Author's Notes; Crossover AU. Megaman X and StarFox. Shounen Ai. Fluffy. Tension. Action. Spoliers if you haven't played StarFox Adventures. Did I get too into this..? Aye, I did..This is the longest chapter in the fic so far, but to be fair, alot happens in this part of the game..Several things, first, its canon that Fox has trouble earning the trust of his teammates..This is shown lots of times, particularly in StarFox 64 and StarFox Command arguably..Second, Zero gets too emotional for a short while and due to Fox's attitude, causes a bit of friction in the group..Third, if you have played the game and checked the Moon Mountain Pass map info, it clearly states that the area is the end result of the second moon crashing into the planet and bringing the Sharpclaw with it..and fourth, Zero is right to suspect something...the Krazoa that appears isn't a real one..Its revealed later in the game, but virtually every StarFox veteran will know who he really is..As one more, the girl who got trapped and is dying ended up becoming a hallmark and icon of furry fandoms..Please enjoy..

The Moon and Volcano

Thorntail Hollow wasn't without its problems while we were gone. When Fox got out of the Arwing and we jumped off the wings, a Thorntail had come running to us for help. I got my translator ready. Thanks to his translating device, Fox was the only one who could hear English from the dinosaurs. Zero and I still heard Dinosaur. It seems the Sharpclaw had left a farewell gift of sorts. They somehow managed to douse the flames of the local beacons which were like nightlights to the Thorntails and they didn't like the dark. This looked more and more like a job for Tricky's flames and I know Zero's Absolute armor never had fire, just ice.

After the beacons were lit, we took turns getting a Fireweed and setting it in place before Tricky lit it, the Thorntail leader gave us a rather curious key that had a crescent moon on it. Strange...We go to the Moon? Maybe a moon-like area? We haven't seen an area like that yet...

Fox and Tricky led us around past a group of large red mushrooms that sprayed a strange red substance that made everyone wheeze and cough to a cracked wall. He was going to use an explosive plant to get through. Zero didn't like it, knowing the explosion would hurt the whole group so he charged the wall and broke through with a strong icy punch. I'm seeing more and more protective behavior from him as the years go by when I'm involved. I'm wondering, Zero...Are you feeling the same way towards me as I feel towards you...? Your protective instincts are on overdrive lately...Is this your way of showing love...? Saying I like it is an understatement..

He showed this even more with his next gesture. There was a circular section in the path that looked very weak and might crack if someone stepped on it. He signaled for me to get on his back. After doing so, he flew towards Fox and Tricky just in time to catch them just as they stepped on the weak rock and began to fall. He'd really learned to operate in a team since the Giga City incident.

This strange place was certainly moon-like. Craters, strange flora, and little atmosphere. The thin atmosphere was made clear when our oxygen masks automatically activated. Zero scanned around the area as we touched down and walked through a small tunnel leading to an area that rose sharply uphill. His scanner showed that this used to be the planet's second moon, but it crashed into the planet and became part of it, bringing the Sharpclaw with it. That explains why they cause so much trouble. They're mutant dinosaurs.

We could see a hoard of barrels headed towards us as we tried to ascend. This made Zero grab Fox and Tricky, who protested, and flew above the barrels. I appreciated Zero's gestures greatly, which is putting it mildly, but Fox had grown annoyed with being carried. He talked sternly with Zero when he found a safe spot to land and put them down. He told Zero that he could defend himself and to stop carrying him as he unlocked the gates under this strange cabin we landed in front of. Tricky appreciated the help, but wanted some warning the next time Zero was going to do so. I heard Zero mutter 'ingrate' as Fox opened the gate. That's all we need right now is an intragroup conflict. In anger, he flew up and promptly began fighting the Sharpclaw who threw the barrels, eliminating Fox's chance of getting in on the action.

He caught up with Fox who had stopped at a square lava pit that had three platforms that retracted every so often. He just flew right through and by, down a fire pit, breathing ice on flaming bats, up a bouncing barrel track, through a pair of hexagonal doors, and landed on a metal bridge before a very temple-like structure and a lake of lava. We went no further because there was a place for the Spellstone that looked like it would open the gate across, meaning we had to wait on Fox. This must be the first Force Point Temple.

Pure Hearts

For fuck's sake, I was just trying to help. I think Fox needs an attitude adjustment. I'm finding it difficult to trust him. In the midst of the situations and safety concerns, I didn't give any warnings so Tricky does have a point. Maybe I am the problem. Perhaps I've dropped my standards too much and need to come back to my senses. I know how to manage a team, I used to be a captain. All the same, time and time again, it seems utterly useless to completely trust other team members. When I get right down to it, X is the only one who truly understands me. My protective instincts go crazy when he's around and a surge of passion fills me, forcing those actions out and my heart shifts to my pauldron. I'm convinced, I love him so, but I'm not ready to tell him yet. The moment isn't right and currently, I have no courage to say it in fear of his reaction. He motivates me and drives me on. Carrying him around so much since the mission started has led me to enjoy it. It fills me with both love and passion somehow. Regardless of his moments, I love him so much.

We had to tear through some more Sharpclaw and show the Spellstone a few times to progress through the temple. Some were decked in full armor, complete with axe and shield. Fox's scepter got an ice upgrade in a spot where two flame spots activated retractable platforms when these other four red flames on these strange statues had to be put out. Dousing flames in a fire temple to summon a lift is making no sense to me right now. I doused half of the flames and let Fox have the rest before another argument could start. Warding off more fire bats, which I'm still trying to comprehend how a bat can live with its body in flames by the way, I doused a larger flame as we entered a room with a lava pit below and a metal platform with two Spellstone areas, one on each side. X and I saw strange wads of a mysterious energy rising from the lava. I reached out to try and touch one and it made my hand glitter and shine for a brief moment. Fox's communicator had opened to show an elderly hare giving him a report. The temple had been built on a point where pure magical energy was forced up from the planet's core. Its so powerful that it keeps trying to push the planet apart. To stop it, an ancient race called Krazoa put two stones per temple to absorb the powerful energy.

That answered one question, confirming that this rising energy was pure magic, yet raises so many others. Who are these Krazoa? Were those statues molded into their likeness? Are they still around? And how can these stones hold back such strong energy? Is there more to these stones than what we see, these runes and what have you? These questions buzzed in my head as Fox unlocked the nearest door and ran in, dodging shooting flames. I followed, unable to predict when the streams of fire would activate and their precise locations. After a lift, dousing more flames, and a room full of flame streams, a lava pit with platforms, and Sharpclaw, we found another room of rising magic energy but with what looked like a pad of some sort in the center. Fox got to it first and when stepping into it, he gradually turned white and vanished. The same happened to us when we reached it. The next room was really a huge blow to my belief in magic. Everyone heard a strange noise and when we turned around, we saw a center flowing harshly with enormous streams of magic rising with outlines of red and blue, white towards the inside. The ground shook and rumbled as Fox placed the Spellstone, but there was a noticable change; One stream of red-outlined magic had disappeared, leaving one red and two blue. One down, three to go.

Things really began to get strange once we left the temple. A strange voice echoed around us, clearly female but of course in Dinosaur. I noticed that the voice also seemed weak like it was dying. X shared a view of his translator. Whoever this girl was, she was pleading for help and that she was dying, that much was obvious with her voice quality, and that she needed Krazoa Spirits or she wouldn't survive. I felt myself drop to my knees, dropping my arms and staring blankly at the lunar soil. Her wailing and pleas for help were guilt tripping me and reviving bad memories. All eyes were on me in my depressed state. X was the only one who knew why I had done so. Bad memories had resurfaced and I now needed X's comfort. I needed to be reminded of who and why I fight. I felt X's hand rub and caress my cheek, whispering soothing words to me, that it was going to be ok and that he was there for me. As he comforted me, a looming familiar figure appeared which Tricky confirmed was a Krazoa, asking if we wished to accept a test. It claimed it was released when this girl completed its test, but the girl was in great danger and in order to survive needed the remaining five Spirits. It also said the pure of heart were the only ones able to enter the Spirit's shrines. Just as Fox protested about abandoning the planet to save a stranger, the girl choked and made more pleas not to be hurt. The Krazoa made clear that the girl would be saved when all the Spirits were returned before disappearing.

Fox went into a passageway with Tricky, leaving us behind. I held X's hand on my cheek and rubbed against it, gently kissing it a few times. I began to mull over what the Krazoa said as I rubbed and kissed X's left hand. First of all, this whole damsel-in-distress situation seems like bait to something bigger to me. I can't explain nor understand the feeling, meaning its my intuition. Something just feels wrong. Second, how can a shrine know if one is pure of heart? How does that even work? Then again, its the same beings that made the Force Point Temples and Spellstones. They must have a good control of magic somehow. Lastly, something personal while we're on the subject, am I pure of heart? Let's not forget that I'm a former Maverick. I was one of the most wanted Mavericks in Maverick Hunter HQ and Abel City history, according to their records. I used to take so much pleasure in every single ounce of destruction I ever caused. When I was found and studied, this is what I chose to be, especially towards X; Kind, caring, nurturing in something of a fatherly way, fighting for and having faith in the beliefs of one closest to me. How could someone with my history be pure of heart? Especially considering how many times I've been used for evil? Guess I had only one means of finding out; Getting to the shrine and trying to go through it. If he's pure too, Fox can have the spirit.

After a final long lasting kiss, I reluctantly released his hand slowly before gradually standing up. I saw X blush and nuzzle against my left pauldron as he held his left hand close happily, gently squeezing my body affectionately. He gripped me tight as I opened my wings and flew over the cliff in front of us. Since Fox liked to rough it and do it his way, I'll do it my way. We would beat him to the shrine and rest while we waited for him and Tricky. The shrine wasn't far at all, but without flight, Fox would have to take a longer more dangerous route. I dodged shots from creatures on the ground and squirming, laughing, flying creatures that grew very irritating after a while. I gently touched down inside what looked like a small temple. It wasn't the Force Point, so it had to be the mentioned shrine. I sat down to rest beside the western wall, feeling X crawl off me as it grew dark. When he distanced himself from me, I crawled to him on hands and knees spying the blush on his cheeks which had grown more intense. I gently took his hands and pinned him down to the ground, positioning myself over him and covering us with my wings, feeling more encouraged to tell him now. 'Thank you, X...' He smiled and closed his eyes. 'Anytime, Zero. I'm confused though. Why aren't we helping Fox?' 'He wants to do things his way so we'll do things our way. We're still on the same goal. We'll rest here and wait for him.' He nodded gently. 'Do you think we are pure of heart?' I shrugged. 'I'm wondering the same. I know you are, but I don't know if I am given my history.' He opened his eyes and looked at me. 'That probably won't factor in. What matters is who you are now.' I felt myself begin blushing. It was now or never. 'X...I love you. I always have.' A silence passed before I was pulled down on top of him. 'Oh Zero...I've always loved you too...I just...I thought it was one-sided and that you might get scared or never speak to me again if I told you...' I chuckled and rubbed against him. 'You don't scare me and I won't do that to you. After so much time together, you should know me better than that. We've become part of each other, haven't we? I'm yours and you're mine. That won't change.' We snuggled each other, finding ourselves in a tight embrace, sometimes rubbing our bodies together to generate and retain heat before taking a brief nap.

We were bumped awake when Fox and Tricky caught up to us. As I yawned, opened my eyes, and stood, I gently pulled X up with me in the middle of his stretch. When he was on his feet, he went around behind me, cueing me to move my hair for him. He got on just as Fox vanished from the warp pad. Looks like it was our turn. We heard the warp power up as white energy veiled us. I was expecting to be left behind to wait with Tricky. I was sorely mistaken. I was allowed into the shrine with X. So we both were pure of heart. I needed a moment to take this in. I knew too well X was pure, but me? This magic shrine had somehow deemed me pure too, deciding that my history of destruction and corruption didn't matter. I was speechless as X held the red lens on my chest. 'I knew it. You're an angel, Zero.' X whispered to me. I blushed as I ascended into the first room of the trials ahead. This first one had a pool with two whirlpools, flame on a platform, a pit with a hideous brain-like creature floating over it, and a hidden switch to open the gate. Fox had jumped into the water already so I flew to the platform and doused the fire. Unfortunately, the brain-like creature began to spin its sharp tentacles at us because we were too close. Fox soon put an end to that and hit the gate switch, which also filled the pit with water so Fox could swim across. The next room looked treacherous. We could see a purple glow ahead, which had to be the spirit but before that was a narrow walkway, not even a foot across, over a pit with three flames shooting up every so often. No damn way I'm walking that with X on my back. Over we go. Fox would have to walk it. I spied the switch for the gate above as I flew and tipped Fox to it by looking in its direction when I landed. The gate lifted slowly, letting us in but closing us in. I wondered what this test would be as we all saw the spirit looking at us as we approached. I recognized lots of its facial features from the statues earlier. We heard the spirit's ghastly voice calling the test the test of combat, telling us to fight off all the Sharpclaw in a three minute timespan. Sounded easy enough. As they appeared, I took the left and Fox had the right. Sometimes the Sharpclaw grew impatient and threw sneak attacks from the side, some of which got X. If I heard X yelp or grunt in pain, the culprit was given an icy punch that froze them and reduced them to tiny ice shards. Nobody touches X but me.

After the Sharpclaw were gone, the spirit emerged from a veiled warp pad on the wall and circled us, as if it couldn't make up its mind who to possess. I didn't feel sure about carrying it inside me just yet. I didn't know if I could. It circled between me and Fox as if it was going to take me, but decided on Fox, sending him back and into the air with a purple glow as it entered his body. His eyes were purple when he opened them. My mind began to buzz with questions again as we were suddenly warped out of the empty shrine.

When we got back to Moon Mountain Pass, the same Krazoa figure appeared telling us that we had all proven to be pure of heart and to bring the spirit to Krazoa Palace, mentioning that it would guide us further when we got there. Tricky had mentioned earlier that the Warpstone could get us there. That settled it, Thorntail Hollow and Krazoa Palace it is.