A/N: Alrighty, here's my first fanfiction here. I hope you guys like it!

Summary: Three years after the destruction of the Aparoids at their home planet, many things have happened. Corneria has been rebuilt, Andrew Oikonny has been found alive and amassed an army, the Arwings have been redesigned, but Fox hasn't got up the courage to tell Krystal how he feels. And with the arising danger, he may not even get the chance.

"Come on, McCloud, you can't take down a fly!" taunted Falco in the simulator of the Great Fox. He and his old buddy were dueling in a vicious dogfight. Fox had lost his right wing to a smart bomb, and taken heavy damage to the engines, slowing his down. He'd gotten a few shots to the avian's Arwing, destroying his bomb launcher after he'd been shot with it.

"Can it, Falco. Try this one out for size!" Fox launched a barrel roll, emitting a torrent of laser fire, annihilating Falco's engines. They exploded in a flash of orange and red fire, and turned into smoke.

"Woah, got me," said the avian as he plunged downward into space He suddenly stopped, and the cockpit's windshield opened. Before Fox knew it, he was back in the simulation room.

Falco walked up to Fox and slapped him on the back. "You got lucky there, Foxie. Next time I won't go so easy."

Fox punched his friend in the shoulder. "Yeah, yeah, whatever." They walked out of the room, and up the stairs into the viewing room where Slippy was waiting with Krystal.

Slippy groaned. "Oh boy, here we go again…" the toad sighed and walked down. Krystal hadn't seen he'd gone. She was reading a book.

'Go on, tap her shoulder! It's her turn!' said Fox's mind. 'No, no! Falco will laugh! Everyone will know what you feel! Fox blushed. Krystal still hadn't noticed him. He turned to Falco to see if he could do it for him. Falco had already hit the couch and was snoring. He opened his eyes and saw Fox's predicament and snickered, then drifted off again.

Fox rolled his eyes and reached his hand out. Gaahh… what am I doing? I'm going to be humiliated throughout the entire Lylat system. Jeez, this sucks…

"Fox?" Krystal's voice snapped him back to reality. In his thinking, he had put his whole hand on her shoulder, as if he were comforting her. "Aah!" he pulled his hand away with haste. "Krystal! Um… I'm sorry… uh…"

The blue vixen smiled that smile that made Fox's heart leap. He tried to say something, but couldn't get it out, because he stuttered. "Thanks for waking me up, Fox. I'm off to beat Slippy up in the simulator now."

Fox managed to get out a nervous laugh. "Yeah, yeah, go get him, Krystal. Good luck… I mean…"

Krystal laughed. "I don't think I'll need it, but thanks anyway!" She walked down the stairs and into the simulation room. Fox felt lightheaded. He swayed back and forth, and fell onto the couch. He sighed at his stupidity. He watched her as she walked into the simulator's Arwing. He was about to say how he felt to himself when a full on laugh came from behind.

"Smooth, McCloud. You're on a roll! Yeah, yeah, keep at this, and you'll have her in no time. Way to go, man!"

"Shut up, Falco! Get back to you dreams of Katt!"

"Hoo hoo! If I've got dreams, then you've got dreams come true!"

Fox was fuming. He leapt off his chair and punched the avian in the face. The bird quickly stopped laughing and launched him off with his feet, sending him flying into the lights above. They shattered and clattered down on Fox, cutting him in a few spots. He didn't care, though. He just grabbed a mug next to him and hurled it at him. It hit Falco right in the stomach. He keeled over and Fox picked him up by the front of his shirt. "Shut, up you stupid bird! I'm gonna rip your sorry little stomach out if you won't just shut UP! Understand!"

If Fox were beating anyone else up, then they would have backed down. Not Falco, though. Falco never backed down. He just shoved fox away and left. Both were still fuming.

He couldn't stand this anymore. Everyone was teasing him about Krystal. He just wanted it to stop. Everyone was talking about it. The gossip magazines on Corneria city were all over it, saying things like, "Fox's girlfriend? Inside story!" or, "Fox and Krystal talking baby!" and sometimes even, "Fox and Krystal caught frenching behind 8926 Traumt Lane!"

He just wanted to get rid of it all. He just wanted to obliterate all the people teasing him. Then something came over him that told him to sit down in the chair and watch the dual. So he did. And he saw something that was crazy. Slippy was actually winning! Krystal was just barely maintaining control with no wings left, just ash-burnt stubs. She was continually taking fire from Slippy. Both of the ships were fried from laser shots, but Krystal's was on the brink of bursting into flames.

Then she did a miraculous loop behind Slippy. Slippy panicked, and she shot a bomb at his ship. It exploded on impact and shattered his ship. Then the simulation ended, and both ships were intact. Slippy got out, grumbling, and Krystal left her ship and left, too.

Fox blinked. Was Slippy actually getting… better? His accuracy with the laser had tripled. He could also maneuver lots better. He also could evade better, too. He looked hard to beat!

He was just standing, pondering this thought, when he felt someone next to him. He felt positive it was going to be Falco. He turned to push him to the ground, but saw that it was Krystal.

"Oh, um… hi, Krystal."

"Hi, Fox!" she said cheerfully.

Trying to change the subject from idle greetings, he said, "So… uh… it looks like Slippy's getting better at this!"

"At what? Oh, yeah, that. There wasn't anything I could do against him! It was just run and don't get hit, and I got a few shots in there, but still…"

"Yeah…" Fox said, looking straight at her. Her gaze met his. They held this for a long time, just staring at each other's eyes. Then Fox broke the silence.

"Krystal, there's something I've been trying to tell you… for a long time…" he said. Ohh man! This is it!

"Fox, there's something I've been trying to say, too…"

"I.. uh…"

The intercom crackled on. "Attention! Meeting in conference room. All members report to conference room."

Krystal looked sad. "Well, I guess we should get going."

"Yeah. Lets go."