Path of the Wolf

Past Time - Before the Anglar Blitz


Water was running down the window pane and a slow steady rain had been falling on the park outside all day. Inside it was much the same. Krystal, was sitting in a couch by the window, eating a packet of crisps and was feeling sorry for herself. The snacks couldn't fill the void. The tears had run dry but the sadness was still the same.

And there was no one she could confide in. She had no family and the friends she had, were his friends too, and they were all on his side. The man was such a mystery, a paradox. He could be so honest and vulnerable around her, especially those three magical months after he'd opened up about his love for her. Even after moments of intimacy he was usually bubbly, and sometimes the pillow talk had continued until she'd had to jokingly tell him to shut his muzzle and go to sleep. Yet he was so protective of his thoughts, like he was hiding something, or was it paranoia? And then he'd gone and thrown it all away for both of them.

And she hated the apartment. Sure, she loved Corneria and she had loved walking through that very park with Fox, but it was he who had found and rented the apartment, and she wasn't well enough yet to go and find somewhere else. If she couldn't be with him, she didn't want to have anything to do with him. In anger she threw the packet of crisps across the room and they scattered everywhere. Great, now she'd have to clean that up too.

The door bell chimed.

"Go away!" she yelled. Who could it be? Fox had wised up and stopped trying to visit, since she had basically told him to go to hell. Slippy with his new girlfriend Amanda and Peppy's daughter Lucy had been there too trying to reason with her, but all they talked about was Fox, Fox, Fox. He was so upset. He was trying to protect her. And there was obviously one little detail that he hadn't told anyone else. Damned Fox!

The bell chimed again. The blasted screen wasn't visible from where she was sitting. She sighed, grabbed her crutches and slowly hobbled off to the door. The screen showed a man in uniform. Puzzled she opened the door, and there stood the decorated uniform and cap of General Pepper. But in the uniform and cap was the body and head of someone else she knew very well. "Peppy?"

"May I come in?"

Awkwardly she manoeuvred out of the way and let him inside. He put down his big wet umbrella by the door.

"I hope you're getting better," he said and presented her with a big and beautiful bouquet of flowers, but realising that she couldn't take it while on her crutches, he continued. "I'll put them in a vase for you, if you have one."

"Thank you so much! There should be one in the kitchen," she said and nodded in the general direction of it. When they got there, he went through the cupboards, found what he was looking for and poured water into the vase. As he unwrapped the flowers and carefully started cutting the bottom off the stems, she noticed his name tag.

"General O'Hare?" she inquired.

"Yes, O'Hare is actually family name, but somewhere along the line the O got dropped off" he said while putting the flowers in the vase. "General Pepper was quite adamant that I should be his successor. Some people in the army started calling me General Peppy, but then others confuse me with General Pepper because it sounds too similar, so I'll stick with O'Hare I think."

Then he looked at her sternly yet.

"But I'll always just be Peppy to you, Krystal! You've been like a daughter to me and like a sister to Lucy."

"And you're the closest things to a father I know," she said and smiled back at him. "I don't know where my parents are or if they're alive. I wish I could remember. But I like to think of you as Uncle Peppy."

"I'll take that as a compliment," he said but then got serious. "How are you? Really!"

"Getting there I guess," she said. "My arm's better but my leg's still a bit useless."

"I was quite surprise when Fox said he'd broken up with you," continued Peppy and rearranged some the flowers in the bouquet. So that's what Fox had told him. "Damn stupid if you ask me."

She could see that he was battling with what to say next. She had less qualms about checking peoples minds nowadays, so she had a quick peek at his thoughts. They were full of concern for Fox, of course, but the old man had the tact not to say anything about that.

"Lucy told me how miserable you were," he started and contemplated some more. "Look, I probably shouldn't be doing this, and Fox will kill me when he learns, but I could make some calls and find you a job in the army. Maybe you could fly recon or something a bit safer, but at least get back in a plane, if you want to."

"Yes, I think I might like that," she answered.

"I thought so. You don't seem much like a stay-at-home type of person to me. Well, excuse me, but a general's schedule is very busy. I really must be going."

"Thank you so much for visiting!" she said. Peppy really was so sweet. Before leaving he picked up his large umbrella, which Krystal realised had an odd shape, like something was tucked into it. He pulled out a cylindrical object wrapped in a black cloth. The shapes of both end of the cylinder was very familiar to her.

"I've kept it hidden from Slippy's curious eyes, as you wanted," he explained. Only Peppy and herself knew that he had saved the object from the Great Fox, before he had crashed the ship. "But now that I'm the head of the army, I fear I might become a bit too tempted to hand it over to our scientists, to see what they could make of its technology. It's a very powerful weapon! You'd better keep it safe."

"I will, thank you!"


The twelve fighters were flying in formation, while patrolling the outskirts of the asteroid field. First there were two groups of four in fingertip formations, with Krystal at the rear of the third group which was in a diamond formation. Due to her extraordinary observation skills, she had been given a defensive role and also a modified Arwing with heavier artillery, so that she could do significant damage to larger ship even at longer distances. She kept an eye on the radar, knowing that the enemy they had received intel about would be out there somewhere. But with so many space rocks of different sizes scattered around, it was nearly impossible to tell which blips that might be enemy ships. It was no wonder it was such a popular hiding spot.

Suddenly they came upon a large swarm of at least a hundred Aparoids. There were Flyers, Razors, Stingers and Moths, and in the middle of it all Krystal could just make out one of those quadrupedal, gargantuan Walker Ships that they had fought on Katina.

"Fennec Squadron," called their leader over the comms. "This is it! You know the drills and the formations, but this is the real thing. Stick to the plan and punch a hole, so Omega Four can use the heavy cannons on the mothership."

Krystal recognised her designation. The last fighter in the last group, she grumbled to herself. They broke up into their three groups and attacked. The Flyers were easy to pick off, but the Razors, Stingers and Moths were harder. Their squadron leader was impeccable, making kill after kill, but the less experienced pilots struggled. New Aparoids arrived at the same rate as they could terminate them. Wave after wave of attacks failed to make the break that Krystal needed for her cannons, and she saw first one and then a second of her squadron companions shot down. Krystal cursed her ship, which had lots of firepower, but the tradeoff was that is was slower and less manoeuvrable. She wanted her old fast and nimble Arwing back, so she could join the attack like she had done at the Aparoid Home World.

She saw another of her friends being shot down, and they started getting surrounded by the Aparoids, but then she spotted an opening and broke formation.

"Krystal! What are you doing? Get back to your route!"

"No, I can see a way through. I can do this!"

She rolled and weaved, shook a pesky Stinger from her tail and got the mothership in her sights. She fired, but a Moth crossed the path and took the hit. Dammit! Now she had to wait for the cannon to recharge. One of her squadron comrades arrived, but was quickly disposed of by a Razor. She used the best moves Fox's had taught her, avoiding enemy fire while slowly getting closer. The cannon was getting ready. 70%. 80%. She got the Aparoid Ship in her sights again, locked on, and as the cannon reached 90% put her finger on her trigger.

That's when she got hit and the screens went completely black. Two words appeared.

GAME OVER

She pushed her seat back and stepped out of the pod. More than half of the squadron were already out of their pods, and the rest soon followed, bar one. Their leader and instructor!

Krystal had spent several months in the army, going through the same basic training to get certified as everyone else, although thanks to her time in Star Fox she could fly the pants off all of them, except their instructor. But having all the practical experience in the world seemed to mean nothing when it came to the army's rules and formalities. And she hated the simulator training, since of course couldn't use her senses against the computers. Out in space she would have perceived that last attack, would have avoided it, her cannon would have reached 100% and it would have been game over for the Aparoids. And she hated the pink and purple flight suit she'd been given. Apparently the army wanted garments with a more feminine touch to attract more girls to the academy. How sexist!

Finally their squadron leader and instructor stepped out of her pod and walked up in front of the class.

"Ok, Fennec Squadron, that was a particularly good example of what happens when you're ignoring orders and not sticking to the plan," she said. She was an orange and cream vulpine a few years older than Krystal, probably about Fox's age, and with particularly large ears. "Isn't that so ... Krystal?"

She glared at Krystal and Krystal glared back. From what Krystal had heard, their instructor had always been a bit of a daredevil and not always following plans herself.

"I said, isn't that so, Krystal?"

"Yes, Wing Commander Phoenix," mumbled Krystal. Of course their leader had to be Fara Phoenix, hadn't she? Daughter of the wealthy Phoenix family, which were large shareholders in Arspace Dynamics. Fara had been a test pilot on the Arwing program, and she'd been flying since the day she could reach controls.

"Working together is the key," continued Fara. "Everyone must perform their part like a cog in a well oiled machine. The army is no place for selfish heroics, despite what one of us might have learned from her days in Star Fox. Yes, Krystal, I know Fox well, and am not surprised he kicked you out, even though you might have thought you were special. Maybe he even made you feel special?"

She just had to rub that in, didn't she? Yes, she had learnt that it was a well known fact that Fara had been Fox's first fling several years ago.

"Go get some rest and think about how you can improve. Class dismissed!" Fara finished.

Krystal stomped out of the door as fast as she could. Her two closest friends in the army caught up with her. They were the tomboyish feline Miuy and the young, platinum blonde canine Faye. Krystal really liked them, usually. Miuy was always fun and Faye really smart.

"B-tch!" exclaimed Krystal and kept walking at a furious pace.

"But Krystal, you did disobey orders," pleaded Faye jogging along.

"Yeah, you should go easy on her! It's not your fault Fox fired you," said Miuy. "I can kinda understand how you might be too stubborn for him."

Fired? Stubborn? Really!

"You know nothing," Krystal growled. "Leave me alone!"


Krystal was inspecting her new ship, which was sitting on the flight deck in the Cornerian spacecraft carrier. It was based on a regular Arwing, but Slippy had outdone himself, and come up with something that was barely recognisable. Instead it more resembled a prehistoric flying dinosaur, a pterodactyl. Krystal sighed. It reminded her of her late friend Kyte.

The design gave her much better visibility than a regular Arwing, and it could also carry heavy artillery, which suited her battle style. That was to stay in the background and guide attacks, then finish them off with the ship's heavy cannons. Officially it was because of her extraordinary 'observation skills', because neither she nor Peppy had not told anyone about her telepathic abilities.

She was already wearing her flight suit, so on a whim she checked that the plane was flight ready and jumped into the cockpit. As she started going through the pre-flight sequence, she was hailed.

"Hold right there, Omega Four," said flight control. "You have no scheduled flights today. I need to check with your leader."

"Yeah, sure, whatever," she replied. Just great! She had really been looking forward to going for a spin. She waited for a minute, then there was Fara's voice.

"What do you think you're doing, Krystal?"

"I need to get my flight hours up on my new ship, Wing Commander," Krystal replied. She could hear Fara sigh into the microphone. Their relationship had been quite tense since the day they'd met, but maybe Fara had decided to back off a bit after having gotten stuck into Krystal earlier.

"Ok, just this once," Fara confirmed. "And just some basic navigation training, no stunts!"

"Roger that!"

She was giving clearance, taxied over the flight deck to the plasma gate, and was finally free in open space. Krystal kept flying rather aimlessly. It just felt good to be away from the hustle and bustle of the carrier ship. She was sure Peppy had meant well, but joining the army hadn't been such a great idea. Everyone knew about her escapades with Star Fox and that she was Fox's former girlfriend. Therefore, no one really saw Krystal for who she actually was.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a blip on the radar. Was it friend or foe? It should be friendly, because it was peacetime, but who knew. She just kept her course, letting the blip get closer, until a ship appeared on her screens. But when she recognised it, her heart skipped a beat. A Wolfen! She got busy turning on all weapons systems on directing more power to the shield, getting ready for a radar lock warning that didn't come. Instead the Wolfen pulled up next to her, showing off the rose painted on its hull. Her earphones crackled.

"How lovely to see you again, Krystal," purred Panther Caroso. "What are you doing out here all alone?"

"None of your business," Krystal replied. "What was it you said? All who see my rose meet death? We'll see about that!"

She was a better pilot now than last they met, so she did a quick barrel roll, came up right behind his ship and locked her radars on him. To her surprise he did nothing in return. Instead the indicator light for incoming video call game through. She tapped the switch and the black panther's dark face appeared on screen.

"Ah, you're more beautiful than ever," he crooned.

"Yeah, whatever you smooth operator. What do you want? I should just take you down right now and collect that bounty on you. I can think of all sorts of things to do with twenty-thousand."

"I have a better offer!"

"Really?" said Krystal sarcastically.

"Come with Panther and join Star Wolf!"

"What? Is your head full of kitty litter?"

"I won't dump you like Fox did. He doesn't know what he's lost. I know how miserable you are in the army. Oh yes, we have eyes and ears everywhere. But at Star Wolf there's adventure and we look out for one another."

Krystal said nothing, her thumb resting on the trigger.

"Just think about it. You know where the Sargasso Station is. You've been there before," said the panther, and with that he turned and disappeared. Deep in thought Krystal slowly took her finger off the trigger. It would not just be a way to get back at Fox, but maybe also a way to get Fox back?


"Here, kitty, kitty!" Krystal called as she crept through the maze. Her senses were on high alert, since a big cat was out there somewhere trying to get her.

Yes, she had excepted the offer from Panther, and the last few months with team Star Wolf had been full on indeed. They were hard workers, their training regime rigorous, and then they partied just as hard at night. Their training facility was epic for being within a space station. There were not only flight simulators, a shooting range, and a gym with a variety of equipment, but also an octagonal martial arts fighting cage, a large hall with an obstacle course and the maze she currently was in. She was wondering why they didn't wipe the floor with Star Fox all the time, considering how big they were on training. Maybe it was because of all that partying.

And Caroso had been both the prince charming and knight in shining armour that Fox hadn't been. The Panther was always swooning around her, declaring his love every minute, and proudly presenting her to everyone. Fair enough, a lot of it was for appearances and trying to get her into his bedroom, but he wasn't much for smalltalk. Where Fox had shown a completely different side of him when the two of them were alone together, she'd realised that Panther was pretty shallow.

For all his charm, he didn't hold back when they were training though, oh no. She particularly disliked the cage fighting, because her senses gave here less of an advantage in that confined space. It usually ended with him beating her, and stealing a smooch before he would let her go. Out in the hall it was a different story. He loved playing cat and mouse, but it wasn't clear who was the cat and who was the mouse. But she needed a weapon and also to keep an eye on that other presence she was feeling. It was someone she did not trust at all, a crazy person who changed allegiances and promises as quickly as he changed colour.

She got to the maze entrance and poked her head around the corner to have the quickest of looks. There was a staff out on the floor. Not her staff of course, she had hidden that well, just a simple wooden staff, but it would do. It was just beyond a large create and it was naturally a trap set by the Panther. She didn't even need to guess that he was behind the crate. She could feel him.

So she ran, and just as expected the Panther jumped out from behind that crate, but she side stepped him, leapt up onto and launched off the crate, somersaulting over his head. Her feet touched down just in front of the staff and in one fluid motion she crouched, grabbed it, made another somersault on the floor and came back up on her feet with staff ready.

"Panther wants to dance with you, my darling," he said and pulled out his knifes, just dull training tools but still.

"I'll lead!" she replied and they got stuck into each other. Now that she had space and a staff, he had no chance of getting her. She countered every attack and gave him a couple of fresh bruises in the process. Then she sensed someone sneaking up on her from behind, but the persons thoughts revealed no guns, so she let it get closer. As the person lunged, Caroso briefly looked up over her shoulder, and that gave her the cue she needed. She sidestepped again, spun around and ended up behind her attacker. With one arm she swung the staff around him and with the other locked it down hard on the chameleon's throat. Leon clawed at the staff, but couldn't get a hold of her, and strangled noises came out of his mouth.

She frightened herself and backed off a little bit. Where had that fury come from? Then they all heard a hearty yet sinister laugh.

"And you two, who are meant to be my best warriors, are getting your sorry tails kicked by a girl?"

In the entrance to the training hall stood a tall and muscular canine, clad in black and blue leather with studded shoulder pads, nonchalantly leaning on the door frame. He had grey hair with a white stripe through it and an equally grey tail with a split tip. He was studying them with one purple eye, a bionic patch over the other. It was Cap'n Wolf himself, Lord O'Donnell.

Everyone around here feared him, and so did Krystal, yet she kind of trusted him. She treated her as an equal to everyone else, which meant that he could be ruthless to her too, but she believed that as long as she was useful to him, he would look out for her. Better the devil you know. So she got busy!

"How does she do it?" Leon croaked as Krystal let him go.

"You've got to use all your senses," she replied. "You're not as silent as you think and I could see Panther looking at you."

That wasn't even a lie, she though, just not the whole truth. They didn't know about her psionic abilities of course, and didn't need to know, although she was wary of Wolf. Could he tell like Fox often had? A couple of times when she'd gone to read the wolf's mind, he had turned around to look at her, like he knew what she was doing.

"Anyway, playtime is over," said the Wolf and pulled out a communicator. "I'm just back from Venom, and there have been some interesting developments over there."

He tapped the communicator and a hologram showing one of the ugliest creatures Krystal had ever seen appeared.

"Yuck! What's that? It looks like a fish gone wrong," exclaimed Leon.

"Yeah, it's uglier than you," added Panther.

"They call themselves Anglars," said Wolf. "And they've been building an armada in the Venom Sea."

"Isn't that toxic?"

"Very much so," continued the Wolf. "And so are their attitude. They're about to launch an all out attack on Corneria, and I have a plan on how we can finally one-up Star Fox, clear the bounties on our heads, and regain peoples respect for us."

He turned his attention to Krystal.

"Fox can't win this time, because he's on his own now, and we've got you!"