Chapter 8
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"How did you…?" Kyle started to ask.
Krystal held up her hand.
"Oh, right. The ring! I forgot you had one of those."
Peppy came into the room.
"What the hell's going on in here!" he asked.
Just as Kyle was about to explain, the bulldog slowly pulled a remote out of his pocket.
"I'm… takin' you… with me, punk!" he said, "I put a… bomb… on this ship! You'll never find it!"
He pushed the button on the remote before falling back on the floor, dead.
"Crap! We've got to find that bomb!" Kyle said.
Peppy and Krystal started looking for the bomb, while Kyle searched the bulldog's pockets. Sure enough, he found a piece of paper with instructions on how to disarm the bomb. Not long afterwards, Krystal found the bomb behind one of the chairs.
"I've found it!" she said.
"How much time is left?" Kyle asked.
"Two minutes and thirty seconds."
"You guys wouldn't happen to have any wire cutters do you?"
Krystal shrugged and shook her head.
"I think Slippy's got some in his room." Peppy said, "I'll be right back."
Peppy ran to Slippy's room. After about a minute, he came back.
"Okay, walk me through this." he said.
Kyle looked at the paper.
"Alright, first you've got to disconnect the blue wire."
Peppy pulled the blue wire out.
"Done." he said.
"Now, cut the red wire."
"Done."
"Now, reconnect the blue wire."
"Done."
"Now, cut the yellow wire."
"Done."
"And the blue."
The timer stopped with 17 seconds to spare. Peppy, Krystal, and Kyle all sighed with relief.
"That was too close." Peppy said, "I'm getting too…"
"I know what you're going to say, Peppy." Kyle said, "And I think we've heard it a million times."
---
Two Wolfen IVs came at Wolf. One of them was in front of him and the other was behind. As they were both about to fire bombs at him, Wolf quickly did aloop and the Wolfen IVs were obliterated by their own bombs!
"Idiots!" Logan shouted, "Mindless fools!"
Leon and Logan were the only Wolfen IVs left.
"You're getting better, Wolf." Falco complimented. "Now, help me take out Leon."
"With pleasure." Wolf replied.
Leon scratched his head as he glanced at the Great Fox.
"I don't get it." he said to himself, "The bomb should've gone off by now."
That was soon the least of his concerns as Wolf and Falco opened fire on him. The next thing he knew, his wing had been blown off.
"NO!" Leon screamed as his ship started to go down.
"YES!" Falco and Wolf both said together.
After watching Leon crash into the ground, Wolf headed down to the city.
"What're you doing, Wolf?" Falco asked.
"I'm going to finish him off!"
Falco shrugged and went to help Fox and Slippy take out Logan's ship. His Wolfen IV was already in critical condition.
"No! This can't be!" he yelled.
The arwings continued firing, until the Wolfen could take no more and started to crash. Logan screamed as he went down.
"Yippee!" Slippy shouted, "We did it!"
"Good riddance." said Falco, "I hope I never have to fight another Wolfen again. I'm sorry we couldn't save Krystal, Fox."
Fox said nothing. He just turned around and headed to Corneria City.
"Where you going, Fox?" Slippy asked.
"I'm going to see if Wolf's okay." Fox responded, "You and Falco get back on the Great Fox. ROB, land the Great Fox at the headquarters."
"Yes, sir." said ROB.
---
Wolf began examining the area where Leon had crashed. He eventually spotted the crashed Wolfen IV, but there was no sign of Leon's body. Suddenly, he felt an explosion on the back of his Wolfen.
"What the…?" he said.
Another one came a few seconds later and the Wolfen started to crash. Wolf quickly pushed open the cockpit and jumped out as the Wolfen neared the ground. Fortunately Wolf landed in a grassy area and wasn't hurt. After watching the Wolfen crash, he then noticed Leon holding a bazooka that he shot Wolf down with. Leon tossed the weapon aside and ran towards Wolf. Wolf drew his blaster and fired a shot, but missed and Leon kicked him, knocking him on the ground. The blaster flew from his hand.
"Come on, get up!" he taunted, "Or would you like me to just put you out of your misery?"
Wolf slowly got up and said, "Go to hell!"
Leon pulled out his blaster, but just as he fired, Wolf performed a disarm that Fox taught him. He moved to the side, grabbed the weapon, pushed it down, took it from Leon's grasp, and tossed it aside.
(I learned that from The Action Hero's Handbook.)
Then, they began fist fighting. Wolf was doing well, thanks to his training with Fox, but he did take a few hits. After a while, Leon hit him in the jaw and immediately followed up with a kick in the chest. As Wolf fell to the ground, Leon grabbed his throat with both hands and started choking him.
"I don't know what you did to stop me from destroying the Great Fox," Leon said, "but I'll still make you regret betraying Andross!"
Wolf's blaster was just inches away from his hand, but he couldn't reach it with Leon on top of him. As he continued struggling to breathe, he suddenly noticed Leon's robotic eye. He quickly grabbed it with his free arm and pulled as hard as he could. The eye came off in Wolf's hand! Leon screamed and let go of Wolf's throat as blood came pouring down his face from his eye socket. Then Wolf grabbed his blaster and shot Leon in the chest. Leon fell backwards, lifeless. Checking Leon, Wolf found that all his vital signs had ceased. This time, he really was dead. Soon afterwards, Wolf heard a twig snap behind him. He turned around and pointed his blaster in the direction of the sound. Fox, who had stepped on the twig, quickly pushed Wolf's hand upward.
"Sorry." Wolf said, holstering his blaster.
Fox glanced at the crashed Wolfen III.
"I see you've lost another Wolfen." he said. "Are you alright?"
"I'm fine, thanks."
They started walking back to the Great Fox.
"You seem upset." Wolf said, "Is something wrong?"
Fox hesitated, then said, "Krystal… didn't make it. She was... killed in the battle."
As Fox wiped a tear from his eye, Wolf put his hand on Fox's back and said, "I'm sorry."
Suddenly, Fox heard Krystal's voice in his head.
"Fox, are you there?"
Fox was stunned.
"Krystal! I… how did…"
Fox suddenly looked at his ring and slapped his forehead.
"Of course!" he said, "She must have teleported off the arwing!"
"Krystal's alive?" said Wolf.
"I think so!" Fox said, "Where are you?"
"On the Great Fox."
"I'm on my way."
Fox ran towards the Great Fox as fast as he could.
"Wait up!" said Wolf.
---
When Fox arrived at the command post, Krystal was there waiting, along with Slippy, Falco, and Peppy.
"Krystal!" Fox said, "I… I'm so glad you're…"
Fox threw his arms around her, not wanting to let her go.
"I'll never let anyone hurt you again, my love." he whispered into her ear.
Wolf came in a few seconds later and grinned at the sight of Fox and Krystal in each other's arms again.
"Hey, Wolf." Falco said, "Did you give Leon what he deserved?"
"Yes, but I lost my Wolfen in the process." Wolf replied.
"I could repair it if you want." said Slippy.
"No, don't bother, Slip." Wolf said, "The last thing I ever want to fly again is a Wolfen. In fact, I don't ever want to see another Wolfen again."
"Join the club." said Falco.
"So you'd rather use an arwing?" asked Peppy.
"If that can be arranged." said Wolf.
"Probably." Fox said, "But we'll also need a new one for Krystal."
Wolf looked around.
"Hey, where's Kyle?" he asked.
"Oh, he had some things to take care of." said Krystal, "He said he'd be back soon."
Kyle normally didn't visit graveyards, since they gave him the creeps, but this time he made an exception. He had two graves to visit: John and Linda Wolfowitz, his parents. Their graves were only a few feet away from the exit, so Kyle wasn't scared. He knelt in front of their graves and began his speech.
"Mom, Dad, I'm still not used to cemeteries, but I just wanted to visit you one last time. I miss you both and I hope you're doing well in heaven. Dad, I know you liked how well I used to draw and wanted me to become an artist, but since I've become a doctor I've been able to save a number of lives so that others wouldn't have to share the same fate as me. I'll look forward to seeing you again when my time comes. I love you both. Goodbye."
With that, Kyle turned around and walked out of the graveyard. Earlier on, he had gone to the Corneria City hospital to test a new formula that he had made. The test was a complete success and now it was Wolf's turn to receive a dose.
---
Wolf lay down on his bed, glad to be rid of Leon. He hoped that he would never have to deal with anything that had to do with Andross or his former wingmen ever again. After a few minutes, Kyle came in.
"Hey, Wolf." he said, "I'm glad you're alright."
"I can say the same about you." Wolf replied, "Heard you had a run-in with one of those gangsters."
"Yeah. I was right about him being the one who killed my parents. He tried to do the same to me, but of course he failed."
"Way to go." Wolf said.
Kyle started to leave.
"Oh, I almost forgot why I came in." he said, "I've got a surprise for you. Hold still."
Kyle pulled out an eyedropper, lifted Wolf's eye patch, held his left eyelid open, and applied a drop of his formula into Wolf's left eye. Wolf's felt a tingling sensation in his eye, then to his surprise; his left eye vision slowly started to clear up! Kyle let go of Wolf's eyelid and Wolf opened his eye.
"My eye!" he said, "I can see with it again! What was that stuff?"
"Just something I'd been working on for a while." said Kyle, "I wanted to find a way to restore your eye after you told me about what happened. Sometimes I'd be up late at night and fall asleep in one of the medical beds."
"So that's why you slept in the infirmary."
"Well, the medical beds were also more comfortable."
Wolf and Kyle chuckled.
---
Logan pushed the cockpit of his downed Wolfen open and drew his blaster.
"When I get my hands on him…!" he snarled.
Suddenly, he noticed a squad of Cornerian soldiers pointing their guns at him.
"Freeze!" one of them shouted, "Put the gun down, now!"
Logan tossed the blaster aside and put his hands up. The soldiers arrested Logan and put him in a prison cell.
"You Cornerians won't hold me for long." he said, "I'll escape and you will all pay!"
"You behave!" one of the soldiers joked, "Or there'll be no dessert tonight!"
