Chapter 3: "Exit Light, Enter Night…"


The lovers finally docked back in the hanger of the Greatfox. As Falco landed his Arwing, his head was full of regret that he hadn't asked the question earlier. As the engines finally died to a silence, he opened the canopy of his cockpit. Once again, he gave Katt his feathery wing to clamber out of the fighter. As they both got out, they were both greeted by Slippy.
"Slippy, whats happened?" Katt asked worryingly.
"We're not sure Katt, the others have already gone. Believed some rouge Venomians wanted to spoil the peace again! I've got to fill Falco's fuel cells up, the Cats' Paw is ready to go!" Slippy replied, wiping his green face with his tissue from perspiration
"Thank you Slippy, you're the greatest!" She rewarded him with a kiss on the cheek, making him perspire even more. Slippy quickly ran over to Falco's ship and began to replenish the cells of the arwing. Falco walked over to his beautiful pink feline, still the feeling of regret toiled with him. He wanted to propose to her so badly, but he couldn't do here, not before a mission, in front of that green toad!
"Babe, what you waiting for?" Falco asked.
Katt looked back into Falco's mystical eyes, "You.!" She chuckled.
"Why? Leave now, I'll catch up with ya. No need to worry about me, geez!" Falco rolled his eyes.
"But I always worry about you baby! I'm never gonna leave you!" Katt gently stroked his beak, Falco half closed his eyes, her touch was so wonderful, but his heart was leaping out from his chest.
"Ok… but we must leave in a minute, we're letting down the team!" Falco mumbled, never one to let anyone down, especially not his best friend, Fox.
Slippy came running back over, the fuel pump in his hand, "Ok Falco, your ready to go!" Slippy squeaked in high pitch voice, making the couple both squint from the sound.
"Ok… cheers Slipshot!" Falco tormented the green amphibian, never one to truly get on with the toad. Slippy grumbled and ran back towards the hanger door.
"Why the hell did you have to do that!" Katt scolded her boyfriend, "He always tries to help you and that the thanks he gets, your such a jerk sometimes Lombardi!" Katt turned his back on him and stormed towards the Cats' Paw.
Falco just huffed and proceeded to his Arwing, his mind teased him what he had done, "Nice one Falco!? Now you've got her pissed off! Way to go!?" Falco lost his temper with himself, "Argh.. Shut up!!" He screamed at himself.
Falco jumped into his cockpit and closed his canopy, it was much roomier without Katt in with him, yet even though she wasn't there, her smell was. The rich coated of fragrancemade his cockpit smell more like a garden, but he didn't mind, it was better than the plastic stench that used to exsist in his cockpit in earlier days. Falco pressed a large red button next to his flight stick, suddenly, the engines splutter once again into life, this time they purred more due to Slippy apply more of its fresh life blood. He pressed his communicator on.
"Baby, you ok over there?" Falco asked.
"Yep, ready when you are hon!" She replied, suprisingly up beat after their little scuffle.
"Ok, lets go." Falco stated as his opened the throttle, propelling his fighter out of the hanger and towards the Corneria. Katt's pink Invader II ship, that she had stolen from the Venomians during the Lylatian War, quickly followed him.
Falco opened the communicator to the Greatfox, "Ok, Slippy, where's our prey?"
"Last reports indicate that Vemomian ship spotted around Corneria City Airport!"
"Ok, cheers Slippy and er… Sorry for calling you what I did earlier." Falco looked down, more in embarrassment than in shame.
"ah.. it's ok Falco," Slippy grinned, "Slippy Out." The screen went dead, but not for long, Katt's face soon came up on Falco's screen.
"Aww… what a sweetie!" She teased him for his apology.
"Hey.. Shut up!" He shouted, blushing furiously before he switched off the screen.

As the descended into the Cornerian atmosphere, they both began to pick up communication signals and distortion.
"Hey, what's going on!" Katt asked
"I dunno baby, lets go and find out!" Falco opened his throttle and flew towards the airport.

Finally, the airport came into view, it was not a pretty site, smoke enveloped the runway, a sign of many a fallen fighter, the sky was an abundance of red, blue and green lasers.
"Geez Lawezze, what the hell happened here!" Falco shouted. Suddenly, his communicator screen once again came alive, though this time it wasn't the beautiful pink face of a feline, but an orange vulpine face of Fox.
"Falco, thank god you're here, we got our hands full a bit."
"No problem Fox, I'm just sorry I missed the beginning of the action." Falco joked.
"Well.. you not going to have to worry about that, however, these Venomians are more skilled than ones we've fought before, so watch yourself, Fox out."
As the screen went black, falco muttered, "Ok man,. Sure will!"
The arwing and the Cats' Paw banked sharply and enter the huge dogfight developing over the airport. Falco automatically got behind a Venomian, however, barrel rolled and got on behind Falco's tail.
"Dang!" Falco cursed and looped, rewarded by being on it's tail again. This time, Falco took no time in dispatching the Venomian into flames as it span towards the runway.
"That's one down!" Falco stated over the com, "… just slightly better flyers!" Falco's cockiness was always apparent in dogfights.
"Oh, I dunno baby, you seemed to be having a little trouble back there!" Katt giggled, teasing him again for his failure to stop the enemy getting behind him.
"Very funny!? Fox, Where's Bill and the Green Wings? Falco asked "…not like him to miss a fight!"
"He's doing what we're doing in Katina!" Fox shouted down the com, taking out two enemy ship with a single bolt.
"Oh…" Falco decided not to distract his friend from his job. He banked again after more prey. Downing another three enemies before he heard a blood curdling scream in his ear,
"FALCO…! HELP!" Katt screamed, she had been careless taking down a Venomian and had paid the price with being swamped by four of its colleges on her tail. The tracers flew past her cockpit window as she desperately twisted and turned through the sky.
"Anyone… help, their on my tail!!" she pleaded again as the Cats' Paw was rocked as the lasers found their mark.
"Katt, hang on, I'm coming!" Falco shouted and broke off his attack as he flew towards Katt, He brought his silver arwing around.
"Leave my girlfriend alone!" He shouted as he gentle pushed down on the trigger, a hail of lasers flew in front of him hitting two of the ships, they burst into flame, and both broke off and dived to lower attitude. He opened the throttle to catch the other two ships pursuing his girlfriend's ship.
Again, he opened fire, one exploded in mid air.
"Argh… damm it!" Falco cursed as he flew through the debray.
Finally, Falco got on the tail of the last Venomian, it was still firing at Katt's now crippled ship. Falco slowly pressed down on the trigger for the last time, the laser shots hit the ship and it burst into flame and began to smoke, however, as the fighter banked, Falco's laser shot missed their targets and were heading straight for Katt's.
"No…!!" Falco screamed as his shots hit Katt's port wing, disintegrating it. The Cats' Paw went into a lethal spin towards the ground.
"FALCO….!!" Katt cried out his name as the Cats' Paw hit he wreckage of a crashed Venomian fighter and exploded into a fireball.
"Noooooooo..!!!!!!" Falco screamed and cried as he saw the ship explode.
"Katt..!!" Fara screamed over the comm as the Starfox team saw the pink ship hit the ground.
"Oh no! Oh please God no!" The normally wise words of the ageing veteran Peppy failed him.
Falco put his Arwing in a steep dive and quickly landed it near the crash site, he jumped out before he even switched off the engine, running as fast as he could towards where the Cats' Paw landed. He was greeted by the sceen of a series of ambulances and fire engines. As the firemen fought the fire from the Cats' Paw. Falco stared as a paramedic put a blanket over a body.
"No…!" Falco stood in front of the paramedic. "What are you doing!" He shouted, now in tears.
"I'm sorry, she's dead." The paramedic answered solemnly.
"No…" he sobbed, "No.. she.. can't.. die!!" Falco collapsed to his knees and put his face in his feathery hands and cried openly. Falco had never been like this in public, he had never cried in public before, but this time he couldn't help it. He felt like his heart had just been tore out of his chest. The paramedic put a hand on Falco's shoulder,
"I'm sorry." The paramedic's hand felt warm on Falco's now cold body. Falco felt so cold, he wanted to die right now, and to join Katt in the heavens above. As the emergency vechials pulled away with their wailing sirens, Falco looked up, in front of him was a small piece of twisted metal. He picked it up lovingly with his feathery hand and turned it over, It was pink on the other side and the words' "Cats' Paw" inscribed on it. Falco looked at it mesmerised and cuddled the small piece of metal, allowing his warm tears to run down his beak and onto the ice cold metal.