Tricky: Yeah, yeah! Then you and Krystal can come back on your honeymoon!
Fox: What?-Starfox Assault
Meet Krystal. Compassionate, caring young vixen with a head full of questions. Not only was she Cerinia's last princess, she was Cerinia's last surviving resident. Being the last member of your species, understandably, would leave one rather lonely. But Krystal's strong points didn't end with simply surviving the destruction of her homeworld, and the emotional turmoil that must have followed. She was still going strong. With an unshakable will, and an open mind, she seemed to be a perfect individual. She hated violence, but fought well when she had to. A peaceful warrior. Sometimes much the opposite of her closest companion. No not her staff...
Enter Fox McCloud. Hot temper on a sensitive trigger, he was resilient to some things, and pathetically vulnerable to others. Not a peaceful warrior, the orange vulpine was anything but reserved. Except around women. Fox was a very shy individual when his shell was gone. And his shell was his high-performance spacecraft, the Arwing. Without it, he was very reserved, except around his friends. Fox had not had an easy life. But instead of letting the tragedies of his mother's and father's deaths slow him down, Fox used his pain against his enemies. He did not believe in the concept of anger only being useful to one's opponent. But he had a soft side, too, and deep down, Fox McCloud was one to do the right thing, even if it cost him.
And the Cerinian princess was just what the doctor ordered for bringing that out of him.
Though he never would have admitted it to his friends, he cared for Krystal greatly. When he'd saved her life on Dinosaur Planet just a few short months before, he tried to play it off like he only did it because it was part of the job. But everyone knew better, and just decided to give the lovestruck vulpine the benefit of the doubt. When he asked Krystal to stay with them while they went back to Corneria, only one really expected something more to come of it.
Peppy Hare had been Fox's caretaker and mentor for as long as Fox could remember. He had been there before Fox had been born. He babysat when the McCloud's needed it, he'd been James' best friend when Fox's mother was killed, and he made a promise to his friend that he would take care of Fox if anything happened to him. So here he was. He'd had a glimmer of a thought in his head about Fox's feelings for Krystal when Fox asked her to come with them as the team prepared to take their mothership Great Fox in for repairs at Corneria. But Peppy shrugged it off soon after, convinced that the princess had other things on her mind that were more important to her than Fox.
He'd only been half-right. Krystal soon witnessed firsthand the power of the Great Fox, as well as the Arwings when Fox took her out for a ride in Corneria's orbit. She realized that Fox liked her, and that she liked him back. She also realized that with the power of Great Fox, she would be able to find the answers she was searching for much more easily than with her aging transport ship. So she asked Fox if she could join his team.
"I don't know," he'd said uneasily. "It's really dangerous, and I don't know that I want you to get hurt."
She'd protested that she was in more danger on her own, and Fox considered her offer, even though deep down, he wanted her to stay. Both because Peppy was getting too old to fly anymore, and therefore needed to be replaced on the flight list, and also because Fox knew this was a good opportunity to get close to the vixen, since he enjoyed her company, and drowned in her large blue eyes whenever he gazed at them. Fox had just been glad Krystal had asked, and not himself. His team would have really landed on him if he had. He wasn't sure about her feelings for him, but he hoped they were the same as his.
As Great Fox launched out into the void once again, the team, now plus one, was ready for their next assignment. They knew it would be awhile before General Pepper called them, but they needed to get used to being in space again anyway.
One morning, several days after launching, Fox walked briskly down the hall to Krystal's quarters. He was coming to remind her of breakfast, which Peppy had been working on for some time. He pressed a small button on the control panel next to the door, and a second later heard Krystal's soft voice. "Come in."
Fox proceeded forward, looking down slightly, thinking how beautiful her voice sounded, as the door swished silently open. When he looked up, he was greeted by Krystal's back, which was completely devoid of clothing, but only for a second, as she pulled a blue T-shirt on over her head. Fox glanced around her room, trying not to stare, and saw her completely exposed front on accident in a full-length mirror against one wall. He quickly caught himself, looking away. Come on, jackass! You're not that disrespectful! Hecursed at himself.
Krystal apparently wasn't aware that Fox had come in. "Fox? Are you- oh!" she said surprised as she turned around. She smiled. "Didn't hear you come in." She saw his face. "Hey, are you okay? You look like you saw a ghost."
"Angel, actually," Fox said, trying not to blush. He pointed at the mirror, incriminating himself.
Krystal looked confused. Then she looked at where Fox was pointing, and realized that from his viewpoint, he could have seen much more of her than her back. She turned back to him, smiling, with wide eyes. "Oh. An angel, hmm?"
Fox squirmed nervously under her gaze. "Uh, yeah."
She giggled, walking toward him. "Silly! Like I care!" She hugged him, and kissed him on the cheek. "I think it's pretty obvious to both of us that we're more than friends. Wouldn't you agree, love?" She kissed him on the lips this time. She looked up at him with her big blue swimming pools for eyes. The love for him those eyes showed was more real than he would ever know.
Fox smiled, and kissed her on the forehead, right where her little tiara normally hung. "Yeah." He ran his paws through her hair.
They pulled away a little. "So did you come here to tell me something?" She grinned, eyeing him suspiciously. "Or did you come here to watch me dress?"
Fox smiled. "No, I actually came to tell you that breakfast is ready." Suddenly his stomach growled.
Krystal laughed. "Maybe you should have told your stomach first! But I am kind of hungry, and Peppy's food is too good to miss out on. Let's go." They left Krystal's room, paw in paw.
When they got to the small mess hall, the team was already eating. Falco was the first to open his beak.
"Yo, Fox! No public displays of affection! Some of us are trying to eat, here!"
"Aw, can it, Falco! Leave them alone!" Slippy retorted.
"Who's gonna make me, froggie?"
Peppy groaned, not wanting to start mediating disputes already. "Be quiet, you two!" He spoke in a calmer voice, though still strained, to Fox and Krystal. "Good morning, you guys. Sleep okay?"
Fox and Krystal nodded. "Something tells me you didn't though, Peppy, " Fox said, seating Krystal before sitting himself.
Peppy scoffed. "That's an understatement. Didn't get a wink. I should have gotten a better mattress before we left, my back is killing me."
Slippy looked concerned. "I thought my machine helped with that, Peppy." He was referring to an infrared generator he built that was designed to relax and heal muscles.
Peppy shook his head. "Only a temporary solution, Slip." Slippy looked discouraged.
Fox tried to brighten the mood with conversation. "So, any word from Pepper?" he said taking a bite of his food.
Falco shook his head. "Not a peep. You know, he told us when we were docked that he would have something a few days after we left. It's been over a week! I bet he forgot about us again!"
Despite Falco being so blunt about it, the rest had to agree with him. "We need something to do out here," Fox said. "We're going to be sitting around with nothing to do, and we're all going to go insane." Everyone nodded in agreement.
Suddenly, their prayers were answered.
"Fox, I have detected strange energy readings on our long range sensors," ROB's metallic monotone voice echoed over the PA system.
"What kind of readings?" Fox asked, suddenly interested.
"They appear to be identical to the readings detected emanating from the staff brought on board by Krystal when she arrived."
Krystal's ears perked up. "What are the source of the readings, ROB?"
"Unknown. It is impossible to tell from this distance. Closer observation is required."
"What's the location?" Fox said, trying to contain his excitement that they may have just stumbled on proof that Krystal wasn't the only Cerinian left.
"It is very close to the last known coordinates of the Cerinian homeworld."
Krystal stopped breathing. So many things ran through her mind. Fox echoed her foremost thought.
"Is it a ship?" Fox was going to fall out of his chair.
"Unknown. Closer observation required," ROB repeated expressionlessly.
Krystal started breathing again.
Fox got up, as did the rest of the team. "Take us close enough to tell. We're heading up there now."
"Understood," ROB acknowledged.