Author's note: This battle and all others I post here are transfers from my DeviantArt page where I already have them written up. I am formatting them according to wiki guidelines to share them here as well.
Pre-Fight Prelude[]
Bounty hunters: They’re the people you call when you either want someone to face justice or you want someone dead and you’ve got the cash to spare. But these two are as tough as they come, are both one-person armies in their own right, and are the last people you want coming after you:
Like Samus Aran, the legendary bounty hunter from Metroid.
And Durge, the millennia-old Gen’Dai bounty hunter from Star Wars.
Samus Aran[]
Bio[]
Name: Samus Aran
Age: Unknown (Possibly early 30s)
Height: 6’3”
Weight: 198 lbs (without the Power Suit)
Species: Human by birth; enhanced with the DNA of the Chozo and later of Metroids
NOTE: I originally wrote this several months before Metroid Dread was released, so this analysis of Samus mostly encompasses what she was capable of through the time of Metroid Fusion.
Born on the Earth colony world of K2-L to Rodney and Virginia Aran, Samus Aran’s life was marked by tragedy very early on. When she was 3 years old, her planet was visited by the Space Pirate leader known as Ridley, who stopped to fuel for the vessel of his and the Space Pirates who accompanied him. Not knowing any better and attempting to befriend the evil winged beast, Samus’ mother stepped in front of her to defend her from a fire blast that ended up killing her when she pushed Samus out of the way. In retaliation, Samus’ father shot a nearby fuel tank in an attempt to kill Ridely, but the explosion only injured the latter and killed the former as a result. Ridley and his Space Pirate forces then proceeded to wipe out the rest of K2-L’s population except for Samus herself-a mistake he did not realize would come back to bite him in the tail.
After K2-L’s destruction, Samus was found and adopted by members of the avian species known as the Chozo, who were the most technologically advanced race in the universe. Being moved to the Chozo homeworld of Zebes and enhanced with Chozo DNA to augment her abilities and survive the planet’s harsh conditions, Samus was taken into the care of and raised by two Chozo elders named Old Bird and Gray Voice. Samus spent the next several years being trained by the Chozo to fight and was granted with a suit of armor of their design: her Power Suit. By the time she was 14 years old, Samus had developed greater physical capabilities than a normal human was able to achieve.
Once Old Bird told Samus that he had confidence in her abilities, she left Zebes to join the Federation Police and attended the academy. Excelling at this institution, Samus joined the Star-Trackers, an elite unit that only one in a million police officers were qualified for. Working under direct orders from Chief Hardy, one of Samus’ earliest missions was to planet Jigrad, which the Space Pirates recently conquered and enslaved. Samus and her two teammates went on their own without being ordered to and attacked, leading to the first known successful capture and interrogation of a Space Pirate by the Federation. It was at this same time when Samus first met the man who would become her Galactic Federation commanding officer: Adam Malkovich. Interrogating the captured Space Pirate revealed that their actions on Jigrad were a distraction from their invasion of Zebes. Samus was ordered to wait 48 hours for the Federation army to be deployed to the planet, but she refused and went to Zebes anyway with the help of her two police teammates.
Once on Zebes, Samus and her allies learned that the Space Pirates were attempting to gain all Chozo knowledge. The Chozo who did not flee had surrendered to the Pirates and Samus discovered that Gray Voice and Mother Brain (an AI created by the Chozo) seemingly established a cooperative relationship with the Pirates. The deal was that Mother Brain would become the leader of the Space Pirates and use them to unite the galaxy. Mother Brain offered Samus the position of “master” of the Space Pirates, which Samus immediately refused. Shortly after her defiance of Mother Brain, Ridley arrived to taunt Samus about the loss of her parents-even going so far as to imply that he ate the body of Samus’ mother-all of which triggered a form of PTSD in Samus due to those memories of the K2-L attack having been repressed by Samus between the ages of 3-14. It got so bad that Samus begged her teammates to kill her before Ridley could when they arrived to rescue her. Samus was saved by her squadmates causing a distraction and the now-saved Chozo helped Samus get over her PTSD. Samus suited up and defended the group from Ridley, who later retreated to protect Mother Brain from an attack by Gray Voice. This was the first of what would become many battles between Samus Aran and Ridley. Learning about what was happening to Gray Voice from another Chozo, Samus wanted to assist but aided in he evacuation of Zebes. In his final moments, Gray Voice telepathically contacted Samus, asking her to use her power to protect the beings in the galaxy who needed it before passing away. After leaving Zebes with her teammates and other survivors in an ancient Chozo starship, Samus and the others were rescued by the Federation army who had just arrived under the command of Adam Malkovich.
Now with her adoptive father figure gone after the Zebes invasion, Samus joined the Federation army between the ages of 15-17. During this time, she developed close relationships with her commanding officer Adam Malkovich (whom she looked at as a best friend and surrogate father figure), his younger brother Ian and fellow soldier Anthony Higgs. It’s unknown how long she served Adam’s unit, but it was long enough for her to get close to these three. However, things between Samus and Adam Malkovich soured after a disastrous mission in which Ian Malkovich died saving the rest of the team. This caused Samus to quit working for the Federation military and GF police force before she dropped off the grid.
Much of her life during this time is unknown, but when Samus resurfaced, she had established herself as the bounty hunter the universe came to know her to be. She had single-handedly hunted down many Space Pirates. The general public knew so little about Samus that they assumed she was a male cyborg. Then came the first of many contracts with the Galactic Federation: Samus’ fateful return to Zebes, which had been taken over by the Space Pirates and was giving heavy resistance to the Federation military who were unable to take the planet back on their own.
Ever since then, Samus has completed the many missions we know she succeeded in over her lengthy career-
-She’s defeated Ridley and the Space Pirates several times.
-Defeated Metroid Prime/Dark Samus during the Phazon Crisis and ended the threat of Phazon for good with the destruction of planet Phaaze.
-Ended the threat of the near-invincible monster Gorea after discovering it was behind the ruse of a telepathic message promising “ultimate power” to her and other bounty hunters.
-She single-handedly wiped out nearly the entire Metroid species on their homeworld of SR388.
-Defeated the original Ridley for good on Zebes before the planet she once called home was ultimately destroyed following her victory over Mother Brain.
-Wiped out two illegal bio-weapon projects that the Federation was working on using creatures captured from Zebes (including a clone of Ridley that they foolishly created by accident), and destroyed the deadly X-Parasites (the very threat the Metroids were designed to stop) by wiping them out with SR388. During this time, she was saved from dying at the hands of X-Parasite infection via a special vaccine made from the cells of the last baby Metroid. This caused Samus to be genetically altered to become part-Metroid.
Overall, Samus Aran has been through hell and back and she has successfully triumphed over incredible odds and all kinds of terrifying and powerful threats.
Powers and abilities[]
Samus was trained by the Chozo for 11 years between the ages of 3 and 14. As a result, she is a superior athlete to even the finest Olympic performers. Samus is capable of running and jumping heights far greater than normal human levels, and surviving falls that could kill normal humans. She is more adaptive to environments normal humans could not survive in, such as the majority of places on planets like Zebes and Elysia.
Samus has demonstrated good sharpshooting skills which make her an excellent marksman with incredible aim, and she is tremendously deadly in combat. Samus is also incredibly intelligent, and is nothing short of a genius: She has demonstrated prodigious puzzle-solving and hacking skills, engineering and mechanical abilities that enabled her to successfully build and design her own starships (almost all ships used by Samus in the Metroid series were designed by Samus herself except for the one she uses in Metroid Fusion, which was provided by the Federation), and fantastic scientific acumen (like in Metroid Prime 3 when she had to gather multiple machines to obtain parts for a massive improvised thermonuclear bomb). She has demonstrated incredible willpower, able to resist getting corrupted by the shadowy energies of Dark Aether in Metroid Prime 2 and was able to resist the mental effects of Phazon even when she was on the very source planet of Phaaze where the toxic mutagenic substance originated.
Samus possesses a lithe figure which has enabled her to crawl through tunnels and gaps that would normally require the use of the Morph Ball function of her suit. While in the Zero Suit, Samus carries a handgun with stun capabilities known as the Paralyzer, which can also double as a stun whip.
In addition to shooting, Samus has demonstrated excellent hand-to-hand combat skill and martial prowess. She has taken down enemies with combinations of kicks and wrestling moves. With her Power Suit, Samus possesses the following capabilities:
She’s got multiple types of beams in addition to her standard Power Beam and Charge Beam (ice, plasma, light, dark, wave, annihilator). Not all of these beams are Chozo technology (the light, dark, wave and annihilator) and were made by different manufacturers, but Samus is able to use them because Chozo tech is able to integrate and adapt other forms of technology as part of itself. During the Phazon Crisis, Samus had her suit enhanced by the Federation in order to harness the volatile power of Phazon to strengthen her weapons.
She’s got multiple visor types-
-Scan visor to learn the weaknesses of whatever enemy she is facing.
-Echo visor to keep track of even the most minute sounds.
-Thermal visor to track heat signatures.
-X-ray visor to see through walls.
-Dark visor to spot interdimensional objects and creatures.
-Command visor, which Samus can use to remotely control her ship.
Samus possesses the Missile Launcher, which allows her to fire either one missile at a time or five at once for her more powerful Super Missiles. These missiles can also be integrated with her ice beam technology to utilize as Ice Missiles. The Seeker Missile function allows Samus to focus her missile fire against 5 specific individual targets at once if she needs to.
In her Morph Ball form, Samus compacts herself into a sphere to travel through small spaces and traverse over impossible or inaccessible terrain, but the Morph Ball has some offensive uses as well:
-The Morph Ball can drop small energy bombs to deal damage to enemies and can drop up to 3 at a time before they need to resupply themselves.
-The regular bombs pale before their more destructive variant, the Power Bomb. This high-yield explosive can destroy most enemies in range of it and is capable of fully vaporizing normal humans. Samus can only drop one Power Bomb at a time, but the destructive output of them is worth it.
-The Boost Ball enables Samus to briefly increase her movement speed while in Morph Ball form, jump across wide gaps while in this form, and can be used as a means of attack to ram into enemies with blunt force.
Samus also has two very unique abilities to aid in both traversal and physical combat:
-The Screw Attack, during which Samus curls into a fetal position as a form of energy envelops her body. She can use this to cross wide gaps that she can’t jump on her own and can also use this to ram into enemies with incredible blunt force.
-The Speed Booster, which increases Samus’ running to supersonic speeds and provides temporary invincibility while in that state. The Speed Booster also provides a few extra forms:
The Shinespark- An ability Samus can perform when jumping, Samus charges up with the Speed Booster to store energy before using it to increase her jumping power before leaping. Not only does this enable Samus to reach greater heights than she can with her normal superhuman jumps, she can also use it to charge through enemies and smash through walls. Samus moves so fast with the Shinespark that it has the effect of leaving behind after-images.
The Ball Spark- Pretty much the same thing as the Shinespark, but a variant Samus can use while in Morph Ball form.
The Spin Jump- A simple jump boost technique we have seen Samus use many times in her own series and in Smash Bros. After jumping once, Samus can defy gravity by getting into a spinning motion to go further into the air to reach higher areas.
As of Metroid Fusion, I stated above that Samus was injected with a vaccine synthesized from the blood of the last baby Metroid and has developed the following capabilities:
-Gained immunity to the infection of X-Parasites as well as the ability to absorb them for energy to heal herself and resupply her weapons.
-Inherited the Metroid weakness of cold-based weapons and cold temperatures, but overcame this weakness with the defeat and absorption of her X-Parasite doppelgänger the SA-X.
Durge[]
Bio[]
Name: Durge
Age: 2003 years old
Height: 9-10’
Species: Gen’Dai
First appearance: "Star Wars: Republic: The New Face of War" (March 19, 2003)
Born on the unidentified home planet of his species in 2,022 BBY, Durge possessed unnatural aggression since his youth, a trait that was typically unusual in his species until their elderly years (roughly between the ages of 5,000-7,000). For the most part until they get old and their brains start to deteriorate with old age, the Gen’Dai are normally a peaceful race that rarely leave their homeworld. When they get old, they become more violent as they get less mentally stable, typically taking up the professions of bounty hunting and mercenary work. But Durge himself is the exception rather than the rule unlike most of his people. After seeing bounty hunters in action one day, Durge was filled with a lust for hunting and wanted that life for himself. Training under various other bounty hunters after venturing out into the wider galaxy, Durge eventually met a Mandalorian named Jaing who he allied with. Jaing taught Durge everything he knows about Mandalorian tactics and combat skills.
At some point during their time together, Durge and Jaing were approached by a mysterious doctor who specialized in cybernetic augmentation who offered to enhance their bodies and armor suits with enhanced robotics. Durge and Jaing both feared they would be obsolete in combat without them and eagerly accepted the doctor’s offer. After arriving to the doctor’s laboratory and encountering a patient of his who needed cybernetics just to function, the doctor persuaded the two by offering the same technology which kept this patient alive. Durge and Jaing were effectively merged with their armored suits on this doctor’s operating table. Enhancing Jaing was easy enough, but Durge was more of a challenge for the doctor to work with due to the regenerative physiology of the Gen’Dai species, which was constantly causing Durge’s body to try and heal itself of the cybernetics.
After recovering from their surgeries, Durge and Jaing fought against the other cyborg patient, who had been further enhanced, in a sparring session. When the battle was about to get fatal, the doctor stopped the fight to warn them about an unexpected Mandalorian attack from warriors loyal to clan Ung Kusp. The doctor demanded Durge, Jaing and the other patient they were sparring to repay their debt to him by killing the attacking Mandalorians. In the battle, Jaing and the other cyborg patient were thought to have been killed after getting incapacitated by a thermal detonator. Assuming that Jaing was dead, Durge ran off to hunt down the Mandalorian leader, the Mandalore of that time, by himself. As Durge exited the laboratory, the doctor revealed to the dying Jaing that the events were all part of a plan to orchestrate war between the Mandalorian clans and the Sith.
Fast-forward to the New Sith Wars (which lasted from 2000 BBY-1000 BBY in the Expanded Universe timeline), in which Durge fought on the side of the Sith and faced several Jedi in combat. Durge learned the techniques of the Force wielding warriors and became experienced at killing them. After 1000 BBY, Durge went into hiding after the New Sith Wars ended to avoid retaliation from the Jedi. He continued to hunt under multiple aliases and false identities, earning the wrath of a group called the Bloodboilers of Kragis (unfortunately there is no information about what this group is or what they do aside from them attempting to kill Durge) and amassing a fortune in bounties.
Durge’s most fateful mission came in 132 BBY, when he was hired to kill the Mandalore of that time. While Durge succeeded in his mission, the Mandalorians captured him and subjected him to extreme torture, pushing him past the edge of sanity. Despite Durge eventually escaping the torture, it got so bad that it took Durge nearly 100 years to regenerate from everything that was done to him, with 60 of those years spent buried underground. These years of torture led Durge to hate and wish death on all Mandalorians.
By the point when Durge woke up again, he resurfaced just in time to come back when the Clone Wars have begun. Durge was disappointed and angered that the majority of the galaxy’s Mandalorians had perished, feeling cheated out of the revenge he planned to take against them. But Durge’s luck changed when he was invited by Count Dooku to join the Confederacy of Independent Systems AKA the Separatists. Learning that the Clone Army was grown from the DNA of the Mandalorian known as Jango Fett, Durge saw the possibility of killing the Republic’s Clone troopers as a way to carry out his rage against the Mandalorians.
After a brief mission in which he failed to hunt down the young Boba Fett, Durge was deployed during the Battle of Ohma-D’un (a moon of Naboo), in which he and Asajj Ventress were testing out a deadly chemical weapon that was especially effective against Gungans. The Jedi and many Clones soon arrived, with a Jedi strike team consisting of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, Glaive and Zule Xiss. Looking forward to fighting Jedi for the first time in centuries, Durge revealed himself and clubbed down Kenobi using his magna bolas. He sustained a lightsaber blow to the abdomen and getting shot through the eye before being ordered to carry out the Separatist operation while Ventress occupied the Jedi. Running off to do so, Durge found the shuttle destroyed and soon killed the clone who shot him in the eye by throwing the guy into a fire. But before he could react, Durge was struck in the side by his own magna bola used against him by Anakin Skywalker. Shocked and injured, Durge retreated from the battle but vowed to kill Skywalker the next time they fought.
Durge fought the Jedi on multiple occasions after, during the skirmish on Queyta and the Battle of Muunilist four months into the Clone Wars. It was during the latter event when Durge clashed with Obi-Wan Kenobi for a second time. In their first battle on the planet, Durge got sliced to pieces and left for dead by Kenobi, who thought he had won. Later during the same battle, Durge fought Kenobi and his clone battalion again in the Banking Clan control room. At the end of this fight, Durge attempted to kill Kenobi by enveloping the Jedi inside his own unarmored body. Kenobi won this battle via using Force Repulse to blow up Durge’s body from the inside out.
However, Durge survived this and re-emerged to challenge Jedi masters Kit Fisto and Plo Koon during a riot at the M’Bardi Prison. In spite of him overpowering the two Jedi, they managed to confine him in the lower levels of the prison after receiving unexpected help from one of the prisoners, but they knew this would not hold Durge for long.
Near the end of the Clone Wars, Durge set a trap for Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Karthakk system. Near the planet Maramere, Durge waited on a ship for the two Jedi, baiting them with false information about the presence of Asajj Ventress in the system. Ambushing the two Jedi, Durge began wailing on Kenobi after injuring the man with a thermal detonator. Skywalker used the force to impale Durge with metal shards, which the Gen’Dai shrugged off, but soon got electrocuted by Kenobi. Durge then started setting off some of the explosives he had rigged the ship with.
Durge overpowered the young Jedi and slammed him through a blast door. But Durge was severely damaged when Skywalker used the Force to throw several of the explosives at him. His helmet getting torn apart, Durge fell into a mindless fury, which Skywalker exploited by using the Force to throw Durge into a nearby escape pod. After launching the pod with Durge inside, Anakin used the Force to redirect the pod into a nearby sun, which ultimately killed Durge.
Powers and abilities[]
Due to his natural Gen’Dai abilities and regenerative capabilities, Durge was a match for almost any opponent he fought. Over his long life, Durge has fought against Jedi, Sith, Mandalorians and many others and is capable of fighting the toughest among any of those groups.
As a species, the Gen’Dai lack bones and are, in a nutshell, a formless jumble of corded muscle and nerve bundles. Due to this, they take to wearing heavy armor made for humanoids to disguise their true forms and enable them to pass for members of many other species. Their only distinctive features are their heads: typically bald, they have two eyes, a nose and a mouth full of razor sharp teeth. Two large, wing-like ears protrude from the sides of their heads, though their ears are not typically seen because the Gen’Dai tuck their ears under their jawline while wearing helmets to hide any distinguishable features.
Due to lacking typical internal vital organs that most sentient species have such as hearts or lungs, Gen’Dai are capable of taking extreme injuries and can even survive complete dismemberment. This has given the Gen’Dai a reputation of alleged immortality. Their regeneration enables them to regrow lost or severed limbs in only a few minutes. Unlike most beings in the galaxy, the Gen’Dai have a nervous system distributed throughout their body in the form of millions of nerve clusters. This provides them with near-instantaneous reflexes and ability to sustain high volumes of injury without overall damage. Their sensory abilities were high enough to enable them to sense a human heartbeat from up to 200 meters away. Gen’Dai are capable of stretching and expanding the length of their limbs to attack from long distances and are capable of taking down multiple opponents at once this way.
Since Gen’Dai don’t have hearts, their blood circulated via capillaries and muscular contractions which push blood through their bodies. If they receive a cut, blood loss is mitigated by the blood flow to the injured area adjusting itself to cut the blood off until the injured cut repairs itself. One of the few weaknesses of a Gen’Dai is that they can be forced into a period of hibernation if they take too many extensive injuries across their entire form at one time. During this hibernation period, any lost tissue gets replaced over time until they wake up again. The only two ways to kill a Gen’Dai are:
1. By completely vaporizing their bodies or incinerating them on an atomic level. This was the case with Durge due to his death being the result of falling into a sun.
2. Finding a way to destroy their brain. Despite how great the Gen’Dai’s advanced control over their regenerative powers are, this healing does not extend to their brains. Over time, their brains slowly degenerate after reaching old age (roughly around 5,000-7,000 years since that is the estimated lifespan of the species), which results in a form of psychosis that makes the Gen’Dai act violently.
-Armor and Equipment: Durge wears a suit of heavy armor designed for humanoids and was augmented with a number of cybernetics that enabled him to use it more efficiently. His neuro-network is connected to his armor’s computer system and his helmet’s targeting system is directly connected to his optic nerves. The armor itself was designed to increase balance and agility, allowing Durge to perform acrobatic feats you wouldn’t expect from a being of his size.
Durge carries the following weapons:
-A pair of twin blaster pistols
-A blaster rifle
-A jetpack to enable flight
-Energized bolas to trap and ensnare enemies
-Energy shields in his wrist gauntlets which are capable of standing up to lightsabers for a short time.
As stated earlier, Durge is capable of stretching and expanding parts of his body to attack enemies from any range when he’s not restricted by his armor. He can also sharpen parts of his body to create claw-like weapons instantly.
Battle[]
Location: Derelict space station, sometime after the events of Metroid Fusion
Samus Aran landed her ship into the nearest docking hangar she could find. The distress signal picked up by her ship and its AI computer Adam led her to this place. Stepping out of her ship, Samus had her arm cannon ready for whoever or whatever was waiting aboard this station. Adam detected only one life sign, but so far all Samus was seeing were dead crew members scattered around.
Durge watched from an adjacent hiding spot as his quarry walked into the large circular control room he was observing from elsewhere. Whoever this armored woman was, all Durge knew based on the bounty file he received from the Galactic Federation was that she used to work for them until recently when she destroyed government property and billions of credits in research or something of that description and was apparently notoriously hard to kill. Durge scoffed at this, given he’s fought against some of the toughest of the Jedi, Sith and Mandalorians and others over two millennia. What trouble could another bounty hunter be? With the heavy price tag the Federation was offering to anyone capable enough to dare to take this job, how could Durge say no?
Priming his blaster rifle, Durge came around the corner and fired a few shots. Samus leaped to the side to dodge and aimed her arm cannon in the direction the shots came from-right at the massive armored humanoid holding a rifle. “You’re supposed to be tough? Ha! Let’s see how good you really are,” Durge said snidely.
FIGHT!
Samus fired a few Charge Beam shots, figuring that her normal Power Beam wasn’t going to do much to this guy. Quickly activating her Scan Visor, Samus learned this other hunter was named Durge. While the Scan Visor could not identify whatever species he came from, she learned he had some regenerative abilities. She did not receive any information on the limits of them, however. This was not going to be an easy fight.
Durge jumped into the air, his jetpack activating once he was off the ground. Samus rolled out of the way of another few shots from Durge before retaliating with a couple missiles fired toward the wings of the jetpack. Hitting their target, the missiles eliminated any aerial advantage Durge was hoping to get. Landing on his feet, Durge leaped off the ground towards Samus with a forward jumping punch. To Durge’s surprise, Samus caught his punch with her left hand before striking back with a turning back kick strong enough to stagger Durge a few feet backwards.
Durge aimed his rifle at Samus again, only for her to shoot it out of his hand. He then threw an electric bola at Samus, briefly ensnaring her. However, Samus changed into Morph Ball form and dropped a bomb to destroy the bola. Before Durge could do anything else, Samus leaped towards him with a Screw Attack. The hit staggered Durge even harder than the kick Samus used against him earlier.
Durge has fought beings known for great physical strength such as Wookiees, Trandoshans, even some Jedi and Sith. But for someone who didn’t have the Force augmenting her, Samus was a little stronger than Durge anticipated. No matter though, he wasn’t going to stop now. Durge held up his left hand and started releasing a stream of flame from his wrist-mounted flamethrower. Samus ran to dodge the flames using the Shinespark before firing a Super Missile towards the weapon.
The explosion took out not only Durge’s flamethrower, but tore away all the armor from his left elbow down. “You poor fool. You are going to regret that,” Durge mocked before reaching out with his left hand again, quickly stretching his left arm to grab Samus in a tight grip from across the room. Moving his left arm back and forth very fast, Durge slammed Samus against a couple of the walls. Samus then aimed her arm cannon at the stretched arm holding her and fired an Ice Missile, freezing the elongated arm solid before using her other hand to smash the frozen arm to pieces and break Durge’s hold. But Samus knew it wouldn’t be long before Durge’s severed left arm grew back, so she had to finish him off quickly.
Durge began throwing some spherical explosive devices towards Samus, but she switched into Morph Ball form to avoid the explosions and rolled into a nearby ventilation system on the wall behind her. “You can’t hide from me forever, Aran!” Durge exclaimed before proceeding to try to punch holes into the floor beneath him to grab Samus with his right hand. Soon he was able to find and pick Samus up while she was still in Morph Ball form. With his left hand now regrown, Durge tried to crush her with both his hands. Samus switched back to her normal form, but Durge still had her in his grip.
Charging a Super Missile, Samus fired a point-blank shot of it directly into Durge’s helmet. The blast caused him to stagger back and let go of Samus. When the smoke cleared, Samus was staring into the eyes of the hairless humanoid with sharp teeth, curled in an expression of anger. Samus switched to her Ice Missiles and fired a barrage at Durge to freeze him in place after several shots. As soon as his body was completely frozen, Samus charged forward with a Screw Attack to completely shatter Durge’s body in an explosion of ice and purple slime.
The battle was over...or so Samus thought until she turned back to see the purple slime reforming itself. The familiar ugly face of Durge was staring her down again, only this time the rest of his boneless nerve cluster body was completely exposed and unrestricted by the armor he wore up until this point. Durge grabbed Samus with both arms stretching towards her and encircling Samus’ arms so that she couldn’t aim her arm cannon at them this time. Samus got pulled closer and closer to Durge until his body completely enveloped her. Durge knew that soon she would suffocate, but he was counting on the fact that Samus would not be able to escape from his smothering technique like Obi-Wan Kenobi did via use of the Force.
Little did Durge know, however, that Samus had one last trick up her sleeve. The Gen’Dai bounty hunter began walking a few steps to leave the control room until he felt a rumbling inside of himself. Before Durge could figure out what Samus was doing, everything in his field of view became engulfed by bright orange flame. Samus dropped a Power Bomb to blow Durge apart from the inside out. Doing a spin jump to transition out of Morph Ball form and back to her normal one, Samus scanned around and detected no more traces of Durge’s biomass.
“Adam, it’s me. The distress call was a ruse. Get the ship prepped for takeoff. I’m done here,” Samus said via her helmet’s comm systems.
KO!
Post-Battle Analysis[]
These two are among my favorite fictional sci-fi bounty hunters and I figured Durge could give Samus more of a challenge than Boba Fett even though he’s the more popular opponent to pit Samus against but is too one-sided.
When it came to the research for this battle, both combatants had incredible skills and have tangled with many of the toughest beings of their respective universes. Durge is by far the more physically powerful bounty hunter and had centuries of experience, Samus wasn’t exactly a sitting duck against him. Durge may be the most powerful bounty hunter in Star Wars in the Expanded Universe continuity and has fought members of the three toughest major factions in the setting (the Jedi, the Sith and the Mandalorians). Against Samus Aran, however, Durge was fighting someone who is well outside his weight class. Durge had some unique natural abilities due to being a Gen’Dai, but Samus has faced enemies such as Mother Brain, Ridley, Dark Samus, Phantoon, Kraid and the SA-X (all of whom Durge has never faced anyone or anything remotely similar to within the Star Wars universe).
When comparing the weapons and equipment that both Samus and Durge bring to the table, not only does Samus have the superior technology overall to most weapons from Star Wars, she had ways to counter anything and everything Durge could throw at her. Given how the two ways to kill a Gen’Dai are via complete vaporization at an atomic level or by destroying their brains since their healing unfortunately does not extend to that part of their body, I chose to have Samus blow up Durge from the inside out with a Power Bomb since it’s somewhat similar to his fiery death in the Star Wars Expanded Universe, but that is far from the only way she could have won the battle. She could have fired an Ice Missile directly to Durge’s face to freeze his head solid and fire a second shot to blow it to pieces; she could have grabbed one of Durge’s thermal detonators, primed it to blow and shoved it into his mouth; she could have used multiple blasts of a charged Plasma Beam to melt Durge’s head. The point being that Samus had several ways she could have ended the fight with a victory.
The winner is Samus Aran!