Chapter Twenty-Five: The Bomb Factory

~*Afternoon of the Second Day*~

Fox blinked furiously, trying to focus on the orange shape that hovered above him. Then he tried to lift his head, but his muzzle was nudged back down by the heavy arm cannon.

"Don't move," the voice of the orange thing warned lowly. "We've immobilised one of your friends as well."

Fox growled quietly, glaring daggers at the armoured person he could now see clearly. He heard a click to his left and saw a blue shape move just inside his range of vision. The orange person turned their head to the source of the noise.

"Get off him," Falco threatened through a gritted beak, pointing a blaster at Fox's captor.

"Falco..." Fox muttered. It was just like his wingmate to complicate a situation.

"You might want to check on your friend," the armoured person replied, nodding their head towards Falco's left. The Lylatian glanced over at Diddy Kong, who had been pinned to the floor by a plump, yellow animal.

"Get off me, or I'll make you!" Diddy screeched, attempting to shake off the mouse-like creature. It fell back with a squeal, but then subdued the monkey with a quick zap of electricity. It leaped back onto Diddy's stomach and held its position, assuming a steely expression. Diddy did also and grew still.

"Drop your weapon," the armoured person commanded Falco.

The avian scowled before letting his blaster clatter to the floor.

Donkey Kong began to speak, but he was cut off.

"What is your purpose here?" Fox's opponent demanded.

The vulpine could almost feel the hard eyes that peered through the opaque visor of the person's helmet. He remained silent and still, but his mind ran.

"Are you going to answer-"

"Is this your domain?" Fox asked, his voice unwavering.

The grip that held his shoulder against the floor loosened slightly. "Domain?"

"Is this your base? Your centre of operations?"

"Is it yours?" the person replied.

The grip loosened even more and the orange person shifted their weight so that the burden was no longer primarily Fox's.

"Pi," the yellow animal squeaked. It gazed at its companion with a questioning look.

"So are we enemies or what?" Falco interrupted impatiently, crossing his arms.

The person slowly but surely stepped back, releasing Fox from their grip and standing to their- relatively tall- full height. The yellow mouse also clambered off Diddy, allowing the monkey to stretch his limbs and jump to his feet.

"Neither of us make our base here," the person said, "but no one said that this was only a two-way war."

"I'm fairly certain there are only two sides," Fox responded. "We've seen assaults by an unknown enemy on several targets, including ourselves."

"Well, I know where my enemy might be. This is their bomb factory."

The primates hooted in shock and Fox's eyes widened.

"This is a bomb factory?!" he yelped.

"You didn't know?" the person said disbelievingly. They put their hands on their hips, less than impressed. "You mean you wandered in here without confirming your location? I'm surprised you've made it this far."

"There wasn't a sign where we came in," Falco muttered weakly, looking crossly at the floor.

"So do you know where you're going?" Fox asked.

No reply.

Falco snorted scornfully, which earned him a stern look from Fox.

"But by any chance, we know where we're going better than you do." The armoured one removed their helmet and Fox blinked in surprise, watching the long, blond hair of a woman fall into view. "Learn the face, learn the name: Samus Aran. We're all better off sticking together, whether we're ultimately on the same side or not. "She made sure that the others present were paying attention by sweeping her eyes across them. "We're here to take down the factory and not each other- just yet.

"So no funny business until we can say 'mission accomplished'."

"Roger," Falco remarked. Samus ignored him, her expression unflinching.

The bounty hunter waved a hand and the yellow animal scrambled up to her.

"And this is Pikachu," Samus said, pointing to the Pokemon.

"Fox McCloud," the vulpine stated. "That's Falco Lombardi, Donkey Kong and Diddy Kong." He pointed to each ally in turn.

Samus nodded and put her helmet back on. "Let's get moving. The day's wasting."

*.*.*.*.*

"So you had a map of this place," Fox asked.

"No, it was of the neighbouring Research Facility," Samus corrected him. The passages had become noticeably better-lit, and they seemed to be approaching the main section of the bomb factory, indicated by the better level of maintenance their surroundings were obviously receiving.

"Is Pikachu from your world?"

"No. As far as I know, I'm the only one of my world in this place. Why?"

"Just curious- it seems very attached to you."

Samus rolled her eyes and sneaked a glance at the animal that was trotting alongside her. "That's not my fault."

"I'm sure it's not." Fox smirked.

"Fine," Samus huffed. "I did rescue it from an electricity generator, but-"

"What was the generator powering?"

"I have no idea. Perhaps a horrific experiment, considering it was a Research Facility."

"Could you keep it down?" Falco spoke over the two. "You might attract unwelcome attention."

"Says the guy yelling on top of us," Fox retorted, lowering his voice.

It was Falco's turn to look annoyed.

DK and Diddy, who were a distance ahead, suddenly came charging back to the group, hooting incoherently and throwing gestures that told the others to stop.

"Quiet, both of you," Samus commanded, holding up a stern hand. The duo held their tongues. "One at a time. Donkey Kong, what's the matter?"

"There are foes up ahead," DK warned. "A group of robots are standing in the middle of the perpendicular passageway."

"There were robots running the Research Facility," Samus informed the others, "so they're an opposing force."

"You mean they're hostile?" Falco clarified.

"Yes."

"There's a whole bunch of them," Diddy contributed, remembering to keep his voice down. "How will we take them down before they notice?"

"That's impossible," Fox answered, "unless someone here can become invisible." He surveyed the group unsuccessfully for the possibility. "If we attack from afar, they'll just flock over to where the shot came from."

"So we'll have to ambush them," Samus declared.

A furious sound of whirring echoed down the corridor, accompanied by a missile aimed at the bulky DK. It blasted him a few metres back.

"Looks like they've already found us." They all turned to find the group of robots that the two primates had warned of. Two green ones and two white ones were speeding down towards them, on the offensive. An additional pair of green robots were stationed behind the advancing mob, aiming more projectiles at the intruders.

"Pika!" A crackling bolt of electricity travelled down the corridor and met the robots. The light died down to reveal the two ivory robots in pieces across the floor and two of the four green ones completely destroyed, leaving no trace of their existence. A large shot from Samus's arm cannon defeated one of the remaining robots. The other attempted to flee while trying to establish a communication with its unseen brethren.

Suddenly, a siren's blare and blood-red flashes of light filled the area, causing the group to shy away from the din. When they looked up again, the robot had disappeared.

"We've been found," Samus hissed. "Move!"

The six bolted down the corridor and rounded the corner, turning right. Another group of robots approached them with frenzied energy. Unexpected lasers shot out from the robot's eyes and incapacitated Pikachu and Diddy, sending them skidding across the floor. Fox and Falco reflected the next barrage of laser fire as their allies recovered and Samus and DK barrelled forward, decimated most of the robots. Falco stunned the remaining one with his blaster and DK moved in for the final blow.

"Let's keep going!" Fox hollered. "There's no need to hold back. Fire at will and don't lower your guard!"

The alarm eventually died down, but the red flashing didn't cease. It took about half a minute for another band of robots to locate them and begin their assault, chasing the group from behind.

"Enemies at six o'clock!" Falco yelled, training his blaster fire at the pursuing robots. The ones that were stunned created an obstacle for the others, slowing their progress and allowing the six to get ahead.

"Can we duck into a room to catch a breather?" Diddy suggested.

"Yeah, they might get off our tails once we lose them," DK agreed.

"Then keep your eyes out for such a place," Samus said as they continued to run. A laser from behind narrowly missed her head. Pikachu spun around and Jolted the culprits, destroying them all.

"There!" Fox pointed out a closed doorway to the left.

They all stopped in front of the door. Diddy ventured forward.

"Hang on," Fox warned, blocking the monkey with his arm. He activated his reflector and slowly twisted the doorknob, waiting for some form of retaliation.

None came.

The door opened with a creak. Samus stepped forward and scanned the room through her visor. After a moment, she nodded and motioned for them to proceed.

They quickly filed into the dark room, Falco slamming the door behind them. He activated his own reflector to accompany Fox's light source. The ordinary crates that filled the room became visible.

"So what do we do now?" DK asked. "They know we're here, and we have no idea where we're going."

"Or do we?" Falco remarked, tapping on the wall adjacent to the door. "I found a map of the factory."

"Thank goodness."

They all crowded around the large map that was built into the wall.

"You are here," Samus read out, pointing to the red dot and arrow that marked their location. She peered hard at the map before saying, "Move the light closer. I can't read the rest of the map properly."

Fox detached his reflector and handed it to her. Samus held the hexagonal gadget so she could see the whole map relatively clearly.

"This place is a lot less complex than the Research Facility," she commented.

"Pi," Pikachu agreed in disdain.

Samus continued to look over the map. She suddenly stopped and stared at a particularly large room.

"'Bomb construction and storage'," Fox read. "We should go there."

The bounty hunter looked over the map once more and said, "It would be the best place to go."

"Look at this!" Diddy Kong interrupted. He was standing behind the others, wearing a mischievous grin and holding an open box in his arms. "Food!"

"From over there?" DK asked him, pointing over to the other stacks of boxes.

"Yep." Diddy tilted the box for all to see its contents.

"Don't eat it just yet," Fox said, taking out one of the bizarre fruits that was inside.

"They're like the bananas I found yesterday," Diddy proclaimed triumphantly.

The vulpine inspected it from all angles. "It looks safe," he concluded. He reached down and took out five more. "Just make sure to check your own. We don't know where these have been." He issued one each to the others, noticing DK and Diddy's eagerness and Samus's hesitation. Pikachu looked at its banana quizzically.

"Let's not linger here too long," Samus said, removing her helmet and fingering her curved fruit suspiciously. She finally began to peel off the skin when the two primates shuffled past and grabbed some more. She looked on incredulously at them.

"I know," Fox whispered sideways to her.

After their break, Samus had one last look at the map, memorising their route.

"Can somebody remember this in case I forget?" she requested, turning to the others.

Fox, pulling an indignant Falco along with him, moved over to the bounty hunter's side.

"Just tell us the directions," Fox answered, shooting a look at Falco in a plea of cooperation.

"Okay. At each intersection, we go straight, straight, left, right and finally left."

"Straight, straight, left, right, left," Fox muttered. Samus nodded.

"Got it," Falco said.

Donkey Kong was already opening the door and peeking down the corridor.

"The lights are still going," he reported grimly.

"They're still looking for us," Samus said. "We'll have to move quickly."

The six bunched up around the door one last time, before swiftly exiting and continuing down the corridor.

*.*.*.*.*

The last robot in the squad was downed by a peanut to the head. It crashed to the floor in a broken mess among the other pieces of its fallen cousins.

"Can I ask a question?" Diddy said to the others as they recovered. "Why do some of the robots disappear and others just shatter?"

"I've been wondering that as well, to be honest," Samus responded, staring at the shrapnel lying on the cold, hard floor. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but we have one more left turn to make to the bomb storage room."

"That's correct," Falco assured her. He turned when he heard the noise of an approaching robot. He reflected the laser it shot and incapacitated it with his blaster fire.

"Let's go!" Samus yelled, urging the others onward. She led them around the final corner. "This stretch is long," she informed the others, "but it should lead to the source of the bombs."

Her warning proved correct. The passageway was very long and it took a good minute for the end of the road to come into view. However, there was an unexpected obstacle barring the way.

"That wasn't on the map. The door is heavily fortified!" Fox exclaimed. "How do we get through?" They all stared at the several metal bars and other contraptions across the door.

"Break through," Falco shouted.

"That seems to be the only way," Samus agreed. "With that amount of blockage, there must be a security protocol on the door and we wouldn't have the means to figure it out."

"Commencing Operation Bust In!" Diddy chattered.

"Let's make some noise," Falco contributed. He turned to Fox. "Let's light a fire, shall we?"

Fox smirked and nodded.

"Get behind me," DK told his nephew, who reluctantly complied.

They closed in on the door. Samus readied her arm cannon as Donkey Kong braced himself. The two Lylatians prepared themselves.

The door was mere metres away.

Samus let loose her missile, as Fox and Falco barrelled forward in their respective Fire Fox and Fire Bird. DK threw himself forward.

They burst through in an explosion of wreckage and dust.

*.*.*.*.*

"What?!" Ganondorf snarled to the messenger robot that was standing in the doorway.

"The intruders are making their way through the base," the ivory robot repeated. "All efforts of interception have failed. What do you propose we do?"

"Argh! I'm to rendezvous with Bowser to check on Project Trump!"

"Project Trump, sir?"

"The Subspace Gu-" The Dark Lord cut himself off and lurched forward to growl in the robot's face, "You are speaking out of line!"

"I-I apologise, sir," the robot whirred nervously.

Ganondorf grunted and whirled around. He swiped a small device off a desk and declared, "I have no time for this. See that the Ancient Minister deals with them in the bomb storage room. Alert me by radio if he fails.

"Or refuses," he added venomously.

"A-Affirmative."

"I'll be leaving the bomb factory, now. I can't let this interfere with our plans."

With a flick of his black cape, he strode out of the room.

A/N: TADA! This was one of those episodes that I was eager to write, all those suspicious glances that the humanoids were throwing each other. And the page breaks moved 8D

Now for a mood breaker... responses!

CreCra: It's good to see I'm not the only one who likes the 'conflicted' Minister. We can see some sort of internal conflict during the cutscenes, so it fits, right? Don't worry about Linky, I don't hate him or anything. He can pull through this :D

BipolarLink: Heheh, cliffhangers. It seems natural for me to switch between the many characters this way.

EarthBound Cat: Keep chewing on that anagram!

Answer to Tyzmila Monolith is coming next update ;)

25 reviews... I'm stunned.