Author Note: Well, we've gotten a look at Panther and Leon, so let's try to get to know Wolf. Sure, there's more familiar territory with him, but maybe there's a little here that we didn't know about before. Enjoy!

...

Hello Mother,

Dunno if I'm actually going to send this, so if this manages to reach you, that should mean something. Not like you care that much. I know for damned sure that pop doesn't; in fact, I'm more than certain that he disowned me a while ago. I don't even know why you keep trying to get in contact with me. Half of the messages you send are full of hate. So, what gives?

Life as part of the upper class of Corneria City was never for me. You should know that. After all of those stupid parties you dragged me to when I was a pup, and how I never smiled or joined in on any of those conversations or whatever you want to call a transaction…how could you not get it?

Pop makes sense. (And no, I'm not going to call him by a more respectful name, so get that out of your head now.) He didn't want me; sure, he wanted a son, but someone who was his exact duplicate. Not me. He chastised the way I walked, talked, wrote, built, worked, flew, managed, and I can't even think of everything else. If I ever call that thing my father, I'll ask someone to shoot me before the words magically slip out.

You at least tried; I can certainly give you that much credit, to the point that I'm even attempting talking to you again. But you never stood up to "darling" dad for me. Every single time he berated me, you stood by. Whenever he punished me for disrupting, you sided with him. Fine, but when it was a punishment because I ate with the wrong fork at a dinner party? Couldn't you have said something about him overreacting? I was too young to understand, and you should have known that! You had to have known.

And how did you answer me again? Was it that you wanted me to learn something out of all that? Honestly, do you want to know what I retained from him?

"Can't let you do that, Wolf!"

"Don't get cocky, Wolf."

"Playtime is over, Wolf."

Trash like that is what he gave me. I share those lines with anyone that I can spit venom at. Some day, I'll let the whole Lylat System know how awful of a creature he was, and I'm going to keep practicing those words until I can use them perfectly to share with everyone.

It was in no way possible for either of you to have been shocked when I suddenly picked a day to storm out and leave. The choice: a lap of luxury with no real freedom versus a life on the streets and among the stars with zero limitations? That wasn't even close to a contest.

Do you want to know why I betrayed Corneria during the Lylat Wars? By now, you should fully be aware of it, but it was to disgrace you. Both of you, of course, but mostly pop, as always. And you know what? I'm glad my side lost. A failure to help tarnish the old O'Donnell name is a victory for me. I relish being able to use that and further put smears and smudges all over our so-called "family legacy," which should be burning in the ground by now.

Poor perfect O'Donnell folks; they had everything going until the last three of us couldn't keep the act together. It's probably because you two scoundrels couldn't figure out how to love your own son. What a concept! (Yes, I do have the audacity to accuse you of that, because here's a delightful tip, mother dear, it's true.)

Hell, you want to know how screwed up in the head I am because of that? I can't even figure out whom I can actually trust and depend on in the galaxy!

Take James McCloud for example. No, I don't regret perfecting my flight skills from him; I know pop hated him for how casually McCloud would insult him during the visits to Pepper's offices. In fact, training under him was a great idea. That pilot was more a hero and more a father than the monster I had to spend too many years with.

The only issue was that he had his own son, who could of course do no wrong. Sure, James liked me, but his son would always be top priority. Him and that pathetic pile of ragtag morons, Star Fox. The hare never liked me, thought me suspicious or criminal, and the pig wasn't interested in anything besides making his stomach and wallet fatter. That didn't matter though; I got to learn better piloting under Corneria's finest.

If that hare hadn't persuaded him from letting me on board full time, I'd be at his side and still enjoying what a real father could be. But of course, James suddenly made excuses. I was suddenly too young to go on more dangerous missions, too inexperienced. He would say that I have a full life ahead of me and didn't want me to waste it fighting, but using my freedom for something better.

Instead I used it to get him killed. The pig warped my mind and made me think that I was actually helping with a mission. He knew that I could get to James. Pigma knew that I could set him up to die, get him primed for his mission. And he played me perfectly.

James McCloud dying tore me to pieces. I loved and hated him at the same time. He was a great teacher, but he betrayed me, the pig told me. He convinced me that Fox would always be his favorite, always spent more timing preparing him for taking over the team.

And not too long after his dear daddy's death, of course Fox would jump up to take the mantle. Of course the hare was suddenly ok with letting a younger pilot join up with the team, to the point where they made up Star Fox. By then, though, I already decided to make my own team. A few times I challenged James with a new chameleon pilot that I took in, when we were just starting out. It was to test how well we progressed, to prove to McCloud that we were worthy to work with him.

Really though, I wanted to get professionals to take Fox down. Why should he have grown up with a better father than me? Why should he get to know love and happiness? What made him more deserving than me to have that team, to have that father? Years back, I decided nothing gave him that right over me.

Naturally, once Andross decided to try to take over all of Lylat, that got me interested. High pay for anyone that could take down Fox and friends. Running low on the money I stole from you two was part of joining up, but killing Fox and the team that took more of James's heart than I had?

"You'll be seeing your dad soon, Fox."

Sold. The price to pay was letting Pigma and Andross's fool of a nephew join us. I wouldn't have now, but then, I was desperate enough to say yes. Thinking about it after the Lylat Wars, it was clear that Pigma Dengar had screwed with my head and that Andrew Oikonny was going to make it worse.

Once I knew things were going south, they were kicked off my team and on their own. Surprisingly, my first recruit, Leon, stayed. He and I formed a bond over time, and I'm certain that I give him what no one else could. It's about the closest thing to friendship either of us will understand again.

After that, we took some time to get a real criminal empire rolling. Yes, mother, one to continue blotting our name into infamy. The monkey scum that were left without work, thanks to siding with Venom during the war, turned to me as their new leader. Yeah, a lot stayed with Oikonny, but some were done with getting killed and screwed by the Cornerian Army.

So I built Star Wolf's legacy over time, picked out a nice place in the Sargasso Space Zone, and kept a lower profile. I never stopped stealing though, always from rich scumbags like you and pop. Still, I knew that Fox and friends, now the heroes of Lylat, wouldn't leave us in peace forever, with their usual perfect justice mentality. Leon and I would need another pilot.

It took some research and test trials, with a lot of fools that wanted to join the great criminal squad of Star Wolf. A lot of them sucked, either at thieving, piloting, both, or everything else. Finally, I met a flashy thief that loved to leave a red rose behind. It was signature or something. It was a little tricky to track him down, but once we got down to negotiations, Panther Caroso was skilled and competent enough to take in.

What I like about him is that he's not as much of a screw up as Leon or I. Panther's annoying, loud, chatty, overly playful, too much of a flirt, but he's happy and knows how to have fun. That's more than Leon offers in personality, and easily more than I can. Leon's loyal like no tomorrow, but cold and ruthless. And me? Well, you know. Either way, the three of us work great together; I don't tell them enough that I like them, but they should know.

Another war started and a bunch of insect freak features called the Aparoids showed up. They tried to take over Lylat themselves, and I wouldn't have bothered them one way or another. Then Fox came in, wrecked my hideout, schooled my team, and asked about Pigma. That creep was long gone by now and I told Fox that I'd shoot him on spot. In fact, we were tracking him for me to kill myself. And naturally, Panther had to play the flirt with Fox's new girlfriend and spill his last known location, letting Fox take vengeance over me. Imbecile.

After that, though, the invasion got serious and the aparoids were winning. Unlike with Andross, we wouldn't be spared from a "new galactic order," or whatever they'd call it. So, Leon, Panther, and I decided that we'd help out or die trying. Corneria may be a pile of rubbish, but it's my pile and I'll decide what to do with it, even if most of you morons there hate me.

Know what else? Pops can keel over whenever, but I actually thought about you. To tell the truth, I don't think I love you, but I don't think I hate you either. And maybe, some day, whenever pop's gone, maybe we can…talk about things.

And there's a chance that I don't completely hate Fox anymore, since he is James's kid, but not that he'll know. I owed him one, so I gave him some advice that day: "Don't hesitate; when the time comes, just act." I meant it for beating down Pepper, but who knows? He might need it another day. My team gave him that chance after helping his team go forward against the Aparoid army.

As a result, a lot of Lylat thought we might have died from that. Corneria knows better than that. You do, which is why you're still nagging me. We'll let the galaxy know when we're ready. And maybe I'll pick that day to send this to you. Or, maybe before then. Maybe not all all. I don't know.

Point is…well…I'm alive, if you still care. Sometimes you seem like you do, so I figured I might try to tell you. I don't speak with the refined tone you and pop forced on me anymore. I'm rougher around the edges and I like it. People don't mess pity me or think lowly of me. And I'm still destroying the family name, since it's pop's side and it's just too much fun. But you? You're not all bad, I guess. Don't keep proving me wrong and I'll get around to telling you.

It's like I keep telling Fox: "You're good, but I'm better." And I am going to prove that. I'm the better pupil to James, the better pilot. I could be the better hero, if I wanted to be. Some day, I'm going to be a better father than my old fart was. Today though, I know I love the people closer to me better than you two did. So shape up.

Still your kid, even if we hate it,
Wolf O'Donnell

P.S.: Yeah, I'm still wearing eye patches, plain or upgraded with scouter functionality. They're good at dimming the rest of the lighting so I can focus on my flying and dogfights. And that's just another thing that pop hates, so I'll keep them on forever. Deal with it.

...

Author Note: Aw, Wolf is kind of, sort of sweet, maybe. He can't be all bad, if Assault is part of the series canon. (And until Nintendo reboots the series, it is, so ha! Plus one.)

Ok, Wolf is definitely more popular than Leon or Panther, and most certainly has more written and known about him. Hence why I took longer working with him and stuck with the actual story of Star Fox than with Leon's chapter. (Panther's lucky, he can be finessed about however the writer likes it.)

A few things bugged me about his profiles though: Wolf is meant to have an association with James prior to his death, which is complicated since he's still close in age to Fox, so that needed to make sense somehow. He worked with Pigma, but then kicked him and Oikonny off the team, because they were selfish. (Like Wolf isn't? Up for debate.) According to Assault descriptions, Wolf is wanted for treason (duh) and theft, but nothing is specified there. So, I decided to mash them together and came up with Wolf being the rejected rich kid. He did have a classy way of talking during Lylat Wars (64), he does manage to keep up his fundings (theft) for supplying his team, but it had to come from something else during the N64 era. If he was still young and learning from James, he couldn't have been a downright criminal (yet). So, I went with wealth and a hatred to his parents, hence his disregard to law enforcement. Hopefully that fits.

With that, I decided to keep things along the canon line, since a lot of what Wolf does tends to force him into encounters against Corneria and Fox. Their rivalry had to pick up from somewhere, so I decided to make Wolf jealous. He usually picks the fights, right? It seemed like a good idea. But I didn't want him to hate Fox for eternity; they eventually work together. Redirecting that at Pigma, who may or may not have influenced Wolf against James according to what's on his biographies, seemed like a good route to follow.

Some ideas passed about Fox or Cornerian Army soldiers having caused the eyepatch issue, but I read that there was no confirmation over that. Also, I liked the idea that Wolf uses the eyepatch to see better while flying, which earlier pilots would do something similar. So, I ditched that from being a focus and kept it personal between the O'Donnells and McClouds. Family drama, hooray!

Again, I tried connecting Wolf to both Leon and Panther to make it more cohesive, and because I think that they like each other beyond just tolerating one another. (Seriously, Leon has to like Wolf if they've been together for so long. Otherwise, he just likes killing stuff, which makes sense, but takes away depth.) A new Star Fox game is in development, so I don't know if Panther's coming back, but I figured Wolf would like him more than his past two pilots. Maybe Nintendo will prove that mentality wrong, maybe they'll keep Panther, maybe we'll actually get a sequel to Assault/Command! Who knows?

...Well, most people agree that Command is non-canon, but that could change. I'd rather have a fine line set after Assault and directly pick up from there, but others want a direct sequel to 64/Lylat Wars that wipes away everything, erasing Adventures and going forward. Most prominently though, Nintendo is looking to innovate what the Star Fox team can use and how the game plays, so story is probably going to take the back burner. Bummer, but that leaves more for us!

Anyway, I hope this last one-shot was enjoyable. I don't imagine I'm done with Star Fox yet, but that might be it for this set. It was fun exploring the Star Wolf team, and they definitely deserve to be explored more. (Is that agreed upon universally? I think so, right?) I did keep trying to keep the Star Fox team in the loop though, because I like the rivalry staying in place. (They're better as rivals than enemies, imo. The banter is more fun.) But enough blabbering, thank you very much for reading this far! Comments and criticisms are welcome and I'd love to hear from you. And...well, that's all for now. Thanks again!