Author's Notes: Well, here starts chapter 3. Again, I do not own Star Fox or any related copyrights or trademarks. To the reviewer who asked about Papetoon, I am going to assume you mean the Papetoon used in the Reflections series written by another author on I must remind you that that is a creation of the author and does not actually exist in the Star Fox universe. The Star Fox base was originally placed on Corneria. You see it, albeit briefly, in Star Fox for super Nintendo upon starting the first mission.

Chapter 3: Corneria City

It was already past noon when the Star Fox team was ready to visit Peppy at the Hospital. Krystal's morning shower was an icy cold experience and she didn't dare to attempt it again until Slippy had taken several hours to fix the boiler. Between that and the fact that last night one of the Maintenance Droids had misplaced Falco's clothes in the dumpster (Slippy insisted it was a malfunction), plus a power short in the mainframe that left everyone in the dark till Fox managed to fix it, they were all scrambling out the door.

The team wasn't really wearing anything special, but it did differ from the battle armor they were wearing yesterday. Krystal was wearing a white T-shirt she borrowed off of Fox and a pair of black cargo pants with a pair of gray sneakers. Falco was wearing a red tank-top and blue shorts with a pair of sandals. Slippy was wearing his trademark red hat with a yellow T-shirt, blue jeans , and a pair of boots. Fox was still wearing his armored green pants from yesterday to Krystal's displeasure with a white T-shirt.

Falco and Slippy went ahead to the island's pier waiting for the water Taxi that was supposed to pick them up. Krystal stayed behind with Fox as he locked the door behind them. Krystal stood quietly, building up her resolve to ask him the question that had been on her mind.

"Fox…" She began timidly. " Is something bothering you?" Fox looked up at her and sighed, shaking his head sadly.

"Shoulda known I couldn't keep it a secret from the telepath…" Fox said to no one in particular.

"Fox, please tell me what's bothering you." She urged him, taking his right hand in hers.

"I don't want to talk about it." Fox retorted, pulling his hand from hers and started walking towards the pier.

"Fox, I'm worried about you." Krystal said to his retreating back. "Slippy says it's normal and Falco doesn't seem to notice, but I don't like seeing you like this. You don't act like yourself anymore, and it worries me." Fox stopped in his tracks and looked at her over his shoulder. He could see the compassion in her eyes, her fear for him. He didn't need telepathy for that.

"Krystal… Promise me something…"

"Yes?"

"Drop this for now… Peppy's had enough stress already. He doesn't need our own problems to add onto that."

"But…"

"Just, for now, Krystal. If you promise me this, for Peppy's sake, then I promise I'll talk to you about it when I'm ready." Krystal stood there contemplating his offer, her heart ripping her in two. She saw the reasoning in Fox asking her to wait, but her heart kept telling her to push it, her heart wanted her to make everything alright right now.

"Fox…" She began imploringly.

"I mean it Krystal." Fox cut in sternly. "Peppy doesn't need this right now. Now promise me." Krystal felt like her heart was screaming in protest, but she had no choice.

"Okay…" She reluctantly sighed. " I promise."

"Good…" Fox said quietly, starting to walk towards the pier again. "Come on. The other's are waiting for us." Krystal simply nodded and followed, wiping an unseen tear from her eye.

The water taxi was there by the time they reached the pier. It was a small vehicle, hardly any larger than their Arwings. It had a painted yellow body closely resembling the hover cars used on the main land, but the hovercore bottom was replaced with water pylons with mounted pulsar jets for acceleration. Basically a car for the water only. Although in essence the hover cars were better, the water taxi's had better mileage and a more efficient propulsion system for a planet who's surface was 80 water. Fox's heavy boots clomped across the wooden pier until he stood at the door of the Water Taxi. Opening it, he was met by the rather annoyed Falco glaring out from inside.

"What took you so long?" he grumbled.

"Uh…" Fox grinned sheepishly, unable to find an answer.

"The lock didn't want to catch." Krystal said as she walked up beside him.

"Yeah, that's right." Fox said, quickly supporting the excuse. "I had to fiddle with it a bit because it wasn't locking properly." Falco narrowed his eyes at the team leader, not fully convinced.

"Not catching, eh?" he asked coyly. " You're not keeping secrets from your best friend, are you?"

"Of course not." Krystal scoffed before Fox could respond. "What kind of secrets would he keep?" She asked as she slid into the Taxi. Unable to really respond to that, Falco merely shrugged his shoulders and decided to just let it go. Krystal quickly gave Fox a look that said "you owe me one" as he followed her into the taxi and closed the door behind him. The taxi driver, an elderly hound dog with gray fur, leaned back over his seat to look at his passengers.

"Where to?" He asked.

"Corneria City." Fox answered. The taxi driver whistled.

"You really wanna go there? it's pretty messed up, I'm tellin' you. There ain't gonna be much there."

"I know." Fox said quietly. The taxi driver shrugged his shoulders as he turned back around in his seat.

"Suit yourself." He said as he started the engine.

The ride was quiet and uneventful. The water expanded out in all directions and provided little interest. The city was approaching swiftly, and as it grew into focus, every member of the team felt a sickness in the pit of their stomach.

"Jeez." Falco whispered.

"No kiddin'" Slippy agreed.

"This is awful." Krystal gasped. Fox lowered his head.

"Yeah…" he said quietly.

Metal and debris lay everywhere. Several fires burned from piles of rubble. Light poles and streets signs were knocked flat, some crushed. The higher stories of the skyscrapers were demolished from where crashing fighters rammed into them. Some of the buildings had collapsed. The highways that ran high over the city were broken wide open in several places. And this was all only what they could see from the docks as the water taxi pulled into port.

"I don't understand." Slippy spoke up. "When we left it, it didn't look nearly this bad. This looks worse than when Andross attacked."

"It looks exactly like it was after we left." Fox said sadly. Krystal looked at him with realization in her eyes. Of course it would look different to them. They were in the sky during that battle, fighting in the air with the city far below them. But Fox, he had voted to go on foot. He had been down among the rubble, the chaos, the killing, during that whole battle. He knew before anyone else how horrible it was.

"Fox, I'm so sorry…" she began. Fox cut her off with a hard look, reminding her of their agreement. Krystal's eyes became downcast, feeling awkward at being shunned so severely.

"We're here." The taxi driver spoke up, looking at the solemn group in his rear view mirror. " It's five credits for the ride." Fox reached into his pocket and dropped a few coins into the old hound's hand before climbing out. Krystal followed, along with Slippy and Falco. "If you need a ride back just call the dispatcher again." The driver said as he pulled out of the docks.

The group walked quietly off the docks and into the city. The streets were empty save for a few demolished hover cars. There wasn't a soul in sight, at least not anyone who was alive. Krystal's stomach did a flip as she spotted a bloody carcass hanging out a window of one of the broken cars.

"Someone's here." Falco said. Krystal looked up to see that he was right. A black limousine was driving up the road and pulled to a stop in front of them. The driver, a brown rabbit in a black suit, got out of the car and did a small bow.

"Do I have the honor of addressing the Star Fox Team?" the driver asked in a gruff voice revealing an age that his sturdy build hid.

"You do, though I wouldn't call it an honor." Fox responded. The driver did a sort of 'harumph' sound in his throat.

"General Pepper has asked me to provide you transportation to the Hospital."

"Thanks, but I'm going to decline."

"The General insists." Fox was about to persist, but Krystal took him by the arm.

"Please take the offer." She implored him. " I can't stand being out here. The stench of death is unbearable." She felt ready to cry.

"I second that motion." Falco spoke up. "The less I spend here, the better." Fox sighed, giving into the pressure.

"I guess a ride wouldn't hurt. We don't exactly know where the hospital is anyway."

"If you'll please get in then." The driver said, getting back into the limousine. The team walked over to the doors and climbed in, two to each seat facing each other. Falco and Slippy sat to one side and Fox and Krystal sat to the other. With their seatbelts on and the doors shut, the driver started the engine and began the drive through the city.

This ride was far more interesting than the taxi ride, and in that same respect it was much more appalling. As they grew closer to the center of the city, the amount of destruction and the number of bodies mounted. Blood ran in pools and families mourned their dead. Many people sat around fires they started in trash cans since they had no place to stay. Some of the debris fires were being wrestled by the Corneria City Fire Department, but the CCFD did not have enough men to check every fire and several continued to burn unchecked. Krystal could even hear the minds of the living, screaming in agony and sorrow as they suffered to remain alive. She felt like she was going to throw up, and Slippy and Falco looked just as ill. Fox didn't look. He'd already seen it all before.

The feelings of discomfort and remorse were so thick in the air Krystal felt like she could almost taste them. Her friends around her were putting out so much of it her mind was swimming in it. She couldn't help but breath a sigh of relief as the Limousine came to a stop.

"We are here." The driver announced from the front seat. Krystal immediately opened the door and stepped out, taking a deep breath to relax from the emotionally saturated limo interior. Fox walked out and stood beside her while Fox and Slippy got out on the other side.

In front of them stood a large, three story white building. A large red cross on the front marked it as the Hospital. Portions of the top floor were collapsed in but all together, the Hospital seemed in pretty good condition. At least compared to the rest of the city. The stench of death wasn't so strong here, and the sorrow of wandering minds that had plagued Krystal up to this point weren't as close.

"Come on, guys." Fox said finally as he approached the Hospital entrance. "Let's find Peppy."

Author's Notes: Had to cut this chapter shorter than expected because I didn't want to make it too much longer than the others. But Fox finally admitted there is a problem. That's the first step. Great thanks to my readers for giving this story purpose. Star Fox and all related copyrights etc., are property of Nintendo.