CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Live to Win
Cornerian Mantle, 40 miles below sea level
The tunnel appeared to quake and tremble as Marcus, Falco, Chase, and Peter went shooting up through the twisting and turning tunnel to escape their demise. As they got further away from Andross' fiery grave, flame from the core come launching up, trying to catch them. None of them paid any attention and just tried to make sure they followed the same path from which they entered.
"We just killed Andross! How come there's still earthquakes goin' on?" Falco shouted.
"It's not an earthquake!" Chase responded. "The planet's seismic level has returned to normal! It's just the tunnel wavering!"
"If it's just the tunnel wavering," Marcus started, looking forward in moderate shock. "then how do you explain THAT?!"
Gigantic rocks were splitting off of the walls and plummeting down towards the defenseless team.
"Shoot 'em down or we're toast!" Peter barked.
The ships cannons blared off as fast as their pilots could press down on the fire buttons. The rocks scattered into pieces when the lasers made contact.
All the metal gates that had appeared to block their path before were now nowhere in sight, so the group managed to shoot straight up through the tunnel without any difficulty, though they still had to line up one-by-one to get through without getting hit.
The rotating fans, however, were still fully operational and seemed to be spinning just as fast as before, if not faster. Marcus didn't seem to show any sign of slowing as he shot right at it.
"You trying to get yourself killed? Hit the brakes!" Chase yelled.
"The hell with the brakes! We don't have time for that! Just go!" Marcus bellowed.
Chase was the more logical thinker of the group, so when Marcus decided to do something brash and arrogant, he usually protested and talked him out of it. Now certainly wasn't the time for that.
Reluctantly, the other three decided to follow along with what Marcus had decided to do. They slammed on the boost and shot through the small gaps, trying their best not to get smoked by the rotating metal frames. Except for Peter, they all made it through clear and unscathed. Peter himself roughly skinned his upper left wing on the frame.
"Good Lord, it makes ya wonder these yaks get through here without gettin' gored on their own bloody death traps!" he growled.
"See, that's why you should never rush into things." Chase said matter-of-factly. "AND why you should listen to me more often."
"You wanna get out of here alive or not?!" Falco replied.
The tunnel twisted right. A group of Venomian fighters came shooting up after the team in a matter of moments.
"You think we're just gonna let you fly out of here after what you've done?!" one of them shouted.
"Sorry to jet, but we've gotta take a rain check." Marcus responded. "Drop the load, boys!"
The team slammed the small orange button next to the bomb button. Hatches opened on the back of their ships and dropped out all of their smart bombs on the bogies.
The massive explosion was enough to send the evil soldiers spiralling back down into the flaming abyss, while the shockwave from the blast radius sent the team rocketing faster through the tunnel.
"And you thought I was a basket case!" Chase said.
"Heads up!" Peter shouted.
The ships zipped past four flashing red lights blinking on either side of the tunnel.
"Motion sensor bombs!" Marcus hollered. "It's a trap!"
A section up ahead of them exploded and sent more massive pieces of brimstone raining down at them.
"Look alive, everybody!" Marcus barked. "They are NOT taking us down today!"
The four ships swerved away from the falling debris. As soon as the path was clear enough, Chase started fiddling with a few buttons on his monitor.
"What are you up to now?" Falco asked.
"I'm analyzing the time we have remaining until the gate disappears." Chase said.
A few loud beeps came from Chase's monitor, and as soon as the results appeared on the screen, his jaw dropped.
"Uhh…we've only got four minutes to get out before we get trapped down here."
"And you're just telling us this NOW?!" Peter asked angrily.
"Hey, don't shoot the messenger!"
"Thing is when you say 'Don't shoot the messenger', it makes me WANT to shoot the messenger!"
"Will you both shut up and keep your heads on straight?!" Marcus yelled. "We're not gonna get out of here if we keep arguing!"
"Don't look now, but we've got trouble!" Falco said, pointing forward.
Several small cannons aimed inward and began blaring lasers all over the tunnel in every which way.
"When did these get here?" Marcus sputtered.
"Those conceited apes must have set these up while we were fighting Andross!" Chase growled. "Do they have to make EVERYTHING hard for us?!"
Marcus swerved up, left, right, down, left, up, right, and right again, trying his hardest not to get hit by the sizzling hot lasers.
It seemed like they had passed all the lasers cannons when suddenly, just when Marcus least expected it…
ZAP! Another laser came shooting from behind him and cut off his ship's left wing.
"My port side's been severed!" he shouted in panic. "I'm losing altitude!"
Sure enough, his Arwing began to tilt over and slip toward the flaming wall. He had to keep tightly pulling up on the steering control to keep himself from smashing into the craggy side.
Chase swerved in front of him.
"Take this, Mark!" he said, hitting a blue button to the right of his head.
The reserve slot on the back of Chase' ship slid open. A wing repair probe dropped out, fastened to the left side of Marcus' ship and quickly used its miniscule to generate a new wing. Even though, they were small, wing repair probes were extremely efficient and could repair anything in a few seconds.
"Man, thank God you built enough of 'em to last a year." Marcus breathed. "Those little bots are always saving my hide."
What he meant by that was that he was always getting his wings knocked off when he was thirteen. Thankfully, Chase could build about a dozen probes in just under an hour, so he was always prepared to help get Marcus fixed up.
"Really hate to interrupt such a tender moment, but WE'VE GOT COMPANY!" Peter shouted after the team arched upward again.
A gigantic copperhead missile was zooming down the tunnel at high speed and headed right for them.
"Blast that thing down quick!" Marcus shouted.
The team locked on to the giant explosive and fired multiple charged shots at it until it detonated.
"We're running out of time! Two minutes!" Chase shouted.
"Just put it on the screen, will ya?" Falco said.
The timer appeared on Marcus' monitor. He began to get more and more anxious as it slowly began to tick closer and closer to zero. The team arched right again. More enemy units shot up after them and started blaring their lasers.
Marcus performed a quick barrel roll and deflected the lasers back upon their firers. The team arched upward one last time. Almost instantly, they could see the starry and slightly stormy sky at the end of tunnel.
"We're almost there! Don't stop now!" Marcus barked.
"And why in God's name would we do that?!" Chase said rolling his eyes.
"It's too early to celebrate! Look!" Falco shouted.
A gigantic metal gate that looked strong enough to repulse them was slowly closing around the exit.
"That gate's made of titanium-alloy!" Chase shouted. "I think there's some plutonium in there, too! Our Arwings can't possibly crash through that!"
Marcus smirked.
"Who said anything about smashing through it?" he said. "Activate Mach 4 convertors…NOW!"
The four ships zipped up through the opening just as the gate closed and rocketed up into the night sky. As soon as they were high enough above the ground, they hit the brakes and levelled out.
"Phew! We made it!" Chase breathed. "And with a minute to spare!"
The other four ships flew up alongside them. Anna, Katt, Damalgo, and Coyote were all cheering.
"You did it, guys!" Katt yipped.
"Corneria's saved, and it's all thanks to you!" Anna whooped.
Falco sighed out of relief.
"Hopefully that's the last we'll see of Andross." he breathed.
Marcus smiled meekly. Coyote noticed him and swerved her ship up next to him.
She smiled at him, and he was quick to smile back.
"Way to go, Mark." she said.
Marcus nodded.
"Thanks…I just wish that Mom and Dad were here…so they could see that…we could do it after all."
Coyote's smile quickly became wider and all the more warmer.
"I'm not one to believe in the supernatural or anything, but I'm sure they're watching us from Heaven right now, and I'll bet anything that they're just as proud of you as anyone else…maybe even more."
Marcus sighed. There he went brooding again.
"You're a hero, Marcus. You should at least acknowledge yourself for it." Coyote said.
Marcus looked up.
"Yeah…alright, Anne. Contact Peppy and tell him that everything's been taken care o…"
Before he could finish his sentence, his brain blared and a siren went off in his ears. It was his warning sense. It had just gone off. And it was even stronger than he had ever felt it. Everyone else was quick to notice this.
"What is it, Mark?" Falco asked.
"…something's wrong."
Just as the wormhole was about to close, sealing away the passage that led to the planet core…
…an enormous figure burst out of it and swung its gigantic fist right at Marcus' ship!
"MARK, WATCH OUT!" Coyote shrieked.
Too late. The heavy fist slammed into the Arwing III and sent it careening toward the barren landscape below.
"EEYAAAAAGH!" Marcus screamed.
He sharply pulled up on the steering control and swerved back up, just barely skinning the ground. With terror in his eyes, he turned his ship to face his attacker. What he saw was enough to make him stammer in fright.
"N-no…it…it can't be!"
Floating before the team was none other than Andross in his fully regenerated form; a gigantic, disembodied head and hands with tanned skin, a crazed look in his eyes, and a pointed white beard.
"Free at last from my hellish prison!" the horrifying beast laughed in delight. "Months of waiting have finally come to an end!"
"Uhh, Falco…is THAT what you remember him looking like?" asked Chase.
"…yeah…exactly like that." Falco muttered.
"He's…he's still alive…but how?!" Marcus sputtered.
Andross turned to the eight ships and laughed again.
"So this is the new Star Fox team? A group of children and three good-for-nothing vigilantes? Did you fools honestly think that you could defeat the great emperor Andross?!"
"This isn't good!" Chase sad. "If we don't take him down like this, he'll completely annihilate us!"
"How are we gonna take down something down that huge?!" Anna sputtered. "I'm not trying to sound doubtful, but…"
"Damn it…" Marcus growled.
"Mark, what do we do?!" Coyote shrieked.
Marcus was silent. He had thought for sure that they had killed Andross, but now he was floating right in front of them. He had to be the most intimidating thing that Marcus had ever seen in his life. He was frightened, and he could tell that the others were, too, but he couldn't just give up, even if the most feared being in the galaxy was there, ready to strike and murder them.
He angrily looked up.
"Enough! We have to stand up! For the sake of everyone…we have to fight!"
"Mark, you're really off your rocker this time!" Katt said. "I don't wanna fight Andross, I don't wanna see you kids get hurt, and I don't wanna die!"
"Well, suck it up, woman!" Marcus shouted. "If we die, then we die with honour!"
"He's right." Falco said. "We have to try! We've come too far to just give up now!"
Maybe he WAS off his rocker, but Marcus' mind was set. Everyone looked up with determination in their eyes. They were ready for battle.
"You won't escape Death this time, Andross!" Marcus shouted. "Not by a damned sight!"
Andross smirked.
"Very well then, young McCloud. Come! Stand before me if you dare!"
Andross swung his left hand at the team. They swerved around it and boosted away.
"He MUST have a weak point." Anna said thoughtfully. "Everything does!"
"Activating all-range mode!" Marcus shouted.
The team U-turned back toward Andross once the wings were set. Anna took a scan of Andross' body and searched all over, but either Andross was cloaking himself to hide his weak points, or he didn't have one at all.
"Uhh…maybe it's his hands! Shoot his palms!" she shouted nervously.
Marcus and Coyote swiftly avoided being pelted by Andross' right fist and looped back around.
"This is insane!" Coyote said. "Does Anne even know what she's talking about?"
"We better pray to God she is." Marcus replied as they delved in for an attack run. "Let him have it!"
The beams zinged through the air, but when they made contact with Andross' hand, they vanished and his palm began to glow a bright shade of green.
"What sort of child's play is this?" Andross mocked.
"Dammit! It's no good! He's just absorbing it!" Coyote hollered.
"Then we've got a monster-sized problem!" Chase said nervously.
Beams came firing from Andross' eyes (which he had somehow regrown after the boys had taken him down earlier). Within an instant, the beams themselves solidified into solid rock.
"Oh, come on! Is there anything this guy CAN'T do?!" Falco whined as he jerked the steering control off to the left.
Marcus swerved out of the way and looked up just in time to see Andross aiming his massive palm at him.
"I don't like the way that guy's looking at me!" Marcus panicked.
"Taste fear, morsel!" Andross bellowed.
A thin sheet of crystals sprayed over Marcus' Arwing. The engine began to sputter as they landed on his ship and fastened themselves to it.
"My engine's locking up!" Marcus shouted.
"Do a barrel roll before it shuts down!" Chase called.
Heeding his friend's words, Marcus rolled his ship. The crystal sheet covering it shattered and Marcus was able to properly steer again. Falco and Katt streaked toward Andross' right hand while Peter and Damalgo zipped toward the left.
"Try using charged shots!" Chase shouted.
"Will do!" Falco replied.
The four ships charged and fired. With the absolute miniscule effort possible, Andross batted them away with a flick of his wrist.
"Is that the best those pieces of scrap metal can do? You fare no better against me than a lowly insect!" Andross said.
"Uhh…yeah, I've gotta feeling that, ten-to-one, we're screwed." Falco said nervously.
"Goddammit! This guy's near invincible for crying out loud!" Damalgo cursed.
Without any hesitation, Andross seized the Punk Rock-It and began to crush it in his hands.
"Let go of me, you big hairy freak!" Anna shrieked. "Oh God, somebody help!"
Chase shot toward the hand the held Anna. He wasn't going let this inhuman beast hurt Anna…not now and not ever.
"Wow, I'm actually starting to feel protective of her. Weird." he thought.
Shaking the thought out of his head, Chase opened his cockpit, pulled out a heavy-duty rocket launcher he had stored in the back and fired one of the explosives into Andross' eyes. The rocket exploded. Andross was left temporarily blinded, and he lost his grip on Anna's ship.
"Phew, is my heart still beating?" Anna breathed. "Thanks so much, Chase. You're a life saver."
"Think nothing of it." Chase replied. "Just try not to get your ass fried, alright? I'm not always around to help, y'know."
Andross growled as his sight quickly recovered.
"What was the point of such a trivial attempt?" he asked with an evil smirk on his face. "In the end, it shall not save you!"
The green glowing on his hands disappeared as a slowly swelling spark appeared on his fingertip.
"Uh, oh! He's charging something!" Katt warned.
Andross let out a loud battle cry that boomed across the whole sky as he pointed his finger at them. A gigantic beam that was about as thick as a freight carrier shot from the tip.
"That beam's devastating! Watch out, guys!" Anna screamed.
Marcus slammed his foot down on his boost pedal and avoided the gargantuan beam as it moved toward. The rest of the team scattered about. It was literally every man for himself.
"That's right! Run, cowards!" Andross mocked.
"Y'know, this is a real frickin' embarrassment!" Coyote growled.
Suddenly, Andross clenched his fists. Enormous surges of energy appeared as his grip tightened.
"Hell has met the earth! Now you will burn in its ashes!" he shouted.
With that, he slammed his open hands together. An enormous wave of energy generated from the villain's hands and spread out toward the team like wildfire. No matter how hard they tried to avoid it, the wave smashed into the eight ships and heavily damaged them. As Marcus recovered from the shock, he saw that his ship's shield gauge was dangerously close to zero. Another hit like that without time for his ship to rest and he was done for.
"My ship's almost busted!" Coyote said urgently. "I can't take much more of this!"
"It's no use! He's just too strong!" Chase shouted.
Marcus tried as hard as he could to deny it, but no matter how hard he tried, he realized now that there was no hope for their survival. Andross was too powerful. Eight people just wasn't enough to defeat him. For the first time in his life, he felt the crushing pain of defeat slowly eat its way into his heart. More and more, he felt the guilt of failure slice through him like a sharpened sword. He did nothing as Andross held up his hand again. He was giving up. He was letting everyone down...his family, his friends, Coyote…even himself.
A tear fell from his eye and he whispered to himself.
"Mom…Dad…I'm sorry…I can't beat him…I've failed you."
The energy reaction coming from Andross' palm grew brighter and larger, until finally…
…a smart bomb went flying into his hand.
The bomb exploded and Andross screamed in pain. He shook his hand. Marcus looked up.
"Huh? Wha…what was…" he sputtered.
The smart bomb had come flying out of nowhere. None of the eight ships had fired it. But suddenly, Marcus heard a new voice…one that he was overjoyed to hear. It was the calm voice of his father.
"Don't ever give up, my son."
Marcus looked back around behind him. Two Standard-Level Arwings were coming toward him. He rubbed his eyes and looked again. The ships were still there, as broad as pure daylight.
"I must be dreaming." Marcus said. "My parents fell off a five-hundred foot high cliff. There's no way I'm seeing them."
"Hold your horses. How can you be dreaming," Chase started. "…when I'm having the same dream?
Then another voice sprouted up. Another voice that soothed Marcus' fear. Krystal.
"It's because none of you are dreaming."
"You…you're alive?" Marcus sputtered.
The two Arwings swept up next to him. Both were alive and well, though Fox had a deep scar on his left eye, and Krystal had several cuts and bruises along her arms and face. Nevertheless, Marcus couldn't deny that both of them had survived.
"Do we look alive to you?" asked Fox with a warm smile on his face.
"WOO-HOO!" Falco cheered. "You made it!"
"It takes more than a thousand foot drop to finish off a McCloud, Falco." said a new voice. Slippy's voice.
"Dad!" Chase cheered.
Within a split second, Slippy, Amanda, Bill, and Lucy had driven out on to the battlefield.
"No mad scientist is going to hurt any child of ours." Lucy said. "Not while we're around."
Marcus looked at his parents again. Both were smiling brightly at him.
"You're okay…" Marcus whispered, a happy tear forming in his eye.
"Let's save the happy tears for later, sport." Fox said sternly. "Right now, we've got a job to do."
The fourteen ships crowded around Andross after Slippy had sent out a few QRPs (Quick Repair Probes) and mended everyone's ships. Andross himself had recovered from the initial shock and laid his eyes on Fox's ship. He gritted his teeth and his glare flared up.
"Fox McCloud. We meet again." he growled.
"So we do, Andross." Fox countered. "For the last time, as well."
Marcus nodded.
"Alright, everyone, let's…"
"Hey, don't start the party without us!" a voice said from the comm.
Fox recognized the voice almost instantly. It was a voice he hadn't heard in eighteen years.
"Wolf?!"
Just like that, five Wolfens swooped in and began circling around them before coming to a halt next to Fox, Krystal, Falco, Slippy, and Bill.
"About time I saw you again, pup." Wolf said.
"Let me guess: you felt guilty about leaving Corneria to be destroyed, so you and your gang of criminals decided to just pop in and ask to help?" Fox asked.
"Half-right: I felt guilty about saying the wrong thing to my daughter who had gone to help your son, so my gang of criminals AND my wife decided to pop in and ask to help."
"Your wife?!" Bill sputtered as he looked over into one of the Wolfens and spotted his sister. "Lori?! You married HIM?!"
"Don't sweat it, Dad." Anna said. "We're ALL in shock."
"Alright. Let's kick some primate ass!" Falco said.
"Letting your ego surpass you again, Falco?" asked Leon with a smirk on his face.
Marcus glared at Andross.
"This time we're taking him down…together as one!" he said, his confidence returning to him.
The other eighteen ships lined up one after the other. Fox nodded at Marcus. Marcus nodded in return and gave the order.
"All ships strike! NOW!"
They all broke off in different directions around Andross. A few beeps came from Slippy's end of the line.
"Shield analysis complete. It should be coming up on the monitor right about...now!" he said.
A bar appeared on Marcus' monitor.
"Anna! Lucy!" Marcus ordered. "Circle around Andross and try to find his weak point!"
"Yessir!" Anna replied.
"You got it!" Lucy said.
Coyote broke off towards Wolf. She still couldn't believe that Wolf had regretted what he had said to her, so now was the time to talk to him.
"Dad…why did you come back for me?" she asked.
"Because you're my daughter." Wolf said. "You're not just a tool to get to Fox. I shouldn't have been so angry with you. After all, you were just trying to be a good person. Can you forgive me?"
Coyote began feeling emotional again, but right away, Falco broke up the tender moment.
"Uhh, do you think we could do the sentimental forgiveness bit later? We've got a brawl on our hands here!"
"Tsk, tsk." Leon mocked. "Leave it to birdbrain over there to break up such a touching moment."
"Why I oughta…"
"Heads up!" Amanda shouted.
Andross swung his hand again. The ships accelerated away from it. Andross opened his mouth. Several missiles came shooting out, as did small bits and pieces of rocks.
"It looks like he puts up some sort of shield around himself when he has his mouth closed." Lucy pondered.
"That's it!" Anna concluded, snapping her fingers. "Mark, fire a bomb in there!"
Marcus flushed.
"Err…easier said than done. We kinda dumped our entire bomb supply to get out of the tunnel."
"Okay, seriously, THAT was his fault." Chase said. "So don't start pointing fingers at me!"
Panther swerved down in front of Marcus.
"Take these, boy." he said.
Smart bombs fell out of slot on the back of the Black Rose. Marcus opened the Arwing III's cannon and pulled them in.
"Alright, I'm good to go." Marcus said. "Thanks, Caroso."
"Don't push your luck." Panther growled. "You won't receive any kind of friendly gesture from me again."
Suddenly, Krystal butted in.
"Hey! That's my son you're talking to, you cad!" she hollered.
"Err…of course, he is!" Panther stammered. "I was just playing around with the young one, hon."
Marcus' face adopted a confused expression. He looked over at Coyote.
"'Hon'?" he asked.
"Trust me; you don't wanna know." Coyote said.
Marcus rolled his eyes and swerved away as Andross swung his hand at him.
Wolf came dive-bombing down toward Andross. Fox pulled up alongside him.
"His attacks are starting to build up!" Fox warned. "Be careful!"
"Keep your advice to yourself and your eyes front, Fox!" Wolf retorted
"What the…hey, I was just trying to help! There's no need to backlash me like that!"
"I don't need your help, pup! I'm just fine on my own!"
"AND STOP CALLING ME PUP!"
The two started jabbering amongst one another like there was no tomorrow (There certainly wouldn't be if Andross wasn't stopped). Marcus and Coyote immediately caught sight of what was going on.
"Oh, please!" Marcus groaned.
The two sped toward their fathers and butted into their argument.
"BOTH OF YOU, GET A GRIP!" they shouted.
Wolf and Fox were immediately silenced.
"We know you two aren't exactly acquaintances, but seriously?! Do you have to break out in an argument right now?!" Marcus scolded.
"I ain't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed either, but I know enough to know that grownups have better things to do than argue!" Coyote said sternly.
"Alright, alright, Yeesh!" Fox muttered.
"Thought I'd never live to see the day…" Wolf smirked.
Oikonny, Slippy, and Katt went delving down toward Andross right as he opened his mouth again.
"Now! Fire a bomb in there!" Bill yelled.
Two smart bombs and a missile went flying into Andross' mouth. He screamed in pain as the explosives detonated in his throat.
"That's it!" Anna cheered. "It's working!"
"He shouldn't be able to handle much more of that." Amanda said.
Andross shook out the pain and growled as he looked at Oikonny's ship.
"My own nephew is one of them…Andrew! How dare you turn against me!" he bellowed. "You have betrayed the very being that brought you up from the pathetic waste you once were!"
Oikonny was silent for a moment, then he answered with the utmost confidence that he had.
"Sorry, unc. I'm making my own path now! And I'm proud of it!" he said boldly.
"Very well. Then you shall die with them!" Andross growled as he aimed his hand at Oikonny and fired.
"I don't think so!" Anna shouted as she swerved in front of the laser and deflected it with a barrel roll.
Small groups of homing missiles came shooting from Andross' hands. One group set its sights on Lori, while the other streaked after Krystal.
"Oh no!" Lori shrieked.
"Aaah! Fox!" Krystal screamed.
Marcus and Fox shot after Krystal's pursuers, while Wolf and Coyote zipped towards Lori's. Marcus and Fox held down their fire buttons and took the homing missiles down with a few well-targeted charged shots.
"You okay, Mom?" called Marcus.
"Mm-hm." Krystal breathed. "Thanks, boys. What would I do without you two?"
Coyote and Wolf swerved in between the missiles targeting Lori and used a few quick barrel rolls to set them off.
"Oh, thank the lucky stars for you two!' Lori said. "God, I'm so awful at this piloting stuff…"
"Don't sweat it, darling." Wolf said. "You're not going down before me."
"So the Space Cowboy has a soft spot after all…" Katt chuckled. "Now I've seen everything."
Just as Marcus hit the boost pedal and rocketed towards Andross again, the behemoth seized Marcus in his massive hand and proceeded to tighten his grip, trying to crush Marcus' ship in it.
"Keep your filthy paws off my boy!" Fox shouted.
He slammed the ejector seat button, shot up high into the air, pulled out a flash grenade on his belt and threw it right into Andross' eyes. The small bomb exploded and hindered Andross' sight. Marcus barrel-rolled and shook his ship loose.
"Phew, nice save, Dad." Marcus breathed. "Man, this guy's got a grip of iron!"
"Maybe, yes, but he's got a body made of glass." Fox smirked.
Falco streaked toward Andross just as he opened his mouth again. Leon came trailing behind him.
"Leon?! Don't you dare try sneaking up behind me!" Falco shouted.
"Heh. Still working on hiding your weak points, I see." Leon chuckled. "How inconvenient."
Another smart bomb and another missile shot down Andross' throat and detonated. Out came several giant puffs of smoke and another bloodcurdling scream of pain. Andross seemed to retch and cough for a few moments before angrily turning back to the team.
"Gah! It's not over yet, you fools!" Andross bellowed, firing lasers from his hands.
Marcus swerved between Andross' shots, and when he was within the proper range, he readied his hand above the ejector seat button.
"Correction: it's WAY over, pal! Mom, offensive maneuver 2!"
Krystal nodded. Marcus set his ship to auto-pilot, unsheathed his staff, and slammed the ejector seat button. As soon as Marcus was high enough in the air, Krystal reached out with her mind and caught him. Marcus was now suspended in mid-air.
"Zyxxyab Uqsu!" Marcus shouted.
The staff split into millions of small pieces of anti-matter. Each piece began floating around him.
"Fantastic." Coyote whispered.
"So that's what a Cerinian is fully capable of…such radiance…" Panther muttered under his breath.
Marcus glared down at Andross. He clenched his fists together.
"Accept your fate." he growled.
Marcus gritted his teeth and clapped his hands in front of him.
"GO!"
Right on cue, the anti-matter went shooting down through Andross, who screamed out of pain again. A blinding flash went up as Marcus landed safely back in his ship, closed the cockpit, and reverted to manual mode. His staff regenerated in its sheathed state on his back. When the light faded, however, Andross was still floating in front of them, still perfectly alive but panting heavily.
"Son of a….! I thought for sure that would do him in!" Marcus cursed under his breath.
Andross growled and glared at them.
"Is that the best you've got?" he asked.
"Give it up, Andross!" Fox shouted. "You've got nowhere to run."
Andross smirked evilly.
"Don't I?" he chuckled.
With that, he turned and sped away.
"Hey, now! Where's he doing?!" Wolf sputtered.
"That jackass is getting away!" Coyote growled.
"All ships revert to forward thrust capacity!" Marcus shouted. "We can't let him escape! Not now!"
The nineteen ships immediately gave chase. Andross accelerated. So did they. Eventually, they came close enough to begin firing at him.
"Face it, monkey face: your luck's officially run out!" Marcus hollered.
"You really think so, McCloud?!" Andross bellowed back.
Andross suddenly turned and let out a demon-like roar. A gigantic wave of energy erupted from his maw and repulsed each of his pursuers.
"I acknowledge you formidability, boy." Andross said mockingly. "Each of you made for quite a worthy opponent. But you have all wasted your breath. I have been reborn, and now this pathetic planet's end is nigh! By midnight tonight, my revenge will finally be complete!"
"Not if we have anything to say about it!" Marcus said.
Andross laughed.
"How very amusing. A child has enough petty courage to believe that he can stop me? Have some sense, you imbecile! This planet is and always has been fated for destruction, and I will see to it that each and every one of you perishes in the fiery depths of hell!"
At an unbelievable speed, Andross shot up into the atmosphere.
"Damn it! He's escaping into the atmosphere!" Anna growled.
"This is bad! If he gets away like that, there's no telling what he'll do!" Slippy panicked.
Marcus growled and looked down at his feet. They could have finished Andross off right there and then, and he slipped through his fingers.
Suddenly, Wolf spoke to him.
"Let me give you a piece of advice, Marcus." he said.
Marcus looked over at Wolf. He was looking so fiercely at the young McCloud with his good eye, it was like he was looking through him.
"What?" asked Marcus.
"Don't hesitate." Wolf answered. "When the time comes, just act."
Marcus took a moment to ponder on what Wolf had just said, then looked up when he came to the conclusion. He couldn't just sit there and wonder "What the hell do I do now?" Sometimes a guy had to do what a guy had to do…this was one of those times.
"Well, Mark?" Chase asked. "What do we do?"
"Orders, cap'n?" said Damalgo.
Marcus inhaled, exhaled, and then confidently stated his answer.
"All ships, hold your positions." he said.
"Mark, what are you doing? What do you mean 'Hold our positions'?" asked Anna.
"Everyone, don't follow me."
He sped forward and started tilting his ship up toward the sky.
"I'll go it alone from here!" Marcus shouted.
"What are you, crazy?! You'll get massacred!" Katt shrieked.
"Have you lost your marbles, mate?!" Peter yelled.
"Marcus…don't!" Coyote pleaded.
Marcus didn't listen. He arched his ship up at ninety degrees and slammed the boost pedal, sending his ship shooting through the hole in the stormy clouds.
It was just him and Andross now.
This is it, folks. The final battle is coming soon. Balls to the wall, people!...did I really just say that?
Anyway, a recent review of the story sort of caught my eye when the commentor said that this should be the next Star Fox game. I decided to have a little fun with that, and now I ask you the readers an interesting question: if Next Gen were to be made into the next Star Fox game, who would the English-speaking cast consist of?
If you're wondering what I think, here goes. All the characters that appeared in Assault will have the same voice actors (i.e. Jim Walker as Fox, Alesia Glidewell as Krystal etc.) How about the others? Well, after careful consideration, I came up with this list:
Marcus-Yuri Lowenthal
Coyote-Michelle Ruff
Anna-Tara Strong
Chase-Scott Menville
Katt-Jennifer Hale
Bill-Roger Craig Smith
Lucy-Laura Bailey
Lori-Julie Ann Taylor
Logan-Brian Beacock
A.D.A.-Ellen McLain (Don't deny it; you saw that coming!)
Damalgo-Robin Atkin Downes
Peter-Paul Mercier
Kursed-Alesia Glidewell would make sense, but if not, Colleen Clinkenbeard
That's just my opinion, though. If you think someone else should be in one of the roles, I'd like to know who it is. Let your voice be heard, and stick around for the final three chapters and the bonus chapter from Soul Embrace!