THE FINAL BATTLE
By Arkanis Wolfen 1/March/2003
Ghosts from the Past (part 3)
"I need to get back to Corneria quickly. I don't know why but…I feel something terrible has happened"-Falco Lombardi Star Fox member-
"…is that you, Peppy?" he asked.
"What the…! Who are you!" Peppy's eyes were getting better now, but he still couldn't recognize him.
"Already forgotten me, huh?" he joked.
Peppy's sight was all-good now. He looked at the stranger,…and his heart stopped for a second. It couldn't be! It's been so long since that terrible loss. But on the other side, they never found him. Their long lost friend…
"Falco!"
And everybody looked at him. The older soldiers stood astonished, while the younger ones probably never heard of him.
"Is it really you! How could it be?" he said with a trembling voice. Tears started to fall down as he hugged him. He just couldn't believe it. Falco was actually alive!
"Hey, hey, calm down man. I know it's been a while, but you don't have to get all sentimental on me" Falco, as usual, was acting as if he didn't care, but inside, he felt just like Peppy. He missed his friends…a lot. But one voice interrupted the scene.
"Lombardi! What the heck!" he asked.
It was a voice Falco knew all too well. He instantly let go of Peppy, pulled his blaster out and turned around before he could say anything else.
"Wolf!…" he pointed his blaster at Wolf's head "…What are you doing here?"
"What am I doing here! Aren't you supposed to be…how could I say it?…DEAD!"
"It's a long story" Falco said without taking his gun out of Wolf's head.
"Well, I guess our little attack will have to wait" Pepper said with his eyes still wide open, not believing what just happened.
"Hi General, it's been a while" Falco said to the still amazed General.
"It sure has. Huh? Who's the other guy? He looks familiar"
"I don't think this is the better place to make introductions" Falco said.
"Yeah, I think we better abort our mission"
"Mission? What are talking about?" the avian pilot asked.
"I'll tell you later" Pepper said.
"OK everybody, let's head back to base. Something...uh…something unexpected just happened. Nothing to worry about though" Peppy ordered.
"Excuse me Sir, but should we do with Wolf and Leon?"
"Huh? Oh, well, I guess we'll have to get bring them along. Chained of course, and make sure they don't have any kind of tracking devices"
"Yes Sir"
"Oh great" Leon complained, rolling his eyes.
"Did you see that? Lombardi was actually alive" Wolf whispered, still surprised.
"Do you think I care?"
"Oh, get lost!"
"Yeah, like I could"
"Hey you two, shut up and start walking!" a soldier ordered. Wolf gave him just one look to make him understand no to ever do that again.
"Don't worry Leon, this didn't affect my plan. As a matter of fact, this couldn't get any better" Wolf whispered with a smile on his face.
"I hope you know what you're saying"
And so, our heroes traveled all the way back to their base.
SOUTHERN CANYON CAVES-
Peppy and the others are at the cantina chatting and getting Falco up to date on the situation.
"So Andross now is the ruler of the Lylat system. Man! I never thought this day would come true" Falco said sadly.
"Neither did I. But it's true" Pepper said.
"But, isn't there any planet free of his clutches? I mean, are you the only resistance to tyranny!"
"Unfortunately yes. And as you see, I'm the only Star Fox member that wasn't caught by the Hunters" Peppy answered.
"The Hunters?"
"The Hunters, were specially designed droids, whose function is to stop rebellions by capturing their leaders. They've also proven very affective against heavy assaults, so they're usually assigned to prisons and stuff like that"
"I see…Oh, I almost forgot to introduce my partner here. Peppy, General Pepper this is Arkanis Wolfen"
"Arkanis Wolfen! Eh, are you related in some way to the starfighter designer we had back then at the H.Q.?" Pepper asked.
"Actually, I am that designer" he answered.
"What? Impossible, he died in his Lab many years ago!"
"Well, he's telling the truth General"
"But how could that be?" Pepper asked amazed.
"Yeah, and how could you still be alive! Where were you all this time?" Peppy asked the avian pilot.
"Well, it's a long story, but since mine and Ark's are connected, I think I can make it a little shorter. Mmmh, let's see…" Falco laid back a little, took a deep breath and continued "…It all began the day we fought the amoeba…"
……….
"……damn it! This thing has reached the bomb holder and I can't get away. What can I do, what can I do? C'mon think!" he thought to himself.
"Don't worry Falco we're coming!" Fox said to his wingman.
"Crud! Fox is heading this way…I gotta warn him" Falco grabbed his COMM, but suddenly he felt a little trembling. He turned around to see what happened, and saw the amoeba holding a bomb. He turned around to face his already malfunctioning control console and opened the channel "Damn it! Get away Fox, it's gonna explode"
"WhZZZ…you say?…FaZZZ…hear mZZZ…" was Fox distorted answer.
"I said get away damn it!" But Fox was still coming closer. "Can't you hear me! Get away Fox…Fox!…Fox!…get away damn it!…"
"GET AWAY!" Falco woke up in a gasp. He was covered in sweat and his heart beat so hard and fast he could hear it clearly. The young avian buried his head on his hands and tried to relax. When he calmed down a little, he looked around to see where he was. The place looked completely strange to him. He was lying on a bed in some sort of a bedroom. The room was brown colored and looked very old, there was no technology around, just wooden furniture. Next to him, there was a table with a lamp and a jar full of water.
"(Where am I!…What happened!)" Falco thought to himself as he tried to stand up, but fell on the bed right after feeling a little dizzy. His eyes were wide open and his head hurt.
"(I don't remember any drink leaving a headache like this)" Falco joked to himself. Once again he tried to stand up, succeeding this time. "I gotta get out of here" he mumbled, when the door opened and a white wolf came in. He looked a little old, probably the same age Peppy was, with a red shirt on, black pants and a cap. His glasses gave him a kind of "wise" look.
"So you're finally awake. I'm glad to see it. I was starting to think you were never going to…you know?" the wolf said in a friendly tone.
Falco, who at the moment was holding his head, jumped into a fighting position, ready to attack. "Who are you! What's this place! Where am I!"
"Hey relax, I'm not going to hurt you" The wolf stepped back "Geez! If I knew you were going to awake in such a bad mood…but anyway, I suppose you're hungry, aren't you?" the wolf asked.
Falco lowered his guard, and placed one hand on his stomach as it released a loud sound, almost like a growl. He was hungry indeed. Starving actually.
"Well yes, I am" he answered a little confused.
"I thought so. Come with me, lunch is ready and you're lucky a made plenty of it" The wolf noticed Falco's distrustful look and said "Don't worry, I'll explain everything after you have eaten"
Having no other option, Falco followed the wolf to the dinner room "(I better not take my eyes off him, at least until he explains me what's going on)" he thought to himself.
The twosome went through a small corridor. Falco observed there was no decoration at all, and there was stuff everywhere…clothes, tools, etc… not that it mattered him. No paintings, no nothing, just a plain wall "(Mmmmh, this place reminds me of my room in Great Fox…it's a mess)" he thought as he lifted an eyebrow. When they reached the small dinner room, was not surprised at all with the food, 'cause he had smelled it since they were in the corridor, but it was an amazingly good smell though.
"Please sit down, feel at home" the wolf said.
"Thanks" Falco answered a little uncomfortable and started eating fast. Really fast. In a couple of minutes the table was almost empty. The wolf could not believe his eyes. Everything was gone. He looked at Falco, who was resting in his sit, both wings on his belly and a toothpick in his beak. "Man that was some good food" he said and sighed.
"You were really hungry, weren't you?" the wolf said with eyes wide open, still not believing it.
"You can say that again. I felt like I didn't ate for days"
"Well you didn't actually"
Falco spited his toothpick and placed both wings on the table. "Look man, I don't wanna be rude or anything but I really need to know what's going on and how did I get here" he said in a serious tone.
"Don't worry, I was just going to. Well, first of all, let introduce myself. My name's Arkanis Wolfen"
"Wolfen? Why does that name sound familiar to me?" Falco asked intrigued.
"Well, probably because I designed the Wolfen II starfighters"
"The Wolfen II starfighter! Star Wolf's starfighter! So you're with them! Falco shouted as he stood up and pulled his blaster out.
"Hey take it easy, let me explain"
Falco sat down again not taking his gun out of Arkanis face.
"I am a starfighter designer-builder. I was working for General Pepper. He asked me to improve the Wolfen I starship, which I had also built. You probably don't know them 'cause they were quickly replaced by the superior-class Arwing fighters"
"So your ships were rejected huh?" Falco joked.
"Anyway,…" Arkanis was clearly not pleased with that joke "…a few months later Pepper asked me to improve the Wolfen I fighters, so I started to work on them"
"But if you were working for Pepper, why does Star Wolf have Wolfen II fighters?" he asked.
"I'm coming to that part. As I was saying, I was working on the new Wolfen II fighters, when an explosion blasted my Lab's door throwing everything, including me, away. I was thrown against the wall, but luckily didn't fell unconscious, or I'd be dead by now. Smoke was everywhere, but I recognized the four figures that entered the room immediately. The four figures were the Star Wolf members. They started to rip the place apart burning everything they could found, including the Wolfen II blueprints. I couldn't do anything, I wasn't trained for combat and they were merciless assassins, so I hided behind a desk. They took 3 of the 4 prototypes of the Wolfen II fighters and took off, but their leader didn't. He placed a small object on the floor first and then stole the last prototype. Once he was gone, I went to the center of the room where the small object was placed. It was a hand-sized Nova bomb! And it was ready to explode in a few seconds! I tried to escape, but the exit was blocked"
"But how did you survive then?" Falco asked
"The same way you did I suppose"
"What do you mean?"
"What's the last thing you remember?"
"Well, we were…oh, I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet. I'm…"
"Falco Lombardi from the Star Fox team, I know. I'm come from Corneria too"
"I see…well, as I was saying, we were fighting one of Andross' creations when it grabbed one of my Nova bombs and exploded it. I don't know how I got here"
"Wasn't there by any chance a vortex?" Arkanis asked.
"Well, actually yes, there was one. How did you know it?"
"That's what brought you here. Just like me" the wolf smirked.
"Huh?" the confused pilot asked.
"Back to my story. I couldn't escape and the bomb exploded, but one of my projects saved me. It was an upgrade to the G-Diffuser the Arwings had. It's only problem was that it used too much energy, that's why I wasn't included in your Arwings at the moment. It was experimental. Anyway, I tested it a few hours ago that day so it was almost fully charged and when the bomb blasted it, a vortex was opened and it dragged me in. And that's how I got here…the same way you did" Arkanis concluded "Now could you please put that gun away from my face"
"Huh?…oh yes, sorry about that" Falco quickly put his gun down.
"Nevermind"
"But I just appeared here? Out of nowhere?"
"No, I was…doing something I don't remember now, when your Arwing appeared and crashed nearby. I went to the place to see what was it and to my surprise it was an Arwing fighter. I looked for the pilot to see if he was alive and…well, you were. Although you were unconscious, you weren't hurt. Not deadly at least, so I took you to my place and healed most your wounds. I couldn't feed you but I could gave you water, because you unconsciously drank it"
"I see. Thank you man, you saved my life. I owe you one"
"Nah, don't mention it. At least I have someone to talk to now"
"What do you mean? There's none beside you?" Falco ran to the nearest window. All he could see was a vast field.
"Don't waste your eyes, there's none out there. Just miles and miles of field. Lucky for us it is fertile, or I would have died a long time ago"
Falco and Arkanis kept talking all day. The hours passed and the night's dark cloak covered the place.
"By the way, my ship, where is it?" Falco asked.
"Oh, it's still out there where I found it, but it's too late now. We can bring it tomorrow, it's no too far from here"
"OK. Thanks again"
"You're welcome. Well, I think I'll go to sleep now"
"You have more rooms? I thought you were alone" Falco asked intrigued.
"No, actually I have just one. The one you woke up in"
"So where did you slept this days?"
"On the couch"
"You have a couch?"
"I made one. I needed to sit somewhere. It's not the finest you've seen, but it works"
"Then you sleep in your bedroom tonight, I'll sleep here"
"No way. You've just waken up since the crash. You still need some rest. Don't worry about me, I'm fine. I'm already used to it and we can build another room for you in no time. Now go to sleep"
"Are you sure?" Falco asked.
"Yes, I'm pretty sure. Goodnight"
"OK, goodnight Arkanis"
Falco went to "his" bedroom to sleep, but just couldn't. He was thinking about his friends, and how he was going to get back with them. But he was also very tired, and a few hours later, he fell asleep. The night went by quietly as a tomb…
-THE NEXT DAY-
Ark went to where Falco was sleeping to see if he was awake, but as we all know, Falco isn't the best person (or bird) for getting up early.
"(Mmmh, just as I thought, he's still asleep. Well, I think I'll let him rest a little more. He had a hard day yesterday)" Arkanis thought to himself.
He was going out for some fresh air, when he heard a loud noise, followed by some…very interesting curses (curses that I'd like to translate to you, but I don't speak Lylatian, sorry). He went to the room only to find Falco on the floor rubbing his head.
"Well, well, I see you're awake already" Arkanis said holding his laugh.
"Ha ha, very funny" Falco said in his usual morning mood.
"C'mon, we gotta get your ship back"
"(yawns) Alright alright, I'm going"
-A FEW MINUTES LATER-
"Well, here we are"
Falco looked at his crashed Arwing. It was totally ruined. You could see parts of the ship miles away from the landing point.
"Oh man! It's totally screwed! We can't go back to Corneria on this, and it's impossible to repair it. We're stuck in this miserable planet forever" Falco said throwing his hands in the air and sitting heavily on the ground"
"There's nothing I can't repair my blue friend, but repairing it was not what I had in mind" Arkanis said.
"I didn't think you were so hungry to bring me here to get you my rations" Falco said scratching his neck.
"No! I just want parts from your ship. I think I can make a machine that can teleport us back to Corneria" Arkanis said with a wise air on his words.
"Really? Then what are we waiting for? Let's get to work!" Falco said as he started to smash his Arwing.
"No, wait, not that way!"
-SEVERAL MONTHS LATER-
"Well, I think it's ready" Arkanis said wiping his sweat away.
"Nice work man, but…is it safe?"
"I don't know. I guess we'll have to try it"
Arkanis turned the machine on, and it started to make a very loud sound. A dimensional gate appeared filling the room with a bright light.
"Should we go in!" Falco yelled.
"The machine has enough power to keep it open a few seconds. Besides, I don't think we have much of an option!" Arkanis yelled back.
……….
"…then, we walked in and appeared here. End of the story" Falco said.
"But you said it took you a few months to finish the machine. How come you appeared here years after your disappearance?"
"Well…" Arkanis said "…, I think the machine, somehow, opened the time flux and threw us in it"
"I see" Pepper said.
They kept talking a few hours when a soldier walked in and interrupted them.
"Excuse me Sir, but the prisoner demands you talk to him"
"Who? Oh, Wolf…right, I'll be right there. I completely forgot about him. I think we should all go and pay him a visit" Peppy said.
Our heroes go to the cells and find Wolf and Leon sitting in the dark.
"Wolf! How did you get out!" Falco said pulling his blaster out and pointing it at wolf's head.
"C'mon Lombardi, give me some credit. Did you really think you could held me in your pathetic little prisons? I could do it again with my eyes closed, but I'm not here to fight. As I said earlier, I have an offer to your friend"
"What do you want O'Donnell?" Peppy stepped forward.
"What I want? The question is…what do you need?"
"Huh?"
"I propose an alliance"
"What?
"You heard me. An alliance against Andross"
"I thought you were on his side"
"I was, until I realized I wanted to destroy McCloud myself. I can get many soldiers for our alliance, but I warn you, our little truce here ends right after we defeat that insane ape"
"Sounds good to me, but how can we know we can trust you?"
"Leon is going to get you 100 soldiers, who are completely loyal to me, while I stay here with you"
"What do you think Pepper?" the rabbit asked.
"Mmm…"
"Well?" Wolf asked impatient.
"We got a deal here"
"Leon, go now and bring the 100 soldiers I told you about"
"But how am I going to get 100 soldiers without the base being alerted"
"Just tell them guards you are going on some recognition mission or something and that you have direct orders from the emperor himself"
"OK, I'll be on my way then. See you in a few days"
And so, Leon traveled back to the Venomian base.
TWO DAYS LATER-
A guard notices Leon is returning and goes to where our friends were.
"Sir, Leon Powalski has returned"
"Good. Let's go see him" Pepper said.
They walk to the entrance to meet him.
"Well Pepper, here I am with the 100 soldiers Wolf promised you"
"I see. Since you kept your word, I think we can set Wolf free. Soldier!"
"Yes Sir?" a soldier came running and saluted.
"Bring O'Donnell here"
"Right away Sir" he turned around and headed to the prison cells.
A few minutes later, Wolf walks in.
"Was about time"
"Well gentlemen, I think we can now start making our attack plan. This way please" Peppy said.
The unusual group headed to a big tent near Pepper's. Inside was a big table with many chairs. They all sat down and started planning their attack.
"First of all, we should rescue the rest of the Star Fox team, Bill Grey and a few others."
"Yeah, but maybe we should rescue one first so I doesn't look too suspicious" Falco suggested.
"Right, but who?"
"It's obvious…" Wolf said "McCloud's the first we must get out of there"
"Yeah, I agree" Leon said.
"Me too" Peppy said.
"So do I" Pepper said.
"I don't" Falco said catching everybody's attention.
"What's wrong with you Lombardi? He's the most obvious choice. Perhaps you were out of action so long that it started affecting your memory and you don't remember McCloud anymore, HaHaHa" Wolf laughed pissing Falco off, who trying not to make it too obvious although everyone noticed it.
"Maybe, but at least I'm not obsessed with him. I certainly wouldn't rescue Andross no matter where was"
"Oh, tough words for a little bird-brain. But are you tough enough to settle this outside?" Wolf asked standing up.
"You bet I am. I'm gonna…"
"Enough you two. Stop acting like children and start focusing on the plan" Peppy told them off. They both sat down.
"Good, now, what were you going to say Falco?"
"As I said, I don't think Fox's the first one we should rescue, even if it seems so obvious to some of us"
"Then who do you suggest?"
"In my opinion, the first one we should rescue…" he paused.
Everybody was looking at him…
"…is Slippy"
…and everybody's eyes widened in surprise. They stared at Falco with their mouths opened.
"What?" Falco asked confused.
None answered…
"What are you looking at?"
TO BE CONTINUED…
AUTHOR'S NOTE: This one's shorter 'cause I don't have much time to make it any longer. If I did, It would take me a lot to finish it since I'm going to be very busy soon. Anyway, I'm still going to continue the story so don't worry (assuming of course anyone does). I hope you enjoyed it. And remember…DON'T EVER GIVE UP!
Any comments, questions, insults? E-mail me at Star Fox characters are property of Nintendo. Arkanis Wolfen is my character and you must ask me first if you want to use it. I won't say no, but I'd like to know when somebody uses it.