It wasn't long before Fox stepped back out of the warp, his eyes glowing with the purple mist that showed he was infused with the Spirit. "Alright you two," Fox spoke up calmly. "It's time to head to the Krazoa Palace-"
"A moment," the King Earthwalker spoke up quickly. "Tricky, you can't go with them any further."
"What?" Tricky demanded in shock. "Why?"
"It is forbidden for one of the Gatekeeper line to step into the Palace," the King explained calmly. "The energies of the Gates and the Palace are incompatible, and there is no telling what might happen if you were to enter, even though you are not yet old enough to start manifesting Gate energies. You must remain here with me."
"But...but..." Tricky whimpered, staring up at Fox.
"Sorry, Tricky," Fox apologized. "We're going straight there, and if you can't enter..."
Sunset pulled Tricky into a hug. "It's okay," she promised warmly. "We'll be back before you know it. Thank you...for everything."
Tricky leaned into the embrace. "Just...just be sure you come back in one piece, okay?" he asked worriedly.
"I promise!" Sunset assured him earnestly.
Tricky followed Fox and Sunset as they made their way to the Ar-Wing, and watched as they took off into the air.
Fox set his Ar-Wing down on the roof of Krazoa Palace, not far from where Krystal was still trapped and four Krazoa Spirits encircled her prison. As the pair hopped out, Fox grabbed Sunset's arm. "Stay close to me," he insisted firmly as he turned to head into the palace, seeking the place where he would need to release the Spirit. "General Scales is sure to know we're here, and we need to be ready for anything."
"Got it," Sunset promised firmly, following Fox into the Palace proper.
It didn't take long for Fox to find the place where the Spirit needed to be released, as there were only so many places within the Palace he hadn't already been. Once the Spirit was released, there was a sound of a mechanism activating high above them. "Sounds like it came from the roof," Fox murmured as he stared upward. "Guess we're heading back up there." Sunset silently followed him.
Once on the roof, they saw that a fence that had been blocking off a Warp Pad had lowered, revealing a Warp very much like what had led to previous Krazoa Shrines. "I'm betting General Scales is in there waiting for us," Sunset murmured worriedly.
"And we need to go face him," Fox stated firmly. "He has the last Spirit...and there's no way I'm leaving you alone anywhere at this point. Let's go."
Nodding, Sunset stepped onto the Warp Pad alongside him, and the pair were warped into a Krazoa Shrine. Much as Fox had told Sunset, the architecture wasn't much to look at. Plain stone walls and roof, torches here and there providing illumination...and through a raised gate, a raised platform could be seen that couldn't have looked any more like a prepared arena if there had been a goblin selling popcorn off to the side. "Get ready," Fox murmured worriedly.
Nodding, Sunset stepped away from Fox and shook herself off, shedding the water that had soaked into her fur from the rain outside and using low levels of her magic to dry herself off. She then slipped her hands into her pockets. "Ready."
As they stepped through the gate, it closed behind them and sealed with a barrier that showed it was bound to someone's life force. Nodding, they clambered up onto the platform.
"I've been waiting for you, Fox McCloud, Sunset Shimmer," General Scales voice declared angrily as he leapt down from the roof, forcing the pair to leap back away from them. He stood armed with a sword in one hand, the optic Tink had made over one eye...and an eyepatch over the other with a lightning bolt shaped scar above and below where the flesh had been seared with white-hot heat. "You both may have returned the Spellstones, and taken both of my eyes...but the war is not over yet! I will slay you here, Fox McCloud, and Sunset shall be used to channel the power of the planet into my weapons to conquer the Lylat System! En Garde!"
"Stay on his right side!" Fox barked out as he lunged to the General's left, away from the sword strike.
"On it!" Sunset declared as she lunged the other way, gathering her magic as her Sunstones lit up.
"You think direction will stop me?" General Scales roared as he turned his back to Fox, the optic-mask lighting up and releasing an intense hum.
Sunset immediately pulled her hands from her pockets, tossing up a cloud of sand that turned to hot glass in a flash of heat, covering her hands from the wrists and her horn as she gave herself blades. "Don't count on it!" she snapped out as she felt the sonic vibrations strike and distort on the hot glass...and she focused her magic to release a counter blast of sonic waves focused right on the optic.
General Scales roared in pain as he reared back, clutching at his face. "Damn you!" he roared out as he pulled back his sword, only to scream as a blast of lightning seared the armor from his back.
"You might want to rethink your priorities!" Fox snapped back as he gathered energy into his gun and Krystal's staff, ready to unleash even more of a barrage.
"You will pay for-GRAAHG!" General Scales cry of pain showed that Sunset's glass blades were as sharp as expected as she drove them into the flesh just above his ankles as he rounded on Fox.
"I'm just full of surprises!" she snapped out as she leapt onto Scales' lashing tail and began racing up his back.
General Scales swept his sword up, intending to swipe Sunset off his back with it, but another blast of lightning sent the blade flying out of his hand. "And just what do you intend-" His words were cut off in a roar of pain as an ordinary butterknife was jabbed into the optic of his mask, making him rear back blindly.
"Now Dad!" Sunset screamed out as she dove for cover.
Taking the cue, Fox unleashed all the lightning he'd gathered in a single, overcharged blast, aiming straight for the knife. The metal channeled the electricity straight into the circuitry of Scales' optic mask...and from there into his brain. He jerked and thrashed violently...and then collapsed to the ground.
The Krazoa Spirit slowly floated up out of Scales' body before flowing into Fox, infusing him fully. The deed was done.
Well that worked. Now to the puppet master I think.
...That was easy. Too easy.
Not quite, but eh...
And that's Jenga.
8972424
Better than how it was in the game
Time for monkey head to make his grand return!
Currently my thoughts are thus;
- Last we heard of Andross, he was but a tiny little flake of metal with an eye, lost somewhere inside the Great Fox.
- So just how the f*** would he have been able to get down to the planet to start mucking about?
8972424
Not as easy as the original.
8972424
At least they actually FOUGHT him. Unlike the actual game...
I want to call this anti-climactic, but at the same time, I admire a succinct battle that manages to be epic. Especially since General Scales is a secondary antagonist, at best.
It's like playing New Game Plus and instantly owning the boss that gave you trouble the first time
Science!
nice been waiting for this guy to get his
You’d think a general would have better plans to react to a multi-directional attack strategy, you’d also think a general wouldn’t destroy a planet and pay his men with rape.
I wonder how Mr. Popcorn Goblin is doing, anyway...?
It's probably 🔪 to know Scales could've met a butter end than shocking his mind out.
8972714
All the rim shots...
8972714
I’m sure that Sunset’s cutting arguments had a certain point to them that took the General’s feet out from under him. 😎
refresh my memory...: why does Sunset have hands, again?
And another boss falls to a two-pronged assault.
8972714
It's what he gets for thinking in such narrow margarines.
8972892
Because this is the Star Fox universe. She transformed slightly to accommodate. She's bipedal and has hands, but her rear legs are still hooves.
(Pocket Sand + magical fire) + (Ordinary butter knife + magical lightning + ranged fire) = One permadead tyrannosaurid general.
BECAUSE SCIENCE!
Hooray for pocket sand!
Here's hoping Krystal hits the ground running once she's free.
After spending this entire long arc as a damsel in distress she NEEDS a badass moment or two.
8972546
Bear in mind, in the actual game you don't get to fight this guy at all... which means Tats had considerably less to work with. Though that does beg the question: why DID they get to fight Scales here?
8972988
Because Andross had learned from Scales' investigations that Sunset was the source of magic for Team Star Fox, and he wanted that.
8973008
Why does this make it sound like things are going to get much worse than baseline?
8972900
Ah. I must've missed that.
8972853
I believe you may have beaten Sans this chapter...
This is what SHOULD have been in the game!
This battle was WAY better then the one in the game, that’s for sure.
RAIDENFOX & SUNSET WINSFATALITY
Short. Brutal.
Awesome
That battle was rather shocking, wasn't it?
Guess Fox and Scales should talk about the spark between them.
Sunset's attacks were so transparent here.
Guess Scales really couldn't see the battle for the war.
Scales didn't feel very spiritual in the end there, did he?
...I'll leave now.
8972826
Not enough rim shots in the world are there.
And of course the REAL fun begins
Wow, he actually put up a fight this time.
They have traded one villain for another. Now let the true battle begin.
8973173
There was originally a plan to fight Scales...
But due to either budget, space, or just plain coding constraints, we got the fake-out with Andross instead.
Think this would be 'distraction', not direction? Depends on what you are intending, but direction doesn't fit none~
Was still a good showdown, and is fun that he was taken out in part from a butterknife to the eye.
10653789
She was staying on his right side because that's where he was blind, and he was asking if they thought that would stop him. Thus, "direction".