AN: This chapter has been RE-WRITTEN to improve quality! This story takes place from the SNES version of the game Route3, the opening and ending sequence is severely close to that, even the chapter names for nostalgia purposes (so pick up an emulator, or download Youtube videos if you've never played it!). Portions were inspired by the OC remix Godspeed by The Wingless- Brae
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Scramble!
Emergency!
The Cornerian base was in turmoil with the countless forces that showered upon the city – they had been fighting for hours, with no opportunity for rest. Troops raced by, transporting news and wounded, of which neither was good. Among them, four were making their way to the launching bay, a team that had been disbanded some time ago, after their leader was killed, had returned.
Scramble!
Emergency!
The alarms and notices drowned out the screaming of some injured pilots, of which, two didn't return from their squadron after given orders to target an enemy air-carrier. Their attack was a success, but seemed only to provoke Venom further. The general, himself, reinstituted the team – believing that the abilities they showed could possibly turn the tide in this volatile time. They entered the hangar where their crafts reflected in the flashing lights, a flawless beauty.
Scramble!
Emergency!
The fighter crafts were prepared, the crews removing hoses and cables. The four smiled at their new Arwings, a gift from Corneria – an emblem shown brilliantly: Starfox. Over intercom it began finalizing the Arwings:
'Internal power to enable.'
'Enabled.'
'External power to disable.'
'Disabled.'
They climbed into their ships.
'Primary weapons to enable.'
'Enabled.'
'Secondary weapons to enable and prime.'
'Primed.'
Fox wrapped his hands around the centre-stick and marveled at the craftsman's-ship.
'Astrogation systems to enable.'
'Enabled.'
'Life-Support to enable.'
'Enabled.'
It had been years since he'd been in an Arwing, his father flew him in the prototype models and secretly shared this experience with his son. The wings spread with a robotic whir and the hull closed over them.
'Deflector shields to enable and prime.'
'Primed.'
'Targeting systems to enable.'
'Enabled.'
Their crafts hummed to life, lighting up as screens flashed as preliminary loading occurred. He turned to the others and could see their smiles and ecstatic awe of being the first Cornerian-contracted team to consist of all Arwings – and the first crew that the planet counted upon in an era of peril. This filled Fox with an ambivalent anxiety – he smiled.
'Alpha replace to enable.'
'Enabled.'
Fox closed his eyes and his grin became strained. His father was the alpha he was replacing – missing, presumed dead.
'Spacial interface to prime.'
'Primed.'
"Okay guys. This is it." They had attracted quite a following, dozens of Cornerians now stood in the bay watching – they've been waiting for awhile to see Starfox finally return, Gen. Pepper stood proud among his soldiers.
'Gravity source to enable.'
'Enabled.'
'Load bombs to prime.'
'Primed.'
'All systems go.'
'Acknowledged, all systems are go: Starfox primed and ready!'
There was an explosion of applause, catching the team off guard. They turned in their cockpits and watched them cheer. Fox felt as though he had swallowed a stone. They saluted Starfox, even the wounded were wheeled out for the unmentioned ceremony.
Okay, Dad, here goes nothing.
Wing-N fighters, Prepare for launch!
The rail system of the hangar catapulted the ships, the forces pressing each member of Starfox further and further into their seats. The end of the launching ramp drawing closer, Fox held his breath, his heart raced. They erupted into the light.
The cheerful ceremony seemed like a distant memory now. The metropolis was in an uproar, its citizens dashed for cover from the invading Venomian forces. Innocent people ran into buildings screaming as enemy fire rained all around them. The city was in the midst of its evacuation efforts, but the surprise assault left many scattered and confused. Fox watched as several citizens were gunned down.
"All ships check in!" There was a fury in his voice he tried to subside.
"Ready, Fox," replied Falco. He shielded his eyes, the sun was low on the horizon and its glare struck his face. Always ready to prove his self to the others, he smiled knowing that despite the time of the attack, he would expand his kill count; he hovered beside Fox's Arwing and waved. Falco'd been a mercenary for sometime before Fox placed his request to join his old man's team; they'd met over a few drinks and a quick dogfight – to which Falco placed on Fox's tab after his victory, a gamble Fox was thrilled he lost. Falco was pleased with his opponent's talents and saw suit to accept his invitation – Fox lost his bet and gained a wingman.
High-pitched, and not terribly confident, enthusiastically, "Ok!" was the reply Slippy Toad had for his leader. Slippy was a chief-mechanic for a fearsome G-Zero racing group. Fox's father was a big fan of the Grand Prix, having originally made plans to recruit Slippy for his talents when he grew older, Fox extended the invitation. He accepted without hesitation. He took his place at Fox's side.
"Yeah – Let's Go!" Senior member of Starfox, Peppy Hare followed suit. He served in Starfox beside Fox's father. Though, even in this severe situation, worried how Fox was coping after his vanishing. Fox said little about his father, and after leaving the Cornerian Academy, said even less; focusing only on the mission. Peppy's experience is what placed him back into a cockpit; Peppy approached Fox enthusiastically with the idea of fighting for Corneria once again. He had spent years mourning James McCloud; but knew he'd want him to fight beside his son.
The four then had to approach the General – with no equipment or means of flight; they would have to align themselves with the Cornerian fleet. He would not even speak to the four, refusing visitors – constantly excusing himself to concentrate fully on the attacks that were occurring in the Lylat System. He took a great deal of persuading before granting them their Arwings and license to participate in battle under his authority.
The formation was almost immediately broken. "Look, Look!" Slippy's Arwing broke away and swerved through some of Corneria-city's archways and took chase to their first enemy: an un-manned, scout craft. He easily downed it with Arwing fire. "Did you see me?" but the other members of the team's attention was on a toppling building that had taken too much damage and crumbled before their eyes. Slippy quickly realized how serious the situation had become and his tone immediately changed.
The four raced as quickly as they could to get to the frontline of the battle, and tried to draw scout fire towards the outskirts of the city. They could see the real battle now, and the real damage the city had sustained - it plagued Fox.
This is Pepper's fault. If only he would've listened sooner. People were dying and he wouldn't allow a willing team fight for the safety of the citizens of the system? 'You're not ready, Fox,' that's what he said, a terrible excuse. Gen. Pepper didn't want to risk losing me like he lost my father. I owe it to Peppy, his experience with my father quickly dismissed any excuse the general had – after he was cornered the general could not help but outfit us, he was honor bound.
Mechanized bipedal automatons began requisitioning the Cornerian supplies, carrying entire silos that supported the enormous population of the planet and the pieces from the air-carrier that the injured pilots back at base dispatched.
I'll show him I'm ready. "Starfox, it's time to go to work." The Arwings broke their formation and engaged the enemy. Their radar was assaulted with countless blips.
Fox fired on the walking machines, feeling the recoil of the laser cannons was amazing. The shots didn't quite make their mark, however, instead clipping one of the many small fighter crafts that swarmed around them like hornets. He fired again, shredding the chest-plate; it began to smoke from the inside but released one of the silos before collapsing itself. He watched Falco barrel through the swarms, dispatching six then eight – his skills were unmatched, the hornets fell like common houseflies.
Peppy pulled his craft, but it had been too long since he last piloted a fighter – he had many crafts simply meters behind him. He started taking fire; the Arwing immediately began losing its luster. "I need some help over here!" Fox took chase after the four smaller crafts that Peppy couldn't shake – he opened his targeting computer.
"C'mon, damn it." Fox's Arwing was too unsteady, the targeting computer failing to lock. Peppy's deflectors began absorbing more damage; it was hard to say how much more punishment it could take.
"Fox!" His name being called shook him, his eyes closed and blindly pulled the trigger – ship parts pounded then bounced off his frame. "Thanks, Fox!"
"Watch yourself, guys;" Falco whirled about and darted by, taking notice to Peppy's corrected situation.
Slippy strafed the ground with fire, targeting venom-artillery. Venom-planted artillery could be confused as small buildings; they assumed the shape of small towers which released powerful plasmic blasts. They were tough, resisting even concentrated fire from his ship - he released his Arwing's nova-bomb in response. Their bombs create quite a flash, bright enough for Slippy to look away, but as he turned back, the small towers were dust. "Pizza cake!"
Fox continued focusing his fire on the requisitioner-bots; making sure that Venom would not be walking away with Cornerian-anything. They collapsed with satisfying thuds. "Slippy, it's a Piece of Cake," Fox smiled; pleased he lightened up again.
"Well I can have my pizza cake and eat it too." Fox laughed to himself, not bothering to correct that phrase either. Slippy laugh turned into a gasp.
There was the sound of static on Fox's end he stared as the plasma web collided with Slippy's Arwing. His arwing drifted on, but on its side; the wing almost completely melted away. After a few seconds it righted itself.
"I'm fine! The wing's mostly gone but I can divert some engine power to stabilize pull. Take this!" Slippy released a second nova-bomb into his assailant, a tower he must've missed.
A hornet managed to land a shot, "Ah, you lucky bastards," Falco braked, hard. The speedy-crafts could not slow down in time; they sped into his sights and were shot down.
Fox took notice to the blows they've received, "How's everyone holding up?" They knew they would have to be cautious, with supply rings few in between and no time to stop for repairs - and retreat was not an option.
Falco deployed one of his nova bombs and watched as the nearby enemy crafts dissolve from its blast, the broad blast doing a severe amount of damage to the swarm. "Is this really all they're throwing at us?" he taunted hungrily.
"Seems like we've dealt quite a punch, Fox." Peppy studied his radar; the forces seemed to be diminishing rapidly.
"Great, we're done, right?" Slippy's wing didn't seem to be damaged too badly, his ship intact and well. Fox was impressed with the toad's sudden calculations.
Loud, mechanical whirring then drowned out the pulsing of their Arwing's engines – an enormous, rolling battle-fortress was the source. Falco's targeting computer's output suggested the base's dimensions: 150 yards wide and 45 high, with a core temperature suggesting an advanced plasma triple-core – this fortress's damage capabilities were phenomenal. "Now this is more like it!"
"This is what Pepper mentioned, all. This thing is what leveled a city on the other side of Corneria. It cannot be allowed to get closer to the capital! We're going to have to take this thing down on our own." Once again, if we were granted leave to tackle these forces without delay – then maybe we could've prevented that from occurring too. If I would've left the academy earlier, maybe I could've saved my father.
"Fox!"
But Fox was lost in thought as the blinding web of light hurdled towards his craft. Falco's voice woke Fox, but could only stare as the plasma was now yards from his ship, the faces of his friends raced through his mind before everything went dark and quiet – A bang. Fox collided against the hull of his own ship, his head striking the panel, but managed to regain control, enough to realize Falco had pushed him aside by ramming into his Arwing, absorbing the brunt of the blast from the fortress.
Falco's shipped chimed: Wing damaged! "I know." Wing damaged! "I know! Damn it!" Falco gripped his arm, he was certain it was broken. He called over to Fox, "Eyes, forward, Fox! Are you all right?"
Peppy and Slippy both engaged the fortress instinctively after seeing what had happened to Falco; delivering shots which seemed to have little or no effect as they were easily deflected by the fortress's massive shielding system.
Fox's head swam, he placed his hand against his head, and he drew it back seeing his own blood on his palm: the cut beginning to bleed into his fur. He switched to a private channel with his wingman. "I'm okay. Yeah, thanks, Falco. Your Arwing, are you okay to fly?"
"I can keep this bird in the air." He diverted the systems as inspired by the blow Slippy received.
"I meant you, are you okay?"
"Mind your own business, Fox. I'm fine. Just watch yourself." Falco winced, trying to ignore the pain traveling up his arm.
Fox switched back to the public channel, he recalled a conversation with Slippy concerning the overheating of weaponry, "Slippy, Peppy, it seems that this fortress cannot handle delivering these plasma blasts without taking time to cool their cores after every shot. When it opens its cooling hatches, open all guns on the cores – we'll see if we can overheat them. Falco, stay back!"
"Aye-aye, Fox!" Slippy smiled and gave himself a high-five in his mind.
"Right, Fox." Peppy's confidence in Starfox was restored.
Falco's Arwing was difficult to steady; the damage it took was forcing it to pull left pretty severely. But sure enough, he watched as Fox's prediction come true, after every rippling plasma-web was launched, the hatches opened and began spinning, serving as fans. Falco pushed the craft and laid strafe shots, placing himself in danger of being killed from the other cores. Fox stared in horror. Falco pulled left, utilizing the damage to his advantage, his craft now allowed for tighter left turns – the core erupted in flame and exploded.
"Falco, are you nuts!" Fox screamed into the radio. Furious that Falco had disobeyed orders and nearly killed himself.
Falco smiled.
Slippy called in, "Nice work, Falco!"
As did Peppy, "Good call, Fox! Let's finish this."
Slippy and Peppy released their nova bombs on the cooling hatches, the fortress ceased firing as often to prevent the now-apparent weakness from being revealed, the nova bombs destroyed both of the hatches leaving the remaining two cores unshielded.
"This one is for James!" Peppy rushed towards the core, laying fire with a yell; the core crackled with energy and exploded with a deafening boom. The fortress, in response, released its missiles; Peppy swerved to avoid them, but the missiles continued their pursuit.
"Peppy, those are homing missiles! Get out of there!" Slippy yelled.
The beeping of Peppy's Arwing began to overwhelm him as the pace grew quicker and quicker as the rockets drew closer. He swerved even more wildly, nearly colliding into some buildings. There was an explosion and smoke, Fox's Arwing pummeled through the cloud. Peppy wiped the sweat from his brow and thanked him, "Thanks a heap, James!"
Fox paused; did he just hear what he thought he did? He shook it off, after releasing those rockets the fortress was defenseless.
Seizing the opportunity, Fox fired a few more shots into the third core – and the fortress began to explode from within. This wasn't uncommon in the Venomian forces; they were known to self-destruct when defeated to leave no-one behind for their foes to interrogate. The explosion was impressive, shrapnel bounced off their arwings, scraping their ships – an enormous flash before it was reduced to rubble.
They noticed what was left of the hornets fell to the ground and became lifeless: they were not strong enough to leave the Cornerian atmosphere in retreat and promptly began to erupt from within.
There was only silence now, Fox checked his radar: nothing. Was that it? His heart leapt. The denizens of Corneria should be evacuated by now, safely thanks to Starfox. He grinned. "All ships check in!"
"So far, so g-g-good," Slippy stuttered.
"Ok, Ok! What's next!?" Peppy was glowing; Fox was certainly his father's son.
"No sweat, Fox!" Falco extended Fox a V with his hand.
I did it, everyone's fine. That should show Pepper and Venom, both, how serious we are! That one was for you, Pop.
Slippy was loudly cheering and laughing: "Starfox! Starfox! Starfox! Yeah!" Even Peppy was laughing along with him.
Fox was relieved and laughed in disbelief. That is, until Falco's ship began to smoke.