A/N: Alright, I've had this idea for a while now, but I'm doing this story differently. I wrote out all of the plots and character breakdowns (I never do that, I usually wing it and hope for the best. This time I want to see how much better this system is compared to "Wingin' it"). So, please read through and tell me what you think in the comments below. Thank you and I do hope you enjoy.


I proudly present to you, "The Power of The Future."


In late 2125, futuristic advancements made in power were becoming more and more prominent. The entire universe was at peace with itself. It had been so long for the military since anyone had seen any action since the Anglar attack.

One mercenary team had become a thing of the past, Star Fox. They had put their past lives behind them to become regular citizens, now and again someone would walk up to them and congratulate their past achievements and sacrifices, then they would never see that person again... it's like that one person had tracked them down to thank them and then gone back to hiding or gone back to their part of the city where the team would most likely not venture to as it did bring back a lot of bad memories from the Aparoid Invasion.

Fox had been watching the news as they changed back to an office building where a man in a suit had been standing, next to him was a lioness, the reporter of the news station, "Tom, can you explain this new power generation technology? Can you sum it up in a nutshell for all of our viewers?"

"Of course I can Jane... my power generation methods are very quite simple. Someone may call it primitive but I think not, these materials are quite advanced in a sense. Two of Corneria's rarest materials, and the hardest to find, orange titanium rods that can be handled safe to touch surrounded by red mercury filled glass beads that when brought closer together generate a magnetic field that can be converted into power VIA a centrifuge."

Jane the lioness nodded with an amused face, "Wow, that does sound simple. Can you tell us how much power equivalent your new plant generates?"

Tom Phoenix shrugged and thought a moment, "Out of the four plant reactors that are currently active at the moment, each one can generate ten to twelve thousand megawatts of electricity... in total that's roughly forty to forty-eight megawatts of electricity at every single given moment. Enough to constantly power the country three times over at every given time... and that's a safe number."

Jane looked shocked, "Wow! That's a revolution in technological advancement."

Tom smiled genuinely, "Thank you Jane."

"Is there anything else that you can tell us?"

Tom sighed, "At the moment, not right now, everything beyond what I have told you is classified."

"What about health concerns... should anyone be worried about this new technology?"

"Absolutely not. Not the workers in the power plant, and no one at home has anything to fear as the power is regulated with a fail-safe secondary regulator, and if, if the secondary goes critical, which it will not ever, but if it ever does the plant will go dormant and separate the two components therefore theoretically shutting the plant down completely."

"So nothing to fear?"

"Absolutely nothing."

"Great, I'm sure everyone at home is very satisfied. Thank you Tom for sharing this time for us."

"My pleasure, thank you for asking."

Fox sighed in his seat and turned off the TV, "Awesome." he got up and dialled a number into his holophone.

A young blue female fox answered on the other line, "Hi Fox."

"Hello Krystal, how are you?"

"I'm good, pretty bored but I'll survive... what's up?"

"Same over here, that's kinda why I called you,"

"Oh?" She replied on the phone quizzically.

"Yeah," He rubbed the back of his neck, "I miss seeing you everyday back when we were needed, and I wanted to know if you wanted to grab a coffee?"

"I don't drink coffee remember?"

"It's a figure of speech."

She grinned, "I know Fox. Sure, I'd love to. Same place as always? Caffeine Corner?"

Fox smiled, "The one and only, about an hour?"

Krystal nodded, "Lovely."

Fox nodded and smiled, "See you then."

As I hung up the phone I thought to myself, Wow, a date with Fox. I continued with what I was doing previously to the cherished phone call from Fox and walked back into my bathroom before shedding my silk robe and hanging it on the back of the door and stepping foot into my already running shower.

The water is warm, clean, and constant. Something that my world never had. I could feel a tear come to my eye subliminally and before long it was washed away by the water of the faucet. I thought about Fox immediately after to bring my spirits back up and finished cleansing my body of the filth from sleep and turned the handle downward to cease the running stream of relaxing water, that action brought a frown to my face but I knew if I had stayed in the shower any longer I would be late for my meeting with Fox and I could not let that happen. At first I let the water flow through my fur with the force of gravity before I opened the shower door and sharply tugged the towel off of its rod and dried off my face and hair, lightly drying it but still making sure it didn't knot much.

When I finished getting ready I walked back into the bathroom and stood at the mirror. I sighed audibly to myself, I guess I had the water hotter than I thought. I swiped my hand over the shinny surface to rid the fog and smiled at myself, I knew I was clean, but seeing it always reassured me. Now I knew Fox wouldn't be able to ignore me, he never has but I just had this really good feeling about today for some reason, and I didn't know why, it was strange for me. Normally I could sense with my power why I was in such an up-beat mood, but today I didn't have the slightest clue. I finished brushing my hair and took a second glance at what I was wearing, a white t-shirt that left the upper part of my chest exposed and simple light blue jeans that hugged my thighs but weren't too tight as to be called skinny jeans.

When I was going to the exit of my apartment, I first put on a normal black leather jacket to contrast the white shirt I already had on, then I saw my white leather Star Fox jacket and thought that it would be a better choice, it peaked my interest to put it lightly. I slipped the jacket on, it was a leather vest that had fleece-like sleeves, it smelled brand new yet there was another smell to it, one that brought back memories of our past struggles and accomplishments, it was there, I could smell it, but only I could smell it because it was all in my head. Past and present aside, I shook my head and looked at the clock that hung on my wall, if I took much more time thinking about the coat I would surely be late for my meeting with Fox, so I left. It didn't take me long to get to Caffeine Corner, and when I walked in I could see that Fox was at the bar. My muzzle curled into a smile as I saw the red Star Fox logo on his back and the writing underneath it. It matched mine, we were both wearing the same jacket.

"Well surprise, surprise... I didn't think I'd have a clone... only male... and orange." I said toward him.

He turned to face me and I smiled back when he smiled at me. I felt his mind attempt to make him gaze at my figure more, that made me grin as I walked up to him and hugged him as a friend, even doing that I could feel his heart rate rise and his body temperature increase. I released him and took a seat next to him on a stool. A barista walked up in front of me and I pointed toward Fox's cup of whatever he was having and held up two fingers and nodded to signal that I wanted what he was having. I over-heard Fox's thoughts that whatever he was drinking was tasty and I decided to try it myself. As the barista walked away I turned back to Fox and cleared my throat, "So... what made you ask me to come here?" I asked him and opened my mind to get a feel for his, whatever he had on his mind after I had asked the question. All I could sense was a small black item in which it's meaning I couldn't comprehend at the moment.

"I was bored, I wanted to see you again." he told me. I smiled bashfully, Fox was being more open than he usually was and it surprised me a little. Though he was being more open with me today, there was something peculiarly wrong with our situation. Usually Fox couldn't take his eyes off of me or quit staring into my eyes, today was much more different, today Fox couldn't hold eye contact for more than ten seconds. His actions peaked my attention.

"You sure you just didn't need to refresh the image in your mind?" I asked sarcastically. Fox shifted in his seat somewhat uncomfortable as I let out a small giggle, "Relax tough guy, your secret is safe with me." I replied to him and playfully punched him in the shoulder as the barista came over and set down a cup of steaming liquid, I nodded slightly and mouthed the words 'thank you' before I winked at him, it wasn't genuine, I just did it because his thoughts told me that he was already having a pretty crappy day, my wink cheered him up as he smiled at me before he walked away. I picked up the cup with care and raised it so I could smell it. As I inhaled the aroma of the beverage, I could smell pumpkin and cinnamon as well as the distinct smell of Irish cream and hot chocolate. So many wonderful smells coming from one cup, it begged me to try it, so I did. As I tasted the cup of liquid, I knew all of it's ingredients, and I soon realized the only ingredient I left out was caramel. I sighed the word "Wow" and I heard Fox chuckle.

"Good isn't it?"

How could I lie about this? This had to be the greatest drink I have ever tasted in my life! "It's amazing... it's- it's like-"

"Sex in a cup?"

I could feel my face flush red with embarrassment, there have been times where I have joked about the topic of sex, but to be frankly honest I have never had the experience myself first-hand, "I wouldn't go that far, but yes, this is bliss." I replied to his comment. I saw him out of the corner of my eye still grinning and then he looked away, slightly letting it contort to a frown of discontent, that's when I knew something was bothering him, "Are you okay Fox, you're hard to get a read on today." I asked him. I saw even by the faintest body language that he was stressed, and I really wasn't sure why. His normal cool and clear-headed demeanour was gone, now dominated by his stress and worry. I wanted to know what was causing this, weather I had to dive into his partially open thoughts or not.

"Krystal... I want to- no- I need to know..."

"Know what Fox? I'll tell you anything you wish to know." My voice had softened and it sounded full of motherly-like concern and worry as I asked him what had his mind going ballistic. I saw him start to move in his seat a little before his phone rang, when it did he stopped moving entirely and closed his eyes before answering his continuously ringing phone. I paid no mind to him as he talked on the phone, what concerned him was his problem, in my opinion. I went about drinking my latte as Fox continued on the phone with whoever.

His call ended and he rested his paw on my left shoulder, "Looks like it's going to have to wait, we've just been called to a mission."

My ears perked at his last used word, A mission? I thought quizzically to myself. Our services haven't been needed for over a year. Who could need our help? I looked Fox in the eye, "Well the seconds are ticking, let's go." I replied and stood up before turning back to my mug and downing a good portion of what was left, I could hear Fox's lowly chuckle behind me and I set down the cup before stepping back to his side with a cute- if not bashful- smile of innocence, "What? It's good." I asked, he shook his head not saying anything as he held the door for me.

It didn't take us long to get to our base of operations from the coffee shop. Our "garage" Fox called it or our "clubhouse" as referred to by our ex-bikers Falco and Katt. Falco and Katt were waiting on the porch of the "rustic looking" house. Though don't let it's looks fool you, the house had been fortified and the basement had been dug down and made into an "above standard" munitions shelter. We only used it to store our explosives and battery packs for our guns that were under lock and key upstairs. As Fox and I walked up to the front of the house Falco let out and amused whistle and I knew he was going to say something cheeky or along the lines.

"Well, well... what do we have here? Fox and Krystal show up at the exact same time... what did you do Fox? You nail her last night of something?" It was then I knew that Fox was ticked off and had taken Falco's comment as the greatest insult. The thing was that for some reason I took more of an insult to it than Fox did. I lightly jogged up behind Fox and pulled him back from Falco before I turned with all my force and buried my fist under his ribcage, winding him and dropping him to the deck.

"He didn't "nail" me Falco, we were just having coffee. You should know that not everyone thinks about sex all the damn time LIKE YOU!" I screamed with my remaining breath and sneered at him. Fox rested his paw on my shoulder and I flinched almost throwing my elbow into his neck before my mind told me no one was going to hurt me and that I was the only one there worked up over the situation at hand. Fox wrapped his paw around me as Falco was recovering with a groan. Katt was looking at me with shock and Falco looked at me with sadness for some reason. Why were they looking at me like that? What did I do to be looked at with not hatred or disdain, but remorse and sorrow. I looked to Fox and it was like he was codling me or something, I didn't know why.

"You going to be okay Krystal?" Fox asked in my ear as he leaned into me,

I scowled, why was he treating me like this? "I'm perfect-" my voice was hoarse for some reason and Fox reached a paw up and rubbed his thumb under my right eye. I cleared my throat and attempted to finish what I was saying, "I'm perfectly fine." I replied in a somewhat clear voice

"You sure?"

Apparently Falco's comment had struck more than just a nerve, but had caused me sadness too... maybe it was because I wanted Fox to be more than just a friend and my anger at the moment had intensified my depression of not being with Fox in an intimate way?.. I nodded and walked up to Falco and told him I was sorry, he said it was his fault, like it always was.

Fox opened the door with his keys and code and we all walked into the living room area where we held our meetings and played video games, the connected dining room had a regular sized pool table in it with red felt instead of the normal green that would normally dominate a pool tables top. I sat in an arm chair, the same one I called so long ago when we first started using this house as our meeting place. Falco sat in the loveseat across from me with Katt at his side while Fox stood up at the front holding a small tablet in his paw. He activated the holographic projector and laid out what the job specs were. I was staring at him and as if he knew I was, he looked at me. I was temped to look away from him but I thought it would only draw more attention to myself so I held the gaze and winked at him. He smiled at me before returning his gaze to the tablet he held and began his normal mission breakdown.

"Okay, Falco, did you get our employers name?"

Falco sighed, "Nope, sure didn't."

Fox blinked, "Alright, well, it's not given here either, and our mission is to Venom. I advise extreme caution." Fox flipped to the next page of the document that was given to him, "Our mission consists of finding a stranded freighter in orbit, its power core has been critically damaged and cannot travel. It's hull has also been torn so there is decompression on this ship, don't expect there to be any survivors." Fox flipped to the last part of the document and read it off to us before ending the meeting.

He called me aside over to the pool table as Falco and Katt went to go and talk things over, and get some things ready for the mission. "What's up Foxy?" I asked in a cheerful voice as I leaned on the red velvet pool table. He stood in front of me and I could almost sense his thoughts but they were scattered and I couldn't see the important ones from the insignificant other.

"I- I don't want you on this mission with us."

My eyes shot wide, what was wrong with me that prevented me from being an adequate teammate, "What? Why, Fox, why can't I have participation in this mission?"

Was it because I freaked out on Falco and now because of my state of mind I was being labelled as this person with emotional instability? A million questions rolled through my mind and I couldn't contain my feelings. Fox opened his mouth to say something and I payed attention with all my will, "I don't want you on this mission because a- I don't know who the employer is, b- we go to Venom, this could be a trap set to nab us all and I can't let you participate in this mission because I fear for your safety."

Honestly speaking, I wanted to punch Fox in the jaw, but instead of using regretful force against the man I wanted as my mate, I decided to guilt him instead, "So what I just sit at home, bored and broke till you guys get back? That doesn't sound fair."

"I'm just looking out for you, Krystal." He replied with a caring gaze.

"Stop treating me like I'm your naive girlfriend and let me be a part of the team, Fox!" I replied raising my voice a little after every word until I was shouting at him.

Fox sighed and raised his voice at me as well, "I'm not treating you like my girlfriend, more like my-!" he cut himself short, he never cuts himself short unless he doesn't want me to know something. Something about what?

My ears perked and I looked into his eyes with a side glance, my tail swished back and forth with curiosity, "You're treating me more like... what?" I asked him with blind curiosity that felt more like fear. Today was horrible. Over the last few hours, I've noticed my mood change at minimum twenty-five times.

I heard Fox sigh and saw him glance away from me before he took a few steps away from me, "It's nothing to be worried about Krystal, just that I don't want you on this op with us, you'll still be paid though you won't be working. You'll have some more downtime to enjoy-"

Down time? I hate downtime! I want to get back in the field, where the adrenaline and action is, "I hate downtime." I stepped toward him and pointed a finger at him, "You're stopping me from having fun. You're just like my father." I walked past him and grabbed my coat off of my chair, ignoring him when he was calling my name, he shouted my name a few times as well telling me to stop. I didn't. I kept walking until I was down the block, I felt Fox's mind, he genuinely cared for me, he even started to come after me back at the house but was stopped by Falco. I heard him say through the connection I had with Fox, "Just let her be, she'll cool down and will be fine... we got work to do, let's go."

Asshole. I thought to myself. If it wasn't for him I would still be having a nice cup of coffee with Fox. I jammed my hands into my pockets and I dropped my gaze to try and hide my sorrow, what started out as a good day surely went to the shitter as far as I was concerned. My vision had started to blur so I took a hand out of my pocket and wiped the tears away, I knew they were going to fall and I really didn't want to let on to people that I, Ms. Star Fox was crying. In my mind I kept calling myself a child... the way I stormed out of the house and down the street away from Fox who was calling my name... and to add to all of that, I was crying now too. Stop crying you baby. I thought to myself as I crossed the empty crosswalk to get to my apartment building on the other side. A neon sign got my attention as I finished crossing the street, 'Liquor Store'. I've seen the entire team go in there at some point in time, I've never really had any reason to go inside, though I've drank with the team occasionally, I've never first-hand bought anything from there, today was different. I needed a release, meditation wasn't going to cut it today, so I turned and walked to the store.

I pulled the door open and walked in, an ape looked toward me and nodded, "Hello." He said in my direction. I turned my head in his direction, noticing all the very hard alcohol that was behind him, "H-Hi." I managed to say, I cleared my throat and nonchalantly straightened my stature, "Hello, how are you?" I asked, pleased at myself that I managed to speak in a clear, cheerful voice, despite what happened earlier today.

"I'm good, you're my first customer today, what brings you in?"

What was I going to say? That I was kicked off my team. Again? Nah, I had more dignity than that, "Uh... things didn't go exactly according to plan this morning. I guess that's what brings me in." I told him with a simple hand gesture.

The man smiled and nodded, "I get it..." He stood up and walked over to a shelf which held bottles of clear liquid and a few dark coloured bottles as well, "Do you prefer vodka or tequila miss?"

To be honest I didn't know what he was talking about. I've never really asked the guys what was going into my drinks, I just smiled and nodded, and drank what they gave me, and if I didn't like it, I told them and I was made a new one. "Uh... which one has little to no taste?" I remember Falco saying at one point that there was a type of mix that had little to no taste, but at the time I couldn't remember what it was called...

"That would be vodka."

Well, problem solved, "I'll take one."

"What size, hun? We have the small 250 millilitre bottle, 750, one point one four litre, and a two point six litre bottle... Absolut of course, distilled with the finest potatoes on Kew."

"How much is the 750?" I asked the man, eager to buy the bottle and take it home. He turned back to the shelf and picked the bottle up and looked at the tag underneath the shelf, "This one is twenty three, sixty."

"Great, I'll take one."

After I had paid for the merchandise, I asked the clerk what would be good to mix with my vodka and he said I could basically mix it with anything but he recommended a tart lemonade to get rid of any taste of vodka that may linger on. My first drink was terrible, I put way too much vodka in it, not that I could taste it at first, the lemonade did it's deed, but after the lemonade got diffused by my saliva I could taste a peculiar bitter taste that I have only experienced when I accidentally took a drink out of Falco's glass during one of our celebrations.

I turned on the TV and the first thing I saw was the news headline, "Star Fox, needed again." the footage was of the three aircraft's leaving the planet to dock with the Great Fox that had already been docked in space after our trips to and from the planet of Sauria and abroad. I shook my head in silence and took a drink from my glass. I didn't know at the time, but I was crying; not heavily, but tears were being shed. Honestly, I didn't know why my body was acting the way it was. I would feel comfortable and solidified on one feeling, and my body would do something crazy like cry or lash out at a member of my team. Did I want to be with Fox that bad that everything I was feeling in every moment in time was a complete lie? My mother told me about this at one point, she said; "Krystal, one day you'll meet the right guy and your body will know he's the right guy... it will start to act differently to your feelings. At one moment you'll think you're angry on the outside when really your body will be sad on the outside instead." she also said to me; "You won't know what causes this at first, but when you realize it, things get better from there."

If things were going to get better from there, why haven't they? If they did I'd be on mission with Fox and the team. I thought to myself, and downed the rest of my of lemonade.

I don't know how long I sat there, or how many drinks I had, all I remember is turning off my TV and getting up, stumbling to my room and grabbing my staff and removing the power crystal from the handle portion and extending it walking back to the living room and clearing a spot for which I could use as a practice area.

I straightened my stance and held the staff at my right side, my dominate side. I pulled the staff head up and let its weight spin it in my paw one full rotation before gripping it to a stop. I did this several more times before I felt comfortable twirling it under the influence of alcohol. I twirled it on my right and on my left before twisting it ninety degrees and twirling it above my head, something I would normally be hesitant to do even sober.

I twisted it in the air once, twice. On the third time my paw slipped over the side and I remember very clearly thinking to myself in a focused sober moment... Damn, this is going to hurt. Then I felt the impact of the staff head, and after, nothing but black, no feeling at all.


A/N: I'm doing this story in first person, because it will help me in a way with English Language Arts. I hope I am doing it all according to expectation, and if I'm not, or if you liked the story so far, please drop a review and tell me what you thought. Thank you and have a nice day.