Chapter XIII
	Slippy struggled to right his craft as he shot closer and closer
to the Titanian surface. He checked his systems quickly to see if he could
survive entering the atmosphere at the rate he was going. It'd be close,
but he'd be able to land it if he was careful. He reached over to his
computer and sent out another distress call. The computer emitted a
tell-tale beep. His craft wasn't too badly damaged, but he had lost power
to the left wing and couldn't get it to fold. "This is not going to be
easy." Slippy watched as the sandy desert below him sped up to meet him.
"Remember to hold the nose up." He pulled back slightly as he tried to
open the wings to slow him down. The left wing still wouldn't obey, but
he'd crash for sure if he opened only the right wing. He sighed, and
pulled up on the controls just as he was about to hit the ground, raising
the nose of the Arwing even to the sands. The ship skidded across the
sand, digging a trench behind as the sand slowed it. Slippy couldn't see
in front of himself at all for all of the sand kicking up. He pulled back
on the controls, even though it wouldn't do him any good now that he was
on the ground and slowing down. He felt the Arwing starting to fishtail to
one side as he started down a hill. The ship swung back and forth, almost
spinning as it shot down the hill. It finally came to rest against a large
cacti growing at the bottom of the hill. Slippy made sure that the Arwing
was stopped, opened the cockpit, and jumped out to inspect the damage to
the ship. He leaned against the metal skin, suddenly realizing that it was
hot from the high-speed entry. "Ow!" He jumped back from his ship, rubbing
the arm that was singed. He looked around as he held his hand on the
burned area, hearing the echo of his exclamation. There was nothing for as
far as he could see with the exception of cacti. This was not good. He
jumped back into the craft, and tried to get it started. Nothing; the
engine didn't even make a sound. He slammed out another distress call, but
this time there was no response whatsoever. "This is definetly not good."
	Bill did a large somersault as a dragon roared underneath him,
taking out a few Venomians. As he neared the surface of the water, he
pulled to the right, avoiding another smaller dragon. He happened to end
up beside the bulldog. "These dragons seem to be coming around much
faster! It's hard to stay out of their way!"
	The bulldog shot a Venomian down onto the water. "I guess they
know where the food is. How much longer are we going to have to wait for
backups?"
	"Not sure, buddy, but it'll be soon. We received reports of
Macbethian ships coming our way! They're in the Alliance, so we'll get
some help from them! Just hang tight a little longer!" He dodged a
Venomian trying to crash into his ship. The Venomian slammed into the side
of a dragon that was arching at another ship.
	As Fox looked down over the ringed, marble-red Titinia, he
searched for signs of life. Impossible from up here in the Great Fox, he
chuckled. He turned around and headed back into the main room, where Peppy
was trying explain the situation to General Pepper. "Look, sir. I've tried
to talk Fox out of things before. It just doesn't happen. When he gets his
mind set, there's no stopping him."
	"I've said it before and I'll say it now. It's much too dangerous
for all of you to go down there. Let us send out a rescue ship for him,
but all of you need to continue your mission."
	Fox looked up at the screen. "Sir, my misison is to protect my
friends! I refuse to go on any more missions before we find him, or a
least make sure that he's all right."
	Falco was playing a version of solitare behind Fox, but he looked
up at that last part. "Now, Fox, don't you think that's a bit extreme?
Even for you?"
	"Falco, I intend to make sure Slip's safe. It's my fault that he
got hit in the first place. If I had been able to see that attack coming,
I could have warned him. No, I intend to find Slippy if I have to do it
all on my own." Fox looked around at the staring faces of his friends. "In
fact, that's not such a bad idea." He started to edge to the door. "ROB,
what was the last location of that distress call?" He memorized the
coordinates that ROB rattled off.
	"Now, Fox, you don't really mean that, do you?"
	Fox was in the doorway by now. "That's for me to know," he looked
around, "and you to find out." He dashed down the hallway towards the
hangars.
	Falco jumped into the hallway behind Fox. "Fox!! It's dangerous
down there! Come on, Fox! You know you don't stand a chance all on your
own out there! All right, but if you get beat up down there and never do
find Slippy, don't come crying to me!" With that, he looked around as Fox
did and then took off after Fox. "Come on, Fox! Wait up!"
	Peppy looked up at the screen after the clomping of feet had
diminished. "See what I mean?"
	Slippy was working on the engine of the Arwing, trying to clean
all of the sand out of the parts. "All right, now that's done." He looked
up at the rising sun, trying to gauge how much time of mild temperature he
had until the day's heat set in. It didn't look like he had much time. He
climbed into the Arwing, preparing to turn on the emergency cooler to keep
himself at a normal temperature. The shades on the cockpit windows had
been turned on to full power, keeping the sun and its heat, for the most
part, out of the cockpit. "So, I'm just going to have to sit here for a
while." He leaned back to rest his head and get some sleep. He had lost
much of it already fixing the engine through the night, while it was cold.
He could certainly use the rest now.
	He woke to the sound of grinding gears and stomping feet. The
blinding desert sun came into view as he turned down the shades to find
the source of the sound. He didn't see anything in any direction. Of
course, that could just mean that whatever it was could be behind him.
"Oh, great." The noise stopped for a while, and he began to wonder if it
had just been his imagination. Suddenly, a huge, three-toed,
lizard-skinned foot slammed down in front of his Arwing, sending up waves
of sand and making a thunderous echo across the desert. Slippy watched as
a matchingly hideous bony, lizard-skinned hand wrapped around his Arwing,
threatening to crush it to pieces. "This is just great," he muttered
before passing out.
	Fox skidded into the hangars as the Great Fox came into Titania's
atmosphere. Falco slid into the room right behind him. "Fox! Slow down!
What in the world are you doing? You can't just go saving Slippy with your
Arwing anyway! What if his Arwing is broken down or something?"
	Fox looked up from the keyboard he was frantically typing on, and
turned to Falco. "I already thought of that. That's why I'm preparing the
Landmaster."
	"What?! We haven't even tested that thing!"
	"No better time," he said, turning to where the Landmaster was
sitting silently in the hangars, "than the present." He began to undo the
computer locks on the lid. "Falco, I want you and Peppy to fly overhead
while I look on the ground. It's time to begin the search for Slippy."
	The officer saw the message icon flashing on the computer screen,
and he clicked it. He hit the button on his desk, sighing with
complacency. "Sir, the Goras on Titania has caught the frog. The troops
are requesting direction."
	The deep, gravelly voice came back. "Have them hold the frog, and
watch for signs of the rest of the Star Fox Team. This is one game we can
force him to play our way. Send a few more squadrons of troops over to
help our present number."
	The officer released the button again, "Yes, sir."
	The Great Fox came to a hover position over the desert surface,
and it was at that moment that Fox slammed the booster, and rocketed out
of the hangars, going straight down towards the sandy surface. "Yeeeeeha!"
he cried as the Landmaster plummeted. A few moments before impact, Fox hit
the boosters on the bottom of the craft, and it righted itself and slowly
placed itself on the ground. A few seconds later, Falco and Peppy's
Arwings cut across the sky, breaking through a few clouds that happened to
be in their way. "All right, you two. This thing doesn't go that fast, and
I want to save all the energy I can if I can help it. Come back here!"
	Peppy returned and slowed to match the speed of the ground
vehicle. "Aw, come on, Fox! We're just having some fun!"
	Falco came back a little more slowly. "Yeah, Fox. Besides, I think
you look better in a tank."
	Fox had seen that wisecrack coming. "Why don't you come down here
and say that, Falco?"
	"No thanks, Fox. I think I'll pass."
	Not far away, a few soldiers stood on top of a sand dune. A
younger soldier approached them. "Sir!"
	The older looked down at the messenger. "Report!"
	"The enemy has been spotted! He's heading this way!"
	"Try to throw them off the trail! Plant the electro-mag storms to
turn off their trackers! Send the beginning lines!"
	The younger soldier nodded and saluted his superior. "Yes, sir!"
He jogged off down the dune, being careful not to lose his balance. When
he reached the tent used for housing their equipment, he relayed the
information to another soldier, who nodded and began turning on machines
designed for creating fake electro-mag storms.
	Peppy glanced down at his scanner, looking for the last finding of
the Arwing's emergency signal in the region, but all he saw was a
scrambled screen. "What in the world? Guys, look at your scanners!"
	Falco recognized the problem. "There are electro-mag storms ahead.
That'll keep the scanners under for a while. Fox, I don't like the looks
of this."
	Fox was not about to give in that easily. "Just forget the
scanners. We'll go by the last received position. We should be able to
track him from there! Reset your computers to that position."
	Falco shook his head as he obeyed. "I hope you know what you're
doing, Fox." He happened to glance backwards towards the horizon, and saw
what looked like huge tortoises flying through the air towards them. "Fox,
you're not going to believe this, but look behind you."
	Fox followed Falco's directions, and furrowed his brows. "More
bio-weapons, I suppose. Maybe these are supposed to be tanks."
	Peppy took a few shots from where he was as the tortoises landed
in front of Fox. "Just as I thought. The top half of their shells can't be
bothered. Fox, they're all yours."
	Fox aimed the turret cannon on the top of the Landmaster. "Well,
Slip, let's see how your new invention holds together!" He fired several
shots into the bottom portion of the shells, and the tortoises began to
fall to pieces. Fox rolled to the right of the first tortoise, and then
shot down another. "Tanks but no tanks!" he exclaimed as he rolled out of
the way of the second tortoise. Peppy and Falco rolled their eyes.
	Falco looked ahead of Fox to see what was coming up. "Fox, there's
what looks like the ribs of some huge creature sticking out of the sand,
here. They'll put a nice dent in your tank if you don't watch out."
	Fox came up over the hill just as Falco was speaking. "I see them.
Well, can't fit between them, so, let's go through them!" He pulled to the
left side and went underneath the arches of bone. "Easy enough. Which way
through the next set? Let's head left again." He rode along towards his
goal, not noticing the black boxes on the ground in front of the tank.
	Suddenly, Peppy heard an explosion below him. He looked down,
expecting the worst. "Fox! Are you all right?" He saw the Landmaster, now
with its first dent in the side and blackened on the bottom, slowly
plodding along its course.
	Fox shook his head and used his hand to put some pressure on the
spot where he had hit the ceiling. "Yeah, I'm fine. I must have run over
some mines or something."
	Falco pulled down towards the ground a little bit. "Well, now's
not the time to be complaining, Fox! Here comes the cavalry!"
	Bill pulled in close to one of his wingmen. "We may have time to
pull off an attack on the base if we can get some backup," the raccoon
inside stated.
	Bill nodded. "Yeah, I know. Just try to keep them off your back
until those troops from Macbeth get here!"
	The raccoon took a sharp right and blasted a Venomian to pieces.
As he spun around, a Venomian locked on him, and shot the booster in the
back. "I'm going down!" The booster made a red streak across the sky as
the ship tumbled helplessly towards the ocean.
	Bill watched as the raccoon's ship slammed into the water, and a
Cornerian hovercraft shot over to it, avoiding the dragons. He looked up
to keep his mind on the fight. "Hurry up and get here, guys!"
	Fox was busily fighting off the ground troops that were charging
him, while Falco and Peppy were taking down the air troops. Fox used the
hover jets to fly above an aggressor, and began to boost. The tank that
was following him haphazardly wheeled around to face his opponent,
forgetting to look for the mines that his own troops had planted. His tank
was launched to the side, taking out two of his fellow tanks. "Works every
time!" Fox said.
	"As far as I know, that's the first time you've done anything like
that." Falco said piercingly.
	Peppy saw it coming and beat Fox to the line. "Well, it worked,
didn't it?" He laughed at his perception of the joke.
	Falco just rolled his eyes again and kept fighting. Looking ahead,
he saw that Fox was going to be heading into a canyon. There were some
large mounted guns on the crests of the canyon, but he couldn't tell what
kind they were. "Fox, look out ahead!"
	Fox looked through the crosshairs at the mounted equipment. "I
wonder what type of ammo... Whoa!" His questioning was cut short by the
mounted gun turning, aiming, and firing a continuous laser at Fox. The
laser was burning up the ground as it hit, and Fox was sure that it would
do much more than just burn the Landmaster. He dodged left and then cut
right to get out of range of the laser. He looked back to see the laser
chasing the Landmaster on the ground. Apparently, the mounted guns
couldn't turn fast enough to keep up with the tank. Suddenly, a second
laser joined the first, and Fox had to pull a few manuvers to get out of
the way. Fox looked back again. The lasers were pulling closer. He spun
around, and took aim with the cannon. "Shoot at me, will you? Let's see
how you like it!" Fox let loose with several shots, and the gun took every
one of them. It exploded, leaving behind a charred base. Fox pulled the
Landmaster to the other side and shot at the other mounted gun, which also
exploded. "That was easy enough!"
	The bear stared at a screen that depicted the fight on Zoness. He
watched as Macbethan ships aided the Cornerians in attacking the Venomian
base. He smiled, and repositioned himself in his throne. His timing had to
be perfect. He motioned for one of his generals to come up beside him, and
then he whispered something not audible to the rest of the people in the
room. The general's eyes widened, but he nodded his head, bowed, and
exited the room.
	Bill shot around a Macbethan ship to take down a Venomian, and
then pulled a sharp curve around the base. He looked on the radar and
found the Macbethan still following him. He spoke into his headphone,
"Macbethan, will you get into the fight and stop playing Follow The
Leader?"
	"Negative that, Cornerian. Isn't it always the best idea to get
behind the enemy?"
	Bill felt his ship wobble in the air. He started getting worried.
"What are you talking about, Macbethan?"
	The Macbethan put Bill in his sights again. "You Cornerians have
broken the Alliance! Prepare to die, traitor!"
	Bill saw the ship begin to charge its laser, and he pulled a quick
u-turn. The Macbethan followed his maneuvers all over the battle's range.
Bill sent out a distress call, and suddenly, the threat was gone, thanks
to the bulldog pilot. "Don't get too cocky over there, Bill!"
	"Don't worry about me! Thanks!" The bulldog flew off to shoot at
another Venomian, and Bill continued in the fight, keeping a watchful eye
on the Macbethans. The Alliance ships seemed just too eager to help, he
thought, and in too great of numbers. Something was up, but he didn't know
what. Did they really believe that Corneria had broken off the Alliance?
"Black Mist Squadron, pull together, guys! Get into form--,"
	He didn't finish the sentence as another voice yelled, "Attention,
to all Cornerians. You have been toyed with long enough! You have broken
the Alliance, and you shall pay! You are now all considered as enemies!!"
	Bill was not suprised as his com echoed with choruses of ,"What?!"
"What's going on?" "Us? Break the Alliance?" He shook his head, and spoke
into the headphone, "Black Mist Squadron, I saw this coming. The only way
out of this one is to fight! Let's go!" He led his fighters, with renewed
respect for the enemy, back into battle. I still can't shake the feeling,
he thought, that Andross has something to do with this!
	"THEY DID WHAT?!?!?!?" the tiger roared, as the cheetah cringed.
	"They've begun attacking us, sir! They accuse us of breaking the
Alliance!"
	"How so?!?"
	"According to the information sent to us from Macbeth," the
cheetah consulted his papers, "we have given them reason to believe that
we are going to side with Venom against them."
	"WHAT?!?"
	"Yes, that's what it says, sir! What do you want us to do?"
	The tiger took off his glasses, and rubbed his eyes, trying to
come up with a suggestion. "For the time being, we should send out
reinforcements."
	"It's being done. Anything else?"
	"No, not yet. This is one thing that we're going to have to take
one step at a time."
	"Yes, sir." The cheetah nodded his head, turned, and left the
room.
	Back in the CSSC, pandemonium was setting in. Pepper and the cat
were trying unsucessfully to calm everyone down and get things moving
again. Pepper got everyone's attention, and yelled, "Macbeth turned on us,
but we cannot let them win by us panicking! Get to your assignments, and
do them! I want to have those reinforcements out there in fifteen minutes!
Now get to work!" Pepper turned, and, and along with the cat, both went
into his office.
	"Very nicely handled," the cat commended.
	Pepper nodded thanks, and they both started to work.
	"Now, the first step of our plan is taking place! We will take
advantage of this event, and gain control of the System!" The bear was
scheming with his fellow Venomians on Macbeth. "Now that I am World Leader
of Macbeth, the plan is all falling into place! Servant!" he ordered. A
small monkey came into the room, and bowed low to the floor. "Ready my
things! I'm going to Corneria on a peace mission!" As the servant left the
room, the bear chuckled to himself. "But we're going to get a lot more
than just peace!"
	A gloved hand held a small speaker up to a pointed ear. The person
sat still as he heard the last of what the bear was saying. Then, he
stood, and replaced his sunglasses while destroyed the listening device.
He dashed out of the building.
	Fox rolled the Landmaster to the right, then to the left to avoid
a few large stone towers that were falling in front of him. He pulled an
amazingly close turn as a tower slammed into the sand beside his treads.
Fox slowed as the towers began to fall directly in front of him so as to
block his path. "You won't get rid of me that easily!" He held on to the
controls of the Landmaster, and hit two buttons simeotaneously. The
Landmaster shook and then began to raise into the air. Fox steered the
craft overtop of the fallen towers, and then continued up another sand
dune.
	"Nice style, Fox. Now would you mind giving us a hand up here?"
Falco chided. He and Peppy had their hands full shooting down squadrons of
Venomian ships. Fox sighed and began aiming the laser cannon towards the
sky, trying to get the Venomians in the target. He wasn't used to this
system, so it was a little difficult for him to shoot, but he was taking
down several crafts with each shot. Maybe it wasn't as hard as he thought
it was.
	Slippy regained consciousness only to realize that he had a
terrible headache. "Uhh....," he moaned. As he opened his eyes, he also
realized that he was lying on his back, still inside of his Arwing, in a
sitting position. He looked out of the cockpit to see a huge, scaly hand
holding onto the front and wings of the Arwing, preventing him from
getting away. He tried to turn the Arwing on, and he got a response from
the engine. It didn't turn on, but it was a start. He tried again, and
this time, the engine started up and began its normal fusion engine
humming noise. "Well," he mused, "at least this thing is working." Until
this thing either decided to eat him or let him go, he was stuck, though.
He put on his com, and decided that it worked from the horrible feedback
that he got. Apparently, the sand was doing worse damage than he had
thought it did. It suddenly struck him that if the Arwing was working, his
distress signal would begin working, as well. He reached over, slapped the
button, and heard his recorded distress call, "Aaaaahh! I'm hit!" play
over the com. He hated that recording. He always thought that it made his
voice sound too squeaky. However, he put up with it, and continued hitting
the button every few minutes. "Hurry up, Fox, or I may be this thing's
next meal!"
	Bill pulled his squadron through the thick of the battle, and then
spun to shoot the Venomians and Macbethans following them. He looked
around and almost began to panic. There were just too many enemies here to
ever be able to shoot down. "I've seen worse," he forced himself to say.
"This isn't the worst situation that I've been in."
	Bill almost jumped when he heard an explosion behind him. The
husky's fighter pulled up beside Bill's fighter. "You alright in there,
Bill?" the husky asked, looking to his leader. "That guy was just about to
shoot you down!"
	Bill looked back to his friend. "Yeah, I'm... fine. I... just got
a little panicked back there," Bill said reassuringly, mostly to himself.
He had to take control and calm down, or he would be blown out of the sky
faster than he could blink. He took a few deep breaths, and regripped his
controls. "Black Mist Squadron and any available Cornerian squads, switch
your coms to the Secondary Cornerian channel. We don't need these guys
picking up on what we're saying. Let's get a move on and destroy that
base!" He hit the boosters, and charged into battle.
	Fox slid the Landmaster underneath of an arch just as several of
the enemy ships were firing at him. The ancient stone arch reflected the
hits, and Fox boosted out of the shadows towards the open desert. Peppy
came up behind the Venomians behind Fox, and took them down with one shot.
"Thanks, Peppy!"
	"No problem, Fox. Let's just find Slippy and get out of here! I
hate deserts!"
	Fox smirked, and checked back to his radar. "Well, according to my
radar, we'll be running into him any second now!" A large thud shook the
Landmaster, and Fox was shaken from the radar back to his controls. "What
in the world was that?" He no more than looked out of the viewing window
than another large rock came flying towards him.
	A blue laser shot the rock out of the sky, and pieces of the
debris rained down on the Landmaster. Falco flew overtop of Fox, and
looked for the origin of the boulder. "Over there!" He turned his Arwing
towards the ridge of the canyon, where a large machine with two huge arms,
both of which were holding huge rocks, was sitting.
	Peppy looked ahead of the group a little further. "There are a few
more of those ahead of us, too! Let's take 'em out!" He locked on one, and
sent several charged laser blasts at it. It exploded, shredding and
scarring the rocks around it.
	Fox locked on to one that was closer, and gave it a taste of the
Landmaster's laser. It went up in flames, as did rest of the
rock-throwers. Falco went on ahead, and took out a few small cannons that
had been waiting for them near the end of the canyon. As Falco returned to
the Peppy and Fox, he stated happily, "It's all clear from here!"
	When the group got to the end of the canyon, they saw what Falco
meant. There was nothing but flat, plain desert and the tall, yellow cacti
that was common on Titania as far as they could see. "Well, the radar says
that Slippy is right in this area. We should be able to see him."
	Slippy sighed. The explosions that he thought he had been hearing
had given them hope that Fox had gotten to him, but they had silenced,
now. He was exasperated and tired, to add to that. Slippy looked out of
the cockpit again at the scaled hand, and wondered if he would be able to
escape that thing before it crushed the Arwing. Just on a whim, he reached
over and hit the distress signal one more time. "Aaaaahh! I'm hit!"
	Fox stopped and turned up his com. "Slippy?! Is that you?"
	Slippy jumped at the sound of another voice. He turned to the
side, and saw the Landmaster and two Arwings approaching. He fumbled
around, trying to grab on to his com. "Fox!! You're finally here!!"
	Falco slowed down, trying to figure out what was going on. Slippy
was being held by a three-fingered, scaled hand, and very closeby were two
large stalks, with what looked like spikes sticking out of the sand. "You
sure get yourself into strange situations, Slippy!"
	"Falco, that's not funny!! Make this thing let go of me!! Do
something!!"
	"Well, we could try doing...this!" Falco took a shot at the arm,
and connected. Almost instantly, the harmless-looking spikes on the stalks
were flailing at the group.
	The arm holding Slippy and the spikes began to move in the sand.
"Fox! Don't let him get away with me!" Suddenly, all three appendages shot
beneath the sands. "Fox!!!!" Slippy yelled as the sand closed over his
cockpit.
	Fox, Peppy, and Falco sat still for a second, waiting for
something to happen. Suddenly, the entire gigantic bio-weapon flew above
the surface. Its hideous head with two pointed horns and red eyes glared
at them, and the four bony arms, two tipped with spikes, one aiming a
built-in laser, and the last holding Slippy's Arwing, ominously whipped at
them. Its exposed rib cage and backbone made the team think that they were
fighting against a skeleton. It had a long, spiked tail, and short, bony
legs with feet to match.
	"What is that thing??" Peppy exclaimed.
	"I don't know, but I haven't seen uglier! Let's make this thing
give Slippy back!" Fox charged up the Landmaster's laser cannon, and fired
at the huge creature's hands. To their suprise, the whole hand and arm
disentigrated with a few shots, leaving the creature with only three arms.
"Falco! Help us out, here!"
	"I'm right behind you!" He blasted the two other arms off with a
few charged shots.
	Now it had no other hands to do combat with but the one that was
holding Slippy. It let go of Slippy's Arwing very slowly, and Slippy hit
the boost to get out of that thing's reach. "Thanks, guys! I knew I could
count on you!"
	The creature's rib cage was now exposed for the lack of arms
covering it, and the sides of the cage opened up. Peppy was about to be
sick. "What in the world is it doing?"
	Slippy was, for the first time, actually getting a good look at
his captor. "It's probably collecting energy for something. If this our
run-of-the-mill bio-weapon, I'd be watching out for some type of attack
right about now!"
	While Slippy was still talking, the creature reared its head back
and then released a powerful beam of laser onto the ground, aiming for
Fox. Fox had to roll the Landmaster and hover to get out of the way of the
shot, but he made it without taking a hit. "Whoa! That was something! I'll
remember to watch for that attack now! Slippy, have you figured out what
this thing is?"
	"Yeah. It's a Goras, I think. Genetically enhanced, of course, by
Andross, but slightly recogizable as a Goras. Just watch out for its
tail!"
	"Why?" Fox asked. Suddenly, the Landmaster was swept into the air
by a huge, spiked, bony tail.
	"That's why. This thing can pack a punch with its tail!"
	"It's rib cage is closing up! Hey, look what it's doing!" Slowly,
the Goras's rib cage closed, and out of the arm sockets, new arms began to
generate. "Man, Andross really had this thing worked on! It's making
completely new arms with the energy it built up!"
	Falco smirked. "Then we're just going to have to disarm it, won't
we? Let's go!" He charged up his laser and shot one of the new arms before
it even had a chance to finish building.
	"I guess it's my turn, then!" Peppy blasted one of the spiked arms
at the shoulder, and it fell off as well.
	Fox rolled to his right as he took out one of the laser-tipped
arms, and then shot the other as soon as he stopped rolling. "Slippy, it's
all yours!"
	The rib cage opened, and Slippy smiled. "Everyone, I think you
were expecting this! Clear!!" After a second of waiting, Slippy fired a
bomb right at the heart of the Goras. It connected, and the smoke of the
bomb shone a greenish color.
	The Goras had been beaten. It could feel it, and it began to roar
its misery to the desert. It reared its head back to roar one last time,
and then exploded. Fox and the others waited for the blast to end, and
then surveyed the damage. They saw most of the body and legs sitting in
separate places, and in front of them landed the head of the Goras. Fox
sighed, and began, "All right, all aircraft report!"
	Peppy called in first. "That was quite an adventure."
	Falco went next. "Slippy's back, all right? Now can we go on a
normal mission?"
	The last voice on the com was Slippy's. "It's good to be back,
Fox."
	Fox smiled. "It's good to have you back. This Landmaster of yours
came in handy! You did a good job, Slippy!"
	Slippy was embarrased. "Well, let's get back to saving the system,
now! Back to the Great Fox!" He pulled his Arwing up, wanting to get back
to his ship, and, more importantly, bed. The others followed, exhausted
from their search.
	Bill swept his team through a barrage of laser blasts, and called
for them to get in formation. "All right, Black Mist Squadron, you know
what to do! On my mark! All Cornerian ships get clear of the base! Ready?
Go!!!" His finger slapped a button on the control panel in front of him in
his ship, and everyone in his squadron in their respective ships did the
same. At almost perfect timing, five bombs were fired at the Venomian base
on Zoness. A massive explosion ripped through the metal hide of base,
exposing the inner reinforcement walls. "All right, team. We're getting
there! Just hold in there!"
	His team was slowly becoming lame as he would lose fighter after
fighter. The bulldog, the husky, another raccoon, and a younger cat were
the only pilots left in the air in his squadron. The other three were
sitting in the portable hospitals riding the waves below. Bill was guiding
what was left of his team with a cool hand and steady eye. He had been
panicked before, but only in the middle of chaos did he feel that he was
in his element. Bill led another attack on the base, and this time pulled
a large circle around the base after blasting the exposed walls with a
barrage of laser. If anything, Bill was getting impatient. These attacks
were hardly doing anything to the base; nevertheless, he wasn't about to
do anything stupid. "Let's do another run of lasers, guys!" After
completing the next dash, Bill led the group to the outside of the battle
area, and then boosted towards the exposed wall of the base. Bill noticed
something about the wall as they drew closer to it. "Guys, we made a hole
in that wall! Everyone, forget the lasers and arm a bomb! Aim for the hole
and try to get it past the reinforced walls to the inside!! Cornerian
ships, clear the base!! One more time, team! Go!!" Once again, the five
pilots launched a bomb in almost perfect unison at the base, but this
time, the base was not able to hold up to the attack. Two of the bombs
slammed into the outer wall, making the small hole much larger, and
allowing the last three to pass. BA-BOOOM!!! The outer walls of the base
were blown outwards, as the weak inner walls had been blasted away by the
three bombs.
	At the first sign of trouble, a few of the Venomian teams left the
battlefield, expecting the worst. But now, as the base that they had
depended on was being torn to rubble, they began panicking. "Retreat!
Retreat!!!" echoed on the enemy's coms. The sky was soon clearing of much
of the laser, as well as the fighters shooting it. The Macbethans were
somewhat confused.
	Bill led his team into the fray of chasing the straying Venomians.
He would not allow his team to shoot the Macbethans unless they were a
visual threat, because Macbeth had not declared war. Shooting even one
Macbethen would give the planet reason to do so. No, he was sure that the
whole thing was just some misunderstanding. "But what a bloody one.." He
looked around at the wrecked ships still surfaced. The dragons were having
a feast. He snapped his attention back to flying when he received the call
to return to base. At least the battle was over. He turned his ship back
towards the base, and hit the boosters.
	The bear threw down the com he had been listening to, and smashed
a huge foot down on top of it. He had just received news that the
Venomians had just lost the battle at Zoness. Almost everyone in his
immediate area of the transport ship turned to see what was the matter. "I
have but one consolation," he growled through clenched jaws, "and that is
that my mission will not fail!"