Chapter 7 – The Reason
Fox hit the button on the elevator labeled 'Sublevel 16.' The machine rumbled down the many floors below the Academy. The light became scarce, just as it had for its previous occupant.
The Cornerian Flight Academy had not changed very much since Fox's last visit, which happened to be his graduation. The classrooms were still the same, and the dorms were left virtually untouched. These lower levels, however, Fox had never seen.
Fox did not have the time to revisit the halls of his alma mater. As soon as Fox disposed with Carne, he had immediately entered the Academy and was now riding the elevator down to the sublevels of the military institute.
After several minutes of extremely tense riding, the elevator pinged, and the doors opened. Fox walked out of the elevator and into the rock hallway.
Fox's mind raced. He knew that he was close to Krystal. Fox was still nervous, however, and he would continue to be unless he could cave Krystal.
Fox walked through the stone hallway as he scanned the path for traps. He was not about to fall for the same trick he played on Carne. He stooped low and searched for anomalies in the surface of the rock.
Finding none, Fox crept through the tunnel and finally emerged on the other side. He instantaneously froze when he caught sight of the giant structure in the middle of the great chamber.
Fox was awestruck by the monolith. The giant cylinder in the middle rotated clockwise slowly, while the blue gas inside swirled counterclockwise. There was a solid blue beam erupting from the top of the silo. It had bored a hole through the solid rock. The beam looked as if it reached all the way to the surface of Corneria City.
And the, at the base of the structure, Fox saw her. Krystal was trapped inside the gem. The jewel floated, suspended in air by the two golden circles. She was in a sleep-like state.
"Krystal!" Fox yelled in joy. He raced down the ramp and over one of the rickety stone bridges, not bothering to scan the area before entering. Fox was too preoccupied with Krystal's safety.
Fox stood before Krystal's personal prison. One of Krystal's hands was pressed against the glass of the gem in a last effort to get out. Fox placed his hand opposite her's on the other side of the glass.
"It's wondrous, you know," came a voice from behind. Fox whirled around to see Jerevicious Kain standing at the entrance way of the great chamber.
"That mad monkey certainly was on to something," Kain continued casually. He stared intently at the beam coming out of the top.
"What have you done to the people of Corneria?" Fox growled.
Kain faked surprise. "I haven't done anything to them. The citizens of Corneria are currently taking over the Lylat System, planet after planet."
Fox looked disgusted. "Why would they ever fight for you?"
"Oh, it's not up to them."
"What do you mean?"
Kain's eyes shifted to the gargantuan machine behind Fox. He began to walk forward, slowly. "What do you know about Andross?"
Fox winced at the name. "I know enough to beat him."
"My boy," Kain said. "You know nothing."
Kain stopped right before the bridge.
"Have you ever wondered why Andross was banished? Why he was exiled and why he turned on Corneria and all of Lylat?"
Fox remembered all the horror and chaos that Andross had caused over the years before his death. "Andross was a madman," Fox said.
"No," Kain said. His face twisted into such a sinister face that it would have sent Satan running. "He was brilliant.
"Look at that creation," Kain said as he gestured towards the monolith of iron and gas.
Fox grew impatient. "What does this thing have to do with anything?"
"Have you been listening to anything I have said?" Kain asked. "This machine is the reason for the citizens of Corneria's absence. It is the reason why Andross was banished from Corneria. And with the 'help' of this telepath's powers," Kain pointed to Krystal, "this machine is the reason why everyone in the Lylat System will soon be under mind control. MY control!"
Fox looked back at the machine. This was the source of Andross's malice. It was the cause of Corneria's emptiness. This machine was the reason for every cruel thing that had ever happened in the Lylat system since Andross's exile.
Fox turned around to say something to Kain but could not. In the midst of Fox's contemplation, the Lieutenant-Colonel had sprinted at Fox. Now, the dog lowered his shoulder and charged straight into his chest. The impact forced Fox to be hurtled several meters back. He slammed into the side of the machine.
Fox was stunned by this surprise attack. Nevertheless, he pulled out his blaster and fired a multitude of lasers at his now stationary attacker. A few shots went astray and kicked up dust around Kain. Fox fired a charged shot and stopped to prevent his blaster from overheating.
Fox panted as he struggled to regain his breath. He peered through the dust, trying to spot Kain.
The haze cleared, and Fox looked to the ground to spot Kain's body. The canine's body was present, but it was upright, and in the same position as before. Kain's uniform was neither charred, scratched, nor even ruffled! Fox's attacks had done nothing.
"What!?" Fox said, perplexed.
Kain laughed as he mocked Fox. "I forgot to mention the other thing your girlfriend gave me before I threw her in there," Kain glanced at Krystal's prison. He then removed his military cap and tapped the glowing gem that was stitched into the fabric. It was the same gem that had lit up when Krystal's powers had first touched it.
"This gem trapped her powers. She gave me her powers as protection."
Fox scowled. "First off," Fox growled, "Krystal would never give you anything. And no matter what you have, nothing can protect you from Star Fox!"
Fox charged at Kain. His feet churned and moved him to Kain in under two seconds. Kain, however, did not move. Fox lowered his shoulder in the same fashion as Kain had done to him.
The result, however, was not the same. As Fox came within centimeters of Kain's chest, he collided with a shimmering blue-white shield, the color of which was very similar to that of Krystal's fur. Fox fell to the ground from the collision.
Fox stared up in disbelief. Kain was right. He couldn't damage him. But he had to try. For Lylat. For Corneria. For Krystal…
Fox scrambled to his feet and retreated back across the stone platform. He pulled out his sniper rifle and aimed at Kain's hat. More specifically, the gem within the hat.
"I am telling you: That will not work!" Kain informed Fox.
Brazenly, Fox fired. The beam shot forth from the barrel and streaked towards Kain, who remained motionless.
The beam connected with the shield. It failed to penetrate the safeguard, even at its weakest point. The beam deflected straight back at Fox.
With only seconds to spare, Fox ditched the sniper rifle and dove to the left to avoid his own attack. The ray of energy collided with the sniper rifle that still hung in midair. The superheated laser instantly melted the barrel of the weapon, rendering it useless.
Down to only his blaster and his machine gun, Fox began to believe Kain's claim to indestructibility. His blaster proved ineffective and for his machine gun to be accurate, Fox would have to move in close. Against Kain, that was not an option if Fox planned to succeed.
Fox, desperate for himself but more so for Krystal, racked his brain for a plan. Fox glanced at the hallway that led to the upper levels of the Flight Academy, and then back at Kain, who stared back at him, waiting for him to make a move. "It just might work…," Fox said to himself.
Fox took off. He sprinted towards the hallway leading up the Academy. Kain noticed this and ran, taking an angle that would cut Fox off before he got the hallway.
The two sprinted at full speed, not giving an inch. They both had one intent: getting there before the other. And that was going to happen to one of them.
Even though Fox was the faster of the two, Kain got to the hallway a split second before him. Fox, still running at full speed, could not stop. Kain lowered his shoulder again, anticipating a ramming attempt.
Fox, however, would not fall for that again. Baseball style, Fox slid between Kain's legs, popped up, and continued full speed down the hallway. Kain stood for a moment, stunned.
Fox entered the elevator, but deliberately held the door for a moment until he saw Kain coming up the corridor. As the doors closed, Fox baited Kain to follow him upstairs.
"Going up?" Fox rhetorically asked, as the doors closed with a click.
Kain reached the elevator just as the doors closed. Fox rode the elevator all the way up, as a series of thuds reverberated from the lower levels. Kain was banging on the elevator doors. He was mad. He was coming up. Fox smiled.
The elevator doors opened and out galloped Fox. He had precious time to enact his plan, so every moment was crucial. Fox reentered the main and atrium and took a left.
From the best of Fox's memory, he tried to navigate the path to the hangar. The last time Fox had been within these walls, he had never even heard of Andross. Fox prayed that no major renovations had taken place to block his path.
As Fox ran, he heard footsteps. Although far off, they were not his own. These footfalls were accompanied by pugnacious grunts and vicious snarls.
"Good," Fox thought. "He's coming."
Fox sped through a corridor of his old classes. They were empty now. Kain had forced them to fight under mind control. The desks had been unceremoniously turned over and scattered, as if a great struggle took place.
The footfalls of Kain were getting heavier at this point. Fox noticed he was slowing down as he was reminiscing about his time in the Academy.
Fox raced around a corner and came to a junction of four hallways. He froze.
"I don't remember this," Fox said aloud. "They must have added this after I left!"
Fox drew a blank. He had no recollection of this place. What Fox needed to do was to make it to the hangar. The only problem was that he didn't know where it was.
No. It wasn't the only problem. There was another one, and it was big, it was angry, and it was running after him.
A breeze swept into Fox from the left. He looked down the corresponding path.
"That wind!" he said. "There could only be a breeze if that path led to an opening!"
Fox sprinted down the windy tunnel, leaving his confusion behind. And not a moment too late, for Kain had just turned to corner to the junction of hallways. He, however, did not stop to think. He turned left to the hangar, just as Fox luckily had done.
Kain continued to pound the marble floor with his boots as he sped after the fleeing Fox, who he could now see in plain sight.
"No one disrespects me like that!" Kain barked, referring to the incident downstairs. "I am the new ruler of the Lylat System, Emperor Kain!"
Fox did his best to ignore the insolent dog. He turned one final corner and emerged into the glistening steel hangar of the Cornerian Flight Academy.
Usually, the hangar would have been lined with numerous Arwings, thousands of standard class Cornerian ships, a few dropships, and, on occasion, one or two battleships.
However, since Kain had forced all of Corneria to war, only a handful of ships remained. There was an Arwing with no engines, a dropship that was split in half, and a personal transport vehicle with no cockpit. Diffused around the entire hanger were piles of scrap metal tens of meters tall.
Fox dashed into the hangar and froze. He had not thought of this. Fox had expected an Arwing in perfect condition to be working for him, as it always was. Fox had expected a lot of things to happen on this mission that had not been so. It was time for Fox to start making things happen, instead of expecting them to happen.
Fox ran throughout the hangar, searching for a serviceable ship. He pushed the scraps of metal aside as the grunts and guttural barks of Kain grew stronger.
As Fox tossed aside a piece of metal, Kain appeared at the door of the hangar. Fox stood in the middle of the hangar bay as Kain moved to a control panel next to the door.
"You're trapped, Fox," Kain said as he pushed a button. The heavy steel door locked behind him to seal off any escape, save that of flying a ship out into the sky.
"You've made your last mistake. This is the end," Kain solemnly stated as he pushed another button on the panel. This time, the center of the hangar dropped away slowly. Fox jumped off just in time to grab the edge of the floor. He pulled himself up.
"I have Corneria. I have Lylat. And I have Krystal." Kain pushed a final button.
The platform that had dropped before now rose up. It ascended slower, for it was carrying a heavier load. The platform locked back into place, level with the floor of the hangar.
In the center of the hangar was what looked like General Pepper's flagship. The chassis of the sip, in fact, was from the General's ship. However, this ship had four anti-grav blades, very similar to those that were on the Wolfen.
"O'Donnell gave me a few upgrades on my flagship. I hope you don't mind," Kain mocked.
Fox scowled at the dog, as he shifted his eyes around the hangar. Still searching for a flyable ship, Fox refused to give up.
Then, Fox saw it: a rounded point of the nose of a ship. It was buried within a large pile of scrap metal. Fox mistook it for junk, so he had overlooked it before.
Fox ran to the pile and cleared away the pieces of dross around the nose of the ship. It was scarred and rusty, but intact. He cleared the ship of all scraps surrounding it.
The ship was old. It had rust all over, the glass of the cockpit was cracked and smeared, and deep gouges in the hull of the ship ran from wing to wing.
It was not an Arwing, the new-age ship of the Lylat System. It was the classic, the first, the original. It was the same type of ship that the legendary James McCloud had flown. This ship was an Aerowing.
Fox slipped over the crest of a building as he sped out of the Cornerian Flight Academy's hangar. The Aerowing he flew moaned against the G-forces placed upon it. Fox had only hit the thrusters once. The older models of these ships used a single thrust propulsion system that wasted fuel very inefficiently.
Kain, in his enormous flagship, tailed Fox from behind. "How do you expect to defeat the Emperor in that outdated piece of scrap?" he spoke through the radio. "Not even your father could destroy Andross in that thing."
"This isn't about Andross or my father. This is about what you have done to Corneria and Krystal!" Fox yelled through the comm.
"Wrong," Kain corrected him. "This is about what I am going to do to you." Kain sent lasers streaming towards Fox's patchwork ship. The beams of energy connected with the Aerowing's hull and sent the tiny ship into an intense roll.
Fox grunted as he wrestled with the controls of the unresponsive ship. He finally righted the vessel, still fighting the stagnant controls. He turned to face Kain and pulled the trigger that was connected to the firing mechanism of the lasers.
They misfired. An audible whirrrrr bellowed from the bottom of the ship as the lasers failed to gather enough energy. Nothing came out of the laser chambers.
Kain laughed yet again. "Such a shame, it is that the sweet vixen will have to die because of your stupidity."
Fox became enraged. "Krystal will not die! I'm going to save her!" Fox punched the thrusters and sped away from the monstrous flagship. Kain followed closely, blasting away with his lasers.
Fox slipped between two skyscrapers while chunks of metal blasted off from the surrounding buildings due to Kain's lasers. Fox tried a loop, but the Aerowing's outdated technology did not allow it. The hull groaned as gravity threatened to break it apart.
Fox pulled out of the loop and straightened in the air. Kain, however, continued to pummel Fox with his lasers. The Aerowing shuddered from the force of the blasts.
Kain's attacks were causing a lot of damage. Too much damage. Miraculously, the antique Aerowing held together.
Fox needed to do something. If he kept, Fox would become a relic, just like the machine he was flying.
Fox spotted a low office building and raced towards it, all the while being shot at by Kain's flagship. The Aerowing's staccato engines fired periodically, propelling him towards the building. Kain tailed Fox intently. Yet again, the Aerowing amazingly stood up to the assault of Kain's flagship.
Fox was meters away from the top of the building when he punched the thrusters once. Utilizing the brute force of the Aerowing's single propulsion system, the thrust acted as an emergency boost, pushing Fox up. He cleared the building after coming at it at almost a 70 degree angle.
Kain continued to fire as he tailed Fox. Preoccupied with his prey, Kain did not notice that building Fox was headed for. Seeing his peril, Kain swerved up at the last second. The bottom two anti-grav blades of his flagship smashed off the side of the building, causing them to break off.
Now with only two anti-grav blades supporting the oversized ship, the agility of Kain's ship was severely hampered.
Kain was dumbstruck. "How…my ship…you can't…" Kain roared into the radio. To sake his anger, he resumed firing at Fox, which remained the only difference between the two ships.
Fox angled around a skyscraper and aimed at the momentarily crippled Kain. He fired his lasers again. They jammed. Again.
Kain, almost as mad as Fox, roared over the comm. "Even with half a ship, you can't beat me! I'll take that vixen and skin her alive when I'm done with you!"
Fox snarled. "That is it! You're done!" he barked.
Fox boosted himself right over Kain's ship. He flew straight ahead, drawing Kain with him. The canine had resumed his laser barrage.
Fox's plan for a feint at a building worked the first time so he thought he'd try it again. Only this time, it would be for everything. Fox sped towards the Bank of Corneria. It was easily recognizable. It was the only building in Corneria City with a hole in its center.
Fox dipped and dodged Kain's laser blasts in a mock effort to shake him off. Fox wanted Kain to come after him.
Buildings whizzed past the two combatants as they soared high above the metropolis of Corneria City. Fox continually checked the distance between him, Kain, and the Bank of Corneria. "100 meters and closing," Fox said to himself.
Kain continued to pound Fox with his operational lasers. Kain was twenty five meters behind Fox.
"That's too much," Fox remarked as he decelerated to allow Kain to move closer to him. The gap between Kain and Fox closed to ten meters.
Fox could feel Kain behind him. He sensed his presence. Fox fought his natural urge to try and shake a pursuing enemy. He had to fight his temptations for Krystal.
Kain apparently grew tired of firing lasers. "That's enough, Fox. This new fire cannon on my flagship will be the end," Kain snarled. "The end of Corneria, the end of you, and the end of Krystal." The center of the laser chamber of Kain's flagship burned a red-hot color as it gathered energy.
Fox noticed this new threat, but did not respond to it. His plan was already set in motion, and he could not stop it whether he wanted to or not. And he did not want to stop it. For Krystal.
75 meters.
Fox glanced at the building in the near distance.
50 meters.
The fire cannon erupted with a ball of spinning lava, heading straight for Fox.
25 meters.
Kain resumed his laser barrage.
15 meters.
The ball of fire closed in on Fox.
10 meters.
Fox braced himself.
5 meters.
Kain sped to ram the Aerowing out of the sky.
1 meter.
Fox closed his eyes and thought of Krystal.
Fox jammed down on the rusty control stick of the Aerowing. It nudged down, straight through the hole in the Bank of Corneria building. The glass of Fox's cockpit scraped across the edge of the hole as he passed through the other side.
The ball of fire impacted above the hole. It dispersed in a cloud of fire-red smoke and a thick haze filled the air, obscuring vision.
Kain's flagship sped on, as the canine could not see the building through the smoke, even close up. Kain sped up, not being able to angle through the hole he didn't know was there.
Kain impacted with the solid steel surface of the building, followed by collisions with pillars of stone and concrete, all twisting around the plane. Explosions rattled throughout Corneria City as pipes burst within the building. Fires raged within the crash site.
Fox sighed. "It's…its over." He prepped himself for a landing.
Then, sounds of scraping metal emanated from the site of Kain's 'demise.' The fires still carried on, although short sporadic engine bursts could be heard.
The nose of a ship cracked the glass on the opposite side of the building than the initial crash. The nose protruded, followed, slowly, by the chassis, and finally the twin engines of Kain's flagship, still intact.
Kain's voice crackled through intense static. "You –an't beat –e, Fox. I am the –uler of –or-eria. I –m the em-eror of L-lat. I am Kain!" The flagship's engines flared to life as he sped out of the twisted hole of metal and fire.
The remaining two anti-grav blades had been knocked off in the crash, leaving only two stubby wings to provide lift for the massive ship. Kain was almost dead in the air.
Fox spun his Aerowing around to face Kain. He racked his brain for a plan, but found nothing. Helpless, Fox turned to his instincts, as Peppy had always told him.
His instincts told him to fire. Fox pulled the trigger of the useless lasers. This time, there was no whirrrr sound. There was a sound like scraping metal. Fox pulled the trigger again, and the same sound occurred.
Fox jerked on the trigger with all his might. This time, a large piece of jagged metal shot out of the laser chamber. It had been blacking the passage way. Apparently it had gotten stuck in there while the Aerowing was sitting in the refuse pile.
The metal plate had been blocking the lasers from exiting their chambers. When Fox pulled the trigger for the last time, they had built up enough pressure to push the plate out. It headed straight for Kain.
Kain's voice crackled. "What!? That thing's a piece of junk! It's not supposed to work!? That's the reason it was in the junk pile! You can't beat me! That's the reason I'm the Emperor!" Kain fired his severely weak engines in a futile attempt to maneuver out of the way.
The giant metal plate blazed a path across the Cornerian skyline. It was meters from Kain's flagship. The dog could not get away, due to the extensive damage he had taken from the crash.
"No," Fox said, as a last word to Kain, "I'm the reason why you die. The reason is me."
The plate spun as it sliced into the compartments of Kain's flagship. It ripped metal from metal and threw tremendous sparks around the air. Great screeching noises radiated from the flagship, all throughout the area.
Halfway through the ship, the plate stopped. It had hit something.
The engine reactor.
The engines on Kain's flagship exploded. They spewed flames and pieces of molten iron. Kain's engines were gone.
Moving on the involuntary burst that his engine's explosions had given him, Kain drifted out from the Cornerian conurbation. He picked up speed as he cleared a building a plummeted to the ground.
With the help of gravity, Kain's ship smashed into the surface of the water of the great sea surrounding Corneria City.
Fox did not stay to see the demise of Kain. He had already landed. He was running to Krystal.
