The other members of the Starfox team, however, were neither smiling or sleeping. The three members of the team of mercenaries recently had entered the medicenter, where Slippy had applied his engineering expertise to construct a remote device with which they could monitor Krystal's brain activity, and now they watched wide-eyed as the affliction known as Ha'lar Marai was steadily deteriorating Krystal's mind.

"There has to be something we can do!" Falco exclaimed, pounding a fist into his hand. "We can't just let her die...not after all she's done."

Peppy blinked. 'Falco, emotional?' he thought. 'Now there's a first.' Krystal and Falco had hit it off from the beginning. While Falco was the ranked ace pilot, Krystal definitely had shown her prowess with an Arwing many times over. The funny thing about it all was that Falco didn't seem too mad about her stealing some of his limelight. But Peppy knew that there would never be nothing more than a strong friendship between them. Krystal was in love with Fox, and he with her, even if neither one of them could see it. And Falco, though he refused to admit it, liked Katt Monroe.

"You're right, birdbrain, for once," Slippy replied.

"Hey, can it, Slip-up," Falco retorted. "Just tell me if there's anything we can do. You're our resident medical expert."

"But I have no idea what's going on here. This isn't normal mental deterioration. If it was, there are plenty of treatments available for it. What did Taylor call it?"

"Psionics," Peppy interjected.

"Right. Psionics. Whatever they are, I would bet that it's having a strong effect on whatever's going on here."

Falco threw up his hands. "Thank you, Captain Obvious."

"Hey, look," Slippy shot back, "I'm trying to do the best I can with the resources available to me, all right, feather-breath? You try to do my job, and we'll see where we end up!"

Falco took a menacing step towards Slippy. "Watch it, frogger! You're in deep water now!"

Peppy stepped in between the warring mercenaries. "Boys!" he snapped. "That's quite enough! This isn't doing Krystal any good!"

Falco and Slippy looked at Peppy, then at each other. "You're right, Peppy," Slippy sighed.

"Yeah, gotta agree with the toad, gramps," Falco seconded.

Peppy opened his mouth to speak, but was cut off when a loud beeping sound emanated from the device that Slippy had quickly thrown together. "What's goin' on, Slip?" Peppy asked.

"I don't know...it's Fox!" Slippy exclaimed.

"What?" Falco quirked an eyebrow.

"I'm not really sure, but somehow he's in Krystal's mind!"

"Is..that even possible?"

"Apparently it is," Slippy gasped. "And look at this...his energy patterns are going nuts! His brainwaves are off the charts!"

Peppy's eyes quickly roved the screen, then he gasped sharply. "I--I've seen this before...but--but it's not possible!"

"What is it, gramps?" Falco asked.

"It's all coming into place, now," Peppy murmured. "The Reshetell, Taylor...Now I know where I've heard of them!" He suddenly realized Falco had spoken. "No time to explain now," he replied. "I have to find Taylor!" He turned, the sprinted out of the medicenter. Neither Falco or Slippy had ever seen Peppy move that fast. They exchanged confused glances, then wordlessly agreed to follow Peppy.