Episode 6: Lance

        She stacked her papers again. Five years later and Blu found herself stationed as one of the highest ranking officers in the Alliance. Her office was just down the hall from Sgt. Peppers.

        Blu filed a paper, and then began obsessivly tapping her pen against the desktop. Her eyes wandered to a picture sitting on her desk; a picture of Team Flyer when she had been in it. Trix, Cruse, Strype...All restationed. Trixxy and Strype had gotten a liscense to be Solitaire Missionaries, carrying out missions individually. Cruisor? Who knows where he had gone.

        Blu sighed. At least she didn't age nearly as fast as the natives....In Aliroo time she had only been gone a year. She had traded in her blue team jacket for a station on Corneria as a Cheif Exec. for the Alliance. Had it been worth it? She missed space; speed....

        There was a knock her door.

        "Come in." She put on her best proffesional look; anyone interupting her at this time in the day would need it.

        The door opened, and it was a he. He it was....A handsome osprey-morph. He had a red jacket on. Red Jacket? Blu scanned his jacket as he came in, and she came to the accurate conclusion....Red jacket signfied a Soliraire Missionary; he had the triple bar on each of his shoudlers signafying Lieutenant rank. He also has a strange patch on his from lapel of the jacket, one she hadn't seen before. That was new; She should have seen....AND earned every possible patch and pin.

        She eyed him, taking in his features. His feathers were combed into a casual commando-type style. The edges of his feathers were tainted gold, and there were dark brown striped at the base of his hairline. And there was something familiar about him. It was rare when a civilian of a planet seemed familiar. Blu stood and held out her hand.

        "CE Flyer," she said.

        "SM O'Ryan," he replied, shaking her hand. His eyes met hers and they lingered longer than she was confident with. "Mind if I take a seat?"        

        "Not at all," Blu replied, taking a seat herself. He had a good handshake, hearty and confident. "What brings you into my neck of the woods?"

        "Actually, it is quite important," O'Ryan said, bringing his breifcase onto his lap and flipping the locks.

        "I should hope so," Blu replied, pretending to busy herself organizing things on her desk. "I'm a very busy person, you know."

        "Then I'll be frank. Andross has broken free and is sending drones and agents into the system."

        Blu froze. Andross? He was locked on Venom. He had been so for a while now. What was that simian up to now? She looked up at O'Ryan.

        "Andross?"

        He sighed. "Blunt it is."

        He opened up his breifcase and took something out of it.

        Blu gasped. What?

        She took the navy jacket from him and looked it over. It was her team jacket, a replica of the one she had hanging on the wall in her living room.

        "Blu Flyer, you are formally invited to join Lt. Sm Parker and Quincy and I in an attack against Andross." He stood up to leave, "You have 12 hours for your decision."

        Blu looked at the jacket he had left on the table. She picked it up and drew in its scent.

        "No need, O'Ryan, I'm coming with you."

~*~

        Blu hugged Trixxy tightly, and then Strype. How long had it been?

        They had exchanged their SM jackets for ones like hers. Aparently she was being put in charge of the team. It consisted of Trixxy, Strype, and O'Ryan. O'Ryan seemed older than her ; why in the world wasn't he team Leader? Perhaps she did outrank him.

        Also in the room were her good friends Fox and Falco. They shook hands heartily, Blu hugged Fox and Falco before they could resist. So it was a reunion. She made sure to take off Joey's hat so she could scruffle his hair. Four teams and three SMs had been brought together to take on Andross. Star Fox, Star Flyer, Star Drake and Star Flyer2 were the teams; Boomer, Katt and Bill were also there. General Pepper stood at his desk and unrolled a map of the Lylat System.

        "Here are your assignments. Star Fox, you will take this route here," Pepper drew a line across the planets. Fox's team would be taking the hardest route to Venom, going from Corneria to Sector Y then to the waterworld of Aquas. After that, they would rondevous with Katt, who would be taking care of things on Zoness. Zoness would be followed by a quick run-through of Sector Z, then on to Area 6 and straight to Venom.

        "Star Flyer2, you'll be starting at Katina. This is one of your relativly newer missions, Lt. Grey will be flying with you through Solar and you'll have to secure Macbeth yourselves." Pepper drew the appropriate lines on the map. "Team Flyer, you will be going straight to Fortuna from Corneria. You'll have to pass through the Asteroid Belt. Smooth sailing until you meet with Boomer here," General Pepper pointed at Sector X. "He'll travel with you until you reach Bolse Station. From there you will meet up with Star Fox and Star Drake. Speaking of Star Drake, you four will be patrolling inter-space between the planets. Does everyone understand?"

        They nodded.

        "Good. This has been a war breifing, mind you, so get your asses out there on the line!! Go! Go!" Pepper tapped his pointer rapidly on the table. Then he grinned and saluted.

        "Lets go, guys," Fox said.

~*~

        "All right, lets open the wings," Blu said over the comm as she guided her Arwing towards Fortuna. Fortuna was a snowy base planet, former enemy. The base was buzzing with activity.

        The team had bypassed the asteroid feild easily; They had nuked it.

        The four ships leveled close to the ground. Small sattelites dotted the snowy land. The sun, Solar, was shining brightly and the rays glinted off the fallen snow. Suddenly Blu heard the familiar sound of enemy lasers. She banked right, locked on and fired. After another lazy turn she fired again.

        "I hate to say it, but I'm bored," she called over the comm.

        "I hear ya," Strype replied. He swooped down and did a spin around the main base as he fired.

        "Why are ships coming out of the base?" Trixxy asked as she flanked Blu's ship.

        Blu heard O'Ryan gasp over the comm.

        "A bomb has been planted at the base!"

        Blu groaned.

        "Geeze, can anyone take care of it?"

        The comm blarked.

        "Can't let you do that, Star Flyer!"

        "Andross has ordred us to take you down." So Leon had made it!

        "Trixxy, long time no see!"

        "Andross's enemy is MY enemy!!"

        Blu growled.

        "Great. Just who I need to see...Star Wolf." She banked again, tailing a nearby ship. "Lets take care of these guys first." She rapidly hit her laser button. The ship in front of her rattled, and started a backturn. Blu hit the brakes and aimed up. Smoke appeared.

        "She's too strong!" Leon screamed. Strong?

        "Dude, I've got a better ship!" She exclaimed. Her ship shook and she did a backflip.

        "What the hell?" Wolf said, banking right.

        Blu grinned and gave chase. She shot rapidly, and then he backflipped. She braked, but was too late and he came down behind her and began shooting. She U-turned as a last resort; Her ship flipped up and over as she reversed direction. She veered around, just in time to see O'Ryan fire a shot at Wolf. The Star Team leader spun towards the ground.

        "Got 'im!" Trixxy called, taking down another.

        "There's one more ta go," Blu announced, locating Andrew on the radar, she veered.

        "Guys, we've got one minute before the bomb explodes..."

        Blu shot a bomb and finished Andrew. He went screaming, "Uncle Androsss......!!"

        "I'll take care of the bomb now," she said, and directed her ship towards the entrance to the base. The halls were small but she was able to guide her ship through them. She found the bomb and shot a tacheon sheild burst at it, disabling it and destroying it simultaneously without blowing up the base. She reversed direction and joined her wingmates.

~*~

        The next area which they came to was Sector X. It was so-named because of it's basic shape. As the four-wing squadron arrived, Boomer joined them in his highly-powered SM Ship. The five Arwings advaned upon the station, which was torn into ruins. Only sparsely loated robots shot lasers, and Blu was beginning to think something was wrong.

        "Do you think its a trap?" Trixxy asked.

        "Most likely," O'Ryan said. He grinned over the comm, "Whichever, its not gonna be us who have to run home to mama. They can bring it on, I can handle it."

        "That sounds almost egotistical from such a charming guy like you," Blu said. It sounded like flirting. Perhaps it was; whichever, it lightened the mood. Besides, she liked O'Ryan. He was charming, not to mention intelligent. And still, she had the nagging feeling of familiarity. Natives weren't supposed to feel familiar. She considered the puzzle as the ships stayed in line and hovered through the sector.

        "Can't I be egotistical?" O'Ryan asked over the comm.

        "Sure ya can," Trixxy replied, "But not too much or Blu'll never --"

        Blu interupted the transmission with a polite, "Shut up Trixxy." Then she laughed.

        "I like my men egotistical, it builds character," she joked.

        "Well then, did I score a point?" O'Ryan asked.

        Blu's grin was cut short as a huge ... Something appeared on the radar. Suddenly, a giant arm rocketed by her ship, making it rattle slightly.

        "What is it?" Strype asked.

        The arm boosted and turned, and suddenly another came out from the debris. Then, a metallic torso assembled from the floating space debris.

        "Where is the creator?" It said in a machine-like voice.

        "Whats he talking about?" O'Ryan asked, "He's crazy!" O'Ryan arched his Arwing in, and scored shots at the head.

        "O'Ryan! Look out!" Blu yelled. One of the arms moved and grabbed O'Ryan's ship, and flung it at a tremendous speed towards the nearest planet, Titania.

        "O'Ryan! Damn!"

        Blu's eyes followed the lone Arwing until she couldn't see it anymore. Her grip on the nav tightened, and she boosted in and began furiously shooting at the machine. It rattled and flashed, and began to explode.

        "Lets get outta here!" Blu said, diving for the planet, "We need to make sure O'Ryan is okay!"

~*~

        The foursome barreled into the atmosphere of Titania, a desert-dusty planet. There was no time to take out the bases in Blu's mind, so Trixxy and Strype stayed behind to deal with them.They would meet back at Bolse.

        Blu and Boomer boosted through the air, following the readings on the radar. According to the life support funtions, O'Ryan was still alive, having survived the crash. It was a long way, and it was just like Boomer to make idle conversation.

        "You like him, don't you?" He asked.

        Blu looked to his Arwing, chagrined.

        "Yeah. I do. Y'know, he doesn't seem like a native."

        "I noticed that, too. I think you two would make a cute couple," Boomer said.

        Blu laughed. "Me? And a native? Are you nuts?"

        "Yes, yes, and yes," Boomer replied, "Yahtzee!"

        "Yahtzee?"

        "Nevermind."

        "Anyways," Blu went on, "Whatever kind of Roo lived successfully after getting involved with a native?"

        "Whatever kind of Roo ever kept a clear conscious of forcing a native to covet her from afar? "

        Blu shut up. She didn't want to talk about this. After all, there must be an Aliroo back in True Space who was just right for her. Why was she so interested in this native? He was intriguing, that was all.

        Her radar blipped, snapping her back into reality.

        "I'm reading life signs straight ahead," she announced. She honed in. The area ahead and around her was vast desert. Where was he? Then, she noticed a plant sticking out of the ground. In it was something shiny; And Arwing!

        "O'Ryan!" She called.

        "Ugh.....Ye...eah?..." O'Ryan's voice fuzzed over the broken comm link.

        "You okay? We're gonna getchya out! Hang tight," Blu said.

        "...Ne....er ....be..e..gotistical...again..." He muttered over the bad link. She grinned.

        She swooped in low, trying to cut off the plant and free the Arwing. As she came in near, the ground shuddered. She lasered the plant, taking chances, and not knowing what was shaking the ground. She passed the plant, but the lasers simply reflected off. She frowned, and veered off to get another angle. As she was turning back for another go, suddenly the plant frew up. Other tendrils came up from the ground, and soon Blu found herself staring at some sort of multi-legged creature. What was it? She didn't enjoy killing innocent life forms, but she wasn't about to let one of the wings under her team to go down beause of her ethics. Anyways, it wasn't completely against her morals, she also had a rule about not letting friends die.

        Boomer's Arwing hovered into view. The two gave chase, and the creature began running backwards, swinping at them with it's arms the entire time. Blu aimed for its chest instinctively. It's armored plating rattled, and finally blew off, exposing it's heart. Blu aimed for the heart whilst Boomer shot at the arm that was still clinging on to O'Ryan's Arwing. The arm broke free, and so did O'Ryan. He arched his ship up and out of reach, then fell into line behind them.

        "Bad...Link..." he said, "I'm going....to....space to see.f...can fix ...t."

        Blu nodded. O'Ryan boosted up, and Boomer and she followed. They didn't have to kill the creature to free O'Ryan after all. Things were looking good.

        After a short period of on-ship repairs, O'Ryan had his ship working at maximum capacity. They sped towards Bolse.

~*~

        Upon arriving at the floating sattelite just outisde Venom, O'Ryan expressed his gratitude for saving his life. Blu wasn't sure if it was that great. She was willing to risk using her TDT to get him out if it had becom nessicary. If she did she would probably be banned from the Lylat System, though. The core was in the center of the satellite. Blu took a steady course towards it, but her lasers bounced off. She frowned, and arched about.

        "There's a sheild around the core," she said. In case they hadn't noticed.

        "These ships are sheilded, too," Boomer added, and shot at an enemy to prove his point. The lasers bounced off.

        Then Blu spied towers surrounding the core. They seemed to be feeding the core shield with energy! She headed straight for one, firing rapidly. The tower burst, and the feed was cut.

        "Lets take out the towers!" She said.

        "I'll cover you, Blu," O'Ryan said via a fixed comm.

        She turned. The rotating of the sattellite made it difficult to aim, and her ship seemed to slow down as she faced one way, and speed up if she went the other. Finally, Blu got a good direction, and began to fire at the towers. One by one, they burst. As she neared the last, her Arwing rattled. Then she heard a resounding explosion, and a puff of smoke blew away where an enemy ship had been. Blu looked to her radar; there were enemies everywhere! Boomer, Trixxy and Strype were doing their best to fight them off. O'Ryan was doing such a good job watching her back she hadn't noticed.

        Finally, the last tower exploded. The sheild fizzled and was deactivated. Suddenly, a whole new swarm of enemy ships flew in from space. They must have monitored the towers and sheild! The core appeared, and Blu turned in to attack. As she neared it, another Arwing shot straight out of the core. Who in the...?

        "Heya guys, long time no see!" Chirped a familiar voice.

        "Ha! Hey Cruise! Sssssssup??" Cried Trixxy.

        "Nuttin' much, jus' hangin'," Cruisor replied. He looped about. "I wuz in there messing with the computer when they put up da sheild. Not much fun. I heard the towers blastin,' got in mah Arwing and here I am! Hey guys, lets kick some bootie, huh?" The six ships targeted on the core, shooting simultaneously. It sparked, and began emitting blue lasers. The six ignored them and continued to close in. The core popped, their cue to veer away. After several mini explosions the core blew up, and the six of them turned without a rest towards the planet Venom.

~*~

        The group of Arwings sped towards Venom at a high velocity. Nearing the atmosphere, they met up with Star Flyer2 and Star Fox. Star Drake was still taking care of the open space; once they defeated Andross here, the rest would be easy. Once they got Andross.

        "Heyhey Fox! Hey Joe! This is the last stop. And its the last fight, for Us, or for Andross. Give him a run for his money, lets take him on now!" Blu called. The sixteen Arwings barrel rolled and came in level to the ground. They fell into formation behind Fox, Joey and Blu. The four SMs took up the sides above them. They were gonna take him on in style.

        The first obstacle presented itself as a maze of corridors. At first it was easy; Half of the wings took left, the rest took right. Each hall then split, and eventually Blu found herself flying in a corridor with O'Ryan. The valley narrowed, and then came a miniature obstacle course; Bars of stone stretched across the valleys, and the two Arwings had to either dive or climb in hight to avoid them.

        The silence was disturbing.

        "Say, O'Ryan," Blu said, "I never caught your first name. Mind if I ask?"

        "Not at all," O'Ryan replied. "It's Lance."        

        "Lance??" Blu asked, sounding less suprised then she felt. "I...I knew a Lance once..." She was quiet again. Lance? O'Ryan had seemed familiar... could they be the same... ? It hurt her head to think about it, so she quit.

        "Andross is an insane fool," Lance commented, breaking the silence.

        "Here, here," Blu replied, glad to have something to take her mind of the puzzle. "When I get back to Corneria, all I want is a nice bowl of Titanian Pasta..."

        "I hear ya. What say we go to the Lylat Café?"

        "Why Lance, if I didn't know better I'd say you were asking me on a date," Blu said, half jokingly.

        "What if I am?" He asked. The ledges and bars had cleared. The hall joined with one on the right, and Blu caught the sight of Trixxy and Cruisor's ships.

        "I'd say..." Blu hesitated. Did she want to be involved with a native? Hell. She was gonna be here for a while. "Lets go for it."

        "Go for what?" Boomer asked, catching the rear end of the conversation as he joined them. Soon all sixteen ships were back together. None looked damaged.

        "For what?" Falco said.

        "Who's going for what?" Added Peppy.

        Blu sighed. It had to turn out this way, didn't it?

        "Go for a date," Blu said. "Me and Lance. So there."

        "Oh?" Trixxy giggled, "Where?"

        "Lylat Café. For Titanian Pasta," Lance concluded.

        "Yeah, so there-" Blu was about to say. Suddenly, a horde of little ships dug themselves out of the ground. blu shot out a bomb, and it caught the main portion of the ships. The rest were spinning, firing. Blu barrelled, reflecting the lasers.

        "I've got an idea, let's change the subject," Trixxy mumbled, immitating the Mad Hatter from an Earth fairy tale.

        "Incoming!" Chard yelled. Blu looked ahead. A mass of giant bars were heading straight for them! The Arwings dodged to the side. The bars suddenly arched down, planting their ends in the ground. The effect was terrible; Slanted columns caught in criss cross patterns. The Arwings threaded through the maze, and when they made it to the otherside, they all heard unfortunatly familiar voices.

        "Don't get too cocky Star Fox," O'Conner cackled, "You thought you'd get by this easy?"

        "The parties' just begun!" Leon swung around and tailed Blu's ship. She backflipped, and shot at him.

        "Star Wolf, what's your damn problem?" Boomer asked, "You're out numbered! And out armed!"

        "Am I?" Wolf asked. Suddenly, there was a flash of pink. Katt Monroe's small ship turned, and fired a bomb straight towards Falco. Before his ship even hit the ground, she pivoted in the air and shot down Boomer with a charged up hyper-nuker. Blu saw her coming.

        "I'm taking care of you personally," Katt purred. Her faster ship came straight at Blu, who dove down and took a near miss with the ground.

        Blu was confused. Katt, treacherous? Okay, so that in itself wasn't suprising. She dodged Katt's numerous attacks, not even bothering to return fire. This was a bit weird. Why didn't it make sense? Because it was against the rules for good guys to be bad.

        "And by what means do I get this great honor?" She asked Katt in a private comm link. Why get everyone involved. Anyways, she was planning on a verbal war, it wouldn't do to let Joey's young team to hear that.

        "You're a selfish, conceited little brat of an Aliroo."

        "What do you know about Aliroos?" Blu asked.

        Katt laughed. It had an edge that was evil.

        "Thats for me to know and you to die."

        "That made no sense Katt. Are you an Aliroo?" Blu manuvered her shp in a tight turn and flanked Katt's ship.

        "Lets just say I'm close enough. I've got the blood, but the Alliance has some problems, and I'm here to fix them."        

        Blu was angry. Katt Monroe, an Aliroo?

        "No Aliroo is a traitor," Blu said through clenched teeth.

        "Well Blu, I guess I'm proving you wrong." Katt backflipped and fired a missle at Joey's ship.

        "Leave him alone," Blu growled.

        "Make me."

        Already Star Wolf was taking advantage of the Alliance ship's suprise: Cruisor, Strype, Chard, Tayla, Slippy, Peppy were already in bad shape. They had to retreat. Hopefully they could return to Bolse for repairs. The only wings left were Fox, Trixxy, Bill, Joey, Ricky, Lance, and herself.

        "Joey, Ricky, Bill: Escort the other wings to Bolse," she directed, "Now!"

        The trio obliged.

        Something was coming out of the ground. Blu dodged another shot from Katt. She may have a faster ship, but Blu still had superior armor, and she had the warfare techniques of a trained Aliroo. If Katt was truly Aliroo, she would have had some training. But not as much as Blu.

        A tunnel had opened in the ground.

        "Fox McCloud," a deep, rumbling voice said, "I have someone you may wish to meet. Come, see me."

        "Who is that, Fox?" Blu asked. Although she knew.

        "Andross," Fox replied.

        "Then go! You can take him on! We'll hold them off here! GO!"

        Fox didn't object; he shot up and down into the portal.

        "Lets take care of these guys now," Blu said. She wanted to make quick work of Katt. She took a sharp turn around a pillar and fired a bomb. Katt's ship blew up nicely, and as quickly as Falco's had. There was pink flash, and Blu realised that Katt really must have been an Aliroo; that flash was one of a TDT. The idea of a treacherous Aliroo infuriated Blu. She wondered if Falo had known he was dating an evil alien? Speaking of whom... Blu neared the ground. She knew Boomer would be fine, he had Aliroo strength and endurance. But Falco was a native, she had to transport him to her ship. She slowed near is crash site, locked on. The transport was quick. He was knocked out, and barely fit in the Arwing. But she'd have to manage. Suddenly her ship shook. She looked at her radar. Wolf and Leon were left. Lance and Trix had taken care of the others. Blu arched, her ship slower than usual because of the extra weight. She managed to come in behind Wolf. She fired. Leon's blip dissapeared from the radar. Good.

        "One more guys, one more," she said. She looked up from her radar. Where had Wolf gone? She cursed at herself for loosing him. Her ship shook, critically this time. The balance was off.

        "No!"

        Lance's Arwing dove in. Blu pulled up hard on the nav, trying to level off the Arwing before it crashed. She looked up and behind her manually, through the glass ceiling of the Arwing. Things seemed to happen in slow motion:

        Star Wolf's powered-up laser energy was focused on the laser canons of his ship. He fired, the globe of orange energy began to shoot towards her Arwing. She couldn't veer out of the way, Falco's extra weight inhibited her agility. Then Lance's Arwing careened in from the front, both intercepting the bomb and colliding straight with Wolf's ship in a kamakazi manuever. There was a big explosion. Then, both ships were gone.

        Blu stared, shocked. She looked to her radar: Only two blips showed. She guided her Arwing up, and searched the area for Lance's ship. She looked, even though she had seen his ship explode. She blinked and shook her head in disbelief. He was gone, just like that! Everything that he was...Just...Gone. Blu had never lost anyone she had cared about. It was as if suddenly something was missing but her brain couldn't figure out what it was. Was he really...?

        "I'm sorry, Blu," Trixxy said quietly, "My TDT wasn't fast enough, I woulda transported him out."

        Another blip appeared on her radar. Blu's eyes shot to the location, and Fox's ship was sent spinning out of the tunnel, propelled by a blast of fire.

        "Lets get out NOW!" He yelled. Blu took one last look at the scene, then followed him upwards. Falco was regaining consiousness..

        "What the...?"

        "You don't wanna know," Blu said. "I don't wanna know."

~*~

        It was all Blu could do to hold back her tears as she fled to her room and shut the door. She collapsed on her bed Why Lance? Why? Why Lance? Why not herself? She could have taken a direct hit and been able to transport away at the right moment! Why take such a charming native? Why not one of the Aliroos present who could take care of themselves?

        She asked herself why once too many times, and drifted to a dreamless sleep.

        Blu woke up entangled in her bed sheets. She dully walked to her bathroom and rinsed her face off with brisk, cold water. He heart felt like a block of stone, heavy and emotionless. She dried her face and got dressed. She ate a replicated breakfast of toast. She would have cried but she had no more tears to shed. She hung her head between her arms and sighed. He was gone. She hadn't even known she had liked him until it was too late. She wondered if she would have felt the same way if it had been Fox. She hadn't even known him very long. But there had been something. Something different about Lance O'Ryan that she couldn't put her finger on.

        She picked up the phone and dialed the hospital number. Everyone who had been injured in the battle against Andross was fine. There had only been twenty-four deaths out of all the living Alliance forces. Ships taken down at Katina, Bolse mechanics. Lance. The Star Teams were scheduled to recieve medals later today. She didn't want to go.

        Then she saw something glint on the table in front of her. She blinked, clearing her eyes, and looked closely. What was it? She reached slowly across the table and held the pokéball in her hand. It was a pearly white on one half, and an ocean aqua on the other. A pokéball? How would it have gotten to the Lylat System? She shakily set the pokéball on the table and summoned the pokémon inside. A familiar serpentine dragonair appeared.

        "Ripley," Blu whispered. She hugged the dragon, simultaneously programming her TDT to the Indigo Plateau coordinates. The portal opened, and she stepped through. Lance was ahead of her, with his back turned. She set down Ripley, and walked slowly towards the Elite Four Leader.

        "Lance?" She asked slowly.

        He turned, and grinned an all-too familiar Aliroo grin.

        He stepped forward and took her into his arms.

        "I'm sorry Blu, I didn't think it would turn out this way," he said.

        Blu grinned, and looked up, shifting form to match his. Her eyes glistened, but she refused to cry in company, even Lance O'Ryan.

        "Me neither."