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New Arrivals - Ch4

After crashing through the outer wall of the massive alien structure, Krystal, Falco, Peppy, and Dead-Eye all leaped out the open hatch of the Righteous Indignation, and began running through the long corridors of the 'zoo'. Blinky agreed to stay with the Righteous Indignation to keep it safe and ready for when they would need it again for their escape.

As they ran, the group of four passed by many large windows which revealed many unique creatures on the other side within various natural habitats. Most of the creatures they didn't recognize. Some were tiny, and some were gigantic. It was very hard to resist the urge to stop and take in some of the amazing specimens they passed by, but of course, they all knew they had people to rescue, and couldn't waste any time.

They also passed by many more of the wisp aliens as they ran through the corridors, still flying around in a state of panic at their intrusion. Though, Krystal felt it was odd that the wisps weren't attacking them or attempting to stop them in any way. Krystal attempted to use her telepathy to look into the wisps' minds, but what she sensed she could not make heads or tails out of. Either these beings' minds were incompatible with hers, or they were so advanced that they could block her telepathy.

Another thing they all couldn't help but notice as they ran was how sick they were all feeling. Ever since they had entered this dimension, they had started to feel ill, and as time went on it was only getting worse. They all felt achy all over their bodies, and felt nauseous. Their skin also felt strangely itchy recently. They all did their best to ignore how badly they felt and focused on finding their friends.

"This way!" Krystal said, looking at the scanner in her hand. "I'm detecting Jenny's bio signs right up ahead!"

They ran for several more seconds before Krystal stopped them in front of one particular window.

Inside, they could see a lush jungle-like habitat, and lying on the ground, in plain view, were Jenny and another cat, completely in the nude and cuddling with each other. From the looks of it, the two of them had just recently had sex.

"What the hell!?" exclaimed Dead-Eye in surprise at the sight of his female crewmate naked and being intimate with someone.

"Hey, I know that guy!" Falco spoke up, pointing at the blue male cat Jenny was with, recognizing him as a member of his former gang, the Hot Rodders. "I don't believe it! It's Kool!"

They banged on the window and shouted in an attempt to get their friends' attention, or break the barrier separating them, but neither happened. The window remained intact, and the two lovey-dovey cats inside remained oblivious to the fact that they were being watched. The team took out their blasters and fired several shots on maximum power at the window, but still, they hadn't even made a scratch. Whatever the transparent barrier was made of, it was clearly sound proof and blast proof.

"There must be a way to open this!" said Peppy franticly. "Look around for a control panel, or something." They all looked around the window, but none of them could find any apparent controls or buttons of any kind.

Then something occurred to Krystal. The wisp-like aliens who ran this place had no physical appendages, so things like buttons would be useless to them. Perhaps their technology was controlled in a non-physical way. Perhaps through thought.

Krystal put her fingers to her forehead and focused... focused on the window... on opening it.

After a few seconds, as if by magic, the window in front of them suddenly seemed to melt away, disappearing into nothing. Their senses were immediately filled with the many sounds and scents of the jungle-like environment before them.

"It worked!" Krystal exclaimed happily, everyone looking at her in confusion. "I used telepathic thought to open the barrier," she explained to them.

Jenny and Kool then also finally took notice of the rescue party currently watching them, and the two kitties quickly got to their feet, covering their naked bodies in embarrassment, and hurried over to the group.

"Glad to see you're okay, Jenny old girl," said Dead-Eye, instinctively averting his gaze from his crewmate's nudity.

"It's good to see you too, Dead-Eye," said Jenny, blushing in embarrassment.

"Hey Kool, I hope we aren't interrupting you two," said Falco to his old friend with a smirk of amusement on his beak.

"Shut the fuck up, Falco," Kool replied in irritation, attempting to cover up his nudity with his hands. "Did you bring us any clothes?"

"Sorry, but we didn't know you'd be NAKED!" Falco replied.

"When we first woke up here, our clothes were gone!" said Jenny. "Whoever abducted us must have taken them off us while we were unconscious!"

"That's creepy!" said Krystal. She then suddenly grimaced as she felt a sudden jolt of pain run through her body.

"Are you guys okay?" Kool asked in concern at Krystal's grimace, noticing that Krystal, Falco, Peppy, and the four-armed duck named Dead-Eye all looked like they were in pain. "You don't look so good."

"Yeah, we're fine," Falco lied, fighting to not appear weak. "Just a little under the weather. Whatever it is, we can worry about it later."

"Come on! We have to find the others!" said Peppy, motioning with his hands for them all to keep moving.

Krystal looked down at her scanner. "That way!" she pointed further down the corridor.

---

Inside Fox and Mimi's exhibit, the sound of a baby crying could be heard echoing throughout the forest. Mimi and Fox sat on the ground next to each other, Mimi cradling their newborn kit in her arms. She had just given birth a few hours ago.

The duo gazed down at their child with small smiles on their faces. The kit was a girl, and Fox and Mimi had agreed to name her Vixy after Fox's late mother. Mimi brought the baby's head up to one of her nipples, and the baby immediately clamped her muzzle around it and began suckling on her mother's milk.

Fox and Mimi remained silent as they continued to watch their daughter, feeling so many different emotions all at once. They felt happy and proud that they had become parents to such a lovely child, but at the same time, they felt sad that their child would have to grow up trapped in a cage just like they were.

Across the corridor, Bucky and Lucy were standing at the window inside their own exhibit, looking over at Fox and Mimi and their little newborn, the two bunnies also feeling mixed emotions. Lucy held a hand down to her now large belly, feeling her and Bucky's own child growing inside of her.

"Their baby looks so beautiful," said Lucy as she stared across the corridor at the foxes.

"Yeah," said Bucky in agreement, unable to help feeling a twinge of jealousy that Mimi'd had a child with another man, despite how much he had grown to love Lucy over the past several months. He looked over at Lucy's pregnant belly and wondered what their own child would look like when they were born.

Suddenly, outside in the corridor, a sight they'd thought they would never see suddenly appeared. Krystal, Falco, Peppy, Dead-Eye, a totally naked Jenny, and an equally naked blue male cat who neither Bucky or Lucy recognized ran into view.

"DAD!?!" Lucy shouted in complete surprise and jubilation at the sight of Peppy.

Outside, Krystal placed her fingers to her forehead, and a few seconds later, the transparent barriers of both Bucky and Lucy's exhibit and Fox and Mimi's exhibit just seemed to melt away into the walls. Buck and Lucy couldn't believe it! Only a few seconds ago they were believing they had no hope, and now they were suddenly free!

"LUCY!" Peppy shouted as he and Lucy ran up and hugged each other, despite Lucy's nudity. "I'm so relieved that you're alive!" he said.

"I thought I would never see you again!" Lucy said, tears welling up in her eyes as she hugged her father.

Then Peppy gaped down at Lucy's pregnant belly, his expression instantly becoming one of shock and horror. "Lucy, you're... How is this possible? You've only been gone for a few days!"

Lucy stared at her father in confusion as she attempted to cover her naked breasts and crotch with her hands in embarrassment. "A few days? Dad, I've been here for months!"

"What!?" Peppy exclaimed, dumfounded.

Across the corridor, Fox and Mimi were hurrying out of their own exhibit, carrying their newborn kit and wrapping their bushy tails around in front of them to try to cover their privates.

"Krystal! Falco! Peppy!" Fox said in joy as he walked towards them all. "I never thought I would see any of you again!"

Krystal's joyful expression fell as she stared wide-eyed in shock at the baby in Mimi's arms, and then at Fox, and then at Mimi, and then back to the baby. She didn't have to be a telepath to tell that the baby was Fox's. A rush of various emotions were hitting her all at once. As relieved as she was to see that Fox was okay, she was also feeling the exact same confusion that Peppy was feeling at that moment, as well as a twinge of jealousy at seeing that her crush had a baby with another woman.

But before anything else could be said, Krystal suddenly winced as the physical pain she had been feeling throughout her whole body this whole time suddenly got even worse, and her legs gave out from beneath her.

"Krystal!?" Fox gasped and quickly caught the blue vixen in his arms as she fell. He noticed a trickle of blood was coming out her nose, and her eyes were bloodshot.

Krystal wasn't the only one. Peppy, Falco, and Dead-Eye also suddenly collapsed onto the cold hard floor with painful grunts, Lucy, Bucky, Jenny, and Kool quickly rushing to their aid.

"Are you alright?" Fox asked Krystal as he held her.

"I don't know what's happening to us," said Krystal weakly as she looked up at Fox, taking deep, heavy breaths. "Ever since we entered this dimension, we've been feeling ill. And it's getting worse."

Suddenly, some of Krystal's fur and hair fell off of her head, and Fox noticed in horror that the revealed skin on Krystal's head had fresh lesions and sores on it.

It was the same with Peppy, Falco and Dead-Eye. Their fur and feathers were also starting to fall out, and they also had lesions and sores on their bodies.

Peppy suddenly coughed into his hand, and Lucy noticed blood on his hand afterwards. "What's happening to them!?" she asked fearfully as she held her father in her arms.

"They must have caught some kind of disease!" said Bucky, him and Jenny over at a gasping Dead-Eye's side.

Suddenly, ROB's robotic voice was heard, coming out of the comm watch on Peppy's wrist. "Great Fox to Star Fox team! Something is very wrong here. Slippy has fallen deathly ill, and the Great Fox is losing structural integrity!"

"What!?" Peppy managed to answer with a cough. "Why!?"

"Causes unknown!" ROB responded. "At the rate of structural damage, I estimate we have approximately one hour before the haul breaches!"

They all looked at each other with worry. As if they didn't have enough problems as it was, now their own ship was falling apart for some unknown reason.

"We have to get out of here now!" said Fox.

"No argument there!" Falco agreed weakly as Kool helped the ruffled bird to his feet.

"What about all these other people who are here!" said Jenny, gesturing around to all the other windows with creatures inside of them. "We know other people have been abducted besides just us! We can't just leave them!"

Before anyone could answer, suddenly, one of the wisp aliens appeared and began circling around the group. They all watched nervously the little glowing purple colored cloud of energy hover around them like a buzzing fly, wondering what it was doing.

Then, without warning, the wisp suddenly flew at Krystal, and disappeared into her chest!

"KRYSTAL!" exclaimed Fox as the blue vixen gasped from the alien's intrusion into her body. Krystal's eyes began to glow violet, and then her expression became calm and emotionless, and she stood up, moving out of Fox's grasp.

Then she spoke, "So, this is what it's like to have a physical body," she said in a monotone voice, looking down at her own body. "Disgusting... but also fascinating."

The group just stared at her. They all quickly realized it was not actually Krystal who was speaking, but rather the wisp-like alien that had flown inside of her and was now possessing her, using her body like a puppet.

"GET OUT OF HER!" Fox yelled in anger.

Krystal held up her hands in a peaceful gesture. "Wait. This is the only way we can communicate with you. I'm afraid there has been a great misunderstanding."

"What do you mean by 'misunderstanding'?" asked Mimi, holding her baby close to her in her arms protectively.

Krystal continued, "We were not aware your kind were sentient. Until now, we had no idea corporeal lifeforms even had the potential for sentients. But after witnessing others like yourselves go to such lengths to rescue you, there can be no doubt. Despite all our knowledge, it seems we still have much to learn."

"I have a question!" yelled Peppy angrily, followed by a few haggard coughs. "How is my daughter several months pregnant!?" He pointed at Lucy's round belly. "It's only been a couple days!"

Krystal looked at him calmly. "In our dimension, the flow of time is much faster than the flow of time in your own dimension. By your units of time, a mere one hour in your dimension is the equivalent of approximately two days in this dimension!"

Everyone's mouths opened in shock. That explained why they had each experienced different amounts of time.

The possessed Krystal continued, "But there is a more urgent matter at the moment. Those of you who are feeling sick, you cannot stay in this dimension or you will soon die!"

"What is happening to them!" Jenny demanded, looking around at Dead-Eye, Peppy, and Falco, who were still panting heavily in pain, and gaining more open lesions on their bodies.

Krystal's body was also getting sicklier, though the alien possessing her continued to have her body maintain a calm stance as she continued to explain. "The laws of physics are different in this dimension than they are in yours. Because of this, most matter from your dimension cannot maintain its molecular cohesion here. If you remain in this dimension for much longer, your physical bodies, your ship, and everything else you brought with you from your dimension with continue to deteriorate, and you will die!"

"Then how come they're fine?" Falco pointed at Fox, Mimi, Bucky, Lucy, Jenny, and Kool. "They've all been here way longer than we have, and they seem fine!"

"Yeah, we've been here for nine months, and we're not dead!" said Mimi, gesturing to herself and Fox.

Krystal looked at Mimi. "That is because your bodies are made of matter from this dimension."

Everyone stared at the blue vixen with completely confused expressions.

"What are you talking about?" asked Bucky. "You kidnapped us from our own dimension and brought us here!"

Krystal looked over at the green bunny. "No... well, yes, but..." The blue vixen paused in thought for a moment before continuing, "Perhaps it would be easier to show you all. Please come with me." Krystal closed her eyes and snapped her fingers. Before any of them knew what was happening, there was a bright flash of light, and then all of them suddenly found themselves standing in a completely different location.

They were now in an extremely large, dimly lit room, which was filled with rows and rows of many cylindrical transparent containers of various sizes lying horizontal on the floor. Through the transparent top of the containers, they could see dark shapes lying inside. They quickly realized the dark shapes were actually the unmoving bodies of various creatures.

The possessed Krystal pointed to several of the containers nearby. "Look inside them," she said. "I believe you will understand once you see."

The group walked over to the containers, Peppy, Falco, and Dead-Eye being supported by Lucy, Kool, and Bucky respectively. They all looked down into them... and gasped in shock at what they saw inside. Lying completely motionless inside the containers were... themselves!

The six containers in front of them contained perfect duplicates of Fox, Mimi, Bucky, Lucy, Jenny, and Kool. And, unlike the versions of them currently outside of the containers, who were completely nude, the ones inside actually had their clothes on!

"What the hell!?!" Fox exclaimed as he stared down at the motionless, clothed version of himself. "Why is there another me!?!"

"Did you clone us!" demanded Mimi, all of them turning to glare at the alien possessed Krystal.

Krystal simply shook her head. "You still don't fully understand," she said. "We DID indeed clone you all, however..." she pointed down at the six individuals lying in the containers, "THEY are not the clones!" She then pointed up at Fox, Mimi, Lucy, Bucky, Jenny, and Kool. "YOU are the clones!"

Everyone stared at Krystal with eyes wide and mouths agape. Mimi even almost dropped her baby in shock from what they had just been told.

Krystal continued, "As you've already discovered, given what is currently happening to your friends, your original bodies could not have survived in our dimension. We had to recreate you using matter native to our own dimension. You and your original counterparts are perfect duplicates right down to your DNA. The only difference between you and them is that the matter you are made of came from this dimension, which is why your molecular structure is stable here. We had to keep the originals frozen in these time-dilation pods in order to keep their molecular structure from coming undone. That way, if anything unfortunate happened to you, we would have the original template needed to clone you again."

For several long seconds, no one spoke. They were taking in everything they had just been told.

"So... I'm not the real Bucky O'Hare!?!" Bucky exclaimed, not wanting to believe it.

Peppy looked up at Lucy, who was still supporting him with her arms, and then back at Krystal. "And she's not my real daughter!" he asked.

Then Fox thought of something. "Wait! If I'm not the real Fox McCloud, then why do I remember fighting Andross in the Lylat war?"

"Yeah!" said Bucky. "And if I'm not the real Bucky O'Hare, then why do I remember my childhood on Warren, and fighting the Toad Empire!"

Krystal spoke. "Because in addition to your physical bodies, we also copied your memories. It was not difficult. Your physical brains are basically just organic computers. We copied your minds in the same way you would easily copy and paste data on a computer."

Once again, everyone was silent as they took in what they had just been told. They didn't want to believe any of this, that they were nothing but copies of their true selves. Yet, there was the proof right in front of them, lying inside six time-dilation pods. To say they felt overwhelmed and angry was an understatement!

"Whatever!" Kool snarled. "Just let us all go back home to our dimension already! Our friends are getting worse!" He gestured over to Falco, who was so weak now that he could barely stand, and Kool was practically carrying him at this point.

Krystal however shook her head. "Indeed, THEY must return home to their dimension, but I'm afraid the rest of you can never go back."

At that, they all exploded with anger.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN WE CAN'T GO HOME!?!" demanded Mimi, her baby in her arms beginning to cry at her loud outburst. Mimi began instinctively rocking her baby gently, attempting to calm her.

Krystal continued, once again annoyingly calmly. "Just as your friends cannot remain in this dimension for long without dying, you clones cannot leave this dimension without also suffering the same fate. Your bodies were created from the matter of this dimension! Therefore, you cannot exist anywhere other than this dimension."

Fox, Mimi, Bucky, Lucy, Jenny, and Kool all felt their spirits plummet.

"You're saying if we go back to our own dimension, we'll die!" exclaimed Lucy in despair.

"Your originals may return home," said Krystal, "but you clones must stay here! You were created here. This dimension IS your home."

Fox could not stand it anymore. "So, what, we have no choice but to stay as exhibits in your zoo for the rest of our lives?" said Fox angrily.

Krystal appeared to think for a moment. "Perhaps it does not necessarily have to be that way," she said. "We realize you are sentient lifeforms now, and freedom is the right of all sentient lifeforms. I'm sure we can come to some sort of arrangement."

At that, the group all mentally breathed a slight sigh of relief. As much as this situation sucked, at the very least they would no longer be treated like feral animals... they hoped. The six clones all looked at each other as they wordlessly came to grips with the fact that they would be staying here together in this alien dimension permanently.

But their momentary relief was short-lived as, just then, Peppy began coughing and wheezing again, blood trickling out both his nostrils and his mouth. Lucy held her father up to keep him from collapsing. He was barely conscious. "He's dying!" she cried with panic. "We need to get him to medical attention now!"

"You cannot stay here any longer!" Krystal said. "You must return to your own dimension immediately!" She looked over at the pods containing the original versions of Fox, Mimi, Bucky, Lucy, Jenny, and Kool. She snapped her fingers, and the transparent tops on each container disappeared. A split second later, the six individuals inside them all opened their eyes and sat up with a start, looking around in total confusion and panic, all of them beginning to talk all at once.

"Where am I?"

"What's going on?"

"What the hell?"

"Who are you people?"

"Is... Is that a naked version of ME over there!?!"

One by one, the original, fully clothed versions of Fox, Mimi, Lucy, Bucky, Jenny, and Kool all leaped out of their open pods and stared at the group, all asking variations of the same questions all at once.

"It's a long story," the clone of Fox said to them, holding up his hands to quite them, "But right now there's no time to explain. You all have to go home."

The clone of Jenny looked back at Krystal. "What about all the other people you have taken and are frozen here?" demanded Jenny. "They have to be released and sent home as well!"

Krystal nodded. "Indeed, we will release them and send them back to your dimension. You have my word."

"And we'll make sure they keep their word!" said the Bucky O'Hare clone to the Jenny clone with a fist of determination.

Krystal then closed her eyes, and then the wisp that had been possessing her body emerged from her chest and floated up into the air above them all. Krystal's unconscious body then began to fall, but the original Fox McCloud hurried over and caught her in his arms.

"KRYSTAL!?!" he exclaimed as he held her to him and looked at her sickly, unconscious body with fret. Then he looked up at the clone of himself. "What happened to her? What's going on?"

"She'll explain everything to you later once she's better," the Fox clone said to his original self. "Right now, you have to get home and get her to medical attention!" He placed a hand on his original self's shoulder. "She's all yours, buddy. Take care of her."

The original Fox McCloud stared at his naked clone in total confusion, but then he nodded.

---

Three days later, The Great Fox and the Righteous Indignation were both in orbit over Corneria. The two crews had managed to get back to their own universe just in time, and now Peppy, Krystal, Falco, Slippy, and Dead-Eye were recovering in the hospital in Cornerian City from the extensive damage their bodies had suffered in the alien dimension. Fortunately, the Docters said that they would all make full recoveries.

They had also learned that all the other people who had been reported missing throughout the past week had all shown up back exactly where they had disappeared with absolutely no memory of what had happened to them since they had been reported missing. Apparently, the wisp aliens from the other dimension had truly kept their word after all.

Fox was sitting at Krystal's bedside. Krystal was finally conscious again, and was telling Fox all about everything that had happened since he had first disappeared.

"So, I was abducted by aliens, cloned, and the aliens put my clone in a zoo and froze me!?" Fox exclaimed.

Krystal nodded. "The aliens didn't realize that we were anything more then dumb animals. So, they treated us like dumb animals."

Fox shook his head in amazement. "I wonder how my clone and the others are doing now?" he said. "Especially since my clone apparently had a baby with the clone of that vixen over there." Fox gestured over at Mimi, who was over standing next to Bucky beside Dead-Eye's hospital bed.

"And don't forget the time difference," said Krystal. "In the few days we've been back, several months have gone by for them!"

"Oh yeah!" said Fox, wondering how his clone was doing now.

---

Back in the other dimension, the clones of Fox, Mimi, Bucky, Lucy, Jenny, and Kool were all standing together on a hill overlooking the colony they and their alien hosts had created on the planet.

Located next to the zoo, they had set up a massive bio dome on the planet for all the sentient lifeforms the wisp aliens had unknowingly taken and cloned over the eons. In addition to the several species that had been taken from the aniverse, species such as Humans, Lombaxes, Andalites, Moncalamari, Sangheili, Krogan, Edosians, ect were now also a part of their interspecies colony.

Mimi and Lucy both held their children in their arms, and Jenny had her hands on her round, several months pregnant belly. Lucy had given birth to a baby boy, who she and Bucky had named Jeffrey after Bucky's cousin. They were all now wearing clothes that they had asked their alien hosts to make for them. Despite still being completely baffled by the concept or purpose of clothes, the wisp aliens had complied and created matching outfits for them all consisting of a white loincloth and a blue vest.

The group had grown to accept the fact that they were clones, and that this dimension was their home now, but they were determined to make the best of their new lives. They now had an agreement with the wisp aliens. The aliens would care for them without restricting their freedom, and they were all free to go wherever they wanted in this new unusual dimension. At the bottom of the hill, they had constructed houses for themselves, and were growing food for themselves in fields. The roof of the bio dome they now lived in was programmed to resemble the sky in their own dimension, even having a day night cycle. They did everything to try to make this place feel like home. They had even begun constructing a ship for the purposes of exploring.

In exchange for caring for them, the aliens would still get to observe and study the clones with their permission, as their thirst for knowledge on corporeal lifeforms was insatiable.

The three couples said nothing as they stood there together on the hill. They just watched the artificial sun setting against the artificial horizon, wondering what the future held for them.

The End