One of the biggest upgrades Slippy had given both to the Great Fox and to the Ar-Wings was switching out fuel tanks for mana batteries. By making the ships run directly on magic as opposed to standard fuel sources, fuel and engine efficiency increased drastically. This improvement meant that instead of taking one direct path to confront Andross and hope that shut down his invading forces, Team Star Fox could afford - both in time and money - to clear every planetary region as they moved to the edge of the Lylat System and the Planet Venom.
The first region the Team tackled was the asteroid belt between Corneria and the rest of the system, what was normally the civilized planet's last line of natural defense against invasion. The Great Fox took the lead, clearing some of the larger asteroids out with ship lasers while the Ar-Wings flew in close, resting within the Great Fox's magical field to replenish their mana batteries. Once the asteroids became too small and thick to penetrate directly with the Great Fox, the Ar-Wings moved forward to hunt down any of Andross's forces infesting the belt. This proved relatively easy for them, as the asteroid belt had been their preferred training ground once the Ar-Wings had become operational after Sunset's arrival. They knew the twists and turns well, and Falco claimed he knew each rock by name.
Confident that nothing bad would happen in the belt, Krystal turned her attention to Sunset, who had slumped in on herself somewhat after they'd left Corneria. Krystal didn't know what caused that, but she could guess. Lifting her into her arms, she cradeled her gently.
"What is wrong with her?" Rob asked worriedly.
"I can only theorize," Krystal began carefully, "but even using an external magical storage unit as a focus drains the caster somewhat. Using the entire ship like that was impressive, but the feedback from controlling that much magic must have hit her really hard. Cutting the ship was simple enough, as that was just extending a cutting spell a great distance, only manipulating a small amount of space-time at a time as she cut through the ship. But the crushing meant seizing the entire ship in magic at once." She shook her head. "Even with her natural talent, I'm surprised she was able to command that much magic at that range unaided, even if it was available."
"It wasn't unaided," Rob spoke up. "Diagnostics indicate that her actions on Corneria made use of the Great Fox's targeting computer. This was not apparent at the time as there does not yet exist a command prompt for the activity of magical energy within the ship. I will discuss with Slippy about fixing that when this mission ends."
"And until then, I'll try and keep her from doing too much," Krystal murmured softly. "I'd hate to see her burn herself out."
"Agreed," Rob offered as he changed course. "Occupying force has been neutralized. Now setting course for Fichina."
The mission on Fichina took the four fighters into the atmosphere to clear out occupation of a defense post, focusing only on the defense post and taking out all enemy drone ships. With a limited space to work with, the Team was able to handle things easily while the Great Fox stayed in geosynchronous orbit around the planet, directly above the base. Krystal and Sunset watched, though Krystal kept Sunset away from the screen since she was still a little woozy.
As they cleared out the drones, Rob detected something that was most concerning. "A bomb has been planted at the base!" he called out to everyone.
"Geeze!" Fox called out in shock. "Can anyone take care of it?"
At that moment, four new fighter craft similar to Ar-Wings but with far more menacing designs flew into the area. A new com signal broke into communications. The first image to appear was a silver furred wolf, identified as 'Wolf' by the Great Fox's computer. "I can't let you do that, Star Fox," he declared in a playfully vicious tone.
The next image was a green-skinned chameleon identified as 'Leon'. "Andross has ordered us to take you down," he declared in a surprisingly urbane, civilized voice.
The third image was a pink-skinned pig identified as 'Pigma'. "Peppy!" he greeted warmly, his voice holding a vicious, taunting barb. "Long time no see!"
The fourth image was a brown-skinned monkey in war armor, identified as 'Andrew'. "Andross' enemy is my enemy," he declared simply, his voice showing a strong sense of duty.
"Just what I need to see," Fox growled irritably as the Ar-Wings changed course to deal with the new threat. "Star Wolf. Let's take care of these guys first."
As the two teams split into four distinct one-on-one dogfights, Krystal turned to Rob. "Star Wolf?" she asked in surprise.
"It was in the report on enemy forces General Pepper provided," Rob explained. "Since Team Star Fox under James McCloud - Fox's father - was so effective at dealing with Andross' forces, it appears he's assembled an anti-Star Fox team, Star Wolf."
Krystal watched the fight for a time. Before she could speak up, however, Peppy cut through the comms. "Pigma! You're going to pay for what you did!"
"Why is he so intense on that one?" Krystal asked in surprise, having never expected such intensity from the gentle old rabbit.
"Pigma was a member of Star Fox under James, alongside Peppy," Rob explained. "He betrayed them to Andross, which led to James being lost, presumed dead."
Krystal's face fell. "Fox..."
Sunset's eyes narrowed angrily.
After a time, Krystal found her voice again. "They seem...rather evenly matched," she murmured as she watched each of the dogfights split back and forth, moving quite fluidly as the two groups struggled to destroy each other.
"Fix that..." Sunset growled irritably, her eyes and horn starting to glow.
Rob turned to the controls as circuits started to glow. "Moving Great Fox into lower atmosphere to reduce distance strain," he declared quickly.
As the ship entered the lower atmosphere, it blazed with light as it released a large surge of magic under Sunset's direction, supercharging the Ar-Wings by drastically replenishing their systems. With all four Ar-Wings now moving far faster than the other ships - identified by the computer as Wolfen models - were quickly outmatched and forced to withdraw, much to their pilots frustrations.
"You haven't heard the last of this, Fox!" Wolf roared over the comms as the Wolfens withdrew. "I don't know what you're using to supercharge your Ar-Wings...but I'll find out! And then you'll be sorry!"
With the bomb defused, the group made their way back to the Great Fox, setting course for Sector Y. "Whatever Sunset just did, don't let her do it again when Star Wolf is around," Fox instructed. "I don't want them getting any ideas there."
"Agreed," Krystal spoke up firmly.
"Orders received and accepted," Rob confirmed.