Wolf was grumpy. For the last few days, he had the unfortunate pleasure to get acquainted with a new teammate of his, one that Wolf was certain was completely incompetent. He looked over at the monkey, shaking his head as the new pilot fumbled over the controls of the simulator before getting shot down for what seemed like the millionth time.
"Dang, just can't seem to get the hang of this."
Wolf groaned as he went to reset the simulator again, set at the lowest possible setting for him. Under normal circumstances, the new pilot wouldn't get past the recruitment phase for the Cornerian Army, but for Andrew Oikonny, it paid dividends to have an uncle who had grand ambitions for the Lylat System. And whatever Uncle Andross said, goes, even if it meant stroking the ego of a nephew who had even more delusional ambitions of his own.
"Remember what I told you earlier," grumbled Wolf. "There's a difference between speed and haste. There's no sense zooming your way everywhere if you can't control your ship."
"Sure, if you say so." Andrew barely made an effort to look up at Wolf. "Say, when we're done here, did you want to grab a couple of drinks afterwards?"
Wolf scoffed at the suggestion. "Look, this isn't about 'hanging out with the cool boys.' This is serious business!"
Andrew just rolled his eyes. "You're just jealous because I'll be a better pilot than you one day! Just watch me!"
Andrew returned his attention back to the training simulator, as he approached one of the ships on there. He immediately got close to the enemy ship, and made an erratic maneuver, narrowly avoiding a large barrage of laser fire. Wolf watched in disbelief as Andrew weaved through the chaos, his movements resembling the flight pattern of a drunken butterfly.
Before Wolf could shout at Andrew in disbelief, Andrew managed to get himself behind the enemy ship, and shot it down with conviction. Andrew pumped his fist in satisfaction as Wolf could only stare at the simulator screen, at a complete loss of words.
Andrew turned back to Wolf with a large grin, doing his best not to break out in laughter.
"Ridiculous," Wolf grumbled under his breath. He let Andrew have his 'told you so' moment then returned back to his quarters, bringing out a stiff drink to calm down his headache which had been brewing since Andrew was put on the team. He then turned on his viewing screen, meeting up with Uncle Andross as the emperor put on the same stupid grin his nephew had on earlier.
"How's the training going?" Andross asked eagerly, almost as if he knew what the answer was going to be.
"As well as it could go," sighed Wolf. "That said, doing well on the simulator is one thing, doing well in a live mission is another. You know that. He's simply not ready yet for the next mission.
Andross' grin quickly turned into a menacing stare, as Wolf's muscles tensed up. "The boy seems confident, Wolf. I've raised him to be just as good as I am, if not better."
"Perhaps, but I don't think the time is right to throw him into a mission just yet. He's too new to all this."
"You DARE question MY judgment?" Andross scowled, making Wolf's heartrate race in an instant.
"It's not like that! I'm just as concerned for his safety as you are... it's for his own good."
Andross thought about this for a moment, then shook his head. "I appreciate your concern... but the upcoming mission on Zoness is a good place to start for him. His main role will be to plant the bomb on the police base on that planet, which is what he's been really good at. If there are enemies that chase you down, I have confidence that you will all dispatch them quickly."
Wolf let the conversation end at that. He wasn't planning to get Andross angry again. Soldiers follow orders, and Wolf sighed as went out to the bridge of the ship, putting the discussion at the back of his mind.
The time came for their mission on Zoness, and Wolf led out the team's Wolfens out into the planet's atmosphere, darting downwards as they flew at incredible speed. All the pilots managed to keep up, including Andrew. He hung around behind everyone else, almost as if he was positioning himself to be a bystander while everyone else went ahead of him. Wolf could also see Andrew struggle to keep his ship aligned horizontally, tilting his ship back and forth. He could tell Andrew was getting the feel for what the Wolfen felt like, something which didn't surprise Wolf in the slightest.
As the team approached the police base on Zoness, suddenly the alarms started to blare inside the Wolfen cockpits. Enemy ships appeared and swarmed in every direction, firing at the Star Wolf team. Wolf immediately dove into action, maneuvering his ship to intercept the enemy fire, shooting at any ship that was in his way.
The four Wolfens split off into two, as Pigma and Leon teamed up to take on one half of the police squadron. That naturally left Wolf and Andrew together, as Wolf brushed any resentment he had to the kid aside and looked over to his right, as he saw Andrew's ship wobbling a bit, knowing right away that he was struggling to keep up with the chaos of the battle.
"Stay focused, Oikonny!" Wolf shouted through the comm system, as he continued to dispatch the enemy ships in front of him, clearing them easily. Andrew, meanwhile, was having a hard time shooting down the lone enemy in front of him, missing at almost every opportunity. Another ship flew in behind Andrew and took aim at him, forcing Wolf to veer his ship behind Andrew's, taking out both the enemy behind and in front of him.
"Hey! He was mine!" Andrew shouted, seeming a bit annoyed.
Wolf grumbled under his breath as Andrew aligned his ship so that it was level with the ocean around them, then made their way towards the base where all the police ships had come from.
Wolf and Andrew landed at the base, as Andrew carried a briefcase with him while Wolf looked around, scanning where all the soldiers had gone to.
"Coast seems clear for now. Bomb's set up, right?"
"Yessir," smirked Andrew. "Just need a couple of seconds to flip the switches, then... poof!"
The two pilots moved swiftly into the base, their boots clanking against the metal floors. They moved their way into the central control room, when they met with a group of well-armed officers who were closing in quickly on the two. Wolf took out his blaster and took down two officers without skipping a beat, while Andrew fumbled with his blaster and shot at the floor in front of the other officer, startling both Andrew and the officer. Wolf took out the remaining officer, grumbling as they made their way into the control room.
When they arrived, a couple of workers had hidden away in a corner, trying to hide as they were scared out of their minds.
"I'd run away from here if I were you," Wolf grunted to the workers. "It's not going to end well here."
Andrew immediately got to work with the bomb, opening up the suitcase as he tinkered around with the wires inside. "Timer should be set for ten minutes, correct?"
"Yes. Let me see that it's set at ten minutes before you start the timer," replied Wolf.
Andrew rolled his eyes as he let Wolf examine the briefcase for a bit before letting him arm the bomb. Once the timer was set, the two pilots quickly started to make their way out of there, running with haste.
There were a few more officers running around trying to get the two, but Wolf was more concerned with brushing them aside and reaching their ships again - they had little time to focus on fighting anyone.
Wolf started to run faster as adrenaline started to pump through his veins, as Andrew struggled to keep up. "Move faster, Oikonny!" Wolf barked, his frustration becoming more evident.
Andrew stumbled but quickly regained his footing, determination in his eyes. "Right behind you!" he shouted back, his breath shortened from all the running.
Upon reaching the exit, there were a number of guards waiting for them at the front of the base, their weapons armed and ready to fire. Wolf skidded to a stop as Andrew nearly ran into Wolf trying to catch up. The two of them saw what was outside and Andrew pulled out a device he kept in his pocket.
"I got a plan," Andrew whispered to Wolf.
He pushed a few buttons, and the Wolfens parked outside the base soon roared to life. The lasers then charged up and fired at the unsuspecting guards, who had their backs turned to the Wolfens, as they scattered away as the lasers blasted the front of the base while Wolf and Andrew took cover. The front of the base resembled a smoldering mess as the guards were forced to take cover, as Andrew kept firing away with little regard to where he was aiming the lasers at.
"That's enough!" Wolf shouted over the laser blasts. "We need to get out of here soon."
Andrew shut off the lasers as they both made their way towards their Wolfens, jumping in and blasting off into the skies in haste. When they flew upwards, a few more ships approached them from behind, but Wolf quickly flew up and around the squadron, taking them on from behind. Andrew, meanwhile, decided to blast onwards at great speed, trying to outrun the squadron.
The squadron of enemy ships pursued them relentlessly, firing their weapons at the Wolfens as they zigzagged through the skies of Zoness. Wolf maneuvered his ship, dodging the incoming lasers with precision while returning back whenever he could. Andrew, meanwhile, struggled to keep up with Wolf, his ship swerving clumsily as he tried to evade the attacks.
"Stay on my tail and follow my lead!" Wolf barked on the intercom, a mix of frustration and concern evident in his tone. Wolf aligned his ship to be directly ahead of Andrew's, essentially guiding him through the chaos. Andrew followed through, mimicking Wolf's movements as they waded through the enemy fire.
Two ships, however, managed to keep up with the Wolfens, and lined themselves up behind the two, getting ready to fire. Andrew, however, looped his Wolfen up and over the enemy ships, positioning himself directly in front of the enemies as he fired at them both. One of the enemy ships moved out of the way, but the other ship was heavily damaged, losing a wing as it retreated from the battle.
"I GOT ONE!" Andrew shouted joyfully on the intercom, as Wolf could see the smoke from the downed enemy ship in the corner of his eye.
"Damn," Wolf muttered with a small hint of admiration. "He actually got someone for once."
A short time later, Wolf could feel the skies shake around him, and he glanced over his shoulder towards the base down on ground level. The explosives had gone off and sent shockwaves all over the Zoness skies, and the base was levelled in a few short moments.
Their mission complete, the Wolfens headed back towards their base, and docked their ships inside Andross' ship, with Andrew giving a smug grin on his face.
"Not bad, hmm?" Andrew smirked.
Wolf just sighed. "You got one enemy, I think, out of about a hundred that shot at you. You have a lot to learn, Oikonny."
"Maybe, but you have to admit that we kicked their asses down there, right?"
Wolf ignored Andrew's reply, and instead went back onto the bridge to give his report to Andross on how the mission went. Judging from the same pleased look on his face as Andrew's earlier, Wolf was safe to assume that things were going as planned...