FIRST CATCH

Hey, I'd like to say - The support has been quite nice, and very helpful! I hope I don't stop this run of form too prematurely. Anyway, here's the 5th chapter. Thank you all so much for your support. Let's crack on.

Luanastar doesn't own anything.

It was merely a week after the conclusion of the Lylat wars against Andross. Despite being declared heroes throughout nearly the entire system in space, the members of StarFox still had a lot of bills to pay as a result of accidental infrastructure destruction for some of the citizen-harbouring planets that were involved. Surprisingly, a lot of them had come from Corneria. That'd teach them for taking pot-shots at the radio towers and satellites.

Falco Lombardi, was all on his own in the common lounge - just how he had liked it. He was doing the paperwork by hand, and could feel the blood drain from his face every time he presented himself with a new bill. At this rate, the StarFox team would find themselves taking more jobs from General Pepper of Corneria just to help cover the bill.

As every second passed, not only did the falcon feel reluctant to touch the desktop calculator, he also felt famished of sleep. Paper after paper, signature after signature, and cheque after cheque. In the span of a measly 7 minutes, Falco was already unconscious, limbs sprawled everywhere on the couch. Some of the paper bills, he had crumpled under the weight of his hands. He hadn't even bothered to get into a more comfortable position. As long as it meant he could sleep, Falco would sleep.

Not too long afterwards, the vulpine captain decided on swinging by the lounge in nothing but a vest and some appropriate shorts. Despite the cold metal floor, Fox hadn't bothered on grabbing any socks to wear on the way here.

Upon reaching the door to the lounge, Fox grasped a sight of the back of his dear friend and comrade on the couch, who was clad in similar clothing to himself.

"You done with all that paperwork yet, Falco?"

Waiting for a result, the fox had placed his hands on his hips. He strolled forward to get a closer look, and found that the person he was supposed to be talking to was fast asleep.

Fox felt a warm smile come upon his face without warning. The ace pilot on the sofa slept in a slouch, head to the side as if he was about to fall off the couch and onto the floor.

Shaking his head, Fox walked closer to the falcon, assessing his body position carefully. He knelt down beside the sleeping songbird, adjusting his head carefully so he wouldn't feel any stress by the time he woke up. A few seconds later, Fox made his own executive decision concerning the location of Falco's slumber.

Bending over, Fox slid his left arm below the nape of Falco's neck. Meanwhile, his right arm travelled underneath the back of his knees, thus giving the captain ease of assuming a position similar to a bridal carry..

With one heave from his legs - and a bit of back strength - Fox stood up, with the taller bird still asleep in his arms. Upon lifting the avian up to his furry chest, Fox noticed how little strain there was on his arms. It put a smile on the vulpines face just to see his feathery comrade and academy cohort slumber within his care.

Step by step, waddle by waddle, Fox moved ever so carefully toward the chambers where the falcon deserved to rest his head. Halfway through one of the main metal-clad corridors, the captain felt an added pressure on his pectorals. Looking down, he had found that Falco had comforted himself in his sleep by placing his head - and his left hand - on Fox's chest. This had only increased the blush that the young captain had for his similarly young teammate.

Finally, Fox had found the door separating the main hallway from Falco's barren chambers. The chilly steel barrier rose dramatically, before the falcon's room was on display for the vulpine to see.

It had always been a desolate place, Falco's room. Even Fox hadn't seen what the mysterious insides looked like in months. Nonetheless, he had sighed a painful relief, as he stepped forward to lay his beloved friend to a hero's slumber.

Fox and Falco glided through the asteroids that formed the sector of the Lylat system known as "Meteo". Both of the skilled pilots had a knack for being able to fly through obstacles in space, thanks to their extensive training back on Corneria.

Falco checked his dashboard. Sadly, his dragon plushie was left on his desk, meaning he only had boring dials such as his speed or damage sustained by the ship. Huffing, he reached forward and pressed a round blue button on the central control panel.

"Oy Fox. Just out of curiosity, we aren't actually landing in Sargasso, right?" inquired Falco, keeping his eyes peeled for any asteroids approaching from a blind spot. "Sounds like a deathwish if we did."

"Nah, we won't. We'll meet up with the guys back on the Great Fox after we pass through Sargasso."

"R-Right… So what was the point of this assignment by General Pepper?"

"Umm…" Fox mumbled, sounding uncertain. Falco had to say, he's seen his captain in worse shape, yet it was always rare that he heard the confident vulpine so lost for words. "W-Well, I understand it's just to make sure everyone's in check after Andross' invasion."

"Gotcha. We ain't gettin' paid for this, are we..?"

"Sorry, Falco." apologised dew yellow-furred pilot. "I'm certain this is going to my father's old mortgage."

"Crud, man."

More flying ensued, and the duo found themselves closer to the Sargasso Space Zone, by about approximately 2 minutes. Out of the blue, Falco heard a noise emanating from his receiving speaker.

"F-Falco, could I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

A pause came from the end of the fox. Once again, Falco noticed that words seemed to evade his captain at all costs.

"Somethin' on your mind, Fox?" the winged pilot prodded, beginning to grow eager to get answers. "Or are you just desperate for my attention?"

"It's not that! It's just hard to put into words…" pouted the fox, yet he still took a longer pause after speaking.

Falco, impatient as per usual, decided that there was a time and place for everything… But not now. "Well, I think you'll have to stuff it. We're approaching Sargasso, quickly."

"Fine…"

"..."

"W-Wait!" Falco had called out, surprising the vulpine. "Fox, there's something I've been wanting to admit to you, so let me talk instead."

Instantly, time seemed to stop for the fox. The son of the famed James McCloud felt his heart run at paces one would consider extraordinary. Sweat streamed down on the inside of his gloves like a flowing river, and his arms felt like they weighed nothing.

"W-What do you wanna tell me?"

Falco let out a long sigh. "I was gonna tell you at the Great Fox, but I guess it's worth mentioning now. You know at the bar I went to, right?"

Fox exhaled disappointedly. "Yes?"

"Well… I got interrogated by those StarWolf punks. They were after Katt's location over money laundering."

"Seriously? You mean Katt Monroe?"

"Yeah, that's her."

Fox had placed a gloved hand in his forehead, and leaned back in his chair. "I can't believe this… I wish you had told me earlier, Falco! This… that is illegal! A complete breach of the treaty!"

"Oy, oy, oy!" called out the falcon, a bead of sweat dripping down to his chin from his temple. "Don't m-make a big meal out of this. Those herbs weren't supposed to know that I told you, or anyone."

"But… No, it's unacceptable! We need to confront them about it."

"...Do we really need to?"

There was a small pause before the captain had answered, making Falco quietly pant nervously.

"Of course we have to. Come on, Falco. Did they hurt you or anything?"

The feathered fighter pilot ran his hands through the quills atop his head. He began to feel as if he had no sense of balance whatsoever.

"N-No, they didn't. Look - if we're gonna go, then let's just go, alright?"

"Fine."

Both of the experienced pilots shrugged off their differences, before putting forward their thrust levers and delving further into the expanse of Meteo, dauntlessly.

Finally, they had reached the Sargasso Space Zone. Both of the Arwings had halted to take a good look at the giant carrier. Crimson paint covered the entirety of its exterior. Asteroids gently floated past the space station, but none seemed to make any contact with it. Falco scratched at the itch on his head.

"So um… We really gotta go inside, right? Like, now?"

"Is there something wrong, Falco? Don't tell me you're scared of these guys."

"O-Oy! Don't you start that 'chicken' garbage with me, Fox." retorted Falco, albeit slightly nervous. "It's just that these guys aren't trustworthy people. Even after that Cornerian-Venomian treaty thing."

A sigh was returned as a response. "Come on, Falco. I get that you're still a bit heated with StarWolf. Just remember that we're protected by an arbitration clause. These people would be smart not to pull any fast ones."

Falco finally gave into his reassurances, turning his head to look at his captain directly in the Arwing next to him.

"I guess you're right. Can we land in the carrier?"

"Sure."

"...Ladies first."

Both the fox and the bird had nestled their Arwings safely in one of the docks aside three different Wolfen II vehicles. Of course, this was after being granted authorised access by one of the dock's watchmen. Falco always found identification to be a pain. He never had pockets big enough to carry his ID around with him wherever he went.

The avian ace followed closely behind his captain as they both strolled by the common room for the space station - that was also a bar of sorts. Of course, the two got many, many stares as they walked past. Falco glanced in front, and noticed how headstrong Fox looked, and walked. A small blush began to form on his face, although Falco couldn't explain why.

"Is that StarFox?"

"Nono, StarFox is the name of the team."

"Ohh…"

Falco overheard a conversation ongoing amid two ruffians, and grimaced at the incorrect use of the name of his team. He then poked at Fox's shoulder, getting his attention. He then gesticulated departing this rotten place, yet the captain merely scoffed.

"You know, Falco. You've gotten soft recently. Like, Slippy soft" he remarked, making Falco rear in disgust. "Come on, man. I just wanna check on StarWolf before we head off."

"You must've hit your head on the way here or somethin'. What business do we even have here?"

Fox turned around, to smirk at the bird, as the two approached a large door guarded by a duo of ruffians on both sides of the door.

"Hey, this is good news. It's another thing to add against our old enemy."

"Right…"

The two guards, donning a full set of armour, eyed Fox right in his face. The ruffian on the left, a monkey, leered at the couplet of StarFox members, and was the first to speak.

"Business?"

Fox placed his hands on his hips. "StarFox."

Almost immediately, the guards shifted off to the side, pushed away like salad. They then opened the doors for the two StarFox rangers to engage their nemesis of many battles - StarWolf.

Before them was a dimly illuminated room, equipped solely with the colourful sparkles of the expanse of space to counteract the darkness. Falco could barely make out an iron desk, littered with a bunch of vaguely printed letters and papers on the top-most meshy surface. Three figures surrounded the piece of furniture menacingly. 2 and a half pairs of eyes glimmered in tandem with the rays donated from the cosmos. Given his experience, Falco already knew who was who.

"I knew I smelled a rat come in." came the rough and worn voice of a veteran who both Fox and Falco knew too personally. "Of course, it'd be StarFox. Come to arrest us? Claim a bounty?"

In the Corneria of his eye, Falco spotted his captain place his hands upon his hips in his usual fashion. Not even a full conversation was had yet, and Falco could already feel the tension in the air heating the room up like an industrial oven.

"Cut that out." commanded Fox, displaying no sort of fear toward the space pirates. "We're here on suspicion of StarWolf being in involved in financial fraud."

Wolf, who sat behind the desk with Panther and Leon to his left and right respectively, adjusted his eyepatch delicately. Time began to increase back to it's usual rate after the StarWolf captain had switched a desk lamp on, branding the entire room with colour, save for the corners.

"And if I may ask, what in Lylat led you to believe that?"

Fox had turned to Falco after the wolf's comment, and folded his arms. On the other hand, the anxious avain took to silently assaulting a sweat drop descending down his temple.

"Well, Wolf, we have intel displaying that you've been involved in embezzlement…"

As soon as his captain had spoke those words, Falco felt his throat clench up like a clogged drainpipe. One by one, each member of the StarWolf mercenary unit had their eyes grow open as if pried with a crowbar.

"...With a former client of ours known as Katt Monroe."

Whatever ounces of confidence the falcon had stockpiled all fell to the ground in a dramatic mangled disarray of scattered pieces. Falco's beak became loosely ajar, as he watched all sets of the shocked pairs of eyes fall upon him. He knew what he had done. He knew that StarWolf knew what he had done. Worst of all, Falco found that his captain had no idea of the effects of his actions.

"Well...?"

Upon Fox's remark, the StarWolf members traded a couple of instigative stares between themselves and Falco across the room. A minute of silent thought went by, before Wolf had nodded at Panther to proceed.

Panther cleared his throat, and put a paw upon his hip.

"It's true, but we were only after her location. We had intel to believe she's lying low somewhere on Zoness."

"There we go. Thus, we have authorisation to apprehend her from her location. Any intervention from StarWolf will result as a breach of the Cornerian-Venomian treaty." explained Fox, to the three miserable mercenaries.

Now, Falco turned to face his captain, who shared the glare with a coy smile. The fox then nodded toward the exit, as a gesture to get going to their next destination.

Fox turned on his heel, while Falco followed close behind. The avian took one last look behind him, and felt struck like a pin from the bowling ball of apprehension: Panther held a neutral look, but Leon and Wolf both drew swords from their stands, right into Falco's back. Fear shook the falcon to his bones, hand the urge to begin running poked at his mind.

Thankfully, the two had scooted out of the dark room, and back into the populated purple tinted bar.

While the duo began making their way back to their Arwings, Falco took this opportunity to tap his captain on the shoulder, with distaste.

"You having a laugh or something, Fox? We agreed not to tell those herbs!" accosted the angered avian. However, the puppy-eyed captain of the mercenary group pouted in defense.

"...but we didn't even agree on it…"

Falco remained unamused.

Fox put his gloved hands up. "Alright, Falco, I'm really sorry. Let's just get Katt, and we'll sort it out on the Great Fox. This place is making me uncomfortable."

After a bit of thought, Falco agreed to the notion. "Fine."

The duo headed out of the cruel stench of the alcohol-ridden bar, and toward the aircraft carriers where they had parked their Arwings - adjacent to two Wolfen II Aircraft. Falco climbed in his own vehicle, and stretched out in his leather seat. The long day never seemed to have an end.

I'd say, that brings an end to this chapter. Thanks for the support. Also, if you haven't joined the That Glaceon server, you better! DM me on Discord at Luanastar#5525 for further details.

-LuanOTP