Lost Memories: REVISITED
A Star Fox based fanfiction
Rated T for harsh language which will kinda disappear over time.

Chapter 1: Mike

"Well, what do you want from me, answers, questions? Or you just want to pretend you're 'interrogating' me just to torture me?" the white snow leopard broke the long lasting silence.

He was sitting on a steel bed in something that could be called a prison cell. However, the light was dimmed to a level he barely saw his body so he couldn't determine exactly what that place was.

"I don't torture anybody. I'm not like you" came the response, "But yes, I want answers"

"Mike, tell him everything you know" the cat hears the silent whisper at the back of his head. "He is confused right now, but Fox is a clever person, he'll know that he can trust you" Mike knew whose voice was that. It was Krystal, the blue vixen from Star Fox team. And that second name...

"Fox McCloud, right?" he asked calmly, but noticed the change of the atmosphere.

"How do you know who I am?" the voice wasn't so calm as before, the leopard caught a hint of shock... and nervousness.

"Look, you want answers, I want you to trust me" Mike reached under his jacket and put out a small version of datapad. He opened the e-journal and reverted to the oldest entry, 12th October 2431, which was two years in the past.

12th October 2431 Earthen US time, New Texas colony on planet Vendetta

"Jack! Get the fuck behind some cover!" Mike shouted to his friend, but he probably didn't hear him because of all the turmoil around them.

Vendetta was now a place of one of the biggest conflicts between Starfront Industries Colonists and the Earthen Military. Because of the fact that neither side wanted to give up Vendetta to the other faction, the diplomacy wasn't an option.

The military wanted to build an outpost on the planet, but the residents of New Texas stood in their way. After few month of effectless discussions, the military claimed the place as their own, accusing the residents of trespassing on the military territory. Few days later, large squads of armed soldiers were deployed to force colonists to escape.

"Jack! Hear me!?" Mike shouted once again before charging behind a cover closer to his friend. Just when he jumped out of enemy fire's range a grenade flew to his recent position and exploded right before it touched the ground. "Shit, I'm lucky today..."

His attention quickly turned to his friend, who was sitting few metres away, hidden behind few steel barrels, probably unaware of the danger. "Jack, hide somewhere!" he shouted once again, now certain that he didn't want to hear him. Mike instantly remebered their conversation few hours ago, back in the bunker.

The blonde guy was sitting on the small wooden chair with his eyes facing the small photo of a woman. "Mike, how could we possibly win this? They're stronger, more efficient in battle..."

"Shut up" Mike snapped firmly, refraining from punching his friend, "When Becca was alive, you wouldn't be saying this shit!"

"I know, right!?" Jack shouted in response standing up from the chair and facing Mike. "You just don't know how it is to lose everything in not more than few seconds"

"Believe me, I know" he murmured, turning around and walking out of the room.

Mike's train of thoughts was interrupted by a loud scream. "GRENADE!"

A small, ball-like object landed few centimeters away from Jack. He looked at it and picked it up. Mike's heartbeat increased, his eyes wide open when he looked in terror as his friend salutes to him the last time.

"Throw away that motherfucking gre-" was the only thing Mike managed to say before the explosion tore his friends' body. Tears started to run thrpugh his face. Now he was alone. "I won't forgive it, you idiot!"

With a loud cry, Mike shutted down the temperature safety switch on his Advanced Tactics Combat Rifle, A-TCR for short and charged out of his cover, aiming for the small military squad on the other side of the field. It was really dumb move, getting out on a flat area, surrounded by enemy fire from almost every direction, but in his state of mind, it didn't matter. He was shooting full-auto at the soldiers, killing them all, but also making himself to throw away his weapon before it started to burn his hands.

A shot louder than any other pierced through the air, and in the same time Mike felt like someone kicked him in the torso. Looking down, he noticed a small hole with blood slowly getting out of it. He instantly felt overwhelming tireness and cold.

"Shit, did I really do this? Fuck, get up, don't die!" he scolded himself mentally, trying to gather enough energy to stand up, but even if the mind wanted to do so, body didn't want to obey amd few moments later he fell on the ground, slowly losing the contact with reality.

"Are you going somewhere?" the young, red-headed woman asked curiously.

"Yeah, I have a briefing in 20 minutes. They just LOVE to let me know about the meetings so late" the man sighed in response. It was always like this. 7am in the morning and he gets a message to get to Sinda Defense ASAP. He grabbed his jeans and put them on, discretely watching as his naked love was doing morning gymnastics.

"Mike."

"Yeah?"

"You're staring at me."

He lightly blushed as he turned the gaze away from her in search of the white T-shirt. After a few minutes of effectless searches he growled lightly. "Where the hell is my shirt? Jes, did you see it somewhere?"

"You mean this shirt?" she asked, making Mike look in her direction and getting a feel of triumph when he blushed once again. She noticed a small bulge in his pants, which made her even more triumphant.

"Could you... Could you, please, put your pants on... And give me my shirt?" he managed to ask, trying to conentrate the gaze on the floor rather than on her.

"Here you go, mr. I'm too scared to look at my girlfriend's legs" she giggled, giving him the shirt back. She put on the black pants and green top and wemt to the door. "Let's go"

"Wait," Mike asked putting on the jacket and leaning on the wall, "Are you coming with me?"

"I'll go shopping while you're away"

The man shrugged and smiled, "Sounds good for me. Just wait a sec, I'll go and get my gun"

She returned the smile and walked out of the house, leaving Mike alone. He quickly loomed around in search of the white gun, a replica of the Glock 17 version 12 from 2074. When he finally found it and was reaching for it, the silence was broken by an enormous crash. Not thinking about anything, Mike reached for the gun and sprinted towards the door. He couldn't believe the sight he saw. The car was on fire, igniting surrounding grass, there were pieces of the car body everywhere.

"Jessica? Jes!?" he screamed, nervously searching for her. She was laying near the car, her leg was pinned down by the car doors, her arm was burning, yet for unknown reasons, she was still alive and conscious. "Holy-"

"Mike" she murmured, coughing with blood.

"Don't say anything, I'll get you out of this!" he shouted panically, trying to move the door. Suddenly, he felt something grabbing his wrist, so he looked at her once again.

"They were waiting for you, run..."

His eyes opened wide. He knew exactly WHO was waiting for him. "It doesn't matter now, we need you- Jes?" he shaked her hand when he noticed she closed her eyes and laid back on the cold tarmac. "Fuck! Don't die! Just don't!"

Just when he wanted to stand up to uncover her body once again, he heard a faint noise on the small house in front of him. It was a sniper, but a damn poor one, making himself visible all the time.

Pain immediately vanished from his mind, giving a place for anger. Not giving hinself more than two seconds to think, Mike sprinted towards the ladder and silently climbed up. During that time the sniper managed to make himself comfortable and was waiting - probably for Mike - to come out of the house.

"You really thought you could outsmart me?" the raged man said, placing a bullet in the sniper's right leg. "That you could effortlessly kill my love and me?" he pulled the trigger once again.

The sniper was laying there in terror, too shocked by the situation to think rationally. The pain was unbelievably strong, catalyzed by fear and surprise.

"Well, I'm not an easy target. You, on the other side, are a piece of cake. Goodnight" Mike pulled the trigger once again. The metal bullet pierced through the head, instantly killing 'the bad guy'.

"Jes, I swear. I swear, I won't die until I'll avenge you." he said to himself after kicking the body from the roof.

I swore that to her. I can't lose now, not yet! - The words echoed in his mind as he began to slowly get back to reality. Few moments later the sounds of battle once again reached his ears and the view of the battlefield came back to his eyes. He was tired, however he managed to stand up and looked around. The guy who shot him was still there, however, Mike didn't have any weapon that he could use. His A-TCR was overheated, so it was no use.

The sniper noticed that Mike was still alive and prepared for another shot. His target, however had other plans.

"Not this time, motherfucker" he growled as he instinctively murmured few words and pointed his hand at the sniper. A blue burst of energy flew through the air towards the ruined three-story building the sniper was standing on and hit the column inside. With an overwhelming rumble, the building collapsed, burying the sniper below.

Mike once again felt tired, but now he knew he could allow himself to do so. He crawled to a closest wall and sat down next to it, immediately falling asleep.

E-journal entry #2
14th October 2431

I'm finally awake. God knows how the hell I am still alive, the people saw as that sniper shot me right in the heart. Maybe it's because of my determination? Fuck, if I'm invulnerable, then why am I so careful!?

And there's another question, that "energy boost" that I've received right before the building collapsed. Was that me? Or just a very strange coincidence?

The military sent a courier to us yesterday. I'm curious, that's for sure. They say they can negotiate with us about leaving the planet, but they want me to come over their base today. Well, as far as I don't trust them, we have to try. However, how the hell Sinda scientists are supposed to fight without a leader?

Capt. Michael T. Gray, former leader of Starfront Colony Security on Vendetta.

A/N If you read the story before, you can notice that I dropped a bit. It was a totally undeveloped story arc which only gave me more difficulty, not adding anything to the story. You don't need to be bothered by it :)

14th October 2431, 12:02 AM, New Texas/Military outpost demilitarized area.

"Yet again they throw me into the eye of the cyclone... I'm curious how it will turn out today..." Mike said to himself as he crossed the borders of the 'peaceful' area.

Vendetta was a martian-type planet l, bought by Starfront Industries to test out more effective terramorphing procedures. Before building the Climate control center the planet was only a red desert with canyons and mountains with a cruel temperature of 47 degrees celsius during the day. However, after enabling the work of Climate Control, the temperature drppped to about 20 degrees at day. Because of that, the colonists took care of creating the floral surface and opening a research colony on the planet. Now, Vendetta was looking like Earth in mid-desert areas.

Mike loved this place. The recent malfunctions in the climate control center caused the planet to slowly revert to its older state, throwing fierce sandstorms at the colonies, closing the water sources... It was a survival - a type of life Mike liked the most. Constant searches for water, flying to other planets to buy resources to live... It wasn't the easiest way of living.

"But it makes people tougher. That's why we still are alive during this godforsaken war" Mike said to himself, instantly remebwring his second night on the planet. He went on a walk when a sandstorm approached. He had to hide in a cave and fight with a Scavenger, big, rat-like creature.

When he went along the road, soon the small, black building rose from behind the mountains. There was no doubt it was military encampment - tall, steel fences, probably under high voltage, strong defense, automatic turrets on every pole across the fencing, guards on every weak-looking spot, movement sensors... They had a really strong security, opposed to almost nothing at the Sinda colonists' camp.

He went in the direction of the biggest building, an old water purification facility, now serving as the main hq. It was a big, four-story building with no windows and many secured exits.

The water facility was built during the times when colonists thought the planet is inhabited by hostile and dangerous creatures, so, not wanting to serve as food for them, they were building highly defended fortresses instead of normal buildings.

Mike approached the first guarding point, but no one seemed to even notice him. Not saying a word, he went through and proceeded further.

The camp was certainly in rush. Soldiers running from tent to tent, hearable whispers with a hint of nervousness here and there, and overall tight atmosphere added to this effect.

"What the heck is going on...?" he asked himself aloud, raising an eyebrow while looking around.

"Captain Gray? Is that you?" he suddenly heard from the direction of the HQ, and few seconds later a young tall soldier was standing next to him.

"Not a captain anymore, Project Phoenix is closed. How did you-"

"I was in your squad. Lieutenant Zak Flannigan" the guy stated happily, saluting to him, "But that's not why I wanted to talk with you. If I may ask, are you going to meet the general?"

Mike nodded quickly in response, making the soldier to lose his humor.

"Listen. I know you've handled worse people, but watch out. General is a person who can easily manipulate people. Bear that in mind" the soldier stretched a hand and shook it with Mike. Giving him a mute "good luck" he opened the doors behind him and allowed his captain to enter the building.

"One year was suffucient to completely rebuild this facility from ashes. Alliance sure is good in this" Mike thought to himself looking in disbelief at the interior of what recently was a block of concrete. Painted walls, offices, lights, electricity... It was hard to believe that all this was brought here few months ago.

Just like in any other remote HQ, this one's corridors were also filled with crew ranging from officers to privates to a point, where movement was slightly limited. What was strange, inside there was no feeling of the harsh climate outside the building. It was just like entering the building teleported you on another planet.

After few turns, a big, steel doors with Terran Space Alliance Remote Military Forces emerged in front of Mike. He hit a small button and they opened with a loud hiss of servomechanisms.

He was greeted by a smiling woman in formal blue military uniform standing in the middle of the room. "Mr. Gray, welcome in my office" she said slowly, as if she was forcing her approach.

"Um... hi?" he replied, kinda surprised by her look, but when he reminded himself of the soldier's words, everything seemed to merge into a reasonable picture.

The general was a young, pretty woman with short brown hair and green eyes with sparkling iris, suggesting that she had a vision-expanding implants.

"Michael Thomas Gray, leader of the resistance movement, the best soldier in the Phoenix program... AWOL for few months after the Rosenberg Conflict" she recited from the datapad she took from the desk behind her.

Mike crossed his hands, "You seem to know a lot about me, but I don't know anything about you."

"Indeed" she nodded, sitting on the desk and seductively crossing her legs. Every move was slow and well thought, as if she was trying to place a charm spell on him. "I'm Rise, and I, too, was trained in Phoenix. That's why I decided to talk with you. Your yesterday actions were brave and effective, and this is what we crucially need in these times"

"What times?" he raised an eyebrow, not exactly inderstanding what she was talking about.

"Two months ago we've found a lifeform signals on a recently discovered planet, D34 "Astralia". We suspect hostility, because our last recon team isn't responding."

"And you expect me to...?" he raised his eyebrow.

"We... I expect you, mr. Gray to help our new team. I promise we'll pay you for your efforts."

He stopped to think for a moment. It was a good deal, having Alliance military squad for help. Sure, there was a calculated risk because of that unknown threat, but his decision was also affecting the safety of Vendetta. Not giving a second thought, he nodded quickly. "I'll do it"

"Are you insane!?" a humanoidal ape got out from hiding spot and pointed at the door just when Mike left it. "If you give him backup, emperor Bowma-"

"He won't be getting any backup, Lex" she interrupted him momentarily. "Besides, I wouldn't be risking pissing off Dash at this point. Tell me, why this man is so important?"

"He is a Kra-"

"It's none of uour business" a calm, slow voice stopped the ape's reply.

"E-emperor?" Lex asked frightfully. He knew he stepped on the red line, and was walking on thin ice right now. "I didn't know you were listening!"

"Bowman" she stated, just like she knew he was listening. In fact, she also was surprised by that fact, but she didn't want to show it. "How long are you spying me?"

"Spying?" he gasped, "How rude of you! I was just spectating the show. I wanted to be sure that you won't... how to say it... lie to me."

"This is madness. I've took over the military base, killed dozens of innocent people only to make one man to go to your planet. I don't know if that was worth it." she growled lightly, "Don't pull the string too much, Dash"

"I'm searching for Johnny" Mike asked the shuttle pilot, who was sitting on the bench near the shuttle.

"That's me. And you're Gray, that guy going to D34? Let's get moving, general hates when I'm late" he replied, quickly standing up and entering the shuttle.

Mike followed and soon the ship was warming its engines up.

"Tell me," Mike took a seat next to the pilot and adjusted himelf to the most comfortable position, "How good these guys were?"

"What guys?"

"You know, these who went on D34 and didn't come back" he said, slightly concerned about his own safety, now realizing the danger of his mission.

"Oh, you mean Red squad? Well, they were trained about ten years, masters of stealth and ground combat"

"I'm fucked up, I'm fucked up" - he repeated mentally, now being completely terrified.

The shuttle finally took off and slowly, but steadily, left the planet behind, delving into the black void called the space.

Meanwhile in Lylat system...

Corneria spacezone, Albatross dreadnought-class cruiser

"Nora, get me out of here! It's NOT funny!" the yellow canary shouted from behind the escape pod doors. He had been sitting there for last two hours after losing the bet of defeating his captain in flight simulator.

"It's not funny for you, to be honest" the red vixen said through waves of uncontrollable laughter, watching as her friend effectlessly tried to open the closed steel doors, hurting himself in the process. "You shouldn't have bet with me in the first place"

"Captain, please free Chip from the capsule, he will hurt himself and I will have to patch him up" a robotical voice suonded in the speakers.

"You too, WIMO!? You are supposed to HELP team members!" the yellow canary tried to kick the doors open, but instead he fell on his back, making the spectators burst with laughter again.

"Now, it's time to make the final stage of our little bet" she said, noddint at the green chimp, who smiled and launched the escape pod.

"What? Hey, Help!" the canary cried, but it wasn't hearable for the rest of the team because of the space between them. The pod slowly faded away into the blue planet behind.

The friends laughed for long even after he disappeared.

"So, are we going to help him?" Runner, a grey cheetah asked.

"Yeah, but now let's relax for a moment without that kid." the green chimp replied, "how about we'll watch some movie?"

"Nice idea, Andy! Wimo, set the course to Corneria, but don't make it fast, okay?"

"Affirmative, capt. Leslie" the robot acknowledged the order and turned the big dreadnought to face the planet.

A/N This pretty much closes the first chapter of the re-done (and reimagined) version of Lost Memories, I don't know why dubbed "Revisited".

Hope the quality rose a bit as compared to the original, tried to everything but dialogues (in which I totally suck)

If you have any useful tips, feel free to post them as a review. Thanks very much for reading!