FLIGHT OF THE KITSUNE STAR STRIKER

Chapter 11: Clearing out Traces

It's been a couple of years since the Venomian wars, the Lylat System has returned to peace and prosperity after the defeat of Andross by the Star Fox team. The people of various planets would be heard praising this group in gratitude with them being ever modest as always. However, the life of a mercenary group like theirs in a peaceful world has put a serious damper in terms of excitement and income since few would have needs for their services.

Fox McCloud, the leader of the Star Fox team has become noticeably frustrated, he and everyone else are feeling that their skills aren't being put into good use in the least…and that isn't the only reason why he felt that way personally. Another pressing matter would be the state of the team's flagship, the Great Fox. The lack of funds meant for the maintenance as well as paying for large debt in construction of said ship has led to its deterioration, the mechanics Slippy Toad and Julia the Dragon Faunus with help from Levy McGarden could barely keep up with the repairs.

Nothing's changed for Falco Lombardi, he's still uncooperative and frequently picks fights with Fox and Naruto though he prefers the former more. The team's senior member Peppy hare along with the main medic Lilli, has been acting as the mediator between the three, although he can't perceive the subtleties hidden the relationship between Fox and Falco.

As for Naruto, things changed for the fox Faunus over the years. He still searches for Sasuke at every opportune moment to uphold his promise to Mikoto and Itachi but toned it down a bit on account of the team's financial status. Another thing was that he's found himself in a relationship with Julia, Levy, Miyu and Fay. How that happened is a story for another time as Naruto was suddenly snapped out of his musing when the door to his room slid open and Julia walked in, looking a bit exhausted.

"Hey there Julia-chan, another repair on the ship?" asked Naruto as he sat up on his bed.

Julia went to sit next to the blonde faunus and laid her head on his shoulders and snuggled close to him "Yeah, we're doing our best to keep this ship from falling apart. But I don't know how long we can keep this up,"

"I know, the problem is that our services aren't needed that much now that the galaxy is at peace, hence no income in the least," then Naruto noticed something "Hey, where's Levy-chan?"

Julia was about to answer when the door opened once more and a blur came through to slam into Naruto's stomach, causing him to grunt in pain before looking down to see the harpy pouting at him before turning to the dragon girl.

"That's so mean of Julie-chan, we agreed to spend time with Naruto together on the weekends according to the schedule made and officiated," said Levy with a cute frown which soon disappeared when Naruto rubbed her head with a chuckle.

"I'm sure Julia was just playing around with you Levy-chan, like how Miyu does with you and Fay. Given our current situation, wants to lighten things up a bit," said Naruto in a placating manner.

"Boo, I can't stay mad when you put things that way,"

Naruto chuckled once more but let out a small sigh mentally "Man, it's really getting to me that I can't do anything nice for the when our nest egg is reduced to a small pile of change. I could have taken them out on dates too,"

Suddenly the door opened…again with Chopper running inside looking rather panicked "Naruto, we have a problem!"

"What's the matter Chopper?" Naruto sat up from the bed with the girls being a little upset at having their quality time being interrupted.

"It's Falco, he's gone to Titania!" said Chopper, surprising them.

"What? But why?" asked Julia confusedly.

"Well I was at the bridge watching Fox and Falco playing video games when we received an SOS from Katt Munroe but it was all garbled up, then Falco took off in his Arwing before we could say anything,"

"Hmmm, we better go and check in with Fox and Peppy on what they think about this," said Naruto as he got off the bed and led everyone out of his room and into the bridge where Peppy, Slippy and Fox accompanied by Lilli were having a conversation about the current matter.

"Katt doesn't exactly have a spotless record, I reckon that they're up to no good," said Peppy with a frown.

"I don't think so…I mean the message sounded pretty genuine, she might really be in trouble," said Slippy, apparently wanting to follow after Falco to help.

Fox silently listened to the two before finally speaking up "ROB, set a course for Titania,"

Peppy was taken by surprise at the decision "Huh? Fox!"

Naruto spoke up as well "He's got the right idea Peppy-jiji, we need to go after Falco plus Katt helped us out a couple of times during the Venomian War. We kinda owe her a favor and now we can pay her back for it,"

Peppy wanted to refute but found logic in the blonde Faunus' words before letting out a sigh "Very well then, we'll head over to Titania and find out exactly what is going on there,"

"Beginning departure for Titania," said ROB, taking over the navigational controls of the Great Fox and having it go into hyperdrive with the remaining crew taking their seats and wondering just what is it that they're going to encounter there. Naruto went back to his room to pick up the Dragon Blade which he could have sworn he heard a soft growl from it and pocketed Pandora in its cubed form before returning to the bridge. Soon they exited from the hyperdrive with ROB making an announcement.

"We are now approaching Titania," said ROB, everyone looked out the window to see the Great Fox making its descent towards what appears to be a military base.

"Corneria has a base in Titania now, doesn't it?" asked Fox.

"Yeah, they've been studying the ancient ruins ever since the war was over," Slippy explained.

"Base or no base, I'm just worried about Falco and his friends," said Peppy.

"Well, we could ask the ones in charge if they had seen Falco-san or tell us of anything that might have something to do with the reason why Katt made that SOS call to us," said Lilli.

"Sounds like the best move we can do for now. Given how large this planet is, Falco or Katt can be pretty much anywhere," said Naruto thoughtfully.

The team disembarked from the ship save for Chopper, Lilli, and ROB that decided to remain behind to watch over the ship then were escorted by the Cornerian soldiers, though they mildly noted some differences in the attires but paid little mind to that on the assumption of minor changes in the army while they were gone. They finally arrived at the office where a Cornerian hound dressed in green military regalia with a pair of black tinted glasses stood before them.

"Welcome to Titania, Star Fox! I'm Captain Shears, I'm the ranking officer here at the base," said the Cornerian militant.

Fox nodded in affirmation "My name is Fox McCloud, I'm the leader of the Star Fox team. I'll get to the point, Captain. One of our teammates is up to something here on this planet,"

"Oh, I haven't noticed anything suspicious," Captain Shears turned towards one of the Cornerian soldiers "Have you lieutenant?"

"No sir," the soldier shook his head in response.

"Regardless, we will look into it,"

"Thanks, I really appreciate it,"

"But there is one thing I would like to ask of you, a favor if you will. You see, there's been an incident,"

This caught the attention of the crew before Fox spoke up "We're listening, what kind of incident?"


Elsewhere, Falco had met up with Katt Munroe after saving her from a Goras right before it attacked her. Now they're currently sitting on a rock under the dull moonlight having a conversation and catching up on old times.

"So let get this straight, you and the Hotrodders stole digital blueprints about a weapon from Captain Shears who's been pursuing you relentlessly to get it back, am I right so far?" asked Falco.

Katt nodded in affirmation "That's right, seems like whatever we stole must be very important to him and it even contained the name Andross,"

Falco frowned upon hearing that "That sounds suspicious alright,"

"You know…it's been a while since we last sat together like this," said Kat with a look of nostalgia "Things were so nice back then,"

"What, and they're not nice now?" asked Falco with a quirked eyebrow.

"Oh come on Falco!" Katt was silent for a moment before speaking up again "By the way…have you gotten yourself a girlfriend yet?"

Falco was taken by surprise at the question as he certainly wasn't expecting her to ask him something like that, but managed to come up with a response "No way! Never have and never will. I'm a solo pilot, no need for a partner,"

"Still huh?"

"What about you, got a boyfriend yet?"

"Actually…yeah,"

Falco glanced at Katt to see her smiling softly at the answer before smiling as well "Heh…good for you,"


"Well Star Fox, do you all understand?" Captain Shears finished telling the crew of the incident who were surprised at what they're hearing.

"So basically, there are surviving members of Andross's army here on this planet and they're developing weapons to start another war?" asked Slippy in shock.

"I still can't believe what I'm hearing!" said Peppy in disbelief.

"Have you contacted General Pepper about this?" asked Naruto urgently.

"We tried but the connections to Corneria had been severed by the enemy," Captain Shears responded.

"And they're planning on a second attack which can be at anytime," said Julia with her arms crossed.

"Not to mention that we're the only ones that know of it," said Peppy.

Fox was silent this whole time before speaking up "In that case, we'll get right on it," Naruto nodded in agreement.

"I'm grateful for your help, this is the ship which the main leaders were seen to transport in frequently," Captain Shears gestured to a screen on the wall which displayed what appears to be a submarine-like vehicle with the title 'River Pig' on it "I wish you luck in your endeavors,"

"Mch appreciated, Alright team, let's move out!" said Fox with the group nodding in affirmation as they left the base for the Great Fox.

A team consisting of Naruto, Fox and Slippy took flight in their starfighters as Peppy has now retired from the frontlines due to age but chose to keep in contact alongside ROB and Levy. The trio decided to split up to cover more ground to locate their target and hopefully find Falco as well.

Naruto was currently looking around the sandy landscape from the Kitsune Striker in search of the objective but he couldn't help but think about certain oddities concerning the mission. Captain Shears said that he couldn't contact the main force over at Corneria and yet Katt was able to contact them despite the channel being unstable, could this incident and the SOS call share a link? Also why did the base seem so relaxed when this incident concerning Andross's army should have put them in high alert, he's beginning to suspect that the captain withheld some information from them.

"When we get back to the Great Fox, I'll-" Naruto was cut off upon the comm suddenly turning on and Fox spoke up.

[Naruto, Slippy! I found the target, my position is- *Static*]

"Fox come in, repeat your last transmission!" said Naruto urgently but received only static so he chose to contact someone else "Levy-chan, can you give me coordinates on Fox's last position?"

[Will do, something seems to be blocking the current signal though] said Levy.

[Better hurry over there, this could be the work of the enemy. Slippy will be there soon!] said Peppy.

"Roger that!" a couple seconds later, the console beeped before displaying map with a blinking red dot showing where Fox was last, he immediately banked hard to the right in the direction before increasing speed. He drew closer to the marked spot when he took note of something bright from the corner of his eye and looked to see some sort of explosion before flying over to check it out and the next thing he knew…

"YYYOOOUU IIIIDIOOOOOTTT!"

He was at the hangar bay with his ears ringing as he watched Peppy yelled at a scorched Fox who was currently being tended to by a worried Lilli and assisted by Chopper.

"…I'm sorry," said Fox apologetically.

"What did you think you were doing? Falco's your teammate!" said Peppy angrily and he wasn't wrong with the statement in the least bit.

"But he started it,"

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT!" Naruto had covered his ears in time for Peppy's response "For God's sake, what would your father think?" Fox's head slumped in shame upon hearing that, then he felt a hand on his shoulder and looked back to see Lilli looking at him with a soft smile, cheering him up a bit.

"Please calm down, at least Fox and his Arwing made it out okay. But I'm really worried about Falco," said Slippy with concern "I saw his ship's engine giving off a lot of smoke, he won't make it very far in that condition,"

If it weren't for that signal jam, we would have gotten there sooner to prevent all this from happening," said Levy with a small frown.

"Besides that, another question would be why Falco attacked you Fox?" asked Naruto confusedly.

"Care to tell us how all this happened?" asked Peppy, still irritated.

"Well…," Fox proceeded to tell the crew what happened from his point of view.

He had managed to locate the target ship and was trying to contact the team but was prevented via a signal jammer, it was then he saw an Arwing emerge from the ship and recognized the pilot to be Falco who began shooting at him without warning and so he returned fire. The dogfight escalated quickly from there which soon led to that explosion the others came to meet with his ship damaged and Falco flying away in a similar state.

"…I see, but why would Falco come out of one of Andross's ships?" said Peppy thoughtfully.

"To be honest, I think the whole thing doesn't make any sense plus that Shears guy gives off bad vibes," said Fox.

"Seems like I'm not the only one thinking that way, I suspect that the captain isn't telling us everything we need to know since he doesn't want us to," said Naruto.

"You're right, the base is too quiet for a place that is supposedly in danger," said Peppy.

"Then we'll need to search for the true answers ourselves," said Julia with Levy nodding in agreement.

"But…but…why do I have to be the one to do it?!" yelled Slippy who was currently driving the Landmaster through the desert terrain.

[Because Fox's Arwing needs to be repaired and Naruto's hanging back in case we detect any sudden activities before going to investigate] Peppy explained.

"Why couldn't you have gone instead?" the toad pouted at the unfairness of it all.

[Because I'm too old now, so stop complaining!]

"Funny how you're suddenly so acutely aware of your age…,"

[Hang in there Slip, if anything goes wrong, then just contact us] said Naruto.

"Okay, I will,"

[I'll be signing off now, there's too big of a risk that the enemy might be listening in on our channel] said Peppy before ending the channel, but he couldn't help but feel worried "Maybe it wasn't a good idea to send him alone,"

"He should be fine, he did fly his own Arwing after all and he knows more about the Landmaster than I do," said Fox.

"If anything, I can always go to check on him in the Kitsune Striker," Naruto added.

ROB suddenly spoke up "Incoming transmission,"

"From who, Captain Shears?" asked Fox, not feeling quite ready to the person right now.

"It's from the ship belonging to Andross's army," this surprised everyone as they suddenly snapped to attention.

"Put it on screen!" said Fox urgently.

"Yes sir, establishing connection,"

The main screen turned on only to display Katt Munroe and the rest of her crew much to their shock once more.

[Fox McCloud, I want to talk to you! You rotten furball!] said Katt angrily with her friend Kool trying to calm her down.

"Katt? What are you doing on Andross's ship?" asked Fox in confusion.

"What are you talking about?" Kool was just as confused from the statement.

"You mean you aren't part of Andross's army?" asked Levy.

[Of course we aren't! I wouldn't have helped you during the war if that was the case!] said an irritable Katt.

"Okay okay, let's back things up here. First of all, what are you all doing here on Titania?" asked Fox.

The gang seemed quite hesitant on answering that question, but then again they did call Falco who's a member of the Star Fox team hence indirectly involving them as well so withholding information won't benefit either of them.

So Kool was the one to speak up since Katt was still angry at Fox for fighting with Falco [Well the thing is we received a tip from one of our informants that the base was doing some hi-tech research]

"Aha! So you decided to steal the data and sell it to the highest bidder, but then they caught on to it," said Peppy, his feeling about the group being up to no good was confirmed.

"And that's when you called Falco to help you out," said Julia.

[That's right] Kool affirmed.

"Hang on a second, then why would Shears tell us that it was Andross's army instead of you guys? What would he have to hide?" said Fox thoughtfully.

"Maybe there's something about the data that he doesn't want anyone to know about, especially the Cornerian Defence Force since we would have spoken to them about it," said Levy.

"Which leaves us to ask if you have taken a look at the data," said Peppy.

[No, we haven't yet] Kool replied.

"Then let us have a look at it,"

Katt wasn't too happy about that and responded as such [What?! After all we went through to get it?!]

[…alright, we'll do it, if it means you'll help us with this] said Kool before typing on the keyboard to send the file.

"File received, inspecting contents," said ROB.

[Heh, and to think that you thought we were the ones behind the weapon]

"Well we never had any reason to doubt anyone from the Cornerian Defence Force until now," said Naruto with a shrug of the shoulders.

ROB then spoke up "Analysis complete, the data contains no reference to a weapon,"

[What?!] Kool wasn't the only one surprised as everyone else were caught off guard.

"Then what does it contain?" asked Chopper curiously.

"It instead contains DNA coding for a living being," said ROB.

"What kind of living being?" asked Fox.

"Perhaps some kind of animal meant for war?" Lilli suggested thoughtfully.

"Now simulating," ROB activated the holo projector, it displayed a DNA strand at first before gradually forming the figure of the being, however as it developed, the group began to recognize what it is…but it wasn't what they expected to see.

"Wha…no…NO!" Fox took a step back in shock.

Naruto rubbed his eyes repeatedly "It can't be…I must be seeing things!"

The being was now fully formed for all to see that it was none other than…

"ANDROSS!"

What they were looking at was none other than the mad scientist who was the very reason for the Venomian War and whom they defeated all those years ago. No one was expecting to see him even as a DNA strand.

"Scary!" Chopper went to hide behind Naruto's leg in fear, even Lilli was intimidated and stood next to Fox in worry.

"They weren't trying to reconstruct any weapon, they're reconstructing Andross himself!" said Fox.

[What does this mean?!] asked Katt who's just as shocked, she most definitely wasn't expecting to steal something containing data relating to the mad scientist in the least bit.

"Looks like we got a traitor in the Cornerian Defence Force," said Julia with a frown.

"And to think that they passed it off as research and we fell for it, if they bring him back from the dead…another war will begin!" said Peppy with great concern.

"We mustn't let that happen!" said Levy worriedly.

"Oh no, we've got to call Slippy back right now! He can't handle this on his own! ROB, call him back now!" said Peppy urgently.

"I…I have something to tell you…," said ROB hesitantly, causing everyone to have a bad feeling "A little while ago, we lost signal from the Landmaster,"

"Darn it, we're too late!"

"Well it's obvious what we need to do now, storm the base to save Slippy and stop Shears before he can complete resurrecting Andross!" said Naruto with eyes full of determination.

"It goes without saying," Fox turned to the screen "I'll be needing help from you for this to work,"

[And you have it, but what about Falco?] asked Kool.

"Falco's okay, I'm sure of it. I bet he'll even show up when we get there," said Naruto.

[I hope you're right] said Katt.

"Alright, let's gear up and prepare for the rescue operation!" said Fox, getting nods of affirmation before leaving the bridge to prepare as such.

Sometime later, Fox and the others had left the Great Fox and met of with Katt and the other members of the Hotrodders and are currently hiding behind some large rocks.

"Peppy, you got a full view of the place?" Fox spoke through the headset adorned to his head with the same going for Naruto wearing one as well.

[Yep, there's no movement so far] Peppy replied.

[I've finished mapping the interior of the base] said ROB.

[And I've hacked the soldiers' comms and overlaid their signals on the map] said Levy.

[Ok, Fox, Naruto, we're ready when you are] said Peppy.

"Okay," Fox turned to the others "Remember to stick to the plan,"

"No sweat, leave it to us!" said Kool.

"I'd rather cough up a hairball than work with you, but if it means taking these guys out, so be it," said Katt with a small frown.

"Head to the main computer room first, it's where we got the data," said Kool.

Fox and Naruto nodded in affirmation before the former spoke "Alright then, let's go!"

The group ran out from behind the cover of the rocks with Fox and Naruto in the lead whilst the Hotrodders proceeded to open fire at the patrolling sentries. Fox lashed out with an aerial roundhouse kick at one of the soldiers and simultaneously fired a shot from his blaster to take out another. Naruto was dashing towards a trio of soldiers and rapidly darted from side to side to deploy some Accel Decoys to confuse them before somersaulting overhead to land behind them then lashed out with the Dragon Blade while it's still sheathed at the back of their necks with enough force to knock them out.

"Let's move Fox, while the others buy us some time!" said Naruto urgently.

"Right!" Fox followed after Naruto as they ran into the building and engaged several more of the enemy. Naruto took point as he unsheathed the Dragon Blade and was rapidly deflecting the shots being fired at them and Fox would return fire with his blaster to take them down but several more would come to replace the ones defeated.

[More soldiers are heading your way!] said Levy urgently.

"Fox, go on ahead and find Slippy while I keep these guys at bay!" said Naruto while still deflecting the blasts fired at them.

"Are you sure?" Fox was unsure of leaving him behind.

"No worries, I got this!"

"Alright then, I'm counting on you!" Fox took off down a hallway with Peppy serving as his guide to locate their friend.

Naruto let out a smirk as he reached into his pouch to bring out a familiar cube before tapping the fox emblem with a finger for it to glow then enlarge into its default form being the briefcase "Got a surprise package for ya! Pandora, execute PF262: Jealousy!" he crouched on one knee as he placed the briefcase on the ground as it glowed for a moment before splitting open into four sections, allowing six-gun barrels to exit, then the fox emblem juts out to reveal a bandolier "Feeling lucky now, punks?" the gun barrels began spinning, causing the soldiers to hastily hide behind the passageways right before Naruto opened fire boring millions of holes into the walls "This ain't all that it can do, ya better give up now before I bring out the really big guns!"

Meanwhile, Fox was running through the passages, dodging behind walls to evade shots fired at him from the soldiers before shooting back at them "Which way am I heading to the prison, Peppy?"

[Not much further Fox, just two hundred meters away!] said Peppy.

[Take the next left corridor then a right to avoid a group of soldiers approaching your position] said Levy, rapidly typing on the keyboard to mess with the enemies' comm channels to make things a bit easier.

"Okay!" Fox continued to follow the directions.

[Just a little more…one hundred…fifty…okay, you're there!]

"Got it!" Fox stopped before a locked door and shot at the control panel with his blaster, forcing it open before looking inside "Slippy, are you in here?!" Sure enough, he found Slippy who was currently bound with ropes and quickly went over to untie him.

"Fox! I'm so glad you came, I just knew you'd come to get me!" said Slippy tearfully.

"And I'm not the only one, Naruto's practically gone berserk on those guys for having kidnapped you," said Fox with a smile, finally untying his friend before leaving the room together "Now our next agenda would be t-"

"There they are!" a voice rang out for the duo to see a soldier having spotted them and prepared to fire with his blaster.

"Darn it, this way Slippy!" Fox took off with the bullfrog right on his heels as shots were fired from behind them but thankfully were missing their targets, the duo kept running until coming across an open door "Quick, in there!" they quickly ran inside with Slippy hastily sealing the door shut via the control panel.

"Fox, are you alright?" asked Slippy.

"I'm fine, what about you?" Fox replied.

"Couldn't be better,"

"I wonder where we are?"

Fox looked around the dimly lit room to see that they're currently in some sort of laboratory and at the center of it is a large glass tube containing green liquid whilst connected through multiple cables to several consoles constantly letting out beeping sounds. Within the tube is what appears to be a gigantic pink brain with whip-like tentacles below the medulla and a pair of large eyeballs.

The leader of the Star Fox team took a step back in horror at the sight before him "ANDROSS?! My God, it's true! It's all true!"

"He's back, he's going to get us!" said Slippy in a panic.

"Heh heh…my, aren't we observant," a voice spoke up and the duo turned to see Captain Shears walked down a flight of stairs next to the container "Do you like him? I'm proud of him myself,"

"Shears!" Fox aimed his blaster towards the traitor "So this is what you were up to! Some research!"

Without warning, Fox was suddenly blindsided by a black blur and knocked to the ground with his blaster skidding away from his grip. He sat up to see a genetically spliced boar equipped with black armor and a spiked ball adorned at the tail end trotting up next to Shears.

"I see you took the liberty of hacking into our data, it's a shame really…," Shears' calm persona rapidly changed to that of a maniac "SINCE YOU WON'T LIVE TO TELL ABOUT IT!" he jumped onto the saddle and unsheathed his sword before having the boar charge at Fox "Now die, Fox McCloud!"

Fox quickly rolled to the side to avoid both the tackle and the slash following afterwards, then he somersaulted backwards to evade the swing of the spiked tail from the boar. Slippy poked his head out from behind the computer console to look at Fox in worry.

"Fox is in trouble…," Slippy looked up towards the incomplete form of Andross "But I got to do something about this guy, maybe I can figure out how to abort the process," he approaches the console after making sure that Fox has Shears complete attention and was about to access it when a deep voice spoke.

"I…am…I…am…Andross…I am…Andross…who…are…you…?" Slippy looked up to see the large eyeballs staring down at him "I do not know you,"

"He…he isn't complete yet, he doesn't have all of his memories!" Slippy rapidly tapped on the keyboard as quickly as he could "Maybe I can shut it down before he reaches his full growth or least slow down the process!"

The eyes looked away from the bullfrog towards the two fighting in the background, paying most of its attention on one of them "I…I know…I know who…you…are…Fox…!"

Outside the base, the Hotrodders were able to hold the soldiers at bay when suddenly the large bay doors opened up and they were taken by surprise upon the emergence of a Golas which Katt recognized to be the very same one which attacked her before Falco came to her rescue. They fought back the best they could but it wasn't having any effect whatsoever.

"Katt, we need to get out of here! Nothing we do is having an effect on that thing!" said one of the Hotrodders in worry.

"We can't, how are Fox and the others going to escape if we abandoned them?!" said Katt in anger.

"Man, I wish Falco was here," another Hotrodder muttered lowly.

Katt thought back to when Falco left the gang, he scolded her about relying on him too much and that she should be more independent with his last words being 'You don't need me,'. She looked up towards the Golas ad spoke up "You guys go on without me,"

"What? What you mean by that?!"

Katt remained undeterred "I can handle it on my own,"

Kool walked up next to here with a smile on his face "You always were hotheaded,"

"Oh come on, are you two crazy?! We can't leave you behind!" said the other two Hotrodders.

"Well you can't stop me," said Katt with a smirk.

"HA! Still stubborn as ever I see!" a familiar voice spoke up through their headsets, causing the group to look up to the sky to see an Arwing flying towards them and realized who it is.

"It's Falco!" said Katt in surprise.

Falco took aim and fired rapidly with his laser cannon, inflicting actual damage compared to the Hotrodders firearms with the beast roaring loudly in pain and anger. The monster remained standing and faced Falco with its mouth wide open and concentrated a green orb of energy within it.

"What's coming out of its mouth, some sort of beam?" asked Kool confusedly.

Katt called out in worry "Falco, get out of the way!"

The Golas fired an energy beam as they suspected, but Falco remained on point and responded "No worries, I got this!" he increased his speed and the tip of the Arwing emitted a green cone of energy. Right as the beam was on top of him…it began bending upwards, leaving the starfighter completely unharmed safe for a slight combustion on the engine.

"I see what he's doing, he's somehow manipulating the beam with the shield energy from his Arwing!" said one of the Hotrodders.

"Right from the cockpit?!" said Kool in shock.

"That guy's a real daredevil,"

The Golas prepared to fire yet another energy beam but Arwing's speed was far more than enough to pierce right through akin to that of a bullet fired, instantly defeating it with the remains crashing to the ground. It almost fell on Katt if not for Kool pulling her away in time with the former being grateful to the latter, Falco was watching from above with a smile on his face before taking off.

Back inside the base, Fox was doing everything he can to avoid the incoming strikes from Shears and his armored boar, right now he can't go into an offensive without a proper weapon as of now. He jumped back from a thrust by Shears and ended up stumbling through a double door and fell to the ground, finding himself within a regal room full of ornamental decoration, slightly gagging at a portrait of Andross. Shears followed him in with a sneer on his face.

"How long do you plan on running away?" Shears pointed his sword at him "It's about time we finished this don't you think?"

Fox looked around for something to use "I need a weapon…Aha!" he spotted a pair of dueling swords hanging from a coat of arms and quickly grabbing one of them and taking a ready stance "I'm ready when you are, go ahead!"

"Don't mind if I do!"

Shears charged forward and lashed out with his sword which Fox skillfully parried, annoying the treacherous captain to attack more ferociously. Fox maintained focus and constantly deflected the incoming strikes until finally seeing an opportunity as he reared back before performing a swift thrust of his sword. Shears quickly used the broadside of his blade to block but the power from the thrust was enough to actually break the blade in half much to his shock and Fox lashed out with a roundhouse kick to knock him off the boar before holding him at swordpoint

"Looks like you lose Shears, surrender now!" said Fox.

Shears growled in anger "Why you-" he suddenly glanced sideways, causing Fox to become wary and heard the sound of hooves before turning to see the boar charging towards them which forced him back only for Shears to quickly jump onto the saddle and ride out of the room "Ha ha ha ha! We haven't finished yet Fox!"

"Dang it!" Fox ran after him pursuit "I won't let you escape!"

"But I will and you'll pay soon enough!" Shears replied.

However, due to facing Fox backwards, Shears was unaware of something appearing from the shadows in front…a giant disembodied head of a primate with white fur framing around his face and appears to be very old but the eyes of maddened rage and was crushed underneath it.

"FOX!" the head roared in rage.

Fox gasped in shock and familiarity "Andross!"

"I remember it all, you miserable piece of filth! I'll kill you!" Andross opened his mouth and began inhaling everything in sight, Fox struggled against the force but was gradually being pulled towards the insane clone. He was about to throw the sword into one of its eyes when a voice called out from behind

"Pandora, execute PF013: Epidemic!" then a pair of rockets flew over Fox's head and into Andross's mouth to make him stop inhaling before his face bulged for a couple seconds with steam coming out of his ears and nose then his mouth as he screamed out loud in pain. Fox turned around to see Naruto standing behind him whilst holding an over-and-under, double barrel bow-rocket launcher with frill-like panels coming out from the sides, and the fox emblem is in between the two barrels with a golden gear around it before reverting to its base form as a briefcase "Talk about a one trick pony, just like the original,"

"Naruto, boy your timing couldn't have been any better!" said Fox in relief.

"Expect no less from me, where's Slippy?" asked Naruto.

"I'm over here, Naruto," both turned only to be surprised upon seeing Slippy covered in some sort of green slime.

"I'm not gonna ask, let's get a move on!"

They saw Andross flailing about in pain and bashed his head against one of the walls, causing it to crumble and revealing a room which appears to be a garage containing vehicles and spotted one which they're familiar with.

"There's the Landmaster!" said Fox.

"Then you guys should get in while I hold the monkey off!" Naruto hand Pandora transform into its Jealousy Form before opening fire at Andross who looked at the fox Faunus with his remaining eye and growled upon recognizing him.

"You! Naruto Uzumaki! I'll destroy you as well as McCloud!" Andross roared madly.

"I'll like to see you try, ya crazy monkey! Pandora, execute PF442: Grief!" the briefcase transformed into a tri-blade shuriken with spade tips. The blades are connected by a large, gold gear that is sandwiched between the black rectangular armor plates with the handles on the end of the black plates on the underside of Grief and connecting all these portions is a large silver cylinder with the fox emblem on it. Naruto flung the tri-blade shuriken for it to ricochet off the walls and slicing at Andross's face multiple times, making him roar in pain.

"Naruto, get out of the way so I can finish Andross off with a Nova Bomb!" Fox called out, having driven the Landmaster into position with the cannon aimed at the evil clone.

"You can't do that, he's too close plus the base will collapse right on top of us!" Slippy protested in fear.

"Slippy's right, not to mention that I've got something that will blast a way out for us and take out Andross," said Naruto, having caught Pandora earlier and saw the fox emblem glowing "And it's all charged up!"

"Then go for it!" said Fox urgently.

"I will destroy you Star Fox!" said Andross, approaching them with such intentions.

Naruto faced Andross with a look of determination "Not gonna happened, be sure to send our regards to the original in hell for us will ya? Pandora, execute PF398: Revenge!" he had the briefcase transform into a large steampunk-designed laser cannon about Naruto's size. It has a round, silver core with armor black plating on the top and bottom, there's a curved fin on top and a large gold gear on the bottom. There are black cylinders on either side, and it has motorcycle-esque handles on the shooters side. The cannon emitted a narrow ray of light to act as a laser target as Naruto took aim at Andross's forehead.

"Hasta la vista, Baby," Naruto pulled the trigger for the laser cannon to fire a massive beam of beam with an output that could be compared to that of the Great Fox, completely obliterating Andross as he let out a deathly scream, this also caused the base to begin crumbling so Naruto had Pandora shrink into a cube form and ran over to enter the Landmaster despite the tight squeeze "Get going Fox! The exit's right in front of us!"

"Right!" Fox quickly activated the boosters for the Landmaster to accelerate rapidly as they went through the openings made by the Pandora with the debris falling all around them.

Outside, everyone else were watching with tension as the base was crumbling to the group, they had tried contacting Fox and the others through their headsets but got nothing but static which made them even more concerned.

"No…are they…is Fox…Huh?" Kool then noticed something bursting out from the base right before it was completely destroyed and landed on the ground with a loud thump.

They looked to see that it was the Landmaster but seriously damaged from its escapade from the base. The hatch opened up to reveal Fox coming out of it and was soon followed by Naruto much to everyone's relief.

"Fox!" they looked up to see others running towards them, Naruto got tackled to the ground by Levy and Julia.

"We're so glad to see you're okay!" said Levy happily.

"Please don't scare us like that again!" said Julia.

"Sorry about that girls, I'll try harder next time," Naruto hugged them back happily.

Fox smiled when he felt himself being embraced and looked to see that it was Lilli hugging him, causing him to blush "I'm also glad to see you return safely to us,"

"Oh uh…yeah," Fox was feeling a bit shy around her, but enjoyed it nonetheless.

"So the mission was a success in a way…," said Peppy with a smile.

"Yep, Naruto made sure that the Andross clone was dealt with," said Fox.

"By the way, where's Slippy?" asked Peppy curiously.

"I'm right here Peppy," the hare turned round only to scream in shock upon seeing a slime covered Slippy right behind him, and he wasn't the only one.

"Aaaaaahhhhh! It's a slime monster!" Chopper ran to hid behind ROB who already knew that it was Slippy.

"Get back you slime ball!" Peppy stepped back in fear.

"Hey, that's not nice! It's really me!" Slippy approached them in protest, making them panic even more, Naruto and the others were laughing at the sight of this.

Fox then heard Falco's voice through his headset [Hey Fox, looks like you and the others were able to get things done without me. I would like to go it alone if you don't mind] he looked look to the sky to see Falco's Arwing gradually leaving the planet [I'm sure we'll meet again, and could you please tell Katt something for me…well until next time] then the channel was cut.

Fox shook his head with a smile "Hmph, still acting all cool,"

"Looks like Falco's decided to be reckless again," said Peppy.

"…looks like it,"

"No surprise there, Falco hates getting bored from the time spent with him," said Naruto with his arms crossed.

Fox then turned towards Katt and her gang "Hey Katt, Falco wanted me to pass along a message to you,"

"Huh?" Katt blinked in confusion.

"He said 'It's time for you and your friends to get out of that messy business',"

Katt was taken by surprise at his words but then understood the meaning, she looked up to the sky with a smile on her face "Falco…thank you,"


Four years, things have pretty much gone back to normal which in other words is being extremely bored and low on cash. The remaining members of the Star Fox team were at the bridge doing anything to keep themselves occupied to avoid going stir-crazy. Naruto sat cross-legged on a cushion and using a whetstone on the Dragon Blade which was growling lowly in enjoyment of it, Levy was leaning against Naruto's back while reading a book and Julia was sitting next to Naruto and drawing a blueprint about a gadget which she has in mind for Naruto to try out. ROB was navigating the Great Fox whilst Slippy and Fox were playing a game which the former had made, and Lilli and Chopper were reading some medical books to pass the time like Levy.

"Aw darn, I lost again!" said Slippy in disappointment.

"You're not making a very good rival for me besides Naruto, Slippy," said Fox, having not played that seriously against the bullfrog "How can you lose at a game that you made?"

"Are you all slacking off again?!" Peppy came inside with a frown on his face "Have you ever thought of doing some work?!"

"But…there isn't any work," said Slippy.

"Morons! If there isn't any then make some!"

"Make work? Then who's gonna pay us…ourselves?" thought Naruto with a sweatdrop.

"ROB, do we have any new job requests?" asked Fox.

"Negative, our current request log is at zero," said ROB.

"Oh man, if we don't get a job soon, I'm gonna go nuts!" said Naruto in frustration.

"We're all bored Naruto, and I don't know how much longer the Great Fox will last," said Julia.

"However, I do have concern for this planet," said ROB, drawing everyone's attention. The robot activated the holo projector to display a planet but it was its current state which shocked them.

"Whoa, that planet! It's…its...," Fox stammered in disbelief.

"It's breaking apart!" Peppy finished the sentence for him.

"I hope the inhabitants are okay," said Lilli in worry.

"The planet is known as Dinosaur Planet and *Static*" ROB's audio suddenly garbled.

"ROB, what's wrong?" asked Julia.

"My audio chip, it has been malfunctioning,"

"Mind if you check him out Slippy?" asked Fox, with Slippy nodding affirmation before hopping off his seat to do so.

"Well Fox, how do we stand?" asked Peppy.

"Dinosaur Planet, eh? Looks pretty primitive…," Fox looked at the holo display thoughtfully before making his decision "Alright then…ROB! Set our course to Dinosaur Planet!"

"Affirmative," said ROB.

"Let's also inform General Pepper about this to receive his approval as well," said Peppy.

Everyone now felt perked up, Naruto particularly smiled at finally getting a chance at a mission and could feel both the Dragon Blade and Pandora quivering in anticipation as well. Something tells him that things are really going to go down over at Dinosaur Planet and the team are going to be in the thick of it.


This Hussbek online with the latest chapter, things haven't been looking so good for the Star Fox team now that the war is over and there's lesser reasons to be hired. The team suddenly receives an SOS call from Katt, causing Falco to leave without them. They followed after him to Titania and were requested to defeat the remnants of Andross's army by Captain Shears. They carry out the mission only to be surprised by Falco attacking them!

Confused by this, the group were further surprised when they were contacted by Katt which revealed that they had been lied to and uncover a data containing a DNA coding of Andross who was about to be cloned and it got worse with Slippy having been kidnapped on a scouting mission. Everyone banded together to assault the base with Naruto and Fox ending up facing the Andross clone and defeating it.

Afterwards, Falco informed them that he was leaving the team for a while but assured that they would meet again. A couple years later, they took note of a planet breaking and decided to investigate it, what would be in store for them there? Stay tuned to find out.

Be sure to read and review as always.

This is Hussbek from Ghana.

Signing out.