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?
* * * * *
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...