I don't EVEN KNOW what happened to my CREATEDFROMPAIN account. I modified my penname to Kit-Karamak and updated my email addie to the new one. Suddenly I can't use CreatedFromPain and Kit-Karamak thinks it's a brand new account, where I don't have access to my old stuff.
Because of this crazyness, I wanted to appologize with this letter, add the first two chapters, all at once, as part of this letter, then put up Chapter 3.
Enjoy! Oo;;;
1993 NP Comic Fox Jr and Fara are forced into the blackhole, where they're forced by a mixture of fate and freewill to become allies of Fox (son of James) & Krystal to combat an undefeatable Foe. Continued from CreatedFromPain, my old, dead name.
Sci Fi
Action/Adventure
CreatedfromPain's SIMILAR PATHS TAKEN (continues here)
"Similar paths taken"
Disclaimer shortened for your pleasure: "All deze junks belong to Nintendo. The work is fiction, if it happens or already happened, it's not like I planned it. The presented work of fiction belongs to Ken Weaver. Kit Karamak McCloud and Diane "snowy" Rosen belong to Ken Weaver. Names of places, things, etc are all Nintendo stuff.
Don't sell this, because I don't have a license or permission from Nintendo to make money on these characters and neither do you.
If you alter this story or redistribute this as your own work, I'll bust a jackie-chan upside your head. If you like this story enough to show all your friends or post it with my name properly attached, you'll be my new best friend, because that's fly.
Disclaimers are dumb, I'm not a lawyer ...and if YOU are a lawyer, how many lawyers does it take to fly an arwing? Arwings don't exhist, Nintendo hasn't licensed the design to SkunkWorks yet, so the answer is ZERO, foo'!
Finally, enjoy this story. I edited out several paragraphs of intimate details and gore from this chapter and many others, and if you don't like it, email me at ROCKSTARTRAVISTYatAOLdotCOM and I'll be happy to send you the unabridged version. Yes, I know I spelled Travesty wrong. I did it on purpose. Weee.
By the way, Yes I know double spacing between paragraphs is annoying. keeps half-eating my format, so I did this so it's not just a stupid box of run-on text. If it DOES show up as a stupid box of run-on text, I'll edit the thing when I figure out how to make it display properly. Enjoy, Mortals!
A Starfox (nintendo trademark) fan fiction.
Presently. . .
Three young McClouds brought their Arwing fighters up into a triangular formation. Dashing across the inky void of the assumable final frontier wasn't where it all began, but in fact, was the climatic conclusion to the short, fated assembly of Fox McCloud with himself. Having met himself face to face for the first time had brought many different thoughts to his mind, including how to make himself a better person, all the way to more philosophical views that he'd never thought to have until now.
Was space the final frontier? No, the mind was. And the more one knows themselves in the truest sense, the more one would explore that truly-final frontier, for no one truly knows its bounds... if it has any at all. Fox's fate wasn't some manifest destiny, an exploration into his own heart... no, it was more of a savior's destiny... meeting himself in a different light, but in that meeting, learning what it truly meant to carry out the actions of that infamous title: Hero.
There were three young McClouds. Fox McCloud Junior, Fox McCloud – son of James-, and a previously unknown Fox McCloud, the most mysterious of the three. Their combative flight together was the climatic sentence leading up to the exclamation mark punctuating the very last word of Fate's latest short story in life. Was there freewill? Of course, but some things... very few, but some things did, indeed, happen for a reason. Call it a plan... or a possible story with different possibilities, that always had the same last page... call it a fork of lightening or a well pruned Bonsai tree, where you traveled the trunk to the tip, then looked back and wondered what would have happened if you followed a different branch to its own tip? Fox finally knew the answer to that one... You'd look back the same way and ask yourself a different set of questions.
The three Arwings parted; each opened fire on the massive core of energy that spread out before them, tearing through the fabric of space time, causing ripples in the reality of their current dimension, itself. Blinding ripples of color glittered from each tear, which worked quickly to mend itself, only to be ripped open once more by the growing field of energy.
It was only a matter of time or fate that would explain the outcome, but each pilot fought on, striving to see the end of the final chapter, to see where their own fates would take them. Each Fox McCloud would be thought dead by his doppelganger after the final word was reached, and the story would end. But as stated previously, this was a false start.
To truely understand what each McCloud had come to learn, one would have to start from the beginning, when the fork of branches precipitated an intertwining, and Freewill would temporarily be put on hold, so that Destiny could play it's part in our Hero's life. One would have to look back as far as several days to understand the present turn of events. Only one thing was sure about Fate... Those who wield it were the ONLY ones to have freewill during that brief moment when Destiny took center stage.
The name of that wielder was non-other than Fox McCloud. Son of Fox Senior, son of James, it didn't matter. Fiancé to Fara Phoenix, or betrothed to Krystal of Cerinia, their fates intertwined in a way that seemed unconceivable: By the crossing of paths... When one branch comes inwardly, careening into the sprouting trunk, and making the first makings of a figure 8 pattern in itself... the sign of infinity... The mark of forever. And how often did the branch of a tree do something fantastic like that?
Chapter 1 - The gears of Fate begin to turn.
Fox McCloud stood upon the bridge of GREATFOX, rubbing his chin softly. The retired old hare, Peppy, struggled to stay awake, sitting quietly near the navigation screen. Quiet eyes of a sea-green gaze stay fastened on the view screen, who's omnipotent glance into the void was currently held steady upon the glow of SOL, a small red dot at the viewscreen's center.
A frown marred McCloud's features as the man stood in contemplation of life's challenges. Namely, what to buy Krystal for her birthday. It was one of life's challenges, really. How best to please her with something material? Oh but there were so many things, and his gift had to be the perfect one.
His bank account was at least healthy again, having torn through his last adventure, battling along side his team, Falco, Slippy and Krystal. Things had finally settled down now and his thoughts were on the task at hand... A birthday gift; but what to buy? Was there anything in the world that he would consider 'perfect'?
His thoughts were disrupted by the clearing of a throat. Fox whirled about, facing the azure-feathered visage of Falco Lombardi, whose devious gaze seemed to strangely telegraph an upcoming mature comment.
"Go to bed, Fox. That's an order. You haven't slept since we left orbit and if something comes up, big or small, you'll have your mind filled with dumb stuff."
"Buying a birthday gift isn't exactly... eh... trivial," Fox scoffed, reaching his right paw back behind his head to scritch lightly. "Besides," He added, "What could possibly come up?"
"Yeah, it was pretty quiet for 8 years," Falco admitted quietly. Then a shrug of his shoulders, and he continued, "..Then all of a sudden, we got two big paying jobs, back to back. It happens when it wants to, and you wanna be like, yanno, well rested."
"Yeah... I appreciate yer concern, Falco. But right now, I've just got my girl's happiness on my mind."
"Whatever," Falco chuckled, shrugging his shoulders. "My rule on girls: Make'em pine for ya, so they not only know their place, but instead of expecting something huge, they're delighted WHEN something big happens... I hate when a girl expects something of me, man."
"Oh?"
"Yeah, Fox. Look at Katt Monroe. It's been 10 years and she's still burnin' and yearnin' for the ole' Falc-myster."
"You're horrible," Fox said, shaking his head softly. Ten years to keep someone waiting was awful... almost detestable. "You really should just settle down with her or something... make her part of the team, and spend some time with her. Right now, we can afford having one more mouth to feed, I don't mind. Besides, if things slow down too much, I know you'll just disappear with her, so that'd be two less mouths to feed if money got low again."
Falco chuckled, "Don't we just know all, almighty Fox McCloud."
"Oh give it a rest," McCloud grunted.
"Oh I did, and look where it left you? I seem to remember a different time, with a different planet and yet ya still needed ole Falco's help. Remember that buddy? What? Just a bit ago, over Dinosaur Planet," Lombardi said, joshing playfully.
"Other than provide me with a few Smart missiles and Nova Bombs, you didn't do a whole lot," Fox replied with a grin. Falco just shrugged, rolling his eyes and walked off the bridge to leave Fox back to his pondering again. No use arguing with the boss when he was in one of his moods. Ole Falco wouldn't win by a long shot. Why try?
The deck doors slid shut at the back of the bridge, leaving Fox alone to his thoughts, his star gazing, and Peppy's snoring. Joy. Now, what to get for Krystal?
Fox stood in silence another full moment before one of GreatFox's proximity sensor alert's went off without warning. Peppy woke up with a start and Fox blinked twice before dashing over to the tactical readout. According to it's sweep reading, there was some sort of shockwave rumbling through the void, heading their way.
From the looks of the shockwave, it wouldn't cause anything more than slight turbulence, but still, Fox had to be curious of its origin. Shockwaves just don't come from random strange occurrences. There was always some sort of reason behind it, but nothing that Fox could establish from a glance at the system-wide sensor report. Truth was, according to the readout, there was nothing behind the shockwave to confirm any sort of trouble. There wasn't even so much as a solar flare involved.
The strange emptiness on the board eluded the pilot, who glanced up at Peppy, deciding to join the head pilot at the tactical station. They had no time to make an announcement, due to the incoming speed of the shockwave and each grabbed quickly to a railing that circled the bridge. Almost immediately afterwards, the GreatFox shuttered softly and the shockwave passed, heading onwards in it's path to wherever.
"That was...uh," Fox trailed off, confusion marring his brow.
"Interesting?" Peppy said, finishing his long-time-friend's sentence. Fox could only agree, uttering softly, "To say the least, Peppy."
"Should we check it out?" The retired hare wondered allowed.
"Maybe we should wait until someone offers to pay us for it," Fox suggested, grinning sheepishly.
"Maybe we should get a head start, just incase we are paid to do it, so that we can get the money sooner?" Peppy replied, grinning equally impish. Fox couldn't argue with that logic and walked across the bridge to the navigational pilot controls. After a few key-sequences punched in, GreatFox came under manual control and Fox steered it into the direction the shockwave came from, re-engaging Auto Pilot and entering in a command for the computer to follow, speed and course-wise.
Slippy Toad made his way onto the bridge, rubbing his palms together against an oil-cloth. Without a word, he approached the sensor readout computer, stealing a glance from Fox over to Peppy. He peered down into the personal view scope for a moment, not caring to put it's image up on the main view screen.
Finally, the frog lifted his head took a deep breath and shook his head.
"Should I even ask?" His nasal voice erupted in question.
"We're gonna go check it out," Fox replied. Slippy shrugged for a moment, obviously tired from putting in too many hours of repair and not enough hours of sleep. He had just passed Falco out in the hall, who was chuckling and shaking his head, which had only caused Slippy's curiosity at the turbulence the entire ship had experienced, to broaden. And now he was curious about the large rippling waves that they were about to pass through, heading towards whatever it was that most likely exploded.
"Slippy," Fox said, folding his arms across his chest, "You know how Krystal's birthday is coming up?"
"Yeah, Fox. Whatcha get for her?"
McCloud's right paw slipped behind his head. If one knew better, one might have thought they could see a bead of sweat on the side of his furry head. "Well..." the pilot trailed off.
"Oh, one of those deals. You'd better hurry, Fox. You've only got t-t-two days." Slippy folded his own arms across his chest, grinning lopsidedly. Fox's expression basically said 'don't remind me'. Both pilots turned to glance at the slumbering old timer sitting over by the communications panel. Finally, Slippy decided to say something else, "Yanno. It's at least an hour before we arrive to the abandoned Area6 defense perimeter. We have time to go c-c-catch a bite. I'll be in the galley."
Once again, Fox was left to his quiet thoughts. The only way to figure out what Krystal wanted was to spend some time prying it out of her. That decided, the vulpine wing commander nodded to Slippy and the two departed for their destinations. Krystal most likely slept through the first shockwave so he decided to check on her.
The doors slid apart and Fox walked into the quiet quarters of his girlfriend's place of slumber. Once the doors closed, behind him, he began to squint until his eyes adjusted to the pitch black. A window in the living area was illuminated by the light bars of stars and space debris traveling passed at sub-light speed. Passing through the living area, Fox headed for the bedroom.
The door slipped open with near silence and Fox approached the bed. The scent of his lover's form was ahead of him, causing him to shiver. Kneeling down at the edge of the bedside, Fox leaned forward brushing his lips gently against hers. To his surprise, her left arm lurched about his neck, pulling him forward, into the kiss. Their tongues dueled momentarily before her other paw reached to grasp at his shirt.
Her fingertips delicately danced over the cloth of his shirt, unbuttoning each fastening object before running her palms over his broad chest, touching with a firm caress. Fox moved up onto the mattress, while her paws explored playfully. Capturing her paw below the wrist, McCloud gently guided her touch down his tummy to indulge in the purity and healing powers of simplistic touch. The two lovers burned for one another with an eagerness blooming in their chests.
These actions were followed by the passionate actions of soul mates, something shared only between them and best left private, behind locked doors.
An hour later...
Another rumble shook Fox from his light slumber, laying upon Krystal's sated form. He shook his head softly, trying to shake the grogginess from his brain, sitting up on the edge of the mattress. His paw lifted to rub at the back of his neck, grunting softly. Grabbing his pants from the floor and slipping them on, McCloud walked from the bedroom to the living area, peering out the window.
Fluorescent shimmering ribbon whipped about, leaving trails of colorful light spectrums, dancing and flitting across the void. They were definitely close to whatever it was that caused this spacial anomaly. Dashing back to the bedroom, Fox turned the light on to a dim setting and fetched Krystal her robe, tossing it to her.
"Wake up, hon. It might be time to play hero again." With his words, Krystal began to sit up, rubbing at her eyes. She drew the robe up into her arms, slipping from the bed. Fox's sea-green gaze raked gently over her feminine visage once, before turning back for the door, saying "Meet me on the bridge, love."
Once on the bridge, Fox made his way towards the meandering frog that paced the deck. The two made eye contact before Slippy nodded towards the sensor panel over by the wall. With an up-nod, Fox greeted Peppy who was now awake over by the view screen. McCloud glanced around the room once more before lowering his gaze to the Sensor viewfinder and pausing for a moment.
Fox cleared his throat and said, "It looks like the warp tunnel that we experienced back in the ruins of the Sector-X research Lab that took us to Sector-Z where we got ambushed... which is the artificial jump right? The natural one was in Meteo, which dumped out at Katenia or something right?"
"You're practically right on the money, Fox," Peppy said, rubbing his chin.
"Practically?" Fox wondered aloud. "But not completely?"
This time it was Slippy to answer, "Exactly. It's only similar. This isn't a natural time-space slip-warp... this is a wormhole. An exit to a black hole, the wormhole's mouth has no natural gravity well, which are supposed to be capable of sucking in even rays of light. That's why you're seeing all these colorful ribbons of light... It's been sucked in from the other side, and on this side, we're seeing a light show. The question is, why did the wormhole open here? Where is the black hole on the other side of it, located?"
"And most importantly," Fox added, "Is it natural, is it artificially made? And does it pose any sort of danger to Lylat..."
"Well," Slippy pondered aloud, "I don't think that it does, necessarily. I can't see any natural danger it would hold. Sometimes a Black hole can hold so much in it's void, which tunnels through the fabric of normal time-space, and if the swelling tunnel ruptures, it can open one of these suckers here, anywhere in the galaxy on accident... it's only temporary before the natural laws of time-space physics mend itself. You can't have permanent ruptures, or slowly every hole that popped up would eat up everything in the galaxy. It's silly, I know. But it's not swiss-cheese we're talking about here; it's a living, existing universe. It does heal itself, on its own. Usually they only open like this when there's a solid object that survived the crushing gravity by accident, and the object punctures the space-time fabric, being expelled through this temporary and highly unstable opening."
Fox and Peppy paused for a moment to simply glare at Slippy. Fox was the first to say it... "Simplified explanation... IN CORNERIAN, please."
The frog shook his head with a sigh. "It's not that complicated. You got a black hole, most likely from a collapsed star. The collapse is so powerful it causes a vacuum suction, that sucks anything in, from light to debris... Think of a black hole as a skimmer for a swimming pool... all the garbage eventually ends up in one to keep the galaxy a clean and orderly place. No trash. Occasionally some trash or any other kind of solid object, say the hull of an abandoned space station or well designed ship... doesn't get crushed in the vacuum-esque gravity-well... then what? Does the black hole fill up? Where does all the crap go? Sometimes it punctures the fabric of natural space-time and ends up in random places throughout the galaxy. Oops..."
Fox tilted his head, staring at the frog, "Simpler, go on..."
Slippy groaned softly, "Think of the fabric of time-space as a rug. Think of a blackhole as the vacuum cleaner that's occasionally popping up in the room for a cleaning. Sometimes the bag breaks if you suck up something pointy. A bit of dust and dirt escapes and the object tumbles from the bag, but it might not fall out of the bag over by the chair where you sucked it up, but maybe land on the other side of the room, by the time you've made your way over there. Now, back to that rug, say you're as lazy as a StarFox pilot and when you empty the vacuum cleaner's bag, you just dump the stuff underneath the rug. See that? Out of sight, out of mind, right? Now say, so many people walk across that rug, that a small, sharp object, like a thumb tack, works it's way from one end of the carpet to the other end, just because of the foot traffic. And one day, when someone steps the right way, the thumb tack is pushed up through the carpet, cutting a hole in it, so that it's sticking out. Either way you wanna look at it, this is just an accidental anomaly."
"...Alright," Fox said, rubbing his chin, "Is it dangerous?"
"Depends if the thumbtack is sticking straight up through the carpet. Anyone with bare feet can step right on it. But it doesn't have to be a danger... Sometimes it can be controlled for ships with their G-Diffuser set backwards to absorb gravity and displace it properly, for safe passage. The problem with that is the simple fact that it's nearly impossible to process the mathematical information quickly enough to figure out where to punch a hole through the rug to escape from being on the wrong side of Time-Space's natural fabric, so you can pop up where you wanna emerge. Once you go in, who knows where you'll exit. For all one can know, they'll end up in some uncharted region of the universe, alone forever."
"All right," Fox chuckled, "Enough with the dramatizing. It's not like we're going in, you said it was unstable and heals itself. There would be no way to get back, if we entered the pinhole in the side of a funnel, that happens to be passing by, underneath our uh, fabric of time space. How does this crap all work?"
Slippy lifted his right hand, waving it up and down, panning from left to right. His hand gestures resembled typical radio waves, like a rollercoaster. "Now, Fox... say this is a straight line in Linear Space. It doesn't look like a straight line, but Space is so infinite, that this is what a straight line looks like in normal space..."
"Alright, Slippy. I'm with you so far," Fox replied, watching his fellow pilot.
"Now, this straight line takes you from Point A to point B... and it takes... oh... say... two days of travel to reach your destination."
"Go on," Fox said.
"Okay good. Now," This time Slippy used his other hand and panned it from left to right, straight through without making wavy motions, like his last hand. "What if you could go straight through the ribbon of natural, linear timespace... and get from point A to point B directly. It would only take you ten minutes because you bypassed all the Linear, natural fabric flow of Actual Time Space... and you went straight to your destination immediately..."
Fox groaned. "I hate to say this, but you lost me again. Go back to the rug theory. Explain it through that."
"Alright, alright, Fox," Slippy chuckled softly. "Say you've got a really large rug.. 18 by 18 in a 20x20 room. On that rug, you've got furniture... a few chairs, a sofa on one side, a TV across from it, a coffee table... all that. Now. Normally, to get across the room, we have to walk across the rug, go around a chair, step between the coffee table and sofa, and go around a lamp stand, and to get from point A to point B in a straight line, it took us 2 minutes to go around all the stuff. But that stuff is always there and you're used to walking around it to get passed it. It's just natural for you. That's the straight line of travel, to get from one door to the other, on the other side of the room. However, what if you could, somehow, travel underneath the rug? If you developed a method of transportation, that let you go underneath the rug, go straight through, without having to go around that coffee table, the sofa, the chairs and all that? Traveling at the same speed, you'd get across the room in fifteen seconds."
Fox tilted his head. It made sense. It did before, in a matter of speaking, but he just wanted to make sure he wasn't confusing anything. And by now, he knew Peppy was probably on the same page as well. In fact, Fox felt comfortable asking questions now that he understood the basic theory that Slippy was trying to explain.
"Allright. So there's a pinhole in the garden hose and it's starting to flood a small part of the grass in the middle of the lawn. Do we assume it's open because whatever solid object ripped it open has already come through? And how would we find it?" McCloud folded his arms, looking over to Peppy, who immediately began to pull up the area's star charts, then back to Slippy, waiting for an explanation.
"That sounds about right, but anything is possible, Fox. For all we know, from what little information scientists know about all this stuff, the wormhole may open up on it's own, anticipating the debris, so that by the time the object passes by, it's sucked out, into natural space like a garbage shoot. Or, maybe this is the end of the hose... or as you called it earlier... the end of the funnel. We can only speculate, Fox."
"If this was the end of the line, wouldn't it always be here?"
"Not exactly," Slippy said. He felt like he was giving a lesson or something. "With as much power that everything is being sucked in, on the other end; don't think of this as a garden hose... think of it as a fire-hose. With no force in nature strong enough to hold it in place, it's ending flies all about, like the end of a fire hose that's spraying all over the place. The ending might be here for an hour or two, then move across the galaxy, spraying it's contents all about the rug.
"Long story short..?" Slippy continued, clearing his throat again. "It just moves trash around. Eventually that stuff will wind up at the next closest star, be drawn in by the Star's gravity and get burned up like an incinerator. God has Her own rules for keeping this place looking clean. It's our job to see if we can't understand it all better."
"Alright," Fox finally concluded. "Let's just enjoy the light show and see if anything happens. If something threatening comes out, or has come out and we find it... we'll blast it and send Pepper the bill." To this, Peppy grinned inwardly, chuckling softly. At the back of the room, the double doors slid open and Falco, followed by Krystal, came inside.
"What the Sam-hell is that thing," Falco grunted, looking at the fluttering hole on the view screen, where glittering light rays escaped in a wisp of emanating gases.
Before Slippy could answer, Fox replied to the Avian's question with a simple "Lylat has a flat tire. You're looking at the hole. It'll patch itself like the self-inflatable kind, but right now, you're looking at a pinhole in the funnel shaped natural anomaly, we call "black hole tunnel made a wrong turn in Albuquerque". Right now, we're looking to see if any thumb-tacks jut out of our rug, so we can blast it and send Pepper the bill."
"Cool. Can we fire a nova bomb into it and see where the thing ends up?" Falco said with a cocky grin.
"This isn't a billiard table of life, what if it comes out somewhere we don't want it to? Like in front of a populated space station or something," Fox snapped, shooting Falco's playful idea down.
Peppy, on the other hand, came to Falco's rescue, supporting his idea to an extent. "True, Fox. But what about a probe? Perhaps something we can track?" The hare came to stand besides the tall Avian, slipping his paws into his pockets. The entire group turned to Slippy.
"What? If it dumps out a billion light-years from here, we just wasted money on a probe. If this isn't the end of the line, and the probe comes back, we're likely to loose it. I doubt this...ah.. pinhole came so close to the end, that we'd get our probe back, let alone be able to track it's signal, which we only pick up if it's within 3 light-years. And that's pretty darn far."
"Ah well, it could be fun," Fox chuckled. "Launch the probe."
"Nothing like probing a strange space-orifice, in the name of science," Falco snickered. His remark got a giggle from Krystal.
Chapter 2 - Fate intervenes; Freewill steps to the wayside.
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Chapter 2 - Fate intervenes; Freewill steps to the wayside.
The four meter probe shot from one of the missile-launch tubes on the front end of the GreatFox. The speeding, sleek hull of the probe sailed through the inky tendrils of space, heading for the rift where the rays of light escaped captivity. Within seconds, it disappeared from view, entering the slipstream tunnel, its signal reception quickly beginning to fade from GreatFox's computer link. Just before it stopped completely, the probe collided with something solid coming at it, in the opposite direction.
The speeding object hurdled through the gravity tunnel, heading towards the opening far up ahead. The probe was pushed backwards by the force of the larger object, screaming towards the opening in the rift up ahead. The thrust of the probe only worked to slow the object's velocity from a terminal speed, down to something less intense, but causing the object to spin lightly as it neared the gaping exit up ahead.
The probe's reception strength began to intensify, sending a detailed report of it's findings... the solid object, weight and size, back to GreatFox, where they would learn that there were two life forms locked inside. Finally the rectangular box gushed out through the wormhole, spinning like a gyroscope, or some sort of dradle.
Within, there were two vulpine beings, free-floating without the restraint of gravity. Both were alarmed by the sound of a metallic thud on the outside of the hull, where the probe had collided with their box-like prison cell. The two beings embraced one another, in fear, in uncertainty. The thudding and thumping grew louder as, unknown to the beings within the box, it was being tractored into the landing bay of the GreatFox cruiser.
One male and one female, both were rendered into a state of unconsciousness by the sudden addition of gravity, causing both to drop from their free-fall floating state. The male groaned softly, fighting to stay conscious, hearing someone gasp in surprise far in the background. Struggling with the concussion he'd received from the fall, he faded to the sounds of the surprised crew that had found them. He couldn't make out their words, but he could tell the level of great shock in their voices. The world faded to a muffled, dull roar then slipped into silence.
The silence was replaced with breathing. This had happened before. No, this was happening now. Wasn't it? No, this was reliving a memory? Either way, it was a memory, so there was no way to control it or change what was happening. The decisions were made. They couldn't be taken back, it was happening this way for a reason, and now Fox McCloud Junior would relive it exactly the same way.
His eyes fluttered open and his gaze was set upon the calm demeanor of Fara Phoenix. The team was shot down somewhere over Venom, leaving only himself and Fara to enter the massive core-base ventilation shaft in the Satellite structure hovering in Venom's orbit. The two fighter pilots grew nervous as they hurtled through the tube, through the main port and came out on the inside of the massive core room. Both Arwings were tiny in comparison to the giant core structure before them.
Fox reached up, adjusting the silver communication helm he was wearing, then kissed his index finger, and touched the ribbons on his aviator uniform for luck. It was something his dad used to do in a tight situation before disappearing in the Gravity Bomb blast from Andross' experiments. That dirty old freak was going to pay. Fox Senior's disappearance caused a mixture of resolve and grief to the Junior Pilot, who had finished his days in the academy only to be ejected to Papetoon for unruly behavior in a rebellious revolt directed towards Andross. Fox started a protest, to look for pilots he could use to go straight to Venom and attack. Disposing of Andross by means of expulsion from the planet wasn't good enough for Fox. It wasn't an eye for an eye.
The protest put Fox and three pilots on the quiet trader planet, Papetoon, with orders not to leave. Fox made his way about, hurting Andross' extended reach into Papetoon's economy by raiding Venom ships and pirating the imperial forces. Needless to say, Papetoon was one of the few planets that wasn't under the influence of Doctor Andross Oikonni. Before long, Fox and his group were summoned back to Corneria, who finally recognized their ability to keep an entire planet free of Andross' dictatorship. As a last resort, Corneria reinstated Fox and his group back into the Cornerian flight rosters with aviator trainer Fara Phoenix.
Fox and the team had shut Andross' Telekinetic amplification weapon down on their first run, but a large victory would not win the war on it's own. Fox had delivered a nuclear device that would turn Venom into a large asteroid but not before his team was shot down over the planet's surface. He couldn't detonate the device, with them down on the surface. If he couldn't save them, Cornerian military forces would rescue them and then detonate the planet-buster. It was the only way to end the war.
That brought Fox up to speed, here in the core-chamber. Their weapons glanced off the Core's protective shielding with ease. The only way to destroy it would be to crash his ship into the core or land and sabotage the thing on foot. Either way, things were heating up and life was becoming difficult by the addition of hover droids that began filtering into the room, opening fire on his and Fara's fighter.
"Send in Don von Killer!" a voice crackled over the all-channel frequency. Don Killer was a regular Keyser Sozé, a scary rumor to keep the apes and lizards in line. Fox only rolled his eyes, when another group of fighters came out behind the droids. Nothing was ever easy, that's for darn sure.
The two Arwings looped about, opening fire on their new attackers, clearing out the room with great haste. If only Fox could have anticipated the next defense mechanism for the Core Room, things might have taken a totally different course. The Arwings came to the floor, amidst the shrapnel of smoldering droid hulls, landing on its flat tracks with ease. Fara slipped from her cockpit, as Fox opened his own canopy, darting over the side of the fighter, dropping to the floor.
The two lock their gaze for a moment and a reassuring smile was offered from the sandy furred fennec. McCloud opened his Nova loading hatch, pulling one of the tube-shaped bombs from its place of rest. Closing the hatch behind him, Fara did the same, carrying the heavy cylinder towards the Core maintenance terminal underneath the massive light pillar. Fox jerked his head, motioning for her to follow.
The two pilots carried their Nova Bombs across the room, passed the smoking debris from the previous air battle, until they reached the foundation of the Core. Fox placed his bomb upon the floor at his feet, taking out a blaster and changing the settings. Making the gun so its beam would fire a tight, concentrated burst at high, constant power, he aimed the barrel into the Core's massive base, beginning to cut his way into the side of the maintenance terminal.
Once there was a large hole, he kicked the metallic panel inwards, and lifted his bomb up onto his shoulders, heaving it into the crudely cut hole. He reached in and armed the bomb for a timed countdown, holding up both paws to show Fara the number "8" with his fingers. She nodded and set her own bomb to explode in 8 minutes, then followed Fox's last action, shoving the heavy metallic weapon into the hole at the base of the massive Energy Core.
"All right! Once I arm them from the remote control, they'll start timing down from 8 minutes!" Fox shouted over the thrumming sound of the Energy Core they stood so closely to. Fara gave the thumbs up, when suddenly the room began to shake violently.
"Fox! You think the guys set off the Planet buster?" Fara exclaimed, hoping that it wasn't some sort of last ditch effort to destroy Venom, at the expense of the Team's life.
Before Fox could answer, they both came to the horror-filled realization of what was going on. The wall at the far end of the massive room was beginning to move, closing in. The size of the room was shrinking, pushing the shrapnel of the droids up against the force field in front of the Core, crushing it for waste recycling. Among the droid debris getting trashed was two Arwing Fighters, Fox and Fara's ride home. They watched in panic as their fighters were destroyed like garbage.
An angry McCloud pounded his right fist into his left palm, watching his Arwing get crushed into scrap. Once the room was finally cleared, and the wall was pressed flush up against the force field, it began to return to its normal position, leaving an empty floor and a four foot wall of scrap metal in front of the force field. Only flesh and blood could walk through it. For a fighter hull, it was like being pushed up against a stationary wall. The same rule applied for energy displacement bolts, like blaster-fire. Now they were stranded.
Fara began pacing. Her thoughts quickly turned to how they could hijack a pair of enemy fighters to make their escape. It was then that something struck her in the torso. Whatever the object was, it was very tiny but extremely painful. Her paw reached for her stomach, and felt something wet. Stealing a glance down at the pad of her palm, she realized she was looking at a light coating of blood.
She'd been shot.
Following the path that the bullet would have taken to hit her, she saw the attacker from across the room, standing alone, with their singular weapon. It fired again, this time striking Fox, besides her. Through the pain of the shot, she had to wonder to herself, how a bullet could penetrate the force field when only organic tissue could pass through it before now.
The tip of her index felt something lumpy in the wound of her stomach. She pushed her finger inward, gripping the shell and easing it from her flesh. A rubber bullet. To break the skin at such a distance would require a very high power rifle. Suddenly things began to get blurry. She tried to use rational thinking again but her mind grew cloudy. Was the rubber bullet coated with some sort of toxin?
Fara's head turned, her gaze falling upon Fox, who struggled the same way, watching as he began to stumble, fighting to stay on his feet. His balance was suddenly pulled out from underneath of him, and he swayed forward, careening into her, until both toppled over, unable to move. Fox's entire body felt paralyzed. Everything was numb from his neck down and his mind was fogging up. His eyelids felt sixty pounds. The gunman across the room began to approach...
Somewhere in the distant background, Fox heard someone speak, "Say hello to daddy for us. We'll use your team to trade Corneria for our captured pilots. But you two have been too much trouble. You two get a free trip..." his words became unintelligible after that.
Everything faded to black. Fox was comfortably numb. His mind slipped into the depths of unconsciousness... A dream-free state of deep relaxation. He could hear the deafening sound of his heart beating, and then the last vestiges of thought faded. Silence.
Before Fox's eyes opened, he thought to use his military and academy training, clearing his mind and concentrating on his condition first. He was laying on something flat and could feel that his shirt and shoes had been completely removed. A wiggle of his brow and ears told him that the silver headset he always wore was missing as well.
He shifted his wrists and ankles just slightly, then gave a wiggle of his tail. Surprisingly, there were no restraints. His left eye eased open, peering around to take in his surroundings. He was alone. Sitting up quickly, he realized a blanket was pulled up across his body and a few suction cupped things with wires attached were pressed to his chest.
Whipping the blanket from his body and grabbing a fist full of wires and tugging them from his body, the vulpine swung his legs out over the side of the bed and slipped down to his feet. He was in some sort of medical bay and Fara was nowhere to be seen. His eyes scanned along the walls until he found a scalpel. Quickly, Fox seized the tool and moved to the doorway, peeking out into the hallway.
He wasn't sure the size of the ship he was on, but it didn't look overly Venomian. The lights weren't set for lizard's eyes and the room was at a comfortable temperature. Not to mention no guards in a medical bay? That was just suicide on behalf of the enemy. They must have miscalculated whatever it is they gave him to stay unconscious.
His head-comm. unit sat on a table near the doorway. Fox snatched it up and glanced out the doorway, peering from left to right. After a moment he fastened the radio unit to his head, but there was no reception with which to contact anyone.
Moving out from the bay, he placed his back firmly up against the wall, keeping the scalpel tightly secured in his right paw. Slinking along the hallway, his eyes stayed narrow and his breathing steady, as if waiting for something to jump up in front of him. The hallway was silent but at the far end, Fox saw the back end of a green being, half his height, passing through an intersection. He quickly dipped back behind the corner, peering out into the now-empty hallway again.
His eyes and his ribs ached, as well as the wound in his chest, below his collarbone. He remembered taking a bullet but having been shot before a few years ago, he knew this was far different. Maybe it was a tranq-dart. The stealthy vulpine continued to tiptoe down the hall, peering around the next corner. A sign read "main bridge". Jackpot.
Whoever the Executive Officer of the deck was, that's who Fox would use as a hostage. Fox glanced back behind himself, to make sure the short little green guy wasn't coming back. Lizard maybe? Fox didn't get a good look, but he was almost positive he didn't see a tail. Odd for a lizard. Regardless, no signs of life, now. Perhaps he was on some sort of transport ship... an understaffed one from the looks of things.
His eyes narrowed and his right paw tightened around the scalpel as he headed through the sliding doors that opened up to the bridge. To his surprise, it was empty, minus some lanky looking robotic contraption over by the view screen. No way he was going to combat that thing with a scalpel. The thing began to swivel at the waist, until it was looking straight at him, standing there in the doorway. Crap.
"That's unlike you, to walk around in a simple pair of trousers, Fox." The machine lifted it's left hand, pointing directly at the pilot, somewhat motioning to the fact he only wore a pair of sweat pants. For the first time he really noticed he wasn't even wearing his old uniform pants. Prisoner garb, maybe? Not only that, but the damn thing called him by his first name!
Fox eased his right paw behind his back, putting the medical knife out of sight. "Where's Fara Phoenix?"
"Fara Phoenix? I'm sorry; I don't recall any name by that on board." The machine's reply had... a slight touch of emotion behind it... odd.
"Fara PHOENIX. Daughter of the CEO of the Spaceship Magnate Corporation. Ring any damned bells?"
"Ah," The machine spun away, facing a computerized console, beginning to type, much to Fox's amazement. "She passed away during a scheduled training exercise, when Corneria came under attack in the early skirmishes against Venom. Cause of death, ION Cannon fire. It is thought she may have underestimated the machine, attacking it without backup."
Fox's eyes went wide. Was this a joke? A coincidence? "When?"
"Over one decade ago. Do you require the star date?" the machine replied.
"You're full of shit," Fox growled softly, half surprised by his own use of language, "I was her backup and I saved her myself."
"No," the thing said, "You were in the Cornerian brig, charges were filed against you for disruption of a private military installation, angry that your father was reported KIA in a Venom mission run."
Fox came to the immediate conclusion that this thing had it's information either wrong, or it was lying to him on purpose. That's when it happened. The double doors slid open behind him. Fox whirled around, wrapping his embrace around the being that came up behind him, spinning it about and putting the scalpel up to their throat without so much as a blink.
His eyes moved down his muzzle, to see who it was he had captured... An oddly blue-furred vixen struggled in his grip for a moment before a paw went to his sweat pants and tugged the drawstring so tight that he could almost instantly feel circulation coming to a halt and his legs beginning to grow numb.
McCloud tightened the scalpel under the vixen's throat, but not enough to cut the flesh. Yet. "What ship is this?" He hissed.
"GreatFox and you're not a prisoner of war, so let go, ya lug," She grunted, rolling her eyes.
"Excuse me?" Fox said.
"I said get off. Geeze," She said with a chuckle, adding, "Falco's right, you really are a chowder head. Yanno, your doppelganger is much more courteous to women." The grip around her throat loosened and the knife moved away from her throat, cautiously.
Suddenly Krystal reached back, behind his head, leaning forward and flipping him onto his back. The scalpel landed on the floor, the blade snapping in half where it stuck half way into the deck. The handle began to roll across the floor, stopping by the commanding officer's chair. The woman folded her arms with a pleased look on her maw. "Anything else, Fox's brother?"
"ExCUSE me? Fox's brother? What is this, some sort of joke?" Fox growled, slowly getting back to his feet.
"What IS your problem, yes you look like Fox McCloud, you've got nearly the same DNA in your blood from the sample we took, you even have the same scent, but you're sure as hell not Fox," She said back.
"No, Fox McCloud Junior is exactly who I am."
"Junior?" She asked, raising her brows. She surely didn't recall Fox's name being James. Her head tilted slightly, giving him the woman's stare. McCloud looked down, to cutely avoid the look.
"By the Goddess, you even react the same. Let's get you to talk to Fox," She said, waving for him to follow her.
"I am Fox!" He protested.
"Will you JUST follow me? I'm Krystal, by the way. C'mon." She walked out through the door, turning her back to him, fluffing her tail up into the air, then relaxing it. Fox glanced back at the robot who, to his slight amusement, shrugged at him. Odd.
Fox followed the rather attractive, slender blue vixen down the hall, up a ramped corridor and stopped besides her, in front of an office door. She waved her paw in front of a small square indicator which lit up, just to the right of the door's frame. The door slide open and she walked inside. Fox, still dressed in Medical issue sweat pants, followed her into the room. His eyes quickly scouted the room, taking in the surroundings. Cozy but somewhat his style, to be sure.
The chair by the window, behind a desk began to turn around, and suddenly Fox was looking into a mirror. Minus his garment, which was obviously different, but very much Fox's off-duty style of dress code. All right, maybe this wasn't a trick. Maybe he was just delusional. But the important question had to come first.
"Where is Fara?"
The other Fox tilted his head, leaning forward on his desk. "She woke up twenty minutes ago, so we gave her clothes and let her take a shower. Your shot was apparently quite a winner. It was more difficult to get the toxin out, it nearly killed you. It's good to know you're a fighter."
"Who are you," Junior said, glancing at Krystal again for a moment.
"Fox McCloud, son of James McCloud, who are you?"
"Fox McCloud Junior, son of Fox McCloud Senior. What the hell is going on here?"
The door opened once more, Falco Lombardi stepping in behind Krystal. "Good lord," he muttered, "Slippy wasn't bullshitting, there really are two Fox McClouds."
Both Foxes turned to face Lombardi, saying his name out loud simultaneously. "Falco?"
"Geeze Laweeze; Have mercy, what?" Lombardi grunted. "Was I not supposed to be in here or something? Do I have to answer to BOTH of you?"
Fox, sitting in the chair behind the desk lifted his paw, "Quiet, man. We have a ton to figure out. This guy could be a cloned impostor sent from Andross to try and destroy us or something," he explained. Falco stopped by the doorway, leaning against the wall, with his arms folded.
"Say what?" McCloud Junior's eyes narrowed, gazing to each of the three members of the room. "Do as you will try to do with me, but if you even so-much-as-touch Fara... You'll have problems."
"I don't know," Krystal said thoughtfully.
"What's on your mind," the seated commander asked.
"If he was a cloned impostor, don't you think his DNA would be a perfect match?" she asked softly.
Lombardi shook his head. "True, but not if Andross tried to add a little something so that his Fox would have an advantage over our Fox," Falco replied.
Finally, Fox shook his head, looking at the Juniorized Impostor. He stood up from behind his desk and walked about it, approaching the other Fox McCloud. "No, we're not gonna kill him or anything. Who knows, maybe he can help. I've always said I can't carry the team alone, while you were missing in action, Falco. Who knows, Krystal found the obituary of Fara Phoenix in the archives and she's in the shower right now. Maybe... who knows, let's not jump to conclusions yet," Fox said.
"Why don't you just ask me where I came from," Junior said, running his fingers through the short, tousled fur upon his head.
"Why don't you just offer it," Falco shot back, quickly.
"Why don't you just take your feathers-for-brains and go for a long walk down a short pier," Junior replied with a smirk.
"Enough boys!" Krystal said with a sigh. "We'll never get anywhere with you two bickering like you always... egh. Never mind," She added, after realizing that it wasn't Fox and Falco fighting, but Falco and the imposter, Fox McCloud -Junior-. Things made so very little sense. The Avian thumbed his sunshades from off of his forehead, rubbing the lenses against his shirt. His tightly-made head wrap had pushed the blue feathers upon his head up into a near- Mohawk, which had Junior McCloud casting odd looks at him from time to time, during the conversation.
Finally, Falco couldn't take it anymore and uttered, "What?" to the vulpine pilot.
"It's just... Falco doesn't look like you where I came from. I mean, he does, but he doesn't dress like that... any more."
"Eh," Falco shrugged lightly, "I took a hiatus from this fashion.. for a while. But I found some of my old things when I went on my..ah... vacation, a bit back."
"A hiatus...?" Fox said, looking surprised that Falco used a fairly large word.
"Yeah, Einstein, a freakin' hiatus. Is that such a big deal, I said somethin' with more than two syllables?"
"Why, Falco," Fox said, from besides his desk, "Don't get started on that stuff, we all know you're capable of four syllable words, you speak every day."
"Exactly," Falco said with a snide smirk.
"Like Masturbation, for example," Fox added, approaching his doppelganger with a light chuckle. It got a giggle out of Krystal who tried to bite her tongue, to stay serious about the situation. Meanwhile, Fox approached Junior and the two looked one another over in silence for a moment. "I don't know why but something tells me we should trust him, and I think I have a pretty good judge of character." Fox ran his fingers back through the thick white stripe of fur that ran over his head, between his ears.
Meanwhile, Fox Junior was wondering why he didn't have his own white stripe of fur upon his head, and was slightly reluctant to take his metallic helmet off. It was the one distinguishing feature that separated them. Oh he'd show that bit soon, just... now wasn't the right time to talk about their physical difference. "We need nicknames to differentiate between the two of us," he said, thoughtfully.
"Well," The nearly identical Fox said with a grunt. "I suppose you should be Junior, and I guess you can just call me... Mac?"
The thought of someone calling him by that despised nickname, even by himself, resulted in a Smirk. Junior McCloud shook his head with a sigh. "MUST we use that ... idiotic name?"
"Don't like it?" Fox asked his twin. "No, not really," came the reply.
"Something wrong with being your father's son?" Falco spit out, out of the blue.
"Good grief," Fox Junior uttered under his breath. "Even here," he continued, "You're a moron sometimes."
Falco's eyes went wide. "You're telling me there is another... me? Where you come from?" Fox nodded to the Avian's question. The difference between THIS Falco, and the Falco that Fox Junior knew... was that his Falco had gone through different things in life. Working hard to get through the Academy, then becoming a hated bandit, hiding out on Papetoon... and finally going through an unreal ordeal, learning to hold his tongue at racism and eventual fanboyisim... which made him a little less Flashy than this character.
"And as far as calling me a moron," Falco added, "Blow it outcher furry little butt, JUNIOR." Yeah, alright, they were awfully similar, it's just that his Falco, back where he'd come from, was a little more mature, from going through some harsher times in life.
"How did you guys meet, Mac?" Fox asked of the avian and vulpine, standing together.
The two looked at one another, before the indigenous McCloud replied, "Childhood friends, really. How long have you known the lady we found you with?"
"Fara Phoenix?" Fox Junior chuckled softly, "We're engaged. It's kinda awkward because we were team members first. It sorta just... ah.. happened, really. I've known her for about 8 years now. She's one of the best pilots I know. As far as how I met Falco where I came from, he was a street thug and I was walking home from the Academy one day, and he approached me, looking to see how he could get himself a uniform like mine. He wanted to get rid of his street speeder and trade it in for a pilot's license, more or less. I took pitty on his situation and poverty and respected his wish to clean up and get himself into the academy... so I helped him to get started; he graduated a year after I did, second in his class." Junior sighed fondly, recalling the memory of how he met one of his most trusted friends.
"I find it odd," Krystal started, rubbing the backside of her head, "That you are nearly both identical, and yet you both apparently lead far different lives. Do you know Peppy and Slippy, too?"
Fox Junior nodded. "They're my team mates. Peppy is close to retirement. I'd say he's got another year in him, for flying. I'm not sure what we're gonna do when he settles down with Annie."
"Who... is Annie?" Mac asked, a slight look of confusion. Did this guy's Peppy have a girl?
"Well," Junior chuckled, assuming that was different as well, "Peppy is married."
"Married?" Both Falco and Krystal said in unison. "Peppy is married?" Falco said with a soft chuckle. "Maybe tha's why he's in good enough shape to fly where you come from... he was getting laid!"
"Falco..!" Krystal scolded.
"Well," Mac said, gesturing to his crew to quiet down, "Slippy stopped flying for a while, to work Corneria Weapons detail, when we were kinda starved for cash, but he's getting himself back into a cockpit again, and Krystal here is replacing OUR Peppy, who we just refer to... as old timer. He was my dad's wingman, but he just.. kinda... sleeps a lot now. That reminds me, did Fox McCloud Senior ever fly with a guy named Pigma Dengar?"
"Ah... no, not that I know of," Junior said thoughtfully. "Peppy flew with dad a little, here and there, but was spending the weekend with his at-the-time Fiancé, when dad went on that solo mission with that damn gravity bomb. Peppy practically raised me, out on Papetoon, from after I had graduated from the Academy at 16, up to a month before my 19th birthday."
"You... graduated from the AirForce Academy at 16?" Fox's brow lifted.
"Yeah, 'gifted and talented teens program' got me in. Dad had me doing Gravity training and stuff, by 12, so... I was ace'n the training courses by 14 and when dad disappeared when I was 15, I kept my mouth shut. But one day, General Pepper slipped up and mentioned how it was that Dad was killed. Same jerk that killed mom, so I went off. I didn't just go off, I stole a fighter with the intent of killing the freakin' ape. I was still a minor, 16 years old, but you just... don't steal government M-Class fighter craft. They were pissed. Prime Minister said it was the government's job to find an orphaned pilot in the gifted and talented flight school class... new parents. I was young and dumb, so I told the Prime Minister that I would steal another fighter if given the chance and hunt down Andross, myself. Luckily, Peppy dragged me off to Papetoon where we raided Imperial scowls and freighters, and gave all the loot to the poverty-stricken public. General Pepper needed guinea pigs to fly a prototype fighter that hadn't been ...really... tested... in battle. We thought it sounded like a good offer, experimental or not, and with the promise of a pardon, we went to work... ultimately we got ourselves into the Special Operations division and the rest is history," Fox Junior explained.
"Jeeze, man. Other than Andross causing the death of my parents, our lives are completely different. Even the way dad got himself killed was different." Mac shook his head, rubbing his chin quietly. "Anyhow, when we found your floating capsule, you were nearly out of breathing air, and you were both out cold. We were on our way to investigate the rip in a wormhole. General Pepper's gonna pay us good if we figure out what happened and find a threat to eliminate," Mac said, going back to his desk and sitting down behind it.
"Is the mercenary life treating you good?" Junior inquired with thoughtful curiosity.
"It has its ups and downs," Mac replied.
"I see. Anyhow, back to my original question, where is Fara?" The foreign Fox asked, folding his arms to mirror Falco.
"She's probably ambling around GreatFox or in the observatory or Rec-Room. You're free to go look for her, but I suggest you go find some clothes," Mac said with a chuckle. "My room is down the hall on the left, from here. If you keep going straight, you'll get to the main hallway that takes you to the Bridge, Medical bay, the flight deck and engineering. Go get dressed."
Fox Junior nodded and turned to leave, waiting for the doors to part before passing through them. Krystal followed him out, leaving Falco and James' son to converse over what was going on and just how strange the entire situation was.
"Hey," Krystal said as the two walked towards Fox's room. "No more knife play, all right? If you need any help finding anything, just ask."
"Yeah, I can't smell my own scent as easily, so show me where this room is," Junior muttered. Krystal led him down the hall, making a left at an intersection then stopping at a door on the left-hand side. She swiped her paw over the sensor on the wall again and the door slid open. Leading Fox inside, she meandered about the room, picking out matching clothes for Fox to wear, handing them to him.
"Get dressed, Fox," She said, minding his sensitivity to the word Junior. He smiled slightly and nodded, turning to strip off the sweat pants.
"OH goodness, wait until I leave at least. I know you guys are the same person and all but good heavens, Fox." However, Krystal did notice that he seemed to be a bit more muscular and the build of his physique was different. The Fox McCloud indigenous to this dimension had the body of a physical laborer. This Fox Junior guy looked like he spent his time in a military gym. His stomach was tighter, his arms and legs weren't as muscular but the man's shoulders were broader and his upper chest was slightly more bulky.
Both Fox McCloud's were in excellent physical condition, but by looking at Junior, she could tell that he never jogged the surface of a Planet, the way her Fox had to run around Dinosaur Planet. Their builds were simply different, leaving her to wonder who could overpower the other. She turned her head, facing the door. Apparently this Fox wasn't concerned with comfort or stripping in front of a team mate, he just wanted to quickly change his clothes and find his Fara.
She glanced over her shoulder and smiled, seeing that he was having a bit of trouble. "What's wrong?"
"They're a little loose around the waist and a little tight around the shoulders," He admitted sourly.
"Fox has his clothes tailored to his fit. I'm willing to bet you spend time in a military Gym, don't you?" She asked.
"Yeah why?"
"My Fox has never seen a military Gym. Your lifestyles are different; so, too, is the build of your body slightly different. You guys should spar later on, I'd be interested to see how it would go," She added with a giggle.
"You're weird. I've never even seen any blue vixens on Corneria or Papetoon before," He replied.
"Papetoon?" She asked.
"Yeah, it's just outside of the Asteroid belt. Kinda the color of dirt, because a lot of it is simply that... dirt. Good lot of people, though," Junior said.
"Oh, they call it Katina, here. But it sounds like the exact same place. I'm not from Corneria or Katina. I'm from Cerinia, but the planet... well, I won't talk about it, but it's not from Lylat. In fact, I'm curious now, is Corneria called Corneria, where you come from?"
"Yeah," he replied, stuffing his paws into the pockets before smirking. "Your Merc- er, boyfriend has pretty deep pockets. His own ship, apparently makes more money than some large companies. So what kinda fighters does he have?"
"C'mon, I'll show you. After having a conversation with her, I have a feeling she's probably down there looking at the Arwings as we speak. Let's go," Krystal exclaimed, turning to the door and walking out. Behind her, Fox Junior was adjusting the garment which was still tight at his shoulders and loose at his hips and waist.
"These are uncomfortable as can be, can't we find something else?"
"Well you've got your choice," chided the blue vixen as they walked. "You can wear one of my sun dresses or some of Falco's sweat pants. But you'd have to cuff 'em, he's taller than you. I've never seen anyone cuff sweat pants, though. Then again, two years ago, I'd never seen Sweat pants before, either. So, to each his own."
"I've got a better idea," Fox said.
"What's that?"
"Which way is Peppy's quarters and where can I find him?" Junior asked.
"Let me see," she said, walking to a computer terminal in the wall. "Computer, locate all registered bio-signs onboard," she told it, in a clear voice.
"Falco Lombardi is in room A104 - Captains' general Office, Fox McCloud is in room A104 - Captains' general Office; Fox McCloud is in hallway b2 - Level1, Krystal of Cerinia is in Hallway B2 - Level1, Peppy Hare is in A106 - his quarters, Slippy Toad is in E102 - Main Flight Bay, Unknown / Unregistered person is in E102 - Main Flight Bay." The computer's dull, monotone voice brought a gleeful grin to Krystal's maw at hearing the Computer run down the roster, alphabetically, listing Fox twice.
"Well, your bio-signs are similar enough to Fox McCloud...rather, Mac, that it fooled the ship's computer!" she announced in amusement.
"Indeed," he said, pushing his paws back into the pockets which were deeper than he was used to.
"All right, let's go see Peppy. This way," she added, motioning for him to follow suite. Once they arrived at Peppy's room, she pressed the doorbell button on the panel, waiting for a reply.
"It's open," came the reply and with that, the two walked in, the doors shutting behind them. Peppy approached the group, offering a knowing smile to Junior and a paw to shake. "Peppy Hare. An interesting way to remake your acquaintance Fox McCloud Junior," He said in a dialect that was just a touch more country than Fox Junior was used to. It actually surprised him, more or less.
Fox shook the hare's paw and asked, "I was really curious if Mister James had any clothing, shirts preferably, in your possession. I was hoping one might fit," He said.
"Well, yes. Actually, I do. Our Fox's clothes don't fit you?" Peppy asked.
"Loose in the waist, tight in the shoulders," Junior admitted, almost as if he was embarrassed.
"Well, I heard you were military, which means you do Physical Training every morning. It's quite understandable. I'm willing to wager James' clothes would fit you, he was Military as well. Let me see what I have," The aging hare said, pushing his glasses further up his nose. He walked into his bedroom, leaving Junior and Krystal to wait in the living room.
When he returned, he was holding one of the four original James McCloud uniforms and a white T-shirt. Fox looked it over, noticing how it was slightly different in the threading and ranking than his own father's uniform. Fox Senior was a lead pilot in a fleet of squadrons, as well as a solo-test pilot and reconnaissance specialist.
At second look, their rank was the same, by number, but Fox Senior was an officer. James was high up on the enlisted scale, as the Wing Commander of the StarFox attack squadron, placing Fox Senior as a Captain and James at E-7, high up in the enlisted scale. It was so odd seeing how the same man was so different in two dimensions, where many things were the same but some important details were different.
Fox carried the uniform with reverence, heading into the bathroom. When he emerged, Peppy's jaw dropped. He held his paw up, then went into his bedroom again. When he returned, he asked Fox to wear a pair of aviator glasses.
With his silver head-communicator, Fox looked identical to James in every way possible, down to the last whisker. Peppy stumbled for words for a moment, seeing a ghost of his best friend, before clearing his throat, adding, "I need to ask Fox permission. These things belong to his father, after all. James didn't have the white stripe of head fur between his ears, that's something our Fox got from his maternal grandparents. Hold on." Obviously Peppy had seen this Fox without his headset, before Junior woke up in the medical ward.
Peppy turned to his living room comm-panel and dialed into Fox's ready room. "Hey, Fox. Look, the other Fox doesn't fit into your clothes. Difference between doing Physical Training every day, I guess. But P.T. aside, we thought maybe he'd fit in James' clothes a little better, but I wanted your consent, first."
"Sure, Pep. How does he look?" Mac asked, over the communicator. Peppy stepped aside, letting McCloud see his doppelganger in the background. Even Fox had to gasp at the perfectly uncanny resemblance. If he did some pushups and sit-ups and dyed his head fur, there was no doubt he would probably look as much like his father as this guy does. Fox found himself biting his lower lip. He could only wonder how Peppy was feeling, having fought alongside of the pilot until the man's death. The aviator glasses sealed the deal, along with the silver headset.
"Mother Gaia," Mac muttered. Fox felt partially jealous, knowing those uniforms didn't fit him well. He felt partially jealous about the sunshades too, but he knew Peppy only added them to see how it would look. When he finally caught his breath, he said, "Just keep the glasses in a safe place. I don't want anything to happen to them. Fox Junior, you may borrow those until we find a way to get you home. Then I want'em back, all right?"
"Fair enough, Mac. I'm honored to wear this uniform, if it makes any difference."
"You should be. When you see Slippy, guys, send him up here. Falco and I have decided to try and work on a way to get Fox and Fara back home and get some answers. We might need Slippy and his Beltino Toad on this one," The McCloud on the screen said.
"I think he's giving Fara the fighter bay tour, I'll send him up when I get down there," Krystal said with a soft smile.
"Thank you, Angel," Mac replied.
"You're welcome, Love. All right, Fox Junior, let's go." She then turned to Peppy, adding, "Thank you, Peppy. I'll come back later for Fox's clothes, in the bathroom. You're a peach!"
"Any time, Krystal. Always glad to be a help," said Peppy, turning to head back into his bedroom. Fox and Krystal saw their way out, heading for the elevator at the end of the hallway, heading for the Flight Deck.
Downstairs, Slippy and Fara were standing on the catwalk, directly above where the fighters were suspended, mounted to their launch dock. By this time, they had gone from talking about the fighters and Land-master tanks to talking about the stuttering speech impediment the other Slippy Toad had, over in Fara's dimension.
"But see, I was born as twins, but my brother didn't live passed childbirth," Slippy explained.
"See," Fara said, "That's exactly what happened to our Slippy. His voice is deeper, more like a croaking rumble, but he stutters when he's speaking. He's not as charismatic, but he does still have a fairly outgoing personality. He wears a necklace that's more of a utility belt than a fashion statement. And," Fara paused. "He's not as good at building weapons and such, but he is just as skilled when it comes to putting together fighters and doing engineering work," She added.
"My mother had been in a car accident," Slippy's slightly higher pitched voice squeaked out, "And the paramedics said that she was endanger of losing us both, so they gave her a Cesarean Section. The one they pulled first was me, by the time they went back for the other, he had died." Slippy then paused. "You don't think that in your dimension, the paramedics pulled the other one out first and... I died... leaving my father to name the survivor the same name... do you?"
Fara frowned, "It's a tragic accident, no matter how you look at it, but for anyone who lost a sibling in child birth, it might give them hope to know that their sibling might have survived and is healthy, somewhere else in the universe," She said somewhat optimistically.
"I wish I could meet him. My brother," Slippy said.
Fara sighed, adding, "Well if we don't get back there soon, I don't know what will happen to them. Venom probably exchanged them for the release of their prisoners but I don't wanna think about it, just incase something more sinister happens to them."
"I understand. We'll find a way to get you home quickly. I don't want anything to happen to my brother," Slippy said, looking dejected at the thought of not being able to meet his twin.
"Anything is possible," Fox Junior said as he and Krystal approached the group. "Personally, I think Corneria is going to reject a trade off and Heaven only knows what they'll do with our boys."
"You're quite the optimist," Fara scolded him, after seeing how emotional the thought of knowing his brother survived somewhere, made Slippy feel.
"I want to get back and try to save my boys, don't think that's not my first priority," Fox said flatly. "The thing is, the guys upstairs need Slippy, here, and his brains. They're gonna get Beltino involved and try and figure a way back up through the hole before it closes, or see if they can't plot a course back through an alternative black hole, originating here, or however they have to do it."
Slippy nodded, turning to shake Fara's paw before heading off the catwalk, and out of the flight bay. Krystal and Fara shook hands once more, leaving the women and Fox standing over the Arwings in silence. Krystal stayed quiet out of reverence for a moment, to give them a second together before she scanned their minds, seeing their mood was slightly deteriorating. She cleared her throat, finally breaking the silence to uplift their moods.
"Well, I guess Slippy gave Fara the tour, but as you guys can see, the Arwings here are ready to go at a moments notice and the spare Arwings are over in that mechanical beast," She said, pointing to the lift on the other end of the bay. "And the Land-Master tanks are underneath and over there is the Blue Marine, our mini-attack submarine. It's been retired, though. They used it on Aquais and even put it into use on Zoness to clean up the area, after the Lylat Wars concluded. But it's been in retirement since before I met Mac."
"Mac?" Fara asked, tilting her head.
"What we've decided to call My Fox, so there's no confusion," Krystal replied.
"So," Fara said, turning to Fox, putting her paws on her hips, "Where did you get those handsome threads? The name on the chest is right but the rank and the bordering colors are all wrong."
"They belonged to Fox's father, James McCloud," Fox said respectfully, putting his paws into the pockets, which were a comfortable depth, worthy of a respectable military man.
"I like you're Arwings," Fara said, turning to Krystal.
"Yeah," Fox agreed, "They're sleeker and more stylish than the military ones. But you know the military... if it works, don't change or alter it. I like the upgrades and modifications you guys did to the body."
"They're mostly things Slippy and his family did for us," Krystal said. "The rest was done by corporate experts after the paycheck from the Dinosaur Planet mission. It's where I met Fox," she added with a knowing smile. Fara felt a little awkward, but reminded herself silently, that the two Foxes were different. She gave Krystal a smile in return, as if they were supposed to understand where the other was coming from, dating their own version of the same man or something. In reality, it was simply weird for Fara. She didn't like to feel like she was sharing what she thought was especially reserved for her. It was weird knowing another woman knew Fox intimately... knew his gestures and his touch.
Fox slipped his paw into Fara's own, comfortingly, which secretly alleviated her heart just a bit. Knowing eyes of swirling emerald met hers and she felt relief. From what she gathered, she needed to know this other Fox McCloud to determine if they were both the same or simply similar.
"Fox," she said with a sweet smile, "I was wondering if I could go with Slippy and help to see if there's any way we can get back the way we came?"
"Well of course!" Fox Junior said, reaching to scritch his claws under her chin, playfully, with his free hand. He drew her paw to his lips, kissing her knuckles then gave her a gentle pat on the rear. "Maybe Krystal here, will be kind enough to let me fly one of these Arwings?"
"Well, I think Fox ...er... Mac, wants to be absolutely sure it's ruled out that you two aren't clones or spies of some sort, first. But I'm sure we could arrange something, when we get back to Corneria for some medical tests," she said.
"Eh," Fox frowned. He hated not being trusted, especially by his own crew. Maybe he was a touch more naive than this Fox and his crew, but if they showed up on his side, he'd have trusted them. "Ah well. All right, Fara. Go ahead and see if you can make heads or tails of any of this," he added, before sharing a quick kiss with the departing fennec.
Once she was gone, Krystal turned to him and frowned slightly. Her frumpy demeanor accented by the jutting of her lower lip. "Fara doesn't seem to take well to me. I've not been able to ascertain some of the oddly complex emotions of Lylat women. I have nothing to be jealous of and can't figure out why she looks at me in such a way," She explained, running her fingers back through her bangs.
"It's not that she doesn't like you. Its weird knowing there's a woman around who dates Fox McCloud and knows me as well as she does. She feels what her and I have is special, sacred. Now it feels imitated," he said with a thoughtful shrug.
"You guys are incredibly different," Krystal said, shaking her head. "You're more like brothers than you are the same man. You even have different distinguishing features. Your build is fairly close to the same but as we found earlier, it's not perfectly identical. You're also better spoken with your manners, regardless of putting a knife to a random girl's throat," she chided with a grin.
"And he's more...?"
"Raw," she said. "Intensely raw. It's a quality I love about him. I'm not saying you sugar coat things in retrospect. No, by all means, you're very to-the-point. But you're pleasant. You're reverent. You're mindful and respectful and trained and keep your back straight and don't slouch when you sit. My Fox is more instinctive, shrewd, and will be the first to grouse when he doesn't get paid. I suppose," Krystal trailed off then grinned, "Military men just aren't my style."
"Ah," Fox said with a chuckle, "I see now. I'm too refined and officer-like. You want a man who's more... real? Exciting?"
"I guess. My Fox is more natural. You've been molded," She said, being blunt.
Junior nodded cautiously. "Oh. All right, I see what you mean. But when Fara sees the difference between us, she'll know that she has me and my quirks all to herself and you have him and his quirks to yourself. So it works."
"Wonderful!" Krystal said with a chuckle. "Let's go see what's going on upstairs," She added, motioning for him to follow back up to the elevator.
(next up: )
Chapter 3: StarFox ...Armada?
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