Here's the finale, as Fox explores the Nexus a little more and finally reunites with his team. Enjoy.

...

The two guests of the Nexus glanced around, spotting several ponds in each direction, with some floating on land overhead. Fox shook his head and approached Milu, who cupped his hands together.

"Why didn't you explain any of this earlier?"

"You try remembering the knowledge of the cosmos and sorting it out for whoever walks in," teased Milu. He smiled at Fox. "I am doing my best, but it is a lot."

"Sorry, but I…" Fox rubbed behind his neck. "I thought you…before—"

"Nothing to worry about," eased Milu. "You were worried for your friends. Mars here is suffering the same fears." He gazed down at the ground. "Time flows so differently for each of us, and so too do our troubles…" Smiling again, he returned his attention to Fox. "Would you believe my hardest choice today, prior to finding you, was what I wanted for breakfast?"

"You eat?"

Both paused for a moment as Fox smirked. Milu chuckled a bit, and then laughed harder, but covered his face and turned away.

"Gracious, that has been a while since I…" He lowered his arm and turned back to Fox. "You are clever. Thank you."

"You're welcome."

A gentle gust blew past them, and Milu turned to face the direction it came from.

"Ah, I believe that should be for your friends now." Milu held his hand up as a blue flower flew through the air, and he caught it in his palm. "This is the bellflower, so that would be—"

"Fox!"

Twisting around, Fox gazed to east, as Peppy hurried through a stream and to the field. Sprinting over to him, Fox grabbed onto him and tightly embraced him.

"Peppy! Peppy, you're ok." Fox tightened his grip on the hare. "I…I don't know what I'd ever do without you."

"Don't you worry, Fox," insisted Peppy. "I'm always here for you."

"Right back at you." He watched as Peppy pulled back and gazed past him, at the pair behind. "I should introduce you to them."

"New friends?"

"Uh…kind of?"

"Good or bad?"

"I think good."

"Works for me."

Fox guided Peppy over to the pair, as Milu felt the next breeze flow through. He held up his hand to catch the next flower. Mars peeked out from behind him.

"That tall one is Milu, and the other one is Mars," introduced Fox. "Milu is from here, and Mars is…uh, not."

"Where is here?"

"He calls it the Nexus of Lylat." Fox raised an eyebrow. "Ever heard of it?"

"Uh…I don't think so…" Peppy ears bent as he tapped at his cheek. "But…I'm not sure."

"The daisy," murmured Milu.

"What's he doing?"

"Did you follow a flower here?"

"Um…yeah, how'd you…?" Peppy tilted his head, looking from Fox to Milu. "What, are they his flowers?"

"Yep." Fox blinked and glanced away. "Or, uh, he knows about them."

"Hey! Fox! Peppy! It's me!"

Both spun around to the northwest as Slippy stumbled over a log, and hopped down from above. He bounced from the wood and hurried over as Fox and Peppy rushed to meet him.

"Slippy!" Fox held his arms out as Slippy jumped into them. "You ok, buddy?"

"Yeah, but this place…" Slippy buried his head in Fox's chest. "It's weird."

"Sorry, Slippy."

"Don't be, Fox," insisted the toad. "I'm with you always." He blinked and turned to Peppy. "Uh, that includes you too, Peppy! Sorry, I'm just…lost."

"No worries, Slip, we're bringing ourselves back together," soothed Peppy. "Or, uh, we're being brought together."

"Huh?"

"Come on, we're grouping up over there." Fox pointed to his previous companions as Slippy rubbed his hat over his head.

"Who are they?"

"Uh, I'll tell you when everyone's here," decided Fox. "It shouldn't be long."

"Um…ok."

Before they could get back together, another wind came through, and Milu caught the next flower. He dropped it from one hand to the other and smirked.

"An acacia is likely for him." Milu glanced up to Fox.

"So then that's—"

"Yo! Fox!"

Falco waved from overhead, and glanced around. Jumping at a tree branch, he flipped around and dropped down. Fox hurried around, but Falco spiraled around and landed on the field. Peppy and Slippy hurried over as Falco stood up.

"Not a bad landing for the weird gravity," joked Falco. He smirked at Fox. "Did you want to break my fall still? We can do that trust one."

"Just glad that you're ok." Fox placed his hand on Falco's shoulder.

"Uh, yeah, of course, always." Falco chuckled and rolled his eyes. "Gone for five minutes and you're soft on me already."

"Fourth is the aster," murmured Milu. "Four more."

"Who the heck?!"

"We'll get to that."

"Ok…"

"Why four more though?" Fox tilted his head. "Fourth is Krystal."

"Did someone call for me?"

Sliding down a hill from the west and jogging forth, Krystal waved as Fox hurried over to her. She threw her arms around him and hugged him.

"Glad you're ok."

"You too, Fox." Krystal pulled from him and hugged Slippy as he came over. "And here's Slippy!"

"Ah! We're all here!"

"Really?" Krystal slipped away from him and spotted Falco and Peppy. "Oh, you're both ok too, wonderful!" She smiled and stood up. "Our team's back together!"

"Oh, the robins," realized Fox.

"Whoops." Krystal glanced behind her. "Forgot about them. Uh…they weren't with me."

"They are on their way," called Milu. He held up a blue flower with a while one. "Forget-me-not with a moonflower."

"Is there a reason that there are so many?"

"It is easier to tell who is who when they are not all the same flower."

"Do we know him Fox?"

"Hang on."

Both robins came from above as well, studying a winding waterfall as they held hands and walked down a spiraling stairway of stones. They carefully stepped ahead and flipped as the waterfall continued on from them.

"Robin!" Fox waved to the two birds. "Robyn!"

"Over there," both exclaimed to each other. They blinked and laughed together, and walked over to Fox.

"One more after this one," noted Milu. "We have the gardenia now."

"Whoa, hey, look at that!"

Everyone turned as Fay waved from a patch of land across from them. She leaned up, and followed the path to bring her upright, as she ambled over to them.

"Fay, you're ok." Fox smiled to her and met her. "That's great."

"Sure is!" She giggled and picked up Fox's hands. "Can you imagine?! I thought that blast was going to kill us!" She blinked. "We're…not dead, are we?"

"Apparently not." Fox smirked. "If we were, it hasn't been so bad so far."

"Huh. Good point." She smiled as she released his hands, and waved to the others.

Milu lifted his hand as the last flower came to him. He caught it and lowered it, studying it with a small smile.

"Last is the lilac," he revealed. "And last is…"

He gazed away from everyone, as they spun around. From the north, Fara hurried along, typing at her scanner on her wrist. She laughed as she spun around, and jumped across the stone in the air, and over to the next. Reaching the third, she looked up and stared ahead at the group.

"Fox? Fay?"

"Fara, over here!" Fay bounced up and down, waving to her.

She rushed over to meet her jumping friend, while Fox came out to meet with her. Fara hesitated, and grinned as she threw her arms around Fox.

"Oh, you're here!"

"Hey there."

"Hi." She jolted off of him, and threw herself around Fay next. "Oh, Fay! You're ok!"

"That's the second time I got that one, ha!" She clung to Fara. "I'm glad you're ok too."

"I'm so sorry, I didn't know where to look—"

"It's ok, we're all here," soothed Fay. She pulled back from Fara and smiled to her. "Can you believe this place?"

"It's so weird, I can't stop taking it all in!" Fara surveyed the area again. "What is this place even? None of it seems possible!"

"This is the Nexus of Lylat."

Fara and Fay jumped, still clinging to one another. They gawked at Milu, who approached with Mars in tow. Fox walked over to them, and faced his friends.

"Fox, what…?" Fara shook her head. "I have so many questions…"

"Same," chimed in Fay.

"Ok, so, the short of it is that we're in some kind of meeting point in Lylat's core, but it's also a bridge between time and space," summarized Fox. He pointed to the cloaked deer. "This is Milu, he's from here, kind of like a guardian."

"That sounds flattering," teased Milu.

"And this is Mars, who is from the future," introduced Fox, as he pointed to the covered individual.

"Ok, what?" Falco folded his arms. "That sounds like crap."

"How do we even know that?" Krystal tilted her head and touched it. "…I can't even read his mind…"

"Yeah, I'm wearing inhibitors," revealed Mars. "I had a feeling I'd run into Star Fox's telepath, among others, so, good call."

"Huh." Krystal dropped her arm. "That's a first."

"But again," piped up Fara. "How do we know he's from the future?"

"Uh…" Mars rubbed behind his head. "Did you join Star Fox yet?"

"Did she what?" Fox raised an eyebrow. "Where did that come from?"

"She, uh, or they…those two." Mars pointed at Fara and Fay. "I know I might be early, but they're supposed to join around this point in time, if I'm coming in at the right year, or uh…whenever this is."

Fox blinked at Mars and slowly turned to Fara and Fay, who exchanged nervous glances before they kept their attention elsewhere.

"Ladies…?"

"So, um." Fara scratched behind her head. "Fay kind of threw the idea around before—"

"Oh, like you weren't going to ask!"

"I was nervous."

"You just wanted me to come with you!"

"And you were all too happy to tag in."

"Duh! It's Star Fox! How cool would that be?"

"Um."

"Right!" Fara spun back to Fox. "So…Fay and I were wondering if we could, you know, join the team, or…at least help out?"

"We weren't that bad at flying before, right?" Fay dropped her fist into her palm. "Fara and I are really smart too! Come on, we'll definitely be useful!" She deflated a bit as she looked to Fara. "At least take her."

"Fay!"

"What? You really want to."

"And you don't?!"

"Well—"

"No, package deal, like we decided." Fara turned back to Fox. "Either both of us or neither, that's fine, but Fay stays with me. Or I stay with her, whichever."

"Actually, I thought you two would be great to have," decided Fox.

"With what room?" Falco rolled his eyes. "We're running out of them on the Great Fox."

"Actually, I expanded our barracks from last time," intervened Slippy. "Remember the money we got for the Aparoid Invasion?"

"Yeah?"

"Dad chipped in a little extra."

"Slippy, what?" Fox twisted to him. "When did he—?"

"Look, I told him that we wanted to expand the Great Fox, and he agreed that it would be good to add more rooms, and one of the ideas was for more beds in case we picked up a bunch of soldiers from Corneria or somewhere!" Slippy flopped his arms around. "It seemed smart, I was going to pay for it, but my dad insisted."

"One of us should've done that," insisted Peppy. "Slip, that couldn't have been cheap."

"It was…not very expensive." He shrugged. "And it has the dual purpose to helping Cornerian soldiers in emergencies, so it works!"

"Does this expansion include the updated security room?" Everyone twisted around to Mars. "Uh. Not that I'd know that."

"…Slippy…?"

"My uncle recommended it."

"Slip—"

"It was a good idea!"

"Sounds like a done deal," determined Krystal. "Fox?"

"Yeah, you're right." He turned to Fara and Fay. "Sounds like we've got plenty of space, so, welcome aboard."

"You mean it?"

"Yes!" Fay hugged Fara. "Told you he'd agree!" She bounced over to Fox and hugged him as well. "Thank you, thank you!"

"Ah, you're welcome!"

"We won't let you down, Fox," promised Fara. She blinked and turned back to Milu. "Uh. Provided that we can still get out of here."

"Hm? Oh, yes." Milu nodded. "Shall we just get right onto that then?"

"Still kind of lost about where we are," Peppy mumbled to Falco.

"Ditto."

"If you would like, we can try having you visit again some day," offered Milu. "I do not quite recommend it, though I have a funny feeling this will not be our last encounter." He glanced at Mars. "Far from it."

"For now, we need to get back home," decided Fox. "We have to—"

"Wait, wait, Fox!" Fara grabbed at him. "Oikonny! We forgot about him and his forces!"

"She's right," chimed in Krystal. "If we're here, then they're here too."

"Forces of Andross are not very welcome here, due to their usual disruptions of Lylat," explained Milu. "There is a specific barrier in place to launch them all back to Venom."

"Has he been here before?"

"Unfortunately yes, though the second time, I made sure he could not return." He sighed. "The first time was long before that, with a young hound…though I am less confident that he recalls it."

"…Pepper?" Fox raised an eyebrow and turned to Peppy. "Would he know about this place?"

"Maybe?" Peppy shrugged. "I'm telling you, I can't really remember this one."

"Whatever, we still need to go," piped up Falco. "Oikonny may not be here, but he's still active back on Venom."

"His forces should already be mobilized elsewhere," warned Milu. "As will others."

"Wait, what?"

"This is what I should explain." Milu gestured to the ponds around the central area that Star Fox waited in. "Each of these will take you to a planet and location of a current crisis at hand." He pointed over to one in the southwest corner. "Corneria is back that way, and while danger awaits, it is currently at rest from the previous attack by Andrew Oikonny."

"That's good," murmured Fox.

"Katina awaits through there," pointed out Milu, at the northeast pool. "There you should meet a new doctor—"

"Orfeo?"

"Correct, Mars." Milu smirked as he turned back to the covered figure. "Would you like to explain him?"

"Nuh-nope!" He quickly shook his head. "Just, uh, just knew his kids. Classmates."

"Ah, of course." Milu turned back to the team. "Well, as it happens, several, ah, feline friends await there for you, which…not that Katina has cats in bulk, but it is quite funny, when you consider it."

"Milu."

"Apologies." He winked to Fox and turned to the northwestern pond. "Fortuna awaits that way. There is someone who will be lost there soon, and if you can help that one, well…you might gain a surprising new ally." He rubbed his chin. "Though, at least two await you in Katina."

"The others?"

"There are several more, but it is easier if I just explain," decided Milu. "A heavy assault awaits on Titania, there is a weather issue on Fichina—"

"Not there!" Mars cleared his throat and turned away. "Sorry. Keep going."

"Right, well…the other portals here can lead to Sauria, Zoness, Papetoon, or…oh, no, that one was destroyed."

"The Aparoid Homeworld?"

"No, this one was from years ago." Milu sighed. "A tragedy for certain."

"Cerinia…?" Everyone turned to Krystal. "…Sorry, I just—"

"That's correct, actually," revealed Milu.

"Wait, really?!"

"You'll need your ships for that," advised Milu. "And…perhaps a lot more preparation."

"We do have a few teammates to bring up to speed," rationalized Peppy. He glanced at the robins, Fay, and Fara, who looked to one another, and then at him.

"You have several options and quite the journey ahead of you," clarified Milu. He nodded to Fox, who gazed up to him. "Lylat once again awaits your efforts, Star Fox."

"All of Lylat," murmured Mars.

"Which way you want to go, Fox?" Falco folded his arms.

"Yeah, we'll go wherever you want," chimed in Slippy.

"Eventually, we'll need to head everywhere," realized Fox. He smirked. "No time to waste. Let's get started."

Checking the portals, Fox decided on a planet, and Milu guided him to the correct way out. He turned back to his team, and studied Mars in the distance once more.

"We've got a lot more to handle than I realized," determined Fox. "But if we go together, we can win this." He surveyed his team. "I'm counting on you guys. All of you."

Everyone nodded to him and Fox smiled back to them. Turning to his selection, he stepped forward as the pond began to glow. Entering the water, Star Fox ventured through for their new journey.

...

And that does it for the story. Fox and his team boldly go on new adventures to save Lylat once again.

Some extra stuff from this chapter below.

...

Each character returns to Fox with a flower that kind of connects their relationship to him, so, that was the point of each one used. If you're curious about the symbolism, well, I'll have you look those up. Basically, if it involves love in some way, that's the meaning I aimed for with everyone. (One is "unwavering love," another might be "secret love," and they go from there.) Most colors were ambiguous as well, since it allowed for dual meanings to be used. (For example, the acacia can be about love if it's white, but if it's yellow, it can be used for elegance. Hence someone doing a little flip involved with it.)

The boys go first on their return since they're the ones that were on the original Star Fox team. I specifically went in order for each person to join the team(s) as they were added in: Peppy (original team), Slippy, Falco, Krystal, Robin and Robyn, Fay, and lastly Fara. Since she was on some kind of Star Fox team in the games, I figured Fay should come before Fara, even though she isn't technically on the team here yet. (Which is why the robins go before either of them.) But yeah, that was actually specific.

...

It took until the very end, which was actually supposed to be the seventh chapter, but yes! Fara and Fay (finally) join Star Fox!

They originally weren't going to be outed by Marcus for their joining, but I figured he needed a little "future knowledge" since he ran into the rest of Star Fox. Originally, he was only supposed to encounter Fox. So, he unintentionally blows Fara and Fay's plans, and they're forced to apply immediately; my plan had them ask after they left the Nexus and joined Fox as he readied for his next mission.

Fara likely would've pooled in with Slippy on team tech, since she's a bit of a tinkerer too, though probably more invested in gadgets and research as opposed to mechanics like Slippy would be. Fay would be somewhere between Falco (skilled pilot) and Peppy, who I planned on dabbling into the team medic role. I never did settle on a healer for the group, so Fay might've fallen into that, though I figured her more to be Falco's understudy.

Miyu sadly never appeared alongside her pal, but she would've gotten on quick with Fay, who would be the one to convince her to join and basically got Fox to cave for her inclusion. Miyu would've been the brawler, probably one of the biggest close quarters kind of fighters on the team. Not really sure how Fay and Miyu are actually portrayed in Star Fox 2, if they really have much to do in that, but these seemed fun.

Very specifically, I wanted Fara to stand up for Fay for their recruitment. Her relationships didn't get to develop as much as I wanted, but Fay was going to be her most important one (unless the reader wanted her paired with Fox). So, she wanted them to be the packaged deal for Star Fox, which Fox agreed to.

...

Speaking of, I threw in Slippy expanding on the Great Fox's capacity of pilots it can house. Kind of weird that it's run by four to five pilots and a robot, considering how big the ship is to begin with. But, to make sure, I had him explain that he made more room for more people. (It was supposed to get a LOT more crowded in there.) Though Slippy mentions "barracks" in the story, everyone would've basically had their own room.

One of the additional rooms would've been a security room, which will never get covered, but it was basically since Zero happened, or rather, Star Fox Guard. It was a silly way to give a shout-out to Slippy's uncle and a throwaway reference to that game. Never played that one, so I probably wouldn't have done a lot there.

But yeah, Slippy and his family are pretty nice to Star Fox, huh?

...

The ending scene pretty much set up for a different number of possible missions for Star Fox to chase after, based on planets that I was going to have them visit. I left it off as something open instead so that they were able to go wherever the reader wanted them to.

Since I won't be getting to them, I'll detail the missions below.

Katina was going to involve a stealth mission to infiltrate and recover a base that Oikonny had his soldiers claim. Katt would've made her actual debut here, trying to get a little glory so she could get a better in for Star Fox, but Fox just flat out offers her a position. (Falco would've protested and been annoyed.) Panther would also have been here, having kept track of Star Fox, and would've expressed interest in both the team's present roster (full of who he'd consider "beautiful people") and offer his services, expecting to only cooperate for the mission. Upon its conclusion, he'd offer help for the future, but Fox offers him a chance to reform with his team, which Panther gleefully accepts, especially with Katt joining as well, as they would've interacted a bit and toyed with each other during the mission.

Marcus's horror at Fichina is the same mission where Bill loses his team, and that would've been after Fox battled Star Wolf for the final time before Wolf and Leon join. It would've involved not just the weather issues (Assault callback), but also an attack from stronger enemy forces. Bill's teams were originally called in to overwhelm Star Wolf, but then they get caught up in the battle, and Bill loses everyone. He ends up blaming Wolf for that and some of their past, becomes the broody boy, but does finally take Fox up on the offer to join his team, as Bill is too destroyed from the experience to remain with the Cornerian army. (Pepper would've protested for him, but Bill would be in a really bad emotional state for it.)

Cerinia is specifically mentioned as a location for Krystal to investigate more about, as she would've had her personal mission based on that, and would also have gotten intel that would eventually lead to her adopted/adoptive brother's debut in the story. It would've started with her exploring the ruins of the planet's surroundings, and then hunting down leads that form up from there.

Titania was where Falco was going to go for his personal mission, where he would be dealing with some gang wars that he used to get tangled up in. It would've had a second location that was used later in the story as well, but I never got that far.

Sauria would have related to the return of the SharpClaw, and Fox's team would go there to learn of General Scales's return, only to find that he had somehow managed to join the ranks of Corneria's army. (I really had an idea to make a bigger Lylat defense force, and he would've been a general for that, basically as a representative for Sauria, which other generals would agree to, but Pepper would've protested and lost.) He basically would toy with Star Fox and undermine their heroics at first, but would eventually cooperate upon learning about Andross's return, as Scales hates Andross with an undying passion after Adventures.

Fortuna was going to be Saru's recruitment location, with a battle against Star Wolf occurring just before he was shot down and stranded there. It would've been with a shape-shifting planet kind of thing.

Zoness and Papetoon were mentions for locations that I wanted to have the team visit, but only had selected them really. Zoness would've been threatened by pollution again, but would look nice after. Papetoon would be a revisiting moment for Fox, rediscovering his birth planet.

...

That about covers it here.

Maybe I'll continue this somewhere down the road, but that's rather doubtful, as I don't normally have much time to write, and I'd rather not keep readers waiting forever. Somehow, I found some time to finish this much up, and I was pretty happy just wrapping it together.

It is possible that I might make some side stories that can stand independent from this, but could refer back to it, so this can be used for that. Maybe shipping stories of Fox falling in love with his team and how they come together with Marcus after. Or maybe I'll just write some lost stories about James and Vixy's normal life before their deaths.

Otherwise, that's all for the Nexus of Lylat. Thank you very much for reading through. If there's anything that you liked from this story, please feel free to let me know, as that can help me with the development process of future stories too.

Perhaps I'll revisit Star Fox again some day. Maybe Nintendo will too, ha. Until the future, I suppose. For the time being, thank you again for reading. Take care!