Chapter 2: Reunion and Departure

As Fox traced his way through the Great Fox towards the Docking bay, he sent his mind reeling with questions, What am I going to say to her? I haven't seen her for a while...What can I do to make her feel welcome? I hope Falco doesn't get in the way, what's up with him any way? Great, now I'm talking to myself...Why can't I just act normal around her...It's not like she's any different from the rest of us...or maybe she is...

The sound of the docking bay doors opening disrupted Fox's train of thought, and he took a step back in surprise. He shook the thoughts out of his head and walked into the docking bay. There he saw Krystal's large ship, still blowing off steam from its voyage. A section of the ship began to retract and then it extended and made a ramp that led down to the floor of the docking bay.

A figure began to emerge from the opening on the side of the ship. The figure started as a shadow, masked in the darkness. But as the figure came into the light, this simple figure brought on more discerning characteristics. The well groomed blue hair, the finely toned body, the golden choker around her neck, the pair of gold plated bangles on each forearm, and the red gem that was displayed on top of her head. It was Krystal, and Fox was momentarily petrified by her. He began seeing flashbacks of his mission on Dinosaur Planet, how he saw her for the first time, trapped in the floating crystal, how he defeated Andross in a dog- fight over the planet, It all became so clear, he had done it not for money, not for Star Fox, but for Krystal, and she was just across the floor.

Krystal saw Fox and smiled, she walked towards him and said, "Thanks for letting me do this Fox, you don't know how much this means to me, I've never really had the chance to see any of the other planets in the galaxy." Fox had no idea what to say, she stood right in from of him, the one that inspired him to save a planet. Suddenly, Fox experienced some weird sort of energy being released within him, it felt strange, but he had felt it before, somewhere. Suddenly, his nerves disappeared and was able to speak clearly, "Well, I couldn't just leave you all alone on that planet, could I?" Fox said somewhat jokingly. "Are you saying that I can't take care of myself?" Krystal replied, raising an eyebrow. Fox replied subtlety, "No...I'm saying, I couldn't leave without you." Krystal's eyes closed halfway and she softly replied, "Nocsuwo ric keawn ac, U'vv ko oeab pebofob, Vep MsSceit." Fox looked at her confused, not knowing what she just said. "In time, you will understand." She said, trying to conceal the meaning of her words. She gave him a smirk and giggled. "So what do I do know, Captain?" she said, seeing what kind of reaction she could get. "I'm not the captain, and you don't have to call me that, we're not that formal on this ship," Fox replied. "Oh, well, I'm sorry sir, I won't make the same mistake twice," Krystal replied teasingly. "Well good, I can't have my crew members mouthin' off, unless it's Falco, then you just come to expect it." Krystal gave Fox a confused look, "Falco? Is that one of your team members?" Fox realized that she had not yet meet the other's aboard the Great Fox. "Oh, you don't know the crew? Well let me take you to meet each of them. We only have four other members besides me, so it won't take that long." "Ok, if I'm going to join the team, I probably should know who I will be working with." Krystal responded with a hint of enthusiasm. "All right, the Great Fox is pretty big and their always moving around so...." Fox turned from Krystal and faced the exit. The whole Star Fox team was standing in the doorway. They saw Fox look in their direction and turned away, trying to look like that hadn't been watching, and walked off. "Was that them?" Krystal asked. "Ya, that's them," Fox sighed.

They found Peppy right outside the exit of the docking bay, he was busy typing away on his computer. Fox approached him and Krystal followed just behind. "Peppy, I'd like you to meet Krystal, the new team member we talked about." Fox said uneasily. He still didn't know if the rest of the crew respected his forceful decision to let her join the team. Peppy, who couldn't turn away from the computer, glanced over at her and said, "Nice to have someone new onboard." "Thank you, Peppy, I'll try not to get in the way," Krystal responded trying to sound polite. "Well, I doubt you can get in the way any more than Falco or Fox can, young lady," Peppy replied with a chuckle, and Krystal quietly giggled with him, but she covered her mouth, trying to hide the fact that she was laughing at Fox, who was looking right at her. "Ya, thanks Peppy, how long until we can enter hyperspace?" Fox said, trying to change the subject. "Well, We had permission to leave a while back, but we were delayed, so we should be ready in the morning like you ordered," Peppy answered. "Great, good job and I'll see you at dinner then," "Right," Peppy said, staring at the computer screen.

Fox and Krystal walked out of the room and started to wonder the halls of the Great Fox, trying to find another member of the team. During their walk, Krystal asked, "When you were talking to Peppy, you mentioned something called...hyperspace, what exactly is that?" Fox smiled, this was such an elementary topic for him, but he realized that this must all be so new to Krystal. Fox answered, "It's where the warp engines gain power from our main reflux capacitor and it generates enough energy to travel through space at the speed of light." Krystal looked at fox with a confused gaze. Heh, Krystal probably doesn't know what a reflux capacitor is or even what the speed of light is...I'd think with so many technological advancements, everyone would know about this... He explained it more carefully to her, "Its where you travel trough space really, really fast." Fox replied with a smirk on his face that he could not hide. "I'm really not as well acquainted with these types of terms, we had a rather simplistic style of life on my home planet of Cerinia," She responded with a more serious and sad tone. Oh man, that's right, her home planet was destroyed...should I ask her about it...no, not yet, not now...just change the subject. A green figure suddenly emerged from one of the doors in the hallway. It was Slippy, who was talking to himself quite loudly. Fox coughed and got his attention; Slippy turned around fast to see that Fox and Krystal were there. He began to blush and you could tell he was embarrassed. "Slippy, this is Krystal, the new member of Star Fox," Fox said. Upon him saying this, he realized, Heh, Krystal and Star Fox in the same sentence, this is great. I can't believe how well this worked out. Slippy replied, "Well, Hi Krystal, nice to see you here." "Nice to meet you to Slippy. I hope we will work together in the future," Krystal politely responded. Slippy blushed and looked down at the floor. "Well, Ok......see ya around." Slippy managed to say as he ran back into door he came from, trying to hide his embarrassment. "Is he always so bashful like that?" Krystal inquired. Fox smirked and said, "With Slippy, you never know what he's thinking."

They continued their tour of the ship trying to find the last member of the team. Krystal started talking, "Fal-co," she muttered, trying to remember if that's how Fox said it. Fox nodded and she continued, "He's the last team member right?" Again, Fox nodded and Krystal went on, "When you said his name, back in the docking bay, you said his name quite sourly, do you two get along?" Fox hesitated, knowing that Falco was the one that didn't agree with the fact that Krystal was joining the team. Do I want to introduce Krystal to Falco after our disagreement? Maybe I should avoid Falco for now, at least until things cool down. "Hey Krystal, why don't I show you your room, your gonna be living here from now on, so I'd assume you want a room?" Fox said, desperately trying to change the subject. Krystal smiled and happily replied, "Oh yes, I forgot would be living here. I'd love to see my new home." Krystal, living here on the Great Fox, this is turning out to be just how I planned. "Ok, I'll show you to your room ma- dam," Fox light-heartedly replied, sounding like some fancy butler. "Why thank you kind sir," Krystal responded in a cheerful manner.

Fox skillfully navigated the many hallways of the Great Fox. He showed her many of the other rooms on the way. Fox walked by his room and showed it to her. Fox's room was easily the largest of any of the other sleeping quarters on the ship. It had a high ceiling and had a sky-roof of sorts located in the middle of the ceiling directly over his king size bed. In the right corner of his room, there was a door that led to his own private bathroom. The whole room was decorated with different keepsakes from his other adventures, and there was a book sitting on an end table next to his bed, with a small lamp on top.

He led her out of his room, and a little ways up the hall, he walked in front of a door and said, "I believe the saying is, Ladies first," Krystal smiled and walked into the door ahead of him. The door opened up to a slightly smaller version of Fox's room. It was empty though, no one had ever stayed in this room before and it only contained a bed, a small clock, a mirror, and a large dresser. It also had its own bathroom, but it too was empty. Fox saw how void it was and said, "I'll have our ship's robot, ROB, bring up your things. He'll be here shortly, and if you ever need help finding your way around the ship just use this." Fox walked over to wall beside the door and pressed a button; a small computer screen flipped down from the wall and instantly turned on. "This computer has all the interior rooms and hallways of the Great Fox mapped out on the screen," Fox finished with a smile. Krystal smiled back at Fox and said, "I really appreciate everything you are doing for me Fox. I don't know how I could ever repay you." Fox turned to the exit. "Trust me," Fox gently replied, "I couldn't ask for anything more." He slowly walked out the door and heard it close behind him.

Fox hesitated on the other side of the door, Krystal seems so lost amid all this technology, was Cerinia that primitive of a planet, I didn't know that such planets still existed. I really want to talk to her about it, but I don't want to bring up such a sensitive topic this soon, and what did she mean when she said, "Nocsuwo ric keawn ac, U'vv ko oeab pebofob, Vep MsSceit?" I know that it was said in Dinosaur Language, but I still have no idea how to comprehend it. "In time, you will understand." Was she talking about me? She'll tell me eventually...but...when?

He leisurely began walking back to the bridge to confirm his hyperspace jump with the Lylat Command Center. On his way he passed ROB, who was busy carrying many different bags of Krystal's possessions. "Hey ROB, need any help with that stuff?" ROB answered in his usual, monotone voice, "Negative, I am currently transporting goods that measure approximately 76.248 pounds. Maximum transport capacity is 120 pounds. I still have 36.55% transport capacity remaining available, no assistance is required. Do you wish for me to transport anything else?" Fox shook his head, "No that will be all ROB." "Confirmed, returning to transport function."

Fox had arrived at the bridge and saw a familiar figure studying a recording of some sort. It was Falco, and he was staring intently into the screen in front of him. Falco did not notice Fox enter and never brought his eyes off the screen in front of him. Fox snuck up quietly behind him and saw that the recording he was watching was from a while ago. Fox heard someone speak in the recording, "Lets sneak in low and surprise em'," That sounded like me, but a long time ago...another voice played, "This is Zoness!?" It was Peppy, but he sounded different, another voice came through, "What a dump!" It was Slippy, but he sounded a little younger...Wait, I remember hearing this somewhere before...about eight years ago...Zoness? Could it be...from my first mission to defeat Andross? Isn't Zoness the place that one girl came to help? What was her name...she was pink...and she was a cat if I remember correctly... More footage played and I heard the voice of that person, "We're closing in on them Falco." Fox was now able to put the pieces together. It was Katt, that weird pink, cat that followed Falco to Zoness...Is Falco going through this again? Maybe the fact that Krystal has come aboard with me...brought back memories of her. Falco never really likes to talk about it, but you can tell there is something going on, although he will never readily admit it.
Fox attempted to sneak out of the bridge before Falco could notice, but as Falco turned off the recording, he could see Fox's reflection off the screen. Falco turned around quickly in his chair and stood up. Fox heard the chair being pushed backward and froze in place. Fox looked back to see Falco, staring straight at him. Neither of them spoke for a while. It was an extremely awkward silence, they both stared each other down, and the only noises made were that of the computers working. Then Falco finally broke the silence, "So Fox, you think you can just walk in here like that?" Fox stood there, speechless, no longer able to look Falco in the face. "Ya know...just because you're the leader doesn't mean you can pry into other people lives like this!" Falco said with kindling rage in his tone. "I didn't exactly appreciate your comments about Krystal and I either, Falco," Fox retorted. "At least you have her around Fox! Do you know what it's like not having Katt around with me all the time!? It sucks the life out of me Fox! When I left the team six years ago, what do you think I was doing the whole time!? I was searching for her...and I never found her..." Woah, I've never heard the reason why he left the team, I didn't know that this was such a sensitive topic. I feel sorry for him, I'm so lucky to have Krystal with me, but Falco...It must be hard. Falco continued, "Fox, I know I just rejoined, but I'm going to leave again. This recording gave me the series number and make of her ship...I'll be able to trace her with this information...Heh, It may just be another goose chase around to galaxy, but I think my chances are a lot better this time. See ya round' Fox, and...good luck with Krystal," He said with a smirk. With that, he left the bridge and headed for his Arwing. Moments later, Fox saw his friend fly past the front of the Great Fox, and with a blue burst of his engines, he flew off into the distance. I don't think Falco ever belonged in the Star Fox team, he has his own intentions, and he cannot express them on this ship, He's a loner, and he always will be...See ya round' Falco Lombardi...