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 11: Beginning of the Endgame
tachiagare! senshi wa boku no naka ni iru
semari kuru TAAGETTO nigeru wake ni wa ikanai
moeagare! toushi wa mune o kogashiteru
edawakare shita michi mayotte irarenainda
atsui hibana chirase

Target ~akai shougeki~
Wada Koji

"So, even Star Fox is unable to destroy the new Star Wolf Team," sighed General Pepper as he sat at his desk, looking at the reports and papers scattered across it in an untidy fashion. ´How I despise the delay in news` he thought, as he looked at the glass in his hand and at the whisky that didn't quite fill it to the top. ´It has been a week since Star Fox's botched rescue attempt at the Sector X Outpost, and only now do I receive the reports.` Another sigh escaped his muzzle. "The President has resigned in disgrace, martial law is now in effect..." He trailed off, not wanting to think about it anymore. Slamming the glass down on the desk, he stood up, and nearly fell back down again due to the vast quantity of alcohol he had drunk. Steadying himself on the arm of his chair, he tried to regain his balance. "No more," he muttered under his breath. "I will stand for this no more." Unsteadily, he walked over to his door, flinging it open and staggering out to the surprise of the soldiers that stood guard outside it.
"Sir!" exclaimed one in surprise, saluting the General. The other followed suit.
Pepper glared at them half-drunkenly and half-angrily.
"Cut that out!" he snarled. "Escort me to Operations this instant!"

Fara looked at the orders that they had received from General Pepper. She turned round to look at Bill and Katt, at Falco and the other members of the Star Fox Team. She sighed miserably. It had taken a miracle, but they had survived the entire ordeal on the space station, rescuing all those that could be rescued, which was only the one soldier that Wolf had freed from the sheet of metal.
"Guys, we've just received our orders," she sighed. "We're to join the main Cornerian Army in an invasion of Titania."
"An invasion?" exclaimed Falco from his wheelchair. "Has Pepper gone nuts? We can't possibly take on the Trade Guild Army in our current state!" He thought bitterly back to the news he had heard over the week of the Star Wolf Team's reign of terror against the Alliance's military. "Has he completely forgotten that Star Wolf has practically decimated the Lylat Alliance's Army, or is he drunk again?"
"We mustn't question his orders, Falco," snapped Peppy, though he knew that the General's orders were anything but questionable.
"That's a load of bull, and you know it, Peppy!" shouted Falco angrily. "Pepper is sending us out to the slaughter. The Guild could wipe us all out in an instant. I'm just thankful that Jingoist's troops are too busy searching for the Shadows to do that."
Katt rose from her seat, walking over to Falco, kneeling beside him and placing a hand on his.
"Please, Falco, calm down," she purred. "This is nothing to get so upset over." She looked sideways and away from him, as she said, "I'm sure the General knows what he's doing."
"Don't you say that, Katt," he said angrily. "You know as well as I do that he doesn't know what he's doing." He threw her hand off of his. "I'll be in my quarters if you need me." He wheeled his way out of the Bridge with a sigh.
Slippy looked up from the blueprints, just in time to see Falco disappear.
"Katt, could you please get Falco back here?" he asked her politely. He turned to look towards Fara and Peppy. "He's right you know. These blueprints I took from Kano's office are of a special force field that can be manufactured easily on Titania. If copies of these got to Jingoist, then I..." He trailed off, shivering at the thought. "I've got to get these blueprints delivered to the scientists at Macbeth and I've got pick something up from there. It could help us against the Guild fighter jets."
Peppy was about to protest against Slippy, when Fara stopped him.
"Okay, Slip', if you say so," she said quietly. "I'll send word to General Pepper ASAP."

Ending his communication to High Command, the pilot looked ahead at the orange and yellow ball in front of him. ´Titania` he thought grimly. ´Who wants that hell-hole anyway?` He just couldn't understand why the Trade Guild wanted it so badly. It was nothing, the Venomians having drained the planet dry of its resources during the Lylat War.
"All right, men," he stated, communicating to the other pilots through his com-link, "on my signal we..." He trailed off, upon seeing something shining glisten from above the Planet's surface. "What the...?" he exclaimed in surprise. "They've spotted us, already? I don't believe it!" He paused, swerving his ship right to avoid a laser. "You know what to do, guys. Spread out and take them on!" A smile soon spread across his face. "Kimono Jets," he muttered under his breath, as soon as he saw them visually. "This should be an easy battle." He aimed at one and opened fire. "What the Heck is going on here?" He opened furiously at the jet, hoping to destroy it, but of all the lasers that hit it, none seemed to damage it.
Jerking his control stick, he swerved round one of them and opened fire at one that careered straight towards him. He watched as the laser hit something invisible and was then absorbed.
"This can't be happening!" he exclaimed, realising that his lasers had no effect on the ships. "Got to try a few smart bombs." He locked-on to his target and fired. A smart bomb flew through the vacuum of space and hit the Kimono Jet. "Ha, take that you..." He trailed off, seeing the Kimono Jet emerge from the flames unscathed. "No! Retreat!" He tried contacting High Command, but suddenly found his shield gauge was dropping fast. The last thing he ever saw was the shield gauge reaching zero before everything became a brilliant white.

"Sir!" exclaimed one soldier, as he stood up from his station. "We've got reports from Battalion 15. The enemy jets seemd to be protected by some sort of force field."
A worried look spread across General Pepper's face.
"A force field?" he echoed, as he felt a horrible sinking feeling. "Order them to try smart bombs!" He looked sideways to the Colonel that stood beside him. "Colonel Goldblum, I have a feeling that I might have made a rash mistake in sending those soldiers out," he sighed, addressing the feline.
"Smarts bombs have no effect, sir," came the reply from the soldier. "Shall I order them to retreat?" The soldier heard no reply. "Sir?" he asked. "Shall I order them to retreat?" Still no reply.
"What have I done?" muttered General Pepper after a while of complete silence. "What have I done?" He collapsed into his chair, his head in his hands.
The Colonel, a bovine, decided to take charge immediately.
"Order all troops to retreat immediately!" barked the Colonel sternly. "We cannot afford to lose anymore soldiers." He glanced sideways at his superior officer, and saw that the General was too lost in misery to be of any use to them. He motioned two soldiers to approach him. "The General is feeling a bit fatigued. Please escort him back to his office."
"No, I'm fine!" protested Pepper, snapping out of his reverie of gloom. "I..." He trailed off, as he saw the map above him that showed real-time troop movements, and noticed that the number of Lylatian Troops were decreasing rapidly. The canine felt his heart sink, lowering his head down in shame. He turned to face the soldiers with a sad expression on his face. "I'm ready," he sighed, before he was escorted out of the room.

The large circular hallway was pitch black, as were the pillars that supported the edges of the domed roof. Though a hole in the roof allowed the harsh sunlight to enter, that still did nothing to alleviate the pure darkness that engulfed everything within. Scientists, wearing the Trade Guild emblem on their labcoats, rushed about a gigantic and surreal-looking machine that stood in the middle. It looked like a bunch a mass of wires, all connected to huge rings and spheres. It looked more like a piece of art than a machine and on its top, was a glass sphere.
Flanked by his bodyguards, Actoi and Morgue, Lord Jingoist entered the hallway and stopped about two metres away from the door, looking up at the huge machine. A sly smile spread across his scaly face as he looked at it.
"At long last, the Titania Engine, the Shadows of Abomination, are finally mine!" exclaimed Jingoist with excitement. "I have been awaiting forever for this great machine." He couldn't wait to have it activated, so that he could finally become omniscient and like a God.
Actoi leaned closer in towards his master.
"Lord Jingoist, sire, I have news that the Kimono Jets have pushed the enemy back," whispered the frog.
"Even more good news," hissed Jingoist in a pleased tone of voice. "I cannot believe that this is all happening." He turned to face the two bodyguards, one after another. "It makes up for the fact that you lost Tarragon."
Both soldiers shivered uncontrollably. They could feel the scaled lizard glaring at them with his mind. It was an unnerving feeling.
"I want you two to stay here and monitor the scientists' work," stated Jingoist sternly, as he turned round and walked slowly away from them. "I will be back on the Darkstar monitoring the progress of... the Kimono II Jets." He shivered with disgust at the mention of the name. Somehow, the Lylat Alliance had managed to wittle down his troops, making it impossible to fight against the Alliance without using the remote controlled fighter jets. ´Those blasted devices have taken away the beauty of war` he thought miserably, ´but they are, unfortunately, our only hope in defeating the Lylatians.` He shook his head miserably, as he left Amenophis and stepped out into the harsh sunlight of the Titanian Desert.

The wait had been excruciatingly long, but now they were allowed into their hangar.
"I don't get it, Slip'," stated Peppy, as he looked at his own Arwing. "It doesn't look as if you've done a thing with my Arwing."
There was a smug smile on the amphibian's face, as he looked at the others.
"That's where you're wrong, Peppy," croaked the frog. "I've installed new lasers cannons on to these babies," he said, patting his Arwing. "The energy beams these cannons fire can disrupt the force fields on the Kimono Jets, but only if we charge them up. It takes quite a lot of energy to create these force-field busting lasers, so it might take some time before you can fire at the Kimono Jets again."
"That's no use!" exclaimed Bill, upon hearing what Slippy had to say. "Do you even realise how many Kimono Jets there are out there?"
"That's why the energy beams these babies fire are very good," replied Slippy. "You can take out several jets with these. With five of us, we'll be able to take out the entire Kimono Jet Army. One problem though. Since they are attached to the wings, you've got to be careful that you don't break the wings."
"Only Fox breaks his wings," joked Peppy, however the smile on his face disappeared when he realised where Fox was at the moment and what he had done to them. "I'm sorry," he apologised to the others, for reminding them that Fox was no longer amongst them or on their side. "I should have been more careful with what I said."
"It's okay, Peppy," said Fara reassuringly. She sighed. "Come on, let's go out and test these new weapons," she cried out in an attempt to forget about the vulpine that had once been her husband. Climbing into her cockpit, she looked around and saw the others taking the initiative. She thought back and was surprised when she realised that Katt didn't complain about Slippy tampering with her own jet. Why had she been so cool about it? Not knowing the answer, she adjusted her helmet, placing its mike in front of her muzzle. ´Fox,` she thought, ´I'll find a way of getting you back no matter what it takes. Whatever Kano did to you, I'll do everything to reverse it because I still love you.`

Jingoist stood facing the large screen that dominated most of the wall in front of him. On it were several green blips showing the positions of his Kimono II Jets. A frown spread across his scaly face as suddenly as the five red blips had appeared on screen.
"What's this?" he exclaimed in surprise. "The Lylatians are sending in four pitiful fighter jets against my Kimonos?" He laughed at the thought of it. "My fighter jets will wipe them out completely."

"Kimono Jets incoming," announced Peppy as he spotted them on his sensors.
"Lock and load!" crackled Fara's voice over the com-links.
Peppy aimed carefully, squeezing the trigger and keeping it squeezed tightly, charging up the so-called powerful laser. ´Only when I see it work, will I praise Slippy` he thought. His fingers crossed he released the trigger and watched as a brilliant light flew from his Arwing jet and smashed into the first Kimono Jet. He watched in amazement, as the jets behind it were also engulfed in the powerful laser that seemed unstoppable.
"Slippy, good work in installing these things!" he exclaimed.
"Told you they would work," said Slippy smugly, as he fired a powerful energy beam straight at a group of five Kimono Jets, destroying them with one blow and also destroying any that got in the way of the powerful energy beam, as it flew in a straight line from Slippy's Arwing. "With these things we're unstoppable!"
"They're using quite a lot of energy though," commented Katt as she checked her ship's stats. "If this carries on, I might just have to go back and recharge the batteries." She was worried that the new energy cannons were draining away too much energy. "Bill, look out behind you!" she cried, as she saw four Kimono Jets fly up behind the green and grey fighter jet.
Bill pulled back on his control stick, performing a somersault over the Kimono Jets. He watched as they did the same, following after him.
"Oh, wise guys, eh?" he muttered, as he banked to the right, swerving immediately left. "These guys are pretty good at tailing jets." He felt his ship shudder from the lasers being fired at his jet. "I know one manoeuvre they can't imitate. Fara, could you fly my way?"
"No problem, Bill," she replied. She checked her sensors, as she banked to her right. The Kimono Jets that were tailing were following suit. "Well, that's just fine by me." Fara saw that she was closing in on Bill, the two of them flying straight towards a single point in front of them. "Dive!" she cried, and she pulled up on her control stick. Her Arwing flew over Bill's ship, as he flew under.
The two groups of Kimono Jets were unable to do the same in their cumbersome formations and they crashed into each other, bursting into flames and scattering metallic debris across the space.

Jingoist hissed with anger, as he watched the number of Kimono Jets decrease rapidly.
"What is going on out there?" he cried.
"It seems that the Star Fox Team have found some way of destroying the Kimono II Jets, sir," came the reply from a soldier.
"I can see that!" roared Jingoist angrily and telekinetically he plucked the soldier up from his seat and dashed him against the metallic floor. "Anybody else want to state the blindingly obvious?" He scanned the entire room and saw that they had all turned to scrutnise their monitors carefully, and even those who weren't that busy were pretending to be incredibly over-burdened with work. Lord Jingoist whirled round to face two soldiers behind him. "Prep the Apocalypse Wing. I shall go out and destroy the Star Fox Team myself."
"Of course, Your Lordship," agreed one of the soldiers, before they saluted him sternly and left quickly.
"I will crush those puny insects and show them who's boss around here," growled Jingoist with a sinister smile on his face.


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