"Fox, just tell me what's going on. You've got me worried! Hello, can you hear me? Fox you're scaring me, would you just -" They whorled about and through the asteroid field but Fox gave no reply – Slippy followed worriedly. He wanted to ask if he could call command about this, but was certain he knew the answer.

Something beeped onto radar, "Fox?" But Fox only began to pick up speed. Slippy turned within his cockpit to see the stealth fighters manifest behind them – he pushed the ship to keep up with Fox. Enemy fire struck his craft, Slippy struggled to maintain control as it shook violently, more enemies had gathered in chase. Fox fired into asteroid-mounted guns, causing them to crush into dust as it collided with a larger space-rock. The toad thought he had better chances with the asteroids than the enemies himself, using his boosters to find the distance he desperately needed from those in chase. They dashed between the great rocks and about them, getting closer to only Fox knows. The asteroid belt didn't seem too infested after all, Slippy expected much more resistance. After some distance, Fox veered left, when Slippy followed suit his leader's craft was facing his, having turned 180 and floating quietly backwards. Fox opened fire, and his teammate screamed; the stealth fighters were now a bad memory as he opened his eyes. Slippy smiled as he realized he was alive but it quickly faded away after what he saw now. He halted his craft – the asteroids floated by, some being pulled into the darkness of the lavender abyss.

His first words in some time: "We're here."

But where exactly were we? There was looming glow against their crafts, the source was an enormous swirling vortex, and it became clear to Slippy now. Did he really expect him to follow him into this? It was pretty and deadly both, Peppy had some interest in these anomalies – bribed him a home-cooked meal to get past some records that weren't too difficult to get his hands on. He was told by Peppy that he was just writing a book. He kicked himself for not reading those files. They were drifting towards the vortex.

--

He leapt into his Arwing and boosted from the Great Front. He had to make it there before Fox's emotions got him killed. What's so damned special about you, James? He looked down at his wingman's father's photo again, as he moved onward. You've got a great son. Falco recalled his own childhood – on the darker side of Corneria. The rundown area was filled with gangs and thugs:

The gang drew Falco into a corner after he fled for his life.

'Yo, Falco!'

'Check out the half-pint!'

'Let's see his insides.' A gang member drew a knife. He tried to defend himself, but to no avail, the three easily over-powered him. He was cut, beaten, and his eyes could barely focus on the silhouette that walked into the ally. "Dad."

'What's this? You really want some old man?'

'Came to save your faggot son?'

His father inhaled into his cigarette and looked into his son's begging eyes.

"Please, Dad, don't let me die here!"

Then his father walked away – and the gang continued their beating.

He was among the asteroids now – he could see debris, there was evidence of fighting. Fox had been through here.

"Falco, this is an emergency." So spoke Gen. Pepper.

"I kinda have my own situation, big guy. I'm certain Corneria won't explode for a few minutes while I collect -"

"Dad, come back! Please, oh god, please come back! I love you!"

It was the last time Falco ever laid eyes on him.

"Falco, the crews were not finished in repairing your craft, there's an oxygen leak. Turn back now – you're on a limited amount of air supply."

He rubbed his brow, he was crying, the purple glow against his face. And he was alone.

--

Fox collected himself, relieved he wasn't dead. The two Arwings ungracefully rotating, he righted himself, or at the very least stopped the spinning – because where he was now, there was no sense of up and down.

"Slippy." There was only silence, and he thought the worst. "Slippy, are you okay?"

There was a moan, his Arwing still spinning, "I think I'm going to be sick." Fox released a sigh. "Where are we, what happened?" It took some time, but Slippy too righted himself, using Fox's Arwing for reference.

"I'm not sure."

In horror, Slippy's eyes widened; a few meters from his tiny fighter, was an enormous Cornerian Explosive. He held his breath, on the cylindrical explosive was the patriotic symbol of their planet; it had now became an ominous emblem of unpleasantness. "Fox, is this what I think it is?"

Fox bit his bottom-lip, seeing that this wasn't the only one – he counted perhaps five floating devices. Perhaps more had drifted further in. Slippy couldn't possibly disable all of these, what had he gotten him into? He'll refuse. "Slippy do you think you could disable these? I don't want them going off while we're down here."

"Why are we down here?" He couldn't help but sound accusingly.

"This is the last place my father was seen, I guess I was acting a bit impulsively – but Pepper plans on destroying this place, it was my only chance to get the answers I needed to find." There was a period of silence, Fox was certain his teammate wouldn't be his teammate for much longer.

"Sure thing, Fox, I'm on it."

He didn't mean to reveal his surprise, "Really?"

"Sure, why wouldn't I?"

"You're not mad?"

"I'm peeved off beyond measure, Fox. But I would still be here if you would have just asked me, the others too. That is, if you didn't get us blasted into space dust on the way in here." Slippy and his leader shared a grin.

Fox looked around, debris was everywhere – there was quite a bit of damage, wreckage everywhere. It seemed quite a firefight happened here, he combed over his surroundings. There were huge space carriers, abandoned and tumbling quietly through…wherever he was. There was a small orange sun in the distance, the light danced among the debris. There was even…He stopped when his eyes met a third tumbling Arwing.

"Slippy."

"Yeah?" He was outside his Arwing in a space suit, normally for emergency repairs, a hose running from the life-support. He had opened the first panel on the explosive, leaving wires exposed.

"It's his Arwing." Fox could not help but tear. He slowly moved his ship towards it.

--

He cursed himself for being a few minutes too late, he assumed the worst for Fox and Slippy. And he couldn't stop his God-damned blubbering. The oxygen level of the Arwing would be just enough to turn back. He took a few minutes before reaching for his centre stick, ready to go back. But, he was no longer alone; he crossed his arms with a smile, as an Arwing pulled adjacent to his. "Now that's more like it," he quickly wiped away his tears.

"Falco, your air supply - I'm going to replenish your reserves." A switch was thrown on his console and a large angular pipe was extending. He stared in awe at the swirling light of what swallowed his two squad mates. "Oh my, it's beautiful." Distracted, the pipe collided with Falco.

"Hey! Watch the paint." Peppy translated the smart-off as a 'thank you.' This time making sure the pipe fit into place.

"You need to get to Fox now. I'll try to keep Pepper from detonating it – but there's been word that the Venomian fleet plans to use the hole and front an attack on the blockade." Pepper will detonate it if he thinks it will save Corneria."

Calmly, Falco muttered to himself, "Nobody mentioned explosives to me; nobody mentioned Venomian fleets. Why am I always the last to know?" The pipe had finished and oxygen levels were normalized.

"It's not a permanent fix, but it should buy you enough time to get to Fox." Peppy reared his Arwing and left to counter the General. "Good luck!" Falco translated the wish for luck as an 'I'm sorry."

Falco stared into the void as he drifted closer; it was as though it reached out and ripped him inside. The strain was horribly painful and even light-speed travel never left Falco so nauseous. He screamed, praying he did not miscalculate – and praying that Fox wasn't dead – and that he wasn't suffering the same fate.

--

There was a sudden beep that drew Fox from his melancholy, Falco's Arwing drifted from nowhere. "Hot Damn!"

Falco replied in an uncomfortable moan.

Slippy could not be distracted, the wirings for an explosive this enormous were severely sensitive but he managed to disable two – that is, until he saw the Arwing tumbling towards the bomb he was working on, a collision could cause them all to go off, killing them all! "Fox! Falco! Ahh!"

Nobody spoke. Falco cleared his vision too late.

Thud. Still alive, everyone released their held breaths; though the impact sent the bomb hurdling away from Slippy. "Fox!"

Fox thrusted away from his Father's ship, chasing the bomb – if it got away, it could collide with something else and explode. The remains of a Venomian Air-Carrier seemed to be the drum-of-death's next target. Fox hurried past and opened fire, showering the carrier with repeated blasts until it was crudely carved in two. The aged shuttle parted, granting Fox enough room for his next maneuver: Fox mimicked the speed of the explosive, getting a few meters on it then braked, using the hull of his ship to slow it to a stand-still.

Falco was impressed – and nauseous. He righted his Arwing.

Fox began pushing it back towards the three. "Not bad, right?" he sounded more confident than he felt; his body was shaking uncontrollably, not that anyone could see. I can't believe he's here; he's saved my life once already.

"Yay, Fox!" Slippy finally then realized that no sound within the space suit was audible to the others; he rolled his eyes and sighed. He instead extended a thumbs-up to the others.

"Fox, I don't know if you have enough time to disable these things – Peppy said that Venom will definitely be making its way through here, Gen. Pepper plans to seal this portal. With us in it if he has to."

"Slippy, how much time do you think it would take?" Slippy had nearly had this one finished before Falco crashed into it; it only took the snapping of one more wire. He entered his Arwing and moved to his fourth, giving him a few moments of communication, "Not long now. No pressure, guys." It became much easier after the last attempts – if he could just keep his hands from shaking.

Falco watched his air gauge, it was half-empty. He thought not to bring this up as a concern to the others. "What is this place?"

"Peppy told me it used to be experimental grounds, Andross's experimental grounds. It doesn't look like it gets much use these days." He watched the fourth Arwing, still stationary, spinning quietly.

"Well that doesn't seem to be the case today. Fox, we really should just leave."

Those words struck both pilots as they looked around themselves. "How exactly do we do that?! Peppy didn't say anything about this!" Nothing around them even resembled an exit, just empty space and forever debris.

They realized they were very lost. And no amount of running in any direction would avoid the collapsing of the Black Hole. Falco desperately tried calling base – no answer. Desperately tried to call peppy – no answer. "Somebody come in! Fuck!" He gripped James McCloud tightly in his hand.

Slippy hummed to himself, completely cut-off from the other's communication. He finished the fourth and moved to the last bomb. "Pizza-cake!"

Things seemed to be going rather well despite the situation he was in; this was all second nature to him anyhow. He was thrilled that his talents were finally put to good use, not that he hoped it would be his first and last time that his team depended on him only. He opened the final panel and worked his arms inside – the bulky suit being the only hindrance now.

Light then became broken, eclipsed, and it caught Slippy's eye. Venom was here.