Well, Hello all, now if you read the ReArmed Conflict, you know that I said I was going to focus on other stories. That would still be the case, except for the fact then when I did my oneshots for the year, I head one of the better writers on here say he liked the idea behind them {Kursed/Fox} and would love to see an extended story from me with the same idea, instead of a one shot. Well two days later, I found that it was all I could think about, so I started writing. I've just kinda taken off with the idea, and well, here we have it. Now before I let you all get into it, just some information for you.

This takes place ten years after the end of Star Fox Assault, and I've taken a few of the endings of Command and combined them to make my own spin on things. Hope you all enjoy. Oh, and a happy freaking New Year!

Oh and fun Fact, I think the part on Fichina has a theme song, Rebel by D-Block & S-Te-Fan. I just seemed to get most of my ideas for that bit while listening to the song, and in the end, I figured it just kinda fit.

One last thing, this chapter is long, but its because I'm setting up the bulk of the story.

1-02-12 Edit below

Star Fox: The Dead Planet

Story by: Emile The Watcher

Inspired By: Cpt. Fox

Disclaimer: Yep, I don't own Star Fox, no matter how much I wish I did, this is just my idea, and I hope you all enjoy.

Act 1: The Dead Planet Chapter 1: Their Lives Now.

"Husky Squad, Report in."

Bill Grey looked around his cockpit to check his surroundings one last time before he keyed his comm. "Husky Lead, Whats up Control?"

"Our scans show that you should be in visual range of the object now."

Bill rolled his eyes before he answered "Its a planet Control, no matter that it just appeared a few days ago."

Bill grinned as he heard the annoyance in the operators voice. "Fine then Lead, the Planet should be in visual range. Report please."

Bill turned his view back to space, where the planet they had been sent to investigate sat in his view finder. At their current range the sphere wasn't any bigger then his paw. Bill held one of his paws up just to compare sizes and smiled when he realized he was right. He touched one of his paws to the view finder and magnified the scope of the zoom, bringing the planet into larger focus. He touched another part of his screen and his on board computer loaded a scanner probe into his launch tube.

"Husky Lead?"

Bill jumped slightly in his seat. "Yea, sorry Control, just drifting out here, end of a long shift. First looks show lots of trees, defiantly looks like a jungle planet. Looks like its got a bunch of small asteroids caught in orbit around it as well. Permission to launch probe for detailed scan?"

"Permission granted Lead, Fire away, we're all curious over here too. I've heard that we even got the General on a direct link now."

"General Peppy eh?" Bill said out loud, to himself he admitted that he was glad the Peppy was being briefed on this. In truth the whole thing worried him. How in the hell did a planet even just appear like this one did. This whole day had just been one strange bit of news after the other. But then again, in his view, ever since Star Fox had disbanded eight years ago, the system had gone to shit.

Bill fingered the trigger for his launch tube and pressed the button, he watched as the tube on his right wing briefly flared into life and the probe launched out towards the planet. As the probe worked its way out Bill spared a few moments of thought to his old friend, and wonder what he had been up to since Bill had gotten moved to the Outer Ring Patrol. It had been almost seven years since he had been moved out here. Bill cheered himself up by remembering that he only had a few months left on this patrol. Then he could get shifted back home to Katina, and from there it was just a quick flight to Corneria. First thing he would do is track down Fox and have a beer with him, just for old time sakes.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when his console beeped to alert him that the probe had reached scanner range and had begun its scan of the planet. Bill pressed another button and forwarded the information to Control. "Are you getting the feed Control?"

"Roger that Lead, receiving results now." There was a pause while the operator looked over the results. "Wow, that's a big planet, bigger then Corneria at least, humid too, scan shows clearings where there might be towns but most of the planet appears to be covered in jungle, there are a few oceans and what looks like scrubs of desert at the poles instead of ice caps. Quite a few of those asteroids0 too, going to be interesting to try and navigate that." another paused "Tell ya what, this is an odd planet, I'm comparing the scans to older records to see if we get a match. Who knows maybe somehow we've come across this planet before."

"Roger that Control. Got any orders for us while you do the compare?"

"One moment Lead." Bill shrugged his shoulders to loosen the muscle while he waited for orders. When the Operator came back on line, his voice was more subdued. "Lead, I've got your orders, stand by."

Before Bill could puzzle that out another voice came out of his comm. "Husky Lead, this is General Peppy, I was just reviewing the date from the probe when we lost contact with it. Assumed destroyed. I want you to move in and investigate, but keep your weapons primed and be on alert. Something destroyed that probe."

Bill looked out into space where his wing-mates flew "Roger that General, We'll check it out, stand by."

Bill swapped comm channels to his wing-mates "Husky Squad, We've been ordered to check out the planet. Something destroyed the probe I sent out, so I want all ships on alert and weapons powered up, double check your shields and check in when ready."

"Husky Two, Ready."

"Husky Three, Ready."

"Husky Four, Ready."

"Husky Six, Ready."

"Husky Seven, Ready."

Bill frowned "Husky Five, status?"

"Husky Five here, sorry Lead, having some issues with my shielding systems."

Bill put his paws out on his control sticks "Well get them worked out Five, we're moving in."

"Looks like its fixed Lead, shields are back to full."

Bill nodded as he adjusted his output and moved forward in space, leading his flight towards the planet. "Keep an eye on it Five, let me know if anything changes."

"Roger that Lead."

Bill turned his attention to the planet as he followed his own advice and double checked his shielding and weapon systems. They moved towards the planet at a decent speed and Bill watched as the planet rapidly grew bigger in his canopy. Things were normal until they approached the atmosphere.

"Lead, my shielding just dropped."

Bill looked down to see his own shields rapidly draining. "Heads up Husky, something, somehow is draining our shields. Keep an eye out." Bill scanned his canopy before checking his scanner to see if he was missing anything. He didn't see any enemies. However...

"Husky Five, get back in formation."

There was no answer from Husky Five who fell back and dropped down into position behind Seven.

"Husky Five, get back into position. Now."

The next voice was from Husky Seven. "Five what are you doing, scanners show a lock on me."

Bill acted first "Seven, Get out of there, now!"

Husky Seven started to dodge away from the ship, but before he could, two dark green lances of energy shot and scythed into the ship, right as his shields collapsed. The deadly energy quickly ate into the ships hull and reached the engine, causing it to explode. Before Seven could even think about ejecting from his ship, he was atomized in the explosion.

Bill grabbed his flight sticks and pulled hard on the left stick, adjusting his thrusters as he did so, spinning his fighter around. "Five what are you doing?!"

Five still didn't respond as he quickly shot down Four, Six and Two. Just leaving Bill and Three left. "Typhon, we have to take him out, now!"

"But sir!"

"Now!" Bill lined up a shot on Five and pulled the trigger on his stick, sending his own deadly light dancing through the space between them. Five saw him coming though and barrel-rolled to the right, avoiding the beams. As Bill lined up another shot he watched a missile carrying a smart bomb launch from under one of Fives wings, heading straight for Typhon. "Smart Bomb on your tail Typhon, boost!"

Bill watched as Typhon boosted forward, dodging through space as he tried to shake the lock. The missile stayed with him though and Bill lined up a shot on it. "Typhon, its a risk, but fly straight, I'm going to try and take it out."

"Roger that Lead."

Typhon straightened his flight path and the missile started catching up, closing the distance fast. "Lead..." Typhon sounded nervous "Any time now Lead!"

Bill lined up the shot on the missile and pulled the triggers, sending out two beams of energy that hit the missile and caused the signature star shaped explosion. For a second Bill was afraid he wasn't quick enough to save Typhon when he saw his Cornerian fighter head towards the planet, smoke trailing out of his engines.

"Typhon!"

Static erupted out of Bills comm as he turned his fighter towards Typhon's, but before he could catch up, Husky Five flew in front of him and set his sights on the crippled fighter. Bill thumbed a switch on the side of control stick before murmuring. "Sorry Five." He pulled the trigger, and felt his craft shake slightly as a smart bomb missile raced after Five. Before the apparent traitor could react, the missile slammed into the back of his craft and space lit up in front of Bill as he flew through shock waves of the explosion, chasing after his crippled wing-mate.

He keyed his comm as he chased after the fighter "This is Husky Lead! Control, something went wrong with Five, he turned traitor and attacked us, downing all but me and Husky Three, Something drained our shields when we got close to the planet. Husky Three was shot down, I'm going after him."

All that came out of Bills comm was static, and he frowned, he hoped his message got through. "Hang "on Typhon" he said as he coaxed a little more speed out of his fighter and chased after the crippled ship.

-Outer Ring Station 005, Control Room-

"Husky Lead." The Rabbit sitting at the control room computer held his breath as he waited for a reply. He glanced over his shoulder where General Peppy sat watching from a holographic feed. "Husky Lead, Come in."

Peppy was rubbing his chin, fingering the little tuft of hair that had grown off his chin in the last few years. "Still nothing?" he asked softly

The Rabbit shook his head. "No sir."

Peppy was quiet for a moment more. "Troubling. Did we get a match off our scans?"

The Rabbit opened another window on his display, tapping through the results. When he found the screen he was looking for he was silent as he read the results. "Well solider?" He jumped slightly "Sorry sir, its just, according to records, the plant is Cerinia."

Peppy was silent for a moment. "That planet vanished almost twenty years ago. Are you sure its Cerinia?"

The Rabbit double checked the scan. "According to the computer, its a one hundred percent match for Cerinia. Planet vanished seventeen years ago, only one known survivor-"

Peppy nodded "Thank you solider, that will be all for now. Keep the patrols up for now and make a cordon around the planet. I'll work up a plan of action over the next few days."

The Rabbit couldn't help but voice his thoughts. "What about the pilots?"

Peppy sighed, he had liked Bill. "Assumed KIA."

The Rabbit slumped over his console a little bit "Very well sir."

Peppy paused before he closed the connection. "We'll find them solider, I'm going to call in a special squad for this one though. We're not going to risk any more lives that we have to here."

-Fichina, Fichina Space Port, Dark Ice Bar, Two Weeks Later-

When the hooded figured walked in, nobody really cared. After all this bar wasn't the most open bar out there. It had a good reputation for being an excellent place to hire bounty hunters and mercenaries of all sorts. The figured stopped as they walked a few steps in and looked around.

If the owner was going for the grungy look of the bar, he was succeeding marvelously. At least half the lights were broken, The tables looked like they hadn't seen a good wash in a few years, most of the glasses were brown from stains and the overall effect of the bar was just extremely run down. After a brief examination the figure moved to the bar and took a seat at the counter. When the Bartender, a gruff looking swine with a broken tusk sticking out of one corner of his mouth, walked up the figure just waved him away.

The bartender grumbled as he walked away and left the figure to sit at the bar. Which he did, for a while. In fact the figure didn't move at all, at least not until somebody shouted across the bar. "Hey, Bark, change the channel will ya, there a race on tonight!"

Bark grumbled a bit more but went over to the TV and changed the channel until the race showed up. The figured canted his head to look at the screen before standing up and walking over to Bark. He learned down and whispered into his ear.

Bark frowned before leaning back and laughing. "You don't like whats on, you can piss off pal." Bark kept laughing until a blur furred hand reached out from under the cloak and wrapped it in the loose clothe of Barks shirt. He pulled him forward and as he did so, his hood fell back revealing a vixen with purple hair and blue fur that ran down her shoulder in a long pony tail that vanished underneath her cloak, along the left side of her muzzle ran a neat little read scar that started just below her left eye and ran to her lip "I said: Turn. It. Off."

The Vixen looked at her shoulder as a big meaty hand landed on it. "Hey Girly, I suggest you take your hand off my buddy there. Before you get hurt, permanent like."

The Vixen snarled at the hand as she looked at the grubby pig who was holding her shoulder. He looked like a fry cook of some sort, dressed in jeans and loose white shirt that was stained and wrinkled. His skin was a sickly brown color, and he looked to be missing a few of his teeth.

"Take your hand off me, now. I only warn once."

The swine grinned and tightened his grip. Later after the authorities checked the security cameras, they could tell what happened.

In a quick movement, the Vixen shrugged her shoulder loose from the swines grip, throwing an elbow back into his stomach, and when he was bent over gasping for breath, she stepped around him and drove a punishing fist into his side, the crack of bone was audible even on the low quality security recording. The swine stumbled away from the Vixen but she followed him, chopping him in the throat with the side of her hand. She ended her attack with a vicious round house kicked that laid the swine out side ways on the floor.

In the silence that followed, the Vixen cracked her neck then walked over to the bar, where she reached under her cloak and pulled out a staff, extending it so that it broke the screen of the TV. She then walked over to Bark. "Next time I ask you to change the channel, change the damn channel."

Bark obviously was scared, but he managed to ask. "Who the hell are you?"

The Vixen reached for her hood, pulling it back over her face. "Kursed." She then sat down at the bar and continued to stare at the wall in front of her. Some time later a small squad of Fichina Officials walked into the bar. They walked over to the Bark who at this point was staying as far away from Kursed as possible. As they talked she noticed Bark relaxing, before he openly pointed to her, then to his TV. Kursed took that as her sign to leave, heading for the door. Before she got halfway there though she heard a shout.

"Freeze Kursed!"

Kursed stopped where she was and slowly raised her hands to lower her hood. She glanced around at the Security Officers, who were slowly surrounding her. Kursed narrowed her eyes as she noticed that each one held the latest military blaster tech in their hands. The Space Port Authority here at Fichina barely had enough money to arm their security officers with old tech, and they sure as hell couldn't afford the latest in military hardware.

"Hands up Kursed, keep em where we can see them. Your coming with us."

Kursed raised her hands, grabbing her staff as she did. "You and what army?" She asked as she ran her thumb along the side, activating the build up of energy, the collapsed staff slowly glowed red as it built up the energy.

"Whats that in your hand Kursed?! Put it down, slowly."

Kursed grinned as the collapsed staff vibrated in her hand, signaling that it was ready. "What ever you say officers." She said, before she crouched down, extending the staff as the red energy discharged into the ground, shaking the very bar and uprooting the loose floorboards and toppling the tables. All the security forces lost their footing, and Kursed noticed with amusement as Bark collapsed he smacked his forehead into the side of the bar.

Kursed stood up and ran for the door, using her staff to knock out two of the officers that had recovered slightly faster then the rest. She reached the door and stepped through with a grin on her face. Only to have it slide off as she was blinded by spot lights and heard shouts to surrender.

Kursed put a hand over her eyes to blot out some of the light and muttered to herself as she managed to get a look at the force outside. "Oh, that army." she frowned as she noticed the large amount of rifles trained on her. She noted with some satisfaction that here was the signs of the poorly funded security crew, as many of them were carrying the old illegal slug weapon instead of energy ones.

Kursed looked down at her staff and ran another of her fingers along the side of the staff, the tip glowing red. Just as she started to hear whispers of what she might be up to, Kursed released several plasma bursts into the frozen ground, creating a giant cloud of steam that rose up to surround Kursed. who ducked down an alley way as the officers opened fire into the steam cloud. She grinned as she grabbed a ladder and climbed to the roof of a near by building. As she swung her body over the edge of the building she noticed that there happened to be quite a few officers out looking for her. Including quite a few snipers that were standing around on various roof tops.

Kursed sighed as she worked her way back to the space port, dropping down into alleyways when she had to to avoid the snipers. After a four hour round about trek through the city, in which she thought about what might warrant such a huge amount of force after her. Kursed finally made it to the Fichina Space Port, and her ship, the Cloud Runner II. Kursed smiled as she patted the hull of the large ship. While her personal fighter had been great, at one point she had needed an upgrade, just to be able to carry all of her stuff with her. The Cloud Runner II boasted a much more powerful set of blasters, extra torpedo tubes, just as powerful shields and a small lock up for that rare contract that required the target to be brought in alive.

She had kept the basic design of the ship the same, but she had expanded the body, giving more room inside for her to have a personal cabin, lock up and a small armory. Yet the ship was still small enough to fit in most single fighter storage bays at space ports. She had changed the color scheme of the ship so instead of the blue and white of before it was a dark purple with blue highlights that ran over the wings and wrapped around the engines.

Kursed walked to the rear of the ship and tapped in her access code to lower the small ladder that she used to enter the armory at the back of the ship. She quickly made her way to the cockpit while shedding her cloak to reveal the rest of her outfit. The original trip to Fichina had been to meet up for a contract, but she was now thinking that the whole thing had been a set up from the get go. Since she hadn't expected combat, she was just dressed in jeans and a black shirt with her blue flight vest over the top of it. As she sat down in the cockpit, she kicked her boots against the underside of her chair to dislodge some of the loose snow before beginning the start up sequence for her ship.

As her radio powered to life the voice of a space port official came out of the speaker. "Attention Fiona Sureshot, or rather Kursed. You are ordered to shut down your engines at once and surrender to Fichina Officers."

Kursed shook her head and grabbed the flight sticks for her fighter, increasing her thrust and lifting her fighter off the pad.

"Kursed! This is your last warning! If you try to take off, we will open fire and blast you out of the sky!"

Kursed scoffed and keyed her radio. "I would love to see you guys try." with that she pointed her ship up and activated her boosters launching into the air and damaging the landing area as she blasted into orbit and punched through into space. She glanced at her scanner as she left Fichina behind, glad to be off the frozen dirt ball. She turned back to her canopy and felt her jaw drop.

In front of her were at least five Cornerian Army cruisers, and each one was arming its weapons and locking onto her ship, causing her cockpit to be filled with the sounds of warning alarms. She silenced the alarms and realized that one of the sounds was an incoming alert. Kursed looked at it with doubt before she pressed the answer button and felt her face raise in a silent snarl as the General appeared on her communicator.

"General Peppy." she said softly.

"Kursed." The hare responded curtly

Kursed lost the snarl and frowned "What exactly did I do to warrant such a huge response General? Last I checked visiting Fichina wasn't a crime."

The aging hare shook his head "No, but you did visit it under a false name, then there is of course the damage you did to the bar. I was told some sort localized earth quake. Repairs are going to be quite costly." Peppy paused "Of course, I might be willing to step in if you help us out with something."

Kursed narrowed her eyes. "What sort of something?"

Peppy let a little bit a smile out. "Oh, just a small scouting mission."

Kursed scoffed, "Bull shit, no way you throw this much weight around just to get me to join some scouting mission. Whats the catch?"

Peppy shook his head as the smile slid off his face. "No catch, I just need you for this particular mission is all, or rather somebody with your particular skill set."

Kursed growled softy "Bull. Shit. There's something else you're not telling me. But I get the feeling that you're not going to tell me here. So, for now I'll comply, but if I see anything I don't like, I'm gone."

Peppy nodded his head "Fair enough Kursed. Just know that if you do take off, I will have to keep you on the most wanted list."

Kursed waved her hand in a dismissive gesture "So I can't land on a few planets, not like I care, there are plenty of ports out there. So, where do I need to go for this mission.?"

Peppy was silent for a moment. "You can report to the cruiser Fortify for now. I still need to get a few few things ready before I send you out."

"And if I just want to fly there myself?"

Peppy shook his head "Sorry Kursed, that ones not up for debate. Report to the landing bay, and do try to behave." Peppy cut the connection and vanished from her view screen.

Kursed grunted as her ship shook slightly, she frowned as her computer alerted her to the tractor beam lock that was now pulling her towards the landing bay of the nearest cruiser. She growled again as her ship was pulled into the landing bay. "I'll show him how I behave." she muttered as she grabbed her staff and headed for her armory.

-Corneria, G-Zero Race Track, One Week Later-

The crowd erupted into cheers as the blue and white racer blurred across the finish line, securing his place in first, followed shortly by his partner and some times rival in second place. It was the final race of the Corneria World race set, and with that finish, Fox McCloud, Pilot turned Racer, secured his first place win for the series. Fox couldn't help but take one hand off his control sticks to pump a fist in the air in celebration.

As he slowed down his racer and pulled into the pit area, he couldn't help but wonder about the direction his life had taken these past eight years. Being a G-Zero racer when Falco had suggested it had seemed odd at the time, but he couldn't lie to himself that spending what little money he had left constantly getting sauced in every bar on Corneria hadn't been a great way to spend his time either.

It hadn't taken, Fox and Falco long to start gaining attention in the racing world. They had converted two of their spare Arwings to fit the specs for a G-Zero racer, the space craft style G-Diffuser allowed for better control, and they kept the same paint job, only adding their names to the side to distinguish the ships. The result was something that attracted attention and got them a entirely different type of fan base.

Sure there were some that thought Fox and Falco had turned away from their cause in life. But for every single one of those fans had left, two more had joined. People it seemed were always trying to get the pairs autograph, even if they tried to disguise their looks with a hat or something, there was always one person who saw the duo for who they were.

Thinking about the fans and his old team had him thinking about Slippy Toad. The little green guy had stuck around for a bit, while they were still an underground hit, but eventually a job working on advanced technology with his dad came up and Slippy took it. The last message from the toad had been a few years ago at least. He had mentioned a promotion coming up, but he hadn't sounded happy about it.

Fox sighed, his good mood ruined by his own thoughts as he pulled into the hanger where they kept the racers. He finished the shut down sequence and popped his canopy right as Falco Lombardi pulled into his garage bay. Fox hoped out of his racer and brushed off the sleeve of his red jumpsuit, where a little bit of grime covered the Team Star Fox name. He looked over as Falco popped his canopy and hopped out in his green jumpsuit, after starting the shut down of his engines, instead of waiting like Fox did.

Where Fox's fur had just darkened a few shades of orange, making his white stripes stand out even more. Falco feathers had lightened in a stripe along his head, while the rest of them had darkened. It had turned him, as his girl friend Katt Monroe put it, "into a very hot Bird Boy." Ever since then, Falco had taken to wearing a pair of sunglasses all the time. Even while he was driving his racer, although he at least had the sense to tuck them up on his head. As he walked over to Fox he slid the shades over his eyes.

"Good race old man, I only trailed you by a few seconds that time. If I had managed to pass you on inside of the last turn, I would be the one celebrating here next week."

Fox shook his head "Whatever Lombardi, You still would have been three points behind overall."

Falco laughed "I'm the cocky one Fox, not you."

Fox grinned as the two of them made their way towards the garage exit. "Maybe you've just mellowed in your old age, your what, going on forty now?"

Falco punched Fox playfully on the shoulder. "Its thirty-eight thank you, and you're only a year behind me, so you have no room to talk."

Fox shook his head as he walked out of the garage with Falco, both heading for the locker rooms to change. They walked in, already pulling the zippers on their jumpsuits and ready to get into more casual clothes. They walked into separate stalls with their clothes draped over their arms and started changing.

As Fox was pulling on jeans he heard Falco ask from the stall next to him "So, what are we going to do until next week when the award ceremony goes down? Just hang out at the racers hotel, or are we going to head back to Papetoon?"

Fox thought about it for a moment, as he pulled on his black shirt and sat down to "Actually, since that's what we do pretty much every year, how about we ditch the racers hotel, get a different one downtown, then get out and hit some of our old haunts, see how they've changed in the last few years."

Falco's hands appeared on the edge of the stall wall as he pulled himself over it to look at his friend. "Seriously? We haven't done that in years."

Fox laughed "That's kinda the point isn't it?"

Falco managed to shrug and dropped back down into his stall. "True enough I guess. So what do we do about the hotel? Just tell them we're going to another one?"

Fox opened the door to the stall and set about gathering his things. "Yea, even though if we do that, somebody is going to let people know that we're out and about. I say we just grab a few things from the Hanger and head to another hotel. Try and keep it on the down low, you know."

Falco laughed as he kicked open his stall door, his bag slung over his shoulder. "That reminds me, I'm guessing most of the race earnings are going to the Hangers rent as usual right?"

Fox nodded absentmindedly as he grabbed his own bag and held it loosely in his right hand. He adjusted the sleeve of his shirt so it went down to his wrist. He turned to find Falco dressed in black slacks and a dark blue polo. Fox raised an eyebrow at him as Falco let him look his fill.

Fox just shook his head and turned to the exit as Falco pulled on a trim jacket as well. "I'm guessing you and Katt are going out tonight?" Fox asked as he swung the door open and let a chill guest of wind blow in.

Falco nodded "Hey, here's an idea, if we get a hotel, everybody is going to know where we're at anyway. Why don't we just stay at the Hanger, we stop by a store grab some supplies and head there. I can still get out for my date with Katt, and we get privacy for once." Falco shook his head as the two of them walked down the street. "You know after that win, lots of our fans are going to be looking for us. I almost think its become a game for them, ya know? They know that we try to stay out of the public eye-"

Fox smiled as he mummered "Something you never were good at, or liked."

Falco grinned at him, but kept talking. "They take it as a challenge to try and find us, the reward: our autograph."

Falco and Fox were approaching the warehouse distract. Fox noticed that Falco kept glancing at his wrist gauntlet, checking the time.

Fox sighed. "Go ahead."

Falco turned to face him. "What?"

Fox waved a hand through the air. "Your date with Katt. I know you want to go now." Fox paused "Got a deal for you, go now, have a nice date, then stop by the store on your way back to the Hanger. I'll go ahead and get everything started up. Deal?" Fox held out his hand as he said the last.

Falco slapped his hand "Deal." he said as he ran off, leaving Fox shaking his head. He reached into his bag and pulled out a baseball cap, pulling it snugly over his head, making sure his ears popped through the holes in the top. Then pulling the bill lower over his face, Fox continued working his way through the warehouse district, heading for the storage areas beyond.

As Fox approached one of the largest storage buildings he thought about what they had started calling the 'Hanger'. He walked up to the large building surrounded by the flimsy security fence, on the outside, the warehouse looked like all the rest, on the inside however, it was completely different.

Fox walked up to the gate and kicked it open, moving to the small door on the outside, ignoring the big warehouse doors, knowing as he did that they were welded shut and reinforced with another set of doors on the inside. When he reached the door, he took a key from around his neck and put into the top of a small box next to the door, popping the cover and allowing him to punch in his seven digit code on the keypad inside.

The door next to him bounced slightly as the heavy bolts inside withdrew from the frame, allowing him to pop it open and have access to the small hallway inside. He walked down the hallway, taking off his hat as he reached another door, this one with a small scanner next to it. Fox pressed his hand against the scanner, and when it beeped he pushed against the door blocking him, walking into the large open inside.

Fox glanced up at what occupied the space and sighed, before walking up a small gantry and patting the white wing that was hanging down. Time had not been kind to the Great Fox II. Fox walked over to the door on the side and pressed another five digit code into the keypad, the door sliding up into the hull as a hum filled the warehouse as the Great Fox started its power systems.

Fox walked into the hallway, watching as the lights slowly clicked on in sequence as he walked down. He couldn't help but think back to how the ship had ended up in this state of disrepair. It was less then a decade ago when it was brand new, built in record time to celebrate the defeat of the Aparoids, then given to Star Fox as a thank you for saving Lylat. Space Dynamics had the original blueprints on record, and aside from swapping out older alloys and materials with newer versions and stronger alloys, the ship was exactly the same.

It had gotten two years of use, before...that.

Fox drifted the hallways, lost in his memories, called again, by just being in the ship, his ship, their ship.

Fox walked through the hallway of the ship, his mind awash in his own thoughts. He had been arguing with himself for the past two months, knowing as he did, how she would most likely react, but he couldn't help the emotions and thoughts that were constantly raging a war inside him. Every time they got in the Arwings, every time he knew there was a chance that they would get into a firefight. He worried, it got so bad, he worried himself sick some nights. He loved her, god did he love her, and everybody knew it. But he was so scared- no. Terrified, that something would happen to her. Something would happen, and he would lose her, and he didn't know if he would be able to handle it.

The great Fox McCloud, had finally found love, and it had made him finally realize how much he had to lose.

As if summoned by his thoughts, he felt two hands wrap around his waist, pulling him tight against her body. "Morning Love." she whispered into her ear, her hands moving up to rub his fur underneath his shirt. He couldn't help the grin that crawled up his muzzle as she blew softly in his ear. They had only been married half a year, him having finally proposed on the day the Great Fox had been rebuilt, they had been married just a few weeks later. Still after all this time, she was very...playful, and was always trying to surprise him.

He knew that he would never tire of her presence, both in his heart, and in his head. She completed him, and that was what made all of this that much harder. His own hands rose to hold hers, stopping their progress. He felt her stiffen slightly when he didn't release her. She moved backwards a bit, separating their bodies, but still keeping her hands on him, although she did pull them out from under his shirt and rested them on his back. His face twitched as he felt her connect his mind to hers, heard her soft gasp as she finally felt the turmoil that he had been hiding from her for the past few months.

"Oh...Fox...Whats wrong? I can't tell what it is, but it has been bothering you for some time now."

Fox turned around slowly, taking her hands in his, he turned his gaze down to stare at them, rubbing his finger through her fur, eventually touching on the ring that he himself had put on her finger. She pulled her hands out of his loose grasp and took his in hers, pulling on them gently to get him to look up at her.

As he razed his head to gaze into her turquoise green eyes, so like his own vivid green, he felt the connection they shared go stronger, and he heard her gasp as she picked out up on his thoughts.

Her eyes got misty and Fox watched tears form in her eyes. "You...you don't want...me?"

Fox opened his mouth to voice his fears, then changed his mind about what he was going to say. "No...No Krystal, never that." Fox smiled sadly as he took in her appearance, she was dressed in one of his larger shirts, it drifting down to her hips where a pair of shorts reached down her legs, before leaving her lower legs exposed right down to her bare feet. He turned his gaze back to her face, where the beads in the left side of her hair was moving slowly as she waited for an answer. "I just..." Fox paused again. "I think its too dangerous. That's all."

Krystal blinked "Too dangerous?"

Fox nodded "Flying, missions, all that, I just..." He still couldn't bring himself to say it. "I just think it would be better if you stayed on the ship, or even better, we buy a house somewhere, anywhere."

Krystal was silent for a long time, eventually she withdrew her hands, tugging them out of his grasp when he tried to hold on to her. She had closed her eyes and bowed her head, staring at the floor. Fox was afraid she was crying, but when she raised her head, she returned his own sad smile with one of her own. Then she raised her hand and placed it gently on his cheek, and he felt her withdraw from his mind. "If that's what you want, I'll do it."

Fox had been surprised "Really?"

She nodded "Yes, I love you Fox, I'll always love you. Now, while we're docked here, why don't you head out and find us something to eat. I'll get the kitchen ready, we still have a few days before Slippy and Falco get back from their mission. We might have time to eat alone one more time."

Fox smiled at her, glad that she was okay with it. "Okay." he said as he kissed her softly on the top of her head. "I'll see you in a bit." With that he turned around and headed for the airlock that would let him into the station, turning around one last time to wave good bye at her. She returned it, still with that sad smile on her face.

He should have known better.

With that last thought, Fox blinked himself out of his memories as he wondered through the bridge, passing ROB who was charging in the corner. He moved down the small elevator and reached the crew deck, where he made his way down the hallway passing each door with a small glance, at least until he got to the fifth and last one. He paused in front of this one, before palming the switch next to the door, which slid slowly into the wall. He walked in and inhaled, as if he could still catch her sent. He sighed when the only thing that reached his nose was the musty smell of dust. He walked further into the room, turning on the lights as he did so, and sat down on a stool next to the bed. The stool being the only thing he had added to the room since then.

It was silly, he knew, but he hadn't done anything to it, because he still hoped she would come back, even though he knew it was impossible. He reached out for a piece of yellowed paper on her night stand.

He had gotten back to the ship almost an hour later, food from the best restaurant on the station in his hands. He was excited to spend another dinner alone with her, and his excitement lasted until he walked into the kitchen to find...nothing.

The table wasn't set, the dishes the team had dirtied that morning still sat in the sink and the lights were dim from nobody being in the room. Frowning, and just beginning to feel like something was wrong, Fox set his bags down on the counter before shrugging off his always present flight vest and tucking it over a chair.

"Krystal?" he called out, wondering if she had just gotten distracted and was near by. Frowning when he didn't hear a response, he walked through the halls, eventually making his way to the elevator and riding it up to the crew deck. As he stepped out of the elevator he frowned. Her door at the end of the hall was closed.

"Krystal?" he called again, working his way down the hallway. He paused outside her door, raised a hand and knocked. "Krystal?" he said softly as he knocked. "Are you okay?" When there was no answer, Fox touched the open switch and felt something in him pulse in pain as the door slid open to reveal her darkened room.

He took a step in, his vision picking out the pulled drawers in her dresser, and her open closet, with hangers bared to the world. The only light source in the room came from her small lamp on her bedside table. Fox walked over to it, reaching to shut it off when he saw the piece of paper. Something inside of him was freaking out over that paper, as if warning him not to look at it. But his curiosity overrode the feelings and he picked it up.

It was a simple piece of paper, folded in half, with his name writing in her hand writing on one side. Fox flipped it open and read through the note. It was short, but each word that he read felt like being shot.

'I'm sorry, I can't be that person.'

Fox ran his finger gently over the words, the ink starting to fade after all these years, but he would never forget them. Ever.

He knew that what he was doing, knew it wasn't healthy. He had been told before that he needed to let go, but he couldn't. He blamed himself for what had happened. Perhaps if he had looked a little harder, he could have stopped it.

Fox and Falco were just starting to catch on in the racing world. They had managed to make the jump from the underground races and were in the officially sponsored ones, their names were just starting to become a house hold common, and TV crews were trying to follow them around. That's why it hadn't been hard for them to find him. He didn't remember a lot about the following weeks, just that if Falco hadn't been there, his racing career would have been over as it started, and Fox would have died in some alley.

As it was, there was one thing he would never forget. Tears formed in his eyes as his memories rose once more to consume him.

"Are you sure ready for this?"

Fox was still numb with shock, not really taking in the owls words.

"Sir, did you hear me?"

Falco frowned at his friend, before he turned to the owl. "He still can't believe it, but even if he can't really focus, I can still confirm for you."

The owl nodded before he took a grip on the sheet on the table and pulled it off the body. Fox took one look at the body before running to the near by trash can and throwing up so violently it came out of his nose. Falco even fought the urge to puke, but managed to swallow his gorge.

They had both seen a lot of dead bodies in their time, but somehow, knowing who this had been made it all the worse. Her blue fur was torched and black, whole sections of it gone, revealing the scabbed and burned skin. In the middle of her chest was a large gash where she had been stabbed with a large blade. Cuts ran along her arms and legs, signs that she had fought the police said. The worst part though, and the one that had caused Fox to run to the trash can, was the head. The police had said that somebody had taken a sledgehammer to it, to try and make it so the body couldn't be identified. The damage was severe, and Falco or Fox hadn't been able to think of words to describe it. Instead they just pulled their gazes back to the owl.

Falco had blinked. "How can you tell its her?"

The owl, his job obviously weighing heavily on him at the moment reached for a clipboard. "DNA mainly, but with such extensive damage, we just wanted to make sure."

Falco frowned "How the hell are we suppose to identify that?!"

The owl shook his head, "Actually, we need you to look at this." with that he reached down for a bag where a small golden band covered in just a bit of blood sat on display. The owl took the bag, then made to dump it out into Falco's hand. Before the bird could extend his hand though, Fox's paw was there. The owl paused for only a moment before letting the band fall out and into the the orange furred paw. Fox pulled his arm in, his fist closing over the ring as he closed his eyes, trying to hold back tears. He hadn't gotten to long a look at it, but what he had seen had been enough.

"Its her." he said softly as he turned and walked towards the exit.

The owl called out. "Sir, I'm going to need that ring back."

Falco shook his head. "Man, that is his wife, just let him have the stupid thing, you have your confirmation. Now, we're leaving." Falco turned to follow Fox

"But..."

Falco whirled back around to stare at the owl who's objection faded into nothing. Falco kept the glare going for a few more moments before he turned back to following Fox, leaving the owl standing next to the body. The funeral had been a few days later, Fox dressed in all black, and wearing his fathers shades stood alone as the casket was lowered into the cold hard and unforgiving ground. When the service was over, it had taken Falco three hours to find Fox, who was getting drunk in every bar he could. On the way back to the hotel they were staying at, Fox had broken down, sobbing as he told Falco it was all his fault.

He still believed that.

Fox reached underneath his shirt and pulled out a small thin chain, on it dangled a ring, inscribed with the words. 'In Arwings, On the ground, No matter what, Together they shall be.' next to the inscription were the letters KMC. The exact same thing was inscribed on the ring that he still wore on his hand. Fox let the tears flow, darkening his fur as it got wet, before eventually managing to make their way to the tip of his nose where they fell off to land on the dark floor. He wasn't sure how long he sat there and cried, but eventually he remembered that he had to finish getting the ship ready before Falco got done with his date.

He stood up and set the note back down where it belonged gently, before he left the room, shutting off the lights as the door closed.

When Falco walked onto the ship some time later, his coat flung over his shoulder, he headed straight for the kitchen, giving ROB a wave as the two passed each other in the hall. He set the bags he had been carrying in his one hand down on the counter and sorted through them, grabbing various food stuff and putting them away. The last thing he pulled out was a six pack of chilled beer, he took two out then put the rest in the fridge, before moving towards the entertainment room where Fox sat on the couch, watching the recap of their race from the day.

Falco walked by, depositing one of the beers in front of Fox, who took it, before sitting down himself. Falco pretended to not notice his friends red eyes. They sat in silence for a moment, Falco grinning when the news reporter mentioned that the two racers had vanished, leaving only a message with the front desk. Apparently many people expected them to show up at Papetoon soon enough.

Falco snorted and spit out a bit of beer as he laughed and pointed at the screen. "They even got a poll going on what were doing, ah man that's great."

Fox grinned and chuckled ruefully. Falco glanced at him before he sighed "So..."

Fox cut him off "Don't bother, I know what you're going to say. You and everybody else saying it doesn't change my mind. So for now, or rather at least for tonight anyway, lets just sit here, like old times. Tomorrow we'll wake up and I'll show you that I can still kick your butt at video games, and a week from now, we'll go accept our awards and go back to life as usual until the next race."

Falco closed his mouth slowly and chuckled "I was just going to say you look like shit, but whatever man." He leaned back in the couch "By the way, you can never beat me at video games, you're getting senile in you're old age."

Fox snorted. "Whatever."

The next three days passed with nothing happening. It wasn't until the forth night though that Fox was woken up from sleep by a beeping from his wrist gauntlet, which was sitting next to him on his nightstand. He blinked at, trying to figure out what message was being displayed, when he saw the red lights and the warning signs. Fox rolled out of bed, dressed in his t-shirt and shorts, before reaching down to his nightstand and pulling open the drawer to grab his blaster from inside. He silenced the gauntlet as he slipped it over his wrist, before moving to the hallway, he stepped out and glanced behind him as Falco's door slid open and the avian stepped out holding an illegal revolver in his hand.

"You got the alert too then." he said softly as he stepped up next to Fox, who double checked to make sure his blaster was powered up. Fox nodded before gesturing down the hallway, the two of them making their ways down it.

"The alert said somebody was trying to force an override on the warehouse doors, but the Great Fox's external sensors aren't alerted yet, so they aren't inside at least." Fox said as he glanced down at his gauntlet. "Lets go out the security door and see if we can catch them coming around the corner."

The pair exited the ship and padded silently across the hanger, opening the security doors and stepped outside. Fox moved towards the front, while Falco followed him, walking backwards to make sure they didn't get jumped. As they approached the corner, a group of figures rounded the corner, Fox leveled his blaster at them. "Hit the dirt, or I'll shoot."

Their reaction was not what he expected, instead of bodies touching the ground, a bunch of flashlights popped into existence and the group shouted back at him. "C.P.F. Lower your weapons and put your hands on your head!"

Fox lowered his blaster, while Falco spoke up from behind "Well shit." he said as he tucked his revolver into the back of his pants.

As the Cornerian Police Force approached the two, Fox called out. "This is all just a big misunderstanding. My name is-"

"Fox McCloud, I have been trying to find you for the past four days."

Fox blinked as the flashlights found their way into his eyes. "Peppy?" he asked

"Put your weapons down please, they are not going to fight back."

The flash lights clicked off and Fox closed his eyes, rubbing them as if that would help restore his night vision. When he opened them again he found Peppy walking towards him, dressed in a red coat and a black under suit with the stars on his chest that announced he was the General of the Cornerian Armed Forces.

Fox blinked again as he stared at his old mentor, Falco standing besides him. "Hey Peppy, what gives?" the bird asked as he took a step forward.

Peppy sighed "I need your help."

Fox frowned "Of course, but I don't know how we can help you, I mean were G-Zero racers now."

Peppy nodded as he looked at the warehouse wall. "Yes, about that, that's what I need."

It was Falco's turn to frown. "Come on Old Man, be clear."

Peppy turned his gaze back to the pair. "Is there some place private we can talk?"

Fox shook his head. "For once I'm with Falco, what's going on Peppy?"

Peppy inhaled, then sighed once more. "I need you two to recreate Star Fox."

Falco blinked. "What?"

Okay, there it is. Now, unlike my other stories, this one is just a bit of a test at the moment, so what that means to all of you is this:

No Reviews, no updates.

I'm thinking Six, if I get six reviews, I'll work on this more.

I know I'm not the most popular writer around, or the best, so I think asking for six isn't to much. That said, if you leave review, please, let me know of any mistakes I made, or if you think I can improve anywhere, and as anyone who has reviewed my stories know, I reply to all my reviews, except the anonymous ones, just because I can't.

Until then, I bid you all a Good Day or Night

1-06-12: Okay, got six in one day, sweet, this is now set as an active project in my mind. So my rough plans so far are going to be gunning for weekly updates, I'm also looking into a Beta Readers, because I want this story to be better then my others, and since one of my reviewers pointed out just how many god damn grammar mistakes there are, well, yea, I'm working on fixing those. On the progress side though, I do have Chapter 2 done and I'm just waiting on working on a time frame with my Beta Reader to get in to him, and I'll be starting on Chapter 3 here in the next few days. So hey, the next update will be done just as soon as I get it back from Beta and fixed up and shiny!

Peace,

-Emile