Author's Note: You all know (or should know by the prologue) what happens next, they get into the all-out brawl once they figure out they've been given the same job because they want the moolah, dangit! Starfox gets dragged into it, utterly at a loss to what the heck's going on but getting an idea of things. I'm not going to write a whole chapter unnecessarily bridging that little gap in between "they're about to find out" and "they found out" because that would only bore you, and it would bore me. We don't want boring XD. So instead, we'll simply pick up where we left off on the action of the prologue. Enjoy! :D
Ashes of a Burnt Bridge
Krystal's ears perked up as something tickled at her senses. People outside were still running around trying to find somewhere dry to wait out the ever-persistent rain storm, but that wasn't it. There was something inside the cave with them. Falco was keeping watch while Fox sat and calmly listened to the rain, and Slippy read through the info on his wrist communicator in a fit of boredom.
She shifted softly to get a better look of the open cave behind her. The walls were rough, the sticky clay smoothing over most of the sharp rock edges jutting out slightly. Whatever dug this place out wasn't going for comfort. She tried peering farther in to see all the way to the back, but it was too dark.
Suddenly, something golden glinted up in the top corner of the cave wall. She looked up at it, and it began to drift slowly down to her. The sound of dry leaves rustling over concrete came next, and suddenly the darkness began to move into the light pouring in, revealing the dull shine of old scales. Krystal gasped silently, eyes widening. Now she knew what she was sensing. This wasn't a cave. It was a den.
Stunned by the massive, slithering creature, she tried to say something, but those huge golden eyes stole her voice, and all she could do was open and close her mouth like a fish out of water and wave her hand up and down. A long, thin, forked tongue flickered for a moment and was gone in the next. The small almost inaudible hiss that followed managed to catch Fox's attention, and when he looked over, he yelped in surprise, falling back on Falco and tumbling outside with him. The movement set things into motion and Krystal high-tailed it out with Slippy scrambling out after her just as a large, horned serpentine head lashed out and snapped shut on air. It let out an angry roar and gave a mighty push, slipping its massive form all the way out.
The team ran as fast as their legs could carry them, the trees thankfully slowing down the large snake enough for them to get some distance. Fox started seeing the other teams and yelled out at them to run. A bolt of lightning flashed, and in the brief intense light, everyone froze and saw the large serpent rear up and unfurl a pair of wings. The lighting from the storm began to course through its body like blood veins and gathered in a jagged orb between its wings.
"Everybody run!" Fox cried out, and the crowd of mercenaries fled the creature.
It let out an ear splitting screech and brought the orb down on the ground. The ball smashed into a wave of paralyzing light that washed over the jungle and ran through everybody.
They all looked behind them at the torrent crashing towards them, and the minute it made contact, everything went black.
Wolf groaned as the treetops circled and spun above him. An obnoxious ray of sunlight shot into his eye, and he winced, slowly getting up. A weight on his stomach stopped him, and he saw a young brown mixed breed slumped over him. She stirred and looked up at him with calm yellow eyes that blazed when she realized where she was.
"What's going on!" She growled as she pinned him down, "Who are you, and where am I?"
Wolf kicked her off of him and got up. "What makes you think I know? I-
She lunged at him again and bit down on his arm.
Outraged he ripped her off and kicked her back away. "Knock it off, unless you want some broken bones!"
"Tell me what I want to know!"
"If you'd let me finish, I don't know any more than you do! I was getting out of the way of that…thing…and then I woke up here with you!"
She relaxed some. "That's the last thing I remember too." She looked around, "I don't see my team anywhere. I hope they're okay. When I get my hands on Lorenzo…" she trailed of snarling.
"Lorenzo called you too?"
"Yeah," she huffed angrily, brushing herself off, "And I plan to ring his neck for sending me and my friends out here to fight over some old trinket with a bunch of other mercenaries."
Wolf whipped out his blaster and pointed it at her head. "I need that reward money. It's nothing personal, just getting rid of some competition."
"And leave yourself alone in this madhouse with just a blaster for protection?" she countered.
"I can hold my own in a fight. I think I'll be okay."
"Maybe on the streets or in the cockpit, but I'd like to see you take down something like that snake beastie with that silly gun."
"I'll take my chances."
"I think you know I'm right, but you don't want to admit it and lose your 'big and bad' edge."
"Don't be so full of yourself."
"Fine then, pull the trigger. Prove me wrong."
Wolf stared at her long and hard, finger resting on the trigger as he debated it. Finally he stood down with an angrily defeated sigh.
She grinned victoriously and socked him in the face.
Wolf staggered back and shook his head clear, hand pressed to his cheek as he stretched the battered muscle. "What was that for!"
"Next time you point that thing at me, I won't be that nice." She growled dangerously low before brightening, "What's your name?"
"Wolf O'Donnel."
"Like Star Wolf's Wolf O'Donnel?"
"You got it."
"How cool, I never thought I'd get to punch a celebrity of the criminal world."
Wolf only growled in response as she walked off.
"Come on, we'll look for your teammates too."
He rolled his eye and unenthusiastically followed her. "I told you my name, now what's yours?"
She looked back at him and smiled sweetly. "It's Bree, just Bree."
"Fox, wake up, man." Falco's voice sounded far away, almost on the edge of hearing. The more he spoke the clearer and closer he sounded until the new volume jolted Fox out of his haze and he started coming around.
"Falco," he slurred as he sat up and let his senses take hold again, "Is everyone else okay?"
"I don't know. You're the first person I've seen. Everyone else is gone."
"Gone!" Fox got up and looked around, "Where are we?"
They were no longer surrounded by a dense cluster of trees. The air was clear and cool here, not a tree in sight. The two stood on a rock cliff in a mountainside.
"I woke up down that path a ways." Falco pointed to a downward slope behind them.
"Krystal, come in." Fox called into his wrist communicator but got no response, "Slippy, are you there?" Nothing.
"None of this makes any sense." The blue avian man shook his head tiredly, "Something about that light. It must have somehow transported us all to different parts of the planet."
"So we could be anywhere." Fox groaned as he pulled up a copy of the map he'd been smart enough to upload to his wrist communicator before they left, "According to this, we're at least a day's walk from where we were."
"Great, and with communications down, we can't split up."
A small commotion from down below caught their attention, and immediately the set out to investigate, hoping to find a familiar face.
"Such a harsh environment is no place for such a fragile beauty like yourself." Panther purred smoothly, "Tell me your name, my pretty bunny."
"Uh, Abel." The rabbit watched Panther strangely, "Can I help you?"
"Strange name for a pretty lady," he shrugged, "I'm Panther Caroso, and there are many ways you could help me, my dear."
"Like what?" he asked warily.
Panther took the rabbit's hand in his and gave it a soft sweet kiss. "Walk with me. Talk with me. I want to know how you've managed to slip my notice for so long, too long."
Abel grimaced and looked around. "Well, actually, I'm looking for my team, you see. I got separated and I really need to find them."
"Aw, there's no need to hurry. I was looking for my comrades too before I found you, and you're far easier on the eyes."
Abel wiggled uncomfortably, giving him an uneasy smile as he looked around frantically for anything to give him an excuse to escape. He saw Fox and Falco come walking towards them.
"Oh look! Complete strangers! Thank God!" he breathed relieved when Panther let go and faced the two.
"Why is it every time I'm in this situation you people manage to pop up and ruin the whole moment?" he hissed irritably.
"Panther?" Falco was surprised, "I didn't think Lorenzo would extend the offer to Star Wolf."
"Watch yourself, bird, just because I don't have my teammates with me doesn't make me any less dangerous."
"Yeah? I'd like to see you try something. Do it. See what happens." The bird taunted.
Panther was smoldering, and he advanced a step.
"Hey hey hey hey hey, come on now," Fox stepped between them before things could get out of hand, "We don't have time for this, guys. We need to find the others. That's our priority."
The two calmed down somewhat and stepped back compliantly.
"That's better. Now who are you?" he asked the amused rabbit watching them all.
"Abel," he ran up to them, "Your new best friend!"
"Traitor!" someone's voice sounded off close by.
The four gave each other a quick glance before heading in that direction to investigate.
Tak was bristling with fury as he faced Zeke, who stood tall before the Sheltie.
"I knew I'd see you all again someday, but this wasn't exactly how I'd imagined it." The Border collie spoke evenly.
"I'd kill you right here for what you did, but I know Ziggy would want you to answer to Bree first. He's always had a soft spot for you."
"And apparently you have one for him."
"I may not agree with him when it comes to you, but he's still my superior and my friend. I wouldn't dare cross him, unlike you."
"Would you stop with that?" Zeke snapped, "You have no idea what you're talking about. You were just a kid blindly putting faith in Bree when that happened."
"What's going on?" Fox asked warily.
The two canines stopped and looked over at the new group.
"Who are you?" Tak growled defensively.
"Fox Mcloud, leader of the Starfox team, you?" he shot back.
"Zeke Godfrey of Team Star Cloud," Zeke stepped in, "This is Tak from the Dog Pack. Don't mind him; he's an old and very bitter acquaintance."
Fox nodded warily. "I see. I'm looking for my teammates, a blue vixen and a toad. Have either of you seen them?"
"No," Zeke shook his head, "Tak's the first person I've seen today. Has everyone been separated from their teams?"
"It would seem so." Panther piped up and moved next to Abel, "I suggest we all stick together until we can find the others."
"For once, I agree with Panther." Fox replied, "You're both welcome to join us."
"Thank you." Zeke nodded and looked to Tak, "Well?"
"Fine," he scoffed, "but you stay away from me."
"You won't have to worry about that." He answered through gritted teeth.
"Reggie!" Felix cried out desperately.
The fog of the swamp he sloshed through was intense, making it hard for him to see. The poor kit shivered in sheer terror as he frantically ran in no particular direction. Tears were welling in his eyes. He was alone. He didn't want to be alone.
"Reggie!"
He heard movement behind him and he whipped around.
"R-Reggie?" he sniffled.
A small lithe form was starting to take shape as it moved towards him. That wasn't his heavyset companion. Terrified, he ran away, going faster when he looked back and saw the figure running after him. He kept running until he hit something solid and was thrown back by the impact. With a small groan, he got back up and jumped when he saw a strange twin-tailed creature moaning on the ground. He gray fur was spattered with the spongy swamp dirt. Felix froze as the man got up, heart pounding at the sight of those glowing red eyes.
"Hey, watch it, kid!" he snapped.
"S-sorry…" he barely breathed, eyes wide and round.
They both looked back as Felix's pursuer finally caught up, revealing itself to be another twin-tailed animal, this one brown with glowing bright blue eyes.
"Kid, wait!" she huffed as she came to a stop, "It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you."
"Hey, get away from me, freaks!" he backed away from both of them.
"Shut up, brat!" the gray snapped.
"Knock it off!" the woman cut him off and turned to the kit kindly, "Just calm down. I'm a friend."
She seemed sincere enough, so he relaxed a little. He kept his eye on the red-eyed gray still, not convinced he meant well.
"There, that's better." She sighed relieved, "You're pretty fast for a kid."
"Why were you following me in the first place?" he asked her.
"You're the first person I've seen since I woke up in this awful place, and I don't think it's a good idea to be alone in a place like this. I'm Faye."
"Felix," he looked at them both curiously, their tall ears, large glowing eyes, two tails, "What are you?"
She smiled and laughed a little, "We're Kholi."
"I've never heard of them before."
"We're new to Lylat. Our people left our home world to find a better home. Now we live on Sauria."
"The dinosaur planet?" he grimaced, "Really?"
"It's perfect for us, lots of plants and trees. It's peaceful."
"Whatever you say." He wasn't entirely convinced.
"I'd hate to interrupt this lovely little pow-wow the two of you are having, but we've got more important things we could be doing."
Faye looked up at him to say something, but something else caught her attention, a small group heading their way. "Looks like we've got some new additions."
A little white dog with a floppy cap threw himself on the gray kholi. "Orpheus, thank God!"
"Roth," he rasped out under the boy's grip, "Yes, it's me. You can let go!"
Faye nodded to the other two, a Great Dane and a puma. "I'm Faye. Please don't feel threatened. You're welcome here."
"What makes you think you can trust either of us, my dear?" the old dog asked, "Only last night we were shooting at you."
"Well, considering the circumstances, we don't really have the luxury of distrust, do we?" she countered, "Besides, the distance the two of you put between each other tells me you don't know each other. You guys seem fine despite that, so something tells me I don't have much to worry about."
He grinned. "Well, Faye, you certainly inspire confidence. I'm Bone."
"Cole Sharpclaw," the wildcat introduced himself politely, "you're kindness is very much appreciated."
She smiled and nodded to them both.
"Orpheus, you would not believe my day! First I wake up in wherever this is, and then I had to deal with this maniac lizard and-
"Wait wait wait, you mean there's someone else here?" Orpheus cut the dog off.
"Yes, but he left once he realized the artifact Lorenzo wanted was supposed to be in a temple somewhere in this swamp. I tried telling him we couldn't worry about that now, but he wouldn't listen, crazy old scale-face."
"We should go find him." Faye said.
"Were you listening just now?" Orpheus replied, "It doesn't sound like he has any interest in sticking with a group, and I think we'd be better off without him anyways."
"Well we just can't leave him by himself out here. I don't care who he is. It's too dangerous."
The gray kholi gave her a hard glare and opened his mouth to say something, but she was already done with him and looking up the location of said temple.
"It's not far from here according to this. Let's hope the goat's map isn't shady either." She started leading the way out.
Felix bounded after her. Cole shrugged and followed nonchalantly.
Orpheus gaped irritably. "Who says she's in charge?"
Bone laughed heartily. "Save it, lad. When someone like her gets it into her head to do something she'll do it alone if she has to, but she'll get it done. It's only until we find everyone else, so just roll with it."
Roth groaned. "I don't want to see that crazy lizard again, especially if he's going to be traveling with us afterwards. Let's just get this over with."
Orpheus smoldered in his defeat as he watched them catch up. "Am I the only one who sees how strange this whole thing is!" he cried out in frustration before reluctantly following.
Leon looked around inside the domed hut of stone, grass, and mud. It was a small structure with crumbling adornments, squishy floor, and an almost unbearable musty stench.
"Some temple." The chameleon scoffed.
The scoff turned into a gasp of shock, and he ran up to the back of the room where a small crumbling pedestal stood. He examined thoroughly, looking all around it and then frantically scanning the rest of the small temple with no luck.
"There's no artifact!" he cried out.
"Trey, you have no idea how glad I am to see you're okay." Timber gave the sheep a tight hug, happily relieved.
"Of course I'm okay." she laughed and hugged her back, "I even found Farello!"
The crow was preoccupied. "Have either of you noticed something strange?"
"Like what?" Timber asked.
"Like, oh say, the fact we're walking through a seemingly endless cave with no idea of how we got here?" he replied with thick sarcasm.
The young she-wolf looked at her surroundings. It was a little dark come to think of it. The walls were smooth and well carved, and a soft mist clung to everything. There was light, but it was very dim, and a faint roaring echoed through the tunnel.
"And so we are." She agreed in a how-about-that manner.
"How do you two survive in this system?"
"Farello, don't be mean." Trey scolded.
Suddenly, a loud boom, followed by a streak of blaster fire, interrupted their banter and clipped the crow's wing. Farello let out a squawk of pain and whipped his blaster out. Before he could fire, a humongous dark shape overpowered him, and the two rolled around on the damp ground.
"I'm starving." The man growled, "I'm so hungry that bird meat is beginning to sound fantastic."
"Get off of him, you sick crazy scum!" Trey leapt to her friend's rescue, punching him dead in the face.
The shock of the blow stunned him long enough for Farello to gain some advantage and pin him down.
"You've got a lot of nerve doing that." The crow spat.
With her slight night vision, Timber saw that the attacker was an older, bulky and overweight black cat. He was an intimidating sight as he hissed back defiantly. Thinking quickly, she fished through her pocket and beamed when she saw it was still there.
"Hey, I have food!" she waved a protein bar in the air, "I always keep one of these on my person for emergencies, and I'm pretty sure this qualifies."
The cat perked up. "Food?" he laughed, "My dear sweet girl, be a kind soul and let me have a nibble? I'm famished."
"I don't know." She tapped the bar against her forehead, the wrapper making a light crinkly noise, "I don't think you deserve it after you attacked my friend's teammate like that."
"I'll make it up to you!" he said desperately, eyeing the bar like treasure.
"How?"
"What works for you?"
"You have to do whatever I tell you to."
"Except that."
"You know, this is starting to look really tasty."
"Fine! But only until I get back to my own ship."
"Deal!" she barked triumphantly and held his prize out to him.
With new energy, he shoved Farello off of him, scrambled up and snatched the food from her greedily.
"Smart thinking, Odie!" Trey complimented, using her friend's pet name.
"Strange but effective." Farello agreed less obviously.
"Thanks! What's your name, by the way?" she looked back at the cat, who was powering through his snack.
"Sir Reginald III," he answered when he finished, "but you can just call me Reggie for short."
"Hey, are you all right? Can you hear me?"
Krystal woke to hear the soft feminine voice that soothed her ears. A coyote woman knelt over her, looking her over carefully. She felt wet and became aware that she was half submerged in the shore of a waterfall basin, the loud roar giving away the waterfall.
"Who are you?" she asked hazily as she sat up and back out of the water.
"Oh sorry," the coyote held out her hand amiably, "Kaia Brushfur, medic to the Animus mercenary team."
Krystal took her had politely, eyeing her strangely. "Krystal of the Starfox Team, you're awfully friendly for a rival."
"I'm only your rival when it comes to getting that Serpent's Coil," Kaia reassured her, "But I won't waste my time with petty rivalry when we're stuck like this."
The vixen sensed her honesty and kindness as clear as a bell's ring and decided she could be trusted. "Good to know." She nodded with a smile that quickly turned to a frown as she remembered the events of last night, "That snake." She shuddered fearfully, "Where is it?"
"I haven't seen it since the storm. I don't know what happened to it. There's a cave behind this waterfall. I heard some commotion from inside and thought there might be someone in trouble, but when I went to go find out, I found you first."
Krystal extended her telepathy to sense what was inside the cave, and a splitting headache lashed back at her. She cringed and put her hands to her head with a groan.
"What's wrong?"
"Whatever that snake used on us messed up my senses. My telepathic abilities are drained, so I can't tell what's inside there."
"Telepathic?" she was intrigued, "Well, I guess we'll just have to go in and find out the old-fashioned way."
She helped Krystal up and waited for her to get her bearings before the two ladies headed inside carefully.
"Ro'ak, calm down." Sevren tried soothing the frantically pacing fox.
"How do you expect me to calm down! My poor Kaia's out there somewhere, and who knows what danger she could be in!"
"Ro'ak, Kaia's not the only one missing. We haven't found Cole either." Kane pointed out impatiently.
"Both of whom you were supposed to keep with you!"
"You can hardly blame me for something out of my control. That monster scattered us, not me."
"Knock it off, guys." Juneau warned, "Kane's right, this wasn't anyone's fault, so we can stop pointing fingers." She softened, "Ro'ak, I know you're worried about her. I am too, but this is Kaia we're talking about. She can take care of herself and same goes for Cole. You never know. They could be together somewhere else."
Ro'ak sighed and nodded compliantly.
"That's better. We all have to keep our heads on straight."
Someone's whiny cry sounded off and echoed through the trees, grabbing everyone's attention.
"Someone's in trouble." Sevren dashed off.
"My bumbling hero," Juneau laughed and led the others after him.
They ran until they reached a small clearing in the jungle, where the scene unfolded before them.
Two dogs, an Australian shepherd and his younger Jack Russel partner had a shivering lime green toad cornered, back up against a thick tree trunk.
"You'll spill one way or another, Froggy." The shepherd growled, his friend laughing as he flicked open a pocket knife, "What's it gonna be?"
"Hey, leave him alone!" Sevren howled and ran down to them.
"Sevren!" Juneau groaned, "Oh lord, he's got the walk and everything. Why do I keep finding these guys?"
The gray wolf puffed out his chest as he strutted over to them. "Well?"
"Well what?" the shepherd looked him up and down.
"Are you going to leave the man be, or do I need to make you?"
The terrier laughed. "What's with this guy?"
"Froggy here has a map of the whole planet, but he won't let us see it."
"That's Slippy, you jerk, and I won't let you see because you tried to steal it from me!"
"Has anyone ever told you how annoying the sound of your voice is?" the shepherd growled menacingly.
"All right, that's enough." Juneau walked out with the others.
"And who are you?"
"Juneau Grayfang, leader of the Animus Team. What's your excuse?"
"I'm just a mechanic, Ziggy Godfrey." He said with mock humbleness.
"Yeah, yeah, save the antics."
"Hey, you're not the boss of us!" the terrier snapped, taking a step forward.
Immediately, Kane and Ro'ak took a step challengingly.
"Easy, Flik, that won't do any good when we're outnumbered." Ziggy watched them amused.
"I'm not interested in a fight with you. Normally I wouldn't even bother going this far, but my teammate would never forgive me if I turned the other cheek." She eyed Sevren. "Just be on your way, and leave Slippy alone."
"I'm afraid where the map goes, we go." He countered, "You see we lost our bearings after that stupid slithering beastie dropped us off here away from the rest of our team, and we can't be on our way if we don't know where we are or where to go."
"Well, he's coming with us, and if you plan to come along, I will be the boss until you find yours."
"Um, hi!" Slippy waved his arms, "Don't I get a say in this!"
"You've really only got two choices: us or them. At least with us, you've got a buffer."
The toad deadpanned. "Just my luck."
Author's Note: Starting now, each chapter is going to feature one group at a time. Sure, it'll drag the story on some, but trust me, it's way less chaotic, and it gives each group more room to develop. So hey! Bet you didn't that coming! You probably did XD I realize this is a very overused plot aspect, but that's just the way it's going to be. Tell me how you like it! And Tell me which group you'd like to be featured in the next chapter! :D