Everybody gets knocked down,

Everybody gets knocked down,

How quick are you gonna get up?

Just how are you gonna get up?

Like Ali in the jungle

-"Ali in the Jungle", The Hours

Chapter 4: The Invasion of Venom

His ears rang, his vision was blurred, and his face bled. Timothy lifted his face planted body off the hard, rocky, ground. He couldn't make out what was in front of him. He felt disoriented and dizzy. He slowly began to get his hearing back and he made out the muffled sound of a voice screaming at him. Timothy looked down at his hands to make sure that he wasn't dead. He then got his hearing back and looked up to see Falco with an assault rifle running after him.

"Timothy! Get up NOW!" Falco ordered. Timothy was barely able to comply. He grabbed Falco's outstretched hand and allowed him to pull him up. Timothy was still dizzy but he could hear fine again. His vision occasionally blurred for a second. Falco tossed him a blaster and Timothy clumsily caught it. Timothy suddenly realized what was happening and shook his head. He looked around. The area where he had been almost killed was a building in ruins. He looked around for his ship, and he found it completely demolished beyond repair. Timothy was furious that his brand new ship had been destroyed already. The thing that bothered him was that he couldn't remember anything that had happened before. He looked up and spotted many green and black warships firing green laser beams at buildings and collapsing them. He watched as Venomian forces were rendered useless as they were easily brought down by the enemy (sound familiar?). The sky was no longer blue like it was on Venom, but it was engulfed by black smoke from fires and collapsed buildings. Solar couldn't break through the thick smoke, so the area was quite dark. It was a living hell.

"What happened?!" Timothy yelled. Falco answered.

"We hit Venom and we were immediately sent down to the surface. But, they came too quick. You were shot down by those massive laser beams, and me, Marcus and Drew barely got out without a scratch, but it was close. As you can see, the battle isn't going in our favor."

Timothy ducked as two Arwings rocketed above him. He noticed them as a pair of Arwing Vs and he knew who they were.

"Timothy?! Are you okay?" Marcus yelled into Timothy's still attached headset. How it stayed on was a mystery.

"Yeah, I'm fine!" Timothy said sarcastically. He still felt the pain of the hit. His legs were on the verge of giving out and making him fall. He looked back to Falco and waved his hand, signaling that he needed help. When Falco came to his side, Falco noticed a large wound on Timothy's left side. Falco instantly took off with him.

"That's why you can't see straight! Come on, you can't bleed out!" Falco ordered. Timothy did his best to keep moving with him, but the loss of blood was taking its toll. He began to drag his feet. Before long, he tripped. He landed hard on his face and body. He then completely lost consciousness.

Falco ran up to Timothy's body and lifted it up and over his shoulder. Falco could barely find his footing trying to carry Timothy, who was without a doubt full grown and weighed as much as he did. Falco grunted as he tapped into his comm.

"Marcus! Timothy's down, we need immediate extract!" Falco yelled. Marcus gave chase to an advanced green and black fighter. He blasted it with full force from his hyper lasers. The fighter tumbled out of control and crashed into a standing building. Marcus looped his ship back around to avoid it. He gunned back towards the destroyed city to answer Falco's pleas.

Dash Bowman, the Supreme Commander of the Military District Venom, stood above his slowly falling planet. He knew that his military was slowly being defeated. He wore the commander's suit that was modeled almost exactly the same as Coyote's now-famous LCEF suit. The helmet stayed off, but it had a purple hue for the steaming lights. He looked around and noticed the once rival Starfox team assisting with the futile counterattack. He had remembered how they would have never helped him 20 years ago. In fact, they would have done anything to kill him. Dash was still young, in his 30s. He knew that the Starfox team was different now; not the same. He had to make a good impression and not get off on the wrong foot. Suddenly, he got a transmission. He answered it.

"Who's this?" he interrogated. He got a quick answer.

"Marcus of the Starfox team!" The person replied. Dash was confused.

"Who?" he asked.

"Marcus McCloud, son of Fox and Krystal McCloud, and leader of the Starfox team!" Marcus replied. Dash nodded and moved on.

"And you were going to say?"

"Yes, we have one man down and we need assistance getting him away! We need your help Dash!"

Dash was torn. He had to help them, no doubt. But, he would risk the loss of his planet. He looked again. The battle was grim. The planet was decimated. It was ruined. The sky was black and there was no sun visible in the sky. He knew it. There was no hope. The massive green frigates shot down all transports and fighters, while they leveled the entire city. Venom was lost.

He reluctantly broadcasted a retreat order and got transports to the Starfox team. But, the frigates threatened to shoot all who dared to pass down and out for good. He had to clear the skies. Suddenly, four familiar ships shot into the sky. They were Arwing IVs, all of them. They rocketed down at high speeds and fired at a frigate. They penetrated the shielding and brought it down with bombs. The massive ship plummeted and hit the ground with the loudest thud Dash had ever heard. It then exploded with a brilliant, white light. The four ships circled back around and Dash got another call.

"This is the former Starfox team. We have come to assist with the retreat effort!"

Fox's old cockpit was in front of him. It seemed all the same to him. He didn't feel different at all. He, Coyote, Ashley, and Krystal had come from Corneria after they heard of the attack. They needed help, and they came. Fox watched as Coyote and Ashley broke off to guard the transport from the frigates. He immediately got into contact with Marcus.

"Marcus, it's me. We're here to help!" Fox told him. He heard Marcus reply.

"Good, we'll need you," Marcus replied coldly. Fox could tell that Marcus was unhappy with the situation. Venom had been decimated and they could only help with the retreat effort.

Fox spotted Falco carrying Timothy to the landed transport ship on the ground. Fox gunned down three fighters attempting to kill them. He then looked around and spotted a frigate behind him, just above. Fox flipped his ship around as the transport took off with Falco and Timothy. The frigate began to charge a green laser that would spell the end of the transport. Fox fired his hyper lasers at the cannon, but they harmlessly bounced off the shields. A cold chill went up Fox's spine as he had no way to save them, he would have to take a blow from his ship, but that would certainly kill him. He had to do something! The laser erupted from the cannon and found its mark, but not on the transport, but an Arwing!

"Sorry everyone, but I'm going out in style!" Coyote yelled. Fox gasped.

"NO! You can't die!" Fox screamed. (Cue the "Anakin's Betrayal" song) Too late, Coyote's ship spiraled out of control from the hit. Fox could hear Coyote's silence in his cockpit as he tumbled towards his doom.

"I never thought it would end this way," Ashley said holding back tears. "To save his child."

"This is something….I….had….to," Coyote's transmission was cut off as his ship exploded in front of his team.

(Wow…so that's it, Coyote's dead. You should listen to "Anakin's Betrayal" for that part and also when I say in the next chapter, it is a very sad song that fits this well. The next chapter may be the last so be prepared. This story was called a tragedy for a reason.)