ELLOS everyone! I'm posting this new chapter! Thank you to Spyke for being my Beta reader and taking his own free time and reviewing, editing, and what not... I've got something planned, it's about my new favorite couple James Allfire and Anna Allfire... GhostPhoenix you know what I mean... Expect a new fanfic soon pooples!

Chapter 10

Ishimura Returns

It gets better, trust me

Nick growled in anger, he banged his fist against the console "Work damn it! Why does this always happen to me?!" He yelled and finally gave up. He watched small droplets of sweat float around in the weightlessness of space. He gave the ship one more of his frustrated kicks before giving up and tilting his head back. "What the hell is wrong with me? My mom and dad were perfect, but you hear no crying and bitching from me like there seems to be on everybody's TV…" He started singing to himself to pass the time, his slight Russian accent making the lyrics sound different from the actual song.

Eventually the battle had died down, all was quiet, and Nick was still humming along to the song that was stuck inside his head. He was nearly asleep when something attached itself to his ship with a loud *CLANK*

Nick immediately opened his eyes and moved himself around to try and see what was going on. He looked out the canopy and spotted another ship, it was green and black with a white stripe going along the top. "What the hell?" he said just before his ship finally came back online. He was just about to shoot away from the other ship when he suddenly got an 'Incoming message' warning. Nick pulled his headset on and pressed the 'talk' button.

Almost immediately a voice pierced his ears, much louder than he would have preferred "Hello there!" the man said very loudly "I see you need some help. Well, you're not the only one." he said a bit softer "I'll make you a deal, since my engines aren't working properly and your ship won't start without mine, if you get us into that Human carrier ship, I'll repair yours and let you go"

Nick frowned and tried looking inside the other person's cockpit "How do I know I can trust you?" He asked and grabbed the control stick. Nick waited for an answer but didn't get one. He pointed his ship in the direction of the human carrier. He sighed and pressed his ship forward. Surprisingly there wasn't any fighting going on and that worried him.

'What happened to everyone? That was either the quickest space battle ever or something's up'

0000

Fox was having trouble with his Arwing, not just the boosters or the damage on the outside but the oxygen was started to get thin and he was beginning to see black circles. He tapped his TEAM-COM "Guys, I need some help here" he gasped out "I... can't breathe this air very well, and I'm losing power"

James looked at his son's battered Arwing "Fox, I see a disabled Human carrier. I scanned the damage; it has little power, but breathable air, if you can make it there we can get you to safety" Falco wasn't doing very well either, everyone could see the smoke coming off the Arwing he was piloting. Krystal and James were in the best condition, a few missing pieces of their G-diffusers and scraped paint was all their damage.

Fox made it to the Human carrier, but as soon as he landed, he blacked out.

0000

It wasn't easy living with the Savn Empire. Adam knew it, mostly because he was one of the highest ranking generals. He walked down the long, nearly endless halls of the flagship 'Reign of the Mighty'.

He was on his way to a meeting. One that he truly didn't want to attend, regardless he wasn't going to blow them off...

Once Adam arrived he had to go through a long series of scans and blood-tests. It was annoying, but after finally getting the OK to enter, he finally got inside the meeting chamber. He found his chair and sat down in it, making sure not to crush his tail in the process. He waited another 45 minutes before the Emperor's voice finally pierced his long ears.

"Generals" She said and walked onto the podium "we are gathered here to address a problem and our next step in this war, we have already wiped out their one final defense, what I want to know is, where we will strike next? What are your opinions?" One of the fleet commanders stood "Mistress, and fellow Commanders, we have noticed that one of them have risen up, not fully, but he is showing himself" Another to his right stood "Indeed, a Guardian was seen on the planet; and he is fighting the infection we gave him so long ago, he still has yet to be taken over by it."

"And he has already located five of his Knights; they are heading towards becoming a new Republic"

Adam was next, and he just came up with the craziest of ideas. One so crazy, he was surprised Commander Tressel hadn't thought of it. Tressel was someone you would want on your team on a mission; she was fast, smart, and overall great with a knife and some rope, which is why Adam befriended her first. He stood up "I think I have a solution"

The Emperor looked at him "Speak Commander Phoenix" her slight accent made the word 'Phoenix' sound strange, or at least Adam thought so. He sucked in a deep breath "Where Commander O'Donnell failed in killing him, I have a plan that might succeed" he got a sudden snort from O'Donnell; they were bound to get in a fight later. "As you all know I was once an assassin, I am an expert with the shadows. If you allow me, Mistress, I can infiltrate their flagship and take him out personally"

She seemed to think it over for a moment then looked Adam in the eyes "permission granted Commander, I suggest you hurry, their ship will land soon and will be refueled for a trip back to Corneria" Adam nodded and quickly left. Nothing was going to stop him now, for the past eleven years he'd dreamed of seeing exactly what he could do now that he was older and in control, of course, the rest of Star Fox had to be dealt with first, and he knew exactly how to do it. Adam knew it was risky, but he had to do it.

Adam paused and turned around "Mistress?"

"What is it Phoenix?"

"Permission to take Commander Tressel with me? Mistress"

"Permission granted, Tressel gather your things, drop your current objective and help Phoenix"

The blue furred cat bowed and left her chair and exited the room. Tressel doesn't talk much, only when needed or whispering her victim's last words into their ears before they died. "Thank you Mistress" Adam bowed, and then left. He didn't show his emotion until he left the meeting room. He grinned and balled his paws into fists. This was too perfect.

0000

He couldn't tell what it was, but he heard something. It was a sort of clanking and scratching. Very muffled. Like the sound of something ripping metal apart. Anthony's eyes jerked open; he leapt out of his seat so fast that he startled everyone else on board. He ran to the back of the ship and looked out the port side window. Seconds later Bryan approached "Anthony, what's wrong?"

Anthony held up his hand "Do you hear that?" sure enough above the engines, Bryan heard something grinding. He was about to ask what it was when the warning sirens started blaring throughout the ship "WARNING, HULL BREACH DETECTED" Anthony scrambled to get into the maintenance closet to his left. He opened the door and found two space suits. He turned to Bryan "Take the civvies to the cockpit, its air tight. I'll go out there and fix the hull breach" Bryan nodded his green head and pulled Kit's pistol out of his holster then handed it to Anthony "here, just in case"

Anthony nodded and placed a clip into the weapon "thanks, now go, I can feel the air getting thin" He removed parts of his clothing like his jacket and holster to get the suit to fit. As soon as the auto correcting foam fit his body (Think Dead Space Engineer suit, but with a tail and foxy ears), Anthony breathed a deep sigh of relief as the suit allowed him to breathe. He picked up the nearby welder and pulled his holster back on for the pistol. He cycled himself through the airlock and out into space. Anthony grabbed the side of the ship and climbed up to where the atmosphere was venting.

When his head peeked over the top he saw something that made him uneasy. He brought his hand to the inter ship communicator "Bryan, I have two Aparoids blocking my path, they're tearing into the ship" One of the Aparoids caught the transmission, it suddenly roared and charged Anthony, who pulled the pistol out and fired three shots into the charging metallic alien. The dead body floated past him. He brought the gun to bear and had the second Aparoid in his sights; he pulled the trigger, but heard the horrifying sound of the plasma pistol jamming.

"Shit!" He yelled and threw the gun at the Aparoid. It bounced off harmlessly and floated into space. The Aparoid charged the helpless vulpine, well, almost helpless. Anthony pulled the welder off his back and swung as hard as he could. The Aparoid was thrown clean off the ship when he hit it, which surprised Anthony also. He hadn't swung that hard. Or had he? He shook off and used the suit's boosters to get to the hole in the ship. He grabbed a piece of nearby debris and planted it on the hole. He tested the welder to make sure it wasn't damaged. The nozzle spit out blue flames. Good it still worked. He welded the metal into place and grabbed a few more pieces just to be sure it held.

He stood up and admired his work. A screen appeared in front of him and showed the ship's integrity, it read 50% and gaining. Anthony nodded and walked towards the airlock. But something stopped him. He looked around but didn't see anything. He was about to start walking again when someone started talking to him.

'Oh, look Anthony's playing HERO again' the voice basically spat out the word hero 'It's too bad he won't be able to hold himself back, all those poor innocent people, slaughtered by the hero of Cornerians everywhere' He shook his head a little and kept walking.

Something moved to Anthony's left, he turned but saw nothing, just space and debris. He took a few more steps and saw something to his right, but it was much, much, much closer. He snapped to the right but instantly regretted it. The human in the engineer suit lunged at Anthony and pushed him back, hovering over him by a few inches and using Anthony's neck as a handle to keep him up. Anthony struggled but the hold got tighter around his neck. The Human's helmet started to come undone. Anthony stared at his orange glowing eyes and mouth.

The Human screeched in Anthony's face before actually speaking "Follow the steps, they will lead you to... to..." the Human's face went back to normal, but he still held Anthony tight. His greenish gold colored eyes looked into Anthony's "Help... me..." he said as if something was out to get him. In a bright flash the Human was gone and Anthony was alone again. He shook his head to try and get rid of the ringing he had in his ears and started toward the airlock again, when he made it about ten feet from the airlock when the sound came back to his ears "Anthony! Holy shit! What the hell were you doing out there?!" Anthony ignored Bryan's voice and continued down the side of the ship.

Suddenly, he felt as if a huge piece of metal smashed into his side, because it did. Anthony was sent flying through space on a collision course with a ship. He watched helplessly as his jets wouldn't work and his captured ship was continuing its course. Anthony looked at the ship closely and caught sight of its name "Ishimura?" he mumbled to himself.

'Where have I heard that name before?' Anthony thought to himself just before he felt gravity rush over him, causing him to fall.

He landed on the ground with a loud *CLANK* that echoed across the hanger bay. He grunted and stood up. All around the hanger were dead bodies. Some were torn to pieces, crushed by equipment, apparently shot, or sliced in half by malfunctioning doors. He surveyed the gore and decided to get the hell outta there. He made it to a door that sliced an engineer in half. He looked at the body.

'Even for a Human, this is a horrible way to die' Anthony bent down and picked up the pistol that the human's hand was grasping. As soon as the pistol moved, the human latched on to Anthony's arm and groaned "Help... me..." She struggled to say, puking blood in the process. Anthony reeled back "HOLY SHIT!" He yelled and yanked the pistol back and kicked the creature's face, dealing the final blow.

Anthony ran past the dead Human and made his way to what looked like the ship's bridge. He activated the Microphone on his helmet "Bryan can you hear me? Hello? Anyone?" He waited a few minutes but only got static and the occasional word like "Here" or "Help"

Anthony decided to try and find an escape pod or a ship of some sort to escape the ship. A few times he thought someone was following him, so he turned around and pointed the pistol at nothing behind him. Anthony turned about and continued his run down the long hallways. Every now and then he would see the occasional body of a badly torn up Human and continued to wonder,

'What the hell happened here?'

Eventually he reached the escape pod bay and he stopped in front of the only working pod. Something to his right moved. Anthony flipped his pistol up quickly and shot three times. He heard a yelp and then someone shouted, "Whoa watch it! I'm still human!" Anthony lowered his pistol "What do you mean 'still human?'" He asked the woman who'd dove for cover. "I mean I'm still fucking alive!" she yelled and stood up behind a box "I thought I was the last one alive on this god-forsaken ship, is that you Lo-who, what, are you?"

Anthony was stumped by the question "Don't you know? Our races have been at war" He said and pulled open a fuse box. He tore out wires and replaced damaged ones, trying to gain access to the escape pod as quick as possible "What? Humans haven't even found another living, sentient species yet! ... until now at least" Anthony huffed and yanked the power from the control panel "Yeah well, good for you; we're at peace now, hurry your ass up and get in!"

The pod's doors opened. Anthony looked over and saw his first glimpse of what had killed so many normal Human's. The human stood in the middle of the pod, but it wasn't human. There were two huge, spiked arms sprouting from his back and touched the ground. It made a strange gurgling noise then turned around, showing a horribly mutilated face and body. Anthony saw the human's actual arms dangling uselessly in front of the useless guts.

'Wait a minute, these things attacked Corneria!'

"Holy sweet mother of-" The Human woman shoved Anthony over "Get your fucking head down!" She yelled and fired fourteen shots into the creature from her strange, three barreled assault rifle. The creature went down for a second then crawled back up and charged. She pulled the trigger but the gun only shot one bullet. "SHIT!" she said "Hang on to something!" she then reached over and pressed the 'emergency launch' switch. The air inside the ship decompressed explosively, almost knocking Anthony back out into the black void of space.

The woman screamed something incomprehensible then lost her grip. Anthony's vision went slow, this was completely new to him but he still knew what he was supposed to do. He let go and lazily fell after her. He reached his arm out and grabbed the woman's armor and grabbed the wall. He watched the doors slowly start to close and soon realized she would be smashed if he didn't do something.

He threw her back into the ship just before the doors closed. Anthony fell to the ground, panting. His vision went back to normal. "T...Thank you... creature" she said and allowed her helmet to collapse into its housing. She had brown and blond hair that was tied in a neat bun, a large scar on her cheek and piercing green and yellow eyes. Anthony stood up and let his helmet fall apart too, allowing his brown furred head to show itself "My name is Anthony Theseus of Star Fox. You're welcome" He held out his hand which she took, and surprised him by grasping his hand and squeezing it. Hard.

"Name's Miranda Bywater, nice to meet you too" She said and released his hand. "Hang on a sec, I need to contact someone" A holographic screen appeared in front of her and a helmeted head appeared. A man's deep voice came out of the speakers on her suit "What is it babe, I'm a little busy right now" the sound of automatic weapons fire resonated throughout the hull. Miranda sighed "Sorry hun, we need a new meeting point. Hmm… how about the surviving hanger?"

There was a pause as the man's screen went fuzzy, then it came back "Alright... Brooke, John, and I are almost there anyway. Hurry, these bastards won't stop coming!" the screen cut out and Miranda gave a sigh "Come on Fuzzynuts we've got a plane to catch" Anthony grunted "yeah that'd be great if we could get a half destroyed ship to work" Miranda rolled her green and yellow eyes "Hanger A2, that one has a group of survivors, mostly made up of engineers and security guards" She said and pulled open a nearby hatch that lead to an engineering vent "C'mon, I'll go first" Miranda climbed in and Anthony followed her, taking one last look around at what was almost her death place.

0000

Fox woke up when water splashed over his face. He jumped and a pair of soft blue hands held him down. He gasped a few times due to the freezing water "K-Krystal?" he said and sat up "What was that for?"

Krystal sighed "Fox, you wouldn't wake up" He looked for the one who poured water on him. James was standing nearby with an empty bucket in his hands and a grin on his face "Wakey wakey son" he said and took a few steps backwards. "Daaad..." Fox said and swung his legs over the bed he was laying on. James stepped back again, still grinning "Fooox" Fox hopped off the bed "Daaaaaad" he said while gritting his teeth. James grinned one more time "Bye bye-FOX!"

The orange vulpine tore through the makeshift recovery room in an effort to get his father. James took off through the tent's doorway and ran behind a parked Arwing. Fox ran out and nearly ran into a human wearing a strange form of armor. Fox reacted on instinct and tackled him to the ground. The Human punched back but the orange vulpine was faster and stronger. He wrestled him down and held his neck with one paw. "Fox!" Krystal shouted when she saw him strangling a Human survivor. Fox looked over, he didn't realize it but the Human had enough time to get a good swing at his head.

Fox fell off him and onto his side. The Human jumped up and held his fists up. Fox got up and pulled his blaster on the Human. It chuckled and flexed its fists twice. Two energy blades appeared by both of its wrists, the red energy caused the air to pop when it suddenly materialized. "Come get me Fox" The vulpine fired a shot but it was deflected quickly. The Human dashed forward and kicked Fox faster than he could blink.

James leapt over the barrier Fox had landed on and stood between the two fighters "Stop! He's just confused, give me a minute" James turned to his son "Fox, I have no idea what those things were that invaded Corneria City, but these guys were attacked by the same thing, we need their help"

0000

Nick felt his ship scrape across the hard metal ground that was the human hangar bay. He looked through his canopy and saw a sad makeshift camp with two Arwings parked by the eastern side. "What is Star Fox doing on this ship?" He pressed the release button and waited for the canopy to open, but remembered there was no power. He kicked it a few times but it only cracked. He keyed his private com with the other pilot "Hey, I need some help here! I can't get out" Nick heard static and a few clanks that sounded like foot-steps. The other pilot clearly wasn't a human. Nick was never a fan of the dog race but he didn't care this time.

The other pilot was about the same height and had white fur and brown eyes. He pulled his fist back. Nick covered his face. When the dog's fist hit the glass, it sounded like a concussion grenade went off under water. Glass flew everywhere inside Nick's cabin as new air rushed in.

"Ouch, maybe next time I won't punch the space fighter's glass eh?" He said, causing Nick to raise his head. He shook off the glass he had on him and climbed out of his ship "Thanks for the save, twice." The dog grinned and held his paw out; showing battle scars running along his arm and a bit on his paws "Jayne Johns, nice to meet you"

Nick took Jayne's paw and shook it firmly "Nick Theseus, nice to meet you too" Jayne cracked his neck and back a few times "Ugh, been spending too much time in my ship" he said and kicked his battered Cornerian fighter. Nick tilted his head a little "You with the CSC? What squadron?"

Jayne chuckled and shifted his feet, putting smudges of mud on the Arwing's hull "I don't work for anybody anymore, the last 'team' I was on wasn't for me. Too much peace keeping, not enough blowing stuff up. Just me, myself, and my little friend 'Boomer' over here now." he motioned to his blaster rifle that was firmly on his back. Nick nodded and admired the weapon "Well, what do you do then?" he asked still looking at the scratches and dents the weapon had. Jayne grinned "I mostly hurt people" Nick nodded "I approve, as long as it's not me, or my team, that's fine with me"

Jayne looked interested "You have a team?" Nick nodded again "Well, a team of renegades I guess you'd call it…" he remembered Sara disappearing through a black hole "well, a team of two now. One of my members disappeared through a black hole" Jayne patted Nick "I'm sorry to hear it mate." He stared at the hull of the Arwing/CSC fighter for a minute "You, lookin' for a new member?"

Nick nodded "Well, we can always use as much help as we can get" he said. There was a sudden sound of multiple rifles priming themselves for firing. Nick and Jayne both looked over and almost tried to fight the twelve armed and armored humans that stood before them, but then they both saw a blue vixen standing in the middle of them all. Nick was about to say something when they both heard a shout, "HANDS UP WHERE WE CAN SEE 'EM!"

Nick and Jayne looked at each other "What? You can't see our hands?" Nick and Jayne said at the same time. They both started laughing. They also earned a few chuckles from the humans as they all lowered their guns, mostly all of them at least. Nick patted Jayne on the back, "I think we'll both get along just fine" Jayne smiled "You think so? Cuz, I'm prone to breaking people's necks and blowing stuff up" Krystal motioned the two down "Hurry up you two, we have a situation here and we'll need all the help we can get."

0000

Miranda crawled out of the engineering hatch, followed by Anthony. She stood up and cracked her back "Oh, I am never, crawling that long ever again" Anthony rolled his eyes "I know how you feel. Now where is… oh, there it is" He spotted the makeshift camp and a huge cargo ship ready for departure. Miranda squeezed Anthony's shoulder lightly "Yup, designed that ship myself, built it too. Come on, we have to get ready for launch, those Necromorphs are chasing three of my friends and are gonna be here soon. We gotta make sure they don't get sliced to ribbons when they get here"

Miranda and Anthony approached a group of Human's that were loading supplies onto the ship "Schofield, is everyone on board?" Schofield nodded "Yes ma'am, Coleman just found some Furry survivors like your new friend here" Anthony tensed. He didn't like the way this one talked, it made him want to slam the human's face against the wall repeatedly. There was a loud noise and multiple voices coming from a door across the hangar. Then came the sound of stucco gunfire. Miranda growled and approached a mounted mini-gun "Anthony, get your fuzzy ass into the cockpit and get that thing primed for launch, here they come!"

Anthony sprinted through the ship and found the cockpit "Alright, here goes nothing" he pressed a few switches and felt the ship warm up "YEAH! how did I do that?" He looked outside and saw the door, literally, explode off its hinges. Three Humans in security armor were sprinting like mad to the open cargo door; they were clearly outrunning the creatures. Once they made it past the firing range, Miranda set the gun on auto and jammed its hinges so it wouldn't turn. The gun was loud enough to hear all the way through the ship.

Anthony heard the cargo door close and lifted the ship off the ground and blasted through the hangar bay, destroying what was left of an old ECM drop-ship.

Anthony looked around and saw two Arwings flying next to him "Hey Fox, is that you?" He said into his com. A reply came to him, but not one he expected "So, you're the one who shot me down?" A brown vulpine's head appeared on a small screen in front of him. "Actually no, you didn't bank fast enough" Anthony said and got a chuckle from the older version of fox "You are correct, thank you for that. I would've killed my own son if it wasn't for you"

Anthony nodded "Ok then, you're welcome." He looked around the rubble of space but didn't see what he was looking for, so he tried the E-band for CSC ships "-Automated message, we are under command code Zeta-904-104-982, I repeat, Zeta-904-104-982 All CSC ships are t-" He got static so he started switching to other channels.

'Zeta-904-104-982? That's an emergency protocol… ALL ships regroup at Papetoon? Why? Just bombard Corneria from space'

Anthony finally got something "Anthony? Can you hear me? Thank god you're ok, I lost your Bio-signs for a bit there."

"Yeah, and I've regrouped with some Human survivors. Continue outbound course to Papetoon, Great Fox should be arriving there shortly" Anthony responded as he leaned back in his chair, but instead of feeling good about how the day went, why did it feel as if he'd forgotten something?

0000

[Great Fox, near Papetoon]

Fara walked through the halls of Great Fox with Katt "I can't believe they took my Cat's Paw!" The pink feline said and balled her paws into fists "Oh, when I get my hands on the one who took it I'm gonna turn them into cream!"

Fara smiled and laughed "Katt, what if it was Nick who took your ship? Would you turn him into cream?" Fara watched as Katt stopped and her pink face turned a shade of red "Nick? W-why would you bring him up?" Fara shook her head "I heard you two talking about a date on Papetoon on the twenty first" Fara said and smiled even larger. Katt gulped "Date? We never set up a date…"

Fara giggled "Of course you did! It's at the Eastminster restaurant; I heard someone had rented out the whole top of the restaurant, just for a table for two" Fara watched Katt's face light up with joy as the sand colored fennec held up two special passes for the Eastminster. "FARA!" Katt exclaimed and hugged her close "I can't believe you did this for us! How did you get the money for the entire upper floor?" Fara pointed to a small pin on her jacket "Benefits of being with a team of heroes"

Katt pulled away from Fara "I owe you soooo much for this! I'll have to make you some cookies or some...thing" Fara tilted her head "What's wrong Katt?" she asked just before the answer came as fast as the question. Something hit Fara's head. She felt dizzy. Katt reached for her pistol, but the vulpine knocked her down too. He turned around and bent down so his face was close to Fara's. She instantly recognized him, was this a dream come true or was she just seeing things?

"You, my lovely little fennec, are coming with me." Anthony said before he scooped Fara up into his arms and started walking down the hallway. Her vision was slow and fuzzy, but she managed to lazily look at Anthony's face. The last thing she saw before blacking out was his, green eyes?