It was early in the morning on the Great Fox and Fox was feeling nervous. In front of him he had the toughest looking vulpine he had ever met and the most beautiful person in the universe.
"Fox, you called us to test our abilities..." Mitch said, startling Fox out of his stupor.
Crimson faced, Fox replied, "Oh yeah, sorry Mitch."
Without further ado, Fox led the two into the simulation room. Lined up against the wall were the cockpits of Arwings. Falco was leaning against the far cockpit and filing his talons.
"This is the sim room. we are going to participate in a match to test your skills. Falco has volunteered to be the teammate of Mitch."
"Oh FUCK NO!" Mitch cried indignantly.
"Pooch, I don't like it either."
"Stop whining you two. We are going to participate in a team dogfight and you two will act like a team." Turning to Krystal he asked, "Do you know how to fly an Arwing?"
"I know how to fly the basics, yes" she replied nervously. "But I learn quickly" she added slyly.
"Ok then, lets start."
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Mitch and Falco were flying side by side on the opposite side of the screen. Krystal's HUD showed the shield status of all the team members flying. Fox's face was on her right side and the others were on her left. she looped and rolled to get a feel for the vehicle and came up alongside Fox.
"GO" Fox shouted.
Immediately, Falco screamed. His picture vanished from Krystal's HUD.
"That damn parrot." Mitch grumbled as he flew towards Fox. She smiled, Mitch was after everyone, and being overconfident, he had deemed her less of a threat. She braked and waited for the time to strike.
Fox and Mitch were looping and rolling across the sky, and they were evenly matched. Her HUD showed Mitch at 49% shields and Fox at 53%. Smiling to herself, she readied a Nova bomb.
"You fly well Mitch."
"As do you Fox, I would expect nothing less from a 'Hero'"
As Fox looped, Mitch swerved and somehow got behind him. Taking advantage of his enemies weakness, Mitch launched a Nova bomb at Fox. As his enemy's shields bottomed out, Mitch sent a barrage of lasers at him. Fox's picture disappeared from Krystal's HUD and she, out of shock, launched her Nova bomb which Mitch flew right into. As Mitch's picture vanished from her HUD, Krystal squealed with delight.
"I won Fox! We won it!"
"Nice shot Krystal." Mitch commented.
"Good job Krystal!" Fox exclaimed.
"YOU FUCKING PRICK MITCH!" Falco cried.
"Fuck off parrot"
"Enough you two. Mitch you should never shoot down your teammate, not even if it's Falco. Now get ready for the mission." Fox said.
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Four Arwings and an Areowing were rocketing across a lightening sky. Despite its age, the Areowing was staying with the pack. Fox looked out his cockpit to take in the sunrise.
"Coming up on our destination" an irritatingly high voice rang out over the comm.
"Thank you Slippy." Fox sighed. He looked out of his cockpit to admire something even more beautiful than the sunrise.
"Fox, you're staring again." She giggled. Fox immediately sat bolt upright in his chair his normally orange face burning crimson. He was busted.
Oh no you idiot. She caught you staring at her, now you've done drove her away. What if she was reading your mind? What if she's reading it now? Oh shit oh shit OH SHIT! Quick think of something else. Ummm…
The sound of laughter broke out over the comm. Krystal had heard every bit of what he was thinking and she was quite flattered. She knew Fox was attracted to her, as she was him. He was just so shy at admitting it.
"Hate to break up the bonding time but we've made it." A voice growled.
"Place looks deserted," Falco murmured. "Wonder where everyone is?"
"Dunno," Fox interjected. "But for now land near the outcropping outside the walls."
The base itself was not immediately visible. The side of a large mountain was facing outwards towards the team. A small valley like hole was in the middle of the mountain, and it was sealed off by a large granite wall. Blazing bonfires littered the area outside of the walls and the area closest to the walls was littered with rocks and boulders. Inside the walls was a small village with a foreboding cave at the rear. The village consisted of small mud huts in a circle around a bonfire.
"This place creeps me out" Krystal stated.
"Don't worry doll, I'll protect you" Mitch voiced.
"You are part of the reason I am creeped out."
Mitch chuckled. "Touché" he replied.
The Group jumped out of their ships and approached the wall.
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They were trying to contact anyone inside the base when they heard the screeches. Krystal was the first to see them and she screamed in horror. A horde of what were once Lylatians was advancing towards them. Their skin a sickly black and grey and they had no fur. Green goop was coming out of their mouths and leaving a slimy trail behind them.
"Fuck yeah! Who's ready to have some fun?" Mitch cried.
"What are those things? They're disgusting!" Krystal cried.
"I would assume that they are... er ... were, Lylatians," Slippy stammered.
"I Don't give a flying shit what they are, I just know they are hostile," Mitch said as one of the mutated specimens tried to bite him. He put it down with the stock of his rifle as he said "Fire at will, if you don't kill them, they will kill us! FIRE YOU PANSIES!"
"Everyone, get to the rocks and try to keep them pinned." Fox cried. "I'll try to contact Peppy and get some information."
The group did as told and sprinted to the many rocks that littered the foothills. The targets were a little more than 700 meters away and were closing in. wasting no time, Mitch and Falco started blazing away with their rifles. Each shot bringing down at least one target. Krystal closed her eyes in deep concentration while she held a death grip on her staff. Her cerulean hair flapping as if there was a heavy wind. She opened her eyes and they were a dazzling white. It was as if God himself were staring out at the horde of creatures. With an otherworldly sound, lightning began to fly out the end of her staff and hit the creatures. There was no time even for a shriek of pain, they were simply vaporized.
Slippy was blazing away with a new prototype weapon. It had multiple plasma chambers around the barrel and the gun was emitting soft Gloop sounds as it belched out plasma 478 times a minute.
"Peppy come in. Peppy this is Fox come in! God Peppy wake up!"
"What's got your knickers in a knot youngling?" Peppy's joking tone came on Fox's communicator, his good mood popping like a balloon when he saw Fox's face.
"Peppy we are being attacked by some unknown force. We need you to determine how many we are up against here."
"Scanning for life forms now Fox. Still searching…Wait that can't be right…" he murmured. "Fox I'm registering the five of you only. What the Hell is going on?"
"What?" Fox exclaimed. "Right now we are facing over a hundred at least."
"Manually scanning… Fox I'm getting about two hundred very faint readings. Likely cause could be equipment malfunction."
"Fire from orbit Peppy, aim for the center."
"Strike will commence in about two minutes Fox. We have to power up the guns."
"Fox out."
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The team had just started to repel the invasive "Lylatians" when the storm troopers showed up. They had the X-4893 armor series, the latest in high tech armor. If the Landmaster hit it dead on, the suit wouldn't have a scratch. This suit was complimented by a very nasty looking gun, the X-200.
"We got hostiles with guns approaching" Mitch exclaimed, dropping his scope.
"Wow, NO FUCKING SHIT!" Falco exclaimed as the rock he was using for cover was pockmarked with slag.
Mitch growled and said "Fuck off Parrot. You might slip into my line of fire, ARRGHH!"
Krystal was screeching in an otherworldly fashion. Her eyes glowed a shining white. Standing amid the bullets and the screams, she rose a little into the air and let out a bellow. The remaining bioweapon soldiers exploded and the gun totes put their hands on their ears. Little bolts of lightning began to pockmark the battlefield. To add to the show, a laser barrage started to pummel the enemy forces. Scared out of their minds, they dropped their weapons and made a mad dash in the opposite direction. As quickly as they appeared, the enemy was gone. Krystal crumpled to the ground just as the Great Fox stopped firing.
"KRYSTAL!" Fox exclaimed, shoving Slippy out of the way. She was barely conscious but she smiled when she saw Fox.
"I'm fine Fox…" she murmured, barely audible. "Really…I'm just…so…tired" she blissfully succumbed to the darkness at the corners of her vision. Her body went limp as the blackness washed over her.
"Exhaustion," Slippy murmured. "She put out a lot of energy there; it had to come from somewhere."
"Don't tell me… she had to give up some of her life energy in order to do… THAT!" Fox gestured out to the barren battlefield, littered with scorching craters and rotten bodies.
"No Fox, this isn't the movies. She just had to transfer some energy into that staff. The staff provided the most energy. I think she may have lost a few pounds."
"What does her WEIGHT have to do with the freaks of nature we just witnessed?" Fox cried.
"Well the staff couldn't provide all of the energy necessary to do… that…so she had to transfer some of her mass into energy. Don't ask me, I'm not a physicist. She can't rest here though so I'm going to revive her, hold on"
While Slippy was reviving Krystal, Mitch was examining the corpses of the bioweapons. He rolled over the bloated corpse of what had been an Avian. He fought the urge to vomit as he got a look at the Avian's face. As he looked over the corpse bits of memories he had tried so hard to contain began to peek through.
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Shadows were moving out on the front lawn. Mitch was hiding under the coffee table in his front room when his dad came in, holding a 12-gauge.
"Jane, take the kids and go, don't worry about me!"
"But Mark w-"
"DAMMIT I SAID GO!"
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Mitch cried out as the head of one of the creatures rolled in front of him. His mother heard his screams and scooped him up in her arms.
"We are almost there baby, just hold on. I won't let them get you."
The rain had subsided in the small town. Up ahead there was a shelter with two armed guards coaxing the family forward. Jane made it 10 feet to the door before a jackal grabbed her. Mitch spilled from her arms with a scream and was caught by a bear security guard. The screams of his mother echoing in his ears…
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Mitch looked up to see the entire team around him. Krystal was sitting with her palms on his forehead sobbing.
"Mitch I'm so sorry," she whispered.
Mitch felt like his privacy had been violated. His rational side told him that they were only trying to help. His pride told them that they had trespassed in on his personal thoughts. He bottled down his anger and grabbed the sides of Krystal's head.
"Forget everything you saw." He growled low. "It doesn't exist. Don't repeat a single word of it."
Fox pushed Mitch away and cradled the sobbing vixen in his arms. Feeling betrayed, Mitch sprinted to his Areowing with tears in his eyes.
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2400 words without my A/N. I feel proud of myself. Shout out to Phantomfoxx. You know why bro. Anyway, since Mitch didn't receive any questions last chapter, he has none to answer this chapter. I would suggest that you post any questions you have for him as he will reply to them all. I'm going to fix the errors in my other chapters tonight so you can reread the other chapters. I also opened up a poll on my profile page. It is in response to the post by Will Reimers. r/9665552/ . Hopefully I can use this to better the Economical values of the Colonists on sector 12.