NOTE: Phew. Alright, I finally got Chapter Nine done. I'm really sorry that it's going so slow but I'm having to juggle this story, my business on forums, my DevientArt account, my steam group, my You Tube channel and my real life all at the same time. I'm still here and working on this and everything but (and I know this is like the hundredth time I've said this) things are just going to be slow. Thank you for you time and for understanding and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter 9

Fox

My Arwing crashed into the ocean and I was momentarily thrown forward.

"Ugh." I grunted from the impact.

Reaching down, I grabbed the detonator and mashed the button with my thumb. There was a muffled boom, and the Arwing vibrated before I saw the plates of scrap metal float away from me. Switching on the G-Diffuser now, I pulled my Arwing out of the water and flew low to the shore before landing on the beach.

The jungle was massive, and looked like it would swallow the shore and the ocean at any time. I powered down and sat back in my seat, collecting the nerve to leave the safety of the cockpit. I exhaled and popped the lid before jumping out onto the sand.

Going around to the rear, I opened a hatch and revealed some supplies I would need: A portable scanner and a blaster rifle most notably.

Strapping the scanner to my back, I took the rifle and proceeded, with a moment of hesitation, into the thick jungle. Every thirty or so steps, I stopped, set up the scanning device and let it run for about three minutes before packing it back up and pressing on deeper into the area. All the while, I was on edge, every sound made me jump and almost fire my weapon. I had to keep one eye on the scanner and the other on everything else. What was strange was that I encountered nothing at all but passive vegetation. There wasn't even evidence that there were dangerous lifeforms that had been in the area in the past. Normally, I would be relieved that there was nothing dangerous nearby, but this time it seemed off for some reason.

I'd say I got about a few miles in before I decided that there was nothing here and that I didn't want to push my luck any further than I already had. I thought I was thorough enough and did not fancy the idea of sticking around any longer to become the lunch of some plant creature. Packing up the scanner for the last time, I turned around and started slowly making my way back to my Arwing to return home.

Falco

Fox had been down on the planet for many, many hours at this point. We didn't have anything to do except wait for him to return either with findings of nothing or with something on his tail that would tell us he did find something. If that happened, we'd have to get the hell out of there fast.

I was down in the rec room, tinkering with one of the arcade machines that broke a while back, trying to see if I could get it working again, but I doubted I could, techie stuff wasn't really my thing. I just needed something to do at the time.

Slippy came in through the door just then, walking right up to the dispenser and pressing the button for a cup of some kind of hot tea. He took the canister and twisted it to start heating it up. I don't think he noticed me, probably because I was situated a little in the corner and was behind the machine I was working on. Glancing to my wrist clasp, I saw that it read that the time was 0000 hours. Midnight. I couldn't believe how late it was at the time.

"I don't suppose you know how to get this thing working, do you?" I decided to ask and he jumped slightly, looking at me.

"Oh, hey Falco. I didn't see you there." He responded before looking at the canister of coffee that was warming up, "Well, what's wrong with it?" He asked me, sitting down at a table nearby. Over the years, he stopped being young, just like all of us did. He was more...mellow now, I guess. I was always annoyed by his more...energetic attitude in the past, but at that moment, I missed it for some reason. I guess you could say that I was just missing the way things used to be as a whole, because I kinda did at the time, what with all the things bringing back the memories and all.

"Hm, I don't know." I grunted out, poking at a few circuit boards in the machine with a screw driver, "At first I thought that it was a bad connection somewhere, but I can't find one. I don't really see anything else that could be wrong with it" . After that nothing else was said for a while as he set his drink down and got on his knees next to me to have a look himself.

"...Do you think this plan was a good idea?" Slippy suddenly asked me after a few minutes.

Looking to him, I had to think for a moment before opening my mouth, "I think that-" I was interrupted by an alarm going off.

"WARNING. REACTOR CORE TEMPERATURE HAS EXCEEDED TOLERABLE LEVELS. MELTDOWN IN PROGRESS. T-MINUS 60 MINUTES UNTIL MELTDOWN." The system monitor computer bellowed out before the bulkhead of the Rec room entrance sealed, trapping us in here.

"What the hell!?" I shouted, leaping to my feet as Slippy got up as well. I rushed to the bulkhead and tried to interface with the door controls to try and get it to open, but I couldn't, "What's going on?"

Slippy ran over to the comms terminal and held down the button, "Hey, anybody? R.O.B? Samus? What's going on?" He shouted over the alarm.

"...The primary reactor core's coolant system appears to be disengaged at the moment and is not working to keep it cool enough to function." R.O.B.'s voice replied eventually, "If the temperature continues to rise at this rate, the reactor will meltdown, and the Great Fox will be destroyed."

"Well, reengage the thing R.O.B.!" I shouted, "Before it kills us all."

"I'm sorry, but I cannot do that." R.O.B.'s response made a slight chill down my spine.

"Wha-what? What do you mean you can't do it?" Slippy asked.

"I am not allowed to." There was silence for a moment as it was beginning to sink in what was happening.

"...Why has the bulkhead for the Rec Room sealed?" I asked.

"I have sealed all of the bulkheads on the ship because I was instructed to do so."

"By who!?" I demanded.

"..." There was no response and the channel was soon closed.

"R.O.B. you sonova bitch! Open the damn bulkheads now!" I shouted angrily, slamming my fist on the terminal.

"...I think I can try to bypass the door controls to get the bulkhead open." Slippy suddenly said, running over to the entrance and examining the door interface, "Lemme see that screw driver." He said and I saw I was still holding it and then tossed it to him.

Wedging the blade of the screwdriver under the interface panel he pried it off, showing the electronics underneath. Slippy then carefully seemed to examine it all before he started pulling at wires and making new connections.

"T-MINUS 50 MINUTES UNTIL REACTOR MELTDOWN."

Before he could finish though, what looked like a cutting torch flame suddenly started melting around the frame of the bulkhead. Soon the whole thing was cut out and the bulkhead fell away. In stepped Samus in her power suit, her arm cannon reverting back from some kind of blow torch setting, "Are you two alright?" She asked, her voice having a slight static tone to it due to her suit.

"Yeah." We both answered in unison, "But we've got to get down to Engineering and engage the coolant system." I told her, "R.O.B.'s taken it down to destroy the ship for some reason."

Samus just nodded, "Then let's go, there's not time to waist." She said, stepping out into the hall.

"T-MINUS 40 MINUTES UNTIL REACTOR MELTDOWN."

"But all of the bulkheads are sealed, you won't be able to cut through all of them in time to get to Engineering." Slippy said.

"I don't plan to cut through them." Samus replied, "Just follow me, I'll get us there." She then faced the next bulkhead and took several steps back before running at it, some kind of aura enveloping her suit as she did so. She was suddenly running lightening fast and just...tore through the bulkhead, continuing down the hall and breaking through the others ahead.

"Whoa." Slippy said, and we looked at each other before we started running after her.

"T-MINUS 30 MINUTES UNTIL REACTOR MELTDOWN."