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Chapter 10: Future's End

Mental Heart's ship exited warp near the planet Venom, where Andross kept his base of operations. Andross spotted him immediately and opened a comm to him.

"Welcome back, Mental Heart. I presume you have finished your task." Andross tented his fingers together in anticipation of the answer.

Mental Heart's helmet betrayed no emotion as he answered, "Affirmative. Resistance operations have been reduced by 85% across the system. I encountered the Fox McCloud but I was forced to retreat before I could engage them."

"You left them ALIVE!" Andross shout caused those on his bridge to jump and then cringe as the admiral's own psionic powers assaulted them.

Mental Heart was unmoved as he replied, "My power reserves are at 10% after the warp jump to return here. I need to recharge before my containment fails." His ship flew towards the Venomian shipyards.

Andross sat back down, his psionic explosion calming down. "Very well. Helmsman!" he turned to the lizard at the controls, "Prepare to warp jump to Mental Heart's last coordinates, and make sure The Prank is part of the fleet." He didn't bother with electronic communications and opened his mind to the rest of the fleet to sent out a psychic message, 'all ships follow my flagship to the coordinates my officers send you. We are going to put and end to the Star Fox Team!'

As she was sending out the message, the communications officer ventured a question, "Admiral, what does Mental Heart mean by his containment failing?"

Everyone tensed up, unsure if Andross was going to snap at her.

Surprisingly, Andross's answer was rather cordial even as his ship jumped to warp. "I suppose you should know. As much as it pains me to admit it, Mental Heart is the most powerful psionic in this system, even more than me, but," he raised a finger, "there is one area in which he has little to no skill: control. As he grew more powerful his body broke down and he was confined to the suit you saw him wearing in that 'cocoon of death'. Now he's little more than living psionic energy and if that suit loses power or is breached then his consciousness will spread out and dissolve." He smirked, "Even all that power he would be too scattered to do little more than push debris around, for a few minutes, then he would spread farther apart until his existence is little more than a dream he can't waken from."

"Couldn't he just pull himself back together?" The comm officer asked again.

Andross laughed rather jovially, "Maybe, if he had any inkling how to control his power. Even with all his power he can't even communicate telepathically." He waved his hand, "Enough of this, prepare for battle!"

OoOoO

Soulful Heart went over the data and sighed dejectedly, "I finished the scans, Peppy, nothing's alive out there."

Peppy Hare did his best not to slump down in his seat as he sighed, "Alright, prepare to leave the sector, ROB."

"AFFIRMATIVE. WARP ENGINES CHARGING."

"Wait!" Soulful shouted, "Incoming warp signatures, over a dozen!"

A psionic shock rippled through the minds of Peppy, Tenderheart, Soulful, Miyu and Fara and the all instinctively spoke the same word, "Andross!"

Tenderheart's voice came over the comm system, "Battle stations! Be ready to launch all fighters until warp jump is ready!" It was a scramble in the docking bay as Andross' ships dropped out of warp and fighters poured out to face them.

Cheer Bear just stared at the view screen as the ships poured out. "We have to get out of here."

"I'm already working on masking our warp signature, I need at least five minutes." Bright Heart's voice replied over the comm system.

"Any less and they can track us," Peppy affirmed. "Katt, keep the pressure on them and activate the point defenses. ROB, synchronise with Bright Heart and try to speed up the process."

"AFFIRMATIVE. SYSTEMS ALIGNING."

OoOoO

Tenderheart's mind raced a mile a minute as he did his best to weave between the hailstorm of plasma lasers and shoot down as many targets as he could. Everyone else was in a similar state, even Fara as she held back and let her psi pods do most of the fighting. The rarely used point defenses on the Fox McCloud flared to life and fired into the approaching fighters that broke through their own screen.

"Incoming missiles!" Slippy's shout drew their attention to the salvo approaching the ship.

"I've got this!" Confidence Heart transformed the Mechwing back to fighter mode and flew into the salvo. "YAH!" Confidence's shout was accompanied by her shifting back to robot mode and unleashing all her firepower on the missiles, destroying them.

"More incoming!" Cheer's panicked voice came in over the comm.

"I've identified the ship launching the attacks," Soulful said, "Take it out or we're going to be overwhelmed!"

"I'm on it!" Perfect wheeled his bomber around and accelerated towards the missile frigate launching the attacks.

More and more missiles in, forcing the crew to split their attention between the fighters and the missiles, until something was forced to give and four missiles snuck through their screen.

The Fox McCloud rocked violently as the missiles struck the bulging forwards observation deck, shattering it completely.

"Close off all access to the observation deck!" Hope Bear shouted.

"Sounds like they thought it was the control deck," Soulful said.

"Good thing it isn't," Peppy said, "Bright Heart, how long until we can leave?"

"Two more minutes, just hold on!" Bright Heart shouted.

Perfect effortlessly avoided the attacks from pursuing fighters as he closed in on the missile frigate. "Closer, closer," he mumbled as his nova torpedoes locked on. "And away!" he fired and rolled aside. Something fired off the frigate and struck his side shield, but he payed it no mind until he heard scraping on the hull.

"Hello in there? Oooooh been a while since I had a tin can to tear into. Maybe I'll wait until you get back to the big ship, if you're nice enough to take me." Perfect looked up through his 360-degree camera into the grinning cloud face attached to a giant spider.

Perfect's blood ran cold and he did the only thing he could, turned away from the Fox McCloud and accelerated as the missile frigate exploded behind him.

"Perfect, where are you going?!" Tenderheart demanded over the comm.

"They shot The Prank onto my ship! I have to get away before it gets through the armor!" Perfect shouted back.

"Aww, you're going to ruin my fun? I guess I'll tear into you myself then." The Prank's sharp spider-like limbs began to strike down onto the ship's laminate titanium hull.

"I'll take you with me if I have to," Perfect hit the controls for warp, "I don't know where you're going to end up but hopefully it will be far away from anyone you can hurt." His fingers raced over the console as the ship's warp engines engaged.

"You won't send me through warp!" The Prank's limbs all formed into a large drill and he rammed it into the hull.

Perfect saw the drill tip break through the hull surrounding him as he pressed the last button and delivered his last message, "Looks like I'm getting a perfect sendoff. Good Luck, Polite, I'll see you soon." The air rushed out of his cockpit as he hit the warp jump. Soon all that was left was the debris trail in his wake.

Tenderheart had to hold back the tears as he landed back in the ship as another missile struck the side and tore off a wing, "ROB, everyone's back. Jump now!"

"AFFIRMATIVE. INITIATING WARP JUMP."

The whole ship shook as the ship went to warp and Hope Bear's voice came over the comm, "Stabilizers are damaged! This going to be a bumpy ride!"

Miyu was thrown to the deck plating as the ship suddenly shifted, making a hard turn at warp. In under a minute no one was standing except for Confidence Heart who just barely kept herself upright enough to hold on to a bulkhead before she collapsed when another sharp turn was made.

Andross was raging as he watched the Fox McCloud vanish into warp. "Don't let them get away!" he bellowed, vocally and psionically shouting to the rest of the fleet, "Track them now! We will not lose them! FIND THEM!!!"

OoOoO

No one was sure how long the warp jump lasted, all they knew for certain was that it was too long.

Take Care, Get Well and Patient Heart spent the rest of the day patching up small cuts and bruises. They were grateful that at least their replicators were still functioning instead of forcing them to rely on pre-made tools and bandages.

Tenderheart stood on the bridge, holding his head where he had hit it on the docking bay deck. He stared out at the large Z shaped nebula they were approaching as he spoke to Peppy, "Is this the best place we can hide?"

Peppy shook his head. "We can't hide here for long, but Andross won't search this close to Venom for us right away. We had to make two ninety degree turns at warp to make sure he didn't follow us." Peppy looked up at Tenderheart, "Sorry about the rough ride."

"It's fine. I'm more torn up about Perfect." Tenderheart sighed, "Another dead friend, I don't know how many more times I can do this..."

"It might be more than you think," Soulful Heart approached them, "Tenderheart, I need to talk to you, alone."

Tenderheart was about to object, until he saw the grim look on Soulful Heart's face. "Alright, let's walk." Tenderheart fell in step beside Soulful Heart as they exited the command bridge.

"I have to assume this is about more than the damage we took," Tenderheart said.

"If it were just the damage we took then it would be an inconvenience compared to what we have to deal with now." Soulful Heart looked at a datapad he was carrying then stopped as they stood in front of one of the lifts. Soulful Heart took a deep breath and spoke bluntly, "We can't win."

Tenderheart started then turned to face him, "Excuse me?"

"We. Can't. Win." Soulful repeated, "This war, this resistance is doomed, completely doomed no matter what we do." Soulful Heart didn't give Tenderheart time to respond as he continued, even as the lift door opened, "I've ben going over reports from the resistance for months, correlating reports, losses and wins and I came to this conclusion a while ago. Based on the rate of loss to drone ships and cloned pilots and considering the size of the empires fleet, even if we managed to kill No-Heart, Cold Heart, Quenos, Mental Heart and Andross and destroy every automated factory they set up to build their fleets we'll still be outnumbered at least 1000 to 1 and eventually we'll be out of resources, especially with the resistance fleet devastated they are going to be gunning for us and only us." Soulful Heart looked up from his datapad, "We can't win, Tenderheart."

Tenderheart's gaze narrowed, "Well what should we do? Just lie down and die!? Surrender and hope for mercy from No-Heart!?"

Soulful Heart was about to fire back when a third voice joined the conversation. "I might have a solution." Both turned to where Bright Heart stood just outside the lift, a datapad in his hand.

Tenderheart's gaze softened, "Alright, Bright Heart, what's your solution?"

Bright Heart held the datapad out towards them. "We send someone back in time to stop any of this from happening."

Soulful Heart took the datapad and stared at it. "Time travel, are you serious?"

Bright Heart looked from Soulful to Tenderheart then nodded, "It's only a theory at this point, but I've been working on it in whatever spare time I could. I'm sorry I didn't bring it up before but I thought you might reject it or tell me to focus on something else."

Tenderheart looked up from the datapad, "You're right, I would have but after what Soulful told me." He looked up at Soulful, "This might be our only option. How do we do it?"

Bright Heart brightened up considerably, "Actually we have all of the materials I need onboard, one huge things we'll need is the psychonite inside the Psiwing." He saw Tenderheart's skeptical look, "What little I've been able to figure out says that only a psion can guide the system properly, and most of the psychonite will burn out in the travel. I just need a few days with Faye and Slippy to devote to this and nothing else."

"Which means no time to repair the Fox and we'll have to stay ahead of Andross the whole time." Tenderheart paced back towards the command bridge then turned back, "And with the broken stabilizer you can't work at warp."

"We'll get on that right away, then we'll start working on the drive." Bright Heart turned to leave.

Tenderheart nodded, "Good. As soon as we can get back at warp I'm going to assemble everyone in the observation lounge." Tenderheart smiled, for the first time in years he felt hope beginning to well up in his heart.

OoOoO

Once at warp, only ROB was left to control the ship as everyone else gathered in the rear observation lounge. A picture of Perfect Panda sat on a table surrounded by flowers, all of which had been replicated. Everyone said their piece as they bid farewell to Perfect, then Tenderheart sat them down at the tables to discuss their new plan.

"Time travel? Are you nuts?!" Falco was the first to voice his opinion after hearing Tenderheart's plan. He slammed his hands on the table in the read observation lounge they were all seated at.

"I have to agree, this is far-fetched at the very best," Fara added.

"I know but at this point I don't see any other options," Tenderheart moved Soulful's datapad to the center of the table, "I trust Soulful's analysis, especially after what Mental Heart was able to do to most of the resistance fleet. I know it's a longshot but I'd rather take this million to one chance at undoing all this tragedy than keep fighting a hopeless war."

Miyu was the first to pick up the datapad and analysed it in an instant, "I can see what he means. These numbers look bad; I don't even know if we can last another month." Everyone stared at her, "Mom and dad used to show me old tactical reports, broke a lot of rules but they wanted to be sure I was well prepared for the military."

"Tell me about it," Faye rolled her eyes, "She used to tell me all about her parents' lessons back at the academy."

Bright Heart stood up, "Please, I know I can do this now that we have time. While we were working on the stabilizers," he nodded to Slippy and Faye, "We refined the plan and we're heading back to the Sol system. The empire has a small base there we'll have to destroy but Earth was where everything changed and where we have to prevent this."

While murmurs passed through the assembly, Take Care was the first to speak up, "So you're saying that if this works, and that's a big if, then none of this will have ever happened?" She turned to Bright Heart, "Bright Heart, I trust you and your judgement but do you even know what's going to happen when we do this?"

Bright Heart looked up at the bear he knew as his big sister growing up and sighed, "I don't know, not entirely. I know this is a shot in the dark, but...this is the best chance...the only chance we have."

Tenderheart stood up and walked over to the other table where Perfect's picture sat. He picked it up and stared at it for a moment. "I've said goodbye to too many friends already," he set the picture down and turned to the others, his eyes were wet as he answered but he held in his emotions, "We're doing this. We're travelling to Earth at low warp so you three can finish the drive and attach it to a ship before we get there." Tenderheart turned to Fara, "I'm sorry, Fara, but we have to gut the Psiwing to do this. They can refit it back to an Mk V, since it's built on the same chassis."

Fara nodded, "It's fine," she smiled, "It was still fun to fly if only twice."

"Thank you," Tenderheart smiled, "Until then I think we have some recording to do. We're not going half-way here so if you have any messages you want to record and send to your past selves, or someone in the past you want to tell something, then record or write it down on a datapad so we can send it back."

Later, Tenderheart lay on his bed next to Cheer as she worked on a datapad, trying to decide what she should send back to her past self. She turned to Tenderheart and noticed that he wasn't even trying with his own.

"Something wrong, Tender?" Cheer asked.

Tenderheart set the pad down and put his arms behind his head, "No, but I have something to tell you. I'm the one going back in time."

Cheer's eyes went wide, "What? Why you?"

"Because we need to make sure our past selves trust whoever goes back in time," Tenderheart rolled onto his side to face her, "Soulful Heart suggested it and I agreed, so Bright Heart's attaching the time drive to my Arwing."

Cheer just stared at Tendeheart for a moment, stunned. Then leaned in and put her arms around him, the datapad still in his hand. Tendeheart was expecting a kiss, but instead Cheer went up to his ear and whispered, "I'm pregnant."

Tenderheart's eyes went wide, "What?"

"I found out from Take Care, right after we went into the nebula. She gave me quite the lecture. Less than a month but I wasn't sure how to tell you." Cheer withdrew, her face looking dejected.

Tenderheart was caught amidst his emotions. He wanted to be happy to be a father, he wanted to be mad at himself and Cheer for not being more careful in such a dangerous situation, he wanted to be sad that their child would most likely not live a full life.

Finally, he just hugged Cheer and did his best to reassure her, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry it had to end up like this."

Cheer started to cry, "Me...me too. I mean..." She took in a shuddering breath and lifted up her datapad again, "All this happening, I mean if this happens then Champ and I will be together again but I feel so guilty because it feels like I'm abandoning what we have here and now and this." She touched her tummy, "This could be more than that."

Tenderheart took her hand and placed it on her cheek, "It's alright, I feel the same way. I love you Cheer but I think this is going to be for the best. But it's not us who are changing, it's past versions of us. We don't even know how this will change our present, for all we know we could just be creating an alternate past instead of fixing this...sorry," he apologized as he realized what he said.

Cheer smiled, "Thank you," they kissed and Cheer went back to record her message, "So you're not going to write something?"

Tenderheart lay back, "No, I'll just tell myself when I get back."

OoOoO

"SOL SYSTEM APPROACHING. READY TO RETURN TO NORMAL SPACE."

Peppy took a deep breath and kept his gaze forwards. "We're so close," he opened the comm to the docking bay, "Bright Heart, is the time drive ready?"

"All set, I still don't know how well this will work but it's as ready as it's every going to be," Bright Heart replied.

"Good, prepare for the launch," Peppy shut off the comm.

Bright Heart turned away from the wall panel to where Tenderheart was practising with the sword Fara had given him. "Are you sure you want to take that back with you? You've never even used it."

"I need every edge I can get," Tenderheart took one last swing and wiped his brow before he stuck it in the sheathe on his back, "It's part of the plan."

"Well then, let's go over it again," Bright Heart held up a datapad with the checklist on hit, "What are the specific goals you have to stop No-Heart in the past."

Tenderheart took a deep breath, "First, we need to let everyone know that No-Heart is alive and that Andross in on the planet. Second, I need to get Indy to get psionic training so he can help us in the final battle. Third, I'm going to deliver the advanced tech from my Arwing to the Star Fox Team. And fourth, I need to stop The Prank from killing everyone in Paradise Valley."

Bright Heart nodded, "Good." He looked over to where Faye was loading a large box into the back of Tenderheart's Awring.

Faye stepped back, "There, future messages secure."

"Did you put one in?" Tenderheart walked over to examine the sealed metal box.

Faye shook her head, "No point. Me and Miyu were still in the military back in Lylat when this happened so odds are we'll never meet."

Tenderheart frowned, "I never thought of that." He smiled and held out a hand, "It was good to know you, Faye. Thank you for everything.

Faye took his hand in both of hers and shook vigorously, "You too, Tenderheart. Go get em."

Tenderheart was about to reply when a warning siren started to blare and Peppy's voice came over the intercom. "Battle stations everyone! There two more massive energy signatures ahead of us."

"Crap! We were so close too," Faye snapped her fingers, "Better suit up."

"Good luck. I won't be out there. Can't risk it," Tenderheart took a deep breath as he heard the others running for their fighters.

Confidence Heart stopped by Bright Heart to give him a kiss, "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," Bright Heart smiled, then suddenly looked downtrodden as she ran to the Mechwing. "This is the end," he whispered so no one else could hear him.

Fara jumped into her Arwing, the former Psiwing, and was starting up the engine when she felt a lash of pain in her psyche. She knew what it had to be even as she opened the comm to confirm it, "Peppy, you felt that right?"

"I did. That Andross and Mental Heart, no question." Peppy sounded grim. "They must have passed us on the way here."

"The downside of travelling at low warp," Fara said.

"Well then, let's give these bastards one hell of a send-off!" Confidence Heart grinned as she powered up the Mechwing.

"Alright people, new objective," Fara said, taking command of the squadron as the Arwings in the bay powered up, "We need to clear out any fighters Andross sends against us and try to destroy whatever that thing Mental Heart uses is. Our objective is to give Tenderheart a clear space to use the time drive...Even the Fox is expendable." The grimness in her voice left them in no uncertain terms.

The technicolor glow of war space faded to show them their welcoming committee. Andross flagship, a massive ship with his face formed from the metal on the front. Next to it, Mental Heart's cocoon of death lay in wait, the large pods already starting to detach.

"Star Fox! Launch!" Fara shouted as she catapulted out of the launch bay.

Tenderheart was just stepping into the time drive equipped Arwing Mk V as the ships launched. He wanted to be out there, fighting alongside them, giving them every edge he could, but he had his duty. He set the sword, sheathe and all, next to the seat and strapped it into place and sat down. He looked at the small black control box with just one switch on it and two displays, one for the current date and one for the target date. He mentally reviewed what he would have to do one more time: once he had enough clear space he would flip the switch and it would catapult him backwards in time. He had to watch the "present time" display and focus his psionics on the drive itself (which he already felt humming in the back of his mind) and force it to stop once he got near the appointed date. He only had one shot and no simulations to test it. Tenderheart set his jaw as the hatch closed behind him and he gripped the controls. He would make it count!

OoOoO

Andross couldn't help but grin with sinister glee as he saw the Fox McCloud emerge from warp space. "Destroy them! All of them!"

Immediately his flagship and the nearby station began spitting out fighters, smaller than a fleet he would have liked but Andross was satisfied with what he had. "Open fire!"

Mental Heart needed no order and the scale shaped pods of his cocoon detached and flew towards the approaching fighters.

As soon as she was clear Confidence Heart transformed the Mechwing into robot mode. The first two scale pods from Mental Heart flew to her and she destroyed them with her beam Vulcans. She grit her teeth and glared from behind her mask, "Mental Heart!" She hurtled into the approaching fighters, her beam katars and Vulcans shredding anything that came near.

Fara did her best to coordinate of the situation, "Slippy, try to get close and hit the flagship's engines with your nova torpedoes. Defender, Connie, cover Slippy on his attack run. Hugs, Falco clear out the fighters the station is launching and destroy it if you get close enough, your beam cannons should make short work of a static target. Miyu, Faye, stay with me and clear out the fighters until Tenderheart launches, try to distract Mental Heart's attack drones!"

Defender felt his Arwing shake as he took several direct laser blasts before he wheeled around and destroyed his pursuers. Connie dove down to destroy moth drones that were swarming around Slippy's bomber.

"Thanks, just keep me covered and I can get to his engines!" Slippy was doing his best to focus on his task but his radar kept indicating approaching hostiles and throwing him off.

Confidence Heart's adrenaline was running high as each new scale drone came into range. At the very least Mental Heart was focused on her instead of anyone else. Her beam cannons fired off at Mental Heart's ship, but six of the scales detached and flew in the way, exploding as they deflected the shots.

Confidence Heart grinned, "Scared? Good!" She barely dodged another salvo of plasma lasers as scale pods unleashed on her, the ship responding almost faster than she could think.

OoOoO

Tenderheart tensed up as he watched the battle play out through the docking bay door. He took a deep breath and reached out with his mind, feeling the minds of the combatants, wincing at the aggressive energy from Andross and Mental Heart which forced him to hold his head and stop sensing.

A bright flash illuminated the battlefield and a Cheer's voice came over the comm system. "The station just went critical! Launch now!"

"Right!" Tenderheart hit the launch and rocketed out into space. He immediately spun around and flew under the Fox towards the shattered remains of the Earth. He felt his chest grow tight but he pressed onwards and boosted past.

"Incoming missiles!" Slippy shouted as he flew under Andross' flagship past six missiles as they launched.

"Station's gone, we got em!" Hugs shouted as she and Defender boosted back towards the missiles.

Andross watched as the six missiles streaked towards the Fox. Two Arwings tried to chase them down and four were downed, but the last two stuck home, blowing a huge hole in the side of the ship.

"Hell breach on the port side!" Hope Bear shouted as the ship shook from the impact.

"Don't expose our engines! Katt focus all fire on Andross' ship until Slippy finishes his attack run!" Peppy shouted.

"More missiles incoming!" Soulful shouted, "Shit! A group of fighters broke off and are chasing Tenderheart!"

"Someone break off and help Tenderheart!" Cheer shouted into the comm.

"Don't worry, we're on it." Miyu's voice was unusually calm.

"These aren't interceptors for nothing!" Faye sounded excited as both Arwing interceptors flew past the Fox.

Tenderheart was forced to star pulling evasive maneuvers as lasers swarmed in behind him. "Damnit, I have turn around."

"Don't worry, we got this!" beam vulcans blazed through the formations, shattering half of them, followed by two plasma discharges that destroyed the rest.

"Keep it up, Tenderheart, we'll hold them back," Faye gave a thumb's up through the comm as she and Miyu wheeled around to return to the fight.

Confidence Heart was sweating as she sliced another pod in half and destroyed two more with her cannons. By now the Cocoon of Death had been whittled down to almost the size of her own fighter, then it began to fall apart.

The remaining scale pods fell away from the cocoon and inside, a figure stirred. Four G-diffusers in an X-shape that emitted energy in the form of butterfly wings extended from the back of a humanoid figure. The hands each gripped a sword hilt that lit up with blue psionic energy.

Mental Heart's voice came over the comm, "Come to the butterfly of rebirth and meet the same fate as your mate."

Confidence Heart bared her teeth as her beam katars ignited again, "Bring it on!" She charged.

OoOoO

Slippy had lost a wing, but he still spun around as he finally cleared the entire ship and locked onto engines. "Torpedoes locked. Fire!" he shouted then dove down as they impacted.

"What hit us!" Andross demanded as his ship shook.

"Engines hit, losing power!"

"Idiots!" Destroy the Fox, fire! Fire!"

Slippy turned up as the explosion sent debris flying his way, just in time to hear Connie's voice.

"I'm hit, AUGG!" Slippy watched helplessly as her Arwing spun out and crashed into the flag ship. It was all he could do to keep firing his beam cannons into the ship, trying to break through its armor.

Confidence Heart struck out towards the Butterfly of rebirth, only to be blocked by Mental's psi-sword as his second sliced off the MEchwing's right leg.

"You are doomed." Mental Heart stated flatly as he swung the sword up.

Confidence hit her engine as hard as she could and flew away, leaving a small trail of debris behind her. She pointed her left beam vulcan at him, "No! It's you!" the hail of fire shredded through his armor, opening a hole to his cockpit. Mental Heart brought his swords up to block the remaining shots but Confidence dove straight down, shaky with only one leg engine, and stabbed into the cockpit with her beam katar.

Mental Heart only had a moment to watch as the beam weapon sliced into his containment suit. A psychic scream spread outwards as his containment suit ruptured and exploded, tearing apart the Butterfly of rebirth and sending the Mechwing spinning out of control, his consciousness becoming fainter, and fainter as he spread outwards, losing even the most basic concept of self.

Confidence Heart put up a bubble of air around herself as she hurtled out of control but she couldn't help but grin, "Time travel or no. I got you."

OoOoO

Tenderheart's eyes widened in shock as the massive explosion light up space from behind him. He was too far away to sense if it was the Fox or Andross' flagship but he pushed those thoughts from his mind as he approached the coordinates.

"Alright. Now or never." He looked down at the time drive controls and focused his mind, connecting to the psychonite linked into the time drive. "I have to get there right after the Star Fox Team arrives, or no one will believe me," he said one last time to himself.

Then he flipped the switch. Tenderheart felt like his whole body was being squashed and stretched like putty as he forced himself to keep his mind on the task, watching the time roll backwards on the counter.

BOOK 3 END

Next Part: Back, back in time to fix the errors of the past. Tenderheart returns to the world he loved to save everyone and armed with knowledge of the future he will change it. But will it work, or is the future fixed? Can one truly fight fate when they are living proof of that dark future? As he works to fix the past, the Care Bear Family will be put through the hardest trials of their life, and future knowledge may do more than save their lives and even their own lives are changed, forever.

Care Bear Family Adventures, Book 4: Generations

Will you join them on their adventure?