SchmEthan here:
Well. Some of you seemed to love that one. I only got a few reviews, but the number of favourites and followers has gone through the roof. I'd like to say a rather large THANK'OO to EVERYONE who's read this, who's believed in me and who thinks this is a DAMN good story. And it's actually going somewhere, I'm just not quite sure how yet.
But I'll think of something.
Enjoy!
SchmEthan.
The Doctor was in shock as he looked around the control room of the new TARDIS. It was more rectangular than his, and the white, hexagonal panels that bounded the room made it slightly smaller. The console was black with a dim red light pulsing from the controls and held a similarly coloured column which stretched halfway up to the ceiling. However, the first thing that the Time Lord noticed was the absence of the TARDIS's telepathy, coupled with the lack of light, aside from the console's dim red glow. I should've felt the matrix by now... he thought. What's going on?
"Another one?" asked Falco. "How many of these things are there?"
"There used to be millions," the Doctor recounted. "Billions even. But they're gone now. Every single one."
"If they're gone, why do you have one?" Fox wondered. "And why are we in one?"
The Doctor sighed. "They're gone because I destroyed them. All of them. I had to. But this one survived." The Doctor ran his hands down the side of his face. "But I should've known about it! My TARDIS should have picked it up the second it crashed! I don't understand..." Almost as soon as he'd spoken, he made a beeline for the console, reaching into his pocket for the sonic screwdriver. "Come on!" he encouraged, buzzing the device as he rapidly circled the console.
The other four could do nothing else but stand and watch the Doctor go about his business. Eventually, Falco spoke. "How'd this thing survive inside Solar? The Doc's TARDIS thi-"
"Doctor!" the Time Lord corrected, gritting his teeth as he continued his search.
With a sigh, Falco continued. "The Doctor's TARDIS needed that surfboard thing to get in here, right?"
"That was just so we could move around. A TARDIS could fall into a supernova and live."
"There doesn't appear to be much life in here..." Dave pointed out.
"That's just it. The crash can't have killed it. In fact, it isn't dead. Kill a TARDIS consciousness and you blow up yourself and take the universe with you. It's sleeping. Why, though? Is it recuperating after the crash? And where's the owner?"
Falco raised an eyebrow. "Again with the speaking too fast for anyone to understand," the avian chided.
Dave understood the Doctor's musings, and it made him think for a moment. "What if it didn't crash?"
Slippy's eyes widened as the same thought occurred to him. "What if someone put it here?"
"Ohh..." the Time Lord sounded. "'What if' indeed..." With another quick scan with the sonic screwdriver, he apparently began reading its information. "Oh..."
"What?" Fox asked, stepping forward. "What is it?"
"It was put here. And it's producing the Omega radiation."
Slippy looked almost exasperated. "But why? Why would it do that?"
The Doctor's look was now one of surprise as he leaned against the console. "'Cause its owner told it to. "
Following a brief period of silence, Dave gasped as he realised something. "Of course!" he yelled, almost prying his mind open as he ran his hands over his head. "Solar's been producing too much energy; it should be unstable. But it's not. The energy was going somewhere, but we couldn't figure it out."
"All of the excess energy is being converted to Omega radiation and being safely carried out of the Lylat system. He knew. Whichever Time Lord did this, he knew. And he made sure to protect his TARDIS, too."
"Hey, we got in without too much trouble," the avian piped up.
"No, it's not the getting into it..." The Time Lord turned to Fox, almost looking desperate. "Fox, that bioweapon you said you took down, what was it?"
Panicking, Fox began to trip over his words. "Um... it was... it-"
"It was a massive bug thing made of lava," Falco finished.
Fox shot the avian a look. "Yeah, that."
The Doctor pressed a few buttons on the console and, with aid from his sonic screwdriver, managed to display a picture on the monitor. It was tilted towards the Time Lord, so only he could see. "Did it look like this?" he asked.
A few moments passed before Fox took the first step towards the Doctor. Falco and Slippy followed, while Dave decided to stay where he was. When the trio had positioned themselves so they could see the screen, they were stunned.
"That's it," Fox managed to say, pointing at the screen with his muzzle agape.
"That was made by the TARDIS," the Doctor explained. "Using whatever she can find to protect herself and her function."
"It's a she?" Falco questioned disbelievedly.
"Yes it's a she!" The Time Lord retorted, furrowing its brow. "And she and my TARDIS happened to be very good friends."
"You know the owner?" Slippy asked.
"I do. Or at least I did," the Doctor admitted.
"Who?" Fox asked.
The Time Lord stared at the floor in rememberance of his good friend. "The Judge."
"Wait, the guy who helped build Dinosaur Planet?" Fox blurted.
"What?" Falco and Slippy yelled simultaneously.
"Oh, you haven't told them?" The Doctor wondered, looking up to face the vulpine. "I thought it was a good story. Especially the bit where you were talking ab-"
"I'll tell them later," Fox hurriedly interrupted, followed by a nervous chuckle.
"Doctor..." Dave called, looking out of the door and into the depths of Solar. "You said the TARDIS uses whatever she can find to protect herself."
"Yeah, she sends out all sorts of signals and telepathic-" The Time Lord stopped in his tracks as he realised why Dave was staring out of the door.
Dave turned to face the rest of the group, raw fear instilled in him. "Aparoids."
The members of Star Fox ran to the door to see, while the Doctor once again drew his sonic screwdriver and began pressing buttons around the console. "Telepathic orders, controlling the weakest and most convenient body it can find."
"But we destroyed the Aparoids!" Falco cried. "All of them! We shot that virus into the Queen."
"You only destroyed the entity that was controlling them. Now the TARDIS is the most powerful mind. And it's sending them after anything that puts its purpose in danger..." Immediately, the Time Lord ran to the door, looking over the heads of the others to see what was happening. Hundreds of small black specks were heading towards them, some close enough to see the singular pink eye on their bodies. "Time to go..."
The Doctor leapt out the door, apparently ignoring the rapid change in gravity and began pressing buttons on the Gravitron. As the others clambered out of the TARDIS, albeit with greater difficulty than the Doctor, they noticed that the Arwings had fallen from above them and had settled on the side of the box.
"Right," the Doctor began. "Fox, Falco, you two get out of here. It'll be easier to get you back in the TARDIS when we're outside Solar."
"Couldn't we just go back and land on the observation ship?" Falco suggested.
The Time Lord gave the avian a blank look. "Remind me: why were we running away from that ship very quickly, in the end having to resort to emergency teleporters to get us out?"
Falco was silent for a moment as he remembered the situation. "A lot can happen in a day..."
"How about we get ROB to send the Great Fox over here?" Fox proposed. "We can all land on it and move out from there."
"Good idea," said the Doctor. "Slippy, would you mind helping me again?"
The frog beamed. "Not at all, Doctor!" he confirmed.
"Excellent." The Doctor nodded to Fox. Returning the signal, Fox leapt into his Arwing, and closed the hatch, opening the comms. link to Falco, who was already raring to go. "Those Aparoids aren't gonna give us a headstart, you know."
The two Arwings zoomed off towards the surface of Solar, the Extrapolator shields separating with a wobble once again, while the others watched as the Doctor lifted the sonic screwdriver to the sky and buzzed it in the direction of his TARDIS. Aside from a small shake on its part, nothing happened. He turned towards Slippy. "Alright then, time to be a great help!"
Slippy's smile grew as he felt pride in his chest. "What do you need me to do, Doctor?"
"Sorry about this," the Time Lord apologised. Without warning, he ripped the Gravitron from the box, forced it into Slippy's hands and then threw him up in the air towards the TARDIS.
Dave looked on in shock as Slippy fell upwards, screaming at the abnormal gravity. While this happened, the he noticed that the box was beginning to sink beneath their feet. "Doctor, what's happening?" he asked worriedly.
"JUMP!" the Doctor yelled.
The primate thought it best to do what the Doctor told him. He jumped, and was perplexed when he found that he wasn't falling back down. He soon realised that he was falling towards Slippy, who had stopped screaming in favour of holding his mouth to contain the side affects of the gravity changes. The frog landed on the Police Box with a THUD, followed by the Doctor and Dave. "Slippy!" the Doctor called. "I need-" The Time Lord looked to find a new stain on the side of his TARDIS. He looked at the vomiting Slippy sympathetically. "Never mind."
He lifted the frog, looking even more green than usual, and he and Dave piled into the TARDIS. "Thank you, Slippy," he breathed, letting the frog slide down to the floor, taking the Gravitron from him. "Wonderfully done!"
Receiving only a groan in reply, the Doctor removed his overcoat and called out to Krystal and Ross, who he couldn't see behind the console. "Oi, you two! Doing alright?"
"Doctor..." came the worried reply from the vixen. "There's something wrong with Ross."
Immediately, Dave ran around to check on his boss. He was sprawled over the floor, sweating furiously. His eyes were darting everywhere as he mumbled the same words over and over again. "Doctor... TARDIS... Safe... Doctor..."
The Time Lord was concerned, but there was a bigger concern flying towards them at high speeds. Slippy managed to retain consciousness just long enough to yell "APAROIDS!" before passing out from all the abnormalities that he had experienced.
"We'll check Ross later," the Doctor promised. "We need to get back to the Great Fox now. Krystal, can you help me out here? Slippy appears to be unconscious."
Following a horrified stare at the Doctor for his disregard of her teammate, the vixen decided that it was probably best to comply. "What do you need?"
"I need a lock-on to ROB from your wrist comm. That alright?"
"Of course!" She complied, holding out her wrist.
The Doctor withdrew his sonic screwdriver, its buzzing causing Ross to writhe about on the floor while he scanned the wrist comm. When he had received the data he needed, he uttered a "Thank you" to Krystal before inputting the information into the TARDIS. "Keep Ross safe," he pleaded, as he flung the TARDIS through the time stream to safety.
"I think we're far enough away now," Fox suggested, checking his radar once again.
"Good," Falco breathed with a stretch, relaxing in his cockpit. "Nothin's about to ruin this trip!"
"I know, it's been so long since we've been flying like this. Just you and me, buddy!" Fox grinned as he remembered the sky trips they used to take when the pair were at the Academy together. They'd laugh, they'd sing, they'd talk, they'd drink. They were good memories for Fox.
"Oh, those were the days, man." A thought occurred to Falco, and a wry smile overcame him. "Hey, Fox. Since it's just you and me, y'know."
The vulpine squirmed in his seat. "I don't like the sound of that..."
"Oh come on," the avian said, enjoying the look of fear in his teammate's eyes. "What's the deal with Krystal? When are you gonna tell her how you feel?"
Fox's eyes widened at Falco's questions. "What are you- How did- I..." The vulpine's Arwing wobbled in its path slightly as he panicked and lost control, earning a roaring laugh from the avian.
"Fox, even I can see it. You're crazy about her! Jeez, it's no wonder you can hardly speak to her if you act like that!" He tried to stop laughing as the now crimson-faced Fox glared at him over the comms. screen, having steadied his craft.
"I actually can speak to her just fine!" Fox retorted defiantly.
"Not that I've ever seen," came the reply.
"That's cause you always march in and take the piss when I'm around her!"
"Only cause you start blushing like crazy! You should see yourself. I can't resist, you know that!"
"Yeah but I only start blushing 'cause..." Fox cut himself off. He'd said too much to the wrong person.
Falco grinned. "'Cause?"
The vulpine sighed. It was time. "Falco, she's brilliant. She's so happy and bubbly all the time. She smiles at everything, she never finds fault with anything, and she's really funny. She's a great girl."
"Not to mention smokin' hot!" the avian jested.
"Hey!" Fox growled over the comms. However, Falco was unfazed, and the vulpine eventually calmed down. "She's pretty. No... she's beautiful."
The avian said nothing for a moment. "You really mean that, man. That's deep."
"Yeah it is," the vulpine replied with a smirk.
"So, you like her? I reckon you do." Falco's eyes widened as he realised something rather important. "Fox, do you-"
The avian was interrupted by the sound of tearing metal and shattering glass. He instinctively checked his systems. Everything was fine. But not on Fox's ship. Falco's flying brain kicked into gear as he banked hard to the left and sailed downwards towards the vulpine's plummeting Arwing. "No, no, no!" Falco yelled. Gritting his teeth, he accelerated towards his friend. "Come on!"
Fox was struggling to retain control of his Arwing. His right arm had been torn by the glass from his hatch, rendering one of his controls essentially useless. The right-hand G-diffuser had been almost ripped from the wing, and the vulpine was falling in a spiral, unable to pull upwards due to his injury. He struggled to turn the ship about and try and lose whatever it is that just attacked him. He painfully looked over his shoulder and found himself staring at an Aparoid, its eye drilling into his mind. He screamed and jerked the controls widly, trying desperately to shake off the nightmare. The Aparoid crawled over the canopy towards the Arwing's fuselage. Fox readied his paw on the firing mechanism. Just a little bit more to the left and he'd have a direct hit.
Another crash behind him flung his body into the controls, causing all sorts of flashes and noises that merged and morphed into senses that Fox could no longer comprehend. He knew that it was pointless to try to fly to safety. He knew that it was over. His head felt as if it was melting and his arm seared in pain. His ears were ringing, his hands were heating up as the controls shorted out. It was over.
Falco spotted Fox's craft and the two Aparoids that were leeching onto it. "NO!" he cried, diving towards it. Other Aparoids were falling from above them to leech off the Arwing's resources, but he picked them off with ease. He checked the state of Fox's craft on his own computers. He saw that the body of the Arwing was damaged. Normally, the frequency of his lasers would have been cancelled out by an electric field within the body of the craft, but now that it had been torn, the circuit had been broken. He'd have to be careful. He drew closer, still accelerating, while aiming carefully at the Aparoid. He slowly squeezed the trigger, beads of sweat falling from his brow. He'd better not miss.
Fox thought he heard the sound of a laser shot. He felt the plummeting ship rumble. He wondered what was going on. But he couldn't make sense of it. None of it. He was dying; he didn't need to make sense of it. But one name seeped through his chaotic head. One name that soothed him. One name that made everything alright.
Krystal...
"Come on!" Falco yelled, as he successfully shot the second Aparoid off Fox's Arwing without hitting him. He managed to draw level with his teammate. There was blood splattered on the outside of the canopy and he could see his teammate in the cockpit barely moving. Grimacing, he piloted his craft beneath Fox's and pulled sharply up. The extra pressure was slowly destroying his ship, but it was saving Fox's. He yelled as a multitude of warnings flashed on his controls. There was no way out of this. The energy was slowly draining from both of the ships. The Extrapolators wouldn't last much longer.
"Fox... I'm sorry..." Falco sobbed, still trying in vain to save his friend. It was hopeless. They were both going to die.
"Hey..." came the weak reply through the crackling comms. "You tried."
"You could've helped a l-little more," Falco half laughed, choking on his emotions.
"Oh shut up..." The vulpine groaned. "We're going down, aren't we?" he asked, still unaware of anything other than his best friend's voice.
"Like you wouldn't believe..." came the defeated reply. "I'm sorry, man."
"It's not your fault," Fox reassured with a cough. "The Aparoids didn't tear your Arwing to bits, did they?"
"Well, no. But-" A small light flashed on Falco's control board. He checked its status. He paused for a moment. "But promise me one thing."
Fox groaned as Falco stopped pulling the ship up, apparently allowing it to fall. "Anything."
"When we get back, tell Krystal you love her."
Fox thought Falco's words through for a moment. "What?"
With a smirk, the avian activated both crafts' emergency teleports. The pre-teleport program made its usual whirring noise, prompting a smile and a groan from the vulpine. "You di-"
