Cowboy Star Fox

By Wolf O'Donnell

Author's Note: Star Fox and all related characters (including me) are copyrighted by Nintendo. Scales, Dinosaur Planet and all related characters are copyrighted by Rare. The Gospel Army, Dr. Jerome Kano, the Sekai Foundation and all related characters and places are copyrighted by me. Upon reading any word in this file, you hereby agree to forfeit all your rights to sue me and that I cannot be held liable for any psychological or physical damage caused by the fact that this fanfic contains swearing, graphic scenes of death and violence and the use of British-English Spelling and Grammar.
P.S. If the plot for this chapter seems familiar, then you've most likely probably watched Cowboy Bebop, to which this fanfic is a partial homage to. I hope you enjoy it.
P.P.S. Many of you have asked me as to why Wolf hasn't appeared yet. He has. It's just that I haven't referred to him by name yet. Can you guess which one of the, as of yet, unnamed, undescribed characters he is?

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Episode 6: Chicken Bone

Fox's movements were of a fierce gracefulness. He had decided on a rigorous kata to take his mind off Fara and Krystal. They were so eager to get him to be their boyfriend and he was undecided on which one he liked best. They were both beautiful and it seemed as if they both had the same personalities. 'Don't think about that,' he chided himself mentally. 'Concentrate on the task at hand.'
Once, his father had told him that he should be less stiff and more like water. At first, Fox had no idea what his father was talking about and suspected his father of being at the whisky again. However, Fox had eventually got it. Water is fluid. It flows from one place to another. It takes the shape of its container. It is soft, yet hard enough to erode the ever-lasting mountains. It is slow, yet quick. It is gentle, yet strong enough to move boulders. Fox had realised from his father's comment that he should become more loose. When one is loose, one can turn an opponent's own strength against him. And so he became more loose when fighting and utilised his opponent's very own strength against them.
Bending and twisting, Fox continued his routine, keeping his mind off of the two girls. His movements were as graceful and skilled as that of any dancer. That was his way. He was graceful and quick. Fox was the sort that could almost never be knocked off his feet in battle.
"Fox, breakfast's ready," called out an old-sounding and gruff voice.
"I've already had some, Peppy," said Fox calmly, without even stopping. "Thanks for the offer, though."
"Something bothering you?" asked Peppy curiously. Something didn't sound quite right to the old rabbit.
"Maybe," stated Fox calmly, as he continued to practice his movements and refine his speed.
Peppy sighed with a shake of his head.
"Fox, you have to open up," he told the young vulpine. "If you keep your problems and feelings bottled up, one day you'll snap and become as mad as Andross. Now are you going to tell me what's wrong?"
"It's Fara and Krystal," Fox told the rabbit with a sigh. "They're both so nice and yet, I can't decide on one. I'm not sure which one I love more. I'm not even sure I love them in that way, either." There was something about being covered in fur that had its setbacks, one of which was the lack of sweat. In order for him to cool off, he needed to let his tongue hang out of his mouth like his ancestors used to, and of course, he would sweat from what little bare skin he had. He stopped from his kata and walked over to the bottle of water he had set aside. "Sometimes, I wonder whether if I'm interested in love at all." He took the cap off the bottle of water and swilled it down.
He turned to face the rabbit.
"Peppy, how do I deal with them?" asked Fox curiously. "I like them both, but, they're getting so insistent that I'm afraid they'll come up to me one day and make me choose between the two of them. I'm not ready for that decision yet."
"That's a tough one, Fox," sighed the old rabbit. "I don't have a straight answer for that, either." Peppy began to think carefully, but nothing came to him. "All I can say is that you'll just have to let things go the way they're supposed to. If they're the right one for you, then you'll know."
Fox placed a towel around his shoulders, as he sat down on the bench to the side of the chamber.
"Perhaps," he mused, as he thought about it carefully. "Perhaps you're right." There was nothing more after that and they both sat there in silence for what seemed like an eternity.
"Well, I've got to go and call for Slippy," sighed Peppy, as he rose to his feet. "You know how he is when he's working on a project of his." He saw Fox frown at that comment and decided he'd better elaborate for the vulpine's benefit. "The Lylat Police sent him some Gospel weapons they uncovered from the last raid on a Gospel Army Base," elaborated Peppy. "He's supposed to analyse them and see where they came from. Well, I'd better get going. See you later, Fox!"
"Yeah, see you," said Fox absent-mindedly, as he sat on the bench quietly.
Fox suddenly smiled at the irony of the Gospel Army's name. After all, Gospel means 'Good news' and the Gospel Army, a terrorist organisation, brought nothing but bad news.
A scream suddenly assaulted his ears. He leapt up to his feet and ran out quickly and in doing so, tripped over something heavy and crashed face first on to the metallic floor. Fox rose up to all fours and looked behind him. "Peppy?" he exclaimed in surprise, upon seeing the old hare lying prostrate on the floor. "Peppy!" He scrambled across the floor towards the hare and turned the old lepine on to his back. "Peppy, speak to me! Peppy?"
Fox reached out and checked Peppy's pulse. There was something wrong with his old friend and he had no idea what it was. He rose to his feet and looked up and down the corridor. There was no one around. That was one of the major disadvantages of having such a big ship and such a small crew. He realised that he would have to take Peppy to the Med Bay all by himself or let the old timer die.
"Fox," croaked Peppy weakly. His voice was barely even a whisper, but luckily for the hare, months of listening to Slippy's loud music had not diminished Fox's keen vulpine sense of hearing. "There's something on the ship."
"Please, Peppy, save your breathe," Fox told the old hare, as he bent down. "Let me take you to the med bay."
"Fox, listen to me," said Peppy sternly, with wavering eyes, "there's something dangerous on the ship. It attacked me..."
"Peppy, I'll deal with it, don't you worry," promised Fox, as he placed one of Peppy's arms around his shoulder. "Let me take you to the med bay first, though. You need first aid right now." He struggled underneath the hare's weight. "Sheesh, you really need to go on a diet, old timer," said through Fox clenched teeth, as he helped Peppy down the corridor. He suddenly stopped in his tracks. "Shit, what was that?" he wondered. It had flitted past him and he only just seen it through the corner of his eyes. He looked back and began to wonder. Was there something on board?
"Huh?" exclaimed Fox upon hearing Peppy whisper something to him. "Oh, sure." The mysterious thing that had flitted past him had nearly distracted him from his main task, to take Peppy to the Med Bay, which was thankfully pretty close to the training room. (Fox and Falco tend to go overboard and beat each other up real badly every time they spar). "Rob!" he shouted out, as he rushed towards the Med Bay's door. "Open up!"
The vulpine knew that there was always one of Rob's many units waiting within the Med Bay. It was just common sense to have a first aid robot inside at all times. He waited and the door slid open in front of him.
"Rob, I need you to take a look at Peppy here," he said, as he rushed in as fast as he could, which was only as fast as Peppy could move. "Falco?"
Lying on top of one of the beds was the prone body of Falco Lombardi. Standing next to him was Slippy and Krystal.
The blue-furred vixen was the first one to see Fox.
"Oh my god, Fox are you all right?" she asked, as she rushed over to the vulpine.
"I'm fine, but Peppy here needs to be looked at," replied Fox. Krystal helped Fox drag him over towards a second bed and between the two of them and Rob, they managed to lift him on to the table. "Peppy said that something on the ship attacked him and, well..." He trailed off, not knowing what else he could say.
Slippy lifted Peppy's arm and examined the wrist and hand. There was nothing. He then turned Peppy's head and examined the neck.
"Just as I thought," he murmured, upon seeing a black mark on Peppy's fur. "It's exactly like the mark on Falco's arm. Whatever attacked Peppy, also attacked Falco." He turned to Rob, a serious expression plastered on his face. "Rob, take an exudate sample from the inflamed region around Peppy's neck and let's compare it with Falco's."
"Slip, what do you think it is?" asked Fox curiously.
"I have no idea, Fox," replied Slippy with a heavy sigh. "Whatever it is, though, I might need the actual creature if I'm to be able to come up with a cure of some sort. Let's just hope that the immune system can handle the infection." He prayed that it was as simple as an infection and nothing more. If it was a poison that was causing that inflamed area, then they certainly were in a lot of trouble. "Fox, Krystal, I know it's dangerous, but would you two mind going after this creature?"
Krystal glanced over towards the prone body of Peppy. The old hare had always been very kind to her.
"No, I don't mind," she replied with a shake of her head.
"I guess we have to go after it sooner or later," sighed Fox.

Fox was armed to the teeth, so much so that he looked like a one-fox-army. Perhaps he was going a bit overboard, but with a mysterious unidentifiable creature there's no telling how much weaponry you need.
"You ready?" asked Fox, as he turned to face Krystal, whom was contrastly armed with only one weapon, namely her staff. He received one silent nod in reply. "Then let's do this."
Imagine the movie, Alien; it doesn't matter which one. Fox felt like he was in that movie. Sure, in the real Alien movies there wasn't a scantily clad blue-furred vixen, presumably because they were such easy targets that the aliens polished them off before the movie even started. However, his mood was no different from that of the character that Sigourney Weaver played.
With one swift movement, Fox lowered the infra-red goggles into place.
"You sure you're comfortable with only that?" he asked, as he gestured towards the staff.
"I'm sure," replied Krystal sternly. Heck, she would have been comfortable facing down a Metroid armed with only a salad fork, but that was beside the point.
Something fell down past Fox and he leapt back in surprise, tripping over Krystal and bringing them both crashing down to the metallic floor. He lifted his goggles up and looked up to see a leaky pipe.
"Don't do that," he chided the inanimate pipe, as he pointed up towards it. Then Fox realised that he had nearly crushed Krystal underneath him. He rolled off. "I'm sorry," he apologised to her.
"That's okay," said Krystal, as she was helped back up to her feet. She didn't mind being that close to Fox. It was, after all, the first time for seven months. "Slippy's got to get round to fixing that thing," she said, as she looked up at the pipe. What is that stuff coming out of there anyway?
"No idea, but it reeks," replied Fox, as he covered his nose. There was suddenly a noise and he whirled round. He aimed his gun. He opened fire. He missed.
Krystal lowered her staff and opened fire as well. She could just about see the movement of something black against the dark metallic floor of the corridor. Whatever it was, it was fast and it was evading her shots. She kept firing, yet it was slithering out of the way, snaking towards her and Fox.
"We've got to get back!" she cried and that was when the black monstrosity leapt out at her.
Fox rushed over and pushed Krystal out of the way. The black thing hit him and he was knocked over. He crashed into the wall, breaking the infra-red goggles.
"Shit!" he cursed angrily, before he aimed his gun and fired. The thing was retreating down the corridor, slithering away from them and out of sight. "Krystal, are you okay?" he asked the blue-furred vixen.
"I'm fine," replied Krystal with a nod of her head, as she got back up to her feet. She noticed Fox delving into his pockets and bringing a small box out. "Fox!" she cried at him, upon seeing him take out one white and tube-shaped stick or in laymen's terms, a cigarette. "I thought you quit!"
"Quit my furry arse," retorted Fox, as he put it in his mouth. "Now is not a good time to quit smoking, wouldn't you agree?" He searched his pockets and found that he had no lighter. "Damn," he said, with the cigarette still in his mouth. There was no lighter on him, so he brought out the flame-thrower he had taken out of the weapons room.
"Careful," warned Krystal. Too late. Fox used the flame-thrower. Krystal laughed. "Serves you right."
Fox glanced at the remains of the cigarette in his mouth. It was nothing but ashes now.
"Damn," he cursed again, before spitting the charred cigarette butt out. "I guess now is the time for us to go after that thing." He got back up to his feet. The vulpine delved into his backpack and brought out a torchlight, flicking the switch. "I wish Slippy would fix the lights in this damned corridor."
"Go easy on him, Fox," said Krystal in the amphibian's defence. "He's only one guy, you know." She glanced around the two of them in an attempt to find out where the mysterious creature had gotten to. It couldn't have gotten far and she knew it. Her keen vulpine sense of smell could detect a faint odour that could only have belonged to that foul, mysterious creature.

Slippy sighed. Whatever was causing that strange inflammation, it was definitely a poison.
"Rob, I think you should send a distress signal out and set a course for the nearest hospital," said Slippy sternly, as he looked up from the microscope. "Whatever this stuff is, it's definitely a poison and I have no idea how to combat it. What we need is a full medical staff to deal with this."
"The nearest planet is Katina," announced Rob, after checking the star charts. "Shall I lock the course? Caution– once the course is locked, it cannot be altered until the destination is reached."
"Yeah, Rob, set the autopilot to take us to Katina and lock the course," replied Slippy with a nod of his head.

Krystal stalked through the corridor carefully, keeping her eyes peeled for anything suspicious. With Fox backing her up, she knew that she would be safe. All that she needed to do was to be aware. Something flitted past her and she whirled round. It was nothing. There was nothing there. To her, it seemed as if the creature was playing mind games with them, as if it was sentient enough to mock them. She didn't like it one bit. Krystal didn't like what was happening one single bit.
"Hey, over there!" cried Fox.
Whirling round, Krystal aimed her staff and opened fire, firing blast after fiery blast. At the end of it, there was a huge charred region and in the middle was the black, mysterious creature.
"What the Hell is that?" wondered Fox, as he approached it. The creature looked like some kind of leech and it creeped him out. The thing squirmed and lunged at him. He leapt back as quickly as was possible. Krystal opened fire again and roasted it. This time, it certainly was dead.
"Yeah," replied Krystal with a nod of her head. Suddenly, her stomach growled and she realised that she hadn't had a thing to eat all day. "You know, this thing smells familiar," stated Krystal, as she waved a hand in front of her nostrils. "It almost smells like..." She trailed off and realised that it smelt exactly like fried Pukpuk Eggs. That was when another thought hit her. "The Pukpuk Egg!" she cried out. A frown spread across Fox's face, but Krystal didn't explain. She just ran for it.
"Hey, wait!" Fox called out to her, but she didn't. He sighed and then ran off after her. The vulpine noticed that she was making a beeline straight for the storage area. Why was she doing that? It didn't matter. He followed her in and looked around all the old boxes in an attempt to find out where she was. "Krystal!" he called out to her, as he made his way past the old junk. "Krystal, there you are!" He rushed straight towards her and then stopped. Fox noticed that she was standing in front of an old fridge. "Krystal, what's up?"
Fox waited patiently for a reply, but it did not seem that she would.
Krystal advanced slowly towards the fridge.
"One year ago, I managed to get myself a real Pukpuk egg from the ShopKeeper at the Thorntail Store," stated Krystal calmly, as she reached out towards the handle. "Falco really wanted to get his hands on it, but I wouldn't let him, so I hid it in here." Her fingers wrapped around the handle. "But I forgot about it and now it's been in there for one whole year."
Slowly, Krystal opened the door to the fridge and found it slightly difficult to do so. Something was making the lid stick. It creaked open and her eyes widened in complete shock. Her breathe was shallow with fear and her fur was standing on end. She quickly slammed the door shut.
"That must have been one rotten Pukpuk egg," commented Fox. "Come on, let's jettison this thing."
"What if someone else comes across it?" asked Krystal curiously.
"It won't be able to survive space, but even if it does, we can still blast it to bits with the Great Fox's laser," stated Fox. He suddenly cried out in pain. Something bit him.
Krystal watched as another of the black monsters dropped down to the floor.
"No, we destroy these things now!" she cried, as she aimed her staff down and blasted the crap out of the worm-like creature. She took all the explosives from Fox and set it around the fridge. "Come on," she called out and slung his arm over her shoulder, before she ran with him. She turned around and aimed her blaster at the explosives, before shoving Fox to the ground and diving down after him.
There was a terrible explosion. And that was the end of that.

To be continued...