FSE

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Years of waiting and aspiring, years of grueling training, years of pushing himself had finally led Leon to the moment of his dreams; to become a member of the mercenary squadron, Star Fox. Even with his broken body, his spirit roared with power as he overcomes his idol in life, Fox McCloud, in order to join the Star Fox team. Yet on their arrival to the Great Fox, Slippy's handiwork, the Arwing II, burst into flames with the snoozing Leon, obviously exhausted from his previous adventures. All said and done, Leon was able to recover from his injuries, less a broken arm and headache of doubt, and began his first mission with the team. Slippy's father, Beltino Toad, had finished construction of the self-destruct program, hoping to take down all aparoids with their one flaw; vulnerability to apoptosis. With the team defending the orbiting gate from aparoid attacks, with some help from Star Wolf, Beltino was able to finish the program. The aparoids departed, which seemed to leave a disturbing chill to Leon. Yet outside of his Arwing was a deadly secret; an aparoid bomb had lodged itself on his fighter and triggered- burning Leon's fighter into rubble. Did he survive? And will the team be able to take out the Aparoid Queen? There's only one way to find out...

Slippy stood outside of the medical room, crying and sobbing loudly. It had taken hours, yet Leon's cockpit managed to stay intact enough for his body to survive. Internal hemorrhaging caused by 3 broken ribs and a second fracture on his right arm had left him in a state of dormancy. Fox watched over him carefully, helping ROB tend to Leon. Falco had stayed in the hanger; bellicosity burning in his blood, and depression swaying his eagerness. Krystal had come in every once and a while to check on Fox, and to make sure Leon was alright.

"Team..." the old hare called over the com system, his voice quivering with sorrow. "I know what befell him is a tragedy... But we cannot lose hope now... We're so close to defeating the aparoids once and for all..." The team listened in sorrow, an aching feeling of depression looming over all of them. "At least he hasn't died... But we still have a mission to complete... And we have to save the Lylat System from these scoundrels..."

Slippy wiped his nose, nodding in agreement, fresh tears still pouring out of his eyes. Fox just squinted, his lower lip trembling as his moral began to boil. Falco lifted his head up to look back at the hangar door, agreeing with Peppy- and finding an odd sense of determination. Krystal sighed, looking once at the fox who was now under life control, oxygen being pulsed into him, and nutrition fed in through a tube.

"If anything... Let's defeat the aparoids for Leon's sake..." Peppy nodded.

The others nodded in agreement.

"Mhm..." Slippy sob fully nodded, wiping off the new tears.

"Yes..." Krystal mumbled, closing her vibrant sapphire eyes and holding her hands to her chest.

"Yeah" Falco nodded, cracking his neck and sitting in his Arwing.

"Right... Let's go take down those aparoids! For General Pepper! For Leon! And for all the Lylat system!" Fox said with renewed enthusiasm, determined to avenge Leon.

"Right" Slippy nodded, a fiery blaze set in the toad's heart.

"Right" Krystal nodded, his blue shimmering eyes filled with the spirit to fight.

"Right" Falco nodded, a broad grin realigning on his face, the sense of ending this all sending a chill down his back.

"Right then, Team Star Fox- Let's do this!" Fox shouted, raising a fist.

Unison, "YEAH!" coming from all other members of the team, except Peppy, whom was sitting down with a grin, 'Hm... Seems like that pep talk got them going...'

The orbital gate unlocked the temporal distorters, aligning them to form a wormhole-like entrance. "Here we go team..." Peppy said holding onto his arm rests tightly, squeezing the fabric with his old hands. The Great Fox thrust forward, disappearing into the wavy green portal, being sent off to another area in the universe.

Yet, upon reaching the aparoid home world, everyone seemed chilled with awe. "It's... Beautiful..." Krystal gaped, staring at the vibrant blue and white planet.

"Heh... It's defiantly not what I expected," the vulpine leader admitted nervously, scratching the back of his head.

"Warning; scans indicate that the planet is not to scale" ROB called over the com-line, still waiting to Leon in the medical room.

"Hmm... Well team, head down there and take out any defenses they may have set up..." the old hare said in a low tone, "Fox and Krystal, I want you two to stay on the ground and take out any enemy hatchers in the area... Falco, Slippy, you two will take to the skies and prevent any reinforcements to arrive..."

"Got it," Fox nodded.

"As long as we finish this soon, I don't disagree..." Krystal nodded, wanting to get this war done and over with.

"Heh, as long as I get to fight- I got no objections" Falco smirked lightly, crossing his arms.

"I'll make them pay for what they did to General Pepper and Leon!" Slippy shouted, cracking his knuckles.

Peppy nodded to himself, smiling faintly. "Alright team... This is our last mission- head out there and do your job..."

Meanwhile, back at the medical corps room, the injured Leon stirred. "Ungh... Wh... Not again..." he growled, trying to sit up.

ROB stopped him however, pushing him back into the pillow. "You are injured. Your health is only at a rate of 34%. With medical attention it will take 19 days to heal." ROB said in order to keep him down.

"WHAT?! 19 DAYS?! The war will be over by then!" Leon shouted, getting cut off with an ached cough- blood splattering on the inside of his breath mask.

"Your efficiency in this state would only increase the effectiveness of the group by 5%. Causing a minority to you and decreasing team efficiency by 14%." ROB explained, injecting a small green liquid into Leon's IV.

"Argh!" Leon growled, struggling to break free.

"Leon!" Peppy shouted, walking into the room, clearly angry. Leon yelped and stopped immediately, looking over at Peppy, half leaned over and resting on his shoulders. "You're acting like a child! The team already left and has started the attack on the aparoid home world. Now, calm down and sit still... You'll need rest..."

Leon growled, thrusting himself up completely, sitting up to look at Peppy at eye level. "I vowed that I would become a great pilot and join the team... I never once said I'd let myself become a burden to them!" Leon shouted, enraged at his current disposition. "And even if I have to SWIM to the planet, I will do anything to help!"

Peppy sighed, shaking his head and crossing his arms, "You know what kid... You remind me a lot of Fox... Always trying to do more than they can handle all on their own..." the old hare said with a small gleam in his eye. "But see... Right now, you'd only be a burden if you went out and tried to help... Y-"

The old hare was cut off as a sudden jolt in the ship made Peppy fall over. "ROB! What was that?!" Peppy coughed, leaning up.

ROB's eyes gleamed brightly as he made a quick scan over the Great Fox. "Multiple shots from aparoid fighters; the ship's hull has breaks and enemy decomposers have attached to the lower part of the Great Fox."

Leon gasped, staring at ROB in shock and distress. Yet he did not see the troubled hare run right out of the room as fast as he could- heading for the hangers. "Ah! ROB!" Leon shouted at the shining robot. "Are there any operational Arwings left in the hanger?!" Leon shouted, pulling out the IV with a gasp, panting and taking off the oxygen after that.

"There is one ship remaining. The prototype Arwing II-"

"Good!" Leon shouted, throwing a chair at ROB, and then darting out of the room as quickly as he could. ROB, being slow moving, could not defend himself from the attack and ended up falling over backwards. Leon still running as fast as he could down to the hanger, opening it as quickly and quietly as possible, trying to sneak out before Peppy could stop him.

The Great Fox jolted forward, the sudden pulse catching the already dizzy vulpine off his feet. Landing right on his broken arm, Leon howled with pure agony as his bones became too bearable to use. He panted though, getting up as quickly as he could without arms, then crawling into the disfigured Arwing. Somehow managing to buckle himself in, Leon pulled back the thrusters- breaking the landing area on the hanger and jolting straight out into space.

"What the-?!" Leon gasped, being quickly outnumbered by a horde of aparoid fighters heading toward the Great Fox. "Oh no you don't!" he shouted, pulling the thruster he had a hold of to the side and pressing forward, his Arwing performing a drill-like roll straight through the enemy leader.

Peppy, just now, caught glimpse of the Arwing outside. 'On no...' he thought to himself, "ROB! What's the damage to the Great Fox?!" Peppy demanded, rocking back and forth with the bombardment on the mighty ship.

"Shield powers failing; Hull pierced; multiple enemy decomposers destroying the rear side of the hull" ROB called, just now getting up.

"Blast it!" he shouted, "ROB, how much engine power do we got left?"

"Engines running at 87% efficiency; fuel cells full; thrusters at max."

"Good... That should be all we need..." Peppy said with a faint smile, hiding his regretful face with his palm. "ROB... Head up to the bridge..." Peppy nearly mumbled, pressing a few buttons on the control panel, then taking control of the ship.

Leon howled in pain as he continued going through rank after rank of enemies- yet coming to no end. "Raagh!!" he shouted in pure frustration, pressing down on the launch button to fire a nova bomb at the majority. Although it did take out multiple enemies, it appeared to be no more than a scratch in their numbers. Yet, by opening that small gap, Leon stared at the now aparoid infested Great Fox.

"Peppy!" he shouted, flying through the opening in the enemies and blasting at any aparoid leeches he could. His efforts were in vain though, since ever one aparoid he destroyed, three more took its place. "Noo!!!"

The Great Fox opened the lower hatch, revealing two large thrusters. With a boom, the Great Fox jetted forward- almost as quick as Leon's Arwing. Yet what confused Leon the most was that the Great Fox was heading: The Aparoid home world.

Leon tried to thrust after the Great Fox, using one hand to push himself forward, yet he was constantly intercepted by enemies. Pressing on, shooting at as many as he could, Leon desperately tried to keep up with the accelerating Great Fox. Yet a Aparoid attack wasp had tried to cut him off, and him being in his current state- had no chance of surviving this assault.

Firing at the beasts wings, trying to destroy what his control panel found to be its weakness, Leon turned as best as he could to avoid the incoming laser attacks. The beast took these attacks and flipped around, folding its wings around in form of a shield as it charged a bright red laser at its tip. Leon gasped and flipped around himself, thrusting toward the creature. Then, just as if fired, Leon ducked under it and realigned behind it, launching a nova bomb to the back- breaking up the creature.

Now, the Great Fox was almost invisible as it entered the atmosphere of the planet, shrouded by aparoids and the distance between them. "Damnit!!" Leon shouted, pulling back, "I'll never reach him now!!" he cried, slamming his fist onto the control panel.

"Never say never you little pup..." a familiar voice called in from afar. No more than a few miles away were the Wolfen and Star Wolf.

"Hehehehehe, can't I kill off these pests?" the lizard Leon hissed, chuckling psychotically.

"No, we're cutting through the enemy lines directly toward the planets surface... Don't waste ammo on these bugs..." Wolf answered, then turned his cold attention to Leon. "Hey, pup... Follow us if you want to help your dear team mates..."

"Ugh... I get sick just at the thought of that hairy fox kit following us..." Panther hissed, turning the Black Rose to the side to meet with his own team.

"Save your feelings for later- Star wolf, attack!" Wolf shouted, pressing forward on his thrusters and letting loose a volley of shots. The Rainbow Delta and Black Rose splitting up from there and going in inverted zigzag lines- taking down any enemies in their path. Leon gasped and pressed his thrusters as fast as they could to at least match the already leading fighters.

Explosions following the four fighters as they started their descent into the planet's atmosphere, yet, as if only to aggravate them, a large aparoid wasp appeared before them.

"Ragh, not another aparoid scum-bag..." Wolf growled, trying to take a path to get around it, yet only to fail.

"Humph..." Leon grunted, blasting forward- right before the enemy. Pressing as hard as he could, he spun his Arwing in a top-like sequence, blasting at the wasp's wings, taking down any weapon it had. But, as if expected by Leon, it opened its armored torso in order to attack, but Leon had already pushed forward with all of his engine's might- drilling right through the enemy's heart. An explosion followed as Leon was jerked around trying to equalize the wings.

"Nice one pup!" Wolf said with a grin, almost a jealous hiss matching the tone of his voice.

Leon looked up and tried to smile, but was stuck holding his side as his broken arm couldn't use the thrusters. He was stuck, without anywhere else to go, with a bleeding lung and difficult breath.

"Hey, are you alright kid?.." the scaley Leon asked him, stopping right outside his Arwing.

"I... I should be fine..." Leon said with a difficult, wheezing, breath.

"Rrr..." Panther hissed, jetting off, same as Leon.

The injured fox sat in his cockpit for a moment, then felt the hand of the planet pull him down. "Agh!" he shouted, taking control of the Arwing. 'Too late now...' he thought, 'I'm too deep in to go back... All I can do is move forward...'

His Arwing started plummeting down through the atmosphere, a flame igniting around it. The hull shaking violently as his g-diffusers shifted to the new surroundings. The shaking and rumbling caused Leon to cough though, seriously injuring him further. Yet as soon as he could, he pulled up to see a vibrant glowing metropolis, and, underneath it, the Great Fox sticking up from the ground. Leon gasped and thrusted forward, heading to the now aparoid decaying ship.

Star wolf was no where in sight, and Leon had horrible thoughts of what had happened to Peppy. Yet, as if a small glint of hope, the escape pod of the Great Fox was attempting to blast off. Leon gasped and saw a small horde of aparoids jumping toward it. As if acting on instinct, Leon shot down the horde regardless of the wails of pain he let out by grabbing both of the thrusters. The pod managed to pull off- but its engines were almost all depleted.

"Peppy! Peppy!!! Are you alright?!" Leon shouted, still panting with pain as a puddle of crimson pain lay in his lap.

"I... Don't know... The pod won't move any farther..." the old hare said in a feeble tone. What he said was true, the blinking pod wouldn't budge another inch from it's current spot.

Leon growled to himself, wincing as he pushed forward, and turned around the escape pod. Pressing on it with his entire engine's might, Leon thrusted the pod up with it, the tip of the Arwing embedded in the pod's engines. "I'll get us out of here Peppy..." he mumbled to himself, pressing onward no matter how much his body ached from the constant shaking and turbulence of the speed.

Peppy let out a small smile, turning back, "Hey ROB... Ready what little medical supplies we have... We'll have to get Leon on life support ASAP..."

Leon did not hear peppy, his own screams blocking out any other noise. And just as it seemed Leon had lost hope, a sudden feeling of weightlessness took over, and he felt the engines needing less pressure. Letting out a light sigh, followed by a wheezing cough, Leon fell back limp in his chair.

As if on a cue to Leon's relaxation, a thunderous sound broke out behind him, the planet's face collapsing into itself and breaking apart. Leon tried to scream out for the team, but was cut short but a choking cough, blood splattering on the wall of his cockpit. Yet a small clank noise was heard, and the last few images in his head blurred, he remembered seeing a mechanical claw grab the cockpit of his Arwing. He remembered lying down in a stretcher while ROB pressed a small needle into his arm. He remembered the dizzy flashing feeling he got as Peppy gave him a warm smile. "Yah did good kid... Yah did good..."

Leon mumbled, struggling to open his eyes as he heard voices around him, familiar, yet incoherent to him, as if his sense of listening was blocked by a wall of concrete. It frustrated him, trying to open his eyes to see who was talking- but he was stopped by a grueling amount of pain in his ribs, his whole body seeming to want to prevent the slightest amount of movement. Yet, at this moment, he noticed an odd, cooling breeze filling his lungs. A mask surrounding his muzzle was giving off the fresh air that he needed- since he could no longer even breathe on his own. Another cooling sensation filled his arm with a freezing touch, crawling up his body and cooling the searing pain of his injuries. Leon tried to speak- but his muzzle was gently shut by another's hand.

"Hush... Do not speak now..." a familiar- kind voice said gently. A vivid image of the vixen who had saved him before now settling in his mind. "You need to rest... You've done enough for now... Right now you need to rest..."

Leon almost cried, wanting to get up and beg for hers, and Star Fox's forgiveness. The guilt of his foolish behavior.

Not caring if it would hurt him or not- he used all his might to open his eyes, wincing as they made every effort to stay shut. But, at the sight of what surrounded him, his eyes locked open. In this small medical room, stood all of the Star fox team with an expression of pride staring at him.

"Looks like the pup survived!" Falco said in a clever tone.

"Horray! We thought you might be gone for good!" Slippy exulted with old tears on his cheeks, giving his amphibious skin a glistening sheen.

Fox simply smirked and closed his eyes, giving him a quick nod. "Good to see you're up..."

Peppy was injured as well, bandages around his body- but even with his injuries, he stood with the pride of a father watching his son grow. "You've saved me boy... I bet you're feeling a little sore too huh?" the old hare laughed outright, his jolly expression hiding the pain.

Krystal smiled, sitting next to Leon on his medical bed. "It's... Good to see you're alright Leon..." she said, not knowing what to say at the moment.

"Well done boy!" Beltino shouted, walking into the room with a formal garb, his glasses as usual falling off his face.

Leon was overwhelmed, the feeling of pride coming from the team- the very people to whom he idolized- congratulated him, was too much. He smiled, even as a flow of tears broke through his face- and he feebly raised an arm to them, sticking his thumb up with a broad grin.

"It was no problem!" he shouted, any pain that he would have felt was washed away with the amount of joy he felt at the moment.

The team laughed, finding his encouragement so amusing at this point- a beaten, broken boy saying that it was nothing?! That was a sight to see.

Leon too joined in the laughter for a good while, before falling back onto his pillow, his body going numb as his eyes slowly closed- revealing the image of the room he was in blurred and spiraling. The dizzy feeling made him sick, passing out. The team gasped as he fell, Falco and Slippy running to inform the doctor as the others ran to his aid.

With one last tear he thought, 'I'm glad I could help... Team...'

To be continued...?