Clash of the Smashers

Chapter Forty-Three: Can he let you do that?

The portal dumped the Smashers on the ground, rather like the last few times. They quickly moved out of the way, so that they wouldn't end up in a tangle of bodies and looked around their new surroundings.

Massive buildings, skyscrapers if you will, were all around them. There were deep pock-marks in many of them, several had sides completely blown out of them and shards of glass covered the streets.

"What is this place?" Diddy asked.

"I think…" Falco started to say, before sounds of a battle reached their ear.

Falco ran off through the deserted streets, the sunny sky lending an ominous feeling to the abandoned, ruined city.

The others followed, not sure what he was doing. Raichu and Diddy both had to be very careful, as the shards of glass could hurt their unprotected feet.

The creepy thing about this city was not that it was abandoned. Rather, it was the fact that it looked like it had been abandoned recently. In fact, judging by the fact that several of the buildings still had power…it might have been as recently as just a few hours ago.

The Smashers climbed over a large chunk of ruined steel and rock and they stepped into what appeared to be the central section of the city. They also stepped into a warzone.

What they saw captivated their attention, and with the exception of a few strangled gasps from Falco, the following events kept them speechless for several minutes.

The first thing they saw was a bullet-shaped brown ship with thin, frail looking wings flying directly overhead, a bright stream of energy trailing behind it. The first thing they heard was a low whooshing sound, followed by an explosion.

The second thing they saw were dozens of those vessels firing upon a massive object that looked like it was someone's attempt to create a face entirely out of pale-blue squares.

The small ships were shooting light green lasers that looked like small needles flying into the face, a face with an eye as big as one of those ships.

In the distance, several large lumbering vessels that were vaguely tubular were breaking orbit, their massive engine exhaust shaking the ground behind them.

The face turned towards the large ships and breathed a storm of large pale-blue and white square tiles. They flew very fast, expanding outwards as they neared the ships.

The smaller ships, which were clearly some kind of defense force turned their fire towards the tiles, blowing up most of them. A few slipped past though and slammed into escaping ships, opening up huge gashes and creating several dents. The ships wobbled under the attack, but managed to keep going and soon they had escaped from view.
The face turned back to the defenders who were now focusing their fire on the nose of the face. The creature, or machine, or ship, whatever it was, retaliated by firing more of those tiles at its attackers.

They put on bursts of speed and agility that was quite surprising, but the tile storm was too large for them all to avoid, and several ships were destroyed outright. A few were hit with only glancing blows, but the damage was done, and they were sent into irreversible crashes. A few of the damaged ships had enough control to steer themselves into the face, causing giant explosions that ripped deep cracks in the thing.

Apparently unable to take any more damage it exploded outward, destroying a trio of the remaining ships with its enormous chunks of destroyed metal. Several of the pieces burrowed themselves into the nearby buildings, wrecking them even further.

The surviving ships did a quick fly over the area before following the same path as the large ships earlier. Soon, they too were gone.

There was a long pause as the sounds of burning metal worked their way through the Smashers ears. After the silence stretched so long as to be painful, Link turned to the others.

"Would someone like to explain WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?"

Surprisingly, it was not Bario who answered, as that was who Link was glaring at. Falco cleared his throat.

"Welcome…to Corneria."
"Corneria, but that's where…oh," Samus started to say, before realizing that Falco was not liking the sight of his home being destroyed.

"What happened here?" Falco asked miserably.

"What was that?" Diddy asked, pointing where the face had been.

"That? That was one Andross's inventions," Falco said, a tone of hard determination leaking into his voice, "Andross…of course."
"Andross? That the big bad for you?" Samus asked.

"Yes. Looks like he's been busy while I was gone."
"What about Fox? Couldn't he have at least tried to stop…whatever happened here?" Link asked.

"I don't think Fox is here Link," Bario said, looking around.

"Why not?" Link asked.

"What do you want to bet he was snatched up by one of Master Hand's goons as well?" Bario asked.

"No…not him, not…shoot, knowing him he probably took on more than he could handle," Falco said.

"Does that mean…yes?" Diddy asked, "You don't think they got him and D.K?"

"Probably, and we can bet they have Luigi, Peach and Zelda and who knows how many others," Samus said.

"I think we're going to have to assume we're the only ones left from the previous tournament…the rest are probably all captured," Link said grimly.

"Yeah…," Falco said, staring in dismay at the ruined city.

"Well Falco…what do we do?" Bario asked.

His question caused many of the others to shoot looks of surprise at Bario, and no one was more startled than Falco himself.

"What…why…are you asking me?"
"This is your home, who better to ask than someone who actually lived here?"
Falco looked taken aback, and looked at the others as if searching for answers, or support.

He got it. Every single one of them looked back at him, clearly trusting that he would know what to do. The last several days have forged a tight bond among all of them, and with the exception of Link for Bario, not a one of these people wouldn't put their life on the line for the other. Seeing that gave Falco the courage to answer.

"Well, the first thing we need to do is figure out what exactly happened here, and after that…I guess we take on Andross."
"How are we going to find out what happened here? It looks like everyone left," Raichu said, gesturing in the direction of the vanished ships.

"Perhaps those vessels may be able to assist us," Meta Knight said, pointing his sword at a trio of small dots moving rapidly towards them.

"What the? Why are ships still here?" Falco asked.

No one answered. The three ships rapidly closed the distance between them, and when they were close enough to be clearly visible, Falco gasped.

The ships had a pointy dagger like appearance going on, what with the double pointed front and the hard, angular wings. They looked very sleek though, and the red and white coloring was somewhat intimidating. One of the ships stuck out more than the other two due to its large red rose design on the side. As the ships landed gracefully on the roof of one of the less destroyed buildings Falco started talking.

"Those are Star Wolf's ships!"
"Star Wolf?" Link asked.

"Yes, they are led by Wolf the wolf, and they have Leon the chameleon and Panther the…panther, and the ships are called…Wolfen," Falco trailed off, noticing how…imaginative those things sounded.

"I hate to say this Falco, but you guys need to be a bit more creative in how you name things here," Samus said with a slight grin.

"What?" Falco asked.

"Well you have Fox the fox, Wolf the wolf, Leon the chameleon, Panther the panther, Falco the falcon-"
"I'm a bluejay!"

"What's next?" Samus continued, undeterred, "Rob the robot? Star Snake led by Snake the snake?"
"Don't be silly Samus," Meta said, "A snake has no arms. He could not possibly pilot a ship."
The others weren't sure whether to spend more time staring at Meta or Samus in shock. Finally Link spoke up.

"Samus…I do believe you made a joke," he said, starting to smile.

"I've made them before," Samus said, with a mock glare at Link.

"What? It is impossible. Snakes do not have the necessary appendages," Meta said, clearly missing the concept of a joke.
A loud whooshing sound stopped the joking and joke-missing, and the Smashers turned towards the Wolfen's as the canopies popped open. Three creatures came out of them.

The first to pop out was clearly the one called Wolf. He leapt out and landed gracefully on his hand and knees. He stood up, flashing a predatory grin down towards the Smashers fifty feet below.

He had on a dark jumpsuit with a bright blue vest. His boots extended to his knees, with short spikes on the end of the kneepads. He had a gray face with a relatively long snout. His mouth was full of sharp teeth and a white shock of fur stretched back from his forehead to behind his pointed ears. His large eyebrows were similarly white, and a strange blue monocle like thing was over his left eye. He folded his clawed hands as he assumed a relaxed posture.

The second one of the ships was Leon. He came out pretty fast as well, but unlike Wolf he seemed to slither out, his green skin contrasting sharply with the Wolfen's colors. He assumed a relaxed pose behind and to the left of Wolf.

Leon was wearing a skintight blue jumpsuit that showed his three-fingered hands, spiny vertebra filled back and short curled tail quite clearly. His head was pointed slightly with large bugged out eyes that were mostly closed and a long scar arced down the left one.

The final one who left the ship was Panther. He sauntered out his ship, his stunning short purple fur attracting the eye of the Smashers. He assumed a lazy stance behind Wolf's right side.

He wore a blue jumpsuit with white armor over certain vital areas. A short tail stuck out of the back and a white line of fur curved beneath his left eye. His yellow eyes stared at the Smashers, clearly unimpressed.

"Hello Falco," Wolf said, his deep voice reverberating around the center of the ruined city, "It's been a while."

"What happened here Wolf?" Falco asked.

"Corneria's been evacuated, everyone left."

"Andross attacked," Panther purred, "He sent out like eight of those face things. The last one just got destroyed."
"But that wouldn't be enough to take out the entire Cornerian Army, or make them flee," Falco said, confused.

"You're right there," Wolf said, "But Andross had a little help. Remember the Aparoids?"

"What?!" Falco yelled.

"What are the Aparoids?" Diddy asked.

"A race of powerful alien bugs with the ability to absorb people and technology," Falco quickly whispered before turning back to Wolf, "But that's impossible! We killed the Queen!"

"Well somehow Andross got her back and convinced her to work for him," Wolf said, "Between the two of them, Corneria never stood a chance. This place is ground zero for Andross's plan to conquer the system."

Falco was about to ask another question, but Bario beat him to it.

"What are you doing here? If this place is so dangerous, why stay?"
At that, Wolf and his crew looked slightly uncomfortable, and if they weren't so freaking cool they probably would have looked down and kicked at some dirt. As it was, there was an awkward pause. After a few seconds Leon flashed a glare at Falco.

"Fine, I'll answer your question you annoying bird."
"But I didn't-"

"Andross grabbed us," Leon said, "He gave us a job to do, and said if we didn't do it we were dead."
"And…what was the job?" Falco asked nervously.

"He told us some guys would be showing up here with you soon, and he wanted us to…" Wolf paused for a minute before finishing the sentence, "Kill you."

"But you can't," Falco said, before anyone else could answer.

Wolf looked at him and growled under his breath.

"Don't think that just because we helped you with those Aparoids before we'll help you again. I didn't do that because of any fuzzy feelings I had for Fox or you, or anyone on your stupid team!"

"That's not what I meant," Falco said, quite seriously, "I mean, after all we've been through, you guys won't stand a chance."

Several of the other Smashers nodded in agreement.

"Don't get to cocky, Falco," Wolf said, before he and the other two members of his team leapt back into their ships.

"Uh Falco…how deadly are those ships?" Raichu asked.

"Uh," Falco said, realizing that unlike most times against Star Wolf…he was not in his Arwing, "Pretty deadly."
Bario looked at Falco for a moment, and then at the three Wolfen's which were just taking to the air now.

"Guys…scatter!"

Following Bario's lead the nine Smashers split up, trying to hide behind chunks of rubble, or at least use it for cover.

The Wolfens flew until they were well above the building line, and out of range for even the longest ranged attack from one of the Smashers, or at least it would take too long for the attack to reach them.
Leon spotted Samus first and swooped his Wolfen around and started firing twin streams of green laser bolts at her, forcing her to quickly dive under a chunk of concrete. He made another low swoop, shooting at the debris, but by that point Samus had crawled away, using the ruined building pieces as cover.

Mario had ended up by Link and Falco, and looked like he was a shot away from yanking on his cape and laying some beat down on these guys, but Falco urged him to stay there. As Panther started firing at a fleeing Diddy, and Wolf began taking potshots at Kirby and Bario, he knew they had to do something.

He looked around; trying to refamiliarize himself with a place he never spent much time in anyways. He was usually with the rest of the Star Fox team in the Great Fox, or out on duty stopping some random guy from doing some random evil…still, he had a feeling that there was something here that could help them…

Another look gave Falco his answer. A building with the upper third completely gone, and most of the rest was burn-scarred, had a sign on it. A sign that said " AMRY". It took him a minute to realize the significance of that.

"Mario, Link, I know this sounds bad…but I need you guys to cause a distraction," Falco said.

"What?" Link asked angrily, "Why should we sacrifice ourselves for you?"
"Because…that's an Armory, and I bet I can find something to shoot them down, but I can't get there if they blow me up, and it won't work if they see me go," Falco explained.

"Oh. Well…that's less selfish than I thought," Link said, "I'll do it."
"Okeydokey!" Mario said cheerfully.

Falco gestured for the other two to crouch near the edge of the collapsed billboard they were hiding behind, while he sneaked towards the end by the Armory. Mario and Link waited until Star Wolf was busy facing the opposite direction shooting their friends, and then ran out at full speed.

Once Mario and Link were about thirty feet away from the billboard Mario shot out three firebombs at Panther's ship. They missed completely as Panther was flying far too fast to be hit, but the shots did distract him. Panther suddenly flipped around in the air, a maneuver that probably should have been physically impossible, but the Wolfen's were very advanced vessels.

Panther started firing at Mario and Link, so the two split up. Leon turned his attention to them and Wolf started firing at Meta who apparently had run out in the hopes of diverting the fire to the others.

Realizing that now would be the best time to run for it, Falco dived out from behind the billboard and sprinted for a gaping hole in the side of the Armory. He had twenty-three feet to travel, and he covered most of it by jumping under and behind rubble, expecting at any minute to feel the painful heat of a laser bolt ending his life.

None came though, and he managed to slip into the darkness of the building relatively unnoticed. He clambered over a few smashed boxes. A quick look revealed that the majority of the weapons in this place had been taken, either by the Cornerian Army, or Andross's forces.

The inside was relatively unharmed, and there were enough flickering lights to see alright. He decided he wasn't going to find anything here and kept going as the sounds of the battle grew fainter as he moved farther. He soon came across two sets of stairs, one going up and one going down. After a minute he decided to head up, figuring the best stuff would be higher in the building.

The stairs led him to a hallway. Looking around he started following the noise, until he came to a door on the right. Opening it he found a small room with several boxes of weapons. Clearly whichever force emptied the bottom floor did not have enough time to get to the second.

A bright light flashed by and he spun, gun pointed at…a window.

It was covered in so much dust that at first it seemed to blend in with the wall, but a flash from one of the Wolfen's lit it up. Looks like he ended up in a room facing the central section of the city.

He opened one of the unlocked metal boxes and found a gun that was slightly larger than his and several balls. Grinning slightly he grabbed the gun and the balls and attached them to himself, putting the gun on the other leg from the one the pistol was in, and placing the small balls in a pouch on his waist.

He tore open another box and found something very exciting…a rifle. He swept off some of the dust and checked it…fully loaded. He grabbed ammunition for both guns and then turned to the window.

He applied some force and it slid open easily. He looked out and spotted the Wolfen's firing indiscriminately. A small grin still on his face he stuck the rifle out of the window and put his eye to the scope.

Diddy and Raichu were pinned down under some rubble, and everyone else was in the same situation. Once in a while someone would make a run for it and almost get shot down, but fortunately the Wolfen's were having trouble hitting small targets.

Mario was the only one who had managed to get an attack even close to one of the ships but Leon did a quick spin of his wings and deflected the firebombs easily. Things were not looking good.

Seeing Link running again as his last hiding spot had been blown to pieces, Diddy decided to try to help.
He ran out, waving his bright orange guitar. Panther broke off an attack on someone else and turned towards him. Diddy ran…and then realized he wasn't anywhere near anything to hide behind, and he couldn't go back or it would have drawn their fire towards Raichu. He crouched, preparing to at least attempt to dodge the lasers and then run before Panther could fire again…and a long, narrow laser beam shot out and cut in front of Panther, startling him into pulling up.

A second and a third shot out at Wolf and Leon. Wolf avoided it, but the third skimmed across Leon's ship, opening up a shallow gash that didn't look like it caused any damage.

Diddy took advantage of this opportunity and ran for cover while Star Wolf tried to find this new threat.

Falco managed to get off four more shots, none of which caused any significant damage to any of the ships before he had to pull out and run. He quickly slung the rifle over his back before he got out of the room. He dived to the side as several bolts piled into the spot he was standing at mere moments before.

He didn't get a chance to take a breather though as several more bolts cut in from the wall…apparently they were shooting through the other rooms. He ran towards the stairs, staying a step ahead of the bolts.
He only had to dodge a small amount. Since Star Wolf couldn't see Falco, they didn't know which direction he went so it looked like they had split their fire. Additionally the Armory was rather sturdy and it didn't let all the blasts through. The bolts were still quite deadly however, just because there were fewer to worry about doesn't make you any less dead when one hits you.

Falco managed to make it back to the stairs. He took a second to decide up or down, but figured he'd be a sitting duck higher up, and if he remembered correctly, most of the upper floors were gone…so that left down.

As he ran down the stairs the firing ceased, but he wasn't going to risk going back up. He made it to the ground floor, and then kept going to the basement.
The stairs ended in a short hallway. Falco quickly ran though it and turning a corner he stopped completely, shocked and disbelieving.

As he began to accept what he saw a grin blossomed on his beaked face.

"Well…I do prefer the air…but this will do."

Star Wolf had stopped firing because Bario and Raichu had run out and fired some attacks at the Wolfen's shooting at the building. Raichu's fizzled out before it made the distance, but Bario's managed to slam into Leon's ship hard enough to make it wobble.

Star Wolf had than turned their attention back to the others and the fight had degenerated back into the running and hiding, with no discernable difference from before. Falco's attempt to shoot the ships down was brave, but essentially useless. Something had to give. Either the Smashers would grow too tired to keep dodging, or the Wolfen's were going to run out of fuel.

Neither happened.

Instead there was a huge explosion in the ground near the Armory. Everyone froze, and Star Wolf stopped firing briefly.

Smoke wafted from the explosion, obscuring the damage. And obscuring the green laser bolt that flew out of it until it was practically on Wolf.

He managed to swerve enough to avoid being obliterated, but the attack skimmed past his engines and he found himself in a barely controlled spin.

As he attempted to make a non-crash landing several more bolts shot out, forcing Panther and Leon into evasive maneuvers as something emerged from the dissipating smoke.

It was a tank. A light blue, very stream-lined tank, full of sharp angles and points. Small jets on its bottom were lifting it up and out of the hole it had blown in the ground from the basement where it was being stored.

It quickly turned its large cannon towards Wolf's ship which was seeping smoke from its engines. Simultaneously Panther and Leon trained their weapons on the tank, the tank Falco was controlling.

They stayed in those positions for a while, until Wolf's voice echoed around the central area…apparently there was some kind of public speaking system in this section of the city, and Wolf could tune his ship's radio to it.

"Falco…don't fire," Wolf said, rather calmly for someone a laser bolt away from death.

Falco fiddled with some knobs on the complicated dashboard inside the tank and managed to tune its radio to the same frequency Wolf's was on.

"Why not? You guys surrender?"
"I can't do that. If Andross finds out we didn't kill ourselves trying to kill you, he'll kill us."

"We…I at least, don't want to kill you," Falco said, knowing that the others couldn't care less about the lives of Wolf and his companions…but Falco knew there was more to him than met the eye.

"Well, you might have to."
"No! There's got to be a better way!"

"Well, there is one thing."
"What?" Falco asked.

"We could fight. Just you and me, no vehicles, just us."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea…"

"What's the matter? Scared?" Wolf teased.

"No! Fine, what are the stakes?"

The others could hear the conversation quite clearly, and weren't liking it one bit.

"We have them! Falco can kill Wolf, and then we could take out the other two!" Link said.

"Before they killed Falco?" Bario asked.

"Well…maybe," Link said, not really thinking about that.

"We should hear them out," Samus said, "And if things go bad, than we step in."
"Step in and do what?" Link grumbled.

No one responded.

"The stakes are simple Falco. We fight until one surrenders. If you win, we'll point you in the direction of the Aparoid Queen."

"What? Why her? Why not tell us where Andross is?" Falco asked.

"Because we want to have time to escape before he kills you," Wolf said simply.

"Oh. If I lose?"

"If you lose, we'll let you go, but we won't tell you where either is, and we'll ask you wait twenty-four hours before you go looking."
"Why?"

"More time to escape," Wolf said, a smile on his face that was invisible to all, and yet they could hear it in his voice.

"And you'll just trust us to wait?"
"You're an honorable bird…I'll trust you."
"Alright…let's do this."
It only took a few minutes to get everything ready.

In that time frame Leon and Panther had landed their ships, and were now by Wolf's with a handful of tools, trying to fix the scorched engine. The Smashers had come out of hiding, and were watching Falco and Wolf as they shook hands. Link, and well, everyone wasn't too happy about the situation, but it was the best alternative. Plus, they were watching Wolf and his cohorts, just in case they tried something.

There seemed to be no animosity between Falco and Wolf, and Wolf looked like he was looking forward to it.

"We're going to have fun with this thing," he told Falco, smiling.

"I might," Falco said, grinning back, "Not too sure about you."

"Why?"
"I've been in a fighting tournament, and been battling monsters for the last several days. You've just been piloting your ship. You don't stand a chance in hand-to-hand against me!" Falco said, a hair's length away from laughing arrogantly.

Wolf frowned and gave Falco an odd look. It wasn't a look of anger or fear…rather, it was of disappointment.

"I warned you not to get to cocky…now, I will take you down," Wolf said, leaning back into a half-crouch, hands weaving protectively in front of him.

Falco scoffed, and deciding not to waste time by exchanging blows with Wolf, pulled out the gun he picked up in the Armory…the machine gun.

Falco opened fire from only a few feet away. Dozens of small green bolts of energy flew towards Wolf, and it looked like the fight was going to be over before it started…until Wolf swiped a hand down and hit something on his belt.

Immediately a pink semi-spherical field appeared around him…and reflected the bolts back twice as fast.

Falco was shocked and was hit in the chest by three of them before falling backwards and letting the others fly over him, almost hitting Meta Knight.

"A…Reflector?" Falco asked, wincing as he put a hand on his slightly burned chest…it was a good thing those bolts weren't very strong.

"Yes, one considerably more advanced than yours," Wolf said.

"I wasn't expecting that," Falco said, getting to his feet and holstering the gun, "Alright, maybe I underestimated your technology…but we'll see how you do with this!"
Falco activated his Phantasm ability and shot forward, closing the difference between him and Wolf in an instant. Wolf was startled and took an involuntary step back, and that's when Falco struck.

He opened up his attack with two quick kicks at Wolf's legs. Wolf managed to knock them aside with his hands, and once the hands were out of the way Falco was able to deal a powerful slicing blow to Wolf's chests with his arms. Wolf was knocked back slightly, but his low stance made him difficult to move.

Falco reared back for another attack, but Wolf managed to dodge the attack and deliver a kick at Falco's knee. Falco fell, but as he hit the ground he pushed off, rolling back to his feet. He used his momentum to land a high kick to Wolf's head.

Wolf leaned in with the blow and slashed at Falco, opening up long but shallow cuts. Falco hissed in pain, but kept up the attack, alternating between kicks and punches. Wolf blocked several, and retaliated with attacks of his own, most including open-hand strikes that hurt more than Falco would have guessed.

Falco backed off slightly, breathing hard. Wolf was also breathing, but not as heavily.

"Done?" Wolf asked, smiling at Falco.

"Not even close."

At that, Falco activated his Fire Falco and slammed into Wolf at point-blank range. The attack continued for several yards, and when it stopped Wolf was lying on the ground, smoldering slightly.

Before Falco could take pleasure in his victory a purple aura surrounded Wolf and he jumped up and charged into a very similar looking attack, but instead of fire, Wolf merely drilled Falco along with a series of impossible kicks, ending with a powerful boot to the chest that sent Falco reeling.

Falco lay panting on the ground while Wolf stood over him.

"You're good…but I'm better," Wolf stated.

"No!" Falco said, sweeping his legs towards Wolf's knees.

Wolf hopped over the attack, which was exactly what Falco wanted. He used the momentum of the kick to land back on his feet and flowed that into a second kick that slammed into Wolf's ribcage. When Wolf pitched forward, Falco hit him under the chin with both arms, knocking his head back.

Falco was about to continue that line of attack, but instead of Wolf trying to get back on his feet he leaned farther back, until his legs were off the ground. Once that happened he spun, catching Falco in the stomach with a strike that knocked him up in the air, where Wolf kicked up again, slamming Falco in the back.

After that scissor kick combo, Wolf landed on the ground. He staggered to his feet, none to gracefully. Falco on the other hand hit the ground far harder, and it looked like he wasn't going to get up.

Panther and Leon were keeping an eye on the fight, their work with Wolf's ship all but done.

"Boss has this in the bag," Panther purred, twiddling a rose he carried on his suit between his furry paws.

"I wouldn't be so sure…that bird is tricky," Leon cautioned.

The Smashers were shouting words of encouragement to Falco, but once they saw him stand up after that last series of attacks they fell silent. They did not want to distract him from such a surprisingly difficult match.

"Are you done Falco?" Wolf asked.

"No…how…how are you this good?"
"I've been practicing…for Fox. You're not him though. You should stop now, while you can still move."

"I won't. I will win!" Falco said, standing straighter.

"Why? The stakes aren't that big. If you lose…it won't hurt your cause too much."

Falco stared at Wolf for a long time, and when he answered, it was with a passion he rarely showed. His words were quiet enough so that only Wolf could hear, but the others could tell that something serious was being said.
"Because…I can't lose. I…I…I have been with these…heroes the last several days. In their shadow. In the shadow of Fox. I spout off arrogance, and brag of my skills, and for once, for once…I'd like to prove I'm just as good as them…and if that means beating you, then so be it," Falco raised his arms in front of himself, prepared to finish this.

Wolf stared back, and then nodded grimly.

"I understand…but you still won't beat me Falco."

Rather than answering Falco charged forward. Wolf slashed towards him with both claws, but Falco jumped over them and kicked Wolf in the back. Wolf turned around, catching a second kick with his hand and pushing back, knocking Falco off balance.

Falco tensed immediately, prepared for some kind of follow-up attack, but instead of a physical strike Wolf pulled out his own gun and fired.

A large arrow-shaped green beam of energy shot out of the gun. It moved slowly, but it was so close Falco barely managed to dodge. He turned back to Wolf, hand raised to strike, when Wolf slashed his gun at him, opening a shallow cut on his arm.

Startled Falco gave the gun a closer look and saw that Wolf had attached a short curved dagger on the barrel.

"Ow!" Falco said, recoiling as Wolf slashed again.

Falco dodged it, and as Wolf reared back for another strike, Falco unslung the rifle on his back and used it in a most unusual manner…as a defensive weapon. He caught the strike on the barrel of the weapon, and used it to hold Wolf off as he pushed down.

While Wolf growled and pushed harder, Falco reached into his pouch on his belt, grabbing something. Before he could use whatever it was Wolf threw a punch at Falco's face.

He narrowly avoided it by turning his head, and then he twisted the rifle, smacking Wolf in the face with the butt.

Wolf recovered fast though and charged into Falco, hitting him three times with his fists before kicking him into the air.

While in the air Falco dropped his rifle, and Wolf smiled. Activating what was apparently his own version of the Fox Illusion ability, he dashed forward at a sharp angle to the ground, a purple field trailing behind him. When he contacted Falco at the apex of his maneuver, a powerful electric surge traveled through them, shocking Falco and sending him crashing to the ground, a small ball landing on Wolf's head as Falco fell past him.

Wolf grabbed it absent-mindedly while he looked at Falco.

"Looks like you lose," Wolf said, as Falco struggled to remain conscious.

"At least…I'm not going to explode," Falco wheezed.

Wolf frowned, and then shot a look at the ball in his hand. It was, indeed, a grenade. Letting out a yelp of fear he tossed it away from him, and covered his face with his arms.
The grenade exploded only a few feet away from him, the force of the explosion powerful enough to send Falco rolling away, and Wolf was knocked off his feet.

Smoke obscured the combatants, and both Smashers and members of Star Wolf were worried…but when the smoke cleared, all was revealed.

Falco had staggered back to his feet, having managed to avoid the explosion part of the grenade. Wolf, also staggering back to his feet looked equally unsteady, and the singed chunks of fur and suit did not look like fun.

Wolf glared at Falco, and was about to say something when a chilling laugh permeated throughout the city.

A shadow slowly fell over the twelve, and slowly they turned to face the figure that stared at them from the sky.

"Andross…" Falco whispered.