Chapter 2: Through the Asteroid Belt

Fox was walking down the hallway to the medical room; it had been two days since Krystal had fainted, and ever since the incident she had not waken up. Fox, hoping that there would be better news today, opened the door to the infirmary.

Almost at once he saw that Krystal had not gotten any better. She was still lying on the hospital bed as if she were a corpse and had no life in her at all. Beltino and Katt had been monitoring her for the past few days, but still were not able to come up with a diagnosis.

"I don't know what could have caused this…" Beltino told Fox for the third day in a row. "Usually there's some sort of cause for somebody to go into a coma, but it appears as though there was no reasoning behind this terrible incident."

"Yeah…weird" Fox replied. He found it odd that the night she found out that her home planet still existed was the night she fell into a coma.

"Fox, was Krystal acting strange at all before this happened?" Katt asked him. "It would help us figure out how we can help her."

"Well", Fox replied, "She did say that she hadn't been sleeping much lately. Maybe she wasn't feeling well. We've all been working pretty hard up here."

"Well Fox", said Beltino, "we don't want to keep you here on the big day. You better get ready for your mission. I hear that we're about to enter the Cerina System, and we don't want to waste any more time answering that distress call."

"Yeah, OK", answered Fox. "Tell me if you find anything out or if she starts to wake up."

"Of course"

Fox walked out of the room and started toward the bridge so he could be briefed on the mission with the rest of the team. Just as he was thinking about how different this mission was going to be without help from Krystal, he heard a voice from behind him, telling him to wait up. Turning around, he saw that it was Katt Monroe.

"Wait up, Fox", she yelled, and then stopped running when she had caught up with him. "I don't know if Peppy told you this, but I'm flying with you guys to Cerinia to find out more information on this planet. I have to be briefed with the rest of you."

Fox couldn't believe it. "You're coming? But Katt, you know how dangerous this is going to be. You said it yourself, only the best pilots can"-

"I don't know if you remember Fox," interrupted Katt, "But I am an expert when it comes to flying. Surely you remember all of the times before I joined the team when I helped you guys out?"

"Well," continued Fox, "That was a long time ago. Are you sure you're still as good as you were back then?"

"I know it. I just hope Falco and I don't run into any problems while we're up there. You probably noticed that we don't get along to well…"

"Yeah, I think the whole crew knows that", replied Fox. "But don't worry; Falco knows that he can't put his personal feelings in front of his job, so just worry about yourself and the mission."

Fox opened the bridge door for Katt, and the two of the entered the room to find Slippy, Falco, Peppy, Bill, and ROB waiting for them. General Pepper was also there on the large television screen; they were all going through the procedures they were going to take on this mission and what they were going to do when they got to the planet.

"Sorry we're late, interrupted Fox, "we were checking up on Krystal again." Nobody minded that Fox was late, but they did ask how she was doing. He told them that she didn't show any signs of waking up.

"I'm sure that she'll be back soon, Fox", said Slippy enthusiastically. "She's probably just shocked about what we discovered."

"Alright, so are we ready to get this over with", asked Falco. The sooner this is taken care of, the sooner my vacation starts.

"If you could all come over here and look out this window," said Peppy, "you will be able to see that the asteroid belt isn't too far now." Everyone followed Peppy down a hall and to a large window where they could all clearly see a large sphere of asteroids that didn't seem to end and were packed so tightly together that they looked impossible to navigate through.

"Woah…" said Slippy in awe. "I'll never get through there alive."

"Now that you mention it," replied Peppy, "I think it would be best if you ride with somebody else on this mission. No offense, but your piloting skills aren't….aren't that….you know."

"Yeah, I gotcha Peppy," said Slippy.

"The arwing are now ready for takeoff," said ROB. If you would all just follow me this way…" Everyone followed ROB down to the hanger where there were four arwing waiting for them, and the five members of the team quickly jumped into them; Slippy accompanied Fox, saying that Falco was too much of a risk taker for him to handle.

"Yeah," replied Fox amusingly, "I know what you mean."

"Good luck team", yelled Peppy, "Figure out who is sending the distress calls and get back up here so we can all go home!"

And with that, the Star Fox Team started up the arwings and flew into the asteroids.

"Alright team", said Fox, "Let's not try anything fancy; let's just all try and get through here alive. Got it?"

"Yeah, yeah, ok", replied Falco. "Be careful Katt; we know how long its been since you've flown in an arwing."

Katt, greatly annoyed, replied "If anyone if going to crash right into an asteroid, Falco, its going to be you. I agree with Fox; we all need to just take it easy and get through this."

The team entered the asteroid field slowly. They didn't know anything about it: how long it would take them to get through it, whether or not anything lived in it, or what they would find when they got out of it. As all of these mysteries were running through Fox's mind, he saw something small and fast fly right in front of him; it definitely wasn't a member of the Star Fox Team.

"Hey, did you guys just see that?" Bill asked. It looked like another ship!

"I saw it Bill," Fox replied, "and if we were anywhere else, I would say that we should follow it. But since we're in a dangerous area, I think that it would be best if we just leave it alone."

"Are you kidding!" Falco exclaimed, "Fox, we were sent here to find answers, and I would bet anything that that ship could tell us something. I'm going after it." And with that, Falco took a quick left and began to go in the direction of the small ship.

"Falco, no!" screamed Fox, "Get back here! We have to stay together!"

"We're going to have to follow him, Fox", Slippy said from behind him. "There's no way we're gonna get Falco to change his mind." Fox knew that Slippy was right, and decided that the only way they were going to stay together was if they all follow Falco.

"Change of plans guys, we're going to have to follow Falco', Fox told the others. "Falco, what do you see?"

"I…I don't believe it!" Falco replied. "Fox, get over here now! There's a….its a…"