Chapter 3:The Search for Krystal
While Fox flew to Titania, Falco continued on his way when he suddenly skidded to a halt at the beeping of his communicator. He opened the channel for the incoming message, finding out that it was Slippy.
"Falco! I'm so glad I could reach you! You've got to hurry if you want to have any hope of saving Krystal!" Yelled Slippy.
"Whaddya mean?" Asked Falco in reply.
"What I mean is that the Sharpclaws are planning to suck out Krystal's life force! You see, they've been infected by the Aparoids!" Yelled Slippy. Falco growled in response to that, and then said,
"Alright, I'm going. I'll be there as soon as I can. Don't worry about Krystal, just do whatever it is you need to do."
"Alright. Don't let us down, Falco." Said Slippy.
"Hey! Don't forget who you're talking to!" Yelled Falco before closing the communication channel. He then took off as fast as he could, thinking 'just hold on, Krystal. Fox would kill me if you didn't.' He skidded to a halt again sas some Aparoids got in his path, some more also closing in behind and to either side of him. He pulled out his blaster, and mumbled,
"This isn't looking good..." He gritted his teeth and growled at the situation, when suddenly a familiar voice yelled,
"Hey Falco! Get outta the way or somethin'!" Falco looked up and saw a Wolfen charging a laser shot. In the cockpit was Leon, Falco's longtime rival. Falco nodded and activated a barrier device that he had brought along, after which Leon fired a series of charged shots at the enemies. The barrier lasted just long enough to protect Falco through the barrage, for which he was grateful. He waved gratefully at Leon, who scoffed egotistically, but soon could not help smiling and giving a thumbs up. Panther then flew up alongside Falco in his Wolfen, and said,
"Hop on my wing, we've got a girl to save." Falco hesitated, but then smiled and said,
"Thanks guys." He junped on one of the Wolfen's wings, and Panther gained some altitude before saying,
"Hey, arm yourself and cover my six." Falco nodded and pulled his Plasma Cannon from the large holster on his back, hoisting it over his shoulder in preparation of fire. Sure enough, numerous Aparoids arrived to greet them. Falco shot at them, but they weren't easy to take out. He managed, however, and Panther just continued flying. Meanwhile, Fox and Sierra were still on their way to Titania. It wasn't long now before they were entering the atmosphere. When the Arwing touched down, Fox and Sierra got out, and Fox suddenly turned to Sierra and said,
"Okay, I'm on to you, Sierra. You've fallen into my trap and now it's over." Sierra looked at Fox with an unfazed expression and said to him,
"Is that so? Well I'll have you know that I was about to say the same thing."
"What?!" Asked Fox in shock. Sierra smirked and chuckled, and replied,
"You heard me. I have the ability to back up my claim, do you?" She snapped her fingers and a large number of Aparoids removed from themselves a stealth mechanism. One of them destroyed the Arwing Fox had used to get there. Fox growled at the situation, and said to himself,
"Great..." He pulled out a Homing Launcher and began firing shot after shot at the numerous enemies, trying to keep them at bay. He destroyed a few, but he simply didn't have enough firepower for all of them. Then, when things seemed bleak, the Great Fox appeared overhead and three Landmasters were beamed down. Fox sighed in relief and hopped in the seat of the closest one, while Slippy beamed himself and his guest down. The guest was Fox's son, Marcus McCloud. They each hopped in a Landmaster as well, and though the enemy tried to counterattack, they were no match for the awesome offensive and defensive capabilities of the tanks. When the Aparoids were all destroyed, Sierra growled and retreated, leaving behind a larger, more powerful Aparoid to keep them busy. Fox fired a shot at the massive enemy, and it glowed and the attack vanished. Fox was left in shock at the result, and just barely managed to roll out of the way of the attack by the giant Aparoid, which was a large photon beam that had been charging since the Aparoid appeared. Fox looked at the beam as it travelled, and gasped at the energy reading picked up by some of the Landmaster's special equipment. He yelled,
"Whoa! What a reading!" Slippy and Marcus heard him, and Marcus said,
"I know! Hey Slippy, any idea why our Landmasters picked up such a reading?" Slippy was quite quick to respond, saying,
"Yeah. Photons. Thats what the beam was composed of. Pure photons." Fox gasped again, and asked,
"Seriously?! Well, I suppose that means we just have to be that much more careful. To top it off, however, I can't find a weak point. Man, where's Krystal when you need her." While they continued to futily combat the massive adversary, back on Corneria, Falco, Panther and Leon had run into some trouble of their own. Panther's Wolfen was surrounded by air-borne Aparoids, Though Leon tried, he could not break through their numbers, nor could Falco with his Plasma Cannon. Panther looked at Falco with a determined expression, then gestured to the road ahead. Falco looked in that direction, then checked the tracer monitor. The blip was not far from their current position. Falco then looked back at Panther and nodded.
"We'll distract them. Get moving." Said Leon.
Thanks again guys. You've been a great help. Don't go dying on me, ok?" Replied Falco.
"Hey, remember who you're talking to." Said Leon in a slightly irritated, yet humored voice.
"Enough. Just go. Krystal needs someone to rescue her after all, and quite frankly we're preoccupied." Said Panther in a calm voice. Falco was amazed that Panther could remain so calm in such a situation as this, but decided it was for his geater benefit anyway. He leaped from Panther's wing to Leon's, then to the ground, dashing off as quickly as he could. A ground dwelling Aparoid soon tried to get in his way, but he simply jumped it like it was a hurdle. A large blockade of Aparoids soon followed, which forced Falco to halt again. Shortly after he did so, however, The tall blockade was toppled by a familiar ship; the Monkey Arrow. Dash Bowman, the ship's pilot, did a U-turn back toward Falco, passed him a decent distance, then did another U-turn. Falco jumped on a wing as it passed him this time, and they were off in the direction of the blip. Falco took the Plasma Cannon back out, and destroyed some 12 o'clock resistance. Just as the Aparoid numbers increased again, Bill Grey's Cornerian Fighter flew up alongside the Monkey Arrow. Bill beckoned Falco over, and Falco gladly took the offer, jumping over to the other ship. Again he was off, and when Falco indicated the spot, Bill slowed down and decreased his altitude. Falco jumped off of the wing and silently thanked Bill, heading into the mysterious facility when Krystal was apparently being held shortly after. He pulled out his blaster, being unsure of what to expect. He asked himself,
"Why would they want the life-force of Krystal, of all people?" After a short pause, Falco suddenly halted as a voice spoke from an unknown source, saying,
"You really shouldn't talk to yourself. People'll think you're crazy."
"Who are you?! Show yourself!" Demanded Falco. In compliance, the source of the voice revealed itself. It was a large, muscular Sharpclaw weilding a battleaxe and a buckler. It had a sinister smirk creasing it's snout. A low growl escaped Falco's mouth, and he asked,
"Where's Krystal?!" The Sharpclaw laughed at Falco's demanding question, and said,
"I really don't think you're in any position to be demanding, but if you must know, she's deep in the heart of the building. Not that you'll reach her in time; this place is a labyrinth." Falco growled again, and said to the Sharpclaw,
"Yeah? Watch me." The Sharpclaw laughed again, and said to Falco,
"Not so fast. You have to get through me first!" Falco smirked for the first time in a while, and said,
"Fine! Bring it on, dino-breath!" The Sharpclaw growled and then roared at that insult, charging at Falco, axe poised offensively. Falco charged his blaster to full power, the rolled out of the way of the attack, causing the Sharpclaw to stumble. Falco used this precious time to shoot the Sharpclaw in the back with the fully charged shot. One shot was all it took as the shot blasted through the dinosaur's back and out it's chest, the victim of the shot keeling over, dead. Falco sighed and moved on into the depths of the interior. Before long he found a set of stairs with nowhere else to go but down. He growled and mumbled,
"Great. An underground facility." He took a deep breath, and descended into the underground labyrinth.