The Lylat Wars- Combat Evolved
Chapter 3
Through The Never
"Fox, get your ass back here!" Fox's commlink roared to life. On the other end, Peppy shouted desperately.
"Peppy, what's wrong?"
"They... they launched a surprise attack! We need your help!"
"Computer, switch to the emergency fuel, double time it!"
Fox's Arwing kicked up dust as it careened through the sky. Fox was miles away from where the battle was taking place. He had to hurry.
"Fox, we need you!" Screamed Peppy. "They've through Bill's ground troops in seconds. They're unstoppable!"
"Bill, what about him?" Fox questioned.
"Yes, Bill. The Hound Dog and Bulldog units were waiting. They detected enemy craft and took off as soon as they could."
"Why?" Fox was stupefied. These were some of the best trained fighter pilots in the galaxy. Yet, they were hiding?
"What could've been that bad?"
"They were scared." Replied Peppy. "I'm scared too, Fox."
Fox's body shook, a cold sweat coming over him. He felt as if he'd been hit with a brick to the windpipe, as he gasped for breath- becoming almost asthmatic. His legs felt like rubber, and he began to shake. His hands gripped the throttle as he exited Katina City.
Fox had never known a single thing to shake the always stoic Hare. Nothing. Peppy, he'd seen it all; every bit of what the evils of the universe had to throw at him. He'd took on legions of space pirates by himself, without blinking. He'd been soldiering for longer than even Fox's own father- he'd seen everything. He was never scared. Ever.
But yet here it was, Peppy was simply horrified. His voice shook, and his lip trembled at the thought of "The Covenant".
Momentarily Fox was there.
The battle unfolding in front of Fox was epic in its overt grandiosity. Despite being outnumbered, vastly so, several, maybe twenty of the purple craft were destroying everything in sight. Their diminutive size proving to be no obstacle, as they, small as they were, stood up to the much larger ships piloted by Bill and his fighter squadrons.
As Fox finally came into range he commanded, quickly as if trying to hold himself together, "computer lock onto all enemy signals. Fire missiles."
Several clusters of missiles burst from Fox's weapons bay as he boosted into the main cluster of ships. It was chaos.
Engaged in a dogfight momentarily, a purple fighter broke off from battling one of Bill's squad and boosted towards Fox. Fox, barely having time to react, leveled off with his twin chain guns. They cut the craft down the middle. Fox, turned again, slightly to the left and fired at another three or four purple craft. They too fell from the sky. Fox had found the best weapon for the job. However, he wasn't sure how long it was going to last him.
"Computer, check ammo on chain guns."
"Ammo at twenty percent, Fox."
"Oh man..."
Suddenly another purple ship popped up behind Fox. Fox boosted, trying to evade, but it stayed on his six. Boosting into the main cluster of ships, Fox banked hard- first to the left, then to the right. The pursuing craft smashed through several Katinan fighters, undaunted in its pursuit. Fox, thinking quickly, flew directly towards another one of the purple craft. He flew under it, just barely scrapping along its underbelly. The pursuing craft avoided it nimbly.
"I just can't shake this guy!"
A rocket impacted on Fox's left wing, leaving a shredded mass of unprotected wires and circuitry.
"Computer, repair Arwing. Re-route left blaster power to the G-Diffuser!"
Fox barrel-rolled through another large group of dogfighting craft, barely avoiding a crippled Katinan ship. That damn Covenant craft was still hanging tight.
"Bill, Peppy, help me out!" Shouted Fox. From behind, Fox saw Bill Grey's ship rear up behind the purple vessel. It let out a stream of hyper-hot laser blasts that hardly dented the Covenant energy shield.
"I'm here to rescue you, Fox."
Bill fired again, this time concentrating his fire heavily on a small section of the shield. The laser fire chipped away enough of the shield to enable him to fire several missiles. The purple craft crashed to the earth below in a purple, fiery ball of metal.
"Wow... that was-"
Without warning another missile struck the side of Fox's ship, sending it spinning out, a gaping hole torn through almost the entirety of the craft's left side.
As Fox's ship, crippled and mangled by a direct missile hit hurdled towards the ground, Fox screamed "COMPUTER, RE-ROUTE ALL POWER TO MAIN FLIGHT ENGINES!"
Lights flashed, things whizzed and whined, their mechanical screeching almost deafening as Fox's on board computer carried out its command.
"Power routed to main flight engine." the computer voice responded.
Fox had one chance to make it out of this alive. "Computer, now re-route G-Diffuser power to underbelly blast-brakes."
Fox's ship careened straight down, but it never hit the ground. The G-Diffuser's remaining power cushioned Fox's fall. His Arwing was almost entirely totaled, but at least he was okay.
"ROB, drop the Landmaster. I'm gonna need it."
Silence.
"ROB?" Fox was confused. ROB wasn't responding.
..."Launching Landmaster..." ROB's voice came faintly back to Fox over his commlink.
Fox looked to the sky to see the Landmaster launch as requested. However, as it was coming down, an enemy missile struck it. It crashed to the ground, practically disintegrated by the blast.
"ROB, is it drivable?" Fox walked up to it, the aerial battle raging overhead.
Still, no response came back Fox's way.
Fox touched it, putting his paw through the outer metal armor. What was left of it, the part that hadn't been destroyed in the explosion, was actually melting under Fox's paw.
"...I guess that's a no then." Said Fox.
Fox trotted back to his Arwing, getting on the commlink he asked, "Bill- got any spare fighters."
No sooner had the words left his mouth then Bill's battle ravaged ship hit the dirt, it slid, scraping across the planet's rough gravely surface before directly colliding with Fox's Arwing. The collision shattered the glass windscreen on Bill's fighter, metal from the front body of the craft twisted inward- the screams were awful, ear piercing and pitiful. As the ship came to a stop Fox looked inside. Bill was a bloody mess, glass and fragmented metal protruded from his canine body, his fur was burnt, even charred off his body in some places.
It was a hideous sight to see.
But he was breathing. By some God-forsaken miracle Bill was breathing.
Fox pulled Bill from the crash site, slinging him over his shoulder.
"Fox.." Bill said breathlessly with even the single utterance causing blood to issue forth from inside him. "...they're retreating."
Fox turned to see the purple craft disengage their individual battles and blast off into space. No one followed.
"Why'd they do that?" Confusion swirled through Fox's brain. "They could've won."
"They don't care about winning, Fox." Bill coughed again, blood poured from his open mouth. "Its the battle these creatures crave."
Fox looked sadly skyward. He wanted revenge in the worst way.
"Take me to the medical center, Fox." Said Bill, as sternly as he could in his present condition.
Behind the canine duo, Peppy landed. His Arwing was beat up, parts of it were charred black from lasers and the front windscreen was cracking.
"Fox! You're okay!" Shouted Peppy.
"Yeah, I'm fine." Replied Fox, stepping into Katina's military base.
"Do you want me to come with you?"
"No. I should do this alone."
Bill Grey coughed up another burst of blood, his body shook, his eyes frantically dashed about before rolling back in his head.
Bill Grey had died in Fox's arms.
Peppy spoke up once more as Fox entered Katina's base; "Lets get those bastards Fox..."
A tear rolled down Fox's cheek as he walked the empty halls towards Bill's private room.