CHAPTER ELEVEN

The Place They Never Wanted to Go

Hades Valley, Planet Venom

Anna was still too distressed to get back in the action, but she also refused to stay on the Great Fox with only the reassembled but still malfunctioning ROB to accompany her (especially considering the latter was blaring such phrases as "We are Legion…for we are many"). Thus, Chase remained behind, leaving Marcus, Coyote, and Damalgo to delve downward to the planet Venom.

Venom may have been the largest planet in the Lylat System, but it was far from a good place to live. The haze that filled the sky shrouded the sun and bathed the ground in perpetual twilight, while the ground itself was extremely ravaged thanks to ages of neglect. The seas were just as toxic as Zoness had been a few years back, and everything that had lived here was either hostile or dead and rotting away. The only word that could possibly describe this planet was a wasteland. The neighbouring Titania may have been bad, but at least it was bearable.

Marcus really hated to be cliché at times like this, but he still managed to utter "It's quiet…too quiet."

"Normally this wouldn't be too unnerving if there wasn't a malevolent spirit threatening to kill us all." Damalgo grumbled.

The three ships glided over the ruined surface of the planet with their pilots visually scanning it for any sign of movement. They were half-expecting Venom to be the base of operations for the Aparoids since their own homeworld was destroyed decades ago, but they saw nothing as they travelled across the vast landscape…right as a team of Aparoids came barrelling in out of nowhere.

"Incoming bogies at three o'clock!" Coyote yelled.

"Take evasive action and attack whenever you have the chance!" Marcus ordered.

The three ships swerved away from the line of fire before locking on to the closest Aparoid to each of them and firing away. Marcus barrel-rolled and scraped his wing across one Aparoid, sending it hurtling into a group of others. Once it was out of his way, he dove downward and began gliding just above the surface.

"Chase, can you get Anne to bring up the beacon on our radar?" he said into the comm.

"I'll try. She's still really shaken up, though…Anne, come on, she's not gonna jump out of the…wait…wait, what are you doing…no! Stop it!"

"Chase! What's happening?"

"She started freaking out again and pulled my pants down!"

"…oh…well, that's not bad."

"It is for me!"

With a quick somersault and well-placed smart bomb, Damalgo did away with the bogies tailing him. As the three of them progressed further, they came across a split in the path thanks to a large mountain-like protrusion reaching up towards the sky.

"I'll take the left." Damalgo said as he veered off in that direction.

"We've got the right." Marcus replied as he and Coyote swerved in said direction.

As the Iron Maiden and the Arwing III navigated through the eastern passage, they zipped about to escape from the blasts coming from their tailing adversaries only to slam on the brakes when several stone protrusions began rearing up out of the ground.

"Holy mother of…what's going on here?!" Coyote sputtered. "Is there an earthquake going on or is this planet haunted?"

"Yeah…haunted…while there's a malevolent spirit threatening to kill everyone…makes sense, don't you think?"

Navigating through this maze of rising stone was hard enough with massive bugs chasing them, but it began even more unnerving when they could swear they heard loud and rumbling footsteps off in the distance. Damalgo wasn't having it much easier with numerous criss-crossing beams of stone suddenly shooting out of the mountainside and blocking him off unless he boosted at just the right time.

"Hey, uh, Chase? You mind telling me why the planet itself is trying to kill us?"

"I attribute that Andross building defense mechanisms while he was living here. But come on. You guys can get through there. Fox, Falco, Slippy, and Peppy could do it, so there's no excuse why you can't."

"Great…do you guys hear that?"

"Hear what?" asked Marcus.

"I dunno…I just keep hearing this annoying buzzing noise in my head."

Marcus bit his lip the second Damalgo said "in my head". There was no way…she wasn't that sadistic as to screw with them when they were here on Venom…was she?

The two split paths reunited at a massive drop-off that led downward to a large and literally vomit-coloured sea that had several structures sticking out of it. It was just a guess of the young mechanic, but Chase had a bad feeling that the water was acidic judging from how everything that was sticking out seemed to have been eaten away slightly. What was most noticeable was the long stone bridge jutting out that seemed to stretch on for miles, and this seemed to be the location of the loud and booming footsteps. Marcus checked his radar and confirmed that the beacon was somewhere beyond this ocean.

"Okay, guys. Stay close. Let's get down there and see just what the hell is going on." he said.

"Right." replied Coyote and Damalgo.

All of a sudden, a loud beep came from the team's radar. Upon checking it, what they got was very confusing. Nervous about who this could possibly be, Marcus linked his communicator up with the foreign entity and spoke.

"Unidentified aircraft, you have enter a quarantined territory. State identity at once."

The voice that responded was nasally and slightly unpleasant to listen to, and while the team was relieved it wasn't who they thought it was, it still surprised them. They struggled to believe it even when the owner of said voice swerved up in a Wolfen dubbed the Prime Ape…that should be a hint and a half for you right there.

"If it's quarantined, then why are you here?"

"Oikonny?!"

"I have a first name, you know."

Andrew Oikonny, the nephew of Andross and a current member of the Star Wolf team. Having him here wasn't exactly devastating, but it still confused them.

Coyote sighed.

"Alright, Andrew, what are you doing here?"

"Your dad caught wind that the five of you were heading off to Venom, and seeing how dangerous it is and how I know this planet like the back of my hand, he sent me to help you out. You'll need me if your cartographer is having a nervous breakdown up there."

"Huh…well, if Dad send you, then I guess it's okay."

"And this implies that you would be angry if it I was helping you out of my own free will?"

"On to important things, let's go!"

The four ships began flying out over the ocean, with the team listening intently on what Oikonny had to say (yeah, I'm just gonna keep calling him that. Everyone does.)

"If I remember correctly," he started. "This is where Fox and Falco took down Emperor Angler."

"Who's that?" asked Marcus.

"This big fish…thing that my uncle created. After the first Aparoid invasion, they started on a conquest to take over the entire Lylat System."

Of course!

"So they basically blasted him to pieces, right?" Damalgo asked.

"More or less, but hey. It seems that a certain rule has been broken too many times in this last little while for it to matter anymore."
"What rule?"
"If you're dead, you're supposed to stay dead."

"Hint, hint, Aparoids…" Marcus thought sourly.

The ships continued to cruise along, rising out of the way when several Aparoids shot up out of the sea and gave chase. Each of them swerved off in different directions to split the group apart before looping back in to deliver the coup-de-gras in the form of a smart bomb…all except Oikonny who couldn't seem to get them off of his tail.

"Bah! Persistent little pests, aren't they?" he growled.

Coyote sighed.

"Still a basket case even when I'm not in Star Wolf, eh, Andrew?" she muttered as she delved toward Oikonny and blasted the Aparoids away.

"Expecting some kind of thanks, O'Donnell?"

"No. I know you're too full of yourself to even think of it."

"Oh, and like you'd know any better, you silver furball."

Normally no Lylatian would be offended by a petty insult like that, but Coyote began to her blood pressure start to rise again as her anger built up. Without warning, she jerked her steering console off to the side and slammed into Oikonny's ship with it.

"HEY, EINSTEIN! I'M ON YOUR SIDE!" he yelled.

"Oh, you want another one?" Coyote seethed. "Happy to oblige, you monkey fuck!"

Marcus steered his ship between the Iron Maiden and the Prime Ape before the former could attempt to do anymore damage.

"Coyote, calm down." he said sternly.

"Get out of my face, Mark!"

"Calm. Down."

Marcus' voice echoed in Coyote's ears, and she felt herself return to the neutral emotion she'd had before. That neutral emotion quickly turned to alarm upon realizing what she had just done. She said nothing, but inside she felt the worst turmoil she had ever experienced. Something was undoubtedly wrong with her, and she knew that the negative effects of her encounter with Kursed were rapidly starting to outweigh the positives.

What either of them failed to know was that it was just about to get worse.

"Agh! Goddammit!" Damalgo cried.

"Al, what is it?" Marcus asked.

"It's that stupid noise again! It's hurting my ears!"

"I don't hear anything."

"Well, I hear it, and it's driving me crazy!"

The noise kept building up in Damalgo's head as though someone had a siren pressed right against it. Just when he was about to squeeze his eyes shut and start slamming his head on the dashboard like a maniac, the noise stopped. He sat up.

"Wha…what in Grimm's name is going…"

"Psst. Al."

"What?"

Marcus, Coyote, and Oikonny all raised their eyebrows.

"We didn't say anything." Coyote replied.

"Huh?"

The young Sharpclaw was initially confused beyond his comprehension, but after calculating the scenario in his head for a few seconds, he got a less than satisfying result.

"Oh, shit!"

The noise went from buzzing to a voice in his head.

"Damalgo…tell me something. Are you angry that Marcus got to kill General Scales and you didn't?"

"Leave him alone, you bitch!" Marcus barked

Kursed didn't listen.

"Doesn't it make you angry that you couldn't do anything to protect your parents?"

Instead of convincing Damalgo to turn against his comrades or anything along those lines, her words instead seemed to be driving him into a nervous breakdown.

"Shut up….shut up…leave me alone…"

"AL, WATCH OUT! YOU'RE HEADING STRAIGHT FOR THE WATER!" Coyote screamed.

Damalgo couldn't hear Coyote or see what she was talking about. He had squeezed his eyes shut and was now banging his head against the metal frame of his ship to try and drown out the steadily building noise echoing in his ears. He didn't care what was happening. He didn't even care about the mission anymore. He just wanted every little sound in his head to shut up and stop tormenting him.

Just as the Bonesetter was about to go headlong under the toxic surface of the sea, Marcus reached out with his mind and yanked open its cockpit before pulling Damalgo out like a rag doll. While he did this, he slammed a button above his head and opened up his own cockpit, placing the disoriented Sharpclaw inside once he had done so.

"It's okay, Al." he said softly. "Everything's gonna be fine."

The sounds faded slightly as Marcus' voice pierced through them. Though Damalgo couldn't speak thanks to the sheer shock of what had just happened and simply had to resort to slowly breathing in and out, Marcus could sense his heart rate beginning to slow down, thus signalling he was once again in a calm state of mind.

"Am I missing something here?" Oikonny asked.

"Yeah, you are." Marcus said. "And I'm not sure you want to know what it is."

"Kursed, right?"

"How in the f…what?!"

"Did Wolf mention having to save Panther during a run-in with your mother back in the day?"

"Uhh…yeah."

"I was there, and…it was a doozy. I had nightmares about it for two weeks."

"I know the feeling."

The rumbling footsteps began to get louder as they progressed along the bridge, making the team members all the more nervous.

"Uhh, Andrew?" Coyote asked. "Where exactly does this bridge go?"

"To Charon Falls." Oikonny replied. "Underneath it is where Emperor Angler made his lair during the Angler Blitz."

"But what's with the rumbling?"

"Oh, that? That would be…that."

He pointed down at the bridge. His target seemed to be a thirty-foot tall stone statue, but Coyote and Marcus where shocked when they saw that it was staring up at them.

"What is that thing?" Marcus demanded.

"A golem. Andross created it as a last defense in case anybody managed to get through the rest of the planet. The only way to get to the falls is through him."

"Well, that's just great. What's worse is that seems to be where the fourth beacon is."

As if on cue, the golem turned around and began running away from the ships as fast as it could.

"What's going on?" Coyote asked. "He's running away. Is he scared of us?"

"No. If he through the shield blocking off the falls, they're isn't going to be a way to reach them." Oikonny said.

"Sooo…" Marcus started.

"So get goin'!"

The three ships delved down to the surface of the bridge, stunning them still when there was a strange flickering above them. Before their very eyes, the atmosphere around them morphed and enclosed them into a rectangular tunnel with the golem sprinting away.

"After him!" Marcus yelled.

The three ships shot after the golem, which began swinging its fists at the air. Oddly enough, this forced several stone pillars out through the walls and up through the floor, forcing the team to turn their ships on their sides to squeeze through. Marcus slammed on his boost pedal, trying to get a good shot in before having to slam on the brakes when the golem swung its fist back at him.

"Don't get too close, Mark!" Coyote warned.

"Sheesh. No kiddin'."

"Of course, this would be much easier if we knew what his weak point was, and that would be easy to figure out if somebody hadn't gotten all…shit…gotta calm down."

Marcus flushed out the thoughts of Coyote's sudden mood swings and looked carefully at the golem. Whenever it moved its arms, the stones that linked them together seemed to be separating slightly went it bent its arms and then return to normal when it moved them back. The same went for the legs, and since the torso and head were made of the same kind of stone as the arms and legs, then perhaps…

"The whole body is weak to plasma fire!" he concluded. "Just shoot it, guys!"

They let loose, going after the torso first. After a few rounds of shots to it, the torso collapsed, revealing a metal frame underneath with a strange diamond-like formation.

"That looks like his core." Coyote said. 'But it doesn't look like we'll be able to harm it without getting rid of the other pieces."

"Alright, then." Oikonny said with a crack of his knuckles. "Let's do it!"

The three ships split off in different directions with Oikonny going for the left arm, Coyote going for the right arm, and Marcus going for the legs. The former two managed to blast away the left shoulder and right bicep respectively, but before they could go any further, the golem ran past several statues that were slashing vertically at the air with their arms. This forced them to swerve towards the center to avoid getting hit, yet Oikonny still got nicked and had one of his four wings sliced clean off.

"Y'see, that's what we in the mercenary business call 'overcompensating'." Marcus commented.

"You say that AFTER I get smoked? I'm grateful, really." Oikonny sighed.

"Don't get your tail in a knot. I'll deploy a wing repair droid."

Marcus swerved in front of Oikonny and opened the cargo hold. The little robot flew out and nestled on Oikonny's wing, getting to work on repairing it right away while the ship that released it continued to fire on the right foot of the golem until it crumbled away. The golem stumbled for a moment, allowing Coyote to shoot off the rest of its left arm before swerving over and taking care of the right arm. The golem was clearly not amused by this long-jumped a good few dozen feet ahead, bringing up several stone pillars to boot.

"Damn rock monster isn't making it easy for us, is he?" Coyote growled as she and the other two ships zipped between the pillars.

"Shouldn't be long now. We'll have him on the ground before we know it."

"Guys, he's gonna get through the shield in less than three minutes!" Chase suddenly yelled through the communicator. "Hurry the hell up!"

There wasn't any need to tell them twice. Marcus and Oikonny shot downward and took out the other foot as well as the...uhh….posterior. With the other pieces of the stone husk missing, the head turned red and began spinning rapidly, thus prompting Coyote to lock on to it and fire away with a charged shot. The head collapsed, and the core began glowing bright red, signally that it was now vulnerable. Unfortunately, the golem also sped up having no large chunks of stone holding it down.

"That son of a bitch is getting away!" Coyote growled. "We're not gonna be able to catch him in time!"

"Never give up!" Marcus barked. "Trust your instincts!"

The old McCloud family quote. Coyote had heard it before, though usually not from Marcus. At this time, however, she was seriously considering it.

"My instincts…"

Her blood pressure began to rise again at the thought of not being able to reach the beacon. Without a second thought, she slammed down on the boost pedal and ejected from her ship. She flew through the air like a bullet before activating her Repulsor Gauntlets just as she was about to slam into the golem. When she did, she tore through the core like butter and shot out the other side where her ship was waiting to catch her. The golem collapsed on the ground in a fit of sparks before falling apart the second it hit the ground, with the tunnel fading away afterwards.

"That was quite an experience." Oikonny commented.

"Yeah…you're not the one who has to cringe every time she does something like this." Marcus grumbled.

"What?"
"What's she just did isn't natural. I'm half-Cerinian and even I can't do something like that unless I get really angry. And let me tell you: pissing me off to the fullest extent isn't an easy thing to do."

"So what's going on with her?"

"It has something to do with Kursed. Let's just leave it at that."

The three ships continued on and reached the enormous wall of vomit-coloured water cascading down into the sea. Marcus' ESP kicked in almost right away, and he felt it strongest directly behind the falls.

"PULL UP!" he hollered.

The three ships moved upward just as something shot out of the falls in an attempt to bite them. It fell into the ocean before suddenly sprouting up again thanks to what appeared to be wings attached to its head.

"That's him!" Oikonny exclaimed. "That's Emperor Angler!"

"Wait…the mastermind behind the Angler Blitz was THAT?!" Coyote sputtered. "Are you serious?! The fuckin' thing doesn't even have any arms!"

"He doesn't need arms to tear you to shreds!"

Look, you stupid bastard, you've got no arms left! Just a flesh wound.

If this big fish had ever been some sort of emperor, there was no indication of that now judging from how it was madly lunging at them. Marcus had to jam his steering control all the way to the right to keep from getting slammed into the rock wall behind the falls. Emperor Angler himself was hideous to say the least. His pupil-less eyes were a sickly green colour, not unlike the water he had emerged from. His wide mouth had several rows of razor-sharp teeth jutting from it, and as his name would suggest, there was a long strand coming out of his head with a dangling light hanging from it.

"So am I correct in assuming the little dangling ball that's screaming 'hit me' his weak point?" Coyote asked.

"I'd say so." Oikonny replied. "The trick is making it vulnerable."

Obvious weak points for the win!

Emperor Angler made the first move, opening his gaping maw and inhaling heavily. The three ships were steadily being sucked toward it, but sadly for him, Marcus knew this routine from Andross.

"Fire a smart bomb in there!" he yelled.

Oikonny was closest, so he was the one who followed this order. The big fish swallowed it, where it exploded within him and caused his weak point to start glowing. The second there was a visible light from it, Coyote locked onto it and fired away. The big fish shrieked and dove back under the water.

"Keep a sharp lookout!" Marcus warned. "There's no telling where he's gonna pop up."

The three ships continued to circle around, and as they did, Marcus heard Damalgo groaning in the back seat. He smirked.

"You finally snap out of it, pal?"

What Marcus couldn't see was that Damalgo's eyes had gone blood red and he was looking at him menacingly. Before the young McCloud could react, the Sharpclaw had his arm around his throat.

"Al…what the…ack!"

"Mark, what's going on?!" Coyote demanded.

Marcus felt his airway slowly being cut off by Damalgo's surprisingly strong arm, and the shock of the situation got worse when he saw him slowly bringing a claw up to his Adam's apple. Once Coyote noticed what was going on, she swerved over and slammed into the Arwing III, knocking Damalgo against the metal frame and sending his arm hurtling off Marcus. Marcus himself flipped around in his seat and wrenched Damalgo's eyes wide open before glaring at him.

"Calm. Down." he said with his voice once again echoing through the air.

The second Damalgo came to his senses was the moment Emperor Angler suddenly jumped out of the water with his mouth wide open. The Arwing III somersaulted over him, leaving his backside wide open to a charged shot. He roared out in anger before firing a massive beam from his mouth.

"Okay, what is it with these huge monsters and giant laser beams?!" Coyote whined as she and the other two ships swerved out of the way. "Might as well give 'em googly eyes and have 'em go 'IMA FIRIN' MAH LAZOR!'."

"Wait…laser…" Oikonny thought out loud. "…that's it!"

"What is?"

"Let's lead him up the falls! I have an idea!"

Seeing as they didn't have too much of a choice, Marcus and Coyote followed the Prime Ape up the side of the mountain the falls erupted from. Emperor Angler had no intention of letting his prey escape, so he flapped his wings and started shooting up after them, chomping at them whenever he came close.

"Can I ask a perfectly legit question, though?" said Marcus. "Why is it that every single one of these ruler type baddies is just a floating head with occasional hands?"

"Beats me." Coyote said. "Maybe Andross had a lack-of-a-body fetish."

"That can't be right. I mean, if it's a fetish, how would he be able to…"

"Hey, let's just focus on the task at hand, kiddies." Oikonny interrupted. "Lord knows Mr. Fishy back there is."

They continued to fly up, having to swerve off in different directions when Emperor Angler slammed into the rock wall and sent numerous boulders tumbling down towards them. Unfortunately, Marcus had moved in the wrong direction and wound up scraping against another boulder, not only damaging his ship but forcing Damalgo to slam his head against the frame yet again. This time, he was showing obvious signs of brain trauma with a dazed look in his eyes and blood pouring down from his head.

"Shit…" Marcus grumbled. "If this keeps up, he's gonna be in a coma before we get back. Oikonny, how much further?!"

"Just up here, but you have to slam on your Mach 4 speed when I give the order. Ready?"

They were ready. They needed to be. Emperor Angler was right behind Marcus and had his mouth wide open.

"NOW!"

The three slammed the silver buttons over their heads and shot forward past what seemed to be a massive turret. Picking up their heat signatures right away, the turret took only a few seconds to charge up and fired right as Emperor Angler peeked over the cliff. The plasma bored a hole through his whole body, and before he even knew what had happened, he was falling back down to the water where he crashed underneath the surface.

"Alright…he's done." Oikonny said.

"Chase, send a recon probe to the Charon Falls." ordered Marcus. "The beacon is secured."

Back aboard the Great Fox…

"And with just another loosening of the bolts…there you go, little fella." Chase said conclusively.

While the team was down on the planet, Chase had brought Nightmare to the medical room in an attempt to remove the armour. As it turned out, the armour was wired directly into the internal organism's nervous system, explaining how it could move the arms with such ease and possibly why it attacked them. The one thing that was certain was that it made getting the armour off more difficult, but Chase still managed to do it.

At that moment, Coyote, Marcus, Damalgo and Oikonny came in.

"What's he doing here?" Chase asked looking at Oikonny.

"It's not an interrogation, buddy." Marcus said. "It's thanks to him we even got the beacon in the first place…hey, what're you doing?!"

"Getting the armour off. I had a pretty good idea of what I could do with it."

Coyote and Marcus prepared to fight when the squishy little organism that had been within the metal shell suddenly began woke up and began floating around the room.

"It's still alive!" Coyote growled, reaching for her gun.

"No, wait!" Chase exclaimed. "He only attacked you guys because he was wired into the suit and forced to do so. Watch. He's just curious."

As it turned out, it was. The little green blob floated around until it spotted Anna, who was still sitting in a chair and trying as hard as she could to calm herself down after what had happened. Nightmare floated down towards Anna and gently worked his way into her embrace, cooing like a newborn child. Anna looked down at him, snapping out of her hypnotized and frightened state, and softly touched his head. She smiled.

"He likes me…" she said.

"So more than one of you has gotten attacked by Kursed?" Oikonny asked.

The team turned to him.

"Yeah." Damalgo said. "Everyone but Mark and Chase."

"Precisely. If she's going after everyone but Marcus, who do you think is next?"

"…oh, shit."

Everyone turned to look at Chase who bit his lip slightly.

"Well…I know she's coming now. That was the thing. The reason she got you guys so bad was because you weren't prepared for it. I will be."

"Chase…" Marcus started.

"I'm a big boy, Mark. I drive a big boy hovercraft, I eat big boy burgers, I take big boy shits. I can handle her."

"It takes more than a big boy to outwit Kursed."

Marcus looked at the beacon.

"Alright, let's get this crap over with."

He slammed his hand down on the beacon and away went the visions. He was seeing through the eyes of someone who seemed to be an average-sized teenager and was looking at Kursed. Standing next to Kursed was a blue-furred and tribal-dressed woman who had a blade to a man's throat.

"I knew you would come back…I just hoped it wouldn't be in my lifetime…" the man panted.

"Father!" cried the girl that Marcus had the perspective of. "Let my father go!"

Kursed ignored her and became whispering in the man's ear.

"Sorry, Sabre. A girl's gotta look out for her best interests."

The man looked up at the girl again.

"Aileen! Run!" he hollered. "Warn Hephaestus!"

Kursed smirked as she nodded at the woman standing next to her.

"Good-bye, brother."

The woman's blade cut through the man's neck, pushing through until his head fell clean off.

"FATHER!" the girl screamed.

The vision faded away. Marcus gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. So many questions were welling up in his subconscious. Who was that girl? Where had that taken place? One thing was certain, however. Kursed had just taken family away from an innocent child.

"She killed him…right in front of her…" he growled.
"Who?" asked Coyote."

"…let's find that last beacon. The sooner we kill this bitch, the better."

You all know this is gonna set us up for some pretty intense shit later on, don't you?

If you remember the poll I had set up a month back, I asked which story you guys wanted me to do next. After getting only three votes for the same story, I pretty much knew that you guys would just want another Star Fox story, and I'm more than happy to provide one.

However, I actually have two ideas for new Star Fox stories, and they both take inspiration from two different works. I'm not going to say what works those are, but if you float on over to my profile, you can vote on which of the two stories you want first. I'll do them both eventually, but for now, there can be only one. Now then, time to work on said intense shit!

And I have a question: do I make the characters cuss too much?