Prologue – The Birth of a Hero

A balmy breeze swept through the peaceful streets of Corneria City, bringing forth comfort to the anthropomorphic citizens as they continued on in their morning routines. A young adult fox watched the scene below him from a bay window with a smile. He noticed a couple around his age walking down the street and breathed a sigh at seeing them share a kiss.

Same as yesterday, the young fox man thought as he ran his fingers through the brown streak of fur between his ears and let out a big yawn, nothing ever happens here.

"Getting bored already, honey?"

He turned from the view and his smile broadened, seeing his mate curled up in bed watching him. She smiled as well when the young male sat down next to her and gently laid his head on her expectant belly.

"I guess you could say that, Vixy," he sighed to the beautiful vixen. "That's what I get for taking a leave of absence from the army." He slowly rose and poked at Vixy's stomach. "And don't take too long coming out, buddy! I want to spend some time together before reporting back to work."

"The baby will come when it's ready, James," Vixy cooed rubbing her nose to his, "The doctor said that it could come any day now."

"Hence you having to stay in bed," James finished. "Gosh, I feel guilty having Peppy and Pigma coming by today."

"You need your team mates to be around though," Vixy sat up and hugged James. "Besides, there's always safety in numbers."

James quirked a brow at the statement and asked, "And what's that supposed to mean?"

DING DONG!

"That should be Peppy and Pigma." James said, grabbing up his sunglasses by the nightstand. "You will be okay here with Vivian, right?"

"We'll be fine, James, I'll call you if there's any trouble." Vixy sighed. "Not like that would happen, though." She slowly sat up and kissed James on the cheek, whispered, "Be very careful, my love."

"I will."

James rushed down the stairs to the door and flung it open to find a pastel green rabbit woman patiently waiting with a red fox toddler in tow.

"Hi, Vivian," He chuckled, patting the toddler on her head. "Hey, Chaos Fox, you keep the girls out of trouble, okay?"

The little vixen just smiled, and then burrowed her head into Vivian's chest.

"I think that's a yes," Vivian giggled, "you keep my hubby in line, Jimmy."

"Of course I will," James laughed walking out of the house to meet his team mates. The stocky silver haired rabbit covered his muzzle at his wife's comment while the portly hog let out a squeal of laughter.

"Hee hee hee! That's some woman ya got there, Peppy old pal!" The pig grunted.

"Yeah, a regular spitfire," Peppy groaned. "It's bad enough that she's in baby mode again."

"Oh, really?" James looked away.

"Between your wife being due at anytime and us babysitting the Greys' boy, Vivian's been bugging me with trying to have one of our own again."

"I guess you adopting Chaos wasn't enough for her." James said.

Peppy was about to respond when the sound of sirens and red trucks swept past the young men.

"What the--? Fire trucks!?" Peppy gasped as two ambulances followed suit. "I've got a bad feeling about this."

James' ears folded back and he turned toward the vehicles' destination to find a building several blocks away from them and the army base covered in billowing smoke.

"The Science Department," he grimaced, "Andross' domain."

They followed the trail of smoke to the military base's laboratory where fire fighters were working to put out the blaze. The young men were careful as they walked past the fire hoses and covered their faces with their flight scarves to shield them from the smoke. James set his gaze upon a hound dog several years older than he in a red military uniform, barking orders to military police officers.

"Hey, Sergeant Pepper, got an order for us?"

The hound halted in mid-order and saw James, Peppy, and Pigma standing next to him watching the burning laboratory.

"You boys," Sgt. Pepper chuckled. "I would have called if I needed you."

"Sure you would." James said.

"Sgt. Pepper, sir!"

Sgt. Pepper turned to a light brown husky who immediately saluted despite attempting to put out a few embers on his army fatigues.

"Captain Grey, report."

"One of the survivors wishes to speak with you, sir." The husky panted, brushing an ember off his shoulder. "He says that he saw how this happened. Should I bring him over, sir?"

"I would be happy to speak with him, Captain Grey," Sgt. Pepper accepted. "But we'll come to him."

"Yes, sir,"

James chuckled a bit, making the husky cant his head to the side.

"What's so funny, Jimmy?" He asked. His blue eyes watched as James moved his scarf long enough to wet his fingers and put out an ember on the tip of his curled tail. "Oh, thanks."

"Don't mention it, Will." James patted him on the back as they followed Sgt. Pepper to one of the ambulances.

The paramedics were working on the burns of a reptilian scientist, a chameleon who sat calmly despite the pain he endured. He smiled at seeing Sgt. Pepper and his ace pilots before him.

"Hello, Sgt. Pepper, sir," the scientist hissed softly, noticing James and his team mates, "And Star Fox, too. My, I feel safe now."

"Who is this guy?" Pigma whispered to Peppy.

"Dr. Gavin Powalski. He's Dr. Andross' right hand man and colleague."

"Was," Gavin corrected, holding his injured arm with the other. "I'm not acknowledging him after today."

"What happened here?" Sgt. Pepper questioned.

"Andross came in this morning, talking about showing the council his best experiment yet." Gavin explained. "He was angry about them recently cutting off funds for his bio-weapon research."

"So a bio-weapon caused all of this?" Sgt. Pepper grimaced.

"Yes." Gavin replied with a cough.

James' eyes widened in horror as several explosions rocked the city. Many citizens were fleeing crumbling buildings and smoldering vehicles. The next thing the young fox saw frightened him; within the smoke stood a horrendous green lizard creature with two heads breathing fire.

"It can't be--!" Sgt. Pepper gasped. "A Monarch Dodora!"

"But they shouldn't be able to breathe this much fire," Peppy reasoned, "And even if they could, they couldn't naturally cause this much damage."

"Unless you're Andross," James growled. "Peppy, come with me. We need to get our families to safety."

"Right," Peppy followed. "Pigma, are you coming?"

"Nah, I have to make sure my old man is safe." Pigma grunted. "You go on without me."

James reached his home before Peppy and cringed at the gaping hole that used to be his front door.

"No…" He trembled, and then rushed forward as a crash and a familiar scream rang out, gasping, "Vixy!"

Vixy began to kick and scream at the towering ape that grabbed her out of the bed. Vivian shivered in a corner with Chaos Fox watching and snarling at the ape.

"Put me down!" Vixy cried, banging her fists against the ape's shoulder. "Please, Andross, put me down!"

"Now, now, my darling Vixen," Andross grinned. "Why can't you come with me?"

"I told you before, I'm married!" Vixy barked.

"To who?" Andross inquired.

"What do you mean 'to who'? To James!" Vixy gasped as Andross held her in front of him to see her better. "Don't you remember? My marriage to James was all over the papers."

Andross scowled at the thought.

"No, you're not."

"Yes, I am!" Vixy cried. "And I'm having a baby with James, so I can't be your woman!"

"Baby?" Andross chuckled, stepping back toward the bedroom door with Vixy still in his grasp. "Now, who told you that little fantasy?"

Oh my gosh! Vixy thought, He's lost his mind!

Vivian immediately jumped up and demanded, "Andross, please! You can't do this! She could go into labor at any moment!" She halted as he spun around and grabbed Vivian by her throat with his free hand. Chaos Fox began to cry, bashing at the ground in shock and fear of the towering ape.

"You have no say in the matter, Mrs. Hare." He growled to Vivian, her face turning pale as he released her and she fell on her knees to the floor.

"Momma," Chaos Fox whimpered, clinging to her.

"Now that that's taken care of," Andross said smugly. "We have to be going, Vixy,"

"That's far enough, Andross!"

Vixy squealed with glee, seeing James blocking the door. She then made a swift kick between Andross' legs and landed in the warm embrace of her husband.

"Wow! Nice shot, Vixy!" James commented, setting her down.

"I can't always be a damsel in distress, can I?" Vixy returned.

James motioned for Vivian and Chaos Fox to slip out of the room as Andross started to rise from the floor.

"You… How dare you!" Andross roared, brandishing a blaster and aimed it at James' head. "You dare to take what's rightfully mine!"

"I'm not anyone's property!" Vixy protested. "I chose James over you! Get over it!" She trembled when Andross kept the blaster trained on James. "Please, don't do this! If you kill James, you may as well kill me too!"

"I guess you are right, McCloud," Andross said, smiling. "This ends now!"

BANG!

BANG!

James ducked just in time to shield Vixy and gritted his teeth as the shot grazed his ear. They then heard Andross groan in pain and a big thud. Vixy peeked around and saw Andross lying on the ground as if frozen solid.

"James!"

"Peppy!" James gasped, seeing the rabbit standing at the top of the stairs, "Am I glad you caught up!"

"Oh, honey!" Vivian cried, hugging Peppy around his neck. "Is he dead?"

"No, just stunned," Peppy sighed. "I figured that Sgt. Pepper would want him alive for trial."

"That's a relief." James grinned, then feeling Vixy still shivering, inquired, "Vixy, are you okay?"

"It's time," she whimpered, nearly falling to her knees in pain.

"Time? Time for what?"

Vixy looked up and mewed, "The baby!"

James then scooped up Vixy in his arms and frantically barked, "Peppy, I have to head for the hospital! Vivian and Chaos Fox saw everything and can help explain what happened."

"But--!" Peppy tried to call as James ran down the stairs and out the door with his wife in tow. "He has to do things the hard way, I guess."

About an hour later, James sat by Vixy's side in the delivery room holding her hand. She smiled slightly despite the pain she felt and took deep breaths.

A feline doctor stood at the foot of the bed and said, "You're doing very well, Mrs. McCloud, now push one more time."

Vixy braised herself, keeping hold of James' hand.

"HWAAAH!"

James and Vixy both gasped when they heard the shrill crying.

"My, aren't you a loud one?" The doctor noted to herself as the newborn pup kept making itself known. "He has quite a commanding voice, Mr. McCloud."

"He?" James quivered with anticipation.

"Yes," the doctor nodded, handing the baby to a nurse to clean up. "You have a son."

"And an adorable one at that," the nurse said, finishing cleaning and wrapping the baby in a blue blanket, handed him over to Vixy, "Congratulations, Mr. and Mrs. McCloud."

"He's so precious!" Vixy cooed. "He looks just like you, James."

James just sighed, shifting down to see his son better.

"He has your fur," he noted the yellow-tan tone of the child. "And your eyes, just like a little fox."

The pup looked to James intently, his emerald green eyes shining and let out a bark. James quirked his brow in shock at the sudden reaction of his words.

"I think he likes that name," Vixy giggled, "call him that again."

"What? Fox?"

The baby barked again and reached his tiny paws toward James' muzzle. James gently rubbed noses with the pup and smiled.

"That's my little boy," he sighed with pride.

"Then it's decided," Vixy said, pulling the baby close to her, "we'll call him Fox."

"Fox McCloud," the doctor mused. "Sounds like one destined for great things."

"I'll be happy if he grows up to be a good man." Vixy sighed. "That's all I wish for my little Fox."

Author's Note: So there you have it, the start of my version of Star Fox 64. This is improved upon from the version I posted on deviantART and I hope you enjoy it. Lylat Wars is going to be a long story since I plan to include every level from Star Fox 64 and two calm chapters between them. I'll have a few OCs pop up, but who doesn't have OCs? If you see any grammar mistakes or problems with spacing, please let me know and I'll fix it to the best of my ability. ^__^

~ChaosFoxFire