Chapter 9

Fox stared down where Krystal's father, further identified as Rilan, had jumped to escape them. When Rilan had jumped, before he hit the ground, he seemed to have disappeared into the pouring rain, which was still going, and was matting his fur. He unglued his eyes from the fall, and instead looked over at Krystal who was also staring in awe down below. He then felt a tap on his shoulder, and he looked back, seeing Fara making signals, meaning that they had to leave. Fox nodded, to say that he understood. "Krystal…we need to get going," Fox said quietly so that he would not startle her. She said nothing, nor made any movements that showed any indication that she was going anywhere. After a few moments, Krystal turned around, her view still on the wet, muddy ground.

- - -

Fox yawned and stretched his arms up. Yesterday had been a long day, and now they were on their way to Corneria to possibly get a new mission. He groaned. A new mission meant getting lectured by General Pepper for hours straight, and that was never good.

Might as well start getting up to see if there is anything to do at the bridge.

He swung his legs over the edge of the bed, slipped on his boots, stood up and stretched, letting out another huge yawn. He turned around, and saw the magnificent view of space out of his window. The stars seemed to twinkle, "Good morning," and the many colors of the distant planets and galaxies were almost overwhelming. He knew there was plenty left to discover in the universe; more planets, stars, and possibly more life forms. It was an amazing thought.

After a few more moments thought, he left his room, hearing sobs from the room next to his, Krystal's room.

- - -

Krystal stared out at the brain boggling sight outside her window, the sight that Fox had been looking at only moments before. Although there were many different colors and forms out in space, she knew they were spaced apart. Spaced apart, so if they could feel, they would most likely feel extremely lonely. They would feel alone.

The word kept entering her mind. She was alone. Very alone. No one in the universe, except the animals of Cerinia, knew anything of her past, or not much about her at all. She was alone…or at least she felt it. No one understood her. Fox, the others, they didn't know what she was going through. They didn't know how it was to have your home planet destroyed, and then suddenly have it enter your life again. They didn't know. They didn't know anything.

I'm alone. No one knows about Cerinia, or myself, except for a few facts. Other than that, they know nothing…nothing whatsoever. I'm alone…

Once again, the word entered her head. It was haunting her. Her planet was haunting her. Her past was haunting her. Everything was haunting her, and it would continue until she went out of her mind.

A knock at the door startled her, making her jump. "C-come in. It's open," she said, trying hastily to wipe away her streaming tears. Fox entered the room, an aura of worry about him.

"Are you alright? I heard you crying…" Fox said, closing the door shut behind him. Krystal hesitated. She didn't know what to tell him, so she stared down at her carpeted flooring. Fox waited patiently for Krystal to

answer. She said nothing. "I may not know exactly how you feel…" Fox said, hoping to make Krystal feel like her normal self. "But, I can tell you that when my father came back…I felt overwhelmed with happiness, sadness, and mainly, I was full of confusion. I still am. He seems…different, as if he has one big secret. I think it has something to do with how he came back…" Fox said. Krystal stayed silent, listening to what Fox was describing to her. It sounded a lot like what she was experiencing right then. Fox walked over to her, so that she was facing him. He lifted up her chin, so that she was staring into his eyes. "You know you can tell me anything," Fox said to her.

Krystal felt as if she couldn't contain her secrets any longer. They were haunting her to the point of madness, and here she was, with her love life. He, telling her, the she could tell him anything. But, could she trust him? She felt like she had to in a way. There was something about Fox that told her that she could trust him. He would understand…wouldn't he? She hoped so, because she couldn't contain it any longer. "Fox I…" she started. She buried her head into his chest, her grief pouring out in tears.

Fox was startled by her sudden outburst, and Krystal could feel it, but she felt comfort holding on to him, as if her life relied on him. And in a way, it did. Krystal felt Fox hug her back, he trying to give her the comfort she needed. "It's alright," he said, softly. He said no more.

- - -

"We have now arrived at Corneria, further instruction needed," ROB said, his unemotional voice echoing throughout the bridge.

"Someone had better get Fox. Who knows what he wants us to do, now that we're here in Corneria," Peppy said to no one in particular, as he updated his maps of the Lylat System.

"I'll go get him," said James, getting up from his seat. "After all, he is my son," he continued, walking out of the bridge.

I wonder what he's doing. He's probably in is room still sleeping. I remember he did that a lot when he was in the academy. Too bad we can't go back to those days. Hmm…I hope Krystal is taking her father's turning evil, better than I think she is.

He stopped in front of Fox's room, hesitated, then knocked. After a moment he knocked again, then again, after once again getting no response. He opened the door, and saw the room, Fox free. "I wonder where the rascal went off to," he mumbled to himself, before the idea of asking Krystal where Fox was, came into his head. He took two steps, and then he came in front of Krystal's room. Listening carefully, he heard gentle whispering, and an occasional sob.

Fox is in there. I know his voice. Maybe I shouldn't go in, but then again, maybe I should.

James stood, pondering for a moment before deciding to leave Krystal and Fox alone, in their moment together.

- - -

Krystal's sobbing gradually quieted down, and silence took over the small room. "Krystal, can I ask you a question?" Fox asked her, ruining the silence. She nodded, not wanting to be separated from her lover. "What was that blue energy like thing that your father shot at me yesterday," he asked.

"Each Cerinian has a special ability that they learn to master, over time, with practice. I'm guessing that was his," she said quietly. Fox nodded, to say that he understood what she was saying. "Fox, when we tell General

Pepper about the mission, can we not tell him about my father," she asked, almost pleading.

"Sure, but why don't you want to?" Fox asked her, the aura of worry coming to him again.

"I…I just don't want him to think of my home planet as an evil planet, as a planet where only bad things happen, like killing, and stealing," she said, feeling more comfortable, now that she wouldn't have to worry about it.

"Fox, get your hide up to the bridge. We're at Corneria, and the whole crew is up here waitin' for ya," Bill's voice said, coming over the COM.

"C'mon, we should get up to the bridge," Fox said, as he and Krystal walked down to the Great Fox's bridge.

- - -

"Alright, ROB, let the Great Fox down into Corneria's docking station," Fox commanded ROB64 before turning around to face his crew. "We're going to see if the general has any missions for us before going to a hotel or something," he said as they felt the Great Fox lowering into the atmosphere, and a few moments later felt themselves land on the ground of Corneria's top docking station.

"We have now landed on Corneria," ROB's monotone voice said.

"Let's go," Fox said, leading his crew off the bridge, and down into Corneria City, Corneria.

- - -

A knock at the door was heard, and a gruff voice answered to it. "Come in," General Pepper said, looking up from his paperwork. The door opened and in walked the Starfox team, along with Bill, Fara, and James. "It's good to see your all in almost one piece," said the general, indicating Bill's cast, and crutches. "We lost communications with you, shortly after you left Sauria," he continued. "I'm assuming Ms. Phoenix here managed to warn you?" General Pepper said, and waited for a reply. Fox and Fara nodded in unison. "If you don't mind telling me, I want to know what happened on the mission I sent you on," General Pepper said, not asking, but commandingly.

"Well…uh…we went down to Fortuna, and we found the base. We went in, and separated, into two groups. Me and Krystal ran into Sharpclaw, so we hid. They mentioned Wolf and the tyrant that was the cause of the Sauria affair, General Scales." Not wanting to go into further detail, Fox ended with, "And that's all that we found." General Pepper nodded, comprehensively. Fox gulped, hoping that no one would mention Rilan. He could feel Krystal's uneasiness, and it added to his. He felt everyone else shooting he and Krystal confused glances. After all, why would their leader hide something from the general?

"So, what happened when you were separated from the captain?" General Pepper asked Bill.

"We found nothing suspicious, whatsoever," Bill said, shifting on his crutches. Fox gulped again.

I hope no one outbursts about Rilan, or else who knows what will happen?

"What's the matter, Fox? You seem slightly nervous," General Pepper said, his gaze back at Fox. He felt his heart skip a beat.

"Oh…uh...nothing. Nothing is wrong," he said, a little too quickly. The general didn't seem to notice, as he continued his questioning.

"James, you still haven't told us how you're here, standing in front of us, alive," General Pepper said, this time making James nervous. Fox looked over at his father, wanting to know all the details.

"I…I can't say, I mean…uh… Oh…look at the time, we have to get going, so the team can rest up," he said, backing up, getting nearer to the exit. Fox gave his father a strange look, saying, 'why won't you tell us?'

"James is right! You guys have got to rest up," Peppy said, speaking up. Fox saw his father give Peppy a thankful look, before he turned around to face the general again.

"Well, I guess we had better go," said Fox, turning, and then reaching his paw out to grab the door knob. General Pepper nodded his approval, and the team walked out the door, into the hallway of the building.

- - -

"This place looks just as I remember it," Fox remarked as he walked into his old home from when he was a kid. Krystal, Bill, and of course, James were staying there, while another mission came up. Falco and Katt had disappeared shortly after the meeting with General Pepper. Fara and Peppy went to their homes. Slippy was over at the Greatfox, fixing the communications problem, and once he was done there, he would go to his father's home.

"So, are you sure that you want me to stay here, I mean, I don't wanna be a nuisance. I can just go over to a hotel or something," Bill said, walking inside.

"Bill, you're my friend, and you need a place to stay. You're welcome here," Fox said. Bill smiled, rendering a grin from Fox.

"Alright, if you really insist," Bill said, leaning against his crutches. "Hey, Fox. Why didn't you tell the general about Rilan," he whispered, sitting down at one of the sofas. Fox sat down next to him.

"Krystal didn't want me to tell him because he might think of her people as traitors," Fox whispered back, only in the earshot of the both of them. Bill nodded in a way to say 'I see.'

"Fox, thank you for allowing me to stay with you," Krystal said, coming up behind him. Fox stood up abruptly, partly because he was surprised at Krystal's suddenly starting a new conversation after she had been outside only moments before. He paused, then as he was about to speak, he felt Bill nudge him in a playful manner.

"Uh…sure," Fox said, not saying anything else, for the fear of saying something stupid was lingering in his mind. Suddenly, the thought of spending another day with Krystal occurred to him. He had enjoyed the first one tremendously; after all, she seemed to like him, didn't she? "Hey, you wanna, go out on another date with me," he asked, color rushing to his face, as it always did.

Krystal's eyes sparkled with happiness. "I would love to! After all, we did have a miraculous time when we went last time." Fox smiled.

"Great! How 'bout we meet outside in five minutes? Oh, and you might wanna bring your bathing suit, in case we go swimming" Fox said. Krystal nodded, and she went up to her borrowed room to make sure she had everything.

"So…I'm guessing that's not the first time you've gone out with her," Bill said, grinning from ear to ear.

"Shut up, Bill," Fox answered, pushing him, playfully. Bill put his hands up, as if to signal defeat.

"Okay…okay. If you're not gonna tell your best buddy, fine," he said, in a dignified manner. Fox laughed.

"Hey, I gotta go. Don't wanna be late for my date," he said, walking out of the living room, waving at Bill. Bill smirked.

- - -

Fox stood outside, waiting for Krystal. He had a sudden thought to open the garage and see what was in it, so he did. Once it was opened he peered inside, and found his hover motorcycle, that he had always ridden to the Cornerian Flight Academy. It was bright red in color, and surprisingly, still shiny.

Maybe we can travel to wherever we're going, in this!

He dragged it outside, and just when he finished, Krystal had come out. "Are you ready, Fox?" she asked, smiling sweetly. He nodded.

"Let's go," he said, walking towards his motorcycle. She followed.

"We're going on your motorcycle?" she asked. He nodded, swinging his leg over, and making himself comfortable. She followed his example.

"You ready?" he asked, looking over his shoulder. Krystal didn't say anything, instead scooting up to Fox, and wrapping her furry arms around his waist.

"Now I'm ready," she said, smiling. Fox grinned, and started up the motorcycle.

- - -

Fox pulled into a parking space, under the shade. It was a hot day, perfect for the cool, glistening waters of the Cornerian seashore. Fox felt the weight on the hover motorcycle lift slightly, so he knew Krystal was off. He dismounted after her, and collected his backpack with their swimsuits and towels.

Turning around, he walked into the warm sand, with Krystal right next to him. Fox could see much of Corneria's population gathered along by the water, cooling themselves off. "Hey, look. There's a perfect spot where we can put our stuff down," Krystal said, pointing a clear spot on the beach. It was perfect. It was close to the beach, shady, and was almost isolated, excluding a few kids running around. Fox re-shouldered the slightly heavy backpack, and started walking down to where Krystal had been pointing.

Once there, Fox put down the heavy backpack, and took out his swimsuit, and handed Krystal hers. "We can go change over there," he said, walking towards the changing rooms. Krystal nodded.

- - -

Falco was wandering around Corneria City, looking for something that might be of interest to him. He had been doing it for the past hour, and he hadn't found one thing. Once in a while, someone would recognize him, and ask for an autograph, but other than that, nothing had happened.

Passing by a gym, he decided to go in. After all, maybe he could find someone to spar with, someone that could beat him. Shrugging he walked inside, and went straight for the sparring gym. Opening the door, he saw someone he didn't want to see, Katt. She was practicing on a punching bag, and hadn't noticed him come in. Falco stood and watched her as she tried combinations of kicks and punches, trying to find the best to bring the "enemy" down.

Katt's pretty good at those combinations. Wait…what am I saying? Since when do I compliment her…?

Falco started to notice something that he had never seen in Katt. She was tough, but pretty, and brave. Doing a slightly off roundhouse kick, Falco was brought back to his annoying self. He decided to bring it to her attention, partly to annoy her. Falco walked up behind her, and having hollow bones, as all birds do she didn't hear him. He cleared his throat, making Katt jump, and then turn around, an angry look on her face, and seeing Falco didn't make her any happier. She crossed her arms, and waited for Falco to speak.

"What was that kick you just did?" he asked, straight faced. Katt gave him a glare that seemed to pierce into him.

"Why do you wanna know?" she asked, clearly wanting to get back at him for disturbing her. Falco shrugged.

"Just to see if you're any match for me, if we were to fight, ya know?" Falco said, a plan formulated in his mind, and it was going as planned. Katt would take his comment as an invitation to spar, and then he would get to kick her sorry tail, and prove he was better than her.

"I take that as an invitation to face you," Katt said, just as Falco knew she would. He rolled his eyes, and jumped into a fighting stance, not bothering to put on his safety gear. Katt tossed hers aside. "You're dead, Lombardi," she said, aiming a front kick at Falco's face. He ducked as it soared over his head, then he kicked out at Katt's legs, to trip her. She jumped high over Falco's legs, then taking advantage of the time; she lashed out a powerful side-kick at Falco's head. It hit with perfect accuracy. Falco stumbled back a few steps, before launching another attack, which Katt blocked again.

Has Katt gotten better since the last time we sparred, or have I gotten worse? No…I don't get bad at things, especially not this. Maybe I just forgot her fighting techniques…

Katt threw a punch, which Falco avoided easily, but then she jumped and did a scissor kick. The punch was meant as a distraction, and it had fooled Falco. He stumbled back, and once again, Katt took advantage of her time. She side-kicked, punched Falco in the face, and made him fall to the ground with a roundhouse kick. "So, do you think I'm still no match for you?" Katt asked, sneering. Falco stood up, and brushed imaginary dirt off his daily attire.

"I let you do that," Falco said.

"Yeah, sure," Katt scoffed, putting her paws at her hips. "I think I won without your help," she continued. Falco rolled his eyes. "You haven't changed one bit since the last time I saw you," she said, before marching out of the room, angrily. Falco sighed and looked away before taking off after her.

She's the one who hasn't changed one bit.

"Katt, wait," he called, following her as she walked out of the gym and into the city of Corneria. "Wait," he called again. She swerved around to face Falco.

"What do you want?" she yelled at him. "Did you come after me so you could keep being modest?" she said sarcastically.

"…No. I…I just wanted to apologize," he said awkwardly, stuffing his wings into his pockets as he looked down. Katt looked immensely surprised.

"Since when do you apologize to anyone?" she asked, her mouth agape her paws back on her hips. Falco didn't answer, but continued to look down.

"Look, I'm sorry…" he said quietly. Katt suddenly felt a pang of guilt for Falco. Maybe she had been too harsh on him…

"No, I'm sorry. I guess I just lost my temper," she said, blushing. Falco looked up at her pink, furry face with a small smile. She smiled back at him.

"So, I guess we're friends again…huh?" Falco asked, and Katt nodded quickly enough. "Look, Katt, I'm sorry about what happened eleven years ago. I didn't mean to lose my temper in that argument," Falco said.

"It's alright. It wasn't all your fault…" she said. There was an awkward silence between the two before Falco spoke again.

"You wanna go eat lunch with me?" he said, it being his turn to blush.

"Sure," she said happily, her grin widening.

(A/N: Another chapter down, and a gazillion more to go. Oh well, its fun to type this, so might as well take my time. Before I start with the reviews, I just wanted to thank Requiem Writer for being an awesome friend, and for helping me get the urge to write this. Thanks Requiem Writer! Now, onto the reviews…

Chapter 5:

vampslayeraxle:

Good work

(A/N: Thanks!)

Chapter 7:

Artistic Tuba:

Very cool story so far. I still have another chapter to read, but I found a tiny problem with your dinosaur part. When you were trying to put 'they', you accidentally put 'kxoo' which is 'thee', instead of 'kxo0'. Remember, in dinosaur language, a the #0 replaces the y. You have to be careful about that.

(A/N: Oops…thanks for telling me that. I'll fix it up as soon as I can.)

Chapter 8:

CO Raven:

Hm... A FaraXBill pairing. I'm personally a FaraXWolf fan, but I was never mainstream, and it wouldn't work with your image of Wolf. Ah well. And you might want to appease the other reviewers over the James issue. Here's an idea. Telepath + James mind control options. Oh. And if you run out of ideas for fluff or comedic scenes, go read CO Mel's Orange Star: A revised History in the advanced wars section... Keep it up!

(A/N: Great suggestions! Thanks for the review!)

Requiem Writer:

Heh very gripping chapter V, was literally on the edge of my seat for the second half of the chapter, keep this up thumbs up

(A/N: Thanks, Requiem Writer!)

Miky-AMF:

Well the parth whit Krystal's dad was a surprise,realy am curios why he turned from good to Dr.No.Got to love the scens whit Falco&Katt they realy do act like theyr married couple

(A/N: Hope you loved the scene with Falco and Katt this chapter. We'll find out what happens in the next chapter.)

Sir Raphael:

Very good, keep it up!

(A/N: Thanks!)

Kaiser Aldamon:

YAY i think so far u are making James real and alive.
Does the Mumbo
Fox: Is Kaiser okay?
Krystal: I think he just had too much sugar.
All of a sudden Falco and Slippy walked in with disco clothes and a huge wig on.
Kaiser: Disco Party!
Falco, Slippy, and me start disco dancing.
Fox and Krystal: --

(A/N: Lol…glad you like the James scenes!)

Kroova:

I am sad to say that I do not thoroughly enjoy this "father" of Krystal entering the picture. He will not be here long, will he? (when you answer this, you do not have to use the quotation marks in my name.)

(A/N: Well, he may be a part of the main story. Too bad I can't make everyone happy…)

Kroova:

The same goes for Fox's father opinionwise.

(A/N: Like I said, can't make everyone happy.)