Not much to mention here. It's a direct continuation of the last chapter, so just dive on back in.
...
Robin landed and rolled back behind the medical hovercraft, joining Fox and Falco as the three ducked from the ensuing explosion. When it settled, the two pilots gaped at the robin in his black trench coat.
"How did you even—?"
"Honestly? No idea."
A heavy shotgun blast sounded and the ship before them shook. Fox and Falco readied their blasters, charging their shots.
"Let's get rid of these guys already, Fox!"
Jumping out, Fox and Falco released their charged blasts, taking down both machine gunners. They dodged the retaliation fire, rushing back behind the hovercrafts.
"One of you should work in conjunction with the two behind those ships," assessed Robin. "They can provide cover fire along with whoever stays here. The other of you two should move around and take shots from the other side."
Another blast threw the three to ground. They jumped back up and behind the ship again. Fox and Falco stared as Robin continued to mentally map out the area.
"Whoever goes around the other side of these ships has a chance to take down their leader, which is probably your best bet at ending this."
"Actually, we'll need to take down all of them. That's the only way to guarantee the city's safety." Fox shook his head. "Just how do you know what you're doing, anyway?"
"I…I don't know." Robin shook his head. "It's all just…coming to me, honestly."
"Super." Falco smirked. "The amnesiac knows how to fight better than his own name."
"Well…it may just be the best idea that we have," admitted Fox. "Ok, Falco, you hold them off while I go around."
"Got it."
"Slippy, Peppy, make sure you can keep their attention."
"Uh, all right."
Fox scooted past Robin while his teammates opened fire against their foes. Making his way carefully past the first medical craft, Fox slipped behind the second.
He was just about to reach around the side when a grenade rolled over near him. Before Fox could react, a feathered hand scooped the bomb and threw it back at the apes.
It exploded behind them as the remaining thugs fell over. Fox spun around at Robyn, who had crouched down beside him and adjusted her black coat.
"What were you thinking?!" Fox growled. "We're trying to reduce casualties! And you shouldn't even be running around!"
"That's the weirdest 'thank you' I've ever heard." She paused and thought again. "Maybe that's the only one I've heard too. Anyway, you're welcome."
"What?! I'm not going to thank you for blowing up my enemies!"
"First off, I'm pretty sure you've killed your fair share. Second, I threw it behind them for a reason; while the force from that explosion definitely hurt, they'll live."
She pointed ahead as the four apes pushed themselves back up from the ground, grabbing their weapons and preparing to fire again.
"Once they're done firing their rounds, take a minute to…" She paused and glanced back. "Wait, of course!" She picked up Fox's hand. "Get yourself ready!"
"What?"
A few blaster shots from Star Fox took down three of the apes that stood up. Each one shook with electric shocks and dropped to the ground, leaving just one more enraged ape standing.
"Fox, now's your chance!" Robyn threw Fox forward. "End it!"
Lifting his blaster, Fox rolled away from the lead thug's blaster shots. With one hand, the leader prepared his shotgun, aiming at Fox.
Robyn checked the ground around her and flung a pole at the shotgun. It connected and the ape's shot flew off to the side, missing its target.
Quickly, Fox fired his stunner shot, paralyzing the apes' leader. He shook from the shock and collapsed to the ground, jolting from the blaster's effects.
"Phew." Fox sighed and brushed his head. "That's it."
Robyn stepped out and nodded. Fox smiled to her, and then turned as his teammates made their ways out from their respective covers. Falco checked on the medics, with a few clutching their arms or heads.
"All present and accounted for, Fox," reported Falco.
"And besides some craters in the streets and burnt up grass patches, city's mostly undamaged," added Slippy. "Plus, no casualties, even for these flunkies."
"That's some good work, boys," complimented Peppy.
Sirens sounded as several Cornerian soldiers arrived to the scene. They wandered over and gathered the nine thugs, dragging them into their ship. The officer in charge, a brown raccoon, walked over and shook Fox's hand.
"Star Fox saves the day once again! You folks sure are quick about your rescues." He laughed. "And here I thought we would have responded fast enough for once!"
"To tell you the truth, sir, you were almost just in time for the action." Fox shrugged. "We just managed to get very lucky opportunities."
"Well, we certainly could use that kind of luck! Thanks again, Mr. McCloud!"
"Anytime! And…Fox works just fine."
The raccoon nodded and walked back over to the other soldiers. Fox turned to Robyn as the rest of Star Fox strode over with Robin. With the two amnesiac birds together, Fox shifted his gaze back and forth between the pair.
"There's…something off about the two of you."
"Besides the memory loss and unexpected skills that we apparently have?" Robyn folded her arms. "What else have you got issues with?"
"It's more along the lines of what you haven't forgotten, or happen to know." Fox shook his head. "Combat strategies? Knowing both my name and background? One of those three would be fine. But all three put together? That's enough to make even me apprehensive."
"If it helps at all, we're just as confused knowing these things as you are," confessed Robin. "I'd prefer to know something more…well, me."
"Same, and it's all the more confusing that we not only share nearly the same name, but we have similar appearances and almost identical clothes as well." Robyn checked her uniform, and then stared at Robin's. "Are we maybe…from the same place? Maybe we have a team of our own?"
"That could be."
"Whatever the case, maybe you two kids should head out with those soldiers," suggested Peppy. "They could take you to General Pepper to get things sorted out."
As soon as Peppy finished, Fox's communicator beeped.
"This is Fox McCloud."
"Fox! General Pepper here!"
"No kidding," murmured Peppy. "Just speak the name."
"He's sounding livelier than ever," added Slippy.
"There's a news coverage about a battle that went down to the crash site that I wanted your team to look into. Is everything all right?"
"We're fine here, General Pepper." Fox scratched under his chin. "Though, would you happen to know anything about a unit of avian pilots in black trench coats? That also has similar ships to ours?"
"What? No, nothing of the sort." The general cleared his throat. "Does this have something to do with the ships that crashed over there?"
"Yes, both pilots of the ships survived the crash." Fox glanced at the two birds, who merely watched him with interest. "Their names are Robin with an 'I' and Robyn with a 'Y,' and both have heavy amnesia. One male, one female."
"Hmm! How curious. Bill told me earlier that the ships bared a striking similarity to your own." He muttered incoherently to himself for a moment. "Will you be able to repair the ships and get a further assessment on them?"
"We can look into learning more on the ships, but…" Fox turned and stared at the obliterated fighters, both dented and scathed with extensive damage from both the crash and the firefight. "Well…Slippy is a pretty good mechanic, but repairs like this might take even him some time."
"Understood. Now, you tell me that these pilots have lost their memories?"
"For the most part, yes, to the point where they didn't even know their own names upon waking up. What's even more astounding is that they were able to assist us with the fight against the terrorists that came after us."
"Now that is quite troubling." Pepper murmured to himself once again. "Well, I'd recommend sending them to the hospital regardless of their present condition. After that, I'll have them escorted to stop by my offices for some questioning, and we'll see if we can find some records on either of them."
"Got it. Anything else that you need, General Pepper?"
"Nothing at the moment Fox." The general chuckled. "Take it easy for a little while, won't you? Perhaps you could use some time to relax, spend it with your teammates and socialize. Without a doubt, I will call on your team the instant that we need you, so why not take a breather?"
"You know me, General."
"Perhaps that's the trouble," laughed Pepper. "At any rate, have those pilots checked on, and be ready for a possible follow-up with them."
"Will do."
"Good. Now, I've got a few things to take care of myself, so that'll be all for me as well. Pepper out."
With that, Fox released his communicator and scratched behind his ear. Both newcomers exchanged nervous expressions before returning their attention to Fox.
"Um…Fox?" Robyn stepped forward. "What happens now?"
"Sorry, Pepper can be pretty loud." Fox shook his head. "Anyway, you two should still head over to the hospital, and then to the General's offices." He turned to his teammates. "Peppy, you think you could go with them and make sure they get everywhere ok?"
"Sure thing, Fox." Peppy smiled and winked. "I'll keep these two safe."
"It'll be good to have you," agreed Robin. "Thank you."
"Not a problem! Hopefully, we can get a few things straightened out for you two."
"Here's hoping."
"And for us, Fox?" Slippy adjusted his cap. "Besides trying to clean up that wreck over there."
"I'll see if I can get R.O.B. to beam it up to the Great Fox. For now, we'd better head back there ourselves."
"Copy that!" Falco stretched out and twisted his back. "I could use a little time to breathe again, especially after that fight."
"We all could," agreed Fox. "But we'll need to be ready if Peppy needs us for Robin and Robyn here."
"Or if Pepper needs something else from us, right?"
"Yeah, that too."
"Figures." Falco sighed and folded his arms. "Just another day, eh Fox?"
Hesitating, Fox took another look around at the worn area, and then to the broken fighters. "If only it were that."
Bidding Peppy, Robin, and Robyn farewell as they returned to the medical hovercrafts, Fox and his remaining teammates boarded their Arwings. Both of Fox's friends started their ships, but Fox paused and waited for a moment. He watched as the other ships from the area took off, and tapped at his dashboard for a moment. Carefully, he stared long and hard at the road that the apes had come down.
"There shouldn't be anything down there aside from that old laboratory." Fox continued to stare ahead and sank back into his seat. "That one…from back when…"
"Hey, Fox?" Falco's voice interrupted his leader's thoughts. "Everything ok? We're ready to take off, everyone else left, and you're…not moving."
"Sorry, I just…got carried away."
"Is everything ok, Fox?" Slippy cut in. "Earlier, weren't you coming from—?"
"Yep, that might have a little to do with it." Fox sighed and shook his head. "No worries, guys. I'll be fine." He chuckled a little. "Come on. Let's get back to the Great Fox. I feel like I've been out for too long already."
"Tell me about it," concurred Falco. "Feels like we'll be going off through the rest of Lylat to save the day any minute now."
"Aw, Falco, don't jinx it!" Slippy groaned. "I don't know about you two scrappers, but I could use a good break from fighting for once."
"You might just be in the wrong business, Slippy."
"Yeah, I know." He sighed. "But that's where you guys are, right? It can't be all that wrong."
"Thanks Slippy!" Fox smiled as he started up his Arwing. "Ok, we'll save the rest for later. Let's get going."
"Race you geeks back!"
"Falco, come on!"
"Ha! You're on!"
"What?! W-wait a second! Fox!"
Despite Slippy's protests, all three fighters roared to life and lifted from the ground. They flew forward and took off into the skies, rocketing off and racing one another for a larger gray mother ship in the distance.
...
That's all for this part.
First up, as a reminder, Robin and Robyn are meant to be little crossover characters from Fire Emblem, since that helped inspire the story's basis. I figured they could make a fun concept, but yeah, that was not a great idea. Why not? Besides Smash, these franchises never crossover, and to think that Star Fox fans would know of Fire Emblem plots was quite silly of me to expect.
So, I'll try to make up for that with this reposting. They inexplicably have combative prowess similar to Robin in Fire Emblem Awakening, who wakes up and has no memory of who they are, but immediately knows the lord of the kingdom, Chrom. I use "they" because Robin is Fire Emblem's "avatar" character, or basically the one that the player customizes to send on their journey. Hence, I created two Robin characters to make it fair for anyone that chose a boy or girl character. And, like Awakening's Robin, they both know Fox immediately, but have absolutely no idea who they are.
Oh, and they're both robins, but are based on two different kinds. I think I labeled Robin incorrectly, but he's based on the American robin, which is from the thrush classification of birds and is a songbird specifically. Meanwhile, Robyn is based on the European robin, which is a flycatcher bird, and has a different appearance from the American robin. However, old colonist scientists thought they were similar when they first arrived to North America, so they were named robins and that was never changed through history. You're welcome for that totally unnecessary exposition and lesson!
What I never reached in the plot was going to be how their side stories develop them into characters tied into Star Fox. They were both ultimately going to be part of genetics experiments that Andross created, two of countless robin creations that would later be found by Fox on a personal mission with both Robin and Robyn. He basically tried to develop a multi-faceted super soldier that could lead a new wave of the Venomian/Androssian Army, capable of adapting to any and all situations upon creation and be sent straight into battle against Corneria, Lylat, and Star Fox. Never got very far, because Andross died, so his army had attempted to abandon and abort the project. Andrew finds it later and decides to try testing some of the subjects; the first two to make it from Venom to Corneria are those that end up joining Star Fox. (And this is similar to Robin from Fire Emblem being originally from a villain's kingdom and joining Chrom's hero campaign.)
It was going to basically be a goof on how many avatar player characters exist, and how freaky it would be if they ran into each other. Ok, maybe less "goof" and more "scary horror story when you think about it" type of vibe. It would basically leave Robin and Robyn wondering about how they were just basically clones and if they were actually meant to identify individually, questioned why they acted similar and if they would ever be removed from doing so, and if they were meant to exist among the life with the rest of Lylat.
Guess what never ever happened?!
Anyway, yeah. That was the plot to come up along with Fox's story. At the end here, Fox sends Peppy off to take care of Robin and Robyn while General Pepper cross-examines them to make sure that they're not enemies. (They are, but not even they understand that, so surprise, they pass.)
Next chapter will reintroduce Krystal as part of the Star Fox team, and features the team...meeting some people and maybe bonding. A little bit nicer, huh? Oh, and it involves a race and a dogfight for them. Against each other. Yeah...best friends.
