A/N: Well here's my first star Fox Fanfic. Please enjoy! And if you read this chapter please read the whole fic.
Disclaimer: I do not own any Star Fox characters mentioned in this fic, nor do I own any Star Fox original concepts.
And now… without further ado.
"You've got to be kidding me!" Falco yelled, throwing his hands in the air out of frustration "there's nothing out here! Heck it's more likely for Corneria to get hit by a meteor than for…"
"Falco, it's a job!" Fox said abruptly cutting him off "I know for a fact we got rid of Okiny's forces but that doesn't exactly matter, we are getting paid for this and Jobs are a lot harder to find nowadays."
"Still, I do wish we were doing something other than drifting through space watching the scanners day and night." Peppy sighed "If you don't mind I'm going to bed"
And with that he slipped off to his quarters leaving Fox alone with Falco, who simply sat reclining in his chair looking out the window. Falco suddenly stood up and, without a word, walked off the bridge.
He's been worse then usual, wonder what happened to him?
Krystal tossed and turned on her bed, she had been lucky that fox got the short straw and not her. Still something was bugging her ever since they had defeated the Apperoids something had been bothering her at the back of her mind but she couldn't put her finger on it.
Sighing, she slowly got up and pulled on a shirt and pants. Might as well go and see if I can trade places with Fox, I'm not sleeping tonight. Walking to her door she glanced in the mirror, Her thoughts began wandering off. I wonder why me and Fox have been growing apart lately, it's seems like we never talk to each other any more
Actually now that Krystal thought about it, She and Fox hadn't realy talked together since the week after the Apariod attack. But she quickly shrugged off these thoughts and continued to the bridge.
Nothings changed between Fox and me, we're good friends. But I guess that's… the Great Fox suddenly pitched sharply to one side, knocking Krystal off her feet. Fox's voice boomed over the PA. "We're taking damage! Slippy and Peppy stay here and try to fix it, everybody else get to the Arwings." Then the noise died. Krystal picked herself up and dashed in the direction of the hangars. Not waiting for the others to appear in the corridor.
Falco swapped his engines on, the new Arwing hummed to life. This would be there first combat test; Falco hoped they we're as good as the old ones. A voice came in over the Com and Fox's face appeared on the screen.
" Alright guys this is it, Falco you wanted some action and now you got it." Fox paused a moment before continuing "Krystal, I want you to take my left wing, Falco branch off on the far right. I don't know who they are but we'll show them what the Star Fox team is made of!"
Fox's head disappeared from the monitor while the other Arwing began to roar with anticipation outside of his cockpit. Pressing forward on the Throttle Falco nudged his Arwing forward, expertly flicking the flight stick he rocketed out of the hangar, leaving the two vulpines in the dust.
He was surprised with what he saw "Looks like our old friends are back Fox" Falco said through the Com "What do you mean?" Fox said as he pulled out of the hangar, he sounded slightly annoyed that Falco hadn't waited for him. "I'm staring down the barrel of three wolfen, this doesn't look good Fox."
Falco powered the weapons, what was he saying? This was looking great! He quickly centered in on Leon who was raking the hull of the Great Fox with Nova Bombs. Boosting the engines he sped forward, today he would show Leon who was Boss.
Great! What does Wolf want with us? I mean besides the obvious, he knows we outgun him. Fox floored the boosters, whatever Wolf wanted with him; he was not going to get it!
Fox quickly pulled right as Two Wolfen began to open fire. He immediately noticed how quickly the new Arwing had responded. Looping backwards and around he caught the fighters off guard. Soon Fox had Wolf in his sights, flipping off the safety he grinned before unleashing the Arwings Dual cannons. While he was blasting away he noticed that Krystal had engaged Panther and was actually doing pretty well for herself, not that Fox expected anything different.
The battle continued to rage on between the mercenaries when something strange happened. Wolf broke off from his attack and turned his Wolfen around, heading back towards the Great Fox.
"Hey Fox, do you know what's going on?" Falco's voice crackled over the Com. "Leon just broke off and started on an intercept course for Krystal."
Fox's eyes widened, "We got to get over there fast Falco" Fox said bringing his Arwing about and speeding after Wolf.
Krystal was about to fire a finishing shot on Panther when he pulled behind her.
"Dang it! I had him to." She was about to turn her Arwing in pursuit when she noticed something disturbing on her radar. Another Wolfen had closed in behind her and she hadn't even noticed, she gasped as she saw a shot tear from the front of the ship, speeding towards her. She jerked to the side, but to late. The Laser sheared of her stabilizer throwing her ship into a wavy tumble. Franticly she wrestled with the controls but to no avail, she was helpless and at the mercy of Wolf. That is if he had mercy.
"Krystal, No!" Fox shouted as he saw the shot hit, charging the lasers he prepared to unleash a ruthless flurry of fire but the Wolf swerved to the left, re aligning himself with Krystal. Fox tried to get a Lock, but to no avail. He couldn't just start firing, he might hit Krystal, then he would never forgive himself. He quickly glanced behind and saw that Panther had caught up, but something was strange. He almost looked sad. Fox cringed, Panther had gotten a Lock and it looked like Wolf had as well. Fox had never felt so helpless, he couldn't do a thing about it either. every attempt to change direction was instantly copied by Panther and Falco was still too far off.
Fox watched Panther as he charged his laser.His life didn't flash before his eyes, rather what could have been. He hadn't given up hope just yet of finding his father, now he would never get that chance. Not to mention he had never really gotten to tell Krystal his feelings for her. He had of course tried but it never worked out. There had been so much he wanted to do but now it was all over. Looking back to Panther something surprised him, just before the shot Panther had swerved to the side, glancing Wolf's left wing and making his shot miss Krystal by centimeters. Fox didn't have much more than a second to think about this, Panther swerved back and racked the back of his hull with rapid series of shots, leaving Fox dead in space.
Lucky for Fox and Krystal the battle was over as quickly as it started, the three Wolfens simply moved into hyperspace and disappeared, like nothing had ever happened.
As soon as Fox reached the bridge he ordered Slippy to give a damage report. "Well, it's really strange but other than a little hull damage they didn't do anything. It's almost like they were just trying to aggravate us." slippy said scratching his head with a confused look on his face.
Fox paused a moment, why would panther shoot Wolf and not me? Maybe it was really just a miss-fire, or maybe he was protecting Krystal? And that's another thing. Why did they break of and go after Krystal like that? It was almost as if…
"Your orders Sir?" ROB's monotone voice broke through Fox's thoughts.
Fox grinned a little "Compile a report for General Pepper and tell him what's happening, then head into hyperspace. We don't want our friends to get lonely!"
Rob waited for a moment, "Please clarify orders Fox"
"Just take us in the direction of Star Wolf, we have some unfinished business" With that Fox headed to his room, he figured it must be past his shift by now.
"Hey Fox, I think you should get up here…" Peppy's voice came in through the PA. "We think we might have found something worthwhile."
Fox grumbled a little before climbing out of his bed, he hadn't gotten much of a chance to sleep. Heck he never got much of a chance to sleep anymore. Not that I mind very much, but sometimes sleep is nice.
Fox walked into the bridge and found Peppy and Krystal standing there, apparently everyone else was still asleep. What is it Peppy?" he asked, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.
"We've been following a trail of debris for the past thirty minutes, at first we thought it was just space junk but then we realized that these where pieces of a ship." Slippy said.
Fox was about to say something when Krystal cut him off "Look! A Wolfen, what's it doing out there?"
Fox rushed quickly to the window. The sight made him gasp, you could barely say it was a Wolfen anymore, the hull was mangled and it no longer had any of its wings. Black scortchmarks peppered most of the hull, not to mention the other damages. He was surprised that the cockpit's canopy was still intact. Then his eyes wandered to a beat up insignia on the side, it was barely recognizable as a red blob. Then something clicked
"That's Panthers ship!" Fox shouted "Peppy, we need to get it to the hangar"
"But Fox, this is probably a trap. I mean what if it is?"
"No it isn't" Fox and Peppy froze as Krystal spoke "I would sense it if it was…"
"Then it's settled, lets bring him in!" Fox said already heading to the hangar.
As soon as the door closed Peppy turned to Krystal "Do you know why he's acting like this?" Krystal just shook her head and headed after Fox to the hangar.
"Subject Panther has vital signs" ROB reported in his monotone voice. "Good job ROB" Fox said standing next to the white medical table.
"Wha…What happened" Panther suddenly said, startling Fox "We where hoping you could tell us"
Fox watched as Panthers eyes quickly dilated into tiny slits. Panther abruptly grabbed the collar of Fox's shirt and pulled him down.
"Listen to me Fox, is she alright?" Fox just nodded what could make Panther act like this? "Good, Fox you must protect her. " Fox nodded again "Of course Panther, bu…" Panther cut him off "You don't get it Fox, promise me you'll protect her, this isn't about me. This is about you and her, life, death, the galaxy even, protect her Fox. Protect her with you life."
Fox was about to demand some clear answers from the hulking animal but he watched as Panthers eyes faded and dulled. "Subject Panther is dead" ROB informed him, no hint of emotion leaked from the robots voice.
What's going on here? Fox turned and looked at Krystal, finally it hit him
something is not right…
A/N: And there it is, the first chapter. But keep in mind that this is only an introductory chapter to set up the plot and stuff, don't worry it'll get better in the next ones and I won't use the line tool as much Lol! Also I would like to give some credit to my freind Will who helped me come up with the basic Plot for this story. Thanks for reading. Please review and leave constructive criticism.