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[img]https://i.postimg.cc/L5r26P82/Star-Fox-Final.png[/img]

[color=5edaf6]Level:[/color] 5 (24 -> 27/50)
[color=5edaf6]Location:[/color] Sandswept Sky - Sweet Canyon - Parnasse -> Hollow Heights
[color=5edaf6]Word Count:[/color] 2453 (+3 EXP)
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Despite being out until around midnight--or just past it--Fox still woke with the first faint dawnlight to prepare himself for the long day ahead, which mostly just meant stretching his legs and beating most of the rest of the party to the center of town for their rendezvous. He was content to skip breakfast, having no taste or appetite for what was apparently ‘hippo meat’ to begin with--leftover or not--and the very idea especially didn’t sit with him after hearing that one of the raccoon’s missing friends was a hippo. At any rate he was intuitively confident that he was involved nowhere in that desperate harvest for passable stand-in sustenance, believing they might have known if they had.

The more ‘formal’ morning proceedings did little other than weaken the general opinion of royalty, the local figure of which didn’t so much as better inform or compensate them for their trouble. Fox paid her not any inkling of the obeisant niceties or reverence she may have thought she was due, or much of any mind at all really. She obviously no more knew what was really going on than did the maimed mercenary in her employ, nor could she be accused of otherwise caring. Fox spent not a second too long waiting for them to conduct their business before marching off with their guides to the train that awaited them--unsurprisingly composed of more confectionery.

Following Primrose’s example, Fox hopped aboard the roof of one of the train cars to make room for the bigger, less agile of their party in the cabs, with the leading car presenting the only remaining vacancy. Narrow as the space was on either platform in front of or behind the thankfully smokeless stack was, he had no difficulty making it work for himself. Balance posed no issue for him in particular, and given the early time of day, he was fine putting up with the oncoming heat of the desert sun (which made surprise of the fact that the dessert-based landscape and town hadn’t melted by now) if it meant he could have a leading view of their travel, made all the more manageable by the fact that he had this space to himself. That was until another with the same idea made their way to the front mid-travel, unnoticed by any...

[color=2b64d8]“This seat taken?”[/color] Sly enquired rhetorically, somewhat playfully in self-invitation.

Fox, sat upon the front-most platform with his back to the candle-stack, turned his gaze upward at the raccoon perched upon its rim before returning it forward and answering simply, [color=5edaf6]“Help yourself.”[/color] The thief accepted, seating himself fully at the edge, hanging one leg off and leaning against the bent other with his cane resting at an incline on one shoulder. Fox had to admit himself slightly surprised to be seeing him again after last night’s interaction. Funny how that worked out; expect someone to follow and they take off, but let them go and they join you anyway. Then again, that’s how it’s always been, hasn’t it? Even his own friends followed him not because he asked, but because they wanted to--Falco especially. At any rate, he had expected, as said, that the raccoon would have better things to do; better places to be, speaking of friends and all.

[color=5edaf6]“So you decided to come with us after all?”[/color] Fox couldn’t help asking with that much in mind. [color=5edaf6]“I thought you would have taken off and been well on your way by now.”[/color] True enough, Fox even gave him directions and all; told him which way to go and where he could find help with anything at all, but the raccoon’s reasoning for not taking him up on that was simple enough:

[color=2b64d8]“Believe me, I can find my way around easy enough when the world makes sense. But here,”[/color] he gestured headward to the about area as they began to pass through the transitional point where dessert became desert again, [color=2b64d8]“I’d say my chances of making it anywhere fast are better with you guys than on my own.”[/color] He glanced back at those he could see, and the others he couldn’t but knew where there. [color=2b64d8]“Though, I can’t say I wouldn’t be more comfortable with a smaller crew,”[/color] such that he was used to. [color=2b64d8]“But you all seem decently trustworthy enough, you, that ‘Joker’ kid and the big guy Tora, anyway.”[/color] That he could somehow feel something in common with two out of three of them was all he had to go on for that, besides that he’s still alive when he could just as well have not been now, and that much would have to suffice for now. Though, it didn’t do much to clear up why Fox shot at him in the first place, he would just have to believe he had a good reason for it, given he at least felt somewhat more… [i]himself[/i] now as a result.

[color=5edaf6]“You have some of [i]our names[/i]. Care to share yours?”[/color] Fox brought this up as a point of ‘trust’ and fairness, as well as simply needing to better acquaint himself with those he helped pick up for their team, as he had thus far neglected to do.

[color=2b64d8]“Right. Where are my manners,”[/color] he started with a light chuckle. [color=2b64d8]“The name’s… uhh...”[/color] He hesitated before asking, [color=2b64d8]“You wouldn’t happen to work for the law, would you?”[/color] to get a broader confirmation of the fact that he couldn’t fully intuit from appearances alone, or assume purely by previous denial of any relationship with Carmelita (and by extension Interpol). [color=2b64d8]“Don’t ask why. Let’s just say I don’t have the smoothest history with them”[/color]

[color=5edaf6]“N-no...”[/color] Fox answered simply, visibly caught off by the question, but refraining from follow-up as requested.

[color=2b64d8]“Okay, good! Just making sure. Anyway, as I was saying, the name’s Sly Cooper, world-class master thief, at your service… if you’ll have it.”[/color] He ended with a cane flourish and an inquisitive nod, and omitted the more specific information about his gang and lineage, figuring for a general lack of interest in his life’s story.

[color=5edaf6]“Gladly,”[/color] Fox accepted, smiling weakly. [color=5edaf6]“I think we could use someone like you on the team.”[/color] Looking to the sky for a second, then over his shoulder behind him, he thought, [i][color=5edaf6]And whoever else we can get.[/color][/i]

[color=2b64d8]“Good to hear!”[/color] Sly responded, bringing his cane back to rest. [color=2b64d8]“So about that, what [i]are[/i] we after, exactly?”[/color]

Bringing his attention back to the front, Fox answered, [color=5edaf6]“That.”[/color] pointing to the ever-looming, luminescent tyrant of the heavens itself, Galeem.

[color=2b64d8]“Uh huh...”[/color] Sly responded with a look of bemusement. [color=2b64d8]“And what is... [i]‘that’[/i]?”[/color]

[color=5edaf6]“The thing responsible for all this; for all of us being here in the same place.”[/color]

[color=2b64d8]“Just looks like the sun to me.”[/color] Sly continued gazing at spherical seraph in the great distant sky, half wondering why it didn’t hurt to look at...

Fox shook his head to de-confirm Sly’s knowingly incorrect conjecture, and replied, [color=5edaf6]“Think [b]bigger[/b].”[/color] He did, as well as looking closer, and with his dying memory of [b]the light[/b], the big picture suddenly came into slightly greater focus for him.

[color=2b64d8]“Oh… right...”[/color] was all he could manage to say initially as the realization set in for him. [color=2b64d8]“So… better question, what’s the plan for when you get there, or for getting there at all? Can’t imagine it’ll just [i]let us[/i].”[/color] About this, he was right. [color=2b64d8]“There [i]is[/i] a plan, right?”[/color] he asked in during the short pause in conversation.

[color=5edaf6]“To destroy it,”[/color] Fox answered, pulling a perky-eared turn of the head from an incredulous Sly. [color=5edaf6]“And you’re right, it [i]won’t[/i] just let us do that. Galeem-”[/color] [color=2b64d8][i]So it has a name...[/i][/color] Sly thought in the middle of Fox’s short explanation. [color=5edaf6]“-still has eleven ‘Guardians’ and the rest of the world between us and it. We’re on our way to one now. If we free as many able bodies as we can along the way, we might stand a chance at beating it this time.”[/color]

[color=2b64d8]“So let me get this straight,”[/color] started the still flabbergasted raccoon. [color=2b64d8]“The ‘plan’ is to build up the gang-”[/color] “army” was more the word, [color=2b64d8]“as much as possible, and take out a living god’s goons so we can fight it to the death in its own front yard?”[/color]

Fox said nothing at first, simply keeping his attention forward in momentary silence, which made for its own answer. With an exhale, he spoke. [color=5edaf6]“Galeem brought everyone from every world into its own, then hypnotized us all into living in it none the wiser, as if we’d just be okay with that.”[/color] The mention of enthrallment made sense to Sly on account of the fog he had lifted on his mind and being the night before. [color=5edaf6]“My [i]‘plan’[/i] is to show them the mistake they made bringing us all together… and make them regret it.”[/color] He met Sly with a stoic glance. [color=5edaf6]“If you have a better idea, I’m all ears.”[/color]

Sly merely nodded along in tentative agreement, still unsure of what to make of it all, with more revelations yet to come. [color=2b64d8]“And I thought [i]our[/i] plans were crazy.”[/color] He then made a mental point of reconciliation out of his past experiences with plans going wrong. Perhaps this was a case better not overthought.

[color=5edaf6]“I did say it wouldn’t get any easier,”[/color] Fox said, returning his attention forward.

[color=2b64d8]“I’ll take your word for it. Just one more thing: What did you mean by ‘this time’?”[/color] Sly asked with a pause. Fox turned his sight down in sudden thought, only just catching his Freudian slip after having it pointed out to him. He’d not have time to explain though, for a more urgent matter lay just ahead to meet them on the tracks.

The two of them heard and felt the wind portending the isolated sandstorm of monumental proportions that they were heading straight for, followed by the loudspeaker/intercom warning issued to all passengers, and moved to the back of the engine cart to brace themselves. Fox and Sly’s hand- and footholds beneath the rear platform--Sly’s assisted by the hook-end of his cane--held for a time up until the large, unseen entity passed them by as they were crossing the bridge over the indiscernibly deep canyon. Feeling the force of this caused Fox’s footing to give out underneath him, forcing him onto the second train car behind, below the honeypot, where he managed a waning grip on one of the support spoons. Seeing this, Sly released his hook-hold to catch another on the spoon opposite with the other hand outstretched to anchor Fox to him before he could completely slip away as his feet went weightless behind him. Quickly devising a simple solution, Fox communicated his intentions to Sly with his eyes, gesturing to the lime-shaped cab window behind him before swinging, tucking, and shooting feet-first through, shattering it with his abrupt entry. Sly, after aiding him with this, followed him in, where they both waited out the storm in relative safety.

At their first stop the group began piling out of the packed train cab, while those who held on outside were awarded reprieve from their tribulation and dismounted to recollect themselves. Casualties were promptly recounted, with Fox conducting his own head count to confirm it. He looked on at the storm and the chasm that surrounded it, listening as Tora pleaded to fate for the survival of the four they lost. [color=5edaf6]“We’ll just have to trust that,”[/color] he said to himself and Joker in response to his last word (as well as Tora’s desperate conjecture) about their odds of having made it out alive.

It of course took no time at all for the more staunchly idealistic of them to start drafting ideas and suggestions for a likely futile search and rescue effort, with everyone else having their own mix of opinions about it. [color=2b64d8]“Who put [i]him[/i] in charge?”[/color] Sly pointedly asked in response to the first plan assertively put forth by the samurai, understandably hesitant to trust the first face he saw coming out of caramelized stasis after their uncomfortable first encounter. His plan, or anyone else’s, Fox had no intention of abiding by.

[color=5edaf6]“We should keep moving,”[/color] he declared phlegmatically. [color=5edaf6]“This wasn’t an accident, or a coincidence. Something’s trying to stop us from getting where we’re going. If we divide ourselves to look for them, we stand the chance of losing more of us, and helping it succeed,”[/color] he reasoned. [color=5edaf6]“We’ll just have to hope for the best. We can send for them later, but if any of you feel that strongly about it, I won’t stop you. Either way, my mind’s made up.”[/color] With that, Fox started marching off alone toward their destination, on foot. [color=5edaf6]“I’ll see the rest of you ahead.”[/color]

As hard a decision as this was to make, it was easy enough for him. He’d left behind closer in the past when it counted, uncertain at the time of their survival, having then initially made his peace with the opposite. Things would have turned out far differently had he not, he realized; that he, among a great many others, might not have been there now, otherwise. Shortly, he was silently caught up with by one to confront him on his rationale.

[color=2b64d8]“Should I have let go of you back there, then?”[/color] questioned Sly, halting Fox in his steps. [color=2b64d8]“I get where you’re coming from… but I’ve never left anyone behind either.”[/color] He let a pause linger for his words to set in. [color=2b64d8]“I’m not sure I can start in good conscience,”[/color] he ended, implicitly calling into question the moral-ethical compass of his Kindred. With a subtly deflating exhale, Fox responded.

[color=5edaf6]“We save who we can, [i]when[/i] we can.”[/color] He was aware of the implications against him, and doubled down anyway. [color=5edaf6]“You can still leave, if you like.”[/color] He took his first couple of resumed steps onward before stopping to add, [color=5edaf6]“You don’t have to agree with me. You don’t have to listen to me. You don’t have to follow me.”[/color] With his sullen parting words, he continued on his way.

[color=5edaf6]“None of you do.”[/color] he reiterated to himself what he expected them to understand by now, and what he had relearned himself that morning--about what it meant to lead… and whether or not he was still fit to.

[hr]

Fox had purposely left the lingering party with the train in the event they came to an agreeable resolution and set off once more, as the approaching sounds of whistle and wheel seemed to signify. In anticipation of this, Fox waited for the train to close in, reaching out a ready hand to catch a hold on it, and boarded the moving locomotive on its continued route to Al Mamoon.