Chapter 14: Master Andross

“I remember pain. Lots of pain. It seems the instant I was able to learn anything, like writing and the like, there were fierce beatings, ones that left my bloody. I remember darkness too, like I was kept mostly in a closet of something. There was pretty much my childhood: darkness, beatings, blood.

“Then, one day when I was about seven, I was being beaten for who knows what. This time they seemed intent on killing me. I begged then to stop, but as usual it did no good. Then it seemed to be a miracle happened.

“A voice spoke up, saying, ‘Stop. Enough.’

“And they obeyed! I couldn’t believe it. They stopped and left. I guess I blacked out. I awoke, stiffly, some time later on as someone entered. Again I heard that voice, lights clicked on, and I finally saw the face of the person I would come to call Master Andross.

“’Skye McCloud, listen well. I will tell you of your family.’ As I lay there, hardly able to tremble in pain, let alone move, he told me how I was rejected, cast out in favor of a more perfect son. I think I tried to protest, maybe, and for that he swatted my ears. Not as hard as I’d been beaten before, I was glad to discover. And when I cried, he said he’d let me cry just this once, but never again.

“This continued for days, while I healed. When I tried to answer his comments with memories, he’d swat me, again not as hard and never on my back, and tell me to forget. I was never beaten again, and the one time that they entered he told them to leave and never beat me again. When I looked at him, I saw my protector, my savior, my only friend. Eventually I began to forget until the truth to me was what he told me. My family hated me, and he was the only person in the universe who saw my potential, who thought I was something special. He was the only one who could protect me and make me strong. He brought medicine for my injuries, and good food, more than I’d ever been given before. It wasn’t long before I trusted him, and only him. He took over my lessons, my education, only with him whenever I’d make a mistake he’d only sigh, say it was my ‘bad blood,’ and swat my ears, no more than twice. He started asking me how I felt after he hit me. At first I’d say that I was sorry I made a mistake. He’d just sigh. ‘You’re not ready,’ he’s say. Then I began getting mad. It wasn’t my fault. I had bad blood. He said so.

“One day… when he hit me, and asked, I replied, ‘Mad! It’s not my fault! My family’s to blame! I hate them all!’

“And Master Andross smiled. ‘Now you’re ready.’ I was about fifteen.

‘My lessons became training. He built up my physical endurance, my strength and agility. He taught me to fight, but not my repeated moves. I faced several of his soldiers, and simply we fought. First with fists, then with batons, then with knives and guns. Then - then he gave me a great gift, something I’d not ask taken away for anything.

“He taught me to fly.

“First I was in simulators, then he gave me a ship of my own. It was the first thing I could call my own, and no one else’s. I thought her the most beautiful creation I’d ever seen before. Master Andross called the model an ‘Arwing,’ one he said he’d salvaged. I think now he stole it. But anyways, in that ship I was at home. I was in my element. No one else in his army could even come close to me.” Skye paused to smile. “I guess my ‘bad blood’ had a good side too, hehe.

“I remember, one day when I was blaster practicing, a couple of years later, he suggested I picture the face of an enemy on the targets, and to bid them farewell as I destroy them. I’m ashamed to say now that I shouted, “good-bye, father.’ But within two months afterwards he told me I couldn’t say that anymore. James McCloud was dead. To me it was like hearing of a stranger’s death. So as I trained, I called for the death of my brother.

“By this time I no longer wanted perfection to avoid pain. I was too used to pain for it to frighten me. I wanted perfection so Master Andross would praise me, tell me I’d done a good job. Pleasing him was my only goal, my only purpose.

“Then, one day about two years or so later, he took me to his flagship. My Arwing was already there, inside it, and we went alone. He took me to a small planet that although full of plant and animal life, was totally uninhabited. He didn’t say why, just told me to fly down to a set of coordinates, where I’d find a cabin. I was to stay there until he returned, or until two years had passed without word. If that happened, I was to open a box he gave me, but not before. I knew I could easily survive my hunting and foraging; I was very well versed in such, and so I left without question. And those two years passed without word.”

“That’s about the time Andross made his big attack,” Fox interrupted, and to Skye his voice sounded very far away.

“I guess so. But I obeyed my Master’s orders, and opened the box at the end of those two years. Inside was a bio of Fox, and his crew, and a letter. He’d given me one final mission: Track down and kill my brother.

“So I began my search. But it wasn’t easy.” Skye chuckled. “You leap frogged across the entire Lylat system so much that every time I thought I’d caught you, I was catching your Arwing’s exhaust instead.

“Eventually I decided to take a breather here. I knew you had many friends here, and I thought I’d be able to catch you visiting. I rented a small apartment using some credits I’d earned doing merc jobs, and waited. I was here when the Apariods attacked. I’m still not sure how I avoided being taken like so many others.

“Then imagine my surprise when I saw you, Slippy, in the grocery store.” Skye laughed. “You even saw me, and talked to me. Remember a fox with gray and pale brown path y fur, who bumped into a case and dropped his armload of stuff?”

“That was you?”

“I had bits of different dyes left, and was feeling playful that day. The dyes are something that Andross made for me, to protect by skin and to disguise my identity. Anyways, I saw how much food you had, way more than needed for just a visit, but no way enough for restocking. You wouldn’t have gotten it at a regular store anyways. So I knew you all were here for the long term. Then finding you was easy.

“I knew you’d have to have a way to get in touch with each other, at least, so I used my computer skill and hacked the phone company’s computer database. It took some searching, but eventually I found your name, brother, and a number. And you know the rest.”