Disclaimer: Everyone should already know I don't own Fox, Wolf, Slippy and related characters, they belong to Nintendo. Kitt, Rocky, Lt Ferral and related characters are mine though.
Episode 3: Peace Keeper
Carentith City: Second District, Aquas
July 27, 2477
12:23 PM
"Yer kind ain't wanted here," growled a large ursine man from behind the counter. His thick arms arched and his balled fists rested upon his large waistline as he glared at his unwanted guest. The young man he was speaking to didn't say a word, he just sat there casually puffing on his cigarette. He only paused to brush his snow colored hair out of his face, exposing his scarred left eye to the world around him.
"I told you, you ain't wanted her. So get yer flea-bitten carcass outta here ya filthy lupe," the large man roared. His pest continued to ignore him, turning his stool around so that his back faced the angry man. Beneath his dark trench coat, his fluffy silver tail flicked about with frustration, yet his face lacked the same emotion. He continued to calmly smoke his cigarette, coldly staring at a "Wolves Not Welcome" sign.
"Allright you, if you don't get outta here, thing's are gonna get complicated," the man behind the counter desperately tried to keep his anger in check. Again the young man said nothing, this time responding with a smug flash of his middle finger. The ursine's obscenities were completely ignored as the young lupine man hopped from his seat and headed to the figure entering the building.
"Well, well, look what the cat dragged in," he chuckled coarsely. Standing before him was a young feline woman dressed in a black uniform, upon her chest were various medals and an infamous insignia belonging to the Androssian Empire. Her cold eyes were of a deep navy tone, and looked as if to be piercing into his own. Unamused, she flicked her black ears, one of which had seen better days and was slightly notched.
"Charming," she scoffed, "Peace Keeper O'Donnell, I presume?"
"You got it, Miss…"
"Ferral, but that's Lieutenant General Ferral to you."
"Ferral, eh? So, you're still holding the deal, right?"
"That is correct," she nodded, "A very important and highly classified document has fallen into the hands of a civilian." She punched in a few commands onto a device worn upon her left wrist, a small hologram of a young vixen dressed in a green velvet coat, lavender skirt, and pale blue jeans, her wavy blonde hair curled over her face, a lone fluorescent pink stripe ran down her frontal bangs. "We've been able to identify her as Kitt Ayanami, a runaway from the Terra Solar System. She somehow managed to pick up the disk containing the document, if it falls into the hands of the GP or Cornerian government, it could prove fatal to our operations."
"So you want me to get this disk."
"Exactly. But you mustn't harm the girl, the last thing this operation needs is the GP breathing down our backs. Complete your task unnoticed and you will receive the 100,000 kei as promised."
The young man pondered over the proposal for second before shaking the hand of the officer, "You got yourself a deal."
Meanwhile, miles above the atmosphere of Planet Aquas, Kitt desparately tried to keep her large fuzzy ears shielded from Fox's off-key singing. Her head pounded from his tone-deaf voice, she painstakingly fought back the urges she had to kill the young pirate for a moment's peace.
"Wake me up, before you go go. Don't leave me hanging on like a yo-yo," Fox sang alongside the radio, though he sounded more like screeching.
Kitt could no longer take it anymore. "Shut up!" she screamed. Fox stared at her stunned and did just as she told.
"Don't hurt me," he whimpered quietly. He sighed looked out the side window. Coming up from behind was a spacecraft that looked very much like the one he was driving, in fact, it was the exact same type. He frantically looked out the opposing side and saw another. Dozens of ships just like his were scattered about in his rear-view monitor. "Holy spumoni! Kitt, buckle yourself in, we got company!" he shouted.
The two quickly buckled themselves into their seats. Fox clamped onto the steering wheel and jerked it violently. The spacecraft slid to the right, nearly hitting one of its twins.
"Halt or we'll shoot," commanded a voice coming from the speakers. Fox paid no attention to the message, cranking up the radio to drown out any other incoming transmissions. He was completely unaware of the ultimatum sent to him, but the jolt of impact from enemy fire caught his attention. He shoved the wheel in causing it to do a full nose-dive to the planet's atmosphere below before arcing up an between two ships, drawing their fire upon each other. Their wings blasted right off from their fire, however their hulls remained intact and pilots harmless and safe. Fox weaved the ship in an out of the pack pursuing him, drawing their fire onto the weapon systems of each other, rendering them useless.
"Nya nya, can't get me," Fox taunted arrogantly. His cockiness got the best of him as he hot-dogged it between two ships, miscalculating the distance, and brushing against them. It was enough to tear the wings of his ship clear off. Fox desperately tried to steer the ship, but without the wings, it was next to impossible. He and Kitt fell into a collision course with the water-covered surface of Planet Aquas, the other ships watched him plummet to the sea below, they have better chances capturing him stranded out in the ocean.
Fortunately the entire surface was covered by one endless ocean, so his landing will be soft enough to survive. The downside was that Aquas was nothing but ocean except for the single city of Carentith, built upon a synthetic island, and chances of them landing near it were very slim. Fox began punching in buttons, one of them had to control the ship's G-Diffuser. If he could get control of that, he could drive the ship like an ordinary aircar across the ocean's surface. Sweat rolled down his brow as a combination from his nerves and the fact that the ship had caught fire as it burnt through the planet's atmosphere.
"And Bingo was his name-o," he grinned. The spacecraft smashed into the ocean surface creating a cataclysmic splash. He flipped a pair of switches and pressed down hardly on the pedal. Instead of resurfacing, the ship stayed below the waves, zipping through various rock formations.
It wasn't long until his pursuers found out what he had done, and continued to follow on his tail from above the surface. Fox desperately looked for a way out. "Kitt, put one of those suits on," he commanded, spotting a pair of emergency spacesuits hanging in the back of the cockpit. He quickly began removing the uniform he had taken from the station and used it to tie down the pedal so that the ship remained at full speed. He then slipped into one of the spacesuits, waited for Kitt who reluctantly did the same, and kicked the door open. Grabbing Kitt's hand, he leaped out the door against the water rushing into the ship's cockpit and watched the submerged spacecraft zoom into the distance. The pursuing vehicles followed the makeshift submarine out into the horizon.
Their spacesuits provided them with adequate protection from the ocean's pressure and enough oxygen to last them six hours. Fox clung nervously to a nearby rock, finally realizing he had never learned how to swim. Kitt looked at him and chuckled softly before swimming beside the jittery vulpine. They waited beneath the waves for a couple hours, not one sign of their pursuers could be seen. A large dark shadow began to slowly form over them, they huddled closely cautiously watching the form.
Because their attention was fixated on the strange shadow, neither fox saw the net drop from above and ensnare them until it was too late. Try as the might, they were unable to free themselves from the net, the more they struggled, the more they became tangled in the mass. Fish flopped about inside the net as they became caught up in it as well, making the vulpines' aquatic prison quite crowded. Minutes later, the net began to rise toward the shadow resting upon the surface.
Floating above the surface was a large seafaring ship. It was quire primitive compared to Lylat's high-tech machinery, but it was relatively in good condition. On board, a pair of fishermen pulled the net out of the water.
"Sure is heavy, eh Mick," one asked.
"Ay, we must've caught the mother load," the other replied. They heaved the net onboard, shocked by their catch. Fox and Kitt struggled to untangle themselves from the netting.
"Yeesh, aren't these supposed to be dolphin safe or somethin'?" Fox whined. The fishermen stared in awe that the two ensnared foxes.
"These are bloomin' kits," exclaimed on of the fishermen.
"Actually, she's Kitt, and I'm Fox," the boy corrected them.
"How'd you two get in there!"
"Well… You see, it's a long story," Fox tittered sheepishly.
Hearing the commotion, the ship's captain came to see what was going on. "What the hell's the matter here?" he asked. Seeing the bound foxes, he whipped out a knife and began cutting them free. "How'd a couple o' kids get on this ship?" he asked with an accusing tone.
"We caught 'em in our net," one of the fishermen explained. Fox and Kitt pulled off their helmets and breathed the cool salty air in.
"Thanks," Fox thanked the captain, "We were scuba diving in the reefs when you guys accidentally pulled us up." The captain looked at him in disbelief. "Yeah, I know, these are space suits, but hey, make with what you got, right?"
"I ain't seen any boats for miles, how'd you get here?"
"Well, you see, ours kinda sorta sank, so we went diving for it and got kinda sort stuck," Fox lied, his nervousness made it look convincing though, "You wouldn't mind giving us a lift to Carentith, would you?"
"Well, since these barnacle brains did pick you up, I can't see why not," the captain agreed.
Hours passed before the ship came into Carentith's dock over by the Kokahmi Boardwalk. Fox stumbled out the ship and dropped to the wooden floor below, kissing it and spitting out the splinters he picked up on his lips. Kitt wobbled out as well, their legs needed a little time to adjust to the solid ground. Before them stood the massive metropolis of Carentith. In size, it made Corneria City look like a mere podunk, though the inhabitants of this place were not as permanent. Carentith was known for its benevolent tropical climate, and considered one of the best vacation spots in the entire Milky Way Galaxy.
Tourists hustled about the city on foot or in aircars, exploring the various districts, boardwalks, and beaches. Crowds passed about before the two vulpines, they took hesitation in using it to their advantage, slipping into the passing group as if they never existed. They looked cautiously about the city as they followed the crowd. Kitt tugged on Fox's sleeve and ducked into a nearby convenience store, pulling the confused boy inside with her.
"Welcome, welcome," greeted the shop owner, "Feel free to brows, but try not to carouse." He chuckled. He was an elderly fellow, a brown-furred raccoon, and very friendly and welcoming. There was something about him that eased the nervous vulpines. He looked at them kindly. "Is there something I can help you with," he asked politely.
"Oh, no. Nothing really. Just looking," Fox answered.
Kitt remained quiet for a moment. She closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, then whispered to the shopkeeper, "He was a nowhere man, living in a nowhere land, making up his nowhere plans, for no-one." Fox's ears perked upon hearing this, but he continued to browse the area unphased.
The gentleman paused for a second, the warm welcome smile slowly melted into a concerned stare. "I see," was his only reply. He turned away and began heading through a doorway leading into the back room of the store. He beckoned the young vixen to follow.
"Fox, wait out here," she told McCloud, heeding the call of the elderly raccoon, "There's something I have to speak to him about, in private." She turned and entered the door, shutting it behind her.
Fox sighed in boredom, he couldn't stand not being part of the action, but he knew to stay out as well. He leaned against a magazine rack and began thumbing through an issue of Play Fur.
A half hour passed and Kitt still hadn't showed. Fox had grown bored staring at the pictures of disrobed females and had slipped the naughty magazine into his jacket pocket. His attention now shifted to the latest Kazuki comic book, giggling at the comical antics of the crazy cartoon kitsune and his dragon sidekick, Shigeru. In the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of suspiciously familiar figure. Closing the comic and also slipping it into his pocket, he wandered out the door to investigate.
"Well, well, if it ain't ol' one eye," he snickered. The figure turned out to be a young male lupine, his body covered in grey fur and was dressed in a long dark trench coat with slate colored slacks and a white dress shirt. His left eye was scarred and covered by a black velvet eye patch.
"Not now, McCloud," the wolf sneered, trying to escape the attention of the young space pirate.
"Awww, come on Wolfy, is that any way to treat your pal?"
"I'm not your pal, dumbass. Now leave me alone."
"What's wrong? Did the Big Bad Wuff have a poopy day?"
The wolf stopped and glared at McCloud angrily. "I have a job to do," he growled, "Now why don't you take your yiff loving orange hide outta my way?"
"It's always the same with you cowboys, work, work, work. Yanno, all work and no play makes Wolfy a dull boy," the fox complained, "Looks like somebody could use a hug." He wrapped his arms around the wolf's body. The wolf struggled to pull himself out the grasp of the vulpine's mock-affections.
"What part of get lost don't you understand?" he snarled, pulling himself out of the boy's tight embrace.
"Um… Maybe the 'get' part, but I really don't know," Fox said acting ditzally before clinging onto the lupine's legs.
"That's it!" the wolf roared, kicking the boy off and onto the ground. He turned and made a mad dash down a vacant alley, hoping to lose his pest. He cautiously looked back to the fox, seeing an empty street behind him. Grinning he turned back forward, startled by the sight of McCloud now running backwards, now in front of him.
"Aww, come on Wolf, what's the hurry, at least you can tell me what'cha doin'," Fox coaxed.
"It ain't none of your business," Wolf growled, "And besides, that's Peace Keeper to you."
"Aww maaaan, that's a cool name, why didn't I think of it?" he whined, watching the lupine duck into the back door of a building. "Hay, wait up!" he shouted, scrambling into the building.
Inside the building was dark and musty. Streams of dust swirled in the gentle currents of air that blow in from the opening door. The room was empty of any signs of life, however, was full of boxes and creates of assorted goods stacked upon one another. Fox looked about the area for Wolf. Not finding him anywhere, his sights shifted to a box marked Twinkies.
McCloud ripped a hole in the boxes side and began shoveling the golden snack cakes into his mouth one by one. He choked a couple times after forgetting to remove the wrappers, sputtering tiny chunks of sponge cake and cream filling to the floor. His ears perked on end, scanning the area for the source of a group of faint shouting he could barely hear over his loud chewing. Pinpointing the target, she crept from box to box toward a shut door, his cheeks still full of the sugary goodness.
Behind the door he could make out three separate voices, two male and one female. He could only make a small handful of the words being thrown back and forth. It sounded like an argument was taking place in the other room, and it sounded quite serious. Fox jiggled the door's handle, discovering that it was locked. Locked doors were never a problem for him though, after all, what kind of space rogue would he be if he didn't know a thing or two about lock picking? Grinning mischievously, he pulled a small hairpin from his shoe's laces and inserted into the doors keyhole. He silently popped the lock open and slowly creaked the door.
"Look, I'm not here for trouble, just give me the disk and I'll be on my way."
"I don't have it!"
Those were the words Fox was greeted with as he tiptoed into the room. He quickly took cover behind a counter in front of him, it appears he had made his way into some sort of shop. He sat behind the desk listening in on the voices battle it out back and forth.
"You don't understand how important this could be, you're not safe to have it."
"I don't have the bloody disk, I told you already."
Fox slowly peeked up at the arguing parties. Recognizing the trio, he sprang up and seated himself onto the desk.
"Hey guys, I didn't know you knew each other," he shouted cheerfully, the arguing party stopped to stare at him, it was Wolf, Kitt and the shopkeeper he had met earlier. Leave it to Fox to lead the whole thing into one big circle.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Kitt shouted at the grinning vulpine.
"Ain't ya happy to see me?" McCloud whined back.
"I gotta hand it to you, you and dumb luck seem to go hand in hand," Wolf thanked him.
"Aww, aren't we all a happy family? Ok everybody, group hug," cheered the fox, leaping from the counter and wrapping his arms around Kitt and Wolf. They both looked at him oddly as they pulled themselves free.
"Knock it off McCloud, I'm here for one thing and hugs ain't it," Wolf growled, then turned back to Kitt. "Look, I'll make you a deal, you give me the disk, and I pay you 50 grand, we split the reward 50/50," he tried to reason with her calmly.
"No dice, I told you I don't have it," she snapped.
"Disk? What's an old space cowboy like you want with a disk? I'll give you the disk if you pay me 50 grand," Fox piped in.
"You don't have the disk, dumbass," Wolf sighed looking at the foolhardy vulpine.
"… Or do I?" Fox snickered, slipping a small, flat, circular object from the pocket hidden under the yellow stripe of his grass-colored pants. He arrogantly spun the disk on his right index finger as everyone's attention quickly shifted to him.
"How… How did you get that!" Kitt barked, checking her own pockets.
"You have it!" the wolf said in shock, "Fine, if that's the way you want it, then the 50,000 kei is yours."
"Nope, changed my mind," he smirked, tossing the disk into the air and catching it with his right hand before pocketing it again. "I bet this baby could get me even more on the black market. Tootles." The bells jingled as he scrambled back out of the building.
"Shit," Wolf huffed under his breath as he charged after the fleeing fox. Kitt joined pursuit quickly behind him.
Fox dove out onto the busy sidewalk in front of him, weaving in and out of the startled crowds. Wolf shoved his way in hot pursuit of McCloud, and Kitt right on O'Donnell's tail. The trio rushed through the crowd of people, leaping over benches and tables, scrambling over bike racks, and climbing over railings. Hoping to confuse the angry lupine, Fox dove between the legs of a young female zebra wearing a bright sun-dress, popping out in front of her with a wide devilish grin as she called for the authorities, creating a slight blockage of pedestrians in front of O'Donnell. This finally gave Kitt the opportunity to reached Fox's pursuer and tackled him, however she was unable to bring the wolf down. Fortunately she did slow him a bit until he pulled her off and tossed her into a nearby alley. Stunned, she glared at him before pulling herself to her feet, by then he had disappeared into the groups of passing people.
The streets of Carentith were just as busy as the sidewalks as hordes of aircars zoomed about at the will of the traffic signals. The light remained green for quite some time, Fox never was know for his patience, as he darted right into the heat of traffic. He flipped over and sprang off his hands onto a passing aircar. Wolf stared in awe as he watched his prey hitch a ride on an unsuspecting driver's vehicle. Fox waved at the lupine as the vehicle lead him downtown miles away.
"Go Fox, go Fox, it's your birthday," Fox chanted to himself as he danced atop the aircar. He did not notice the shady pair lurking in a darkened alley, however, they he was the one who wasn't unnoticed.
"That's him, ain't it," scowled on of the spectators, a suspicious rat dressed in a navy dress suit. The other was an equally shady looking red panda cloaked in a dark trench coat.
"45 grand, the kid's price just keeps goin' up," chucked his companion, lighting a cigarette sitting upon his lips. "StarFox isn't a small fry no more, bustin' outta the GP like that, he's got balls. But he's in the big leagues now." They hopped onto a pair of hoverbikes and silently stalked the unsuspecting vulpine.
Fox waited until he was well beyond the street he had met O'Donnell at, assuming his safety, he hopped of the vehicle's roof onto the pavement below. Whipping out the comic he had pilfered, he casually strolled along the sidewalk. Blindly following the direction he was facing, fate led him into a vacant parking garage. His giggling washed away into a disappointed moan as it became too dark to distinct the images on the paper. Sighing, he slid the comic back into his pocket.
"Alright, you can show yourself, I know you're there," he said calmly to the dimly lit room around him. Behind him, the shadowy pair emerged, both pointing a handgun to his back.
"Do you have any idea how much you're worth?" asked the rat in a gravelly voice.
"More then you'll ever get," McCloud boasted, "I'm disappointed, I'dve thought that you bounty hunters would be more of a challenge. I could hear you coming a mile away."
"Those are fighting words," replied the panda just as calmly, "If you're looking for trouble, you just found it."
"Bring it on." Fox slapped his bushy tail against their hands, knocking the weapons to the floor. He followed through with a turn kick aimed at the panda's jaw. The panda quickly reacted and grabbed ahold of the vulpine's right foot, painfully twisting it and dropping the pirate to the floor. Fox use the opportunity to slap the fallen handguns into the shadows. The rat growled, throwing punches at McCloud, who rolled about dodging the incoming blows. However, his dexterity was severely hindered by his leg still being in the panda's clutches and was eventually harnessed down. Fox yelped as a balled fist collided with his left eye. He continued to struggle to get free, but remained pinned down.
The panda, who had been holding McCloud's legs down, suddenly dropped beside him. Fox didn't let the opportunity to go to waste, kicking the rat off of him.
"Miss me?" Sandy orange hands wearing a red biker glove reached out and pulled the fox to his feet. The vixen flicked her pink and blonde bangs out of her face and grinned at her friend.
"Thanks Kitt!" Fox thanked her. Their reunion was cut short as the two bounty hunters each took attack on one of the foxes. The two vulpines flowed with the blows, fluidly dodging each attack and returning their own. They fought like clockwork, their moves were perfectly synchronized with each other's. They both threw a succession of punches and kicks as the caught and dodged that of their opponents. Fox finished his attacker with a rolling kick, sending the panda flying into a pillar and dropping unconscious. The rat frantically drew his trump card, a small explosive which he tossed at the vixen. It exploded in mid-air a few feet from her, the blast threw her into one of the few parked aircars. She too fell out cold.
Fox growled as he lunged for the rat. A sudden burst of pain rang from his left shoulder stopping him in his tracks. Blood trickled from the wound, he finally realized he was shot. He glanced back and saw the panda stagger back to his feet, one of the handguns Fox had knocked out of the way had reached his hands. Fox clamped his hand on his wound, the bullet had passed all the way through his body, leaving holes on both sides.
Fox looked back at the two hunters who were now closing in on him. His wound hurt like crazy, but that was the least of his worries. He was more concerned with what they might do to Kitt, who remained unconscious against the pillar. He watched as the panda pulled the trigger. Everything felt as if it were in slow motion, all he could hear was the beating of his own heart. The bullet inched its way out of the weapon, crawling its way right toward his spine. The bullet spiraled toward him. Inches before it hit him, he moved. Everything returned to normal speed, the bullet zinged past its target and into the wall behind it. The hunters stared at him in awe, he had just dodged the blazing shard of lead as if it were standing still. Fox seemed to have finally noticed how dangerous the hunters really were, freezing up and nervously shaking about letting out a nervous whine. The bounty hunters quickly shook out of awe and both aimed their weapons, surely he couldn't dodge both attacks.
That was the last thing they though before dropping to the floor. Fox turned around and looked at them. He knelt beside hunters, checking their pulse. He was relieved to see that they were still alive, just asleep. His eyes caught something strange, a tiny bolt remained lodged in each of their necks. He plucked one of the bolts and examined it, it was tipped with an odd residue. He laughed to himself, "Thanks, Peacekeeper," he muttered to himself.
On a level above Fox, O'Donnell smirked devilishly, flicking a burn out cigarette to the floor below. He pulled his sleeve back over his right arm, covering the tiny crossbow that had been mounted on it. He silently turned his back and walked out of the building.
Hours passed, Kitt had regained consciousness and the bounty hunters were found neatly wrapped before Carentith's police station from a mysterious "friend." Fox had gotten his wound treated back at the shop. Kitt handed the disk he had taken to the shopkeeper.
"Thanks much, I'll make sure this gets to the proper authorities before they try to get it back. Yup, we're sure throwing a monkey wrench in that ape's plans," chuckled the old shopkeeper. "Don't worry, I wont turn you guys in. But there's a little something I've been meaning to talk to you about boy," he turned to McCloud and softly told him in a serious tone, "Don't think I don't know about the Twinkies and magazines you took from me. I think it'll be proper for you to pay for those by scrubbing the toilets out in the back there, no?" He pointed out to the restrooms in the back, they looked as if they hadn't been cleaned in ages. "I kinda fell behind on that, my back isn't what it used to be yanno. Good to see today's youth willing to lend a hand," he handed a scrub brush to the fox and sent him on his way.
"Oh well, beats being in jail at least," Fox whined to himself as he set out to do his job. "Easy come, easy go."