[Sunnivale]

Wolf O'Donnell

Yumiko's been having nightmares recently, not of her previous life as Izanami, but her current life and what might be happening back in her own world while she was gone, the only person that was with her from her world now was Fumio, her cat, who was sleeping at the end of her bed when she woke up, breathing heavily. "DAD!?" She looked around, but she realised that it was another nightmare.

This dream was of finding her dad dead, killed by Loki, O'Hara and their demonic minions. Next to her Father, Sabuo's corpse was a woman whom Yumiko had never seen before, was the woman supposed to be her mother? But, she was already dead.

These were the kind of nightmares that she's been having, of people from her life before Li dying, her father, her friends burning to death, even O'Hara and her child wasn't safe, despite being enemies, they too died in some of her nightmares.

And Akemi, Yumiko was still worried about him. Even though she only knew him for a few days, she had nightmares of him too, of her killing him and going into despair upon finding out.

Why would Yumiko fall into despair over someone she barely knows? And what would drive her to kill Akemi, he may have been the reason she was on Li now but he wasn't as bad as Loki and O'Hara.

Yumiko looked at the time. It was past one in the morning, she had nothing to do the day before and she can't sleep anymore, so she had to use her nightmare cure, which was a late night walk around the Life Sphere.

She liked it going out late at night, as there was less people out and she can have time to herself outside of her Apartment, eyeing a closed store. Yumiko quickly climbed up towards the roof of it and looked down at the quiet street.

Before lying down on the roof and looking at the stars.

In Yumiko's thoughts, she pondered. 

"I wonder... If I'm considered missing yet back at my world...

I wonder if I'll see them again." 

[Wolf O'Donnell]

Cold nights. That was something he could get behind. He could still remember some of the nights spent on Corneria, spotty as his memory was at the current moment. All in all, it had taken him little time to adapt to the harsh conditions of Li. Quite reminiscent of his place on Venom, aaaaaall the way back in Lylat. That with the whole barren terrain outside the Sphere. Deathly deseases aside, it was all seen before. No matter how familiar though, it wasn't home.... and he knew that well. Sure he could live just fine there, but that didn't mean he should get complacent with the situation. At the end of the day he was still stranded there like many other and still toiling day and night to find a way to get back to the life that was before. Oh how easy it was, those days. Just day after day, contract after contract. There were no lives to save, no ulterior motive. Just simple cut and dry cases.

He wasn't fit to be a hero, never was. Yet if he wanted to survive, he needed to find common ground with people he would scoff at first. He didn't need to be...dependent on other. At least he could leave the corny frienship and comradery talk to someone like Fox.

A shallow breeze ruffled his gray and white fur, the slow repeated metallic clings and clangs marking out each one of his steps. He never was one to sleep much, mostly all due to the heavy conditioning he had went through to become the best pilot in the galaxy. In times when contracts dragged on for days and require your all to complete you can barely spare time to rest. So there he was, out in the wild...so to speak... up above the city. A quiet moment of introspection would do anyone some good and it seemed he wasn't the only one to think so.

The Cornerian's ruby orb fixated on a lady sitting on the edge a couple of buildings to his left. Wolf's pace would stop at the rim of the rooftop, the canine leaning on his leg to get a better look. He had seen that one before, they had worked together. Now, if he could only remember her name...Yukiko? Yuniko? Yumiko! Now he remembered!

"Oh. It is you." Wolf grumbled, calling for her attention. He made a fairly effortless jump past the buidling dividing them so that he could get closer. He took his time getting to her, mostly because he didn't want to appear too eager to approach, though he still was curious to see what was going on. "I thought humans would...need more sleep." He would add.

[Sunnivale]

"Hm?" Yumiko sat up upon someone noticing her, strange, she doesn't often run into people at this time of night, and when people apparently run into each other at this time, a mugging is usually involved, so Yumiko was a little on alert, but she was surprised to find that it was a friend of hers, Wolf.

"Oh, O'Donnell-kun, it's only you." Yumiko noticed Wolf as he jumped over towards her. She thought he's often alone when he doesn't do missions so this was a pleasant surprise to her. She was happy with seeing Wolf since he was one of the few friends that she had so far in the Life Sphere.

She smiled.

"Nah, just as long as humans have eight hours of sleep then we should be fine no matter what time of day it is! I already took a nap earlier in the Afternoon anyway after a few hours of studying for some test, which if I'm being honest, isn't my favourite subject." Yumiko said.

"I was actually resting up here since I had a nightmare. I keep having them lately so I just often go out on walks to clear my mind about, everything that's been happening recently on this planet. I usually just sit up here for a few hours until the sun rises." She explained, looking back up at the stars.

"I take it you're not a day person either? It's been awhile since we seen each other after our last mission, how have you been holding up?" She asked.

[Wolf O'Donnell]

O'Donnell-kun. Wolf had no clue what to make of the strange suffix now plaguing his name but he supposed it was a human thing. How they salute eachother. It didn't look like an insult so it was a fair assumption that it should be somewhat positive in nature. The slight smile from the brunette told him it was something genuine and not something you would say to berate other people. He would let it slide, it was by far the least awful thing he had been called in all his years out there as a mercenary. "Nightmares...huh..." He repeated, stroking his chin with one of his claws. He wasn't foreign to the subject but he usually paid no heed to dreams, especially those his mind used as a futile attempt at waking him up.

"I like the peace and quiet." Was his response to the prompt coming from the lady. He was usually cut and dry with his explanations, mostly because there wasn't much to explain anyway. Besides, he wouldn't lower his guard too much. Opening up on people would leave the door open for someone to exploit that connection and he wasn't going to have it. Wolf O'Donnell bows down to no one and is second to none! He would then be asked about his exploit ever since the time the two had met, a question to which he shrugged. "The usual." He said, forgetting if he ever told her about his preferred type of work the last time the two were in the same space. "Got a few contracts done on my own, mostly easy stuff that I'd usually wouldn't really consider, but at the current moment there's not many people willing to pay a pretty penny to send me off on more exciting ventures. But you know, somehow..." he looked at her and grinned, fangs showing in the moonlight. "...A wolf's gotta eat."

[Sunnivale]

"Huh, you don't have nightmares O'Donnell-kun?" Yumiko noticed the Wolf stroking his chin, she twiddled her fingers together.

"Huh, considering the kind of jobs you had, I thought you would see something nightmare inducing in any missions that you take. No offence." Yumiko said, but moved on with the topic.

"Same, with everything that's been happening I just. I'm glad there's time in the night like this where everything in the Sphere is just. Quiet, no Absolutionists, no political drama about the leaders of the Life Sphere or no threats hitting the Sphere currently. It reminds me of when there's night like this back in my world." Yumiko said, looking back down at the quiet streets.

"Of course back then I didn't have powers, so I didn't go out that much and the only time I can see views like this was through a window in one of my houses." Yumiko said, before looking back at Wolf as he changed the subject to what he had been doing, Yumiko snickered a little.

"Bounty work?" She asked in response to what Wolf had been doing around the Sphere.

"With everything that's been going on. They're probably focused on feeding themselves, it is easy pretty easy to get food here regardless. Hell, people just basically give it out now and again for free, so you don't have to worry about getting hungry for awhile. Besides there's bound to be something sooner or later that will take you beyond the Life Sphere." Beyond, that word had been on Yumiko's thought for awhile, and it even made Yumiko looked troubled as a result.

"I'm glad you're doing alright though. I care a lot for the few friends that I have. It can be troubling when you're alone in certain situations." Yumiko became curious about something regarding Wolf's previous life.

"Say, O'Donnell-kun, you were in a team like that Fox guy was before right. Before you ended up separated like everyone else and landed on Li, what were they like?" Yumiko asked curiously.

[Wolf O'Donnell]

"Just...call me Wolf, please?" The Cornerian stated with a very slight eyeroll. Hearing his surname over and over and over was getting old fast. "Just Wolf will do." He stressed. A pause, then he'd humor the human's questions once more. "I do, rarely, but I do not care about them. You don't get to become the best pilot in the damn galaxy without being tough." He would fold his arms and state so in a proud manner. He would nod at the mention of bounty work, even though it couldn't quite be called that. It was still kind of the similar vein, still about finding stuff.

Then he was prompted about his group. He grimaced slightly, as if someone had touched an open wound. He had just been reminded about the fact he was tecnically alone. Not that he minded much, but why did that good for nothing fox get to have his first mate while he was left with nothing. "They are among the best pilots in the galaxy. Leon, Panther...they..." it was at that moment that Wolf realized his memories were drawing a HUGE blank there. He remembered their faces, their name, their voices...but he couldn't remember much outside that. Gritting his teeth for a moment, the cornerian pretty much forced his mind to give him something to say. "Their company wasn't so bad."

[Sunnivale]

"Sorry, it's something we do back in our world." Yumiko apologised for giving Wolf the nickname just now.

"I wish I could give less of a crap about my nightmares too, but they're just so horrible that it causes to think about them, such as now. It's not to the point where it distracts me though, although it is bad enough that it makes me worried about what's happening in my world." Yumiko said, she would listen as Wolf would talk about his old team back in his world, two of them were named Leon and Panther. The two people that Yumiko had previously saved back in that Dinosaur mission against General Scales.

She remembered Leon having an odd accent.

"Hmph, so in a way, you miss them. Well, I mean, you would miss them if they're not currently at this Sphere too." Yumiko said.

"Unfortunately, I'm not quite as lucky, I don't know anyone here from my world. Everyone that I know is still there, and I hope that they're okay." Although in a way, Yumiko had a feeling that they weren't, especially her old school mates.

"Best pilots, even better then Star Fox?" Yumiko would look back at Wolf as she said that in a joking manner.

[Wolf O'Donnell]

"And what is THAT supposed to mean, Yumiko?"



Wolf scowled, clearly not thinking the joke to be funny. "Team Star Wolf are the best in the galaxy!" He barked, pointing at himself. "Fox WISHES he'd be even half as good of a pilot as I am!" He reaffirmed, clearly a little irked. "All he and his ragtag group of losers do is get in my way at the worst time! In a straight up battle I'd beat him in a heartbeat, it wouldn't even be a contest."

He was kind of tired of the constant Fox this Fox that. Even in a foreign planet McCloud was a thorn in his side. Of course he would be front and center trying to be the hero even here, but he wouldn't one up him this time. Not at all. This time HE would be the one to get the glory. He would find a way to get back to Lylat if it was the last thing he would ever do! Find a way out this god-forsaken place.

Wolf's grumpy demeanor would subside at the mention of Yumiko's loneliness. The wolf sighed, looking out in the distance, taking in the skyline. Being alone didn't bother him much, but he could understand the twinge of pain in Yumiko's words. One thing was getting thrown somewhere together with your rival, at least he knew Fox, the other was being completely separated by everyone and everything. For most people, where do you even go from there?

"I'm...sure your friends miss you just as much as you miss them." He tried to comfort the human even though conforting wasn't exactly something he was good at. He was kind of the tough guy, he never really had to cheer someone up.

[Sunnivale]

"Hm?" Yumiko would look back at Wolf, who was clearly offended by what Yumiko had said regarding Star Fox.

"Relax Wolf, I was just kidding around. From what I seen, you're great out there when it comes to danger." Yumiko said, complimenting Wolf's skills out in the field's of Li.

"I mean, if you didn't go out actively looking for Fox in the first place, he, as well as the rest of your guys, and Fox's guys, and those related to Star Fox and your team, would of still been under that General Scales thumb. You basically saved Fox and his friend's lives." Yumiko said, of course, that wasn't all true, as Wolf didn't do that alone, and her, Banjo and Kazooie did most of the whole "ripping off the control collars" part.

But, Yumiko was grateful to have made new friends in that mission, and became quiet as Wolf comforted her regarding her friends back in her world.

"Well, considering the situation on how I ended up in Li in the first place, they're probably worried, but they should be safe at least. Hell, I think one of them has similar powers as me, considering the stuff he did before I ended up here." Speaking of her old life, if for some reason, Yumiko was unable to see her friends on Li.

Then she wondered, if there was another possible way with seeing them again.

"Say, Wolf, with what happened with that fake Sonic and how Mario and Samus seem focused with making the Life Sphere, and once the Starvia is no longer a threat, Li itself, a new home for everyone here, it made me wonder, do you think we'll ever return to our worlds again? Or is this it for us, that we're stuck here for Li until, I guess, the rest of our lives." Yumiko soon realised that would be something Wolf wouldn't mind, giving his previous job, his home was only temporary.

"What I mean is, do you ever miss the world that you came from and wish that you can go back to it someday? I don't mind Li of course in spite of everything outside the Sphere, but, it's just been something that's been on my mind lately whenever I just think about the future." Yumiko said.

[Wolf O'Donnell]

"I do not mind it here, if that's what you mean." Wolf replied, once again lost looking at the night lights. "I do not mind going from place to place in any case. It's part of the job. One day you're here, another you're someplace else. But this...as cozy as it could become...as nice as it could be...this is not my home." He would state, leaning on the guardrail that separated the roof from the ledge below. "Home is home and no matter how far away you are or how many place you visits, it's part of who you are. You may miss it or despise it but it'll always be home." He didn't need to think long or hard on the answer to a question like that one.

"I...may not be all that fond of Lylat, of Corneria but it's still my place. This is nice and all...but it's unnatural. It's just not meant to be. As you said, there are people back there that would miss you alot and would feel awful if you disappeared and never returned." Once again, the silver haired wolf turned back to look at the human. "I don't want to be complacent, Wolf O'Donnell makes his own fate, this is just another challenge I can overcome. I will find a way back. For me. For...us. Whatever it takes. Whatever it takes." He concluded, giving a small yet warm smile at Yumiko.

"And when I do, perhaps your nightmares will go away...Yumiko-kun."

[Sunnivale]

Yumiko listened to Wolf, liking his speech about how home is part of what a person is, like how the Mushroom Kingdom is part of Peach, or the Green Hills is for Sonic and his friends. No matter what, wherever the person is raised, it will always be on the persons mind, and they'll, more or less, return to it in some way or another one day.

"I kind of changed homes now and again too, but, I miss Japan, the country I came from and I would love to see it again, even if I'm on Li now. I would rather find a way back to it without destroying everything around me, like what those absoulutionists wanted to do by following that Imposter Sonic's vision. " Yumiko said, looking back down at the Street.

"We wouldn't have to worry about the only place away from this Virus breaking through the barrier and ruining everything too. Or in my case before I came here, crazy deranged demons." Yumiko said, and when Wolf said that he was going to get back home no matter what it takes, Yumiko gave herself confidence too that she would return one day to her home too.

"Thanks for the boost of confidence by the way Wolf. You might act aloof sometimes." Yumiko said, letting out a smirk.

"But deep down, you care about the people around you too." Yumiko said, smiling.

"I think a speech like that would help people with everything that's been happening." She said, and laughed a little when Wolf tried a hand in honorifics just now like how Yumiko used them earlier.

"Almost, but Shirasagi-chan is a more correct nickname, chan can be used to refer to someone as a friend." Yumiko happily corrected Wolf.

[Wolf O'Donnell]

"Hmrpf." Wolf growled, shrugging and casting his eyes somewhere else. He didn't confirm nor deny what Yumiko said. She could believe what she wanted. The cornerian took mental note of the weird human suffixes, so apparently he was supposed to -chan for female humans while males were called -kun. Always good to know in case he met other humans.

Wolf's tail wagged slowly, ears flicking at the tiniest sounds. The city was still fast asleep and it would probably not get lively for a good few more hours. "...you planning on staying up here till dawn?" He asked, trying to gauge Yumiko's inte tions. "I don't know about you but as nice as-"

In a blink the wolf had drawn his weapon, spun around and pointed it at...nothing? The cornerian's expression remained focused for a few more seconds as he waved his blaster around, instinctively jumping in front of the young lady as to shield her from danger.

"...strange." He quipped, dropping his stance and holstering his firearm back on his right hip. "I could have sworn I heard something..."

Perhaps he was simply a little jumpy. He always was kind of on the defensive, mostly due to all of the stuff that had happened ever since he crash landed on the planet.

[Sunnivale]

Yumiko realized that it was going to be dawn in a few hours when Wolf asked her how long she was planning to stay on the streets for. She still wasn't feeling tired, but she thought it was wise regardless to head home anyway. She could read a manga that she loves for a few hours too before taking another walk across the Life Sphere.

"Nah, I'll probably head home---Huh?" Yumiko noticed how on alert Wolf was being, she watched him turn to where he thought he heard a noise, taken out his blaster just in case something appears to attack them.

"You alright Wolf? Did you, hear something?" Yumiko said with hesitation, as she was ready to fight anything that appears before them too. There were still thugs that are around the Life Sphere, as well as those absolutionists.

"If it's those weird Sonic followers that have been listening in on us." Yumiko stood up, and turned over to the direction that Wolf was looking at.

"Want to go check it out before we leave?" She asked Wolf.

[Wolf O'Donnell]

"It's nothing. I'm just worked up for nothing." Wolf gruffed, still looking that the place he heard the shifting from but no longer on alert. "But, just to be sure, I'll escort you to your place." He stated, rumaging in his belt and trowing out his reflector in front of him like a frisbee. The gadget flashed to life and hovered midair, letting out a couple of pings before the cornerian wolf had grabbed it again and settled it back on his belt. "Just to be safe." he would add. "My Wolfen only has one seat, so I'm afraid we'll have to walk."

He would take two steps, turn around and gesticulate for the lady to go on ahead. He did not quite know where she was held up and even then it was none of his business. He only offered to accompany the human so that he wouldn't miss the chance to intervene if something indeed attacked. Not that Yumiko wouldn't be able to defend herself, quite the opposite really. He was just...man he was so bored of the boring mundanity of his current situation. He was a wolf of action, he was used at operating under high adrenaline not just dillydally around without aim.

He would however quickly find out that he did not enjoy silent walking. It felt...absolutely akward and rather irritating. He wasn't much of a conversation person, at least for the topics human would expect to talk about while strolling somewhere. A couple minutes and Wolf pretty much defaulted to the only conversation topic he truly had interest in. "So...ever piloted any kind of ship in your world?"

[Sunnivale]

There was nothing there as Wolf was just letting himself get worked up over nothing, Yumiko's hands however stopped glowing as a result. "With how you lived back in your world, and, the kind of messed up shit that happened on mine, and given the fact that we're on a planet filled with parasite zombies. It's understandable if your a little paranoid of something coming out of the corner." Yumiko said. Although with how often she goes on late night walks, she was never really that worried.

But, she was grateful when Wolf offered to walk home with her, just to be on the same side. "Thanks Wolf. I'll really appreciate it." Yumiko said. After scanning ahead, it looks as though the two would have to walk back to the Apartment Complex at this rate, with Wolf wanting Yumiko to go on ahead.

Yumiko proceeded to climb down at the building they were on. "Walking's fine, we basically did so tonight." Yumiko said as she landed. As she proceeded to walk back to her Apartment with Wolf, the sun was beginning to rise for a new day as she got near her Apartment.

However, she noticed how quiet Wolf was now, until he brought up a new topic regarding star ships and if Yumiko ever piloted any back on her world. "Nah, I only watched anime movies regarding star ships. The only thing major that I did technology wise was helping a guy open a portal to another world. We really didn't have a choice in that matter given what happened." Yumiko looked embarrassed just thinking about that memory.

But she knew if her and the guy didn't open that portal, not only would Yumiko not be on Li right now.

But she would of been dead.

"Read any books? Hopefully something not related to Demons." For once Yumiko wanted to avoid demon related books besides that manga she was reading recently about that Swordsman with the brand on his neck.