Fox's arms quaked with strain. Droplets of sweat rolled through the matted fur covering his forehead and dripped down onto the soil below him. He had been poised in the exact same handstand for three hours, using telekinesis to keep himself upright.

"Good, good. Concentrate. Do not let anything distract you," goaded Alagrin. The little turtle was perched on Fox's upside-down heels, murmuring instructions. "Now take one more step," the ancient Cerinian said slowly.

Fox's telekinetic hold on his body was beginning to falter, but he was able to conjure up enough strength for his next task. Barely. He slowly released the pressure on one hand, then on four of his fingers until he was balanced on only one thumb. His legs wobbled.

"Determination! You are two steps away! Stay strong!" commanded Alagrin.

Fox obeyed, remaining upright. He slowly shifted his remaining energy, feeling out with his mind for a large boulder laying a few meters away. It trembled, then began hovering in the air. Fox telekinetically moved it across the mud towards himself, holding it up near his feet so that Alagrin could hop down onto it.

"Very good. Next step. Reach out with your mind to the universe itself. See what has happened, what is happening, what will happen. Look into the future," said Alagrin. The blue turtle wobbled on the rock, but was able to hold himself steady on it.

Fox did as his master told, closing his eyes and shutting all else out. He could have no distractions if he were to complete this final task.

The blackness in his line of vision slowly gave way to thousands of tiny pinpoints of light– stars. They spun and wheeled, making him dizzy.

"Concentrate," Alagrin's voice penetrated into the blackness.

The stars became brighter, gathering into pictures and images. Nothing solid, just faint flashes. And suddenly he sensed his friends emotions, as clearly as though they were his own. Pain. Anguish. Suffering. Something terrible was going to happen to them.

Fox's breaths came in short gasps now. "Krystal," he found himself whispering. He sensed something he had never felt from her before– hopelessness. It was dark and empty and lonely.

Then there was Falco. His pain was more of a physical kind. It came through the darkness clearly, burning into Fox like a white-hot knife blade, before suddenly vanishing into a cold numbness. Was Falco dead?

Slippy. Slippy was morose and depressed, not quite hopeless like Krystal, but still quite bleak. The powerful emotional feeling made Fox feel as though someone had punched him in the gut as hard as they could.

Fox trembled. This was too much. He had to go, save his friends. They were in danger, horrible danger.

"Concentra-aaiiee!" Alagrin shrieked as the rock he was standing on plummeted to the ground. Fox's arms finally gave in, and he crashed to the dirt, gasping for air and sweating.

He lay there for a few moments, feeling the cool breeze caress his sweating brow and letting the moisture of the damp earth soak into the back of his shirt. Then he sat up and looked over at Alagrin, who was brushing clumps of dirt off his shell with his stubby little arms. "I saw my friends. In a gigantic city... there were skyscrapers everywhere, and the sky was so blue," he said slowly, as if he was unsure if what he'd seen was correct.

"Corneria City," Alagrin said, nodding.

"They... they were in pain," Fox whispered.

Alagrin frowned at Fox solemnly. "You see the future," he said.

Fox wiped his sweaty forehead with the back of his forearm. "Will they die?" he asked his mentor softly.

Alagrin closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. "Hmm. Difficult to see. The future is always changing," he said after a moment.

Fox was horrified. "I have to go, I have to save them," he said, getting up and dusting himself off.

Alagrin frowned at him. "Not yet have you finished your training. Lord Cain knows your power, he seeks to use you. It is now that you are at your most fragile state. Either direction, could you go. Follow the light path, or take the dark one," he warned.

"I can't just sit here and let them suffer!" Fox cried, ignoring Alagrin's warnings. He picked up his flight jacket and threw it on over his shoulders, then hurried through the forest towards the river where he had crashed his Arwing. He leaped over roots, scrambled between trees, and ducked under old wires crisscrossing between scrap metal jutting up from the ground, until he reached the bubbling, polluted waters.

"Oh, no," Fox muttered. His Arwing was now almost completely submerged. How was he supposed to get it out of there?

"You really seek to leave?"asked Alagrin from behind him. Fox turned to see the little turtle perched atop the rock, levitating himself next to him.

"I have to, master. I'm sorry," Fox said. Then he turned to his Arwing. "But... just look at this mess. How am I supposed to get this out, this is impossible! I'd need a crane or something."

Alagrin scowled. "Have you learned nothing? Everything has its own life! The trees, the rocks, your ship! That is what we do, connect our minds with the lives of everything else! Use this power! Lift your ship from the water yourself!" he cried.

Fox gulped. He wasn't sure about it. "Master Alagrin, lifting rocks is one thing, this is different..."

Alagrin stamped his foot furiously. "No, no! No different! The difference is in your mind! Believe in yourself, and you can do it!" he said.

Fox sighed. "Alright," he said reluctantly, "I'll try."

"No," Alagrin said sternly. "Try not. Do, or do not. There is no try."

Fox looked at Alagrin, then back at his Arwing. Alright, he thought. He closed his eyes and raised his hand out towards the fighter, breathing deeply and trying to reach out to it. It has a life. I have to connect with it, communicate with it. Tell it to pull itself out. Lift out of the water.

The water hissed and churned, and the Arwing began to slowly reappear from the waters, first its thrusters, then its stabilizers, then its cockpit. Alagrin nodded, staring at it intently. Then the ship stopped. The waters stopped hissing, and the Arwing began trembling. Then it dropped with a loud splash into the waters again, and Fox collapsed.

"I can't," he gasped between breaths. "It's too big."

Alagrin furrowed his wrinkled brow, deeply disappointed. "Look at me," he said, lowering the rock he was levitating on and hopping off so that he was at eye-level with Fox. "Do you judge me by my size? Hm?" he asked.

Fox shook his head, feeling ashamed.

"So forget size. Size matters not. I will not impede you if you want to leave. But I will give you this last test: pull your ship out of the water," Alagrin commanded.

Fox glanced at the Arwing. It was now completely submerged in the water. He didn't even know where it was anymore. Then he scowled at Alagrin and got to his feet. "You're asking me to do something impossible," he said flatly, beginning to feel hopeless. He stormed off, angry and ashamed of himself. How would he ever be able to leave now?

But he stopped when he heard a noise. A gurgling, hissing noise, like a waterfall splashing down a cliff. He slowly turned to see Alagrin standing by the river's edge, stubby paw outstretched and eyes closed, telekinetically lifting the Arwing out of the water.

The river swirled and bubbled as the fighter reappeared, then seemed to part completely. The Arwing lifted into the air and floated over to a dry patch of land by the river's edge, green waters dripping from it. Then it landed with a soft clunk, its landing gear still extended from Fox's crash landing.

Fox gaped at the little Cerinian and strode forward, amazed. He dashed over to his Arwing and popped the cockpit open. The interior was completely dry– he had been smart enough to seal it shut before leaving it out in the river. The thrusters only needed to be dried off now, and that would be as simple as igniting the engine. His ship would work perfectly.

He turned to his master, incredulous. "I... I don't believe it!" he cried, astonished.

Alagrin nodded. "That is why you fail," he said matter-of-factly.

It took only a few hours for Fox to gather his meek possessions– a few ration packets, what was left of his camping gear, his blaster, clothes, and energy sword. That night, clad in his green pilot's jumpsuit, Fox made his final preparations for takeoff. He had telekinetically cleaned the muck out of the cracks and crevices in the Arwing and had gotten it ready in just a few minutes. But he still stalled, hesitant about leaving.

"Fox, please! You must complete your training!" Alagrin begged, standing close by as Fox made the final preparations.

"Alagrin, you don't understand! Almost every friend I've ever made in this war has died, I can't let that happen to my best friends! They'll die if I don't go!"

"You don't know that, Fox," said a different voice, as if it were echoing towards him from far away. "Even Alagrin can't see."

Surprised, Fox glanced to the side to see Peppy standing there, shimmering slightly with a faint blue light. Fox's connection with the netherworld had grown considerably stronger over his training, and he was now able to communicate with some he once knew who had died.

"But I can help them, I know it! I feel the power I have!" Fox protested to his old mentor.

"But you don't know how to control it. Please, Fox. Listen to us. Cain and Emperor Andross are using your friends to lure you into a trap! They want to turn you into a weapon for them," Peppy warned.

"Yes, yes! You will listen to Peppy! The tree, remember your failure at the tree! You gave in to your anger and struck Cain down! That is what the Emperor wants, a new, more powerful lieutenant!" Alagrin cried.

"It's your power Emperor Andross wants. That's why he is making your friends suffer," said Peppy.

"And that's why I have to go," countered Fox, climbing up into the cockpit of his Arwing.

"Only with full training can you hope to defeat the Emperor and Cain! Choose this path and you will become an agent of evil, and your friends will have suffered and died for nothing," Alagrin said.

"No, I just can't do this! I'm sorry, master, I will return and complete my training! But I have to leave. I have to save my friends," Fox said.

Peppy sighed. "This is your fight then, Fox. If you face Cain, you'll have to go it alone. I won't be able to help you," he said.

"I understand," Fox said, firing up the thrusters on his Arwing. The ship rumbled to life, and Fox began setting the coordinates for Corneria into the slipspace computer.

"Then I only advise you to remember your training. Mind what you have learned: it will save you. Anger and agression only lead to darkness," Alagrin warned.

"I will. And I'll return and finished what I started, I promise you!" Fox called down as the Arwing began lifting into the sky. Then the cockpit sealed shut, the nose of the fighter angled upwards, and the Arwing shot off through the haze and into the sky.

Alagrin and Peppy were left in darkness, with no sounds present but the chirping of crickets in the polluted forests.

"I told you. He is reckless," sighed Alagrin, looking up at the tiny dot of blue light from the Arwing thrusters as they disappeared into the mist.

The shimmering outline of Peppy grimaced. "That boy was our only hope," he said dejectedly.

Alagrin didn't respond for a long time. "Perhaps," he said finally. "But perhaps there is another."