The Story of Star Fox.

--Prologue--

In a lost corner of the Lylat system, the Star Fox team celebrates the success of yet another mission.

“We did it, Fox! We got the crystal!” Slippy shouted over the com, as his arwing pulled loops in space.

“Good job, team. Now let’s get back home and turn it over to Beltino.” Fox said, looking out over his team with a sense of satisfaction. They had done well, considering none of them, with the exception of Falco, had been in an arwing while the Great Fox II was being built.

“Welcome back, guys! The Great fox will be able to leave in a few minutes. Make sure you lock down the arwings for transport, and head up to the bridge.” Peppy, the teams mentor, called over the intercom.


As the star fox team gathered on the bridge,  ROB-NUS 64, the pilot and caretaker for the Great Fox II, said: “Engines fully charged, preparing to make the jump to warp space. Stand by,” The team turned to watch the viewports. As the stars lengthened into a tube of light and the Great Fox shot down it, the team turned their attention to celebrating a victorious mission.

That night, Fox was having a nightmare. In it he was reliving the battle with the aparoid queen. “Give in, this is not sacrifice, it is evolution.” peppy’s voice droned over the com.

“Filthy aparoid, your hideous!” Fox shouted, firing the final shot. “Take this!” he snarled launching the self-destruct program into the queen. The shockwave rolled through the air.

“Is the self-destruct program working?” Krystal asked, her arwing pulling into place next to Fox’s.
“I’m not sure, but..” Slippy responded. A ripple ran through the air, “Hmm?”

“All for us. All things in the universe will be ours.” the queen’s echoed weirdly over the radio. She began to sink further into the planets core.

“it should be working, but the queens suppressing it,” Slippy shouted, “this is bad. If she escapes now she’ll create an antibody.”

“Ungh!” Fox growled.

“Fox!” yelled Slippy over the com
“Fox!” Yelled Krystal.
“Fox!” Yelled Falco.

“We’ve got to follow her and execute that program! This is it, the final battle!” Fox shouted through the radio, his arwing twisting to dive into the tunnel the queen had opened up.

They rocketed down the twisting tunnel, easily catching up with the fleeing aparoid queen.

“Look out everyone that thing looks really steamed!” Falco called out. The queen turned over to expose four grasping, tentacle-like mouths. Fox knew something was wrong when they reached out for his team’s ships.

“Aaeeii! Fox, help me!” Krystal’s voice called out over the com, as a mouth caught her arwing.

“Krystal!” Fox yelled, twisting his arwing in a spine-wrenching spin to bring him down to Krystal’s level. He blasted the mouth and cursed when he saw wasn’t doing any damage. He saw one of the mouths come out of no where and felt his arwing shudder as it hit him. As his arwing spun out of control, he heard Falco cursing and Slippy wailing and realized that the thing was going to kill him and his team. The mouth slammed him again and knocked his already wounded arwing into a fatal spiral and everything went dark.

Fox jerked awake and sat up in bed. He stared around at his-- no his and Krystal’s-- cabin and rubbed his face. Pushing the sweat-soaked sheets off of him, he climbed out of bed. Krystal murmured and rolled over, falling deeper into sleep. Fox went into the ‘fresher and stood in front of the sink. He ran some water and splashed some on his face. As the water beaded up, rolled off his muzzle and dripped into the sink, something caused him to look up and around. Suspicious, he walked into the cabin and caught a shadow slipping through the now-open door.
“Hey, you! Stop!”  He yelled, racing to the hatch and looking out down the corridor. He saw the shadow slip around the corner.

“Fox? What’s wrong?” Krystal’s sleep-roughened voice called from the cabin.

“Nothing, Sweetheart. I thought I saw something that’s all. I’m going to go check it out, go back to sleep, hon.” He replied, tugging on green fatigue pants, a grey cutoff, a grey flac jacket, and his combat boots. Slipping out of the hatch, he set off at a run toward the shuttle bay, leaving Krystal looking bemused behind him. Waking up a little bit further, she ran a quick mental sweep of the Great Fox II. Suddenly she stiffened, she recognized that thought pattern! Scrambling out of bed, she hurriedly pulled on her clothes. She zipped up her pilot suit and pulling on her boots, she ran to the hatch, palming it open. She ran down the hall after Fox :Fox, stop! don’t go--: Her cry was cut off in mid-send. Her last footstep echoed down the now empty Great Fox’s corridors.


Not to far away, another ship sat like a crouched panther.  “Sir, the ship reads as empty.” A slim, young wildcat smiled as he heard the news.

“Good the plan goes perfectly. The rest is up to you, lord Arimus.” he whispered to him self. “Turn around and return to base. I’ll be in my cabin should you need me.” Aidel, for that was the wildcat’s name, turned and left the bridge. The ship wheeled about in space and a green flicker of psuedomotion ran down it as it leapt to warp space.

Meanwhile, in the cargo deck aboard the Great Fox II, the crystal that the team had retrieved, gleamed strangely in the overhead lights, a flicker of dark energy ran through the room, centered on the crystal, and it too disappeared into thin air, like the rest of the team.  


-- End of Prologue--