CHAPTER SEVEN

Women All Too Familiar

October 23rd, 2053

Cornerian Air Space

"Alright, team! Be ready…for anything and everything" Marcus said. "Let's buckle down and show 'em what the new Star Fox is made of!"

Three years of extensive training and three more of legitimate work were about to pay off for Marcus and his gang. The team had been alerted by Peppy that Star Wolf had been seen lurking somewhere in the northeastern hemisphere, most likely looking for a dogfight. Needless to say, Star Fox deployed and began to mentally prepare themselves for whatever the team of renegades would through at them.

If your parents could take 'em down, so can you, Peppy had said. He'd called them pushovers. Now it was time to see if he was right.

"Great. Just what I need: another visit from that lizard boy Leon." Falco muttered. He still had his sarcastic nature when it came to Star Wolf, and he still had the foulest mouth of the team.

"It's Panther that I'm worried about." Anna said. "He's got a Zapper for a cannon! God, that prick could take us down in seconds."

Anna had adopted Falco's mouth to make herself look cooler, and in the right moment, it seemed to work. The only problem was that Chase was just as snappy if not moreso.

"Why are you worried? You're the one who's always hanging back and letting us do the dirty work." the young Toad chuckled.

"How big will that ego of yours get before you explode? Besides, they're supposed to have a new member, and I heard Wolf swapped himself out with someone else."

"That's still only four fighters, so we're evenly matched! We've got nothin' to worry about…I mean, I don't see 'em, but…okay, now I'm kinda getting nervous."

The four Arwings (each with customs emblems on them; Falco's being a falcon, Chase's a bullwhip, Anna's an electric guitar and Marcus' a clenched fist) came to a stop.

"Anna, check the coordinates Peppy gave us." Marcus ordered.

Anna checked her monitor, scanning over every inch of the map that she could.

"This is the place where Grandpa said they were, but I don't see…MARK! LOOK OUT BEHIND YOU!"

Anna wasn't normally the calmest person that Marcus knew (that was Krystal), but if she was shouting, it still meant trouble, and he didn't need to be told twice. He used the steering console to perform a somersault and avoid getting smashed by a sleek, dark ship with four wings and red laser cannons.

A Wolfen. They were there.

"What the hell?" Marcus growled.

"So that old windbag sent a couple of children to fight us, eh?" a nasally voice said.

"Oikonny?" Falco stammered. "You idiots let this freak back on your team?"

Andrew Oikonny was Andross' nephew. He had joined Star Wolf many years ago when they worked for Andross to follow in his uncle's footsteps and later rule over Venom. Eventually, he left Star Wolf behind to accomplish the goal by rallying the Venomian army, and then he assisted the Anglar Empire by piloting a giant robot called the Death Crab. Why he joined back up had to be a great mystery indeed.

Three more Wolfens (the Black Rose, the Rainbow Delta and the Iron Maiden) flew at the team.

"Still kicking around, Lombardi?" a deep imposing voice said from the Black Rose (which, as the name suggested, had a rose decal). Panther Caroso's voice. "I figured your old bones would be ready to snap by now."

"…aren't you older than me?" Falco asked.

Chase took notice of the Rainbow Delta's pilot (whose ship had a bloody knife emblem): a lanky chameleon with a scar on one eye. Leon Powalski, the team's assassin. Leon took notice of Chase, too.

"The son of Slippy Toad, eh?" Leon cackled. "Tell me. Are you as much of a screw-up as your old man?"

"We'll see who has the last laugh when I'm done with you!" Chase retorted.

Marcus took notice of the Iron Maiden. It didn't look like any Wolfen he'd seen before (including the fact that it was stylized with metal umlauts and, like Anna's, had an electric guitar decal, only this one had more of an imposing look to it).

"And just who are you supposed to be?" Marcus asked.

The voice that replied was that of a teenage girl.

"I am Coyote O'Donnell. Which one of you is the son of Fox McCloud?"

"Uhh…I am." Marcus nervously replied.

He knew right away that this girl wanted something with him, and it certainly wasn't his autograph. This was only proven when the Iron Maiden started barreling toward him.

"Prepare to die!" Coyote shouted.

Lasers shot from Coyote's cannons. Marcus dropped altitude to avoid being hit, then he slammed the boost pedal and flew away as fast as he could.

"Jeez, I barely said a damn thing and now she wants to beat my ass with that monstrosity!" he grumbled. "What's with this chick?!"

Panther began firing at Falco, who was desperately trying to shake off his pursuer.

"That's right, little bird! Fly away home!" Panther taunted.

"Oh, sure! I'll fly away! Eat my avian dust while I'm at it!" Falco shouted back.

He slammed on the boost and blasted away.

Coyote kept on Marcus like a fish to a hook, but the Arwing III was much more agile than the Iron Maiden, so no matter how many times Coyote tried to hit Marcus, he somersaulted, barrel-rolled and dropped out of the way.

"You're washed out already?" Marcus mischievously shouted.

"Don't get uppity, you amateur!" Coyote shot back

"An amateur, am I?"

Marcus swerved around behind Coyote.

"How amateurish do you think THIS is?"

Marcus locked onto Coyote and fired a charged shot from his cannon. Coyote barrel-rolled and deflected it.

"Not bad…for trash!" she said.

"Trash belongs in the dumpster." Marcus retorted. "You, my friend, belong STRAPPED TO AN ELECTRIC CHAIR WITH HOT COALS DOWN YOUR THROAT!"

Coyote U-turned and shot back toward Marcus, who ducked and slammed the boost.

"Gotta keep up!" Marcus mocked.

Coyote growled.

"Filthy maggot! I'll blast you out of the sky!"

Marcus thought for a moment. That voice…it sounded so familiar.

"Wait…do I…know you?" he asked.

"Don't you fraternize with me, you scum!" Coyote shouted.

"Alright, alright, sheesh..."

"You know, that's always bugged me for some reason. Why do they always say 'scum'?" asked Anna. "Why not 'moron' or 'dumbass' or at least 'jerk' for crying out loud? Seriously!"

Anna was having a little more luck than the boys. It turned out Oikonny was a horrible pilot and he could just barely keep up with her.

"At least you've got guts, right?" Anna asked, smirking.

"W-watch your mouth! I'll show you!" Oikonny hollered back.

Oikonny targeted Anna and blasted at her several times. Anna dropped out of the way.

"Let's see how he likes this!" she thought.

Just as Oikonny came up behind her, Anna performed a somersault and put him in front of her.

"What the..." he stammered.

Anna charged her laser into a packed energy sphere and locked onto Oikonny's Wolfen.

"You wanna play rough? Okay! THEN SAY HELLO TO MY LITTLE FRIEND!" she shouted before releasing the sphere.

The charged shot flew through the air at maximum velocity and collided with the Wolfen, frying its engines and sending it tumbling to the ground.

"Uncle Andross!" Oikonny screamed.

The ship hit the ground and exploded. He'd survive, but he wasn't getting out of there without a couple nasty bumps and bruises.

"Oh, yeah! This girl's got it all!" Anna cheered.

Panther halted next to her.

"Not bad. Make sure you don't lose that pretty little head of yours." he chuckled. "It looks ripe for kissing."

Anna flushed bright red. Just as she thought. Panther Caroso was such a pervert that he could even flirt with teenage girls.

"Shut up, you alley cat! Get a wife, get a girlfriend or at least don't be such a creep! I mean, damn!" she shouted in response.

"Heh heh. SOMEONE gets pretty hot when they're angry."

Chase suddenly barreled out of nowhere and hit the Black Rose with his Plasma Shot.

"And the Jackass Award goes to…PERVERT CAROSO! Come up and take a bow, man!" Chase mocked, imitating crowd cheering while Panther started to growl.

"You think it's funny now, but wait until I send you home to your mother in a box."

"Y'know, shooting me down would be both faster and easier, so you'd just be makin' more work for yourself."

Panther slammed his boost pedal and shot after Chase, when suddenly Falco zoomed out of nowhere and used a barrel roll to send Panther back a little way.

"You're in MY habitat, now, big shot! And let me tell ya, a pissed-off bird of prey can get pretty deadly!" he shouted.

"So you actually watch out for your friends now, Lombardi? That's a first." Coyote mocked.

The Iron Maiden took another few shots as the Arwing III came barrelling in, the pilots glaring at each other as they passed.

"Shut your trap before I come over there and shut it or you!" Marcus yelled.

"Believe me; I ain't finished with you yet, McCloud!" Coyote shot back

"Come on! I'm right here if you can haul that piece of junk after me! Seriously, I could build a better ship than that, and I'm an idiot!"

Chase breathed a sigh of relief, but he didn't have long to rest because suddenly the Rainbow Delta came at him.

"No rest for the wicked, huh?!" he growled.

"You have no idea, Toad." Leon chuckled.

Chase boosted away from his pursuer, but Leon was a much more experienced pilot than Panther and Oikonny, and he was certainly keeping him busy. Chase tried everything he had: dropping, somersaulting and barrel-rolling, but no matter what he did, Leon continued firing at him.

"Move it, Chase! He's right behind you!" Falco hollered.

"I can't shake him! Marcus, get this guy off me!"

Coyote was literally hell-bent on shooting down Marcus, so now was certainly not the time for multi-tasking.

"I'm a little busy up here!" he shouted. "Can you handle it on your own?

Chase was about to say something when Leon shot him again.

"NO I CAN NOT! GET THIS DIRTBAG OFF MY BACK!"

Marcus groaned and rolled his eyes.

"Don't start whining. I'm on it." he muttered. "Anne!"

"Already on it!" Anna said.

With a quick swerve and a volley of laser fire, the Iron Maiden waslaunched away as the Puck Rock-It passed overhead. Coyote glared at Anna's ship and went ahead with intimidation.

"Girl fight, huh?" she said. "Count me in!"

"As long as you don't go crying home to your DILF of a leader when I'm done with you." Anna shot back, not realizing what she'd gotten herself into.

"…okay, don't ever speak to me again."

"I'm just saying your dad's kinda hot, that's all…"

"Oh my God, STOP IT!"

With Coyote finally off his back, Marcus pulled out Krystal's staff from his backpack, opened the cockpit door and shot a fireball at Leon. The flame pummeled the Rainbow Delta, giving Chase enough time to swerve around behind it.

"Aw, yeah! Who's the big man NOW, huh?" Chase said as he blasted Leon's ship, sending it plummeting to the ground.

Panther, meanwhile, had had it up to his ears with Falco dodging every one of his attacks.

"Come on! Be a man and fight!" Panther shouted.

"Look who's talkin', fleabag!" Falco shot back.

Panther's ship crashed into the Sky Claw, which now had a dent in the left wing. With a shout of "You've done it know, kitty boy", Falco hit the ejector seat button and launched himself at Panther's ship, pulling out his twin laser blasters and shooting at the windshield. Panther became temporarily blinded by the light, and when he could see again, Falco was standing on the windshield with his fist raised.

"Man enough for ya?!" he said before smashing the glass open.

Panther dove out of his ship and grappled Falco. As the two rivals fell through the sky, they each gave brutal punches to the other's head. Falco pushed off of Panther's chest with his feet, landed back inside the Sky Claw, closed the cockpit and swerved back up. Panther managed to get back into his ship, but he wasn't able to maneuver himself back up.

"I'LL GET YOU FOR THIS, LOMBARDI!" he shouted.

"Don't count on it!"

Last, but definitely not least, there was Coyote. She was fast. She was firing from every which way Marcus could imagine. If he didn't know any better, he would have said Coyote was the Grim Reaper and the Iron Maiden was built by the devil.

Marcus U-turned to get around behind his pursuer. As he rocketed by, Coyote caught a split second glimpse of her enemy's face. The blue and white fur...the tall pricked ears…and more importantly, the soul-piercing hazel eyes. She remembered who this boy was. Those eyes didn't lie.

"It's…you…" she whispered.

She shook out the thought. He was her enemy, so what he had done for her didn't matter. She'd kill him just the same…but why did it have to be him?

"C'mon, McCloud! Is that all you've got?" she bellowed.

"No way! I've still got a trick or two up my alley."

Marcus swerved up above the Iron Maiden and flipped his ship upside down. Coyote looked up and panicked to see that she had nowhere to run.

"It's just a shame that you don't." Marcus mocked.

He slammed the ejector seat button and unsheathed his staff. He landed on top of Coyote's ship and stabbed the spear end through the engine. Sparks went flying from the dashboard into Coyote's face.

"No! How could I lose to this…this…"

Marcus sheathed his staff.

"Yeah! Burn, baby, burn!" he shouted, laughing with triumph.

He jumped down into his Arwing waiting below. Coyote's lasers were disabled. Continuing the fight would be pointless. She growled.

"Damn…" she sighed. "I'm sorry, Dad…he got me."

The escape pods from Leon, Panther, and Oikonny's ships came up next to her. The other three Star Wolf members were certainly alive, but less than okay. Coyote's moping was quick to attract Panther and Leon, the former of whom was quick to jump to her comfort.

"Can't win 'em all, dear." he said. "Just keep improving. You'll get him next time."

Coyote smiled. Wolf had never gone as far to call Panther his friend, but with how kind the feline was to her, it was no surprise she looked at him almost like an uncle of sorts.

"Thanks, Panther…Leon. Andrew. You doing alright.

"Smarting over losing to a couple of kids," Leon grumbled. "But I've been worse."

"Our ringleader certainly wasn't any help!" Oikonny whined.

As if Coyote needed any more fury welling up.

"Oh, shut up, Oikonny! At least I lasted for more than two minutes!" she shouted

And that started a whole different argument that Star Fox and even Panther and Leon had to bear hilarious witness to.

"Really, what was Wolf thinking letting his kid run the team?" Oikonny spat. "Whose ever heard of a renegade team headed by a sixteen-year old girl?!"

"You think being a team leader is the easiest thing in the world when you're bitching non-stop?!" Coyote screamed. "I'd like to see you try it, you freak!"

"Who are you callin' a freak, you over-glorified furball?!"

As funny as it was, Marcus checked his watch

"Sheesh, like an old married couple." he growled before he finally raised his voice. "WOULD YOU TWO JUST SHUT UP!"

They were silent as Marcus spoke, finding it somewhat funny he could manage such a thing.

"We get the point: we win, you lose. We rock, you suck. Deal with it! I'm sure you've all got better things to do than yell at each other like a buncha seagulls. Now if you'd be so kind as to leave so we can all get on with our lives!"

Coyote groaned in disgust. Quite a trooper, that one, but too aggravating for anything else.

"Star Wolf, retreat!"

The three escape pods flew away, and Coyote was about to pilot the Iron Maiden away, when she said something to Marcus that would have been intimidating had he not heard a thousand times, let alone without one of his friends cutting in.

"You win for now, but the next we meet, you're mine, McCloud."

"That's what she said." Anna jeered.

"…I seriously hate you, Grey."

Her pride still hurting and her intimidation factor having gone out the window, Coyote's ship boosted away with Falco yelling after her that her father was still a douche.

"It's SO easy for them to get pissy with us." Chase grumbled.

"Yeah, but who really cares? We beat 'em to a pulp!" Anna cheered. "Now THAT'S something our parents are gonna be proud of."

Marcus seemed a little less than happy. That voice kept coming back to him…where had he heard it before?

"Mark, you OK, buddy?" asked Falco.

Marcus shook the thought out of his head.

"Uhh…yeah. I'm fine…just kinda zoned out for a second."

Marcus pulled himself together. At least he had the victory against Star Wolf to be happy about.

"If everyone's OK, then let's report back to Peppy."

10:30 p.m.

As Marcus lay in his bed that night, desperately trying to fall asleep, Coyote's voice kept coming back to him. How was it so familiar to him? Why did he even bother thinking about it? Why had she seemed so hell-bent on trying to kill him?

…And was he ever going to see her again?

Hopefully not.

The voice kept ringing in his ears, so Marcus flushed it out by shouting in his head.

"Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP, SHUT UP!"

The voice stopped. Marcus slammed his eyes shut and almost immediately fell asleep, but as he did, he began to dream.

Marcus shook his head and looked around the environment. It was dark. He couldn't see the ceiling, floor or the walls.

"OK, this is already creepy. I better get outta here before something bad happens." he thought.

He tried to get up, but he realized that his limbs were strapped down to a metal table. And no matter how hard he squirmed, he was stuck there.

"Great. That's just great." he groaned.

Suddenly, a chill ran up his spine. He had a sickening feeling that something…evil was watching him. He turned his head. A shady figure was coming toward him out of the darkness. Its slim, hourglass figure gave away the fact that it was a woman. But it wasn't any woman that he knew.

"Whoever you are, untie me right now!" Marcus shouted at the figure.

The figure chuckled. She stepped into the light, allowing Marcus to see her form. She looked about a few inches taller than him. She was wearing a very revealing outfit made of black leather. Most of her fur was navy blue, while her hair was dark violet. It also was very long and hung down over one eye. Her eyes themselves were blood red and shining almost demonically.

"Who…who are you?" Marcus asked.

The woman smiled, almost salaciously.

"Don't you recognize me, Marcus?" she asked.

"How do you know my name?"

"Why wouldn't I know my own son?"

Marcus was shocked. Whoever this woman was, she certainly wasn't Krystal…though she DID look a little like her. She also sounded a bit like her, too, but without the British accent.

"You're not my mother!" he screamed.

"Don't lie to yourself, Marcus." Kursed whispered. "There's no denying it. Didn't you ever think for once that within Krystal, there might have been something so horrifying that it would give you nightmares 'till the day you died? Well, you're looking at it."

"But…my mother is kind and caring! She'd never hurt anyone!"

"She would, long before you were born. I'm a shadowy reflection of Krystal. In fact, I'm a part of her. I grew stronger from her hate for your father…she loved me, but she hated him…just as much as I do now."

Kursed gently ran her hand down Marcus' cheek. He shivered. Her skin was as cold as ice.

"You, on the other hand, are something that I want. I could care for you in ways that Krystal never could. More importantly, I can grant you power beyond your wildest dreams if I so choose."

She had what looked like a lustful look on her face.

"And if I know your type at all, that's something that you want very badly." she said

"I don't need power! And my mother doesn't hate my father! They love each other like Adam loved Eve, and I'm the proof of that love!"

Kursed slapped Marcus across the face.

"Haven't you learned to respect your elders yet? Such a pitiful excuse for a son."

Marcus couldn't take it anymore.

"All right, that's it! My ass is outta here!" he said in a panicked tone.

Summoning all of his strength, he broke the bonds that held him down, jumped off the table and ran away as fast as he could.

Or rather, he TRIED to run away, but he looked down and saw that he was only running on the spot.

"Come on, don't do this now." he said fearfully. "I'm in a tight enough spot already!"

Kursed walked toward him menacingly.

"Don't run away from your mother, you fool. You don't honestly think you can escape from me, do you?"

Hearing that claim again infuriated Marcus beyond belief.

He turned around, raised his fist and shouted, "YOU'RE! NOT! MY! MOTHER!"

He threw a heavy punch at Kursed's chest, but with lighting fast reflexes, she caught his hand.

"So you decide to fight back." she said. "Alright, then. Have it your way."

Using a superhuman throw, Kursed seized Marcus' neck and threw him backward, screaming.

Suddenly, Marcus was trapped inside a gigantic crystal. He couldn't move. He couldn't see. And worst of all, he couldn't breathe.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE!" he screamed in a raspy, choked voice.

"Now you feel your mother's pain…locked inside what your father saved her from." Kursed said.

She chuckled.

"But who's here to save you?"

Marcus yelped and snapped his eyes open, breathing a sigh of relief when he found himself still in his room, the moonlight spilling in from the window. Krystal was leaning over him in her tank top and jeans that she wore to bed, looking as frantic as any mother could be.

"That must have been some nightmare." she said. "Is everything alright?"

Certainly not. Talking about the worst nightmare he'd had in his life was the least he could do at this point, but after the things he'd heard…

"Can I ask you something?"

"Of course. You can ask me anything."

Marcus sighed and sat up, preparing himself for the absolute worst.

"Was there a time when you hated Dad?"

Krystal's face grew serious.

"So it was about Kursed, then?"

"…if that's her name…yeah."

Krystal sat down on Marcus' bed.

"About 19 years ago, your father told me that he and I couldn't be together anymore and that he didn't want me to be on the Star Fox team. When I asked him why, he didn't answer. He just said good-bye and left. I don't know what came over me, but I grew furious…I wanted to hurt him. So I ran away from Corneria and became a bounty hunter named Kursed. But about two months into that, people started insulting me, calling me a traitor because I left your father. Suddenly, I grew so angry that…I attacked them…..it….felt good. I knew it was wrong, though, so I found a starship drifting out in the middle of space and hid there...I locked myself away from everyone and everything."

"That's horrible! But…why did you come back?"

"A little while later, your dad landed his Arwing in my starship, and…I tried to kill him."

It came as pain to Krystal and shock to Marcus, but he let her press on.

"But when he managed to tell me why he left me, I understood. He just feared for my safety."

"So you came back to Corneria."

"Yes. Then your father realized that there was nothing more for him and I to fear…so we got back together…and eventually got married."

"Now there's only Krystal."

"Yes." Krystal smiled. "Because now, you and your father…you're my whole world…the only two people I live for."

"Heh." Marcus smirked. "Thanks, Mom."

If Marcus had been like any other kid, he would have been mad at Krystal for doing something so bad. But Marcus had always known that she'd had a troubled life until she married Fox, so he could forgive her for just about anything.

Suddenly, Marcus grimaced.

"What's wrong?" Krystal asked

"I feel like such a baby."

They both burst out laughing. He may have felt like a baby, but he certainly felt a lot better now that he had someone to talk to. He was one of those teenagers that still talked to their parents when they didn't feel good about themselves.

"Guess I better hit the sack now." Marcus said.

"Good-night." Krystal said. "You may be a big boy now, but you'll always be my little angel."

She smiled and closed the door as she left the room. Marcus turned over on his bed. He wasn't afraid, but that horrible figure still kept coming back to his imagination. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't think about anything else. How could he have a nightmare about something he didn't know existed? Anyone with common sense knew that that just wasn't possible. And why had it been Kursed? He hadn't even known who she was a few minutes ago.

After a few minutes of tossing and turning, Marcus fell asleep on the fact that had presented itself: Kursed was dead…

….wasn't she?