Disclaimer: Bucky 'O Hare created by Larry Hama, Star Fox is copyright Nintendo.
Katina, a semi-arid world of the Lylat System, home to a garrison of Cornerian Army fighter squadrons and serves as the Army's front-line defense post. But recently, those forces have gone silent, and with their forces spread thin, no one can figure out why. This is the reason why Team Star Fox has been asked to investigate. Approaching the planet, Star Fox and their new Aniverse companions prepare for anything that could be coming their way.
"Ok. I want you guys to hold in orbit around Katina. I'm flying down to inspect the base. I'll signal you guys should there be any trouble." Fox said as the group got near the planet.
A 'copy' came from them simultaneously. "Ok. Are we all set then?" he asked as they increased their speed, grinning as he pushed the throttle all the way forward, sending his head into the cushioned seat of the Arwing.
As he began to overtake them, a voice came through the comms, "Didn't Pepper say they couldn't contact anyone at the base, Fox?" Bucky asked, concern clear in his voice.
"Yep," Fox replied, before he did, a rather poor impression of Pepper, to liven up the tense situation. "But… we've been unable to contact anyone there." He said as Krystal, Falco, Slippy, and Dead-Eye laughed over the comm.
"Hah, good one laddie! You certainly know how to keep your crew's spirits up!" Dead-Eye said from behind in his Toad Croaker, having managed to keep up with them with little problem despite his craft. "I try!" Fox told him, a grin on his face as they neared ever closer before it slowly faded into a scowl.
Fox saw fire from the atmosphere lapping around the nose of his Arwing and he gave the signal for the rest of the team to peel off and hold in orbit. Fox broke through the atmosphere towards the coordinates ROB had transmitted to the Arwing before departing.
Nearing the spot, he saw the base. It consisted of one central building with four separate parts of it, making it look like a cross. There were ramps at all ends of the complex, presumably for unloading provisions. The base was surrounded by six walls that were perpendicular to the extensions of the complex. At the two corners farthest away from the complex were two raised platforms, and on those platforms was the symbol of Katina's flag, spinning on a raised area on the platforms.
An impressive compound, if it wasn't for the small fires that strewed throughout the complex, the central tower burning and smoldering badly. Fox looked around on the ground, hoping, praying, to see some friendly troop movement…
He couldn't see anyone.
Above the atmosphere, surveying the area, the rest of the group waited for any sign of trouble.
"Everything seems fine on my side!" Bucky says through the comms, having already surveyed his designated area and deciding to return to the group. "Roger that! We'll meet you at the rendezvous point!" Krystal said, taking charge of the situation. Making his way towards the meeting point, he was swiftly joined from the side by Dead-Eye.
"Everything alright there captain?" asked his gunner, slightly concerned in his voice. "It's nothing Dead-Eye, just focusing on the mission. Clearly not satisfied by the answer, the ex-pirate turned his craft in front of Bucky's way.
"Like hell it is, I have known you long enough to tell when you're keeping something to yourself! Now spill it Bucky!" he said harshly, knowing how to get his captain to open up. At first, Bucky glared at him, but not long afterward he sights and allowed a smirk to cross his features, "You know me well old friend. Fine! I'm worried about this whole situation. I just got this feeling; I think we should have all accompanied him down there!" he tells him sincerely.
Satisfied with his answer, Dead-Eye remained silent the rest of the way, thinking about what Bucky had said. Once they had arrived at the meeting point with the others, he spoke up!
"I reckon we should have all joined your boss in this little scouting trip. You know, just to be safe.", he told the others, echoing Bucky's earlier concerns. "Fox can handle himself; he will call us if he has need of us. Still, I do feel something odd is going on down there." Krystal informed him serenely. Falco, who had been listening in, decided to contact Fox; he himself was also unsure of leaving him on his own, as it usually led to trouble!
Back planet side, Fox continues to survey the area when he hears a message from his radio, "Yo Fox. Whatcha see down there?" Falco asked. "Nothing… I can't see anything. No troops, no… nothing." Fox responds in disbelief as he cocked a brow at the base. "What the heck is going on here!" Fox thought as he looked around the burning wreckages.
"Something's wrong. I'm going on foot. I'm gonna need you guys to come down here and give me some air cover, should this whole place go to hell, okay?" Fox said before a quick 'copy' came from them.
Back above the atmosphere, Falco relaid the message, " Fox needs us down there. Looks like you got your wish newbie." He said playfully as he readied the controls of his ship.
"Who are you calling a newbie, I'll have you know I've been flying since before you had hatched, fletching!" Dead-Eye replied, his snark matching Star Fox's resident ace pilot as he too readied for battle.
"I'll show you how to really fly, let's get this show started!" he called out as he rushed towards the planet. Bucky could only shake his head with a smile as he followed his friend downwards. The rest of Star Fox also share a laugh as they quickly catch up to them.
Fox landed his arwing just outside the base, near the main entrance, which to his surprise, was wide open. Confused by this, he sat in the cockpit and waited… waited for something, anything to happen. Beginning to feel anxious, he couldn't help but think, "Holy crap…Where is everybody?"
Fox adjusted his wrist communicator, opened the canopy, and jumped down to the sandy soil of Katina. Fox looked up to see the other four Arwings and the Toad Croaker flying in for air cover. "Falco. You hear me okay?" Fox asked through his communicator. "Loud and clear, McCloud. Watch your ass down there, Ok?" Falco replied with his trademarked sass.
"Right," Fox said as he withdrew his blaster from his gear pack. "Hmm…it's too quiet…" he says as he walks slowly into the entrance of the base.
"Something's wrong here…" Fox says before he hears hissing, then a loud beeping behind him as the huge door closes behind him. Looking around in all directions, he grits his teeth, as five aparoids, insect-like in appearance, jump right in front of Fox, startling him. "Unh! It's a trap! It's the aparoids after all…
Fox ran from them, and while he was running, he turned, held his blaster at arm's length in his right hand, and fired wildly into the oncoming onslaught of the aparoids, stopping them dead on their tracks as their limbs were blown clean off by Fox's blaster. Fox walked back up to them, a smirk on his face, as he held his blaster at arm's length before shooting directly into the eyes of the aparoids, ceasing their movements completely.
He felt confident after wasting five aparoids, until he looked past their smoldering remains and saw countless numbers of the same type. "Oh…shit…" Fox thought, before, as if to make the situation worse, the sky had been filled with airborne aparoids, giving the rest of the team a hell of a fight. "Fox! Find another gun! Get a rifle…or something!" came Falco's voice over the comms, managing to keep an eye on the situation despite the battle in the air.
Heeding his advice, Fox picked up a machine gun and an extra mag from a dead soldier. Wincing slightly at the sight of the dead Cornerian trooper, he dropped the magazine out from the right side of the machine gun. He read the gauge and grinned as he rammed it back into the magazine well.
Seeing that he had an ammo reading of 164 rounds, he made sure the safety was off, held it at his hip, and drilled all the aparoids, knocking most, if not all, their limbs off. Moving deeper into the base, Fox looked around and now knew why Pepper couldn't raise anyone on the VAC, they were all dead.
The aparoids had killed all the troops stationed there, luckily for Fox, this just gave him even more reasons to waste these bastards. Full of resolve he ran around a corner of the central complex and ran right back scared out of his mind. He had come face to face with an aparoid, one that was three times his height, and stood on four colossal legs.
Taking a deep breath Fox ran back around, steadied the MG on his shoulder while moving, and fired bursts at its head. Only to be stunned at what happened next, the aparoid had a shield… some kind of barrier that stopped his attacks cold on their tracks!
"Fox! That thing isn't workin'!" Falco said sarcastically as he swooped down in his Arwing and vaped the aparoid. "Thanks, Falco." Fox said as he waved his MG in the air at Falco. Fox began to take a sigh of relief but an explosion that occurred beside him knocked him off his feet. Fox shook his head to clear it as he got up, picked up his MG, and ran into a nearby hangar for cover.
"Falco! Watch where you're aiming that damn Arwing at! You just about blew me up!" Fox yelled into his wrist comm. "Uhh…Fox. That wasn't me. I've been chewin' up the airbornes up here!" Falco told him as he was currently in a dogfight with the aparoid flyers.
Fox slowly moved his head from around the corner of the hangar, and near the very end of the base, on the raised platforms with Katina's symbol on it, sat another of the colossal aparoids, and it reared back on its hind 2 legs as a dark orb came from inside it, straight at the hangar.
Fox watched it soar high into the sky, and as it came closer, he saw it was an orb of pure energy. Fox dove on the ground, dropped his MG, and covered his head as the hangar was blown to pieces. Seeing he was way over his head, he slung the MG over his back and ran like hell.
Back topside, Bucky was busy helping the others take care of the airborne aparoids that were quickly swarming the surrounding area. Weaving through the multitude of enemies, shooting about and knocking them out of the sky, only for them to be instantly squashed apart by Dead-Eye and the Toad Croaker. Laughing manically about the battlefield, the old pirate enjoyed delivering terror from above. Guns blazing, he ensured that no aparoid was left standing in his way.
"Now this is what I'm talking about! Come back here you landlubbers!" he yelled out as he continued squishing the insectoids on his way. Laughing slightly, Bucky called out to him, "Settle down there Dead-Eye, focus on the mission!" he reminded him before Falco jumped in. "Yeah, leave some for the rest of them!" he said as he flew over him, blasting an incoming wave of flyers.
"Hah, lucky shot scallywag!" he said with a smirk as he continued shooting at the aparoid soldiers on the ground. "Keep your cool everyone, we have to focus here!" Bucky began before a sudden shockwave nearly sent him towards the ground.
"What was that!" he heard the other call out through the radio, as he stared towards the burning wreckage of what was once a hanger and the gigantic aparoid behind it!
Back on the ground, Fox dove behind a wall, out of range from the aparoid, before he stood up. "Whew…there's no end to these things!" Fox said through his wrist comm. "Peppy! I need a Landmaster. NOW!" he said urgently. "Alright! On its way. What's the current situation?" Peppy asked through the radio. "Well, my hands are full, but what else is new?" Fox said as he rammed another mag into the MG and held it around the wall and fired blindly into a bunch of aparoids, wasting most of them, waiting for the Landmaster.
Above, inside the Great Fox, Peppy worked diligently on the transmitter systems. Eager to see firsthand how the system worked, Willy walked up next to him. "What are you doing?" he asked the old hare, voice full of curiosity and intrigue. "Prepping the ship's teleportation systems to transmit this Landmaster over to Fox!" he said without missing a beat, still delighted that the young boy showed such intrigue in his work.
"Woah! The ship can do that!" the boy genius exclaimed as he looked at the image slowly being formed on the screen. It looked like a sharp-angled heavily armored tank, the previously mentioned Landmaster. Designed by Slippy Toad and developed by Space Dynamics Co., Ltd., the Landmaster was the sole ground assault vehicle used by Team Star Fox. Originally just an armored exploration vehicle, it was converted by adding stronger battle armor and weapons systems by Star Fox Team when they realized that they required a land-based combat vehicle. The only prototype now part of the Star Fox Team's arsenal. Since Corneria's defense forces do not have a tank corps, the Star Fox Team's Landmaster is the only vehicle that can handle tough opponents from the ground.
Like a massive plasma shooting period that they were currently trying to tackle, finishing with his calculations Peppy readied for the transfer. "Done, Fox. Here's your Landmaster." he said as a blue beam shot down from space. From the ground, Fox could see the silhouette of the Landmaster begin to form. First, it was transparent, like a reflection from the sun, but the beam intensified, and before long the Landmaster materialized before Fox's eyes.
Unfortunately for Fox, Peppy transported it dead center in an open field of the base and was almost immediately surrounded by the aparoids. "Great… Good to see the transmissions system's targeting is as sterling as ever." Fox said sarcastically as he ran out from the cover, surprising the aparoids as he drilled them with the MG.
Checking his gun's gauge, 86 rounds left, rushing towards the Landmaster he opened the canopy and jumped inside as he flipped the safety switch on the MG to the 'on' position and set it in the floorboard of the tank. Fox buckled up his harness as he began to warm up the engine and bring the targeting systems online. Fox grabbed both the control sticks, steering with the right hand, and gun controls in the left. Fox's HUD came up from the dashboard console, and the radar came online as well.
He charged up the main gun and hit the gas, "Fox! Head out to the bigger targets on your radar. They're marked red." Came Peppy's voice over the Landmaster's comms. "Got it," Fox said as he barrel-rolled the Landmaster, wiping out several aparoids in doing so.
Fox turned the Landmaster towards one of the ramps, blew the maintenance door off, and bit his lip as he saw another type of aparoid on the ramp. They were small and had wheels on both sides…almost resembling some kind of tank or assault vehicle.
One of them turned, faced the Landmaster, and opened fire with a wave of green lasers. Fox floored the Landmaster, wasting all the aparoids as he climbed up the ramp. As Fox got a bird's eye view of the situation, he thought "Man, these guys are everywhere…" as he wasted one of the targets, the aparoid type that fired the purple orbs at Fox earlier.
Fox checked the radar, five more targets, and about twenty times that many stragglers. Fox drove the Landmaster around the perimeter of the base, maneuvering, firing, and obliterating the targets, along with everything else in his path, until one of the tank aparoids that Fox had missed fired a laser blast that nearly took out his radar.
"Oh, hell no!" he said turning the Landmaster and running the aparoid over, causing it to explode. "Way to go Fox! Show'em what that Landmaster can do!" Falco cries out enthusiastically while flying up above, currently engaging in his own firefight!
"Fox, look out! Roll out of harm's way!" Peppy's voice cries out from the comms, making Fox jolt as he narrowly avoids the incoming fire. Rolling out of the way, he quickly aims at the offending aparoid and shoots him down, "Hah, take that!" he says happily as he gets his mind back in the game.
"Way to go Fox! That's the spirit!" Peppy tells him, voice filled with pride. "Thanks for that Peppy, I owe you!" he informs him through the comms, "Think nothing of its Fox! Just make sure everyone makes it back in one piece." the old hare tells him before cutting transmissions.
"Will do Pepp- "Fox began to say before, "Fox!" said Krystal's voice over his wrist comm. "What! What's wrong, Krystal!" Fox asked, instantly stopping in his tracks. "I've got bogeys on my six! I…I can't shake them off!" she said with urgency. "I'll do my best, Krystal! Fox said as he moved the Landmaster and lined it up with Krystal's arwing as she flew over his head.
Fox fired a burst, knocking down one of the three flying aparoids behind her ship. He whirled around 180 degrees as her Arwing passed over his head, and kept firing bursts from his main turret. Managed to knock down a second ship before the others got away from range. "Krystal! Bring 'em over towards me again," he yelled into his wrist comm.
"Ok, Fox. I trust you!" she said, turning her arwing towards Fox. Timing his shot just right, he shot and hit the aparoid, and watched it fly towards Katina and explode on impact. "Thanks, Fox. I really owe you one for this." Krystal said with sincerity. "At your service, madam," Fox said sarcastically into the comm as he went back on the attack.
He grinned as he watched the smaller aparoids fly into the air and then right back to Katina and explode as he rammed them with the Landmaster. Fox held the trigger, charging the laser, and let it fly to the target as it reared back, trying to let loose another purple orb of energy at him, but never got the chance.
"Wait…what the hell!" Fox said as he looked up into the sky. "Peppy. What are THESE things?" Fox asked with bewilderment into his wrist comm. "Hmm…this looks bad. Our scans show those things can spawn more aparoids. You've gotta waste 'em, Fox." Peppy replied with urgency and concern. "Damm… it just gets better and better, doesn't Peppy?" Fox asked sarcastically.
"Don't give up, matey! Go on and kick some ass!" Dead-Eye said through the comms as he smashed some hatchers with the Toad Croaker himself. Taking his new friend's vote of confidence, he nodded and said, "All right. Consider 'em wasted." He fired a shot from the Landmaster, vaping one of the targets.
"Peppy. How many of these things have I got to blow up?" Fox asked. "Umm…scanners are picking up 10," Peppy said, working on his scanners with the help of the rest. "All right," Fox said as he ran over a bunch of insectoid aparoids. Fox once again drove around the perimeter of the base, knocking off the target, and about a hundred stragglers around each one, but Fox still had a few targets left.
"You're doing great, Fox! Destroy the rest of 'em." Falco encouraged from above before spotting a particularly large aparoid sentry heading towards them. "What in the world is that giant thing? It looks nasty." He said, almost disgusted by the sight of the thing slowly making its way towards them. Unfaced by the sight, he flew straight towards it, blasting a barrage of explosions towards it, but none of them seemed to work.
"What!" he said shocked as he witnessed the sentry continuing towards them undeterred. "I hit him with everything I had, how can it just stand there like nothing happened! "he cried out angrily as he regrouped with the others.
"It must have a weak point... Everything does..." Krystal said, trying to reassure herself as the sentry drew ever nearer. When it arrived at its desired range, it opened and began to glow an eerie violet color. Sensing what was going on, Krystal yelled, "Look out!" Then in the blink of an eye, it fired a powerful beam at the group.
Authors Note:
And there we have it folks, our first two-parter, I hope you enjoyed it. These will focus heavily on the Star Fox side of the crossover, but I feel it is much needed for the development of the characters. It is also the gang's first true engagement with the aparoids, and a chance to truly see their might. Like always, leave your comments and suggestions for future installments, I read all of them and try to incorporate them into the story.
Hope you enjoy the story, until next time. :)