The next day was rainy, just like the last one. Every day was rainy and humid on this God-forsaken planet.
A plain wooden table sitting in the center of the one-room wooden shack was its only defining feature, besides a bag in the corner containing some assorted rations. The blue-feathered male falcon sitting at one end of the table rose and angrily slammed a palm on the table.
"I'm done waiting in this hellhole! We've been here for two and a half days watching paint dry while we wait for Peppy to get back to us with word from the government. How do we know Peppy's not already dead and we're just waiting for the president's goons to come kill us? This is ridiculous!" The blue falcon exclaimed to his partner. The partner, an orange male fox sitting adjacent to him at the table, spoke sternly to his ally.
"Falco, will you chill out for just a second? I know we've been waiting in this swamp...jungle...whatever this place is for a while, but we need to trust Peppy, alright? And we're watching around the clock in case anyone finds us. Right, Slippy?" He called to a third person. When no reply came, he frustratedly rose to go see what was keeping his coworker from responding, but found himself stopped by a gesture from his avian partner.
"Relax, Fox. I'll see what's with Slip. You stay here and do your hero stuff." He said before passing through the door. Outside, he found Slippy: a green male frog. He was fast asleep holding his combat rifle. Falco walked up and hit the young amphibian over the back of the head, abruptly waking him from whatever pleasant dreams he might have been having.
"I know you're right at home in this rainy, damp hell, but try to stay awake when you're on guard duty, yeah, Slip?" He sarcastically remarked to his freshly roused partner, who now attempted to utter an excuse for his sleeping on the job.
"Falco! Sorry, I...I guess I-"
"You've been out here watchin' a whole lot of nothing for a while. Why don't ya go in and chill with Fox? I'll take over watchin' out here."
"R...really? Gee, thanks, Falco." He said surprisedly before handing over the rifle and heading inside. Falco sat down in the plain wooden chair with the weapon and started to observe every detail of the surrounding foliage...again. He had looked at this same foliage a dozen times since they'd been hiding here, every single time he'd been on guard duty. When they'd first arrived, he had thought the planet was pretty beautiful, until he'd had to live on the wilder parts of the surface. Now he personally thought this place was the heart of all darkness. Although the fight they'd have on their hands if they had to fight through Venomian soldiers to the capitol were going to put this to shame. Nature never did hurt anyone that wasn't asking for it. People weren't so nice. He spent the next few minutes sitting around listening to Fox and a still lethargic Slippy conversing inside. Fox complained about a hole in the roof, and Slippy said he was starting to sound more like Falco.
"Hey, I heard that, Slippy! Don't forget who's watchin' your back next time you fall asleep on guard duty!" He retorted. He turned back to his jungle dominion when he suddenly noticed something. A bush, flattened, not enough to seem conspicuous but for the fact that Falco had been staring at this particular patch of jungle for the last few days. He knew it shouldn't be that way. Not wanting to alert the others, Falco rose from his chair and stalked towards the bush in question. Just in case he ran into trouble, he made sure the safety catch on his rifle was off.
When he came to the bush, he realized there was a trail of crushed vegetation leading back into the jungle. A pretty amateur scout to leave such a conspicuous trail. Falco didn't see any reason to alert the others. He would follow it back a little ways, just to see if there was any action to be had, then go back and get them if it was going to be a long trek. He began along the trail, trying to make as little noise as possible. He followed the trail of crushed leafery until he found what he was looking for: a thick bush, untouched, at the end of the path. The bush was thick enough to hide a person behind it. He slyly crept up to it and eased the barrel of his rifle against the bush.
"Come on out, little Venom scout. I've got you." He warned. When there was no response, he crashed through the bush, finding to his surprise that there was no one behind it. He came through into a clearing on the other side. He looked around in confusion. That bush was the end of the trail. Which meant if there was no one hiding there, then he had...
Falco's thought process was interrupted by a foot connecting with his face. He flew to the ground, as did his rifle. Assessing that he didn't have time to go for it, the bird rose in a defensive position. The person who attacked him was wearing a veil or scarf or something, so he couldn't see their face. But from what he could tell, they were a feline with pink fur, and a woman. She had a pretty good body, too. Shaking his head to clear it of his distractions, he was almost too late to avoid her initial right hook. She seemed to be coming at him with the right fist a lot, which meant she was probing to open him up for her left fist, where she'd pack most of her power. All he had to do was wait for that, then counter and get in one good hit, then she should be taken care of. He waited until he finally saw it. She was preparing to swing with her left fist, and he prepared his counterattack.
He found himself interrupted by something sweeping his legs out from under him. He hit the ground again. She had leg swept him while he focused on her fist attacks! It was a chump mistake. She advanced on him and prepared to follow up, but now it was his turn to take her off guard. Grabbing a nearby branch, he took her legs out from under her, sending her to the ground just as he recovered. He raised the branch over his head, preparing to knock her out with it. But she recovered faster than he had expected. She extended her foot, kicking him hard in the 'family jewels'. Falco yelped in intense pain, dropped his branch and stumbled back against a tree. As his foe climbed back to her feet, he noticed her scarf was gone. As he had assumed, she was a female feline. And she was really quite beautiful. Her legs were...
He realized he was getting distracted again. He noticed she looked somewhat familiar, however. The falcon then shook it off and took up his fighting stance once more. The two anonymous foes, bird and cat, man and woman, squared off in the clearing once more. This time, he made the first move. He approached with a straight kick, using the opening following her block to enter and throw a right hook. As expected, she blocked, but he was a step ahead. He grabbed her wrist and attempted to spin her into an armbar, but she was a step ahead. She used his momentum to continue through the spin and flipped him onto the ground. She came around and knelt over him as she took out a previously concealed knife and held it to his throat.
"What the hell are you doing here?" She demanded. Falco remained silent. "I know you. You're Falco Lombardi. Small galaxy." She said. Falco looked at her confusedly. Then, all of a sudden, the answer hit him. She was Catherine "Katt" Monroe. They had gone to high school together. She was the daughter of a powerful businessman on their home planet of Zoness, and had been raised from birth to be successful. She was the valedictorian from their high school. She had been planning to attend a prestigious university on Corneria. He could only assume the war had put an end to that.
"Katt Monroe. I'm finally good enough for you to talk to me. Are all of your prep friends commandos here, too?" He asked. Catherine smiled coyly at the mercenary.
"You were such a bad boy in high school. But now I've beaten you in a fist fight, too. I bet you can't beat me in one of my strong fields."
"Yeah yeah, Katt's so successful. Katt's gonna be famous one day. I remember. I never talked to you much, and now I don't think I regret that much. But I've got somethin' to tell you, Kitty-Katt."
"And what's that?"
"I've had a gun pointed at your gut for the last two minutes." He stated plainly. She looked down in shock to see that he indeed had a sidearm pulled from his belt pointed at her stomach. In the moment of shock, Falco swept her knife-holding arm away and flipped the feline over. He rose to his feet and pointed his firearm at his enemy.
"You shoulda stayed in law school. I guess I'll be the one to show ya how dangerous this place can be." He was preparing to interrogate her when she began to talk on her own.
"You're here to talk about an alliance with President Norman, aren't you? You sent your older friend, and you and your partners are hiding out here as an insurance policy, am I right?" She said. Falco said nothing, but was curious as to how she knew so much about what was going on.
"It was a set-up, Lombardi. President Norman's already got an alliance with Andross' Venomian forces. The first troops from this planet are shipping out to join the war front in a week. When your friend, the hare, arrived to try and talk politics, they betrayed and captured him. But my people freed him. He's on his way to join your team now."
"And who are your people? Why the hell would they free Peppy from the planetary government?"
"When Andross' forces attacked Zoness, they obliterated our home. They killed a lot of people in our hometown, Lombardi. You saw the ruins, didn't you? Didn't you?" Falco said nothing. "Most of my family was safe, but I couldn't let them continue. I came to this planet and got contacted by a group trying to rise up against Andross and his allies. And that means getting rid of President Norman here. We can help you. But you have to let me go."
"I'm a mercenary, Monroe. I follow the paycheck. How do I know what you're saying is going to pay off?"
"Trust me. I'm the smart one, remember? Go to your people, Lombardi. You'll be able to find us. I believe in you." With that, Monroe rose and dashed into the foliage unopposed by the avian, just as Fox burst into the clearing from the opposite direction.
"Falco, what the hell are you doing out here? Peppy's here. He says he has something to tell us. And that it's not good."
"I know what it is."
"What? You do? How?"
"Don't worry. We'll have help. We'll always have help."