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Chapter 6: Discovering
“Crap!” snarled Bill, as a stray laser blast grazed his ship’s wing. “You weren’t kidding when you said these things were fast, Ringo.”
“I wouldn’t kid about something like that,” replied Ringo softly, concentrating seriously on maneuvering the Demon Fox adeptly through waves of enemy fighters.
Bill rolled his eyes. “No sense of humor…”
“I’m gonna shoot a bomb into Air Sector 21621, everyone clear!” Cal commanded. As his fellow pilots cleared out of the way, the young coyote fired a bomb into the area blowing up several of the fighters. Still, the amount left was outnumbering. Cal winced as he saw one of his friend’s ships go down with a laser blast, and tried to ignore the upset feeling rising in him. “This isn’t good…”
“Do you think we’re on to something?” asked Slippy, beaming with satisfaction at his fifth bogey down. “I mean, maybe we’re on the verge of finding our friends if they’re attacking us.”
Ringo looked around for a moment at the landscape below him, searching for some proof that Slippy was correct. His clear, green eyes were rewarded with a glimpse of the roof of the building nestled among the trees. “I think I see something below us,” he spoke into the radio. “You’re probably right about us being on to something, Slippy.”
“Good job,” congratulated Cal. “Let’s take these guys out first, and then we can go to the rescue. All fighters, forward!”
The battle raged on.
Same old spaceport. Same old pub. Even same old table and soda pop. Some things just never changed.
Not even the space pirates.
“Hey, baby…”
“Check her out…”
“Man, she’s gorgeous…”
Sitting at what could be called “her” table, the now 21-year old Bix Snowclaw rolled her eyes at the comments every guy in the Snake Eyes was mumbling to themselves and each other. Pathetic jerks… she thought. I swear, if I weren’t such a nice kitty, I’d shut them all up with a few shots from my blaster. But I wouldn’t want to make such a big mess for the owner, now… She sipped at her soda, trying hard to ignore everyone else.
Suddenly, the doors of the pub opened, and a hush fell over everyone as the mysterious visitor entered. Heavy steps approached Bix’s table, but she didn’t even look up. The snow leopard barely twitched as a huge, anthropomorphic bull plopped into the seat across from her, shaking the entire table. Bix looked up calmly at him. By all accounts, he seemed like a real rough-and-tough mercenary. No class… just like everyone else in this pub…
“Are you Bix Snowclaw?” snorted the bull loudly, in a deep voice.
Bix licked at her fangs delicately. “And if I am?”
The bull grinned, pulling out a gun from his belt. “There’s a newly-instated bounty on your head that could bring me a fortune. I plan to be the one to get it.”
“Is that so?” asked Bix, eyeing his gun calmly. “Who’s offering the bounty, if I may ask?”
“Vasculan Magar, of Sector X. Know him?”
Bix rolled her eyes again, remembering a recent, former boss. She had dropped his job when he offered her more to hunt down and take out StarWolf, which was something she could never bring herself to do… “Vasculan? Of course I do. He’s probably still pissed about that job…” she grumbled. “But that was last year… He still holds a grudge?”
“Apparently so, and he must be really mad, cause the bounty he’s offering is enormous,” the bull chuckled. “So nothing personal, but I’m going to have to kill you.”
“Oh, come now, you couldn’t kill a pretty little kitty like me, could you?” asked Bix, batting her eyelashes in a fake way. “Besides, dropping Vasculan’s contract was morally right for me… You can’t blame me for something like that.”
One of the bull’s ears twitched, and he cocked his gun resolutely. “I’m not here to judge you, I’m here to kill you so I can collect my bounty,” he growled. “Nothing else matters.”
“Oh, is that how it is to you? I’m sorry.” Bix slowly allowed her paws to drop into her lap, as if in dejection. “I thought perhaps I could get you to see my way, but I guess not.”
“Sure as hell not,” replied the bull. And without further ado, he aimed straight at Bix’s heart, and fired.
But that blast never hit.
As soon as the bull had started to aim, the young snow leopard was already moving, an acrobatic blur of cream-and-brown fur blended with her black, silver, and purple clothing. The laser-shot burned a hole in the seat precisely where Bix had been sitting a second before, leaving the bull looking absolutely dumbfounded. “What the…?” he began, trying to follow where Bix had flipped away. Too late. Bix had already slid out her long deadly claws, both her real ones and metal ones, and she sprang towards her enemy with a hiss. Three lightning-fast swipes, and the bull flopped sideways in his seat, dead, with blood pouring from the gashes she had inflicted on his throat and chest. His face frozen in a confused look for eternity.
“Gotcha,” Bix purred softly, her aqua-green eyes gleaming dangerously at her dead opponent. She turned slowly to face the other stunned patrons of the pub, their eyes wide and jaws hanging open at the ferocity and speed of the young mercenary. “Anyone else here want to take a stab at my bounty?” she asked out loud to them. “I’m more than ready to take a stab at anyone who does.”
Silence.
“That’s what I thought,” Bix replied, delicately licking the blood from her claws. “Now… if anyone would be so kind as to help remove this unfortunate soul from sight… I’d be most appreciative.” At her words, several of the guys instantly leaped to her feet, loudly proclaiming that they’d be more than happy to, and proceeded to lift up and carry the dead bull outside. As they did, Bix noticed a piece of folded paper flutter from the body, perhaps from a pocket or something. She watched the paper like a hawk until the guys had carried the dead bull off, and then stooped to pick it up and unfold it. It seemed to be a flyer of some sort, which read:
‘Current New Bounties for the Lylat System.’ Apparently, it was a list space pirates could get about new bounties… ‘Fox McCloud of the StarFox team. 1,000,000 sp. As requested by the government of Venom.’ What a laugh, actually asking a bounty for Fox McCloud’s head? Not only is he one tough cookie to break, he’s backed by the Cornerian Army and the StarFox team. Anyone would either have to be crazy or stupid to risk that… thought Bix. One mil ain’t worth that…
‘Falco Lombardi of the StarFox team. 50,000 sp. Contact through East Side Space Guild for reward.’ Heh, that usually means a whole group of people are putting up the bounty… Lombardi’s got a whole lot of enemies… Ah, here’s me. ‘Bix Snowclaw. 70,500 sp…’ Wow, that is a lot… ‘… As requested by Vasculan Magar of Sector X.’ Impressive… What else… Anyone else I know?
‘Kip Starnova of the StarFox team…’ What the hell…? Why’s she on the list? Everything I’ve heard about her is good… Well, I guess she made an enemy somewhere… Can’t imagine why, though… Let’s see… ‘…50,500 sp…’ Hmm… 500 more than Lombardi… ‘As requested by Ronin the Shadowbound…’ Whoa, wait a minute? Ronin the Shadowbound, scourge of the outer quadrants? Isn’t he…? But would that mean…? Bix stared at the name with a strange mix of puzzlement and recognition for several moments. But that quickly passed as soon as her eyes caught the last name on the list, one that made her breath catch and her heart leap.
‘Wolf O’ Donnell of StarWolf. 200,000 sp. Contact through East Side Space Guild for reward…’ And to the left of that, a few messy, handwritten notes written in blue pen read: ‘Venom, Sector X, Sector Y, Zoness, Corneria.’ All were scratched out save for Corneria, which was circled. Underneath it was written ‘Corneria City.’
Apparently, the bull had been looking to scope out Wolf for his bounty as well.
But to Bix, this was as miraculous as an epiphany from heaven. As she slowly drew out her wallet from within her jacket to count out money for the owner (for the damage and mess), she allowed herself the tiniest of smiles.
“So, Wolf… You’ve finally returned to Corneria City…” she whispered. “Will you finally realize what it was I tried to tell you those years ago? Or will you stay with the path you’ve chosen?”
If Wolf hadn’t been a wolf, and his nose so sensitive to the smell of death, perhaps the weight of the situation would have been lessened somewhat.
But standing in the midst of the rubble of the neighborhood he had lived in his entire life, his wolf senses picking up the random scents of dead and dying animals around him, buried in the destruction around him, Wolf felt like curling up in a corner somewhere and dying himself.
“Mom… Dad… Kayla… Kedren… You’re dead… You’re all dead…” he whispered, falling to his knees. Never mind the sharp pieces of rock cutting through his pants into his legs. The only life he had ever known… was gone. None of his friends could possibly understand that. They had been on their own for so long, it didn’t matter to them anymore. But Wolf… what was he going to do?
“Wolfie… sweetie… Is there anything we can do for you right now?” asked Sheryl softly, approaching her lupine friend from behind.
“No…” Wolf choked out. “Just… just leave me alone…”
“I understand.” The black panther gave a sad little sigh, turning around to look at the destroyed half of the West Side of Corneria City, smiling weakly at Bix as she passed.
The snow leopard watched Sheryl walk back to where Renner and the rest of the gang were waiting, before continuing on to Wolf. Wolf was now sitting with his arms wrapped around his legs, crying softly into his knees. Bix sat next to him, not saying anything. She knew it was best to just let him cry now. She put her arms around him to give him support for several long, long minutes. Finally, Wolf lifted his head to look at her. The fur on his face was wet with his tears, and realizing she could see his grief and tears seemed to shame him, for he turned away from her angrily.
“Leave me alone, Bix,” he growled. “I don’t want, or need, your sympathy.”
Immediately, Bix’s sad expression turned to an annoyed one. “We’ve only just met, and already you’re being nasty,” she chided. “Wolf, I know you think we’re just trying to be nice cause of… of this. But we really are sorry.”
“Whatever.” Wolf looked at her with a strange, hateful glare. His sorrow had now turned to anger, and right now, the only thing he had to vent his rage upon was Bix. “At least you’ve still got a life. If you want to call it that.”
Bix hissed at his last statement, and before Wolf could even so much as twitch, she had sank the tips of her right claws deep into his left shoulder, making him cry out with the sharp pain. He gasped as she withdrew her claws, instantly grabbing his injury with his other paw. He sat nursing it for a few moments, before striking back with renewed fury. Springing at her with a growl of rage, Wolf attempted to sink his teeth into Bix’s throat, but was sent back with a powerful slap across the face. He landed painfully on his back, and before he could get up, the points of Bix’s metal claws were at his own throat.
“Wolf, don’t take your anger out on me,” Bix told him dangerously. “Yes, I do have a life. And mind you, it’s a relatively good one, too. I worked hard for the chance to do what I love best, and it’s paid off for me. When I left my parents, I swore I wouldn’t be a grungy little alley cat. I swore I’d be something more. And you’ve got to do the same for your life. Don’t let this tear you apart. Rise above it like I did.”
“What do you know?” Wolf asked bitterly. “At least you’ve still got a family. At least you’ve got someone to fall back on.”
“Fall back on?!” yelled Bix, startling the lupine. “Look, you don’t know what you’re talking about! My family kicked me out of my home for hanging out with Sheryl’s gang all the time. They disowned me, said they’d rather die than live with the shame of having a daughter like me. That nearly broke my heart. Why? Because… do you think I’m a shameful person, Wolf?”
Wolf was dumbfounded at first. “I… well… um… no…”
“No, I’m not. You’re right. I try to be as honest as possible. I have a job—maybe not a respectable one in my parents’ eyes, but at least I’m doing something I’m good at. I don’t talk trash and act as if nothing matters but living one more day to act like a piece of crap. Cause I don’t act like crap. Maybe Renner’s right—I’m a goody-two shoes. But at least I’m better that street bums who steal and drink and fight for the hell of it. And so are you.”
“Your point?”
Bix heaved a sigh, running her fingers through her hair as she tried to explain. “See… my parents are as good as dead to me, cause they turned me away without bothering to see who I really was. They blamed me for associating with gangsters, but they never bothered to look at my strengths. They went straight to my faults.” Bix paused again, looking straight at Wolf. “What I’m trying to say… is maybe I’m worse off than you as of right now. My parents live and hate me. Your family’s dead, but at least they loved you.”
“So… you’re saying…” continued Wolf thoughtfully, “is that I should feel a little more fortunate that I’m better off than others? That I should find a way to pull through this because I’m lucky?”
“If that’s how you see it,” Bix replied. “I’m not trying to pretend that your home and family being destroyed was a good thing—it’s not. No one deserves to go through that. But you can’t just give up life now. You’ve got years ahead of you.”
Wolf sighed, shaking his head. He knew Bix was trying to inspire him to find hope and keep going—he appreciated every bit of it, too. But that still didn’t tell him where he was supposed to go or what he was supposed to do next. “That’s really philosophical of you, Bix, but I don’t see how that can help me. What am I going to do? Where do I go from here?”
“That’s… completely up to you. I can’t decide where you go next. Only you can.”
Suddenly, a trio of Arwings passed quickly overhead, startling Wolf out of his contemplation. His anger was suddenly aroused—who would fly over the destruction of his home and family so casually as these ships were? The ships circled around the area once, and then continued on towards the East Side. “Who were they?” he questioned, watching them go.
“You don’t know?” replied Bix scornfully, still annoyed at Wolf’s seeming-indifference to her inspiring speech. “That’s Team StarFox.”
“StarFox?” A deep anger suddenly filled Wolf at the name. “They… they’re the ones who sent that freighter down into West Side… right?”
“Right…”
“StarFox… who are they?”
Bix was starting to feel worried. Wolf sounded more eager than sad now, and he was actually smiling. “Well…” she began hesitantly, “the leader of Team StarFox is James McCloud… His two wingmen are Peppy Hare and Pigma Dengar… But Wolf, I don’t see—”
“James McCloud, huh?” Wolf mused, cutting her off. “And General Pepper gave them the orders… Those two… they’re the ones who killed my family… ruined my life…” He gave a laugh. “But they forgot to kill me too…”
“Wolf? Are you ok?” Bix’s worse fears were coming true—Wolf was starting to become blinded and crazed with his sorrow. He was starting to crave revenge. “Look… they didn’t set out to kill your family or anything… They just… I mean…”
Wolf didn’t reply right away, but instead, slowly turned to her. The rest of what Bix was going to say died in her throat when she saw the hateful sneer on his face. The last few strings of childhood innocence in Wolf had snapped. The killing instinct of a wolf renewed within his eyes.
“Cair City… They sell lots of ships, don’t they?” he asked.
“Wolf… don’t…”
“Don’t they?!”
“I… yes, they do. But what are you planning?” asked Bix, following Wolf as he started back to where Sheryl was.
“Never mind that.”
“Wolf, if you’re planning to go blindly in, guns blazing for vengeance, you’ll get killed! Is that what you want?”
Wolf gave her a nasty glare. “Maybe it is, and maybe it isn’t. But why do you care?” he snarled. “Why don’t you want to see me dead?”
A long pause. “Because, Wolf…” whispered Bix, fighting back tears, for she knew, in her heart, that there was no stopping Wolf. “I… like you. You’re a good person deep down. Please don’t ruin that by craving vengeance. Do you think the worst of the space pirates out there were born evil? They started out like you. Don’t go bad, Wolf. Don’t ruin your life…”
“My life’s ruined already. It doesn’t matter.”
“Wolf, please…”
“Bix…” Wolf stopped for a moment, a gleam of sadness in his eyes once more. “Just… get me to Cair City… Help me buy a ship… And I swear, you’ll never have to worry about me again. Just send me on my way, and you can forget about me.”
“…”
“Bix, as a friend, I’m begging you. Just this one thing…”
The snow leopard was silent for nearly a full five minutes, thinking hard about his request. Finally, she dropped her head in surrender. “…Ok, Wolf. I’ll help you out…” she whispered. “But you have to promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“Never, ever, ever forget about me, and what I’ve tried to tell you today. I tried my very best, but you couldn’t understand… But one day, you’ll look back and finally realize what I mean. Promise you’ll remember?”
Wolf nodded. “I promise.”
“All right, then. Oh, and one more thing.” Bix faced Wolf with dark resolution in her eyes. “No matter what, even if my life depended on it, I will never help you in your desire for revenge. No way, no how. So don’t even ask. Ok?”
“All right. That’s fine,” Wolf replied, finally turning and leaving her. “After all, after I get my own ship, I’ll be out of your life.”
Bix watched Wolf stride off, a sad and resolute look in her aqua-green eyes gleaming in the last red rays of the setting sun. “That may be so,” she whispered. “But what if I want you in my life?”
A light on a small device on his belt suddenly began to beep and flash, snapping Wolf back to reality. He took it off of his belt and pressed a button, calling up the alert. “Our security bots are attacking some aerial intruders,” he murmured. “Stupid Andrew… I told him they would only give us away, but he had to insist.” The next visuals from his security camera nearly made him choke. “What?! It’s Fox McCloud and his little friends… They’re approaching our hideout… The plan seems to be working, but I didn’t expect Fox to come on foot…”
Flipping the device off, Wolf paused to think about the situation, a slight sneer appearing on his face. “So, the moment of my revenge draws near…” he growled. “But killing you… Will it be worth my while, McCloud? Or will it only cause me more dissatisfaction?”
“This is it. This has to be it!” exclaimed Kitsune.
Peppy stepped forward, pulling his blaster out of its holster and readying it. “Then let’s go,” he declared. “The sooner we save them, the better.”
“But what about the Beta Team?” asked Kitsune nervously. She didn’t like fights.
“There isn’t much time!” Fox snapped. “Kip and the rest of the Alpha Team need our help now. But,” he added, knowing Kitsune wasn’t much of a fighter (and, he didn’t want to put in younger cousin in danger anyway), “if you want, you can wait here to tell the Beta Team where we are when they get here.”
Kitsune looked relieved. “Ok… that’s fine.”
“Come on, then, McCloud!” yelled Falco, already approaching the building with Peppy. “Let’s kick some StarWolf butt!”
Fox nodded in reply, his heart racing. If you’ve done anything to our friends, Wolf, he thought angrily, you’re gonna pay dearly…
In moments, Fox, Falco, and Peppy had disappeared around the back of the building to find a door, leaving Kitsune all by herself. She hid behind a tree, wondering if staying behind was a good idea after all.
Fox, hurry up or else…
This is where I stopped writing... hopefully one day, I can finish this. But I can't promise anything... (sighs)
Thanks so much to all who have read this. If you haven't already, please review. I hope all of you have enjoyed this... until next time... (flies off)