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Chapter 10: Learning to Fly Together Again

Krystal lay in bed next to her sleeping husband. Her gaze drifted to the bedroom window through which the pre-dawn twilight sky was slowly getting brighter. She focused her telepathy on his mind for a moment. Because he didn't dream lucidly, his dreams tended to be random at times, his mind at the moment conjuring up odd images of flying through the sky in their ground car because their Arwings were stuck in traffic on the ground. In two hours, they would indeed be driving to their first day of work at the CDF Flight Academy.

As odd as the dream was, it at least was not a nightmare. It had been over two months since he had a nightmare, and she would see to it that he never had one again for the rest of their lives. Her own dreams had been nothing but pleasant and often wonderfully erotic, paralleling their waking love life. Letting him sleep, she thought back to the past few days.

The funeral for General Pepper had been a deeply moving affair. His casket was transported on a slow-moving troop carrier through the streets of Corneria City in a slow procession with full honor guards. Fox, Krystal, and the rest of the former Star Fox team, along with all their friends stood in solemn silence during the interment ceremony at the cemetery that was reserved for Cornerian Defense Force soldiers who died in the line of duty. Multiple media outlets broadcasted the funeral throughout Lylat. Cameras were thankfully focused only briefly on the McClouds and their friends.

Afterwards, Fox and Krystal had spent a busy, yet relaxing week. Though he had tried, Fox could not find any plants that resembled Cerinian flora. So he settled on landscaping the backyard in a natural free-growing style he recalled from Krystal's memory of her home village of Nara. With the help of ROB-16, ROB-32, and ROB-48, they spent each day working on their backyard. Paver stones were laid for lattice-covered walkways going from the mansion to a large central fountain and branching out to all four corners of the huge track of land behind their home. Lattice walls were also erected around the fountain with benches facing inward and a pergola erected overhead. Once that was done, small vine shrubs were planted that would eventually work tendrils up on all lattice and through the pergola.

Ornamental bushes and trees were planted throughout the rest of the backyard. Ponds were also dug out in each quadrant and stones were piled along one side of each pond to form waterfalls. Half-way through the week, the contractors arrived and erected the large greenhouse along one side of the backyard. In the weeks to come, a hydroponic garden would be setup within that greenhouse where they could grow their own fruits and vegetables.

Occasionally, paparazzi would try to sneak up to the property to secretly record the McClouds, but in all cases, it ended up with a series of EMP blasts destroying cameras and disabling vehicles. Eventually, the costs of all the damaged and destroyed electronics proved to be too much for the tabloid reporters and they finally stopped trying to spy in on the goings on inside the McCloud Family Estate.

Evenings were spent cooking and eating dinner together and snuggling in the living room. Always naked when within the privacy of their home, their hands freely wandered over intimate areas. More often than not, it would lead to a love-making session and an evening watching entertainment feeds on the home theater screen while tied together by Fox's knot.

Both especially liked the Lylat News feature on 'The McClouds and Their Ongoing Struggle against the Tabloids,' by Walter Kent. Together, they watched the security camera recordings of their confrontation with Priscilla Kane and their subsequent EMP attack on the remaining paparazzi. The overwhelmingly positive response by other viewers throughout Corneria and the rest of the Lylat system on the Lylat News blogs was especially heartening for Fox and Krystal.

Early on, while they were still landscaping their backyard, the anal toys that Krystal had ordered had arrived in the mail in a discretely labeled parcel. After a relaxing bath in their jetted tub, the two of them sat together on the bed and opened the package. Krystal first removed from the box two sets of butt plugs, handing one to her husband.

Fox looked over the anal toys and noticed they were in progressively larger size. "I guess these are for anal training, for each of us." He eyed his wife, and the anal plugs she was examining, with a shy smile. "You want me to anally mount you too?"

While looking down with a bashful smile at the butt plugs in her hands, Krystal nodded. "Yes, I want to give it a try." Her smile became coy as she pulled out a harness that was attached to a double-ended canine dildo, with each end as large as her husband's equipment. She gave the attached hand pump a few squeezes and grinned when both knots inflated. "And I know you want me to use this on you."

Fox whined. "Oh Spirits, yes. I so want you to take me." He looked down at the anal training kit on his lap, removed the smallest butt plug from its package, and handed it to his wife. He then got on his hands and knees on the bed and lifted his tail, presenting his rear to his lover.

Krystal reached over to her nightstand drawer and removed a bottle of lubricant. She placed the nozzle of the bottle against his anal opening and squeezed the trigger, forcing a good amount of the clear slick fluid into her tod. She then coated the toy and slowly pushed it into her lover.

As tight as Fox's virgin anal passage was, the butt plug was small enough to slide into him with only a bit of effort on his part to relax enough for the widest part to slip in. Krystal shivered with her husband, experiencing the erotic sensation of being anally penetrated through their shared mental link. Fox sat back and squirmed on his rear. "This feels really nice."

Krystal handed her own small butt plug to her mate and got on all fours like Fox had moments before, looking back over her shoulder at him with hungry, lustful eyes. "My turn."

Fox was slow and deliberate. He spent a good minute just worshiping his wife's shapely rump, kissing it and drawing his tongue up her slit. He then pushed the butt plug into her feminine treasure, coating it with her juices. The tod took his time, sliding the toy in and out, making his vixen moan and squirm.

It was all she could do to keep herself on her hands and knees. Krystal made little hums of pleasure that quickly turned into breathless moans when she felt her husband spin the silicone toy within her, making it rub against her sweet spot. At the same time, she felt the nozzle of the lube bottle being pressed against the opening to her other passage and shivered when the cool lubricant was squeezed into her.

Before his wife could climax, Fox withdrew the butt plug from her slick female passage and slid it into her other opening with little effort. "There you are, my love. All set for the night."

Krystal was not interested in sleeping though. Having had both of her passages penetrated and played with had left her pent up and hungry for her lover. They made love late into the evening, each repeatedly being brought to their peak, all the while with both of their rear passage pleasantly filled with their butt plugs. When they were both finally sated, they fell asleep in each other's arms, with Fox's maleness still deep inside his vixen. The next morning, after another love-making session, they each removed their anal plugs and went about their day setting up house and working on their backyard landscaping with the help of their robots.

As the week progressed, they would make love each night with their rear passage filled with progressively larger butt plugs. By the end of the week, both were able to easily take the largest anal toy up their rears.

Resting together and snuggling in bed, Fox sighed and thought to his wife, "What a week. If it weren't for our robots, I don't think we'd have ever finished with the landscaping."

Krystal meshed her muzzle to her soulmate's in a languid, loving kiss. "I agree. I'm just glad it's all done. Thank you for wanting to recreate a bit of Cerinia for me. The yard looks beautiful."

Fox closed his eyes and let himself be lost in the kiss, caressing his wife while enjoying the taste of her muzzle. There was no passionate hunger and sexual desire at that moment; just contentment and a desire to express affection for each other. "I'm glad we are done with the backyard landscaping too. I'm exhausted, and can feel you are just as tired, even after that relaxing shower we just had."

"The massaging jets sure helped, but I'm still too tired to even meditate tonight." Krystal squirmed, clenching her back passage. "The anal plug feels really nice and filling, but let's skip making love tonight."

"Yeah. I know how you feel. I'm so worn out from all the yard work." Fox thought back while yawning. He curled his tail with his soulmate's and snuggled deeper into her arms while holding her in a close embrace. They soon drifted off the sleep and another night of shared erotic dreams like always.

_ _

Krystal again gazed at her sleeping husband. His odd dream had given way to a pleasantly erotic one, but that wasn't surprising, given what was happening underneath the comforter. Her tod's erect maleness was now tucked between her legs, sliding through the silky soft fur of her thighs. Feeling fully rested, she was now very much in the mood and squirmed against her lover. The vixen giggled quietly at hearing her husband whining happily in his sleep.

She gently extricated herself from Fox's arms and slipped out of bed. Taking the bottle of lubricant with her, Krystal padded quietly into the bathroom. Once there, she pulled the anal plug out of her rear with a voiceless grunt and rinsed it in the sink. After taking care of her morning needs, she squirted a good amount of lubricant into her rear passage, shivering both due to the cool slick liquid and the anticipation of losing her anal virginity.

Back in the bedroom, she could sense that Fox was in that twilight between sleep and wakefulness, and decided to give him a pleasant awakening. Climbing back under the sheets and snuggling against her husband, Krystal guided his maleness into her slit and rolled them onto his back. Straddling Fox, she started to ride his length in a slow relaxed pace.

Fox's eyes fluttered open, awakening from a dream of making love to his soulmate to find her riding his length. Gripping her sides with his hands, he arched his hips up to meet her, and at the same time felt the large anal plug in his rear shift and press against his prostate. Not for the first time, the tod once again found himself truly blessed to be wed to such a loving wife. "I love you so much, Kurisutaru. Oh, my sweet vixen!"

"I too feel blessed to be so loved," thought Krystal while she continued to ride his length, savoring the wonderful fullness she felt each time she settled down on his loins. With each stroke, she sat there, grinding herself against him with his maleness fully buried in her before riding up and back down onto him. She continued doing so for several minutes, making happy humming sounds, and poured her love into his mind. She could feel him become emotional, whimpering and surrendering himself to the intense telepathic experience. "Oh yes! That's it, my love. Let yourself feel my adoration for you. I have something special for you this morning," Krystal thought. Before his knot could begin to swell, she stood up, letting his length slide out of her nethers.

Fox groaned in frustration at losing the comforting warmth of his vixen around his maleness. That groan quickly died though, and his breath became caught in his throat when he saw that Krystal had gotten to her knees on the bed next to him, rested her head on the pillow, and raised her shapely rump invitingly. The his eyes widened when he met her gaze and read her mind, seeing the recent memory of her going to the bathroom to prepare herself for him.

He scooted closer to his soulmate and mashed his muzzle against hers in a deep kiss full of adoration while she rested her head on the pillow. Fox closed his eyes and briefly lost himself in the kiss, feeling her deep desire in his mind. He then broke off and nuzzled her affectionately before getting up to kneel behind her.

Krystal felt the tip of his maleness touch her virgin rear and heard her soulmate mentally ask her, _"Ready?" _ She closed her eyes, took a deep breath while letting her rear muscles relax, and nodded. There was a brief moment of resistance and then she felt the tip of his length slip into her. Her breath quickened at the slight ache of having her anal opening stretched, but she quickly relaxed, letting him slide deeper into her.

Fox felt her initial discomfort through their bond and paused to let her adjust. Thanks to the anal training, she was able to easily accommodate his girth. He slowly sank into her and closed his eyes, groaning at the wonderful sensation of his length being engulfed by the tight warmth of her rear passage. When his hips came to rest against her soft rump, Fox rested there, savoring the moment while is hands caressed her hips. He then felt her wiggle and press back against him. The tod took that as his cue to start making love to his wife.

Feeling her husband's length gently sliding in and out of her rear passage was beyond anything Krystal had ever experienced. Each thrust elicited a happy whine from the vixen and encouraged her husband to pick up the pace, which he did. They settled into a steady rhythm. With each smooth, powerful stroke, she rocked back to meet him.

"Oh Spirits! You are so tight. I don't think I'll last."

"Oh yes! Harder!" was the only thought that came to Krystal's mind. Her vulpine happily complied, driving himself into her with each stroke, his hips impacting her quivering rear. With each thrust, Krystal felt a shiver go through her. Fox, knowing that he was already getting close to his peak, reached around her hips to slide a hand between her legs and push his fingers into her slit to rub her sweet spot.

Feeling her nethers being penetrated while at the same time feeling her rear passage being massaged was bringing the vixen to a boil. When Fox felt his knot begin to swell, he became uncertain and hesitated, but Krystal wouldn't have it. She practically shouted into his mind "Don't stop! Knot me!" and shoved her rear back against her lover.

Fox's knot quickly swelled to its fullest once embedded in his vixen's hot, tight rear passage. Both felt her slight pain at having her anal passage stretched so much, but that discomfort was drowned out by her mind-shattering climax. Her intense pleasure was compounded when she felt her tod's orgasm through their mental link, triggering the climatic feedback loop between the two of them.

Krystal's lover was equally overwhelmed. With his butt plug lodged in his rear, pressing against his prostate, he throbbed his pleasure into her while feeling her own climax bloom and engulf his lower regions down to his feet and tail. The two of them remain frozen in place, unable to move as their senses were overtaken, leaving them barely able to breathe. It was not until their mutual climax had run its course that Fox collapsed down onto his wife's back, driving her into their bed's mattress.

After catching their breaths, they rolled onto their sides, Fox spooning his wife from behind with his maleness locked inside her rear passage. He withdrew his fingers from Krystal's slit and liked the sopping wet digits, savoring her feminine juices. Aware of the fading dull ache in her rear, Fox lay still and made no effort to keep his knot swollen.

Krystal turned her head and languidly kissed her soulmate, savoring the remnants of her own juices in his mouth. The vixen snuggled into his embrace, enjoying the full feeling of his maleness inside her rear. "That was incredible, and when you used your fingers on me, I came so hard, especially when I felt your own orgasm through our link at the same time..."

"But?" Fox could sense the refrain in her mind.

"As nice as it felt, it still doesn't compare to how wonderful you feel when we mate as we have been doing."

Fox could only smile fondly at his soulmate and kiss her. There was no denying that he'd never tire of making love to his Kurisutaru. The two lay snuggling together and a few minutes later, Fox's knot began to quickly soften, allowing him to ease out of Krystal's rear.

With still an hour left for the two of them to get ready for their first day of work, they got out of bed and went to the bathroom to clean themselves off. Fox reached behind himself and slowly withdrew his anal plug, grunting as its widest part was pulled free. Thinking of the canine strap-on dildo, he smiled shyly to Krystal. "I still want to give my anal virginity to you tonight."

She paused in her morning routine, gave him an affectionate peck on the side of his head, and whispered huskily in his ear. "And I'll happily make love to you then."

He nuzzled her affectionately in return. "I look forward to it." Before his maleness could begin to swell, he focused his thoughts on the more immediate future, thinking to his wife in Lylatian instead of Cerinian, "We need to get ready. We have a busy day ahead of us."

Once done in the bathroom, Fox took from his closet his Star Fox uniform and flight suit while Krystal took down from the hanger her blue and purple flight suit. At that moment, Fox's communicator chirped. Picking it up from the nightstand, he read the message. "It's from Peppy."

Fox, I've made arrangements for both of you to be issued temporary badges when you arrive at the gate. You will not need your Star Fox flight suits. So come in today wearing just civilian clothing. Even though you are not part of the CDF, you will be in their employ in your capacity as flight instructors. Once through, head to the quartermaster's to be fitted for your uniforms.

Once done with that, go to the security office to be issued your permanent badges. Afterwards, come to my office and we'll discuss what needs to be done next.

General Peppy Hare, CDF Command

Fox eyed his wife's flight suit, feeling a small twinge of disappointment, which elicited a sympathetic giggle from her. "Aww Foxy. Don't worry. I'll wear it for you tonight."

Smiling wanly, he thought back to his vixen. "It's okay, Kurisutaru. It would get in the way when you mount me with the strap-on." He hung his own flight suit back in their closet and put on a pair of green casual pants and a buttoned shirt, finishing off by pulling on a pair of brown leather boots.

After hanging up her flight suit, Krystal put on some form-fitting brown pants, a green blouse, and her own matching pair of brown leather boots. She also fished through the jewelry box that had been Vixy Reinard's, which Fox had bequeathed to his wife. From it, she extracted the one piece of jewelry that she herself had added: a focusing gem inset into a white gold diadem shaped into a V, the very same she had worn during her stint in Star Fox. This band had been one that she had had a jeweler tailor for her. While she treasured her jeweled headband with the focusing gem given to her by her mother, she had not wanted to risk losing it during ground or aerial combat while in Star Fox. She slipped the white gold diadem unto her forehead, anchoring it securely to the back of her ears so that the focusing gem would remain firmly in place, no matter how quickly she moved her head.

The two then had a light breakfast and made their way to the garage. For the first time in a week, the McClouds left the private sanctuary of their home and headed out onto the road. There were no paparazzi in sight. They had, for the moment, abandoned their efforts to capture any images of the famous couple after the costly destruction of so much recording equipment and ground vehicles.

Fox and Krystal made their way through the light traffic to the Cornerian Defense Force military base. After showing their identifications, they were issued temporary badges as promised by the general and headed directly to the quartermaster's office where they met a burly husky who greeted them. The insignia on his uniform denoted him as a sergeant and his badge identified him as Mitchel Brown. "Fox and Krystal McCloud. I was told to expect you."

"The general tells me that we are to be issued uniforms?" Fox queried.

"Yes." The quartermaster smirked at the tod, completely unfazed by his fame. "I'm told you are not one for military protocol. So the general has assigned you to the base civilian staff. Sizes please."

After giving their sizes, the vulpine couple were given each a set of black pants and grey shirts. They thanked him and left for their next stop.

After changing into their uniforms, Fox and Krystal got back into their ground car and then drove to the headquarters building. Entering the large, imposing building, they made a brief stop at the security office to get themselves photographed and issued their permanent badges.

On their badges, they were identified as 'Fox McCloud, Chief Flight Instructor' and 'Krystal McCloud, Chief Flight Instructor.'

The security officer on station, a bulldog named Sergeant Milo Argus, could not help but ask, "Both of you are chief flight instructors?"

Together, the vulpine couple grinned and replied, "We come as a set." The canine laughed in response and waved to them as they left.

Once done, they quickly ascended to the top floor and headed to Peppy's office. The aged hare, resplendent in his general's uniform, greeted them when they arrived. Fox immediately noticed the tuff of orange-brown fox fur hanging from his mentor's hip.

Peppy glanced down and smiled wistfully. "Yeah. Knowing your father wants me to wear it really helped me get over any lingering guilt I felt at leaving him behind. Somehow, having a piece of him with me all the time is comforting."

Fox slapped the old lapine on the back, smiling fondly at him. "Glad to see you wearing it. So what's the plan?"

"To start with, you should see the new Arwing, Mk3s. We got delivery of the first 50 of them from Space Dynamics just over the last few weeks. I got a report that the simulators have also been updated to match them. So let's head over to the hangars and training facility where you two will be working." Peppy eyed Krystal. "And I was delighted to hear that you'll be teaching too. Fox tells me you became as skilled a pilot as he is when you two got married."

Like all who had been at their wedding, Peppy understood that Fox and Krystal's telepathic bond imparted on each of them all their shared knowledge and skills. All three of them made their way from the headquarters building to the hangars. There, gleaming in the sun, were arrayed the new Arwings, all perfectly lined up side-by-side on the tarmac in front of the hangar. Ground crew were seen working on the last two Arwings. Upon getting near, they could see that their names had just been etched below the canopy of each of their respective fighters.

Fox and Krystal each ascended the ladder attached to the sides of their respective crafts and looked inside the cockpits. "I see that the avionics and controls are still very much like the Mk2s that I was last flying on Star Fox," the former mercenary leader commented. His wife also looked over the interfaces.

When each of them glanced back at the seat itself, they both noticed a large cavity in the middle of the backrest. At the back of this cavity were the ends of two hoses with quick-disconnect fittings. Fox reached for one of the hose ends and pulled on it, drawing a length of hose out of its cavity. When he let go of it, the hose quickly reeled back into its slot. Krystal frowned and asked, "What is with these hoses in the backrest?"

Peppy replied, "That will be the life support interface to your pressure suits."

Fox turned to the general and voiced his skepticism. "We are supposed to wear spacesuits in these craft?" During their Star Fox days, they had all considered this as an option. While it would have afforded them protection if they had to eject while in space, the bulky pressure suits so severely restricted their movements and ability to fly and manipulate the controls of their Arwings that they had done without, opting instead to rely on the cockpit section being able to jettison while remaining pressurized.

"I know what you are thinking, Fox, but Space Dynamics has come up with a new pressure suit design that I think both of you will like. In fact, let's go to the training facility now so that both of you can be measured for them."

Once inside, they made their way to one of the rooms across from the simulator room. There, they were met by a vixen whose fur was the whitest Fox and Krystal had ever seen. As completely as his heart belonged to his wife, Fox could still not deny that this arctic white vixen was very attractive. "She is quite pretty, I agree," he heard his soulmate think to him.

Fox could only nod mentally, even as his thoughts momentarily drifted to memories of his naked wife on the beaches of Cape Claw. Both watched as the vixen approached them with a casual sway of her hips. Krystal could easily pick up a sense of confidence exuding from her. This vixen knew she was very attractive and made no apologies for it. She also did show mild interest in Fox, but nothing overtly lustful.

Upon reaching them, she shook hands with first Fox and then Krystal while addressing them. "Mister and Missus McCloud. It is a pleasure to meet you both. I am Vanessa Chambers, of Space Dynamics."

Fox nodded in response, "Hello Miss Chambers."

"Oh hush! You can call me Vanessa."

Krystal immediately found herself liking this vixen and smiled back. "Then you should call us Krystal and Fox."

The white vixen grinned. "I'd like that....I presume you are here to be fitted for pressure suits?"

"That is correct Vanessa." Peppy affirmed. "I need to get back to headquarters. I'll leave them with you. Fox, Krystal, after you are squared away, feel free to try out the simulators, plan training for Husky and Bulldog Squadrons, or whatever else you see fit that needs to be done."

"Thanks Peppy. See you at lunch, maybe."

The old hare nodded and saluted his friends before heading out.

Krystal turned to the white vixen. "So Peppy tells us the new spacesuit design is not bulky like the old ones were, that you can wear them easily even inside the tight confines of an Arwing cockpit?"

Vanessa nodded. "That's right. It's very form fitting, almost like you are not even wearing a pressure suit." She paused and shook her head. "I am amazed none of you died from exposure to vacuum during your Star Fox days."

At that moment, a vision flashed through Fox's mind of Krystal being blasted out of her cockpit in the nightmare version of that last Star Fox escort mission they did together. Immediately his wife rounded on him and gripped his head in her hands. "Ah-ah! No you don't! You are not allowed to even think of that nightmare. Being spaced will never happen to me."

Fox closed his eyes and sighed blissfully. His wife's permanent presence in his mind dispelled thoughts of the nightmare that had not plagued him since a lifetime ago. "Thanks," he murmured, "and sorry about that. It just came up now with the current line of conversation." He then gave a happy whimper when her love for him briefly surged through his mind.

Vanessa Chambers watched mesmerized, witnessing the interaction between the two married foxes. "Wow. I had heard rumors that you were a telepath, Krystal, and I guess they were true."

Krystal shrugged and released her grip on her husband's head. "We really don't broadcast it, but I'm not going to deny it either....You'd have eventually figured it out just by the way we act."

Fox gave his vixen an affectionate kiss on the nose and turned to Vanessa. "We tend to often mentally speak to each other." He glanced back through the door to the simulator room. "We probably will not even use the communication systems when we fly." Returning his attention to the white vixen, he nodded to the racks behind her. "So show us these pressure suits that will keep my old nightmare from ever coming true."

The vixen led them to one of the racks. "The flight suit comprises of two form-fitting bodysuits. The innermost is a cooling garment." She lifted a very light nylon tricot and spandex full-body garment that was laced with thin plastic tubes.

Fox ran his fingers over the fabric. "I've worn these before when I did EVA, but this seems so much thinner."

"Yes, we've managed to make the cooling tubes thinner too, and compensated with a super-low viscosity cooling fluid that can still flow easily through this tubing." Vanessa hung the cooling vest back into its place on the rack and lifted from an adjacent rack a very slim, black pressure suit that had a metallic sheen. The entire suit was a one-piece affair with attached boots, gloves, and tail. The neck opening had a metallic collar with a grooved seal. "So this is the main pressure suit. The innermost layer is a spandex fabric coated in a heavy-duty, but super-stretchy latex. Now normally, the standard pressure suit would have 14 layers of aluminized Mylar for insulation and micrometeorite protection, which would make the suit bulky. For this pressure suit, insulation is instead provided by two layers of a carbon-filled Kapton weave with an outer Kevlar layer for protection against micrometeorite and shrapnel. The Kevlar is itself coated in a fibrous silicone weave that is reflective and highly resistant to heat."

Fox ran his fingers along the shiny black exterior of the suit. "I also like that because it's black, there will not be any reflective glare like you'd get with a white or silver-colored spacesuit. You usually would want it dark inside a cockpit when flying in deep space, with your displays dimmed."

Vanessa nodded, "and yet, it's highly reflective in the infrared range, which will keep you from overheating if you have to eject and be exposed to direct sunlight. The Kapton layers will also protect you from radiation until rescued."

Krystal ran her hand along the inside of the suit. "It feels so thin and light. Wouldn't it be difficult to flex the knees and elbows when it's pressurized?"

"Only a bit when pressurized. For the most part, the suit is worn unpressurized inside the cockpit and only pressurizes and inflates if you have to eject."

Fox turned the suit over, examining the front and back. "It looks like you'd have great mobility in this suit, but how do you put it on?"

"To make this suit as light and flexible as possible, it was designed as a total one-piece garment with no closures anywhere. So you enter through the neck opening." She demonstrated by rotating the top edge of the neck ring until it separated into two halves. Where the neck ring halves parted, she pulled open a zipper along the tops of the shoulders on each side, allowing her to peel back the Kapton and Kevlar layers to reveal the airtight, latex-impregnated spandex. She then stretched the neck of the suit wide open. "This is why the inner layer is made of the special latex-impregnated spandex weave that will stretch without tearing. Once inside the suit, the neck ring halves will lock together and provide the seal to attach the helmet."

Fox and Krystal nodded together while the tod voiced their mutual opinion. "Impressive. If it's as good as you claim it to be, I may just suggest it to Falco and his team."

Vanessa grinned while hanging the spacesuit back in place and picked up a black helmet from the shelf above the rack. "You'll like this even more." The helmet was a compact design. The bottom had the neck ring that would lock onto the spacesuit's neck ring. A wide visor encircled the forward half of the helmet above the muzzle, up to the forehead. Just below, on each side of the muzzle, were air hose receptacles. "The helmet has a heads-up display built into the visor that also displays a virtual reality representation of your surroundings, even beyond the canopy's field of view. This particular helmet is actually made for Bill Grey. The inside padding is molded to the contours of the his head for a perfect fit Just below the jawline, there is also a sleeve built into the padding on each side for the tubes feeding into the cooling garment through the neck of the pressure suit." She replaced the helmet back on its shelf and picked up two other helmets that had no coverage over the muzzle and the front of the neck, along with open-face Lycra hoods. "I got a temporary one for each of you to try on in the simulators."

Pulling on the hoods to keep their ears pressed back flat against their heads, Krystal and her husband each tried on one of helmets, finding them relatively comfortable despite the less-than-perfect fit. The large visor afforded a wide field of view. Fox affirmed, "We'll definitely want to give these a try in the simulators."

"Of course, but before we do, let's get you two measured for your flight suits and helmets." The McCloud couple removed their helmets and followed the vixen over to another rack, from which she pulled two spandex bodysuits. Indicating changing rooms along one wall, she instructed, "Here, change into these to start with."

Fox and Krystal went into one of the changing rooms and immediately stripped themselves completely of all clothing. Fox first helped his wife into her bodysuit, making sure the spandex was tugged snuggly along all her shapely contours. He resisted the urge to let his hand slip between her legs to fondle her crotch, his wife easily understanding that he didn't want to let themselves be distracted by sexual desires. "I'll expect some nice fondling and groping tonight, my Love."

Reaching behind her, he did cop a brief squeeze her shapely rump before pulling her tail through the rear opening of the suit. "For you, always." Before he could allow himself to get aroused, he quickly pulled the zipper up behind his vixen's back and immediately set about getting into his own spandex suit. Krystal also returned an affectionate grope of his tight rear while threading his bushy tail through the rear opening.

Once she had pulled the zipper up his back, the two foxes stepped out of the changing room together to be met by a smirking vixen. "Sharing the same changing room?"

"Of course," Fox affirmed.

"We do everything together." Krystal added.

With a melodious laugh, Vanessa handed each of them one additional spandex garment. "Put these over your tails. The tail portion of the pressure suits must also be snug-fitting and I can only get accurate measurements with your fur squeezed flat against your tails." A careful examination of the garments revealed that they were sleeves with an elastic opening at one end and a zipper along the entire length.

Turning his back to his wife, Fox presented his tail to her. She slid the sleeve over his bushy appendage, sliding the elastic opening down to the base. Taking a moment to lovingly stroke the soft, fluffy fur, she then slowly pulled the zipper down the length of his tail, careful to not get any hairs caught in the meshing metal teeth.

Krystal then presented her tail to her husband to do that same. Fox lovingly worshiped his wife's lustrous tail while he also encased it in the tight-fitting sleeve just as she had with his. Vanessa watched the couple with a bemused grin. "You two lovebirds done now?"

"What can we say?" Fox ask by way of reply.

"We both love each other very much." Krystal said, completing her soulmate's thought.

"Well, you two will have to fly in separate simulators. Can't have two pilots in one Arwing, you know." Vanessa rolled her eyes while grinning. She then indicated a circular platform in the middle of the room while moving to stand behind a control panel. "Alrighty then, let's get you two measured. Krystal dear, get up onto the pedestal there, feet apart to the edges, arms straight out, and fingers splayed."

Krystal did as asked. "That's it. Now hold still and close your eyes." The white vixen then worked a few controls and activated the scanning system. Over the next few minutes, the pedestal upon which Fox's wife stood slowly rotated while lasers quickly scanned up and down her entire body. Fox stood next to Vanessa and watched with her on the monitor while a three-dimensional computer model of his wife's physique took shape. When it was done, the platform came to a stop. "Excellent. With this, we'll be able to create a mold upon which your flight suit will be formed. Alright Fox. Your turn."

Fox nodded to Vanessa and switched places with his wife, having his entire body scanned in the same manner as was done just moments before for Krystal. Once done, the white vixen directed Krystal to a chair. "Okay, the next step is to scan the contours of your head. Have a seat and put this hood on." She handed the blue vixen a spandex hood.

Krystal removed her diadem, took the open-faced head cover, and with some effort tugged it over her head, folding back her ears when they were pressed down against her skull by the spandex. "Is this hood supposed to be so tight?"

"Sorry about that, but I need to scan the shape of your head as precisely as possible without your hair and ears in the way. Now close your eyes and hold still. This will not take long." Vanessa then went back to her console and activated another scanner tied to the chair. The chair slowly rotated while another set of lasers quickly swept up and down Krystal's head.

After the contours of Fox's head were also scanned, the two foxes went back to the changing room to get out of their spandex bodysuits and back into their black and grey uniforms. "So how long before our flight suits and personal helmets are done?" asked Fox.

"It should take less than a week for the flight suits and only a few hours to do the helmets."

"Should I presume you've done this already for all of Bulldog and Husky Squadrons?"

"Yep! They are all set. You two were the last to be fitted...So, shall I show you the simulators and how the new Arwings will interface with your VR HUD helmets?"

Krystal picked up her helmet and handed Fox's his. "Sure. Let's see how these work."

All three made their way across the hallway to the simulator room. Inside were arrayed side-by-side an entire squadron of Arwing simulators. Approaching one, Fox opened the canopy and climbed into it. Vanessa reached into the back of the seat's headrest and pulled a datalink cable which she connected to the back of the helmet. "There. Now you'll get a VH HUD in the helmet's visor once I start up the simulator. Go ahead and put the helmet on. The built-in ear piece should line up close enough to your ear canals for you to hear me through the comlink from the control room." She then turned to the Cerinian vixen. "Let's get you set up in the simulator next to your husband's."

In short order, both Fox and Krystal were sitting in their respective simulators, waiting to fly in the virtual world that awaited them. Vanessa was now in the control room, bringing the two occupied simulators online. With a few final keystrokes, their cockpit controls and helmet VR HUD activated. A starscape also filled their canopy windows. "Fox, Krystal. Do you hear me?"

"Affirmative." Fox replied.

"Loud and clear." Krystal affirmed.

"Okay. So you should be able to see your HUD. As you can tell, it's pretty much like the old HUD that you had displayed in your cockpit in the Mark 2 Arwings. The nice thing though is that display stays with you even if you turn your heads." Vanessa explained.

Fox and Krystal each followed along as the snow vixen went on. "You'll also notice that targeting reticules will track with where you look and any target lock will remain aligned with your weapons. Also, when you look beyond the canopy edge, you should be able to see the VR portion of your visor display."

"Okay, give me an obstacle course with targets. Let's see how this VR HUD system performs."

"You got it," Vanessa cheerfully replied. The snow vixen selected a moderately difficult routine that would put the Arwing simulator and its pilot through its paces.

Inside the simulator, Fox suddenly found himself flying through space towards a gauntlet of moving barriers, rings, and targets in a long canyon of horizontal and vertical columns. With a feral grin, the Star Fox ace pilot quickly accelerated, engaging his craft's boosters. On his visor's HUD, multiple reticules bracketed each target as they came into view. Soon, he was rolling and weaving between vertical barriers, flying through rings, and picking off each target the moment he had a lock on them. Whenever the course branched into multiple paths, he instinctively chose the quickest one, flying through at breakneck speed to then merge again with the other paths.

On her monitor, Vanessa whistled to herself in amazement. There was no doubt that Fox McCloud's reputation as one of the best ace pilot in the history of Lylat was well-earned. He flew through every ring in his path, no matter how elusive it was. Not a single target was missed either. In her own simulator, Krystal sat still and kept her eyes closed, fully focusing her mind on seeing everything from her soulmate's point of view. This was the first time she experienced his piloting skills from within his mind. Slipping into a meditative trance, she let herself absorb his mental focus and instincts as he wove his way between the obstacles, darting through each ring, and taking out each target.

Even though this was only a simulator, Fox was exhilarated. He had forgotten how much he missed flying. In the back of his mind, he was aware that his soulmate's observing presence and that she was looking out from behind his eyes, but she mentally kept quiet, not distracting him from his intense focus. With a final burst of speed, Fox cleared the last obstacle, blasting the last target while flying through the final ring.

"Well done, Fox," he heard Vanessa through his helmet's headset. "That was a perfect score on targets and rings, with no contact with any obstacles, and you've set the record time to beat."

"Thanks. That felt good to fly again. I'm looking forward to actually taking these new Arwings into space. The VR HUD worked like a dream. You've sold me on it." Even before she could mentally voice the thought, Fox knew Krystal was eager to try herself. "Better start up the same simulation for my wife and let her have a crack at it."

Within her own simulator, Krystal grinned. Her soulmate had become so good at reading her now. The next moment, she found herself flying through the same obstacle course. In a moment of complete clarity, she found herself able to fly with the same instinctive skill as her husband, flying at the same intense speed though the gauntlet, taking out every target and flying through every ring just like he had.

In his cockpit, Fox relaxed and watched through his soulmate's eyes as she flew through the same course he had. A grin graced his features while reading in her mind the same instinctive mindset he had when flying. She was as skilled as he was at the controls of an Arwing.

This was the same conclusion that Vanessa was left with as she watched the Cerinian vixen masterfully fly through the same obstacle course her husband had just gone through. Krystal McCloud was Fox McCloud's equal. Not a single target or ring was missed, nor contact made with any of the obstacles. She looked at the elapsed time. "Way to go, Krystal. Perfect score like your hubby and a quarter second faster too." She laughed when both of them cheered in response.

"Okay Vanessa, give us a more challenging course," Fox asked.

"One that we can fly through together," Krystal added.

"You got it." Vanessa selected a gauntlet that required pilots to weave and double back in multiple directions with the interesting feature that this time, the targets would shoot back.

In the next instant, the McCloud couple found themselves flying side-by-side towards a new gauntlet. Their telepathic bond, and the fact that they were seeing very similar views, made it seem as if each of them was seeing double. Both immediately realized that they would have to concentrate to keep their viewpoints sorted out between them.

Upon entering the obstacle course, their points of view began to quickly shift as each of them banked and rolled through various paths. "I got the targets on the right," Fox thought while barrel rolling around one moving wall in his path and blasting the target just as it was starting to splatter his forward shields with laser pulses.

"I got these rings here in the left path,"_Krystal thought back. She then flew on to meet up with her wingmate as their paths merged again. Both wove about each other and were flying parallel when a series of targets began to open fire on them. _"Fox, Break right! I'll go left."

Fox immediately rolled to the right and pulled back on his controls, expecting to peel away from his wingmate only to find to his shock that he was turning directly into her flight path. "LOOK OUT!"

Krystal shoved her controls forward in a desperate attempt to dive under her partner's path and felt her simulator shake as the two craft scraped against each other in their virtual arena. "What happened?! I thought I was on your left!"

"I thought so too." Fox rolled and jinked to dodge laser fire while shooting back at his targets. "With all the rolling and turning we've been doing, we must have gotten our viewpoints mixed up."

They regrouped and continued flying through the obstacles. In another section, they briefly flew through open space and dove into another series of moving barriers, rings, and aggressive targets. Fox missed half the targets, mistakenly aiming while looking through Krystal's visor HUD. They again had to sort out their nearly identical points of view before Fox veered towards a ring only to feel his simulator lurch when his left wing collided with a wall while Krystal flew through the ring he thought he was aiming for.

Things only got more difficult for the two of them. Fox missed several rings and targets and damaged his virtual Arwing further, again acting on what Krystal was seeing through her cockpit instead of what was in front of him. Krystal also struggled to sort between his and her rapidly changing views through their HUDs and canopy windows, damaging her own digital fighter craft when she collided with one of the targets while trying to bank around a wall that Fox was flying towards.

It all came to an abrupt end when one of them was flying directly towards a wall. In that brief moment, neither of them knew who was on the collision course with the barrier so both swerved and ended up colliding against each other, destroying themselves. With screens on both their simulators going black, both sat there in stunned silence at their abysmal performance. Over their helmet's built-in headsets, they heard Vanessa. "Uh guys? What happened?"

The white vixen sat at her controls, aghast at how horribly the McClouds had flown. She couldn't fathom how such ace pilots could be struggling through an obstacle course that was well below their skill level. The reply she got from Fox to her query was even more perplexing. "Uh, Krystal and I are having a bit of trouble coordinating together." She shook her head in disappointment when Fox's wife asked, "Could you set us up with a simpler course to start with?"

In her simulator cockpit, Krystal thought to her soulmate. "Okay Fox, we'll get this. This is just another aspect of our bond that we have to get used to."

"I sure hope so. Damn, I never thought our bond would be a liability."

"If we can sort this out, our bond will be a powerful advantage."

They soon found themselves flying through the simpler course, but only fared slightly better. Krystal put all her concentration into keeping her mind focused on what she was seeing and not let her husband's point of view distract her. But to her frustration, she found herself unable to fly with the same unerring skill Fox flew when each of them flew the first course solo. Fox flew only slightly better than his wife, using his innate skill, but also struggled. The harder he tried to keep himself from being confused with his vixen's sense of sight and hearing, the worse he flew.

After three more failed attempts to complete the obstacle course that ended in destruction of either or both of their simulated Arwings, the couple decided that it was pointless to try any further for the moment. Fox and Krystal each took their helmets off and growled simultaneously in mutual frustration. Krystal then spoke into the comlink. "Vanessa, shut down the simulators. Fox and I need to take a break."

"And figure out how to coordinate our minds," Fox added.

"Without getting our signals crossed," Krystal clarified.

Vanessa shrugged, not fully understanding what the McCloud couple was talking about. "Well, it's midday now. I'm going to take my lunch break. I'll get started on making your flight suits and personal helmets when I get back."

Fox and Krystal met the vixen just as she finished shutting down the simulator. "** Yeah. Lunch sounds like a good idea."**

The snow vixen laughed. "Well, you two may be having trouble flying together, but you seem to have no problem speaking at the same time."

Fox chuckled, "We would drive Falco crazy with our double speak."

Together, the three vulpine made their way to the headquarters building. Walking through the main entrance, they went across the lobby towards the back and hung a right, immediately finding the base commissary. After getting their trays and making their food selections, they met Peppy in the dining area also taking his lunch break. The four sat together and ate while exchanging pleasantries. Talk eventually drifted to the new pilot-to-Arwing interface.

"The new VR HUD helmets are fantastic," Fox affirmed.

Peppy nodded. "Yes, I was most impressed when I first tried the initial prototype from Space Dynamics."

Krystal asked, "Did you fly in the simulator with it?"

"I did indeed. It definitely heightened my situational awareness, and made targeting ridiculously easy." The old hare eyed the vulpine couple. "I presume you two tried them out in the simulators as well?"

"We did, after Vanessa did our body scan measurements."

"I do like the idea of the form-fitting pressure suits," Fox added. "If we'd have had them during our Star Fox days, it would have really eased my worries for all of us." His eyes drifted towards his wife while he did his best not to think of the nightmare that once drove him to foolishly expel her from Star Fox.

Krystal reached over and cupped her husband's face to sooth his mind. She smiled when he took her hand and brought it to his lips to kiss it. Talk of protection against the unforgiving vacuum of space reminded Vanessa that she had work to do. Grabbing her tray, the vixen stood up. "General, guys, I think it's time I get back to making those flight suits. It's been nice chatting with all of you."

Fox waved to her as she left. "It was nice meeting you."

Peppy also was about to get up, but heard Krystal mentally say to him, "Peppy, can you wait a bit? Fox and I have something to talk to you about." So he quietly nodded to Vanessa as she left and then waited to hear what the McCloud couple had to say.

When they were alone, Fox voiced his concerns. "We've been having some problems flying together."

"Oh? What could be the problem? You two had often flown together in combat missions during your time as Star Fox mercenaries."

Krystal closed her eyes and pinched the bridge of her muzzle, much like Fox would when frustrated or annoyed. "Except that this is the first time we've ever flown as a mentally bonded couple."

With dawning realization, Peppy leaned forward to say in a quiet voice. "Does this have to do with both of you seeing out of each other's eyes? I thought that you two had fully adjusted to that after your month-long honeymoon."

The two foxes leaned forward as well, not wanting to be overheard. "** We have."** Both looked at each other and Fox nodded to his wife to let her explain their problem. "Fox and I have fully adjusted to the duality of senses resulting from our mind link." She paused to gather her thoughts to try to explain the difficulties they were now having. "We are so accustomed and comfortable with it that I could hunt wild game with my staff in the forest around Cape Claw while at the same time see through Fox's eyes and hear through his ears while he spear fished along the river, and the same went for him experiencing everything through my senses, including my sixth sense."

"Alright. While I can barely imagine what that must be like for you two, I follow what you are saying. So what's the problem now?"

"The problem is that now we are both looking out through identical HUDs at very similar star fields while flying fast through an obstacle course. We are each seeing two very similar, fast-changing viewpoints and find ourselves getting mixed up between them. Fox would react to something I'm seeing through my eyes instead of what's right in front of him, and the same went for me."

"Ah....Mmmm. How about when you don't fly together?"

"We do exceptionally well then. Through our bond, I've gained the same skills and instincts that Fox has. Vanessa put us through the same obstacle course and I had a perfect score in targeting and rings just like he did, and was just as quick."

Peppy nodded thoughtfully. "Could you perhaps mentally separate yourselves just enough to not experience each other's senses when you fly together?"

Fox visibly trembled and choked out "No! Please, no. I can't...," but immediately calmed down when his soulmate nuzzled him lovingly while soothing his mind.

Krystal closed her eyes and sighed. "Peppy, what you suggest is simply out of the question. Even the thought of it is horrifying to the both of us." Azure blue vulpine eyes then focused on brown lagomorph eyes. "As you know, our souls are merged. For us to do as you suggest would require us to separate our souls. That would be mentally traumatic for both of us."

Keeping his eyes focused on Krystal's, Peppy thought back to the vixen. "What do you suggest?"

"We just need to sort ourselves out. If we can do this, it will become a very powerful advantage when we fly together."

Peppy picked up his tray and stood up. "Well then, how about we all go to the base gymnasium. I find that a good workout helps me focus when I'm confronted with a vexing problem."

Fox turned to his wife and the two shared a mutual shrug. The tod then nodded to his old friend. "Sure. Why not?" Disposing of their empty food trays, they followed the general out into the main hallway when the two foxes then came to a realization. "We didn't think of brining any workout clothes."

Peppy pointed towards the main entrance lobby. "Head towards the front door and take the hallway to the right. You'll find the CDF Exchange there, where you can easily find what you need." He then turned around the way they came, glancing back at the two of them. "When you got what you need, the gym is this way, at the end of this hallway past the commissary."

Having made their purchases, Fox and Krystal arrived at the base gymnasium. Inside were various individuals of varying species, both civilian and military, exercising on weight machines, running on treadmills, sparing, and going through their own exercise routines.

They found Peppy, shed of his general's uniform and in workout fatigues, in one corner where he was doing a fast jump rope workout. Being a hare, jumping came naturally to him, even at his age. They could see his powerful hind legs springing off the mat at a rapid fire while the rope swirled over and under him. Without missing a beat, he crossed his arms and reversed the rope in mid jump multiple times.

Not wanting to disturbed the aged, but very fit lagomorph, they walked together towards the locker rooms behind the gymnasium's back wall. Having become so used to doing everything with her husband, Krystal naturally followed Fox into one of the locker rooms, only to be confronted with the sight of several males in varying states of undress.

"Hey! No females here!" One irate terrier shouted.

"Oh Spirits! Sorry!" The blushing vixen yelped and immediately retreated, practically running into the female's locker room. "Fox, please tell the guys that I'm really sorry."

Fox sat on one of the benches, stripping off his clothing while thinking to his wife. "It's okay. I forgot where I was myself. This is the first time since we've been married that we've had to think about going to separate facilities." He looked up at the other males around him. "Sorry guys. My wife and I have only been married just over a month ago. We've been going everywhere and doing everything together and we both forgot that this is one time where we couldn't."

The same burly husky they had met at the quartermaster's office bellowed in laughter. "I bet she'll not forget the eyeful she saw today. Tell her, 'no harm, no foul' for us." The terrier grumbled, "Yeah, right! You think one of us would have been so easily forgiven if we accidently went into the females' locker room?"

Fox closed his eyes and groaned, "Oh Spirits! That could have easily happened if Krystal had gone into the female's locker first. I'd have most likely followed her in, making the same mistake she just made now."

The husky again laughed, "Your missus would probably not approve of you ogling other naked females."

Fox sat for a moment with his eyes still closed, shaking his head. He was of course seeing every one of those naked females through his wife's eyes. "It wouldn't matter to her. As pretty as all those ladies are in just their fur, they just don't interest me. My heart, mind, and soul belong to Krystal alone, and she knows it."

He opened his eyes and looked up at the husky just as he sat on the bench next to him, giving him an avuncular slap on the shoulder that made the tod stagger forward. "You're a great guy, Fox McCloud. Your lady is lucky to have you. I bet there are lots of fangirls out there that will be disappointed."

The happily-married tod found himself really liking this gregarious canine. "I like him too," he heard his wife think to him. Like her husband, Krystal was also seeing all those naked males through his eyes, but the only thing she could think of was her lover in nothing but his fur when they were in the privacy of their home.

"If I recall the name on your badge this morning, you are Sergeant Mitchel Brown."

The grinning husky extended a hand. "That I am, at your service."

The vulpine never had much respect for males who felt they had to demonstrate their masculinity with a crushing handshake. So Fox was pleased to find that while the grip was firm, this burly canine did not feel the need to use his strength when the tod shook his hand. He found himself grinning back. "We're very pleased to meet you, Sergeant."

"Just call me Mitchel, Mister McCloud."

"Then you can call my wife and me Krystal and Fox."

"Gotcha, Fox." And with that, Mitchel continued to change into his workout clothes while Fox did the same.

Outside the locker room, Krystal stood waiting for her other half, and smiled to their new friend when he emerged with her husband. When Fox walked up and nuzzled her, she returned the gesture with equal affection. The two then looked around the gymnasium, neither sure of what to do at that moment, until they spotted multiple staves of varying sizes sitting in a rack along one wall. It inspired an idea in Krystal's mind, which Fox naturally picked up on.

Together, they went through the staves until each found one similar in size and heft to Krystal's Cerinian staff. Nodding to her husband, she thought to him. "So you understand, Fox. We will use the structured, disciplined movements of the staff to learn to move and act as one."

Fox nodded to his wife and the two walked onto the matt side-by-side, two staff-lengths apart, facing together the same opposite wall. Delving into her memories, he drew out from her mind recollections of the many hours of training back on her home village of Nara. At her soulmates behest, Krystal let herself slip into a trance, once again reliving one of her many training sessions, drawing him with her. The gymnasium faded from their awareness to be replaced with the courtyard where she practiced under one of the Elder's guidance. "Begin!" They recalled together the Elder's command, and declared out loud in once voice, "Beginning First Form."

Moving as one in perfect synchrony, they each held their staff vertically in front of them with their right hand and upended it over counter-clockwise to strike the end onto the floor with a resounding thud. Kicking the bottom end out with their right feet, they twirled their staves clockwise with both hands and came down into a crouch, stabbing one end of their weapons to their left. Turning in that direction, tod and vixen reared back on their right feet, briefly lifting their left feet up to the knee and then fell forward onto both feet to twirl their staves while moving in the direction they were now facing.

They quickly transitioned into successive upward strikes with each end, followed with another twirl and dropping into a low stance, slapping their staves onto the floor. Turning around, they as one went through a series of blocks and vertical spinning counterstrikes. They then dropped into another low stance, spinning their staves about their hips to strike to their right before quickly twirling them above their heads to strike to the left. Without a pause, they lifted their staves to spin them about and over them while turning to the right, kicking back with one foot to their left while blocking in the opposite direction with their staves, first high and then low.

The bonded foxes then spun together into a backward leap, dropping again into another low stance while slapping the length of their staves onto the floor. Straightening their legs, they spun their sticks about their hips, quickly striking first left and then right before turning around to stab upwards. They immediately turned around to stab out low along the floor with the full length of their staves, holding onto one end with an outstretched hand. They then raised up into another one-legged stance while keeping a grip onto their staves' end, raising it horizontally.

As one, the two foxes leapt forward while resuming a two-handed grip to again stab forward and immediately turn around to stab behind them. This was followed with three successive leaps, striking alternating ends of their staves onto the floor after each jump. They finished off by executing a series of parries and spinning counterattacks before the pair ended up standing where they had started. Still deep inside Krystal's memories of her practice sessions, they radiated with pride at the Elder's approval. "Thank you, Elder."

Beyond their awareness though, Fox and Krystal had unknowingly attracted the attention of an audience. Others in the gymnasium had paused in their exercises to watch the pair go through the exotic practice forms of the staff in the most perfect coordination any of them had ever witnessed. Bill Grey and several members of Bulldog and Husky Squadrons had also arrived to do a workout only to find themselves part of that audience.

Having all heard Fox and Krystal speak in the strange, foreign tongue, one of Bill's wingmates asked, "What do you think they're saying? I've never heard that language before." Having heard them speak it at their wedding, Bill was very much aware of what language it was, and how Fox had also learned it. He turned to his wingmate and answered, "That, my friend, is Krystal's native language of Cerinian, which Fox has learned from her."

The tragic end of Krystal's home world at the hands of Andross had become widely known in the Lylat system, which only made many in the audience shake their heads in sadness. "That's such a beautiful language. They're probably the only ones left that speak it."

Slightly tired, but quickly recovering from his workout, Peppy had wandered over to also watch the vulpine couple go through their routine together and had overheard the conversation. "I wouldn't be so sure about that."

Bill and Peppy were the only ones among them who knew of the other 49 Cerinian survivors out among the stars that had yet to be found. Unsure of what to say, Bill kept quiet when someone asked, "What do you mean, General?"

"Though they preferred to keep to themselves, the Cerinians were a spacefaring race. Do you really think that Krystal is the only one to have escaped the destruction of her world?" Peppy rhetorically asked. "Even though we haven't come across any others, I refuse to believe that Krystal McCloud is the last of her race."

Bill's heart ached with sadness. He thought again of those survivors that was foretold he'd find and the message Krystal had left for them, planted deep in his mind. "I don't know where they might be, but if we ever find them, we have to protect and take care of them. Andross came from Lylat; we are indirectly responsible for what happened to their world."

On the practice floor, Krystal and Fox continued moving together as one, going through progressively more complicated and elaborate forms, stabbing with the staff, spinning, striking, blocking, parrying, and leaping. Through their bond, Fox had fully let his soulmate's skill flow into him. The memory of practicing and learning the staff had faded again to the back of Krystal's mind and the couple were once again aware of their present surroundings.

They continued going together through each set of staff movements, both moving instinctively without thought. "That's it Fox. Let it come to you. This skill is now as much yours as it is mine." The tod's body sang with the newly acquired muscle memory. The quick, flowing movements of the staff came so naturally to him now, just as it did to his wife.

Another skill that Krystal knew Fox would have absorbed through their bond was to be ambidextrous with the staff. When they ended their current set, Krystal thought to him, "Fox, I want you to mirror my movements this time."

Fox was at first hesitant, but realized he needn't be. Instinctively, and without giving it any thought, he reversed his grip on the staff and started going through the forms again with his soulmate, their movements now in mirrored opposition to each other. They remained perfectly synchronized, executing swinging, striking, stabbing, blocking, and parrying movements while now facing each other. Whenever they were within range, their staves now connected with a resounding crack.

They continued like this through several complex, advanced staff forms. Upon completing their latest set, Krystal suddenly without forethought turned and attacked Fox with her staff. But because they were so well in tune with each other, Fox sensed her instinctive act a split second before she moved and parried her staff blow.

Fox countered, knocking Krystal's staff aside with one end of his staff and quickly spinning it to strike her with the other end only to be blocked by her staff's other end swinging up to deflect his blow. They were now no longer executing a prescribed set of movements but delivering a flurry of seemingly random attacks, blocks, and counterattacks that each also blocked and countered. The two foxes moved around and against each other, neither able to nor trying to get the upper hand.

Their captivated audience watched mesmerized by the ferocity and speed of their sparring match. One of them nervously quipped, "Well, they're definitely a married couple now. Looks like they're having their first fight." Bill could only chuckle and shake his head ruefully. "With how well they know and understand each other, I don't think they'll ever end up having a fight."

Members of Bulldog and Husky Squadrons quietly began to wager amongst themselves on who would win the sparring match. Knowing about their deep telepathic bond, Bill himself was uncertain as to the outcome and refrained from wagering. Overhearing their quiet discussion and wagers, Peppy frowned while both watching the McClouds spar and listening to Bill Grey's wingmates place their bets. When they were done, the aged hare glanced to the canines and made his own bet. Pulling out a banknote, he placed it on the pile that had formed. "I wager that their match will end in a draw."

Krystal and Fox continued going at it towards each other, moving instinctively even with the duality of their senses. With their minds completely in tune with each other, they were no longer disoriented by their rapidly changing shared viewpoints. On they went for several more minutes until their staves struck together in identical moves. The two stood still in that final pose, facing each other while breathing hard and panting from their exertions.

It was at that moment that everyone else in the gymnasium started clapping. Only then did Fox and Krystal realize that they had garnered an audience. They turned to see a contingency from Husky and Bulldog Squadrons and several others applauding them. Right in front of his comrades was Bill Grey, leading the applause. "That was amazing! I've never seen anything like it."

Krystal smiled demurely. "We hadn't expected to draw an audience, but we're glad you all liked it." Together, the two foxes bowed and expressed their thanks, and then excused themselves to rest. In one corner near where they had been sparring, they found a cooler full of sports drinks to rehydrate themselves and some towels.

While they rested, Krystal turned to glance to her vulpine. ** ** "See Fox? You have my skills in the Staff. When you tap that and act instinctively on it, you can move as quickly as I can, even with our dual perspective." She mused to herself upon that thought. "And that's what I must do too. I now match your abilities in the Arwing. I must fly as instinctively as you do."

Fox had closed his eyes, taking in everything that his wife had thought to him. "This workout does also help in getting us to act together, even when we both move quickly. Going through all those staff exercises has really helped us get used to taking in each other's fast-changing viewpoints."

"Exactly Fox. We are one mind. We must act instinctively on that."

"That may be easier said than done when we fly. The Arwing cockpits and helmet VR HUDs are all identical, and we are looking out at a star field."

"Then we have to find a way to make them different."

Further thoughts on how they'd fly together were interrupted when Krystal noticed Peppy gathering a large pile of banknotes with members of Husky and Bulldog Squadrons looking on in grudging admiration and congratulations. When she lightly probed the old hare's surface thoughts, both Fox and Krystal giggled at what she read in his mind. The vixen playfully admonished the general. "Shame on you! Betting on a sparring match right here in the CDF Headquarters building."

Peppy glanced in the direction of the two foxes looking at him and made eye contact with the telepathic vixen. "Just teaching them a lesson, my dear. These pups needed to understand that it's not wise to bet against either of you."

Fox laughed at hearing his old mentor thinking those thoughts to his soulmate. He grinned and glanced to her. Krystal grinned at her husband's mental comment and thought back to Peppy. "Fox thinks you should buy us dinner since we've made you so wealthy."

"Actually, I have something in mind to use this money on...." The hare quickly looked down at the wad of bills in his hands and focused on counting them.

"It's alright, Peppy. I can sense you don't want us to know what you're going to do with this money. I won't intrude."

"Thank you, Krystal." Peppy finished counting his winnings while walking over to his duffle bag. After tucking the money into a side pocket, he picked up his bag and walked over to sit next to the two foxes. "Should I presume your exercise routine just now helped with your vexing problem?"

Fox took another gulp of his rehydrating drink. "It did. It has helped us learn to work as one mind instead of two bonded minds."

Peppy stroked his broad chin. "Mmm. You also told me that you two were getting confused between each other's viewpoints."

Krystal finished her own thirst-quenching drink and tossed to cup into the nearby recycling bin. "We will make the interiors of our cockpits and our VR HUDs look different from each other's."

The general nodded and slapped his knee. "Sounds like you have your plan then." He stood up, taking his duffle bag, and turned to the two foxes who were also standing. "So no more dilly-dallying. You have work to do. I'll drop by the simulator facility later this afternoon to see how you two are progressing."

With a grin, Fox brought his index and middle finger to his forehead and gave his mentor a playful salute, "You got it, General."

The three of them headed for the locker rooms to shower. Fox gave his wife a chaste kiss on the cheek before they had to part ways into their gender-segregated changing rooms. He soon found himself standing between Peppy and Mitchel under the shower's cascading water, but his mind was mostly inside his soulmate's.

The husky noticed his friend's faraway look. "Something's got you bothered?" Mitchel could tell that Fox wasn't even listening. "Hey. Corneria to Fox McCloud."

Peppy gazed sideways to the tod and had that knowing look. "Forget it, Mitchel. His mind's on his wife."

Fox snapped out of his telepathic daze, becoming aware of the conversation around him and about him. "Uh yeah....Sorry for ignoring you Mitchel. It's just that this is the first time I shower without Krystal since we got married."

Mitchel gave a barking laugh and slapped his friend on the back. "Sounds like the honeymoon hasn't ended."

Fox resumed washing himself, hurrying to work the sweat and excess musk out of his pelt while a besotted smile graced his features. "I don't think our honeymoon will ever end."

*****

Back at the flight training facility, they met up with Vanessa again in her workshop. She had just finished programming the CNC machine to start fabricating the molds for their pressurized flight suits, and they were now all sitting around one of the worktables. "Welcome back. I was wondering if I was going to see you two again this afternoon."

"We've been working out how to coordinate ourselves mentally and believe we've come up with a solution," said Fox.

"Okay? So what's the plan?" Vanessa asked.

Krystal picked up one of their partially fabricated helmets on the worktable. "Could you configure our visors to produce a soft colored glow along the edges? Blue for mine, and orange for Fox's?"

The snow vixen scratched her chin pensively. "Sure, I should be able to do that easily, I suppose....Is that going to help you fly together?"

"It should," Fox affirmed. "Would you also have some way of marking up the edges of our simulator canopies in those same colors?"

Vanessa thought for a moment, and then got up and walked to a cabinet. Rummaging through it, she withdrew two rolls of masking tape, one blue and one orange. Sitting down at the work table again, she placed the tape down in front of them. "Will this do?"

Fox picked up the orange roll. "Yes. That should do the trick."

Krystal picked up her blue roll of tape. "If this works as well as we think, we'll want the canopies on each of our Arwings painted these colors on the inside."

The white vixen got up and went to her computer terminal. "Then I should get working on programming your respective HUDs. I should have your helmets completed and ready in the next hour or so."

The McClouds nodded together and got up as well. "Krystal and I will take care of marking up our simulators with this tape then."

Three quarters of an hour later, Fox and Krystal sat in their respective simulators. The inside frame of each canopy and the edges of each dash was marked in the tape matching their respective fur colors. "Yes. This is much better already," Fox thought while seeing the inside of both his and his wife's simulator. "There's no mistaking which simulator we are each looking out from."

Krystal sensed Vanessa approach and both she and her husband turned to towards the approaching vixen. "I see you both are done redecorating your simulators."

Fox nodded, his eyes drawn to the two spherical objects she was carrying. "And we see you've completed our helmets."

"Yes, and I reprogrammed the HUDs like you asked. Let's see how they fit." Vanessa handed each of the McClouds their respective helmets.

While her husband was doing the same, Krystal withdrew from her helmet an open-face blue spandex hood and pulled it onto her head, folding her ears back over the top of her head under the stretchy fabric. Muzzle first, she then carefully pulled the helmet on, slowly working the compact padded shell down around her head. With a final adjustment, the helmet settled comfortably in place and she felt small protrusions inside it pressing lightly through the spandex into her ear canals, which both quickly realized were the helmet's built-in headphones. Krystal was again glad she was wearing her close-fitting, white gold diadem. Her focusing gem rested comfortably against her forehead, even under the snug confines of her helmet.

Fox, having done the same, moved his head around, as pleased with the comfort and fit as his wife was. He lifted his visor and looked up at the white vixen standing between their simulators. "I can see why you had us wearing such tight hoods for scanning the contours of our heads this morning. We barely had enough room to fit our heads past the neck rings, and it's definitely snug pulling this helmet in place, but once it's on, it's incredibly comfortable, even with having to fold our ears back over the tops of our heads."

Vanessa slipped on a headset and activated it. She next reached behind each of their seats in turn and connected the datalink cable to the back of their helmets. She then spoke into the microphone. "With your heads so well encased, it will be easier for you two to hear me now through the comm system. I should hear you through your helmet's microphones as well."

"Yes, we copy you five-by-five," Krystal replied.

"Copying you five-by-five as well," Vanessa confirmed. She then reached down to a panel behind Fox's seat and pulled out a long hose that split into two, which she connected to each side of his helmet. "With your heads so fully enclosed, it's also going to get stuffy in there without some fresh air." She then reached down into Fox's simulator's dash and flipped a switch, activating the air circulation system.

Krystal, having seen through her husband's eyes, found the air hoses and connected them to her own helmet and switched on the air herself. Both now felt cool, fresh air blow against their muzzles each time they inhaled and felt the ventilation system draw the air out each time they exhaled.

Drawing their attention, Vanessa pointed to the left side of her muzzle. "If you reach up to the connector for the left air hose, you'll feel a small protrusion on the side. When you press that, a straw should extend to provide you with drinking water.

Fox and Krystal each gave it a try, feeling the aforementioned straw jut out to press against the sides of their muzzles where they could close their lips around it and suck in a mouthful of refreshing water. "Nice."

Clapping her hands together, Vanessa asked them, "So are you two ready to give this another try?"

"Yes. Let's do this," Fox affirmed. "Can you set us up on the same obstacle and targeting course we first tried together this morning?"

"Sure thing. Good luck, you two." With that, the vixen sauntered out of the simulator room and into the adjoining control room. Sitting down at her station, she brought the two simulators online.

Inside their cockpits, Fox and Krystal brought their visors down in place. A moment later, their respective HUDs illuminated the insides of each of their visors. To their delight, both could see a soft glow around the periphery of both of their visors: orange for Fox's and blue for Krystal's. "Oh yes! This will make things so much easier for us, Kurisutaru."

_"Definitely! Now we need to do like we did during our sparring match at the gymnasium,"_Krystal thought back.

An instant later, the forward view of their simulators lit up with the obstacle course that they had previously tried together. "Okay. You're all set to go," they heard Vanessa say over the comm.

"Thanks Vanessa. Give us a moment to mentally prepare ourselves," Krystal replied. She then focused all her mind on her soulmate. "Okay Fox. Meditate with me. Deep slow breaths."

Inside his cockpit, Fox followed his wife's lead. The tod closed his eyes and began to take slow, deep breaths, doing his best to clear his mind like she was. "That's it Fox," he heard her think to him. "No thoughts. Just instinct. We know how to fly like no other. We are not two bonded minds. We are one mind acting together."

From her control room, Vanessa watched raptly on her monitor the two virtual Arwings suddenly surge forward, flying at full speed towards the obstacle course. What followed was like nothing she had ever seen before. The two fighter craft wove and corkscrewed about each other at a breakneck speed, taking out each target and flying through each ring. Not once did they miss a target or ring. Not once did they come into contact with any moving wall or obstacle. Flying at times to within an arm's length, not once did they come into contact with each other. Before she realized it, they had already blown through the obstacle course.

The snow vixen sat there, staring in bewildered amazement at the incredible turn in their performance and was snapped out of her reverie only when she heard the McCloud couple both simultaneously say to her. "Vanessa, could you give us something much more difficult, with moving targets that are shielded and shoot back?"

"Oh! Uh. Sure. Give me a moment." With a few keystrokes from her terminal, a new obstacle course was initiated.

Inside their cockpits, Fox and Krystal flew on with unerring certainty. Neither had to think to the other. Both knew instinctively what to do and what their wingmate was doing or was about to do. With their peripheral views bathed in colors matching their fur, there was no longer any question of who was seeing what. Fox had recaptured his instinctive ability and skill and married it to his wife's indomitable prowess. Krystal now flew like a true McCloud, a flying ace that was the true equal to her husband and her legendary father-in-law.

Together they flew, taking out multiple targets at the same time, and coordinated their attacks in pinpoint accuracy on heavily shielded targets and again utterly destroyed everything in their way. For the next two hours, they quickly went through progressively more difficult courses, utterly unstoppable. By mid-afternoon, they had progressed to fighting against multiple fighters controlled by the simulator's AI when Peppy and Bill showed up.

The general and the leader of Bulldog and Husky Squadrons found Vanessa staring raptly at her console in the simulator control room, at first oblivious to her visitors until, "Miss Chambers?" The vixen jumped, startled to hear Peppy's voice. She quickly spun around and saluted, forgetting that she was not military. "Yes General! Oh. Hello. Yes?"

Bill snickered at the vixen's unusual loss of composure while Peppy's whiskers quirked in amusement. "At ease, Miss Chambers."

Quickly regaining her calm demeanor, she nodded to both her visitors. "Should I presume you are here to see how the McClouds are doing?"

"That is correct, Miss Chambers. I understand they had difficulty flying together this morning and was wondering if they had resolved their issues," Peppy affirmed.

Vanessa blew out her breath and shook her head. "I'd say. They are pretty much destroying everything in their path. Their teamwork is downright scary. They practically blasted through all the most difficult obstacle course in record time, destroying every target and flying through every ring, and are now beating the crap out of the AI, which is controlling multiple opponents against them."

"Woah! As good as he is, I don't think Fox alone could have done this well." Bill looked at the console and watched the two virtual Arwings weave among the AI-controlled fighters, taking each of them out. He turned to the white vixen. "How many opponents are they flying against?"

The vixen called up a separate window on her monitor. "Currently, they are flying against eight Venomian fighters...." On the main monitor, one of the enemy fighters exploded. "Make that seven."

Bill whistled and shook his head. "That's four-to-one."

"They had started this latest exercise against 20."

"Twenty!" Both Bill and Peppy were aghast, gazing incredulously at the monitor.

Inside their simulators, Fox and Krystal flew with a heightened situational awareness that allowed them to effortlessly evade their opponents while setting up coordinated attacks against them. They would swerve and jink against opponents trying to shoot them out of the stars while taking out shielded fighters in perfectly coordinated crossfires, flying by each other past the exploding clouds to take out each other's pursuers. In quick succession, they eliminated the remaining seven fighters. They then flew towards each other and quickly melded their craft into a tight formation, less than an arm's length apart.

It was at that point that Krystal became aware of Peppy's and Bill's presence. "Hello Peppy. Looks like we solved our vexing problem. Hey Bill. Come to see your teachers fly?"

Bill groaned. "They're doing the double speak again."

Peppy depressed the intercom button. "Excellent, you two. Come on out of your simulators now."

There was a pause, after which they heard Fox reply. "Okay. We'll be out in a minute."

During the last few minutes of their simulated combat, Bill had seen every blaster bolt and nova bomb hit its mark. He was afraid to ask, but voiced his question anyhow. "What's their hit-to-miss ratio?"

Vanessa looked down at her monitor to confirm it had not changed. "One hundred to zero."

Bill whimpered. "They are going to murder us in the training exercises."

Just then, Fox and Krystal strode into the control room. "Don't worry Bill." Krystal assured her friend.

"We'll go easy on you guys," Fox added. "Besides, we haven't flown against other Arwings yet, which will be more challenging for us." Krystal put in, "Though flying against craft piloted with living minds,"

"Is easier than going against an AI," Fox concluded.

"Somebody shoot me." Bill groaned.

"Request to be shot denied," Krystal replied with a mischievous grin, sounding very much like Fox.

Together, the five of them went to a conference room in the training facility and sat down to discuss the training regimen for Husky and Bulldog Squadrons. Since Bill and all those under his command were already accomplished pilots, the McClouds knew they could skip the basics and go straight into familiarizing them with the Arwing avionics, systems, and flying characteristics.

Fox stroked his chin and mused, "You know, what we can teach you that first week is really nothing more than what a representative of Space Dynamics could show you guys. That's really the easy part."

Krystal nodded, her eyes going slightly out of focus while she delved into her husband's memories of all the battles he fought flying in the Arwing. "Fox has vast experience flying the Arwing, capitalizing on its unique abilities against various enemies."

"Skills that I've imparted upon my wife, which along with me would like to pass on to the best of the CDF."

"We are talking about manoeuvers and tactics, many unorthodox, that Fox developed or were passed on to him by his father, which were instrumental in the success of Star Fox," Krystal clarified.

Fox smirked to his old mentor, "and we are talking of more than just barrel rolls."

Peppy rolled his eyes. "Yeah, yeah. Very funny."

"Well, I'm all for it." Bill slammed his hand down on the table. "Throughout the Lylat Wars, the Aparoid Invasion, and the Anglar Blitz, we were all so woefully unprepared and ill equipped. Each time, Star Fox, and even Star Wolf, had to save our asses, and I and my guys are tired of feeling so inadequate."

"Very good, Commander." Peppy felt a flush of pride in Bill's eagerness to improve himself and those under him. "I've done my part in finally convincing the military appropriations committee to pony up the money for those 250 Arwings."

Bill nodded, "And with Fox and Krystal's help, we'll learn to use those Arwings to the fullest."

Fox grinned at his old friend. "Good for you, Bill. I think we're all set then. Krystal and I are going to call it a day. Tell your squadron-mates that class begins at 0700 sharp tomorrow morning."

General Peppy then stood up from his seat. "Then I call this meeting adjourned. You are all dismissed."

"And I should have your flight suits ready by the end of the week, for whenever you are ready to fly for real." Vanessa added while they all got up to leave.

"See you guys tomorrow," Krystal said while waving to their three colleagues and friends while following Fox out the door.