Star Fox Redux: The Lylat Wars
Chapter 9: Mission 4- Military Testing Grounds of Titania, The Search for Slippy
The approach towards planet Titania was one filled with dread for the Star Fox Team. As the Great Fox drifted into orbit of the desert world, the thoughts of the pilots turned to their missing comrade. Slippy had crashed onto the planet some four hours prior, his Arwing severely damaged from the creature of the Sector X cloud. His last word- a panicked cry- dug into the depths of the minds of the crew. What was worse, his crash site was this planet: Titania. 2 million years ago, it was once a lush fertile world, with a strong agrarian culture and natural beauties, including the ancient Titanian cities and temples of ornate stone. Sadly, this society was wiped from the surface of the planet when an enormous meteor collided with the planet, giving Titania its well-earned nickname as "The Red Planet of Lylat". Now, Titania serves as a testing ground by the Cornerian military for new weapons; its hostile atmosphere means that no life is sustainable there, and where there is no life, there is no threat to it, thus making the world a totally safe place for military weapons testing. And yet, overseeing personnel have often reported sightings of strange movements on the surface, all of which were uncaptured on video and dismissed by the higher officials. Either way, Titania was a dead planet… one which Star Fox had to travel to in order to retrieve their fallen friend.
From the bridge of their mothership Great Fox, Fox, Falco and Peppy discussed with ROB the exact location of the missing Arwing and its pilot Slippy, the condition both would be in and so on, before a message alert came in from Corneria. Fox stood to answer, with Peppy, Falco and ROB hidden in the back. General Pepper appeared over the hologram, his face contorted into a mix between shocked bewilderment and panicked anger.
"What the hell are you doing, Star Fox!? Titania is a military testing zone, far too dangerous even for Andross' forces!" The General barked, his face perfectly matching the tone of his voice.
"I can't leave Slippy down there, General! I won't! Star Fox never leaves a man behind!" Fox's tone was a departure from his usual cool, level-headed boom; now it was a panicked, frightened and emotional scream. Not only was this a desperate cry to uphold his own moral to never leave a friend behind, but this was also to uphold a broken promise of the Star Fox Team; when Peppy fled from planet Venom five years ago, he was forced to leave a man behind: Fox's father, James F. McCloud. The young vulpine barely managed to keep his tears back, with Peppy openly- yet silently- weeping for his fallen friend and Fox's seemingly breaking resolve.
Even Pepper displayed open tears, snuffling heavily before barely managing to boom with confidence, "Then continue your course, Captain McCloud. Godspeed, and good fortune to you! Make a swift return to your mission when your squad is restored. Godspeed, Star Fox! Pepper out!" Pepper's hologram vanished as Fox stood back from the podium, rubbing away the tears with the sleeve of his jacket. He even knocked his plasters loose, his cuts dried and healing over.
"What's the plan for Titania, Fox?" Peppy queried as the team sluggishly drudged over to the elevator.
Inside, Fox went over the situation: "ROB pinpointed Slippy's location at thirty-six degrees north, 117 degrees west within a six-hundred kilometre range. Peppy, you and Falco take the Arwings and head south. I'll take the Landmaster and head north. Whilst we're looking for him, ROB will continue trying to raise his distress signal and accurately pin down the crash site."
"What if Slip's somewhere east or west?" Falco quizzed, his usual arrogance in place. His comrades couldn't tell whether he genuinely didn't care for his fallen co-pilot, or if he kept up this façade as a coping mechanism.
Either way, Fox and Peppy couldn't dwell on this. The vulpine continued, "If Slippy didn't crash in the southern or northern routes, then we double back to the drop zone and split off east and west; you two head west, and I'll search the east."
"Let's hope that Slip didn't go and get himself into too much trouble. Titania may be a dead planet, but that don't mean that somethin' ain't out there." Peppy lamented as the elevator reached the hangars; the old rabbit stepped out with the bird, whilst Fox rode the elevator down to the cargo hold of the Great Fox. There, he stepped out into the darkened hold.
The Great Fox's cargo hold was a bowed space that filled out the bottom of the mothership. Fox brought a massive floodlight on by voice command and suddenly the maze of heavy-duty containers and food stocks lit up; the vulpine slipped and crawled through every space until he came to a loading lift in the centre, with a large tank sat beside it. Fox brushed one of his hands over the body, sweeping away the dust that hazed the tank's designation, printed into the metal: 'Space Dynamics Land Armoured Exploration Prototype: LANDMASTER MK. I'. During the 10 Years of Recovery, Space Dynamics were developing their first land-based vehicle, but the prototype was gifted to Star Fox under private circumstances, just before the death of Fox's father. Since restarting the Star Fox Team, the Landmaster sat dormant in the cargo hold of the Great Fox, gathering dust and wasting away. Luckily, Slippy- as a Space Dynamics junior engineer and curious inventor- had discovered of the tank and restored it to its former glory, buffing away any rusted pistons and old armour-plating, even upgrading the tank with its frontal J2 Laser cannon, a missile launcher containing up to ten missiles at a time and even a G-Diffuser under the chassis to allow the tank to 'jump' in the air, avoiding any land based beams or underground-surfaced explosions; such G-Diffusers even allowed the operator to roll the tank out of the way and boost to gain speed.
It was also a bit larger than most tanks, such as its concept design, the ancient T57; whereas the T57 sat at about 9 metres long (excluding its cannon), three-and-a-half metres wide and 3 metres tall, the Landmaster sat at just over 11 metres long (again, its cannon excluded from that measurement), 4 metres wide and three-and-a-half metres tall. Even more alarmingly, despite this expansion in size, the Landmaster was somehow constructed to run fine with just one crewman. Of course, Slippy had addressed this design flaw and installed more seats to allow for more than one crewman, but still, the Landmaster could move and shoot at the same time with just a single operator. It had once been simply an exploration vehicle, after all.
Fox grinned at the mammoth-like vehicle and leaped from one curvature of the beast to the next, hopping over the tyre-treads and off the main cannon before slipping through the service hatch and seating himself in the Landmaster's vehicle operations seat. Despite its large size, the Landmaster was very cramped on the inside, understandably to reduce injury to the operator inside if it were ever flipped, but also, to allow for even thicker and stronger armour, with the tank's armour plating constructed from a titanium-ceramic alloy and reinforced with fragments from dying stars. This not only made the Landmaster a nigh-unstoppable force of nature, but also ridiculously heavy, even more so than its T57 concept design. Its original designs put its total weight- armour and all- at just under 180 tonnes, with Slippy's conversion modifications bringing that weight just over 200 tonnes.
Fox shuffled himself into the seat before securing the harness belts and depressing the 'POWER ON' button on his dashboard. The Landmaster spluttered and coughed as the engines began to awaken from their slumber before roaring to life like a wild lion directing its pride. The Landmaster's floodlights blinkered on before striking a shipping container with twin beams of light. Fox gave the cannon a quick spin to get a feel for its movements before taking the controls; he directed the tank in a turn, the tank-tracks slowly rolling forward along the cargo bay floor before stopping on the loading lift.
The Star Fox captain then tuned into a radio, "ROB, have we broke through Titania's atmosphere?"
"Affirmative, Captain Fox. Shall I ready Masters Falco and Peppy for launch?"
"Appreciate it, ROB. And open the cargo lift. I'm deploying the Landmaster."
"Roger that, Captain."
Just then, a yellow-lighted alarm began to blare throughout the cargo hold, likely for informing any staff of the loading lift being opened for deployment. Not that any other flightmates were in the hold. The lift slowly dropped down on hydraulic depressors, with Fox and the Landmaster becoming introduced to the surface of Titania, its red-orange sands stretching for miles upon miles. Fox turned off the Landmaster's floodlights (he didn't need them with the sun bearing down on the planet), and waited as the loading lift lowered down to a safe distance for Fox to ride off and land on to the surface. When he was ready, Fox pushed forward, and the Landmaster rolled off the lift and landed flat into the Titanian sands; strangely, it didn't sink in too far, as Fox carefully lowered the tank into the sands using the on-board G-Diffusers. He then set off northward bound, tracking his progress on the Landmaster's built-in compass, an original attachment from the designers at Space Dynamics.
"Star Fox, check in!" Fox boomed over his tank radio. The communication connection was a little hazy when compared to the Arwing, but Fox could pick out his co-pilots' voices fairly easily.
"This is Peppy. All systems good." Peppy proclaimed, checking his Arwing's systems thoroughly. The EMP waves from Sector X were stronger than expected, and the seasoned pilot was just making sure his systems were working properly.
"Falco here. I'm fine; let's just find Slippy and get outta here fast." Falco barked.
"Alright guys. You remember the plan, right?" Fox queried before they split up.
"Falco and I head south looking for Slippy, you're heading north. If he ain't in either of those areas, we double back here and split off again; me and Falco going west, you going east." Peppy summarised, finishing his checks.
"Enough talkin'. Let's get movin'!" Falco cried, eager to get going.
"Alright then. Roll out, Star Fox!" With that, the two Arwings screwed back on themselves and began to shoot off towards the south, whilst the Landmaster boosted over a dune to roll north. ROB brought the Great Fox up and back into orbit, but not before dropping a marker for the ground team to fall back to if they failed to find Slippy on their destined routes.
Peppy and Falco quickly covered three miles in just a few minutes, with Peppy constantly on his communicator, sending out messages in the hopes that Slippy could contact him and broadcast his crash site. Meanwhile, Falco flied perilously close to the dunes, sinking and rising up and down the sandy mounds, even spinning his Arwing in place just above the desert plains and kicking sand into a pretty fountain around his fighter.
"Watch yerself there, Falco. Sand particles get into yer engines or the G-Diffusers, you'll be in real trouble." Peppy warned his co-pilot.
"Back off, Peppy. I know what I'm doin'." The ace growled in exasperation. Strange he didn't bark it out with pride and arrogance.
"I've known pilots with same kinda skills as you, Falco, but the same kinda cocksureness to boot. And it has never ended well."
"Oh please, not this old story again, old man!" Falco finally barked out, really annoyed by the old-timer's constant warnings.
"Well, stop puttin' yerself into situations where I need to remind you of it, then!" Peppy barked back, the weight of responsibility and wisdom slowly pushing down on the old rabbit's shoulders.
Silence fell over the communications before Falco- in a rare defeated tone- sighed, "Look, Peppy. I ain't too good with words or talkin' about what's goin' on, but… Look, I know I don't say this kinda stuff much, but…" He huffed again, "I just like blowin' off steam, and showin' off helps. I've got stuff from my past that I don't wanna go into, but I think of you guys like family, and I… I just wanna find Slippy soon. I know I give him crap sometimes, but… I don't really mean it, ya know?"
"Perhaps if you opened yerself up a little more and relied on yer flight-mates more often, then maybe you'd be a little better with yer words, son." Peppy reassured with a fatherly-like tone in his humbled voice.
"Maybe…" Falco nervously mumbled. The ace's bravado briefly faded away and showed the young man beneath it: a man who just wanted people to understand him, even if he didn't say much about himself. Perhaps, in the future, Star Fox could come to understand Falco better than the people from the bird's past.
Suddenly, an alarm began to sound on Peppy's radar. "What the-!?" the old rabbit blurted out before directing his gaze towards his radar; seven blips appeared on his scanner and gradually began to filter in close on his position. "Eyes open, Falco! We've got bogeys on our tail!" He then pulled up to the left and charged off into the distance.
"What? Where!?" the surprised Falco yelped, bolting left and right trying to spot their attackers.
"Nine o'clock, at two kilometres! Watch out, they're firing!"
With these directions, Falco pulled up- boosting to move faster- before looping back on himself and charging towards the attackers at blinding speeds and quickly shooting down four fighters before dropping back down and continuing forward down the western corridor. The remaining three attackers peeled off, only to be blasted into a ball of fire by the returning Peppy, who blasted through their shields effortlessly before billowing through an explosion, brushing the smoke cloud out with his fighter's wings.
As Falco flew down to spot the crash sites of the enemy fighters, only to make a surprised forgone conclusion: "Venomian Army!? What are these jokers doin' out here?"
"They could be after Slippy! I'll try raisin' Fox!" Peppy turned to his communicator. "Fox, can ya hear me, boy? This is Peppy." Nothing but radio static cackled through. Peppy continued, "Fox, if you can hear me, watch yer six! Falco and I have come under fire from Andross' forces. Stay alert, and keep yer eyes open! Don't worry about us; it'll take more than a couple of Venomian fighters to take the two of us down. Stay safe, son." Peppy moved away from his communicator, deactivating the broadcaster so as to silence the static.
Falco swung in close with Peppy, continuing down their route towards the six-hundred kilometre marker that marked the end of their search territory. The ace then related, "You kinda look after Fox like a son, ya know."
The old rabbit chuckled, "I knew his father for a long time… Guess I see him as the son I never had. Not that I'm complaining I had a daughter instead. Lucy's the love of mah life, and I wouldn't give her up for anything."
"Heh… whatever you say, old timer." Falco chuckled, a humble tone coming through. "Gah! Enough of this joshin', we need to find Slippy!"
"You're not all wrong there, Falco." The two then set off again after noting that they were approaching a five-mile marker.
Meanwhile…
Fox patrolled his chosen route in silence, his Landmaster tank roaming through the desert plains, climbing up-and-over the dunes with ease. Up ahead, a sandstorm began to charge through, blanketing the horizon with a strong wall of sand and dust so thick that even the radar on the Landmaster (another customisation) couldn't detect what lay within. As Fox rolled closer to the storm, he had to rely on a camera placed just blow the stem of the frontal cannon, which moved with the barrel. And as the dust became thicker and the storm grew stronger, the camera displayed an ever decreasing field of vision. It wasn't long before Fox couldn't see what was in front of him beyond a metre radius. Just a never-ending cloud of sand and dust. Every so often, the Landmaster would tip on one side or the other, as Fox seemingly passed over a solid construct before settling again. The young man looked down to his distance monitor, and recognised that he had travelled about ten miles from his drop-off point. He still had a long way to go before he reached his boundary limit, however; at least another twenty kilometres or more.
After journeying through the dust-storm for about an hour, Fox's view began to clear, and his field of vision slowly expanded; one metre quickly became ten, and ten soon evolved into three hundred metres, and further on until the curvature of the planet obscured whatever laid beyond the horizon. Within the horizon, Fox noted the large quantity of Titanian ruins scattered throughout the desert plains. Great stone pillars that stood tall and firm amongst the sands, or archways that had crumbled into the sands long ago. The ornate designs chipped into the architecture was fascinating to look at, even for the architecture 'noob' Fox McCloud. He didn't have much of a great interest in archaeology, but even he could recognise the brilliant craftsmanship and the heart-and-soul forged into the Titanian cities and temples. He even held a hidden respect and admiration for their pride in their work, as even now- 2 million years since the collapse of their society- their constructs stood the test of time. Fox wondered if these ruins would still be standing in another 2 million years.
Suddenly, his train of thought was brought back to searching for his missing comrade, as he spotted three silhouettes charging through the skies towards him. It wasn't long before he could properly identify the shadows; enemy fighters, coming in hot. Fox directed the Landmaster cannon directly at the fighters and held down on the trigger, storing laser energy before releasing, blasting off a green ball of energy at the leading fighter, ripping through its nose and rupturing its engines at the back. The explosive fire blasted outward as the remaining fighters continued their charge. Fox then fired a near-endless volley of green bolts against the fighters, blasting another out of the sky whilst the last fighter pulled away. Fox was quick to correct his aim and shot another volley after his last target, blasting it out of the sky within just a few seconds firing. As he rolled over to the crash site, Fox was shocked to realise that Venomian forces had arrived on Titania, a dead planet and recognised military testing ground.
Then a horrible truth hit him. They could be after Slippy! He thought, a panicked expression ripping across his face. But he knew that he couldn't just turn back to reunite with Peppy and Falco. He had to keep going on to be sure that Slippy was or wasn't to the north. His journey was long and slow, with the occasional Venomian squad barely kicking up much of a fight before being disposed of. After about another four hours, Fox had reached his boundary marker; no distress signals, no signs of a crash, and no word from Slippy. A defeated Fox huffed in despair and turned back, gliding over the sand dunes and through the storms that flared up along the plains. Again, Venomian fighters attempted to halt his progress, but they weren't much of a challenge; the Landmaster's cannon easily shot them down, or the foolish pilots made the mistake of trying to fly straight into the heart of a sandstorm.
After returning to their starting point (marked with a flag bearing the Star Fox emblem), Fox halted the tank and sat around, waiting for Falco or Peppy to call in over the radio. After travelling through the deserts of Titania for about nine hours (and an extra thirty minutes or so to deal with Venomian attackers), Fox was exhausted from the passage of time, and took the wait to a have quick nap. Even at its maximum speed and boosting, the Landmaster was nowhere near fast enough to search the dead sands within a few hours. As he slept, Fox pondered over Falco and Peppy's search; they could go much faster than the Landmaster at non-boosting speeds (the Landmaster could reach 128 kilometres an hour- or 80 mph- whereas the Arwings could easily reach Mach 1 at 1195 kilometres an hour, or 717 mph), but the Arwings had to fly over the sands in order to search for Slippy (thus necessitating a much slower cruising speed to detect the missing Arwing). Even then, the Arwings could still likely move faster than the Landmaster. Perhaps Falco and Peppy encountered more resistance and were distracted more easily; the Landmaster- as a nigh-indestructible powerhouse on tank-treads- could easily fire laser bolts into the sky, cut through a starfighter and carry on in the same direction. On the other hand, the Arwings would have to duck and dive around their attackers just as they would in a space battle, using wits and skill to outmanoeuvre their opponents and take them out. Add in the often-times obstructions of a planet- such as buildings, landscapes, etc.- and the Arwings had to dodge more things on a planet than in the vacuum of space, where the landmasses there were often quite easily avoided or used as cover.
By now, Fox had been resting for about an hour, and had entered a light sleep; he could hear the faint sandstorms that whipped up around him, the sands that brushed over the Landmaster, the flapping of the flag in the wind, the howling of windstorms in the distance, yet he refused to become too alert. Star Fox hadn't had much time to rest during this mission, and even his resting state after Fichina didn't rest him properly, due to it being more medical rest than actual rest. Meanwhile, his fellow pilots had taken that time to rest and recover better than Fox could have. He stayed here for another hour before slowly drifting into a rapid-eye-movement sleep. His eyes darted about all over the place, his arms and ears twitched to the outside noise, and his heart beat increased and decreased rapidly. Another hour almost went by when-
"-*****-x, can you h-*****-? -***-eat, can ya hear me, Fox? It's Pep-**-! I repeat again, can ya hear me, Fox? This is Peppy; Falco and I are returning to the drop-off to head west."
Fox awoke from his nap in a slight daze, fumbling around in the Landmaster before finally reaching for the radio and sleepily mumbling, "I hear you, Peppy…" He let out a loud yawn before continuing, "No sign of Slippy, then?"
"Negatory. Guy's got himself lost on this backwater planet. Man, he can be such a pain in the ass." Falco grumbled, flying overhead. "Ya know what? I think the tank suits you bettah, Fox."
Fox casually traced the Landmaster cannon to the overhead Arwing, tracking Falco as he circled above the beacon like a vulture. "Why don't 'cha come down here for a closer look, Falco?" the lead bore a large devilish grin across his muzzle as he teased the ace.
"I'll pass, Fox." Falco retorted, barely able to retain his prior arrogance.
"Hey now, you two." Peppy chimed in. "We've got bigger problems to deal with, without you two hotheads tryin' kill each other."
Fox began to lower the cannon. "I'm only playing with him, Peppy."
"Y-Yeah… Just playin', old timer." Falco subtly stammered.
"Alright then, let's get back to the search. We remember the plan, right?"
Fox and Falco almost simultaneously repeated the course of action- "Fox heads east, Falco and Peppy heading west"- before Falco blurted out, "Can we get goin' already? Sittin' around's makin' me cranky."
Fox repositioned himself in the cockpit of the Landmaster, took the controls and proclaimed, "Move out, Star Fox!" Fox spun the Landmaster round so as to face east, whilst Falco and Peppy set off in a hurry towards the west.
Before Peppy dropped out of radio distance, he quickly exclaimed, "By the way, Fox. Watch yerself out there; Falco and I came across Venomian ships."
"Don't worry. I've seen them too. Looks like we need to find Slippy. Fast." Fox boosted forward, effortlessly climbing over a dune and slipping down the other side.
"Agreed. Good huntin', son!" Peppy proclaimed just as the radio turned to static.
After about an hour went by, Fox noted the sun slightly bearing down. Titania never experienced true night-time hours, as the Lylat stars continuously bombarded the planet with solar rays, keeping the planet permanently lit with sunlight. Even as the sun seemingly set, the solar rays never faded into dark, instead the skies turned from the regular blueish tint to a thick orange hue. By the time it would become dark enough for night to settle in, the sun was already rising again, constantly bathing the "Red Planet" in solar rays. Good thing the planet was abandoned; constant sunlight would be severely disruptive for any residents, not to mention the health hazards such as the solar radiation and skin cancers that inevitably flare up. The Star Fox lead pondered whether the ancient Titanians suffered this; then again, a lot has changed to Titania in 2 million years, so perhaps the day cycles were different back then.
As he continued over the dunes, Fox soon found himself approaching rocky terrain; a valley strip at around the 250 kilometre marker heading east. As Fox approached the valley, his cannon camera picked up a small group of Venomian fighters above; the vulpine traced their movements and unleashed a hailstorm of laser bolts after them, quickly knocking them out of the skies and causing a small metal rainstorm as they plummeted to the ground hundreds of feet below. They crashed in a fiery mushroom BOOM, their wings breaking free and tossing through the air like thrown knives. By now, Fox was in the depths of the valley, the rocky formations slowly rising in height with every ten metres Fox traversed further in. When Fox finally hit the lowest ground, he had sunk below the desert surface by about a hundred-and-fifty feet. The valley walls above almost managed to blot out the sunlight- with large coves of shade cast deep within the valley walls- but the orange glow of the sky still bore down on Fox, even at such a great distance from the surface. Fox's journey through this valley- while unnervingly silent- was a breeze with no attacking forces to distract him.
When he began to ascend after about half an hour in the valley, Fox turned back to his radio. "ROB, any news on Slippy's distress signal?"
"Distress signal still broadcasting. Exact location is negative. Boosting radio waves for clarity." The robot spluttered from the Great Fox, which had anchored itself in the orbital zone of Titania; just enough that the planet's gravitational pull wouldn't drag it down whilst keeping out of the way of the debris ring that circled the planet.
As Fox continued his ascension back to the surface of Titania, the static on his radio went wild. He took the talkie, cleared his throat and boomed out, "This is Fox McCloud, lead pilot of the Star Fox Team. Can anyone read me? Over." The static buzzed and fizzed loudly as the Landmaster continued to ascend. "Repeat, this is Fox McCloud of the mercenary team Star Fox. This there anyone out there? Over." The static continued to buzz louder, but occasionally a faint sound struck through the white noise. Fox's ear twitched to the oddity in the audio and was about to broadcast again when suddenly-
"Can an-******-r me? My -*********-ppy T-***- I've be-****-wned on Tit-***-a. Ca-***-yone hear m-me?"
"Slippy?! Is that you!?" Fox exclaimed, his voice cracking from surprise and a sense of hope.
The static was still strong, but the voice came in stronger: "F-Fox! Help m-me out! My wings' are totalled!"
Fox sighed in relief. Slippy was okay! A little roughed up and his Arwing damaged, but the frog was alive. "It's good to hear your voice again, Slip. Hang in there, buddy; we're on our way." Fox changed his channel back the Great Fox. "ROB, can you raise Falco and Peppy? Tell 'em I've found Slippy."
"Affirmative! Relaying message." A brief pause went by before the other Star Fox pilots broadcasted their messages through the Great Fox's communicator.
Peppy's voice came in first. "Good work, Fox! Falco and I'll be with ya shortly!"
Falco came in next. "Make sure that frog doesn't get himself killed, Fox. We'll be there soon!"
Fox put his radio off to one side as he breached the surface and rode out onto level ground. The valley opened out to a field of uphills and downhills with Titanian ruins erupting from within the hot sands; some of the older pillars collapsed as the Landmaster rolled by. Fox even had to boost passed some of the ruins as they toppled over as he passed beneath them. Ahead, more Venomian fighters began to strafe the Landmaster with fire from above. The tank continued on unfazed by the attack. As the Venomians pulled back up to line up another strafing charge, Fox turned the cannon and blasted three of the fighters out the sky. As Fox continued on through the sand fields, more Venomians swooped down from the skies, strafing the Landmaster and tearing up the ruins. Just as before, Fox made short work of these attackers, blasting them with laser bolts from the Landmaster's cannon and watching them tumble from the skies.
As Fox travelled into another valley, a number of creatures emerged from the dunes, jabbing at the Landmaster with pincers or throwing rocks at the tank up on the hills. Fox had to roll the Landmaster away from the pincer creatures and the falling rocks, blasting both types of creature with his cannon and quickly eradicating them. As Fox trundled through the valley, a large spider-like creature slammed down in front of the Landmaster, forcing Fox to stop in his tracks and battle the beast. The large arachnid-type creature spat… something at the Landmaster, which Fox managed to roll out of the way before unleashing a barrage of laser bolts. As the bolts hit the being's carapace, however, the bolts skimmed and shot off into the skies. With little options left, Fox continued this small battle, dodging the spider's spit and pincers as it slammed them after the Landmaster; at one point, the creature even swiped its pincer, but Fox managed to boost the Landmaster into the air and avoid the swiping attack. As he landed again, however, the beast spat at him again and caught him, covering the Landmaster.
"Ah, crap! I can't move!" Fox exclaimed, irked by his carelessness. He rocked the controls to and fro to no avail. Even his main cannon was locked in place, he couldn't trace the turret and aim at the creature.
He was stuck, and looking death straight in the face.
Fox prepared for the inevitable as the creature raised a pincer, only for a starfighter to swoop in and strafe the creature with gunfire. The beast's attention was immediately drawn to the starfighter, allowing another one to rush in behind and blast it with a smart bomb before pulling up.
"Thanks for the assist, old man." Falco's cocksure voice squawked over the radio.
"Looks like we caught up." Peppy chimed in. "What's wrong, Fox? Ya catch yerself some stage-fright?"
Fox shook his head. "Thanks for the backup, you guys. That creature hit me with some kind of spit; it's immobilised the Landmaster. Hold on a sec…" Fox revved up the G-Diffuser and pushed forward on the joystick, spitting sand into the air out the back of the Landmaster and slowly digging him in, before the tank suddenly shot forward. Everything then suddenly began to work again; the cannon slowly responded to movement, the joystick pulled to the left and right properly, and Fox even tested the rolling G-Diffusers to make sure they worked correctly. "Looks like I got it working again."
"Haven't 'cha found Slippy yet?" Falco chided.
"He should be just ahead."
"Alright then. Let's pick him up as a team." Peppy concluded, the two Arwings flying overhead whilst the Landmaster ploughed forward at a steady pace.
After another few miles of rocky terrain, Venomian ambushes and creature encounters, the Star Fox Team finally came across a clearing in the valleys and the dunes, where ahead of them was something unlike anything they had seen on Titania before: Trees. Three lone leafless trees… in the middle of nowhere. And among the branches, an Arwing starfighter with a broken wing and burnt-out G-Diffuser. And through the dirtied cockpit- the glass panes coated in dust and sand- sat a green frog, a red cap on his head. Slippy Toad had been found!
"Slippy!" Fox cheered, happy to have found his missing comrade.
"F-Fox! You guys found me! I knew it! I knew you'd come for me!" Slippy cried, overwhelmed to see his friends again. He even let a few tears loose from his eyes.
"A good soldier doesn't leave a man behind, Slip. A good man doesn't, neither." Peppy mused, a weariness to his voice.
"Just cut him out and let's go already." Falco hissed, his prior fears seemingly covered once again. The bird needed a little more time to become better at showing his kinder side.
"You don't have to tell me twice. Standby, Slip." Fox corrected the aim of the Landmaster's turret and targeted the branch that Slippy was caught on.
"W-W-W-W-W-W-W-Wait, you g-g-g-g-g-guys-!" Slippy trembled, but he was too late. The Landmaster bolts struck the trees, opening up the sand dunes and unveiling some kind of fossilised creature from below the sands. An emerald glow beamed out from its skull, before it let out a blood-curdling shriek. "AAAAAAGGGGHHHH!" the frog screamed.
"What the hell?!" Fox and Falco yelled simultaneously.
"The Golamorph!? The ancient Titanian Beast of Sacrifice still exists!?" Peppy howled in shock, as it dropped back below the hole, dragging Slippy's Arwing with it.
"Bug-boy's still got Slippy! We gotta save 'im!" Falco snapped, blasting the sands trying to coax the creature back out.
It jumped up again, swatting at the Landmaster, but Fox rolled away whilst blasting its cranial plate with the tank's turret fire, whilst Falco shot in and cut through the arm that held Slippy tightly in its grasp. The arm crumbled and fell from the Golamorph's frame, freeing Slippy's Arwing which crashed softly into a nearby dune.
"You okay, Slippy?" Fox queried amidst his fire.
"My Arwing's gonna need repairs, but I'm green! Take that thing out, guys!" Slippy cheered on from the side-lines.
Fox turned his focus back to the creature before him. The Golamorph, as Peppy identified it, the Titanian Beast of Sacrifice. 2 million years ago, the ancient Titanians revered these creatures as deities to be feared and respected through ritualistic sacrifice; according to legend, the Titanians would offer their first harvests to the underground-dwelling Golamorphs at their temples. Now, the Golamorphs are believed to be extinct along with the Titanians, but lo and behold, here was one before the Star Fox Team. But, as Star Fox (minus Falco; he rarely paid attention to history, preferring the here-and-now) watched and pondered, this creature was different from what the Titanians revered; this creature was hostile, and far too large when compared to Titanian architecture. Ironically, the Titanians were quite small-in-stature, but even then, the Golamorphs could pass under their cities without causing much attention; this creature would have easily disturbed the ancient society.
Star Fox focused their efforts on disabling the Golamorph's attack strategy by disabling its arms, shooting the last three from its skeletal frame before it jumped into the air, seemingly attempting to eat Falco and Peppy as they buzzed around its cranial plate like flies. As it slumped back into the sands, its ribcage sprung open, exposing its heart to the elements.
"Quick, Fox! Its chest is open! Aim for the heart!" Peppy shouted as he swooped away from the beast.
From his seat in the Landmaster, Fox readied the cannon and began to blast the Golamorph with a volley of laser bolts, until the heart exploded into a glorious shower of flesh and green blood, causing the rest of the Golamorph's skeletal body to blast apart, before its skull slammed into the sands, the strange glow in its eyes fading out.
"Alright!" Fox cheered, rolling passed the deceased creature. "All aircraft, check in!"
"Slippy here. My wing is crushed and one of my G-Diffusers is completely busted. It's gonna take me a little time to repair it. But that's beside the point; thank you, guys! You came to help me! Thank you guys so much!"
Falco scoffed, "We're always savin' your hide, Slip. Be more careful next time!"
"He's got a point, Slip."
"ROB, bring the Great Fox in for a pick-up. Peppy, think you could give Slippy a pull?" Fox queried.
"No need, Fox. I can still fly the Arwing."
"Alright then. When we get off Titania, we're moving onto Macbeth, Andross' weapons facility."
And with that, the three Arwings took off into the skies (with Slippy lagging behind due to the damages), whilst the Landmaster continued its slow drudge across the Titanian desert as the Great Fox steadily made its descent for pickup…