Coyote Showdown: Desert Clash
Fox, Krystal, and Falco whipped around to find Coyote staring them down with a lit cigar in his mouth and face grimacing in anger. Cid had an uneasy smile, and Boulregard gave a cold stare. The first person to talk was Sally, who had spotted Cid below.
"Cid!" she cried. "What are you doing?"
"You talked!" Cid roared at her. "You betrayed my trussst!"
"What do you call what you did?" she retorted.
"I told you about it," Cid snapped.
"Yea, because I asked you about it!"
"Well how am I sssupposed to deny you?" Sally gasped, unsure of how to interpret this statement. "You know how I feel about you."
"…What about you, Tex?" Sally changed focus. "You never did anything wrong."
With a sigh, Boulregard explained, "Meloni, you're too young to understand. I had a choice between my home--my nation--or my friends. I don't know how you feel, young'in, but Coyote and I go back before your birth. I'm also quite fond of Cid. The love of one's friends should always be first."
"He kept you out of the loop, man!" Falco interjected. "What kind of friend is that!"
"As I said to Meloni," Boulregard retorted, "you're too young to understand. Besides, you haven't heard his side of the story, yet."
"Like I give a damn what his excuse is!" Falco exclaimed. Boulregard sighed disappointedly. Coyote cleared his throat to regain attention.
Staring at Fox, he said, "I can't believe ya'll destroyed twenty years worth of planning."
"Tell them why, Bill," Boulregard suggested. "Don't let your side go unheard."
"They're not ready for the truth, Tex," Coyote disagreed. "In yer words, they're too young; too innocent ter understand a warrior's mind." Boulregard turned around and headed off.
As he walked away, he said, "I'm getting my ship ready. Join me when you're through… friend."
"Glad I can count on ya, Tex," Coyote shouted after him. He turned his attention back to Fox. "Now, back to business."
"Why did you wait for us?" Fox inquired.
"Ya see," Coyote explained, "I wanted ter test ya."
"Test?" Krystal repeated.
"Just Fox," Coyote continued. "No offense to you, little missy, but this is kind of a manly, mano-a-mano thing."
"What makes you think I'll accept?" Fox said defiantly.
"Because, pup," Coyote grinned, "ya got integrity." Fox could not deny that. He contemplated the challenge.
"What are the rules?" Fox asked.
"On foot," Coyote informed him. "One weapon type only, anything in terms of hand-to-hand combat is allowed, and no help from anybody. That goes for me, too."
"Deal," Fox agreed resolutely after a moment of pause. "I'll use a blaster." Fox held up the gun for Coyote to see.
"Fine," Coyote shrugged. "These are my weapons of choice." He held up two pistol-sized guns. They were silver with black handles and of a revolver design. Fox assumed that the blasts fired from those weapons would do far more damage than the Blaster would. "Go!" Coyote suddenly shouted as he slammed the revolvers back into their holsters, signaling the duel's start.
Fox and Coyote ran to their respective lefts for cover. Fox noticed how fast Coyote was despite his crippling age. This threw the young McCloud off for a moment, but not enough to faze him. As soon as he ducked behind a rock, he took a breather. He tried glancing around the rock, but the second his eye managed around the rock, a shot punched a hole through the rock on the other side. Fox sprinted, needing a better spot for cover. He ran behind a large boulder and fell in a sinkhole. Oddly enough, there appeared to be a tunnel leading towards Coyote's direction. Fox took a gamble and followed it. Meanwhile, Coyote had been shooting holes through the boulder he thought Fox was behind. He waited, knowing Fox would have to pop up sooner or later. The spectators were all watching Coyote. He was now on top of a cliff. After a few moments, without looking, he aimed his right gun behind himself and shot. Fox's blaster blew up in his hands. Fox was startled but uninjured. Coyote turned and put one of his guns away. He began shooting with his right while taking his cigar in his left. Coyote flicked it away and drew his left revolver, now shooting with both. The whole time Fox was dodging the crazed shots of his foe. Eventually, though, the guns both clicked without ammo. "Damn!" Coyote cursed as he quickly reloaded his revolvers.
"Here's my chance!" Fox said to himself, running up to the cliff's wall so Coyote couldn't see him. The wily veteran knew what his tactic was, however. Upon finishing his reloading, he did a reverse somersault off the cliff in Fox's direction. He landed with the revolvers aimed at the wall, but Fox wasn't there, to his immense surprise. He immediately turned. Fox kicked the revolver out of his right hand, head butted him, snatched the left revolver and hurling it behind him, and kicking Coyote into the rock wall. Krystal and Falco mounted themselves on top of the cliff to watch the fight.
"You can do it, dear!" Krystal shouted encouragingly.
"Tan his hide!" Falco roared. Fox was already charging his pinned adversary. Fox ran up Coyote's body, making sure each step was a stomp. He kicked off at his neck and somersaulted backwards.
"Give up, gramps," Fox said. At these words, Coyote's eyes lit up, and a look of pure euphoria spread across his face. Coyote pushed off the wall and ran towards Fox. The McCloud hammered at his joints, but Coyote shook it off and began throwing a fury of punches at Fox's chest. Fox caught his right fist, Coyote socked his face twice, then Fox caught his left fist, and the two made the same mistake and tried to head butt each other. Both warriors reeled back, clenching their own heads in pain. Fox seemed to recover first, and he leaped with a flying kick at Coyote's head. The old pro ducked under it and kicked Fox hard in the back as he landed. Fox stumbled involuntarily into the wall. Just as he managed to turn around, Coyote delivered a savage roundhouse to Fox's head. Fox could barely stand.
"Ya see?" Coyote shouted to the sky. "Too young!" He walked casually over to where his left revolver had been thrown. Fox fell forward onto his stomach with an ugh. "Ya silly little pup." Coyote picked up his revolver, dusted it off, and put it away. "You have a lotta potential, though." He walked towards his other revolver. As he got up to Fox's body, he gingerly stepped over while saying, "Excuse me." When he picked up his other revolver, he dusted it off and said, "Just practice a little more, and maybe you'll be a real man someday."
"Damn you!" Fox screamed. He had managed to get up on his own two legs, and he broke out into a blind dash.
"Tsk tsk tsk," Coyote sighed as Fox rushed like a man on fire. Just as Fox got within range, he threw a punch at Coyote's head. Coyote kneeled to avoid it, driving his right fist hard into Fox's gut. Fox let out a grotesque-sounding cough, and blood flew out of his mouth. Fox was literally sent off his feet as he flew nearly a yard before impact with the parched dirt. Dust was kicked up to such an extent that Fox was engulfed in a veil of it.
"Fox!" Krystal cried, running down to Fox's side. Coyote casually walked over to Fox, reaching him before Krystal. The dust cleared, and Coyote leaned over Fox. The defeated McCloud's eyes turned towards Coyote, showing he was still conscious.
"Til we meet again, kid," Coyote greeted, setting a blaster on Fox's chest. It had an inscription on the side that read James McCloud.
As Krystal got to Fox's side, she began tearing as she said, "I won't let you die, my love. You can't die."
"He'll be fine," Coyote assured her as he straightened up. "Just give him some bed rest and plenty o' water, or whatever it is he likes to drink, and he should be kickin' in a few days." Coyote began to leave.
"Peppy," Krystal ordered, "we need to get Fox up there now!"
"Already on it, Krystal," Peppy assured her. "Slippy's coming to pick you two up."
"Thanks," she said, relieved that everything would be all right. She heard a gasp and a thud, and turned towards where Coyote was walking. The old man was out on his belly. He looked as if he were struggling to try to stand up. She felt compelled by her sympathy for the hurt to help, but she couldn't leave Fox's side. Slippy landed.
"Get in, Krystal!" Slippy shouted.
After a moment of hesitation, she told him, "Take Fox with you, Slippy. I'm going to see if he's all right."
"Wait, Krystal!" Slippy warned. "It could be a trap!"
"Just do it, Slippy, please," she asked. Without waiting for a response, she ran over to the fallen warrior. "Are you okay?"
"Course I am," Coyote groaned in pain. "Just get me up on my feet, if ya can be so kind." Not knowing what compelled her, she helped him up. He drew a metal rod about the size of a baton and pressed a button on the top. It extended to about the size of a walking cane. "Thank ye kindly, little missy." He glanced at Fox, then stared into her large, blue eyes. "Yer gonna make him some fine pups someday." He then walked lamely. Her eyes went up in alarm as a sudden blast of sparks shot out from some of his joints.
"You're a cyborg?" she gasped.
"What," he chuckled, "ya didn't think I could keep it up at my age on a good workout routine, did yas?" He walked off into the sunset, nearly falling again and being caught by Cid, who helped him away. As Sally came to pick up Krystal, she saw the three remaining ships of Coyote Star blast off into space.