City in the Black Abyss

Disclaimer:

Concept and original properties are copyrighted by their respective owners (in this case, Nintendo). Some subjects may be created by the author for plot purposes. This story is rated T for possible alcohol reference, blood, language, suggestive themes, and violence. Content subject to change at will. Contains characters from SF2, 64, Assault, and Command. Plot spoilers may ensue.

I. Fracture

The dark oceans of Zoness sunk into the horizon, black clouds dripping ink into the sea. The sea wasn’t as green as it used to be, but it still had a deathly tint to it. The waves sloshed with a repetitive lull beneath abandoned, corroded metal structures. They would rise and fall, splattering with a heavy rushing sound. There were no sounds of birds or any other form of life, save for the gentle humming of four planes flying above the surging ocean. The barren atmosphere was repulsive enough to make one’s skin bristle.

The aircraft buzzing over the water were all white and blue painted, and looked mostly the same, save for a few modifications here and there. They had their own tattered marks from combat, black streaks in their sides that wouldn’t come out. Flying in a diamond formation, they gently dipped closer to the surface. The ocean couldn’t reflect their image, ebony skies obscuring their presence. It was insane that anyone would be flying in this sort of weather. It felt like lightning would strike any of them at any moment.

A message went across the intercoms between the four vehicles, “Okay. Arwings, break formation.”

The four planes split off into their own directions. They hummed across the surface of the ocean, rocking back and forth in the wind. One of the pilots spoke up, “What are we looking for?”

The leader of the planes responded, “No idea. Just keep your eyes peeled.”

A brash voice snorted back, “This isn’t like General Pepper at all. He wouldn’t send us out to this dump without some kind of lead on what we’re looking for.”

“Knock it off, Falco,” an older voice reprimanded the hot-headed bird, “We should still be able to find the trespasser.”

The final pilot squeaked in, “Yeah! Besides, we’ll know what we’re looking for when we see it. Pepper wouldn’t send us out here without a good reason.”

“And I thought that Fox was always Pepper’s lap dog . . .” Falco trailed off. He snickered for a moment, and then taunted his leader, “You know, Krystal’s going to be pissed that you let Peppy come along and not her.”

Fox tried to blow off the comment, “I . . .didn’t think she’d be ready to handle this kind of weather. You know, I. . .I don’t want her to . . .”

“Ha ha! You’re stuttering! Now who’s the one with the speaking problem?” Slippy interjected. Peppy rolled his plane over Slippy’s and whacked into him. The frog got the idea and zipped out before the rabbit could do any further damage. He shook his head, “Okay, okay! I get it!”

The four Arwings fell into a long period of silence. The sound of the ocean gushing at the rusted structures was haunting. It was like flying through a floating abscess in time. One wave sloshed out of the ocean and slapped against Slippy’s ship. He jumped in his seat, but didn’t cry out. A part of him was starting to admit that coming out here in the middle of a storm was a bad idea. He hunkered down in his seat, pulling his red cap down.

Lightning rumbled off in the distance, a gentle tremor that burst into electricity. Falco turned his head to the right, watching the storm billowing behind them. Old stories from his academy years started flooding his mind. Lightning didn’t cut, no. It just fried out the entire operating systems on a plane. Maybe he could survive if he was hit. Maybe not. He didn’t want to test that.

“Ah, Fox? I don’t want to sound chicken or anything, but maybe we should do this some other time?” Falco asked. “I don’t know how well out ships could take it if we got hit by the storm.”

Peppy cut in, “Take it easy. We’ve just got to make a pass over the area and see if our radar picks anything up. It shouldn’t take over five minutes.”

“Why the hell would Pepper send us out here if it’s just going to take five minutes? Seems like a waste of our time and his money,” Falco argued.

A small blip took Fox’s mind away from his teammates’ bantering. He noticed a faint red dot glowing in the center of his radar. He raised an eyebrow, taking a look around their ships. Pulling out of formation, he circled around his teammates, and then flew a little below them. He couldn’t see if there was anything traveling underneath them. The water foamed, black spittle washing against the belly of his Arwing. Nothing came to view.

“Are you guys picking this up?” Fox asked.

Peppy replied, “Yep. It seems like we’ve got something. Can’t see where the blasted thing is, though.”

“M-m-maybe it’s just an error,” Slippy began stuttering. “I mean, could it be just scrap metal or something?”

Falco rolled his eyes. “That would be our stupid luck. We’re chasing after garbage.”

Fox paused, trying to figure out what was going on. He never knew his radar to bug out like this. He tapped his fingers against the dash of the Arwing, and then he made up his mind. “Let’s pull back out. We’ll try this again later. This would be a bad time to—”

White light clouded the entire area, and then a deafening crack of thunder roared between the four Arwings. Chunks of one of the planes sloughed off, wires and panels rolled into smoking balls. The hit plane smashed into the sea. The impact rocked the other Arwings, water surging around them.

A panicked voice called, “Who got hit?!”

Fox slammed on his accelerator and panned the Arwing around to the crash site. A white wing sunk under water, the tides swallowing the remains of the accident. He slammed on the emergency communicator, trying to get in contact with their home ship. “Anyone there? Requesting emergency back-up! We’ve had a casualty!”

There was a sparkle of static, and a woman’s voice tried to break through. The communication officer was trying to talk back. Something was interfering with the Arwing’s communication systems. Fox slammed on the dash, catching the end of her sentence, “—ng, Fox? Res. . .nd.”

“Can you hear me?” Fox’s hands shook as he kept his transmission going, “We—”

A clawed, metallic arm reached out of the ocean. Fox banked to the left, plunging underwater for a moment. He resurfaced to see it connect with another one of his teammates’ ships. The pincers on the claws snapped through one of the wings, cracking with a sound like bone snapping. The Arwing fired a few retaliatory shots, but they hissed against the surface of the water. Swinging back around the ship, the arm hit it dead on. It crashed into the ocean in a fiery blaze.

Fur started standing up on Fox’s arms. He yelled to the other Arwing, “Get out of here! Now!”

Noise crackled into Fox’s ship, but it was useless garbage. He snarled, and went after the metallic arm. At the very least, he could prevent the other ship from being taken down. Twin lasers traveled alongside the nose of the Arwing, melting the arm’s joints. Even with its damage, the arm seemed determined to retaliate. It snapped back at Fox’s Arwing, tearing itself loose in the process. Metal constricted around the Arwing, snapping through lasers and engines. The entire ship crashed into the ocean, hydrogen cells hitting the surface in little explosive crackles.

Despite the jarring and destruction of his ship, Fox was still very conscious. He struggled to find an escape button or oxygen mask. He could hear the ship’s remaining parts begin to bend under the pressure of the ocean. He was sinking too fast. Glancing up, he saw the last Arwing dive under. He saw the ship shimmer under the water, lightning giving it a ghostly appearance. Lulling his head to the left, he saw a red mechanical eye glaring back at him. His jaw dropped as another arm swung forward and smashed into the last Arwing.

There was a trickle of polluted water, and the windows gave way.

Author’s Note:

I’ll try to keep this brief. In the past months that I’ve stopped writing, I found out that my depression was coming back. So, I’m starting again—going back to my roots, I guess. I haven’t done a Star Fox fanfic since . . .2003? (I took my older ones offline—they were pretty bad.)

So, I’ll try to keep my chapters tight. Maybe only one scene or two during a chapter. Hopefully, this’ll help you when you’re reading as well. Let me know what you are thinking!

Approximate timeline: Post-Assault, Pre-Command