AN: Over three years ago is when this was last updated. A lot has happened in that time, not all of it good, not all of it bad. I left school, joined college, finished college and more. Something that hasn't changed, though, is the fact that I think that I can create something great out of this story, and while I haven't worked on this as much as I'd have liked to recently, I fully intend to change that. I think I've gotten over a serious case of writer's block, so that should help. Now I can focus on this more. I hope it's worth the wait, and I look forward to seeing your opinions on this chapter.

Also, to avoid and confusion, as of tomorrow, I'll be changing my username from AJ COOLREDD to SF Alba.

Chapter 8: Too Bright

"Alex! Alex wake up!" Bill shouted at the sleeping human who was under his covers.

"Yeah, you might not want to do that!" A German Shepard warned from the back of the room, but he was ignored by the group of four: a toad, a pheasant, a fox and a bulldog.

"Alex! Come on! Get up!" Bill shouted again and shook Alex's arm. "We need to get out of here!"

"Mmhh... Gid wee doggy... Gaun lie doon..." The half-sleeping Alex mumbled as he reached up and petted Bill's head, making Falco start snickering.

"Uh... Fox, you try and wake him up." An embarrassed Bill suggested when he was unsuccessful.

"Pfft, come on Alex, get up!" Fox laughed as he hauled Alex into a sitting position, despite Alex still being asleep.

"Uuugggghhhhh!" Alex grunted when Fox opened the curtains, letting the bright blue sun shine on Alex's face. "Mah heed!" He cried and grabbed his head as a result of a hangover. He slowly opened his eyes, only to see five Cornerians staring at him; had it been a few days ago, he'd have freaked out, but he was getting used to the Cornerians always invading his privacy. "What time is it?" He asked, since he felt like the sun were ten times brighter than it should've been.

"It's nine o'clock, dude! You need to get up!" Falco stated and tapped his electronic watch.

Alex just looked at the group as if they were completely insane. "The fuck's wrong with you guys? Do you hate sleep or something?" He asked rhetorically before falling backwards onto his pillow.

"Ugh, come on Alex! We're in a hurry!" Bill whined.

"Why? What's the rush?" Alex asked as he sat back up, one hand on his forehead.

"What's wrong with your head?" Slippy asked before anyone could answer Alex's question.

"Bloody hangover." Alex answered and quickly shook his head in a vain attempt to clear his head. "Fay, Katt and me were at some weird rave thing in some weird shopping cen- mall, in some weird mall." He explained. "Ugh, I'd kill for a bottle of Irn-Bru right now... It's the best hangover cure in the world!" He exclaimed. "Well, at least on earth it was; I don't know about this planet..." He corrected himself when he remembered he wasn't on earth.

"You were with Fay yesterday?" Bill asked, ignoring Alex's rambling.

"Hm? Aye I was." Alex yawned. "She got pished." He chuckled tiredly as he was about to stand up, but before he did, a sudden realization made him stop.

"What do you mean she got pished? What does that mean?" Bill asked strangely, not understanding the phrase.

"Uh... Hammered, wasted, pissed… very, very drunk. My hangover's nothing compared to what she'll have!" He exclaimed. "But… uh… guys, I can't really get out of bed right now…" Alex stammered, as he had realized that under the covers he was completely naked.

"Oh, come on Alex! Just stand up and you'll be fine!" Falco moaned and grabbed Alex's arm to drag him out of bed.

"Ah! NO!" Alex cried as he was dragged from his bed. He only just managed to pull his covers along with him to cover himself. Falco tried to make him stand, but Alex's legs made no such effort, as he went tumbling to the ground, barely managing to cover himself.

"Dude! What's wrong with you!? Your hangover can't be that bad!" Falco scoffed.

"Uh, you're right, it's not that bad." Alex said from the floor. "But… well… you see… the thing is… eh… you guys need to leave this room for a second… like… now." he struggled to say.

"What? Why?" Slippy asked, looking down on someone for once, as Alex was still on the floor.

"Well… To be honest, I'm completely naked right now." Alex half chuckled.

"Oh! Ew!" Falco cried and looked at the hand he used to drag Alex out of bed, which he then wiped on Fox's shoulder.

"Oh, dammit Falco! You're disgusting!" Fox shouted and pushed into Falco with his shoulder.

"Hey!" Falco cried and pushed Fox back. In a couple of seconds, they had begun tackling each other, neither backing down.

"Guys! Bloody hell, can't you do that outside?!" Alex shouted over the noise of the scrap, while Slippy watched and laughed. Nobody listened to him. "Sam!" he shouted at the nervous dog at the back of the room. "Get them out of here!"

"Uh…" Sam muttered, not knowing what he could possibly do to remove the scuffling duo from the room. He stood up, and cautiously moved towards the pair, but as he got close, he got Falco's elbow to his muzzle. "Owww!" he cried as he now lay on the floor cupping his damaged face.

"Oh for fuck sake…" Alex sighed to himself. While no one was looking, Alex slyly maneuvered himself around the room, while remaining on the floor under his covers. He passed by his chest of drawers, quietly picking out some clothes for himself. Once he had what he needed, he took a glance over to the group. To him, they were a really weird group; Fox was holding Falco in a headlock, and Falco was trying to trip Fox over, meanwhile, Slippy was jumping around the pair screaming his head off, Sam was still on the ground, holding his muzzle, and Bill was leaning against the wall, staring into space. All the commotion was definitely not helping Alex's hangover, which was splitting his head open on the inside, so he made his way to the en-suite bathroom as fast as one can while crawling backwards while also covering oneself with a duvet cover.

Once inside, he quickly locked the door and got his clothes on, which were much less intimidating than the previous days of dark, inconspicuous clothing. Given the heat he was feeling from his windows, he decided to wear a white tank top, which showed off his defined muscles well. He was also wearing faded light blue jeans, and a pair of white trainers with a red logo and red laces. He did tie a light grey hoodie with a zip around his waist by the sleeves, just in case it got chilly. Once he was fully clothed, he walked over to the mirror and instantly cringed at what he saw. Four large scars had become prominent on his left cheek, a fact which disgusted him. Had it been anywhere else, he wouldn't have minded as much, but the fact that it was right on the side of his face gave him a horrible feeling. Aside from that, he also noticed that his hair had gotten much longer since he had last looked at it, not that he hadn't already noticed, as at shoulder length it had been irritating him for a while now. In general, when he looked in the mirror, he could barely recognize himself, which done a good job of depressing him. His head was also aching, due to a hangover, he presumed. He washed his face, brushed his teeth and fixed his hair as best he could, then he threw on a white cap with a black brim and left the bathroom.

The room was the same as when he had left, except Sam seemed to have crawled across the floor, and was now sitting against the opposite wall from Bill. Alex walked over to Fox and Falco, and grabbed them both by the back of the collar to lift them up.

"Right you two! Cut it oot!" Alex commanded as he dropped them on their feet.

"Ugh, alright fine." Fox agreed, dusting himself off.

"Why is my elbow so sore?" Falco asked as he rubbed the bruise that had formed on his arm.

"Because it hit my face!" Sam snapped at the bird as he wiped away a speck of blood from his nose.

"Okay, before you pair start arguing, where the hell are we going?" Alex interrupted just as Falco was about to retort.

"Wha… are y…" Falco started before he came to a realization. "Crap! Fox, he doesn't know!" He practically shouted.

"Oh! No, he doesn't!" Fox replied, now excited.

Alex was now very intrigued as to what they were talking about. "I don't know what?!" He asked quickly as he grabbed a small metal container.

"We're going to th-" Slippy started but was stopped when Falco jumped towards him and covered his mouth.

"Oh, no, no, no! I don't think so!" Falco squawked before Slippy could speak.

"Oh, Alex, you're in for an exciting day, my friend!" Fox said as he walked to the door. "Now come on, or we'll be late!"

"Ugh, did you have to do that so hard?" Slippy whined at Falco as he rubbed his sore jaw.

"Yeah… I kinda did…" Falco chuckled back.

"Alright! I'll just grab some stuff and then we can go." Alex finally agreed before spraying himself with the contents of the can, making everyone jump at the unexpected burst of gasses.

"What the hell was that?!" Fox asked loudly as he started smelling a strange aroma.

"Just some deodorant. Calm doon." Alex sighed, to which he got raised eyebrows. "Bloody hell, never mind!" He said with a slightly raised voice. He grabbed his phone from on top of his chest of drawers. He didn't need it; he obviously didn't have a signal, but he liked to have it with him anyway.

The group walked to the front door. On their way, Fox, Falco, Bill, Slippy and Sam were having a discussion, but Alex's head was too sore to care, or even notice.

"Alex! Alex there you are!" He heard a feminine voice shout from behind him. The call wasn't even very loud, but it made Alex stop in his tracks and grab his head in pain. Everyone else in the group stopped and turned to the source of the sound.

Sarah, the Golden Labrador, had shouted from the top of one of the three staircases in the main lobby, and quickly made her way to the group. She was wearing a white belly top, a silver necklace, light skinny jeans, pink shoes and a pink and black hat, as well as bracelets of various colours on her right arm. Sam noticed these things faster than everyone.

"Damn, Sarah! You look good!" He boldly exclaimed. "You want to come along with me? If you get scared, I'll take care of you!" He winked as he shifted closer to her.

"Your nose is bleeding." Sarah replied bluntly and uncomfortably moved away from him.

"Oh, wha… still?!" Sam muttered to himself. He ran to a nearby table and took a tissue.

"Alex, Mary wants to talk to you, she has something for you." Sarah told Alex with a big smile, but she got no response. "Um… Alex?" She asked and tapped his shoulder as he was still facing away.

Alex shook his head and snapped back to reality. "Oh… uh… what?" He asked the lab.

"Mary's looking for you…" She replied and gave him a strange look. She pointed to a door near the front door, before turning to speak to the rest of the group.

Alex quickly made his way to Mary's office as Sarah acquainted herself with the rest of the group. He knocked on the door and it almost immediately burst open.

"Alex!" A familiar robin shouted in her usual optimistic tone. "Oh, Alex, dear! Look at your face! Those are some pretty big scars!" She exclaimed, unintentionally making Alex feel bad about himself. Without saying anything, she disappeared into her office, only to emerge again a few seconds later. "Here, hold still now!" She warned as she grabbed his face with one hand, with the other, she rubbed a blue cream into his face.

"Ah! What are you…?!" Alex cried and was about to struggle, but before he did, she let him go.

"There you go sweetie! That should get rid of those scars nice and quick!" She told him with a smile.

"Wait, wha…" Alex was about to ask, but he was once again cut off.

"Oh, and here, everyone in the orphanage gets 50 Credits." Mary told him and gave him a pouch of small metal pieces that looked like computer chips. "Have fun out there!"

"Oh, uh… thanks…" Alex stammered as the door slammed shut once more. He turned back to the group, and while most of them were talking, he saw Falco snickering at what had just happened to Alex. "Well… that was different…" He said, flabbergasted.

Most of the group left the building, but Sam and Sarah stayed behind to wait for Lisa and Ben.

"We've got to get Miyu, Fay, Katt and Fara." Fox said. "We should hurry."

"Fara… where have I heard that before?" Alex mumbled to himself and rubbed his forehead as he tried to identify the familiar name.

"Well why don't we split up?" Bill suggested. "Fox, you can get Fara, Falco you can get Katt, Slippy, you can get Miyu and I'll get Fay. It'll save some time."

'Fara… who is that…?' Alex asked himself as he struggled to remember much from the night before.

"Aright, it's a plan!" Fox agreed. "Alex, you should go with Slippy; Miyu lives in a pretty rough area. We can all meet at the fountain when we've got everyone." He wanted to make sure Alex didn't tag along with him because he wanted to meet with Fara alone, and Slippy seemed like the best option for Alex to accompany.

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?! I can handle myself!" Slippy retorted, but he didn't protest to Alex accompanying him.

"Yeah, Slippy, we know! But Alex has to go with someone!" Fox tried to justify his statement.

Slippy accepted the statement, although it didn't make Alex feel particularly great about himself.

"Come on then, Alex, let's go." Slippy half sighed.

"Alright, I guess…" Alex agreed, not feeling very welcome.

*Knock knock knock*

"Katt, you in there?" Katt heard a half-interested voice say, muffled through the front door.

As she sat on the large white corner-couch in the living room of her empty house, Katt closed her eyes as she lay her ears back on her head and crunched into a ball, trying to ignore the person behind the door.

After a moment of silence, the voice spoke again. "Come on Katt, open the door! I know you're in there!"

"Piss off, Falco!" Katt retorted aggressively as her claws started to dig into her elbows and her tail flicked violently.

"Katt, I'm sorry, alright! I want to make it up to you. Just, let me in, will ya?" Falco pleaded. Katt was hesitant, but ultimately gave in and stood up to press a button on the wall. A few lights turned on and an electronic sound emanated from the front door. Not a second later, the door slid open and Falco walked into the house, for the door to automatically slide shut. He stood in the entrance to the house and looked to the back of the living room at an angry Katt staring back at him.

"What do you want, Falco?" Katt asked, half-angry, half-upset.

"I want you to come and spend the day with me and the others." Falco stated, almost nervously.

"Are you serious?!" Katt shouted. "I opened up to you, and you laughed! You made fun of me! You humiliated me!" She yelled as her eyes started to water.

"I know, I know… Katt, I messed up bad…" Falco sighed in disgust at himself. "Just, please… give me one chance to make it up to you!"

Katt seemed to be struggling internally, but eventually tensed her fist and spoke. "One, more, chance." She muttered through clenched teeth and closed eyes. "If you ever do anything like that again, you're dead to me." She said, and pointed to him, her extended claw reaching his cheek.

"Thank you!" Falco grinned. "I won't let you down, I promise."

"Good. Then let's go. We can't keep the others waiting." She said with a much happier tone. "You know if you wanted to get me outside, you could've just sent the human. That would've been so much more simple."

"Pfft, that guy?" Falco retorted. "You've barely even spoken to him!" He laughed.

"Not true! I was with him and Fay last night." Katt explained.

Falco paused for a second before saying, "Oh yeah, I think I remember him saying something about that…".

They headed out for their destination, a large fountain near the centre of their city district.

*buuzzzzzzz*

"Just a second!" Fox heard a peppy voice call from behind the door. He waited for a while, and before long the door slid open.

"Hiya, Foxie!" Fara called and lunged at Fox's mouth.

After a few seconds of kissing Fox spoke with a big smile as he held her close. "Hey, Fara. I've missed you." He grinned.

"Ohh, I've missed you too!" Fara agreed and cuddled him closer. "Oh, and hey, I met your new friend last night!" She said happily.

"My new frie…? Ohh… Alex, right. What did you think of him?" Fox asked, interested in the answer.

"He's… uh… distant, to say the least…" Fara said with a half-smirk. "He seemed very distracted."

"Really? Where did you meet him, anyway? I thought you were working yesterday." Fox wondered.

"Yeah, I was. Katt was at the café last night. We were talking for a while, but then Panther showed up and started hitting on her, so she went to sit outside." Fara started.

"Oh, man. Panther? He didn't try anything on you, did he? I hate that guy." Fox rambled before Fara could finish.

"Don't worry about that, Foxie. Alex or Fay must have seen Katt sitting outside because they showed up just after Katt left." Fara explained with a smirk. "Fay was talking to Katt outside and Alex came inside and sat next to Panther. I don't know what they said to each other but I think Alex scared him away because he left soon after. Either way, the human was… interesting... I think he thought I was a hen."

Fox raised an eyebrow, still holding on to Fara by the hips, while she had her arms around his shoulders. "What do you mean, he thought you were a hen?"

"I don't even know!" Fara laughed. "I couldn't tell exactly what he said because of his accent, but he clearly said hen!" She explained.

"Huh… maybe that means something different where he's from." Fox briefly pondered. "Ah, it doesn't matter, let's get going." He decided. "Hey, did I tell you that you look beautiful today?" He smirked and pinched Fara's butt as they started to walk, to which Fara gave a cheeky smirk back and returned the compliment.

*ring ring ring*

Bill finally reached Fay's house after what seemed like hours of walking alone, while in reality it had been just over a half hour. After a while of waiting at the door, nobody seemed to have heard the doorbell, so he tried it again, but still, no answer.

"Uh, dammit." Bill sighed and looked at a smartwatch-like device, when he did, a holographic interface appeared from it. After a few touches and swipes, he was calling Fay. It rang on for a while, but just as it was about to ring out the call connected.

"Hello?" He heard a tired, groggy voice say from the other side of the line.

"Fay, it's Bill. I'm outside you're house. What are you doing?" Bill asked nonchalantly.

"Okay, okay, Bill stop shouting. I'm coming to open the door." Fay whined before hanging up. After a minute or so the door opened. Fay was in a sorry state, with her fur messed and matted, and her eyes dark and bloodshot. All she was wearing was a baggy pair of cottons and the top she had on the night before. She let out a loud groan when the sun hit her eyes.

"Fay?! Wha- what happened?!" Bill asked in surprise at what he saw.

Fay looked at the dog with a face of exasperation. "Oh, gee, thanks Bill." She thanked sarcastically as she walked back into the house, prompting Bill to follow her.

"Ah, heh… sorry, I didn't mean it like that…" He said as the door closed behind him, shutting him in the dark house.

"I know." Fay sighed through the darkness before she put the lights on, albeit to a low brightness setting.

"Was Alex here?" Bill asked suddenly as his powerful Cornerian nose picked up on Alex's easily recognizable scent.

"Hm? Alex?" Fay said and paused for a second before answering. "Yeah, he was here yesterday. He, Katt and I went to the club at the mall." She said meekly.

"Oh… yeah, I think he might have said something about that." Bill remembered. "How much did you drink?" He asked as he also caught a strong smell of alcohol.

"I… I think… it was about…" Fay stuttered as she struggled to remember, but to no avail. "I don't remember…" she murmured in shame.

"Oh… well… what do you remember?" Bill wondered. Alex said that she had drank a lot, so he was curious.

"Uh… not much… I remember convincing Alex to have a few drinks… nothing after that, really." Fay admitted. "Why are you here, Bill?" She asked tiredly.

"Don't tell me you've forgotten what day it is!" Bill loudly cried out.

"Oh, damnit, Bill!" Fay grumbled as she grabbed her temples once more, to which she got a faint apology. "What day is it…? Oh, yeah, I remember now." She sighed as she realized that she was expected to go outside. "Bill, I really don't feel up to it today. Can't you go without me?" She asked hopefully.

"What?! No! This is something we all need to go to together!" Bill complained. "The guys will all be so disappointed! It just won't be the same without you, ya know?"

Fay smiled. "Oh, Bill, that's sweet. So… how is Alex, anyway? I mean… I'm just wanting to know if he got back to the orphanage okay…" she rather quickly asked with a particularly unneeded and suspicious explanation.

"He's… fine." Bill responded. "He's really difficult to wake up, though."

"Yeah, he's really something else…" Fay said with a soft smile while staring into space, giving Bill a strong uncomfortable feeling.

"Uh… anyway… are you coming?" Bill asked to try to bring her back to reality.

Fay thought for a second, considering her options, before saying, "Yeah, yeah I'll come. Just let me get ready first."

"Okay, great! I'll just wait here." He said and fell backwards onto a sofa.

Once Fay got to her bedroom, she decided to try to look her best for the day ahead. She took her time picking out her clothes, then took them to the bathroom. Before putting her clothes on she quickly jumped into the shower; she didn't have to wait for the water to heat up. She got washed as quickly as she could and got back out. She quickly stood in another machine, which would look odd to someone from Earth. The machine closed around her and reopened less than five seconds later. When she stood out of the machine, she was completely dry, and the water she had dragged across the floor had been completely cleared by the house's automatic systems. She picked up yet another machine and put it over her tail. She felt it heat up for a second and then pulled it off of her tail. Once done, her tail was the perfect mix of slightly puffy, and curved just the right amount. She put on a short, light-grey skirt, along with a loose, pink-red top. She also put on a few assorted bracelets, her favourite boots, and a nice small jacket. She looked in the mirror and was happy to see that her eyes had mostly cleared up. While her head was still quite sore, she would just power through it, for her friends, though, she took a pair of sunglasses, just in case. She quickly made her way downstairs after getting ready.

Bill heard Fay walking down the stairs and saw her not long after. "Wow… Fay, you look a-amazing!" He stuttered nervously while fiddling with his hands as he stood up.

Now with a smile on her face, Fay said, "Thank you Bill! Now let's get going."

"Alright, yeah, let's go!" Bill said with a big, stupid grin on his face, secretly happy with the confidence he managed to muster.

They made their way to their destination at a semi-casual pace.

Alex's headache had finally passed, and he was feeling well again, much to his relief, as he had been feeling oddly ill for how little he had drank.

"Okay Alex, Miyu's house is just at the end of this road." Slippy informed happily. Fox had said that this was a rough area, but to Alex it looked like a fairly expensive neighbourhood.

"Yeah, I do recognise this place; I've been here before." Alex said as he looked around. He remembered walking Miyu home.

"Oh, I didn't know you had." Slippy replied as he reached into a pouch hanging off of his side, somewhat like a large external pocket. "Want one?" He asked kindly and held out a small ovoid item for Alex to take. Alex realised that it was food, and despite being hungry, declined. "Oh well, more for me, I guess!" Slippy smiled as he threw the item into the air. As it came back down, Alex expected him to catch it in his mouth, but jumped in surprise when it fell to about two feet away from Slippy's face, whereupon he flicked his tongue out to catch it midair.

They reached Miyu's house in no time, and Slippy knocked on the door. Almost immediately after, the door burst open and a familiar lynx grabbed Slippy to pick him up. "Slippy!" She called as she spun around before giving him a friendly hug. "How are you?!" She asked with a grin.

"I'm good Miyu, thanks!" Slippy said gleefully. "How are you?" He asked in return.

"Oh, I'm real good, thanks!" Miyu replied as she leaned against the doorframe. "Hey Alex!" She said with a grin and a sly stare.

"Alright, Miyu? How's it going?" Alex greeted happily, the pair's good spirits rubbing off on him.

"Pretty good, thanks." Miyu replied. "Hey, come on in just now, guys, while I get some things." She stepped back into the house and beckoned the two to follow, which they did. Miyu dashed upstairs, while Slippy hurried to the living room. Alex decided to follow Slippy.

Before he caught up, he heard what sounded like the voice of a woman from Manhattan saying "Slippy! Hey, pal!", followed by a deep male voice sounding like it came from the south of the US say "Hey, kid. What's up?". A second later, Alex caught up, and when he entered the room he came face-to-face a tall, muscular lynx, at least six feet and six inches tall who was walking in the other direction.

"Shit!" The Lynx swore as he jumped back after seeing Alex, though it was only a very temporary fright. "Damn, son, you scared me there!" He half laughed.

"Oh, sorry about that." Alex apologized, despite the fact that he got just as much of a fright from seeing such a large cat.

"Don't worry about it, kid." The Lynx said and patted Alex on the shoulder as he walked past him.

"Whoa…" the woman sitting down mumbled when she saw the human.

Slippy seemed to feel right at home here. He sat on a couch and flicked a switch, turning his seat into a recliner. Alex sat next to him.

Miyu's apparent mother stood up and walked over to Alex. "Hello. My name is Lyne." She said to Alex, with an over annunciation, and held out her hand.

"Hi, I'm Alex." Alex replied with a smile and shook her hand.

Miyu walked into the room seconds later. "Miyu, you're right! He does look strange!" Lyne exclaimed, to which Alex looked at Miyu, and Miyu's face ran red with embarrassment under her fur, not that it was visible.

"Is that right?" Alex asked with a smirk and squinted eyes, noticing Miyu's embarrassment.

"Mom!" Miyu said through her teeth. "Don't say that!"

Lyne quickly realised what she said and covered her mouth. "Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't mean-" she started.

"Hey, hey. Don't worry about it, it's fine." Alex assured.

"Anyway, let's get going!" Miyu said before more was said.

When Slippy and Alex stood up, Miyu's dad also returned.

"Sorry about that. I'm Trev." He said and held out his large hand to Alex.

"Alex." He replied and shook the man's hand. There was a silence for a few seconds.

"Okay guys, let's go!" Miyu repeated, upon which Alex and Slippy followed her out of the house.

"I don't know how I feel about that guy." Trev said with a gruff tone as he sat down.

"Miyu! Don't tell Alex what today is!" Slippy basically shouted before anything else could be said.

Miyu responded to Slippy, but Alex didn't hear what she said. A sudden piercing pain had started in his head, even worse than the one from before. He grunted as he grabbed his head with one hand. He hoped for the pain to dull but to his dismay in was building. As he grabbed his head with his other hand, he managed to concentrate on his vision for a second to see a blurred Miyu and Slippy looking at him. His concentration was shattered however when the pain sharply rose. "Ahh!" He cried in pain as he fell to one knee. He started to feel a sickly cold, and his joints began to ache. As if that wasn't enough, he felt a horrible feeling in his stomach. He hadn't thrown up in years, but could still recognise what it felt like just beforehand. As both feelings of pain and sickness rose, he grabbed his stomach with one hand. Then, suddenly, all of the feelings disappeared, and his senses returned to him. As he slowly recovered his hearing, he heard Miyu talking.

"Alex?! Alex, are you okay? Talk to me!" She said. She was now crouched down to the same height as Alex, with her hand on his shoulder.

As he removed his hands from his head and torso, he responded as best he could. "Yeah… yeah I'm fine." He said and quickly stood up, feeling more embarrassed than anything else.

"Heh… you scared me for a moment, Alex…" Slippy said nervously. "What, uh… what was that, buddy?" He asked.

"I, ah…" Alex muttered when he didn't know how to respond. "It's not important, I'm fine, lets go." He said to change the subject. Slippy and Miyu were hesitant, but took the hint and let it go.

A large stone fountain stood in the centre of a circular clearing in a commercial district of the city. Two foxes were the only ones to be seen, one red, one fennec, both as happy as could be, sitting on a large bench next to the fountain. As the blue sun brightly shone down on them, the time hit half past ten. There was a cooling breeze in the air but it did little to cool anything down. The stone of the large fountain was warm to the touch, and it was only the constant flow of water that stopped the fountain from drying up. The two foxes held each other as they stopped kissing.

"The others will probably be here soon." Fox said softly.

"So?" Fara replied and leaned in to continue kissing, which Fox gladly accepted.

"Oh, well ain't this sweet?!" Falco scoffed almost a minute later when he and Katt arrived. "So sweet I could just throw up!" He continued in his usual sarcastic tone.

"Missed each other, huh?" Katt asked with a wink. They both sat on the same long bench as the foxes. Less than a minute later, Fay and Bill arrived shortly followed by Alex, Slippy and Miyu.

"Finally! Everyone's here!" Falco exclaimed.

Alex looked over the group and saw to him an odd-one-out. A fennec fox, with Fox's arm wrapped around her, who seemed oddly familiar to him. Then he remembered where he had seen her before.

"You?! Fara?!" He said in realisation. "From that wee café last night?!"

"Hey, Alex!" Fara smiled and waved at the human with perked ears.

"It all makes sense now!" Alex said, now with some more knowledge. "So that's why you were asking about Fox last night!" He stated, a statement to which Fara's eyes widened and ears straightened in surprise as if she had been caught doing something bad.

"Awwww, you were worried about me?!" Fox asked with a big grin on his face.

"Yeah, yeah, Fara was worried, Alex knows Fara, big whoop, what is this, a reunion?" Falco moaned. "Let's get this started already!" He said happily, yet impatiently.

"Aye, well, before we do, 'get this started', mind telling me what 'this' is?" Alex asked hopefully. Perhaps, too hopefully.

"Alex, you need to put this on." Fox said and handed him a red cloth.

"Why? What's this? What do you mean, put it on?" He asked as he examined the cloth. It wasn't even clear where he was expected to wear it.

"Put it over your eyes, so you can't see." Fox said in a serious tone.

"Not a bloody chance in hell." Alex said bluntly and handed Fox the cloth.

"Come on, Alex! It'll be so much better if it's a surprise!" Katt attempted to convince him.

"If you really don't want me to see anything, then this it the best I can do." He took his hat and covered his face with it.

"Good enough!" Fox agreed. "But no peeking!"

"Aye, alright." Alex assured.

He was led for what seemed like ages, but he eventually started hearing loud noises. The noises grew louder, and he started hearing the individual sources, rather than a mesh of sounds from a distance. Along with more techno music, which the Cornerians seemed to love, he heard a bustling crowd and the whizzing and cranking of machinery and electronics. Before he knew it, he was sitting down. Fox pulled the hat from his face, revealing that he along with his friends were being strapped into what seemed like some sort of fairground ride.

"Wait, what the hell?" He muttered as a sleek safety harness clamped down on him. Even that harness was more advanced than anything was on Earth. It was thin and silver, looking somewhat like steel, and adjusted to the shape of his body. On the underside, there was blue lights along the length of it, which seemed to be projecting a protective energy field, which felt almost like sponge against his body. As Alex stuffed his hat in his pocket, he was about to ask Fox what was going on, but before he could, his chair shot straight up vertically. Once at the top, Alex was bewildered, and had lost his bearing a bit. He looked down and saw his feet dangling above the massive drop, about five hundred and fifty metres. His chair was just that, a small chair with a metal safety bar across his body, attached to a tall metal device by one bar. He heard Fox call out to him.

"Get ready, Alex!" Fox yelled above the wind from the height.

Alex felt his chair being angled upwards, by about forty-five degrees. A loud beep sounded, three times in a countdown, before each of the ten chairs attached to the contraption were fired off as if from a cannon. "Oh, shit!" Alex yelled once he realised that he was no longer attached to the machine and instead his chair was beginning to fall through the air, while at the same time it had started to roll forward. Once he had finished one roll mid-air and he was in a normal sitting position again, he was about fifty metres from the ground. The chair abruptly stopped moving. He then felt himself being pulled back up, and he was back where he was before. After more sudden and nerve wracking stunts, the machine pointed him straight down. He once more saw his legs dangle as he saw many people looking like dots from this height, and many more contraptions. The one he was on was among the tallest, but it definitely wasn't the absolute tallest. The machine shot downwards, aimed straight for the ground. He stopped, two metres from the ground, before he was slowly righted and gently put back on the ground. It seemed like it was finally over. His harness rose as did a platform for him to stand on. He quickly got off the machine and walked away from it, followed closely by the rest of the group. Alex leaned against a lamppost with wide eyes and messed up hair.

"What the hell was that?!" He asked while catching his breath.

"Oh, that's just a taste of what's to come!" Falco grinned, making a few others laugh.

"Bloody brilliant!" Alex grinned from the adrenaline.

"But first, how about we all get some food first?" Bill suggested.

"Yeah! I'm starving!" Slippy exclaimed cheerfully at the thought of food.

"Alright, I know a stand that makes the best hotdogs!" Fox announced. "Follow me!"

That was something Alex didn't expect to hear on this planet, that they have hotdogs, given their earthly ingredients. They made their way to a stand, where they bought hotdogs. Alex watched as the hotdog salesman put the same sauce on the hotdogs that Fay's family did on the stovies, on top of ketchup. The strange purple sauce seemed to disappear as it was absorbed by the other ingredients. Alex specifically asked for one without that sauce. As they ate, a question popped into Alex's head.

"So, what's this made of?" Alex asked as he ate his second with gusto. "We had these on earth, but they had a primary ingredient that I doubt you lot would use."

"Why? What ingredient did you use?" Miyu asked in response.

"Well, the sausage, on earth sausages were usually made of…" Alex started, but stopped when he realised they may not like what he had to say. He had already started, however, so he may as well finish. "Pork." He quickly finished. Everyone heard clearly, however, and the mere mention made Fay gag.

"Oh, damn, Alex!" Katt cried out. "That's rancid!"

"No, no, you don't understand!" Alex said. "Animals were different on earth!" He explained. "I mean…"

"Maybe you should stop talking, buddy." Fox advised.

"Yeah maybe I shou…" Alex started, before he saw something through the space between machines and buildings: a beach. "No, no, actually, let's go there! I want to show you lot something." He said and pointed at the beach about two hundred metres away.

"To the beach?" Fox confirmed. "Yeah, alright."

"But if we do go there," Bill started. "it's got to be a race!" He said excitedly.

"A race?!" Alex repeated. He assumed he had a pretty good chance in a race; he had always been the fastest of his friends over long and short distances back on earth. "Alright, I'm in!" He agreed. They all quickly got ready.

"Alright, on my go!" Bill said. "On your marks, get set, go!"

Alex pushed off as fast as he could, and ran like his life depended on it. However, his spirits quickly dropped when he saw Fox speeding along at over twice Alex's speed. Almost everyone was running so much faster than Alex, that he could never even dream of coming close to keeping up. In fact, he was pretty positive that some of them were running faster than any human in recorded history. In fact, he could barely even keep up with Slippy, who was the slowest Cornerian in the group. By the time he reached the beach, most of the others had been there for a while.

"Come on Alex! I expected better!" Falco, the joint winner of the race with Fara, said as he caught his breath.

"That was insane!" Alex pointed out. "I've never seen anyone run that fast before!" He huffed.

"Really? Well I guess humans just aren't as fast!" Bill laughed.

"Hm, you must be right…" Alex agreed. "Anyway, back to what I wanted to show you." He changed the subject. He grabbed a stick and found a damp area of sand where the tide once was. "This is humans." He said as he drew the rough shape of a human in the sand. He then drew a line and drew a chimpanzee on the other end. "Humans evolved from apes." He explained, and drew another line with a monkey on the end. "And you probably know that apes evolved from monkeys and monkeys from lemurs." He continued and drew a lemur on the end of yet another line. "Then there's all these other species." He said as he started drawing more animals. "Pigs, dogs, cats, foxes, cows, crows, and a whole plethora of different species." He listed. Then he drew many small lines to the side, and drew a circle around them. "These are Cornerians. Every species of Cornerian is intelligent, and has sentience. This is not the case for Earthen species. On earth, only humans were intelligent." He explained, and drew a circle around the image of a human. He saw a clamshell imbedded in the sand and picked it up. "Clams aren't sentient, nor are they intelligent. Well on earth, other species were to us as clams are to you lot." He finally finished.

As the group looked at the images and thought about the information, Slippy said, "That actually makes a lot of sense.".

"And you ate all the other species?" Falco asked.

"Well, not all other species. Some were just left to do their thing, others were pets, and some were food." Alex answered. He hoped that his explanation had been enough to quell their judgement.

"Well… I guess it doesn't sound too bad…" Fox said hesitantly, to which the rest agreed.

"Good." Alex sighed. "So what are we doing now?" He asked. A couple of people offered suggestions, but all were shot down.

"Hey, Fox." Bill said to his friend. "Can I talk to you in private for a minute?" He asked as everyone else offered suggestions.

"Yeah, sure buddy. What's up?" Fox asked and started walking with Bill.

Once Bill knew that they were far enough away from the group, he stopped and looked at Fox. "I want to ask Fay out today." He proclaimed.

Fox's eyes grew, as did a smile on his face. "Yes! Finally!" Fox cheered.

"Shh! Keep it down!" Bill panicked. Luckily for him nobody heard.

"About time, dude!" Fox said quieter than before. "You two have been on the verge of going out for nearly four years! I thought you'd never do it!"

"Yeah, well I'm thinking of doing it today. Do you really think I should? How should I do it?" He asked. Fox was the only one in the group to have been in a successful long-term relationship, having been with Fara for years.

"Of course! Just take her aside and ask! She'll definitely say yes!" Fox seemed particularly pleased by this development.

Bill gave a big grin. "Alright! Thanks!" Bill thanked. They made their way back to the group.

"Oh, I know!" Slippy shouted excitedly.

They all went to the attraction of Slippy's choice: a massive roller coaster. It must have been at least as tall as the Empire States building was. Needless to say, it was an exciting ride for Alex and the group. Like the last ride, this one implemented a technology that was new to Alex. This time, the ride somehow made everyone feel as if they were upside down, despite being the right way up, with their blood even moving to their heads. It also made them feel the right way up while they were upside down, and a whole plethora of different combinations. They went on a variety of other rides, some of which were nothing like anything seen on earth. It took them about two hours to get through what seemed like only a quarter of the rides. They exited a haunted house-esque building.

"Haha! Falco! You totally crapped yourself!" Fox laughed, in hysterics at the strange noise Falco made.

"What?! No I didn't! Something grabbed my leg!" Falco denied in embarrassment.

"Aw, is my poor little Falco all scared?" Katt jokingly cooed as she reached out and pinched his cheek. Falco huffed in response and crossed his arms with his eyes closed. His mood didn't last, though, as the atmosphere of the group was a very positive one.

"This is a lot of fun! I've not been to a place this interesting in a long time." Alex grinned. "Oh, but I need a pish. Whaur's the lavvy?" Naturally, the group didn't understand what he said.

"Ok, ok, I've got this…" Bill stated confidently, hoping to translate what Alex said. He used what he had learned so far. "He needs… to get really, really drunk…? And… where is the… uh… I've got nothing." Bill attempted.

Alex smirked at the attempt. "No quite." He chuckled. He decided to try his best Cornerian accent, which, to him, was American. "Where is the toilet?" He asked. He over annunciated, and the accent attempt was pretty bad, but the message got across.

"Oh, right, I can show you where it is. I kind of need the toilet too." Miyu answered.

"Okay, let's go." Alex confirmed. They set off towards a small building, roughly one hundred metres from where the group was. As they approached, Alex saw two doors on the building. Each door had a sign, with writing that Alex couldn't understand. One sign was coloured green, the other was coloured orange.

"This is what most public toilets look like in Corneria, just so you know." Miyu said. Alex didn't know which door to enter, since he couldn't read the signs, so he watched Miyu to see which one she would enter. She was heading to the door with the orange sign, so he headed to the one with the green sign. Miyu noticed this last-minute, just before he opened the door and so she quickly grabbed his shoulder and pulled him toward her. "Alex, where are you going? It's this one."

"Oh...? Isn't that the woman's toilets?" Alex questioned, confused.

Miyu grinned, and with a snicker, said, "What? Separate toilets for men and women? Earth really was a weird place. Orange is for mammals and birds, green is for reptiles and amphibians."

"Right…" Alex trailed off as he entered the correct door. 'I should really learn to read Cornerian…' he thought to himself.

While Alex and Miyu were away, Fox was busying himself by creating an excuse for Bill and Fay to go off on their own.

"Uh… hey, Fara, Falco, Katt, Slip, follow me, there's something really cool I want to show you guys." Fox commanded as he got behind the four and started pushing them away.

"Hey, I'll come too, I want to see!" Fay said merrily.

"No!" Fox replied with gusto. Until he realised he had been a bit harsh. "Uh, I mean… you wouldn't like it, so… stay here, ok?"

Fay jumped slightly when Fox shouted, but was more confused than anything. "Uh, ok then." She replied.

"Hey, what's the big idea, Fox?!" Falco questioned, rightfully so, as he was being pushed to an unknown location without his consent.

"I'll explain in a minute." Fox assured, he just wanted to get them away from Bill and Fay. He led them a fair distance away, and eventually ended up at a roller coaster. "Here!" Fox improvised. "This roller coaster is great!". In truth, he had no idea what it's gimmick was. The carts were three seats wide, though, so it was perfect for him.

"A roller coaster? Really man, you couldn't have waited?" Falco asked snidely.

"Oh, what does it matter, Falco? A little spontaneity won't kill you, y'know." Katt payed her fare and took a seat on the closest cart, then looked Falco in the eyes as she patted the seat next to her, for him to come and sit. As a coy grin appeared on Falco's face, it was cut short as a high-pitched noise quickly passed him.

"All right, let's do this!" An eager Slippy grinned as he sat down next to Katt. Falco grimaced, but still joined them. Falco and Katt were separated by an overly-enthusiastic Slippy. Since there was three people in the cart, the safety bar closed shut. As Fara was about to join them, Fox grabbed her arm and pulled her back.

"Leave them." He grinned. Giving Bill an opportunity to be alone with Fay was also an opportunity for Fox to be alone with Fara. Fara looked shocked for a fraction of a second, but it quickly turned to a satisfied grin.

"Woooo! Let's go!" Slippy screeched as he saw the countdown to the rollercoaster reach five seconds.

"Damnit, Fox! I'll get you fo-" Falco began. Before he finished, the countdown reached zero, and the cart immediately shot off into the distance.

"So, what's the real reason behind this?" Fara questioned. She knew she didn't have the full story.

Fox knew that nobody who would care could possibly be nearby, but he still checked over his shoulders, just in case, before quietly saying, "Bill is finally going to ask Fay on a date!"

Fara's eyes lit up with happiness. "About time!"

"That was weird…" Fay mentioned to Bill as she watched Fox push the others away.

"Y-yeah, hah, that's just Fox. He can be pretty strange sometimes, haha." Bill was struggling to find words for his situation. He knew why Fox was doing what he was doing, and didn't want Fox to come back disappointed in him, he knew that now was the time to man up and do what he had wanted to for the past few years, since he met Fay. "It, uh, it looks like they'll be gone for a while. DO you want to walk for a bit?"

"Yeah, sure." Fay agreed. They didn't walk too far. They ended up about one hundred meters from where they started, between the back frame of one of the rides, and a wall overlooking the beach. It was a pretty quiet and secluded area, so they stood there and talked.

"Hey, uh, Fay. There's something I've been wanting to ask you for a while now." Bill said. His nervousness was clearly audible in his voice. Fay felt a shock of nervous fear when she heard him say that. "It's just that, I mean, well, do you want to-"

"Stop right there, Bill." Fay interrupted, after mustering all of her resolve. "I know what you're going to say. The answer is no." It took all of her resolve to say that as bluntly as she did, however she knew it needed to be done. It was almost as hard for Fay to say as it was for Bill to hear. His pride and heart shattered into a million pieces, and he felt a gut-wrenching feeling of regret.

"But.. what? Why?" Bill asked. The pain in his voice made it even harder for fay to continue the conversation.

"I, it's… it doesn't matter why." She replied. She had her head turned away from him, and refused to make eye contact.

"What?! That's it then? That's all I get?" Bill felt betrayed. He knew he had no right to, but still, he did.

"I… there's someone else, Bill, okay?" Fay said, more assertively this time, looking him in the eyes as she said it, albeit with a tear of guilt in her eye.

That shook Bill. When she said it, his mind filed through all of the people he knew, trying to figure out who it could be, but he couldn't see it. "Who!?" he asked desperately.

"Forget about it Bill." Fay said with an upset sigh. He didn't forget about it, though. He kept thinking more and more about it, until it clicked.

"It's not… it's not the human, is it…?" Bill asked. Fay wouldn't respond. She turned away from him, and her silence told Bill all he needed to know.

Alex exited the building he was in. He winced as the light of Lylat hit him. The daylight seemed to be getting brighter; hotter. He could barely keep his eyes open as he shielded them from the blinding light, but the skin on his arm felt like it was being cooked when he raised it. The sickly feeling returned to his stomach, and his headache returned. It quickly became near unbearable, as he leaned against the building for support as his vision dimmed and his balance failed. When his back touched the wall, it felt like it was made specifically to cause pain to anyone who touched it. His breathing became heavy, but he managed to keep himself together. He snapped out of it when he heard a familiar voice.

"Dude, I can't believe that you almost went into the wrong toilets." Miyu jested as she exited the building, a minute or so after Alex. "That's hilarious."

"Aye, I really need to learn to read Cornerian." Alex half-heartedly laughed as he wiped the sweat from his brow with his arm.

"Are you alright? You look like shit, man." Miyu was no stranger to tough honesty, plus, she as genuinely concerned for the human's wellbeing.

"I'm fine." Alex replied and came fully back to reality. "Let's go find the others."

"Alright, cool. They should be where we left them." Miyu agreed. They made their way to where they assumed the others to be. "Oh great." Miyu grumbled when she realised they were gone. "Alright, we should split up. We'll cover more ground that way."

"Got it." Alex decided to go closer to the beach, and Miyu went further from it. As Alex was walking around the back of a ride, closer to a high wall, to use as a better vantage point in case the others were on the beach, his symptoms returned once again. Unlike the other times, however, it wasn't a slow onset. They hit him like a bag of bricks. A skull-splitting headache destroyed his ability to see or hear clearly, and his legs felt weak, as if they could barely hold his weight. He grabbed on to a waist-high heavy metal railing surrounding the ride for support, and stumbled around the ride, trying to get into the shade. As his breathing was heavy, and his vision was fading in and out, he caught a glimpse of Fay and Bill. Bill looked angry, and Fay looked upset. Not that he could tell. His mind registered that they were there, but that's as much as it did. He turned towards the railing in order to lean on it with both arms. His body left like it was going numb. The only thing he could hear was the sound of his own heavy breathing. He felt like he could hear distorted words in the background, but he felt like he was hearing them as if he was hearing them from underwater. He was focusing all his effort of retaining his vision. He was staring down at the railing. All of a sudden, there was a small patch of red on the railing. He lifted his hand between his face and the railing, and it became red. Blood. It was coming from his nose. His vision darkened once more. When it next returned, he was looking up at the sky. It was too bright for him, but his vision darkened again. When it returned, he was in the same position, although this time he could hazily see Fox crouched down over him. He made out a few words from Fox: 'going to be okay…'. He finally blacked out, to the sound of ambulance sirens, and the feeling that he was being lifted onto a stretcher. The last thing he saw was the bright sky. Too bright for him, right now.