StarFox Fan Fiction ❯ Star Fox Recruits ❯ Fight to the Finish ( Chapter 14 )

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

 

Andross' power container was still slowly rising. Soon it would be full enough for him to achieve… whatever it was he was planning to do. For now, he was speaking with General Tobor. “We are very pleased for your loyal and faithful services…” he said to him. “But you have also made several mistakes.”

 

Tobor growled angrily, and steam shot through his head.

 

“And further more, you have not been successful in ridding us of the Star-fox team nor the X-team. This disturbs me greatly Tobor…!”

 

Tobor tried to explain in his defense, but Andross was not interested. “This is your last chance, Tobor!” he growled, “I want those two teams out of the way finally and forever. If you fail me… then as punishment I will take away your energy force, and obliterate you myself.”

 

Many of the other robot minions began to cry out their pity and horrified feelings for poor Tobor, who was growling in anger at the very thought of what Andross would do. There was defiantly no room for mistakes this time…!

 

Meanwhile…

 

It was a beautiful night on Corneria…

 

The stars were shining like diamonds. It was a shame though that the planet didn't have a moon like Earth did, but at least the planets close by were just a s sweet, and they looked like very bright stars.

 

Fox and Krystal were out celebrating their new engagement. Already everyone at base had heard about it, and even General Pepper was delighted that it was happening, but as Fox had once pointed out… it would be much safer to wait until Andross was put out of action before they actually decided to tie the not.

 

Still… that didn't mean they couldn't enjoy themselves now and then. Fox took her out to many nice places; Dinner… movies… dancing… he even got her a single beautiful flower that looked just beautiful in her hair.

 

They even took a stroll by the pond near the woods where we camped out last time. “Oh, Fox… what a beautiful night.” she sighed heavenly as she snuggled into Fox's gentle arms. “I wish it would never end.”

 

Fox held her close, “I know what you mean.” he said to her, “It just makes me more than determined to finish Andross off for good so that maybe we can finally have a chance for peace. Then maybe you and I can take life easy for a while.”

 

Krystal knew she would like that. She looked up into Fox's eyes, and he looked down at hers. Their faces began to slowly move towards each others and their eyes began to close. Their lips were just centimeters away… when suddenly…!

 

“Heh, heh, ah, ah, ah, ah, ah…!” a sinister laugh echoed through the skies. Fox and Krystal gazed up and saw a large holographic image appear. “It's Tobor…” cried Krystal.

 

The hair on Fox's neck stood up in anger, “What's that bucket of bolts want now?”

 

“Attention Star-Fox team. Attention X-Team… I have come to challenge you to a duel.” Tobor explained. “Meet me at the main wreckage-sites in Sector-Z. Three nights from tonight… Otherwise…”

 

His eye began to glow brightly and soon, poof, all the cities and sectors in Corneria were a blaze. Krystal shielded her eyes from the horror. “Hey! Knock it off you tin-can!” Fox yelled up at the image.

 

Tobor snapped his metal fingers, and everything was back to normal again. “Hah! That was only a holographic illusion… but if you don't show up, I'll burn the planet to ashes. This time FOR REAL…!” then he was gone… leaving Fox and Krystal confused and shocked.

 

…

 

They immediately rushed back to base where General Pepper was briefing all of us about what we all had just seen and heard. “The way I see it, there's no choice…” I said. “Tobor said he'd burn up Corneria as promised. We have to answer to his challenge.”

 

“Yes… you're right Mykan.” Pepper said. “It's our only hope of sparing Corneria, and putting Tobor out of action for good.”

 

Everyone agreed, and the very next morning, the Great-Fox was launched, and well on its way to Sector-Z. My team and I did as much studying on the sector as we could so it would be easier to determine our battle strategy.

 

According to what we studied, and what Fox and his team told us, Sector-Z was just a basic junkyard in space, but nothing at all like Sector-X. Sector-Z actually was strewn with the wreckages of large battleships and space-fortresses; many of which were still dangerously unstable, and could explode like missiles…

 

“It's no wonder Tobor chose this place for the battle.” Erin said, “It's got pretty much the perfect environment and obstacles to give him all the advantages he needs.”

 

“Question is…” Donny cut in, “How do we use the place to our advantage? We don't even know what he's got planned for us.”

 

“We'll find out once we get there.” Peppy said, “In the meantime… I suggest you guys get some rest. You're going to need all your strength and wits at full for the battle in a few days.”

 

“I'm up for that…” Falco said as he stretched his arms and yawned.

 

“You know that's what I find fascinating about being in space. There's no day or night.” Krystal said, “That means we can go to bed and get up whenever we feel like it.”

 

I chuckled, “We sure could've used that tradition on Earth. Boy, how we used to hate having to go to bed at night.”

 

We all shared a good laugh before heading off to our own respective cabins, while Slippy and Peppy remained on watch.

 

Meanwhile…

 

Tobor himself was on his way to Sector-Z and had parked his fighter-ship near a whole site of floating wreckages. “Hmm… yes.” He sniggered to himself, “All this wreckage shall serve me well in my plan to wipe out Star-Fox and the X-team.”

 

With the flick of a switch, he activated his ships magnetic beams to capture the bits and pieces of debris he would need and shape them all into strong and powerful objects. “Heh, heh, heh… I am so ready.”

 

Three days later…

 

“There it is…” Fox pointed out. “The one and only…Sector-Z.”

 

Well stepped up to the view-port to get a good look at the area in the distance. “Man… that is one scary looking nebula.” Donny said.

 

“Well you better get brave and fast, because that's just where we're heading into.” Falco said.

 

Peppy and Slippy decided to keep the Great-Fox at a safe distance away from the nebula. “No point in risking the entire ship at once, but we'll keep in open contact with you guys if you need our help.”

 

“We'll keep that in mind.” Fox said. “All right… let's go!” and we all followed him to the launch bay where we fired up the Arwings and headed for the sector. “Good luck you guys.” Slippy wished us, “I hope you won't need it.”

 

…

 

Within the clouds of the nebula, Tobor could see the Arwings coming, “Ha, ha, ha… right on time.” He chuckled sinisterly. “Time to for the party to commence…” and he began to activate some of his controls.

 

…

 

“Anybody see anything yet?” Fox asked.

 

“Of I see lots of things. Storm-clouds, loads of wreckage, some stars… you?” Falco joked.

 

“Falco…!” Krystal snapped. “Can't you ever take things seriously?”

 

“I can so… I just don't feel like it.” Falco answered.

 

“Hey, you-two, knock it off!” I snapped. “We're supposed to be concentrating on finding Tobor, not how to annoy each other.”

 

“Oh… uh… I think we should be worrying about something else right now…” Erin said. “THOSE…!”

 

We all looked round, and saw a swarm of iron-pillars racing straight for us. “Look out!” cried Donny as we all began to swerve, dive, and roll… anything to get our ships out of the way. “Oh, boy… they're everywhere!” cried Falco.

 

It seemed that no matter how many of them we dodged, there was plenty of more coming at us where the last ones came from. “Wait a minute…” I said, and I fired my lasers and destroyed two of the pillars that were coming at me. “Guys…! Their weak… shoot them down!”

 

The others realized I was right and all began to fire their lasers at the rest of the pillars. In almost no time, they were all gone. “Great thinking Mykan…” Fox called at me.

 

“Dude… you rock.” added Donny.

 

The mood was suddenly cut short by the sound of a sinister laughter… We all gazed round and saw him in his own fighter. “Tobor…!”

 

“Hmm, mm, mm…! The and only…” Tobor sniggered, “Welcome Star-Fox. Welcome X-Team. Now I have you all right where I want you.”

 

This was it. There was no turning back now.

 

“It's a shame you're all so young, and you've hardly had a chance to enjoy the meaning and purposes of mortal lives. Now it will all end...”

 

“Yeah, well keep dreaming. Bolt-Boy…!” Erin snapped at him. “If you think we're going to just let some over grown robot kick us around, you're wrong.”

 

“You and Andross only use your power and tricks for evil…” added Donny. “The way I see it… You're both going down.”

 

The rest of us nodded in agreement, but Tobor was losing his patience. “Enough chattering mortals… it's time for battle.”

 

He flew his ship up and over ways, and launched two strange beams out into the distance. “What's he doing…?” Krystal wondered.

 

Suddenly, we saw it! A huge missile, constructed from several tones of wreckage, and filled with nuclear energy. “Ahh…! Ahh…! AAH…!” cried Krystal.

 

“Look at the size of that thing!” added Donny.

 

“Let's get out of here!” I cried, and we all began to steer our ships away from the huge bomb, but just as it looked as though we were escaping from it. “Here comes another one!” called Erin.

 

The two missiles were closing in on our six ships that were all stuck in place. “Maybe we should try and blast those things down?” Falco suggested.

 

“No, Falco…!” Fox cautioned him, “We don't know how much damage those things can do. We might kill ourselves anyway.”

 

“Let's split up.” I suggested, “They can't follow us all at once.”

 

“But wait… we can't just split up…” Krystal said. “We need to come up with a strategy.”

 

“Oh right, here's a good strategy… staying in once place and be an easier target!” snapped Donny. Our two teams slip up at once each with one of the two missiles on our tails. They were moving surprisingly fast for objects so big and heavy, and they also proved to be very difficult to dodge and avoid.

 

“They're getting closer!” cried Erin.

 

“Try to go faster!” Fox warned us.

 

“I don't think it's going to be fast enough!” Donny cried.

 

The missiles kept closing in, getting closer, and closer still. Tobor was by himself with laughter. “Ha, ha, ah, ah, ah… too bad team-twerps.” He chuckled, but then suddenly something shot at his ship from behind, “Huh? Blah…!”

 

The impact forced him to lose control over his missiles, and they just stopped exactly where they were. “Hey, what gives?” snorted Falco.

 

“What's going on out there...?” I added.

 

Just then, everyone including Tobor heard a familiar voice over the radio. “Still picking on creatures weaker than you are, Tobor?”

 

Tobor turned his ship round and could see the Great-Fox through the clouds of the Nebula. “How nice to see you Peppy Hare… Slippy Toad…! You both can share the same fate they're going to suffer.”

 

“Hah! Fat chance of that, Tobor…” Slippy said. “If you want us, come and get us.”

 

The rest of us couldn't believe that Peppy and Slippy just offered Tobor a chance to destroy them, and the ship. Tobor took the invite and steered clear out of the Nebula clouds heading straight for the Great-Fox. “GRAAH…!”

 

The two ships began to fly round in circles almost like knights facing off in a ring waiting to make the first move. Then… without warning Tobor fired his lasers… POW! Right through the middle of the ship!

 

“PEPPY… SLIPPY…!” cried Fox, and the rest of us gasped in shock as the whole ship exploded in great ball of fire. “No! They can't be gone!” cried Krystal as a tear leaked from her eye.

 

“Heh, heh, AH, AH, AH, HEH, HEH, AH, AH, AH…!”

 

We all steered our Arwings outside the clouds. “Tobor… WHAT THE HELL HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM?!” I shouted as we all gazed upon the wreckage of our beautiful mother-ship.

 

“HU, HU, HU, AH, AH, AH, AH…! That's all that's left of them.” Tobor snapped at us evilly. “You're pathetic mortal friends didn't stand a chance against me, and now it's your turn. If you really think you all can defeat me now with no mother-ship-- HA, HA, HA, AH, AH, AH…!”

 

Fire was flaring in everyone's eyes, and anger was boiling in our blood. “Tobor…!” Fox sneered with his body shaking, “I swear… if it's the last thing I do… I'll destroy you… and Andross and any and all likeness you've created!”

 

All of us joined in with our own rants to take Tobor Down, and we all ended up shouting together, “DOWN WITH ANDROSS, AND ALL OF HIS EVIL…!”

 

Not only was Tobor not taken by this at all, “Humph! So much babbling and speech, BEHOLD MY POWER… HAH!” and he triggered his gravity beams to get the missiles going again.

 

“Look out!” cried Erin as POW, the rockets crashed through the clouds, and soon we were all on the run again. “Dude… I think this about where we came in!” cried Donny.

 

“Man, this is crazy!” growled Falco, “How the heck can we stop those things?”

 

Then suddenly Krystal had an idea, “That's it…!” she said.

 

“What's it?” Falco asked.

 

Krystal explained all this time we were concentrating on the missiles, when we really should be concentrating on the source of the missiles… Tobor! Then we all realized Krystal was right, “It's Tobor we must defeat!” I said.

 

We also realized that were no longer within the nebula's clouds, which meant we probably would have a chance. “Right… here's what we do…” Fox instructed, “Mykan, Donny, Erin, and Falco… you guys distract the missiles and make them follow you into empty space. Krystal and I will deal with Tobor. If this works… we might be able to turn the tables.”

 

Though outraged by Fox's crazy idea of sending us to risk out lives, we went along with the plan. Falco and I dealt with the first missile, while Donny and Erin got the other one. We steered out into empty space with the missiles closing in from behind. “I hope Fox knows what he's doing.” I said.

 

“Are you kidding…?” snapped Falco, “He'll be lucky if I don't kill myself if we survive this!”

 

As for Krystal, with an open shot, she fired one of her new equipped gas-bombs near Tobor's ship producing a huge cloud of dust and mist. “Huh?” Tobor growled, “This fog…! I can't see a thing.”

 

“Over here, Tobor…” Fox called.

 

Tobor still couldn't see well through his view-port, but could still use his tracker-radar. “Easy pickings…! HAH!” and he fired his blasters at Fox scaring him off. “Heh, heh, ah, ah, ah…!”

 

Too bad Tobor was all caught up in being cocky that he didn't notice Krystal was right behind him. “Please… let this work.” she said to herself… and then she fired another torpedo from her Arwing that exploded and something small and magnetic latched onto Tobor's ship. “What was that?” he growled as his ship began to power down and some controls began to malfunction. “What's… happening…?”

 

Suddenly, the missiles stopped chasing after us, “Look…” cried Donny.

 

“They're going the other way…” added Erin.

 

Indeed they were. They were heading straight towards Tobor's ship. “No! This cannot be!” growled Tobor as he sped his ship away, “Why are they coming after me?”

 

“Huh…?”

 

He parked his ship towards the area where the fog was beginning to break up, and the six Arwings were all gathered in one place ready to take him out. “You underestimated us, Tobor.” Fox sneered.

 

“Tell me…!” cried Tobor. “Tell me how you did this to me?”

 

“That's easy… because our smarts and intellect are far greater than anything you could ever be programmed with.” I said.

 

“That's right, Tobor… you're caught in your own trap.” added Krystal.

 

The rest of the teammates added their own comments, and then it was time. “Prepare lasers…” Fox said, “Ready… aim… FIRE…!”

 

All our ships lasers fired at once, and Tobor was barley able to dodge them. “WHOA…!” then suddenly it began to get dark and his ship was starting to quake, “Huh?” he looked round and saw the missiles were just milliseconds behind him, “…AAAAHHH…!!”

 

We all just barely boosted away in time as the missiles collided into Tobor's ship and blew it up in a great ball of fire.

 

…

 

Andross' eyes glared red with anger as Tobor, looking badly beaten up, and parts of him were dilapidated, popped in out of thin air. “Ugh… master… please I beg of you to have mercy.”

 

“You have failed to destroy Star-Fix and the X-team, Tobor.” Andross spoke in no more than a tone, and it was in vain that Tobor explained to him that he managed to destroy at least the Great-Fox, “I will hear no excuses! PREPARE TO TAKE THE CONSEQUENCES…!”

 

He stretched open his hands which began to glow with energy, “Master Andross… Wait…!”

 

KAPOW! “D-ARGH! AAA-AAAAAAAAAAHHH…!”

 

Tobor was gone, blasted into dust by Andross' power, and the lasts of his energy was transferred into Andross energy orb which greatly increased the levels. “Let Tobor's fate be a warning to all of you!” Andross warned his other minions. “Congratulations Star-Fox. X-Team… you have won nothing!”

 

Meanwhile…

 

We all just remained in free-float all sobbing or upset about the fact that the cost of victory was the Great-Fox, with Peppy and Slippy. “I can't believe they're gone.” sobbed Krystal.

 

Fox had never clenched his fists so hard before, “Peppy… Slippy…!” he cried under his breath. “Why'd you guys have to go and do something so stupid?”

 

The rest of us felt way down in the dumps too, but then suddenly… “Look…!” I cried. “There… in the distance… it's--!”

 

It was… it was the Great-Fox… it was never destroyed at all. We all just couldn't stop crying for joy, and we docked aboard. Peppy and Slippy told us that what Tobor destroyed was a holographic illusion of the ship Slippy had projected from far, and only made it look like it was destroyed. “This helped to deceive Tobor and make him overconfident.”

 

We all didn't know what to say, but Falco sure had a few words to say to Peppy and Slippy. “A few personal words!” he said while pounding his fists. Peppy and Slippy smiled weakly, but then were running for their skins from and angry Falco…

 

“Just you two wait until I get my hands on you!”

 

“Help…!”

 

“He's gone mad!”

 

The rest of us decided to let Falco have his fun… after all, we all nearly had the nerve to do the same thing. Still… we knew that Tobor would never bother us again, but with Andross still out there… and knowing he was madder than ever… who knew what diabolical traps he would lay for us in the battles to come?