Chapter 8: Sit and Duck

(Jatrian Base)

Fox waited for the imminent impact from the Fireburst Pod, listening for a sound as grenades streamed down from the sky. His wish was granted, the numerous blasts drowning out all other sounds. Wreckage came falling down from the ceiling, landing next to him, kicking up dust and dirt that had collected upon the floor. During the explosions, Fox heard a yelp. He looked up, to make sure everyone was all right.

They were hiding inside the base's ammunition building. He had hidden himself underneath a shelf, replacing a box of grenades. He could see Krystal crouched beneath another shelf, much like himself. She was cringing, but appeared alright. The Cornerian Soldier was standing next to the wall, unable to hide himself in time. His eyes were shut, and he seemed to be muttering something. After a minute, the explosions died out, and the wreckage had stopped falling.

Fox climbed out of his hiding spot. He immediately went over to Krystal.

"It's alright, come on out."

"Ok." Krystal said, coming out of her own spot on the shelf.

"Hey, are you still alive?" Fox yelled out to the soldier, unable to see past all of the dust that had been thrown into the air.

"Yeah, I'm fine." the soldier responded.

"What was that, Fox?" Krystal asked. The soldier responded for him.

"That? That was a Fireburst Pod. It's a wide-range explosive device. It launches several amped up grenades into the air and blankets the area in explosions. It's mainly used as a last resort, when it's either us, or the enemy." the soldier explained.

"I assume they stole that out of here?" Fox questioned.

"I don't know any other place they'd get this."

"How many of those things do you keep in here?" Fox continued to ask.

"Around four or five…" the soldier said, looking around at the remaining supplies. "The rest seem to be here."

"Fox, the rest of the citizens are coming back!" Krystal called to Fox, sensing the enemy's movements.

"We need that Landmaster!" Fox said aloud. "Quick, we have to get out of this building!"

With that statement, everyone rushed out of the building. A lone shot, however, prevented them from going out to their previous position. Fox looked around, but only saw the body of the original badger lying upon the ground, unmoving. Then, another shot rang out, nearly missing Fox's head.

"They're back already!?" Fox said, throwing his back against the wall, drawing his blaster.

"It's the front of the group." Krystal explained.

"You're sure they don't have any other things we should know about?" Fox asked.

As if on cue, a grenade dropped down next to Fox's feet, glowing.

"Watch out!!!" Fox screamed, grabbing Krystal and jumping behind the corner of the building. They landed upon the ground with a thud, the soldier landing next to them. After a second, the grenade exploded. Fox waited a moment, then went back out. The grenade had created a small crater in the ground.

"What exactly did they steal from here?" Fox asked, nearly snarling at the soldier.

"They took some blasters, five machine guns, three Gatling guns, and three boxes of grenades. Those, and the Fireburst Pod." the soldier listed.

"Ok, then." Fox said, taking a breath before returning fire again. As Fox began firing out, a blue light began to glow in the grasses behind him. Fox turned, seeing the light. After a moment, a large tank sat upon the ground, the StarFox insignia resting upon its side.

"Peppy did it!" Krystal exclaimed, happy to finally see something of good luck.

"Come on, let's go!" Fox yelled, climbing into the Landmaster. "Jump on, Krystal."

"Right!" Krystal said, climbing onto the tank's hull.

"What is that!?" the soldier asked, surprised to see such a behemoth of a vehicle appear out of nowhere.

"It's the StarFox team's tank, the Landmaster. Come on up." Krystal offered the soldier, holding out her hand. The soldier looked down at his bleeding arm, and accepted the help up.

"Get ready." Fox told everyone atop the Landmaster. "Here we go!"

The tank ran out into the laser fire.

(Mess Hall)

Falco shut his eyes as explosions echoed throughout the Mess Hall. He could hear chunks of the ceiling descend, their impact marked by the sounds of chaos as they smashed against the floor. After a minute passed, the maelstrom of destruction ended. Falco looked to his right, Katt and Slippy were huddled together next to him, their eyes shut as well. He got up from behind the serving counter and went out into the main area of the Mess Hall. The soldiers remained underneath the tables, the chunks of the ceiling barely missing where they were hiding.

"DID YOU REALLY THINK HIDING THERE WOULD WORK!?!?" Falco exploded at the soldiers.

"Calm down, Falco. Nobody's hurt." Katt said, sliding out from here hiding place as well.

"Yeah, Falco. No need to lose our heads here." Slippy added.

"Interesting choice of words, Slips." Falco said, cooling off.

"What are you doing just talking!?" the head soldier demanded, getting to his feet. "We're trapped in here! They're probably advancing on this position as we speak!!"

"What makes you say that?" Falco asked, shrugging his shoulders. He walked next to a window, where a laser flew in. He fell to the ground, startled.

"Great, now they know we're in here!" the second soldier exclaimed, shaking his head.

"What about the other side!?" Falco asked, his heartbeat returning to normal. Katt went over to the window where they broke in. As she stuck her head out, another laser came out from the grass in the savanna. She yelped as the laser missed her head by centimeters.

"No good." she called out to the others.

"We're surrounded!" the head soldier stated.

"Isn't there another way out!?" Falco asked, beginning to shoot out of the window.

"You want to take the door out into the cross-fire? Be my guest!" the head soldier responded, shooting out of another window.

"Real genius of a carpenter you had there. Doesn't quite meet army standards during times of war, does he?"

"Would you stop complaining and start shooting!? Dammit, we're stuck inside a frickin' building getting shot at and you won't stop arguing with your allies! What's wrong with you!?" Katt cursed, shooting randomly out of the window as she did so.

As she yelled, a large blast sounded outside. Falco looked out the window, seeing smoke rise out of the grass where the laser fire had originated.

"What the hell was that?" Falco asked no one in particular.

The citizens on the other side of the grass had stopped shooting when they heard the blast, but continued shortly afterwards. A couple seconds after they continued their assault, another blast rang out, shaking the Mess Hall as it struck the ground with an intense fury.

Slippy immediately stuck his head out the window, completely disregarding the fact that there were enemies shooting at them less than a minute ago.

"It's Fox!!!" Slippy shouted, bringing his head back inside the window. "He's got a Landmaster!!!"

"Haha!! Now we've got the upper-hand. Enough of being sitting ducks! Now it's our turn!" Falco said, jumping out the broken window.

"You could've used the door you know." Katt said, following him out the window.

"Yeah, but where's the fun in that?" Falco said, rushing over to the Landmaster.

"Hey guys, hop on!" Fox said through the communicator.

"Don't have to tell me twice." Falco said as he jumped atop the tank. "Need help, Katt?" he asked, reaching down.

"I got it." she said, climbing atop the gun barrel and walking over to him. She smiled as she sat down next to him.

"Fine, don't take my help…"

"Hey, you got Wilson!" the head soldier called, noticing the extra person sitting on the tank.

"Come on, we're going to stop the citizens now!" Krystal yelled. "We didn't kill them. They're starting to re-group!"

"You heard her, let's go!" Falco smiled, pulling out his blaster again. The remainder of the group climbed atop the tank.

They circled the perimeter of the base, firing just inside the clusters of foes, knocking them out with the concussive blasts of the Landmaster. They went around, collecting the citizens and their weapons. When they had finished, they gathered inside the center of the base.

"Is that all of them?" Falco asked Krystal, looking at the mass of people on the ground

"I don't sense anyone else." she responded.

Fox, in the meantime, jumped out of the Landmaster.

"Ok, Peppy. You can beam back the Landmaster." Fox told Peppy on his communicator.

"Sure thing, Fox. ROB and I'll fix up the Great Fox while you finish up down there." Peppy said, disconnecting the communications link.

As the Landmaster disappeared inside a blue light, Fox ran over to the rest of the group.

"So that's everything?" he asked as he rushed over.

"Yeah, just about." Katt answered.

"Then I believe it's time we got some answers." Fox said, looking towards the soldiers. "When did the citizens start acting up like this?"

"We told you, it started today!" the third soldier broke out.

"Well, did anything else happen before today?" Krystal interjected.

"No, not that we can remember…it's been the same as always here. Although, there was this one incident with Private Ian…" the head soldier said. As he said the soldier's name, the other three soldiers looked down.

"Well, out with it!" Falco said, getting impatient.

"Right, well you see, Private Ian was stationed here with the rest of us. Real nice guy. Great soldier. But, about six days ago, he got word that his twin brother on Corneria was killed in a car crash. It really tore him up. He just seemed so down after that. Some of the other soldiers tried cheering him up, but he didn't listen. He just basically moped around in bed, only getting up to follow orders. He barely ate. Then, about three days ago, he just up and disappears, along with three other soldiers. We didn't have that many guys here, and there isn't any signs of civilization for about three-hundred kilometers in any direction. So, for four soldiers to disappear is kind of worrying. Then another three disappeared the next day, and another two yesterday and then today." the head soldier explained.

"Was there anything else before that?" Fox asked.

"Nothing unusual. There weren't even that many transmissions, just one telling us that an escort for some factory manager would be using our base to land…"

"Factory manager? What factory?" Fox asked.

"Some appliance factory in the nearest town. We saw him, real short guy, wore a big, green coat, which we found odd, considering the weather here. He landed then just went straight to the town. I think we even got something from that factory before…" the head soldier stated, remembering all he could about the factory. "Yeah, it was some appliance…a lamp, I think. I think it was actually Private Ian that received the package…"

"Could we see it, then?" Fox asked.

"Sure, follow us." the soldier said, leading the team to the barracks.

(The Barracks)

"Here, Private Ian's bed." the second soldier said, showing them a normal-looking sleeping didn't stand out, folded sheets, fluffed pillows, nightstand, and the lamp. Fox took the lamp and looked it over. He couldn't find anything out of the ordinary.

"Hey, Slippy, can you find anything abnormal about this?" Fox asked, handing the lamp over to Slippy.

"Sure! One sec." Slippy said, sitting upon the ground, taking off his backpack. He pulled some device from his backpack and began waving it back and forth in front of the lamp.

"You're sure it's from that factory?" Krystal asked.

"Yeah, it said so on the box…" the head soldier said.

"Well, here's the box." Falco said, pulling out an opened package from a drawer in the nightstand.

"You just went through his stuff!?" Krystal asked, shocked at Falco's bluntness.

"Yeah. Why not? It's not like he's here…" Falco shrugged it off.

"Never mind. Lessee, Jatria Commercial Inc… that the company?" Fox asked looking down at the box.

"Sounds like it." the soldier agreed.

"Hah! Found something!" Slippy yelled, bouncing on the ground. He started dismantling the lamp, piece-by-piece.

"Woah, calm down there, Slips." Katt said, kneeling down next to him. Slippy had finished taking the lamp apart.

"SEE!! LOOK!!!!" Slippy said, shoving the lamp into Fox's face. Fox looked down at the lamp, not seeing anything.

"What am I looking for?" Fox asked.

"You don't see it? Look, here, it's a chip!" Slippy said, pointing to the base inside the lamp. A small microchip sat there.

"What's it do?" Katt asked, noticing the chip along with the others.

"I sense brainwave patterns emanating from it. It feels similar to the aparoids' hive-mind…" Krystal stated. "But it's pretty weak."

"Yeah, judging by the design, it looks like a type of mind-control device." Slippy said. "It's losing power though. I guess it did what it was supposed to do…"

"WAIT!? MIND-CONTROL!?!?" Falco exclaimed, shocked at what they had just said. "So that's what these jerks are after!?"

"Yeah, Falco. You didn't realize that when the citizens were attacking us?" Slippy said, smiling up at Falco.

"I knew that! I just thought they were after something bigger! Like military plans or something! But they just want to get some soldiers!?!?"

"Hey, Falco, with enough people, anybody could become as big a threat as Andross, just like General Pepper said." Fox reminded Falco.

"Yeah, you're right. So I take it we're heading for this factory then, right?"

"Right. You guys stay here. Send out a call to General Pepper for us. Tell him that we've found the source of problems here on Jatria, ok?" Fox asked the soldiers.

"Right, Mr. McCloud!" the soldiers said in unison, saluting.

"Come on, fearless leader, let's go!" Falco said, dragging Fox by his collar. The team filed out of their barracks and headed for their Arwings.

"We'll get our Arwings and head to town, then." Fox said "Hopefully, this factory manager didn't get any smart ideas yet…"

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Author's Notes: Ok, here we go! It's been a while since I last updated, but it's not as long as some other stories! It took a bit to get back into my writing style, but I hope you enjoy this story. I finished playing Tales of Symphonia 2, and I have to say, it's a good game. But you really get more out of it if you've played the original one. It was significantly shorter than the first game as well. I'm thinking about doing a fanfic for it too, just so that way it seems longer. But here we go, Chapter 8! Anyone notice the movie reference? If you do, you get a cookie! Not really. But, time for Reviews! Yay!

Reviews:

Like I said! It's picking up steam!!!!! Thanks for all that reviewed or did anything with this story!

-paranoidsocialclub 2008-11-28 . chapter 7

well, i'm glad you managed to squeeze the dogfight in. obviously one of the coolest parts of the chapter. I have one request though. When you write about the battles, could you add a little more description on the weapons? I had a little trouble picturing the Fireburst pod.
Well, I'm glad to see the story is finally picking up steam.
Happy writing!
~PSC~

Glad you enjoyed the dogfight. I was just making up the whole thing as I went along. I had to think of the part when Fox called in from the surface, I almost forgot to put it in! The dogfight was awesome though. And sorry about the Fireburst pod, I played multiplayer on Assault with my friends so much, I just assumed everyone knew what I was talking about… So here's a description: it's a large, cylindrical device. It has four tripod-esque legs on it. It's all brown and it's capped. When it's activated, it's tripod legs plant firmly on the ground and extend, slowly pushing the pod upwards about an inch. After a second or so, it launches a bunch of grenades into the air, with the grenades having streams of multi-colored smoke following them. Getting hit by one means instant death, or instant-destruction of your vehicle. There ya go. Thanks for being a loyal fan!

-Days of the phoenix 2008-11-29 . chapter 7

amazing. I think i know where this is going. I'll PM you.

Thanks. I didn't get your PM…but then again, I don't know where to look. Is it an email, or is there a section for them? I don't know so if someone could tell me, that'd be great. If I find it, I'll be sure to respond in the next review corner! I'd like to see what you think would happen!

-notfromearth7 2008-11-30 . chapter 7

This has to be one of the best recent fics in ages. Although you overused the phrase "called out" it was good stuff.

Thanks. Hopefully others will realize that and start checking it out, too. And thanks for calling me out on that. I do believe "called out" was used 23 times! A new record! I tried working on that this chapter. Hope you noticed!