Changes made: (Slight changes to wording to make it seem less repetitive)

Chapter 4: Impressions

Shouting could be heard from outside. The residents of Corneria ignored the noises, walking along, going about their business. This house occupied three lupines. An older male and two other children, one of each gender. The little girl hid behind the couch, cowering in fear, as the other two were located in the center of the room.

"You're NOTHING! WORTHLESS!" The father roared, lugging his fist forward into the little boy's face. The face knocked the child back, immobilised by the powerful strike. The child could smell the alcohol on his breath.

"Dad please! Stop!" The child whimpered on the floor, trying to escape. He tried to get up, but he felt too weak, completely at the mercy of the older male. The other child walked out of the room, quickly fleeing upstairs into her bedroom.

"It's your fault she's gone! YOU DID THIS! She was perfectly fine before you came along and destroyed this family!" He shouted in his face, preparing another punch. The child on the floor could not dodge the assault, and as the fist came closer, the world turned black.

Wolf awoke in a cold sweat, shaking violently. His eyes shot open, and it took a while for him to notice his surroundings and calm down. These nightmares had haunted his dreams for years, some more vivid than others.

The memories of his father always stirred fear in Wolf. As a child, Wolf had no idea why he was being attacked other than it was his fault. He never knew his mother properly, as a normal child would have. It started since he was five years old, and up until he was thirteen. That was when he finally managed to overpower his father, as the alcohol took it's toll on his body. Instead, he kept a cold, distant, hateful relationship with Wolf.

Now he knew the source of the violence, he still felt bad. He couldn't get the thought out of his mind that he did actually kill his mother. According to his sister, she was perfectly healthy until Wolf was born. After his birth, his mothers health declined fast, quickly becoming bedridden. It took around two months for her to finally pass away, and after that his father had started drinking.

In the end, his father named him Wolf, for two reasons. The first, in memory of his wife. Her name was Wulfina, however he frequently called her Wolfy. The other reason being that he didn't even care for what his child was called. Normally, a name has meaning to somebody, most likely to their parents, but Wolf? He practically just gave him his species name and had been done with it. Wolf wouldn't have been surprised if his name would have ended up as Lupine. Even his sister, Luna, had been named with consideration.

Wolf woke up and looked to the clock on his bed stand. 9:54. He groaned as he arose, walking into bathroom. He looked at his face in the mirror and grimaced, noticing what he looked like to others. 'This isn't the face of happiness.' He felt as if he was insecure, unstable. He quickly got into the shower to prepare for the rest of the day.

Fox was roused from sleep by a beeping noise nearby. He noticed the source was his communicator, as a bright light also emanated from it. Fox picked up the communicator and noticed he was being called by Peppy, quickly answering it.

"What is it Peppy? You just woke me up." he grumbled into the phone. The clock at the top notified him that the time was around 7 o'clock, and he wasn't pleased about this. Normally on weekends he liked to sleep in until around 9 o'clock. However, Peppy always woke up around 6, an age thing Fox supposed.

"Sorry about that, but I'm just excited. I have a surprise for you, and I'll show you it at the Great Fox!" He replied rather ecstatically. Whatever this 'surprise' was, it seemed good.

"Can't you just tell me now?" Fox asked. It seemed pointless for Peppy to call him this early to tell him something he would find out later in the day anyway.

"No. But, I can tell you that our problems of work may be solved from this." He hinted. 'Solved? I wonder what he has for us...' Fox wondered.

"So, you called just to tell me that you have a surprise for me, yet you can't tell me yet? If that's the case, I'm going back to sleep for a while." Fox stated.

"Yes, that was all." Peppy answered back. Fox groaned, annoyed that he was awoken for nothing. He put the phone down and lay back down on his bed. He tried to fall asleep again, but his mind wouldn't let him. His mind was racing, thinking of several different things. The first being the surprise Peppy had. 'What could he have what had him so worked up?'

His thoughts then drifted to Wolf. Fox dreaded that he would most likely have to explain why the Lylat systems most notorious criminal was on their battleship. Also, the interactions he would have with the Lupine would be less than pleasant. He still disliked that nutjob, and he had a feeling that it was mutual. Wolf would most likely spout off some insult, most likely resulting in Fox reacting to it, which in turn would further induce further arguments and insults being thrown.

The communicator to his right started creating loud noises again, this time in a different tone. Fox recognised this tone as his alarm so he wouldn't sleep for too long. "Ugh, it's already 9 o'clock?" he mumbled to himself. He slowly got up, walking to his bathroom to prepare for the day. Once he finished his daily routine: a quick shower, usually taking 5 minutes; he brushed his teeth, also not taking too long; and dried his fur, making sure that it doesn't stick up erratically.

He quickly got dressed in casual clothes. They didn't have a mission, so he didn't expect to have to wear his flight suit. Before he set off, he quickly grabbed his lucky red scarf and wrapped it around his neck. Fox never left without his red scarf, something which seemed to turn into a trademark accessory for him.

Outside the window, it was a fairly miserable day outside today. The sky was grey, covered in dark clouds. Fox made sure to bring an umbrella, for when it was inevitably going to rain. He set off on his journey to the space port.

Not many people were outside on the streets, and of those who were, they looked down focused on the paving in front of them. The journey to the Great Fox was always uneventful. On a rare occasion, people stopped him to talk to him, and almost every time asking for an autograph. Frequently, he had to decline as he never carried around a pen, which usually incited them to provide their own.

Sometimes, he didn't like being a celebrity. Sure, the publicity was good but nobody actually knew him. They all assumed he was some hero, capable of beating anybody, but in truth he felt he was only an above average pilot. Falco was far superior in skill, but it seemed that luck was always on Fox's side. This was why the majority of the fame went to him, shadowing the rest of his team. They still were popular, but he had never known anybody to ask them for an autograph.

Suddenly, Fox felt a moist sensation on the tip of his snout. He looked up and noticed that it had started to rain, rising in speed fast. He got out his umbrella and put it up, continuing the walk unfazed, not knowing of who was behind him. Footsteps got louder until suddenly, he heard a low, gruff voice call out to him.

"Fox!" the voice called. He turned around to face the person, to come face-to-face with Wolf. "I hoped I would find you on the way, I have no clue where the space port is."

"I guess you can follow me." Fox replied disinterested. He continued walking again, leaving Wolf still in the rain. Looking back at him, Fox felt slightly sorry for him. "Here..." he begrudgingly held out his umbrella so both he and Wolf were protected from the rain.

"Thanks..." he mumbled in recognition. Little was said between the two after that, until they got close to the space port. "So Fox, what do you think your team are going to say once they find out I'm on the team?" He asked.

"Personally, I have no idea. Only Krystal knows and she doesn't seem too outraged by it." He replied. "However, the other two probably won't be so pleased." Fox added.

"They probably hate me... And if they do, fuck 'em. Not my problem." he told Fox. Fox was slightly annoyed by his tone of voice, and how he thought he was superior to them.

"It will be a problem if they refuse to work with you." stated Fox. "I'd rather not have internal conflict in the team."

"I won't be the one causing trouble. I couldn't care less for who they are, or what they think of me. But if they do start trouble, don't expect me to take it lying down."

"If something turns out bad, you know you would be the first to go, right?" Fox told him. Although he didn't want him to go, as they would have less pilots, he felt he would have to. It was the easiest option to solve the problem.

"Glad to know I'm so expendable." Wolf huffed indignantly. Their conversation ended on this note, a cold silence between the two. As they entered the port, Fox flicked his umbrella to get the water off of it before he put it away. Wolf distanced himself further from Fox and they walked into the docking bay of the Great Fox. They were slightly late on the usual meeting time, 12 minutes to be precise, but the others wouldn't be too bothered about it. They walked past the three Arwings currently docked in the carrier.

Fox walked further ahead compared to Wolf as he led him into the Great Fox. They both walked into the elevator and Wolf shut the door. A button was pressed by Fox, and the elevator started to ascend. The two stayed silent as they moved to the recreational room. The elevator stopped rather abruptly and the doors in front of the two slid open with all of the team looking at them, and Katt? Fox's face of confusion was almost mirrored onto the rest of the team other than Krystal. They walked out of the elevator and into the room with the other four.

Slippy spoke up first. "Fox, what's he doing here?" He said, his voice wavering. Slippy was clearly afraid of Wolf, and Fox couldn't blame him. Several years of being opposed to his team and suddenly he's on the Great Fox. "Wouldn't it be the best idea if he wasn't on here? That way he couldn't cause problems."

"It's a long story... Long story short, meet our replacement for Falco." Fox informed them. Peppy, Slippy and Katt's eyes all shot open, surprised by this. "Also, I could ask the same question about her." Fox looked in Katt's direction.

"Well Fox... That was my surprise," Peppy started "I asked her to join the team since we were lacking in pilots." 'Ugh, how didn't I think of that? It was so obvious' Fox mentally scolded himself.

"I met with Peppy yesterday on the streets, and as soon as Peppy told me what happened to Falco, I felt so sorry for him. He then went on about how you had been lacking on jobs due to it, and I offered to take his place, since I've helped the team before. He accepted and, well, here I am." Katt told him. 'So she offered to join the team. Figures, she always wanted to join and it was the perfect opportunity for her.'

"I guess I'm redundant then." Wolf said "I'll just be going now" He turned to leave, opening the elevator.

"Wait, Wolf! You don't have to go. There's no harm in having extra pilots." Krystal told him. The others seemed surprised that she wanted Wolf to stay.

"Fox seems to disagree," Wolf replied, turning back to face the group, "I'm disposable, right Fox?". 'Ugh, Is he trying to guilt trip me for what I said?' Fox thought.

"I didn't mean it like that." He said lowly.

"What did you say to him Fox?" Krystal asked.

"He was just telling me that if things to wrong, I'd be the first to go; and to me, this seems as if this wasn't according to plan."

"This isn't what I meant!" Fox snapped back. He was getting fed up with Wolf trying to guilt him. "You're staying on the team regardless, Pepper already assigned you to this team and I doubt you'd want to leave for a boring life."

"This was Peppers idea? Last time I checked, he hated Wolf after what he did in the Lylat wars." Peppy inquired.

"I was confused to start with, but it will be for the best." Krystal said. "Not only will he be on our side, so he wouldn't want to cause trouble, but he's also a good pilot. You've all seen his skills in flight."

"As long as he doesn't hurt me, I don't care if he joins." Slippy quivered. He didn't like the idea of Wolf joining the team, but if he was safe from him it was manageable.

"Personally, I don't trust Wolf." Peppy turned to face Wolf, but then looked back at Fox. "But, I do trust you Fox. If you think Wolf should be on the team, then I will support you."

"Hmph, not like my opinion matters any more but I don't want him here, for reasons that he almost destroyed the system." Katt glared at Wolf. "And if he causes any trouble, I can personally handle it. I'm actually surprised you wanted him to join the team, since you've been gunning at each other for years, he doesn't seem like the most trustworthy person." Wolf growled at this, mumbling something inaudible and turning away from her.

"Another thing also popped up Fox. Pepper said that he has a job for us, something about taking care of some pirates hovering around Fichina." Pepper informed Fox. 'Fichina? Sounds like a strange planet for pirates to be around. There's hardly anything over there other than the weather generator and a few bases.'

"Why would they be at Fichina? What do they plan on doing over there?" Fox asked. It made no sense why they would choose that planet to locate themselves, since there are many others which were much more ideal.

"That, we don't know. All we know is that they are located by the Fichina base Epsilon. Pepper wants us to get them away from the area or if necessary, take them out."

"Do we even have enough fighters?" Slippy added. "Sure, we have more pilots but did anybody think about what they were going to pilot?"

"I have my catspaw in a warehouse on Corneria. I can go and get it and dock in the air." Katt told them.

"The military took my Wolfen II when I went to jail. By now, it's probably outdated, if it still works." Wolf looked discontent with this.

"We can just get Pepper to give us your wolfen back since you're free, and maybe get Space Dynamics to help with it, giving it some upgrades." Fox said. "I guess that solves the problem of the crafts. We should start heading to Fichina if we're going to stop the pirates doing something."

"I can't get my Wolfen until tomorrow. And like you said, it might have to be upgraded." Wolf said.

"Well then, we meet tomorrow early to prepare for launch. Make sure you're in the air for 9 A.M. Katt so you can dock." Fox told them. "You can all go now."

Katt, Peppy and Slippy all walked out of the room into the elevator, leaving Fox, Wolf and Krytal together. "So, no tour? What kind of tour guide are you?" Wolf asked snarkily. 'Gods, he can be so obnoxious' Fox thought to himself.

"I can do it if you'd like. Show you the basics, and the spare rooms which you could claim." Krystal chipped in rather cheerfully.

"It's fine Krystal, I'll do it. You shouldn't have to do it, go ahead and leave." Fox seemed hesitant to say it, but he knew that he should be the one to show him around, since he knew the most about the Great Fox.

"I'll probably stay here tonight anyway. I usually like to sleep on the Great Fox before a mission. If you need me, I'll probably either be in my room or the kitchen." She said as she walked out of the room and turned left.

"Let's get started then." Fox said as he started walking in the opposite direction to Krystal. Wolf followed him into the next room. "This is the kitchen. There are all kinds of food in the fridge, so there will always be something to eat. The plates are in the cupboards above the oven." Fox informed him. "The cereals are on top." Fox then turned around and left through the way he came.

He then went through the same door Krystal left to, turning right. Wolf followed suit, staying behind Fox. Their boots clanged on the hard metal floor of the Great Fox's corridors, echoing. The halls were wide, giving a lot of space to move.

A door opened to his left, showing them the main control center. ROB was located to the right of the main seat, and there were another eight seats in the room. "Welcome to the main control center. The seat in the center is mine, as was probably obvious." There were 4 seats on the each side of the main seat. "The one furthest on the left is Slippy's station, and the second on the right is Peppy's, then Krystal's. You can choose whichever station you want. The ship was designed for nine people. My dad had big ambitions for the team, but we never ended up having more than five."

Fox started walking out of the room, indicating he was done. The two continued their way down the hall. "Many of these rooms are not really needed to know. You're free to explore later if you want." Fox told him.

"Right." Wolf said disinterested. Fox didn't even think he was paying attention, and he would probably forget all of this tomorrow. They reached the end of the corridor, where a large white door was located.

"Here is is the med bay. This is whe-" Fox was cut off by Wolf.

"I know what a med bay is for. You say it as if I've never been on a battleship before." Wolf cut him off. Most of the time, Fox couldn't stand staying with Wolf, so he hurried along the tour so he could go. He left the room and Wolf followed in pursuit. They passed by the recreational room and kept walking.

"This corridor has all of the living quarters." The doors all had a holopad, showing who the room belonged to. "Feel free to take any of the unoccupied rooms. The room on the end of the corridor is mine, just so you know."

Wolf made a 'hm' noise in recognition. "Anything else I need to know?" He asked. There were few other things he had to show, but he really didn't have the energy to continue with him.

"Nah, there's nothing else really." Fox told him. "I guess this is it, see ya" He started walking to his room on the ship. Normally, he would go back home, but he felt too fatigued to walk back. As soon as he walked into his room, he fell onto his bed, sleep consuming him quickly.

"Hmph, so much for a tour. I could have probably figured this all out anyway." Wolf grumbled as he walked to one of the rooms. He quickly put his name on the holopad and walked in. The room itself was larger than the ones the rest of his team had on the Lone Wolf, but smaller than his room. Inside, he noticed a wardrobe and a door next to it. Curious, he walked through the door and noticed there was a toilet and shower in the room.

Wolf sat on his bed, noticing it was actually comfortable. Most carriers had floors softer than their beds, so to Wolf this was surprising. However, the pillows were practically rocks, hurting his head when he lay on the bed. He silently vowed to himself to buy new pillows before they set off for Fichina. He took out his communicator from his pocket and looked for Pepper's phone number. After finding it, he took no time in calling.

A few seconds later, Pepper answered. "What do you want Wolf? I need to go to a meeting soon."

"I was wondering, since you took my Wolfen, can I have it back?" He asked as polite as he could, which still wasn't very polite.

"Why do you need it back?" Pepper asked.

"We're setting off on a mission tomorrow, the one that you gave us, and I can't do anything without it." He replied. He felt like it was obvious that he wanted the fighter for that reason, and Pepper shouldn't have even needed to ask.

"Oh right, sorry. Yes you can have your ship back. Is that all you called me for?" Pepper asked.

"One more thing. The Wolfen is probably outdated by now, could you send it to Space Dynamics to see if it can be updated?" He asked. He knew if he could upgrade his jet it would be extremely beneficial, since before it was built on a low budget.

"Asking for a bit much, O'Donnell." Pepper replied. The costs for upgrading it could be high, and he would have to pay for it.

"I need it upgrading for this job to be done efficiently. If it's a financial problem, I can pay you back once I get the money, but right now I'm broke." Since the money came from Corneria for the mission, and not Pepper, it was a good way to pay him back.

"Fine, I'll send it to them. Are we done here?" Pepper started to get impatient with Wolf asking for all this. If this continued, he would be late for his meeting.

"Can you send the Wolfen to the Great Fox before 9 A.M. tomorrow? That's when we're planning on setting off to Fichina. That's all."

"All right. Expect the ship in the docking bay for tomorrow. Goodbye, O'Donnell." Pepper said as he quickly put the phone down. Wolf put his phone to the side and sighed. He wasn't used to this 'Asking for stuff' sort of deal. Throughout his life, he had to fend for himself and it seemed like a foreign concept to ask for things.

He lay down on the bed, planning on having a quick nap before heading home. He struggled with falling asleep, mainly because of how uncomfortable the pillow was. Eventually, darkness shrouded him and he lost consciousness.

End note:

I know that the words I used in this chapter may seem repetitive, as finding ways to switch up how people say things is hard. Also, I used the word 'ship' a lot too, but I couldn't find a better way of saying what it was, or many alternatives. Sorry if the chapter was also kind of rushed, since I wanted to get it out before the end of the week. Until next time.