Cowboy Star Fox
By Wolf O'Donnell
WARNING: This fanfic will contain swearing, graphic scenes of
death and violence and the use of British-English Spelling and
Grammar. If any of these things offend you or if you are
underaged, please do not read any further. Upon reading any word
or letter 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 contents of this
fanfic. 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.
* * * * *
Secret Epilogue B: Forever Broke
This Epilogue continues on from Epilogue B: Encore un
Verre. and not from the special Fara or Krystal
endings. Hence, none of the relationships depicted in Epilogues
Ci or Cii will be present in this chapter.
Fox stopped in his tracks, letting the wind buffet
against his coat, and looked around him.
It was when he was celebrating with his friends in a
Cornerian bar that he had realised that of all their enemies,
one was unaccounted for. That was why he had come to Dinosaur
Planet all alone. He had decided to go alone to Dinosaur Planet
and use the Well underneath the WarpStone to receive a clue
about his future. It had been, after all, fairly accurate about
predicting Andross' rebirth.
Still, the clue was quite vague, but he had figuered it out.
It had told him to go to Krazoa Palace and he was now there.
The Krazoa Palace had changed little since Fox had last been
here. The place with its stone walls and stone statues still
stood, high up on Dinosaur Planet. The only difference was the
statue of the Krazoa God, which was missing its head. Fox knew
why that was gone.
As he made his way up the ramp and on to the circular dais,
Fox thought about his friends. He thought about Prince Tricky and
all the other Dinosaurs he had visited before coming up to the
Krazoa Palace. They were well, much better than when Scales had
appeared on the planet. Krystal was well when he left the Great
Fox, as were all his other friends. So why was he so solemn, as
if someone had just died?
There was a growl and Fox turned round. He recognised that
growl. There was no one around him. It was only him and the wind.
Fox sniffed the air with his keen vulpine nose. Something wasn't
right.
"I've been waiting for this for quite some time now,
McCloud."
Standing on the other end of the circular dais was a
grey-furred vulpine with an eye-patch over his left eye. The wolf
wore black, Kevlar armour and dark blue trousers with black
boots. His left arm was clearly robotic and he wore on his left
side, a scabbard with a sabre sheathed in it. Draped around his
shoulders was a brown cloak that looked like a trenchcoat without
sleeves, which was done up by a golden thread and two clasps near
the collar.
So, he was still alive.
"I see you ditched the false eye," stated Fox, as he
looked down and saw Wolf had his right hand on the hilt of his
sabre.
A smile split Wolf's muzzle, as he stared across at Fox.
"Among other things," chuckled O'Donnell, but it was
not a sincere laugh. "It'll be quite some time before they
clone me a new arm and a new eye, but I'll make do with this for
now." He raised his left fist, clenching its metallic
fingers. "You're going to pay for what you did,
McCloud," growled O'Donnell angrily. "Years of work,
creating the organisations that would revive Andross and you
ruined everything! The Aristocrat Race would have ruled the Lylat
System and erased all base emotions. It would have been an utopia
that all races would have envied."
"The price was too high, Wolf," said Fox with a
shake of his head. "It's over now, Wolf. Now, you can either
leave the Lylat System or you can stay and be tried for your
crimes against the Lylat System. It's your choice, Wolf."
Wolf laughed at Fox's comment. It was all he could do from
cracking completely.
"Only I can kill you, McCloud," he told the vulpine, as
he unsheathed his sabre from its scabbard. "Only one of us
will leave here alive. Care to guess which one?" He waited
and watched as Fox pulled out a gun from his trenchcoat. A smile
spread across Wolf's face.
Neither of them moved. Both stayed completely still like the
statues all over the Krazoa Palace. The only movement was that of
the wind, blowing at their fur and at their tails. The movement
of cloth, the movement of fur was all there was. Only the sound
of the wind could be heard, such was the stillness.
Wolf was the first to move. He had leapt straight at Fox,
leaping over the hole in the dais as if it was a mere puddle. The
force with which he hit Fox, knocked the vulpine off the dais.
Wolf leapt down after Fox and swung his sabre straight at the
vulpine's head, only to miss as Fox rolled out of the way. He saw
Fox aim his gun out of the corner of his eye. The lupine swung
his sabre in an arc and blocked the laser with the blade of his
weapon.
Wordlessly, Wolf charged straight at Fox. He swung his sabre
in an arc at Fox hitting the barrel of the vulpine's gun and
knocking it sideways. Wolf then thrust his robotic arm at Fox and
grabbed the vulpine by the throat. A smile spread across Wolf's
muzzle, as he lifted Fox off the floor. He spun round, swinging
Fox through the air before Wolf slammed the vulpine down into the
ground.
The force of the impact knocked the air out of Fox's lungs.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Wolf lift up his sabre as if
ready to spear him through with it. Fox knew he had to do
something to avoid becoming a kebab, but what could he do? He
held his gun firmly and smacked Wolf on the head with it and then
again, before he tried his best to take aim. Fox pulled the
trigger.
There was a yelp of pain and Wolf flung Fox across the roof as
if the fox was nothing more than a paper aeroplane.
Slowly, Fox staggered back up to his feet again. It was
disorientating to be thrown through the air like that. His ears
picked up the sound of running footsteps. Fox whirled out of the
way, just as Wolf swung the sabre vertically down at him. The
blade cut past his shoulder, making Fox wince in pain but that
didn't stop him from aiming his gun at Wolf and pulling the
trigger. He missed. He aimed again and fired, only to feel the
cold, sharp bite of steel as Wolf's sabre sliced through his arm.
The laser he fired caught Wolf on the side of his arm, only
nicking it in comparison to what Wolf had done.
The vulpine whirled away from Wolf and narrowly missed being
cut in half. He fired again and fired several more times at Wolf,
only for the lupine to block each laser with that blasted sabre
of his. That was it. He stopped firing and allowed for Wolf to
charge straight at him. Wolf swung. Fox leapt over the sabre
blade and kicked at Wolf's head.
That trick had been pulled off too many times and Wolf had
already seen through it. He ducked underneath it and swung his
sabre at Fox. This time, he managed to catch Fox in the side the
blade of his weapon, extracting a yelp of pain from the fox.
A wince spread across Fox's face, as he turned and fired, his
laser skimming past Wolf's arm. He fired again, only for the
laser beam to be deflected by the blade of Wolf's sabre. Fox saw
his opponent charge straight at him. He ducked underneath the
sabre and was suddenly hit in the face by a metallic fist that
sent him reeling backwards.
With an angry snarl, Wolf charged straight at Fox and leapt
into the air, before flinging a fist straight at the vulpine. Fox
narrowly got out of the way and Wolf's robotic fist smashed into
the stone floor with such force that Wolf punched a hole straight
through it.
Fox thanked his lucky stars that he had managed to get out of
the way. He aimed his gun at Wolf's head, as the lupine attempted
to tug his robotic fist out.
"It's over now, Wolf," he told the lupine.
"That's what you think!" roared Wolf, as he pulled
his fist out of the floor. He swung his sabre, just as Fox pulled
the trigger, and deflected the laser with the blade of his sabre.
The lupine charged straight at Fox and swung his sabre at the
fox's head, only to miss as Fox ducked underneath it. He swung a
fist at Fox's muzzle, only for the fox to duck out of the way
again.
Fox aim the laser gun at Wolf again. Well, the laser wouldn't
hit him this time. Wolf quickly ran out of the way, leaping over
one of the ramps that led up on to the circular dais and landing
on the other side of it.
With just as much speed, Fox ran after him, leaping on to the
ramp and nearly had the opportunity of having his legs cut off.
Had he been a split second slower, Wolf's sabre would have cut
straight through his legs. As it was, he had leapt over the blade
and behind Wolf. He aimed his gun at Wolf's head and pulled the
trigger, only to fire a laser into thin air as Wolf ducked out of
the way and landed a punch to his stomach.
The vulpine staggered backwards, reeling from the pain. He saw
Wolf charge straight at him. Fox was a split second too slow and
the blade cut through his fur and into his flesh again. Though
the blade itself was ice cold, the pain made it seem searingly
hot to him. Another swipe at his body and the blade cut into him
again, this time slashing his left arm.
The pain was just as disorientating as it had been for the
first agonising taste of steel. He should have been used to it,
though, seeing how many times he had been wounded in the Lylat
War and during his time catching criminals after the mission on
Dinosaur Planet. This time, the pain should only have been a numb
prick, but it was agonising as if Wolf had somehow cut through
into his soul.
Lifting his gun, Fox aimed. He did his best to ignore the
pain. His vision blurred just as he pulled the trigger. He had
missed and now Wolf had charged straight at him. Fox tried his
best to aim again, but this time Wolf had smashed the blade of
his sabre straight against the barrel of his gun, turning the gun
away from Wolf just as Fox pulled the trigger. The laser went
skyward. Fox pulled the trigger again, hoping that the vibration
of the gun when it fired would help loosen Wolf's grip on the
sabre.
"Die, McCloud," growled Wolf angrily.
"Go to Hell," retorted Fox, as he struggled to keep
a hold on his gun.
Wolf pushed the blade of his sabre against the barrel of the
gun, turning the gun out of sight. He kept the momentum of the
blade going, turning the blade round until it was above his head
and he brought it slicing down towards Fox. His vulpine opponent
rolled out of the way. In mid-air, he turned the blade of the
sabre and swung it horizontally at Fox, only to miss.
With a smug smile, Wolf delved into his pockets and brought
out some shuriken he had taken from a SharpClaw he had met on the
way up to the Krazoa Palace. He flung them at Fox with amazing
accuracy for a person with only one eye. Fox ran out of the way,
avoiding all of them. Wolf howled out angrily and flung the last
of his shuriken straight at where he thought Fox would end up.
Fox yelped out in pain as the throwing star hit him in the
leg. The pain made him lose his balance and he crashed to the
cold, stone floor. He looked down and saw it sticking out of his
leg, blood spreading through the fabric of his trousers. Quickly, he
reached out and yanked the weapon out of his leg and winced in
pain. Fox flung the shuriken back at Wolf, striking the lupine in
the arm.
The yelp of pain told him that he had hit Wolf. Fox aimed his
gun and fired, only for Wolf to deflect the lasers.
"Shit!" swore Fox, as he leapt to his feet, despite the
pain in his legs. He charged straight at Wolf and slid across the
stone floor, sweeping his leg out in an attempt to knock the legs
out from underneath the lupine.
That trick was far too old and Wolf saw through it. He leapt
over Fox and kicked at the vulpine's head, before landing on the
ground again. Wolf whirled round, flinging his cloak behind him.
He held his sabre in both hands and stabbed it into the ground.
He was aiming for Fox. He had missed.
Fox rolled back to his feet and aimed his gun. He pulled the
trigger before Wolf could even react, shooting a laser straight
at Wolf. It hit the lupine in the ear, elicitating a yelp from
his grey-furred opponent.
Wolf charged straight at Fox, deflecting the few lasers that
were fired at him. The rest missed him by a wide mark, a result
of Fox's blood loss. The smile on Wolf's muzzle widened. He knew
it would only be a matter of time before he won against his
lifetime opponent. He swung his sabre at Fox's head, only for the
vulpine to duck underneath it. Out of the corner of his eye, he
saw Fox aim his gun. Wolf leapt sideways and on to the ramp that
led up the dais, narrowly avoiding being shot in the chest.
The lupine retreated up the dais, as Fox ran after him,
shooting lasers at Wolf. Each laser was dodged skilfully or
deflected with the blade of his sabre. None hit their target.
Wolf stopped at the edge of the hole in the centre of the
circular dais and waited for Fox to approach him.
When Wolf rushed him, Fox was able to move quick enough this
time. He avoided Wolf's robotic hand and fired a shot, this time
hitting the lupine in the robotic arm. He fired repeatedly at
Wolf, but all the lasers were dodged and deflected far too well.
The grey-furred wolf ran full tilt at Fox, swinging his sabre
horizontally in an arc at Fox's torso. Fox leapt over the sharp
blade and fired, only for Wolf to duck underneath the laser.
Upon landing back on the stone floor, Fox whirled round and
swung his gun round to face Wolf, just as Wolf swung his sabre.
Their two weapons clashed together. With all his strength, Wolf
swung his sabre round, pushing the gun along with it. Their arms
did full circle before both their weapons were flung out of their
hands.
The gun landed at Wolf's feet. The sabre landed at Fox's feet.
Neither moved to pick up their weapons. There was no flurry of
movement. There was just pure stillness and silence, but in that
they knew what each other was thinking. It was as if they could
talk without words and each knew what the other was saying. Both
fox and wolf stared at each other, motionlessly but full of
emotion. They knew that one of them would die at the other's
hands.
Like mirror images, the two of them slowly bent down to reach
for the weapon at their feet. They slid their weapons across to
each other with equal force and grabbed their weapons at the same
time. Wolf took one gigantic swing at Fox, just as the vulpine
pulled the trigger.
The sound of the gunshot echoed around them and rolled across
the sky and back again. The sound of metal clattering against the
stone floor could be heard.
Wolf's sabre then fell through the hole in the dais, the very
same hole that Krystal would have fallen through if Fox had not
been there to save her on that fateful day. Wolf clutched at his
wound and glared up at Fox silently.
"I don't believe you managed to defeat me," he growled
angrily.
"You said it yourself, only I can kill you,"
retorted Fox. "Stands to reason I must be also able to defeat
you without taking your life.
A smile spread across Wolf's grey muzzle, as if all his
anger had somehow been drained from his body.
"How true," he agreed with a nod of his furry head.
"I won't let you take me in to the police, you know that,
don't you?" With that, he closed his eyes and leaned
backwards.
"No!" cried Fox, as he rushed towards Wolf, but it
was too late. He knelt down and peered down the hole, the very
same hole that Krystal would have fallen down if he hadn't been
there to save her. The vulpine couldn't see any sign of Wolf at
all.
As the sun rose and its golden rays began to shine, Fox began
to wonder. As the rays warmed his body, he began to realise the
truth. Wolf was not dead. Somehow, the lupine was still alive and
one day he would reappear again.
If one dies, so must the other.
A smile spread across Fox's furry muzzle, as he thought of it.
"Yeah, I know," he said in reply to Wolf's question.
"I'll be here, waiting for you, Wolf. We'll end this someday.
We'll end it someday." He rose up to his feet and put the
gun away.
Fox stood there and turned to face the rising sun. There was
nothing he nor his friends couldn't do as long as they stayed
together. Even if Andross somehow found a way to come back,
they'd find a way to defeat him and kill him again. Even if Wolf
came back, he would be ready. Now all he had to do was enjoy his
life and the blue sky above him.
Blue. Why blue? Then the answer came to him. There's no black
and there's no white in blue. There's just blue.
"Life's just a dream," sighed Fox with a shake of
his head, before he made his way down the stone ramp and walked
across the roof of the Krazoa Palace.
~ * ~ * ~ * ~
Fox looked down at his drink, as he sat at the bar. He
sighed miserably. With the destruction of the Gospel Army and the
Lylat Syndicate, the Star Fox Team was now just as obsolete as it
had ever been. On the plus side, he had helped prevent a virus
from spreading, one that would have made everyone just like
Andross. On the other hand, however, he was bored and the Team
had nothing to do except looking out for hardened convicts.
It was back to being a bounty hunter, scouring the Lylat
System for the scum of the Galaxy and handing them over to the
police for rich pickings. An unstable source of income, but no
more unstable than when they had been mercenaries during the
Lylat War. Of course, then, they were always sure of having a job
no matter what.
He glanced sideways to see the other people that frequented
this bar, before downing the tenth pint of beer that night. 'Damn
stuff's weaker than Slippy', he thought to himself, still not
feeling the intoxicating effects of the alcohol.
"I thought I'd find you here, buddy," said a
familiar voice from behind Fox, as a blue-feathered avian sat
down beside him. "So, you thought you could come here and
get the bounty all for yourself, huh?"
A smile spread across Fox's muzzle. Well, there was one thing
he knew and that was that he would always have a friend.
"Nah, you know I wouldn't have done that," he said in
reply to Falco's question. He looked behind him at the bar and
saw his empty glass and the several others that surrounded it.
Hadn't anyone bothered to remove those? "You want me to
buy something while we're waiting?"
For a while, Falco didn't reply. It was as if he lost in
thought.
"Yeah, you can buy me a pint," replied Falco with a nod
of his head. The avian then waited a while and Fox ordered his
drink. "So, is it true?"
"What?" asked Fox curiously.
"The beer, is it weaker than Slippy on
tranquilisers?" asked Falco. He had heard of the
Government's meddling, which had led to all alcoholic drinks
being 0.0001% alcohol and 99% anything else they could chuck in
there.
Fox exhaled deeply at the mention of it.
"It tastes like sugar water," he told Falco, as the
bartender put the avian's drink down near the avian. "Go on,
try it yourself." Moments later, he found that a Peregrine
Falcon sputtering was one of the most funniest things he had ever
seen. "Falco, you should have seen yourself!"
"I'd rather not," replied Falco angrily. "Man,
that stuff's vile!"
"Yeah, well what do you expect?" was Fox's reply.
"It's all we can afford with our current budget."
Still, he hoped that would change and it would if they caught
this new bounty. "Still, if this goes off with success,
we'll be celebrating with champagne," he told Falco. He then
thought about all the repairs they had to do on the Great Fox and
on the Arwings. "On seconds thoughts, we'd probably
celebrate with repairs and drink ourselves silly with what's
left."
Out of the corner of his eye, Fox thought he saw someone
familiar. Wolf O'Donnell? He turned round and then frowned.
Perhaps it was just his imagination, after all, he did see Wolf
fall down the hole in the roof of the Krazoa Palace. Even if Wolf
was alive, it would take some long time of recovery before the
lupine could even rear his furry head again.
"Something wrong, Fox?" asked Falco concernedly.
"Nah," replied Fox with a shake of his head. "I
thought I saw someone I recognised, but I guess I was just
imagining things."
Falco didn't say a thing in reply to Fox's comment, which was
unusual. Normally, Falco would always have some kind of wise-ass
comment to crack. Not this time.
"Fox, I think I've spotted our meal ticket," he said
slyly.
"Cullum?" exclaimed Fox, as he turned round. He
spotted a hawk not too far away. That was definitely Cullum,
wanted on several accounts of robbery. "Oh yeah, that's
him." Fox licked his chops at the thought of how much money
they were going to get from arresting this one guy. "Let's
go!" He didn't get very far, however, before a large, burly
bear suddenly got in front of him.
Hey, you!" cried the burly bear, as he approached them.
He was large, and dwarfed the tallest of the Star Fox Team by
half a metre. "You two are bounty hunters, aren't
you?"
"Yeah and what of it, pal?" asked Falco
hot-headedly. He gulped, as he saw the ursine advance, rolling up
his sleeves as he got closer to the avian.
"Bounty hunters aren't welcome here," growled the
bear, as he clenched a fist. "Now get out of here or
else!" A grin spread across his muzzle, as several other
patrons joined him.
"Oh, shit," exclaimed Fox, as he saw that the escape
route was blocked. This was bad. This was very bad and Fox
didn't know what to do. He had never been outnumbered like this
before. Never had he been outnumbered by civilians that wanted to
beat the crap out of him. The vulpine ducked underneath a fist
and then followed by an uppercut to his opponent's chin. The next
blow smashed into his opponent's stomach, sending the opponent
flying backwards into the other patrons.
A fist smacked into the side of Fox's head. Everything went
black.
When Krystal heard what had happened, she thought it had
been rather silly of him, especially seeing as the hospital bills
would surely make it difficult for them to pay for repairs on the
Great Fox.
Armed to the teeth with a 'Get well' card, flowers and a
basket full of gifts, Krystal rounded the corner and stopped.
Right opposite her was Fara, equally fortified with 'Get well'
gifts for Fox.
"You," she said, her eyes narrowing.
Neither of them moved. They just stood there, glaring at each
other as if they were cowboys getting ready for a showdown at
noon. Sparks of pure rage flew through the air. The atmosphere was
so thick with tension not even a stick of dynamite could help you
break through it. Things were going to get ugly and anyone caught
in the crossfire would surely wish they had never been born.
Falco slipped past them unnoticed and walked into Fox's
hospital room.
"I heard there was a mummy in here," he joked, as he
walked up to Fox's bed and sat down in the chair beside the
vulpine. He himself had come out of the bar fight with nothing
more than a broken arm, but Fox was not as lucky.
Fox would have made a comment, but the bandages covered his
mouth as well as everything else on his body. He tried to move,
but he was bandaged up too tightly.
The blue-feathered avian leaned against the back of his chair
and reached out for a mandarin that Peppy had left behind as a
gift.
"You'd be glad to hear that we managed to get Cullum,"
he told the vulpine, "and the reward is just enough to pay
for all the hospital expenses. Krystal managed to catch her bad
guy too. The reward on her guy's head was double of that
Cullum's." He tried his best to peel the skin of the
mandarin.
There was a muffled noise from Fox, but Falco couldn't make it
out. It was something along the lines of 'Don't eat' something,
but he wasn't quite sure what. Each segment disappeared down
Falco's throat quickly, before the avian placed the peel on Fox's
forehead, just to annoy the vulpine.
"Well, I've got to be going," he told his friend.
"The nurse is going to check up on me. See you later,
Fox!"
Fox sighed, or at least, he would have if it wasn't for the
bandages. He looked upwards, or attempted to look upwards, at the
mandarin peel. Fox had no idea why Falco did these things. Now
that he thought about it, Falco had always done these things. Oh
well. What will be will be.
The vulpine closed his eyes and let himself relax. After all,
he was going to be in the hospital for quite some time. Sleep
began to take hold and soon Fox was dreaming and in his dream, he
heard Fara and Krystal bickering again. And in this dream, he was
trying his best to get away from the both of them.
Life is just a dream, but it's the only one we've got.
- Aishiteta to nageku ni wa
- Amari ni mo toki wa sugi te shimatta
- Mada kokoro no hokorobi o
- Iyasenumama kaze ga fuiteru
Translation:
- Too much time has passed by to
- Lament that we were deeply in love
- The wind keeps blowing, while my heart
- Cannot heal all the tears in it
- Kawaita hitomi de dareka na itekure
Translation:
- Cry for me, somebody, with dry eyes.
- The Real Folk Blues
- Honto no kanashimi ga shiritaidake
- Doro no kawa ni sukatta
- Jinsei m warukuwanai
- Ichido kiri de owaru nara
Translation:
- The Real Folk Blues
- I only want to know what true sadness is
- Sitting in muddy water
- Isn't such a bad life
- If it ends after the first time...
The End.
You've answered the question correctly! It was Wolf's
left eye that could see into the future, because Wolf's left
eye was cybernetic and thus was far superior to the other eye,
being able to see things much quicker than his right.
P.S. the lyrics featured near the end of this epilogue are
from Yoko Kanno's The Real Folk Blues. In fact, if you
look carefully, you'll see that all of the chapter titles
are named after songs by Yoko Kanno (with the exception of
Ballad of Fallen Angels and Real Indication).
Well, I hope you enjoyed the fanfic. That's all for now.
This is truly the end. It was an honour to have you read my
fanfic. *bows*