Stow Away

The Great Fox landed a ways from Krazoa Palace. The team normally took Arwings down to the planet but a field had been erected around Sauria; the Arwings' shielding was no match for it even with the new upgrades added to them. They had to land the entire, bulky ship on an area large enough. It was a hassle no one wanted repeated.

The docking ramp opened from underneath the ship and extended down to the ground as the team entered into the land below the palace. This was an unknown territory near the palace. No one had been here with the exception of Krystal, who had traveled across the planet many times before joining the team. The land was swampy and unusually hard to make out due to a thick mist covering the land. Vegetation was scarce, consisting of a few meager shrubs and grasses. Seeing as Krazoa Palace was exceptionally high off the ground, they were going to need to find a different route. It was easier said than done.

Fox tried to scope the place out with a pair of Zoom Goggles with no luck; the storm surrounding the palace was so thick, he could barely make out the building. Setting the mechanism aside, the vulpine looked over his shoulder to his team, hoping they were having better luck than him.

"How's it going over there?" he called to Falco.

The blue avian shook his head in disappointment, while Slippy remained fixed to his goggles. This was going to be a long day. Fox was interrupted by a light tap on his shoulder, turning around revealed it to be a cerulean vixen.

"What's up?" he asked, a feeling of concern rushed instantly to him as he saw the puzzled expression on her face.

"That power surge we detected, I can sense it moving towards us." She whispered as not to let the others hear.

Fox wore the same expression as the vixen. How was that possible? However, after the Aparoid War, he had learned to trust Krystal's sixth sense with his life. Had it not been for her, this planet wouldn't be here still.

"Can you tell from what direction?" he asked. Whatever this thing was, he wanted to find out.

The vixen closed her turquoise eyes in deep concentration. Her eyes moving beneath her eyelids as if searching through her mind for something. She opened them once more, the expression on her face turning from puzzled to confused.

"What is it?" the vulpine asked worried.

"I can't tell if it's coming down from the palace towards the ship or if it's already inside." She answered straining to get a positive location.

Fox wasn't about to take any chances, and without hesitation, drew his blaster and ran full speed towards the Great Fox. He called out to Falco, who after seeing the blaster, drew his and swiftly caught up to him.

"Fox, we just got here and you've already whipped the blaster out. What's the hurry?" the avian asked sarcastically.

"It's a little confusing, but Krystal thinks we may have an intruder hiding on the ship." He whispered.

"We've been here almost five minutes and you think there's an intruder on the ship!? I think the storm may have thrown off Krystal's telepathy or something, because there's no way someone could get on board when we just got off." Falco asked confused, trying to keep at a whisper.

"I told you it was confusing. I don't want to take the chance of overlooking this. All we're going to do is check the ship." Fox told his friend.

The two quickly walked towards the bridge and began a full scan of the ship.


Aura peered down into the deep abyss. She could barely see anything, much less the massive ship. It was down there somewhere. Her only obstacle was finding a way down. After almost an hour of searching for the lowest outside area of the palace, the wolf found herself in another predicament. The distance to the ground was obviously much too high to jump for it. What was she to do?

The wind began to pick up at a surprisingly rapid rate. A strange sound emitted, getting louder each second. It sounded a lot like those giant fans inside the palace only this was much smaller.

Curiosity finally overwhelmed her as she turned around to see what it was. A strange creature approached her at a fast pace. It was an ugly, squid-like thing; a bright violet aura surrounded it. It spun its tentacles around like a swirling fan; knife-like points graced the tips. The closer it got to her, the brighter it became. Aura, out of fear, began backing away from it quickly, her arms thrown around her face and body as a shield from the deathly tentacles and bright light.

Fear has a way of closing up your senses, causing you to act on pure instinct. In this case, fear avoided her from the eerie fact that she was dangerously close to falling off the cliff. Her next step touched only air as the sudden change in balance caused her to lose footing and plummet into the abyss of the storm.

Too scared to even let out a yelp, all Aura could do was wait for death to carry her away. The same eerie voice that haunted her slumber approached her.

"Never give up; that's what he wants."

Aura's eyes began to glow a bloody crimson color. Her claws and fangs grew longer and sharper as a pair of scaly, jet-black wings unfurled from her back. She gained her balance as she made a much slower descent to the ground.

The place she saw was horrific. A vast, barren land burning with wildfires stretched as far as the eye could see. Nothing was alive in this horrid place. It was such a lonely place; it was saddening to watch what might have been a beautiful land burn into the ashes of time to be forgotten.

A high-pitched, deafening screech emitted out of nowhere. It rushed through her ears, screaming into her brain making it pound terribly as if someone was slamming it with a sledge hammer. Aura clutched her ears tightly, trying to block out the wretched noise.


This same noise reached the ears of Team Starfox's resident telepath. Her mind left completely open to the sound, she took it in unintentionally. The screech sent pain through her entire body, as she huddled to the floor in a heap unconscious.

Fox and Falco returned to the outside of the ship, the scan showed no intruder aboard. The vulpine immediately saw the cerulean vixen collapsed and ran towards her with no hesitation.

"Krystal, are you alright!?" he asked frantically, holding her head up.

She made no reply. Fox scooped her up and walked towards the ship.

"Slippy, Falco, pack up. The energy surge is getting to Krystal; we'll have to leave the planet." He told the two as he took Krystal into the infirmary and laid her down on a medical bed. "ROB, report to the infirmary," he spoke into his wrist comm.

"Affirmative," the robot answered in the usual metallic, monotonous tone.

Fox placed a hand on the sleeping vixen's forehead before walking out the door and towards the bridge.

The horrid screech faded as Aura opened her eyes to see the swampy area beneath the Krazoa Palace. Her form had been restored to it original; the wings were no longer drooping from her back and her fangs and claws were returned to their normal size. Could things get any stranger?

Leaving no time to contemplate what had happened; she saw the ship begin to ascend from the ground and bolted full speed towards the docking ramp, running inside just as it closed. Aura was surprised at the many metal hallways but kept to her mission and began searching for a hideout. She wasn't sure what was going to be next, but she was going to find out as she ran into a randomly picked room, not noticing the sign hanging above it marked "INFIRMARY".


Author's Note: And so ends the second chapter. If you liked it review, if you didn't…review anyway, but be nice! Flamers will be laughed at and hunted down (not really, but I will laugh). I want to thank Fan Boy 101 for the review. I appreciate it!