Falco's heart pounded in his chest. His G-diffuser was stabilized, he had working radio…but he had lost his team. His friends. The Aparoids had gone too far this time. This means war. War for the people Falco cared about…even if he didn't admit it.
Falco sat up, shocked, as his screen started buzzing. "Message from…ah, you gotta be kiddin' me," he said as he read the name. He touched the screen, and a canine's face lit up the screen. Falco was surprised to see the look of smugness wiped off the guy's face for once.
"Hello, birdie," Wolf O'Donnell said coldly.
"What do you want?" Falco said to him, pretending to be bored out of his mind. "There's gotta be a reason for you calling me." Suddenly, a red ship appeared outside Falco's cockpit. He looked around, his face somewhat nervous and riddled with confusion. "Why didn't you bring the rest of your team?" Falco asked, trying to sound calm, "You couldn't outmaneuver me by yourself."
Wolf's eyes had a sudden look of despair then. "They…can't help me right now. So why didn't youbring your team?" He asked defensively.
Falco tried to think of an excuse. His mind was blank; he was still in shock about the events of a few hours ago. Trying to save his friends…he had to get the antidote. It was probably on the Great Fox still. If he snuck aboard he could probably-
"Falco!" Wolf yelled, interrupting his train of thought, "where are your guys right now?"
"They're…um, well, tied up at the moment."
"By that do you mean they're being controlled by those damn Aparoids from a year or so ago?"
Falco hit his head against the top of the ship. He reminded himself to sit up slowly next time. "Is that…did Leon and Panther get the same deal?"
Wolf nodded his head sadly. "They had to sacrifice themselves to save me…I gotta get them back to normal, if I don't, I can't live with myself…"
This was a side of Wolf that Falco had never seen before. He was practically at tears. What a wimp, Falco thought, until he realized the exact same thoughts were going through his head less than five minutes ago. "So, you need my help gettin' them back to normal?"
Wolf suddenly sat up and snarled. That's the Wolf O'Donnell I know, Falco thought to himself. Never showing any weak points. I'd admire him, if I didn't hate his guts.
"I never need anyone else's help!" Wolf yelled, "I just need to know if there's any way to get them back to normal!"
"Calm down, buddy…there's this antidote, but it's on the Great Fox, and that's all filled with the Aparoid-ees. But, if you came with me, we might be able to grab it and run. Y'know, before this spreads across the galaxy."
Wolf's eyes suddenly bulged out of their sockets. "Well, you may want to postpone that…we've got company."
Falco looked out his mirror. Sure enough, there was something coming his way. He couldn't quite make it out, though... "Ah, crap," he muttered as he powered up his engines. There were two Arwings coming his way…with a distinct red and black color to them.
He and Wolf boosted away at full speed. The Aparoids' ships were faster, though, and they soon were right on their tails. "This is the part where Fox shoots down the guy behind me," Falco yelled to Wolf over the intercom, "but he ain't here, so you're gonna be doing his job!"
"Alright, calm down," Wolf muttered, then did a somersault to get behind the ship tailing Falco. He could see an infected Fox sitting at the controls. He started shooting right at the back of the ship, aiming for the main engines.
"Wait!" Falco called, "Shoot down his wings! I don't want him to crash, just slow down! He can't be cured while he's dead!" He prayed Wolf wasn't so mad at Fox he would kill him.
After a moment's hesitation, Wolf refocused his fire on the wings. When they were both down, Fox's ship was forced to turn back to the Great Fox. Falco saw the gap he left, and took the opportunity to fly down to the other ship.
Inside the other ship was Peppy Hare. His eyes were soul-piercing, and his body stiff. He spotted Falco, and then rammed the two Arwings together. Falco cussed, then used the brake to get behind him.
He started firing on the wings. When the right wing fell off, however, Peppy reversed directions. "I'm on him," Wolf shouted, and started to follow him. Suddenly, Peppy's Arwing spun around so fast Wolf didn't have time to react. He blasted down both of Wolf's wings with some sort of missile that Falco had never seen before. He suddenly noticed the cannon-like Aparoid tentacles on the wing of the ship.
"The Aparoids upgraded the Arwing's technology," Falco said to Wolf, "that's how they spun around so fast!"
"Great, just great," Wolf muttered as he flew around the modified Arwing, "the only thing is, I'm gonna have to land. I can't stay up here wingless for too much longer."
Falco spotted a planet beneath them. Sauria, the dinosaur planet. Falco had never been too fond of that planet. "You can land on that planet down there," Falco said.
Wolf headed down to Sauria. Falco quickly advanced on Peppy, shooting off his other wing. He then followed Wolf down to the planet's surface.
He hopped out of the Arwing and ran towards the Wolfen. He ran up to Wolf, and Wolf punched him in the face. "Just needed to get that out, after so many years," he said, "now we can start helping each other."
Suddenly, Falco heard a roar in the distance. He scrambled into one of the ruins, and Wolf followed. Falco peeked his head out of the small crack, and his heart sank. They were safe in the cave to the ruins, no doubt about it, but they couldn't stay in there forever. And outside, On a hill in the distance was a giant, black and red dinosaur. They were no longer safe.
The Aparoids had infected the Red Eye King.