Chapter IV: Reunion

"Stealth Squadron open fire!" Andrew yelped into his transmitter. The squadron released barrage of their missiles in the direction of where the arwings were supposedly at. To the arrogant apes surprise there were no explosions the missiles had completely missed the arwings and disappeared in the vastness of space. Andrew tilted his head in confusion and glanced down at his radar, he noticed that the three arwings had disappeared from it. He got closer to the screen and squinted, "What the…" The squadron stopped firing, they were out of ammo. Andrew was baffled, he just couldn't figure out how the arwings had dodged that massive barrage of missile fire, and how they disappeared from the radar.

Falco's voice then blared over Andrew's intercom making him hop in his seat, "Yo freak show." Andrew gazed back down at his radar and three blips appeared on it. His eyes widened when he realized that the aircrafts were no longer in front of the small army, they were now behind the fleet. "Looks like you're out of ammo." Falco scoffed.

"Squadron about face." The ape commanded his army. The squadron did as they were told and flipped around to face the arwings.

"How did you get behind us?" Andrew asked with a hint of fury in his tone. He clinched his gloved fists and gently pounded down at the control panel of his giant ship.

The falcon chuckled, "It's called stealth mode genius."

"Watch you mouth you arrogant fool." The ape blared at his rival with the rage growing in his tone. "You may think you have won but the war is not over yet. I still have a few tricks up my sleeve." A grin sheepish grin appeared on Oikonny's face, he certainly did have a plan B. The stealth squadron's missile cannons then transformed shifting several different times and took the shape of wings. "Heh, let's see how you handle this." Andrew alleged.

"Bring it on!" Falco exclaimed yanking his throttle towards himself.

The arwings began their assault and the squadron scattered in all directions. The falcon immediately started to tail one ship. He fired in the rear end of the craft, then the space craft executed a vertical loop. Now the stealth ship was tailing Falco, "Dang, these things are annoying. Fox hang on." Falco smirked as he jerked the arwing into an sharp banked curve downwards. Thanks to Slippy's upgrades to the arwings the turn was so quick that the stealth ship wasn't able to follow.

Meanwhile Katt tailed a ship and launched a charge shot at the craft making impact with the rear jet. The space craft lost the connection with the jets and the furry feline launched another charged blast causing the ship it struck to shatter into pieces. Meanwhile Bill was being tailed by another ship, he weaved up and down, left and right but nothing seemed to rid him of the nescience lurking behind him. The young hound glanced up and located a ship coming directly toward him, a grin stretched to either side of his mug, for he had a plan. He remembered how he had defeated Falco at the last moments of their battle. The engine was then pushed to full speed and Bill went on a direct collision course for the oncoming space craft. The tailing ship fired at the wings of the hounds arwing, but all of the attacks were useless, the hound did barrel roll after barrel roll making all of the lasers harmless to the arwing. The other stealth ship was just a few meters ahead of Bill and at the last possible second he carried out a vertical u-turn, and the tailing ship and the obverse ship collided and exploded into an enormous fireball of destruction. The three remaining ships soon realized that they didn't stand a chance and started to flee the scene. "I don't think so." Falco smirked. He locked his crosshairs on his arwing on the three escaping ships and launched a Smart Bomb. The ships were fleeing at full speed and the bomb slowly gained ground on the ships. Falco watched from a distance anticipating the explosion, and then…there was a flash. A hellish fireball appeared in the distance and reflected off the arwings. This told the falcon that his bomb successfully collided with the enemy; the stealth squadron was no more. "Well…mission accomplished." Falco said with a chuckle.

Katt also chuckled and gazed at the universe around her. She whipped her furry head around and soon realized that Andrew's battleship was missing in action. "Hey everyone, Andrew's gone!" Katt exclaimed.

"That coward, he fled!" Falco mused, "Ah well, he won't get that chance the next time we meet him. In the meantime let's return to Corneria and find out what's going on, on Venom."

The team pulled their throttles back and headed home to give their friends that Fox was still alive and kicking, and to find out what the hell this "secret weapon" is and what it may be used for.

Peppy and the others were gathered around staring at the blank monitor from where Falco had contacted them just moments ago. They still couldn't believe that their beloved Fox McCloud was "dead". The retired hare closed his eyes and quietly sobbed to himself, he remembered how his colleague and best friend James was killed back on Venom. A memory started to reel in his head:


"Go Peppy get out of here!" James shouted holding his broken arm. "Go now before they get to you too." Peppy's eyes glazed with tears and held out his paw for James to grab on to. "James come on, escape while you have the chance!" Peppy pleaded.

James refused Peppy's offer and wiped the blood off of his muzzle, "No I'll only slow you down. If you don't leave now you'll be killed also. Hurry GO before that dirty swine Pigma gets to my son." James dropped to his knees and winced in pain, his shattered arm was causing him plenty misery. His arm had been crushed while he was caught up in a brawl with Andross' minions. One of the horrid apes troops had socked him in the muzzle with their massive fist causing him to fall to the ground. Then the troop put his foot on James' arm and applied enough pressure to crush the bones inside.

Peppy slowly turned to leave his beloved friend to face his fate. Then as he approached the opening in the cell James called out to him. "Wait Peppy." The hare turned around and trotted at a quick pace back to his friend. James removed his black leather gloves and reflective blue sunglasses, "Here my friend, give these to Fox so he'll have something to remember me by." James' eyes filled with tears and he started to sob, "Tell him I love him, and I'll always be with him in his heart." He held out the gloves and glasses to Peppy.

The hare took the mementos and also started to weep. "Please James…please come with me, it doesn't have to end this way." Peppy continued to plea to his best friend.

James just shook his head and started to reach for his blaster that was knocked out of his grasp when he struggled with the guards, when they first took him away to be tortured. "No! I've already told you, I'll only slow you down!" The vulpine exclaimed sternly. Footsteps were then heard approaching, "Hurry Peppy leave now…I'll distract the guards."

Two ape minions approached the opening in the cell, "Ok it's time to go Mr. McCloud." One of the apes mused approaching James.

"You'll never take me alive!" James shrieked at the guards. He hurled his blaster at one of the apelike creatures and struck him square in his maw. The guard yelped in pain and grabbed his face. James looked up at Peppy who was still standing in the cells opening. "What are you doing Peppy? Go…NOW!" Peppy finally got the message and fled to James' arwing. When Peppy was out of sight the vulpine leapt into the air and rotated 360 degrees and landed a blow on the side of the other guard's countenance causing him to temporarily loose his equilibrium balance. He wobbled around and after regaining his composure seized his blaster and positioned it on the top of James' forehead. James froze in his current position, closed his eyes, and prepared for the worst.

Peppy sprinted for the base's entrance and as he approached the doors he heard a gunshot and a body fall to the ground. Agony gripped his chest for he knew his friend was now gone. He gripped onto the precious mementos James had given him, and was determined to hand them to Fox when he got back to Corneria.


Peppy reopened his eyes and let out a deep sigh, he refused to believe that Fox was dead. He redirected his gaze at the others still gathered around in the room. "Everyone…I need some time alone please excuse me." The hare quietly stepped out and headed for his bedroom. Meanwhile Krystal headed outside to get some fresh air she needed to clear her mind. The little blue vixen approached the door, it slid open and she stepped outside. She wiped the tears from her eyes and gazed at the radiant blue sky. She suddenly sensed three life forms and an extremely faint fourth brainwave pattern approaching in the distance. Her heart skipped a beat and her eyes widened, "That other pattern…could it really be?" She thought to herself hoping that the faint pattern was Fox. As the arwings approached the brain patterns got stronger, her hopes grew rapidly as the one faint pattern began to grow in strength, but it was still too weak to tell.

Slippy stepped outside and noticed that Krystal had a smile on her beautiful visage, "Krystal, w-what is it?" He asked standing by her side.

Her gaze was redirected to his eyes, "I sense a fourth brainwave pattern…but…it's too weak to tell who it is. I think it may be Fox."

Slippy gasped and put his hand over his orifice, "Co-could he still be a-alive?" The toad asked with glee in his tone. Krystal didn't answer, she just shrugged her shoulders. She closed her green eyes, all she could do now was wait.

A few minutes had passed. Krystal was now sitting on the concrete ground still gazing at the heavens when a small flash of light caught her eye. She quickly stood up and became anxious. It was the arwings they soared thought the atmosphere and started to approach the landing strip by the hangar. The ships gently landed on the concrete runway, and the blue vixen dashed towards them. The cockpit lids opened and Katt and Bill leapt down from the crafts. Falco stepped out of his cockpit and turned to Fox who was still out of it. "Fox here, take my hand." Falco said extending his hand to help his friend. Fox slowly lifted his paw and embraced Falco's. The falcon pulled the vulpine and Fox stood up. Falco draped his friend's arm over his shoulder and used the ladder located by the cockpit to climb down from the arwing.

"Fox, can you walk?" Falco asked after they climbed down from the arwing.

"I'll try." Fox answered softly. He raised his arm off Falco's shoulder and attempted to walk. The vulpine put his right foot in front of him and took a step, he stumbled. He took another step, again he stumbled.

Krystal approached the injured vulpine, "Here Fox, I'll help you." Krystal glanced at Falco, "I'll take it from here Falco, thanks for helping him."

"Not a problem, just holler if you need me." The avian mused, stepping inside.

The beautiful vixen took Fox's paw and guided him inside. Fox used Krystal as leverage so he would not fall if he lost his balance. The two trotted inside the Great Fox and Krystal led Fox to a sofa in the lounge. Fox plopped down on the soft sofa and sighed, it was so nice to be back among his friends and…well…girlfriend. Krystal sat down beside him and they gazed into each others eyes. "So you thought I was dead huh?" Fox asked with a grin on his mug. "Well I would be if it wasn't for this." Fox rose up his red and green striped shirt and showed the laser proof vest with two burn holes in it from where he was shot with Leo's blaster.

"Well I think you should go get some rest, you need it after what you've been through." Krystal said smiling at Fox. The vulpine grinned back and nodded in agreement, he stood up and turned to the vixen still propped on the couch.

"That's a good idea, I need a shower too but first there's someone I must say hi to." Fox mused walking away. He left the lounge and proceeded down the hallway, soon he came across an open door and gazed in it. He found Peppy facing away from the door in tears looking at numerous photo albums. Fox quietly approached the hare and put one of his paws on Peppy's shoulder. "What's up…Peppy?" Fox quietly mused.

The hare gasped and dropped the album he was looking at, recognizing the voice. He slowly rotated his head, "F-F-Fox?" He stuttered now looking directly at the vulpine's face. He hopped up from the floor and tears of happiness poured out of his eyes. "Fox you're alive!" Peppy embraced Fox and the vulpine yelped in pain causing the hare to jump back. "What's wrong Fox, are you hurt?" He asked worried that he had hurt the vulpine.

"Not really, my back is kind of bothering me though." Fox mused remembering when he slammed into the ground after being hurled over Leo's shoulders. He patted his friend on the shoulder, "Well it's nice to see you again, and now we need to get the info from Katt about this so called 'secret weapon' that Invictus is building." Peppy then smiled at Fox, wiped the tears from his eyes, and they both left the room.


Falco and Katt were in the medical ward where Katt was wrapping the falcons foot in medical bandages. "Katt what are you doing?" Falco asked rolling his eyes. Katt ignored him and continued to wrap his claw. She knew Falco enough to expect this kind of resistance from him. "Katt stop, my foot's fine." The falcon continued to plea to the furry feline. "Katt…" He was suddenly interrupted.

"Falco two words…shut…up. I'm wrapping your foot because I don't want this wound to become infected." Katt told the avian.

"It's just a flesh wound though, it will heal." Falco said looking down on Katt. She just rolled her eyes and finished tending to his claw.

"There I'm done Falco, are you happy now?" Katt smiled at her falcon friend. Falco smiled back and then the intercom activated and Peppy's voice was heard. "Everyone we need to gather in the debrief room right now, thank you." Falco then hopped off of the table in the ward and they both proceeded for the debrief room. They trotted down the hall and Fox and Peppy rounded the corner in front of them. They greeted each other and together strolled down the hallway, rounded another corner and arrived at the room where they spotted General Pepper, Krystal, Bill, and Slippy all sitting in chairs located around the table. Pepper held out his paw in front of him palm up, a signal for please take a seat. When everyone was seated Pepper started to speak.

"Greetings StarFox, I'm happy to hear that you successfully rescued our spy Katt from her predicament, nice job." Pepper alleged grinning at the team. He then redirected his gaze and glanced over to Fox. "I also heard you had a close call back on Katina Fox. Well I'm glad that you are ok…You are ok aren't you?" Pepper asked with concern.

Fox grinned at the hound and let out a slight chuckle, "Of course General, nothing can stop me."

"Heh, you definitely have your father's spirit in you Fox." General Pepper replied with his shoulders bouncing with silent laughter. "You always push forward no matter how big the obstacles are in front of you, that's very good to know, just don't get over confident. Now I think we should focus on the obstacle in front of us right now." The general once again redirected his gaze, this time to the furry pink feline reclined in the chair to his left. "So Ms. Monroe, what is the latest news on Invictus?"

Katt sat up in her chair which caused it to squeak slightly, "Well before I was captured and cut off from you, the last thing I heard was Invictus was building a weapon, and I overheard that this weapon could devastate the entire Lylat System."

Peppy clasped his paws together and rested his chin on them, "Well do you remember what this weapon was called? Did you hear a code name for it?"

The furry feline glanced over to Peppy and closed her eyes, and out her paw on her forehead desperately trying to remember a name. "Umm…let me see, I remember hearing something but it's hard to recall anything after Leo ambushed me and whacked me over the head." Everyone sat in silence for a few moments while the feline deeply thought about what she had heard. Suddenly she snapped her fingers, "I've got it. It was called the Gravity Bomb."

Peppy and the general closed their eyes at Katt's reply and grew very concerned. Meanwhile Falco chimed in, "Gravity bomb, isn't that the thing that…" The avian's voice trailed off he suddenly remembered what the gravity bomb was.

Peppy stood up and faced the wall, "Yes Falco it was the weapon that destroyed an entire squadron of the Cornerian Army back when James was head of StarFox. Luckily StarFox wasn't included in that particular mission. If we had been we would probably not be here at this moment."

Katt had a confused look on her face, she heard the news about the gravity bomb in the past when she got back from her out of galaxy trip. "So just what are we dealing with here? I mean what capabilities does this gravity bomb have?" She asked Peppy.

Peppy turned to her once again, "Well, the gravity bomb has the ability to create temporary black holes. Andross built one in the past and used it. He detonated it and the squadron we had patrolling Meteo was completely destroyed, they got sucked into the black hole when it was created."

Bill had his arms rested on the table, next to him Falco was reclined in his chair with his feet crossed and propped up on the table, you could tell he was extremely bored. The reason Andross had built the bomb in the first place was because, he thought that James McCloud was in charge of that patrol and wanted to take him out of the picture for good. The reason behind that was he was jealous of James' wife Vixy Reinard. Later after the gravity bomb incident Andross came up with another plan, place a bomb on James' car. There was a slight error in that plan as well, he planted the bomb on Vixy's car instead of James' so when Vixy went out on the town one day, she started the car and was vaporized.

General Pepper was growing worried, "If Invictus has rebuilt the gravity bomb, I'm sure it's much more powerful and has a greater blast range than the last one."

Peppy nodded his head in agreement, "Indeed, that's why we need to stop him at all costs. If we let him succeed at building it and using it he could wipe us all out. We don't want to relive what happened 10 years ago."

Everyone then understood their next mission, find the gravity bomb and eliminate it. Peppy dismissed the team, they all raised from their seats and headed for the door. Fox was the last to exit after Krystal and he raised his arms over his tan furred cranium to stretch. He then winced in pain and brought them down and pressed on his back with his paws, then let out a slight moan. Krystal turned around and caught Fox standing with his back against the wall. "Fox are you alright? You look as though you are in pain."

Katt overheard the conversation and chimed in, "Oh yeah, Fox you may want to get your back X-Rayed."

Krystal turned to the furry blue eyed feline and tilted her head in confusion. "X-rayed…why?"

Katt got closer to the blue vixen and put her paw on her shoulder, "See we were crawling through this vent shaft and when we reached the end of it this tiger named Leo grabbed me and yanked me through the end of the shaft." Krystal gasped and put her small blue paw over her muzzle. Katt continued, "I was lying on the ground looking down the barrel of Leo's blaster when Fox suddenly appears out of nowhere and jumps onto Leo's back. Then I saw him reach over and grabbed Fox by his collar then he threw him over his head. Next thing I know Fox is soaring through the air then BANG! He slams into the ground, and I don't mean just landed I mean really slammed into the ground." Krystal was just standing there, she had taken her paw away from her mouth and now she was standing there jaw agape. She turned back to Fox who was still standing there with his eyes closed and his back against the wall.

He opened up his eyes and glanced at the wall in front of him. "Actually, I would like to get my back checked out it's better to be safe than sorry." Fox alleged approaching the two women. Katt thought about what the vulpine just said and giggled slightly.

"That's not what Falco would do, he would rather die than go to a doctor." Katt said with a chuckle. "Well Fox you go to the ward and get the doc to X-ray your back and I'll see you all around. I'm going to just explore downtown for a while." Fox and Krystal waved goodbye as Katt rounded the corner.


Doctor Kapline a 6 foot tall brown furred simian, he was wearing a white coat with a stethoscope hung around his neck. He was parked at his desk signing health forms for the new recruits. He stopped and let out a sigh while he glanced up to the ceiling. "This is the only thing I don't like about this job, signing my name on the same thing over and over and over." He said to himself quietly. This was Dr. Kapline's second day on the job since Dr. Ray Hanson retired after 50 years of service. He began to sign again when the sound of a knock came from the sliding window in front of him. He reached up with his apelike paw and slid it open. Fox and Krystal were standing in the window pane, "May I help you?" Dr. Kapline asked with a polite tone.

Fox rested his arms on the little counter which was attached to the bottom of the sliding window. "Yes I have been having back pains recently and I think I need an X-ray."

Dr. Kapline smiled and nodded, and reached for a clipboard which was propped up against his computer. "Ok, all I need you to do is sign in here, and put your ID number here." The simian said pointing to the different spots where Fox needed to sign. Fox took the pen from Kapline and filled out the information on the clipboard and handed it back to him. The simian examined the name and raised his eyebrows, "So you are the one and only Fox McCloud eh? I've been looking forward to the day I could meet you. I've heard you've been on some very interesting missions in the past, well come on to the back." Kapline said motioning for them to come inside the office.

Fox and Krystal proceeded through the white office door, and stepped into a fairly large room with white and blue stripped wallpaper. Over to the left was Kapline's computer and health forms, to the right was a Cornerian calendar and some posters with health advice on them. The simian then pointed to another door, "Just wait in there I'll be with you shortly." The two stepped into another room only this one was slightly smaller and had red and green stripped wallpaper and had a bed. There was also a TV mounted on the wall with dresser drawers under it. The sound of machinery being pushed echoed throughout the office and Dr. Kapline appeared outside doorway with an X-ray machine. He attempted to push the machine into the room and hit the doorframe by accident. He pulled it backward and tried again. Success, the machine fit through the door. "Just have a seat on that bed Fox while I adjust this machine." He turned on the machine and a faint whirring sound was heard. Dr. Kapline punched a few buttons. Meanwhile Krystal took a seat in a blue chair right next to the door.

"So your name is…."Fox said trailing off.

"Kapline, Dr. Rod Kapline sorry for not introducing myself earlier. This is my second day on the job." Rod alleged, "Your name is Fox and yours is…." Rod said squinting and pointing his finger at the vixen who had a smile on her visage.

"Krystal, just call me Krystal, it's nice to meet you Dr. Kapline." Krystal said reaching out to shake his paw.

Rod took Krystal's paw and shook it, "Just call me Rod. Also what happened to make your back become bothersome?"

Fox and Krystal looked at each other, "It's a looong story Dr. Kapline." They both said together.

The X-ray machine made a beeping noise indicating that it was all ready to go. "Well Fox it looks like this machine is up and raring to go, so could you stand right there please?" Rod asked showing Fox where to stand. The vulpine went to the spot he was told to stand and the simian went behind the machine. "Oh Fox could you please remove your shirt, we don't want anything to interfere with the machine."

Fox's shy personality started to kick in, "D-do what now?" Fox stuttered. He glanced at Krystal who knew all well what was going on, she could barely contain the laughter bubbling inside her. She found Fox's shy personality cute and very fun to mess with, and she knew the shy vulpine well enough to know how to push his buttons.

"I said remove your shirt please." Rod asked a second time. The vulpine did as he was told he raised his green and red uniform shirt over his head revealing his furry abdomen and laid it on the bed. It had a snow white oval that reached starting from his muzzle down his neck right down to the end of his stomach, and was outlined by golden brown fur. The machine whirred and hummed, Rod quickly found the problem and turned off the machine. "It's nothing but a bruised backbone, you should be just fine Fox, it'll just be sore for a couple of days." The simian alleged leaving the room. "Let me just go get your papers and I can get you on your way."

Fox reached for his shirt and slipped it back on. Krystal started to chuckle slightly, "Now was that so hard Fox?" She asked jokingly.

Fox started to turn red, "It was a little bit."

"Why…is it because I'm a woman?" Krystal asked him continuing to push his buttons.

"Is this national Pick on Fox day or something?" Fox asked her shrugging his shoulders.

Krystal stood up from her chair, put her arms around him, and gently embraced the vulpine. "I'm sorry Fox, I'll stop now." Fox wrapped his arms around her as well and hugged her tight. "It's alright Krystal don't worry about it." Fox said gently.

"Well isn't that a nice sight…" Rod said out of nowhere. Krystal and Fox let go of each other and turned to see him standing in the doorway with a clipboard. "Well according to this chart Fox you are due for a blood test, so we'll just get that done right now." The simian pulled a syringe from his pocket and a small vile. He marched over to the counter on the wall, reached into a box and pulled out an alcohol swab. He ripped the paper open and took out the swab. "Fox hold out your arm please." Rod asked as he attached the vile to the back end of the syringe. "You will feel a slight pinch." The simian swabbed the vulpine's arm where he was going to extract the blood from and stuck the needle into his arm. Red liquid started to quickly fill up the vile…it was over. Kapline removed the needle and reached for a bandage and applied it to Fox's arm. "There we're all done here, so now you can be on your way."

They left the room and proceeded out of the office. As Fox and Krystal approached the door Fox turned around, "It was nice meeting you Rod and I hope to see you around."

"Likewise, thanks for stopping in and come back soon you hear?" Rod said waving goodbye.

The vulpine laughed, "Will do Dr. Thank you very much bye." The two waved bye and shut the door behind them.

Dr. Kapline raised the vile of Fox's blood to the ceiling, looked at it, and shook it around. A sheepish grin crossed his face and he let out a chuckle, "Thanks indeed Fox McCloud…Thanks indeed."

----To be continued