Chapter 12
After the Arwings parked back inside the Great Fox, the teammates went to the bridge together to see ROB again. They were all excited and enthusiastic about getting to Venom, ready to finish the war. The robot had been patiently waiting for them, and he welcomed them back when they arrived.
"Good to see you all again," ROB said in his monotone voice.
"Good to see you too, metal-head!" Falco replied. "You ready to go to Venom?"
"As ready as I could be…" ROB answered.
"Great, great!" Falco said, giving ROB a slap on the back.
"Ow," the robot muttered.
The team noticed the portal opening near the Orbital Gate station; Beltino had opened the path for them. The portal had a green color, and was shaped like a perfect circle. They had once used the Orbital Gate to reach the Aparoid Homeworld, when they had faced the threat of the Aparoid invasion. The teammates all took deep breaths, preparing to finally reach Venom.
"Everyone ready?" Fox asked the crew.
"Pfft, about time!" Falco replied.
"Let's do it!" Slippy cried.
"Right! It's time!" Amanda said.
"Ready, Fox!" Krystal said.
Fox nodded. It was time. He turned to ROB and gave the order.
"ROB, take us through the portal!" Fox said.
"Affirmative; headed to Venom," ROB answered.
The Great Fox flew past the Orbital Gate station, to the brightly-lit portal. The anticipation had mounted long enough for the Star Fox team; they were ready to end the war. The Great Fox made its way through the portal, warping the ship from the Orbital Gate to right outside Planet Venom.
All eyes widened as the team had transported, now seeing Venom right in front of them. It was a greenish, brownish planet, and larger than most in the Lylat galaxy. Fox had been here before to defeat Andross and the Anglar Emperor. Now he was ready to defeat Bowman.
"Well, this is it!" Slippy chirped excitedly.
"Yes, darling! The final battle!" Amanda remarked.
"So… what's the plan?" Falco asked Fox.
The others in the room looked to Fox. He looked back, and scratched the back of his head casually. It was an awkward, comical moment of silence.
"Well… I didn't really think about it much," Fox said honestly. "I suppose it'll be just like usual; we'll blast our way through Bowman's ships, find out where Bowman is, and have him surrender. One way or the other, anyway…"
"Sounds good to me," Falco replied. "I eat these guys for breakfast. Shouldn't be any problem!"
"Nah; we're good!" Slippy agreed.
"Yes, I do believe we'll pull through!" Amanda added.
"No worries, Fox," Krystal said, smiling at Fox.
He smiled back at her, and then looked at all his teammates. "Everyone - I want to thank you for everything. All the energy you've put into this – I really do appreciate it. Without everyone's efforts here, we wouldn't have been able to have done this well…"
"Ah, Foxie," Falco sighed. "You're starting to sound like Peppy with this speech!"
Fox grinned. He knew it wasn't a compliment from Falco, but he took it as one all the same. He thought of how much Peppy had helped him in his life, emotionally and on the battlefront. It gave Fox amazing confidence knowing Peppy was proud of him, and part of him wished he was here, even though he was quite old now.
"Well, you get the idea, I suppose," Fox said. "Let's get to the Arwings then! ROB, fly the Great Fox and use the main cannons!"
"Affirmative; good luck, team," ROB said to the teammates.
"Thanks, Robby!" Falco said, giving the robot a playful slap on his robotic cheek.
ROB let out another emotionless, "Ow."
With that, the teammates left ROB behind and ran to the hangar. They got into their Arwings and flew out in front of the Great Fox, ready to enter Venom. The five Arwings made their way in, with the Great Fox right behind.
The team could tell at once the planet had noticeably improved. They saw Bowman had indeed helped improve things; there were buildings, streets - everything! It was a civilized area on Venom! It was truly a bizarre sight for the team to see.
"Can you guys believe this is Venom?!" Falco asked, clearly stunned.
"Seriously!" Slippy agreed. "It's a totally different planet!"
"Yes, it did look quite different when the Anglar army was here," Krystal said. "It's much nicer now…"
"Give Bowman credit where credit's due! It does look nice here! Almost like Corneria!" Falco said.
"It'll be nicer we put Bowman and his army out of business," Fox replied harshly.
"True," Amanda agreed. "Let's hope most of Bowman's forces are out and about in other parts of the galaxy!"
At that moment, a giant horde of enemy ships appeared in the distance. They were approaching rapidly. Somehow, they had quickly figured out Star Fox had arrived.
"How the heck did they know so soon that we got here?!" Falco asked angrily.
"No time to worry about that! Let's take them out! ROB, try to concentrate your fire on the largest groupings of enemies!" Fox ordered.
"Affirmative," the robot gave his usual reply.
ROB charged the Great Fox's main guns, ready to fire. The Arwings all charged their lasers as well. A few seconds later, Bowman's ships reached the Arwings and Great Fox and began firing. Star Fox was quick to return fire.
As the battle began, the Star Fox team was getting the job done. Each teammate was swiftly dodging enemy fire and shooting down multiple ships with ease. It was the usual routine for a while, with the Star Fox team finding fairly easy success against their enemy. ROB was also able to help by striking down several ships with the Great Fox's guns.
Before long, the first wave of enemies had been conquered. Before the Star Fox team could be too happy with the results, they saw more ships were coming for them. A lot more. It looked like a hundred more…
Oh, no… Fox thought. Rarely did he lose confidence in a combat situation, but this looked quite dire. He didn't know whether to keep fighting or retreat. Can we take them all on? What do we do…?
"Uh, Fox…?" Slippy asked, also concerned.
"We keep fighting, right, Fox?" Falco asked, a little worry noticeable in his tone.
"Fox?" Krystal asked, as the enemies were drawing nearer.
"…Yes. Keep fighting," Fox replied finally. "If things get bad… we'll retreat."
"We can do it; come on!" Slippy said, trying to encourage his teammates.
"Let's push on!" Amanda agreed.
Bowman's forces arrived, and began the attack on Star Fox. The team was forced to be on the run most of the time, with Bowman's abundant ships sending constant fire at them. Things did not go well.
It wasn't long before Fox realized he had made the wrong decision. He and his teammates weren't able to shoot down many enemies at all, instead stuck trying their best to avoid being shot. It had been hopeless almost immediately. There was only one choice left.
"Fall back, guys! Fall back!" Fox commanded, knowing the battle wasn't winnable.
The Arwings began to retreat to the Great Fox, but the enemy forces remained aggressive. Fox felt laser-fire rain against his Arwing; in a few seconds, his ship was going down, and fast. He noticed two other Arwings were coming down with him. They were Slippy's and Amanda's.
"NOOO!" Falco yelled, seeing his teammates going down.
"FOX!" Krystal cried frantically.
As he plummeted in his ship, Fox was still thinking of what was best. He was angry at himself for not retreating sooner, but he recognized it was too late to let the mistake distract him too much. He spoke into the intercom to give a final order to Falco and Krystal.
"Falco, Krystal! Leave now!" Fox instructed firmly. "Don't worry about us; we'll be fine. Just don't let them get you!"
"But, Fox!" Krystal began.
"NO! NOW!" Fox yelled. "THAT'S AN ORDER! GO!"
I won't let them get you, too… Fox thought resolutely. Not you, Krystal…
"Let's go, Krystal! Come on!" Falco said. "We'll figure this out!"
Krystal then left with Falco, escaping the enemy ships and making it back to the Great Fox. The Great Fox took a few hits before it was able to escape the planet. Meanwhile, Fox, Slippy, and Amanda continued falling, getting close to the ground.
"Slippy! Amanda! Brace for impact!" Fox warned his teammates.
"Right!" Amanda replied.
"Right!" Slippy said as well.
The three slowed their Arwings as much as they could, readying themselves to hit the ground. Fox groaned as it was about to happen, now having had this happen to him twice recently. He wasn't used to this kind of failure.
The Arwings hit the ground - fortunately in an open field, away from the city area they had entered in. The impact still hurt a little, as expected, and the feeling of such a bad defeat stung Fox worse. Fox, Slippy, and Amanda opened their Arwing hatches and climbed out of the damaged ships. Before they could do anything else, Bowman's ships swarmed them. Ten of the ships landed, and the soldiers from each ship got out with blasters in hand. Fox saw they were all monkeys, like most of Andross's army had been. Fox knew it was no use to fight back now.
"Hands up, Star Fox," one of the soldiers commanded haughtily.
The three stuck their hands up, unhappily complying. Three soldiers surrounded each of the Star Fox members, while the speaker stood apart. He smirked arrogantly, proud to have helped shoot down Fox McCloud's Arwing.
"You're coming with us; I think Bowman would enjoy talking with you," the soldier said.
Fox sighed, expecting something like this. He figured he would be handcuffed and dragged away next. Typical.
"To be sure you don't struggle…" the soldier said.
Suddenly, another soldier behind Fox whacked him over the head with a blaster. Slippy and Amanda violently protested, but were held back by the soldiers. With the hard hit, Fox fell to the ground unconscious.