Sorry for the wait...
Chapter 17
Assault on Venom
General Pepper and a number of soldiers stood in the landing area of the Cornerian Army HQ, watching the Great Fox slowly making its landing. After having landed, the passengers aboard came out together. Other than the usual crew, Gray Voice was with them as well.
Seeing the Chozo, General Pepper went up to Gray Voice to shake hands with him. "It is an honor to have you here, Gray Voice!"
"It is an honor to meet you, general!" Gray Voice said to him. "I look forward to working with you in bringing down our enemies."
"We appreciate your support! I am sure we will be able to come up with a good strategy together!" said General Pepper. "I hope Star Fox managed to solve your problem over on your planet."
"Yes, they accomplished their jobs splendidly!" replied Gray Voice happily. "Not only did they prevent the transportation of the Harmony Cube and defeat Raven Beak, they also destroyed the transportation ship of the Venomian Army to prevent anything from being taken off the planet! Star Fox truly lives up to its reputation!"
"Just in a day's work!" said James in response.
"I am also surprised to hear that they have people among them that come from a different universe!" said Gray Voice.
General Pepper raised his eyebrows. "Oh, so they told you about this as well?"
"I know the version of Gray Voice from my world, so I trust this version enough to tell him about this and make things less complicated," explained Samus.
"As long as it makes things easier for you, then I guess there is no harm," said General Pepper. "Now I believe we have much to discuss about what our next step of action should be. Please, Gray Voice, come over to my office."
"Yes, we have much to discuss," said Gray Voice before he followed General Pepper towards the HQ building.
As the group followed General Pepper, Samus noticed one of the Cornerian soldiers at the place was a familiar-looking human. Approaching him, she asked him, "Excuse me for assuming this, but does your name happen to be… Anthony Higgs?"
The man was surprised to hear this and said, "Why yes! How'd you know my name? Wait a second… You're one of the folks they said come from a different universe, right? Let me guess: there's a version of me there who is best pals with you?"
Samus nodded. "You can say that."
Anthony smiled and said, "Huh, I wonder why? I bet that version of me must be as charming as me for you to take a liking to!"
"You two are similar all right," said Samus. "Anyway, I have to go. It was nice knowing you."
"Nice knowing you too, princess!" said Anthony while waving at her.
Samus smiled underneath her helmet as she waved back and followed the others. "Some things don't change," she thought.
As she caught up to the others, she heard Slippy said, "I'm heading over to the factory to get new Arwings made. You coming, Krystal?"
"Don't feel like it," Krystal told him. "You know my usual specs already, so just do the same."
Hearing this, Samus went up to Slippy and asked, "Can the factory create any kind of spaceship?"
"It's predetermined that all spaceships must have the same general appearance, but I think you can still give it minor customizations," said Slippy. "You want your own ship?"
"If possible, yes," replied Samus.
"I'm interested in this as well," Wolf said to Slippy. "If I want a ride, then it has to be the way I like it!"
"Well, then come with me to the factory!" said Slippy.
In the spacecraft factory located in the same area as the Cornerian Army HQ, Slippy, Wolf, and Samus watched as various jet fighters were being assembled on factory assembly lines before being shipped out.
"And this is where and how are Arwings are made! What do you think? Neat, huh?" Slippy said to the two. "You can even consult the engineers here for customized ships, as long as they do not stray too far from their original designs. We don't want to give them unnecessary extra work…"
"I can ask for colors similar to a Wolfen, right?" asked Wolf.
Slippy looked at him with a confused face and asked, "Wolfen?"
"What I call my jets back come," replied Wolf.
"Well, you can ask for a similar paint job and that's it," Slippy told him. "Like I said, asking for a drastically different shape is too much for the people here, and it's probably not going to made within a day either…"
"That's good enough," said Samus. "Don't mind if I ask for a coloring style that I like."
"Sure, just go and ask those folks up ahead and see what they say first," Slippy told her while at some engineers standing not too far away, doing maintenance and checkup on the jets.
As Samus went over to them, Wolf asked Slippy, "Speaking of Wolfen… You've got a rival team? Another mercenary group you butt heads with all the time? My team, Star Wolf, was enemies with the Star Fox back in my world. I don't assume Star Wolf exists here, unless there happens to be another wolf like me leading this group..."
"Good thing you asked, because we do have a rival team who we butt heads with often," replied Slippy.
Wolf raised his eyebrows and asked, "What's it called?"
"Star Exotic," replied Slippy.
Soon afterwards, Star Fox was inside General Pepper's office, and Raven Beak was there with the general, ready to discuss their next step of action with everyone else.
"So our plan is to use the Harmony Cube we brought back here to open up a portal that will take you directly to Venom," said Gray Voice.
"So basically like what he did when he opened a portal in Corneria's air space?" asked James.
"I'm sure he will never know what hit him!" said Fox.
"Andross is smart, and chances are likely he may be anticipating it," said Gray Voice. "Even so, this is the best plan we have, to enter Venom's air space directly without having to go through possible defenses he set up outside the planet."
"We will be preparing our soldiers on our side in case we need to send in an army," said General Pepper.
"You don't have to trouble yourself with that," James told him. "We Star Fox alone is more than enough for this!"
"Isn't that a bit too reckless?" asked Diesel.
"Don't underestimate us! We may not have the number advantage, but we have the power advantage!" Falco told her. "You can send in a nation's worth of people, and we can still defeat them all!"
"Even back in my world, our General Pepper trusts us enough to not send any reinforcement in dealing with most things, because we are that reliable and strong!" said Fox.
"Then I trust that you can make it back safe and sound without additional support?" General Pepper asked James, to which the latter assured him yes. "Even so, safety precautions are always needed, so I will ready my army in case you need support. Let us know if you need backup."
"So we just fly in, beat up Andross, and that's it?" asked Neon.
"That's where we are getting to next," said Gray Voice. "The idea that we proposed is to bring down his entire fortress, and the easiest way to do so is to destroy its Aurora Unit."
"Aurora Unit?!" said Samus in surprise.
General Pepper then used a projector to show them an image of a cybernetic-looking brain inside a glass tube. "Whoa… A giant brain! What is that?" asked Elegg with interest.
"That is an Aurora Unit, supercomputers with highly advanced A.I. that lets them take control of entire fortresses," explained General Pepper. "According to our intel, Andross has one of these running his fortress. Since Aurora Units become one with buildings they are installed into, destroying them often result in the destruction of said buildings."
"We destroy the Aurora Unit, and then his fortress blows up. Right?" asked Samus. "I have experience dealing with a rogue Aurora Unit in my world, so I know how to deal with it."
"Is that so? Then surely you will be of great help in this!" the general said to her.
"There's another thing you need to watch out for," said Gray Voice. "When Raven Beak was in contact with Andross, the former managed to provide him with a biological creation we Chozo created. They are called Metroids." The projector then changed to show the image of a creature vaguely resembling a jellyfish, but with a pair of fangs at the bottom instead of tentacles.
"Dang… That thing's ugly…" commented Neon.
"What a weird creature… I wonder if it's tasty though," wondered Jackal.
"Metroids… You even have them in this world…" said Samus. "Back in our world, they are more or less extinct, because I was ordered to wipe them all out after the Galactic Federation realized how dangerous they are."
"Yes, Metroids are indeed very dangerous if left unchecked, so the fact that Andross has some with him that he plans to clone more of is very concerning…" said Gray Voice. "Fortunately, Metroid has a huge weakness to low temperature. Striking them with freezing weaponry will allow you to take them out with ease."
"I know. It's the same thing back in my world," said Samus.
"I'm sure I can give our weapons some icy touch up," said Slippy.
"Ooh! Sounds nice! I wonder how ice power compares to firepower," said Neon with interest.
"So in summary, we use the Harmony Cube to open up a portal to Venom, and then we enter Andross's base to destroy the Aurora Unit, right?" asked Privaty.
"There's also the matter of Andross himself," General Pepper reminded her. "I don't care what happens to him, whether you take him alive or dead. As long as he is no longer a threat to the galaxy, that's all good!"
"We'll see to it that he is longer a threat, general," James assured him.
After the meeting was over, Star Fox returned to the Great Fox. "All right, we have work to do before Gray Voice gets the portal working," said James as he walked down a corridor with the others in tow. "Slippy, see to it that our weapons are modified to be ice-based in case we run into Metroids."
"No problem!" replied Slippy.
ROB 64 came up to James and said, "New Arwings have arrived."
"Good," said James with a nod. "There should be enough for us now, right? As usual, those who can't pilot will take the back seat until we make it into the base, and then you'll go on foot."
"If you don't mind, I customized my own Arwing, and Wolf did the same," Samus told him.
"As long as you're happy and it will be of any use, that's good," James said to her.
"Tell me something about Star Exotic," Wolf said to James suddenly. "You've been butting heads with them the whole time, haven't you?"
James turned to him, "What about them? Yes, they are a rival team who antagonized us constantly, and if I have my info correct, they've been employed by Andross as well."
"Figured that would be the case…" said Wolf when he heard the last part. "I asked Slippy who the members of the team are, and immediately, I recognized four names. Leon, Panther, Pigma, and Andrew... Those four were members of my team back home, but only Leon and Panther are still part of the team."
"So there's a version of Star Wolf here as well?" said Fox. "Can't say I'm too surprised…"
"And the other two members are called Sin and Crow," said Wolf. "Can't say those names ring a bell."
Diesel's ear perked up when she heard those names as she said with a look of surprise. "Sin and Crow? Those are names of people back in our world!"
"Yeah, and criminals at that!" added Neon.
"So there are versions of them here too? And as members of an evil mercenary group?" said Privaty.
"So you know them?" James said to the Nikke. "Either way, Crow is the leader of Star Exotic. They accept job offers that mainly involve law breaking, such as murder, destruction, theft, and more. Like I said, it is believed that Andross has hired them to help take part in taking over the universe and also fighting us, since they have the most experience in dealing with us."
"Just like the relationship between my Star Fox and Star Wolf…" said Fox.
"Think we'll run into them in our upcoming siege in Venom?" Wolf asked James.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we do," replied the latter.
"Hopefully we do, because something tells me I'm going to have lots of fun with them!" said Wolf, smiling with enthusiasm.
"Don't tell me you're going to join them…" said a nervous Fox.
"Don't worry; I just want to see if they live up to my expectations," Wolf told him.
"Sin has the ability to control people with her words, so you have to be careful when around her and not hear what she says," said Neon.
"Yes, we are aware of that," Delta said to her. "But she needs to be at a close distance to you in order for that to work, so you just have to stay far from her."
In his base, Andross was overlooking his army as they prepared themselves and their weapons. Ridley came up to him and said, "You sure they will come?"
Andross nodded. "It is merely a speculation, but if they are smart, they will surely use the Harmony Cube they prevented Raven Beak from transporting to us to open up a portal to this place. That is why I am currently rallying up the army to give them a warm welcome when they show up."
"They are fools if they think they can have the upper hand showing up like this! I will see to it that they die horrible deaths and then laugh at their stupidity afterwards!" said Ridley.
"You will definitely have your time in the spotlight! Be sure to give others a chance too!" said Andross with an evil smile as he shifted his eyes to the side see a group of people standing there. Standing close to the corner were four anthropomorphic animals that consisted of a chameleon, a black panther, a pig, and a white-furred monkey.
Also among them were two human girls. One girl has long black and purple hair tied into a long ponytail and wears a white tube top and black yoga pants. The second girl has short black hair and wears a black bikini top and a black miniskirt.
"I'm expecting a lot from you," Andross said to them. "You can't wait to take down your nemesis once and for all, right? I hope you don't disappoint me! Fufufu!"
Several hours later, a giant portal appeared in the skies of Venom, and the Great Fox flew out of it. Inside, Peppy, Brid, and ROB 64 were at the controls, with the latter saying, "We have arrived at Venom."
Meanwhile, the others were already seated in their Arwings, ready for takeoff.
James, Wolf, and Krystal piloted by themselves, while the other Arwings were all seated with two people. Fox and Privaty shared one, Falco and Jackal shared one, Slippy and Neon shared one, Delta and Diesel shared one, and Samus and Elegg shared one.
Samus requested for her Arwing to be recolored and red and yellow, her reasoning that these colors were associated with some of her gunships she had used in the past. Wolf had his Arwing colored gray and red to match the color schemes of his Wolfen.
"Everyone ready to take off?" James asked everyone.
"Ready for takeoff," replied Fox.
"Already itching to take action already," replied Falco.
"Everything's ready!" said Slippy.
"Ready whenever you are," said Krystal.
"Ready," replied Samus straightforwardly.
"Let's just get on with things already," said Wolf rather impatiently.
"All right, if everyone's ready, then let's go!" said James. The hatch before them opened, and the Arwings all flew out.
Back in the landing area of the Cornerian Army HQ, General Pepper and Gray Voice were standing in front of the large portal, and close to the portal was a machine that had a Harmony Cube placed on it. After watching the Great Fox disappear into the portal, General Pepper said, "Godspeed, Great Fox!"
Seeing the volcanic and rocky landscape of Venom's surface, Neon said, "Dang, this place looks like hell, and quite literally…"
"Yeah, and one fitting of a villain like Andross!" said Falco.
Andross witnessed the arrival of the Great Fox from inside his base through a holographic screen. "Fufufu! They came just as I expected!" he said with an evil smile. He then made an announcement to everyone in the fortress. "My subordinates! Star Fox has arrived! Do everything you can to take them down!"
Outside, the Arwings were approaching a large building seen in the distance. "Andross's base is over there," pointed out James. "Be careful. There's no way he's not prepared for this, so be on your toes!"
Brid then appeared on everyone's screen and said, "The radar picked up a large amount of objects heading towards you."
The pilots looked up ahead and saw a large amount of Venomiam jets and other flying machines heading towards them. "Yes, we can see that," replied James.
"Can't wait to blow them all up!" said Falco with enthusiasm. He then said to Jackal, "And you better not chew through anything and force yourself out! I heard what you did to Slippy's Arwing!"
"Can I step outside when we go inside that big house in the distance?" replied Jackal.
"Yes, and you can be sure I'll take you there to have lots of fun," Falco told her, which made her excited.
"Everyone! Prepare to engage!" James said to everyone.
The Arwings began fighting the approaching Venomian jets. The former flew around with skill and speed, dodging all the shots that were being fired at them by their enemies and shooting them back to destroy them.
"Haha! These guys are easy!" taunted Slippy.
"Be careful not to get reckless, Slippy!" Krystal told him.
"Relax! I learn from my mistakes. I'm not a novice forever!" Slippy assured her.
"No offense, but I'm not feeling very safe riding with you…" Neon told him from behind, which made him grumble a bit.
Though she was new to piloting an Arwing, Samus was already a pro, likely because she already had skills piloting different types of gunships before. Her distinctively-colored Arwing flew around and fired ferociously at her enemies, and she managed to take out several of them.
"She's good!" commented James, who noticed her piloting skills.
"Hahaha! None of you will survive against me!" said Wolf with glee as his Wolfen-colored Arwing tore its way through the enemies up front.
"He's definitely enjoying this…" said Fox, seeing Wolf in action. "Having an enemy on your side is a good thing, I guess…"
The number of Venomian jets dwindled, thus allowing the good guys to move on ahead towards the fortress in the distance without interference. But as they got closer, they noticed some more jets approaching. "Looks like we've got more company," said Krystal.
"Yes, and I believe those are our old friends, Star Exotic," said James, narrowing his eyes underneath his shades.
"Star Exotic!" said Wolf in surprise, and then he smiled. "Just the people I want to meet! And their rides are even the same color as Wolfens! Copycat!"
Up ahead, six gray and red-colored jet fighters flew towards the approaching Arwings. The leader of Star Exotic, Crow, said to the good guys, "Can't let you come any closer, Star Fox."
"This time, you're all going down!" said the second member, Sin.
"Andross and Ridley are both paying us a great sum to get rid of you, and I can't say no to that! Heeheehee!" said the third member, Pigma.
"You mess with me uncle Andross, you mess with me!" said the fourth member, Andrew.
"We may have clashed many times, but believe me when I say this time will be different!" said the fifth member, Leon.
"My beloved Krystal and Delta! Do the two of you miss me?" asked the sixth member, Panther.
"Ugh… I hate these guys…" grumbled Krystal.
"Then let's blow them up," said Delta, sounding a bit annoyed in response to Panther flirting them.
"If this is what you want, then don't blame us," James said to Star Exotic.
"Trust me, we want nothing more than your deaths!" said Crow in a threatening tone.
"I can't believe that she's still a villain in this world…" said Diesel, sounding angry.
"She was an anti-government terrorist back in your world, right? I guess it makes sense for this version of her to be evil as well," said Delta.
Star Fox and Star Exotic began firing at each other. The jet fighters of both sides made several turns and circles in the air, trying to shoot each other. And though they occasionally shot each other, the damages were minor and easily got patched up by their jets' nanobots.
As Crow and James flew close to each other, Wolf caught up behind Crow and fired at her, but the latter was able to dodge his shots. "I've been looking forward to seeing you!" Wolf said to her.
"And you are?" Crow asked him.
"Your worst nightmare!" replied Wolf with an evil grin.
"Stay still so I can shoot you! How else am I going to get my reward?!" said Pigma in frustration as he chased Fox, trying to shoot him.
"You're always the same greedy pig in every world, Pigma," Fox said to him. Fox performed a u-turn to get behind Pigma, much to the latter's surprise, and fired at the back of his jet rapidly until it burst into flames.
"Nooooo! My beautiful reward!" cried Pigma as his jet went down in flames and crashed into a rock down below.
"You got him!" said Privaty, looking down the cockpit in surprise.
"Piece of cake!" said Fox with a smirk.
"Pigma's down!" gasped Andrew.
"Those bastards will pay!" said Leon in anger.
"Relax, he's tougher than he looks. It's not like the first time any of us went down in flames," Crow told her teammates while avoiding Wolf's firepower.
"His fat always saves him from injuries," said Sin in a humorous tone.
"Still, it would be unkind of us to not avenge him," said Panther.
"Right, let's show him what happens to those who mess with Star Exotic," said Crow in a serious tone.
"Then let it be known that you shouldn't be messing with anyone in Star Fox too!" James told her.
"Guys, I think there's something else appearing on the radar, and it's a big one!" said Slippy.
Just then, a giant being stood up from the ground, reaching the same height as the jets. It was a large being made completely out of rock. "What is that?!" asked Elegg in shock.
"It's Golemech! I fought this as well back in my world!" said Fox in surprise.
"Oh yeah, I remember Andross having this," said Wolf.
BGM Boss B (Star Fox 64)
The rock monster known as Golemech spotted the Arwings and ran towards them, swinging its massive hand at them, but they flew out of the way. Even Star Exotic had to get out of the way, as Golemech seemed to be attacking mindlessly at anything that was flying.
"That idiot! Can't it see that we're on its side?!" said Leon.
"I doubt a rock-for-brains like that can differentiate who is who!" said Sin.
As the Arwings avoided Golemech's attempt at swatting them out of the air, they also shot back at it. "How did you take out this, Fox?" asked Slippy.
"Blow off chunks of its body to reveal its mechanical components inside, and then destroy those!" replied Fox.
"Shouldn't be that hard trying to blow off rocks!" said Falco as he concentrated on firing at a single spot rapidly, trying to dig through it. Golemech swung its hand at him, but he got out of the way. "Too slow, rock head!"
Samus was reminded of her battle against a rock-based monster called Thardus. Remembering how she dealt with it, she used her helmet's thermal visor to inspect Golemech. Using this method, she was able to discover that its mechanical components were mostly gathered in the torso, as they were giving off heat that showed off as red spots from her point of view. She was even able to find out which spots are the thinnest. Knowing where to shoot, she fired rapidly at a specific part of the stone robot until she was able to bore a small hole. She then fired a smart bomb into it before flying away.
The bomb went off inside Golemech, blowing off a huge chunk of it and revealing a portion of its interior. "Good going, Samus!" said Krystal.
"Everyone! Aim for the exposed components!" ordered James, and everyone did so.
Realizing that its weak spot was exposed, Golemech desperately covered its body with one hand while using the other to swat away the Arwings. As Slippy was firing at Golemech, his jet got shot from behind. Andrew was flying after him and shooting him.
"Stick the pond, froggy!" Andrew said to him in a mocking manner.
"I can't concentrate with this guy on my tail!" cried Slippy, trying to shake off Andrew.
"If only I can stick my gun out and blast him!" said Neon in anger.
Golemech picked up a large boulder with the intention of throwing it, and the sight of this was enough to send everyone fleeing. The boulder was thrown towards the fleeing jets, and all of them except on person managed to escape. Andrew failed to get out of the way in time and was crushed within his jet by the boulder.
"Darn it! Andrew!" said Leon in shock. "That idiot should've watched where he was going!"
"More like that thing should've watched where it was throwing!" said Sin while looking at Golemech angrily.
"Everyone, retreat for now to the base," commanded Crow. "It's too dangerous getting involved in this. We can just let Golemech deal with Star Fox, but in case they defeat it and enter the base, we'll deal with them inside."
Agreeing with their leader that this was a good idea, the remaining members of Star Exotic retreated from the scene and headed back to the fortress.
Meanwhile, Star Fox continued to deal with Golemech, who was rampaging around the place, trying to take them down. "This thing is way tougher than it looks, and we're blasting its weak spot constantly already!" said Krystal in frustration.
"I'll admit… This one is a lot larger that the one I fought, so it must take longer to take down!" said Fox.
As the jets continued to buzz around Golemech, James received a call from ROB 64. "Great Fox will support you," said the robot. He turned to the side and saw the Great Fox flying towards them.
Inside, Peppy said as he looked at the stone robot through the windshield, "Let's give that thing a good ol' blasting from our big gun and show it the Great Fox isn't just for carrying people!"
"Firing at full power," said Brid.
"Full power," said ROB 64 before pressing the fire button. The guns attached to the lower front part of the Great Fox fired multiple times at Golemech, blasting off several parts of the rocks covering its body and therefore exposing more of its mechanical insides. The shots also struck the mechanical parts, thus causing the golem to short circuit and smoke.
Despite this, Golemech was still standing, and it began moving in Great Fox's direction. "It's heading this way!" said Peppy. "Keep on firing!"
"The Great Fox needs to take at a minute of cooldown before it can fire again," Brid reminded him.
The Arwings flew after Golemech and fired at it, trying to take its attention away from the Great Fox, but the golem seemed to have set its sight on the Great Fox and would not turn to them. "Buy the Great Fox time to recover from its cooldown!" James told everyone.
"It's easier said then done when this rock head won't pay attention to us anymore!" said Falco in frustration as he pelted the golem nonstop with laser beams.
"You just need bigger firepower! That's all!" said Samus as she flew towards the legs and two smart bombs at once, one for each leg. The explosion blasted off portions of its legs, causing the golem to almost lose its balance and fall over.
It was at this moment the Great Fox's cooldown ended, and Peppy shouted, "Fire again!" The spaceship fired more beams at Golemech, aiming for the machinery inside its chest. This time, the beams successfully destroyed the machinery, causing the golem to explode and rain down debris everywhere.
KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
BGM Ends
"Yippee! They did it!" exclaimed Slippy.
"Wow! That was some awesome firepower!" said Neon in awe.
"All right, let's keep on moving," said James, seeing that Golemech was destroyed.
The Arwings turned to Andross's fortress and flew towards it. The guards at the entrance fired at the incoming jets, only to be annihilated themselves with ease. The Arwings found a safe landing spot and parked there. When Falco's cockpit opened, Jackal immediately jumped out with her rocket launcher in her hands.
"All right! I finally get to come out and play!" she said happily while looking left and right. "Can I start blowing up things now?"
"Relax, will you?" said Falco as he climbed out of his Arwing with some weapons. "You'll find some butts to kick in no time, so hold still."
"Where do we go from here?" Krystal asked James.
"Obviously, we take down Andross, and we also take down this base by destroying the Aurora Unit," replied James.
"I can handle that," Samus told him.
"You have experience with those, right? Then I'll let you handle it," James told her. "Elegg and Neon, the two of you go with her."
"You want us to go with her?" asked Elegg. "Sure, why not?"
"I hope I get to use my ice power soon!" said Neon, looking at her shotgun. "But… where do we find the Aurora Unit?"
"Now that you said it… If only we have a map of this place, it would be easier to know where to go…" said James.
"Hold on a second," Samus told him. She went up to a computer at the side of the room and then told Adam to hack into it for a map.
A few seconds later, Adam told her, "I have acquired a map of this fortress."
"Yes, I can see it," said Samus, seeing a digital map appearing on her visor. "Transfer it to everyone's communication pads."
Everyone then looked at their smartphones and saw maps appearing on the screen. "Good going!" James said to Samus and Adam.
"According to my observation, the room Andross is in is much larger than the rest of the facility, large enough for an Arwing to go through," said Adam. "However, the path leading to the Aurora Unit is not big enough for vehicles of any kind to go through, as well as the rest of the fortress."
"In that case, I will go with Fox and Privaty to Andross in our Arwings," said James. "Samus and her group with go the Aurora Unit, and the rest of you travel together to look for anything noteworthy in the base. For all we know, there may be hostages or important things that are too good for these people to have. Get anything useful you can and then await escape."
"Roger that!" said everyone.
Jackal then sniffed the air and said, "I smell… something familiar…" Her face then became angry as she growled. "I know that smell! It's him!" She then rushed off in a certain direction at a fast speed.
"Jackal! Where are you going?! Don't run off on your own!" Privaty shouted out to her, but the latter already disappeared down the hallway.
"What's wrong with her?" asked Krystal.
"I'll go after her," Falco told the others as he began walking down the same path Jackal took. "The rest of you do as the boss said! Don't have to worry about me! I can take care of myself!"
Knowing what they have to do, everyone went separate ways. Samus, Elegg, and Neon went together in one direction. James and Fox got into their Arwings, with Privaty riding along with the latter, and changed them into their walker modes before walking off in a certain direction. The remaining members traveled together in yet another direction.
In his throne room, Andross was seated on a chair as he watched holographic screens that showed what Star Fox was up to. "Good! Come to me, Star Fox! I will show you my true power soon enough! Muahahaha!" laughed Andross.
TO BE CONTINUED