Chapter 1 – Passing the Torch
James stood before a mound of flowers covering a grave with Fox clinging to his leg in confusion. The child watched as everyone, including his father, was dressed in black and crying. He then looked to the marble stone that stood to his height and his ears drooped at the name inscribed upon it.
"Vixen Reinard-McCloud, Loving wife and mother," Fox read in a mumble, looking up to James with tears beginning to stream down his face and sighed. "Dad, is mommy going to be okay now?"
James smiled at his son's question despite the pain in his heart and knelt down next to him.
"Yes, she'll be fine now," James said. "Mommy's not in pain anymore."
"Good," Fox hugged his father. "Would you ever have to go away, dad?"
"Don't worry, Fox, I will always be here for you."
James let out a sigh at the memory as he looked at a picture of his family not long after Fox was born.
"You were so happy that day," James smiled, tracing his fingers down Vixy's image. "You should see Fox now, you would be proud of him."
"Talking to her again, dad?"
"Morning, Fox," James greeted his teenage son.
"I miss her, too." Fox sighed, sadness seeping through the comforting smile he gave his father. "And don't blame yourself for mom dying, no one knew about the car bomb." The teen looked away, tears fighting to fall down his fuzzy cheeks.
"Understood," James noted.
BEEP-BEEP!
BEEP-BEEP!
"I'll get it!" Fox yelled, rushing down the stairs. He dried his tears and grabbing up the phone, said in the most cheerful voice he could muster, "This is the McCloud residence, Fox speaking."
"Fox? Is your father there?"
"I'll get him," Fox groaned. "Dad, Sgt. Pepper wants to talk to you!"
"I'm right here." James said, making Fox jump slightly. He then took the phone from his son and asked, "What do you want, sir?"
"James, I hate to say this, but I need Star Fox to do me a favor," Sgt. Pepper grimaced. "Could you report to the base as soon as possible?"
"Be right there, sir." James finished hanging up the phone. "Fox, I need you to go stay with Bill and his mother for a while."
"But, dad--"
James' ears drooped and he raised a hand, stopping his son in mid-sentence.
"I know I promised to not work for your sixteenth birthday, Fox," James sighed to his heart-broken son, "but this must be something that would make both me and Sgt. Pepper break our promise."
"How long will it take?" Fox inquired.
"Fox," James breathed, pulling him close. "I promise if it's within my power, I will be back before you blow out the candles."
"Okay," Fox conceded. "I'll get my backpack."
James watched as Fox climbed the stairs to his room in defeat, then opened a compartment by the phone and pulled out an envelope. He hid it in a jacket pocket when Fox bounded down the stairs, yelling, "Okay, dad, I'm ready!"
"Good, let's go."
An hour later, James sat in Sgt. Pepper's office still thinking about the somber look on his son's face when he left him at the Greys' home.
"James, I know you didn't want to do this," Peppy said, trying to comfort his leader and friend. "I had to ask Vivian to go with Lucy to her mother's on Fichina."
"You should have seen Fox, though," James groaned, cradling his face in his hands. "It was like I abandoned him."
"It's not safe for him to come along." Peppy stated, opening the door to let Pigma in. "Heck, it took me and Pigma half an hour to convince Chaos Fox that she needed to stay here at the Academy."
"That bad, huh?" James mused.
"You have no idea, McCloud."
The team turned to see Sgt. Pepper standing at the door with a young gray wolf in his early twenties. James' jaw dropped, seeing bandages over the wolf's left eye with a patch of blood seeping through to show its condition was dire.
"Wolf? What happened to you?"
"You mean this?" Wolf pointed to the bandaged eye. "I decide to go on a recon mission as a sign of good will for you guys and nearly get killed by a bunch of Venomian soldiers!"
"Venomian soldiers?" Peppy gasped. "Venom has an army now?"
"Guess the lizards got smarter," Pigma shrugged.
"They also mentioned something about an emperor." Sgt. Pepper said. "I want Star Fox to investigate about this so called army and their emperor."
"Say no more, sir," James jumped up from his chair. "We can go right now."
"The general will be grateful for that," Sgt. Pepper sighed. "Good luck, James."
Several hours later, Star Fox hovered above in Venom's orbit. Despite the tension of the mission, everyone found the murky green planet in a state of serene peace.
"This can't be right," James muttered. "According to Wolf, Venom's atmosphere is supposed to be swarming with Venomian squadrons." He then looked over to Pigma and inquired, "Do you see anything on your radar, Dengar?"
Pigma stared at his controls, fear knitting his brow.
"Well, I don't see anything right now," his voice quivered.
"Pigma, are you okay?" Peppy asked. "You sound tense."
"Ain't you nervous?"
Peppy's eyes widened at the inquiry.
"What do you mean by that?"
KA-BOOM!
"What the--?" James gasped, seeing one of the wings of his fighter was blown off. "Pigma! Where did that come from?!"
Nothing.
"PIGMA!"
All of a sudden, several enemy fighters surrounded the team and fired upon James and Peppy. As both Arwings crash landed in a tailspin on Venom, Pigma just looked away and said, "Nothing personal, James,"
James came to in a dark room with a set of bars separating him from freedom. He sat up and hissed in pain that shot throughout his body.
"Oww…" James gasped, placing his hand to his heart. His eyes widened when he felt something cold and wet. He crawled toward the bars to see the liquid better and gasped in horror of the blood that covered his gloved hand, showing the source of his pain. "That explains why I blacked out."
"James? Are you all right?"
He looked up to see a scratched and bruised Peppy in a cell similar to his but otherwise in better condition of constitution.
"Oh, just fine, other than being in pain and bleeding," James chuckled through gritted teeth. "When I get Pigma, he's going to wish he was never born!"
"We can worry about that after we get out." Peppy advised.
"You're right," James sighed, tracing his fingers on the prison bars. "These bars look ancient, maybe if I could break them…" He checked his belt and saw his blaster still in the holster. "Peppy! Do you still have your blaster?"
After a moment, Peppy replied in shock, "Yes!"
"Okay, aim at the lock, set the blaster on kill and fire."
KSSHT!
Both locks shattered and the doors creaked open.
"James!" Peppy ran over and helped his friend up. "Dang, this is serious! You need to see a doctor!"
"We have to find out who the emperor is, then we'll go back home." James groaned, pulling his sunglasses out of a jacket pocket.
"Right, maybe we can find some clues while finding Pigma's Arwing," Peppy reasoned, "that way we have an escape plan."
James shrugged slightly despite the pain and said, "Let's go."
Peppy helped James slip past security to the Venomian hanger and found Pigma's Arwing among Venomian fighter jets. They hid under the ship as they heard voices come closer. Peppy kept his hand over the hatch release for the proper time to flee.
"That was too easy, Pigma!"
"Well, what do you expect? The stupid fox trusted me with his life!" Pigma squealed with laughter and patted the lizard soldier on the back. "And that hare was so clueless! He didn't even realize it was a trap until it was too late!"
Peppy quivered with rage at Pigma's contempt, reaching for his blaster. James set his chin on Peppy's shoulder, reminding the rabbit to keep calm.
"Emperor Andross wishes to pay you for delivering McCloud to him."
"Andross?" James mouthed. "I should have known he was to blame!"
"Now we need to get out." Peppy sighed, watching Pigma and the enemy soldier walk out of the hanger. He opened the hatch and helped James climb up the fighter.
"Hold it!"
James turned to find another lizard soldier pointing a blaster at them.
"Get in now, Peppy!" James commanded, pulling out his blaster.
"But James--!"
"Now, Peppy!" James barked. Peppy jumped into the cockpit and grabbed hold of James' free arm. Both men fired shots, the enemy soldier being hit in the head while James was hit in the chest, forcing Peppy to drag him into the Arwing. Peppy set James down on the floorboard and started up the Arwing.
"Don't worry, Jimmy, we'll get out of here." Peppy assured him through his friend's agonizing screams.
The Arwing blasted through the doors of the hanger, dodging anti-air fire. Pigma saw the fighter leave the atmosphere and looked away.
"Great, they got away."
"Good,"
Pigma jumped seeing Andross walking toward him.
"It is, sir?"
"James will no longer be a problem," Andross said calmly. "And Peppy will tell everyone of my power, Corneria will soon lose all hope."
James looked up to Peppy, now calmed down and slowly pulled his jacket off, using it to cover his wounds.
"I guess it was a good thing that Pigma's cockpit had to be big enough to carry two people, huh?" Peppy mused.
"Yeah," James moaned, pulling his red scarf off with labored breathing. "I don't think I'll make it home, Peppy."
"What are you talking about?" Peppy shook his head.
"I'm dying, Peppy, I know I am." James said, finding the envelope he hid earlier that day. "Could you do me a favor and give this to Fox?"
"But we're in Cornerian air space now, almost home." Peppy was confused. "You'll be able to see Fox again."
"No," James coughed, his ears drooping as he spoke. "Please, Peppy, you have to do this for me."
"I promise,"
"Don't worry, I'll be fine," James breathed. "I hope you'll forgive me, son…"
Peppy bit his lip, fighting tears as he landed the Arwing and picked James up when the hatch opened.
"James?" Peppy wished for an answer. Nothing. Tears streamed down his face as he hopped out of the ship with soldiers coming out to meet him.
"I need to speak with Sgt. Pepper right away," Peppy stated. "I also need medical to prepare proper death rites for James."
The soldiers bowed their heads and said, "Yes, sir."
Peppy sat outside Sgt. Pepper's office with James' blood stained jacket and flight scarf. He sighed examining the sunglasses as well and noticed the envelope that his friend insisted be given to his son. He scanned the front of the envelope and gasped, seeing the words 'last will and testament' in James' writing.
"You really did know…" Peppy whimpered.
"Peppy?"
His ears perked up at the familiar young voice and turned to find Fox standing with Sgt. Pepper.
"Where's dad?" Fox asked, rushing toward him and saw the bloody jacket. "Is he injured? Tell me he's okay!"
Peppy let out a sigh and said, "I'm sorry, Fox, he's gone."
Fox could only shiver and shake his head in disbelief. Tears began to flow at the revelation before him.
"Fox, you have to understand," Sgt. Pepper sighed. "He wanted to go on this mission."
"I don't blame you, sir," Fox sat next to Peppy. "At least he's with mom now."
"Fox, your father wanted me to give this to you." He handed the envelope to the teenager. Fox saw the words on it and immediately opened it.
"Oh my gosh!"
"What does it say, Fox?" Sgt. Pepper inquired.
"'I, James McCloud, of sound body and mind, give all that I own to my son, Fox McCloud.'" Fox read, tears still welling up in his eyes. "'My home, fortune, and control over Star Fox.'" Fox did a double take at that last line and barked, "He really trusts me enough to give me the team?!"
Peppy's jaw dropped in shock and then he let out a laugh.
"Pigma would have hated that idea!" He chuckled.
"Pigma… He didn't come back either." Fox said.
"He betrayed us," Peppy grimaced. "Andross paid him to bring me and your father to our deaths."
"Well, I'm glad you're alive, Peppy," Fox peeked over the will, a sly grin spreading across his muzzle despite his pain. "'Cause I'm gonna need someone to train me."
Peppy just looked at James' scarf then handing it to Fox, asked, "Could you try this on?"
"Uh, sure, why not," Fox took the red scarf and tied it around his neck. "Do I need dad's sunglasses, too?"
"Yeah," Peppy nodded. Fox pulled the shades on, making both Peppy and Sgt. Pepper gape at him in shock.
"What?"
Sgt. Pepper then began to chuckle.
"You definitely favor your father, Fox," he said with a solemn smile, "but can you handle this great responsibility now upon your shoulders like he would?"
Fox shivered at the thought and looked to Peppy with an inquisitive gaze. Would he suffer the same fate as his father before him? Peppy nodded, making the smile return to Fox's face and give him confidence to answer the call to duty.
"With the right training, you can count on me, sir." Fox saluted, then drying his tears, stated. "Come on, Peppy, I want to start as soon as dad gets a proper burial."
"Of course," Peppy smiled.
"So you'll leave after the funeral?" Sgt. Pepper inquired.
Fox only nodded, taking the sunglasses off and placed a hand to the scarf around his neck.
"I understand," Sgt. Pepper returned the gesture.
On the day of the funeral, the people's tears fell like rain only to be mirrored by the dreary weather in their sorrow. Fox stood in the same spot his father was in many years before with Peppy and Sgt. Pepper by his side. A short green frog and a blue falcon stood close by watching them.
The falcon, who stood out in the grim site in grungy street clothes approached Fox and whispered, "You gonna be okay, Foxie?"
Fox's ears drooped and a faint smile came to his tearstained muzzle.
"I'll be fine, Falco." He said, kneeling down and laying a rose between his parents' graves. "Don't worry; I'll make sure Andross pays for what he did to us." Fox then stood back up with Peppy's help and began to leave. "Falco, Slippy, let's go."
"Right, Fox!" The frog squeaked at his name as he followed along.
"Are you sure you need to leave now, Fox?" Sgt. Pepper asked.
"I need to concentrate on Star Fox, sir," he sighed with conviction. "But if you ever need us, you know how to contact me."
"Very well," Sgt. Pepper let out a moan, returning his gaze to the grave of his old friend. "Good luck, my boy, good luck."
Author's Note: I may have opened up a can of worms with this chapter as EVERY Star Fox fan has a theory on how James McCloud died, but I wanted it to be different so there. :) And I like how I showed Peppy discovering Pigma's betrayal and Fox's reaction to everything in this chapter, definitely better then my dA version in my humble opinion. Please enjoy and feel free to leave a review so if there are any problems, I can improve them to the best of my ability. ^__^
~ChaosFoxFire