After scarfing down breakfast the following morning, Lucy locked the front door of their cabin and, heaving her backpack onto her shoulders and dragging along her duffel bag, she made her way to Great Fox with Gwen and Monica.

"Wait!" she said, suddenly stopping. "Did everyone get a chance to go to the bathroom?"

Monica, gazing at Great Fox, said, "Something tells me they've got a least one bathroom on board."

They entered Great Fox through the Docking Bay, where the Arwings were kept. Through there they walked through an automatic sliding door that led into what was called the galley. The galley contained a kitchen and living room area.

From the galley, the group ventured into the middle of the ship, where the hallways were made of metal. Even the doors were metal, and they opened with a push of a button.

"Similar to the schools back on Jazeloone," Gwen observed. "It's been a while since we've seen anything made of metal."

The guys led them to a set of rooms at the end of the hallway, which would serve as the girls' rooms.

"Wow, even metal rooms!" Monica cried from her room. "I have my own television…and a closet…and a dresser…and a bed…everything! But no stereo…"

Peppy rolled his eyes and went on to say, "Our rooms are nearby. In fact, Falco's is right next to Monica's."

Falco and Monica exchanged glances.

"I don't want any poking around bedrooms, Falco," Peppy said sternly. "And no hanky panky."

Falco rolled his eyes while the others sniggered.

Just then Bill came bounding up to the group in the hallway, carrying a clipboard.

"Okay, General Pepper wanted me to go over the rules," he announced. "One – always be on time for meetings. Two – no loud music. Three – boys stay in their rooms, girls stay in their rooms. Four – no drinking/smoking. Five – no false alarms. Six – only one person may use any bathroom at a time. Seven – clothing must be modest. Eight – no talking back to your commanding officer. Nine – you must go straight to the meeting room when the alarm goes off. Ten – the following areas are banned: the engine room the steering room and the docking bay."

Bill put down the clipboard and quickly recited, "If you fail to abide by these rules, you can and will be court marshaled by any of your commanding officers including General Pepper, Fox McCloud and William Grey. Any questions?"

Gwen raised her hand. "Yeah, when's lunch?"

Monica, Fox, Falco and Slippy all sniggered. Peppy and Lucy shot them dirty looks.

Bill, glaring at Gwen, said, "Failing to abide by the rules also includes asking stupid questions!"

Gwen said brightly, "You didn't say that in the rules, hon."

Bill snorted before turning on his heel and walking off.

"Right after he had left, a metallic voice came on the PA system. "All. Crew. Memebers. Prepare. For. Take. Off."

"Looks like ROB is up and running," Fox said.

"How do we prepare for takeoff?" Lucy asked.

"Like so…" said Peppy, heading over to the wall of the hallway. He pulled out of the wall a sort of fold-out chair. "Pull a chair out and buckle up."

Suddenly, Great Fox began to vibrate. The girls could feel butterflies in their stomachs as they fastened their seatbelts, and the hallway began to feel weightless.

Great Fox hovered off the ground for a moment before gradually moving forward and upward. It began to scale the air.

ROB64 came back over the intercom, "Please. Remain. Seated. As the. Ship. Prepares. For. Hyperspace."

"Hyperspace?" echoed Monica.

Falco said, "It's the only way to get back to the Lylat System. It's no biggy."

Great Fox then made a sudden jerk and began to roar. Everyone was pinned against the wall as it zipped through space.

It did not last long. Everything abruptly stopped. The roaring ceased. ROB announced, "Hyperdrive. Is. Complete. Great. Fox is. Currently. Twelve. Hours. From. Corneria."

"Awesome," said Fox, getting up out of his seat and pushing it back into the wall.

Falco said to Monica, "See? No biggy."

They all began to put their own chairs back. As they did so, General Pepper's voice came over the intercom. "Bill Grey and Star Fox, please report to the meeting room along with our new members. That is all."

Slippy dramatically announced, "To the meeting room!"

The toad led the way to a different part of the ship, where they found a sealed room with a long, rectangular table and six chairs on either side. Bill and General Pepper were already in the room and seated at the table. At one end of the room was a large computer screen. General Pepper was holding a remote control.

Everyone took a seat and turned their attention to the general.

"Now then," he said, "ladies, although I am flattered that you want to help us defeat Andross, I must ask…have you had any military experiences?"

The girls looked at one another. Monica confessed, "No, sir."

General Pepper nodded expectantly. He took the remote in his hand and pushed a button. On the large computer screen appeared a picture of a wolf, a chameleon, a pig and an ape.

"This is the Star Wolf Team," General Pepper explained. "They are the ones that just recently attacked Tesserone. The wolf is Wolf O'Donnel. The chameleon is Leon Powalski. The ape is Andross's nephew Andrew Oikanny. The pig is Pigma Dengar; he was on the original Star Fox team with Peppy and James, Fox's father, and he betrayed them."

Lucy shook her head with confusion. "How did they know about Tesserone? We've never heard of them."

General Pepper frowned. "I wish I knew the answer, Miss Ferns, but we have yet to discover the way Andross is connected to everything."

He turned off the screen before saying, "Well, what we need to figure out is a good place to put you girls so you can help. Do you have any special skills?"

"We all know martial arts," offered Gwen. "We're pretty flexible – we try to tie some of it into our dance moves. Lucy used to do ballet, I was a cheerleader and Monica did gymnastics." She glanced at her friends before continuing. "Lucy is also really resourceful and could probably figure out a computer if she had one. Monica's a good writer and I…I…"

Gwen looked to her friends for help. Lucy offered, "Gwen is good at talking."

Gwen gave her a dirty look."

"We've seen some of their moves, though, sir," Fox told the general. "They're not bad."

After thinking for a moment, General Pepper said, "We'll have to see how well they manage in training, then."

To Bill he said, "Take the girls to the gym and try some practice rounds."

Bill got up from the table and beckoned for the others to follow him out of the meeting room.

The gym was behind a sliding door on the other side of the hallway. It revealed a wrestling room; the floor was matted, there was a rack full of helmets and boxing gloves in the corner, and a weight-lifting station rested in another corner.

Bill wandered onto the middle of the matted floor. The girls followed.

"Okay," he said. He looked at Monica and summoned her forward. "Hit me."

Monica blinked. "Huh?"

Bill pressed, "Hit me."

Monica frowned at the grey dog. "I can't do that."

Bill rolled his eyes from behind his shades. "Why not?"

Glaring at him, Monica said, "I have to be kinda motivated to do so, duh!"

"Duh!" mocked Bill. He put his hands on his hips and said in a prissy voice, "I can't because I have to motivated to do so. Puh! Motivated, my ass! They actually tell you to act like a pansy on your planet? Are you scared? Are you lying? Are you –"

Monica shoved her fist into Bill's face. Bill fell to the floor. He removed his shades to show his wide brown eyes staring at Monica. She grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and flipped him over her shoulder. Bill landed hard on his back. Vexed, he scrambled to get back up and grab Monica, but she jumped backwards, then did a backflip to get away from Bill. As he stepped forward, Monica whipped out her leg toward Bill's stomach and soon he was back on the ground again.

"Okay, okay!" he cried, clutching his stomach. "I'll tell the general you can fight!"

Monica shrugged casually. "Alright."

….

"That was cool!" Falco praised Monica as they walked together down the hall where their rooms were. "You've got mad skills."

Monica laughed. "Thanks. It's been a while since I've done that."

"Could've fooled me," Falco said. "Andross won't know what hit him."

Monica felt herself blushing. "So, will your own family be waiting on us when we arrive on Corneria?"

Falco hesitated. "No…both of my parents are dead and I never had any siblings."

Monica narrowed her eyes. "I'm sorry."

Falco stopped in front of his door. "It's okay. My dad was a pilot. He was shot down. My mom was leader of a Special Forces group. They worked in a submarine that was also shot down. Her whole team died – same week as my dad. I was 10 years old."

"You and I have a similar background," Monica observed.

"Yep," Falco said. "Same with Fox, 'cept he has his sisters. His mom died in a car accident when he was little."

They were quiet for a minute.

"Were you once friends with that Cameron girl?" Falco suddenly asked.

"Ummm," replied Monica. "She was kind of a social climber. She thought being friends with us would hinder her ability to be popular. So she ditched us."

"Ouch."

"What about you and this Katt girl?" Monica said. "Do you like her at all?"

"I don't hate her," said Falco. "She is just a difficult girl to date. She's a student teacher at the military academy that Fox's little sister attends. She'll probably be there to greet us when we land." Falco rolled his eyes.

Monica smiled. "I'm sure she's nice."

"Oh, she'll be nice, alright," Falco said. "It's her nature."

Monica laughed. "See ya, Falco." Both headed into their rooms.