Chapter 2 – star wars

A boy and a girl, young ones, both not far into their teenage years, ran as fast as their tired legs would carry them. It was dark and for as long as the could they had to use the cloak of the night to their advantage. It was not the first time they had tried but the first time they managed to escape. The traps, mazes and similar obstacles had soon become nothing more than a minor annoyance. What truly turned out to be a problem was the queen, mother of Yorda, the young pale girl. Desperate to keep her daughter imprisoned, she personally prevented any and all attempts at escape from coming to fruition. But finally the day had come when she was distracted. It seemed a war, far away but still close enough to affect the people, had occurred. As sad as this may be, it was a most welcome opportunity. A single moment of neglect was all Yorda and Ico, as was the boy's name, needed.

But free at last, there was one problem they had never thought of before. They didn't know what to do, they didn't know where to go in the vast kingdom known as Hyrule.

XXX

Esthar. If you had an interest in technology, this was the place to be. Of course, that wasn't the only reason people loved the enormous city. Thanks to its president it had simply become a nice and safe place to live. Security was as good as and better than citizens could expect, with machines and humans alike patrolling in the countless streets of the metropolis. Little did anyone know about the disaster that was to come, sooner rather than later. Atop one of the numerous buildings reaching high into the sky, a cloaked figure stood, a mobile phone in his hands, talking to someone. "I have reached the city. It should be easy enough to handle the situation. Don't worry. The robots will be the least of my problems. In a few days it will be gone and everything will end up in chaos." A moment of silent relishing followed. "Tell everyone that once I leave the city, everyone within will either be dead or infected."

XXX

"They're freaking everywhere!" a young pilot shouted, just before he was engulfed by the explosion of his own ship.

"This is not going to end well."

Fox could hear Falco Lombardi's voice coming out of the speakers and forced himself to smile. "Don't you like a challenge?"
"A challenge is one thing. But whatever this is, a challenge it ain't. There's no way we're going to win. Andross never confronted us with such a number of enemies and what's even worse, they don't seem to miss as much as they used to as well." Falco explained.

Fox was about to answer, when suddenly he was interrupted, of course, by Falco. "LOOK OUT!" he screamed. Just then his shipped seemed to notice what the problem was. Someone – or something – was right behind him. "Can someone with a better view tell me what's the situation?" The Arwing rose up and dove down, passing enemy ship, getting as close to them as he could, hoping whatever it was that was on his tail would either lose him or maybe even hit the enemy. He wasn't so lucky.

"It's a rocket! Or a bullet. I don't know what it is, but it's still behind you, you can't lose it!" Peppy Hare bursted out, fearing for his friend. "Do a barrel roll!"

In his cockpit, Fox sighed and mumbled. "Somehow I knew you were going to suggest that." A sudden explosion right behind him forced him to focus on the situation again. As he looked to the side, he saw the bounty hunter's gunship pass him. "Thanks, Aran."

But Samus wasn't one to waste her time on chitchat in a moment like this. "You can't react to them like you would to other weapons." She explained in a voice so calm it was scary. "You see the faces and arms of those things? They are NOT decoration of any sort. Those are genuine faces, actual arms, those things are alive and they react accordingly!" Neither Fox nor his comrades nor anyone else fighting on her side could believe what the bounty hunter was telling them. "Born a bullet, these creatures see only one purpose within their lives. Destruction. It is their destiny, it is what they exist for. They are the true kamikaze fighters and the one being that deserves to be deemed a living weapon."

None of the men fighting alongside Samus were stupid. She seemed familiar with the enemy, they weren't, so they would listen to her. It was the smart thing to do. "You fought them before? So you know what we're dealing with here, besides Andross?" Falco wanted to know.

"I did. And they answer to someone even worse than your Andross."

XXX

Somewhere in this world, within a forest, there was a boy sitting on a trunk. He was sad. Saddened by his own shortcomings. It had been a while since the young boy, known by the name of Red, had left his home to become a Pokémon Trainer, only to be confronted by the harsh reality of the world out there. Becoming a trainer or even a master was a lot more difficult than he had expected. After all this time he still hadn't managed to go beyond the one Pokémon he was given at the beginning of his journey, a Squirtle. He failed to catch even a single, wild Pokémon.

He sighed. "How come this is so hard?" he asked himself. Not that the answer mattered. He just wasn't good enough, yet, so he had to keep on trying.

Suddenly he heard a noise. "Who's there?" He looked in the general direction where he suspected the origin of the noise. And just as expected, he heard it again, now sure where it was coming from. And then he discovered it. Between bushes and trees it walked, with a grace few being could rival. Never before had Red seen anything like this. It was a gigantic, yellow bird.

A Chocobo.

"Whoa!"

XXX

Things weren't going too well. Too many of the ships had either been destroyed or simply abandoned their mission and their payment for fear of their lives. It seemed that, other than Samus Aran, Fox McCloud as well as his team, only a few more remained. There simply was no chance that they would beat the sheer number of forces Andross threw at them. Especially with a new, noticeably larger army, consisting, among others, of Koopa Troopas and Goombas, at his disposale. And they knew it. So they had to give the inevitable order.

"To the Esthar space station – evacuate, and do it quickly! We'll hold them off for as long as we can." Fox's voice commanded via the communication system. Retreat was the only option. The following moments seemed like hours to the few brave souls remaining, protecting the scientists of the Esthar space station. But they seemed to manage to pull through. They were lucky, that the enemy didn't win because of superior tactics or anything similar, but solely because they had their opponents outnumbered. So while the battle was lost – and nothing could change that – they at least were able to hold them off until almost everyone had escaped. Unfortunately, not everyone was that lucky and while the last of the evacuation shuttles was about to take off, the enemy managed to achieve the inevitable: After several critical hits, the space station vanished in explosion after explosion, destroying the final shuttle and the people on it in the process.

"NO!" Fox shouted.

"There is nothing we can do for them." Samus quickly commented. It wasn't as cold-hearted as it may seem. It was just her being rational. They were dead, the others had escaped, all that was left to do was for them to save their own lives. "Everyone retreat, now!"

And so they did. Within seconds all the ships darted away from their opponents into the void of space. And, of course, evil followed them. "We oughta split up!" Fox explained. "Falco, you and the rest follow the others, they'll need protection. Bounty hunter, you and me take a different route, maybe we can lure some of our friends away."

"Understood." was all she said as she changed her direction and left the other ships behind. Fox's Arwing followed seconds later, along with half the enemy pursuers, so at least everything seemed to work as planned.

"Good luck everyone." Fox said. "See ya soon."