Still interested in this old story? Neat, thanks for sticking around.
So, if you continued from the last chapter, that future era stuff doesn't come up again for a while.
The story now shifts into the present, and follows Fox's adventure with his friends. Since it's a continuation of Star Fox Assault's plot, this was basically to bring Andrew Oikonny's forces back from the dead (?) and allow them to basically be the remnants of Andross's army. They end up stoking the flames, reviving Andross, and basically creating a terrible foe reborn to fight Fox once again.
Along with this, I laughed at one of Assault's flaws, which was ever benching Peppy to be team advisor. So, I had him back on the field here, and he gets to be back part of the actual Star Fox team. He's old, not ancient, so he can keep up.
Oh, and I should mention that Fox is borderline celebrity after saving the galaxy for the...second, third, whatever time? He's famous on Corneria, and reporters constantly want to talk to him. Along with that, his mom's work is being brought back into the spotlight, but that comes up later.
...
There are two bird characters introduced in this chapter, because I wanted to play with the idea of Robin from Fire Emblem as a literal robin in the Star Fox series. Obviously, they would end up becoming a fairly different character, given the setting change.
But more on that after they debut down below. For now, let's just get into it.
...
[Corneria City, Present Day, 16:24]
Flying above the city skyscrapers, Fox glanced out of his fighter as he soared around a few buildings. Two cubs and presumably their mother happened to turn his way, and waved from their window as he passed a tall office building. Fox smirked and waved back, but let his hand drop as he passed it, noticing a faint billow of smoke. Following it to a more open portion of the city, Fox sighted three parked Arwings along a park patch, with a crowd of citizens around two wrecked ships.
Landing his Arwing next to his teammates' fighters, Fox climbed out and studied the purple and black ships as he approached. They were designed similarly to the Arwings, though with sharper wings and overall frame…from what remained. The cockpit windows were shattered open.
"LOOK! THERE'S FOX MCCLOUD HIMSELF!"
Turning, Fox watched a heavy number of citizens push against barricades and Cornerian soldiers, fighting to meet the ace pilot. Reporters turned on cameras and tried to position themselves in shots that caught Fox walking forward in the background. He chuckled and shook his head, though his ears flicked back and his shoulders stiffened.
"Hey Fox, over here!" A vibrant green toad waved him over, standing near the crash along with an amused blue bird.
"Slippy, Falco, hey." Fox smiled and strode over to his teammates. "Reporters are everywhere, huh?"
"Reporters, fans, you name it!"
"Yikes. Anyway, sorry I'm late."
"Well, you took your sweet time to get your butt over here," remarked Falco, resting his wing on Fox's shoulder. "All good?"
"For now. You know how it is."
Nodding silently, Falco patted his shoulder as they approached the wreckage. Ahead was a gray and white rabbit in a long trench coat. He typed on a touchpad as he observed the ships, not noticing the others bring Fox over. The rabbit bent over and searched the cockpit of one fighter.
"Peppy?" The rabbit jolted up at Fox's voice, banging his head on the side of the ship. "Ah…sorry about that."
"That's all right, Fox." Peppy pulled himself out and rubbed his head between his long ears. "Are you doing ok?"
"At the moment. What about you, Peppy? What are you doing back out?"
"Ah, I can't keep myself cooped up anymore, or I'll lose my mind with just ROB around." Peppy smirked. "You youngsters aren't getting all of the glory anymore."
"Crazy old fool," Fox heard Falco mutter under his breath. He shot his ace pilot a glare, who shrugged to him.
"Well, if you can handle it, good to have you back out and about." Fox nodded, but then glanced around, looking around the area for a moment. "Where's Krystal?"
"Back at the Great Fox, had something else to take care of," murmured Falco as he folded his arms. "Someone was stopping by just as she was leaving, I think."
"Oh. So, what's going on here?" Fox pointed at the ships. "ROB summoned me over here, but he didn't exactly provide details. Did Pepper need us?"
"Yeah. Well, Bill spotted the wreckage and had to take off, so he had Pepper request us over," explained Slippy as he adjusted his cap. "It's weird, because I'm trying to check over the hardware behind their fighters, but anything that's similar to the Arwings is coming up as identical matches, including the Gravity Diffusion system, the NTD-FX1 Plasma engines, and Smart Bomber launchers."
"But…?"
"Well, from a physical overview, I'm noticing certain differences in the keyboard setups, default laser cannon selection, obvious design deviations, and separate shielding that they can activate without rolling." He heavily exhaled. "However, when we run full systems diagnostics and cross examinations, the technology is reported to not exist, anywhere. It's like they have customized components."
"Wow," chuckled Falco. "You actually remembered to breathe this time."
"Hey, someone has to assess and report everything." Slippy placed his hands on his hips and held his head up. "Try not to be too jealous, Falco."
"Right, jealous of the team nerd, ok." Falco huffed and rolled his eyes, smirking at Slippy's annoyed expression.
"Damage diagnostics?"
"Collision with one another, mostly," surmised Peppy. "Though, there appears to be thin laser damage on their keyboards and in the cockpits, so I'm imagining that someone else was firing on them. We'll need to make further inspections later to double check on that. Took some photos, so we'll be able to bring it up back on the Great Fox."
"And what about the pilots?"
"Both were found unconscious, but alive." Peppy rubbed under his chin. "Now that we're going over them, there's something…well, several things that are pretty peculiar about the two."
"Go on."
"I think it would be better to show you. Falco?"
"Right this way, Fox."
Following Falco away from the downed fighters, the avian guided him to medical hovercrafts that were parked a few feet away. Three canine paramedics checked on the patients, typing in notes as the pilots approached. Recognizing the duo, the three nodded and stepped aside as Fox and Falco strolled up.
Two birds were resting in the back of each ship, with a few medics checking over them. Both wore dull ivory uniforms, with brown accents that matched their boots. Black trench coats hanging off the doors, adorned with gold trimmings on the cuffs and bottom, as well as plum designs by the midsection and insides. One was more broad shouldered and a darker, black feathered face, whereas the other appeared a bit shorter with a brighter, gray feathered head. Though covered by their uniforms, each had a few vermilion chest feathers visible below their necks.
"Two birds?"
"Yep, and the bigger one is the male." Falco folded his arms and somewhat proudly glanced at the two. "Nice to see a few new feathered fliers around the cockpits."
"Hmm." Fox nodded and continued to stare at the two. "So…?"
"Meet Robin and Robyn, according to their nametags."
"…Wait, huh?" Blinking and shaking his head, Fox gave Falco a puzzled expression. "Robin and—?"
"The male's name is spelled with an 'I,' the female uses a 'Y,' ok?"
"Ah, got it." Fox paused and his brows furrowed. "Actually, no, that's still confusing."
"One's a thrush, the other is a flycatcher, if that helps."
"But they're both robins."
"Yep."
"Then no, it doesn't."
"Tough, that's all I've got for explanations." Falco shrugged and laughed as Fox scratched his behind his ears and leaned over to look at one of them.
"Well, I suppose we can question them—"
Robin gasped and sprang up from his stretcher, his dark brown eyes snapped open. Medical officers hurried over to check on him as Fox and Falco backed up. Within seconds, Robyn mirrored the motion, jolting up from her stretcher as well. The pair panted heavily and batted away the medics' hands. Fox approached the two again.
"Is everything all right?"
"Y-Yes…Fox McCloud," managed Robin. "…Of…Star Fox."
"Star Fox's…leader?" Robyn shook her head. "Son of…James."
"…Ok, that last part's not exactly common knowledge," warily murmured Fox, "but I'll just imagine that you two did your homework."
"Where…am I?" Robin shook his head.
"Who are you?" Robyn turned and shot her counterpart an inquisitive look.
"Me? Who are you?"
"I…I'm…" Robyn scratched at her head. "I don't understand. Why can't I…?"
"Both of you are robins," intervened Falco. "Male's with an 'I' in the name, female's with a 'Y' instead." After a sigh, he added, "Yeesh, this'll get old fast."
"My name is Robin?"
"Robyn…"
Fox observed the pair for a moment as they racked their brains, and then pulled Falco a short distance from them.
"They were found in the ships?"
"Yeah, except unconscious."
"Ships that looked like Arwings. And they know me?"
"Uh…apparently?"
"I don't know about this." Fox glanced back at the two birds, as they now showed renewed fascination in one another, awkwardly waving. "What were we planning to do with them?"
"Until they just woke up, we were going to let them go to the hospital first." Falco watched the pair as well. "And now that doesn't seem like a hot idea anymore."
"They're going to need to be questioned the second they fully recover," murmured Fox. "We need to know exactly what—"
A sharp crashing noise rang out as Fox and Falco rushed away from the medics. Gazing down an open street, an explosion went off.
The civilians panicked and raced off as Slippy and Peppy glanced around, trying to locate the source of the blast.
"What's going—?"
Slippy was interrupted by rapid-fire blaster shots. Star Fox separated and spread out, with Peppy and Slippy taking cover behind the damaged ships. Fox and Falco hurried to the medical hovercrafts, which had sustained damage.
"Ok, now I'm getting annoyed," grumbled Falco. "Who—?"
"Come on out, Star Fox!"
Peeking from behind the ship, Fox gazed down the street to find nine ape thugs walking up it, toward the crash site. Two held machine guns, three with blasters. Another two had shotguns, while one more juggled grenades. One in front held both a blaster and a shotgun.
"Joy," deadpanned Fox. "Probably leftovers from Oikonny's gang."
"You think Andross being dead would actually get them to stop." Falco scoffed. "More over, you'd think they'd have sense not to challenge us."
"Face us, Star Fox!" The lead ape lifted his blaster and shot it into the sky. "In the name of Lord Oikonny and Great Lord Andross, we will see you dead!"
"Wow, they are delusional."
"Get your Stunner Ammunition ready," ordered Fox.
"Aw, seriously? They're asking for a real beatdown."
"Falco, I'm not having more blood taint Corneria City. We're still recovering from the past invasion, let alone the one before that." Fox tapped on his headset. "Peppy, Slippy, stun shots only."
"Copy!"
"Loud and clear, Fox!"
Both pilots reached for their holsters and withdrew their blasters. Opening them, they slid out the green vials and placed them back into a small container on their belts. Fox pulled out a yellow vial, loading it into his blaster.
"Ready?"
"Yeah, yeah. Let's do this."
Peering out, Fox fired three shots from his blaster, zapping one of the apes. Another whirled around and shot his machine gun, with several blasts hitting the medical hovercraft.
Peppy jumped up and fired a shot at another ape, who had failed to shoot his shotgun. His partner retaliated and Peppy ducked down behind the broken fighter.
"Maybe we shouldn't be the ones attacking," suggested Falco. "We've still got medics in those crafts, not to mention the strange arrivals."
"True, but…Slippy and Peppy can't handle this alone." Fox glanced around, looking for additional coverage. "It's either behind these, or behind the smashed ships. Neither option is ideal."
"Better the one with less casualties."
"Right." Fox tapped on his headset. "Slippy, Peppy. We need cover fire while we come to you two."
"We'll work on it!"
Fox peeked his head out again, but his mouth dropped as a grenade sailed through the air. He aimed his blaster, but another blitz of machine gun blasts forced him back behind cover.
"Guys!" Fox yelled over his communicator. "Watch it!"
Spotting the grenade, Slippy clicked on his wrist and activated an Explosives Barrier. Covering Peppy, they crouched down as the bomb went off, flames bursting around the damaged ships.
Once the fires settled, Slippy's barrier faded and he slumped to the ground with a cough.
"You ok there, Slip?"
"Yeah, I'll manage. Thanks Peppy."
"Thank me when I take care of these dastards."
Hopping up, Peppy fired another shot, taking down an ape with a blaster. A heavy shotgun blast forced him back down.
"We've taken a third down, Fox!"
"Great, but we still need to—"
"Fox, head's up!"
Whirling around, Fox and Falco watched as a grenade came sailing down toward them. Falco lifted his arm to activate a barrier, but hesitated as a cloaked figure leapt up and spiked the grenade away.
...
Slight cliffhanger here, because the chapter will be too long otherwise. It continues right away in the next chapter, so I'll just clip here.
Quick mention: there was going to be different weapon types included for the Star Fox team to use. Hence Falco complaining at the "Stunner ammo," something that paralyzes enemies for a moment of time rather than outright hurting them, which the standard ammo would do. That's introduced way later on from here, though.
Next chapter continues the fight, so click ahead to continue on.
