The suns beamed down on a bright white sedan cruising down the packed city streets of Corneria City. The traffic was horrific as it was stop and go for the past half hour, slightly annoying the driver.
"Stop and go traffic once more. Of course." Miyu commented from the driver's seat, idly rapping her fingers on the steering wheel. The lynx was wearing a red t-shirt with a black leather jacket over it, and a pair of jeans with red sneakers below the belt. Despite the heat of late spring, Miyu didn't seem to mind the temperature, oblivious to it even as her friend cranked up the a/c once more.
With her face up to the vents, Fay thanked her intuition for buying the Tourer after her test drive of it back on Solstice Day, as the cool air worked like a blessing through the scorching heat. A grey turtleneck, jeans, and pink flip-flops made up her attire, as well as her ever present red bow between her ears. In her lap was a small notebook, covered with sparkles and encrusted studs that exposed the dog's inner puppy. "Gods, this heat wave is brutal this year." She complained, making Miyu chuckle in the dead traffic.
With nothing else to do besides go deaf from the horns blaring outside her window, Miyu looked down at Fay's lap and saw the notebook, curiosity taking over her attention as she turned to face her best friend. "Hey, what're you writing in that little book there?" She asked.
The question was enough to get Fay to pull her head away from her cool heaven and look down at her book. "Oh, it's not much, I was just jotting down some genome sequencing and breed science theories from a lecture I attended a few days ago. Some really interesting stuff in it too." Fay explained, before finding a series of notes she took down about lynx. "For example, did you know that the reason why Fichinan lynx have larger and thicker footpaws is because their ancestors evolved to use their paws as natural snowshoes?" Fay informed.
Miyu's brows raised in interest as she began to inch Fay's car forward, the traffic slowly letting up. "Anything in that book about spaniels?" Miyu asked, now keeping an eye on traffic.
Fay began flipping thorough her notebook before finally stopping on the correct page and smiling as she sat cross-legged on her seat. "Ooh, you're gonna love this. So, the first spaniels were actually more combat oriented, but later shifted to our now championed intelligence as civilized society began to form." Fay bragged with a wagging tail in full force.
Miyu scoffed as she spared a quick glance toward her friend with wide eyes. "Whoa now, let's not get speciesist here. There's plenty of smart lynx in the universe." Miyu argued, stifling a chuckle as she kept her attention on the road.
Fay lightly punched her friend's shoulder as she began to stare out the window, supporting her chin with her palm as she began to dream of a cool sea breeze moving in. "You know what I meant." The spaniel replied with a smirk, her tail still roaring behind her.
The lynx grumbled for a bit as traffic slowed right back down, making her wish that she could just pop the curb and floor it past whatever old lady needed help crossing the street this time. Speaking of dangerous drivers... "So, why are meeting up with Slippy and TJ again? They've never really asked us to hang out before." Miyu asked the now calmed down spaniel.
Fay chuckled as she closed the notebook and rolled her eyes. "One of those new racing movies came out. I think it was '3eed 4 Speed'?" The spaniel guessed, tapping her chin with her pen. Miyu groaned and rolled her eyes, looking out over the mechanical sea.
"Cars are the last thing I want to watch right now. I've been doing that for the last hour now. If I wanted to watch scantily clad women and extremely buff dude-bros work on cars, I'd lock Katt and Falco in the hanger for an hour." The lynx scoffed, making Fay give off one of her high pitched giggles as a smile seeped across her lips.
"I don't know. They said that they needed four people for a group bonus or something. It's kinda funny, all the tech and tinkering those two do, yet they can't find a way to pirate the movie!" Fay joked, giggling again.
Miyu flashed off a quick smile herself before looking around at her surroundings. She slowly began to recognize this area of the city from her childhood, as the buildings began to shrink in size and become more suburban. The giant steel structures faded away into smaller, more moderately sized buildings that housed restaurants, small shops, and other essential stores necessary for city life. "Hey, mind we make a quick stop off near here?" The lynx asked in an innocent tone.
Fay let loose a sigh before a smile made it's way across her lips again. "Won't we be late to meet up with Slippy and TJ? This is the most direct route." The posh dog argued, prompting Miyu to pout.
"Aw, cmon, I'll just take this right here. It's just down the street." The lynx pleaded. "Those two'll probably find some mechanical thing to tinker with, and by the time we get there, they'll've made some new kind of direct-port-transmission-whatever." Miyu argued, looking over her shoulder to merge with traffic. Fay sighed once more, before continuing to write in her notebook.
"All right, we'll make a stop. I hope that those two will understand that you needed to keep them waiting." The dog passive aggressively replied, with both girls now smirking as Miyu merged lanes and took the nearest right, seemingly driving on instinct as the clear roads led straight to her location.
After an extra minute of driving, Miyu slowed down, before coming to a stop right in front of a small one story building nestled in between two apartment buildings. The outside was a red brick exterior with a black sign hanging over the glass double doors.
Corneria School of Combat Arts
Miyu grinned from ear to ear once she saw the sign, pushing the door to the Tourer out before stepping out and motioning her friend to follow her. Fay looked over to Miyu with an annoyed but also friendly smile. "I don't know what I expected." She commented to herself before getting out of her car.
The dojo doors opened with a soft chime as Miyu drank in the sights. It seemed pretty busy today, with students of multiple disciplines training. They were standing in the waiting room, where those who wished to observe sat and watched as to not sully the mats or disturb the practitioners. A few chairs were set up on the polished hardwood flooring so that people could sit if they were going to be there for a while. In the back of the building, an octagon sat in the upper right corner, with two fighters in them and going to work. Blue mats adorned the rest of the room, with fighters with sparring or practicing their forms in the wall mirror. Miyu scanned the room, her eyes darting from person to person as she reminisced about her time here. Finally, her gaze shifted to the cage in the back.
A tall golden husky in a pair of shorts and a tank top was currently sparring with an almost equally tall Alsatian whose black and gold fur was starting to silver. He wore a black t shirt that only exaggerated his gut and loose fitting black shorts. He had a sleeve of tribal tattoos on both arms, wrapping from his wrists to his shoulders and flowing with intricate designs. The two were rolling with each other, each one trying to submit the other. Off to the sides of the cage were a group of people sitting in different positions, each one seemingly receiving tutelage from the Alsatian. Good to see Coach still trying to one up newbies. Miyu thought. As she walked towards the cage, Fay opted to stay behind and keep working on her notes, popping in a pair of earbuds and humming a pop tune to herself while she kept scribbling in her notebook.
The Alsatian had just managed to pick up the win against the husky, forcing her to tap after locking in a nasty looking armbar. After pulling the husky up, he shook her paw before motioning for her to sit down. "Alright now, anyone wanna tell me what went wrong for Miss Spitz there?" He asked with a booming voice that echoed throughout the building. Miyu smirked when she saw no one able to answer and stuck her fingers through the cage mesh.
"She didn't watch all of her guards?" Miyu answered, causing a mass turn of heads and shocked stares.
"Well I'll be... Ladies and gents, it appears that Miyu Lynx of Star Fox has decided to grace us with her presence!" The Alsatian announced, causing Miyu to give off a sly grin as she slipped her sneakers off and stepped into the cage, the feeling of canvas beneath her feet signaling a welcoming return.
"So Coach, this is your new litter, huh?" She asked with a smile as her hands slipped into the pockets of her leather jacket. The older fighter chuckled as he looked back at his students, each one staring with wide eyes and shocked glances.
"Yup, Miyu here was my trainee back in my heyday, and could've gone pro in Strikeforce if she didn't decide to save the system." Coach bragged as he threw his arm around her, causing Miyu to chuckle.
"Hey, don't forget that my parents had given me some home tutoring as well." She reminded the dog, who smiled warmly.
"Ah yes, the entire Lynx lineage of filled with master martial artists. How could I forget?" The instructor replied, with a slight sting of sarcasm dripping from his final words. Turning back to the class, he gave off a warm smile and gave off a two fingered salute. "Well, class is dismissed for today. If any of you wanna spar with Miyu, just let her know and she'll happily turn you into a pretzel." He jested, making a falcon off to the side interject with of a quip of his own.
"Gimme a break, Axel. I'd knock circles round her fer she knew I was there!" The falcon exclaimed in a thick Northern Cornerian accent as he winged his streamlined headfeathers back even further, causing a light chuckle to break out among the students as they walked out of the octagon. The falcon's clothes were pretty similar to the rest of the class, except his green t-shirt and yellow sports shorts seemed vacuum sealed to his body, along with taped up wings and talons.
Miyu wore a smirking scowl as she walked up to the falcon, who exuded never ending self-confidence. Just as he was about to open his beak for another insult, Miyu suddenly swept his legs out from under him. As the bird was airborne, Miyu grabbed one of his talons and tucked it under her arm, before placing her foot on his other leg's thigh and stretching him out. Once he hit the canvas, Miyu's body twisted in ways that could be considered unnatural as she put as much pressure on his trapped ankle as she could, making sure that he felt the burn. With nowhere else to go, all eyes on him, and the feeling of his ankle about to snap into multiple pieces, the falcon had to tap out, slamming the mat as hard as he could with his wing.
Satisfied, Miyu let go of his ankle and rolled up to her feet before shoving her paws back into her pockets with a wide grin. The falcon meanwhile stayed on the canvas with a pained expression, clutching his ankle and keeping his beak clenched shut from the sheer pain. Miyu crouched down to the bird's level with her smirk still on her face, watching as the bird shook his ankle to alleviate the pain before slapping her paw on his back. "You all good there, lightning?" She asked with a teasing tone as the bird finally got to his feet and shook his ankle loose.
The bird grumbled for a bit before finally putting his full weight back on the bruised bone. "Ahm good. Just needa get a little faster. What with Lethal Lockdown comin' up." He grumbled, testing his recovering legs by throwing a few shadow kicks, impressing Miyu with his speed. The term he used earlier piqued her interest however.
As Miyu kept observing the bird and his lightning legs, she add to ask what he meant. "Hey, what's Lethal Lockdown?" She asked. Her question was able to stop the bird mid-kick, as he turned to face her with the most quizzical glare he could give off.
"Yer kiddin', right? Someone like you 'as no idea about this?" He asked, bringing his leg down to the mat and his wings on his hip. Miyu shook her head in the negative. The bird scoffed as he stretched his wings behind his head, keeping one eye opened. "Well, there's a poster by the entrance. Go check it out if yer interested. I gotta get back to work now that me ankle's all good. Name's Eddie by the way. Hope I'll see you in the ring ta pay ya back fer that ankle lock o' yours." Eddie informed, before walking out of the octagon with a slight limp.
Now all who remained was Miyu and Axel, who wasted no time greeting his former student. "Holy hell, Miyu freakin' Lynx comes on back to CSCA!" Came Axel's booming voice, grinning widely at his student.
"In the hair!" She replied with a wide grin, before hugging her sensei. Axel graciously returned the favor, giving her a bear hug and lifting her in the air as he squeezed the life out of her before setting her back down on the ground.
He placed both paws on her shoulders and let out a sweet smile. "Gods, I've been so worried about you. Merc work is not for the feint of heart, and your team is so well known that I half expected to see the tabloids report on your death every time I went shopping!"
Miyu smiled and patted the old dog on the back. "Oh, you. Always worrying." The shepherd's smile dropped into a saddened frown as he looked Miyu dead in the eyes.
"With good reason. I just want you to be safe out there. Or, well, about as safe as being a gun-for-hire can be." He finished with a slight smile.
"Don't worry. I've got some good people covering my back. And I've always got Fay to patch me up if things go sideways." Miyu defended, pointing to Fay still scribbling in her notebook and bopping her head along to whatever pop tune she was listening to.
Axel recognized the spaniel, and let out a hearty chuckle. "She still praddlin' on about how violent martial arts are?" the Alsatian asked with a coy grin.
Miyu nodded. "Almost every chance she gets. But, she's finally taken up some light kickboxing here and there, so she's not a complete pacifist anymore." The lynx answered with a proud smile, looking over at her best friend as she kept writing in her little notebook. "Wanna say hi to her?" Miyu asked, stepping out of the octagon and slipping her shoes back on. Axel nodded and followed her, slipping on his slides by the side of the ring and following his student as he tried to make himself look presentable.
With her notes completed, Fay put her notebook and ear buds away before she mulled around the waiting area. As her eyes fell over dozens of martial artists, a poster by the door caught her attention. In bright bold letters, it advertised an open challenge for the Strikeforce Association's "Lethal Lockdown" to all interested parties. In the middle of the poster was the current champion, Lecter Itami. He was a snow white artic fox, with his white and blue shorts complimenting his buff yet toned and slim frame. His picture gave off a cool yet cocky demeanor, as if he always walked around to the beat of his own drum all the time.
A whistle escaped the dog's lips when she saw the total prize. č1,500,000 to whoever beats the champion, as well as a shot at his title if they are interested. "1.5 mil? That's quite a lot of credits." Fay commented as her eyes kept looking over the poster.
"Think I should enter?" Came Miyu's voice from nowhere, before she grabbed her friend's shoulder and dropped her head over, making her friend yelp in surprise. "I could win~" The lynx drew out, eliciting a chuckle from her best friend.
"If you think so, I'll be right behind you with a first aid kit when you inevitably get your teeth punched out." The spaniel teased, making Miyu scoff. Just before Miyu was about to defend her skills, Axel jumped in.
"If anyone's getting their teeth punched out, it'll be her opponents." Came Axel's response as he began to beam with pride. Fay gave off a confused stare towards the Alsatian, who simply chuckled as he took up a less threatening pose."Name's Axel. But your friend Miyu calls me Coach." The dog simply responded. After a few seconds, Fay put two and two together, her eyes widening and tail wagging as she realized who he was.
"Oh my gods! You're Coach?! I remember Miyu talking about you all the time back in middle school!" Fay exclaimed, shaking his paw in her trademark excited manner. "You were some professional fighter, right?" Fay asked, her excited tone never dropping.
Axel's face turned a bit red from the slight embarrassment as he scratched behind his head and chuckled. "You could put it like that. 13 Championships total, but I took one too many shots to the head, so the docs sidelined me. Now I just train others who I see with potential, including your friend here." The coach bragged.
As Axel kept showering himself in compliments, Miyu took a look over the poster and ran her eyes over the champion. Even through a picture, he exuded an air of cocky yet confident, like it was a fact he was the best at what he did. "So, how good's this guy?" Miyu asked as she kept looking the poster over. Her ears perked up when Axel let loose a long sigh. Miyu could tell that she just brought up a bad memory when his wagging tail went flat.
As if the stars aligned and a secret ritual had been activated, the door to the dojo emitted a familiar chime as a new body walked in before Axel could tell his story. The trio turned their heads to notice the champ himself standing in the doorway, flanked by what seemed like a whole pit crew of physicians and doctors ready to jot down notes. He was wearing a bright white and blue form fitting t-shirt, as well as the shorts from the flyer and blue slides. His razor sharp eyes scanned over the gym, as most fighters paused their combat and gazed upon the champion. Lecter made sure that everyone knew he was the champ by keeping an iron grip on his championship belt, which seemed as gaudy as gaudy could be. In the center of the black leather strap was the Strikeforce logo in pure gold, full of complex carvings and engravings. On the side-plates of the strap was Lecter's initials, along with a savage design of an arctic fox mid-combat.
Axel softly growled as Lecter walked by him, catching the vulpine's attention. "Ah, mister Axel. I see you still train these sad fighters. You like more embarrassing loss, hai?" He asked, his broken Cornerian telling that it wasn't his first language by a long shot, or even second.
"Shut it, Lecter. I don't remember inviting your sorry ass to my gym. Matter of fact, you're still banned." The coach growled, only succeeding in making Lecter howl with laughter.
"I sorry, you not allow champion to train here? It make no sense, I thought you are to respect me, as you bow down and kiss my foot in process." Lecter taunted, marching around the elder coach to the beat of his own drum before lifting his foot up and making a circular motion with it.
Axel scoffed to the demand, and looked down at Lecter's taped up footpaw before blowing him off. "If by kiss you mean break into tiny little pieces, then sure thing." Axel growled.
Lecter couldn't be bothered to care, as he continued to march around the experienced fighter. "You are now nothing more than sad old man, trying to relive days of glory. Why don't you, as they say in your tongue, keel over and let the big boys play?" He taunted once more, before shuffling his shoulder to keep his belt up.
Before Axel was able to retort, Miyu jumped in between them, her face burning with anger. "You better watch who you're talking to. You keep taking shots at him, and I'll break your floppy jaw, anata ha mesukenno musuko!" Miyu shouted.
Lecter's eyes went wide for a split second, before they reverted back to his usual cocky smirk. "Very well then. Since you speak my native tongue, I see no reason to continue our squabble in some savage language." The champion explained in perfect Eladardian. He broke from his strut around Axel to begin circling Miyu, still marching to his own pace. "This old man will hold you back. It is what he did with me. Once I dropped him and began training on my own, I quickly found out that I surpassed him. Ask him for more information. I am done wasting anymore of my precious breath on you." Lecter spat in a serious tone.
The fox was able to feel the aura of rage leaking from Miyu's pores, and began to release a wide smile. "Well now, you train any good fighters here? Or have you relied to the Star Foxes for challenger?" Lecter asked the fuming Alsatian, who looked like he was ready to punch his head off.
Axel was once again interrupted by a shout from the back of the gym, seemingly fed up with the conversation. "Shut the hell up, Lecter! I can hear your ass from back here, and it's really starting to piss me off!" Came an angered shout. The voice's owner stepped forward, belonging to a muscular husky with a few scars covering his body. His hair was cut short, and he was wearing simple workout gear.
Lecter let a smirk cross his lips as he sized up the husky, before flicking his tail and assuming a cocky pose. "Ah, yes. You are Mister Bruno, hai?" Lecter asked. The husky growled before throwing a punch at the champion. Lecter dodged the punch with grace and elegance unseen before, as he kept his smirk wide across his lips. "What the matter? You no like your name?" The fox asked once more, only succeeding in making the husky angrier.
"For the last time, it's Hartmann you goddamn jackass!" Hartmann exclaimed, his hair standing on edge with a frizzled tail and barred fangs. "And if you wanna keep breathing, I suggest you get out of my sight, pronto." The scarred husky growled, burning a hole in the champion with his icy stare.
Lecter was still for a moment, before his howling laughter returned, seemingly unfazed by all of the threats thrown his way. "You no scare me. You all soft as little marshmallows, and I break any of you who step into ring with me." The fox proclaimed.
Miyu had enough of his trash talk, and got right up in the fox's face. The two were staring each other down for a short while, each one seemingly unfazed by the other. "Guess what, champ? I'm entering Lethal Lockdown myself. And I'll be there to take that title right off your shoulder and put it on mine." Miyu threatened. Lecter only scoffed, before patting his belt with a smug grin.
"A girl like you have no shot at beating me. So go run off and do whatever you girls do. I know you wish not to fight me." Lecter chastised, only stoking Miyu's fury.
"But I do. And I'm going to beat your ass so sore it's like you did a prison tour." Miyu surprisingly shot off, succeeding in making Lecter go wide-eyed and shutting his mouth. Miyu was the one smirking as she got up in his face even more, to the point where there noses were almost touching. At this distance, Miyu noticed that Lecter's eyes didn't scream fear or shock, but rather offense, as his scowl only tightened.
"Be careful what you wish for, Miss Lynx. I'll be back. Soshite watashiha anata no shitsureina karadano subete no honewo kowahimasu." The fox spat before he turned on his heels and walked out, taking the entire team of doctors with him. The group stood in place as the champ walked out, each one scowling at the door frame. One thing was for sure now. There was no turning back.
A/N: So, big news. I've now got two stories! Along with BotP (which I'm still working on, no worries, but beware of spoilers for BotP in this), SheppardSD has given me full creative control for a soft reboot of one of his old fics by the same name. If you've been around the site for a while, you'll notice more than a few characters from other writers here on the site popping up as well. As for who? Well, spoilers are never fun, are they? This does mean however that writing on BotP and LL will be slower now, as I have to juggle those, college, BJJ, and late night Most Wanted sessions all at once. But I'll still try to pump these out as quickly and as high quality as possible!
"Remember, second place is first loser."
-DeltaERB