Archive of Our Own ^beta

I don’t know what I’m supposed to feel right now.  Excited?  Scared?  Maybe a bit of both?  … I don’t feel either right now.  Just… nothing.

Fox McCloud stared out the front window of the Great Fox’s bridge at the brown dot slowly drawing closer and closer.  The last few days of mindless space travel had given him a respite from his anxiety since there was nothing to do but wait for their vessel to arrive.  But now that their destination was in sight, it sent all of his nerves roaring back to the surface of his thoughts.

Papetoon was not a common stop for many—not with its unfriendly climate and its location far from the sapphire jewel that was Corneria.  It was no wonder they had seen virtually nobody as the Great Fox soared its way through the eternal pitch-black of space towards its distant destination.  The planet was home to a small population overall, the majority of it scattered about the surface haphazardly.  Decades ago, before the Cornerian Alliance, Papetoon had been somewhat of an anarchic society—a veritable wild west of sorts.  But then the Cornerians had come and “order” had been established to the wilds.  Papetoon’s culture had shifted with the lack of lawlessness, becoming a more hospitable place with far less saloon shootouts in its dusty old establishments than before.  But that did not mean it did not have a reputation.

“We’re almost there,” Peppy said to them from where he sipped his mug of coffee nearby.  His carmine eyes moved from the distant Papetoon to where Fox stood nearby.  “Are you ready?”

Will I ever be?

“Yeah,” Fox lied as easily as he breathed.

“We’ll land on Papetoon as nothin’ but four guys with a dream of protecting the Lylat System.  We’ll leave as a team,” Peppy said.

Fox nodded and the team assembled in the hanger shortly after.  His heart felt like it was beating in the back of his throat, his fears creeping through his fur like ants.  Fox scratched himself fervently absent-mindedly as he looked at his Arwing, not realizing it until Falco came up behind him.

“What, ya got fleas or something?” the avian teased.

“What?  No!” Fox retorted.

“C’mon, Fox!  We got some good practice reps in the Arwings already!  Don’t tell me you’re afraid you’ll crash?” Slippy said, clapping Fox’s back amiably.

Fox had nothing to say in reply.  He gave an uncertain laugh, opened his Arwing’s cockpit, then settled into it.  As he fastened his seatbelt, his mind was both cluttered and painfully devoid of thought.  A deep breath was drawn in and he closed his eyes.

I still don’t know if quitting the Academy was the right call some days.  It felt right at the time, like my mind couldn’t go anywhere else but Venom and Andross.  But as time goes on, I can’t help but wonder… did I throw everything away?

There was no turning back though.  Not anymore.

All four Arwings in the Great Fox’s hanger activated, their engines a soft hum as the doors opened.  Soon enough, they were amongst the stars, zipping fast to their destination.  Fox, still warring with himself, eventually let his mind rest for the swift flight planetside.  Between having too much to panic over and the empty feeling inside, the vulpine picked the emptiness.  It was cold but it helped melt away the tension in his shoulders.

“Your Arwings should be on autopilot,” Peppy said to them.  “I had ROB upload the coordinates to the old Star Fox hideout.”

“‘Hideout’… makes it sound like you guys were a bunch of bandits,” Falco snorted.

“Well, there are some people that don’t take too kindly to the idea of hired guns,” Peppy said.  “So we got called bandits and worse more than a few times…”

“We fix the problems the Cornerian Defense Force can’t,” Falco remarked.  “You’d think they’d be happy to see people like us.”

“You’d think,” Peppy chuckled.

Dad used to be part of the CDF a long time ago, during the Cornerian Civil War.  He always said he hated the military, thought he could do more with less restrictive rules.  But not everyone has that mindset.

As they flew, Fox massaged the bridge of his snout.

I bet I pissed a lot of old Cornerian guard off when I decided to drop out of the Academy…

The team made their approach towards Papetoon’s surface, breaking into its atmosphere.  Clouds veiled the sky but Fox’s Arwing cut through them like a knife through butter.  The barren terrain of the arid planet soon came into sight, spreading far below them.  The vulpine glanced at his radar.  It seemed as though no major cities were around.  A small blip at the edge of his scanners showed a settlement but it did not seem particularly large.  Fox knew this area—it was the Wilds, south of where he had spent many years with his dad and grandparents.  They had a farm back then, old ancestral land.  James had sold it all to fund creating the Star Fox team.

“Geesh, the only thing lively about this place are the tumbleweeds,” Falco said to them after their Arwings had touched down in seemingly the middle of nowhere.

The Star Fox team had been formed for a week now.  Just a measly week.  It had felt like forever since they had left Corneria City for the far reaches of the Lylat System.  But now, here they were upon Peppy’s request.  This is where Star Fox had begun in truth many years ago.  James had tried to establish a base in Corneria but had failed due to competition—the market was a beast and Papetoon had far more job opportunities for their fledgling gang.

And now, the next iteration of Star Fox was here, at the furthest reaches of the Lylat System.  Where it had all began all those years ago.  Peppy had thought it would be best for them to go to the far reaches in order to stay out of the limelight.  James McCloud’s death was still fresh news and the hare did not want their training interrupted by any reporters looking to thrust microphones in their faces and broadcast their business to the galaxy.

No reporters out here… not much of anything out here, really.

Fox didn’t mind the solitude of the Papetoonian Wilds in the slightest; it was quiet save for the steady howl of wind.  He needed the quiet more and more these days.  Ever since dropping out of the academy, life had been chaotic.  So much information was being forced into his mind daily—Peppy had been teaching him the ins and outs of merc life along with how to master the Arwing’s convoluted controls.  It felt like a lot some days and it only felt worse when he thought about his father.  And everything about the Great Fox reminded him of his dad. 

They disembarked from their starfighters and Fox’s boots hit the dusty ground with a soft thud.  There was not much out in the Wilds that he could see.  Peppy had led them to a flatland beyond a series of canyons and buttes, which hung upon the horizon in the far distance.  The only thing of note was a single tree in the midst of the arid desert.  It was gnarled, twisted at the base.  The way its grey-brown bark looked partially flayed off of its trunk gave Fox the impression it was dead.  He scanned the horizon, frowning slightly.  The middle of nowhere was an apt way to describe where the hare had led them.  But there was a reason for everything Peppy did so Fox opted to put his faith in his old friend. 

“Is there even anything out here?” Slippy asked, as if reading the vulpine’s mind on the matter.

“Heh,” Peppy chuckled. “Yes, Slip.  There’s way more here than what meets the eye.”

“What, like another dead tree?” Falco asked, unimpressed with his hands on his hips.

“Such wide open skies…” Fox mused, turning his gaze above.  Though he had lived a good portion of his life on Papetoon, the way the heavens unfurled overhead was always breathtaking.  “This is a good spot to test Arwing maneuvers.”

“That it is,” Peppy said as he approached the old tree.  He paused for a moment, drawing in a deep inhale.  And then he touched part of the trunk, where the wood seemed to bulge slightly from the rest of the tree.  Fox watched as the roots parted, the tree lifting slightly to reveal a metal door hidden underneath.

“What the—” Falco began.

“I told you,” Peppy smirked at him.

The team descended down the small set of steps that led to the metal door.  Peppy took the lead, sliding away a panel that was a bit dusty and inputting a code that Fox could not see.  With a shudder and a clank, the metal door opened for them and the hare turned to look at the trio of boys with a knowing smile on his face.  They said nothing to each other as Peppy led them down into the hideout of the Star Fox team. 

Fox was not sure what he expected when the lights came on.  They flickered and danced overhead before settling into a steady, low-lit glow, casting a yellowish hue about the lounge.  The hideout itself seemed mostly comprised of a singular room—large with an attached kitchen off to the side and a pleasant little dining set that Fox was almost certain had been his grandmother’s dinner table.  A few tattered old couches sat around the living space, positioned as though they had been around a coffee table and a television.  But nothing remained—perhaps the team had taken it with them when they had moved formally from Papetoon to the Great Fox.  The floor underfoot was concrete and dirty.  Fox saw a few bugs scatter at the intrusion of light and he heard Slippy make an uncomfortable squeak of disapproval.

A dirty old hideout in the middle of nowhere.  You really did lead them a long way, didn’t you, Dad…

“Home sweet home,” Peppy said, inhaling deeply then coughing as the dust in the air tickled his windpipe. 

“This place is a dump,” Falco remarked.

“It… could certainly use an air freshener or twenty…” Slippy said with a grimace.

“Sure, it needs some work and elbow grease but nothing we can’t fix,” Peppy replied.  The vulpine felt the hare’s eyes trail to him.  “So, Fox, whaddya think?”

Fox’s gaze flitted about some more, taking in the ragged pool at the back as well as a few unplugged arcade machines.  He looked to where some rooms branched off—three, each one designated for one of the first generation Star Fox members.  Standing there, he felt like an intruder, as if he was taking something that did not belong to him. 

I still have no idea what to think.

He felt a hand pat his shoulder gently and Fox looked down to see Slippy standing next to him with a brimming smile on his face.  The vulpine managed a small smile in return, taking a few steps further into the lounge.  It was dusty.  It smelled.  It needed so much cleaning.  But under the dirt and grime, Fox supposed he could see the semblance of a place of operation.  A semblance of a… home.

But I guess all I can do is just keep on down the path I’ve chosen.  One step at a time.  One day at a time.

“This is the place where it begins, huh?” Fox said, looking from the lounge back to his team.  “Then what are we waitin’ for?  Let’s get to work.”