An Old Friend

[Saski]

My first fanfiction, its all at fanfiction.net but I will post it chapter by chapter here. Criticism is very appreciated, I'm currently working on the 11th chapter and I should finish it this month or next and hopefully the whole story before the year is over

Synopsis: It's been almost two years since Star Fox defeated Andross. Lylat has been left in ruins, pirates and crime lords have taken this as an oppurtunity. Star Fox is out of a job but an old friend of Peppy and Fox's Father is about to make an appearence.

                                                                Ch.1 Intro

"Falco, did you take my plasma scanner?" said a young Slippy Toad with his squeaky voice under a massive blue and white tank.

"Why would I need your plasma scanner?" responded the young and tall Falco Lombardi, who was seating quite comfortably on a metal chair.

"Probably because you have a tendency of stealing my equipment and selling it for cheap prices on Corneria!".

"Hey I told you I didn't sold your hypermeter, I just let a friend borrow it".

"You two need to stop stealing and making false accusations at one another" said the young Fox McCloud who had just entered the main Hangar bay of the first Great Fox. "Slippy I took your plasma scanner it's on the bridge" said Fox.

"Oh, I'll go get it right now" said Slippy who proceeded to exit the Hangar. Falco closed his eyes and leaned back for a nap.

"You need to take it easy on Slippy Falco, his mother was really important to him and he has been a little grumpy since she died" said Fox to his friend.

"Whatever, I'll mind my business Fox"

Falco was annoyed at Fox's comment; he got up and also left the hangar leaving Fox by himself. Fox looked at him and shook his head, "You'll never change my friend" he thought.

It has been one-point-eight years since the Lylat Wars. The Star Fox team has been out of the job and has been depending on their reward and small jobs here and there to maintain themselves. Lylat is still not a safe place, the war diminished the Cornerian ranks and regional pirate groups have risen throughout the system. The Star Fox has team is mostly assigned to search for pirate hideouts which are then raided by Cornerian military task forces. The Great Fox is currently roaming the outer edges of the system hoping that a Cornerian general will request their services.

Peppy Hare, the more aged member of Star Fox, sat on a chair on the bridge of the Great Fox, with a computer screen directly to his side that was attached to the chair itself. The bridge was being naturally illuminated by the yellowish light that emanated from the star of Lylat, Solar, as well by the flashes that came from computer screens and buttons throughout the bridge. Fox came in talking with Slippy through the communicator on his wrist.

"Just check them Slip, I don't want one to go off when we are sleeping" said Fox in a calm matter. Fox looked around the bridge before he took notice of Peppy; he looked as if he was in a trance since he was just staring at his computer screen. "Hey Peppy what's so interesting?" Peppy didn't seem to notice Fox, "Peppy, Peppy!" After this Peppy finally seemed to take notice of Fox.

"Uh, what Fox?" said Peppy, barely taking notice of Fox.

"I said what are you looking at on your computer screen?"

"Just looking an old picture that your mother took a long time ago"

[Saski]

                                                            Ch.2 Pictures and Pictures

"An old picture, from when Peppy?" asked the curious Fox.

"It's from a couple of years before you were born" said Peppy with an uncharismatic tone.

"Can I see it?"

"Sure"

Fox walked over to were Peppy was and crouched down to see the screen at eye level. He began to analyze the picture carefully. He recognized the setting of it as the Great Fox's hangar bay, he noticed that most of the picture showed Peppy sitting and writing on what appeared to be bills.

"Is this from when you and my father bought the Great Fox?"

Peppy nodded and Fox and returned to the picture.

Fox noticed an old all-white SF-328, the old starfighter of the Star Fox team, which was at the far end of the hangar. Fox noticed his father standing next to the all-white fighter, talking to someone. He touched the screen to zoom in the picture and noticed a person giving his back to the camera and apparently listening to something Fox's father was saying. The tall figure was wearing a long sleeved green flight jacket, jeans, and what appeared to be combat boots with the jeans tucked in them. He also noticed that this person had a soldier helmet on with a jungle or forest looking camouflage pattern and with the words "FOLLOW MY ASS" written on it. Fox didn't recognize this person at all.

"Peppy who is this next to my father?" after hearing this Peppy looked down and let out a sigh.

"He is an old friend of Star Fox, I last saw him about 18 years ago" said Peppy very emotionally. Fox noticed this and that the picture was around 22 years old. Peppy turned the computer off and closed the screen.

"Hey!" exclaimed Fox. "

"I'm sorry fox but I'm going to sleep now" and after saying this Peppy good up and left the bridge.

"What's gotten into you Peppy, emotional all of a sudden"

Fox thought this out loud, he knew that it had to do with that person in the picture but he didn't know why. Fox wanted to take a look at Peppy's pictures but he knew that they were probably set to private. Fox could have used an override code but he will never do such a thing to Peppy.

"Oh well, guess I'll check the message log"

Fox proceeded to the nearest computer screen. He opened up the message log.

"Fan mail, fan mail, spam, and spam"

It looked like what it always was, fan mail from female and male individuals who had crushes on certain team members, spam messages about faux products, but then he noticed something.

"What's this, from general Pepper?"

The message had already been open and read so he opened it again to see what it was. It read:

"To Peppy, Marcus's ship detected entering the system"

That was all it said, Fox didn't know anyone named Marcus; he was rather perplexed at the shortness of the message and that Pepper would contact Peppy first and not Fox. Peppy knew Pepper since they were in the academy but they weren't that close, Pepper was closer to Fox's father.

"Guess I'll ask Peppy was going on tomorrow"

Fox opened up the communicator in the computer panel he was using. He clicked on Slippy's name and he began to talk to him.

"Slippy this is Fox, Send Rob up to the bridge and tell him to that he can stop the ship for the night".

"Alright Fox I'll do it right now, Slippy out"

Fox exited the bridge and began to walk towards his room. He was still thinking about the mysterious person in the picture and the awkward message from Pepper. He walked next to the common room where he saw Falco lying across the only couch watching the T.V.

"Anything good on the T.V. Falco?"

Falco looked around to see Fox then he turned back to the screen.

"Just this zombie movie but it sucks"

"Ok, don't stay up to late"

He left Falco alone and departed to his room. Fox arrived to his room and he typed a code on the keypad next to the door of his room. The metal door made a swoosh sound as it opened from right to left.

Fox entered his room and he locked the door by pressing a button. He walked to his bed and he sat on it. The room was fresh and it could get cold at times. It wasn't very big, it had a simple closet in which fox kept just a few clothes, a plasma carbine and a door that led to a bathroom, just like the rest of the rooms on the great Fox. The walls were metal but painted dark blue. He had a small wood drawer next to his bed in which he kept personal items. Fox turned around to see four holographic pictures which he kept on top of his drawer. Those four photos were very important for him, each one at 4 different points in his life.

The first photo was the only one Fox had of him and his mother. He was just a baby and his mother was holding him in her arms. She was sitting on a bench in a park somewhere in a Cornerian city. Fox never really got to known his mother since she died when he was only two years of age.

The second photo showed Fox in his cadet uniform next to his three best friends in the Cornerian Armed Forces Academy. He was only fifteen in this picture and all four in the picture where smiling at the camera. The first one from left to right was Bill Grey, whom Fox had been friends with since childhood. Next to him was Slippy, he and Fox had met in preparatory school and they had been good friends ever since. Then it was Fox and next to him was Fara Phoenix. Fara met Fox on her first year at the academy, she tried to become close to Fox but unfortunately Fox turned her down in order to join Star Fox after the disaster and treason at Venom, she died during the battle of Sector Y, unbeknownst to Fox as he also fought in it.

The third picture was the last picture of Fox and his father before he died. It showed a sixteen year old Fox standing next to his father. It had been taken by Peppy on the bridge of the Great Fox. His father was looking at him and Fox was looking at the camera. This picture was very important for Fox and so was the last one which showed the current Star Fox team standing again in the bridge of the Great Fox, it was taken hours after Fox refused to make Star Fox join the Cornerian Army.

Fox looked at this pictures and he went to sleep still thinking of the mysterious person in the picture and the awkward message from Pepper.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

AWESOME! Also, welcome to SF-O!

[Guest Trace]

Nice dude,real nice!! I like it,keep going. :D

[Saski]

                                                                          Ch.3 A job

Fox found himself in a very dark seemingly endless hallway. He was on the very end of it and to the opposite side laid a small white light. He began to walk towards it, his footsteps echoing throughout the hallway; once he reached it he found a door. He opened the door and he entered another long hallway but this one had dozens of doors to each side and it was longer and had illumination, being different from the previous hallway. Then he noticed someone on an end of the hallway, he couldn't recognize this person initially. He began to walk towards him or her. Then Fox instantly recognized this person, his own father standing there almost motionless. His father didn't seem to take notice of him. Fox began to walk towards him, then he began to jog and then he found himself running but he couldn't reach his father; it was as though he was on a treadmill. Then his father moved to the left and entered the closest door. The door then closed, after a few moments Fox finally reached the spot where his father had been standing. He opened the door that his father had entered only to find a stone wall.

Fox woke up; he was breathing very harshly, his fur bathed in cold, harsh sweat. He felt as though he had come from a real run. He was waking up from the same dream that had haunted him for the last year and a half. He knew it had to do with what had happened after he defeated Andross's true form. He remembered the white flash of the explosion that followed and his screaming. Then hearing the voice and seeing the arwing of his father which helped him to escape from Andross's doomed lair. But, he had not told anyone of this.

It was four in the morning, the time Fox usually woke up to prepare for another day of work at the Great Fox. He dress on his usual clothes, a green jumpsuit, flight boots and the white flight jacket that had his name which was similar to the rest of the flight jackets his team wore. He decided not to use the red scarf that he usually wrapped around his neck. After taking a piss he headed for the bridge were he would ask R.O.B. for a status report. Along his way he found Falco on the same couch he had seen him last night. He was in a very deep sleep, Fox knew it was better not to wake him up in order to avoid his usual complains. After a couple of hours on the bridge analyzing the status of the ship he headed to the small kitchen that the Great Fox had. The kitchen was like most of the other areas of the ship. It was surrounded by metallic walls, ceiling, and floor. It had a food storage and dispense unit, a small electrically operated stove and a box full of disposable plates, cups, spoons, forks and knifes. He made himself breakfast and headed back to the "Captains chair" on the bridge where he would use his personal computer to entertain himself until the rest of his team members woke up and got briefed on the work for today.

The briefings were usually held at the bridge and around seven A.M. Slippy entered the bridge.

"Morning Fox"

"Morning Slippy, you need help on anything hard today?"

"I may have to ask Peppy or Falco to check the new scanners that I installed on the arwings but other than that I'm just going to take the day off if you don't mind"

"Sure Slip, we been working hard this week and I'm going to let you guys take the day off"

Slippy started to ask Rob on the status of the ship which was what he usually did on the morning also. Knowing Falco and Peppy, Fox knew that they wouldn't come to the bridge until they had eaten something and by that time it would be around eight in the morning. Sure enough, at eight Falco and Peppy entered the bridge and they seated down on their personal chairs which had their computer screens. Fox began to speak to his team

"Alright guys, the plan for today is to take the day off in celebration of the three day anniversary for fixing the hyper reactor"

"Finally!" exclaimed Falco.

"So, I can finally finish that damned book" followed Peppy.

"Oh Falco, you are taking your arwing to the nearby debris field" ordered Fox.

"What for?"

"To test the new scanners that Slippy installed."

"Meh, at least I get to fly the thing, it's been too long since the last time any of us flew"

"I know Falco, well, I think that's it for…"

"Incoming transmission from Rear Admiral Norten" Interrupted R.O.B.

"Huh, put him through Rob" said Fox.

A holographic screen opened in front of all of them showing a middle aged leopard in Cornerian Navy uniform.

"Star Fox team I' am Rear Admiral Norten, commander of the Cornerian Navy Convoy Escort Forces" said the leopard in a very formal tone.

"What can we do for you admiral?"

"The navy is sending a small convoy of empty escort carriers through a possible pirate transited route. We want you to scout for us an area between Macbeth and Zoness"

"Why can't you send a couple of scout cruisers?" asked Falco without looking at the hologram

"We were going to send Two Naval Fighter Squadrons but I was order to transfer them to the command of another officer. There are no other forces available to me so I was authorized by the High Command to hire mercenaries."

By this time the entire team was eager to hear more on the possibility of doing something interesting since jobs were becoming difficult to obtain.

"I thought it would be a good idea to hire the Star Fox team since you might encounter hostile forces in the area, and your reputation precedes you"

"Hostile?" asked Slippy

"Yes, there have been reports of merchant ships being raided by pirates and former Venomian forces." responded Norten. "You will get paid a substantial amount of credits if you accept this offer"

The whole team knew that Fox was going to say yes but they also wanted to know how much they will get paid.

"How many credits are we talking about Admiral?" asked Fox

"Twenty thousand credits total, ten thousand in advance and ten thousand after you debrief"

The amount of money that the Admiral mentioned would be enough to repair some minor problems in the great fox. It wasn't an amount comparable to the one they were paid after defeating Andross but they all welcomed any job offer that would pay them money.

"Well Admiral I think that we have a deal" said Fox

"Good, contact me three days from now to report on your scouting, Norten out"

With this the holographic screen closed, the members of the Star Fox team seemed to be relieved at the presence of a job where they actually got to use their arwings again.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Very good!

[Saski]

                                                    Ch. 4 Earning Green

The Great Fox was on a course to a radioactive debris field near Macbeth. Slippy had checked that the team's arwings were fully operational. The whole team was very anxious at the possibility of shooting at something for the first time in four months. The Great Fox was now arriving at the area indicated by the admiral where they would have the opportunity of earning some much needed money.

"Rob, check the long range sensors for fighter sized ships" commanded Fox

"Affirmative, long range sensors are being jammed by radiation coming from the debris field"

"What about the short range sensors on the arwings?" asked Peppy.

"Short range sensors on the arwings are functional only up to 200 meters"

"That should be enough; if we stay close to each other we could scan the entire debris field in just an hour" said Slippy

"Rob, is the arwings communication system range limited by the radiation?" asked Fox.

"Negative"

They left the ship just outside the field; the four small arwings came out of the ship. The team assumed a diamond formation with Fox at the front, Falco to his right, Peppy behind, and Slippy to his left. They were surrounded by pieces of destroyed ships, remnants of the war, and asteroids, both of which were emitting the radiation. The shields of the arwings protected the team from the deadly radiation. They scanned an area and then moved to another one. Suddenly Falco broke formation.

"Falco, what are you doing?" asked Fox, worried that Falco was about to do something stupid.

"I saw something; I'm going to check it out"

"Damn it Falco!" thought Fox.

"Peppy, Slippy, wait here I'm going with Falco"

"Roger Fox" responded the hare and the frog in unison.

Fox increased the power to the arwing's thrusters in order to catch up with Falco. He carefully but quickly avoided the pieces of debris that were in his way, following the speeding blue light that was Falco's arwing.

"I see it, is a small fighter… What the!" said Falco through the communicator." He is engaging me!"

"Falco hold on, don't try anything stupid" said Fox

"I can take care of it Fox!"

Fox could see Falco on the other fighter beginning to engage in a dogfight. He could only see the blue exhaust of Falco's arwing and the yellow exhaust of the other fighter. Falco was having difficulty in staying behind the other fighter. Fox couldn't catch up with Falco and the other fighter; the two fighters were flying in the same direction and at the same speed as Fox.

"Peppy, Slippy try to catch up to Falco"

"Shoot he is right behind me!" screamed Falco through the comm channel that went through all of his teammate's arwing's.

Just when Fox taught he was never going to see his friend again the other fighter disengaged and went into hyperspace. The four arwings then regrouped.

"What the heck was that!" said Falco.

"I don't know but that sure wasn't a pirate ship, he was too good and too well equipped." said Fox.

After a couple minutes of discussing who or what that fighter could have been the team continued to search the field. Then they came into an area where there seemed to be a hole in the field since there were no debris, it was a rather odd scene.

"This is weird" said Slippy.

"What's weird Slip?" asked Fox.

"I'm detecting a strong gravity signal directly in front of us; I think it might be a jammer."

"I don't see anything Slip" said Peppy.

"Yeah me neither" said Falco.

"It could be cloaked or…"

"Attention you dirty merc scum. This is the territory of the Dark Flame Pirates; if you want your lives to be spared you will leave this area immediately." Interrupted a voice through the comm channel of the arwings. As the voice said this two red and black painted assault gunships and several fighters de-cloaked and emerged surrounding the Star Fox team. They were surrounded and underpowered. Fox responded to the pirate's threat.

"Pirates, we will leave the area as soon as we can."

With these words Fox set a course away from the debris field and towards the Great Fox, he pushed the thrusters on his arwing forward and the arwing accelerated at a great speed. The rest of the team followed him and the four arwings formed a diamond shaped formation. The pirates went dispersed and they soon disappeared into the debris field again.

"Fox why did we leave we could have easily defeated those guys" said Falco.

"I know but our mission was to scout the area and we got some pretty good data for the admiral"

The team arrived safely to the Great Fox. Fox told the rest of the team that they could take a rest and that he would de-brief the admiral. He and Slippy headed to the bridge, Falco went to his room and Peppy went to the common room. In the bridge Slippy went to check the ships status and Fox sat in the captain's chair. He called the Admiral via his computer; the computer screen had an integrated camera so that he could talk directly to the Admiral.

"Ah Mr. McCloud, I was waiting for this message. What is the situation in the area?"

"Admiral, me and the team encountered a group of pirates in an area of the debris field were the debris weren't as densely packed…"

"Did the pirates give you the name of their group or person to whom they work for?"

"Yes, they claimed to be 'Dark Flame Pirates'"

"We have had problems with this specific group for a couple of months now. Can you tell me what their strength is?"

"They have a couple of Venomian light gunships and around fifteen fighters; they seemed to me as Cornerian fighters and were also equipped with a device that seems to cloak their ships"

"All this information is very useful; your fee is being transferred as we speak. On behalf of the Cornerian Navy I thank you and your team."

"You can call us anytime admiral"

With this the admiral finished the conversation and Fox began to check if the fee had been passed. Sure enough he had ten thousand more credits than he had in the morning. The other ten thousand that had been given to the team had been divided into four equal amounts for each team member. Every time they were paid an amount fifty percent went to their personal needs and the other fifty to the team's needs.

"Slippy, make a list of what we can buy with the ten thousand for the ship"

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Sweet!  Another awesome chapter!

[Saski]

                                                  Ch. 5 Meeting the Old Friend

Fox sat in his chair at the bridge; it was very late at night. He was checking for any news on his computer that might be relevant for mercenaries, in order of course to find another job. An article found his attention, it read:

"A force of pirates was confronted today by units of the Cornerian Navy. The pirates were hiding on a radioactive field near a transited route of Cornerian military and civilian cargo convoys. The pirates had raided an estimated 24 civilian convoys. The navy's units successfully captured most of the pirates but a small number of the pirates, including their leader managed to escape. The Naval force consisted of…"

Fox was relieved to see that the job he did led to a successful outcome. He knew why the pirate activity had risen dramatically since the defeat of Andross. A large number of the former Venomian soldiers had escaped capture with their weapons and ships. Some of them sold the weapons, others started a life of crime and the really hardcore and devoted Andross fanatics led suicidal raids against the Cornerian military. Fox was up late in order to check the ship by himself and to stand guard in case something happened while the team slept but he knew nothing of that nature ever happened. He looked out the window and saw the nearby light of solar hitting the atmosphere of the farthest planet orbiting it which was Fichina the planet with the endless blizzard. He also saw the green color form of sector Y. He gazed at this sight of Lylat for some moments. Suddenly something happened which was extremely unusual, he felt and heard a ship docking in the rear of the Great Fox.

"Rob, has a ship docked to the Great Fox?" asked Fox very confused.

"Affirmative, one individual is entering through the aft hangar airlock"

"Isn't the airlock locked from the inside?"

"The individual used the correct override code."

This confused Fox even more; he taught for a moment that it might be Pigma and Star Wolf. But the only people with the Great Fox's override codes were his father, Peppy, and himself. He got up and quickly exited the bridge and took the fastest route to the aft hangar bay. He had his blaster with him and was running as fast as he could through the halls of the Great Fox. The aft hangar served mostly as the place where the team would keep the supplies that they bought from merchants. The small merchant ships would dock on the back and those were the only occasions were the airlock was unlocked. The rest of the time it was left locked from the inside since there was no open button on the outside, just the command override keypad. Fox reached the hangar from a place he knew he could sneak behind whomever or whatever it was that had entered the Great Fox. The main hangar lights were kept turned off in order to conserve energy. The only light was a bright blue neon light bulb that illuminated the entire hangar, barely; it was right on top of the hangar.

When he got to the door that led to the hangar he turned the lights of the hallway he was in off, he opened the door slowly and silently by hand. The neon blue light shone on his Face, Fox walked quietly, he saw an individual giving his back to him. He could see that the individual had what appeared to be a blaster in a holster that lay on the left side of the individual, right under his armpit. Fox carefully took his blaster out and approached the individual silently. The individual didn't seem to have noticed Fox.

The intruder was wearing a tight sleeveless shirt, normal pants and military like leather boots and was also somewhat taller than Fox. The intruder didn't seem to have any fur, hair, scales or even a tail which seemed really odd to Fox. As he approached this intruder something familiar appeared. The individual had the same helmet that the one Fox had seen in the photo on Peppy's computer. It had the same "FOLLOW MY A$$" written on it. The mysterious person was roaming through a crate of spare Arwing software cards. Then the vulpine confronted him.

"Hands up and turn around!"

The person raised his hands slowly and responded with a young male voice but did not turn around. "What's the matter James, it hasn't been twenty-five years and you can't recognize an old friend?"

Two things that this person mentioned made Fox hesitate, the fact that this person taught that Fox was Fox's father and that Peppy had addressed the person in the picture as "an old friend". The person then turned around and Fox saw a species that he had never seen before, the person had no fur whatsoever and looked like a more evolved form of a hairless chimp. The person had light colored skin, dark colored eyes, an abnormal nose to Fox, and had eyebrows and eyelashes. Fox could also see that there was something else written on the person's helmet, it read " …I CAN WALK!". The person then spoke.

"Hey wait a second, you're not James your his little son Fox!" said the person in an astonished matter. "Look at you, you are all grown up, last time I saw you were only this big" and he made the measurement of the size of a cub with his hands.

"Take your weapon off and put it in the floor slowly!" commanded Fox. He was confused, he knew by the way that this person looked and talked, this individual was probably just a couple of years older or younger than him so how could he have known his Father or him when Fox was just a cub?

"Oh there's nothing to worry about Fox, just call your old man or Peppy they'll remember me"

"Put the weapon down, now!" yelled Fox. The person complied; Fox saw that it was not a blaster and that it was actually a weapon that he had only seen in historical databanks. It was a pistol that operated by gas and had metal bullets; this gun was brutally outdated in comparison with Fox's blaster.

"Look Fox just call your old man, or Peppy if he is still a part of the team"

"What is your name?"

"Didn't your old man talked to you about me…well I don't think I am much of a role model"

"Your name now!"

"My name is Marcus Alexander Howell and I am immortal"

[Saski]

                                                                Ch. 6 Meet an Immortal

Fox could not help but wonder why "Marcus" had said that he was immortal. He kept aiming his blaster at Marcus's head while Marcus just stood there with a grin on his face.

"Look Fox, I don't mean to cause any trouble, I just came by to have a talk with your old man and Peppy."

"Shut up! Get on your knees and stay there!" Marcus didn't comply.

"Come on Fox don't point that thing at me!"

"Don't make me shoot you because I will!"

"No need to do that Fox."

Fox heard this, it was Peppy and he was coming in through the main hangar entrance, he turned on the main lights of the hangar. Fox and Marcus cover their eyes slightly as they adjusted to the light. Peppy looked at Marcus with a very tough looking face. Marcus began to smile as he saw Peppy, Fox was confused and he slowly lowered his blaster. Peppy began to walk up to Marcus, not loosing eye contact at any moment and then he said something that confused Fox even more.

"How are you doing undying bastard!"

"Like always, living the endless life"

They gave each other a friendly hug.

"It's good to see you Peppy"

"Nah is good to see you"

"Peppy, who is this?" asked Fox

"This is Marcus the immortal Fox; he is a very good friend of mine…" Peppy said this in a happy tone but then he spoke with sadness. "…and he was a good friend of your father."

"What do you mean was, James still around isn't he?"

Fox looked down; he began to remember when Peppy had told him of his father's fate. Peppy answered Marcus's question.

"I last saw James over six years ago."

"No, no, it can be true" Marcus didn't seem to believe what he was hearing, but it was true and he finally went to his knees. "Damn it!" said Marcus to himself and he punched the cold floor of the hangar. He stood up and walked over to Fox who didn't felt threatened by Marcus anymore.

"Your father was a great friend Fox, I will miss him" Fox had an idea of what Marcus felt but then again he had doubts about his father's fate that he had not shared with anyone. Fox knew that Marcus had known his father but he had several doubts especially because Marcus seemed too young to have known his father.

"How old are you Marcus?"

"We will have time for that later Fox," said Peppy and he looked over at Fox with a look that said not now. Fox understood this and nodded.

"Well Marcus would you like us to give you an up to date story of what has happened in the last twenty years" said Peppy.

"I think I'm entitled to hear it Peppy"

Peppy and Marcus began to walk out of the hangar. Peppy made a motion with his paw instructing Fox to follow. Peppy gave a tour of the Great Fox to Marcus who install saw that the ship had changed a lot since the last time he had been aboard. It was now four in the morning and the trio ended the tour in the bridge.

"Well Marcus I think Fox can tell you what has happened" Marcus agreed. Fox knew that Peppy was trying to get Fox more familiar with Marcus but he still maintained his doubts. He nevertheless explained to Marcus important facts about Star Fox. When he mentioned that Pigma had entered Star Fox Marcus responded by saying "What good could the walking heart-attack bring to the team". When he told him what Andross had done to Lylat he simply said "A$$hole". Fox was amazed at Marcus's use of obscene words, it wasn't that Marcus used to much vulgarity since he had hear worse, but that it seem to be part of his way of speaking.

By the time, Fox was finished with the so-called story, Marcus simply said, "Well, you have had good times and bad times Star Fox." Marcus then said "So is it only you Peppy and Rob now?"

Peppy gave him the answer "Actually we should introduce you to the other two team members."

"Yeah I should wake them up," said Fox who raised his right arm to talk through the communicator in his wrist. "Slippy, Falco, we need you at the bridge right now"

"Remember Beltino's son Marcus, he is our main engineer now" Said Peppy

"No way, then he probably is one hell of an engineer"

After a period of awkward silence, Slippy and Falco entered the bridge. Fox was surprised since he taught Falco was going to take longer. They greeted Fox and Peppy and immediately noticed Marcus.

"And you are?" asked Falco.

Peppy responded for Marcus "Slippy and Falco this is an old friend of mine and Fox father, he will tell you a long story. If you excuse me Marcus I'm going to get some sleep." Marcus nodded.

"Well kids, I think you should all take a seat since this is going to take a while"

"Who you calling kid?" Falco said

Marcus ignored this; the three mercenaries went ahead and sat down.

"This story will hopefully answer any questions that you have about me but if you have questions please ask them once I'm finished"

Fox was confused about who Marcus was, even though Peppy apparently knew him very well. He was anxious to hear what Marcus had to say and he could see that Slippy and Falco were also anxious since they seemed more confused than Fox. Once everyone had taken a seat, Marcus began to speak.

"Ok, my name is Marcus Alexander Howell and I am the last of my species; I was born in May 4, 1950, in a planet around four thousand light years from Lylat in a place called Manchester New Hampshire, but my family moved to a desert town called Holbrook Arizona when I was just a kid. I grew up with my mother and my father, never had siblings. I' am, by your standards, exactly 530,237 years old, and I got that old thanks to several things. You see, when I was just a kid, I was walking around this place where there were many caves underground and I fell into one of them, it took three days for someone to find me. During the three-day period, I explored the caves. On the second day I came across a corpse, I noticed that it was from one of the natives that lived in the area. I felt disturbed by seeing it and because he was not buried. There were many rocks around and I decided to bury him under the rocks. Then, weird s#!t started to happen. As I lay the last rock, the ground began to tremble and I fell on my back. There was a bright white flash, and I saw what I would say was the spirit of the native standing in front of me. He told me that he used to be an immortal and that when an immortal dies, whoever puts the immortal corpse's to rest will gain the curse of immortality"

Slippy then asked a question "But, how can an immortal die?"

"Kid, I said no interruptions. Immortals don't die naturally but they can get killed. The spirit told me that my body would grow physically until I reach the quarter of the life I would have lived. That is why I look so young, I grew until I was twenty-five, after that day I have looked the same. So I was found the day after that and I didn't want to tell anyone what I had seen, but that night I told my father what had happened and he didn't believe me, told me it was only a nightmare that I had down in those caves. So I continued to live in Holbrook but when I was sixteen my parents unfortunately died in a vehicular accident. I left the life that I had in Holbrook, until I talked to an Army recruiter. I became a soldier at age seventeen and went off to a foreign land in order to kill some commies. For four years I was knee deep in the s#!t, I made friends who would later die in my arms."

Fox could not believe that Marcus was speaking about things like this without choking up.

"After four years in the army I decided to find myself a wife. I did and we had a son but both my wife and son died, they were the only two persons from my planet that knew that I was truly an immortal. At that point, I was forty-three years old and for the next twenty years, I sought knowledge throughout my planet. Fifteen years into my travel, I came across an individual. His name was Maghar, he was an alien from a different planet, and he was an immortal. He explained to me that in the galaxy there were a maximum of fifty immortals at one time and that every 25,000 years the immortals gathered in a remote star system near the edge of the galaxy. You see, immortals have a great potential of becoming rules, I once went to a planet with an early civilization, told those people that I was a supreme god and within three thousand years, I build a very powerful empire that controlled 200 star systems, I acquired them without force. The immortals meet to talk and decide about the future of the galaxy. Maghar took me as an apprentice and I was until his death 400,000 years ago. I left my planet with Maghar when the rulers of my planet went into nuclear war and managed to turn the planet into a barren wasteland of extinction. After Maghar's death, I traveled the galaxy and I did tasks that I was assigned as an immortal by the high council of the ten oldest immortals. I also became a fighter pilot and I built my own ship and fighter, and during my travels I also replaced my skeleton with a very resistant and light metal."

The three members of Star Fox were amazed at what Marcus was saying, it seem unreal but plausible.

"About 200 years ago, I started to work as a bounty hunter and mercenary. One time, while traveling through Lylat I stumble across a great pilot who had just formed a mercenary team. I help him with my knowledge and I become friends with him. That person was Fox's father. After the death of Fox's mother, I told James and Peppy that I would be gone for twenty years since I had an important personal matter in a nearby system but that I will come back. And that's why I popped up here all of a sudden."

The team was speechless; Fox wasn't as confused anymore though. Falco then spoke.

"Wow"

"Yeah, I get that a lot"

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Awesome!

"What good could the walking heart-attack bring to the team"

^ Ha ha, good one!

[Saski]

                                                      Ch. 7 Inside the Guy's Ship

So, you guys known each other for a long time?" asked Marcus.

The three team members looked at each other, Slippy responded to Marcus's question.

"Well, I known Fox since I was a kid." He had a hesitant tone in his voice.

Falco then spoke "Well I known this pair ever since they had an extra Arwing stored in the hangar."

"Actually Falco, I remember a different story…" Fox said this and turned his head to face Falco, "…but that story is for another time."

"Do any of you have anymore questions at the moment?" said Marcus.

Fox decided to ask a very smart question, "Can you do anything that we can't do Marcus?" he asked in a sort of challenging tone.

Marcus responded quickly and very calmed, "Yeah, I see the future, I know when someone is trying to read my mind, and I can read minds but I do not do it unless I asked for permission or if my life depends on it"

The three members of Star Fox decided not to ask any questions, they were already too confused. A silence fell on the bridge; Marcus looked around and broke this silence

"You guys want to check out my ship" asked Marcus.

The members of Star Fox agreed and they proceeded to the hangar bay where Marcus 'ship was docked.

"Shouldn't we get Peppy?" asked Slippy on their way to the Hangar.

"Nah, he saw it many years ago" responded Marcus.

"Is your ship very big Marcus" asked Fox, the group of four still making their way to the Hangar.

"Well they are actually two ships, my fighter and my main ship which is not very big."

"You are a fighter pilot?" asked Falco.

"Yeah, I'm not the best but I 'am pretty good." Said Marcus.

As they entered the Hangar the three Star Fox members approached a window through which they would be able to see Marcus docked ship. They saw a grey ship with three main engines that were very small compared to those on the Great Fox. The ship had only one window at the front. The ship had two wing like structures at each side with each wing having two short laser cannons. The ship was docked to the Great Fox from the rear but they could still see almost all of it from that window. The ship was around 150 feet in length and another 150 feet from wingtip to wingtip. They proceeded to the airlock and entered a passage into Marcus ship, the passage was directly under the main ship engines. The guys had seen ships like this before so they weren't that impressed. They went up a pair of steel stairs and entered the main fuselage of the ship.

"Welcomed to my beloved home" said Marcus.

The interior portion of the ship was about 20 feet wide and 75 feet in length. The floor was steel and at the other end laid the bridge which only had one chair, obviously for Marcus. To the left side of the ship there was a bed and a sliding door that led to the bathroom. To the right side there was a 45 inch screen with several keyboards under the screen a chair to sit under the keyboards. Left of the screen there were four digital photographs in the wall. The first one showed what was apparently a very young Marcus standing with his parents in a family portrait; the photo was in black and white. The next photo showed a slightly older Marcus with two other members of his species, they were wearing combat gear and they were smiling at the camera; the photo was also in black and white. The third photo showed Marcus just like he looked right now, a female of his species and a young child of Marcus's species. Fox deduced that these two persons were Marcus's deceased wife and son. The final photo showed Marcus dressed just like he was at the moment, he was standing next to an individual of a different species, Fox deduced also that this was Maghar; the individual Marcus had said had been his "Master". Falco then spoke.

"This isn't that bad, in fact is bigger than my room on the Great Fox"

"Where do you keep your supplies?" asked Slippy as he inspected the main computer console at the bridge.

"At a compartment in the hangar bay" Responded Marcus.

Fox and Falco began to inspect the ship components closely, they were not very impressed.

"How much memory does the main computer have?" asked Slippy who was now checking a console on the upper portion of the ship's bridge.

"About 1000 terabytes but I've only used around ¼ of the total memory. Hey, put that thing down Birdboy, is an antiquity!" said Marcus to Falco who was grabbing what looked like a small model of a fighter. Fox overheard Falco and Marcus going into an argument but he turned his attention to a small blue button that was at shoulders height on the right wall. His curiosity overtook him and he pressed the button. The sound of gears turning was heard and Fox saw a light coming from behind him on the opposite wall. Falco and Marcus stopped arguing and turned to see Fox. Fox turned to face this light and saw that a portion of the wall began to open, one side going left and the other right.

"Well, we have a winner, you've found my weapons cache Fox" said Marcus as he saw Fox staring at the many weapons coming out from the secret compartment in Marcus ship.

Fox noticed that Marcus had around 15 different weapons ranging from blasters, plasma riffles/carbines, machineguns, sniper riffles, explosive launchers, an apparent short rocket launcher, three weapons similar to Marcus's pistol and one that looked like a riffle of some sort. Fox and Falcon's attention was directed at the four weapons they did not recognize. Marcus approached and took one of these weapons which was long and black.

"This is the first riffle that I used to take a life. The M16A1, 20 round 5.56x45mm magazine, fully automatic and single fire modes."

Fox and Falco were standing watching as Marcus gave an explanation of the riffle; Slippy was still inspecting the ship and did not care for the guns. Marcus placed the M16 back in is spot on the weapon rack that had come off the wall and grabbed another of the unusual weapons, this one also looked like a riffle, it had portions that were apparently made out of wood and others of black metal.

"Soviet AK-47 fully automatic assault riffle, 30 round magazines with 7.62mm Full Metal Jacket cartridge, I still use this baby sometimes and it has not fail me for over 300,000 years."

"Wow you had this thing for the last 300,000 years." Asked Fox, he was very surprised that a weapon would still work for such long time.

Again, Marcus stored the riffle back and this time took a shorter weapon out. Fox noticed that the words "ULTRA-VIOLENCE" were written in the side of the weapon.

"This is basically a sawed off shot gun, it's similar to an eight shot blaster…" Fox and Falco nodded while Slippy was on lying down still inspecting the computer consoles and panels. Finally, Marcus got the last unfamiliar weapon but it was not as similar as the last three. This weapons also had two words written on the side, the words read "BAD MOTHERFU^&ER"

"It sure looks like bad mother" said Falco, Fox agreed by nodding.

"Yup, It's an assault mini rail gun that I designed, it has a 60 round magazine and…" Marcus stopped talking a turned to see Slippy. "Boy, what the hell are you doing?"

Slippy was checking data on the large screen, somehow he had turned the computer on and Marcus stared at him, unsure of how he had done this since he didn't told him how to turn it on. Slippy looked back at the trio, they were staring at him and Falco began to shake his head from side to side. Slippy didn't know what to say.

"I… I… I was checking your computer data to check the specs of the ship." Said Slippy who had become nervous.

"You know kid, you could have asked, I would have given them to you." Said Marcus in an annoyed tone.

Fox now began to wonder where the hangar was in this ship, he turned to see Marcus who was still staring at Slippy.

"Hey Marcus, where is the entrance to the Hangar?" asked Fox.

Marcus turned to Fox and pressed the blue button to store the weapons back in their hiding place.

"You are standing right over it Fox" said Marcus as he pointed with his finger to a hatch right under Fox's feet. Fox, Falco, and Slippy looked down at the hatch, Fox steeped out of the square formed by it.

"Go ahead, open it"

Fox took a knee and pulled a handle towards him and lifted the hatch opening the entrance to the hangar. The three Star Fox members kneeled down to take a good look at Marcus's fighter. They saw something which surprised the three of them especially Falco, the fighter was the same one that had attacked Falco on the day at the debris field.

"What the..!" said the three of them in unison as they saw the fighter.

"Yeah, my comm was impaired by the radiation. I didn't know the ship that I engaged was that of Star Fox member and when I saw three more coming I decided to run from there." Said Marcus who obviously responded a question before it was asked.

The main fuselage of the ship was just as long as that of the Arwing but had a more grayish color. It had two vertical stabilizers, also like the Arwing but these were red. The ship had two swept wings with dual laser blasters similar to dose on a Cornerian fighter. The nose of the fighter had the name "Kaori" painted on the left side, other than the red stabilizers it was the only noticeable cosmetic feature on the ship.

"Why did you attacked me for?" screamed Falco, still looking at the ship.

"I was looking for… an acquaintance and I wanted to disable your ship to interrogate you because I taught you might work for this person."

Fox looked at the fighter, he had seen it in action and he taught it was very good. Slippy tried to get down to the hangar but was stopped by Marcus.

"I'm sorry kid, but Kaori is the only thing you can't inspect in my ship, it was handmade to my specifications and carries a lot of secrets that I can't let you know."

Slippy understood and nodded, the three members took a long look at the fighter, and it was actually quite beautiful. The ship then trembled startling the group and 3 shadows quickly passed in front of the bridge quickly tampering with the natural illumination created by Sol. Fox wrist communicator began to ring signifying that someone was hailing Fox.

"Fox, we got company"

It was Peppy, and Fox knew who the company was…

He hadn't seen them in a while.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

COOOOL!

[Saski]

                                    Ch. 8 "Just what I need to see. Star Wolf"

"What the hell is going on?" screamed Marcus as his ship trembled again.

"Star Wolf" responded Fox "Falco go to your Arwing and get out there" ordered Fox, he had immediately shifted into leader mode and started giving orders "Slippy go with him" Slippy and Falco quickly left to their Arwings.

"Whose Star Wolf?" asked Marcus, the ship trembled again.

"They are a group of Mercenary Pirates; their leader Wolf O'Donnell holds a grudge against me and my Father." Said Fox to Marcus.

"Wait, O'Donnell…" said Marcus and he looked down with an expression of confusion in his face, he thought out loud "Sh!t James I told you countless times, don't go messing with the big bad Wolf… Do you want my help Fox?" said Marcus to Fox.

Fox was perplexed, Marcus apparently also knew something about Wolf's past but now was not the time to think about that.

"Sure, just scare them no need to shoot them down." Said Fox

"Alright, time to rock!" Marcus quickly descended down the hatch to his Fighter and he closed the hatch. Fox turned towards the pathway out of Marcus's ship heading for his Arwing. He began to run and quickly reached the Hangar bay, he just needed to go down to the lower portion of the Great Fox's hangar. He quickly jumped into his Arwing; he grabbed his headset and put it on, the messages flowing quickly through it.

"Come on' Fox what are you hiding for" he immediately recognized Wolf voice.

"Who is this guy, I can knock him off!" this was Leon, his former elegant voice changed due to the accident he had as he crash landed on Venom two years ago.

Fox pushed the Arwing's throttle control to quickly exit the Hangar bay "Peppy, undock from Marcus's ship and fire the engines of the Great Fox" he said through the headset. He was now ot of the Great Fox, maneuvering his through the cosmic skies. He searched for a target. He saw what appeared to be Leon's Wolfen streak up right in front of his Arwing, being followed by Falco and Marcus. He turned his head left to see Slippy and Pigma's fighters engaging one another near the left side of the Great Fox. But an alarm was triggered in his head; he did not know where Wolf was.

"What took so long Fox?"

Fox looked up, by instinct, to see Wolf's Wolfen approaching quickly, he was about to be blown into pieces. The Wolfen shot its Lasers; Fox banked to the left, hopping Wolf would overshoot him. To Fox dismay Wolf stayed right behind him, he had to outmaneuver him. Fox flew towards the Great Fox, Wolf began to shot at him but he was aiming to high. They both passed quickly between two of the wings of the Great Fox. Fox tried pushed the Arwing's throttle to their limit, knowing that this would only work for a small amount of time. Wolf's shots became ever more accurate, Fox knew that soon he was going to be hit.

"Watch it Fox!"

Marcus scream through the radio instantly told Fox to go into a barrel roll. Wolf lasers found Fox's Arwing but the artificial shield generated by the rolling Arwing reflected them. Fox came out of the spin, disoriented, and continued to fly in the direction he previously thought was flying in. Then his shipped trembled, his shields lost 50% of their power, Wolf lasers had found the Arwing the second time around. Fox had to come with a plan to outmaneuver Wolf, and he got one.

"I got you froggy"

Pigma's voice rang through the radio

"Ah! Someone get him!"

Slippy's cry for help got to Fox and he was about to go out and Help him but he didn't respond first to it.

"Don't worry Frog boy, I'll get that Fat Ass of your tail."

"Who you calling a Fat Ass, Hairless chimp!"

Fox took notice that Pigma and Slippy where now on the right side of the Great Fox. He and Wolf where near the left side but high above the ship, Fox plan began to take shape. He dived towards the front of the Great Fox; Marcus's ship flew quickly between Fox and Wolf's fighters, forcing Wolf to slow down for a fraction of a second. Just as the Wolfen slowed down Fox went around the Great Fox and braked hard to completely stop the Arwing's forward motion. This caused Fox to be lifted forward a little by the sudden stop of his Arwing; the white and blue fighter was now between both wings of the Great Fox, the red and white Wolfen began to come around the Great Fox. Wolf's Fox plan depended on what Wolf did next.

"What the!"

It worked; Wolf overshot him and couldn't see where Fox was. Fox started the Arwing's thrust and began to pursue Wolf; he needed to exploit this opportunity. Fox had trouble maintaining the Wolfen on the green aiming reticule that was part of the Arwing's electronics. Wolf tried to somersault but Fox was still behind him. Leon's and Falco's fighters passed the two pilots from the opposite direction Fox and Wolf were flying. Fox now had a clean shot since Wolf had to avoid the two other fighters. He squeezed the trigger, the green laser blasts began to come out from the Arwing, the first few blasts over or undershot the Wolfen but the next few hit the Wolfen.

"Aghh!"

Star Wolf initial momentum was beginning to slow down, much thanks to Marcus helping both Falco and Slippy. Peppy could have come out to make then fight even more uneven, but his Arwing was damaged and the spare Arwing had no laser blasters since they were under repairs. Just ten minutes had passed since Star Wolf had first arrived but it seemed as an eternity.

"Now, you will pay Falco"

Falco was in front of Leon's Wolfen.

"No chance of that happening soon lizard"

Fox saw Falco bank hard to the left, then brake hard, just as he had done to elude Wolf. As a matter of Fact, Fox had learned quite a bit from Falco's playbook in their five years of flying together. He look back at the Wolfen he was pursuing.

"We got you Fat Ass!"

"Alright we got that dirty pig"

"My ship… I, can't move it!"

Slippy and Marcus had disabled Pigma's stabilizers and he was now flying slowly unable to change direction. Fox was still concentrating on getting a Clean Shot at Wolf again.

"Damn bird, I lost power to the lasers!."

"Didn't see that one coming, or did you Leon!"

Leon began to retreat as well as Pigma who had regained control but was now to afraid to continue fighting, Wolf began to fly towards his comrades, Fox understood this as a sign of a hasty retreat by Star Wolf.

"Looks like you won this time Fox."

"Why did you attack us Wolf?" Fox couldn't resist the need to ask this to Wolf.

"There's a bounty on you and your buddies heads, figured we could get the extra money. The Bounty is especially high for your alien friend"

As far as Fox knew there was no reason for Star Fox to have a bounty, but he couldn't say the same for Marcus.

"Who put the bounty on our heads?"

Marcus, Slippy and Falco joined Fox and they stopped their fighters. Marcus had asked the last question.

"I'm sorry, but I don't divulge my employer's personal information, all I can't tell you is that you are wanted alive…"

Fox was about to insist on who wanted the five of them but Wolf began to leave.

"Don't worry Fox, if anyone is going to bring you down that is going to be me."

Star Wolf left the area at high speed, soon becoming just three distant dots. Fox just sat there reflecting on what had just happened. His thoughts were interrupted by Marcus.

"Look guys, I'm sorry for the bounty's on your heads, I'm sure that it is my fault and I'm going to do everything I can to call off the bounty."

"That's ok Marcus, the best thing we can do is to stick together until we can resolve the situation" Fox said this as he was still thinking about who could be the person who was looking for them.

"Great, now I have to worry about new people that want to find me because I own them and because there is money offered for me, which kind of makes me feel special though." Falco began to complain about their current situation.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

For the rest of the day Star Fox and Marcus made plans for what their next move should be. The situation they faced wasn't dire but it sure worried them.

"Why would anyone look for you Marcus" asked Slippy.

The four Star Fox members and Marcus where in the common room of the Great Fox, they current location was somewhere near Fichina, where they would gather supplies that Marcus say he needed. Marcus ship was flying alongside the great Fox. Fox was sitting on his chair which was a couple feet of the ground, attached by a rotating steel piece. Peppy sat in a similar chair opposite to Fox and Slippy on one of the stair steps that led to a deck elevated by a few feet on the common room.

"I really don't know, 20 years ago many people sure wanted my head but many of them should be dead by now." Marcus tried to think hard about someone who might be looking for him but he didn't think of anyone.

"Can you think of anyone Peppy?" Marcus turned his head to Peppy as he asked the question. Peppy was also thinking deeply about the situation.

"No, what you said was true, Scruff was killed by Cornerian forces and old Harkins died of old age years ago, those are the only people that I can think about right now"

"Didn't you say you could see the future?" asked Falco, he was reclining on one of the few windows of the Great Fox.

"Yeah but not the immediate future, mostly things that will happen 5 to 20 years from now." Responded Marcus.

"Well that doesn't help a lot" said Fox.

A beep was heard signifying that someone was making a transmission to the ship. Fox checked the very small screen that he had on his wrist communicator. The transmission came from the Cornerian Military high command and it was Pepper.

"Rob, open a Holographic transmission in the Common room." Fox signaled through his communicator.

The head of the General soon appeared flying in the middle of the room, being pictured by a holographic imager on the ceiling.

"Star Fox, we have a serious situation on our hands"

Everyone on the room except for Falco paid attention to the general.

"What's the matter general?"

"Intel reports suggest that most of you have a bounty…"

"We know General, our new friend here is helping us find out who is looking for us."

The General's holographic head turned around to meet Marcus who was standing near the left wall of the ship.

"Well, well Captain Pepper, look who is all grown up, and leader of all the Cornerian military."

"It's very nice to see you too Marcus, well it seems Fox that the best thing you can do is for all of you to keep a low profile, we are going to try to supply you with as much information as we can, General out."

With this, the holographic head of the General disappeared as the imager turned off. Marcus returned to deep thought.

"Hey Foxie, I know a bounty hunter who could supply us with info" Falco told Fox.

"That's great Falco, maybe we can solve this…" Fox began to respond to Falco's statement but was interrupted by Marcus…

"Sh!t, I know who is looking for us…"

Out of nowhere, Marcus ran out the room, leaving Star Fox confused.

"Fox I'll call you later, I'm going to need you guys help soon" Fox heard this in his mind...

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Great job!

[Guest l Shade l]

Really nice fan fic. I enjoyed reading it. I really did =D  Is there more to it?

[Saski]

                                                Ch. 9 Back in the Past...

The Great Fox traveled through the vast emptiness of space, well it still was in the Lylat system. The ship had altered its original course of heading to Fichina and now it had to travel to the other side of the system to the largest industrial city in Lylat, Macbeth City.

"So where can we find this Bounty Hunter Falco?" asked Slippy.

Fox, Falco, and Slippy where in the bridge, each of them sat in their respective chairs, each chair having a computer console and screen with the main ship controls spread throughout the bridge.

"Near downtown Macbeth City, but I can only take Fox, it's not a very safe place Slip" said Falco as he peacefully rested in the reclining position of his chair.

"Why?" asked Fox, he sounded worried at the fact that this place was not safe, he already knew it would not be safe he wanted to know what exactly he was getting into.

"Let's just say that a lot of Macbeth's and Fortuna's scum roams that particular area of Macbeth" responded Falco. "We also need to take more 'natural' clothes and they should also disguise us" said Falco; he was now thinking seriously about the up-coming trip to Macbeth. He then got up and quickly walked out of the bridge just as Peppy was coming in.

"What's the matter with him?" asked Peppy who pointed at the exiting Falco.

"He is thinking" responded Fox

"Oh, that doesn't happen too often." Said Peppy, he then went and say in his chair.

"So Fox, where are we going to dock the ship?" asked Slippy.

"I still haven't figured that out, we can't just come to the regular ship dock, that place is full of bounty hunters. Looks like I also need too do some thinking." Said Fox, the Macbeth region was known to be full of all different sorts of people. The planet saw the most ground combat of the previous war, half of it had been controlled by Andros's forces and the other half by Cornerian forces. Macbeth was where most of the Cornerian Military's weapons and equipment was made and it was also where most of Corneria's vehicles were made (AN, think of Detroit but larger). Do to this, there was a strong military presence but they mostly helped as security for the more important industrial parks, in fact it was one of the regions with the strongest military presence, second only to the Naval Shipyards in Corneria. The profit made by the planet brought a lot of pirates to the region, and lots of pirates meant lots of bounty hunters, which was bad for the current situation of Star Fox.

"Well Fox, I know an old raccoon in the navy and I think he is in command of the naval base of Macbeth, we could ask Pepper to tell him if we can leave the Great Fox at the base" Peppy said, Fox thought this was a very good idea.

"That's a great idea Peppy, that way Falco and I could just take a transport down to Macbeth city instead of taking the Arwings, that way we'll go unspotted and the Great Fox won't be discovered by any bounty hunters". Fox turned his computer screen off, got up and headed out of the bridge.

"Hey where you going?" asked Peppy.

"To grab something to eat, you want something?"

"No thanks" said Peppy after giving the idea some thinking.

"How about you Slip?"

"I'll grab something later Fox".

"Alright, call the general and ask him about your friend Peppy "with this Fox walked out the bridge and headed to the Great Fox's kitchen which was two decks below.

He took the long steel stairs down to the main fuselage of the Great Fox. He walked pass the common room and by the rooms of his teammates, heard very loud music coming from Falco's room. Walked pass the armory, pass the food storage room, pass the fuel cell storage room, and finally reached the kitchen. He got himself some meat that he found on the freezer and cooked it; they had no spices since they had bought none so it was just a piece of meat without any taste whatsoever. He grabbed a chair and sat on the only table of the kitchen which was very small, just for a couple of persons.

Fox began to eat the piece of meat; he had nothing to do and slowly began to go back in time through his memories. His mind began to show a memory of a time when he was young…

Cornerian Armed Forces Academy, five years ago…

"I'm telling you Fox, she likes you, the only thing you need to do is ask her out!" A sixteen year old Bill Grey told his good friend Fox McCloud moments after a young female fennec walked by.

"I don't know Bill; you know I'm not very good at this."

They both sat with their backs to wall in one of the recreation yards of the academy. It was a Friday, just before the 2 week long vacation period after the end of the winter quarter. Lots of cadets were out, most of them leaving the academy to spend the vacations with their families.

"Whatever Fox, just remember, the opportunity won't always be there."

"I'll think about it Bill,"

"Are you going to spend the time with your dad and his team?" asked Bill

"Nah, they have an important job to do with some guy named Wolf, he told me that he was sorry but I had to stay here for the vacation, it sucks because you and Slippy won't be here"

"So, Fara is going to be here, maybe you two can finally tell each other that you are in love with one another" Bill said this in a sarcastic voice to Fox who gave him a light punch in the arm.

"Yeah right, hey I think your Mom is here" Fox pointed with one of his fingers at a figure on the other side of the yard.

"Yeah that's Mom" Bill got up and grabbed his a small bag that carried his things "Later Fox, see you in two weeks" Fox gave him a goodbye with his right hand and Bill ran to join his mother.

Fox sat in the yard for more time and watched as the academy slowly became emptier, very few cadets actually stayed here during a vacation period and a lot of the faculty members left. He noticed that it was getting dark and he was getting hungry. He got up and walked through the academy heading to the only open mess hall. When he arrived, he noticed that it was mostly empty; there were a couple of cadets on the far side of the mess hall, just talking. Fox grabbed a plate and served himself some food. The food in the academy was ok, it sure wasn't great food but it did the job if you were hungry. He ate it all and then left the lonely mess hall.

Fox decided to go around the academy for a walk; it was a very large institution which housed around some 36,000 thousand cadets and had some 300 classrooms. He saw a female falcon with brown feathers approaching him.

"Hi Fox!"

"Hi Shelly!"

After saying this both of them continued walking to wherever they were going. Fox felt the urge of going to the bathroom so he went and did his business. He came out and decided to finally go to his dorm; it was going to be two very long weeks. He walked through a long hallway, took the lift up to the dorms, and walked across another long hallway and turned left. There she was the young fennec who Fox had known for the last three years. He knew that he liked her and he also knew that she liked him but he didn't know how to express these feelings he had to her.

"Oh, hi Fox!"

"Hi Fara."

"Are you staying here for the vacations?"

"Yeah, my father has a job to do and he can't take me in"

They walked around the lonely hallways, just talking and talking. They were talking about very random things and nothing serious. Fara asked Fox if he would walk with her to her dorm, Fox agreed, and they just continued walking and talking. They reached the dorm and Fara opened the door. Fara wasn't facing Fox.

"Well, goodnight Fara."

She turned around and gave Fox a quick kiss on the left side of his muzzle, he turned red. She had never done this before.

"Goodnight Fox"

She turned back to her room and closed the door.

Back to the present

"I really screwed my relationship with her didn't I" Fox thought to himself. He had already finished the piece of meat with no taste.

He sat there for a couple more minutes thinking about that memory he had just remembered. He got up and put the plate on the dishwasher and then left the kitchen. He went back up to the room sections, he decided to get some sleep until they were near Macbeth but he was interrupted by Falco calling him.

"Hey Fox, come over I need to talk with you" screamed Falco from the inside of his room.

Fox headed over to Falco's room, just his sixth time ever to go inside there since Falco lived in the Great Fox. Falco's room was not to messy, just some clothes here and there, his room was similar to all the rooms on the Great Fox, one bed, one closet, and one bathroom. Falco had a couple of photographs hanging on the wall, the most noticeable showed a younger Falco, Katt, a Lizard who Fox thought might be Leon and a dog fox didn't recognize. Fox again began to look for Falco when he was hit in the face by some sort or leather jacket.

"What's this?" asked Fox.

"It's my old leather jacket, I told you, where we are going we need to fit in, not look like some sort of air force pilot" Falco used his usual sarcastic tone.

Fox tried the jacket and sure enough it fit him.

"You look better like that McCloud"

"Not a big fan of leather Falco".

Fox received an incoming message from Peppy via his wrist communicator.

"Fox I called Pepper, he said that we got access to the naval base, we just need to watch out for ourselves on our way there."

"That's good to hear Peppy, how long till we get there?" Fox asked.

"Around seven or nine more hours"

"Alright, Fox out" Fox turn to see Falco looking for something under his bed. He stayed there until he saw that Falco found what he was looking for.

"Finally, I knew I didn't lose it."

"Lose what Falco?"

Falco turned to Fox and showed him a knife.

"My old shank, don't worry I've never killed anyone with it but it has gotten me out of trouble a lot of times"

"Why do you need a Shank for"

"Protection, you should take your blaster, there's a pocket inside the jacket where you can hide it".

Fox was surprised about how much he knew about his friend, because he sure knew a little about his past. He just knew that Falco had been involved in some sort of space gang were he became a very good fighter pilot, even avoiding persecution by Cornerian forces until the outburst of the war.

"Do I keep the jacket?"

"Yeah, just make sure not to ruin it alright…" Fox began to go to his room

"And get your old black boots!"

Fox went into his room, threw the jacket into the only chair in the room and then threw himself into the bed, it had been a long day, meeting some guy who was over a thousand years old, fighting Star Wolf, finding out someone wanted to get him and his friends, and eating some piece of meat.

What else could possibly go wrong?

[Guest Julius Quasar]

:yes:

That was awesome!

[Saski]

                                                          Ch. 10 A Friendly Bounty Hunter

Fox woke up after enjoying a short night's sleep; it was very early in the morning, just like every day. He had the feeling that today was going to be a very long day. He looked for some clothes to put on but remembered that Falco had given him clothes… well just the leather jacket. He got up from his bed and walked over to a door and pressed a small green button to open it, the door led to the bathroom. Fox groomed himself before changing clothes since he had slept with the same clothes that he wore yesterday. He went to his closet and got one of his many green jumpsuits and left his white flight jacket in there, he also got his red scarf and put it on. He looked for the black jacket, not remembering where he had put it last night, finally finding it in the floor. He got his old lace black boots that he used during P.T. in the academy and put them on. Finally he got his black blaster and hid it in the pocket of the jacket Falco had shown him.

Fox walked out his room and went to the bridge; no one was up this early in the morning and Fox didn't feel like eating. He entered the bridge and was surprised to find Peppy, Rob was busy doing something in one of the main computer consoles. Through the window Macbeth was getting larger and larger.

"Peppy, is five in the morning, what are you doing so early?" asked Fox.

"Just felt like getting up early today Fox" responded Peppy, he was sitting in his respective chair. He hadn't looked at Fox and raised his head to see him.

"What in Corneria is that thing Fox?"

Fox looked around; he didn't know what Peppy was talking about.

"What thing?"

"That jacket…" Peppy then chuckled to himself "you look like Falco when we first met him."

"Well Peppy, the jacket is from Falco"

"Did he give it to you?"

"Just for today, I think"

Peppy chuckled again and returned to do whatever he was doing. Fox sat down on his chair; he did his daily checklist of the Great Fox through the computer in his chair. He closed the checklist panel and looked for any interesting news and found some.

Today marks the ninth anniversary of Dr. Andross's exile to Venom by General Pepper of the Cornerian army. As we all know, this would lead to a series of events that would culminate with the Lylat Wars and Andross's demise at the hands of Star Fox…

The rest of the article talked about Andross's experiments and mistakes that led him to be exiled. Fox reflected about this, he began to feel anger brewing up inside him, because of Andross, many people had suffered and people Fox had cared about had died, but that was now in the past. He was now concerned about what the future was holding for him. He had experienced a lot of things in his short lifetime, war, death, friendship, and rivalry. But there was one thing Fox wanted to experience that he had not experienced yet, love. Sure, he had loved his father but as a father, he could only hope that one day he would meet that special someone, where? Who knows, as far as Fox knew it could be atop some palace in a planet ruled by dinosaurs, he laughed at this, it just sounded too impossible. Currently Fox was concerned about the safety of his friends, he cared for them and he didn't know what kind of mess Marcus had gotten them into.

Marcus, he sure was a character, Fox couldn't really understand how he could be immortal and he didn't really want to know the specifics, but Marcus had known his father and Marcus seemed to have been very good friends with his father. He knew he could trust Marcus but he didn't exactly know why he could trust him. He still had one question about him, how exactly had Marcus and his father met. Fox looked over at Peppy.

"Hey, Peppy" Fox said to get the hares attention.

"Yes" responded Peppy, he was still looking at his screen.

"How did my father meet Marcus?"

Peppy stopped looking at his screen; he looked at Fox and then chuckled.

"I was wondering when you would ask that." Peppy then looked up as he began to recall that memory.

"I believe it was about twenty-three years ago"

X

Somewhere near Meteo Asteroid Field…

Two post-pubescent nineteen year olds flew their brand new SF-328's. They were best friends James McCloud and Peppy Hare who had just formed a mercenary team called Star Fox. They were both good pilots who had graduated from the Cornerian Flight Academy but they had the option of not entering the army and they had taken it. They were currently on job assigned to them by Captain Pepper of the Cornerian Army, an old friend of them. They had to find a "person of interest" that had allegedly escaped from interrogation by the army.

"Hey James, who is this guy we are searching for again?" said Peppy through the comm. of his ship

"I don't know Peppy, I heard that he is not Lylatian and that he looks like a hairless chimp." responded James "watch out we are entering the asteroid field."

They both began to fly more carefully, trying to avoid the incoming asteroids.

"James, I got something on radar, it could be the guy we are looking for."

"Well let's go and find out"

They both went towards the signal that had just appeared in the radar. Suddenly, a red and white ship with a yellow exhaust appeared from behind one of the larger asteroids.

X

The Present

"We then had a dogfight with Marcus, he disabled my ship and then your father and he had a very close dogfight, it could have gone either way, but Marcus came out on top. He had a very clear shot at your father, he was about to kill him but then for no reason he surrendered to us. That's how we met Marcus".

Before Fox responded to Peppy's anecdote Falco entered the room. He was wearing all black leather except for a white shirt and had two black shoulder pads and two other pads in each of his arms below the elbows. He also was wearing a white band tied on his head, with a pair of sunglasses.

"Wow Falco, last time I saw you in those clothes was on the day I met you" commented Fox.

"Well Fox, this is casual me, my other clothes are for on the job me, oh we are here."

Falco raised his hand and pointed at the window. Fox looked out the window of the bridge to see that Macbeth covered almost the entire window.

"Yup we are." said Fox.

X

The Great Fox docked at the naval station in Macbeth, after making the paperwork, Fox and Falco took a civilian transport to Macbeth City. During the ride from the naval station to downtown Macbeth City Fox and Falco had a little conversation.

"So Falco, can you tell me more about the bounty hunter" asked Fox who was annoyed at the fact that Falco was keeping the bounty hunter's identity a secret.

"Gee Fox, we are almost there can you just wait a little more"

"Well I want to know who exactly we are meeting"

"Don't worry you know her"

"Wait a minute, her?"

Fox looked through his memories, trying to find out who could possibly be the bounty hunter. He knew it wasn't Katt because Falco wouldn't have bothered to come see her. The other option Fox thought about for some reason made sense.

"Is it Miyu Lynx?" Fox asked Falco who had a perplexed look on his face when he heard the name "Miyu".

"No, but that's very close, how do you know Miyu?"

Fox turned red when he heard Falco's question, he looked down and began to speak with a nervous tone.

"Let's just say I lost something with her"

"Ohhhh I see…" said Falco sarcastically with a huge grin across his face "bow chicka bow wow"

"Shut up Falco" said Fox angered at the bird's comment.

When they finally arrived to the main space port at downtown Macbeth City it was noon of local time. They noticed that their cover was working. Falco had told Fox to cover half of his face with his red scarf and he also was using Falco's sunglasses. No one appeared to notice that they were two members of Star Fox and that was a good thing. The air was filled with smog and a metallic smell coming from the local factories. Unlike Corneria, there weren't many skyscrapers in Macbeth; if the buildings weren't factories then they were governmental or civil service installations. The duo began walking through the city streets, with Falco leading the way. With each passing minute, they got further away from the downtown area and deeper into the poorer areas of the city.

"How much more time till we get there Falco?" asked Fox.

"Just a couple more blocks, don't look at anyone in the eyes…" Fox looked around; they were in a poor residential district, mostly with two floor buildings with the occasional four floor plus apartment building, and the few people that were out looked very suspicious. "They know we are not locals" continued Falco.

Some of the "locals" would stare at the duo for a long time. Fox couldn't help feeling a little bit jumpy. There weren't many vehicles transiting the streets, the few that did looked very old. Then, they both heard the distinctive sound of blaster fire.

By instinct, they both dropped to the ground, Falco took out his blaster and Fox followed by taking his out. They quickly looked around trying to see were the shot had come from. Fox saw another shot come past his head, just missing it by inches, but he now knew were the attacker was, one of the rooftops on the opposite end of the streets. They both ran to the next corner which was just in front of them, the sniper still shooting at them but missing with every shot. Most of the few people that had been out went inside some of the building to seek safety but still some remained outside, enjoying the show Fox and Falco were putting up for them. They reached the corner and turned left, they took cover behind a large black dumpster that was right on the side walk. They wanted to return fire but neither of them wanted to risk popping their head up. Suddenly a second weapon opened fire on the other side of the street Fox and Falco were. Fox began to fear that he was in a middle of a fight between two bounty hunters that had recognized him and Falco. He was about to tell Falco that they should make a run for it but Fox got confused because Falco was smiling as he saw the second individual. The shooting between the two possible bounty hunters ceased.

"You are on my turf Lance, get the hell out of it!" yelled the second individual across the street, with a feminine voice.

"Screw you Shelly, I found them first!" yelled the first attacker atop one of the roofs, by now they had both stopped shooting at one another. Shelly, that name ringed a bell in Fox's head, it all made sense now. Shelly Lombardi had been a student at the academy, same generation as Fox; she was Falco's cousin and had been responsible for introducing Fox and Falco to each other. She dropped out of the CFA shortly after Fox did.

"Well, do you want to get in trouble with the union?" screamed Shelly.

"Fine then, I'll leave" screamed the bounty hunter on the roof.

Fox and Falco slowly stood up and looked over at Shelly. She was walking towards them. She was dressed in military gear, the type the special forces used and also had a very large Plasma assault rifle with a lot of custom features, it made her seem tiny, She also had a white scarf which covered the lower half of her face and had a pair of boots similar to Fox's if not the same kind. She stopped right just a few inches in front of them, her dark brown eyes deeply starring at them, she looked angry. A brief silence took over, Falco broke it.

"Shelly, how are you…" Falco was interrupted by a blow to his stomach by Shelly's rifle butt, it brought him to his knees. The hit was hard but not hard enough to knock Falco unconscious, just enough to take the air out of him.

"You know Falco, you have a lot of guts to show your face around here" said Shelly.

"Nice to see you too" said Falco who was on his knees, trying to recover some air. Shelly had been looking at him and she turned to see Fox.

"Um, hi Shelly" said Fox nervously. This was met by a punch to the right side of Fox's face by Shelly, Fox was lucky though since that was better than a blow by the hard butt of a riffle.

"Ouch, what was that for?" said Fox in pain.

"Well it wouldn't have been fair if I only hit Falco." Said Shelly, Fox noticed sarcasm was a standard trait throughout the Lombardi family.

"Fair? You hit me with the freaking Rifle!" yelled Falco as he slowly stood up.

"Shut up Falco, it's nice to see you guys but you need to get out of the streets" said Shelly.

"Well, lead the way then" said Falco who was still in pain.

Shelly lead the two of them to what appeared to be a small house, but it was the contrary to that. It was apparently Shelly's hideout; it consisted of a long hallway with two doors on either side. The hallway lead to a large room with no roof, the size of it was around twenty by twenty meters. There, an old modified Cornerian drop ship lay with the word "FURY" painted in neon blue under the side of the cockpit, Fox guessed that it was Shelly's ship. The walls of this part of the hideout were green in color, there were storage units in which Fox taught Shelly might store tools, equipment, and weapons. They walked over to an area of this room where there were steel chair, Shelly made a hand gesture, which basically said "take a seat". Fox sat in a chair with his back to the wall and Falco sat to his right with his back to the exit of the room. Shelly stood in front of them, glaring at the two with clear anger in her eyes.

"Do you two know what kind of mess you are in?" said Shelly very slowly, holding her menacing glare.

"Ah, I think we do," said Fox nervously, for some reason he had a bad feeling about being here with Shelly.

"No, I think you don't Fox. The combined price for all of Star Fox plus your alien friend is well over thirty-five thousand credits, at least half of the system's bounty hunters are after you, you are lucky that you are my friend otherwise I would have taken the bounty. I would have turned in Falco but he is just lucky because he is family" Shelly let out in one angry speech.

"Well little cousin, the whole reason we are here is because we don't know who is after us" said Falco. "Would you mind telling us who is after us and after that freaking hairless ape?" said Falco with a smile across his face.

Fox began to pay close attention.

"It's someone you know Falco, she helped you and your former little wannabe gang a long time ago"

Falco almost passed out with fear as he heard this, his smile instantly disappearing.

"Do…do…do you mean…" barely said Falco, trying to control his fear. Fox had never seen his friend like this, and this scared him too.

"Yes Falco, Karoline, the queen of the pirates" said Shelly.

Fox understood why Falco was scared now. Lady Karoline, queen of the pirates, was among the top ten most wanted pirate leaders in the whole of Lylat. She had appeared around twenty-five years ago as the leader of a small group of pirates. There were no pictures or records of her, the only proof of her existence came from survivors of her raids who had only heard her voice as she warned her victims of the attacks that would follow seconds later and very few had actually seen her. Fox had only heard stories, one of the most memorable told about her taking all the cargo away from a fifteen-ship convoy with heavy fighter escort with only a pirate fleet of three ships. Very few people knew who she really was, probably only her close associates. She was also notorious for her alleged and infamous torture methods, which were physical and psychological. Fox had only heard that she was a very attractive female feline but what species of feline, nobody outside the pirate world really knew.

"Why does she want us Shelly?" asked Fox and then turned to see Falco who looked very afraid and somewhat paranoid.

"Well, Bounty Hunters don't receive that kind of information, but I heard that you were responsible for discovering the hideout of the Dark Flame pirates," said Shelly.

"And?" asked Fox who was trying to calm his friend by telling him to calm down.

"Well Fox, the Dark Flames were under her orders and had been bringing a lot of profit to her, you helped stop that and now I think she is pissed at Star Fox" said Shelly. Fox took some time to reflect upon this.

"Thanks for all the info Shelly, now can you tell me how to calm down Falco" said Fox, by now Falco was shaking uncontrollably.

"Yeah, there's a bucket with water around that table over there, I'll hold him for now, bring it and pour the water all over him" said Shelly.

"Are you serious?" asked Fox confused, Shelly smiled for the first time since Fox and Falco had gotten there.

"Yes Fox, now go get the bucket" commanded Shelly.

Fox got up and walked over to the table that was just eight feet away next to the wall. As Fox got there he noticed a photograph on the wall. It showed Shelly and two familiar faces to Fox, one very familiar. It was Fay Spaniel and Miyu Lynx. They were posing for the photograph in front of the FURY on the very same room Fox was at. Three words came quickly to Fox mind "I'll be waiting".

"What's wrong Fox? You look like you just saw a ghost" said Shelly, Fox looked at her and she had a big smile across her face, very similar to Falco's.

"They live here?" asked Fox.

"We are business partners…" said Shelly, Fox became a bit nervous at the probability of meeting Miyu again after so many years and specially after that fateful night.

"Don't be nervous Fox, they are on Katina right now, won't be back for another three days" said Shelly.

"Well, tell them I say hi" said Fox

"I will Fox, now pour all the water on Falco, before he gets worse" said Shelly, Falco seemed oblivious to what was going on, Fox had never seen him like this. Fox threw the water on the bucket to Falco whose state of mind return to normal.

"Thanks Shelly, I needed that" Said Falco, Shelly returned the thanks by slapping him in the back of the head.

"Hey!" complained Falco.

After this, Fox and Falco decided it was time to return to the Great Fox. Shelly told them that it was too dangerous for them to return through the streets of Macbeth so she took them on her ship to the naval station.

"Good luck Fox, you are going to need it" said Shelly as she prepared to go back to her hide out.

"Thanks Shelly, I hope next time we meet again Star Fox will still be around"

They said goodbye and Fox left with Falco to board the Great Fox. Once inside the two went to the bridge and met with Peppy and Slippy who were preparing the Great Fox for departure from the naval base. They soon left the base and set the course to Aquas since it was the closest and safest destination.

"So, how did it go?" asked Slippy.

"Well, we are in a much more worse situation than what I thought Slip" said Fox. The day wasn't even over yet.

[Guest Julius Quasar]

Sure, he had loved his father but as a father, he could only hope that one day he would meet that special someone, where? Who knows, as far as Fox knew it could be atop some palace in a planet ruled by dinosaurs, he laughed at this, it just sounded too impossible.

  Good one!  ...and great chapter!

[Saski]

I finally maneged to finish this chapter, if anybody read the story, please review.

                                                                                Ch.11 Disguised in Zoness

"Lady Karoline!" screamed Peppy atop of his lungs.

Fox had just finished telling Peppy and Slippy about the situation that they had gotten themselves into, or more like Marcus had gotten them into.

"Yeah, she means business Peppy" said Falco trying to console his teammate, obviously failing.

"You think I don't know, oh, it seems like Déjà vu, it's happening all over again!" Peppy seemed to be deeply disheartened at these news.

Fox was explaining to Slippy who Lady Karoline was and he overheard the failed attempts by Falco to make Peppy feel a little better, and something caught Fox's attention. Peppy said that it was "happening all over again". Fox walked over to Peppy who was now angry.

"Peppy, what do you mean by all over again?"

Peppy walked over to Fox, his face looked hopeless, and he started to talk slowly to Fox.

"Back when the team was only me and your father, we ran across Lady Karoline. We were taken prisoners and got thrown into a prison cell in her ship. Guess who was in that cell?" asked Peppy, he looked much stressed but Fox couldn't understand why.

Fox wondered for a quick moment who they could have found there, and he instantly knew who it was.

"Marcus"

"Of course, the three us were put into the same stinking small cell, I don't know how we were able to get out of there"

Falco was approaching the both of them to hear closely to what Peppy was saying.

"She called for Marcus, then your father, and then a guard came by and told me we were being let go. We were taken to our fighters and we quickly flew away from that ship, when I asked your Father what happened he just answered with 'don't ask'. It was really weird and disturbing"

Fox couldn't understand why Peppy was so disturbed about his encounter with Lady Karoline. Sure, she was one of the most dangerous individuals in Lylat, but spending a couple of hours inside a prison cell didn't seem like such a big deal to Fox.

"But Peppy, why is it such a big deal?"

Fox noticed that Falco was listening very carefully.

"We spent one week in that cell before anything happened, they would usually let Marcus out once every day, and he would come back with food for us. We would ask him what happened; you know what he always said? 'Its private business, and you really don't want to know' and when we were let go, he didn't come with us!" Fox now clearly understood why Peppy would be so disturbed. Falco was about to say something but he was interrupted.

"Incoming transmission from Marcus" said ROB whit his robotic and monotone voice. One of the large screens in the Great Fox's bridge turned on and the team gathered around it. The screen showed Marcus, or just his face and what appeared to be him inside his fighter, the Kaori.

"Hey guys, I just found out who is after us…" said Marcus, his voice distorted a little with a digital hum.

The whole Star Fox team just stared at him with a look of anger; they had reasons to be angry at him. He shows up out of nowhere, after apparently being away from the system for many years, and he gets Star Fox in a situation which could cost them their lives, for no particular reason.

"I see, you know now. Look, its better if we stick together, five heads are better than one away from four"

With what Star Fox was able to see in the screen, Marcus was stopping his fighter, somewhere in Lylat. Fox responded to Marcus proposal.

"That sounds like a good idea Marcus; you have a lot more explaining to do that we deserve, where exactly do you want us to meet you"

"Meet me at Zoness, I'm sending you the exact coordinates of where you can find me once you get there…"

Numbers and letters began to appear on the screen and at one of the main computer panels as Marcus said this.

"Keep a low profile"

And with these words Marcus image disappeared from the screen.

"Zoness, it had, to be, Zoness" said Falco slowly and angrily

"Unfortunately" said Fox

Zoness, used to be a beautiful planet, very similar to Aquas, but during the war, the Venomian forces had captured and they used the seas as a toxic waste dump. Now that the planet was under supposed cleaning by the Cornerian authorities, it had become a hive for all sorts of criminals and low lifes. The guys of Star Fox wanted to find Marcus; they felt that for some reason, their problems would be solved because they had to do with him. But they were weary of confronting Bounty Hunters again.

Fox thought for a moment about his options, they could try to dock the Great Fox at another Naval Dock directly over Zoness, but the Cornerian military in Zoness was famous for its corruption scandals, Fox wasn't willing to take his friends through that risk. The other option was to disguise themselves and take a transport from nearby Aquas; this was the obviously smarter option.

"What's the plan, Fox?" asked Peppy…

X

The Great Fox was docked in Cornerian Navy Space Port at Aquas, Fox saw it through the window of the transport he was currently in and he could see it getting smaller and smaller.

"Don't worry Fox, will be back in no time, you'll see the Great Fox again" said Slippy to Fox

"I really hope so Slip"

The four Mercenaries were in a small, dirty room in a 4 hour transport to Zoness. The transport was going to arrive at midnight, very close to the place where Marcus was supposed to be waiting for them. The four of them were disguised; they each were covering their faces with special brown robes that many colonizers in Titania used to keep cool in the hot and dry Titanian desert. They really didn't look at all like Mercenaries and did look more like Titanian dark-matter miners. Each them had a blaster under the robes though.

"What place in Zoness are we exactly heading?" asked Falco

"Well, the coordinates take us to downtown Waltz, between the commercial and red-light districts" responded Slippy as he looked into his PDA

"Downtown Waltz eh, that place is not very dangerous but there is still a lot of scum around there" said Falco

"Still, I don't want any of you doing anything stupid" said Peppy

"We know Peppy" replied the three young mercenaries

X

After a couple of hours, the transport finally arrived to Waltz, Zoness. Waltz is a medium sized city near Zoness's equator; it floats over the Zoness Ocean, supported by hundreds of massive steel and reinforced concrete pillars that went half a kilometer down into the now toxic Zoness Western Sea. It had been the least affected city in Zoness during the war, and this turned it into the city that prospered the most after the end of the conflict, and also one of the most dangerous.

The group walked to the outside of the busy transport terminal in order to find a hover taxi that would take them downtown. It was a clear night and you could see Katina and Corneria far up in the sky. Their taxi driver didn't talk at all and he did not look suspicious whatsoever. They all got out exactly where Marcus had indicated them, at the intersection between the main street of the red-light district and the main street of the commercial district, two areas that were similar but not the same.

The group stayed around the sidewalk for a couple of minutes since they really didn't know what to do next. A couple of "Ladies of the Night" had come by asking the group if they wanted to "Have some fun tonight" the group obviously had to decline. After a couple of minutes waiting Slippy then whispered something to Fox.

"What do we do know Fox, we've been waiting for twenty minutes now"

"I'm not sure; Marcus just said that he would meet us here"

"I'm over here, on your left" said a voice in Fox's head

Fox looked left, at the other side of the street, and there was a hooded figure standing near a dark alley.

"I think I found him guys" said Fox

The other three looked at Fox and then they looked at the other side of street to also see the hooded figure. This individual motioned with his head for them to go to him. The four of them crossed the street and did notice that it was in fact Marcus under the hood. They could only see his mouth illuminated by the streetlights, Marcus smiled, and as the four mercenaries got closer to him they were able to see his eyes. When the four of them where standing right in front of Marcus he talked, just enough so that only the four of them could hear him, and always keeping his face in the shadow of his hood.

"It's great to see you guys, follow me, this place looks safe but it actually isn't"

The group of five began to walk down the street of the commercial district, Marcus was in front, next to him was Fox, behind them was Peppy and Slippy, while Falco was in the back.

Marcus turned right into a dark alley, between two small apartment buildings. They looked really run down, making Fox feel a little uneasy. Marcus walked through the alley and turned left to face a steel ladder. He began to climb it and motioned for the others to follow him. Fox decided to go last, making sure nobody was watching them. As Peppy began to climb, Fox took one last peek around the alley and then began to climb the ladder.

Fox climbed for almost four floors and put his right leg through an open window and into a lit room. He made sure he had a stable footing before going all the way in. The room was part of the living room of a medium sized apartment. It was well lit, and not small, but not large either.

"Hey Fox, lock the window" instructed Marcus

Fox did as he was told and proceeded to lock the window. The rest of the group began to gather around the small living room. Fox could clearly see Marcus's face now since he lowered his hood.

"So, you guys want to know why she is after you?" asked Marcus

"We know already, it's because we messed with her puny henchmen" responded Falco

"Yeah that's part of the problem, but it also has a little to do with an issue she had with Fox's father"

"My father?" thought Fox out loud

"Yes Fox, you see…"

Marcus was interrupted by a loud bang caused by the main door being brought down. Fox herd a small explosion and was blinded by a strong white flash. He and the rest of the group moaned in discomfort. Fox managed to see many silhouettes coming through the main door. He noticed that they were carrying weapons and they began to knock his teammates unconscious with them, soon, it was his turn and Fox blacked out.

X

Fox opened his eyes, his vision was blurred. He was lying on the floor and his surroundings were semi-dark, he slowly began to sit up and he heard a familiar voice coming from behind him.

"Glad you finally woke up Fox"

It was Falco, and Fox quickly looked behind him to see his good old friend, Falco was also sitting down.

"Falco, where are we?" Fox asked as he noticed that they were currently in a small seemingly door-less room.

"Queen Karoline's flagship and one of its cells"

"How do you know that?"

"I think you are going to get all your questions answered soon enough Fox"

Then, one of the steel walls of the room quickly opened up, and Marcus was thrown in harshly. The door was immediately shut once Marcus was inside.

"Fu:)ing assh***!" commented Marcus, "Oh Fox, your awake!"

[Saski]

Ch. 12 Story Time

"Marcus what the hell is going on; What happened?" Fox screamed angrily as Falco stood there watching him with a serious look on his face. "Well when we got to the apartment, Karoline's henchmen got us and brought us all to her ship" Marcus said as he was still on the ground, face stained with a small streak of blood that was slowly oozing from his left eyebrow.

"He's right Fox, I had woken up just as we arrived on the ship. They put Slippy and Peppy in a separate cell, me and you were brought to this one…" Falco tossed Marcus an angry glare, quicly putting his eyes back on Fox "but they took this guy somewhere else".

"Yeah, that's exactly what happened, they took me straight to her, and she said she will talk to all of us. Together" Marcus added, bringing fear to Falco's face which brought confusion to Fox's.

"Oh crap, does that mean…?" Falco muttered this, before he could finish Marcus answered his question. "Yes kid-"

"Don't call me kid!" Fox was still very, very confused. He had been in an awkward situation for the past week, and it just kept getting stranger by the minute.

"She will interrogate us, in her very special way" said Marcus slowly.

"Damn, I've only herd of what happens, is it true…?" Falco was about to ask something but- "Excuse me you two, but what the flip is going on?" yelled Fox angrily.

His patience had been broken as couldn't handle the feeling of not knowing what was happening. Not being in control of the situation angered him and it also brought him fear. But, he was trusting his instincts by yelling angrily for answers at his blue feathered friend and apparent alien acquaintance. He wanted answers, and he wanted them now, but he knew that he would not get them. These two were very similar and Fox knew Falco's attitude pretty well.

"I already told you Fox, we will get answers, but they will be regarding Lady Karoline" when hearing this, Fox put both of his hands to his face, he slowly dragged them down, and let out a deep sigh.

"He's right Fox. For now, if you have questions regarding me I am obviously obliged to answer them" Fox and Falco slowly moved their heads to face Marcus, anger expressing clearly expressed through their faces. Marcus kept a neutral attitude, he did look calm but Fox was not sure if he could trust him. He was the one who had gotten him and his friends into this mess in the first place. Marcus was wearing the same military-like jacket that he had been wearing in Zoness, but Fox just noticed that it was the first time he saw Marcus without the helmet he always wore. He could now see that Marcus had short light brown hair. He was beginning to grow a very short amount of facial hair. Fox, trying to regain his usual calm, took a deep breath "Ok Marcus, let's see…"

"If you said you had metal bones, why are you bleeding?" said Falco interrupting Fox "Kid, bones of steel doesn't mean skin of steel".

"DON'T CALL ME…!" "Enough Falco!" interrupted Fox this time; Letting out another deep sigh, "Let me do the questioning. So, Marcus, what was your exact relationship with Star Fox twenty-five years ago?"

"That's easy Fox, when I got here to Lylat for the first time, I was intercepted by a Cornerian ship that was monitoring my approach to the system. They asked me for identification, I obviously had none and they took me as their prisoner and sent me and my ship straight to a secret military installation in Corneria. When I got there, they took blood samples and made tests with me, because I was an alien. That's where I met Captain, well now General, Pepper. He and a group of scientists where in charge of interrogating me, I gave them the same story that I gave you guys. After some more tests, they confirmed my age, and after that I escaped in my fighter, I hacked into their communications and discovered that they had taken my main ship to a space station near Katina. It was really hard to get out of that base you know? Especially since I tried to kill no one because I don't really like killing. So as I made my way out of Corneria I encountered your father and Peppy. Getting Peppy out of the way was easy, but your old man, he was very slippery, but as I got in a position for a good shot, I surrendered to him".

"But... Why?" asked Fox, perplexed at Marcus's decision

"What was the point? No point at all. If I didn't go back to prisoner status I would have most likely become the most wanted person in Lylat. I went back and after some more interrogation and tests, the Cornerian government allowed me to stay in Lylat, but they wanted me to keep a low profile, so I did".

"Low profile?" exclaimed Falco, "I wouldn't call getting at the top of Lady Karoline's wanted list keeping a low profile".

"Well, the Cornerians never said anything about keeping a low profile in the criminal underworld; They just said to keep a low profile in Lylatian mainstream society" "Right" answered Falco with an unimpressed face and sarcastic tone.

Paying no mind to Falco, Marcus continued "So, after I got out of 'imprisonment', I met a lot of Lylatian folks, like Lady Karoline, your father and the gang Fox. I really liked to help your Father and Peppy in some of the harder missions they got while I stayed in Lylat. They were a nice couple of mercenaries and just a pair of good friends that I had made"

"Marcus, did... did you know my mother?" asked Fox, if Marcus had met his father twenty-five years ago, then he must surely have known his mother too.

"Of course I knew your mother Fox, she was a great woman, or vixen as you people say. Your father really cared and loved her, and as I saw it, she really loved you. When she died your father was devestated. Many people came to give him advice about how to deal with her death; I think Peppy's advice worked the most because he had gone through a similar situation. A couple of months later, I had to leave for some personal business that took me almost 18 years". Fox had a quick flashback of the few images he had about her mother, he remembered that her fur color was just a bit lighter than his, but it had a similar pattern. His father used to tell Fox that his attitude was "just like your mother's", but as Fox had grown older, many people that knew his father said that Fox was becoming more and more like his father.

"Well, I guess any other questions that you have about me are probably about who and what exactly I am and we have established that questions regarding Lady Karoline will be answered later on. Am I right?"

Fox looked at Falco, they both knew that what Marcus had said was right, both of them looked at him, and they nodded. "Well, then take a seat, and give me your hands"

Fox and Falco gave Marcus a "what!" look "Oh come on, don't be a pair of homophobes, just give me your hands!" Fox and Falco slowly complied and they took a seat around each of Marcus's sides.

"Ok, hold on, this might not physically hurt you, I haven't done it in a while" Marcus closed his eyes, which confused Fox, but before he said anything everything around him went dark. Then, a dim light came into the view; Fox didn't feel as if he was in the prison cell anymore, the light started to get brighter and brighter until there was a brighter flash. Fox then found himself in what appeared to be an empty white room, with no clear source of illumination. He looked back and noticed that Falco was right behind him, just as confused as he was.

"Well, I'm glad to see you two made it here without a scratch"

They both noticed that Marcus had appeared out of nowhere, and he was standing right there, but he wasn't wearing the same clothes he usually wore. He was wearing green clothes, and what seemed like some sort of green heavy vest. He was also wearing his now "trademark" helmet, as Fox saw it, with the green camouflage pattern, and the black colored phrase that said "…I CAN WALK!" The only odd thing about him was that he looked a bit younger, and a bit shorter.

"Where are we?" asked the two confused Lylatians in unison. "You are in what I like to call, the 'Memory Theater'".

"Memory Theater?" asked Falco still confused.

"Yes, it's a place in my mind, or anybody's mind, where your memories are shown; I have learned to control it through my psychic powers"

"Psychic powers?" asked Fox.

"Yeah, remember I told you I can see the future, read minds, do this…" Marcus raised his hands halfway up and looked around the "Memory Theater" "and as you know Fox, I can talk to people directly into their minds, from somewhat very long distances".

"Wait if you can see the future, then tell us what's going to happen to us".

"I don't like to spoil things, and seeing the future is something that I do on very special occasions, but don't worry, I'll give you some insight about both of your futures after this presentation of my memories" This disappointed Fox a little; he really was interested in this particular ability of Marcus's.

"Well then, we shall begin with my first experience of war" once Marcus said that the whole white room transformed and Fox and Falco found themselves in a green jungle. The sun was out, but the height of the trees around them covered a lot of the light and the jungle itself was somewhat dark. It was much like the jungles of Fortuna, but the vegetation wasn't anything like it. Fox, Falco and Marcus stood in what seem to be a small trail, but something was odd, their color had completely disappeared, their whole bodies where semi-transparent, all of it had a white-ish color. Fox's thoughts were interrupted however, as a group of people similarly dressed as Marcus appeared just a couple of meters away from the trio. The group of people up ahead and everything around them instantly froze. Marcus walked forward and faced both Fox and Falco.

"Kids, welcome to Nam. Now, the reason you look like that is because I feel like it. We look like ghosts and I think it's cool".

"What the hell is Nam?" ranted Falco

"Nam, Falco, is a place in my planet were a bloody guerrilla war was fought by a group of communist guerrillas, in order to re-unify their country, I served in the opposing army, and what you are about to see is the 'hilight' of my first patrol". Everything around Fox unfroze again and the group of what he now knew as soldiers slowly got close to them. Fox noticed that they were carrying what looked like black rifles that used bullets. The type of weapon that was considered obsolete in Lylat.

"Now if you don't mind I'll give you a little narration" said the ghostly Marcus.

Once the group of soldiers got close to Fox he noticed that one of them was Marcus who was looking at his surroundings carefully.

"I was just an 18 year old when THIS happened" as the ghostly Marcus said this, loud explosions were heard, and someone screamed ambush. Gun fire was coming from just up ahead, the group of green uniformed soldiers quickly dispersed, found cover, and returned fire.

"Now this was really scary from me, I feared for my life, a fear that would later disappear, but I raised my rifle…" Marcus apparently paused the scene again and pointed at himself "…and killed another living conscious being for the first time".

The war scene again unfroze but this time it was all in slow motion, the 18 year-old Marcus pressed the trigger on his rifle and an orange streak of light slowly exited the barrel. Fox followed this orange light as it travelled through the dark jungle; he noticed that it was approaching an opposing figure in dark clothing, this other figure was looking into another direction, as the orange light approached the scene began to accelerate into normal speed. When the orange light hit the opposing soldier, he fell, obviously dead. "Why is this important?" asked Fox.

"Because it makes you think, doesn't it?"

Fox slowly nodded, seeing this scene did make him think about his own experience with war. The war scene disappeared quickly and the group was back in the large white room and back to their normal color. Marcus had changed yet again, he was wearing clothing that was very similar to what he wore when Fox and Falco first met him except they were a different color, but he still wore his helmet.

"I spent four long years in that bloody jungle guys, but I spent twenty thousand years under the tutelage of this great immortal". The setting in the room changed again, this time into some sort forest at night, a bright full moon was high in the sky and it illuminated the whole area. Fox looked around and saw the white light of the moon being reflected by a small silvery space ship with two engines the size of half an arwing. Fox had seen ships like this one before; They were mostly used as fast transport ships.

Again, there were two Marcus's, the real Marcus, and the one in the vision. The Marcus in the vision was looking straight at the ship; he looked dumbstruck as he saw the ship.

"This is Siberia, in the summer, one of the largest forests in my home-world. By this point I was 93 years-old, a good 60 years into my long journey for knowledge. On this particular night I met Maghar"

Upon saying that, one of the doors on the silver ship began to open. A humanoid figure was standing at the door, and as he stepped out, Fox noticed that it was apparently a male in skin tight black clothes. He had no hair at all, his skin was much darker than Marcus's skin, and he was as tall as Falco.

"Maghar came from a planet similar to, Katina. He told me that this planet though had been destroyed a long time ago. His people used to be the most powerful psychics in the whole galaxy, and had ultimately chosen to destroy themselves, much like my people did. He told me all about the galaxy's fifty immortals, and that he had been sent to look for the newest immortal and provide him, her, or it, with guidance. I knew I had to leave my planet, the reason for me to be in such a remote place at that time. A nuclear Holocaust was upon my race, and I wanted to be alone when I died, or if I died, because I knew that I had no one else close to me on that planet anymore" As Marcus finished saying this the scene again changed, this time the trio seemed to just be floating in space, and slightly below them was a planet, half of which they could see the dayside, and the other half being the night side of the planet. Fox heard Marcus's voice as he saw at the planet.

"This was my planet. Earth". What Fox guessed were large nuclear explosions could be seen starting all over the planet. Fox remembered that Marcus had said that his people had gone to nuclear war, but Fox believed that even then, someone must have survived, he was going to ask Marcus about this but he gave Fox the answer to why no one could have survived before Fox asked.

"Two years later, an unusually large comet came in at a high speed and took a pretty big chunk of the planet. By now I was beginning to learn many things about Maghar, who was preparing me for the Great War that was about to come"

"What Great War?" asked Falco.

"That's a story for another time guys, Karoline's guards are coming for us now. Brace yourselves". Saying this, the room was black, and Fox opened his eyes to see Falco slowly standing up, Marcus sitting in the only bench that the Prison cell had.

"I hope that cleared some things up" said Marcus. 'It sure did, I can't believe he…'

As Fox thought this, the only door of the prison cell opened to reveal two very tall, and very dangerous looking guards, a tiger and a black wolf. The tiger spoke first. "All of you, OUT!"

The three quickly complied.

Author's note: Well, I haven't been updating this as much as I would like to, but the climax of the story is approaching, and also, many surprises. I hope you readers enjoyed the chapter, this one was a bit different since I have to give many thanks to Reona Fox, who took the time to edit the chapter. Anyways, remember to review if you can, will contribute to the improvement of the material's quality.

Editors note: This sh!t doesn't happen over night. But it does happen faster than how long I took. Oh well, "Patience brings reward"

[Saski]

Ch. 13 Should I Fear for my Life Now

The walkways of the ship were narrow, allowing only two people to walk next to each other at a single time. Made out of a dark metal alloy that wasn't reflective, the walls were typical for many types of ships. The halls were a hexagonal shape, with electrical illumination evenly spaced throughout it.

Fox, Falco, and Marcus were being walked through said hallways towards the nearest elevator. Behind the three of them were the two guards armed with their individual weapon. One of the weapons being a black blaster. The other an electrical stun baton. The footsteps of the group echoed through the hallway with a metallic sound, and they all had their mouths shut. Not in fear, but in mind that speaking was unnecessary.

Fox knew he couldn't do anything about the guards, even as they entered the elevator. The guards had the advantage of being armed and standing in a good position to immediately stop anything that Fox and his fellow detainees could have done to harm them and escape. Even then, Fox needed to find Peppy and Slippy first. He wouldn't leave without his whole team.

As the group entered the elevator one of the guards commanded, "Observation Deck Two!" and the elevator began to move.

Fox looked at Falco, who surprisingly had a worried face, which was something very unusual that Fox had only seen on very few occasions. He then looked over at Marcus, whose face was emotionless, somewhat serious. Once again, something rare. Fox had only spent a short amount of time around Marcus, but the man always seemed to be the type of guy that always had a positive attitude. He also always seemed to show it by having a smile across his face at all times, even if it was a sarcastic one. But that smile was currently gone; Marcus looked concentrated on something, oblivious to his surroundings. Then the elevator stopped, Fox looked around, and then looked back at Marcus, who slowly began to smirk. The doors to the elevator opened.

In front of Fox was a large room, the floor had black and brown tiles that followed a checker pattern, with a pentagonal pattern in the center. There was a large window to the left of the room, which allowed for a great view of Zoness below, with Aquas far into the cosmic horizon, and Solar's light coming from above. The ceiling wasn't impressive; It had some lights which allowed for the room to be fairly illuminated. Fox looked to the right and saw a wall full of different kinds of weapons ranging from blaster weaons and different blades, and something that resembled a few torture devices. Fox did not like this. Looking to the middle of the room, he saw that Peppy and Slippy, sitting in chairs with their hands tied with synthetic rope.

The guards harshly pushed the group of prisoners forward, Fox receiving the harder part of the push making him the only one to fall to his knees. Fox stopped his face from hitting the floor by quickly placing his hands on the ground to stop most of the fall. He grunted, and then looked up to see his tied friends, sarcastically smiling at them. Peppy and Slippy then looked towards the corner of the room to the left of Fox. Looking in that direction, Fox saw Lady Karoline, Queen of the Pirates, looking out through the window of her ship towards the Lylat system and the vast expanse of the space beyond.

She was a feline, with grayish fur, a white patch of fur around her mouth, and a white streak of hair at the top of her head that slightly fell downwards to her forehead. Her eyes were dark blue, with some serious eyeliner surrounding them. Her clothing resembled what looked like a formal military uniform. It was black with a white belt, with the pants being a little tight, and she had black boots without laces that went up to her knees. She was probably around Peppy's or Fox's fathers' age. That age being mid to late 40's, since Fox could see some wrinkles beginning to form around her eyes. Her right ear had two simple circular silver earrings that were small and hanged down. She wore two white gloves that were formal and were obviously part of the militaristic attire. In finality, on her left side was what looked like a sword that was slightly curved, with a grip that was probably meant to be used by both hands and it was inserted into a black scabbard that was attached to her belt. Even though this feline was probably twice the age of Fox, she still was a pretty attractive female, with a curvaceous body, and breasts that reminded Fox of a swimsuit model that he had seen in a poster he had above his wall as a teenager.

Two more guards came into view, one picked up Fox, and the rest proceeded to take the prisoners to empty chairs in the middle of the room and tie them to them. Lady Karoline stood still in the corner of the room.

The five prisoners of the pirates were arranged in a single line of metallic chairs, each with their hands tied behind their backs. Fox was at the center, with Marcus immediately to his left and Falco next to the Alien, Peppy and Slippy were to his right.

"How long have you guys been here?" muttered Fox to Peppy.

"We got here about a minute before you did Fox"

"So, nothing has happened?"

Peppy shook his head, "No, she's just been standing there and looking out through that window."

As Peppy said this, all the guards in the room left, and the group of five was left alone with Lady Karoline.

She turned to face them, and began to slowly walk towards them, her footsteps echoing through the room, and her hips moving from side to side, somewhat seductively. Halfway between the corner and the group, she began to slowly take the sword out with her right hand, holding it so that it faced the window and not the group. She stopped about three feet in front of Fox and began to raise her sword towards her mouth. She slowly began to open her mouth, closed her eyes, and began to slowly lick the side of the blade that wasn't sharp.

"Damn it woman! That's gross, I didn't give you that sword so that you could do your weird stuff to it!" yelled Marcus with a look of repugnance across his face.

Lady Karoline ignored him, and once she reached the middle of the sharp looking blade she stopped. She opened her eyes and began to walk towards Falco, however stopping in front of Marcus, looked at him, and then continued towards Falco. Stopping in front of the avian, but not looking at him, she acknowledged him.

"It's good to see you Falco." Her voice was soft, and it had some sort of accent that was very formal, and provocative. Fox remembered how Shelly had mentioned that Lady Karoline had helped Falco's "former little wannabe gang". It seemed that Fox was going to find out what exactly Shelly had meant by "help".

"It's nice to see you too, Ms. Monroe" said Falco nervously, and trying his best to answer with a smile.

Fox, Peppy, and Slippy were in shock; Marcus just looked at Karoline, frowning. Could Lady Karoline be related to Katt Monroe? The same good friend of Falco's who had helped the team in Zoness and Sector Z during the war?

"Katt wishes to say 'hi' to you and your friend, Mr. McCloud over there" told Karoline to Falco.

"Tell her I said hi too, Ms Monroe."

"Wait" said Fox grabbing the attention of the room "are you Katt's mother or something?" making sure to not get confused. He had enough confusion with Marcus. "Flippin' A" said Falco in a low voice.

"Ahhh, bad move Fox" said Marcus. Fox looked at him, now confused and nervous, 'Damn'.

Lady Karoline turned around and began to walk towards Fox, who was looking her in the eyes. She stopped in front of him, holding the sword with one hand and pointing it to her side. "Young McCloud, you are quite the handsome young fox, now…" Lady Karoline raised her sword in an instant so that it was millimeters away from Fox's neck, "don't ever dare compare to that whore, and do not interrupt me. Along with your friends you are, after all, my prisoners and I decide what happens to you" she said with very subtle anger in her tone.

"Well, I am so terribly sorry, Lady Karoline" answered back the young vulpine with.

She smiled, retracting her sword, "Just like your father, and please, Fox, just call me Karoline, that goes for the rest of you too, StarFox. Falco over there is a former, business associate, so he must refer to me as Ms. Monroe" she smiled. "Now, regarding your question Fox, no, I am not Katt's mother, I am her aunt" she seemed to have calmed down.

"I see, now can I ask you something else?" said Fox with a little of sarcasm, trying to parody Lady Karoline's formal tone, he was determined to get his friends out of here. As for Marcus well... he could find a way out by himself.

"Please, go ahead"

"What problem have we caused that has made you decide that we need to be your prisoners?"

"Well isn't it obvious, you ruined what had been a great source of income"

"You mean that all of this is just because we snitched to Corneria about your pirate's whereabouts?"

"Precisely, and no one defies me without goes unpunished. However, you and your friends here might be lucky since I knew your father, and respected him"

"No one goes unpunished? Please, you must be joking!" exclaimed Marcus clearly pissing her off as she yelled "QUIET MARCUS, I shall deal with you in a moment!" Being so flustered and caught in the moment made her hair fall in front of her eyes which she moved back into place. That is usually the universal sign to stop pissing a woman off, but Marcus began to look at her with a smirk across his face, Lady Karoline looking back at him with anger.

"Excuse me…" Peppy interrupted, making the feline and alien ceased their little staring contest to look at Peppy, "how is it that you two seem to know each other so well?"

"Oh goodness Peppy, do you really want to know?" asked Marcus who instantly tensed up at the thought of answering.

"If you must know Mr. Hare, Mr. Howell and I used to be Lovers" responded Lady Karoline dropping the jaws of Fox, Falco, and Slippy. They looked at Marcus and then at Lady Karoline with clear expressions of shock on their faces. It took a while for the statement to sink into Fox. He just couldn't believe it, yet it somehow made sense; He could see Marcus as the womanizing type.

"Ok…" said Peppy. Marcus attempted to justify his reasons for being with her in one sentence "She was a really attractive young Feline back then Peppy". "Well, I can see that age has treated her well" replied Peppy, closing his eyes, which Fox and the gang could only guess why.

"Are you all implying that I have lost my beauty?" asked Lady Karoline whom quickly raised her sword in aggression. The five prisoners all shook their heads and said "no no no, of course not" each in their own nervous way.

"I thought so" said Lady Karoline as the last "no" was said.

"What do you plan to do to us anyways?" asked Fox, his answer was a blow to the head from the hilt of Lady Karoline's sword. "I guess I will torture you for a while, and then I shall see if your punishment has been enough for you to be released". The smartass of the group had to ask "Still the same sadistic bitch are ya?" Thus pissing off Lady Karoline leading her to also give him a hit. But this hit was aimed for his more "sensitive" area.

Not knowing what to do, Fox realized that he needed to find a way out and fast. Unfortunately the only thought that could come to mind: 'Shit'.