Gandrayda

Gandrayda is a Bounty Hunter who debuted in Metroid Prime 3: Corruption.

Biography
Gandrayda is a Bounty Hunter born on an unknown planet. However, she possesses metamorphic abilities similarly to the inhabitants of Jovia XII. She can assume the form and abilities of most living things, including creatures differing significantly in size. Her age is unknown, though a psychological evaluation, such as her predilection for pranks, and speaking an informal tone, even in a military setting, it can be inferred she is relatively young, or at least immature in comparison to other Hunters. She considers Bounty Hunting a very enjoyable sport and considers Samus Aran her chief rival. She intends to surpass Samus as a veteran Bounty Hunter as soon as possible. She is a very capable combatant, but she is often hired for stealth and reconnaissance missions due to her ability to mimic creatures. Lore on the Pirate Homeworld suggests that she becomes a Space Pirate, referring to her as "Mistress Gandrayda" - it is likely that she fell under the influence of Dark Samus, after being corrupted by Phazon.

Aiding the Galactic Federation
"If we don't make it to the top in time, we can kiss this planet good-bye. "

-Gandrayda's last words before she is corrupted.

Along with Ghor, Rundas, and Samus Aran, Gandrayda is asked by Fleet Admiral Dane of the Galactic Federation to help stop the Phazon corruption of Aurora Units. Once the Space Pirates attack the GFS Olympus, the GF ship they are currently aboard, Gandrayda helps defend the ship by confronting the infiltrating Space Pirates. She then goes to planet Norion to help the Federation ground troopers on the planet and protect the base.

When Samus arrives at Norion's Generator C, she finds Space Pirates waiting for her. Just as she is about to fight them, one of them assault's his comrades. Once the pirates are dead, it transforms into Gandrayda, who lets 'Sammy' do the work of activating the generator.

Once the four Bounty Hunters reach the Control Tower to activate the cannon to destroy the approaching Leviathan, Dark Samus appears and releases a burst of Phazon at them, causing them to fall unconscious.

Two weeks later, Gandrayda awakes. Due to Dark Samus firing Phazon upon her, her body is now self-producing Phazon, though with no visible negative effects, like the other hunters. The Federation gives her a Phazon Enhancement Device to use this Phazon and send her to find the Space Pirate stronghold. She sets out to find it, but the Federation eventually loses contact with her.

More than two weeks after this, Samus Aran awakes. The Federation now know the location of the stronghold, known as the Pirate Homeworld. She visits the planet and eventually receives a transmission from nearby from a Federation Marine designated NZG41. She manages to reach the marine and helps him activate an elevator. She and the marine go up the elevator, though once they reach the top, the marine begins firing at Samus. He transforms into Gandrayda, who desires a fight, saying, "You know, you should never trust strangers, Sammy... This is gonna be fun."

The Battle
When the battle starts, Gandrayda will make a series of jumping flips and run about the room, and then begin to attack. She can make small disks of energy or spheres of energy which lock onto and "seek" Samus. If one of these "energy spheres" contacts Samus, her visor will cloud with static and she will be unable to move. Gandrayda also will use an impact wave or one of two physical attacks: She will either attempt to strangle Samus or scratch Samus' visor. After that she will become engulfed in electricity and transform into:
 * Berserker Knight: She will employ energy waves, Phazon Orbs and a liquid Phazon gun.
 * Aerotrooper: She will use the missile and energy-based attacks.
 * Swarmbot: She will attack in a manner similar to a tornado. If Samus wanders too close, her energy will be drained.

Notably, if you screw attack through it, Gandrayda will take significant damage, and many powerups will be dropped.

Gandrayda uses all of her same maneuvers. Now she opens part of the roof leaving a small area under protection of the acid rain. Now she will transform into:
 * Rundas: She will employ his freeze wave, an ice sword and snow balls.
 * Ghor: She will employ missiles, the plasma beam, plasma shots and grab the Morph Ball.

When Gandrayda's health drops to 50%, she will transform into a duplicate of Samus, with the Boost Ball, Power Beam Loop and Power Shield abilities. After you defeat Gandrayda in her Samus form, she now will become invisible. Samus must use the X-Ray Visor. After a period of time Gandrayda will use hypermode and disrupt the X-Ray Visor. She also has a new hypermode weapon: she will use an energy-based fan that she will use to attack you directly or simply as a boomerang. After defeating her in this stage, Gandrayda eventually overloads, successively transforming into many different forms, including a Space Pirate, Rundas, Ghor, a Berserker Knight and Samus. She screams while reaching out to the real Samus, who, unable to watch Gandrayda's death, looks away with a clenched fist while Dark Samus arrives and absorbs her.

Logbook Entry

 * GF Lore, Hunter Gandrayda: Subject homeworld unknown. Possesses metamorphic ability similar to the biomorphs of Jovia XII. Can assume the form and abilities of most living things, including bioforms considerably larger than the subject. Scans are unable to determine subject’s age, but psych eval suggests a high degree of youthfulness. Intel suggests that bounty hunting is akin to a sport for her, one she enjoys considerably. Subject perceives the veteran Hunter Samus Aran as her chief rival, a rival she intends to surpass as soon as possible.


 * Hunter Gandrayda: Gandrayda possesses the metamorphic ability to assume the form and abilities of other creatures. This talent has led many to seek her out for sleath and reconnaissance missions, despite her powerful combat abilities. Details on the subject's origins and age are unknown, but her unique traits have made her a sought-after Hunter for missions.


 * Gandrayda: Gandrayda’s ability to shape-shift has been greatly enhanced by Phazon exposure, allowing her to assume a number of deadly forms at will. These new forms come with a cost, as she also inherits their weaknesses. A mistress of stealth, she will employ her personal cloaking field often, setting up her next deadly attack. An advanced visor system may be able to detect her location.

Other
This is the music heard when battling Gandrayda:.

Gandrayda's skin appears to be translucent allowing her bones to be seen at several points.

Trivia

 * During the battle with Gandrayda, it is extremely difficult to hit her with missiles (especially the Hyper Missile) due to her great agility.


 * Gandrayda can be beaten in under forty seconds if you properly utilize the Screw Attack.


 * When Gandrayda appears in the Space Pirate Homeworld, she is much more detailed than the first encounter. Her face shows signs of corruption and she has bags under her eyes.


 * Unlike her fellow Bounty Hunters in Corruption, Gandrayda's own Gunship is never seen, meaning that her means of space transportation remains unknown.
 * It is unknown how Gandrayda can control the Swarmbots, seeing as they are not a singular entity, though it is possibly that they share one "mind".