Chapter 3 – Taking out the Pest
Girax was flying his Xarviar to somewhere where only he, his army, and a few others knew about. He was practically surprised no one else knew. Not even the Cornerian Archival Scribes. But then, they would die before reaching his destination. He knew that using his Xarviar's systems, he was being chased by two Arwings and another ship.
"Oh well, they'll die anyway," thought Girax as he made his Xarviar fly at full speed, speeding away from Falco's team.
After some minutes of pursuit, Falco, Slippy, and Katt slowed their ship down due to the command of Peppy.
"Falco, I'm detecting enemy forces up ahead on the Great Fox's tracking system. Be careful. You don't know what surprises a superior of Andross' Insurrection can give," warned Peppy.
"Don't worry, gramps. We'll be fine," said Falco before turning off his VAC on Peppy.
Then the three ships split up. Falco encountered some more weak enemy ships, so he shot them down with Hyper Lasers. After that, he encountered even more weak enemy ships. And after that, more weak energy ships fought Falco's Arwing. Obviously, this troubled Falco.
"This is strange," remarked Falco.
"Detecting bio-weapons ahead," reported ROB.
Then, long worms appeared in front of Falco, making him wonder how they could survive in space. So, Falco shot at the worms' heads, destroying them. He did that with the other worms.
"This is pathetic. This is too easy!" said Falco.
"Wish that's the same for us," said Katt.
"Why?" asked Falco.
"Because the enemy is overwhelming us!" shouted Slippy.
"Dang! I got distracted!" said Falco before flying to where Slippy and Katt were.
Soon, Falco saw Slippy and Katt fighting a horde of enemy ships. So, Falco shot his last Smart Bomb at the enemy ships, destroying most of them. He, Slippy, and Katt destroyed the rest with their lasers.
"Jeez Slippy and Katt, couldn't you have thought of using Smart Bombs earlier?" asked Falco.
"We've run out," said Katt.
"Yeah, we used them all on the flagships," added Slippy.
"Flagships! All I saw were little enemy ships and worms," replied Falco.
"Look out!" shouted Katt as Falco looked at his right to see three more flagships.
So, Falco, Katt, and Slippy each flew to a flagship. Falco shot at the flagship with his Hyper Lasers recklessly, looking for no weak spot. Luckily, the flagship was weak to lasers anywhere, so soon, it blew up. The same thing happened to the flagship Katt went after. The one Slippy went after did not go down yet. In fact, it was shooting lasers at Slippy's Arwing, damaging it.
"Falco, Katt, help!" shouted Slippy.
"Slippy, I wonder how you survived to be in Star Fox for this long," muttered Falco as he and Katt shot down the last flagship.
"That flagship just got lucky!" retorted Slippy before they flew on to find Girax.
Falco and Katt shot down ships that got in their way. Slippy was working on his radar of the place in order to find Girax's location. Then they encountered four Xarviars.
"Xarviars! Katt, Slippy, help me take them down!" ordered Falco as the three flew to the three Xarviars.
They shot at the blue surfaces of the Xarviars. Three of them were destroyed this way. When Falco shot lasers at the blue surface of the last Xarviar, nothing happened.
"What the heck is happening?" asked Falco.
"I think that Xarviar's weak spot is different from the rest. Try shooting at other spots," suggested Peppy.
So Falco shot at the Xarviar's eye, eventually destroying it.
"Well, these Xarviars are as varied as ever," remarked Falco.
Suddenly, Katt was being chased by three more Xarviars.
"Aye-carumba. Why do you have to be chased by three?" asked Falco as he shot a lasers at the Xarviars, destroying two.
"Help Falco! This one won't leave me alone! And yes, I have tried all tactics of evasion!" shouted Katt.
"I don't think so," muttered Falco.
Suddenly, the Xarviar shot an energy ball to Katt's ship.
"Katt! Watch out!" shouted Falco.
The energy ball blew up as Katt barely got away. Unfortunately, her ship was too damaged to continue with Falco.
"Katt! You can't go on in that mess of a ship. Come back to the Great Fox!" ordered Peppy.
"Sorry Falco, but you're going to have to go on without me!" said Katt as she flew towards the Great Fox.
"Well, I won't have to put up with her anymore," muttered Falco.
Then some more flagships appeared and began shooting at Falco and Slippy. They shot down as many as they could, which was not a lot (7 out of 27).
"Hey Falco! I found where Girax is hiding! Follow me!" shouted Slippy as he flew ahead of Falco, making Falco have to follow Slippy.
"Wait! Slow down! Don't get reckless, or…" began Falco when he saw two Xarviars chasing Slippy, "Oh it's practically déjà vu."
So Falco shot more lasers at the two Xarviars, destroying them.
"Thanks Falco," replied Slippy as he began slowing down, "I think I found Girax's hideout, and I can't believe nobody found this yet."
"Why?" asked Falco before he set eyes on the base.
The base looked like the Sargasso Zone Hideout from two years ago, only it was larger and it was Cornerian property. There were turrets attached to the base, protecting it. In response to Falco and Slippy finding the base, multiples of ships flew out of the base as four larger ships went around the base and created a shield.
"All right Peppy, what do you make of this?" asked Falco.
"Well, you have to destroy the base's turrets and the ships that created the shield in order to gain access," replied Peppy.
"That's easier said than done. All right Slippy, let's blast some ships," said Falco as he and Slippy began flying around, shooting down enemy ships.
Falco flew around, shooting down enemies, when he saw a slightly larger ship. He shot two charged shots at it, destroying it.
"All right Falco, you destroyed one of the four targets!" said Peppy.
Meanwhile, Slippy was being chased by more enemies. He tried flying around the base in hopes of sending the enemies away. The enemy ships kept blasting with their lasers, and while most of them missed, they managed to get some shots in. The lasers that missed were the ones that destroyed the base's turrets. When Falco finally came to save Slippy from his enemies, all of the base's turrets were destroyed.
"Well, that was fast, I never thought that the progress of destroying the turrets would go that quickly," commented Peppy.
"We destroyed the turrets?" asked Slippy.
"Yes, you did. Now take out the ships generating the shield," ordered Peppy.
So while Falco figured out what happened, Slippy went to a shield generating ship and shot it down while Falco did the same with the last two.
"All right. Slippy, you say that Girax is in there, right?" asked Falco.
"That's right!" replied Slippy.
"Then I'm going in," Falco said as he landed his Arwing in the base.
After shutting down his Arwing in a spot with oxygen, Falco exited from the cockpit, holding a blaster. He looked at his handheld radar. He noticed that the first floor was empty. He also noticed that the first floor was the top floor.
"Slippy," Falco said to Slippy through his handheld VAC, "Where is Girax?"
"He is at the lowest level of the base. That's where you are, right?" reported Slippy.
"Just the opposite Slip, just the opposite," replied Falco before turning off the VAC.
Then he walked to an elevator. Before he could enter it, he heard footsteps behind him. He turned around to face two enemy soldiers with machine guns.
"Freeze, intruder! Put down your weapon and put your hands onto your head!" ordered a soldier.
"Why? I don't like playing fair," replied Falco as he shot blaster shots at the two soldiers in the head, killing them, "They're too easy."
After picking up their machine guns, Falco decided the stairs were a safer way of exploring the base. In the basement, Falco spotted some more soldiers in a group. So, he threw a Grenade in the middle of the group. Before they could get an idea of what's going on, Falco detonated the Grenade, killing the soldiers. Then he jumped down from the stairs and used the machine gun to kill the rest. Then he approached a door and used a charged shot from the blaster to blast it open.
Inside, he faced soldiers with more machine guns. Falco dodged by doing back flips or cartwheels. At the same time, he was charging up his blaster. Before the enemies could shoot again, Falco shot the charged shot at the soldiers, killing most of them. Then Falco killed the rest with his machine gun.
Then Falco entered the next room. Falco saw a sniper up above, aiming his sniper rifle around for something. Falco shot him down with the machine gun, and like he expected, the sniper fell to the floor. Falco then picked up the sniper rifle. Then he used the sniper rifle to pick off the rest of the snipers in the area. Then he went to a crate full of different weapons. He assumed the enemy soldiers just got this and were about to use the weapons when Falco arrived. He picked up some weapons and Smart Bombs for Arwings and went on to the next basement floor.
In here, the soldiers were in robots, shooting lasers at Falco.
"Dang, these goons don't like giving up, do they?" Falco said as he shot missiles with his Homing Missile Launcher, destroying some of the robots.
He finished off the rest of them with his grenade launcher. Then he went to the bottom floor. In here, he saw Girax, who was holding a gatling gun.
"Hello Lombardi. It's nice meeting you again, although this will be our last visit with each other," Girax said as more soldiers appeared behind Girax, their weapons pointed at Falco.
"All right, Green, where's the prime minister?" asked Falco.
"Oh, you're still caring about that? I thought that you just wanted to go exterminate superiors for fun. Anyway, I'm sorry to say, but you fell for a wild goose chase," taunted Girax.
"Well, then I'll make this visit worthy!" shouted Falco as he pointed his grenade launcher and Girax and his army.
Just then, he heard footsteps behind him. Falco turned around to see more enemy soldiers. Just then, a bullet whizzed past his head by three centimeters before it struck a wall.
"I wish it hit a soldier or two," thought Falco as he turned around to see that Girax fired the shot.
"Damn, you're just too… I don't know, elastic," remarked Girax.
"What's that supposed to mean, crocodile breath?" asked Falco with his grenade launcher pointed at Girax.
"Why won't you just face it? You're cornered by my most skilled soldiers. Why won't you just give in?" asked Girax.
At that moment, there was an explosion behind Falco. He turned around to see all of the soldiers behind him were killed by the explosion. Then he saw Katt coming with a grenade launcher.
"Katt! I thought you were in the Great Fox!" exclaimed Falco while looking at Girax at the same time.
"I borrowed an Arwing and flew to where you were, just to make sure you don't get yourself into deep trouble. I guess I was a little late," explained Katt.
"Don't make me feel worse," replied Falco.
Just then Girax was getting ready to shoot with his gatling gun at Falco. Suddenly, Falco shot a grenade with his grenade launcher at Girax and his army, causing an explosion. When the smoke cleared, he saw that his grenade missed, for it hit the ceiling.
"Nice hit," remarked Girax as he shot with his Gatling gun, only to see he used up all of his bullets, "Damn, you just got lucky. Soldiers, take care of them while I get things ready."
Then as Girax began walking away from Falco and Katt, his army began shooting their weapons at Falco and Katt. Seeing that they were being overwhelmed by the enemy, they hid behind a pillar to avoid getting hit.
"Any ideas?" asked Katt.
"I've got one," replied Falco as he took out something he found in the crate of weapons, a time bomb. He set it up and threw it at the army, "RUN!"
As Falco and Katt ran away, the army opened fire again. As Falco and Katt reached the next floor, they shut the door on the enemy.
"How much longer until the time bomb explodes?" asked Katt.
"I don't know. I didn't pay attention to that crap," replied Falco.
Then they continued running. Luckily, they didn't encounter any enemy soldiers. Then Falco and Katt jumped into their Arwings and flew away just when the time bomb blew up, blowing up the base.
"Yes! We did it!" said Falco.
"Detecting: Girax is still alive. Also detecting a weapon from the remains of the base," reported ROB.
When the smoke cleared, they saw nothing. They just saw debris of the base.
"Now you will see never to underestimate me!" shouted Girax.
"What do you mean? And you're supposed to be dead!" shouted Falco.
"Not exactly!"
Then Girax's Xarviar began attracting the base's debris using a strong magnetic field after turning into something like a robot head. And using the debris and the Xarviar's power, a huge robot was made.
"How is that possible?" asked Falco.
"I won't bother you with the details. All you'll ever get to learn is how to DIE!" shouted Girax as the robot shot plasma shots at Falco, Slippy, and Katt, who dodged them all.
"Falco! I got you the boss' energy meter!" shouted Slippy as Falco got the robot's energy meter on a screen in his Arwing.
"All right. Here goes!" shouted Falco as he shot lasers at the robot's head, doing some damage, as shown on his energy meter.
"I'll the rest of your life miserable until you die!" shouted Girax.
"Uh, that's kind of repetitive," remarked Katt.
"Don't backtalk me about grammar!" shouted Girax as he shot plasma shots at Katt's Arwing, damaging it a bit.
"Damn! I don't want to retire twice!" shouted Katt.
"Don't worry Katt, he's going to die," replied Falco as he shot more lasers at the robot's head.
Then the robot withdrew its head and its shoulder guards faced Falco. Then the shoulder guards began charging up energy.
"Uh, Falco, I don't think that's a good thing," said Slippy.
"ROB, what's going on?" asked Peppy.
"Detecting high energy mass," reported ROB.
"Damn, not again," said Falco.
The robot shot a large beam, which completely missed.
"Crud! I should work on my aiming," muttered Girax.
As the robot went back to its normal form, Girax saw Falco shooting bombs from the base at the robot head with Katt, and Slippy shooting lasers.
"NO!" shouted Girax.
"So long, pest," said Falco.
Then the Xarviar blew up as the headless robot just floated there in space.
"Two Andross' Dorks down, and some number more to go," said Falco.
"Well, at least it's better than nothing," replied Katt.
"But we didn't save Prime Minister Abercrombie yet!" said Slippy.
"Maybe Fox did," said Falco as they began flying to the Great Fox.
Inside the Great Fox
After landing, Peppy walked up to Falco.
"Falco, you've got a message from Fox's team. Listen to this," Peppy said as he turned on his handheld VAC to make Fox's message play.
"Falco. I've learned that the Cornerian Defense Satellite is manipulated to crash into Corneria. We will need your help once we're done," explained Fox through the VAC.
"All right, we're going to the Cornerian Defense Satellite," said Falco.
Character Analysis: Girax Green:
Age: 23
Species: Crocodile
He is the youngest superior of Andross' Insurrection. At first, he wasn't even Andross' servant. When he was 18, his brother was killed by Andross' forces, so he set out for revenge. He got defeated and got amnesia. When he recovered, he met Andross, who was just revived after the Titanian conflict. Andross took advantage of Girax's loss of memory, so he joined Andross' forces. He proved to be very useful to Andross, that he later became a superior of Andross' Insurrection. He usually goes around with a black baseball cap of his favorite team, and the hat is the only remnant from Girax's past life, which shows that Girax could have recovered from his loss of memory if it wasn't for him being killed by Falco, Slippy, and Katt.