FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Well, I've held back on uploading this for a while but I suppose it wouldn't hurt. Once again, I don't claim ownership to any part of Star Fox. All related names, characters, and locations are copyright Nintendo.

Storyline itself is copyrighted to me.

Ahead of this one are three more chapters that I hope most will get a kick out of. This one in particular is pretty light-hearted in general; hell, the whole story is light-hearted! That's just the way I felt when I wrote it a long time ago. In comparison to Vixen's Mana, I'm not sure whether it's better or not. I'll leave that for you to decide.

Enjoy!

"Are you serious? Damn, you're somethin' else alright!" A dumbfounded Peppy admitted as I relived the fight with Wolf and Leon.

"Wow, sounds like you gave em' a beating. I might have to spar with you later to see if you're for real." Falco added.

I chuckled at the notion, and looked to the nightgown-clothed blue vixen who was sitting beside me.

"Krystal should take the credit. I wouldn't have gotten out of there alive if she didn't come. Who knows how long I could've been stuck there?"

"It's good to see to you made it back in one piece though." Fox interjected happily.

I felt like I had finally earned his respect after all this time, especially after he heard about the conflict. Him and I have been respectable of each other thus far, but he never actually treated me like a comrade. That's not to say we hated the other's guts but you get the idea. As I lay my head on the comfortable leather sofa I recalled what his first reaction was to seeing me this way; a mixture of surprise and disbelief. For one thing he thought I was related to Krystal because of my similarly -colored fur, or he might have inferred that I was a stowaway. Thankfully Krystal proved that it was me inside the mysterious azure vulpine.

With immense relief in my heart I relaxed amongst my partners and friends in the lounge area, wearing only my soft flannel pants and my necklace(which somehow survived the scorching hot descent onto the tan planet). The single mark that they all equally stared at was the scar on my face from Wolf's claws. Three long, slices across the left side of my expression generated an indelible reminder of his strength, especially for me. Even so, the gathering felt like a class reunion; I was with the people I trust and care for to such a lofty extent, and they were happy that I returned safely. Yet my consciousness held a lingering sense of wonder, how could this form have existed for so long? Why did I have it in the first place? These questions were firmly drowned out, literally, by my comical attempts to drink water with a fox mouth. I felt like an idiot every time the tip of my muzzle would get stuck in the glass and I'd have to plead with my snickering comrades to remove it. Nevertheless, through all the trouble of getting used to my new form, Krystal was there to provide comfort. Truthfully, I think she likes me better this way.

"Do you remember how it happened?" Fox eagerly asked.

"It was the strangest thing in the world. But I remember it."

I stood and promptly fell to the floor explaining how the scar on my face came to be, and when Wolf shot me in the back during my reunion with Krystal.

"Then all of a sudden my necklace starts glowing. The next thing I saw was a tall, blue fox creature walk towards me." I said with appropriate hand-gestures. "The strange thing was that the guy was fully clad in my flight suit. And we were practically the same height!"

They all leaned forward and listened intently. "I had no idea who he was or what _he was for that matter. But something about him was familiar, he was wearing a silver arrowhead around his neck." I grasped the necklace tightly, "_My silver arrowhead."

My comrades spoke a mixture of "Wow" and "Pretty cool!" with the only exception being Krystal, who carefully studied me with an occasional twitch of her pointy ears.

"What did this guy do?" Falco probed.

"He just looked at me and said, "I am your true form Justin. It was and always has been, your destiny."

Before I spoke again I looked down at my white-furred chest. Driven by curiosity, my hand glided down it's smooth coat. The sensation made me repeat this motion several times more. Realizing that I lost track of the conversation, I glanced up to see quite a few raised eyebrows. I cleared my throat and looked back to them,

"Sorry I'm uh...not used to having fur. It feels kinda cool."

The crew giggled profusely but my face was flushed with embarrassment. Unknowingly, my blue and white tail swayed rhythmically from side-to-side. It felt odd to have another appendage under my control, yet I didn't even try to make it happen. Almost like a reflex that you think nothing about. I could still make it twitch and so-on but not to a full extent. It was a strange sensation.

"Heh, don't worry about it. It's all good." Falco assured.

"Hey Justin now that you're back, You wanna face me in V. C. E.?" Those three letters were an acronym for "Virtual Combat Evolved;" it was a game that Slippy and I played all the time during my training days. It's a fighting game that features a full, 3-D battlefield with shifting terrain, moving platforms and other hazards. A maximum of 4 combatants could battle it out in a single match and whoever was left standing wins. The movement of characters was very fast and fluid, with automatic jumping from platform to platform, and the ability to initiate aerial combat. I was never one to play fighting games back on Earth but I gave it a shot, and was thoroughly owned by Slippy's skills.

I thought about it for a moment and smirked, "I'm a little tired but...yeah let's do it!"

"Sweet! Lemme just get the system set up." Slippy exclaimed as a dashed over to a control box on the wall and flicked a switch. The light's steadily dimmed and a large 82-inch monitor descended from the ceiling. This time I wasn't surprised at the layout but the first time he turned it on, my jaw was on the floor for several seconds. He soon handed me a controller and turned the power on. Within a few moments the screen came to life bearing a stylishly blue title: "Virtual Combat Evolved." Slippy quickly navigated through each option and set the fight for a 5 minute, 180 HP battle. Soon the character selection screen appeared, with about 30 fighters to choose from. They ran the gamut of Anthros from a swift and deadly snake creature named Xin Ye, to a massive armored mech character named Delta Mk II. Slippy naturally chose the Frog fighter named Calivur; who was a muscular amphibian clad in long, tan cargo pants and a red bandana around his head. His weapons were twin, spiked tonfas which he gripped in firm and battle-ready stance.

My on-screen highlighter randomly scrolled through each character's portrait as Fox and Falco shouted back and forth.

"Yeah, use Grevik he's awesome!" Fox proclaimed. "No way, Freedan could whup his ass in 5 seconds flat!" Falco protested.

"I use Grevik everytime I face you, and I always win." Fox said with a cocky smile.

"That's because you keep spamming his Earthquake move!"

"I never did that once!"

Both of them argued for about a minute or two until Peppy stood up, "Will you two just shut your beaks! Jeez, it's like listening to a pair of four-year olds fighting over a toy!" Falco looked ready to explode when he heard Peppy say 'beak' but he sat back anyway. I couldn't help but laugh out loud at their arguing, and got distracted from the game entirely. Midway through my laughter I had accidently dropped the controller.

"What's so funny?" Fox asked, infuriated. My chest started to ache as I tried to contain myself, after a few last-minute chuckles I looked back at him.

"I don't know, you and Falco remind me of how me and Jared used to fight." I said still holding back giggles. "Sorry."

"Heh, it's alright. But who's Jared?" He asked. I looked down steadily, "My brother."

"Um Justin? You still haven't picked a character yet." Krystal said as she tapped my shoulder. "Oh, right." I picked the controller back up and scrolled through some more fighters.

I was trying to find Jeggei, the character I used when I first played the game. Then within 2 scrolls, I found him: A white tiger wearing flashy, silver garb on his body and bearing a scar on his right eye. His weapon of choice was a platinum sword that he kept sheathed on his back. Without hesitation I selected him and the screen changed to a collection of stages. Slippy impatiently chose the RANDOM option and waited for the game to load.

"Well Justin, you ready?" He asked. I extended my arm and bumped his knuckle. "As I'll ever be Slippy." I watched as the fighters digitally materialized onto the glacial battlefield, going through their introductory lines. Calivur spoke first in a rough, gravely voice and rapidly twirled his tonfas; "Show me what ya got fresh meat!" Jeggei then gracefully somersaulted into the air and drew his sword upon landing, "Let my path be illuminated by the light of the Moon." He said calmly. Suddenly there was a countdown: 3...2...1...FIGHT!"

As the battle drew on, I saw that we were at a stalemate, Calivur had strength and a stout spirit, while I was swift and precise. My slashes seemed to be like tiny bug bites in the face of my adversary, yet I wasn't afraid. After knocking my opponent back with Lunar Repulse, I leapt from glacier to glacier and eventually found a spot to collect my thoughts. I knelt down and thrusted my sword into the icy ground as the faint glow of the morning sun shimmered off of the blade. "There must be a way." _I thought as I gripped the swords hilt. Suddenly an idea came to mind, _"The Star Divide! Yes, it has to work." "Star Divide" is my ultimate move, one that requires careful timing and practice in order to be executed by my controller. I trusted that the controller registered to me as Justin would be able to pull it off without fail. I observed as much during practice rounds. I can hear Calivur drawing closer to my hiding spot, it's only a matter of time before I'm discovered. Be careful Justin...

With rapid button presses and rotations of the analog stick, I jumped up from behind the small ice-floe and lunged at Calivur.

"I knew you were hiding there!" Slippy yelled as Calivur took a few hits from Jeggei.

"I've gotten better Slippy, just you watch!" I retorted confidently. Instantly after Calivur's guard was broken I tapped a quick button combo: X,X,Y,X, Up+B. (Which translates to Punch, Punch, Kick, Punch, Waning Crescent.) The final move was a rising sword slash that sent Calivur flying. I could hear Slippy franticly mashing the recover button in order to break his flight. "Damn Justin, you have gotten better." Fox chortled from the other side of the couch. "Thanks, I do my best not to disappoint." I replied with a wink. Then as I returned my focus to the fight, Slippy's fighter somehow recovered before slamming into a wall and charged back at Jeggei.

I tried for a heavy slash but to my horror, Calivur used his counter move and stunned Jeggei; unable to move for a few seconds, I was helpless to his next attack. "Hahaaah you're finished now! Venom Jab!" Slippy cried as Calivur's tonfas became infused with a dark, purple substance; I tried to block but wasn't fast enough. Calivur thrusted his weapons as fast as machineguns into Jeggei's chest, hurling him backwards and dropping his health down to 58%. This was met with an outburst of "Ooooww, that's gotta hurt!" from Fox and Falco. "Don't worry Justin you still have a chance to win." Krystal said resting her arm on my shoulder. I took a quick look at Slippy who seemingly sat back and thought the fight would end itself, but unfortunately for him, he fell right into my trap...

With Jeggei's health that low, his Overdrive gauge filled up rapidly. Once it was at peak capacity, Star Divide was primed and ready. Without paying attention to Slippy's taunts or hesitation, I took one last leap at an unguarded Calivur.

With the button combo inputed, Jeggei's sword began to glow a bright blue color as he reared his hand; "Here it goes, STAAAAR DIVIDE!" Jeggei shouted as he flew forward with his sword extended.

The blade impaled Calivur in a brief spark and within seconds his health was completely depleted. Calivur echoed in pain as Jeggei jerked the sword out of his body. "Jeggei Wins!" The games announcer declared.

With a huge grin on my face I stood up and mimicked my character's victory pose; Jeggei rapidly twirled his sword a few times and said, "You still have much to learn" before sheathing it. Slippy just sat there with his gaping mouth wide open and didn't utter a single sound. I turned to Krystal and shrugged my shoulders.

"Be prepared, Slippy holds on to things like this for quite a while." She said, patting my back. He lost at a videogame; so what? At least face it with humility and honesty in defeat.

Slippy paused for a few moments and let out an exasperated breath; "Ok...how...the hell, did you manage to beat my best character?"

"I honestly don't know. I either got lucky or someone was helping me." I said winking at Krystal.

"Whatever, now come on! Rematch!"

"Nah, I'm gonna turn in for the night." I said with a yawn. "Hope you don't mind."

"Ackh, alright. Tomorrow okay?"

"Yes of course, good night guys; you too Krystal." I said giving her a peck on the cheek. They all bid me farewell in unison as I crossed the room to my door. A sudden, dreadful thought came to mind as I stepped past the bedroom's threshold, _How am I supposed to brush my teeth this way? _While looking at my long muzzle and sharp teeth in the mirror, I grabbed the toothbrush and tried for several minutes to get the right angle. It felt like playing Twister with my fingers at first but eventually I got it right. With one last spit of toothpaste into the sink I looked up at the mirror and was startled to see Krystal standing near the doorway.

"Hey Justin, I hope I don't seem childish when I ask this but..." She began nervously.

"It's alright, what's on your mind?" I answered wiping the remains of toothpaste from my muzzle.

Krystal walked closer and began stroking my forearm gently, "Can I...sleep with you tonight?"

"Oh, okay...sure that's fine with me. Why, are you afraid of something?

"No I just, I just need to be with you for this one night. I want to make sure you won't...you won't..."

Her eyes suddenly began to well up in tears and she gripped me even tighter than before. I realized that she must've been scared of losing me after thinking I burned up in Titania's atmosphere. The thought of saying goodbye for good...I don't even want to stomach the notion of her going through something like that again.

"No problem Krystal. I'll do anything to make you happy." I whispered to her. She looked up at me with watery eyes then immediately buried her face in my chest. I thought I heard her mumble "Thank you" as I felt her tears drip onto my fur.

"Come on, let's get some sleep." I walked her over to my bed and we covered ourselves in the sheets. Before shutting the light off, Krystal laid down next to me and draped her arm around my neck. She seemed to purr as I tenderly stroked her silky, blue hair in return.

"You feel so warm. Why is that?" She asked in a soft voice.

"Because I'm with you."

She smiled as we shared one last kiss before drifting off to sleep. Her soft and rhythmic breathing was enough to make all my muscles feel relaxed and at peace. I was happy that she felt safe near me, because I'll never leave her alone again. I said a quick prayer to myself and snuggled close to her, letting all my problems in the universe be drowned out by tranquility.