CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Black Holes and Revelations
Cornerian Atmosphere
Thunder cracked across the sky and for the second time that night, it began to rain buckets. Nevertheless, Marcus flipped on the Arwing III's headlights and pressed on. It was almost midnight, and as Marcus gave chase to Andross, he slowly began to grow more and more intimidated than he had veer been his life. Never had he been forced to go up against something so fearsome on his own, and never had it been something as fearsome as Andross.
But he couldn't give up…he WOULDN'T give up. He'd come too far already. Everything that he had done for Corneria…every reconnaissance mission, every military assistance mission, and every bounty hunt…this would surpass all of them as the day he eliminated the Venomian Army from the inside-out. Today was the day that Andross would plummet back into the flaming depths of hell…only this time, he was going to stay there.
Within seconds, Marcus could see Andross floating higher up into the atmosphere, completely unaware of Marcus' presence. Marcus could tell that Andross was thinking that no one would be able to stop him, even if they could turn warp space, or even turn back time.
Underestimation was what got every villain eliminated in their own special and brutal way.
"Target acquired." Marcus whispered. "Mom…Dad…Grandma…Grandpa…this is for you."
He nodded and slammed the boost pedal. He rocketed towards Andross.
"And just where the devil do you think you're going?!" Marcus shouted.
Andross turned and looked at the lone Arwing speeding toward him. He devilishly smiled.
"So you have come, Marcus James McCloud." he laughed. "I knew that eventually James McCloud's grandson would be foolish enough to challenge me. It is unfortunate that you will share his fate."
"You think I'm just gonna sit by the sidelines and let you prance your jolly, primate ass out of here? Get serious, pal!"
"What a pathetic waste. You truly believe that you can defeat the most powerful being in the galaxy? A simple child like you could not even spend one day away from his own home without bawling for his mother."
"First off, I've done that on more than one occasion. It's not hard at all. Second, it doesn't matter how old I am. My father killed you once when he was 18, and then again when he was 26. If there's one simple thing I've learned from that, it's that you're never too old or young to be a hero! You could have been a great hero if you had simply followed General Pepper's orders! Corneria could use someone with your power!"
Andross scowled.
"Don't play with me, boy. This planet couldn't fend for itself if those 'heroes' could live for an eternity! Power is what drives our existence and motivates us to be what we are! Without it, we are nothing! You would have done the same if you could!"
Marcus frowned. More of that power talk…first Kursed, and then Andross. Who was next?
"If that's what you think, then I swear on my grandparents' grave that I'm going to take you down, even if it means I have to go with you!"
Andross grunted.
"Very well. I shall test your small talk, boy. Now come! Show me what your pathetic father has taught you!"
Andross turned and revealed the back of his head: a giant stone bust of a Krazoa, with a glowing jewel fixed to its forehead and with two glowing eyes.
"This is my last chance to stop him…I'm not gonna lose! Not now and not ever!" Marcus whispered.
Marcus began shooting at the Krazoa's head jewel. The gigantic monolith retaliated by opening its mouth and shooting mercury rings at its metal target. With some difficulty, Marcus was able to avoid them. He locked onto the head jewel and fired a charged shot. The jewel shattered into pieces, but Andross began firing high-frequency beams from his eyes. After swerving out of the way of all the beams, Marcus started shooting the eyes themselves. The mouth opened once again and several more mercury rings came flying out. With more difficult swerves, Marcus dodged them and shot out the two eyes with the Multi-Lock. Andross yelled out in pain, then turned and exposed his true face. He swung his gargantuan hands at Marcus, but missed.
"Not bad, but not good enough." Andross mocked.
"Pff! Try me, you big noognick!" Marcus shot back.
Marcus noticed two white spots on Andross' palms; one on his left hand, and another on his right.
"Not too good at hiding your weak points, are you?" Marcus mocked.
He swerved off to the left just as Andross swung his hand at him. He charged up a shot, locked onto the white spot and let the shot fly. The spot went out when the small sphere of energy slammed into it. Andross cried out in pain yet again, and the giant hand went limp. The titan inhaled and sent many small meteoroids from his large maw. With dozens more difficult swerves, drop, and barrel rolls, Marcus managed to avoid getting smoked by them. Suddenly, Andross took a long rattling breath and began sucking in the air around him. He was breathing in so hard that Marcus' ship was being pulled right toward the monstrosity's huge mouth.
"Oh no, you don't!" Marcus growled.
He jammed the steering console all the way to the left and kept it there. His ship reacted to this by repeatedly barrel-rolling to repel itself from the heavy amount of suction until Andross closed his mouth again. Marcus braked and moved away from him. Andross lifted up his still mobile hand and fired giant mercury rings at Marcus' ship. Marcus himself navigated his way around them locked onto the second white spot and let fly with another charged shot.
Andross yelled and shook his other hand.
"Damn rodent! You and I both know that your death is inevitable!" he growled.
"You're right, it is. But I'll go down whenever it suits me!"
"We'll see!"
Andross covered his face and flipped around, revealing the Krazoa head again, with its hollow eyes and head gem fully recovered. He began firing eyebeams again, hard-pressing Marcus to swerve left, right, up, down, and diagonally to avoid being singed by them.
"Are you even trying?!" Marcus mocked. "C'mon, Wolfens move faster than you, monkey fist!"
The Krazoa's mouth opened. An enormous energy reaction began to from in it, the eyes, and the head crest.
"OK, here we go. We have lift-off!" Marcus said. "...oh, crap!"
Gigantic laser beams erupted from the four glowing spots. Each laser was wide enough to completely envelop three Arwings. Worst of all, they seemed to be tracking Marcus and quickly moving towards him. Everywhere he moved to avoid being smashed, the lasers slowly but surely followed. Just when Marcus was sure that the uppermost one was about to come down on him, they all expired and faded. Marcus breathed a sigh of relief. One hit from those things would have killed him. The young McCloud then swerved over and blasted away the head crest. The mouth opened wide again and deployed more mercury rings.
"An old monkey can't learn new tricks, even with the odds climbing higher against him. How sad." Marcus mocked.
Marcus was able to quickly dodge these and maneuver his way around to the left eye, which he blasted out in seconds.
"Anymore tricks up your sleeve, fancy pants?" Marcus mocked. "Oh, that's right. You don't have any pants!"
Small missiles came darting out from behind Andross' head and zoomed towards Marcus.
"Meh. I deal with this stuff every day. Is it supposed to intimidate me?"
He made sure he had the Multi-Lock on, locked onto the missiles, and shot them down with charged shots. As soon as they were out of the way, Marcus focused on Andross again. With a quick boost and a swap back to single lock, Marcus charged up a shot and blasted out the remaining eye. Andross screamed yet again, but instead of turning around and exposing his face, fumes came spilling out of the mask's numerous openings. The fumes themselves leaked up into Marcus' cockpit. He couldn't tell what kind of noxious gas was composing them, but from the way it was slowly getting more difficult to breathe, he could tell that the fumes were deadly. He strained his eyes to see through and focus on the target as he reached up and slammed a yellow button overhead. A rushing noise was heard, and the fumes were quickly ventilated out of the Arwing.
"Pff! That's all you've got?!" he mocked.
He focused on the mask's openings.
"Wonder what would happen if…" he thought, locking onto the open mouth and hitting the bomb button.
The smart bomb zipped through the air and into the opening. Within a few seconds, it exploded and the mask came loose from the back of Andross' head.
"Score!" Marcus cheered.
Andross himself whipped around so fast that he sent the discarded mask careening at Marcus.
"Up high, down low…"
He zipped through one of the mask's open spots and faced Andross again.
"Too slow!" he finished.
"You dare mock me, you insolent worm?!" Andross bellowed, swinging his hands again.
Marcus swerved above the left, below he right, and in between them both.
"Worms are small annelids with no limbs, no faces, and no sense of direction. Now ask yourself: do I look anything like that?" he shot back.
Andross raised both his hands. Gigantic beams of molten magma erupted from his palms, which quickly solidified into solid rock. Marcus ducked underneath the massive stalactites as they went hurtling toward the planet surface.
"It really is a long way to the top if you wanna ROCK and roll." Marcus mocked, followed up by laughing at his own ridiculous pun.
He swerved down below more eyebeams, locked onto the white spot on Andross' right hand and fired away.
The hand went limp as the charged shot connected.
"Weird. I was thinking that if you took this long to get to, you'd put up more of a fight. Man, I get a bigger kick out of Tetris than this." Marcus mocked.
"Your sarcasm will be the death of you!" Andross retorted.
Andross seized the Arwing III in his left hand, maniacally glared at it, and repeatedly smashed it against his forehead. Marcus barrel-rolled to get loose of the gargantuan hand. His ship had several severe dents running up the fuselage, but other than that it was perfectly intact. Andross, meanwhile was rubbing his forehead from where he had smashed the ship against it.
"It just goes to show you: nobody wins with a head-butt." Marcus thought with a smirk on his face.
He swerved toward Andross again.
"Hey, turd for brains!" he shouted. "You gonna put up a real fight or can I leave now, 'cause I've got better things to do."
Andross growled, looked up, and swung his hand. Marcus somersaulted over the attack and let fly with another charged shot. The white spot went out and the second hand went limp. Andross fired more meteorites from his mouth. Marcus (once again) dropped, swerved, barrel-rolled, looped, and essentially did whatever he could to avoid being pelted by the small bit of rock and steel.
Andross opened his great maw and started sucking in air again. Marcus was about to start barrel-rolling, but then he had a better idea.
"Chew on this, smartass!" he shouted, slamming the bomb button.
A smart bomb went flying into Andross' open mouth and detonated.
Suddenly, Andross' form went transparent, except for one organ: his brain.
"Mad scientist's weakness is his brain. How original." Marcus said.
Andross lunged at Marcus, but since the brain was the only solid part of him now, the young McCloud ducked underneath it. When the mutant ape pulled back, Marcus fired at the fleshy, pinkish-purple muscle as fast as he could until Andross lunged at him again. After several moments of lunging and shooting, Andross regenerated his physical form. He blew more meteorites from his mouth. Again, Marcus slipped around them.
Andross remained idle as more missiles shot from the back of his head and locked onto Marcus. Marcus himself flipped on the Multi-Lock again, targeted all of the missiles, and fired. The explosives were made short work of in a matter of moments. Andross fired more meteorites, but this time, he backed them up with a barrage of eyebeams. Marcus flew above, between, and underneath the meteorites, and deflected the eyebeams with a barrel roll, sending them straight into Andross' eyes.
Andross growled as the eyebeams hindered his vision. He left his mouth open long enough for Marcus to fire another bomb. Andross became transparent again and began lunging at Marcus' ship.
Marcus himself reverted his laser back to single-lock, then fiddled around with a few switches until a beep went off.
"All power sources diverted to main cannons." a computerized voice said from his monitor. "Laser Strength: Hyper."
"Just how I like it." Marcus smirked, pressing down on the fire button with his thumb.
As the lasers went flying through Andross' fleshy brain, they crackled with pure electricity. If Marcus had his numbers right, it wouldn't take long before…
Yes! When the lasers made contact with the brain, Andross immediately returned to solid form as the lasers rapidly singed his skin. When the electric current ceased, Marcus could see the bones and muscle underneath.
"So, you give up, or are ya thirsty for more?" Marcus mocked. "Believe me; I could do this all night if I wanted to."
"The great emperor Andross will not be defeated by this kid!" Andross bellowed. "I will live to see you perish in the flames of my wrath…someday, this planet will be in ruins, just like it has become since the moment I left!"
Andross turned and began fleeing. Marcus slammed his foot down on the boost pedal and jetted after him.
"Not this time, bonehead!" Marcus growled.
Another laser went rocketing from his cannon and hit Andross on the back of the head. He screamed and turned around, but still propelled himself backwards.
"Hell's just a block away, buddy. Go ahead and make yourself at home down there…again!" Marcus hollered.
Andross opened his mouth and fired a massive stream of fire. Marcus avoided it, then dropped as another flame came from his adversary's hands. Andross stretched out his finger. High-frequency lasers shot from his fingertips as he directed them at Marcus' Arwing.
"Goddammit, not these again!" Marcus growled as he swerved away from them.
He was able to dodge all of them, until the last one grazed his right wing and sliced it off.
"Oh, great." Marcus grumbled.
Andross grinned in triumph and swung his hand at the defenseless Arwing III. As Marcus jutted his head against the back of the seat when the hand smashed him, he could swear that he nearly had a concussion. Just like that, his monitor began beeping again. He glanced at it and saw the only thing that could have possibly knocked him back into the belly of the whale: his shield gauge was at almost zero.
There was only one thing to do. Doing the best that he could to keep his ship upright, Marcus reached for his Mach 4 convertor. Normally with both wings, if he shot through something while using the convertor, he wouldn't get damaged. But if he did it now…
"A good captain goes down with his ship." he muttered.
He sucked in a deep breath, nodded, uttered one last prayer, and flipped the switch. His ship rocketed toward Andross at high speed.
"SEE YOU IN HELL, MONKEY BOY!"
Just as the ship was about ten feet away from colliding with Andross, Marcus hit the ejector seat button and sprung up out of the ship. The now empty Arwing went flying straight into Andross' mouth. It exploded within him. He screamed even louder than he had before as he tumbled to the ground far below.
And, with his face looking up at the clear, starry sky, Marcus gave a satisfied smile of victory up at the heavens.
"No more sorrow…this isn't sacrifice…not even death…it's merely the beginning of a new day."
With that, he closed his eyes as he fell toward the ground like a meteor.
Below the stormy fog...
The eighteen ships that had remained below the clouds stayed idle, eagerly waiting for Marcus' return. Next thing they knew, Andross gigantic form was plummeting toward the earth. Fox, meanwhile, saw something else: a human-sized dot falling uselessly through the air.
Neither Fox nor Krystal could deny the obvious: that was THEIR human-sized dot! Marcus was falling!
"Is that…Mark?!" Katt panicked.
"Chase, do you see a chute on him?!" Falco shouted.
"Negative! No chute! NO CHUTE!"
Everyone's mouths dropped open. Coyote started biting her nails. Krystal could feel tears welling up in her eyes.
"Is he insane?!" Bill yelled.
"That stupid kid!" Wolf growled. "Why would he do something like that?"
Even if they had activated their Mach 4 convertors, they wouldn't be able to reach Marcus in time. He was falling too fast.
"I've already lost my parents…now I'm going to lose my only son, too." Fox whispered sadly.
Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, Slippy caught a glimpse of a bright flash. He turned around in his seat and looked out the window.
"Fox! Look!" he called.
Fox looked. He saw it. Something zooming right at Marcus. It was a Standard-Level Arwing, but it was slightly translucent.
"Didn't you two take the last Arwings in the hangar?" asked Amanda.
"Yes." Krystal replied. "I'm quite sure we did."
"Then who the hell is THAT?!"
Slippy zoomed in with the Bullfrog's built-in infrared camera and snapped a photo of the ship's pilot.
"Mugshot's coming up right…now!"
The pilot's picture appeared on everyone's monitor. They all gasped when they saw the face.
"Is that…" Bill whispered.
"It can't be…can't it?" stammered Wolf.
The pilot was a male fox who looked almost exactly like Fox, except his fur was a light shade of brown. He wore a silver flight jacket and a yellow ascot. Covering his eyes were a pair of sunglasses.
No one could believe who they were looking at, but without a doubt, the pilot was none other than…
"Dad." Fox whispered.
As he fell through the cold air, Marcus could feel nothing but the loud howl and rush of the wind as he fell miles to the ground, to what he felt for certain was his doom…
…when he heard the loud rush of an Arwing and felt something seize his hand.
He opened his eyes. He was dangling some five hundred feet above the ground. For a moment, he felt like he was going to throw up, but then he looked up. Someone in an Arwing had opened their cockpit and grabbed his wrist. And that someone was…
"Grandpa?!" Marcus blurted.
James pulled Marcus onto the hood of his ship and slowly piloted it to the ground where Andross' still-living body was collapsed.
"You have to end this, Marcus." James said, with his voice echoing throughout the air. "Now, finish him off."
Marcus looked at his grandfather as the Arwing hovered a few inches from the ground. He looked at Andross, then back at James. He nodded, hopped off of the ship, and broke into a sprint, unsheathing his staff as he went. Andross was lying on the ground, panting heavily. He simply had no energy left to put up a fight. Even he couldn't deny that he wasn't going to be alive much longer. Marcus quickly slid to a stop when he was about twenty feet from Andross. He grasped his staff in both hands and lifted it to the sky, with the spear end pointed down.
"Now it ends!" he shouted. "Spirits to me!"
Violet lightning struck Marcus' staff. The translucent Krazoa Spirits appeared from seemingly nowhere and began circling around the staff. At the tip of Marcus' staff, a small, wavering, black dot was slowly getting larger.
"What the blazes does he think he's doing?!" Leon shouted.
"No way!" Chase sputtered. "Is he…"
"Yes!" Amanda said. "He's going to send Andross into hyperspace! He's creating a black hole!"
The black hole slowly became larger until it was large enough to swallow Andross whole. Andross himself looked weakly at it.
"You wouldn't dare!" he growled at Marcus.
Marcus smirked.
"I do. Now, my opponent…"
He snapped the staff forward, sending the black hole right at the giant ape.
"VANISH INTO THE VOID!"
The hole stopped just inches above Andross. Just like that, it started sucking in the space around it and began to pull Andross up inside. The evil ape tried to grab the ground and prevent himself from being swallowed by the hole, but he had already crossed its event horizon. He was a goner.
But then Slippy said something that brought that thought crashing down.
"Mark, you have to do more than that to take him down!" he called through the comm. "He's got a chance of getting out of there!"
"Son of a…wait, I got it!" Marcus replied. "Chase! Is Final Smash prepped?"
"Wha…well, yeah, but I thought you made each of us swear that we're only gonna use that in emergencies!"
"This IS an emergency! We've gotta destroy ALL of him!"
Final Smash was a pure fission warhead that had taken the combined efforts of Slippy, Chase, and Slippy's father Beltino to build. Unlike the crudely built ones of the past, however, this one was packed with both uranium and plutonium instead of just one or the other, as well as a large canister packed with anti-matter. Plus, it was smaller and laser-guided, so it was much safer to use, though the blast radius still took up about half a mile.
To put it in simple terms, it was a more efficient version of a nuke.
Marcus booted up a comm link with ROB.
"ROB, rendezvous at my coordinates! Deploy Final Smash!"
The Great Fox came flying down out of the clouds. A hatch on the bottom opened and a gigantic cannon extended out of it. It aimed at the black hole.
"Alert!" ROB blared. "If the missile is fired now, you will not be able to escape the blast radius on-foot!"
"I don't care! Fire the damn missile!" Marcus barked. "Now! That's an order!"
ROB heaved out what sounded a lot like a sigh, then said "Very well."
The missile's rocket thrusters started powering up.
Just then, Wolf came barrelling down toward Marcus.
"Grab on, kid!" he yelled.
"Wolf!" Lori and Fox shouted.
"Dad!" Coyote hollered.
Marcus sheathed his staff, grabbed the Wolfen's top-right wing and clung on for dear life as Wolf started to fly away from the black hole as quickly as he could. The missile was released from the cannon's hatches and started flying down toward the hole. Wolf slammed down as hard as he could on his boost pedal, but his ship wouldn't budge. It was suspended in mid-air.
"What the hell are you doing?!" Marcus shouted. "Get us out of here!"
"Don't you think I'm trying?!" Wolf yelled back. "That hole you made is too big! We're being pulled in!"
The missile quickly came closer and close to the target. Andross was now almost completely sucked inside the black hole. There was no escape now.
"Don't you have a Mach 4 convertor or something?!" Marcus hollered.
"Yes!" Wolf responded.
"I think now would be a good time to use it!"
Wolf flipped a switch and turned on the convertor. They blasted forward, but not before the missile struck its target. Both Andross and the black hole went up in a gigantic explosion. The radius quickly spread outwards, and in a matter of seconds, it slammed into the back of Wolf's ship and sent it hurtling towards the ground.
The explosion let off a blinding flash and an ear-splitting roar, but no matter how loud or bright it was, two voices could be heard over the calamity screaming at the top of their lungs.
"RAARGH!"
"AAAAAAHHHHHHH!"
When the light faded, the remaining seventeen ships flew down to the ground. Fox, Krystal, Lori and Coyote immediately jumped out their ships and ran forward. Wolf's ship was in ruins on the ground and had made a wide trench where it had landed. Wolf slowly crawled out of the wreckage and fell flat on his face. He breathed in. He honestly couldn't believe that he was still alive after the crash, but right now he was too exhausted to move.
Lori and Coyote knelt down beside him and turned him over onto his back. He coughed ash out of his mouth. His ocular lens was shattered and throwing out small sparks.
"Wolf? Are you alright?" Lori asked anxiously.
Wolf took in a few deep breathes, then answered.
"I'm fine…" he breathed as he sat up. "Where's the kid?"
Fox and Krystal ran behind Wolf's ruined ship and stood in shock when they saw Marcus lying flat on his back with his eyes shut and his staff lying three feet away from him. Their greatest fear was starting to come to them.
Krystal knelt down and held up her son's head.
"Marcus! Wake up! Please!" she shrieked.
The others gathered around Marcus' body, all nervously waiting to see whether he had survived the crash or not.
Fox put his hand on Marcus' chest.
"His heart's still beating. I can feel a pulse."
Krystal got her ear close to Marcus' mouth to listen for any breathing, when…
"RAAAAAAAAARRGH!" Marcus roared in his mother's ear.
Krystal shrieked and fell flat on her back. When she sat up again, Marcus was laughing his head off.
"I'm sorry, I just couldn't resist!" he howled, trying his best to keep his ribs from tickling.
Wolf was just as shocked as Krystal was.
"Wha…you were…'the hell?!" he sputtered.
Marcus grinned at Wolf.
"Wolf O'Donnell, you're my hero." he mockingly said.
Krystal took a few deep breathes before telling Marcus off.
"Don't! Ever! Do that! Again!" she breathed. "You had me worried sick!"
"He had YOU worried sick?" Fox sputtered. "What about me?! He's my son, too, y'know!"
Now everyone was laughing. Marcus most of all, not just because he had scared his mother out of her wits, but also because he was still alive. While he continued it, he looked around. The Arwing that had rescued him…that ghostly ship…and his grandfather…where had he gone? Was that his ghost?
He stopped laughing when his stomach started to hurt.
"Oh, God, my gut!
Marcus breathed in.
"Is he gone?" he asked.
Everyone smiled and nodded. Marcus smiled and breathed out.
"Good…then I guess it's all over."
Marcus sprang to his feet when he heard, and then saw the Venomians marching towards them. Each of the nineteen pilots were ready to fight, but stopped when they saw sparks fly from the nearest one. The Venomians all threw out sparks from their necks and halted.
"Wait a second…" Fox started.
Coyote walked toward the nearest one, looked him dead in the eye…
…and punched him in the face.
To her surprise, the Venomian's head came off. But what she was even more shocked to see was that instead of fleshy muscles or gushing blood, she saw…
"Motors?!" she said, scratching the back of her head. "Man, what the hell kind of monkeys are these?!"
Marcus walked toward another Venomian and poked him in the chest. He fell over and fell apart. They all watched as, one by one, all the Venomians gathering around them threw sparks from their necks and fell apart in metallic crashes.
"The Venomians are…robots?" Anna asked.
Chase picked up one of the arms of the Venomians and looked it over.
"Hmm…very clever, Andross. Guess he figured the best way to run his cyborg army was by making himself the mothership."
Chase rolled his eyes and threw the arm over his shoulder.
"Pff! What a dumbass! Next time just build a ship!"
Next thing they knew, the entire population of Corneria was gathered around them, even the military and Peppy. For a moment, all was quiet…
…then the populace burst into cheers.
Marcus smiled, as did the other eighteen pilots. They thrust up their fists. Everyone cheered even louder. Raising his hands, Peppy silenced everyone.
"It seems that congratulations are in order." he said. "The Star Fox team has saved us from our potential demise once again."
Marcus nodded.
"Thanks, Peppy…but we couldn't have done it without Star Wolf's help. I mean, we're famous enough already. Why should we get all the credit, right?"
Peppy chuckled. Wolf crossed his arms and grinned. Marcus looked at the Star Wolf team (including Coyote, who was smiling warmly at him). He got an idea. They deserved something that they'd wanted for years.
"If you don't mind, I have a favour to ask of you." he said to Peppy.
Peppy stroked his chin.
"And what would that be?"
Marcus looked at everyone, then cupped his hand over his mouth and whispered into Peppy's ear. Peppy listened carefully, and then grinned from ear to ear.
Marcus stepped back.
"So how 'bout it?" he asked.
Peppy crossed his arms.
"Interesting terms, Marcus." he said. "Given the circumstances, I guess it would only be fair to accept them."
Peppy made sure everyone was listening to him, then spoke.
"For their assistance in this war, a daring rescue on their leader's part…and considering I'm in such a good mood right now," (Here everyone chuckled. Even as the general, Peppy had a great sense of humour. )"I hear by declare that Panther Caroso, Leon Powalski, Andrew Oikonny, Wolf O'Donnell and his daughter Coyote are vindicated of all charges pressed against them."
Wolf, Panther, Leon, Oikonny, and Coyote nearly fell over, but then all grinned brightly when everyone cheered again. Coyote stepped behind Marcus and whispered into his ear.
"Thank you."
Marcus smiled back at her.
"My pleasure."
"Friends, family, fellow militia." Peppy said, facing the nineteen pilots.
He stepped back and placed his open hand to his forehead. The pilots did the same.
"We're proud to call each and every one of you a hero."
Peppy delivered a four-fingered salute. The heroes returned the gesture. The Cornerians cheered again.
"Nevertheless, it's time for us to go." Wolf said. "So say good-night to the bad guy."
The five remaining Wolfens began piloting themselves over to where the pilots stood. Wolf, Lori, Panther, Leon, and Oikonny began walking toward them. Coyote stayed behind for a brief moment to talk to Marcus.
"You sure know how to finish the fight." she said, lightly blushing.
"What can I say?" Marcus shrugged. "I'm a McCloud, after all."
They both laughed.
"So, am I gonna see YOU again?" Marcus asked.
"Maybe someday."
Marcus gently pulled Coyote into a warm embrace. She smiled and returned it. She tried to enjoy every waking moment of it, simply because she didn't know when she'd get to do it again.
"You can come back and visit anytime you want." Marcus said. "You're always welcome here."
"I know." Coyote said. "Don't worry. I won't make it TOO long."
"Come on, Coyote!" Lori called from her Wolfen, with Wolf in the back seat. "Let's go home!"
Coyote broke off from the embrace. She slyly winked at Marcus.
"Later, tiger." she said coyly.
She hopped into the Iron Maiden. The five Wolfens lifted off the ground. Lori led the way as they flew back to Fortuna, but Coyote grinned one last time at Marcus. She brought her palm to her lips and blew him a kiss. Marcus smirked and gave her a two-fingered salute. With that, the Iron Maiden led the way as Star Wolf flew off into the night.
"There goes the greatest girl in the universe." Marcus said to himself, smirking and putting his hands on his hips.
Once more, the Cornerians cheered, knowing that they were safe and their saviours had been acknowledged for their brave deeds.
The war was over before it even started…and Corneria was the victor.