Author's Notes: BEGONE haunting story; I throw you into the world of the internets! Cast forever into a grand and never fading ocean of reading you go! Nary any longer shall thee plague my mind with thine uncommitted words which have yet to be completed, I set you FREE! To reign as my baron and representative! Go now grand story and show these souls your magnificence, and use your will as a catalyst to complete mine as your own.

Heh, I actually typed that. Anyways, hope you like my story; you might as well read the whole thing.

Takeoffs are optional, landings are mandatory

-Every pilot who ever lived

~
And Now for Something Completely Different
~

It was a disaster from the start.

Not only had they gone on loose Intel, unsafe assumptions, and not to mention an utter lack of preparation, but the whole operation was designed as if it were meant to fail, and now they were paying the price.

"Slippy, slow down, get to your corner speed or you'll never turn enough on him!" Fox yelled through his on-board communications radio. "Falco, don't pull up so fast, if they isolate you you're done for!"

Fox twisted his Arwing so that he now faced the horizon upside-down. The next victim moved in and out of his targeting area, it was almost certainly a pilot who had been hastily trained, and therefore wasn't prepared for an aerial maneuver that would've required him to be accustomed to his own aircraft. Fox did as he did many times before, tracking the targets direction before quickly charging his cannon and laying waste to the vessel. He coasted his Arwing through the flashed debris, briefly covering his eyes at the bright light. After he passed through, he took a long view around the window to see if anyone else was trailing him.

"Fox, where are you?" Came a voice from the radio.

"I'm fine Krystal… had to descend to eliminate a strayer. How's Big Boy holding up?"

"We're clear up here, thanks, Big Boy's taken minimal damage and-"

"Hey!"

"Not you Slippy, Big Boy… remember? That's the call sign…" Fox reminded the toad.

"Oh yeah… that's who we're escorting, right?"

"Slippy!" The team erupted.

"Oops…"

"Damn it, you can't keep that big mouth shut can you? It's always help me this, save me that, they're shooting me here, Amanda's hot, blah blah blah blah…" Falco mocked.

"Enough Falco…" Fox urged in a strong tone. He switched the systems to auto level so he could focus on communicating with his team. "Slippy, you look pretty damaged, go up and enter tight formation with Big Boy, Krystal, you come down here and take his position."

"Bu… Fox…" Slippy whined.

"Go up… they'll be using interceptors on us soon, you won't be able to compete with the fast moving ships they're bound to send in, not while they're fresh anyway. They'll most likely send their heavy gunboats up top, I need you to find their weaknesses and exploit them, you got that?"

"Yes Fox…" With that, Slippy ship pulled up to meet with the rest of the convoy, while Krystal descended into the leftmost position on the triangular formation near Fox's wing.

"This feels better," Falco muttered. "Guess he couldn't take the heat."

"Shut up, because you're next… when the next wave arrives I want you pull hard to the side before they're in weapons range. That way we'll separate the patient from the impatient, after that, I'll turn into a corkscrew to shake the others off. Krystal, once Falco pulls off, you break into vector mode, you'll be at an advantage to anyone who tries to overshoot you, so eliminating nearby threats should be easy. Everyone got it?"

"Understood." Krystal replied.

"Wilco…" Falco relayed.

Now that Fox had organized his team's tactics, he called in with the main ship. "Great Fox this is Little Fox, we've held through this attack, and we're preparing for the next, any idea on when backup's arriving? Over."

"Backup will be here in twenty minutes Little Fox, we'll just have to escort Big Boy to his position until then… Over…"

"Full copy Great Fox… any idea how many we're going up aga-" Just before he could finish the question, it was answered by a high priority message coming from Big Boy.

"Star Fox, this is Big Boy, we're detecting an unnaturally high concentration of Venomian fighters up ahead, at our one o' clock low. Looks like they're headed straight for us, ETA four minutes, over."

"I hear you Big Boy, we'll continue with our pre-determined route, out." Fox took a deep breath before returning to his team. "Alright everyone… it's gonna get a little more exciting in a few. Stick to the plan, don't do anything stupid, and stay safe. Remember, if you're going down and need to land, we're over water so you'll have to slide into it, you got that Krystal?"

"Yes, Fox."

"Hey, I got that too, thanks for asking…"

"I was talking to both of you. Since you responded though…"

"I'm just saying you're so worried about her safety that you can barely focus on the mission."

"I'm worried about all of our safety… regardless; you can't separate our wellbeing from the mission."

"The mission… Why are we even here? This was obviously a bad idea. Who are we fighting? What's this whole thing about? Are we even getting paid for this?"

"We'll talk about it once we're out of this, Falco. For now, focus on the situation at hand."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's supposed to mean that you- oh, damn it, you guys have that beeping too?" Fox checked his cockpit's error section to see the source of the problem.

"Beeping?" Falco examined his own systems panel. "Clear here. Sure no one's targeting you?"

"No, I see it." Fox found the blinking light on the engine panel. "It has something to do with my left engine…"

"Fox!" Krystal exclaimed.

Fox swiveled his head to his left to see Krystal's Arwing. He gasped in shock when he saw a thin plume of black smoke slip away from the upper fin of his own left engine. "I see it…"

"What's wro- oh, man…" Falco realized the damage to the other ship. "What happened?"

"Must have caught a piece of shrapnel when I passed through that last bandit down there… must be showing now because of the changing atmospheric condition."

"That's a pretty big dent, are you sure you didn't clip him before you passed through the debris?"

Krystal tried to urge the leader to take a more defensive position. "Fox, should we get Slippy down here and-"

"No, I'll be fine; I just need to adjust the pressure so I'm balanced." Fox's Arwing shook and banked. He adjusted the pitch and set everything so that it would be stable, using the automatic systems wouldn't work, since they would only compensate for the engines if they were working in good condition, so he had to trim everything manually.

"Slight change of plans. Falco, you turn right instead and I'll go left, that way it'll be easier on me. Krystal, you don't change except for the fact that I'll be going a little bit slower now so you'll have to break a moment earlier to avoid crossing…they'll be coming up on us soon. Everyone ready?"

"Ready…"

"There they are… right in front of us."

"I see 'em."

"Stay in position, hold, hold…" The small dots in the distance slowly grew larger. A few of them broke off from the formation and headed to a higher altitude to approach Big Boy and the rest of the convoy. "On my signal…" Fox advised. His heart thumped faster and faster as if it were a radar signaling the approach of the oncoming enemy, he had been in this same position countless times before, but now, something felt wrong, something felt different.

"Look at them all… there's gotta be at least… a lot."

"It'll be easier to count them when they're finished."

They came closer until they were well within range. Fox hesitated for a small period but committed once they started to pick targets and change course.

"Now!" Falco's Arwing veered with a sharp turn to the right. Nearly half of the enemy fighters detached to follow him, it was a riskier decision, but it would be balanced by the support of the other moves soon to follow. Fox flew his Arwing to the left in corkscrewed motion; the movement was perhaps improved by the partially disabled engine, ironically adding to the intimidation.

Now that they had been set up, the real fighting began. There were a few who tried shooting at Fox, but their shots passed far behind him due to his ever changing directions. After they strained themselves to pull after him, they became easy targets for Krystal, who had engaged an extended maneuverability setting in order to catch them in her net of weaponry. She took out three in that first sweep, and then she disengaged from vector thrust mode so that she wouldn't become an easy target for those doing the same thing.

"Falco, I'm comin' around to your place."

"Got ya… hey, you don't mind if I bring a few friends?"

Completing his wide bank, Falco's ship convened to the point where he was facing his friend head-on. Fox straightened out his direction, and prepared to take on the remnant following Falco. There were seven following him before Fox passed, but after a couple of high powered blasts from the main cannon, only two remained.

"All, swarm!" The Star Fox team burst into a chaotic mixture of twists and turns and anything in between. Fox felt his Arwing get hit multiple times, but his barrier shields took care of everything serious.

"I've picked a few more of them up." Falco struggled to shake off the enemies behind him.

"Do a barrel roll!" Krystal urged him.

Falco flipped around, causing his pursuers to almost collide with each other, but they stabilized once they figured out the maneuver.

"No, not an aileron roll, a barrel roll!" Krystal frantically corrected.

"Doesn't matter, that's what the old man calls it!"

"Falco, drive them up on a short ceiling and use vector thrusts to turn below them!" Fox commanded.

Falco struggled to speak while shaking his 'friends' off his tail. "Say again?"

"Lead them with the Cobra since they're above you, I can't reach your speed to take them out."

"Ah, they'll never see it coming…" Falco's Arwing pulled straight up, yet even at that pitch his ship remained at the same altitude. Seeing this sudden change, the chasing fighters attempted to mimic the movement but instead, they got a different result and zoomed right past him. As Falco's Arwing pointed vertically, the ships which were just behind him bolted straight into view. They became easy targets, they became his prey, and he had no trouble in eliminating them after that.

"Good job Falco!" Krystal exclaimed.

"Hey, it actually worked… you see that Fox?"

"Sorry, too busy splashing my own chasers into the sea." Fox took another glance at his ever worsening engine. Even though they were greatly outnumbered, they still managed to hold them off.

"Yeah, everyone just seems to chase after me funny, huh?"

"Alright, enough small talk, have we taken them all out?"

"Yeah, I think we scared one off though… coward. How's your engine holding up, Fox?"

"Not good, but at least I'm stable. I have a feeling we won't be seeing Slippy for days because he'll be trying to fix it. Hey Falco, could you shoot my right engine so it's balanced?" Fox joked. "But seriously… I need to call in the rest of the convoy to see how they're doing." He then switched the transmission frequency.

"So uh… Krysty…" Falco began.

"Yes?"

"How about when we get back… movie night!"

"Um… maybe?"

"I was thinking of Deathgivers Ultimatum Rising, I checked out the trailer yesterday and it looks totally legit, what do you say?"

"Well, actually, I had my eye on the new Saurian documentary that came out last week…"

"Eww, Tales of the Thorntails? No way! Those things are boring, plus, they're like three hours long."

"Fine, I'm sure Fox will watch it with me…" Krystal remarked defiantly.

"Watch what? Deathgivers Ultimatum?" Fox chimed in, sounding somewhat excited.

"Deathgivers Ultimatum Rising." Falco corrected.

"Oh… the sequel… Krystal, you're into those things? I never-"

"No it's just that… we were talking about movies and… oh forget it."

"Well… ok. Big Boy said they'll be landing at station S10, some of their ships took too much damage and they won't be able to go the whole way."

"They weren't prepared for a Venomian attack; they need at least twice the number of escorts if they're going through this airspace." Falco observed. "If you asked me, this whole thing was terribly planned."

"They always think they're fine when they have us, as if we're supposed to take them all on ourselves." Krystal noted.

"Isn't that how it usually goes? Hey look! It's the Star Fox team! Backup? Na we don't need that."

"Falco, stay aware… actually, how about you go up and meet with Slippy… I'm sure he's bored having no one to talk to."

Falco thought about staying, but reluctantly pulled up. "Fine…" Just as he reached a 45 degree angle pointing upwards, Fox saw a strange flash from a nearby thin layer of clouds below them. His eyes dilated.

"Falco!" Fox yelled. The bird's Arwing spun around after being hit with the extremely powerful blast.

"Ah! Damn it!" Falco's Arwing swerved out control.

"Where is he?!"

"Behind me you idiot!"

From below the sheet of white came a great, red, beast of a fighter. Its strong color was reminiscent of blood, and its engine's roar was that of a terrible monster closing in for the kill. On the side of the crimson death machine was a long line of tally marks, and a smiling tiger who was eager to add another to the side of his vessel.

"Not today you don't…" Fox pulled into a trailing position behind the hyper maneuverable aircraft, which was made especially difficult considering his Arwing's newfound disability.

"Fox!"

"All units, this is Big Boy, danger, I repeat danger! Enemies all around us! We need backup!"

"I'll help you Fox!" Krystal pleaded, lowering her Arwing to meet Fox's.

"No! Go up and protect the convoy, I'll deal with him!"

"Fox…"

"GO! NOW!" Fox didn't care to glance over, he knew she understood that message, and he was too focused on tracking his enemy. "Falco, report status! Falco!"

"Grh… It's on fire, can't control it!" Tension and fear ripped into Fox's mind; Falco was going to crash.

"Don't fight it; you'll make it worse… "

Fox had little time to observe his teammate get out of his spin and continue to descend. The fighter which had first shot him disengaged and was now flying a straight and level path. Fox smirked as he realized his enemy had made a terrible mistake. He adjusted the Arwing's path until the ship lay directly in front of him. "Too easy…"

Just before he blew the ship out of the sky, it jolted upwards and then slowed to the point where Fox was unable to react. "What the…" Fox barely regained his bearings before he saw streaks of enemy fire fly right by his ship.

It was now a completely isolated one on one battle, as the two ships descended further until they slipped below the large level of clouds. They were two masters at their profession, throwing this maneuver and that tactic and hoping something would work. He tried curves, 'barrel rolls' splits; however, in his damaged condition, Fox generally fell on the losing end of each individual motion, but his expertise and sheer will boosted him away from certain death whenever it came calling in the form of green, fiery death.

After a while, Fox noticed that they were descending fast, too fast. In fact, if he didn't start pulling up now, he would hit the "WATER!" Fox exclaimed. There was of course, one possibility he had forgotten. By employing such a tactic he would eliminate any possibilities of being swept away from below. There was no way he could out maneuver his enemy, maybe he could out smart him.

He pulled up as hard as he could, but at the speed he was going, it was stressful for his Arwing. The enemy peppered his shots around him, as if he were playing with him. Fox waited until he was right above the crashing waves, his pursuer still followed, as he was jumped like an insect from one direction to another.

'Let me see how you like this.' Fox charged his cannon and shot it straight into the crest of a nearby wave. He flew through the field of mist which ensued, dragging streams of vapor with him as he passed. He quickly engaged his airbrake in hopes that his enemy would not be able to see him and instead fly right over him. Of course he was right… not about his enemy flying over him but about not seeing him, and he was definitely wrong to not assume the pilot would collide with his Arwing, clipping off a large portion of his wing and taking off a nice chunk of Fox's right side engine.

Fox's Arwing rumbled at the sudden force. He looked outside of his canopy to see the hyper maneuverable craft stutter back into shape. Without it's wing however, if fell victim to the once successful attempts of rolling away to get into a better position, the interloper spun to the left and flipped over, crashing into the waves below, canopy first.

Now that that was taken care of, Fox pushed away from the downed vehicle.

"Falco's down! Repeat, Falco's splashed!"

"Fox here! Strong copy!" Fox looked into the distance; he could see his buddy's Arwing touch the waters.

"Fox! What's going on down there!? We're taking a beating!"

"Peppy! Had a little scuffle with a pro, but he's down. I don't know if I can make it…" Fox frantically scanned both sides of his ship, which looked in critical condition. "I think I'll have to splash!"

"You can't! Rescue teams won't be here for another half an hour!"

"I don't think I have a choice! Engines 2 and 3 are critical, I can't keep going!" Fox struggled to maintain lift. "I… can't…" He pulled up as hard as he could, but the ship wouldn't move. "ARRRGHHH!"

"Fox!"

"I'm trying!"

"Eject, eject eject!"

Fox gave one more great yell; he could almost feel the waves violently pushing against his Arwing. A cold flash burst into Fox's eyes before the strange sensation of slipping away into something soft and numb intertwined with the loud intensity of the disintegrating fighter.

~X~X~X~X~X~

Fox rolled over as he groaned in his dazed state of half-sleep. He felt the closing feeling of getting out of bed creep upon him, but for some reason, he wanted to stay. It noticed that his bed was soft, really soft; it felt so good against his fur. Once his eyes slowly slid open, he noticed that something was wrong about it. His eyes exploded out of the bed and fell onto the floor, which surprisingly felt immensely soft as well…

"Wha…" He desperately searched his surroundings. "Where…" He stood up, his muzzle hung open as he scanned the open hotel room. "When did… what happened?" He held his forehead. "Hello? Anyone here?"

No answer.

Fox stumbled to the center of the large hotel room. It looked like any other he'd resided in when the Great Fox needed serious maintenance, but he'd always go to low-rate, dirt cheap motels, nothing like this. It had a wide aquarium built into the wall, where colorful fish swam around an artificial reef made from decommissioned dreadnought parts. A large hyper-definition T.V resided on the wall, its expensive make and model was something that only those with credits overflowing from their accounts could practically afford.

A vertical streak of brightness shone between the slit of two long curtains. It was a great light, and a natural one, not like that which was generally found on spacecraft. He moved closer to the light, its streams flowed through the opening crevasse, inviting him to spread them and open a new world. When the curtains were separated, Fox felt a large weight release from his stomach.

Behind the curtains lay not merely a window, but a large glass door, and behind that an entire semi-circular balcony, overlooking the long, lush, and stunning view of a strikingly beautiful island landscape; with trees so green they radiated life, and a beach so sandy he could almost feel the grains sift through his paws.

The very air was so clear it breathed into him, something which he had not experienced in a long time. On both sides of him were extending walls which made up the rest of the square building, there were other balconies, but nobody was on them. Instead, Fox looked below him to see a large number of Lylatians weaving by each other, and engaging in numerous sorts of activities. It was obviously a cheerful place.

But the question remained: Where was he? How did he get here, and when? All he remembered was him fighting someone… and he was flying, but what happened? Where was everyone else? Was he alone? And was he paying for all this?

A knock came from the room's door.

"Hello?" Fox got his hopes up that perhaps the knock came from one of his teammates. His ears fell as a sign of disappointment when he looked through the small viewing hole in door and saw only the sight of an attractive husky woman standing behind it in professional dress. "Yes?" Fox asked as he let the door open slightly.

"Mr. McCloud, you're awake."

"Uh… yeah."

"Did you get a good sleep?"

"Well… I don't know."

"You don't know? Never heard that answer before…" The woman smiled. "I can understand that you would feel strange, especially after what happened last night."

"What? What happened last night?!" Fox demanded.

"Oh, you came in to the resort so tired last night that your friends had to hold you up to keep you from falling over!"

"I… I don't remember that. I don't really remember anything. Last night, how I got here…"

"Well, that's a common for someone who deals with high-stress situations… It occurs when there's so much on your mind that you let go of everything altogether."

"Where am I exactly?" Fox wondered. "And eh… I don't know how to say this right but, who are you?"

The woman gave another giggly smile, and then gestured in a pseudo-curtsey to introduce her to the vulpine. "I'm Khaya Vernuun, think of me as you guide, director, and activities advisor for the week. Here at the newly redesigned Partasti resort on Zoness, we have a number of-"

"Zoness…" Fox repeated. "I don't remember it being so clean, last time I was here, Andross had messed the whole place pretty bad."

"We've had massive cleanup efforts in the recent years. Some places will take decades to return to their former state, but fortunately, this part of the planet has fared better than most, and our seas are still being cleaned up thanks to a system-wide effort."

"Hmm… I always wanted to see this place as it used to be… Without all the pollution."

"That is why you're here, isn't it?" Khaya asked.

"Well… I guess it is." Fox rubbed his neck. It felt sore for some reason; in fact, it reminded him of the soreness he got after engaging in heavy combat.

"If you'd like Mr. McCloud, we could start the day off by visiting our system renowned masseuses."

"That sounds great, but… I'd like to get oriented with my team first if you don't mind…"

"Oh well, I'm sorry but that technically won't be possible."

"Why not?"

"Well, General Pepper said he would pay for just two of you… the rest of your team dropped you two off here for the week."

"That's terribly uncharacteristic of The General…. Paying for something I mean. So, who stayed behind with me?"

"I believe it's the blue one."

"Which blue one?"

"He's…"

"Oh…" Fox sighed. Why couldn't it be Krystal? "I get it… Falco would kill me if I didn't allow him to come with me."

"He's at the spa area right now, if you'd like to meet him there…"

"Yeah, I'll do that. Just give me a minute." Fox retreated back into the room. He opened up a nearby closet, where he found his travelling pack resting against a back wall. Upon opening it, he was surprised to find his clothing was folded neatly and separately, which was strange since he never packed like that. Maybe Krystal had done it for him; maybe she was depressed that Fox didn't bring her to one of the most beautiful resorts in existence for the entire week and took out her anger by perfectly arranging all his stuff while he wasn't looking, just maybe…

Once ready, Fox returned to the door, where Khaya was waiting. "By the way, you said General Pepper's paying for this?" He questioned.

"Well, for most of the basic accommodations, yes; however, you can still get a military discount for any optional purchases while you're here."

"Heh, well I'm exactly Cornerian military…"

"Regulations allow us to give discounts to certain private contractors; I think someone of your service deserves at least that."

Fox said nothing after that. He remembered Falco's rule #551: never say no to a discount.

"So, shall we go enjoy Partasti?"

"Yeah, let's go."

~X~X~X~X~X~

Author's Notes: Please review if you like it! If you don't… still review it so you will or something. If you kind of think 'meh whatever', I guess you don't have to really say anything, just send a cryptic message to me in binary to give me a hard time. If you're excited about this story, and want to follow it, you know what that alert thing down there means, if you don't, press it anyway and find out.