Okay, second chapter time! Here we goooo...
11 ALW, 3:35 PM, Great Fox, somewhere in the Lylat system
"We're approximately 44 hours from Zoness." Fox announced over the PA system of the ship. "That is, assuming we don't run into trouble." He said once more, then silence.
I was sitting with Falco in the recreational hall of the ship, watching TV. I was trying to get lost in my thoughts, because the show on made me feel sick. I looked at Falco, who was also looking rather sick.
"Hey, uh, why don't you change the channel if this makes you sick?" I said, eyebrow raised.
"The remote is missing." the avian replied.
I sighed and stood up. They don't know how to change the channel manually? Seriously? I walked over to the TV and looked at the side of the screen.
Then I realized why we were still watching soaps. I spent at least 4 minutes scanning over the sides of the TV. There was only one button, the power button. Finally I gave up and just turned the TV off and returned to the couch.
"Well... Better than nothing, right?" Falco said as I sat down.
"Yup." I said immediately, relaxing back on to the couch.
Falco and I sat in silence for a few moments, until finally an alarm sounded. We both stood up and ran to the elevator, piling in. As we passed the hangar, Slippy jumped in and we continued up to the main hall, where we ran out of the elevator to our respective seats.
"Looks like your old friends are causing some us some problems, Wolf. We're not going to be able to keep up with them in the Great Fox. Wolf..." Fox stopped himself. I turned and looked into his eyes.
"Yes?" I inquired.
Fox stood there for a moment, staring thoughtfully into my eyes, before finally saying, "You're with us."
I stood, both confused and excited. Fox was actually letting me fly? The team piled into the elevator, leaving the robot alone in the main hall. Within seconds we flooded into the hangar. Everyone ran to their Arwings, and I dashed over to the Red Fang, waved my hand over the cockpit window to open it, and jumped in, closing the cockpit.
Fox pressed a few buttons in his Arwing and the hatch opened, a gravitational forcefield appeared. The sound of Arwings powering up around me prompted me to start up my Wolfen. Hearing the hum of the Wolfen and feeling the gentle vibrations under my feet brought me back to my early years.
One would think that after three years of not flying, I would lose all of my experience in a Wolfen. Quite the contrary, actually. As soon as everyone else shot out of the hangar, I was right behind them.
Suddenly, there was a little chime from the communication system, signaling an incoming call. I pressed the button and a familiar face appeared. It was that of Leon Powalski's.
"Wolf O'Donnell... Never thought I'd see your face again." The chameleon hissed.
"Hello again, Powalski." I growled back. "Not going to lie, Leon, I'm glad we've met again." I said, smirking. "I want to be the one to kill you."
"Hah! Fat chance, puppy." Leon hissed and ended the call.
"Alright team." Fox started over the com channel. "Wolf, Falco and I will take Leon." I grinned. "Slippy, you and Krystal can take Panther. Let's go."
The team split to take on the two Star Wolf members. Fox and Falco flew under Leon, while I above him. The chameleon wasted no time. He pulled forward, turned upward, inverted, and began firing at me. I flipped around and returned fire. I could see my shots hitting the shields of his Wolfen, damaging it. I was hit a few times, but was able to ignore the shots. I had faith in Slippy, and that he wouldn't just let my shields go down easily.
Fox and Falco flew up under Leon, hitting the sensitive cockpit of the Wolfen. Falco clipped the top of the ship, causing him to roll in the oxygen-less air, as I continued firing on the ship.
Things were going fine, until something unexpected happened. They had backup, and a lot of it. An entire Venomian fleet flew in and opened fire on us. Simple math told me that we had a 7% chance of victory out here. We were greatly outnumbered, and Fox knew it. He opened a comm channel to the team. "Everyone, pull back." he said and flew back to the Great Fox. I watched him fly back, and turned my attention back to Leon. I will kill him, but I wasn't going to spend a lot of time doing it. I continued firing on Leon, hitting the shields once more. They were definitely stronger than before. Before I could manage to take out the shields completely, I was swarmed by the Venomian ships.
Trapped, I did the only thing I could think to do, smash into the fleet. I fastened an oxygen mask on to my muzzle, then slipped a helmet on, clipping it to my flightsuit. I was going to crash, and I knew it. I slammed into Leon's ship first, which blew up to my happiness, then turned to the Venomian ships blocking my way back to the Great Fox. I had 49% shield power, and dropping. I could make it through a few layers of ships, but that would be it.
Taking a deep breath, I slammed into a ship, but more and more flooded in my way. I wouldn't make it to the ship. Finally, when my shield was at 5%, I ejected. The cockpit flew off the Red Fang and toward the Great Fox, hardly missing Slippy's Arwing, which was boarding the ship. I flew right past the hangar, and ejected myself out of the pod, flying into the hangar, passing through the gravitational forcefield, and slamming to the ground with a thump.
The hangar door closed as Fox jumped out of his Arwing and ran over to me. I was still laying on the ground, my heart beating out of my chest. That was a rush, one that I don't want to feel again. I pushed myself up and pulled the helmet off, then ripped the oxygen mask off my muzzle.
"You alright, Wolf?" Fox asked, reaching down his hand for me to grab.
I looked up and nodded, then grabbed his hand, then was pulled up. "I'm never doing that again."
Fox laughed. "Well, Leon is dead. How's that feel?"
I breathed a breath of air and nodded. "Feels fantastic."
Slippy jumped out of his Arwing and walked over to me. "You totally almost smashed into me." He said, smiling a bit. He clearly enjoyed the rush.
"Alright, we need to get out of here. Now." Fox said and turned toward the elevator. "Come with me, Wolf." The ran to the elevator. I was right right on his heels. Falco and Krystal jumped in and we headed up.
When we reached the main hall, we flooded out and Fox immediately began giving ROB instructions. "ROB, get us out of here." The robot chirped and we were off, slamming into some ships, which dealt very little damage to the ship. By the end of it, we had 98% shields total, and were gaining speed to Zoness.
Within 5 minutes, not only had we passed the entire fleet, destroying half of it, and disbanding the remainder of Star Wolf, but had also covered 4 hours worth of travel. However, we were taking too much energy, and Fox backed the ship down to normal speed.
"39 hours, team." Fox said. "Alright, ROB, time to contact General Pepper, and tell him what we had to do."
ROB chirped and started a call with General Pepper, who picked up within seconds.
"Yes, Fox?" the old dog said.
"General Pepper, we have just passed a Venomian fleet, and the remainder of Star Wolf. We were forced into a dogfight. We destroyed Star Wolf, but were forced to grant Wolf piloting permissions, which he did not abuse. His ship was, however, destroyed. We are now back on our way to Zoness and should arrive in 39 hours." Fox reported.
The general was silent for a moment. "Alright. Thank you for your report. Wolf O'Donnell," he said as I focused deeper on the old dog's face. "You are hereby granted with full permissions in Star Fox. Welcome to the team, Wolf." he finished and ended the call.
There was an awkward silence in the hall. Everybody was clearly surprised that the general would be so easy on me. Finally, ROB chirped. "Incoming transmission from Zoness."
Fox's ears perked in surprise. "Open it, ROB."
Muahaha cliffhanger. Well, not really, but you got a bit of suspenseful dogfighting. That's good, right? Right...? Hello? ...okay, bai.