The Great Fox, Sauria-The Dinosaur Planet's Orbit, 1505 Local Time

"So now that that's over, what's with all the…" Falco said before gesturing to my body.

"What do you mean?" I said.

"What do I mean!?", Falco said, laughing in slight disbelief, "Fox! You're Blue! Did you dye your fur and put in contacts or something?"

Peppy chipped in, relieved to finally start to talk about what he saw on Cerinia 26 years ago.

"No, he shapeshifted."

"He what!?"

"He shapeshifted into his true form,"

Deciding to demonstrate, I changed my blue fur to blue feathers, my snout into a beak and added a few inches to my height, becoming a spitting image of the bird whose eyes were now as wide as saucers.

"Like this. Well, kind of," I said in Falco's voice.

"Stop that! It's creepy!"

"What? I thought you liked seeing your reflection?"

"Not when it talks back to me!"

Smiling mischievously, I then changed into a spitting image of a certain Pink Cat Femme-fatale.

"Would you prefer this?" I said seductively with her voice.

Falco tried to hide his blush as we all laughed at his expense.

"Cut… Cut that out!"

We all had a good laugh before I finally tried to calm everyone down.

"Alright, alright," I changed into my old orange appearance, "How about this?"

"Yes, and don't ever do that again!"

"To be honest, I didn't even know I could do it until now. Well, I did, but I didn't."

"And what exactly did Peppy mean by true form?" Falco asked, before gesturing to what I was now "Isn't this your so-called "true form"?"

"Not exactly Falco, Fox was born a pure Cerinian, not a Papetoonian like he is now. It's a bit of a long story." Peppy said.

"Incoming call from General Pepper," ROB announced.

Saved by the bell, I recomposed myself professionally before answering.

"Which we will have to tell you later. ROB, patch him through,"

With a small fanfare, the hound dog-like general with his hat securely on his head showed up in a hologram.

"Great work Star fox!" he said, "I have received word from the King and Queen Earthwalker that the planet is once more back together again. Oh, and Tricky says hi!"

I smiled and rolled my eyes, yup definitely sounds like Tricky.

"I was however shocked to hear that Andross was still alive."

"Not as much as we were," Slippy said.

"It appears that during his time on Cerinia, Andross discovered the power of the Krazoa, and by capturing Krystal, who had the ability to channel this power, he used this power to revive himself."

Pepper's eyes widened, "Did you say Cerinia!?"

"Um… yes… Yes I did, why? Do you know about it?"

"Fox, the destruction of Cerinia was the last straw before Andross' exile."

This time my eyes widened.

"Andross as you know was the chief scientist in our portal project, but when he realized it could be used as a weapon, he wanted to test it. When he was denied, he went to a planet that though it was in the Lylat system was not under the jurisdiction of the Cornerian government. The resulting gravity well caused the planet to implode on itself. When word of this reached Corneria, he was exiled, and well… you know what happens next."

I looked down, "Yea, I do."

"If I may ask, how did you hear about Cerinia?"

Before I could answer, Krystal spoke up, standing up to full height in a way that reminded me of her father, down to her holding her staff more like a scepter.

"Because he met me. I am Princess Krystal Randorn, heir to the throne of Cerinia,"

Falco's jaw dropped when he heard Krystal's full name and title.

"You didn't tell me that…"

"Because I didn't know yet, Falco," I looked back at Krystal who was now standing tall, showing off the royal blood that she had, "All I knew is that that Tiara on her head meant something."

"So it's true, that you found and rescued a Cerinian Princess during your mission,"

"Yes, and she was a big help on it too,"

"In that case, I will accept the Queen Cloudrunner's Additional request,"

I raised an eyebrow, What do you have planned Kyte?

"Which is…?"

I caught a hint of a mischievous smile in his hologram, "To double your payment."

Falco's jaw dropped again as everyone else's eyes widened.

"She even offered to chip in with her tribe's treasury if we were unable to pay. I'm transferring the money as we speak, spectacular job as always Fox! If I may ask, have you selected a new pilot to replace Peppy yet? I have a few more potential recruits if you haven't."

Krystal crossed her arms, making sure that her Star Fox wings were in plain view as she did so.

"You're looking at her," she said.

I nodded, "It's true General, we tested her in the mission and a flight against both Star Wolf and Andross, I have no doubt of her place on this team."

"Very well, I look forward to meeting her in person when you bring her to Corneria to make it official."

"Before you sign off General, with the new funds, I'm considering potentially adding 2 additional new pilots to the team. Can you please send a message to Sergeants Miyu and Fay to meet me at the Cornerian flight academy hangar for pre-team induction evaluation,"

General Pepper nodded, "I'm sure they will be delighted to attend. See you tomorrow Fox. Pepper out!"

With that, the hologram fizzled out.

"If I may ask? Who are Miyu and Fay?" Krystal asked.

"A couple of pilots that were rejected because I couldn't choose just one. When I tested them, they seemed to work better together and were practically sisters in their relationship. I couldn't split that up, so I rejected them both."

I turned to her with a smile, "Don't worry, your place on the team is still secure. In fact, I have your second mission, it's for just you and me if you are willing to accept it."

"Oh? Just for you and me?" she asked, a flirtatious tone in her voice.

"Yep, the mission is to let me show you around Corneria when we get there."

"Is that it? Very well, I accept."

"Good,"

A presence was on the ship unlike any of the other team members and yet was somewhat familiar, began to grow in strength after appearing out of nowhere, by Krystal's expression she sensed it too.

"What is it Fox?" Peppy said, obviously seeing my confused and somewhat distressed expression.

Still uncertain about who or what was appearing, I grabbed my sword and inched it out of my sheath, ready to draw it at a moment's notice as Krystal and the others looked around for this intruder.

"Whoa!" Falco cried as he saw the person suddenly appearing. He drew his blaster and fired a single shot at the perceived intruder.

The shot passed right through the figure who had a staff similar to Krystal's and held like a scepter. There was something about him…

"Hold your fire!" I barked as I resheathed my sword.

Krystal seemed to partially recognize him as well if her expression was anything to go off of.

"Thank you Fox," he said in a voice that was a lot older than the last time that I've heard it in a dream, but still recognizable. Could it really be?

"He wouldn't have hurt me, but this ship has taken enough damage without your trigger-happy ace firing at literal spirits," he said before chuckling to himself.

Slowly, and yet Gingerly, he removed his hood, revealing a Cerinian face wizened with age and wisdom with a worn and tarnished old crown on his head. Peppy's eyes widened as Krystal's started to tear up. Reaching toward the spirit, and even taking a step forward, she uttered a single word in her native tongue.

"Father"

Randorn smiled warmly, and responded in Cerinian in turn, "Hello, my little gem,"

He then turned to Peppy, who was bowing deeply in respect.

"Rise Peppy, I must say that you look well for your age," he said, switching back to Cornerian.

"Thank you, your majesty."

"Can someone please tell me what's going on?" Falco finally said.

I nodded and then gestured to the spirit, "He is the Spirit of King Randorn, the last King of Cerinia and Krystal's father."

Randorn smiled, "Please, call me Marcus. I simply came to congratulate you, thanks to you, the futures of Sauria and Cerinia are assured."

Falco chipped in, "Uh… how is that possible? According to General Pepper, Cerinia was completely destroyed."

Marcus mused at this, "Tell me Falco, Yes, I know who you are. Where does a planet's true value live in its location and climate, or in its people and culture? For in the Heart of Cerinia will lie the ties of our culture and people."

He pointed to Krystal, "As was foretold, Sabre has saved Cerinia's heart and made it his own, and as long as her bloodline lives, so too shall Cerinia."

He looked at the planet that we were still orbiting, "Wherever the Heart and Sabre decide to set down roots may be."

"So, Krystal was the Heart of Cerinia all along?" I asked

The king nodded deeply in confirmation, "Why else would the Krazoa have blessed her on birth? Though it took quite a bit longer to fully awaken her powers as it did with you, the Krazoa showed me who she was before she was born. As the appearance of both Sabre and the Heart meant that our potential doom was drawing nigh, I decided to keep her identity a secret as I did with yours and that day began to make preparations to flee from our planet in secret as I did everything I could to try and stop the planet's destruction without arising suspicion. When the time finally came, Krystal and I survived, and therefore so did the true heart of the Cerinian people, but try as I did, I could not prevent the calamity that destroyed our planet."

"To this day, I consider this my greatest failure," he dropped his head, but then looked up at Krystal, "And you, my greatest success."

Krystal gave a tearful smile which Randorn returned, he then changed the subject, albeit slightly.

"Do you love her Fox?"

"Your Majesty… I mean… Marcus, you need not ask me questions you already know the answer to," I said, it felt weird to call him by his first name, almost like Krystal was already my girlfriend, or maybe even more than that.

He nodded, "Then take care of her, for at least right now she is already yours, you'll understand what I mean once you begin to solidify your bond."

The spirit began to fade, becoming more and more transparent.

"It appears it's time for me to go, until we meet again. Krystal, your mother is proud of the woman you've become as am I… I love you, my little gem."

And with that, he was gone.

I turned to Krystal who was understandably silently crying.

"You ok?" I asked.

She wiped her tears and smiled, "Yea, I'll be fine. At least I got to see him one more time."

Falco once more interrupted, "Can we just leave this place already? I've had about enough of this magic mumbo-jumbooooh!"

Krystal used her Telekinesis to lift him into the air much to his shock with a mischievous smile.

"You're living with two fully-awakened Cerinians, so I recommend you get used to it." She said.

She then dropped him back onto his feet.

"Please, don't ever do that again," Falco said.

"No promises,"

I then recomposed myself in my typical leader manner, "But he is right, as much as I would love to stay, we really need to be getting back. ROB! Set course for Corneria."

"Course plotted, initializing Hyperspace in 10… 9… 8… 7… 6…"

As ROB continued his countdown, I took one last look at the planet that we were still orbiting.

Call it Dinosaur Planet,

Call it Sauria,

But for Krystal and I, it had another name,

Home.