Ch.8: Home Again

Fox headed up into the door and it wisped open. The vulpine left his pack at the lounge as he passed it. After his shower and a bite to eat Fox wanted to wear his usual silver vest and pants, except the boots so the vulpine put on a pair of sneakers. It was still very early and it would take the rest of the day to review the mission and write the reports.

He met Peppy in one of the hall ways and had him take a look at him arm. It was virtually painless but it was swollen, so the vulpine wanted to ensure that it wouldn't affect him, "It will be ok," Peppy said, "But we're still going to cool-wrap it. That way you can take it off by the time we arrive at Corneria. You should be painless by tomorrow morning," Peppy led him to the medical room and wrapped it, "Your head had suffered trauma but there is no concussion. It will be fine. It might just hurt for a while. Take these Fox," Peppy handed the vulpine two small pills, "This will help with the headache."

"Thanks Peppy, that feels better," Fox thanked the hare. And they both went their separate ways. Peppy to the bridge to do more research on what ever it was he did research these days and Fox went to the lounge.

He poured himself a cup of coffee. It felt so refreshing to be clean and dry. The shower had washed out all the scratches in his face and muzzle. They were still there but they were undetectable unless you took a close look but they were unnoticeable if you were just talking to him. Fox reached into his back pack and there he found the HUD whose view screen had been smashed when he gracefully fallen face first into the ground. But the rest was in working order.

Fox had to review his mission and status. To receive such a large amount of pay you have to fill out excessive documents and forms. He still had to do a review on his mission to Sauria not to mention K6. It surprised him when the holo-panel light up and General Pepper's face appeared, "General Pepper, sir!" Fox said.

"Haha! I heard about your latest mission from Peppy. Great job!" Pepper sounded as happy as usual.

"Yeah, wouldn't have made it out if it weren't for my team either," Fox was proud of them for dragging his sorry self out.

"So from what I hear planet K6 is home to Andross's troops?"

"That's right General, for a dead guy Andross sure does hang around for a long time. That's not all though, I learned that they are sending a false distress signal to lure in space craft, shoot them down and salvage the technology and parts for themselves…" Fox was cut off.

"Fox do you know how huge this is? To find a base of such power and magnitude? We are defiantly not going to take this lying down," General Pepper said with great confidence.

"And there was something of Andrew Oikonny too. He was their new ruler," Fox was once again cut off.

"Because of our new knowledge of this base, I have approved a major bonus in your pay. Thank you Fox!"

"That's very generous of you General, thank you!" Fox was now extremely happy but he tried not to show it in his face, "we will be arriving at Corneria tomorrow morning sometime. You might have to reach the bridge for farther details."

"Keep up the good wok Fox. Oh, and this new member Krystal. I am not sure that she can be a part of your team. To Cornerian standards she is still a minor. The press and ethics comity would be none too impressed to see a minor die in combat," Fox could here a tinge of sorrow in the Generals voice.

"With all due respect sir, I was stationed as a sniper at the age of 17."

"That's different Fox. You have parental permission to fight and besides Krystal is only 16 going on 17 soon. I don't know if there is much I can do," General Pepper said.

"Then I will be her guardian," Fox offered.

"I am afraid it's not that easy Fox. There is very little I can do."

"I understand sir. Fox out," he clicked the comm. channel off in frustration. This sucks, she had nowhere else to go and she was alone in the world. But she was young even for him at 26. No he couldn't think that way he shut down those thoughts from his mind.

Fox was working all day. He despised how much paper work was needed to do not to mention mission review. With the new one he had just gotten home from it proved even more work. At it was not until 6pm when he finished.

Fox popped a chip out of what was left of his HUD and slipped it into a slot on the TV. It showed him talking to Krystal and he skipped it forward just to where he had been shot down. The door behind him slid open and there stood the blue vixen. The image on the TV exploded and spiraled. Fox shut it off, "Krystal,"

"What was that?" She stepped into the room and asked him.

"Oh that… it was just uh… me," Fox flicked the TV back on just to meet the part where he ejected from the cockpit. Krystal sat down in a seat across from him, "Good thing you're here. I wanted to talk to you about something," he looked at the screen and saw his body falling, "I don't know if you can be a member of Starfox."

Krystal looked at him in question, "Why not?"

"I was talking to the general this morning and public affairs won't allow you to fight. They can't take the risk of a minor getting killed in action."

"I understand… your planet had a strong foundation of principles and ethics," Krystal looked at her feet and was disappointed by the new knowledge.

"I'm sorry but…" Fox started to say but the comm. channel flickered on and Peppy's face came to the holo-panel.

"Fox! Fox!" Peppy sounded happy and excited.

The vulpine rubbed his paw down the center of his face over his muzzle and then rest his head on it, looking impatient and board, "What can I do for you Peppy?"

"I was in researching planet Cerinia, and I stumbled across something that I think you should know. The planet Cerinia rotated its star slower then Corneria does now. This means that the average year on Cerinia is longer then the ones on Corneria. I have done some calculations this means that Krystal is not in fact 16 going on 17 but she is about to turn 19 shortly," Peppy reported.

"So this means…"

"Fox she is not a minor to Cornerian standards. Krystal is a certified adult. She even has her Firearms Permit," Peppy said.

Fox turned to look at Krystal and smiled, "Firearms Permit huh? Good job Krystal," Fox congratulated her, "Have you alerted General Pepper?" Fox asked anxiously to Peppy.

"I just got off the network with him. He approves, there is nothing the media or ethical affairs can do!" Peppy was happy that he able to help.

"Thanks Pep! Fox out!" Fox shut of the network. He looked at Krystal and smiled. "You're in," Fox pulled out a black box from his pocket and flipped it open. Inside was a pin. It was a duplicate compared to the pin that Fox usually wore on his lapel or over his heart.

Fox allowed her to take the pin out of the box, "It's so beautiful," she said looking at. She held it with both hands and angled the insignia back and forth, watching the light reflect off of it into different directions, "But… Fox?" she asked. Fox looked at her like he was worried, "I don't want to be just let onto the team. I want to prove myself to the others and… to you."

Fox was flattered, "Well…" he stuttered, "We can start by getting you your pilot's license. And get you some new clothing if you would like. It only seems fair,"

"I don't want just that Fox, I want to be everything that you are. I was talking to Peppy about something called a Concealed Firearms Permit. That's the way I want to earn myself to the team. Do you know anything about that?"

The red vulpine stood and pulled a card from the wallet that was in his vest, "Yeah I got one," he handed it to her and let her examine it. Then Fox gave her a copy of his pilots license, "But you have to pass an extremely hard course to get it. Even I barely made it through."

"I want to try. I want to prove myself. I want to do it," Krystal handed the two cards back to the vulpine, "do you think I can pass?"

Fox hesitated for a second. Then came a smooth clear answer, "This is a hard test Krystal. But if you can pass the Krazoa tests? Yes, I do believe that you can pass."

"Thank you Fox. For everything." Krystal said.

"Yeah," Fox thought to himself, "She's old enough to take care of herself. She dragged me out. If it wasn't for her I wouldn't be here. If it wasn't for me she wouldn't have been able to save me. I could be down there still working and trying to find solutions and injured or maybe dead. Yeah they would have tracked me down. But 19 going on 20? She would need some training and pilot lessons. Something I can do. Plus she is only 6 years younger then me, not 8. I can deal with that."

"Why's this Fox? Can't date minors?" Krystal smiled at him.

"Err… no! What!?! It's just you are… obviously uhh old enough to take care of yourself so... you are defiantly fit to become a member of Starfox," Fox blurted out the answer as fast as he could. But how had she known? Fox looked at her with narrowed eyes and suspicious expression.

"It's alright Fox. You're Fun…" Krystal saw the fox blush and he tried to shake it off. She could tell that he was once again ashamed and felt like a moron. It was still fun for her. Fox had a sweet boyish charm to him. His emotions were fun to toy with. But she hoped she wasn't being rude. She decided to stop reading his mind for a while.

"So you can read minds?" Fox asked nervously. Krystal just smiled, nodded and laughed.

Fox tried to change the subject, "From what I understand, Peppy has been training you?" Fox asked Krystal and she nodded. Fox continued, "We have to go to the Military Complex and test you to get the rest of your licensees. I'll take you. If that's ok with you?" Fox asked and Krystal nodded and giggled. Krystal heard a deep thump and a moan. She turned her head to the TV where Fox had just unbuckled himself from the seat and fell to the ground.

"Huh, graceful," Fox said making fun of himself. It seamed easy to look back and laugh at his mistakes now.

Krystal laughed and then watched the TV. Because there was only such an angle of view that the HUD produced she mostly just saw Fox's paws and the rifle he carried. She straightened her face, "Is this, what it was like?" She asked. Fox didn't even turn to her and remained silent but still nodded. He skipped the footage forward. He had the target right into the reticule of the sniper, pulling away several times trying to decide if it was the right thing to do to pull the trigger.

When he finally did it made Krystal's heart leap. To reload the LSR2 his hands moved with such grace. It was true that he had been doing it for years but Krystal hadn't been able to hit barely anything and she dropped the rounds several times when she had tried to reload it.

"Here! Right here," Fox paused the movie and narrowed his eyes and focused on the screen, "It was you," Fox looked at Krystal. She was completely confused and cocked her head as to ask a question, "When I was sleeping, something came to me. It was a voice like it was whispered right in my ear. I could even feel your warm breath. Right after that there were two men that past below me. Did you warn me?"

Krystal thought for a second still not knowing what he was talking about. Then she remembered, "Oh, on planet Cerinia my people practiced sending messages long distances. I wasn't sure if it would work, but it looked like it paid off."

"That's twice you have saved me, that makes us even," Fox said to Krystal and she raised an eyebrow.

"No Fox. I still am in your debt,"

The two foxes sat and watched the combat footage. When it finally came to where Fox had interrogated the two men, she saw him differently. Like he was reckless, and rouge. But it was part of his training.

"You might not what to see this next part," Fox knew it was at about the part where fox had to shoot the soldier in the forehead. She turned her head for a moment and looked at her paws while she heard the Blaster fire and a body fall. She turned back toward the screen and saw that he was now pointing the Blaster at the other soldier. Once again Krystal quickly spun her head expecting another shot but nothing came and she only heard them talking. It odd to see the gentle vulpine that now sat beside her yelling, and fighting just to stay alive, "I'm sorry you had to see that," Fox said compassionately. He knew there was nothing worth watching until the part where he had to fire upon the base.

It didn't take long before he had neutralized all the targets in his scope. It took him sometime to run to the base. It was a green screen indicating night vision was on. Fox set the charge and jumped to avoid the flurry of bullets.

Soon it came time to where he had shot the D22 explosive charge. Krystal admired his marksmanship for this. It was such a small target even in the powerful scope of the LSR2. She couldn't even hit the targets at the end of the small range of the Great Fox. The targets in the range were larger too.

Fox hit a button on the remote skipping it forward it landed at the part just after he saved Krystal. And then flipped head over heels landing face first into the ground, the screen went black as the HUD smashed. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Krystal look to the floor and shudder at the vulpine hit the ground, "I am very sorry."

"Krystal, it is ok. Things happen. If it weren't for you I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you. Your admitting to your mistakes next time you will know to be more careful."

"I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you," Krystal returned the compliment.

"When I was 13 my…" Fox was cut of by Krystal.

"Mother died,"

"That's right and when I was 17…"

"Your father died," Krystal finished his thoughts, "Peppy and the rest of the crew have told me a lot about you. You think very logically. I know about your combat history and that's what makes me want to join the team. I want to fit in somewhere for once. I want to be just like you, even if I have to work for it."

"You'll have to tell me about your history sometime. If it doesn't hurt too much," fox asked even though it was not a question.

Krystal thought it over. Though it had happened years ago it still hurt to talk about it. But Fox had also had the same thing happen to him. Excluding his home planet being destroyed. But he managed to cope with it, and deal with it and he was even going to talk about it. This Fox McCloud was defiantly a strong character, "Maybe but I think I am going to turn it for tonight."

"Alright," Fox replied.

"Fox?" Krystal was about to leave the door of the lounge.

"What's up?" He got off the sofa and made eye contact with the vixen.

"What if I can't fire the gun? What if I need it most and I can't pull the trigger?"

"Believe me Krystal, when the time comes you'll know. You will make the right decision. Whatever that may be, it will be the right choice."

"Ok," with that she left the lounge and headed toward the red fox's room.

Fox lay down on the sofa. His head still hummed with activity from the latest mission and his new team mate Krystal. Perhaps in time they would become more then just team mates, but fro now they had just met. A whisper came to his ear, the exact same on that had come to him when he was on K6, "Good night Mr. McCloud,"

Fox opened his eyes and without moving his head was looking around the room for the source of the warm breath of the voice. The vulpine closed his eyes then said allowed talking to no one but the air, "Fox, Fox is fine."