Chapter Thirteen: Freedom

I don't own Star Fox, but I own my characters. Using my characters means you have to ask me for permission and giving me credit. I would be delighted then when you do! This is probably one of my long-running stories, so bear with it!

The fangs of a lynx grew, and her long hair stretched longer. Her body became more slender and lean, and her claws sharpened. Her old uniform were tattered, and now, she's different from before. She made a loud and special screech capable of destroying glasses and fragile objects before leaving the evolution chamber, the place where Fox was chained.

"See, there's no use saying no, Fox!" Falco remarked as he grabbed the vulpine's head, forcing him to look at the evolved soldier. "You're going to be one of us! You have to face it! You're going to die if you don't evolve!"

Fox just kept silent. He has already seen two panthers, a wolf, a dog, a crocodile, a sparrow, and now a lynx, evolve in front of him. Slowly, his mental sanity is dissolving. It'll only be a while before he gives in. "I… I won't turn into one of you! Falco, snap out of it! You… you don't want to be turned like that! Look at yourself!" he growled as he attempted to pull his hands out, which he failed. The bird laughed before punching the vulpine to the cheek.

"Yeah, I agree. I didn't want this… before! Now, though… now that I've realized how powerful I am when evolved…" he proclaimed as he created fire from his cupped hand, which slowly traveled to his muscular arm and then dissipating on his shoulder. "I feel great! You'll feel great when you evolve! You'll change your ideas when you do!" Fox just scoffed at him. He knew that they're slowly making him lose his will, but he couldn't last longer from their temptations… he feared that he might give in.

An announcement was suddenly made. "Your Lord Kane is speaking. It seems we are pretty fortunate today. A rally of police is just outside the dam, and of course, that means we'll have many people to enlighten… and evolve! Falco Lombardi, I want you to lead our evolved people to these inferiors, and make sure you open their eyes to the truth!" Fox felt a trembling feeling in his heart after hearing that. Many innocents will be evolved and join Kane. Is there an end to his insane goals?

Falco rubbed his hands in glee. "Well, I gotta go, Fox! At least I'll be picking up people to evolve in front of you!" He left the room immediately by gulfing himself in flames and vanishing. The vulpine felt hopeless. He attempted to shake the shackles off, but he failed once more. Will he end up as an evolved fox?

"Umm… we have a problem…" Katt reminded them – Slippy, Bark, Peppy, and Leon, about the message flashing on the large monitor displayed at the bridge. "Somebody has breached your ship, Bark! What should we do? That person might be one of those mindless muscle-bounds that we must deal with!"

"Not only that, the lower section of Space Den has already decreased in temperature!" Slippy panicked out. "One of the people who invaded this ship probably has control over cold wind or something…" The ship shook once more, giving everybody inside an uneasy feeling, especially to the stomach and the head.

With all of the reasons to panic, Bark still looked cool and calm. "Okay, I know we're in a tight fix, but we mustn't lose our heads. As long as everybody is armed with vaccine shots, the intruder won't be a problem." As he finished his sentence, the door to the bridge suddenly crystallized in ice. It was then destroyed by strong wind gusts. Everybody braced from the strong blow.

Two muscular figures entered the room. One was a white-blue wolf with angel-like wings from its back. The other one was an eagle with four wings: two on the upper part of his back and two on the lower part. They resemble Eagle and Garou… they are them!

"This is an advice," evolved Eagle commanded them. "There's no point on fighting since you're pretty much going to lose anyway. Surrender now, since you can't escape the evolution…"

"But if you wanted to party before going down, you can take us out anytime… that is if you can!" Garou added with a laugh. "We're way higher than your level, so Eagle gave a friendly reminder…"

"And I thought you two knew me pretty well," Bark smiled back with a sinister touch. "Okay, Peppy, do it!" The hare immediately reached for the Sprinkler System Control on the console. He switched it to the highest level, giving a strong downpour to the whole bridge. The whole place resembled a town being hailed by a strong storm.

Eagle and Garou couldn't see clearly. "There's one of them!" Garou growled as he chased Slippy. The frog quickly dashed away with a terrified feeling. The ice wolf quickly created a small ice sheet below the frog's path, making him slip. Unfortunately, he landed on his back, making him unable to move.

"AAAAHHHH! HELP!" Slippy screamed as he saw the wolf gliding past through him. Garou grabbed him by the frog's coat, making Slippy more terrified than before. "SOMEBODY HELP!"

"You're so pathetic…" Garou grinned as he tightened his grip to the frog. Slippy slowly felt cold, knowing that he is slowly freezing him to death. However, without the ice wolf noticing, Katt sneaked behind Garou, quickly injecting him with the vaccine to the side of his neck. Garou loosened his grip to the frog as he fell down in pain. His head started to rumble back and forth.

"Garou… Where are you, Garou?" Eagle shouted as he tried to look for his companion. The whole place started to fog up due to the heavy rain, and Eagle couldn't fly very well with the strong downpour. He then noticed Peppy, who was facing his back to the bird. "Now's my chance!"

He quickly made a swoop towards the rabbit. Peppy looked behind, seeing Eagle charging towards him. "Now Leon!" he yelled. Something heavy suddenly tackled the bird down to the ground. The camouflage faded, revealing Leon. He quickly injected the vaccine to Eagle, after proclaiming his greatness, of course. The eagle slowly lost muscle control and got relaxed while being pinned to the floor.

"The plan went good," Bark proclaimed. Apparently, he was at the console the whole time. "The hologram made them feel like they were in a storm, and thanks to the water sprinklers, we made them experience it!"

"Phew, we have to thank you, Bark!" Katt replied while giving thumbs up. "Anyway, when will they snap out?"

"Any moment soon…"

Eagle and Garou, while still in their evolved form, opened their eyes slowly. It felt like they were in a long nightmare, and they were just awakened from it…

Metal beams slowly coiled around a lion and a lioness guard. The beams were tight, making sure that the felines won't break them to escape. Wolf quickly controlled the metal bars of the door, removing them from their location. They then coiled the mouths of the lions, preventing any growls or attempted call for help.

"That should take care of them," Wulf remarked as he wiped off his sweat from his forehead, "couldn't do it without you, Wolf."

"No problem," Wolf nodded as looked at his body once more. "If I am going to stay in this body forever, at least I have to make good use of it." He then pointed to the door facing them. "That's the evolution chamber. I am pretty sure Fox is in it, restrained. I hope we get there before he evolves, and I'm thankful the police agreed to help us out."

"But I pity them… They have absolutely no chance against Falco or any other evolved person!" Wulf glanced at the evolved lion guards, who were fainted from the crushing of the metal bars. "It's sad they'll end up like them… We have to stop Kane and save Fox!" Wolf nodded, and the two quickly busted the door out.

Fox slowly raised his head. He was slightly enlightened when he saw the two running towards him and quickly removing his chains! Wulf immediately pulled him up so that he can stand, and Wolf analyzed him a bit.

"From the way you look, they haven't tortured you nor have they stripped you off your clothing for preparation for evolution," he concluded, but then he could see the fox's hardship.

"You're wrong… way wrong…" Fox argued back weakly. "They're trying to make me lose my will. In front of my eyes, I've seen many innocent captives pleading to spare them from evolution. Their calls were not answered, and they evolved… one by one… Falco forced me to believe that I can't escape… and he's good at it… One more evolution in front of me and I'll break apart…" He then looked at Wolf, who was also their victim. "I… I can see now what kind of hardship you took from them…"

"As long as I'm back on my senses, I don't mind it… not at all…" he assured him with a smile.

"Well, well, well… what do we have here?"

A fiery figure entered the room. As his flares slowly dissipated, revealing the one and only evolved Falco. "So you're the ones who send the police to this place… I must thank you! We now have twenty new troops in our gang!"

Wulf was surprised about his remark. "Wait… you're able to evolve them all at once! I wouldn't be surprised if you were able to take them all, but…"

"Thanks to the parasite pool Lord Kane made, we were able to evolve everyone in one process! We pushed them to the pool, and they evolved while taking a swim! Now, I'd usually call for assistance, but I can handle you three by myself. After this, Fox will evolve!"

"No… you'll join us!" Wolf growled back.