Well then this is a whole new concept for the Star Fox brand altogether but, hopefully it turns out okay. I'm not sure if I'll stick with it...my friend and editor just thought it would be a good idea. If I do continue this the updates may take a bit of time, I have a lot of stories to finish...thanks as always for reading, C'ya...

-Intro-

The kingdom of Corneria was always such a peaceful place, that is until the new silver mine near the eastern woods came under attack by an unknown force. They were often spoken of, these Cerinians were said to have a stronger connection than any other living thing with the spirit realm. The first attack was aimed at the miners, 200 innocent animals were killed in their first assault. The ruling king of Corneria, King Alexander Pepper was lost, the attacks had continued and grown in their audacity over the weeks...his only left recourse was to call the one that now stood before him. The fox before him was of an average height, his light green eyes showed nothing but respect and loyalty toward the king, his golden orange fur was as always well groomed the only separation in the color was located at the small strip of white between his ears as well as at his ears and tail's tips, he was dressed in a dazzling silver colored fangled armor, his shoulders donned round pauldrons that stretched a bit out over his arms, his gauntlets placed small metal claws at the ends of his fingers like most armor did, it covered him from his collar down, small spots about his joints, a gold and silver mantel hung down his back, and a beautifully crafted longsword was strung to his side, it's cross shaped hilt broke off into a smaller cross at either end, and near it's center was a flawless ruby...

The knightly fox knelt before the king, "You called my lord?"

"Yes Fox...please stand." The old hound that stood near his throne, "Fox do you know why you are here?"

"Yes..." Fox replied as he rose to his feet, "I am to investigate the attacks at the silver mine near Titania Forest..."

"Not only as such...you will take a small force of your men with you and search those woods. I wish to know everything I can learn about these Cerinians."

"Are you certain my lord?" Fox asked, "Such a group of soldiers is hardly necessary for information when Master Jeffery could do so alone."

The king sighed, "True that Master Jeffery is the best informant that the kingdom has ever seen...I cannot take the risk of the stories being true. If these Cerinians can truly read our minds, it could place him in immense danger."

"The very same danger you would place me and my troops in sir?" Fox asked, "With all due respect your highness, I would rather go alone then to put my men in such danger..."

"And loose my most gallant knight to a gang of barbarians?"

"If that is the way the fates see it necessary then yes...my death would be your signal to attack them."

The king sighed, "Fox you have been my friend and loyal follower since your father's time...and being that you have always held the kingdom's well being in the utmost I will allow you to go alone." The old hound said sitting on his throne, "Slippy...see to Master McCloud's horse, and make certain that she is waiting for him in the stables."

The king's steward was was a short, heavy set toad, who bowed at the command quickly making his way out of the room...

-000-

Fox left the king's throne room and headed toward the royal stables; not just anyone was allowed to keep their mount in the royal stables only the highest ranks of the king's knighthood were allowed such. Fox found the young toad standing beside a dazzling white horse, Fox had raised the mare from a newborn, the saddle on her back was a light brown leather as well as the reins. As Fox mounted his steed the toad steward looked up to him...

"The forest is no more than a half day's ride from here, she's been loaded with enough food and supplies to last some time sir."

"Thank you Slippy..." Fox said tossing the toad several small gold coins.

With all things out of his way Fox set out into the plains outside the large city, not taking his usual time to admire the great scenery of his home. The Lylat plains were among the most beautiful lands the vulpine had ever seen, he'd been many places in his quests for the king; Venom, Zentarii, even the rarely visited Avian island...He'd seen more pieces of the world than most animals ever got the chance to see. The sun was still low on the horizon when he left making the nearby mountains seem to set fire. He loved everything about the spring time in Corneria, the winds that blew through the plains carried the scents from all the different trees in bloom formulating one enticingly wonderful fragrance that rode the wind. Fox always enjoyed being out in the open...most likely why he refused to live in the confines of the city rather than out in the country in his own cabin. His mount galloped through the land heading east, toward Titania forest...most of the time he did not care fore some parts of the land as they were rife with bandits...but it was early morning yet...no bandit would openly attack a knight in broad daylight. The ride lasted for hours before he stopped to give his horse a short rest at a small river that trailed through the lands surrounded by lush trees where the fox was happy to rest in the shade. As he lay against the tree that provided him with shade the white mare bumped the side of his head with her muzzle, he tried to ignore her while he took a bite out of an apple he'd decided to have as a short lunch, but this time she did so a bit harder forcing him off balance a bit...

Fox laughed, "Alright Angel here..." He said handing the mare her own apple, which she took nuzzling him again, "Alright that's enough...I love you too, just hurry and rest so we can leave."

It only seemed to be late noon when Fox mounted up and left the stream, it was still a long trip, but who was there to complain if he took a bit of extra time along the way to relax? Also he really didn't want to overwork his horse, she was a very smart animal, and more than loyal...they'd been a team as long as he could remember, a gift from the king himself...and though he took his time about it, before nightfall Fox had begun his approach to the silver mine. He'd never actually come out to the woods after the mine was opened, he was repulsed by the sight; none of the bodies had been laid to rest, the terrible smell of death and blood filled this region's air, and the once beautiful surrounding forest had been cut down to make room for all of the equipment that was needed to harvest all of the precious ore from the hillside. It was as he surveyed the landscape that he noticed several of the dead animals that were like none he'd ever seen before; they were foxes but they had light or dark blue fur, with primitive white markings on their biceps and thighs, none seemed to wear anything in the name of armor or clothing for that matter, most were female and wore nothing but, golden colored tops that were rather more revealing than anything that he'd seen and females wear in Corneria, and a nearly matching loincloth that covered up both their loins and the buttocks, these small flaps of cloth were detailed with several small runic symbols the like of which he was not accustomed to seeing. Fox had no need to tie down his horse, the animal would never leave his side if he'd given her the chance...

"So many lives..." He said to himself with a depressed sigh, "At the very least I can give them a proper burial."

Fox didn't sleep that night, instead he set up a funeral pyre big enough for the 50 or so animals that littered the area, and began to pile the bodies onto the fire. As he finally finished the job at hand he was about to toss the last body on the fire until he could hear something coming from the light cerulean vixen. Despite her multiple injuries she was breathing but only just so. He was much too decent to simply let the vixen die in this sort of place, but, what could he do? There was an arrow lodged deep into her left shoulder, a stab wound in her abdomen, and a deep gash in her right thigh. He thought to himself for a moment about the right thing to do...then carried her to the small wooden shack that the miners used as a sort of barracks. He patched up the wounds the best he could but he refused to remove the arrow, it was far too close to several vital arteries. He removed a gauntlet and felt for her pulse, it was weak, she needed medical attention...from someone that knew what they were doing. He didn't dare take her to Corneria, she'd be killed on sight. It was still early morning when he decided his only course of action, he mounted his horse with the wounded vixen in front of him holding her with a single arm while the other held the reigns, if anyone could help her it was her own people. With the consequences all in mind he slowly headed into the woods...

What part of the forest that was still wooded area was rather lovely scenery, the place was eerily silent however, there was no sound from birds...there was only one explanation, he was being followed. The golden orange furred vulpine kept his ears on end to pick up on any sound he could, but there was nothing...it made him feel a bit safer with the vixen knowing that whoever was shadowing him was clearly not attacking. Fox was still enjoying the view though, the light that cut through the thick canopy of the forest making small pillars of light, his main concern was however a conflict of interest, by doing what was right in his own mind, he was in a way betraying the king, but by not helping her he would be betraying himself and his word to his father to help those in need. As he pulled through the forest he could hear something, it sounded relatively like music...very somber music. Suddenly another blue fox fell from above causing Angel to rear back...

"WHOA Angel...calm down!" Fox called to his horse while being forced to hold onto his passenger.

"Nuxk te oei nudk xoho!?"(What do you want here?) The fox demanded in a strange language.

Fox dropped from his horse's back and took the vixen into his arms, making sure not to make her situation any worse...

"She is hurt..."

The blue fox gave him an untrusting look at first, until the vixen's head rocked to one side giving him a clear view of her face...

The blue fox rushed over to her, "Krystal?" He said checking her pulse himself.

The Cerinian paused for a moment, then turned signaling for Fox to follow. Fox did so calling his horse by clicking his tongue against the roof of his mouth, most animals in Corneria compared his horse to some sort of house pet...at one call she would follow him like a well trained pet rather than a knight's mount. As Fox followed his escort the sound of drums and other tribal type instruments became louder and louder until they broke into the clearing that was a small village; there was a mass of the blue foxes about a large fire in the center of the village, all about the outside of the village there were small huts made of various materials. Fox's escort rushed into the crowd yelling something about someone clearly named Nalya, causing a lighter blue vixen to rush from the crowd to inspect the unconscious one in Fox's arms. She inspected the wounds, as well as the girl's pulse...

"Follow me..." She said.

"Wait. I need someone to take care of the horse..."

This Nalya person turned toward the one that had brought Fox this far, "Marr...Kubo suho ev txo xehjo." (Marr...Take care of the horse)

As his old escort took the reigns Fox sighed a bit following Nalya...Thank the gods not all of them speak jibberish.

The others seemed to keep their eyes of Fox for the longest time before he followed his new escort into a large hut on the far side of the village; the large room that they walked into was decorated with many plants and herbs, there were several small masses of rather comfortable looking animal skins and several pillows...

Nalya pointed to one of the beds, "Lay her there..."

Fox did as he was told, "Why is it you understand our language?"

"It was really a mass of coincidence." She said gathering several things together, "Your people were going to hang me. I have no idea who he was...but one of your knights, as I believe you call yourselves, let me go after learning of my fate. He is the one I learned to speak this language from. I believe his name was...James."

"Wait...James? Did this James look anything like me?"

"Actually there is a remarkable resemblance..."

Fox stood there stunned in silence, "You knew him...it was after all several years ago." Nalya asked.

"The one you speak of was...my father."

Nalya sat next to the injured fox and began to mix things in a small stone bowel, "How dose he fare these days?"

Fox looked a bit depressed, "He...lives with the gods now."

"Oh...I apologize. He was a good man..." She said with a smile, "It seems a bit of him has rubbed off on you as well."

"Will she live?"

"It is a serious wound but, yes she will make it..." She replied as she removed the arrow from the girl's shoulder, "...I should thank you for this. My mate left some time ago to find her, she is our only child."

"It is my duty to protect others over myself...I could not allow a young lady to simply lay there and die, even if the king says that she is my enemy."

As the two spoke for a moment three blue males rushed into the tent, and spoke their strange language to Nalya who sighed and looked to the floor for a moment, "I'm afraid they are right...I'm afraid that I must ask you to give up your weapon and go with them."

Fox's paw instantly went for his sword causing the two males to produce weapons of their own from seemingly nowhere, "Stop...you have no need to fight us." Nalya said, "You are simply going to be held until my mate returns."

The two males fell into a fighting stance as Fox drew his sword, the blade started thick and formed a very thin point making the blade itself look like an elongated triangle. He closed his eyes as he drove the glistening weapon into the ground, "Take care of it, it was my father's." He said to Nalya as the two males took him by the arms.

"You have my word..." She replied as he was led out of the hut.

He'd known something like this was going to happen, he could only hope that saving the girl would give him some leniency toward her savior. Even when they set him to himself in a small, dark hut most likely waiting for his death sentence...he still couldn't help but to ensure himself that he'd done the right thing...