well, chapter 2 is here, Krystal just talks about her past experience to Falco on cerinia's culture
A/N: from now on I'll use (and ) to show what was the character doing like they were shivering or something, and since I can't use the small star sign in the fanfiction (the caps lock of number 8) I'll use this underline sign to show conversation with a special quote
CHAPTER 2: Preparation
August 18th, 27951
Corneria, Fox McCloud's home 13:00
That time I was only wearing a red T-shirt and a loincloth. I was meditating inside the bedroom as a way to relax my mind which I always do regularly everyday. Fox and Katt had already gone off to work. I was using my staff as a centre in my meditation, suddenly my nose picked up a scent.
"Hmm… (sniff sniff) smells like something is burning."
When I stood up, I looked for the source of the smell, suddenly I saw a thick black smoke coming up from inside Katt's kitchen. I ran as fast as I could through the backdoor and the backyard. I set the blast in my staff to ice blast mode and as soon as I got through the back door I fired several blast inside the house. The ice blast stopped the smoke and when I looked inside, I see that Falco was doing a little cooking that was burned up. And his leg was frozen because of my blast.
"Falco! What the hell are you doing? I thought there was a fire!"
"It was…until you break in and froze my leg, could ya help me out (shivers) it's cold!" He replied
"Oh, bugger. I'll set my staff to fire and put some blast to unfreeze it."
"HEY, you're going to burn the house if you do that!"
"Relax for a while. I won't shoot your leg! I'll just point it at your leg only for 5 minutes and it'll be done."
5 minutes later
"Phew… thanks." He replied.
"Could you tell me what were you doing?" I asked curiously.
"Well, I was actually going to cook some food for tonight's dinner. I mean I want to ask her to join the starfox team, but I don't want to make it a rush. Besides, I want to make my relationship with her more official as boyfriend and girlfriend kinda thing." He said as he scratched his head.
"You mean, both of you haven't officially become more than just friends?"
"Kinda hard to explain, sure I have dated her more than just once, but at those times it's more like a… more fun than feelings, so tonight I want to make it official. By the way, what are you doing with only wearing a loincloth? This isn't Sauria."
"Oh, this?" I said as I pointed my clothing. "I was meditating when the fire broke out. I always wear this when I am meditating."
Suddenly I noticed that his eyes were looking weird like he was daydreaming, he's thinking about something else. And when I read his mind, I found a shocking image about Katt wearing my bra and loincloth that I was wearing on Sauria.
"HEY! Are you thinking about Katt wearing my cloths when I was on Sauria?" I said as I pointed at him.
"What? No…no. I didn't do that… I mean… heh heh. Stop reading my mind without my permission!"
"Fine. I won't read your mind without permission again…maybe."
Boys will be boys I thought.
"Well good luck with your plans tonight, but it seems that you need a lot of help with the cooking. (cough)" I said as I waved my paw in front of my muzzle to sign that there's still some smoke from the burning left.
"Can you cook?" He asked.
"My mother had taught me since I was only about… 7 or 6 maybe? I forgot. She taught me lots of cooking in the kitchen with spices, especially fish, meat, and vegetables."
"Cool! Katt loves fish a lot! Can you help me cook one?"
"That depends. I'll need some ingredients. Got the fish?"
"Wait a second, there's one in the refrigerator," He said as he walked towards the refrigerator. "Here! Catch!" he said as he throwed it from the freezer and then I catch it and put it on the chopping board.
"Okay. I'm going to need some salt, pepper, lime, and some soy sauce. Maybe some … vinegar."
"Already got those next to the stove." He said as he pointed the stove.
After that without me noticing, he put something on the floor that looked like some kind of fake toy cockroach. And then he shouts. "KRYS! THERE'S A COCKROACH ON THE FLOOR!"
"WHAT?! WHERE!?" I said
After that, I found the cockroach on the floor and then I stepped on it using my bare foot. Realizing it was just a toy, I instantly got mad at Falco
"Now what the hell was THAT?!"
"I was just playing with you Krys. Just relax. I thought I could pull some jokes on ya before I use it on Katt. I'm impressed that you are brave enough to step on it using only your foot. Usually when girls see a cockroach, they usually jump to anyone nearby for a close hug." He said with a grin.
"Listen Falco! I have been dealing with the wild jungles of Cerinia since I was only 15 years old. A cockroach won't even scare me." Even though I have to admit it that I'm still a little afraid on cockroaches. And cockroaches are the most disgusting creatures for women on Corneria and myself.
"Yeah yeah I got it. Wait a minute! You said that you have been dealing with jungles on the age of 15?" He said with a little shock.
"Yes, why?"
"Nothing, I'm just curious. Wait… I remember now! I know that you already talk to Fox, Slippy, Peppy, and Katt about it. Why don't you tell me a little story about Cerinia and your culture? If you don't mind that is." He said with a worried tone. He knows that talking about my home planet that has been destroyed long time ago will make me sad. But I'm willing to tell the story at that time because I'm already brave enough to deal with my past.
"That's okay. I could tell you all about it while I marinade the fish. But it will take a really long long time. I thought you don't like history?"
"Nah, a little story won't hurt for a while."
"Ok then. Just wait at that dining table over there while I put some spice on the salmon."
After that, he walked to the chair and took a seat. 2 minutes later, I took a seat in front of him and started to talk.
"From where you want to start the history lesson?" I said with a mocking tone
"Let's start with the thing about you dealing with the jungle since you were 15. Why do you do that?"
"Hmm… kinda hard to tell you about it, but I have to do it as part of a test called The Test of Survival."
"What's that?" He asked
"It's a part of my culture. You see, every son or daughter in the upper crust society of my planet must do it as a part to prove yourself as an adult and only then he/she could get each their own staff from their families as a part of their families heirloom and also your adult status."
"You mean there's more than just one staff of yours?" He said as he looked at my staff that I stood next to the wall
"Exactly. Almost every family have their own unique staff with it's own unique markings. The more markings it has, the more higher the class of the family and the more powerful the staff will be."
"Let me guess," Falco replied. "Because your family is the leader of the planet that means your family has the highest status … which means that your staff is the most powerful?"
"Correct."
"So how does this test actually work?"
"Usually at the age of approximately 15, he/she was sent into the wild jungle all by yourself to survive for a year in…" Suddenly Falco replied. "A YEAR! BY YOURSELF?!"
"Will you let me finish?"
"Whops, sorry."
"Like I was saying." I said as I continue the conversation. "He/she was sent into the woods and survive a whole year armed with only a staff in order to achieve your improved status and prove that you're worthy for the staff. The test was only about survival until that thing came out when I was only 3."
"What do you mean by thing?"
"When I was 3 years old, I kept hearing these weird stories about a legendary beast that keeps eating people in the darker side of the jungle."
"(gulp) eating people?" Falco asked with a gulping sound.
"When I was 3, lots of people kept missing when they went into the jungle looking for food or just looking for some woods and never came back. Everyone believed it was because of the creature. The people asked that everyone that was doing the test might as well try to kill it. Everyone agreed and after that the test was changed into 2 parts. The first one is that you can chose to go to the other side of the jungle and stay away from the beast possible lair and still complete the test, or you can chose to get inside the darker forest and kill the beast. Only one person was qualified to take the second survival test against the beast every year. In order to be qualified, he/she must belong from the upper crust society, brave enough, and was chosen as the best fighter."
"So, you are qualified to take the second test?" Falco asked.
"Yes, I was brave enough and I win the fighting tournament that was declared as a qualification method to take the second test."
"Wait a second, what happened to the other 12 before you?"
"They never came back. 6 men and 6 women were already sent. At the end of the year we always waited for them at the edge of the forest but they never came back," I replied.
"Never came back? That's interesting. Did you take any preparation before you took the test?"
"I do learn some simple surviving technique to survive in the jungle such as hunting, tracking prey, foraging for food, fishing, making fires without the staff, healing your wounds, or even just finding your ways in the jungle by only using the stars as your navigation."
"Hmm… interesting, who taught you all these things?"
"My mother, she always cares about me. She's also the one that had taught me how to fight self defence since I was only 7 years old." I replied.
"Well, did you find what kind of beast you're going to be up against?" he asked.
"I read some books about the legends and myths of my people in the public library when I was 10. I found the right beast because of the prophecy in the books about when the creature will start to appear from the woods and consuming our people that is exactly 7 years ago when I was 3. Apparently I'm going to be against a creature, which is called the Naga. It's a lizard like creature with 4 arms and a body like a giant snake. On the Naga illustration, it has 2 bloody red eyes and it appears that there's a large red blood ruby that's called the Soul Gem which is planted and attached at its forehead."
"What's a Soul Gem?" he asked.
"According to the book, when the Naga devoured and killed the people that had been captured, the souls of those people will be trapped inside the Gem for eternity and the Naga will use those souls to multiply its strength and extended its lifespan."
"That's a terrible fate for someone to die like that. I mean you die, and then your soul is trapped inside a gem thing. That sucks, not that I believe in those kinds of things. But what was it meant by devoured? It sounds like the Naga swallows those people." Falco replied.
"Actually it is. In fact the creature swallows you whole while you're still alive."
"WHAT? That's the most disgusting thing I've ever heard! Why the hell he need to do that for!?"
"It is disgusting. When I read more about it, the book says that the creature prefers souls that is in state of pain and fear when he collect it, that's why the creature swallowed those people alive so that they will die in pain because of digestion in its stomach and in fear. I mean … come to think of it… that's a gruesome way to die. I still don't believe why the Gods created that kind of creature in the first place." I replied with a frowned face.
"Yeah, digested alive… that's … painful, not to mention sick. Trapping souls is already bad enough but now digesting people alive to get one…?" He replied. "What other info that you know about that …thing?"
"Only that. The last thing the book says is that according to the prophecy the 13th will prevail."
"13th? What the hell does that mean?" He said while crossing his arms.
"Well, I didn't know what it meant at that time. Anyway after knowing all about it, I keep practicing and meditating day and night to prepare myself for the test. Finally, the day came. I wear my bra, my choker and jade necklace as lucky charms that are also my heirloom, my loincloth, my pauldrons, my gauntlets, and my greaves. Armed with only my staff and a small hunting dagger that I put between my hip and my loincloth, I stand at the edge of the forest together with my parents and my people hoping that the 12th warrior will return, but he didn't. Then before I walked into the forest my parents hugged me so tightly and closely, praying that I will return safely. At that time, all 3 of us cried together. My mother then took of her ruby tiara and then gave it to me also as a good luck charm. She also gave me a counter timer watch to count how many days I have been in the jungle."
"A day timer watch? I thought your world is ancient and old on technology!"
"Ancient doesn't mean that my society is low on technology, if we did then how we could make staffs that can shoot blasts? I'll explain about that later. Anyway, I entered the deeper part of the jungle and then I tracked the Naga. I keep tracking for the Naga's trail by its slithering track and sometimes parts of its skins on the jungle floor for about the next 2 months. Finally, I found it."
"What did you find?" Asked Falco with a more intrigued tone.
"It's the whole Naga's skin, with a length more than 25 feet, and a body width about 3 feet."
"Wow! That's HUGE!"
"Tell me about it," I replied. "I bet tat the belongs to the Naga, and probably at the time I found that skin…the Naga probably already grew more and more. But then I heard a small voice, when I placed my ear on the dirt floor, I heard a crawling like sound that was coming towards me"
"So, it's nearby?"
"Yes, I use my telepathy to detect any life forms nearby. I found it but it's still not to clear. When I walked further, I suddenly perked my ears as I could hear a slithering and hissing sound that said 'over here'. When I looked behind me, there's no one there. I keep looking and looking but all I could hear is 'No, over here.' 'I can see you.' 'I'm right behind you.' The voice just kept going and going around me, like he was playing with me. I was getting tired with his game and then I shouted to him 'WHERE ARE YOU? COME OUT AND FACE ME YOU COWARD!' He replied with a sinister laughter and said 'Are you sure my dear? Every time I show people my face, it's the last one they have ever seen. In another words, they're all already dead! HA HA HA HA!' I replied him 'We'll see who'll be dead!' He replied 'Fine, then DIE! Pathetic MORTAL!' and that last voice was coming directly above me."
"When I looked above my head, the Naga's glowing red blood eyes was looking at me from the darkness. The Naga jumped down on me from above the tree branch. I gasped and then I tried to run away, suddenly he tackled my feet using his tail, I fell to the floor face first as my muzzle hit the dirt, then he wrapped my feet using his snakelike tail and coiled around the midsection of my body. I have no time to react. I tried to wiggle myself free from his grasp, but the Naga was too strong. Before long, the only thing not wrapped up was my head, neck, hands, shoulders, and feet. My only last choice was to shot him using my staff, I shot him and then the blast exploded on his face creating a smoke field. I thought I killed him. But I still felt his strong coil around me, which is a bad sign. When the smoke was clear, he already hold all of his 4 hands in front of him to block my blast. The Naga blocked my blast using only his bare hands! It didn't even make a scratch on him!"
What will happen to Krystal in her story about her past? we'll see later.
