered the dark world. Up ahead, past the door, you might see a floating cloud of darkness. This is a NULLIFIED CRYSTAL, which you should scan. Crystals covered in dark energy cease to function, but shooting them with the Power Beam will clear them up and restore their Safe Zones. You can also use the Dark Beam to create your own Nullified Crystals and NULLIFIED BEACONS, but as they are in no way helpful to you, only do this to scan them for Research entries. Reenergize the Nullified Crystal and then head over to its safety. Once inside the Safe Zone, turn towards the rock outcrop next to it. Use a missile to destroy the small Luminoth statue protruding from the rock. The space behind the statue will reveal a LIGHT LIFT CRYSTAL. Like the other light crystals you?ve seen, a Light Lift Crystal will energize when you hit it with its opposite energy; the Dark Beam. Lift crystals often function to move certain platforms or obstacles out of the way or to lift you to new areas. Shoot this crystal to lower the rock platform so that you can jump onto it. Once on it, jump to another rock platform on your left and then turn around to leap over to the ledge with a black door, directly above the white door. Watch out for the floating DARK PREEDS as you jump from rock to rock. Preeds are filled with deadly gases that will release and disperse when the creature is destroyed. Avoid the Dark Preeds and don?t waste ammo shooting them, since they?ll only reappear from the openings in the ceiling. Anyway, you?ll be able to reach the DARK AGON TEMPLE KEY 2 from the ledge up here. Now leap over to a second black door, located on a ledge on the north side of the room. Be quick to cross, since you have to travel through a large expanse of dangerous atmosphere to get to the door. Use the three Safe Zones in the Oasis Access to heal for a bit if needed. When you enter the second Safe Zone, a vicious Warrior Ing will attack you. Like the Space Pirates in the Central Station Access, this Ing can easily be defeated or seriously damaged by shooting the nearby barrels of Phazon. Just be sure to be far enough away from the Phazon blast, or you?ll take a tremendous amount of damage as well. Use the door at the end of the passage. The Dark Oasis splits into two paths, but the one on the left leads to a dead end. Turn right and walk to the door at the end of the passage. Watch out for the annoying Inglets that attack too. The inactive Light Portal next to the doorway will take you back to Aether, so remember to return here when you get the Light Beam and the last Dark Temple Key shortly. In the Hall of Stairs, walk around the central pillar and stand in the Safe Zone. Look up at the pillar from here to find the Light Lift Crystal high above. Shoot the crystal with the Dark Beam to lower the pillar. Now, the crystal will become a DARK LIFT CRYSTAL. In future encounters with these items, shoot them with the Light Beam to reverse the function of the Light Lift Crystal. For now, just scan the crystal and jump up onto the pillar, and then turn to jump over to the ledge with the red exit door. Blow the door hatch apart with a missile and use the Save Station beyond before continuing. The Bitter Well tunnel is similar to its counterpart in Aether, the Ventilation Area B tunnel. You can use bombs to break the rocks in the lower tunnel, but you?ll have to endure some Phazon radiation. If you fall into the Phazon pit, bomb-jump to escape. To cross the gap safely, bomb-jump up to the upper path and roll to the edge of the platform. Bomb-jump sideways to clear the gap. When you exit the tunnel, avoid the additional Phazon laying around and take the exit door. The Phazon Site chamber is littered with spilt Phazon and the carcasses of the perished Space Pirates who you witnessed venture into Dark Aether earlier. It?s no wonder the pirates died; not only is there Phazon everywhere, but there are hardly any Light Crystals in the room at all. To make things harder for you, the exit door all the way across the room is barred by a set of security lasers, so you?ll have to find three control panels that will deactivate them. Ride the elevator down to ground level and then turn to the right. Use the beacons and jump up onto the ledge along the wall. The first control panel is located near the end, next to a Light Beacon. Scan it, and then turn towards the center of the room. The moving platforms up ahead will take you up to a ledge high up on the right wall. Use the beacons to travel from platform to platform in safety until you reach the ledge. Scan the second control panel, and then jump down to the nearest floating platform. The third control panel is behind a set of crates down below to your right. Hop down and scan it, and then quickly get to the exit door. If you need to heal, break open the Bladepods and pirate crates for pickups, or wait inside a Safe Zone. Afterwards, use the door to exit the room. In the Watering Hole, you?ll need to jump across more platforms to reach the exit door on the far right end of the room. As you pass through the room, you?ll be attacked by invisible creatures. The second platform in the room has a Nullified Crystal, so shoot it so that you don?t continue to take damage. Once the Safe Zone has been produced, the invisible creatures will reveal themselves to be pesky Lumites. In Dark Aether, Lumites like to hover over your Safe Zones, shooting energy blasts at you. If you can?t see them, look for the disturbances on the surface of the Safe Zone bubble. Also, if you fall or get knocked off the platform, you?ll have to look around for a step to get back up. After the second platform, cross over to the red door. On the way, you must go through a cloud of poisonous gas secreted by the INGCLAWS on the wall. Speed is a good thing here. When you reach the red door, use a missile to open it. Finally, you?ll reach the Feeding Pit. Take the path with the Light Beacon slightly to your left down to a Light Crystal. Up ahead, in the mucky purple water, you?ll see a pair of great pillars similar to the one in the Hall of Stairs. Each of the pillars has a lift crystal that will either lower or raise it to adjustable heights so that you can reach the black door up above on your left. The water that the pillars are standing in is highly polluted, so don?t touch it. Activate and jump over to the beacons behind the pillars and then turn to locate their crystals. Shoot them both with the Dark Beam to lower the pillars. Before jumping onto them, eliminate the circling swarms of Nightbarbs so that they don?t get in your way. When the pillars are lowered, Safe Zones will appear on top of them. Jump from pillar to pillar until you get up to the black door. Ing Cache 1, the small room beyond the door, holds the LIGHT BEAM. The Light Beam is the Dark Beam?s opposite. Whereas the Dark Beam is quite effective against foes in Aether, the Light Beam absolutely shreds Dark Aether foes, including the wicked Ing. The Light Beam?s shots can burn right through foes and set them ablaze, while the powerful charged blasts will spread in a shotgun-like fashion, increasing their strike area. Also, the charged shots will home in on enemies if you?re locked onto them. Like the Dark Beam, the Light Beam uses ammo, but it uses its own set of Light Beam Ammunition pickups. Interestingly, when you destroy an enemy with the Light Beam, it will most likely release Dark Beam Ammunition, and if you destroy an enemy with the Dark Beam, Light Beam Ammunition will be released, effectively keeping a balance between the two weapons. The Light Beam will activate/open Light Portals, white doors and Dark Lift Crystals. Like the Dark Beam, if you run out of ammo for the Light Beam, you can still charge the weapon and release a normal shot if needed. After you have the new weapon, head back out into the Feeding Pit. Turn left and jump down to the Light Crystal in front of the white door down below. When you enter the Safe Zone, Lumites will crowd the area and attack. Shoot the crystal with the Light Beam to form an ENERGIZED CRYSTAL, which generates a Safe Zone of intense light that will destroy enemies on contact. When the Lumites hover over your Safe Zone, blast them all away in one strike by energizing the crystal. You can also use the Light Beam to make ENERGIZED BEACONS, which, like Energized Crystals, can be scanned for Log Book entries. Use the white door afterwards. The short Feeding Access Tunnel is barred by a WEBLING. Weblings are very rare, so scan this one immediately. Like the gray webs found in the Temple Grounds, Weblings will dissolve once you shoot them. However, the only weapon that can destroy a Webling is the Light Beam. Destroy the pair blocking the path, and then continue through the white door at the end. Now you?ll find yourself back in the Doomed Entry. Several Dark Splinters have taken over the room, but the Light Beam will make quick work of them. You can take most of them out by shooting the Nullified Crystal with the Light Beam anyway. Before you head back to the Dark Oasis to use the portal, you?ll want to use either the black door or the white door on your left. It?s up to you which path to take, since both lead to the same room. The upper path contains a few Dark Splinters, while the lower path contains a group of DARKLING TENTACLES. These creatures lurk in the walls and swing their sharp tentacles at anything that comes near. Shoot them to force them back into their crevices for a few seconds, long enough for you to pass. Avoid the dark water in the lower path as well, and use the set of doors at the end of either the upper or lower passage to get to the Battleground. The final Dark Temple Key is waiting for you in the center of the clearing. When you approach it, the Ing will reveal their trap and ambush you, taking the key with them. In order the retrieve the final key, you?ll have to defeat six Warrior Ing. As soon as the battle begins, scan one of the dark webs that have fixed themselves over both of the exit doors. ING WEBTRAPS are just as rare as Weblings and will disappear forever after their six Ing masters are defeated (but are otherwise indestructible). After the webs have been scanned, turn your attention to the attacking Ing. While defeating six Warrior Ing at a time may seem difficult, remember that the Ing hate light, and the Light Beam will wreck them in only a few shots. Start shooting the ones that show up in front of you with charged shots. You can also try shooting the Light Beacons around the room with the Light Beam as the Ing slither past them for an easy kill. If you run out of ammo, shoot the Bladepods in the room with the Dark Beam so that they expel Light Beam Ammo. After defeating all six Ing, the DARK AGON TEMPLE KEY 3 will be yours, and the Ing Webtraps will release you from the room. Now that you have the Light Beam and all three Dark Agon Temple Keys under your belt, you can return to the Dark Agon Temple, but you?ll have to backtrack all the way to the first section of the Dark Agon Wastes that you explored to get there. Return to the Dark Oasis (go through the Doomed Entry and use the black door on your left) and take the path on your left to reach a white door. Enter the room and use the Ammo Station inside. Not counting Samus?s Gunship, Ammo Stations are only found in Dark Aether. They completely refill all of your ammo reserves, from missiles to the Dark and Light Beams. After you use it, head back out to the Dark Oasis and use the portal at the other end of the room to return to Aether?s Main Reactor. Use the nearby Save Station to save your progress. When you return the Command Center to get back to the Central Mining Station, take another detour to the Biostorage Station. The third time you visit this room, it will contain two new scan entries. First, scan the pod-like METROID COCOONS hanging from the upper platforms. These cocoons are designed to transport and house INFANT TALLON METROIDS, which will soon emerge if you approach the cocoons. The cute little Infant Tallon Metroids are newborn larvae that lack the energy-absorption abilities of the regular larval Metroids. They can?t really latch onto you like an older Metroid can, but they can still ram into you for some damage. The Infant Tallon Metroids also love Phazon, and if they come into contact with the Phazon puddles lying around, they?ll mutate into regular Metroids. Scan the two new entries and then return to the Command Center. Avoid the Pirate Grenadiers and make your way up to the top platform of the room, where you?ll find a white door. The new path through the Command Center Access will take you to the upper platforms of the Central Mining Station. When you emerge from the passage, you?ll be facing an orange force field in the back of the room. Turn to either side and step into one of the hologram models of the Vigilance Class Turrets. When you do, you?ll be able to enter the turret cockpit and use it. When you use a turret, you?ll only be able to move it with the Control Stick and fire its energy blasts with the A Button. Use the B Button to get back out of the turret. It?s also important to keep track of your health while in a turret. The health bar (labeled ?Turret?) will tell you how much energy the turret has left before it?s destroyed. Energy Tanks are irrelevant; if the turret is destroyed, you go with it. Using the left turret, start by shooting the small generator beneath the parked Pirate Skiffs on your left. The skiff will fall to the ground and form a platform that will allow you to reach the ledge behind it. Now target the small generator way in the back, along the wall and to the left of the orange force field. Lastly, shoot the generator off to your right and on a ledge. If it helps, use the right-hand turret. After this generator is cleared away, some Pirate Troopers will emerge from the space beyond and attack. Decimate them with the turret?s powerful blasts, but keep an eye on your health. Now the path to the orange force field is clear. Exit the turret and hop down to ground level, and then use the Pirate Skiff that you dropped to jump over to the platform in the middle of the room. By the way, if you didn?t get to scan a skiff earlier in battle, you can do so now without having to worry about it flying away. From the platform, jump to the opposite side to where the pirates attacked from and turn left to go down the path. Scan the computer screens here for LOG 71599, the final Space Pirate Log. Turn and walk down the ledge in front of the force field and use the Morph Ball to slip into the tunnel next to it, on the left side. You?ll end up behind the force field. Here, you can grab your very first BEAM AMMO EXPANSION. These expansions add to the amount of Dark and Light Beam ammo you can carry by 50 each, giving you 100 rounds for both beams for now. There are three more of these items that you can collect in the game. Also, scan the body of the Luminoth warrior in here for the J-Stl?s TESTAMENT log, another important Keybearer Lore to remember. Roll out of the chamber and use the door down below to get back to Mining Station A. When you return to the Mining Station, you?ll have to defeat a few Pirate Aerotroopers. Afterwards, you can go to the Portal Terminal to return to Dark Aether. However, since you do have a big battle coming up, it wouldn?t hurt to grab an extra Energy Tank while you?re still in Aether. Instead of going to the Portal Terminal, use the door in Mining Station A that will take you to the Agon Temple. When you get there, roll around the perimeter of the temple, going left from the entrance. You?ll have to use a Morph Ball Bomb to break through a set of sand blocks that bar the path to the black door on the west end of the room. Use the Dark Beam to open this new door. The tunnel beyond the door is the Mine Shaft. When you enter the tunnel, you?ll see the Energy Tank above you on your right. Start by rolling to the left in this circular Morph Ball tunnel. A short ways in you?ll find a block of sand. If you get on top of the block, it will dissolve and you?ll fall all the way to the bottom of the shaft. Roll across the block quickly to avoid falling through. The rest of the path is infested with Pillbugs. After you pass the sand block, roll until you get to the first vertical path. Defeat the Pillbugs prowling around the immediate area and then double-bomb-jump up the vertical path to get to the ledge above. To perform a double-bomb-jump, set the first bomb, and then set the second just before the first one detonates. Set the third when you reach the highest point of your ascent from the first bomb. When you return to the ground, the second bomb will launch you up to the third, which in turn will launch you up even higher, completing the double-bomb-jump performance. Now, from this ledge, bomb-jump even higher to another ledge and follow it to a drop. Get on top of the stack of sand blocks and continue rolling to the left as you fall through them so that you end up in the correct path. Don?t roll too far into this path though, or you?ll hit another block of sand and fall through. Keep going until you get to another stack of blocks. Roll left as you fall again to end up inside a hidden tunnel. Bomb-jump up to the new path (it?s hard to see from inside the hidden tunnel) and then continue until you reach the ENERGY TANK. It?s hard to get, but Energy Tanks are always worth it. Since the door at the other end of the Mine Shaft tunnel is blocked by a purple door hatch, roll back out to the Agon Temple and continue back to the Portal Terminal. When you get to the Portal Terminal, be quick to use the portal before you stir up the War Wasps. Once you return to Dark Aether?s Portal Site, take the left path and go through the Crossroads and the Save Station to reach the Duelling Range. Use the Dark Beam to open the door in the room?s western side. When you enter Ing Cache 4, roll up into the Morph Ball and grab the MISSILE EXPANSION hidden in a small crevice, below the door. The rest of the small room holds nothing of interest expect for a few Inglets. Return to the Duelling Range and take the far door to get back to the Judgment Pit. The Lightbringers inside the Duelling Range are gone, so you?ll have to suffer more damage from Dark Aether?s toxic air and Warrior Ing attacks than before. When you get to the Judgment Pit, climb up to the top of the room and use the black door across from the Dark Agon Temple Access entrance. This small room is another Save Station. Use it before you continue to the Dark Agon Temple, and try to have as much ammunition for your weapons as you can before saving. Now take the path leading to the temple. After you?ve acquired the three keys to the Dark Agon Temple, a hologram will appear in front of the temple entrance. Step into the hologram to lower the gate in front of you. Enter Dark Agon Temple?s arena, and prepare to battle your first true boss. Yeek! The Dark Agon Energy Controller is guarded fiercely by an angry trio of massive worms. This is the boss of Agon, the mighty Amorbis worms. Amorbis is an Energy Controller Guardian and you won?t be able to get to the Energy Controller without getting by this monstrosity. Like any boss, the first step to battling Amorbis is scanning it. Amorbis can be scanned twice in its two distinct forms for separate Log Book entries. When you begin the battle, scan one of the Amorbis worms while they?re in their tunneling phase, AMORBIS 1. Amorbis is in fact three individual worms, each capable of separating and connecting to the dark energy sphere in the middle of the arena. As the worms tunnel in and out of the soil, try blasting them with your most powerful weapons. The charged Light Beam is a particularly effective weapon; not only does it cause a lot of pain to Dark Aether natives like Amorbis, but it also has the ability to home in on locked targets, which is a good thing against the hard-to-hit worms. While any weapon can be used against the tunneling worms, none of your shots will actually damage Amorbis. Just keep pounding at the worms as they dive in and out of the soil. Watch out for them too so that they don?t land on you or tunnel up from beneath you. It?s a good idea to watch your radar or look for soil disturbances to know where an Amorbis worm will surface from. Also, try to stay inside one of the Safe Zones, but also try to collect the pickups that Amorbis drops whenever it gets hit, so that you stay as healthy as possible. After you damage an Amorbis worm enough, it will reconnect itself with the dark sphere and draw power from the object. The worm?s enhanced abilities will turn it into a new creature, AMORBIS 2. Scan this form as soon as you can. Amorbis?s second form can?t tunnel through the soil, but it can use a variety of potent dark energy attacks. Amorbis has the ability to snuff out your Safe Zones too with blasts of dark energy. If this happens, move on to a new Safe Zone rather than wasting time trying to reenergize this one. Amorbis?s weak point is its head and it continues to be weak against the Light Beam. If you?re running low on Light Beam ammo, use missiles instead. After enough punishment, the shell around Amorbis?s head will crack and fall off. Now Amorbis will start inhaling through its exposed mouth. Roll into the Morph Ball and let Amorbis suck you in. Once you get sucked into its mouth, drop a bomb to damage the creature. Amorbis will flail around in pain, damaging the dark energy sphere in the process. Amorbis will then detach and the cycle will resume. Collect the pickups that spew from the cracked dark sphere and continue battling the Amorbis worms. Keep hitting them with missiles or the Light Beam whenever you get a clear shot as they burrow through the sand. Once you manage to inflict enough damage to them again, two Amorbis worms will attach themselves to the dark sphere and reconvert themselves into their strengthened forms. Repeat the process of blasting off the armor around their heads and then letting them inhale you through their mouths so that you can plant bombs in each of them. When fighting multiple worms in their second phase, they may sometimes come together to create a great beam of dark energy. As the beam circles around them, just jump over it to avoid the damage. Amorbis is immune to attacks while it?s firing this beam, so wait for the worms to finish before continuing your attack. When you reach the third cycle of the battle, damage the tunneling Amorbis worms one more time so that this time, all three worms reappear and attach themselves to the dark sphere. Repeat the same process as before, bombing each worm one by one. The Light Beam, ever wonderful, should be your weapon of choice throughout the battle until you run out of ammo. After you defeat the Amorbis worms, they?ll disintegrate into dust, leaving the dark energy sphere so damaged that it finally bursts and reveals your hard-earned reward. This new power-up is the DARK SUIT, armor of Luminoth design that significantly reduces the damage you take from Dark Aether?s atmosphere. Before, you took damage from the air at a rate of about five energy units per second. Now, you?ll take damage at a rate of one unit per second, which means you can stay in Dark Aether longer without having to rely so heavily on Safe Zones. Spiffy. After you collect the Dark Suit, take the north door to the Dark Controller Access. Use the Bomb Slot on the Luminoth statue to rotate the walls and reach the Energy Controller, just like in Aether. When you approach the Energy Controller, your Energy Transfer Module will take action and drain it of its energy. Once the transfer is complete, you can return to Aether and take the energy back to the Agon Energy Controller. As you make your way back to the Portal Site to escape the dark world, angry Ing will attack you along the way in the Dark Agon Temple, Dark Agon Temple Access and Judgment Pit. Also, the Portal Site itself is being occupied by a few Dark Pirate Troopers. Defeat them by energizing the room?s Light Crystals, or simply ignore them and use the portal to return to Aether. Go back to the Agon Energy Controller and watch the lengthy series of cut-scenes as the power of the Agon Wastes is restored and channeled to the Great Temple at last, and the local weather finally clears up. Now, backtrack to the Transport to Temple Grounds near the Mining Plaza and seek out U-Mos at the top of the Great Temple, where he?ll guide you to your next objective. ============= Chapter 5: Metroid Pinball. ============= Once you get back to the Temple Grounds, you should have little trouble finding your way to the Temple Assembly Site to use the transport to the Great Temple. That being said, you may as well take a few quick detours to nab an expansion or two. From the Industrial Site, take the path that leads back to the Landing Site. Save, heal and restock, and then return to the Hive Access Tunnel. Drop down the pit that leads to the hive network you explored in the beginning of the game. When you get down to Hive Chamber A, the dead trooper in the room will awaken and attack. This possessed trooper is a DARK MISSILE TROOPER, and he?s anther mini-boss. Don?t worry though; he?s arguably the easiest boss in the game to defeat. Make sure to scan the Dark Missile Trooper, and then start blasting him with charged Light Beam shots. The battle will be over shortly afterwards. Offensively, the Dark Missile Trooper fires missiles at you, but they?re relatively slow and inaccurate. After you bring him down, the Dark Missile Trooper will leave behind a MISSILE EXPANSION. Now continue making your way through the hives. Hive Chamber B hides another expansion for you. Go all the way to the end of the room, and then use a bomb to break open the damaged cover over the sealed Morph Ball tunnel, next to the open tunnel you used to exit the room. Roll into the tunnel and grab the MISSILE EXPANSION. Now take the other tunnel to get to Hive Chamber C, and then use the nearby elevator to get back up to the Industrial Site. From the Industrial Site, make your way back to the Temple Assembly Site. Head out into the middle of the room and kill the War Wasps that attack. Now hop over to the door that takes you up to the Great Temple. Turn from this door and use your Space Jump Boots to jump over from one of the statues to a ledge on the south side of the room. Follow this ledge to a Morph Ball Tunnel, and eventually another MISSILE EXPANSION. Now, instead of going up to the Great Temple just yet, take another brief detour to the nearby Communication Area. You?ll have to Space Jump up to the upper path of the Dynamo Chamber and kill a few Splinters on the way. When you get to the Communication Area, hop onto the ledge on your left, near a War Wasp colony. There?s a glass cover fixed into the ground, and a MISSILE EXPANSION beneath it. Use a Morph Ball Bomb to shatter the glass and obtain the expansion. Before leaving, hop up to the very upper ledges of the room by using the stone statues. Look for a bridge that leads to a blue door. Enter the small Storage Cavern A and scan the body of the deceased Luminoth for D-ISL?S TESTAMENT. Suspiciously enough, the Luminoth seems to be the only thing of interest in this room. Perhaps better equipment will shed new light on the matter, so remember to come back here later?. Head back to the Temple Assembly Site and use the transport to get up to the Great Temple. When you pass through the Transport B Access, you can collect the first of two expansions within the Great Temple area. Kill the Lightflyers so that they don?t cause trouble, and then face the door leading to the Temple Sanctuary. Look for a Morph Ball tunnel along the left wall, halfway into the passage. Use bomb-jumps to get into the tunnel and reach the winding path to the hidden MISSILE EXPANSION. When you get to the Temple Sanctuary, you?ll be able to open the amber Luminoth gate and expose a new path, but you won?t be able to use the door beyond until you visit U-Mos. Until then, the doorway will be blocked off by a strange psychic barrier. Head up to the Main Energy Controller and see what U-Mos has to say. U-Mos is grateful that you restored the power to the Agon Energy Controller, but now you must seek the temple in the Torvus Bog region and do the same for its Energy Controller. Return to the Temple Sanctuary, and then use the door behind the amber Luminoth gate to get to the next transport passage. Transport C Access is blocked off by a stone monolith with a strange crystal on it. Shoot this dark crystal with the Light Beam to move the statue out of your way, and continue through the passage. Watch out for the two HARMONY CLASS DRONES hovering at the end of the passage. Harmony Class Drones are energy-based maintenance drones that hover in the air, dropping energy charges at anything that passes beneath them. You can use any weapon to kill them, but the Dark Beam works the best. Be careful when you charge your beam weapons near them, because the drones will be drawn towards the charging energy. After you scan and destroy them, use the elevator to get back down to a new section of the Temple Grounds. Enter the Meeting Grounds. When you first get into the room, you?ll have to bring down an amber Luminoth gate to get into the rest of the room. The Meeting Grounds has another door on your left, but you can?t open it yet, so take the path through the glass half-pipe ahead. Watch out for the War Wasps and Sandbats, and make sure you scan the Luminoth Lore, AGE OF ANXIETY, located high up on the left side of the half-pipe. Follow the path to the next room. The Hall of Eyes will lead to a dead end, but there?s a portal along the wall that you can use. Head to the back of the room and jump up to the ledge with the green door. Turn and kill any War Wasps, and then use the portal. The portal will take you to a room within the Sky Temple Grounds called the Base Access. Use the door on your right to get to the Abandoned Base. The Dark Suit really helps when exploring this long path, as there are no Safe Zones in the Abandoned Base until the very end. Without it, you won?t be able to make it through the dark atmosphere and Ingclaw gas. Keep walking forward through the masses of Ingclaws and then turn when the path goes left. When you pass through the small clearing ahead, several darkling creatures on the wall will awaken. These things are CORRUPTED SENTREYES, drones used by the Ing to guard important locations. They do their assigned jobs by firing deadly laser beams at anything in their line of sight. You can disable a Corrupted Sentreye temporarily by shooting it, but only a charged Light Beam shot will kill one. Just don?t use the Morph Ball near them, or they?ll go berserk on you. After the Corrupted Sentreye clearing turn left and jump up onto a ledge at the very end of the passage. There is a Safe Zone here, surrounding a Luminoth transport platform, so use it to heal if you need. The transport platform is operable, but you have to release it from its holding position first. Use the pistons behind the transport to get up to the Morph Ball ring surrounding it. Four Bomb Slots, located around this ring, can be bombed to release the transport platform. The trick is that whenever you bomb a slot, a barrier will close down next to it and prevent you from passing through. This means that you must bomb them in a certain order so that you can still access the remaining Bomb Slots after using one. If you get stuck inside the ring, you can always bomb the nearest slot again to raise the barrier. Start by riding up the piston on your left (assuming you?re facing the transport platform from the back of the room). Roll past the first Bomb Slot, and then activate the second one. Bomb the following two in order, and then ride the other piston back down to the ground. Since you still have to activate the first Bomb Slot, reenter the first piston, and then use the Bomb Slot to release the transport platform. Step into the hologram that appears on it, and then let it ferry you to the other side of the room. When you ride the transport platform, you?ll be locked in throughout the duration of the ride, so you?ll only be able to shoot and move the Arm Cannon manually. Shoot the Nightbarb swarms that fly at you while you ride the platform. At the end of the ride, hop onto the ledge and use the Light Portal. When you emerge in the Path of Eyes, back in Aether?s Temple Grounds, some Prate Troopers will attack. Try to defeat them before they turn into Dark Pirate Troopers (though it?s not like they?d be any tougher when you use the Light Beam). To proceed down the path, shoot the crystals on the statue ahead to move it out of your way. When you reach the circular clearing after the turn, kill the Pirate Grenadier that appears from the ledge up ahead. Turn from that ledge and shoot the second statue?s crystal to move it into the center of the clearing. Jump onto it and then leap over to the ledge to continue. Lastly, shoot the statue across from the shallow pool of water to move it into the center so that you can get across to the other side. At the end of the path, you?ll come to a Luminoth gate. Look for the Morph Ball tunnel next to it to find a hidden shortcut that connects to the room?s entrance. You?ll need to use the Light Beam to move one final statue out of the way so that you can use the shortcut in future passes through the Path of Eyes. Scan the hologram of THE WORLD WARPED, and then bring down the Luminoth gate back outside to get to the next room. Walk along the wasp-infested cliff until you reach the next doorway. Use a missile to break down the door hatch, and then take the Transport to Torvus Bog. The Torvus Bog was once a great forest, but when the meteor struck Aether long ago, water from the ocean was sent in and flooded the land, turning it into a treacherous swamp. When you get down to the Transport to Tempe Grounds, look on the other side of the ancient machine behind you for your first Torvus Log Book entry. TORVUS BEARERPODS are fairly common in the Torvus region. Shoot these caches open to reveal their pickup contents, but wait for the deadly gas that they release to settle. Afterwards, take the door out to the next passage. Avoid the Shriekbats in the Temple Transport Access and look up to scan the TORVUS HANGING PODS. Similarly to the Bearerpods, you can shoot these plant forms down to reveal pickups. Take the door at the end of the passage that will take you to the Torvus Lagoon. Although the Torvus Lagoon isn?t an overly large room, there are plenty of things to do and scan in here, as well as a few doors that connect to other various places. This includes the black door shown during the introduction, underneath the water level. Scan the Luminoth lying on the shore for S-DLY?S TESTAMENT. Move forward towards the water, and then scan the creatures that rise from the surface. These are SHREDDERS, floating plants that travel in small groups to attack intruders. As they hover towards you, they?ll begin to bloat up with air. Rupture them with missiles before they get to you. To your left, behind the Luminoth?s body, fire a missile to unlock the door taking you to a Save Station. Now head back outside and dive into the water. Note that the doors above the water level are blocked by a set of gates, so you?ll have to find another way around them. The black door is in the back of the room, to your left. As you swim over to it, scan the school of HYDLINGS swimming around. Hydlings pose little threat to you, as all they do is swim around with little purpose other than to provide a wealth of pickups for you when shot at. An entire group of Hydlings will often yield enough pickups to completely restore your health or ammo. Use the black door to get through to the next room. The Path of Roots begins underwater, but the exit door at the end is above the water level. Gun down the Hydlings in here and then roll beneath the metal structure to the other side. Use the steps to jump out of the water, and head through the door. The next room is the Great Bridge. There are a few enemies lurking beneath the waves up ahead, which will attack when you get close enough. SHRIEKERS are fairly annoying creatures that fire sonic blasts at you. Because they can become invisible, battling them without the proper sonic-detection gear is pretty much impossible. Even scanning them is somewhat of a pain to do. Try to ignore them and look up to scan the hexagonal ?eyeballs? stationed amid the branches and trees. SENTINEL CRYSTALS serve no purpose to you (other than as scan entries), but they are used by the Luminoth to monitor activity in the Torvus Bog. Once both the Shriekers and the Sentinel Crystals have been downloaded into the Log Book, use the door to the right of the entrance, blocked by a red blast shield. The tunnel within the Portal Chamber will connect you to the Torvus Lagoon, and it requires the Morph Ball to get through. On the way, you?ll see a portal and an expansion, but both of these can only be reached from Dark Aether. The door at the end will dump you behind a metal gate in the Torvus Lagoon. Scan the control panel next to you to lower the set of gates and raise the bridge to the white door on your left. While you?re at it, take the opportunity to save. The white door leads to a small boring passage known as the Ruined Alcove. Several Shredders will attack you from the shallow puddle in this room. Shredders will stop appearing after you get your next upgrade, so if you haven?t scanned them yet, do so now. A second white door at the end of the passage takes you to the next room. When you step into the Forgotten Bridge, you?ll be attacked by two frightening new foes, the GRENCHLERS. These reptilian beasts are difficult to defeat and can cause a lot of pain in return. Amphibious creatures, Grenchlers will pursue you both on land and underwater, and they?re also capable of leaping pretty high. They normally attack by mauling you with their tooth-filled jaws, but they can also fire bolts of electricity at you from their horns if you get too far away from them. The Grenchlers? only weakness is their backsides, but they have a protective shell that will need to be broken off before you can damage their vulnerable areas. Lock onto a Grenchler and jump around it so that you can get a clear shot at its back (it?s hard to do because the Grenchler will always try to be facing you), and then let fly with something powerful. The charged Dark Beam is particularly effective at freezing and damaging a Grenchler. After the shell breaks off, continue to give the Grenchler additional punishment to its backside until it?s defeated. After you kill both of the Grenchlers, scan the BLOATSAC pods growing around the edge of the water. Now head to the back of the room and use the round platforms to reach a ledge, leading to the large bridge that spans the length of the room. This bridge can be rotated by using the Bomb Slot at the beginning of the bridge. The only problem is that this Bomb Slot is in a state of dimensional flux, meaning you can only use it from Dark Aether. Cross the metal bridge to the far ledge, and use the portal to warp yourself to Dark Aether?s version of this room. When you enter the Dark Forgotten Bridge, cross the metal bridge again to find the Bomb Slot, fully stable. When you use it, the bridge in both worlds will rotate so that it leads to the door on the south side of the room. Here in Dark Aether, that door will be blocked off by a green blast shield, so you?ll have no choice but to return to Aether. Hop down from the bridge and scan the large creature floating in the water. The DARK PHLOGUS waits in water until its prey comes near. When it opens its mouth, shoot its insides to flip the creature over. You can now use the Dark Phlogus as a platform to reach the other side of the toxic pond. You should also scan the blue INGSPHERE CACHES growing in the area, which are found almost everywhere in the Dark Torvus Bog. They can be destroyed to reveal pickups. Lastly, scan the blue DARK SENTINEL CRYSTALS found in the trees. With your new scans, hop up onto the platforms and reuse the Light Portal. When you return to the Forgotten Bridge, the Grenchlers won?t be there anymore, but another nasty new enemy will appear. These enemies are DARK PIRATE COMMANDOS, elite members of the Space Pirate forces that have fallen prey to Ing possession. Dark Pirate Commandos are frighteningly tough to beat, mostly due to the fact that they can phase in and out of existence at lightning speed. They also have an impressive arsenal of various deadly weapons, including a visor-disrupting EMP grenade launcher and a dark energy blaster. The best way to beat the Dark Pirate Commandos is to use the Dark Beam, surprisingly. Try to target one of the pirates, and then hit it with a charged Dark Beam blast to freeze it in place. Follow up with a missile to shatter the pirate. Often when the Dark Pirate Commandos attack, they will lock you in whatever room they appear in, but they?ll flee on their own if you manage to avoid them long enough. After the Dark Pirate Commandos are gone, climb up to the bridge and cross it to a new door. Right before this door is a free MISSILE EXPANSION. Enter the Abandoned Worksite and turn to the right. Drop into the water down below and scan the SPORB growing on the left wall. A dormant Sporb is impossible to defeat, but once it attacks, you can target the predatory plant and destroy it. Normally, a Sporb will only attack if you?re using the Morph Ball. They can shoot a spray of poisonous barbs at you or grab onto your Morph Ball with an extendable tentacle to give you a good thrashing. Defeat this Sporb, and then use the Morph Ball tunnel along the right wall (the entrance is on the ledge at the beginning of the room). If you didn?t kill the Sporb, it will be hard to get through this tunnel. Bomb-jump to the end and then use the second red Morph Ball tunnel to get to the other side of the room. There?s another Sporb and a Morph Ball tunnel on this side, as well as an expansion that?s out of your current reach, but you needn't bother with any of that just yet. Use the white door at the end of the passage to exit. You?ll emerge inside the Great Bridge. Immediately scan the control panel in front of the entrance that will activate the Kinetic Orb Cannon on the opposite ledge, in front of a green Luminoth gate. Head over to the cannon and let it blast you over to the bridge. Cross the bridge, kill the attacking Shriekbats, and then enter the black door. There?s an Energy Tank inside the Temple Access that can only be reached from the upper tunnel. Roll into the Morph Ball and bomb the black circular covering on the floor, closest to the entrance. You?ll fall through a hole and end up in the bottom path of the tunnel, with the new ENERGY TANK. Head back to the Great Bridge and use the Kinetic Orb Cannon to get back up to the upper path of the Temple Access. Follow it to the next door to get to the Torvus Temple. When you walk into the Torvus Temple, a Pirate Skiff carrying a pair of Pirate Troopers will take off, but not before deploying its troops. After you destroy the two pirates, an additional pair of Pirate Aerotroopers will fly in and enter the fray. Three missiles per pirate will defeat them, but as always, watch out for their suicide strikes. After they?re defeated, the Pirate Skiff will return, leaving you to fight the final wave of Space Pirates. Kill the half dozen or so Pirate Troopers, and then use the crates around the area to restock on pickups. After the pirates are defeated, you?ll be able to grab the SUPER MISSILE. The Super Missile is the Charge Combo for the Power Beam. To use this mighty weapon, charge the Power Beam and then fire a missile while charging. The Super Missile is very powerful, but it uses up five missiles per shot. You can use Super Missiles to open green door hatches, such as the one at the top of the Torvus Temple. Ride the elevator that the Super Missile upgrade was resting on to reach the green door and then blow the door open. Head through the Controller Access room by using the Bomb Slot on the rotating Luminoth statue. When you reach the Torvus Energy Controller, scan the hologram next to the Luminoth?s body to play the recorded message. Like the Agon Energy Controller, the Torvus Energy Controller was once guarded by a Luminoth sentinel, but this one has also long since passed away. A-Voq?s recorded image will instruct you to locate the three Dark Torvus Temple Keys so that you can reach the Dark Torvus Temple. In the process of listening to A-Voq, you?ll also learn how to translate emerald Luminoth symbols. One of these symbols can be found within this room, the DARK AETHER log (not to be confused with the Research entry of the same name). Afterwards, return to the Torvus Temple. Now that you can decode emerald Luminoth symbols, you?ll be able to scan a number of things that you?ve passed along the way. When you return to the temple, scan the emerald symbols in the center of the clearing to activate an elevator platform. This elevator will take you to the temple?s underchamber. There are four doors leading away from this chamber, including one blocked by a green blast shield. Open it up and take the lower path through the Temple Access to get to the Great Bridge. There, scan the Luminoth gate on your right, behind the Kinetic Orb Cannon, to get to the Torvus Map Station. As you can see by studying the map, a large portion of Torvus is flooded beneath the Torvus Temple. You?ll get to that later, but now cut through the Great Bridge again to get to the Path of Roots. Avoid the Shriekbats and scan the hologram of THE ING ATTACK. Now head back to the Torvus Temple underchamber. When you get back to the underchamber, scan the Luminoth gate on your right to get to the Underground Tunnel. Immediately upon entering, roll underneath the floor grating with the Morph Ball to grab a MISSILE EXPANSION tucked away in a corner. Walk further down the path to find a lone Grenchler. Because of the confinement within the tunnel, it will be a bit harder to maneuver around this Grenchler and get a good shot at its back. On the other hand, you can use your new Super Missiles to tear the beast apart once you get your shot. Continue down the path and use the Morph Ball to get through the small opening. Avoid the two Sporbs that attack once you roll out, and then turn left. Scan the hologram of OUR WAR BEGINS, and then use the white exit door on your right. When you reach the spacious Torvus Grove, run over to the opposite door, but watch out for the Phazon barrels. When you try to exit, the doors will seal and a band of PIRATE COMMANDOS will attack. Pirate Commandos are very similar to their possessed variants, but they lack the ability to phase in and out between dimensions. Nevertheless, they are still a force to be reckoned with, trained solely for the purpose of ?hunting the Hunter?. Pirate Commandos attack by firing the usual laser bolts at you, but they also come with an energy blade that they can use to cut through you in close combat. Defensively, they can also generate a portable arm shield that will deflect any incoming attack. The shields can?t be sustained for very long, but the Pirate Commandos are invulnerable while they?re active. Use the Dark Beam or the Super Missiles to defeat them, and then exit via the door opposite to the white entrance. When you get to Meditation Vista, scan the portal machine and let it warp you to the Gloom Vista. Now exit through the same door and enter Torvus Grove?s dark counterpart, the Polluted Mire. The mire is home to a pair of wicked HUNTER ING. Hunters are, as the Log Book puts it, cunning and relentless. Like the Dark Pirate Commandos that they possess, Hunter Ing can phase through existence, making them very difficult to hit. They attack by striking you with their many tentacles as they float around you. The Light Beam is the best weapon to use against the Hunter Ing, but because they can be so difficult to hit, your best bet is to lure them close to you and then decimate them with a well-times Energized Beacon. To escape from the room after the Ing are defeated, look for a platform near one of the tree?s roots. The platforms lead up and around the edge of the tree, and eventually to a ledge with a black door on it. Take the door to the Dark Falls, and use the Save Station within it. This is the last Save Station before you fight a tough mini-boss, so it?s a very good idea to use it. From the station, go around the south side of the room to get to the next door, which leads through a tunnel within the Dark Forgotten Bridge. Use the two Lightflyers here to make Safe Zones as you cross the poisonous air. Head through the white door at the end. When you get inside the Dark Arena Tunnel, use your Morph Ball to get through. Most of the tunnel is made up of a series of sand blocks that will vanish when you touch them. After you fall through, bomb-jump up to the other side of the tunnel and enter the next room, the Dark Torvus Arena. As soon as you enter, a scary-looki