Under the spreading chestnut tree,
I sold you and you sold me.

Lights.

Glowing lights, incredibly bright, lighting up downtown Haransdale. Animals of all size and shape making their way through the crowded streets of the gargantuan modern city. Shops, cabs, motels, dark unwelcoming alleys, towering skyscrapers.

In such a town, who can pay attention to the newcomer?

Who indeed.

A few blocks down from one of Haransdale’s many giant squares, something was happening. Something, among a thousand other things happening at the same time. If one had had nothing better to do, one may have noticed three strangers running like those gone mad down the street after something no one else could see. If one had had nothing better to do, of course. Which everyone did.

Bill Grey’s tongue lolled out as he panted heavily, running as quickly as he could, feet pounding the sidewalk. Alongside him were Peppy Hare and Falco Lombardi, members of the estranged mercenary unit, Star Fox. He didn’t know either of them very well, but today they were a team--united for the common good--and if achieving the common good meant running around Katina’s largest city like complete idiots, well, then, that’s what they would have to do.

Peppy slowed down a bit. “I’m getting too old for this! We’ll never catch them anyway,” he puffed.

Falco skidded to a halt, nearly crashing into a trash can from the slick walkway. He eyed some suspicious looking characters skulking in the alley. “Peppy’s right. We need to get a cab.”

“HEY!! HEEEYY!!!” Bill tried to hail a cab, and eventually one screeched to a halt, splashing unsavoury street water in their faces. Bill gagged, but yanked the door open. They tumbled into the cab and didn’t bother to fasten their seatbelts.

“FLOOR IT!” Falco ordered the driver, a stout raccoon, pointing in the general direction of a nearby side street.

“Much obliged, sir,” the driver mock saluted. Then he took off like a bat out of the other place and careened down the road at speeds approaching 200 km/h.

Plastered against the back window of the vehicle, Peppy spoke. “Where do you think they’re headed?”

“Probably....out of town....there’s an office somewhere down there....I’m not sure....UULLGH!!” Bill lurched forward as the cab hit a speed bump and almost flipped over backwards.

“We better get there soon,” Falco moaned, clutching his stomach. “I think I’m about to toss.”

The high buildings gradually shortened, more trees and grass was visible, and there were fewer pedestrians. Soon they’d left the city. Three more minutes of their harrowing journey ensued until Bill stopped the cab in front of an impossibly tall office building. It was surrounded by a large grassy knoll with a picturesque but obviously man-made pond and a few running trails.

Falco paid the driver, who nodded and then ricocheted insanely back to the city. “Well, are we ready?” Bill blew out his breath slowly, staring up at the glass-covered monstrosity of modern technology.

“Ready as we’ll ever be, and even if we’re not we don’t have time to get that way,” Peppy responded, striding as majestically as one with his particular physical build could manage.

“Let’s get this over with,” Falco took a deep breath, pulled open the door, and they all stepped inside.

*  *  *

Of course, that’s not the beginning of the story.

*  *  *

“Bill---HELP ME!!!!” Fox dug his fingers deeper into the side of the cliff, but his foot slipped on the tiny outcropping and he slid farther down the edge. Bill had just had enough time to grab a rope and secure it around a tree and himself before Fox went over the side completely, and luckily he caught Fox’s hand just in time. He tried to pull his friend up, but, unfortunately, the only tree he had enough rope to reach was a young sapling, and, also unfortunately, he wasn’t wearing his super-grip boots.

“AAGH!” Bill slipped, fell on his backside, and bumped down some rocks before hanging there, suspended by the thin rope.

“Great. Just greaaAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!” Fox screamed as he looked down at the ground and slid a few more inches down the side.

The awful grating noise of a rope rubbing against gravel met the ears of the motley pair, and Bill moaned. The weight of both of them was too much for the thin rope, especially when the thin rope was tied only to a flimsy, weak sapling. Fibers of it started to snap off, and Bill counted them, dread gnawing a hole in his stomach.

“Hey, no need to fear, Katt is here,” they heard a smooth, confident voice say. “I’ll get the roWHOOAAAA!!!” Katt strained as the rope snapped. Luckily, she’d grabbed it before it broke, but she wasn’t standing very far from the edge herself. “*unnhh* Maybe you two should *erg* cut down on the donuts?” she gasped, pulling as hard as she could. “It’s....the adrenaline...why I can hold you up....but I can’t *gasp* keep this up for long!” Katt puffed. Her heels dug into the extreme edge of the top and she tried desperately to keep her balance. “SOMEONE HELP ME!!!”

Peppy had come running as soon as he’d heard Fox fall, and now he arrived. The long loose ends of Katt’s sash were blowing in the wind, so Peppy grabbed them and pulled as hard as he could.

“Ouch! OUCH! That hurts!! Well, at least I’m not down there with Tweedledum and Tweedledumber,” Katt winced. She managed a weak smile. “Oh well, I knew this sash would come in handy someday if I wore it long enough. URRRGH!!”

Peppy breathed hard. “SLIPPY!! Get yer butt over here and HELP US!”

“Whu--? Okay, here I come! OH MAH GAWSH!” Slippy galloped over and gasped when he saw what was going on.

“STOP GAWKING, YOU FOOL, AND HELP US!” Bill screeched at him.

Slippy snatched the ends of Peppy’s long coat and yanked hard. “You don’t need to get angry! .....Man, I wish Falco were here!”

“Well, he’s not!” snapped Fox irritably. You can’t really blame him; speaking as one who is seconds from death, he was actually extraordinarily kindly. “Do you think you can hold us up??”

Bill grimaced, dangling uselessly from the rope. Small pieces of rock coming loose from the cliff face bounced off his jacket as Katt struggled for a firm foothold.

“Ooohhhhh nooooo!” Peppy groaned as Slippy fell heavily on his rear and the foolish looking train traveled a few feet. Katt went over the side but managed to curl her tail around Peppy’s neck and pull herself back up as Slippy scrambled clumsily to his feet. Meanwhile, Peppy choked as Katt’s tail tightened, then gasped and made an odd screaming noise in his throat.

“Oohh, I’m SORRY!” Katt said. “I didn’t know that was you...” She made an apologetic face as she regained her foothold and resumed heaving on the rope with all her might.

But it was to no avail, for they slowly crept closer to the edge. Katt bent over the side, off-balance, teetering only millimeters away from certain demise. Fox was sweating as he peered at the ground, who knows how many kilometers below. He tried to anchor himself a little by pressing his foot into a small dent in the rock.

“AAAHHHHHHH!” Katt screamed.

*  *  *

That’s not the beginning of the story, either.

*  *  *

Fox flipped through an ancient magazine and chewed absent-mindedly on a cookie. He leaned back in the plush chair and skimmed a vaguely interesting article, stopping every once in a while to take a sip of his tea, which was rapidly losing heat and flavor on the plastic holding tray.

Across the room, the full-wall window displayed nothing but an endless void of stars. It was creepy, really, looking out that window, so Fox tried never to look at it too long. The wooden table and stools also lay across the room, and at that moment they were occupied by Falco and Peppy, who were playing a card game.

Peppy peered at his cards. “Hit me!”

“Here!” exclaimed Falco joyously, slapping a card down in front of Peppy and making the old hare jump.

“You’re gonna give me a heart attack,” grumbled Peppy, picking up his card and looking at it. “Aw, dangit. I went over 21 again. How’s your hand look?”

Falco grinned and displayed his cards, which added up to 19. “Probably woulda won even if you hadn’t gotten the king,” he said gleefully. “Heh heh. I love Blackjack.”

“Yeah, sure, of course you do. Well, why don’t you play it with Slippy or something? I’m not a gambling man...”

“Awww, you only say that because you never win. Besides, Slippy wouldn’t understand it. If I told him to hit me, he’d probably take it literally. So you don’t like Blackjack...up for a game of poker?”

“No, I’ve had enough card games for one day,” groaned Peppy, getting up from the table. “Where is Slippy, anyway?”

“Right here, O wise one!” Slippy skipped into the main lobby of Great Fox, wielding a strange blaster. “Look what I made. I’ve been working on it for WEEKS! That’s why I haven’t been around.”

“Darn, I was hoping you had disappeared,” commented Falco, folding his wings behind his head and putting his feet on the card table. “Oh well...there’ll be other times....”

Slippy gave him a dirty look and went on. “It’s REALLY cool! It turns nonliving material into liquid! You know, stuff like rocks and glass. And it hardens INSTANTLY! Observe.” Slippy fired a shot at one leg of Fox’s drink tray, and it collapsed into a messy puddle of white goo. As Slippy had said, it hardened instantly, but Fox’s tea splashed on top of it and his favourite teacup shattered into pieces.

“Slippy!” yelled Fox, gathering up the shards of broken china.

“Sorry,” the toad blushed.

“Hey Slippy, how about a game of Blackjack?” Falco shuffled the cards with a big smile of the utmost wickedness.

“I don’t know h-how to play,” Slippy blinked.

“Oh. How about poker?”

“Nope,” Slippy shook his head.

“Gin Rummy?” Falco sounded disappointed.

“No. I don’t know how to play any card games. Except.....”

“Except?”

“War!” Slippy finished.

Falco dropped the cards on the table and ran out of the room screaming. Fox laughed.

Slippy looked wounded. “What’d I say?”

*  *  *

That was the beginning of the story.

Chapter 2