The New Recruit

By: Avia Flyr

"Avia, today is the big day," General Pepper said inside his office. "I've called Star Fox in." "Why?" asked Avia, a purple hawk, who was standing next to him. "Because today, you are going to join the team." replied General Pepper, waiting to see her reaction. "Me?! On the Star Fox team? Do you really think I'm good enough? They're the most famous team in the system!" gasped Avia. "I'm sure of it, Avia." General Pepper said in a comforting voice before shoving a green lolly in his mouth. "I wish you wouldn't do that," said Avia, pulling it away. "How am I supposed to look serious when you are sitting there sucking on a lolly?" Avia sighed. "All right, I'll stop for you this one time. But once you join the team, you can't do that anymore." General Pepper said, and then laughed just a little under his breath. "I know, but I'm just enjoying it while I can." Avia said in a cheerful voice. Then there was a knock at the door. "That would be Star Fox." said General Pepper. "Come in." he raised his voice over their quiet conversation. "You wanted us?" said Fox, the leader of the team. "Yes. I'd like to introduce Avia Flyr," General Pepper paused for a moment. "Your new team member." Everyone looked a little surprised, except the General, at hearing those words. "All right." said Fox, his voice a little uneven. "Take her back to Great Fox and you can start your mission as usual. Her ship is out at the hangar. You'll find that she is an ace pilot." General Pepper ordered. The team left the room with Avia and headed for the hangar. Slippy was the first to make conversation. "S-s-so, Avia, are you r-r-ready to f-f-fly? Our f-f-first mission is Z-z-zoness.""More than ready! Oh, this is my ship." Avia said, pointing to what looked like an arwing, but was painted black with a white stripe at each side. "I'll meet you guys at Great Fox's hangar." "All right, let's go guys." said Falco. Avia jumped into her ship, the Airazor, as the others ran off to Great Fox. She started it up, and headed for Great Fox. She thought to herself, 'Falco is so cute! I wonder if he's as good a pilot as he is good looking? Oh, well. I'll find out soon enough.' Avia landed in the hangar of Great Fox, and the rest of the team got into their ships. Fox started the mission. "Okay, team. Let's head for Zoness." When the team reached Zoness, everything was going along as usual, when a few people decided to show up."Hi team! Nice to see you again, Falco." "Katt? Won't you just leave me alone already?" groaned Falco, after hearing a greeting from a constant nuisance, Katt Monroe. "Ah, don't turn me away just yet. Look what the cat dragged in!" Katt turned her ship, the Catspaw, to the left, to reveal another ship. "Who's that?" asked Peppy. "May I introduce - Syra White!" exclaimed the excited Katt. "Hi everyone." said Syra shyly. "Hi Syra." Everyone said. Fox was the first to say it. "I'm as excited as all of you, but shouldn't we be fighting?" Avia said. Then she thought, 'I was right. He's a great fighter. But what's the deal with him and Katt?' "You're right, Avia. Come on, guys!" replied Falco as he blasted a few enemy ships. Everyone else started fighting as well. They flew on until they reached a giant robot. Fox said he'd take care of it, so everyone else just flew around, making conversation. Peppy was giving Fox advice, Katt was desperately trying to flirt with Falco, Slippy was giving Fox support now and then, and Syra and Avia were talking. "So Avia, heard you just joined the team. What do you think of everyone?" said Syra. "Well, Peppy is really nice, Slippy is friendly but a little eccentric, Fox is a good leader, and Falco is so cute, and a great fighter." Avia replied. "Personally, I think Fox is a total hunk! Break me off a piece of that!" exclaimed Syra."AAARRRGGGHHH!" "Okay, I guess that means Fox is finished over there." said Avia. "You guys should stay a while. It's not every day that Star Fox drops by." said Syra. "I mean, I just got to meet you!" "I wish we could, but we've gotta run, Syra." said Fox. "Oh, okay, Fox. Will you guys come back to visit sometime?" asked Syra. "You c-c-can count on it, S-s-syra!" shouted Slippy. "See ya later, hon! It was great meeting you!" even Katt was enthusiastic. Star Fox flew back to Great Fox. They all landed in the hangar, then went into Great Fox's very small rec room. Fox sat down on one of the four chairs in the room, Falco turned on the radio and sat on the next one, Peppy went to his room, Slippy sat on another chair, and Avia sat down on the remaining chair. She sighed and ruffled her feathers a bit, then she couldn't help but notice that Falco was looking at her. She pretended not to notice. "Anyone hungry?" asked Fox. "It's about time for dinner anyway." Everyone groaned. "Avia, can you cook? No one else here can and it's Falco's turn. Trust me, you don't want to eat that." "I can't cook. So what?" Falco said. "Sure. What supplies do we have?" asked Avia, walking into the kitchen unit. She managed to put something together from what they had. "Someone get Peppy." she said. "Dinner's ready." Slippy got up and knocked on Peppy's door. There was no answer. "He's m-m-meditating again." Slippy went onto the room and came out two minutes later with Peppy."What took so long?" Avia said. "Don't ask." Falco said quietly.Everyone sat down and ate their dinner. "This is g-g-great, Avia!" said Slippy, through a mouthful. "Much b-b-better that F-f-falco's.""Yeah, this is better than mine." Falco agreed. "Anything is better than Falco's." Peppy said. "Well, I'm done." said Fox, who dumped his plate in the washer slot. "Me too." said Falco, doing the same. One by one, everyone finished. They all went to their rooms, except Falco and Fox, who went to the rec room and started talking. "So, Falco, what do you think of Avia?" Fox asked. "I dunno. She's a good pilot. Not to mention a good cook." "You were staring at her, Falco." Fox said, matter-of-factly. "Was not!" said Falco. "Okay, okay. I guess I'd better be going. We have an early mission tomorrow." Fox said. Falco walked into his own room after Fox had left. The next morning, Avia woke up and went into the kitchen where Peppy was waiting with a hot cup of coffee. "Care for some?" asked Peppy, holding it out to her. "Sure." she answered, taking it and yawning. "When does everyone usually get up?""Their alarms are set for 06:15." Peppy replied, looking at his watch. "They should be here right about..." Peppy was interrupted by Fox, Falco and Slippy walking into the room. They each took a cup of coffee. Falco yawned and took a sip. "How long have you guys been up?" "Not long. I just got up a few minutes ago." said Avia. "Oh, good." said Falco. He glared at Fox, who was giving him an I-told-you-so look. Suddenly the comm screen came on. It was General Pepper. "Star Fox, you need to cancel your mission this morning. You are needed at Area 6 where something strange is going on." "We'll be there as soon as we can." said Fox, saluting with one hand, coffee in the other. "Good. Venom has some new recruits as well as Star Wolf, so be careful." said the image of the General's face and the screen turned off. "Let's go, team. This is an emergency." said Fox. The falcon, hare, hawk, fox and frog ran to their ships and headed off to Area 6. When they got there, they found Star Wolf and two other fighters. "Ah, Fox, allow me to introduce these two before I destroy you." said Wolf O'Donnell. "They were both specially recruited by Andross in person." "Andross? I thought I destroyed him months ago!" exclaimed Fox. "Fool! You can never defeat Andross! But without further ado, this is Pyro Balok, and this is Mouse Moon, two expert pilots from Macbeth." "We have our own little secret weapon, Wolf. This is Avia Flyr." "Enough talk," said Pyro. "Let's fight!" and he started firing on Slippy. Andrew joined him, and everyone kept fighting. Before long, Slippy was down. The Venomians were capturing the fallen pilots. Peppy was the next to go down. When Pyro turned on Avia, He was aided by Pigma and Andrew. She didn't stand a chance. "I'm hit!" Avia cried as she was bombarded with shots. "Here I come, Avia!" shouted Falco over the comm and shot a bomb which took down Andrew."Thanks, Falco!" Avia said. "I'll show you!" said Pyro, who immediately turned on Falco, and before Avia could help, he was shot down. Avia knew that they would have no hope unless she did something. She sent out a distress signal to Katt and Syra back on Zoness, to Oski Sharpe (Syra's cousin) on Aquas, and to Bill Grey on Katina. When they arrived, Avia was down to her emergency supply shields (an added bonus to her ship which arwings didn't have), but Fox was holding up pretty well. "Little help over here?" said Avia. Syra came quickly over to help. She got a few hits off of Pyro, but Avia was shot down. "We don't stand a chance. All aircraft, breakaway!" commanded Fox. Avia woke up lying on a hard, dusty floor with a throbbing pain in her head. 'Where am I?' she thought. Then she opened her eyes and saw Peppy, Falco and Slippy crowded around her. "Oh yeah. I'm trapped in Venom's dungeons. I remember now.""You all right?" asked Falco. "Yeah! We were w-w-waiting for hours!" Slippy said. "Guys, we've gotta get out of here. Who knows what could happen? Venom could spring an attack and Fox would be the only one on the team! Or even worse, they could try to break us out and get captured too!" Avia whispered so the guard wouldn't hear. "Don't worry." Peppy said. "These Venomian lizard guards are really stupid. They talk about Venom's plans in front of us,they left a map of the dungeon sitting on the table, and you still have your blaster!" "Sounds too easy to me. I bet it's a setup." said Falco. "It probably is, but it's our only hope." Peppy replied. "We've gotta bust out the team!" yelled Fox. "Who knows what could happen to them?" "Fox, we can't." said Bill. "What if we get captured? Then Corneria is open for attack.""We should wait." said Katt, who was also back on Great Fox. "Keep a close watch on Venom. They'll probably try to break out themselves." Syra said. "I can't stand just waiting!" cried Fox, knowing he had lost. "You're a good leader, hon. Always have to stick up for your team. But this time, let them take care of themselves." Katt said. Back on Venom, Slippy, Peppy, Falco and Avia were discussing their plans to break out. The idiotic Venomian guards had said that their ships had been restored and were ready for Venom's use. The team had been studying the map from a distance, and they knew exactly how to get to the hangar. Using Avia's blaster, they would shoot the guard and blast open the lock. Then they would run as fast as they could to the hangar where the ships would be waiting. "All right guys, let's go!" Avia whispered, then grabbed her blaster pistol and shot the guard between the eyes. "N-n-nice shot!" Slippy said to her. Avia then shot open the lock. "Run for it!" Peppy said and they followed the route they had mapped out. They didn't encounter any more Venomians along the way. When they reached the hangar, Avia's ship was not fully restored yet! It had only one wing and there was no oxygen."Avia, you can come in my ship," Peppy offered. "There won't be enough oxygen for the both of us. You guys go. I'll try to escape to the outside and you can rescue me there." Avia said as the room started to fill with lizard guards. "Go! At least you can make it for sure!" Reluctantly, Falco, Slippy, and Peppy left. Avia shot the lizards one by one, but there were too many. One of them managed to shoot Avia. Luckily, his laser was still set on stun, but he didn't know. He took her to Andross, who found out that she was still alive. "Good." Andross said. "A hostage is worth more than a dead body. LEON!" "Yes?" Leon answered, running into the room. "I have something for you." Andross said. "I heard your last torture victim died. Here's a new one." "Thank you, sir." Leon said, taking Avia to his torture chamber. When Avia woke up, she was hung on the wall by chains. "Oh, great. Where am I now?" she said aloud. "You're in my torture chamber." Leon said with an evil smile. "Wonderful." Avia said sarcastically. "It's about time you came to. I've been waiting two hours to have some fun." Leon said, grabbing a burning hot piece of metal, one of his torture tools. He put it up against Avia's foot. Avia sucked in a sharp breath. "Ah, you're a strong one. Some others would be screaming and begging for mercy by now." Leon said. "Leon, you're going to find out that I'm just not that kind of girl." Avia said confidently. Leon took the metal and burned her again. She was prepared for it that time, and didn't have much of a reaction. "All right. You passed the first test. Now move on to level two." Leon said as he took it to her left wrist. Avia this time stifled a scream. "You are very strong indeed. You remind me of McCloud." "You mean Fox was here?" Avia said, wondering why he hadn't told anyone. "Not Fox. James. He was my first victim. After I had tortured him almost to death, I gave him to Andross who privately finished the job." Leon said calmly. "You bastard!" Avia shouted and jumped at Leon, but the chain rubbed against her left wrist. "Ouch." "Well, you'll find that these chains are connected to electrical generators. I'll set this for you," Leon said, turning some knobs. "Here we are. This will give you a shock that will hurt a lot more than what I was doing before. It will probably knock you out." He pushed a button and Avia screamed with pain. Leon chuckled. "That was the one that got James McCloud." The when Avia woke up, she was very sore. She saw Leon's wicked face grinning up at her. 'Oh yeah. Isn't this nice. I'm ready to get tortured again.' "Today I'm going to burn your feet so you can't walk. That way you have no way of escaping." said Leon."Why didn't you do that yesterday?" Avia asked. "Because yesterday was just the test to see when you'd break. You passed." Leon answered."You'll never break me." Avia said. "Let's see about that." Leon said, grabbing the piece of metal. After an hour of Leon burning her feet, Avia thought, 'Are the others going to come rescue me? What if they think I'll break out alone? What if they go looking for me outside, don't find me, and give up? What am I thinking? Star Fox never gives up!' "It's time for another shock." Leon said when he was done with her feet. 'Oh no. I really hate this.' Avia thought. She screamed with pain and then fell silent. Falco was pacing all around the rec room. "How can you guys just sit there when Avia is in trouble?" he asked. "Peppy, can't you use your psychic powers to find out where she is?" "I've tried. All I can get is flashes of extreme pain." Peppy replied in a worried voice. "Slippy, can you hack into Venom's database and find out where they're keeping her?" Falco said. "I'll t-t-try." Slippy said, going to his laptop. In about 5 minutes, he said, "They're keeping her in Leon's torture chamber." "We've got to help her now! Leon is the most experienced in the system at torturing!" Falco said."We need a plan. It might take us weeks." Fox said. "We'd better get started." said Falco.TWO AND A HALF WEEKS LATER Leon had moved to higher voltage per shock and Avia was ready to crack. She knew that all she had to do was hold out a little longer... "I think it's time that I bring out the knives." Leon said, picking up his newest blade. "This one has never been used. You should be honored." "The pleasure is all yours, I assure you." Avia said. Leon started with the knife while Avia screamed. "Come on! Avia needs help!" Syra yelled. She was helping with the plan to break Avia out. Everyone took their positions. Star Fox took formation, and the newly formed Moon Deer team with Syra as leader, Oski as lieutenant, Katt, and Lyla, one of Syra's friends from Titania. Bill had brought his best fighters from the husky squadron to help and they also took formation."Star Fox here." Fox reported. "Moon Deer here." Syra did after him."Husky squadron reporting." Bill said. "Let's go, teams!" Fox shouted, and everyone headed for Venom. Once they got there, they all split up. Moon Deer took the right defenses, Husky Squadron took the left defenses, and Star Fox headed straight to the dungeon. They would all meet up when they found Avia. Peppy knew how to get to the torture chamber, so he led the way. They found Avia unconsious. She was hanging from the wall by chains and blood was dripping down her face. "Avia! Look what Leon did to you!" Falco said quietly. He took his laser and shot the chains off. "I'll take her, Fox. Just take the oxygen from her ship and put it in mine." They made the oxygen switch, when Moon Deer and the Husky Squadron met up with them. Syra gasped. "Look what Leon did to her! I'll make him pay for that." she said. "We have to go NOW!" Fox said."What about A-a-avia's ship?" Slippy asked. "No time!" Fox said. They took her back to Great Fox and flew through hyperspace to Corneria. There, they took her to the hospital. When Avia came to, she saw everyone sitting in the room. Star Fox, Syra, Katt, Oski, Bill Grey, five other dogs, General Pepper and a cheetah who she didn't even know. She later found out that the cheetah's name was Lyla and she was part of a new Moon Deer team headed by Syra. "Avia! You're all right!" Syra said. "Where am I?" Avia felt like she had been asking that a lot lately. "The hospital. We rescued you and brought you here." Fox told her. "I knew you guys would come and help me!" Avia said. "Well, I'm feeling a lot better than when I was with Leon on Venom. Even so, I guess I need my rest. You can come and get me in a few hours." Everyone left except Syra. "I noticed you like Falco." she said.Avia sighed. "Is it really that obvious?" "He likes you too, you know." Syra said and smiled. "Really?" Avia's eyes widened, which hurt due to the cuts on her face. "When we rescued you, Falco was murmuring things about how he was going to kill Leon for what he did to you. He also insisted to take you in his ship." said Syra. Avia looked up at the ceiling. "Thanks for telling me that, Syra." "No problem. I guess you need your rest now." Syra left the room while Avia sat there dreaming about Falco. Suddenly, she heard muffled voices coming from outside."You're standing on my face!" "Oh, quit it, you big dumb baby!""But you weigh a lot!" "You guys are going to put his other eye out!""Very funny. Ha ha ha." 'That could only be Star Wolf.' Avia thought, and she reached for her blaster on the table. 'Can't quite reach...' Then she saw two piggy eyes looking in through the window. "We've got you now!" Pigma said, and fired. Avia reached again for her blaster, and got it. She fired on Pigma and missed, but he fell anyway. (Avia's room was on the second floor.) "Guys!" Avia said into her comm. "Star Wolf is here! I could really use some help!" "We'll be right there, Avia." Fox said. "Avia's being attacked in her hospital room. She needs help." The team rushed over on their new Land Gliders, vehicles for traveling over land, but not for combat. They came into the room just as Andrew fell off Leon's shoulders, and no one could help but laugh. They shot the rest of Star Wolf, with their blasters on stun, then turned them over to the police. "I guess we should leave again..." Peppy started, but Avia interrupted him. "You know what? If I'm well enough to fight Star Wolf, I'm well enough to go back to Great Fox." Avia said. She propped herself up on her elbow. "Wait a minute. I'm still wearing hospital stuff. Can someone please hand me my clothes?" Fox tossed her outfit to her. "I'll be out in a minute." When Avia came out of the hospital, she was on crutches. "This weather is great! It's been so long since I could enjoy Corneria's atmosphere." Avia said as she looked up, lost her balance, and was caught by Falco. "Uh, thanks. I guess I need these crutches after all." Slippy helped her up to his Land Glider, because they hadn't brought Avia's. The next day, everyone was out doing a mission while Avia was stuck on Great Fox. "This is really driving me crazy. Everyone else gets to go out while I sit here with my injury. I've read the article on Star Fox at least 30 times! I am so bored!" Avia yawned. "Oh, it's 1300. Time to put some medication on my feet. The high point of my day!""Flyr!" The comm screen lit up. "Yes, General?" Avia said, saluting. "Where's the rest of the team?" the General asked. "Out flying around on Katina while I'm stuck here." Avia answered. "Oh." the General relaxed. "At ease. Avia, contact me when they get back, all right?""Sure." Avia said. "Avia, I'd just like to tell you that I'm very proud of you. You outlasted anyone on record!" the General said. "Thanks, but I lost my ship! I can't fly!" Avia said. "I wouldn't worry about that just yet. You have to let your feet heal." he replied.Avia groaned. "That will be forever." "It may seem that way, but you're on the road to recovery. It may only take you another week." he said."Yahoo! I can start flying again!" Avia shouted. General Pepper laughed. "Well, I have business to attend to. Goodbye!" "Bye, General!" Avia said, and the screen went dark. Later that day, the team came back. "The General wanted you guys. I'll contact him." Avia said, activating the comm screen. "Ah, Star Fox. McCloud, can I speak to you in private for a moment?" Everyone cleared out of the room except Fox. "General, there's something I want to talk to you about." Fox said. "Go ahead." said the General. "Well, I know this is your decision, but I think Avia deserves a medal for bravery. She put the lives of others before her own, then was captured and tortured for two and a half weeks, longer than any other has lasted, and never gave up." said Fox. "That was actually what I was going to talk to you about. You should get her to my office tomorrow, and then we'll take her to the award ceremony." General Pepper replied. The next day, the others took Avia to the General's office. "Good morning, General. Why am I here?" Avia asked. "You're about to find out." he said, walking down the aisle of a large room filled with people. He beckoned for Avia to follow him, and Star Fox sat down in the front row which was reserved for them. "I am presenting the Cornerian Wing medal to Avia Flyr for outstanding courage." General Pepper said, pinning a medal on to Avia's jacket, as she gasped in shock and leaned heavily on her crutches as she almost fell. "She was captured by Venom along with Falco Lombardi, Peppy Hare and Slippy Toad. When their arwings were working and hers wasn't, she let them escape, while she was captured again. She was brought to Leon Powalski's torture chamber and lasted longer there than anyone else on record, two and a half weeks." General Pepper smiled as the whole audience applauded.The End