The Great Fox flew to its next destination; earth, at a slow and painful pace. The ship needed repairs after its last fight, so ROB had to take it to earth slowly in case it fell apart going too fast. Peppy walked through the halls of the ship, surveying the empty rooms. He was looking for the rest of the team. "Where could they have gone…?" He muttered to himself. The room he slipped into was dark and quiet. He stood there, very still, listening for any weird noises. Then there was a bang on the wall near the back. His ears twitched as he began to slowly step towards the light switch. He had been on edge recently, for unknown reasons. He heard something swipe against a box in the corner. He flipped the switch quickly.

     "SURPRISE!!!!!" The team jumped out from the boxes, their arms waving in the air. "Happy birthday Peppy!" Macintosh called out. Peppy let out a hardy laugh and went further into the room. "You guys had me going for a minute there." Falco patted the hare on the back. "You're getting old; I thought you'd figure it was us this time." Peppy chuckled. "Oh like how ROB tried to surprise me last year?" Fox jumped over a couple boxes and headed towards the door. "Come on guys, we got to give Peppy his presents." Slippy ran out of the room super giddy. "PRESENTS!!!"

     The halls and corridors on the Great Fox had become silent. It was after 1 in the morning, and Macintosh had just gone to bed after walking around the halls with Falco. ROB was still flying the ship. He spotted something very familiar on the radar, and switched the alarm on. "Attention- Star Wolf has been spotted following our trail. Be ready to engage." Macintosh swiftly scuttled out of bed and put her suit back on, yelling at the intercom. "ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I JUST GOT TO BED!!" She finished fixing her boots and ran out of her room. The rest of the team was running up to her already. Krystal grabbed her arm and dragged her along. "Come on, we have to go!" They reached the Hangar in no time, and entered their arwings. Peppy decided to sit this one out, so he stayed in the control room with ROB monitoring the battle.

     The arwings darted out of the Great Fox, and headed towards the direction of the three wolfens. Wolf's face showed up on all of their screens. "Hello, Fox. Thought I'd see what you were up to." Falco began to pester the other team almost immediately. "At 1:00am? You must really like us." Panther started back talking Falco. "Who would like you? You're extremely annoying. I don't see how your team mates can take it." The two bickered and shot at each other. Krystal flew over to help Falco, while Fox, Macintosh and Slippy stayed near Leon and Wolf. Wolf's image showed up on screen again. "I knew THAT was going to happen." Leon's image showed up on screen. "Let them fight. Let's deal with these three first. The girl will be easy, anyways."

     Macintosh came up on screen, her face red. "Oh realllllyyyyy?" Slippy started freaking out. "YOU JUST GOT YOURSELF KILLED!! THAT'S THE FEMALE VERSION OF SATAN YOU'RE TALKING TO!" Fox got confused. "But she's so nice…" Macintosh appeared again. "Not when I'm angry." She shot at both Leon and Wolf, hitting them multiple times. They began to evade her and shoot back, but she was flying her arwing in a way that no one would hit her. Wolf looked all over the place, then to his radar. She apparently was right behind him. "What the heck?!" He cried out. He performed a summer sault with his wolfen, and was now behind her. "That's more like it." Wolf shot at the wings, making them smoke and spark. Macintosh did multiple barrel rolls, then glided to the left. Leon was dealing with Fox and Slippy, not really needing any help.

     Wolf continued to tail Macintosh, not letting her go anywhere. Macintosh had enough of it. "Get off my butt loser!" She did a summer sault a lot like how he did, and shot at his wings. One of the wing's tips broke off as he tried to get away. "This can't be happening!" Panther and Leon's ships were pretty beat up as well. "Retreat! We will be back, very soon. So watch your back, Star Fox!" And with that, they were gone. Krystal appeared on screen. "Do you think they are going to earth as well?" Fox sent a swift reply back. "I'm not sure, but until we know we have to make repairs."

     "Good job guys!" Peppy hollered as the group walked into the control room. Fox nodded. "Thanks Peppy." Falco was still angry, he didn't hear Peppy's compliment. "Dumb cat…" He shuffled down the hall to his room. ROB turned his head towards the group. "I think all of you should get some sleep. We'll be landing on earth tomorrow morning." Fox turned towards his proud team. "You heard him guys, let's go." They began to head down the hall when Fox tapped Macintosh's shoulder. "Hey, good work out there today." She smiled shyly. "Thanks."

     Peppy lay in his bed restless. It had been an hour after they all went to bed, but he couldn't find sleep. So he began to think to himself about his family. Finally after a few minutes, the heartwarming thoughts led him to sleep. He began to dream. He was in his old house on Corneria, but he was alone. The house was lit up, so he figured it was night time. Almost like he wasn't sleeping, he directed himself to the living room. He still didn't see anyone. The T.V. was on, but it was playing on a static channel. He turned it off, feeling uneasy. He had enough of the living room at that point, and went over to Lucy's room. He knocked politely, but there was no response. Thinking she might be listening to her music, he knocked a little louder. "Lucy, are you there?" He waited. He heard a noise. There was something scuttling around the room. Peppy quietly put his hand on the nob, a chill ran down his spine in doing so. As soon as he touched the door, all noise and movement ceased inside the room. This confused peppy, and he opened the door. The lights were off inside, but the light from the hallway spilled into the room. Peppy moved halfway through the door, when his cell phone began to let out static noises. He took it out of its pocket and looked at the screen. Nothing but white noise. A scratching sound came from across the room, making peppy jump and shift his gaze upwards. He saw a figure in the dark, crouched on the ground. Peppy squinted trying to get a closer look at whatever was there. "Lucy?" The figure's head snapped upwards- followed by a cracking noise from its joints. The figure started to get up, its neck and torso cracking and snapping in odd directions. Its movements were quick as it was finally on its feet. Peppy slowly backed up, hoping the creature was merely protecting its territory and would soon lay back down. The complete opposite happened though, the creature moved closer, and the closer it got the louder the static became. Peppy was able to make out some of the details on the creature. Its arms were fused to its chest, but there was a cavity leaking an orange fluid onto the floor. The creature had no face, its skin was destroyed and decaying. That's when peppy saw his daughter laying on the floor behind it, covered in blood and mangled. He began to cry, his vision was blurred by tears. He looked back up, and the creature was right in his face. The cavity in its chest opened up, and just as it was about to spray the orange acid into his face-

     "Peppy wake up!!!" Falco shook him awake, the whole team was standing around his bed. Peppy looked into the eyes of his fellow team mates, and cried.