Hi, just thought I would drop this little side project here. At the time of posting, it is half done being written. I just want to know how its gonna be received, so I thought i would drop my written chapters here in between finishing SFA A Tale Retold.

Heads up this is a slight Alternate universe ( AU) of the timeline of 64 and adventures. In a nutshell: the events of Star Fox 64 and Adventures happened as they did in canon but not Assault (yet I guess) and Command (ever)

This is NOT related to to my Star Fox rewrote, A Tale Retold.

all you need to know is I changed the ages of Krystal and Fox as well as the number of years between the end of Lylat Wars and events of Star Fox Adventures.

Adventures is now 4 years after the Lylat Wars. Fox is now 26 so he can be closer in age and Krystal is now 23 because otherwise the timeline with Cerinia's description ( in this 5 years ago, a year before Lylat Wars) otherwise if I used the canon tint line where Adventures is 8 years after Lylat Wars and Krystal is only 19, it raises too many questions and plot holes.

(Like how did an 11-year-old Krystal survive in space on her own and become competent at fighting and using her abilities so well without formal training? Did they just train her from her toddler years? Are her abilities easy to master that a child wielded them so well? I don't want all the questionable logic of her magically being an amazing child prodigy and somehow scraping by in space as a kid. How would a child pull that off? I don't want her to be yet another character who is magically super component and self-sufficient as a child. Kids in real life are not usually like that, becoming self-sufficient and surviving alone is a struggle for grown adults have. I want to be realistic

( Oh yes, you must be saying, the franchise about furries in space and the blue telepath lady with a magic staff is not realistic enough( sarcasm). Fair point if you point that out bug still, it helps with suspension of disbelief)

Why do I ramble so much about this? It's because the Cerinia backstory and such is kind of pivotal to this story and I can't have the entire basis of my story be a plot-hole-ridden mess.

That's all I can say without spoilers

Enjoy

Krystal blinked her eyes open and gasped. A quick observation of her surroundings caused her to notice she was not standing in anything, actually.

Somehow, she was floating in space.

Before the vixen could even wonder how that was possible or how she was still breathing, a cluster of asteroids just in front of her caught her attention. Or rather what seemed to be asteroids.

Once she realized what it was, an all too familiar dread set into her mind.

It was the remains of Cerinia. Her homeworld, now nothing but many massive chunks of rock and debris floating adrift in space. Krystal could barely find time to react or cry before an all-too-familiar voice

"Return." It said simply. The voice had an apparent source, yet it was audible all the same.

Krystal blinked, trying to fight her anguish.

"Return to Cerinia? Why?!" She inquired.g

"Find." The voice stated.

"Find what? What do you mean?!" Krystal shouted to the voice.

She got no response, however, before everything went black…

"Ahh!" She gasped as she woke up. The blue vixen sat up in bed, catching her breath.

"That damn nightmare again…" she muttered to herself. She had been plagued by that same dream several times over the past two weeks. She could not claim she understood it….

The blue vixen glanced around her room, trying to gain her bearings. It was dark right now, but from the faint lighting, she noted how barren the room was. It was silver-grey, with little beyond a simple bed, a tv in the center, a dresser in the corner, and a blue plush chair near a window with a side table. It was plain, sure, but she had no possessions, other than her staff and clothing, with which to decorate. She looked at her bedside table and noted the time on the alarm clock. It was currently 4:30 am.

Krystal got back up and looked at herself. Dressed in a tank top and shorts that the team had given her; a hand-me-down from a previous female team member, Fara, who had left long ago to pursue her family's company. Krystal grabbed her favorite tribal robe from the closet hangar and made for the kitchen.

"Not like I'm going to be sleeping soon anyway." She noted.

Within minutes, she was in the kitchen of the Great Fox, grabbing some milk from the fridge to mix into her coffee. The kitchen was rather basic yet high-tech, with simple metal pantries and cabinets for food, cups, and plants. The appliances, including the fridge, were brand new. Thanks to the team's hefty paycheck from the Sauria job, they had all the finest wares installed.

After she finished making her beverage, Krystal slumped down at the table in the center of the dining room and downed the coffee. All the while the messages on the dream kept playing on repeat in her head.

"Return? Find? Find what? Why return home, it's nothing but rubble now." She thought to herself

Her thoughts were interrupted as she heard footsteps entering the room. Krystal looked up in surprise to see Fox entering the room, dressed in a white shirt and joggers. Upon seeing the vixen, he blinked in surprise.

"Krystal? What are you doing up at this time?" He asked her.

The blue vixen sighed. "Couldn't sleep. What about you?"

"Too much on my mind. Needed to clear my head." He stated, sitting down next to her at the table.

"What's on your mind?" She asked. She could simply read his mind with her telepathy but she preferred not to violate his privacy.

"Those last few missions taking out those pirates. Had a few close calls too many. Might be time we revisit the Arwing's shielding.." he noted. "What about you?"

Krystal frowned. "...bad dream again." She replied dismissively.

Fox looked at her in concern. "You've mentioned that a few times in the past few weeks. Everything okay?" He pressed.

Krystl sighed again. This same dream had been plaguing her for many nights over the last two weeks. She kept dismissing it but, perhaps she should share it with her teammates. Maybe that could make sense of it.

"Well, here goes nothing." Krystal though.

"It's been a recurring dream. I see the ruins of my home from space, and then some voice tells me the same things every time." She responded. Fox gave her a concerned look.

"I know, it sounds ridiculous," she muttered.

Fox shook his head. "No, it's fine. I'm just concerned. What did this "voice" say in your dream."

Krystal looked at him. "Only two things: "Return" and "Find". I guess it means to return home but I have no idea what it is I am supposed to be looking for." She stated.

Fox hummed, lost in thought. Krystal shook her head and drank more coffee.

"This same dream has been bothering me for weeks. I just can't seem to shake it." Krystal stated. "I… I'll admit, I almost considered returning home but… I don't know if I can bear it." She said.

Fox looked at her with a sympathetic expression on his face. "Would… returning at least help bring you closure?" he inquired

Krystal was silent for several seconds, caught a bit off guard. "...I don't know. It's really hard to say. I guess, I don't know, maybe I could at least figure out the dream." She noted. However, it then sank in where he might be going with this conversation. "Fox, are you saying you…?" She asked.

"If returning there would help you, we can make it happen. I didn't want to press you before now but I could not help but notice that you've been a bit distracted for weeks now,l." He noted. "If it's really bothering you, I want to help."

Krystal was silent for a second. Had she been so bothered by her nightmares that her teammates were taking note this whole time? She appreciated them giving her privacy but it still bothered her that this dumb dream was disrupting her this much. And for that matter, was she really going to have the team waste valuable fuel and resources to travel to her old home just to search based on a vague dream?

Krystal was not sure she even wanted to go back at all. Yet, she could not shake this dream from her mind, seemingly beckoning her to return.

"I… I'm not sure about Fox. I don't want to ask you to waste valuable fuel just for me and my dumb nightmares." The vixen responded.

Fox shook his head. "It's not dumb, it's clearly bothering Krystal. And it's no problem really." He sighed once more. "Look, let me put it like this? Would this help you do you think? At all? " He pressed.

Krystal thought hard on that for nearly a minute. She weighed her options. IT was bothering her, she admitted to herself. Badly. She was not sure the dreams would stop and let her sleep in peace until she dealt with them. And returning to Cerinina might be the only way to do so. Finally, she looked back up and Fox and gave him her answer.

"Yes. I think it would," she said.

Fox nodded. "Then I'll make it happen. We can go anytime you wish." He stated.

Krystal sighed. "Better sooner than later. Today, if we are able to." She requested.

Fox nodded. "Very well. We'll set out first thing after the others are up." He stated, standing up. "I'm gonna get some coffee if that good." He said, walking over to the coffee machine.

Meanwhile, Krystal was left back to her thoughts. Returning to Cerinia's ruins would be emotionally taxing, she knew, so she began to brace herself. She just hoped this trip helped her figure this dream out.

A few hours later

Later that morning, the Star Fox team arrived at the ruins of Krystal's homeworld. Fox had informed the team of what Krystal had told him. To her surprise, they complied without much objection. Krystal could sense hints of understanding in each of them. She appreciated that from them. Falco had questioned the necessity but went along with it, Krystal guessed due to Fox being the leader and all.

Krystal sat on the deck of the Great Fox, waiting anxiously for her teammates to read the Arwings to search the debris of her home world. Currently, the blue vixen was dressed in a simple white robe and sandals.

Glancing out the window of the deck, she could see the ruins of Cerinina. Seeing the ruins of her former home in pieces devastated the vixen. It pained her greatly to know that each passing asteroid Could have been part of a once she had once been to in a past life. It was haunting really; seeing the remnants of her home, knowing everyone she knew and lived with was gone.

This reminder of her pain was too much to bear. And yet here she was, staring aimlessly out the window at it. As if expecting to find something…

She was questioning what she was even expecting to find here.

Cerinia was now nothing more than a cluster of shattered rocks and earth was once bits of the planet. Its people and their renowned abilities were reduced to nothing more than stories told by travelers. No survivors of the world were known, at least to the general Lylat public.

In the past, it had been a vibrant jungle planet, legendary for its inhabitants' telepathic abilities and their planet's magic lifestream and crystal, which they in their magic staffs. Ironically for a planet so far out of the way of any civilization, the world had been one of much renown for these factors.

However, that was now a thing of the past. Much like the rest of Cerinia's culture.

The sound of the door opening behind her alerted Krystal to Fox entering the deck. He approached and sat next to her at the control panel.

"Slippy and Falco are ready for take-off," he told her.

The vixen nodded. "Great."

Fox looked at her. "Slippy boosted the scanner's signals. If something out there, we will know." He added.

Krystal nodded. "Thank you, Fox." She said, hugging him. This elicited a blush from the male fox.

"Anytime." He said, a big sheepishly. He sat down in the chair next to her and put in a headset.

"You guys ready to go?" He asked.

"All set." Slippy's voice came.

"Yeah, sure. Just hope this is worth it." Falco muttered on the comms.

With that, they started the launch sequence and took off. Krystal could see their Arwings flight out of the ship from the observation glass.

"So, remind me: what are we looking for exactly ?" Slippy asked.

"Anything really, I guess. Functioning equipment, radio signals, whatever might be floating out here," she stated on the comms.

"A bit vague, don't you think? " Falco snarked.

Krystal frowned.

He was not wrong; she had no idea what she was supposed to "find" as the voice in her dream told her. Part of her felt guilty for making the waste of valuable fuel and resources on this seemingly fruitless endeavor. Fox had reasoned it was no problem since the paycheck from the Sauria mission meant they was loaded with credits at the mind that; they could afford this trip jo problem, so he claimed. That put the vixen at ease a bit but she still wished she could help more personally. Sadly, she had not yet finished her training to learn to fly an Arwing.

"Sorry… I just don't know yet." She admitted.

"It's fine. Sometimes we don't know things until we see them." The toad said over the comms.

Fox spoke up at the. "Just do what you can." Fox suggested calmly.

Falco sighed over the comms. "Hey, as long as it brings you some peace of mind," He said simply.

"That's a bit thoughtful of him. Not the Falco I know." Krystal thought.

"Thank you, all." She said, simply.

Fox nodded and started surveying the Great Fox's scanners.

"Rob, boost the signals," Fox told the robot, who was situated in the back of the deck.

"Affirmative." He said.

From nearby, Peppy, who was monitoring the ship's navigation path, spoke up.

"I'll keep an eye out for anything of note." He stated, likely referencing possible derelict ships or anything else they might find besides asteroids.

With that, the search began.

After maybe an hour or two of scanning later, it was already beginning to feel hopeless.

The Great Fox had been orbiting the remains of Cerinia and scanning very carefully. Rock after rock, They found nothing. The few intact pieces of metal or equipment they found yielded nothing either. Most of it was debris from some kind of technology destroyed along with the planet. The Great Fox's scanners had been running like mad, but found nothing of note. The thing was the scanners could scan very large areas within seconds; it hardly took much time to identify the remnants of the planet. Cerinina was not particularly large; or had not been.

Krystal sighed as she yet again failed to locate anything with her own telepathy.

"Got anything?" Krystal inquired over the comms, once more.

"Got nothing…" Falco responded.

"Sorry… still haven't found anything of note. " Slippy's voice came in.

The vixen sighed.. "Figures…" she muttered. 'Thanks for trying though." She added. She slipped off her headset and hung her head low.

"This was a mistake…" she muttered, defeated. They were nearly done searching the entire area by this point. It was emotionally painful enough to be back here as it were; the question of what she was supposed to be finding gnawing at the back of her mind did not help much either.

Fox looked up from the console and put his hand comfortably on her shoulder.

"Hey, don't give up yet. We still have one more quadrant to look through. " He said, giving her a comforting look.

Krystal gave him a weak smile, as he started directing Slippy, Falco, and Rob to navigate towards the last unchecked area of the destroyed planet.

"Peppy, you seeing anything on the radar?" Fox asked, turning towards the old hare at the back of the cockpit, seated at a terminal.

"More asteroids… nothing of note other than that. Still not sure what we are looking for." The hare's raspy voice

Krystal sighed again. She did not want to give up yet, but she could not deny Peppy was right; this was a wild goose chase! If there was an object she was supposed to find, she did not know.

As Fox focused again on channeling the Greet Fox's sensors, she flipped back on her headset.

"Anything?" she inquired again to her teammates.

"Sorry… still don't see anything," Slippy replied.

"Nothing still." Falco replied once more.

The vixen's heart sank. All this searching and still nothing. She was not even sure what she was expecting. It was becoming too seem fruitless. Perhaps her hopes of finding anyone or anything out here was in vain.

However, what she heard next changed that.

"Scratch that. I'm picking up a faint blip on the scanners. I'm gonna check it out," The bird stated on the comms, much to Krystal and Fox's shock.

The vixen's hard surged. Could he have found something? Someone, even? The vixen's heart soared. Was it possible something was out here?

When she detected faint thought patterns coming from the area with her telepathy, she nearly jumped for joy.

Her four moods vanishing in an instant and being replaced with enthusiasm, Krystal switched on the camera function on the console in front of her and Fox, which showed the feed from Falco's Arwing. Fox looked at her with interest.

"Falco, I've just detected thought patterns coming from the area. There's someone alive out there!" She stated.

The team gasped white Falco seemed s bit weary. "You sure it's not pirates or something like that?" He asked.

"No. Nothing like that; it's too faint. I think it's coming from the larger asteroid a bit more aggressive of you ." She stated, paying close attention to the ship's video feed .

Falco gasped. "How? Who would be out there?" He said. "I detected a weak signal but what's it from? Too weak to be a ship." He stated.

Krystal thought. "Not sure. Can you get a closer look?" Falco obliged and flew closer to the asteroid. His camera feed showed the rock. It pained Krystal to think this had once been part of her home. But she could not dwell on that right now.

Falco scanned the asteroid until he heard the beep from his scanners.

"Got something. Looks like a metal pod of some kind." He noted.

Krystal gasped. "It has to be a stasis pod! I still sense the thought patterns from your vicinity… someone could be alive in there!" She said, ecstatically.

Fox spoke at this. "See if you can pull it in with the tractor beam. But be careful." He added.

Falco obliged, slowing his Arwing's speed as he activated the cargo tractor beam.

Krystal watched the camera feed with anxiety as she saw the pod be pulled to the undercarriage of the Arwing.

"Good catch. Bring it back to the Great Fox." Fox ordered.

"Copy." Falco said as he began his course back to the mother ship. Slippy followed suit as well.

Before he could say anything to her, Krystal had already shot out of the chair and was practically bolting towards the ship's hanger.

Fox looked at the empty seat Krystal was in with a perplexed look. "Guess she's eager."

Peppy laughed. "You don't say?" he jested, as he began walking out of the cockpit and towards the hallway to follow Krystal. Fox followed suit

End chapter 1

Be sure to tell me what you think. I will note that this story and its premise were inspired by an art piece of Furaffinty by rhyfe2002 called "Krystal and Akaru"

I stumbled on it while browsing artwork. The story for the image posted there sounded extremely interesting to me but sadly nothing of it was ever written beyond the brief summary. I wrote this to kind of fill my own curiosity of what a story like that would be like. And no, i do not wish to steal others ideas; I tried to put my own spin on this.

(And I do wish to say the subject matter on that account is... not my cup of tea but the artist has artistic talent at least.)

Anywho, see you next chapter