...

"David Dakota..." The principal said, looking at his drawings, "...Drawing in class again, huh?"

David didn't respond.

"I see that I have a future artist in front of me...You know, that's good...that's great, but...How about you draw your stuff at home? No one needs to see this! Look! What in the world is this, young man?!" The principal showed him a drawing of a busty female dragon posing, with her legs open wide, not afraid to show what she had.

David was completely embarrassed. That wasn't the first time he was caught drawing in class, but, this time, he wasn't drawing clothed anthropomorphic animals like how he used to most of the time. Those were naked anthros.

David couldn't stop thinking about the future now. Most of his class had no idea what a furry was and those who knew what it was, occasionally poked fun at David, and now that he was caught with erotic content of freaking animals, David could only imagine himself coming back to his class and immediately being called a sicko and a zoophiliac.

For him, the bullying marathon would initiate that day.

The principal decided that David should be suspended for a week for exposing erotic content in class. His parents were called and were coming to pick him up.

David, however, had to return to his class to bag his stuff while being called a sicko by his classmates. Paper balls hit him like rocks as he simply packed his things and left the classroom while being booed.

When his parents arrived, David gulped in shame. The fact that he was a furry wasn't exactly a secret and he even told his parents what a furry was, but all he said was that furries were simply people liked animals that could wear clothes, walk, talk and act like humans in general. The fact that David was drawing porn in class was bad enough, but porn about those animals? David could only imagine his father beating the crap out of him while calling him an "animal fucker".

David waited in the principal's office. When he saw his dad, David sighed in shame. The principal talked to his father right in front of him, telling him exactly what he was drawing. David's father looked at David with an expression of shame and disgust at the same time.

Both didn't say anything to each other. The drive home was awkward and silent. When David got home, his dad held him by his arm.

"Take a bath, change your clothes, have dinner and go to fucking bed, if I see you using any electronic device, I'm going to break your spine, you little turd. Do you understand?"

David nodded.

His father let go of him and David walked to the bathroom in shame. He spent minutes in the shower, staring at the ground as hot water soaked him. He didn't do anything except let water hit him. He got out of the shower not very long later.

David put on his clothes and waited for dinner lying on his bed. His father knocked on his door and told him dinner was ready.

Dinner was silent. No one talked. Not even David's mother. David ate his meal slowly. He couldn't stop thinking about the mistake he made. He felt like he was very, very close to death by a self-induced bullet to the head with his dad's pistol.

After he was done, David went to his room and locked it. He sat on his bed with his arms crossed, gazing at the ground with an expression of grief in his face. He was just waiting for that terrible nightmare to be over. He just couldn't believe that was real life.

David laid on his bed and closed his eyes. Sleeping would probably take his mind to somewhere else rather than that crap.

...

David woke up hours later. It was already nighttime. David got up, unlocked the door and went out. The entire house was dark, but he could hear a TV on downstairs.

David sneaked downstairs to see his dad drinking beer while watching a random baseball match. He sneaked behind his dad and went to the kitchen to see if there was something to eat. He grabbed a can of beer. David never drank alcohol before but if it really makes you forget things for a while, then it would do for the situation he was in.

He grabbed the can and sneaked back to his room. He opened it and took a sip, spitting out right after. It tasted terribly.

But, David wanted to forget. He wanted to get drunk. He took another sip and this time swallowed. He took another sip and swallowed again.

He decided to turn on his TV, ignoring what his dad told him earlier. He scrolled through channels until he found the news channel. It was talking about your regular and ordinary homicides, drug cases and etc.

David kept drinking and drinking, sip after sip, until the news started to report about something that apparently just happened.

"Alright, breaking news everyone, we got reports of an U.F.O that just crashed near a farm somewhere on the north side of town, we have multiple officers heading there right now," there was a cut to the news chopper's camera, filming multiple police cruisers and SUVs heading towards the crash site of an U.F.O, the chopper zoomed out and zoomed in on the U.F.O, "there's the U.F.O, oh my god..."

"Yeah," another anchor started talking, this time, a man, "there's the U.F.O right there, and it seems a little bit too real for it to be just another prank, there are multiple officers around it, the military has been called in as well," the camera kept itself on the U.F.O, but thanks for the lack of light, save for a few flashlights the cops pointed at the U.F.O, it was hard to see it, "Yeah, that's right folks, we may be looking at something not made by human hands right now..."

David was intrigued. He wanted to see what the U.F.O looked like.

Finally, after a minute, the news chopper turned on its spotlight and shined it at the U.F.O. David's mouth fell.

"So there's the U.F.O right there, thank you pilot Adams Smith for using the spotlight, as we can see it's...white on the body and blue for the wings? That's an odd U.F.O, it's definitely not what we would see in the movies..."

"It looks like it was made for battles, just look at it."

David knew what that was. It was a freaking Arwing! Could that be marketing for the new upcoming Star Fox game?

Suddenly, David got confused. If that was marketing, then it had to be some serious marketing, because those cops on the site were actual cops and the fact that was on the news only made it more serious.

Wait.

Why would Nintendo choose a small town like David's to make that kind of marketing? David's town was barely know in America.

Then, David thought the last thing he had in my mind. What if that was actually an Arwing?

David chuckled at the thought. He imagined an anthropomorphic fox walking out of a destroyed Arwing with hundreds of cops pointing their guns at him.

That actually made David curious. He wanted to see that thing up close. It was on the north side of town, so, maybe, if he was lucky enough, he could find it.

David turned off his TV and dimmed the lights of his room. He locked it once he went out and went to his parents' bedroom. David knew where his dad kept his car keys. He sneaked in to avoid waking up his mother and opened the fourth drawer and, among all the clothes, he grabbed the keys.

He went downstairs, his dad had fallen asleep on the couch. He opened the front door and opened the garage door. He drove out, closed the garage door and headed north.

David had driving lessons with his dad, then with a teacher. David also didn't care he just probably put his own life at risk by leaving his house at night and without warning his parents and to make it all worse, in his dad's car. David had a death wish now, anyways, after all, his life was pretty much ruined.

David wanted to see that "U.F.O" before his death.

David drove all the way to the north and eventually saw even more police cars heading towards the crash site. On the radio, he listened to everything. Even the military was there now. David decided to take an alternate route to the crash site to avoid any kind of unwanted attention.

He was driving through a narrow dirt road in the middle of a forest. It was kind of creepy.

David kept listening to the radio. Eventually, paying more attention to it rather than the road. Suddenly, David's headlights exposed something that clearly wasn't human. It was right in front of David, making him swerve to the left to avoid it. David spun out and when the car stopped, his headlights were shining the creature, who ran into the woods almost immediately.

David was scared out of his mind right now. The creature he had saw stood on both legs and that's all he knew, he couldn't get a good look at it. David drove like a maniac back to the city. He pulled over next to a convenience store to think about what just happened.

David wished he had recorded that. What he saw there simply didn't look human at all. It was a tall creature that stood on both legs. As David thought about it, his curiosity overcame his fear. David wanted to know what that thing was. There was still a little bit of fear in him as he didn't know if the creature was docile or not, but his curiosity was yelling at him, telling him to go find it.

David couldn't control it. He turned the car on and headed back towards the woods, taking deep breaths during the way to build courage. He stopped at the spot where he saw the creature and got out. David had no flashlights or anything that he could use to make his search easier.

David took a deep breath and headed into the woods, silently. With his great perception, he noticed that the creature left marks. He could see footsteps. Wait, footsteps?

David noticed that the steps were shaped like boots. He followed them closely, until he heard a faint voice in the distance, making him shiver. David couldn't tell what it was saying, but he followed it. As he got closer, it became clear what it was saying.

"Fox McCloud to Great Fox, can anyone hear me? Please?"

David's mind went into static. Fox McCloud? What?! How in the...?

David followed the voice more and among the darkness, he could see a figure. The creature. Standing still, with its hand on its ear, repeating the line mentioned above.

David thought he was seeing things. He thought he was drunk. Dreaming. High.

He wasn't.

"Fox McCloud to Great Fox! Someone answer me! Please!" The voice sounded desperate, "I have no idea where I am or how to get out of here! Please, someone just answer me!"

As David got closer, he accidentally stepped on a tree branch.

"W-WHO'S THERE?!" The voice yelled, turning around and hiding behind a tree.

David froze in fear.

"Oh man, oh man, oh man..." The voice sounded scared and also sounded like whoever that was, was about to cry, "...I'm gonna die..."

"I'm friendly!" David yelled to whoever was there and gulped, fearing the results.

There was an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds.

"Identify yourself!" The voice yelled back.

It took some time for David to reply, "David!"

"Full name!"

"David Dakota! Who are you?!"

"Fox McCloud, leader of the Star Fox team!"

This had to be some sort of joke. Maybe David stumbled upon some furry who was roleplaying as Fox with someone else in the woods.

No, that makes no sense...

That Arwing-like U.F.O...

David was confused and shocked...Could he actually...?

Suddenly, from behind a tree, showed up the creature he saw on the road. Due to the dark, David couldn't get a good look at it, apart from a silhouette of it.

"On the ground!" David froze completely, "Do it now!"

David slowly laid on the ground with his hands behind his head. He heard footsteps that stopped right near his head. Then, he was flipped around with a foot and a flashlight shined on his face. He closed his eyes until the creature shined it away. It shined it to its own face.

David was speechless. That wasn't just a fursuit, it was an actual anthropomorphic fox. It was Fox McCloud. His face was dirty and hurt from the crash.

"You're...You're Fox McCloud?!"

"Yes, I've told you that. Do you know me?"

"I...I do..."

"Interesting..."

David was amazed. He couldn't believe his own eyes.

"This must be a dream..."

"What?" Fox replied.

"You're just a video game character, this is only a dream..."

"I'm pretty sure this is real life...Wait, did you say that I'm a video game character?"

"Yeah...You're from the Star Fox games..."

"...What are you talking about?"

David got the message. Fox didn't know he was a video game character in Earth. Suddenly, that made David wonder...If Fox was there, could that mean...There is a different dimension for each video game character?

"Hello?" Fox snapped his fingers in front of David's face.

"You actually exist...?"

"Look, I'm standing on top of you right now, you can see me and I can see you. We both exist."

"So...Krystal, Falco...They all exist?"

"What's with these dumb questions? Of course they exist!"

"I'm sorry, but...In my planet, you're just a-"

Suddenly, Fox's attention turned to the left. He heard something move.

"Who's there?!" He shouted to that direction, no response.

Fox pulled his blaster. David watched from the ground that futuristic weapon being held by non-human hands. Fox pointed his gun and flashlight to where he heard the noise, "Who is there?!"

Suddenly, from one of the trees, a man peeked out and a flash blinded Fox. The man ran away right after that.

"Did he just take a picture of me?!"

"That's not good..."

"Why?"

"Because now, the entire world will know about your existence!" David said as he started to get up.

"Huh?"

"Well, it's quite hard to explain..."

"What are your species? You look like a monkey without fur."

"Uh, human."

"...Never heard of that kind of species before..."

"Uh-"

"Anyway...I thought you...humans...knew about me? After all, you know about me, right? Why not the rest of you?"

"We do. Some of us do, but not all. Because in my planet, you're not as big as you are in the Lylat system. Here, you're a mere video game character."

"A video game character?"

"Yes. Star Fox."

"Star Fox is the name of my team!"

"And your team was put inside of a game! There are a lot of games about you and your team."

"...So you made games about me without my permission?"

"I didn't make the games. They were made by a company called Nintendo, but they simply don't even know about your existence."

"What do you mean, they don't know about my existence? They made games about me!"

"Then this has to be a large coincidence. Either they made the games and created your own universe that somehow collided with mine or..."

"This can't be a coincidence."

"It is a coincidence! I swear, they just don't know that you exist outside of their games!"

"Are you sure those games aren't about something else?"

"Of course they aren't! The games show the death of your father, your fight with Andross, Krystal's rescue, Aparoid War and much more! Did all of these events actually happen?"

"Yes, they did! There were news about them all over the Lylat system for weeks. In fact, which year is this?"

"2015."

"WHAT? Oh my gosh, I time travelled back in time?"

"Apparently so..."

"Dang...I need to get back the Lylat system and to the year I was..."

"How did you get here?"

"I have no idea. All I remember was something shiny crashing into my Arwing and me being teleported to this planet, already heading towards the ground."

"Who were you fighting against?"

"I wasn't fighting against anybody. I was taking a flight around the Great Fox with my Arwing when that shiny thing collided with me."

"That's odd..."

"...Now what? You seem to actually be friendly, so, I think I can trust you..."

"Well, we should move, I guess. That guy took a picture of you and I think that he's going to bring more people over here."

"Is that a bad thing?"

"Hell yeah, it is! Not all humans are friendly like me. If I don't get you out of here, God knows what they'll do with you."

"Okay..." Fox sighed, "...Alright, lead the way. But if you lure me into a trap, I'm going to be the last thing you'll ever see..."

"I wouldn't do that..."

"Good..."

Fox followed David back into the car. David was still euphoric for actually having one of his favorite video game characters right next to him...

David still couldn't believe that was happening.

"What an interesting vehicle..." Fox commented while looking around the car.

"This is what we drive." David replied. He turned on the car and started driving back towards his house.

"So, where are we going?"

"Back home, I guess. I'll try to get you in without you being noticed by my parents. If they see you, they're going to freak the hell out. I need to think of a place I can keep you in until...well, until you get back to your dimension..."

"Okay..."

"Maybe I can keep you in the attic, my parents rarely go there now. I'll bring you some food and water everyday, but, you won't be able to leave the attic for some time. If anyone in this world sees you, they're going to call the police and the military on you because you're simply not human."

"So, only humans live here?"

"No, we have pets. They're animals like you. You know, dogs, cats and etc, but they are small, stand on four legs, they eat, they drink, they shit, piss, sleep and that's it. They don't talk, walk on two legs, wear clothes..."

"...You didn't have to say those two words."

"Which words?"

"The 'S' and 'P' word. I don't like saying and hearing stuff like that. No one does in Lylat."

"Oh...My bad..."

"It's alright..."

When David got back on the main road, he told Fox to keep his head down to avoid any drivers from seeing him. It was night, it was dark, but, David didn't want to take any chances.

David got back home with Fox.

"Stay in the car for now, I'm going to check on my parents."

Fox nodded as David left the car and went in. His dad turned off the TV and went to the bedroom. David came back and told him the coast was clear.

Fox followed David into the dark attic.

"Okay...Fox, you stay here until I can find somewhere better for you to live, alright? I promise you I'm going to get you back to the Lylat system and that you'll be able to go back to your team."

"Alright..." He nodded.

"I'm going to get you a pillow and some covers for you...Are you hungry?"

"No, not really..."

"Okay. I'll get you something tomorrow. Now, if you excuse me..."

David went back down and went to his bedroom. He got some covers and a pillow and went back up, and gave them to Fox.

"Now...Whatever you do, don't leave the attic, okay? I know it's boring up here, but...if people find out about you, man..."

"I won't leave the attic, I promise..."

"Alright...Because, if the military catches you...Man, I don't even wanna know what experiments the government could do on you..."

He nodded.

"Good night, McCloud." David said as he started to go downstairs.

"Good night...what's your name?"

"David Dakota."

"Okay...good night, David..." Fox laid his head on the pillow and covered himself with the covers. The hard floor wasn't making it easy to sleep, but, eventually, he drifted into dream land.