Author's note: Although it doesn't change the story much, I've decided to update the existing episodes of Lylat Wars. Don't worry, the changes are minor and don't affect the story much, but I have fixed most of my errors. Anyways, Enjoy all.

Episode 1: A modern day Robin Hood

Corneria City

July 26, 2477

10:12 AM

"Sweet, look at this! The new posters are up!"
"We have no time for that."
"Don't you want to see how those pics turned out?"

"As a matter of fact, I don't."

It was a day not unlike many others, the sun shined and birds sang. The hustle and bustle of the city was in full swing as it always is at this time of day. Aircars stopped and went at the changing lights, people wandered from shop to shop in the downtown sections, children run about between the legs of their parents, couples ate peacefully in out door cafes, all unaware of the war taking place thousands of miles outside of their own planet, one that will decide the fate of their very own freedom. And still, life continues on with out a care as it always had in this serene metropolis.

Two young Lylatians stood outside on a street corner viewing a sheet of paper with big bold letters that say "Wanted: Dead or Alive" written brightly above photos of two young teenage boys; one a green-eyed, blonde-haired fox with an arrogant grin prancing on his lips as if taunting the ones who wanted him. The other was a nervous toad looking about to faint right off of the page.

"I think they got my good side this time," one of the boys examining the tattered paper exclaimed, "It looks just like me."

It was true, the image on the poster did hold an exact depiction of him, the spiky blonde hair, orange-brown fur, jade green eyes, round black sunglasses, and even the devious grin plastered on his face, everything matched that of the young vulpine. He ripped the poster off the telephone pole it was stapled to, admiring the photo of himself.

"Yep, that's you all right," grinned his friend and partner in crime, the toad who's photo was pasted next to the fox's.

"I shoulda grew a mustache or something," the fox continued, "Aww, Sliiip. You blinked. Well, at least it's better than last time's picture."

"Yeah whatever, it's just a stupid poster anyways."

"Get this, wanted for three robberies, six hijackings, vandalism, arson, grand larceny, grand theft auto… Wow, this thing goes on and on," He boasted, "'Bout time they learned that James McCloud Jr. isn't your small time crook. Someday, they'll know me as 'StarFox, the pirate king of thieves.'"

"In your dreams Fox. Look at the reward."

"Sweet! It's already been raised to 15 Grand!"

"15,000 kei isn't that much yanno."

"Hey, we all gotta start somewhere. I'll make a million by the end of November, you'll see."

"Fox, you're conceited."

"You're just jealous, Slippy, 'cause you're only the sidekick."

The toad shot his friend a dirty look. "You really are an idiot sometimes," he muttered, "Now what was this plan of yours this time? You haven't told me a word about it."

"What? And ruin the surprise? That's for me to know and you to find out."

"In other words you've come up with absolutely squat, as usual."

Fox rubbed the back of his head with embarrassment. "Heh heh, yeah Slip, you got me on that one," he tittered, "Not like I need a plan anyways, I can just wing it like I always do."

"You're hopeless, Fox," Slippy muttered to himself.

"Well, looks like it's time to get into action. Don't forget, I'll meet ya at the space port," Fox winked and flashed the peace sign as he turned and headed toward a large building behind them. His friend looked at him with uncertainty before going his separate way.

Fox waltzed into the building with confidence. Inside was lavishly decorated with marble statues of angels holding swords thrusted into their bases. The floor was also marble with a central red felt carpet covering it. The ceiling was domed and had a mural depicting scenes from some sort of ancient legend. In front of the vulpine were three lines of people leading straight to a lengthy desk with the same number of windows above it.

Time to get to work Fox thought to himself. He folded his hands together as he stretched out his arms in front of him, making a loud popping sound as he took place in the back of the line. The person in front of him turned around to shoot a dirty glare at Fox, only to turn back and see that the young canine had maneuvered in front of him.

"Excuse me. Pardon me. Coming through. Frontsies. Backsies. Hot coffee. Watch out," Fox quipped as he pushed his way to the front of the line. The crowd of people muttered in disapprovement as he made his way to the front.

"Next," The left hand teller called out, Fox scrambled to the counter before anyone else could reach the window. "Hello, what can I do for you?" she chimed pleasantly.

"I'd like to make a withdrawal," Fox replied smoothly, against the glass with his right hand, "50,000 kei please."

"50,000? My, isn't that a bit of money?" she asked.

"It's for a special cause."

"But I can't give you that much on such short notice."

"But I said pleeeaaase," he whined.

"But I can't…"

"Here, I'll even give you my ID," he says, slipping her a tattered laminated card.

She examines the card carefully. It was driver's license with a photo of the young fox, written on top was the James McCloud Jr. Her eyes widened as she looked at the boy nervously and then again at the card.

"You're… You're S… StarFox, the… space… space…" she gasped.

"Space pirate? I know. But I asked you nicely," Fox chimed. She looked up at him again, in his right hand was a small handgun, in his left a beige sack. The security guards, fearing for her life, hesitated to make any move to prevent him from shooting her. She didn't think twice, she went to a nearby safe and began handing him kei notes, as she reached down to pick of the money, she tapped a small button under her desk. Fox picked up his card and began to fill his bag with the notes.

"Thank you, I'll pay ya back when I can," Fox thanked her cheerfully. "And don't worry about the gun. It's plastic." He pulled the trigger, from the barrel came a small paper flag with the word "bang" written on it. "You know, they really gotta stop making these toys looks so realistic," he added, "Somebody might confuse it for a real gun. Here you go, a souvenir," He tossed the toy to the teller and turned toward the door.

As he left, he looked up at the surveillance camera, winked, and then blew a kiss to it. The he turned to the crowd, who were frozen with fear, and bowed to them. "Thank you! You've been a great audience. I'll be here all week, next showing's at four," He shouted as he waltzed out the door, the sack resting over his shoulder.

Outside a cluster of black and white aircars surrounded the area, as several Lylatians dressed in blue were ready to greet him with a blaze of bullets if he were to try anything funny.

"Hold it right there, StarFox!" In front of the group stood a young raccoon woman aiming a handgun at his head, written on her badge is the name Coone.

"Well, well, if it everyone's favorite raven-haired beauty," He replied casually, raising his arms in the air. "Lookin' as good as ever Rocky."

Rocky rolled her rust colored eyes at him. "Knock it off Junior, you're not gonna weasel out of this!"

"Hey, can't a guy complement a pretty girl? Yeesh," he responded innocently, "Ah, you look a little different. Let me guess, you had your hair done? No wait… New shoes? Nah, that ain't it. I got it, new designer glasses."

"Nice try kid, but you're getting nowhere fast," she arrogantly quipped. "Flattery'll get you nowhere, and besides, these are the same glasses I always wear." She took two steps closer to him, then added, "Now drop the bag and come along peacefully."

"Wait, I got something for you." Fox reached into his coat and pulled out a white rose. "A rose for your beauty, here, take it." He tossed the rose in front of her feet, its stem speared itself into the ground. A small green light began to blink rapidly, then suddenly a grey cloud of smoke burst from the flower's head.

The cloud of smoke covered the entire group of police officers. Rocky coughed furiously, squinting to try and spot the vulpine. After a couple minutes, the smoke clears. Where Fox once was, he is no longer.

"Dammit!" Rocky cursed, "The little son of a bitch got away again."

A couple blocks away, Fox raced as quickly as he could down the street. After feeling more secure, he began to gradually slow down to a brisk jog. Rose-shaped gas cans, even I amaze myself he though smugly. He continued down a couple blocks until he passed an alley.

"40 kei, that's my final offer," growled a deep voice from the alley.

"But, but all I have is 35 and 6 yurii. You said it would only cost me 30," protested a second voice, this one female with a slight British accent.

"Heh, that's before we considered the risks of taking you," sneered yet another voice, another male. Fox pressed himself against the wall and listened in on the conversation. He glanced at the group for a quick second. In the alley, a large male canine and his hare cohort have a young kit fox vixen cornered against a fence.

"You gotta remember, this is a favor we're doin' here," The first voice continued, "Takin' you to Carentith puts me in danger of bein' caught."

"But, please, we can work this out," the female pleaded, "I just have to get there."

"For free? Nothin' doin'. You forgot that they have that Genocide base there as well."

"But… But…"

"Well, there is one way," grinned the canine, pressing the vixen against his body.

"No way, I wouldn't do that with you even if you were the last man in Lylat!" she spat at him.

"Ooh, rejected," snickered the hare.

"Nobody rejects me!" shouted the canine, squeezing the vixen's wrist, she let out a cry in pain as he did so.

"Hey, that's no way to treat a lady," a voice rang out from above. Almost instantly, Fox dropped down from above on the fire escape, he hung by his legs upside-down on the rungs of the ladder. "Maybe if you'd get your head out of your ass you'd actually score for once."

"Why you..! I'll kick your scrawny ass for that one!" the canine roared, lunging at the boy. Fox leaped from the rungs and over his attacker, kicking him in the rear and sending him into a line of trashcans. Fox then swiftly jump up, pushed himself off an adjacent wall, and kicked the hare in the back of the head, knocking him unconscious. The canine regained footing and charged toward Fox, who greeted him with a swift knee-bash in the groin.

"Dammit, you'll pay for that one," growled the canine. He lunged for McCloud again and grabbed him by the feet, and then tossed him into the trashcans lining the wall. Fox quickly leapt to his feet and threw a nearby lid at the canine. Noticing Fox's attack, the canine evaded it with ease, but was unable to defend against Fox, who immediately thrusted his shoulder into the canine's abdomen. Enraged, the canine grabbed McCloud by his shirt collar, and reared his fist back ready to crush Fox's face. Fox winced, waiting for his impending doom, only to notice his attacker down on the ground. He looked up and saw Kitt holding the lid he had tossed earlier.

"Thanks," Fox said, "We make a pretty good team."

"I could've taken care of them myself," the vixen replied.

"Yeesh, a simple 'you're welcome' would have been sufficient. It's not like I couldn't take 'em on my own either. I would've just given them a Ha… a Ya… a Hiya… and finish with a Whaaaaah," Fox said imitating poses he picked up from old Kung Fu movies he saw on TV.

"Riiiiight, we better be going here, those blokes will be up any second," she remarked. As she said that, the two fallen bodies moaned as they began to try and get back on their feet. "I don't know about you, grasshopper, but I'm outta here."

The vixen dashed out of the alley, Fox followed close behind. He glanced back down the street, he could see a couple squad cars peel out down the street three blocks away, complete with the flashing lights and wailing siren combo. The two were able to travel past five more blocks until one of the said aircars turned onto the same street as them.

"This way! Follow me!" Fox exclaimed, grabbing the vixen by the wrist and pulling her into a darkened alley. They took refuge behind a dumpster trying to regain their breath. The patrol car drove right past them without noticing. They immediately ducked behind again when they saw the two thugs also passed the alley, searching for the pair that humiliated them.

Fox let out a sigh in relief as he leaned against the adjacent wall and sat down. The vixen stared at him quizzically before peaking into the sack he had been carrying the whole time. "You're a rob…" he gently pressed his finger against her lips before she could say anymore.

"Shhh, it's ok. I'm not a bad guy… Ok, yeah, I look like one with this loot and all, but I can explain…" He paused as remembered something he had to do. "Here, I'll pay your way to Carentith if you give me a hand, trust me, nobody will find out."

"But… Fine, thanks to you I'm now an accessory to whatever you did," she reluctantly agreed. He smiled at her and began transferring handfuls of kei notes into her handbag. He then slipped a handful into a hidden pocket in his jacket for himself. After that, he grabbed the bottom of the bag and began to rip it at the seams.

"What the bloody hell are you doing?" she exclaimed as he tore a hole in the bottom of the sack.

"I'm only keeping what I need, the rest can go back to the back." He winked at her. "This gives a perfect alibi for what's missing." With that he rose to his feet, flopped the sack back on to his shoulder, grabbed the vixen's hand, and the two took off. Their path was anything but linear, as they weaved in about the streets, kei notes fluttered about the various street of Corneria City until the bag was empty. Tossing the bag into the nearest trashcan, the hurried on their way.

Kei notes fluttered all about the city, it wasn't long until the police were back on McCloud's trail. He looked about, ducking and dodging between cars trying to make sure he or the vixen wouldn't be spotted. More and more the aircars patrolled about the area. Fox spotted a small sidewalk restaurant across the street.

"We'll wait here for a while, hopefully things'll die down soon," he whispered to the vixen. When the coast was clear, he darted across the street, diving behind a parked aircar as one of the officer's vehicles passed without noticing him. The vixen casually crossed the street, when she got there, McCloud was nowhere to be found.

"Down here," Fox whispered tugging on her lavender skirt from under a table. The table was covered with a thick white cloth that reached all the way to the floor, perfect for a private game of footsie or to hide wanted outlaws. The vixen reluctantly crawled underneath with him. From outside, they could hear random bits of conversations flickering about the area. Most of them were trivial things, such as a man screaming on his cell phone to sell his doomed stock pieces, another a young man asking the waiter whether he should take his date to the movies or down by the shore. Fox found the couple behind him the most amusing as they debated over how the male burnt down the kitchen while trying to cook Jell-O. However, a different conversation caught his attention as it gradually grew loader and the source nearer.

"You've been tailing this guy for three days non-stop, you really need to take a break," suggested a scraggly young male voice.

"I'm fine, really. I can handle it," the other, a woman's, coarsely replied.

"Even the GP needs to take a timeout for at least a coffee now and then. You're only straining yourself. Come on, I hear this place has great lattés."

"But…"

"Just try to relax Raquell, you really need to calm down."

"Fine, but I'm only taking a few minutes. After that it's back to work." The male replied contently and made it clear he was going to retrieve the coffee for the two. A few minutes later, the one called Raquell sighed. "I can't believe that little son of a bitch got away again. Hmmph, it's like finding a needle in a goddamn haystack in this city." The two foxes sat quietly as they listened, the quickly scurried to the opposite end of the table as a pair of denim-clad legs emerged under the tablecloth. Minutes passed as the legs lifted up and exited the shelter of the cloth.

"I'm going to go check things out," Fox whispered. He slowly rose to his feet, however, he stopped halfway there noticing a squad car parked alongside the sidewalk. He also noticed a half eaten biscotti resting on the table concealing him from the world.

"Heh heh, maybe a little snack first," he snickered under his breath, he slowly inched his hand toward the small food item laying on the plate in front of him.

He reached for the biscotti, his hand closes in on the pastry, but it wasn't the only one. His hand slowly crept upon a slender grey-furred hand as both reached for the same pastry. In unison, both Fox and the hand's owner let out an ear splitting scream.

"You pervert!" shouted the hand's owner, a tall grey-furred, denim-clad raccoon, "How dare you! I'll break your neck for that!"

"Heh, Um Hi…" McCloud tittered, "It's not what you think…"

"Not what I think! Then what exactly was it!" queried the raccoon.

"Well, um, you see… Heh, heh… It's a really funny story," he nervously replied.

"Wait, it's YOU!" she shouted. Fox blinded and looked at her blindly. He let out a loud squeak when he realized who this Raquell was.

"Ro… Rocky? What a pleasant surprise. You know, I was just thinking about you…"

"Nice try Junior, but I got you now." She closed her grasp on his wrist and pulled out a pair of handcuffs from a pouch attached to her belt. As she tried to latch them onto his wrist, he managed to wriggle out. Fox kicked the table over and tugged on the vixen's arm. The two vulpines zigzagged through the tables, twisting and twirling as the bumped bystanders and leapt over fallen chairs and waiters. Raquell followed in hot pursuit.

"Hold it right there!" she shouted at McCloud, who completely ignored her, lifting the vixen over his shoulder with one arm, and grabbing a serving platter from a nearby waiter with the other. He leaped into the air, shoving the platter under his feet and used it as a makeshift snowboard as he raced down the sloped streets of Corneria City.

"Are you mad!" the vixen screamed at Fox, "You're going to get us killed this way!"

"I know what I'm doing, just trust me," he reassured her.

Sparks flew from the platter below, but despite the friction, they managed to continue to pick up speed. Fox glanced back at the bewildered raccoon, but to his surprise, Officer Coone was right on his tail, also riding a platter like a board.

"Oh great, nice one, dumbass," the vixen snapped at him, "And now how are we gonna lose her?"

"Don't worry, I know what I'm doing… erm… sorta," He replied.

"SORTA! You mean you even have a bloody PLAN!" she shouted.

"I kinda like to, you know, 'wing it.'"

"Great, in other words, we're screwed."

"We're not done in just yet, I didn't get my reputation for nothing," McCloud grinned. With that, he maneuvered his makeshift "board" in between a cluster of aircars parked alongside the road. He kicked his "board" up upon the hood of one of the parked cars and used the windshield as a small ramp. Closely behind him, Raquell matches his moves with ease.

"Dammit," Fox muttered, "Time for plan B." He continued down the street evading the oncoming traffic, closer and closer, they approached the busy intersection in front of them, the raccoon still gaining on them.

"Ok, this is it! Hang on tight!" Fox shouted. As they reached the intersection, the light had change from green to red, and traffic, unaware of the approaching vulpines, crossed the intersection routinely.

"Fox, stop now! We're gonna die!" the vixen cried.

"What the hell are they doing! That guy's insane!" the puzzled Raquell exclaimed, slowing her "board" to a stop.

Fox, on the other hand, did not. All the hovering vehicles screeched to a halt at the sight of the two crossing in the heart of traffic. An airtruck stopped right in front of the incoming foxes. Not at all flinching, McCloud managed to jump is board off the truck, onto the nearest car, grind down the side of the dividing rail, jumped off another car, and used the front of a large airbus to vault him and his companion up and over traffic.

Raquell stood there with her mouth gaping open, as she viewed the feat without once blinking. She stood there paralyzed as she watched the two sail over a nearby fence and into a quiet ally.

"Sonic, eat your heart out," Fox joked as he slowed his board to a halt.

"You can let me down now you know," the vixen reminded Fox. He gently let her down to her feet.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"Didn't mean to! Are you out of you bloody skull! You could have gotten us, and everyone else, killed! If I knew you were like this I wouldn'tve…"

"Ok, ok. I'm sorry. But nobody got hurt at least."

"Yeah but still…" Fox shushed her as he looked at the watch on his wrist.

"Ok, I wont do anything crazy again, but right now I have a job to finish. I'll drop you off at the space port and you can get the next ship to Carentith."

The two walked out of the alley and found themselves in a rundown section of town. It was quite a depressing sight. Buildings barely were able to hold their foundations as they crumbled onto the pavement below. The inhabitants only looked upon the two with soulless eyes, their dreams lost, their wills broken. They shuffle about their meager lives trying to make by, each one lacking any emotion at all. Children clothed in ratty garments crowded about the stranger, eyes wide and full of curiosity. Fox stopped and pulled out a handful of lollipops from his pocket, handing one to each of the eager children.

"Now you guys keep up being good, obey your mommies and I'll bring you something even better next time I visit," he chuckled, watching the children play tag about the street before being tagged himself and playfully chasing the youngsters about. The vixen watched him puzzledly, how could a bank robber be so kind, why would an outlaw spend his time with children. Thoughts battled about her head as she watched him get dog-piled by the happy children, everyone laughing and having a good time. After playing for about fifteen minutes, Fox rejoined the vixen and lead her inside one of the run-down buildings.

A musty draft filled their nostrils as the entered. The interior was dimly lit and caked with dirt and rubble. The foxes climbed two flights of stairs before reaching an apartment numbered N-64, Fox knocked on the door.

"Who is it?" chimed a soft feminine voice.

"It's me, Romani," Fox replied. A rustle of latches and locks was heard and the door slowly opened. On the opposite side stood a lynx woman. She appeared to be in her late 30's, but didn't show it. Behind her, timidly stood her daughter, who was about nine, staring at the visitors with wide blue eyes. "Hello Romani, hello…"

"Kitt," the vixen informed her.

"Pleased to meet you Kitt."

"Hello Ma'am, hey Kari," Fox cheerfully greeted them, "Guess what? I got it."

"But, really… You didn't need to."

"Hey, I couldn't let you like in this craphole without helping out."

"But to give so much?"

"Don't worry about it, I can afford it. Please, you need the money, take it."

"But… But…"

"I'm not gonna take no for an answer yanno." He smirked, handing her the wads of cash from Kitt's handbag. The woman's eyes filled with tears of joy as she looked at the two vulpines. "There, that'll keep ya until you can get a good job." He smiled pleasantly, and the turned to the young girl, handing her a couple kei notes and adding, "And here's a little something extra for you, now you can get that Kazuki doll you've always wanted." She giggled as he gave her a noogie. She returned the favor with a whack in the head by a pillow, the two began to roughhouse on the couch, bopping each other in the head with pillows and giggling like schoolgirls. After a while, Fox surrendered and turned back to her mother, who looked upon him gratefully.

"Thank you, and God bless you both," the mother cried. She insisted they stayed for lunch, Fox didn't want to impose, even though stomach let out a soft rumble, reluctantly, he agreed to stay. They chatted for a couple hours before they had to go their separate ways. The pair waved goodbye as they headed back to the streets.

"Ok, now to get you to the space port so you can get to Carentith," Fox told Kitt, he was quite chipper for an outlaw. Kitt looked at Fox again, it was hard for her to believe such a guy just robbed a bank and beat the snot out of two vicious thugs. Not him, he was an innocent young man who loved children and helped the unfortunate, wasn't he?

"That was really sweet of you," she said.

"What can I say, I like to help. Ever since her husband was killed during the Lylatian War, it was a struggle just for her and her daughter to survive, now they have enough to buy a new home and keep warm and fed for a month. I hate lying to them, but if people know they met StarFox, who knows what could happen to them with the crazed pirates and bounty hunt…"

"You're STARFOX!" She shouted. She couldn't believe her eyes, this was the infamous pirate? But it wasn't that, that infamous pirate, the scourge of Lylat, the rouge of the galaxy, was a boy who played with children and aided poor families.

"Jesus-tap-dancing-Christ, keep it down will ya?" he snappily whispered to her, "Yeah, I'm him, but don't go making a big deal about it." She didn't say anything, her breath became quick and short. "Come on, trust me, I already told you I'm not the bad guy, I just don't always play by the rules. You know, kinda like a modern day Robin Hood. Steal from the rich and give to the needy, that's me. I know you've hear all those rumors of a vicious criminal, destroyer of cities, bringer of death, but I'm not like that."

"I… I believe you," she whispered.

"You mean that runt is StarFox?" Shouted a familiar voice. "After I beat the shit out of you, I'll take ya in for the reward."

"Not again…" Fox moaned.

Lunging at Fox was the same canine thug he had dealt with before. Fox's reflexes kicked in as he smashed his foot into the snout of his attacker. Stunned, the canine called his cohort as the two vulpines raced into a condemned building.

"I think we lost them," Fox panted as the door crashed open. The thugs stepped into the room. The leader, now armed with a knife, dove straight at Fox, gashing his right arm. Fox snarled and retaliated with a kick to the chest. The furious canine now repetitively swung at McCloud, but Fox was much too quick and dodged every blow. The fight between the two was fast and furious, with blows being dealt left and right. Fox swung his leg at the canine's right hand, knocking the knife into the air.

"Fun's fun and all, but somebody's gonna lose an eye with that thing," Fox joked as he caught the knife in midair. He felt something trickle down from his hand, a jolt of pain charged from his right hand as he finally noticed he had grabbed a hold of the blade instead of the handle. Screaming and flailing, he launched the knife back into the air, to come back down into his left foot. Fox yelped and hopped about on his good foot, bouncing into his attacker. The canine lost balance and toppled over onto his cohort. Fox continued to hop about, eventually tripping over the pile and landing on top of them.

"All right! Everybody freeze!" Fox recognized the voice this time, it was Rocky, and she was standing in the door way with a handgun pointing at the huddle mess of furries. Behind her was a large group of police officers ready to fire on the raccoon's command.

Fox was the first to raise his hands above his head, he still had his promise to Kitt, and he didn't want to risk the lives of anyone in the area. He slowly walked up to Raquell, putting his wrists out in from of him. She immediately slapped a pair of cuffs on him, an arced beam bent around over his wrists, locking him in place. Kitt and the thugs were more reluctant, but also surrendered.

"I did it!" Rocky exclaimed confidently, "I caught the space pirate StarFox!" She walked the arrestees into the backseat of a pair of patrol cars.

"Nice job Coone, looks like a promotion will be in your near future," a the police chief congratulated her, stepping out of the car. "Commendable work, I've always liked your style rookie." He saluted her.

"Erm, thanks," she blushed, returning the salute, "Believe me sir, I make sure I get the job done no matter what, sir."

"Good to hear, maybe someday you'll make it to be a first class detective."

"Thanks sir. But I really think you should keep an eye on StarFox, he's a real slippery one." The two stood there watching the aircars take off. Rocky could have sworn Fox was giving her an arrogant wink as the cars drove away.