Conflict Arises

Peppy couldn't believe his eyes. "That's impossible! I-I saw you die that tragic day, you can't still be living?!" It was the face of a familiar former friend and ally that Peppy knew by heart. "What in the god damn, James? I swear I saw Pigma kill you!" James flew around the Great Fox in his Arwing I.

Falco has aleady flew out the hanger. "Peppy? Who the bastard responsible for attacking our ship?" Peppy didn't want to answer anything. He didn't know what to expect. "No fucking way. Falco! That's James McCloud, Fox's father." Peppy went through the entire introduction of their past together but this time it was different. James was the leader and the Ace Pilot before his death meaning Falco wouldn't be able to stand a chance. "Falco... Don't engage on him!"

It was already too late as Falco already fired his lasers at James. The lasers missed the target and James quickly dodged. James repositioned and fired back at Falco and it created a chain of attacks and misses. Both forces attacked but they both also missed. It was between the former legendary pilot and the current ace pilot.

"Ugh," Peppy couldn't take the amount of stress this was causing. It made it want to faint but he had to stand strong. He ordered Miyu and Fay to assist Falco with the issue. Amanda would have to watch them fight and make sure they make it alive. She could allow them to survive even after being taken out. Firing noises could be heard from every side of the Great Fox. It was just unlucky timing. Peppy tried to calm himself down, it was bad for his health if he continued being in a craze.

Lucy and Katt watched everything go by the Great Fox. 4 different Arwings fighting but 3 targeting one. It was becoming a huge disaster between the team. Peppy called for Krystal to check the matter, she was the second person to know the situation.

"Peppy? Are you alright?" Krystal felt his stress increasing and she had to do something. She placed her hand onto Peppy's shoulder to heal his stress away, slowly it worked.

Peppy took deep breaths to stay calm. "Thanks a lot, Krystal. I'm glad your back on this team now." She didn't mind the compliment but she needed to know who that was specifically.

"It's James, Fox's father. Many years ago, we were once on a team."

James "Fox" McCloud, Pigma Dengar and I, Peppy Hare made up the first Star Fox team. Our goal was to travel to Venom to cease Andross but on the way, it was a trap. Pigma was secretly working for Andross and he was originally affiliated with Star Wolf, the rival team working with Andross. Pigma wanted James and I both dead but that didn't happen because James sacrificed his life to save mine. I saw him disappear on that tragic day and I escaped back to Corneria to tell General Pepper the bad news.

"I'm sorry for your loss, Peppy, I honestly think I put you guys into this situation."

Peppy reassured Krystal. "Don't take the blame for yourself, it's not your fault, really now," Krystal remembered something was a few days ago, from Kaitlyn and what she said before changing.

The Demon King prioritizes the family but can also target close friends to the victim in possession.

According to this ruling, Bill was targeted and became one of the Reversed. He and Fox were really great friends with each other.

Krystal didn't know if that meant dead people would also come back alive. She also remembered when Fox told her about his parents. It was a mystery but it could be that Fox's mother, Vixy could also alive because of this ruling. It didn't matter right now, James McCloud is now back from the dead to kill Star Fox. His target was mainly Krystal, the King's orders told him that specifically.

Falco barrel rolled to deflect the lasers that James shot. The battle was getting way out of hand because James was the top pilot of Star Fox followed by Fox. Falco didn't stand a chance but he tried his hardest. Miyu and Fay assisted the avian to beat the Reversed James.

"I got your back, Falco." Miyu confidently said. James began to tail behind Falco's Sky Claw, his Arwing. Miyu fires quickly into James' Arwing and made an impact. The damage was heavily reduced from a mysterious shield on James' Arwing. "What the hell is that?" Lasers seem to phase right through its design.

"I'll handle it from here," Fay charged a blast and released it. The targeting began to home onto James and created an explosion. The smoke and fire cleared but James was still in good condition with no damage. Nothing they did even put a scratch on his ship, not even a combine blast. That all changed when Fay saw everything. Her benevolent eyesight saw a weakness. Unlike Krystal and Grey's cursed eyes, Fay could see weaknesses in conjunction with demon sight. In her eye, she saw a green light under James' Arwing. An indication that they must strike there to become advantageous.

Fay set up a communication line with Miyu and Falco. "Strike underneath his Arwing, it's his only weakness." In a time like this, no one really attempted that but of Fay's eye was correct, they had to follow through. Miyu guided her Arwing underneath James and quickly fired multiple lasers. The ship began to shockwave itself and released randomized pulses of electricity. It seemed to be working, and James had a much harder time to control his Arwing. Falco followed up by turning his Arwing under James and fired more shots. James' Arwing was catching fire and charged right into the nearby Sauria.

"After him!" Falco commanded. He went straight after James into Sauria. Miyu and Fay followed right after him but a barrier appeared in between them and the planet. They could no longer move forward. Miyu messaged Amanda, "Amanda, bring us back, we can't move forward. There is a barrier blocking our route to Sauria where Falco and the culprit are located."

"Hang tight, you two." After a while, Amanda pulled back Miyu and Fay into the hanger.

*Falco's POV*

Falco landed his Arwing in a village of ThornTail Hollow. He saw the dinosaurs that lived in that area, known as the ThornTail. Falco looked back up at the sky and notice Miyu and Fay were not behind him. Also the sky barrier began to form as he saw it happen. He tried to communicate through his wrist comm, "Fay, Miyu do you copy?" There was no response back from the others. Falco tried once more but no response again. One of the ThornTail approached the avian.

"Uho 0ei kxo xohe, Fox McCloud?"

(Are you the hero, Fox McCloud?)

Falco didn't understand their language. However, he did have a universal translator on his wrist com and he activated it. "Can you repeat that again?"

The ThornTail cleared his throat and spoke again. "Are you the hero, Fox McCloud?" Much better Falco thought, being able to hear the words of his familiar language.

"I'm not Fox, I'm his squad member, Falco Lombardi, Ace Pilot of Star Fox." The ThornTail felt disappointed because the Arwing was similar to Fox's. "Why do you ask?"

"I thought you were Fox because of your ship. It looks just like it." He was positive the two ships were the same. The years have changed and they don't even match up. The one Fox used was the Mk I Arwings. Even then, Falco has his own design made by Fara's company, Pheonix Corporation. It would be impossible for those two to be the same. Also, Fox and Falco are completely different in species, I guess he didn't know just yet.

"Sorry, pal, we have a bad situation on our hands." Falco went through the entire story of Fox's status. The ThornTail gasped and he didn't like what he heard.

"So they are true, come forth, I have someone you need to meet." Falco agreed and went along with the ThornTail. They approached a tunnel that lead to a mysterious door. It opened automatically and lead them to the Walled City. The ThornTail told Falco he had to find someone named Tricky and ask him for more details. The ThornTail left Falco behind and the avian moved forward into another area. "What is this place?" Falco was greeted by the blinding sunlight and a smoking and broken Arwing in the far distance. Could it be that James died once more? Falco went to have a look.

*Krystal and Peppy*

Peppy watched over Slippy's back to first see Marcus. Krystal thought he would flip out or something but he was pretty calm about it. The noise from outside had settled, no blasts or anything just plain silence.

"Slippy, take a break will ya, I'll handle this for Krystal."

"Understood, Peppy, I'll check on Amanda and the others." Slippy quickly ran out the room.

Peppy checked Marcus to see if he was ill or anything drastic of a change. "He seems to be normal, no illness or terrible health." Marcus just seemed to be asleep nothing bad about it.

"Peppy, what do I do? I've never taken care of a child before." It was Krystal's first time with a child, and it was her own child that she gave birth to in the future. Peppy said it would be alright to watch over him while Krystal solves the conflict between her and Fox.

"Krystal, I'll be fine here, go and get Grey and continue the mission." Krystal had no other choice but to agree and let Peppy do his thing. She nodded and looked for Grey inside Krystal's room. He took over her room when she left Star Fox. Krystal ran down the hallway into her former room and opened the door. Inside, Grey appeared to be missing from the room but Krystal could see his shadow inside the walls. She grabbed him through the wall and pulled him out.

"Grey, how are you doing that?" He fell out the wall and dusted himself off.

"It's called, Shadow Stepping, a Demon/Reverse Hunter technique that allows you to hide and move through walls, floors and grounds." After explaining about it, Krystal mastered it almost instantly. Shadow Stepping allowed for faster movements, stealth and invulnerability. She tried it out and seeped into the floors with her powers. It could prove useful at some point.

"Amazing," she said excitedly. "Let's go, Grey, we need to complete this mission soon." They hurried away to the hangar. Krystal hopped inside her CloudRunner, Grey got inside Fox's Arwing II. They both activated their G-Diffusers and set off for Sauria.

Amanda saw that two Arwings have set off on the radar. It wasn't from Miyu or Fay because she pulled them back. She noticed it was from Krystal and Grey, the ones who needed to continue the mission. She communicated to them, "Good luck, you guys bring home the gold!" They knew she meant bring Fox back safely, he was an important aspect to the mission. Apparently everyone knew the mission as free Fox but keep the Demon King alive. No one knew how it even worked but it didn't matter right now.

R.O.B activated a scanner, "Be careful, there are asteroids heading your way." Amanda messaged them back.

"R.O.B says there are asteroids, destroy them on your way to Sauria." The two Cerinians acknowledged her command. They flew through many fields of asteroids and shot down the ones they couldn't quite go through safely. The ETA was 10 minutes away from where they were. It wasn't going to take long, both knew how to fly an Arwing.

*Falco*

After investigating the Arwing's wreckage, there was no one inside. The Arwing itself was damaged heavily beyond repair and was on fire. Falco assumed James, the one inside was already dead. The fire began to spread throughout the entire Arwing and was about to explode. Falco rushed away to safely as the Arwing finally exploded.

"I really hope no one was in there." It was unexpected, the first time to see an Arwing MK I actually get destroyed. Loud thumping noises could be heard getting closer to Falco and he looked towards that direction. A large EarthWalker was charging in on Falco. "Oh boy." Falco flipped over the EarthWalker and posed a fighting stance. "Who are you?"

The EarthWalker turned around. "Sorry about that, I heard a loud noise during my slumber and I came to check on it. I'm King Tricky by the way, and who are you?"

"I'm Falco Lombardi, a close friend of Fox. I take it that you know him really well?" Falco relaxed his body from the stance.

Tricky smiled, "Of course, he's the one who saved our planet from its doom. He is hailed as the hero on Sauria." Tricky didn't forget to mention about Fox's actual whereabouts. "I heard that Fox... isn't himself anymore, a demon to be exact. Falco nodded at his statement.

"It's true, he given up his life and became a monster. It makes me sick to look at his appearance."

"I found out the hard way, his trace is here by mysterious means." Falco knew it had to be true if Tricky said it himself. Star Fox was told that Demon Fox was known to be here in this world but where?

Tricky continued, "He's at the Krazoa Palace, a temple that levitates in the sky where the Krazoa spirits maintain Sauria's power. Without them, the world would not have been around any longer." Falco asked if he knew how to get to that area, but Tricky suggested not to visit the palace at this time.

"It's too dangerous for you to go there alone, where are the rest of your friends?"

"I'm not sure myself, I can't contact them from here, and I think the world barrier is blocking off signals back to my teammates." Tricky remembered that he himself created the barrier as protection but didn't understand why it could also block signal waves.

"I'll take it down, because I can sense two more people coming in, Krystal and someone else." Tricky's surged with power and rbs barrier fades away. He also began to explain that the someone had an odd pulsing heart, we know this person as Grey but something was off to him. "This person is lying to himself and Krystal, he isn't pure of heart."

Falco didn't understand his phrase but it had to be Grey coming in. "What's going to happen, King Tricky? What's wrong with Grey?"

"Have you notice something strange with your friend, Grey?"

"I have not, what is the matter?"

"There's someone wrong with your friend's heart. It seems to not be truly neutral but it is very offset." Tricky exclaimed that Grey could also be a killer of some sort.

"Grey is what? That can't be true!" Falco became scared, a fright with fear. A friend they met alongside Krystal now betrays them at a very moment like this. "All this time, he helped us bring back an old and forgotten person, Krystal and now he lies about his powers and he wants to kill us? That god damn Grey, he should have told us sooner." Falco's heart filled with anger, hate and rage. "Where is he? I need to find him, quickly!"

"They are coming soon, let's meet over in ThornTail Hollow."

Krystal notices a clear barrier uncover itself on Sauria. "A barrier?" Krystal and Grey continued and flew through to Sauria. Upon landing, they arrived in ThornTail Hollow, the same place where Falco supposedly landed. His Sky Claw was no where to be seen, however. Krystal landed her CloudRunner in the same spot Fox landed his Arwing when he first arrived to Sauria. Grey landed on the nearby mountains. Krystal jumped out her cockpit and a luminary vision appeared in front of her showing Fox and General Pepper years ago when they prepared for this mission. General Pepper could be heard saying he could not use his blaster but another type of weapon. That made Fox disappointed but he had to follow the orders. Grey slid down the mountains to get closer to Krystal.

"This is what it looked like to Fox." Everywhere she looked, only ThornTail standing around and grazing the lands. "Now let me see if I can remember the language."

Krystal approached one of the ThornTail next to the river, "Xulo 0ei jood jemoedo ekxoh kxud ij cudt xoho, meho jfosavasucc0 u fxoujudk? Jehh0 veh m0 feeh fhedidsaukaed."

(Have you seen someone other than us land here, more specifically a pheasant? Sorry for my poor pronunciation.)

"De nehhaoj, A xulo jood u fxoujudk udt xo nodk ke kxo Walled City ke joo King Tricky."

(No worries, I have seen a pheasant and he went to the Walled City to see King Tricky.)

"Kxudb 0ei veh 0eih xocf udt badtdojj."

(Thank you for your help and kindness.)

Krystal guided Grey over to the Walled City. "I guess the plan won't be working, Falco is already down here."

Grey looked back confusedly. "Are you serious? Well I guess it's whatever now because I always hated that plan."

They arrived to the same tunnel that Falco entered earlier. Krystal took her staff and picked the lock and it opened up. Behind the other side was the Walled City and Falco who aggressively jumped and attacked Grey. Falco pushed him against the wall and grasped his throat. "You bastard, I know your schemes." Krystal was in shock and didn't know what to do. Grey's breathing was getting worse with Falco's choke attack.

"Falco! Stop it!" Krystal tried to pry him off Grey but she was knocked away after Falco pushed her off. She was slammed into the cavern walls. "Krystal, this guy is a fucking psycho."

"I...guess... I have... to do... this... my way..." As he struggled to speak, Grey's aura began to alter its balance. Krystal felt a major change in his aura, no longer was it neutral but malevolent. "I'll just have to kill you all if you knew my plans." Reverse Grey released a dark shockwave to knock away Falco from his grasp.

Plans? Did the future Marcus told me about, it was wrong?

"Of course, I was planning to end everything." Reverse Grey drew his blade against Falco. "Pheasant, you seemed to know about my ruse, who told you about it?" The sword began to mutate with mysterious dark energy as he was about to release a charge.

Tricky rammed his horns into Grey, knocking him into the wall and dealing heavy amounts of damage. The sword's energy faded away. "I did, I know everything about you. Your heart isn't normal like a Demon Hunter's, your the one who convinced Fox into opening that sealed jar." Grey activated Shadow Step and phased inside the walls. Krystal started to think how badly this situation has become.

The sword's dark energies commenced to surge into Grey, strengthening his power. "Of course you would know, Tricky," he whispered into the air. "King Tricky, the king of all dinosaurs understands more than just himself. How impressive."

Krystal didn't like where this was going. "Here I thought Fox had an issue because of me, but it was all because of you. We were going to get somewhere." Krystal's aura began to change for her sake. "But I guess we're going to have to wait again. Tricky, get Falco to safety, I'll handle this guy." Tricky picked up the injured Falco and carried him on his back into the safety of the Walled City.

"Why, Grey? Why are you betraying Star Fox?" Krystal wanted to know answers from her dear brother, it just wasn't going to happen. Reverse Grey charged his sword's dark energy beam at Krystal. Silence filled his mouth, no words to say he attacked Krystal. She blocked the beam's attack and deflected it away from her into the cavern walls. The explosion broke the rocks and created rubble. "Shit, the cave will collapse if this keeps up, I have to guide him out of here." Krystal slashed her staff but it was blocked by Grey's blade. Her idea was to have Grey continuously block and deal attacks to move outwards into the open. It was a long process but Krystal managed to bring herself and Grey out with multiple attacks.

They both made it outside after many attempts of attacks. The ThornTail saw their bickering and ran to safety. "Bad idea, I need to find out why he's acting like this." Krystal was curious to see if Shadow Stepping with living beings could work. There was no other choice and she acted with haste. Krystal grabbed Grey's left hand and merged her aura with his to enter inside his mind. Krystal was seen disappearing from thin air and Grey dropped his sword and fell to the ground fast asleep.

Krystal woke up after a few minutes after Shadow Stepping. It was an odd world but a closer familiar one. It resembled her homeworld, Cerinia, and a voice could be heard speaking to her.

Welcome to Dream Cerinia, the world that dreams to become a reality but cannot.

Krystal stood on top of grass inside a forest. Everything was familiar to her, the people and nature. Suddenly the borders of the forest were set ablaze. Krystal quickly ran to see if there was a way out, unfortunately, there was none. She was stuck inside a burning forest. The air started to change and Krystal started to breathe in smoke. It was getting way worse, and she had to do something. Then she remembered, this is just a dream, anything can happen.

"Quickly, I have to imagine a blizzard to put of the fires." Krystal tried her hardest and a blizzard storm appeared before her. It quickly put out the fires that burned around her just in time. Krystal sighed in relief, "Thank the gods and goddesses."

Suddenly, the forest disintegrated into ashes and there he stood. Reverse Grey was waiting for Krystal's arrival in this world. "Welcome to the dream," he spoke.

"Grey? Why did you make Fox open the jar?"

"Wouldn't you like to know, fight me right here and I'll explain everything." There was no other choice but to agreed. If Krystal were to seek answers, there would always be fighting. Grey's aura then collapsed on himself, he screamed and cried in pain. Krystal took this opportunity to slash Grey out of his misery. Something must have gotten him to force this insanity. Krystal stabbed Grey in his abdomen, and it began. His darkness faded away from his body along with his sword and his blood red eye. But his eyeball didn't disintegrate into an empty eye socket. It remains to still be intact on him. His grey fur began to alter to orange. His eyes to emerald green and his body looked exactly like Fox's. The metal arm he wore vanished and recreated Fox's original right arm.

Grey woke up from Krystal's attack. "What the hell happened to me? The voice of Grey no longer sounded like Grey but exactly like Fox. Krystal didn't understand what was going on.

"Fox? Grey?" She didn't know which one because Grey knows the plan, but this person has Fox's looks. Krystal had to feel this person's body, but it didn't seem to be recognized by any means.

"Krystal? Don't you remember who I am? I'm Fox McCloud." Slowly, Grey sounded like Fox. Krystal suddenly began to feel Fox's aura coming back, but she wasn't sure if this person was really Fox. This could be a phony but the aura makes it seem believable.

"Look, Krys." Fox said her nickname. The real Fox should know everything about Krystal. "I'm the real Fox, what more can I say?"

Krystal tried to pry into his mind but only barely. The mental barrier was weaker than normal but strong enough to prevent Krystal from passing through. Fox spoke again, "Krystal is the one who taught me how to mentally block telepathy from any psiconic being." Krystal's heart and soul pendant levitated in front of her and changed once more. The appearance was altered into a full red heart. It had to be true that Fox was standing before her as they spoke. Krystal cried and hugged Fox.

"I'm sorry, Fox! Don't leave me again! I didn't know what I was thinking." Krystal wrapped her arms around Fox.

"I'm sorry for kicking you off the team, what was I thinking?" Fox had regrets but he had more to share. "I hope nothing really happened with Grey."

Krystal looked back at Fox very puzzled. "Who is Grey?" Fox's mind went into complete shock and the dream collapsed as they awaken in Sauria.

Sealies: I should probably make these a little bit longer but I digress.

Updates: Fox was secretly Grey this entire time but what happened to the real Grey? I'll explain in the next chapter.