(AN)- alright, here's a wee project I've decided to work on lol, just something I imagine could happen because of the sci fi themes of both stories lol. (Takes place some time after Metroid Prime 3 and Star Fox Assault)

Metroid Prime-The Lylat Wars

Prologue: Enter Star Fox

Fox McCloud

"I've got a lock on you, Falco! You're not getting away this time!" I smirked and tracked Falco's Arwing with my targeting perimeters, narrowly avoiding the Meteo asteroid field we fought in. "Surrender and I might consider going easy on you!"

"Implying you're in any position to make me surrender?!" My wingman sharply responded, making a swift nose dive down. He somehow flipped his ship so it faced me before I could even avoid him, he sharply boasted. "You're damn good, but you're not the best. Fancy flying, Fox."

I was directly hit from below by a fully charged shot, my ship violently shaking from side to side. This was it, Fox…

Vision went dark…

...

"Ha! Can't beat the best, can we, Fox?" Falco snidely taunted as my Awing simulation pod's cockpit window opened slowly. Not as bad as he use to be but still a smug hotshot , Falco…

"You'd be dead if that was an actual dogfight, Falco." I scoffed and jumped out of the simulation pod and onto the metal floor beneath. The blue bird stood before me, tapping his foot with a smug expression. Cocky son of a-

"Don't get too Mad, Fox. You did better than Slippy," Krystal said, reclining back on a chair, fiddling with the beads in her blue hair. The Cerinian winked at me. "That's better than most."

"Gee, thanks Krystal…" I stared at the blue fox with a grimace and sighed and dropped my shoulders in defeat, wasn't in the mood for banter anyway. "I'm glad I have you as a source of encouragement...really."

"Love you too~" She giggled and stood up, making her way to the exit.

"I can hear you, y'know," Jumping out of his simulation pod was Slippy Toad, wearing an annoyed expression on his face and placed his grey cap on his head. He sighed and walked past us. "Yeah I know I'm not as good as a pilot as the rest of you, but what would you do if I wasn't around to keep fixing and upgradin' the Arwings? You'd have to deal with Fara more often. "

Slippy did have a very good point, but before I could say anything to thank him, Falco wrapped a wing around my shoulder and started walking me to the door.

"So, guessing drinks are on you when we get to Corneria?" The bird smugly asked as we entered one of the many hallways of the Great Fox, making its way to our destination. I swear, sometime I just wanted to pluck all of that bird's feathers and toss them out the airlock.

"Yeah yeah, I'll pick up the tab, again." I grumbled. After that nightmarish fortnight long mission we had earlier against Star Wolf, I was ready to take my boots off, kick my paws up and never walk again...but that was just a dream at this point. I stared out the window as the stars slowly moved by. For somewhere so chaotic, untamed and wild, space can be oddly...relaxing. A slight smile appeared on my muzzle as I stopped to stare at a far, far away galaxy. I guess being a Space Pilot had its perks sometimes.

"Now entering the Lylat System." ROB spoke over the ship intercom system. 'Bout damn time. I was so ready to take a break for a while. Continuing to the bridge, I rested my arms behind my head and relaxed somewhat. It's been too long since I've been back here…

With a sigh, I entered the bridge, with Falco just on my tail. In the distance, I could make out a blue dot that was Corneria. About damn time. I took a seat next to Krystal, who was sitting on the couch reading something on a tablet. I noted our recruits sitting in the chair in front of us. The lynx and spaniel were chattering amongst themselves about the ship. Heh, glad they were eager. Krystal looked at from the corner of her eyes and smirked, laying down and resting a single leg on my lap. I smirked back and relaxed.

"I swear you two only do this in this room to annoy us or something…" Peppy grumbled while sitting at a command console that displayed our Homeworld, his voice grizzled with age. "don't both of you have a room-?"

"Don't worry, 'Pep, they're definitely not a thing, promise." Falco chuckled and leaned up against a wall, peering over to us with green eyes, a slight grin on his beak. "Aren't ya?"

"Like you and Katt?" I retorted and rolled my eyes, leaning back into the soft-ish chair and sighed. "What's our ETA to Corneria? Being cooped up in here is killing me…"

"Approximately an hour and a half, Fox," Slippy responded, not looking away from his control console, casually typing something with a relaxed expression. Probably checking on one of the many modifications he installed ever since the Grand Fox was rebuilt.

"Ah, been too long since I've been back," The hare sighed happily and sat back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Space is getting weary on these old bones, ha! The General will be happy to see us. I wonder how the old dog is-" Peppy was cut off by alarms blaring and the main communications screen flashing red with the word 'ALERT' flashing with it. What the?! Krystal and I immediately jumped to our feet quickly and falco uncrossed his arms. "What in sam hill is this...?!"

"Sorry! False alarm!" Slippy shouted as he quickly turned off the lights and sirens, "Accidently tripped the master alarm when working on integrating those new coils, Forgot to adjust the monitoring program." With a few more keystrokes the toad nodded in satisfaction. "There, got it""

"Sure took you long enoug-" Falco started to remark before the Master alarm started blaring agian. "Slippy!"

"It's not me! Emergency transmission from Cornaria! It's from the General!" Slippy defended.

"On screen"

"Star Fox! We need your help yet again!" General Pepper barked, trying (and failing) to keep composure. "Corneria city is under attack! Remains of Andross's forces have breached our planetary defenses and had launched a full-scale attack on the city! Please, Star Fox, you are our only hope!"

Andrew?! Again?!...That ignorant ape was really starting to get on my nerves

"We're on our way, General!" I gave a quick salute. "ROB Bring the Great Fox into standard orbit, Falco, Kyrstal, Slippy you're with me!" I ordered as we turned and started running to the hangar. "Miyu, Fay! I want you two in the hanger ready to launch an intercept if the apes try something."

"Aye aye, sir!"

Things were a mess above the blue planet. I could see the explosions going off in the atmosphere. I grimaced as I climbed into my cockpit, strapping myself in and flipping switches to turn the ship on. My Arwing shook as its systems turned on. I peered to my left and saw my three squadmates preparing their ships.

"Everyone ready?" I pushed a button on the main console and brought up communications before grabbing both control sticks tightly.

"Always." Falco responded first in his usual tone.

"Ready, Fox!" Slippy eagerly said next.

"Ready." Last to respond was Krystal.

"Alright, let's do this!" "I ordered and launched the ships. We were quickly ejected from the hangar and into space, making a quick approach to the planet. "Miyu, Fay, ROB, stay with the Great Fox and give us some heavy support!"

"Aye aye, Sir!" Fay responded, sounding as eager as a rookie would. Hopefully, she could handle this mission…

I swallowed and braced myself as we entered the atmosphere like burning comets...

Flying over one of the vast oceans of the planet, I could see the explosions and war in the distance. I hope we weren't too late.

"Alright, everyone! Listen up!" I barked, quickly scanning the skies for any bogeys. Once I knew we were clear, I continued. "Falco, Krystal, Slippy. On my wing! We'll deal with their fighters!"

"Roger that, on your wing," Falco responded as he and Krystal followed closely behind on either wing. Surprised he didn't have any cocky jabs today.

"Miyu, Fay, continue covering us!"

"You can count on us, Fox!" Fay was eager as always.

"Let's go, guys! Good luck!" I pushed on my control sticks, speeding up significantly. I stayed high, flying through the clouds, the sounds of distant warfare getting closer and closer to us. Within a few moments, we flew close to the coastlines of Corneria City. We didn't even reach land before a small swarm of drones engaged us. Damn it! I locked on to a few of them and used my thumbs to push the buttons on the top of my flight stick. Quick bolts of burning green plasma fired off from the front of my ship, making contact with the flying robots; which quickly exploded. Falco, Slippy and Krystal unleashed volleys of shots at the drones, systematically destroying them one by one. I maneuvered and dodged most of their shots, though the occasional bolt did graze my hull. Nothing the shields couldn't handle. With a barrage of lasers and careful flying, we pushed through the swarm of drones and into the city outskirts; a grassy highland.

Above the city was a fleet battle, Andrew's fleet outnumbering the Cornerian Defence Force's three-to-one. Damn it! If only the politicians knew what they were doing, we wouldn't have this mess on our paws! I grumbled slightly as I shot at incoming fighters.

"Ground invasion force at twelve-o'clock. They're heading for the southern city entrance!" Krystal quickly barked, flying low to the ground. Falco and I followed down, flying about forty feet off the ground. I quickly spotted landing craft dropping Andrew's' monkey soldiers and tanks off.

"Targets confirmed, aim for the landing crafts! Open fire!" I charged my plasma beam, held it for a second or two and let go, unleashing a single large bolt of plasma into the hull of the landing craft; which promptly exploded, taking out a considerable amount of the ground forces with it. "Main targets neutralised, pick off any stragglers." I targeted their tanks, destroying them swiftly before moving onward to the city.

The once pristine and chrome cityscape was now a mess, smoke rose from several buildings and fighters scrambled above. This was gonna be quite the cleanup op…The Grand Fox was now in position, excellent!

"Alright, everyone! All-Range mode!" With the press of a button, my ship configured itself, trading high speed for high mobility. "Grand Fox, engage their frigates, we'll handle their fighters and guns!, Slippy-!"

Suddenly, the communications screen flashed red, warning of an intercepted transmission. A familiar voice hijacked my coms!

"Can't let you do that, Star Fox!" The familiar voice taunted cruelly. Wolf.

From seemingly nowhere, a Wolfen flew overhead an unleashed a few shots at one of the Arwings on my wing.

"Mayday, mayday! I've been hit! I'm going doooooooooooown-!" Slippy's voice cried throughout my cockpit. His ship fell from the sky, a pillar of smoke coming from its engine, crashing toward the Corneria Military Tower.

"Slip?! Slip?! Respond!" I cried out in panic, following the smoke trail with my eyes. Please be ok…

"Oof-! I'm ok! Go on without me! I'll guard the general!" His light voice responded, causing all the panic in me to disappear! Thank goodness he was alright...after sighing in relief, I scowled and began to pursue Wolf. He was not getting away with shooting 'Slip down!

"How embarrassing, Fox, even he lasts a bit longer than that!"

"What's the matter, O'Donnell? Left all your skill at home and had to ambush?" I spat at Wolf, tracking his Wolfen and began my pursuit, firing a few shots at him, hitting his shields. "Or is your depth perception starting to catch up with you?"

"Very funny, Fox. I'll enjoy shooting you down with my one eye. That'd be funny."

"In your dreams." I finished by cutting him out of the transmission. "Star Fox! Continue your mission, Falco Krystal, get rid of Panther, I'll handle Wolf!"

"Roger Roger, Flyboy," Krystal responded, her Arwing leaving my wing, attacking a nearby drop ship.

"On it!" last was Falco, doing a stylish spin away from my wing. Show off…

I unleashed jets of plasma towards the Wolfen directly in front of me. Wolf did a barrel roll out of the way, spinning his ship around to face me, but engaging us in some weird game of midair chicken above the city. He came at me shooting bolts of plasma, a few grazing my ship. I licked my lips and set my shields to max power. I quickly tilted my ship, bashing his Wolfen with my wing, sending Wolf spinning out of control. Hopefully into a mountain or something.

"Gah...you're good!" Wolf scoffed over comms, followed by my ship shaking, my shields sustaining critical damage! Red lights flashed in my cockpit as I gained control. The hell did he do?! "But I'm better! Like the new torpedoes, McCloud?"

"I see you've got some new toys, Wolf," I smirked. "unlucky for you, so do I!"

With the quick push of a button, I launched a bright red bomb straight at Wolf. I heard him gasp slightly, trying to maneuver his ship out of the way. The Smart Bomb made direct contact with his left set of wings, completely obliterating them. Bullseye! He spun out of control, his Wolfen struggling to keep altitude.

"You bastard, Fox! Those toys aren't new! And I just had this painted!" Wolf shouted angrily. I winced at how loud he was. "You'll pay for that!" and with that, Wolf ejected from the crashing Wolfen, his chair sprouting a parachute. I'd shoot him down if it wasn't a war crime. I smirked and flew by him as fast as I could, sending his chair flying away at high speed. I could hear him scream as he was launched away. Fox one, Wolf zero! The remains of his Wolfen crashed into a nearby forest. That was easier than usual!

"Wolf down. Repeat, Wolf is Down! How is everyone doing?"

"Panther is giving me some hassle, but I can handle it," Falco explained casually.

"We need some covering fire for the Grand Fox, we have bombers on our tail!"

"Hang on, Peppy, I'll help you!"

"Thanks, Fox! You're sounding just like James!"

I smiled...it always felt good to be compared to Dad…

"Come in Star Fox! Can you hear me?" A light voice suddenly sounded. Slippy! I'm glad he was alright.

"Loud and clear, 'Slip! Report?"

"Unidentified FTL entities are appearing over the planet!" His voice was panicked. What?!

"More of Andrew's goons?!"

"We don't know! We've never seen these kinds of ships before, they're huge!"

I quickly looked up, seeing a fleet of steel grey ships and dark brown ships in the high atmosphere, exchanging lasers.

Suddenly, a strange symbol appeared on my communications screen. It was a bright cyan and was shaped like a very thick letter T. Who were these guys? I pressed a button to answer their message. On my screen was being of indeterminate species wearing a grey suit of power armor, their visor the same shape and color as their symbol.

"This is the G.F.S Rendezvous. Our intentions are peaceful. However, our war with the Space Pirates have led us here. We advise to evacuate your citizens immediately."

G.F.S?! Space Pirates?! Who were these guys?! How were they speaking the same language as us?!

"This is Fox McCloud of Star Fox, what's going on? We're actually defending our planet from invasion down here…"

"What?" The marine seemed confused, turning to someone offscreen. "Admiral, what should we do?"

"Space Pirate forces are retreating into the planet, sir!" another panicked voice called.

"Send a detachment of fighters and troops down. Star Fox, was it? How will we determine your troops from your enemy?" the deep voice of their admiral asked me.

"Uh, we're mostly canine? We wear grey uniforms, I'll forward you to the general...he'll help you…"

This was gonna be a mess...hopefully these guys could help us secure Corneria…

"What the heck is going on?!" Falco questioned. "Who are these federation guys?!"

"I wish we knew, Falco…" Slippy sighed.

"Impossible, how is...Be advised, Ridley has just joined the battle, repeat, Ridley has joined this battle." The Federation marine gasped.

Ridley? What was a—

All of a sudden, a huge mechanical dragon flew overhead at frightening speed, swatting Panther's wolfen and a few other ships out of the sky with ease. What the heck was that?! Regardless, it looked much meaner than anything Andrew had to throw at us

"Star Fox! Pursue that dragon!"

"Star Wolf is retreating!" Krystal exclaimed and joined my wing.

"Typical, leaving the hard work for us!" Falco scoffed and joined me.

We opened fire on 'Ridley,' our shots scorching its metal body. It looked behind to us, its pterodactyl-like head turned at an almost impossible angle. It screeched at us, revealing rows of razor-sharp teeth. This was going to be a nightmare, wasn't it? From its throat, it unleashed a volley of fireballs at us. What the?! We narrowly avoided it, the balls of flame hitting a nearby skyscraper, shattering the windows and causing fires. What was this beast?! It grew weary of our attacks, avoiding them with relative ease by maneuvering its body in strange ways. The beast quickly turned a full 180 degrees on a dime and came straight for us! Krystal and Falco got out of the way, but I wasn't so lucky…My shields were already down…

It grabbed my Arwing, staring at me with glowing yellow eyes. I desperately pushed on the flight sticks, but its grip was far too strong. It roared and ripped a wing off, throwing it away. No! Before it could kill me, I ejected, the cockpit window hitting Ridley in the face, causing it to drop my poor ship. I sprang up and latched onto the dragon's neck, unholstering my blaster and shooting its throat a few times, stunning it. I jump off and began free falling above the city. But suddenly, I landed on a ship that caught me! My boots magnetized and latched onto the ship. Its hull was bright orange and had a green window at its front. It was a very round ship and was large, a gunship, probably. Whatever it was, I was grateful for the catch. Something about this ship triggered Ridley, causing it to roar loudly and begin a pursuit.

I also noted that all of Andross' forces were pulling out, replaced by Federation and Space Pirate ships.

I shot at Ridley a few times with my blaster, however, he shrugged the lasers off like they were nothing. Darn…the ship I was on weaved in and out between buildings. I also spotted Falco and Krystal continuing their pursuit, firing at Ridley.

"Is that a meteor?!" Slippy cried out suddenly. Lo and behold, there was some sort of meteor in space approaching the planet...what the heck was going on?! The gunship flew near the military building, rear turrets firing at Ridley as Krystal and Falco fired at his back. Something about this ship was really making the Dragon mad…

As if things couldn't get much worse, a strange silhouette on a building shot some kind of blue beam at Falco, penetrating the nose of the ship with ease, causing him to crash into the hills! Falco! I shot at the shadow, but it simply flew away, following Falco...god damnit!

Before I could even comprehend what happened, I felt a hand quickly grab my coat from behind, picking me off the ground completely and jumping off of the ship, landing in front of the military tower. I was quickly put down and whatever picked me up ran in front of me and opened fire with a strange arm cannon. The being stood a full foot above me, wearing a bright orange and red power suit with sizable round shoulders. It looked at me for a moment, revealing a bright green visor that was completely opaque. What was this thing?!

Krystal quickly landed and jumped out of her cockpit, joining me as Ridley landed in front of all three of us, roaring. Ridley charged at us, swinging a claw Krystal and I dived out of the way, but our new ally jumped high up, shooting beams of hot plasma from its arm cannon. I stared at my fox comrade and raised a brow. She simply stared at the orange soldier in awe for a moment, before looking to me and nodding, charging Ridley with her blaster. I followed suit.

The dragon noticed us and swatted Krystal away with its tail, leaving it open for me. I jumped up on its back, climbing it, trying to reach its head. The orange soldier somehow was still midair, continuously somersaulting with an electric aura around him, occasionally breaking it to fire at Ridley. Ridley thrashed and tried shaking me off, but I held on tightly.

"Fox, catch!" Krystal shouted and tossed a grenade my way, which I quickly caught. This could be useful. I quickly stuck it to Ridley's back and jumped off, the resulting explosion knocking the mecha dragon down. While down, our new friend forced Ridley's mouth open, charging a beam firing directly into his throat. Good Lord… Ridley screeched in agony as plasma seeped from its mouth. With one last roar, it noticed all the cornerian and federation soldiers closing in on it. And with that, it retreated by flying away. Good riddance!

"Orbital defenses?!" the orange soldier demanded in a surprisingly high pitched tone at me. I blurted out a confused noise in response. They growled lowly. "Do you have any?!"

"N-no…? They were outlawed years ago-who are you anyway, why do we need them-?!"

"That Leviathan in the sky will destroy the planet if we don't do something." one of the Federation Marines responded, his blue visor flashing with each word.

"T-the entire planet?! Krystal gasped, looking at the soldiers, the Leviathan and then the tower. "There has to be something we can do!"

I opened a communication channel with the Grand Fox.

"Miyu, Fay! Drop what you're doing, I want all guns on that meteor!"

"On it commander!" Miyu quickly responded.

"Slippy will know what to do C'mon, into the tower everyone..." I looked at the behemoth of a meteor. It didn't even enter the atmosphere and it still looked so big...this was bad...

We exited an elevator into the main control room of the military tower, military tacticians and soldiers scrambled on the emergency transmissions, frantically issuing evacuation commands. Good lord this was horrible…

Standing in front of a circular table that displayed Planet Corneria with the hastily encroaching meteor was Slippy and General Pepper, who quickly noticed us and ran over. Both had looks of panic on their faces.

"Fox?! What is that...that...thing in the sky?!" The general panted, his droopy eyes darting from me to the hologram.

"Some sort of giant meteor, the Federation say it could-" I barely choked out before getting cut off by our new friend.

"It's a highly radioactive vessel of a biohazard, Phazon. If the impact doesn't wipe this planet off the star charts, then the radiation surely will." The giant, orange-clad soldier coldly explained, her voice oozing with malice. "Since you don't have any orbital defences, does your planet have any method of getting rid of something that big?! If not, we will have to completely evacuate this planet, it's beyond doomed without the right defences."

Pepper made a low guttural noise and punched the table, shaking his head.

"How long until impact…?" the bloodhound muttered.

"Approximately an hour, sir!" Slippy gulped as he typed things into a datapad and bit his lip. His eyes quickly scanned what he typed. "However, I think I have a plan…"

"And that is?" The orange warrior sternly asked.

"I think a blast of outstanding magnitude could vapourize the meteor!" Slippy explained as he ran over to the communication screen, hastily typing contacting the Grand Fox. "And I think I might know how to initiate a blast that big, fast! Miyu, Fay, Peppy? Do you copy?"

"Loud and Clear, Slippy!" Fay responded, somehow as cheery as she usually was. "What do you need us to do?"

"How many Smart Bombs are we carrying onboard?"

"About...one-hundred and eleven, how so?"

Slippy flashed a half smirk.

"I need you guys to tie all of those together into one… 'Super Smart Bomb!' Once you have that, launch it at the meteor!" The toad enthusiastically ordered. This was insane, but it could work.

"Hopefully we don't knock the planet out of orbit," Miyu sniggered.

"It's worth a shot…" Peppy mumbled. "Alright, girls, to the cargo hold!"

I shot a worried glance to Krystal, who seemed equally as worried. She approached me and placed a single hand on my shoulder, squeezing it tightly. Our eyes met and we nodded, turning our attention to the planetary display. There was nothing we could do but wait. The mysterious soldier joined us at the table, looking down at us from behind her bright green visor.

"My name is Samus Aran, by the way," She bluntly spoke, her voice devoid of most emotion. "Just in case we get obliterated."

"F-Fox, Fox McCloud," I gulped. If we did get obliterated today, at least I was with Krystal...and Slippy. "It's uh...nice to meet you...Samus."

As the others introduced themselves to Samus, a horrid feeling began welling up in my stomach...was Falco alright…? I desperately tried contacting him with my communicator...

Falco Lombadi

Ugh...my head...vision slowly returned to me, the stench of smoke penetrating my nostrils. I quickly inspected myself; thankfully there was no blood or anything... I checked my clock, was out for about an hour...damn it. I saw the city in the distance through my cockpit window. Most of the enemy ships were gone, replaced with our Federation friends' ships, though that huge meteor was still in the sky. My ship was crashed into a grassy hillside, debris lied in the dirt, scratching and burning the ground. I must've been quite a lucky bird to walk this one off... I undid my seatbelt and readied to pop the cockpit window...but that's when I noticed something watching me. It appeared to be the same species as our new buddies...but something was just...wrong about it...The black armor it wore didn't seem that mechanical...it looked...organic...Its body was highlighted by glowing spots of piercing cyan light, most striking was its Y shaped visor…What the fuck was that thing?!

As if it could sense my consciousness, it slid across the ground slowly. Upon closer inspection, the armor was covered in veins...It 'stood' by my cockpit, staring at me with interest, tilting its head at me and tracing my figure on the window with a very sharp and pointy finger. It was scratching the glass. I wasn't willing to continue being something for this thing to ogle at, so I made a very slow and subtle movement, grabbing my blaster with one hand and reaching for the cockpit release mechanism, staring directly at its blue visor.

"What are you supposed to be…?" I asked it slowly, narrowing my eyes. It didn't bother to respond, instead, it let out a low, distorted chuckle. It didn't seem aggressive, but I wouldn't trust it in a billion years. The cockpit opened with a hiss, allowing me to stand up slowly, not breaking vision with this alien."So uh, you just gonna stare at me like that?"

It just floated there, ominously, studying me. Feeling majorly creeped out, I started walking to the city, but I was stopped by a voice over comms,

"Falco? Is that you? We heard your voice, are you ok?"

"Loud and clear, 'Slip I'm alright, just had a bit of a bumpy landing, that's all. I'll be making my way to where you are."

"No need." Krystal piped up, "Samus says she'll pick you up."

"Samus, eh? That the owner of that orange gunship?" As soon as the word "Samus" left my beak, my creepy buddy seemed to snap, pointing a disturbing arm cannon at me, growling and breathing heavily. Well, if that's the way it's gonna be... "I don't take kindly to threats, y'know! Hold on 'Slip, I'll be right-WOAH!"

I dived out of a blast of searing blue light that was aimed for my head. Within an instant, I unholstered my blaster and shot at this thing, which just sidestepped my shot with ease. It hovered off the ground, a blue fire where its feet were, burning the grass below it. Instead of running or walking, this thing just slid across the ground, trailing its fire behind it. He lunged at me, I tried countering this by kicking it back, my boot making quick contact with his abdomen, however, this didn't seem to phase him, instead, it almost shattered my armored boot completely. He grabbed my right ankle and lifted me with relative ease and pointed his cannon at me. Within a split second, I kicked my boot off completely and shot this guy square in the face, sending him stumbling back and dropping my boot. I hopped back and shot a few more times.

This creature quickly faced me removing his hand from his steaming visor. Within an instant, it was up in my face, quickly grabbing my pistol and ripping it out of my hand, accompanied by my entire arm cracking and dislocating from how hard it snatched my gun. I shrieked in pain and grasped my right shoulder as he crushed my blaster like it was nothing. Wincing, I dodged another few blasts of its cannon, though my right leg was hit, burning away a portion of my jumpsuit and revealing more of my already exposed talon. This was bad…I took off my jacket and threw it aside, (I didn't want to see it burned…) If I couldn't fight this thing, I'd wait for backup...I ducked behind the wreckage of my ship, taking cover from whatever this guy had to offer...I tried doing something with my dislocated arm, but I never had enough time before this jackass jumped me…

Within just a few minutes of fighting, half of my jumpsuit was practically burned away and I had sustained a shot to my right shoulder...burned like hell and made a pretty nasty bald spot...I fell to a knee, this beast looming over me, the lights on its body beginning to glow immensely. This wasn't it, was it? As if life moved in slow motion, It shot a large beam of its concentrated radiation at me, the killing blow...With one last desperate attempt, I activated the prototype reflector Slippy had given us. A bright blue hexagonal shield surrounded by body, making contact with the beam, reflecting it back at my attacker and completely destroying the emitter. The dark being gasped and tried dodging, but was hit by their own beam, letting out a loud, distorted, yet...oddly feminine screech and exploded into several blue particles that scattered...did I just...kill it…?

I let out a half amused chuckle as everything began to spin. As long as it died first, I was happy. Vision began fading as the burning from its radiation and the pain of my right arm became too much to bare...I passed out as the meteor in the sky suddenly exploded and disintegrated, along with the space pirate fleet pulling out...at least we saved Corneria...I fell on my stomach as everything went dark...

"He's waking up. Condition is still stable."

My eyes fluttered open, staring up at a steel ceiling. Looming over me were two Federation Doctors. I finally could get a good look at what species they were. They were mostly hairless, save from some on their heads and brow. Guess these guys picked me up.

"Easy there, Mr. Lombardi...you sustained a broken arm and second-degree burns to your shoulder there, don't put any stress on it." a female doctor gently said, pressing a button that made the bed sit upright.

"Ugh...how long was I out? Where am I?" I peered around the room, seeing injured Federation Marines and cornerian soldiers alike being treated for injuries. "...and how do you know my name?"

"Approximately a day, you're in the G.F.S Rendezvous' infirmary, and we read the name badge on your jacket." She responded and activated a communicator on her wrist. "Mr. Lombardi is awake now, should we send him to you, Admiral?"

"Is he in any position to walk or stand?"

Throwing the covers off myself, I hopped off the bed, my legs wobbling for a bit, but I could stand. I looked down and saw that I was wearing a medical gown. Peeking over my shoulder, I saw my naked back through an opening on the gown. Great...I lowered my tail, just so no one would see anything they didn't want to.

"You wouldn't have my clothes, would you?"

"They had to be destroyed, due to Phazon radiation. We apologize," as she spoke, my heart sunk. "Though your jacket was unharmed, your friend is holding onto it for now. Our Admiral and your General wish to speak with you and your team. A marine will take you to the briefing room." thank goodness…my jacket was ok…

The halls of the Rendezvous were cold, sterile and not as homey as the Grand Fox. Federation Marines spoke with Cornerian Soldiers about what had transpired yesterday. I could see Corneria through the windows of the ship, as well as a huge defense fleet. I even saw the Grand Fox parked next to this ship.

The medical bay wasn't that far away from the bridge apparently, as we entered a large forward facing room full of controls and crew. Nobody really batted an eye at me through my little journey through the ship...which is good, I don't want to imagine people trying to peek at my rear. Stopping at a door, my escort turned to me slowly.

"Proceed through here. The briefing room is at the end of the hallway."

I nodded and thanked him, walking into a narrow hall with one door at the end. I just noticed how cold the floor was on my bare talons...

I entered the briefing room slowly. It was circular and was as sterile as the rest of the ship. A raised platform was in the center of the room, displaying a hologram of the Lylat System. In front of the hologram were General Pepper and the Admiral of this ship clad in a strange green uniform. They both turned to look at me, as did everyone else in the room. I felt a soft hand get placed on my shoulder, it was Fox, staring at me with a worried expression. Before he could even speak, I interrupted him.

"I'm fine, I've had worse...and I'm not dying until you buy me that drink, McCloud," I gave him a half smirk. He didn't laugh/grimace or anything...this must've been serious. Standing behind him was the rest of my team, who had expressions ranging from worry to relief. I took my place with the rest of them. Slippy and Fay hugged me when I got close. Was I close to death or something…? I shuddered slightly and hugged the toad and spaniel back. "So...why do you all need me?"

"One reason…" Krystal grimaced. "Your attacker used some kind of radioactive weapon, the same chemical found in that meteor...phazum, was it?"

"Phazon, " someone new entered the room. Judging by the voice, it was a woman...keyword being voice. When she entered the room, my heart sunk...was that…? No...that wasn't my attacker…her suit was orange and red and looked mechanical...not organic. That must have been Samus, then...I didn't speak up, instead, I let her continue. "Highly radioactive and weaponizable. We destroyed its homeworld, Phaaze just a few years ago. How a leviathan survived was another question...and none of the ground forces we saw used Phazon based weaponry. You were the only one attacked by Phazon weaponry."

"Falco...who attacked you?" Fox gulped. Every eye in the room was on me. Usually, I liked this…but this was different. Their eyes were full of worry and anxiety. I gulped and gazed over to Samus, who, despite wearing a visor, stared at me with a piercing look.

"It looked like you, Samus...but, dark, organic...corrupted...it hovered above the ground like nothing I've seen before…"

The room fell even more silent. The Federation marines and crew stated at me with awe, while everyone else was confused.

Samus' hand clenched into a tight fist.

"Dark Samus...she survived Phaaze…"

Dark Samus…?

End of Chapter...