This is going to be an eventful chapter. Hold on tight! It's going to be one long roller coaster ride. But it's going to be good, trust me. It IS a little graphic, but nothing too bad.

There is character death involved. If you don't like that, stop reading here. There is also a neutral POV for the final battle. Much like the one earlier in the story, this one is in third person. You'll know what I mean once you get there.

I'm four chapters from the end of the third book, the first chapter of which will be released April 1. The last chapter of that story, if all goes to plan, will be released on my birthday. The third book is the shortest, at only 15 chapters and probably seventy-something thousand words. It WILL be a satisfying conclusion, though. I owe you guys nothing less.

LUCAS'S POV

This might sound like a stupid decision, but, after much discussion, the group of us decided to split up. We figured that if we could cover more territory, we would be able to defeat more enemies than if we had stuck together. In addition, there was always the possibility that it could be just like Macbeth, where the enemies had all fled rather than fight what seemed to them like a losing battle.

We made the executive decision that we were all going to split up. Dr. Howler was back on the Great Fox, just in case someone received a laser wound or anything.

Ian and Konstantin were going to take the route to the right, which was into a green tunnel (about #29AB87) with what looked like aquatic plants growing. Since I loved the ocean, I would have loved to take that tunnel, but I didn't protest. We had more important matters to attend to.

Cole and Falco were taking the route to the left, which was made out of stone the color of Harvard Crimson, #A41034. It looked pretty menacing just based on the color, although we had no way of knowing what lay inside of it.

Jack, Willow, and I were going to take the tunnel directly in front of us. It was the same sickly yellow, approximately #E39C24, that comprised the entry way of the temple. It didn't look particularly appetizing.

"All right. Stay safe, and hopefully these tunnels are all going to converge at some point" Falco said. "Let's win this war, guys!"

"Okay!" I said. I was as excited to do this as Falco was. It was time to kick some serious Anglar ass.

At first, things were going well enough for the three of us. The air wasn't that bad inside the temple, contrary to what one might think. I knew that it wasn't good to take particularly deep breaths when you were outside the temple, but when we were inside it seemed to be fine.

Also, the smell of sulphur was almost completely gone. It was just sand, stone, and the sounds of our feet that echoed against the bricks. It wasn't pleasant by any means, but it was doable.

That is, until we came to a raging river right in front of us.

"What will we do? Jump across?" Willow asked.

I eyed the river. It wasn't particularly wide, but it was still at least ten or twenty feet, too far to jump for sure. We could wade, or swim, across, but it was moving pretty quickly. And I could see where the river ended up. After what looked like about fifteen seconds, it went through what looked like a drop straight down. I wasn't sure that we could survive that, or that we even wanted to take the risk.

"I don't see how we could" Jack said. "We'll have to swim across as quickly as possible. How high would you guys rate your confidence in the water?"

I smiled, remembering the Aquatics lessons that we'd taken back at the academy. "Pretty high".

"Let me go first" Jack said. The weapons expert stepped into the river, and was immediately swept off his feet and carried downstream.

"No!" I said, but Willow pulled at my wrist.

"We've got to follow him. Do you really think the Venomians will have built their base like this, risking one of their own getting killed because of this river right here?"

"Fine" I snarled at my girlfriend as I stepped into the river.

It was icy cold, much like Penobscot Bay during the wintertime. Willow and I were no stronger than Jack had been as we were quickly swept off our feet. Trying to grab onto something at all (the river was about three feet deep) proved to be in vain as we were carried over the edge of the waterfall.

I'm ashamed to say this, but I was screaming like a little girl as we went down and down like a broken log flume ride.

I don't know how far the fall was, maybe thirty or forty feet. I could have rappelled down the waterfall despite my fear of heights (which is ironic, considering that I had become a pretty decent pilot). Instead, I had to free-fall with my girlfriend.

After a while, we landed in a pool of some sort. This was a lot deeper, maybe ten or twelve feet judging by how long it had taken for me to torpedo upwards after my feet touched the ground. There was no denying that we had just gotten very lucky.

I reached the top, gasping for air, and spat the water out of my mouth. Willow was already at the surface, which was no surprise given that I was heavier than she was. We both climbed out, and, after seeing that Jack was already out of the water, we walked over to him.

"You okay?" Willow asked him.

"I'm fine! Now let's see what's at the end of this hallway! It's going to be something pretty important, I'm sure".

As it turned out, Jack was correct in his revolutionary assessment of the room.

About a hundred yards down the hallway, we entered into what appeared to be some sort of laboratory. It would put anything in the early twenty-first century to shame, let me tell you.

Microscopes were on tables, with Petri dishes stacked what must have been a hundred high. The tables, laden with plenty of scientific instruments, resulted in several paths being cut through the room. Beakers and bottles of various chemicals were all over bookshelves against the walls, which reached up fifty feet. You could have put a rock-climbing gym in here.

And, at the end of the room, there was a small man who was hunched over what appeared to be a project.

However, a closer examination made the hairs stand up on the back of my neck. It didn't appear to be a man. It looked kind of like an ape if anything, and I knew that Andross, the main enemy of the Lylat System in the first war, had been one.

Was this guy working for Andross? It was entirely possible.

We started walking towards him, but then he turned around, giving us a very clear view of exactly who he was.

It was Andrew Oikonny, the nephew of Andross. He was a known member of the Star Wolf team, which pretty much automatically meant he was not our friend. Whatever he had planned in store for us, it couldn't be good.

"I have a real treat for you" he sneered.

COLE'S POV

Things had been going well enough for Falco and I. We had gone down the red tunnel and continued to take every right fork, thinking that taking a completely random strategy in this maze might be just as well as anything else.

The whole time, we kept up some small talk just to prevent us from being unhinged in case enemies came into the room out of the blue. If that happened, we were going to have to try and remain calm as we shot them down. It was a good thing that we had brought our blasters with us into the caverns of Venom, because without them we would have had no chance.

It was going well, that was, until we hit a dead end.

"Damn it!" Falco shouted, kicking at the wall with his metal boot. Like all members of the Star Fox team, current and former, Falco Lombardi had metal legs. Lucas had almost had to have his amputated as well, but a tilt-table test had vindicated him of that.

"Come on, let's go back" I said. "Who knows what could be here?"

Just as soon as I had said that, I heard a rumbling from above. There was no mistaking the sound of something heavy dropping from on high, which was not something that we wanted to have dropped on us.

"Is that..." Falco began to ask.

He didn't get to finish the sentence as we were forced to leap out of the way to avoid being crushed. The sight that greeted us was a sight for sore eyes, let me tell you.

A burly, stone man, if you could call it a man at all, was marching towards us, slamming its fists against the walls. It was so ugly that it almost made me recoil in fear, but I knew that wouldn't help us get away from it. Fine, him. That wasn't something I was doing.

"Yes, it is! It's Golemech! Let's run!"

I remembered now: On the easy route of Venom, you fly through a temple, where you have to defeat this massive golem. I wasn't sure that I wanted to face it, but we had no other option.

"Let's shoot it down!" I said.

"It'll take a lot of lasers, but I think we can do that!" Falco said.

The golem seemed to get angrier as a result of our words, and it chased after us with renewed vengeance. Pulling out his blaster, Falco was shooting like mad, but it indeed only seemed to get madder still.

Still, I could tell that this strategy was working. Small pieces of the golem were falling off like plaster, and I could only think that if we kept this up for long enough, we might be able to outrun this thing.

"Keep shooting!" yelled Falco. "Expose its body! The bricks are just a covering of its true form!"

Based on having played the game before, I knew that I could trust him on that. So, I did just that, shooting at the golem with all of my might.

We turned several corners along the crimson tunnels, but the thing was still following us. Much like a magnet attracted to metal, there was no way to get away from it.

Thankfully, our lasers did eventually turn out to be enough, and we continued to shoot until it exploded. Thus, the passageway behind us was clear once again.

"That wasn't something I need to do again" I said, unnecessarily.

"I hear you, Cole. Luckily, I don't think we'll have to. Unless...". He didn't need to finish the sentence.

Really, who knew what else could be in this vast network of caverns that we had probably only barely scratched the surface of? There might be another hundred golems, or a thousand. But I decided not to worry about it at the moment. We had a lot more important things to focus on.

"Let's take that path" I said, pointing in the direction opposite the one we had just come from. I figured that there might be other golems ready to go after us, which would be triggered whenever anyone came in that direction. It was really best not to risk that.

The hallway became very loud, with sounds similar to the conveyor belt at baggage claim at an airport. I didn't know what it was. Maybe a factory?

"What is that noise?" I asked, voicing my question aloud.

Soon, however, that question became unnecessary, because we gained our answer.

We were in an enormous cavern, big enough to fit a university campus. It was so large that it was hard to see our particular catwalk, as catwalks and conveyor belts ran every which way, giving the impression of an enormous factory complex. Which, come to think of it, it probably was.

"Do your little turn on the catwalk, Falco" I said, trying to suppress a laugh.

Falco was not amused. Two months ago, when the flight academy had gotten overrun by the Anglar forces, Falco had been in his room listening to the song by Right Said Fred. As a result, valuable time had been lost.

"Look, I'm going to jump down there" he said.

I looked at him like he was crazy. "Are you serious? That's like twenty feet!"

It was true. The closest conveyor belt to us, the one Falco was most likely going to be aiming for, was a good twenty feet below us. If Falco jumped from here, he was likely to get seriously injured. And I still didn't understand why he wanted to do that.

"There's something down there. And I'll be fine, Cole. I've done a lot crazier in my time".

Before I could say anything to protest, anything to try to stop him, he took a flying leap off the edge. He dropped like a rock until he landed, gracefully, on his artificial legs.

He went over to what I could now see was a jar lying exposed on the conveyor belt, which was stopped. Indeed, it had been stopped before Falco had jumped onto it, and I wanted to believe that he would not have made such a leap of faith had it been moving.

"Cole, this brain's familiar".

KONSTANTIN'S POV

I don't know exactly how long I had expected traveling through the Venomian tunnels to take. I knew that it was a literal maze underneath the planet's toxic surface, so I had fully expected it to be a challenge to navigate.

Three hours in, and I was starting to feel more than a little thirsty. The tunnels that Ian and I had been going down, despite the color making you think otherwise, were quite warm. Before long, both of us had been dripping in sweat.

This in itself was not a pleasant sensation, because of the fact that it reminded me of that time so long ago that I had been held captive in the cell underneath the alternate location for the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. Those evil Xenos!

"Why build it this way? It would be wildly inconvenient" Ian said after a while.

"Probably so that it would be harder to invade" I said. "And also so I could get my daily workout in".

Ian chuckled.

"But, seriously", I said, "we've got to be close to the core by now. We've been going as close to fully underground as we can, and the tunnels have changed color I don't know how many times. Blaster at the ready?"

"I got your back" Ian said to me.

That made me feel a little better. No matter what, Ian was going to make sure that I didn't die. Probably.

"I'm a little worried about the others" I said. "No idea where they are, or even if they're still alive. That's going to be tough to work around, because you just don't know".

"This is the way I see it" Ian said. "We can't control what's going on with the others. But we can control how we react to that uncertainty. And, right now, it's important that we continue on downward. Let's get to the core, and maybe we'll find some other enemies along the way".

After another half an hour, and what might have been another liter of sweat from both of us, we ended up in a very different type of hallway. The walls were blue, with white floors and cobwebs. White pillars with gold trim adorned the whole area. For all the world, it looked a lot like the Crystal Palace from the first Paper Mario game.

"This is weird" I said. "The tunnels should at least have some similar features. But this doesn't look anything like the others. There's definitely an argument to be made that something here is off".

"Let's try that door over there" Ian said, pointing to a blue door at the end of the hallway.

As soon as I had gotten over it and tried the lock, it gave a lurch, knocking me five feet backwards. I landed painfully on my back, knocking the breath out of me.

Ian ran over to me. "Konstantin! Are you all right?"

I stood up, brushing the dust off of me. "I'm fine. But what else is going on here?"

"You are about to find out, my young friends" said a sneering voice from behind us. I turned around, looking for the source of the voice.

With a jolt of red-hot fury, and memories of shackles, beatings, and severe dehydration, I recognized the grinning face of Wolf O'Donnell.

"Caught you now, didn't I?" he said, laughing very hard.

I didn't have anything to say to that. After all, it was pretty much a hundred percent true. He had caught us.

But that was something the old Konstantin Brockenbough would have accepted. I'd changed in the last two months, and I was ready to fight back.

"Ian! Out of the way!" I said to him.

"But..." he said, starting to protest.

"No buts! This is between me and Wolf. I can take this guy, I'm sure of it. I think-".

"That's just a feeling you have!" Ian shouted.

"-I know that it's meant to be a one-on-one battle between the two of us. You're not in it at all, Ian. Go! Save yourself!"

"Keller, that's not going to be necessary" Wolf said. "The Texan is right. It's between me and him".

I was a little surprised by this, but not for the most plausible reason. I'd never heard Ian's last name before. I suppose that I had never really cared about it.

But Wolf and I were about to settle things the old-fashioned way. That I was sure of. And it was going to be a fight to the death.

Wolf and I stood thirty feet apart from Ian, so that he wouldn't get hurt. I'm not sure exactly why Wolf wanted a fair fight, but he might have to deal with the consequences...

At first, it was pretty much just a simple fistfight. As a result, it was pretty clear who was winning. Wolf was better at hand-to-hand combat than I was. Which was really no surprise, since he had taught that very discipline at the GCFA.

I eventually managed to get a hit in on Wolf, right in the stomach. He retreated, clutching it in pain. I used it to hit him again, this time in the arm that was protecting his stomach.

Then, Wolf pulled out his blaster. He shot a laser at me, which I only barely managed to dodge. In fact, it singed my Greatcoat, it was so close to hitting me. Then, I would have ended up like Lucas. Or worse, like Mike or Will.

All the more reason to get rid of this bastard! I thought angrily.

"Oh, it is on" I said, gritting my teeth. I pulled out my own blaster, aiming it at Wolf's heart.

Wolf dodged that laser, and another one. Clearly, he had received a lot of training in these things, so it wasn't that much of a surprise that he was so good at combat. No doubt it had been required in a lot of the criminal activities he had been involved in earlier in his life.

"You jerk! There's no way you can beat me!" he yelled, grabbing my leg. I managed to kick away from him before he could shoot it, so he was now sprawled on the ground. He got up quickly, but I seized my chance.

I took my blaster and pulled the trigger, shooting Wolf in the right leg, just like he had done to Lucas so many weeks ago.

Wolf collapsed in pain. Not as much blood came out as had with Lucas, but he had clearly been incapacitated a great deal. Now was my chance.

I pinned Wolf to the ground, using the skills I had picked up when I had been practicing at wrestling back on the Great Fox. I hesitated before doing it.

After all, I wanted to savor the moment. After all of the pain Wolf had caused myself and others, there was no question that he deserved to die. For traitors like him, I really hoped that there was a special place in hell.

I punched him in the kidney with all of my might. "That's for betraying the Lylat System in the first place!"

In the other kidney, I gave him a little kick. "That's for manipulating the trial to get me convicted!"

I found Wolf's knife in his pocket, which still had dried blood on it from when he had stabbed Lucas. This really did it for me, and my vision turned red.

With a deep breath, I plunged the knife into his eye. Wolf howled as I twisted it like I was carving a pumpkin. I wasn't going to let up, though.

Soon, one of Wolf's purple eyes was lying on the ground. Looking backwards, I saw that Ian had nearly fainted at the sight. Personally, knowing just how OCD the guy could be, he was doing a good job at not seeming to get too scared.

"Sorry, Ian!" I said as I started to dig into Wolf's other eye, rendering him fully blind.

After cutting Wolf's other eye out, he wailed, "You just made me blind for the rest of my life! How do you feel about that, huh?"

I winked, which I was glad Wolf could no longer see. "The rest of your life isn't going to be that long".

With that, I plunged the knife into Wolf's heart. I knew instinctively that he was dead as the light faded from his eyes. There was no way anyone could have survived that.

I stood back, breathing heavily. I didn't feel bad about killing Wolf. On the contrary, I was sure that I had done the world a great service in getting rid of that bastard. Still, though, it was a little shocking.

The entire time, I'd been working towards the goal of getting revenge on Wolf. Now, however, that was irrelevant, as he was now dead, at my hands no less. This gave me quite a bit of satisfaction. However, at the same time, there was the whole deal about having to find a new purpose.

All of that was thrown to the back of my mind by Ian's next words.

"Did you really just..." he started to say.

"If what you were about to ask was, did I really just kill Wolf, then the answer would be yes".

He looked like he was about to say something else, but I stopped him. "We've got bigger fish to fry right now. Let's get out of here".

And so we left the Crystal Palace-esque hallway, leaving the bloodied corpse of Wolf O'Donnell behind.

LUCAS'S POV

We were just standing in the lab when Andrew turned to face us.

He pulled out a bow and arrow, and I realized that this was pretty much exactly like what Mrs. Hooter had done, weaponizing the tranquilizers used to transport students to the Grey Clouds Flight Academy. We'd used those to knock out the guards and save Konstantin from his execution. If it had not been for Mrs. Hooter, who was now lying dead in the ground on Fichina, Konstantin would be as well.

Jack and Willow looked on with horror. I didn't blame them. It sure looked as though Andrew was about to shoot me.

Well, I've survived a laser wound before...surely an arrow wound won't be as bad?

"Sweet dreams, Enfield" Andrew said in his venomous voice.

With a golden arm, Andrew stretched the bowstring out and let the arrow fly, hitting me right in the chest.

Immediately, I felt exhausted, like I had just run a marathon. My vision began to darken, and I knew what was going on as everything went black.

I woke up...some time later. My head was hurting like it was being hit from the inside with a sledgehammer. And it took a while for me to figure out what was going on again.

"Uuuuunnnnnhhhhh..." I grunted, trying to open my eyes.

I found that I was still in the same laboratory as before, with Andrew, Willow, and Jack standing over me. The latter two had very shocked expressions on their faces, and I could only wonder what must have happened while I was out.

"There, there" Andrew said. "You've come around. I've got something to tell you, Enfield, that Foster and Novsky already know".

I turned my aching head to face him. "Yes?" I groaned.

He held up an empty syringe. "Can you guess where the contents of this syringe are now, Mr. Enfield?" he asked in his typical venomous tone.

It didn't take a Sherlock Holmes to figure out the most likely answer to that question. Still, though, I decided to let Andrew answer it for me, since it hurt to talk.

"Inside of you. And do you know what this drug does?"

I had no idea, but judging by the expression on Andrew's face, I could guess that it was most definitely not in my interest.

"Its major side effect is that it can be used to control the subject. I also injected myself with the "controller". Now, Enfield, you are like my own video game. It's just like the Imperius Curse from the Harry Potter series that you humans seem to be big fans of".

I'm not going to let myself be this monkey's automaton! I'm going to fight this!

"You will do my bidding. And, right now, what I ask of you is...to kill Jack Novsky".

I gasped. He wanted me to kill Jack...our own team member. There was no way that I could do that.

"Do it, or I will!" Andrew spat out.

And suddenly, a sense of euphoria enveloped me. I saw that things were going to be absolutely amazing if I only followed Andrew's orders. I could get a future with Willow, in a nice house by the sea, and we could get pretty much whatever we wanted. Would I do it?

"Don't, Lucas! He'll just kill us afterwards!"

There was a little bit of Willow coming in, but for the most part Andrew was stealing the show. I could picture myself carrying out the act. All I had to do was pull out my blaster, aim at Jack's heart or brain, and pull the trigger, and he'd be dead. It was that simple.

And that complicated. Because my pesky little girlfriend was pleading with me, telling me not to.

Jack looked at me, a desperate plea in his eyes. "Relax! Don't do it!"

Should I...or shouldn't I?

The feeling of euphoria, of soaring above the clouds, was very real, even if it had been artificially induced by whatever Andrew had shot into me. I knew that it would only continue if I killed Jack now. I don't know how I knew that, but it was true.

"Please, Lucas...if you have ever cared about me, at all, don't kill him! It's not worth it".

There was the little voice of reason...that stupid little voice of reason...trying to stop me from doing what I knew I absolutely had to do. I had to kill Jack Novsky, so why was it so...fucking...hard?

"You've got ten seconds, Enfield. If you don't, I'll kill him. And you. And Foster. Unless you'd rather have me do it?"

Jack started to back away, but he also stood his ground, like a man who was caught in the sights of a wild bear.

That did it for me. He was vulnerable right now.

You might say, Lucas! What were you thinking? But the truth is, I wasn't thinking. The reactions and all of the synapses that were going on in my brain were not rational in the least, and I had typically considered myself a pretty rational person. Of course, just about everyone does.

But something in that syringe was changing my thinking. I could see myself having an amazing future, having kids with Willow. Just kill Jack, said a voice inside my head. It'll be over, and then you'll have won the war!

But why was Andrew telling me that, if he was on the opposite side as me?

None of this made any sense except for one thing. Kill Jack.

No. Don't do this, Lucas Enfield. Willow is going to kill you!

No, she isn't, she'll understand.

DON'T DO IT!

DO IT!

NO! DON'T, LUCAS! DON'T!

Eventually, the voice in my head became too difficult to resist. I aimed my gun at Jack's head and fired.

His head pretty much exploded. And, as the floor became less clear with his bodily fluids, my mind became more clear.

What did I just do?

Behind me, Willow was sobbing. And I realized that I had just killed Jack Novsky. He'd been taken on as a weapons expert, to help us with upgrading our ships, and he had paid the ultimate price for it.

I'd been hoodwinked into doing it. And Willow was completely justified in crying. After all, I had just done something for which I didn't know if she would ever be able to forgive me.

She could try, certainly. But the fact remained that...

I saw the glint of wings of a ship. Looking up, I was able to confirm that it was a Wolfen, the craft that the Star Wolf team used.

Andrew was escaping. I couldn't get my revenge on him. At least not right now. But the time would come.

Now I had tears in my eyes, and it was all I could do not to break down and cry. Taking the life of an ally...I'd made a lot of fuck-ups in my time, but nothing like this.

IAN'S POV

From where Konstantin had defeated Wolf, we took a purple tunnel that seemed to lead deeper into the planet. Not only did it get hotter and hotter, as well as darker, but it also became somewhat claustrophobic. It wasn't pleasant to be down here, but I knew, of course, that we had no other option. Not if we wanted to win this war.

The downward slope, however, gave us a chance to catch our breath and regain our strength a little bit. It was definitely making it easier to envision winning whatever battle might be facing us in just a few minutes.

"Sorry if I scared you right there" Konstantin said.

"Why would you have? Honestly, I hated the guy too".

"Feel free to use the present tense" he said. "After all, Hazel didn't stop loving Augustus after he died of cancer, so why should we stop hating Wolf and everything he stood for?"

He did have a point.

"We are going to have to win now" I said. "All of the marbles, right here".

"I know" Konstantin replied. "Let's just hope that the others somehow found the way, by some miracle. It's possible. I don't know under what circumstances, but I am convinced that there is a chance".

We didn't know how many Anglars would be present, but somehow we did get the sense that we were truly at the end of everything. The final battle in the war against the Anglars would be fought at the end of this tunnel.

Indeed, as the path changed into a staircase, I got this sense even more. It felt pretty climactic to me, and I was definitely looking forward to taking it to the actual base.

"Is the core down here, do you think?" Konstantin asked me.

I rolled my eyes. "I'm 97% sure. It's just that three percent, you know? That makes me a little uneasy. I just hope that it wasn't all for nothing, in which case: How are we going to get back up to the top?"

"We'll find a way" the Texan said.

I was left with that as we reached an ornate magenta door, probably the color #CA1680. And yes, I can estimate hex color codes just by looking at the object that is that color. It's one of my talents as an autistic savant.

"Shall we go through?" I asked.

Konstantin nodded, and so we worked together to open the door, which was extremely heavy. It took both of our efforts.

And we got a very big surprise on the other side.

On the other side of the magenta door, there were two other doors. One of them was a teal color that approximated #029780, while the other was a yellow color that was about #C69E24. All three doors converged in the middle of a triangular room.

Stepping out of the teal door at the same time as us were Falco and Cole. The yellow one had Lucas and Willow come out.

That really had been quite a coincidence. How had all of us managed to get here. Except...where was Jack?

"Where's Jack?" Cole asked.

"I'll explain later" Lucas said, deliberately avoiding Cole's eyes. "Right now, this battle is all that matters".

Okay...I thought. It wasn't like Lucas to be evasive on purpose.

"He's right" Falco said. "Let's go through that orange door right there" he said, pointing to one that was pushed about halfway into the side of the triangle that the room's walls formed.

The orange door was about the color #F8693D, which was pretty awesome. What was even more awesome, depending on how you defined the word, was that a horde of enemies were waiting for us in the next room.

There were ordinary Anglars all over the place, with other droids that were able to stand, walk, run, and fight defending them. Not only that, but I could see Leon Powalski, who had used to work for the flight academy.

We didn't really have a strategy. We simply diverged and fought among the various forms of enemies that were present in the large chamber.

NEUTRAL POV

The chamber shook with all of the sounds of battle. It wasn't a chamber that anyone would want to collapse on top of them, that was for sure.

It was the size of Notre Dame, and it was made out of stone the color of cheese. There were several alcoves in which fighting was taking place, and the Star Enfield team spread out in order to take down as many enemies as possible.

The core was hanging from a very strong string in the middle of the chamber, much like a disco ball. In order to get it down, one only needed to hit it with an object. Not only that, but it was fragile enough to break from the 80-foot fall. If the core was dropped, the entire base would shut down, since the core was needed to power the base.

There was one black door at the edge of the chamber that led back to the surface. This was designed for the residents of the Venomian base to evacuate if it became necessary. The Star Enfield team had decided together, before leaving to tackle their individual foes, that they would take this door after they had won the battle.

This was no small feat, however. There were literally hundreds of aliens, and only six team members, Lucas Enfield having killed Jack Novsky when under the influence of a drug Andrew Oikonny had given him. The odds were stacked against Star Enfield by a long shot.

Willow went off to do battle with a group of aliens, all of which were trying to bite her. However, Willow was swift, and she was managing to avoid just about every time they came up on her. She didn't know how long it would last, but she was shooting her blaster to her heart's content, not caring whether friend or foe met the lasers.

Cole was going after Pigma Dengar, who was right in the middle of the fray. Cole, having been trained in martial arts from a young age, and Pigma, a fat piece of swine who had barely worked out a day in his life, were not an even match at all. Cole McCallen was kicking his ass.

Falco was fighting Leon. The former colleagues at the Grey Clouds Flight Academy were sparring hand-to-hand, and Falco was having a slight advantage. Once the main members of the clan had been taken care of, it would be a lot easier to take care of the rest of them. That was the strategy that the team had gone in with.

"Let's get the core!" Ian shouted. He had to look up from his fight against a droid that resembled ROB 64 slightly, which was a big mistake. This allowed the droid to conk him on the head, knocking Ian unconscious. Konstantin then jumped from his fight against a group of five Anglars in order to kill off the droid that had been about to finish Ian off.

In the middle of it all, Lucas was using his tall frame to try to throw something at the core. Whether it be his blaster, one of the rocks that occasionally popped up, or even a button on his flight suit, nothing was reaching that high. Michael Jordan, I could really use your help right now! he was thinking.

All in all, the scene was chaos. Lucas threw his blaster once again, trying to reach the disco ball core. This time, it got lost in the crowd of aliens. Cursing, Lucas looked over at Willow, who was getting shot at by Leon Powalski, the latter having managed to get out of his battle with Falco.

He was cheering for his girlfriend, but one laser managed to hit her in the chest, a little to the left of her shoulder. Luckily it was well out of the way of her heart, but the wound was bleeding. It looked pretty bad, and Willow's boyfriend leapt over to her, trying to defend her from Leon.

Meanwhile, Ian had regained consciousness. The boy who had used to wear the gas mask everywhere ran over to Lucas and Leon, and he was helping the younger boy take care of the chameleon. After one quick shot with the blaster, Leon was down. He wasn't bleeding too much, but Willow's unconscious form was, so Lucas spent the better part of the rest of the battle defending her.

At the same time, Cole had taken care of Pigma and was now going at the rest of the aliens. He took down a droid, as well as a few more aliens, but Cole was hit in the leg and keeled over backwards. Getting up quickly, he latched onto Konstantin. Not physically, but he was close enough to the Texan that they could easily defend each other.

"I'm going for the core now!" Falco shouted.

The other four conscious members of Star Enfield looked over at him. They were thinking that there was no possible way Falco was going to be able to do it, but he was about to prove them wrong. Throwing his blaster, Falco scored a direct hit on the core.

The disco ball-like core fell from the ceiling of the chamber, spinning the entire way. Before anyone could say anything, it hit the ground with an ear-shattering noise, spreading dust everywhere. It was absolutely ridiculous, and to make things even crazier, all of the lights in the base immediately turned off.

"I guess that's it" Lucas said. He was still clutching Willow's bleeding body. She was breathing, but barely.

"We did it!" Cole shouted, pumping his fist in the air.

Falco went over to Willow. "What's wrong with her? What happened, Lucas?"

Lucas gulped. "She...got shot. I think she's still breathing, but...she needs medical help, fast".

"Okay, Dr. Howler is going to be able to take care of her back on the Great Fox. We just need to take that black door, and we will have won. Just-".

There was a pounding on the black door. Before anyone could say anything, the Anglar Emperor, in his maroon cape with golden yellow trim, walked into the room, an angry expression on his ugly-colored face.

"You just shut down our base. You bastards! How can you live with yourselves?"

Many of the Star Enfield team were wondering the same thing about the Anglar Emperor. After all, he had basically let his entire army face the team alone, without even sacrificing everything. However, the Anglar Emperor was nearly as obese as Pigma, so it really would not have made too much difference.

"The next time I see you, I will scatter pieces of you throughout this galaxy! Leave now, but let it be known that it is not over yet!"

The Star Enfield team didn't pay him any more attention before piling out of the black door, heading up to the surface, and departing in the Great Fox.

In the medical ward of Andross's central ship, the Blue Brain, Pigma and Leon were being tended to. They had no idea what had happened to Wolf, but judging by Konstantin's attitude during the battle, it sure seemed that he might have been killed by the Texan.

"I mean, it would make sense" said Pigma as a medical droid bandaged one of the wounds Cole had given him. "I'm sure that Brockenbough guy has been pining for revenge ever since Wolf swung that trial against him back on Corneria".

"There's no question in my mind" Leon said, grunting in pain as his broken arm was set.

"We are going to get back at Lucas Enfield. We're going to make him rue the day that he ever decided to go to that Christmas ball!"

That allowed them to have a good laugh, even though they were both in great pain from their wounds.

"There is some good news, though" said Andrew Oikonny, who had had no wounds at all. Instead, although he didn't tell the others yet, he had been the one to do the wounding.

"What is it?" Leon asked Andrew. The way they had just gotten beaten by Star Enfield, they were craving good news.

"I injected Lucas with a syringe of a drug that caused him to kill Jack Novsky. That's its major side effect".

Leon stared at Andrew. "What is the main effect of this substance?"

Andrew told them the main effect of the substance.

"That is awesome!" Pigma sneered.

"I know! It was genius, wasn't it? I mean..." Andrew continued rambling about the awesomeness of his plan, and Leon eventually fell asleep from boredom.

WILLOW'S POV

I woke up on the Great Fox some time later. I was in a great deal of pain, but I could tell that I was probably getting pumped full of pain medication right now. I was in the med bay of the Great Fox, and there was something really itchy over my nose and mouth.

"Just breathe, Willow" said a voice I recognized.

I looked and saw that it was indeed Dr. Howler who had said that. She was standing over me, wearing her usual maternal smile. I looked around and saw that, in addition to the oxygen mask, I had an IV and a heart monitor attached.

"What happened?" I asked, although the mask muffled it a great deal.

"You got shot. Luckily, you didn't lose as much blood as Lucas did. He's with the rest of the crew right now, although things are a bit awkward...for obvious reasons.

"What are those reasons?" I asked, which I thought made it pretty clear that they were not obvious reasons.

"You remember that Lucas killed Jack, right?"

"Yeah" I said. My heart monitor started beeping faster to correspond with my shock at what must have happened to my boyfriend. I still couldn't imagine that had been him.

"Well, they won't look at him the same way as before, that's for sure. Of course, he was under the influence of an incredibly powerful drug that he did not willingly take, but it's still going to haunt him for a while".

I nodded, as much as I could.

"Where are we going now?" I asked.

"Home".

Home. That word was not one that stirred up pleasant memories. My life at home hadn't been the best, what with two little siblings and a stepfather I wasn't a big fan of. Even so, I got the feeling that that wasn't what Dr. Howler was talking about.

"We're going back to Corneria. Thanks to Jack's upgrades, it'll take only about a week to get back there".

"What are we going back there for? We've already won, right?"

Dr. Howler smiled, wider than I usually saw her do so.

"Our hero's welcome".

RIP Wolf and Jack

Wolf: He's a character from the original canon, and I of course included him here. I enjoyed his character arc, the story of Konstantin Vs. Wolf. First, he was one of the good guys, kind of a reformed villain. Then, he flipped over to the other side, starting with when he persuaded the jury to convict Konstantin. The Texan always had a grudge against him, and it all culminated when Konstantin got a chance to kill Wolf. It's worth noting that, in a PM from Zaravan (the creator of Konstantin), he told me to let Konstantin have this moment, and I obliged. Keep in mind that your OCs are welcome anytime!

Jack: This was given to me by Cosmicsafe74, whom I have become great friends with. I decided to expand on him being 6'5" and from Poland to include him being in Cartagena and playing tejo with the locals. Honestly, he was an enjoyable character to write for. Apologies to Cosmicsafe74 for killing Jack off before the last book, but here is my defense. In order for the plot to progress in the way I wanted it to, a character had to die. Jack fell right into my firing line, so that was what happened. Trust me, though, Cosmicsafe's other OC, Ian, is going to play a big role in the third and final book of this trilogy. And Jack, as a weapons expert, did play an integral role in the story. I couldn't have written it nearly as well without him. (At the time of writing this, I haven't even published Chapter 8, where Jack was introduced, yet!)

I wrote the last 5,000 words of this chapter in one day, while we were in Banff. Yes, I wrote this more than a month ago. Do you have a problem with that?

I would like to thank everyone who has kept up with the story this far, particularly those who have reviewed. The next chapter is the last one, and, unlike what I usually do, it's not substantially longer than any other chapter before it.

I hope you guys review, because it really does make my day.