Disclaimer: Starfox isn't mine. It's nintendo's. "Out There" is copyright Fuzzbubble.

Chapter 2 – Discovery

Are you out there on some Devil ship from Mars?
And if you're out there, show your gleaming face
I know you're out there, breaking someone's spirit
And when you're done there, I'll be here

Fuzzbubble, "Out There"

The team headed for the main deck as quickly as they could. Fox took immediate control when they got there. ROB echoed his first thought before Fox could open his mouth.

"We are approaching the position of the planetary debris."

Fox walked slowly toward the main vid screen. "Put it up on the main screen, ROB."

ROB obeyed. Suddenly the view filled with the black of space, cluttered with dust and shimmering debris. Larger chunks drifted around as well. Krystal's eyes filled with tears, but no one paid attention, much to her relief. She hadn't been back here since her world was destroyed. Krystal wiped her tears away just before Fox turned and looked at her. She hadn't appeared to move, but Fox could see the fur around her eyes was darker. He knew she'd been crying. He wasn't sure what to do. Should he invite her to where he was and comfort her? Or would she rather stay where she was? Out of everyone's view. If she came down to him, she might start crying again. But Fox decided that if anyone commented on her being upset in a negative way, he had the authority to set them straight. "Wanna come over here, Krystal?" He tried to sound as unimposing as he could.

Much to his surprise, she nodded, and slowly walked to the lower part of the floor. She stood next to him, but didn't touch him. "I only saw it like this once. When I saw it rip itself apart so many years ago. I never thought I would see it again.

ROB's harsh metallic voice shattered the somber mood of the room. "I have discovered the source of the energy. However, I cannot pinpoint a specific location. It is simply everywhere in the sector of space directly in front of us."

Fox was going to say something else, but ROB interrupted with more information.

"There appears to be a few more isolated areas with greater concentrations of energy."

Fox spoke before he was interrupted again. "Show us."

ROB added to the image in front of them the data he had found. A vertical bar appeared on the right side, going from red, to yellow, to green, to blue, and then white. The rest of the screen flooded with colors, indicating the intensity of the energy. Most of their view was red, in large sheets throughout the debris. But there were, as ROB indicated, some smaller areas where the red was gone from around it, and a more intense energy sat in the middle. Most of them were yellow and green, a few were blue...

And one that was further away, surrounded by no red at all. It was bright white.

"There," Krystal pointed at the large white light as soon as she knew what she was looking at. "What about that one?"

ROB scanned it. "It is producing extreme amounts of energy."

"Wow!" Slippy said, reading the colored scale on the side of the screen. "It's putting out more energy than I've ever seen from something so small!"

"How much energy, Slippy?" Fox asked.

"Enough to power this ship all by itself for a long time. That is, if it ever drains."

"How big is that freakin' thing?" Falco squawked, not quite believing what Slippy had just said.

"It is approximately one foot in diameter," ROB answered.

Fox let out a low whistle. Then he turned to Krystal. "What do you know about these things, Krystal?"

She shook her head. "Not much useful, I'm afraid. My people used large crystals like that in the temples. They were for larger groups of people to meditate in front of. I did occasionally. But I do know they are capable of tremendous power."

"Is the energy harmful to non-Cerinians in large amounts like that?" Fox asked concerned.

Krystal shook her head. "I wouldn't think so. Our makeup is close enough, I don't think it would hurt Cornerians if it didn't hurt us."

"What could that do if it fell into the wrong hands?" Peppy suddenly spoke. "Could it be used to destroy?"

"We used the crystals for defense as well as meditation and power," Krystal explained. "But I don't think they could be used for anything by someone who didn't have the technology to siphon the energy. That's what my staff is. My ship is equipped with one too, for the energy core. Without some kind of siphon, they would be useless." She suddenly chuckled. "Unless you wanted to blind someone to death."

The team chuckled with her. Fox finally made a decision. "I would like to collect it. Study it up close. Maybe we could make it useful. If nothing else it could be used as a soccer ball." Fox glanced over at Krystal. "Uh, that is, if it's okay with you. That thing out there is technically yours."

"No, I think it would be a good idea. It would keep it from falling into the hands of someone who wanted to abuse it. Those kind of energy readings would make it very appealing to someone who wanted to build a weapon of unrivaled power." She smiled. "Besides, I could use my own meditation crystal."

Fox smiled. "Then it's settled. Falco, you can watch my back while I grab that thing. Slippy, get some scanning equipment ready in the hangar. Krystal, would you like to go?"

She cocked her head and smiled. "Wouldn't miss it. My ship or yours?"

Fox blushed, though you could hardly see it beneath his fur. "Whichever."

"Eh. I won't crowed you... this time," the last part she added in a particularly sly tone. Fox, Falco, Slippy and Krystal started toward the door.

"I'll keep an eye on things from here, Fox," Peppy called.

Fox turned and smiled at his mentor. "I'm sure you will, Peppy." He left with the others.

Falco entered the hangar first, eager for some action, followed by Krystal and then Fox. They all entered their respective ships, with Krystal taking an Arwing for herself. They all waited before launching, however, for Fox's command. They each powered up their craft. Fox's computer was designed to show the status of each of his teammates, and each of them read green. Fox was glad Slippy had added that little feature. The system was also designed to warn him if something went wrong with one of the other ships, as well.

"Report launch status," Fox said over the all-Arwing com circuit.

"Green," Falco reported. "I'm good to go, Fox."

"Systems check out. I'm ready, too." Krystal's voice betrayed her nervousness; she had only piloted the Arwing in simulators.

Fox smiled, knowing the feeling. Was it really that long ago? he asked himself. "Don't worry, Krystal. Just like the simulators. There's not a lot of dangerous debris out there, so you should be fine. You even trained for some combat situations. This'll be easy."

Krystal nodded, then realized Fox couldn't see her. But she forgot to acknowledge. Fox wasn't worried about it. They weren't going to come across anything.

"Okay, lets go get us a shiny rock," Fox said, hoping his confidence would ease Krystal's tension. He cruised out of the hangar, followed by Falco, and then Krystal.

"Peppy, this is Fox. How's it looking on the perimeter?"

"It looks okay," Peppy replied. "But the energy is starting to interfere with our sensors. Beyond what's immediately around us, the scans probably aren't that reliable."

"Great, so if there's trouble, we won't know until we're already fighting," Falco said, his voice oozing with his normal negative attitude.

"Nothing we can't handle, Falco. We've been in way worse situations," Fox was already getting tired of his teammate's pessimism.

Falco didn't get the hint. "Oh, I'm not worried about us. I'm worried about little girl blue over there getting her tail in the fire and calling for help in the middle of the fight, that's what I'm worried about."

Fox was getting ticked now. "Can it! Before I can you!"

"You can't can me, Fox. I'm the best pilot you got. You pull me, you pull your death certificate in a fight."

"Can you at least find it in that brain of yours to watch who you direct your attitude at? On this team, we respect each other. I know that's hard for you to do, sometimes, Falco, but you're gonna have to if you want to keep your ass on the flight roster!"

"All right! All right! Sheesh! Release the dogs, for the love of crap! Sorry!"

Fox was going to say something else, but he decided not to, for Krystal's sake. Aw, jeez, I'm such an ass... He switched to a private circuit, wanting to talk to Krystal alone. "Uh, I'm sorry about that. I... didn't mean to... scare you, or anything."

Krystal shook her head, then smiled a little. "I'm thankful you stuck up for me. His comment was a little... unexpected. One of these days, I'm going to have to hold my own against that attitude of his. I hadn't really even heard him."

"What's on your mind?"

"Oh, god, everything. My mind's a mess right now, Fox. So many memories, so many thoughts, emotions... If I have a nervous breakdown, don't be surprised."

Fox chuckled. "I hope you don't. You are still flying that ship. Hard to fly when you're having a nervous breakdown. At the very least, you couldn't get yourself home."

Krystal laughed. "You sneak! Pretending not to be concerned with your ship getting home! You're trying to be sweet!"

"Well what's wrong with that?"

"It's working!"

"Why is that such a bad thing?"

"It not professional to have a strong emotional attachment to one of your teammates. Especially a female!"

"Well, then I guess we're both unprofessional!"

Krystal snapped her fingers. "Damn. You caught me."

"What's to catch? You turned yourself in!"

Krystal laughed in disbelief. "I did not!"

Fox was laughing too. "Did too!"

"Nope."

"Yeah."

"Uh-uh!"

"Uh-huh!"

"Hmph!"

Fox shook his head, still laughing. "Just keep flying."

"Oh, I will."

"You'd better!"

Suddenly, Fox's alarm went off. He almost jumped out of his fur, not expecting anything to go wrong. His display showed that Falco's shield had taken damage. He quickly clicked over to Falco's com. "Hey Falco, my computer just informed me that your shields registered a hit. Can you confirm?"

"Yeah," Falco replied gruffly. "I got hit, alright. Don't know what by, yet, though. My computer didn't know what it was. Minor damage, though. Probably some debris, or something."

"Well, if it happens again-" Fox's computer beeped again. Falco's shield registered another hit. Fox started to say something.

"That was definitely a blaster shot!" Falco yelled. A few more struck his shield, rocking his ship. Then more slammed into Fox's shield. Fox and Falco broke formation.

"Peppy, this is Fox. We're under attack! I repeat, we are under attack!"

"I read you, Fox," Peppy said in a worried tone. "Dang, they just came out of nowhere! Sensors didn't pick them up until they started shooting. Sorry, guys."

"That's okay, Peppy. How many are there? I can't see them yet."

"I'm reading... 5 fighters. That's it. Not picking up anything else."

"Get out of range of the debris and scan again. This energy is messing things up, and we need early warning if anything bigger than a fighter comes in."

"Understood, Fox. Peppy out."

"Falco, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Can't see them, though. Damn it, where are they!"

"Krystal, what about you? You haven't been hit yet."

"I'm good, Fox. I see them. I'm coming around. There's one tailing you, and another on Falco. I'll take yours first."

Fox grinned. "Good thinking on your feet, Krystal. See, you can handle this!"

"Don't thank me yet. You've picked up another tail." Krystal lined up right behind Fox, preparing to take out Fox's followers. "I've locked on-" she fired. Her hot plasma beams cut through the smaller ships like they were nothing. Fox's ship jerked slightly as the ships behind him burst into flames.

"Thanks, Krystal. I owe you one."

"Nah, you can just kiss me later!"

Fox blushed. "Uh, sure." He went serious again, remembering that Falco was still being chased. "Hang on Falco, I'm coming."

Falco cursed. "Damn it, they're not very powerful, but the little bastards are sticking to me like glue! They're too freaking small! Can't get around them for a clear shot!" Then, suddenly the two ships exploded behind him.

"I'm reading one more, Fox," Krystal advised.

"I know." Fox replied. "I got him."

"Oh no you don't! He's mine, Fox!" Falco was not going to be outdone.

"We'll see about that, Falco!"

"Damn it, Fox, back off!"

"No way. He's mine!"

"Males..." Krystal muttered.

Fox and Falco's ships zeroed in on the last tiny fighter. They looked more like they were trying to sandwich the doomed craft, rather than shoot it.

"I'm gonna get it!"

"Not today, Fox!"

Just as it seemed the two were going to collide, Krystal came out of nowhere, her ship's blasters blazing. The shots ripped the craft to pieces before Fox and Falco could even get of any of their own. The two pulled away from each other at the last second, and neither of them could believe what had just happened.

"Oh, great! Krystal ruined it for both of us!"

"Dang it, Krystal! I had it!"

"No! I did!" Falco argued.

"The only thing you two had was each other. You were so caught up in that one little ship that you both ignored your proximity warnings! You could have killed yourselves!" Krystal was surprised to find herself scolding the two veterans.

"I think Krystal needs to be the new leader of our team!" Peppy laughed. "She's the only one of you who could keep a cool head!" Fox growled. How long had he been watching?

"I think so too, Peppy," Krystal agreed. "How about it, Fox? Star Vixen. It has a nice ring to it!"

Fox just growled again. Falco said nothing at all.

"So are you three going to just sit out there, or are you going to get what you came for?" Peppy asked in an amused tone.

"I'll get it," said Fox. "Unless Falco wants to."

Falco snorted. "Not unless I can blow it up!"

"Yeah, well you can't."

"Figures."

Fox proceeded toward the large crystal. "There it is," he said as the large gem filled his view. "Wow, it's smaller than I thought. But it is pretty." He opened the forward cargo hold. "Okay, easy now." He slowed his ship to a crawl, so as not to run into the precious object. Slowly, he eased the mouth of the hold over the crystal. Then his computer told him that the object was completely inside, and that it was safe to close the door. He did so. "Got it. Okay, let's go home and see what this thing's all about."

"Slippy says he's prepared the scanning equipment. He's ready to receive you," Peppy said. "Oh, and by the way, I found out what those little ships were about."

Fox had forgotten about them. "What did you find out?"

"They were part of an automated defense system in the area."

Falco was in disbelief. "You mean they were robots?"

"That's correct, Falco."

"Jeez! All that fuss over a few robots! Fox, did you get that? We made complete asses of ourselves over a freakin' robot!"

"What kind of defense system, Peppy? Anything we should be worried about?" Fox wondered why there would have been an automated defense system still active in a sector that was dead.

"I don't know," Peppy replied. "But whatever it was, it only had those five ships left. Their communication frequency was easy enough to find. I checked it just a few minutes ago. The system is offline now. It shut itself down when it ran out of ships. It's not going to be bothering us anymore."

"Well that's good. But it's... weird. Never heard of something like this happening. Maybe we should leave a probe here, just in case we get anymore unwanted visitors."

"Sounds like a good idea," Peppy agreed. "I'll tell Slippy to launch a probe. In the meantime, just get yourselves back in."

"Understood. Fox out."

The other members of the team followed Fox back to the Great Fox.

Slippy was waiting for them when they arrived. Fox hopped out of his ship first, and walked over to Slippy.

"Hi, Fox!" he said energetically. "I'm about to launch that probe you wanted, and then we'll take a look at this crystal you got." He walked over to a large control panel on the wall, entered a few commands, and a second later announced that the probe was away. The he went over to Fox's Arwing. "Let's see what we have here." Fox was trying to figure out why Slippy hadn't gotten into the cockpit yet.

"Hey, Slip, don't you have to be in the ship to open the cargo hold?" he asked puzzled.

Slippy opened a panel on the underside of the ship, revealing a control panel. With a few commands, the cargo door opened. Slippy looked back at him and grinned.

Fox was surprised. I thought I knew every part of my ship inside and out. I don't remember that thing being there. Shows how much I know. Fox shook his head. "Sometimes, Slippy, you amaze me."

Falco and Krystal came up next to him beside Fox's Arwing.

"So what's the story, Fox? Can we use this thing?" Falco stood with his arms crossed in his normal badass composure.

"I hope so," Fox replied, not looking at Falco. He was focusing on the inside of the cargo hold. "You got it, Slip?"

"Yeah!" came the excited response. "Wow! This thing is really cool, Fox! You know, if we can't use it for anything to harness it's energy, this things would be really cool to have in the rec room or someplace where some decoration would be a nice idea. Heck, we could use it as a light source in itself for a big room. It would really pretty things up."

Fox laughed. "Slippy Toad: mechanic, technician, interior decorator." The others laughed with him, even Slippy. "I don't think that last thing was on your resume, Slip."

"Okay, here it comes," Slippy announced. The others watched as it seemed to get brighter inside the room. Finally, Slippy emerged with the crystal in his arms. The others were totally absorbed by it. It was the most beautiful thing to come on board, and Fox said so.

Krystal coughed unnecessarily loud.

Fox looked back at her. "Uh, except you, Krystal."

She eyed him with an icy stare.

"I think that crystal is prettier," Slippy said, tilting his head toward Krystal a few times.

Krystal smiled at him. "Why, thank you Slippy! See? Slippy has the right idea!" She patted Slippy on the head. "Flattery will get you everywhere in this world, Slippy, and don't let anyone try to tell you otherwise."

Slippy was blushing openly now, since he had no fur to hide it. "Aw, thanks, Krystal!"

"Slippy!" Fox snapped. "Scanner, there, now!" he pointed at the equipment Slippy had set up.

Slippy was slapped out of his trance. "Right away, boss!" He walked briskly over to the setup.

Fox glared at Krystal. "Don't go giving him ideas! He's been the most efficient member of this team because he doesn't show any interest in girls! Don't go changing his mind!"

Krystal inflated a false ego that would have made Falco feel crowded. "Well, it's not my fault he likes me" she glanced at her fingernails. "I have that effect on all males. And it appears that even Slippy, the anti-girl, is powerless to my will!" She cackled evilly.

Fox looked somewhat unsettled when she laughed like that. It took him a second to regain himself. "Don't ever do that again. At first, I was convinced I was looking at your evil twin!"

She grinned evilly now. "How do you know you're not now?" She stalked toward him, forcing him into a corner. Fox bumped into the wall.

His voice came out shakily. "Uh, Krystal, you can STOP being your evil twin, now!"

"How can I stop being me?" she replied innocently, which didn't go very well with the evil look on her face.

Fox gulped audibly. "What do you want?"

Krystal laughed. "What do I want?" She quieted her voice. "I want YOU, Fox! To be my slave for the rest of your life!" The last part she practically hissed at him.

Oh, god! What's she going to do to me? Slave? I don't want to be her slave! ...Then again... his thoughts were interrupted by Krystal practically crawling over him, touching him just about everywhere, making hushed moaning noises. Oh, Jeez! Where's the pretty blue angel I know? She's in there somewhere! She's not like this at all! She's never like this!

Krystal's muzzle was inches from his. "You know what else I want?"

Fox felt hot all over his body, like someone had set his innards on fire. "No." he said quickly.

"I want... I want..." she moaned. Suddenly the evil aura fell away, and she plastered a playful look on her face. "I want that kiss you owe me!"

Fox was totally shocked. "Huh?" Anything else he might have said would have been unable to leave his mouth, because it now had a good portion of Krystal's in it. Or more accurately, a good portion of Krystal's tongue.

Slippy was busily scanning the equipment, and since Falco had nothing better to do, he watched as Slippy ran all over the place getting things working. He hadn't pretended to be interested in all the techie stuff Slippy was babbling about; everyone knew he didn't know anything about that stuff, and he didn't try to hide it. But then he saw Fox and Krystal in the corner, and they seemed to be much more interested in each other than Slippy's babbling. Falco decided that what those two were doing wasn't really any more interesting that Slippy was. He also decided that it probably wasn't his business. So he just went back to staring at the junk around the hangar that Slippy had dragged out.

At that point, Peppy entered the hangar. The first thing he saw was that Fox wasn't anywhere in the open.

For that matter, neither was Krystal.

He sighed, knowing there were only a few possible things those two would be doing outside of other people's presence. Then he heard it. The unmistakable sound of kissing, just off to his right. He glanced over, and saw that Krystal had cornered Fox, but he didn't appear to mind that so much.

"Ah-HEM!" Peppy cleared his throat. Fox and Krystal whirled around to face the noise, which had been much closer than they had expected. "That's what your quarters are for, you two."

They broke away from each other. "Sorry, Peppy." Fox said, nervously scratching his ear.

Peppy sighed and shook his head. "You're going to miss Slippy's lecture. Might want to come check this out."

He started toward the setup Slippy had put together, smiling as he turned away. Those two make me wish to all things holy that I were still young. But he conceded; he had been their age at one point, and had his fun, same as they were.

Fox and Krystal followed him over to Falco and Slippy.

"There you are Fox! I have some stuff to show you, although it's not much more than we already know." Slippy finally slowed down enough to talk to someone coherently.

"What have you found?" Fox asked, trying to ignore having been caught with Krystal, by Peppy of all people.

"Well, Krystal was right about them having tremendous power," Slippy said. "And I think we can use it to improve the boosters on our Arwings. I would hesitate to use them to upgrade our weapons, because of how much they meant to Krystal's people as a symbol of peace. But using them to upgrade our engines would not be a violent use of them. I won't do any tinkering unless I have her permission, though. This thing is hers, as you pointed out." He glanced at her, as if asking her permission.

"I wouldn't mind it being used for the engines, Slippy," Krystal replied. "But like you said, I wouldn't like it to be used for weapons, unless it was absolutely necessary. My people only used them for weapons when they had to. But there's nothing wrong with making the ships faster, as far as I'm concerned."

"Can you do that, Slippy?" Fox asked.

"Yes and no. Adapting the boosters to make use of the crystal wouldn't be difficult. But we would need one for each ship, and we only have one. I would need to get others. They don't even need to be as big or powerful as this one."

Krystal spoke up. "Actually, this one could be broken into smaller pieces. My staff can do that."

Fox shook his head. "No, I don't want to do that. Not unless we have to. This was the only one out there that was that big. It's probably pretty rare for a chunk that big to have survived the planet's destruction. We could make use of the smaller ones just as easily. I would rather keep this one intact. Krystal can have it for meditation, like she said earlier. But if you think you can adapt our technology to use them, go ahead Slippy."

Slippy nodded. "Good idea. I kinda like this one the way it is, anyway. But we would have to get more."

"No problem. We can do that tomorrow. But right now, Krystal, if you would... woah." Fox almost fell over suddenly. Krystal caught him, and held him straight.

"What's wrong, Fox?" she asked worried.

Fox stumbled again. "I... don't know. I feel dizzy all of the sudden..." suddenly his weight pulled him down again, and Krystal set him gently on the ground.

"Fox! Are you okay! Fox!" She shook him a bit. Slippy scanned him.

"He's okay, he's just unconscious. I wonder what happened. Fox doesn't just faint like that."

Fox's breathing slowed down, and his body went completely limp. Krystal was really worried now. "Is he still alive? He feels weird!"

Slippy nodded. "He's fine. His vitals show the same as if he were in deep sleep. But his ears are twitching, so he still has use of his body. I think he just needs to rest."

Krystal gently picked him up. "I'll take him to his quarters." She left the hangar with Fox in her arms, whispering something to him.

Now Falco was concerned, and he shot an accusing finger at the large crystal on the table. "I bet that thing has something to do with it!"

Peppy shook his head. "I don't think so. We're all okay." He glared at Falco. "And don't even think of blaming it on my cooking! You all ate that, too, and you're all fine!"

Falco put up his hands in protest. "Hey, I wasn't gonna blame your cooking Peppy, okay? I just think it's a little weird that it happened when it did." Suddenly he got an idea. "Maybe Krystal did something to him!"

Slippy and Peppy were surprised at that. "That's ridiculous, Falco!" Slippy said angrily. "Why would Krystal hurt Fox?"

Falco shrugged. "I don't know, but it looked like she was up to something when she cornered Fox over there."

Peppy shook his head. "They were just kissing, Falco."

"Well, maybe that's what Krystal wanted us to think! She made it look like that, but I saw Fox's face before they started kissing, and he looked more freaked out than anything else!"

"They were just playing around, Falco!" Slippy retorted.

'That's not what it looked like to me!"

"Falco, I think you're just overreacting," Peppy said calmly.

"Hey, whatever," Falco said crossing his arms again. "You guys think what you want. I know what I saw, and I'm tellin' ya, that girl is up to something."

Peppy sighed, Slippy glared, but neither of them said anything more.

Krystal opened Fox's door, and walked inside, still thinking about what had happened. She didn't know why Fox had suddenly fainted. She hoped is wasn't her crystal. She had honestly thought that it wouldn't harm anyone. But if it had, she would have to do something about it.

She laid Fox down on his bed, stroking his headfur. She kissed him on the forehead. "Get well soon, Fox," she whispered. She shed a tear or two, hoping that he would be okay. She decided she would come and check on him later. She left his room with more questions plaguing her mind. She would figure this out on her own if she had to. She just hoped Fox wasn't hurt