A/N: Well ladies and gents I am back to writing Star Fox. For those of you who remember I took down my story Star Fox Intrigue a month or two ago. This story is very, very, loosely based on that story. But there will be little to no politics, the whole warlord and Titania thing is gone, and a lot of the stuff that I simply thought was extraneous and unnecessary is gone. Instead it is going to be replaced by action, adventure, discovery, and mystery, as well as a lot of things from the little known past of Cerinia. So I hope you enjoy it and please leave a review if you feel so inclined. And now to the story…

Star Fox the Second Sauria Crisis

Chapter One

Vacation Interrupted

January 17, 2161

Cape Claw Sauria

Fox and Krystal lay on the sand of Cape Claw in their bathing suits soaking up the warmth of the sun. Fox had said that as soon as he got back from the 1980s he was going to take a vacation to Sauria, it seemed to be the only place he could go with someone and not have memories of unpleasant battles return. Of course he had fought plenty of battles on this world, and had had his share of life threatening happenings here, but for some reason none of them seemed to be quite so terrible, after all, this was the most beautiful planet in the Lylat System, and as far as Fox was concerned the whole galaxy.

Cape Claw was probably one of the most beautiful places on the planet, tropical, with crystal clear water that was always warm enough to swim in, and was usually nice and secluded. Fox loved the stone ruins of the Krazoa that marked the entrance to the Ocean Force Point Temple, a place that he had been too twice and had thought both times was one of the most mysterious places he had ever seen. He knew that there were probably numerous areas in it that he and no one else had ever seen, and he had decided that he would take the time while he was on leave to explore the temple as thoroughly as possible.

Fox smiled as his son Marcus splashed around in the placid waters of the beach. About an hour ago Fox had made a sand castle with him, which had promptly been destroyed when Marcus had decided that the king was not well like by his neighbors and had been laid siege to. Fox laughed a little at the fact that his son had literally looked for rocks to throw at it as if they were from catapults and had even done an imitation of the cacophony of battle. Something Fox and Krystal were well familiar with; and something that both hoped their son never would never have to be.

Krystal looked at him and said "What's so funny?"

Fox smiled and rolled over to look at her, she was beautiful, blue fur, short blue hair, emerald eyes, and a lithe and beautiful body. "I was just thinking of Marcus's battle that he had with that sand castle we spent an hour making. How long did it take him to destroy it? Two, three minutes tops?"

Krystal smiled, it wasn't the first time that Marcus had broken or destroyed something that had required effort for her or Fox to make. Marcus really did have a bad habit of breaking things; Fox thought it must be in the McCloud genetic code. "Probably less, but don't get to broken up over it Fox, it's not the first time that he's decided that something needs to be destroyed. If you recall the model Arwing that you spent a week perfecting for him?"

Fox sighed, he did indeed remember, last year for Marcus's sixth birthday, he was now rapidly approaching seven, Fox had built a twelve inch replica of his first Arwing, it had been complete with everything, a paint job as splendorous as a real Arwing, all the moving parts, and even little lasers in the wings to simulate the real laser cannons on the ship. The next day Fox had walked into Marcus's room to see the entire thing in ruins on his son's floor. "Yes I do remember that. I recall he said it was hit by Anti-Aircraft cannons during an assault on Venom."

Krystal laughed and replied "Well, at least it was realistic. After all I recall you were hit by your share of AA guns."

Fox shrugged and said "Yeah, but I never completely destroyed my fighter. But yes I would say that I have been shot at and hit by more than my fair share of AA guns."

Krystal looked at her husband; he was built to say the least, strong arms, washboard abs, beautiful green eyes, and a face that, like hers, never showed a sign of aging. And he had a winning smile as well as a keen intellect, and he loved her to death, just like she did to him. She could think of only one thing in the entire universe that they both loved more than each other, and that would be their son Marcus. Who, she now noticed, was running up to them looking expectant of something.

Marcus McCloud was a six year old boy who showcased in most people's opinion the best traits of his parents; his fur was blue on the head and most of his body, though he had flecks of orange around his wrists. And he was already developing telepathy, a fact that had lead to a few embarrassing moments when Marcus had walked in on his parents during an intimate moment. Fox and Krystal hadn't been able to look at each other without blushing for days, though Marcus didn't even seem to remember the incident.

As soon as he got there Marcus said "Mommy, Daddy, when do we get to go inside the Ocean Temple?"

Fox looked at Krystal and said "We could go now, but I don't know if you wanted to check the place out, make sure it's safe for a six year old. You never know, could be Sharpclaw in there or something."

Krystal smiled and replied "Fox the Sharpclaw haven't been a problem since you killed Scales years ago. I'm sure it's fine, want to go?"

Fox nodded and the two got up. Fox pulled on a shirt and Krystal shrugged at herself and said "What does it matter, there's going to be a lot of water anyways."

Fox smiled and the three headed towards the temple entrance. The massive Krazoa head stood there as normal as ever, not looking any different despite the years that had gone by since Fox and Krystal had last seen it. It was large and vaguely ape looking with a beard carved out of it and the entrance to the Temple being its mouth. When Fox walked through it he was assaulted by a flood of memories, when he had first walked in there it had taken him half an hour just to get through to the other side of a door which was now open and only about six or seven yards away. He saw the two beams of light that entered through the two eyes in the Krazoa head hitting the fire gems, each one a bright and brilliant orange.

Marcus noticed these and ran up to one of them and touched it, he immediately yelped and jumped back. Fox laughed "Hot aren't they? They're called fire gems; they're what let us go in and out of the Temple."

Marcus looked curiously at them and wondered how they did that, "How do they do that?"

Fox smiled and said "Magic, and when it comes to things from Sauria that's never far from the truth."

The three travelled through the small corridors and hallways until they got to the court yard leading to the gate that would allow them entrance. Marcus ran up to one of the pillars of water and stared at it considering the fact that the water was holding itself up. He could tell it wasn't ice, and it was too hot for it to be anyways. He decided to touch it; his finger went straight through the liquid but didn't seem to disturb it in the slightest. He saw his mother and father walk up behind him, looking at them he asked "What's holding it up?"

Fox shrugged and Krystal said "I don't really know, I would guess though that it has something to do with the powers of the Krazoa spirits. Though I know that probably doesn't mean much to a six year old, does it Marcus?"

Marcus shook his head, he was completely baffled by this planet; nothing he had learned in school seemed to explain anything that happened on this world, and besides every six year old knew that water couldn't hold itself up, except apparently by magic. But he had never been told in school that there was such a thing as magic, but when he had come here with his parents they had told him that a great deal of things that happened here were simply magical. It seemed to be the most confusing but awe-inspiring thing for a child. "Not really mom, but it's still really cool."

Fox smiled and said "Well wait until you get inside, it's probably one of the most beautiful and mysterious places that's you'll ever see Marcus."

The three then ascended the two ladders leading to the small semi-circular entrance gate. Fox was the first one up and was thus the first one to get to the entrance gate. Looking at it he noticed that it had apparently been opened recently, by explosives of some sort. The chard hole in it was still smoking, Fox sighed and said quietly "Fuck, fuck and fuck again."

Krystal walked over with Marcus and said "What the hell?"

Fox looked at her and said, "You and Marcus go back to the beach and call Fay on the Great Fox III, tell her I need a team inside the Ocean Force Point Temple ASAP."

"What about you?" asked Krystal, although after being married to Fox McCloud for years she knew the answer already.

Fox smiled, he could tell that she already knew the answer, and he could sense a bit of her annoyance and anxiety when he said "I'm just going to go inside and take a quick look around. I'll be fine, trust me."

Marcus was becoming a bit confused over what was transpiring, even with his fledgling telepathy that was nowhere near its full potential yet he could sense the emotions from both his parents. He could also tell that they were having a silent argument over what his dad had just said. Finally his mother simply gave in and said "Fine, but be careful, and when Fay sends down the troops, I'm going to be coming in with them. And don't you dare get killed, got it?"

Fox nodded and gave both of them a kiss, he waited until Krystal and Marcus were through the door on the other side of the court yard before walking into the Temple, fully aware that he could be killed depending on what was down there.

Krystal and Marcus made it out to the beach a minute or two later, as soon as they got back to the place where they had left their bags she fished out her comm badge and pressed it. "Krystal to Great Fox III, come in."

A moment later the sound of Katt's voice on board the ship came back to her saying "Katt here, what is it Krystal, you sound agitated. Fox forget the condoms?"

Marcus looked at her inquisitively but said nothing, being six years old he had no real idea what those were. "Katt, Marcus is right here, so watch what you say. The reason I called was that someone has broken into the Ocean Force Point Temple, and I need a team of troopers down here now."

Katt's voice came back a moment later asking "How?"

Krystal rolled her eyes and said "They blew down the door, there's no other way to get in there. And Fox went in there for the usual unstated reason that he's a cocky bastard who seems to enjoy putting himself into dangerous situations, so I need those troopers down here now. And tell Decius to come down here with my staff too."

Katt took a moment then said "Alright done, they'll be down there in a minute or two, Decius with them. And don't get your tail in a knot; Fox is only cocky because he's damn good. Katt out and Great Fox III out."

Krystal set down her comm badge and kneeled down next to Marcus and said "Marcus this is very important, when the men get down here I'm going to tell one of them to stay with you out here, for two reasons, one to keep you safe from anyone who may want to hurt you, and two to keep you from wandering off and hurting yourself."

Marcus nodded, he didn't really have any idea what was going on, all he knew was that someone had apparently broken into the Temple that he had wanted to see and thus ruined his chance of being able to see it. And he didn't like that his mother and father were apparently either saying he was in danger or that they were in danger. But he decided that the best thing he could do was listen to his mother and try and stay out of the way. "Ok mom I understand. Is daddy going to be ok?"

Krystal sighed and hugged her son, more for her own comfort than for his since she could sense that he wasn't all that worried, how could he be? He was only six years old, he had no idea what fighting was like other than a scuffle on the playground or something cool in a movie. On the other hand she had done a lot of fighting in her life, and she knew that when it came down to it she hated everything about it. "I hope so Marcus, but don't worry, daddy can handle himself, he always has."

Fox entered the Temple and noticed that a path had been cleared through the electric stone barrier already. Quickly and quietly moving across it he took stock of his surroundings. Everything seemed as it should be, the water was placid, the walls intact, and no sounds other than the dripping of water. He made his way up to the teleporter pad and stood on top of it. A moment later it activated and he was beamed to the central part of the Temple. As soon as he materialized he made his way to the large gate like doors, they slid open for him. They closed far more loudly than he liked, stopping he listened, he could hear something, some sort of strange muttering, he moved towards it, going through one of the stone portals he moved quickly across the corridor and then stopped again to listen. The sound was coming closer. He took cover behind a low stone wall and waited, breathing as quietly as possible while listening as hard as possible.

About a minute later he heard footsteps and could recognize something of what was being said. "Nash quiga nom tuu, vers theced."

He raised an eyebrow; it was an old Papetoonian dialect, rarely used anymore though it had been common in his father's generation. He didn't personally speak it but he knew he could remember the words. He hoped to God that Katt could speak it, or that it was at least in the translator on board the ship.

A moment later and the voices and footsteps were in the room he was in, they stopped suddenly and Fox thought, I'm blown. One of the voices, male by the sound of it said in thickly accented Cornerian Basic "Whoze Zere?"

Fox stood up and said "I might be asking you the same thing."

The two people who stood in front of him were young vulpines of a build that wouldn't hold a candle to Fox any day of his life. But it was what they were holding that scared the hell out of him, a Spell Stone. "And who might ya be?"

Fox looked them both in the eyes and said "Your worst nightmare." With that he charged into the one with the stone, tackling him over. He landed a punch straight to the vulpines nose and heard the bone shatter. The other tried to pull him off but Fox simply did a back hand punch. He grabbed the Spell Stone and got up, but before he could do anything else he felt a pain through his leg, and saw small hole through it, a blaster hole. His wounded leg couldn't support him and he fell to the ground clutching at the wound which was just beginning to hurt. He saw the two vulpines run out of the temple and said to himself "Oh Krystal is going to kill me."

Krystal, Decius, and three Cornerian troopers materialized in the main temple. Krystal looked around; she could sense Fox but no one else. A moment later she realized that Fox was in pain, she looked at Decius who nodded and said "I sense him too, but I don't think he's too badly injured."

Krystal nodded and said "I'll go to him, the rest of you should spread out and do a search of the Temple, make sure there aren't any people here that shouldn't be."

Decius nodded and motioned for his squad to follow him, Krystal meanwhile quickly homed in on Fox, she found him lying on the floor with a hole in his leg. "FOX!" she ran over to him, he was conscious, "Are you alright?"

Fox smiled, it was just a reassuring smile, one that he had had a lot of practice with in the past when he got shot up. "I'm fine; wound was cauterized by the heat of the plasma bullet so no bleeding. And the guy was a crappy shot, didn't take out any bone, I think."

Krystal smiled at him, she loved Fox, especially when he acted calm about this kind of thing, she had never seen him truly freak out over a wound that he had sustained. On the other hand whenever someone else had been wounded he tended to have sleepless nights and would be hard to tear away from the sick bed. "Well I'm sure Miyu will have you all fixed up in no time. Assuming you don't die when she screams at you for getting shot and not calling her immediately. I think she's protective of you."

Fox laughed and said "Me and the whole damn galaxy, no wonder she's such a good doctor. Now are you going to get me to the ship or not? The sooner I heal the sooner we get back to vacation and love making."

Krystal smiled and tapped her comm badge "Krystal to Great Fox III, two to beam directly to sick bay."

He smiled. The first stone was soon to be his, and with it the first of the four keys could be found. But he sensed something he neither liked nor expected; a chance for failure, a chance that the Heart might find a champion, or a companion. And this was something that he could not allow. And so he stopped smiling and immersed himself in time and watched, perhaps the outcome would still work in his favor.