About that little quiz from the last chapter. If you guessed Area 6...well, duh!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Through the Middle

Venom Air Defense Zone, Area 6

"I can't believe I actually let you talk me into this!" Chase whined. "This is complete and utter suicide! We're gonna get killed for sure!"

"Come on! Will you just live a little for once? If we wanna figure out what's causing all these attacks, we need to do this." Falco retorted.

"It's not like you to whine, Chase." Anna said.

Area 6 was the air space surrounding Venom. This particular section of the Lylat System was under complete control of the Venomians. About every hour of every day, the Venomians patrolled this zone, searching for any Cornerian fleets attempting to breach their defenses and counterattack Venom. Unfortunately, save for the previous Star Fox team, no Cornerian who went in ever came out alive.

"Besides, if our parents could make it through here in one piece, so can we!" Marcus assured, trying to sound much braver than he really was.

"Get ready, guys!" Katt called. "Those jackasses are coming right for us!"

Just like Katt had said, a large fleet of Venomian units had already spotted them. Marcus could hear their captain talking.

"Caiman here! Enemy fighters have been spotted! It appears to be the Star Fox team!"

Another voice, this one more deep and imposing, replied.

"All units head for the southwestern region! Don't let any of 'em through!"

"Err…you have the right to remain silent…bitch!" Chase tried.

The enemy units barreled toward the team at full speed.

"Good job. Now you've pissed 'em off!" Katt said angrily.

"Sheesh! Can't blame a guy for tryin'!" Chase replied.

"Everyone take evasive action!" Marcus ordered. "No matter what, we're gonna break through this fleet and get to the other side!"

The five Arwings blasted into the war-zone and avoided the enemy's projectiles. Marcus locked onto one in the center and fired a smart bomb. When the blast radius cleared, Marcus and Anna delved into the remaining pack of bogies and shot down a few more.

"Green Unit, fall back and regroup!" Caiman shouted.

With that, the three ships in the pack that Marcus had assaulted U-turned and flew away as fast as they could.

"Aww, c'mon!" Anna mocked. "We were just getting started!"

"I think they're angry enough without you asking for more, Anne!" Falco said, rolling his eyes.

"We'll buy your enthusiasm, though." Katt chuckled.

The five Arwings split up and shot down a few more ships. Chase quickly took notice of an odd-circular object that was quickly rotating.

"What in the…" he started.

Suddenly, the odd satellite turned its faceplate to face the team. A strange energy reaction appeared in the center.

"Watch out! That thing's gonna blow!" Chase hollered.

The team swerved away just as the satellite fired a powerful laser beam at them. When the beam faded, the five Arwings regrouped.

"What is that thing?" Anna asked.

"I dunno, but they're all over the place!" Chase shouted back.

"Target as many of those things as you can!" Marcus ordered. "Attack whenever you have the chance!"

Marcus barrel-rolled to the left and targeted one of the satellites. Just as he came within firing range, a few bogies appeared from behind it and jetted toward him.

"We're being attacked by a buncha kids?" one of the pilots shouted in disbelief.

"Hey, either 'teenager', 'young adult' or 'youth', not 'kid'!" Marcus retorted.

Marcus ducked underneath the bogies, then sped toward the satellite. He looked back and saw that they were hot on his tail.

"I guess it's time to...I can't believe I'm saying this…" he started. "TAKE A BRAKE! HA! I SAID IT!"

After momentarily laughing at his own ridiculous pun, Marcus slammed on his brakes. The enemy ships shot right past him and collided with the satellite, destroying it and themselves in a fiery explosion. Several more satellites started firing lasers at the team. Anna swerved to the right and brought one down with several charged shots, while Chase and Katt went off to the left and hit another with a few smart bombs.

Marcus and Falco lured a group of bogies to a satellite in the middle. The bogies fired small bombs. Marcus and Falco swerved out of the way, and the small explosives destroyed the satellite.

"Yeesh! You can't go two minutes in this hellhole without something blowin' up around ya!" Falco said in an aggravated tone.

"By the way you're wording it, you make it sound like you hate that." Anna said.

"I like to MAKE things blow up, not GET blown up!"

Falco himself used his Mach 4 converter (Chase had successfully managed to clone it and attach it to his Slip Strap, Falco's Sky Claw, Katt's Cat's Paw 3, and Anna's Punk Rock-It) to smash through the ring of another satellite, then blast a few more bogies out of the sky. A few very large ships with skulls painted on their hulls began flying towards the team with their multiple turrets blaring.

"Yeow! Those things are huge!" Katt shouted in a panicked tone.

"Everybody keep moving! Don't sit still even for a second!" Marcus shouted.

The team moved back and forth, and left and right, dodging the bullets as best as they could. The huge ships kept coming closer.

"ROB, can you give us a hand down here?" Falco called into his comm.

"Great Fox will cover you." ROB replied.

The Great Fox, which was trailing just a little ways behind the Arwings, began firing its powerful cannons at the incoming ships. Just as the Venomian ships came within firing range, they launched several small mines at the Arwings just before the Great Fox's lasers destroyed them.

"Space mines ahead!" Chase shouted. "Shoot 'em down before they get too close!"

The team blasted down the mines and fired at the remaining enemy ships. Just as they downed the last one, Chase's radar blipped. He looked up. What he saw made him begin to panic.

"Incoming enemy missile!"

Five huge missiles were hurtling for them at high speed.

"Shoot 'em down!" Anna screamed. "We're being marked!"

Everyone hit the brakes and started blaring their lasers as fast as they could. Just as they missiles were five feet away from colliding with the team, they fell apart.

"Phew!" Falco breathed. "I thought they had us for a second."

"Fire the second round!" Caiman shouted.

Five more missiles appeared out of nowhere and started jetting toward the team even faster than the others.

"Oh, COME ON!" Marcus shouted.

The team began firing their lasers again. They managed to down all of them…except the one targeting Marcus!

"CRAP, CRAP, CRAP, CRA…"

Before he could finish that last "CRAP", a charged Plasma Shot rained down from nowhere, collided with the missile and detonated it.

"Err…I'm gonna take a wild guess and say that wasn't any of you guys." Marcus said.

Suddenly, a streamlined ship swooped down next to Marcus. A Wolfen. More specifically, the Iron Maiden.

"Are you guys gonna hog ALL the fun?" Coyote asked with a big smirk on her face.

"Whew. I guess we're even now, huh?" Marcus asked.

"O'Donnell!" Chase shouted. "Get out of here right now! The last thing we need is to fight you in this God forsaken warzone!"

"I'm not here to fight, dumbass!" Coyote retorted. "I wanna help!"

"We don't need help from a criminal!" Anna hollered.

"Trust me; if we had the time right now, we'd arrest you on the spot!" Falco growled.

"Uhh….who are you?" Katt asked in a confused voice.

"Everyone shut your trap for a second!" Marcus shouted.

"But, Mark, she's…" Falco started.

"I know who she is, Falco. The point is that I trust her...for the most part anyway, and so should you. We need all the help we can get to make it out alive. Besides, you don't think she'd come out here on her own to fight us, do ya?"

"That's right!" Coyote put in. "You've got a cute leader! Why don't you try to actually listen to him?"

"Uhh…what?" Marcus asked.

Coyote suddenly blushed when she realized she had called Marcus cute.

"Um…nothing…oh, damn."

Chase groaned in disgust, but he realized that Marcus was right.

"Alright, alright! But I've got my eye on you, missy!"

"Ooo, yeah! You're real scary!" Coyote said sarcastically.

Anna suddenly snapped to attention when she heard Coyote say that. Maybe she was just suffering from déjà vu, but she sounded a whole lot like Bill whenever he got cocky.

"Nah, she couldn't be…could she?"

The commander's deep voice crackled on the comm line.

"Did we get 'em?" he asked.

"Not yet, sir!" Caiman replied. "It seems that a member of Star Wolf has joined them!"

"Great. One more little kid I've gotta send home crying…"

"Hey! Who are you callin' 'little', you jackass?" Coyote yelled.

"Oh, it is ON!" Falco growled.

The six ships boosted into a space mine field.

"Watch out for those mines!" Chase hollered.

Coyote and Marcus swerved off to the left and took out a small group of the explosives, then split off in different directions and took out another one of the satellites they had seen earlier.

"Nice work, Mark." Coyote said coyly. "You and I should work together more often."

"Well, maybe we could if you didn't suddenly disappear every time I try to talk to ya." Marcus replied.

"Hehehe. Alright, I promise to give you a little heads-up when I gotta jet."

"What is this, a chat room or something?" Chase said. "Come on, Mark! Focus on what you're doing."

"Hey, back off, Toad!" Coyote shot back. "He can talk to me all he wants, right, Mark?"

"Yeah. I can talk to her all I want." Marcus replied meekly

Chase's face fell.

"She's stealing my friend, for God's sake!" he thought sadly.

Marcus had actually defended Coyote when Chase and the rest of the team had told her to get lost, and now he was completely ignoring him when Coyote had deliberately insulted him. Now the pieces were starting to fit together! Marcus had completely forgotten about their friendship just so he could make a good impression on some girl that was being a complete jerk to his best friend!

Chase still managed to focus on the task at hand, but at the same time he kept angrily picturing a brutal scene in his head.

"Marcus doesn't need you anymore." Coyote would say. "He's got me now. You were never there for him when he needed you. Some friend."

Chase would grab Coyote's collar bone.

"You call THIS not being there for him, you bitch?" he would angrily scream as he pummeled her in the face.

Chase kept playing that scene over and over in his head. He wished he could do it right there, right now with Marcus watching. But if he did that, not only would Marcus kick him off the team, but he would renounce their friendship as well. The more Chase realized that, the angrier he got.

"Chase, watch out!" Anna screamed.

A group of bogies were firing at Chase from behind, but he was moping too much to really care. Then suddenly, Coyote swerved around behind Chase and shot down his pursuers.

"What's the matter with you?" she asked. "You deaf or somethin'?"

"SHUT UP!" Chase screamed.

Marcus winced at Chase's sudden outburst, as did everyone else.

"What was that all about?" he wondered.

Even if Coyote had rescued him, Chase wasn't going to start liking her just because of it.

"Frankly, Scarlette, I don't give a damn!" he angrily thought.

"They've broken through the first line!" Caiman shouted in a slightly worried tone.

"And next we're breakin' you!" Anna roared.

"OK, THAT is just scary!" Katt remarked.

The six ships blasted their way through another minefield and downed a few more of the satellites. Suddenly, a large, butterfly-like creature swooped down and began hovering in front of Marcus.

"What in the…" Marcus started.

The creature flapped its wings and sent large plasma-composed rings hurtling right at Marcus.

"Oh, so NOW it makes sense!"

Marcus swerved around the rings and locked onto the odd creature, when suddenly another one swooped down and threw out more rings. Marcus dodged these, too. The first one attacked again.

"OK, that's enough!" Marcus grumbled as he slammed the bomb button.

The smart bomb flew right in between the creatures and exploded, taking them with it.

"Enemy group behind us!" Falco shouted. "Man, they're fast!"

Sure enough, about three dozen enemy units swerved in front of them, U-turned, and began firing at them from all angles. Coyote barrel-rolled to the right, locked onto the units and launched a missile into them.

"Amateurs!" she smirked.

A gigantic warship began moving toward them.

"Whoa! What in the world?" Falco said in disbelief.

"That ship's only weak point is on the main bridge!" Anna warned.

The main bridge was at the back of the ship, poking out between two small wings. The turrets attached to the ship began firing at the team. Chase and Anna swerved down and blasted the turrets off of it. Katt and Falco swooped down and hit the main bridge. The ship exploded from the inside and began to dip down.

Coyote and Marcus both shot off to the left and took down a few more bogies.

"Is that all you've got?" Marcus yelled.

"C'mon! This is starting to get fun!" Coyote mocked.

"They're through the second line!" Caiman shouted.

"FIRE! FIRE!" the commander shouted. "Don't let 'em through!"

"Unbelievable! They actually think were trying to attack Venom!" Katt said.

"I wouldn't go down there if you paid me!" Anna replied.

More warships approached them. Using the same assault as before, they took down another one, but not before another swarm of bogies flew out and targeted Coyote.

"Back off, you freaks!" Coyote yelled as she tried to shake them off her tail.

"She ain't worth it…but OK." Chase thought.

He swerved over and shot down the enemies, making sure he skinned Coyote's ship as he boosted ahead.

"Hey!" Coyote hollered when Chase hit her. "I'm helping you and THAT'S how you thank me?"

"I don't need your help." Chase muttered under his breath.

"Ugh! No offence, Mark, but your friend's an asshole!"

The turrets on one of the warships started firing again.

"Little help here, ROB!" Falco shouted.

More lasers flew from the Great Fox's cannons and brought down the last warship. Anna looked up and saw the gigantic planet of Venom floating right in front of them.

"That planet gives me the creeps." she said, shuddering slightly.

"No surprise there." Chase replied. "Practically everything there won't hesitate to tear us limb from limb."

"The last line has been breached!" Caiman screamed.

"These guys are crazy!" the commander grumbled.

"Commander, what do we do?"

"Damn…we have no choice! DEPLOY THE GORGON! NOW!"

"That doesn't sound good." Marcus thought.

A small star-like object came out of nowhere and began hovering in front of the group.
"Enemy ahead!" Chase shouted. "This one looks different!"

"Goddamn it!" Katt growled. "We almost made it out!"

The star-like object flashed. When the light faded, a gigantic circular ship was facing them.

"What the hell is THIS?" Marcus said in a bewildered tone.

The Gorgon opened. There was a large pad in the middle. Circling around it were three spheres of energy that were connected to the pad by means of electrical currents.

"Got a weak point, Anne?" asked Marcus.

"Weak point is…the spheres!" Anna called. "Destroy the spheres to weaken its deflector shield!"

"Copy that."

Marcus began firing at the spheres. He managed to destroy all of them with relative ease. The pad changed colors from blue to yellow. The Gorgon closed as three forty-foot long, mechanical tentacles extended from the back.

"It's closed off the core!" Anna called. "You'll need to destroy the tentacles to open it again!"

One of the tentacles swiped at Marcus, who swerved away from it. He flew toward the tentacle and was about to shoot the link connecting it to the Gorgon when one of the other ones knocked him away from it.

"Yeow! This thing packs quite a punch!" Marcus said in a slightly worried tone.

"Try again, but keep an eye on your six this time!" Falco shouted.

Taking great care not to get his ass handed to him, Marcus boosted at the tentacle again. This time, he managed to lock onto the link and hit it with a charged shot, disconnecting it from the ship.

"One down, two to go!"

The second tentacle swiped at Coyote. She ducked away from it and shot a missile at the link, destroying the tentacle.

"I took care of one for ya." she said.

"Uhh…thanks." Marcus stuttered.

"What's wrong? You're not shy, are you?"

"N-no! Who's shy? I ain't shy!"

"Alright. Whatever you say.

The third tentacle shot lasers from its tip. Falco swerved to the left and deflected a few of the shots with a barrel roll, then he flipped on his Mach 4 converter and smashed through the tentacle. The Gorgon disappeared, then reappeared a few dozen yards back. Suddenly, it rotated very quickly, spewing out small homing missiles from its edges.

"Incoming!" Anna hollered.

Marcus swerved above the missiles and boosted forward, while Falco locked onto the missiles with his Multi-Lock and blasted the all to smithereens.

The Gorgon teleported again, this time reappearing right in front of the team. It opened again. Three more energy spheres appeared and began hurling electrical bolts at the team. Marcus barrel-rolled and launched a smart bomb into the hull. The blast radius destroyed all three spheres on contact.

The pad changed color from yellow to red and the Gorgon shut again as three more tentacles extended from it. The tentacles themselves began rapidly swiping at the team again. Katt and Anna swerved up away from the Gorgon, then flew back down and blasted one link.

"Hey, are you two sisters all of a sudden?" Falco asked with a smug grin on his face.

"Let's just say it totally SUCKED being the only girl on the team until Katt showed up." Anna called back.

"Well then, I'm your number one wing mate, Annie." Katt said, grinning.

Chase locked onto the link on the second tentacle, just as the third one swatted him away like a fly.

"D'OH! Aw, man, I suck!" Chase grumbled.

Coyote rolled her eyes, then swerved down, locked onto the link of the second tentacle and destroyed it.

"And you just realized that NOW?" she asked sarcastically.

"Hey!" Chase shouted. "Shut your big mouth, you piece of sh…"

"I wouldn't finish that last word if I were you!"

"Pff! Bite me, you fuzzball!"

"Hey!" Anna shouted.

Marcus meanwhile dropped away from the third tentacle, locked onto the link and fired a smart bomb at it. The tentacle separated form the Gorgon and floated away. The Gorgon warped over to the right, then opened again. Instead of seeing a trio of energy spheres, Marcus saw an enormous energy reaction coming from the pad.

He realized all at once what the Gorgon was about to do.

"Everyone take emergency maneuvers! That thing's dropping anchor!" he shouted.

Everyone managed to swerve out of the way as a massive, multi-colored laser beam fired from the pad. After a few moments, the laser faded and the Gorgon reappeared in front of Marcus.

It opened again. This time, three energy spheres were rotating around the pad.

"Let's take 'em all out!" Falco shouted.

Falco, Marcus and Chase all began shooting at the spheres. The spheres themselves began launching more bolts of electricity and deflected the lasers.

"Get closer in!" Marcus ordered.

The Arwing III, Slip Strap, and Sky Claw boosted forward and fired again. This time, the Gorgon was unable to detect their laser fire and the three spheres were pad's color changed from red to a yellow-and-black radioactive symbol.

"The shield's gone!" Anna hollered. "Everybody go for the core!"

The six ships all lined up, locked onto the Gorgon's core and shot a smart bomb (or, in Coyote's case, a missile.) at it. The explosives collided in such a brutal force that they sent the Gorgon hurtling away. When it was about a kilometer away from the team, it self-destructed.

"NO!" Caiman screamed. "They've taken down the Gorgon!"

"All units fall back and return to base!" the commander shouted.

The remaining Venomian units turned and fled straight back to Venom.

"Yeah, that's right, you BETTER run!" Katt called after them.

"Let's get outta here before they come back!" Falco said.

The team, Coyote and the Great Fox boosted out of the area at high speed.

10 minutes later

After continuously flying for ten minutes, the team caught sight of Sauria.

"Wow, look at that!" Katt said. "It's so beautiful!"

"Not only that, but it's the only planet that hasn't been altered by Cornerians." Chase said. "It has the most well preserved environment out of all the other planets."

"OK, here's the plan." Anna started.

"Whoa, hold up there, sister!" Coyote interrupted somewhat rudely.

"Excuse me, but I'm trying to talk here!"

"Yeah, and you're doin' a great job, too."

"What now, O'Donnell?" asked Chase impatiently.

"First off, I have a first name. I suggest you call me by it. Second, what exactly are you guys doing out here in the first place?"

"Classified." Falco said.

"Which means?"

"We could tell you, but then we'd have to arrest you." Chase answered.

"Pff! Says you."

"Exactly my point."

"May I continue now…UNINTERRUPTED?" Anna asked.

"Go ahead. I'm done." Coyote replied.

"Thank you. As I was saying, the dominant Saurian dinosaurs are very welcoming to our kind, but it would be a good idea to cause as little disturbance as possible. Mark?"

"Right here." Marcus replied.

"Since you're Fox's son, the Saurians will DEFINITELY take a liking to you. I recommend that you go in solo and search for any information regarding the Krazoa Keys."

"Krazoa Keys, huh?" Coyote asked. "Now THAT'S something you don't hear every day."

"Oh, damn!" Anna cursed.

"It's gonna be hard looking for something like that by yourself." Coyote said. "How about I go with you?"

"H-Huh?" Marcus stuttered. "Y-you...with me?"

"Sure! You need all the help you can get, right?"

"Oh, no!" Chase spoke up. "You're not following Marcus just so you can snatch one of the Keys and make a quick buck!"

"I don't want the Keys!" Coyote replied angrily. "I just wanna help Mark!"

Marcus thought deeply about what Coyote had offered. He wasn't too sure he could trust her with this mission, but then again, it would be nice to have some company.

"Well….I don't know…"

Coyote swerved up next to Marcus. Their gazes locked.

"Aw, c'mon." Coyote begged, putting on her best puppy-dog pout. "Puh-leeeeeze?"

Marcus couldn't stand that face. He didn't like to see a teenage girl (especially Coyote) beg like that. The way she was looking at him had instantly made his face flush bright red.

"Alright, alright!" Marcus abruptly answered. "Dammit, how light-hearted am I?"

Chase got angry again.

"Great! He's submitting to her AGAIN!" he furiously thought.

"OK, then, it's settled." Katt concluded. "Coyote's goin' with Mark!"

"The rest of you stay aboard the Great Fox until we get back. Ka-peesh?" Marcus said.

"Got it!" Anna replied.

"Check and mate!" Falco answered.

"You betcha!" Katt responded.

"Whatever." Chase grumbled.

"Well, let's go." Coyote said.

The Arwing III and the Iron Maiden turned and boosted towards Sauria. As soon as Marcus and Coyote were out of earshot, Anna started howling with laughter.

"What's so funny?" Falco demanded.

"I just realized something." Anna giggled. "Coyote came out here by herself and offered to help us just so she could get close to Marcus."

"Besides his complete and utter downfall," Chase replied angrily. "What the hell are you tryin to say?"

"I'm saying that MARCUS HAS A GIRLFRIEND!"