Cougar Hunt- You are, like, my favorite person in the world. And to
answer your comment, yes, I've noticed I've put the other stories on hold.
I think I may actually try to finish one of them after I finish this one.
It's just that I hit a roadblock with them. Thank you for reminding me
though. You gave me inspiration!! God I love you. Oh I almost forgot!!
You get a free fortune told! Just lemme gaze into my crystal ball. . . .
. . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . hmmmm. . . . . . .. . . . . .
Ahhhhh, I see, well, you are a very smart person and you hold onto family life (Am I right, huh?). You like reminiscing on past experiences, but only the good ones. You don't mind speaking your mind when you know it'll help someone (Like me!) but you know when not to say something. You're smart and have a lot of common sense. And (unlike me) you like to finish projects you start.
Well, was I close?!?!?!
REVIEW!!
Two weeks passed since Fox's first word. Everyone, including Freeman, thought he was making great progress. Only downfall was that Fox would only talk to Sheryl. Numberless times many men have tried. They even threatened Fox with hurting him or his friends.
Once, it got so bad, that Freeman lost his temper and grabbed Fox by the neck, choking him. As Freeman yelled and screamed at Fox to answer his questions, the vulpine continued to choke and cough for air.
It was Sheryl that ran into the room and saved Fox. Watching from behind the mirror, she darted from the watching room to save him. As she opened the door, Fox was kicking and throwing his arms around to stop the attack from the older man.
"Stop it! Agent Freeman, take your hands off my patient, or so help me God, I'll have you written up for this!" Sheryl screamed, trying to pull his arms free from Fox's neck.
"He is not only your patient. He is government property and not obeying our commands." He replied simply. His grip on the young fox's neck didn't loosen.
"If you do not let him go, I will kill you right here." She said, pulling her gun out of her side holster and pointing it at the angry agent. He stared back at her.
Dropping Fox on the bed, he walked towards the door. Sheryl put her gun away and rushed to Fox's side, who was holding his neck. The shivers started over again. Great, we've been doing so well with holding back the tremors She thought.
"Get out!" She yelled at Freeman, who lingered at the door. Rolling his eyes at the angry lady, he walked out.
"Are you ok? Fox, I'm so sorry that happened." She asked. Being motherly, she pulled him into a warm embrace. Feeling content and safe, Fox wanted to spend the whole day in her arms. Without even noticing, his started to whimper and cry. Sheryl pulled away.
"Y-you promised." Fox whimpered, looking into her eyes.
"I know, I know." She said, petting his head again. "Fox, why don't you answer them? If you just answer them, they won't be pressuring so much."
"I-I know. And I try . . .I r-r-really do." Fox said, whimpering, trying to hold back tears. "But I just c-can't talk to them. They re-really scare me."
"I know they do. But why do you think that is?"
Fox sniffed. "Because of the stories I-I-I heard about you humans."
Sheryl looked confused. "Stories? What do you mean?"
"My father used to tell me stories of humans. Stories of how they treat visitors."
"No, that's not right. You're the first alien-err, visitor to this planet. There must have been some kind of mistake." She said, looking down in concentration. Being part of the government, she would have known about any kind of aliens.
Before Fox could respond, Agent Freeman rushed into the room. As Fox slammed his body against the wall in fear and fright, Sheryl stood up, ready for another quarrel. Freeman held up his hand, noticing the defensive women.
"Don't worry, I'm not coming back for round two. We have an emergency." Freeman explained, stopping and shooting glare at Fox. Fox shot it right back.
"What is it?" Sheryl asked, putting her defense down.
"The president wants to know how the guest is doing." He said.
"Tell him Fox's vitals are alright. Tell him the progress he's been doing." Sheryl explained, adding a little smile at the end. She was so proud of him.
"Well, if only it was that easy. The president is here. He wants to meet him. See him for himself."
Fox's eyes darted from Freeman to Sheryl and back to Freeman. This was so over whelming. He didn't want to meet the head human. He didn't want to meet any humans, least the most powerful.
"No, no." She said, shaking her head. "He's not ready for anymore visitors, especially today. We've pushed him to far for him to break. Mr. President will just have to wait another month or two."
It was Freemen's turn to shake his head. "Nope, he won't wait. He wants to meet him now, today."
"Why can't he meet one of the others that came off the ship?" Sheryl was getting frantic. Why wouldn't these people just let her do her job?
"The president doesn't want to travel far. Plus, when the others were questioned about who they work for, they said Fox McCloud, and that would be him." He said, looking down at Fox. Panic filled his eyes, along with confusion.
"No, no." Was all Sheryl could say, she had run out of defenses. She knew whatever she said would be futile.
"Dr. Henning, I'm not asking for your permission, I'm telling you." He said in his most uptight voice he could muster.
"And why must you inform me of this?" She replied in her most snotty voice.
"Because, we've taken notice that the little brat will only talk to you. So, we need you to ask him questions."
"No. I refuse . . . . .respectfully." She said, adding a little grin.
"Dr. Henning, this is an order, not a request." He said, walking towards the door. "Have him ready in about ten minutes. The president doesn't like to wait."
And with that, he turned and left. Sheryl, a little turned upside down from the fight, turned to a flustered fox.
"So, what's going to happen?" Fox asked, as Sheryl sat down. She took his paws in her hands. God, She thought, why do I always feel so bad for him?
"Nothings going to happen. Several men are going to come in here. One of them is a very powerful man, so please be good. He basically decides what happens to you. Um, and they're going to have a list of questions for me to ask you. Don't you worry about any of the men in the room, all right? Just focus on me. We don't need you going into any tremors." She explained standing up.
Fox didn't say a word, just watched her leave the room and inform the other men that he was ready. In reality, he wasn't ready at all. It was mind- boggling how this one man decides his fate.
Before he could think anymore, the door opened. First in came Sheryl, with a wide grin on her face. Fox could tell it was a phony smile. She was just trying to brighten things up.
After her came Agent Freeman. No emotion was spotted on his face. He just trudged into the room, residing a little off to the side.
Men just began to file in one after another, when finally, the president walked inside the room. Right away Fox could tell which one he was. Wearing a casual looking suit, Fox could he was a family man, but could tell he was straight down to work with the serious face. The President sensed the stare from the vulpine and looked back, a smile creeping across his face and nodded his head a little, a sign of saying hello. The gesture made Fox feel a little more comfortable.
Sheryl situated herself on the chair next to the bed where Fox sat crossed legged Indian style. His tail was dangling off to the side, swaying every once in a while. In her hands was a sheet of white paper. She smiled at him.
"Well, Mr. President, this is Fox." Sheryl said, turning to look at the president.
"Ah, is that his name, or just what we call him?" He asked her, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh, it's his name sir." She said. Fox chuckled a little as she became tense with talking to the president. His guess was that she didn't get to see a lot of important people, even if she was part of the government.
"How do we know that? Did he have some kind of ID on him?" The president asked.
"Uh, no he did not. But he confirms it's his name." She said.
"Oh. Go ahead with the questions then." He replied, crossing his arms and staring at Fox.
"Ok Fox, just look at me, don't look at them. We don't want you getting all nervous again." She said, turning his head with her hand.
"Nervous?" The president asked.
"Uh, Yes Sir, he goes into tremors when he's around a lot people, other than me." She explained.
"I see. Well, it seems you have a very special bond with him then." The president said. Sheryl just nodded.
"Ok, well, Fox. Can you state your full name for me?" Sheryl asked him.
"Yeah, Fox James McCloud." Fox replied, keeping control of himself. He needed to keep control this time because this one mad decided his fate.
"Great. Can you state where you were born?" Sheryl said, looking down at the paper with questions. Never had she ever-asked Fox where he came from. It always seemed to straight forward for their casual conversations.
"Yeah, sure. Um. . . .St. Johns Hospital." He answered.
"Can you tell me what city that's in?"
"Uh, Corneria City."
"What country is that?"
Fox was confused. "Country? You mean planet? Well, its on Corneria." Fox said, looking around at the confused faces. The presidents' face was only full of concern.
"Ok, Fox. That's fine. Um, what planet are you from?" She asked, looking up from the paper. She was secretly wishing he wouldn't loose it from the questions.
Fox's eyes darted around the room, looking at the faces, wondering what they were thinking.
"Fox?" Sheryl said, turning his head again, to look at her.
"Huh? Oh sorry. Uh, I'm from Corneria. That's where I grew up." He responded.
"Ok. Um, what universe is that?"
"Um. . ," Fox said. Why were these questions so hard? "The Lylat System."
"Where is that?" She asked.
Fox thought hard how to answer this. "Um. I don't, I'm not sure how I got here. It was an accident. I have no idea where I am. Only that I'm on Earth." Fox rambled on. The president took interest in the turn of the conversation. Fox was getting flustered and was talking a lot more, especially around other people.
"Well, we're in the Milky Way. Does that help?"
"The Milky Way. . . The Milky Way. . ." Fox said, thinking. "God, I've heard that before at the academy."
"Academy?" Sheryl asked.
"Oh yeah, sorry, not aware I was thinking out loud. Yeah, the academy is where I went to school."
"What kind of academy?"
"A military academy. I went there for 8 years." He explained. "And I remember doing a research project on the different universes. Milky Way. . ."
It dawned on him. He remembered. It was right next to the Krakic System, which was a friendly universe. If he could make it to the Krakic System he would be able to make it home . . .
"Fox? Do you know where it is?" Sheryl asked, watching Fox's face light up.
"Yeah, yeah I do. I did a huge research paper on different universes. Took like three months. Yeah, I had, like, a page and a half of the Milky Way." Fox explained.
"So, do you know how to get back to your home planet from here?" The president asked. This totally caught Fox and Sheryl off guard. The Presidents stare didn't leave Fox's green eyes, and Fox just looked at the President, deciding what to say.
"Sir, he doesn't-" Sheryl started.
"No, no I don't." Fox quickly said. The president just nodded, not stirred.
"Why don't you know how to get back?" Sheryl asked.
"Uh, we slipped through a time and warp cut in space. It threw off our whole ship. Nothing was working. Not even our arwings." Fox said. As he said the last word, he mentally slapped himself.
"An arwing?" The president said with concern in his voice. He walked towards Fox who started to shake a little bit.
"Sir please-" Sheryl said, trying to stop him.
"No, I want to know what it is." He said. "Well?"
"T-those are our planes. They're called arwings. Did anything happen to them?" Fox asked, looking up into the presidents' face.
"No, in fact, we got them working for a little while, but we don't know how to keep them working. We've just, sort of, jump started them." The president explained, looking down into Fox's widening eyes.
"R-Really? I-I-Is my arwing ruined? Did you take it apart? What happened to it? It was a present from my fath-" Fox started, panicking and starting to stand up.
"Fox, sit down." Sheryl said, she wished this would just stop.
"Your arwing is fine, relax. We just wish that we knew how to use it. It's a great creation, really. In fact, we laughed a little at the thought of a simple vulpine flying something that great before man." The president said, chuckling a little.
"Y-You are the president, right?" Fox asked, still standing. He was very short compared to the president. The president nodded.
"Do y-you think I can get some of my things from my ship, that is if I'm going to be here for a while, but being a mercenary, I have a feeling I won't be leaving." Fox asked, giving more information away about him.
"First, I don't think it will be a problem getting some of your things. I bet you're getting tired of wearing the same thing over and over again. Plus, I would love to ask you a few questions about things we have found on the ship-" The president began.
"If it was in Falco's room, don't even ask." Fox interrupted. The president laughed a little.
"No no. Just things we have found. A weird gun-"
"Ah, my blaster." Fox said, smiling a little. "I hope you didn't break it. It was new and expensive."
"See, that's what I want to learn about, your different weapons and such. Also, some kind of device we found that I've been curious about. Here, I brought it." The president said, pulling out a little miniature machine from his pocket. Fox strained to see it.
The president watched a smile spread across Fox's face as he took out his communicator. He showed it to Fox.
"We have no idea how to work it. We have no idea even what it is." The president said, showing it up.
"It's my communicator." Fox explained. "May I?"
The president dropped the device into the open paw of Fox's. Fiddling with it, Fox just couldn't make it work.
"Must have gotten broken when we landed. Ah, hold on, I think I've got it." He said, pulling a few open wires together. Everyone watched intently.
"What does it do?" The president asked.
"It's a communicator, what do you think it does? Would you like me to communicate with someone from my planet? That is, if it decides to work." Fox asked.
"Uh......I'm not sure how hostile you guys are."
Fox chuckled. "Typical. I don't blame you for wondering but believe me we're not. Oh shit, I need my wristband to communicate. Damn it. When you took things off of me, did you take anything off my arms?"
"I believe so, why?" The president asked.
"Because that's what I need to use to send calls. When you give it to me, you'll see a show." Fox said, handing back the communicator.
"Ok. Oh, you said something about being a mercenary?" He asked, watching Fox sit down on the bed again.
"Yeah, that's what I do for a living. We're part of a team, all of us." Fox explained. This was getting really old, really fast to him. He just wanted it to stop. He glanced at Sheryl, who was watching Fox. The Vulpine could tell what kind of stare she was giving him. It was a stare of proud ness.
"So, you fight wars for money?" The president pressed.
"Yeah, basically." Fox replied.
"I see. Oh here, we always retrieved these, it looks like a photo album, but has a password on it." The president said, taking a big album from a man off to the side.
It was a photo album, but on the top of the album were a little computer window and a keyboard with odd symbols. Fox took the album, speechless. Without saying a word, he dialed in the password, and opened up the album.
The president walked over to the side of Fox, looking at the pictures on the first page. There was one of a red male fox and female fox in the hospital. The female fox laid in a bed, holding a baby fox.
"Thank you for bringing this. This means the world to me. It's all I have left." Fox whispered, running his paw over the picture of his mother, father, and him.
"Who are these people?" The president asked.
"These are my parents and I." He said, pointing to the McCloud's first family picture. Fox flipped to the middle of the album and opened up to a picture of Fox and his father standing in a hanger. In the background were two arwings, identical.
"This is when I first got my arwing." Fox explained. He closed his eyes, reminiscing.
"So, families are close where you come from?" The president said, pulling Fox back to reality.
"It all depends on who you talk to. My family was until. . . the accidents." Fox said, opening up a little towards the front to reveal a picture of him, Falco, Fara, Katt, Bill, and Slippy all at the academy during a kegger. Fox still doesn't remember how he drank half a bottle of Everclear that night.
"Who are these people?" The president asked pointing.
"Friends." Fox said. He opened up to a page with him, his father, and his mother all on vacation at Zoneness, before it became horrible, when it was beautiful. Pulling out the picture, the president just watched in silence.
Fox closed the book, but instead of pressing 'lock' on the keypad, he pressed 'open'. He lifted the book up to the presidents' face.
"Here, you keep it. It'll help you learn stuff about our planet and the way we live. To be honest, it's not very much different." Fox explained as the president took the book.
"Thank you. We'll set up a date when we can take you to the site where your stuff is and your plane. You can explain things to us." The president said, getting ready to leave the room.
"Um . . . when will I be able to return home?" Fox asked. Everyone that was filing out, stopped to hear the response.
"Hmmm, we're not sure. But we'll keep you updated." He said, and started to leave. Fox stood up.
"Sir, I'm a mercenary." Fox outbursted. All eyes were on him. "I've probably killed so many people that were prisoners to us, it's not even funny. Sir, what I'm trying to say it, I know what the phrase, 'we'll keep you updated' means. Please don't leave me wondering here. Now, when will you send me home?"
A sad smile crossed the presidents' face. "I'm sorry, Mr. McCloud, as much as I would love to send you on your way home back to your family and friends, it's not entirely my decision. We still have a lot to learn about your planet. And most of all, we don't know if you'll come back with an army to attack us. Its obvious that you're smarter than us."
"So, basically, I'm just a freak show and the curtain never closes." Fox said sadly, turning around, and getting on the bed.
"I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best, that is, if you do your best." The president said, surprising everyone, including Fox.
Fox turned. "I guess that'll have to do."
Ahhhhh, I see, well, you are a very smart person and you hold onto family life (Am I right, huh?). You like reminiscing on past experiences, but only the good ones. You don't mind speaking your mind when you know it'll help someone (Like me!) but you know when not to say something. You're smart and have a lot of common sense. And (unlike me) you like to finish projects you start.
Well, was I close?!?!?!
REVIEW!!
Two weeks passed since Fox's first word. Everyone, including Freeman, thought he was making great progress. Only downfall was that Fox would only talk to Sheryl. Numberless times many men have tried. They even threatened Fox with hurting him or his friends.
Once, it got so bad, that Freeman lost his temper and grabbed Fox by the neck, choking him. As Freeman yelled and screamed at Fox to answer his questions, the vulpine continued to choke and cough for air.
It was Sheryl that ran into the room and saved Fox. Watching from behind the mirror, she darted from the watching room to save him. As she opened the door, Fox was kicking and throwing his arms around to stop the attack from the older man.
"Stop it! Agent Freeman, take your hands off my patient, or so help me God, I'll have you written up for this!" Sheryl screamed, trying to pull his arms free from Fox's neck.
"He is not only your patient. He is government property and not obeying our commands." He replied simply. His grip on the young fox's neck didn't loosen.
"If you do not let him go, I will kill you right here." She said, pulling her gun out of her side holster and pointing it at the angry agent. He stared back at her.
Dropping Fox on the bed, he walked towards the door. Sheryl put her gun away and rushed to Fox's side, who was holding his neck. The shivers started over again. Great, we've been doing so well with holding back the tremors She thought.
"Get out!" She yelled at Freeman, who lingered at the door. Rolling his eyes at the angry lady, he walked out.
"Are you ok? Fox, I'm so sorry that happened." She asked. Being motherly, she pulled him into a warm embrace. Feeling content and safe, Fox wanted to spend the whole day in her arms. Without even noticing, his started to whimper and cry. Sheryl pulled away.
"Y-you promised." Fox whimpered, looking into her eyes.
"I know, I know." She said, petting his head again. "Fox, why don't you answer them? If you just answer them, they won't be pressuring so much."
"I-I know. And I try . . .I r-r-really do." Fox said, whimpering, trying to hold back tears. "But I just c-can't talk to them. They re-really scare me."
"I know they do. But why do you think that is?"
Fox sniffed. "Because of the stories I-I-I heard about you humans."
Sheryl looked confused. "Stories? What do you mean?"
"My father used to tell me stories of humans. Stories of how they treat visitors."
"No, that's not right. You're the first alien-err, visitor to this planet. There must have been some kind of mistake." She said, looking down in concentration. Being part of the government, she would have known about any kind of aliens.
Before Fox could respond, Agent Freeman rushed into the room. As Fox slammed his body against the wall in fear and fright, Sheryl stood up, ready for another quarrel. Freeman held up his hand, noticing the defensive women.
"Don't worry, I'm not coming back for round two. We have an emergency." Freeman explained, stopping and shooting glare at Fox. Fox shot it right back.
"What is it?" Sheryl asked, putting her defense down.
"The president wants to know how the guest is doing." He said.
"Tell him Fox's vitals are alright. Tell him the progress he's been doing." Sheryl explained, adding a little smile at the end. She was so proud of him.
"Well, if only it was that easy. The president is here. He wants to meet him. See him for himself."
Fox's eyes darted from Freeman to Sheryl and back to Freeman. This was so over whelming. He didn't want to meet the head human. He didn't want to meet any humans, least the most powerful.
"No, no." She said, shaking her head. "He's not ready for anymore visitors, especially today. We've pushed him to far for him to break. Mr. President will just have to wait another month or two."
It was Freemen's turn to shake his head. "Nope, he won't wait. He wants to meet him now, today."
"Why can't he meet one of the others that came off the ship?" Sheryl was getting frantic. Why wouldn't these people just let her do her job?
"The president doesn't want to travel far. Plus, when the others were questioned about who they work for, they said Fox McCloud, and that would be him." He said, looking down at Fox. Panic filled his eyes, along with confusion.
"No, no." Was all Sheryl could say, she had run out of defenses. She knew whatever she said would be futile.
"Dr. Henning, I'm not asking for your permission, I'm telling you." He said in his most uptight voice he could muster.
"And why must you inform me of this?" She replied in her most snotty voice.
"Because, we've taken notice that the little brat will only talk to you. So, we need you to ask him questions."
"No. I refuse . . . . .respectfully." She said, adding a little grin.
"Dr. Henning, this is an order, not a request." He said, walking towards the door. "Have him ready in about ten minutes. The president doesn't like to wait."
And with that, he turned and left. Sheryl, a little turned upside down from the fight, turned to a flustered fox.
"So, what's going to happen?" Fox asked, as Sheryl sat down. She took his paws in her hands. God, She thought, why do I always feel so bad for him?
"Nothings going to happen. Several men are going to come in here. One of them is a very powerful man, so please be good. He basically decides what happens to you. Um, and they're going to have a list of questions for me to ask you. Don't you worry about any of the men in the room, all right? Just focus on me. We don't need you going into any tremors." She explained standing up.
Fox didn't say a word, just watched her leave the room and inform the other men that he was ready. In reality, he wasn't ready at all. It was mind- boggling how this one man decides his fate.
Before he could think anymore, the door opened. First in came Sheryl, with a wide grin on her face. Fox could tell it was a phony smile. She was just trying to brighten things up.
After her came Agent Freeman. No emotion was spotted on his face. He just trudged into the room, residing a little off to the side.
Men just began to file in one after another, when finally, the president walked inside the room. Right away Fox could tell which one he was. Wearing a casual looking suit, Fox could he was a family man, but could tell he was straight down to work with the serious face. The President sensed the stare from the vulpine and looked back, a smile creeping across his face and nodded his head a little, a sign of saying hello. The gesture made Fox feel a little more comfortable.
Sheryl situated herself on the chair next to the bed where Fox sat crossed legged Indian style. His tail was dangling off to the side, swaying every once in a while. In her hands was a sheet of white paper. She smiled at him.
"Well, Mr. President, this is Fox." Sheryl said, turning to look at the president.
"Ah, is that his name, or just what we call him?" He asked her, raising an eyebrow.
"Uh, it's his name sir." She said. Fox chuckled a little as she became tense with talking to the president. His guess was that she didn't get to see a lot of important people, even if she was part of the government.
"How do we know that? Did he have some kind of ID on him?" The president asked.
"Uh, no he did not. But he confirms it's his name." She said.
"Oh. Go ahead with the questions then." He replied, crossing his arms and staring at Fox.
"Ok Fox, just look at me, don't look at them. We don't want you getting all nervous again." She said, turning his head with her hand.
"Nervous?" The president asked.
"Uh, Yes Sir, he goes into tremors when he's around a lot people, other than me." She explained.
"I see. Well, it seems you have a very special bond with him then." The president said. Sheryl just nodded.
"Ok, well, Fox. Can you state your full name for me?" Sheryl asked him.
"Yeah, Fox James McCloud." Fox replied, keeping control of himself. He needed to keep control this time because this one mad decided his fate.
"Great. Can you state where you were born?" Sheryl said, looking down at the paper with questions. Never had she ever-asked Fox where he came from. It always seemed to straight forward for their casual conversations.
"Yeah, sure. Um. . . .St. Johns Hospital." He answered.
"Can you tell me what city that's in?"
"Uh, Corneria City."
"What country is that?"
Fox was confused. "Country? You mean planet? Well, its on Corneria." Fox said, looking around at the confused faces. The presidents' face was only full of concern.
"Ok, Fox. That's fine. Um, what planet are you from?" She asked, looking up from the paper. She was secretly wishing he wouldn't loose it from the questions.
Fox's eyes darted around the room, looking at the faces, wondering what they were thinking.
"Fox?" Sheryl said, turning his head again, to look at her.
"Huh? Oh sorry. Uh, I'm from Corneria. That's where I grew up." He responded.
"Ok. Um, what universe is that?"
"Um. . ," Fox said. Why were these questions so hard? "The Lylat System."
"Where is that?" She asked.
Fox thought hard how to answer this. "Um. I don't, I'm not sure how I got here. It was an accident. I have no idea where I am. Only that I'm on Earth." Fox rambled on. The president took interest in the turn of the conversation. Fox was getting flustered and was talking a lot more, especially around other people.
"Well, we're in the Milky Way. Does that help?"
"The Milky Way. . . The Milky Way. . ." Fox said, thinking. "God, I've heard that before at the academy."
"Academy?" Sheryl asked.
"Oh yeah, sorry, not aware I was thinking out loud. Yeah, the academy is where I went to school."
"What kind of academy?"
"A military academy. I went there for 8 years." He explained. "And I remember doing a research project on the different universes. Milky Way. . ."
It dawned on him. He remembered. It was right next to the Krakic System, which was a friendly universe. If he could make it to the Krakic System he would be able to make it home . . .
"Fox? Do you know where it is?" Sheryl asked, watching Fox's face light up.
"Yeah, yeah I do. I did a huge research paper on different universes. Took like three months. Yeah, I had, like, a page and a half of the Milky Way." Fox explained.
"So, do you know how to get back to your home planet from here?" The president asked. This totally caught Fox and Sheryl off guard. The Presidents stare didn't leave Fox's green eyes, and Fox just looked at the President, deciding what to say.
"Sir, he doesn't-" Sheryl started.
"No, no I don't." Fox quickly said. The president just nodded, not stirred.
"Why don't you know how to get back?" Sheryl asked.
"Uh, we slipped through a time and warp cut in space. It threw off our whole ship. Nothing was working. Not even our arwings." Fox said. As he said the last word, he mentally slapped himself.
"An arwing?" The president said with concern in his voice. He walked towards Fox who started to shake a little bit.
"Sir please-" Sheryl said, trying to stop him.
"No, I want to know what it is." He said. "Well?"
"T-those are our planes. They're called arwings. Did anything happen to them?" Fox asked, looking up into the presidents' face.
"No, in fact, we got them working for a little while, but we don't know how to keep them working. We've just, sort of, jump started them." The president explained, looking down into Fox's widening eyes.
"R-Really? I-I-Is my arwing ruined? Did you take it apart? What happened to it? It was a present from my fath-" Fox started, panicking and starting to stand up.
"Fox, sit down." Sheryl said, she wished this would just stop.
"Your arwing is fine, relax. We just wish that we knew how to use it. It's a great creation, really. In fact, we laughed a little at the thought of a simple vulpine flying something that great before man." The president said, chuckling a little.
"Y-You are the president, right?" Fox asked, still standing. He was very short compared to the president. The president nodded.
"Do y-you think I can get some of my things from my ship, that is if I'm going to be here for a while, but being a mercenary, I have a feeling I won't be leaving." Fox asked, giving more information away about him.
"First, I don't think it will be a problem getting some of your things. I bet you're getting tired of wearing the same thing over and over again. Plus, I would love to ask you a few questions about things we have found on the ship-" The president began.
"If it was in Falco's room, don't even ask." Fox interrupted. The president laughed a little.
"No no. Just things we have found. A weird gun-"
"Ah, my blaster." Fox said, smiling a little. "I hope you didn't break it. It was new and expensive."
"See, that's what I want to learn about, your different weapons and such. Also, some kind of device we found that I've been curious about. Here, I brought it." The president said, pulling out a little miniature machine from his pocket. Fox strained to see it.
The president watched a smile spread across Fox's face as he took out his communicator. He showed it to Fox.
"We have no idea how to work it. We have no idea even what it is." The president said, showing it up.
"It's my communicator." Fox explained. "May I?"
The president dropped the device into the open paw of Fox's. Fiddling with it, Fox just couldn't make it work.
"Must have gotten broken when we landed. Ah, hold on, I think I've got it." He said, pulling a few open wires together. Everyone watched intently.
"What does it do?" The president asked.
"It's a communicator, what do you think it does? Would you like me to communicate with someone from my planet? That is, if it decides to work." Fox asked.
"Uh......I'm not sure how hostile you guys are."
Fox chuckled. "Typical. I don't blame you for wondering but believe me we're not. Oh shit, I need my wristband to communicate. Damn it. When you took things off of me, did you take anything off my arms?"
"I believe so, why?" The president asked.
"Because that's what I need to use to send calls. When you give it to me, you'll see a show." Fox said, handing back the communicator.
"Ok. Oh, you said something about being a mercenary?" He asked, watching Fox sit down on the bed again.
"Yeah, that's what I do for a living. We're part of a team, all of us." Fox explained. This was getting really old, really fast to him. He just wanted it to stop. He glanced at Sheryl, who was watching Fox. The Vulpine could tell what kind of stare she was giving him. It was a stare of proud ness.
"So, you fight wars for money?" The president pressed.
"Yeah, basically." Fox replied.
"I see. Oh here, we always retrieved these, it looks like a photo album, but has a password on it." The president said, taking a big album from a man off to the side.
It was a photo album, but on the top of the album were a little computer window and a keyboard with odd symbols. Fox took the album, speechless. Without saying a word, he dialed in the password, and opened up the album.
The president walked over to the side of Fox, looking at the pictures on the first page. There was one of a red male fox and female fox in the hospital. The female fox laid in a bed, holding a baby fox.
"Thank you for bringing this. This means the world to me. It's all I have left." Fox whispered, running his paw over the picture of his mother, father, and him.
"Who are these people?" The president asked.
"These are my parents and I." He said, pointing to the McCloud's first family picture. Fox flipped to the middle of the album and opened up to a picture of Fox and his father standing in a hanger. In the background were two arwings, identical.
"This is when I first got my arwing." Fox explained. He closed his eyes, reminiscing.
"So, families are close where you come from?" The president said, pulling Fox back to reality.
"It all depends on who you talk to. My family was until. . . the accidents." Fox said, opening up a little towards the front to reveal a picture of him, Falco, Fara, Katt, Bill, and Slippy all at the academy during a kegger. Fox still doesn't remember how he drank half a bottle of Everclear that night.
"Who are these people?" The president asked pointing.
"Friends." Fox said. He opened up to a page with him, his father, and his mother all on vacation at Zoneness, before it became horrible, when it was beautiful. Pulling out the picture, the president just watched in silence.
Fox closed the book, but instead of pressing 'lock' on the keypad, he pressed 'open'. He lifted the book up to the presidents' face.
"Here, you keep it. It'll help you learn stuff about our planet and the way we live. To be honest, it's not very much different." Fox explained as the president took the book.
"Thank you. We'll set up a date when we can take you to the site where your stuff is and your plane. You can explain things to us." The president said, getting ready to leave the room.
"Um . . . when will I be able to return home?" Fox asked. Everyone that was filing out, stopped to hear the response.
"Hmmm, we're not sure. But we'll keep you updated." He said, and started to leave. Fox stood up.
"Sir, I'm a mercenary." Fox outbursted. All eyes were on him. "I've probably killed so many people that were prisoners to us, it's not even funny. Sir, what I'm trying to say it, I know what the phrase, 'we'll keep you updated' means. Please don't leave me wondering here. Now, when will you send me home?"
A sad smile crossed the presidents' face. "I'm sorry, Mr. McCloud, as much as I would love to send you on your way home back to your family and friends, it's not entirely my decision. We still have a lot to learn about your planet. And most of all, we don't know if you'll come back with an army to attack us. Its obvious that you're smarter than us."
"So, basically, I'm just a freak show and the curtain never closes." Fox said sadly, turning around, and getting on the bed.
"I can't promise anything, but I'll do my best, that is, if you do your best." The president said, surprising everyone, including Fox.
Fox turned. "I guess that'll have to do."