Recreation

Fox stepped out of the tent, stretched and yawned. The air was slightly cool, but that would change soon enough. He closed his eyes and faced the rising Lylat sun, its rays warming his fur. His ears swivelled, picking up the gentle sounds of waves on a shore, and palm leaves moving in the slight breeze.

He walked down to the water's edge, barefoot in the sand, and onto the wooden jetty. There, he just stood and took in the view; light reflecting off the ocean, the long beach stretching towards the horizon, the tall cliffs behind him, and the cascading waterfalls. He spotted some LightFoot dinosaurs scurrying past, heading down endless rows of palm trees.

This was Cape Claw, a slice of paradise on the beautiful planet of Sauria.

After the destruction during the Aparoid Invasion, Corneria had provided much aid to Sauria. But then a treaty had been signed with the indigenous dinosaur tribes to keep foreign interference to a minimum. No one wanted a repeat of the mining on Macbeth or the pollution of Zoness. The denizens weren't much for tourism either and couldn't care less about the economy. After all, their currency-scarab beetles-had a habit of running away. They were all too happy to just live their lives in peace as they always had, and who could blame them on a planet like this.

The space around Sauria was a no fly zone, and visitors were strictly only allowed by permission from the ruler, King Tricky the EarthWalker. However, General Peppy O'Hare had requested access be granted for a scientific expedition, to study how the Saurian population had recovered from the effects of the Aparoid virus. King Tricky had been very quick to approve, since it was really just a thinly veiled excuse for Fox and Krystal to escape Corneria and be left in peace. Therefore, several years after bringing it up, Tricky's prediction had finally come true; they were back for a honeymoon on Sauria.

Right now though, Fox felt nature calling. He headed back across the beach and in amongst the palm trees. After checking that no more LightFoots were coming his way, he relieved himself against a tree trunk. With that out of the way, he could feel his stomach growling so he headed back towards the tent. Next to it there was a small array of solar panels, a camp kitchen, a barbecue and a small fridge.

He loaded an electric moka pot with water and ground beans, and prepared some yoghurt and fruit, while waiting for the device to do its magic. Soon, the tantalising smell of freshly brewed coffee filled the air. Enjoying his breakfast and the invigorating beverage, he pondered their living arrangements. They slept in a large octagonal tent, with rather more furniture and accessories than he'd expected were needed for camping. He'd grown up on the planet Papetoon, where he and his friends had sometimes gone wandering with swags and a tiny tent in their backpacks. This all felt very glamorous, but Krystal had read about "glamping" in online magazines and was all over it.

Speaking of which, his wife was obviously still asleep and it worried him ever so slightly. They had both been hurt at the end of the Cerinian Crisis, Krystal more so than Fox, but they were both as good as healed by now. Fox felt rested and energised, but Krystal seemed to sleep more than usual. They usually went to bed not long after sunset, although often not gone to sleep until much later, yet she had been sleeping in the past week or so, and sometimes woken up feeling a bit ill.

He finished his light meal and turned his attention to his plans for the day. With a coffee mug in his paw he walked over to the standard issue Cornerian shuttle parked nearby, a small but practical vessel for bringing crew and some cargo between the surface and ships in planetary orbit. It was their home away from home during their honeymoon, and they also used the Cloud Runner-Krystal's custom Arwing-to make excursions all over the planet. Meanwhile, the Great Fox II and ROB were off on some unknown adventure, leased out to Falco and Katt who were setting up their own team, since Fox had decided to retire from mercenary work.

For some reason the shuttle reminded him of the little ship that had taken Krystal to Sauria all those years ago. The stumpy and lumpy little shuttle had been lost with so much else when the Great Fox had crashed into the Aparoid homeworld. It had looked so different from the sleek golden ships of the Protectors of Cerinia. He pondered whether the shuttle had been of Vixon design at all. But if not, where had Krystal come from? Was she in fact not a Vixon or had she been somewhere else in between Cerinia and Sauria.

Krystal was such a mystery, even to herself. Her memories had still not come back. All that she could recall of her life before arriving at Sauria were the tiniest of fragments, visions which could just as well be dreams as reality. His deepest desire was to provide her with the answers she craved, but at least in the meantime he could do his best to keep her happy.

And today is a perfect day for this. Entering the shuttle, he rummaged around for a while, until he found the two large duffel bags he was looking for. He slung one heavy bag over each shoulder, exited the shuttle, and huffing and puffing under the strain walked down to the water's edge. There he got down on his knees, opened one bag and pulled out a number of items: a large dark triangular piece of fabric, several meter long tubes, and what looked like an elongated white bladder.

As he was about to open the second bag, he saw movement in the corner of his eye, a flash of blue that immediately made his heart beat a little bit faster. Krystal walked towards him on light paws sinking into the sand. She had taken to wearing a loose white tunic with delicate golden embroidery, which had been a gift from King Tricky and the tribes. It was fluttering lightly in the breeze, while she yawned and stretched. The tunic slipped up a bit and showed off her slender yet muscular legs, and nearly revealed what was between them. A dirty thought raced through his mind, a desire to have a closer look.

"Good morning, sleepyhead!"

She returned his greeting with a content smile and walked up to him. He wrapped his arms around her and, as she was the same height as him, there was no need to bend. Their muzzles just met naturally, as they shared the day's first kiss. He ran his hand through her hair, which she had let grow out a bit longer, and just drowned in her beauty. Krystal looked very pleased with herself, and even more radiant than usual. Her cerulean and white fur was literally glowing in the morning light.

"What are you doing?" Always the curious one, she turned her attention to his equipment.

"I thought this was a good time to take up an old hobby of mine again." He started pulling out the same sort of devices from the second bag. "Windsurfing!"

He rolled out the roughly triangular and five by two metre large piece of dark fabric in the sand. Then he pulled a cord out of a plate in the white bladder, and attached it to a corner of the fabric.

"This is a sail made from photovoltaic material. It's basically a solar panel," he explained. A buzzing sound came from the bladder, which began to inflate as he put the tubes together to form the sail's mast and boom. "It doesn't just power the pump. The board has a pack of superconductors, and micro water jets in the fins at the back. It actually packs a decent punch on full boost."

Krystal cocked an eyebrow and looked at him with her big sea-green eyes, and he realised that he had a big grin on his face. "That much fun, is it?"

"Oh, yeah," he replied. "I thought you might want to try."

His words and thoughts trailed off as he recalled memories from his childhood. There was an odd tingling sensation in his mind, a feeling that he had never been able to explain. It was like when you had your eyes closed, but knew someone was next to you, maybe because you unconsciously picked up their scent or the sound of their breathing. Krystal the telepath was in his head. Oh yes, she still had her abilities, but that was their little secret now.

He met her gaze, smiled and gave a small nod; a signal that she was welcome in. Her thoughts mingled with his own in a warm fuzzy feeling as he shared his memories with her.

Lylat warmed the arid landscape of Papetoon and whipped up a hot wind that blew over the small brackish lakes. There, it filled the sails of the surfboards, as young foxes zipped back and forth across the surface, while laughing with each other.

His excitement was contagious, as her tail began wagging, but then he noticed that his tail was too. He was very grateful that he had such a curious and adventurous wife, always up for a challenge.

"I took Falco and Slippy surfing a few times while we were at the academy," he said with dreamy eyes. "It wasn't Falco's thing. Slippy loved it, but he was hopeless at it, spending more time in the water than on the board. I haven't done it since."

The first board had inflated and Krystal put a testing foot paw on it, feeling it flexing under her weight.

"It's quite spongy," she said with apprehension.

"Watch this!" Fox flicked a switch on the panel that formed the base for the mast. There was a sound like a big drum and the board went stiff. "It's made of electro-tensile material. That's why it packs up so small. Try standing on it now."

Krystal put one paw on the board, and then the other. Arms stretched out to her sides, she tried to balance on the board, wobbled a bit, and fell off... straight into the outstretched arms of Fox.

"My hero!" she exclaimed and went in for another smooch.

"You did that on purpose, didn't you?"

She just smiled at him, until her stomach grumbled loudly. "This vixen is hungry!"

"Hungry for food or for Fox?" He went in for another kiss.

She pondered for a moment, but her belly complained about the lack of attention. "Breakfast first!"

Fox busied himself by the camp kitchen, while Krystal fetched her priced Cerinian fighting staff from the tent and went for a wander. He sautéed some tomatoes and mushrooms, and scrambled a few PukPuk eggs for a protein boost, while toasting thick slices of sourdough bread in a separate pan, all while savouring another cup of coffee. Krystal returned just as he was dishing up the food on two plates.

"I found the old tree and gave it a good whack." She presented him with two delicious Dumbledang pods.

"Was it in the same spot?" Fox asked absentmindedly while seasoning their meals.

"Trees usually are."

Fox spotted a few GrubTub fungi hopping past. "You can never be sure on this planet."

They ate their brunch quietly in the shade of the tent's eave. It was a comfortable silence disturbed only by the waves on the shore, as they enjoyed their meals and each others' company. After washing up they changed into their swimwear, which took a while, since they had a hard time keeping their paws to themselves.

Finally they made their way back to the shoreline for Krystal's first surfing lesson.

"Yep, they're fully charged," said Fox after checking the gauges on the boards' control panels. The charging cord retracted into the boards as he fitted the masts into the base on the boards. He twisted a handle on the boom, and the dark sails turned translucent as the solar panels disengaged. Then they helped each other pulling the two surfing boards and sails into knee-deep water.

To start with, he just got her to stand on the board, which was the easy part. All her training staff fighting and martial arts paid off; her balance and body control was exceptional. Raising the sail up out of the water turned out to be a lot harder. When she eventually got it up, it often blew over again at the slightest wind gust, taking her with it. They spend more time in the water than on the board, and more than once on purpose, splashing and dunking each other in the warm water under much laughter.

After an hour or two-they didn't know and didn't care about the time-she was getting the hang of it, but they were exhausted. After pulling the boards back up on the shore, they headed to a hammock tied between two palm trees and laid down for a rest. That had been their intention at least, but their lips keep seeking out their counterparts. The snuggling escalated when mischievous fingertips kept looking for the other person's tickle spots, until the hammock was swinging so much that it threatened to tip them out.

Despite the morning's exercise, neither of them were really hungry yet thanks to the hearty brunch, so they prepared a picnic meal instead. Fox packed it in a backpack together with two large blankets, slung the backpack over his shoulder and they headed back to the water's edge.

After a couple of turns around the jetty, Fox determined that Krystal had good enough control of the board, so that they could head out for a little excursion. The wind was light and the waves gentle. Fox twisted a section of the boom gently-like the handlebars on a motorcycle-and sent some power to the water jet. Again they took advantage of Krystal's psionic abilities. There was no need for him to call out to her what to do. She just dipped into his mind, read his intentions and copied what he did.

He used some of the charge from the power cells and the board gained speed, until they were some distance out from the shore and the wind picked up. They cruised lazily down the coast, traversing the rolling waves with ease. With the wind through his fur and light spray of salty water in his face, he felt his confidence building. He hadn't been sure if he'd remember how to surf the wind, but it was like riding a bicycle. He spotted a wave about to break, turned towards it at a slight angle and twisted the handle. The boost from the water jet launched him towards the wave and then upwards. The board and its rider hung in the air for a moment, until landing gracefully on the other side of the wave.

Feeling quite pleased with himself he looked back at Krystal, who tried to copy his manoeuvre. But she got the timing wrong, the wave knocked the board from under her feet, and she fell into the water with flailing arms and legs. He looped back around to see if she was okay, but she bobbed around in the water floating by her life jacket, while reeling in the board by means of the strap tied to her leg.

You show-off, came a growl in his mind, as the soaking wet vixen scrambled back onto her board.

"Do you need help?" he called out to her.

No!

Her muzzle moved-probably uttering some selected expletives he couldn't hear over the wind and waves-while she fought with the sail, but after a few moments she had it up again. She flashed him a big grin with a very determined look in her eyes. She was so beautiful, kind, curious... and terribly stubborn.

They set off again, and it was then that he saw it; the seventh wave, taller than the others and with a perfect curl. He remembered something he used to be able to do as a teenager. Could he still do it? He twisted the handle to full throttle and the clear sail instantly turned opaque as the solar panels reactivated. Catching the rays of Lylat, they sent a few thousand watts of extra power to the water jets, and the board picked up several knots. He aimed, tried to get the angle just right, and launched.

He shouted with joy as the board shot up in the air, pointing towards the sky. He grinned towards Krystal, looking at her upside down as he was halfway through the loop. His smile turned into a terrified snarl as the board pointed downwards and he realised that he was nowhere near high enough.

The board and its rider barrelled straight back into the wave in a spectacular splash. For a moment he was disoriented, not knowing up from down, while the wave rolled him around. But then his instincts kicked in, and he relaxed, trusted his gear, and the life jacket brought him back to the surface. Coughing and spluttering he swam the short distance back to the board and grabbed a hold. Krystal appeared on her own board a short distance away.

Karma! He could sense the tone of amusement clearly even over the mind link.

How about worrying about whether I'm hurt first? he replied, but there was no need to. That indescribable sensation of her being in his mind was already there.

Only your pride. She had already made sure that he in fact was okay.

He recalled the early days of their relationship, after the Aparoid Invasion several years ago, when he was afraid to let her into his mind, and when he worried about her safety. How wrong and foolish he had been. Her abilities had saved him on many occasions. But now they were together, looking out for each other, as should be.

After another half hours or so, they rounded a bluff and saw an opening leading into a cove. The tall cliffs-lush and green with vegetation-sheltered them from the wind, so they powered up the water jets again. Gracefully, they cruised into a wine glass shaped bay with a crescent shaped beach of pristine white sand. This was their destination, a place Fox had spotted from the air while flying their shuttle to Cape Claw.

They pulled their surfboards up onto the beach and laid the sails out to charge the power packs, while they spread their towels in the sand and unpacked their lunch. Luckily the backpack was watertight, so while some of the contents was a bit squashed, nothing was water damaged. There were biscuits and crackers, various cold meats, cheese, cut up fruit, pickled vegetables, and other goodies that were easy to nibble on. The sea can make one quite hungry though, so they wolfed down most of the food in one sitting.

Fox placed his sunglasses on his muzzle, laid back on his towel, and looked up at some fluffy white clouds in the blue sky and. He closed his eyes and just enjoyed the rays from Lylat.

"I want to swim," said Krystal. Fox heard movement beside him as she got up from her towel, the rustling of cloth and barely audible foot paws stepping in sand. He looked up and his eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

Krystal was walking towards the water's edge, her incredibly blue fur only covered by her bikini bottoms. She stopped, likely sensing his stare, and looked over her shoulder. She teased him, not turning around to show her shapely bosom, yet she definitely raised his interest.

"Umm... you, you've got no top on," he stammered. He was sometimes caught off guard by how completely unashamed she could be when she wanted to.

"How observant of you!" She gave him a disapproving look, still not moving. "What's the point anyway? There's no one here and the water is warm. Why don't you join me?"

Fox stayed seated on the towel, blushing a little, feeling a bit embarrassed by the reaction inside his board shorts. He hesitated, yet wondered why. What's the point in trying to hide anything from a telepath anyway?

None whatsoever, she replied in his mind.

He jumped up and made a mad dash for her. She let out a yelp in feigned terror, before laughing out loud and running towards the water's edge. The water was still and warm in the bay, so there were no unpleasant sensations when it reached his groin. He waded through it until he was up to his waist, then dove in and swam after Krystal with powerful strokes. But he could swear that Cerinians were part fish. No matter how fast he swam and how hard he tried, she avoided him. Sometimes she would even stop and let him get close, only to dive under the surface and disappear. He stopped chasing her and just tried to just splash water onto her instead, which escalated into a ferocious water fight.

After a while he gave up and just stretched out floating on his back, letting the added buoyancy of the salty water gently rock him. He closed his eyes as he floated, but his ears kept swivelling, picking up noises in the water around him. There was a gentle splash, a breath being taken and bubbling noise, as if a sea creature had surfaced for air. Something gently brushed against his back, like a cheeky fluffy tail. A few moments later it was back, slower and for longer this time. Clawed fingertips touched his back, slowly ran down the length of his spine, until the paws found his buttocks and gave a squeeze. His desire returned with a vengeance.

There was that noise again, so he opened his eyes and turned his head, seeing a pair of pointy blue ears surfacing and beady sea green eyes observing him. Not like you to give up so easily, is it? She was breathing through her nose with her muzzle still mostly underwater.

He lunged for her, but of course she sensed it coming and slipped out of reach from his arms again. After some more chasing, he decided that he'd had enough and headed back towards the beach. This time she caught up with him and grasped his hand. They laid down on their towels, and let the warm rays of light and the afternoon breeze dry their fur. It was bliss.

Fox must have nodded off for a while. When he opened his eyes, he saw Krystal sitting up on her towel next to him. He let his eyes drink of her beauty, her muscular thighs, her narrow waist, her slender yet strong arms that were wrapped around her knees, so that they offered a partial view of her. He touched that white tattoo on the small of her back, and ran his hand along her spine all the way up to the soft curve in her neck and onto the shoulder.

But then she just shrugged the hand off, and he saw her face, her left side with the scar on the cheek and the chipped ear. She was staring into the distance with narrow eyes and a frown upon her face. It was a face he knew well from last year, and it was only the black eyeliner and long hair a violent shade of violet that were missing; Kursed.

One doesn't live a life as a coldblooded bounty hunter for years in a wretched place, and come out of it unchanged. She truly had been to hell and back, and hell had a name: Kew. He didn't even try to make her forget about it, because he knew it was impossible. That spiteful and vengeful side of her was always lurking under the surface, and he knew how she hated it. He had to love all of her, the good sides and the bad, if only so that he could guide her when Kursed's cold heart threatened to take over. There was no other way.

"Hey, Kay?" He used the old nickname from when she didn't want to be called Krystal, and he couldn't make himself say Kursed. "This thing about not hiding any thoughts goes both ways. What's up?"

Only one of them was a telepath of course. While she could read his mind like an open book, she could hide whatever she wanted from him. He just had to trust her, and show her that he trusted her.

"I'm thinking about when you pushed me out of Star Fox." She did not take her eyes off the horizon.

"Thanks for reminding me. I've such fond memories of that proud time of my life," he said sarcastically. Yes, it was him, Fox, who had sent her on the path to hell. He had tried to protect her by shutting her out from the only life she knew, as well as out of his mind. While her joining Star Wolf was partially because of a love for space flying, she made no secret that it was also to seek revenge on him. During the Anglar Blitz, things turned from bad to worse. It proved that even with a telepath, a breakdown in communication was possible. Finding her and winning her heart back had taken hard work and more good fortune than he had deserved. She had forgiven but not forgotten and he needed to never forget.

His comment had disarmed her and she turned to him with a sad Krystal face. "I kind of did the same." She hesitated, choosing her words carefully. "There was someone I was protecting on Kew, but left behind all alone with just some money, when I went back to Lylat with you."

"Someone you had feelings for?" Fox's ears flattened slightly.

"Never as much as you, my silly foxy husband, so don't be jealous!" Her reply came quickly as she read his thoughts and looked at him with her big friendly eyes. How unexpectedly liberating it was to have a telepathic partner, now that he once and for all had shed all his fears of what she might find in his mind. Those fears were what nearly had become the death of both of them. Now, there was no hiding anymore, no secrets, no masks and no roles to play. All he had to do was to be himself, and that was either good enough or it wasn't, but clearly here he was with his beautiful wife.

"It was more a relationship of mutual benefits, guidance for protection. But yeah, insofar as Kursed was capable of any feelings..." Krystal paused for a moment. "But she was definitely in love with Kursed."

That made perfect sense in a place like that, thought Fox, and then did a double take.

"What? She?"

"And?" Krystal said reproachfully.

She was such a mystery, such a wonder, so he shouldn't be surprised by anything. "I just never imagined you'd be the type who'd be into girls."

"I didn't have such a good track record with guys." She frowned. "Got a problem with that?"

"No, because I know you're into me more now."

She confirmed his words in the best possible way, by laying down on her side and snuggling up to him. "You know, Krys, we could go and check if she's OK."

"That's very noble of you, but seriously...?"

"No, I mean it! Slippy mentioned that he's working on improving the Orbital Gate." The faster-than-light travel portal-invented by Slippy's father Beltino-was in fact being enhanced and its range vastly enhanced using some of the Krazonium harvested by Kamuy and Protectors of Cerinia. Even if they had come close to literally tearing the planet of Corneria apart, there was a silver lining in the form of technological and medical advancements.

"Slippy could come up with some excuse," Fox continued. "Maybe it needs a test run or something. We could be there and back in a jiffy."

"Would you do that for me?" She looked up at him with her big wondrous eyes.

"I'd do anything for you! Except leave you."

They laid together in comfortable silence for a minute, but Fox felt his mind wander and pondered what those two girls might have been up to and what it might be like to be together with those two girls. Krystal sensed it of course and jumped on him, straddling him and pinning his arms down in the sand above his head.

"You dirty fox! Just because you're all so open and honest with your thoughts, doesn't give you a get-out-of-jail-free card. Control your mind!" she said in an angry voice and the narrow eyes of Kursed glared down at him in disgust. But surely she couldn't be serious? Her fluffy tail was wagging back and forth, tickling him below the waistline. Because every action has a reaction, her upper body swayed slightly from side to side in rhythm with the tail.

"Hey! My eyes are up here," she growled, but her tail just kept floofing away.

"My wicked wife is such a teaser!" He gave her a big smile.

"You're just angling for a ménage à trois, aren't you?"

"You alone, my love, are more than I can handle!"

She sat up straight and let go of his hands, which found their way to her thighs, around her curvy backside and up to her narrow waist. He put on his most seductive voice. "Hey... Wanna make a baby?"

"You're a bit slow to catch on sometimes."

His eyes nearly jumped out of their sockets and his mouth fell open. He put his paws on her tummy and ran his fingers through the soft fur. "Are you...?"

She looked at him with a sly smirk and nodded. A goofy smile slowly spread across his face, from one ear to the other. A little bit of anxiety mixed with a lot of excitement. He was going to be a father. He wasn't sure he was ready for it, or if he'd ever be, but this was what they both wanted: a family.

"But don't let that stop you." She bent down to kiss him and her hair fell around his face, blocking out the world around them like a cerulean curtain. She laid on top of him and their bodies moulded together. They made love, gently and slowly yet passionately, in the warm afternoon breeze on that secluded Saurian beach, where no one was around to see them.

Apart from a couple of CloudRunners who happened to fly over them and who spread the news of the peculiar scene far and wide. Krystal and Fox would be teased about it for the rest of their honeymoon, but it was worth it.

This is actually a chapter I started writing over year ago, intended for the sequel, even though I was only halfway through KBR. There you go! Thanks to Professor Slaad for beta-reading and to Hazelwolf(ing) for the GrubTub joke. He's such a fungi, sorry, fun guy.