It was a hot summer's afternoon and Lylat's sun was shining on the sands of Corneria's famous Sandra Beach.

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The green frog glared at the sand under his feet, ignoring the sounds of children playing around him.

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"Slip, you coming or what?" called his team leader, Fox McCloud, from the cool and refreshing water.

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"Yeah, yeah, in a minute, Fox" Slippy answered, his mind focused on the fine, grainy sand. Without thinking, he reached into the sand, scooping a decent handful of the tempting grains.

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"Uh, frog boy? You alright there" Falco asked, unsure if he should laugh or not at the way Slippy admired his handful of sand.

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Slippy panicked, dropping the sand in the process, "I said I'd be a minute!" he snapped at the bird.

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Fox turned his head to his friends, it was unlike his childhood friend to speak in such a tone, "is something wrong, Slippy? You've been acting weird around sand for a while now."

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"I'd have thought you'd love the beach", Falco commented.

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"Why? Because I'm a frog!? You just think we're all the same, don't you, bird brain?" Slippy barked, he was on edge now. Worried that his friends were becoming suspicious.

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"What are you boys fightin' about this time" Peppy sighed, annoyed at being woken from his nap under the umbrella.

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"Nothing, Peppy" Slippy brushed the rabbit off.

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"Let's just leave him alone, Falco. He'll join us if he wants to" Fox said as he went back into the water, Falco looked at the frog mechanic again before following Fox.

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With Fox and Falco gone and Peppy asleep again, Slippy returned to scooping up the sand.

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Feeling confident that he won't be interrupted again, he slowly put his face into his sand filled hands, consuming the fine grains.

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Slippy looked around to make sure no one saw him. As usual, no one was paying attention to the Star Fox mechanic.

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He collected more of the sand and enjoyed the feeling of it sliding down his throat, "my parents would be so disappointed in me" he thought sadly.

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"Uh, did you, did you just, eat the sand?" An unknown voice asked.

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Slippy's heart stopped at the sight of the questioning bear behind him. Literally. He also started choking on his sand.

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The bear freaked out, frantically calling an ambulance.

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Fox noticed the ambulance pulling up on the beach, "what's going on there?" he asked.

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Falco shrugged, "probably nothing important, you know how people are like around here, Foxy. They call for stitches over a paper cut, they're paranoid as all hell."

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Fox made a face, "uh, isn't that where Slippy was?" His voice started to shake.

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"Maybe, maybe not. I'm sure he's fine, he always is", the bird responded, just wanting to enjoy his day off.

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"I don't know, I have a bad feeling about this..." Fox seemed more scared by the second, "I think we should check it out".

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Falco looked at the fox like he had two heads, "what? No! We're pilots, Fox, not paramedics! We'd just get in their way". Normally Fox was the reasonable one.

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Falco had a sudden thought, "say, do you like Slippy or somethin'?" he asked.

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"Yes, he's our friend, isn't he?" Fox blurted out.

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"No, Fox, do you LIKE Slippy?" Falco asked, raising his eyebrows.

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"What?" Fox was confused.

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"Never mind" Falco said, wanting to return to his swim.

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A few hours had passed and no one had seen any sign of Slippy.

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"Alright everyone, the beach is closing for the night, get out" the grumpy lifesaver dog announced over the megaphone.

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Fox paced around, chewing on his claws, "where the hell is he!? I knew we should have checked up on him"

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"He probably just wasn't feeling real flash and went back to the Great Fox", Peppy suggested, "he'll be fine".

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Fox looked at the sun setting on the beach, still no sign of his favourite frog. "I hope you're right, Pep".

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Fox's phone rang, it was Beltino, Slippy's dad. Fox immediately answered, "Beltino! Have you seen Slippy?" ... "Okay... we'll go straight there", Fox hung up and raced to the nearest hospital, neglecting to tell Falco and Peppy the news.

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The fox violently pushed the hospital doors open.

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He asked the receptionist about where he'd find his beloved mechanic, she directed him to his room.

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Just outside of the frog's room the doctor told him what happened, "you should see him while you still can", he informed Fox.

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Fox entered the room and stood over Slippy's bed, looking down at the green mechanic. "F-Fox", he croaked groggily, "is, is t--t-this..."

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"Is this what, Slippy?" Fox responded.

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The doctor entered the room with Falco and Peppy behind him, "we were able to get his heart beating again, but it seems he's suffered brain damage" Peppy nodded sadly at the doctor's words. "I'm sorry for your loss", the raccoon doctor said while leaving the room.

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"You still with us, Slip?" The old rabbit asked.

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Slippy looked at Peppy, but didn't say a word.

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"Hey, why aren't his parents here?" Falco questioned.

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Fox sighed, "Slippy was seen eating sand so his parents disowned him", he explained.

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"HE WHAT!?" Peppy asked calmly.

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"Unbelievable", Falco shook his head.

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Peppy spat in Slippy's face before he and Falco walked away, never wanting to see the frog again.

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Fox wiped Peppy's spit out of Slippy's beautiful eye, "don't worry, Slippy, I support you".

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"Th-thanks, Fox..." Slippy muttered.

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"Fox..."

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"Yes, Slip?"

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I love you, F-Fox..." Slippy said as tears formed in his eyes.

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Fox cried as well, "I love you, too Slippy".

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As Fox grabbed Slippy's hand the doors of the cold hospital room opened.

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"General Pepper!? What are you doing here" Fox asked, worried about the angry look on the hound dog's face.

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"It has come to my attention that young Slippy here was caught eating sand" Pepper spat.

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"And? It might be taboo but it is not illegal" Fox stated, glaring at Pepper's dark sunglasses.

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"Fox, haven't you been away on mission to Dinosaur Planet for the past few weeks?" Pepper pointed out.

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"And?" Fox said, a pit forming in his stomach.

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"Whilst you were away, a law was passed to ban the eating of sand" Pepper smirked.

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Fox looked at Slippy, knowing the harsh punishments Pepper liked to give to Corneria's prisoners, "I won't let you hurt him" he spat at the general.

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"You won't?" Pepper said as he walked to the bedside, not even looking at the fox or frog.

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"No, I won't, Pepper", Fox spoke with nothing but hatred for the general and his bigoted society.

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Pepper chuckled, "a double negative makes a positive, Fox". he said as he quickly pulled the plug on Slippy's life support.

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Fox jumped at the larger dog, but Pepper grabbed him by the throat, "You won't get away with this", Fox choked out.

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"Yes, I will, Fox", Pepper's white, pupil-less eyes glared at the fox from behind his shades, "I always do".

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He dropped the Star Fox leader on the ground.

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Unable to look at the dead body of his trusted mechanic, Fox left the cold, sad room.

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"Fox" Falco stated plainly as he walked out of the room, surprising him.

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"Falco?" Fox turned to see said bird leaning against the wall outside of the deceased frog's room, "I thought you'd be at the Great Fox?"

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"I heard what you said, about supporting the sand eater..." Falco said, not taking his eyes off the team leader.

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"Oh, did you, Falco".

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"Yep, me and Peppy don't want to work with degenerates like you and Slippy" Falco responded before storming off.

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Slippy is dead and his team hated him, in one afternoon Fox had lost everything. All because no one could except that some people just like eating sand.

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Feeling distraught and desperate, Fox decided to seek out the only people in the entire Lylat system who might understand. Team Star Wolf.

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Fox rented a cheap space ship and left Star Fox behind forever, of course, he had no intention of paying for the ship or bringing it back. Why should he care about a society that hated his beautiful frog?

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Fox thought about everything that had happened as he left Corneria's air space, never to return, he thought about how greedy it was to steal a ship from a business that was likely struggling, "heh, maybe I'll fit in with Star Wolf after all", he said to himself as his old rival's base came into view.