Chapter Seventeen: First Impressions
Authors Notes:
Hey guys, my writers block has passed and I'm back into the swing of things. So expect quality chapters to come :D
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Are you gonna live your life wondering,
Standing in the back,
Looking around?
Are you gonna waste your time thinking,
How you've grown up,
Or how you missed out?
Things are never gonna be the way you want.
Where's it gonna get you acting serious?
Things are never gonna be quite what you want,
Or even at twenty five,
You gotta start sometime.
I'm on my feet I'm on the floor I'm good to go.
Now all I need is just to hear a song I know.
I wanna always feel like part of this,
Was,
Mine.
I wanna fall in love tonight.
Jimmy Eat World - "A Praise Chorus"
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One Week Later…
"This is the Cornerian Aircraft Assembly, please identify yourself…"
It was the first sight of Corneria for them. The blue-green planet was massive compared to the other planets that The Shadow had passed along the way. The group was expecting a transmission from some form of air traffic controller as they were an unknown craft. Otto cued the mic and began to think up some professional sounding name for his ship.
"Yes, sorry for the delay." He apologetically spoke. " This is the PT-95A Shadow Craft requesting to land at the nearest port…" Everyone patiently waited for a response, hoping they would buy it.
"Where are you hailing from?"
Shit…
They couldn't tell them they were coming from Bothsiloth because they would be considered hostile targets. However, there was one place that they could say…
"We departed from Besdolore about a month ago."
"I see, we don't get any information on ships departing from other systems outside of Lylat, but we have heard of that planet before and we'll take your word for it. Do you need any assistance on docking?" Everyone let out a sigh of relief.
"Yes we would, thank you."
"Just hang tight for a while, we're gonna get an escort to lead the way…"
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A short ride later, The Shadow had arrived at the Cornerian Docking Station located on the outskirts of Corneria City by the shoreline. After a brief security check, they were free to go. They were led outside by members of the Cornerian Army to taxi's awaiting them. Otto found the treatment they were getting to be quite classy and out of the ordinary. Problem was, they had no idea where they would be going from there. There had to be tons of places to live temporarily among the skyscrapers and homes. They had to find somewhere to stay, and fast.
"Where you headin'?" The cabbie asked as everyone entered the vehicle.
"Umm, could you bring us down the shoreline?" Otto requested. The man behind the wheel didn't answer, but simply pressed the accelerator and headed down toward the edge of the city. The sun was beginning to set in the West, making the sky turn a radiant orange glow, reflecting brightly off of the yellow sheet metal on the cab. The canine carefully observed the buildings next to the street, hoping to find any sign of availability. He would take anything that was open, no matter what the conditions.
"I assume you guys ain't from here?" The cabbie said.
"You guessed right." Lars retorted with a snort. "We're coming from Bo-" Co'ort jabbed him in the rib, making him double over in pain.
"We're coming from Besdolore." The rat said to correct the pig.
"Ass…" Lars mumbled under his breath.
"Interesting. I heard about some assassination-"
"Stop the car!" Otto demanded, making the driver swerve momentarily by the shocking response.
"Okay, if you insist." He slammed on the brakes, causing everyone to lurch forward. Otto threw some cash at the cabbie and exited the car, leaving them on a street that contained fairly nice businesses on one side, and beach homes on the other. The driver gave a semi-friendly wave before peeling out and sailing off into the distance. It wouldn't be until later that he realized that the cabbie probably wouldn't have accepted the cash he gave him, but it was his loss for not looking closer.
"What the hell was that for?" A frustrated Andre growled. "Now what do we do?"
"Look across the street…" Otto replied while pointing toward a building on the other side of the road.
It was a brick structure that had three stories, a large sign that went across it read "Cornerian Market/General Housing". On the left side of the building was two doors that seemed to lead to different places. It would be assumed that one of those led upstairs. The group stood silent, waiting for someone to make a move. It didn't take long, as the canine ran across the street when it cleared up, opened the door to the right and walked up the stairs that it led to.
The smell inside was rather musty but it seemed to be only downstairs, as it cleared up when he reached the top of the flight. Upstairs was what appeared to be a lobby of sorts with a desk, chairs, and the normal furniture that would be found in these kinds of venues. Behind the wooden desk was a green bird who seemed to be slumbering off on the job, which seemed impossible with the noisy patrons on the floor below them. Otto approached him, hoping that he would get a response from the avian.
"Can I help you?" The bird said.
"Uh, yeah my friends and I need a place to stay for a short period of time. Is there anything available at an affordable price?" The bird grabbed a folder and opened it up, studying it for a minute before speaking again.
"We have a three bedroom apartment with two single bed frames and mattresses in each, would that do?"
"How much?" The avian looked down at the papers again.
"I'm a fair man, I'll let you guys stay for fifty a week."
"FIFTY!?" Otto was shocked at the extremely low price tag for a three bedroom apartment. The guy must have been joking.
"Unless you want the original price tag of two hundred…"
"But why?"
"As long as you can keep the place as clean and neat as possible for your short stay, it'll be that way. Treat this as a hotel and keep everything somewhat sanitary, and I'll keep that price tag. The last people who stayed in it trashed the fucking place to bits, so take this as an insurance policy so to speak."
It was an offer that had some fairly manageable conditions. If he could keep everyone else in check, this could be an easy lifestyle for them.
"I'll take it, but I can't quite pay for that yet since we need to exchange our cash for Cornerian Credits."
"That's fine with me, you just need to sign some papers and the place will be yours. Payment will come next week."
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Soon enough, everyone had made their way to their apartment. The interior was quite roomy, most of it based as one long hallway with a kitchen on the left side which connected to the living room. On the other side of the hall was doors that led to everyone's bedrooms and bathrooms that were practically interconnected as well. While the place felt naked with the white walls and barren carpets, everyone hoped that it wouldn't last too long.
Since there was literally nothing to do an the sun was already down, the group felt obligated to get to sleep. To choose who would be left with the coveted single room to themselves, Lars cut up some straws and told everyone to draw one. To his surprise, Lars ended up with the only straw without a pairing. The rest settled into their rooms with their respective straw mate. For Otto, it turned out to be Co'ort. They stayed in the room closest to the front door, claiming it had the most room available even though the dimensions were practically the same. It was merely a show of pride.
"So how long do you think we're gonna be here for?" Queried the rat.
"Dunno, whenever I feel like we can take Michael down." Otto replied, staring into the blankness of the ceiling. "I wouldn't worry about that yet. We need more people to help out before anything else occurs…" Co'ort didn't respond back as he had already fallen asleep. "Typical…"
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The following morning, Otto thought it would be a good idea to see what exactly was sold in the store downstairs. He got up around nine and headed downstairs at the first opportunity he got. He found the place to already be open, it was apparently a simple grocery store that was open twenty four seven. Now the canine was realizing why it was so cheap to live in such a spacious room.
After eying some of the products, he took some microwavable foods and began to head toward the beverage isle. Unfortunately for Otto, as he left the isle he was in, another patron was walking into the same one. They both ran into each other, sending everything he was flying into the air. Both of them were able to recover some of the stuff, but most of it ended up sprawled over the floor. Otto looked up to see a blue avian with red borders around his eyes and a large tip of hair. `
"Oh crap, sorry bout' that." The bird stood there for a moment, as if he was waiting for something.
Turns out that something was acknowledgment of who he was. Falco's still slightly ego-crazed self couldn't help but wonder why he hadn't noticed that he was a pilot for the Star Fox team. He waited another minute to see if there would be any recognition, there was none.
"Do you happen to know who I am?" Otto wasn't sure if it was meant to sound hostile or not because the bird had made it sound neutral. He nodded in disagreement, bringing an unfortunately upset face to the avian.
"Have you ever heard of Star Fox before?" Otto's head went up, he knew of the team. Many a story had been told about their heroic efforts against the evil Andross. While there were other stories that he had recalled about other threats that had stopped, Andross was by far the one everyone seemed to know of. He also remembered being told about the members; Fox McCloud, Slippy Toad, Peppy Hare, and…
"You're Falco aren't you?" He said, making the birds face light up with ecstasy.
"Damn right pal." Falco laughed back . "You got a name?"
"How the hell am I supposed to believe that you're Falco Lombardi? Shouldn't you be up in space fighting baddies somewhere?"
"Well, that's a long story that I'd rather not get into at the moment. Let's just say that I'm taking a vacation and leave it at that." He took out a small pin from his pocket, on it was the Star Fox insignia and his name right below it. There was no more doubt in Otto's mind that he was the real deal.
"Cool, I'm Otto by the way." The two shook hands.
"Nice name, I suppose you're not from around here?" He asked as he picked up some of the groceries that were dropped.
"You catch on quickly. I just moved in upstairs last night with some friends."
"Interesting, where'd you come from?"
Otto had realized that this could be an opportunity to actually get an group of expert mercenaries on his side to help bring down the man who had put him in this situation. However, the possibility of Falco turning him into the authorities could also be high if they knew of the events which the avian apparently didn't know of. He decided that it was a risk he would be willing to take.
"Do you really want to know?" Falco was confused by the statement, unsure why he would ask such a thing. Was it really that bad of a place?
"I guess…"
And so, without any further hesitation, Otto began to tell Falco Lombardi how he had been framed and exiled from his home planet along with the events that followed. He tried to tell them in the most detailed way possible to make sure that nothing was left out. If there was any chance of them to work with him, he would have to make it sound believable in his favor (which technically it was already) When he finished, Falco stood speechless. He knew that he had gotten a new ally.
"Look Otto, I can't make any promises, but I think I can help you out with your little problem…"
"I'm listening…"
"Well first, I need to round up the team again, we've been kind of split apart for some time now. If Fox is cool with helping out, then you got yourself some backup."
"Sounds like a plan…"
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Falco wasted no time to hurry home after the run in with the brown canine and sent a message to the Great Fox III, telling them that everyone was ready to return to the team and there would be more news he would share when they arrived back. When asked about his sudden rush of energy, the bird explained everything to Wolf and Erika, bringing a wave of excitement to them both. Erika seized the opportunity to request that she join up with them when they disembarked. After some slight hesitation, and a push from Wolf, Falco agreed to allow her.
"See Falco, now that wasn't so hard was it?" Wolf chuckled while patting him on the back.
"It's a start…