10

THE OPERATION

Everyone went to the Kurogane to greet Zengar Zonvolt and Ratsel Feinschmeker. As the two came out of the ship, Tetsuya said to Zengar, "It's been a while, Major Zengar," "Indeed," Zengar replied. "May I know why you called me here, Captain Tetsuya?" Ratsel looked at Fox and his friends. "I see you have some friends here, Captain Tetsuya," he said.

Tetsuya then said, "Oh, yes. Well, about them…" "So, you're Major Zengar?" Wolf asked. "Yes, and who would you be?" Zengar asked. "Excuse me, Major, but, it will be easier for us to talk in the meeting room. So, shall we?" Tetsuya said. "Very well," Zengar said. The group went to the meeting room. There, the introductions were done and explanations about the events that occurred were given to Zengar and Ratsel.

"Hmm… You all have interesting names," Ratsel said to Fox and his company. "You all came from another system?" Zengar said to them. "Yes, sir," Fox said. "It's an honor to meet you, sir," "The same goes to you and your friends," Zengar replied. Panther happened to look at Zengar's waist. Attached to it was a sword in it's sheath. "That's a nice looking sword you have there, Major," he said to Zengar.

"This?" Zengar replied. "It's just an emblem of my title," "Title?" Panther asked. "Oh, I forgot to mention," Ratsel said. "Zengar here is known as the sword that cleaves evil," "The sword that cleaves evil?" Fox asked. "That is correct," Zengar said. "There is nothing it cannot cut," "An interesting title I say," Panther said. "Since you have a sword, Major…"

Panther revealed his own sword by moving his cape behind him. "…let me show you mine," "Yours looks impressive too," Zengar said. "If you're the sword that cleaves evil, Major, I am the rose who judges evil," Panther said. "So, we have one thing in common, I see. And that is to judge evil," Zengar said. "Precisely," Panther said with a smile as he put his cape back into it's original position. "I salute you, Major. Just what I expect from a swordsman like you,"

Zengar just closed his eyes as he said, "It is good to have one man having the same thoughts as me," "Indeed," Panther replied. "You two are really comparing each other, eh, Panther?" Falco asked. "Not really. I'm just chatting with Major Zengar here," Panther said. "Other than this, there's one thing I want to let you know about, Captain Tetsuya. I know where the hideout of the Aparoids responsible for the damage here is at,"

Everyone turned their attention to Wolf upon hearing his words. "You sure?! How do you know?!" Tetsuya asked. "Well, we already knew earlier that it was somewhere near the Earth," Wolf said. "Our accomplices searched for the location of it while we went to the Earth and informed us," "Where is it, Wolf?" Fox asked. "Somewhere in outer space. I'll have to show all of you the way," Wolf said.

"Is that so?" Zengar said. "In that case, we should get moving," "Actually, Major, we were planning to start tomorrow because we had some pressure due to the attacks from the Aparoids. So, we need some rest today," Viletta said. "I see," Zengar said. "Very well. I'll wait until tomorrow then," "I agree with Zengar," Ratsel said.

"Alright, everyone, listen up. Tomorrow, we strike in the morning. We are going to blow up that hideout once and for all. Jonathan, perhaps you can ask the Tesla Leicht Institute's workers to create a bomb powerful enough to do that job?" Tetsuya said. "Sure thing," Jonathan said. "Me and Filio will do that right now,"

"Thank you, Jonathan," Tetsuya said. "Everyone, it's now or never tomorrow. Are you all ready?" "Yes," everyone hearing Tetsuya's words said. "In that case, let us fight our best tomorrow!"

"Roger!"

* * *

The next morning had come by. Everyone got themselves ready for the infiltration of the Aparoid hideout. The bomb necessary for destroying it was loaded into the Hagane. The plan was to bring it into the hideout, leave it there and detonate it. Inside the Hagane, everyone was given a briefing about what the hideout looked like and their objective. The hideout looked like a purple sphere. Once the briefing was done, all of them got into their respective PTs to be launched out once they reached the hideout.

The Hagane, Kurogane and Great Fox then went to outer space. Filio even came along to provide assistance. Once they reached space, Tetsuya said to Eita, "Eita, watch out for the hideout. Keep your eyes peeled in case they start an immediate attack the moment we reach there," "Understood," Eita said. In the Hagane's hangar, the pilots were chatting to each other via their communication devices in their PTs.

"This is it, everyone. The final battle. I hope you all are ready," Rai said to everyone. "We are," Fox said. "Krystal, you sense anything?" "No, Fox," Krystal said. "Nothing," "That means we haven't reached there yet," Wolf said. "I wonder what the inside of the hideout would look like?" Arado asked. "Beats me," Ryuune said. "We'll just have to go there and check it out ourselves," Ibis said.

"Uhh… Wolf?" Tsugumi asked. "Yes?" Wolf asked. "Wolf, tell us a story. How did you and Fox first met?" she asked. "Yeah, tell us," Arado said. "You… really want to know?" Wolf said with a frown. "Yes, tell us, Wolf!" Excellen said in excitement. "Come on, tell us, Wolf," Seolla said. Wolf's frown went away. He then said, "Well… Let's just say… We happened to stumble upon each other and ended up being rivals for some time," "Huh? Just like that?" Kusuha asked. "How could you two just be friends for no reason? Come on, tell us," Bullet said.

"Umm… Err… That's…" Wolf said, his frown back on his face. "Guys, it was like this," Fox said. "My team was in trouble that time, you see. He and his friends then saw us and went to our rescue," "Like that, huh?" Ryoto asked. "Yup," Fox said. "Right, Wolf?" "Uhh…. Yeah, yeah, that's right," Wolf said, his face back to normal. "Okay, then…" Excellen said. "Huh?" Fox said. "Tell us how you and Krystal first met," Excellen said to Fox.

Fox and Krystal looked at each other and blushed. Fox then said, "Oh, about that… Well… Umm…" Fox said, his face still red. Krystal giggled while her face was still red. Suddenly, the alarm rang. Everyone's attention turned towards it. "Attention, everyone! Attention, everyone! We have reached the hideout! Prepare yourselves!" Tetsuya announced to the pilots. "Here already, huh?" Falco said. "Alright, everyone, let's wreak havoc," "You said it," Ryusei said. "Here we go!"

Once the Hagane and it's companions were near the hideout, all the PTs were launched out from the Hagane and Kurogane. "Oh, yeah! I'd like to see how good you Star Wolf guys are!" Ryusei said. "We'll show you," Wolf said. "Anyway, the enemies are here!" Aparoids came out of the hideout. Everyone took their positions and fought them.

The Hagane, Kurogane and Great Fox were firing their weapons. "Clear the way!" Tetsuya ordered. "We must get into the hideout!" "Roger!" Eita replied. The fight was intense. Inside the hideout, someone was watching the fight from the inside of a PT's cockpit. The person was a male white-furred, anthropomorphic ape. "So, they're here I see," he said with a wicked smile. "Time to make things interesting,"

A force field was formed around the hideout. "A force field?!" Tetsuya exclaimed. "What?!" Bullet said. "So, they're trying to prevent us from entering, huh?" Kyosuke said. "That's an amateur strategy," "We'll worry about that later," Miyu said. "Let's clear the enemies off first!" The fighting continued. The enemies came without an end. "There's too many of them!" Excellen said.

"Don't give up!" Kyosuke said. "If we do, our efforts in creating the bomb will be futile!" "If only we could find the source of the enemies…" Kusuha said. "Don't worry, Kusuha, I'll protect you. If anything happens, just cling to me," Bullet said. "Alright, thank you, Bullet," Kusuha replied. During the ATX team's fight, the SRX team was also fighting fiercely.

"Man, these enemies are tough!" Ryusei exclaimed as he fired the R-1's G-Revolvers. "I have a feeling the enemy is planning something, Ryusei," Aya said. "They set up a force field and send out these many enemies… Don't you think that's odd?" "Now that you mention it, yeah, you're right," Ryusei said. "But, what could that plan be?" Mai asked.

"We wouldn't know," Viletta said. "However, should things go out of hand, we must stand our ground," "I agree, captain," Rai said. "Let's continue fighting," After some time of fighting, everyone felt exhausted. The enemies were still coming. "There's no end to them?!" Arado said. The ape who was monitoring the battle said, "Now then, let's finish this off shall we?"

Suddenly, the Aparoids returned to their hideout. "Hey, what's going on?!" Ryusei said. "Is this some kind of joke?!" "What's going on?!" Ibis said. Suddenly, Krystal felt something bolt past her mind. She then said, "Everyone! Something's coming!" "Huh?! From where?!" Fox asked. Tsugumi then looked up and said, "Everyone, up there!"

The group saw three large sphere-shaped Aparoids with tentacles around them. "What are those things?!" Bullet asked in surprise. "Aparoids?!" Fox asked. "Those are a new breed! We never fought Aparoids like those back in the Aparoid Invasion!" All of a sudden, the first Aparoid lashed it's tentacles to the group. "Everyone, be on your guard!" Rishu shouted.

The group dodged the tentacles. The Hagane, Kurogane and Great Fox fired their weapons to the three Aparoids but their weapons had no effect on them. "What is this?! The ships weapons are not working?!" Ratsel said in surprise. "Be careful everyone. These are not ordinary enemies," Lamia said as she readied the Angelg's bow.

Lamia took one of the Angelg's arrows and placed it at the bow. She then pulled the bow and the arrow glowed pink. Once she found her target, she fired. The bow went to one of the Aaproids at a fast speed. To her surprise however, the bow was absorbed by the Aparoid. "What?!" Arado said. "The arrow didn't work!?" "This enemy…" Latooni said. "It's way too strong,"

The group fired their PTs' ranged weapons to the Aparoids. The weapons too had no effect on them. "Our weapons are not working! What is this?!" Ryusei exclaimed. "We have to try and find a way to beat them!" Mai said. "Great… I can't go on anymore… Too exhausted from earlier…" Arado said.

"Don't give up, Arado! We all are like that now you know!" Seolla said. "Aw, man, what are these things?!" Slippy exclaimed. One of the Aparoids lashed out it's tentacles. The group dodged them. Rishu managed to cut one of them with the Grungust Type 0's Zankantou. "Good move, master!" Bullet said. "No time for compliments, Bullet," Rishu replied. "The enemies are getting more aggressive now,"

"Huh?!"

The Aparoids then fired purple laser beams from the front of their bodies. The beams were shot in all directions and the group had difficulty dodging them all. The Hagane, Kurogane and Great Fox defended themselves with force fields. "So many beams!" Falco said. "Don't worry about them! Try and reach the enemy!" Ryuune said. "Ryuune's got a point! Let's go everyone!" Masaki said.

Everyone followed Ryuune's suggestion. As they dodged the beams, they edged closer and closer to the Aparoids. Suddenly, the Aparoids even lashed out their tentacles to the group. "Not again!" Arado shouted in an annoyed tone. The group now had a harder difficulty avoiding the enemies' attacks.

The people in the ships were watching the battle with concern. Come on you all. You all can do it. I know it! Tetsuya said in his mind. The people in the Kurogane were watching the Dyzengar and Aussenseiter with worried looks on their faces. In the Great Fox, Peppy thought to himself, Fox, never give up. Trust your instincts.

As the fight raged on, some of the group's units were nearly hit. "What should e do?! We got to find a way out of this!" Katt shouted. Rai had an idea in his mind. He then said to the other pilots, "Everyone, shoot the tentacles as you dodge! That'll slow them down!" "Good thinking," Miyu said. "Come on, everyone!"

The group did as Rai suggested. Sure enough, the tentacles were slowed down by the group's weapons. "Yeah, just what I wanted!" Arado said happily. "Don't be too confident!" Seolla said. "Keep your…" Seolla's words were cut short when her PT got hit by a laser. Soon, to everyone's horror, the Wild Falken was grabbed by a tentacle!