Chykka

Chykka was a massive dragonfly-like creature that lived in Dark Torvus on Dark Aether.

The Chykka was born as a larva, which cocooned itself to turn into the Chykka Adult. If the Chykka Adult is exposed to the poisonous water of Dark Aether, it will transform into the Dark Chykka, who can hatch Chyklings, miniature adults who can skip the larval stage entirely. This creature is fought in Metroid Prime 2: Echoes as the Guardian of Dark Torvus Temple. Defeating it earns Samus the Dark Visor.

Battle
In Samus's battle with Chykka, she must first free the Chykka Cocoon from a wall, which then hatches into a rather dim-witted Chykka Larva. The Larva will swim around Samus' platform, disturbing Dark Shredders whom Samus can destroy (and are mainly there to distract Samus as the Chykka dives, though they serve as a reliable supply for Energy and weapons supplies). The Chykka will eventually dive down, then burst up, crash into the water, and send shockwaves at Samus, much like the Jump Guardian, but on a larger scale. This is the time to damage Chykka. If Chykka's shockwaves get Samus, she will be pushed into the poisonous water. The Larva will sometimes leap into Samus' platform, trying to eat her. Samus must dodge the tongue and damage the Larva with beam weapons, as only those will work. If Samus hits the Larva's mouth two or three times with charged shots, the Chykka will be momentarily stunned - and she can take this opportunity to lock on to the lower weak point and fire a Super Missile to inflict massive damage.

Once Chykka is hurt enough, it will collapse and the water will slowly drain lower. Chykka will then quickly metamorphose into the adult Chykka, who splits the platform into three pieces, each with a Light Crystal. At this point Chykka tends to strafe from side to side, making it a more difficult target to hit than its size would suggest, while shooting streams of poisoned water at Samus. Samus must stun Chykka with Beam weapons (Dark Beam being most effective), grapple behind it, and damage its four weak spots on its back with missiles. Seeker Missiles will also work. A Super Missile will destroy its weak point in one round.

Once all of Chykka's wings are damaged, it will fall into the water and fill its abdomen with the toxic water and becomes a Dark Chykka. It will blast Chyklings at Samus, and Samus must damage its abdomen; as a dark creature, charged Light Beam shots are most effective. After some time the water will drain away, and Samus must repeat the process. After dying fully, the Dark Visor appears, the door to Dark Torvus Temple will open, and Samus can transfer the energy back to Torvus Bog on Aether.

Humorously, after the Chykka is defeated, Samus can scan its corpse on the bottom of the upper part of the temple, which assures the player that this time the creature is gone for good. The scan is as follows:

"Bioscan complete. Target Chykka has been terminated. Lifesigns are at flatline. No regenerative ability in effect. No evidence of symbiotic corpse possession. Resurrection does not appear likely."

Other

 * This is the music heard when battling the larval form of the Chykka:.
 * This is the music heard when battling the adult form of the Chykka:.

Trivia

 * Fans speculate that Chykka may be a Phazon-mutated War Wasp due to its strong resemblance in its adult form, and also due to the fact that Dark War Wasps begin to appear after it is defeated.
 * There is a glitch that, when Samus shoots the cocoon off while in the water, she will gain an "Omega Jump" that allows her to jump extremely high. However, the glitch is canceled when the fight is over or if she steps in the water again.
 * The Chykka Larva resembles the Chestburster, an alien life form from the Alien film series. However, unlike the chestburster, the Chykka Larva has arm-like appendages, while the chestburster is more like a worm or slug in most appearances.
 * The Chykka Imago resembles daikaiju Megaguirus from the Godzilla Media Series. Megaguirus is a giant Dragonfly which is the Queen of the Meganulon/ Meganula from another universe turned rogue via Godzilla DNA. The Megaguirus has two forms, a larva form that resides in water and an Imago form which is a giant dragonfly.


 * The roars of the Larva form are recycled sound effects from the death of the Metroid Prime.
 * The Chykka seems to reproduce asexually.
 * Since the larval form of Chykka resembles a Pillbug in many ways, and the adult form resembles a War Wasp, it could mean that Pillbugs are the larval form of War Wasps.
 * The Chykka Larva is similar to the Korakk Beast. Both have double K's in their name, neither have visible eyes and both fire their tongues to pull Samus towards their mouths.
 * The Chykka Larva resembles a silverfish. Interestingly, silverfish are also called "fishmoths".
 * The Chykka's theme seems to have been remixed for the theme of Gandrayda in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.
 * When Samus first releases the Chykka cocoon and it falls into the water, two huge shapes seem to swim in opposite directions. It is possible that there were two Chykka Larva in one cocoon, and that when Samus killed the Chykka Larva, the second one went into its adult phase. It's also possible that the two shapes in the dark water might have simply been the cocoon split in half as a result of the larva hatching from it.