Flattering the Hero

Cornerian Army Naval Base

"It's absolutely incredible," said Brodie on the monitor. "So what happened to O'Donnell?"

"We're keeping him here for a while," said Pepper. "If he's still under the influence of that potion Andross gave him, there's no way we're sending him back to Macbeth."

"Has anybody else talked to you about this?"

"Like who?"

"You know, like Caroso, Powalski, Black?"

"Caroso gave me a nice little congratulations message earlier, but he's still staying neutral, and I respect that. Powalski is definitely still on Andross' side; I told you about the situation in Titania earlier. No word from Black yet. But I'm not telling them where I exiled Andross. I don't want them to go looking for him."

"I don't think they would really want to go looking for him anyway, considering where he is," said Brodie. "I'm sure he'd be dead by now."

"No, I wouldn't be so sure about that. Andross is full of surprises, as we know all too well. I'm willing to bet he's keeping himself alive somehow over there. But let me assure you, there's no way he's getting off that planet."

James walked into the room, his uniform dressed in many decorations. "Hey, there he is! The hero of the Lylat System!" exclaimed Brodie. James smiled sheepishly.

"I'm not a hero; I found him by accident," said James.

"Well, yeah, but just the thought of it sounds pretty good, don't you think? Well, I'd better get going, Pepper."

"Alright, talk to you later," said Pepper, turning off the monitor. "D Company ready, James?"

"Yep, Captain Hunt has his soldiers boarded. Where are they going again?"

"Titania. You've heard that Powalski still has POWs from the Lylat Wars that he hasn't released yet? D Company's going to get them back." Pepper sighed. "He's gone, yet there's still people out there carrying out his work." He sat down at his desk. "So how's the hero life treating you, James?"

James sighed. "How many times, Pepper? I'm not a..."

"Why not? Sure, you found him by accident. But from what I've heard from your soldiers (and your own son), your actions were no accident. You acted quickly and intelligently, and you ended up capturing the most powerful man in the Lylat System. Sounds like a hero to me."

"Well, I just don't like being too self-indulgent, that's all," James replied.

"I know. Some of us can't help it, but you have a real talent of being too modest."

James nodded in agreement. "Yeah, I know."

"That's a good thing. There are those people who glorify themselves and think of themselves as better than everybody else, when they're not. You, on the other hand, seem to lower yourself below everybody else." Pepper turned around to look out from the window of his office. "You were always like that, even as a Private. You always seemed so unsure of yourself, always putting yourself down, never really sure whether you could accomplish anything. Now look where you are, James. You should be proud of yourself. I am. Edwards would be, too."

James was silent for a while, then nodded. "Thanks, Pepper."

Up in the Sky

James had disagreed with this before, but he finally gave into Fox's pestering. Now there they were, up in James' Arwing, flying over Corneria. He let Fox take control of the joystick while he handled acceleration and everything else. At first, Fox was a bit out of control and almost ran the Arwing into the ground, but he got the hang of it soon after and effortlessly cruised through the sky.

"Not bad," said James, smiling. "Compared to about ten minutes ago..."

"Your stomach still intact?" asked Fox.

James chuckled. "Hey, I've been through worse."

"Yeah, I know. I'm getting recognized all over school now because of you."

"Really? What did they say?"

"They're always asking me if all of the stories are true; I say of course. I hope you don't mind that I've... erm... 'fabricated' some minor aspects of the story..."

"Like what?"

"Well... there's the addition of the timed bomb that Andross had planted in the base and the hundreds of armed soldiers surrounding us..."

"There was no bomb, and everybody around us was scared out of their minds," said James. He almost said "scared shitless," but for obvious reasons he stopped himself.

"I know. Like I said, I've fabricated some minor aspects... you know, to spice up the story a bit."

"And just how did I manage to stop all of those armed soldiers by myself?" asked James curiously.

"With me," said Fox, smiling. "They wouldn't have the guts to harm a kid."

James laughed. "Well, at least your fabrications make some sort of logical sense."

"Of course. I didn't want to deviate too far from the original source material," said Fox. "You know, that was pretty cool what you did back there in Macbeth."

"Thanks."

"I've always heard about all of the things you've done from Peppy and the other guys, and I just could never imagine you doing any of that. Now I realize how much tail you actually kick."

"Are you flattering me just to get me to buy a Wii?"

"...Partially..."

James smiled. "I'll get it eventually, don't worry."

Fox grinned. "Alright. But Dad?"

"Yeah?"

"I meant it. I really did."

Searching and Planning Again

Venom

Andross didn't know exactly how much time had passed, but it couldn't have been more than two weeks. His facial hair was starting to come back a bit. His potion should be working right now, but he's not feeling the effects yet. Another couple of years, and the potion should have its full effect; along with the radiation of the planet, it'll be interesting to see just what the full effect is going to be. In the meantime, he has to find some way to contact his allies, if he even has any anymore. There had to be inhabitants on this planet at one time or another; Venom hadn't always been this polluted... has it?

He chewed on a dead lizard as he traveled along the river. It might lead him somewhere, maybe to a deserted town or something. He had been walking along for about a week, after he had spent the first week getting used to the planet. Now the weather didn't bother him so much, and the smell was like fresh air to him. He even put his shirt and pants back on (because, you know, the thought of Andross walking around the planet in his boxers while drinking green water and eating dead lizards is a bit too weird). So far, he hadn't found anything, but he kept going; there had to be something.

The fog was starting to let up a bit although it was still hard to see from afar. However, he could see the faint outlines of small houses in the distance; finally, he found something! He tossed the lizard bones in his hand away and started running towards the houses. They started coming into view, and what he saw was a bit disappointing, but it was still something nonetheless. The town was large and deserted, as expected, but also in complete ruins. It was as if this place had been bombed sometime ago. Maybe he could find something of value around here.

He walked inside one of the houses, seeing nothing but rubble. He dug around and searched everywhere for something, but there wasn't much except for the body of what appeared to be a woman buried underneath; her skin had almost disintegrated completely. Over at the next house, he found more dead bodies. This time, of a family who had huddled together in order to protect themselves. What the hell happened to this planet? There was absolutely nothing in the third house except for a burned out newspaper from a while ago. He picked it up and could barely read the headline: Thirty-nine people killed in shootout in downtown Corneria. Dr. Bowman arrested. He tossed it aside, not really thinking much of it. Wonder who that Bowman character was...

Giving up on the houses, he walked out and took another look at the town. Look at this place; it was unlikely that anything survived in this place. With almost all of his hope lost, he picked up another lizard and started to chew on it in frustration, when he spotted a small flash of light in the sky. Was that a ship? No, it couldn't be; nobody would ever come here. The light started to get bigger, almost as if it was coming towards him. It was a ship!

A small aircraft descended to the ground, landing just outside the town near the river. Andross ran up to it, wondering who it could be. The door opened up, and a chameleon walked out.

"Powalski?" squeaked Andross, not having used his voice in a long time.

"Had to check up on how you were doing," said Powalski. "Nice place you have here."

"Bit of a fixer-upper," said Andross, chewing. "Lizard?"

"Uh, no thanks..."

"So how did you find me here?"

"Pigma told me. He also told me how you got here. Some potion, eh?"

Andross nodded. "Well, you'll see the effects in a few years or so. Trust me, you'll see where all that time had been spent. So how did you get here without the Cornerians finding out?"

"Remember the POWs that I still have from the Lylat Wars? I'm using them as a distraction. They're trying to get them back right at this moment."

"You've come a long way since you stabbed your eye out," remarked Andross. "Okay, look. I have an idea, but I need a lot of supplies. I'm talking everything in my lab. I also need weapons, vehicles..."

"Whoa, whoa, wait a minute. Just what exactly are you planning to do?" asked Powalski.

"You see these lizards crawling around? There's not one place in this planet where you don't see lizards crawling around."

Powalski nodded. "Yeah, so..." He paused for a minute. "Oh... I see..."

Andross smiled. "Yep. It'll take a while, but I'm sure I can get it done. Get O'Donnell and Pigma in on it if you can."

"They have O'Donnell in custody, but I'll see what I can do. You sure you know what you're doing?"

"Come on. It's me you're talking about..."