Author's Note: Hello and welcome to one of my ongoing SF projects, Legacies Never Die. This fic is a series of short stories that goes over the adventures of the first generation of the Star Fox team, told in an episodic fashion. The first chapter is a prologue that was written over a year ago and more recently, I decided to pick the series up again as a way to give myself a break from writing multichapter fics with an ongoing story. As I post this, I'll be uploading the first two chapters so you can launch into the adventures of James McCloud. This fic is a bit unique in the way that I do not have a definite end for it and plan to write the stories as they come to mind. This fic will be as long as how many chapters I can possibly think of. With that being said, the update schedule may be a bit sporadic. So keep that in mind while reading and I hope you enjoy.
Chapter 1: Atop a Dusty Shelf
"Well, Fox, ya done it again!" exclaimed Pete Porcupine as he slid a stack of Cornerian bills across the counter to the vulpine. Fox picked it up, thumbing through it despite knowing without a doubt that the shopkeeper did not have it in his heart to stiff them the cash.
"My pleasure, Pete," Fox said with a smile once all of the money had been accounted for. "I'm glad we could help out."
"Yeah! Those awful thugs didn't stand a chance against us!" Slippy piped up. "They shouldn't be botherin' you or your store anymore."
"And glad I am to hear it," Pete said with a toothy grin. He set aside his broomstick and wandered out from behind the counter, thin arms reaching out to give Fox a hug. The vulpine reciprocated the action, careful to hug around Pete's spikes. When Pete let go of Fox, he beamed up at him, a bittersweet gleam in his eyes.
"Look at ya! Ya got so tall. Just a spittin' image of your pops, too," Pete said. "And just as reliable too. I'll be keepin' ya in mind if I have any more trouble."
"Sounds good," Fox replied with a smile. Years ago, he might have flinched at the comment about being similar to his father. But he had heard it enough times. His skin was thicker than that. "Take it easy, pal. We'll be back by in a month but if you have issues before that, give us a ring."
"Will do! Have a good one!" Pete waved as the two departed his store.
Red Oasis was a tiny town, not even a speck on Papetoon's map. It was a cluster of buildings hidden amid plateaus and dry bluffs. It was so small that the town did not even have its own hangar—people visiting just parked their ships outside the town's limits and walked in. Fox and Slippy wandered the town's only road, looking at the old timey rustic shops on either sides. An old lady swept her porch, donned in a floral bonnet and matching dress. A stray tumbleweed bounced by in front of them. Fox took in a deep breath. Yes. There was nothing like the smell of Papetoon in its old western glory.
"This place must be pretty nostalgic for you," Slippy remarked to Fox.
"A bit, I guess. My grandparents used to live a little outside of town," Fox replied. "We'd come to Pete's shop a lot. Dad would always buy me a sucker if I behaved. Which I always did."
"I wouldn't doubt it!" Slippy replied with one of his jovial smiles.
Papetoon was where Fox had spent a better part of his childhood but he would have never considered those days the best days of his youth. It had not been long after his mother's death that his father had moved them to the boonies of the civilized sector of the Lylat System, where they had spent years tending to the farm owned by Fox's grandparents. James and Fox had ended up moving back to Corneria a while later due to job prospects. Nevertheless, Fox felt as though Papetoon was home just as much as Corneria.
The team had a base on the arid planet. It was a small building outside of Red Oasis that they rented when they needed to lay anchor for a bit. Fox and Slippy had initially come by to drop off rent—a quick venture, Fox had been certain of. And then they had run into Pete on the way back. Pete had been distraught over bandits plundering his home. Fox and Slippy had thought to phone in Falco and Peppy for back up but the ruffians ended up being nothing that they couldn't handle.
As the two walked towards their parked Arwings at the edge of town, Fox handed Slippy half of the cash that Pete had given him.
"Halfsies," Fox smiled at him. "What ya gonna do with it?"
"Hmm, gotta upgrade my PC soon," Slippy said thoughtfully. "Maybe it'll go towards that. Or pizza. Probably pizza."
"Geez. With how much pizza we've been eating, I should probably commission a running track for the Great Fox. I've def had to loosen my belt a bit," Fox joked.
"The day we gotta do laps is the day I put in my resignation!" Slippy joked back.
"Heh, guess I better post the job," Fox winked. "Maybe Katt will turn in another application. Could you imagine Falco's face?"
Slippy chuckled. "He'd go into molting season on the spot!"
The flight back to the Great Fox was uneventful and short. From space, Papetoon was a dull brown sphere, decorated by wispy clouds and the occasional blue patch where there was an ocean. Fox docked his Arwing next to Slippy's and hopped out. He gave the other two Arwings in the hangar a quick glance. It looked like Peppy and Falco were still aboard the Great Fox somewhere. He had sent them a message saying they would take a bit longer but judging from the time, he assumed Falco was probably still in bed and Peppy was probably watching his dramas while they still had decent reception.
He thought about taking a break to get the other two up to speed as to what had taken so long but Fox decided against it. It had been a year since the end of the Lylat Wars and although Fox had done much to step into the role his father had left behind for him, there was still much to do. Namely, half of the Great Fox was still filled with old junk leftover from the first generation of the team. Fox had decided since they had a bit of downtime that it would be good to start cleaning out the old storage rooms.
Fox set to work immediately when he made it to the area of their mothership in question. Armed with a broom, a dust bin, some gloves, and burning determination, the vulpine began to clear out the millions upon millions of boxes in one of the first storage rooms. The lightbulb for some reason did not work so he left the door open to let the hallway light in. He cut a few boxes open to look inside them, inspecting their contents with a wary green eyes. Old books. Old maps that were outdated. Old junk—a radio that was covered in dust, some rocks from various planets, a few model planes that Fox had to guess were older than he was. There were boxes that had other boxes in them. Boxes filled with nothing.
He worked for an hour before he decided to sit down and take a break. Fox sat and pulled his phone out, leaning against the door in the hallway. He pondered what he could do before it occurred to him that he had not heard from Fara at all in the past few days. He opened up his contacts and scrolled to her name. On her contact page, he had a picture of them both, standing next to each other with big smiles. He remembered that day well—it was his graduation from public school into the military. A day that seemed so long ago… his father had taken the picture. Fox had been surprised when James had shown up. He had figured his dad would have been gone on a mission halfway across the galaxy…
Fox's thumb hovered over the call button, looking down at his girlfriend's name with quiet apprehension. Ever since the day he had left Corneria City, there had been something odd between the two. Her lingering resentment towards his choice to drop from the academy stained their relationship, twisting what used to be so easy and carefree into something that felt like a chore to uphold. Fox's left ear flitted to side, knowing he should not have these feelings, knowing that he ought to just push the button. He sighed. It took all of his willpower to call her.
The phone rang. And it rang. And it rang.
"Hi, this is Fara Phoenix speaking. Please leave a voicemail after the beep and I'll get back to you as soon as I can! Thanks!"
Fox sighed again, ending the call before the beep. He would try again later. Or so he told himself. He pocketed the phone and dragged himself to his feet. With a sigh, the vulpine looked back at the storage room. It seemed like a dauntless task. He thought about asking the others to help but it felt like a job that he had to do himself. His father had likely been the one to put most of these boxes here… it was fitting that he would be the one to clear it all out. Who knew? Maybe they could find enough to sell that they could make enough of a profit to buy some upgrades to the Great Fox? Maybe some of the retro stuff would appeal to a collector…
It was a slim chance but Fox knew he had to believe.
He got back to work. The quiet of space was relaxing in a way. It made the sound of his sweeping louder but somehow, it was comforting. After all of the chaos that had troubled his life, sometimes just sweeping back and forth felt like an emotional break. The vulpine gathered the dust into a pan then dumped it into a trash can he had brought from the kitchen. He turned and looked at the room, noticing the progress he had made. There were still boxes left but the center of the room was mostly empty. All that was left was a tall shelf at the far end and then a few boxes pushed against the wall.
Fox blinked in surprise, realizing he had not even noticed the shelf at first. He wandered towards it, leaning in to inspect it. It was older but he could already envision it in his room. He had needed something like this—something to hold some of the knick-knacks he had brought with him from Corneria City. Most of the shelves were empty but he could not tell if there was anything atop the shelf. He reached up but the top was still beyond his grasp. With resolve and a frown, the vulpine hopped onto the lowest shelf and reached as high as he could. Dust greeted his fingers… it was empty… except for… something. It was a flat, cold feeling object. He patted the area around it, working his fingers under it until he finally got a good grasp on it. As he pulled his arm back to look at what had been sitting up there, the shelf beneath his feet creaked… and promptly broke, sending the vulpine tumbling backwards. He landed roughly on his tail, wincing loudly. The shelf in front of him teetered and he stabilized it with a hand.
"Well, that was awkward," Fox commented to himself, then glanced over at his discovery. "Now, what are you…"
The object that had been sitting on top of the shelf was a strange octagon made of metal. Fox cocked his head to the side as he looked down at it. The light from the hallway streamed exactly onto it, revealing it to be some form of hologram device. Fox had seen an older model like this before. His grandparents had owned one. His grandmother would record things every so often—usually memos for herself, especially when she had started to become more forgetful in her later years.
Dusting off his hands on his pants, Fox picked up the device. He cradled it in a palm, looking over the buttons. There was a button each for playing the hologram, pausing, fast-forwarding, rewinding, and recording.
He thought about putting it in with the other junk he had planned to sell. But he was curious. Curious enough to know that he would never forgive himself if he did not at least check the recorder's records. Ears back, Fox clicked the play button. He could feel his breath held in his lungs. His heart hammered with anticipation and hope. Hope that there was something there. Something that even he did not know how to put into words.
But nothing happened. Dismayed, the vulpine hung his head. Of COURSE it hadn't worked. He should have known to not expect so much from the dusty crap his father had left for him to clean up. Fox sighed and tossed the device carelessly away with the rest of the junk.
There was a buzz, a bleep, and a familiar voice greeted him from behind.
"Testing… testing… Geez, I hope this thing is on."
Fox knew without doubt who was speaking on the recording. He whipped around, looking at where the recorder was sitting upside down. Its projection into the floor made a bright neon blue light. Quickly, Fox turned the device over and the hologram began to correct itself.
Before Fox knew it, he was staring into the eyes of his own father.
"Well, I guess this is a test run," James McCloud said with a smile. "Vivian told me that it would be a good idea for me or Pepster to record our adventures. I guess she thinks they could make a good movie some day or somethin'. I don't know. Pep told me he didn't wanna do it—said he was never good with words. So I guess that means I gotta. So… if you're seeing this… Hi. The name's James. James McCloud, lead pilot of the Star Fox team. I… geesh. I hope I can edit this sort of thing later…"
The hologram was just James's shoulders and up but it was incredibly detailed. Without his sunglasses, his father's stormy blue eyes felt as real as they had before. Fox leaned in close, feeling breathless in a way he had not felt since the day he had fought Andross. The hologram of James looked like he was maybe shuffling through notes off-screen. Fox smiled.
"Well, I guess I'd better just start from the beginning," James said, looking from whatever was off-screen and directly into Fox's eyes. "For whoever's listening… if it's Vivian… or the General… heck, or maybe even Fox…"
The hologram smiled fondly for a moment.
"This is the story of the Star Fox team."