Chapter 56

"Hey Fox, Falco! Check these out." The frog approached his friends that next Friday morning with a little present for them both. "Try these on, they're a new prototype visor I made. You just have to click this here and…" A small piece of metal expanded into a full sized headset, complete with a microphone as well as a scouter with an ocular sensor in it.

"Wow, this is cool froggy." Falco told him as he adjusted it on his head. "The comfort on this is incredible considering the material, and this is just a prototype?" Fox asked his friend genuinely. "Yeah it's just something I've put together within the last few weeks. See you can change the radio frequency really easy, plus the ocular sensor can help you with targeting and kind of like a binocular.

Just focus on something for a few seconds and the scouter will enhance the image, making it larger and still a clear image, try it on the teacher's desk in there." The frog pointed in the classroom across the hall from where they stood.

Falco took a step to be directly across from doorway and took a look at the teacher's desk. "Wow." He said as indeed the scouter did what the frog said it would. "Not only that, now I know that someone ain't gonna be happy about their quiz grade later." He said trying to hold back a laugh as his friends did the same.

"And here, just take it off, tap this button, and it'll collapse and fit in your pocket. Once you get more used to it you can press the button without even taking it off. Don't worry, it won't clip any fur or feathers." The devices collapsed into something the same size as a credit coin, just in a more distinct rectangular shape. "Slippy these are great, they'll be really useful later on." Slippy was glad to help as the guys went their separate ways for the first class of the day.

Fox walked in and waved to Wolf and Panther as he sat down. "Hey guys" Wolf nodded back at the vulpine while Panther just sat in his seat looking at his phone. Fox laughed a little when he noticed it. He just went on doing his work for the day, still unsure of how exactly to approach Panther, or if he even should. He pondered it all throughout the day, he didn't want to bother Wolf with it so he didn't bring it up during lunch.

He and the guys stood around in the parking lot that afternoon just chatting it up. "So you have lunch with Wolf? I bet that's a treat." Slippy said with a bit of sarcasm in his tone. Fox merely shrugged his shoulders, "He's not so bad after all. Seems really genuine, just a little misguided perhaps. You know, yesterday he asked me about Krystal."

"Seriously? Does he know anything about her?" Fox just shook his head at the frog's question. "Nah, he was asking me about her, if I knew anything. Told me that he's not totally sure how Panther took it when Krystal…well really we don't even know about that. He thinks that Panther is done with her and all, but he still sounded ambiguous. He reminded me that apparently we've actually been ignoring her it seems."

The bird and frog just looked up at the sky. "I guess he isn't wrong." The bird said in return. "Yeah, that's what I said, I just wonder if that's the right thing to do. Hopefully it isn't too late to find out."

"Like I told you man, don't think about it." "Yeah, guess you're still right. I've been okay not thinking about it so maybe that's the way to go." "Yeah buddy, don't worry about it. I mean what's the worst that could happen?" The frog just patted his friend on the back.

"Just, things are so unclear. You'd think things would be a straight shot ever since I got my memory back, but seems like things have only gotten more and more complicated." "Yeah I guess not talking about it didn't particularly help you any, sorry man." Fox just waved off his friends, "It's okay guys, nothing's your fault." He smiled back at his friends to reassure them that he's okay.

"Maybe sometime in the future things will pan out. Dad has something for me to check out, so I'm headed out. See you guys later, wanna do something tonight?" Both Falco and Slippy heartily nodded as they turned for their cars. As Fox drove home he could only wonder what his father had in store for him this afternoon.

"It's in your room, tell me what you think." Was all his dad said when he got home.

'In my room? Must not be anything too big.' As he opened his door to look for whatever this surprise was, he couldn't find it, so he went ahead and slung his backpack onto his bed. 'In my room?' He searched everywhere but couldn't find whatever this surprise was. "Dad, there's nothing new in here." He said as he poked his head outside his room.

James got up and walked over to his son's room. "Hey come on now, be more careful." He said as he picked up his son's backpack. "What do you mea-" Fox didn't finish his sentence. Now he knew why he didn't find the surprise, his backpack had been sitting on it.

Fox picked it up and looked at it, "Well? Try it on." It was a new, updated uniform.

The flight jacket was more comfortable, felt more flexible, and was made of more material. It came with a new set of gloves, more stable and comfortable boots, and a sleeker pair of pants. "Wow, this thing feels great!" Fox said after donning it all. "That was the idea, in mind of your combat training from last week I decided to try and get a more comfortable and flexible fit, never know when it might come in handy. I also got you a new holster for your blaster." James retrieved the holster from his and Vixy's room and handed it to his son.

"It'll clip right on and has a little slack, but it won't flop around all over the place." Fox fastened the holster, and to go with the theme of the rest of the outfit, it couldn't be more comfortable. "This is incredible, and here, look at this." Fox pulled a small, familiar rectangular object from his pocket as James looked at it with curiosity.

"What's that?" "Slippy brought them to me and Falco today, check it out." He placed the piece in his hand and pressed the button as it expanded into the headset that he had seen hours prior. "Wow, that's incredible." "Isn't it?" Fox asked as he fastened it on his head.

"Slippy calls it a prototype, but this thing's too amazing to be a prototype." James just laughed at his son and marveled at the ingenuity. "Never know what that boy will make next. It even has an ocular sensor?" Fox took the headset off, "You wanna try it? I'm sure he can make you one too." James took it and tried it on, looking around as the target marker on the scouter followed his eye wherever it looked, enlarging and sharpening whatever image he locked his gaze on.

He removed the headset and handed it back to his son, "Maybe one day. I'm guessing you planned something for the guys?" The younger fox nodded his head. "Great, because I was gonna order a new uniform for them too. Ask them if they want one or if they have any suggestions for it." Fox nodded to his dad as he walked out and Fox unpacked his bag.

Later that afternoon Fox headed over to Falco's house, awaiting some basketball as well as the information regarding the new uniform. "Wow dude, that thing looks great, what an update." Falco told him when he explained his attire.

"Yeah, dad said he's happy to order you guys one too if you like it. "Yeah it looks incredible!" The frog nearly yelled with excitement. "Dad really liked the headset you made too. He also didn't believe it was a prototype."

The three friends laughed at how common that thought was. "But hey, who cares for now? We're here to shoot some hoops!"

They all jumped up and scrambled outside for the basketball.