Author's Note: I don't anything here. All related to StarFox and StarFox Adventures belong to Nintendo and Rare. Otherwise the only thing I own here is the plot. Thank you. ~~Imagen~~

***

Prologue: "Curiosity"

They were curious... those creatures... having no clue whatsoever of the outside world... outside the Krazoa Shrine... outside the Krazoa Palace... outside Dinosaur Planet... even outside of Lylat...

After the Cornerian mercenary hero, Fox McCloud, returned all six of them in the Krazoa Palace, the Krazoa Spirits remained inside the Shrine, holding the planet together as it should be. But after seeing that Fox and the other, Krystal the Cerenian blue vixen, they began to wonder... what is it like? Who are those... modern-day animals? They are not like the dinosaurs, no... they are different... much different...

What are they like? What is their life style? What is their way of life? Their food, their clothing, their shelter, their interests and leisures... Who and what do they love or hate? What are they taught? What...

Twelve months later... they decided to find out about themselves...

Half of the Krazoa will remain in the Palace... the other half will find out about the Lylatian world... outside of Dinosaur Planet...

***

Chapter 1: Crash Landing

The Great Fox, newly repaired and renewed, slowly and casually flew across the strewn, speckled stars across the vast, infinite sky of the universe. It wasn't as boring as before-- StarFox was actually enjoying this peaceful moment...

"Falco!!!! Come back here with my cap right NOW!!!"

"All right, as soon you can catch me, Slippy!"

Well, almost peaceful...

Fox was mashing his keyboard on his laptop as Falco ran around playing keep- away with Slippy's cap. Peppy was snoozing on his chair, which was very unusual for an old man to do despite the hullabaloo in the Great Fox. Eventually he woke up in a jerk, as if awakening from a nightmare. He looked around, seeing that Fox was playing CounterStrike while Slippy exhausts himself chasing the much faster Falco around the StarFox's mothership. Ah, to be young again... he thought to himself as he adjusted his slightly tilted spectacles on his nose.

"Ah! I give up!" Fox screamed as he raised his arms in the air and kicked the table holding the laptop. It shook, and almost everything on top fell, laptop, paper, coffee, Pillsbury Toaster Strudel (?), almost everything. Even a photo Fox took of Krystal and Tricky fell, face up. Fox smiled as he bent down and picked it up, memories of the days he roamed about Dinosaur Planet and saved it.

Peppy also smiled warmly. "Those were the days, huh, Fox?"

Fox nodded. He turned to the map and radar, where ROB was sitting by. It indicated that the Great Fox is nearing Dinosaur Planet.

"Say, Fox," Peppy started, his long ears twitching. "What say we go down to Dinosaur Planet?"

Fox turned to the old rabbit. "What?"

"Why not? We're not doing anything right now... Plus it would be nice to visit once in a while, right?"

"You know, you're right..." Fox replied with a smirk, the first thing coming to his mind was Krystal (and the first thing coming to his face was a blush). He turned around, hopefully facing Slippy and Falco. "Guys, we're going to- huh?"

Falco was simply standing, holding the hat as high as his long wing can reach. Slippy hopped and leaped for his hat, but his short height prevented him from reaching his own hat (why wouldn't he use his froggy legs to jump really high is beyond our knowing). Fox sighed, "Guys, are you listening to me?"

RUMBLE...

"Huh?" Fox murmured as the Great Fox suddenly shook. Falco lost his balance and stepped backwards, Slippy taking this opportunity to grab his hat and snap it back on his big, green head.

"W-What was that?" Slippy stuttered.

Falco regained his balance and dusted himself. "I didn't think we'd have turbulence out here in space-"

RUMBLE...

"There it is again!" Slippy gasped.

"Look!" Peppy yelled as he pointed to the radar. Around the Great Fox, something was surrounding it like a dark cloud.

Fox whispered under his breath, "What the..."

Suddenly, the alarms in the Great Fox sounded. ROB reported to the Team, "Sensors indicate a strange force enclosing on the Great Fox."

Slippy popped in wearing a Darth Vader mask. "The Force?"

"Not that kind of force, ya moron!" Falco smacks him with a harisen.

KKKkkkkkkrrrr........

"What's that sound?" Falco gulped.

Fox was almost breathless. "The sound of bending metal..."

"But I don't see any enemy ships surrounding the Great Fox!" Slippy gasped as he gaped back at the radar. Sure enough, the only thing surrounding the Great Fox was something cloudy.

Falco leaned forward to the controls, his raptorial eyes gazing out the windshield of the ship. Stars. Only stars. And endless darkness. That's it. He doesn't see anything surrounding the Great Fox but stars and space. That's practically it! What's surrounding the Great Fox? "I... I don't see anything!" Falco shouted.

Slippy saw something. Sparks. On the controls. Where Falco leaned on. "Falco!" Slippy warned. "Get off the controls-"

BOOM!!! The buttons, levers, gauges, wires, and monitors burst abruptly, fire, electricity, and blood flying everywhere. Falco was thrown across the room like a thrown stick from the exploding controls, his hands, arms, chest, and neck burnt and bleeding, eyes blanched and white.

"Oh, gawd..." Peppy gasped, air escaping his lungs quickly and disabling him to breathe in shock. "Falco!"

Fox and Slippy ran to the fallen bird's side. Fox shook the injured falcon, "Falco! Falco! Oh, geez, is he..."

"He's alive!" Peppy sighed in relief as he checked Falco's pulse. "But barely. He's in shock." Blood gushed from the tiercel's wounds like a river delta of thick, flowing crimson. Slippy stepped back, tears falling from his eyes. Fox was as still as a statue, unable to move. Peppy demanded to the shivering amphibian, "Hurry! Get the first aid! We have to stop the bleeding, now!"

Slippy nodded as he turned to the far end of the room, reaching into cabinets and searching for the first aid. Fox's ears twitched as the moaning sound of twisting metal rang like a dinosaur in pain. Slippy suddenly hesitated, his hands trembling and turning cold. He held the first aid kit in his hands, but he didn't move as soon as he grasped the plastic box. Fox noticed the frog's eyes shrink as the ceiling above him slowly bent. It first came out like a slight lump, but as Slippy's terrified heart beat like a drum, the bump grew bigger and bigger, the metal bending more and more. Pretty soon the lump turned into a thorn, then it bent into a corkscrew, the sharp point inching towards Slippy's head.

"Slippy!" Peppy screamed as he ran and grabbed the amphibian's arm and yanked him away from the forming corkscrew. The bent metal was only four inches from his head before it expanded into a larger metal finger then burst.

Fox fells on his face as more metal and wires flew everywhere. He lay there, shivering, trying to catch his escaping breath as sweat dripped down his brow. He gulped in some courage and looked up. It was too late. Some sharp metal was impaled through Peppy's shoulder and Slippy stomach. It was the fox's turn to be as petrified as a rock. He could feel his blood flowing through his veins and turn stone cold, his palms sweating and shoulders heaving. His lips trembled, as if fighting to whether scream and shut up, but he cannot chose either. Before his very own eyes, his team was dying... dying a strange, bloody death.

Before the first tear was shed from Fox's eyes, the Great Fox shook more violently then ever, the ground literally tossing him about. Fox rolled into some fallen wires, still attached to the main electricity of the ship. He felt electricity sending throughout his body, the lightning shock fingering into his veins then running about along with his blood and clawing his flesh. It didn't take long for Fox's world to turn black, his skin turning numb and the rumbling no longer ringing in his ears...

***

"Mmmmph........ where am I?" Fox mumbled. He slowly opened his eyes. Darkness. No sound. Nothing to smell or touch or taste. "Am I.... in heaven? Hell? Yomi? Wha..."

Crying. Sniffing. Finally, sounds came to Fox's ears. And they sounded like they came from...

Prince Tricky?

"Mom..... why....... why did Fox have to die?..."

"Son... his time must have come..."

WHAT? Fox thought. Suddenly he realized his breathing was limited due to lack of oxygen. And he CAN touch! His hands... folded across his chest. Enclosed space... like a coffin...

Wha...

"I'M NOT DEAD YET!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Fox screamed on top of his lungs.

"Oh..." Krystal hesitated before she would start burying Fox's coffin underground.

***

Now I feel like I'm in heaven... Fox thought as Krystal carefully applied ointment on his forehead as he sat in the EarthWalker Palace in ThornTail Hollow.

Tricky nuzzled Fox's leg. "I'm so glad you survived, Fox! When I saw your big ship come crashing here I thought you died!"

"WHAT?" Fox gasped in disbelief as he stood up. "What happened?"

"You don't remember?" Krystal asked. "Your ship, the Great Fox... it was overcome by some magic force... it literally almost crushed your ship and sent it crashing here."

"Crashing.... here..." Fox repeated.

Queen EarthWalker was sitting by her son. "As soon as the fire settled, we searched throughout the wreckage of your ship. Of all that we found only you were found in one piece. Everything else... well..."

Fox thought about when the controls and ceiling burst. It must have come from the ship being crushed. And his team, Peppy, Slippy, Falco..... did they....

"My Team..."

"What?" Krystal whispered.

Fox turned to the blue vixen. "My Team... the StarFox Team. Peppy Hare, Slippy Toad, and Falco Lombardi... did they..."

"Who?" Tricky questioned.

"When the Great Fox crashed, did you find a rabbit, a frog, and a falcon in the wreckage?"

Krystal turned to Queen EarthWalker and Tricky, then back to Fox. "I'm afraid not."

***

Fox could not believe his eyes. Right where he used to land his Arwing in his previous adventures on Dinosaur Planet, a large crater was formed as in result of the crashing mothership, the Great Fox... or what's left of it. Tragic, since the mission was done so it could be repaired... now...

The young StarFox Leader plodded on the dirt as ThornTails ate and watched. Fox approached the crater slowly then looked down at the center. The remains of the Great Fox didn't even LOOK like the Great Fox in any way, shape or form. It wasn't white or gray; rather, it was black and red. The bridge was broken in two, the wings bent and torn, the thrusters completely into tiny pieces, and the main body ripped open, bent, twisted, apart, and furthermore, crushed. The wreckage was so disastrous, fire and smoke still rose from the remains... and according to Krystal, Fox was unconscious for five days.

Fox stepped into the crater and cautiously slid down, Krystal, Tricky, and Queen EarthWalker nearby. As soon as McCloud-san found level footing, he walked towards the still burning metal. He can smell the remaining parts burning and melting, and the thickness of what was left of the smoky air got into his eyes, literally making him squint. Fox coughed, then reached in, his gloved hands touching metal that didn't burn. He pulled it down then out, then threw it back, hopefully not at anyone. He grabbed another piece of metal and threw it, then grabbed another and threw that one. Krystal gaped as she watched the StarFox pilot rip apart what he could, opening another path into the wreckage she nor Tricky nor Queen EarthWalker ever went into. "Fox..." Krystal called. "Fox! What are you-"

After throwing fifteen pieces of metal, Fox finally stopped. He fell on his knees then to his hands and bowed his head, as if either praying or crying or both. Krystal couldn't take it anymore. She hopped down to the crater then ran to Fox, followed by Tricky then his mother. By the time all three surrounded Fox, Krystal murmured, "Fox?..."

Before Fox's knees and tears were three objects...

A red baseball cap...

A pair of broken spectacles...

And a pair of cracked shades...

Krystal recalled that the frog, rabbit, and falcon she saw when she entered the Great Fox when it was whole that they wore that hat, spectacles, and shades. Tears fell from her eyes as well as she whispered, "Oh, Fox..."

((to be continued...))