Well here it is, the story that is set to replace Phantoms of the Past. Once again this story is set to take place roughly six years after the events of Star Fox Assault. Tend to do that one a lot. Honestly I can't think of any way to continue Phantoms of the Past, my desire to continue writing that story vanished after burnout as well as the mental strain of all social obligations. But I honestly do want to try to work on this one, I know I say that a lot but I just refuse to give up on writing.
This story was written when I was in a rather depressed mood and was heavily inspired by Cyberpunk 2077, and even has a cybyerpunk setting to go along with it.
Anyway, give it a read, tell me what you think, let me know if there is anything I need to improve. With all that out of the way, let's get into it.
Star Fox is owned by Nintendo, Shigeru Miyamoto, and Takaya Imamura, please support the official release.
Star Fox: Overwrite
Chapter One
Corneria… the once crown jewel of the Lylat System, a planet with a civilization that found a perfect harmony between technology and nature. It was a city that was to be marveled at for its technological advancements and planetary pride. The Cornerian Defense Force was the strongest known military in the galaxy, but often called for the aid of the legendary Star Fox Team, led by Fox McCloud, it was a group of mercenaries that were often the ones to pull the Lylat System back from the brink. The end of the Aparoid War-with the Star Fox team alongside Star Wolf, they were able to destroy the Aparoid Queen and destroy the collective of the Aparoids all at once. One would think that the end of the conflict would restore the hope Corneria had once lost.
But sadly… that was never the case.
As the chaos of war had subsided, the chaos that followed soon after was inevitable. Rioting, looting… all kinds of lawlessness was unleashed upon the decaying city of Corneria. The Cornerian Defense Force, depleted and exhausted, found themselves completely overwhelmed by the instability of the citizenry. Both the aid of Star Fox and Star Wolf were called in an effort to quell the rioting, but it had little effect. Much like the CDF, both Star Fox and Star Wolf found themselves utterly exhausted from the war and, despite their skill, they could not do much in restoring order.
But all was not lost… like a phoenix rising from the ashes came a group of new allies, ones that both sought monetary gain and order. Corporations known as: ZetaSynth Laboratories, Ceda Corporation, and Nova-Wire Dynamics. They struck a deal with the Cornerian government, promising to aid in the planet's recovery and help to restore order with the aid of their security forces in exchange for more political power. Once the deal was made, the city began to recover at an amazing pace. Homes rebuilt alongside the formerly collapsed infrastructure. The city saw a recovery the residents thought they'd never see in their lifetime, a massive economic boom never thought possible. Massive skyscrapers dotted the landscape as they were miles taller than others, factories that offered all kinds of employment opportunities as well as aided in the recovery of Corneria. Cybernetics slowly became the norm with the city's residents as many people chose to favor all kinds augmentations that pushed their physical forms far beyond their normal limits, altered their appearance, and even allowing them to interact with digital interfaces with just their eyes alone. With this advancement came many advantages, but soon the disadvantages began to outweigh the advantages.
The once crystal clear waterways were now polluted with all kinds of chemical waste from the many factories within the now expansive city, landfills began to dot the landscape on the outside of the city with trash piling almost as high as some of the massive buildings within the city, camaraderie and unity were a thing of the past as everyone began to focus more on themselves and their own survival, and genuine connection became a thing of the past and trust becoming an excruciatingly rare commodity.
The comparison of the wealthy and the poor was very distinguishable between each other. The wealthy lived high above the city in their ivory towers, safe from the pollution that plagued those at the bottom. Expensive and luxurious hovercraft and aircraft made their daily treks over the many slums of the city, often shot at by some of the local gangs that had formed. The rich were blessed to eat regular and real food instead of the synthesized meals and ingredients used and consumed by everyone else.
To Fox McCloud, he would just choose to live his life on the Great Fox just to escape this new hell that Corneria had become. But alas, that would not be the case. As the Corporations grew in power, so did their armies. Many members of the CDF quickly integrated into the corporate armies for better living conditions and better salaries, much to the dismay of General Pepper. As the corporations grew, so did their power. The Cornerian government was now reduced to being a mere puppet on a set of strings that danced to the tune of their corporate masters. The next thing they did was outlaw and prohibit all mercenary work, the official statement was that mercenaries were seen as obsolete and a liability to the established order. The vulpine tried his hardest to fight back against these new regulations, but he was one man against a massive corporate entity. Defeated, he resigned from his position as the leader of Star Fox and disbanded the team.
The Great Fox, the proud mothership of his team and one of the things left for Fox by his father, was confiscated and dismantled and reduced to a pile of scrap. The arwings his team flew were decommissioned and placed inside of the Corneria Museum of Military Aerospace to collect dust in some exhibit. Fox, with his spirit broken, retreated inwardly into the city to pursue any line of work that he could find. After going to the employment offices, he landed a job as a full-time sanitation worker. Not a glamorous job but it paid the rent and put food in his belly.
After the team's forced disbandment, each member went their separate ways to look for meaning in a city that now only knew of mass consumerism. Slippy had spent his days living in the downtown center of Corneria as a tech dealer, Peppy had moved to a much nicer part of the city to spend a nice quiet life as best he could, Falco had went on to join an underground racing circuit to not only satisfy his need for speed but to also make a nice amount of scratch to support his somewhat luxurious lifestyle, and Krystal had sought work as a therapist to help those who were willing to cope with the strains of society, using her telepathy as a stepping stone to do so.
The team adapted to their new lives and pushed forward as best as they could in this new world that traded all things meaningful for mindless and endless consumption.
Fox sighed contently as he punched his card on the timeclock. Another day, another credit. He thought as he began to make his way to his locker, quickly changing out of his dirty yellow jumpsuit and into his regular attire. His clothes consisted of a dark green shirt, a pair of brown cargo pants with many pockets, and with his old grey Star Fox jacket with a faded logo of the team on the back of it. After he was fully dressed in his regular clothes, he stepped out of the locker room and proceeded down the hallway, passing the reception desk as he made his way out of the Department of Sanitation's headquarters.
As he stepped outside, the vulpine looked up at some of the towering megabuildings that covered the skies due to their gargantuan size. It was something that he always seemed to do instinctively as he walked out of every building, in both silent admiration and disgust. He watched as a multitude of advertisements flickered on the holographic billboards that just seemed to be everywhere he looked, casting a bright neon glow down on the streets below, so bright that it gave his dirty fur a multiple clash of colors from the light. Fox squinted his eyes and checked the time on his HUD, a product of one of the augment's that he was required to get as part of the Department of Sanitation's regulations. The letters lit up in the top left-hand corner of his view, reading 6:30 PM. If it wasn't for that augment that told him the time, he wouldn't be able to tell if it was day or night.
He was dragged out of his thoughts as heard the bus pulling to the stop out by the street and quickly ran his way over, hoping to not miss his ride home, not wanting to have to walk in the rain began to fall. He paid his fare and then got in an empty seat, making sure to get a spot by a window.
The ride back home was somewhat bumpy as he tried his best to ignore a group of people arguing amongst themselves in the back of the bus. It was a rarity for Fox to get a quiet ride home from work often having to deal with fights on the bus, people screaming at each other, or the occasional homeless junkie that would sometimes find their way on his bus. The very few times it was quiet were blissful as he was able to be lost in his thoughts until he had gotten home. On even rarer occasions he would come across someone who knew who he was- or what he was before he became a sanitation worker, and it was a hit or miss weather it was a long-time fan of his or some asshole looking to get under his fur.
After a long and exhausting ride on the bus he finally made it home, a giant megabuilding in the Renway Park District. He once again looked up at the towering monolith of a structure and sighed. While he was glad to be home, he still hated the fact that "home" was inside of a giant eyesore that hardly gave him a view of anything other than other skyscrapers and megabuildings. He pushed the thought out of his mind as he made his way towards the elevator, pushing the button to floor eighty-six, where his apartment was.
He stepped out of the elevator and made his way down the hall towards his apartment, taking care to step out of the way of the people and over the trash that also littered the hallway. After a long walk, he finally came across his apartment, No. 082, and stepped inside. The door slid open with a whir and then a metallic clank when it had shut behind him. Home sweet home. He mused as he took off his jacket and put it in the closet that stuck out of the wall.
The apartment was a blend of compact living, style, and functionality. In the center of the apartment was a round and circular couch with a holo-projector that stuck out of the ceiling, in the corner of the room was a small kitchen with a bar counter with some dirty dishes that were left out from the night prior, in the other corner of the apartment was Fox's bed that was embedded in the wall with shelves that hung over the mattress with photos of his friends, a model arwing, and some of the medals and awards Fox was given for his service to Corneria, on far side of his mattress was a panoramic window that gave Fox a good overview of the city.
After a nice hot shower and a fresh change of clothes, Fox made his way over to the kitchen and pulled a packet of dried synth-noodles out of the cabinet and quickly put it in his food processor. Once it was finished he opened the packet and poured the contents into a small bowl before taking it over to his couch, but not before grabbing a soda from his fridge. Once he sat down on the couch, he engaged in his nightly ritual of watching the news and eating a nice dinner… well as nice as one could make noodles anyway.
"Good evening, Corneria City!" a jovial voice boomed through the speakers of the projector, the voice came from a hawk that was wearing a rather fashionable yellow suit that accentuated the cyberwear on his face. "I hope you've all had a fantastic day in our lovely metropolis! Without any further delay, let's get right into the news."
"Yeah… "lovely" is putting it rather nicely." Fox said to himself as he ate his food. He didn't understand why the news wouldn't discuss anything real going on in the city. It was all nothing but corporate pandering and propaganda to him. He often wondered why he watched it though. Perhaps it was boredom that made him watch it? Or it was the fact Corneria didn't really have any meaning anymore? He wasn't sure.
"In latest news regarding the tech industry, Nova-Wire Dynamics has just announced that it has begun work on a new kind of AI built to emulate empathy, personal connection, and even assist in our everyday lives." The hawk said as he showed the logo of Nova-Wire Dynamics, which consisted of a set of wires wrapped around a sun to mimic the structure of an atom. "The chief spokesman of Nova-Wire Dynamics even stated that the AI so far is even capable of mimicking true emotion, but it is still in the experimental stages of development."
An AI that can mimic emotion? Don't people want genuine connection anymore? Fox asked himself as he finished the bowl of food on his table before setting it down.
"In other news, it looks like things have gotten quiet in the Cedar District of Corneria as one of Corneria's finest began a ruthless crusade against the gangs that infested the district. Thanks to him and the CCPD, the residents can finally sleep safely or at least quietly at night." The hawk said as he adjusted his tie. "Guy is a little scarier than Fox McCloud, speaking of whom, has anyone seen the former Star Fox leader lately?" the hawk asked.
Fox raised an eyebrow at the mention of his name over the projector.
"Word on the street is that he's living life somewhere cleaning up the city's garbage. What a fall from grace, am I right?"
Fox rolled his eyes and immediately shut the holo-projector off before standing up off the couch, grabbing his bowl and throwing it into the sink before walking into the bathroom to wash up before bed. He gave himself a once over in the mirror and gave himself a soft smile as he looked over his complexion. He may have been in his early thirties, but he didn't seem to look a day over twenty. He wasn't sure if he won the genetic lottery, or if it was a result of his implants that made his day-to-day life better. The vulpine brushed the thought aside as he cleaned himself up.
After a few minutes in the bathroom, Fox stepped out and made his way over to his bed and climbed inside. A digital readout on a holoscreen on the ceiling above him had a biometric sensor attached to it to ensure optimal sleep patterns. He sighed and turned it off once it told him all things were normal before looking at one of the many photographs on his shelf, it was one where it was him and Krystal on Sauria just after the Aparoid War, paying a visit to Tricky and his family while also on a date. The thought made him somewhat happy and then a little sad, it had been a year since Fox had seen Krystal last. Ever since she had left to take a job outside of town, she fell out of contact with Fox and the others. No one had seen her since she left to work as a therapist somewhere on the outside of the city. Had the city finally gotten to her? Was she fed up with Fox's morose attitude? Questions danced around in the vulpine's mind as he pondered where and what went wrong if anything did at all. Every night he tried to call her number, but it always went to voicemail, Fox would regularly leave messages telling her about his day or his plans until the voicemail box was full.
Wish you were here, Krys. He mused to himself as he rolled onto his side, looking out at the city from his window. The soft neon glow provided a somewhat comforting nightlight as the rain pelted against his window. Soon Fox's eyes began to get heavy as he slowly drifted off into sleep.
Tomorrow is another day.
That's where I'm going to end it. I think I'm just going to focus on making short chapters like this instead of trying to put roughly 10k words into a single chapter. It get's exhausting to write after a while and is one of the many things that contributed to my burnout. Anyway, I'll try to update this story once every two weeks rather than every single week. I hope you enjoyed this first installment as there are many more to come. Let me know what you think and I'll see you all next time.