A cold breeze whistled past Fox like a flurry of knives, cutting through his fur and piercing his skin with its icy touch. A shiver coursed across his body, and he silently cursed himself that he'd neglected to cover himself better before beginning the climb up. Though his sleeveless jacket had worked perfectly fine a few hours ago in the warmer weather, the cold wind blowing through the tall mountain range was beating him down far more than he'd expected.

And unfortunately, due to a bit of poor planning on his part, he'd left most of his cold-weather equipment, including a bulky jacket, back in his Arwing.

Of course, given his current position, there wasn't much he could do about the cold at the moment, even if he had brought his supplies. For the last hour or so, he had been scaling the side of a sheer, rocky cliff, using a mixture of toned strength and a keen, pilot's eye to spot suitable handholds and then use them to hoist himself upwards, inch by inch if necessary. It had been a slow, arduous process, as he certainly didn't consider himself to be a premier rock climber. However, he was still ascending the intimidating wall of rock with a finesse and a strength that would have impressed even the most experienced of mountaineers.

Although, he certainly didn't feel very impressive. His muscles were burning after the past hour or so of physical exertion, and they were begging him to let them take a break from the effort. A part of him desperately wanted to oblige their request, however, the stubborn part of him ignored them, worried that if he stopped it would take too long for him to continue again.

So, with a furrowed brow and gritted teeth, he forced himself to keep climbing. His eyes scanned the rock above him until they locked onto a groove that he could fit his fingers into, and bracing his legs against their holds, he pushed his torso upwards and grabbed hold of the groove. However, before putting his weight on that arm, he first felt around for any spots of hidden ice that could have caused him to lose his grip. He'd already had a couple of close calls where he had tried putting his weight on a slick spot on the stone and lost his grip, almost sending him back down the cliffside much faster than he had ascended.

He certainly wasn't planning on falling now, so after confirming there were no hidden assassins of slippery ice, he grabbed firmly onto the groove and used it to pull himself up just a couple more feet. And then, he repeated the action, pushing himself up towards the next suitable handhold, quickly but thoroughly checking for hidden ice, then pulling himself upwards another few feet.

Though it didn't take too much longer for Fox to finally reach the top, he was wholly exhausted by the time he pulled himself up and slumped over the top edge of the cliffside onto solid ground. Lying face-down on his stomach in the thin layer of snow blanketing the ground and breathing heavily to deliver the oxygen his lungs were so desperate for, he silently cursed himself.

That shouldn't have been that hard… He thought between breaths. I might be getting a bit out of shape.

After a quick moment to rest his tired arms, he slowly pushed himself up off the ground and rolled over to sit on his backside. He then reached back to unhook a small canteen of water strapped to his backpack. Unscrewing the lid, he leaned back and took a healthy swig of the water within. Though the water sloshing through his mouth and across his tongue satisfied his tired throat, the cool liquid also sent a chill coursing across his skin, heralding another involuntary shiver. Once more, he cursed himself that he hadn't had the foresight to bring that blasted jacket along.

Grumbling to himself in frustration, he screwed the cap back on and made a motion to clip the canteen back to his pack. However, as he did so, his eyes began absently wandering until they stopped at a sight that hit him like a truck.

The view of the valley below was absolutely beautiful. The tall, rolling hills surrounding either side of the valley practically shimmered under the sunlight, and the varying colors of so many different kinds of flora dotting the landscape only served to make the clear, grassy green even more vibrant. The crystal-blue river looked as though a long ribbon of the clear sky had been carefully cut out and stretched through the bottom of the valley, and Fox could practically smell the sweet, pure scent of the rolling water. Even from here, he could see the distant shapes of the wandering ThornTails as they went about whatever business they went about on their daily lives. No contention. No bickering or brawling. Just living.

It was so peaceful. So natural.

Fox had never considered himself to be much of a nature-lover before. But just that picturesque sight sitting before his eyes, so pristine that any painter or photographer would kill to get a chance to capture it for their own, almost converted him.

Almost. He was, after all, still very cold.

With a sigh and a shake of his head, he reminded himself that sightseeing was not his mission. After finally clipping the canteen back to his belt, he reached behind him and grabbed hold of his pack, slipping it off his back and opening it up to search for his Pathfinder. However, as he stuck his hand inside, his brow raised when his fingers suddenly closed around an unfamiliar object.

He slowly drew his hand out of the bag to reveal the slender staff that he had found stuck in the earth earlier. He had almost forgotten that he had found it, but now that he had a quiet moment to rest from his climb up the mountain, he found himself examining the odd artifact once again.

He still didn't know what it was about that staff that fascinated him so. It was beautifully crafted, no doubt, but he wouldn't a masterpiece of art either. Was it the fact that it could be valuable? Not really. The thought had barely even crossed his mind, and he certainly wasn't the greedy type anyways.

It just… calmed him. Even he knew that the thought was ridiculous, but the beautiful, exotic artifact still almost seemed to send waves of a soft, pleasant feeling across his mind. Just looking at it made him feel more comfortable in his own skin since… well, since longer than he could remember.

He sighed softly and shook his head, forcing himself to think rationally. It was nothing more than a glorified stick. Pretty, and mildly interesting thanks to the mystery surrounding it, but nothing more. Certainly nothing useful.

Unlike his Pathfinder, which he pulled out of his pack after slipping the staff back in with another sigh. Activating the device once more, he studied the simple map on the green screen carefully, once again making sure he was on the correct path to the signal.

After taking a moment to observe his surroundings and picking out a good path he could take, he finally climbed back to his feet with a grunt of effort and took a quick moment to stretch his muscles. Pocketing the Pathfinder again, he immediately set out once more, hoping that it wouldn't take too much more hiking to find what he was looking for.

However, as though it were coming down to halt his progress, another harsh gust of wind swept down from the peak of the mountain, cutting into his skin with its icy touch. Gritting his teeth and wrapping his arms around his torso in a vain attempt to block the chilling breeze, Fox forced himself to push through the cold, keeping his eyes squarely on the path ahead of him.

I'll be there before I know it, he tried to assure himself as more shivers coursed over his skin. No use in complaining…

After just a couple more hours, and several more internal complaints, Fox had found himself following a more concrete trail. Though the mountainside was home to a great number of tall, evergreen trees, he noticed that as he drew closer to the coordinates, more and more of the green, snow-covered trees had been felled, and not through natural means. There were clear signs of rough, sloppy lumberjacking, with stumps of now-dead trees strewn about randomly, and even some full tree trunks that had been chopped down and evidently just left to rot. Nevertheless, it seemed as though someone had come through here with the intent to clear out this section of woods, though for what purpose, Fox didn't yet know.

Whatever the purpose, it at least served as a sign that Fox was drawing close to his destination. He imagined that the trees had been cleared out to serve as lumber for a camp or some other structure, so he knew that if he just followed the trail of fallen trees, he'd be bound to find something eventually.

However, as he was plodding his way along the trail, trying his best to keep his head underneath a light, flurrying snowfall that had begun not long ago, he stopped suddenly and his ears pricked up. He thought he heard a noise coming from somewhere behind the wall of scattered trees.

His head shot back and forth and he began listening intently to see if he could figure out what he had heard. Bit by bit, he began to hear what seemed to be the sound of loud, rapturous shouting and guffawing, coming from somewhere deeper within the trees. Without much hesitation, Fox began following the noises, guessing that these were the lumberjacks that been working the forest.

Within moments, Fox had found the source of the yelling and laughing; a small group of about seven, odd creatures that were walking along a path, shouting at and punching one another as they marched. Not sure he wanted to reveal himself quite yet, Fox observed the creatures from behind a tree, making sure he was out of their sight.

Unlike the large, bestial ThornTails he had encountered in the valley, these creatures were much smaller, closer to his height, if just a bit larger, and walked on two, bowed legs as opposed to four. Their scaly skin seemed to vary in color from individual to individual, as there were some with a shade of light green, some with darker shades of dull yellow, and one that bore a shade of muddy brown. They had long, reptilian snouts with sharp teeth that poked out of their mouths and long tails that dragged on the ground where they walked.

Fox also noted that they didn't appear to be lumberjacks. Instead, they seemed to be more like a pack of warriors, being clad in leather and steel armor, lined with brown furs to protect from the cold weather, and equipped with heavy clubs, long spears, or sharp axes. These weapons were grasped in their clawed hands or hung over their hunched backs.

They look like a patrol, Fox thought as he observed the pack. And they don't look too friendly.

However, a part of him still wanted to reveal himself to them. He certainly wasn't going to attack without a reason, and if they ended up being friendlier than they looked, they might end up being able to help find what he was looking for.

"Peppy," he said softly, contacting the Great Fox. "do you read me?"

"Peppy here." Came the eventual reply. "How's it going, son? Have you found something?"

"Yeah." He whispered, keeping an eye on the group. "I've found a group of natives wandering around the mountain."

"ThornTails?" Peppy guessed.

"No, they're a lot smaller. And they're walking on two legs."

"Hmm..." Fox could hear as the old rabbit muttering to himself, likely going over the small glossary that Pepper had supplied them, detailing all known species on the planet.

"Peppy?" Fox muttered softly, watching as the patrol began to get steadily closer to where he hid.

"Be patient, I'm working. Now… it could be this one… Do they have long, thin necks?"

"No."

"Alright then... Two legs. It could be… Oh dear… no, no he said they were smaller."

"Peppy!" Fox snapped, turning his gaze away from the patrol. "It doesn't matter what they are, just tell me how to talk to them! Have you figured out that universal greeting we were talking about?"

"Oh, of course! I have it written down…"

Fox heard a bit more shuffling as the rabbit rifled through a stack of papers. After an uncomfortably long while, in the time of which the patrol meanered ever closer to where Fox stood, Peppy spoke again.

"Alright, all you need to say is; 'Jucikukaedj udt vahoo nuhm xuacukaed'."

"Jooki…" Fox shook his head in complete dumbfoundment. "What?"

"Would you like me to repeat that?"

"No, Peppy, there's got to be something simpler than-"

"Xuahrucc!"

Fox started and turned back to the patrol, to see that one of them had caught sight of the vulpine, and was gesturing to the others and pointing at where he hid. One by one, the other members of the patrol caught sight of him, and within seconds they were each making a beeline towards his position, brandishing their weapons and snarling like animals. Once again, it was difficult to tell if they were friendly or not.

"Peppy! I need something to say, now!"

"What do you need? What's happening?"

"How do I talk to them!? Hurry!"

"Yes yes. Okay, um, give me a second…"

Just one second later, the patrol had descended upon Fox and were each raising their weapons to strike. The closest one swung his weapon, a steel axe with a honed edge, with the clear intent to kill. Fox was only barely able to jump back out of the whistling blade's path before it continued onward and stuck deep into the bark of a tree. Fox's first instinct was to reach for his blaster, however, he quickly decided against that. Killing a pack of natives wouldn't look good for him if he needed to convince people he didn't mean any harm, even if they had attacked him first.

"Hold on, hold on!" He tried to say instead, raising his hands in an attempt to display his surrender. "I'm not an enemy!"

However, another one of the creatures jumped forward, raising his club high and bringing it down hard. Fox again only just barely managed to dodge the weapon before it bashed his brains out of his head, however, as he stepped backwards, his leg caught on an exposed root and he stumbled backwards, almost losing his balance. Despite that, whether it was through his adrenaline or through his old fighting instincts that were starting to kick in, he still managed to barely avoid another vicious swing from another one of the creatures.

With that, Fox decided that these natives were not going to be convinced he was friendly, even if he could speak their language. No, they were out for his blood.

Immediately, Fox began glancing around, trying to quickly figure out if there was a way he could escape his aggressors. However, as he did, he saw that the other four members of the patrol had been making motions to surround him, making sure to cut off any chance he had of getting away. There was only one thing he could do.

"Alright, fine." He said, his gaze falling down into a steely glare. "You want to do this?"

His hands clenched, and as though more than a decade of training and combat experience had suddenly kicked into high-gear, he adopted a firm, light battle stance, raising his fists to his face and shuffling lightly back and forth on his feet, ready for anything they could throw at him.

"Bring it on, scale-face!"

As if on cue, the closest of the creatures raised his axe up high and brought it down, in perfect path to split Fox in half. However, Fox deftly caught the weapon in its path, knocking it aside with a fist and giving space for him to bring his other fist into the creature's stomach. The creature let out a grunt of pain and bent forward, stalling him just long enough for Fox to strike with another brutal punch to the side of his reptilian head.

The creature fell to the snowy ground dazed, though as he did, a shock of pain shot up the arm that Fox had struck him with.

These things have got thick skulls, he thought, flexing and shaking his hurting hand as he dodged another swing.

Quickly deciding to switch up his strategy a little, he ducked underneath a whistling axe and shot forward, kicking the legs out from underneath another aggressor and sending him to the ground. Then, still crouched down low, he folded over backwards to suddenly spring up with remarkable speed and agility, delivering a backwards flip-kick to the jaw of another one of the lizards with enough force to send a visceral crack ringing throughout the trees.

The other four natives stopped in their tracks as their companion fell to the ground, and Fox landed skillfully back on his feet. For just a moment, a look of shock and fear flashed across each of their faces. They obviously didn't expect Fox to put up this much of a fight.

However, that didn't last long, and within a second, they were each bearing down on Fox once again, attempting to attack him all at once. Two of the four creatures bore spears, and these two attempted to skewer Fox from either side. Fox, with room to spare, rolled out of the way of their clumsy attack, and they were forced to quickly stop their strikes to avoid goring each other.

This gave Fox plenty of time to leap forward, out of the way of another swinging club, and grab the wooden shaft of one of those spears, pulling the weapon, and the native attached to it, closer to himself. The clumsy lizard stumbled forward, giving Fox the opportunity to leap up and deliver a lightning-fast, aerial roundhouse kick to the side of the creature's head, knocking him clean out.

With that, Fox flipped backwards, just as an axe stuck into the ground where he had been moments ago, and jumped back up to his feet, a wide smile spread across his face as he raised his fists back into a fighting stance.

"Ha ha!" He couldn't help but laugh. "I've still got it!"

Despite how pleased with himself he was, he also told himself to not get too cocky. Instead, he took a brief second to take stock of the situation before him. Three of the natives seemed to have been taken out for the count, though the one whose legs Fox had kicked out from under him had climbed back to his feet, looking a little shaken, but plenty angry. That left four more enemies; one with a spear, two with clubs, and one, the largest, with an axe.

Easy.

"Ucc uk eds!" The largest creature with the axe shouted, as though giving orders to the other three. Snarling and shouting, all of them rushed Fox at once, weapons primed to chop, stab, and bludgeon him into mush.

However, Fox suddenly bent down low before leaping high into the air, clear over their heads. Though one of the natives had fast enough reflexes to try and swipe at Fox as he sailed through the air, the vulpine was still able to land comfortably behind them, before spinning around and launching himself forward to deliver a flying kick into the back of the axe-wielder's head and send him to the ground.

The other three finally managed to spin around to face Fox again. The one with the spear, as though he had finally figured out how to effectively use his weapon, tried to keep a distance from Fox, instead attempting to stab at him from a distance. However, Fox once again easily dodged the flimsy blow with a simple sidestep, before rushing forward towards the spear-bearer. In response, the now-terrified native let out a cry and tried to cover his face with his arms in an attempt to protect his head. However, this is exactly what Fox wanted, and the vulpine instead delivered a fist into the exposed crook of the native's arm, causing the native to let out a cry of pain and drop the spear.

Fox caught the weapon before it even hit the ground, and then, flipping it up into his hands, he swung the side of the long polearm into the side of the creature's face. With the telltale crack of hardwood on bone, the native fell to the ground.

But Fox wasn't done there. Swiftly snapping the long spear in half on his knee and discarding the end with the spearhead, he leaped forward and, before the second-to-last native could even make a motion to defend himself, Fox had delivered three swift, vicious blows with the shaft of the spear. One more down, and one left.

Surprisingly, and contrary to what Fox had expected, this last native didn't seem to be frightened at the ease of which Fox had dispatched his companions, though whether to chalk that up to bravery or stupidity, Fox wasn't sure. With a roar of fury, the native raised his weapon high and brought it down once again in a powerful but predictable arc. Fox immediately raised his spear, intending to deflect the club with the wooden shaft before dashing in with a counterattack.

However, he must have misjudged the angle of the spear or the power of the strike, because as the club connected with the spear, the wooden pole split in half, almost giving the swinging club a clear path directly to Fox's skull.

Luckily, the sudden snap of the splintering wood caused the native just enough surprise that he messed up his aim, giving Fox ample space to dodge out of the way of the heavy club. Tossing aside the broken shards of the spear, he rolled backwards, out of the way of another clumsy swing, before jumping forward again and kicking the club out of the native's hand.

Now weaponless, the native attempted to swipe at Fox with a clenched fist, however, Fox easily blocked the strike with a forearm before jabbing the creature in the stomach. The native barely had time to let out a grunt of pain before Fox had raised his leg and delivered one, two, three, and four vicious, bone-shattering kicks to the creature's chest, before leaping up and finally finishing with a mighty, overhead axe-kick right on top of the creature's skull.

The last native fell, and Fox was left breathing heavily, and yet also feeling more exhilarated than he had in a long, long time. It had been far too long since he's had a good brawl.

However, that feeling didn't last long, as he suddenly became aware of a voice that had been yelling in his ear for the past few minutes.

"-'s going on!? Hello? Come in, Fox!"

"Peppy, calm down." He said, putting a finger to his ear and trying to assure the old rabbit. "I'm okay."

"Oh, Fox! For the love of… What happened?"

"Sorry, Pep. Those natives caught sight of me."

"Did you communicate with them?"

"Not… exactly." He glanced over to the seven unconscious bodies lying in the snow. "They attacked me."

"Are you alright?"

"Just fine."

"Are they alright?"

"Well, I didn't kill any of them if that's what you mean."

Fox heard Peppy sigh. "Son, you realize we're trying to convince these people that we don't mean them any harm?"

"Well what was I supposed to do? They came at me, I was just-"

He stopped suddenly as he heard a noise behind him, spinning around just in time to see one of the natives, the one that Fox had downed with a punch, climb unsteadily back to his feet. Instinctively, he prepared to defend himself once again, however, rather than attacking again, the native instead just snarled and pointed a clawed finger at the vulpine.

"Ooei nacc fuoo veh kxaj!" He yelled with an accusatory tone, before turning tail and sprinting away.

"Fox? Hello?" Peppy said in his ear. "What's going on now?"

"One of them is running away." Fox said, watching as the creature hobbled through the trees. "I'm going to follow him."

"Fox, I don't think that's a good idea."

"Peppy, they might know something about what's happening to the planet. I know it's not a solid lead, but it's still probably the best one we have right now."

There was silence for a moment, likely as Peppy considered his words, before the old rabbit spoke again. "Alright then. But keep your head down this time. If you're not careful, you're going to end up with the whole planet hunting for your head."

"Well, if I knew how to tell them 'hello'..."

"I already told you how to say that!"

"Peppy-" Fox shook his head. "Whatever. I'll contact you in a little bit."

With that, Fox began following the path that the native had gone down. Though Fox couldn't see him anymore through the snowy trees, he was still loud enough, and he was still leaving such obvious tracks behind him, that Fox probably could have let him get a ten to fifteen minute head start, and it still would have been simple to track him down.

Not to mention the fact that he seemed to be headed towards the coordinates that Fox had been following in the first place, which all but confirmed to Fox that these things had something to do with Sauria's woes. Fox knew he would have to be extra careful going forward.

Author's Note: At this point, I think it would be best that I just stop promising I'll be able to update any of my stories with any semblance of consistency. Once again, I apologize for how long it took for me to update this fic.

Despite that, I did have a lot of fun writing this one. It's been far too long since I've written a good action scene, and Fox especially is very fun to write about in that aspect given how athletic and agile he is. Though, I will also say that I had to spend more than half an hour in the Training mode of Super Smash Brothers watching how Fox moves in slow motion, just to get a good idea for how he fights. Hopefully I managed to capture that reasonably well.

Anyway, I do hope you all enjoyed. Thank you for viewing and reviewing, and don't worry, the meeting that I'm sure all of you are itching to see will be coming soon enough. I just need to get my butt in gear and hash out a reasonable writing schedule for myself. Fingers crossed.

Thanks again, and I'll see you all later.

Yours truly, Ultimate Supreme Executive Chairman.