PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE BEGINNING THE STORY

This is a story I've had finished for quite a long time now. I started writing it in Grade 9 and finished it at just about the end of the year. A few months later, I re-did it on the computer because the written copy...was something that a fifth grader would write. Even though the story is finished, I'm not going upload all of it at once. Here's the deal: for now, I'll upload three chapters per update to the story. Each update will be done sparingly since it'll take me a while to edit each chapter before releasing them. Since there are 30 chapters in total, the entire story will be up after the 10th update or so.

Anyway, this story is really just what I think should have happened after Star Fox Command ended, and it kind of explains the backstory for those who aren't aware of it. I did create a few original characters and concepts, but otherwise everything you read about in this story belongs to their respective owners and I'm not claiming to own of them except those that I created myself.

But enough of me going on like this. Here's the story. Hope you enjoy, and if you're going to review this story, please be nice. This IS my first fanfiction, after all.

CHAPTER ONE

Into the Asteroid Field

May 8th, 2035

500 km from Planet Corneria

Aboard the gigantic starship called the Great Fox, there was the least amount of activity that the Star Fox team had ever experienced. Without an assigned mission in months, all three of the young men could do nothing but sit around, waiting to doze off.

Slippy Toad, the mechanic, wasn't working on any new projects and had already fixed or "improved" anything he could get his hands on. Falco Lombardi, the ace pilot, sat on top of his Arwing (a small, single-man space fighter that had twin laser cannons and was capable of deploying bombs), not even the least bit interested in the several machine guns, rocket launchers and grenades lying around him. (He was always dying to get into some kind of action, preferably when he knew something was going to get blown up). But most odd was the team's leader, Fox McCloud. For the first time in a very long time, he was sleeping.

But he couldn't enjoy it for two reasons:

a) The girl he loved, whose name was Krystal, had vanished from their home planet, Corneria, and he didn't have the slightest clue of her state or whereabouts.

b) At the moment, he was having a terrible nightmare.

Dreaming...

Fox was slowly sinking down into a sea of icy, red blood. He tried to move his feet and swim, run or anything to keep himself from drowning, but no matter how hard he tried he couldn't stop himself from being dragged down by the scorched skeletal hands that bound him to his soon-to-be pit of death.

He looked up and could see Krystal, her blue and white fur waving in the violent wind, her blue eyes staring down into his green ones with a look of near disgust.

Getting his hand free, Fox reached up and tried to grab Krystal's hand, but she was floating just barely out of his reach. She seemed to be completely avoiding him.

"Krystal!" he cried out to her.

Krystal turned away from him. The hand covered his mouth again and dragged him, screaming, down into the lake.

"Why won't she look at me…."

Suddenly, Fox felt as though he was being shaken.

"Wake up, you moron!" Falco's voice said.

Fox's eyes snapped open.

Awakening...

"Another 'Krystal go bye-bye dream'?" Falco asked.

"Yeah," Fox sighed sadly, "I'm just so worried about her. This whole ordeal that I'm going through is my fault, anyway. I mean, what if she's dead? How do you think I could live with that?"

"Dude, you're really letting this go too far. Just…I dunno, be cool like me."

"Yeah, that's easy for you to say. You don't have a girl to worry about."

"Let's not pull at that string, Fox! I have nothing against girls!"

"Then how come you haven't had a girlfriend in your life? Heck, Slippy's got one, for crying out loud!...You're not…you-know-what, are you?"

"No, I'm not. And you're lucky you're not anyone else, or I would've knocked your block off for saying that."

Speaking of Slippy, right at that moment their plucky amphibian friend suddenly burst into the room, nearly knocking his red-and-white baseball cap off his head.

"You guys really gotta see this." he panted.

"What's wrong Slippy?" asked Fox.

"Follow me and I'll show ya!"

The three boys entered the bridge, where the ship's robotic auto-pilot, R.O.B. 64, was waiting for them

"What's up, ROB?" asked Falco.

"Communication link with General Hare established. Receiving transmission." the robot replied in his monotone voice.

Peppy Hare (a hare, of course!) had once been a member of Star Fox (both the original and the present one), but was later appointed as general of the Cornerian Army. Nowadays he was the one who assigned missions to the team. He had also been great friends with Fox's father, the late James McCloud.

ROB flipped a switch on the communicator, and Peppy's face appeared on the screen.

"Everything right as rain up there?" he asked.

Fox, Falco and Slippy groaned and rolled their eyes.

"There he goes again." Falco muttered.

Peppy always liked to check on what went on up there because he always had a sickening feeling that Falco and Slippy, being as irresponsible and clumsy as they were, might accidentally break something or cause it to self-destruct.

"Peppy, you don't need to ask us that every single time you see us." Fox said, crossing his arms. "We're grown men, not toddlers."

"Well, you can never be too careful, can you?"

"Whatever, gramps" Falco retorted. "Now, what did you call us for?"

"We've got a mission for you."

Falco slammed his fists together.

"It's about time!"

Putting Falco's enthusiasm aside, Peppy continued to speak.

"You all remember that starship that we've been tracking for a month now, I presume."

"Ah, yes. The one you guys refer to as the 'Ghost Ship'?

"That's the one. We've located its current position. It's about ten kilometers east of Katina and twenty kilometers west of Aquas. We need you to fly aboard the ship and investigate it. We aren't sure if it'll pose any threat to Corneria yet, but I don't think it's a good idea to take any chances.

"So is there any particular reason why you're asking us and not just getting a fleet up there?" Falco asked. "You're the General of the Cornerian Army, for cryin' out loud."

"Hey, you boys need something to get you up off your lazy asses for once."

"Oh, yes, Peppy. That's hilarious."

"In any case, get there as quick as you can."

"Understood" Fox said as he turned to Falco and Slippy. "OK, boys. Let's rock and roll!"

"Whoa, hold on there!" Peppy spoke up. "You're all aware that the ship flees at the slightest hint of our presence, aren't you? They've got a massive fleet up there, too. If you're going to even THINK about attacking the ship, I seriously recommend that only one of you goes."

Fox sighed.

"I'm the leader here. I'll go."

"Alright. Good luck, Fox. Peppy out."

The screen shut off. Falco turned to Fox with a bewildered look on his face.

"Great. That's just great. How in the hell are you supposed to get up there without any of those bogies spotting you?"

Fox froze in his tracks. Once again he had let his ego get the better of him and hadn't thought this whole thing through.

"I don't know. I'm making this up as I go along."

Slippy smirked.

"Maybe you don't have to."

Later...

The three stood in the hangar bay, where their Arwings (The Arwing II, the Sky Claw and the Bullfrog, though all Star Fox aircraft was classified as an Arwing), the Landmaster tank and the Blue Marine submarine were suspended.

Slippy had just placed a strange patch on Fox's ship.

"That's a Camo Patch. If you push this button here," Slippy handed Fox a trigger. "You and your ship will turn invisible."

"Another genius idea from the mind of Slippy Toad." Fox said as he hopped into the cockpit and shut the hatch door.

"But be careful!" Slippy warned. "It's got a time limit and it's good for one use only! Don't use it until you see the starship!"

"Gotcha!" Fox shouted through the glass.

"Good luck, buddy." Falco said.

Fox gave them a thumbs-up and ignited the engine.

"Ignition check. Fuel line green. Radar up and running. All systems go."

ROB's voice crackled on the communicator.

"Ship lock released."

The Arwing shot off into the depths of Outer Space.

10 minutes later

As Fox casually flew through space, he began to think more deeply about what might have happened to Krystal. He knew he would just make it worse by thinking about it, but right now, he didn't care. He was alone with his own thoughts, and it seemed about time to reminisce on them for the umpteenth time.

A few months prior to this, he'd told her that he couldn't be with her. When she asked why, he didn't answer. He just said good-bye and walked away from her. Not long afterwards, they ran into each other on the planet Titania, but that ordeal was so unnerving that Fox had had nightmares about it for a week. Right after the close encounter, he never saw her again.

There was no denying it. Krystal had run away from him because of what he had said to her. It was his fault!

"Stupid! Stupid! STUPID!" he angrily growled.

Frustrated with himself, he slammed his head against the metal frame of his ship. It hurt badly.

"Ouch..." he moaned.

Fox rubbed his forehead. He couldn't help but think that he deserved to punish himself for what he had done. When he looked up again, a gigantic asteroid was hurtling right at him!

"SON OF A..!"

Fox pulled up on the steering console and swerved away from the space rock just as Falco's voice crackled on his communicator.

"Damn it, Fox! Get your head outta the clouds and watch where you're going! That asteroid could've mauled you!"

"Blah, blah, blah. Give it a rest, will you, feather-head?" Fox thought.

Fox had been so wrapped up in his thoughts of Krystal that he hadn't noticed until now that he had gone off-course. He could still get to Katina and commence his assault on the starship if he didn't stop, but to do it he'd have to go through the Meteo asteroid field. Fox had gone through Meteo several times before in his career, but at the moment it seemed worse than ever.

Fox pulled up and just barely managed to avoid being pelted by several small meteors. A few more meteors came tumbling right at him. Carefully placing his thumb on the button on the steering console, he fired the Arwing's plasma cannons. These lasers were strong enough to break metal at full force, so a few asteroids wouldn't be a problem. The lasers hit their intended target and blew them to pieces.

"Here comes a big one! Watch your tail, Fox!" Slippy shouted.

Sure enough, a space rock bigger than two Arwings put together was slowly hurtling at him. And this one seemed indestructible! Pulling back on the steering console, Fox raised his ship and flew over the rock. It just barely skinned the Arwing's left wing.

Suddenly, a laser fired at him from behind.

"Watch out, Fox! You're being tailed!" Falco hollered.

Fox looked back. A small fighter that clearly wasn't an Arwing or a military ship was shooting at him.

"Uh oh! Not good!" Fox said aloud.

He floored the boost pedal and shot ahead at top speed. The bogey still kept on his tail the whole time. He slammed the brake pedal. His ship came to a complete stop and the bogey shot ahead, but it quickly began to turn around.

"ROB, send me a smart bomb, will ya?" Fox said into the comm.

ROB's emotionless voice crackled. "Location confirmed. Sending supplies."

A small red sphere with a white B painted on it landed in the secondary artillery cannon.

"Alright! BOMB'S AWAY!"

Fox pushed a red button above his head and the bomb soared at the bogey at sonic speed. It collided and exploded, taking the enemy with it.

"Direct hit!"

"You're coming up on the starship now!" Slippy said. "Get the..."

KRRZZZZZZT!

Slippy's voice started breaking up and not only did the comm short-circuit, but the radar went out as well. Fox was alone and his ship was blinded.

"Falco? Slippy? ANYONE?" shouted Fox. "Dammit. They must have some kind of radar-jammer up there."

He knew what Slippy had tried to say, however. He grabbed the trigger and as soon as he caught sight of the starship (which, as Slippy had stated before, was as big as the Great Fox, the only difference being that it was much shadier), he pushed the button. In an instant, both he and his ship turned transparent.

Little did he know that someone aboard the starship had already seen him. Her normal instinct would have been to put the ship in light-speed and get out of there, but not this time. This time, she wasn't going to flee. She'd let him come right to her.

"Come to me, Fox...if you can." she whispered coldly.