Follow Your Heart

by flashgunner

All stories begin somewhere, but story's ends are written with actions. What does it take to defy fate and become a symbol of hope? Two Lylatians worlds apart are willing to find out. FoxXKrystal mainly T, but HARSH language in the prologue. Be warned.

1. Prologue: This is How Stories Begin

Hello, Hello, Hello all! Flashgunner here! Before we get started i have a lot of explaining to do. I have been writing on this site for a while, it has always been a fun past time. But in recent days i have noticed that i will eventually have to persue my own original works, that being the fantasy novel i've started recently, so in order to go out with a bang, i put this idea in my head. Before i go into detain though heres some more info.

Yes i know i have two other fics in progress, i will continue work on them right after this is submitted. Until those two are done this will be a SIDE project that will be updated infrequently because i have to stay true to my other works that came before. Once those are complete, my full attention will be put on this, which will be my last major fanfiction project. (iwon't be leaving completely, i may do some smaller things from time to time, but this will be the last epic i write.)

Anyway, as i said this is a side project for now, consider this monster of a prologue i have written to be a teaser for whats to come.

now onto my description of the story. My influence was FoxMC's old story: Echoes of the future. But there more to it, Echoes of the Future was the very first fanfic i ever read on this website, and most likely the reason i decided to write for the site, so i figrued, what a better way to go with the same way i began? The other influence behind this story is the recent turns in the Starfox sotryline. This story is basically a HUGE telling of Starfox's story, but DRASTICALLY changed in many places to fill in plot holes, give sensible origins and all around pay a massive tribute to one of my favorite video game series ever. i will be sticking to the main storyline in terms of events up until the end of adventures, where i will be altering the plot from Assault on.

there will be many romantic relations in this story, being a tale of a practically full lifetime. Fox and Krystal will be the main focus, but as it goes on, other pairings will be introduced, but i don't want to ruin it for you.

Now why don't we get started? i've been rambling enough.

This is the very first installment of Follow Your Heart.

story

"talking"

thinking

telepathy

emphasis

LOUD

(me talking)

WARNING: The rating for this story is T, but some of the prologue was inspired by the opening of the movie Full Metal Jacket, so one of my original character's uses very harsh language. Not only that, but because they are younger and less mature, two of the main characters let the big F slip a few times. THIS WILL NOT CONTINUE INTO THE STORY IN EXCESS AMOUNTS so the rating will remain T.

---

Destiny…

It is a strange phenomenon…

Certain things just seem to happen as if preordained…

Lives can be changed…

Hero's can be born…

And hearts can meet even against all possible odds…

But even destiny has its limits…

One can only walk their path if they believe in themselves…

Too many have fallen to the weakness of their own will…

Too many have become lost through mistrust of their allies…

Too many have died, without ever having lived…

They all have one thing in common…

They did not think of themselves…

Nor did they know what they could've become…

All it takes is one simple task…

And that is to Follow Your Heart…

Follow Your Heart

Written by: Flashgunner

Part 1: Walking the Path

Ch. 1: Prologue: This is How Stories Begin

"ATTEEEEEEEENTION!" The sound of frantically shuffling feet began before the word was even finished. The cadets were all in place beside their bunks on both sides of the room, standing up tall with no emotion on their faces before the instructor of training unit thirty two could even take one step into the room. The room was fairly large, about thirty yards long and fifteen across. Along both sides bunks were lined up, seven on each side, with enough space in between to navigate and store ones belongings. Each of the recruits lined up on each side of every bunk coming out to twenty-eight total cadets.

The tall, well built, grey and white husky made his way to the middle of the quarters. He donned a grey air force issued uniform that was littered with award patches along the sleeves. He had a red handkerchief sticking out of one chest pocket and a pair of sunglasses hanging off the other. Three gold stars sewn into the upper right shoulder of his uniform signified his status as an instructor.

"Good morning gentlemen! It's good to know you've all been informed on the rules of attention… I don't think any of you would've liked to see what I do to those who are NOT informed!" He rotated to his left, heading towards the end of the beds that ran along the left side of the room.

"I am Senior Drill Instructor Xavier Gunner! From this day forward until next year, you will either survive training, die in the process, or run away with your tail tucked or shoved between your ass, which is entirely up to you. Most of all let's make it clear that the first and last word I will hear from each and every one of you will be "Sir". Is that clear?" He asked as he began moving up the left side, getting a good look at all the different young sixteen to twenty year old animals that lined up for his verbal battery.

"Sir, yes sir." All the recruits reply in unison with a slight monotone. The husky looked displeased, scrunching his face and narrowing his eyes.

"That didn't sound too convincing; you punks want to be pilots or funeral home attendants? Sound off like you actually want to be here!"

"Sir, yes sir!"

"That's more like it! Now! I don't care how you used to look at each other or how you got along depending on your race…" He emphasized the word as he past the sole ape that stood among the animals, a race known for partaking in crime and bounty hunting. "Here, you are all the same; right now that means you are all equally worthless until we can square you sorry asses away!" In one sudden motion he stopped in front of a grey hound and bent down to get right up into his face. The hound leaned back slightly as if trying to avoid the harsh presence of the instructor. "What's your name, cadet?"

"Sir! Cadet Grey, Sir!" The cadet shouted back with a controlled intensity.

"Well ain't that creative!" The instructor joked, glancing at the hound's grey fur. "You think you can fly?"

"Sir! I'd like to think so, sir!"

"Like to think so, huh? Got a confident one over here… from now on your name is Cadet Hotshot! Do you like that name?"

"Sir! I'm okay with it, Sir!"

"Well hope you're also okay with the fact that you'd better live up to that name or else I'll start calling you Cadet "I don't give straight answers!" You got that?"

"Sir! Yes, Sir!" The instructor turned away from him as quickly as he had towards him, continuing down the line. He stopped abruptly four recruits down in front of a tall blue feathered falcon with red feathers around his eyes and a bright yellow beak. He was taller than the husky, but the instructor's presence alone was enough to make anyone look smaller than he. The falcon wasn't standing attention. He was slouched down with his hands in his pockets, and all around, looked pretty ragged.

"God damn… I thought it would take longer before I found a slimy little shit who thinks he's above me." He got in the falcon's face, but the avian didn't budge an inch. "I'm not too sure scraps of trash are given names before they're dumped, but you look like you might have one, well cadet?"

"Falco Lombardi." The falcon replied quietly while shifting the weight on his legs, but still refusing to back off from the instructor's glare.

"Excuse me punk? I don't think I heard you correctly, would you like to repeat that?"

"Falco Lombardi." In one motion, the instructor struck him across the face, making him stumble backwards. The falcon immediately stood up to give the instructor a piece of his mind, but the bulldog airmen accompanying him came forward and held the avian back. The husky got right up into the falcon's face with his index finger extended towards the recruit's eyes.

"I don't know what made you think you could waltz in here and act like you owned the fucking place! If you have a problem following orders then I question your sanity for applying! Now you'd best square your ass right up or I will make sure you feel like you've been sodomized by the end of your training!" The falcon seemed to calm down and the airmen let go of him. "Now stand attention god dammit! If you don't understand the concept yourself then we will teach you the meaning of respect!" The falcon grunted in annoyance and stood attention. "Now the first AND last words I will hear out of your filthy beak will be SIR! IS, THAT, CLEAR?"

"Sir. Yes, sir." He mumbled.

"I can stand here all day punk!"

"Sir! Yes Sir!" He seemed to force out.

"Well thank you VERY muchCadet Thug." He turned away from the avian as the sudden nickname sunk in, and the instant he did, the Falcon stuck up his fist, flipping off the instructor to his back, causing looks of disbelief and a few sighs from the rest of the recruits. The instructor was making his way down the other side of the room when he passed a fox with light brown fur. The instructor got three paces away from him before stopping and glancing back at the vulpine. The fox had actually followed him with his eyes, and quickly turned away when the husky eyed him, but he wasn't quick enough. Xavier walked backwards until he was level and turned, looking the fox in the eye.

"Which toilet did they scrub you off of cadet? You look like a curious little shit stain to me, thinking you can break attention with my back turned... I think I'll let you off easy though, my little blue friend over there has been dished my fill of yelling for a while. Are you okay with that?"

"SIR, YES SIR!" The vulpine almost shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Well thanks for acknowledging every instructor in the god damn base! You feelin' okay son?"

"Sir! I am S-sir!" The one stammer did not make it past the husky.

"Cadet, are you scared? Do I make you nervous?"

"Sir…" The fox hesitated to continue.

"Sir WHAT? You get your cute fluffy tail stuck in your mouth?"

"Sir! I am alright Sir!"

"You sure about that?"

"Sir! It was just spur of the moment! I will be fine SIR!" The husky tilted his head slightly and shook his head.

"If you say so honey… the big bad husky ain't gonna eat you now!" He turned away, but stopped and looked the vulpine in the eye one more time. "Now hold on just a moment." Everyone was surprised by his sudden drop in tone, as if something about the fox was bothering him. He reached up to one of his chest pockets and pulled out the pair of sunglasses. "Hold still boy, I think I'm onto something…" He spoke in a condescending tone. The fox didn't budge as the glasses were slid over his eyes and resting on his muzzle. The instructor stepped back. They were way too big for the vulpine, but the husky seemed to like what he saw. "What's your name scumbag?"

"Sir! Cadet McCloud, Sir!" The husky almost seemed to smile.

"Well, well, well…" He began as he removed the glasses from the vulpine's face. "You're the son of the so called "great" mercenary…" Despite the order for attention, murmurs began spreading around the cadets. The fox seemed to wince as he heard this, which the husky noticed… nothing got past him. "Hoping no one would know? You're just as bad as James, thinking you can live life in between the lines and hope nobody cares enough to stop you…" He paced in a circle around Fox. "You take after your father, cadet?"

"Sir, I do, Sir!"

"I wouldn't be too eager about that punk! Your father is quite I pilot from what I hear… but he's wasting it by being a mercenary… a common thug fighting for money…"

"Sir! My father does what's in the best interest of the people as well and…"

"I don't recall asking you a fucking question Cadet!" Then something happened that neither the instructor nor his accompanying airmen had ever seen in the past. Everyone else nearly ducked for cover as the vulpine stepped forward towards the husky. And despite the bold move, the fox managed to keep his speech in the proper format.

"Sir! I cannot let you speak that way! I, Fox McCloud, know for a fact that my father's intentions are pure! The mercenary aspect is just to make a living! … Sir!" He almost forgot to complete the "sir" part, but unlike the falcon, the vulpine was wary of the importance of respect. The husky kept a straight face even though he was intrigued that for once someone stepped out and got in his mug. Yet he scoffed at the vulpine's attempt to defend his father.

"You really are no different than him, just as forward and rebellious. Well Cadet Outlaw, you've already proven you've got the biggest pair of anyone here, but I've got my eye on you… we'll see whether or not the apple will fall from the tree…" The fox stepped back into place with a fire alight in his eyes and the instructor returned to the middle of the room.

"Well ladies it looks like we're gonna have a fun year together! If you survive my cadet training you'll never have to deal with me again, but don't go on counting the days, you're gonna need your sanity! Now get your asses squared away and get to sleep! We've got more than enough fun planned for you tomorrow!" He turned and left, yelling, "At ease!" as he left. A collective sigh of relief sounded from the entire room as the animals began cracking their backs and feeling the after effects of learning who they'd be dealing with for the greater part of the next year. Some were still shaking a little, afraid the instructor was going to pick them out, and a mouse at the end of the left row even fell to his knees panting. The grey hound from across the room came over to help him up. Fox did the same.

"T-thanks…" the mouse mumbled to them as he hobbled over to his bed to lie down. Fox was content with his assistance and was about to head back to his bed to catch some much needed shut eye, but he was stopped.

"So you're really the son of James McCloud?" Fox sighed and turned to see the grey hound still behind him.

"Yeah… I am…" Fox replied a little reluctantly.

"Why are you so down? That's awesome!" The hound replied as he followed Fox back to his bed.

"I know, I know, it's not that I'm ashamed, in fact it's the opposite…" Fox rested his hand on the bed frame. "It's just that that's the first thing people always ask me… it was worse in school, no one ever left me alone…"

"Hey no worries… I was just curious… I mean, I've always wanted to pilot those fighters they use…"

"The Arwings?" Fox's hand slipped on the bunk frame, making his hand slide and pinched his ring finger between two connecting pieces. "Gah!" He pulled his hand back, shaking it twice and putting it to his mouth to suck on it. The greyhound chuckled once, but Fox looked up interested to know what the grey hound knew about the Arwings and his father, if anything was different from most. He was about to ask again, but realized he had no idea who the dog even was. "I'm sorry, I haven't even gotten your name yet, I heard Grey, but that's your last name right?"

"Oh right…" The hound stuck out his hand and nodded. "The name's Bill Grey. Nice to meet you…"

...

And that was Fox McCloud's first experience in the Cornerian Airforce. Despite the name he carried on his shoulder, no one ever expected him to turn out the way he would. But all great heroes had to earn their wings at some point, and not even Fox McCloud was an exception.

...

The wakeup call the next morning came several hours earlier than Fox was used to getting up. He rolled over, as if trying to find a snooze option, but his bunkmate, a brown feline, reached over from his changing space and tapped him on the arm.

"Come on man, get up! Sergeant Gunner's right outside!" This woke Fox completely, realizing the verbal abuse he'd get if he decided sleeping in was more important than getting ready for the first day. In the course of a single minute, Fox threw off his covers, jumped of his bed, threw on his white undershirt, blue cadet issued pants and uniform shirt, and his brown leather boots, and stood attention the moment Xavier entered the room.

"Good morning! Good morning! Good morning ladies! Well…" He glanced around at the lot of tired faces facing straight forward. "…Don't we all look excited to be up at five in the morning?" He walked around, checking out every cadet, but there was a gap on the left hand line. The husky stopped and eyed the open space, he remembered it well. His eyes leapt immediately to the bottom bunk nearby that had a figure in it. The covers were pulled completely over whoever it was, but a few blue tail feathers were sticking out near the bottom. "You've gotta be shittin' me…" He walked right up to the bed and tore covers off the falcon, getting right down in his face. "CADET THUG! WHAT DOES IT TAKE TO GET YA UP? A FUCKING SIREN?" The falcon jumped nearly five feet out of his bed and rolled off in the direction opposite of the husky. He reached up from the ground and pulled himself up to the bed.

"Christ! What the hell did I…" The falcon saw the ice-cold stare of the instructor. "Ah shit…"

"Shit is right you little ass clown! Get the fuck up and get your uniform on! The more time you take the more time the unit'll spend in gravity training!" At that point everyone else hoped the falcon would comply, they had heard nasty stories about gravity training. The falcon looked like he wanted nothing more than to let his fist solve this problem for him, but he rose to his feet and again seemed to force out his response.

"Sir! Yes Sir!" He reached down and got out his uniform.

"Well at least you've fucking learned how to speak to me properly! Too bad you're still nothing but a street punk! Don't worry; I'll make sure THAT changes!" He returned to the middle of the room as the falcon sloppily threw on his uniform and took his place I the line while grumbling obscenities to himself, but not so loud that the instructor would hear.

Fox stared across the room at the falcon. Wonder what that guy's story is… he signs up for the strictest military force in the system, but doesn't seem to give a shit… The falcon suddenly glared at him from across the room, as if he could sense Fox looking at him. Fox moved his eyes back forward as if he had never been looking. He took one quick glance back, and the falcon was still glaring at him. What's he staring at?

"Alright ladies! Pay attention!" Xavier's booming voice made Fox stiffen as he sharply stood attention. "We've got a full agenda today don't fall behind! We've scheduled you sorry sons of bitches to be first in the simulators, so I'm sorry if you were expecting a nice hot breakfast, cause you have to wait now!" The soldiers wanted to groan in displeasure, but they all knew the kind of shit that would get them in. after that you get the leftovers, followed by flight strategy instruction, then conditioning, lunch, then repeat till dinner. We'll go over the rest later. Now stay in line! We're gonna jog across the courtyard, fall out of line and I'll kick your ass so hard you'll cough up a shoe sole! Now line up! Move it!" The recruits all lined up in two lines side by side in front of the double door entrance to the barrack. "On the hop let's go!" Xavier's two bulldog assistants led the line out and Xavier ran beside them down the hallway, past the other barrack doors and out the front into the Cornerian airforce academy courtyard.

The compound consisted of four buildings that sat beside the main cornerian military base. The barracks were the southernmost building, a paved path extended out twenty feet until it split into a large oval path around a grass field that was about a hundred yards in length the eastern building was the mess hall, where most of the recruits were heading, but the bulldogs led them around the western side of the path, passing the flight instruction building, where all the flight and strategy classes were held, this building was directly connected to the official Cornerian military building, on the other side was a nearly identical set up to the recruit compound for the Cornerian airmen. "Eyes forward Outlaw!" Xavier yelled as Fox quickly stopped taking in the view around them. They stopped in front of the northern building, which doubled as the simulator training center and hangar for training fighters. Only the lower floors had been in use for the recruits, but Fox had heard that the Mechanic recruits spent day and night in this building on the upper floors, leaving only for food and sleep.

They ceased jogging and were led through the halls to a large room with four simulators set up. They were large, silver egg shaped machines propped up on steel beams about five feet above the ground with red, roll-away ladders leading up to them. The outside remained stationary as the false cockpits within could move freely within structure. The machines had many wires running from them, connected to wall mounted computers that spanned the entire back wall of the "hangar". Xavier walked in front of all of them and placed a hand on the simulator closest to the group. "Alright maggots, this is how we're going to do this. I'm only going to explain this once, so help me god if you screw up cause you don't know what we're doing I'm gonna unscrew your head and tear out your spine!" Everyone knew he really wouldn't, but it was the intimidation that counted. "Because this most likely the first time most of you will ever touch flight controls, we will go three at a time, with me in the fourth leading you through how to start up the engines, take off and fly around so you virgins don't pop your cherries too hard. Once you've got the basic idea, you'll get ten minutes to fly around and become familiar with the feeling of flying. After that, you'll form up with me and follow my movements! Cornerian fighters act as a unit, so it is essential that you know how to control yourself within a formation!"

Fox tried to take in everything he said at once, but most of it slipped right over his head. His thoughts were concentrating on how he would perform. To anyone else it wasn't much of a big deal, most of the cadets here had not piloted anything before, and if they had it was nothing as complicated as the standard cornerian fighter. The problem was he knew Xavier would be keeping a close eye on him. Being the son of the great James McCloud was going to be something the unforgiving instructor would tag him as throughout his entire first year experience.

"Yo Fox! Snap out of it man, you still with us?" Fox blinked at Bill's voice and shook his head.

"Huh?" He dumbly replied.

"Gunner's already got three in the sims, if you wanna stand here like a robot go ahead, but it'll look weird." Bill chuckled as he turned away and headed towards the opposite wall of the room where the rest of the cadets were congregating. Fox trotted after Bill, taking his implied advice about not looking like the odd one out. A conversation had already started by the time the two were with the rest. Mostly small talk about personal lives and where everyone had come from or what they did beforehand. Fox kept his mouth shut; he didn't want to draw any more attention to himself. He did however; learn that Bill was from Katina and that his grandfather was the ace pilot of Corneria's famous Hound Squadron. Hound Squadron was the cornerstone of the Cornerian military many years back, Fox remembered how Peppy Hare, a good friend of his Father, used to tell him all about Hound squadron when he was little and how it inspired James to become a Pilot and eventually bring Peppy in as well.

Fox began to feel a little better, knowing that Bill also had a shadow to follow, but he was lucky that Xavier hadn't picked out his ties. Fox kept listening, but was interrupted as he glanced to his right and saw the falcon glaring at him again. He was leaning against the wall away from the rest of the group. Arms crossed, with eyes fixed on Fox. Fox had had it. He broke off from the group and walked over to the falcon, stopping a few feet from him.

"You have something to say to me?" He asked in a rough tone. The falcon eased off the wall and closed the distance between them to a foot, looking down at Fox as he was about a head taller.

"What the hell gave you that idea?" The falcon snapped back in a smart aleck way.

"The way you keep burning holes into me with that death glare of yours is enough of an indication." Fox bounced right back. The falcon scoffed.

"Feh… well you can just go f…"

"Not bad gentlemen!" They both turned to see Xavier stepping down the ladder of the lead simulator, meeting the ape, mouse, and hare who had occupied the others. They looked pleased with the instructor's response. "But there's plenty of room to improve, don't go get big ass egos…" their expressions faded immediately. "Now then!" He turned to the rest who had already lined up. Xavier scanned them. "Cadet Hotshot, get on up." He pointed to Bill then over his shoulder to the first simulator.

"Sir! Yes sir!" Bill ran to the simulator and was already up the ladder by the time Xavier turned back to the rest. He ran his eyes over the remaining crowd and stopped on Fox and the falcon.

"Hell, might as well kill two birds with one stone… in this case a bird and a fox… Cadet Thug! Cadet Outlaw! Take the other two!"

"Sir! Yes sir!" Fox yelled as he ran to the next pod. The falcon hadn't responded, but made his way over to the last at his own pace. As Fox made it to the top of the ladder as he heard,

"Any fucking day now sweetheart!" Fox looked down to see the Falcon moving slightly faster towards the last pod. He shrugged, pushing the frustration with his soon to be simulated wing mate aside and jumped into the cockpit of the simulator.

Fox sat back against the somewhat padded seat of the cockpit and took a second to look around the controls. The obvious one he recognized was the flight stick in front of him, it was modeled to fit comfortably in the grip of one's hand and had two buttons, on top, covered by a spring loaded cover and one on the back, which Fox figured was the ships laser. He looked around at the rest of the controls and buttons, but hadn't the faintest what most of them were for. Out in front of his he could see Xavier climbing the ladder into the lead simulator, so Fox pulled the four point safety harness over his body and clicked it into place. He looked up and saw a silver handle next to a sign that read. "Pull down to begin simulation." Fox obeyed the sign, reaching up and pulling the hatch door shut. It was completely black for a moment, but a soft hum filled the compact space and the walls of the compartment lit up. In front of him the words "Loading intro simulation" began blinking on the curved screen.

"Now listen up cadets!" Fox's ears perked up to the sound of Xavier's voice over the cockpit's comm speakers. He was surprised that for once Xavier had not referred to them as something other than their official designation. "Ya ain't gonna go anywhere unless you turn on the ship first, so go ahead and hit those three switches to the left of the flight stick." Fox eyed the switches in a vertical pattern labeled "1", "2", and "ignition" from top to bottom. He reached for them and flipped them all down, making the rest of the cockpit spring to life with both a mid pitched hum and illuminating most of the controls. As he finished the simulation sprang to life with an extremely realistic image filling the simulator screen. His simulated fighter was currently on the ground in a launch tunnel with three other ships, on in front of him and one to his left and right.

"Good we're all loaded up and clear to launch. Now before we release the landing gear we need to go into hover mode. The throttle is beside your right leg. Right now it's probably set to lock. Push it right to unlock it and the ship will automatically hover." Fox obeyed, unlocking the stick and the simulator lurched slightly, the image in front of him shifted, suggesting he was now hovering above the ground. The other three ships in his field of view did the same. "Good, now there should be another switch below the ignition switch labeled "Landing gear". I don't think I need to tell you what to do with it." Fox did see the switch, but the label was half scratched off from either years of use, or someone with a nervous habit. He hit the "Land- -ear" switch and a simulated whirring noise sounded within the cockpit. Fox saw the other ships lose the landing gear as well.

"Alright cadets! Time to launch! On my mark push the throttle to two hundred and fifty miles per hour! When you make it to the red portion of the tunnel punch it to five hundred miles per hour to make a proper launch! Any higher speed within the designated areas is a violation of Cornerian security safety and launch protocol." Fox took a mental note and stared down at the throttle. He let out a sigh of relief when he saw that the simulators throttle was labeled to let trainee's see an estimate of how far the stick had to be pushed to attain certain speeds. "Prepare to launch on my mark!" Fox put his eyes forward, right hand on the throttle and left on the flight stick.

Okay Fox… this is your first time flying… well not really, but sort of…

"On my count!"

Dad's probably out busting heads right now… I wonder if I'll ever be able to fly like him…

"Three!"

Just stay focused, and get used to the controls…

"Two!"

This is it…

"One!"

Here we go…

"Launch!"

Fox pushed forward on the stick slowly and the image began to move. The ships in front of him began moving as well and sped up steadily. They went faster and faster, reaching two-fifty in seconds, the tunnel turned red and the three fighters pulled away, Fox punched the throttle to five hundred and rocketed after them. Soon a light appeared, getting large and larger until the four fighters blasted through the exit of the tunnel. Fox was filled with a mix of excitement and awe. He knew it was a simulation, but it felt quite real. However he was also slightly afraid, even though he would never admit it. His hands were trembling upon the flight stick, afraid to turn it away from going straight forward. He was right behind the other three so he just held the ship steady, hoping to get an order from Xavier, cause at the moment, he had no clue what to do.

"Looks like all launches were successful, good job boys, now here's the deal. The three of you are now to break off and go flying around. You've got ten minutes to familiarize yourself with the controls. When time's up, I'll fly by and we'll form up in the quad-diamond formation and we'll see if you can handle basic formation movements. So get out there! And for Christ's sake DON'T fly into each other!" Fox watched as Bill's fighter slowly leaned right and flew off. He glanced left and saw the falcon's fighter. To his surprise, it suddenly did an inline twist before zooming off to the left. "Hey now! We got a showoff already!" Fox heard over the com "Cadet Thug! Save it for the advanced simulations!"

Yikes! He must have past flight experience… but when and where? He's my age!

"Cadet Outlaw! You asleep in there! Get a move on!" Fox snapped out of his stare and flipped the comm switch to the right of the radar screen in the middle of the dash board.

"Sir! Sorry sir!" he quickly apologized.

"Sorry ain't doing ya shit right now kid! You're already down half a minute! Quit staring at Cadet Thug's fancy moves and get to flying!"

"Yes sir!" Fox complied and switched off his comm. Not a moment later, Fox pulled off his first blunder. He jammed the stick right and the cockpit jerked, tilting the simulate fighter almost completely on its side. In panic he jammed it back left, but that only made things worse as the fighter lost control of its momentum and started losing altitude. "Shit!" Fox yelled as he forced the stick to the center, steadying the craft, regaining its balance and rebuilding its speed. Now steady once again, Fox gasped and wheezed for air. For a simulation that felt pretty damn realistic! He shook his head. Come on Fox! Stay on task! No more blunders! You need to get this down! He made a note to be gentler with the controls until he understood them more and continued to free fly.

It was tricky work, but Fox was soon able to control his fighter smoothly. Only within a novice's level though. He was still a bit shaky with sharp maneuvers and hadn't tried going much faster than launching speed. Fox wished he had more time to practice, but Xavier's voice chimed in.

"Alright scumbags! Stay in your general area! I'm going to fly by each of you, and as I pass I want you all to form up in the same positions we launched in! Stay focused!"

Stay focused… Fox repeated to himself as the comm switched off. That's what I've been telling myself… hopefully it's enough… He glanced over his flight stick and to the radar on the dash board; three green lights had appeared and were moving towards him. He was the last one, and had to form up in the back. He looked to his left to see the others flying by and quickly turned his fighter towards them. Unfortunately, they were traveling at launch speed, so fox had to speed up if he wanted to catch them. Ok… here goes… He clenched the throttle tightly and eased it forward… a little too much. The engine fired and he was nearly upon the others way before he thought he'd be. He veered off just in time to miss the fighter on the left, the wings barely an inch away from colliding. Fox exhaled and pulled the throttle down a few notches until he had a clear view of them again. His intercom sprang to life. He was expecting Xavier to appear and begin chewing him out, but it was the falcon.

"What the fuck are ya doing? Ya trying to drag me down with your shitty flying!" Fox was already aware that he had screwed up and didn't think it was his place to argue.

"S…sorry, I'm not used to it yet." He tried to pseudo-apologize, but the falcon kept squawking.

"Ya might as well quit while you're ahead! Jesus, ten minutes and you can't even control the speed? So much for the McCloud name huh?" That tipped Fox over.

"Hey, what the hell is your deal asshole? I'm not the only one here who hasn't flown before so back off!" The falcon looked ready to continue the verbal bout, but they were cut off by Xavier.

"Both of you shut the FUCK up, I heard teenage girls chat about their little boy crushes for less time compared to how long you two've been bickering! Cadet Thug! You've lost your communication privileges!"

"But he-" The falcon's face disappeared from the screen and Xavier's appeared.

"Cadet Outlaw, that had to be the worst first attempt at forming up I have ever seen in my god damn life! Try it again, and this time don't spank the throttle so hard!" Fox couldn't believe he had just heard Xavier use that terminology, but the instructors face was gone before he could respond.

Did he have to put it THAT way? He glanced down at the lever. I'm never gonna look at the throttle the same way again… Fox groaned and pushed the lever forward, considerably less than he had before. He centered his field of view between the left and right wingmen and slowly made his way into the group. As soon as he locked position, Xavier chimed in.

"About time Cadet! I was about to get eight hours of sleep while you were at it." There was a pause. To Fox this felt like a comedian giving a crowd time to laugh before insulting someone else. "Alright now! I'm going to execute a few basic team maneuvers! I want you three to copy my movements as closely as you can!" The comm cut off and Fox locked his eyes on the lead fighter. Xavier's ship began swaying side to side, up, and down in a relaxed tempo. Fox was relieved he was expecting a more advanced challenge. He continued to follow the lead ship with little trouble, until Xavier suddenly pitched right and took a hard turn. The falcon followed in an instant, but Bill seemed to hesitate for half a second. Fox on the other hand had pitched way too far in his own surprise and his turn was much tighter. He ended up a good distance away from the other three. He quickly leveled out and flew back, hoping Xavier had not noticed. But as he pulled in, Xavier's voice boomed over the speakers. "STAY IN FORMATION!" he barked. Fox sighed and replaced himself in the back.

The same procedure repeated itself three more times, and fox only managed to complete the third. The second and forth weren't much different from his first attempt. Each time he screwed up it was met with the same thing, Xavier yelling, "STAY IN FORMATION!" Fox was pretty sure he'd hear that in his sleep.

"Sim 4, you are clear for landing." The robotic voice spoke over Fox's intercom as he approached the landing tunnel. He held the stick steady as he entered the simulated hangar and killed the thruster engines directly over his landing area. He flipped the gear switched and gently released the hover jet's thrust until the fighter touched down. "Clean landing. Nice job." The computer spoke to him.

At least I did SOMETHING right… He sighed and slouched in the cockpit seat as the computer generated world slowly disappeared from the screen. "That was one hell of a fine start…" Fox said to himself as he unbuckled the safety harnesses. He unlocked the simulator hatch and let the door hiss open on its own. He sighed and picked himself out of the seat, making his way down the ladder. Xavier was heading for the falcon, and from the sight of Bill smiling made Fox believe that he had positive feedback.

"You might just have a place here after all! All we gotta is work on you being a dick and you'll be a great pilot!" Fox turned to see Xavier talking to the falcon, who despite being praised was still not paying attention to anything. Then Fox feared the worst as his instructor neared him.

"Well Cadet Outlaw… you've got a long way to go…" He pulled down the display monitor for Fox's simulator and shook his head. "Hate to tell ya this, but you just broke the record for worst first run by about two hundred points…" He turned the monitor to Fox. Fox's heart sank as he saw his simulation score read 176/1000.

"Sir! I've never flown before in my life! Sir!" Fox faked the discipline.

"Well guess what son, you ain't the only one!" He pushed the screen back up to the simulator and turned his back to Fox. "You better hope you can pull your head out of your ass… with scores like that, you'll be discharged in a week for lack of competence."

"I will get… I mean… Sir! I will get better! You can count on it! Sir!" Said Fox. Xavier chuckled and turned to him.

"You better hope that YOU can count on it… cause Daddy aint gonna hold your hand." Fox's right ear twitched at the mention of his father. "We'll be watching you cadet… until you prove us otherwise… the apple has hit the ground." And with that he walked off to grab the next line of recruits. Fox stood still, with his head hanging.

Maybe this was a bad idea… I mean… I don't HAVE to follow in my father's footsteps… no one is making me… Just then someone bumped into him. It was the falcon, and he kept walking after doing so.

"Whoops! Sorry! I must've been going too fast and almost knocked you out." He said in a very sarcastic voice.

All of Fox's doubt turned to anger in seconds. The falcon continuously bothered him, had made a comment about his father during the simulation, and now was mocking him for his mistakes. That was the last straw. Fox grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around and pulled him down to his eye level by the collar.

"Alright Beakface… you got something you wanna say to me? Would you mind saying to my face?" Fox growled to the bird's face.

The falcon smirked. "I think someone's got his fur full of static. You should go lie down before you almost crash into anything else…" Fox snapped and pulled back his fist to let the joker have it, but someone grabbed Fox's arm and pushed the two of them apart.

"Cool it guys! What the hell are you two doing?" Bill was now between them.

"I was about to introduce this asshole to my knuckles!" Fox growled while glaring past Bill at the falcon.

"Aw go lay an egg McCloud… you think you're so tough cause of your old man, but that aint worth shit. You wanna be tough? Speak with your flying, not your name." Fox was surprised as he found the falcon's words held weight. He calmed down, and Bill let go of him. "Ha." The bird chuckled as he turned away from them and walked away. Bill sighed and glanced at Fox, who was still looking at the falcon.

"You okay man?" Bill waved his hand up and down in front of Fox's face. Fox shook his head.

"Yeah… I'm good… who is he anyway?" Fox asked.

"Well, he was near me when Xavier backhanded him yesterday… I think he said his name was Falco Lomdradi…Londorno…Lormraton… I dunno, I could hear the last name clearly, but I did hear Falco.

"Falco huh… he's interesting." Fox paused then laughed. "Too bad he's a complete douche…"

...

A slight breeze brushed past the blades grass, pushed against the leaves of tall trees, and played with the colorful pedals of beautiful flowers. The grasslands were thick with life, from the sprouting sapling to the tallest oak. Great trees were strewn all over the field, but not close enough to be considered a forest.

As the wind continued to blow, it whisked past the nose of a vixen kit who lay face up underneath the protective shade of a grand evergreen, sleeping. Her nosed twitched as it was tickled by the slow gust.

"Hmm…" She sighed as she turned on her side to avoid the breeze's antics. It didn't matter though; her little nap was interrupted anyway.

"Krystal!" A high voice called out from nearby, waking her. "Krystal where are you? Come out, come out, wherever you are!" She yawned and trenched her arms and legs out, rubbing her eyes as she sat up. She was wearing a beige one piece dress with short sleeves that was crafted by her mother and a small pair of white sandals. The shirt had a dashed outline stitched around the waist and neck with a blue design on the center that was made to look like the symbol of her people. Unlike a typical Lylat vixens, vixen's on her planet had a full head of hair that draped past their ears and down the back. Kystal brushed her bangs out of her eyes, causing a few small clicks from the beads tied into her hair. "Krystal!" Her name was called out by the high pitched voice again, this time right behind the tree.

"Niomi, I'm right here." A blue furred face popped out from around the tree. It was another vixen.

"Krystal! I've been looking all over for you!" The kit jumped out in front of her, she was wearing a similar outfit with different designs. "I thought we were going to trick Jagger today!" Krystal was suddenly wide awake.

"Oh! I completely forgot!" She stood up now at eye level with Niomi. "Come on let's go! He's probably there already!" The two kits took off into the field.

This lush planet, full of life, and full of mystery, is Cerinia, a planet similar to Corneria in terms of natural environment, yet it is located in a far off, unexplored region of the Lylat system. I strange phenomena is present within this region, the warmth of Solar cannot reach the planet, yet the magnetic imbalance of Sector Z amplifies the heat, allowing it to reach much farther towards this collection of planets, including Cerinia, Sauria, Rishia, and the gas giant Dirinia.

Cerinia is populated, by a primitive, yet magically enchanted race of azure furred vulpines. But its most distinguishing feature is that it is a planet of peace. War does not exist between the tribes; in fact, the tribes are united in the interest of keeping violence from ever tainting the planet. The tribes are watched over by the seven elders of each major tribe, both wise and dependable, who follow the great elder, whose wisdom and power keep the planet from falling into confusion or disarray.

But there is one habitant of this planet that carries with her a destiny like none other. It is one she does not realize nor is it one she will be prepared for, but she knows one thing, and that is something her father has told her from the day she was born, and that is she must follow her heart.

"Shhh! Here he comes!" The two little vixen kits crouched behind a wood crafted bed in a dark room, trying their hardest not to have giggle fits. The sound of the door tarp being pushed aside was heard and footsteps entered the room. Soon drapes were pushed aside from the windows and the room was filled with light.

An older fox around the age of thirteen placed the torch he was carrying in a holder over his table. Unlike the planet's vixen's, male Cerinians did not have any extra hair atop their heads, so they looked just like typical Lylatian vulpine males with blue fur. He was wearing just a Cerinian loin cloth. It was a Cerinian tradition to be proud of and show the maturity of one's body as they grew older, so once the age of ten was reached, one would discard the clothing of their youth and wear garments that only conceal the necessary.

The room was of dome shape with the bed on the far left concealing the two rascals. Along the rest of the wall were tables, some with scrolls and scriptures and others empty. But right across from the bed, was a large wooden box that seemed to be just a block of wood, but the fox waved his hand over it, causing three symbols to light up on the box. Suddenly a door appeared on it and the fox opened it. He reached in a pulled out a long, hand-crafted, wooden flute decorated with white and blue feathers dangling from both ends with string. Niomi nudged Krystal and Krystal nodded. The two quietly emerged as the fox inspected his instrument. They crept up behind him, veering to his left slightly. Krystal then focused her mind on him.

Jaaaaaagger…The Fox perked up as he heard a voice in his head.

"Huh?" Okay who's in my head? He responded.

Look right…

Right? The Fox looked to his right and just as he did Niomi pounced on his back, knocking him over onto the floor, the flute flew out of his hand and landed behind him.

"Big Brother! Play with me!" Niomi screamed childishly.

"Sis! Come on! I'm busy!" As he was occupied, Krystal grabbed the flute from the ground and waved at Niomi. She jumped off of him and ran to Krystal. Jagger turned in time to see Krystal and Niomi giggling and Krystal in possession of his flute.

"H-Hey!" He yelled as he tried to get up, but the two of them were already running.

"Sorry Jagger! We'll bring it back!" Krystal laughed as the two ran. Jagger followed them, but by the time he made it through the rest of his home and looked outside, the two kids were long gone. He sighed heavily, scratching the top of his head.

"Something wrong Jagger?" Jagger's father approached him from outside with a large bundle of lumber roped to his back. He was much larger than Jagger, well built, and obviously strong due to the fact that he had three tree's worth of logs on his back. His defining feature was a scare down the middle of his face between his eyes that he had obtained while hunting feral boars. Jagger acknowledged his father and sighed.

"Niomi and Krystal stole my flute again…"

"He he! We got it!" Krystal stuck the flute in the air above her head as the two vixens walked through a grassy field a good distance from their village.

"It was all you Krystal… you're telepathy is so good already! Mine has barely done anything…" said Niomi.

"Don't worry, it's different for everyone… or so my father told me…" Before she could continue, she was cut off by a deep yet caring voice.

"I've also told you to stop your antics time and time again."

"Ah!" Krystal yelped as someone grabbed her by the back of her dress. She glanced over her shoulder with a pouty look on her face up to her father. He wasn't as large or as built as Niomi's father, and he was less scruffy, more intelligent looking. He too donned the traditional male outfit of just a loin cloth, but his distinguishing feature was the large white tribal tattoo on his chest that was the same design as the symbol sewn on Krystal's clothes. "Father, you always ruin our fun." She huffed, folding her ears back.

"There's a difference between fun and mischief. Now come, let's return that shall we?"

"Aw…" The two children replied in unison.

"How did you find us?" Niomi asked. Krystal's Father chuckled.

"Krystal needs to come home, so I found her with my mind." He explained.

"So he cheats…" Krystal huffed with her arms crossed.

"And you, forgot what we need to prepare for." He continued while rubbing his palm on her head.

"What did I forget?" Krystal was too miffed to think straight. Her Father sighed.

"Good thing we keep track or you'd never know how old you are… Krystal, tomorrow is your ninth birthday…" He finished as Krystal perked up.

"Oh… I didn't even know!"

"Which means…" He continued, "That we need to get you ready to go meet the great elders."

"Huh?" She turned to look at him as much as she could with her outfit still being firmly grasped.

"Krystal, it is the most sacred ritual of Cerinia… When they reach the age of nine, all children must go to see the elders so they may use their advanced telepathy to read their futures… this is essential as the child prepares to take on his or her roll on the planet once they come of age a year later." He explained as they re-entered the village. They walked down the central path of the village, passing many large houses; dome configuration's constructed of wood and hay. The path was busy; Cerinians were all walking about, hard at work within their daily routines. This included, people hauling karts full of crops, hunters returning with wild game, and people hauling general supplies like hay and lumber. Along the road, there were tribal totem poles, marked not with faces, but with designs that were meant to represent the guardian spirits of Cerinia. The poles were the Cerinian's symbol of acknowledgement and respect towards these spirits, and in return, the spirits watch over them. Eventually they made it to Niomi's house near the far end of the village where Niomi's father was outside, piling wood into a large container made of four wooden posts and dried boar hides.

"Tenassis!" Krystal's father called to him as they approached. The large Fox turned to them and smirked at the sight.

"Well Rheneas… I see you caught our little bandits." He chuckled as he saw the two vixen's sigh.

"Accidentally really, good thing I did, we'd be after them for hours like last time." The two shared a good laugh as Jagger emerged from the house. "Now Krystal, I do believe you have something that belongs to Jagger."

"Again…" Jagger added as he strode up to her and held out his hand.

"Fine." Krystal said flatly as she handed him the flute. He grabbed it away from her.

"You know if you ever want to see it you should just ask…" Said Jagger.

"But then it wouldn't be fun." Niomi joked as Rheneas let go of her. "I guess I'll see you later Krystal." She waved and disappeared into the house.

"Well now." Rheneas started while focusing on his daughter. "We should head home; your mother is probably wondering what's taking me so long… We need to get you ready for tomorrow."

"Oh, she's turning nine tomorrow right?" Tenassis approached with a large hatchet in hand, turning it upside down, and using it to lean on.

"That's right. She's going to meet the elders." Said Rheneas as he reached out and grabbed Krystal's tail as she tried to sneak away. "I don't think so missy."

"What luck! Just in time for the tri-monthly ceremony of future reading. But I thought you weren't into the whole future reading thing." Continued Tenassis as Rheneas' ears drooped.

"Yeah I'm not… but it's a ritual, I don't want people to think I'm rebellious." He shrugged.

"Wise choice my friend." Tenassis picked up his hatchet and rested it over his shoulder. "I hate to kick you out, but I need to get back to my work." Rheneas nodded.

"No problem friend, till we meet again." They shook hands and Rheneas reached out again to catch Krystal by her arm before she could run off. "Nice try, we're going home."

"Darn." Krystal sighed.

The two made their way back to the main road and backtracked until they came to their house six buildings later. By now Solar was setting and the town torches were being lit to bathe the village in a soft glow through the night.

"Kiera? I've got Krystal." Rheneas spoke as he pushed aside the drape of their front door and moved into the large living area of their home. It was a large dome, with three doors leading to two bedrooms and a study. There were tribal ceramics and art lined up on the left wall and the doors near the back. On the right hand side of the living area was a fire surrounded by a stone wall to shield it from the wall with three hand crafted cushions near it. Kiera was sitting on one of the cushions, putting together a jeweled necklace.

Kiera was an extremely beautiful vixen, many considered Rheneas to be very lucky to have his arranged marriage to be with her when they were younger, and even luckier that they had been childhood friends on top of that, it was an unlikely combination, but sometimes those things just work out. Kiera wore the traditional loin cloth and top of female Cerinians, and in terms of being proud of one's bodily maturity, she had every reason to be. She had bright green eyes and her hair hung down to her mid back, her bangs curved partially covering her right eye. The bangs near her left eye were pulled aside and grown out long so that they could hold the long white bead configuration than hung down from her face. She smiled when she saw her husband nudge Krystal into the house.

"Being an artful dodger again honey?" She addressed to Kystal, but Rheneas answered.

"Up to her usual tricks with Niomi." The two of them sat down on the open cushions beside Kiera as she tied the two ends of the necklace together and held it up for them to see.

It was a piece made with tough boar hide string, lined completely with brown beads. But at the end of it was fine carved stone, shaped like an upside-down triangle with a large emerald planted in its center.

"How does it look?" She asked.

"It's pretty!" Krystal chimed in while leaning towards it. As she leaned, her mother slid it over her head and around her neck.

"Consider it you're birthday present a day early… you need to look nice for the elders…" Kiera smiled. Krystal's eyes grew wide.

"Really? It's for me?" She gently grabbed it with her hands and turned it around to look at the bright green stone in its center.

"It matches your eyes." Rheneas cut in. "But I'm sure your mother had it in mind when she made it." He raised his eyebrows at Kiera, who giggled in response. Krystal lunged at her mother and gave her a tight hug around the waist.

"Thank you! It's great!"

"You're welcome sweetie…" Keira embraced her daughter. "Now we have to make sure everything is ready for tomorrow… and make sure you go to bed early, we have to wake up at dawn tomorrow… it's a long walk to the temple."

"Okay!" Krystal nodded with a large smile before trotting off through the middle door to her room. The two parents watched their daughter leave the room. Kiera got up from her cushion and began walking towards the shelf that had all her crafting supplies, but halfway she was caught from behind by Rheneas, pulling her into a tight hug from behind.

"Sorry I took so long finding her." He spoke softly into her ear, which was easy due to him being no more than two inched taller than her.

"Actually it worked out just fine…" She hugged his forearms in front of her and leaned her head back, nuzzling her head into his neck. "It would have been awkward trying to make her present with her asking me what it was for."

"That's true…" Rheneas chuckled. "She's always so full of questions and curiosity."

"Just like her father." Kiera joked, reaching up and tapping him on the nose.

"You can't blame me for being interested in things." He laughed, resting his chin on her head. She reached her tail around his legs and intertwined it with his.

"No… I suppose not… we did end up having Krystal didn't we?" She teased. Rheneas twitched.

"H-hey now! That's going a little overboard!" He blushed, Kiera giggling at his flustered response.

"Oh Rhen, you are too easy…" The two of them shared a laugh, still tightly locked in their embrace. "I have a feeling…" Kiera began, "That the elders will like her. What do you think?"

"I'm sure they will… She's has an adventurous spirit, and her telepathy is quite good for her age, I'm sure she has an interesting future… hopefully better than me…" Kiera released herself from his grip and turned the hug around, so they were facing each other.

"I think our future turned out just fine." She said with a confused look on her face.

"No, I know that, I mean more interesting… I'm a farmer, I don't think Krystal could take it, she's too energetic." He explained. Kiera shrugged.

"We'll see… but that reminds me… have you given her your little pep-talk yet?" Rheneas's ears pointed upward.

"Ah! I forgot about that… yeah I'll go do that now." He bent down slightly and planted a kiss on her lips. "Thanks for reminding me."

"Where would you be without me?" She joked.

"Probably still picking unwinnable fights with Tenassis." He chuckled, letting go of Kiera and walked over to Krystal's room.

"Krystal?" Rheneas pushed aside the tarp that covered Krystal's door.

"Yes father?" Krystal was sitting on her small bed on the far side of the room, the necklace in her hands being held up close to her face for careful examination. Rheneas entered the room and Kiera stood right outside the door to listen in.

"Now Krystal…" He crossed the room and sat down beside her on the bed. "…Tomorrow is a very important day… I'm sure you already know that, but I didn't come in here to repeat what you already know." By now Krystal had let the necklace dangle from her neck and had her full attention towards her father. He smiled at her.

"No matter what the elders see in your future and no matter what you end up doing with your life…" He continued. "Just remember that it is more important to shape your own life, live your own way, and not let anybody tell you otherwise." He paused, looking into the bright young eyes staring up at him. "If you want to be happy… this is what you must do…"

"But…" She cut in. "How do I know if I'm doing it right?" Rheneas smiled.

"It's easy… just remember what I've told you in the past… to always… always… follow your heart."

"Follow my heart…" Krystal looked away from him.

"Yes…" He patted her on the head. "If you can do that… you will always know what to do…"

...

"Sim Two is hit and going down! Repeat! Sim Two is down!" An ape shouted over his comm as he watched one of his wingmen go down in simulated smoke. "Requesting backup in Sector Three! I could use it quick!" He forced the throttle to the max, causing his fighter to surge forward in time to avoid yellow laser fire. Before he knew it e was being tailed by about twelve pyramid shaped bogey simulations. He pitched left and right trying his best to lose them, but they were on him tight. "Shit! Hey this is Sim Four! Is there anyone still alive that can help me?"

"Don't lose your britches Samson! Sim Seven on the way and comin' in HOT!" The ape faced forward and looked up.

"Oh shit!" A Cornerian fighter was dive bombing right towards him. "McCloud! Are you crazy? Pull up!"

"No worries man I got this!" Fox yelled back, pitching his fighter up slightly to aim at the bogeys. Green laser fire poured from his weapons, whisking over Samson's ship and raining hell upon the enemies. Fox was on the mark for nine of the twelve bogeys. He punched the throttle to full, zooming right through the simulated explosions. "No sweat!" Samson re-appeared on his comm monitor.

"Nice stunt McCloud, but there are still three tailing AND firing on me!" Samson yelled through the speakers. Fox just chuckled.

"You honestly believe that Bill was knocked out of the simulation?" He said in a smug tone.

"What are you—AH!" Samson ducked in his own cockpit as another Cornerian fighter zoomed right over his fighter, flying upside-down, firing on and destroying the remaining targets behind.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHAAAAAAAAA!" Bill yelled as he flipped his fighter right side-up and flew past Fox. "Sim one, still alive!"

"You two are nuts…" Samson said to himself as the words, "simulation over" flashed on the screen.

Fox threw open the cockpit of the simulator with glee as he looked up his score on the machines computer. He was in machine seven in a formation of eight in a V shape; this was the larger simulator room with four other sections with formation setups. The five who were shot down were already out of their pods and checking the score tables of their run. Fox, Bill, and Samson descended their ladders and did the same. As Fox transferred his data to the score server, Xavier walked up behind him.

"Well, what have we here…" He startled Fox, who turned around and stood attention. The data came through and Fox's score read 920/1000. Comments: points deducted for damaged, including damage from reckless flying. "Well Outlaw, only three weeks and you've actually managed to impress me! I've never seen anyone pull themselves out from so deep in the shitter!"

"Sir thank you sir!" Xavier waved a hand at him.

"At ease son, this ain't a drill." Fox relaxed as Xavier pulled up the rest of the scores. "Well looks like you're still in third." Fox looked over at the screen seeing Bill with a score of 970/1000. Fox had a feeling he meant Bill. Bill had shown great potential from the beginning. Then Xavier scrolled up one more. A picture of Falco appeared and his score from the earlier session was a perfect 1000/1000.

"What! Again!" Fox yelled out loud. Xavier laughed.

"Cadet Thug may be a walking pile of garbage, but he sure can fly! Maybe you could learn a thing or two from him!" Xavier walked off chuckling to himself. Fox kept staring at the scores as Bill came up behind him.

"Yo Fox! Another great run for us! These simulations are too easy!" Bill exclaimed while patting Fox on the back. But when Fox didn't respond he looked around his friends shoulders and waved his hand in front of the vulpine's eyes. "Hey Fox! You with us?"

"I don't get it…" Fox finally spat out.

"Huh? Bill looked at the scores and saw Falco's perfect numbers. "Oh wow…"

"How does he do it? I mean, if he did it once or twice I'd understand… but he has yet to slip up once! He's gotten perfect scores since our very first simulation run!" Fox kept staring at the 1000/1000. Bill just shrugged.

"I guess he's just a prodigy or something… maybe he was born in a cockpit." He chuckled. Just then Xavier called for attention. "Hey Fox, come on, we have lunch now."

"Alrigt, alright…"

After a quick debriefing they all headed to the mess hall. The hall was one large room with two hundred tables in it that were arranged into twenty aisles atop a white a black checkered tile floor. There were sections labeled for each cadet level. Those who were in their fourth and final year of the academy got the fifty tables closest to the serving line, the second and third year's got the table sections adjacent to the fourth's, and the first year cadet's were shoved way in the back. The serving line was set up in the corner closest to the fourth year tables. Fox and Bill waited for what seemed like hours to get their lunch. Everyone was served the same thing, there was no arguing it. Today on the menu was tomato soup with a side of whole grain rolls and over cooked penne pasta with alfredo sauce.

Fox sighed at the stellar selection of the cooks for today and followed Bill way over to the first year cadet tables. As the two found a gap in the recruits wide enough for two and sat down, Fox looked over at the second-year cadets. They all looked so much more relaxed and laid back compared to how stiff and intense Fox had felt so far.

"Bill, is it just me or do we have the only instructor that's a complete hardass?" He questioned his friend. Bill glanced over his shoulder to see what Fox was looking at.

"Oh! No man, all the first-year trainers are like that, well I dunno if their all as harsh as Xavier, but the principles are the same. Once you get through the first year they basically let you go and everything from there is on you."

"Huh?" Fox was confused, but Bill continued.

"Yeah, all this strict stuff? It's just for disciplinary training. When you move on, everything changes. You ever wondered what was on the upper floors of the barracks building?" Bill asked. Fox thought about it for a moment, it was true the barracks building was ten floors, but his unit's bunks were on the first floor. "This is how it works; the first floor is for all the Male first years. The second is for the Female first years. Both of these floors just have collective unit housing. The third floor is actually a huge lounge."

"What?" Fox was surprised he hadn't heard of this.

"I know right? The fourth floor is where all the mechanic trainees live, since there's a lot less compared to the cadets. Then after that it goes second year guys, second year girls, third year guys, etc. And the best part is, it's all dorms up there, the boot camp style is only used on first years." Bill finished. "It's not all fun and games though… starting second year we have to partake in a few academic courses."

"What? Aw man, I thought I left school behind…" Fox slouched stopping halfway towards grabbing his glass of milk.

"Well, they don't want illiterate soldiers now… Corneria is known for its off world diplomacy you know…" Bill continued as Fox chugged his milk and lightly slammed the plastic cup back on the table.

"That sounds more like a university than a military compound…" Fox chuckled, prodding the pasta on his plate with his fork. Bill shrugged.

"It's why the Cornerian army is the largest in the system… they promote well being and freedom of the individual within a strictly enforced military code of conduct and discipline. So you might as well be a college student." Bill ended there and took a large bite out of his bread. Fox pondered all he had heard while trying to fit as many pieces of pasta on his fork as he could.

"Man… how do you know all this?" Fox asked as he looked down at his fork and realized he'd never be able to eat that much pasta at once. "It's like you've been snooping around at night or something." He continued while pushing some of the pasta off the fork to make a reasonable portion.

"Mmm…" Bill held up his hand and finished chewing his bread. "My grandpa use to tell me about it, I just figured it hasn't changed much." Fox nodded and refocused on his food. He scrunched his face in disgust at the thick skin that had formed on his soup. He pushed it down with his spoon till it collapsed and drowned in the orange broth. The cardinal sitting across from them stood up and lifted his tray from the table to turn in, but he ran into another avian. The sound of trays clashing made Fox and Bill turn to see what happened, but luckily nothing was dropped.

"Oh! Sorry." The cardinal stepped aside and Falco walked past him with his tray. He spotted the seat that was just opened, but after glancing at Fox he looked away and around at the surrounding tables like he was trying to find another seat. When there was nothing within twenty paces, the falcon sighed and sat down across from them. He proceeded to eat his food pretty quickly. Fox and Bill stole a lance at each other, and then back at Falco.

Well this is awkward… Thought Fox. Would it hurt him to speak to other people? Fox decided to take a risk. "Nice score on the simulator." He commented completely out of the blue. Falco froze, spoon full of soup halfway to his face.

"Feh…" Was his only response as he continued eating.

"Where'd you learn to fly like that?" Fox question made Falco freeze again.

"What's it to you?" He replied rudely. Fox rolled his eyes.

"Geez, just wondering… you don't have to be an ass about it." He had a feeling this would happen, only one thing could make it worse.

"Oh what… daddy's legacy ain't pulling its weight? Wanna hear my secrets instead?" Fox slammed his fork onto the table, bending it completely back. He let go of it, stood up, and pointed his index finger directly at Falco.

"Alright, seriously, what the HELL is wrong with you! Every time someone tries to talk to you, you act like a complete douche!"

"Hey now! Fox, cool it!" Bill grabbed Fox by the arm and pulled him back down.

"I don't know how you can stand this guy Bill!" Falco was already ignoring them and back to eating.

"Fox man, he's trying to pull your strings, don't let him get under your fur, that's exactly what he's trying to do." Bill let go of him and Fox grunted in anger.

"Screw this; I'm going to report early." Fox stood up, grabbed his tray and stormed off towards the tray collection line before Bill could tell him to calm down again. To Fox it was bad enough that he already had his father's shadow to break out of, it didn't help that Falco was now using James as a way of insult towards him. Fox grumbled to himself as he trudged out of the mess hall and continued all the way to the flight classrooms.

Fox barely paid attention during his entire flight strategy lecture on targeting order for enemy formations. He was intentionally in the back row because he as in no mood to pay attention. One row forward about five seats down, Falco was sitting with his hands resting behind his head, tipping back in his chair. He was staring straight forward, but it was doubtful he was paying attention. Fox's glares almost brunt holes in the back of Falco's head. The avian had really hit a nerve in the mess hall, and Fox was determined to strike back somehow. The only problem was he knew absolutely nothing about Falco, whereas Falco was well aware of Fox's family ties, so the fight was heavily in Falco's favor. Suddenly Fox felt someone nudge him from the right. He turned and saw a brown hare from his unit, when Fox gave him a quizzical look; the rabbit nodded his head sideways towards the instructor. Fox looked forward and froze when he saw the grey vulpine instructor and half the classroom looking at him.

"Uh… what?" He asked clumsily.

"Seeing as how you are enthralled by the lesson Mr. McCloud," She pushed her silver reading glasses up to her face from her muzzle. "I asked you what was the most logical first target when tailing a flying V enemy formation? Fox gulped and his eyes darted back and forth.

"Uhm… uh…" He stumbled on his words and just went for it. "Uhm… the one… furthest… back?" A few chuckles snuck around the class at his oblivious tone. The instructor sighed.

"That is correct… good guess. Now pay attention." The vixen turned back to the dry-erase board and continued drawing out formation diagrams. Fox sighed, leaning back into the wall behind him, making sure to stare forward while daydreaming for the rest of the class. Little did he know, his chance to get back at Falco was only an hour away.

After the class, the members of Xavier's cadet squadron were called to a new section of the simulation training facility. They walked past the formation hangars and came to a much smaller room with two non-elevated simulators facing each other. On one end of the room was a set of bleachers and on the opposite side was a large video screen. The cadets glanced around to room wondering what the point of this smaller room was.

"Attention!" They all lined up in an instant as Xavier came in the door behind them. He strode out in front of them with a smirk on his face. "Gentlemen, it is time to see who's got balls in here!" He turned towards the two machines. "This happens to be my favorite training exercise and a very popular past time among all second to forth year recruits!" He turned back to them. "Just cause I love you guys oh-so-ever-much I pulled a few strings to allow us use of this room tonight…" The cadets were nervous, Xavier was dragging out, and suspense with him was usually not a good sign. He backed up and placed a hand on the left sim pod.

"This… is the dogfight simulator!" This caught everyone's attention. "It's highly unlikely that you will ever find yourself in a one on one situation in a combat zone, but you can never be too careful! And if that time were to ever come, you want to be sure that YOU are the better pilot!" He stepped away from the pod and back towards the cadets. "So right now we will have a few friendly one-on-one fights! Obviously two at a time and the rest can watch from the bleachers on this screen!" The cadet's were excited, but the order for attention was still active, so they did their best to contain themselves. "Alright then, I will get everything squared away, so just sit tight till I finish up!" He turned away from them. "At ease!"

The excitement almost erupted from the cadets as they were freed from the attention order. Fox was very excited; he would finally be able to fly against a real person. Even if it was just a simulation, at least his target would be controlled by a brain and not a computer. Bill had made his way over and the two began conversing about how they would take people on. As they continued, someone bumped (more like shoved) past Fox. He wasn't surprised when he looked up and saw Falco walking in front of him. Fox wasn't gonna let him get away with that, grabbing him by the shoulder.

"You trying the hit and run shove again? You need some new moves." Falco turned and raised his eye feathers.

"Oh sorry, I couldn't see you there, too much failure in the way." He teased.

Dammit he's too clever with words! Fox grumbled in his mind as he tried to come up with a comeback.

"Let go of me, I don't want to get any "daddy's little fuck up" on my shirt." Falco continued.

"Alright you son of a bitch, I'm gonna…" He was cut off abruptly.

"Thug! Outlaw! Quit playing patty cake!" Xavier walked right up to them, grabbed Fox's arm with one hand and Falco's shoulder with the other, pulling them apart. "If you've got problems with each other, save it for later!" He turned away, but stopped only a pace away. His voice got hushed and sly. "Or…" He turned back to them. "This could make it more interesting…" The two looked at Xavier, slightly confused and afraid at where he was going. "You two!" He suddenly spoke up. "Get in the simulators! You're first up!" A quiet commotion stirred among the rest of the cadets. The son of James McCloud against the mystery prodigy. Xavier didn't even have to tell the rest to sit in the bleachers; they were already on their way up, eager to see this fight.

Fox and Falco approached the pods and climbed in. As they reached up to pull the hatches closed Fox shot a glare at Falco. Falco responded with his middle finger as he shut the hatch tight. Fox did the same, settling into the seat, pulling the safety harness down, and waiting for the simulation to begin. The screen came to life, mapping out simulated environment of a looped grassy field with clear skies. There was no take off procedure, they were starting in flight. Fox checked his radar, reading out target ten miles away straight forward. Fox began prepping his controls, making sure the "hover" switch was activated so he wouldn't fall like a rock when the simulation began. He grabbed the flight stick, pulling it back and forth once to test its grip and stability so he wouldn't have any surprises when he took control. Leaving his left hand on the stick, he reached out and placed his right hand on the throttle, awaiting the command to start.

A moment later words popped up on the screen reading, "Simulation begins in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…" Fox clenched the throttle tightly. "LAUNCH" Fox thrust the throttle forward, full tilt. The simulated fighter rocketed from its resting point, hurdling through the environment at the fighter's top speed of eight hundred miles per hour, surpassing mach one as it continued to gain speed. There was a loud simulated sonic boom following the fighter.

Fox's eyes were plastered forward, from the distance he heard another loud crack of the sound barrier being torn to shreds. Falco had the same idea. Fox quickly glanced to his radar as the ships closed in on each other.

Five miles… Fox thought to himself, glancing back up, and then back down. Three miles… He looked up again, still nothing in sight. He made one last glance. One m… He was cut off as green laser fire zipped past his cockpit. SHIT! He's already firing! Fox did an inline twist, blindly firing back towards his attacker. A green and white blur zoomed past him. There he goes! Fox pitched up and pulled up high as hard as he could. Due to his speed it was an extremely wide u-turn and he ended up climbing a good five thousand feet. He frantically looked to his radar to find Falco, but the dot appeared behind him. WHAT? The cockpit jostled as a laser blast struck his fighter's left wing. Fox stabilized and forced the stick forward to take a dive. How the hell did he get behind me? The dot stayed behind him. Falco was pursuing him with his own dive. Fox swayed his fighter back and forth with a twist here and there, doing his best to avoid the barrage of laser fire. He suffered two more hits, one to the nose of the fuselage, and another to the left wing. A beeping noise blared from his status board and the left wing was flashing red, indicating that the shields in that area were taking a beating and wouldn't last much longer.

Shit! I can't shake him! Unless… In a completely twisted thought, Fox pulled an extremely dangerous maneuver. He grabbed the throttle and yanked it back; causing a very sudden and painful deceleration that almost caused his safety belt to knock the wind out of him. Falco's fighter swiftly swerved right to avoid colliding with Fox's ship. Fox instantly threw the throttle back to top speed while tilting the flight stick right. He caught a glimpse of an engine glow and pursued it, catching up to Falco, who had just managed to stabilize his ship after the near miss. Fox activated his targeting reticles, a transparent screen dropping down in front of him with blue translucent lights illuminated on it. He centered Falco's fighter I it and clamped his finger tight on the fire button. The green lasers spewed forth, but Falco twisted out of the way the instant they were fired. Fox's eyes opened wide. No way! How did he know? Determined not to give up, Fox growled, and began firing sporadically. He did his best to keep Falco in his sites as his did. But it was like shooting air, Falco's fighter twisted and turned swiftly and gracefully, every attack from Fox gliding past without its mark.

"Dammit!" Fox yelled as he continued to hold tow the fire button. He perked up as Falco took a dive towards the ground."Oh no you don't!" Fox dove after him, their fighters screaming through the air, getting closer and closer to the ground. Falco began to level out to avoid crashing to the ground that was barely ten feet away now. Fox took this as an opportunity to target him again. But as he did, Falco suddenly fired his lasers into the ground, causing simulated dirt and dust to explode up from the ground. "Ah!" Fox swerved as the small bits of debris clinked and crashed onto his windshield. When he cleared the dust clouds, Falco was gone. "Shit!" Fox looked all around, but Falco was gone from his field of view. Fox looked as his radar, but there was nothing there too. Where did he…? He was cut off as laser fire struck the ground near him. Fox shifted out of the way, but more blasts rained down from above. How is he DOING that? Fox pulled back on the stick to get away from the ground, but as he moved higher into the air, the laser fire did not cease. Eventually he was at a level where his radar found Falco behind him again.

Shit! Now what? He won't fall for the same trick twice! Fox's thoughts were cut off as two shots collided with his dorsal shield with bright green flashes that made his shield his eyes. He tried twisting and turning, but Falco seemed to just get more accurate the more he tried to avoid. His aft shield was struck next with three shots in rapid succession. Fox's mind raced, Falco was going for his engine. If he lost the engine, that was it. Another shot hit the back shield. The beeping in Fox's cockpit got louder as his ship status screen was blinking furiously. The shields were getting very week, especially around the left wing and engine. Fox panicked, getting extremely desperate. He would NOT lose to Falco, he HAD to set this asshole straight. But his shields wouldn't hold. Two more shots to his aft shield cause the engine protection to collapse, and the next hit made the entire cockpit shake violently. There was a small simulated explosion, and Foxes ship began trailing smoke. The beeping changed to alarm claxons as the left wing was hit again, collapsing those shields as well. Fox frantically glanced left and saw his left wing get taken off with a few more well placed blasts. The fighter began tipping left, and no matter how much Fox forced the flight stick right, the fighter continued to tip.

No… he beat me… and I didn't even hit him… Fox gave up, letting go of the flight stick and sitting back, sighing, and closing his eyes waiting for the simulation to end with Falco's next move.

"Dad! Dad!" The young kit yelled as he ran up to his father.

"He there Squirt!" The fox kneeled down, removing his sunglasses and placing them in the chest pocket of his white jacket. He picked the kit up off the ground as he collided with him.

"Did you beat the bad guys again?" The kit asked eagerly as the fox put him back down.

"Of course I did! Nothing can beat your daddy!" The fox replied with a smile, rubbing the kit on the head.

"Yeah!" The kit yelled joyfully. "Tell me all about it!" The fox chuckled and pat him on the head.

"Let's go see mommy first… I'm sure she wants to see me too!" The fox grabbed the kits hand and they began walking.

"Dad?" The kit asked as they walked off.

"Yes, Fox?"

"You think I can fly like you some day?" The fox smiled. He stopped and knelt down to be eye level with the kit.

"Of course Fox…as long as you never give up, and trust your instincts, you can do anything… but most of all…" He poked the kit in the chest. "Always remember to follow your heart…"

Fox's eyes shot open. NO! I'M NOT DONE YET! Fox had no idea how he came up with such an insane stunt, but it was all he had left. He was losing speed, but he still had momentum. In one fluid motion he jammed the throttle to neutral and flipped the switch for his hover jets. The engine cut and the jets fired below him. He yanked the stick left, turning his fighter all the way around. He was now flinging through the air backwards, facing Falco as the avian's blasters continued to pound Fox's ship, systems failing left and right. With the hover jets active though, the system was naturally trying to slow itself down. So by the time Falco realized what had just happened, his ship was practically nose to nose with Fox's.

"WHAT'S UP ASSHOLE!" Fox yelled at the top of his lungs and clenched the fire button with all his strength. The lasers burst forth, pelting the bow shield on Falco's ship. The shields collapsed in five strikes, allowing Fox to drive his lasers right through the armor plating. With an explosion, the entire nose of Falco's ship was torn off and the flying shrapnel also clipped off his right wing. Fox watched as Falco's fighter began to fall from the sky, just as his hover jets failed. The two simulated fighters fell until they struck the ground. With a very violent shake, the screen went black in Fox's simulator. He glanced up, his anger and adrenaline still pumping. Red letters flashed on the screen reading,

"Draw."

"Oh hell no…" Fox threw off his harness and threw open the hatch to the simulator. He hears whoops and hollers from the rest of the cadet's but he was not focused on them. He jumped out and glared right at Falco, who had just emerged as well. The two locked eyes and both snapped. They ran at each other yelling madly with their fists in the air. The cadets saw what was going on and quickly jumped from the bleachers to stop them, but not before they met and punched each other right in face, both punches landing at the same time on opposite cheeks. They both fell back and frantically stood up for another go, but Bill got a hold of Fox under the arms with the help of a few others to hold him back, likewise some of them with Falco.

"Fox! Dude! Chill! Chill!" Bill tried to calm him down to no avail.

"You son of a bitch!" Falco spat at Fox from the distance they were being held apart. "I'll fucking kill you!"

"Ruin your perfect record huh? CRY ME A GODDAMN RIVER!" Fox retorted.

"I don't recall seeing the word LOSE on my screen asswipe!" Falco tried to wretch free, but the cadets had an iron hold on him.

"Didn't see WIN though huh?" Fox managed to get an arm free, but it was pulled right back.

"Did YOU see it?" It ended with Falco because Xavier stepped between them.

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Xavier boomed getting the two of them to freeze solid. He glanced back and forth between them. "Fuck me sideways and pay the taxes… you two are the most difficult little shits I've ever seen in my life!" He got in Falco's face. "You've got anger? That's good." He moved to Fox and did the same. "You've got aggression? That's also good." He moved back to between them. "But may I remind you that you are also WING MATES! And wing mates are NOT TO FIGHT AMONGST THEMSELVES! I thought they drilled that into your fucking heads already!" He glanced at both of them. "I don't care how much pride you have." He walked a few paces away.

"On the other hand..." He turned back to them. "That was one hell of a dogfight… You two may have your behavior backwards, but you've got wings." He nodded to the cadets. "Let 'em go." They obeyed. Fox and Falco glared at each other.

Falco just gave him a "Feh…" And walked to the bleachers. Fox gave Falco an annoyed look to his back and did the same, sitting on the opposite side of the bleachers from Falco to watch the rest of the dogfights.

At the end of the session, Xavier let the cadets know that all the fights were recorded and sent to the higher-ups. He did not disclose the reason, but it meant that some of them might get moved to the next level of training. The answer came much sooner than they all thought: that being the very next day.

Fox shoved the hatch of his simulator open, as he finished a maneuvers test with a near perfect score. He removed the safety harness and exited the pod, sliding down the ladder to meet Bill, who had already pulled down the score monitor.

"987/1000… sweet run Fox!" He was met with a grunt of dissatisfaction.

"That's not good enough… I need to get perfect scores…" He started walking away from the pod. Bill shut off the monitor and caught up with him,

"C'mon man, you still cranky about yesterday? I thought you wanted to show Falco he wasn't perfect, didn't you do that?" Bill questioned.

"Yeah, but I didn't win." Fox continued, stopping near the other cadets.

"Well neither did he…" Bill was cut off as Xavier entered the sim hangar.

"Alright listen up!" All the cadets stood attention. "I didn't say attention did I? At ease cadets…" He laughed to himself as the cadets relaxed. Xavier was handed a clip board by a bulldog behind him. He took a look at it for a moment and gave the crew one of his smiles that meant something was up. "It looks like a few of you have caught the eye s of our senior commanders! Those of you whose names I read off will have the opportunity to move on from these image buckets and start flying a real training fighter! The following cadets are to report to the training hangar immediately…" The cadets all stood eager, waiting to see who would get the privilege to finally actually fly something.

"Step forward as I call your name… Cadet Jeffers!" A grey feline stepped forward. "Cadet Samson!" The brown ape stepped forward. "Cadet Peterson!" A white rabbit stepped forward. "Cadet Grey! Time to show us what you got Hotshot!" Bill stepped forward. "Cadet Williams!" A buck stepped forward. "Holy shit, they've done it now… Cadet Lombardi!" Falco stepped forward. "Try to be presentable will ya Thug?" Falco rolled his eyes, luckily not within the sight of Xavier. The husky continued the list, "Cadet Orlando!" The pig standing next to Fox stepped forward. Fox glanced back and forth, there were twenty cadets left, with his recent scores he was sure to get called no sweat. "And that's it…" Fox's eyes shot open.

WHAT? Falco and Bill got in… even Samson and those other guys got in… but not me? Xavier put the clip board down on the table as the cadets called began leaving, but they were all cut off as a grey female raccoon barged in the room past him.

"Xavier! Hold on a second!" She pushed past the cadets, panting as if she had just run a mile.

"Ms. Tess? I didn't think General Pepper ever let you away of your desk!" Xavier joked to the woman.

"I know, but he seems to think that a secretary is also a delivery service…" She handed Xavier a note. "If he makes me do this again I'm demanding a raise…" She complained as she flipped her black and grey striped tail once angrily and left the room. Xavier just shrugged, looking at the front and back of the note before opening it. After reading it he chuckled and flipped it down on the table.

"You are one lucky son of a bitch…" He said, staring at Fox, who was still in shock of not hearing his name. "Cadet Outlaw! It looks like General Pepper himself has vetoed the senior commanders' decision on omitting you for reckless flying!" Fox's ears stood up straight and his tail fur stood on end. "Cadet Outlaw, report to the hangar with the rest of the cadets!" The cadets began shuffling out, but Fox stood still. Xavier raised an eyebrow. "OUTLAW! DO I HAVE TO REPEAT IT LOUDER?" Fox snapped from his daze and ran after the cadets yelling,

"SIR! YES SIR!"

Xavier shook his head and turned to the remaining recruits to give them their next instructions.

The cadets jogged into the large training hangar and were beckoned over to the opposite wall by the hangar overseer. They ran across the hangar, a total of fifty yards across, passing the three columns of training fighters. The hangar was a total of five hundred yards long with two open ends, one for entry, one for exit, with a very high ceiling to allow plenty of hover space. Mechanic trainees were running up and down the hangar with parts and tools, tuning up the ships to be ready and in perfect condition, practicing the roles they would take on should they become members of the Cornerian force. As the cadets jogged, Fox lagged behind due to his unexplained hesitation back with Xavier. In his attempt to catch up, he ran right into a green frog wearing a red baseball cap and a yellow mechanic jumpsuit, carrying two large boxes. The amphibian toppled over and the boxes along with him. Fox quickly stopped to help him.

"Oh geez, sorry buddy…" Fox grabbed the mechanic by the shoulders to hoist him up; it didn't take much since the frog was both short and not very heavy.

"Ouch… no, it's fine…" He said in a high squeaky voice. Fox let go of the frog and bent down to pick up the boxes. "Oh! Don't worry I'll get those!" The frog frantically waved his arms in attempt to signal to Fox that help wasn't required. Fox shook his head.

"No problem buddy, here." Fox restacked the boxes and handed them to the frog. "Oh shoot! I gotta go little guy, later!" Fox ran off towards the cadets as the frog stared at him in annoyance.

"Little guy? I'm sixteen…"

"Nice of you to join us Cadet…" The bald eagle paused to push up her spectacles on her beak look at her clip board with all the names on it. Unlike Xavier, she was dressed in business clothing, in a grey tailored suit. "Wait, why are you here? I don't have any names left…" She picked up the sheet, peering beneath it to make sure she wasn't missing another page. A large black bear behind her, decked out in a full Cornerian flight uniform of green slacks, green jacket with sewn in awards and logos, and white undershirt, stepped forward and whispered something into her ear before retaking his place like a statue behind her. "Oh! You must be Cadet McCloud… yes, General Pepper pushed you through the deferral… breaking almost every rule and condition to be this far in the training…" She sighed, shaking her head. "I guess a name can really get you places…" She said quietly as she penciled in Fox's name at the bottom of the list. Fox did his best to keep his expression from showing anger. He was getting sick of how many people used his Father's legacy to label him.

"Alright here's the deal, I am Talia Seraph, overseer of the training hangar… and this is Senior Airmen Brock McPhearson…" She motioned to the stoic bear. "You've all been cleared to fly the training fighters, a privilege usually only given to those halfway through their second year. Due to an interesting display of talent, you've all been cleared way early, but there's a few things you'll need to know first. Fortunately, I do not have the honor of telling you. You've each been assigned a trainee mechanic who is responsible for your designated fighter from this day forward. You three…" She pointed to Fox, Bill, and Samson. "You will follow Brock down that way to your fighters…" She pointed to her right down the massive hall of jets. "The rest of you follow me. Come on! On the hop!" She snapped her fingers and the others followed her. Fox watched Falco and the rest leave, but was surprised by a large hand on his shoulder. He turned and tried his hardest not to yelp when he saw Brock staring down at him with his huge menacing eyes.

"Quit day-dreaming… let's go." He ordered in a very, VERY deep voice. Fox didn't dare retort. The three cadets followed Brock down the alley, eventually dropping Bill and Samson as they went. He stopped at a fighter about twelve rows from the very back and pointed towards it.

"Thank you s—"

"Meet at the launch tunnel in fifteen minutes." Brock completely cut off Fox. And without saying another word, he trudged off. Fox just stood silently, watching the large animal disappear in the sea of training fighters.

"So much for the "big friendly giant…"" Fox said out loud. He turned to his fighter. It was quite thrilling to see an actual piece of machinery that he could fly. The simulators were fun and all, but now he was about to do the real thing. As for the fighter, it was the same shape and design as the normal Cornerian fighters with the sleek fuselage; two wings slightly angles off and a cone like fin off the back of the cockpit above the engine. The only difference from a real fighter was that it was all tan; none of the green air force markings. As Fox visually evaluated his new acquaintance, he saw a familiar figure step around the landing gear. It was the frog from before, tinkering with a panel on the underside of Fox's fighter. Fox approached him. "Hey."

"AH!" The frog jumped, dropping his screw driver. He quickly bent down, picked it up and faced Fox. "Don't scare me like that! … oh!" The frog recognized Fox from merely minutes ago.

"So you're my mechanic? Small world, huh?" Fox small talked.

"Out of over five hundred jets yeah I'd say so…" The frog continued to fiddle with the underbelly of the jet.

"Are you supposed to explain something to me?" Fox questioned, keeping an eye on the time so he wouldn't be late for Brock.

"Oh yeah! Just a moment…" the frog closed the panel and patted his hand against the ladder to the cockpit. "Climb on up, it's easier to learn if you can see it too."

"Fair enough." Replied Fox as he climbed up the ladder and plopped down in a real cockpit for the first time. The frog popped over the side as Fox looked over the controls, the only real differences he recognized right off the bat, were a few extra switches and no numbers on the throttle.

"Alright then." The frog began, "Everything is generally identical to the simulators except…" He pointed at the throttle, "No more numbers on the throttle, but you should know by now what the speed variants are." Then he pointed at a covered switch. "Flip this cover open and hit this switch…" he pointed to a lever tucked below the right side of the seat. "And it will unlock the ejection lever… I'm pretty sure you can put two and two together for what that does…" He pointed to a switch beside the radar screen. "This is the night vision, it will change up your windshield to be one big night vision lens… and lastly," He motioned towards a green button beside the ignition switchs. "This is the auto pilot, just input your coordinates into your ships mapping module and the ship will do the rest… great for long flights… but you will probably never use it."

"Seems simple enough…" Fox nodded in satisfaction. "This'll be a piece of cake." The frog sighed and shook his head.

"Don't be so sure…" The amphibian began, earning an interested glance from Fox. "The simulator is a perfect replica of a Cornerian fighter… but that's just it… it's perfect, designed to simulate a Cornerian fighter in perfect condition. No fighter is ever in perfect one-hundred percent condition."

"What? Isn't it your job to keep the fighters in top condition?" Fox asked, bewildered. The frog grunted.

"Well yes that is our job description thank you very much… but mechanics can't prevent parts from getting old or corroding… and as trainees we're only given so many materials to work with… If I had to venture an estimate though I'd say your fighter is currently at eighty-seven percent of its full capability."

"That's a welcoming thought…" Said Fox sarcastically.

"That's just in terms of overall performance though. Everything is in good enough condition for the plane to fly stably… I could fix it up completely… but like I said, they give us limited resources, unless we have a reason to require more… like if you, say, total the ship."

"Alright, alright, enough on that… that's definitely on the top of my not-to-do list. I'll bring her back in without a scratch." Fox assured his green friend.

"Good, less work for me then." He began to step down, but stopped after one step, pulling himself back up over the side. "Oh one more thing…" Fox stopped pulling down the harness to listen. "The simulator is also true to its name… a simulation. So all the g-forces, jerks, and sways were all fabricated, it's quite impossible to simulate them with a stationary pod… the real thing is quite a bit different, so be wary of that." Fox nodded.

"Thanks, I'll keep that in mind…" The frog began descending, but was stopped by Fox. "Oh wait!"

"Yeah?" The frog popped back up again. Fox stuck out his hand.

"I'm Fox by the way. Sorry I didn't introduce myself; spur of the moment I guess." The frog smiled.

"No problem. The name's Slippy. I'll detach the fuel lines and give you thumbs up when you're clear to begin."

"Sounds good." Fox ended with a nod as Slippy descended the ladder. Fox's move was to reach up and pull down the hatch, but he remembered he wasn't in the simulator. He glanced up, but the cockpit windshield was opened too far for him to reach it. He looked back at the dashboard and scanned for any extra switches, but there were none. Slippy stepped out into his view and flashed Fox the thumbs up, but Fox waved to him. "Slippy!"

"Yeah?"

"Not to sound stupid or anything, but how do I close the cockpit?" The way Fox put it made Slippy grin.

"No worries, it closes automatically when you start it up." He explained.

"Oh… pfft, thanks…" Fox chuckled as he pulled down the safety harness and hit the ignition switches. As the windshield descended, he activated the hover jets and released the landing gear. The slight jolt of the fighter catching the air startled him. Oh geez… if that surprised me I can hardly wait for the rest… Fox carefully raised the fighter into the air above the others and began the same procedure from the simulator. He opened communications with hangar control. "Fox McCloud to Hangar Control, requesting permission to use taxi lanes."

"Permission granted Cadet, good luck!" The control attendant replied. Fox moved into the taxi lane and pushed the throttle slightly forward to propel his fighter at a safe speed towards the launch tunnel.

Alright Fox… this is REAL now… just stay calm, and stay focused… You've earned this by chance… mistakes could mean your end… He prepped himself as he made it to the tunnel where seen other training fighters were waiting.

"Glad you could make it Fox!" Bill's face appeared on Fox's comm screen. Fox smiled.

"Sorry, couldn't get the cockpit shut." The two of them laughed as a ninth fighter approached behind them. All the cadets watched as a genuine Cornerian fighter hovered past them, but instead of green, it had sections painted blue to designate a Senior Airman Commander. Fox's comm screen sprung to life as he watched the high ranking fighter pass by.

"All cadets move into the launch tunnel… Nine Diamond formation on me…" The low voice of Brock commanded. Fox quickly complied, taking the far right spot in the third line. This formation was set up with the leader in front; two ships a wingspans length apart behind him, three behind those with the same separation, then two behind them, and one in the back to make the shape of a diamond. This caused a little bit of unease among the cadets, due to this being their first time actually flying. They had never thought such a tight, advanced formation would be called right off the bat. "Stay focused and keep your speed at regulation levels for launch… if you can all do that much I guarantee nobody will kill themselves…"

That's a great way to keep us calm… Fox thought with his eyes wide in sarcasm.

"On my mark begin the acceleration process…" Brock ordered. Fox gripped the throttle.

This is no different from the first simulation… but… I think I'm going to shit myself…

"Three… two… one… launch!" On that order Fox pushed the throttle up; he was immediately pressed to his seat as the g-forces rushed against him.

HOLY-! Fox mentally shouted. He had heeded Slippy's warning, but he wasn't expecting that much of a difference. The formation reached the acceleration point of the tunnel. Knowing he had to, so as not to cause a rear-end collision; Fox pressed the throttle to maximum launching speed. He squinted to keep the gravity forces from making his eyes tear up and get blurry. In seconds the squad was out of the hangar and steadily raising into the air. At this point Fox's nervousness was replaced with an adrenalin rush. He was flying. He was really flying.

"All aircraft… prepare for basic maneuvers." Brock ordered through communications. Fox snapped out of his crazed high and refocused forward, locking his eyes on Brock's ship. The formation swayed right, but most of the ships did not follow exactly, including Fox, who found the flight stick on his fighter was tighter than the simulators.

Ah shit… Fox thought as he stumbled through the motion. Bad memories of Xavier yelling "STAY IN FORMATION!" began running through his head. But Brock's approach was a lot different.

"Don't worry if it isn't perfect right away… take time to get used to your ship's configuration and physical state… Once everyone's got it figured out, we'll try some more advanced movements…" Fox wasn't the only cadet surprised. This new stoic approach of instruction was the polar opposite of what they were all used to.

I guess Xavier was right… Fox tilted the stick left to follow the formation. Bill too… He was getting the hang of it. He just had to be a little harder on the control movements. Once we get past the first year… they aren't so critical… Fox suddenly jerked the stick back because he almost went too far, which could have been disastrous. But… they expect us to be responsible and not screw up…

Another minute of easy flight movement and Brock spoke up again.

"Alright… it looks like everybody has the hang of it. Full turn. We'll try some more interesting moves as we head back." He pitched right slightly and the entire formation followed as they made a complete turn-around. "REMEMBER! …" He suddenly raised his voice, startling all the cadets. "Only partake if you believe you can… if a maneuver feels too dangerous for you, or you are unsure if you can pull it off yet, then drop out below the formation… there is no shame in knowing one's limits on the spot… a wise man backs down unless he is sure he is truly capable." With that in mind, four fighters dropped out of the formation and throttled down to keep a safe distance behind. Fox, of course, stayed put. He glanced at the designation of the ships still in the formation in his radar output. Besides him, Bill, Falco, and Samson stayed in.

"Figures…" Fox said to himself as the four remaining created a flying V formation with Brock at the point, Fox and Falco at his wings, and Samson and Bill in the back.

"Okay… Do as I do… and like I said… Don't be afraid to bail."

"We heard you the first time Spooky, let's get on with it!" Fox recognized Falco's voice over the speakers, sighed, and shook his head.

He has ABSOLUTLEY no respect for anyone… he thought.

"You've got quite a noisy beak…" Brock replied. "Fine then… you lead."

"WHAT?" Fox yelled at the speaker even though his comm wasn't activated.

"Heh, now we're talkin'!" Falco shouted with satisfaction as Brock dropped below and let Falco in the lead, rising into Falco's spot. "Just try to keep up!"

Oh boy… here we go… Fox was not going to let Falco throw him off.

Falco did a small dip followed by a large ascent upward into a wide corkscrew Fox followed, but was batted by vertical G's to the point where he could barely hold steady through the maneuver. When they all leveled out, Fox glanced at his radar to see that Samson had bailed, and that Bill was lagging behind a little. Falco quickly did half a twist and pushed his throttle full while facing upside down Fox and Brock followed, but Bill had just leveled out from the previous stunt, and the other three were out of range by the time he had his ship stable.

Is that all you got Falco? Fox was going a bit loopy again, this time from a mix of adrenalin and the fact that he would NOT let Falco show off. Brock was following him no sweat, which was no surprise due to his experience, but Fox was having a few issues. Even all the time spent in centrifuge gravity training couldn't prepare him for the real deal. They were going top speed, and Fox was beginning to feel light headed. This was evident to the others when his fighter began to sway a little.

"What's the matter McCloud? You going soft on me?" Falco's voice taunted through the speakers. Fox exploded with anger, nearly breaking the switch to his communicator as he snapped it on.

"Not even breaking a sweat my fine feathered asshole!" They were interrupted by Brock.

"Cadets! Focus!" He ordered as Falco twisted back upright.

"Save it gramps!" Falco retorted before egging on Fox again. "Yo fluffy boy! Bet you don't have the balls to pull a barrel roll maneuver on me!"

"Oh I see someone is eager to be shown up! Fine!" Fox accepted. Brock's face appeared on the visual comm screen.

"Cadet McCloud! Do not- I repeat DO NOT attempt that! It is the most advanced flight maneuver known and performing it at top speed is just asking to pass out!" Brock's voice was no longer stoic and calm; it had changed into a much more critical and ordering tone. Brock was completely right; a barrel roll required one to twist while moving over the intended target. It sounds simple in theory, but few had mastered it. So Brock's warning certainly held its weight, but Fox wasn't listening. He jammed the throttle all the way up and held it there to activate his boost thrusters. Fox began approaching Falco, feeling like he was going to be ripped in half by the g-forces, but he could care less. He began the upward movement and pushed the stick all the way left, locking it into place to execute a twist. He was right above Falco now, facing upside-down, and halfway through the maneuver.

WHAT NOW FALCO! WHAT N—Disaster struck. The force was too much to handle and Fox blacked out. Thankfully it was only for a moment. He opened his eyes wide, short of breath and confused as to what was going on, his ears were ringing like mad. The world was spinning in front of him and he fought to re-orient himself. Eventually the ringing in his ears weakened, but was replace by,

"CADET MCCLOUD LEVEL OUT! CADET MCCLOUD LEVEL OUT NOW!" Fox recognized the voice as Brock. He blinked a few times and shook his head out, finally getting a hold of himself. But now he realized that he WAS spinning, and it wasn't just his head. In fact he was spiraling downward at a forty five degree descent. Not only that, but he was heading headlong towards the hangar. They had been going so fast that they had reached the hangar, which was the worst time Fox could have possibly decided to be rash. The last place he wanted to lose control of his ship was near the base itself. Fox grabbed the flight stick and yanked back on it, but there was little response. His momentum mixed with gravity was outweighing his engine power, and the wings could not fight against the amount of pressure.

"SHIT!" He yelled out loud as he tried and tried again to pull up. His first instinct was to reach for the eject lever, but if he did that, the fighter would surely run headlong into the base and possibly kill someone. So he went back to trying to level out his flailing fighter. "Come on…COME ON!" Fox yelled at his machine. And finally the fighter began to respond slightly. "YES! JUST A LITTLE MORE!" He encouraged his ship. He managed to level out just enough that the breaks would be effective. He pulled the throttle all the way back to activate the brakes, but since the fighter was still moving past it's max thrust velocity, it was more than the break flaps could take. Two shrill ripping noises caught Fox's attention as he looked from side to side, seeing an empty space where the break flaps used to rest. "Oh you've GOTTA be SHITTING ME!" Fox put both hands onto the flight stick as his mind raced through other possibilities. If he ejected now, he's survive, but the possibility of killing someone if not more people via his fighter as a projectile made him hesitate. But if I don't eject… SHIT! What am I going to do?

Then something came to him. He was only a few degrees off from the entry tunnel for landing in the hangar, it was risky, but if he could precisely use his hover jets upon entry, he could "soft" crash-land. It was his only logical chance. He immediately tugged the flight stick right, using what was left on his wings to slowly tilt towards the entry bay. His comm sprang to life.

"Tower to Cadet Trainer! Tower to Cadet Trainer! Pull up! Pull up now! You are on a collision course with the hangar!"

"Tell me something I don't know!" He yelled back into the communicator. "Look! I've got no breaks, too much momentum to control my ship, and if I eject, the fighter could kill someone! If nobody is going to die, then I need to use the hangar! Get the runway clear!"

"Unadvisable! Pull up Cadet!" The voice repeated.

"I JUST TOLD YOU I CAN'T! NOW CLEAR THE RUNWAY!" Fox belted back at the tower staff.

"Cadet, be reasonable! PULL UP!"

"God dammit!" Fox pounded the comm. switch off beside the flight stick, focusing back forward. The hangar drew closer and closer, and he was still at an awkward entry angle. Fox forced his hand through the pulling gravity forces and flipped on the switch for his hover jets. The jets activated and the fighter automatically tried to tilt itself to a level position to hover, but it was not having the effect Fox desire. The fighter's nose was still tilted down. The hangar was mere yards away now. SHIT! I'M GOING TO CRA—

His thought was cut off and a miracle occurred, one that probably saved his life. Because he has not fully made his way into the correct landing angle, his left wing did not clear the left edge of the hangar entry. It completely tore the wing off the fuselage, but also tilted what was left of the fighter slightly upward and into a spin. This allowed the hover jets to add just enough cushion for the fighter not to shatter upon impact of the hangar floor. As it struck the floor Fox's head was thrown forward and he struck his forehead on the dashboard. The fighter skidded diagonally across the hangar floor with a loud screech while kicking up sparks before colliding with the right hand side of the bay and coming to a halt.

The fighter lay still, completely totaled, slightly sparking and smoking from all the instant damage it had just received. There were no shields on the training fighters, so it was no wonder that it was in such a mess. Hangar personnel began running up the fighter as Fox force the safety harness off. He put his right hand to his forehead as it began to throb painfully. It felt wet; he removed his hand and noticed it was covered in blood. Then he noticed that the blood was trickling down his face, off his muzzle, and onto the controls. He was feeling really light headed, and could barely reach up to force the cockpit open, but he didn't need to. It was opened from the outside, followed by a few pairs of hands grabbing hold of him, and hoisting him up.

"He's alive!" He heard someone yell, followed by the sound of relieving sighs. Fox quickly swatted the hands away from him and tried to focus.

"Yeah… I'm not dead, I don't need help." He tried to convince the grey squirrel and brown rabbit that were trying to help him. He took one step and stumbled, almost falling out onto the floor.

"Oh I think you do." The squirrel replied, grabbing hold of him again.

"Your head looks like a fountain; we need to get you medical attention." The rabbit added. The sound of fighters entering the hangar overhead filled the room. They all landed nearby, followed by the pilots jumping out and running up to Fox.

"Fox! Holy shit, you're alive!" Fox's vision was getting blurry again, but he picked out this voice as Samson.

"God damn, don't scare us like that!" That was Bill. Fox normally would have responded, but he was busy being completely disoriented, along with the cringing knowledge that he royally screwed up after being pushed through on special notice to fly a trainer. With that thought clearly in his mind, he was led out of the hangar, and to the medical center.

...

"Kiera? The sun's already rising! We need to go!" Rhenease called into the house while standing outside. He was wearing formal attire, which for a Cerinian male, was just a small cloak with the family crest, a circle with three vertical lines through the center, stitched to it. His was a deep forest green and the crest was sewn in light blue.

"I know Rhen! Krystal's almost ready!" His wife responded from inside. He sighed, leaning up against the post that marked their residence, tapping his foot as he glanced at the sky again, then back down to see other families from the village beginning the trip to Cerin, the capital city of the planet and home of the great wise men. Finally he heard the tarp flap open and glanced towards his front door. Kiera was, as always looking her best with many assortments of jewelry and a ceremonial woven sheet over her shoulders that was white as snow. Behind her, rubbing her eyes and yawning, was a very sleepy Krystal, who despite her mother's suggestion, had stayed up later than she should have. She was wearing the very same outfit she wore the day before, with the added necklace she received for her birthday.

"Well now! Look who's excited to get going!" Rheneas joked as Krystal yawned again, stretching her arms and tail out straight, followed by a heavy sigh and droopy ears.

"I'm tired…" She complained. Kiera patted her on the head.

"I told you to go to sleep early…" She re-explained with a giggle.

"Well then…" Rheneas motioned to the road. "Shall we get moving?" Kiera nodded, grabbing Krystal by the hand and leading her towards the bustling road. Other children of the village were on their way as well, guided by their parents. Rheneas and Kiera greeted acquaintances form the village as they walked along the road. The village was soon behind them, and they along with their neighbors moved through the grassy plains and thin forests until they came to a much larger road. From the sky one would think they were looking at a river moving downstream towards the city, but it was really the crowd of millions of Cerinian vulpine all flowing like a current towards the large basin of Cerin.

Krystal became nervous at the site of so many her age. She had known of the ceremony, but she had never been to Cerin, and to see so many people in one place was foreign to her. The city soon came into view as the Cerinians flowed over a hill and down towards Cerin. The city was densely populated with huts and other larger constructs extending farther than Krystal could see. But one thing stood out among the packed urban population, and that was the massive stone temple that lay in the center of the city. It was said that the temple was hand carved out of a mountain over a million years ago by the Cerinian spirits themselves. It certainly seemed that way; there was not a building in the city that reached up to its ankles in terms of sheer colossal size. Its shape was that of one large tower, a cylinder with a three hundred yard radius, slowly closing into a spire at its zenith. Standing about half as high were four large meditation towers, forming the pattern of four corners of a square around the main tower. The elders spent their days in contact with the spirits within these towers, judging the state of the planet and how to go about keeping the population at peace.

Krystal had been staring at the temple for so long that she hadn't even noticed that they were now within the city limits. She was nearly pushed against her mother by the sheer density of the crowd. Their pace had slowed drastically as it seemed two different roads into the city had merged and were both trying to funnel into the temples approach.

"Father where are we? I can't see…" Krystal groaned in a mix of anxiety and discontent. Rheneas smiled at her.

"We are nearing the temple…"

"No, I mean, what's the city look like?" She was now trying to get her mind on other things to cope with her worry.

"Oh… not much different from our village, just a bit more packed, and bigger houses and huts." He replied while glancing about.

"Oh, okay…" She acknowledged him while looking at the ground.

Are you scared honey? Krystal perked up, hearing her mother's voice in her head. She replied the same way.

Yes… I'm really scared… She felt her mother squeeze her hand.

There's no need to worry, you will have a bright future no matter what the elders decide. Her mother's words seemed to do the trick. She felt better and less tense.

Good speech. Kiera heard in her head. She smiled.

Good eavesdropping darling. She responded, earning a chuckled from Rheneas. They continued along the path to the temple. As crushed and cramped as they were within the crowd, it didn't stop them from moving forward little by little.

At last they made it to the temple, and once they had passed underneath the large stone entrance, they filed right into the bottom floor, which was a completely open prayer floor, all three hundred yards of the cylinder. Krystal's eyes grew wide at the sight of it. Their temple at her village would forever look very miniscule to her. They advanced into the circle. All around them Cerinian families with their nine year old children sat around awaiting the ceremony to begin. The chamber itself was lit by thousands of torches, half of which lined the walls all the way around, and the other half hanging from ropes on the ceiling. They were lucky in the fact that they had made it there earlier than most. They managed to find a place to sit only about thirty yards from the circular altar in the center. It really didn't matter how far they sat from the podium until the readings though, the great elder had the uncanny ability to talk to multiple minds at once, with no numerical limits. So every Cerinian in the temple would hear him. The temple monks worked as fast as they could to file the remaining Cerinians into the temple so the ceremony could begin on time.

Eventually every last Cerinian on route to the temple had arrived and was in place within the prayer circle. The stone doors were closed and the room went silent. Krystal glanced around; hoping to get a clue on what was going to happen next, but it came to her. Her mother and father assumed the traditional prayer position, so Krystal copied, kneeling down on her left knee, resting her right elbow on her extended knee. She closed her right hand into a loose fist, rested the knuckle of her index finger against her forehead and closed her eyes. But the result was not the same as back home. Her mind seemed to be opened, unlocked, and revealed. She could see and feel everyone and everything around her without the use of her eyes. Her attention was drawn to a gap in the crowd that was laden with a crimson woven carpet, extending all the way from the stairs leading up from the wall to the center altar.

Along this carpet walked eight figures, all struck with old age, and supported by staves, yet they all looked absolutely enchanting in their large white robes and countless tribal markings and tattoos. They looked like spirits themselves. They were the elders of Cerinia. At least the seven behind the lead were. The Cerinian leading them in was Zannin, the planets current great elder and most well known individual on the planet. His robe was black with very complex white designs sewn into it. His staff was not just a branch of wood like the others. It was crafted out of white, hallowed out stone with a large white crystal place on the top. His demeanor was truly majestic, yet his eyes looked as gentle as a child's. They arrived at the podium, and the seven elders took their places around the altar perimeter while Zannin ascended to the very center of the prayer hall. He stood strong and gave off a wrinkled, but warm smile.

Fathers… Mothers… and Children of Cerinia… A voice made itself present in Krystal's mind. The voice was weak, but welcoming; holding a warmth that only a grandparent could create. We gather here today with a common objective… a tradition passed down through the ages of our people… and continued through those ages to promote peace, but mostly prosperity with the knowledge of one's future skills long before they use them in practice… Today is the day where all the children within the confines of our great sanctuary… will be pointed towards their life path, so they may live smooth lives free of worry… Now my fellow citizens of Cerinia… open your eyes so we may look upon each other as brother looks upon sister… as mother and father looks upon son and daughter… let us rejoice… and continue our sacred tradition…

She didn't know how or why, but Krystal knew that he was finished, and opened her eyes to view the elders for the first time in her life. They were actually there, and the great elder really had spoken to all of them at once. It was astounding, that an individual would be capable of such powerful mental abilities. She felt something grab her hand; she turned to see her mother smiling at her.

"Come sweetie… It's time." Krystal obeyed her mother, rising to her feet and following her mother's guidance towards one of the seven long lines being formed towards the large altar. Since they were close they managed to get a decent spot in a line, but they were still a good distance from the front.

Krystal was getting anxious. Many different thoughts swirled in her head, and she wasn't quite sure which one to accept. She knew this tradition was absolute and essential to the prosperity of the planet and the people, but her father's words from the night before were contradicting it.

Just follow your heart… She thought to herself. But… if my life is predetermined for me… then how can I? She was confused. It almost seemed as though there was a war in her mind over the thoughts keeping with the tradition, and running away right now, forgetting everything and living how she wanted. Both Rheneas and Kiera could feel all these thoughts pouring from her. Kiera was about to try and comfort her, but Rheneas cut her off.

Just leave her be Kiera…

But Rhen… can't you feel it? She's absolutely petrified!

I know… Rheneas shook his head. But we can't hold her hand forever… she can handle this; she's not so little anymore. Kiera sighed, defeated.

You're right… I'm just as worried as she is… They were getting visibly close to the elder taking care of their line. Just stay strong Krystal…

Krystal was doing her best, but she was getting more and more terrified with ever pace taken. They were close enough to see the elder at work now. Placing his and upon the head of a boy. A soft white glow appeared around his hand for a few seconds before he opened his eyes and released the boy.

"Hunter." Pronounced the elder with a smile. The boy's parents bowed to the elder and thanked him, moving into the exit aisle. The line shifted forward and a girl stepped up to the elder. The same process ensued and he proclaimed, "Crafter." Krystal didn't like this. Framer, crafter, hunter, guard, chief, ambassador, gatherer, lumberjack, miner, fisher, monk, musician. Everything seemed so simple, so watered down. It was the only weakness of the perfect society… no adventure.

Krystal's eyes shot open as she realized that the family in front of them had just finished with the elder. She reached over and clutched her mother's arm as if desperate for comfort in a situation she clearly wasn't sure of. Kiera knelt down beside her.

"It's okay Krystal… we're right here with you." She spoke to comfort the quivering kit. Krystal nodded and walked with her parents towards the elder. Krystal refused to let go of her mother's hand so Kiera stayed with her as the elder smiled down at her.

"Hello little one…" He said calmly. "What is your name?" Krystal looked up towards her mother once. Who smiled and nodded back to her.

"I-I'm K-Krystal…" She stuttered. The elder chuckled.

"There is no need to be afraid, child." He reached out his hand. Krystal closed her eyes and bent her ears down as if trying to prolong the time it took for him to touch her. She let out a small yelp as his hand rested atop her head and kept her eyes sealed shut as he worked. The white glow formed over his hand. A few seconds past, which was how long it had taken with every other kit, but he continued. Rheneas and Kiera watched, wondering why it was taking so long. The elder's smile faded and was replaced with a look of confusion. His eyebrows vaulted up and down, furrowing his brow as if something was the matter. The people behind them in the line began peeking over shoulders and leaning out of the line to see what the hold up was. The glow faded from the elder's hand, and he removed it, but he opened his eyes and gave Krystal a strange look. "That's… strange…" He said.

"What? What is it?" Rheneas questioned. Kiera looked back and forth between the elder and Krystal.

"I… couldn't…" The elder spoke slowly, trying to put the pieces together as he did. He didn't finish though. He turned around and ascended the podium.

"Hey!" Rheneas yelled after him, but he stopped as he saw the elder speak to Zannin. The great elder glanced over the elder's shoulder to catch a glimpse of Krystal, and then turned back to the elder and nodded. The elder stepped aside as Zannin descended towards Krystal. Krystal herself was even more worried now. The whole room had ceased productivity. The rest of the elders sensed the confusion and had turned to see her, along with practically everybody else in the temple. Had she done something wrong?

"This child?" Zannin questioned, turning back to the elder, who nodded. Zannin knelt down in front of Krystal. "Your name is Krystal correct?" It was strange. Perhaps it was the welcoming air of Zannin himself that cause her fear to vanish. She found absolutely nothing to be afraid of from him.

"Yes." She answered, no longer shaking. In everyone's amazement, the great elder himself reached out and placed his hand atop Krystal's head. She didn't close her eyes this time. She stared directly at him as he worked. His hand began to glow a light blue and he closed his eyes. Rheneas and Kiera watched, wondering what the whole commotion was with their daughter.

"This is…" Everyone perked up as Zannin spoke. "…interesting." The glow faded and he opened his eyes. "I can't read her future either…" A collective gasp and a plethora of murmurs instantly spread across the entire temple. Kiera and Rheneas stared at Krystal.

"Wha… what does that mean?" Kiera questioned Zannin. But the great elder only smiled.

"No need to fret… daughter of Cerinia." He addressed Kiera. "This is actually a wondrous occasion!"

"What do you mean?" Rheneas tried to press. Krystal, knew something wasn't right. Even her mother and father were confused about it, so something had to be wrong. Zannin however, only held up his hand to Rheneas.

"Patience my son…" He closed his eyes and once again worked his amazing telepathy.

My fellow Cerinians… do not be alarmed by the sudden halt of the ceremony… a great discovery has been made, one that is truly a godsend. Please, reform your lines and continue, but I must take my leave, there is a sacred prophecy I must carry out. He opened his eyes, and along with the confused murmurs, the rest of the Cerinian's filed back into their lines to continue. Zannin returned his focus to Krystal and her parents.

"Please come with me… all three of you." Krystal looked at Kiera, who looked at Rheneas, who shrugged. The three looked forwards and nodded, following the great elder as the monks made sure there was a path open for them. They approached the stairs leading up the wall and to higher floors. This was enough to surprise Kiera and Rheneas. Nobody was ever allowed up into the upper levels of the temple unless they were monks or elders. They reached the second floor after ascending more steps than Krystal hand ever walked on before in her life, and they emerged in another large room that was nearly identical to the one below, but considerably smaller since the walls of the temple slanted in sharply as one climbed higher. It was another praying circle, but this one was just for monks, evident by the countless monks wearing light green robes, meditating. Krystal was barely able to take in the surroundings before they reached another set of steps. Here the monks following them stopped, catching the attention of Kiera and Rheneas.

"Um… great elder?" Rheneas called, Zannin turning to face him. "Isn't this… sacred ground? I doubt it is right for us to go where even the monks are not allowed…" Zannin just flashed another one of his welcoming smiles.

"Believe me… all three of you have earned the right." Before he could continue, Kiera cut him off.

"But how? You haven't told us anything!" Nothing seemed to annoy or anger Zannin.

"It is something that you must both see and hear." He ended it there and continued. Rheneas and Kiera looked at each other again before reluctantly following. The second floor had a very high ceiling, so much that it was hard to see the top from the floor. The ascent took quite a while. They emerged on the third floor, where the elders congregate, again questions of validity in terms of being allowed poured from Rheneas and Kiera, but the Elder continually insisted that they were beyond qualified. So they continued upward and made it to the fourth chamber, where none but the great elder himself was allowed.

The room was about fifty yards in diameter with a large altar at the center similar to the one on the first floor. Zannin beckoned them to follow him up to its apex, which they obeyed and followed. They stayed at the edge of the final step and watched Zannin as he approached and stood in the center. He gripped his staff and pressed its butt into the center of the stone. With a flash of colors, white lights began to draw out lines from the center, reaching the steps and spilling down the stairs like streams of water. Something appeared out of thin air above the elders head, wrapped in a crimson glow. It descended from the ceiling and stopped right in front of Zannin, who reached out to obtain it before turning back to the family.

"There is a prophecy…" He began as he beckoned them towards him. "An ancient tale handed down through the generations of the elders…" The family slowly approached him as he spoke. "There are few who know of this, so listen closely…" The three stopped a few paces away and listened intently. "I fear that a bleak future approaches… and the planet will inevitably be in danger…" He threw his free hand up. "But not from the planet… from strange forces foreign to us…" He let his hand drop back down. "So it has been proclaimed by the spirits and the elders for many years…" He turned away from them. "I was afraid there was nothing we could do… in fact the day grows closer and closer with the answer still out of our grasp." Then he turned back to them and looked directly at Krystal.

"That solution, was in the form of this prophecy… it is said that one day a child will be born… on whose destiny is a mystery… whose future cannot be foretold…" Rheneas and Kiera perked up at this. They could see where this was going, but they were not sure how to take it. "It was said this child was destined to become a legendary warrior… one with the ability to rid worlds of evil with the power of the spirits themselves!" Krystal wasn't sure what to think. Suddenly a simple life didn't sound so bad, because this was getting very complicated. "I had long abandoned the possibility of ever finding this individual… but when you appeared today… I couldn't believe it!" He reached out his hand, and in it laid a small cylindrical object with carved spiritual markings upon it. It was about a foot long and had structures fixated on both ends. On one end it was egg shaped and gold, with a sapphire fixated in its center. On the other end was a long golden frame that held a large, sky blue crystal. Krystal eyed the strange object and looked back up at the elder with complete naïve innocence.

"Young Krystal… I believe you are our warrior…" He held it out to her and she stared at the object for a second. Slowly, she moved her right arm and reached for it, grabbing it in her hand. The elder smiled and retracted his arm, standing up to watch. Krystal eyed the odd piece of metal work. She suddenly felt a strange sensation in her body, one that she couldn't describe. Her hand felt warm, as if her new possession was giving off its own heat. Suddenly the object began to glow and without warning, extended with the shrill noise of metal sliding against metal. She yelped in surprise as the object elongated to five and a half feet, the gold egg had shifted; revealing two attachments on both sides like small flaps, and the crystal at the bottom of the staff was alight. They all stared in awe at the new development. The great elder nearly cried out in joy.

"Krystal! The Spirits Staff had accepted you! You are the chosen one!" He yelled gleefully. Rheneas and Kiera were speechless. They never had expected anything like this to happen. It was such a sudden turn of events that Kiera was having enough trouble standing up. Rheneas couldn't take it. There had to be a catch. Even though Krystal did end up, with a twist of fate, as some supposed savoir, he wasn't sure about it.

But its validity was soon confirmed to both of them, as the great elder knelt down and bowed his head before Krystal. The great elder, most renown and venerable individual on the planet had just knelt down to their nine-year-old daughter. Krystal herself stared at the staff in wonder. It was a powerful artifact; she could feel its energy within her body as if it had chosen her to wield it. She suddenly felt as though she knew exactly what she had to do. All of her fears and worries had vanished. She had found a way to be different… and she was going to follow through with it. But even she gasped in surprised when the great elder was before her in a submissive position. "Krystal…" he began in an almost begging voice. "Please become a beacon of hope… please become a shield against evil!"

Her mind was set, it was clear what she wanted to do, and this was the perfect opportunity to make a difference in her own way. She turned back to her mother and father, who were both still in shock at Zannin's actions. They both looked at her, Kiera wasn't sure what to think, but a look from her father said it all. Remember Krystal… Follow your heart…

She turned back to the elder and knelt down to mirror him.

"Great Elder…" She addressed him politely. "I accept."

...

"Uhhh…" Fox groaned as he turned over in his bed. He opened his eyes to a blur of light shining from the far window of the barracks. "Shit…" He wobbly sat up, holding one hand to his head. He still had a large white bandage wrapped around his forehead and his headaches were non-stop. Sure, he had been given the day off due to his injury, but that didn't mean he was comfortable. There's no point in sitting here all day… He was told to stay in bed and get some rest, but he was bored out of his mind. Maybe I'll go check on my fighter… When he asked yesterday, they had mentioned that as his mechanic, it was Slippy's responsibility to repair Fox's fighter. Fox left the building and made his way across the courtyard, towards the training hangar. He's probably steaming mad… Fox chuckled to himself. I completely totaled the thing… he's gonna be working on it for weeks… well, after my performance I doubt they'll let me near an actual fighter anytime soon...

His thoughts trailed off as he stopped in front of the hangars front entrance, pulled out his ID card, and swiped it in the key slot. The door unlocked and he walked right in. He got a few looks from a lot of people as he walked by. Great… they all know who I am now… Klutz son of James McCloud… got too big for his own shoes and paid for it… He came to the hangar and made his way down the aisle towards his fighter's landing space. Hell… I could be discharged for this… why would they ever… He froze completely, staring straight forward towards a completely new fighter sitting in his space. "Uh… What?" He approached the fighter, looking it up and down. "Did they just buy a new one?" He said to himself.

"Nope." Fox jumped as Slippy's voice came from behind the fighter. Fox leaned over to see Slippy replacing a panel on the left wing. "I just finished repairing it… Should fly just fine now." Fox's eyes grew wide and his mouth dropped open. He glanced between the fighter and Slippy multiple times.

"Wait… you… mean to tell me… that you fixed up a COMPLETELY totaled fighter… IN LESS THAN TWENTY FOUR HOURS?" Fox yelled hysterically. Slippy looked down and traced a circle on the floor with his foot.

"Um… yes?" He replied.

"That's… INCREDIBLE!" Fox exclaimed while gawking at the fighter. "Man! You'd think you were related to Beltino Toad or something!" Fox joked, mentioning the most renowned inventor/mechanic in the Cornerian forces. Fox expected Slippy to laugh or at least chuckle, but he got no response, causing Fox to cease laughing and glance back at him.

"Uh… actually…heh…" Slippy didn't need to go any further.

"No way…" Fox was convinced that he had actually hit a fact.

"Yeah, I am his son…" He sheepishly finished. The irony was unbelievable, how in the world would the son of James McCloud get the son of Beltino Toad as his mechanic? Beltino was great friends with James after all, and the inventor of the Arwing super fighters. But then Fox put two and two together and calmed down a bit.

"You know, my father is James McCloud…" Fox added. Slippy perked up.

"Wh-wh-wh-whaaaaat?" Fox couldn't help but laugh at Slippy's response, but before they could continue, they were interrupted.

"Hey sleeping beauty! Thought you were supposed to be in bed all day!" Fox recognized that jackass voice anywhere.

"What the hell do you want Falco?" Fox rolled his eyes as he turned to face the avian.

"Thought I'd see if you were still alive or not." The falcon teased, flicking Fox in the head, which the vulpine slapped away angrily.

"You know this WAS your fault!" Fox spat back.

"Last time I checked YOU were the one who took my bet." Falco sneered, making Fox red in the face. Slippy tried to jump between them.

"Hey, hey! Guys! Please don't fight!" He tried to convince them, but he got an ice cold stare from Falco.

"Who's this little bitch McCloud? You hanging out with four-year-olds now?"

"What? I'm sixteen!" Slippy yelled.

"Quit croakin' twerp." Falco grabbed Slippy's hat by the tongue, lifted it off his head, and held it just out of his reach.

"Hey!" Slippy squeaked while trying to jump for his hat.

"C'mon! I thought frogs could jump!" He shoved Slippy with his free hand, causing the amphibian to tumble to the ground. And fall against the fighter's landing gear. Falco laughed and put the hat on his head sideways. Fox had had it; he reached out and grabbed Falco by the collar.

"You are such a bastard!" He raised his fist, but held it there. Falco smirked.

"Do it McCloud. I DARE YOU." Falco egged him on. But Fox stood still, remembering that the last time he followed a bet by Falco it almost cost him his life. It took a near death experience, but Fox knew that he had to start thinking before he acted. The whole scene was interrupted by the hangar loudspeakers.

"FOX MCCLOUD PLEASE REPORT BACK TO THE BARRACKS WHERE YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO BE." Fox recognized the voice as General Pepper's secretary. The transmission cut, followed by a lot of laughs from around the hangar. His fist shook behind him for another moment before he sighed and let go of Falco, who laughed.

"Finally backs down?" He grabs Slippy's hat of his head and flips it down into Slippy's lap. "In the end, just a wuss like the rest…" He turns and walks off with his beak in the air guffawing. Fox's hand was still in a fist and shaking. Slippy retrieved his hat and picked himself off the ground, brushing himself off.

"Gee Fox… you shoulda let him have it!" Slippy exclaimed while adjusting his hat back between his eyes. "Taking my hat is like a crime…" He mumbled. Fox only shook his head.

"No Slip. I've already made enough of a dent in my rep through that son of a bitch… it would have just made things worse…" Slippy didn't say anything, just watched as Fox began walking away. "I better go report… thanks for fixing the fighter so fast…" And with that he was on his way back to the dorms.

"Fox McCloud repoOOOOAAAAHHH!" Fox quickly stood up straight and at attention as soon as he entered his squad barracks.

"Hah! My dear boy, please! At ease!" A gruff refined voice commanded. Fox tried to relax and addressed his guest.

"G-G-G-G-General P-P-P-Pepper! H-H-How are you s-s-sir!" He stammered, still stiff as a statue. The golden boxer terrier sighed and paced towards Fox, all the medals jingling on his bright red uniform, and his black leather boots squeaking on the floor as if they were polished moments ago. He stood directly in front of Fox and placed both of his hands on Fox's shoulders, steadying the vulpine until he stopped shaking.

"There. Now please relax! I hate it when people pull the whole stiff attention thing with me!" He chuckled. Fox somehow found the means to relax.

"Sorry…" Fox replied. "I'm just following…"

"…standard superior officer addressing procedures, I know." He finished for him. "I wanted to talk to you personally Fox." He proclaimed as he began to pace around the room. Fox realized that this was probably going to be about his little accident with his training fighter. "Now Fox, when I watched your dogfight replay, I saw something that I hadn't seen in a very long time…" He turned to face Fox. "…Raw courage and determination to bring down the enemy even though your own demise was imminent. I feel that too many of our pilots are worried about their own safety now-a-days over the safety of those they swear to protect… You've inspired me to look forward to the future!"

"T-thank you sir…" Of all things, Fox wasn't expecting praise.

"Ahem! That being said…" His tone turned serious.

Uh oh… Thought Fox as he gritted his teeth.

"I pushed you past Command's decision to keep you in the sims, because I thought you were just the kind of pilot we needed… but you may have proven to be too reckless, you are lucky to still be alive, and we can't have cadets around that are prone to killing themselves!" Fox stood perfectly still, not showing any means of justifying his actions. How could he? Everything the general was saying held weight.

"Sorry sir…" Fox choked out.

"That won't always cut it Fox. I stuck out my neck for you, and I'm already getting flack for doing so after this incident… however…" Fox looked away. He wasn't sure how much more of this he could take. He was hoping General Pepper would just kick him out and leave it at that.

"The way you managed to pilot your fighter back into the hangar at just the right angle to survive the crash… was remarkable!" Fox's eyes opened into an eyebrow raise.

"S-sir?" The conversation was becoming a rollercoaster of goods and bads. It was mostly a stroke of luck that I didn't die… Fox thought to himself as the terrier stepped forward and placed a hand on Fox's shoulder.

"Fox, you had the option to eject, but you didn't want to risk other's being hurt… am I right?" He was dead on, Fox couldn't believe it. It was like Pepper had read his mind.

"Um…uh…" Fox stammered.

"No need to be humble boy! You think just like your father you know that? No matter what the cost you put the lives of others before your own…" Fox just stood still; he didn't feel like he was part of the conversation to begin with so he decided to stay silent. The general removed his hand from Fox's shoulder and tucked his arms behind his back. "You see Fox… despite the ups and downs of your performances… I'm giving you another chance…" Fox's eyes lit up. "But!" the light faded quickly as General Pepper leaned in close to his face. "Don't let anything else bad happen… you are on thin ice… I don't know if Command will accept any more screw ups." He explained. Fox gulped.

"Yes sir! I won't let you down!" He replied.

"See that you don't. I am expecting great things from you…" The general began moving out of the room. As he past Fox, the vulpine got halfway through a salute before Pepper caught his arm. "Please don't, I get enough of that in my office…" Fox nodded sheepishly and let his hand fall, still staring forward as General Pepper exited behind him.

As the door closed, Fox exhaled loudly, slouching over and touching his toes before reversing up and leaning backward to crack his back.

"That… was terrifying…" He said to himself as he trudged over to his bed.

But… I've been given another chance… no more screw ups… no more letting Falco get to me… I'm gonna do this right… He flopped down, back-first, onto the bed. I will do it father… I'll never forget what you said… I'll always follow my heart…

All great tales have to start from scratch…

All great achievements have to be worked for…

All great destinies have to be uncovered…

And all great heroes follow their heart…

-To Be Continued-

---

And there we have it. All stories begin somewhere. Even the greatest of heroes had to learn to walk at some point. This will be a story of achievement, inspiration, unity, courage, and love.

Now as i said, do not expect frequent updates on this until i have finished my other works, but from time to time i will do a little on this to keep the ideas fresh.

As i always say with all of my stories, thank you very much to all those who read and review my story, you are the best and i appreciate you all deeply.

Please read and review!

Flashgunner over and out! (I gotta stop saying this XD)