StarFox Fan Fiction ❯ The End of Cerinia ❯ Chapter 1 ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

The End of Cerinia

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Fox, never have never will. All publicly recognizable characters belong to Nintendo. The character known as Halath is of my own creation.

Author Notes:

-- This will be used for scene breaks and for when the story switches to another character, but it does not mean that a new section of the story has started.

= = = = = = This will identify where each paragraph breaks.

`Character Thought'

= = = = = =

Chapter 1:

A gentle wind blew through the trees that surrounded the small village as the sun began to cast its rays of light upon the mountain. The mountain was large, over looking a massive jungle valley at its base. While mostly covered with the trees, there was a single large terrace that had been cleared resting half way up the mountainside. Now, resting on the flat land of the terrace on the mountain watching over the valley sat the tribal village of Jungle Rise.

The village contained many wooden huts, and while many were small, a few were larger then the rest. As the sun continued to rise, the Cerinian tribe began to rise with it. Older Cerinians prepared for a day of hard work while the younger generations had some time to play before they would be needed.

The morning was a bit slow, but at last, things got on track. The blue and white foxes all knew their tasks and the sooner each group was done, the sooner another group would take over. The tribe had spent many years on the mountain and this routine had become a ritual in a sense.

A small group of teens led by a much older male with graying fur made their way to one of the wooden huts on the side of the village. While the elder was wearing a short pair of woven shorts with a light shirt, the teens were all wearing gear for hunting. While all of them wore heavy shorts made to last even in the jungle, the females also sarashi to cover and protect their chests. Once there, the elder entered the hut and began to retrieve gear for the teens. It was their duty to acquire the meat for the upcoming feast that would take place the following night.

The first to receive an item was a male, the oldest of the bunch, almost nineteen years of age. The majority of his fur was blue, except for his chest, face, and the large patch of fur on his back in the shape of kite shield that were all white. “I shall lead this hunt.” He declared as the elder handed him a short staff topped with an emerald gem. Gazing into the emerald caused sparks to encircle the small gem. His eyes showed the experience he would need to lead this hunt. Calm and relaxed, he knew all to well what he was charging himself with.

“Toru sees no problem with this, Kevi.” The tallest of the teens, a male with a slightly darker shade of blue fur informed the self-appointed leader. He was granted a pair of woven gloves with a small emerald woven into the palm of each one. This male was built slightly better then the leader, but still far from a muscle fox. Testing his own magic, he gathered small wisps of fire into his palm as the emeralds in his gloves began to glow.

“Nor do I. I think you will do fine.” The older of two females stated. Even with her sarashi wrapped tightly around her chest, it was still obvious that her breasts were large for her age. For that matter, the overall look of her entire body lead others believe that she was older then she really was. Unlike the males, the females showed some signs of muscles, but just enough to show that they were there while still keeping their beauty. She was special hunter, the forth best in the entire tribe for that matter. Given that she was only 19, this was a great accomplishment for her, which she took as a sign of good things to come for her. She looked over the others as she was handed her bow, quiver, and a knife.

“Thank you, Luna.” Kevi bowed his head in respect for the praise. The last male of the group looked around back toward the village as he was handed his staff that matched Kevi's. “What's up Silver?”

“Wasn't Halath supposed to join us?” The last male asked. While he was the shortest of the group and lacked a specialty magic, his overall general abilities made him made him quite the valuable hunter for any tribe. Unlike most of the village that had blue fur with a white furred chest and face, Silver had blue fur with a silver tinted chest and face. He was shorter then all the others as well.

“You're right.” Kevi stated.

“Give him a chance. You know that he always mediates in the morning.” The other female replied. Although only at age of 16, she was highly gifted. Her mind was sharp and she was even able to tap into the arts of magic in the most dire of situations, but never told anyone of this. Her face was kind and showed that she was also ready for a hunt.

“Honestly, I really don't get him. He has no magic. Tell me Krystal, why is that you and almost every female of this tribe respect him so much?” Silver asked the second female.

Before Krystal could answer, another teenage male roughly the same age as Krystal jogged over to the group as the elder handed Krystal her bow, quiver, and knife. “Sorry, I'm late.” He apologized. His fur like most of the tribe was primarily blue with a white face and chest, but the marks on his arms and legs that matched Krystal's were black in color rather then white.

“Ah, Halath.” The elder greeted the new fox. “I've got your new gear right here.” The elder pulled out a bow and quiver that matched those that he had given the females. He then pulled out a long metal staff tipped with a spearhead at one end and a mace head at the other.

“Thanks, Gare. I'll be on my way then.” Halath stated as he to head for the jungle path.

“Hold it.” Kevi argued. “We are supposed to do this hunt as a group.”

“We both know that our separate methods will argue with each other. Besides, it will be a lot easier on both us if I just head my own way.” Halath stated as he turned to look at the group.

“Fine, go. We really don't need you.” Silver stated.

“See ya.” Halath turned to start making his way to jungle again.

Krystal looked at her group and then looked at Halath before looking back at her group. “Halath, wait up.” Krystal shouted as she ran to catch up with her friend.

“Wait, Krystal. Where are you going?” Kevi shouted.

“I'll work with Halath. If we split up we can find more game.” Krystal shouted back as she caught up with Halath.

“Seriously, what do you females see in him. He has no magic. I don't care even if he is the son of the chief; he's nothing more then a runt.” Kevi complained. Luna just looked at him.

“He's earned our respect because he knows how hard we train to try and impress you guys sometimes.” Luna stated. “Not to say that you're magic doesn't impress up, but he just understands us better to put it simply.” Kevi just sighed before looking to a different jungle path.

“Let's go.” Kevi informed the others signaling for them to follow him.

Halath and Krystal had been walking for a roughly two hours while heading up the mountain following the jungle trail they had walked many times before. Beside the path was one of two rivers that carried water down the mountain that passed the village on its way down. “Hey, Halath.” Krystal asked as they walked. They had passed by a few other animals on their way up, but Halath just kept going letting them run.

“Yea, Krystal?” Halath replied not bothering to look over at, but rather kept at his pace.

“Just how far up are we going? We've already passed a few good deer.” Krystal asked as she once again to jog a bit to catch up with Halath. Despite the fallen trees that crossed the path from the last storm, Halath always seemed to keep a steady pace.

“I'm heading up the summit at least. It's been a while since I've had raptor.” Halath informed her. “I'm hoping that we bring one back, it will quiet Kevi down some.”

“A raptor!?” Krystal half shouted. “But how are we gonna take one down. Even the elder's have to be careful when dealing with one.”

“It's a bit early for them to really start showing up here, but there are always a few early arrivals.” Halath explained. “And as long as we get the drop on them, we can do this.”

“Okay?” Krystal said with a slight bit of hesitation. “I hope” Before Krystal could finish Halath covered her mouth. Acting on instinct, Krystal shut up knowing that something was up. Halath pointed a short ways down the path just beyond another fallen tree.

Standing just as tall as Halath was a raptor that appeared to be feasting. Just beneath the fallen the tree was the hind end of deer. It must have been crushed under the tree and gave the raptor a free meal. Its dark green scales almost blended into the trees. Carefully moving into the trees themselves, Halath took a long look at his prey. Sure he had heard a lot about them, and helped to prepare the rare one that had been caught, but to see it person was something else.

The raptor was keeping a close eye on its meal as Halath set his staff down at his feet. “Well, it's a lot bigger then I was hoping to find.” Halath whispered to Krystal before pausing “Yea, we can take it. I'll fire the first shot and aim for the eye. I want to fire the second shot and try to its other eye. Either way, get ready cause I'm going to try and flip it with my staff while it's charging us for attacking.” Halath quietly explained. He knew very well that a raptor this size required a two man assault from the stories his father and the other elder hunters had told him. “You need to be ready with that knife the second it lands.”

Both of them drew their bows and prepared to take aim. The Raptor looked up just in time to see Halath fire his arrow, but it was too late to move. Still the raptor managed to look Krystal right in the eye before the arrow had struck bringing about a fear within her. The arrow fired by Halath hit with deadly accuracy, blinding the creature in one eye. Halath dropped his bow fast know that he wouldn't have time to fire a second shot and pick up his staff. Krystal still hesitated as the creature charged its targets out of anger. Even with just one eye, the creature was still a threat.

It roared with rage as it moved in and still Krystal had not fired. Halath planted the mace head of his staff into the ground as the raptor jumped. Using the weight of the raptor against itself, Halath made sure his prey landing on the spearhead. Giving a hard jerk up sent the creature flying over Halath's head. It landed with a hard thud and rolled around some.

Krystal startled by the sudden thud in front of her fell back dropping her bow. She fell back, her palm landing a small gemstone hidden under the dirt of the path. The next thing to happen was a surprise to both Halath and Krystal herself. There was a bright glow beneath the raptor as it quickly got and prepared to lunge at Krystal. Before it could move, there was powerful eruption of fire beneath its feet lighting the raptor on fire. It now roared in agony before falling over, it's once green scale now darkened. Before it could get back up, Halath took his staff and with the mace head, planted a firm blow to the raptor's head finishing off the fight.

“I don't believe this.” Halath stated as he saw the gemstone beneath Krystal's palm. “Even you have magic and I don't.”

“Wait.” Krystal looked at her hand to see the gemstone. “Females don't have magic. Males do.” Krystal exclaimed.

“It's not impossible for a female to tap into the arts of magic, but it is very rare.” Halath sighed. “Just come on. Let's go tell my father.”

“You mean we're going to tell the chief about this?” Krystal asked worried about how that would go. While Halath was good friend of Krystal's, her father and the chief didn't get along too well. Because of this, Krystal had always been worried that her father's reputation would affect her as well and she did try to avoid the chief a bit.

“How many times do I have to tell you my father treats everyone based on their actions? Not the actions of others.” Halath explained as he handed Krystal her gear as well as his. He then bent down and worked to lift up the raptor.

It took some work, but once Halath had the beast on his back, they two of them started the long walk back to the village. What may have been a two hour trip there was going to take a lot longer to get back.

= = = = = =

It took a lot of time trying to get their kill back to the village. Having to either drag it under of flip it over fallen trees proved the greatest challenge, but at last they made. “Hey, Krystal's back.” Silver shouted upon seeing the young fox move out of the trees. The sun was well into the sky showing that had been gone for at least half the day. Kevi was quick to reach her. As for Halath, he was a short ways behind her still having to carry the heavy beast by himself while Krystal carried there gear.

Kevi laughed at first as he saw the outline of Halath come into view. “You should have stuck with us runt. We got four full grown deer and tiger for the feast tomorrow.” Kevi laughed shaking his head not paying too much attention to Halath and the beast he carried.

“Then I think me and Krystal win.” Halath shouted back out of breath from the hike back.

“Ya right.” Kevi looked up and blinked almost dumbstruck at what was on Halath's back. He blinked in disbelief. “How the hell did you get a raptor that size?”

“It was a lot easier then thought, thanks to Krystal.” Halath inform Kevi.

“Really, so you mean she did most of the work?” Kevi stated ready to laugh at Halath again.

“Yea, I kind of can't compare to flame pillar.” Halath stated hoping to silence Kevi. Kevi quickly walked up and inspected the corpse then turned and looked at Krystal who was now talking with Luna, both of whom were on their way to help Halath.

“You mean to tell me she has magic?” Kevi questioned his voice no longer mocking, but rather serious.

“That was pretty much what I just said.” Halath stated. “And if she can learn to perform that flame pillar on command, you'll have some compaction for the title of best caster in our generation.” Just as Luna and Krystal walked over to help Halath and take the load off his back, Halath's father, Chief Varwas. Chief Varwas was a bit tall, the fur around his face just beginning to gray.

“Halath, how many times do I have to remind you that you don't have magic. You can't take on such large prey recklessly.” Varwas stated taking a quick glance at the raptor. “Not only did you put yourself in danger, but you also put Krystal in danger.”

“We both came out fine. I knew what I was doing. While things may not have gone as planned, neither one of us are hurt and we downed our prey.” Halath countered. “But there are more important things at hand.” Halath added quietly. “Can we talk in private?”

“Very well.” Varwas headed back towards the village towards his hut in the center.

“Come on Krystal.” Halath shouted bringing a slightly worried Krystal to the chief's tent with him.

While the Chief's hut was larger and had more rooms separated by simple woven vine walls, there wasn't too much of difference from her father's hut Krystal noted. For being the chief, Krystal would have thought that there would have been more decorations.

“Where is mother?” Halath asked.

“Out with the young ones gathering berries.” Varwas informed his son. “Now what it's that you wanted to talk about?”

“While the closest thing to magic that I may have is my unique martial arts, Krystal here may be able to tap into the arts of magic.” Halath explained.

“Is this true?” Varwas asked looking at her causing her to shy away a bit. “Hmm?'

“She thinks that her father's reputation with you will affect her as well.” Halath told his father.

Varwas just shook his head a bit. “Your father's arguments with me mean nothing here. You are your own person and I will treat you as such.” Varwas explained. “Now come, take a seat and let us talk.” Following his words, Halath drew out some small mats to sit upon.

“Now then, Halath told me that you might be able to use magic. Is this true?” Varwas asked again, his voice very calm attempting to reassure Krystal.

“I might.” Krystal said.

“Can you please explain this?” Varwas asked.

“I fell down when the raptor charged. The next thing I know, it was on fire.” Krystal explained.

“Using my staff, I flipped the raptor over right in front of Krystal. Even though I told I was going it do this, I guess she wasn't ready yet. All I know is that she fell back, her hand landed on a gemstone and there then were a flame pillar that flew up from beneath our prey.” Halath elaborated.

“Well, it's very rare, but I suppose it's possible. I'll keep a close eye on you for a few days to see if this happens again. Perhaps you may become our tribe's next female caster.”

“Wait, next?” Both Halath and Krystal were confused by this.

“Yes, my grandmother was able to tap into the arts of magic as well.” Varwas explained.

The next few hours were spent telling Halath and Krystal about the previous female caster and her rule over the Jungle Rise Tribe with her mate.

As Varwas' story came to a close, the sun was beginning to set. “Well, not that you know about our last female caster. I must present you with a choice. I can allow you to continue your training with the other females and Halath or I can send you over to the Jungle Valley tribe. They've trained a number of female casters.” Varwas explained.

“No, I'll stay here.” Krystal replied quickly not wanting to leave her friends behind and move to a different village.

“Very well.” Varwas nodded his head in compliance with her answer. “Then I would recommend not trying to tap into your magic arts again for a while. If you do have them and no one to teach you, the results can be dangerous.”

“Alright.” Krystal stated.

“Now then, I would like a few words with my son. I'm sure your parents would like to see you again. It is getting late.” Varwas informed Krystal. Taking a quick look over at Halath reveal that his head was down slightly knowing what was coming.

As Krystal left, she could partially make out the slightly raised voices of Halath and his father once again arguing with each other.

“Krystal.” A voice shouted in the background. Hearing her mother call, Krystal quickly went to see what was up.

“Yea mom?” Krystal asked as she looked at her mother, the second most beautiful female of the tribe. Her long hair was always well kept and her fur seemed to be a near perfect sapphire.

“Me and others females are heading down to the water to wash up for tomorrows feast. Hurry and grab your spare clothing.” Krystal's mother informed her.

“Be right there.” Krystal sounded making a jog for the hut her parents lived in with her.