FLIGHT OF THE KITSUNE STAR STRIKER
Chapter 7: Oversea Battle and Ambush Repulsion
"…and I hope next time you don't go running straight into danger like that again!" Peppy yelled at the top of his voice at a wincing Slippy.
"I'm sorry Peppy, I won't do it again," said Slippy apologetically.
Everyone were at the bridge and had placed a rather healthy distance from the two. Falco was lounging at a chair with half-closed eyes, Lilli was sitting near Fox who is feeling a bit awkward from sitting so close to her, Levy and Julie were sitting on both sides of Naruto with Chopper seated on his lap.
"Peppy-san must have been really worried about Slippy to be yelling at him like that," said Julie.
"I know, Tou-san once told me that Peppy-Jiji always yelled at him and James-san whenever they did something dangerous out of worry," Naruto replied with a small smile, recalling how Minato was rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish look when he was telling Naruto one of his adventures with the Star Fox crew.
Falco sat up from his chair to speak up for the others to hear "Now that Slippy's lecture is over, anyone have any idea for our next step from here?"
Levy spoke up at that "Actually there's one, ROB and I had been checking on the statuses of the other planets and discovered some strange activities occurring over at Zoness, I have reasons to believe that Andross's forces has taken over it,"
Falco's eyes widened in surprise at that "You mean Zoness has been overrun with those monkeys?!"
"You're familiar with Zoness Falco-san?" asked Chopper curiously.
"I had spent most of my time there back then before I left and eventually joined up with you guys,"
"Well, it might look like we would need to take out their forces unawares. In the meantime, the rest of us should take cover in Sector Z to avoid being detected," said Peppy.
"Guess we'll be taking a stealthy approach on this run," Naruto placed Chopper down before standing up with Fox getting up as well albeit reluctant about it.
"It looks that way Naruto, so let's all gear up and set out for Zoness," said Fox.
"I was able to increase the ammo capacity of the Nova bombs so you won't have to worry much about lack of explosives," Julie spoke up.
"Thanks Julie-chan, I can always count on you," Naruto smiled happily at her before she turned away with a blush on her face while Levy pouted at them.
"Alright team, let's go!" Fox declared.
"Right!" the others responded then made their way to the launch bays to get into their starfighters before launching out towards their next mission.
The Star Fox team eventually arrived at Zoness and broke through the atmosphere to find themselves flying over the ocean with its water being colored sickly-green color much to their surprise and disgust.
"What happened here?" asked Fox.
[I'm detecting high levels of toxicity in the water] said Levy.
"You mean to tell us that Andross had been polluting Zoness? This is no different from what he did at planet Venom!" said Peppy in shock.
"I can't believe they did this," said Falco in a very rare form of depression, showing the team how much he cared about this planet before leaving.
"Man, what a dump," Slippy muttered out loud.
"Well not for much longer if we have anything to say about this, let's clear these guys out of here," Naruto declared as he quickly dove in to fly right above the sea.
"I'm with you on that one," Falco flew in after with the others following suit.
Music start: Star Fox 64 OST; Zoness
Naruto and the team were currently low while a couple feet over the polluted seas as they moved on ahead to fulfill their current mission.
"Let's sneak in low and surprise them!" said Fox.
Suddenly flower shaped creatures burst out from the sea and lunged themselves at the team, the group quickly took evasive action and opened laser fire to shoot them down before they could attack again. Further ahead were a flock of vaguely bird-shaped creatures which began to launch blue energy balls at them, Naruto and Fox performed a barrel roll to deflect the incoming projectiles before blasting them with their laser cannons. They piloted their starfighters around the rocks sticking out from the polluted water and continued to shoot down the Z-Gulls which continued to attack them.
"The polluted water must have somehow mutated the sea creatures into hostile monsters," said Peppy.
"You're right about that, and here comes a new one!" said Naruto before something jump out of the water towards him, this one resembles that of a three-petal flower as it launched a spiraling barrage of energy bullets at him. Naruto activated his semblance and barrel rolled to the side with an Accel decoy to take the hit as he charged out his laser cannon then fired a hyper shot to destroy it.
"Heads up guys, we've got some more company," Fox spoke up while looking ahead at what was rapidly approaching them. Spider shaped creatures which were gliding across the surface of the sea quickly towards the team. Falco performed an aerial somersault and swooped in with a barrage of laser fire to destroy one of the Kani, Naruto activated his Wing Blades and boost simultaneously to slice off the legs of the other one. Suddenly Slippy spoke up for them to hear
"Hey guys, watch out for the searchlights!"
They all looked ahead to see streams of light coming from cone-shaped lamps that lay stationed still on the waves.
[Be careful, those contain a powerful radar system. Getting spotted by them will trigger the alarm and alert the Venomian Army] said Levy in warning.
"Then we'll just have to take them all out," said Falco.
"You've got the right idea, let's do it," Fox spoke in agreement, he took aim at the searchlight on the left and fired to destroy, Falco took care of the one on the right as they moved on ahead.
There were several more searchlights on the way which they destroyed as well until coming across an area consisting of refinery stations and supply depots through they began to carefully maneuver around them to avoid any potential collisions and there were more searchlights being hidden behind some of them but the streams of light gave away their position. Naruto and Falco skillfully piloted their starfighters in between the support beams of the refinery stations and shot at the searchlights to destroy them.
"Fox, I could use some help over here!" said Slippy as he was being pursued by a trio of Z-Gulls.
"Hang on Slippy, I'll be right there!" Fox used his boost whilst charging up his laser cannon with his targeting computer locking on to one of them before launching a hyper shot which destroyed one of the Z-Gulls with the explosion taking out the rest of the pursuers.
"Phew, that was too close!"
"Stay focused, Slippy! More enemies inbound!" said Peppy.
Like he said, more Troikas began jumping out of the sea towards them, Fox performed a barrel roll to knock some of them away, and Naruto performed a corkscrew loop to dodge before retaliating with laser fire. They approached a cluster of rocks sticking out of the sea and spotted some searchlights behind them which they were about to destroy.
"We're closing in on them, Falco!" suddenly a feminine voice spoke through their comms then a pink starfighter swooped in from above and headed towards the searchlights "Take the right light, boys, I'll take the left!"
"Katt?! What are you two doing here?" asked a surprised Falco.
"Is that any way to greet a girl?"
The team along with their 'guest' set to destroying the searchlights behind the rocks while at the same time avoiding the natural obstacles. They quickly took down some more of the searchlights before emerging out of the rocky area and the pink starfighter flew elsewhere.
"Do you know her, Falco?" asked Fox.
"She's an old friend of mine back then before I joined the Star Fox team," Falco replied.
"Whoa, guys watch out!" Slippy called out in attention.
The rest snapped back to attention and looked ahead before quickly taking evasive action to avoid what appears to be a large stripped serpentine dragon which was diving in and out of the waves. Some Z-Gulls swooped in to attack but were shot down before another large sea dragon appeared with Naruto being more daring to fly under one of its arches.
"I've got somebody on my tail!" said Kat as she was being pursued by a Granga Fighter but still making sure to destroy any of the searchlights in her way.
"I got this!" Naruto locked on to the enemy fighter and fired a hyper shot to shoot it down into the polluted sea.
"Beautiful! I could kiss you for that," said Katt with a saucy wink, causing Naruto to feel awkward when the link suddenly cut off without warning.
"Huh? There must be a bug in the system, I better get Julie-chan to check up on it afterwards," Naruto muttered, unknown to him was that Julie herself was responsible for the sudden break in communication, feeling threatened at an unknown female flirting with the fox Faunus.
The group continued on their advance and destroying the searchlights which are annoyingly a lot to Naruto and Falco. There were some of Water gates ahead of them with rudders on both sides, that's when Peppy spoke out to the team.
"Aim for the rudders, that's what will raise the gates!" said Peppy.
"Got it!" Naruto took manual aim at the rudders and fired rapidly, causing the gates to rise for them to pass through. More water gates were ahead of them to open, with some also hiding some searchlights behind them which they had almost missed "Man these guys got some tight security,"
[It must be how they were able to stay undetected for this long] said Levy.
"Well that ends now," said Fox.
"Be on guard, enemy tankers ahead!" said Peppy.
Ahead of them were a fleet of cargo ships with the emblem of the Venomian army and they happen to be transporting cargo along the way.
[Hey guys, destroying those cargo on the ships will definitely do some damage to Andross and his forces] Levy suggested.
"That's a good idea, let's do it!" said Peppy, then he and Slippy swooped towards one of the tankers and rapidly fired to destroy the cargo while Naruto and Fox went after the next one. Falco was more daring and fired a hyper shot on the third tanker to relieve it of its cargo. They advanced further into another area consisting of a refinery and supply depot to go after remainder of the Venomian tankers.
"Make way for Katt!" said feline came flying in and ahead of the team whilst shooting up some of the cargo from one of the tankers before flying off again, then a squad of Bandit fighters came flying towards them.
"Enemy fighters spotted, take 'em down!" said Falco spoke up.
A pair of fighter came after Naruto and opened fire, however he performed a barrel roll to deflect the incoming projectiles then he activated his boost with the wing blades active as he charged at them, one of the fighters barely evaded the charge but the other was sliced in half, Slippy quickly shot down the remaining fighter. Fox engage the next pair of the fighters with Peppy providing support and they made quick work of them. Down below were some patrol boats which are racing along the water ahead of them and firing at the team.
"Fox, follow my lead!" said Naruto.
"Right behind you!" Fox replied.
Naruto performed a dive and was a few feet above the sea with Fox close by, the boats continued to shoot at them but the duo banked from left to right with some barrel rolls for defense then they returned fire to destroy then ascended back into the air when several more Z-Gulls appeared to attack them. Slippy and Peppy took them out with several hyper shots to clear the way.
"Jeez Laweez, what is that?!" Falco spoke up in surprise, ahead of them were floating bombs which were heading their way, they quickly fired at them to detonate before they got any closer to inflict any more damage to the team.
"Be careful everyone, it might be a trap!" Peppy cautioned them.
"Something is coming out from the sea!" said Slippy.
[He's right, we're detecting a vessel approaching you and it's very large] said Levy.
At that moment, something burst out from the water and it revealed itself to be a large battleship, equipped with bomb launchers, a large chained cannonball, a salvage crane and torpedo launchers. The team's communication channel turned on to reveal a snow monkey wearing a diving helmet with his left eye being smaller than the right one, and sporting a long white beard.
"Disrespectful little whelps, I'll show ye some respect!" said the monkey.
"Heh, we would like to see you try old man!" said Naruto with a smirk.
"Grrrrrrr!"
Music Switch: Star Fox 64 OST; Boss Battle One
The Sarumarine started off by firing the large spiked cannonball at the team but they moved away from its trajectory before being pulled back via the long chain attached to it. The group opened fire on the vessel only for the projectiles to hardly inflict so much as a scratch on it much to their surprise. Then Sarumarine began deploying bombs and torpedoes at the team, Naruto, Peppy and Slippy aimed for the torpedoes and destroyed them while Fox and Falco took on the aerial bombs.
[Enemy shields have been analyzed, the vessel is heavily armor so the laser cannons won't have an effect, not even the hyper shot] said Levy.
"What about our Nova bombs?" asked Peppy.
[Those will do, but you have to be careful with them since we don't know everything about the enemy]
"Roger that, for now let's take out the launchers as they're part of the armor," said Slippy.
"We'll keep them off you while you go for it!" said Fox.
The remainder of the team took to firing at the torpedoes and bombs while Slippy closed in on the Saru marine and fired a Nova bomb at it, the explosive projectile made contact with its target and its power was enough to destroy one of the launchers which cause the battleship to lose balance slightly. Slippy was about to target the last launcher when ship suddenly dove underwater.
"Darn, I won't be able to hit the other one while it's underwater," said Slippy. At that moment, the cannonball burst out of the water towards them, but they quickly moved out of the way for it to splash back into the water "Whoa, where did that come from?!" no one got time to respond cause this time torpedoes were deployed to attack them, which had the team quickly ascend to avoid the explosions.
In the air, Naruto caught sight of something sticking out of the water and used one of the screens to zoom in on it before realizing what it actually is "So that's it, well not for long!" Naruto dove towards the sea with his laser cannons charging up then he fired a hyper shot which seemed to have destroyed something, moments later the Sarumarine rose back up to the surface with one of its launchers restored much to their surprise.
"Why you annoying scurvy dog!" the captain growled in anger.
Naruto smiled widely "It's a family trait to people who don't really like us!"
"What did you do Naruto?" asked Fox confusedly.
"I discovered that he was using a periscope to target us while he was underwater, so I busted it to take away his advantage. Though I have no idea where he got the part to replace the one which Slippy destroyed," Naruto replied.
[I figured it out, he must be using the salvage to pick up the spare parts from underwater to repair itself] said Julie.
"We need to destroy the crane before running out of Nova bombs!" said Peppy urgently "I'll be the next to go!" the team took to shooting up the torpedoes once more to keep it preoccupied while Peppy fired his Nova Bombs and successfully destroyed one of the launchers at the side. The Sarumarine then turned round with the crane before then at it dropped into the sea "I don't think so!" Peppy fired his last Nova bomb at the salvage crane, destroying it completely.
"I'm going for the last launcher!" said Naruto, then he moved on ahead, he activated his semblance and barrel rolled from left to right while leaving behind Accel decoys behind, the Sarumarine attacked with his remaining artillery but to no avail and was bombarded till it lost the other launcher.
"Oh shoot! Fire all remaining weapons!" the captain called out desperately, the battleship began firing scattershot of laser blasts and the spiked cannonball in a frenzy while moving from left to right.
"He's on his last legs, let's finish him off!" said Fox, most of the team took aim at the Sarumarine and fired the remaining ammo of the Nova bombs.
"Aaaarrggghhh!" the captain cried out in despair as his battleship went out in a large explosion
Music End
"All aircraft report!" asked Fox.
"I'm fine," said Slippy.
"Everything's A-Okay," said Peppy.
"I'm doing just fine, buddy," said Naruto assuredly.
"Katt, where did you go?" asked Falco confusedly as he looked around.
"She must have left when we weren't looking," said Naruto with a shrug of his shoulders.
"Anyway, let's head back to the Great Fox and take a break. We've definitely earned it," Fox spoke up, then the team powered their starfighters and flew up into space en route to their ship.
As of now, the Great Fox is currently flying through Sector Z which is practically a graveyard for destroyed pieces of warships and other space junk floating around. Inside, Slippy and Julie were tuning up on the Starfighters with Naruto wanting to help out since he was bored out of his mind at the moment, Fox was at the bridge with Peppy and Levy to give a report about Zoness to General Pepper. Falco went back to his quarters to relax, feeling satisfaction at having given Andross's forces the boot from Zoness.
"…there, all of the starfighters are now reloaded with ammo and the shields are fully recharged," said Julie as she stepped back from her recent maintenance of one of the starfighters which being the Kitsune Striker.
"And all systems are green with no bugs," said Slippy.
"That's good to hear, I don't know what caused the bug in the comms but I hope that it doesn't occur again," said Naruto, causing Julie to look away.
Suddenly they heard the alarm sound throughout the bay much to their confusion, that's when their comm links started beeping and they answered it.
"What's going on?" asked Naruto confusedly.
[We're picking up fleets of Andross's army heading straight towards us!] said Levy.
"Why am I not surprised?" Naruto rolled his eyes at the obviousness of how desperate the army of Andross is.
[Fox and the others are currently on their way to the bay, they'll be joining you soon]
"Alright then, let's get going Slippy, time to show these monkeys what for!" said Naruto then he ran for the Kitsune Striker.
"Hey wait up!" Slippy ran to board his Arwing and wait for the others.
"Good Luck," Julie waved at them as they left before making her way to the bridge and meet with the others.
Outside the Great Fox which was floating through the sector and avoiding the space, then multiple starfighters being Invader IIIs came flying in and were surrounding the ship, ready to attack. That was when the Star Fox team deployed themselves from the launch bay and went to engage the enemy.
"We'll gladly take this one!" said Fox
Music Change: Star Fox 64 OST; Fortuna and Sector Z
"Nice welcome!" said Falco sarcastically.
"Then let's give them our review!" said Naruto, he banked from left to right as an Invader III was in pursuit and fired at him from behind, he quickly flew behind a large chunk of a spaceship to use as a makeshift shield which exploded into many pieces. Naruto came round with his laser cannons fully charged up and fired a hyper shot with no way for the pursuer to put up any sort of defense and was destroyed, he then picked up a duo of Invader III were heading his way on the radar and smirked in excitement, he'll never get tired of blasting these monkeys into the next galaxy!
In another part of the sector, Fox was shooting down the enemies from left to right, when he noticed a stray laser shot stray past him from behind and detected an enemy attacking him. He activated his boost to quickly outpace the pursuer and then performed a U-turn to double back. The enemy opened fired and Fox quickly performed a barrel roll to deflect the incoming projectiles then returned fire to take down the opponent and flew off for the next one.
"Scratch one bogey!" Falco had just taken down another with a swooping strike and banked hard to the right and targeted another, ready to shoot when his radar alerted of an enemy starfighter attacking him from his left. He performed a somersault to evade in combination with a barrel roll for defense. He was about to strike back when a blue and white streak pierced through the invader III, revealing it to be Naruto who was deactivating his plasma wings "Gee I've been saved by Naruto, how swell,"
"That guy took a shot at me and thought I would forget about him, well he thought wrong," said Naruto.
"Heh, sucks to be him,"
"Same here,"
Peppy was currently being chased by a duo of Invader III after he had taken down a few on his own "I could use some help here!" he just banked hard to the left in an effort to avoid the lasers fired at him but the enemy were so easily shaken off.
"I'm a little busy over here!" said Slippy as he engaged some of the enemy at another part of the sector and wasn't having it any easier against them.
"Hang on, Peppy, I'm on my way!" Fox quickly located Peppy on the radar then piloted his Arwing towards his location as fast as he could, but then some of the invader III intercepted him to attack much to his annoyance.
"What's taking you so long Fox?!" asked Peppy.
"I got some monkeys on my back!" Fox replied.
"I'm en route to your position, hang in there!" Naruto spoke up, having used his semblance to leave behind Accel decoys to distract the enemies around as he dashed towards Peppy and soon had him within his sights. He immediately began charging up his laser cannons for a hyper shot "Gangway Peppy-Jiji, I'm about to fire!" Peppy then performed a somersault before Naruto fired, destroying the enemy starfighters which were pursuing him.
"Thanks for the save Naruto, your father helped me like that too. Like father like son as the saying goes," said Peppy gratefully.
"No problem,"
[Everyone, we're picking up signals of three starfighters heading our war, but they don't to any of Andross's forces] said Levy.
"Are they friends or enemies?" asked Fox.
"Of course we aren't enemies, jeez you guys should be quicker on the uptake," a familiar voice spoke up much to their surprise.
"She's right, we're here to help you guys out!" another familiar voice was heard as well.
"Miyu-chan, Fay-chan? What are you girls doing here?" asked Naruto confusedly.
"Like Fay said earlier, we're here to help you out. And we aren't the only ones," said Miyu.
"Hey there boys, hope there's some fun for us girls," said Katt as she flew next to the other two.
"Katt?! Can't you go bother someone else?" asked Falco with a look of annoyance.
"Let me help you Falco, just like old times,"
"Grrrr…fine! But don't get in my way!"
"I know all too well,"
Suddenly Robb spoke up [Warning! Warning! Six missiles coming from the left!]
"Man, these guys are really serious about putting us down!" said Falco.
"Might as well turn it into wishful thinking! You girls definitely came at the right time to lend a laser cannon," said Naruto as he boosted towards one of the missiles with Miyu and Fay following after him.
"Ain't that the truth," said Miyu playfully.
"We'll keep the others busy while you three go take care of the missile!" said Peppy.
The trio zoomed towards the target as fast as their starfighters can produce, a small group of invader IIIs intercepted them in an attempt to prevent them from obstructing the missile. Naruto moved in front of the group and performed a barrel roll to deflect the incoming shots then Miyu and Fay opened fire and shot them all down. They finally reached up to the missile and proceeded to shoot at it multiple times, the missile held fast but the lasers soon penetrated its shell and exploded before it could get any closer to the Great Fox.
"That's one down! Let's keep this up!" said Fay cheerfully.
[Missiles 2 and 3 approaching!] said Robb.
"I'm heading for the missiles now!" said Fox.
"Same here!" said Falco.
"You got some enemies pursuing you, we'll keep them off!" Naruto activated his boost and charged towards the enemy fighters on the other side of the sector. Fox and Falco had soon arrived at the approaching and proceeded to attack them with their laser cannons, they took it further by firing a nova bomb at each missile, completely destroying them.
"That's two more missiles down! We're only halfway there!" said Fox.
[Missiles 4, 5 and 6 approaching!]
"Here comes the last batch, I'm heading over to destroy them!" said Slippy as he made his way to the missiles.
"Make way for Katt!" said feline pilot was also heading for the missiles.
"I'm a little busy over here!" said Peppy who was defending the Great Fox against the fighters attacking it.
"Miyu and I are heading over too!" Naruto spoke up.
With the others currently occupied with the Invader IIIs, the rest of the group moved towards the remaining three missiles, they all starting shooting at them with some charging up hyper shots for extra damage. Naruto, Fox and Slippy fired their nova bombs for a combined strike to create a colossal explosion to destroy all three missiles at once.
Music End
"Alright, we got them all!" said Fay happily.
"That was a lot of fun, but now's the time for me to go. Don't forget that you owe me Falco," said Katt.
"Hmph," Falco simply looked away with huff as the feline giggled at him.
"You guys are on your own, good luck," then Katt left them towards who knows where.
"What about you girls, care to stick around and continue helping us out?" asked Naruto, hoping that they would say yes. After all, it's been awhile since his seclusion.
"We would like to, but General Pepper gave us permission to come here but after that we're to return to base," said Miyu, hating the fact that she and Fay can't stay with Naruto.
"Oh I see,"
"But you should still do your best like you always do Naruto!" said Fay, getting the fox Faunus to perk up.
"Alright, then I'll see you girls after all this is over," said Naruto.
"Ditto, see you around," Miyu and Fay then flew off after saying goodbye to the others.
"Robb, is everything okay?" asked Fox worriedly.
[The Great Fox is okay] Robb responded.
"That was a close call," said Falco.
"I couldn't agree more, but we got the bad guys on the run" said Peppy.
"Yeah, we sent them running with their tails between their legs," said Slippy with a smirk.
"True, but I think it's about time for them to learn what happens when they bit off more than what they can chew," said Naruto with a look of mischief.
[I couldn't agree more, I found something interesting on the Intel which I'm sure you'll want to hear] said Levy.
"Alright then, we're returning to the launch bay," said Fox, then the team flew back to the Great Fox and learn of the information which Levy has found.
This is Hussbek online with the latest chapter, the team discovers that planet Zoness had been taken over without the Cornerian Army learning of it with Falco revealing that he used to live there before joining the team. They took a stealthy approach in taking down the enemy albeit being sad upon seeing how the oceans were polluted, along the way they were joined by a pilot by the name Katt who happens to be an acquaintance of Falco and assisted them in accomplishing their mission. Later on, Naruto and the others were traversing through Sector Z but then they were suddenly ambushed by Andross's forces but fought. The battle was tough with the enemy even using large missiles to attack the Great Fox, however Katt appeared again but this time Miyu and Fay came along to help out for a while before returning. Now the team return to the ship to find out exactly what interesting information that Levy has found.
Be sure to read and review as always.
This is Hussbek from Ghana.
Signing out.
