Author's Note: Sorry for putting this up today instead of yesterday. Normally I do my editing Friday's, but I was too tuckered out and brain dead to do that because of all of the studying and testing I had to do. They always seem to want to jam everything they can down your throats before the start of Spring Break. Oh well, here is the next chapter and it's the longest one so far; there will be longer ones still. I have to say though, that this was the most tedious chapter so far. It may be a boring chapter, albeit with some pretty awkward moments, but there was no way getting around it. Don't worry guys, the action will come soon, I can promise that after a couple more chapters. And more good news, since its Spring Break, I have so much more time to write. That means I'll try to get another chapter out this Saturday.

To graystripe: Are you talking about Krystal's brother? If you are then you must know that when I mentioned something called both 'saber' and 'sabot,' I was actually talking about a super heated ammunition round. It can go by both of those names, but Krystal's brother name is just Saber and nothing can change that, so there are no worries there.

To Star Fox Runner: We'll have to see what happens as the story unfolds. Even though the story is marked OC/Krystal/Fox, there has to be a winner for the fair lady's heart or else the story won't have a satisfying ending. I think it's best to say don't count your chickens before they hatch, because I can safely say that with as many unexpected twists and turns in this roller coaster of emotion and adventure, it's best to just ride it out to the end.

To KryzKrn: Thanks the suggestion you gave me. I did look at one of the ones you wanted me to use, and I found that one of them worked for the story's purposes. So thanks there.

To everyone: Please READ & REVIEW everyone. All comments are read and loved. They fuel this story and my drive to complete it.

Chapter 9

Paradox Child

Light, Krystal, and all others present watched as the ships of their late night rescuers docked in the palace docking bay. The palace had sustained an extensive amount of damage, but the repairs were well under way. The palace's front entrance was nothing more than a bunch of ruins and was now unusable. Several of the palace guards led the large party to the back entrance facing the forest, which was the preferable way to get the royal docking bay.

The group walked through the metallic silver halls, being led by King Randorn, to reach the fifteen foot entrance to the hanger. Along the way, they passed the infirmary, whose automatic door was fixed to stay open to allow more injured guards to come in and get medical attention without being impeded. Most of the group just kept looking forward, but Nat and Alex turned to look inside and cringed at the sight of the guards, who had fought against the serpent, screaming in pain as broken and fractured bones were being set in place.

"Alex, are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Nat asked, with eyes still in the direction of the infirmary they just walked past.

"That we're going to get dragged into another crazy adventure?" Alex asked, almost as scared as his friend.

"Yup. We're screwed."

As the group kept pace with Randorn and Mira, Krystal and Light were having trouble organizing their thoughts. However, they both had their own reasons.

Krystal kept rummaging through these new memories in her head to try to make some sense out of this situation. She felt that she couldn't. It was like she had the memories of two different life times in her head. And she did, that much she was beginning to understand. What was bothering her most about the new memories was the person she saw herself with in the majority of them. Fox.

Light had talked about him several times before, or at least tried to. Every time Light talked about Fox, she saw a bit of sadness in his eyes. She would always stop him from talking about Fox when she felt that feeling well up inside of him. It was like Light was comparing himself to the orange vulpine in his mind, and never being able to find a quality about him that would justify him being with her. If that ship was the Great Fox, as her new memories were forcing her to know, then she wasn't looking forward to the encounter that may have been closing in on them. That still didn't answer the question on as to how these new memories were triggered.

Just as Krystal thought, Light was not feeling well at all. After Krystal had told the entire group about these new memories on the way back to the palace, although not in great detail, Light began to feel that familiar kind of sadness wash over him. It had been a few years since he had last felt this way. Inadequate. Light was afraid. Even after Krystal had decided to stay with him, Light couldn't help but feel that since he first activated the magic in his staff, that he had imprisoned her against her will in the real world. Just telling Krystal that he loved her, even though she constantly tells him that it's not true, only served to make him think that she allowed herself to become a prisoner out of pity for his existence. Just the thought of meeting Fox, whom Light sometimes thought was still the better of the two of them, made him feel like a thieving troll.

Light turned to his children out in front with Krystal walking beside them to draw some comfort and ease his troubled mind. Dawn didn't know anything of what was going on in her parent's thoughts. She was blissfully unaware with her brown tale wagging along and Light preferred it that way. She would often give her mother some sidelong glances every now and then in concern, but she didn't worry herself too much over it because she thought of her parents as the strongest people the world. In her eyes, they were invincible in both body and mind.

Light turned to the space on the little girl's left and looked at his son. It didn't take long for Light to notice that something was out of place with Dusk. Dusk was wearing the same expression as he usually does when Marcus takes over. If it was as Light feared, then this encounter with Fox might end up becoming a real life nightmare. Especially if some of his and Krystal's theories ended up being right.

Nat, Chris, and Alex were thinking and whispering the same thoughts as Light and Krystal had to themselves. "This is definitely not a good thing," Nat whispered to the other two.

"I know. I'm kind of afraid to see what's going to happen in the next five minutes or so, but I also can't help but feel a little nostalgic. Is that a bad thing?" Alex answered in the same hushed voice.

"Depends," said Chris. "Is your name Light?" Alex saw what his friend meant. This probably wasn't going to end well for anyone, especially for their good friend.

Mira, Randorn, and Sabre were keeping their heads straight as they moved in front of everyone, but they were listening in on Nat, Chris, and Alex's small conversation with interest. Krystal had also heard what the three were saying, but said nothing. She didn't ask for these memories, nor did she want them. They only fought against everything she had come to know over the last decade.

They arrived at the entrance after only a small amount of time passed in silence. The futuristic door opened with a swoosh, giving the party a view of what was inside. The inside of the docking bay was huge. It was about the size of five football fields. Most of the huge structure was underground to protect from attacks. From the looks of it to all humans present, this was also where many of the military crafts and equipment were kept for storage. To Brandon, his squad, and the field explorers, the sight of so many advanced ships was eye candy to them. It was only two of the ships inside of the big hanger that caught everyone's attention.

The closer of the two ships in question was already fully docked, while the Great Fox was still finishing up the rest of the docking procedures. The Solomon's boarding platform opened before them and Allistor, with Lindsey following close behind, were the first to step out and greet them. The two walked hand-in-hand to the others with smiles on their faces. Allistor and Lindsey had been married to each other for about eight years. All those years of getting to know one another and working together had convinced them to be together. They even had a seven year old daughter together.

"Hey, guys," Allistor called out.

"How is everything going? Are you all fine?"Lindsey finished for him. Krystal stepped up to Lindsey and gave the woman a big hug. Lindsey was Krystal's first female human friend after all.

"We're doing fine, but what are you two doing here?! And what was that… thing that attacked us?!"

Allistor answered for Lindsey with a straight face that showed his seriousness. "I'm sorry, but we can't really say anything. I can tell you that we do know what that serpent was, but it's best that you hear everything from Leonidas." Randorn stepped in front of Krystal and put on his diplomacy face. The King extended his hand and Allistor took it, showing the same diplomatic demeanor.

"I am King Randorn."

"And I'm Allistor Kindley." Randorn and Mira looked over the human before them. Allistor wore light-brown khaki pants, a white button-up shirt with short sleeves, and a brown car hart jacket. A dark brown hat adorned his wavy gold head. At his side was a tan work pouch that was probably full of tools.

"Judging from your garb, you must be an explorer."

"Close enough, I'm an archaeologist. I'm also this boy's uncle." Randorn and Mira looked to Light and saw a slight resemblance between the two. It wasn't a large resemblance, but it was there.

"I can see that. Now about everything that has transpired as of late, you say this Leonidas will explain everything, right?" Allistor nodded.

"He will explain everything he is able to in a safe location."

"And what location would that be, might I ask?" Mira questioned.

"At our headquarters." All four Cerinian's present looked at each other in confusion. Krystal, and all those who knew Allistor, was especially vexed. First it was the ship and now it was some mysterious base. They were all wondering what Allistor and Lindsey had involved themselves in. "When it comes to the Void, much like the one you just encountered, our headquarters is the safest place to be. Not only that, there are many important things in our facility that you must see in order to believe the things Leonidas is going to tell you." Randorn, Mira, and Sabre gathered themselves together to converse. They turned back to Allistor and agreed reluctantly. They figured that they really had no choice seeing as how Allistor, Lindsey, and this Leonidas person, knew what kind of a problem they seemed to be facing.

Away from the group who was meeting Allistor and Lindsey, the Great Fox had just finished up it's docking procedures. The Starfox team was exiting their ship when Fox saw that blue and white angel again. The crew was still very confused about the new memories they had received, but the memories seemed… natural. Only one thing was on Fox's mind at the moment however, and that was Krystal. He didn't know this wonderful girl, but yet he did know her. It was the strangest experience he had ever had. Peppy, Falco, and Slippy also weren't sure of what to think of all this.

As soon he stepped off of the boarding plank, he made a quick jog over to the group ahead of him and stopped in front of them. "Krystal!" They all looked at him like he was the strangest thing they had ever seen. Then he wrapped his arms around Krystal, his hands on the small of her back.

Light's eyes instantly flared in jealousy, everyone else was in shock at seeing this. Krystal was angry, partly because of where his hands were and mostly because he was doing this in front of her husband. Seeing as how he probably did not know what he was doing, she didn't punch him. Krystal freed herself from his firm grasp and pushed him a foot away. Fox didn't understand why she did that… then again… perhaps he could. These memories of his were new and she might not have had them. It was very possible that these memories were false too. Fox scolded himself for letting his emotions get the better of him. "Um… forgive me. I guess an explanation is in order." Fox extended his hand to Krystal and went into introductions mode. "My name is…"

"…Fox," Krystal stated as a matter of fact. Fox was surprised for a moment before he realized how.

"Wait a minute. Did you also get some strange memories?" Krystal nodded.

"Yes, I did. It's a strange thing, isn't it?"

Fox grinned brightly and nodded to her. "Yeah. I've really never experience anything like this before."

"Neither have I." Krystal his hand and shook it respectfully. "My name is Krystal."

"I knew that. The new memories, remember?" he said with his eyes closed and that same smile on his face. To him, it was safe enough to deduce that these knew memories were not fabricated.

Krystal decided it was time to introduce the people around her to him. "This is my mother, father, and brother." The mentioned three shook hands in turn while sizing up Fox. All three of them silently came to a decision, especially after the smile he was giving Krystal and none more eagerly than King Randorn, that Fox should be the one married to Krystal instead of this… ape. They all had the same comparisons in mind. Fox was more handsome, looked strong, courageous, charismatic, and an all around better choice to them. "These are my friends, Nat, Chris, and Alex." Fox thought they were a strange looking species but he wasn't one to judge people by their looks. He did seem a bit wary because of their ape-like features, but shook hands with them as well.

The three guys were a little bit nervous because their main focus was on Light. That hug Fox gave Krystal certainly looked friendly to them. A little too friendly. Light certainly didn't seem to like it when Fox wrapped his hands around his wife's waist. He controlled himself from doing anything rash and that was a good thing. This entire day had been trying to his mental and emotional state.

"These two are Allistor and Lindsey. They are some of the people in charge of this ship." Fox shook their hands as well. Lindsey first, and then Allistor.

Allistor gave Fox a strong grip to go along with his hand shake and he possessed a serious expression. The archaeologist was well aware of who Fox was and his relation to Krystal in his game dimension. "As she said, I'm Allistor. However, the one in charge of the ship is Leonidas. You may get to meet him later. In fact, I'm sure of it." Fox nodded, but didn't say anything back. Allistor's comment and demeanor seemed strange to him.

Krystal turned to the little brown-haired girl at her side. "This is my daughter, Dawn." Fox froze. For a moment, he didn't know what the think, say, or do. He felt like his mind and heart break, seemingly prematurely. Those words hit him in the gullet… hard. The angel in his eagerly accepted new memories had a daughter!

"Then… does that mean your… married?!" Fox choked out the words as he looked down at the little girl who was innocently smiling at him. It seemed like his perfect world crumbled before it had a chance to begin.

"Yes." Krystal stepped aside to let Light into Fox's field of vision. "This is my husband, Light." For that instant, it was like nothing else in the cosmos existed except the two of them. In both of Fox and Light's eyes were the fires of competition and a rivalry lit. The both of them kept their faces straight for the importance of keeping up public appearances, but there was a definite static being exchanged between their gazes.

"Dad!" Everyone turned around to see who exclaimed that. It was Dusk. Krystal was confused on why Dusk yelled that out all of a sudden.

Krystal began to cautiously introduce Dusk with a suspicious glint in her eye. "And this is our son, Du…"

Before Krystal could finish her sentence, the boy proclaimed over her voice, "THAT MAN IS NOT MY FATHER!!!" The boy, who was apparently Marcus at the time, pointed a confident finger at Fox. "He is my real father!" The boy ran straight to Fox and hugged the leg of the orange vulpine. Light felt an invisible hand clutch his gut at seeing that.

Fox wasn't at all sure about what was going on, but he kind of liked the attention he was getting from the azure-haired boy. Light and Fox looked at each other in the eyes, Fox sporting a gleeful smirk. Krystal and the others were frozen in shock at what they were seeing and the awkwardness of the situation. Light felt not only shocked, but also defeated in a way he couldn't imagine.

Fox's companions walked over to where he was with the group of aliens, but they all stopped short of their destination at the strange scene before him. The silence was deafening. As weird as the King felt this was, instead of trying to get an explanation from his daughter, it was the dead of night and he wanted to go to sleep. "Listen, everyone. While I'm sure we all want an explanation to everything that has happened tonight," the King looked pointedly at Krystal and turned back to the rest. "I think its best that we get what sleep we can, and then we'll discuss this in the morning at breakfast." The King put his hand in the air and summoned his guards to send everyone to their rooms.

Throughout the night, Light, Krystal, and Fox fell asleep in their separate rooms with heavy feelings lying on their hearts. At the middle of it all was Dusk. While his mother and sister slept as best they could in one of the two beds in the room, Dusk could only cry silently in his. He felt both embarrassed and ashamed for what Marcus had done. The pain in his father's eyes tore the boy up inside. Marcus had been trying to tell Dusk how much better of a father Fox would be instead of Light. Dusk mentally cut himself off from the conversation, just as he did at his parent's reunion dinner. He pulled the cover over and tried to get some sleep. They had a long day tomorrow. 'I wish I didn't exist,' he thought to himself in a silent sob.

Once morning came, the King sent for everyone to come to the breakfast table, except the explorers from Earth. The King and Queen made special arrangements to give them a chance to walk among their people, under the watchful eyes of escorting guards of course, and learn about their culture and their technology.

The King, Queen, and Sabre were the first to enter the dining room, their food already laid out on the table before them. The rest of the large group, including Brandon and his squad, entered the room and sat down. Sitting across from Light and Krystal was Fox. Fox and Light were eyeing each other and had a sort of poker face on themselves. Fox's team and Light's friends looked at each other from their seats, feeling the tension in the air. Dawn and Dusk ate the fried drumsticks before them silently and unsure of what might happen if they said anything.

The King wanted to make sure that this awkward situation didn't implode on itself, so he decided to break the silence and turned to Fox. "Tell me, how did you and your teammates arrive to this world the way you did? Everyone at the table looked to the Starfox team for an answer to the King's question. Peppy decided he was better suited to answer.

"Back in our world, we received an urgent message from a client of ours. You see, our team is not an official military unit. We're a mercenary team and we got a contract from General Pepper of planet Corneria."

The King nodded in understanding. "Yes, I do know of that planet. I've never been there myself, but I've heard that it was a rather peaceful world."

Peppy nodded in agreement, "It is, but it's also the greatest military force in our star system. At any rate, the General came to us for an investigation assignment. He wanted us to investigate an empty area of space in the star system closest to ours that was giving off some of the strangest signals we've ever seen. As you can already see, it ended up being a doorway, or a worm hole of sorts. Before we arrived, the General's sensors picked up a powerful energy reading that originated from within the worm hole." After hearing this, Krystal's interest was grabbed. She thought that she might have had something to do with this.

"Peppy, was it? When did this signal pop up on your radars?" Krystal asked.

"It appeared yesterday at around noon for us." Krystal and the others quickly put two and two together.

"Oh, I see. The signal anomaly you picked up was the residual resonance of an invention of mine. I used it to transfer this planet from it's original dimension, time, and orbit to this universe. The signal of the temporal ripple must have been strong enough to reach you." Krystal thought to herself right then that the reason for Cerenia's disappearance might have been her… oh well. At least everything in that area was settled.

"It looks like it," Slippy agreed to her explanation. "It's a good thing we received it and got here when we did, huh?"

"Speaking of good timing, how did you manage to get here so quick when you did Professor Allistor?" Chris brought to attention.

"Well, I can't tell you much right now, what with my security clearance and all. What I can tell you right now is that we got here through an expanded version of Krystal's inventions." Krystal was bothered by this like it was some kind of a travesty towards her person.

"How!? My inventions were supposed to be well guarded secrets?"

Allistor fully understood her shock. "Be that as it may, the contract you signed with the government allows the organization I work for to view all records, blueprints, journals, and anything else related to your research and inventions. While you were constructing your machine, we were secretly building a large transportation engine based upon your working prototypes."

Krystal crossed her arms and glared daggers. "Looks like someone's in trouble," Nat began to taunt.

Allistor cringed under her gaze and felt the need to go back to the critical issue at hand. "Anyway… we detected a Void life sign during the Integration Ceremony." Krystal's parents had already known about the ceremony from what Krystal had explained to them. "So we did an emergency activation sequence to put the creature down." Allistor turned to the Starfox team. "It really is a good thing that you guys got here to finish that beastie off. Because of the emergency activation sequence we started, we didn't have time to prepare quite a few of our ship's weapons and defense systems. However, I'm quite proud of the results we got under our limiting conditions."

Falco had been keeping quiet most of the time there, considering that he didn't really have much of a clue about what was going on around here. But the avian responded to Allistor's comment. "You got that right, buddy. And now that everyone knows where everyone came from, can we talk about last night with… you know." Falco silently nodded his head toward Light and Krystal's son, who was too busy eating his drumstick to notice. Krystal nodded and looked over to Lindsey.

"Would you mind?" Krystal asked her. Lindsey shook her head and got up out of her seat.

The older woman walked around the table and got the children's attention. "Would you two mind coming with me? We can find someone to give us a tour of the palace. Does that sound good?"

"Yes," the two shouted with glee. "And can we see that big space ship, auntie Lindsey? Please," Dawn asked with a pleading look.

"Yeah, can we?" Dawn's brother started mimicking her.

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll get to see the ship soon enough. For now, let's just take a look around your mother's old home, okay?" The twins nodded, a little disappointed that they weren't going to see the really cool looking space ship as soon as they wanted to, but they took Lindsey's hands and left the room.

Once they were gone, Falco continued with his unspoken question. "So what was with that hug from last night? And why did the kid say Fox was his Dad?"

Krystal, Light, and their friends, and relatives present looked at each other nervously. Krystal turned to Brandon and asked, "Corporal, would you mind taking your men and waiting outside for a moment? This is a family problem we're going to talk about. So, if you would?"

"Oh it's not a problem for us, we'll be outside the door if you need us. Men." With one word, all military personnel was soon absent from the room. When the door shut, Light took the initiative to answer Falco's question.

"Well, you see, in this universe, all of you guys are actually characters in a video game series."

"A video game series?" Fox said as if these new memories and revelations weren't already antagonizing enough. This new information was almost like adding insult to injury. He sent another glare towards the younger man. If he was a video game character, then what did that make Krystal? Light just tried to ignore it and continued with what he was going to say, even though he knew this would only ignite more anger from Fox. "Yes. And it's because of that that we believe to be the reason of the problem we're having. You see, Dusk has a second personality named Marcus." That name flashed through the minds of both Krystal and the Starfox team. None more so than Fox. Memories of a young anthropomorphic fox boy flooded them all for a brief moment before Fox gestured for him to continue. Before Light went on, he saw Krystal and the Starfox team flinch for some reason. "Are you guys okay?"

Slippy replied to him with, "These weird images keep flashing through my mind. They started rushing through our heads a little after we destroyed that monster. I thought I saw Fox and your wife together and there was this blue-furred kid with them."

Light knew about the new memories Krystal had obtained through this mess, but the fact that all of the members of Starfox had them as well only served to complicate this awkward situation even further.

"What's in these new memories of yours?" Krystal asked Slippy.

"For some reason, the majority of them involve you and Fox." Krystal knew he was going to say that, but she had some small hope that he wouldn't.

Light had a feeling that he would say that too. He decided to continue from where he left off. "Anyway, after we did a bit of research, we discovered that in one of the games and in one of the possible endings…" Light kept his eyes away from a certain orange vulpine before uttering the words that he was hesitant to say. "Krystal had a child with… Fox." There was a gaping silence in the room. "We believe that Marcus is in actuality… how do I say this?"

Allistor decided to make an assist with his best guess as to what Light was trying to say properly. "The embodiment of someone who should have come to exist, but never did."

'I knew it,' Fox thought to himself. He knew there was some kind of special connection between Krystal and himself. A child between the two of them cemented his belief that they were meant for each other. However, he had to ask how she came to this universe .

"So," slowly began Fox. "How did the two of you meet?" The jealous tint in his voice was barely noticeable as he questioned Light and Krystal. The King and Queen had already heard this story once and were still reeling from the disturbing information.

Krystal took the initiative, so as to relieve some of her husband's nervousness and prevent a stand off. "It's a strange story, really. Light kinda… wished for me." Fox thought something obstructed his hearing.

"Wait a minute. I'm sorry, but I think I heard you wrong. Did you just say your husband WISHED for you?!" Krystal began to choke on a response to him.

"Well… yeah. I came to this universe because of him." Fox looked from Krystal with bewildered eyes and turned to Light with shocked eyes instead that hid the fuming feelings that were beginning to become harder to hold in. Krystal knew that Fox wouldn't like the next part, but continued anyway. "The two of us, as well as Chris, Nat, Alex, Allistor, and Lindsey," She nodded to each one of her former adventuring companions at the table as she named them, except an absent Lindsey of course. "Traveled across the Earth to find a way back to my own dimension…, but I fell in love with Light along the way. So in the end, I decided to stay with him. If not for him or the rest of my friends here, I wouldn't even have a home planet anymore. Cerinia would have been lost without them." Krystal looked to Light lovingly as she lightly squeezed his hand to show him comfort.

Fox felt that this human was the reason for the constant pain in his heart over the entirety of his career and past. He didn't have any time to dwell on this new enraging thought as the dining room doors opened and a new voice made its presence known to all members at the table.

"If you're all finished giving each other some explanations, then you all better go pack up."

"And why should we listen to you. Not only that, but who are you?! This is a private meeting," Krystal's father asked. Everyone turned to see the old sea captain turned space ship captain. The white bearded man's garb was that of what was to be expected of an old sea dog. An ocean blue overcoat with gold cufflinks, reminiscent to a pirate captain, and a lit corncob pipe hanging from the corner of his mouth completed his fashion. Allistor's friends were all as eccentric as he was, or more in some cases.

"Because I know just about everything there is to know about what that monster was, where it came from, and just what kind of peril we're truly facing. My name is Leonidas and I'm the captain of the starship, Solomon. If you really want the answers to your questions, then you'll come with us to our headquarters," he said as he took a puff from his pipe.

Krystal turned to Allistor with an investigating stare. "What kind of organization are all of you involved in anyway?!"

Allistor gave her a no nonsense expression. "P.O.U.R., the Paranormal Observational Unit Recon."