FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the first chapter in a series commissioned by Travis_Sebastian.

Slippy and Falco weren't sure how much they could take of the present situation aboard the Great Fox. Both the toad and bird were finding it increasingly difficult to be around their team leader, Fox McCloud, who had decided to divert the the Starfox Team's time and resources to finding Krystal. When Fox had pushed her aside, the blue-furred vixen had been so devastated by his rejection that she left the team in tears. No matter how hard he tried, Fox couldn't get the image out of his mind of Krystal's crying from being rejected.

"I'm setting a course for Fichina," announced Fox as he sat at the controls on the Great Fox's bridge.

"What in the hell would she be doing on Fichina?" asked Falco, unable to hide his contempt for such an idea.

"You got a problem with what I'm doing?" asked Fox. "What's it matter if we go to Fichina or any other place? You're still getting paid the same."

Falco folded his arms in disgust. "With you constantly chasing after Krystal, we haven't been able to get any mercenary work for over a month now. How do you expect to pay the bills when we don't have any money coming in?"

Fox got out of his chair and walked over to Falco, getting in his personal space. "Whatcha saying, Falco? You saying that I don't know how to run my business?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying, McCloud," said Falco glaringly to the vulpine. "Here you are dragging Slippy and me around the entire Lylat System to find somebody who doesn't want to be anywhere near you. Does that make sense to you, McCloud? Does that make any sense at all?"

The vulpine could feel his paws clenching into fists. Falco had a knack for being a bit of a jerk anyway, but since Fox told him and Slippy that they were on a mission to find Krystal, he'd turned into a complete asshole as far as Fox was concerned. He was the Team Leader, and Falco should be showing him a modicum of respect, but he wasn't. To make matters worse, Falco was now openly questioning Fox's competence in front of others, which he couldn't allow.

"Falco," said Fox, feeling the blood in his head boil. "I've had just about enough of your beak. The entire time we've been on this mission I've heard nothing but whining, complaining and questioning from you. In case you forgot, I'm the Team Leader; that means you need to show me some respect."

"I'd show you some respect if you were actually doing something respectable; but you're not, Fox. What do you hope to accomplish in this mission, to find someone who doesn't want to be found? Face it, Fox, you had your chance with Krystal, and you blew it."

That was more than the vulpine could take. Raising his right paw, he tried to take a swing at Falco, but Slippy moved between the two in an attempt to break up the fight. Being smaller than either Fox or Falco made his task a daunting one, but he knew that he had to break this up for the good of the team.

"Hey, hey," he yelled, pushing between Fox and Falco. "Break it up, guys! We don't need this. We're supposed to be a team."

"And a team needs a leader, which we don't seem to have right now," remarked Falco.

After those words had left Falco's mouth, Fox couldn't hold himself back any longer. Knocking over Slippy, the vulpine connected to Falco's beak with a hard, straight right paw, sending the bird to the ground. Fox threw himself to the ground, ready to continue his assault of the bird, but ROB came over and pulled the vulpine off and held him up so he couldn't reach Falco, though that didn't stop Fox from struggling to break free.

"Let me go, ROB," ordered Fox, kicking and flailing his arms violently.

"Negative," said ROB flatly. "You and Falco are in violation of team conduct rules. You are both confined to your quarters for the next twenty-four hours."

"Why do I have to stay in my quarters?" asked Falco, rubbing his injured beak. "I wasn't the one who threw the punch."

"You're just as much to blame as Fox is," said Slippy, shaking his paw reprovingly at the bird. "You instigated this by running your mouth and not showing the Team Leader the proper respect, and Fox, you as the Team Leader should know better than to strike a team mate. I'm just glad that Peppy retired so he didn't have to witness such a terrible display by both of you."

The mention of Peppy caused both Fox and Falco to hang their heads in shame. Peppy had been a close friend of Fox's late father, James, and the thought of Peppy witnessing such a spectacle was enough for both Fox and Falco to calm down and return to their senses. ROB, sensing that Fox was no longer struggling, put the vulpine back down on the bridge floor. Fox sighed, knowing that he had been completely out of line, but not wanting to admit that just yet.

"I will escort you both to your quarters," said ROB.

Falco and Fox looked at each other as the droid servant of Team Starfox walked them down the hall to their rooms, where they would remain for the next twenty-four hours. ROB watched Fox go into his quarters and locked the door behind him. Confined to solitude for the next twenty-four hours, Fox went over to his bed and looked out the window. Millions upon millions of stars sparkled brightly in space as Fox took in the dull roar of the Great Fox's engines. Turning his gaze from his window to the table next to his bed, he saw the picture of Krystal he kept there.

He recalled the day he had first seen her, trapped in that crystal at Krazoa Palace, entranced by her exotic beauty. After being rescued, Krystal had joined Star Fox. Over the many hours Fox spent with Krystal, training her in the simulators onboard the Great Fox, he had found himself growing ever more conflicted.

As the leader of the Star Fox team, he had to maintain a professional demeanor, and yet he was finding it harder with each passing day to deny his feelings for her. It also didn't help that she was a telepath, and could therefore see through his bashfulness that he was attracted to her. He thought back to the many missed opportunities where he could have told her how deeply he loved her, but had been too afraid to make his feelings known to her, afraid she might not reciprocate his feelings.

Then came the Aparoid Invasion. Thoughts of romance had to be set aside as they desperately fought to save the Lylat System from assimilation. Their only respite had been right after they had liberated Sauria. Fox had been really flustered when Tricky had suggested they have their honeymoon there. Did Krystal see through his blustered protests how much the idea appealed to him? He now feared that he might never find out.

They had barely survived the final confrontation with the Aparoid Queen and the aftermath had left Fox emotionally drained. Then the nightmares started. In the months that followed while they waited for the salvaged Great Fox to be rebuilt, Fox would occasionally have these horrid dreams where she was killed in action. They had kept busy doing escort missions to defend cargo and passenger ships against raiders and pirates until the last mission the four of them did together.

No less than five fighters had decided to converge on Krystal's Cloud Runner. Fox flew in and was able to take them out, one after the other, but seeing her ship disabled and still taking hits from her attackers who were intent on destroying her proved to be more than he could bare. With engines out and life support failing, the Cloud Runner had been towed after the battle aboard the passenger liner they were escorting. In that one terrible moment when he had seen her still from being lifted out of her wrecked fighter, Fox thought he had lost her.

Thankfully, she was only unconscious and quickly recovered, but in the weeks that followed, Fox would have nightmares of that day. Some nights, he would dream of hearing Krystal scream in terror just before her ship exploded in a ball of fire. On other nights, he'd see the canopy of the Cloud Runner blow off, her body flying out in the cold vacuum of space. Then there were the nights were he'd relive that moment in the passenger liner's hanger, except that instead of seeing her unconscious form being lifted out of her wrecked fighter, it was her maimed, dead body.

Witnessing his mother dying in that car bomb when he was 10 years old had been traumatic enough, but after his father had died as a result of Pigma's betrayal, Fox had emotionally shut down deep inside. It was not until his thirst for vengeance had been quenched over Andross' dead body that Fox started to let himself feel again. Even then, he had buried the grief he felt at losing his parents. The years that followed had been miserable, with his only recourse being to bury himself in his mercenary work.

Even Fara Phoenix had not been able to bring him out of his shell. They had been lovers for a while, but she could see that they weren't meant to be together. He had Star Fox to run, and she had Space Dynamics, which her father was grooming her to eventually take over. It was not until Krystal came into his life that Fox allowed himself to love someone again, and now being confronted with possibly losing her as well, there seemed to be only one thing he could do.

It had seemed so sensible at the time. He would protect her by removing her from the Star Fox team. Still unable to show his true feelings for her, and wanting to remain calm and collected, he had told her that she had to leave, that he couldn't risk her life anymore. Fox immediately realized he had made a terrible mistake upon seeing the hurt expression and tears in Krystal's eyes. She had not taken the rejection well and had run off in tears.

It was not until the Anglar Blitz that Fox had seen her again. Seeing Krystal, now part of Star Wolf, regarding him with cold bitterness had left Fox feeling like his insides were twisted in knots, and the thought of her and Panther together made him feel sick to the heart. Now the Anglars were defeated and the Great Fox had finally been restored to him, but the ship felt as empty as the terrible emptiness in his heart.

"I'll find you, Krystal," he said as more tears fell down his face. "I need to tell you how I really feel. I need to tell you the truth."

By the time that the twenty-four hour confinement had expired, Fox was back to his normal self again.

which wasn't saying much. The sad irony was that he still had nightmares about her, but now they were dreams of her scorning him for driving her away, her flying away with Panther in a Wolfen, or some other variant. This past night he had the worst nightmare yet. He had dreamt of their time on Sauria with after the Aparoids had been driven off and hearing Tricky imply they would have their honeymoon there. Instead of giving blustering protests, he had decided to finally tell Krystal how much he loved the idea of them getting married, but when he turned to tell her, she was gone. Fox would desperately run around searching for her, but would only find friends and rivals each chastising him, asking why he had hurt Krystal like that. ROB had unlocked the door to his quarters, and he made his way to the bridge of the Great Fox. Slippy, Falco and ROB were already present, which is what Fox had hoped for. He realized that he had to explain to his team mates what was really going on, and what the future had in store for the Starfox Team.

"Slippy, Falco," said the vulpine before clearing his throat. "I need to apologize to both of you for my behavior lately. I'm the Team Leader, and I should have shown better judgment in the decisions I've made lately. I've let my heart rule my head, and in doing so, I haven't been as upfront with you as I should have. The truth is that this is going to be our last mission as Team Starfox."

Slippy and Falco looked at one another in surprise. Of all the things Fox could have told them, they were certainly not expecting such news. "I'm sorry if this comes as a surprise to you, but the truth is I want to get out of the mercenary business. I've put most of the money aside that I've made doing this kind of work, so it's not like I need to keep doing this for any financial reason. I just want to live a nice, simple, quiet life with Krystal; that is, if she'll have me."

Slippy stepped forward to address Fox. "I have to be honest with you, Fox. I was planning on leaving the Team after this mission. I'm gonna be marrying Amanda soon and she isn't thrilled about me staying on as a mercenary. I think it's time for me to settle down and start a family."

Fox nodded his understanding. Looking over at Falco, he extended his paw in friendship and forgiveness. "Most of all I'm sorry about what I did to you yesterday, Falco. You're a great pilot, a great friend, and I had no excuse for hitting you. Can you ever forgive me?"

Falco reached out to take Fox's paw. The twenty-four hours of confinement had given him plenty of time to cool down and get a level head back on his shoulders. "Of course I can, Fox," he said, shaking his friend's paw. "I need to apologize too. I was out of line, mouthing off to you like that, though I do have one question."

"What's that?" asked Fox.

"What are you going to do with the Great Fox? I can't imagine that you'll want to live in this thing like it's a permanent residence."

Fox grinned. "I take it you're interested in taking possession of her?"

"I am," admitted Falco. "That is, if you'll let me take possession of her."

"I don't see why not," said Fox. "You're a hell of a pilot, and I'm sure you'll have no problem finding work to make the payments on this thing."

"Sounds like a plan to me," said Falco, giving the vulpine a slap on the back. "I'm gonna guess that we'll draw up a contract to make everything nice and legal, right?"

"Of course," said Fox. "for both our sakes."

"Mind if I rename her the Great Falcon?" asked Falco.

"Fine by me," said Fox. There was a long standing tradition that dated all the way back to early maritime days that stated that renaming a ship was bad luck. Fox did not hold to this tradition, and even if he believed that changing the name of the ship was bad luck, he wasn't about to get into another argument with Falco, especially over something that would be out of his paws once he signed over the ship to him anyway. He needed to focus on the task at hand.

Falco sat down at the chair next to Fox. "You still planning on going to Fichina?"

Fox looked over to him. He could see that Falco wasn't calling his judgment into question, but was simply asking him what his intentions were. "I don't know," responded the vulpine. "I'm willing to search the whole Lylat system to find Krystal."

The bird nodded his head in understanding. "She really means a lot to you, doesn't she?"

"She's everything to me," responded Fox, his voice getting a little choked up. "I don't talk about this much, Falco, but I've been lonely for a long time now.I lost my mom when I was only ten; it was hard for my dad to work as a mercenary and try to raise me all by himself. Then my dad gets killed when I'm eighteen. I had to leave the Cornerian Flight Academy because I just couldn't deal with the rigors of school anymore. It was rough, being all by myself, not having any family I lean on. I think the only thing that kept me going was you, Peppy and Slippy; you guys really became my family. All I could do was stay close to all of you to keep me from having a nervous breakdown. Over time, I learned to accept my lot in life, and I learned how to become a good pilot and I hope a good leader as well."

"You've done a good job at both," said Falco.

Fox chuckled. "I didn't always think so. You know, some of the things that you said when we were on missions."

Falco shrugged. "Ah, that's just me being a smart ass. I had kind of a hard life, being a former gang member and all. I guess that was just my way of dealing with it."

"I understand," said Fox. "Guess I'm just a little thin-skinned at times. Anyway, I learned to live with what life had given me; learned to just accept that my parents were both gone and that I had to carry on. Everything was going fine until I rescued Krystal. I remember it was love at first sight, but I couldn't for the longest time bring myself to actually tell her that I loved her. Every time I tried to let her know how I felt, I'd get embarrassed and afraid she'd not return my feelings for her. Of course, with her being a telepath, she quickly picked up on how I felt. I was really nervous at first, but she reassured me that she'd never pry into my thoughts without my permission.

Falco nodded. "She told me that as well. I happened to ask her in conversation one day if she could read our very thoughts. She said 'yes', but that she never reads a sentient being mind without permission; that doing so would be a violation of their privacy. She said that Cenerians are taught from a young age to use their powers only for good, never for evil or mere self-interest."

"Yeah," said Fox. "By the time of the Aparoid war, Krystal and I were just starting to become close, and I was getting comfortable with her telepathy, but I could never fully open up to her. In the end, I just pushed her aside, like I didn't want her around anymore, and that was the biggest mistake I ever made in my life."

Taking in what his friend just said, Falco chose his next words carefully. "Fox, can I tell you what I really think?"

The vulpine nodded. "Go ahead."

"You spent so many years trying to build yourself up, trying to be pilot and a leader, but you've also spent a lot of time guarding your feelings, not letting anyone get close to you because you feel like the moment they get close to you is the time that they'll be taken from you. Krystal's a telepath, and you probably were afraid that she would find out how you really felt about her."

Fox nodded his head, "I was also afraid that she'd learn about Fara. What would she have thought if she learned that Fara and I were close?"

Falco tilted his head and asked, "And do you still have the same feelings for Fara that you now have for Krystal?"

"No," Fox answered. "I consider Fara a good friend, but that's all we are to each other now."

"That's right, Fox, and don't you think Krystal would have been able to see that you and Fara are just friends?"

Fox leaned back in his chair, sighing. "You're right, Falco," admitted the vulpine. "How could I have been so stupid to think that she would believe otherwise?"

"You weren't being stupid, Fox," reassured the bird. "You were just afraid of opening yourself up to her."

"Actually . . ." Fox's words were cut short as he felt the the Great Fox suddenly shake violently. "What was that?" he yelled, jumping to his feet.

"We're under attack!" yelled Slippy.

ROB, Team Star Fox's droid assessed the situation for them. "I count a dozen fighters that are assaulting the Great Fox."

The leader in Fox quickly sprang into action. "ROB, you take charge of the Great Fox's laser cannons. Slippy, Falco, let's get to the Arwings and deal with these scum!"

The three beasts ran to their aircraft to defend their mothership and their very lives. Finding Krystal would have to wait.