The door to the old shabby house slammed open as its owner walked through the dusty passageway and slumped down on the leather couch, "what a day, too bad I gotta lie low for awhile. I'd love to see the shitstorm in person, nyeh heh", the soon to be rich hog picked up the television remote from the seat next to him, "at least I can watch it on the news".
He pressed the red power button but nothing happened, "damn, dead batteries". He rubbed his fingers over the green batteries in an effort to extend their limited life.
At long last the TV screen came to life. Once Pigma's eyes had adjusted to the sudden light, he could see the familiar face of Katie Spaniel, the news reader, "heh, let's see if words got out yet".
"And in breaking news I'm just getting word on a scouting mission gone wrong for the popular mercenary team, Star Fox" Pigma smiled sadly to himself, "Director General Pepper will be giving a speech to the media shortly".
Pigma went to the fridge to grab an ice cold beer while he watched General Pepper announce his bittersweet victory to the people of Corneria.
Camera flashes reflected off of Pepper's sunglasses as he cleared his throat, "it is with great sadness that I must announce the tragic end of the Star Fox team".
Pigma raised his beer bottle as he cracked the top off, "give it to 'em straight, doggy".
Pepper swallowed, "I have personally received word from Peppy Hare about an incident during a scouting mission to the planet Vemon".
Pigma nearly choked on his drink, "shit, Pep survived. For fuck's sake, of course he did..."
Pepper took a deep breath as he continued his speech, "he has informed me that Dr Andross is still alive and is likely planning an attack on Corneria and her people. He tells me that Pigma Dengar has betrayed Corneria and that James McCloud was tortured and murdered by Andross".
The traitorous pig turned off the television, "fuck, Peppy wasn't meant to live. I was supposed to live on my own private moon while everyone remembered me as a brave hero who died for his worthless planet", Pigma fantasized out loud.
He scoffed down the remainder of his beer and chucked the empty bottle in the overflowing bin before climbing up the creaky staircase that lead to his bedroom. He threw his sweaty clothes to the corner and flopped down on the squeaky mattress. He glared at the mouldy ceiling, "welp, no goin' back this time, Pigma", he sighed as he scratched his hairy chest.
His mind wandered to the childhood friends he had just sold out. He, James and Peppy grew up in a poor neighborhood on Papetoon, were they had always dreamed of going to Corneria to hit the big time.
Pigma rolled over to his side and chuckled to himself, "I wonder how little Foxy is holding up", if Pigma had one regret about what he had done, it would be leaving poor Fox an orphan. Despite his recent disagreements with James, Pigma still had a soft spot for his adoptive nephew, being one of the few people to support the fox's transition...
The traitor shook his head, "no, not gonna think about him ever again", he steered his mind back to the beautiful reward that Andross would give soon him, "nyeh heh heh, I'm gonna be so rich..."
Within minutes Pigma was fast asleep, James's screams of agony infecting his dreams.
A monkey and a lizard in robes entered the traitorous hog's home at exactly midnight. They made their way to the small bedroom of Pigma Dengar in order to wake up the sleeping villain, "you are not as safe as you believe, Mr Dengar", the lizard spoke.
Pigma slowly woke up, panicked gripped his heart when he realized someone was in his home, "who's there!? I'll get ya!" he frantically searched for his gun, but the monkey drew his knife and held it up to Pigma's jugular vein.
The lizard calmly pushed the monkey's arm down, "now, now, Ferrell, he's on our side".
"Andross's side", Ferrell corrected.
The lizard rolled his eyes, "right", he coughed and turned back to face Pigma, "Pepper's got his goons out looking for you, Dengar. He's got you slated for a public execution in exactly three days. Andross wants you on Venom as soon as possible".
Pigma got out of bed and stretched, "can't say I'm surprised. Just let me pack some clothes and use the can, alright?"
"Of course, Mr Dengar", said the lizard.
"But don't take too long, my mate Felix here reckons Pepper's hounds know where you live", Ferrell added.
"It is unfortunately true", Felix confirmed.
"So your names are Ferrell and Felix?", Pigma asked.
The two men nodded, "indeed", Felix checked his silver watch, "now get ready, Ferrell and I can't afford to stay on Corneria for too long".
Pigma raised an eyebrow, "uh, sure, just gimme a minute".
"Ya want me to count?" Ferrell smirked, "One... two... three... four..."
Pigma rolled his eyes, not that you could tell from the lack of pupils. He rested his hand on the nightstand as he shook his head, "I bet ya think you're real funny..." he picked his teeth and chuckled, "I promise I won't keep ya waitin' too long".
Once Pigma had lazily stuffed some clothing into a suitcase he turned to the two men, "alright, I just gotta take a quick piss and we'll be ready to rock and roll".
With Pigma out of the room, Ferrell and Felix sat down on the grimy mattress, "I'm still a little suspicious, Felix. Andross has never worked with someone who wasn't a reptile or monkey".
Felix shrugged, "Andross knows things are about to get serious. He wants to get together a team of the best pilots Lylat has to offer, it doesn't matter what those pilots look like".
Ferrell rubbed his arm and looked around the messy room, he wanted to say something to the lizard next to him but Pigma, now wearing his old Star Fox jacket and cargo shorts, stomped back into the room before he got the chance.
"So is there anythin' else I should know before we jet?" Pigma leaned against the door frame and scratched his gut.
The two men stood up, "Andross will tell you more about his master plan on Venom. For now, Mr Dengar, your safety is our priority", Felix explained as he led the trio out of the building.
Pigma stopped to look out the living room's window. Felix noticed the pig's sudden stop, "is something wrong?"
"Didn't you say Pepper wanted to kill me publicly?"
Felix walked to Pigma's side, "yes, that is the plan". The lizard tuned his head to look out the window, "do you see something out there?"
"Yeah". Pigma squinted his eyes, "I think I saw someone run behind a bush".
"Then why are ya standing in front of a window? You fuckin' dumbass", Ferrell called out.
Without another word, Pigma and Felix rushed out of the house. Outside of the house, Pigma saw a dark cruiser ship parked at the end of the dirt runway that led to his secluded home.
Whilst running to the ship, Pigma slowly lagged behind the others. As soon as he was a good distance from the lizard and monkey, a red dot appeared in the centre of his chest.
Felix and Ferrell had failed to notice that the man they were charged with protecting had fallen behind. A loud bang rang through their skulls, "shit, what was that?" Ferrell's voice shook as he froze in place.
"Just get to the ship", Felix ordered as he turned to check on Pigma. He saw the pig sprawled out on the dirt with blood pooling around him, "shit", he muttered as he pressed a finger against his neck, as soon he felt the bump of Pigma's pulse he lifted the pig up from the filthy ground.
Ferrell was inside the cruiser, rocking back and forth on his heels as he chewed his nails when he saw Felix run up the entrance ramp with Pigma in his arms, blood dripping on the steel floor, "Ferrell, get the med bay ready".
With the med bay prepared, Felix placed the bleeding hog on the table as a bulky, red robot with glowing eyes and multiple arms tended to his wound. The robot began by shaving the bloodied hair off the hog's chest before carefully cutting an opening through the bad man's flesh to reveal Pigma's beating heart within his ribcage.
Felix jumped into the ship's control room after washing Pigma's blood off of his arms and flew the craft away from Corneria. A few minutes later, Ferrell entered the control room, fidgeting his fingers, "the med bot reckons Pigma is gonna be fine".
"Does he? That's good", Felix turned to his companion as he sat in the co-pilot seat.
"Yeah", Ferrell continued, "he says they just missed his arteries but slightly nicked his heart..."
Felix frowned, "that doesn't sound 'fine' to me".
"That's what I thought". Ferrell shrugged, "but remember, this med bot is top of the range. They don't call it the 'miracle worker' for nothin', I wouldn't think".
Felix shifted in his seat, "I know, but if he doesn't live Andross is gonna put our heads over his fireplace".
The monkey slapped the lizard's back,"whatever happens, happens".
Felix rubbed his forehead, "even if he lives, do you really think Andross is gonna be level headed when he hears one of his new pilots got shot?"
Ferrell smirked, "who said Andross has to know? Listen, the med bot is doin' surgery on piggy boy as we speak. Venom is ages away, he'll be good as new by the time we get there".
"For everyone's sake I hope you're right, Ferrell".
The pair sat in silence for two hours while the advanced medical robot finished the operation. Ferrell went to the med bay to check the progress, "how's he holdin' up?"
The robot turned his head 360 degrees, "the surgery was a success", he informed, "I am monitoring the patient's vital signs to insure that there are no compilations". The head of the robot turned back to said patient. Ferrell looked down at the unconscious pig, a fresh scar was in the centre of his chest, the hair around it had been shaved in a perfect circle shape.
Ferrell ran his fingers over the wires that monitored Pigma's heart beats, "when's he wakin' up?"
"Soon", the robot stated.
"Don't tell Andross about this, alright?" Ferrell ordered.
The med bot's eyes turned a blood red, "I am required to inform Dr Andross of everything".
"Fucking hell", Ferrell muttered.
Pigma's eyes fluttered open, "ugh, wha-what happened?" He slowly moved his head around. He could tell something bad had happened by the presence of a medical bot and the monitor's slow beeping.
Ferrell was about to explain but was interrupted by the robot, "you suffered a gunshot wound to the chest. I have done an operation to repair minor damage to your heart. You will most likely make a complete recovery".
Pigma sat up and rubbed his eyes, "well, shit, that ain't good". He ran his hand over the scar, "damn, that's a clean shot they got. What can I say? My heart isn't a very big target, nyeh heh heh heh", he chuckled.
Felix entered the med bay, "you're taking this surprisingly well, Dengar".
The pig grinned and shrugged, "I've survived some crazy shit in my time, Felix".
"Whatever", Felix said, "just don't tell Andross about this, please?"
The robotic surgeon's eyes became red again, "I am required to inform Dr Andross of everything".
Felix shifted away from the robot, "never seen him do that..."
"Don't worry", Pigma yawned, "we'll just wipe his memory".
"I cannot allow you to do that", the robot stated.
Pigma winked at Felix, "oh, then we won't".
The medical bot believed him and started to disconnect the heart and blood pressure monitors from Pigma's body. He pressed an arm against Pigma's chest to have one final check of his heart and lungs. Feeling satisfied with the hog's condition, he returned to his charging bay to sleep.
Pigma slowly walked over to the deactivated machine, "right, so how do you wipe this guy?"
"He belongs to me", Ferrell said, "I'll figure it out while you guys see what Andross wants".
Felix raised his finger, "actually, there's been a change of plans, we'll be taking a detour to Macbeth first".
Ferrell smiled and clapped his hands together, "great, that'll give pig boy time to recover and me time to clean the bot's memory. I told ya it would work out in the end".
The trip to Macbeth was mostly silent. Ferrell focused on deleting the medical bot's memory, Felix focused on piloting the ship and Pigma sat alone with his thoughts, processing the night's events.
In just twenty-four hours, he went from being a renowned hero to a hunted villain. He rubbed his hand against his forehead, somehow he felt pretty good for someone who just got out of emergency surgery following an attempt on his life after betraying the most powerful planet in the Lylat system.
He felt the cruiser land on the rocky ground of Macbeth. Felix walked out of the control room, "alright, Andross wants us to meet with a grey wolf named Wolf O'Donnell. He says he got stranded here after a raid gone wrong and wants us to give him a ride back to Venom", he announced.
Pigma snorted, "a wolf named Wolf, huh? That reminds me of someone I know".
"By the way, Pigma, are you going to be alright walking about?" Felix asked.
Pigma stood up proudly and pounded his chest, "course I am! I told you I've survived worse than a measly gunshot wound", he stated.
Felix seemed unsure, "whatever you say, Pigma".
The loading ramp dropped open as Pigma and Felix stepped out on to the dusty surface of planet Macbeth and begin their search for the mysterious Wolf O'Donnell.
End of Chapter 1