Hi all, Mr Foxer here with Chapter 12 of SFH.I was meant to publish this yesterday, BUT Sunday morning, LIGHTNING hit my Internet satellite thing... and it only just got replaced yesterday morning, I got most the chapter done yesterday night... but then I fell asleep :| sorry :P
Anyway, every 4 chapters I'm going to do a Shoutout start, so the next after this will be in chapter 16. Now the shoutouts :D
Thanks to users: Blitzfoot, CPO20, Cosmicsafe74, JBacharel, Kaymin Wolf, November Red Angel, RedstoneLP2, SilverWingedPhoenix, TheQuestionMark101, Xer0ify, foxtrothelljumper28, thefox123, trebor1212, bryan mccloud, nkowlifelight, the warrior405, xwingace1234.
thanks to all of you, also thanks for you who left reviews :D
And finally thanks to, Alvaro, foxtrothelljumper28, bryan mccloud, Cosmicsafe74 for their OCs in the story :)
Now onto the story...
Chapter 12 Flying, Shooting, Crashing
Mercury followed Fox to the registration class again, along with Krystal, Fara Miyu and Falco, plus the newest member of the 'group' Bryan.
The others went to their own classes while Mercury and his group walked in to find Mr Copper the Pig man teacher sat at his desk waiting for everyone to enter.
They took their seats as Mr Copper called out their names, Mercury had just shouted 'HERE' when a sudden notification popped up on his helmets HUD.
"What the hell" Mercury mumbled, the message opened and it said.
You know, if you want I can deactivate the Sensor for the mental wave things, or atleast tone it down or even break the siren
-Bryan
Mercury looked round the room like crazy, finally spotting the Velociraptor 'friend' sat at the front of the class, his keyboard thing on his lap under the table. Bryan looked back waiting or Mercury to respond.
Well this thing is really annoying, and I got 2 mental wave making people practically in ALL my classes... fuck it Mercury thought, he nodded to Bryan who smiled, he then got to work typing fast but quietly on his device, somehow not drawing the Attention of Mr Copper as he finished the Register.
Mercury looked round as his HUD shut off for a moment, Krystal and Fox seemed to be getting on REALLY well, just talking to eachother, across their tables. Miyu and Fara kept looking from their tables to Fox and Krystal and would then giggle and talk about something before repeating the process, Falco seemed to be sat in his own little world, staring out the window and towards the tarmac of the runways and ports of the academy, but just on the horizon was a vast field of green grass and a small forest line.
Mercury's HUD Came back on, and with a message
That should do it, Tell me if your alarm goes off, I'm about to talk to Krystal.
-Bryan
Mercury nodded to Bryan once again...
Bryan looked right at Krystal and 'said' to her Hey Krystal
Yeah?
Just sorted out Mercury's helmet, just testing if it picks up our chat and if his helmet is about to sound like an 'air raid' siren as he calls it.
Okay, so is it working? Krystal Looked over at Mercury as Fox looked confused as to why she stopped talking so suddenly, Mercury didn't seem to be noticing anything, well his helmet didn't.
I guess so Bryan 'said' happy that he wouldn't have to go through 23 firewalls... AGAIN... I have to admit, Hoo-man Technology is basic but damn they LOVE their tech security.
Is it really that good?
No not really individually, but when there's a dozen or more Firewalls then it becomes a pain in the tail.
Well, I think Fox is a little worried that I stopped talking so, yeah bye for now.
Bryan and Krystal cut the talk and got back to what they were doing before, which for Bryan was Messing with Mr Coppers personal files.
The bell rang soon after for the first lesson, which for Mercury according to Fox was Simulation Lessons. First flight time...
Meanwhile Human Fleet, Colony Class Cruiser, Ship 13,293,213 The Toronto Warrior
A Short haired blond woman is sat at a round desk, she's dressed in a green dress and jacket holding some papers in her hand.
"And we are live in3.. 2... 1... action" A man working a camera shouts.
"Good evening everyone in the Fleet. I am Michelle Satin, Bringing you breaking News that was just released by the Admiral himself. Scout pilot Mercury McRanger has been located. During a Phantom Signal tracing training exercise no more than 30 hours ago, a Trainee Neil Jones, located the Long Range Distress beacon from Mercury's ship, The HMS Pathfinding Fox. The signal had information encrypted into it, stating that the Ship had crashed and was grounded, meaning unable to fly on a habitable planet on the other side of the mist belt he was last seen in. There was also information stating the planet was Heavily populated, almost a dozen billion lifeforms in the area, and a further unknown amount on the planet aswell."
"The Military has already taken action, the Battleship class Cruisers, Jupiter Diamond, Captained by Andy Pierce, Reds Redemption, Captained by Lucy Saturn and finally Golden Truce, Captained by John Solar. are being prepared for the trip to the planet and system. and a small stealth rescue squad has been formed and they will be deployed to the planet via a specialised ship being made on Captain Gregory Ruggs command ship facilities and the parts are being currently picked up by some R.E.C Shuttles from Colony 2... that is all we have at this moment, we will broadcast again once the squad has been armed, briefed and the ship ready. Our thoughts at this moment are with The McRanger Family and his lover Aura Steele. Have a good day, until next time, this is Michelle Satin, signing off for your Fleet exclusives and News"
Back with Mercury on Corneria
Mercury walks behind Fox, Bryan and Falco as they walk into the large cube like building that serves as the simulation room. almost every wall has large spectator screens for people to watch the simulations on. But against one wall facing away from the hundreds of screens are smaller cubes big enough for people to stand in with their arms outstretched at full height in all directions. in the middle of the cubs is a black chair and its facing away from the small door into the cube.
"This here is the real Simulation Building" Falco said
"So what was the other one yesterday?" Mercury asked, the other had been a lot less high tech and more of an old warehouse than a training facility.
"That was the newb 101 simulator entrance class, its just there because they needed another lesson for the first day of the academy so yeah.." Fox explained
"I kinda wanna see how these things work" Bryan said eyeing the simulator cubes.
"Don't even think about it" Falco said threatinly "there the only enjoyable things of the first half of the year and I aint letting you mess with them."
"Got it" Bryan said
"Okay, so what no-" Mercury was cut off as a large White Artic Fox dressed in a black body suit with minimal armour metal pieces attached to it walked into the center of the room and shouted
"LINE UP NOW" His voice was Commanding and threatening, this made the 10 Trainee's in the room line up quickly, Only Falco, Fox, Bryan and Mercury were in this class from the group/pack, the other 6 were just random students.
The Artic Fox then spoke again "I am John Lexis, But you will Call me Sir or Mr Lexis GOT IT... and before someone ask, Yes Miss Sandra Lexis is my Sister, we come from a military family hence why we're both here. Now Today you will all be having your first go in the simulators, unless you happen to be the child of a Soldier or Mercenary who let you use their practice one... Fox and Falco for example"
Everyone knew Fox was the son of the Famous James McCloud but fewer people knew Falco's Dad, Adrian Lombardi was the Ace Pilot that protects the trade routes from Fichina to Corneria. Both dad's had let their child use their simulators at home.
Mr Lexis then continued "Or if you happen to be an alien Pilot who crashed here because a bug fought back when he tried to step on it"
Mercury was a little annoyed What the fuck?! You try step on a bloody bug that's the same height as you, has giant fucking claw legs and looks like Insy winsy spider from the water spout's ugly cousin...
"Now team one for the first exercise which will test how much you know already, First team, Falco, Caitlin, Anders, Jeremy, Declan. Team Two, Bryan, Fox, Mikey, Lester and Merc-uri"
And now he cant even FUCKING PRONUONCE MY NAME... asshat
The groups split up, Falco was not in the slightest happy. Fox was though, he had Bryan the guy who could read minds if he wanted, Mercury an Alien Ace pilot, Mikey a Tiger guy who's father was an Interceptor pilot who fought against Venom. the only 'greenie', the new guy was Lester a Lizard, the Son of a Merchant pilot from Katina who couldn't fly AT ALL... like Falco's team mates.
Falco grumbled angrily and annoyed as he climbed into his simulator cube, his team doing the same. After they were done, Mercury and his team climbed into theirs.
Mercury sat in his chair, it was comfortable to say the least. It was pitch black inside the cube when the door was closed automatically by the instructors using a control panel luckily Mercury's Helmet had Night Vision. Suddenly the cube made loud hissing sounds, just as Mr Lexis' voice came over a Com system.
"Don't Shit yourselves greenie's, this is just the setup System... wait till the battle starts then you'll need some ear muffs hahaha... also when you die 3 times your door will open and your turn will end."
The Cube lit up with some dull red lights, and Mercury watched as some panels in the cube opened up and various pieces came forward, soon It looked like a Cockpit of some kind, there were screen surrounding his top half, and metal panels surrounding his lower half, soon he was boxed in. The screens shaped out am Arwing cockpit window, so very triangular. a control panel of sorts then appeared from another opening panel just infront of him, and some levers aswell rose from the arms of the chair.
Mercury looked round, the light was beginning to get brighter so Mercury took off his helmet before he went blind, just in time too, the screens shot to life in a bright white light, then the sounds kicked in, Mercury blinked a couple times and looked round at the screens, he was in the Air watching as clouds shot past overhead and a vast blue sea under him. The light sound of wind going past, the sound reminded Mercury of times, he'd been going fast in his fathers sports car down the highway's as a kid with the window rolled up. He could also see his own wings and front of the ship, mainly blue with some white decals.
He couldn't help but look round at the scenery, it seemed so real and beautiful... Moment ruined, Another Arwing, Blue and white like his shot past.
Then a red light began flashing slowly on his control board, Mercury was hesitant to press anything, there seemed to be around 50 different switches/buttons/levers, so he pressed the yellow button next to the red light.
Fox's Voice then came over the Radio, "Okay that's everyone linked, except Lester, anyone seen him?"
"Nope" Bryan said
"Nah mate" Came a stern voice, had to be Mikey as Lester was probably the guy currently barrel rolling ou of control towards the water.
"Um, I think Lester might be the guy near me, about to crash into the ocean" Mercury said watching the Arwing fly around, barrel roll, Flip, dive, climb, weave, zig-zag, Everything.
"I see ya" said the stern voice, just then another Arwing like Mercury's shot past him again and went straight for the one that was presumably Lester's
"HELPPPPP MEEEEEEEEE" A terrified, high pitched voice came over the radio
"Lester, its just a simulation, calm down" Fox said, Mikey then took a harsh approach
"PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER, Pull the left lever, 3 quarters back, then hold the right all the way back until I SAY SO GOT IT WIMP"
"AHHHHH" Was all Lester said as he crashed into the ocean in a fiery ball from impact. "WAIT, I'm f-fine hehehe"
"Of course you are you MUPPET" Mikey said
"Remember that you are only in a simulation, this isn't the real thing, you should respawn on a carrier now, so your going to have to figure out how to lunch and how to fly back to us, Mercury can you figure out your controls?"
"Honestly... Not really, the only reason I'm not like Lester currently Is because I'm not touching Anything"
Fox then said, "The yellow button in the middle of the console, press the blue one to its left, then the green one above it then pull your left lever back 30 degrees then the right forward 20 degrees, then push the Blue button with the wheel symbol on it in the top left corner"
Mercury did what Fox said To the letter, when he pressed the final button a Yoke (An Aircraft steering Wheel) Emerged from a panel infront of him and under the control board.
"Why the hell didn't we have one of these at the start?!" Mercury exclaimed
Bryan answered "The Levers are for casual and patrol flying, the Trident controls are for Combat flying."
"Why a trident?" Mercury asked
"Simple" Fox said "The control column, that's the handle, the grips go outwards from the center, and the connector in the middle is raised a little, so its like a trident.. and Bryan how do you know all of that?"
"Uh... I did what Falco told me not to... as we were walking in hehehe" He said nervously over the comm.
"okay where's Lester?" Mikey said
"Lester you there?" Fox asked
But instead of Lester's voice, it was Mr lexis, " Your team mate couldn't take off... Twice... Also your carrier is destroyed... by an incident involving, a Fuel tank, An Arwing, a dopey Lizard and a Launch Bot, so when you respawn, you'll be on a landlocked airfield on the OTHER side of the Combat zone"
"Great, wait Mercury and Mikey I see you two, hold there, and Bryan-"
"Oh I'm behind you actually, I been following you for the last 30 seconds"
"Okayyy... anyway lets form up, I got lead, Mercury back, Mikey Left, Bryan Right. We're going into an Diamond Formation."
Mercury watched as the others flew their virtual Arwings into formation infront of his, Bryan's a little shaky.
"So what now?" Bryan asked
"I feel like hunting" Mikey said
"We should split up and go looking, then when we see them, we let the others know then they ca-" Mercury was cut off as Bright red lasers shot past him... about 5 metres above him.
"Uh... that was a miss if I ever seen one" Bryan said looking back over his virtual Arwings engines and stabilizers as more red lasers missed the group by miles.
"Are they even aiming for us?" Mikey asked laughing. The group turned their Arwings towards the laser source, Mercury's a little more Shaky than the others.
He looked past the red laser shots to see 3 Arwings flying towards them at a 45 degree angle from the ocean top. Fox and Mikey Opened Fire on the enemy Arwings
"Guys how do I shoot?" Bryan and Mercury said, pressing the red buttons on the tips of their controls but nothing happening
"Press the Yellow button with the Skull on it, that's the safety button so weapons won't discharge accidently" Fox said, firing Nova Missiles at the 3 Arwings. 2 found their mark on one unlucky guy.
Mercury and Bryan scanned their controls for the button then pressed it and joined the firefight. Mercury and Bryan's Arwings rattled a little as their cannons sprung to life firing blue lasers at the opposing team, They were playing chicken with Mercury's team ships, just charging eachother. They were now close enough to properly see the enemy Arwings, they had the exact same Arwings but with Red instead of blue, classic X-03s as Falco had called them as they walked the corridors. (Search Star Fox Horizon for Info on SO many Star Fox Craft and Characters)
"Hey where's Falco?" Fox asked
"Yeah that Bird is way too good to be one of these dumbass's"
"LEFT SIDE" Bryan shouted as he got hit, they all quickly looked left to see another 2 Red Team Arwings. One was on a beeline for them the other... was doing a nose dive into the ocean. Mr Lexis voice then came over the Comms again.
"Okay, as there ar so many Greenie's here and I cant stand to see them crash 3 times in a row horrendously and not even hitting an enemy.. you all got 1 life from now on and its now a 4v4".
The Remaining Blue team fighters broke from their formation, Mercury, Bryan and Mikey chased the 3 Red team units who had broke off from their charge Mercury chased after one that seemed to be having trouble staying out of a nose dive, like it was constantly fighting to stay in the air, Mercury pressed the two red buttons on his Controls like crazy, red beams and nova missiles barraging towards the enemy Arwing, most of Mercury's lasers hit, but his Missiles were the finishers, 3 hit the back of the Arwing and it was sent down spiralling towards the Virtual Ocean in a fiery ball of death.
Mercury then shouted "WOOHOO GOT ONE"
"Don't get cocky, that's what gets you killed" Fox said
"Guys I got 2 of them on MY TAIL HELP" Bryan shouted
"Who lost their opponent?" Fox asked
"I did, I was chasing Falco and then he did a cloud run and disappeared, I'll be right there Bryan" Mikey said
"TOO LATE" Bryan shouted then static, he was out the simulation.
Mercury turned his fighter still trying to get used to how these ships turned, he saw 2 Enemy fighters closing in on him, He turned round and fled.
"Guy I got the 2 twats on MY ASS now" He shouted as red lasers shot past him. "How do I shake these missiles, don't you guys have flares on this planet?!"
"DO A BARREL ROLL" Fox shouted, Mercury barrel rolled and sure enough the missiles lost their lock on him...
"What in the hell?! that work?! heh my peoples missiles don't get thrown off by barrel rolls" Mercury said as the missiles crashed into the ocean "WHOA" he shouted as a third Arwing appeared from the clouds in front of him and began shooting at him. Mercury shot back just as Fox and Mikey appeared. They attacked the two chasing Mercury, Fox got his, but a stray laser from the third Arwing shooting at Mercury hit Mikey's Arwing left wing. He was sent spinning as he nose dived towards his opponent.
"Oh son of a Horse... well fuck it, its a simulation and if I'm going down I want atleast 1 point" And with that Mikey aimed his Arwing towards the second Arwing. On impact both Blew up into a large ball of smoke and fire in the middle of the sky.
"Well fuck... he was suicidal" Fox joked
"Okay, BUT HELP ME WITH FUCKING FALCO" Mercury shouted as he turned round and the last Red team Arwing followed, Fox flew past them both, getting a brief gance at the enemy cockpit, sure enough it was Falco who kept bombarding the sky around Mercury with laser fire and nova missiles.
A Nova Missile hit Mercury's right wing, "SHIT TWAT CUNT PRICK ASSHAT" He shouted as he spiralled out of control. "Oh god why this feel so real" Mercury asked as he started to feel a little queasy as he spiralled towards the ocean.
"Pull up quickly" Fox said "I got an Idea"
Mercury pulled up, but it wasn't much good, he was leaning heavily to his left because of his lack of a right wing.
"Whats the idea Fox" Mercury asked
"Simple, your a sitting target and less of a threat, knowing Falco he'll go after me first then he'll enjoy shooting you with about 50,000 lasers while he hovers. So I get him to chase me, when I fly past your front, you open fire, by Time Falco gets there, BOOOM" and to emphasise the point Fox made some small sound effects.
"Fine" Mercury said "Just say when to fire"
Fox sped off and Mercury didn't see him for another minute until he returned with Falco in his Red Team Arwing chasing him. Fox barrel rolled, Spinned, Dived, Climbed and Zigzagged to avoid the Laser fire.
"be ready" Fox said, he flew straight up with Falco following, He then reached the virtual orbit of the combat zone, then... dived, Falco kept following like a good little birdie towards the trap. Clouds flew past Fox as he dived, he saw Mercury ready and waiting. He zoomed past the front of Mercury "NOW" he shouted.
Mercury opened fire, just aiming forwards and sure enough... Falco flew right through his lasers no more than 2 seconds later. Mercury watched as Falco exploded in the air.
Mr Lexis Voice then came over the Comms again "Blue Team win, Good plan and tactic and execution, wait for your Pod to shut down then come back out here."
Mercury sat back in his seat as the screens/windows went black and all the panels opened and the controls retreated into them. The dim Red light returned and then the door to the Cube opened and Mercury grabbed his helmet and walked out.
Fox came out the pod to his left, grinning like an idiot as he looked at something, Mercury followed his gaze to see a very VERY annoyed Falco.
"WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT, FOX YOU DIRTY SON OF A HORSE WHORE" Falco shouted
"LANGUAGE" Mr Lexis shouted "I'm going to let it slip this time, BUT THIS IS ONLY THE SIMULATIONS, besides moves like what Fox and Merc-uri pulled off will save your life or the lives of others"
"Now, the following people pass this Lesson, Falco and Anders from Red Team, Fox, Mikey, Bryan and Merc-uri from Blue Team. The rest of you better shape up soon, there ar after school practice sessions FYI"
The group then got their scores, It was a pretty close Score between the Group, Fox, Mercury, Falco and Bryan.
"Now get to your next class, it should be with my sister" Mr Lexis said.
The Trainee's left and the moment they were out the door, Mercury shouted from under his helmet "THAT WAS AMAZING, I've never flew like that before, and those craft, I admit they are really God damn sweet, nice thrust and power, even better weaponry and-"
"yeah, yeah we get it, The old Arwings are great... but just wait until we get our hands on a X-04 Arwing hehehe" Falco said
"There's a better version?!"
"Of course" he replied smugly.
Unbeknown to he group, a figure was watching them through a pair of specialised binoculars,
"This is unit ssseven" The figure hissed from his Academy roof top look out onto the rest of the Academy "The Alien has ssskills flying our craft... he could pose a threat, and the McCloud boy is also like his father, he needs to go aswell"
"Confirmed" A deep voice came over his radio "All threats need to be controlled or exterminated... Pigma out"
And there is Chapter 12, sorry its late, but yeah, Lightning hitting my house, Me falling asleep on my keyboard. Sorry :P
Don't forget to leave a review and tell me what you think :D
Mr Foxer signing off