PROLOGUE: Strange Planet

It was one of many galaxies amongst many of countless stars and astral bodies. Each piece of the universe seemed as insignificant as the next as they floated or careened across the blackness of deep space. It was an awesome and thought provoking sight-something that would leave most scientists occupied for hours on end wondering and wondering...

The famed Arwing cruised absently through that blackness, its pilot the equally famed and well-known McCloud. His green eyes meandered over all that surrounded him as he scratched a little behind his left dark tipped ear. The tip of his full tail twisted and he coasted a bit in the Arwing so it hovered aimlessly as he let his head fall back against the seat.

Fox was wondering, too, as he glanced out into the dark. He wondered what the hell was taking Slippy so long. The two of them had left the base together, heading out to pick up some repair parts and extra supplies concerning their ships and weapons. At some point they had separated to cover two different locations at once. Slippy had said it would give them a better deal than trying to buy the supplies in bulk from one area. If the merchants thought you really needed it, they would jack up the price easily enough. Fox didn't particularly like dealing with merchants at all. Most of them were the same way.

He'd retrieved his shipment within a decent amount of time without much trouble, and then he had headed to the quadrant Slippy had said they would meet back at. It'd been nearly an hour by this point. At first Fox had figured his froggy wingmate had gotten distracted by some new mechanical toy at the outlet. Being the die-hard techie he was, Slippy tended to do that. He could also go on for hours about how much he wished he could see all the older models again-what he would do with them.and so on..and so on..

But this was ridiculous. For one, Slippy usually wouldn't lag long when he knew he had new tools to work with on the ships (one of his favorite past-times). For two, an hour was too long even for him.

Reaching out Fox attempted to hail the frog's ship a second time. The first time there had been no answer, so he figured Slippy was still negotiating things. Tapping a couple of the controls he sent out the signal and waited. Just when his fur had begun to bristle with annoyance, he got an answer.

"Slippy here!" greeted the squeaky voice. "Oh, Fox! Hi! What's up?"

"I don't know," Fox replied, crossing his arms. "You tell me." Slippy continued to stare at him with that blank frog look and then seemed to realize what Fox meant.

"Ohhh. Yeah, I'm sorry," he chuckled, embarrassed. "I had to land down here on this nearby planet. My ship started acting kind of funny so I didn't figure it was safe to keep flying without checking it out."

"Well, you could have TOLD me that.."

"Er.yeah.. I'm sorry. I guess I kinda got caught up. You remember those new thrusters I installed on my ship.?" Fox nodded slowly. "Yeah, well.. They're kind of uninstalling themselves if you know what I mean."

"..They're falling off??"

"Kinda."

"..Now you know why Pepper told us to hold off on those until they were perfected," Fox said with a sigh.

"Yeah..yeah I know. I just couldn't help it.," Slippy replied. "It's okay, though! I should be able to reattach them long enough to get back to the base!"

"Where are you? It would be faster if I just tow you back." Slippy looked at the screen a moment, figiting like felt a bit dejected that Fox wouldn't let him do his work. Fox continued to look at him in return, cocking an ear down in annoyance as he waited for an answer. Pouting frogs looked like frogs at any other time, but Fox hated it regardless. "Slippy."

"Oh, alright. I forgot the name. Just give me a second and I'll pull up my map." The frog's green face slipped out of view and Fox tapped his foot a bit in waiting. Just as he was about to make sure his wingmate was still there, the communication window fizzled and went totally staticy. Fox raised a furry brow at this, his mouth opening a bit in curiousity revealing the tiny lower fangs.

"Slippy? Come in. Slippy?" He asked. There was no response. Bewildered, he began tapping at the controls of his Arwing again, trying to see if he could find Slippy's location by tracking where his responsive signal had been sent from.

"Signal is no longer available," his ship's computer chimed in. He glanced up to the voice and hmmed lowly. He then commanded the computer to backtrack through the most recent signals he'd received. Sure enough Slippy's was there. Upon bringing up this record a small map and location of the planet he had spoken of arose on Fox's screen.

"Tallon IV.. That'll be new..," he said quietly to himself as he read the name. It was a planet he had never personally visited, mostly because it was out of his home system entirely. Slippy had also insisted they travel a long distance from home to get the perfect parts. He had also insisted that ordering them for delivery would take too long or cost too much. As the situation led on, Fox began to think he didn't like Slippy too much right now.

Seeing he really had no choice, he set his ship to fly out to this Tallon IV. It would be irresponsible for him to leave a crew member somewhere stranded..plus the frog had the other half of the shipment. Pepper wouldn't have liked it very much if Fox lost either of the two.

The planet itself was pretty solitary. Not much really surrounded it so it was easy enough for Fox to brush past the atmosphere and clouds. He looked down on the initial appearance of the planet thoughtfully. Where he had chosen to land was full of lush greenery and many a stream or waterfall, and yet it seemed to be lacking any sort of civilization at first glance.

Bringing out the landing gear he set down on the ground gracefully. Making sure the air was breathable first, he opened the cockpit and stepped up to get a better look. With one scan of his eyes he didn't see Slippy's ship at first. Upon the third or first time his eyes caught sight of it, though. It was half submerged in a small water body near a waterfall. Again, one of Fox's ears curved down. The frog hadn't said anything about having crashed, particularly in water. If that had been the case he would have been more agitated when they talked.

Stepping back down into his cockpit he retrieved his blaster and hopped back out. The cockpit closed once he was no longer within it.

"Nothing can ever be simple, can it.?" he muttered under his breath as he began the search for the missing pilot.

As he trodded along through the clearing, there came a solitary "chirrup" noise. From behind one of the fins on Slippy's ship emerged a strange round little creature. It resembled something like a jellyfish in upper body structure, colored bright reds and greens. However, as it floated in the air, sensing Fox's bodily heat, it clicked together it's numerous little mandibles.

Energy! It chirruped.