Chapter 1: In Fate's Hands
As a strongly glowing Solar rose into view of his bedroom window, Fox McCloud only winced slightly as he continued to stare blankly through the large clear surface. The only real reaction that this sudden change merited from him was an unsettled sigh; however, that was less likely due to the beautiful view than it was the fact that he had grown bored during this rather long period of downtime. It had been several weeks since he and his team had successfully defeated the Aparoids, and as a result, there were simply no more missions to be had. Not that he didn't appreciate some time off; he merely yearned for adventure, for the thrill of serving the Lylat system and following in his Father's footsteps.
This period of inactivity, however, had served him well in many respects. Immediately following their return to Corneria after their last mission, Fox made his newest team member, Krystal, one of his top priorities. He had not yet gathered the courage to ask her to be his girlfriend, but if things kept going as well as they were, they were well on their way to becoming an item. Besides this, he'd managed to keep Falco from leaving the team once again, who, like him, was becoming restless as well. Slippy spent most of his free time on the newest version of the Great Fox, helping with the design and upkeep, while at the same time upgrading the previous version of ROB the robot. Peppy had made the greatest change since he returned to Corneria. General Pepper, who himself was getting on in years, decided that the best way to honor the last remaining of the original Star Fox team was to give him his position as General of the Cornerian Army. Peppy reluctantly agreed, and has been serving dutifully ever since.
All of these events played through Fox's head as he stared aimlessly out of his bedroom window, wondering if this really was the end of his missions, the end of the Star Fox team. Maybe now peace would truly be held throughout the Lylat System. If that were true, he decided, then he should just forget about his former life and accept that he'd entered into a new chapter. As promising as it sounded, he wasn't sure he was really ready to make such a transition…
The vulpine's thoughts were broken as he heard gentle footsteps slowly approach from behind him. Eager to distract himself, Fox turned to see Krystal's smiling face, towards which he flashed his own welcoming smile.
"I thought I'd find you here, Fox. It seems these days if someone doesn't fetch you from your room you'd never leave." The vixen began in a calm voice, "Is everything alright?"
Fox nodded simply, "Yeah, of course. How are you doing today?"
Krystal took a few steps closer to her vulpine captain as she spoke in reply, "Quite well. I was thinking about starting some breakfast for everyone. Is there anything in particular you'd like?"
"I was thinking we skip breakfast," Fox started in a subtly playful voice, "How about we go out for a walk instead? I think I could use some fresh air."
She raised an eyebrow at him, "Here I thought I was the only one that could read minds. Yes, I'd very much like that. I'm not in much of an eating mood, or a cooking one for that matter."
With little more than an exchanged smile, the two vulpines made their way free of Fox's room and through the house, which had been provided by Corneria and lived in by every member of the Star Fox team going many years back. It was a rather modest abode for a team with such status to live in, but Fox insisted that it remain the same after he took over the team in place of his Father. That said, it was still a very impressive two-story building, which was hidden away several miles from Corneria City's city lines.
Walking out of the house, the two found themselves among a fairly dense forest, within which were several different trails and paths that had been carved in the past. The main road was a short distance off at the end of a small paved driveway, and looking up, you could see an occasional cloud pass by within the otherwise perfectly blue Cornerian sky.
As Fox had rather lost himself in the sights that surrounded them, he hadn't noticed Krystal eagerly making her way down one of the many paths that began away from the clearing they were standing within. It didn't take long for the vixen to notice the distance she had accidently put between herself and her captain, and in order to remedy this, she shouted out for him in a cheerful voice, "Come along, Fox! I thought we were going on a walk!"
The vulpine's attention quickly returned to itself proper place, only to see the blue-furred vixen excitedly jogging away from him. He couldn't let out a slightly chuckle as he yelled back, "Right! A walk, not a run!"
With those words, both fox's were off into the woods. They had no set destination, no timeline to follow, their goal was merely to enjoy each other's company, and in that respect, it was shaping up to be a great day.
Bored with the story so far? Wish something exciting would happen? I'm sure you're thinking, "You know, if this happened after this chapter, it could end up being pretty interesting." Well, take that idea and put it into a review, and that just might be how the story goes! This story will be run entirely by the ideas of the readers, no matter in what direction that is. I've started this story off rather generically, and from this point on, the story could go literally anywhere. Want the next chapter to be a sappy romance? Maybe you feel like Andross needs to drop a bomb in those woods. Or maybe Fox and Krystal could be murdered and the rest of the team has to solve the mystery. Chapter by chapter, suggestions of how the story should progress will be considered, so this story may never end. Nothing is off limits, any kind of scenario or genre can be used. So with that, I leave the rest to you, I'm only piecing the story together!