FLIGHT OF THE KITSUNE STAR STRIKER
Chapter 6: Robotic Frenzy and a Deserted Rescue
In the dark depths of space, the Great Fox is currently in hyperdrive mode following a set of coordinates given to the team by General Pepper. Said team were situated at the bridge to discuss the objective assigned to them.
"According to the General, Andross has built a hidden research base where he's working on a secret weapon to use against the Cornerian Army," said Fox.
"So our mission is to go see if the story checks out then wreck whatever weapon he has in there," said Falco.
"But we must watch out for any traps lying in wait when we move in," said Peppy.
"Got it," Naruto nodded in affirmation.
Suddenly Rob spoke up [Arrival at Sector X in T-minus 3 minutes]
Julie came walking into the bridge, wiping her hands on a rag with a smile "The fighters are prepped and ready to go,"
"Thanks Julie-chan, I can always count on you," said Naruto with a foxy grin, causing Julie to look away with a blush and not noticing Levy ruffling her feathers and pouting with jealousy.
"Alright team, let's move out!" Fox called out as the others nodded in affirmation before heading for the starfighters, he was the last to leave when he heard Lilli call out to him.
"Please be careful Fox-san," said Lilli with a look of worry.
Fox felt awkward at the kind gesture and mostly her eyes as they sparkled from his perspective but responded nonetheless "Oh…uh…yeah, I'll be okay," he ran after the others much quicker than. Lilli looked through the window to see the starfighters fly away and could only hold her hands together in a silent prayer for their safety.
Up ahead of the Star Fox team where a fleet of magenta twin-finned starfighters with a dorsal fin identified to be Vipers heading their way, Falco took the initiative by firing a laser shot to destroy one of them, causing the others to scatter in different directions and hastily flew back to where they came from with the team in pursuit.
Music start: Star Fox 64 OST; Sector X
"Let's take out that weapon boys!" said Fox.
"We're all over it," Naruto responded.
Falco smirked in anticipation "Let's go have some fun!"
The team flew through several partially constructed buildings as they flew, suddenly a fleet of Vipers came flying in towards all the while firing their laser cannons at the team. Naruto and Fox banked hard to evade the incoming fire then returning fire at back at some of them. Peppy performed a barrel roll to deflect the laser projectile while Falco went into a somersault and countered with a charged hyper shot to take out a number of the enemy starfighters. Several more came joining in with evasive maneuvers and fired rapidly with a few nearly nicking Naruto and Peppy.
"Be careful, they're quick!" Peppy called out in warning.
"Well let's see them outmaneuver this!" Naruto pulled the trigger to launch a nova bomb then detonated it remotely for a massive explosion to take out the majority of them with Slippy and Fox picking off the rest.
"Enemy group coming up from behind us, man they're fast!" said Falco, then a small of spiderlike starfighters called Borzoi fighters zipped past them before performing U-turns and heading straight for the team.
"Use your hyper shots, it should be able to take them out with n problems!" said Slippy.
"Solid advice, Slip!" Fox charged up his laser cannon with his systems getting a lock on one of the Borzoi fighter then let loose the hyper shot as it relentlessly pursued its target before eventually destroying it.
"Hmph, I was just about thinking the same thing!" Falco scoffed as he fired a hyper shot to take out a bogey.
Naruto used his semblance to leave behind afterimages to confuse the Borzoi fighters and approach from a blind spot to shoot them down with laser rapid fire "These guys are easily distracted,"
"Stay sharp, we're drawing close to the base," said Peppy.
The team drew close to the entrance of the supposed research base as the space gate opened up only for two large sliding panels to come into view with laser turrets attached which then began to unleashed a salvo of laser beams at the team along with fleets of Vipers and Borzoi fighters heading towards them. Naruto and Fox took to a hit-and-away tactic at the turrets, Falco and Slippy launched hyper shots to shoot down the fleets and Peppy finished it up with a nova bomb. After clearing the area, the team advanced through the entrance, only to be stunned upon seeing that the entire base has been reduced to space debris with some of the building structures barely holding together or floating in space.
"Somebody beat us here, it's all gone!" Falco was pretty much shocked.
"But who? Only General Pepper and us know about this place," said Slippy confusedly.
"We aren't detecting any unknown machinery aside from Andross's forces," said Levy from the Great Fox.
"We gotta check it out and make sure that the secret weapon is found and destroyed," said Fox.
"Yeah, better safe than sorry," Naruto nodded in affirmation.
The Star Fox team flew further in to investigate as they avoided the floating space debris which got in their way. They also came across several mini satellites but Julie pointed out that they're harmless due to the base being no longer functional. They continued ahead when large walls moved in and closed to bar their way in, Falco was about to ask for suggestions when suddenly the walls broke apart as what appears to be a giant robot arm broke through and flew past them much to everyone's shock.
"What the heck is that?!" asked Falco.
"We're just as confused as you are Falco, but at least we have an opening because of it," Naruto reasoned.
They flew through the hole and were advancing when suddenly a fleet of Vipers appeared from out of nowhere and started shooting at Peppy who took off with them in pursuit.
"I could use some help here!" said Peppy.
"Hang on, Peppy-Jiji! I'm coming!" Naruto activated the boost for the Kitsune Striker to gain a quick burst of speed and went after the pursuers, he charged up a hyper shot and fired it then following up with a rapid fire to take out the fleet.
"Thanks Naruto," Peppy sighed in relief.
"No prob,"
"Guys heads up, incoming obstacles!" Slippy called out in warning.
The others snapped back to attention and took evasive maneuvers to get around the large chunks of walls and spinning iron beams, then another robot arm flew right in front of the team, forcing them to move out of the way and take a different route with a tall wall in between them.
"Just what's up with that thing?" Falco looked very annoyed.
"I don't know, but something tells me that it's more than just space junk," said Julie.
"Let's meet up at the other end," said Naruto as he, Slippy and Peppy took the outer wall whilst Fox and Falco went through the inner wall.
They flew along the wall when horizontal platforms shot out from it with laser turrets on top firing at them, the trio performed barrel rolls to deflect the incoming fire then returned fire to destroy them, but it wasn't over yet cause this time it was vertical walls with mounted laser turrets followed by a fleet of Borzoi fighters backing them up, Naruto activated his boost in combination with his Plasma Wing Blades to sliced through multiple starfighters in a single charge. Slippy wasn't too far behind and waited for Naruto to get out of range before firing a Nova bomb to get his share of the enemies, Peppy was launching hyper shots to take out the laser turrets.
More laser turrets mounted on platforms with some moving along rails continued to slide out from the tall wall to the trio's side and enemy starfighters added into the mix with Naruto and the others destroying whilst receiving little damage.
"Just where is the secret weapon?" said Peppy.
"I can't say for sure, but it's got to be around here somewhere," said Slippy.
Suddenly Naruto got a call from Fox "Hey Naruto, I'm baiting some enemies, take them out from behind!" Naruto nodded in affirmation and began charging up a hyper shot and waited for Fox as they drew close to the end of the wall which he soon appeared with a small group of Vipers chasing him. Naruto locked onto the middle starfighter and let loose the hyper shot to take them all down in one hit "Thanks for lending a shot Naruto,"
"Always got your back Fox," said Naruto with a smirk, suddenly their radars picked up something heading their way and looked ahead to see some sort of killer bee as it flew about randomly at high-speed, making it hard for Naruto to get a lock on it. The insect like starfighter began firing rainbow beams in a spread shot, getting him to activate his semblance to sharply evade the incoming projectiles then he boosted forward to slice its wings off with his Plasma Wing Blades, leaving it unable to move and Falco finished it off with laser fire.
"Everyone, there's something approaching you from behind!" Levy called out in alert.
No sooner she said that then large pieces of machinery overhead with two which the team immediately recognized to be the robot arms which they saw twice earlier before on their way to search for the secret weapon. The machine assembled itself through the use of electromagnetism before finally completing to reveal itself as a giant robot with only an upper body and two long arms with laser cannons attached to the sides of the robot's head.
Music Switch: Star Fox 64 OST; Boss Battle One
"So this is the secret weapon," said Fox.
"And I'm willing to bet that it was the reason why this entire base was destroyed, I'm detecting a malfunction in its system, all I can get is that it's called Spyborg," said Julie.
[Destroy, Destroy] said Spyborg.
"Then let's put it out of its misery," said Falco.
"Enemy shields have been analyzed and sending over," said Slippy, the rest received the data and could now see its weak point.
[I will destroy all enemies] Spyborg raised a finger in a 'come on' gesture as if daring them to attack it, an invite accepted without hesitance. The robot swung its long arms at the team as they took evasive action to avoid getting hit.
"I'll distract it, go for the head!" Naruto activated his semblance and began leaving behind multiple Accel decoys to catch the Spyborg's attention which they successfully accomplished for the robot aimed the laser cannons and fired at the decoys only for them "That's right, which one's the real me!?" he taunted the robot as he continued to create more Accel decoys.
Meanwhile Fox and Falco maneuvered round to get into position and rapidly fired at the head, the Spyborg was alerted to the slowly growing damage and quickly rotated it in a 180 degree to shield it from further damage. It raised its fists forwards and launched them as makeshift missiles, causing the team to get out of the way before they returned and reconnected to the main body.
[Where is the creator?!] Spyborg demanded much to their confusion.
"What's he saying?" asked Fox.
"It must be Andross which it's asking about, figures he must be the one to have created it," Naruto spoke up, he saw Spyborg swinging at him with its arms again and performed a somersault to dodge all the while charging up a hyper shot. Naruto timed his attack and waited for the robot to rotate its head towards them before taking the shot and landing a critical hit on the head.
[You are an enemy] Spyborg continued to launched salvos of lasers at the team, Falco switched to the offensive as he boosted forwards whilst darting from left to right in order to get in range before firing a nova bomb once getting a clear chance to shoot at the head, resulting in an explosion which died down to reveal the most of the head destroyed as the rest of the robot slumped down in deactivation.
"Way to Falco, you did it!" Slippy cheered happily.
Falco grinned in satisfaction "That's without a doubt, I…huh?!" he was shocked when the supposedly destroyed Spyborg suddenly came back online then proceeded to wag its index finger and shaking its head "But how?"
[The view is clear] Spyborg reached out to grab the floating space debris and started flinging it at the Star Fox team who were avoiding them [Destroy, destroy!]
"This robot has definitely lost its cyber marbles," said Naruto with a quirked eyebrow.
"Let me handle this," Slippy flew forward and was shooting at the Spyborg.
"Slippy get back here, it's too dangerous to get close!" Peppy called out in warning, however he was too late with his warning as the Spyborg swung an arm to smack Slippy, sending the young spiraling away and out of control.
"Aaaaaahhhh!" Slippy cried out in distress.
"Slippy!" Fox called out in worry.
Naruto was just as shocked, but that shock quickly turned into rage as he glared at the berserk robot with his blue eyes changing to red "Why you oversized tin can, you're gonna pay for what you did!" he increased the energy output to maximum then activated his boost to move at speeds greater than ever before, his aura engulfed the Kitsune Striker and took on the form of a roaring fox head. Spyborg tried to swing an arm at the incoming starfighter, but was much too slow and had its head utterly obliterated.
[I must be complete] those were the last words of the mad robot before it exploded, the aura receded back into Naruto who was breathing heavily in exhaustion from the unknown attack which he had just performed.
Music End
"Naruto, are you okay?" asked Julie in worry, seeing what had just happened.
"I'll be okay, but have you attained Slippy's location," Naruto was able to catch his breath before asking that question.
"ROB is picking up a distress signal from Titania, that must be where he is," Fox spoke.
"Then we're heading over there,"
"Slippy can be such a headache," Falco.
"He's definitely getting a lecture from me when we bring him back," said Peppy, then the remaining made their way back to the Great Fox to give their report to General Pepper as well as make their way to the planet.
A while later, the Great Fox had finally arrived at Titania and was currently flying low above arid deserted terrain littered with ruins of unknown origins of the once lush green planet. Two Arwings piloted by Peppy and Falco were flying close by, then Fox's voice was then heard.
"Deploying the Landmaster!" then a blue and white tank equipped with a laser cannon and twin tank treads for travel, and designs similar to the Arwings drove out of the bay before quickly activating its vertical thrusters to slowly descent to the sandy ground. As it rolled away, Naruto's voice was heard next.
"Deploying Formula Zero!" a blue two-wheeled vehicle mounted with several weaponries rolled out of the bay as well and used its thruster to land safely on the ground too "Okay guys let's go find our friend,"
"Roger!" everyone responded in affirmation before setting out to do what they're supposed to do.
Music start: Star Fox 64 OST; Titania and Macbeth
"Get us Slippy's location, ROB," said Fox.
[Life form indicated at the 12 o'clock] ROB responded.
"There's a magnetic storm up ahead, we'll search there," said Falco, flying overhead.
The two land based drove up and down the rocky terrain with little issues, Naruto's Formula Zero was handling it pretty as it traversed them swiftly with the Landmaster trying to keep up with it due to its poor speed. Suddenly to unknown objects came flying up from behind and then landed close by, they appeared to be heavy arachnid like robotic walkers with a red center 'eye'. One of the walkers raised a leg and brought it down to stomp on one of the vehicles, Fox hit the brakes on the Landmaster and put in reverse to get out of range before taking aim with the laser cannon and firing rapidly at the red eye to destroy it. For Naruto, he performed a drift turn to drive in between the legs whilst firing the frontal machine gun at them to impair its movements before firing a hyper shot from the rear laser cannon to finish it off.
"How's the Formula Zero, Naruto-kun?" asked Julie.
"Working like a charm, hard to believe that it's the first time I'm using it," Naruto replied.
"I think you two look better in those," said Falco.
"Why don't you come down here Falco?" said Fox a bit annoyed.
"I'll pass, Fox,"
Naruto and Fox drove along the rolling sand dunes as more robot walkers now known as Desert Crawlers continued to appear and intercept them, however Pepper and Falco were there to provide aerial support with the Landmaster and Formula Zero shooting them down.
"Enemy fighters coming at you two!" Falco called out in alert.
Suddenly a fleet of Granga Fighters came swooping from the skies above to attack Naruto and Fox as they unleashed a salvo of laser fire. Fox activated one of the thrusters to make Landmaster roll from side to side before grabbing the opportunity to fire a nova bomb to take down a majority of the fleet, Naruto was performing drifts and sharp turns to evade the oncoming fire then he activated the antiaircraft gun which was set to auto fire for it constantly lock onto the enemy starfighters and shoot them down. Up ahead they saw some red bird-shaped starfighters descend towards the ground ahead before quickly flying away, Falco flew ahead for a few moments before calling Fox and Naruto in a haste.
"There's land mines ahead of you, those fighters must have dropped them off!" said Falco.
"Thanks for the heads-up, we have a way to get over them," said Fox with Naruto nodding in agreement.
Fox activated the thrusters on the Landmaster to get it to hover into the air and float over the land mines while for Naruto, he increased his speed and activated his thrusters for a short burst to get the Formula Zero to jump over the mines to the other side. They moved along and crossed a couple of stone bridges to get to the other side. More Bombers attempted to drop land mines ahead of Naruto and Fox but Peppy and Falco were quick to shoot them down before they could do so.
"Guys watch out for the laser turrets up ahead, their beams can scorch your energy shields down rapidly!" Levy spoke up in alert.
"Got it!" Fox replied.
Sure enough, they saw the large laser turrets as they constantly fired long thin laser beams along the ground towards them. Fox quickly made the Landmaster roll to the side then hover up to a ridge on his left side, there he fired a nova bomb to destroy one of it. Naruto activated his boost to speed towards his targeted Laser Turret then he pushed a button for a plasma blade to slide out from the side of the combat vehicle which he then used to slice its support, causing it to crash to the ground.
"Now that it's been taken care of, let's keep moving and find Slippy," said Naruto.
The team continued on ahead whilst shooting down multiple Granga fighters and Bombers before crossing over a stone bridge into an area full of rectangular stone pillars, Naruto and Fox were passing through when the pillars starting falling over and nearly crushed them if they had not quickly driven out of the way then switched to using the boost to outpace the tumbling structures.
"Shoot, he's right behind me!" Falco spoke out in frustration as he was being pursued by a Granga Fighter.
"Hang on Falco!" Naruto sped up a sand dune for a makeshift ramp to launch the Formula Zero into the air before firing a hyper shot to take down the pursuing starfighter then landing back on the ground.
"I guess I should be thankful,"
"That you should," Naruto replied with a smirk.
Naruto and Fox drove into a rocky canyon when suddenly large boulders fell from the sky and rolled straight towards them, the duo quickly reacted by using their laser cannons to shoot them into pieces before they could collide with their vehicles.
"Where did those rocks come from? I didn't detect any earthquakes to trigger a rockslide," said Fox in confusion.
"There are robots on top of the hillsides, they're the ones hurling the boulders down at you!" said Peppy, they looked you to see insect-shaped robots atop the hills and were holding up boulders, ready to throw at them.
"You can leave them to us, we'll take care of it!" Falco performed a nosedive at one of the robots and fired his laser cannon rapidly to destroy it, Peppy took on the other and banked right to avoid the boulder thrown at him before retaliating with a hyper shot to destroy it as well.
Naruto and Fox were able to safely cross through the canyon and soon arrived at the end of it, they had just gotten out of it into a wide flat sandy area when they heard a familiar voice speak through their communicators.
"Ahhh, I'm hit!"
Fox's eyes widened in recognition "Is that you Slippy?"
"It's got to be him, he must be just ahead of you!" said Levy.
"I'll be there soon," said Falco.
Naruto and Fox continued driving until they came upon Slippy's Arwing stuck in the branches of one of the strange trees which they had seen along the way.
"Slippy!" Fox called out in relief.
"I knew you'd come help me!" Slippy called out happily.
"Hang on buddy, we'll be getting you out of there in no time!" Naruto activated his Plasma Blade and got ready to cut the Arwing free from the branch when Levy called out in a panic.
"Naruto-kun wait! That's not a tree!" said Levy.
Naruto blinked in confusion "What?" suddenly the 'branches' started wiggling around and moved away with Slippy's Arwing still being held.
"Naruto, Fox!" Slippy cried out.
"What the-after it!" Fox drove after whatever is holding Slippy prisoner with Naruto next to him, suddenly something burst out from underground and the team were shocking upon seeing its appearance.
It is a green and red creature that is several stories tall with long segmented limbs which being two legs, four arms and a long tail, large bony protrusions from the shoulders and hips, and a large dragon-like head with a single horn. The two upper arms have three-fingered claws with one holding Slippy's Arwing, while the lower arms have large mantis-like pincers.
"What the heck is that thing?!" asked Naruto with a look of disbelief.
"It doesn't matter, right now we need to focus on rescuing Slippy!" said Fox.
Music Switch: Star Fox 64 OST; Boss Battle 2
"Let me get a piece of the action!" said Falco as he flew in to battle.
The creature continued to walk backwards as it roared at the team before swiping at Naruto and Fox with its pincers but the duo quickly drove out of the way in time to avoid getting hit. The creature kept swinging its pincers but to no avail as the Landmaster and Formula Zero successfully evaded the attacks before retaliating with laser fire to inflict continuous damage upon its body, which was when it held the captured Arwing in front of it in a form of a meat shield, forcing them to stop shooting in fear of hitting Slippy.
"Dang it, we can't afford to hit Slippy with him being held like that!" said Naruto in anger.
"You two watch out, that thing is about to do something!" Falco quickly spoke up in warning.
The duo looked up to see the creature point one of the clawed arms at them then a salvo of red energy bolts shot out towards them, Fox barrel rolled out of the way whilst Naruto performed a drift spin to outpace the projectiles before returning into position.
"I got information on what that creature is, it's called a Goras and its kind were worshipped as gods and were offered harvest by an ancient civilization. But both were supposed to have gone extinct when a meteorite crashed into the planet and turned it into a desert," said Levy.
"Can we save the education for later and get back to getting Slippy out of there?" said Falco.
Peppy performed a barrel roll to deflect the red energy bolts fired at him from the Goras "Falco and I will distract it from above while you and Naruto get Slippy free by shooting its arms off!"
"Roger that!" Naruto responded, Peppy and Falco swooped in and out of the Goras' vision and firing stray shots to get the creature to swing its pincers at them in the air only to miss when they move out of its range of attack. Naruto took manual aim of his frontal machine gun and fired rapidly at the arm holding Slippy with Fox firing along with his laser cannon, soon they were able to destroy the targeted arm with their comrade able to fly out of there.
"I made it, I'll analyze right away!" said Slippy gratefully, the Goras roared in rage and spun around to swing its tail at them. Naruto and Fox saw the incoming strike and quickly used their thrusters to get into air for it to pass below and attacked with their weaponry which chipped of the creature's exoskeleton "Data analysis complete, here it comes,"
Receiving the data, the team now knew where to attack. Peppy and Falco swooped in and launched a salvo of laser fire with their cannons to destroy the remainder of the Goras' arms, leaving it mostly limbless. The beast wasn't ready to give up just yet as it lunged at Naruto and Fox with jaws wide open to bite them but the duo moved out of the way then fired rapidly at the chest to chip off the exoskeleton and expose the ribcage then Fox fired a hyper shot to forcefully open it up, Naruto seized the opportunity to fire all of his weapons at the exposed heart which resulted in the Goras exploding into many pieces.
Music End
"All aircraft report!" Fox called out.
"I thought I was a goner," said Slippy in relief.
"We're always saving your hide, Slip," said Falco with a smirk.
Peppy was rather stern "We're going have a talk about you getting in over your head when we get back to the Great Fox,"
"I'm just glad you're okay Slippy," said Naruto with a smile.
"Hurry back so I can check on your injuries," said Chopper.
"Now that we're done with the detour, we're getting back on track," Fox spoke up.
Naruto and Fox activated the thrusters on their vehicles as they hovered towards the Great Fox flying overhead with the others following to plan their next course before the eventual encounter with Andross himself.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, the Star Fox had been assigned by the General to investigate Sector X where a hidden research built by Andross houses a secret weapon. They arrived at the base only to find it destroyed from the inside out, the team ventured in further to find the supposed secret weapon being a berserk robot. In the battle, Slippy became overconfident and got smacked away by the robot towards Titania before being destroyed by an enraged Naruto. The team then embarks on a rescue mission towards Titania with Naruto and Fox using the Formula Zero and Landmaster respectively to traverse the sandy landscape whilst battling Andross' forces till they found Slippy being held captive by a supposedly extinct Goras but where able to rescue their friend nonetheless. Now they're getting back on track and heading to their next destination.
Be sure to read and review as always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out.
