Chapter 29
Only two weeks into their junior year did the guys receive a mission, a lot sooner than they, and the teachers, expected.
"I've got no problem with getting a break from school this early on, seems like the early parts are the hardest." Bill told his friends as they were driving towards the docking bay.
"I don't have a problem with the start or anything, really I don't have a problem with anything in school!" Slippy told them all vigorously. Falco just laughed a little,
"Because nobody is as much as a science dork as you." He scoffed at him. Slippy went off on a small tirade at Falco about science. "Okay, okay, OKAY! I get it froggie" He exclaimed at him. Slippy knew that Falco hated science, and so a lecture about it would definitely get him to be quiet.
Once they arrived they all met James and Peppy inside their usual area for a quick briefing session. They ran out to their Arwings and shot off towards their destination. "So what do you think we're looking at?" Fox asked over the transmission. "Well we aren't quite sure yet, we've seen suspicious activity in this area lately and aren't quite sure what it's all about." Peppy answered back to him and everyone else.
"There's the possibility of needing some on foot investigation, think you can take care of that if we need it son?" Fox nodded in agreement to his father's question. Their destination was not soon reached, it was nearly two in the afternoon when they got there. They were scouting out the air perimeter and weren't finding much. "Great, this must have been another false alarm. We've been getting too many of these lately." James told everyone, sounding a little annoyed.
Something caught Fox's eye when he looked down. "Hey dad, I'm gonna land over there and go take a look around." "Hold on a second, I'll come with you son." The two vulpines landed their Arwings and got their blasters out, ready for any sort of trouble.
"This is weird, what's with all these marks on the trees here? Dad? You think you have any idea?" James looked over at the markings on the tree his son was talking about and ran his furry hand over it. "Wait a second" James said as he realized what these marks were.
Just as he realized it did out of the nearby bushes a group of smugglers jump out with guns pointed straight at the two. "Alright boys it looks like we got just what we wanted." The supposed leader said. His cronies all laughed a little at the remark. James merely laughed at their feeble threats.
"Oh boy, now I know why I love missions against you small time crooks." The smugglers raised their guns straight at him as he pulled something out of his jacket and tossed one to Fox. They latched them onto their jackets and completely disappeared.
"What! Cloaking devices! Find them you maggots!" The leader barked. James contacted Fox via his headset, "Alright son we need to split up just a little but stay nearby at the same time, alright?" Fox agreed with the idea and stayed only about fifteen feet away from his father.
The two foxes quickly regretted their decision of landing, the forest was filled with booby traps and trip wires. From laser fire to stakes out of the ground the dangers were nonetheless hazardous. The two still had their cloaking devices on and without paying attention ran straight into each other knocking each other down.
James grumbled a little to himself but had to stop quickly, because he could see Fox, and Fox could see his father.
"Dad… you- you're-" James looked down at himself. "We need to keep moving son! Hurry I can hear them!" Just as James stood up and took one step over towards his son did he hear a noise of something snapping.
But looked around and nothing happened. He helped his son up and just as he did Fox looked up and saw something falling, a grenade trap coming out of the tree.
He gave his father a powerful push to save him, and jumped away as fast as he could to save himself, but it was too late. The grenade exploded, James was safe, but Fox, being airborne, was caught in the momentum of the blast and was propelled into a nearby tree. His back slammed into the small tree, causing it to break.
"Fox! Son!" James ran over to his son and kneeled down to him. "Dad… tell Krystal…" "Don't worry about that son, you're gonna live through this!" But Fox didn't hear his father's words, he had already passed out.
"Peppy! Listen, I'm sending you mine and Fox's coordinates, I need you to blast us a path to our Arwings and fast!" James hoisted his son up on his back and they he ran as fast as he could towards the two ships. His pace wasn't very fast with the added weight of Fox, but they managed to make it to the ships without hassle.
"What happened out there James!?" Peppy asked when he saw Fox's unconscious body. "Well, there was a grenade trap. He pushed me out of the way when I didn't notice, the momentum from the blast caught him and sent him into a tree. He's just unconscious." James set coordinates for the loading dock back at Corneria on Fox's Arwing and they all blasted off for the hospital.
James contacted Vixy as soon as he could and she nearly tore the city to pieces driving down through traffic to get to the hospital.
Fox was put on the hospital bed and the doctor asked everyone to leave for a moment while they leave tests. As the parents and teens sat in the waiting room James covered his face. "This is all my fault" He told them all.
"Look man, I'ts not your fault." Falco told the older fox, with a hand on his back. "Yeah don't worry. Fox has been in some bad spots before, I'm sure he'll be fine." Slippy told him. James managed to smile a little, and the smile of his wife reassured his smile.
The doctor walked into the waiting room. "He's ready for you to come on in, but there's some very bad news I have for you Mr. and Mrs. McCloud."
Outside the hospital, again, Krystal bolted from her parents car to see the unknown to her condition of her boyfriend. She dashed down the halls to his room and opened the door to see him.
She was greeted by three words, but the three words she never wanted to hear in her life from Fox.
"Who are you?"
