Disclaimer: Bucky 'O Hare created by Larry Hama, Star Fox is copyrighted by Nintendo.

Fox was in distress, scrambling desperately to reach Krystal's last location. Glancing at his radar, it wasn't long until he found the place. Upon arriving he found Krystal being overwhelmed by a swarm of aparoid drones.

"I can't get away! Help, Fox!" she cried out, as she flew past his nose. Quick to the trigger, Fox armed his missiles and fired just as she passed him, obliterating a mob of ten from her Arwing. "Whew, you saved me! Thanks, Fox!" she said over her comm, the relief clear in her voice.

"Anytime Krys. How's your ship holding up?" he asked, worried she had sustained damage during the scuffle. He had almost lost one companion already; he wasn't taking any chances. "Shields are at eighty and the hull is at seventy-five. I'll be fine!" she reassured him, feeling glad to have such a caring person at her side. "Good. I don't know what we would do without you," he told her before the tender moment was rudely interrupted.

"Whoa! It's closing!' Slippy cried out, directing their attention to the newly incoming meteorites closing their way. "You're going to get hit! Use your brakes!" Peppy yelled to Fox through the comms, voice overflowing with concern as he viewed the object draw nearer. Fox braced for impact, struggling to hit the brakes at his current speed before a figure flew in front of him.

"This is for helping me," Krystal said confidently, unloading her payload upon the infected rock, shattering it into millions of tiny pieces. Fox looked on in amassment, glad to have someone like her by his side. "Thanks Krystal! You're the best!" he told her, jovial tone contrasting the fact he had just been in a life-or-death situation.

Moving on from the ordeal, the group trudged forward, keeping a watchful eye on their surroundings. When suddenly, "What's this here?" Fox asked gesturing towards the massive structure in the distance, though he already had a good guess.

"Looks like a base under construction, huh?" Slippy added in, confirming Fox's suspicions and fears. "So, Pigma's building another base, eh?" Falco commented nonchalantly, more annoyed than concerned at the new development. "Just like Pigma...He never missed a trick." Peppy added, the sheer animosity in his tone palatable.

Yet Fox was unconvinced, something told him something was very wrong with this base, a feeling that only amplified as they drew closer. The base wasn't only gigantic, but horribly deadly, with large places of red and blue matter foreign to any Cornerian database littering the exterior. It was clear that the base was no longer of Cornerian make, but completely infected by the Aparoid DNA in his possession.

Carefully, the group made their way closer, Fox narrowing his eyes as his adrenaline began circulating inside him upon entering the vicinity. The Arwings were dwarfed just at the size of the maintenance door and the great wall in front of them, capable of easily harboring ships nearly double the size of the Great Fox. Fox looked up and could barely make out the top of the side of the base, but so far, he could only see this one side of it.

Fortunately, one of his companions didn't need to see the danger to detect it. In an instant, Krystal was firing into the base, as dozens of aparoids emerged from within it. "Looks like Pigma was planning ahead!" she cried out, landing more shots at the incoming swarm, her teammates soon to follow.

Each member fired at anything that moved, with no time to pick targets in the ensuing hell storm. Nobody was aiming at one single Aparoid, they were just sweeping their lasers in all directions. Chaos had broken loose, and the fighters could barely keep the tides at bay.

"Oomph! More on my tail... I can't lose 'em!" Falco called out, struggling as a band of unknown fighters gave chase. "Can't... get... away..." he called out, forced to pull out as the opposition got closer. "Fox! The base... it just launched a whole volley of fighters." Krystal warned Fox over the comms, going over to help Falco with the persuaders.

Heading her warning, Fox stopped engaging the sentries and focused on the newest target. "Krystal, I'm heading your way. "What do they register?" he called out as he sped up to their location, wanting to grasp what this newest enemy was capable of. "They're hostile on scopes, but they register as Cornerian." She called back through the comms, struggling to make the readings as she dodged their fire.

Fox pounded his console with frustration, before taking deep breaths and glaring at the fighters. "Hm? Isn't that... Is that the prototype we saw earlier?" he asked, recognizing the Arwing-like cockpit with vertically up wings for faster and lighter mobility. "Look closely! It's been infected by the Aparoids!" Krystal pointed out, the same strange substance on their outer hulls.

With no way of telling what their capabilities were, nor if they even had pilots or were completely under Aparoid control, Fox was forced to make a difficult decision. "Return fire!" he called out with great reluctance, knowing there was a real possibility he was firing at innocent men. A chorus of 'copy's echoed over the comms, and almost as soon as he gave the order a new batch of fighters was deployed.

Almost immediately after their deployment, Fox got a fighter on his tail, spitting dark green lasers at him. He banked and swerved, desperately trying to avoid its lasers and get the fighter off his tail. After many unsuccessful attempts, something clicked in Fox's brain, and swerving rapidly he managed to cause the fighter to crash against the debris around them.

He glanced around, looking for the other Arwings outside of his canopy, to his surprise, things seemed to be looking up. Krystal was pumping round after round into the onslaught and Falco seemed to be getting accustomed to the nova button.

Slippy, despite his almost fatal malfunction earlier, was handling quite well. He was shooting at the enemy for once instead of the other way around, "Yeeoow!, well at least for a while. Fox grinned at Bucky's erratic manoeuvrers in his ship, destroying one ship after another.

Despite these good odds, Fox couldn't help but lament that in this whole gigantic swarm of enemy ships, many of them were of Cornerian origin. He could only hope the ships had been unmanned before getting turned over.

Nonetheless, Fox had his orders, to defend the whole system at any cost, other than a loss in the team. Seeing the futility of fighting them out here, he sought a way to get inside. "OK! We can get in over there!" he said, punching the throttle to full as he let loose another bomb, obliterating the infected fighters and clearing a path for the team to follow him in.

Fox banked in all directions, firing lasers the whole time, as he led the group down a runway. He continued flying ahead until he saw the doors ahead of him were closed, gritting his teeth he shot his last remaining bombs to destroy it. It didn't budge, but it did wipe out all the remaining aparoids in the area.

Fox glanced over and saw a small service tunnel, "Go left!" he called out hastily, banking and flying towards it. "Lower throttle to half." he continued guiding them, blowing up several hatchers attached to the tunnel walls. "It's going to get tight in here soon," Fox called out half-jokingly, warning them as several infected Cornerian fighters flew to intercept them.

"Slippy! Behind you!" Krystal warned as a section of the fighters made a beeline towards him, seeing him as the easiest mark.

"Yikes! What do I do?" Slippy began calling out, desperately trying to dodge the incoming interceptors. Unfortunately, the enclosed space made it almost impossible to maneuver from them. "Knock it off! Leave me alone!" Slippy cried out desperate to get away, fortunately for him, help would soon come.

Fox was nearing behind him, readying his blasters to aim directly at the pursuing craft. Without a word, he pulled the trigger and sent the infected ships to kingdom come. "Whoa! Thanks, Fox!" Slippy said to his friend, a sigh of relief escaping his lips. "Don't mention it," he replied plainly, focusing on carefully dodging the enemy fire while taking in what he had already done, and what he and the team had to do.

He and his team had already destroyed at least twenty of their fighters and still had to find a way to destroy the base and everything inside it. The risk to the security of an already weakened Lylat System, ravaged by previous wars, and still regaining its composure was too great. There was no way that they would be able to withstand an attack, especially one as large scale as the Aparoids.

Fox glanced at his radar and gritted his teeth as he made a sudden right turn down a larger and more brightly lit tunnel, made for servicing cruisers and battleships.

"Is this a dead end, too?!" Fox asked franticly, trying to reorient himself as quickly as possible. "To your left, Fox! Be careful not to hit that wall!" Peppy told him, guiding him through the base from the Great Fox. "Thanks, Peppy! Don't know what I'll do without ya!" he replied gratefully, "This way everyone!" Fox told the others, leading them toward the left side of the corridor.

They carried on undisturbed for some time before, "Geez!" Fox yelped as he glanced up and saw a maintenance arm twenty times the size of his Arwing swing toward him. Fox bit his lip as he swerved and hit the brakes to dodge it, just as another approached him from the other side of the service tunnel.

"I'm picking up a large enemy presence dead ahead!" Krystal warned them, cautioning them to approach with care. "That's what I'm hoping for," Fox replied confidently, settling his crosshairs and firing on yet another infected fighter. Rushing ahead he began to engage the enemy fighters before the room itself became a hazard.

"Watch it! It's getting tight in here," he said, dodging a second maintenance arm and banking past a third one, wasting as many aparoids walking on the ground as he could. "There's no way out of here, Fox!" Krystal told him, worried as she came to his side, and got to the end of the runway as the blast door closed in front of them.

"This way!" Fox said, dodging the last arm and diving down a tunnel just barely wide enough for their Arwings to fit through. It was filled with dark blue and black circular aparoid turrets, all facing towards them.

But right before any of them could fire, Fox hit the lasers and pelted all of them, enveloping the tunnel in a blanket of yellow fire. "Careful out there! It's getting a little hot in here!" Falco complained from the back, glad the Arwings could withstand such extreme circumstances. They continued forward, shooting down any remaining turrets that had miraculously survived.

Just as Fox was beginning to think he'd hit a dead end, the tunnel ended a few minutes later and Fox was once again in open space, able to see the walls of the aft end of the base around the left side of the canopy. "Pigma's up ahead," Krystal told him once they'd all gotten out, looking towards the horizon.

"Fox! Proceed with caution!" Peppy warned him, sensing something odd was going on. Fox agreed, flying forward with the utmost care, looking around for signs of an ambush. So far, they were safe.

"Hold it, Fox! Look!" Krystal said, making everyone hit the brakes and look at what she had found. "Pigma's ship?" Fox asked, bewildered at its unscathed state, and eerie location. It was just floating in the distance, with no sign of damage to be found. Fox was so busy looking at it, that he failed to notice the movement behind him.

"Fox! Behind you!" Krystal said as Fox gritted his teeth, quickly hitting the gas and flying a few hundred meters out, throwing his Arwing into a kick spin back to face the outpost. He squinted his eyes at something in the center, instead of the usual black and grey, it was green and light blue with light purple accents. Squinting his eyes, he could make out something moving in the center.

"Pigma!" Fox cried out in surprise, still trying to comprehend what he saw. "Raaa, ha, ha, ha! Hoo, hoo, ha... Incredible... You must join us... Raah! Wroo... Wrah... Rrrraaaaaarrrrr!" Pigma cried out from his spot, as the colored portion of the base spiked and flared up and covered him, deep within the horrible aparoid mass inside.

"Wha-What is that thing?!" Fox managed to ask, disturbed to his very core, the others not much better. "Do not resist. You have been warned." Pigma's voice droned out as six adjacent bay doors on the O-shaped section of the outpost, which were made to harbor battleships, closed over the manipulated mass that was the infected Pigma Dengar.

Fox looked at it and instead of light pink, he could barely make out the splotches of dark blue matter, boiling all over his skin. "Looks like Pigma's already gone... Who or what are you?!" he asked the entity, eyes wide as it opened into a purple and blue twisted mass of what looked like Pigma's head.

"WOW," Bucky's voice came from the back, his simple tone hiding his utter terror at the form before him. A sentiment shared by the others, who stared on, unsure of how to react. And before anyone else could begin to comprehend, the thing began to speak.

"We will answer. We are the ultimate existence. You cannot resist us. You will join us." the Pigma amalgamation bellowed in a droning voice. The group just stood there, listening, waiting until someone made the first move.

"Yeah...right. We're not buying that garbage!" Falco said over the comm to the base, his previous hesitation all but gone. With newfound determination, Fox opened comm frequencies to the base. "What do you want with us?" he yelled, even though a part of him expected no response.

"We are the ultimate existence. You cannot resist us. You will join us." it said again, unresponsive to his query. "He can hear us, but he's not listening!" Fox confirmed to the others, now more certain as to what they were up against. "Fox! The Core Memory that Pigma stole must be inside that thing!" Peppy informed him, already checking his instruments for any weaknesses he could find.

"Right! Slippy, give me an analysis of that thing's shield, asap!" Fox called out, his mind already trying to come up with a plan. "On it!" Slippy shouted enthusiastically, as the others waited for their orders. "OK, everyone! Attack!" Fox cried out, rallying the others into the fold, his mind made up!

"Join me." The Pigma aparoid called out again, the blast effortlessly bouncing off him. No matter the angle, no matter the amount, the barrage of strakes just bounced off harmlessly. Fox stood there, contemplating his next move, there had to be a way through. "Shield analysis complete. Bringing it up on the monitor." Slippy announced suddenly, sending the info to the others.

"Ha, hm, hm, hm, hm... Har, heh, heh, heh, heh..." the thing bellowed in a mockery of laughter, seeming almost confident. "Hey, freak show! Don't you listen?" Falco yelled, annoyed by its off-putting laughter. It sneered, its doors closed once more as six mechanical arms were exposed from somewhere on the other side of the base.

"Not good..." Fox thought, horrified as three of the arms had six-barreled Gatling gun-style laser batteries on the end, while the other three had missile batteries latched to claws underneath them. Temporarily frozen in fright, Fox could only watch on, uncertain on how to proceed against such a foe.

"Take out those weapons, Fox!" Peppy's voice yelled through the comm, snapping Fox out of it in an instant. "Hit the arms!" Fox yelled at the others, as he began to pelt them with laser fire. The team acknowledged and a couple of the missile batteries and a laser battery were quickly destroyed.

"So, infection leads to this... A menace of this size!" Krystal said over the comm as she began opening fire on the claws throwing meteors at them. Fox did the same and Falco, Bucky, and Slippy began using their novas, completely obliterating them. Fox dodged the wreckage as Pigma laughed loudly, sending a chill down Fox's spine.

"Uh-oh! This is tough!" Slippy pointed out, saying what they all were thinking as he dodged debris and continued firing. "Looking good, boys! Keep it up!" Peppy told them with pride, keeping a watchful eye for any changes from his station. Inspired by the vouch of confidence, Bucky decided to step it up and begin to wear down the boss's shields.

"You're on fire, Bucky!" Slippy told him, impressed by how quickly he was knocking the shields out. "Incoming meteors! Watch out!" Peppy warned just in time, giving most of them ample time to dodge. "Yeow! Gotta get... outta... the way!" Slippy cried out, his Arwing slower to respond than the others.

Fortunately for him, Fox wasn't going to let any of his friends to get hurt again! Diving in, he not only manages to hold the meteors off using the force of his blasters, but he then immediately set upon Pigma's remaining shields. Determined to get through them, he resumed what Bucky had began and fired at the same spot, the shield weakening in a matter of seconds.

"Nice work! You're something else, Fox!" Krystal told him, impressed as she witnessed the quickly reducing shields. "Just a bit more Fox." Slippy told him, gratefully from a safe distance, his eyes glued on his instruments. Eventually, the shield dropped, and the barrage was set directly upon the arms, within seconds cracks began to form.

As the first arm exploded, Fox quickly moved on to the others, each struggling to hold off the barrage coming towards them. "Yes! All of his arms have been totaled!" Slippy said with joy, as one by one they all seized to be. "Great job, Fox! He's almost out of commission." Peppy said over the comm, eager to bring this encounter to an end.

"It's not over, Fox! I sense a mighty force." Krystal said, trepidation in her voice, as suddenly the massive station began to move. The six-bay doors opened wide, revealing Pigma's horrible twisted blue and purple face. "Hrrnn! Resistance is useless..." it said in a low bellowing tone, reading to bring this little nuisance to a swift end.

Not wasting a second, Fox opened fire immediately and aimed right for its nose. "About time you showed your face, Pigma!" Falco said mockingly, as he looped over a wave of ballistic missiles launched from the base. Fox gritted his teeth and pulled a somersault, still squeezing the trigger on the control stick as he brought the Arwing back level to Pigma.

He continued firing at the face, chipping away at its defenses in a desperate attempt to do damage, the others joining him not long after. "Yeah, there you go! It's working!" Peppy reassured them, checking his console to confirm the damage. Determined to end this, Fox began readying a nova, but before he could fire the bay door closed.

"Detecting high energy buildup in the center of enemy mass." ROB suddenly said over the comm, as red and yellow fire energy began entering the sides of the base. "That energy reading's huge, Move your tail, Fox!" Peppy said worried, urging everyone to get out of the way.

"Ha, hm, hm, hm, hm... Har, heh, heh, heh, heh..." the aparoid Pigma laughed malevolently, assured that victory was his, for if he was going down, he would take them with him!

"Scatter!" Fox yelled as the bay doors opened, and that red and yellow energy shot out Pigma's gaping mouth and into the field. Fox banked and rolled, desperately trying to dodge it as it followed him as if attracted to his ship. The beam finally stopped several minutes later, allowing Fox and the team to launch their last remaining nova's directly into the center of the mass, right into Pigma's still-open mouth.

Pigma and the base began trembling, almost uncontrollably, as the remains of the base tore itself apart in a brilliant explosion. Fox winced as Pigma let out one last scream as an unnaturally bright light shot out from his mass. The base fell silent, as all energy functions ceased within, leaving it completely neutralized, sitting dead in the dark of space.

Fox said nothing for a while, just letting himself breathe after the ordeal, before finally breaking the silence and clearing his throat. "Dang Aparoids! They'll attack anything and everything!" he said, seemingly jovial and annoyed, but a settled somberness laid beneath.

"Fox. You ask right?" Bucky asked kindly, sensing his trepidation. "Yeah, I'm fine. Thanks, Bucky. It's just...that was one heck of a firefight. We need a break after this." He said, his voice breaking up slightly. "I'll say! I'm gonna have to give these ships a thorough check." Slippy added, fiddling with his systems and surveying the damage.

This seemed to divert most of the team's attention, all except for two. Bucky understood the burden of leadership, but he also knew this was none of his business, if Fox wanted to share it with them, he would.

The other person was less convinced, tapping into their special connection, she asked. "Fox...are you all right?" she asked, worried about his well-being. "Yeah, Krys. I'm fine...thanks for asking." Fox thought, hesitating, truly grateful for her concern. "Just thinking." he told her in thought, half-truthfully, for he was thinking; thinking about what the aparoids could do, about the innocents they could infect, and about the innocents they would have to destroy.

"Anytime!" she told him heartfully, before hesitatingly adding, "You did what you had to do, Fox." For she could tell what his worries were, Afterall she shared them too. Fox just sighed before replying, "Yeah...you're right."

"Alright, folks! I don't know about you, but I need some rest!" Fox told the others over the comm, and the rest of the team agreed. "Let's head up to the ship. I need something to drink." Falco told him, relieving the tension as the others prepared to leave.

"Hold up! Just one more thing to take care of!" Fox told him, his usual confidence back, as he turned his Arwing towards the wreckage of the base. Sifting through the debris, he finally found what he was looking for. Despite the damage, the core still laid intact, flouting leisurely through space. Activating his ship tractor beam, he picked it up and rejoined the other.

"Alright. Peppy, all ships heading home! We've recovered the Core Memory!" he told him confidently, glad to finally lay this part of his story behind him! "Nice job! I'll contact General Pepper as soon as you've returned." Peppy told them joyfully across the comms, eagerly waiting for them to arrive.

Things just might be looking up for them soon!

Meanwhile, far away, on the Planet Venom; in a secluded corner, a transmission had finally arrived. A transmission long sent, now finally answered, as the hour of reckoning approached. After many days, a very special guest had made himself known.

The aparoids were coming, the aparoids were here! And they hungered!

Author's Note:

The consequence of the Aparoids power has made itself known, and soon our web-footed authoritarians will feel its grasp. Pigma's threat might had just come to an end, but something worse might just come to replace it. It has been some time since we have seen the toads, so I hope you're all exited for their return, cause they sure aren't. It might be a while thought, as the page has been giving me issues, so if you don't hear from me for a while that's why.

I will try to fix it, but I can make no promises. I hope you enjoy it, and like always, don't be afraid to leave a comment!