Chapter 21: The Occulted Truth
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"Bill! Elena! We need that cover now!" The Great Fox dropped out of light speed into the
middle of several Cornerian blockades, meeting the anticipation of numerous
commanders on the other vessels.
"We're surrounded! And I see the capital ship!" Peppy swiveled around his seat.
"They're the most powerful ship, but their weapons appear offline."
"Are they damaged?"
"No, shields and power signatures are up, just weapons down."
"That thing better stay offline, it can take us out in one hit." Katt glared at Falco.
A smaller attack vessel made the first strike, shooting out a short expelled laser at the
Great Fox. Everyone was unprepared as the ship took a direct hit, the energy diffusing
over the shields and armor. Bill and Elena's fighters swerved by the left side of the Great
Fox, a handful of their allied craft in arrow formation trailing behind. It was all they had
left, their firepower appeared incomparable to the Cornerian's.
"Damage report Rob!"
"Minor damage...starboard wing section, short term repairs possible."
Another hit rocked the ship, much fiercer as everyone braced themselves.
Falco grinded his beak together in frustration. "Alright let's get some evasive maneuvers
going. Get us through that blockade!"
*********************************************************
"Other ships are firing on the Great Fox." The lieutenant mewed with concern as he
looked out the main view screen of the capital ship, Olivia at his side.
"We must tell them to stop." She looked over at him, concern on her tension ruffled face
as well.
Even the commander cringed as he watched the ship on screen take fire from all
directions now. The hailing torrent of lasers stabbing into the Great Fox like daggers,
repeatedly piercing their target with killing determination. Several beams were
penetrating across the hull with immense force, the charged shots blasting into the ship
with fiery ejections of energy.
"They will not last much longer." The commander's words drew everyone's attention.
A tinny chime, indicating an incoming transmission, sounded on the bridge, "Capital
Ship Alpha!" came the brute voice over the comm channel, "There are a multitude of
enemy vessels on our doorstep and your weapons are offline! If there is a malfunction
with your vessel, please report!"
Everyone looked around at each other, panicked.
*********************************************************
Katt screamed, gripping her console as sparks exploded over her.
"Shields down, armor at maximum tolerance!" She dodged another flurry of sparks as
Falco ducked in reflex.
"Maintain speed and course! Take us into the planet's atmosphere! Now now now!"
"Falco this was a mistake!"
"I am losing direction and stability control." Rob pulled his hands around his console,
bracing himself from the constant rocking jolts.
"This isn't gonna be good!" Another hit struck, this one more violent. Peppy slammed
against his console, his glasses breaking to pieces from force, tiny shards of glass flinging
across the panels.
*********************************************************
"Elena try and draw fire away from the Great Fox!" Bill somersaulted around a large
Cornerian ship, firing at its turrets to no avail, circling back as he dodged small bursts of
fire from enemy vessels all around like a mosquito fleeing from a swatting demise.
"Bill, they're entering Corneria's ionosphere! They're heading down into the planet!"
The commander pressed a button on his console urgently, "Fleet Admiral, Capital Ship
Alpha reporting, uh...we are experiencing system control problems, please stand by..." He
cut the transmission short on purpose. Everyone gave a silent thanks.
"Oh no look!" cried Olivia as she pointed at the screen. A red ball of plasma and fire
enveloped the Great Fox as it entered the atmosphere below, chunks of its hull tearing off,
the ship blasting downward at an extreme angle.
"They're losing control." The lieutenant strained his eyes in concern.
*********************************************************
"What do you mean this isn't your home?" Fox looked at Pepper's silhouette. The room
felt cold suddenly, the atmosphere darker than before. "You grew up here, you have
family here, friends, connections, history."
Wolf finally spoke up, "How can you be the ruler of a planet of corpses?" His voice,
barely above a whisper, caught a smile from the menacing canine.
"They will be the corpses of my enemies..."
Fox stepped closer to Wolf, wanting so badly for the nightmare to end. Pepper was insane,
maniacal, the red figure of malevolence stood before them, and there was nothing they
could do. He was set in his ways, his mentally unstable mindset, his circularly lost
reasoning, all would be the end of them.
Wolf did not stop at the thought of Pepper's insanity, he saw more, there was something
that was being hinted at. It was time to pry it open.
"What do you mean by that? What do you mean your enemies?"
The room fell silent, only the sound of their breaths could be heard humming through the
dim shadow filled air.
"My enemies, O'Donnell." Another voice materialized, seemingly from nowhere. It
startled them.
"I will watch them die with pleasure." Pepper's lips moved, but it was not his voice. It
was someone else's, someone else appeared, someone's hand, a body, it reached,
grabbing the canine's shoulder, holding him with a tyrannical grip.
"My enemies."
It was Andross.
Eyes exploded with shock, fur bristling at the presence, breaths held in pause. Fox
grabbed Wolf, pulling him back with a clenching grasp, but he could not tear his widened
eyes of terror from the ape figure that appeared behind Pepper.
"Surprise."
Two horrifying laughs resounded through the black room, one from Pepper the other,
Andross. The resonating pitches of belting chortles intertwining in a mix of petrifying
malice.
They were statues, Fox and Wolf, unable to respond, jaws dropped in disbelief.
Mind control, corruption, thievery, mental rape, it all made sense now. No, there was no
sense in this, only the sense of evil. This was evil. The twin forms staring back with deep
laden eyes. Canine and ape, one controlling the other, a personal invasion at the utmost
level.
"You...are...controlling him...?" The words gasped and shivered from Fox's muzzle.
Andross smiled in conjunction with his canine subordinate. "Yes, I am my precious
McCloud. At last I see you face to face with my true eyes."
The Great Fox burst through the cloud deck above Corneria City, the hull burning in its
descent.
"Of all my attempts in controlling Lylat. I have finally succeeded."
Katt, screaming as the alarms blared at her, threw herself under her console, bulkheads
bending, breaking, overhead lights exploding, shattering, ricocheting around with tendrils
of flame and smoke.
"I kept you alive to see who it was McCloud, to see the true face of your enemy. To see
your beloved Corneria die at my hand."
Falco bawled at Rob to raise the ship, he struggled a nod in response, helpless to the fiery
descent. The ship careened by skyscrapers, chunks of metal breaking off the hull,
slamming into the glass structures below.
"And now Fox McCloud, son of James, I will finally have my revenge." Pepper's hand
lifted slowly, rising up into the air, one finger extended like a puppet, ready to depress a
button that would deliver Corneria her death, the one biomissle waiting to launch.
Wolf's eye immediately locked on a ship zooming towards them from behind the glass
window that Andross and Pepper stood in front of, their silhouettes casting shadows
across the room with twisted images. He gasped in shock, it was the Great Fox, zooming
out of control.
They were coming closer.
Falco braced himself.
Closer.
Peppy threw himself to the floor, grabbing what he could.
Closer.
Pepper's finger neared the button, the kill-switch, the life line of the planet.
"No...not like this." Fox shook his head.
Rob slammed his clenched metal fist into his console, inciting the ship to turn right. It
failed, the vessel tilting in sluggish response.
"At last, you shall die."
The left wing sliced into the marble glass building, tearing into it like a knife, a massive
explosion spewing outward in reflex to the split-second incision. Glass and fire blasted
away in random chaos, showering the streets below in a bedlam of debris. The room
shook violently, lights flickering from the impact floors above, Pepper collapsing under
the jolt before his hand could reach the button, Wolf and Fox following suit. Andross
howled under the torrent of shaking pandemonium.
"It's NOT OVER McCloud!" He disappeared in a bright purple flash as the walls and
floors cracked from the quaking force, teleportation his means of escape.
"Wolf, get to the train platform!" Fox leaped towards the glass window, jumping over
Pepper. He reached up, grabbing him, yanking the diving fox to the floor.
Single winged, the Great Fox spun slowly in its tilted descent, enclosed in a blanket of
flames, nearly missing another skyscraper on the right. It clipped the treetops, tilting
upside down, snapping branches under the roof of its hull. It was over for them, doomed,
the ship dipped below the tree line, scraping into the dense forest below upside down. It
blew through the trees, severing them like toothpicks, stacking onto the hull, burrowing
through the foliage. It slammed into the ground, kicking up dirt in its chaotic slide, it
pressed on with such momentum and force, birds scattered from its careening hull.
Fragments tore off from the stressing grind, steel tiles peeling off, tail wings bending
backwards, the ship thundering through the forest. It began to slow in its deafening belly-
up slide, losing force. It finally screeched to a stop, coming a rest in front of a peaceful
lake, a massive mound of vegetation folded over the hull.
"Jesus did they hit us?!..." Wolf swerved around, his eyes meeting Pepper's.
"Fox!"
He scrambled towards the desk as he watched Pepper beat into the orange fur with his
fists, straddled on top of him, pounding with unrestrained rage as alarms sounded, smoke
filling the room. It was not his rage.
Grabbing the chair he leaped over Pepper, bringing the piece of furniture down over his
back, the wood and metal fragments splitting from the blow, breaking over his body. The
uniformed canine looked up at Wolf growling with fury. Fox quickly punched him across
the face, blood spilling from his snout.
Wolf pulled his friend from under him. The building was going to collapse any second,
and he knew that. He yanked him back, away from the canine before he could respond.
"Are you crazy?! Trying to jump out the window?! Come on this way!"
They both rushed out the door into the hallway which was in a state of pure disarray. A
ventilation pipe burst from the wall, shooting out steam as fire alarms blared all around.
"We have to get one floor down, that's where the train platform is!"
They both ducked as another pipe burst through the ceiling above them, shooting out
steam with a bevy of sparks. They caught their breath for a brief second only to duck
again as a laser blasts cut through the smoke around them.
Pepper burst out the door holding the blaster, his uniform ripped with tears and shredded
fabric, his face filled with malice.
"That's our cue to run!" Wolf and Fox took off instantly, keeping their heads down as
Pepper blindly shot at them through the steam filled hallway. The blaster clicked out of
energy, but he did not growl. Instead he smiled at the fleeing captives. His eyes were
painted over in submission, like a machine, working to kill. He calmly placed the blaster
in its holster to recharge as he followed them.
Wolf leaped down a stairwell passing two canine soldiers. He swung around and grabbed
one of their blasters before they could react.
"Hey!" one of them cried.
"I'm sorry! I need it more than you do!" Wolf continued his flight down the steps with
the blaster in hand. Fox followed just as quickly, leaping around the corner and down the
stairs as well, confusing the soldiers even more as they could only stare and watch with
baffled expressions. Fox and Wolf rushed into the sky foyer, a large open area like a
typical civil lobby, but broken glass and debris filled the marble tiled atrium wherever
they looked. The building was going to collapse.
Their eyes darted around, quickly noticing the train platform outside the windows. Two
hovering locomotives had just pulled up, but the alarms surrounding them drowned out the
arrival message.
"Thank God!" cried Wolf. "Fox let's go!"
The walls began to crack in, smoke pouring through the ventilation, sparks shooting
overhead, red lights shifting around the chaos. They rushed out the exit onto the platform,
the train opening its doors to them automatically, timed just right as they leapt in.
Pepper approached the stairs where the two soldiers were, fanning away the smoke in the
hallway as he raised his gun towards them.
"You let them get away!"
"Let who get away?!" exclaimed one of the soldiers in confusion.
Pepper responded by shooting both of them without word. They crumpled to the floor in
silence as he stepped over them.
From inside the train Fox looked up at the building, his eyes meeting the huge gaping
hole where the Great Fox had carved into the structure moments before. Smoke billowed
outward with bright orange flames, emergency vehicles zipping around the skyscraper.
The train lurched forward as he and Wolf grabbed the center poles in the cabin for
support.
"Thank you for riding with CCM, Corneria City Metro!" chimed the computer.
"Fox do you think Falco and everyone is ok?" Wolf pressed his face against the window,
watching the building as it receded into the distance with great speed. The train zoomed
over the magnetic tracks at an increasing velocity.
"Today's weather is sunny---with a slight chance of rain! For extra-planetary times,
weather, or other information please say 'info' now!"
They ignored the computer. "No, I don't think so Wolf. Look over there!" He pointed his
hand towards the forest in the distance behind several buildings. There was a small cloud
of black smoke rising up from the trees.
"I...I can't believe it was Andross," he choked.
Wolf looked up slowly, "I can."
*********************************************************
"Get a tracking on the Great Fox!" The lieutenant hovered over the raccoon science
officer.
"I'm trying sir, I've lost them. They've gone down...location..." He strained his eyes at
the console, "Just north of Corneria City in the Yuridin forest."
"I have a horrible feeling..." Olivia slowly melted into a seat.
"Take the shuttle yacht." Everyone turned to look at the commander who had been
standing idly by the whole time.
"But sir...I thought you said your hands were clean of this."
He raised his paws with a smile, "You are the ones committing mutiny, not I."
The ship jerked hard, something had hit them as beeps indicated distress. "I've got
shield and hull damage," cried an officer. "Port side, we took some hits from those
rebellious fighters."
"Rebellious is a matter of perspective Ensign."
The commander walked over to his console, rapidly pressing buttons as everyone could
only watch in confusion. "All we need to do...is send out a message..."
"He's targeting one of our battle fleet ships," murmured another officer as he witnessed
the actions through his terminal.
Olivia smiled. "So much for clean hands."
The commander continued his flurry of movements on his panel, ears pointed down in
concentration. He finished it off with a final stroke of his paw. The ship vibrated, several
lasers shooting out from it and impacting into the Cornerian vessels next to them.
The hare turned around to face his crew with an apathetic stare. "Don't stay here, get to
the shuttle yacht Lieutenant, and take the cardinal with you. Find the Great Fox."
The feline smiled at him, taking the red avian's hand. "Thank you commander."
"Wait cardinal, I don't even know your name."
She turned around to look at the hare one last time, "It's Olivia...Olivia Cardus."
"You have my luck Olivia." The doors to the bridge closed.
*********************************************************
The hover train passed by another skyscraper, gliding over the tracks as it flew through
the city.
"Did you see where Andross went?" Wolf strained his face from merely saying the name.
"No. The second the Great Fox hit the building he just disappeared! All he said was that
it wasn't over!"
"I'll bet he's got a backup plan and that he'll reappear in a place where we don't want
him to be!"
Just as Wolf finished his words the windows in the passenger car blew in, lasers slicing
into the train. Wind blasted through the cabin, glass shards pelting into the walls and
seats around them.
"Get down!" Fox threw himself to the floor, pulling Wolf down with him. More lasers
zipped over head as the wind howled through the compartment.
"Warning -- pressure drop in passenger car 3," cried the computer monotonously.
"What the hell, someone's attacking us!"
Fox grabbed onto a seat, still crouched low. Slowly, but surely, he raised himself inch by
inch, restraining against the wind. Finally his eyes peeped over the window sill. There
was a hover train straight across from them, running on a parallel track at the same speed.
He ducked again as another assault of lasers pelted around the window. After it stopped
he looked up again, his eyes meeting Pepper's figure in the opposite train. He was
cocking his blaster with anger washed over his face.
Fox quickly ducked down. "It's Pepper! He's in the other train!"
"What?!" Wolf pulled a blaster from his coat raising it up.
Fox quickly grabbed it. "No, we can't hurt him if it's Andross screwing with his mind!
This entire time Pepper has been his instrument, being used against his will. We have to
get to the front of the train!"
Wolf retrieved a small black disk of fabric from his pocket which he began to unfold
frantically. It took the shape of a small vest after being completely spread out. He took
off his jacket and quickly strapped it around his upper body.
"What is that?" questioned Fox stressfully.
"An invention by Slippy, it's a laser proof vest. And right now...I think I need it!"
"Why doesn't Slippy ever give me any of his inventions..." Fox shook his head watching
Wolf put on his jacket again.
More lasers blasted into the cabin. Fox rolled across the floor to stay low, Wolf following.
He reached the cabin door which opened to another passenger car. As the door shut
behind them, the wind silenced. The only sound now was the hum of the magnetic tracks
below.
"You are currently traveling on the green line. Next stop, Corneria City Central Business
District." The computer silenced after announcing the message.
"C'mon this way!" Fox rushed through the compartment with this head down as Wolf
trailed behind. Pepper quickly noticed their movement, switching his aim and firing at the
new compartment. His shots missed the windows and struck the side of the train. Before
his blaster could recharge, the locomotive disappeared behind a building, the track
weaving around it. When it reappeared, the tracks realigning next to each other, they had
already gone through the next room which led to the cockpit of the train. He began to
pace towards the front of his train as well.
"Metro green line, interconnects with lines blue, yellow, and red for ulterior access at the
city hub. Thank you for riding with CCM." Pepper sneered at the computer panels on his
train.
Fox and Wolf were looking out the front window of the cockpit now. The hover train was
passing through the heart of the city, rushing between towering skyscrapers and glass
facades, under overpasses and sky bridges.
Wolf leaned into him panting, "I need to stop for a second. I...I can't breath. Too much
has happened in the past moments. I need to catch my breath."
Fox put his arm around him absently. "It's gonna be fine Wolf. We're going to find a
way out of this." He paused, silently holding him. "Right now I need your help to stop
this thing." The lupine breathed a sigh into the fur on Fox's neck. "This is insane."
He slid out of the embrace and scanned over the controls. As he did that, Fox looked
around the small cockpit, his eyes rummaging over consoles and screen indicators.
"Alright I see energy tallies, velocity status, and...magnetic polarity control." Wolf sat
down in the chair a train conductor usually sits in. He examined the holo-displays which
were overlapping the front glass window. Fox leaned over him, watching in conjunction.
"Do you know what you're doing?" he asked.
"No...do you?"
"No."
"I once took a field trip on one of these things in third grade," added Fox shaking his
head in distress.
Wolf glanced over at him. "I think we're in trouble."
*********************************************************
Olivia and the Cornerian lieutenant dipped below the clouds in their shuttle, gliding
above Corneria City.
"Alright we're en route to the Yuridin forest where the Great Fox went down." She
looked over at the uniformed feline her face filled with concern for their safety. "You
know, I don't think I know your name."
He smiled while poking around the controls, "Max Deveron."
"Well Lieutenant Deveron, thank you for at least listening to a crazy bird like me."
"It wasn't a matter of listening. You spoke the words that rested on everyone's mind but
we were too afraid to say it before. I admire your courage, and please, call me Max."
"Thanks Max," she replied nonchalantly but still glancing over at him one more time
before returning to the controls.
"There I see it. We're approaching the ship."
Sure enough, far ahead there was a plume of smoke rising from the trees as they
advanced closer. Several police vehicles flew past, ignoring the plume of smoke and the
shuttle yacht as they focused their attention on the recently collapsed skyscraper nearby.
A massive cloud of smoke and ash drifted south with the wind, blanketing an entire district
of the city in an ashy haze.
Eventually they passed over the downed Great Fox. It didn't look good. The ship was
mostly intact but still completely totaled in outer appearance. Olivia took notice of how it
was flipped over on its back, an awkward position for such a massive bulky craft.
"Take us down over there," she pointed at the lakeside clearing next to where the
disheveled craft had come to rest.
*********************************************************
Pepper's train began to pass Wolf and Fox's on the adjacent track to the right. His
pathway took him through the lobby of a building at blinding speed, theirs rushed them
around the skyscraper. They both reappeared next to each other. Pepper sped past them as
he aimed his gun out a passenger car window, angling himself so he could shoot directly
at their front window.
"This is our cue to get down!" Fox pulled Wolf off the seat to the floor again as lasers
bounced off the front window, but the glass did not break as dozens of searing pings
flicked off the window. They quickly took notice and got up.
"You don't have to give me cues! I think I know when to duck!" exclaimed Wolf.
"It's laser proof!" Fox breathed a sigh of relief. Their track took them lower, passing
below a walking bridge and arcing to the right, traveling under Pepper's train. The track
rose up again on the other side of his locomotive, their positions now reversed.
"Wolf, see if you can shut down the magnetic systems, anything to get us to stop!" He
glanced around the console.
"Right, like I know how to do that!"
The train shuttered briefly, the vibrations making them grab hold of the console.
"What was that?" questioned Fox.
They both looked ahead out the window. Pepper was shooting at the tracks in front of
them.
"What the hell is he doing?!"
"Fox I think you should look at this." Wolf motioned his hand at the console as the train
shook harder, still speeding along at an immense velocity. "These numbers under the
minus sign thingy and the plus sign thingy are changing erratically. Those laser blasts are
screwing with the magnetic system."
"Warning – track depolarization is occurring. Please lower velocity now." The computer
gave its alert flatly. The train shuttered hard, the metal bulkheads clanging from the
tremors.
"Wolf slow us down!" Fox leaned over the console, his eyes darting around.
"I don't know how to do that! You're the one who went on the field trip, not me!"
Pepper fired more shots relentlessly into the train's path.
"Warning – track depolarization is occurring. Please lower velocity now."
"WOLF!"
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO DAMMIT FOX!"
"Code 3 Alert --- Magnetic system failure. Hover capability nullified."
"Uh...that CAN'T be good."
An eerie silence took hold after a sharp jolt. The hum of energy below was no longer
audible. The train glided seemingly by momentum for a brief second before plummeting
downward, slamming into the suspended tracks with a levy of sparks and twisting metal.
A horrifying screech resounded all around them as Fox grabbed Wolf and collapsed to
the floor. The wrenching grind continued. The door behind them blew open as they flew
back into the passenger compartment with chunks of metal and debris under a shower of
sparks. In instinct Wolf grabbed one of the metal poles in the center as he rolled
backward from momentum. Fox took hold of a seat as everything around them shook
with thundering intensity, floor panels bursting up in explosions of fragmented metal.
The holding pole broke off from the ceiling, and bent backwards under Wolf's weight.
He flew at a window and blew out of it, taking the metal rod with him.
"WOLF!!"
The pole latched onto the edge of the window, swinging Wolf around the outside of the
train and into its side, his feet dangling hundreds of feet above the ground as the train
continued its grind along the suspended tracks.
"FOX!!"
The train screamed to a stop, leaning precariously off the track where it had curved. Fox
rushed towards the window, sticking his head out and looking down. There he was, Wolf,
grasping the metal pipe with both hands as he swayed around in the wind.
"Wolf hang on!"
"Oh God Fox!" He looked down briefly towards the streets, his heart racing as he watched
hovercars crisscross the skyways below his boots.
*********************************************************
"Bill!" Elena shouted into the comm channel. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?!" She
watched as the capital ship fired on more of its fellow blockade ships. "What do you
make of this? It looks like some sort of internal defection."
"I agree. Let's get them some cover."
Elena watched him speed towards the blockade. "Alpha team let's tighten up formation!"
"What about the Great Fox? Do you think they're ok?" Bill paused for a moment as his
fighter glided towards the opposing ships. He glanced down at the planet briefly,
knowing that somewhere down there, they laid, possibly crashed.
"I think they can handle themselves, right now we have to focus on getting some control
here."
"Wait," she whispered, but it was not directed at Bill. She watched as a small shuttle
departed from the capital ship, shooting away from its docking bay at incredible speed as
though trying to escape. It was just small enough for one pilot. Something wasn't right.
Leon sighed contently as he guided his craft away from the blockade.
"It's such a shame when people defy their loyalties, betraying their superiors. They really
should have listened to me when I said it would be their heads. However, as with all acts
of justice...they pay for the consequences..." He looked down at a timepiece around his scaly
wrist. A brief smile formed on his lips before he pressed a button on its side.
Elena strained her eyes at the escaping shuttle. "Bill..." she gasped. "Fall back..."
"Commander," began the raccoon officer on the bridge. "I have a strange energy reading
from inside the ship...personal quarters...Powalski, L. Deck 11."
"What?"
The ship instantly exploded.
*********************************************************
Fox clamored out the window, still half inside the train. He leaned forward, reaching out
towards Wolf. His hand couldn't reach.
"Fox I can't hang on anymore! I'm going to fall!" He looked down again, hover cars
zipping below at incredible speed as the wind caused the pole he was hanging from to
sway even more. "Fox I'm slipping!"
"Max c'mon!" Olivia rushed out of the shuttle towards the Great Fox's wreckage. She
quickly started pulling away at the vegetation that obscured the front of the downed ship.
She knew this was where the bridge should be. The front nose of the vessel towered
above her, there had to have been a way inside. Max started helping her, throwing aside
tree branches, noticing an acrid electrical smell in the air. They kept pulling fervently,
trying to get to the hull of ship through the torn and strewn foliage. Finally they came to
an opening, a window of some sort. There was no glass, merely a blown out frame, but it
led straight into what appeared to be the command deck.
"This must be the bridge!" She ducked as she clamored inside, Max helping her with her
footing. Everything was a mess. Tree branches intertwined with the consoles and control
panels of the upside down room. She quickly noticed a blue avian pinned under a massive
bulkhead that appeared to have broken off the ceiling.
"Max over here!" She crept towards him, ducking under wires and shredded fiber optic
cables.
He was silent, simply staring back at her as she tried to lift the metal chunk of debris. It
was too heavy. She became frustrated, trying desperately to lift it. She could not.
"Maybe this guy can help." Max stood next to a towering robot who quickly started
lifting the bulkhead as well. He picked it up with ease and slid it off the helpless falcon.
He appeared okay, simply having mild cuts and bruises, but he still remained silent.
Probably dazed she thought.
"I got another one!" Max was pulling off pieces of debris from the floor. Pink fur caught
his eye.
"God! Please tell me you have aspirin." Katt smiled at the calico.
"No I'm afraid I don't," he replied. "Can you stand?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Be a doll and help me up will ya?" He grabbed her paw and pulled
her up from the pile of debris and tree branches on the floor.
"Max, there's someone else, a lapine I think!" cried Olivia.
Falco rubbed his forehead, blinking a few times. "Peppy," he whispered.
Olivia knelt next to the hare, her eyes scanning over him fervently. "He's badly hurt!"
Max, Katt and Falco hurried over to where she was, to find the frail lapine knocked out
cold. A horrible gash was etched across the side of his face, bleeding profusely. His left
ear appeared mangled as well, the fur stained with redness.
"Alright let's all get out of here. I got the rabbit." Max picked him up with ease, making
sure not to aggravate his injuries. Rob helped Katt step out the front window as Olivia
took Falco's hand. He looked over at her confused.
"Who....who are you?"
"Just a friend..."
*********************************************************
The debris field from the capital ship exploding was tremendous, the resulting shockwave
shattered the ships surrounding it, their vessels collapsing to the harshness of space in
fiery catastrophe. Bill rocketed away just in time to escape destruction, several of his
companion fighters did not, unable to flee from the encroaching explosion.
"Bill!" she howled. "Alright, I'm going to kill whoever that bastard was..." Elena barrel
rolled around, banking through the debris field and setting her sights on the distant shuttle
as it escaped further away.
"No Elena!" he shouted. "We're heading down to Corneria, I got a message from Falco.
He says they're ok. They were rescued by some...some friends?" He paused as he listened
to the message with bewilderment. "Anyways. Let's go! Forget about whoever that was!"
Their fighters rocketed down towards the planet together.
"Alright everyone on the shuttle!" Max and Olivia helped everyone clamor inside.
Falco folded up his PDA, grabbing the cardinal by the arm. "Fox and Wolf! They're our friends, we
have to find them!"
"I know," answered Olivia. "We're gonna get them, now get inside!"
A laser whizzed past her head. She squawked, ducking in response. A green amphibian
climbed out the front window of the Great Fox with a blaster in hand as he aimlessly
fired at everyone. It was Slippy, deranged from dementia. A laser pelted Max in the thigh
making him collapse into Olivia. She couldn't hold him under his weight. They toppled
over into the dirt. Rob immediately stepped in front of Falco, protecting him as several
lasers pelted his sturdy metal figure. He paced towards the amphibian as more beams
stabbed into him, not slowing him down one bit. Slippy growled as his blaster clicked out
of energy before Rob grabbed him by the neck and applied pressure to his nerves, causing
him to black out.
"I'm sorry Slippy." He hauled the toad over his shoulder as Olivia helped Max into the
shuttle, Rob following them soon after.
Katt laid Peppy out on the floor, tearing off a piece of her jacket and cleaning the wounds
to his head tenderly. He was still unconscious.
"Alright, let's find Fox and Wolf. Are you ok Max?" Olivia sat in the pilot's seat as the
feline collapsed into the chair next to her. She looked over to see him cringing in pain as
he held his leg.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me. It's not bleeding too much." He forced a weak smile as
the ship took off, rising above the trees.
*********************************************************
"Ok Wolf I'm going to pull the pole that's latched onto the window and pull you up with
it ok? How does that sound?!"
Wolf dangled precariously above the streets far below. "Are you sure Fox?! What if you
can't hold onto it!?!" He shouted over the wind as it rocked him around.
"Ok!" He began. "I am now...going to reach...and grab the pole....and hoist you inside!"
Fox cracked his knuckles and dried the sweat on his brow. He reached towards the pole
that was snagged on the edge of the window with his hands, slowly but surely. He finally
grasped around it.
"WAIT!!" Wolf howled in desperation, causing Fox to pause in what he was doing. "The
pole! It's cracking!"
Fox looked down, and yes, a crack was forming in the metal halfway down the shaft. If
he were to try and pull on the pole, it would surely snap.
"Ok!" shouted Fox. "New plan!"
"OH?! And WHAT would THAT BE!?" cried Wolf irritably as he readjusted his grip, a
bright spark shot out past him from the magnetic track under the train causing him to yelp.
"Uh!...I'm working on it!"
"Well you better start working REAL hard because I AM NOT going to be ABLE to
HOLD on any LONGER FOX!"
"I KNOW! I'm trying to help you! Just shut up and let me think!"
Wolf looked down again. He was quickly reminded how he was hundreds of feet above
ground, surrounded by towering skyscrapers. He glanced around frantically as he gripped
the pole with dear life, taking notice of a few people looking out at him from their offices,
but the windows were too far away for him to get to.
A medium sized ship appeared in the distance, passing between skyscrapers heading
towards the derailed train.
"What is that?!" exclaimed Olivia as she pointed down at the wreckage. "It looks like
some sort of accident."
"Oh my God," whispered Max. "Look someone is hanging out of one of the passenger
cars."
Falco rushed up to the window, "Holy shit! That's Wolf!"
"What?!" Katt scrambled up to the front window as well, looking down towards the
dilapidated train. "What are we waiting for! Get us down there and rescue his ass!"
Olivia lowered the ship down, angling themselves so they were level with the track. The
shuttle yacht pulled up next to the train, mere meters from Wolf's dangling figure. Falco
opened the side door to a burst of wind.
"I'm sure you're glad to see me right?" he shouted.
Wolf smiled as Falco reached out. He took the hand graciously, the avian pulling him
through the door.
"Hey! My turn!" Fox cried from the window of the train.
Max leaned over the controls, cringing from the pain in his leg, "Olivia move us closer."
She complied, the ship now leveled with Fox. Wolf leaned in the doorway and took Fox's
hand, yanking him into the ship forcefully. He collapsed into a hug, breathing a large sigh
of relief as the door closed behind him.
Fox quickly took notice of the cardinal in the pilot's seat. "Olivia Cardus...well, I had a
funny feeling we'd be seeing you again soon."
"No time for pleasantries," she spoke. "I have a feeling that Pepper is up to no good at
this very moment and we can't waste any more time."
Fox and Wolf glared at each other as Falco's PDA beeped. He answered it quickly.
"Yea, Falco here."
Bill spoke on the other side of the channel frantically, "It's good to hear you're ok, Elena
and I are just fine, but we've lost a lot most of our fighters. The capital ship and a good
deal of the Cornerian blockade were destroyed in a massive explosion, some sort of inside
bomb attack."
Max turned white, "My crewmates..." He melted into his seat, unable to respond,
showing nothing more but just a blank stare.
Bill continued. "However it's urgent you get into orbit, we just passed a ship on the way
into the atmosphere. It was a small passenger shuttle, but there were two passengers.
Sensors identified one as canine, most definitely Pepper, but something else was strange.
The other passenger was....ape."
Everyone looked around baffled, except Fox and Wolf who had a look of dread on their
faces.
"The shuttle with these two passengers was headed towards an orbital launching station
above Corneria."
"Biomissles can be launched from that station," belted Max his whiskers tightening. "Pepper
is going to send a biomissle down towards the planet..." His voice trailed off.
"No," started Fox.
"Andross is."
Everyone stared in shock. Bill went silent over the comm channel.
"Yes...Andross," Wolf began. "He's been controlling Pepper the whole time. Fox and I
saw him with our own eyes."
"What?!" cried Katt.
Falco merely nodded slowly, "I knew it....I knew it all along....I just...knew..." His voice
was barely above a murmur as his mind tried to comprehend the fact.
"That ape bastard," growled Katt, "I'm gonna kill him with my own claws. He destroyed
my home, killed thousands." She strained her eyes in anger. "He shattered our reality...
We cannot allow him to destroy Corneria. I will not allow it."
"None of us will," added Fox. "Olivia..." He paused.
"Get us to that station. It is time to end this."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hope you enjoyed that one, lots of stuff happened. It was nearly hellish to write. =P (only kidding)
Chapter 22 should hopefully come soon.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Bill! Elena! We need that cover now!" The Great Fox dropped out of light speed into the
middle of several Cornerian blockades, meeting the anticipation of numerous
commanders on the other vessels.
"We're surrounded! And I see the capital ship!" Peppy swiveled around his seat.
"They're the most powerful ship, but their weapons appear offline."
"Are they damaged?"
"No, shields and power signatures are up, just weapons down."
"That thing better stay offline, it can take us out in one hit." Katt glared at Falco.
A smaller attack vessel made the first strike, shooting out a short expelled laser at the
Great Fox. Everyone was unprepared as the ship took a direct hit, the energy diffusing
over the shields and armor. Bill and Elena's fighters swerved by the left side of the Great
Fox, a handful of their allied craft in arrow formation trailing behind. It was all they had
left, their firepower appeared incomparable to the Cornerian's.
"Damage report Rob!"
"Minor damage...starboard wing section, short term repairs possible."
Another hit rocked the ship, much fiercer as everyone braced themselves.
Falco grinded his beak together in frustration. "Alright let's get some evasive maneuvers
going. Get us through that blockade!"
*********************************************************
"Other ships are firing on the Great Fox." The lieutenant mewed with concern as he
looked out the main view screen of the capital ship, Olivia at his side.
"We must tell them to stop." She looked over at him, concern on her tension ruffled face
as well.
Even the commander cringed as he watched the ship on screen take fire from all
directions now. The hailing torrent of lasers stabbing into the Great Fox like daggers,
repeatedly piercing their target with killing determination. Several beams were
penetrating across the hull with immense force, the charged shots blasting into the ship
with fiery ejections of energy.
"They will not last much longer." The commander's words drew everyone's attention.
A tinny chime, indicating an incoming transmission, sounded on the bridge, "Capital
Ship Alpha!" came the brute voice over the comm channel, "There are a multitude of
enemy vessels on our doorstep and your weapons are offline! If there is a malfunction
with your vessel, please report!"
Everyone looked around at each other, panicked.
*********************************************************
Katt screamed, gripping her console as sparks exploded over her.
"Shields down, armor at maximum tolerance!" She dodged another flurry of sparks as
Falco ducked in reflex.
"Maintain speed and course! Take us into the planet's atmosphere! Now now now!"
"Falco this was a mistake!"
"I am losing direction and stability control." Rob pulled his hands around his console,
bracing himself from the constant rocking jolts.
"This isn't gonna be good!" Another hit struck, this one more violent. Peppy slammed
against his console, his glasses breaking to pieces from force, tiny shards of glass flinging
across the panels.
*********************************************************
"Elena try and draw fire away from the Great Fox!" Bill somersaulted around a large
Cornerian ship, firing at its turrets to no avail, circling back as he dodged small bursts of
fire from enemy vessels all around like a mosquito fleeing from a swatting demise.
"Bill, they're entering Corneria's ionosphere! They're heading down into the planet!"
The commander pressed a button on his console urgently, "Fleet Admiral, Capital Ship
Alpha reporting, uh...we are experiencing system control problems, please stand by..." He
cut the transmission short on purpose. Everyone gave a silent thanks.
"Oh no look!" cried Olivia as she pointed at the screen. A red ball of plasma and fire
enveloped the Great Fox as it entered the atmosphere below, chunks of its hull tearing off,
the ship blasting downward at an extreme angle.
"They're losing control." The lieutenant strained his eyes in concern.
*********************************************************
"What do you mean this isn't your home?" Fox looked at Pepper's silhouette. The room
felt cold suddenly, the atmosphere darker than before. "You grew up here, you have
family here, friends, connections, history."
Wolf finally spoke up, "How can you be the ruler of a planet of corpses?" His voice,
barely above a whisper, caught a smile from the menacing canine.
"They will be the corpses of my enemies..."
Fox stepped closer to Wolf, wanting so badly for the nightmare to end. Pepper was insane,
maniacal, the red figure of malevolence stood before them, and there was nothing they
could do. He was set in his ways, his mentally unstable mindset, his circularly lost
reasoning, all would be the end of them.
Wolf did not stop at the thought of Pepper's insanity, he saw more, there was something
that was being hinted at. It was time to pry it open.
"What do you mean by that? What do you mean your enemies?"
The room fell silent, only the sound of their breaths could be heard humming through the
dim shadow filled air.
"My enemies, O'Donnell." Another voice materialized, seemingly from nowhere. It
startled them.
"I will watch them die with pleasure." Pepper's lips moved, but it was not his voice. It
was someone else's, someone else appeared, someone's hand, a body, it reached,
grabbing the canine's shoulder, holding him with a tyrannical grip.
"My enemies."
It was Andross.
Eyes exploded with shock, fur bristling at the presence, breaths held in pause. Fox
grabbed Wolf, pulling him back with a clenching grasp, but he could not tear his widened
eyes of terror from the ape figure that appeared behind Pepper.
"Surprise."
Two horrifying laughs resounded through the black room, one from Pepper the other,
Andross. The resonating pitches of belting chortles intertwining in a mix of petrifying
malice.
They were statues, Fox and Wolf, unable to respond, jaws dropped in disbelief.
Mind control, corruption, thievery, mental rape, it all made sense now. No, there was no
sense in this, only the sense of evil. This was evil. The twin forms staring back with deep
laden eyes. Canine and ape, one controlling the other, a personal invasion at the utmost
level.
"You...are...controlling him...?" The words gasped and shivered from Fox's muzzle.
Andross smiled in conjunction with his canine subordinate. "Yes, I am my precious
McCloud. At last I see you face to face with my true eyes."
The Great Fox burst through the cloud deck above Corneria City, the hull burning in its
descent.
"Of all my attempts in controlling Lylat. I have finally succeeded."
Katt, screaming as the alarms blared at her, threw herself under her console, bulkheads
bending, breaking, overhead lights exploding, shattering, ricocheting around with tendrils
of flame and smoke.
"I kept you alive to see who it was McCloud, to see the true face of your enemy. To see
your beloved Corneria die at my hand."
Falco bawled at Rob to raise the ship, he struggled a nod in response, helpless to the fiery
descent. The ship careened by skyscrapers, chunks of metal breaking off the hull,
slamming into the glass structures below.
"And now Fox McCloud, son of James, I will finally have my revenge." Pepper's hand
lifted slowly, rising up into the air, one finger extended like a puppet, ready to depress a
button that would deliver Corneria her death, the one biomissle waiting to launch.
Wolf's eye immediately locked on a ship zooming towards them from behind the glass
window that Andross and Pepper stood in front of, their silhouettes casting shadows
across the room with twisted images. He gasped in shock, it was the Great Fox, zooming
out of control.
They were coming closer.
Falco braced himself.
Closer.
Peppy threw himself to the floor, grabbing what he could.
Closer.
Pepper's finger neared the button, the kill-switch, the life line of the planet.
"No...not like this." Fox shook his head.
Rob slammed his clenched metal fist into his console, inciting the ship to turn right. It
failed, the vessel tilting in sluggish response.
"At last, you shall die."
The left wing sliced into the marble glass building, tearing into it like a knife, a massive
explosion spewing outward in reflex to the split-second incision. Glass and fire blasted
away in random chaos, showering the streets below in a bedlam of debris. The room
shook violently, lights flickering from the impact floors above, Pepper collapsing under
the jolt before his hand could reach the button, Wolf and Fox following suit. Andross
howled under the torrent of shaking pandemonium.
"It's NOT OVER McCloud!" He disappeared in a bright purple flash as the walls and
floors cracked from the quaking force, teleportation his means of escape.
"Wolf, get to the train platform!" Fox leaped towards the glass window, jumping over
Pepper. He reached up, grabbing him, yanking the diving fox to the floor.
Single winged, the Great Fox spun slowly in its tilted descent, enclosed in a blanket of
flames, nearly missing another skyscraper on the right. It clipped the treetops, tilting
upside down, snapping branches under the roof of its hull. It was over for them, doomed,
the ship dipped below the tree line, scraping into the dense forest below upside down. It
blew through the trees, severing them like toothpicks, stacking onto the hull, burrowing
through the foliage. It slammed into the ground, kicking up dirt in its chaotic slide, it
pressed on with such momentum and force, birds scattered from its careening hull.
Fragments tore off from the stressing grind, steel tiles peeling off, tail wings bending
backwards, the ship thundering through the forest. It began to slow in its deafening belly-
up slide, losing force. It finally screeched to a stop, coming a rest in front of a peaceful
lake, a massive mound of vegetation folded over the hull.
"Jesus did they hit us?!..." Wolf swerved around, his eyes meeting Pepper's.
"Fox!"
He scrambled towards the desk as he watched Pepper beat into the orange fur with his
fists, straddled on top of him, pounding with unrestrained rage as alarms sounded, smoke
filling the room. It was not his rage.
Grabbing the chair he leaped over Pepper, bringing the piece of furniture down over his
back, the wood and metal fragments splitting from the blow, breaking over his body. The
uniformed canine looked up at Wolf growling with fury. Fox quickly punched him across
the face, blood spilling from his snout.
Wolf pulled his friend from under him. The building was going to collapse any second,
and he knew that. He yanked him back, away from the canine before he could respond.
"Are you crazy?! Trying to jump out the window?! Come on this way!"
They both rushed out the door into the hallway which was in a state of pure disarray. A
ventilation pipe burst from the wall, shooting out steam as fire alarms blared all around.
"We have to get one floor down, that's where the train platform is!"
They both ducked as another pipe burst through the ceiling above them, shooting out
steam with a bevy of sparks. They caught their breath for a brief second only to duck
again as a laser blasts cut through the smoke around them.
Pepper burst out the door holding the blaster, his uniform ripped with tears and shredded
fabric, his face filled with malice.
"That's our cue to run!" Wolf and Fox took off instantly, keeping their heads down as
Pepper blindly shot at them through the steam filled hallway. The blaster clicked out of
energy, but he did not growl. Instead he smiled at the fleeing captives. His eyes were
painted over in submission, like a machine, working to kill. He calmly placed the blaster
in its holster to recharge as he followed them.
Wolf leaped down a stairwell passing two canine soldiers. He swung around and grabbed
one of their blasters before they could react.
"Hey!" one of them cried.
"I'm sorry! I need it more than you do!" Wolf continued his flight down the steps with
the blaster in hand. Fox followed just as quickly, leaping around the corner and down the
stairs as well, confusing the soldiers even more as they could only stare and watch with
baffled expressions. Fox and Wolf rushed into the sky foyer, a large open area like a
typical civil lobby, but broken glass and debris filled the marble tiled atrium wherever
they looked. The building was going to collapse.
Their eyes darted around, quickly noticing the train platform outside the windows. Two
hovering locomotives had just pulled up, but the alarms surrounding them drowned out the
arrival message.
"Thank God!" cried Wolf. "Fox let's go!"
The walls began to crack in, smoke pouring through the ventilation, sparks shooting
overhead, red lights shifting around the chaos. They rushed out the exit onto the platform,
the train opening its doors to them automatically, timed just right as they leapt in.
Pepper approached the stairs where the two soldiers were, fanning away the smoke in the
hallway as he raised his gun towards them.
"You let them get away!"
"Let who get away?!" exclaimed one of the soldiers in confusion.
Pepper responded by shooting both of them without word. They crumpled to the floor in
silence as he stepped over them.
From inside the train Fox looked up at the building, his eyes meeting the huge gaping
hole where the Great Fox had carved into the structure moments before. Smoke billowed
outward with bright orange flames, emergency vehicles zipping around the skyscraper.
The train lurched forward as he and Wolf grabbed the center poles in the cabin for
support.
"Thank you for riding with CCM, Corneria City Metro!" chimed the computer.
"Fox do you think Falco and everyone is ok?" Wolf pressed his face against the window,
watching the building as it receded into the distance with great speed. The train zoomed
over the magnetic tracks at an increasing velocity.
"Today's weather is sunny---with a slight chance of rain! For extra-planetary times,
weather, or other information please say 'info' now!"
They ignored the computer. "No, I don't think so Wolf. Look over there!" He pointed his
hand towards the forest in the distance behind several buildings. There was a small cloud
of black smoke rising up from the trees.
"I...I can't believe it was Andross," he choked.
Wolf looked up slowly, "I can."
*********************************************************
"Get a tracking on the Great Fox!" The lieutenant hovered over the raccoon science
officer.
"I'm trying sir, I've lost them. They've gone down...location..." He strained his eyes at
the console, "Just north of Corneria City in the Yuridin forest."
"I have a horrible feeling..." Olivia slowly melted into a seat.
"Take the shuttle yacht." Everyone turned to look at the commander who had been
standing idly by the whole time.
"But sir...I thought you said your hands were clean of this."
He raised his paws with a smile, "You are the ones committing mutiny, not I."
The ship jerked hard, something had hit them as beeps indicated distress. "I've got
shield and hull damage," cried an officer. "Port side, we took some hits from those
rebellious fighters."
"Rebellious is a matter of perspective Ensign."
The commander walked over to his console, rapidly pressing buttons as everyone could
only watch in confusion. "All we need to do...is send out a message..."
"He's targeting one of our battle fleet ships," murmured another officer as he witnessed
the actions through his terminal.
Olivia smiled. "So much for clean hands."
The commander continued his flurry of movements on his panel, ears pointed down in
concentration. He finished it off with a final stroke of his paw. The ship vibrated, several
lasers shooting out from it and impacting into the Cornerian vessels next to them.
The hare turned around to face his crew with an apathetic stare. "Don't stay here, get to
the shuttle yacht Lieutenant, and take the cardinal with you. Find the Great Fox."
The feline smiled at him, taking the red avian's hand. "Thank you commander."
"Wait cardinal, I don't even know your name."
She turned around to look at the hare one last time, "It's Olivia...Olivia Cardus."
"You have my luck Olivia." The doors to the bridge closed.
*********************************************************
The hover train passed by another skyscraper, gliding over the tracks as it flew through
the city.
"Did you see where Andross went?" Wolf strained his face from merely saying the name.
"No. The second the Great Fox hit the building he just disappeared! All he said was that
it wasn't over!"
"I'll bet he's got a backup plan and that he'll reappear in a place where we don't want
him to be!"
Just as Wolf finished his words the windows in the passenger car blew in, lasers slicing
into the train. Wind blasted through the cabin, glass shards pelting into the walls and
seats around them.
"Get down!" Fox threw himself to the floor, pulling Wolf down with him. More lasers
zipped over head as the wind howled through the compartment.
"Warning -- pressure drop in passenger car 3," cried the computer monotonously.
"What the hell, someone's attacking us!"
Fox grabbed onto a seat, still crouched low. Slowly, but surely, he raised himself inch by
inch, restraining against the wind. Finally his eyes peeped over the window sill. There
was a hover train straight across from them, running on a parallel track at the same speed.
He ducked again as another assault of lasers pelted around the window. After it stopped
he looked up again, his eyes meeting Pepper's figure in the opposite train. He was
cocking his blaster with anger washed over his face.
Fox quickly ducked down. "It's Pepper! He's in the other train!"
"What?!" Wolf pulled a blaster from his coat raising it up.
Fox quickly grabbed it. "No, we can't hurt him if it's Andross screwing with his mind!
This entire time Pepper has been his instrument, being used against his will. We have to
get to the front of the train!"
Wolf retrieved a small black disk of fabric from his pocket which he began to unfold
frantically. It took the shape of a small vest after being completely spread out. He took
off his jacket and quickly strapped it around his upper body.
"What is that?" questioned Fox stressfully.
"An invention by Slippy, it's a laser proof vest. And right now...I think I need it!"
"Why doesn't Slippy ever give me any of his inventions..." Fox shook his head watching
Wolf put on his jacket again.
More lasers blasted into the cabin. Fox rolled across the floor to stay low, Wolf following.
He reached the cabin door which opened to another passenger car. As the door shut
behind them, the wind silenced. The only sound now was the hum of the magnetic tracks
below.
"You are currently traveling on the green line. Next stop, Corneria City Central Business
District." The computer silenced after announcing the message.
"C'mon this way!" Fox rushed through the compartment with this head down as Wolf
trailed behind. Pepper quickly noticed their movement, switching his aim and firing at the
new compartment. His shots missed the windows and struck the side of the train. Before
his blaster could recharge, the locomotive disappeared behind a building, the track
weaving around it. When it reappeared, the tracks realigning next to each other, they had
already gone through the next room which led to the cockpit of the train. He began to
pace towards the front of his train as well.
"Metro green line, interconnects with lines blue, yellow, and red for ulterior access at the
city hub. Thank you for riding with CCM." Pepper sneered at the computer panels on his
train.
Fox and Wolf were looking out the front window of the cockpit now. The hover train was
passing through the heart of the city, rushing between towering skyscrapers and glass
facades, under overpasses and sky bridges.
Wolf leaned into him panting, "I need to stop for a second. I...I can't breath. Too much
has happened in the past moments. I need to catch my breath."
Fox put his arm around him absently. "It's gonna be fine Wolf. We're going to find a
way out of this." He paused, silently holding him. "Right now I need your help to stop
this thing." The lupine breathed a sigh into the fur on Fox's neck. "This is insane."
He slid out of the embrace and scanned over the controls. As he did that, Fox looked
around the small cockpit, his eyes rummaging over consoles and screen indicators.
"Alright I see energy tallies, velocity status, and...magnetic polarity control." Wolf sat
down in the chair a train conductor usually sits in. He examined the holo-displays which
were overlapping the front glass window. Fox leaned over him, watching in conjunction.
"Do you know what you're doing?" he asked.
"No...do you?"
"No."
"I once took a field trip on one of these things in third grade," added Fox shaking his
head in distress.
Wolf glanced over at him. "I think we're in trouble."
*********************************************************
Olivia and the Cornerian lieutenant dipped below the clouds in their shuttle, gliding
above Corneria City.
"Alright we're en route to the Yuridin forest where the Great Fox went down." She
looked over at the uniformed feline her face filled with concern for their safety. "You
know, I don't think I know your name."
He smiled while poking around the controls, "Max Deveron."
"Well Lieutenant Deveron, thank you for at least listening to a crazy bird like me."
"It wasn't a matter of listening. You spoke the words that rested on everyone's mind but
we were too afraid to say it before. I admire your courage, and please, call me Max."
"Thanks Max," she replied nonchalantly but still glancing over at him one more time
before returning to the controls.
"There I see it. We're approaching the ship."
Sure enough, far ahead there was a plume of smoke rising from the trees as they
advanced closer. Several police vehicles flew past, ignoring the plume of smoke and the
shuttle yacht as they focused their attention on the recently collapsed skyscraper nearby.
A massive cloud of smoke and ash drifted south with the wind, blanketing an entire district
of the city in an ashy haze.
Eventually they passed over the downed Great Fox. It didn't look good. The ship was
mostly intact but still completely totaled in outer appearance. Olivia took notice of how it
was flipped over on its back, an awkward position for such a massive bulky craft.
"Take us down over there," she pointed at the lakeside clearing next to where the
disheveled craft had come to rest.
*********************************************************
Pepper's train began to pass Wolf and Fox's on the adjacent track to the right. His
pathway took him through the lobby of a building at blinding speed, theirs rushed them
around the skyscraper. They both reappeared next to each other. Pepper sped past them as
he aimed his gun out a passenger car window, angling himself so he could shoot directly
at their front window.
"This is our cue to get down!" Fox pulled Wolf off the seat to the floor again as lasers
bounced off the front window, but the glass did not break as dozens of searing pings
flicked off the window. They quickly took notice and got up.
"You don't have to give me cues! I think I know when to duck!" exclaimed Wolf.
"It's laser proof!" Fox breathed a sigh of relief. Their track took them lower, passing
below a walking bridge and arcing to the right, traveling under Pepper's train. The track
rose up again on the other side of his locomotive, their positions now reversed.
"Wolf, see if you can shut down the magnetic systems, anything to get us to stop!" He
glanced around the console.
"Right, like I know how to do that!"
The train shuttered briefly, the vibrations making them grab hold of the console.
"What was that?" questioned Fox.
They both looked ahead out the window. Pepper was shooting at the tracks in front of
them.
"What the hell is he doing?!"
"Fox I think you should look at this." Wolf motioned his hand at the console as the train
shook harder, still speeding along at an immense velocity. "These numbers under the
minus sign thingy and the plus sign thingy are changing erratically. Those laser blasts are
screwing with the magnetic system."
"Warning – track depolarization is occurring. Please lower velocity now." The computer
gave its alert flatly. The train shuttered hard, the metal bulkheads clanging from the
tremors.
"Wolf slow us down!" Fox leaned over the console, his eyes darting around.
"I don't know how to do that! You're the one who went on the field trip, not me!"
Pepper fired more shots relentlessly into the train's path.
"Warning – track depolarization is occurring. Please lower velocity now."
"WOLF!"
"I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO DAMMIT FOX!"
"Code 3 Alert --- Magnetic system failure. Hover capability nullified."
"Uh...that CAN'T be good."
An eerie silence took hold after a sharp jolt. The hum of energy below was no longer
audible. The train glided seemingly by momentum for a brief second before plummeting
downward, slamming into the suspended tracks with a levy of sparks and twisting metal.
A horrifying screech resounded all around them as Fox grabbed Wolf and collapsed to
the floor. The wrenching grind continued. The door behind them blew open as they flew
back into the passenger compartment with chunks of metal and debris under a shower of
sparks. In instinct Wolf grabbed one of the metal poles in the center as he rolled
backward from momentum. Fox took hold of a seat as everything around them shook
with thundering intensity, floor panels bursting up in explosions of fragmented metal.
The holding pole broke off from the ceiling, and bent backwards under Wolf's weight.
He flew at a window and blew out of it, taking the metal rod with him.
"WOLF!!"
The pole latched onto the edge of the window, swinging Wolf around the outside of the
train and into its side, his feet dangling hundreds of feet above the ground as the train
continued its grind along the suspended tracks.
"FOX!!"
The train screamed to a stop, leaning precariously off the track where it had curved. Fox
rushed towards the window, sticking his head out and looking down. There he was, Wolf,
grasping the metal pipe with both hands as he swayed around in the wind.
"Wolf hang on!"
"Oh God Fox!" He looked down briefly towards the streets, his heart racing as he watched
hovercars crisscross the skyways below his boots.
*********************************************************
"Bill!" Elena shouted into the comm channel. "Are you seeing what I'm seeing?!" She
watched as the capital ship fired on more of its fellow blockade ships. "What do you
make of this? It looks like some sort of internal defection."
"I agree. Let's get them some cover."
Elena watched him speed towards the blockade. "Alpha team let's tighten up formation!"
"What about the Great Fox? Do you think they're ok?" Bill paused for a moment as his
fighter glided towards the opposing ships. He glanced down at the planet briefly,
knowing that somewhere down there, they laid, possibly crashed.
"I think they can handle themselves, right now we have to focus on getting some control
here."
"Wait," she whispered, but it was not directed at Bill. She watched as a small shuttle
departed from the capital ship, shooting away from its docking bay at incredible speed as
though trying to escape. It was just small enough for one pilot. Something wasn't right.
Leon sighed contently as he guided his craft away from the blockade.
"It's such a shame when people defy their loyalties, betraying their superiors. They really
should have listened to me when I said it would be their heads. However, as with all acts
of justice...they pay for the consequences..." He looked down at a timepiece around his scaly
wrist. A brief smile formed on his lips before he pressed a button on its side.
Elena strained her eyes at the escaping shuttle. "Bill..." she gasped. "Fall back..."
"Commander," began the raccoon officer on the bridge. "I have a strange energy reading
from inside the ship...personal quarters...Powalski, L. Deck 11."
"What?"
The ship instantly exploded.
*********************************************************
Fox clamored out the window, still half inside the train. He leaned forward, reaching out
towards Wolf. His hand couldn't reach.
"Fox I can't hang on anymore! I'm going to fall!" He looked down again, hover cars
zipping below at incredible speed as the wind caused the pole he was hanging from to
sway even more. "Fox I'm slipping!"
"Max c'mon!" Olivia rushed out of the shuttle towards the Great Fox's wreckage. She
quickly started pulling away at the vegetation that obscured the front of the downed ship.
She knew this was where the bridge should be. The front nose of the vessel towered
above her, there had to have been a way inside. Max started helping her, throwing aside
tree branches, noticing an acrid electrical smell in the air. They kept pulling fervently,
trying to get to the hull of ship through the torn and strewn foliage. Finally they came to
an opening, a window of some sort. There was no glass, merely a blown out frame, but it
led straight into what appeared to be the command deck.
"This must be the bridge!" She ducked as she clamored inside, Max helping her with her
footing. Everything was a mess. Tree branches intertwined with the consoles and control
panels of the upside down room. She quickly noticed a blue avian pinned under a massive
bulkhead that appeared to have broken off the ceiling.
"Max over here!" She crept towards him, ducking under wires and shredded fiber optic
cables.
He was silent, simply staring back at her as she tried to lift the metal chunk of debris. It
was too heavy. She became frustrated, trying desperately to lift it. She could not.
"Maybe this guy can help." Max stood next to a towering robot who quickly started
lifting the bulkhead as well. He picked it up with ease and slid it off the helpless falcon.
He appeared okay, simply having mild cuts and bruises, but he still remained silent.
Probably dazed she thought.
"I got another one!" Max was pulling off pieces of debris from the floor. Pink fur caught
his eye.
"God! Please tell me you have aspirin." Katt smiled at the calico.
"No I'm afraid I don't," he replied. "Can you stand?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm fine. Be a doll and help me up will ya?" He grabbed her paw and pulled
her up from the pile of debris and tree branches on the floor.
"Max, there's someone else, a lapine I think!" cried Olivia.
Falco rubbed his forehead, blinking a few times. "Peppy," he whispered.
Olivia knelt next to the hare, her eyes scanning over him fervently. "He's badly hurt!"
Max, Katt and Falco hurried over to where she was, to find the frail lapine knocked out
cold. A horrible gash was etched across the side of his face, bleeding profusely. His left
ear appeared mangled as well, the fur stained with redness.
"Alright let's all get out of here. I got the rabbit." Max picked him up with ease, making
sure not to aggravate his injuries. Rob helped Katt step out the front window as Olivia
took Falco's hand. He looked over at her confused.
"Who....who are you?"
"Just a friend..."
*********************************************************
The debris field from the capital ship exploding was tremendous, the resulting shockwave
shattered the ships surrounding it, their vessels collapsing to the harshness of space in
fiery catastrophe. Bill rocketed away just in time to escape destruction, several of his
companion fighters did not, unable to flee from the encroaching explosion.
"Bill!" she howled. "Alright, I'm going to kill whoever that bastard was..." Elena barrel
rolled around, banking through the debris field and setting her sights on the distant shuttle
as it escaped further away.
"No Elena!" he shouted. "We're heading down to Corneria, I got a message from Falco.
He says they're ok. They were rescued by some...some friends?" He paused as he listened
to the message with bewilderment. "Anyways. Let's go! Forget about whoever that was!"
Their fighters rocketed down towards the planet together.
"Alright everyone on the shuttle!" Max and Olivia helped everyone clamor inside.
Falco folded up his PDA, grabbing the cardinal by the arm. "Fox and Wolf! They're our friends, we
have to find them!"
"I know," answered Olivia. "We're gonna get them, now get inside!"
A laser whizzed past her head. She squawked, ducking in response. A green amphibian
climbed out the front window of the Great Fox with a blaster in hand as he aimlessly
fired at everyone. It was Slippy, deranged from dementia. A laser pelted Max in the thigh
making him collapse into Olivia. She couldn't hold him under his weight. They toppled
over into the dirt. Rob immediately stepped in front of Falco, protecting him as several
lasers pelted his sturdy metal figure. He paced towards the amphibian as more beams
stabbed into him, not slowing him down one bit. Slippy growled as his blaster clicked out
of energy before Rob grabbed him by the neck and applied pressure to his nerves, causing
him to black out.
"I'm sorry Slippy." He hauled the toad over his shoulder as Olivia helped Max into the
shuttle, Rob following them soon after.
Katt laid Peppy out on the floor, tearing off a piece of her jacket and cleaning the wounds
to his head tenderly. He was still unconscious.
"Alright, let's find Fox and Wolf. Are you ok Max?" Olivia sat in the pilot's seat as the
feline collapsed into the chair next to her. She looked over to see him cringing in pain as
he held his leg.
"I'm fine, don't worry about me. It's not bleeding too much." He forced a weak smile as
the ship took off, rising above the trees.
*********************************************************
"Ok Wolf I'm going to pull the pole that's latched onto the window and pull you up with
it ok? How does that sound?!"
Wolf dangled precariously above the streets far below. "Are you sure Fox?! What if you
can't hold onto it!?!" He shouted over the wind as it rocked him around.
"Ok!" He began. "I am now...going to reach...and grab the pole....and hoist you inside!"
Fox cracked his knuckles and dried the sweat on his brow. He reached towards the pole
that was snagged on the edge of the window with his hands, slowly but surely. He finally
grasped around it.
"WAIT!!" Wolf howled in desperation, causing Fox to pause in what he was doing. "The
pole! It's cracking!"
Fox looked down, and yes, a crack was forming in the metal halfway down the shaft. If
he were to try and pull on the pole, it would surely snap.
"Ok!" shouted Fox. "New plan!"
"OH?! And WHAT would THAT BE!?" cried Wolf irritably as he readjusted his grip, a
bright spark shot out past him from the magnetic track under the train causing him to yelp.
"Uh!...I'm working on it!"
"Well you better start working REAL hard because I AM NOT going to be ABLE to
HOLD on any LONGER FOX!"
"I KNOW! I'm trying to help you! Just shut up and let me think!"
Wolf looked down again. He was quickly reminded how he was hundreds of feet above
ground, surrounded by towering skyscrapers. He glanced around frantically as he gripped
the pole with dear life, taking notice of a few people looking out at him from their offices,
but the windows were too far away for him to get to.
A medium sized ship appeared in the distance, passing between skyscrapers heading
towards the derailed train.
"What is that?!" exclaimed Olivia as she pointed down at the wreckage. "It looks like
some sort of accident."
"Oh my God," whispered Max. "Look someone is hanging out of one of the passenger
cars."
Falco rushed up to the window, "Holy shit! That's Wolf!"
"What?!" Katt scrambled up to the front window as well, looking down towards the
dilapidated train. "What are we waiting for! Get us down there and rescue his ass!"
Olivia lowered the ship down, angling themselves so they were level with the track. The
shuttle yacht pulled up next to the train, mere meters from Wolf's dangling figure. Falco
opened the side door to a burst of wind.
"I'm sure you're glad to see me right?" he shouted.
Wolf smiled as Falco reached out. He took the hand graciously, the avian pulling him
through the door.
"Hey! My turn!" Fox cried from the window of the train.
Max leaned over the controls, cringing from the pain in his leg, "Olivia move us closer."
She complied, the ship now leveled with Fox. Wolf leaned in the doorway and took Fox's
hand, yanking him into the ship forcefully. He collapsed into a hug, breathing a large sigh
of relief as the door closed behind him.
Fox quickly took notice of the cardinal in the pilot's seat. "Olivia Cardus...well, I had a
funny feeling we'd be seeing you again soon."
"No time for pleasantries," she spoke. "I have a feeling that Pepper is up to no good at
this very moment and we can't waste any more time."
Fox and Wolf glared at each other as Falco's PDA beeped. He answered it quickly.
"Yea, Falco here."
Bill spoke on the other side of the channel frantically, "It's good to hear you're ok, Elena
and I are just fine, but we've lost a lot most of our fighters. The capital ship and a good
deal of the Cornerian blockade were destroyed in a massive explosion, some sort of inside
bomb attack."
Max turned white, "My crewmates..." He melted into his seat, unable to respond,
showing nothing more but just a blank stare.
Bill continued. "However it's urgent you get into orbit, we just passed a ship on the way
into the atmosphere. It was a small passenger shuttle, but there were two passengers.
Sensors identified one as canine, most definitely Pepper, but something else was strange.
The other passenger was....ape."
Everyone looked around baffled, except Fox and Wolf who had a look of dread on their
faces.
"The shuttle with these two passengers was headed towards an orbital launching station
above Corneria."
"Biomissles can be launched from that station," belted Max his whiskers tightening. "Pepper
is going to send a biomissle down towards the planet..." His voice trailed off.
"No," started Fox.
"Andross is."
Everyone stared in shock. Bill went silent over the comm channel.
"Yes...Andross," Wolf began. "He's been controlling Pepper the whole time. Fox and I
saw him with our own eyes."
"What?!" cried Katt.
Falco merely nodded slowly, "I knew it....I knew it all along....I just...knew..." His voice
was barely above a murmur as his mind tried to comprehend the fact.
"That ape bastard," growled Katt, "I'm gonna kill him with my own claws. He destroyed
my home, killed thousands." She strained her eyes in anger. "He shattered our reality...
We cannot allow him to destroy Corneria. I will not allow it."
"None of us will," added Fox. "Olivia..." He paused.
"Get us to that station. It is time to end this."
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Hope you enjoyed that one, lots of stuff happened. It was nearly hellish to write. =P (only kidding)
Chapter 22 should hopefully come soon.