Starlight Revivals
Fox Mccloud Transformation
Story Written by:   RedshadowDragon
Trade Story with: Vinomath: https://twitter.com/Vinomath_DA


I never really thought that there was nothing special being stuck in class learning about all kinds of science, before specializing into one. Then again, not many people can say they were actually so interested in a variety of subjects. At this University they force everyone to take a general class just to pick their path in life.. I can’t exactly complain that my main interest was becoming involved in studying the world and possibly outer space as a whole. There was one quick complication that came into that. The chances of doing much of anything that wasn’t sitting in a lab infuriates me. This was mainly due to me having not so great vision. But then again, I do not expect too much when it comes to just being in a major of meteorology when I can eventually pick that. Though being in a major where you can become one of those people on the news was always cool.

In the present, I was stuck with a rather long lecture based in science. There were roughly fifty or so students who typically came into class. Tapping of pencils and keyboards would encompass the background noise of a group of my friends' current proximity. The group consisted of Me (Kaiden), Jasper who was probably the most competent and smartest person of this group for too many reasons. I would be certain he would be the class president if he wasn’t so humble about himself. Next up were Dean and Vincient, who I’m convinced can never be away from each other for more than a few hours without blowing up our group chat. I’m guessing at least one of them has a crush on the other. Although I have yet to even make a move or realize it, because I think I might need to play matchmaker one of these days. Not today though, I have a bad feeling I won’t be able to do too much with the need to study today.

My professor said with a rather assertive tone to quiet down before everyone left for the day. “Alright everyone, your paper drafts for your independent study for the final are due by the end of today. Any late drafts will not receive credit.” The professor was attempting to inform their class of their assignment. However, the commotion of books, shuffling of feet, and of course the casual gossiping were running amok as everyone was preparing to finally get out of a three hour lecture. Most people just could not give a single care about a class that lasted so long. Luckily it was the final class for the day, and I could go grab some dinner with my friends. Taking a few minutes for everyone else to leave the classroom, everyone started to get a bit more rowdy now that they could speak up. “So, any plans for tonight? I got the newest Smash DLC.” Dean would wave around his switch case without a care in the world. “You’re going to drop that one of these days you know.” Jasper rolled his eyes lightly before looking over to me.

“Oh come on, have a little faith in my grip man!” Dean countered as the group walked into the hallway and out into the main campus to find the dining hall. “That’s not what they're worried about, but whatever. If nothing else I’ll hang out with you tonight to make sure you actually do your assignment on time.” Vincent found yet another reason on top of that to hang out with him. They would continue to go on and on about the new smash character who just dropped. Least some game franchises got all the attention, but it seems like sometimes there are things in life that are forgotten.

In the meanwhile, Jasper was looking at me to return the favor. “Yo Kaiden, are you thinking of doing that study on astronomy that you were just going on and on about?” Jasper asked with a rather joking tone. “I know you’ve been on a streak with collecting the Star Fox games in the past month, how’s that been going?” Oh come on, you really had to throw that out there in public? Sure it’s not like I’m a hoarding collector or anything. But could we maybe not discuss this right now? I get very vocal about my beliefs on some things and I really do not want to get into it.

“I mean it would be the easiest thing to write on after all, there’s quite a bit of academic papers on it. But I probably should do something in meteorology. Since you know, that’s what I’m actually planning on going into?” I attempted to avoid the second part of that comment, but of course it wouldn’t be able to be avoided. Once someone mentions something it will just drive me mad until I say something. Why am I delaying it!

Minutes later, the group found themselves inside of the dining hall and grabbing whatever food they desired as it was all they could eat for essentially free, since they already paid for it. Once the four of us sat down in a corner booth away from most of the crowd that was at the cafeteria. Jasper once again brought up the conversation from minutes ago. “I noticed you didn’t mention your collection when I asked about it. Any reason for that?” Guess the smart kid really just wanted to pry for information and was dying to know for some reason.”Give the guy a break, if he doesn’t want to talk about it then he doesn’t have to, alright?” Dean tried to defend me, which I appreciated quite a bit. Though I had a feeling I should just not try to make the matters worse. “Okay you want to know why? I have been completely shell shocked at the treatment at the series of the franchise. It has such a unique twist on the first person shoot 'em up style of play. It’s been referenced in so many video games at this point it’s amazing it doesn’t have more references.” It seemed I was about to go on a full on rant at this point, unless someone didn’t stop me.

“When was the last time they even released a game? Wasn’t it on the Wii U where it was a complete failure because the system sold so badly any game with any sort of franchise link to it other than Mario and Smash were basically forgotten?” Vincent attempted to chime in for additional context on what I was saying. “Star Fox Zero was the title that was released indeed. A probably last ditch effort to revive the series, cause it appears that there were too many complications and canceled projects.” Surprising that Vincent even knew about that, then again I probably did go into talking about Star Fox a bit too much. Speaking of which, there was a glaring issue I had with all the Smash Bros. hype that was going on recently. “Ever since Smash has been getting all the attention. You’d think that Fox and Falco being the most popular characters in Melee and still being rather good in Ultimate. But no, the games have not been ported to the switch, especially Zero even though most Wii U games were waved into the library due to poor sales on the past console.” It was quite obvious at this point I was getting a bit worked up, usually I don’t randomly complain about something so trivial. But this series meant too much to me damn it.

“Well, given the circumstances most corporations only release games they make money for. It’s just how things work in this industry. Unless, you’re making a fan game or an indie title of course.” Jasper used the “realism” argument on me, which I couldn’t say I appreciated a lot. But I couldn’t refute the idea. “Whatever, I just think there’s a lot of creative ideas with Star Fox and his team, I mean have you seen the amount of fan art there is of the series?” I would attempt to put a hand on the table, but as I pushed it down onto the table. The sensation of it was slightly off for more than one reason. For one, the table was made of metal, which it was surely not a few minutes ago. That I was completely engulfed in this “argument and ranting” conservation that my hands suddenly were stretching out, pure orange fur encapsulating my hands… paws? Though only feeling the metal with my fingers due to gray and red fingerless gloves suddenly forming into existence. “Well yeah man, everyone here agrees with that statement. But you’re mainly concerned because the Smash scene hasn’t made any impact in the sales of the games. Right?”

“Oh that’s only the start of it I guess, there’s so much shit they can do with their wide cast of characters. I mean hell, if I had to make a game I would go through the grueling process of doing it.” While I was not proficient with coding at all, I didn’t even try when given the opportunity, missed opportunity for sure I know. Slightly huffing out in frustration, crossing my arms in the process. It appeared that my own clothes were also changing as I stared at my friends. They seemed to understand my plight, but there truly nothing they could do, not until now that was. My current clothing underwent changes suddenly as the room surrounding me began to look more and more like a futuristic cafeteria. Shirt and pants seemed to merge into that of a rather thick green jumpsuit. A brown belt came along with it with a holster on the side of it. Inside of that holdster was my blaster, probably should give that another training go. ‘Wait, what was I talking about again? What’s… Smash? Wasn’t that years ago?’ The words seemed foreign to me, suddenly shaking my head like conflicting insertions of memories kept plaguing my mind.

Meanwhile, my whole body felt a couple degrees hotter than it usually did. Naturally that was because orange and spots of white fur were mindlessly enveloping my whole body. Meanwhile, my body began to pulsate just a bit as I attempted to stretch out my arms. Within a few moments the human body went from a skinny man to a rather lean, stature. Which to say was probably a rather lucrative upgrade without any drawbacks. A red scarf wrapped around the neck portion of my uniform, as well as a rather nicely made leather white jacket. There was the Star fox symbol right on my right elbow, it was probably pretty obvious to anyone else in the room but myself what was going on. Yet none of my friends were even reacting to this at all, probably for the best.

“Making up our own missions? Now where is the fun in that? We’re not space mercenaries for free, we do it for money and of course our own justice!” An odd choice of words for sure from Jasper, least to me. I was sure I wasn’t talking about that, a few minutes I was talking about-. “Well, How else do you expect us to get any kind of contract if we haven’t done a single mission in almost a year! Vacation is over Peppy!” I would raise my voice staring down at Jasper, who was basically the splitting image of Peppy at this point. Looking around at the other two of my coworkers on my team were Falco (Vincient) and Slippy (Dean).

Meanwhile, gazing around my team, I noticed things were still slightly off. Surely the rest would feel natural soon. The weight of my shoes became rather noticeable for a few moments, the sneakers he wore were contorting and becoming rather large gray metallic boots which went up to his knees. My feet were also not saved from the changing situation, as they developed into more straightforward paws. Definitely helping with movement and fighting, but still could have maybe made these things less tight? I am an arwing pilot after all, guess I can’t complain all too much.

“Fox, I understand your frustrations. You need to understand, with Andross finally defeated there aren't any real threats in the galaxy right now.” Peppy tried yet again to reason with me. I was getting rather fed up with it, he didn’t understand at all. He wanted to get out and explore, and find those hidden threats in the world. “No, there are things out there that we don’t know about. I am done sitting on my ass, like a duck waiting for their mother to feed them.” Almost immediately gaining a sense of self righteousness. I shifted in my seat as my tailbone grew out of a convenient hole in the back of my jumpsuit. A slight gasp could be heard while my face elongated into a short muzzle coated in white fur. The quickly sharpening of my teeth left me smirking at my teammates. I had the perfect plan in my mind already, while I quickly blinked while my eyes turned a bright emerald green. An earpiece with a green tinted lens appeared and latched onto my right ear. “Fox! We got a message from Corneria!” Slippy checked a tablet that rang in a rather annoying alarm. Of course, he set it to something not even he could miss.

An alarm to go back? Well, talk about getting a lucky break as soon as I had an idea to actually go out there anyways.” I laughed to myself. My ears would quickly point upwards in a triangular form, and a hexagonal device appeared on the left side of me. While the final changes of my body occurred cementing myself as Fox Mccloud. There was no better time to make a name for myself after such a long hiatus. “Finally, get your spirit back into ya Fox, I was beginning to think you were ready to retire.” Falco casually bumped his arm into mine, as a playful jab at the current situation. “You bet! Guess it took long enough to finally get back into action! Team we’re heading out to Corneria! Great Fox, you know what to do!” A toothy smirk would come through yet again, as I felt right at home, commanding my team onto a new venture. Who needs to make things for us to do, when we can make our own adventures, there’s too many souls who need help in this day and age.