Hey guys! So I'm still suffering from writer's block, but I'm going to see if this works. The story's starting to hit a climax a bit, but it may not be as epic as I hoped. If I get a chance I'll redo it. Thanks for the reviews and support-without it I probably would've killed the story. Okay...here we go!
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Showdown Against the Darkness: Finale Introduction
Once again, there was only darkness. How the cruel kidnapping of light could change one's atmosphere. One second, triumph flows through your veins. Then, before you can even imagine it, the darkness devours you. After that, you are numb.
The small fringes of life that cling helplessly to your soul begin to fade. Soon, you can't think anymore. The pain you once felt seems to have disappeared. However, it is not gone. It has simply seeped into you, absorbing your soul-the one fragile piece left of your being. Then, after what seems to be an infinite length of time, the pain controls your soul. Strengthening, the pain pulls your soul out of you. Your body, cold and lifeless, is left in its wake.
Since nobody living has ever actually remembered the pain closing up your soul, the process is simply referred to as death.
And that was where he was now. His body was practically useless; the only hope of survival for him was his soul. As the unseen pain broke his soul down, his hope slowly began to disperse.
Even while bound by the grasp of pain, his willpower pulled through. He found enough strength to see one last vision. A small, nearly invisible light began blinking. Its power of hypnosis overpowered him as the light grew, shone brightly for an instant, then slowly faded away.
The light grew larger, its rays reaching out. The light continued to blink, but faded quicker and stayed bright longer. Finally, the light broke through the final borders of darkness, and the extent of his vision was blurred into whiteness.
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Slowly, he bent one of his claws. The crack of exhausted bone echoed back to him. He silently drew a breath, then coughed. His throat was dry as sand; his lungs weak with exhaustion. He was unable to remember the last time he'd felt the rush of cool oxygen rush down his esophagus.
Struggling, Wolf managed to lift one of his upper eyelids. As his right eye cracked open, he felt a surge of pain throbbing in his skull. Just opening an eye caused him severe pain. He gritted his teeth, then gasped without making a sound; the new tension in his jaw brought a world of pain to his head. Fighting through the hurt, Wolf opened his eyes, albeit not that wide.
He looked around, not moving his head. A small, black chamber lay before him. The only light in the whole room was the dim back light from a rectangular screen against the opposite wall. What the hell?, he thought.
Suddenly, all the memories raced back to him. Being shot down. Crash-landing on a deserted planet. Finding a bunch of red-faced thugs. Beating up a bunch of red-faced thugs. Finding his father...no. An impostorof his father. Destroying the impostor Then...blackness.
Wolf blinked, trying to concentrate. There was more, wasn't there? When he'd crashed, he'd run into someone. Someone had been there. But who...?
"Fox," he mouthed. His voice hadn't caught up to him yet; all that was produced was a weak wheezing of the name. He coughed more, due to the insane amount of effort his lungs had to produce in order to speak.
Wolf strained to get a better look around, but realized moving was next to impossible. He found himself seated in a rickety wooden chair. A thick, braided rope was tightly wrapped around his shoulders and chest; another tied his legs, bound together, to the bottom of the chair. His arms were behind his back, and his wrists were bonded together by the same thick rope.
Muttering profanities in his mind, Wolf realized he could twist his neck, though it sent shocks of pain down his spine. He directed his head to his left, finding nothing. He was surprised to find his spirits sink, just slightly. A comforting thought would have been to know he wasn't the only one trapped in this mysterious situation.
Angling his head to the right, he found his pathetic prayer answered. Beside him, bound identically to Wolf, was Fox. The slightly younger canine's eyes were open, looking at the ground. He held his mouth shut in a tight line, and his ears were flattened down on his head. Wolf was unable to detect any signs of life in the orange fox, besides the nearly-undetectable movement of the ropes held tight to the fox's chest.
Wolf's eyes blinked quickly as he trying to relieve any traces of energy left deep within him. He attempted another deep breath, but all that produced was another coughing fit. He watched as one of Fox's ears slowly raised, twitching slightly. With a slight movement of his head, the vulpine averted his gaze to Wolf. His emerald eyes settled on Wolf's lavender ones, and Wolf noticed the lack of the glimmer usually twinkling within Fox's green eyes.
Hoping that maybe third time really is the charm, Wolf took a deep breath yet again. It still tickled in his throat, but it was small enough to avoid another coughing fit. Relieved, Wolf kept panting until his breaths returned to normal.
Turning to Fox, he noticed the orange vulpine gazing intensely at him. The vulpine's eyelids drooped until they were nearly closed, and his lowered his head. It was as if he was saying, "Looks like it's over, huh?"
Wolf nodded once, his eyes closed. Fox let out a sigh, then grimaced. He opened his mouth, but only a gasp came out. Fox closed his mouth, and a determined look settled on his face. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened his mouth. In a split second, his eyes opened wide, surprised as words formed from his exhausted vocal box. "Damn," he said. Wolf gave a small grin. He never thought he'd feel a smile on his face ever again.
"I know," he responded. Fox's ears, sensitive as ever, picked up on the rough effort Wolf used just to speak. Fox, though battered and gasping for life, was still in a more tolerable state than the gray lupine sitting next to him.
Silence hung over them like a thick blanket. As the minutes ticked by, Wolf slowly felt his strength return to his exhausted arms and legs. The throbbing in his head subsided a bit, leaving only a numb feeling behind.
As his feelings returned, so did the anger that remained from the struggle against his father. He thought back to all that had happened the past couple of days. Fighting merciless enemies, facing fears, and dealing with serious mental, physical and emotional strain, and it all came down to dying of starvation in a dimly-lit room? Wolf shook his head. Never.
"Get...out...we have to get out," he muttered. His volume barely surpassed a whisper. His eyes narrowed. His mouth curled into a snarl, his fangs exposed and gleaming in the dim glow of the screen. His glare flashed over to Fox as his breaths grew deeper. He spoke again, his tone darker. "We can't stay here. We can't stay, or..."
"...we die." Wolf turned to Fox, whose gaze on the ground seemed to burn holes into the black surface. The orange vulpine's tone remained even, matching Wolf's. He turned to face Wolf head-on once again. His next words were close to silent; without the canine's gift of powerful hearing, Wolf would have missed it. "And that can't happen," whispered Fox, "can it?"
Wolf nodded. "It can't," he responded. His voice remained clear. "It won't."
Fox nodded in agreement, then he suddenly tensed up. On the back of his neck, the wispy, copper-toned strands of fur spiked up. He closed his eyes, concentrating. His ears stuck straight up in the air, trembling from an unseen effort. Wolf opened his mouth to ask what Fox was doing, but the fox cut him off. "Listen," he said.
Wolf slowly closed his eyes, cutting off his limited view of the darkened room. He felt his canine ears perk up, and his senses enabled him to catch the slightest trace of nearing footsteps.
"Wolf," Fox whispered. "If for some reason we don't make it out alive, I need you to know...you're really not as cold-blooded and heartless as everyone says."
Wolf slowly opened his right eye, glancing over at Fox. He saw the vulpine, still stiff at attention, focused on the wall facing them. However, his green eyes were wide open, and though he didn't make any eye contact with the lupine, Wolf still felt the honest sincerity of his words. As Wolf opened his mouth to respond, however, a low hissing noise broke the silence half a second quicker.
The hiss sounded like a puff of gas being released from a storage tank, and a small cloud of dust gathered underneath a section of the opposite wall. A camouflaged panel of the wall slowly pulled up, revealing a hidden hallway. Two guards stood at attention on the other side; huskies outfitted in outdated military uniforms. Each were armed with machine guns. The third figure was cloaked in blackness, so much so that the two mercenaries had to strain just to see his outline. His clawed hand grasped the shoulder of fourth figure; though the blackness made it impossible to be completely sure, this being seemed to be bound as tightly as Wolf and Fox.
The cloaked figure nodded, and the guards took positions on either side of the panel, weapons aiming at the heads of the two captives. Chuckling, the darker silhouette pushed the remaining figure forward. The force of the shove caused the bound figure to collapse to th ground, and in the glow of the faint light the two canines immediately recognized who it was.
"General?" Fox asked. Wolf's expression matched; a look of surprise and confusion crossing his face.
"Yes, Fox," wheezed the old hound. "They have captured me, just to get you here. I don't know what they want with O'Donnell, but they wanted you here so-"
The hound gasped for breath as the wind was knocked out of him. Stealthily, the cloaked figure had approached the General, and had kicked him in the ribs when he felt the hound would repeat too much information.
"That's enough, General."
Fox's eyes burned with fury. He couldn't stand to see his beloved General, who had aided him through his father's death and had been assisting him on all his missions, moaning in pain on the cold floor. The General had been through several huge wars, and had almost succumbed to a deadly infection during the invasion of the Aparoids. He went through all that, not for himself but for his people. The General's courage, in Fox's mind, rivaled that of his own father's.
Rage boiled through his arms, legs, and skull. Fox wanted nothing more than to cut through his bindings and lunge at the cloaked figure. He wanted to send the enemy to a world of hurt. But a smarter, calmer part of his mind restrained him. He couldn't lose his cool, otherwise he could make a bad move and all would be doomed. Fox breathed deeply, gritting his teeth to try and fight back the anger blazing within him.
Wolf, however, simply watched the ordeal. Not a trace of emotion escaped onto his face. He wasn't too fond of the General, after placing such a large bounty over his crew's heads, but didn't believe he deserved the kind of inhumane attention he was undeniably receiving. A part of him was relieved, because he now knew who the true enemy was. The main target.
Slowly, the cloaked figure turned its unseen face to Wolf and Fox. "Fox McCloud and Wolf O'Donnell. The two best mercenary captains in all of Lylat. One proclaimed as a hero, savior of his people. The other, a ruthless adversary, considered a dangerous threat to all citizens." A chuckle escaped from the black hood. "Who would have thought they would ever team up in battle?" Fox and Wolf watched the figure shake its head. "Of course, stars must burn out eventually..." he trailed off, then spoke again. His words grew sharper, colder. "...but we are not stars. As space animals, our lives can either slowly burn out, like the stars glittering above us. Or, our lives can end abruptly, leaving not a trace behind."
The figure leaned towards the two canines. "I believe I have already selected which direction your paths will take," it whispered menacingly, "and I am willing to see just how abruptly a star can fade."
Slowly, two clawed hands grasped the hood of the figure. The hood fell back, finally revealing the face of the enemy. Before Fox and Wolf stood a tiger. But this was no ordinary tiger. Its claws were razor-sharp and coated with iron. Its fur was a metallic silver, and the horizontal stripes crossing its body were black as ink. Examining the foe, Fox and Wolf realized it was missing an arm and leg; about half of the tiger's whole body was artificial. The grotesque being before them was really half machine. Its armor was made entirely out of different metals. Even its face was divided between flesh and machinery. An iron mask shielded the left portion of its face; the only flash of color was a small red light where an eye should have been. On the right side of the tiger's face, a golden-toned eye glared evilly at the mercenaries.
The half-tiger, half-machine monstrosity opened its arms wide, threw its head back, and let out an sinister laugh. Then, its neck snapped forward, and the morphed tiger crouched before Fox and Wolf. It's mouth curled into a maniacal grin that could only be summed up one way: pure evil.
"Welcome to the darkness."
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Wow, this is a short chapter. Sorry 'bout leaving StarFox and StarWolf out of the past 2 chapters, but I felt this portion belonged to just Fox and Wolf. The enemy is finally revealed, and the climax is ready to begin. Grab some popcorn, it's gonna get interesting. R/R if you liked/hated/whatever. Alright, later!