Note: This chapter is another battle between the Loonatics & characters from Star Fox. I won't spoil it, so let's move on.
Chapter 54: Paintball
At the Cornerian Paintball Center, a game was about to begin. The game in question was between two teams: Star Fox & a team of foreigners known as the Loonatics. The Loonatics had signed up for the game, so they were ready to begin. As for Star Fox, they had brought an extra teammate with them so that they didn't feel outnumbered. That teammates was Katt Monroe, who wanted to play paintball with her friends. Due to their inclusion, the game was now a six-against-six battle.
An alarm went off, causing the Loonatics to enter the battlefield. Once they got there, the leader, Ace Bunny, got an idea.
"We should split up." He told his teammates.
"Are you crazy?!" Danger Duck, one of the members, asked.
"Ace," Tech E. Coyote, another member of the team, spoke, "our opponents are mercenaries! If we split up, they'll get us all one by one!"
"Don't worry, we'll be okay." Ace stated.
"How can you tell?" Lexi Bunny, the sole female of the group, asked.
"We've dealt with people who wanted to destroy the world, we can face off against a team of mercenaries." The rabbit said.
"Let's hope you're right about that." Tech sighed.
The Loonatics then moved out, going to separate areas of the battlefield. They had agreed to not use their powers, wanting the fight to be a fair one. However, the battle would prove to tough for them.
Slam Tasmanian was by himself, walking through a heavily-forested part of the battlefield. That was when he heard something moving through the bushes. Firing his paintball gun, the Tasmanian devil managed to hit one of the members of Star Fox: Peppy Hare.
"Well, I'm out of the game!" Peppy sighed in annoyance.
Slam grumbled out an apology.
"It's okay, big guy, I'm getting too old for stuff like this anyway!" The old hare said.
Without warning, Slam felt a few paintballs hit him in the back. Turning his head, the Tasmanian devil saw two silhouettes running out of the area. He ignored them, helping Peppy up from the ground.
"Thanks." The hare said.
Slam grumbled as if to say "No problem!"
Meanwhile, Tech and Rev were in another part of the battlefield. Unlike Slam, the two were on their guard, keeping an eye out for their opponents.
"It-sure-is-hard-to-look-for-your-opponents-in-a-paintball-game-when-the-battlefield-is-in-areas-like-this." Rev whispered.
"Not to mention that we're up against mercenaries." Tech added.
"I'm-sure-that-we-can-beat-them!" Rev stated, "We-just-need-to-come-up-with-a-plan!"
All of a sudden, a water balloon filled with paint exploded near them. Several more followed, which gave Tech and Rev little time to dodge. The two then ran for their lives, dodging every attack that came their way. That was until they saw a platform with a ladder below it.
"Let's-hide-up-there!" Rev cried as he began to climb up the ladder.
"At least we won't get shot if we do!" Tech followed him up.
After climbing up the ladder, Tech and Rev looked down from the platform, where they saw one of the Star Fox members, Slippy Toad, looking around while holding a paintball gun.
"Come out!" Slippy sang, "Come out! Come out, wherever you are!"
"Looks like he's distracted." Tech quietly said.
"Perfect!" Rev said as he got out his paintball gun and opened fire, hitting Slippy in the chest.
"Hey!" Slippy complained.
"We-got-him!" Rev smiled.
"And now we can move on to the others!" Tech stated.
Before they could exit the area, a voice rang out behind them.
"Well, looks like I've caught two cuties in my trap!"
Tech and Rev turned around and saw the person who the voice belonged to: Katt Monroe. Before they could fire their paintball guns, the pink cat fired hers. By the time the feline was done firing, the coyote and the roadrunner were practically coated in paintballs. The force caused the duo to fall of the platform and land near Slippy.
"Good one, Katt!" Slippy called up.
"Thanks," the feline said, "now we've got three opponents left!"
"Three-left?!" Rev cried, "Oh-no! Then-that-means-that-Ace-Lexi-and-Duck-will-be-outnumbered!"
"Don't worry Rev," Tech told him, "I'm sure that they'll have a better chance against Star Fox than we did."
Lexi and Duck overheard the shouts from Peppy, Slippy, and Katt. While they were glad that Tech, Rev, and Slam managed to beat Slippy and Peppy, that didn't change the fact that, aside from Ace, they were outnumbered by one.
"We've got to be more careful!" Lexi warned.
"Oh Lexi," Duck chuckled, "we don't have to be careful! We just need a plan!"
"We should have come up with one earlier!" The doe stated.
"Who needs a plan when you have Danger Duck?" The mallard arrogantly asked.
All of a sudden, Falco Lombardi, another Star Fox member, jumped out of the bushes, aiming his paintball gun at them.
"And people say that I'm cocky and overconfident!" The avian mocked them.
"Oh, pipe down, birdbrain!" Duck said as he fired his paintball gun at Falco, which knocked his gun out of his hands.
"Damn waterfowl!" Falco grumbled as he ran to retrieve his gun.
"Oh no, you don't!" Lexi shouted as she kicked Falco's gun to the other side.
"Stupid girl, now look what you've done!" The pheasant ran to retrieve the gun, only for Duck to step on it.
"You're the stupid one here, pal!" Duck mocked, pointing his gun at the bird.
Without warning, a chuckle came out of the woods.
"What was that?" Lexi asked.
"You guys are in trouble now!" Falco chuckled.
"What do you mean by -" Duck asked before getting a couple of paintballs in the back.
The paintballs came from a cobalt blue vixen who was Star Fox's newest member: Krystal. She fired her gun at Lexi, only for the doe to dodge. Now that they were against each other, both of them knew that they would get shot if they got careless. Falco joined the battle, picking up his gun and firing at Lexi. He joined Krystal in chasing after the rabbit, intent on gunning her down. However, their opponent wasn't going down without a fight.
Having no time to spare, Lexi jumped up in the air and dived down. While in the air, the pink rabbit fired her paintball gun at Falco and Krystal. However, Falco was the only one to get hit with paintballs, as Krystal dodged the ones fired at her. Once she reached the ground, Lexi found herself in a firefight with the cobalt vixen. All of a sudden, the doe stopped firing.
"You must really like the color blue." Lexi said.
"And you like pink." Krystal added.
"All that blue looks good on you." The doe stated.
"Yeah," the vixen said, "and it looks good on you too!"
Lexi was unable to dodge the paintballs fired at her, having been lured into a trap. Before she could walk away, the doe felt more paintballs hit her. Those ones came from Katt, who whistled as she walked into the area.
"There's one left." Katt stated.
"I'm sure that Fox can handle him." Krystal said.
"He better," Falco said, "because I'm out of the game!"
As the three walked off, Lexi and Duck looked at each other.
"Welp, Ace is toast!" Duck said.
"Let's just hope that he puts up a better fight than we did!" Lexi said.
Ace had reached a barren area of the battlefield, hoping that he would be free from a potential ambush. He aimed his gun into the woods, knowing that Star Fox would be coming out of there at any moment. That was until he heard a gun being pumped behind him. Turning around, the rabbit saw the leader of Star Fox, Fox McCloud, standing behind him with his paintball gun ready.
"Looks like you're on your own." Fox was about to fire his gun.
"So are you." Ace got his gun ready.
"This is an all-or-nothing gambit, so you've got a 50/50 chance of winning against me." The mercenary stated.
"Depends on who fires first, Doc." The Loonatic said, his finger ready to pull the trigger.
Footsteps began to approach the two, which distracted Ace. Fox smiled, knowing who these footsteps belonged to.
"Looks like you're outnumbered." The vulpine said.
"Not for long!" Ace said as he pulled the trigger on his gun. However, nothing came out of it.
"Jammed, isn't it?" Fox asked.
As soon as Katt and Krystal came near them, Ace ran away. His three opponents were hit on his trail, eager to shoot him with their paintballs. The rabbit knew that, if he stopped now, he would lose the game. Remembering what Fox said about all-or-nothing gambits, the leader of the Loonatics picked up a paint-filled balloon and waited for Star Fox to come near him so that he could throw it at them. When they came near him, he figured that his plan would work.
"You're done for, hon!" Katt confidently smiled.
"Not according to this!" Ace said as he threw the balloon at his opponents, covering his eyes as he did so. When he uncovered his eyes, the rabbit saw that Fox, Katt, and Krystal were gone.
"You've got to be kidding me." He said in disbelief.
"Nope!" Fox said as he hit Ace in the chest with a paintball.
"We won!" Krystal cheerfully said.
"I better go get my teammates." Ace said.
"Do that," Fox said to him, "and we'll meet back at the building!"
Back at the building, Star Fox and the Loonatics got cleaned up. After that, the two teams were ready to leave. That was until Duck looked at Star Fox.
"How come we lost to you guys?" The mallard asked.
"Because we're mercenaries, we're used to being in gunfights." Slippy said.
"As for you guys," Falco looked at the Loonatics, "you're just a team of superheroes that wear flashy suits and probably use your powers to win every fight you're in."
"No need to sound rude!" Lexi crossed her arms.
"Yeah, we'll kick your asses next time!" Duck boasted.
"We'll see about that, shall we?" Falco arrogantly asked.
Fara Phoenix walked into the room, holding a clipboard.
"What's the word, Fara?" Fox asked.
"Bad news guys," she sadly said, "this place is being closed down."
"What?!" Peppy was shocked.
"But this place has been on Corneria for years!" Slippy complained.
"So much for the rematch!" Duck frowned.
Without warning, a vibration came out of Fara's pants pocket.
"That's my phone, I'll leave the room." The fennec said as she walked out.
When she was out of the room, Star Fox and the Loonatics looked at each other.
"Do you guys really want a rematch?" Fox asked.
"No," Ace said, "I guess that we're just a little jealous of you guys."
"Why?" Falco asked.
"Well, you guys must have amazing lives!" Duck said, "Being mercenaries and all!"
"It's not as fun as it sounds, trust me." Peppy stated.
"We know what it's like for soldiers." Lexi said, "You guys probably have PTSD from your battles."
"Not really," Slippy stated, "but we do need to cool down after a battle every so often."
Slam grumbled as if to say "You guys are inspirational."
"And you played a good game, you guys." Katt smiled.
"Thanks-but-you-guys-weren't-bad-yourselves!" Rev said, "I-just-wish-that-we-could-hang-out-all-the-time!"
"You really mean that?" Krystal asked.
"Yes." Tech stated, "We would be willing to work with your team as well, but we doubt that we would enjoy what we see!"
Everyone burst out laughing, only to stop when Fara came back into the room.
"Guys!" She spoke, "Someone uploaded a clip of your paintball game to General Pepper and he said that the decision to close the Paintball Center has been vetoed!"
Star Fox and the Loonatics smiled, knowing that the Paintball Center was going to stay open. The two teams were glad, due to the place bringing them closer together.
"Good game, everybody." Fox said.
"Good game!" Everyone (sans Fara) responded.
Note: Of course Star Fox would win a paintball game. I mean, the Loonatics are a superhero team, and not members of an army. I'm not saying that you have to be a former soldier or former marine to play paintball, as quite a lot of people play it. What did you guys think about this chapter? Let me know when you leave a review or give a constructive criticism stating what you like and what you don't like. Until next time guys, peace!
