Chapter 5

Fun and Games

That night Skye did as she had promised, and eaten dinner with Marcus's family; oddly enough she found that in making a friend of the young blue fox, she'd done so with the rest of his family as well. It had amazed her the first time she'd been in their home to find that most of the family meals were actually prepared by Fox himself, or in some smaller occasions Marcus. Krystal had been a bit hesitant to admit her lack of cooking skill but, upon learning that Skye herself was not much of a cook either, it was helpful in letting her little secret out. As it had been since first she'd met them, the food was wonderful, and shortly after finishing the meal she bid them all a fond farewell, and made her way back to her lonely little dorm room. Eventually she would find her way to sleep, all the while wondering what Marcus really had up his sleeves for their day alone...

It was a loud sound that woke her from her sleep, but then again, any sound is loud when you don't expect it. Oddly enough as she woke, she found that she was still quite tired. There was another loud sound as she lay down, only to growl angrily...
"Oh god just come in."

A familiar blue vulpine stepped into the room carrying with him a small white bag and a a couple of small cups from a local coffee shop...

"Wow you're still asleep?" He asked.

Skye rolled over onto her back rubbing her stomach, "Whatever that stew was your dad made last night..." She paused, "...didn't sit right, but, it smelled sooooooooo good. What the hell was that stuff?"

Marcus chuckled, "Dad said it was something that his friend Sydney taught him to make. Called "Brodish" if I remember it right. It's an Argon dish."

The canine sighed as she sat up a bit causing Marcus to look away, a gesture that caused Skye to look down to her half shirt, only to find that it had been pulled up over her right breast as she slept...

"Sorry about that..." She chuckled pulling her shirt back into proper array, "...that happens sometimes. I have a habit of tossing in my sleep. Trying to break that little habit of sleeping in my underwear...or without them."

Marcus sighed as he looked to Skye chuckling to himself at her horrible bed head, "Well at least I only saw one of them this time..." The odd silence caused him to freeze, "...ummmm...not...not that I didn't enjoy..." The fox managed to cut himself off in mid sentence.

Skye chuckled as she stood up and took the cup of coffee he handed to her, gently patting his head, "Funny. I don't seem to render very many males speechless without trying. Good to know I can have this effect on a male if I wanted to."

The canine laughed at herself as she looked into a full length mirror on Snowe's end of the room. Turning to profile herself she placed both hands on the back of her head so that her elbows stood out to either side, and turned slightly giving Marcus a spry glance...

"What do you think?" She smiled, "maybe stop this whole Academy stuff and be a model?"

Marcus shook his head, "I don't think I could ever actually see you in that sort of profession."

The canine slid her hands from her hair, "Why not?" She asked picking up her cup once again.

Marcus shrugged his shoulders as Skye rummaged through her closet before pulling out a few things and retreating into the bathroom, "You don't seem like the slow and steady type. Not enough action for someone like you in a modeling career. Though I'm sure you could if you wanted to."

Skye's voice echoed from the closed door of the bathroom, "I did some head shots for this fashion guy my mo...my adopted mom knows. She always said I'd make a great model but, I never had the stomach for it," She sighed audibly, in clear anger, "just all those eyes watching me. Made me wanna claw someone's eyes out."

Marcus shook his head with a light grin, "I would have figured that you'd be used to males staring at you by now."

Skye scoffed loudly, "Yeah, I guess I should be...but..." She said, "...well I guess I'm just nothing like other females. Most girls my age have a weird thing for your dad, but..."

"Not you right?" Marcus smiled as Skye suddenly walked out into the room with her hair tied back as it was usually.

Skye shook her head as she examined her outfit; her usual half length shirt, this one being split diagonally into black and a light blue, "Nah. You're dad is cute, as males go, but, even at a young age I don't think he ever would have actually been my type."

Marcus chuckled, "Well...what is your type?"

Skye shrugged her shoulders, "You know. I never thought about it," She thought as she slipped on her favorite gloves, "I guess for one he'd have to be able to beat me in a fair fight. There's no way I'd ever be part of a relationship in which I was the man. I guess he'd also have to be able to make me laugh."

"You mean like Caruso?" Marcus scoffed.

Skye laughed out loud, "No, I mean like that," She sighed, "well. You have a plan to go with this day of yours."

Marcus nodded, "Actually I had this weird compulsion this morning. I couldn't help but think about going for a ride on my T-board. I can't really think of anything more relaxing. Can you?"

Skye slid her favorite orange goggles over her eyes, "Actually I was thinking the same thing, I always have an easier time thinking with the wind in my fur."

Marcus chuckled, "Good. There's something I want to show you today but, it's a good shot from here. On the Termina Coast."

"Termina Coast?" Skye chuckled, "that's a hell of a trip to make on T-boards."

Marcus nodded, "Yeah, but, it's a fun one."

It seemed that almost no time passed before the two found themselves traveling through plains at a high speed. The grassy plains that lay around the massive Utopian city of Corneria were known to be some of the largest flat lands still not industrialized; in fact in Lylat it was considered one of the largest known reserved lands. The plains gave way to a large set of natural stone pillars often referred to as the Stone Forest, a familiar setting known particularly for it's often use by the Academy Cadets to prove their ability in a ship. Of all the places, it was by far Marcus's favorite place to take his T-board for fun, unfortunately for him it was also one of the only places where he'd ever been injured on his board. It had actually taken more than two hours for the two of them to reach the pillars before Skye smiled to herself while cutting her eyes toward the blue fox that hovered over the land just to her left...

As she pulled ahead of Marcus, the blue fox chuckled to himself. Moments later the red headed canine looked back to him, only to find that Marcus was nowhere to be seen. Swinging by each pillar as they came at increasingly high speeds, the canine finally noticed something. About a six mile stretch of the Stone Forest was known to decorate the bottom of a large gorge that she was now entering; and along the left wall of the gorge, at an almost entirely horizontal angle, a familiar blue fox sped along the wall with a massive dust trail behind his board. Before Skye could respond to the action, Marcus's board swung back across the ground, narrowly missing several pillars before finding his was to Skye's right side. She found herself swaying to the opposite side of every pillar that he did, often crossing their paths between pillars. Suddenly the young canine swung her board up along the side of one of the thicker pillars sending her T-board airborne before the surface of the next pillar acted as her landing ramp before she slid back alongside Marcus, flashing the young vulpine a spry grin...

Marcus shook his head as he suddenly swung his board past the pillars to his left, tearing across the terrain before swinging up and around the gorge wall. Skye was barely able to believe it when his board left the wall in a completely vertical jump, before descending along the middle of the gorge along one of the pillars. The motion was flawless but, took only seconds for him to find his way right back by her side. Smiling victoriously Marcus suddenly shook his head as Skye simply leaped upward into a tight back-flip before landing back on her still speeding board. Marcus simply shook his head before bowing his head lightly to the canine, before pointing off toward the skyline where the ocean slowly began to grow from a small blue image on the horizon, to a grand expanse of water. It was late noon when the two of them finally brought their boards to a stop...

Skye sighed as she stepped into the golden sand of the Termina Coast, "Wow. I haven't been here in years. It's still beautiful."

Marcus nodded as he fixed his T-board to his pack, "Yeah, I like to come here when I need to think," He said pointing out an old park-like bench resting amongst the sands.

Upon sitting on the bench Skye ran her fingers over a small carving of a pair of hearts in the surface of the table. The two different hearts contained two sets of initials each; W.O and K.O in one. While the other held the initials F.M and K.M...

"Our parents used to come here before either of us were born," Marcus pointed out, "dad says Wolf found this spot when his ship crashed into the coast when they were testing newer Arwing models for Miss Phoenix."

The canine studied the initials, "He wasn't the monster that I always heard about was he?" She asked.

Marcus shook his head as he reached into his pack producing a small photo, "Not unless that looks like the face of a monster."

In the photo Fox stood next to a gray furred wolf with a leather patch over his left eye. They were both wearing shorts, Fox in green cargos while the wolf wore a pair of dark gray, nearly black denim shorts that reached his knees. Each wore white tanktops, displaying a number of scars along their arms. Each of the two held an arm across the shoulders of a young female. Held close to Fox was a very young blue vixen, while close to wolf was a cream furred canine with very long, windswept hair. Each of them were smiling brightly...

"This is...my mom?" She asked.

Marcus nodded, "You look just like her," He said, "you can go ahead and keep that. Dad doesn't even know I have it. I took it out of his study."

"Thank you Marcus," She said placing the photo in her own pack, "he really was just a normal person."

Marcus chuckled, "It might sound weird but, a really wise person once told me that a man can never be compared to the sum total of his actions in life."

Skye chuckled, "The hell's that supposed to mean?"

Marcus sighed as he shook his head, "People make mistakes. Just because Wolf O'Donnell made mistakes didn't mean he was an evil person. He was given a set of options and he chose what he felt was the better of the two. If that makes him evil...then who isn't?"

"Weird concept," Skye chuckled as she looked out over the water, "but, I get what you mean...thanks."

It felt peculiar to her but, they both said not a word for what felt like one or two hours. All that they seemed to do for the longest time was to sit and eat from the small bits of food that Marcus had brought with them. However, it was as they sat there that the blue fox finally sighed rather heavily...

"I've decided that I'm going to join Viper. I've always wanted to be everything my dad was, but...there was no way of me getting there without passing that CQC course.'

Skye nodded, "I know. I saw your name on that request form you handed in to Falco. You've got a lot more spirit than I have then. I don't think I could ever handle that kind of training myself."

Marcus shook his head, "I don't think I do either...but, I have to at least try. Thanks to you , I might actually have a chance now."

Skye chuckled, "No, you did this all yourself. I may have pointed you in the right direction but, you did all the work. Just try to remember your part of that little bargain."

"Don't worry..." Marcus replied, "...Art built this special machine. Nobody really knows about it; it's the simulator that I've been using to learn to pilot a ship. It's how I intend to get you more training and simulation hours than you normally would just with the flight classes alone."

"So you're just gonna make me a better pilot by making me work that much harder?" She laughed.

Marcus shrugged his shoulders, "Isn't that what you did to me?"

"Listen," Skye sighed, "I know you didn't bring me all the way out here to tell me this. What are you really thinking?"

Marcus sighed heavily, and after a few moments took a light breath, "Look. You happen to know that when you're my age, nobody takes you seriously...even someone like you that's only several years older than I am. I already told dad, he didn't believe me either."

Skye sighed, "Marcus, I may have only known you a little more than a month by now, but, I know when you're being serious. What did your mom have to say?"

Marcus shook his head, "She's not really saying anything, but, I know what she's feeling. She thinks that I will either get hurt of loose myself because of what Viper does to people," He said tossing a small stone out into the ebbing tide, "mom is always telling me that Cerinian males are just naturally weaker than other males. I don't want that to be me...and thanks to you I know it doesn't have to be that way. I may have to work at it, and it might be hard work at that; but, I'll never stop...not until I can look in the mirror, and see my dad."

"This is a long way to bring me just to tell me that you're going to join Viper," Skye chuckled, "or were you just hoping to get me off all alone?"

Marcus laughed, "Would it matter if that was my intention?"

Skye shrugged her shoulders, "You'd have a better shot than most," She replied patting his head a bit, "so what was your real point in bringing me out here?"

Marcus sighed as he looked out over the water where Sol was beginning to set over the hills, "That..." He said pointing off into the distance to where Sol had touched the horizon.

Skye was almost instantly rendered speechless as the star seemed to take on the shape of a perfect heart given form by the ridge of the mountains...

"Dad said this place is special," He said, "every month Sol reaches the right position to set over those hills. It always has the same effect. Him and mom haven't been out here in ages, but, I still come out here to see it. There's no reason that I can think of why it forms the shape it does...but, it does. I think I could search for the rest of my life and never find anything quiet as beautiful. And sadly, our two little families are the only ones that have ever seen it," Marcus sighed, "I just thought that maybe you'd want to know this place. Since it was your mom's favorite place. Dad said that even when Wolf was on his last leg, he still made one last trip out here. Because it reminded him of Kalla."

With a light chuckle Skye gently kissed the blue fox's cheek, "Thank you Marcus. Even though we haven't really done anything all day. This was a really fun trip."

Marcus looked away to hide the blush that had washed over his entire face before he reached for his T-board, "If you think that was fun," He chuckled, "how 'bout a race back to the city. Looser buys lunch tomorrow before we go see Art about his simulator?"

Skye shook her head with a light chuckle as she stood up, "You're on," She said causing the blue fox to tear off of the beach in a cloud of dust and sand, "HEY!" Skye yelled leaping onto her own board and tearing off after him, "NO HEADSTARTS!"