A/N: My usual note to tell you what to expect. This chapter is highly focused on Fox more than anybody right now...because Fox decides he needs to do some snooping. Krystal will be mentioned briefly

Disclaimer: Ya know I've done so many of these that they've lost all meaning, but to keep coniistent I don't own the characters of Star Fox, Nintendo and/or Rare does. Any relations to my made up characters in ANY way is entirely coincidental

Chapter 10-Fox's Exploration

When Krystal returned to the village, she went directly to her home. It was still early in the morning. When she walked in her house, she was greeted by Fox. "How'd you get in here?" She asked shocked.

"Where were you? You didn't say anything before you left."

Krystal held her head down low. She just couldn't bring herself to say that she was with Shane. She couldn't tell anybody about him really. At least Falco could understand couldn't he? At least thats what Krystal thought. "I had to see Shane."

Fox didn't say anything. He was actually a little more overprotective of Krystal. He wouldn't admit it. Fox walked up to Krystal and overlooked her. "Don't scare me like that."

Krystal frowned a bit. "Fox, I'm old enough to take care of myself. You don't have to know everything that I do. You don't need to know about every little thing I do. I can take care of myself just like you can." She unsheathed her sharp claws. "I'll be fine."

Fox looked at her, puzzled at first. "OK, I won't bother you anymore." He was about to walk out. "I'm just saying that Shane could be trouble. I've never seen him around before. I don't trust him."

Krystal gave Fox 'the look'. "You don't even know him. How can you judge him now?" She was right.

Fox didn't say anything at first. She was right though. "I guess I shouldn't jump to conclusions." Fox said, but was still supicious of Shane. He'd never met Shane before, and Krystal seemed to like him a lot. It was time for Fox to look after Krystal....but without her knowing it.

Without saying much of anything, Fox left the village and went into the woods. The atmosphere of the woods was different this time. They didn't glisten the way they usually did. Something told Fox that what he was doing was a bad idea. Fox didn't care about anything else. His suspicions of Shane had to be dealt with. Fox was beginning to wonder if he was....jealous.

This whole time he'd been in some kind of competition for Krystal. Now it was time to see what kind of fox Shane was. "Falco said he lived just north of the village." Fox had a great sense of navigation. No way he'd get lost. He could tell Krystal had been through here. Her scent was in the air, so he knew that he was on the right track.

After a while of walking through the woods, Fox finally emerged on the other end. He looked at the large mansion before him. He almost didn't want to believe that Shane lived here, but Krystal's scent was still in the air. "You've got to be kidding me." He joked out loud to himself. He walked up the stone steps a little nervously. The doors had a HUGE knocker on them. Fox pounded the door using the knocker. He waited a few minutes and there was no answer. Fox felt like mumbling under his breath, but then decided that he should investigate. If Shane wasn't home then now was the perfect time to find out what kind of fur he was.

Fox took out a lock pick. Afterall, it wasn't hard to use it to get into Krystal's house, Shane's lock wasn't hard to pick. In fact it took Fox less than a minute to undo the lock. He slowly crept the door open. First and foremost, he didn't want to leave evidence that he was here. Second, if Shane was here, he needed to be as quiet as possible. Fox had no idea that Shane was asleep.

Fox stood in the main hall, and the first thing he noticed was the painting of the Platnium Vixen. "That's beautiful!" Fox exclaimed a little loud. His voice echoed a bit, but as far as Fox was concerned, no one was home. He first made his way into the westwing, the lower half.

He walked through the lower doors, and found himself in the den. He noticed two chairs by the fireplace, and a painting of a human overhead. "What is this?" Fox looked shocked. Shane had a painting of a human. The only thing that stood out were the blue eyes. Fox was biased towards humans. After all, his father had been killed by one, and he's hated humans eversince.

Fox continued into the kitchen, and of course he didn't find anything there. He was feeling a bit hungry though. As much as he wanted to eat, he had to make sure that no one found out he was here, ESPECIALLY Shane. He didn't look through anything else, but instead went outside. The waterfall and the flower bed were lovely. Shane actually seemed like quite a charmer. 'No wonder Krystal kept running back. She'd love it here.' Fox thought to himself and walked up the balcony stairs. He now crept into the upper level of the west wing.

There were several empty bedrooms as he walked through, but when he reached the master bedroom he noticed that there was a sort of mixed scent. Krystal's scent was in the air. 'She's been here.' The other scent was another harmless oder to his mind. That must've been Shane. He peaked inside to see that no one was in the bed. 'Is he out?' Shane's scent was still strong. But where the hell was he?

Fox continued onward and noticed an artroom. Fox picked up the same picture of the two foxes by the sunset that Krystal had. The difference was that the picture was colored. One of the foxes was black, the other blue. 'Is this Shane?' Fox thought to himself. The color was terrific, oil pastels. Fox then directed his eyes to a canvas. There was a painting of Krystal. He looked at it and noticed just how perfect it was. There was one lying on the ground right next to the canvas. This was amazing! Fox didn't feel as though he should compare, but he was actually a little jealous of Shane's artistic ability.

He left the artroom as quickly as he could. Shane could return any minute.

***

Shane watched Fox storm his home. Since Fox wasn't getting into things that he shouldn't get into, Shane let Fox continue his little "tour" of the mansion. Shane was a little nervous. He'd never been THIS close to Fox before. His heart was beating, but he was even more surprised that with how close he was, Fox couldn't sniff him out. But then again, his scent was all over the mansion. Shane remained in his own secret passage he'd made. He could easily monitor Fox.

***

Fox found himself back in the main hall. For such a large mansion, it was pretty empty. It really was like Krystal said, he needed a friend. Fox walked across the top of the main hall over to the eastern doors.

As soon as Fox walked in, his eyes went wide. The statues! What the hell was this!? They were....HUMANS!!!! "What kind of fur is this?" he almost choked on his own saliva as he finally regained conciousness. There was only one thing for Fox to explore in the upper eastern area. The art gallery. Every other room was empty.

He walked into the art gallery and noticed more paintings of the Platnium Vixen. However, one interested Fox more than any other. The painting of the old ragidy women. Her painting was next to the platnium vixen. They both actually looked nearly the same. What was Shane trying to say? Humans and furs aren't that different? Fox shook his head in disappointment. "This fur needs help." He told himself.

Shane, who was just behind the painting frowned. 'Its not my fault you know nothing about me.' He wanted to scream to Fox.

Fox left the gallery the way he found it. He then walked over to the balcony. Fox thought that since there were stairs on the western side, there surely had to be stairs on the eastern. He thought wrong. Fox made his way back to the main hall.

***

'DAMMIT' Shane thought to himself. There was NO WAY he could monitor Fox in the main hall. He had to get out of there and catch up to Fox before he went back downstairs. There wasn't much else to see....except the lower end of the east wing. If Fox saw that...then he'd surely tell Krystal. Shane didn't know if he could get there in time.

***

Fox walked down the stairs to the lower level of the main hall. He thought he'd seen it all, but then he noticed the eastern doors on the lower level. He made his way to them and tugged on the door. Locked. He took out his handy lockpick. This lock was a little harder, but it still took him less than a minute to undo the lock. Shane couldn't stop Fox in time. Fox walked into the eastern doors.

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A/N: I think thats a good stopping point don't you? Well, at least one of the biggest (and most frequent) questions I got will FINALLY be answered in the next chapter. What's behind those eastern doors? Well, read on to the next chapter to find out for sure.