CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

To Hell and Back

Corneria: Mantle, 750 feet below sea level

Hours until doomsday: 2

The walls of the wormhole were lined with molecularly distorted stone and fire. As Marcus, Falco, Chase and Peter piloted their ships down into the fiery abyss, they could only anxiously think about what they might be put up against. In truth, only Falco had actually seen Andross, but no one had ever asked him what the mad doctor looked like, so he never said anything about it. No one was sure he ever wanted to, anyway.

Marcus, in particular, was more eager than anyone else to see Andross. They'd never met, but he already had a grudge against the fell being. He knew that he lost both his grandmother and grandfather because of Andross. He now knew only one thing: the bastard had to die.

"This is it, huh?" Falco spoke up. "The big finish."

"I guess so." Marcus grumbled. Only small words could escape his mouth since he was too focused on getting to Andross.

"We're about 900 metres below sea level now." Chase said. "It's gonna be awhile before we reach the core."

"So how far down is the ninth circle of hell?" Peter asked.

"Well, we're about a mile below the ocean. The ocean itself is 30,000 metres deep, and the mantle is another 10,000. I'm no geographer…that's Anna…but I'd say we're looking at about 40 miles straight down."

Falco smirked.

"Weird. I didn't know the devil lived forty miles underwater." he remarked sarcastically. "You learn somethin' new every day."

Marcus' radar beeped. He growled.

"Damn fleabags are following us!" he grumbled.

Just as Marcus had said, an enormous fleet of Venomians fighters was coming right at them from about fifty feet back. Each one of the fighters appeared to have much tougher hulls than the ones they had seen before.

"I guess we kinda saw that comin'." Falco growled. "But did it really have to be when we're so close to the finish line?"

"You scumbags dared to come this far," one of the Venomians growled. "but we'll make sure you never reach Emperor Andross!"

"Your 'emperor' can kiss my ass!" Peter scoffed.

"Everyone loop! Now!" Marcus shouted.

The boys all pulled up on their steering controls and looped behind the enemy fleet.

"They're not gonna stop us now! Give 'em everything you've got!" Marcus ordered.

Chase and Falco swerved to the left, while Marcus and Peter went right. When the enemy units were in their sights, they all slammed down their fire buttons. The lasers from their cannons rocketed down and sent a few of the ships crashing into the flaming wall.

Suddenly, the path stopped in what appeared to be a dead end.

"There's no way out of here!" Falco shouted.

Marcus looked to the left. Another path dug into the wall next to them.

"This way!" he called, piloting his ship into the new path.

Peter, Chase and Falco followed him.

"I thought you said the path went straight down!" Peter shouted.

"Looks like Andross was planning ahead!" Chase replied. "His presence is distorting the path."

"Great." Marcus grumbled. "Another futile attempt to keep the inevitable at bay. These bastards are all the same…"

The tunnel began to arch down again. More Venomians shot up toward them. A small group locked on to Peter.

"Err, mates?" he called. "I'm in a bit of a wrinkle here!"

Chase boosted down and hit the fleet of bogies with a single charged shot.

"Phew! Thanks for the help, Chase. I owe you one." Peter said.

"Let me know if you need any more help and I'll drop by."

"Nah, I'll be fine. But sheesh! These dingoes pack quite a bloody wallop!"

The tunnel was now beginning to narrow. As the four ships started down the narrowest path, the other end of the tunnel started to close.

"You're gonna block us at any cost, is that it, Andross?!" Falco growled.

"Everyone speed up or were toast!" Marcus hollered.

The four ships shot through the narrow gap just as it closed behind them.

"Man, talk about a close call!" Peter

"I swear to God, the more this guy makes us work, the more pissed off I get." Chase grumbled.

"Hey, it ain't like you'd be the first, frog boy." Falco said.

The tunnel went up and to the left. When the four ships entered the next passage, several floating turrets targeted them and blasted a multitude of mercury rings.

"At this rate we'll never get to the core in time." Falco muttered as he barrel-rolled out of the way. "I'm getting more murderous by the second!"

"Looks who's talkin'." Marcus thought angrily.

He didn't mean to think like he didn't care what his teammates thought, even though they weren't psychic and couldn't tell what he was thinking, anyway. He was just so frustrated about how difficult everything was becoming.

He sucked in a puff of breath and exhaled. He couldn't go in there guns blaring and expect to immediately bring Andross crashing down. He needed to have at least a little snippet of patience if he expected to win.

Just as Marcus' thoughts started to plummet back to his brain from the clouds, a transparent gate began constructing itself over the other end of the tunnel. The four slammed on the boost and shot through the small space at the last possible second and curved downward.

All of a sudden, Marcus felt beads of sweat begin to form on his forehead.

"It's getting hot in here!" he panted.

"We're getting close to the core!" Chase said. "Activating heat diffusers…NOW!"

A rush of cool air went through the innards of Marcus' Arwing. He stopped sweating.

"Wait, wait, hang a second!" Falco spoke up. "When did you make those?!"

"A little ways back in November."

"So why in the hell were we two seconds from melting on Solar?!"

"I wanted to make sure I got all the bugs out of the system!"

More Venomians swerved up out the pit and streaked toward them. Marcus shot down two with relative ease.

"These attacks are getting intense!" Marcus said. "It really shows how far we've come, doesn't it?"

"Phew, you're tellin' me!" Peter said. "These yaks are gettin' to be quite a handful, eh?"

"Mark! Falco's being tailed!" Chase hollered

Falco swerved ahead with about five bogies firing heavily at him all at once.

"I remember when SLIPPY used to be the lackey for these punks!" he growled.

Marcus locked on to Falco's pursuers and fired multiple charged shots at them after flipping on the Multi-Lock. Without a doubt the evil apes went careening back down into the abyss.

"Phew! Thanks, buddy!" Falco breathed.

The four ships swerved right. Just as the rounded the corner, a robot resembling the prototype they had seen on Titania stormed in front of them. This one, however, was slightly larger and had multiple turrets jutting out from its joints.

"More robots?!" Marcus growled. "TRY SOMETHING NEW FOR ONCE!"

Marcus immediately began firing his guns at the robot, but it took no effect. The robot returned the favour by firing a powerful laser beam from a gun that appeared from its back. After Marcus had swerved out of the way of the cyborg's primary attack, it followed up by firing its multiple turrets at the intruder.

Suddenly, Falco swerved in front again.

"Mark! Use this!" he said.

The bomb storage on the back of Falco's ship opened and dropped a smart bomb. Marcus opened his own storage and pulled the bomb in.

"THAT makes us even!" Falco said. "Now blow that thing and let's keep movin'!"

Marcus smirked and locked onto the robot.

"Next time, play to win, not to get even." he said to Falco.

He slammed the red button over his head. The bomb crashed into the probe and detonated it.

"It's away!" Marcus cheered.

Chase checked his monitor. They were now just five miles from the core. The walls of the tunnel were starting to glow with heat.

Suddenly, his radar blipped.

"Got something on radar!" he called. "Dead ahead and coming this way."

Marcus could sense the disturbance as well. They had no chance of sneaking up on him even if they had radar jammers.

In the blink of an eye, three ships appeared out of thin air.

"A stealth squadron!" Marcus shouted. "Keep your guard up, team!"

Falco and Peter swerved off to the left, avoided the projectiles from the westernmost stealth ship, and began pelting it with charged shots. It fell to pieces in a large explosion. When Peter tried to aim for the center ship, it dodged his lasers and returned fire.

"They're quick! Be careful, mates!" Peter said as the other two enemy units started rapidly swerving around in the narrowing tunnel.

Marcus swerved after them and rapidly fired his cannons off. After several missed shots, he got fed up and flipped on the Mach 4 convertor. His Arwing shot through the two stealth fighters. He flipped the convertor off and hit the brakes let the others catch up to him.

The tunnel began to narrow out as the turned downward again. Several rotating fans were ahead of them.

"This could be a problem…" Falco muttered.

"You're gonna get hit!" Chase shouted to Marcus. "Hit the brakes!"

Everyone slammed on their brakes. Their Arwings slowed down and avoided slamming into the rotating part of the fan. When the space was clear, they released the brake and boosted through, avoiding shots from another turret precariously positioned behind one of the fans. The tunnel narrowed out even more, forcing the team to line up one after the other to get through.

Suddenly, another metallic gate started closing over the tunnel.

"Oh, for the love of God, what can this freak-show NOT do?!" Chase growled angrily.

"Everyone boost on my mark!" Marcus shouted.

He boosted out of the tunnel.

"Chase, NOW!"

Chase hit the boost and shot through the gate.

"Falco, NOW!"

Falco hit his boost and shot through.

"Pete, NOW!"

Finally. Peter shot through just as the gate closed. The four ships proceeded down the widest tunnel yet.

"Hey, check it out!" Falco called, pointing forward.

About 500 or so feet below them, there appeared to be an opening that seemed to be absolutely radiating with heat. They were flying straight for it.

"Looks like we're gettin' close to the grand finale, boys." Peter said.

"Oh, hell yeah." Chase said. "The gruelling exploits of this war are finally coming to an end."

"For the army, Al, the girls and everyone else…we've gotta wrap this up once ad for all." Falco said.

"…I WILL avenge my parents! We can't give up now!" Marcus shouted.

Falco heard a crackling noise, and looked behind his Arwing. A gigantic wall of flames was rushing straight at them.

"What the f…Mark! We got another trap!" he shouted.

"I see it! Alright, boys! Let's hit the Big Cheese where it hurts!" Marcus ordered. "Mach 4 convertors on!"

The four ships shot forward at supersonic speed, down to the planet's own ninth circle of hell.

Several moments later...

The four ships easily cruised down the craggy tunnel toward the planet core.

Suddenly without warning, the ships went shooting toward a gigantic pool of lava!

"OH CRAP!" they all screamed.

They slammed on their brakes and swerved up away from the searing liquid.

"Oh, good God!" Peter panted, patting his chest. "I could swear my heart stopped for a second there!"

Marcus smirked.

"Wouldn't that be humiliating. The boys of Star Fox finished by a…WHAT THE HELL?!"

Marcus' eyes went wide when he stared in utter shock at the hideous being that floated in front of them.

"Is that…" he started.

"Andross?" Chase finished.

The creature had to be one of the most disturbing things any of them had ever seen. It was nothing more than a gigantic brain with two huge worm-like eyes attached to a pulsating green frontal lobe. Beneath it trailed several long, slimy tentacles. The creature itself had strange mechanisms attached to it that were generating electrical beams connecting to the chamber wall.

"Okay, I've SEEN Andross, and I don't remember him looking like that at all!" Falco said.

"Crikey! He's one ugly yak, ain't he?" Peter said.

Suddenly, the brain spoke.

"RESTORED…I'LL BE…RESTORED…"

"What's he saying?!" Marcus blurted.

"He'll be restored…if he's saying that, it must mean that he knows he's not technically alive yet."

Falco smirked.

"Guess the giant brain's all air and no brain in its own right."

"His eyes are focusing on us, but's almost like he doesn't even know we're here." Marcus said. "I don't get it! Why does he look like this?!"

"His resurrection cycle isn't complete yet. He still needs to regenerate his skin and the rest of his organs." Chase concluded

"Thank God or we'd all be goners."

Suddenly, the chamber violently shook.

"I'll go out on a limb here and say that we're in trouble." Falco grumbled.

"Those machines attached to him are draining energy from the planet structure!" Chase hollered. "We've only got an hour left!"

"GO AWAY." Andross mindlessly said in a monotone voice. "LEAVE ME ALONE."

"Okay, maybe he's not COMPLETELY stupid." Falco said.

"Alright, boys!" Marcus barked. "Time to face the magic! Activating all-range mode!"

The wings on the four ships extended. They split up and flew in circles around Andross.

"Time to give Andross his present!" Marcus said sternly.

"I WILL…BE RESTORED….YOU CAN NOT…STOP ME." the giant brain bellowed.

The worm-like eyes snaked toward them. Two fleshy cords (each appearing to be electrically charged) kept them attached to the frontal lobe.

"This is just a guess, mind you, but I think that green part is his weak point." Peter said.

"Most likely, yes." Chase replied. "That's his frontal lobe. But we can't hit it with those nervous strands attached to it. Maybe if we shoot the eyes down first, the strands will go with them."

"Okay, first thing's first: destroy the eyes!" Marcus ordered.

"KILL…ALL ENEMIES." Andross hollered.

"Riiiight…" Falco trailed out

Marcus U-turned and dove after the left eye. When he came near it, it fired multiple laser beams at him. He was quick to swerve out of the way. When he returned fire, the eye squirmed away and searched for a new target.

"Feisty little bitch, aren't ya?" Marcus growled as he gave chase.

The other eye swerved around and streaked toward Chase.

"C'mon, you little bugger! Catch me if ya can!" he mocked.

Chase slammed on the boost and rocketed towards the wall. Sure enough, the eye came jetting after him. As soon as Chase was ten feet from crashing into the wall, he U-turned. Unfortunately, Andross had enough smarts to turn the eye around and shoot right back at the hapless frog.

"How in the holy mother of…damn, this guy's not a stupid as he looks." Chase grumbled as he swerved out of the way.

Since Chase had messed up his attack run on the eye, the only thing he could do was flee from it as it jetted after him. Suddenly, the other eye came out of nowhere and slammed into heavily Chase's ship. Before he had enough time to react, the eye and coiled itself around the ship and began to crush it.

"Get off me! Do I look like some kinda toy to you?!" Chase shouted.

Falco dove down and fired at the eye wrapped around Chase's ship. It released its prey, only to be shot down into the fiery liquid by Peter a few moments later.

Andross let out a violent shriek that seemed to shake the whole chamber. The nervous cord attached to the eye burned up as its attachment burned to a crisp.

"Just like your old man, Chase. Basket-case to the breaking point." Falco said rolling his eyes.

"Hey, I can't help it if a frickin' eyeball starts hugging my ship!" Chase retaliated.

"MUST DESTROY…CORNERIA…MUST BURN." Andross growled.

"Brain boy has a lust for destruction. What else is new?" Marcus grumbled.

A few of the tentacles draping below the brain drifted up and created a sort of energy reaction.

"Hang tight, mates!" Peter shouted. "That ruddy oaf's up to somethin'!"

A massive beam fired from the tentacles. The team boosted away from it and circled around their nemesis again, looking for a good opening.

"Oh, yeah. He's DEFINITELY been planning ahead." Chase said.

"Mark, watch it!" Falco shouted. "The other one's tailin' you!"

"Ah, crap!" Marcus grumbled.

He braked. The eye flew in front of him, but it immediately prepared to turn around.

"Feel the burn, big boy." Marcus said to himself as he slammed his fist on the red button above his head.

The smart bomb flew from Marcus' cannon, slammed into the eye, and sent it and the nervous cord careening into the fiery wall. As soon as it hit the wall, the eye burst into flames and took the cord along with it.

Andross screamed in pain again.

"Alright, the lobe's exposed!" Marcus shouted. "Everyone concentrate your fire on it!"

"I KNOW...YOU'RE HERE." Andross said mindlessly. "YOU WON'T GET…AWAY."

Even though he no longer had eyes, Andross still seemed to know exactly where the boys were. He slowly began drifting towards Marcus.

"Watch it, Mark! Target's on the move and he's comin' right at you!" Falco called.

"I'll act as the decoy. You guys hit the lobe when he follows me!" Marcus ordered.

Andross was coming at Marcus back-first, so even if he U-turned, Marcus still wouldn't be able to hi the lobe. The only option was to get Andross to chase him while the other three attacked Andross from the other side.

Marcus flipped around and sped away from the giant brain, which began to follow him. Falco, Chase, and Peter immediately started tailing Andross, when suddenly, right when they were about to attack the frontal lobe, he disappeared.

Marcus stopped and looked behind him. When he saw that he was no longer being tailed, his jaw dropped.

"What the…where the hell is he?!" he shouted.

Chase checked his monitor. It wasn't locating anything other than he and the other three boys.
"I don't know! He isn't showing up on my radar!"

Falco started cruising around the chamber.

"He's gotta be here somewhere!" he said, keeping his eyes peeled for any sign of movement. "It's not like he could just escape in the state he's in!"

Chase looked around and fiddled with a few switches, trying his best to find where Andross was hiding. Just then, a blip appeared…directly above him!

Andross' tentacles snaked down, wrapped around the Slip Strap and began to crush it in its slimy grip.

"SWEET MOTHER OF MERCY!" the young Toad shrieked. "GET HIM OFF ME! GET HIM OFF ME!"

Marcus swerved in and blasted the frontal lobe at full force. The tentacles loosened, and Chase was able to slam on the boost and jet away from the giant brain.

"Well, that was kind of a thrill…" Chase said stupidly.

"Basket. Case." Falco said.

"Oh, shut up! You wouldn't have it any easier if it had been you. Am I right, Mark?"

Marcus didn't respond…at least, not properly. He simply monotonously grunted and continued setting up his next attack run.

"What's up with him?" asked Peter.

"He's got a lot on his mind. Just keep your guard up and don't bug him." Falco said with a stern tone in his voice.

The four ships looped after Andross again. The tentacles fired more beams. The ships avoided these easily, but Marcus' ship was just barely skinned as one of the tentacles lashed out at them.

"I'm already pissed off enough without this son of a bitch swatting me around like some goddamn insect!" Marcus growled.

"YOU SHALL NOT…LEAVE ALIVE." Andross bellowed.

"Oh, for the love of God, shut the hell up!" Peter groaned. "How can he talk, anyhow? He doesn't even have a mouth to begin with!"

"Aloud telepathy, I'm guessing? I dunno. I'm just picking at straws here." Chase said.

"Telepathy? Aw, c'mon! You really believe in that bloody rot?!"

"My guess is you haven't heard of Krys…"

Chase was about to finish his sentence, but stopped when he heard Marcus meekly whisper, "Mom…"

The giant brain flashed bright green. In a split second, the team's ships began to heave, sputter, and sink toward the molten ore below them.

"Oh, God, what is this?!" Falco sputtered.

"He's increasing the gravity in the chamber!" Chase shouted. "We're being weighed down!"

"Revert G-Diffuser system output. Gravity: Heavy!" Marcus yelled

Even with the G-Diffuser's increased output, the ships stood no chance against the impossible gravity. It almost seemed as though invisible hands had reached up and seized the ships in an iron grip.

"It's not working!" Peter shouted.

"We're dead, we're dead, we're dead, we're dead…" Falco whispered in panic.

"Not on my watch." Marcus growled.

He made sure he was lined up perfectly with the now immobile Andross and activated his Mach 4 convertor. Because of the steadily increasing force of gravity, it wasn't going as fast as it normally would, but it helped Marcus slowly pilot himself away from the lava.

Within several patient moments, Andross came within Marcus' firing range.

"Have a taste of shrapnel, you bastard!" Marcus shouted as he slammed the bomb button at full force.

A smart bomb flew from through the unforgiving and hellish air and detonated when it became ensnared in Andross' tentacles. Andross let out another hideous and blood-curdling shriek. Marcus' ship levelled out, as did the other ships below him.

Marcus was quick to return his G-Diffuser to its normal output to prevent himself from floating away. After all, too much output in the wrong place would cause him to float away. Too little output in the wrong place would cause him to go plummeting down.

"Nice goin', Mark." Falco said as he and the others came up next to him.

"What do you say we put an end to this?" Marcus said. "Chase, offensive maneuver 16!"

Chase sucked in a breath, then let out a loud and somewhat unnecessary battle cry as he dove at Andross. He opened a hatch above his head and pulled the lever inside. Another hatch opened and shot a long metal rod at Andross. The end pointing at Andross was spiked and sharp, while the other end had a small metal ball bearing on it.

In a slightly gruesome display, the rod stuck into Andross' frontal lobe. He shrieked again.

"Revert main weapons to Wave Beam! Maintain battle formation Kratos!"

The four boys flipped a few switches and changed their firing styles, and then arranged their ships in a vertical diamond formation.

"Execute!" Marcus hollered.

The four ships shot forward at a breakneck pace. After charging their cannons, they let fly with powerful and wavy beams of electricity. The beams themselves struck the rod sticking into Andross' frontal lobe and sent the charge across his entire body.

Andross screamed again as the charge flew into the machines attached to him and caused them to explode.

"NOOOO….MY RETURN…MY RESSURECTION…."

"Err….did it work?!" asked Peter.

"Wait for it…" Chase said.

Suddenly, the giant brain had an internal explosion, which was enough to send him careening into the lava. After a few seconds in the burning liquid, he sank out of sight.

Then, all was quiet.

"YAAAAAHOO!" Chase cheered. "We did it!"

"Guess that's the end of that." Falco said, leaning back against his seat and grinning.

"Talk about short-lived, eh?" Peter asked.

Marcus felt satisfied that he had beaten the madman that had murdered his grandparents, but still he felt that something wasn't right.

Of course…he couldn't go home and say to his parents "I beat Andross!" His parents weren't there for him anymore…at least, not in body.

He shook the thoughts away. Corneria was saved, and that was all that mattered, right?

Suddenly, Marcus' communicator crackled. He could make out a few words of what Damalgo was saying.

"Guy…gate's…about to…you gotta…now!"

Marcus tuned his communicator to the proper channel and spoke.

"Say again, Al?"

"The gate's closing! You've gotta get out of there right now!"

Just like that, the sensation went from triumph to complete and utter dread.

"You gotta be kidding me!" Chase exclaimed.

"This can't happen…not now!" Peter screamed.

"We're dead, we're dead, we're dead…" Falco said panic-stricken.

"Everyone get a grip!" Marcus shouted. "We're not gonna die! Return to forward thrust capacity! Evacuate at maximum velocity!"

The four ships shot up through the way they came as fast as they could, leaving their nemesis' remnants to burn in the sizzling depths.