Note:
Since Peppy had passed out, the Star Fox team hadn't noticed Mantia escape and
the roar they thought had come from the engine. Only Peppy noticed Mantia escape.
As the sun rose, Mantia flew with grim determination
to conquer the Lylat System. However,
Mantia was too badly injured from his battle with the Great Fox so many years
ago. Mantia scanned its memory for
someplace to go and heal itself when it remembered the place of its 'rebirth'. Mantia blazed through the sky headed towards
the old research lab of Pacific Co. where it was genetically modified.
Meanwhile the Star Fox team burst
into the Army hospital carrying a delirious Peppy.
"Mantia, Mantia, I won't surrender
to you never," yelled Pepper in his sleep.
"What's gotten into him?" asked Fox
as Peppy was strapped to a hospital bed. Then a doctor injected some anesthetic into Peppy.
"Promise me that you won't let
Mantia get me," said Peppy. Fox just
nodded confused as Peppy fell asleep.
"He must have just witnessed
something that was a repressed memory in his mind," said the doctor.
"Peppy had a repressed memory? That's amazing," said Falco.
"What memory?" asked Slippy.
"Something to do with a Mantia,"
said the doctor.
"That's the million dollar
question. What's a Mantia," said Fox.
"I believe that I can answer that
question," said General Pepper walking towards them.
1 hr. later Military HQ: "So General
what's a Mantia and why doesn't anyone know about it?" asked Fox. Pepper went over to a cabinet and took out a
dossier and set it on the table. Fox
picked up and held it so the team could see it. As Fox opened the folder it showed a large manta ray over a
building.
"Where was this taken, the undersea
city?" asked Fox.
"Look closer," said Pepper. Next to the manta ray was a cloud.
"It's not flying is it? That's not possible! Who did this?" demanded Fox.
"Who else? Flip the page," said Pepper. Fox flipped the page and it showed Andross with a large smile across his
face and the manta ray hovering in the background.
"Figures," said Falco sighing.
"What's Mantia though?" asked Fox.
"Mantia is the creature's name,"
responded Pepper. Fox then briefly
flipped through the pages until he reached a page with a picture of three
satellites in orbit of Corneria. He
read the paragraph below the picture:
"Due to the panic caused by the
existence of Mantia, it has been determined that in order to restore peace, we
have to erase the memories of everyone on Corneria for the last three
weeks. All knowledge of this creature
will be sealed in an underground vault and would only be opened should the
creature reappear. The only people to
retain knowledge of this creature's existence will be: the president, generals
of the Cornerian Defense force, and the Star Fox team. Everyone else will have their memory whipped
clean so that our society will continue to survive," said Fox.
"You erased their memories!"
exclaimed Slippy.
"Yes, I know it went against
everything this society had spent centuries to build but it had to be
done. We had to abandon our principles
just this once in order to save our society! We did it in order to survive," said Pepper.
"The moral issues are
inconceivable," said Fox.
"We don't have time to worry about
the moral issues, we have to focus on the return of Mantia," said Pepper.
"What do we do?" asked Falco.
Genetic Research Lab, Pacific Co.:
Mantia crawled along the ground towards the large hanger doors and entered
inside the building. The whole place
was covered in cobwebs, but all of the equipment was still there because the
mind-ray made everyone forget that the place existed. The door's closed behind Mantia and immediately the computers in
the room came to life and several scans were taken of the creature.
"Bio-weapon damaged, beginning
repairs taken from file: Mantia repair and renewal," said the computer. Instantly several mechanical arms reached
out with large pieces of metal attached to them.
"Genetic reserves depleted. Adding mechanical enhancements," said the
computer. A large piece of metal with
large orb in the middle was placed over the place where Mantia's right eye
would have been and attached it. The
orb was Mantia's new artificial eye. Then other pieces of metal were attached all over Mantia's body.
"Adding weaponry," said the
computer. On the top of Mantia's head
that had been covered in metal, a large cannon was added. A large power reactor was also inserted into
the body. Then two laser guns were
added to Mantia's wings.
"And finally, voice synthesizers,"
said the computer. A large box was
inserted just behind Mantia's throat.
"Repairs complete," said the
computer. Mantia then rose up and
looked through it's eyes at a large mirror showing it's semi-mechanical body.
"It is time," said Mantia who then
swung around and zoomed out of the research bay and into the sky headed towards
Corneria City.
Army HQ's vault: "The Great Fox?"
asked Fox.
"That's right. It nearly took out Mantia before, and I'm
hoping that it will be able to do so again," said Peppy who showed the Great
Fox firing on Mantia and how portions of it were blown sky high.
"Gruesome," said Falco. Suddenly, alarms erupted all over the base.
"The heck," said Fox. General Powell raced out of the elevator
towards them.
"Mantia's headed this way at Mach
2," said Powell who motioned for them to follow as he raced off. The team made their way to the war-room and
watched as a satellite tracked Mantia headed towards Corneria City.
"It looks like it has been enhanced
with mechanical parts," said Powell.
"Indeed it has," said Pepper and
then to the Star Fox team "Before, it was just a large Manta Ray."
Army hospital: Air-raid sirens went
off all over the city and patients and hospital workers alike ran in fear and
panic. Instantly Peppy sat up and
stared straight ahead and out of his window at the approaching creature.
"It has begun," said Peppy as Mantia
zoomed overhead toward the city's center.
Army HQ: "Why haven't fighters been
launched?" demanded Powell.
"All of the pilots who survived Star Wolf's attack
are on leave," responded Pepper.
"Let's go," said Fox as the team headed off.
"Deploy Project X," said Pepper to a nearby
technician.
As Mantia flew over a local park, a large laser
cannon rose from the ground and fired on the creature. The bolt hit a piece of metal on Mantia,
which promptly absorbed the blast.
"Self absorbing metals. I thought such technology was impossible," said Powell.
"Apparently the creature obtained them through some
interaction with Andross' s equipment. But how…. Oh no! We never bothered to destroy the lab where
Mantia was created," said Pepper who slapped his head with his hand. Mantia meanwhile had turned around and faced
the large cannon.
"Prepare for possible ramming," said Pepper. But instead of ramming the cannon, a hatch
opened on the top of Mantia's head and a cannon of it's own came out. The cannon fired on the Project X cannon
destroying it.
"It has built in weaponry!" exclaimed Pepper.
"We're in trouble now," said Powell watching the
screen. Instantly, several laser blasts
blanketed Mantia as three Arwings flew by.
"Star Fox, I might have know," said Mantia.
"Did that creature just talk? I thought Manta Ray's were incapable of
speech," said Falco.
"I'm guessing that's a new addition to its
repertoire," said Fox. The Great Fox
silently approached from behind Mantia and then it fired. Mantia spun around and watched the
approaching laser bolts. Mantia yanked
up its left wing and deflected the bolt causing them to zoom off and hit a
nearby building demolishing it.
"I expected so much better from you Star Fox
team. Oh well, I guess that not
everyone can learn new tactics. Oh
well," said Mantia facing away from them.
"Where are you going?" demanded Fox.
"Where you're not," said Mantia. It's tail crackled with electricity and fired
on the fighters causing all of their systems to short out. The three fighters crashed into the
ground. The pilots walked out and faced
Mantia. Fox yanked out his blaster and
started firing at the creature. The
bolts blasted harmlessly against Mantia's skin. A beam then flew from Mantia's artificial eye and destroyed the
blaster in Fox's hand.
"What were you hoping to accomplish?" asked
Mantia. Peppy ran out of the chaos of
people and headed towards the team.
"Looks like I made it here in time," said Peppy.
"Ahhh, a familiar face. Hello Peppy Hare. You
don't think that I would forget you. You tried to kill me. I would
destroy you all, but I have better ways to spend my time like conquering the
Lylat System," said Mantia.
"But I have an Ace up my sleeve. Rob fire!" yelled Peppy into his comm. The Great Fox fired again and this time
connected with Mantia's body. The
impact of the laser bolts caused Mantia to slam into the ground causing dust to
billow up around it.
"Got him," said Falco. A loud roar was heard over the screams of the citizens.
"I don't think so," said Peppy. Mantia rose from the ground uninjured and
did an about face turn. It then raced
off towards the Great Fox. Mantia
slammed into it causing the Great Fox to loose control and slam into the
ground.
"Your days are numbered," said Mantia. Mantia then faced the Army HQ and fired at
it with its head cannon. The whole
building started to crumble to the ground.
"All of those people," said Fox shocked.
"We're finished," said Slippy. Mantia turned around to face them.
"You should have killed me when we had the chance,"
was all it said before flying off away from Corneria City.
Several Hours Later, Army Hospital: "That's all we
can do for now. I'm afraid he's in
critical condition," said a doctor referring to Pepper who was laying on a
hospital bed.
"I'm afraid that about half of the generals are dead
including General Powell. How Pepper
survived is a miracle. Now if you'll
excuse me, I sadly have triage to perform on the remaining survivors from the
Army HQ building," said the doctor grimly. Fox just nodded and the doctor left the room. As he left, Slippy entered holding a singed dossier.
"They found it. It's a little burnt, but everything is readable," said Slippy. Pepper opened his eyes and looked at the
Star Fox team.
"You must stop Mantia before it kills us all," was
all he said before closing his eyes..
"What should we do?" asked Falco.
"Jake," said Pepper now barely conscious.
"Who?" asked Falco.
"He's that guy who helped us escape when we were on
board Star Wolf's battlecruiser," said Slippy.
"Wasn't he a dealer in some illegal goods?" asked
Fox.
"Yeah, and he left the rest of the fleet on the
return to Corneria for the victory celebration due to fear of being arrested,"
said Slippy.
"He gave me his card when we were still stuck on
Star Wolf's cruiser. I say we contact
him," said Fox. The team left Pepper
behind as they headed for an interstellar communication booth and punched in a
nine-code number.
"What do you want?" asked a raspy voice.
"This is Fox McCloud of the Star Fox team and I
request your assistance," said Fox.
"Oh, hi Fox," said Jake in his regular non-raspy
voice.
"We need your help," said Fox.
"Let me guess, against that creature that attacked
Corneria City. I can't help you help
you out, but I know who can," said Jake.
"Who?" asked Slippy.
"You ever hear of a velociraptor named Dan?" asked
Jake.