Mad Genius

Chapter One: The Return Home

It was two hours after the two foxes had returned onto their plane of existence and had already made plans. Lex was heading towards Nadira to greet his family. Antwon wanted to rush back to the Great Fox and finally get to his 'home' ship. And Lee finally found his place for living. Lee asked Vixene out and he decided to continue working on the Star Fox team. He didn't have a past, but he was determined to have a great future. As for Lex, his ambitions were simple; get back home.

Lex arrived at the Nadira Air Force base and presented his Star Fox badge. The air patrol let him through and he called a taxi to take him onto Sapphire Drive. 'This is going to stir up some old memories.' Lex thought as the taxi arrived on the curb of his old house. He paid the raccoon and then walked onto the street. He saw his house near the entrance of the neighborhood and then smiled. Memories were flashing through his head, particularly the one about his mother and sister playing in the yard. He finally reached the front door and knocked onto it. "I'm coming, hold on." a female voice called out. Lex waited at the door for two minutes before it opened. "Hey sis I…" Lex began, but then noticed that it wasn't Violet. There was an orange vixen with icy blue eyes staring right at Lex. "May I help you?" she asked. Lex cocked an eyebrow and then decided not to say anything smart. "I should be asking you that." Lex replied and walked right past her.

He walked to the den and noticed a two-tailed fox watching TV. "Hey baby, who was it?" the fox asked. He turned around and saw Lex standing at the entrance of the den. "Bro?" he called out. Lex smiled, "Yeah, it's me." he answered and walked towards the fox. The fox got up and hugged Lex. "Violet and I thought you were… dead." he stated lowly. "Tails, now you know it takes a lot to take down your big brother." Lex said and laughed. The two broke apart just as a vixen was coming down the stairs. "Lex, you're alive!" the vixen proclaimed and hugged Lex. 'They sure do love hugging.' he thought. When she let go, Violet sighed, "Where were you? The Star Fox team said you were missing, and I thought… they were trying to cover up some other story." she said softly. Then Lex's attention turned towards the vixen that had opened the door for him.

"Hey Tails, who is she?" he asked nodding towards the vixen. Tails walked up to the vixen and kissed her lightly. "This is my fiancé. We've been engaged for three weeks now. I met her on one of my missions with Sonic." Tails answered proudly. The vixen walked up to Lex and put out a hand. "I didn't properly introduce myself yet. My name is Trixy Venice." she greeted. Lex shook her hand and smiled, "Well, get ready to enter the family." he remarked. Lex already felt the presence of home around him. He had felt like he was away for years. When he was inside of Lee, he was still conscious, so he could see everything going on. He saw the dream that Lee had as well of Lex and Pyra being married. Unfortunately for him, when the two bodies separated, Lex started off with the exact memory he left with, so he didn't remember any of the missions or the dream. Lex walked outside onto his porch and then looked out onto his neighborhood.

Suddenly something struck him; it was a very funny feeling. He didn't know what it was, but something was telling him it was a person. 'Pyra…' he thought and held his chest. It seemed to be burning somehow. He kneeled on the porch as his chest continued to burn. 'What is this?' he asked himself. The burning in his chest intensified and burned like he was thrown into an oven. It felt like it was tearing him in half. 'Mom… help me…' he thought as he began to choke. Tails walked out of the front door and immediately noticed Lex kneeling on the ground. "Lex, what's wrong?" he asked quickly. Suddenly the pain subsided and it disappeared. Lex tried to get up, but his legs were too weak. "I'm fine, just a little exhaustion." he coughed. But he knew it was something else. 'Pyra has something to do with this.' he thought. There was no way it was just coincidence that he would think about her so randomly. Or… so intensified. Just like he had done at that moment. Even though he thought that Pyra had back stabbed him, he was taught to handle his problems up front and personal.

Lex decided to go to Pyra's house and call it off officially. He walked over to her house and raised his hand to knock on her door. Suddenly his phone began to ring and he answered it. "Hello?" he greeted. "Lex, we have come to a decision. It's actually an interesting plan." Fox remarked. Lex was caught into suspense, "What is it?" he asked. "We have made different divisions for the Star Fox team. There a lot of options and I'm still going through them all to correctly rank everyone in their rightful position." Fox informed. "Sounds creative, hope you figure it out soon." Lex remarked. "Well, later on today, I'm calling a meeting to tell everyone their status. So remember, come to the meeting." Fox advised. "Alright, I'll be there, see you soon Fox." Lex confirmed.

He hung up his cell phone and began knocking on the door. He waited a few seconds before he heard something. "Be there in a minute." a female voice called out. 'This is it, the moment of truth. Lex, you can do this.' he thought. The door opened in front of him and a grey feline with royal blue eyes looked back at him. Her mouth began to open in awe as she continued to look at Lex. "Lex?" she called out. Lex cleared his throat as he thought about what he was going to say. "Hello Pyra, how are you?" he asked. She shook off her daze and tried to look away from him. "What are you doing here?" she asked lowly. It wasn't in a sense of anger, but as if in shame. "I just came over to talk. What I did to you was not right, even if you did cheat on me… and I wanted to apologize… I'm sorry Pyra." he said. Though the apology was clean, the hesitation was clear; Lex still had feelings for her.

Pyra refused to look at Lex and looked at the ground, "Lex… you left me. You didn't even give me a chance…" she said lowly, but then paused. It seemed like she was about to cry, but she tried her best to battle her feelings. 'Why? Why do I feel like this?' she asked herself. The battle was a serious one and she had either two choices, lose to the overwhelming sickness of her feelings, or keep battling and stand her ground. She was currently losing the battle. Lex saw a tear roll down her cheek before she completely turned around with her back facing him. Lex saw her quivering and tried to put his hand on her shoulder. But he quickly decided not to when he saw the condition she was in. "Pyra…" he began to say, but Pyra put up her hand to stop him. "Lex… maybe you should go. This isn't the best time for me. Just… give me some time to think." she said lowly and walked back into her house. Pyra slowly closed the door as Lex looked stunned. "Goodbye… Pyra…" he whispered to himself. He walked off of her porch and slowly began walking to his house. Pyra moved the curtain and looked out of her window. 'The thing is… I still love you.' she thought.

The next hour…

Lex had decided to go to the Great Fox to discuss his new occupation. He boarded on the Great Fox with the help of Rita and her Arwing. "Thanks for the lift, Rita." Lex said gratefully. Rita smiled, "No prob, Lex. Just helping out." she replied. The two continued to walk through the corridors and entered the meeting room. He recognized Fox, Falco, Slippy, Peppy, and Antwon sitting at the table. But he noticed two other orange foxes standing next to a wall talking. One of the orange foxes was the one he had split with at the base in Corneria; but he didn't know his name. The other orange vixen he had never seen before. She looked a lot like Fox with a slender figure. The new vixen stopped talking with the other fox and smirked at Lex, "Hi, I'm Star McCloud, Fox's twin sister." she introduced. The orange fox looked at Lex and examined him, "I'm Lee, just in case you forgot. By the way, I didn't catch your name before you left the base. What is it?" he asked politely. The grey vulpine stood straight and looked him straight in the eye, "I'm Lex Prower." he greeted. "Well Lex, nice to finally meet you." Star remarked. "Same here." Lex replied. Fox stood up and cleared his throat. "Alright team, I have made an organized chart for everyone's new job." he informed.

"Falco, you are an Ace Pilot, your job consists of expert handling of the Arwing, giving orders to small groups of men, and the first one available to infiltrate any base." Fox exclaimed. "Sweet!" Falco yelled. "Slippy, you are the Technician, your job is to make better and faster models of the Arwings. Once in awhile you can make a new invention. Also you read us any technological weak spot an enemy has." Fox explained. "Fine. Can do." Slippy stated. "Peppy, you are the Coordinator, you check and download maps for us and send them to our GPS navigators if you are not flying in an Arwing." Fox instructed. "Nothing wrong with that." Peppy replied. "Lee, you are an Elite, you go onto ground combat and lead up to five men in a squad. You infiltrate bases and retrieve information for us. The same job goes for Rita and Star." Fox informed. "Right." the three foxes replied in unison. "Lex, you are a Detective, you go around and find information for the team and act as any other detective would." Fox advised. Lex shrugged his shoulders, "I'll do my best." he remarked. "Antwon and I are Commanders, we handle the Arwing, the Landmaster Tank, and we test the new inventions. Plus we can lead a large group of soldiers in a squad. Basically, we're the leaders." he said.

"I like this new order." Falco said cheerfully. Slippy rolled his eyes, "You would like anything that's free." he whispered. Unfortunately for him, Falco heard him and clenched his fists, "Why you…" he began to say, but noticed Fox pulled out a chart. "What are we waiting for, guys? Let's go and find something to do." Fox ordered. All of them saluted and began to leave. "Wait, I almost forgot, here are your badges." Fox announced and held out a couple of badges. Everyone walked over to Fox and took their badges. When Lex went to go get his badge, he thought about the new job he now had. He took the badge from Fox's hand and examined it. It was a silver metal plate structure cut in a design. On the front of it was a picture of a furry walking with a trench coat and a hat covering its face. The furry was walking alone on a sidewalk with a wide building in the background. On the bottom of the badge read 'Star Fox Detective.' he thanked Fox and then looked around the Great Fox.

Lex noticed that things had been upgraded in the ship since he had been unconscious. There was a swimming pool and Jacuzzi room, an improved rec room, and a larger command room. He also noticed that there were a lot more quarters in the ship. But his room was still in its place. The doorplate read 'Lex Prower.' He opened the door and looked around. His room was blue and grey, like he had requested. He saw a grey Star Fox jacket with a blue Star Fox symbol on the back. "Man, I can't believe I didn't get a chance to wear this.' he thought. He continued to look around and found his Star Fox uniform. 'I never saw any of this stuff. When I get back to Nadira, I'll wear it.' he thought. He continued to look around and noticed all of the stuff that he had missed out on. The boots, the scarf, even the com link helmet looked cool to him. Mainly because he had gotten it customized. But he had not worn it, so it made it very new to him.

He examined the dresser and found keys to an Arwing. It was a sliver key with a blue and grey tag on it. The tag read 'GM' and Lex then remembered that he had requested an Arwing called the Grey Mist. "I'm one lucky fox." Lex snickered. He took the keys and put them into his pocket. He then looked further into his room and found a large package. 'This is the package I didn't want to open until later.' Lex thought. Remembering how he almost lost his life, he decided to see what was in it now. He sat down on his bed and began to cut open the package. What he found in it made him drop the box cutter that he was holding and almost made him drop the box. There were at least eight hundred trillion credits in the box. Six million credits alone could take care of one furry. "My dad saved up all this money, for the family?" he asked himself. He couldn't help but smile; the thought of buying lots of things at once overjoyed him. He then came to a conclusion on what he should do with the money. He stuffed a few trillion credits in his wallet and then packed the rest of it up. Then he walked to his Arwing and smiled while looking at it. "Baby, you need a tune up and a new customized body." he said to the Arwing.

He hopped inside it and then took the keys out of his pocket. He put the key in the ignition and then turned them. The Arwing came to life and then sucked the key into it. "Activation Code" it demanded bluntly. "Nadira" he said in a serious tone. "Welcome Lex Prower, official owner of Grey Mist, enjoy your arwing" it replied. It was now an automated button vehicle. Then the arwing began to get out of its locks. He undocked from the Great Fox and began to fly towards Nadira. 'Oh yeah, wait till I tell the others. They'll be in such a shock.' he thought happily. He continued to fly towards Nadira and twenty minutes later he arrived on Sapphire Drive. He jumped out of the cockpit and ran towards his house. He unlocked his door and then wondered how could he hold himself from telling the great news already. "Violet, Tails, Trixy, I have something to show you guys." he blurted out. But he noticed no one was in the house. He looked around the place, but didn't see anybody. Suddenly he saw something in the corner of his eye and pulled out his Desert Eagle. He aimed it carefully around him to cover his perimeter, 'I don't like the way this looks.' he thought. He saw the same thing again and was about to fire, when he realized that it was in his house.

As if it came out of pure air, a blue figure stood in front of Lex and had its arms crossed. Lex jumped from the blue figure to get some distance, but a little out of fright too. "There you are, I've been looking everywhere for you." the figure stated. Noticing that the blue figure was not a threat, Lex put down his weapon and put it back into his holster. Lex looked at the blue figure more closely to try and recognize it. It was a blue furry with huge spikes on its back and it had green emerald eyes. It had on white gloves with a white T-shirt and blue jeans. It wore red sneakers with a white strip in the middle of each of them. "Who are you?" Lex asked. The figure sighed, "I keep forgetting that this planet hasn't heard of me, I'm Sonic the Hedgehog, the fastest thing alive. I can run at the speed of sound." he said in a tone as if those things were supposed to jog his memory. Lex then remembered Tails telling him about the blue hedgehog before he had left to board the Great Fox.

Lex looked stunned, "Well… what do you want with me? Where's Tails?" he asked. Sonic began to tap his foot on the ground, showing that he was impatient. "That's what I'm here to talk to you for. My arch nemesis has captured your brother, his fiancé, and your sister. He has been terrorizing the whole Lylat system for awhile now. He is planning on taking over the whole galaxy now." Sonic answered. Lex, looking more confused, then scratched his head, "So… who is this guy?" he asked curiously. Sonic stopped tapping his foot and then looked at his watch, "Well, he's been through a lot of name changes over the years, but right now we call him Dr. Eggman." he replied. "Well you can count me in; no one captures my little brother and sister and gets away with it." Lex remarked and then ran out the door. Sonic ran in front of him in a flash and then put his hand in front of him, "Hold on, we just can't fight him, we're going to need some help. I need to get Knuckles and Amy." he proposed.

'I can't believe we have to get that girl.' Sonic thought in anguish. Lex looked at the hedgehog with a confused look, "Why don't we go there now? I mean, if we waste more time, wouldn't this so called Dr. Eggman roboticize them?" Lex asked. Now that Sonic thought about it, the roboticized theme seemed to blow away after the first Dr. Robotnik was defeated. "Actually, he doesn't do that, the other doctor did that. But that's not the point; and it's pretty hard to explain. He has made four deadly creations that can actually match their designated targets power and thoughts. Like complete negative copies. He doesn't need to roboticize anymore." Sonic explained. Quickly noticing that Lex was about to have another brainstorm, he just pushed Lex along towards his Arwing. "Just follow me and keep up." Sonic demanded. Lex raised an eyebrow, 'How the hell can he run as fast as an Arwing? He might have that backwards.' he thought. "Are you sure…" Lex was about to say, but Sonic already knew what he was about to ask and put a gloved white hand in front of him, "Trust me, I have handled five times the speed of that thing." Sonic said, pointing at the Arwing.

Lex then smirked, "Ok then, let's go." Lex stated. He jumped into his Arwing and then pushed a button to get it started. It soon floated in the air and then took off in a flash, but Sonic was already in front of it. 'How in the…' Lex thought. Sonic signaled something up ahead and then a face popped onto Lex's monitor. "That's the doctor's ship up ahead, I should warn you though, I wouldn't go anywhere near that base of his with that Arwing." he advised. Lex looked ahead and saw a big ship in front of him in the middle of nowhere. "Some genius he is, how do you transport a base in the middle of nowhere?" he asked with a scoff. Sonic's face appeared back onto Lex's screen, "Um… actually he never transports anything, he builds everything he has by scratch, from the guns and weapons he has, to the robots and machines that go against us." Sonic commented.

"What?!" Lex yelled out. 'How can someone build all this stuff by scratch, he has to be the biggest genius I have ever even heard of. Not even Andross has had anything done by scratch before. At least not so much.' Lex thought. Then he thought about the real danger he was in, 'Wait a sec, this guy isn't on our side though, he is the enemy, and I don't know if I can go against a pure genius. Plus he's a doctor.' Lex thought. Then he began to get mad at himself. 'Of course I can go against him, I'm a Prower. And Prower's never run away. We stand and fight.' he thought. He began to think about his parents. 'Even if it costs us our lives. We save those that we care about. Because that is the honorable way.' he thought and then began to warm up his boosters on the arwing. Either way he knew that he would have to face him to get Tails, Trixy, and Violet back. 'It's either now… or never. Genius or not, you never mess with a Prower.' Lex thought and hit his thrusters on his Grey Mist.

To Be Continued