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 6: Devil's Melee
Hikari to kage ga aru kokoro ni mo sekai ni mo
Sore wa kimi wo tameshite iru kesshite
Owaru koto no nai tatakai

Beat Hit!
Miyazaki Ayumi

Falco flew his Arwing carefully towards the oncoming Usurper Jets.
"Alright, let's take these guys out," he cried out in his usual manner. He closed the channel to his com-link, before he pulled his trigger. Lasers flew from his cannon and hit an advancing Usurper Jet. Seconds later, it burst into flames and exploded. His ship suddenly shuddered and he watched as the shield gauge dropped. That could only mean one thing. He looked around him wildly and then he saw it. There was another Usurper Jet behind him.
"Damn, these guys are persistent," exclaimed Falco out loud. He performed a somersault and then checked his sensors. "Still behind me. Am I getting slow?"
Five of them were now flying towards him in a V-formation, each of them firing at him furiously. Using all his flying skills, he piloted his Arwing in and out of the oncoming lasers. He performed a barrel-roll, deflecting as many of the lasers off of his Arwing jet as possible.
A green laser suddenly flew overhead and smashed into one of the Usurpers. The machine burst into flames and then exploded.
"Thought you needed a little bit of help," said Fara's voice over his com-link.
"A little help would be rather nice," said Falco in such a way that made it sound as if he didn't need any.
"More of them are coming in from the right," said Slippy's squeaky voice.
"Don't worry, we can take them out," stated Falco confidently.
"We sure will," agreed Peppy, as he turned his Arwing round and fired at the oncoming Usurper Jets, reducing them to scrap metal. "Nothing to it." Out of the corner of his eye, he saw another three Usurper jets flying straight at him. He fired his boosters and flew ahead, avoiding their laserfire. He U-turned sharply, firing back at the enemy jets, destroying them all with one well-timed shot. "Bill, you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," replied Bill. He pulled back on his control stick and somersaulted over his pursuer and then opened fire on its tail, shattering its engines. It burst into flames and careered out of control into another Usurper Jet. "These guys are no different from the Venomians we once fought."

Dr. Kano grumbled, as he tapped the soldering iron against the solder lightly, making the stuff melt into a fine little line on the green circuit board. It gave off a nasty smelling fume that he enjoyed very much. The smoke made him relax a bit and forget about his small trouble with McCloud. Suddenly, his ears picked up the sound of footsteps. He stopped his work, placing the soldering iron down and then turned round.
"What is it?" he asked sternly.
"Sir, we now have twice the number of Kimonos we started off with," replied the soldier in front of him.
Kano remembered ordering this soldier to come to him, when that target had been met and to report it to him.
"Good," sighed Dr. Kano, as he got up from his seat. "Then let us head to Titania."
"Sir, there's something else I have to report to you," began the soldier. "There's some sort of battle up ahead between Lord Jingoist's Usurper Jets and the Star Fox Team."
A frown appeared on Kano's furry face.
"Between the Guild and Star Fox?" echoed the rat in surprise. "I would have thought that Lord Jingoist wanted me dead." He thought about the entire situation carefully, leaning against the opened-up head of the robot he was working on.
The soldier, a lizard, looked at the robot nervously. It looked so life-like, so much like a living being and so much like... that wolf that still inspired fear into the soldiers of the Trade Guild to this very day. It gave him the chills just looking at the thing lying on the table like that. He wasn't sure why, but that thing seemed to be... He didn't know what, but he was sure that building it was the biggest mistake Dr. Kano would ever make.
"Let's go and join in the fight," said Dr. Kano with a smile on his face. "My new Kimono II Jets will defeat both the Usurpers and Star Fox." Sure, the Kimono II Jets still did not have the skill of Fox McCloud programmed into them, but they had some of the moves that Fox had once performed, programmed into their circuits, all thanks to the black box that had survived the explosion. "They won't know what hit them."

An Usurper Jet was hot in pursuit, firing furiously at Slippy's Arwing, as he tried to evade it. The frog couldn't believe it. There were so many of these Usurper Jets swarming all around them. It was if he were facing against Andross' Invader Jets all over again. He couldn't help but feel incredibly helpless, like a rack of lamb in front of a hungry wolf's nose, as he dodged the lasers that shot towards him.
He jerked his control stick to the right, and the Arwing banked to the right, avoiding the shots of an oncoming Usurper Jet. Slippy watched, as the one that was behind him and the one in front scraped past each other, tearing off their wings and flying out of control into other Usurper Jets.
"Ha! Take that!" cried Slippy triumphantly.
Falco found himself being tailed by two Usurper Jets, much to his disgust.
"Geez! Bogey behind me!" exclaimed Falco. "Am I getting slow?" The lasers began to sear through the wings of his Arwing, almost blowing them off with their force. He pulled the control stick backwards, letting the nose of the Arwing rise. Falco somersaulted over the Usurpers, and then he aimed at them. He pulled the trigger; the lasers screamed towards the jets and hit them. "Cowards!" he exclaimed with joy, as he saw the Usurpers flee.
"Whoa! Kimono Jets! Incoming!" screamed Slippy, before a laser smashed into his Arwing, tearing off the left wing of his Arwing. His ship shuddered violently, as two Kimono jets flew behind him, firing at his tail. He pulled back on his control stick, somersaulting over them. He shot at one and then another, but was horrified to see them pulling off barrel-rolls, deflecting his shots. "Whoa! These new jets are pretty good!" he exclaimed.
The Kimono II Jets performed a somersault, ending up behind the amphibian pilot once more, firing at his jet.
"Hold on, Slip!" cried Bill. "I'll help you!" A Kimono II Jet flew straight at him, firing at his jet. He pulled off a barrel-roll, deflecting as many shots as possible, firing back at the Kimono. To his dismay, it veered out of the way and then back towards him, still firing at his jet. It shudded violently, as laser after laser hit his ship. "That's it! I'm fed up of you!" he exclaimed angrily. He charged up his lasers and locked on to the Kimono, firing a ball of green energy straight at it. "Ha! There's one down!" he cried triumphantly, as the Kimono was blown apart.
The two Kimono Jets were now in front of Slippy's Arwing. He breathed in deeply, bracing himself, before he pulled the trigger and let rip with a barrage of lasers. The two enemy jets shuddered violently, as the lasers pummelled into it. Suddenly, they both went up in flames.
"Yes, I did it!" cried Slippy in joy. "Never mind about giving me that help, guys. I don't need it!"
"Good," replied Falco over the com-link, as he fired furiously at the Usurper Jets that darted out in front of him. "Cos we're all too busy to help you." ´So many jets just to kill us` he thought. ´Talk about overkill.` He barrel-rolled deflecting a laser from his ship and then fired back at the Usurper Jet. Much to his surprise, a Kimono Jet also fired at the Usurper, destroying it, before it turned its attention towards him. "Geez Laweez! We've got two enemies to fight here!" he exclaimed, as he suddenly realised the truth.
Peppy fired furiously at the Usurper in front of him. The lasers seared through the wings of the enemy aircraft like a hot knife through butter. They broke off, as the vehicle burst into flames. Bill fired another laser, towards the quantum reactor, the engine of the Interceptor. The thing burst into a ball of flames.
"That's another one down!" exclaimed Peppy, as he banked to his right.
"Is that all you could manage?" joked Falco, as he dodged the lasers from two pursuing Kimono Jets. "Even Slippy could do better than that!" He pulled the control stick back, letting the Arwing somersault and letting the pursuing unmanned fighter jets pass by underneath. He dived down and fired at them mercilessly. The lasers hit them precisely in the rear. Each Kimono Jet veered off in different directions. "Damn it!" exclaimed Falco, as he saw four Usurpers group together behind him on the sensors. "These guys are nothing but cowards!" All the Usurpers opened fire on his Arwing. ´Looks like they're quite some distance away,` thought Falco, as he looked at the sensors. "Perhaps, if I U-turn, I can take them by surprise."
He pulled the control stick back, letting the Arwing do a back-flip. He rolled the Arwing so that it was upright compared to the pursuing and now oncoming Usurpers. He pulled the trigger and let rip with an intense volley of green lasers. Two of the fighter jets were destroyed, while the other two banked off to the left and towards Slippy's Arwing.
"Slippy, behind you!" warned Falco.
The remaining Usurpers fired at Slippy's Arwing with cruetly, both targeting at the engines.
"Whoa!" Falco heard Slippy exclaim. "I need some help over here!"
"Sure thing," came the reply from Fara. Falco was relieved; he didn't have to bother with Slippy. Fara's Arwing closed in on the two enemy fighters and she fired at them. Both of them burst into flames, before they were ripped apart by the force of their engines exploding.
"Thanks, Fara," sighed Slippy.
"That's okay, just make sure it doesn't happen again, okay?" said Fara, as she flew off to aid the others.
"Is that the enemy battleship that Fox was taken to?" asked Bill, as he looked to his left.
Falco looked to his right and saw the very same battleship that Bill was looking at.
"Yep, that's the one," replied the avian.
"Looks like the Usurper Jets and Kimonos are too busy fighting each other," said Peppy, as he looked around him. It had been five minutes so far, and not a single jet had bothered attacking him. "I'll go back to the Great Fox and get it out of here. You go into the battleship."
"Don't worry, Peppy," said Fara's voice in a comforting tone. "We'll save Fox."
Peppy smiled.
"I know you will," said the old hare in agreement. "Don't you worry about me, one bit. Go on and free Fox." He turned tail and headed straight for the Great Fox's hangar, as the others flew straight for the battleship.
"Hang on, Fox!" cried Falco. "We're coming for you!" He was determined to save his friend, and he would let nothing get in his way. Nothing.
"I'm waiting for you, Star Fox."


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