Act II: The beginning of a new dawn.
Chapter one.
"…You know, like what are you doing here, why aren't you patrolling space, and why Pepper is here as opposed to Corneria." Eric added, trying to figure out what was going on.
"Alright, I figure you earned the right to know," Fox said. "I was taking what one of my teammates, Peppy, thought was a well-deserved vacation. And it looks like it's getting rudely interrupted."
"Go figure, and I know who Peppy is. Remember, I see everything."
"Er… ok… anyway, Pepper was here to warn about extra activity on the surface of Venom. Apparently, he felt that appearing in person would make it extra important that we do something. And what were you doing here?"
"Uh… I thought Falco was such a badass, I want his autograph! Seriously, I don't really know, it all involved these sunglasses that appeared miraculously. Say…" Eric trailed off, getting a flashback of the dream when the sunglasses inexplicably appeared. He remembered something now, the shadowy figure had a muzzle, like a canine…
"What are you doing?" Fox asked when Eric put his hand up trying to block out Fox's eyes from Eric's vision.
"I'm trying to get just a picture of your mouth, because it looks a lot like the dude who gave me these glasses which allowed me to come here."
They ran over what the other person had told them in their mind. That explains a lot, Eric thought. "Thanks," Eric said. "I gotta go find Sarah, she was only slightly freaked out by the stuff that just went on here."
"I understand. I remember my first bout of post-combat shakes." Fox said, walking over to survey the damage. "And," he added. "Thanks for saving Jade's life."
"Yeah, I'll keep that in mind next time I want a hand injury," Eric said sarcastically, holding up his heavily bandaged hand. He took off his shades, with no intention of talking back to Sarah. OK, maybe he did, but he had better fish to fry.
(back in the Real World)
Opening his eyes, he was on his back when he first arrived in the world of games. He called up to Sarah's room, but no answer. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Sarah's parents car peeling off. "Ok, I hope Sarah's got the sense to stay quiet," He said to himself, glancing at his watch. "Whoa, two minutes gone, that was weird."
Jotting down a note telling Sarah that she could come back at any time and that he probably was still going to be in the cyber world, and trotted home to grab supplies for the inevitable trip across the galaxy ("cooooooooool…"). Packing food and first aid, he then searched for less essentials.
Picking up a watch he gadgeteered for kicks ("MP3 player and communicator, baby, yeah!") He grabbed a heavy stick from the garage to smack stuff (previously used on the idiots who incessantly preyed upon him) and some clothes to complete a bad-ass image ("I'm your worst nightmare…" Eric said to the mirror) he went upstairs to collect the last piece of luggage.
A tome with everything Eric ever learned about useless things went into what he called unimaginatively, "Eric's guide to the useless," written in an invented code upside down and backwards, bottom to top, Eric pocketed it in case of usefulness. Slipping the shades back on with the journey in mind, Eric's only thought's were, "This is gonna be a hell of a trip…"
(In the Star Fox universe…)
The rain had ceased with the sun shining brightly. Eric started off to look for Fox, who he found on the armory floor of the Capital Building. "Let me guess," Eric began before Fox even had his mouth open. "The extra activity is leading to increased suspicion in what is going on, and it's up to you to stop whatever extraordinarily evil plot they have in mind."
Fox nodded.
"Well, much as I'm probably going to regret this later, but I'm going with you. Hell, my life has been pretty boring up to this point, now let's see some action!" Eric said.
"So be it. I could use someone to watch my back." Fox said with interest.
"So where's the Great Fox?"
"It's in a space port roughly one hundred miles that way, my ArWing is in it, undergoing repairs. I was lent another ship to get here, and they took it back, so it looks like we're walking."
"It's a shame, I could've flown again…" Eric complained; the adrenaline rush was too cool to not want again. Eric was contemplating what he'd do with another shot at flying when something nearly gave him a heart attack.
Despite only two minutes passing (and a third upon Eric's reentry) on his watch, he noticed that almost a day had passed in the SF world, according to the big clock outside. "Um, Fox, how long was I gone?" Eric asked.
"About a day, why?" was Fox's response.
Eerie, Eric thought. "And when do we set off?" Eric asked, taking a blaster. "And are these free?"
"Depends. Do you want it to be?." Fox asked with a grin.
"Yeeeeah…" Eric started. "But…?"
"I can pay for it. Not much else, with the bill we're gonna get for the Great Fox's repairs, but I can get you a blaster."
"Alright then, party."
The rest of the afternoon passed drearily and without incident. Eric was practically bouncing off the walls up to the point when Fox said he was ready to go. He had on a backpack, his blaster in his holster, his radio helmet, and (Eric noticed) a knife hidden in his boots.
"Fox, I'll be heading back to Corneria. I'll have to keep an eye on things in there." Pepper said, coming up to them as they set out to leave. "Krystal needs to keep an eye out for Jade right now, but she said she maybe would be able to join up in a while."
Eric had half a mind to say, "Define, 'a while,'" but thought better of it, he was gonna go on an adventure! The word, "cliché," started to enter his mind, too, but hell, something cool was something cool. He also wondered when and if Sarah was going to come back; this opportunity was too good to miss.
And thus began the StarFox Fellowship.
The evening passed uneventfully, with Eric beginning to get bored from walking. The night was also monotonously similar to the trek during the evening, and Eric began to complain about aching legs, but a good nights sleep was granted nonetheless, despite Eric bemoaning the inconvenience of sleeping in the sunglasses so he didn't transport back to the real world in his sleep.
That morning, after a quick breakfast of concentrated rations ("People actually eat this stuff?" Eric complained), beef jerky and (in Eric's case) string cheese, Fox said he'd to explore the track ahead, as dangerous things often stirred out in the country. Eric said OK, and Fox trekked out to a hilly area ahead, some areas creating valleys that even hid Eric's 6' height, looking from shoulder level.
Eric, feeling like doing something interesting, quickly jotted down a note by the camp, saying, "checked this direction, bored as hell, return hopefully before you get back so I can shred this note without you knowing I even left camp." Then Eric went into a different direction as Fox and, as he would soon figure out, much more eventful.
Coming out from by a deeper valley with steep grassy walls on either side, Eric saw what looked like Fox leaning over a cliff surveying the land below. Eric started to call out to him, ask him what he was doing, when his vision went black and white.
Trying not to panic, he suddenly noticed his viewpoint was changing. Despite remaining rooted in place, he could sense his view was moving without him. It then turned around, and Eric could see himself through this second camera. It went in front of Fox and showed something which scared the bejeezus out of him.
Despite EVERYTHING else that he could see in shades of gray, Fox's eyes were not, they were blood red. Eric's foolproof danger alarm started screaming in his gut when he saw that as his sight snapped back into his position and in color.
"Fox?" Eric trembled. He started to walk closer to Fox when he lunged at Eric, sending him tumbling to the ground. The redness of Fox's eyes was even more apparent when a mere foot-and-a-half away as Fox's hands descended on Eric's throat, trying to throttle the life out of him. Fumbling for his blaster through the black-and-blue haze as oxygen was slowly being deprived, Eric's left hand found purchase on the right side of "Fox's" face.
It was enough to get his blaster, but it turned out to be futile as Fox quickly brought his fangs to Eric's neck. Trying to force him off, Eric ended up ripping a good inch of flesh off his neck, red foam flying from Fox's muzzle. Fox's bloodlust increased when a blast of wind and a storm of thunderbolts sent him flying off the cliff.
Panting, Eric wasted no time in standing up, drawing his blaster and leveling it at whoever had saved him. "Alright, who are you and what are you doing here!"
It was another vixen, although a different color than Krystal. Whereas Krystal wore a golden steel bikini with arctic blue fur, this one had a deep crimson hue to her fur, with pitch-black hair and shockingly green eyes.
"Eclipse Passion, and I could ask the same of you." She said with an almost dangerous calm.
Trying to stem the bleeding from the potentially severed vein in Eric's neck, keep his hand (and aim) steady and remember whoever the hell was Eclipse was a task in itself. Not daring to reach into his pocket for his guide for fear of dropping his attention, Eric said, as calmly as possible, "You tell me your business and I'll tell you mine."
"That's not the way I do things."
Not only was Eric starting to remember who Eclipse was, he was fairly confident, he decided that getting blown off the ledge in a flurry of lightning bolts was not on his top ten list. "Ok, I was traveling with Fox McCloud…"
"You know him?" Eclipse interrupted.
"Hell yeah, I'm going with him to halt some increased activity on the planet Venom. Real bad place, and judging from the tone of your response to the Fox McCloud sentence I'm guessing you already know that."
"Yep!" was Eclipse's reply.
Eric now had a good idea who Eclipse was, now that his heart rate was now below three hundred beats a minute. She was some other Star Fox CIA spy character from some other lame fan fiction he had seen somewhere, and didn't really care. All he was thinking about was coming up with a question that would prove legitimacy of her claim.
"Alrighty then, if you really are Eclipse Passion…" He started. "What was the first thing Fox said to you when he heard your name?"
Not deciding to wonder how Eric came about this information, Eclipse recalled back and quoted, "I think he said, 'by the way, is your first name solar?'"
Fumbling for his book, he flipped open the pages and saw she got it right. "You know, I can give you Botox for that twitchy trigger finger of yours…" Eclipse joked as Eric finally relaxed his arm.
"Hah, de ha ha," Eric retorted.
Just then Fox, or at least the real one, decided to show up, and Eric was instantly suspicious. Bringing his blaster up to eye level again, he leveled it at Fox. "Did I miss something?" He asked. "Hey, Eclipse…"
Eric shot at the ground roughly one inch away from Fox's foot. "Can the pleasantries, Fox, we… or at least I… saw something very disturbing just now, now PROVE YOUR FOX!!!" Eric yelled.
"Uh… oooooooookaaaaaaaaaay…" Fox started.
"Hesitant, eh? Ok, here's one. If you aren't THE Fox McCloud, there's no way your gonna get this. "WHO KILLED, HOW, AND WHY DID VIXY RIENHARD DIE!!!" Eric bellowed. Fox would probably think Eric had ice running through his veins after this, but he didn't care. He had been past caring about how other people felt.
A tear running down Fox face - Eric did strike a tender part of Fox's childhood, after all - and struggling to keep his voice from cracking, Fox managed to whisper, "Andross, a car bomb, and trying to get at my dad."
Eric holstered his blaster. "You passed."
"Well," Fox said with an irked-out-of-my-damn-mind tone to his voice. "That was a particularly rough childhood memory you just revoked, Eric, any particular reason?"
"BECAUSE I NEEDED TO KNOW IF YOU'RE THE FOX McCLOUD!" Eric bellowed. "I can't trust anyone, I've been betrayed to the point where I can't even walk out my front door without getting mugged! I can't trust you, I can't trust Krystal, I can't trust you, Eclipse, I can't even afford to trust my own mother. No matter who I talk to, I always watch my words to ensure that nothing I say can be used against me." He unsheathed his blaster and pointed to it. "This I can trust. It does nothing I won't tell it to and can keep secrets. A hell of a lot more trustworthy than any person." He holstered the blaster again.
Fox and Eclipse secretly thought that this told them a lot about Eric's character; A reclusive loner with a knack for getting people pissed off at him. Temper tantrum over, Eric slunk down, exhausted, and pointed off the cliff. "That was what attacked me, Eclipse cast something to make it fly off the cliff."
"I call the spell, 'Lightwind,' Eric
Fox looked down the cliff as Eric recovered his bearings. He scanned what was on the ground below the cliff and got on his stomach to get a better look. After about thirty seconds, Fox got to his feet. "What attacked you?"
About five seconds passed before Eric realized what Fox had said. "What do you mean, what attacked me?!?" Eric shrieked, getting a second wind. "He was right-" Eric had gotten up to investigate why "Fox" wasn't at the foot of the cliff, but he was gone! "- there."
Eclipse had gotten up to see what was going on. "I don't know," she said. "He definitely fell off that cliff."
"Well what was it?" Fox asked.
"Well, how to put this as blunt as possible," Eric interrupted. "He looked exactly like you would on a cocaine high."
The tension of what had happened, plus the relief that the assailant was gone, caused everyone to burst out in heaps of unintentional laughter.
"So he looked like me with bloodred eyes?" Fox chuckled, trying to recover from Eric's statement. "Well, it looks like he's gone, so let's get back to camp."
On the way back Eric was given a stern lecture on not to stray from camp, as people could have robbed it. Eclipse then offered to join the group.
"Hey, I have nothing better to do," she explained. "And besides, I have no mission to go on. I might as well help you guys out."
"And what EXACTLY is your relationship, you two? I mean, hell, Fox, you already have a daughter!" Eric asked.
"Oh yeah, about that, when Krystal and I had Jade, we - and especially I - realized that I couldn't continue to be leader of the SF team when I had to be at home, helping take care of Jade. Oh, I go back to Dinosaur Planet every chance I get," Fox added hastily, receiving Eric's, "You abandoned your daughter?!?" stare, "But, being forced to travel, I couldn't be there 24/7. I met Eclipse on another mission, and we've been close friends ever since."
"Riiiiiiiiiiiiight…" Eric muttered. He had a feeling Fox wasn't being entirely truthful, but Fox was staring Eric straight in the eye, with no signs of lying.
Scribbling down in his booklet, he added to a journal he started setting out, "Eclipse Passion joins StarFox Fellowship."
The rest of the week-long journey to the hanger Fox said the Great Fox was parked was uneventful. Eclipse also said that her ship, the Silver Fox, was also parked there. "Is this some sort of, I don't know, uber-hangar?" Eric asked.
"Yeah, one of the best in the Lylat System." Eclipse said.
"We'll be there any minute now, then we can head over to Venom and see what all the fuss is about."
Eric figured it'd be bustling with activity, but when they finally got there, Eric wasn't sure he was seeing what he was seeing.
"Uh, Fox?" Eric asked. "Are you sure this is it?"
Fox and Eclipse were speechless. "Yeah… What the hell happened?" Eclipse said, while Fox cursed in what sounded like DPese.
"Holy crap…"
The entire airport was encased in ice.