"Yuck!"

The loud and irate expression caught Katt Monroe's attention as she docked Catspaw into the Great Fox's hanger bay. As she glanced around she noticed the Trainer was missing from it's normal spot. More voices from the repair bay caught her attention.

"How could you do this to an arwing Mari?"

"I didn't do it Slip." replied a female voice, "The stupid insect swarm did it."

Katt followed the voices into the repair bay. She had heard that Star Fox had one more pilot, a female pilot to boot. Katt was eager to meet a girl crazy enough to live with Star Fox for an extended period of time. Though she loved Falco, she wasn't sure she could tolerate all of the team 24 hours a day. As she entered the room the sight that greeted her was funny. Slippy was sitting on a stool by the huge work table, an engine in various parts of disassembly was scattered on the table, green and brown gook covered sections of the engine. A female rabbit with black hair that was piled on top of her head and held in place by what looked to be a screwdriver was glaring at Slippy with hands on her hips. Both were in old jumpsuits and gloves covered with assorted stains and more of that green brown stuff. She then looked at the Trainer, at least that's what she thought it was.

"What happened to that jet!?!" Katt gasped.

Both turned to see who spoke, Mariko's eyebrow shot up, Slippy grinned. "Hi Katt!" he greeted, "Falco's in the Rec Room."

"Thanks." she replied, "But could somebody tell me what happened?" motioning to the bug-coated arwing.

"Ask her." muttered Slippy, motioning to Mariko before turning back to the disassembled engine on the table.

Katt did just that, "Hi! I'm Katt Monroe," she stated "So your the pilot crazy enough to join Star Fox?" Offering the other woman her paw.

Mariko smiled and pulled off the bug-coated gloves before taking the offered paw. "That's me. The name's Mariko, or Mari as everybody else had nick-named me around here. To answer your question I was trying to avoid getting blasted out of the sky by Wolf O'Donnell when we both flew into a bug swarm."

"Ewwwwww." winced Katt.

"Understatement." replied Mariko, "The only plus to the whole experience was my jet came out in one piece, Wolf's didn't, and he was injured to the point that flying will not be on his schedule for several weeks."

"So your helping Slip with the repairs?' Katt asked.

"As if I had a choice." Mariko rolled her eyes, "If I didn't help I'd be taking ice cold showers for a week. Speaking of which, back to work finding the arwing under the bugs."

"Later!" called Katt as she left the two to their work. A few minutes later Katt strolled in the Rec Area to spot a pacing Falco waiting for her.

He grumbled, "About time..."

Katt smiled innocently, "I was just saying 'Hello' to your newest co-pilot as she was cleaning her jet. I like her."

"You would." replied Falco, "So how far are they?"

"Slippy had the engine out, and Mariko was scraping off bugs from the jet itself. Hopefully they'll have it done before you have another mission. How does she fly?"

By this time both had reached the hanger so they could go on their date, "Good. Mari can out fly any pilot Andross can dish out, Peppy told me that she's got the same knack for flying Fox did when he was learning to fly. Heck, the only reason she hasn't flown against Star Wolf is that Fox still believes in fair fights."

"Hum, you know Falco, I might have another reason to visit the Great Fox now."

"What?"

"Somebody's gotta help her keep you boys in line." Katt laughed at Falco's mutterings all the way to Corneria City for their date.

A few hours later Slippy had finished cleaning and reassembling the engine, leaving Mariko alone to finish the arwing. "Finally." she muttered. The freshly cleaned Trainer was once again it's standard color of silver gray. As a finishing touch Mariko has given it two coats of wax, all that was left to do was re-install the engine, she and Slippy could do that first thing in the morning. The only thing on Mariko's agenda now was a hot shower, dinner and maybe curling up in front of TV movie for the rest of the night.

She mentally checked off where the rest of Star Fox was, Slippy was most likely in his room reading a new tech manual he got earlier this week, Falco was on his date with Katt. Mariko smiled, she liked Katt, and it seemed the feeling was mutual. Peppy was also out with some old friends, and Fox was on a date with Fara. Mariko frowned, she and Fara were like sparks to jet fuel. Not a good combo under any conditions. When Mariko first met the team she thought that Fox was single. Well he was single, but with a girlfriend. Fara Phoenix, an attractive vixen who was a good pilot from a very rich family. That wasn't why Mariko didn't like her, the overprotective attitude she had at times in reference to Fox was what set her off. From day one, Fara viewed the attractive Knight as competition for the affections of Fox McCloud. Mari admitted to being attracted to Fox, name a single woman in the entire Lylat system who wasn't attracted to the famous son of James McCloud, but she wasn't going lower herself to chase after him and steal him from Fara.

She sighed, hoping that she'd be safely in her room by the time Fox came back if Fara came with her, avoiding Fara seemed to be the best course of action. She picked up the last bucket of dirty water which contained a nasty mixture of bugs, dirt, and soap that she used to wash her jet, out of the repair bay to dump it into the waste tank.

Fox McCloud had docked just moments earlier, and he was not happy. What started out as a good date with Fara had ended in a shouting match. Fox couldn't understand it, over the past year Fara and his relationship had been rocky to say the least. Fox had asked Fara what was wrong, and she told him the traditional line 'If you can't figure it out, then I'm not going to tell you'. He blew up at that and stalked out of the restaurant in the middle of dinner. He sighed and wondered where everybody else was as he walked past the repair bay, just as Mariko was walking out, with the very full bucket.

They plowed into each other and the bucket landed on Fox's head, with a very loud crash. Mariko looked up from where she was sprawled on the floor to see what or who she had run into. Her emotions ran the gambit from total embarrassment, to wanting to die from laughter when she saw Fox McCloud. He was still in the suit he wore on his date, covered with the contents in the bucket and the bucket over his head. His body language screamed that he was not happy. Mariko couldn't tell if it was from the crash or something else was bothering him. She scrambled to help him. "Are you all right Fox?" she asked as she stood up to pull the bucket from his head.

Fox was trying to comprehend what had just happened. One minute he was stalking past the repair bay and the next thing he knew he crashed into something, the world went black, his head hurt, and smelled awful. Something was pulled from his head and he saw Mariko looking down at him with an empty bucket in her hands, and embarrassment was written all over her face. One look at his face almost made Mariko want to put the bucket back over his head and run for it. "You okay?" she asked again.

"I'll live." he grumbled, "I don't think the suit will." Looking at the dripping jacket, he began to take it off as he made for a large sink in the repair bay, Mariko followed, she now needed the mop that stood next to the sink. To cover the uneasy silence as she was waiting for the bucket to fill she asked, "So, up until the bucket fell on your head, how was your evening?"

"Don't ask." muttered Fox as he filled the sink and began to soak the jacket, "Are there any spare old jumpsuits around here? I don't want to track this stuff all over the ship. By the way do I want to know what was in that bucket?"

Mariko answered, "I think there's an extra suit in the right locker. The contents of the bucket was what I cleaned off the Trainer."

"Gross!" winced Fox, he glanced over at the now clean arwing, "How bad was the engine damage?"

"Minor." replied Mariko, heading for the hallway with the mop. "A few parts were burned out, but nothing major according to Slippy. Thank the Gods I shut down the engine when I did or it would have been allot worse."

"Good." replied Fox. When Mariko ducked into the hall he quickly changed into the jumpsuit and tossed the rest of the suit into the sink with some water. He decided to look over the Trainer before helping Mariko clean up the mess in the hallway.

Mariko was about halfway done, most of the stuff had landed on Fox, not on the floor, when she heard somebody dock in the main hanger. She glanced up to spot a furious Fara stalking toward her. Mariko didn't need to use her skills as a Knight to figure out who Fara was mad at.

"Where is he?!" snapped Fara. Mariko pointed to the repair bay. Fara stalked in, Mariko quickly finished mopping, grabbed her bucket and quickly made her way to the waste tank to dump it out before the fireworks started.

Fox was about to help Mariko with the mess in the hall when he heard somebody enter the bay, thinking it was Mari he turned around. His eyes widened as he saw Fara stalk toward him. Before he could get a word out she exploded at him.

"How dare you walk out on me like that!"

Fox bristled, "I thought that would be better than a yelling match in the middle of the restaurant." His voice was raised, but he hadn't reached shouting level yet. That level was reached about 30 seconds later.

Ten minutes after that, they were still at it. Mariko was wondering if she should do something before they killed each other. She carefully headed back to the repair bay with the mop and bucket, if things got too hairy in there she'd casually walk in stating that she was just putting things away. She was almost at the door when she heard Fox explode.

"Mariko?!?!?! You think....? That she and... Behind your back......?" Fox was so mad at this point he couldn't even make complete sentences.

"Well?" hissed Fara, "What you have to say for yourself?"

"Mari is my teammate and co-pilot, nothing else Fara." Fox was shocked. This was what was bugging Fara? She was jealous of Mari? She didn't trust him?, "Don't you trust me?"

"You, yes." replied Fara, "Her, no. Knights are notorious for messing with peoples minds, are you sure she hasn't been manipulating you?"

Fox was beginning to wonder if he was hearing this whole argument right. His next words were out of his mouth before he could stop them, "Fara, I don't think that Mari has to resort to mental tampering to get a guy's attention."

"What!?!" shrieked Fara, "So your admitting that your attracted to her?"

Outside the repair bay Mariko silently groaned, Fox was back pedaling as best and as fast as he could, after that last remark. She could forget the casual stroll to put the mop and bucket away idea to cool them off now. If she walked in there the room would really explode, Fara would tear her apart, or give it a good try at least. She finally tuned back to the yelling match, Fox blew up again.

"That's it! You can tear into me all you want Fara, but when you start ripping apart one of my crew when that person is not around to defend herself that's where I tend to draw the line." He took a deep breath, "I will not get rid of Mariko just because you don't trust her. She's a member of the team, and she will stay a member until either she chooses to leave or she gives us a reason to get rid of her."

Fara launched into another tirade on the faults of Knights in general, and Mariko in particular. Mariko had to fight the overwhelming instinct to go in there and tell Fara off. Before Mariko was born, there were two groups of Knights, one of the groups went rogue and on a rampage through various systems. The Lylat system was one of the hardest hit, after ten years of battle the rogue group was finally defeated, but the price was high. Three quarters of the known Knights were killed, the remaining one fourth didn't do much better. Paranoia had set into the minds of the general public about Knights to the point where it was dangerous to be one in some areas. The situation had gotten better over the years, so by the time Mariko became a full Knight, though she was not trusted most of the time, at least she wasn't being lynched, like some Knights in different areas. Fara, unlike Fox, seemed to belong to the group of people who believed that all Knights could not be trusted.

Fox couldn't believe what he was hearing. Mari was real wary about going through the Lylat system when they first met, she told them the reasons lay with the old Knight wars that had ripped through the system. He couldn't understand it at first, now he was getting a better idea. Old grudges died hard, and Fara was a part of that group who still held all Knights responsible for what happened to the Lylat system all those years ago. After Fara was finished, Fox simply stated. "My reasoning still stands. Mariko is staying."

"Fine!" she snapped and stalked off, a few minutes later Fox could hear Fara's ship as it blasted away from the Great Fox.

Fox sighed and sat down on a stool and ran his paw over his head. It came back sticky. "Oh." he muttered, "Forgot about being drenched earlier." He got up to see if his suit was salvageable. As he peered into the sink he sighed with relief. Most of the mess had rinsed out, all it needed was a good cleaning and it would be as good as new. While he was pulling the suit out of the sink to wring out the excess water he heard somebody enter the repair bay.

"You didn't have to do that."

Fox spin around to see Mariko standing in the door of the bay fidgeting with the mop. Fox winced, his and Fara's argument was not exactly quiet, Mariko was a rabbit. He inwardly groaned at how much Mariko must have heard. Especially the parts where Fara was slamming Knights. She sighed, "Yes I did. Fara had no right to slam either you or other Knights. Those blasted wars were before any of our times, if you wanted to hurt any of us you would have done so by now."

Mariko swallowed, "If it's getting that bad Fox, I can go..." but before she could continue he cut her off.

"No way. You are not leaving because Fara is jealous of you. If I was crazy enough to let you go, Peppy would kill me, and Bill would recruit you faster than you could blink. Face it Mari, after that little adventure of yours with Star Wolf, your too good to let go."

Mariko laughed, "So Bill's spreading the word that I got the better of O'Donnell? Oy. I'm gonna get it when we meet again...."

"Hey," snickered Fox, "it was your crazy idea to take his dagger from him." He finished wringing out his suit and was heading out of the bay. Mariko also finished putting away the mop.

A few hours and a shower later, Mariko found herself in the kitchen area munching on her salad dinner and updating her journal when Fox came in and began to rummage through the fridge. Mariko did a double take. "Wait a minute," she muttered, "didn't you have dinner with Fara?"

"Uh..." replied Fox, "The argument that ended in the repair bay began before the soup was served in Corneria City."

"You walked out on her, didn't you?" muttered Mariko.

"Yeah." replied Fox as he found some left over chicken and sat at the table. "I predict I'll be begging for her forgiveness for about a week, following her ignoring my calls for the next few days." After a few thoughtful chews on his chicken, he continued. "I'll mention to General Pepper that we'll be available for some extra missions for the next few weeks."

"I doubt," began Mariko, "that you are the first one to forget romantic troubles in work." Since his mouth was full, Fox just rolled his eyes. After he swallowed he answered,

"Look who's talking little miss turned-down-the-last-five-guys-who-asked-you-out." Fox raised an eyebrow, "So why didn't you accept those dates?"

"When did my love life become the topic of conversation?" muttered Mariko trying to hide behind her journal.

"To keep you from dissecting mine." replied Fox snatching the book away. "Fess up, Mari."

"Being able to know what people are thinking tends to squash future relationships." replied Mari.

"I thought you couldn't read minds?" replied Fox.

"Normally I can't," replied Mariko, "Let's just say the stronger the thought, the easier to sense. If you catch my meaning on exactly what those guys were thinking?"

Fox swallowed, "Oh. I get it. That does tend to make things tricky in terms of relationships." He then glanced at the book he took from her and frowned. He turned it upside-down, and frowned some more. "What the heck??!!" he asked.

Mariko hid a giggle, "Problem?" she asked.

"What the heck are you writing?" muttered Fox.

"My journal." she replied as she snatched the book back.

"What kind of language it that?" he asked.

"Imperial." she replied.

"Where did you learn to read and write the Imperial language? There are so many variants in that language that even the best linguistics on Corneria can't figure it out." asked Fox.

"I was raised in the Imperial System. Left my family to become a Knight when it was discovered I had to potential to become one." replied Mariko, picking up the dishes from her dinner and cleaning them in the sink.

"Whoa." replied Fox helping with the clean up, "I thought Knights were made, not born."

"It's a little of both actually." replied Mariko, "We're born with the powers, but it takes years of training to learn how to use them."

"Dare I ask how many years it took you?" Fox asked while drying some of the dishes.

Mariko thought about it for a minute, "About five years if I recall, I tended to lose track of time in those days, which is why I started that journal. So I could at least remember what month it was. I wrote it in my native language for two reasons, to keep myself in practice and to keep it private since very few people outside the Imperial System could understand it."

By then Mariko had finished cleaning the dishes. She gave a yawn and muttered, "Better get some sleep, knowing Slippy he'll want to re-install that engine first thing tomorrow morning. Night Fox." Mariko picked up her journal and walked back to her room.

After she left Fox finished with the last of the clean up. He thought about the argument with Fara and shook his head. He was surprised that he didn't figure out that Fara was jealous of Mariko, after all Mari was very attractive, mysterious, intelligent, funny, and some other pluses to boot. He shook his head, who ever was able to snare Mariko was going to one lucky guy.

Two Weeks Later-

Fox and Fara had made-up, and the rest of the team breathed a sigh of relief. They had been on so many missions that a break was in order. Mari decided to avoid Fara like the plague, as long as she didn't give Fara a reason to think that she was moving on Fox, the better it would be for the rest of the team. Fara was coming to visit Fox aboard the Great Fox, and Katt decided that a shopping trip and lunch date with Mariko would be in order.

Fox made sure that Fara wouldn't be on the ship until after Katt and Mariko had left the Great Fox. Too bad it didn't work out as planned, Fara decided to surprise Fox by coming early, Fox noticed as he was walking with Fara through the ship Katt was trying to look casual by the broom closet. He silently thanked the stars that Mariko was a quick thinker and he hurried Fara along.

After they were out of sight, Katt breathed a sigh of relief. Mariko peeked out of the closet, "Coast clear?" she asked.

Katt nodded, "Yeah, let's get out of here before Fara suddenly remembers that she forgot something in her ship. I don't think there are any more closets."

"No, " replied Mari, "but there are vent shafts."

"Oy." muttered Katt

The two women decided to have lunch in Corneria City at a small cafe that Katt knew about. After they placed their orders Katt decided to get to know Mariko a bit more. "All right, I gotta know. Why are you avoiding Fara like the plague?"

"She thinks I'm moving in on Fox." replied Mariko bluntly.

"Oh." replied Katt, "Knowing Fara the way I do that explains everything. Next question. Are you moving in on Fox?"

"Katt!"

"I'm serious."

"No way!" replied Mariko, "I have some scruples, I'm not low enough to steal Fox from Fara."

"Well, why not?" chuckled Katt, "You've got the looks and the charm to sweet talk Fox away from Fara, heck that's not even taking into account those 'skills' of yours."

Mariko frowned at that.

"What?" asked Katt.

"Sorry Katt," replied Mariko, "but Knights have a bad enough rep, the last thing I need to give Fara more ammo on why Knights can't be trusted."

"Ah ha! " crowed Katt, "Now I see what's happening, Fara isn't just nervous because you've got her beat in the looks department. It's because if you really wanted Fox you could just use your knack on him,"

"But I cannot and will not," interrupted Mariko, "and Fara doesn't believe that. That's why I'm avoiding her. It saves everybody's sanity."

"I thought it was just Fox's sanity, why do you say everybody's?" asked Katt.

Mariko smiled, "I'll answer your question with a question. How often have you been able to see let alone talk to Falco these past two weeks?"

"Good point." replied Katt, "Next time you need to ditch Fara, just call!" By then their orders had arrived and the two women dug in and continued to chat away.

The afternoon sped along, after lunch the two women were window shopping. Mariko glanced into a shop window and began to giggle. Katt looked over from where she was glancing and asked "What?"

Mariko was glancing into a window of a very eccentric designers store. Katt also had to stifle a chuckle. "Do people actually wear that?" Motioning to the dress that looked like the wearer couldn't even walk in.

"I think the question should be 'Do they wear it in public?'" replied Katt. They both lost it as they walked on. As they strolled along Mariko got a funny look on her face. Katt noticed and asked, "What?"

"Katt..." muttered Mariko as she reached for her saber under her jacket, "Run!" With one fluid motion Mariko lashed out with her saber at dark form advancing on the two women. Katt ducked behind a car and swallowed. All she could hear was the sounds of the fight, she took a risk and peeked out, immediately she wished she hadn't.

Mariko was on the losing end of the fight, she was trying to keep the dozens of innocent people safe from whoever was attacking her. The attacker, whoever or whatever it was taking complete advantage. Katt darted out from behind the car and began to usher panicked people away from the fight in hopes of giving Mariko a fighting chance.

Mariko yelped in pain as the Rogue Knight's saber slashed through her jacket catching her right under the ribs. As she staggered back she spotted Katt clearing the streets. Mari gave silent thanks for her quick thinking. With Katt taking care of the public, she could focus on the fight. Just like a Rogue to attack in a public place, without warning, in broad daylight, with tons of innocent people around. No wonder Knights got such a bad rep. She lashed out her saber at her opponent's face and caught his eye. She allowed herself to a smile as he roared in pain. "Back off!" she hissed, "I'll be happy to settle things with you at a slightly better time and place."

The Rogue was holding his face where his eye used to be. Mariko couldn't see his face, he was wearing a hooded cloak, like she used to before she joined Star Fox. "If you insist, One week from now in the caves outside the city." He promptly vanished just before the authorities arrived.

"Typical." muttered Mari, "Leave me to take care of this mess." It was about then the loss of blood from her side wound was beginning to get to her. She was barely able to retract her saber and hide it back in her jacket before she collapsed.

Katt got back to the scene of the fight after getting the passers-by out of the area, by then she could hear the sounds of the emergency services. Somebody must have called for help, thought Katt. As she reached the area she couldn't see the fighters, fighting panic she began to look around. It didn't take her long to find Mariko collapsed on the ground, bleeding from a deep gash in her side.

"Mariko!" yelled Katt, getting to her side, she stopped the bleeding as best she could with her scarf until an ambulance arrived and were able to transport her to the local hospital.

Several Hours Later-

All was quiet on the Great Fox, Peppy was enjoying the peace as he caught up on some reading. Slippy and Falco were doing some standard maintenance work on the arwings, Fox and Fara were together somewhere on the ship. Mariko and Katt were still in Corneria City on their shopping/lunch trip. Hopefully the peace and quiet would last for a bit, the loud page from ROB64 squashed that thought.

"Incoming Call!" boomed ROB64, "Emergency Frequency!"

"I'll take it here ROB," answered Peppy, "Can you patch it through to the Rec Room?"

"Affirmative." came the robotic reply. Peppy looked at the view screen as almost did a double take as Katt's panicked face appeared.

"Katt?" began Peppy, "What happened?"

"Peppy! Thank goodness!" gasped Katt, "I'm at Corneria City Memorial.."

"What?!" gasped Peppy, "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, but Mariko was attacked, she still out cold here in the hospital." Katt sighed, "I think you guys better get down here quick The only think keeping the Police from handcuffing her to the bed is that she's a member of Star Fox."

"Why would they try to take her into custody?" asked Peppy.

"She's a Knight." snorted Katt, "For some of these cops that's all the reason they need. Thank goodness one of these guys has some sense and is waiting until Mari wakes up before taking any action."

"Who attacked her?" asked Peppy, Mariko was an expert paw to paw fighter. Whoever attacked her was either really brave or really stupid.

"I don't know," replied Katt, "Some weirdo in a dark cloak, had a weapon like Mari's too."

"Oh Great," muttered Peppy, "this is going to be fun. That was most likely a Rogue Knight, this is going to get messy real quick. We'll be there as soon as we can Katt." Peppy ended the call and went to gather the rest of the team.

Mariko slowly came around, her mouth felt dry and her head hurt something fierce. It finally filtered through that they had hit her with one heck of a pain killer. "Drugs." she grumbled, "I hate drugs, can't think straight, and that's not a good thing with my knack." She felt the needle from the IV in her right hand and was considering removing it when she heard somebody enter the room. She stopped and decided to ask whoever walked in a few questions.

The nurse entered and smiled, but before Mariko could open her mouth to say anything the nurse began to take out a needle and was insert it's contents into her IV when Mariko's other hand darted out and grabbed the nurse's hand before she could do anything. The nurse gave out a small yip of surprise. "I'm already seeing double, I don't think I need another dose." muttered Mariko.

"Doctor's Orders." replied the nurse, quickly regaining her composure.

"I don't care." replied Mariko, "I don't need or want another dose."

"I'll have to inform the Doctor Taniko of this." stated the nurse.

"Please do." replied Mariko. As the nurse left Mariko sighed with relief, as she leaned back to ease her throbbing head she wondered where Katt was and if the Great Fox had been told what had happened. She had a sick feeling that this was going to be messy at the very least.

The utter chaos had settled down allot by the time Fox and company got to the hospital, Fara tagged along just to see what was going on. The first thing they saw was a very frazzled Katt Monroe pacing in the waiting area.

"It's about time!" sighed Katt with relief. "Mariko is awake and having a 'friendly' debate with the Doctor on why not to give her any more pain killers."

"They gave her a pain killer?" squeaked Slippy. Katt nodded. "Is the room still in one piece?"

"Why do you ask?" replied Katt.

"Think about it Katt," grumbled Falco, "A Knight's powers come from the mind, what do 90% of the drugs that are out there effect in some way?"

"Good point." replied Katt, "Let's get in there before anything else happens."

By the time the group had reached Mariko's room she had finally convinced the Doctor Taniko who was treating her that pain killers and a Knight do not mix well. He was a huge tiger who spun around and announced to the entering group, "Only two visitors at a time." He then proceeded to cross his arms in front of his chest, determined not to lose this argument.

Fara quickly dragged Fox out of the room, Falco followed to watch the fun. Slippy left next to be sure nothing else happened. Peppy and Katt stayed, satisfied Doctor Taniko left. Mariko sighed with relief, "That guy was huge! I bet they assigned him to me as an intimidation factor."

"How are you feeling?" asked Peppy.

"Better now that the pain killers are wearing off. By the way Katt, thanks for clearing the street, if you didn't get those people out when you did it would have been worse for everybody."

"No prob," she replied. "Glad I could do something. Who was that creep?"

"A Rogue Knight." hissed Mariko, "He turned tail after I nailed him. He'll be back, which is why I'm gonna be checking out of here ASAP."

"Not in that outfit," chuckled Katt.

Mariko looked down at the hospital gown she was wearing. "Crap." she muttered, "Where's my clothes?"

"In little black pieces, I mean between the cuts, tears, burns, blood stains....." Katt counted off on her fingers.

"I get the idea Katt." Mariko sighed, she then looked at Peppy, "I don't suppose that one of you guys could bring me a change of clothing from the ship?"

Peppy smiled, "One step ahead of you," he replied tossing a bundle on the bed, "I figured whoever attacked you and nailed you hard enough to land you in the hospital, made sure that whatever you were wearing was not going to be wearable much longer."

"Peppy, you are a life-saver." replied Mariko, "Now I presume that either Fox, or a Police Officer or both are pacing outside wanting to hear what happened?"

"Fara is keeping Fox distracted, but there is an officer out there who wants to talk to you." replied Katt.

"Send him in," stated Mariko, "better get it over with."

After the officer had taken her statement Doctor Taniko came back in. "I have heard that you wish to leave." His tone of voice clearly stated that he didn't approve of the idea, and the way he was looking at her made Mariko think that he would try to keep her there even if he had to tie her down.

"I'm fine Doctor," began Mariko, "I'll be staying off of my feet as much as possible for the next few days and I'll be back so you can remove the stitches. That guy who attacked me may try again, I'd rather be aboard the Great Fox where he'll have a harder time getting to me, then down here where there are allot of innocent people for him to go through to get to me."

Doctor Taniko shook his head, "The only reason I'm letting you check out is because I have a bad feeling that you'll sneak out at the first opportunity." He began to remove the IV.

Mariko grinned, "And people say you can't read Knights. So when do you want me back to remove the stitches?"

"About two weeks." he replied, "Please take it easy, too much activity could pop the stitches, the internal ones and the external ones."

"Got it." replied Mariko. After he left she silently hoped she would be healed enough to take care of the Rogue in a week. She then got dressed and walked out into the waiting area where everybody else was waiting.

"You okay?" asked Fox when she came out, ignoring the fuming Fara.

"I'll live. Can we wait till we get back to the Great Fox before I explain the parts Katt couldn't?"

Everybody agreed, Fara stated that she had things to do and left for her own ship. Fox looked after her as she left, looking a bit depressed. On the walk back to their ships Mariko caught up to Fox, "Everything okay?" she asked.

"Not really." he muttered, "When will she learn that there's nothing going on between you and I?"

"I wish I knew Fox." answered Mariko, "I would tell her myself, but I have a bad feeling that she wouldn't believe me."

"Don't worry about it Mariko." replied Fox, "I'll convince Fara, one way or another." By then they had reached the airstrip where they had left their ships and took off back to the Great Fox.

Over the next few days it seemed that Fara was practically living on the Great Fox. Needless to say, Mariko was getting real good at hiding, much to Fox's disgust. From his perspective, it was silly for Mariko to hide in the ship she should be considering home. Unfortunately he was having no luck convincing Fara that Mariko was not competition. So 'Hide the Knight' as Katt put it continued.

The next day changed all that, it had been almost a week since the incident in Corneria City and Mariko was resting as much as she could prior to her battle with the Rogue Knight. She, Falco, Slippy, and Peppy were relaxing in the rec room having a lively discussion on which member of Star Wolf was the worst, Katt bursting in brought that conversation to a halt.

"Fara's on board!" she yelped when she spotted Mariko.

"Where?" everybody asked in synch.

"The hallway on her way here." squeaked Katt.

"Oh boy." swallowed Mariko. They went into action, Mariko dove behind the couch, Falco and Katt quickly sat on it to discourage Fara from doing so. Peppy was able to start up the conversation again just in time for Fara and Fox to walk in. Thirty seconds, thought Slippy, it was a new record.

After everybody said hello to everybody else, Fox wondered where Mariko was. He then noticed how nervous Falco and Katt looked. While Fara looked away Falco quickly pointed behind him, or in other words, behind the couch. Fox's eyes got wide as he realized exactly where Mariko was. Gotta get Fara out of here fast!

He was about to suggest it when Fara had to ask, "So, where's Mariko?"

"Around." answered Peppy, keeping a perfectly straight face.

Fara snorted, "I hope you guys reconsider keeping her around. I mean you can't trust Knights."

"Hey!" stated Falco, "She's saved our buts more times than I can count. I really don't think that she'd risk her own hide to save ours if she really wanted to hurt us."

Fara shrugged, "You just never know with Knights, especially female Knights. You can never tell when they are being honest or when their up to something..."

If Fara was going to continue her tirade, she was interrupted from a small explosion from behind the couch, "THAT'S IT!!!!" bellowed Mariko as she jumped out from behind the couch, Falco and Katt dove for cover. Mariko then addressed Fara,

"It is because of people like you that Knights have been hunted down like criminals for the past few decades., though we have nothing in those years to warrant that!" Mariko was a tad bit fed up, and didn't care if this got her kicked off the Great Fox. Fara was just asking for it, and Mari was in the mood to give it to her.

Fara was taken a bit off guard, talking about Mariko was one thing, but actually confronting her was another. She straightened up and shot back, "I'm not fooled by your little mind games you're playing on everybody else here. Maybe if Knights were not afraid of the truth they wouldn't have this so called bad rep you keep complaining about."

"The Truth!" snapped Mariko, "You Fara, wouldn't know the truth if it came up and bit you in the face, you are so blinded by your jealousy it's a miracle you can even see straight."

Things when downhill after that, nobody even bothered to try and break them up. Nobody wanted to get caught in the crossfire. At least Mariko was keeping her cool more or less, Fara was now resorting to personal insults.

Mariko took several deep breaths before retorting to Fara's last slam, "It would take somebody far better than a paranoid, two-bit pilot, over-jealous vixen to even come close to ruffling my fur."

Fara must have seen red, because nobody could have anticipated her next move, she decked Mariko.

Everybody jumped into action, Fox grabbed Fara and started to drag her out of the rec room. Fara was in the process of pouncing on the stunned Knight at the time. Both Peppy and Falco grabbed Mariko before she could recover and attack Fara. Luckily Mariko was more stunned than angry at the moment. "She actually decked me." muttered Mariko after Fara was out of the room. "Ow. She decked me with a damn good left hook." Mariko rubbed her jaw.

Slippy grabbed an ice pack from the freezer and handed it to Mari, "Aren't you mad?"

"Furious actually." replied Mariko, "But I have a bit more common sense than to take it out on Fara. She's not really mad at me, she's just so afraid of losing Fox that's she over compensating. Now that it's starting to backfire on her, she has no idea what to do next. You guys can let me up now, I'm not gonna kill her. Though Fox might at this point."

"Ouch." winced Katt, "Didn't think of that, slamming a member of his team verbally is one thing, but actually slamming them physically is another thing all together."

Mariko looked at the time, "I think it would be best if I worked off this steam somewhere other than on the ship." She stood up and tossed Slippy the ice pack, "If Fox asks I'll be back in a few hours."

Mariko finally reached her room, she could hear Fox and Fara across the ship, the fall out from this fiasco was not going to be pretty. She grabbed her saber and her full cloak before making her way to the hanger bay. She and an appointment with a certain Rogue Knight to keep.

Soon after Mariko's arwing blasted off the Great Fox, Fara's ship left a short time later. About ten minutes after that Fox's arwing also left. Katt took note of the missing ships and muttered, "Aw man. I was hoping for some idea of the fall-out, but it looks like that's gonna wait."

Falco snorted, "You may want to know about this, but I can wait. I gotta live here, remember?"

It was over. Fox couldn't believe that he actually did it. He actually broke it off with Fara, no way was he going to continue dating somebody who would actually hit a member of his team with out any real reason. Well, no real reason as far as he was concerned, Fara was still swearing up and down that she was in the right, Fox had enough and broke it off then and there. After she took off, he decided to blow off some steam, a quick run about in his arwing seemed just the ticket. He glanced about and wondered what to do next when a beep from his console broke his train of thought. His radar was picking up another ship nearby, a minute later his scanners identified the ship, it was another arwing, or to be more specific, the Trainer.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who needs to blow off some steam." he chuckled, "Looks like Mariko is heading for Corneria, most likely to work off some steam with a full work-out. Better tail her to make sure she doesn't pull any stitches."

Mariko landed the Trainer about a mile from the caves outside Corneria City. She was familiar with the area, she usually came to the area to work-out if things aboard the Great Fox got too stuffy. As she climbed out she took off her red jacket and tossed on her cloak, the black jumpsuit she was wearing was a bit more fitted than her normal flight suit, and was made to resist cuts from sabers and other blades. She also grabbed her saber from it's hidden pocket in her jacket and hung it on her belt, she left her blaster in the jet. She didn't need it and would be almost useless in a duel with other Knight. With a sigh and a deep breath she headed for the caves.

Fox landed his arwing next to Mariko's. As he climbed out he spotted Mariko walking toward the caves, something struck him as odd. For one she was wearing her cloak, and secondly it was the way she was walking that made Fox nervous. Like a hunter stalking prey, or a warrior heading to battle, Fox swallowed and began to follow her from a distance, even though all of his instincts told him not to.

Mariko approached the cave and all of her senses were on full alert, keeping an eye out for that Rogue Knight, she thought there was somebody behind her but before she could investigate a dark form appeared in front of her and attacked. Mariko giving her full attention to the attack pulled out her saber and returned in kind.

Fox dove behind a rock and clamped a paw over his muzzle to keep from yelling at Mariko. This guy she was fighting must be the Rogue that fought her at Corneria City a week ago. Either one could have challenged the other at that fight, and this was the result. He silently fumed, Mariko had vanished a few times before, was this the reason why? Rogue Knights were after her? Why didn't she tell the rest of the team?

Mariko was giving this Rogue everything she had. This time she was prepared, and the Rogue was regretting every minute of it. The fight went on for another two hours, Fox was wondering why neither of the combatants showed signs of tiring. Then he remembered something about Knights, you only saw what they wanted you to see. Neither fighter would want to show the other how tired or injured they were. Fox took a deep breath and prayed that Mariko came out of this alive.

After thirty more minutes Mariko finally got the upper hand and took the Rogue's head. She dropped to her knees and held her side, "Ow." she muttered. She looked down and sighed with relief, no stitches broken, but she was exhausted. She slowly got to her feet to head back to her jet.

Fox heaved a sigh of relief as he saw Mariko head back to where the arwings were. He was about to follow when he spotted another dark shape heading toward Mariko. Unable to stop himself he yelled a warning. "MARIKO! BEHIND YOU!"

Mariko spun around and with one motion threw her saber through the novice Rogue's heart, his own weapon slashed through, cutting her upper arm. As he fell Mariko heaved a sigh of relief and glanced around to see who gave the warning. She did a double take as she spotted Fox jogging toward her.

"Fox!" gasped Mariko, "What are you doing here?"

"Funny." he muttered, "I should be asking you the same thing." Mariko winced at his tone.

"I guess I should explain." she muttered, Fox just nodded as he pulled off his scarf to patch up her arm. "I order to stop that guy from rampaging through Cornerian City I had to challenge him to a duel. I met him here away from everybody else."

"Has this happened before?" asked Fox.

Mariko winced again, "A few times." she replied in a small voice. Before Fox could snap at her she quickly explained. "I warned you guys that things like this might happen. I told you that I couldn't tell you everything for your own safety. This part and parcel of who and what I am."

Fox took a deep breath as they made their way back to the arwings. "Is it too much to ask that you tell us what you are doing when you leave the ship?"

"I didn't tell you because I was afraid that one of you might follow. If whoever challenged found out you were there they could use you against me. Like how that Rogue used the public in Corneria City to keep me from focusing on the fight." Mariko swallowed at Fox's silence. "Fox?" she asked reaching for his shoulder.

"I'm fine." he stated, "It's just been one of those days. First my girlfriend decks a member on my team. The aforementioned girlfriend, becomes an ex-girlfriend. Then I find out that the aforementioned team mate was risking her life on a regular basis without telling anybody. Yeah I'm just fine."

Mariko stifled a giggle. Fox looked at her funny, she quickly answered, "Think about what you just said." He did and had to chuckle.

"Several years from now I might look back on this and laugh." Fox replied, "But not today. Are you heading back to the ship?" By then the two of them had made it back to the arwings.

"Yeah," replied Mariko. "What about you?"

"I'll see you in a few hours." he stated before climbing aboard his jet and blasting off.

"Oy." squeaked Mariko. "Am I gonna get it when he gets back." She then climbed into her jet and blasted off toward the Great Fox.

Katt practically pounced on her when she landed. Until she saw Mariko's arm. "What happened? Did Fara find you or what?!"

"No." muttered Mariko, "Just my 'friend' from Corneria City. I had to finish what was started."

Peppy was also in the landing bay and sputtered, "What!!!"

Before he launched into a tirade, Mariko interrupted, "Remember Peppy, I warned you guys that I might have to disappear for reasons I couldn't explain to you guys."

Peppy sighed, "Fox is going to have a fit when he finds out."

"Too Late." muttered Mariko. "He spotted me heading for Corneria and tailed me. He saw everything."

"Ouch." muttered Katt and Peppy in synch.

After Mariko cleaned up her arm she tried to rest. Didn't work. She was worried about Fox, it had been more than a few hours since she saw him take off from Corneria. She stood up and began to pace. After another hour of pacing and still no Fox she gave up and headed for the rec area for a bite to eat..

Fox finally docked his arwing and climbed out of the cockpit. He sighed and pulled off the comm unit on his head. He had a lot of time to think about everything that happened and came to a few decisions. He decided for a bite to eat first and headed for the rec area.

As Fox entered the rec area he noticed somebody was there already. After he got into the room he saw that it was Mariko. Oh boy, he thought.

Mariko, with her salad in her hands turned from the counter and nearly dropped the bowl. "Hi Fox." she muttered.

"Uh hi..." he muttered back. After both were fidgeting for a bit Mariko finally asked.

"Feeling better?"

"I guess." muttered Fox, "Like I said earlier, it's been one of those days."

"I've had a few of those..." replied Mariko, "The last one involved Wolf O'Donnell."

Fox raised an eyebrow. "You mean to say that today doesn't qualify?"

"I'm a Knight," chuckled Mariko, "that also means I'm a weirdness magnet. I've got some stories of my life prior to joining Star Fox that'll make your fur curl."

Despite how he was feeling, Fox had to laugh at that one. "Here I am furious at the universe in general and yet you still find a way to make me laugh. How do you do it?"

Mariko just shrugged, "Chalk it up as another of my many talents. Can we sit down now? My dinner is wilting." Fox nodded as he made for the fridge himself. After he found something for himself to eat and sat down, the uncomfortable silence reigned. Mariko finally couldn't stand it any more.

"All right, I can't stand it any more." Fox looked up in surprise, Mariko continued. "I'm sorry for not telling you about the duel, since I've been on my own for at least six years and I'm not used to telling others my business. Also I'm sorry for what happened between you and Fara, in a way I feel responsible for it." After she finished she stood up to put her dishes in the sink she fully expected Fox's next words to be asking her to leave the team.

As a Knight she should have known better.

Fox grabbed her arm and made her sit back down. "One, you had nothing to do with what happened between Fara and I, you blame yourself again, I will find a way to beat some sense into you, Knight or not. Second, I may not have liked what you did, but I can understand it, I just ask one think. Even if you can't tell us where your going, at least tell us what your doing so we won't completely panic when you vanish. Deal?" he finished.

"Deal." sighed Mariko with relief. After that the dinner conversation went a lot smoother. After she had left to turn in for the night, Fox recalled what he remarked about Mariko a short time ago. As he thought about it he wondered, maybe it was time for he and Fara to go their separate ways.

Maybe there was something in the future for himself and Mariko.....

Fox smiled to himself as he went to bed himself, what would happen next? Only time would tell...