Once the mighty roar of four Arwing engines died down, Fox tapped into the ship's comm link once more and proclaimed, "All ships are home!"

"Great job, team," Peppy called from his place in the ship's command center. "Come on up."

The team disembarked from their jets and headed towards the elevator, congratulating each other, and patting each other on the back along the way.

Gently placing a paw on the youngest pilot's shoulder, Fox gestured for the others to go on ahead.

"Slippy..." Fox started in a voice dripping with disappointment.

"I know, I know!" Slippy said, holding his hands up in a placating manner. "I got a little carried away!"

"A little carried away?! Slippy, I don't know how many times I've told you this. This is not a game! You can't just fly around guns blazing without taking in your surroundings. I had to save you twice! Both times were because you refused to take what's going on around you seriously! Do you not understand that you could die?!"

"Ah, just forget it, Foxie," Falco shrugged, unable to take the hint that this was a private conversation. "I say next time, you don't rush to his rescue. See what he does then."

Slippy's frustration became visible as his shoulder began to shake and his fists alternated between clenched and unclenched.

"Look, I'm sorry. I really am. I don't know I just get so... excited. We're actual heroes swooping in and taking care of the bad guys! I know I should be used to it by now but..."

"We don't do this for fun, Slippy," Fox reprimanded. "I suggest you fix that attitude of yours. We do this to protect the people of the Lylat system and beyond from threats. I don't quite like the idea of you taking joy in taking the lives of others, no matter what they may have done wrong."

"But Fox..."

"No buts, Slippy. I suggest you get your act together and quickly. Now come on, we've got to debrief the General and find out what this thing is and why it's so important."

Once everyone made their way to the bridge, Peppy immediately opened a comm link with General Pepper.

"Members of Star Fox… A grave dangers loom. The Lylat System is in peril," he solemnly began.

"What?!" Fox shouted over his teammates' gasps. "How do you know?"

"We know. I'll let the Cornerian Army Research Director fill you in on all the details."

Taking one step to his right, the General allowed the hologram of a new figure take his place; one that was familiar.

"Hello, everybody!" called the jovial voice of none other than Beltino Toad.

"Dad?!" Slippy shrieked. "You never told me you were the Research Director!"

"Oh? Didn't I?" he bashfully adjusted his glasses.

Clearing his throat and doing his best to ignore the lingering awkward silence, he continued.

"Well, in any case, these Aparoids..."

"Aparoids?" Fox interjected.

"Yes, they're the enemies you just faced. Roughly, oh I believe seventeen years ago, an entire fleet was decimated by a single specimen. Although we were somehow able to survive that trial, that was just a taste of what's coming."

Locking eyes with each member of the Star Fox team to be sure he had their attention, Beltino once again adjusted his glasses and continued.

"Team, this is an Aparoid—an insectoid cybernetic creature with unparalleled offensive and defensive capabilities."

Everyone took a good look at the displayed images of the enemy they'd just face and an older image of an identical being.

"Though we weren't able to learn much, the Cornerian Army has only grown stronger in the seventeen years since they last appeared. I've even received word that our troops are successfully holding back the swarm that appeared on Fortuna."

"Don't you think that's weird though?"

With his question, Falco had drawn the attention of everyone in the room toward him.

"I mean, one shows up almost twenty years ago, nearly kills us all before we manage to blow it up. Then... nothing."

"I don't get it. What do you—?"

Slippy's inquiry was ignored as the avian continued.

"That's an odd span of time to wait to launch an assault."

"I agree," Beltino added. "There were many questions left unanswered as we were unable to gain any information during our first encounter."

"Our working hypothesis at the time was that this creature was drawn to large energy sources," General Pepper added.

"Yes, just around that time the Great Orbital Gate had just become operational. Our theory was that the massive energy it produced inadvertently acted as a sort of beacon."

"Then, just what was it that brought them out in such massive numbers this time?"

"A great question, Fox! The answer is... we don't really know. Though damaged, we're hoping the Core Memory you retrieved for us will point us some sort of direction."

General Pepper then began to speak, inadvertently keeping Fox from asking another question that had just sprung to mind.

"We have detected a distress signal originating from the Katina Outpost. However, we're unable to contact anyone there. We suspect Aparoid involvement. You must find the distress signal."

"No problem at all, sir! I'll head to the surface immediately! That signal shouldn't be too hard to find!" Fox saluted.

"By yourself? It's too dangerous! I'm coming too!" Krystal interjected.

"No! Given what we've seen of these... Aparoids so far, I'd prefer the three of you in Arwings covering me from above."

Recognizing from her facial expression that she wasn't about to let the conversation end there, Fox attempted to reassure her by gently placing a paw over hers.

"I'm counting on you," he said with a smile. "Let's do this!"

The team took that as their signal to get prepped for launch and raced off to their individual quarters.

As he'd just arrived outside of his door, Fox was rather unsurprised to hear Krystal's timid voice over his shoulder.

"Fox," she said, speaking barely louder than a whisper.

"Krystal, shouldn't you be getting ready for..."

Finding her resolve, she raised her hear and daringly locked eyes with Fox.

"I request that you change your orders. It's just too dangerous for you to go alone! The distress signal would be so much easier to find if it were the two of us and..."

"I thought I told you why I would prefer having you in an Arwing."

"You did, but..."

A soft sigh escapes his lips as he closes the gap between them and places what he feels to be an encouraging arm on her shoulder.

"I appreciate your concern, but it's just a distress signal. If I need assistance, I'll call for it, but I think I can handle it."

"Weren't you just lecturing Slippy about being reckless?"

The chuckle she got in response, caught her off guard.

"I know it may seem that way, but I've thought this through. The more of us there are in the air, the safer it will be for me on the ground. Don't tell me you think I've lost my edge," he smirked.

"No, it's not that! It's just... I'm just worried about you, is all," she said, her voice returning to a bashful whisper.

The battle against Oikonny brought out a side of Fox that the violet vulpine had rarely seen and it scared her. Despite her best efforts, however, the mercenary leader was never one to really talk about his feelings, preferring instead to be everyone's rock.

'I wish he would just let us at least try to help him sometimes.'

Desperately wanting to press for answers and make sure he's OK, Krystal gently raises her paw to place on his shoulder.

Before she can make contact, however, Fox begins to speak.

"Thanks, it's really nice to know that there's someone left to worry about me."

The brief-yet-sad smile on his face as he spoke nearly made her drop everything and wrap him in her fiercest hug.

"But I'm a big boy, now. Come on," he playfully nudged her shoulder. "We've got work to do."

Sensing that this was the end of the conversation, she let out a sigh and returned the half-hearted smile, watching as he entered his quarters.

Fox performs a routine preliminary scan of the outpost as his Arwing breaks through Katinian airspace.

"Someone must have had some bad luck to have wound up in a barren place like this," Fox murmurs to himself.

Constructed by the Cornerian Army roughly eighty years ago, the Katina Outpost serves mainly as a hub for troops and their families in transit.

'That's odd. I'm not seeing many soldiers...'

Touching down just outside of the massive complex, Fox is filled with a bit of nostalgia.

'This place still looks the same. Dad was always so excited to show me around whenever he was on a goodwill trip with Star Fox. It's huge, but I guess it looked even bigger to five-year-old me.'

With the press of a few buttons on his dashboard, the AI asks for a vocal command code.

"Activate SwiftRunner!" he shouted.

A large portion of the cockpit begins to detach from the Arwing and hover down toward the ground. Once the transformation was complete, the SwiftRunner, a sleek all-terrain hoverbike designed by Slippy was roaring into action.

'This ought to save me some time getting around this place,' Fox muses as he activates his helmet.

Firing up the bike's engine, he then sped off into the base's entrance.

The second he'd crossed the threshold, however, an alarm sounded and the gate slammed shut behind him.

'Of course it was a trap,' Fox sighs, tightening his grip on the handlebars. 'Things can never be simple, can they?'

Activating the SwiftRunner's weapon system, Fox dutifully yet begrudgingly set off into battle.

'Do these things even qualify as Aparoids? They don't look anything like the beast we fought on Fortuna,' the expert marksman mused to himself has he got to work picking off several enemy robot types teleporting in before him.

These were nothing like the enormous moth-like creature from before.

"Fox! It looks like the base's lockdown mode has been activated. What's going on down there?"

"Not to worry, Peppy. It seems I've just made a few new friends. The Aparoid troops have come to say hello."

"We're got bogeys up here too," Falco added.

"All right, team. Let's get to work."

Blasting his way through the enemy horde, Fox noticed that the enemy's numbers weren't dropping at all. In anything, they were increasing.

Much to his chagrin, he also realizes that the SwiftRunner's lasers are having no effect on the hatchers that were spawning the enemies.

'I'm almost positive that I'll have an 'I told you so' speech from Krystal waiting for me the second I get back,' Fox glibly thought to himself.

With more and more enemies teleporting in, Fox was very close to being overrun.

Taking cover behind one of the buildings, he opened a comm link. "Peppy, send me a LandMaster, would ya?"

"On its way! What's your situation?"

"I've got my hands full but what else is new?"

There were a few seconds of radio silence before Peppy's voice returned.

"Fox! LandMaster sent!"

"Thanks, Pep."

"Let me know if you get lonely and I'll drop by," Falco joked.

"No thanks, All I need is the LandMaster," he jibed back.

From his location, Fox saw the Transport Beam touch base on the planet's surface and could see the assault tank make contact... on the exact opposite side of the base.

And of course, a swarm of Aparoids appeared in his path.

"Great," Fox sighed. " Nice to see the transmission system is as sterling as ever." With another moan, he put his blaster away and restarted his SwiftRunner's engine and continued his assault.

Upon safely transferring to the LandMaster, taking down enemies became so much easier.

He even had enough leeway to assist his comrades in the air. And while it lacked the SwiftRunner's speed and ease of movement, the tank more than made up for it with its durability and firepower.

Just when all of the primary targets were taken out, things took a turn for the worse. A number of hatchers began to rain down from the sky, spawning even more of the monsters.

"There are more enemy types around now!" Slippy warned from his Arwing. "Be careful, Fox!"

Just as Fox was about to thank his teammate for his concern, his sensor picked up a swarm of airborne enemies converging on the young mechanic.

"Slippy!" Fox yelled and leapt into action. He activated the LandMaster's temporary flight mode and gave chase.

Adrenaline rushed through the rookie pilot's veins as he did his best to outmaneuver the enemies coming up behind him.

Alarms were blaring, his breathing was ragged and his grip on the controls was so tight his knuckles were turning white.

By now, he'd have alerted one or more of his teammates to his situation to get some assistance, but his leader's previous lecture echoed through his mind.

'I can't keep making problems for everyone. I have to get myself out of this. I have to—'

A mighty explosion rang out as enemy fire made contact with his rear right side. The blaring of his onboard systems' proximity alert intensified, causing the young toad to become frantic.

'Help...please! Someone... FOX!'

One more explosion rang out, though this one seemed to be further away than he'd expected.

Within seconds, the alerts ceased, and his controls went back to normal.

A quick glance at his radar showed that the enemies that were chasing him were gone. Glancing out of his cockpit, he caught a glimpse of his leader beginning his descent and reverting his LandMaster to tank mode.

"Thanks, Fox. I thought I was a goner." Slippy sighed into the comm link.

Watching Fox's face for any sign of anger, Slippy was surprised to receive a smirk and a mini salute in response.

Closing the link and giving himself a good smack across the face, Slippy got himself back in fighting mode and went back on the offensive.

Fox's work taking out the hatchers was interrupted by the sound of Krystal's voice on the comm link.

"Is the distress signal still transmitting?"

"It's there, but it's weak. We have to take care of this enemy first before we can get to them," Peppy sadly responded.

"If there are any survivors, they'll be the only witnesses," Falco added.

Falco's penchant for not beating around the bush and saying what's on his mind can be refreshing at times. Fox noted that this was not one of those time.

"We've gotta rescue them!" Slippy frantically yelled, his pure heart and idealistic youth shining through.

Fox just nodded in agreement and readied his blaster before disembarking from the LandMaster and heading for the final target, which was apparently within one of the compound's buildings.

With a mighty sigh of relief and a wipe of his brow, Fox inwardly celebrated a job well done as he'd destroyed the final enemy hatcher, preventing Aparoid reinforcements.

Before he could announce this to the team, however, an Aparoid unlike any other they've faced so far made its thunderous appearance.

"That thing is huge!" Slippy yelled.

"...and ugly!" Falco added.

"So, this is the leader, huh?" Fox speculated as he watched the live feed from his position inside the outpost.

"Wait, that thing has a Core Memory!" Krystal noted, looking at the spire at the top of the beast's body.

"You heard the lady, Fox. You've got to get that Core Memory!" Peppy yelled.

"Got it! Team, aim for its legs. I see a hatch on its underside. If we can stop it from moving, we may just be able to take this thing down."

Roger!" the three Arwing pilots yelled in unison.

After a grueling battle, the titanic Aparoid had met its match.

As Fox made his way over to collect the Core Memory, he noticed something peculiar.

"The distress signal... it isn't transmitting anymore."

Before he could question it further, a snorting laughter erupted from the comm link.

"Hey, thanks for helping me out!"

"Pigma!"

"Heh, long time no see, eh Fox?"

"The SOS signal... It was... It was you?!"

"Sure was! And since I'm here, I'll just help myself to this."

Activating his dilapidated ship's tractor beam, the porcine pilot chortled as he stole the Core memory from the Aparoid remains.

"No! Stop!"

"Is it that important? Then I'm gonna be rich! Smell ya later!" the thief called as he made off with his bounty.

"Pigma! PIGMA! Shit!" Fox cursed.

"Fox!" Peppy shouted. "I'm tracking him on radar. Just get back to the Great Fox. We'll get him."

Fox collected himself and raced back to the LandMaster to prep for return.

Fox was afforded the opportunity to calm down a bit during his return to his flagship.

Pigma Q. Dengar was someone who never failed to make Fox's blood boil, given his involvement with the death of his father, famed pilot and co-founder and leader of the original Star Fox.

Each encounter with the slovenly swine conjured up a host of unpleasant memories, including the day Fox was told of his father's demise.

Understandably, his mood always takes a nosedive in such situations, but while he completed docking sequence aboard the Great Fox, he did his best rein in his emotions.

Meeting up with everyone on the bridge, he gave them all his best "leader smile" and made sure to ask after everyone's safety.

"Me? I'm golden. Bugs couldn't lay a feather on me!" Falco boasted.

"I'm fine, thanks to you," Krystal said, bashfully putting her hair behind her ear. "How about you, Fox? You shouldn't push yourself so hard."

"I'm fi—"

"Don't lie to me, Fox. Did you forget that I'm an telepath? Your emotions are rolling off of you in waves."

Irritated at being caught in a lie, Fox just sighed and rubbed his face.

"I will be fine, but if you don't mind, I'd rather not talk about it."

"Well, when you are ready, my door is always open."

"Thanks, Krystal. Where's Slippy?" Fox asked, looking around and not seeing their youngest member.

"He headed straight for his room. I think he's a bit upset about you coming to his rescue again."

"I see. I'd better go talk to him,"

"Slippy?" he called after gently knocking on the occupant's door.

The door slid open, revealing a despondent young toad, lying on his back, and staring at the ceiling in his darkened room.

"Hey, you doing ok?" Fox said as he slowly approached.

"I'm ok," he mumbled, not making eye contact.

"Just wanted to say you did great out there."

At this, Slippy launched to his feet.

"No, I didn't! You had to save me again, just like always..."

"But Slippy..."

"I know, I'm sorry. I really did try to stay focused this time..."

"Slippy... Did you hear me? I said you did great."

Taking a seat, Fox gestured for the pacing young amphibian to join him on his bed.

With a huff, he did just that.

"Y'know... My lecture to you before wasn't coming from a place of frustration with saving you. I'm sorry I made you feel that way."

Despite himself, Fox let out a slight chuckle at the look of disbelief on his teammate's face.

"I don't mind saving you Slippy. You're a member of Star Fox and one of my closest friends. I can't consider myself a very good leader or friend if I didn't do everything I could to keep you safe. Your habit of unnecessarily putting yourself in danger was the reason I was angry. This time, you were focused on the task at hand and took care of business!"

"I really was doing my best," Slippy added, finally making direct eye contact. "I know I'm not the best pilot, but when I'm out there with everyone, especially you, I feel invincible. Like I know you guys will have my back. I guess, I take that for granted sometimes..."

"There's nothing wrong with knowing we'll have your back no matter what. That's the truth, after all. And before you say anything, yes, even Falco. At the same time, you can't let that stop you from learning how to look out for yourself. Who knows? There may be times when we may need your help. That's how teams... that's how Star Fox works. That's why we're the best!"

"Yeah," Slippy softly chuckled.

"Besides, you're not only the youngest of us, but you and Peppy are the only ones with family back home. I would think that alone would keep you on your toes. I'm sure your dad would be heartbroken if he lost you."

"Hm, I wonder sometimes..."

"Slippy..."

"No, Fox, I mean... how could he not tell me about his new job? The Research Director for the entire Cornerian Army? Don't you think that's worth mentioning at least once?! He's always doing things like this and I just have to accept it. No warning, nothing!"

"I won't defend him. All I will say is that maybe the next time you see him, the two of you can talk it through. But in the mean time, remember what I said, yeah?" Fox said, giving him a firm pat on the back.

"Yeah, ok. Thanks, Fox."

"No problem, kid."