Chapter 4

I woke up at around 6:30 and walked out of my room after putting on my glasses. I didn't hear anything as I made my way past everyone's room on my way to the kitchen and figured that they needed to sleep in, after that annoying dogfight we had with Star Wolf over Katina yesterday. I gathered some fresh, Grade AA eggs, a loaf of white bread, a mixing bowl, a whisk and a large, non-stick cooking pan. I was in the mood for some french toast and a large glass of chocolate milk. Even though I learned everything I knew about preparing food from reading, watching TV and seeing all the many different kinds of foods my mom cooked on the stove, I still had to be careful not to get singed by a leaping drop of cooking oil and I had to make sure every square inch of the food was cooked perfectly, in order to avoid food poisoning or even those worms that might even be in it without anyone even realizing what they'd eat until it was too late. Good thing I paid attention to detail, regardless of what it was like. Even though I was only cooking food for myself, since I was the only person in the kitchen, I left the team several of their own plates on the table as I made my way back to my room to take my medicine, wash my hands and brush my teeth, after I finished my meal and washed the dishes.

I walked over to the lounge to relax and see if there were any kinds of news reports on. I just reached channel 10 with the remote, when I saw the report: 'Risky Chances On Katina' it read.

"This is Sam Garcia, coming to you live from Katina Air Force base, where just yesterday, a new recruit of the Star Fox team engaged in a desperate life-or-death battle over the fates of the many soldiers in need of the supplies being delivered there. According to eyewitnesses, who were hidden at the time, the strange recruit simply charged Panther, without even once thinking about his own safety after reflecting a laser beam that somehow made the capture of Wolf O'Donnell and Leon of Star Wolf much easier. The recruit then made his way to the pilot, as if to plot something. It was soon revealed by the pilot, that he simply needed a Grenade to disrupt the functions that Panther's Wolfen used. Back to you, Rachel.", a male tiger in a navy blue suit with a standard headset and his name in bold white letters said as the screen simply switched to a female collie wearing a red shirt, silver clip-on earrings and a gray bow behind the long hair below her left ear. To her right was an image of me, but I was completely blacked out like a shadow and had a white question mark where my face should be. Underneath my picture were the words 'unknown pilot' written in white.

"Thank you, Sam. When other news reporters arrived on the scene, they were held back by the officials stationed there. The reporters wanted to get an interview of the Samaritan, but Fox McCloud himself denied the requests, saying it was for safety reasons and he was undergoing oxygen recovery. However, he and Bill Grey, the leader in charge of the units trained on Katina allowed us to view a recording of him, as long as his name and face were completely censored to avoid identity theft and a possible discovery of his galaxy." As soon as she finished speaking, said recording played and I was, like she said, censored. I breathed a sigh of relief, mainly because I didn't want to be recognized easily and I didn't want to face something as terrible as being framed.

"While most citizens might be confused and doubtful of this new pilot, I, for one, think he's OK. This is Rachel Colleen with Cornerian News, Channel 10. We'll get back to you at a later time.", she said as the camera zoomed out and played their theme before a commercial came on. As I turned off the TV, I noticed faint reflections coming from the screen, so I turned around and there were my friends, all dressed up and nowhere to go yet.

"Good morning, everyone. Did you sleep well?", I asked. The team nodded, despite looking just a little bit tired.

"That was a very tasty breakfast you made us, Michael.", Falco admitted, licking both sides of his beak.

"What's it called?", Peppy asked me while cleaning his glasses.

"It's called french toast. The three main ingredients needed to make it are bread, eggs and cooking oil. It's as simple as that."

"Well, anyway, we received word that there's going to be an attack on Fichina's control center. Even though it's received upgrades to every one of its systems, there's still a chance of infiltration through disguise, bribery and technological viruses. We need to be ready and help our friends at any time. Will you come with us?", Fox asked.

"I'm really sorry about this, Fox, but it's impossible for me to go there."

"What? How come?", Slippy asked.

"Most humans can develop certain kinds of adaptations from temperature control, being able to exercise longer, seeing in complete darkness and other things, but stuff like that has varying times depending on what's changing, how and where it's happening as well. If I were to step into those below-freezing temperatures for any number of minutes, even with proper protection, I'd die a horrible, painless death. I just can't risk it.", I said with a disappointing frown.

"It's not your fault, Michael. Since you're unable to go on the mission with us, I'll make up for it by having Peppy take you to the training room and ROB set up every simulation we have. It'll make your skills improve until we get back and you can try each one for as much as you like.", Fox said.

"Thank you. Where's ROB right now?", I asked with an eager look on my face.

"He's up on the bridge. Just take the elevator there."

"Thanks. And, Fox, I appreciate the help with those reporters back on Katina. I owe you one."

"Don't mention it. It's the least I could do to help." As we boarded the elevator, I waited until the team exited on the docking bay and I pushed the button that moved to the bridge, where ROB was waiting for me.

"Well, now that you're here, Michael, we can get you started on your training. Please follow us.", Peppy said. I nodded and in about five minutes, I was inside the training room. It had all kinds of features and simulations. Even the weapons looked real. I was just about to grab a Space Dynamics homing launcher, when Peppy stopped me.

"Easy there, Michael. I know you're eager to train, but you can't use the heavy artillery just yet. You need to start with the basics, just like every new recruit."

"Sorry about that. My excitement got the better of me.", I said while scratching the back of my head sheepishly.

"Now then, since you've already been inside your first gunfight, so to speak, we'll start you off with target practice. ROB, activate the target simulation immediately.", Peppy ordered.

"Affirmative. Simulation coming online in T-minus 5 seconds.", ROB said. Five seconds passed and I found myself in a large, seemingly endless room that was like the inside of a computer, or even cyberspace.

"Wow. This is incredible, Peppy.", I spoke in amazement.

"Don't get too distracted, Michael. This is what causes most recruits to fail the time limit stage.", Peppy warned.

"Time limit stage? Why didn't you tell me that before starting the training?", I yelled.

"You didn't ask us, Michael.", Peppy said. Even though I couldn't see him, I was able to hear him.

"OK, then. What's my current objective?", I asked.

"Your objective is to shoot as many targets as you can while reaching the end of the stage within five minutes. Bonus points are received for every ten targets shot in a row. However, the combo will end if you take damage, even though you won't die and you'll have to start over. You have five minutes on the clock, starting now.", ROB said. I heard a whirring sound in front of me and saw the entire obstacle course materialize in a matter of seconds. It had many different things to shoot, varying from balloons and enemy units to targets. I also noticed several traps that were in the path to the goal about 10 meters in front of me, like trapdoors, pressure sensors and turrets mounted from the floor all the way to the ceiling. I had my blaster armed and ready. With a single, deep breath, I started the challenge.

Meanwhile at Fichina... "OK, team, we need to draw those creeps away from the center. Even if they manage to hack into the towers that control the shield, we can't let them reach the console from the outside or roof. Falco, you provide air cover, while Slippy patrols around the center. Krystal and me will move around the towers and come back. Check in any time you see anything out of the ordinary and stay on guard. We can't risk this planet becoming barren again.", Fox ordered.

"Yes, sir!", the team replied.

"Alright Krystal, let's move out and check the first tower.", Fox said pointing to the one on the southwest side of his radar.

"Lead the way, Fox.", Krystal said as she rode on the back of Fox's Landmaster. Although Fox didn't like the idea of letting Krystal be in the cold like that, she didn't even mind. Her own kind was used to the cold and her temperature wouldn't drop by even a tenth of a degree, no matter how long she was in it. She quickly picked up some thought patterns near the tower and started a telepathic conversation with Fox.

"Fox, is there any kind of enemy readings on your radar right now?", she asked.

"No. Why? Do you sense anyone out there?"

"Yes. I'm picking up about 15 soldiers around the first tower and they're trying to deactivate its power supply."

"What are their coordinates? Maybe I can fire some warning shots then we can pick them off with our blasters set to stun mode."

"Let's see... they're about 25 feet ahead of us and they have radar jamming technology inside their coats. One shot should get their attention.", Krystal thought.

"OK, then. Let's lay low and sneak up on them." Fox started to make his way toward the first tower, but maintaining such a slow speed on the Landmaster wasn't easy. Even if the team's vehicles were to be equipped with a silent running mode, they'd still be spotted if their enemies' senses were strong enough to notice any danger. When they were at least ten feet away, Fox carefully aimed the cannon at the feet of the group of saboteurs and fired a concentrated beam of bright blue energy while making sure Krystal wasn't on board when he did. Upon hearing the noise, a brown wolf looked up in time to see what made it and dodged out of the way, without even trying to warn his partners. Several bodies went flying in different directions, but the thick amount of snow cushioned their fall and they sprung back up, with only a few patches of snow all over the fronts of their bodies.

"Quick, send a warning to the other towers! We have to hurry, or else we're in for a long time in prison at Corneria.", another wolf said to a seal that was trying to throw a set of remote detonated mines on the power supply about ten or twelve feet above his full height.

"Grr. Fine, I'll get right on it, sir.", the seal barked back. He frantically ran his fingers over the keyboard buttons that materialized in front of him, but Krystal fired a shot at the back of his head, instantly knocking him out before he could even reach the 'send' option on his screen. She then proceeded to short out his communicator for good measure. When all of the troops were out cold and bound together in reinforced handcuffs, Fox activated his communicator to talk with Falco and Slippy.

"Falco, Slippy, we've secured the first shield generator and captured all the enemies around it. Both of you need to reach the other towers and continue from there, since you're closer than we are. If you can't pick up any foes on your radars, it's because they have radar jamming devices in their clothes. Be sure to short them out and disable any communications they have, so they can't warn the others. We'll regroup when all of the towers are safe and our targets have been rounded up."

"OK, I'm heading to the second tower.", Falco said as he activated his boosters.

"I'll take the third one. No sense in letting my scientific talents go to waste doing nothing.", Slippy said as he turned and drove over to his destination.

Meanwhile, at the second tower... "Sir, we've lost contact with Beta team at the first tower. Should we send a scout over to investigate?" a raccoon asked his commanding officer while standing at attention.

The snow white tiger simply took a few short breaths, each time staring at the carbon dioxide becoming visible due to a physical change induced by the current temperature in the atmosphere. "No. Each team we selected for this job has their own tech support. If any of them needed help, they'd have used a flare by now."

"Very well. I'll get to work on setting the charges, then.", the raccoon said.

"See that you do. And if you mess this up, next time it won't be your tail that nearly got crushed. Understand?", the tiger growled, not even bothering to turn in order to see the frightened animal's knees knocking against each other like castanets.

"Y-yes, sir. I'll get started immediately.", he said and ran off without another word. The tiger simply chuckled to himself in a pleased way. Anybody who dared to defy his orders once would be harshly punished and those who did so a second time would see no mercy, whatsoever.

Falco just landed a few meters away from the tower, making sure the cliffs would give the blue areas of his Arwing perfect camouflage from enemies who would stumble upon it as they were on patrol. "I can't use the homing launcher because the instant I feel the recoil, my targets will be on me like moths to a flame. I'll have to use the stun rounds in my sniper rifle instead.", Falco thought. He went into a crouching position from a nearby bridge and he took carefully aimed shots at each of his targets' heads or hearts. Even if just one of the targets was knocked out at a time, another of their companions would simply guess the stress from the job was getting to them. They seemed to be acting stranger than normal. When Falco knocked out the last animal as he was about to reach the remote detonator, he opened a channel to Fox and Slippy.

"I've knocked out the goons at the second tower. They plan to blow up the power supplies with remote mines and I have no way of safely removing them.", Falco said as he started searching the unconscious bodies to destroy the radar jammers each of them carried.

"We can't let them try that. Slippy, think you can find out if the remotes are defective, or maybe find a way to short them out?", Fox asked.

"I'll give it a shot. Tell me what kinds of range and models the mines and remotes are and I'll get to work."

"Let's see. Um, the mines are round, about the size of your fist, silver-colored and they blink red. The remote's black, cylindrical and has a red button.", Falco said as he found the items in a crate a snow leopard had lying next to him.

"I know that type of bomb. When I confiscate the remote that last team has, I'll analyze it to see if it can be sabotaged or not.", Slippy said as he drove over to the last tower in his Landmaster. It took him less than a minute to get there using constant boosting, but he also had to be careful not to give his position away and cause the other group to detonate the mines, even though the shield generators were completely indestructible from top to bottom.

"Grr. What's taking the others so long? This job should have been finished two minutes ago.", a bear with 3 claw scars running across the entire length of his face from the left eyebrow to the right side of his chin said as he stomped across the deep snow, trying to keep himself warm.

"For some reason, we're not getting any signal from their communicators. The temperature must be causing interference of some kind.", another snow leopard said as he checked his communicator for the other teams' signals.

It wasn't really the cold affecting the communicators, no one on that team was even aware that their partners were already thwarted by the other members of Star Fox. And Slippy was already upon them. With careful aim, he fired a shot from the Landmaster making the other animals aware of his presence.

"Oh, no. That's one of Star Fox's vehicles! Quick, detonate the mines immediately! The rest of you, open fire!", the bear yelled.

"Yes, sir!", the troops yelled as they revealed machine guns and fired everything they had at Slippy. Slippy knew this kind of attack on him would take much more firepower than this to destroy the Landmaster, but it was nothing to get overconfident about. If these people succeeded with their plan, there was no telling what kind of evil they could unleash on the Lylat system. The snow leopard held the detonator in his hand and mashed the trigger with his thumb... but nothing happened.

"Phew. It looks like the remotes are defective after all. But that doesn't mean these villains won't find another way to activate them. I've got to act fast.", Slippy thought.

"The detonator's not working!", the snow leopard yelled, trying to make the explosions happen, but no matter how many times the button was pressed, not a single mine would go off.

"Then shoot them, instead! If we don't make this planet void of all life, we'll never get paid!" the bear yelled as he tried swiping at Slippy with his sharp claws. While Slippy didn't like having to use overkill on his enemies, he also had to defend himself in these kinds of situations. Taking out a grenade, he waited for three seconds and threw it into the remaining mines that weren't attached to the tower's power supply. The resulting explosion killed some of the soldiers, but he was still outnumbered five to one. The rest of the soldiers and the bear, took dead aim at the mine on the tower and fired at the exact same time. The explosion was pretty loud for its small size, but the damage had been done. The power supply was still intact, but barely rotating and had a large crack along the center of it. Their plan failed after all. With an enraged roar, the bear and his followers tried attacking Slippy again, but he had his blaster set to stun mode and made quick work of them in no time at all.

"This is Slippy. I've destroyed the mines they were deploying here, but not without cost. The power supply here is almost completely destroyed, but it should be able to be repaired. Most of the soldiers here are dead, while I knocked out the others. I'm proceeding to round them up, now.", Slippy said.

"Great work, Slippy. Krystal senses the one behind all this near the second tower. We'll rendezvous there to capture him and bring him in for questioning. We need to get going, now.", Fox ordered.

"On my way, Fox!", Falco said as he checked his ammo and hid near his Arwing.

"I'll be there soon, Fox! I'm just going to confiscate these radar jammers for study.",Slippy said. About three minutes later, the team was positioned at different angles, each one leaving the main boss with very few options.

"So, you've managed to stop my troops and even protect the towers. I must congratulate your achievement, but you'll never stop my plans. And I'm not giving up without a fight!", the tiger said as he revealed his claws and wrestled with Falco over his sniper rifle. Falco tried to knock his opponent out by slamming the back of his weapon into his face, but the tiger was too strong. Slippy tried using his machine gun, but the tiger used a sweep kick to knock Slippy flat on his back, take his gun and throw it away. Falco tried using some martial arts he knew, but eventually, he was beaten and had two of his lower ribs cracked. Enraged by what they saw, Fox and Krystal teamed up to fend off this foe, while Slippy helped Falco get back on his feet. The fight was fierce, but they finally won in the end and had the tiger trapped in handcuffs and taken away by a Cornerian escort.

"Thank goodness that's over, but I could seriously use a doctor right now. We've got to get back to the Great Fox so ROB can evaluate the damage and fix it.", Falco said as he painfully put his arms on his stomach, where the pain from his ribs was most intense.

"Understood. Get back to your vehicles, everyone.", Fox ordered. About ten minutes later, ROB analyzed the results of Falco's condition and told everyone the news.

"Falco has severe bruising above the stomach and minor fractures above the large intestine. Estimated time of recovery: three weeks, seven hours, twelve minutes and forty-five seconds. Extreme caution is recommended when attempting to walk, move or fly, as injuries may become worse.", ROB said.

"Oh, great. My favorite way of aiding the team and I have to be careful. This is going to be the worst recovery ever!", Falco groaned.

"Take it easy, Falco. You'll be OK. Look, if it makes you feel any better, I'll personally get back anyone who talks bad about you and dish out twice the tough talk you always use, alright?", I said as I offered to shake his hand.

"Fine. But don't even think you can replace me. You've got skill with a gun, but flying like me is an entirely different matter. Count on it.", Falco said.

"So, Peppy, how did Michael's training go?", Fox asked.

"It went quite well for his first day, but he could use some work on his speed. He kept taking a breather every 50 seconds and he barely passed the time limit stage with only 0.032 seconds left.", Peppy answered.

"That's not bad. At least I didn't get hurt by the obstacles.", I said.

"That may be true, Michael. But it's not something to be taken lightly. The training will only get tougher from here on.", Fox said.

"OK, OK. I get it. I have to give it my best if I want to succeed. I promise that I will, everybody.", I said.

"Now that we've settled that, let's head to Corneria and pick up our check from Bill. I'm sure he and Lucy would like to hear how our job went.", Fox said. As soon as we landed, I heard some mixed chatter among the crowds as we passed them.

"Isn't that the pilot who was on the news this morning?", a golden retriever pup asked his father as he pointed at me.

"Billy, it's impolite to point at others, but yes, that's him.", Billy's father said.

"What is he and why is he here all of a sudden?" a female lion said.

Ignoring the thoughts of the citizens, I met up with Bill and started a conversation, while Krystal finished telling Lucy about her first day on Earth.

"It's nice to finally talk with you in person. If you don't mind me asking, what's your full name and how do you like it here in the Lylat System, partner?", Bill asked.

"The name's Michael Angelo Pena, cowboy. And life around here is as dangerous as a game of poker during a bull-riding contest.", I joked.

"It's great that you helped my best friend when she was in danger. I'll always remember that drawing and galaxy of yours. And as a way of saying thanks, you're welcome to attend one of my classes whenever you like.", Lucy said with a bow.

"Thanks, but I'm not fond of getting sick. As much as I'd love to play in the snow again, I just can't go to Fichina. However, I'm more than welcome to show and tell you what I know about astrology whenever you like.", I said.

"I'd like that a lot. I look forward to seeing you again."

When we got our payment, the team went about their day like they usually did. There was no telling what or where our next mission would be, but I knew it would be exciting. With those final thoughts, I tucked myself in bed and fell asleep.

Author Note: I'm sorry for making you readers wait this long for a new chapter, but please understand that writer's block and procrastination have a constant way of bothering me. I'll try to update sooner, but please have patience. I'm also thinking of ideas for a sequel for this story, as well as a fan-fiction based on the new Pokemon game coming out soon. Until then, keep reading and thanks for your support.