I've decided to try picking this story back up, and I'm starting with a revamp of this, the only chapter thus far.
Chapter 1: Return of the Sharpclaw General
A few years have passed since the big Aparoid invasion. The Cornerian Army had rebuilt itself, construction was still occurring across much of the capital, and Team Star Fox was enjoying a time of peace. Star Wolf was still nowhere to be found, but previous events gave Team Star Fox confidence that they were out there, somewhere. During the time of peace that enveloped Corneria, Falco had taken up a part-time employment as part of a SWAT team that acted as a branch of the army. While on solo patrol one day, he suddenly heard something, and looked toward the noise. He then rolled to the side just in time to avoid being hit by incoming laser-fire.
"Great, so some scumbags want a piece of me!" Falco exclaimed with an annoyed expression on his face and a shake of his head. He rolled out of the way of more laser-fire, which was now clearly coming from a space fighter. He armed himself with a Homing Launcher and allowed the weapon's targeting system to get the fighter from which the lasers were coming in its sights before firing a shot which smashed the ship to scraps upon contact. As it was destroyed, at least 50 other ships, probably more, seemed to just appear where the one used to be. The avian ace fighter was briefly stunned by the sheer numbers of the apparent replacements for the one fighter that he had just taken down.
Since they were attacking him, and he didn't see any signs of them being the training drones, he figured it must be a kind of scouting battalion, possibly for an invasion force. That being his thought, he got to work destroying the ships one after the other with his Homing Launcher. His actions only seemed to be making things worse though, as just like before, every ship he destroyed was replaced with several. With a grumble he switched weapons, opting for the Gatling Gun because of the numbers he was dealing with. Just like before, the number of ships he shot down didn't matter, as there seemed to be hundreds, maybe thousands more waiting to join the fray.
"Oh man! I don't believe this!" Falco growled, though he had a feeling he had figured out the tactic being used. With that in mind, he pulled his communicator to his beak and contacted ROB.
"This is ROB 64, who is speaking?" The robot asked in his signature monotone voice as he worked at the computer aboard the Great Fox like he always did.
"ROB, this is Falco. I'm going to need an Arwing." Falco said into the communicator, taking the occasional look at his surroundings as he spoke, wanted to avoid an ambush by the cloud of over 300 fighters that seemed to be searching for him.
"Affirmative, the requested Arwing is set to be transmitted to your location immediately." ROB explained. In an instant, the aforementioned Arwing appeared in front of him…about 60 feet in front. "Arwing transmission successful." ROB said. Falco thanked him with a bit of an edge to his voice, hoping to have it closer to him than it turned out to be, but he didn't really sweat it. Once the com link was disengaged, Falco made a break for the craft. He didn't get far, however, before the large number of bogeys were getting in his way. He managed to dodge and weave for a while as he approached the Arwing, but one ship managed to get a cheap shot from behind, knocking Falco to the ground.
He groaned as he got up, but found him surrounded by ships, each of which was preparing a charged laser. A bead of sweat rested just above the avian's neck as he thought of what to do. He could only think of one thing, but he knew that if it didn't work then he was done for. He also knew that there was a slim window for him to pull it off. Trusting in his evasive ability, he waited for the shots to be fired, which they were simultaneously, then dropped to the ground just as they were about to reach him. As he hoped they would, each charged laser destroyed the ship opposite the one that shot it. Surprisingly, there were no replacements that time. Falco didn't take the time to ponder it; he knew that there were only 12 ships in that ring out of 300 or more total. He reached the Arwing with no further hindrances, and once he in the air, Falco was greeted by the remaining cloud of fighter ships. The avian scoffed in annoyance, and after doing a loop to avoid a barrage of lasers, he prepared to return fire.
"Eat this, scumbags!" Falco yelled as he showered the fleet with plasma. He blasted half of the many ships to bits, but every ship he took out, seemed to be immediately replaced by another 50 or so ships.
"You gotta be kiddin' me!" Falco exclaimed in his annoyance. He then activated his communicator again, seeking the communications line of his teammates. Luckily for him, they all seemed to be keeping in touch since he found them on the same line.
"Fox, Slippy, Krystal! I could use some help with something!" Falco called into the communicator.
"This is Fox, is that you Falco?" A voice asked through the communicator.
"Yeah, it's me!" Falco replied in his trademark tough tone.
"Ok, I'm tracking you on radar. What's the situation?" Fox asked.
"A swarm of unknown fighters attacked me. The strange thing is that when the conflict started there was just one, and now there are about a thousand." Falco explained.
"One thousand? Are you kidding?" Fox asked in a tone that clearly expressed an alarmed disposition.
"What do you think I have to gain by lying Foxie?" Falco asked, wondering why Fox would even begin to consider the possibility that he was pranking the vulpine over a military com line.
"I know, sorry Falco. It's not a good time for me to be pulling something like that." Fox said apologetically. "Anyway, try to hang on until I get there."
"I've got it covered, I just need some backup is all." Falco said.
"Slippy here! What's going on Falco?" A second voice asked.
"This is Krystal! Falco, what happened?" and a third.
"Fox'll fill you in, but right now I've got my hands full." Falco said through the communicator to Slippy and Krystal. After that, nothing but static was heard from Falco's side.
"ROB, send me an Arwing, and do it quick!" Fox exclaimed through the communicator.
"The Arwing is being transmitted. You should receive it shortly." ROB said.
"Send me one as well!" Krystal and Slippy called simultaneously.
"They are on the way." ROB said. In an instant, an Arwing appeared before each of the three of them. "Arwing transmissions 1, 2, and 3 successful." ROB said before getting back to work.
"Thanks ROB." Fox said through the communicator. The three pilots then climbed into their Arwings, and took off. As they were following Falco's location on radar, a number fighters started following Krystal and shooting at her from behind. In immediate response to the attack, she pulled a loop, and the tables were turned.
"I'll teach you not to treat a lady like that!" Krystal exclaimed before showering the fighters with laser-fire. She then continued toward her destination, falling slightly behind Fox and Slippy and not realizing that the ships she had just totaled had been replaced with several more that were following her just like the ones before. Meanwhile, things weren't looking too good for Falco. His Arwing was caught in a Tractor Beam being generated by a large ship, and laser-fire from the surrounding fighters were all the while making the Arwing's shields drop fast. Suddenly, the Tractor Beam released the ship, and Falco struggled to regain control of the ship. He got it back under control, but he was puzzled as to why the beam had let him go. As he turned around, his got his answer. A ship from a fleet that was apparently an ally of Corneria had broken the source of the big ship's tractor beam.
"Are you alright?" Asked the pilot who had helped Falco.
"I'm fine." Falco said not-so-pleasantly. Looking at his shield gauge, he cursed under his breath, then contacted Great Fox in an attempt to get ROB to send him a Shield Ring. It didn't take long for a gold Shield Ring to be transmitted and then used by Falco to stabilize and strengthen his ship's weakened shield. Once his Arwing was doing better, he got back to work, barraging the fleet with laser-fire. By this point, it didn't take him long to figure out that his current tactic was doing no good. That caused him to think back to when he had tricked the enemy ships into destroying one another, and realized an apparently secret function about the ships.
"Falco!" Called a voice from afar. Falco looked toward the voice to see 3 Arwings approaching.
"Boy, you guys sure took long enough." Falco said as the Arwings closed in.
"Sorry, we had a hard time." Fox explained.
"And now that we're here, let's take out this trash!" Slippy said with his usual uppity voice.
"Hold up, guys. Just rushing in like that won't work here." Falco explained.
"What? What do you mean?" Fox asked, confused yet convinced that Falco had learned something about these enemies.
"He's right, I'm afraid." The ally pilot stated. "These ships are bizarre. They use a strange form of laser that, while similar to plasma, is slightly different. Furthermore, trying to destroy the ships with plasma will only make the situation worse. You see, it will cause them to multiply, as if they are actually alive."
"Alive?" Slippy asked, now officially freaked out.
"Actually, that's only partially correct." Krystal stated. "This is going to sound strange, but those things aren't ships, in fact they aren't even vehicles. They're living and breathing, and their cells feed on plasma to reproduce. And that 'strange laser' is actually much simpler to understand than a laser. It's a protein-based toxin."
"So…it's venom?" Slippy asked
"That's right." Krystal replied. "Their venom is a strangely corrosive substance, and it is also the only weapon that can effectively be used against them. They're just about the perfect fighting animals. Aggressive, territorial, able to survive even in the vacuum of space, and incredibly accurate with its-look out!" The cluster of allied ships swerved around a bit of venom that one of the aerial creatures. "Venom." Krystal finished. Fox thought hard about the situation, then looked around and said,
"Alright team. We need to lure these…whatever they are into attacking themselves. Any ideas?"
"I've got one." Once again, Krystal's knowledge of the enemy allows her to provide information. "The answer is this." She held up a container filled with vials, each of which contained an ounce of a green, viscous liquid. "We don't have to make them attack themselves if we can turn their weapon against them. My people often went hunting using the venom of the very creatures we now face. We called them Dragon Wasps." Krystal transmitted the venom to Great Fox, giving ROB instructions to distribute the vials evenly among herself and her teammates. Team Starfox, now properly armed, got to work destroying the wave of Dragon Wasps little by little, while the mysterious new army got to work trying to contact their commanding officer. Just when it seemed that Star Fox had the upper hand, a large ship, this one definitely a ship, flew amongst the remainder of the Dragon Wasps. The ship charged a laser, which, when fired, destroyed a good few ships out of the fleet allying with Starfox.
"Uh oh." Falco said.
"General Silver! We require your assistance!" An ally pilot called, having finally reached their commander. Seconds later, a fighter similar to the rest of the ally fleet approached the fray.
"Ha ha ha! That's your great savior? Don't make me laugh." Said the enemy ship's pilot.
"Wait...I recognize that voice." Fox said.
"Really? Where from?" Slippy asked.
"I'm honestly not really sure." Fox responded after quite a bit of pondering.
"Ah, Fox McCloud. I thought I recognized that ship." The enemy pilot said.
"I recognize the voice as well. Who could it be?" Krystal asked.
"Krystal as well? My, a lot has happened since I've been away." The mysterious pilot said.
"Enough! Who are you?" Fox asked in a demanding tone.
"Oh, you don't remember? Funny, I thought you'd remember someone like me, who gave you so much trouble on a single mission. Does General Scales ring a bell?" The pilot asked, causing a lot of shock from Fox.
"You...You're dead! You can't be here! Andross killed you!" Fox exclaimed, causing Scales to laugh in response.
"On the contrary. He thought he killed me. You all did. However, I'm far from dead." Scales said after laughing.