Peppy quietly made his way through the corridors of the Venomian flagship, slipping through the shadows softly. When a shock troops came nearby, he slid as far as he could into a darkened area, almost becoming invisible.
The aging rabbit tiptoed his way into the large generator room, where a large, electromagnetic generator fed energy to the ship's tractor beam. After briefly examining the controls on a switchboard on the wall, Peppy eased a lever downward, lowering the energy output of the generator to practically nothing.
He suddenly became alert, as two shock troops entered the room. He quickly slipped down into the darkened floor below, where the generators were.
"I don't know. I heard it was some rogue troops or something. Whoever they were, they freed that girl from the detention center," said one of the shock troopers.
"Seriously? I heard it was the Cornerian rebels, but I'm not sure," said the other. They both walked past the control panel, still talking about the "rogue troops" onboard the ship. When their backs were turned, Peppy quickly hurried towards the door. When they began to turn around, he quickly took a small radio from his belt and tossed it to the opposite corner of the room.
"What was that?" asked one of the troops, bringing his blaster rifle up.
"I dunno," said the other. They both crept towards the sound while Peppy quickly and silently sprinted away.
***
Fox, Falco, Krystal, and Slippy all hurried down the corridor towards the hangar, grim looks on their faces. They had encountered no one yet, but they knew their luck would run out soon.
A small security robot wheeled past them on the floor. It stopped and tilted its square-shaped head up at Falco in suspicion, only to have its circuits fried by a blaster bolt.
"Can you be quiet, you'll attract attention!" hissed Krystal.
"We'll attract attention if that thing runs off to tell people we're here!" muttered Falco.
They rounded another corner, only to come face-to-face with four shock troopers. Fox, Krystal, Falco, and Slippy all stared at the troopers for a long moment.
"Wait a minute, you're the four from the detention center!" cried one of the troops suddenly.
Blam! To everyone's surprise, Slippy was the quickest to bring his weapon up and shoot one of the soldiers. As the armored troop fell and Slippy took aim again, the remaining three turned and began to run.
Falco laughed. "Nice shot, frog boy! C'mon, let's see if we can finish 'em off before they alert the others!" he said. Still laughing, the blue bird dashed off in pursuit of the three troops, with Slippy reluctantly waddling after him as fast as he could.
"I'll hand it to him," said Krystal, nodding at Falco as he and Slippy disappeared around a corner, "he is brave."
Fox snorted angrily at Falco's behavior. "Yeah, a lot of good bravery will do him when he's dead. Come on, let's go," he said, leading Krystal in the other direction.
Falco, shouting curses, laughing, and firing his blaster like a maniac, sprinted through the corridors after the three troops. "You'd better run, guys! Falco Lombardi is after you! Or are you too chicken to fight me?" he shouted. He slid around a corner and ran into yet another wide room. "Come on, fight me you sons of..."
Falco trailed off slowly. In the room were a dozen, perhaps two dozen imperial shock troopers, all laying in wait after being warned that Falco was coming by the other three. Falco took a few nervous steps backward, then raised his blaster and fired wildly into the crowd of soldiers before turning and running in the opposite direction, shouting, "Slippy, turn around! Run!"
Slippy, who was panting heavily by then, heard the shouts and blaster fire. After a while, smoke from blaster discharge began to pour into the corridor he was in, and he turned and began to run. After a few moments Falco caught up with him, caught him by the collar, and began dragging him along quicker.
Hearing the commotion from the corridor, Fox and Krystal turned around to see Falco come tearing around a corner, dragging Slippy along behind him. The troops followed them, shouting, "Close the blast doors, close them!" to an android controlling a set of blast doors. It obeyed quickly, but Falco and Slippy dove through them just before they clanged shut.
"Open the blast doors, open them!" shouted the pursuing troops to the android at the controls. "Hey!" one of them shouted, seeing Fox and Krystal staring at them.
Fox fired a few shots at the troops, then grabbed Krystal by the hand and began to run. They stopped at the end of the corridor, just past another metal door. They stood on the edge of a wide, black chasm stretching on for at least six meters. It was a bridge... but it wasn't extended.
Krystal shut the door behind them, then hurriedly looked at the controls. "I can't find a lock!" she cried.
Fox blinked. "Uh, here, stand back," he said. Krystal stood aside, and Fox blasted the controls. "There, that ought to hold them off for a little while," he said. Behind them he could hear the soldiers banging on the door, trying to open it.
"Where are the controls to the bridge?" asked Krystal.
Fox opened his mouth, then closed it slowly. "I think I just melted them," he said grimly.
Krystal frowned. "Then we have to find another way to get across!" she said.
Fox looked up at a large, thick power cable hanging from the ceiling and was suddenly struck with an idea. "Here, hold this," he said, handing his blaster rifle to Krystal. He tugged a long, yet thin metal utility cord from his belt, along with a heavy extra power cell for the blaster. Working quickly, he tied the cord tightly to the power cell and fastened the utility cord to his belt. He heaved the metal cord back, spinning it like a lasso, before letting it fly upwards towards the power cable. The power cell clanged harmlessly off the ceiling, inches from the power cable.
Behind them, the door began to get hot as the troops fired laser blast after searing laser blast into the metal.
"They're coming through!" shouted Krystal. Suddenly a troop poked his head out of another bridge door from the level above them. He aimed down at the two and began firing his own rifle, but Krystal quickly raised hers and shot him twice in the chest. The man screeched in pain and plummeted into the dark chasm below.
Fox swung the cord once again and tossed it into the air. No luck. He once again dragged it back in, hefted his arm back, and hurled it towards the power cable. Clang! The power cell wrapped around the cable twice, dragged the battery back down, and wedged it tightly between the ceiling and the cable. Behind them, a small, red spot had appeared in the middle of the door and large drops of molten metal began to slide off it.
Fox tested the strength of the cable, then put an arm around Krystal's waist and gripped the wire with his other hand. Without warning, Krystal leaned forward and kissed Fox briefly on the mouth. Fox blinked at her curiously.
"For luck," Krystal explained.
Holding the wire tightly, Fox and Krystal swung forward, arcing across the black pit below them. As they landed on the other side of the bridge, the door on the side they were just standing on melted completely.
Fox pulled his father's blaster from his belt and blasted the wire away from his belt, then, shooting at the troops along with Krystal, retreated down the other corridor, heading closer and closer towards the hangar.
***
Peppy hurried down the corridor towards the hangar, his feet stepping ever so softly on the metal floor. He rounded one more corner, then stopped. He could see the open blast doors leading into the hangar only meters away, there was only one problem. Cain stood in the middle of the hallway, his energy sword already ignited.
"Peppy Hare," said the armored villain. "It's been some time since I've seen you."
Peppy stared grimly at Cain. He slowly reached for his blaster in his coat pocket, then drew his hand back. He would have no use for it. Instead, he slowly reached towards a small device on his belt. It was a wide, metal disk, much like a laser reflector, but has a short metal handgrip attached to the underside of it as well. A very old weapon that Cornerian pilots were given, in case they ever were shot down and crashed in enemy territory. It was no doubt what Cain's energy sword was fashioned after.
Peppy pressed a small button on the handgrip, and a thin, white blade leapt up from the disk on his own energy blade. It was slightly shorter than Cain's, but no less powerful.
"Ironic that the last time we battled, we used these very weapons?" asked Cain. "You defeated me and left me for dead. I you should have finished me off when you had the chance," he said.
"I'm not like you, Cain. I don't kill people if they're already defeated. It's called mercy," Peppy said, holding his energy sword out in front of him.
"Or foolishness," said Cain. He lunged towards Peppy, swinging at his neck. The old hare brought his own blade up, deflecting the strike.
The two circled each other, swinging, parrying, and sometimes even delivering punches and kicks to each other.
Cain slashed downward at Peppy, but had his energy blade parried aside. He spun aside to avoid a stab from Peppy, then swung his sizzling blade down at Peppy's skull.
Peppy spun around impossibly fast for someone of his age, angling his sword over his head and blocking Cain's sword. Sparks flew from their clashing blades as Peppy pushed Cain back, almost tripping his opponent.
Cain retaliated with fury, slamming his blade into Peppy's own and shoving him back so that they were fighting right in the entrance of the hangar blast doors. Cain snickered, seeing sweat on Peppy's brow. "You're weak, old man. You should have died quietly on some deserted planet when you had the chance," he hissed.
***
When Fox and Krystal arrived at the edges of the hangar that the Eagle was in, they were relieved to find that Falco and Slippy were already there waiting for them.
"Geez, what took you two so long? We've been here for about twenty minutes!" cried Slippy.
"We ran into a little trouble," said Krystal grimly. "What's the situation here?"
"There's seven troops guarding the Eagle," explained Falco. "They don't seem very concentrated though. I think if they're distracted enough, we can blast them quickly and get out before they can stop us. If the tractor beam is down," he added.
"Wait, what about ROB?" asked Fox.
His question was answered almost immediately, as ROB came walking hurriedly towards the Eagle from a corridor off to the side of the hangar. The troops took no notice of him as he entered the Eagle and settled into the cockpit of the ship.
"Alright, looks like he made it there with no problem. Hopefully that old man is already onboard too," said Falco. "Okay, we pop out and shoot on the count of three. One... two..."
But before Falco could count to three, the troops surrounding the Eagle all began dispersing, heading towards the main exit.
"Well will you look at that? Another stroke of luck," chuckled Falco. They quietly ran across the hangar towards the Eagle, ignoring what the shock troops were distracted by. All of them except Fox.
"Peppy?" Fox said softly, seeing the old rabbit locked in mortal combat with Cain in the entrance of the hangar.
Nobody seemed to hear him. None of the troops took notice, and Cain didn't take his eyes off Peppy. But Peppy seemed to hear the single word that Fox uttered.
Their energy swords still locked together, Peppy glanced briefly at Fox. Then he looked at Cain, a small smile on his face. Surprising everyone, even Cain, Peppy stepped backwards and deactivated his energy sword.
The instant it was off, Cain sprang forward and crashed his blade downward into Peppys head. It was over mercifully quickly for the veteran rabbit.
"No!" Fox screamed.
Falco, who was halfway up the entrance ramp to the Eagle, cursed loudly as the shock troops turned to face the four of them.
Furious, Fox raised his father's blaster and shot two of the soldiers dead immediately. He tried desperately to hit Cain with the weapon, but the armored villain deflected every blaster bolt with a flick of his energy sword.
Falco, Slippy, and Krystal killed three more of the troops, and the remaining two ran for cover. Cain slowly advanced on them like a black angel of death.
"Get the blast door, Fox!" Falco shouted.
Fox blinked. He raised his blaster and fired wildly at a switch on the wall, frying its circuits with two blasts of energy. The metal blast doors slammed shut inches from Cain's armored face. Seconds later, the tip of the energy sword began to slowly cut through the door.
Fox waited, holding the blaster out in front of him. He wanted to kill Cain, just like Cain had killed Peppy. But a shout of alarm from Krystal finally pulled him back to the Eagle. He rushed up the entry ramp just as Falco closed it. Outside the ship, a large chunk of the blast doors fell away, and Cain slowly marched inside.
"I hope that old man knocked out the tractor beam, or this is gonna be a real short trip," Falco said, activating the thrusters on the Eagle. The bulky freight ship lifted off the floor, turned towards the hangar exit, and blasted out into space, leaving Cain in the hangar alone.