Lots of time to write, little time to edit, and no time to upload to the site.
Chapter 48: Lost and Found
There's nothing quite like spending time among nature. I could spend hours just walking through the forests of Corneria, feeling the soft breeze flowing through my fur and the cool water running between my toes. I wonder if there's some way to spend some time here after the war doing the same… – Fara
Fara slowly woke from her nap with a yawn, keeping her eyes closed for just a while longer. She instead focused on the noises around her, wanting to listen to the sounds of nature instead of worrying about what was upcoming as far as the rest of her day went.
Unfortunately, what she heard was completely wrong.
Instead of the birds she'd been listening to when she dozed off, she heard little short of a lone cricket singing in the afternoon. The water that gurgled against her boat before had gone silent, making her wonder what was going on. And then there was a smell of death that permeated the air, instead of one of flowers and grass.
Confused, she cracked one eye open. It only took a moment before both eyes shot wide in shock.
She was not where she'd fallen asleep.
The biggest change from where she was before was the different vegetation. Or more accurately, the complete lack of it. There were no bushes. There was no grass. There was hardly any color at all.
All that her eyes could see was mud. Short of the motionless water her boat sat upon, everything else was thick, brown mud. Some of it looked dry, most of it looked wet, and all of it looked like it was waiting to grab her feet and suck her into its miry depths.
The trees that inhabited this region looked surprisingly alive and vibrant, at least compared to the boggy ground that they grew upon. Thick roots were visible above ground as they supported the large trunks and their many branches. Many of the limbs sported brown, fuzzy leaves of some sort, making her wonder how they compared to the forests she was used to visiting.
In another oddity, the trees were packed close enough together that they did an excellent job blocking out the late afternoon sun. What little sunlight streamed through made eerie, disjointed patterns on everything as a slight breeze caught the vegetation. She figured that was why there was so much sloppy looking mud underfoot, as the sun didn't have a chance at evaporating the standing water.
"How the heck did I end up in this swampy hellhole?" she quietly asked herself. Tired of looking out across the mud from her side, she pushed herself up into a sitting position and continued to mutter. "Fox better be—"
Short of her jacket, the other side of the boat was completely empty.
Panic welling up inside, the first thing she did was reach for her blaster. Much to her relief it was still underneath her. All other concerns pushed aside, she unsteadily stood up in the boat and searched for the vulpine.
She'd barely begun to look when she heard the sound of somebody squelching through the mud. Not taking any chances, her blaster was quickly drawn and pointed towards the noise. Her ears perked up as she determined that whoever it was, they were getting closer. But she couldn't tell from exactly where.
"Identify yourself!" she yelled as she tried to hide the nervousness in her voice.
"Fara? It's Fox!"
Relief flooded through Fara as she heard the vulpine's voice. For one horrible moment she thought that she'd have to travel through this dismal swamp alone, searching for the one she was so close to. It was not an adventure she wanted to partake in.
She remained standing as she listened to the approaching teammate, her weapon back in its holster. She had a paw nearby however, incase she needed to use it. She knew the powers of Andross and she was not going to be caught unprepared after their last encounter.
She beamed as Fox finally appeared from behind a clump of trees, continuing his march through the ankle-deep mud. Without even thinking of the consequences, she vaulted over the edge of the boat into the water below.
"Fara, the ground there—"
She splashed into the still river, the water coming up to her knees. Unfortunately, that wasn't all she landed in. The ground itself was anything but solid as she sank up to her calves in thick mud.
"–is really soft."
Fara gasped as she felt the mud encircle her boots. She threw her weight forward and pulled at her legs, but found that the mire had already locked like a vice around her feet. Her fears of being trapped rose to the forefront of her thoughts as she switched tactics and reached underwater to grab her left knee and pull for all she was worth.
She discerned movement towards freedom when she heard a muted laugh from in front of her. Not letting up on her struggle, she let out her frustration of getting into such a stupid situation. "What are you laughing at?"
"Nothing."
Fara could feel movement from her left leg, and took that as a sign that she was almost free. Her guess was correct she found out, as it came loose a few seconds later. She put her foot onto more dry ground and used the additional leverage to work her other leg free.
Upon regaining her mobility, she moved close to Fox and wrapped her arms around his chest as she was so thankful to see him again. Much to her surprise, he was slow to respond to the attention. "Fox, what's wrong?"
He looked down at her as he replied. "This is just…sudden, that's all."
Sudden? She thought back to their close encounter earlier in the day, as well as the recent times she'd gotten through his defenses to try to find how he felt. She let go and stepped back, careful to not fall into the water. "What's the last thing you remember?"
Fox turned around and took a few steps away from her, as if in embarrassment. "I…remember shooting at Andross in the river. I hit his cube, and then I just fell. I…don't remember what happened after that. Why?"
She mentally cursed. This seemed like the time that Fox finally showed his closeness towards her, and he'd simply forgotten about it thanks to his trauma. "Don't worry about it." She cautiously approached, watchful of her footing as she continued. "How do you feel?"
"I…feel fine. A bit sore in spots, but fine."
She looked him up and down, not fully believing him after what had happened. But he looked as good as she'd remembered him being in the past. "Where'd you wander off to earlier? You scared the daylights out of me when I woke up."
He looked around before turning his attention back on her. "I was trying to figure out where we were and I didn't want to wake you. Do you have any idea where this place is?"
"Your guess is as good as mine. However…" She paused and reached into a pouch on her backpack and pulled out the still damp map that Pepper printed out earlier in the day. "I think it's pretty obvious that we've ended up in this nameless swamp at the end of the river. But how we got here is another matter entirely."
Fox stayed quiet as she walked back to the boat. Much to her surprise, her craft was completely empty short of her jacket and the lone paddle she'd used earlier. "Isn't that just great," she muttered.
"What's wrong?"
She leaned forward at the water's edge, not wanting to spend any additional time in the gluey mud she'd jumped into earlier. Straining, she got enough of a grip on the boat to pull it closer to shore. "I tied the rope I had to a bush I found on the edge of the river. The other end was around my wrist. I guess I slipped it off somehow while I was sleeping."
"Sounds like it."
With a final tug, the boat grounded itself into the mud next to her. She reached in and grabbed her jacket. She slipped off her backpack and juggled it around in her paws as she put her jacket back on. Satisfied with how it fit, her backpack went on again. "Come on," she said as she squelched through the mud towards Fox. "I'm tired of this damned swamp already."
"Where to?"
"To the north, silly. Towards Andross."
"I know that," he replied as they met up and began walking. "I thought you had something more specific in mind."
"I do." Feeling more secure with Fox right next to her, she began looking at the trees nearby. "I'm just trying to find it."
Not locating any trees in the area that looked sturdy enough to climb, the pair continued their trek through the mud. Fara absolutely hated walking through the stuff as it constantly grabbed at her ankles, threatening to suck off her boots with practically every step. After almost losing a boot for the fifth time, she stopped long enough to fully tighten the straps up top. She knew she'd be uncomfortable after a while, but at least she wouldn't lose her footwear.
After a few minutes, they came to a triad of trees that looked to be at war with each other. Many of the leafy brown branches were intertwined with their neighbors, each fighting to be closer to the sun's limited light. As far as her eyes could tell, these were some of the tallest trees in the area as well. Something she'd been looking for, as she wanted to make sure they were traveling in the right direction.
"You think you can climb that?" asked Fox.
She gave him a strange look. "Of course I can climb this. There hasn't been a tree yet that I can't climb into." She looked back towards the trees and wondered why the vulpine would ask such a stupid question. With the branches wrapped together like they were, she'd have plenty of paw and foot holds at the lower levels. She couldn't tell how it looked up top as the leaves were simply too thick from her viewpoint.
"Need anything?"
"Yeah." After pulling her compass out, she stripped off her backpack and held it out for the vulpine to take. Her eyes remained on the trees as she visually charted a path up as far as she could see. "You can take my backpack again."
"Okay."
Freed of the weight and balance issues her pack would've caused, she buttoned up her jacket and made sure that it wouldn't catch on anything during her climb. She debated on passing her blaster over to Fox, but she'd climbed with it before. Another journey up with it on wasn't going to affect anything. While it would leave her teammate defenseless, they both could hear anybody approaching from a long distance away. She could always toss it down if he needed it that badly, anyway.
"I'll see you in a bit, Fox." She tapped her helmet. "Yell if you need anything." She then walked off towards her goal.
Or at least tried to.
Fara whirled her arms in an attempt to keep her balance after she tried to take a step forward and failed. She looked down at the mud that circled above her ankles, and after a few experimental tugs, found that the mire had congealed into a near solid from the time she'd spent standing still looking at the trees.
Muttering curse words at her situation once again, she leaned forward and yanked hard at her mired feet. She tried her left leg, then her right, then her left again before she finally broke free with a sickening slurp. She almost lost her balance a second time as her foot plopped into the mud in front of her, but she stayed upright with difficulty.
Her other foot was freed shortly thereafter with the same application of brute force, allowing her to walk again. Ignoring the muted snickers from her teammate, she worked her way to her goal, stepping free of the mud completely as she climbed on top of one of the many large roots surrounding the tree.
She kicked the bark a few times and tried to dislodge the muck that found a permanent home on her boots before she turned her attention to the lowest branch of the tree. After brushing her paws on her pants, she jumped up and grabbed the tree limb. She hung there for only a moment before pulling herself up, and from there her climb started.
The climb itself was difficult physically for her tired body but not mentally, allowing her mind to concentrate upon some of the things that had been nagging her ever since she woke up. Fox was acting weird in her mind. Really weird.
She reminded herself that near-death experiences tended to change the most hardened of people as she pushed a few of the bulky leaves out of her way. She was the perfect example of that when she almost didn't make it home from deep space that one mission a few weeks back. Her Arwing almost became her grave.
But what had happened to Fox's protective side? What happened to him always wanting to be close to her? Had something just snapped in him? Or was there something even bigger going on that she didn't know of?
Maybe it wasn't Fox down there at all.
She shuddered at that thought and pushed it out of her head. That had to be Fox down below. It was definitely him when she pulled him out of the river earlier. Could he have been taken right under her nose when she was asleep? And what about what Fay had told her yesterday?
She didn't have time to worry further as she realized that she'd broken through the tree line. It surprised her at first, as she didn't think she'd been climbing for very long. She pulled herself onto another strong branch and looked around in an attempt to judge her height.
As near as she could tell based on the trees that she could see around her, she was only 50 or 60 feet off the ground. She couldn't tell for sure, as she couldn't see the ground except in random spots thanks to the dense leaves spreading outward from the tree all around. She looked up and found that she still had some distance to go if she wanted to reach the top.
The thick branches easily supported her weight as her gaze wandered northward. A relatively short distance away, she spotted an unnaturally large gap in the tree cover. As far as she knew, there was only one thing that would explain that large of an opening – Andross' base.
Pulling out her compass, she made a mental note of which direction they needed to go to reach their goal. As far as she could tell, they only had one or two miles to go. One or two miles through sucking mud, unfortunately.
She was about to switch on her headset and report her findings when Fox yelled at her from below. "Find anything yet?"
A chill worked its way up Fara's spine from the question. It wasn't because it was unusual, or from the fact that the vulpine didn't use his headset to communicate, but because his tone sounded…hostile.
Now she was worried. Very worried.
"I'm still climbing, Fox," she hollered back. "Is your helmet not working or something?"
"No, it's not. Let me know when you get to the top."
"I will."
Fara silently cursed as she thought of the vulpine below. Was it Fox down there, being mind controlled, or was he just acting absurdly strange? Or was she facing one of Andross' androids again? She fingered her blaster, grateful to have it with her on this climb. That, and the chance for a surprise attack, was her only advantages right now.
She just needed to know if it was Fox in the flesh and blood or not.
Looking down, she tried to trace down the source her teammate's voice. It didn't take long before she gave up. There was simply too much foliage between her and the ground.
That didn't deter her though. She had to know the answer. After testing the strength of the branch she was on once more, and still just as impressed with the results as she was before, she slowly walked away from the relative safety of the tree.
The wide, brown leaves rustled underneath the branch as the limb bent slightly to accept her weight. Holding her arms out wide, she continued to inch along. She could see a spot where the leaves seemed to thin out up ahead. If she was lucky, she'd be able to see the ground from there.
The branch creaked underneath her, as if warning her not to continue. She took the hint and stopped. To her relief, she found herself above her goal. After making sure of her balance, she looked down through the leaves.
She struck gold with her findings.
What looked to be about 60 feet or so beneath her was Fox. The vulpine was pacing back and forth in the mud and constantly looking upwards. And it looked like he was armed.
Armed? Fara knew that he was unarmed before she started climbing, and she knew she didn't have another weapon inside her backpack. In addition, he simply didn't have a place to store one with his jacket and holster missing. Where did that weapon come from?
She crouched down on the thick branch and brought a paw up to her helmet, activating the binoculars installed there. She zoomed in on Fox's paws, her heart skipping a beat as she focused on what he was wielding.
It was most definitely a blaster. But it wasn't anything that Corneria or its allies used in battle. In fact, unless her guess was wrong as she hadn't seen too many up close, it looked more like a Venomian weapon. The style was completely different compared to what she was carrying.
Fara's breath came in short gasps as she concluded that she'd have to fight yet another one of Andross' androids. There was no other explanation as to his aggressive and non-protective stance, a weapon that suddenly appeared out of nowhere that wasn't his, and questions that simply made no sense considering what he should know.
But could she shoot Fox, even though she knew it wasn't him?
Shaking her head at that dreadful thought, she knew she had only one lone advantage. She had the element of surprise. She knew how to kill her target. It was also counterbalanced by the fact that she had very precarious footing. Getting into a blaster fight while up in a tree wasn't exactly a good idea.
It was all about her first shot. She had to destroy the android with it.
Still trying to control her rapid breathing, she pulled out her blaster. She looked down the sights at her target via her binoculars and made sure of her aim. She couldn't afford to miss.
Finding a pattern in the android's movements, she flipped the switch to charge her blaster. Her target continued to scan the trees above while she waited the few short seconds for her weapon to come online. "Please don't see me," she murmured silently.
Her blaster's muted chirp, informing her it was charged, was all it took to give away her position.
Fara watched as Fox came to an immediate stop and turned his head to look directly at her. As his weapon moved into position to attack, she shot off a quick prayer that he was truly an android as she fired her own.
The bolt lanced through the space between them. It looked like a perfect shot, one aimed directly at the vulpine's chest. But it was not to be.
Fox leaned forwards on his ankles and positioned himself so he was almost horizontal, just inches above the mud. The shot passed through where his chest was moments before and ended up striking the mud between his legs.
The supercharged shot still caused the mire to erupt in a small explosion and sent the vulpine arcing through the air. As he flew, he somehow twisted his body right-side up into a firing position and wasted no time in counterattacking.
Panicking, Fara pushed off with her feet and jumped backwards into the denser foliage. Blaster shots missed her by inches and singed her fur. One shot whizzed by her face close enough to momentarily blind her from the flash. She gagged as she got a whiff of the ionized air left in the shot's passing.
Luck was on her side as she landed. The branch swayed under her sudden impact but held with a groan. Blinking her eyes in an attempt to clear the tears streaming from them, she inched backwards and felt the way with her paws. She had to get back to the relative safety of the tree's core.
Then, as suddenly as the attack started, it stopped.
Fara let out the breath she was holding as she felt her back press against the rough bark of the tree. She wiped her eyes clear, powered down her blaster, and used her paws to mask her breathing as she debated on her next move.
Instead, the android did. "It seems that my deception wasn't good enough," he yelled. "How did you know?"
"What do you want?" she yelled to one side as she tried to hide her location best she could. Now that she could see again, she quietly climbed to the other side of the tree.
"What do I want? I want a slow and torturous death for you and that damnable McCloud. I was hoping this swamp would do you in quite nicely, but it seems that you just don't want to die."
"Where is he?" Her request came out more as a panicked demand.
A triad of blaster bolts struck the tree near where Fara was before she started climbing away. Silenced ensued for a few seconds before Fox responded. "Your beloved vulpine is within my clutches. And that's all you need to know, as you aren't leaving this tree alive."
Now with the tree's trunk between her and the android, Fara chanced her safety by activating the homing beacon installed in hers and Fox's headset. She didn't know exactly how the system worked, but she knew that the other headset would be able to track it wherever she was.
It had only one small side effect – the android below was able to track the signal as well.
A blaster shot crashed into the tree behind her, quickly followed up by a half dozen more. Chunks of bark flew into the skies as she hurriedly flipped off the beacon. Knowing her position was compromised, she grabbed hold of the branch she was sitting on and dropped down to a lower level.
The tree shuddered one final time from the blasts before silence ruled over the swamp again. A silence that didn't last as Fox's voice echoed through the trees once more. "Do you seriously believe you can simply hide up there until your so called help arrives?"
Fara remained quiet as she looked around for an escape route incase he started shooting again. But all she could see around her were the leaves and branches of the intertwined trees. Their closeness however, gave her an idea how to turn the tables on this lopsided battle.
Suddenly, the tree started to shudder again, accompanied by the sounds of blaster fire. She sat confused for a moment, as the shots weren't aimed in her general direction at all. Instead, based on how the entire tree shook, they were focused at the base itself.
The answer struck her like a Nova Bomb – the android was going to cut down the tree she was sitting in.
With no time to waste, she hurriedly rose to her feet and stuck her blaster back in its holster. After making one last glance at the nearby trees, she chose the one on her right and started to run as fast as she could to relative safety.
The branch creaked under her weight as well as shook from the continued attacks from below. Looking forward, she could make out where the branch she was on ended and where her salivation lay. It was only moments away.
She didn't get that time, as the tree picked that moment to start its rapid descent towards the ground.
Fara took one final step before she vaulted into the air. She threw her arms forward and reached for the nearby branch as gravity took control of her momentum.
She missed.
The outstretched tips of her fingers brushed uselessly against her goal, unable to do anything to slow her movement. The large leaves offered no support either as she ripped right through them.
Just as she reached over with her paws to fire off her jetpack boots to stop her rapid descent, her right foot landed hard on a sturdy branch hidden under the leafy canopy. Left stunned in pain from the unexpected stop, she toppled forward and rolled right off the branch.
Instinctively she grabbed hold of the limb as she started to fall again and finally brought her downward momentum to a jarring halt.
Gritting her teeth from the pain in her foot, Fara pulled herself up. It took only a few seconds, but those seconds felt far longer as she struggled to get a foothold upon the branch.
Ignoring her pain, she carefully turned around and looked out into the swamp. The android was still out there somewhere, and she had to know if it had heard her escape.
While she still couldn't see a thing thanks to the concentration of leaves around her, the noise of the tree crashing to the ground was deafening compared to the silence she had grown accustomed to. A minute passed before quiet returned to the swamp. Her ears twisted forward and strained to hear anything.
And then she heard it – the unmistakable sound of somebody walking through the mud below.
She silently pushed the leaves in front of her out of her way and tried to find the android below. She had to find out where he was and what he was doing.
She had to kill him before he figured out where she was.
After a few seconds she spotted the android below, poking his way through the fallen tree. Based on how he was easily snapping the smaller branches in half as he walked by, she could tell that he was pissed off.
Just as she brought up her blaster, the android stopped in mid-step and tilted his head to one side, as if he'd heard something. Fara froze, hoping against hope that she hadn't been detected. She knew that she wouldn't survive a second encounter with the mechanical beast if she had.
The android turned around and scanned the area. His blaster followed his movements as he looked, ready to fire without hesitation. Fara felt her heart jump as his eyes passed near her hiding spot, but he didn't stop. Instead, he focused on a location some distance behind her, on the ground.
Forcing herself to take a muffled breath, Fara concentrated on her hearing. It didn't take long before she heard what she assumed was the same thing the android did.
It was somebody else hurriedly approaching their location.
Fara looked around and tried to spot the newcomer, but there was too much foliage in her way. She didn't need to see who it was as the person yelled out from somewhere below her not too long afterwards. "Where's Fara!"
It was Fox.
Relief flooded through the vixen as she heard her teammate's voice. It was a voice she wasn't sure she'd ever hear again, not after he was taken away from her earlier.
But was it really Fox? Or was it just a very elaborate ruse to get her to reveal her location?
She slowly inched her blaster into a firing position as the android spoke up. "Your beloved vixen had an accident, I'm afraid." He gestured behind him with his head. "Gravity has this wonderful effect on people when they fall from high places."
Fara heard Fox roar in agony and then open fire with what she assumed was a stolen Venomian weapon. The shots ripped through the android's clothing, but as she expected, left the robot itself completely unharmed.
Her shot, however, wouldn't have the same effect.
As the two exchanged fire, Fara silently bided her time as her weapon charged up its killing shot. It only took a few seconds, seconds in which she hoped that Fox wouldn't get himself killed wherever he was below.
As soon her blaster gave off its trademark beep, she pulled hard on the trigger.
In the moment before impact, she thought she saw a look of surprise on the android's face, but she couldn't be sure as the bolt struck him squarely in the chest. The resulting explosion sent him hurtling through the air, his flight coming to a sudden stop as he crashed into a nearby tree. His lack of movement and the gaping hole through his chest told her that she'd won.
But what about the other Fox below her? Was it truly the real one? As her position was compromised thanks to her firing, there was only one way to find out.
Adrenaline coursed through her veins as Fara rapidly descended the tree. She winced every time her right foot connected with something solid, but it felt like it was still in one piece.
With a grunt, she landed on the tree's roots. She looked around for Fox, her blaster still drawn and ready for any eventualities.
The vulpine was standing idly by only a few feet away, blaster drawn. What relief his expression showed turned to mild shock as she aimed her weapon directly at his chest. "What are you doing?" he asked.
"Identify yourself!" she yelled back.
"What?"
"Prove to me you aren't another of Andross' screwed up creations, or else I'll do the same to you!" As if to prove her point, her blaster beeped again.
Fara watched as Fox's eyes locked with hers, as if he was trying to judge how serious she was about shooting. She ignored his stare and kept watch on his limbs instead, to ensure he didn't try to raise his weapon.
After what seemed like ages, but was only a few seconds, he replied. "Remember the simulators for the Arwings?"
"Yeah."
"You were my final combatant after Falco was crushed the day Pepper decided it was a bright idea to let us shoot at each other, albeit hidden at the time."
Fara sighed in relief and put her blaster back into its holster. She wasted no time as she jumped off the root and ran towards the vulpine, overjoyed in knowing that this had to be the Fox she knew so well. She all but leaped into his smiling form and wrapped him up in a tight hug.
"I guess I passed?" he asked playfully as he strongly returned the affection.
"Yes, silly, you did." She pulled back slightly and looked at him as her smile faded. "I…I didn't know if I'd see you again."
"You can't get rid of me that easily, Fara." He frowned. "As it was though, if you didn't send out that homing beacon via your helmet, I don't know if I would've found you."
"Yeah. This swamp looks like it's huge."
Fox released his hold much to her regret and looked around. "How the heck did we get here, anyway? I remember a little when I woke up after falling off the waterfall, but…"
"Are we still continuing on with this mission?" She knew Fox's answer to that question already, but she figured she might as well ask.
"After all of this? Oh yeah."
"Let's get this android's weapon and my backpack and I'll tell you on the way. Andross' base isn't all that far from here."
"Deal."
After pausing only long enough to add another weapon to their arsenal, the pair trudged through the swamp towards their goal, Fara retelling her entire experience after she fell off the waterfall.
