FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

M** ission Three: "Old Friends"**

++++++

During her career of being a member of Star Fox, Krystal had seen many beautiful places throughout the system of Lylat. There was Aquas, the serene water world with its rippling sea surface, its underwater colonies along with many exotic fishes. Then again, there was Fichina, the ice planet that held its own kind of silent, frigid, wild beauty due to its snow covered surfaced. And perhaps if the blue vixen remembered it correctly before its unfortunate destruction thanks to the insanity of Lylat's arch nemesis, the ape who had called himself Dr. Andross during the Lylat War, her own home world of Cerinia had been a place of peace, tranquility if not hope.

Yet, out of all of the places Krystal had visited during her missions alongside Fox, out of all of the worlds she'd flown to in the Great Fox, Corneria was by far the most memorable. Countless times, the sapphire she-fox had stepped into the white city that was the capitol of the universe. Every time she had, like today, she was always struck by awe due to the splendor of the utopia's buildings, the feel of peacefulness in the air as well as the sense of happiness the population constantly gave off.

Truly, with its faithful general watching over it, with only smiles to be seen everywhere, Corneria was the icon of Lylatian hard work. As Krystal departed the CDF airbase towards the street outside with her friends - all of them escorted by firm faced security - it was kind of hard to imagine that the glorious capitol of the universe had come under so many attacks in the past but now was doing better than ever. It was almost as if after the wars with Venom as well as the Aparoids during the last few years, the Cornerian peoples hadn't been weakened by their enemies but strengthened by their losses. At this moment, the liveliness of the citizens was very inspiring to see.

"Now remember Falco, we're going to see very important people today." Peppy began to lecture the avian, making the ace pilot of the team look incredulous in turn while everyone else chuckled, "So, please, straighten up, suck in that gut, be polite, formal and most of all mature, if you would."

"It's bad enough to have one ROB telling me that crap every time we land." Falco huffed, crossing his arms over his chest, "I don't need another drone out here with me, Pep."

"And you won't have another such drone out here with you, so long as you remember to be on your best behavior and not harass the young ladies at the CDF's front desk like the last time we visited." The elder hare explained, making everyone begin laughing hard at recalling what'd happened the last time they'd paid a visit to CDF HQ, "I hope you remember that during this round; when a young lady tells you no, she means it. If she doesn't want to give you her number, take the answer and leave it at that. Please, don't make her throw her coffee in your face like last time-"

"Alright, alright, alright, fine, fine, fine!" Star Fox's ace pilot snapped hotly at the wise man, thoroughly sick of all of the warnings he was being given today as if he were six years old... which he sometimes was, in a sense. "Look, after what happened last year, I learned my lesson, okay? Okay. Especially since NONE of you have seemed to let it go since then but have kept rubbing it in my face during every opportunity! Man, give a bird a break, would ya?"

"I wonder if the girls at the front desk today will be the same as the last time we were here." Slippy playfully put in next, purposefully egging the upset avian on, "If so, hah, the general will have them know we're coming. And if that's the case, who here wants to bet that they'll have cups of coffee at the ready for a certain bird amongst us?"

"Okay, honestly, that's enough." Falco grunted, stopping ahead of his humored crew to rant at them. His feathers were bristling. A sign that showed that he - usually cool, uncaring, collected Falco - was not appreciating the jokes. A guy had a right to defend his dignity, didn't he? "For the last year, all I've ever heard is how that one wolfess dame at the front chucked her drink in my face without so much as a warning. I only asked her three times if she was free to do anything. Three is a lucky number, don't you know?"

"Not in your case-" Fox began before being cut off by his angry ace pilot friend.

"Shut it. Look, what happened between that she-wolf and me that day was all her fault. I was about to leave her alone when she went ahead and did what she did. She's the one who acted out of hand, not me." The avian squawked, looking very hostile, "Now, if any of you say one more thing about what happened at CDF HQ last year, I swear, I'm gonna-"

"Buy us a Cappuccino? Or ooh, ooh, a Dark Roast? No, yuck, Dark Roast is gross." Slippy admitted jokingly about coffee types, running behind giggling Krystal as Falco looked to grab a hold of him, "Wait, hey, you could buy us all Caffe' Mocha! Yeah, those are the best!"

"Falco, Falco, Falco, okay, buddy, simmer down. We're done, we're done." Fox said brotherly as he separated the angry avian from the caring blue vixen protecting the toad engineer, "Everyone, seriously, we _all_need to be on our best behavior, not just our ace pilot. We're a team, remember? We're a family. Families get along. Families are mature. So, how about we all stop acting immature and trust in Falco that he won't let us down this year, alright?"

"Yeah, all of you stop acting immature and grow up." Falco agreed, straightening up and trying to act like a grown up as Fox went about lecturing everyone, "That includes you too, old man."

"Oh, by all means. I'll grow up." Peppy replied to the avian's words, chortling good naturedly as Krystal helped him down walks towards the street ahead where there was a black, hovering limo car guarded by a number of serious looking, immobile canines wearing black shades like Slippy. At the said limo, the observant dog guards standing there were dressed all in black and were, obviously, waiting for Star Fox's arrival on General Pepper's orders. "Still, I can't help but let my young self resurface from time to time. Especially when I see such shining examples like General Pepper's personal guard here waiting to greet me. Ah, I remember the old days when I used to wear all of that black and look good in it."

"Aw, Pep, friend, you still look good in all black." Krystal reassured honestly, hugging her father like friend, "Don't go talking about yourself like that."

"Thank you, my dear. Truly, that's kind of you to say." The elder hare admitted gratefully, patting his daughter of a friend's arm before addressing the personal guard of General Pepper standing outside of the limo, "Hello, chaps. Another grand day of June, isn't it?"

"The sun is shining." Was all that one personal guard - a grey-white furred husky veteran - firmly said back, nodding his head a fraction of an inch as he spoke in the meantime.

"That it is, good men." Peppy laughed back, humored but respectful of the silent escort around the limo, "That it is. The sun is indeed shining. Keep up the good work."

"That's the plan, sir." The other guard - a Saint Bernard, bulky and large - said for himself and his husky companion.

Slippy, who was a bit inspired to see that his tuxedo attire looked a bit similar to the apparel of the veteran, expert guards around the limo, couldn't help but try to act cool. He did so without thinking, like with everything he sometimes did in life. For as he was about to enter the black hover vehicle, the amphibian engineer suddenly if not without warning posed with a thumbs up to the two guards who, following instinct, jumped into action against him.

"Yo, dogs. Nice shades - AUGH!" The toad happily began to greet before the duo of guards he was posing towards grabbed him by the wrists, twisted them a bit along with apprehended him. When the guards realized he had been merely greeting them, not whipping out a weapon of any kind, they slowly let the whimpering toady go. When freed, Slippy chuckled nervously in turn, "My bad, my bad. Sheesh. Should've known better than to try some humor around tough guys like you."

"Good thing you're not one of these tough guys, eh, Slip? Makes you kinda appreciate being on Star Fox all the more, right?" Fox laughed, helping his bruised toad of a best friend into the car, "Heh, I'm sorry to say it buddy but you wouldn't have lasted a day in the personal guard with the way you act before thinking. You okay?"

"Bah, Fox, I've been through a whole war with Venom, invaded an alien home world, helped you destroy a parasite queen and stopped a bug invasion against all of Lylat." Star Fox's engineer replied cheerily to his leader, rubbing his arms to help dull the pain of having been locked in a submission hold by the guards, "It's going to take a little more than some rough housing from two big hunks to hurt me - HEY?! What are you guys doing here? Awesomeness!"

There was an explosion of sound, mostly yells of delight from within the limo as Slippy got himself inside. Curious as to what was going on within their waiting vehicle but wanting to show their own respect to the men in black being their personal escorts, Fox led Krystal into the limo while saying his own simple yet bold greeting.

"Gentlemen." The leader of Star Fox simply said, nodding to the personal guards who nodded back, "Sorry for my friend there. He always means well."

"Well or not, we acted as we saw fit." The husky guard replied simply, not ashamed, "It is what we were trained to do. We know you understand, Mr. McCloud."

"Of course." Fox agreed, knowing that CDF was no place for antics or messing around. Still, Slippy was overexcited, innocent, mistaken prone Slippy, after all. He was bound to get into further, misunderstood trouble in a tight knit place like CDF today. At least he would have friends watching over him all of the while. "And it's just Fox, guys. No formalities are needed, seriously."

"As you say, Fox." The Saint Bernard the two commented before looking to the blue vixen.

"Miss." Both of the guards greeted at the same time before Krystal could even say anything. She'd always had that effect on others, of course. Her beauty drew all eyes onto her and showed their true colors. Hearing the personal guard greet her firsthand not only made Fox chuckle to himself but caused the sapphire she-fox to smile happily.

"Gentlemen." She said gently to the guards, stepping into the limo. She fumbled a moment and was almost ready to tumble back out into the street. However, with a swift movement, she instead found that the husky guard at hand had caught her. As she was helped inside, the sapphire vixen beamed, "Thank you very much."

"That's what we're here for." The husky that had caught her admitted heroically before his Saint Bernard partner wordlessly shut the limo door, cutting off the sunlight from flooding into the vehicle.

"That's what we're here for?" The Saint Bernard mused sarcastically at his Husky fellow who smugly grinned, "You and the ladies. C'mon. We have a job to do, hot shot."

Now, with things a bit more dark like back on the Great Fox, with things just as quiet too in the limo, the blue vixen took a moment to let her senses readjust to her surroundings. Only a moment ago when Slippy had entered ahead of her, there had been plenty of commotion happening inside of this car. Thus, she wondered why there was nothing being said or done now as she took a seat in between whom she thought was fox as well as Peppy.

Only... Fox didn't have brown, black spotted fur or two sharp ears with one of them adorned with a gold earring, did he? And Peppy, he didn't wear pink nor was his hair as white as snow, was he? Nah, that hare wasn't THAT old yet.

No, as she'd formerly though a second ago, Krystal hadn't seated herself between the leader and wise man of Star Fox. She'd in fact taken an unknowing seat in between two of her oldest friends who were, at this moment, grinning widely at her in expectation. For a long pause, the blue she-fox had to realize that sitting to her right was a steely-blue eyed she-lynx wearing a baggy set of muddy green cargo pants, a red t-shirt covered by a tan vest along with heavy military boots. To the puzzled vixen's left, smiling happily yet shyly at the same time, was a very petite, adorable white-furred, sapphire eyed spaniel dog girl who wore a pink bowtie upon her head, a formally pink gown on her body, high heels on her feet as well as had several pieces of bronze jewelry enforcing her already sweet appearance.

Again, for the longest time, with everyone grinning like a bunch of idiots in the limo that was now driving its way down the streets away from CDF HQ's airport towards the front entrance of the main base of operations, nothing was said nor done. Then, with a jump, with a scream of happiness that would have knocked a Venom soldier flat from shock, Krystal - realizing what was going on at long last - grappled the two strangers to both of her sides and hugged them excitedly in a friendly group hug.

Only, at the moment, the laughing spaniel and the lynx that the nearly crying Cerinian she-fox hugged were not strangers to her at all. They were in fact very, very old friends she hadn't seen since the ending days of the Aparoid Wars; Miyu, the Lynx, and Fay, the Connor Spaniel!

Where had these two girls, old additions to the Star Fox Team, been? What were they doing here and now in the limo with Star Fox? Oh, it was so very good to see them! Now it was finally realized why Slippy had happily yelled like he had when getting into the limo a moment back.

"Fay! Oh, gods, it's good to see you. Look at how you've grown since last we saw each other!" Krystal half exclaimed-half wept while the young adult of a spaniel girl hugged her tightly. Then, overwhelmed, the sapphire vixen embraced the snickering lynx next while she laughed, "And Miyu, come here! Truly, this is so very grand. I haven't seen either of you in forever! Not since the Aparoid invasion when you helped free Corneria from the bugs. Oh, gosh, look at me tearing up like this, ugh. How are you two? What have you been up to?"

"Oh, like Falco would say, we've been here and there and everywhere getting into all kinds of trouble." Miyu explained in her carefree, confident fashion, winking roguishly at the avian who glowered at her meanwhile. As she went on explaining what she'd been up to in the past, the lynx sisterly helped wipe tears of happiness from Krystal green eyes, "Hah, nah, just kidding, precious. Fay and I, before General pepper called us back home here last week having something to do about Sauria, we've been watching each other's backs while hunting down Venom stragglers in Sector Z. Ain't that right, Fay-Fay?"

"That's right, Miyu-yu." Fay replied cheerily, nodding her head while giving overwhelmed as well as happier than happy Krystal another hug of comfort, "We're sorry we haven't been keeping in touch with you guys but things have been a bit, well, hectic on our end of the galaxy while the rest of you have been sitting here on the space gov's front doorstep protecting Corneria."

"Ah, so the two of you young ladies have been taking part in a bounty hunting career, have you? For sure, you must have made a deadly duo." Peppy wondered sagely, looking a bit amused by the news from the lynx and the spaniel, "Alas, during these last few years, pardon all of us on the Star Fox team for having stayed here at home where we've been busting our rumps keeping Venom in check with our reputation alone. I do not mean to sound like a grouch but-"

"Too late." Falco murmured to himself.

"What was that?" Peppy questioned in turn.

"Geez, Pep, I didn't say anything. Man, you've seriously got to get those old ears of yours cleaned out or something before you go completely bonkers hearing things that aren't there." Star Fox's ace pilot mocked the wise man, coolly addressing humored Fay and Miyu next, "See what I've had to put up with for the last year or two here on the team? Everyone's been goin' bonkers here. And the both of you never bothered calling on me to take part in the fun of taking down baddies in Sector Z? Lame."

"Sorry, Falco. Myself and Fay, we thought that every one of you was doing well being back here at home." Miyu explained, shrugging her shoulders modestly, "You know how me and Fay are. We're like you, gangster. We've always been wanderers. Yet, General Pepper needed you guys here on Corneria while we-"

"There's no reason for you to explain anything. Seriously, there isn't. It's good to hear that you've been doing alright on your side of the universe while we've been doing our best here." Fox cut in, smiling encouragingly to the two girls beside Krystal, "You know, only a moment ago I was talking to the team about us being a family. My bad, we weren't a family then. We were missing two of our own. Now though, those two have joined us again. It's awesome to have you two back."

"Fox is perfectly right." Krystal agreed at once, hugging her sisterly friends once more for old time's sake, "Fay, Miyu, it's very splendid to have you back on Corneria. It does my heart good to know that the pair of you are safe. The Star Fox team is once again reunited."

"Yep. We're all back together again like old times." Fay chimed in, grinning happily.

"As for why we're all back together this day, do the two of you young ladies have any idea as to what is going on?" Peppy questioned of the lynx and spaniel next, their happiness turning into curious looks, "I mean, it should be pretty plain to all of us here that General Pepper has brought all of the Star Fox members, old and current, together for whatever meeting is to take place in CDF HQ soon. Yet, what is the mission update going to be about? Miyu, Fay, did the general say anything to you about what was to be done on Dinosaur Planet?"

"You know, before we got all caught up in the reuniting with you guys, Fay and myself were going to ask you the same thing, old timer." Miyu explained, shaking her head, "Actually, put better, seeing as it's your second home world of sorts, we were going to ask you, Krystal, if there was anything wrong with Sauria. Is there?"

"No, there is nothing wrong. Not that I know of. I've been keeping close check on Tricky's home since the day that the aparoids invaded." The blue vixen answered, having all eyes in the limo on her, "Everything has been fine there every time I've spoken with the prince. He was doing great the last I had a chat with him."

"And when you speak with the prince... you mean through your mind reading capabilities, right, Krys?" Fay wondered curiously, looking a bit impressed. It was known that no matter how far or how dark a place, if there was a mind that could be read then the Cerinian vixen was able to contact it. She just had to have a feel for the mind in question and as for Prince Tricky's mind, Krystal knew him - her childhood friend - like the back of her own hand. "So every time you've reached out mentally to Tricky, he's never had anything odd to report?"

"That's correct, Fay. The last time I contacted him through telepathy which was a week ago, the prince didn't sound at all alarmed or troubled but just like his ordinary, playful if not excitable self. His people were doing fine, the crops were coming in well and his father was even talking about handing the crown down to him." Krystal explained, having everyone's full attention, "Of course, Tricky is still a bit young to become ruler of his region. He will need to grow a bit more. Nevertheless, in celebration of him being worthy of the crown in due time, a party of sorts is going to be held in Thorntail Hollow for the prince. It sounded very wonderful."

"That does sound wonderful. I'd very much like to be there to see how parties go in dinosaur style." Miyu laughed, swinging her hands side to side in a celebratory manner that giggling Fay copied in due time, "I wonder, do Dinosaurs rock? Or do they roll? Maybe we'll find out if our mission gets us there soon, eh?"

There were laughs at the question over how dinosaurs danced. Fox, having been at the side of Prince Tricky during his campaign of saving Dinosaur Planet, and Krystal, having lived upon Sauria for a number of years after the ruin of Cerinia, had a general idea of how the prehistoric reptiles partied for special occasions. Either way, yes, hopefully, maybe the mission update for Star Fox would be brief and allow them to get to Sauria in time to see the festival that was to be held in Tricky's honor.

The only question was... what would this certain mission to Dinosaur Planet entail?

Truly, all of this secrecy on UCDF's part was getting to be a bit unnerving for the members of reunited Star Fox. There were no answers to their questions. Naturally, they would get their answers when meeting up with General Pepper. Still, what did that old blood hound have to say that required everyone meeting him private in the most secured place in all of Corneria?

"As I told Fox back in the Great Fox, there is only way to find out what this mission is all about." Krystal got around to telling her friends in the limo, wanting to ease their building tensions about the oncoming meeting with their general, "We will see General Pepper and have our answers from him soon enough. We must not let ourselves feel that all of this secrecy is over a terrible thing. There's no evidence of that. It could be good. We must be patient and find out."

"Well said, sister." Miyu agreed, patting the blue vixen's shoulder sisterly, "Look at us all getting our panties in a wad. Why, I'm not in Fox's presence for more than a minute and I'm already jumping to the worst conclusions to this situation."

"Oh c'mon. I'm not that negative during missions." Fox argued lightly, knowing he was.

"You never were a good liar, Fox." Fay teased, sticking out her tongue at him, "Still, where you've never been a good liar, you've always been a fantastic leader."

""I'm only as good as my team." The leader of Star Fox replied proudly, looking at his family of friends, "And it just so happens that my team is the best around."

"Aw, shut up." Fay giggled in turn, blushing.

"Glad to see you're still as honest as ever." Miyu laughed happily.

"That's the truth of it. Nicely said, Fox." Falco put in, smiling to himself.

"I've always done my best. Occasionally I've slipped up from time to time but hey, that's my middle name isn't it?" Slippy chuckled, rubbing the back of his neck modestly.

"You may not realize it, Fox, but you just sounded like your father there." Peppy chortled, patting the red vulpine's back proudly, "He would have been proud of what you just said, my boy. Very proud."

"And where you say that a leader is only as good as his team, Fox, that means a team is only as good as its leader." Krystal put in, her smile brightening up all of the limo, "So if we're the best, you're the best. Congratulations to us all."