Woots! Its Time for Chapter 2! Okay, so test passed, I got six review the first day, this story is now active in my mind. Which means that I'm always thinking about it and what I can add. So, I'll let you all get into the chapter, and leave all the wordy talky stuff for the end note. Enjoy the next chapter of the Dead Planet.

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Star Fox: The Dead Planet Chapter 2: A Late Night Briefing

Fox stared out the window to the space port outside. Sitting in a cradle with a swarm of workers visible on almost every surface was the Great Fox II. Fox couldn't believe that it had only been about six months since Peppy and ROB had sacrificed the original Great Fox to get the squad through a barrier on the Aparoid home world. In that first week, Fox had no idea what they were going to do if they accepted another mission. If it hadn't been for the near by Cornerian Fleet, they never would have even made it back to Corneria.

However, before Fox could even start seriously thinking about what he was going to do to replace the Great Fox. General Pepper called him up from the hospital where he was recovering from the Aparoid infection and told him that the Lylat System would like to rebuild the Great Fox. Fox had accepted, quickly, since he had been jokingly looking at acquiring a cargo ship to serve as a replacement and was glad that they had offered.

Two weeks after the attack on the home world and the Great Fox II was under construction. The original plans had been found in storage at Space Dynamics and the crews had set about upgrading the plans to new standards before assembling the largest crew in their history to build the ship. That had been five months ago, now the ship was nearing completion, and Fox was excited, both for the ship to be done and for what currently rested in his pocket.

At one point during what was called the Aparoid Threat, one of the missions Fox and his team had been sent on was a mission to Sauria, where he met up with his old friend Tricky. Tricky had tried to force his way along on the next set of missions but Fox had talked him out it. Tricky's response had been along the lines that he would keep the planet safe so him and Krystal could come back for their honeymoon.

Fox hadn't known what to say at the time.

But now he did. He had it all planned out, and that was difficult when the person he wanted to propose to was a telepathic and could pick up on strong emotions. Something she had felt the need to inform him on, since apparently love was one of the stronger emotions, that was how she had known that he was interested in her. Fox rubbed the back of his head nervously as he thought about their first date. The one where she had asked him out because as she had stated with a smile 'If I wait for you to do it, the galaxy will collapse before you work up the nerve.'

Fox looked down at himself. He thought about dressing up, but he figured that might give something away. So instead he went for his best pair of blue jeans and a green shirt, over top he had his white flight vest and from his belt hung his always present blaster. He sighed and turned away from the window, gasping softly as he laid eyes on the person behind him.

Krystal was standing in the doorway, leaning against the doorframe, dressed in form fitting blue pants that contrasted nicely with her own fur and a red tank top with her own white flight vest pulled over it. The outfit was so simple, yet, just because it was her, it was beautiful. Her arms were bared to the world letting all see her tribal tattoos, and around her neck hung her necklace with the gem that matched her eyes. Her tail was covered in its usual bracelets, and she had pulled most of her hair into form with her white beads.

Fox just stopped, nothing in the moment mattered right then, as long as he could look at her as long as he wanted. Of course, time wouldn't really obey his wishes, no matter how hard he tried, and Krystal giggled as she pushed off the doorway with her hip and walked slowly towards him, and now he knew she had noticed his attention because she was swinging her hips as she walked. Fox felt a smile climb on his face as she approached him. As she got closer she leaned forward and kissed the side of his cheek. Fox took her in his arms and brought her mouth to his, deepening the kiss to levels that usually require a locked door.

When the two separated a few minutes later, both of them were much warmer then they had been. Krystal wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him another light brush of her lips. "Come on, lets go to your room." she whispered softly in his ear. Fox grinned, but pulled himself back to reality. He leaned towards her ear "You have no idea how much I want to take you up on that offer, but I need to do something first."

Krystal pulled back with a playful frown. "More important than me?"

Fox laughed and shook his head "No, important because its you."

Krystal furred her eyebrows together confused, which Fox laughed at. In a smooth motion that told of all the practicing he had been doing in private, Fox reached into his pocket and pulled out the small box holding it up in between them and flicking the case open with his thumb.

"Krystal...will you marry me?"

"Fox, you coming? We can't leave Peppy on the bridge all night."

Fox blinked and shook his head, his jeans pulled halfway up his legs, where he had been when he apparently had drifted again.

"Fox?"

Fox turned to the door as he stood up and finished pulling on his pants. "Would serve him right, disturbing us this late." he heard Falco's chuckle from the other side of the door as he pulled on a proper shirt.

"While I agree with you on that one, we should find out whats going on that has him coming out to personally track us down so late at night. I mean, he knows we're retired, so if he really needs us to get the team back together, it must be pretty serious."

Fox opened the door and walked out to look at his friend. "Yea, too bad the team can never get back together." he turned to walk down the hallway and he heard Falco cuss under his breath. He caught up to Fox after only a few moments.

"You know I didn't mean it like that man."

Fox gave a small smile to his friend, "I know, not your fault, I just can't help it sometimes."

The two of them reached the elevator, once inside Falco glanced at Fox. "So, what are we going to do about a team, I mean, I'm a great pilot and you aren't too bad yourself, but we're both eight years rusty, and with just the two of us..."

Fox nodded as the elevator slowed to a stop. "I know what you mean. But for now lets see whats going on, then figure out if we'll need to expand our ranks."

Falco nodded as the doors opened and the two of them stepped out to find Peppy sitting in his old spot on the bridge, looking like he had never left. The only thing out of place were the two bodyguards that stood against the back wall, keeping watch over everything on the bridge. They were two burly gray hounds each dressed in the Cornerian army colors of white and gray and each holding an energy pistol

As the two of them approached the hare he turned around in his seat and gestured for them to take theirs. Fox moved to his seat over looking everything while Falco took a seat at a side console. Both of them had a decent view of Peppy who stood up with a groan. "These old bones of mine don't work right anymore."

When the duo said nothing Peppy sighed and turned to the console behind him, pushing some buttons and causing the display to activate in the center of the bridge. It spun into life, creating a holographic display as the pixels aligned themselves. Displayed was a planet that Fox had never seen before, with desert at its poles and jungles everywhere else. In orbit around the planet were several good sized asteroids, spinning as they moved around the planet.

"Do either of you know what planet this is?" Peppy asked as he pressed a few more buttons on the console. When the racers shook their heads Peppy nodded and spoke again. "How about the Outer Ring Project?"

Again, another shake of their heads.

Peppy nodded once again. "Good, we can still keep somethings quiet when we need to. Now before I get into the why of you guys reforming Star Fox, there is one other person who needs to be present."

Fox leaned back in his chair "Who?"

Peppy looked at one of his guards who exited the bridge via the elevator, heading down to the bottom floor to exit the ship. "If you don't mind, I'll just let her introduce herself."

Falco shot Fox a look who shrugged and relaxed further in his seat, content to wait for whoever Peppy was bringing to this meeting. After about ten minutes the elevator door slid open and the guard walked in prodding somebody in front of him.

She was dressed in a black combat suit, with matching boots and a white belt that wrapped around her waist with two empty holsters hanging across from it. Her arms were held in front of her chest, bound together with energy cuffs, each of her hands had a fingerless glove on it, also black, although her exposed digits were covered in blue fur. Along one arm was a symbol that had Falco paying very close attention, although Fox was focused on her face. Rather he tried too, a small sack covered her head, preventing anybody from seeing who she was.

The guard led her down the steps to stand by Peppy, leaving her to stand next to one of the fold out stools. Then the guard positioned himself between the hare and his apparent prisoner. Peppy nodded at the guard who reached forward and yanked the sack off her head. The vixen shook her head and glanced around the bridge looking for Peppy, but when her eyes found Fox's she swore heavily.

"Oh hell fucken no." She turned around and saw Peppy "You can take me back to whatever cell I've been staying when you woke me up. I absolutely refuse to work with these two dropouts."

Falco spoke up. "Dropouts?"

The vixen shot him a glance "Yea, dropouts, you two gave up on flying to become racers, what a fucken disgrace." she turned her gaze to Fox, who was still reeling over the fact that this woman looked amazingly like Krystal. "What, your girlfriend died and suddenly you forgot how to fly, so you just hang up your pilots vest and become racers?"

Fox narrowed his eyes, while Falco slammed his hands down on the console and stood up "Now wait-"

She fixed her gaze on him. "You're no better, you should have kicked him so hard in the ass he realized what a pathetic little bitch he was being and hopped back in the cockpit." she paused "Although I'm actually kinda happy you two gave up as you did, lots more work for people like me."

Falco shook his head "Bounty Hunter." somehow he managed to turn those two words into an insult.

She scoffed "Racer." the vixen managed to copy Falco's tone and turn the word into an insult.

Falco opened his mouth, but closed it when Fox waved a hand at him. He frowned but sat down at his console. The vixen smiled "That's right, obey your master like the little bitches you both are."

Falco snarled and made to stand up when somebody else spoke.

"That's enough!" his voice was soft, yet somehow it carried the crack of a blaster and all three of the pilots turned to face the General, who was once again standing in front of his seat. "Now, I don't care what squabbles you three want to start later, but right now, I expect you all to shut it, sit down, and behave." the vixen opened her mouth "Kursed I can get a gag for you if I have too." Kursed closed her mouth and sat down on the stool with a thump and leaning as far away from her guard as she could.

Peppy stared at each in turn for a count of three before he turned back to the console and pressed a few more buttons. "Now, the Outer Ring Project, or ORP, is a system of space stations that we started building back when we first encountered the Aparoids, to try and help prevent an invasion from them or any other species out there by serving as an early warning system. Just recently we put the finishing touches on the communication systems for the rings and finished the last base station. Right as we did so however, our scans showed a large mass where there hadn't been a few days before."

Fox caught it first. "The planet you showed us earlier."

Peppy nodded "Exactly."

Falco spoke up "Wait, you're telling us that the planet just appeared, on the outer edge of the Lylat system?"

Peppy nodded again "I am. As strange as it sounds, that is exactly what has happened."

Falco shot Fox a look before he turned back to Peppy. "So what did you do?"

Peppy turned back to the console and changed the display back to the planet. "We sent out a scouting team to try and find out more about the planet. While their probe was scanning the planet we received a last burst transmission that reported incoming fire then silence. We ordered our scouts to move in for a closer look. Shortly after we lost contact with them, but not before it sounded as if one of their own had turned traitor and attempted to shoot down the entire flight."

Fox raised an eyebrow "You're sure it was the entire flight?"

Peppy sighed "Our scanners from the station picked up the dog fight and registered the six explosions unique to a G-Diffuser rupture, that and two smart bomb missile explosions. We did receive a last burst transmission from one of the pilots though. We're still not sure if he survived or not, our scans showed him heading for the planet like his ship was out of control. Right now hes listed as MIA, as is his wingman."

Falco spoke up "Who's missing, I mean is it anybody we know? That would be one reason I would figure you came seeking us."

Peppy nodded. "The missing pilots are Typhon Longwing, and Bill Grey."

Fox blinked before speaking softly "Damn it Bill, what have you gotten yourself into now." in a louder voice he directed at Peppy "So you believe them to be somewhere on the planet? Then you want us to go get them or something?"

Peppy nodded "Part of it, the other part is I want you to search for inhabitants."

Falco cracked his neck "How do you even know the planet supports life?"

Peppy pressed a button "Because, we've encountered it before. Gentlemen, this is the long assumed dead, planet of Cerinia."

Suddenly Kursed was paying very sharp attention to Peppy and to the display behind him. "Cerinia is gone, destroyed long ago."

Peppy glanced at her for the first time since he had scolded them all. "Yet, here it is, just outside of Lylat."

Fox glanced at her, still trying to get over the similarities between Krystal. "Hey Peppy, not to be rude, but what is this woman doing on my ship anyway? Unless shes important to something I would like her removed."

"She is important Fox."

Fox glanced at Peppy "How?"

Kursed sighed and rolled her eyes, leaning down so she could rub her head with her fingers "There is no way, you are this stupid. Seriously, you dated a Cerinian for almost three years, and you don't think that by the fact that I share the same hue of coloring, which is really, really rare in Lylat, that hey, perhaps I might be one too?" Kursed scoffed and turned her gaze away from Fox, who was shaking his head. She turned her dark blue eyes to Peppy "But I would like to know how you know what I am. I don't actively advertise it."

Peppy just smiled again. "Perhaps I'll tell you when you complete the mission, further incentive if you will."

Falco had been looking at Kursed "Well, that explains her at least." he turned his gaze back to Peppy "Hey, Peppy, I just thought of something, when Fox and I became racers we retired the Star Fox mercenary license. We can't legally accept jobs from you until we get it active again."

Peppy waved a hand through the air "Taken care of this morning."

"What?"

Peppy smiled at them "I took the liberty of renewing your licenses this morning, registering you in your old positions."

Falco turned to look at Fox "Should we be insulted that he did that? I mean we don't have to accept his mission."

Fox glanced at his friend. "Falco."

Falco raised his hands "Just saying, you know, we could just ignore this and go accept our awards in a few days. Go back to racing and pretend it never happened. I'm good with that."

Fox glanced at his own console "No you're not, I know your dates with Katt are you two flying around somewhere." before Falco could speak up to deny it Fox continued "Besides, we can't, its Bill, I won't leave another person I know to die."

Falco said nothing for a moment, catching on to what Fox was referring too. Fox noticed Kursed look up at him as well. He turned his attention back to Falco as he spoke up. "So, just like that, we're Star Fox again?"

Fox nodded "Why not? That's how it worked in the Academy."

Falco raised an eyebrow "We were teens then, we're a bit older, and its a bit harder for us now don't ya think?"

Fox smiled "You're not the only one who has kept up practicing flying Falco, just go with it." Fox's smile widened "You know, unless you're scared." Fox turned back to Peppy before Falco could respond. "So, what exactly are you hiring us for General?"

Peppy nodded at Fox, knowing what this meant to him. "I need Star Fox to go scout this planet, find out if any of the original inhabitants still live, look for our missing pilots and bring them home safe. You are also to escort Kursed there, so that she can confirm if the planet really is Cerinia."

Fox nodded "We'll get right on it, first off we need to get the Great Fox II moved back to the space port. I also need to get in contact with Slippy to see if he wants to come along. I would prefer to have a full four man team."

Peppy shook his head "Unfortunately, Slippy is busy in his department and he can't step away for the next few months. I'm afraid you'll have to find somebody else to serve as a forth."

Fox nodded "I'll take care of it. Anything else?"

Kursed spoke up again. "Yea, I got a question, I still haven't agreed to anything, and aside from your generous offer of covering those bar damages and telling me how you know where I came from. Things that I can really live without, I don't see any reason for me to accept and go along with these dropouts."

Peppy glanced at Kursed "How about a clean slate? You do this one thing for us, and as cliched as it is, I wipe your record? Do we have a deal?"

Kursed thought about it for a moment, reaching up to rub her chin with her hands, which were still bound together. "Fine. Deal."

Peppy looked up at Fox. "Do you mind if I leave her here, she has a ship of her own that I can have waiting for you at the star port, but I would rather not drag her around with me everywhere I go while you get the Great Fox ready"

Fox looked down at Kursed with a frown "As long as she behaves."

Kursed barred her teeth at Fox, who sighed. "Can I keep the energy cuffs?" he asked Peppy hopefully. The hare shook his head as he stood up. "Unfortunately not, these cuffs lose their energy after a few hours, so in about thirty minutes she'll be free anyway."

Fox shook his head "Damn" while Kursed looked down at the cuffs in interest. Fox looked over at Falco "What do you think, cargo room?"

Falco thought about it "Nah, too much in there for her to wreck. Lets throw her in Slips old room. All that's left in there is a bed. We can lock the door from the outside too, so we don't have to worry about her wandering about."

Kursed barred her teeth again and let a growl slip out of her throat. Fox rolled his eyes "Oh this mission is going to be so much fun."

Peppy gave a small chuckle as he stood up and his guards walked into the elevator. "Anything else before I go?"

Fox nodded "Yea, one question."

Peppy nodded in return "Sure, as long as I get to ask one of you."

Fox smiled "Alright, me first, how far out is this planet?"

Peppy thought about it "About two weeks, my turn, how did you get this the Great Fox down here and hidden, with out anybody noticing?"

Fox laughed "I'll tell you when I get back, its too big of a story to be explained now."

Peppy narrowed an eye at him "Better not be making a promise to me Fox, I won't let you forget it."

Fox laughed again "Go to bed Old Timer, we'll get the Great Fox in the air tomorrow then we'll get your mission done."

Peppy shook his head before he spoke up again "Hey Fox, when this is over, are you going back to the race track? Or can I count on you in the future?"

Fox blinked and glanced down at the floor as he rubbed the back of his head. "I dunno Peppy, I guess we'll see what happens."

Peppy nodded and pressed the button for the bottom deck and the elevator doors closed. Behind Fox Falco yawned "Alright, we got that out of the way, now what do you say we put the princess in her room and go back to bed? We got a lot to do tomorrow if we're going to get the ship in the air."

Fox nodded his agreement, hitting the button to summon the elevator then moving down the stair case over to Kursed. "Come on." he said putting a hand on her shoulder.

Quicker then he could actually keep track of, Kursed had stood up and lashed out with a brutal kick that sent Fox stumbling backwards and had Falco pulling his revolver out of the back of his pants. As Fox recovered his breath he gestured for Falco to hold his fire. "What?" he paused and coughed "What was that for?!"

Kursed snarled at him "Nobody touches me, ever, not you, and not your bird."

Falco thumbed the hammer back on his revolver "What a delightful little ray of sunshine you are." he glanced at Fox who straightened up "Are you sure I can't shoot her, I can make it look like an accident."

Fox glared at Falco who shrugged "Hey it seemed like a fitting line."

Fox shook his head. "Keep your gun on her anyway." he turned back to Kursed, he jerked his head towards the elevator "Come on then, lets go."

Kursed walked stiffly up the stairs and waited for the elevator to arrive, when it did she walked in, followed by Fox, while Falco took up a spot by the wall. "Down Please, Deck 5."

Kursed reached forward and pressed the button for deck five. As the elevator lowered, Kursed looked over her shoulder and spoke up "So if I...misbehave...you'll just shoot me?"

Fox shook his head "I won't."

Falco grinned "That's my job, and just give me a reason. Please."

Kursed rolled her eyes then went back to staring at the wall until the elevator slowed to a stop. When the doors opened, Fox gestured for Kursed to lead them out. "Second door on your left." Kursed led them down the hallway until she reached the door, she reached out with her bound hands and hit the switch to open the door. As she stepped in she turned to face them. "If either of you try to come in here, I'll kill you." She glanced at Falco "I don't need a weapon to do so either."

Fox nodded "Fair enough, if you suddenly started cooperating with us I would be suspicious. So I'll just leave your threat with one of my own. Don't try to leave the room." Fox leaned forward to slap the door switch. "Oh, and welcome to Star Fox." then he hit the switch and the door slid shut in her face as she started to growl a response. Falco chuckled next to him as Fox programmed his gauntlet to alert him if the door controls were messed with in anyway.

As he finished Falco spoke up. "Do you really expect her to try something?"

Fox nodded "I fully expect her to try something before this mission is over. We'll need to keep an eye on her. That and get a Forth that we both can trust to have our backs."

Falco nodded his agreement "True, but I can only think of one right now who we can use as a Forth."

Fox rubbed his chin "Yea, I know who your thinking of too, give her a call tomorrow morning and ask."

Falco hit the open switch for his door and turned to go into his room, he stopped on the outside and glanced over his shoulder at Fox. "If she says no?"

Fox had copied Falco but didn't stop outside, he was already inside when he answered "I have no clue." his door slid shut after him and Falco shrugged walking into his room and closing the door behind him.

Inside the spare room, Kursed waited while she listened to the muffled conversation the two were having outside. When she heard the small thumps that told her both of their doors had closed, she sighed and walked over to the bed, sitting down heavily. Then immediately standing up and waving her hand in front of her face as a cloud of dust rose to cover her.

As she coughed it out of her lungs, eyes watering she turned her thoughts to the events of the past few weeks. First Peppy finding her on Fichina, then the cells aboard his cruiser. Although according to Peppy she only had herself to blame for that, if she hadn't mauled three of his security guards they would have left her in a room of her own.

Kursed scoffed slightly as she thought about that, 'mauled' was such a strong word, she just damaged their egos. On the thought of egos she found her thoughts drifting to Falco, it was nice to see that he was still quick to anger, she could have fun with that later. What had surprised her the most was seeing Fox though. She had done her best to leave him behind, and had succeeded pretty well too, in her opinion. But now, here she was, on the same ship that she had last seen him on, and pacing the wall next to her old room.

She stopped and rubbed her eyes as some of the dust reacted with the dye she had planted in her eyes. It had felt strange the first time she looked in the mirror after she had the surgery, she looked like a completely different vixen. But it hadn't been enough, so she dyed her tattoos to match her fur and set out to make a name, and a trail for herself. The scar helped, but that was completely accidental. One of her first marks had gotten lucky and had the drop on her, she had made it out of that one in one piece, aside from her scar. As for the mark, well, it had been a good thing that the bounty said dead or alive.

Ironically, it had been that mark that had started the Kursed rumor, that she would complete any mark no matter what. She guessed that turning in a bag of remains had grossed out a lot of people. Either way it had helped, rumors spread about her origins, where she had come from, why she did what she did, and how come she was blue. Some nights when she was bored she would look into the rumors to see what wild one had appeared now.

Kursed sighed and moved over to the bed, laying down gently, so as not to trap her still bound arms underneath her. Her thoughts once again drifting to Fox. When she had heard that he had given up flying and turned to racing, she had been filled with a savage glee. Hopefully he had felt the same pain that he had caused her when he tried to make her a good little house wife. But then, Fox being Fox, he took to racing like anything else and quickly excelled, becoming one of the best racers in the system. That had caused her anger at him to grow.

She had tried to get a rise out of him earlier on the bridge, but all he had done was narrow his eyes, even when she had attacked him, he had stopped Falco from retaliating. She wondered what her appearance had done to him. She knew that even with all of her changes, she still looked a lot like her former self. If she also hadn't had a voice modulator surgically implanted onto her vocal cords, he might have still be able to recognize her. Maybe it would make him think more about what he had given up, instead of living a new life with out her.

She rolled over in the bed, thinking about the person who had tried tracking her down when she had first become Kursed. She hadn't been worried really, just that they were trying to track down Krystal, and that might have led them to Kursed. She couldn't risk that, so she looked around and found some shady doctor who could transfer her DNA to a corpse, even make it look like her old self so that whoever was looking for her would believe her dead.

It wasn't until a couple years later that she had found out that the one who had been looking for her had been Fox. She had thought about seeking him out a few times, but when she had heard this news, she was firmly settled into being Kursed, she had changed, and moved on. So had he, since by then he and Falco were G-Zero racers. Unexpectedly, her thoughts turned to why she had left him, would being a housewife had been so bad that she had to run with her tail between her legs? Angry at herself for her thoughts even drifting that way she reminded herself of the image she had pulled out Fox's head that day so long ago. The one where he flew off in his Arwing day after day to do missions, and leaving her behind. Maybe if she had still been on Cerinia that could have worked, but she had grown to used to adventure, and to the action and thrill of space combat to just be able to give it up so easily. It was possible that she could have talked it out with Fox, but instead she had let the same fear that she had when she was younger take over and control her actions. By the time she had thought about correcting her mistakes, it was too late.

Sighing and settling deeper into the bed, Kursed let her mind drift, trying to rid it of her current thoughts, no matter how she had ended up in this position, all that mattered now was that she got through it. Get this little mission out of the way and go back to the shady sections of Lylat, where she had been forged into something else. She reached up to rub her forehead and realized that the cuffs had vanished, leaving her arms free. She turned her thoughts to those along the lines of what Cerinia would be like, she had originally been forged to be a ruler, but had left instead. Would they still be there? Her parents? For once, Kursed was afraid to find out the answer.

Inside his room, Fox was sitting on his bed, staring at the picture on his dresser. The thin gold chain was hanging loose out of his shirt and he was idly playing with her ring. After a while he sighed and looked up at the ceiling. "Hey Dad, just wherever you are, could you ask why the universe keeps doing this to me? I mean is it a punishment for not finding her fast enough?"

He sighed again. "I should start from the beginning. I told you before I become a racer just how much I had screwed up, chasing the best thing in my life away from me." Fox paused, realizing that he hadn't tried talking to his father since he had become a racer. "Sorry about the long silence, I should have tried to talk to you more, but it just felt wrong. Like I had turned my back on what you had wanted me to become." Fox glanced at the floor, some part of him knew that this was a silly thing to do, but some part of him, didn't care, it helped him cope.

"I lost her Dad." Fox blinked the tears out of his eyes. "I chased her away, and by the time I found her again, it was too late. She was dead, and there was nothing I could do." Fox thought again back to those weeks when her body had been discovered, the news hounds ate it up, the great Fox McCloud mourning over his lost love. It had taken Falco and a baseball bat to finally get them to leave him alone. Fox tightened his paw around the ring, feeling the tough metal bite into his flesh. "Was she sent to punish me dad? This bounty hunter named Kursed? She looks so much like Krystal dad, I felt my heart skip a beat the first time I saw her. I honestly thought that Krystal was back, that I would get a second chance." Fox sighed again and released his hold on the ring, glancing down at the floor for a few minutes before returning his gaze to the picture on the dresser. "Or is this a different sign? A sign that I should finally leave her behind, let her rest for good?" Fox stood up and walked over to his dresser picking up the picture there and staring at it.

In it Fox and Krystal were standing in a field on Sauria, they had just been married, and Fox had decided that Tricky had been right, Sauria was where they would go for their honeymoon. He had made the mistake of telling Tricky that he was coming though and the King Earthwalker had set about this huge celebration. The two of them had finally ran off into the woods to get away from it. They eventually emerged in a field, and Fox had turned to his new wife. He was dressed in jeans and a matching t-shirt, his face clear of worries and only staring at the vixen with love. She was dressed in a short skirt and a similar t-shirt to his, the two of them holding each other and starting into their eyes. They had kissed them stepped forward into a hug, after they had separated they stood there, holding hands while the sun set behind them. Its golden light dancing through her fur and lighting up her eyes. It was at that time that somebody had taken the picture, Fox never found out who, just received the picture before they had left Sauria.

Fox set the picture down and sat down heavily on his bed. "What I'm trying to say Dad, is, I'm sorry I didn't do this more, I should have, but after I lost Krystal, I felt I had lost the right to talk to you as well." Fox laid back in his bed, still fully clothed. "You know, I always wanted to take her to see her home world, but instead, I have to take this foul mouthed bounty hunter instead." Fox closed his eyes, tucking the chain back under his shirt. "Good night Dad, wish me luck."

Bam, there we go, not a whole lot of arm twisting like I said in the summery, but oh well right? Anyway, we got three of the four members of the team on the same ship, with the forth to arrive next chapter, who by the way I hope everybody can guess as to who it is. Speaking of everybody on the same ship, who's excited for a little Kursed and Fox conflict next chapter?! I am! I should prolly get on writing that eh?

Okay, just a few notes, this story at its heart will be review driven, I'm not going to ask for a set amount like I did last chapter, I've never been a big fan of that type of setup, and honestly kinda hate myself for even doing that. But the more reviews I get, the bigger my drive to write this story will be. I'm pretty fast writer when my ideas get formed, and ever review just helps those ideas form. Plus, as any author here on FF net can attest, getting a review just creates this awesome feeling and keeps stories alive, so do your part eh? Not just on my story but any story you take the time to read.

Okay, also, this chapter went through a Beta reader! For those who know me, holy crap I know right, but I want this story to be better then my others. So I sought one out, and now I'll just have to tell you all that if you're enjoying this story, you need to be thanking Cpt. Fox, both for being said beta reader, and for his review on my one shot being the spark that started this story.

Edit 1-10-13: Okay, so Chapter three is done...ish...something feels wrong with it, massively, so I'm sitting on it for now until I get hit with the spark of thought that lets me know whats wrong with it. Or until I say fuck it and restart from scratch. But I will tell you this, while I wait for that spark I'm working on chapter four. I'm quite happy with how its turned out so far, full of the Kursed/Fox stuff that you all came to this story for. I hope it will all be worth that wait : P

Well, I think that is all, so until the next chapter,

Peace,

-Emile