Chapter 51

That Sunday afternoon had a surprise for the boys. James had new prototypes for team Starfox to test out for future missions, and he was more than happy for all of the boys to come along and try them out themselves.

"So what all do they have for us? I'm something of an engineer myself so maybe before we even get there I can assess usefulness or practical uses." Slippy was one of the first to speak up, his professional curiosity didn't take long to show up.

"In truth, most of the descriptions they gave me were a little vague. One of them was an all-terrain vehicle, the other one I was told would be a more specialized stealth vehicle. They also said they managed to modify our Arwings to have more maneuverability in confined spaces. How exactly all of this seems to come together is beyond even my expertise but I trust these engineers." Everyone could hardly sit still on the car ride over to the engineer's facility, their anticipation growing with every turn they took to reach it.

At last they reached the remote engineering facility, with plenty of grounds to try out the new prototypes that the engineers create. As they all got out of the car, James waved at the folks standing outside the warehouse. He shook hands with the husky who appeared to be the lead engineer, "Glad you could make it today" He told James as he held a strong grip. "Glad to be here today, you guys never disappoint. I brought a few young pilots with me to try them out, a little new blood never hurt anything." The husky waved at all the boys as they all waved back.

Slippy stepped forward a little more as they made their way towards the warehouse, "So what are we working with today? I'm a bit of an engineer so I'd like to learn what I can today."

The husky was excited to see a kindred spirit. "That so? Well then sir how would you like to try out the first prototype? It's the all-terrain vehicle that we told James about, we call it the Landmaster." As they rounded the corner to see what this prototype was, it was beautiful.

"Wow!" The boys almost said it in unison.

The Landmaster was a tank with a mobile design and a track that seemed to indeed cover all terrains. "This is incredible! May I?" Slippy's eyes were beaming at the sight of it. The husky nodded as he led Slippy to the cockpit. Slippy jumped right into the cockpit and felt instant comfort in it.

"Wow you guys really did great on this, it's really comfortable. State of the art HUD, sensors, wow there's even a 360 degree camera to lock onto a target and keep a view on it from anywhere. You really outdid yourse- IT EVEN HAS A CUPHOLDER IN HERE!" Everyone laughed at Slippy's last observation.

"Indeed it really does sound like you outdid yourselves." James nodded towards the crew of engineers.

"You've hardly scratched the surface." The engineer beckoned Slippy to bring it outside. "Slippy, hold the pedals outside your feet down down." The frog did as he was told and all the pilots' eyes got much bigger. "It hovers too? That's incredible!" James marveled at the ingenuity. "Not only can it do that, you can activate one pedal to strafe more carefully. Slippy, hit the pedal that's in between your feet as you drive. You'll boost your speed."

Even for a large tank, the Landmaster's speed was beyond James' expectations. "It also has guided missiles whenever you lock onto a target, the button for that is on your left. And at last, hit the large button on your right."

Everyone was astonished as the shape of the landmaster shifted and it began to fly.

"It's a limited feature, the gauge is on the HUD. However, limited flight is still flight. You can boost and brake just like in an Arwing." James could only cover his muzzle at the amazement that he was now seeing. Slippy parked the Landmaster back in the warehouse they found it in, he couldn't hardly stop marveling at how incredible he found it.

They moved onto the next warehouse to view this specialized stealth based vehicle. "This is what we call the Gyrowing." It looked like a helicopter-Arwing hybrid. It had two contained helicopter lifters on the side, and a cockpit in the middle. "This one has a few less surprises to it sadly." Falco hopped right into it.

"Yeah, sure enough everything here looks state of the art and ready to go, even has one of those fancy cameras Slip was talking about, and a cupholder." Falco took it up off the ground a little. "Remarkable how little noise it's making as well."

James knew how much use it could have just from this one function. "So is there a gun on this ship?" Falco was peering down at the engineers with baited breath. "There is, no sort of charging feature or a lock on, but it does have a twin laser. Currently we're working on a cloaking device for it, but that's a little difficult for us. Like we've said, they're all still prototypes."

Falco and the rest of the crew were still all impressed by everything. "The maneuverability of it is so fluid and quiet, it handles like a dream."

The engineer snapped his fingers, "Oh! I almost forgot. Falco, hit the green button over on your left, by the cupholder." Falco looked over and pressed it, feeling a small shift in the prototype.

Everyone saw a small robot being lowered down by a strong cable. "This is Direct-I. He's programmed with plenty of artificial intelligence, primarily used to hack computers and other programs or re-write them. Maybe a little situational, but you might need one. Falco has a directional pad he can use to control Direct-I and give him certain commands. It's something of a sandbox, it has its limits, but it has a versatile selection."

"How neat, that way I don't have to do all the work." Everyone laughed at the efficiency Slippy managed to find in the robot.

The engineers beckoned Falco to bring it down and land, they were prepared to show them the final modification to the Arwing. "Fox, if you would?" The engineer beckoned him to take a seat in the cockpit. He did so and closed the hatch, "What? No cupholders for mine?" He grinned at the engineers. "Like we said, still a prototype." They all chuckled a little as Fox fired up the Arwing and hovered just a little bit above the ground.

"Take it up just a few more feet. Right there! That's great!" He waved at him, "Now flip that switch to your left." Fox did so and felt a huge shift in the vehicle.

The Arwing flipped upside down it felt like, then flipped again. But Fox could see from his position that he wasn't flying any more. "Amazing, so this is your idea of more maneuverability." James was scratching his chin in amazement once more.

Fox opened the hatch to see exactly what was going on. "Wow" He saw that the Arwing had been transformed into a type of walker. "So, it's a walker now?" The engineer nodded. "It controls the same as when you're flying. All the functions are the same, but now you have just a little bit more control and mobility." Fox walked it around, trying to get used to the controls. "It's so fluid, I can feel how smooth these steps are. This 360 degree camera helps so much too."

He felt like a new pilot all over again just looking at the new features. "Just leave it like that and power down, we're still working on a few things with the walker function." Fox left it so and jumped out of the cockpit.

"This has all been incredible, I don't understand how you do it all." James could not stop being impressed by what these engineers have done. "We try our best, we're glad to help." The fox and husky shook hands once more and James bid him farewell for the time.

"So what did you guys think?" Everyone was of the same mind, they all thought every one of the machines was incredible. "Amazing the advances they've made in these crafts. I didn't think they could get better than the Arwings we had previously, but they always manage to impress."

"So dad, think you'll get those things?" The older fox cocked his head back and forth a little while he was driving. "Sometime in the future, I just wanted a preview of what was coming, I'm certain things will be even better when the time comes." 'I wonder when that'll be, whatever he's talking about" The young vulpine was a little confused, his father is usually more straightforward than that.

They all got home and it was only 8, still a young night for Sunday. Fox just dribbled his basketball making some pitiful shots. 'Really feel like there's something else I should do tonight, it's only 8.' He just dribbled and shot trying to find out what it is he should do. 'Well, that's not a bad idea. Why not?' He looked in the school's directory, whipped out his phone and sent the text.

'Wanna go to the corner café?'

'With me? How'd you even get my phone number?'

'If you go to the corner café I'll tell you.'

'Ha! Not bad, why not? Be there in a few minutes.'

A few minutes later Fox was sitting in a booth at the corner café awaiting his unexpected, yet invited, guest. He waved at his guest when they made their entrance and beckoned them to the open seat across from him.

"Anyone ever tell you that you wave like a dipstick?" Fox laughed at his companion's greeting. "Actually no, that one's a pretty unique greeting." Fox responded while chuckling. "Good to see you, Wolf. Been a while huh?"

He nodded in return. "Sure has, why call me out here of all people? I'm sure I'm not your favorite person."

"Yeah, I sure wouldn't say favorite. Just felt like doing something different. Got home around 8, night was still young, so I figured why not?" Wolf cocked his head back a little, then asked for a little drink.

"So then where'd you go?" His drink and Fox's both came by after he finished asking.

"Thanks. Went with my dad to see some new prototype aircrafts. I've always wanted to be a pilot so I figured why not." Wolf put his cup down on the table as Fox finished. "Ain't it just a small world? I'm a fan of piloting myself, don't get a lot of access to it but I like it pretty good myself."

"Seriously? Maybe we should try going sometime, that'd be cool don't you think?"

"Maybe one day. So, since it's been a while since last we talked, how is she?" Fox reclined a little in his seat and folded his leg.

"In truth, don't know. Dropped her a little advice when we executed our plan, haven't seen her since. Wish I could give you something more than that, but that's the truth to it." Wolf grunted a little at hearing this.

"Well, guess that's that. Sure hope nothing bad's happened to her, she's a good girl. Maybe a little misguided or easy to influence, but she's a good chick." Fox nodded with a small sigh.

"What? If you're gonna sigh then why don't you do something? You know where she lives, you got her phone number, do something other than sigh."

"Yeah, maybe" Fox told Wolf about the dream. "Uh-huh, so you think this is some kinda prophecy?"

"Very funny, just maybe this is the way it should be. Maybe not forever or anything, but maybe some kinda break isn't a bad idea. So, dude, I know we're not really friends or close or anything, but I'm gonna tell you something." Fox leaned in just a little while Wolf reclined in his seat.

"You know it feels like she dictated a lot of what I did a year ago?"

"No, I wasn't here this time last year."

"Again, very funny. Not that she controlled me, but she was the center of everything. Like I didn't go anywhere without her. Like I didn't grow any without her, so maybe her being out of the picture isn't a totally bad thing?"

Wolf scratched his chin a little, actually taking it seriously. "Maybe. Guess there's only one real way to find out. One day at a time huh?"

"Here here" Fox said as he raised his cup for a toast and Wolf embraced the toast.