"Sounds like you've been having a heck of a time at the Academy," Fox said calmly over the communicator. "I don't remember getting into that much in just my first week."
"Yeah," Sunset allowed in a relaxed tone as she idly leapt from one branch to another, catching a vine to swing to another brace point as she glanced from her wrist unit to her surroundings, taking in the lush vegetation, blue waters below, and points of focus that she was keeping her eyes out for. "Thankfully it calmed down after that...enough that I'm finally able to give you a call. Missed talking to you, Dad."
"We missed you too, Sunset," Fox told her warmly. There was a momentary pause. "So...what day was it again you got hauled to the Headmaster's Office with Pris?"
"My first day," Sunset replied readily. "Why?"
"Just making sure I got it right..." Fox answered awkwardly.
Sunset smirked. "Uncle Birdy won the pot, huh?"
"Dammit."
"Dad! Language!"
"Oh, like you don't say worse!"
"Saurian oaths aren't offensive once translated!"
"Why are you upset over it?"
"Because you'll ship me some ice cream in the next care package if I threaten to tell Mom."
"No dice there, she's standing right next to me."
"Dammit."
"Sunset!" Krystal scolded. "Language!"
"Fine. Ack-tuva."
"...that is terrible grammar."
"Hey, I'm lucky Saurian has a word for 'dam' as is."
"So that's your folks on the line, huh?" Pris asked as she dropped in from above. While most Avians couldn't actually fly under their own power - that evolutionary line having closed in exchange for opposable thumbs - Pris could manage an impressive glide if she put her mind to it, and between that, the effects of her new Diffusion Weave garb, and the natural thermals where they were, she proved especially adept at 'Falling with style!' as Diane insisted on calling it. "And here I thought my family could get confrontational." While her tone showed her usual tough attitude, a hidden quiver showed she was nervous.
Sunset rolled her eyes. "Pris, they may be celebrities and war heroes, but at home they're just parents...even if they still haven't gotten around to the wedding yet."
"We have set the date, though," Fox pointed out easily. "Two months after you graduate."
"Oh?" Sunset asked in surprise. "Why then?"
"As Falco puts it, enough time for you to get back from celebrating, but soon enough you won't have settled into a career yet," Krystal explained warmly, the smile audible in her voice.
"In that case, maybe you should make it three months!" Pris joked into the comms. "Diane will be along for the parties, after all-"
"What's this about a party?" Diane asked as she dropped out of the foliage above them. "What theme? Dinosaur Planet style, native, Cornerian, stellar-"
"We're talking after graduation, Diane," Sunset pointed out.
"Oh, we've got plenty of time to go over my plans for that one," Diane explained easily. "But we should really wait until we've cleared the prophecies first. Otherwise the plans won't make sense." With that, she leapt from the boughs and dove into the water below without so much as a ripple, only to pop out of a hole in the ground several dozen yards away.
"...Dad?" Sunset began awkwardly. "Next time you talk to General Pepper, can you ask about his granddaughter Diane Rocksalt? There's something...etheric about her, I think."
"He actually asked me to pass on a message to you about her in the briefing for our latest mission," Fox explained. "Insisted we pass it on once he realized you shared some classes."
"You mean he has an explanation for the craziness about her?" Pris asked urgently.
"No, the message was to not question it unless you're old enough to drink and have several barrels handy."
Sunset sighed ruefully. "Well, that somehow seems...appropriate."
"What, to shrug it all off as 'It's Diane, don't question it'?" Pris asked. "That's lame. You know all the magic stuff, you can figure it out!"
"I'm not entirely certain it is magic," Sunset explained ruefully.
"And you should keep your voice down-whoa nelly!" Jackie screamed out, her voice going from aggressively triumphant to dismayed as her sneak attack led her right into a trap that dropped her down on one end of a large balanced log.
"That's my cue!" Pris declared as she leapt down, slamming onto the other end and sending Jackie soaring in the opposite direction.
"What's all that noise?" Fox asked in confusion.
"Live training," Sunset explained readily. "Those at the top of their classes got to go on a field trip for simulated combat divided into teams."
"When did that happen?" Krystal demanded in shock. "Why weren't we told?"
"What are you talking about?" Sunset asked in confusion. "The permission slips got signed-"
"You're an Ambassador, remember?" Diane pointed out as she stuck her head out of a knot in the tree. "That gets sent to your government to sign, not your parents."
"...oops?" Sunset offered apologetically.
There were a few groans from the other side of the line. "So are you somewhere out in Corneria countryside, then?" Fox asked ruefully.
"No, Fortuna," Sunset answered readily. "There's an old base here with a few Arwings and other facilities, and the environment here is perfect for these sorts of exercises, and growing up on Dinosaur Planet makes this place feel like my backyard-"
"And it's about to be ground zero for a major conflict!" Krystal insisted urgently. "The last dregs of Andross' forces have gathered there under the leadership of his nephew, Andrew Oikonny, for a major battle against the Fleet! That's the mission we were being debriefed on!"
"Wouldn't we know about that then?" Pris demanded in confusion. "There'd be a message to return to base or something! You're team leader, Sunset, didn't you get something like that?"
"...is that what the message alert I've been ignoring while on the comm with my parents is?" Sunset asked nervously as she glanced at the blinking red light on her wrist unit.
"Get to shelter, Sunset!" Krystal snapped just before communications were cut.
If you think Aparoids are terrifying you haven't met the Borg.
Aw what no Spike?
...Goddammit Sunset, pay attention! Shit like that gets people killed in combat zones.
Another great chapter, and even better right before X-mas. How did you know it was on my list? :P
9364007
Considering what happened the last time I read about them interacting with ponies (and the relevant factor is present here), it's the Borg that should be afraid.
Ah, so Shimmy will still be in the academy during Assault. Interesting. Also, it shows how much Warframe I've been playing recently when I have to remind myself that the Fortuna they're on now isn't the same Fortuna as on Venus.
9364019
or twilight analogue
Oh no...Assault is going down now?! I'm concerned if any...game deaths...are going to be prevented or not.
*Sees the name 'Fortuna'*
*Starts Whistling the starting tune of, "We all lift together."*
I wonder how Sunset will react to Pigma...
Poor Sunset she is so going to get dressed down for this. You always pay attention to messages like that. Well I hope her group make it out relatively unscathed.
9364086
Starts sing
Cold: the air and water flowing
9364020
How about the academy leaders
9364086
Hmmm...
*looks at your comment*
*looks at your profile image*
*looks at your name*
I feel like yer referencing something here, but im not quite sure...
HMMM...
And we finally get to the one StarFox game that I've actually completed. Awesome.
9364020
To be fair, it wasn't a war zone when she got there. As team leader, she should have been treating it as such, but that is a different argument.
9364019
He's with the Twilight analogue. Give it time.
9364112
Hard, the land we call our home!
9364128
Push, to Keep the Dark from coming, Feel the weight of what we owe!
9364166
Feel: the weight of what we owe.
This: the song of sons and daughters,
9364112
I personally prefer;
Round the world and home again
That's the sailor's way
Faster faster, faster faster
There's no earthly way of knowing
Which direction we are going
There's no knowing where we're rowing
Or which way the river's flowing
Is it raining, is it snowing
Is a hurricane a-blowing
Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of Hell a-glowing
Is the grisly reaper mowing
Yes, the danger must be growing
For the rowers keep on rowing
And they're certainly not showing
Any signs that they are slowing
9364086
Greetings fellow Tenno!
9364191
Is that an actual song, or just something based off of the warframe song?
And this is why we check all messages as they come in, Sunset.
9364365
its an OLD song to be sure, It is referenced in the ORIGINAL Willy Wonka and the chocolate Factory during one scene
9364365
Of course it's a real song. I guess some people haven't seen Charlie and The Chocolate Factory.
Whoops.
9364063
Uhh... As I recall, the only characters who actually died in that game were Andrew Oikonny and Pigma. And technically, Pigma wasn't even fully dead if you count Command as canon.
Why would they even HOLD the practice anywhere near where a war might break out?!
It's funny, though.
9364770
Peppy and General Pepper were assimilated by the Aparoids, and presumed dead after Fox kills the final boss.
Loved the phone call, but pay attention to alerts, Sunset....
As much fun as Adventures was (and still is) I was very glad when they released Assault. Looking forward to more.
Keep up the great work. Deus tecum.
9364020
9364862
Yeah, this one isn't actually Sunset's fault. Real world emergency alerts override everything else and have a unique non-mutable alarm noise/pattern for precisely this reason. If that didn't happen here, the fault lies with the people who built the system, not the teenager who's having a phone call with her parents.
9364820
Except that both of them were shown to be perfectly fine afterwards.
9364946 Peppy escaped along with Rob by detaching the Great Fox's cockpit, which was some kind of escape shuttle.
9364556
9364634
God it's been so long since I watched that movie I forgot about that scene
This has been a Pinkie Pie moment .
You'll only give yourself a headache, and you still won't understand.
Live exercises in the woods huh? Now that's what I call a jungle gym.
And so begins the Assault saga. Good luck, Sunset and team.
Apparoid! Apparoid! Apparoid!
You can't see it but I'm vibrateing very intensely. (Loved assualts storyline, reminds me of the Borg, also my dad saw me watching someone's playthrough and introduced me to the Borg.)
I'm assuming starfox team was listed as the same priority as the other call so it was just a notification alert?
9364812
Is there anywhere where it's certain that a war definitely won't break out?
Dammit Sunset...
Hey Tats,
Been playing Starlink: Battle for Atlas on the Switch and I was wondering if you might adapt that game into this story.
I only ask because the Switch version of the game actually has Team Starfox embedded into the storyline from start to finish.
In fact, with the Arwing and Fox as the pilot, it’s basically a Starfox game. Pretty cool to play through.
9371987
I think he said a couple of chapters ago that he wouldn't, and I think the only place it can fit is before assualt based on what I've seen of the cutcenes.
9370062
In an interstellar society? Probably. I imagined that this was on a mostly-unused planet or something.
9374723
Pretty much anywhere suitable for military training exercises is also a plausible target for a surprise attack. A heavily defended base is a good target because you've got a decent chance of surprise letting you get through defenses you've got no chance against once they're on alert; an out-of-the-way bit of mostly nothing offers the chance to establish a forward base without being noticed...
On December 6th 1941, how many in the US military would have considered a naval base on one of the Hawaiian islands as a suitable place for a training exercise?
9375321
Fair point.
9364217
Nicely done. I wonder what a few Tenno with Sunset in this story would be like. ^^
Please tell me more coming?
Ayy, all the counterparts are here!
...I thought of something that is a bit funny. What if Wolf was Jacqueline's Uncle or something? Would make for a kinda awkward graduation, IMO.