Cooking brings back memories

Fox couldn't see Krystal or Falco, he had lost them both in the sun. The vulpine turned as he saw a silhouette, bringing his Arwing into a tight bank. He immediately found Falco, bringing his weapons to bear on the 'enemy' ship, he hit it twice, just enough to bring it's shields down and force Falco to land or risk getting hit again and being shot down.

Fox hit the comm link button. "General, Falco is out of commission, Krystal is somewhere, I lost her in the sun and haven't seen her in a few minutes. Do you have a vis-" His entire ship rocked and an alarm blared loudly in his ears as he spotted his shield bar drop from the green into the red. "D****t!" He looked around as he tried to find where the laser fire had come from, his answer came into view seconds later. Another Arwing was floating lazily around his own, Krystal's giggling face seen inside the polarized cockpit.

Fox jabbed the comm link button, sending a communique to Krystal. "Your getting good Krystal, hell, you've been up in the air only three times and you already fly like you've been practicing for years!" Krystal winked at him from the screen holding her face in the communications window. "Like I said Fox, I'm a telepath. I can adapt to almost any situation much faster than a normal person. How do you think I learned your language so quickly? The entire time I was trapped in that crystal, I was conscious, and I could sift through your mind, and I knew what you were thinking the entire time. By the way, thank you for all the compliments, Fox"

Fox began to blush through his fur again. The vixen was talking about how he had said how she was so beautiful when he saw her every time he visited Krazoa Palace. Fox slowly brought his Arwing into a landing next to Falco's as Krystal's Arwing roared overhead, General Pepper in hot pursuit of her. Fox unstrapped himself from the seat, opening the canopy and hopping out to see where she had hit him. As soon as he found the location, his jaw hit the ground and his eyes widened to the size of golf balls. There, hidden in the area where the engine wash would turn the whiteness of the Arwing into a charred carbon scorched substance, he saw his shield generator had been hit. Fox didn't know it yet, but Falco had walked over to see what was wrong. He, too, had the same reaction before he came to his senses. "I'm on Krystal's team from now on!" He claimed, making Fox come back to the world from his shock. "No, I am!"

This would go back and forth until Krystal and Pepper landed, Krystal beginning to let her giggles show through and melt Fox from within. The Falcon saw Fox go limp at her giggle and smirked. Krystal didn't know why Fox was limp, but Falco knew exactly why. "I win this time Foxy, next time I'll try to go easy on you" Fox heard him, but didn't care anymore. He finally managed to get up and looked at Krystal and the General. "So, who won?" Pepper didn't say anything, a blank look on his face as Krystal's giggles grew into a laugh. Fox's ears flattened against his head,something they had started to do quite often. He could already tell that she had won.

"Krystal, you're getting pretty good at piloting. You hit my shield generator dead on. You're gonna be ready to get your pilot's license soon and you just started!" Krystal blushed a bit through her fur, smiling at him. "Is that so Fox? I haven't went one on one with you yet." She said, a hint of amusement in her voice. The vulpine caught onto this and smiled softly at the Cerinian vixen. "Tomorrow, after Slippy gets my generator fixed, then we'll see if your really as good as we think you are"

Krystal winked at him, causing Fox to melt yet again. Pepper and Falco only watched from a small distance, amused. Fox and Krystal were standing a few feet from each other, Fox was rubbing the back of his neck nervously, Krystal was giggling constantly, finding his nervous behavior to be comical.

Finally, Pepper looked at the watch in his own ship. It looked like a grayer form of the Arwing, but it's G-diffusers were different, and it's laser cannons were bigger. "Fox, our session is over for the day. You may all return home now. The team nodded and saluted the General returning to their own ships and igniting the engines and lifting off of the ground, making their way back to the city that housed the Star Fox team's home.

The trip took only a few minutes at the high speeds capable of the Arwings. As soon as they had landed, Falco went from his Arwing straight to his Harley. "I'll be back later" was all he said before making the engine roar and sending the powerful black bike out onto the street and down the road, turning a corner a hundred yards away and disappearing, the roar of the big bike's engine slowly fading as Krystal and Fox were left alone together.

It was already 3:30, Fox led the vixen into the house, moving straight to the kitchen, Krystal hot on his heels. Her orange counterpart turned to her and explained the situation. "So, Slippy is out at the engineering base, working on the Great Fox, Peppy is an instructor at the academy, and he moved into the instructor quarters, and Falco is off to see who knows what...so, would you like something to eat?" Krystal smiled softly at the vulpine. "I still haven't tried a lot of Cornerian food, it's only been two days since we got here, and the week before that was spent eating pizza and various food that was on the Great Fox. Why don't you decide, Fox?"

He returned the smile. "Consider it done. I'll be finished in half an hour" Krystal nodded nd left the room, going to watch tv in the next room over. Fox quickly got to work, reaching into the refrigerator and grabbing a steak for himself, and a fish for Krystal. He knew she would probably like it, and it would allow her to eat something from Corneria that she had already tried elsewhere. It would simplify her moving from whatever food she ate on Cerinia to Corneria. The vulpine prepared the steak and set it in the oven, making a few salads as he plopped the fish onto a burner, pulling out a bit of lemon juice and pouring a small bit onto the burner plate, letting it soak into the fish and then sprinkling a bit of spices on it, knowing it would provide some added flavor. Then he flipped it and repeated the process.

Fox could smell the steak in the oven, and although he didn't like fish that much, it was making his mouth water. The smell of the lemon doused fish drifted into the next room and Krystal absentmindedly licked her lips. Eventually, she heard the timer that meant the food was done and slowly got up, turning the tv off and going to the table, looking over just in time to see Fox come out, 2 plates balanced in his hands.

He set her plate in front of her, and her mouth began to water even more as she noticed the fish. Fox didn't know it, but he had picked her favorite type of food. The fish was originally pale white, but now, it was a smoky tan color from where it had been cooked and where the lemon juice had soaked in, little black specks from the spice showing up everywhere. Krystal looked over at the salad on the side of her plate as well. Fox had made the meal almost perfectly. She saw his plate out of the corner of his eye. A thick, black steak sat on the white dish, Fox had cut a small piece off of the end to watch for when it was finished. It was black on the surface, a light brown going through for a few centimeters, and then finally a large red spot in the center of it.

"Well, dig in" Fox said, picking up his fork and knife. Krystal did likewise, cutting into the fish. As soon as she had cut a piece off, the smell of lemons and meat filled her nose. If he makes it smell this good the taste can only be better, She thought, finally taking a bite. As she bit down, the tender fish almost melted in her mouth, driving her crazy with the taste. She swallowed the bite and looked at Fox. "Fox where did you learn to cook so well? This fish is delicious!" She exclaimed, waiting for his secret.

Fox put his eating utensils down and looked across the table to her, smiling softly. "I learned from my mother, when I was very little. She taught me to cook when I was eight years old. My father was almost always away on missions, so mom brought me up almost on her own. We lived on a base for most of my early life, then when dad finished a mission that paid well enough, he bought this house. While he was away, mom would always teach me how to do things, like cooking. Then, Andross tried to kill my father, by planting a bomb on his car. Andross didn't think that would be the day that mom took the car out for shopping..." Fox stopped, his eyes closing as he remembered the day it happened. He had been waiting for his mother to come home, his father had been out with Peppy that day. Then, later, Fox's father James, and Peppy came to the house, both with sad looks on their faces.

James picked up his son, staring at the small fox through his aviators. "Dad? Where's mom?" Fox asked, clinging to his father. "Fox, your mother was in...an accident..." James said. Fox could very clearly make out the hurt and pain in James' voice. The pup reached over and removed the older fox's aviators, seeing tears in his eyes and knowing exactly what had happened as tears began to form in his own eyes.

The image disappeared suddenly. Fox looked around and saw Krystal next to him, hugging him and asking if he was okay. Fox's fur felt wet, and he realized he was actually crying as he returned the hug Krystal was giving him. Fox wiped away the tears and gave Krystal an answer. "Yes, I'm okay, just a memory...That's all" He responded, smiling to let her know he was indeed okay. "Are you sure?" the vixen asked as Fox nodded again.

Krystal returned to her food and finished it, Fox doing likewise. The vulpine took the dishes back to the kitchen, beginning to wash them as Krystal hugged him once more from behind. "Thank you for the meal, Fox. I'm going to go to bed now, I'll see you tomorrow." Fox turned around and smiled at the vixen. "Your welcome Krystal" She smiled back at him and made her way back to he stairs, leaving Fox to wash the dishes as he slowly fell back into the memory he hd earlier, thinking about his mother.