* On board the Great Fox *

"Now entering the mesosphere of Planet Veradeena," ROB 64 affirmed to Fox and Peppy, who both sat slumped in their chairs. "Commencing procedure for the ship's atmospheric descent. ETA to final destination, Midair Stadium: Twenty minutes."

"Alright, and I got clearance from the Orbital Authorities. Reckon we're on the home stretch now..." Peppy added with a weary sigh.

Outside the large bridge windows, the planet filled the entire view like a stunning panorama. They'd approached from the side still facing away from the Nassazar, so the great shadow-line crossed the planet's surface in a beautiful arc; starkly contrasting its barrier between day and night. Some small web-like clumps of orange and yellow city lights could be seen down there on the darkened side.

It was a gorgeous vista to be sure, but within it all, a cold and unsettled feeling lingered.

Fox blinked quite a long time before inevitably breaking the silence, "... Uh, Pep? Can I ask you something?"

"Yeah?" The hare glanced at him.

"When the OA sent you final clearance, did you mention anything about the energy anomaly?"

At first Peppy fell silent, yet he ended up shaking his head slowly. "... No, I didn't..."

Fox sighed through his nose, concerned. "Well, maybe you should've at least said something in the confirmation log, you know?"

"Believe me," the hare added, "The thought really was bangin' in my mind, but I just figured I'd keep quiet."

"... Do they even know anything?" Fox couldn't help speculating.

"Hm... Hard to say..." Peppy shifted his back so he'd be more comfortable. "That's the thing, I didn't hear 'em mention a word about it either, so..."

"But, it's just, I can't stop thinking about it..." The vulpine rested his forehead upon two fingers. His bushy tail swayed slowly from side to side as he sat in the chair. "It was all so sudden... And unnatural..."

"Well, what I can say is we've had more than a few run-ins with EMPs before." The hare sought to clarify, only he ended up thinking harder, "... But none like this. Never like a huge blindin' beam of pure energy."

"Mm..." Fox was also deep in thought. "Almost like it could've been part of a gamma ray burst or something."

"We'd be nothin' but ashes and dust if that was a gamma ray." Turning back to the mainframe dashboard, Peppy observed the information onscreen and hypothesized, "D'ya think... By chance, it coulda been a concentrated solar flare? Hence those radiation readings?"

"A solar flare...?" Fox balked, "So how'd you explain the 'no exterior damage' part, then? Let alone, ROB said it came from an unknown source. There's been no large flares coming from the Nassazar either. We would've gotten warnings from the OA way ahead of time if there were."

"... You're right..." The hare took off his small circular glasses and rubbed his eyelids. "Those times before our shields were always up, and it seemed the Great Fox still got nicked every dang time we ran into 'em. How can I forget the swearin' afterwards..."

The vulpine leaned forward with his chin resting upon his knuckles, trying hard to ponder it all.

"Yeah, I know..." He sighed, "It makes no sense... And that's what's worrying me most..."

As if realizing there was something urgent he had to check, Fox clicked a small button on the side of his communicator headpiece and flipped down that little mic next to his maw.

"Slippy? You read me?" He started into the piece, waiting a beat until the mechanic's voice answered:

"Copy that, Fox, I read ya loud and clear."

"You down in the hangar yet?"

A slightly agitated grunt came back from him. "Nope, still on sub-level Three-D... The long trudge down the whole hull past all these storage rooms. I'm down for a little chit-chat though if you are, 'cause we've got some time to spare."

"Ah yes, that trudge." The vulpine smirked. "Well at least you have something you're doing to help pass said time. We're just up here, waiting with oh-so baited breath."

"Heh, yeah..." The mechanic exhaled, "But really, though... I feel kinda bad about that third match you can't see."

Acknowledging these friendly words, Fox raised his green eyes and stared solemnly out the front window, where the wide blue planet straddled the Great Fox's view even more. He sighed softly, gazing at this beautiful canvas of their destination. Sparse cloud layers dotted the expanse. Even the continental shoreline itself stretched yonder.

"Yep, it's a bummer. Don't feel bad about it though, 'cause it's nothing you did." Then he chuckled, "Hmph. I just seriously hope we weren't the only ones to lose signal, you know what I mean?"

Of course Slippy knew. "You n' me both, Fox. Some luck that'd be, huh?"

"Ha, wouldn't it," agreed the vulpine as another moment went between him and his amphibian friend. "That probably would be our luck, part of me is willing to bet..."

Slippy soon asked a final question, although his breathing sounded more like he was in the middle of doing a workout of some kind.

"Say... You know what this mothership really needs that most other CDF frigates have?"

Fox scoffed. "What?"

"... Hover scooters."

The Great Fox's main hangar bay was quite literally trashed in every sense of the word. Dozens upon dozens of cargo crates had once been stacked neatly and were now strewn all about. Some even lay broken apart with their contents spilling out.

That was among other debris scattered across the metallic floors, but just as it had been detected, the Star Fox team's four Arwing fighter craft were dislodged from their stationary mounts and lay scrunched up against the walls, with one of them capsized completely.

Indeed, all of this appeared much worse than what the computer's analysis labelled as mere minor damages.

No doubt the force had also been able to blast in so easily, since the actual opening of the hangar bay only stood protected from the vacuum of space by a thin layer of energy shields. It'd bore the full brunt against that energy as it grazed along the mothership's hull, with even a part of the beam itself ripping here inside the hangar and thus causing all this damage.

A sound of boots treading on the metallic floor promptly rose over that deep ambient hum of the ship. It was those of Slippy's as he hurried into the main bay from the airlock, yet as this true sight of destruction greeted his eyes, the mechanic's whole face dropped.

"D'oh, for the love of... Ughhh...!" He didn't know what to say or do initially, other than groan and smack his forehead. Soon enough, he started to wander through the hangar and take a sour look around.

The air in here felt chilly, making Slippy's own breath come out as soft puffs each time he exhaled. He took out that little communicator from his back pocket while observing all this damage and eventually pressed the talk button on it.

"Fox...? You there...?"

A couple of cold seconds passed before the vulpine's voice came back. "What's happening, Slip? Everything ok?"

"Well... No, actually..." He scoffed reluctantly, "I'm in the main bay now, and I'm not gonna lie... It's a total wreck down here. The crates are all broken up. Equipment's lying all over the place. Lotsa fixtures have come loose too."

"... Damn..." Fox's tone fell bitter. He was almost unwilling to ask, "Um... And what about the Arwings?"

Slippy took one look at their fighter craft in this current state and shook his head, biting down on his lower lip. "They're gonna need my attention, that's for sure."

The vulpine let out a damp sigh. "Alright, so, why is the hangar bay the worst affected place? Can ya answer me that, Slip?"

"Heck if I know," croaked the mechanic, observing more damage. "Might just be the fact that this is the Great Fox's most vulnerable area, 'cause I mean, minus the entry airlock, it's practically opened to space."

"But... NONE of our shields were up. We should've been fried like a spit, that's what I'm saying...!" Fox attempted to explain, yet Slippy was just as confused as he was.

"I hear ya, it really beats me too." He shook his head lightly. "But what especially beats me is how the damage report could call this minor damages. You might wanna tell ROB to double-check those response systems, 'cause it's sure as heck a freakin'-..."

He stopped dead in his tracks, abruptly freezing mid-sentence due to noticing something very odd amidst the hangar's whole scenario.

"... What, Slip? What is it?" Fox's voice inquired, rather suspiciously after this sudden onset of silence. Meanwhile, Slippy slowly began walking over to what had prompted him to cut off his words, until he came to a stop at the motionless body of a human lying on the floor.

Now his eyes widened with a very confused realization.

"... Slip? You there?"

This human looked young and couldn't have been older than one's early twenties. It faced upright in a contorted position, as if the body had been roughly thrashed around. Slippy couldn't even tell if it was a boy or a girl either, though it had a slender and somewhat androgynous figure.

"... Slippy? Do you copy?"

Covering half of the face was longish dirty-blonde hair which had once streaked off to one side. Now, it was all ruffled and in a complete mess. The eyelids hung shut with lips completely still as well. Not a single sign of life shown.

"... Slippy?! Come in!"

Yet, unlike the boy just discovered in Midair Stadium, this human wore very different clothing: A slim-fitting blue and white shirt, with dark capris-style pants. On the feet were a pair of thick wool socks, the kind one would definitely wear during winter. Strangely enough, they also appeared wet to the touch from something that must have happened.

"... SLIPPY!?"

The mechanic finally held his communicator back up and spoke shakily as he stared down at this human, "Uh... F-Fox? R-Roger that to your question about there being a problem down here, 'cause there really is..."

"Whaddya mean," demanded the vulpine, but Slippy could do nothing except breathe deeply in, then slowly out.

"... I-I think you'd better get down here right now... 'Cause I'm standing over a human's body on the floor..."

Only a ghostly silence of frail white-noise was returned over the comm to those words.

Music: "Running Out"

* Midair Stadium *

The crowds all murmured much more worriedly in seeing the team of paramedics far down there on the smash platform. Not only that, but the smoke and ash had cleared up enough so the body of that strange blonde-haired boy was now visible for everyone else to begin noticing. Yet, that huge and ominous question of how he suddenly got here hung darkly over everything.

Mario, Kirby, and the nervous Toad referee watched the paramedics after they'd gathered around to inspect the boy. One of them clicked opened the case he'd brought which held a portable breather, a pressurized air canister, a defibrillator, bandage wraps, plus other equipment.

"Alright. This boy is alive, but only just." The head Toad paramedic confirmed to the plumber, who nodded briefly.

"Mhmm, his pulse is-a-very slow, so I think-a-he needs a strong dose of-a-pure oxygen."

"... Seems you're right on that one, Mario," a Koopa paramedic concurred. He'd attached some sensory tabs on the boy's bare-skinned areas with one hand, holding a portable monitoring device in the other. Its screen displayed vital life-sign feedback, although right now those readings were quite far down.

"He's unconscious due to syncope. Blood pressure's real low, and barely any of it's getting to his brain or other vitals, so I'd agree. A blast of air will go a long way. Here, get the canister and mask..."

With that, he and another paramedic took out the portable breathing device and carefully began placing it around the boy's limp head.

As if it were a sense of intuition, Mario glanced up over his shoulder meanwhile, meeting the tiny but shocked eyes of Peach and other attendees who stared down from their seats on the royal balcony. Both she and Zelda held a hand near their mouth, often turning to one another and asking what looked like worried questions. On the other hand, Daisy frequently glanced back at others in the royal audience, doing the same and trying to get answers.

Like most people in the massive crowds, they didn't realize what had happened down there. Only now could they make out that boy's motionless figure, lying in the middle of the crater.

Then the plumber's eyes lowered, resting on all his fellow smashers residing over there across the walkway ramp. He noticed how they too were really trying to see what was going on, yet just couldn't from where they stood.

Of everyone, it was Lucina who'd processed how Mario and Kirby were in fact standing behind the paramedic team. She hesitated a brief beat off of Mario's concerned gaze back to her and the others before letting out a short, uncertain sigh.

"... What are they doing over there?" She couldn't keep quiet due to her mounting suspicion, "The physicians definitely gathered around something..."

"Or someone..." Ike added in the same tone, but little did he know. These brooding thoughts must've been on every smasher's mind as they all stood here crowded together, just waiting for something; anything to be announced. Plus, they heard how the stadium's crowds were growing more anxious since they could obviously see something that they didn't.

It even seemed like the 50th Quadrennial Galactic Smash Tournament itself had suddenly been forgotten about altogether, in wake of that mysterious lightning blast.

"... Well, that's it." After what felt like another agonizing minute, Captain Falcon broke the tense silence. He uncrossed his arms and took a broad step out onto the walkway ramp. "I'm goin' over there to see what the heck happened. They never said we couldn't. Anybody gonna come with?"

Hesitation fell among all the other smashers at first, but it was Link who quietly stepped forward to join the F-zero racer. He turned back, gazing upon the others through his turquoise eyes to see if anyone else might consider.

"... I'll come with you two." Ike then took a confident step forward.

"... Make that you three." Now Red started walking too after a quick swivel of his cap, along with Pikachu still perched atop his shoulder.

"Pika," he agreed with his trainer.

Those few ended up spurring Luigi to go with them, which subsequently made Little Mac think about it as well. He ran his hand back through his spiky black hair without saying a word, and like a chain effect, he ended up stepping forward too.

Finally, Lucina let out another quick breath and shot somewhat determined looks to Marth and Roy just beside her. The three Heroes of the Emblem quickly chose to hurry forward as well, joining with Ike and the rest of that little group.

As they headed out across the walkway ramp, the others now in the front traded uneasy looks and kept talking amongst each other over this truly unprecedented situation. Yoshi and Red's troupe of other Pokémon really seemed to want to go over there with them, but in the end, they figured it was probably better to stay right where they were.

"... Ok, good news is we've got a steady heart rate," the head paramedic declared through a hint of relief. He pulled up the stethoscope's head which had been pressed under the boy's charred sweater while he listened closely. "Now all we can really do is stay here and wait for him to regain consciousness."

"How long-a-will it-a-take," wondered Mario. "A few minutes, or...?"

"More or less..." The Toad paramedic wiped a hand across his forehead. "Well, at least it should..."

Then he glanced at the Koopa paramedic who held that monitoring device and said, "Right... Keep a close eye on that cardio pulse."

Tense moments kept mounting, prompting Mario to turn and look back again. Surprise overcame him instead when he got met with the sight of that small group approaching, along with his brother.

Kirby noticed them too, uttering a bit of an anxious, "Poyo...!"

"Mario?" Captain Falcon spoke up, "You guys alright? What happened over here?"

Luigi, Link, Lucina, Marth, Roy, Ike, Little Mac, Red, and Pikachu appeared to share that very same thought. The red-shirted man, however, retained a darkly dubious expression upon his mustached face.

"Ehh..." He made a small gesture. "Come and-a-look for yourselves..."

Once they were able to see the unconscious boy's body from over the shoulders of the paramedics, it seemed they couldn't speak another word due to their profound shock. Perhaps not surprisingly, the only one of them who was rather unfazed in his reaction was Link.

"... Hey, everybody... Just stay back a bit, please." The head paramedic glanced up and firmly commanded the group of smashers. They obeyed, taking a few silent steps back to stand with Mario and Kirby.

"M-Mario...?" Luigi anxiously turned to his brother. "Wh-Who is that...?!"

The older sibling just shook his head. "I... I don't-a-know, Luigi."

Nobody knew what to think, let alone feel at first. Although Mario already noticed it, the others were now able to witness that perplexing insignia on the front of the boy's sweater as well, leaving them confounded all the same.

"His garb..." Marth was the one to finally utter something, "Look at that emblem on his garb...! Why does he wear the emblem of a tree...?"

Silence seemed to be his only answer.

"... But, where did this guy even come from...?!" Red then spoke up from his own confusion.

"Pika... Chu...?" His Pokémon partner fully seconded that.

Red's eyes wandered a little, until they rested on Little Mac who stood a few people down from him. He looked at Mac, then down at the unconscious boy, and then up at Mac again. The trainer seemed to notice something; something physically similar between the two.

"Wait a sec... This just hit me, but do you guys see who this kinda looks like?"

After some blank stares by the others, he clarified, "He... He kinda looks like Mac."

"Huh? You think he looks like me...?" The boxer squinted unsurely, trying to see said resemblance. Red nodded, however, feeling rather certain in his observation.

"Yeah, a-a little bit? I mean, he's kinda got a similar athletic figure to you... M-Minus the blonde hair of course. See what I mean?"

Interestingly enough, this blonde boy did share a bit of a physical resemblance to the boxer like Red had pointed out, although he wasn't quite as muscular.

While their little side-talk went on, that Koopa paramedic kept a close watch on the monitoring device. So far, it'd been showing slow albeit steady rates coming from those sensory tabs placed on the boy's neck and arms. But then, all of a sudden, the pulses began to increase without any explanation.

"... Hey, hey look...! His vitals, they're spiking...!" He pointed out. The other paramedics became transfixed as well, since they truthfully didn't know what to expect from this condition.

"How's his heart rate?" Another inquired, to whom the former read the device concernedly.

"It's climbing... It's climbing rapidly...! Passing normal... Rising... Rising to high thresholds...!"

The boy's eyes snapped wide-open, revealing to be a bright blue color. His huge, dilated pupils instantly shrunk to a pin-sized dot from the intensity of the sunlight, and his mouth opened to let out an utterly terrified cry:

"... AAAAAGHHHH!"

The paramedic team all about leaped back in surprise; so did Mario and the others standing just a few steps behind them. The boy writhed around as if he were struggling to feel what was beside himself, until he got a grip on that breather upon his face. He frantically tore it off, allowing a huge gulp of fresh cool air to fill his lungs before he rolled over onto his hands and knees.

The boy was totally discombobulated, however. He stumbled up the crater's slope and immediately collapsed on his front side after he'd stepped out. Now he panted hard, with the entirety of his body beginning to tremble too.

During this same time, the whole stadium had erupted with loud, anxious clamor from some two-hundred thousand people witnessing this blonde human awaken out of nowhere like that. Many of those other smashers crowded at the end of the exit hall could also finally spot what the focus of attention was, so most of them got left bewildered.

Likewise, the group out here on the smash platform exchanged shocked glances with one another as the boy started emitting small whimpers of pure fear in-between breaths. He kept lying there on the ground, shivering through every nerve in his body.

Mario was the one who finally took a confident breath of his own, and started approaching this strange human in front of them.

"... Ehh... H-Hello...?" He asked carefully, "Can-a-you hear me...?"

The boy tucked his arms and legs up tightly, staring straight ahead through his wide blue eyes. Even though he faced in the direction of Mario and the others, what they didn't realize was that this boy couldn't even see them. His vision was nothing but blurry smudges of faint objects, scattered amidst a pale void. Similarly, filling his ears to the brim was a dull, low-toned ring that no one else could hear except him.

Mario kneeled down in front of him nevertheless and tried asking again, "... Can-a-you hear me...?"

A dozen or so seconds passed. No response whatsoever came from the boy, other than more shivered breaths and his trembling figure.

Inevitably, the mustached man did take notice how his eyes were fully opened, yet didn't appear receptive in any way. He slowly waved a hand right in front of the boy's face, and his little suspicion got confirmed after no reaction came. Thus he glanced up to his companions at his flanks and shook his head.

"He can't-a-see anything, it seems..."

Lucina gave him a worried look. "Gods... He's blind...?"

Mario exhaled unsurely. "Well, he's not-a-reacting to anything. Not even us-a-standing right here."

The truth was he just didn't know for sure. None of them could, for that matter.

It was Link who approached next, kneeling beside Mario and this odd human due to suspecting something himself. He let one of his hands hover above the boy's ear facing upward for a moment, before snapping his fingers several times to check if he could hear anything.

Again, the boy didn't react in the slightest, so Link looked at the others, shaking his head and motioning around his own ear to describe how he couldn't hear any sound either.

"You mean... He can't see or hear anything...?!" Roy then spoke up from the group, equally flabbergasted. "But... Is it permanent...?"

There was yet another uncomfortable silence among everyone. However, the head Toad paramedic seemed to have a different take on it.

"No," he said, "I doubt it's permanent. This looks like some sort of physical side-effect as his body regains itself. What are the readings on his vitals now?"

The Koopa paramedic who'd been checking the monitoring device this whole time replied, "Heart rate and respiratory readings are still way up. His blood pressure does seem to be lowering gradually, but it's also well above anything comfortable."

"What about his bone and muscle integrity?" One of the Shy Guy paramedics suggested from behind, "We need to get him to the MRI as soon as possible."

"Right now we can't, not when the facility has no power." The head paramedic explained, "A sudden shift in any of the readings could have substantial consequences on his present condition either way. It's obvious this boy can't see or hear anything right now, and we don't know about the status of his other systems except for these three that we're seeing on the portable monitor."

Lastly, he sighed and concluded to the group, "Right now... I hate to say it, but this boy is beyond our capabilities for treatment. We can't even call in a Life-Flight since all comms are shot, so we need to stay right here with him for the time being. But let's try to look at it this way... First he's unconscious with next to no blood flow and barely a heartbeat to speak of, then he has this sudden awakening, and now the fact that he's temporarily blind as well as deaf. Based off these symptoms, I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he'll have memory loss when he comes back to his senses."

Captain Falcon took his helmet off and rubbed his forehead which seemed to be aching.

"Agh... What's any of that even supposed to mean, doc?" He demanded in a bit of a protest. All this medical jargon he'd been listening to was really starting to prove stressful on top of everything else.

Mario understood, though, and tried to fill him in through very simple terms:

"What-a-he means is... There's nothing any of us-a-can do right now."

Music: "No Need to Come Back"

* On board the Great Fox *

With care, Slippy adjusted this other human's arms and legs so its body lie mostly straight on the hangar's metallic floor. The skin may have been cold to the touch, but at least its figure wasn't so contorted like it had been.

All the mechanic could do then was stare the unconscious human up and down; silently eyeing its strange yet casual clothing.

Really... What the heck are you...? He warily moved aside the rest of the thick dirty-blonde hair which covered part of the face. This human definitely looked quite young once it'd been cleared, although Slippy couldn't help but wonder another question now.

Are you a... Girl...? I mean, you kinda... Look like one...

He really felt that he had to know, so his cheeks burned red and he slowly reached his hand along the human's slender torso, up to its chest. Rather to his surprise, he felt it was completely flat.

Oh... Y-You're a guy...!? Huh... Alright then...

What truly confounded Slippy though was how this human could've possibly ended up here in the first place. There had been no one else aboard the Great Fox other than the Star Fox team, and even so they'd departed from Corneria the night prior, stopping nowhere since.

Indeed, none of this made a lick of sense. Brooding on his mind also were thoughts of that massive energy beam which had blasted out of nowhere, yet caused no real consequence on the Great Fox even with all shields down. Only here in the hangar bay was there physical damage, along with this strange human boy to top everything off.

Regardless, the truth of the matter was that Slippy's good-willed heart wanted to do anything to try and help in a situation. Here and now, it was no different.

Swiftly glancing around, he spotted an emergency first-aid kit on the floor amid all the other broken crates. Thus the mechanic rushed over to retrieve it, and scuttled back to where the boy lay.

Kneeling beside him, Slippy opened up this kit to see three separate compartments containing different packs. He wiped his broad forehead free of some sweat in unison with a nervous sigh, and proceeded to read aloud the set of holographic-like instructions imprinted on the inside of the case.

"Ok, ok... Let's see... If the victim is still visibly conscious, refer to pack one." He took a single look at the human's current state and shook his head. "Nope... Not that one..."

He read the next section, "Uh... If the victim still exhibits signs of life, refer to pack two... But, I have no freakin' idea...!"

Again, Slippy couldn't tell whether this human boy was alive or not, so he read onto the third set of instructions.

"... If the victim appears to be completely incapacitated, refer to pack three..."

The mechanic quickly figured this was the one he needed, so he clicked opened the third compartment and got met with some advanced Cornerian medical gadgets inside.

His eyes darted from side to side as he silently read some further instructions, before carefully pulling out a large syringe which held a dense bluish liquid called Hypo-Blue; something standard in every first-aid kit from the Lylat System. This substance contained special extracts of adrenaline, along with other enzymes in order to help restore a victim's consciousness, yet it wouldn't overload all their senses at once like many similar compounds might do.

Slippy popped off the needle's protective cap, only to then hesitate and think hard.

Should he really be attempting this? He knew he held no actual medical experience other than some very basic first-aid training during his academy years. Like always, however, Slippy's mind was demanding he at least try to help in any way possible, so he decided to follow his rather overpowering conscience.

"Alright now," he assured himself. "Nice and easy..."

Thus, with great caution, the mechanic lifted the boy's right arm and rolled up the short-sleeve all the way up. He positioned the syringe just above his outer shoulder and was about to push it down, when the entire hangar started rattling all of a sudden.

His steadiness with the needle got thrown way off so he froze and glanced ahead, out the opening of the hangar bay. Massive streaks of fiery heat welled up like waves, fanning across the translucent energy shield.

Mm, mm, mm, that was a little too close...! We must be passing through the atmosphere, he told himself, trying to keep at least somewhat of a lighthearted side in his thoughts.

Readying the syringe again, the mechanic held his breath tight and finally let the needle pierce down into the boy's bare shoulder. After pressing out only half or so of the blue liquid, he carefully withdrew the metal from the cold skin and set the syringe down while letting out a deep sigh.

That large puff of chilled breath soon vanished once he realized all he could do now was wait. His mind raced with countless thoughts all at once, ranging from anxiety and even fear, to a confidence which insisted everything would perhaps turn out fine.

In trying to ease himself, he clicked on his little comm in order to talk to his vulpine companion again.

"... Fox?" He uttered.

"... Yeah, Slip? Talk to me." Fox's voice answered between a crackly breath of static.

Slippy retained visible angst but asked nonetheless, "Y-You almost here?"

"Roger that. Peppy and I are walking as fast as we can, but... I just don't believe any of this..."

"Me neither," said the mechanic, a tad relieved. "I'm just down here, waiting..."

Then another though hit him. "Hey... Falco isn't with you guys, is he?"

"Nope, he left the bridge pretty much right after you and went to shower up for our arrival in less than twenty damn minutes. We just got done passing through the atmospheric bulk."

Slippy scoffed lightly. "Yeah, I noticed. Some timing, right?"

A beat passed before Fox returned with another inquiry, "What's the situation with that human anyhow?"

"Still unconscious..." Slippy looked down rather nervously at the opened first-aid kit laying next to the boy. He knew he had to tell Fox what he did.

"... Well... About that, actually..."

"Mm? What about it?" asked the vulpine, to which his amphibian friend promptly cleared his throat.

"... I-I found a first-aid kit down here," he explained. "So I went ahead and gave the human a single dose of the Hypo-Blue for incapacitated victims."

Another lengthy beat of silence arose.

"... I... Wouldn't have done that if I were you," Fox came back quite concerned. "You don't really know what the human's condition is."

Trying to justify his assisting action, Slippy refuted, "But, why not? He's obviously unconscious, and I-"

"Wait, wait," Fox interrupted, "HE's unconscious...? So you're saying it's a guy?"

"Look, forget about that right now...!" The mechanic was trying his best to keep calm. "I read the instructions, and it clearly said for an incapacitated victim like this to inject half the Hypo-Blue through the shoulder."

"Slip, a human's reaction to that stuff might be totally different than ours... In a bad way, for all you know. There's a reason Cornerian first-aid kits are supposed to be for Cornerians." Fox hesitated again before speculating darkly, "... So now I can't help but wonder, what if the human DOES end up dying from it?"

"... I... I was just trying to help, Fox." A flustered Slippy took a deep breath. "Yes, the skin was on the cold side, but that's 'cause it's pretty dang cold here in the hangar. Call me Mr. Optimistic, but I think I did the right thing."

"Well..." The vulpine's voice replied rather dubiously, "I guess we'll find out for sure when we get down there."

Tense silence overcame the two yet another time, albeit not for as long.

"... Oh, but also, the instructions said something else..." Rubbing his forehead, Slippy wanted to mention one final detail.

"Uh-huh...? What else did it say?"

"They said if the victim still wasn't giving visible signs of consciousness within five minutes, then give them a-..."

Slippy's thoughts suddenly cut off right there, along with that optimistic look on his face. His gaze had fallen back down on the human to notice something astonishing: The boy's eyes were opened and staring upward, revealing to be a light hazel color.

"... S-Second dose...!" The mechanic almost choked on those last two words due to surprise. He went on to stammer, "F-Fox... The human...! The human's awake!"

"Ah shit..." The vulpine's voice came hissing back through the communicator. "Right, I'm running ahead of Peppy. I'm nearly there, so just hang on. Try to, I don't know, talk to him or something."

With that, their conversation promptly ended by a click of static and Slippy was left all alone with this strange boy who was now conscious.

He kept his eyes nervously locked on the human, who appeared to be in a kind of disconnected trance. He'd propped himself up on his elbows and was gazing upward at the hangar's high metallic ceiling. Its cold white lights shone down from above, making the boy's skin appear more colorless. Even his mouth had opened slightly with lips quivering, yet most apparent of all, he didn't even seem to notice who was standing not far from him.

Finally, Slippy swallowed hard and slid his comm away into his rear pocket. He figured he'd try and possibly say something.

"... Uh... H-Hello...?"

Moments passed, yet no reaction came from the boy. Growing more and more uneasy by the second, Slippy just wanted any kind of response, so he leaned down and carefully rested a hand on the human's slender arm closest to him.

"... Hey...? Can you hear me...?"

The human's eyes blinked only once, albeit long and slow. His paralyzed senses seemed to snap back all of a sudden, and this time he did give a reaction.

His cold gaze shifted and stared straight into Slippy's own, yet he didn't utter a single sound. It appeared like the boy wasn't even willing to breathe in response to seeing this face which struck an indescribable sensation inside of him.

Truly, it was almost as if he'd somehow recognized this face from somewhere.

"Hi... W-What's your name...?" The mechanic attempted to ask a third time, still with a sort of friendliness in his tone. "Um... Can you... Understand what I'm saying...?"

The slender-figured boy just persisted with that blank and pale stare from deep within his eyes. Their very surfaces were glossed, plus he hadn't heard a word that Slippy had said.

"... Come on... Come on, Fox... Where ARE YOU...!?" The mechanic muttered under his breath, anxiously looking back over his shoulder at the hangar's airlock entry door. These tense moments just kept mounting, and were reaching a point where he couldn't take it anymore.

But then, without any warning, the boy's entire body surged with a wild energy. He scrambled up to his feet which made Slippy yelp and stumble, before falling down hard on his own backside.

"Hey, hey wait! Stop! STOP!" He yelled, struggling to get up. All he could do though was watch in horror as the human dashed through that opened airlock which led out of the hangar, and into the bowels of the mothership.

"... Crap...! F-Fox! Come in, Fox!" The mechanic howled, reaching into his rear pants pocket and fumbling to bring out the comm device. "We got a bigger problem now! The human's running out of the hangar! I repeat, the human is-...!"

His eyes fell on the comm clasped tightly in his hand, but to his utter dismay, he saw it'd been crushed by the sharp impact of his body weight just falling on it.

"Ugh..." Slippy's entire face dropped and he grumbled in utter hopelessness, "Oh you have got to be KIDDING ME...!"