Original Title, Star Fox: Rise of Istrora
I have decided to completely rewrite and retitle this entire story, despite it being only on chapter two. I do want to apologize for the lack of quality for the previous version as it was hastily written. With the very little time I have at home between work, family, and pretty soon, school, I ended up rushing it out and as a result it was filled with spelling errors, grammatical errors, as well as plot-holes I didn't notice until I had read it myself quite a few times. It's still going to be my original plot idea, but hopefully much more refined than before and with a different take as well.
I plan to take my time with this to avoid any problems later so updates will be slow. The themes that will be discussed here will be very dark, with some bits of lightheartedness as well.
Also, I am going to clarify this now to avoid any confusion, mainly with how I intend to use Krystal in this story/AU. I am going to limit her telepathic abilities. I feel that having her use her telepathy as an aswer to nearly every single problem she'd encounter will defeat her purpose in this story and, to me, it's an insult to her character. I want her to grow, not start out as an unstoppable force.
The same goes for pretty much the rest of the cast, hence why it will feel like they're out-of-character. I plan to work around a lot of their origins as a lot of the characters are kind of vague when it comes to their origin story, with the only exception I've noticed being Fox. So don't expect me to stick to the source matieral on this one. A lot of it is going to be based on my own ideas along with snippits of other fan works as well. (I.e A Fox in Space by Matthew Gafford)
The story will remain set in an AU, taking place after Assault and retconning Star Fox: Command, as well as retconning other key story bits from Star Fox: Adventures. So sort of the same setup but with the intent to involve all the Main Characters rather than the focus just being on Krystal, which was my intention for the previous version of this story. I've got a plan for her set in the same AU for another story in the future.
With that out of the way, I hope you all enjoy this rewrite.
Disclaimer: The following is a fan-made Star Fox story. Star Fox is owned by Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Takaya Imamura. Please support the official release.
It had been exactly three years since the end of the Aparoid War; during that time, Corneria was in the early stages of recovery after having suffered heavy losses since the attack on its fleet as well as its capital city. General Pepper, alongside now Lieutenant General Peppy Hare, worked tirelessly to ensure the safety and prosperity of Corneria and her territories. The first year of the recovery phase for Corneria was not an easy one, as the chaos of war subsided, the chaos that followed after was unwelcome, but inevitable. The first four months were spent restoring law and order to the capital, as it had run rampant with crime, rioting, and looting. It was seen as mostly a need for survival. Four months later, Peppy Hare was inaugurated as the Lieutenant General of the Cornerian Armed Forces and was acting General while General Pepper recovered in the hospital from his own encounter with the Aparoids. Martial Law was declared during the final stage of Corneria's recovery. While the Lieutenant General was against the idea of placing Corneria under Martial Law, it was deemed a necessary evil so the government could finish repairing the damages done by the aparoids.
After order was restored and the city's infrastructure was fully repaired and rebuilt, Martial Law was lifted and life began to slowly return to normal. But it was not all sunshine and rainbows from there.
With the death of Andrew Oikinny at the hands of the aparoid menace, Venom was without a leader and as a result began to spiral into chaos. Civil War broke out almost immediately after the end of the war. A power vacuum was created and soon, many criminal factions quickly vied for control over Venom, each using scavenged military equipment and hardware to force the planet under their boot-heel. Casualties were astronomical and many citizens were displaced and without homes and forced to take refuge on other planets. Unfortunately, the Venomian Civil War began to quickly spread to nearby planets, some of which were either Neutral territories or Cornerian colonies.
Unfortunately, the Cornerian Armed Forces were of little help as they were still trying to replenish their depleted manpower and resources and could only allocate enough soldiers and ships to protect the capital and key targets. General Pepper, now released from the hospital and back to work, had requested the aid of the Star Fox team, hoping they could assist in the cleanup and containment of the Venomian factions that had overrun Cornerian colonies.
In a shocking twist of fate, Star Wolf had offered Corneria their assistance with the cleanup and containment of the Venomian factions as well. At first, their offer to help was purely out of survival. The fires of the Venomian Civil War began to spread to various parts of the Lylat System, including Sargasso, where Star Wolf once had dominion over. Star Wolf was inevitably forced to flee Sargasso as the mercenary gangs that Wolf was able to maintain control over quickly began to overrun the sector and turned on Star Wolf, their wealth and firepower making them a prime target for attack. Star Wolf had gathered all the wealth they had, along with all the military equipment and hardware they could carry and handed it all over in an effort to sway the Cornerian government into pardoning them along with the added incentive that was their assistance with the Aparoid menace.
General Pepper and Lieutenant General Hare were reluctant at first, but eventually gave in and pardoned Star Wolf of all their crimes. However, their pardon was only granted to them on the condition that they would work to serve Corneria and her interests. Star Wolf had accepted the terms of the pardon, albeit reluctantly.
The Cornerian citizenry, as well as the bureaucrats within the government, were not thrilled with the two generals' decision, especially with them allowing Star Wolf to set up shop within the capital city. Eventually, due to public outcry, the Cornerian Ministry of Defense was forced to blacklist Star Wolf from any future mercenary work, greatly limiting what Star Wolf could do.
With very few resources at their disposal and very few requests for jobs coming in, Star Wolf was forced to disband. While Wolf was angry with the Cornerian government for double-crossing him, General Pepper, in an act of good faith, had offered several work-tickets for Wolf and his team as an apology for what the government bureaucrats did to him.
While Panther and Wolf scoured Corneria for any kind of work, Leon had fled Corneria and returned to his old life of crime. He grew tired of life on Corneria as government big-wigs did everything in their power to hold them down, with Hare and Pepper unable to do anything about it. Leon also had gained a disdain for Wolf due to the fact he strongly believed Wolf had become complacent. He accosted Wolf, accusing him of cowardice for choosing to flee to Corneira and hand over everything but their Wolfens to the weaklings on Corneria while leaving behind anything else the gangs could get their hands on.
After Leon fled, the CAF was forced to place a massive bounty on his head. There was much speculation about doing the same to Wolf and Panther, mainly among the government bureaucrats, but General Pepper and Lieutenant General Hare put the breaks on the idea. Their argument was that while it was Leon who had returned to being an outlaw, Wolf and Panther were still honoring the terms of their pardon.
Wolf had found it very difficult for him to find any kind of work, unable to hold down a lot of jobs because of his reputation, even doing odd jobs. Not even the CAF were willing to allow him to join despite their need for fresh recruits. Wolf was not fond of Corneria but Corneria was also not fond of Wolf. Many people quickly turned down any applications Wolf had sent in for work, despite the work tickets he was given. In the eyes of the Cornerian citizens, Wolf was nothing more than a dangerous criminal and a liability to Corneria, regardless of his assistance with the aparoids.
Regardless of all this, Wolf showed that he had no desire to return to the life of an outlaw. But as his work tickets dwindled and with the government refusing to help him, in an act of desperation, he turned to his rival, Fox McCloud, and awkwardly asked him for a job.
Fox was on the fence about giving Wolf a job, they were once enemies and Wolf had tried to kill him on more than one occasion. He's been a massive troublemaker before, so what was stopping him from doing it again? But when he learned that Wolf actually was trying to uphold the deal he made with General Pepper, it made him a little more comfortable. Soon after, Fox hired on Wolf as a member of Star Fox.
Shortly after Corneria City had regained it's footing, the Star Fox team had almost completely disbanded; leaving Fox, Krystal, Wolf, and ROB-64 as the last members of the team. During the three year period of Corneria's recovery and prior to Wolf becoming a member of the team, Fox and Krystal had begun dating in between missions after they had both admitted to having feelings for one another. Their relationship had gotten much more serious in that time, with Fox "popping the question" during one of their trips to Sauria. Krystal always recalled Fox being a nervous wreck and had said he even fainted once he showed her the ring he had gotten for her.
Falco left to begin his career as a racewing driver with Slippy being his mechanic, becoming a rather prominent duo on the Lylatian System Circut, their team name being the "Azure Wings", managed by Miyu Lynx and Fay Spaniel, also former Star Fox members. Many sports channels would often go on and on about how well their team was doing and the races their team won almost whenever racing was the topic of discussion.
Eventually, Wolf managed to convince Fox to let Panther join Star Fox. Initially, Fox rejected the idea, citing his knowledge of Panther's reputation as a womanizer and his feelings toward Krystal. However, after much debate and persuasion, Fox eventually conceded and offered Panther a position on the team.
Panther almost immediately accepted, and it was no secret that Krystal was the main reason as to why, but Wolf also played a big role in it as well, with him and Panther having a close friendship after Leon's departure. Fox did warn Panther to maintain a level of professionalism, especially when Krystal was involved. Despite his feelings and sadness to hear of Krystal's engagement to Fox, he honored McCloud's wishes and did his work as requested.
During their time together as Star Fox, both Fox and Wolf had decided to put their past behind them and bury the hatchet with each other, quashing their rivalry for good. Both Fox and Wolf saw the value they both had as teammates and working together made it much easier when taking on Wolf's former allies, with Wolf providing the team insight as to how these groups would operate and the best strategy to take them down, leading the team to victories against many Venomian mercenary gangs along with the apprehension of their leaders. The Star Fox team often believed they would eventually encounter Leon Powalski, but as of recently, his whereabouts are currently unknown, and Wolf was unable to give the team any insight as to how Leon was operating, believing he had changed strategies in an effort to confuse both the CAF and Star Fox once news had reached Sargasso that Wolf was working for McCloud, where Leon was said to be hiding out before going off the radar entirely.
As the members of Team slowly became much more comfortable with each other, they set out on another set of missions, dedicated to cleaning up the mess made by both Andross and Andrew Oikinny.
CAF Headquarters, Corneria Capital City, 10:34 AM
It had been a while since Fox and his team had been requested to go to the headquarters of the Cornerian Army, many thoughts ran through the vulpine's head as to why. Ever since the end of the aparoid invasion and the start of the Venomian Civil War, security was heightened to avoid any possible intrusion and even the Star Fox team was barred from entering the premises without explicit permission from the General. It was logical to assume that if General Pepper had asked him to come to CAF Headquarters, it could only be of something that needed the utmost of care. Upon arrival, Fox's entire team was screened, their ship was temporarily impounded, and their weapons confiscated. While the overbearing security measures greatly irritated the vulpine, he knew it was needed as the CAF could not take any chances with what manpower they had.
Krystal was forced to wear a special kind of headgear upon entering the headquarters, one that was specifically designed to limit her telepathic abilities. She hated the blasted thing with a flaming passion and would often complain of intense headaches and migraines while wearing it, and her complaints were often ignored. Krystal wasn't sure how the Cornerian Army managed to make such a device as she was certain she was the only being on the planet with extrasensory capabilities.
Wolf and Panther also were not fond of the massive layers of security as they were the reason the Star Fox team had to be escorted by heavily armed security officers to General Pepper's office and were not allowed to venture anywhere without a security detail following them.
"This is such a joke." Krystal muttered angrily. "They know who we are, they know all the things we have accomplished, yet they treat us like we're invaders in hostile territory." Krystal grunted and gripped her head as she fiddled with the device around it. "I hate this stupid thing."
"I'm not too fond of this either." Wolf added as he shoved his hands into the pockets of his Star Fox jacket. "We can't seem to do anything without any kind of permission. Makes me feel we're more like prisoners than friendly mercs." he glanced at the officer next to him. "I swear, these stiffs follow us so closely that I can't even take a piss without one looking over my shoulder."
"I believe that is because we were members of Star Wolf and this is our first time inside the CAF Headquarters." Panther added. "The CAF already doesn't think too highly of us."
"Yeah, no kidding." Wolf said, crossing his arms. "But the fact that we held up our conditions for our pardon should've given them the smallest inkling that we've turned over a new leaf." Wolf turned his thumb out and pointed to the logo on the back of his jacket. "Hell, we're even part of Star Fox now."
"Trust me, guys. I hate these new security measures too." Fox said, looking down the hall. "Never once has my ship been impounded and searched by the CAF."
"I've never had to wear headgear like th- OW!" yelped Krystal, gritting her teeth as she felt a surge of pain go through her head. The vixen continued to mess with the device around her head, removing it for only a moment to massage her temples. "The sooner we get out of here, the better."
"Put that back on, now!" ordered one of the officers, placing his hand on the gun in his holster.
"Do you really expect me to-" Krystal stopped as she saw the officer began to draw his weapon. "Alright, alright, don't get your tail in a bunch." she said, slowly putting the headgear back onto her head. "I can see why Fox never joined the CAF."
"You won't have to put up with it forever." Fox said, turning his head to face her. "Just for now."
Soon after a long while of walking, the four plus the security detail reached a reception desk, where a uniformed female Siberian Husky sat. She looked up at the Star Fox team, looking them over and turning her attention Fox specifically. "Ah, Mr. McCloud." she said with a soft smile before pushing a button on a intercom that sat in front of her on her desk. "Lieutenant General, the Star Fox team is here to see you."
"Ah, good! Send them in." said a gruff voice over the intercom.
"Straight through the door." the husky said before looking back down, returning her attention to the computer at her desk as the team walked through.
Panther got her attention and shot her a flirtatious grin, getting a smile back at him before being shown a wedding ring on her finger. Panther's smile faltered and soon he felt Wolf elbow him in the side, motioning for the feline to keep moving.
The team stepped inside and the door shut behind them, with the four guards blocking the exit from the office.
Fox turned to see the guards quickly standing at attention, giving a quick salute before turning back around, seeing Lieutenant General Hare, standing in front of the Star Fox team. Fox told his team to also stand at attention, with Wolf and Panther both letting out low growls in response.
"Just do it." Fox whispered harshly.
Wolf and Panther both did as they were told, relaxing their shoulders and held their arms behind their backs.
Fox cleared his throat and stepped forward. "Star Fox reporting for duty, sir." he said, giving Peppey a salute.
"Fox, the formalities are really unnecessary." Peppy said with a chuckle. "You are a mercenary after all."
"Uh, right..." Fox said with a nervous chuckle, rubbing the back of his neck. "So, you needed to see us Gen- erm, Peppy?"
"Lets wait until Pepper gets here to talk business." Peppy said before turning his attention to Krystal. He noticed the strained expression on her face as she tried her best to maintain her composure. "Krystal, are you feeling okay?"
"If I ma- augh!" she said, gripping her forehead. "Can I please take this damned thing off now?!" she asked loudly.
Peppy noticed the strange headgear that was wrapped around her head, never seeing it before. "Krystal, what is that?" the rabbit inquired.
"Some stupid headset," she grumbled. "The security staff made me wear it. It's done nothing but give me a painful headache. May I please take it off?"
"Go ahead." Peppy told her.
One of the officers spoke up, a Labrador. "Sir! Protocol clearly states that she must wear an Extrasensory Suppressor during her visit."
"Protocol schmotocol." Peppy responded indignantly. "She's not gonna leak anything to our enemies, tell your CO he's being paranoid."
"Sir, I am only doing my job."
"I understand that, young'n." Peppy told him, stepping closer. "But Krystal is a friend of mine and a member of Star Fox, I think we can trust her. Don't you?"
The officer spoke up again, stepping forward. "Sir with all due resp-" he was cut off once more as the old hare began to raise his voice, loud enough to get the officer's attention but not loud enough to be considered a yell.
"She's not a threat to Corneria or anyone in here." Peppy said loudly. "Stand down, soldier. That's an order!"
The labrador grunted and stood back, once more standing at attention and letting out a sigh. "Yes sir. Sorry sir." he said before looking to Krystal. "You may remove the suppressor now."
"About time." Krystal said begrudgingly as she quickly removed the headgear and gave it to one of the officers, shooting them all a glare before returning her attention to Peppy.
Peppy turned to the two former Star Wolf members with a small smile. "Wolf, Panther, I am glad to see you two were able to find work. While Corneria's opinion of you remains the same, I can see you two have put in the effort to become upstanding citizens."
"At least someone noticed." replied Wolf before eyeing the officer behind him, who stood so close to Wolf that his muzzle was almost touching the lupine's shoulder. "Ever heard of personal space, pal?"
Fox shook his head and refocused his mind on the reason why they were there in the first place. "Anyway, onto the reason-"
Almost as if on cue, the sound of a door slid open and shut. An old hound in a red uniform walked into the room with a limp in his step as he leaned on a walking cane. He took a spot next to Peppy and turned to face the team. He spoke up with a voice that still asserted authority while still sounding welcoming to any who listened "Sorry I'm late, my last meeting went longer than expected."
"General Pepper sir!" Fox said excitedly. "It's been a while."
The old hound laughed. "That it has, Fox. That it has." he said before his mood switched from joyful to serious. "But we can catch up some other time, right now we must get down to the reason why you're all here." General Pepper walked over to his desk and pressed a button. Out of the ceiling lowered a holo-projector, after humming to life it let out a light before displaying the layout of the Lylat System. Along with the planets in orbit around their star, displayed many red icons that indicated enemy ships and outposts within the system.
Peppy was the first to speak up, clearing his throat. "While we've had our hands full with rebuilding Corneria's military, we've tasked you with containing these rising factions and gangs from overrunning our territories."
"We've been pretty successful in that regard, no doubt about that." Panther said with a smirk and a chuckle.
"Indeed." General Pepper stated before pointing to a specific point on the Holo-Map. "However, we've recently received new reports of hostile activity in the Outer Rim."
"Not a shocker, wasn't much of a military presence there even before the Aparoid War." said Wolf, unfazed by the report. "But what kind of hostile activity are we talking about here?"
"About fourteen hours ago, we recovered several distress beacons from ships in the Outer Rim." Pepper continued as he paced up and down the room, the limp in his step becoming more apparent as he walked about with his cane. "But according to the remainder of our information network, many of the ships had disappeared without a trace."
"If they all disappeared without a trace, how did you get the information?" Panther inquired as his tail flicked behind him.
"We upgraded most of our armada with ships that deploy distress beacons." Peppy clarified as the holo-projector changed to a diagram of a small vessel that resebled a very small escape pod, large enough for at least one person to fit inside. "These beacons have a "return home" protocol and are able to move so fast that most times they don't register on enemy radars."
"Oh I get it." Fox chimed in as he stepped towards the projection. "So I guess they come back with the coordinates of the ships last known location after being deployed?"
"Correct." General Pepper stated. "It's impractical, but with most of our network dark and our military in the state it's in, we've had to rely on this technology to track any lost or stranded ships."
"By the time we've recieved these beacons in particular, the ships have disappeared." Peppy finished. The rabbit turned to Wolf, stroking the bearded fur beneath his chin as he held his other hand behind his back. "Wolf, we were hoping we could use your insight here given your connections to the criminal underworld." the rabbit said before placing his other hand behind his back. "Are there any gangs who would hijack military and civilian ships?"
"Pirates do that all the time. Even moreso nowadays." Wolf said, crossing his arms as he narrowed his brow towards Peppy in annoyance. "What exactly are you trying to ask me?"
"Yes but sometimes pirates would leave ships behind, these ones have gone off radar." Pepper chimed in.
Wolf shrugged and stepped towards the holo-projector, pointing out where Sargasso Hideout used to be. "If it were the pirates I dealt with, they'd likely have taken those ships back here, scrapped them for parts most likely." Wolf said, scratching his chin. "But with Leon Polwalski taking over in my place, the hideout had vanished and it's wherabouts are unknown. Most likely because Sargasso knows I'm working for Star Fox now."
"Even then, we would've caught them as they'd have to cross near Corneria's territories." Fox added as he stepped near the projector as well, standing next to Wolf.
"That is also true, plus..." Wolf grimaced a little at the next thing he was about to say. "... I never did buisness with anyone in the Outer Rim."
"Any reason in particular?" General Pepper inquired.
"Uh..." was all the lupine could say. "I... hm..." he continued as he attempted to form the words but to no avail.
"Wolf, any information you have would be of great use to us." Pepper added.
Wolf stood there for a few moments in total silence as he thought of what to say, he could feel the strangulation in his throat that kept any words from escaping. While the change was slight and hardly noticeable to everyone else, Peppy noticed the look on Wolf's muzzle change from a grimace to that of a blank stare, almost as if he were hypnotized. He could see Wolf's eyes began to dart about, moving in every direction as his pupils dialated. His intuition was telling him that Wolf was witholding information, but did not expect any kind of malicious intent.
Panther stepped forward and placed his hand on Wolf's shoulder as the lupine stood, almost completely frozen as the feline lightly shook him to get his attention.
In the silence, Wolf couldn't hear much of anything other than his own heartbeat. The office began to quickly fade from his view and was soon replaced with darkness, where only he was visable. After moments, other elements began to slowly fade into his vision and the sound of tormented screams filled his ears as well as the cracking of whips and shock batons colliding with bare flesh and fur. He could hear the sound of metal scraping against the surface of a whetsone, followed by the sound of flesh being crudely cut, and then suddenly screaming once again. His heartbeat began to pick up, beating faster and faster as he was swept away in an illusion conjured up in his own head. The voices of many others began to fill the silent void.
The screams gradually became louder and louder, the howls of laughter echoed next to him as if to taunt him. The lupine shook his head trying to break free from whatever this was, but it was almost as if he was stuck... the sound of rattling chains could be heard and felt around his neck, holding him in place as his mind forced him to listen to the horror it played on loop. After what had felt like an eternity, He felt himself being jostled and the office came back into full view.
The room was once again filled with silence, the only thing to break it up was the sound of Fox, shouting to get Wolf's attention.
"Wolf!" Fox shouted, startling Wolf out of his trance. "You okay?"
"You spaced out there." General Pepper said, looking up at him, a worried expression on his muzzle.
Wolf caught his breath and frantically looked around the room, his heartbeat slowing to where he could no longer hear it in his head. His muscles relaxed and his expression softened as he began to remember that he was back on Corneria. "Y-yeah... I'm f-fine." he stuttered as he held his forhead with his left hand.
"You look like you saw a ghost, son." Peppy said, cocking his head to the side. "Are you sure you're alright?"
Wolf inhaled and exhaled deeply, somewhat regaining his composure before standing up straight. "Yes... sorry about that." Wolf cleared his throat and looked back up at the holo-projection of the Outer Rim, his eyes shifting more as the dark thoughts danced around in his mind. "There is the possibility of slaver guilds."
Peppy nodded. "A vile bunch given their trade." he said coldly. "Were that any that tried to establish any kind of connection with you?"
"Many tried but none could." the lupine said, his brow furrowing before what he said next. "They never dared show their faces around Sargasso, not while I was in charge anyway."
"Why was that exactly?" Pepper asked, the hound stepping closer towards Wolf.
Wolf shifted uncomfortably, giving the hound dog a look that told the general he did not want to continue the conversation. "Sorry, I'm not sure." he stated, an obvious lie that only the two generals, and Krystal, were able to detect. "If it's alright and if my help is no longer needed... I'd like to excuse myself."
The silence returned, but not the vision. For a moment, the two generals stood flabbergasted to see something that was rather unusual for someone of Wolf's reputation, but the look on the lupine's face had some familarity to it... soon after another moment of silence, both General Pepper and Lieutenant General Hare nodded, granting Wolf his request. "Escort Mr. O'Donnel back to the Great Fox." Said Peppy
"Sir, the sweep of their ship has not been-" the German Shepherd officer next to Wolf spoke up but was immediately cut off by an angry houd.
"That was an order!" Pepper bellowed, baring his fangs at the officer.
"Y-yes sir!" the frightened canine stammered. "This way Mr. O'Donnel." he said, turning to Wolf.
Wolf said nothing and was quietly escorted out of the office, his hands in his pockets as he did nothing but stare forward, not uttering even a single word.
Fox raised an eyebrow at what had just happened, he never saw Wolf freeze like that before. Not many things shook the lupine to his core, not very much scared him, if anything did at all. But when the issue of his dealings with gangs in the Outer Rim came to his attention, Wolf had turned into a zombie and was unresponsive to anything for over five minutes. He shelved the thought for the time being and turned his attention back to the Generals. "I'm assuming we're to depart immediately?"
"As soon as possible, Fox. Not right away." Peppy said. "You'll have some downtime before then, get a good meal or two in before you ship off. Heavens knows when you'll have another." The rabbit said with a slight laugh. "We've also made sure to restock your munitions as well as supplies during the sweep of the Great Fox."
Shortly after their meeting had concluded, General Pepper handed Fox a dossier of all the information they discussed, but not before leaning in and telling Fox. "One last detail, the CAF is demanding this mission be kept classified. If word goes out to the public that ships are vanishing, there'll be a panic."
"Understood, General." Fox said, giving him a nod.
"Very good, you are dismissed." General Pepper finished, giving Fox a salute. "I wish you luck on your mission."
Fox, Krystal, and Panther gave the two generals a salute before being escorted out by security in tow. On the way back to the hangar where the Great Fox was kept, Fox walked closer to Panther and whispered to him. "Hey, Panther."
"What is it, Mr. McCloud?" the feline asked somewhat annoyed.
"What was the deal with Wolf?" Fox inquired, trying to keep his voice quiet enough to where the guards couldn't hear him. "I've never seen him freeze like that, or hell, even shaken."
Panther gave a sad frown, he figured Fox would ask the question at some point but he never anticipated he would ask right after their meeting with Pepper and Hare. He wasn't sure what to tell Fox, but his friendship with Wolf was much stronger than the two vulpines next to him. It was logical for Fox to assume he would know what was eating at the lupine.
"I know why he froze the way he did." Panther said, letting out a sigh.
"And?"
"I'm sorry, McCloud, but that is strictly between me and Wolf." the feline said before turning to face the corridor towards the shipyard.
"Panther..." Krystal quickly chimed in, her silky voice quickly getting his attention. "The whole time during that, I could sense many dark thoughts were flooding Wolf's mind. I can't exactly determine what's on his mind, but I could tell it was making him very uncomfortable."
The feline turned to Krystal, his attention snapping to her almost immediately. It was so fast that when Fox saw it, he deadpanned. "Ah... I forgot you were a telepath for a moment." he said to her. "But I will not elaborate further. If you want to know more, I suggest you ask Wolf himself, though he won't be inclined to talk about it."
"Well..." Fox began. "Hopefully he can get out of that funk. We're all gonna need to be at our best for this mission."
The dreadnaught known as the Great Fox was eerily silent with the exception of the security personell that almost tore the whole ship apart, but were at least kind enough to put everything back the way they found it when deemed 'clean'. Wolf sat silently in his quarters, looking out the small window that gave him somewhat a nice view of the shipyard, watching as every soldier and mechanic went about their daily duties albeit rather frantically. Corneria was safe for the moment, but there was always the chance for another attack. But the gangs on Venom knew better than to come straight to the capital, with her guard up more than ever given their standing in Lylat, the gangs would be torn to shreds before they'd even breach the atmosphere.
Wolf moved away from the window and looked over at the mirror on the wall next to his locker and desk. He began to silently stare at his own reflection, his one good eye looking back at him. He pondered over all the decisions he made that got him to where he was, counting his blessings where he could and reflecting on his past endevors back when he was the leader of Star Wolf and held the title of 'Lord O'Donnel'. He remembered when he used to work for Venom almost exclusively, the pay was always good and the perks of having his own sector to control and command at his liesure was something he held with fondness. At least until the Civil War kicked off.
He remembered once Venom collapsed and that there was no leadership in Venom, many of Sargasso's residents figured Wolf would've taken the mantle of the Primere of Venom. Which why wouldn't he? He already had the money and the firepower he needed and he would've been able to pull it off with all of the loyalists he had during his time as the Boss. But the rest of the residents had other plans, many thinking 'Why let Lord O'Donnel have all the control?', and thus the plan to destroy Star Wolf went into action by first ridding Sargasso of any of Andross and Wolf's loyalists. The chaos that began to follow slowly started overwhelm Wolf, Panther, and Leon as they desperately tried to maintain control of the station.
Then there was the issue of his day-dream at the meeting with General Pepper today. The lupine rubbed his forhead and tried his hardest not to dwell on it. But the silence made it impossible. It wasn't just a dream he thought as he started to pace before turning back to his mirror staring intently at his own reflection. I thought I left that in the past. he said, looking into the yellow eye's reflection.
Wait, my eye isn't yellow. just as the thought crossed his mind, his breath was caught in his throat. In the mirror, the reflection that stared back at Wolf took on the form of a silhouette, two yellow eyes glaring back at him. His heartbeat began to quicken, so fast that he could hear it pound in his head.
The figure reached out a hand, coming out of the mirror and grabbing Wolf by his throat, pulling him tightly against the mirror. Wolf tried his hardest but he couldn't will his body to move. He focused on the reflection, not much else he was able to do at the moment.
The shadowy figure then pulled out what looked like a very sharp serrated knife and slowly raised it until it was level with Wolf's good eye, it edged closer and closer until the tip of the knife was but a blur in Wolf's vision.
"Shall I take the other one?" the phantom asked, in a low and very deep growl.
Wolf pushed away from the mirror with all his strength, shoving himself away so hard that he fell to the floor. The figure began to climb out of the mirror, a loud thud of its footsteps could be heard in Wolf's mind as it made its way towards him. The lupine could only look up in horror, frozen once more and unable to move.
It put the knife it had behind its back before pulling out what Wolf could only make out as a stun rod. It crackled with electric energy as it brought it over its head and swung it down at Wolf, who was stuck helplessly on the floor.
Wolf put up his arm, hoping to block this attack. But as it connected with him, he felt it fade into nothingness and in a plume of smoke the entity was gone. The world around him became normal again as the sound of ringing of his communicator began to fill his ears. He quickly stood back to his feet and checked himself for any injuries. Finding none, he quickly walked to his desk and picked up his communicator, checking the number. He gave a very relieved smile before picking it up.
"Hello?" he said.
"Hello hun, how are you feeling?" A feminine voice on the other end asked him in a cheerful tone.
"Could be better, honestly."
"Oh, everything okay?"
"I'm fine, the worst of it is over."
"Oh, that's good to hear. I was hoping you and your team could meet me for dinner tonight."
"Well I'm not sure we'll be able to, we might have just accepted another mission from the looks of it."
"Surely you can at least come see me before you leave? Please?"
Wolf smiled and sighed "For you, I'd do anything."
"Great!" said the voice. "I've made reservations at the Moonlight Serenade in Downtown Corneria for seven o'clock. See you there! Love you!"
"See you there, babe." he said with a chuckle. "Love you too."
After hanging up his communicator, almost as if on cue, Wolf could hear a loud commotion on the outside of his quarters. He quickly stepped towards the door and opened it, looking out into the hall. The situation he walked into was something that almost seemed to belong in a stupidly comedic holo-film. The scene taking place was that of a CAF security officer being chased by a very irate Fox McCloud, holding Krystal's fully extended staff.
"GET BACK HERE!" he shouted at the top of his lungs, running past Wolf's quarters as though he was just an orange blur.
"Mr. McCloud, I promise it's not-" the officer was cut off by a bolt of electricity whizzing past his head, letting out a rather girly shriek as the orange green-eyed terror pursued him.
"Don't give me that crap!" he yelled, baring his fangs. "I caught you going through my fiance's belongings!"
"Sir! It's a security sweep! It's what I have to do!" the officer said, panic in his voice.
"Riiiiight." Fox said sarcastically. "And you just happened to accidentally pocket a photo of my fiance?"
"Erm... well..."
Fox stomped his way over to the petrified officer, forcefully shoving his hand into his pocket and pulling out a photo of Krystal that Fox had taken during one of their trips to Sauria. "Knew it." he said in a growl. The angry ball of rage glared at the officer, a glare that was so intimidating that it even spooked Wolf a bit. "Your sweep is finished?"
The officer was too scared to speak and could only nod.
"Good. Consider yourself very lucky that I'm in a good mood." Fox told him, still giving the officer a death glare. "Now, get your creepy ass off of my ship before I report you to the Generals. And that's if I don't break your legs first!" he said, pointing to the exit to which the officer scrambled to his feet, bolting out so fast that Wolf could swear he saw an outline of dust from where the officer stood.
The lupine blinked multiple times after watching the incident transpire, attempting to process what he had just witnessed before walking over to Fox. Okay, it was definitely a good call to get off of Fox's shit list. he thought to himself before he regained his composure. "I'm guessing we took the job?" Wolf asked Fox.
Fox snapped out of his anger, his attitude becoming much more pleasant than that of what the security officer faced not too long ago. "Oh hey, Wolf." the vulpine said, collapsing Krystal's staff before pocketing it. "Yeah, we took the job. But we can talk about that later. How are you feeling?"
"What do you mean?"
"Wolf..." Fox started, giving the lupine a worried expression. "... it's not like you to freeze like you did in the meeting with the Pepper and Peppy."
Wolf looked down to the ground and let out an agitated sigh, resting his head into his hand. Figures... should'a guessed he would ask. he thought to himself. "Listen Pup, I'd rather not talk about that. Just forget it happened."
"I can't do that, Wolf." Fox said plainly, crossing his arms. "You have never done that the entire time I've known you. Now that you're on my team, now suddenly it happens out of nowhere?"
"Look..." Wolf said, putting his hands up in defense. "... I don't want to get into it. I'm fine now, so drop it."
"We need everyone to be at their best for this job, if there's anyth-"
"I said I'm fine!" Wolf said firmly, raising his voice. "End of story."
Fox rested his hands on his sides, also looking down towards the floor as he let out a defeated sigh. While the mood in the hallway of the crew quarters became much more awkward as silence became the norm once again, Fox decided to change the subject as he rubbed the back of his neck. "Well regardless of the situation. I figured it would be best if we just had a night on the town as a team before setting off. Might help you get your mind off of whatever is eating at you."
"Nothing is eating at me." Wolf said angrily.
"You can't fool me, but I won't ask about it anymore." Fox said, crossing his arms again. "Regardless, any ideas of what to do?"
Wolf's expression softened a bit, he was still a bit irritated but was glad that Fox dropped the subject of his episode at the CAF Headquarters. He thought back to the conversation he had earlier with someone over his communicator and smiled. "Well, somone invited us to dinner at the Moonlight Serenade."
Fox raised an inquisitive eyebrow at what Wolf just told him. "The Moonlight Serenade?" he said in disbelief. "That hoighty-toighty place in Downtown Corneria? Where only super rich people eat?"
Wolf nodded.
"I don't know what kind of friends you made here on Corneria, but none of us are ones to turn down a free meal." Fox said with a chuckle. "Especially a high-end one."
"They're more than a friend actually." Wolf added.
"Whatever you say. Lets go get Krystal and Panther, they'd both be happy to hear this one." the vulpine finished before turning around, making his way towards the exit of the ship, Wolf following behind him.
The Moonlight Serenade, Downtown Corneria City, 7:02 PM
The mood at one of the many high-end resturants in Corneria city was rather lively, the tables were all occupied with Corneria's wealthy upper-class and was often the local eatery of many celebrities, comprised mostly of musicians and Holo-Film actors and actresses. The tables were full, with waiters and waitresses walking and darting around people with absolute grace, live entertainment was also available with a jazz band playing on stage as well as a few stand-up comiedians. It wasn't exactly the place where mercenary types would hang about, but for tonight that would change. At one of the tables sat a brown furred fennec vixen, wearing a light blue dress that went down to her knees with pearls around her neck, sitting quietly while sipping on some wine. Next to her sat a pink furred feline, dressed in a black dress down to the same length, a gold necklance around her neck.
The fennec looked around the resturant and then checked the time on her communicator, constantly darting back and forth between that and the front door.
The feline noticed and placed a hand on her shoulder, hoping to draw her attention away from whatever was bothering the poor vixen. "Fara, hun. You have to be patient." she said in a soft southern accent. "Fox and the others will be here soon."
"They haven't called yet, Katt. What if-"
"They're only two minutes late, they didn't forget about us." Katt said with a soft smile. "Knowin' Foxie, he surely wouldn't turn down a free dinner."
The fennec let out a small giggle as she reminiced her time with Fox back when they had dated during their teenage years. It was so long ago since their breakup, their relationship ending rather unpleasantly. She did admit that it was her own undoing, jumping to conclusions when she saw Fox talking to a different girl, which made her very envious. But that was the past, she had grown up and learned to never let jealousy cloud her judgement, and hile she and Fox never got back together, the two did end up staying friends.
Speaking of which, cheers began to erupt from the front door. Fara and Katt looked over to see walking inside was the racewing team known as the "Azure Wings". The two saw Falco, Slippy, Fay, and Miyu all walk in at the same time. Falco was doing his best to push through the crowds of people who wanted to get his autograph as well as a few pictures with him. As he turned them all down and cursed out someone who was a tabloid reporter, he made his way over to the round table, sitting down next to Katt. Slippy, Fay, and Miyu soon followed after. Falco was dressed in a blue button up shirt, a black leather vest, and matching blue dress pants. Fay wore a dress similar to Fara, though the skirt covered everything but her feet. Slippy wore a white polo shirt that was tucked into his jeans. Miyu wore a black dress shirt with sleeves rolled up to her elbows, a suit vest over it, and black casual pants that matched.
"Hey ladies, sorry we're late." Falco said, wrapping his arm around Katt. "Traffic was hell on the way here."
"And by 'Traffic was hell', Falco really means we were pulled over." Slippy interjected jokingly. "This is why I should'a drove us here."
"Can it, Slip!" Falco grunted, giving his friend a playful punch in the arm. "Besides, we're only a couple minutes late."
"Hey it's not my fault you drive like you're racing." the frog stated, putting his arms up.
"Who else are we waiting on?" Fay asked.
"Fox ain't here yet?" asked Falco. "Kinda shocked, guy is usually pretty prompt."
"Well, he might actually be dealing with traffic. Unlike you, Flyboy." Miyu said jokingly.
"Hey!"
"Sorry." said Miyu, putting her hands up in defense. "I meant, Driveboy."
Everyone but Falco laughed at Miyu's remark, with him burying his face into one of his hands. "I swear, it's just "Pick On Falco" day today, isn't it?"
As the group continued their conversation, a group of people with cameras slowly began to flood the table, snapping pictures and blinding everyone except Miyu, who wore blacked out sunglasses. "Mind if we get some pictures of you, Mr. Lombardi?" one of them asked.
"You're supposed to ask first, morons!" he said, giving them a wave of his wing. "Buzz off, will ya?"
"Well, how about a few quest-"
"I said buzz off!" Falco shouted. "Get outta our faces 'fore I end up making you clowns kiss the floor!"
Falco's sudden outburst got many glances at them, mostly getting the attention of a few burly security guards, all of whom were large grizzly bears, who quickly walked over to their table, along with a white wolf in a suit who followed them.
"There a problem here, sir?" one of the bears asked, crossing his arms.
"Uh yeah, these tabloid freaks popped up outta nowhere and started snapping pictures of us." Falco said in a very agitated tone. "They didn't even ask us first."
The white wolf turned to face the reporters and photographers, one of them baring his fangs at them. "I thought I told you clowns to piss off last time. Get outta here and don't show your faces around 'ere again." he shouted at the top of his lungs. "Next time, it'll be the cops dragging you out!
The paparazi did not hesitate, many of them pushing past each other to get away as fast as possible. One of them, a small mouse dropped his camera. When he tried to grab it to pick it up, he was stopped by Miyu who quickly stomped on the camera, smashing it to pieces.
"Find a new job." she said, glaring at him. "Now get lost!"
The mouse didn't hesitate to bolt out of there, moving fast enough for a trail of dust to form behind him.
The white wolf sighed and turned to the group's table, bowing his head as his arms stood at his side. "I am terribly sorry about that." he said, looking up at them with a remorseful expression. "I'm usually better about keeping tabloid reporters out of my establisment."
"You're the owner?" Slippy asked.
The wolf nodded before standing straight up, a small grin appearing on his face. "As follow up to my apology, allow me to compliment your drinks for the evening."
Katt immedately perked up and raised her glass, asking for another drink. "I'd be more than happy to take you up on that offer!" she said excitedly.
"Understood, but please maintain a presentable presence. This isn't a nightclub." The wolf added before turning to Fara. "I noticed that you reserved a large table for this evening Miss Phoenix, are you expecting anyone else?" He asked.
"Just the members of Star Fox." Fara said, looking up at the wolf.
"Star Fox?" The wolf raised an worried eyebrow before relaxing. "I usually don't serve mercenaries, but I'll make an exception for Star Fox this one time. Be sure to tell them what I told your other friend."
"I will, thank you." Fara responded.
"Now then, if there is nothing else, enjoy your evening!" the wolf said cheerily before walking away, the security guards in tow behind him now.
As the mood began to slowly relax and the sound of idle conversation and jazz music began to fill the resturant once more, the group went back to talking to each other. Many of them retelling old stories of their glory days before, during, and after their time together as members of Star Fox. Falco went on a rather long tangent, talking about the times after he had left the team. He told them tall tales of all the mercenary gangs he had taken down on his own, despite the fact that he knew that most of the group didn't believe him, with Slippy making jabs at what he described as 'Falco's incompetence'.
Fay and Miyu talked about their current jobs as managers of "Azure Wings", as the racewing team began to grow much more in terms of popularity as Fay and Miyu talked about how they were securing better contracts that paid much more than they were currently making, but it was difficult to do so with Falco being unable to come into First Place in the last few races he was in.
Slippy could only talk about his posistion as the team's mechanic, pointing out some of the flaws in the G-Diffusers on Falco's racewing that he's been trying to iron out with minimal success.
Fara talked about her new job as the head ship designer for Space Dynamics, talking about some of the new ships that were soon to be on the market while explicity telling Slippy, after he asked her about some of them, she was under a government contract that prohibited revealing any drafts or information about military ships that she was working on.
Katt cheerfully chimed in, adding on about how she was also one of the new test pilots to fly some of the ships that Fara had designed, albeit with a slur in her speech from all the drinks that she had, some of the glasses still on the table.
As time went on, Fara checked the time on her communicator. It read 7:30 PM. A look of worry was on her face as her eyes darted towards the front door, quickly relaxing at the sight of Star Fox walking into the building. Fox and Krystal walking inside first, arms interlocked with each other, as Wolf and Panther followed in behind them. Fara almost jumped out of her seat, spooking the drunk Katt enough to latch onto Falco, running over to the team and past Fox and Krystal, jumping into Wolf's arms and giving him a very strong hug, the sudden embrace suprising the lupine enough to make him flinch.
While Krystal laughed at the antics of the fennec, Fox blinked several times, frozen in confusion as the mental egg timer clicked away in his mind before giving a sudden 'ding' in his head. "Wait a second, Fara... you're dating Wolf?" he asked.
"She's been with me for a couple years now, Pup." Fara said, still holding onto Wolf, who was hugging her back just as much now. "Just never told anyone until now." he said, finishing his embrace with Fara before interlocking his arm with hers. "What's the matter? Jealous?" Wolf taunted with a chuckle.
Fox furrowed his brow in annoyance, his reaction getting another laugh from Krystal and then Panther as well. "I never assumed you were the type who would date anyone."
"Please, Fox. What made you assume th-" Wolf couldn't finish his sentence as Fox gave him a deadpan expression that. "Is me "dating" anyone really that shocking to you?"
Fox did nothing but roll his eyes as he and Krystal made their way over to the table, sitting down in vacant seats between Slippy and Fay. Fox quickly began to play catch-up with his best friend, while Fay and Miyu began to talk to Krystal, the two being very interested in the ring on Krystal's finger.
"So Foxie finally popped the question to ya?" Miyu asked with a smirk, sipping her drink.
"That he did." the blue vixen said to her, looking over the ring with fondness. "Poor thing made a fool of himself though."
"Really, how so?" Asked Fay, cocking her head to the side.
Krystal put a hand over her muzzle to stifle a laugh, turning to look at Fox, who was deep in a conversation with Slippy before returning her attention back to Fay and Miyu. "Well, he decided to take me to Sauria for some time alone together. We talked about the time we first met as well as the first time we started dating."
The canine and feline continued to listen to Krystal's story with both anticipation and amusement.
"We went to Cape Claw for a nice walk on the beach, like those cheesy romance novels. Not that I minded at all, it was beautiful." she added, fiddling with the ring. It was silver with a bright blue tungsten line in the center, seated atop of it was a diamond cut sapphire. But it was unlike a normal sapphire as Krystal told them of the stones that could be found on Sauria tended to naturally glow, much like her ring did. "Fox went all out on this ring, had it custom made with this gem in mind." she said before turning back to her story. "So, when he proposed to me, he was very nervous."
"Like a lot of men are when they propose." Miyu said.
"I do know that Fox was especially nervous when he met you for the first time." Fay laughed. "Falco said that Fox had to work up the courage just to be around you."
"Yes he did, granted, I was nervous around him as well." Krystal added. "But when he proposed to me on the beach, he nearly fainted. He almost lost the ring after accidentally throwing it in the water."
"Ouch, almost ruined a proposal." Miyu added. "That had to be a massive stresser."
"Not for me." Krystal said with a grin. "I would've said yes anyway, ring or no ring."
"Well you and Fox are definately made for eachother. Right Miyu?" Fay asked, turning her attention to Miyu who almost seemed zoned out as she was looking over towards the bar counter. "Miyu?"
"In a sec, Fay." the feline said, taking her sunglasses off to reveal shrunken pupils as she stared at a large black cat with a scar across his eye. It was Panther, ordering what seemed to be a brown liquid, one could only assume was a very strong scotch or whiskey. "I'll be right back." she said, quickly getting up from her seat, leaving a rather confused Fay behind.
Over by the bar, Wolf and Fara stood at the end of the counter, both enjoying a Dirty Shirley. Fara had a frown on her face as she talked to Wolf, being quiet enough for no one to hear but him. "Why do you have to take on such a dangerous job?" she asked him, sipping her drink.
Wolf looked down at his glass, swirling it about as he took another sip as well. "Unfortunately, I'm not allowed to say. Fox made it clear that it was the General's orders."
"But why in the Outer Rim? That place is dangerous. Even the military won't go there on a whim, at least not as they are now."
Wolf shook his head, making his point clear once more. "Again, I can't say." he told her. "It's not like I haven't taken on these kinds of dangerous jobs before."
Fara took her free hand and grabbed Wolf's own. "I understand that... it's just..." she stammered, looking up at him with a saddened expression. "I just don't want it to be one of those jobs you don't come back from."
"I know, Fara." he said, gripping her hand firmly but also softly. "I worry about that too."
Fara quickly finished her drink, setting the empty glass on the counter before wrapping her arms around Wolf, who responded by doing the exact same thing and returned the embrace. "Just promise me you won't do anything reckless." she said.
"I promise." was all he could tell her.
The two stood embraced for a few moments, time moving rather slowly around them. The embrace ended, with Wolf and Fara sharing a long kiss. Soon after, time returned normal to their perception and the two looked over to the counter to see Miyu and Panther, flirting with each other as it looked as though they were exchanging numbers.
Wolf let out a laugh and so did Fara as they watched the two. Panther exchanging rather corny pickup lines that made Miyu laugh in return as the two got to know one another. "The night is still young." Wolf said, once again taking Fara's hand in his own. "So lets just enjoy our time together." Wolf said, as he and Fara began to make their way back over to the table.
AN: Well, I'm gonna end the prologue here. I know I focused on Krystal and Wolf in this chapter, with a lot of that focus on Wolf but don't worry. Her moment as well as everyone else's is on the way. Spent a couple weeks looking this chapter over and so far it seems pleasing to me. But for now, I'll leave it here.
Anyway, let me know what you think. let me know if there's anything I failed to explain, leave me some ideas if you guys would like to, and I'll see you all next time. Peace out!