Star Fox: Shader
Chapter 1: Crash Landing
DISCLAIMER: I don't own anything of star fox, all OC's are mine though.
Planet Earth: Grand Rapids, Michigan, 2:58 PM
It was a long clear sunny day at Grand Rapids High School. I was sitting at my desk listening to my history teacher's lesson on World War II. I glanced at my watch to see there was about two minutes left in class at the same time Mr. Westop finished his lesson.
"Don't forget your book assignments are due Friday, have a good rest of your day." He said as the clock struck 3:00 and the bell rang telling us school is done for the day. I grabbed my stuff and walked out into the hallway filling up with other students making their way to their lockers as I did the same.
I made my journey through the endless ocean of students, saying goodbye to many as well as some teachers before stopping at my locker to get my math and english binders. Out of nowhere a hand grabs the back of my shirt, and pulls me away from my locker.
"That was a sneaky trick you pulled during third period." An angry but familiar voice speaks.
Still facing my locker I let out an annoyed sigh. "Well maybe if you hadn't been harassing my friend during class, I wouldn't have had to tip the teacher." I replied.
"You should've just minded you own damn business, now I'm stuck with five hours of detention." Vince angrily scoffed.
Annoyed I turned my attention from the locker to Vince. "It is my business when its my friends your messing with." I say closing my locker. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get going." I turn and start to leave when his arm cuts me off.
"Your not going anywhere until I get my payback, so you're going to either fight or walk out of here with a black eye." Vince says.
"No." I answer him.
"Excuse me, what was that?"
"I think you heard me Vince, I'm not fighting."
"Really now." Vince then grabs me once again and slam me against the lockers. "Black eye and broken jaw it is then." He says as he readies his fist to strike my face. I was both ready to brace and defend myself, when a stern female voice came through the hall.
"What is going on over here!"
We turn our heads to see one of the science teachers, Miss. Slots, walking up to us. Once she got to us, Vince had let go of me as the teacher backed him away from me.
"Nothing Ma'am." Vince hesitantly says in response, but obviously Miss. Slots didn't buy it, given what she saw when she came around the corner.
"Christian you may leave; as for you Vince, I think Principle Deller will be happy to see you again."
Vince let out a sigh of disappointment as the teacher started to escort him to the principal's office.
'What an idiot.' I thought as Miss. Slots and Vince disappear around the corner.
With that little incident out of the way, I grabbed the rest of my stuff and made my way out of school. As I exited the building, the warm breeze of the summer air hit me and put a small grin on my face. I looked out at the parking lot, watching students enter their cars, students waiting for someone, and some walking back to their nearby homes. I took my eyes off the parking lot and to the forest behind the school fence cutting off the wilderness. That was my way home, I knew every trail in that forest. I passed through the school gate and entered the trails of the dense woods, wandering into a world of nature.
While navigating my way through the dense forest. I took in the scents and sounds of the forest surrounding me as I walked, birds chirping and other animals rustling through the branches up in the trees and the bushes down below them. After walking for few more miles I reached the end of the trail and walked into the driveway of my house. I walked up to my front door and unlocked it and went inside the comfort of the lodge like home.
"I'm home." I shouted as no one answered which was no surprise to me. I took off my backpack and put it by the entrance way, got out my homework and went to the living room and started to get to work.
Meanwhile in the Lylat System
Great Fox: Deep Space, 2:58 PM
Fox and his team were called out to Planet Fortuna because there was strange activity. While on their way to the planet, Fox and Falco were in the Great Fox's training simulator, shooting holo-targets. Slippy was in the hangar working on the new upgrades for the equipment. Peppy was on the bridge napping with ROB 64 who was keeping an eye on how long till the Great Fox reached its destination and Krystal was in her quarters meditating.
Fox and Falco were finishing up the simulation with only one minute left on the clock and eleven more holo-targets flying around the two.
"Fox, behind you." Falco shouted as two big red circles were coming at Fox from behind. Fox quickly ducked as Falco dove over him and fired his blaster nailing both targets making them disintegrate into digital bits.
"Thanks Falco but remember I'm still ahead of you by three points." Fox said as he blasted a target. "Make that four points ahead." Fox added.
"Don't get to cocky, I still have time to…" Falco was interrupted when a computerized voice came on saying, "Time's Up." All remaining holo- targets suddenly faded away as the training simulator was powered down and the room was returned to the normal box like chamber and a screen on the wall with the score showing that Fox got most kills during the simulation.
"You had some lucky shots." Falco spoke as he holstered his blaster.
"Maybe it was luck, but it's also because I practice a lot." Fox replied as he too put his blaster in his holster.
"If this were the flight simulator I would've gotten most points." Falco said as he and Fox walked to the door.
"We all have our specialties, you're good at piloting and I'm good with a blaster." Fox replied, just as the door opened to the hall ROB 64's monotone voice came on the intercom.
"Attention, we are approaching Planet Fortuna, please report to the bridge." He announced. They quickly got to the bridge where they met the rest of the team who were gathered around the holo-table in the center of the room, which was showing a hologram of the planet they were nearing. Slippy was standing on the right side as Krystal was on the left, Peppy was in the front behind the table.
Krystal turned her head to look at Fox and smiled at him as he stood next to her. Fox then returned the smile to her.
"Hey, looks like you two had a good workout." Krystal said to Fox.
"We did." he replied. Fox was about to ask Krystal how her meditation went, when Peppy cleared his throat getting their attention.
"If you two are done talking, we can go over the mission." Peppy said in a commanding tone. Fox and Krystal nodded their heads allowing Peppy to start the mission briefing.
"Well as some of you may know, four soldiers stationed on planet Fortuna have gone missing, vanishing without a trace. So they've asked us to take a look around the planet to find them." Peppy explained,
"That sounds easy enough." Falco gloated.
"Hold on there Falco." Peppy said. He then tapped on the holo-table, and a small section for the planet was highlighted.
"This is where the missing soldiers have been turning up before there communicator beacons go offline." Peppy said as some pictures of the highlighted area came up. Two of the photos showed a series of structures, other pictures showed the surrounding area.
"What are these buildings in those two photos?" Fox asked, bringing up the images on the holo-table. "Those structures are part of an abandoned military outpost, the Andross Army used it during the war. But this is a possible place where the missing soldiers might have ended up." Peppy explained.
"Krystal and I will fly to the base where the soldiers have ended up and look around there." Fox said as Peppy finished briefing. "Falco, you and Slippy will head to the Cornerian outpost to keep an eye out for anything out the ordinary." Fox added, everyone nodded in agreement.
"I'll be watching everything from here, so if anything pops up I'll let you guys know right away." Peppy said as everyone started to head to the hanger. As they got to the hanger and in their arwings, Fox turned on the communication line.
"All ships report in." He said.
"Falco here, ready to fly." Falco replied.
"Slippy here, all systems go." Came Slippy.
"Krystal reporting in." Krystal said after Slippy.
After Krystal reported in, Peppy then came on the line.
"Are you all ready for launch?"
"All ships are ready for launch Peppy." Fox confirmed.
"Launching." ROB 64 announced as Fox and the others were shot out of the Great Fox's hanger and to void of space.
"Alright let's get this operation started." Fox said as he and his team flew their way to surface of Fortuna. The mission had begun.
Meanwhile back on Earth
6:05 PM
After finishing up my homework, I decided to go outside and my practice archery. I had been practicing for a few hours, shooting arrows at three targets on the range my Dad built for me when I was 9 years old. I fired one of my last three arrows almost landing a bulls-eye when my cell phone started ringing. I put my bow down on the stand and picked up my cell phone to see that my friend Leo was calling.
"Hey Leo, what's up." I greeted.
"Hey Christian I just got back from soccer practice, you up for some Space Hunters?" He asked. "Sure, I'm about to finish some archery so I'll be on in a few minutes. So start without me." I answered back.
"Alright, just so you know I'm in the Covega System." He informed.
"Okay thanks, I'm in the Vertaze System at Cortez Station."
Space Hunters is an online role playing game Leo and I play a lot together. As you can guess from the title it takes place in space. Players can hunt down wanted criminals, go on missions and fly to planets and different star systems in the game. Makes you feel like a space pilot.
"I'll be on soon." I said as I hung up and set my phone down. I then picked my bow back up and quickly fired my arrows. One out my two arrows landed a bulls-eye. I pulled out the arrows from the targets. I quickly got inside and went up to my room and turned on my computer, got my joysticks setup and put on my headset then fired up Space Hunters. As the game's main menu popped up the monitor screen and I saw that Leo, or as his gamer name DingLionDong77, was online as he said he would be and joined the server.
The screen popped up with me and my ship in Cortez Station. I launched my ship, the Winged Vulpine off the stations landing pad. I tilted my control stick up to tilt my ship to face the station entrance, I then pushed my throttle forward and moved toward the entrance. Leo must have seen my username pop up on his screen because as soon as I exited the space station a voice chat request came up on my screen, which I accepted and Leo's voice came through my headset.
"Let the games begin."
Two Hours Later In the Game
"Christian I have a wanted Trapezoid over on my right, moving into engage." Leo said through voice chat. I saw his vessel the Noble Lion flying toward what looked like one wanted Trapezoid. But when I scanned the wanted vessel, it showed that it was really in a group of five ships.
"Deploying laser blasters." Leo informed.
"Leo hold your fire. I repeat hold your fire!" I said. But it was too late, his ship's lasers fired at the enemy ship. Suddenly five red triangles appeared on my ship's radar. I tilted my control stick to turn my ship around and flew my way to the Noble Lion.
"What just happened." Leo asked in a panicky tone.
"It's a trap, minus the Trapezoid I'm seeing two Cheetah MKIII's, one Bobcat and a Scraper. All of them are lower levels than us though." I calmly replied. I deployed my ships weapons and aimed for one the cheetahs.
"Opening fire." I said as I fired my ships lasers at the enemy cheetah. The vessel started to turn around in my direction, it then started to fire at me and my shields levels began to drop. Cheetah MKIII's are known for their speed in Space Hunters. Able to fly with speeds of 294 meters per second which makes them somewhat hard to hit, but even with their speed their maneuverability isn't very sharp. This gave a little advantage, just like the Cheetah MKIII. My ship was also fast, but it's maneuverability was good enough to dodge oncoming attacks.
The Cheetah I was attacking zoomed passed my ship, I then pulled back on my throttle and pulled up on my control stick to turn my ship around. The enemy began to fire its lasers back at me, missing the first few shots as I it was turning around. But a few seconds later my shields began to take damage. I turned my ship to the enemy and delivered my final attack. The vessel in front of me let out some small pops before it turned into a small ball of fire.
"Enemy Cheetah down." I said as I flew my ship back over to Leo to help him out. He had already finished off the Trapezoid and the other Cheetah MKIII, now he was going after the Scraper.
"I could use some helps with this Bobcat, my shields can't take much more."
"Consider that Bobcat trashed." I put my reticles on the Bobcat and immediately started to fire. The Bobcat started to turn around and attack my vessel. I lower the enemy's shields and within two minutes the enemy Bobcat was decimated.
"Bobcat down." I said as I turned my ship around to help Leo finish off the Scraper. But soon as I got eyes on the Noble Lion and the Scraper. The Scraper disappeared into a big fireball.
"Enemy Scraper, down." Leo said as he flew passed the remains of the destroyed vessel.
"Man, that was a fight, two against five and still managed to kick ass." Says Leo as he flies up to my ship.
"Look at the bounty money we got from them, along with the other bounties we got before this fight, this is enough to get a new ship upgrade for combat." I reply, I look at the ship's clock which read 22:28.
"Wow, it's that late already?" I says as I hear a "wow" escape Leo's mouth.
"Well what do you say we call it a night then." Said Leo.
"I wouldn't say no to that, after a fight like that I need a break from playing." I reply. We fly our ships back to the closest space stations, say good-night to each other and logout of the game.
Back to Reality
After shutting down Space Hunters and turning off my computer, I decide to go out for a nighttime walk. I got up from my chair, stretched my arms and legs and then went outside. I took in the peaceful breeze of the clear summer night, I stared into the dense forest beyond my house. It beckoned me to come closer and closer. I stepped off my deck; made my way to the trail behind my house and entered the forest. This forest has always been like another world to me. I would walk in it and not be afraid of getting lost, throughout my whole life I've gotten to know my way around the woods during the day and night. During the day the woods were filled with music from the birds; during the night the only thing you could hear was the wind blowing through the trees and nocturnal animals scampering around.
The reason why this forest is so important to me is because it belongs to my family. My house was built by my uncle who is an architect. His first project was a gift to my father after he married my mother. Not long after the house was finished my uncle gave my father a bigger surprise when he found the trails behind the house leading into the forest behind. My father and his siblings have always had a good relationship with each other and my uncle knew my mother and father loved the forest and that someday that their children would love these woods as they did. These woods are like a small national forest in my backyard with four big fields deep within it.
While I continued my way through the dark; dense forest, I stopped every so often to listen to the sounds around me, the wind blowing through the trees, animals crawling around the forest, and a plane flying in the sky. The plane didn't sound to far from where I was, so I decided to see if i could find it in the sky. I could hear the aircraft engine becoming louder as it grew closer. Suddenly I felt the ground start to vibrate and heard the sound of the aircraft descending, I looked up as an aircraft soared over the treeline and was on a crash course.
A few seconds after the aircraft flew by there was a sudden boom not far from where I was standing.
'That's by the field!' I thought. I ran as fast as I could to the crash site; entered one of the fields. I looked around and quickly found the crater from the crash landed ship. There was debris scattered around the area. As I began to approach the crater I got a better look at the aircraft, it was some kind of fighter jet unlike anything I've ever seen before. The right wing had broken off and little scraps of metal had broken off; the right side of the strange vessel seemed to have taken the most damage from the crash. I could see the canopy which had been cracked; the silhouette of someone inside the cockpit, but they didn't appear to be moving. When I reached the ship I got to the canopy and put my hands on the glass, taking a deep breath and closing my eyes. 'Please, still be alive.' I thought. 'Please be alive.' A few moments later I felt something, a strong pulse of the pilot's energy. Relieved, I opened my eyes and called out.
"Hang on, I'm getting you out of there." I yelled.
I began to look for a way to raise the canopy but couldn't find anything. I tried lifting the canopy but it was no good, I wasn't strong enough. I then looked at the canopy and saw the cracks.
'That's it.' I thought, I started to look around for something to break the glass. I couldn't find anything to break the canopy, so I took off my shirt and wrapped it around my fist. I walked back up to the canopy readied my fist.
"Heeya." I yelled as I struck the canopy, the glass cracked a little more but didn't break. I struck again still no avail, again and again but still no good. I started to lose steam and backed off for a bit. "This is useless." I breathed out, "At this rate I'll never get him out." I looked down at the ground taking deep breath to regain my strength. I unwrapped my shirt from my hand and put it back on. Knowing where I was, gave me some idea of a way to break the canopy open. But it was the idea of what it involved me doing that held me back.
"Screw it." I say, I backed a little ways away from the canopy. Just like before I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, once again I started to feel the energy around me. I slowly started to lift my arms upward. The power surging through my arms, like a harsh rush of wind in my hands getting stronger and stronger. Feeling charged up with energy, I lashed my hands to the ground. My hands both burst into an aqua blue energy like flame. Once more I raised my fist, now powered up and ready to strike once again. With full force I struck the canopy with all my might. A loud crash of glass breaks the silence of the night as my fist connects with the canopy, shattering it into little pieces that fell to the ground. I once again whip my arms and the flames were extinguished, I felt myself powering down as the energy around me starting to still.
I could see the pilot's arm; I knelt down and reached for it. As I pulled it out of the strange ship, I was shocked when I got a better look at the pilot.
"What in the world?" I quietly said in astonishment.
The first thing I noticed was the pointy ears like an animal. It was wearing a red and green jumpsuit. It's head had the physical features of a fox, but the body had physical features of a male human and long bushy tail. His fur was a vibrant orange. As I continued to stare at the strange creature, I then noticed the gashes on his head and leg. I could see this chest slowly rising and going down which gave some relief.
'I got to get him somewhere safe.' My mind sifted through ideas, not able to find any I thought were at all suitable as I mentally threw out idea after idea.
'I can't just leave him out here.' I thought, I took his arm and draped it over my shoulder. 'Guess I'm taking him home.' Groaning from his weight suddenly being on me. Once he was securely in place, I slowly started to make my toward home.
To Be Continued
Author's Note: I hope you guys enjoyed. This took me so long to write but I'm proud of myself for giving myself this big challenge.
ShadeWave signing off