Chapter 9

Game Over

"All right, that'll do." The owner of the stand said. Ash and D.K. took off their aprons and sighed.

"Great, now we can get back to the carnival!" Ash said. Just then, both Ash and D.K.'s radios went off.

"Everyone, the Zox are coming, get back to the 64!" Without wasting any time, they both jumped over the counter and ran towards their ship. People had to jump out of the way as they ran.

"Hey wait, what's the rush? And what's a Zox?"

Fox, Link and Mario rushed down the field of parked spacecrafts, running even faster than they did back on the obstacle course. Fox then held up his communicator as they ran.

"You guys get to the 64 and get ready, we'll head to our Arwings and slow the mother ship down. I imagine we can reach it before you do. You guys got that?"

"Yes." The rest of the Starfox team said through the communicator.

"All right, good luck Fox." Fox then separated from them and went his own way. Mario and Link then came to the Nintendo 64, and the door automatically opened up. Mario didn't know how the door opened up by itself when one of them just stood there, or how it would only open for those who have already been in the ship and recognized them, but he didn't care for the moment.

Mario and Link ran to the control room and Mario started up the ship. Link went to his console to be ready for the attack.

Fox pressed a button on a remote as he ran and the hatch to his Arwing opened up. Fox jumped right in and closed the hatch, and began lifting off. Once he was a few feet off the ground, he could see the others getting in their ships.

As the four left the atmosphere of Corneria, the blue sky turned to the blackness of space, dotted with white spots of stars.

"Listen up, I don't know if we can take him on alone, but we need to at least keep him from entering Corneria, got it?"

"No sweat Fox! It's just one ship, we can do this!" As they flew towards the Zox mother ship, a screen of Karlnak popped up on their ships.

"What, a barricade of four ships?" Karlnak mocked. "Try if you want, you're not getting the best of me this time!"

One by one, the rest of the team ran into the control room, all except for Samus Aran.

"Hey, where's Samus?"

"She came in, but she went the other way down the hall." Sonic said. Just then, Samus walked into the room with her suit on.

"We're all here, let's go." Samus said, and the 64 began to lift off. Fox then appeared on the main screen.

"Guys, we're having trouble...." Fox paused in his talking as his ship was rocked from a laser blast "Eh, keeping him off."

"Mario, the mother ship is nearing Corneria's atmosphere!" Sonic said.

"Link, we're going to need that robot form."

"On it." As the ship began to transform into its powerful robot form, Karlnak came up on the video screen.

"You have humiliated me, warriors of dimension N." Karlnak was furious, yet he was restraining his anger with determination. "I thought I could just go ahead and take over planets as I travel this dimension, but no, you always had to be there to stop us! You have destroyed an entire Zox armada, a task no other opponent has done. For this, you will pay dearly."

"You may have conquered several dimensions, but you're not taking this one!" Link said. The ship was several miles above the ground as it completed its transformation, and just as they were ready, the mother ship came into view, like an object coming out of the mist.

The Zox ship was heading straight towards them ) at incredible speed. Fire surrounded the ship as it as it was heating up from entering the atmosphere, but its armor was strong enough to resist such entry.

"I've fully repaired and redone this ship since our last battle, you don't stand a chance. I didn't take you seriously before, but now, there's no holding back, no retreating. Your heads our mine!"

The arms of the ship were stretched out, ready to strike. The heroes braced their selves as the 64 grabbed the mother ship. The force from the impact of the two ships colliding arm-to-arm was so great that the noise could be heard from the ground several miles away, sending a chill of fear to all who heard. Mario tried to push Karlnak back, but he was moving so fast that they were being pushed back. They held onto the Zox, but they were still pummeling to the ground.

"What's that up in the sky? Is it a bird, a plane?"

"No, that's the ships that attacked yesterday!" People on the ground scattered as the two powerful ships came falling to the ground. As the 64 hit the ground, its feet dug into the soil, sliding across the field as they slowed down. Where grassy fields once were, there were now two large gullies.

As they came to a stop, the two forces stood in a deadlock, trying to push each other down. Getting the upper hand, Mario lifted the Zox over them. As Karlnak was thrown back, his ship was quickly rebalanced. The Zox ship then fired several lasers at the 64 from its hands.

Finding a new move, Zero activated energy shields on the palms of the 64's hands, and used them to knock back the lasers. As the laser shots hit the shields, they were reflected, and went in all directions, some colliding into the ground where the people were.

"Mario, we need to move this fight into space, or too many people are going to get hurt down there!" Link shouted.

"I know, I'm trying!" Zero stopped using the shields since it was too dangerous, and the 64 used its jets to fly backwards.

The mother ship took pursuit of the 64, clasping its hands together, charging a laser. The Zox paused for a moment, and then fired a large laser beam at the 64. Mario dashed to the left, and the beam missed the main body by only twenty feet.

Since the mother ship had to stop for a moment to fire the beam, Mario took this to their advantage. Mario dashed towards the Zox ship, and when he came into range, kicked the bottom of the ship. The force sent the ship flying upwards, and continuing their assault, the 64 blasted upwards, pursuing the Zox. Mario was going to smash the ship again, making sure it gets sent into space. When they got close though, Karlnak put the ship's hands together and made one mighty blow to the 64, knocking it right in the head.

The head was where the control room was, and when they were hit, everyone in the room was tossed from their seats. A horribly loud crash was made when they were hit, and a dip could be seen in the roof of the control room. The 64 was sent crashing to the ground, and with Mario knocked off his seat, he couldn't stop their fall.

The ship crashed into the ground flat on its back, right where some of the ships were parked. The 64 crushed some of the ships, and even some people who were trying to escape. A crater was formed from the impact, and dirt flew everywhere. Everyone in the ship then got back on their feet.

"Man, why doesn't this ship have seat belts?" D.K. asked.

"Is everyone okay?" Zero asked, looking around the room.

"Looks like it." Samus said, taking a scan of everyone from her suit. As Mario got back up and sat in the chair, he looked at the main screen, and became quite worried.

Above them was the mother ship, once again charging a laser blast in between its hands. Karlnak had it aimed right at them, and was about to fire. Mario scrambled with the controls to get the 64 moving and out of the way.

"Good bye, pests!" Karlnak shouted, even though there was no communication link with the 64. Just then, his ship was hit in the back by a powerful explosion. The mother ship's hands were knocked out of position and the charging ball of energy vanished.

"What happened?" Karlnak questioned. As he did, four Arwings flew past his ship on the view screen. The mother ship was hit in the back by four simultaneous nova bombs. The four ships flew around the Zox, firing at all parts, so the Zox then began swatting at the Awrings like flies.

"Now's my chance." Mario said to himself. Mario once again had their ship blast up towards their enemy. Shooting off like a rocket, they zoomed towards the preoccupied Zox. The 64 clenched its metal fists, holding its arms to its sides.

As the Zox were trying to whack down its pesky enemies, they then noticed that the 64 was right under them, but they noticed too late. The 64 launched its fists into the underside of the mother ship, sending them flying upwards. The people inside the mother ship struggled to stand up as the force of their speed was keeping them stuck to the floor.

It wasn't long before the Zox found their selves back in outer space, and the 64 flying up to greet them.

"So, that's how you want to do this, eh? Fine by me. Whether I kill you here or on the planet doesn't matter, but just since you're so eager to keep those people down there alive, they'll be the first ones I kill when the only thing standing in my way is gone."

"I wouldn't count on that, Karlnak." Mario said with confidence. "Now that you're up here away from the people," Mario paused as the 64 took a battle stance. "We won't hold back )." The 64 then held its hands out and began firing multiple, rapid shots at the Zox. Countless laser blasts flew everywhere, and it was impossible for them to avoid it. The mother ship shook as laser after laser hit the main body of the ship.

"What are you doing, idiot? Deploy the shield already!" Karlnak yelled. The Zox ship's arms crisscrossed with the hands pointed out, and a large energy shield formed at the front of the ship.

"Heh heh, you're not the only one with a shield, and ours is bigger." As Karlnak boasted, the 64 charged towards them. With the mother ship's arms in that position, they couldn't retaliate, so they let down their shield so they can attack. They then realized their mistake. Just as they let down their shield, the 64 grabbed hold of the Zox's hands. With the mother ship in their grasp, the 64 lunged both its knees into the mother ship while still holding onto. A large dent was put into the bottom of the mother ship. Taking yet another strike, the 64 let go delivered a blow to the top of the Zox ship, sending it fly below them.

At this point, the Starfox team had made it back to the action, but when they saw what kind of battle was going on, they wondered if they should really join in.

"Fox, look at that." Krystal said, amazed at the power between the two ships. "Should we really try to help them?"

"I don't know. I think we might just get in their way. We were able to help them back with that armada, but this is a one-on-one battle."

The Zox ship had received a great deal of damage, and they were flying away from the 64. Karlnak saw that this was a good opportunity to use their new weapon they installed. Two panels on the sides of the mother ship opened up, and large missiles rocketed out from them.

"Mario, two missiles are coming towards us!" Sonic warned. Mario held his ground, expecting Zero to activate the shields.

"Mario, what are you doing? Our energy shields are good against lasers, not physical explosions!" Mario's confidence quickly faded as the 64 turned tail and ran. Mario hoped to escape the missiles' path, but to his surprise, the missiles were following his every move.

As the 64 was trying to outrun the missiles, Zero began firing at them, hoping to destroy them. Their followers were quite fast, and Zero was having trouble getting a direct shot at them. Even though the 64 was moving as fast as it could, the missiles were still catching up. As Zero fired laser after laser, he finally managed to hit one. As he hit it, the missile exploded. The explosion was massive, as it was three times the size of the 64.

To everyone's horror, the other missile was still intact, and only three CDs length from them. Zero's robotic mind was racing as distance and speed equations ran through his mind, trying to get the laser to hit the missile. If he was human, sweat would have run down his face. As the missile came closer, Zero found it more and more pointless to try, because if he hit it at this distance, the explosion would have greatly injured them anyways. They tried to escape the missile's danger, but they could only hold their breath as it came in contact with the 64.

"Ha ha! I've done it! I've done it! I've destroyed the warriors of dimensions N!" Karlnak laughed and rejoiced while the Zox controlling the ship grumbled that he took all the credit. As the explosion faded, he could see that the 64 was still in one piece, to say the least.

The lights inside the control room came back on as the repair robot moved about fixing broken objects. Mario stood back up on his feat and saw that they were still alive, though Ash and Sonic were unconscious.

"Mario, the 64's armor is down to nine percent. There's five hull breaches, but emergency locks have stopped the air from leaking." Link said as he observed his console's screen. Mario looked up at the main screen, and could see that the Zox were heading towards them for one final blow.

"If they hit us one more time, we're done for." Samus said grimly.

"We're not going to give up. It looks grim, but we always pull through." Mario said, though his voice showed that he was worried. Zero moved his hands over the control panel, and could see that the arms were still working. Mario tried moving the 64, but nothing happened. It looked like their propulsion system was out of order.

"It's coming." Samus said. The Zox were flying towards them with both arms stretched out, fists ready to slam. "What can we do?" Everyone became more tense each second as the Zox raced towards them. Zero was moving his hands around the control board and Mario futilely moved the steering controls.

"Ha ha ha ha, look at them! They're sitting ducks! Just as it always has been, and always will be, the Zox shall conquer anything in its path!" As Zero brought his arms together, facing the top of his arms downward and then clenching his fists, a ball of energy formed in each of the 64's hands. When they reached to the size of the 64's palms, it then clenched its fists, and the balls of energy erupted out from the sides of the hands like bolts of lightning, and took the shape of swords.

In each hand, the 64 held a blade of yellow energy. The swords glowed and flashed, not completely holding a constant shape. The blades were not smooth and defined, but the edges were more like that of lightning.

The Zox noticed this new development, but they had already reached the 64, and it was too late turn away. The mother ship tilted upwards to fly right over the 64 instead of ramming it. As it passed them, the 64 took the energy swords and sliced at the sides of the mother ship. The blades went right through the ship like a knife through butter, and sliced the sides clean off of the mother ship, along with its arms. The mother ship continued on as it saw its arms drift away. Karlnak screamed in furry.

"Argh! You imbeciles! How could you have let this happen?"

"Oh sure, take all the credit and blame everything on us." A Zox pilot grumbled to himself. As they tried to move the ship around, they found that their propulsion unit was partially severed from the attack, and couldn't properly maneuver.

With the danger over, the 64 opened its hands, and the blades vanished.

"We did it, we did it." Mario sighed and then slumped down in the chair to rest from the excitement. His rest was short lived as Karlnak contacted them.

"Well, it seems that now neither of us can move. How about we finish this in a fair fight? Send your strongest warrior to my ship, and we can have a hand-to-hand battle. No tricks." Karlnak said, trying to unsure it wasn't a trap.

"I don't think your in a position to make offers." Zero said. "Unless you haven't noticed, you've lost your arms while we still have ours, and thus our weapons."

"True, but our dimensional drive is still operational. I know a nice black hole I could send you." Karlnak smirked. "You have ten minutes to decide who amongst you is the strongest." Karlnak's communication link then ended.

"Hey, you guys all right? What's going on?" Fox asked.

"We're okay. Come on board and we'll explain. We'll need your help." Once Starfox boarded the ship, they had to take several paths down the halls to reach the control room, as some of the places were blocked off from the hull breaches. When they met up with the others and Ash and Sonic came to, they were caught up on what happened, and began thinking of what action to take.

"Why can't we just smash them while they're waiting?" D.K. said, hitting his fist into his palm to emphasize the word smash.

"That wouldn't work. We may have sliced part of their ship, but they're still in better shape then we are, so if we try to attack them, they'll open a portal before we have a chance to finish them off." Samus said.

"So then...we really have to choose someone?" Link said. Link then firmly said, "I'll go."

"No, I should go." Mario said.

"No, let me!" Sonic said. Everyone began arguing that they should go.

"Hey, quit it!" Ash yelled, getting their attention. "We only have six minutes left, and this isn't helping. It's obvious you all have the courage, but we should think critically at who is the better choice. Here." Ash then pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and ripped it up in several pieces and handed it to everyone. "We'll vote. Um, I only have one pen, so we'll have to take turns." Ash wrote down a name on his paper and then handed it to Link.

"Vote? Well, I suppose this would be the better way. Hey wait, where's Zero? Shouldn't he vote too?" Link said.

"I don't know. After Karlnak's message, he ran down the hall."

"Oh well." After thinking for a bit, he wrote down a name and then passed the pen down. Choosing one person out of all the heroes on the ship wouldn't be a simple task. They had all shown their bravery and skill in more than one occasion, and they all had their unique talents that couldn't really be compared. Whoever was chosen would be the one who had to face off against Karlnak. Once they finished, Ash took all the papers and counted the names. Ash became shocked at the results.

"Wow! I didn't expect this many."

"What? Who is it?"

"All votes go to Mario. Well, except for one that goes to D.K." Everyone then glanced at D.K.

"What?" Turning their attention back to Mario, Mario began to be surprised.

"You...you all think I should go?"

"You might not be the most physically strong of us, but you're the most well-rounded. You've experienced and done many more things than all of us." Samus said.

"You might not have noticed it, but you've been the leader here all along. You're the one who started gathering us together. I'd still be back in Hyrule if it wasn't for you."

"Hey, if someone's gonna take that punk down, it would be you." Sonic said.

"Thanks guys. All right, I'll do it."

"Hold on a moment." Zero said. He walked into the control room holding a small, rectangular object. "Take this with you."

"What is it?"

"A bomb. In case something goes wrong, stick this to something and it will detonate in three minutes."

"So that's what you were doing while we were voting?"

"Oh wait, one more thing!" Ash said. He then took something out of his pocket wrapped in a handkerchief. "I don't know what it is, but maybe it will come in handy." Mario was about to look at what it was, but then Fox told him to come.

"Mario, we only have two minutes!"

"Right." Mario and Fox then ran to the docking bay. Since the 64 didn't have any smaller ships in the docking bay, Fox had to fly Mario to the mother ship. As Fox got in the ship, Mario had to sit on top of him.

"Eh, this is rather cramp."

"Sorry Mario, but this was built for only one person." The bottom door opened up and the Arwing flew out. They flew towards a spot on the bottom of the mother ship where a door was opening to welcome them in.

Inside the enemy ship, they could see that it wasn't too different from the 64. The hanger was just a little larger than the 64's.

"I'll wait here for when you come back. God luck!" Mario gave a thumps up to Fox and walked on.