"Skree!"
Debut: Comic #26
Squish is a Metroid and one of the main protagonists of Metroid: Third Derivative. His given (or perhaps taken) name is Charles, but Joey gave him his nickname when they first met.
Backstory[]
Squish was an ordinary Metroid that was born and raised in Space Pirate captivity. The Space Pirates used him for power generation, a process consisting of feeding him large amounts of Phazon and then draining the resulting energy from his body. Unbeknownst to them, this Phazon-heavy lifestyle had unexpected side effects on his physiology.
During one escape attempt, he inadvertently devoured the brain of a Space Pirate drone, designation CHRLS-54, while feeding on him. The brain adapted itself to Squish's body, and Squish suddenly found himself with memory and cognitive ability. While his escape was foiled, this incident would forever change the course of his life.
Still, he would not know true freedom until the day that Joey fell on him.
Storyline[]
Upon achieving freedom thanks to Joey's unexpected assistance, Squish's first action is to attempt to make a meal out of him. This drives Joey into a blind panic, which culminates in his running headfirst into a wall. This is sufficient to remove Squish from Joey's head, but still leaves Joey vulnerable.
As Space Pirates are closing in on Joey's position, Squish opts to hide himself and Joey so that his meal will be uninterrupted. However, Joey's relaxed state and Squish's need to restart the feeding process allows him to discover that he is capable of reading Joey's mind, as well as speaking to him mentally. Squish decides that having this is ability is more useful than having a meal and spares his life.
Through mind reading, he learns why the Space Pirates are after Joey, and after the two are discovered, Squish gets his meal anyway by feeding upon the hostile combat troopers. Unfortunately, this binge leaves him feeling ill and unable to fly, so he hitches a ride on Joey instead.
The next step for the pair is to find the weapon Joey promised Samus. Joey heads for a nearby science lab, where he runs into a scientist. The scientist initially appears to be a hindrance, so Joey asks Squish to attack him. Instead, Squish faints, and he is unable to recover until after Joey has dealt with the scientist and claimed the weapon himself.
Even worse for Squish, he and Joey are surrounded by Combat troopers who freeze the Metroid on sight. They are interested in Joey's apparent ability to control Squish and offer him a promotion. After Joey's refusal and a brief skirmish, a ricocheting Kinetic Beam shot sends Squish sliding into Joey, resulting in a wild ride around the Space Pirate base.
After they come to a halt and Squish is able to thaw and recover from his disorientation, the two start looking for Samus again. They eventually find her battling Dark Samus. When Squish's initial launch of Joey proves ineffective, he opts to directly grab the Phazon-based copy. He holds on just long enough for Joey to give Samus the Kinetic Beam and then releases Dark Samus directly into the weapon's initial shot.
Samus thanks Joey for his assistance, but remains wary of Squish's presence. Squish takes this time to tell Samus about himself and what he and Joey had been doing by latching onto Joey and using him as a speakerbox.
Once the story is completed, the new group proceeds to get utterly lost. Eventually they find their way to a wall of Phazon, and then come across a series of drones sent by the scientist from earlier. The scientist introduces himself as JD and eventually leads them into a Phazon mine to hide from approaching Space Pirates.
The mine turns out to be dangerous. Samus and JD get into an argument, and Squish helps Joey break up the fight using a wildly inappropriate comment. Shortly afterward, he helps Samus break up the next fight between JD and Joey.
A short distance into the mine, Samus accidentally falls into a pit of Phazon. When JD takes the opportunity to try to get Joey in trouble with Samus, Joey asks Squish to convince her that he is innocent. Squish is reluctant, as Samus is less fond of him than she is of Joey and he doesn't have the direct means to communicate with her. He eventually comes up with a makeshift solution involving a local insect's head and a wall.
Unfortunately, now that Squish is separated from the rest of the party, he is easily frozen and apprehended by another set of Space Pirates. He is boxed up and sent back to Power Generation.
His return is less than pleasant. The initial threat is from a pair of combat troopers who take great glee in blasting Squish with their weapons for no apparent reason. He then goes back to his usual Phazon feeding and draining process, where the Phazon appears to be having more of an adverse effect than before.
Squish does not appear in the comic for a long time after this. Still, he is not forgotten, as Samus has obtained his coordinates from JD and heads to his position once she has dealt with several other pressing concerns. She "breaks" into the Space Pirate computers, determines which of the captive Metroids is Squish, and releases him.
Unfortunately, somewhere between his contact with Dark Samus and the Phazon feeding process, he has become highly susceptible to Dark Samus's influence. As a result, he goes on a wild murderous rampage. He is now the same shade of blue as Phazon and appears to have several new abilities, including a lightning attack and greater immunity to cold containment. Most of Samus's attempts to placate him fail, and she eventually resorts to a Mega Missile in desperation.
Not even this stops him, though it knocks him down for a while. Once he recovers, he chases after Samus again. Samus, however, blasts him with a new beam that she has obtained by Phazon-related means. This results in Squish being frozen in a space-time rift.
After a short battle with some Pirates, Samus blasts squish once again and reverts him to his normal sentient state, although he now has blue balls and is still cold-proof. She can also use her Chozo blood to communicate with him, to some degree. She his currently riding him to a pirate control center so she can slaughter some more.
Personality[]
Despite not being as instinctive as other Metroids, Squish's main goal is simple. He wants his freedom, both from captivity and from Phazon. Any other possible motivation he may possess has not been established at this time.
While Joey considers him a true friend, Squish's main interest in Joey is convenience. Without Joey, he would be completely incapable of communicating with anyone else, for starters. Also, it is through Joey and Samus that Squish sees his best chance of leaving the planet. He may have a more personal connection with the other characters, but it's hard to tell.
His recent rampage seems contrary to the rest of his personality, and it is difficult to tell if he is a victim of psychic influence by Dark Samus or merely Phazon madness.
Abilities[]
Squish, as a Metroid, has all of the natural abilities that make the parasitic race considered a threat by the Galactic Federation and an asset by the Space Pirates. He is compact, flies at a reasonably quick rate, and can latch onto other creatures with his powerful mandibles and drain the very life energy from their bodies. He is also highly resistant to most types of assault, although he is susceptible to and weakened by sufficiently cold temperatures.
Unlike other Metroids, though, Squish is not purely driven by instinct. He is sentient and reasonably intelligent. He can also understand the Space Pirate language, although he is unable to speak it himself.
He also has some degree of telepathic ability. Given a suitable connection with another person, he can read his mind, be fully understood by him, or even speak through him. This seems to work best on Joey, but he has suggested in the past that he can do it with anyone. He may also be able to influence other characters mentally, although this is not fully proven. This telepathic ability seems to be a result of his Phazon-mutated nature, which may explain why he was so susceptible to Dark Samus's influence.
He gains an odd ability to release electricity once he has gone on his rampage. This appears to reduce living creatures to ash, but it is unclear if this is an attack or an adapted version of the Metroid feeding process. He has exhibited the ability to immunize himself from cold.
Fun Facts[]
- When not translated as internal monologue or through Joey, Squish's dialogue consists entirely of "Skree" and variants. There was a related joke involving the enemy Skree that occasionally appeared from comics 60-91, but it was eventually abandoned.