Chapter 11: Demented and Scorched
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In a flurry of streaks and flashes, the remains of Pepper's tattered fleet shot off back
towards Corneria, while shattered pieces of several other dilapidated vessels, including
the capital ship, expanded in a haunting cloud of debris. At the same time the skies of
Zoness blackened, the sun choking through the burnt atmosphere of the planet casting a red
eerie glow on the islands that dotted the oceans. Dozens of cities and towns laid in ruins
at the hand of Pepper's weapon that he had used before, the palm tree forests burning with
oxygen starved black smoke adding to the suffocating haze that filled the once tropical
landscape as a silence blanketed the land.
"Fox..." whispered Bill from his fighter in a sense of finality that he had never felt upon
his lips before.
As he lowered his head in remorse, the space outside shimmered around a point of light,
small at first but soon turning into a green and white speck rushing towards him.
"Fox McCloud to the Great Fox, come in!"
"Fox! You're alive!"
Slippy rushed towards his console in a fleet of excitement hopping over the chair, "Great
Fox here! I've never been happier to hear your voice Fox!"
"Slippy get off of there let me talk to him!" cried Falco as he shoved the gleeful
amphibian off his seat, "Fox when you get back here I'm going to whip your tail for
scaring the shit out of all of us, you hear?!"
A laugh could be heard over the comm channel until Fox's face appeared, "We're going
to have to wait on that one Falco, I have Wolf with me and he's in serious trouble. I'm
docking now."
"So...he was alive," mumbled Falco looking away.
"Yes...as a matter of fact he was."
Fox's voice had a sense of confident disdain as the comm window closed, Falco slowly
walked away with his head lowered.
"Falco don't worry about it, no one could have known whether he was alive or not, we all
agreed with the idea that he was probably dead in the first place remember?"
"Yea...yea I know...it's just Fox is always so damn right all the time."
***************************************************************
After docking, Fox carried Wolf in his arms to the small sickbay the Great Fox had with
the team rushing in behind him,
"Here quick, put him on that medi-bed!"
As they laid down the unconscious wolf, frantically getting out medical equipment in the
process, he began to toss and turn from side to side moaning.
"No...no....must...must get Fox...must kill him...Pepper...Pepper help me!" As
Wolf continued to shake frantically, Falco and Peppy held down his arms in a tight grip to
prevent him from moving around too much while his cries became louder, rising above
the whisper they once held before.
"Pepper help me! Pepper help me! No! No! I'm not suppos...Why are you holding
me!? Please!!" Wolf started to sob in tears trying to resist Falco and Peppy's grip.
Falco jerked his head up looking at Fox, "What the hell is the matter with him?!"
"I...I don't know, something's got to be wrong with him."
Wolf turned his head toward Fox at the sound of his voice, panting heavily almost in rage
and anger, "You should be dead! Pepper is a fool! I told him to kill you right away but he
didn't listen!"
Peppy's face grew irritable as he began to tire from holding the gray wolf down,
"Someone shut him up!"
Fox crossed his arms looking into Wolf's eye, he thought for a moment while his tail idly
swished from side to side like it usually did when he was thinking.
"Slippy, bring the medical scanner over here, let's get a closer look at Wolf."
"Good idea." Slippy opened up a medical locker before retrieving a small device with a
few wires attached to it. With quick dexterity, the toad plugged the cords into a computer
console and placed the scanner above Wolf as he continued to moan and twist around.
"I'm reading a few internal injuries, some ribcage damage, small fractures in his tailbone,
also there's some cerebral damage. Looks like he had a pretty good bump...wait a
minute..."
"What Slippy what is it?"
"I'm seeing something odd here, the computer is reading some strange chemicals floating
around the brain, they appear to be inhibiting synaptic nerve responses in a highly
complex manner...I'm going to assume that a triple M drug was used on him."
"Triple M drug?"
"Motive, moral, and mind manipulation, the most powerful in its league. It can practically re-
write someone's entire moral center, essentially corrupting whoever is under its
influence."
"Pepper that bastard..."
"Analyzing Wolf's condition, I'd say he was experiencing a form of dementia right now."
Peppy looked up from Wolf while still holding him down, "By looking at the uniform
he's wearing, I'm going to guess he was put into some form of command?"
"Yes he was in control of the capital ship when I saw him there, Pepper was at his
side..."
Wolf jerked up sneering at Fox, "That's right, he was at MY side, an entire world fell
before me today! And it was glorious! Oh it was!" His face turned almost delirious as he
fell back laughing and coughing in pain mixed with tears, it was a horrible sight for Fox
to watch, seeing him like this, reduced almost to insanity.
"Zoness...God what's going to happen now."
"Great Fox, this is Bill. Elena and I have re-assembled our squadron and we're standing
by in orbit around Zoness...Fox I suggest that we get down there and survey what has
happened, contact me when you're ready......and hell...it's good to see you alive."
"I'll be with you shortly, thanks Bill." The audio channel closed with a crack as Fox's
attention returned to Wolf.
"Slippy, when I was escaping with him, he helped me find my way out, is it possible that
the effects of this drug can be reversed or subdued?"
"It's hard to say, judging from the chemical decay it looks like it requires continuous
doses to remain effective, it could just wear off after a while, but again, it's hard to tell."
"I never knew foxes could be such noble creatures?! I laugh at my words Fox! I laugh at
them! How could I have trusted you! You shot me! You killed me! But Pepper took me
in his arms! He took me! He took me! He......took......me..." Wolf's words began to
trail off as Slippy inserted a small needle into his arm.
"Sleeping drug, he's probably exhausted anyway, we can only wait now."
"What was he blabbing about?" scoffed Falco as he relaxed his grip on Wolf eventually
letting go of the lupine who was now drifting into a forced slumber.
"I don't know...probably just apart of the dementia."
I'm going down to Zoness, Falco you're with me. Peppy, Slippy I want you to stay here
with Wolf. Monitor his condition carefully, and contact me if anything changes.
***************************************************************
As the two arwings shot off towards the soupy blue and green planet Fox couldn't help
but notice the plume of blackness that was spreading through the atmosphere. Fox
thought of how they worked so hard to fix their biosphere after Andross' invasion eight
years ago, and now it could all be laid to waste again.
"Alright Bill we're ready to go down there."
"Acknowledged."
Bill's fighter appeared on his left wing as they entered the atmosphere, the clouds
obscuring their view as they continued to push through the decks of black and gray
puffiness. In a quick moment they broke through the cloud deck revealing the desolation that
filled the view before their eyes. The capital island was scarred, merely a sandy shadow of
its opulence before. Palm tree forests laid stacked like toothpicks bowing circularly around
a massive crater in the terrain next to the city.
"I can't believe this," whispered Falco as they lowered towards the island.
After landing next to each other on an empty beach near the city, Fox hopped out. The
intoxicating smell of burnt timber and waste wafted into his nostrils resulting in Fox
twisting his face in disgust. The repugnant electrical odor of ozone filled the air,
signifying the fumes of a civilization that had been obliterated.
Falco and Bill walked up next to Fox overlooking the lost city in dazed shock.
The once luscious rolling hills were browned mounds of scorched dirt, dotted with
clumps of petrified forest and debris. The streets were covered in the chunks of marble
structures and buildings that once stood before, adding to the rubble of excess that
already washed over the terrain.
"There has to be survivors, I was talking to the sub-chancellor before the beam hit...
there just has to be someone alive here," coughed Bill through the grayish haze, his voice
attempting to carry a glimmer hope.
Falco flapped his wings trying to push away the lazy smoke, "No...that would be...just
impossible...look at this place. It's a wasteland."
"Pepper is going to pay for all of this," choked Fox as he shook his head in anger.
***************************************************************
The General fumed about his office on Corneria, stomping around as he growled in anger.
"General Pepper sir...uh...we have reported some...um...losses..."
Pepper clenched his teeth as he plodded towards the small advisor who was now sweating
a storm.
"But...but but but they were minor! Our fleet at Katina is still fully opera..." before he
could finish his words the General grabbed the advisor's neck cupping his hands around the
feeble minute fox.
"You remind me too much of incompetence..." Pepper sniffed around the air a bit, before
glaring at the petrified creature he held under his grasp. "And to top it all off...
you're a vulpine. Your tail...puffy, your snout round like McCloud's, your hair fuzzy and
bristly...those markings on your fur...it sickens me just to look at you."
A tear rolled down the short red uniformed fox as he shivered in fear under the tyrant's
grip. Pepper paused for a moment taking in a small breath through his half open mouth
showing his sharp pearly canine teeth. Without word he tightened his hold gently with a smile,
forcing a defeated gasp from the advisor as more tears poured from his eyes.
"I tried to do this to Fox through Rob, but I failed...this time however...I succeed."
"Pepper...sir...please..." the struggling fox's words trailed from gasps of pain into
mere silent movements of his lips as the General closed his gloves into a suffocating clasp.
His arms shook vigorously as he clenched his hands tightly in a vise-like hold, the fox no
longer conscious, slumped under the canine's paws, his body relaxing into the submission of death.
Pepper let go of the lifeless animal's neck, allowing his victim to collapse into his arms. The
General knealt under the weight of the fox petting his fur while holding the vulpine's head
against his chest.
"I...I'm...sorry..."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Short one compared to 11, but 12 will be up soon--thanks for reading!)
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
In a flurry of streaks and flashes, the remains of Pepper's tattered fleet shot off back
towards Corneria, while shattered pieces of several other dilapidated vessels, including
the capital ship, expanded in a haunting cloud of debris. At the same time the skies of
Zoness blackened, the sun choking through the burnt atmosphere of the planet casting a red
eerie glow on the islands that dotted the oceans. Dozens of cities and towns laid in ruins
at the hand of Pepper's weapon that he had used before, the palm tree forests burning with
oxygen starved black smoke adding to the suffocating haze that filled the once tropical
landscape as a silence blanketed the land.
"Fox..." whispered Bill from his fighter in a sense of finality that he had never felt upon
his lips before.
As he lowered his head in remorse, the space outside shimmered around a point of light,
small at first but soon turning into a green and white speck rushing towards him.
"Fox McCloud to the Great Fox, come in!"
"Fox! You're alive!"
Slippy rushed towards his console in a fleet of excitement hopping over the chair, "Great
Fox here! I've never been happier to hear your voice Fox!"
"Slippy get off of there let me talk to him!" cried Falco as he shoved the gleeful
amphibian off his seat, "Fox when you get back here I'm going to whip your tail for
scaring the shit out of all of us, you hear?!"
A laugh could be heard over the comm channel until Fox's face appeared, "We're going
to have to wait on that one Falco, I have Wolf with me and he's in serious trouble. I'm
docking now."
"So...he was alive," mumbled Falco looking away.
"Yes...as a matter of fact he was."
Fox's voice had a sense of confident disdain as the comm window closed, Falco slowly
walked away with his head lowered.
"Falco don't worry about it, no one could have known whether he was alive or not, we all
agreed with the idea that he was probably dead in the first place remember?"
"Yea...yea I know...it's just Fox is always so damn right all the time."
***************************************************************
After docking, Fox carried Wolf in his arms to the small sickbay the Great Fox had with
the team rushing in behind him,
"Here quick, put him on that medi-bed!"
As they laid down the unconscious wolf, frantically getting out medical equipment in the
process, he began to toss and turn from side to side moaning.
"No...no....must...must get Fox...must kill him...Pepper...Pepper help me!" As
Wolf continued to shake frantically, Falco and Peppy held down his arms in a tight grip to
prevent him from moving around too much while his cries became louder, rising above
the whisper they once held before.
"Pepper help me! Pepper help me! No! No! I'm not suppos...Why are you holding
me!? Please!!" Wolf started to sob in tears trying to resist Falco and Peppy's grip.
Falco jerked his head up looking at Fox, "What the hell is the matter with him?!"
"I...I don't know, something's got to be wrong with him."
Wolf turned his head toward Fox at the sound of his voice, panting heavily almost in rage
and anger, "You should be dead! Pepper is a fool! I told him to kill you right away but he
didn't listen!"
Peppy's face grew irritable as he began to tire from holding the gray wolf down,
"Someone shut him up!"
Fox crossed his arms looking into Wolf's eye, he thought for a moment while his tail idly
swished from side to side like it usually did when he was thinking.
"Slippy, bring the medical scanner over here, let's get a closer look at Wolf."
"Good idea." Slippy opened up a medical locker before retrieving a small device with a
few wires attached to it. With quick dexterity, the toad plugged the cords into a computer
console and placed the scanner above Wolf as he continued to moan and twist around.
"I'm reading a few internal injuries, some ribcage damage, small fractures in his tailbone,
also there's some cerebral damage. Looks like he had a pretty good bump...wait a
minute..."
"What Slippy what is it?"
"I'm seeing something odd here, the computer is reading some strange chemicals floating
around the brain, they appear to be inhibiting synaptic nerve responses in a highly
complex manner...I'm going to assume that a triple M drug was used on him."
"Triple M drug?"
"Motive, moral, and mind manipulation, the most powerful in its league. It can practically re-
write someone's entire moral center, essentially corrupting whoever is under its
influence."
"Pepper that bastard..."
"Analyzing Wolf's condition, I'd say he was experiencing a form of dementia right now."
Peppy looked up from Wolf while still holding him down, "By looking at the uniform
he's wearing, I'm going to guess he was put into some form of command?"
"Yes he was in control of the capital ship when I saw him there, Pepper was at his
side..."
Wolf jerked up sneering at Fox, "That's right, he was at MY side, an entire world fell
before me today! And it was glorious! Oh it was!" His face turned almost delirious as he
fell back laughing and coughing in pain mixed with tears, it was a horrible sight for Fox
to watch, seeing him like this, reduced almost to insanity.
"Zoness...God what's going to happen now."
"Great Fox, this is Bill. Elena and I have re-assembled our squadron and we're standing
by in orbit around Zoness...Fox I suggest that we get down there and survey what has
happened, contact me when you're ready......and hell...it's good to see you alive."
"I'll be with you shortly, thanks Bill." The audio channel closed with a crack as Fox's
attention returned to Wolf.
"Slippy, when I was escaping with him, he helped me find my way out, is it possible that
the effects of this drug can be reversed or subdued?"
"It's hard to say, judging from the chemical decay it looks like it requires continuous
doses to remain effective, it could just wear off after a while, but again, it's hard to tell."
"I never knew foxes could be such noble creatures?! I laugh at my words Fox! I laugh at
them! How could I have trusted you! You shot me! You killed me! But Pepper took me
in his arms! He took me! He took me! He......took......me..." Wolf's words began to
trail off as Slippy inserted a small needle into his arm.
"Sleeping drug, he's probably exhausted anyway, we can only wait now."
"What was he blabbing about?" scoffed Falco as he relaxed his grip on Wolf eventually
letting go of the lupine who was now drifting into a forced slumber.
"I don't know...probably just apart of the dementia."
I'm going down to Zoness, Falco you're with me. Peppy, Slippy I want you to stay here
with Wolf. Monitor his condition carefully, and contact me if anything changes.
***************************************************************
As the two arwings shot off towards the soupy blue and green planet Fox couldn't help
but notice the plume of blackness that was spreading through the atmosphere. Fox
thought of how they worked so hard to fix their biosphere after Andross' invasion eight
years ago, and now it could all be laid to waste again.
"Alright Bill we're ready to go down there."
"Acknowledged."
Bill's fighter appeared on his left wing as they entered the atmosphere, the clouds
obscuring their view as they continued to push through the decks of black and gray
puffiness. In a quick moment they broke through the cloud deck revealing the desolation that
filled the view before their eyes. The capital island was scarred, merely a sandy shadow of
its opulence before. Palm tree forests laid stacked like toothpicks bowing circularly around
a massive crater in the terrain next to the city.
"I can't believe this," whispered Falco as they lowered towards the island.
After landing next to each other on an empty beach near the city, Fox hopped out. The
intoxicating smell of burnt timber and waste wafted into his nostrils resulting in Fox
twisting his face in disgust. The repugnant electrical odor of ozone filled the air,
signifying the fumes of a civilization that had been obliterated.
Falco and Bill walked up next to Fox overlooking the lost city in dazed shock.
The once luscious rolling hills were browned mounds of scorched dirt, dotted with
clumps of petrified forest and debris. The streets were covered in the chunks of marble
structures and buildings that once stood before, adding to the rubble of excess that
already washed over the terrain.
"There has to be survivors, I was talking to the sub-chancellor before the beam hit...
there just has to be someone alive here," coughed Bill through the grayish haze, his voice
attempting to carry a glimmer hope.
Falco flapped his wings trying to push away the lazy smoke, "No...that would be...just
impossible...look at this place. It's a wasteland."
"Pepper is going to pay for all of this," choked Fox as he shook his head in anger.
***************************************************************
The General fumed about his office on Corneria, stomping around as he growled in anger.
"General Pepper sir...uh...we have reported some...um...losses..."
Pepper clenched his teeth as he plodded towards the small advisor who was now sweating
a storm.
"But...but but but they were minor! Our fleet at Katina is still fully opera..." before he
could finish his words the General grabbed the advisor's neck cupping his hands around the
feeble minute fox.
"You remind me too much of incompetence..." Pepper sniffed around the air a bit, before
glaring at the petrified creature he held under his grasp. "And to top it all off...
you're a vulpine. Your tail...puffy, your snout round like McCloud's, your hair fuzzy and
bristly...those markings on your fur...it sickens me just to look at you."
A tear rolled down the short red uniformed fox as he shivered in fear under the tyrant's
grip. Pepper paused for a moment taking in a small breath through his half open mouth
showing his sharp pearly canine teeth. Without word he tightened his hold gently with a smile,
forcing a defeated gasp from the advisor as more tears poured from his eyes.
"I tried to do this to Fox through Rob, but I failed...this time however...I succeed."
"Pepper...sir...please..." the struggling fox's words trailed from gasps of pain into
mere silent movements of his lips as the General closed his gloves into a suffocating clasp.
His arms shook vigorously as he clenched his hands tightly in a vise-like hold, the fox no
longer conscious, slumped under the canine's paws, his body relaxing into the submission of death.
Pepper let go of the lifeless animal's neck, allowing his victim to collapse into his arms. The
General knealt under the weight of the fox petting his fur while holding the vulpine's head
against his chest.
"I...I'm...sorry..."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Short one compared to 11, but 12 will be up soon--thanks for reading!)