Disclaimer: READ THIS!!! I do not own any of the StarFox characters or any
other names that are Nintendo related or found in any of the StarFox games.
CHAPTER 7 Bleeding Hearts and Shattered Skies
Everyone woke up later than usual; it had been a long night of partying. It was the almost the usual scene in the galley again, Peppy enjoying the newspaper, Slippy chattering away on what's getting done on the ship, and Falco threatening him if he doesn't shut up. The only thing different was Krystal was sitting in Fox's seat; she wore her new flight suit boots and one of black vests proudly displaying her wings.
"You look pretty eager to take to the skies," Fox said giving her a kiss on the cheek upon entering.
"Will I be?" she asked him.
"Maybe, if we think you're ready you will," Fox said back to her.
"Just show us what you've got, what you can, and can't do. We'll evaluate you and we'll see if you can not kill yourself out there." Falco said to her.
"I'll teach you a couple of combat maneuvers to start with but we'll do that later. Falco got permission from Scott last night to use his shooting range he owns in the Lower District, so we'll do that first, grab lunch, and then head to the base for your flight training." Fox added.
"Can I we go to the base now and range after?" She asked him.
"Sorry no can do, all of them are reserved for the Cornerian Air Force right now, but I got three of them booked for this afternoon." Krystal gave him half sad half pout kind of look which made him laugh. "Yea I know your anxious, I was too when I was learning but just be patient."
***
The whole team took a bus to the Lower District about two miles from the hanger; Falco opened up the indoor shooting range using the key he got from Scott. The range was closed so they had the place to themselves and were allowed to use their equipment only. Some of the time officers of the Cornerian Army would come down here to use the range since this one was better than then the one they the army had. Fox explained how the gun she had functioned and taught her safety precautions to take. Weapon brands never changed much; they only got more powerful, high tech, and more efficient at what they do, kill. Instead of using clips, and bullet casings, they used power cells to fire bursts of energy in its pure state which could burn through someone. Major firearm companies were still around; Colt, Heckler & Koch, and Smith & Wesson were all still leading manufacturers. The trademark pistol carried by the StarFox team was the HK Custom LX semi-automatic pistol. The gun was made custom so that you could control the amount of firepower used with in each shot, the amount of power used also reflected upon the rate of fire. Fox's gun used a normal amount of power so he could shoot fast. Falco never liked this so he cranked his gun up giving it a lot of stopping power at the sacrifice of the rate of fire. The gun used the conventional slide which would open to cool the barrel to prevent meltdowns; obviously if a lot of power was used the bolt would work slower to give the gun more time to cool.
Falco couldn't stop boasting about how he had the best shot and the most powerful gun, however that was before Krystal took out her staff and lit up her targets with using the fire blaster function.
"Ok that's enough fun for now," Fox said after about two hours of shooting, "let's get some lunch." Everyone agreed and left everything inside Scott's range the way they found it.
As Fox was walking outside he felt the little paper he received from the night before all of a sudden get heavy in his pocket on the inside of his vest. He took it out and read it to himself again, he looked up with his eyes wide and his jaw dropped. "Fox is something wrong?" Krystal asked him seeing the expression on his face; he knew what the note meant.
"Oh shit, a warning.I shouldn't have ignored this, what the hell was I thinking?" Fox thought to himself; he turned to Krystal, "Something's happening.I, I feel it."
"Fox what's going on?" Peppy asked, Fox handed him the note and opened up his PDA to call Pepper when incoming call flashed on the screen.
"FOX GET HERE NOW WE'VE GOT INCOMING!" Pepper furiously yelled into his receiver.
"How many?" he shouted back.
"No less than about fifty Venomian bombers!"
"I don't think I'll be able to get there, what's their ETA?"
"THEY'RE HERE!"
Sirens wailed all around the city, citizens were thrown into a state of panic running through the streets in a frenzy looking for a shelter. "We've got to get the hell out of here!" Falco exclaimed.
"Hurry up we've got to get back to the hanger, the first means of transportation you see we're taking it but until we gotta run our asses off!" Fox said agreeing with Falco
***
At Corneria City's military headquarters Pepper was barking commands to others to get defenses up and fighters to their ships.
"Get every active pilot to their interceptors I don't care where they are I want them in the air!" Pepper shouted at one of the lieutenants.
"Yes sir!" The lieutenant replied and got onto his wire and called up wing commander he could get a hold of.
Pepper grabbed the beagle that was in control of the radar systems pulled him to his face. "Why weren't we able to get a fix on them, we should been able to able to spot them before they even got past Sector Y!" The beagle said nothing at first and shook in his boots where he stood.
"I-I-I don't know sir; they must be using some form of stealth technology or casting some form of radio wave to deflect our radar capabilities!"
"Well boost power to maximum, our AAA batteries won't be able to do a single goddamn thing if they can't see what they are shooting at!" Pepper growled back.
The lieutenant slammed his receiver down and yelled to Pepper, "Sir I've got half of Husky Unit and half of Delta's 22nd air born on their way, they'll take to the sky in fifteen minutes!"
"Good work lieutenant, continue to raise anyone else you can, we need all the help we can get."
"I've got them sir," The beagle running the radar said without looking up from his terminal and controls; Pepper immediately went over to his station. "They appear to be making a sweeping motion, starting at the Lower District and then eventually heading up here to us." The radar started to pick up static before losing transmission and getting completely jammed with inert signals. The beagle only looked at Pepper and shrugged "They've got our number sir there isn't a damn thing I can do."
"Where the hell are you StarFox, we need you," Pepper said to himself
***
The team was having problems of their own; Fox glanced over his shoulder to make sure he had everyone with him. He stopped suddenly and stared intently at the bombers coming in hot over the horizon blanketing the area with bombs as they progressed.
"Holy shit, we're gonna die!" Slippy shrieked.
"NO we are NOT going to die, not while I'm around!" Fox yelled over the noise of the bombers and the falling explosives. He looked around there was no time to run, but only seconds to hide. He caught site of a sewer cap in the middle of the road, "There!" he hollered while pointing to their last hope which was there last hope.
Falco got the sewer and used what strength he had left to pry it open and dropped downward into the darkness. Fox looked up, the bombers were right over them, and a bomb struck a skyscraper near its roof causing large fragments of the structure to plummet from above them. He grabbed Peppy and then Slippy and forced them down into the hole and looked for Krystal. Krystal was petrified, watching the chunk of the building threaten to crush them both into the ground. Fox ran over and grabbed her by the waist and both jumped down the sewer together.
They both landed with a thud but quickly got to their feet from the fifteen foot fall into the dark tunnel. The ceiling was low, no higher than seven feet which meant the distance between the ceiling and the roadbed was thick. The chunk of the skyscraper landed flat over the sewer causing everyone's ears to ring for a moment. "Everybody follow me!" Falco shouted over the constant clamor.
"Where are you I can't see anything!" Slippy shouted back.
Falco pulled out his gun and started shooting into the wall illuminating the sewer tunnel for a moment and then blacking out as quickly as the flash came. He started to run while shooting giving the other a light to follow, more noise came from behind.
"I think the tunnel is collapsing!" Peppy shouted running short of breath.
"Just keep running!" Fox called up to him keeping Krystal in front of him.
Krystal was running out of stamina and tripped; Fox fell on top of her not seeing her fall. He grabbed her by the arm, pulled her to her feet and ran her about twenty meters further before Falco dropped to his knees and shot again into the wall.
"Everybody stay together and get down!" Fox shouted.
The noise continued for a while longer before passing over them, and the sound of falling bricks and stone of the tunnel stopped behind them. Eventually the constant pounding above them stopped along with the falling debris.
"Is everyone alright, anybody dead?" Fox asked without sight of his teammates.
"Ow.no not yet," Falco groaned.
"We're ok," both Peppy and Slippy said in unison.
"How about you Krystal, are you alright?" silence, "Krystal? KRYSTAL!!!"
Authors Note: Ah, the art of suspense; please let me know what you guys think of what I have so far. I promise you there will be more action; this is but only the beginning. So send me your thoughts, and review it, or send me an IM or an E-mail. I think I will post the remainder of the story one chapter at a time; more will come with time.
CHAPTER 7 Bleeding Hearts and Shattered Skies
Everyone woke up later than usual; it had been a long night of partying. It was the almost the usual scene in the galley again, Peppy enjoying the newspaper, Slippy chattering away on what's getting done on the ship, and Falco threatening him if he doesn't shut up. The only thing different was Krystal was sitting in Fox's seat; she wore her new flight suit boots and one of black vests proudly displaying her wings.
"You look pretty eager to take to the skies," Fox said giving her a kiss on the cheek upon entering.
"Will I be?" she asked him.
"Maybe, if we think you're ready you will," Fox said back to her.
"Just show us what you've got, what you can, and can't do. We'll evaluate you and we'll see if you can not kill yourself out there." Falco said to her.
"I'll teach you a couple of combat maneuvers to start with but we'll do that later. Falco got permission from Scott last night to use his shooting range he owns in the Lower District, so we'll do that first, grab lunch, and then head to the base for your flight training." Fox added.
"Can I we go to the base now and range after?" She asked him.
"Sorry no can do, all of them are reserved for the Cornerian Air Force right now, but I got three of them booked for this afternoon." Krystal gave him half sad half pout kind of look which made him laugh. "Yea I know your anxious, I was too when I was learning but just be patient."
***
The whole team took a bus to the Lower District about two miles from the hanger; Falco opened up the indoor shooting range using the key he got from Scott. The range was closed so they had the place to themselves and were allowed to use their equipment only. Some of the time officers of the Cornerian Army would come down here to use the range since this one was better than then the one they the army had. Fox explained how the gun she had functioned and taught her safety precautions to take. Weapon brands never changed much; they only got more powerful, high tech, and more efficient at what they do, kill. Instead of using clips, and bullet casings, they used power cells to fire bursts of energy in its pure state which could burn through someone. Major firearm companies were still around; Colt, Heckler & Koch, and Smith & Wesson were all still leading manufacturers. The trademark pistol carried by the StarFox team was the HK Custom LX semi-automatic pistol. The gun was made custom so that you could control the amount of firepower used with in each shot, the amount of power used also reflected upon the rate of fire. Fox's gun used a normal amount of power so he could shoot fast. Falco never liked this so he cranked his gun up giving it a lot of stopping power at the sacrifice of the rate of fire. The gun used the conventional slide which would open to cool the barrel to prevent meltdowns; obviously if a lot of power was used the bolt would work slower to give the gun more time to cool.
Falco couldn't stop boasting about how he had the best shot and the most powerful gun, however that was before Krystal took out her staff and lit up her targets with using the fire blaster function.
"Ok that's enough fun for now," Fox said after about two hours of shooting, "let's get some lunch." Everyone agreed and left everything inside Scott's range the way they found it.
As Fox was walking outside he felt the little paper he received from the night before all of a sudden get heavy in his pocket on the inside of his vest. He took it out and read it to himself again, he looked up with his eyes wide and his jaw dropped. "Fox is something wrong?" Krystal asked him seeing the expression on his face; he knew what the note meant.
"Oh shit, a warning.I shouldn't have ignored this, what the hell was I thinking?" Fox thought to himself; he turned to Krystal, "Something's happening.I, I feel it."
"Fox what's going on?" Peppy asked, Fox handed him the note and opened up his PDA to call Pepper when incoming call flashed on the screen.
"FOX GET HERE NOW WE'VE GOT INCOMING!" Pepper furiously yelled into his receiver.
"How many?" he shouted back.
"No less than about fifty Venomian bombers!"
"I don't think I'll be able to get there, what's their ETA?"
"THEY'RE HERE!"
Sirens wailed all around the city, citizens were thrown into a state of panic running through the streets in a frenzy looking for a shelter. "We've got to get the hell out of here!" Falco exclaimed.
"Hurry up we've got to get back to the hanger, the first means of transportation you see we're taking it but until we gotta run our asses off!" Fox said agreeing with Falco
***
At Corneria City's military headquarters Pepper was barking commands to others to get defenses up and fighters to their ships.
"Get every active pilot to their interceptors I don't care where they are I want them in the air!" Pepper shouted at one of the lieutenants.
"Yes sir!" The lieutenant replied and got onto his wire and called up wing commander he could get a hold of.
Pepper grabbed the beagle that was in control of the radar systems pulled him to his face. "Why weren't we able to get a fix on them, we should been able to able to spot them before they even got past Sector Y!" The beagle said nothing at first and shook in his boots where he stood.
"I-I-I don't know sir; they must be using some form of stealth technology or casting some form of radio wave to deflect our radar capabilities!"
"Well boost power to maximum, our AAA batteries won't be able to do a single goddamn thing if they can't see what they are shooting at!" Pepper growled back.
The lieutenant slammed his receiver down and yelled to Pepper, "Sir I've got half of Husky Unit and half of Delta's 22nd air born on their way, they'll take to the sky in fifteen minutes!"
"Good work lieutenant, continue to raise anyone else you can, we need all the help we can get."
"I've got them sir," The beagle running the radar said without looking up from his terminal and controls; Pepper immediately went over to his station. "They appear to be making a sweeping motion, starting at the Lower District and then eventually heading up here to us." The radar started to pick up static before losing transmission and getting completely jammed with inert signals. The beagle only looked at Pepper and shrugged "They've got our number sir there isn't a damn thing I can do."
"Where the hell are you StarFox, we need you," Pepper said to himself
***
The team was having problems of their own; Fox glanced over his shoulder to make sure he had everyone with him. He stopped suddenly and stared intently at the bombers coming in hot over the horizon blanketing the area with bombs as they progressed.
"Holy shit, we're gonna die!" Slippy shrieked.
"NO we are NOT going to die, not while I'm around!" Fox yelled over the noise of the bombers and the falling explosives. He looked around there was no time to run, but only seconds to hide. He caught site of a sewer cap in the middle of the road, "There!" he hollered while pointing to their last hope which was there last hope.
Falco got the sewer and used what strength he had left to pry it open and dropped downward into the darkness. Fox looked up, the bombers were right over them, and a bomb struck a skyscraper near its roof causing large fragments of the structure to plummet from above them. He grabbed Peppy and then Slippy and forced them down into the hole and looked for Krystal. Krystal was petrified, watching the chunk of the building threaten to crush them both into the ground. Fox ran over and grabbed her by the waist and both jumped down the sewer together.
They both landed with a thud but quickly got to their feet from the fifteen foot fall into the dark tunnel. The ceiling was low, no higher than seven feet which meant the distance between the ceiling and the roadbed was thick. The chunk of the skyscraper landed flat over the sewer causing everyone's ears to ring for a moment. "Everybody follow me!" Falco shouted over the constant clamor.
"Where are you I can't see anything!" Slippy shouted back.
Falco pulled out his gun and started shooting into the wall illuminating the sewer tunnel for a moment and then blacking out as quickly as the flash came. He started to run while shooting giving the other a light to follow, more noise came from behind.
"I think the tunnel is collapsing!" Peppy shouted running short of breath.
"Just keep running!" Fox called up to him keeping Krystal in front of him.
Krystal was running out of stamina and tripped; Fox fell on top of her not seeing her fall. He grabbed her by the arm, pulled her to her feet and ran her about twenty meters further before Falco dropped to his knees and shot again into the wall.
"Everybody stay together and get down!" Fox shouted.
The noise continued for a while longer before passing over them, and the sound of falling bricks and stone of the tunnel stopped behind them. Eventually the constant pounding above them stopped along with the falling debris.
"Is everyone alright, anybody dead?" Fox asked without sight of his teammates.
"Ow.no not yet," Falco groaned.
"We're ok," both Peppy and Slippy said in unison.
"How about you Krystal, are you alright?" silence, "Krystal? KRYSTAL!!!"
Authors Note: Ah, the art of suspense; please let me know what you guys think of what I have so far. I promise you there will be more action; this is but only the beginning. So send me your thoughts, and review it, or send me an IM or an E-mail. I think I will post the remainder of the story one chapter at a time; more will come with time.