James returned to the Great Fox temporarily to hear what Slippy had discovered about him.  Despite being sure he was from very far away, he wasn't sure how far away he was, and with Fox's permission, the team had their meeting on the bridge, with the crew in their usual places and James himself made to stand before them, feeling as if he was in a court, which was something he was familiar with in his younger days.
	"Alright Slip," began the captain, "what didya find out about our refugee?"
	"Well, I was doing this in my spare time and didn't wanna freak ya out...but our guest isn't from around here."
	"Wow....oh wow," Falco clapped sarcastically, "That is amazing, props to Slippy for figuring out THE FIRST AND ONLY THING WE FREAKING KNOW ABOUT HIM."
	"What I mean iiiiiiiis that, when I say, not from around here...I mean he's not from this galaxy."
	"...wait what?"
	"I was looking at these particle traces that James has on him, they don't match anything in the Lylat system or beyond that we know of."
	"...so..."
A smirk came to the raptor's lips as he looked at Falco, the realisation sinking in slowly.
	"I maybe fell out of a black hole huh?  ...wait, I DID!?!?"
	"Woah woah woah, particle traces?!?"
Peppy interjected with surprise, hands up to try and deflect imaginary obstacles of confusion.
	"But those are only on ships when they warp!"
	"Only thing that makes sense to me!" replied Slippy.  "He's got 'em all over his body!  You warped across the galaxy on yer own!  That's why we can't find Zebes or anything you talk about on our maps, you're not even from this galaxy, maybe not even this reality!"
	"WHAT!?!?!  No...no no no no no, this is too fucking much, your science and shit just DOES NOT WORK HERE!"
Falco rubbed his forehead with frustration and mocked:
	"Hate to break it to ya dino boy but, you got any other explanation?"
	"Are you SURE I didn't just jump across galaxies or something?  You must have scanned a lot of 'em surely!?"

	"Nope."  Slippy was resolute.  "Didn't ya hear me?  Particle traces you got on ya do not come from ANYWHERE here!  That can only come from like another dimension or another universe!  I even heard rumours of stuff like that happening in black holes, it's the same kinda stuff but at least we can recognise the ones we have!"
	"How the fuck can you do that?!"
	"We have a very comprehensive list of particle emissions around our science bases, even from near black holes as good as we can and I studied up on all of them!"
	"Oh look at you the little brainiac, okay smartass, tell me, where did I come from?"
	"I dunno, you're the one who came here."
	"Uuuuuuurrrrrrrgh...I don't know HOW it happened...wait...if...I jumped from...Zebes to here...then that means I jumped from Earth to Zebes too."
	"Earth?"  Fox asked curiously.
	"My home planet.  Oh please tell me that's there."
A scan through the galaxy map by Peppy showed negative results.  James swore a muffled curse into his palms as Fox spoke with sympathy.
	"Hey hey, it's okay James, we'll find a way to get you back home but you gotta bear with us realising this as well."
	"I guess so...I just can't believe it...I warped to somewhere else, I didn't even know I could do that, I-"
	"Well it's hardly your nanos now is it?"
	"My wha...OH the nanos!?!?  What the hell are those, the doctor on Katina told me I had them!"
	"You...don't know you have them?"
	"NO!  What are they, why is everyone making me feel like an idiot!?"
	"Well take a look in the mirror sometime," said Falco, who made James' frustration flare.
	"I swear to god, one more word and I will fucking BREAK that beak of yours you prick!"
	"Hey hey hey!"
Fox took authority of the situation, raising a finger towards James to mean silence.
	"Don't...get angry on my ship.  Falco, don't antagonise him, he's very confused right now.  Slippy, explain his nanos to him."

	"Okay."  The frog began his explanation.  "Well, they're like tiny little computers in your body running all over your little veins.  They basically increase your body's efficiency like increasing your healing rate, make you more agile, and there's this weird thing in your brain too, like a neurocentre."
	"Neurocentre?"
	"Yeah, like the main hub for all the nanos, whatever's in there is making them all work."
	"Well can't you get them out of me, I don't like the idea of them crawling all over my insides!"
	"It's not like that, come on, they're nanos!  They're harmless if they're inside you, I mean if they didn't wanna help you at the start they'd have torn you to pieces from the inside out by now!"
	"That's REALLY not helping."
	"But what I mean is, they're helping you James.  You got some bruises on ya I noticed from recently, like laser blasts and some uhh...internal damage, but they healed up real good."
	"What do you mean internal damage?"
	Before Slippy could explain that, an urgent monotonous voice came on the intercom.
	"ATTENTION STARFOX.  WE ARE APPROACHING AQUAS."
The crew shook their heads clear as the four checked their screens immediately.  Fox took command with an order.
	"Peppy, report."
	"Well now...looks like an entirely aquatic planet...of course!  This is the place that's been reported to have one of Andross' bio-weapons, deep in the ocean depths!"
	"Okay...damn we don't have anything to do underwater missions."
	"Not yet we don't!"  Slippy butted in with triumphant tones.  "My dad's been working on a lil submarine, which I got moved to our hangar sometime back to work on when we needed it!  I haven't had time to finish it but-"
	"Say no more Slip, get it done soon as possible."
	"Okay!  Though I'd like some help on it to get it done faster..."
He scanned the room for potential people to work with, all of whom made excuses.  Peppy, Fox and Falco gave their reasons.
	"Slippy you know I got to keep my eyes on the scanners."
	"And I was never much of a mechanic myself."
	"And I just hate you."
	"Darn..."
He looked over towards the last one on deck.
	"Hey, James, you know how to fix stuff?"
	"...I...." Eyes all watched him curiously.  "I can fix my bike at home sometimes?"
	"Good enough!"
The frog grabbed the raptor's arm and ran down the hallways, dragging him along.  The crew behind them chuckled to themselves at the unfortunate one to be Slippy's working partner.

The hangar bay was a naturally large room of faded green walls, with veins of electricity running through them embedded with nary a spark.  A soothing hum emanated throughout the entire place.  Four of the blue-tipped fighter ships rested solemnly side by side, against the walkway to allow easy access into them.  Now that he was able to see their size up close, he marvelled at their design.  He also noted a similar-coloured tank to one side of the room, of the same size with steps on it.
	"Wow...you guys were awesome in these things."
	"Oh those are the Arwings, our own specially designed fighter ships.  Come on, we gotta work on the Blue Marine!"
	"The what now?"
	"My submarine silly!  Come on come on!"
	"Okay okay christ keep your shirt on!"
Mercilessly dragged to a separate bay, James saw a deep pit of water where a small submarine floated within, half-finished.  It looked like the length of an arwing but with probably more room, a rather bulky looking beast.
	"Not a bad li'l thing there."
	"I'm real proud of it!  Soon as I heard about Aquas, I was working on this whenever I got a chance."
	"You sure love mechanical stuff dontcha?"
	"Of course!  It's so fascinating how machines work!  I mean with this there's so much going on!  The spectrum resonators, the periscopal visor, the hydraulic suspension/propulsor engine-"
	"Okay okay I get it, I'm not getting any of this, just point me at things and give me a wrench okay?"
	"Hehehe, sorry sorry.  Okay, firstly I gotta work on the spectrum resonators, they're a BIG part of the ship's weapons system."
	"Really?"
	"Yep, I've got an idea to make infinite torpedoes!"
	"...infinite?"
	"Yep."
	"...how does that even work?"
	"Same way the lasers do, but with a more powerful focus of the spectrum resonator, I can make a phosphorous energy blast with as much power as a torpedo!  It can work not only as a flare but as a powerful unlimited weapon in itself!  They don't even have to be stored, they just get made like a slower ball laser!"
	"...riiight...so...uhhhh..."
Slippy sighed at the scientific ineptitude of his working partner, and handed him a wrench before pointing at an exposed region of the submarine hull.
	"Just tighten that spinning glowing bit as tight as you can okay?"
	"NOW you're speaking my language!"
	"Well technically I'm not but-"
	"Whatever!"
James went to work on the Blue Marine with Slippy, guided by the young prodigy of a mechanic on what to tighten, what to replace, what to examine, and what to add.  He was essentially an extra pair of hands able to know the difference between a wrench and a spanner, even with some tools James did not recognise.  More industrial tools, the kind he expected on construction sites.

As they worked, James remembered something Slippy had said earlier and asked:
	"Uhhh...Slippy, remember that internal damage you said I had before?"
	"Yeah?"
	"Uhm...where was it exactly?"
	"It's kinda...well you should know but...uhm...your uhh...rear end."
	"My....ahh...ohhh shit."
He put his head in his hands as he realised clearly what that was.  He really didn't want to remember it so soon.
	"Did something...bad happen James?"
	"Yeah I guess you could call rape something bad couldntcha?"
He knew there really was no hiding it, so he said it as casually as possible, trying to get past it despite trying to forget.  The statement made the frog stop with shock.
	"You...you were...w-what?"
	"Space pirates dude.  I told ya about that when you picked me up, their captain did it...fucking bastard took liberty of me.  I admit I'm bi but that...that was the most painful thing I ever had in my life, worse than being shot or having my arm broken."
	"Oh...I-i'm so sorry I-"
	"It's alright, you didn't know.  You at least told me I was all fixed back there, I was worrying about that...although...the doctor on Katina didn't mention it though."
	"What?"
	"He was scanning me over, he knew my nanos and my arm was broken once but he didn't mention anything about my ass."
	"Well it's not like he was really checking your lower parts right?"
	"He was doing a really thorough scan, I mean he even stuck a tube up my ass!"
	"Well I don't think he was gonna ask you about it right?  Maybe he guessed what it was and thought it was a real sensitive issue right?"
	"...yeah that makes sense.  He didn't have time to tell me everything anyway.  Anyways, sorry, let's just fix this thing."
Slippy nodded and the two worked together in awkward silence, occasionally exchanging a word when James needed to know what to do next or when Slippy needed a particular tool.

A few hours later, the Blue Marine was ready for transport as Slippy said, high-fiving James as he pressed the intercom button in the hangar.
	"Hey guys, we fixed the Blue Marine up!" to which Fox replied:
	"Excellent Slippy, we'll be reaching Aquas' surface in an hour so hang tight."
James wiped his forehead and sat down in a corner.
	"Hoo...I never got to work on something so complex before, last thing I fixed was my bike's muffler."
	"Really?  What was wrong with it?"
	"Oh I crashed it and the muffler got all bent out of shape, nothing I couldn't handle even if I'm kind of a novice at this."
	"Heeeey you helped me fix the Blue Marine, you're not bad!"
	"Well...it is pretty advanced but you were the one telling me what to do."
	"Hehehe, well...listen, James, I've been real curious about you and these warp particles."
	"Uhhh huh?"
He wasn't sure where this was going but he kept listening.
	"Well...since they're on your actual body...have you ever been in a machine or anything like a teleporter?"
	"Mmmmmnope."
	"You ever had any weird feelings before you ended up here?"
	"I...don't think so-wait...waaaait yes something I did do, both times actually now that I think back enough."
	"Ah huh?"
	"I remember wishing really hard to be somewhere else.  Somewhere far away, and when I did it hard enough, like REALLY trying cuz both times I was really really praying, I...well kinda drifted into sleep.  Not even noticing it, just this weird blue light and a tingling all over my body."
	"Hmmm..."
lippy began thinking up a theory before coming out with an almost immediate one a few minutes later.
	"Both times you REALLY wanted to be elsewhere?"
	"Yeah."
	"Why didya wanna be elsewhere?"
	"First time was because of uhm...some people wanted to kill me.  They were hunting me down, I hid in this small room in my home and they didn't find me yet, but they would've soon."
	"And the second time?"
	"The planet I was on, Zebes, was going crazy, it was gonna explode, I shit you not, it was actually gonna self-destruct!"
	"Woah...yer real unlucky yanno that?"
	"I don't think I wanna know that." said James with a disapproving tone.
	"Okay okay, but...I'm thinking the adrenaline, the fact you were in life-threatening danger, maybe the nanos must react to that for ya."
	"...these things in me can make me teleport?"
	"I can't think of anything else."

The very idea made James' head spin, and he clutched himself with a fearful surge at the consequences.
	"....what the hell did the Armee want with me?"
	"Which Army?"
	"Never mind, you seem to know about this nano shit, you think you can help me get home?"
	"I could try.  But thing is, it has to make you fear for your life enough to make you get the right adrenaline to teleport.  I could create a life threatening situation for you, and all you gotta do is think of being home!"
	"...but...wouldn't that life threatening situation cause me pain?  And wouldn't it be life threatening if I DIDN'T know there was safety involved."
	"Ohhhh I'll work that out.  But the next time it happens, wish you were home, okay?"
	"Alrghty."
And so time passed enough for the Blue Marine to be deployed, when the Great Fox "landed" on Aquas.  Or rather floated on the surface of Aquas which seemed to be entirely aquatic, of course.  Not one stretch of land above water seemed to exist, the raptor gazing out across the infinite ocean with wonder.
	"Woooooow.  I just realised I never learnt how to swim."
Falco walked past him replying:
	"Oh good, I can drown you if you start acting up."
At this point, James just started accepting this guy was a sarcastic dick and replied:
	"Oh you can swim then?  I didn't know you were a duck, you fuck."
A little shrug of what he assumed was a snigger came from Falco, as he went to his place on the bridge.  Fox headed down into the Blue Marine and Slippy giving instructions to him.  After that the submarine was deployed and into the ocean.  James walked up beside the frog and asked:
	"Well, he's off in the sub, now what Slippy?"
	"We head to the bridge to monitor his progress."
Walking to the bridge he wondered why he was even here on the Great Fox and not back at Katina again.
	"Slippy...why am I here?"
	"Hmm?"
	"Why am I not back on Katina after you guys took down Andross' ship?"
	"Well I said you needed to be studied more with my technology, something when I first found ya made me worry so I signed ya out."
	"Ohhh."
	"Whatcha mean Andross' ship?"
	"That huge-ass mothership that nearly blasted Katina."
	"Ahhh hahaha, that's not Andross' ship!  He never goes out in one now, he's too crazy for that!"
	"So...he's still alive?"
	"Of course, why else we going to Aquas and onwards to fight him?!"
	"I didn't think that...hehe, okay sorry."
As the two reached the bridge, a new screen was given notice, what appeared to be a direct link to the Blue Marine.  An entire world underwater was revealed, beautifully laid out with abandoned ancient ruins and strange minerals.  The beauty was not lost on James, even with the bio-organisms that tried to attack the submarine, presumably Andross' work.
	"What are those things?" he asked.
	"Andross' creations," said Falco with a knowing nod.  "Thinks he's some kinda god to be able to make this kind of insane stuff."
	"So what are you guys looking for?"
	"Not sure, but it's big, we only know that."
Minutes passed slowly as they all paid attention to the screen.  Torpedoes and laser blasts from the sub lit up the surroundings, while fending off any enemies that tried to attack Fox.  James felt a sense of pride to have been part of the making of the vessel, even if he had only been an extra set of hands.
Fox kept sending data of his surroundings from the vessel which Slippy analysed constantly, always on the job.  It made James feel rather useless, seeing as he was standing around, but he did at best keep an eye on the visor.
	"Looks like the pollution has started." said Peppy.
He observed the murkiness of the habitat and judging by the impurity levels on the sub's scanners, Slippy shook his head in disbelief at the figures.
	"It's awful..."
His sadness was enlightened upon when Fox came through a corridor of ancient columns, making him gasp with wonder.
	"Wooow!  Look at that!  It's beautiful!  How's the Blue-Marine, Fox?"
Slippy asked this with nervous excitement, only given in reply a thumbs up as the submarine spinned and strafed with surprising speed, lighting the way with the torpedoes.
	"It's a good thing you prepared, Slip."
Peppy was equally impressed by the sturdiness and agility of the vessel, while Falco was, as always, pessimistic.
	"This thing will never hold together."
As the ship continued to trawl the ocean depths, a huge barrage of laser shots from the bioweapons suddenly hit towards the submarine.
	"Woah!  Watch out!"
	"Do a barrel roll!"
Fox took Peppy's advice well when most of the lasers were deflected with expert rolling.  To James, the sight of a submarine barrel-rolling was strangely funny, and he suppressed his sniggering well.  A menagerie of freakish beasts came and went, either destroyed or left behind such as exploding starfish, an electric triangle of jellyfish, and looming monstrous hatchetfish.
Soon enough, the source of the pollution was found in the very depths, nestled in a cave after a particularly dangerous trench of falling rocks.  Fox's only comment was thus.
	"I've found the bio-weapon."