Twisted Shadows:
A New Star Fox Saga

By Wolf O'Donnell

Author's Note: Here goes! It's another one of my What-happens-next-after-Andross-dies' fic. Once again, it's set in a different dimension from the other of my fanfics. The swearing has been censored, once again, with little asterisks that hides the second and third letters of the f**king swear word! Please send comments to me at w_donnell@hotmail.com.

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Chapter 5: Keep On
Ima, mirai wo kakete
Futatsu no chikara ga butsukaru
Mou, tamadou hima wa nai
Nokosaretenain da ze.

Beat Hit!

With his last ounce of strength, O'Donnell dragged himself across the ground with his arms, having lost the use of his legs when he crashed on the surface of Venom. His entire body was covered in soot, dirt and blood. It had taken him ages to wrestle his body free from the twisted metal that was once his Wolfen Jet. He looked back and saw the wreckage in flames, much like the rest of the Venom Empire. That thought made him feel pathetic and useless.
Even with the cybernetic enhancements that had been given to him so that he could protect the Emperor, he had failed. The lupine felt more than defeated. He felt obsolete and tired. That was not all. Everything was slowly getting harder for him to do. He was getting weaker and weaker by the second, as he dragged himself across the dirty ground and towards the entrance that would lead him safely underground before the Cornerians decided to bomb the place, which he knew would happen.
All the time, as he crawled along the barren, dusty ground, he heard those words that echoed in his mind. Andross is our curse and he has brought our own destruction upon us. That was what the old man had said, before he had the old coot arrested for speaking against the Emperor. Now, he realised that the old man had been right all the time. If he hadn't met Andross, he would never have got into this mess. Never. He looked forward and saw black, shiny and clean shoes. He looked up.
Standing in front of him was a rat with grey fur, and a wild mane of untamed, white fur. This creature wore a labcoat, a blood red shirt and a black tie. On the breastpocket was the Chinese character, Wing, meaning Forever'. He looked down at O'Donnell with grey eyes that nearly glinted with madness. He just stood there, not saying a word or even moving.
"Kano! Help me!" croaked O'Donnell angrily. "Don't just stand there! I'm dying! Please, you've got to get me some medical treatment!"
A smile soon spread across the rat's muzzle, one that the wolf didn't like at all.
"Now why should I do that," he asked O'Donnell as he brought out a gun from his labcoat pocket, "when there are so many other possibilities?"
Wolf's pupils widened with fear, as he saw the rat aiming the gun at him.
"No! You can't!" cried the lupine, before the sound of a gunshot filled the air, echoing all around them. Wolf collapsed on to the ground, lifeless and thus ended the life of the last member of the once formidable Star Wolf Team.

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"You should have seen the look on his face, when he realised that he hadn't long left to live," laughed Kano, as he strapped Fox down to the operating table and tilted it so that it at an angle to the wall. He turned to face a two guards standing at the edge of the operating theatre and waved them over. They walked towards him, wheeling a metallic trolley with some kind of machine on it towards the scientist.
"You make me sick," snarled Fox, who was having his faith in furries tested. He thought there would be no more people like Andross and O'Donnell out there, but Dr. Kano had proved him wrong. "Your kind shouldn't exist. You're a heartless fiend!" He looked towards the trolley that was being pushed towards him. It had a machine that looked a lot like those ECG machines used in hospitals.
The grey rat turned his head to look at Fox with a frown on his face.
"A heartless fiend?" exclaimed Kano in surprise. "Well, you could be right there." He reached over towards the metallic table and picked up a band of metal with wires going in and out of it, which were attached to the machine that rested on top of the trolley. "However, my kind should and does exist. My kind, is the kind of people that eliminate the sick and the weak from the Universe, as should be done." He placed the headset on Fox's head. "It is the natural order of things that the weak die young and that the strong survive."
"What do you think you're doing?" asked Fox with a tone of fear in his voice.
"I'll be reading your brain," replied Dr. Kano with a devious look in his eyes. "Your piloting skills will be translated from your brain and copied, placed into every one of my robotic Kimono jets." He smiled at the vulpine. "Think of it!" he shouted loudly. "An army of jets that will fly just like you, that think' just like you! An army of jets that can be replaced easily and built up quickly." He sighed, as he thought about it. "For every one the enemy destroys, I can churn out ten to replace it! And when I perfect my robotic ground troops, there will be no more need for living creatures to fight wars. I will be able to effectively clone an army of Fox McClouds."
Fox began to struggle even more, trying to break free.
"Are you mad?" he cried, upon realising what this would entail. "You're taking away the horror of war! If war is no longer seen as a waste of life, more nations will resort to war to settle disputes. You'll be making peace and impossible dream! The only casualties in war, will then become the civilian who gets trapped in the line of fire."
Dr. Kano laughed.
"I do not care for pitiful peace," laughed the rat. "What do I care for the average person? They can all rot in Hell for all I care! As long as my inventions are used, I am content!" He looked at the vulpine struggling within his bonds and smiled. "It's no use trying to break free, McCloud! You are helpless! Even Lord Jingoist is helpless!" He snorted with disgust. "How dare he summon me for execution. I will not submit to that fool anymore! I will rise up and overthrow him! The Universe and the Shadows of Abomination will be mine!" He laughed out loudly and insanely, as he flipped a switch on his machine. The lines on the screen began rising and falling like an ECG, as the machine began to read every thought and memory within the vulpine's brain. "What? What's going on?" he exclaimed, as the machine began making a strange noise. Sparks flew from it and it suddenly burst into flames, much to his surprise. "Guards!" he roared out loudly. "Take McCloud away and lock him up until I call for him again!"
"Looks like your machines are nothing more than pieces of second-hand junk," commented Fox, as the two soldiers rushed up to him and unstrapped him. One grabbed his arm and stabbed a needle into it, injecting some drug into the vulpine. Moments later, McCloud lost all consciousness.

"I don't believe we lost Fox like that!" cried Falco angrily, kicking at an empty can and sending it smashing into the wall to land in the rubbish bin. He looked of the porthole and towards the Sector X. The battleship from which those grey and green jets had come from, had retreated there. Due to damages they had received to their Arwings and the Great Fox, they couldn't even pursue the battleship. It made him angry just to think about it.
"There's no use in getting angry, Falco," stated Peppy calmly, as he sat on the couch with a newspaper in hand. "It's not going to get Fox back. If we wait..."
"Well, Peppy, we can't wait!" shouted Falco angrily, as he whirled round to glare the old hare. "We can't just sit idly by, while Fox is probably... I don't know! For all we know, he's being tortured and we're stuck in this old tin can of a ship!" He banged a fist against the wall of the room in frustration. "Well, I can't just sit here and wait. We have to get up and doing something! Anything, to save Fox!" He paused a while, as he paced up and down the ship and then stopped. "If Slip can't get the Great Fox up and running again, I'm going out there in my own Arwing and tracking Fox down!"
Peppy tossed the newspaper down on to the coffee table angrily.
"Damn it, Falco!" he cried angrily. "Just calm down! Why can't you think rationally for one instant? If you go out there in one Arwing, you won't have enough fuel to get to Fox, let alone get back." Lately, Falco had been more hot-headed than usual, sparking off at the slightest thing. It was beginning to annoy even this old rabbit. "And what if you encounter enemy jets? How are you going to fight them all?"
Falco didn't reply. He knew that Peppy made sense, and that's what bothered him.
"Look, Falco, I know what you're thinking," sighed Peppy in a more calmer tone than before. "We're all worried about Fox, but there's really nothing we can do in good conscience to save him." He sighed, thinking hard for something to say. "This may sound, corny, Falco, but good things come to those who wait'. Slippy won't fail us. He looks up to Fox, and he would like to save Fox as much as you do. All we have to do is wait."
The avian sighed, as he leaned against the wall.
"Yeah," he groaned, "I know. It's just that..."
There was a violent shudder, which made the falcon lose his balance and fall on to the floor before a loud roaring suddenly blasted its way through the entire ship.
"What the Heck is going on?" cried Falco, as he got up. He looked out of the porthole and saw a sight that made him feel a bit better. They were moving again. "So, Slip's finally fixed the engines." He stood up, just as the door to the rec room opened up and Farawalked in, with Bill Grey. "Bill?"
"Falco! Peppy! It's good to see you guys again!" exclaimed the dog, as he walked up to them.
"Nice to see you too, Bill," replied Peppy, as he got up from the couch and walked over to greet the canine. "What brings you here?"
"Official business, I'm afraid," replied Bill sternly. "General Pepper sent me here, as soon as he had heard that the Guild captured Fox. He wanted me to help you save Fox's tail. Why don't you fill me on what's happened so far? I've got to know everything before I can help you guys out."
"Yeah, whatever," sighed Falco in his usual anti-social manner. "Just let's make it quick, okay? We don't have much time. Who knows what those Guild scum are doing to Fox right now?"
Without warning, Slippy suddenly rushed in with a panic-stricken look on his face.
"Guys! ROB's just picked up some..." began Slippy, only to be interrupted by the wailing of sirens and the flashing of red lights. He looked up at the flickering red lights and knew that they were in range.
"What's going on?" asked Fara, shouting loudly over the wail of the sirens, as they rushed out of the rec room and down the corridor to the hangar.
"A whole fleet of enemy ships are heading straight for us," shouted Slippy in reply. "And I have reason to believe they're Guild Usurper Jets!"

Lord Jingoist was furious, as he stood at the porthole, looking out towards the desert. Not only had their search for the Titania Engine been completely unsuccessful, but his Hercules Team had also failed in destroying Star Fox. Though angry as he was, his emotions did not show, a reptilian trait that he found very useful. His two bodyguards, Actoi and Morgue, flanking him, he did not bother to turn round and look towards the failed members of the Hercules Team.
"Captain Tarragon," hissed Jingoist with a displeased tone in his voice, "you say that Kano has not replied to my summons?"
"That's not entirely true, sir," replied the lion nervously, as he stood there firmly. Though he stood tall and proud, the nervous look on his face gave him away. "Dr. Kano has replied. He has declared war on us, sir."
The lizard chuckled quietly at what the leonine had said.
"Is that so?" asked Jingoist, as he turned round to face the four members of the Hercules Team. "He certainly has guts, I can tell you that." An evil smile spread across his scaley face, as he walked closer towards the lion. "But not for long. I will send out my troops and capture him, and when I get my scaley hands on him, I will tear his insides out, which is, incidentally, what I will do to you lot if you fail me again. Go out there and kill the Star Fox Team."
"Yes, sir!" shouted all four in unison, saluting the evil lizard. They turned round 180° and marched straight out of the chamber, leaving Jingoist alone with his two bodyguards.
"Actoi, Morgue!" he rasped.
"Yes, sir?" they exclaimed in unison.
For a while, Jingoist did not reply, as he stood there, looking towards the door. He turned round and walked back to the porthole to stare out towards the horizon and the slowly rising sun.
"Follow them," he replied calmly, as he crossed his arms behind his back. "Should they fail me, kill them all."


Star Fox and all related characters and places are copyrighted by Nintendo Ltd.
Jingoist, Dr. Kano, Kofu, Miasma and Kappa are copyrighted by me.