This is something, that I just came up with. Fox is strong, but when he breaks, who takes his place?

IMPORTANT: The static you'll read about, is either only visible, only audible, or both. If visible: {static} If audible (static) Or if both [static] If displayed as *static*, that means over the radio or intercom. {} () and [] have nothing to do with radio, just with the real voices and noises...

'Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away...

Starfox: Perfect Insanity

There was a structure. That structure had two parts, parts that cannot be missed: the head and the core. The two kept the system within the structure running, via red and blue pipelines, scattered across every outskirt of the structure's system. The head would simply direct, while the core always pumped the necessary energy through the pipes. These two couldn't function without each other; at least, so they thought.'

'You start to sound like an old, crazy hobo on acid.' insults Falco breaking through Fox's storytelling. It's not Fox appreciates at the moment. 'Is it going anywhere?' (static) 'What was that?'

'Patience Falco.' he claims as he strokes something unseen, while looking at the passing particles of space, as the Great Fox II flies through space. The unseen object, reflects a bright light, while the rest of his body is hauled in shadows. 'It will come. Well, where was I?'

'Ah yes.' he continues. 'You see, the head was always stronger. For 26 years, that remained, no matter how hard the core tried. But then, an emblem was placed in the middle.' His telling gets very optimistic. 'The emblem had the form of a K. It emitted a bright, turquoise blue light that gave the core more strength.' The optimism gives way to some more sadness and baling. 'The "upgrade", was however short lived.'

{Static} It's visible all of the sudden. Peppy, Slippy and Falco have no idea what is going on. Their eyes aren't televisions, do not receive any kind of transmission. And yet they seem to see static. A long pause creates an tense atmosphere in which the three have no idea when it's gonna pop up again. Slippy is terrified, cringed in his chair behind a control board on the right side of the bridge while Falco and Peppy are more occupied with finding out where it came from.
Falco's and Peppy's chair are located right in the middle with both facing the backrest of Fox's captain-chair. ROB is behind Falco and Peppy, standing in front of the door. Fox told him that he wouldn't let anyone out under any sort of circumstance. It didn't raise any suspicion yet since ROB is hardwired to the Great Fox II and one has yet attempted to leave the bridge.

(Static)'Aaah!' shouts Slippy scared as the tension breaks. 'What is that!?'

'Nothing special Slip.' assures Fox in an unpleasantly calm voice as he now shines the object's reflection in Slippy's face, blinding him for a fraction of a second. It is still too dark to see what it actually is.

'A year later, the core stopped for a limited time. The structure that brought him so much joy and (static) love, was gone. When other structures around him, good friends, left for reasons like boredom…' He stops to shine the reflection of the object he holds in his paws accusingly in Falco's eyes. When Falco covers his eyes for it, Fox utters a cramped noise before exclaiming an unbearable angry yell. '…Other love interests!'

He stabs the object into the control-board in front of him, revealing it was a sharp, large bladed and steel knife, with a serrated edge. He slams his head into the controls a few times, without any pain or facial expression. No sound leaves his lips, but every time he does that, the static comes.

'HEY' shouts Peppy getting insane because of the static noises. It stops Fox's slamming but not his way of thinking. Ominous thoughts twirl around his head and voices talking to him in his head echo.

'Whatever it is, we'll be happy to help you.' declares Peppy. On one condition: 'But stop being so, so...'

He doesn't know how to dub it. But Fox does. 'So… what Peppy?' he says with a deep toned voice. 'Devilish, insane maybe? Har har...' [Static] 'Owh, pleasant surprise right there...' he claims as he makes his chair go around 360 degrees before placing both elbows on the busted control-board before him. His lower arms casually lying over it. His fingers impatiently drum, as if he's waiting for something.

A thought crosses his mind. Encrypted bullshit to every person or computer, but for Fox it's somehow entertaining, funny actually. While he's laughing in himself, gazing at the darkness of space, Peppy leans over to Falco.

'Falco...' he whispers. 'There something horribly wrong with him. I'm worried.'

'I know... he seems so… lifeless, almost hellish. And how about that weird static?'

'No idea...'

While they have conversation about his state, Fox makes one fist out of two hands by sliding the fingers through the gaps between the other fingers. He lifts his upper arms up and places his chin on the fist as a grin appears. Only noticeable for Fox, ghostly, static-like beings that were nothing but the twirling thoughts from before, are surrounding him.

Give in to it Fox. They tell. That's right, give in. It's what you are compelled to do. We had a deal… remember?

'Sorry if I'm interrupting you two... I would like to continue my story.' he says with a normal voice all of the sudden, breaking the tension that existed.

A bit assured that Fox got his normal voice back and hopefully a bit of himself too, Peppy permits the continuation. 'Of course. Continue Fox. I'm curious to be honest.'

*Curious to see where this is going to end.* thinks Peppy with his mind so close to hitting the panic button.

'The happiness in the core was overtaken by the ever-growing concern in the head, for her safety. Eventually, it was evolved into such a burden, that the structure made the other go away. For five (static) agonizing seconds, the core stopped beating. Luckily, it continued, but never as it did before. The large K lost its glow, but was still there.'

He feels himself weaken. His eyelids feel heavy and almost automatically close as feels his life slipping through his fingers. His throat squeezes itself tight, allowing no oxygen in whatsoever. Desperate, he gasps for breath, trying to feel and remove whatever is choking him. But nothing is choking him; there's nothing around his throat. His eyes turn bloodshot and his skin whitens. The choking makes no sound, only adding to the oddness. When the brain disables itself from the shortage of oxygen, he falls down on the control board in front of him. His friends behind him, had no idea. It all happened so fast. In matter of seconds, his life ended.

'ALERT ALERT!' screeches ROB. 'No heart rate detected in Fox!'

Before Peppy, Falco and Slippy can even leave their seats to run to Fox's aid, Fox himself lifts his left paw up in the air, halting everyone and showing that everything is alright. A deceiving move as Fox is grinning evil.

'Impossible, cannot comprehend.' alerts ROB confused. Someone with no heart rate should not be able to move an inch.

'Until the day of the final verdict fell...' finishes someone, not Fox anymore, coming from the chair. His vision becomes zero, only black.

Within the darkness, a flashback plays. The date of that flashback is only a few days ago. The Anglars were defeated by the Starwolf team while Fox was busy with something different. Without him knowing it, his rivals snatched to credit leaving him to snuggle with the leftovers.

'Unknown ships approaching.' claims ROB looking down on the radar.

'How many?' inquires Fox.

'4' answers the robot short.

Fox doesn't react right away. He just stares at the space from the window in front of him. He sees his reflection when his eyes shift focus. He sees a broken man in the shell of one that is a leader.

'Ready my Arwing!' he commands before exiting the bridge. The Arwing fires up its engines and flies away from the Great Fox II's docking bay. The radar on the controls in front of him display a small group of fighters coming this way. They fly in line towards some location.

'ROB. That location.' commands Fox blunt.

'Location is confirmed to be Corneria. Do you wish to open communications with them?'

'No.' snarls Fox frustrated. No time for useless suggestions. 'Get back to work. I'll contact you when I need you again.'

He turns off any communication with the Great Fox II, including the GPS tracker allowing ROB to localize and find Fox wherever he is. Again, the reflection appears. This time on his cockpit front window. A shred of his former self. Snarling at a robot that's nothing but loyal to his leader.

There's no further reflection as the radar alarms Fox that the fighters are coming closer. Fox stops his Arwing in the middle of the approaching ships' path and sends out a communication request. It's accepted.

Stop right there scum!

Who is there?

This Fox of the Starfox team. Identify yourselves!

Shut the fuck up McCloud!

'And then, I saw it:' tells Fox. He seemed to have told everything to his friends already. From his behavior towards ROB and his own thought on that. 'My mortal enemies.'

Out of the blue, he pulls the knife out of the control board and turns around. He lunges at his friends, while naming the enemies he was talking about.

'WOLF!' he shouts as he slashes Falco's throat clean open. Not even a moment goes by before he swings the blade towards Peppy while screaming 'LEON' before he stabs it right in Peppy's temple, killing him instantly.

Slippy looks horrified at the scene. Peppy drops down on the floor, laying sprawled out like a ragdoll. Falco, gurgling and choking in his own blood as it seeps down into his trachea, lungs and esophagus. He jumps off his chair when Fox looks at him with the same intention shown on his face. Tears come to Slippy's eyes directly as his innocent, childish brain cannot process this amount of excessive violence and gore. Especially coming from Fox, his best childhood friend.

Slippy runs away for his life while Fox launches himself at him like a quadrupedal predator, propelling himself at seemingly lighting speed. The door in Slippy's perspective seems so very far away. He runs at his top speed but he isn't fast enough: it's like scampering against a sprinting jaguar. He can feel Fox's shadow fall over him. The knife coming closer.

'ROB!' screams Slippy high-pitched. 'Let me through!'

But before ROB can react, Fox has set his paws on Slippy's head and his feet in Slippy's side. Slippy struggles to get Fox off of him but is unsuccessful as Fox won't let go.

'PANTHER!' shrieks Fox as he stabs the serrated knife in Slippy's throat over and over again. After having no more spots to stab, he forces the knife further down, cutting open Slippy's stomach. He takes a quick peek inside.

'Glorious.' he compliments simple and insane sounding at the sight of the inner organs. Slippy, already dead after the second stab, falls to his knees. With Slippy done, Fox looks up at the robot standing in front of the door.

'YOU!' he yells hissing. He uses Slippy's still, for the most part, upright body as a spring-board as he grabs ROB in a similar fashion as he did with Slippy. Only now from the front. The knife finds its way through all primary systems, motherboards, chips and important wires in ROB's main body. Sparks and shreds of metal fly everywhere, creating a spectacle of electrified metal-confetti. Finally, Fox leaves the blade sticking in ROB's body and grips the head. He begins to pull it. The pulling turns into ripping and tearing it out of its holding when it doesn't succeed. ROB wobbles back and forth like a kindergarten spring rider before Fox finally rips it off with a large CRACK sound accompanying it.

Oil spouts out of ROB's exposed neck as Fox lands on the floor without any injury or regret. 'And even worse… KRYSTAL!'

The flashback comes blacking in again.

Wolf?

Geh... surprised Foxy? comments Leon on his usual sneaky tone.

Well, if it isn't Fox McCloud. greets the deep voice loverboy Panther.

Who is number four? asks Fox sarcastic with the intention to laugh. Is that stinking baboon Oikonny back?

Someone worse, at least for you.

Hey Fox... greets a sweet, female and British accented voice. Fox knows who it is.

K...Kr...k.. mutters Fox as he can't utter her real name. It's stuck and can't get out. Her voice… something he thought never to hear, ever again. Certainly when keeping the way he treated her, the way he kicked her out in mind.

Fwahahaha! How does it feels to be on the other side of the love triangle Fox?

Pretty crud... How are you doing Krystal? he asks humbly, trying to ignore Panther.

It goes pretty good so far. And you?

I could be better... he flirts with her. She seems to accept it, even blush at it although Fox can't make that out from that far of a distance.

I have no time for emotional bullshit! Starwolf, open fire on that fool! commands Wolf totally done with Fox and Starfox in general. He takes down all communications with Fox and the team spreads out.

'Fuck! They shut off any communication channel! Wait a minute, the private channel...'

Fox takes the opportunity of Wolf's inability to see that all Arwings have a private way of bilateral communication. A way Fox and Krystal used to communicate a lot to shadow their subjects from Falco and Slippy who have no business in their business.

Hum?notices Krystal as the light of that private channel turns on.That's odd. I thought I took down that channel.

Curious who it might be, even if she has an idea who, she allows the communication to pass.

Hey Krystal. greets Fox nice.

Hai Fox.

You know, just because we're on opposite teams, doesn't mean I'm gonna unload myself on you. In fact, I will not fire upon you at all. My heart can't handle that... not anymore

She's touched that Fox has regret for how he fell out against her, but that's not enough by a longshot. Still, she too has trouble firing on him when she would have him in the sights.

I cannot promise the same Fox...

I know that Krystal. And I don't mind. You're a great pilot and I was the idiot that send you away. Fox turns his focus to the others that turn their sights over him, very willing to blow him apart and then blow every bit apart that was already blown apart.And those are the idiots I'm about to send away now!

He ends the communication as all Wolfen's expect Leon's target Fox. Leon is busy making a good entry by performing a somersault. Very vulnerable in it, Fox has found its target. With quick reflexes, he fires upon the Rainbow Delta, still in the midst of its somersault. A few lucky hits break off the left G-Diffuser.

'One down, two to go!' says Fox cocky. He feels like taking on the world. He wants humiliate Starwolf in front of Krystal's very eyes. Maybe hoping that she'll see her mistake in joining these rats. With a sharp turn, he turns to a disoriented Wolf who stopped.

'Where the hell is he!?' snarls Wolf at the vacuum of space. Like it will tell him where he is.

'Looking for me?' asks Fox rhetorical as he flies over Wolf. In the split-second he's above the stopped Wolfen, Fox drops his bomb canister on top of the Wolfen, heavily damaging it.

'Son of a bitch Fox! That was nasty!'

'You call that nasty? See what you say about this!' states Fox as breaks off his somersault when around 75% complete. Now rapidly dropping down on top of the Wolfen, his lasers burn their way through the main hull as flames engulf it.

'I can't looooosssseeee...' cries Wolf as the Wolfen slowly falls.

'And now to the ladies' men. What the...!?' exclaims Fox when he sees lasers pass close by his right wing. He looks behind him and sees the Cloud Runner opening fire on him. Seemingly, it was behind him a quite some time showing that Krystal indeed had trouble firing on him.

'Geh, I don't blame you Krystal.' says Fox.

'Blame me for what?'

'Firing on me. You're a great pilot.' He has to take back those words when the Cloud Runner hits his Arwing a few times. 'Fine, even better than that. But you still can't touch this.' states Fox as he sees Panther doom up from behind Krystal. 'See how you like this trick!'

Krystal is unimpressed when Fox makes a somersault. She can do it herself too. However, Fox breaks it off mid-flight and appears behind Krystal.

'See you later.' is his way to say goodbye to a confused Krystal for a while. His crosshairs target Panther's Black Rose. ' Yo, fuckface!' he calls upon Panther. 'Prepare for your death!'

The Black Rose flies away with a pissed off Fox behind it. He tries to evade as much as possible, but the barrage is simply too much. When he tries to do anything, a U-turn or a somersault, it would only expose his cockpit, potentially killing him. After several good hits on the main body of the Black Rose, Panther gives up.

'Grrr, fine, you won. Let's not make it more personal than it already is.'

'More personal!?' barks Fox overcooked. 'You made it personal the day you stole Krystal from me!'

He puts on an oxygen mask as he flies top left of the Black Rose. He's planning to do something extremely risky.

'I'm not done with you!' he screams as he launches his cockpit cupola away and jumps towards the Black Rose. With his fist forward, he crashes into the Black Rose and starts hammering on Panther like a maniac as the ship itself falls down towards Titania.

'What are you doing!? We're both gonna crash on that planet!' screams Panther trying to fend off Fox's furious attacks.

'Luckily you won't be dead… YET!' screams Fox giving him another blow. With a large 'BANG', the Black Rose crashes onto the sandy desert ground of Titania. Fox is launched and rolls away from the wreckage. Driven by pure anger, his eyes burst open as the veins in his eyes bulge. He rises and runs towards Panther, lying face down on the ground, dizzy from the crash. Panther looks up to Fox, only to be kicked down. Now laying on his back, Fox stands over him and continues beating him up.

With every 'Motherfucker' Fox exclaims and or yells at Panther, he punches and stomps him in the face with fists and boots. Fox goes completely bonkers, not even caring if his paws will be broken or boots be dirty after this. Panther's death is not a worry: it's his goal.

But the beat up ends prematurely when Fox can't deliver any blow anymore. After minutes of intense beating, Panther shows no sign of dying whatsoever. Both exhausted for different reasons, Fox grabs his blaster. Panther's death is still the main goal.

'Hasta la vista son of a...'

'NOOOO!' cries Krystal out for Panther while she rapidly descends with her Cloud Runner. The cry, for Panther and not for him, breaks up the once proud core the large K crumbles into pieces.. As if shot there, Fox's entire body moves with the shock wave.

She doesn't see Fox back down so he fires in between Fox and Panther, making Fox recoil. This and the cry… could it be that…?

*No... nononononono, sweet mercy of God FUCKING Almighty, please let what I just heard and seen not be true...*

Unfortunately, the noble God plays a dirty game. Krystal cries several more times for Panther safety. Her thumbs almost pressing the fire buttons on the stick in anticipation of Fox trying to go for Panther again. As the Cloud Runner comes closer, Fox stumbles back in disbelief.

'You!' he points at Panther. His voice is shaking, just like his arm and pointing finger. 'You have taken her from me. All of her, everything, is what you have taken away from me.'

He falls down on his knees disbelief, around 100 meters from Panther as the Cloud Runner lands. Krystal grabs Panther and helps him in the Cloud Runner as tears run down Fox's face at the sight of it. He lays his face in the sand as the Cloud Runner prepares to leave. Fox suddenly starts to shake, by himself.

Branded like an animal,

I can still feel them burning my mind,

I do believe that you made your message clear,

I think I'm losing my mind

Deprivating, isolating all that I feel,

Leaving me with images I know are not real,

Are those words of condemnation that I hear,

I think I've lost my mind

Perfect Insanity

The shaking gets heavier, by the second as he looks up and sees the Cloud Runner fly off into space. Red beams erupt from the ground, like during volcano eruption. A pentagram appears around Fox. The shaking stops, and precisely five seconds later, he hears a demonic, black metal voice scream: 'RELEASE ME AND I WILL AVENGE!'

Fox immediately punches in the ground, crumbling the ground around him, like it all was nothing more than foam. Hell red beams engulf Fox as he's happy to welcome the spirits, willing to wreak havoc.

'Leave some sanity behind for a while, I want my former members to see their leader turn into, PERFECT INSANITY!' ends the person, once known as Fox as he now stands before the bodies of Falco, Slippy and Peppy, completely mutilated. In his right paw, he holds ROB's dead head.

'Thanks for being here to hear my story... and to be the first victims of the damaged... délabré... dañado. Muhuhuhu... MWUHAHAHAHAHA!' he laughs demonic as the same pentagram appears on his forehead, having given in to Hell. His irises turn to the color of pure magma as he cries blood on both sides of his eyes thanks to the popping of the veins in his already bloodshot eyes. The tears stop halfway down, on both halves. Still laughing, he opens his mouth and lets out his tongue. He grabs the knife from the ground and cuts his tongue in half. He leaves it hanging to let the blood spill all over him.

But it soaks his clothing, not his fur or skin. How can he possibly feel the satisfaction he so desires when there's something that obstructs it? He rips, tears and frees himself from the bondage his clothing made him feel in. Not even the underwear is spared. Completely naked, the blood can now run down his entire body. He rubs it all over his body like he's smearing soap during a shower or bath.

He grabs the knife with two paws and stops the laughing while still smirking. He stabs himself in the stomach once, very firm. Just to test something.

'ARGH!' he yacks painful as he looks down on the grip sticking out. He realizes that it just hurts like Hell, that's all. He possesses the ability to survive extensive violence. But just one stab? The theory needs more arguments to be officially proven.

'Heh heh...' he sniggers before pulling the blade out and stabbing it again only a centimeter next the other.

'Ack!' This time, it didn't hurt that much and he's not dead. Not even close. He starts to laugh. Something that intensifies along with the intensity of the stabbing. It becomes more frequent while the Great Fox II slowly flies off into the endless space leaving an uncertain future for Lylat.