Ridley vs Argos

James was solo on this one. After he'd tried to invade the Pirate Home world with a team, he'd figured a solo mission would be fine. He was supposed to go into Zebes and find the source of Ridley's clones, then destroy them. He chacked suit status:

SHIELDS: Full
WEAPONS: Full
PED BACKPACK: Full
HEAT SHIELDS: Online

He needed heat shielding to get into Norfair. He had just landed and headed out onto the Surface when The Man attacked him. Or, in this case, Evil Dragon Pterodactyl thing.

Ridley also checked his status:

WEAPONS: Full
PHAZON: High
SHIELDS: Full
LIFE RESURRECTING SPACE PIRATE COMRADES: Online

"Alright." He swooped through Norfair. "This should be a piece of cake. And even if I don't win, this will be my 20th anniversary of being brought back to life. I can't believe I've died nineteen times already." He laughed maniacally.

"Your head is going on a platter, you Pirate Scum!"
James ran at Ridley and jumped onto his tail, shooting him. He then ran further up his back, and was thrown off. On his back, he got up.

"Finally got off your back. At least I know you're not a turtle."

Ridley dodged his blasts, ducking under a shell shaped force field.

Argos charged again, but the shield knocked him away and then he activated his PED and shot at Ridley.

Ridley flew upwards, then backwards onto a platform surrounded by lava. Ridley flapped his wings, pushing the fumes and hot air toward James, and at the same time generating forceful wind.

James was blown back from the attack, his suit filtered the fumes but the heat dealt heavily on his shields. Now he wished he'd taken the slightly heavier Varia armorsuit. James rolled and almost fell off of a platform, but grabbed the edge as his rifle fell into the lava. Forced to his emergency pistol and backup knife, Argos pulled himself up and fired a few rounds at Ridley.

Ridley deflected it with his lower arm, then breathed smoke, and then dense fire out of his mouth in short bursts, firing like bullets across the room.

Argos was clearly overpowered in this fight. His shields were gone already, and Ridley only had made like two moves. Argos retreated to cover, and slowly made his way out of Norfair. Then, out of Brinstar, then, he was back on the surface.
"This is Sergeant James Argos, requesting backup."
The GFS Zeus landed and more soldiers came out, and one handed Argos a new rifle.
"Flank him, and avoid his breath. It burns."

Ridley emerged on Crateria and spoke "It's true. It does."

Thoth, on the Zeus, looked up to see the Geoform beast named Ridley. He increased the focus on his cameras, then saw that he was right; he had seen Ridley before while doing SOMETHING with Shasta and Clio, but hecouldn't remember.

Argos had just set his rifle up with his PED armor. He also rewired it so his feet got some Phazon as well. This way, his melee was more powerful.

"Seriously... Do you ever stay dead?"

"I doubt it."

"Okie dokie." Thoth turned on his MTD, and set it so it would take matter from the ground below him, increasing his ability to intimidate.

Argos ordered his troops to open fire, full power.
"Fire!!!!!"
Argos turned on hypermode as well, and shot at Ridley.

Thoth opened fire, sinking into the ground a bit with every shot. Ridley wouldn't go down. Even outnumbering him this much, they needed to be clever.

Argos noticed Ridley's wings, and how he was using them to cover his chest.
"Aim for the torso! The crystal on his chest!!!!!"
Argos fires upon the crystal as Ridley comes forward and takes a whack at one of his troops.
"Damn!"

Ridley picked up a soldier, crunched it into a little ball, then threw it into the rest of the crowd. Then he kicked Argos and the men behind him. Ridley roared.

Argos was slammed into a wall. Argos stumbled back up, and continued firing. He aimed at the crystal, and shot it. A few more troops did the same.

Ridley grabbed another soldier, holding it in front of the cavity in his chest, then began breathing fire on the crowd.

"Hold Fire!!"
Argos looked at the soldier. Then fireballs approached them.
"Take Cover!!!!"
The surviving troops loook at their team mate. He is their leader, outranking Argos. He yells something to them.
"Open Fire!!!!! Take me with him!!!"
Argos and the others open fire, ripping the captain to shreds, then shooting Ridley's chest.

Ridley kicked through the crowd, his feet sticky with blood. He began to pick up other soldiers, throwing them into the side of a cliff on Zebes.

Argos retreats eventually falling into his gunship, Zeus. It takes off, then Argos goes to the controls.
"Lemme pilot this thing."
Argos takes pilot seat and begins strafing Ridley while shooting.

Ridley took out a wing on the ship, then punched through the main gun, casually swatting it out of the air.

((I hope you have a good escape pod.))

Argos started going into the ground, and opened up the side hatch. He jumped out. He broke his left arm, but he was okay. He could shoot. Speaking of which, he was right in front of Ridley. He used his bayonet and stabbed it into his shin.