Hope you like the cold, a star fox fanfic

Chapter One

A cat, A man and a lot of Snow

The cold air entered the man's lungs, chilling him and dropping his core temperature with every breath. He could hear his slow and deep breaths and it was the first thing he heard that wasn't a high pitched ringing. His body still wasn't moving, no matter how much he tried to get it to respond. Ever since the crash he'd been trapped in a limbo of waking up, realizing he was alive only to slip back into unconsciousness.

Every time he came back the cold of this world stung him again, and the winds brushed against his already dry face. He ran his tongue across his lips and noticed how dry and chapped they were.

"Aw fu- ah!" He groaned when the moving of his lips caused them to crack open and bleed in three spots on his bottom lip. The pain of this forced him to swing his head back. At this he saw a trail of blood leading to a body of mangled man. The blood from his lip froze over.

'It's so cold. We… We're gonna die here.' He thought with a morbid realization. 'I have to move… I have to get up!'

Slowly his arms and hands came back to him and he managed to take hold of the safety harness of his chair. His numb and unresponsive fingers were trembling on their own, making it a living Hell to simply pinch the three clips that held the harness together. It was like taking control of a small infant's body. The cold made him so uncoordinated and slow it frustrated the man to no end. Yet when one clip finally came off it felt like he had achieved something no man had ever hoped to accomplish. His right side leaned forward a bit but it gave him a morale boost and sure enough the next two clips came off, but at a price.

The man fell, something he was not expecting, and landed hard on a jagged rock that tore into his flesh and his leg made a strange and gross snapping sound when it hit. He let out a loud scream that tore apart the silence of the landscape. Every curse in every language he knew passed through his cracked lips until he regained the sense of mind to quiet himself.

"Jesus… fucking… god damn it!" He panted under his breath and decided to check his leg.

The sharp rock had torn through both his dark green flight suit and now his left calf was spurting blood, but that wasn't the worst part. He heard a snapping sound and his leg hurt so much that he figured it must be broken. His survival training had started to kick in and already his chances were looking grim. With his leg possibly broken and losing blood, his chances of survival were greatly diminished. Just for starters, his ability to be mobile was decreased, predators would be able to catch wind of his blood, and his Kaden's supplies were in the remains of his F-46B Lancer.

The man winced in pain as he tested his leg. He couldn't feel where his bone was broken but it hurt too much to search in-depth. Slowly and very carefully, the man got to his feet making sure to keep any unnecessary weight off his left leg so it wouldn't cause any more pain. He braced himself against a rock and slowly shifted more weight on his left leg little by little. The pain was intense but not bad enough to make him still think that it was broken. Relief flushed through him and he took a few hobbling steps toward the other man without all that much pain.

'Guess it's not broken after all, maybe sprained or fractured and K could probably brace it.' He thought optimistically until he looked around.

All around him there was nothing but white, black, and grey. There was no color to be found, no greens, no reds, no yellows, and especially no blue. The white snow blanketed the ground and only black rocks tall enough to stand out from the mid shin high snow were visible. But the worst part was the sky, which was a deep darkened gray that looked over him. It was a dark and cruel world, a bitter Hell for him to live out the rest of his days if help did not arrive.

'They'll come. No soldier gets left behind.' The man thought to himself with a small glimmer of hope. 'I can wait if I need to, I can survive this Hellish nightmare for as long as it takes. I no we won't die here.'

"K wake up" he whispered putting his hand on K's forehead. "J-John" K shook. John sighed in relief. "What happened?" K asked. "We were shot down" John whispered sadly. K's eyes shot open he sat up. He gave a negative expression. "Look" he pointed. A small trail of smoke was visible almost half a mile away. It was the only thing that he could see and hopefully it was the downed remains of his Lancer but it was impossible to tell. In his Lancer there was a medical kit, a small fire rifle, and a small compact bedroll that would all increase his chances of surviving drastically.

"If I can get my supplies I can set up camp, shelter, and hunt any game" He said. "if there is any. All I have to worry about is that Cornerian that went down with me, if it survived that is.' He thought. K chimed in with and I can brace your leg." He said while noticing his injuries."

~X~X~X~X~X~X~

The lynx sniffed the air but the cold tickled her nose causing her to sneeze. The cold was unbearable for her. Even her fur, flight jacket and pants weren't holding back the cold. She couldn't stand it, her body was shaking and her fingers were losing feeling. Her home planet had never gotten this cold, not even on the coldest day of winter on the furthest side from the sun.

She pulled her gray flight jacket closer to her, shivering and letting off a pitiful mew. The lynx cursed her luck, she cursed the planet she was now stranded on, but mainly she cursed the entire human race for her suffering. If it weren't for the humans, there wouldn't be a war, she wouldn't be here, and she'd be back on her home planet living a normal life.

"Damn it!" The lynx shouted when she dropped her supplies into the snow, all of it sinking deep down out of sight. She let off several more curses in her alien language as she got down on her knees and began sifting through the foot and a half deep snow. The feline's hands were burning from being so cold before it all, and her small medical bag, blaster, cutting knife, two days' worth of rations, and thin summer blanket were covered in snow.

Feeling even more miserable, the lynx trekked on towards the smoke off in the distance. She figured the human had died on impact and she needed to get to its ship for the supplies and hopefully use the communications system if it wasn't broken like hers.

She was on her last leg. If she couldn't send out a hail for help she knew she would die here. The lynx was never trained to survive on a planet as cold and harsh as this, in fact, she was hardly trained how to survive on her own at all. All she knew how to do was hunt but even then she never skinned an animal before.

Things looked dark, and the weight of this cruel world was weighing heavily on her but she pressed on. There was still hope, a hope like ice; only a fool would cling to it but the lynx wanted desperately to live, so cling she would.

To pass the time she thought of better times. Times with her family and friends on the sandy shores of her beautiful home planet Zoness, where there were more islands than a person could count, and the weather was always so bright and sunny. Thinking of the warm sand between her toes, the sea breeze in her fur, and the sun casting a loving heat on her did well to keep the thought of freezing to death at bay. But the Hell she now lived in would not let her escape so easily, and threw up bitter and cruel winds to bring her falling back down to reality.

"I hate this. I hate this and I hate those damn humans!" She vented, letting fly her good senses even though a dangerous human may be lurking behind any rock right now. Remembering the gravity of the situation, the lynx quieted herself and let her keen senses take over.

She sniffed the air, listened to quiet landscape, and looked all over for any signs of danger. She remained eerily still, like a cat about to pounce a crippled bird. As time went on however, she did not hear, see, or smell anything she already didn't. She could still only smell the smoke from the human Lancer, see the same lifeless landscape, and hear that eerie silence that was unnerving her more than the foul language the humans spoke.

Sighing to herself, the lynx continued on now that she was sure she was still safe.

The walk to the downed Lancer was arduous and was only made longer as she was trying to be as quiet and stealthy as possible. When she made it however, she once again used her senses to survey the area for danger. Many smells assaulted her twitching pink nose, even the faint smell of human but it wasn't fresh. Still, she walked towards the cockpit cautiously, praying that she'd find the mangled corpse of the human still there.

"Damn it." She swore when she saw that there was no seat in the cockpit. "It's probably still out there, waiting, watching." She said aloud while scanning the area, a sense of fear reaching around her heart making way for the cold to once again reaffirm its grip as well.

'What am I saying? I can't psyche myself out now. If it is out there, it's probably wounded and dying. Still. I have to be careful. I can't have it sneaking up on me.' The lynx thought as she climbed into the cockpit

To her relief she found a human rifle, more medical supplies, and a bedroll. Her first instinct was to take it all and run, run as far away as she could and wait the human out. It'd eventually freeze or starve to death but during that time her comrades might lose hope in finding her. She had to hack the human's com systems so she could get a signal out before it was too late.

The lynx took one more look around before she opened up her wrist-com and set to work.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~

The human tensed and stopped moving. He was sure he had heard screaming but it The cold air entered the man's lungs, chilling him and dropping his core temperature with every breath. He could hear his slow and deep breaths and it was the first thing he heard that wasn't a high pitched ringing. His body still wasn't moving, no matter how much he tried to get it to respond. Ever since the crash he'd been trapped in a limbo of waking up, realizing he was alive only to slip back into unconsciousness.

Every time he came back the cold of this world stung him again, and the winds brushed against his already dry face. He ran his tongue across his lips and noticed how dry and chapped they were.

"Aw fu- ah!" He groaned when the moving of his lips caused them to crack open and bleed in three spots on his bottom lip.

The blood from his lip was warm but was cooled and froze in three little streams running down his chin.

'It's so cold. I… I'm gonna die here.' He thought with a morbid realization. 'I have to move… I have to get down!'

"Jesus… fucking… god damn it!" He panted under his breath and decided to check his leg.

The sharp rock had torn through both his dark green flight suit and now his left calf was spurting blood, but that wasn't the worst part. He heard a snapping sound and his leg hurt so much that he figured it must be broken. His survival training had started to kick in and already his chances were looking grim. With his leg possibly broken and losing blood, his chances of survival were greatly diminished. Just for starters, his ability to be mobile was decreased, predators would be able to catch wind of his blood, and his medical supplies were in the remains of his F-46B Lancer.

'Guess it's not broken after all, maybe sprained or fractured.' He thought optimistically until he looked around.

A small trail of smoke was visible almost half a mile away. It was the only thing that he could see and hopefully it was the downed remains of his Lancer but it was impossible to tell. In his Lancer there was a medical kit, a small carbine rifle, and a small compact bedroll that would all increase his chances of surviving drastically.

'If I can get my supplies I can set up camp, shelter, and hunt any game… if there is any. All I have to worry about is that Cornerian that went down with me, if it survived that is.'

~X~X~X~X~X~X~

She sniffed the air, listened to quiet landscape, and looked allover for any signs of danger. She remained eerily still, like a cat about to pounce a crippled bird. As time went on however, she did not hear, see, or smell anything she already didn't. She could still only smell the smoke from the human Lancer, see the same lifeless landscape, and hear that eerie silence that was unnerving her more than the foul language the humans spoke.

Sighing to herself, the lynx continued on now that she was sure she was still safe.

The lynx took one more look around before she opened up her wrist-com and set to work.

~X~X~X~X~X~X~

The human tensed and stopped moving. K did the same copying his more observant friend several feet in front of him. John was sure he had heard screaming but it wasn't human in nature. It sounded more like Cornerian, possibly feline. His heart began to quicken until it was pounding in his ears. It could have just been in his head but his luck had not been holding up at all that day. If the Cornerian was still alive and it reached his ship before he did he was in deep trouble. The Cornerian had his ship, his supplies, and his only weapon.

'God damn Cornerians. Worse than animals and always taking things that don't belong to them.' He thought while ducking behind a rock. The man peeked out from behind the rock and could see his ship still smoldering a little but also mostly intact. He couldn't see any movement or Cornerians so he deemed it safe enough to get a little closer but he signaled his friend to get down and stay there.

Slowly, and as quietly as he could, the man moved from rock to rock until he was just a stone's throw away from his beloved Lancer. He hated seeing the beloved war machine in such a terrible state.

The Lancer was the backbone of the human's space and aviation fighters. It was fast, highly maneuverable, and packed incredibly powerful rockets that could punch through the shields of a Cornerian fighter in one shot. Unlike the Cornerian fighters, they did not have shields which made them vulnerable to laser fire, but any seasoned veteran could outfly and outrun a Cornerian fighter.

At least most of the time.

They had fought for what felt like hours. A Cornerian fighter and a human Lancer danced a dizzying waltz of maneuvering and death. If either slipped up once the other would take advantage and dispose of their opponent without a second's hesitation. The two had separated from their squadrons in their dance of attrition so they were overlooked as the larger battle raged on without them. After almost an hour of trying to gain the upper hand, they wound up breaking apart before flying head on at each other. His radar sensors were damaged so he couldn't see her coming at him, but when he did and fired a rocket at the craft it was already too late. The aft of his Lancer was torn to shreds and the rocket overshot the Cornerian fighter before rounding back and dealing the same amount of damage. Both crafts were disabled and were left to lazily towards the icy planet, desperately trying to call out for help.

The man grit his teeth and spat at the ground, the spit freezing before it even touched the ground.

'If I get my hands on that bastard I'll make myself a new bedroll out of its fur!' He thought to himself and crept a little closer to the Lancer.

He was approaching from the aft end and couldn't see the cockpit yet, but when he rounded behind his heart nearly stopped beating. He could see it; a filthy Cornerian animal in his Lancer doing God knows what. The sight of live Cornerian brought a new warmth into his body, a warmth fueled by hatred and anger. The only Cornerians he liked were the dead ones; the good news though was he was about to add this one to his friend list.

Slowly, and with his life hanging in the balance with every step, he slowly inched towards the cockpit, being absolutely sure that he only moved every so often so not to alert the feline. He was unarmed but he still had the element of surprise and he could overpower the feline if he got close enough. His heart was beating so hard he was worried that the Cornerian might hear, but it hadn't already, not even when he was just a few feet away. It was so close that he could almost reach the feline, but as his luck would have it, a shift in the winds brought his scent and the smell of his blood straight into the Cornerian's nose.

Slowly, and as quietly as he could, the man moved from rock to rock until he was just a stone's throw away from his beloved Lancer. He hated seeing the beloved war machine in such a terrible state.

At least most of the time.

The man grit his teeth and spat at the ground, the spit freezing before it even touched the ground.

'If I get my hands on that bastard I'll make myself a new bedroll out of its fur!' He thought to himself and crept a little closer to the Lancer.

The lynx immediately looked up while at the same time going for her blaster, but the human was quicker. He quickly leaped forward and reached in before ripping the lynx out of the cockpit forcing the blaster to drop . He pulled a fist back to bring it right down on its face but the lynx lashed out with a kick to his stomach. The man let out a wheeze but that wouldn't stop him. He grabbed the leg and punched it right in the thigh using only his knuckles not knowing that cornarian fighters had mechanical legs. When his fist hit he screamed in pain. "Ha" she yelled while flipping him over changing the odds. She drew her claws to pull the finishing blow. "Clunk" the barrel of the rifle nailed her in the head. "Ahh" She screamed as John grabbed an icicle to finish her as K grabbed the blaster and held it to John head nobody fucking move" Kaden Yelled. "But…" John stopped as he noticed Kaden began to pull on the trigger. "not even in what could be your in what could be your final moments you can't get along." K yelled. John sighed "fine" as he sat on the lancer as K treated his leg. "Thank you" the feline said with her head down itching her arm. John asked "for what?" "For sparing me." She told him. "The only reason I spared is because Kaden would have shot me if I didn't if it were any other human you'd be dead." John said smugly. "If you were alone You'd be ribbons." She said with her paws in her jacket eyes shut and smug smile. "Dirty Bitch." John whispered. "You're just mad because I'm so much better." she said stroking John's chin. John grabbed her by the neck without Kaden you would be dead." John snapped. He dropped her to the floor.

Based on a starfox fanfic hope you like ice and starfox.