Sorry for not updating so soon…I had a major writer's block. I've decided to use certain characters that are required in names (namely Téa's name) since I felt like it. I won't go back and fix the rest (unless I feel like it). With the reviews, I don't care if your review is a nuclear flame or a happy comment (sorry for the metaphors…whatever they are), but it depends on how you review it. Suggestions, predictions, or just comments are fine. Whatever it is, please review.

Disclaimer: I don't own Star Fox, Yugioh, or Star Wars; but I do own some characters and…yeah…what I've been repeating for the past who knows how long.

Encounter

Chapter 13

Suspicions

A month has passed as the cool November air came around. Joey and Serenity were able to live together again after having that talk with Fox. Through the month that passed by, Yugi and friends were able to finish most of the Lightsaber. The last few parts that they're doing requires delicate work, making the process longer than what is expected. Everyone else in the classroom was almost done with what they were doing; giving the last finishing touches to make sure everything worked or is in place.

"Man, this is taking forever," Joey complained.

"We all know that, Joey," Téa said.

"Yeah, but if we knew that this part would take so long, then why did we do this in the first place?" Tristan asked.

"Well, maybe it's because some of us like to be challenged every once in a while," Bakura answered.

"Hey, less chit-chat and more working!" Duke said.

With that, everyone began to work again as they used welding tools, screwdrivers, and a lot of focusing. Joey was the only one who was using a special carving knife, which is used to shape a special form of a crystal. He had a bucket full of purple, blue, green, and yellow crystals that Fox had imported so that the lightsaber would be completed. The focusing crystal, which is a clear crystal that allows length alteration by adjusting a knob, was already provided since Fox had a spare. Joey's been working on the primary crystal, which is the crystal needed to focus the energy. The primary crystal requires delicate work, meaning that it needs to be perfect for it to work properly among other things. Joey's been working on it for three weeks, and only one came very close.

"Hey, at least you guys don't have to carve a stupid crystal!" Joey complained.

"It's your fault for saying that you would do the job," Duke said.

"Hey, shut up, Duke!"

"Why don't you shut up?"

"How about a fist in your mouth?"

With that the two got up and stood about 3 inches from each other staring each other down. Yugi got up to hold Duke back while Serenity began to hold Joey down from doing anything stupid.

"Hey, guys; fighting doesn't help anything!" Yugi said.

"Joey, please calm down," Serenity pleaded.

After a few seconds of waiting, the two began to back down and went back to work. Fox went over to see what was going on.

"Hey, everything all right over here?" Fox asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine," Joey said.

After he said that, Joey sat down and began to work again. He was holding a green crystal on the table as he began to carve into it. He was being as careful as possible not to screw anything up. Fox went around the tables, seeing the progress of the other students. Joey was doing quite well, but one student accidentally bumped into Joey, causing him to drive the carving knife into the crystal. Joey looked back, seeing the student walking off faster to avoid conflict. Joey took the crystal and put it in the bag of failed crystals, which is nearly half the bucket. Joey sat there with his head on the table, frustrated about the crystals. Fox went over to check on Joey to see the problem.

"Joey, you all right?" Fox asked.

"Yeah, but this stupid crystal thing is really bugging me," Joey responded. "I can't get the thing right without messing up!"

"It takes a lot of patience to do this."

"Yeah, I can see why."

Fox stood there, thinking to himself. He wondered how bad every crystal is. He looked at the bag of rejected crystals, seeing that a lot of them weren't so well while some were somewhat close.

"Hey, mind if I look at the crystal you're still holding?" Fox asked.

"Huh? Oh…sure," Joey said.

Joey took the green crystal out of a small box that they're using to protect the crystals from being scratched too severely. Fox examined it carefully for a few moments, wondering how close they got. He could see a number of flaws; enough to cause a lightsaber to malfunction.

"Well, this crystal is actually pretty close, but not close enough," Fox said.

Joey pulled a purple crystal out and began to shape the crystal with careful precision. Serenity went over to tell Joey about their progress on their part.

"Joey, we're pretty much done," Serenity said. "Are you almost done with the crystal?"

"No, but I'll eventually get it," Joey said.

Fox put his hand in his pocket with the crystal. He began to walk off to examine the other students, seeing how they're doing.

"Joey, we're just going to have to use the one that you got," Serenity explained.

"Okay, I guess we'll have to…"

Before he could finish, he realized that Fox still had their crystal. He looked over to see Fox helping another group with a few adjustments with their project. Serenity went back over to see if they had everything else that they needed. Fox began to leave for another group, but Joey began to call out to Fox.

"Hey, Fox," Joey called. "You have my crystal!"

"Oh…sorry," Fox said.

He went back over and pulled the crystal out of his pocket. He carefully set it on the table and left to help other groups. Joey picked the crystal up to take over to the others. Joey went over to the other members, seeing that everything that is needed is there and most of it is put together.

"Hey, Joey," Yugi said. "You have the crystal, right?"

"Yeah, it's right here."

He opened his hand up and held it out to them. Duke took it and looked at it carefully, seeing that something seemed different about it.

"Hey…wasn't the crystal green?" Duke asked.

"What; you colorblind?" Joey asked.

"Actually…I think it is blue," Téa said.

Everyone else began to look at it and saw major differences. The crystal was, in fact, blue, but the crystal appears to be perfectly carved to the point of the most minimum, if not none, of flaws.

"Joey, did you do that?" Tristan asked.

"No, I never could carve that well," Joey responded.

Yugi looked over to Fox, seeing that he was already explaining to another group on how to properly make a circuit board. Yugi felt his Yami calling for him mentally.

"Yugi, I need to talk to you," Yami said.

"Yeah, what is it, Pharaoh?" Yugi asked.

"It's about Fox."

"Yeah, what about him?"

"He seems to be helping you guys for a reason. I can't tell what it is, but I know that there's a reason why Fox wanted to help you."

"Maybe he felt sorry for us and decided to help us out."

"I doubt that."

"Why?"

"There's something about him that seems to be troubling me."

Before Yugi could ask more, he was knocked out of his trance after hearing a commotion. He saw that a number of students were at the glass door, trying to listen to what Fox was talking about. Yugi went over to see who Fox would be talking to, but because of his small size, he couldn't see over anyone.

"Hey, what's going on up there?" Yugi asked.

One of the students turned to him and told him, "Fox is talking to his partner out there. As soon as he saw the guy, Fox just walked out quickly as if it was very important."

Before they could hear anything, Falco and Fox went outside to speak in private. Something was troubling Falco, seeing how he's a little nervous.

"Falco, what's wrong?" Fox asked.

"There's something that might trouble you a lot," Falco answered.

Fox was standing there, waiting for what Falco had to say. Falco took a deep breath and began speaking.

"It's about a report that I got back at the office. It had a description about how there was a killing somewhere in an apartment somewhere on the other side of Domino City."

"Do you know what happened?"

"I have the pictures right here."

Falco gave Fox a filing folder with the report on the death. He looked at the photos taken at the crime scene, seeing how there was no possibilities of survival. The picture showed the outline of the man's body, but one thing was missing. He looked at another picture to see an outline of what appears to be a head. Fox's heart skipped a beat, seeing something that troubled him. He looked back at the other picture, trying to see something about it.

"Fox, does this mean anything to you?" Falco asked.

Fox kept looking at the two pictures, seeing one vital aspect missing. Between the pictures of the head and the body, there was no blood whatsoever. No blood near, none on the walls, not even underneath where the two parts were.

"Fox, I have a bad hunch about this," Falco said.

"I do too," Fox concurred.

Falco went over to the truck to call out to all patrollers.

"Any and all patrollers; I advise you to keep a sharp eye out for anything suspicious looking. We'll keep this alert under low profile until notified."

With that said, Falco couldn't help it but think about what might happen. Fox only has one last thing before he went back in.

"So it is true. The sith are here."

Yeah...sorry about not updating so soon. As you know, I had a writer's block, but I also fried my brain at the midnight showing of Star Wars on opening night. We had fun with lightsaber dueling on ground level in the theater and the movie was great (well, that's just my opinion).