Disclaimer: I do not own Star Fox. Everything else is fictional.

Howls On an Ice Planet

The battle between Fox's crew and the space pirates had been a rough one. Although Fox Mccloud and his gang were able to force the enemy to run, Krystal, one of the members of Star Fox, had been shot down during the fight. Mccloud saw where she fell; a small ice planet that is so cold Alaska would seem like a tropical vacation spot. Degrees: -65 to 1 on a good day and -70 to -80 on a bad one. Despite the weather, Fox, Slippy and Falco went down to this planet in hopes of finding their fallen comrade.

"Wow, are you looking at the readings of the degrees right now Fox?" inquires Slippy as he looks at the temperature graph of his suit.

"Yeah, it says -14 right now, but I'm sure it's going to get colder. We need to find Krystal and get her out of here before she freezes to death," replies the leader of Star Fox.

"Hooouooo!" screams a voice through the air.

"What in the world was that?" Falco says as he whips around attempting to figure out where the sound came from.

"It's probably nothing, let's keep looking for Krystal's ship," says Mccloud.

Crunch, Crunch; their boots move through the inches of snow. It keeps building because the snow on this planet doesn't take a break until the weather decides to change, but for the search party that won't be happening anytime soon. Violent winds blow through making the group drop to their knees into the snow; the wind chills are horrific.

"It's s-so cold. I'm-I'm not sure if I can continue Fox," Slippy says through chattering teeth.

"We can't give up! Not now!" the leader of star fox screams.

"Hooouooo!" the scream of something unknown goes through the air once more.

"Fox, do you have any idea what's doing that?" Falco yells; he's shaking from the wind chills that continue to pass through him.

"It's probably just the wind! Keep moving!" Fox barks; he gets up and continues to move until he sees a silhouette in the distance. He squints and is able to make out the shape of a space ship. "There! Follow me everyone and stay close!"

However, as they move towards it they find that it's empty. It is Krystal's ship, but there is no one inside it.

"What do we do now, Fox?" Slippy asks; he breathes in and out, yet when he does so his helmet grows a bit foggy. He checks his readings, which show: -25.

Mccloud is able to spot footprints leading away from the ship and going forward past it into the storm. "Looks like she's on the move! Why would she do that?"

"Probably to get out of the cold," Falco says as he examines the inside of Krystal's ship, which reveals a shot interior. "Based on the damages there is no way she could've waited."

"Then I guess we're going to have to push onwards!" Mccloud says letting out a big sigh.

"Hooouooo!" the scream of the unknown comes out through the air once more.

"Aaaah, that noise is starting to drive me insane!" Fox roars loud, only the sound of the wind blowing through them is stronger than him. "Come on, we need to keep moving!"

The search party keeps going, only as they do the howls keep up as well. It's getting on everyone's nerves as fear sets in. They keep moving though; they must find Krystal-their friend and comrade…

"Looks like the tracks stop here, Fox!" Falco says loud enough as another of the bizarre scream travels through the air.

"A cave? Well, it's better than being out in the cold with that stupid howl," the leader of Star Fox mumbles to himself. He looks at his two followers and gives them a nod. "We're going in, stick close and have weapons at the ready in case anything may happen." The two comrades nod and all proceed inside.

As the move they can hear nothing, or at least until the sound of the howl enters the cave echoing loudly, sending shivers down the spines of the search party. They keep themselves together looking around with their flashlights, but find nothing part stalactites and stalagmites along with regular granite walls that have lines running across them. Then they spot a light at the end of the cave, sitting there in front of the fire is Krystal who is shivering.

"Krystal! Hold on, we're here to get you!" the leader of Star Fox screams down to her, but for some reason she doesn't look up at him. Fox looks at his party members, who are just starring at their shivering friend. "Don't just stand there and look at her guys! Go get a suit from our main ship so we can get her back to base!"

"Hoooouooo," the scream echoes once more throughout the cave; Krystal cries out in fear when it happens.

"Krystal! What's wrong?" Mccloud yells down to his now fearful friend, he looks at his other search party members who are breathing in and out rather quickly because the scream has hit their hearts with terror as well. "Just go!"

"B-but, Fox- I don't want to go," Slippy mumbles.

"I order you two to go get the suit, now!" the leader of Star Fox barks; showing his teeth, which makes his friends tear off to do as they're told. Once the members are out of sight he looks at Krystal. "What is going on with everyone? I know that howl is scary, but we need to keep calm and remember that it's just a sound."

"Fox! Help me!" Krystal cries out; tears are falling from her eyes.

Mccloud runs over to the vixen and sits next to her. "It's ok, I'm here. What's seems to be the problem. Is it that howl?"

"Yes, but…"

"Krystal, it's just a sound, but I can understand that it's scary. It more annoys me than anything else, but I admit I'm a bit afraid too."

"Do you what's making that sound?"

"The wind can do some strange things you know…"

"It's not the weather, it's something on the planet."

"There's nothing on this planet. It's too cold for anything to live on this planet, nothing would could ever survive on this icy rock."

"But I've seen what makes the howl. Those eyes, those fake, sad, and lonely eyes that pretend to hunger for love. They wanted me; they chased me into here, but I fought them off."

"Who?"

"The howlers. The howling fiends; they pretend to want love, but it's a façade because what they really want is anything they can eat. They're predators-they're…" Krystal trails off and looks to the leader of Star Fox then screams, jumping back up against the left corner wall.

Fox turns around but knocked aside by an invisible force, which reveals itself to everyone. It's part rock and part ice; it let's out the howl sound and lunges for Krystal. Mccloud pulls out his gun and fires off shots, which angers this creature and makes it whip around to look at Fox with its black coal eyes.

"Krystal! Run!" the leader of Star Fox screams.

Fox keeps firing shots at the creature, but it does nothing and the monster whacks him to the ground. It pins him and opens its mouth to eat him, only Mccloud sees something really odd about the creature- a human heart frozen in ice right in the middle of it's body. The leader of Star fox kicks the creature onto the fire and by luck its weak point lands on the fire. The creature let's out his howl. Fox runs out leaving behind the monster that is sure to die…

The howling eventually ends. Fox catches up with Krystal, who now has a suit to keep her warm thanks to Slippy and Falco, who also reveal they too had an encounter, but were able to kill the monsters. However, once everyone is back at headquarters the lot can't help but wonder what were those creatures and how many of them exist on that planet-the one with howls that do not come from the wind.