Mission 18 - Fear

Leon smiled at the death and destruction he brought around him. The chameleon was wearing a suit of dark plate mail armor, made of some unknown metal. ThornTail Hollow was once a beautiful haven, but within two weeks the insane lizard had transformed it into a desolate landscape, much like DragonRock. Smoke clouded the sky like a fog, as acres of forests and crops were razed to the ground. A neat line of SharpClaws slowly advanced towards Cape Claw, each carrying a crate of food, ready to be transported to Krazoa Palace. Leon had made the mighty palace his stronghold, where he kept his supplies and prisoners. There he imprisoned the King and Queen of the EarthWalkers.

The air itself smelt of death. The waterfall that once flowed with crystal water was stained with blood. The great Warpstone was reduced to a pile of rubble. Among the rubble was a heap of dead ThornTails and EarthWalkers, heroes who died fighting Leon and his forces. They never stood a chance.

Leon laughed at the work he had accomplished in merely two weeks. Soon, even the Cloud Fortress would fall. His soldiers were far too easily satisfied. The RedEyes, dim witted, yet powerful, desired nothing but taste of blood. The SharpClaws, almost equally dull, wanted nothing but food and so called "treasures". Leon could provide them with everything they required, and in return they became his primary forces.

Pigma Dengar walked up behind the lizard, who was watching a triad of RedEyes feast on the dead dinosaurs. The pig shook his head, "Leon, is there a reason for all this? You have killed everything from here to Cape Claw. The SharpClaws are taking all the food in the area, and burning everything they cannot take. When I asked them, they said you commanded them."

"Are you questioning me?" Leon said, his metallic eye glowing angrily under his helmet. The lizard laughed, "There is a reason to everything I do."

"Then let's hear it." Pigma said, "This is madness, a pointless slaughter."

"I don't know if you are clever enough to comprehend my reasons. But I will explain them to you." Leon said with a disappointed tone, "Death, chaos, and then dictatorship: Death to those who can oppose me now, chaos for those who try to oppose me, and dictatorship so no one may oppose me again."

"Why are you doing this? Haven't you killed enough?" Pigma asked, "Ten thousand at Corneria City, and almost a thousand here. Are you out of your mind?"

"I would watch your mouth unless you want to end up like Andrew. Now, let me continue." Leon simply ignored Pigma's complaints, "I have gathered enough food in the Krazoa Palace to last at least three months for my entire army. I told them to burn what they cannot take, so my enemies cannot take what I can't have. At the end, I will have all the food they need."

"And the Birdie Queen will surrender when she runs out of food, and we win over the Cloud Fortress without fighting." Pigma finished it for Leon. It all made perfect sense, but there was no reason for Leon to conquer an entire planet.

"Ah, you are not as dumb as you look." Leon chuckled, "So, any more questions?"

"You still haven't told me WHY you doing this." Pigma asked, "You are killing hundreds of innocent sentient dinosaurs, destroying acres of forests, and smoking up the whole planet. What is it for?"

"It's all a trap for StarFox." Leon said, "I must admit, it might be too much effort, but I like to make things a lot bigger than they should be. Slaughtering piles of cold-blooded lizards only make the birds surrender quicker. Once they surrender, I will let them send a distress signal from the Krazoa Palace."

"You realize the signal will reach Corneria first, right?" Pigma asked, slightly concerned, "And if they send their entire army. . . We don't stand a chance."

"Corneria is too scared to do anything." Leon chuckled again, "That's why I killed ten thousand people there. The whole Lylat system is afraid of me now. No one will come but StarFox."

"And what makes you think StarFox will come?" Pigma asked, "Corneria might be too poor to pay them anything."

"Little Prince Tricky will make them come." Leon said, looking into the hazed sky, "Just keep your eyes open."

"How are you so confident with these things?" Pigma asked, glancing up at the sky. The sun was burning with a red tint as its light was choked by the smoke, "You are speaking as if everything is under your control. What if something doesn't go exactly with your plan? What if another planet sends their army?"

"I have no intention to stay here when that happens." Leon simply replied, "If any other planet decides to interfere with my plans, I will simply leave this one, and bring death and destruction to the planet that dares to challenge me."

"You are just trying to become another Andross, aren't you?" Pigma said idly.

"No, my goal is not taking over the Lylat system." Leon replied, "After I kill everyone in StarFox, I will just change my identity, find a nice place to settle down, and never kill again."

"That sounds nice." Pigma chuckled, "Too bad a lot more is going to die before that happens."

"We will see." Leon crackled, his roaring laughter echoed throughout the dying forests.


Obsidian was sitting up in bed; a small table was attached to his bed at his lap. On the table was a large booklet of crossword puzzles. He chuckled to himself at how simple they were, although it was in part due to his remarkable intelligence. He found that on average he could complete about fifteen in one hour, and he had done more than half the book that morning. As he filled in another word there was a barely audible knock on the door.

"Come in." The wolf said in a happy tone. His healing was coming along excellently, now he merely needed to wait until the doctors were satisfied that he was fully mended and rested.

The door slowly opened, Obsidian continued to concentrate on his crosswords. There was a barely audible, "...Rocky?"

The wolf's ears perked up, "You know, I'm going to beat Jade for ever telling you that name." He looked up from the booklet and cast a stern gaze at Damon, "And where have you been? I visited you everyday when you were in the hospital, but now that I'm sick I haven't seen you in two weeks."

Damon stared at Obsidian, and then fell to his knees, not daring to look Obsidian in the eyes. "I'm sorry, I was too scared to come back...this is all my fault."

Obsidian's expression softened, "Don't worry Damon, I'm not angry...I was merely teasing. I told you that you weren't to blame for any of this. Please come sit by me..."

Damon walked timidly to Obsidian's beside. Then pulled the rolling chair out from under the desk in the room and sat in it. He looked sadly at Obsidian, he opened his mouth to say something but was cutoff before he started. The voice that interrupted was not Obsidian's, but a singsong voice on the other side of the door that said, "Oh Brother Dear!" Damon's ears pricked up in alarm, and he stared at the door fearfully.

Obsidian looked at the door, and then back to Damon. Or at least to where Damon had been, the little hybrid had vanished. He stared back at the door again, "Come on in Jade."

Jade sprung in, practically hurling herself on Obsidian. She smothered him with hugs and kisses. Finally Obsidian was able to push her away. Jade then noticed an odd odor in the air, and sniffed a bit. "So where is he?" she asked inquisitively.

Obsidian raised an eyebrow, "Who?"

Jade giggled playfully, "The little freak, I know he's in here, I can smell him. Where are you hiding him?"

Obsidian shook his head, "He left a little while ago sis, his scents probably just lingering in here."

"Oh you're no fun," she stamped her foot down, there was a soft thud instead of a click, under her foot was a red beret, "Well, what's this then brother dear?"

Obsidian began to sweat, "He probably just dropped it and didn't realize." he had no idea what she was planning. Her voice sounded sweet and innocent, but deep down she could still be harboring rage for Damon. He didn't want an incident like what had happened the day he got hurt. Hopefully he could just convince her to leave; it was obvious that Damon was afraid of her. He had good reason, with the way she assaulted him because of the accident.

"No, he's just hiding from me," she grinned, "Well okay; we'll play a little game of hide and seek. Come out; come out, wherever you are." Obsidian's bed rattled a little, Jade looked at him, wondering if he was getting out of bed. The feline spoke again in her sing-song voice, "Little freak, come out to play..."

She heard a whine; she knew she was getting to him. She had him so scared that he couldn't control himself. He'd lost it under the pressure. She now had him in the palm of her hand, now it was as simple as deciding how long she wanted this little game to go on.

"I think I'm getting warmer..." she said, giggling to Obsidian.

Obsidian scolded her, "Jade, stop that right now, you've scared him enough. You leave poor little Damon alone alright?"

Jade noticed Damon's tail flop to the ground, dangling directly from under Obsidian's bed. She crept over and then quickly grabbed it with both hands. Damon yelped and landed on the ground with a thud. Jade watched him shiver, cowering in front of her. He began to cry, and began muttering incoherently. She dragged him out from under the bed and suspended him by his furry lizard-like tail with one hand. He curled into a ball and continued to cry.

"Jade..." Obsidian said warningly.

She smiled, "You know, it's kind of stuffy inn here. Let's open a window." She walked to the end of the room, Damon still dangling in her left hand. She opened the large window wide and took in a deep breath. "You smell that fresh air freak, here, breathe it in." Damon began flailing around frantically as Jade hung him outside the window, thirty stories above the ground.

"Jade, put him down this instant!" Obsidian commanded

Jade loosened her grip a little on Damon's tail, allowing him to drop about an inch. Damon began screaming uncontrollably, only occasionally drowned out by powerful sobs. Jade giggled, treating it as some big joke.

"JADE!" Obsidian barked.

Jade sighed and lifted the whimper hybrid back inside the room, and set him down on the floor. Damon merely curled up into a little ball where he fell. He continued to sob, rocking on his side. Obsidian simply glared at Jade, "Go." He simply said.

Jade huffed, "I was simply having a little fun, I didn't hurt him did I?" she scowled at Damon, "I hope that teaches you never to hurt Rocky again." She then turned on her heel and left the room.

Obsidian rose out of his bed and limped lightly over to Damon. He picked up Damon in his arms, trying to comfort him. Damon continued to shiver, as if he didn't even notice he'd been picked up. Obsidian frowned, "I'm sorry Damon, I won't let her hurt you like this ever again."
The once cool refreshing wind smelled of rotting flesh. Four weeks ago Leon started his conquest on Dinosaur Planet. His tactics were completely ruthless. He took no prisoners, slaughtering anything that had life. ThornTail Hollow was pilled with small mounds of dead dinosaurs. Among them lay the once majestic HighTops, and the nimble LightFoots. A few SharpClaws stood on each mound, counting the bodies, and adding more to the pile as newly slaughtered dinosaurs were dragged into the hollow of death.

Leon walked through the once beautiful hollow, inspecting the monuments of his remarkable achievements. The armored lizard placed a cloth over his noise as an attempt the stench of rotting flesh. Not far away a large team of SharpClaws were dragging a dead HighTop onto a pile of carcasses. Leon watched thoughtfully.

"How many have we killed?" Leon asked the pig next to him.

"Leon. . ." Pigma was unable to answer, "Please stop, this is enough."

"I said." Leon's volume suddenly increased. "HOW MANY HAVE WE KILLED?"

"I-I'd say about. . ." The pig nervously eyed the mounds of corpses around him, "N-nearly two thousand."

"Not enough." Leon said, watching the hazed sky. He looked over to the exhausted team of SharpClaws who successfully disposed of the dead HighTop. "Raid the LightFoot Village. I want to see the chief's body on my dinner table tonight."

"Le-Leon. . ." Pigma said in surprise, "You have killed enough, please stop."

"Hmm. . .I have changed my mind." Leon said with a twisted grin, "I want the head of Garunda Te on a plaque, hanging above the doors of Krazoa Palace by tomorrow afternoon."

The leader of the SharpClaws was hesitant to follow Leon's orders. "Piggy needs to say yes, or we don't go."

Leon pulled out his blaster and shot the leader SharpClaw square in the chest. The large armored SharpClaw tumbled down the mound of corpses and landed in front of Leon. The rest of the squad quivered in fear. "Question me, and you die. Follow me, and I will reward you. NOW GO!"

"Y-yes boss, we go now." A few members of the squad mumbled something, and scuttled off to follow the lizard's commands. A few eyed their captain before walking away in fear.

Leon looked down at the large SharpClaw in front of him, and realized that the dinosaur was still breathing. The lizard grinned and pointed the blaster to the base of the SharpClaw's neck. He fired a single blast, severing the dinosaur's spine. He could see Pigma grimace with his peripheral vision, exactly what he wanted. Fear was the lizard's strongest weapon, and with fear he could conquer the planet in less than a month. General Scales was by far incompetent compared to Leon.

"As soon as our Birdie Queen surrenders, the killing will stop." Leon said reassuringly, patting Pigma on the shoulder. "But before that, more and more will die as a result of her stubbornness."

"Enough Leon Powalski!" shrieked a feminine voice from the clouded sky. The Queen CloudRunner revealed her majestic form behind the haze. She slowly floated down in front of the lizard, tears running down her face. The queen touched down gently in front of the lizard, and bowed lowly at Leon's feet. "I surrender."

"If only you did that earlier, you could have saved a couple thousand lives." Leon said with a chuckle. The lizard bent down and picked the CloudRunner Queen's sobbing face off the blood stained soil and kissed her lightly on the wing. "Go to the Krazoa Palace, both you and my goons know what happens next. If you escape, a lot more innocents will die."

The queen nodded sadly and picked herself off the ground. The lizard was speaking to her in a surprisingly gentle tone, almost kind. Flapping her great wings, she disappeared into the gloomy sky.

"She gave up earlier than I thought." Leon said idly, watching the sky. A storm was coming, and lightning was flashing in a distant. "We can send the distress signal tonight."

"I am glad that she surrendered." Pigma replied, "All this killing is. . ." He realized that he was about to say something wrong, so he cut his sentence short.

"All this killing is getting boring, I know." Leon said with a smile, "Withdraw all the SharpClaws to the Krazoa Palace. Close the gates, and kill anyone that dares to approach, friends and foes alike. They will beg for food, but they will not get any."

"So how is starving them to death different from murdering them like these?" Pigma said, gesturing to the mounds of dead dinosaurs, "When are you going to stop?"

"When StarFox is dead, then I will stop." Leon eyed the pig with a strange expression on his face, "I doubt anyone will starve to death before all this is over."

"Are you that confident you can handle StarFox?" Pigma questioned, "We've lost every single battle we had with them."

"Oh, I won't be handling anything." Leon chuckled, "In fact, they will probably die in the hands of their own dinosaur friends."

"Did you "bug" them?" Pigma asked curiously, wondering if Leon had implanted the cerebral impulse interceptors.

"Nah, I don't have to." Leon began to walk away from the wretched hollow, along a blood stained path, "When the dinosaurs learn that I am conquering the planet just to capture StarFox, I am sure they will hate them more than they love them."
"All units report to the common room." Fox's voice boomed over the intercom, "All units report to the common room, Pepper is on the line."

As the members of StarFox slowly arrived into the large room, they saw General Pepper's gigantic holographic face. The bloodhound looked worried, with sweat drops in his fur. Pepper waited for Prince Tricky to enter before he started the meeting.

"StarFox, I am afraid I have a new mission for you." Pepper announced, "Leon Powalski invaded Dinosaur Planet about a month ago, right after your mission in the underground caverns."

"What?" Fox asked with a slight exclaim, "A month ago? And no one knew anything about it?"

The bloodhound's head disappeared, replaced by a video clip. It was a recording of the disfigured ThornTail Hollow. Corpses of lifeless dinosaurs lay in mountainous heaps, their blood staining the scorched earth. Damon turned his head and covered his mouth at the gory sight. A few other members grimaced. Even Falco shook his head. The clip ended with a couple of RedEyes savagely tearing the carcass of a LightFoot apart. The screen went dark, and Pepper's face reappeared.

"He took over Dinosaur Planet's communication upon his arrival. We only received a distress signal a few hours ago, along with the video clip" Pepper said with a grave voice. The bloodhound's holographic head gazed over to Prince Tricky, "You Highness, I have some bad news for you."

Krystal picked the young dinosaur prince and placed him on her lap, next to Fox. Pepper's so called bad news may be too dreadful for Tricky to hear. The vixen gently caressed the unknowing dinosaur's frill.

"You father and mother had been captured by Leon, along with the queen of the CloudRunners." Pepper lowered his head, "I am sorry, my young prince."

"Mom?" the little dinosaur said with a disbelieving voice, "and Dad too?"

"Yes, but we believe they are not in any immediate danger." Pepper's head turned to Fox, "Your new mission is to rescue all members of the royal families, and any other prisoners that Leon held in the Krazoa Palace."

"Fox, you will save my Mom, right?" Tricky asked, hopping onto Fox's lap, gazing into the fox's troubled green eyes, "Right?"

"I really don't have a choice." Fox sighed and smiled at the young dinosaur, "StarFox will accept this mission. By the way, what exactly should I call you now, Mr. Pepper?"

"You can call me. . ." The bloodhound grinned, "Admiral Pepper."

"I thought you retired." Peppy Hare said, smiling at his old friend.

"Oh, did I?" Admiral Pepper chuckled. "It must be a darn hoax, because that never happened." As easily as the President took away his power, Pepper's powers were restored.