A/N: Fueled by inspiration, I've managed to get a lot done on this. Most of this was done before I entered chapter 8, but I'm trying to space the amount out. I don't know what you think about all these parts for the chapters, but I'm doing it so there isn't a mass of text to read on one page, and since my chapters tend to be long, I've had to split them up into parts. Hope this is all right.
Small dust particles to halves of CDs floated around in a field of debris. A Zox armada had stood against the warriors of dimension N, and failed.
"Starfox, are you all right? Come in!" Mario shouted to the video screen. A view of Fox then came up on the corner of the screen.
"Yeah, we're all right." More videos of people came up as they spoke.
"That was too close for comfort!"
"Ah, come on Slippy, it wasn't that bad." Falco said.
"Either way, we're through with that." Krystal said.
"Samus, are you all right?" The screen then switched to a view of Samus in her ship. The ship didn't look too good, as there were a few panels on the walls that were knocked loose and wires hanging out, with sparks flying here and there.
"Eh, those Zox were more than I expected." Samus said, trying to hide her disappointment. "I got pretty ruffed up back there. I don't think I can go on in this ship."
"Samus, there's a small docking bay at the bottom of our ship; come on board and you can get fixed up." Link said.
"Sounds good."
"Hey, how about you guys come on board too?"
"Sure! That ship of yours looks interesting." As Samus's damaged ship slowly approached the 64 along with the Arwings, Mario looked over to Sonic.
"Any idea where the mother ship is?"
"No. When the battle started, I couldn't find it in all the CDs."
"Do you think we got it?" D.K. asked.
"I doubt it. No way it could be all over that simply."
A door on the bottom of the 64 slid open and Samus flew in, along with the Starfox team. Once the door closed back up, the room was filled back up with air and returned to normal pressure. It wasn't a very large room, but it was just big enough to fit the five spacecrafts.
As Mario sat in the control room pondering about Karlnak, the door opened and Fox walked in, with everyone else close behind.
"Hey, Mario, how ya doing? I haven't seen you since the last Smash Bros. tournament!"
"Hey Fox." Mario stood up and walked over to Fox. Fox then raised his hand and they gave a high-five.
"I'm minding my own business when all of the sudden I get a message from Marina saying that some people from Nintendo are chasing a dimensional conquering race called the Zox. Man, what have I missed out on?" Fox chuckled. The whole ordeal seemed out of the ordinary, even for him.
Mario explained to the Starfox team about what had happened to them, as well as everyone else putting in their own statements.
"Then the Zox offered us to surrender and no longer have any casualties." Mario said.
"But no way we'd do that!" D.K. commented.
"Well, you've been busy, haven't you?" Falco said, chuckling.
"Hey, this is serious! Our dimension is at risk!" Slippy said.
"Seesh, I didn't mean it that way."
"We might not be in danger anymore. Our sensors don't detect the Zox anywhere." Ash said. Fox then pulled a communicator out of his pocket.
"Hey ROB, do our sensors pick up any of those Zox ships?"
"No Zox ships in present area." ROB said in his robotic voice.
"Those ships travel between dimensions. A little out of our detection area, don't ya think?" Zero said.
"So what's our next move then?" Sonic asked. Mario was thinking about their current situation, and realized that they had been working hard.
"Perhaps we should take a break." Zero was a little upset by his statement.
"A break? Karlnak could still be out there plotting his next attack! Should we really just sit back and let him?"
"I think Mario has a point." Link pointed out. "It's been a while since any of us have had a decent rest. We probably should rejuvenate before searching for any more Zox." Fox then had an idea.
"Hey! Corneria's New Year festival is tomorrow! You guys could rest up here, and then tomorrow come down and unwind."
"A festival?" Ash asked, now excited at the thought.
"Yeah! There's lots of food and games. There's a countdown at midnight to welcome the new year, but the fun stuff goes on the first day of the year. It's basically a big holiday." Slippy said.
"And in the meantime, we can have ROB search the debris field for any wreckage that looks like it came from the mother ship, so we can make sure if Karlnak survived or not."
"Well, considering we don't have any other options right now, I think it's a good idea." Samus said.
"All right then. Come down to the capital in ten hours, and we'll meet up there. We've got some business we need to take care of right now."
"Thanks! See you later then!" They said their good-byes as the Starfox team went back to their ships.
"So, does this mean we can go to sleep now?" Ash asked. Sonic stretched his body at the thought of it.
"Now that you mention it, it's been a while since I slept."
"Well, you guys go ahead and rest up then. I'll keep watch if something happens." Zero said.
"What about you?" D.K. asked.
"I don't sleep the way you do. Reploids need a recharging capsule to sleep in, which fully restores us. Since there is none here, I'll have to make due with my sub tank."
While everyone ate the food they thought of and went to bed, Zero sat in a chair in the control room. Finding some tools on the ship, Zero made some small repairs on himself. As he was repairing his left arm, Zero thought to himself.
"I don't understand. We're facing against an enemy powerful enough to take over the whole dimension, yet some of them don't take it seriously, especially Sonic and Ash. They act like life is just one adventure after another." Zero then stopped repairing his arm as he realized something.
"Yet, they always seem so happy. Does looking at life like that make one happy?" Zero then shrugged off the thought and continued working. "Eh, what am I saying? If our safety was left up to people like them, we would all be dead by now."
When it was getting close to the time that Fox mentioned, some of the others began waking up. When Mario was awake, he flew the ship down to the capital of Corneria. He found a grassy field where some other ships were parked, so he landed the 64 there.
As the door to the outside opened up, the morning sunlight shone into he ship. Corneria was quite a beautiful place with its grassy flatlands, tall mountains and clear blue sky. There were plenty of buildings, but they were spread out, not all congested like some cities. As Ash admired the scene, a blond-haired woman with a tight black shirt and jeans came up from behind him.
"Huh? Who are you?" Ash asked.
"Eh, come on." She said in an irritated voice.
"Huh? Samus? Oh! So that's what you look like under your suit?"
"Yes. I don't take it off that often, but wearing a battle armor at a festival would make a lot of people worry." After walking past a few other ships, they came to the main area. Everywhere they looked, there were people walking around, and booths lined up.
As they looked around, they began to notice that people were talking about the battle yesterday.
"Did you hear about that battle last night?"
"Yeah! Man, it was crazy, and all the military said about it was that it was a battle against two alien races that happened to come into our territory."
"That's it? Man, there has to be more than that!" Just then, the Starfox team walked out from the crowd, but they weren't wearing their usual clothing. They all wore green pants and sunglasses, but they wore different colored shirts.
"Hey, Fox!" Mario shouted. Fox then ran over to him, saying in a whispering voice,
"Shh! Don't say my name out loud!"
"Huh? What's going on?"
"We're famous around here. We wear disguises sometimes to keep back the crowds of fans. Call me James."
"F.C." Falco said
"Tom." Slippy said
"Karol." Krystal said.
"Oh, all right. Say, where's Peppy?"
"Heh, he said he's too old for these kind of things. He's back on the ship sleeping."
"Seems like Peppy has outgrown his name." Link commented.
"Hey, how come no one here knows about what really happened last night?" Sonic asked.
"When we left, we went to see general Pepper and explain to him about what happened." Falco said. "He decided that telling everyone about the Zox would only cause pandemonium, so he stated that it was just a fight between two alien races in our area."
"They should know what's going on, but I suppose it would cause much panic."
"Come on guys, we're here to have fun, not think about that!" Slippy said.
"Yeah, you're right. Now, everyone remembers where we're parked, right?" Mario asked. He then glanced behind him to see the giant black ship in the background. "Right, stupid question." Everyone then went their own way.
Ash walked down an aisle through the crowd along with Donkey Kong, and something caught his eye. He came up to a booth with several plates of food on a table. It looked like some sort of pastry in a purple sauce. It looked interesting, so he and D.K. took a plate.
"Hey, this is good! What is it?" D.K. wondered.
"I don't know. It's hard to describe the taste, but it's definitely sweet. Hey Pikachu, try some!" Pikachu took a bite as he held up the plate, and Pikachu then showed a face of great disgust.
"Pika pi!" Pikachu spitted it out.
"Ha ha ha, I guess it's not for Pokemon."
"That'll be ten credits." The dog cornerian said from behind the table.
"Huh? Credits?" D.K. asked.
"Yeah, you know, money! What, did you think this was free?"
"Um...yes? Oh wait, I have some." Ash pulled some coins out of his pocket and handed it to him.
"What's this?" The man was confused.
"Money."
"What? No one in the entire Lylat system uses this kind of currency! It's useless!" An almost evil grin then shone on the dog's face. "Well, I guess you'll just have to pay it off then." Ash and D.K. gulped.
Zero and Falco were walking in the crowd when Falco saw the World War II game.
"Hey Zero, wanna play a game?"
"What kind of game?"
"It's a virtual reality game. You play as a soldier in a world war on this planet called Earth."
"A battle game? I do plenty of that back on Nintendo, and I wouldn't call it fun."
"Yeah, but it is when you the weapons don't hurt you."
"Good point. Yeah, sure then." The virtual reality game was set up on a large truck. Four seats were lined up on the side, and two cat cornerians were already sitting there with helmets over their heads. Falco and Zero stepped up, and the owner of the machine came up to them.
"Wanna play? It'll be twenty credits."
"Here, I'll pay for both of us." Falco said. The owner held out an electronic board, and Falco slipped a card through it.
"Sit right here. Instructions on how to play come up when you start." Zero sat in the chair and the helmet was placed over his head.
Zero found himself in complete darkness, then white lettering popped up in front of him, with an ominous voice reading the words.
"War is being waged against several nations on the planet Earth. These nations have joined forces, forming two groups known as the Allies and the Axis. You are fighting on the side of the Allies, and you must defeat your opponents on the Axis side. You fight with a gun, and start with 100 HP. Be the last one standing, and you win." The blackness then began to fade, and he found himself in a city. It must have already been attacked, as there was a lot of rubble on the streets from destroyed buildings. A gun was in Zero's hand, and he looked it over.
"Hmm, a gun that fires small metal objects through the use of small explosions. Primitive weapon." Zero walked over to one of the buildings he was next to. There was a broken window, and he managed to get a look at himself from the reflection. He was wearing a green uniform, and he had flesh.
"So, I'm playing as a human? Interesting." Zero jumped up to the wall of the building. He figured if he jumped up the wall, he could get on top and get a better view; however, when he kicked off the wall, he was falling back to the ground. Zero fell flat on his back and on to the shattered glass. He saw that seven points were taken off of his life bar.
"Right, my abilities are determined by the game, and humans can't wall jump." As he got up, he noticed another soldier with a different uniform down the street with a gun pointed at him.
"Zero?"
"Falco?" Zero asked back. It was obvious that this other soldier was Falco. They both stood there with their guns pointed at each other. At this range, either one of them could make a kill shot, so instead they darted off in opposite directions.
Zero then stopped, making his feet slide, and kicking up dust as he did. He took aim and fired, but Falco then leaped behind a building. Doing the same, Zero ran backwards towards a pillar that held up a building. Falco then popped his head out from the building and fired, but Zero took cover behind the post.
"This is going nowhere." Zero thought. He then retreated back into a nearby alley. "I might have the strength of a human in here, but I still have the same skill." The alley was small, with two tall buildings on either side. He jumped towards one, and kicking off it, he jumped off the other building, and thus he was able to get himself up by wall kicking off each other.
When Zero got to the top, he couldn't spot Falco, but suddenly a bullet ricocheted off the ledge of the roof. Zero looked over the edge, but he didn't see him, but soon he saw something move near a pile of rubble, and Zero shot away.
Bullets were going through some of the rubble, so he had to retreat. As he did though, a bullet scraped his left shoulder, and he was down to seventy HP.
"If he can do it, then so can I." Falco thought to himself. He too came up to an alley with two close buildings and jumped up. Once he was up there, he could spot Zero behind a cooling unit on a building across the street. He fired at him, and Zero then bolted off again. Falco followed, and they began shooting at each other while running and jumping across the adjacent buildings.
Their weapons didn't have the greatest of aim, but they figured that sooner or later one of them would get shot. As Falco jumped to another building, he tripped over the ledge, and fell flat on his face on the other building.
Seeing his chance, Zero was going to go for the kill. A power line ran from the building he was on to the one that Falco stood on, and since the one Falco stood on was shorter than building Zero stood on, the power line sloped down. Zero grabbed the line with one hand and slid down to where Falco fell. Just before he got up, Falco had a gun pointed at his head.
"Game over." Zero said with a smile. Just then a shot was fired, and Zero found himself in darkness again, and Falco did later. The dreaded words "Game Over" flashed before them.
Zero took the helmet off of his head, and saw that Falco then took his off. Zero then noticed that the two cat cornerians still had their helmets on. A few moments later, they both took them off.
"Ha ha, I win!" The taller one said.
"Good game!" The shorter one said
"Man, you guys didn't see us coming!"
"So, you two snuck up and shot us?" Zero asked.
"Yeah. You were doing really good, but it was such a perfect opportunity to take both of you out."
"Well, looks like neither of us won, Zero." Falco said.