Act 1

Enter the Cain

Rollin down the street, smokin indo, sippin on gin and juice

Laid back [with my mind on my money and my money on my mind]

Snoop Dogg – Gin and Juice

Cain looked at the instruction manual again. "It says to do a barrel roll to deflect laser blasts," he said into his headset.

"You sure that's right?" said a pilot.

The dog scratched his chin. "Yup. It says to press the Z or R buttons twice to do it. I don't see any buttons that say that, except for the keyboard."

"Just do a barrel roll like you would do in any other aircraft," the flight controller said. "We'll be at our destination soon, all aircraft prepare for launch."

"Who wrote this?" Cain asked.

"I don't know," one of his wingmates said. Cain didn't know much about all the people in his small squadron. They all were probably dogs though.

"Okay, we're here at Sector Y, get- holy crap!" the flight controller yelled. The hanger exploded in a large ball of light, his fighter swung about violently as it was ejected into space.

"What the heck just happened!?" Cain yelled.

"I'm spinning out of control!"

"The ship just exploded!"

"Look! It's Starfox-" somebody in a ship said before it cut to static, the person obviously being killed.

"Talk about lame hit detection, the ship was blown up but we-" someone else said but then cut to static.

Cain yelled as a giant robot zoomed past his cockpit. He flipped several switches throughout the cockpit in a vain attempt to start the fighter up. What a lame way to test new mass-production Arwings in a battle against overwhelming forces. Cain hit the main console several times as the engines roared to life. "Good, everybody form up on my wing," Cain yelled as he took the control stick.

"Look, it's McCloud!" someone with a burly voice said over the comm. One of the robots flying past one of the Venomian battleships suddenly stopped and changed direction. "I got him!"

Cain screamed out loud.

"Use the boost to get through!" someone yelled over the comm. Cain hit a button on the throttle, sending the ship barreling towards the robot.

The wing of his Arwing scraped the side of the robot, sending it out of control towards several Cornerian ships. "Cocky little freak!" the pilot of the robot yelled.

Cain fiddled with the controls, trying to get the ship to fly straight. Those ships that Starfox flew were more durable than this. For some reason the mass production units were barely any more durable than the fighter that most Cornerian pilots flew. Caine reached for the ejection lever, but stopped. He remembered that those atmospheric fighters just shot him out through the canopy and he'd float down with a parachute. Cain wasn't wearing a pressure suit, did that mean the entire cockpit would eject? Why wasn't he wearing a pressure suit anyway? What if the cockpit was blown open?

"Do a U-turn!" somebody yelled. Cain looked out the window again. He yelled as the ship crashed into a ship and somehow lodged itself inside.

"Darnit," Cain cursed. Amazingly the canopy didn't appear to be broken. What ship did he crash into?

A tall robot was standing in front of a large console in a large white room, probably the bridge of the ship. The robot turned its head to look at Cain.

Cain waved and pressed the button to open the canopy. The glass shattered and rained on him. Cain sighed.

"Hello?" the robot said in a buzzing voice. 'ROB' was written on its chest. The robot seemed to be busy with information on the console and the large display in the front of the room.

"Hi," Cain said.

The console in front of him beeped several times after he pressed a button. "Location confirmed, sending supplies," the robot said, pressing another button. He turned again to look at Cain. "Slippy, I thought you were outside."

"Slippy?"

The robot wiped the visor on his face. "Oh, sorry. Dust got on my eye when you crashed."

"Where am I?" Cain asked.

"You are onboard the Great Fox," the robot buzzed. "Uh… actually you are lodged in the Great Fox."

Cain struggled with his restraints.

"The Great Fox is the command ship which the Starfox Team operates from," the robot buzzed.

"I know that, I'm trying to get out of my ship."

"Peppy's ship is in the docking bay," the robot said, apparently to nobody.

"Who are you talking to!?" Cain yelled as he finally got loose.

"Please wait here while Fox McCloud and the others come to the bridge," the robot said.

Cain hopped out of the fighter and fell onto the ground. He looked at the bulkhead, the plane certainly must've been stuck tight. He stood up and dusted his uniform off. "Fox McCloud the son of James McCloud?"

"Affirmative" the robot buzzed.

A large door in the back of the bridge hissed open. A young fox walked through the doorway. "Hey Rob, I saw something-" he paused and took off his headset. He looked at the fighter stuck in the wall. "Slippy! Darnit! I keep telling him to watch where he's flying that darn thing!" he yelled, throwing the headset on the floor.

"I'm right behind you Fox," a short, fat toad said. She was wearing a small red hat between her eyes for some reason that apparently had her name written on it.

"I believe this man crashed his ship into the Great Fox," the robot buzzed. "He appears to be in the Cornerian Army."

"You're the son of James McCloud right?"

The fox began to walk forward and then suddenly stopped. "Uh… yeah," he said, not sounding quite sure.

"I think I met your father when I first enlisted into the military," Cain said. He wagged his tail. "I remember reading about you and the Starfox Team in the newspaper once. My name is Cain Kucan, son of the famous Fargo Kucan, James McCloud's best friend and most trusted comrade. I graduated from the academy top in my class, even beating out your own score. I've fought in dozens of battles and all kinds of women are in love with me because of that and my mysterious past in which my dad created me in a laboratory from the genes of James McCloud to create the ultimate soldier and I was implanted memories and I think I may be your brother but I'm not sure because my psychic powers aren't fully developed yet!" Cain wagged his tail. "Whatever happened to your father anyway?"

Fox's eyes began to water. "Umm… I…" He began to whimper and then promptly ran back out of the doorway. A graying rabbit and a strange looking bird walked past him and into the bridge.

"Hi," Cain said.

"Rob, who's that?" the rabbit asked.

"He is a pilot in the Cornerian Army, I think," the robot said.

"What's wrong with Foxy?" the bird asked.

"I don't know, he's been real moody lately," the frog said.

"Slippy!" the rabbit yelled, noticing the fighter sticking through the wall of the bridge. "I can't believe you crashed your Arwing like that again! That's the fourth time!"

"I'm right here," the frog said, waving her hand.

"Oh, sorry Slip," the rabbit said, scratching one of his long ears.

"It's always him crashing his Arwing," the bird muttered. Him? The frog was a man?

"Hello?" Cain asked.

"Do you require assistance?" the robot buzzed.

"My plane is stuck and nobody seems to have noticed it yet."

"I'm going to go see what Fox is up to," the bird said. Why was he blue for? Did he have a disease? His metal boots looked even more uncomfortable than everybody else's. The bird popped the collar to his jacket, causing it to stand up. Cain suddenly felt inadequate in the presence of the bird as the he left.

"I'm going to push my plane back out into space if nobody minds," Cain said.

"Forcefields will prevent atmosphere from leaking into space," the robot buzzed, going back to his console.

"Anybody want to help?"

"Never give up, trust your instincts," the rabbit said, yawning. He turned around and followed the bird back outside.

"I'm going to go fix something," the frog said.

"Can't you fix my plane?" Cain asked.

"What kind of plane is it?" the frog asked, walking towards the ship.

"It's a mass production Arwing."

The frog reached into his pocket and pulled out a wrench and then hit the nosecone. "Sounds hollow." He hit it in several other places until the wrench finally went through, creating a large hole. "Why are parts of this aircraft made of cardboard?"

"Cardboard?" Cain asked.

"Cardboard is a significantly cheaper material to create things out of. For example, many of the boxes onboard the Great Fox are made of cardboard," the robot buzzed.

"I'm flying a darn spacecraft!" Cain yelled. "If something broke the atmosphere inside could vent out."

The frog pulled a flashlight out and crawled into the hole. "Wow, there's lots of dirt in here."

"Gunpowder and paper are used to make fireworks," the robot buzzed.

"Your Arwings aren't made out of fireworks, right?" Cain asked. Why was he flying a ship that could blow up so easily? If he hadn't done that barrel roll earlier he could've been killed.

The frog stuck his head out of the hole. "I don't think so. What's your name anyway?"

"Cain Kucan," Cain said. He rubbed his eyes, he couldn't believe his day. "What's yours?"

He opened his eyes and looked around, the frog was gone and so was the robot. Why hadn't anybody introduced themselves? Was he a prisoner of some kind? Cain kicked the nose of the fighter in frustration. It slowly floated out of the hole and back into space, drifting away lazily, seemingly happy from being dislodged from the giant spaceship. Cain sighed, it was going to be a long day.