Chapter 10: Search and Rescue

Fox and Krystal were walking back to the apartment complex. Fox was thinking about what had just happened. "I've never seen Wolf get beaten like that. Charles made him seem like he never had fought before. What was up with Charles. He seemed like he changed completely." He stopped thinking and begins to speak. "Where did Charles say he was going?"

Krystal turns her head toward Fox and says "he said he was going to go think."

The remainder of the walk was quite. When they reached the apartment complex and they get into an elevator. They ride to the second floor. When the elevator comes to a stop they exit and walk down the hall to Krystal apartment. She opens the door. Fox then kisses her and says "I'll see you tomorrow." She enters her apartment and closes the door. Fox then reenters the elevator and rides to his floor. When the elevator stops he exits and walks to his apartment. He then closes the door but does not lock it in case Charles came back. He walks into his room and removes his boots and his shirt and jumps into his bed.

(Charles)

Charles had been walking randomly around the city. He was thinking heavily about what had just happened. "how could I have lost it. That hasn't happened in years. Why is it happening at all. Why..." Charles wasn't paying attention and he ran into someone. "I'm sorry." He looks over at the figure to see that she was a red fox. She looked to be in her late 20's.

She looks up at Charles and says "its ok." She then looks at the side of the jacket. "is that a Starfox emblem?"

Charles looks at were she was looking and sees the emblem. "uh, yeah it is but its not my jacket."

She then says in an exited tone "do you know Fox McCloud?"

Charles answers "yes but only through work."

She then says "do you know were he lives?"

Charles didn't want to reveal Fox's personal information so he says "no I don't talk with him much."

She then says "oh well nice meeting you." She then walks off.

Charles continues his walk. He begins to near the apartment complex so he decides to head back to the apartment. He walks in and enters an elevator. He presses the button for the floor that Fox was on. The elevator begins to move but stops a few floors short. The doors open and Katt enters the elevator. Charles was surprised to see Katt so he asks her "Why are you coming off this floor, I though you were staying with Krystal?"

Katt looks over at him and begins to look a bit nervous. She begins speaking. "Uhh I am, I was just, What happened to you earlier?"

Charles then replies "why are you changing the subject?" The elevator doors then opened and Katt exited. The doors close and the elevator continues. It continues for a few floors and opens again. Charles walks to Fox's apartment. He enters. He then removes the clothes that Fox had given him and puts his regular clothes back on. He then lays down on the couch and quickly falls asleep.

(The Next Morning)

Fox wakes up to the sound of his communicator. He sits up and thinks to himself "why can't I ever sleep in anymore?" He grabs the communicator and presses a button on it. The voice of General Pepper could be heard. "Fox I need you and Charles to come to the army base right away."

Fox still half asleep says "why?"

The General answers "we need you and Charles here."

Fox says "ok, we'll be over soon." Fox closes the line and jumps out of his bed. He walks out of the room and is relieved to see Charles on the couch. He shakes him to wake him. "Charles, we have to go to the army base."

Charles sits up and says "ok lets go." They both exit the apartment and enter an elevator. Charles then remembers the girl he ran into the night before. "Fox, some girl was looking for you last night."

Fox then asks "what was her name?"

Charles shrugs as he says "I don't know. She was a fox. She looked like she was in her late 20's or early 30's."

Fox then says "it was probably another fan girl." The elevator stops and they exit. They exit the apartment complex and wave down a taxi. They enter and tell the driver to bring them to the base.

Fox turns to Charles and asks "so what happened to you at the club? I thought you were going to choke him to death."

Charles really didn't want to talk about it so he says "its to long of a story. All you need to know is that it's happened before and I don't know why it happens."

The driver had been listening to the conversation and says "wait you were the guy who almost killed Wolf O'Donnell."

Charles answers "yeah. How did you hear about that?"

The driver answers back "it was on the news that someone put him in the hospital with four broken ribs and a nearly crushed windpipe. People who saw you beat him said that you made him look like he never fought before and that they thought you were going to kill him."

The taxi stops and Fox exits. Before Charles exits he says "I thought I was to." They walk into the base and walk up to the receptionist.

Fox says "we are here to see the General."

She looks up at Fox and says "go on up."

They walk down a hall to the elevators and enter one. They ride to the top floor. After they exit the elevator and walk to the General's office."

They knock and they hear the General's voice. "come in." They enter the room. Fox looks around to see that there was someone else in the room. He was a large canine with mainly black fur. He looks back at the General who had begun speaking. "the reason I have called you was there may be a possible mission. The mission is a search and rescue mission. A team has not reported in while doing an investigation on Fichina. If they don't report in by tomorrow then you will be sent to search for them. The area that they are in is out of the range of the climate control center and is uncharted. This man over here is a guide for many different planets. He will assist in the search. Do you have any questions?"

Fox immediately says "who will we be searching for?"

The General answers "Bill Grey and his team. We sent them to investigate a base similar to the one you guys destroyed but we lost contact with them."

Charles then asks "what do you know about the base?"

The General looks over at Charles and says "it is defiantly connected to the one that you had destroyed. We know this because a ship carrying weapons from the base you destroyed was heading for the base on Fichina."

Fox then asks "what about the cold? How are they going to be able to stand it for a long period of time?"

The General answers "we have developed a device using similar technology to the shielding system in an arwing to keep the cold out and your body temperature in. They were given these devices and you will receive them as well."

Fox then says "should we go to the Great Fox and be on standby?"

The General says "no. We will contact you if you are needed. If that is all you are dismissed."

Fox and Charles both turn and exit. They go down to the lobby and exit the building. They wave down a taxi. They enter and find that another person was inside. Charles looks at her to see that it was the girl he had ran into the night before. This worried him.

The girl looks up and see Fox. "your Fox McCloud."

Fox says "yeah. Can I help you?"

She answers "I have some information that I think you would like to know."

Fox slightly intrigued says "what is it?"

She answers "its about your family."

This caught Fox's full attention. "what is it?"

She answers "I think it should be discussed in private."

The car stops in front of Fox's apartment complex. Fox then says "we can talk in my apartment." They exit the taxi and walk into the complex. They enter an elevator and ride to Fox's floor. They walk down the hall and enter his apartment. "so what do you know about my family?"

She answers "you have a sibling."

Fox looks at her with a confused look as he says "what! How do you know this?"

She smirks as she says "my name is Elisabeth McCloud. I'm your older sister."

Fox's jaw dropped. He had a million thoughts flowing through his head. He didn't know if he should believe her or not. He pick up his communicator and inputs a code. He walks into his bedroom. After a few minutes he hears someone speak. "Yes Fox what is it?"

Fox answers back "Peppy, why didn't you tell me about Elisabeth?"

Peppy answers back "how did you find out?"

Fox answers back in a slightly angry tone "shes in my apartment. She said that she knew something about my family and it should be discussed in private."

Peppy then says "I'm sorry Fox. After your mother died she was put into a foster family. You were to young to remember her. Your father told me not to tell you."

Fox then says "I need to go think."

Peppy then says "ok Fox." The line closed.

Fox couldn't believe what was happening. "why is everything happening at the same time. First Charles and his team appears, then Charles almost kills Wolf, then Bill goes missing, and now my long lost sister shows up." Fox exits the room. He looks up at Charles and Elisabeth and says "I need to get some air." He exits the apartment and walks down the hall. As he walks by the elevator. It opens up and Katt walks out. He just keeps walking towards the balcony area.

Katt begins speaking. "Fox, just the person I wanted to talk to." Fox ignores her and opens the door to the balcony area. "Fox why are you ignoring me? I need to talk to you."

Fox looks over at her and says "nows not really a good time."

Katt gives him a confused look as she says "what happened?"

He looks back at her and says "it does not concern you." He then leans up against the edge of the balcony and looks out at the city.

Katt then says "well whenever you are ready I need to talk to you." She exits the balcony and reenters the elevator.

Fox stood quietly for awhile. Elisabeth walks up behind him. She places her hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure this is a lot for you to take in, but I thought it would be better to tell you then leave you to find out on your own."

Fox turns and faces her. "its fine. I'm glad I'm not the only one left in our family. I wish we had more time to get to know each other but I might have a mission tomorrow."

She smirks as she says "well we have till then to talk."

Fox then says "I have to go talk to someone then I'll back at the apartment to talk." She just nods and they both exit the balcony area and Fox enters the elevator. He rides down to the second floor. He walks down the hall to Krystal's apartment. He knocks on the door.

Krystal answers the door. "hey Fox. Whats up?"

Fox answers back "I need to tell you something."

Krystal says "ok, come in." She walks into the apartment. Fox enters as well and closes the door behind him.

He walks into Krystal's living room to see that Katt was there as well. "Katt what was it you needed to tell me?"

Katt crosses her arms as she says "why couldn't I tell you five minutes ago?"

Fox replies "I'll get to that after you tell me what you needed to say."

Katt then says "well I wanted to ask you for a longer term position on the team."

This surprised Fox. He never thought Katt would ask to become a member of the team. "there shouldn't be a problem with that. All I need is a reason."

Katt hesitated to answer. "I'm just tired of being a loner."

Fox didn't believe that. "Now whats the actual reason?"

Katt replies "that is the reason."

Fox looks over to Krystal who moves her hands in front of her face to make a beak. "I don't think it will be a problem if you join. Now the reason I didn't want to talk was I learned that I have a sister."

They both give Fox a look of shock. Krystal was the first to speak. "how do you know she is your sister?"

Fox answers "i talked to Peppy and he said she was. I came down her to tell you guys that. I have to head back to my apartment."

Krystal walks up to him. "ok Fox. I'll talk to you later." Fox kisses her and exits the apartment.

When he arrives back at the apartment Charles was the first to speak. "The General just called. He said that they had contact with Bills team but they are in need to rescue. We need to go tonight."

Fox picks up his communicator and informs the team of the mission. He then turns to Elisabeth and says "I'm sorry. You can wait here for me if you want." He and Charles both leave the apartment. They enter an elevator and ride down to the lobby. On the way down the elevator stops on a few floors and the remaining members of the teams enter the elevator.

Falco was the first to speak. "whats the mission.

Fox answers "Bill and his team have gone missing on Fichina investigating a base similar to the one we destroyed. We have to go search for them."

The elevator stops and they exit. They walk outside and wave down two taxi's. The two teams get in them and tell the drivers to bring them to the hanger bay. They walk up to the guard in the front gate who opens the gate immediately. When they reach the area where there ships were located they found the guide waiting there. Charles began speaking. "we'll take the guide with us and do a jump. We'll meet up in the atmosphere of Fichina." Fox nods and the teams separate to there ships.

Authors Notes: Well I decided to add something I have not seen done. So I made Fox have a sister. The breed of dog the guide is is a Bernese Mountain Dog. It took awhile to get this chap out. I was trying to get the revised chaps out and hunting season has started so it might take a little bit longer than usual because ill be in the woods a lot. Revised chaps 1-5 are up. Tell me what think. Tell me whats good/bad.

Next Chapter: Fichina (part 1)