Before the New Threat

(This takes place sometime after SF: Assault. The character in the beginning, and a few others are my own. Fox and the team will be introduced later. This will begin as a mix between journal entries and regular events.) Fox, Krystal, Falco, Slippy, Peppy, Rob, Tricky are © Nintendo™. Krin Shorehm is MINE.

Another note: Journal entries are on dates Apr. 2, 3, and 4. The regular events are on the 6th.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

April 2, 2875

Journal entry #1

I've been walking around this planet for some time now. The inhabitants don't seem to be hostile, but I can't understand a single word they're saying. I need to figure out how to speak their language. Maybe then I can get some information, and maybe even some equipment. I have learned that their proper nouns are said the same as in Lylatian, however. Hopefully that'll be useful in learning their language. For now, though, there's no way off this rock. My fuel tank's empty, and my ship is pretty much totaled.

That'll be all for now. Maybe tomorrow I can find something.

A weary fox paced around a cave, his near pitch black fur glistening in the grim light of a torch-fire. His eyes were closed in thought, and yet somehow he managed to stay on his same path round and round again. A twig snapped outside, breaking the rhythm of the fox's steps. His eyes shot open, and he looked straight at the entrance with piercing blue eyes, unbefitting of his fur. "Who's there?" He said loudly, with no response to his question. He stepped cautiously towards the cave's mouth, towards the outdoors, keeping a sharp eye at every possible point an enemy could spring from.

A large triceratops poked his head around the corner, a look of blunt, pure curiosity on his face. The vulpine rolled his eyes. "Oh, it's just you again. Why do you keep following me everywhere?" The triceratops replied in a semi-high tenor,¹ speaking in a language the vulpine didn't understand. "When are you going to figure out that I don't understand your language?" the fox sighed, an intensely annoyed tone to his voice.

Suddenly, the triceratops spoke lylatian, "Fine, you meanie. I don't know why my dad told me to follow you. You're just a big jerk."

The fox raised an eyebrow, and said, "So it speaks." He then took a breath before saying, "I'm just frustrated. My ship crashed, and I'm stuck here till I either find a means to repair my ship, or someone comes down here and picks me up. Both options seem highly unlikely. What's your name, anyway?"

"I'm Tricky, Prince of the Earthwalker Tribe." The triceratops said with pride, before giving the vulpine a curious glance and asking, "What's yours?"

The fox sighed, "Let's see, I've been called Jet, Shadow, and Viper, but my real name's Krin. Krin Shorehm." He seemed somehow annoyed about having so many names. Then, he smiled slightly and added, "So, Tricky, would you happen to know of any ways off this planet?"

April 3, 2875

Journal Entry #2

Well, I've been here for two days now. At least this place is hospitable, though I could do without the mosquitoes. I found myself a cave to stay in for a while. I've noticed different calls between these dinosaurs. Sauria does seem to be a beautiful place. I'm glad I decided to crash here, and not on Venom, or something. It seems like the Cornerian Army didn't really care too much about finding me. That or they think I'm dead. Either way is good for me. I do wonder about that Starfox team though. I hadn't heard any news on them since they went through the warp gate. Such a strange course of events this is turning out to be.

I'll leave the rest for tomorrow. Krin

Somewhere outside the Lylat system:

"How much longer do we got to go?" An annoyed falcon said, sprawled in an armchair. "I'm getting bored in here."

"Do you have an estimate, Peppy?" A male fox with orange and white fur said afterwards to a grey hare.

"Hang on, just a second." The hare replied, working endlessly on a keyboard in front of a holo-moniter. "If we keep up this rate, we should be in communication range of Corneria within two hours."

"Excellent. Another two hours wasted like bums." The falcon said.

"Better than being dead, isn't it, Falco?" The fox chuckled at his friend and colleague's attitude.

"Whatever. At least I wouldn't be cooped up in here all the time." Falco said, sitting up.

"Oh, stop it." A blue vixen said, coming from the back room. "You should be thankful that you're…" The vixen suddenly stopped, looking away slightly. The fox got up and moved to her swiftly, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Krystal, what's wrong?" He said in a low voice.

"It's Tricky. He says that we should go to Sauria. He wants us to meet him at Cape Claw." Krystal said, in a concerned tone.

"What sort of trouble could be going on now? The Aparoids are gone, and I thought the sharpclaw were all wiped out." Fox said.

"Oh, brother. Don't tell me we have to do another rescue mission." Falco said.

"Well, there's not much we can do about it right now, unless me and Krystal go down in Arwings." Fox said. They continued through space, closing in on the Cornerian long range communications satellite.

April 4, 2875

Journal #3

Third day here. I've pretty much given up on finding any form of modern technology. This place is so primitive, they probably cook over a fire or something, if they cook at all. I'm tired of nature, with the crickets at night, and birds during the day. I can't focus worth a damn with all that racket. However, I have a feeling that someone, or something, is following me. It may be just a feeling, but it's a strong one.

Hope it's not hostile. I don't need to be killing anything down here.

Krin paced back and forth as Tricky concentrated. Suddenly, Tricky opened his eyes and said, "I contacted Krystal. They should be here soon."

"Thanks. You're not so bad, when I can actually understand what you're saying." Krin said, smirking. "You must have a pretty strong focus, if you can communicate telepathically."

"It's nothing much. Krystal just said that I should contact her if anything came up." Tricky said.

"Heh. Sounds like a nice person. Who is this 'they' you referred to though?"

"Oh, it's the Starfox team. I'm an honorary member, too." Tricky showed a winged insignia pin, catching the light on it, and smiling with pride.

"Nice." Krin said. He wanted to add 'How'd you manage that?', but figured it'd be a bit mean for Tricky's age. "So, Starfox is coming, eh? Hope they didn't hear about me." He thought.

"Well, I have a few things I have to do before they get here. How about you stay here, so if I'm not back by the time they arrive, you can greet them."

"Alright." Tricky said, obviously disappointed at not being allowed to go on some sort of adventure.

Krin stepped out of the cave, and into a warm, salty breeze. He walked down a beach, towards a large rock. As he circumnavigated the rock, his wrecked ship came into view, and he sighed, shaking his head at the inconvenience. He hopped on top of it, and began searching through the remains for anything he wanted to keep, or any equipment he could salvage.

An hour later, Krin began walking back up the beach, keeping to the shadows, just in case. "Thank goodness for black fur." He said to himself. When he was about 50 yards from the cave, he heard the sound of engines, and ducked into deeper shadows, watching as a pair of Arwings flew overhead. As they passed, Krin continued walking, reaching the cave, and putting everything down on a makeshift table he had found, next to a sword with a finely embroidered handle.

Just as he finished piling the junk so it was easier to carry, an orange furred and a blue furred fox walked up to Tricky. He leaned against the wall to watch for a moment.

"Hey Tricky, what's up?" The male fox said. The female fox with blue fur was looking around, and saw Krin, who happened to be looking off into the distance. It was apparent that she was barely able to hold back a gasp.

"There's a guy here that wants help." Tricky said. At this, Krin pushed himself straight up, and walked towards them, calmly looking the foxes over.

"Who are you?" The male fox asked.

Krin smiled, "The name's Krin Shorehm. You must be the legendary Fox McCloud."

"Yeah. And this is Krystal." He put a hand on the female's shoulder. "Now why is it you want our help?" Fox asked.

"Well, my ship got totaled on impact, because I kind of ran out of fuel." Krin explained, "And so I've had to be here for the past 5 days."

"How do we know your ship is really totaled?" Fox asked, obviously not trusting Him.

Krin sighed, and walked over to the pile of junk, fishing something out of it. He came back, holding a small, electronic chip. "Normally, you can't find a fighter's control chip 5 yards away from the fighter itself." He said, simply.

Before Fox could reply, Krystal said, "You look familiar. I think I've seen you somewhere."

Krin shrugged, "I've been around. You may have seen me somewhere, but it doesn't mean much."

Krystal shook her head. "Not in person. On a poster." Suddenly, she had an epiphany, "You were on a wanted poster on Corneria a while back!"

Fox looked shocked at this, while Krin just sighed and nodded, "Wanted for something I didn't even do. Kinda pathetic, really. It's also the reason I wound up here."

"What is it you were accused of?" Fox asked.

"I'm not even entirely sure of that. No one could really keep up long enough to tell me." Krin said, "I never have gotten along with cops very well, even when I wasn't being accused of anything."

"So, you evaded the authorities, only to run out of fuel and get stuck here. Is that about right?" Fox asked, looking somewhat annoyed at this. As they spoke, Krystal took Tricky outside to talk to him.

"Unfortunately." Krin replied.

"I see. And why do you think we would help you?"

"Maybe because I got framed. The only reason I ran is because I haven't figured out who did it yet. When I figure that out, I can go to the police to turn myself in, and give the evidence to them to get this straight."

"Wait. You said you didn't know why they were after you." Fox glared at Krin, now very suspicious.

Krin sighed. "Just because I got framed, doesn't mean I know what the crime was. I was just trying to see if I could get a ride without laying out my life story."

"Fine. We'll let you stick around a while. But you'd better do like you said." Fox said.

"Thanks. I'm a man of my word. Unless it's out of my power, I'll stick to it." Krin said, moving towards his pile of junk, and sorting through it a bit, tossing away useless things, like dead power cells. After sorting through the whole pile, he picked up a sword, with an embroidered, black hilt, attached it to his belt, then picked up what he had decided to keep of the parts.

"Sorry, but we're gonna be here for a bit as well." Fox said. "We need a new command ship, and Falco, Slippy, and Peppy are on their way to get it."

Krin blinked, then sighed, "Great. Well, I might as well take the useless junk back to the wreckage." With that, he set down the salvaged parts, and collected up the useless parts he had taken out of the pile of things he could actually use.

At about that time, Krystal walked back in. "What's going on?" She asked, as she hadn't heard the conversation.

Fox turned to her and said, "He'll be coming with us when we leave." Then, quietly, he added, "But only if he's trustworthy." As he said this, however, Krin walked by, heading for his ship's wreckage.

"He's definitely a strange one." Krystal said. "I don't understand why he's seems so secretive though."

"Who knows? There are a lot of people like that in the galaxy." Fox said.

Back on what's left of the Great Fox:

"C'mon. How long is this gonna take?!" Falco said, very annoyed, and bored out of his wits.

"Be patient Falco." Peppy said, "They'll be here soon. We sent the message almost an hour ago."

"Yeah, and that's another hour of my life wasted not flying." Falco scowled at the floor. "Why couldn't I have gone to check out what that miniature triceratops wanted anyway?"

"Because, Falco, you don't know the planet as well as Fox, or Krystal. And besides, you're not the best at communicating." Peppy said, watching the main screen as it flickered a bit here and there. As Falco grumbled about still being bored, Slippy walked into the room, looking rather pleased with himself. "And what are you so happy about?" Peppy asked.

"I just finished making a mini generator." Slippy announced, "It'll make sure we have enough power to stay up and running for a good long while after what's needed."

"Great. More lounging around." Falco rolled his eyes. "That's JUST what I need."

"Shut your beak, Falco. You could at least appreciate the fact that it'll give us enough power to maintain contact with Corneria." Slippy was indignant at Falco's persistant lack of appreciation.

"Speaking of Corneria, we've just entered contact range. Requesting transmission now." Peppy looked at the others, as a dog's face appeared on the holo-screen.

"Starfox?! I don't believe it! You guys actually made it back!?" The officer was in complete shock.

"Yes. We're all back safe. But, the Great Fox was destroyed during the battle." Peppy sighed.

"That's not a problem. Where's Fox?" The dog asked.

"He and Krystal are on Sauria, dealing with something." Peppy replied. "Think you could get a transport vessel out here? We're not going quite as fast as we would like, and we don't want to make Fox wait for us for too long."

"Well, that's no problem at all. We'll have a couple of tow shuttles out there as soon as we can." The dog said. With that, his image faded from the screen.

"You hear that? We're finally going home." Peppy said, sighing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

¹ Triceratops says: "Well, if you'd tell me who you are. And why are you so mean, anyways?"