Unknown Location

"Hate to break it to you, but Fox McCloud is dead, I saw the explosion myself. There is no way in hell that someone could have lived through something like that." Wolf was having a hard time trying to wrap his head around what was happening. If what the man in front of him was saying, it was that Fox McCloud was still alive and well.

The man in front of Wolf pointed out a screen across the room, hung on the wall. "Watch and you tell me what you see." There was a sharp click sound as the T.V. turned on, followed by what Wolf saw was a concert of some sort.

"Look, I don't care about some fucking concert alright?"

"Just watch."

Reluctantly, the lupine focused his gaze on the screen. It appeared to be a white canine of some sort on the stage as the vocalist and lead guitar. "Something about him seems familiar…" Then, something caught the wolf's eye. There was an unmistakable blue vixen walking up on the stage, which appeared to be somewhat nervous.

He then heard what the vulpine said next, "Just stand next to me and listen." There wasn't a doubt in his mind now, he knew that was the vulpine who he shared his rivalry with for all those past years.

"Trust me, I was just as surprised at you, but I was still skeptical at this appearance. It was only when I found this," he held up a small disk, "that I realized that it was him. In this disk that I have is the memory core of the Great Fox 2's AI, ROB. The security feed was still severely damaged from the explosion, but it still contained slight memory logs of an Arwing launch specifically 15 seconds before detonation, along with severe damage reports to the hangar's blast door before the initial explosion."

Wolf was still having trouble taking this all in, the fact that Fox was alive and living under a fake alias was still highly unlikely. "So, if he did make it out of the hangar in time, that would only leave him with 15 seconds to fly out of there to safety. There's not even a chance in hell that he could escape the blast radius without taking severe damage to his Arwing, along with a mild case of whiplash from the shockwave at that distance. It just doesn't add up."

"That's exactly what I thought, but we found his ship. It was washed up on the shore of a beach near the northern side of Corneria City, along with a ship log containing two important facts that are evidence to his survival. The first was a record of an isolated transmission signal from an unknown sender a few minutes after the initial blast and another was a report of a pilot ejection before the ship was totaled in the ocean."

Wolf sighed. "So Fox McCloud is alive, I get it now, so what do you want to me do?"

"Oh don't worry, you won't have to leave this station, just that when Fox McCloud arrives, you kill him and your free to go."

Wolf didn't like this at all, it seemed like everything was too suspicious. "How do you plan on getting him here then? Last time I checked Fox doesn't go around accepting invitations out to stations in deep space."

"Yet another thing we have planned, we are going lure him here." Wolf could make out a sadistic grin on the man's face.

"How do you plan on doing that?"

"With her, of course…"

Planet Sauria

Fox and Krystal lay next to each other on the shore of Cape Claw. It has been two months since the day that they reunited at the army base, and after finishing his tour with his band, he resigned as the vocalist and lead guitar.

Of course his band members were pissed, as they only released two albums, but he felt that it wasn't their choice to judge him. After all, he did most of the work by forming the band in the first place. Not soon after he left, he was replaced by some red and black vulpine, which actually gave the band a better sound, or that's at least what the fans were saying about them.

Fox was sound asleep with the vixen of his dreams in his arms, but for Krystal, she was far from a sound sleep. She was thrashing around, violently, as nightmares tormented her head.

It was a calm day as Krystal pulled Fox's hand towards the entrance of the Force Point Temple, giggling as he groaned in protest. "Come on Fox, it's not that far, plus I've never been inside of it!" Grumbling, Fox kept walking. "Couldn't this have waited for at least another hour? I'm tired as hell!"

"Oh trust me; I'll make sure you're not tired when we get there…" Krystal gave Fox a wicked grin that sent chills down his spine. Of course, that's all the motivation he needed to snap out of his sleep deprived state. After they arrived, Krystal couldn't help but admire the beauty of the architecture. Fox led her up to the left side and climbed up the ladder, beckoning her to follow. "Why don't we go in through the main door?"

"That door has never been open, for all the times I've been here Krystal. Don't worry though, there's an entrance up here." Krystal nodded and continued up the second ladder only to be standing on a platform above the main entrance. Fox led her over to the small half grated gate and laughed. "What's so funny?"

"Just the fact that it makes you use a spell stone to get through here, even though you can just climb over the stupid thing…" She watched as the vulpine slid over the opening at the top of the gate. "Come on Krystal, the entrance is just through here."

She continued over to the gate and slid over the top of it, dropping back down to the floor on the other side. Krystal continued to follow Fox down the long ramp until they came into a grand room, filled with ornate blue architectural designs and columns, along with water that added to the whole effect, making the light dance off the ornate structures. Krystal gasped at the sight of the room they entered, and slowly walked ahead of Fox to get a better view. "Wow, Fox it's so amazing!" Krystal continued to the other side of the room, to find a floor littered with several panels. "Fox, what are these panel's for?" The vixen glanced back to ask the vulpine the question, only to be met with silence.

"Fox, where are you? This isn't funny!" Krystal pouted, folding her arms while looking for the white vulpine. She heard what to be struggling, and her senses went on high alert. She slowly back tracked the way they came in, creeping along the shadows of the wall to stay hidden. There she saw something horrid. On the ground was a white vulpine whose chest was soaked with red. Her eyes instantly widened with tears and shock as she ran over to him.

As she was running, there was a sickening hissing sound as she saw a man in the shadows hold out a blade, it glowing with what appeared to be flames tinted with black and grey. Krystal sensed pure anger and hatred emanating from this creature as she sat there holding onto the lifeless body of Fox McCloud. "No, Fox! I'm not going to lose you again!" She tried everything as the monster crept up to her slowly. As it got closer, the blue vixen slowly started to break down in tears from absolute fear. That's when she heard the most bone chilling laugh she ever heard in her life. It was filled with pure hatred and malice, then the creature stopped in its tracks and uttered the words, "Embrace the hatred Krystal of Cerinia, it's your only path in this desolate place you call a universe."

"Krystal wake the fuck up!" The vixen slowly opened her eyes, to see Fox standing over her. Nearly instantly she pulled him into her embrace, letting out slight sobs. "Fox it was horrible! We were going to the Force Point Temple like you promised, but then you were killed, and this solid black vulpine was there trying to kill me too!"

"Calm down, Krystal, it was only a dream! I'm not dead, I'm right next to you and I'm never going to leave your side again, ever. You should know that already by now." Fox pulled her tighter into the embrace, feeling the vixen's sobs slowly subsiding. Krystal smiled as she felt the warmth of his body against hers, but noticed something wrong with his fur. "Fox your roots are showing!" She was laughing at the odd color combination. Since he dyed his fur white so long ago, his true fur colors were beginning to show, giving him a slight homely look as the colors obviously didn't blend well together.

The vulpine chuckled, "Well I'll have to buy some more dye later then." He was beginning to notice this as well, and it was becoming dangerously noticeable. He fell back against the bed they had improvised on the sand and closed his eyes.

"Now try and get some sleep, okay?" Fox nestled back against Krystal and drifted off back to sleep. However, Krystal couldn't get her mind off of the dream she had. "It seemed all too real… I'll talk to him in the morning about it I guess…" The vixen then sat down on the improvised bed and curled up next to the sleeping vulpine next to her.

The Next Morning…

A German Shepherd sat alone atop a cliff, staring out into the ocean's of Cape Claw. Clad in what appeared to be jungle camouflage Kevlar body armor, he gave off an intimidating presence, despite his shorter than average height. The canine was still wondering why he and his group were hired for such a strange mission, but at what the price they were paying, he would obviously do it with no questions asked.

He sat there for some time, taking in the beauty of such a remote planet, before mumbling something into what appeared a communication device in place on his left ear. "Maverick, is the distraction ready?"

There was slight static indicating that someone was trying to communicate from another device. "Roger Ladakai, it is ready. Inform Peren to be ready to take out the target when I give the signal. Maverick out." The one that they called Maverick was an iguana, who was highly skilled with explosives and the main mechanic of the group.

"Peren, come in." Ladakai still sat atop the cliff still, but turned his gaze to the vulpine couple that was on the beach, who were still sleeping. "Every mission seems to get stranger and stranger…"

"Peren reporting in, Ladakai. I have the blue one in my sights. I'm still awaiting confirmation from Maverick to commence the extraction." Of course with every group, there is the sharp shooter. Peren was a gifted ex-black ops specialist, who could literally dismantle any sniper rifle and reassemble it in record time. There wasn't any situation that he couldn't get out of; he was truly what Ladakai deemed him as, a valuable member to have in any situation.

"Proceed as planned. I'll go grab the transport shuttle and bring her in low after you have separated the vulpine from the blue one. When he is on the other side of the pass, blow the ladders Maverick. It should restrict his access to the area, giving us enough time to escape the area with the target on board."

The canine ran over to where the shuttle was parked and fired the ignition, waiting on the go to do the pickup.

"Fox, you need to wake up now!" The vulpine instantly was awake, recognizing that she had a concerned tone in her voice. He shot up, grabbing his blaster and aiming it at his surroundings in a daze, not knowing the situation.

"Damnit Fox, put the blaster away and let me explain what's going on!" Fox did as he was told, and slipped the blaster into his holster. "Mind explaining me why you woke me up?" He didn't sound happy, but he wasn't too mad.

"I'm picking up a distress signal from Thorntail Hollow, there isn't much of a description, but it states that someone has been injured and needs us to help." Fox gave her a questioning stare.

"Since when are Thorntail's capable of sending distress signals? Last time I checked they don't have any technology they can use here, let alone operate with a clear understanding."

"That's what I was also thinking; it doesn't seem to add up."

Fox gave the vixen a reassuring smile. "Don't worry, you stay here at the camp and I'll go check it out. I need to grab a few things from the Arwing anyways. If you need me, use the wrist communicator and I'll head right back." The vulpine sat up and stretched his body, which gave out loud popping sounds from his stiff joints. He walked over to his bag and pulled out a new set of clothes and swapped out with the pair that he wore last night, as well as his blaster holster that was strapped to his right thigh.

He walked over to Krystal and gave her a hug and started to walk towards Light Foot Village so he could pass through to Thorntail Hollow. Krystal saw him started to leave, and stated "Be careful, Fox. I don't want to have to come and save you this time." He gave her a smile at the comment and continued to walk until he was out of sight. Then, she felt a painful prick on the back of her neck. Krystal then felt the back of her neck out of curiosity, only to pull out a small dart. That was the last thing she saw before blacking out and hitting the sand.

Fox was making his way slowly to Thorntail Hollow. He finally arrived to a fairly large underground well that consisted of several floors of ladders and wooden catwalks. When he slid down the ladder and continued to walk to the other side, he couldn't help but notice the feeling that he was being watched. He simply shrugged off the feeling, however, and continued up the ladder on the other side to enter Lightfoot Village on his way to the Hollow.

He finally arrived to the Hollow ten minutes later, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. Growing suspicious of the random distress signal, he opened up his wrist-com and zeroed in on its source. Fox continued to follow the trail that his wrist-com showed, coming to a stop at the base of the water fall, next to the Warp Stone.

When he was basically standing on top of the signal's source, something in the water caught his eye. It was giving off a distinctive red flash that he knew from his experience on Sauria, wasn't native to the planet. The vulpine reached down and picked up the small device, examining it further. "What the fu-"

He didn't have time to finish his thought. He instantly noticed the beeping started to accelerate, knowing now this wasn't just a malfunctioning piece of technology. He threw the device as far as he could in the air, and watched it explode with violent force, knocking the vulpine to the ground. That wasn't the only explosion, however. Fox looked in the direction of Cape Claw and noticed smoke billowing from that direction. "KRYSTAL!"

The vulpine dashed over to his Arwing, remotely opening the ship's canopy from his wrist-com. When he neared the ship, he didn't attempt to slow down. Instead, Fox used his momentum to vault himself onto the nose of the ship and rushing into the cockpit. He never knew how long the Arwing took to ignite until now, when it seemingly took years to the distraught vulpine. "Come on hurry the fuck up you piece of shit!"

Noticing that the engines were ready, Fox gunned the small ship, putting it to full capacity. From going from a standstill to nearly 200 mph left a massive crater in the ground beneath the Arwing, also knocking over several Thorntail's in the process. He wasn't going to take any chances of letting her down, not again. "Come on, be okay… Please…" The only thing the vulpine could do was hope that his accusations were false, and that she was okay. Of course for Fox McCloud, nothing ever seems to go smoothly. Fox now saw that the smoke was billowing from the underground passage that led from Lightfoot Village to Cape Claw, and he noticed that the whole underground complex was obliterated by some high powered explosive. "I was to be cut off from access to Cape Claw…"

Fox noticed the small encampment they had set up the night before, but noticed several details that only confirmed his suspicions. Landing the Arwing in the sand near their temporary settlement, he hopped out of the ship, leaving it on for quicker access, to take a further look at what he saw.

There was a body indent in the sand next to where they had their improvised bed, along with a small trail of what looked like to be made by a body being dragged. "No signs of struggle… That only means two things…" Instantly, he eliminated the possibility of her being killed and drug off somewhere, because there were no signs of blood. Fox further inspected the huge indent that was made by someone falling over. Something in the sand caught his eye, it was a metallic blue dart partially buried in the sand.

"The bastard's fucking tranquilized her… I swear to god if I find out who did this…"

The vulpine was lost in thought when he heard a distant rumbling. Instantly he glanced toward the direction of the sound, noticing a black transport shuttle flying out of the planet's atmosphere. While pocketing the dart, he grabbed Krystal's necklace and diadem, and ran off towards his Arwing.

With the engines still on idle, he was able to take off in record time, hoping that he could still get a lock on the mysterious ship that so far was his only lead.

"Sir, we have acquired the target and we are currently boarding the Charger preparing for hyper space to your coordinates." Ladakai docked the transport vehicle on his own personal cruiser, the Charger, which was about half the size of the Great Fox II, but was equipped with several upgrades that their employer graciously handed over to them. It could rival the speed of any dreadnaught fighter, as long as maintain the stealth capabilities of a small fighter. In its power of speed and stealth, it does lack power, however. Most ships these sizes are able to punch holes through any ship relatively the same size, ripping right through shield reinforcements. The Charger only has half the firepower capacity of his front guns, due to the power required to fuel his engines and radar jamming technology. It was still not a ship to be taken lightly, despite its handicapped firepower.

"Good, Ladakai, very good… I'll be waiting for your arrival to pick up the 'package'. If she tries to resist, sedate her, I want her to be in perfect shape when you hand her over." The darkened image faded from the hologram, leaving the canine alone on the small bridge of the Charger.

"LIA, get hyperspace clearance for the coordinates located in the transmission."

The ship's AI LIA replied in what seemed to be a female monotonous voice, but Ladakai honestly couldn't tell the difference between the two tones of voices. "Affirmative, the ship will be in hyperspace within one minute and 37 seconds."

"Hmm, that was fast enough…" The canine thought to himself.

The canine left the bridge and started to walk down the sleek metallic halls towards the brig of the ship, where Peren spent most of his time toying with his weapons, trying to find ways to improve them for any situation. While he was walking down the brig, he ran into Maverick who seemed to be in the training room practicing his hand to hand combat with a punching bag.

The scaly lizard heard his approach through the hallway and stopped his rigorous work out and gave his captain a joyous smile. "Hey Lad, seemingly easy mil, right? I can't believe were getting paid that much just to bring in some worthless vixen."

Ladakai only shook his head. "That's the reason why I don't like this mission, Maverick. My instincts have never lied before, but there's something about that seems… out of place…" His voice trailed off as he went into deep thought.

The lizard shrugged and returned to his training as the canine left the room, still in deep thought. Ladakai knew something was going to go wrong, it was too good and far too damn easy for one million credits. Either their employer was over generous, or planning something upon their return. "Never trust anyone, for it can be your friends that are your worst enemies."

His father's words echoed throughout his head, causing him to plunge further into thought about this mission. The canine knew how easily one could be deceived through false partnership and even false love. He'd seen it one too many times, as it happened to kill his father. He never knew his mother, knowing that she died in labor, so he grew even closer to his father, which was understandable as it was his only family. It was his own family, until the older canine met his fate when he was betrayed by his best friend while working deeply under cover as a Venomion lieutenant during the Lylat Wars.

Ladakai remembered the report he stole from the Cornerian Archive that day, saying how his father got too involved in the operation and turned on the Alliance, joining forces with Andross and his forces. He knew that it was far from the truth that really happened, his father was never the one to betray anyone, let alone help Andross in his vengeance fueled quest to dominate the whole Lylat System.

His deep thoughts were interrupted when the intercom sounded throughout the ship, followed by a shake that threw the captain against the wall. "We have successfully entered Hyperspace. Estimated arrival time to location is 10 hours and 39 minutes."

Ladakai cursed under his breath as he always forgets about the increase of speed before entering hyperspace and continued towards the brig. "Roger that LIA, remind me one hour before arrival."

"Affirmative."

There in the orbit of the planet Sauria, floating helplessly around the beautiful planet, was an Arwing. Not just any Arwing, but that of Fox McCloud. It's not what or who the Arwing belonged to, but who the man inside of it was and what he was doing at the time.

Inside of the small cockpit was a horrific scene indeed. Everything that the vulpine had bottled up in the past years of his life, his hate, his sadness, all of a sudden exploded from within. He hated everything, everyone, as it seemed that no one gave a damn about his life, as it seemed his life was just one tragedy after another. He was only happy when he was with her, yet he wasn't even allowed a peaceful life with the one he gave his heart to. Blind with anger, he swung his fist towards the control panel in an attempt to rid himself of his rate, only to return in a swollen paw. It did activate his stereo system, however, and despite his anger, he listened intently.

(Quick suggestion, go to and type in Rise Above This by Seether and listen to it in order to maximize the effect. –ForsakenDiablo)

Take the light, and darken everything around me
Call the clowns and listen closely I'm lost without you
Call your name every day when I feel so helpless
I've fallen down but I'll rise above this, rise above this

Hate the mind, regrets are better left unspoken
For all we know, this void will grow
And everything's in vain, distressing you though it leaves me open
Feels so right, but I'll end this all before it gets me

Call your name every day when I feel so helpless
I've fallen down but I'll rise above this, rise above this
Call your name every day when I seem so helpless
I've fallen down, and I'll rise above this, rise about this doubt

I'll mend myself before it gets me
I'll mend myself before it gets me
I'll mend myself before it gets me
I'll mend myself before it gets me

Call your name every day when I feel so helpless
I've fallen down but I'll rise above this, rise above this
Forty eight ways to say that I'm feelin' helpless
I'm falling down, falling down, but I'll rise above this, rise above this,
Rise above this, rise above this doubt

(Rise Above this – Seether)

Fox couldn't help but stare with blank eyes towards the control panel, with the same look on his face of anger. He took all of the lyrics without any interruptions and it seemed to have actually calmed him down somewhat to clearly think. "Come on Fox, think of a plan…" He muttered to himself.

He laid his head back against the comfortable seat of the spare Arwing he hijacked from his house on Corneria, closing his eyes and trying to think of a plan. He managed to get a lock on the ship before it jumped, but not its destination. While thinking, he was subconsciously fiddling with Krystal's emerald necklace that he recovered from their camp site. There was only one thing that could come to mind, and he didn't like it. He wondered how the person would react to seeing him, for having not seen him in the past three years, yet alone thinking he was dead.

He would have to take the chance, hoping that his old friend would pull through and help him, instead of assuming to get a punch in the face. He typed a few commands on the dented command console and forwarded a recorded message to its target, requesting to meet in person on Aquas.

Aquas

Slippy was living the dream life. He had a beautiful wife, and an army of children. He could never have been happier, yet there was a part of him that died when he lost his old and long friend, Fox. The toad always reminisced in his mind about the good ol' days where he was a mechanic and pilot, always getting into trouble. "Fox, if only you were still alive." His happy memory was interrupted when his communicator went off in the other room.

Slippy got up and waddled over to his office where the com unit resided, and opened the message he received. Slippy couldn't believe what the message said, it sent a chill down his spine, that his thoughts were answered by some higher power. He instantly ran to find Amanda and tell her what the message said, trying to be as quiet as he could, as it was late in the night. He didn't want to wake up a dozen toads, after all.

Author Notes

Yes, finally got chapter four up! Sorry for the ten day wait, but I was gone on a family trip for six days without my laptop to bring with me, I had nothing to work with, especially there not being internet where I was. Well anyways, hopefully it was worth the wait, I should have the next chapter up soon as I am extremely eager to finish this and get on with the sequel!

(HINT – If you're curious on what the sequel is about, it involves my new avatar and my username…)

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