Disclaimer: I don't own StarFox or the characters created by Nintendo.
Understand me? Good.
Introduction: I wrote this because if I continued on my other story, then things will get a lot less action-y. Everything is different, well, almost everything. You should figure it out by the end of this chapter. Some of it, anyway. Erm. History changed because some weird dude messed with a time machine. Yeah.
"Peppy? Hey! What is that thing?" Fox stared as Peppy pulled something out of his pocket that looked like a shriveled kumquat. Peppy set it on the kitchen table and Fox stared at it.
"Take a guess," Peppy smiled, his buckteeth showing in the white light. Fox chewed on his tuna for a moment.
"Is it a plastic explosive?"
"Ha! No."
"Is it something that your dead father left for you?"
"No."
"Fine, I give up. What is it?"
"It's a dried kumquat."
"."
"Yeah."
Fox shook his head, bursting out in hysterics before going back to his tuna.
Living on the Great Fox is pretty dull, but those are the days when Peppy is off teaching trainees at the academy. The Great Fox itself was stationed in a hanger overlooking a small town. Typically boring, unless Peppy drags Fox off into a bar. Then it gets kinda funny watching a hyperactive, but not drunk, Peppy flirting with girls. Peppy never gets drunk, only a bit more hyper and giddy. A small bit, only, so he was actually bearable when he drinks one or two vodka martinis. Fox couldn't remember the last time he even touched alcohol. Whenever Fox goes into a bar, he would flirt hopelessly with a female dog or the odd cat. Fox was beginning to think if he should look in a jazz club instead of a bar.
"So, do you want to go to that new club in town?" Fox asked, finishing up his tuna while watching Peppy nibble on a carrot.
"Eh, what can it hurt?" Peppy shrugged and gulped down the rest of his carrot and led Fox out.
**
"Mmm, I love that music!" Fox smiled as he listened to a young tigress playing on an alto saxophone.
"It doesn't sound that bad." Peppy shrugged as he sipped his alcohol- less martini. Fox didn't tell him, and he didn't seem to notice the difference.
"She does look kinda cute," Fox murmured to Peppy as Fox swigged his mango juice.
"Then go talk to her! Darn it, Fox, you're 18 and you're still a v-"
"Don't say it! You're thirty-three and your idea of a serious relationship lasts two nights," Fox snickered.
"Yeah, but at least I get la-"
"Don't!" Fox put a paw against Peppy's mouth. Peppy shrugged him off.
"Did we have this conversation before?" He asked.
"Every day since I was 16. What kind of godfather actually encourages the kit to get l-"
"Hey, shut it, Junior. For your information, I do think going to clubs actually boosts your self-esteem and it also prepares you for the later things in life," Peppy took another sip of his water martini.
"Yeah, it prepares me to have-"
"Be quiet! You're making me look like a bad guardian," Peppy clamped his large paw on Fox's snout and squeezed. Fox couldn't do anything but grit his canine teeth and mumble incoherently.
**
"Oh, please shut up!" Fox groaned as Peppy howled with laughter. He'd been laughing all the way from the jazz club, and he was still making like a hyena high on drugs. Fox desperately wanted to take his wrench and beat the rabbit with it. Fox took a carrot from the fridge and stuck it in Peppy's mouth. He immediately stopped laughing and started nibbling quickly.
"Mmm. Oh, good job, Fox! I really think she liked you," Peppy said sarcastically.
"Shut your yap," Fox mumbled angrily as he stormed out of the kitchen and into his bedroom. If there were anyone who could mess up words like Fox, he'd be darned.
"Hey, Fox! I think you just found a very nice way to make a girl mad. Who would've thought that commenting on her butt was a nice way to break the ice?" Peppy laughed in the doorway.
"Lay off, Peppy."
"Oh, whatever, I do feel kinda tired. See you in the morning, Fox," with that, Peppy closed the hydraulic door and went to his cabin.
Fox groaned in his pillow and thought: If he could just get out of this living nightmare of no romance, he'd be very, very happy.
***
"Queen Krystal, you know you have to find a mate to continue on the throne," Prime Minister Kohan said, running after the distressed vixen.
"Is that all you care about? The throne? What about my feelings? You never care about me!" Krystal angrily slammed her door in Kohan's face. For sixteen years, she had been pressured to marry some old duke from far away. Now, she was eighteen, and she didn't want anyone constantly reminding her that the average age for marriage was seven years before her age now.
Krystal looked out her open window. The open glass panes overlooked the village, then the forest, eastward. Krystal needed some time off, and she knew it. Taking off her green dress and slipping on some old pheasant clothes from a dark corner in her closet instead, the Queen grabbed her staff, swung it around her shoulder with a leather strap, and hopped out the fourth story window, into the flower garden.
**
"Ugh!" Krystal grunted as she hit the soft earth with a soft thud. Straightening her posture and smoothing out the wrinkles in the gray tunic, Krystal dodged behind a few guards and slid through the wide bars in the gate. She was pretty slim, after all.
Krystal ran quickly along the sloping dirt road, occasionally being uncontrolled because of the steep decline. Krystal actually smashed into a few trees before entering the village boundaries, which were marked with stone and marble lined with silver and gold.
The village was composed mainly of two story stone houses. Cerinia was a rich planet, though small. The four provinces outside royal territory was ruled by dukes or duchesses, and they rarely had any problems with the economy, either. This village was especially rich because of the various gold mines nearby. The majority of the peasants here were either gold miners or shop owners. The other provinces controlled the agricultural business.
Foxes went this way and that, carrying bags of gold home or shopping for supplies. Occasionally, a food merchant would walk down the street, calling what he has to sell. Here comes one now.
"Fresh vegetables! Get your fresh vegetables right here, right now! I've got carrots, beans, lettuce, broccoli, and tomatoes! Grown on the healthy earth of the Sikoman Mountain Range!" A merchant in fancy blue robes cried, jingling his bell while heaving his huge cart along. Krystal, feeling a fresh wave of hunger, as she skipped both breakfast and lunch, dug out a gold piece from her tunic.
"Give me three tomatoes!" Krystal ran up to the merchant, waving the gold coin over her head. The merchant happily chose three big red plants from his cart and rinsed them with a bucket of water, also attached to his cart. Shoving the coin eagerly in his paws, Krystal took the tomatoes. Stuffing two in her pocket, she took a big bite out of the other.
"Any gossip around these parts, fair maid? I'll tell ye a story or two from the hills and valleys if you tell me one about the shore," the blue dog fox said, handing Krystal her change: Four sliver dollars and three copper coins. Krystal swallowed the rest of her tomato, and putting on a fake voice and a heavy seaside accent quite unlike her own, she said:
"There ain't much to say or here around h're. 'Bout the only news it that the Queen Krystal haven't found herself a proper husband yet."
"Ah, the poor lass. I heard she's going to be forced to mate with Duke Thunderby. I've heard some stories about him, and he's getting rather old himself. He has his teeth falling out like rain and the fur turning gray before your eyes! I wouldn't fancy myself, at the tender age of twenty- five, marrying someone that old," the merchant chuckled and dug out a carrot. Chewing on it thoughtfully, he went on, "The duke is a good dog, but he isn't much of company. He doesn't talk much, but I would suppose the Queen would like him if he were a wee bit younger. In his better days, he could shoot arrows, throw spears, and clear walls. He was a fine lad back then, and a lot more interesting."
Krystal raised an eyebrow. This merchant did look fine and handsome, rich and from good blood, too. He did seem caring, and young. Better him than a fifty-year-old guy.
"Tell me yer name, lad," Krystal said.
"Ah, yours first, I'd say. I like fair trades, I do," the merchant chuckled again, clapping a paw softly on her shoulder. Krystal gulped loudly. The merchant looked at her funny.
"Erm. I'm-"
"HEY! You there!" A palace guard yelled, crashing down the hillside and pointing a spear at the merchant at the same time, "Get away from her majesty!"
"Who?" He asked, politely puzzled.
"Queen Krystal, you dolt!" The guard shouted, pulling his sleeve away from her. The merchant stared for a moment at Krystal, then bowed low on one knee.
"I'm sorry, your highness. If I knew it was you, I would've given you those tomatoes for free."
"Then what fun would it be to talk to you?" Krystal smiled, putting a finger below the merchant's chin and lifting his head up. He smiled back, but went back to bowing.
"You should come back to the palace, Queen Krystal. Everyone is extremely worried," the guard said, pulling on Krystal's tunic. Krystal waved good-bye to the mountain merchant, being watched with respectful interest from all the other people on the streets.
Taking out a tomato from the pocket in her tunic, Krystal mashed it in the guard's face. The guard scowled, but didn't say anything, his snout dripping with red juice.
**
"Oh, just the time I find a fox that is remotely interesting, I get pulled away from some knight in dull armor," Krystal mumbled to herself as she buried her short snout in her pillow. Krystal sighed and laid down on her bed, taking out the last tomato from the merchant and bit unhappily into it.
Shifting her position a bit in her nightgown, Krystal silently prayed to the dark, night sky and the glimmering stars and moons, that she could finally find a fox that really cared about who she was, and not what she was.
**
A/N: Now it's getting somewhere. I would like to apologize to the people who actually like my longer chapters better, but they take way too much time to upload from my stupid computer, so I'll just cut the chapters into fifths. This way, people will actually read them.
Introduction: I wrote this because if I continued on my other story, then things will get a lot less action-y. Everything is different, well, almost everything. You should figure it out by the end of this chapter. Some of it, anyway. Erm. History changed because some weird dude messed with a time machine. Yeah.
"Peppy? Hey! What is that thing?" Fox stared as Peppy pulled something out of his pocket that looked like a shriveled kumquat. Peppy set it on the kitchen table and Fox stared at it.
"Take a guess," Peppy smiled, his buckteeth showing in the white light. Fox chewed on his tuna for a moment.
"Is it a plastic explosive?"
"Ha! No."
"Is it something that your dead father left for you?"
"No."
"Fine, I give up. What is it?"
"It's a dried kumquat."
"."
"Yeah."
Fox shook his head, bursting out in hysterics before going back to his tuna.
Living on the Great Fox is pretty dull, but those are the days when Peppy is off teaching trainees at the academy. The Great Fox itself was stationed in a hanger overlooking a small town. Typically boring, unless Peppy drags Fox off into a bar. Then it gets kinda funny watching a hyperactive, but not drunk, Peppy flirting with girls. Peppy never gets drunk, only a bit more hyper and giddy. A small bit, only, so he was actually bearable when he drinks one or two vodka martinis. Fox couldn't remember the last time he even touched alcohol. Whenever Fox goes into a bar, he would flirt hopelessly with a female dog or the odd cat. Fox was beginning to think if he should look in a jazz club instead of a bar.
"So, do you want to go to that new club in town?" Fox asked, finishing up his tuna while watching Peppy nibble on a carrot.
"Eh, what can it hurt?" Peppy shrugged and gulped down the rest of his carrot and led Fox out.
**
"Mmm, I love that music!" Fox smiled as he listened to a young tigress playing on an alto saxophone.
"It doesn't sound that bad." Peppy shrugged as he sipped his alcohol- less martini. Fox didn't tell him, and he didn't seem to notice the difference.
"She does look kinda cute," Fox murmured to Peppy as Fox swigged his mango juice.
"Then go talk to her! Darn it, Fox, you're 18 and you're still a v-"
"Don't say it! You're thirty-three and your idea of a serious relationship lasts two nights," Fox snickered.
"Yeah, but at least I get la-"
"Don't!" Fox put a paw against Peppy's mouth. Peppy shrugged him off.
"Did we have this conversation before?" He asked.
"Every day since I was 16. What kind of godfather actually encourages the kit to get l-"
"Hey, shut it, Junior. For your information, I do think going to clubs actually boosts your self-esteem and it also prepares you for the later things in life," Peppy took another sip of his water martini.
"Yeah, it prepares me to have-"
"Be quiet! You're making me look like a bad guardian," Peppy clamped his large paw on Fox's snout and squeezed. Fox couldn't do anything but grit his canine teeth and mumble incoherently.
**
"Oh, please shut up!" Fox groaned as Peppy howled with laughter. He'd been laughing all the way from the jazz club, and he was still making like a hyena high on drugs. Fox desperately wanted to take his wrench and beat the rabbit with it. Fox took a carrot from the fridge and stuck it in Peppy's mouth. He immediately stopped laughing and started nibbling quickly.
"Mmm. Oh, good job, Fox! I really think she liked you," Peppy said sarcastically.
"Shut your yap," Fox mumbled angrily as he stormed out of the kitchen and into his bedroom. If there were anyone who could mess up words like Fox, he'd be darned.
"Hey, Fox! I think you just found a very nice way to make a girl mad. Who would've thought that commenting on her butt was a nice way to break the ice?" Peppy laughed in the doorway.
"Lay off, Peppy."
"Oh, whatever, I do feel kinda tired. See you in the morning, Fox," with that, Peppy closed the hydraulic door and went to his cabin.
Fox groaned in his pillow and thought: If he could just get out of this living nightmare of no romance, he'd be very, very happy.
***
"Queen Krystal, you know you have to find a mate to continue on the throne," Prime Minister Kohan said, running after the distressed vixen.
"Is that all you care about? The throne? What about my feelings? You never care about me!" Krystal angrily slammed her door in Kohan's face. For sixteen years, she had been pressured to marry some old duke from far away. Now, she was eighteen, and she didn't want anyone constantly reminding her that the average age for marriage was seven years before her age now.
Krystal looked out her open window. The open glass panes overlooked the village, then the forest, eastward. Krystal needed some time off, and she knew it. Taking off her green dress and slipping on some old pheasant clothes from a dark corner in her closet instead, the Queen grabbed her staff, swung it around her shoulder with a leather strap, and hopped out the fourth story window, into the flower garden.
**
"Ugh!" Krystal grunted as she hit the soft earth with a soft thud. Straightening her posture and smoothing out the wrinkles in the gray tunic, Krystal dodged behind a few guards and slid through the wide bars in the gate. She was pretty slim, after all.
Krystal ran quickly along the sloping dirt road, occasionally being uncontrolled because of the steep decline. Krystal actually smashed into a few trees before entering the village boundaries, which were marked with stone and marble lined with silver and gold.
The village was composed mainly of two story stone houses. Cerinia was a rich planet, though small. The four provinces outside royal territory was ruled by dukes or duchesses, and they rarely had any problems with the economy, either. This village was especially rich because of the various gold mines nearby. The majority of the peasants here were either gold miners or shop owners. The other provinces controlled the agricultural business.
Foxes went this way and that, carrying bags of gold home or shopping for supplies. Occasionally, a food merchant would walk down the street, calling what he has to sell. Here comes one now.
"Fresh vegetables! Get your fresh vegetables right here, right now! I've got carrots, beans, lettuce, broccoli, and tomatoes! Grown on the healthy earth of the Sikoman Mountain Range!" A merchant in fancy blue robes cried, jingling his bell while heaving his huge cart along. Krystal, feeling a fresh wave of hunger, as she skipped both breakfast and lunch, dug out a gold piece from her tunic.
"Give me three tomatoes!" Krystal ran up to the merchant, waving the gold coin over her head. The merchant happily chose three big red plants from his cart and rinsed them with a bucket of water, also attached to his cart. Shoving the coin eagerly in his paws, Krystal took the tomatoes. Stuffing two in her pocket, she took a big bite out of the other.
"Any gossip around these parts, fair maid? I'll tell ye a story or two from the hills and valleys if you tell me one about the shore," the blue dog fox said, handing Krystal her change: Four sliver dollars and three copper coins. Krystal swallowed the rest of her tomato, and putting on a fake voice and a heavy seaside accent quite unlike her own, she said:
"There ain't much to say or here around h're. 'Bout the only news it that the Queen Krystal haven't found herself a proper husband yet."
"Ah, the poor lass. I heard she's going to be forced to mate with Duke Thunderby. I've heard some stories about him, and he's getting rather old himself. He has his teeth falling out like rain and the fur turning gray before your eyes! I wouldn't fancy myself, at the tender age of twenty- five, marrying someone that old," the merchant chuckled and dug out a carrot. Chewing on it thoughtfully, he went on, "The duke is a good dog, but he isn't much of company. He doesn't talk much, but I would suppose the Queen would like him if he were a wee bit younger. In his better days, he could shoot arrows, throw spears, and clear walls. He was a fine lad back then, and a lot more interesting."
Krystal raised an eyebrow. This merchant did look fine and handsome, rich and from good blood, too. He did seem caring, and young. Better him than a fifty-year-old guy.
"Tell me yer name, lad," Krystal said.
"Ah, yours first, I'd say. I like fair trades, I do," the merchant chuckled again, clapping a paw softly on her shoulder. Krystal gulped loudly. The merchant looked at her funny.
"Erm. I'm-"
"HEY! You there!" A palace guard yelled, crashing down the hillside and pointing a spear at the merchant at the same time, "Get away from her majesty!"
"Who?" He asked, politely puzzled.
"Queen Krystal, you dolt!" The guard shouted, pulling his sleeve away from her. The merchant stared for a moment at Krystal, then bowed low on one knee.
"I'm sorry, your highness. If I knew it was you, I would've given you those tomatoes for free."
"Then what fun would it be to talk to you?" Krystal smiled, putting a finger below the merchant's chin and lifting his head up. He smiled back, but went back to bowing.
"You should come back to the palace, Queen Krystal. Everyone is extremely worried," the guard said, pulling on Krystal's tunic. Krystal waved good-bye to the mountain merchant, being watched with respectful interest from all the other people on the streets.
Taking out a tomato from the pocket in her tunic, Krystal mashed it in the guard's face. The guard scowled, but didn't say anything, his snout dripping with red juice.
**
"Oh, just the time I find a fox that is remotely interesting, I get pulled away from some knight in dull armor," Krystal mumbled to herself as she buried her short snout in her pillow. Krystal sighed and laid down on her bed, taking out the last tomato from the merchant and bit unhappily into it.
Shifting her position a bit in her nightgown, Krystal silently prayed to the dark, night sky and the glimmering stars and moons, that she could finally find a fox that really cared about who she was, and not what she was.
**
A/N: Now it's getting somewhere. I would like to apologize to the people who actually like my longer chapters better, but they take way too much time to upload from my stupid computer, so I'll just cut the chapters into fifths. This way, people will actually read them.