[Author's Note: In this chapter, I have assumed that Fox went through the hard path during his battle with Andross. With that in mind, here's…]
Chapter 10: Jungle Fever
Star Fox glanced over at his digital alarm clock. It still displayed 1:02. Then he looked back at the ceiling. Why don't I ever fall asleep at night anymore? thought Fox. I'm tired, my mind is clear, I'm very still, but night after night, I can't seem to drift off. Why does this always happen to me?
The answer was obvious of course. He knew it, but didn't want to admit it. He couldn't stop thinking about his father.
Ever since he defeated Andross a half a year ago, Fox has devoted his life to finding his dad. With his share of the money the team received, he was able to hire many private investigators to help him locate his missing father. The team also got all new Arwings, improvements for the Great Fox, and an arsenal of new weaponry, from cluster bombs to reflector watches. And just when things looked like they were at the best, Katt joined the team and made times even better.
Nevertheless, Fox still has yet to find any trace of his father what so ever. Falco and Slippy were skeptical when he told them that his father showed him the way out of Venom, and now they're ready to commit him to a mental hospital. Katt suggested to him that maybe he missed his father so much that he only thought he saw him. Only Peppy believed Fox when he claimed that his father helped him escape. But even he has begun to doubt…
Fox, however, never considered that he imagined it. I know what I saw!! thought Fox. No amount of people telling me otherwise is going to change that!!!
He continued to ponder this for a while, his eyes getting very heavy all of a sudden. He knew if he were in their shoes, he probably wouldn't believe it either. If I could only show them what I saw, then they'd believe me. Yeah, then they'd help…
Fox finally nodded off into a dreamless sleep.
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"Fooooxxxx!!!" yelled Peppy.
Fox immediately snapped to attention in his chair. "Whaa.."
"You dozed off again!!" said Peppy, who was sitting right next to him. "You still have that bad night insomnia?"
Fox began to rub the bridge of his nose. "Yeah, and it's been killing my training sessions too." he replied wearily.
Just then Falco walked on to the dining room and sat down across from Fox. "Awww, poor baby. Does little Fox-ums need a nappy poo?"
"Can it, bird brain." said Fox. "Remember, I know where you sleep. And believe me, it would help the time pass a lot quicker if I was spending it giving you a new fashion make over with some of Katt's neon pink lipstick and eyeliner."
"Wow, and you're crabby too!" replied Falco with a smirk. "I guess better stay out of your way."
Peppy was getting a little fed up. "Will you two knock it off! And what's taken Slip so long with breakfast!"
Katt walked in quietly and sat down next to Falco. "Hi everybody! Hey Falco." She said and stared directly at him. Falco jumped a little. He got very nervous all of a sudden. Katt was always very forward with him and it scared him. He looked the other way and pretended not to notice. Katt, however, didn't stop staring. She loved torturing him like this.
"I hope I didn't miss breakfast." she continued.
"Nah." replied Peppy. "Slippy is still not finished."
After a couple of minutes of small talk, Slippy arrived holding a big tray of scrambled eggs, toast, butter, sausage, and orange juice.
"Geez Laweez, Slip, what was taken ya?" asked Falco.
"Sorry you guys." apologized Slippy. "I lost track of time."
"It's okay." said Fox. "Just try not to make it a habit."
They all began to dig into the meal as if they hadn't eaten in a week. After a couple more minutes and when everyone was finishing up, Katt turned to Falco again and said, "Falco, maybe after we're done eating you can give a personal lesson on the Arwing's G-Diffuser System while the others clean up. I'm still a little fuzzy on all the… functions… it has."
Falco immediately froze in mid swallow and then almost choked to death. In his mind he scrambled to find an excuse. "Um… er… but, uh, F-f-fox has more experience with the G-Diffuser than I do. Surely he could show you much better than I."
"I'm sure Katt would much prefer that you do it, though!" said Fox, with a happy vengeance for the cracks Falco make on him earlier.
"Oh, I would." said Katt in agreement.
Falco was sweating bullets by now. "Uh… oh geez, look at the time! I'm late for my first duty shift!" With that, he shot up and bolted out of the room.
Katt and Fox had to cover their mouths to keep themselves from bursting out laughing. Peppy and Slippy were smiling as well.
"All of that macho-ness and ego, and yet he still can't handle a woman." said Peppy.
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Fox found himself falling asleep again when suddenly Peppy called him on the communications system. "We are receiving a message for you, Fox. The guy says it's urgent."
"Fine, patch it to here for me." said Fox.
Fox sat down at his desk and turned on his viewer. A large bird was on the other end. Fox recognized him as Renald Hawkens, one of the detectives he hired to help him find his dad.
"Renald! I didn't expect to here from you for a while!" said Fox with excitement. "Have you found anything?"
"As a matter of fact, I have!" said Renald. "It's the reason for my call. One of my sources told me that they saw an old style Arwing land on a small planet on the northeast part of the Aryan Expanse called Selva. It is a huge jungle with many rare plants and animals."
"You sure?" asked Fox. "That's not exactly a walk in the park to get to you know."
"Yeah, I'm pretty confident that my source is right." said Renald.
"Okay, we'll give it a check over. Thanks a million." said Fox. "Over and out."
The screen turned black and Fox sat back in his chair. I hope he's right.
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"Now arriving at Selva." said Rob, the Great Fox's robotic keeper.
"Okay everybody, now listen up." said Fox. "The good news is that we've narrowed down the search area to a very small continent in the South Eastern Hemisphere. The bad news is that the brush there is so thick that we'll have to go on foot. We'll split up into two groups to cover more ground. Falco, Slippy, and Katt will search the left side of the continent while Peppy and I will cover the right."
"Actually, the right half looks a bit bigger. Maybe you guys should take Slippy." said Katt, as she gave Falco a wink.
"Uh… Actually I really wanted to talk to Slippy about his new modifications on the Landmaster!" said Falco. I can't believe it. Slippy is my only hope.
"Really!!!" said Slippy excitedly. "I thought you said I bored you with technical stuff like that."
"Heavens no! I just am very busy all the time and you go into so much detail that it takes hours." replied Falco disdainfully. "and hours… and hours…"
"Well, we'll have PLENTY of time on the planet! I'll give you the long version!" said Slippy.
Falco looked like he was ready to cry. That's what I was afraid of…
"Okay everyone, let's get going." said Fox.
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Soon afterward, Fox and Peppy landed their Arwings on a relatively barren area and searched around for a long while.
"This is hopeless." said Peppy. "We've been looking for 6 hours now and we haven't found so much as a footprint! I think it's time to call it quits, Fox."
"I guess your right." said Fox disappointedly. "Besides I'm so tired that I could…"
"Aaaahh!!" yelled out Peppy. "Something's got my leg!"
Fox looked down and saw two quill-like things sticking out of Peppy's leg. He recognized the plant that stuck him.
"Holy cow! You got stuck by a Visnator Plant!" said Fox.
"You mean the one that's got the poison that causes painful convulsions in your chest which eventually kills you but there's no cure for?" asked Peppy.
"Oh yeah." said Fox. "Come on, let's get you back to the ship."
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Rob finished analyzing Peppy. "He has the poison in his bloodstream."
Everyone was very worried. After a couple minutes, Fox spoke up. "How long does he have?"
"Three to five days." replied Rob.
Katt burst out into tears on Falco's shoulder. Slippy lowered his head. Fox was quietly thinking in the corner. "Hey you guys! I'm not dead yet!" said Peppy angrily. "Now come on, you think I want to spend my last three days watching you guys moping around a lot?!?"
"He's right!" said Falco. "I say that we give him the best three days of his life!!!"
Everyone nodded in agreement. "I love to start right now, but if I don't go to sleep, I'm gonna pass out." said Fox. He was starting to see double.
"Yeah, Fox, you better take a nap. You never know what could happen which might require you to be in tip top shape." said Peppy.
"We'll keep him company, Fox. You go and get some rest." said Katt as she dried her tears.
"Thanks you guys. I'll make you a King's breakfast tomorrow Peppy." said Fox. He then went to his quarters and got changed. Because of the long day, all of the trauma and his previous insomnia, Fox fell asleep as soon as his head hit the pillow.
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Later that night, a rift opened in his room. The Master Hand stepped out and saw Fox sleeping.
This is going to be much easier than I thought. thought the Master Hand to itself. He won't give me any trouble now.
Being careful not to wake Fox up, the Master Hand picked him up and carried him back through the portal.
Only one more dimension to go…