CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Discovery
March 8th, 2057
Sargasso Space Hideout
"Okay." Chase said, handing Coyote a satchel full of syringes. "These should repress your instincts until I can find some sort of cure. Just remember that you need to shoot directly into the vein and they need to be taken once every twelve hours."
"Thanks…but what exactly is it?"
"Liquidated medical marijuana. It'll mellow you out for an hour or so and keep your instincts from getting out of hand for the half-day following that…don't bother asking me how it works. My dad made it."
"Huh…never thought I'd willingly take pot, but alright."
"The good news is you won't space out like most drug addicts would, so that's a plus. Let's get some into you now before we head out."
The team knew that if any remaining Aparoids were hiding out in the Lylat System, Sargasso was where they were going to be. It was once a standard recon area for the Cornerian Army before it was abandoned during the first Lylat War. Afterwards, Star Wolf had moved in and established it as a hideout before it was discovered by Star Fox during the first Aparoid Invasion. Now that Star Wolf was primarily based on Fortuna, Sargasso was simply a sitting duck waiting to be shot with a light gun, though it thankfully lacked a dog that would start laughing at you every time you messed up.
It didn't look like the sitting duck had been shot at yet, as none of the team members could see anything odd about it. Granted, they weren't here to flush out the Aparoids anyway.
"So how's this gonna work, Annie?" Marcus asked.
"Somewhere on the top floor is a satellite uplink that can be directed to pinpoint any location within a ten thousand light year radius." Anna replied. "It's so advanced that we could even lock on to Earth if we had the time and resources."
"And we're going to use the beacons' data I apparently have stored in my head to track the epicenter of the attacks."
"Yes. Hopefully we can put an end to this charade once we get that over with."
A porcine hand clapped down on Anna's shoulder.
"You and your maps, eh, Annie?" Peter chuckled.
Marcus smirked.
"Certainly didn't take you long to get back on your feet, did it?" he asked.
"'Course not. This job is just too damn fun to leave the work to you guys."
"I thought you'd say that. You're too damn fun to do these jobs without, anyway."
ROB stepped forward.
"Marcus." he said in his normal monotone voice. "I am happy to report that Chase has fully repaired me and I will no longer make the strange noises you have been hearing for the past few months."
"That's good to hear, ROB."
"However, I did enjoy saying one particular quote. If it is satisfactory with you, I request permission to repeat it every once in a while."
Marcus smirked.
"Sure. All of the stuff you said was pretty funny, anyhow."
"Affirmative."
With that, ROB turned to Chase and said his favourite quote.
"Come here, space! I have a secret for you! …no, come closer!"
Chase smirked.
"Good to know he's developing emotions and he knows that's supposed to be funny."
"W-what's your favourite thing about space?! Mine is space…"
Marcus cracked his knuckles.
"Okay, team. Let's head in there and bring this war to its third act."
The voice laughed in his head.
"Third act? Already? The party's only just begun!" Kursed said in a mocking tone.
"We'll see about that." Marcus growled back.
"Pete and Al, you guys take the outside. We'll start looking for the uplink." Marcus ordered.
"Got it." Damalgo replied. "I don't think there's gonna be too much of a problem, but now that I've said that, there probably will be with our kind of luck."
Yea, verily.
The six ships cruised effortlessly towards the large space station and entered through the permeable air barrier. Landing in the dock, every one of them felt slightly nervous. They figured this place would have been heavily guarded, but they didn't see any Aparoids anywhere…and that was the problem. It was simply too quiet.
The four foot soldiers looked all about the massive room. There was no sign of movement, no real feeling of a threat, no nothing…aside from all the machines and windows and floors and ceilings, but what do I know? I'm just the writer.
Marcus himself couldn't even sense the presence of any hostile creatures, but he decided to test it.
"Area's secure!" he shouted loud and obnoxiously.
Just like he had thought, the Aparoids phased into the room, showing yet another sign of their rapid evolution and how they just went from Pokémon to Metroids…y'know, 'cause Pokémon don't evolve past a second stage evolution and Metroids…forget it.
"That figures." Marcus sighed before readying his staff. "Alright, kids, let's annihilate these sons of bitches!"
With a drawn staff, shotgun, assault rifle, and Repulsor Gauntlets from the four of them, their Aparoid-slaying carnage began.
"Mark!" Anna yelled. "Let's you and me head for the uplink! I need you in order to get it working right, anyway."
"Got it." Marcus said before turning to Coyote and Chase. "Think you two can handle this on your own?"
Coyote turned her head and winked at him.
"We live for this shit, honey."
"I figured…and 'honey'? Really?"
"It seemed appropriate."
Once Anna had gotten a clear path on where to start moving, she dashed off and led Marcus up a ramp to the second floor while Chase and Coyote stayed below to hold off the Aparoids. Chase took care of two with a blast from his shotgun, while Coyote slit the throat of one and pulsed another into a wall. Following this, she shifted to the side to avoid being grabbed and impaled her attacker through the chest.
Just as Peter and Damalgo were thinking about delving in and helping their comrades, several dozen more Aparoids popped out from behind floating bits of debris.
"Yep, that's just what I thought." Damalgo grumbled. "Let's waste time hiding behind debris…yeah, not chasing cars, but hiding behind debris."
"Alluding to a 50-year old band." Peter said with a smirk. "Gotta love it."
Marcus and Anna proceeded across the catwalks and through the various large hallways of the station, tuckering him out long before he could determine whether or not they were getting anywhere.
"How much further?" he whined.
"It's on the top floor."
"Oh, for God's sake, why is it always on the top floor?! What is this, a freakin' Zelda dungeon?!"
"You know, now that I think about it, how come there hasn't been a futuristic Zelda game? I'd play that!"
Who wouldn't?
As the two proceeded down the hall past a rather large window, a shadow suddenly draped over them from outside before vanishing.
"Don't honestly tell me there's two Nightmares." Marcus grumbled.
Anna took a look out the window and managed to catch a quick glimpse of something sneaking around the edge of the station.
"There's something out there, alright, but it's no robot." she said. "…regardless of that, let's speed things up a bit, what do you say?"
"I say yes. Let's get a move on!"
The two continued running, only for Marcus' communicator to buzz.
"Son of a bitch, give me some breathing room, will ya?!" Coyote growled.
"Bad news, Mark!" Chase shouted. "The Aparoids are pouring in from the entrance! They're driving us straight towards you and Anne!"
Marcus bit his lip. They must have somehow tracked his presence and were trying to plow through the other four team members to get to him. Of course. Kursed wasn't the kind of airhead to just let him find out where her nest was and then burn it to the ground, was she? For an evil and possibly demonic beast, she was certainly much smarter that people thought she was.
"Can't you hold them off?"
"What part of 'they're pouring in' did you not understand?"
"Don't worry, Mark." Anna said. "There's a single room lockdown feature on the room the uplink's in and if my map is correct, there's a back way out of the same room. It's simple: we get in the room, lock it down, get the data, and get out the back door."
"Is it foolproof?"
"Well, I'm about…"
"80% sure?"
"How the hell did you know that?"
"A: I'm psychic. B: no plan is foolproof. And C: you always say 80%."
"…well, shit. Coulda fooled me."
The two picked up their pace only for Chase and Coyote to come sprinting around the corner no more than two minutes later.
"HAUL ASS!" they both yelled at the top of their lungs.
And that's just what they did when the saw the parade of Aparoids came surging around the corner and barreling towards them. The four of them ran as fast as they possibly could, their lungs heaving and their hearts pounding like hammers in their chests. It was hard enough trying to run this quickly without giant bugs chasing after them. Right as they approached an intersection in the halls, they swerved off to one side and pressed flat against the wall. Like the brainless barbarians they were, the Aparoids flew past them without even noticing.
"Okay." Anna breathed. "The room where the uplink is should be just to our EAYAAAAGH!"
Right as she was finishing her sentence, an Aparoid reached around the corner and seized her ankle, beginning to drag her straight toward the rest of the swarm.
"Give her back, you Goddamned freak!" Chase yelled, running forward and unloading every shot he had in his shotgun.
When he saw that the shells were taking almost no effect, he dove forward and grabbed Anna's wrists, trying to pull her free. It didn't do any good since Chase…well, didn't even lift, serving only to send him catapulting backward when Anna was wrenched free of his grasp. The person that shot into the picture next, however, lifted ten-fold.
"Smile, you son of a bitch!" Wolf growled before slicing the Aparoid's spindly arm off with his sharp claws.
"Dad!" Coyote cheered.
Wolf cradled his niece and rushed with the rest of the team to the uplink room, where Coyote ran to the terminal and locked the room down the second she was sure everybody was inside. Anna got back to her feet and took several deep breathes before speaking.
"Let me ask a perfectly legitimate question: why is it that monsters and lunatics keep grabbing at me?! What am I, a fuckin' piece of candy?"
"Yes." Chase replied.
Anna shot him a dirty look, but he carried on.
"Let me explain why. They're the big bullies of the playground, and I as your boyfriend am the little kid they snatched you from because they felt like being a bunch of inconsiderate douchebags. The only downside is that they're acting on instinct, not being inconsiderate, so I can really fault them for it."
"Interesting way of putting things." Wolf remarked. "Are you all okay?"
"Yes." Marcus replied. "Thank you, Wolf. Alright, then, Anne. Let's start this up and figure some things out."
Anna nodded and proceeded to the uplink computer. She typed in a few commands before Chase dug out the mind helmet…thing from the last story…yes. Really.
Marcus placed the helmet on his head and closed his eyes, bringing up every bit of information he could muster while Coyote and Wolf stood back to watch the three work their magic. Anna typed in a few more commands while Chase whispered commands into Marcus' ear.
"Are they sure this is going to work?" Wolf asked.
"It's Chase and Anna, Dad." Coyote replied. "They never mess up."
Wolf looked his daughter sternly in the eyes.
"You need to be careful around Kursed, Coyote. She's something that was never meant to exist in this world…not now, and not ever again. If you're going to go after her like this, please be safe."
Coyote smiled and hugged her father.
"It's okay. I've got them. They'll never let anything terrible happen to me."
"Got it." Anna concluded.
Chase took the helmet off Marcus' head, and the five of them crowded around the hologram map of the Lylat System.
"It's all clear now." Anna began. "The beacons weren't just placed randomly. They formed a trail. Watch. First there was Sector Y with the giant mech."
A dot appeared on Sector Y, as well as all of the further listed locations.
"Then it curves backwards towards Corneria with Ridley. Then it heads out to Lylat with that Pokémon Aparoid thing…yeah, I'm too lazy to name it properly. Then it went to Venom with Emperor Angler, and finally to Kew with Lolita Ferdinand. They're curving outward in an S-shape."
"You sure it's not just a coincidence?" Marcus asked.
"No. Look at this. Corneria and Lylat are a distance of about 149.6 million miles apart. So are Lylat and Venom, and Venom and Kew. Meanwhile, Sector Y is about 36 million miles upward from Corneria. So if we target the area 36 million miles downward from Kew…"
She inputted a few more commands, and the hologram displayed a planet.
"We have our epicenter."
Marcus took a closer look at the planet and saw a shocking familiarity, as well as a huge case of dumbfounded disbelief.
"No way…that's impossible!" he said.
"What is?" Chase asked.
"That planet is Cerinia!"
This shocked everyone in the room to no end. Cerinia was Krystal's homeworld that had apparently been destroyed when she was nineteen years old, but here it was looking perfectly intact. How was that possible?
"Yes!" Damalgo said from over the communicator. "I knew it!"
"You knew what?" Chase asked.
"I had a theory about why Kursed would want to steal Marcus' soul, and this confirms it."
"Alright, let's hear it."
"A planet suddenly appeared just outside of the Lylat System on July 28th, 2037. Scientists claimed that it just seemed like pieces of rock where being linked together by a blue light, and when the planet was formed, everything seemed to grow on it in an instant."
"So what?"
"July 28th, 2037! That's the day Marcus was born! When Marcus was born, he somehow sapped energy off of Kursed and rendered her weakened!"
Marcus stroked at his chin. Under normal circumstances, this would be absurd, but considering he'd seen much worse than that, it was certainly plausible. One thing he was still wondering, though, was how she had dispelled the Seal of Spirits that he had placed on her. That would have to be figured out later, as Coyote had a question.
"Then where are all the Aparoids coming from?" she asked.
Anna sighed.
"You know when I said a while back that you need to hope I was at least 80% wrong on that?"
"Yes. Why?"
"Turns out I was 100% correct…has anyone here besides Chase ever heard of the Echo?"
No one did. Not only did the name confuse those who didn't know about it, but it unnerved them to think that there was a power at work here other than Kursed. With these looks in clear view, Anna began to explain.
"I'll take that as a no. The Echo is an infinite plane of existence separate from everything we know. With the right kind of space warping technology, one could get into it pretty easily."
"So it's kind of like hyperspace?" asked Peter from over the comm.
"No, not at all, though like hyperspace, it's a place where time and space bend back on themselves. It's more like another dimension, because unlike hyperspace, the Echo isn't a trail. It's a destination…and for anybody who tried to get into it, it was a final destination."
Marcus bit his lip.
"In short and sweet terms, the Echo is Hell." he said sternly.
"Yes. Like I said, there's infinite space in the Echo, and if Kursed is somehow able to move back and forth between this plane of existence and the Echo, then the Aparoids have to be using it as their nest."
"It's normally against my better judgment to debunk things my family members say," Wolf said. "But I'm sorry. That sounds like complete bullshit."
Anna shook her head.
"It isn't. Scientists have theorized about it for years until they actually conducted an experiment by conjuring up a black hole and sending a droid inside. They received a sound reply, but it went dead in a matter of seconds. The Echo's real. Now the only problem is figuring out how the Echo and Cerinia are connected."
The team was trying their best to let this newfound information sink in, but Peter had a finding to discuss.
"Mates…we've got trouble."
"What's up, Pete?" Chase replied.
"I'm no loon nor expert, but unless my eyes are deceiving me, there's a giant…HAND out here!"
Right as he finished saying that, the hideout shook violently. Everyone was knocked off their feet and the room was bathed in a red light as a computerized voice began blaring.
"Red alert. Vicinity in peril. All available personnel evacuate immediately."
"That's our cue!" Marcus yelled. "RUN!"
Coyote opened the back door out of the room and the team proceeded down its hallway, only for the hideout to shake again. This time, a large amount of debris collapsed out of the ceiling and blocked off the way back to the room. Not that the team would need to go back in, but there was one problem: one of them was trapped behind it.
"Mark!" Coyote cried, trying to wrench each bit of debris free.
"I'm alright!" Marcus shouted back. "Go! I'll find another way out!"
Coyote wouldn't dare consider leaving him behind, but Chase took her hand regardless of that.
"He knows what he's doing. Let's go!"
She bit her lip, but still nodded and continued running while Marcus turned around and ran back through the uplink room's main entrance. It seemed that the Aparoids knew that it wasn't worth hunting him if they all died in a fiery explosion anyway, as they had left. The problem was that practically the entire floor had given way, leaving only a few running beams and whatever little bits of the floor were left to plant your feet on.
"In that case, parkour time!"
Yeah, parkour. That thing that looks absolutely incredible when pulled off right and is both exhilarating and sure to earn you some popularity points. Unfortunately, it's also the subject of a lot of Youtube fail videos because if you don't know how to do it, you push yourself too hard, or even if your foot slips one inch too far to the right, you're gonna get hurt…badly!
Thankfully, Marcus was not one of those people, clearly demonstrated as he expertly jumped and landed on a very thin beam, carefully yet quickly moving across it step-by-step before jumping as high as he could and grabbing a beam above his head to land on a small piece of the floor. As soon as his feet touched the ground, he ran along the wall, kicking himself over to the wall beside it and continuing to run if he got too low until he reached a spot where he would have to vault himself upward, which he accomplished with another, differently-angled kick.
"My mind is racing, my hands are shaking but I'm still runnin', and I'm still gettin' headshots! It's like boom! Headshot! Boom, headshot, BOOM HEADSHOT!" he whooped.
…so yeah, parkour's pretty fun. Dangerous, sure, but still fun.
On the other side, the rest of the team had thankfully made it back to the hangar bay and every single one of them was preparing to take off. Chase himself wasn't far from the Slip Strap when it finally happened…she had come for him.
"Chase Toad, I presume." Kursed said.
Chase turned towards the source of the voice. It hadn't been in his head. It had been directly behind him, and when he turned to look, there she was. Standing there with one hand on her hip and the other hanging down by her side. He was immediately frightened to think that she was going to come at him in this moment of crisis, but he didn't display this fear. Even though she was looking at him with a hungry-looking smirk, he stood firm.
"So you and I finally meet." he said.
Kursed chuckled.
"You can thank Marcus for that. So you're his best friend, huh?"
"Yeah, and as his best friend, I think you're a bitch and need to be taken down pronto."
Kursed stepped towards him and widened her eyes, forcing Chase to raise his fists and prepare to fight. What she said to him delivered the notion that she trying something, and the result would be nasty.
"You're so cute, Chase. You're short and plucky and you still think you can win out in a fist fight…come closer to me."
The way she had casually said it made him all the more confused. Anna looked behind her as she got in her ship.
"Chase, come on! What are you…oh, God, NO!"
Somehow the way she was looking at him…Chase dropped his fists. He was completely drawn in and steadily began walking towards her with a dazed look in his eyes. Kursed smiled and warmly embraced him the moment he was close enough.
"So adorable…" she cooed, looking down into his eyes and steadily edging her mouth closer and closer to his.
"Get away from him, you bitch!" yelled Marcus as he dropped out of nowhere with his staff raised high above his head.
Kursed blocked Marcus' blow with her arm and forced him backwards. Chase suddenly let out a loud scream and fell onto his back. Only Anna had seen how Kursed had linked her leg to Chase's and pulled it back in a way that had snapped the poor young Toad's leg into an irregular shape.
Marcus lunged at Kursed yet again, only for her to disappear with seductive laughter. Anna was about to get out of her ship and go to help Chase when the hideout shook brutally yet again. Marcus sheathed his staff and heaved Chase onto his back. Chase painfully smiled.
"You could just let me lie there…it would save you the trouble."
"Don't talk like that!" Marcus said back. "You're my best friend and I'll be damned if I let you die for any reason whatsoever!"
Marcus dragged Chase along and gently loaded him into the back of the Arwing III before he vaulted in himself. With that out of the way, the four ships blasted out of the hangar with Peter and Damalgo in hot pursuit. As soon as they were far enough, the hideout gave into its damages and exploded. The team looked on wordlessly before they flew back to the Great Fox.
On "safer" grounds…
"Okay." Damalgo concluded after looking over Chase long enough. "He'll be fine. It's just a broken leg. We just need to get him back home and get some medical assistance."
"Alright." Marcus replied. "ROB, set course for…"
Now the mothership shook.
"What the fuck is that?!" Coyote hollered.
Anna examined the ship status screen and spotted an abnormality.
"There's something nestled directly on top of the ship!"
"Whatever it is, it obviously ain't nice." Wolf muttered before turning his attention to Marcus. "McCloud! Let's you and me check it out!"
"Got it. I'll set the Great Fox form an oxygen barrier."
Once the preparations were complete, Marcus and Wolf made their way up onto the roof of the Great Fox with its pocket of air and gravity manipulation applied to make it possible to stand on. Upon looking closely enough…
"Is it just me or is that thing a giant glove?!" Marcus sputtered.
As soon as Marcus said that, the hand raised off the ground and began floating in the air, gently waving its fingers as though it were looking at them. When Marcus and Wolf took a step towards it, it clenched. Wolf smirked.
"What's the matter? Ya scared?" he mocked.
"You act like you've seen this thing before, Wolf." Marcus said in a puzzled tone.
"I was thinking the same thing, but whether I know what it is or not, I can guarantee it ain't gonna be home in time for brunch."
The two sank into a fighting stance. The hand responded by punching at them at full force. They flipped out of the way and Wolf managed to get in a good swipe of his claws. The hand reared back again, instead opting to curl up its forefinger and flick it full force at Marcus, who simply blocked it with his staff.
"Hey! Got any brains in there?!" Marcus yelled.
He received no response.
"…shoot. It's not as fun when you can't see their reaction."
The hand's fingers glowed a bright blue before lasers somehow erupted out of them and it directed them towards the two canine fighters. Marcus rolled between them and jabbed at its palm with his staff. The hand responded by seizing the staff, yanking it out of Marcus' hand, and throwing it as far away as he could. Marcus smirked.
"Weren't betting on this, were you?" he mocked before reaching out with his mind and telekinetically pulling the staff back into his outstretched hand.
Again he received no response.
"Okay, a little tip for you: don't talk to disembodied hands. Not only is it pointless, it's just flat-out absurd."
The hand slapped the surface of the Great Fox, which wasn't nearly enough to send a shockwave across it until Marcus and Wolf saw what it was doing: it was steadily tipping the great mothership in an upwards slant, and by the time the two of them realized this, they were slipping downwards. They jammed their respective staff and claws into the metal surface to keep from slipping any farther, but they knew that the longer the hand tilted the ship, the sooner they would lose their grip and go fluttering off into empty space.
They both knew they needed to act fast in order to stop this, and Wolf acted first. He released his claws and let himself slide downward toward the hand, where he sank his claws in as far as they would go. The hand released itself from the Great Fox and allowed it to level out, but it also seized Wolf in its massive grip. While Wolf managed to jam his legs against the hand's fingers and keep it from crushing him, Marcus knew he wouldn't be able to hold out for long.
With this thought in mind, Marcus ran forward, jumped on top of the hand, and jabbed the spear end of his staff behind one of the knuckles. The hand released Wolf and gave Marcus enough time to pull him to safety.
"Heh. Not bad, kid." Wolf said with a smirk.
"Hey, you saved my ass three years ago." Marcus replied with a smirk of his own. "I'm simply returning the favour."
"Good. Nothing like saving your father-in-law to make a good impression on him before you marry his daughter."
"Thanks…wait, what?!"
The hand…oh, fuck this, You know who it is. Master Hand shook off the pain of Marcus' staff jabbing into him and made a strange signal, raising his index and ring finger and then giving a thumbs-up.
"So what, is he applauding us? Saying we did a good job? What's…mother of pearl THERE'S TWO OF THEM!"
Sure enough, another giant hand came rocketing up the other side looking identical to Master Hand except for two things. One: it was a left hand while Master Hand was a right, and two: it was thrashing about violently. Fitting, because Crazy Hand began attacking far more aggressively than his counterpart. He slammed down so quickly that it sent a shockwave knocking our two canine heroes of their feet and barely giving them enough time to roll away before Master Hand came punching down after them.
Once Marcus and Wolf were standing again, Master Hand made a signal that carefully resembled a gun. Wolf at first was confused about what was going on, but then he realized it.
"HIT THE DECK!" he yelled before diving down and taking Marcus with him.
The two got down just in time as a large and blazing blast of air shot over them, echoing throughout the air like the gunshot it was heavily implied to be. The two got back on their feet and prepared to jump when they saw the two hands simultaneously close in on them, but they instead gently nudged them with their palms.
Of course, they didn't realize that Marcus was a psychic little genius, now did they?
"JUMP FOR IT!" he yelled.
The two leaped into the air just as the two hands pulled back suddenly and came surging inward as fists, slamming into one another. While Marcus and Wolf landed safely, the two hands reeled backward and shook off the pain. To add insult to injury (quite literally), Crazy Hand turned to Marcus and clenched into a fist before raising that one finger at him. Marcus simply shrugged.
"Rude."
"Mark, you gotta finish those two off now!" Anna yelled. "That oxygen field isn't gonna stay up forever!"
"And you're warning me of this now that we're already out here because…"
"Here, I'll make it short and sweet for you: HURRY UP!"
"That makes it a tad urgent, doesn't it?" Wolf grunted.
"Yep…cover me. I've got an idea."
He had done this technique before, but he realized it sucked out a lot of his energy. He'd need to build it up so he could keep fighting afterwards since he could guarantee this would only finish off one of the hands. It was just a matter of choosing which one would go first: the sane one who had weaker attacks but had dead-on accuracy, or the lunatic one who missed practically every time but hit like a train coming at you full-speed.
He knelt down with his staff in his hands and began meditating, muttering words in Cerinian while Wolf stood around him and waited for the hands to move. Crazy Hand made a grab at him, only for him to whip out his own menacing variation of the standard issue military blaster and release a charged blast to send the somewhat tattered-looking hand reeling backward before clawing at his approaching counterpart. Wolf dashed forward, pulling out a small metallic hexagon when Master Hand prepared to unleash his lasers again.
"Have you ever taken a good look at yourself in the mirror?" he asked. "Here's your chance!"
He flipped the hexagon into the air in front of him and it activated to reveal itself as a reflector, proven when the lasers struck its surface and bounced right back, singeing Master Hand upon contact. At that moment, Marcus stood.
"I'm ready!" he yelled. "Get out of the way!"
Wolf vaulted himself away as Marcus crouched down and aimed his staff right at the weakened Master Hand with a malicious grin.
"IMMA FIRIN' MAH LAZAH!" he hollered as he…well, fired his laser.
His Hyper Beam to be exact. The high frequency beam ripped through Master Hand like butter, and when the light from it finally faded, there was nothing left of him. Now if only his crazy brother over there would go down as easily.
Or maybe there was a way to take him down easily.
"Wolf!" Marcus said. "I need you to pinpoint the heaviest area on that hand!"
"A bit of an odd request…but alright."
"Mark, you've got two minutes until the field disappears!" Peter yelled. "Hurry the hell up!"
"I'm going, I'm going! Jesus Christ…"
The two strafed away from Crazy Hand's punch and Wolf used the thermal sensor on his ocular lens to locate any area that more blood (if there was any) would be pumped to. In less than a few seconds, he located it.
"It's the palm! Whatever you're doing, hop to it!"
Marcus ran forward and jabbed his staff full-force through the palm, using his telekinesis to hold Crazy Hand in place. Once that was accomplished, he stepped over to the edge of the Great Fox reared back, and tossed his staff downward like a javelin, taking the massive hand with it. Once he knew it was far enough, he yanked the staff free and brought it back. Before Crazy Hand even knew what had happened, he realized that he was floating directly in front of the Great Fox's main cannons…and that Peter had seen him!
"Smile, you son of a bitch!" the Aussie hog cheered as he slammed down on the button.
The cannon fired, ripping through Crazy Hand in the same way the Hyper Beam took out Master Hand. With that over and done, he floated through space limp, finally giving Marcus and Wolf time to take in a breather.
"I'd say that's enough action for one day." Marcus said.
"Agreed." Wolf replied before giving his back a good stretch. "God, I'm getting too old for this."
Back on truly safe ground…
"The doctor says you're gonna be in here for the next couple days, so get some rest." Marcus said the moment he got time with Chase at the hospital.
"Don't worry about me, Mark." Chase responded with a light smile. "I'm gonna be fine. But…there's something I need to tell you…it was even worse than I thought."
Marcus wasn't surprised. He knew this kind of pain from his own horrid encounters with Kursed, and seeing Chase in the same way just made him angrier about it.
"It was horrible…I just looked in her eyes and…I wanted to be there." he said in a misty tone. "…you have to stop her, Mark. No matter what, that bitch has to bite the dust as soon as you can force her to."
Marcus nodded.
"I'll do it for you, buddy…I'll do it in the name of everyone she's hurt."
"He's in here, Miss Grey." the nurse said.
Anna walked in and sat down on the side of Chase's bed.
"Hey. You feeling better?" she asked.
"A lot better now that you're here." he replied, warmly smiling.
Marcus smiled and left without a word. These two lovebirds needed to treasure this moment. A moment that made life worth living and made Marcus want to stop Kursed from living hers any further.
"This is it…soon I'll bring this whole mess to an end. Get ready, Kursed. You're about to learn a lesson in life that you won't soon forget."
And we'll be there to see it...yeah, I put Master Hand and Crazy Hand in a Star Fox story. C'mon, they were in a Kirby game, so why can't they be in this?
And now I offer a challenge to you good folks who tune in whenever I post a new chapter to these stories. A contest if you will. If you're a fan of this story and you have a Deviantart or Furaffinity account or whatever, I'd like you to design a cover for this story. The cover I used for the last one was one I poorly made in Microsoft Paint because I have no drawing skills, so I'd like a legitimate hand or computer drawn cover for this one.
Here are the requirements: it must be PG material (i.e. no blood or boobies...really), and it needs to be your own work. Plagiarism isn't cool, guys. What I'd like to see if perhaps an image of Marcus and Coyote. They can be doing whatever you'd like them to do, but if you really want to get my attention, have them going into battle with Kursed. This also presents an opportunity for me to see what you guys think Coyote looks like. As soon as you've finished and posted it, send me a message with telling me your username on Deviantart/Furaffinity/whatever and I'll have a look.
Now of course, we have to talk about a prize. The winner will receive a chapter of the next Star Fox story I plan on doing, though anybody who submits a picture that I like will receive free publicity on my profile (and that's always cool, right?). And don't worry: when it comes to the art of the internet, I'm easily impressed. The contest will end probably by the time I upload Chapter 17 (and you're in luck because that won't be for a while). Good luck to those who plan on participating and I'll see you guys next update.
SOUNDTRACK SO FAR
Krystal's nightmare- "Parabola" by Mer (Originally by Tool)
Marcus versus Coyote (friendly)- "Name of the Game" by the Crystal Method
F-Zero race- "F-Zero Medley" by Entertainment System
Space pirate attack- Space pirate theme from Metroid Prime
Ridley- Ridley's theme from Metroid: Other M
Falcon takes down Ridley- "The Meaning of truth" by Hiro-X
The date- Ilia's theme from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Coyote versus the shadows- "The Beautiful People" by Marilyn Manson
The star Lylat- Magmoor Caverns theme from Metroid Prime
Marcus and Fox/Marcus and Chase- "Simple Man" by Lynyrd Skynyrd
Fox versus Kursed- "Du Hast" by Rammstein
Marcus and Coyote versus Nightmare- Nightmare's theme from Metroid Fusion (ArcX version)
The Nightstriker- "Iron Man" by Black Sabbath
The death of Commander Dane- "Mad World" by Gary Jules
The prisoners of Kew- Byelomorye Dam from Goldeneye 64
Escape from Sargasso- "Hard to See" by Five Finger Death Punch
Marcus and Wolf versus Master Hand and Crazy Hand- Final Destination from Super Smash Bros. Brawl