So this is the begining of our tale! sorry that it is mostly set up and description, but i want to capture the feeling of the game best i can. I.E. how run down the 'Fox is, and how the characters are interacting. there will be more in the next chapter about why Dan left the UNSC in the next chapter, and more of Krystal's story before Star Fox is sent to Sauria. i hope you enjoy and please, let me know if i got the right feel going. PS yes, there is a reference in the first section you would have to have read Halo Forgotten heroes to understand fully. i will explain it in this story, but it will be faster for you if your read Forgotten Heroes.
Thorntail Hollow, Sauria.
Natalie Roland sighed as she stared out her unglazed window, the two wooden crossbars cemented into the stone not even carved from the branches she used to make them. Her feet carried her over to the small, make shift bed, made from rough branches and the leather hides of some of the local animals she would hunt for food. Beside the cot, was a small, worn out crate, made from polymers and metal, things beyond her capability of producing. On this crate, was a thin, rectangular datapad, barely functioning. She picked it up, using it for the one thing she struggled to keep it working for, the date. Wow, I cant believe it's been ten years to the day since Actium fell. Another sigh slipped out as she looked at the picture, front and center of the datapad. A tear slipped out and she darkened the screen before memories could crop up. Cant think about that now. Food is running low, gotta get more. She grabbed the bow leaning against the earthen wall and slung the quiver that went with it. her feet carried her down the earthen ramp and she slipped through the blissfully cool waterfall that hid the entrance to her cave home. After a few steps through knee deep water, she was stepping up on the sandy banks leading to the grassy fields and hills of Thorntail hollow. It was situated at the foot of a mountain range, the tallest cluster of peaks being covered with snow, vastly different from the near tropical biome below. Her bare feet burned as she past a pair of massive, spike covered dinosaurs, which, despite it's appearance, was quite friendly.
"Oh, hello huntress, out for another hunt?" it had taken her years to learn the language of the massive dinosaurs.
"Yes. Gals gotta eat, doesn't she?" the dinosaur chuckled before it responded.
"Well, make sure it doesn't talk before you go after it. I still remember when you first showed up here." She laughed and was starting to stride away when a streak in the sky drew her attention. It was nothing like a meteorite, and seemed to be controlling itself as it fell. Instantly curious, and quickly checked its direction, before she drew her bow and started running. The pod was headed roughly toward the east forests, a place that was swarming with the deadly sharp claw army. Little did she know, the sharp claw army had staged a massive coup overnight, and shortly, even the hollow would no longer be safe. She glanced back at the stone ruins her home was hidden behind. On the ridge the ruins were built into, and her water fall came down, had more ruins. Inside was a massive, stone guardian that she had only ever glimpsed moving with in the structure. A pair of massive triceratops like creatures usually guarded the entrance. She frowned as she realized they were gone. She shrugged and continued to run, following the path that lead there. After several minutes she slowed to a walk. After a few more minutes, she heard a rustle in the still branches, knowing exactly what it was. In an instant, she had an arrow knocked and aiming for the tree.
"Delf, I know you are up there." The female light foot, almost like a chubbier, thicker legged, veloci-raptor. She in particular, had vibrant orang feathers sticking off the back of her head, held there by a section of crude brass, and marking her a s mating female of the species. She dropped from the tree as she spoke.
"how do you always know where me hide?" her voice was high pitched and scratchy.
"Because I've had ten years to learn your hiding spots." The dino cocked her head at Natalie as they continued down the path.
"Ten?! it has been only three?!" she chuckled a smile sliding onto her face as she slipped the arrow from the string and back into her quiver.
"Ten earth years. It's roughly three Earth years for one Saurian year." The dino shrugged, accepting that. "So, did you see that fire streak go by?" the dino suddenly stopped, causing Natalie to stop as well.
"Yes, I did. It landed not too far from here. A creature like you came out of it." that right there stunned her. Another human, here! That means someone may know of this place! She was practically bouncing with excitement.
"Do you know where they went!?" the dino nodded and took off, forcing Natalie to sprint to keep up. Luckily, ten years of surviving on the planet had made her faster and stronger than the average person. Even then, she had a tough time keeping up. After what felt like forever, she arrived in a small clearing, the dinosaur suddenly stopping and leaping into the trees. Ahead of her, in the clearing, was something that was definitely not human, but not the brutal aliens trying to wipe out humanity either. whatever it was, looked like a bipedal fox, only vibrant blue and white, with a strange purple and gold laced bow staff, one end bulbous with a faint turquoise light emanating from it. the opposite end was a turquoise spear point, edged in gold. The woman had a short length of vibrant blue hair as well. Natalie quickly slipped an arrow onto the string of her bow before stepping out of the trees.
The blue vixen tried to not let a smile show on her face, able to sense the same sentient creature as earlier, another far more complex mind along with it. She could sense the hostility in the second mind, almost feeling the bow string tighten in the person's hands. Before the figure could step out of the trees, she sent a small fire blast from the bulbous end of her staff into the tree beside them, startling them out of the shadows. One was a two legged, short armed scaled creature, mostly brown and tan in color. It was wearing a brass head dress, bright orange feathers sticking off the back of it's head. The other, more complexly minded individual, was a human female, a little shorter than herself. Her furless skin was heavily tanned and slightly red with solar burns. Her light green eyes fit perfectly with her light brown hair, and surprisingly soft features. Her hair was barely darker than her skin at the moment, and although it had a few tangles in it, it was clean and well kept, as was the rest of her body. She was wearing very little, just a rough hide skirt and breast covering, rough cords tying the hide together at the sides of her body. Over her shoulder was a quiver full of arrows, the strap across her chest having a small, black handled, black sheathed knife, way too advanced for her tribal like clothing. The bow in her hands was a mid-length affair, comprised of one long bend and two smaller conflicting bends on either side. The human kept her bow raised and aimed at the vixen's chest, earning her a small smirk from the vixen.
Do not be alarmed. I am a friend. It seemed that the woman could not hear her thought as she shouted in an unfamiliar tongue.
"Do not move or I will kill you where you stand, animal!" the vixen concentrated a little harder this time, not realizing how out of practice she was with using telepathy. She had only known what the woman said because of her ability to literally read people's minds.
Stop. I am no threat to you, human. I only ask your name, mine is Krystal. The human froze, the bow lowering slightly.
"That voice, it's you, isn't it?" this time, she spoke in a human language that the Vixen knew very well, given it had few differences between it and the main language of the Lylat system she had just arrived in.
"Yes, that voice in your head is me. And your name is?" the only real difference in the Lylatian language and English was their written forms, and the names. As It so happened, the Lylat races had been reciving radio broadcasts for centuries, their language slowly adopting the sounds of the humans, as well as some of their musical styles, among other things.
"Natalie." She released the tension on the string as she pointed the arrow at the dirt, but Krystal got the feeling that if she wanted to, she could snap the weapon back up and fire in an instant with little chance of missing at this range.
"A pleasure to meet you, Natalie. If you will, I am here because I felt a distress call, coming from a lone mountain swathed in a storm. Does that sound familiar to either of you?" a unique attribute to being able to read people's minds was the ability to learn languages from others near instantaneously, leaving very little need for a translator for her, regardless of who she spoke to. Thus, she was already speaking the main language native to this planet fluently.
"That sound like Krazoa Palace. But no one allowed there but Earth Walker!" the dinosaur was the one speaking now as a thought from Krystal caused her staff to collapse down to less than a third of a meter long, letting her easily slide it in the chain around her waist.
"Can you point me the way then?" both of them shook their heads, but the human was quickly speaking.
"Yeah, but you wont get there on foot. The storms are nasty right now. Wont let up. It's like some sort of defensive barrier. A Cloud Runner may be able to get you there, but I don't know any. I've never even been there myself." Krystal nodded, lost in thought for a second before the dinosaur made a loud, shrill squawk. A few seconds later, Krystal realized there was another sentient creature nearby, this one in the sky. She looked up, seeing a strange, winged creature soar down and hover above them shouting down at them.
"Delf, why are you calling me! I'm on an urgent mission! The Krozoa Palace is under attack!" the grounded dinosaur was instantly shouting back.
"Me friend here needs help! She is here in response to the attack on the Krazoa Palace, to help!" the flying dino suddenly swooped to the ground, landing very lightly.
"how does Natalie know of the attack?" Krystal decided to remain silent, letting the dino's talk it out.
"She knows very little. Dis other one knows though! She felt distress call, came to help!" winged creature glanced at her before speaking.
"Okay, I will take you to the palace, but you will find your own way off. I am only to report on the events unfolding there, no more!" Krystal nodded and smiled, speaking gently.
"That is alright. I will be fine there. Thank you. My name is Krystal." Suddenly, the human spoke up before Krystal could mount the flying creature.
"Wait, who attacked the palace?" the flying dino sighed as Krystal mounted on his back, getting her staff out and extending it.
"General Scales." Whoever that was, it seemed to click something into place in the girls mind, and she was gone in a flash, ripping through the trees. "Hold on tight Krystal!" and with that, he leapt into the air, leaving the ground, and Krystal's stomach, hundreds of feet below.
Present
Bridge, Great Fox, Forbidden Zone, 1200 kilometers from high orbit of Sauria.
I slid my old helmet on and quickly cycled the bolt of the MA5C dangling off my chest, making absolutely clear that it was empty before stepping through the doors and onto the bridge. It had only been a few hours, just enough time for me to drop the heavy duffle bags and the massive case I had brought with me in my cabin. One duffel was filled with spare ammo and clips for my three weapons, an assault rifle, a small, silence able sub-machine gun, and an old forty-five caliber handgun. They had all been deemed as scrap, as well as my armor, after the end of the Human-Covenant War, allowing me to easily buy my old kit, much cheaper than the cost of civilian market counter parts, and far superior to them anyway. Even the more advanced pieces had been scrapped to make way for the SPI armor, or semi-powered infiltration armor, that Orbital Drop Shock Troopers and other special forces were now being issued. The bullpup rifle in my hands was also now outdated, replaced with a newer, more efficient and lighter model, but mine had served with me since I joined the military, surviving with as many scars as I had.
The members of the team the job I was hired for were all on the bridge before me, one being a short, green toad by the name of Slippy, ironically, Toad. He was a brilliant mechanic by the file I had been sent, and seemed a generally likable person, even if he tended to be weak willed and awkward. He was currently working on the boxy robot pilot, bringing the mech online. Something about the mech seemed my sentient than the average 'dumb' AI he was claimed to be. In the navigation chair was a plump, greying rabbit, the oldest member of the team, both in age and having been an original member. His name was, again ironically, Peppy Hare. The final member was sitting in the central command chair, already wearing a green sleeveless flight suit with a white, zip up, sleeveless tactical vest. Beside his chair was a survival pack, one long vertical compartment holding a water bladder and rations, and two smaller rectangular side pouches for any other supplies. The man himself, was a brunt orang and white fox, with deep emerald eyes. To add another irony to the train wreck worth, his name was Fox McCloud. One of his ears twitched as I moved onto the bridge, glancing at the polarized visor of my ODST helmet as I stared out the viewport to the mostly green world ahead of us. The planet looked relatively normal from here, with the exception of an asteroid belt and several massive floating chunks in orbit around the planet.
"Well, this is the spot. I never knew that there was another planet in our system." Fox's voice slipped across the bridge before Peppy spoke up.
"Well, it was removed from the records when they made this a forbidden zone. No ship has ever managed to land on the surface before, but we gotta try. Some rumors have floated around about it's existence, and at the right time of year, you can see it from Corneria. Just gets hushed up." I remained silent as the green orb drew closer in the view screen.
"In range of planet, initiating scanners." The holo projector popped to life before us, showing the same planet as the one before us, but not a full image. The side of the planet across from his was not scanned, but would be in an hour or so as the ship settled into a high orbit. "I detect life and atmosphere on the outlying chunks. I will recalibrate the scanners." I spoke up for the first time since introducing myself, causing Slippy to nearly jump out of his skin.
"No. your scanners are right. Look at that chunk. Green. Don't usually have green without life." Fox nodded in agreement before he finally stood, slinging his pack and checking his small pistol. Cornerian weapons were very advanced high velocity plasma weapons, firing ionized gas mixtures to burn through a target. Although similar in many ways to covenant weaponry, Cornerian weapons fired their shots at vastly superior speeds, making it easier to hit targets, even though the weapons were less efficient and less powerful. But, knowing from firsthand experience, accuracy and range far outstripped power any day of the week. "How am I getting down there McCloud?" Fox glanced up at me for a second before he spoke.
"Same way as me. Your file says you know how to fly, so load up our other working Arwing with whatever supplies you need and can, and follow my lead." I nodded and marched back to my cabin, Fox headed for the hanger at the very bottom of the ship. In my small loaned cabin, I grabbed the duffel of ammo and the large hard case before heading down to the hanger myself. When I stepped off the elevator, a sigh escaped my lips of it's own accord. The hanger deck was in as shabby of condition as the ship itself, with missing hull plates, one of the four disused catapults missing, and several fighters scattered across the deck. Only two of the fighters weren't scattered in unusable pieces, both looking like they were just barely in flying condition. Fox was already at one of them, loading the cargo bay with food supplies. Although the original Arwing design was different from these, many characteristics of these newer models were the same, from the shape of the G-Diffusers, to the location of the cockpit and cannons. The biggest difference was in the length and shape of the nose and wings. The nose was longer than on the mark one's, and more boxy. On the underside of the nose was a ramp that could lower, allowing access to a small storage bay that could easily carry supplies. The wings were also thicker and locked in a shallow swept position, meant for more diverse combat than the small interceptors the original Arwings were. I quickly slipped my gear in the cargo bay of my fighter before stepping up the retractable steps and dropping into the fighter, propping my rifle up beside the chair. I gave Fox a thumbs up and with in seconds, our fighters had lifted off into the air, racing for the planet below.