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Thinking of You
By: Pichu Star
Revision 1.0 (1/15/05): Revising, as I am in all my other fanfics. The story's unchanged, for the most part.
This was written almost two years ago, when I wasreally into StarFox. My writing style has matured since then, but hopefully, you'll still enjoy this piece for the fluffy, sentimental value it has. It was originally written as a present for my parents, and goes into not only my original character Kip Starnova's past a bit, but details a few other things that I have created or developed in my perception of the StarFox universe.
With all that said, please enjoy.
Disclaimer: I don’t own StarFox, but I do own my original characters, places, and story idea.
As she rounded a corner, she met up with Bill Grey, one of the pilots for the Cornerian Army. “Hi, Bill,” she said cheerfully.
“Hey, Kip,” Bill replied. “What’s up?”
“I’m just looking for Falco. Fox asked if had seen his radio. Have you seen it?” asked Kip.
Bill shook his head. “Sorry, I haven’t. By the way, where’s Peppy? I haven’t seen him all day.”
“In his room,” said Kip. “You know what today is.”
In StarFox, today was known as the Memorial Day. On that day, about three years ago, Peppy Hare had escaped from Andross’s clutches to Corneria, and told the StarFox team some terrible news—that Fox’s father, James McCloud, had met his end after they were betrayed by a former StarFox member, Pigma Dengar, and captured by Andross’s forces. So, the day was marked as a day to remember James McCloud, who had been one of StarFox’s best pilots. You didn’t see too much of Peppy on this day.
Bill nodded grimly at her. “Yeah, I remember.”
“Well, I guess I should keep looking for Falco. See ya, Bill,” said Kip, as she continued down the hall.
Kip finally found Falco in the hangar, where he was watching Slippy Toad fix the damaged wing of his Arwing. “Hi Falco, hi Slippy,” said Kip. “Have any of you seen Fox’s radio?”
Falco rolled his eyes and took a radio off his belt. “Right here,” he said, handing it to her. “Jeez, you’d think I’d lose it or something.”
Slippy gave an involuntary snort of laughter, and Kip began to giggle. Falco frowned. “Are you two trying to suggest something?”
“No, of course not,” said Slippy quickly. “By the way, have you talked to Peppy yet, Kip?”
“Not today,” Kip replied. “Why?”
“Well,” said Slippy, “I’ve noticed he always gets so quiet, and always stays in his room on Memorial Day.”
Falco snorted. “Oh, wow. So what else is new?”
Slippy frowned at Falco, but ignored him otherwise. “I think he’s feeling ignored, or sad… or something.”
Kip thought about this carefully. Ignored, or sad… She smiled at her friends and began backing out of the hangar. “Well guys, I gotta go now. See ya round!”
Falco looked up at Slippy quizzically. “Whatever you said, it made her leave pretty quick.”
“I hope she went to cheer Peppy up,” said Slippy, going back to repairing the Arwing.
KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK! Three loud knocks rang forth from the door. Rolling off his bed, Fox walked over to the door and pressed the switch to open it. Standing there was Kip.
“Hey, Fox,” she said. “Here’s your radio. Falco had it.”
“I thought he would,” said Fox, taking the radio from her. Then he studied her face carefully. “Something wrong, Kip?” he asked.
“Not really,” she replied, stepping into the room. This indicated that she wanted to talk. “It’s just… I was thinking about Peppy.”
Fox shut the door and watched his friend sit down on the end of his bed. “What about Peppy?”
“Well…” Kip glanced up at Fox as she spoke. “You know how today’s all about remembering when your dad… died… right?”
Fox’s eyes grew sad, but he nodded. “Yeah. So?”
“But I’ve realized… that no one remembers… well, Peppy.”
“Peppy?”
“Well, I guess… I think it’s important that Peppy survived. He came back to tell us what happened. And I think that’s worth remembering too.”
Fox was silent for a moment. Then he smiled. “What brought on this idea all of a sudden?”
Kip’s ears turned red, the equivalent of blushing in humans. “Oh… just something Slippy said. So… do you think it makes sense? Or is it dumb?”
“No way!” cried Fox. “It’s a great way to think about today. Remember the good and the bad.”
“Plus,” added Kip to herself, “he’s really special to me…”
When the ship had landed, Kip picked up her two suitcases and left the ship with the crowd of other people. Once on the landing platform, she stopped and looked around nervously. Who was gonna pick her up? What if they never came? As she wondered about this, a tall, brown hare in a pilot’s suit and jacket approached her. Behind him was a red fox with dark sunglasses on his face.
“Are you Kip Starnova?” asked the hare kindly, kneeling down so that he could be more eye-to-eye with her.
“Yes, sir,” said Kip timidly.
The hare smiled and took one of Kip’s suitcases. “Well, nice to meet ya, Kip. I’m Peppy Hare of the StarFox team. I get to be your foster father while you’re on Corneria, if ya wanna call me that.” Peppy looked over at the fox, who smiled at the young kangaroo. “This is my friend, James McCloud. He has a son about your age, ya know. Maybe you could meet him someday? Ah, but enough for now. I’ll get ya to my apartment so you can get settled in. How’s that sound?”
“Great, sir,” said Kip, feeling more relieved. Peppy certainly was nice. Maybe she’d do all right on Corneria after all.
“Something wrong, Fox?” asked Fox’s mother, Vixy McCloud, as she entered the room.
“I didn’t win the contest,” he muttered.
Vixy looked sympathetic, and sat next to her son. “Oh honey, I’m sorry. I know how much that meant to you.”
Fox didn’t say anything. Vixy thought for a moment, and then smiled. “But you don’t need to win a contest to fly in an Arwing.”
“But it was with a real StarFox pilot,” said Fox.
“So what?” replied Vixy. “You’ll be a real StarFox pilot after next year. And I bet you’ll out-fly them all.”
Fox looked up at his mom. “You’re right! After I graduate next year, I’ll be a real pilot! This contest wasn’t really important after all.”
“See?” said Vixy. “You perked up right away.”
“Thanks to you,” said Fox, hugging his mom. “You always know how to make me feel better.”
“Thank you,” said Fox, his heart beating with nervousness. “I don’t think I should be placed any higher than the rest of my classmates here, because they’re just as deserving to be valedictorian.
“I know lots of people have high expectations of me… because of my father.” He paused for a moment to look over into the audience. He saw his mother and little sister, Remy McCloud, in the front row. Remy was 3-years old, and had been born two months after James McCloud’s disappearance. Next to them sat Peppy.
“But I can’t promise you anything other than my best,” continued Fox, “and I’m sure my classmates will say the same. Thank you, and I’m glad to be a new member of the StarFox team.” As he finished, everyone clapped loudly.
Fox could feel his ears turning red as he stepped back in line with his friends; namely, Kip, Falco, Slippy, and Bill. General Pepper stepped back up to the podium. “As of now,” he declared, “in the year 1997 AC, all of our new graduates are members of the StarFox team! I know they will make us proud.”
The audience exploded into cheers, and the graduates jumped up and down wildly, hugging each other. Then they stepped off the stage into the audience to hug their family members. Fox hugged Vixy and Remy tightly, while Kip hugged Peppy. Peppy gave Kip a proud smile.
“Congratulations, Kip. I’m really proud of you,” he said.
Kip beamed happily, feeling a sense of pride fill her. “Thanks, Peppy.”
“My mom actually,” replied Fox. “Which reminds me. I’m trying to find a present for my mom, but I can’t think of anything sentimental.”
“Well…” pondered Kip, “what about when we were in pre-academy? We never bought presents for our parents, we made them.”
Fox thought. “Maybe…”
“How about…”
The two friends stared at each other, getting the same idea at the same time. “A poem!” they exclaimed.
“Perfect!” cried Fox. “I’ll write a poem for my mom…”
“…And I’ll write a poem for Peppy!” said Kip enthusiastically.
Fox grinned at her and went to his desk. He opened a drawer, and, after rummaging around in it for a moment, took out two pieces of paper and two pencils. He handed Kip a pencil and paper, and they sat down to think. In a few minutes, their pencils were scratching busily across their papers.
About fifteen minutes later, they were done. After looking over their own poems again, they traded papers to see what the other had written. As they traded back, Kip smiled at Fox. “Your poem’s really sweet, Fox. I think your mom will like it.”
Fox shrugged modestly. “Well, yours was good too. It has lots of feeling. I can see why you won that poetry contest in 1st year.”
“Do you think Peppy’s gonna like it?” she asked.
“Of course!” replied Fox. “So… why don’t we go give it to them now? We only have like an hour before dinner at my house. You and Peppy are coming, aren’t ya?”
Kip smiled and opened the door, swishing her tail under Fox’s nose playfully as she walked past him. “Don’t we always?”
Fox’s ears turned red. “Um… ok, see ya then,” he replied. They left the room with their poems in their paws, Fox headed to the front gate so he could head home, and Kip down the hall to Peppy’s room.
The music stopped abruptly, and the door was opened a few moments later. Peppy stood there with a guitar in his right paw. He looked sad and tired. “Oh, hello Kip,” he said. “Do ya need anything?”
“I just wanna talk to you. Is… that alright?” asked Kip.
Peppy looked confused, but then he shrugged. “Sure. Come on in.” Kip followed Peppy inside the room as the door slid shut behind her. As she sat on the end of Peppy’s bed, Peppy sat in a chair in the middle of the room. Kip watched him idly string one of the guitar strings for a moment. “I didn’t know you played guitar, Peppy,” she remarked.
Peppy smiled slightly and looked up at her. “There’s a lot of things you don’t know about me, Kip.”
Kip nodded, and then cleared her throat to begin the ‘speech’ that she had improvised as she walked down the hall. “Well, sir… today is Memorial Day, and I was wondering… how do you really feel about it?”
Peppy sighed and put his guitar down. “I… well… it just… brings back a lot of bad memories.” Kip followed his gaze to a picture on the wall. It was a picture of Peppy and James McCloud just after their graduation from the StarFox Academy. “James McCloud was my best friend since the pre-academy, and…” Peppy paused, and then added the last part in a sad whisper. “…To tell you the truth, I often blame myself for what happened to him.”
“You?” asked Kip in shock. “Why?”
“I always replay what happened that day on Venom in my mind, over and over,” said Peppy with a bitter smile. “And although I know I’d have gotten killed if I didn’t, I can’t help but feel guilty about leaving James behind.
“He told me to leave, no mistake. And I didn’t want to at first. But… the odds were against me… so I had to leave…” Peppy’s head bowed sadly, and Kip saw a tear drip off one of his whiskers.
“Peppy… sir… don’t cry…” said Kip, feeling upset that she had made Peppy so sad. “I’m sorry… I shouldn’t have asked…”
Peppy blinked the tears away, and shook his head. “No… it was no fault of yours. Besides… it was probably best I told someone anyway, instead of keeping it all bottled in, and you happened to be the person I told it to.”
Kip nodded. “Alright… but the thing I was trying to get to, was that I think you ought to be remembered too. I mean, you came back, right?”
Peppy gave her a small smile. “Kip, if we threw a party every time a pilot came home, the cake business would be booming. It’s only the departed pilots we make a fuss over.”
“Well, yeah…” Kip felt foolish. No one really celebrated pilots who came back, because coming back was part of the job. It was only if the pilot had completed a really tough mission, like when Fox beat Andross. “But I feel it’s important.”
“Sweets, I’m honored you feel like that, but…”
“I just don’t feel as tough as Fox!” burst out Kip suddenly. “If you hadn’t come back, I wouldn’t have had anyone. I don’t think I would’ve been able to continue with school, or anything, cause I’m not that strong…”
Peppy was dumbfounded with shock. “Kip… don’t say that… you’re a tough girl…” he whispered.
Kip sniffed, and blinked back tears. “Well, anyways, sir… maybe this makes it easier to understand…” She handed him the poem she had written. Peppy took it, and read it silently to himself.
A father is someone
Who cares for you every day
Supports whatever you do
Whether it’s work or play
He helps you when you’ve fallen
Wipes your tears when you are sad
He finds the best in situations
No matter if they’re good or bad
We’ve shared every feeling
Sad, happy, scared, and mad
But no matter the adventure
Just know I love you, dad
Silence. Peppy looked up at Kip in disbelief. She was fiddling with her glove nervously, not looking at him.
“Kip,” said Peppy finally. “You really feel that way?”
The young kangaroo looked up shyly and nodded. “You’re the closest thing I’ve ever had to a father. My real father left me and my mom when I was just a joey. But I don’t see a difference. Just because we’re not family by blood, or even the same species, doesn’t mean we can’t be a family… right?”
Peppy smiled and walked over to her. “Of course. I’ve always loved you as my own daughter… and I’m glad that you see me as your own father. I… I’m very honored.” He sat next to Kip and put his paw on her shoulder.
Kip smiled and hugged Peppy, feeling peace now that she had spilled her guts to him. Then she looked at her watch. “Hey, we’ll be late for dinner at Fox’s house. We should get going.”
Peppy nodded. “That’s right. Let’s go.”
Kip headed to the door and opened it. Peppy looked over the poem again before putting it into his pocket. “Thanks, Kip,” he remarked, as he put on his jacket.
Kip smiled. “You’re welcome…Dad.”
Fox tickled her and set her back on the floor. “Of course. What have you been up to?”
Remy beamed proudly. “Mommy let me help her cook dinner.”
“That’s right,” said Vixy, coming in. “Remy, can you go clean up your bedroom? Peppy and Kip will be here soon.”
Remy nodded and scampered away. Vixy smiled, and then turned to Fox. “How are you, Fox?”
“Fine,” replied Fox, hugging his mom. “How about you?”
“Good,” said Vixy, but her eyes were sad, as they usually were on this day.
“Well,” said Fox awkwardly, “I got you a gift… it’s not really much, but…” He handed her the poem.
Vixy smiled and took the paper. “Oh, Fox, you shouldn’t have. What is it?”
“Read it.”
Vixy carefully unfolded the paper, and read it.
To me, my mom
Is the one who tucks me in
She comforts me when I lose
And cheers me when I win
She fixes every cut and scrape
She makes sure I wipe my nose
She never lets me go hungry
And keeps me in touch wherever she goes
For every time you’ve helped me
And even scolded me too
I’d like to say “thanks”
And also, “I love you”
Vixy was close to tears. “Oh… Fox… what a sweet poem…”
“Mom… I want you to know that I’ve always admired you,” said Fox softly. “For being so strong, even though Dad’s gone. I could have never made it to graduation without your support.”
“Fox, you have gotten so mature. I’m so proud of you.” Vixy hugged him and kissed him on the nose. Then, there was a knock at the door.
“Yay! Yay! Kip and Peppy are here!” exclaimed Remy, running to the door. Fox opened it, and Remy leaped on Peppy.
“Hey, little girl,” said Peppy, ruffling the fur on her head. “Being good for Mom?”
“Yep!” the young fox kit replied. Then she jumped down and jugged Kip. “Kip! Guess what? I made a house in my room for my stuffed animals! Wanna see?”
“Let’s wait till after dinner, ya little runt,” Kip teased affectionately.
“Why don’t you kids set the table?” suggested Vixy, anxious to talk to Peppy and tell him about the poem Fox had given her.
Fox, Kip, and Remy set out to the kitchen. As they got dishes from the cabinet, Fox winked at Kip to show he had given his mom the poem. Kip winked back. Then they both smiled. They knew they had given their parents the perfect Memorial Day present.
In the living room, Vixy and Peppy were talking to each other. “I think Fox has gotten so mature,” Vixy remarked. “Look at this sweet poem he wrote me.”
Peppy laughed softly and gave Vixy his poem. “Kip wrote me a poem too. I guess they got the idea together.”
They read the poems to themselves, and then handed them back. “I guess we should be thankful we have such sweet kids,” remarked Vixy.
Peppy smiled. “That’s for sure. James would be proud.”
They turned towards the table as the kids came in with the dishes, filled with pride for their children, a fox pilot and a kangaroo tracker for the StarFox team.
StarFox: Yes, I know StarFox is a mercenary team, and it still is. But it began to expand itself since Andross declared war against the Lylat System, and now is like a second army for the Cornerian Republic. But, like always, StarFox members only take jobs that interest them. The up side of this is that they get paid more for their missions than the Cornerian Army. Unlike the army, who takes only soldiers from allied planets, StarFox takes anyone they feel is qualified and they trust.
StarFox Academy: The StarFox Academy trains pilots for both StarFox and the Cornerian Army. In the StarFox Academy, pre-academy is from ages 5 to 10 (kindergarten to 5th grade). They learn the usual subjects. From ages 11 to 18 (Year 1 to Year 8), they are in the official academy. Besides the usual subjects, they also start training for the different jobs on the StarFox team and Cornerian Army.
Time and Years in the Lylat System: When I say “the year 1997 AC,” it means the 1,997th year after the Republic of Corneria was founded. The year denominations are used all over the Lylat System as a way to keep official record of time, and time is always set to Corneria time. So even if you were on a different planet, you would say, “6:00 PM Corneria time.” (Planets have their own times and calendars too, to be practical; but when dealing in trade or such the standard Corneria time can be useful, too.)
I haven't really worked on my StarFox fics since freshman year (I'm a junior now, so... haha...), so basically you can consider my StarFox writing days finished. I still want to finish Too Late For Regrets, but we'll just have to see. Please review, if you haven't already. Thanks, and see you later... (flies off)