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[] Arc 1 []

The Hunting Party
ʳᵉᵈᵘˣ

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Chapter 7

Rebellion

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A/N: Boss battle time! I've recommended some background music, but it is optional if you don't like reading with music in the background. And just so you guys know, this will not be the only time battles like this are featured. I have a silly amount of them planned for the future, so get used to this sort of format. Anyway, hope you guys enjoy! As this is my first battle in a story like this, feedback is appreciated now more than ever. Thanks in advance! :)

-Sheppard


{{Breakdown}}

{{"Receptor – Princess"}}


Ξ


Karyu impaled the ground with the pointed end of his staff, splitting the already fractured concrete apart in its wake. He took a step back from it, allowing the crystal crowning the staff to glow brighter. As if the people surrounding Krystal and Remi were hooked by the heart, they rose off the ground to clear the battlefield. Karyu then drew a broadsword from his side; the polished blade as wide as his arm, as long as Remi, and sharp enough to cut through time and space itself.

"This is your last warning, Remilia," Karyu sneered. "The Alphas may still find you useful. I do not have to kill you. All you need to—"

Quick as lightning, Remi slung the severed guitar neck at the Paladin as if she had just hit a home-run, managing to catch the imposing canine right between the legs. Karyu wheezed and faltered, and before he could fight back, Remi dashed up and caught him with a straight knee to the jaw. Karyu fell flat, allowing Remi to swipe the dagger strapped to his side. For Remi, that might as well have been a short-sword, so upon grabbing it, she attempted to cleave down to end the fight early. Karyu's great sword blocked her, then he managed to kick her away. Remi rolled through the kick, but didn't advance. She still held the blade towards the Cerinian with an icepick grip as he regained his footing.

"Dirty coward," the canine growled, wiping away some blood from his head. He rushed forward and followed through with a heaving downward slash that cut the oxygen molecules Remi was breathing in half. Remi's quickness again got the better of the Paladin as she took a swipe at him, only to come up empty. Karyu attempted to throw his fist, but again missed the agile vixen. Even so, he still wouldn't even let her graze the armor on his back with the dagger. He rolled and spun away, still forcing his blade upon Remi in vain. It looked like a sparring match that could've been marketed as an art show.

Krystal watched as the two Cerinians fought, unsure as to what she needed to do. She caught glance of the staff Karyu imbedded in the concrete. The glow from the crystal adorning its head mirrored the glow emanating from the eyes of Fox, Falco, and everyone surrounding them. That staff seemed to be the thing keeping them immobile, not Karyu himself. With that in mind, Krystal snuck over to the staff and attempted to move it while Karyu was preoccupied with Remi. Not only was it twice the length of her staff, but it was heavy and dense, apparent by the lack of movement it had when she tried to uproot it. She assumed a better two-handed grip and heaved upward, but the staff didn't even acknowledge the vixen's presence.

Karyu kicked Remi away again, then rushed over to Krystal. "Step away," growled the Cerinian, cleaving his sword downward. Krystal reacted in time, rolling out of the way and showing off her own staff. She fought back in the only way she knew how; wielding her staff as a blunt weapon. The hilt and head alternated with a spiraling swing, catching Karyu in the arms as he blocked. He swung with his sword, to which Krystal parried away, then caught him under the arm with a stiff shot. His arm went numb from the force, but he refused to drop his sword. Growling, Karyu slipped away from Krystal's range, only to run into Remi.

Remi slashed at his arm, cutting a gash and trimming fur in its wake. He flinched, allowing Remi to follow through and deliver a spinning kick to his side. Krystal joined in, stiff-arming her staff to catch Karyu's legs. He fell on his back, letting Remi to pounce on him and try to force the dagger into his face. Karyu was much too strong to let that happen, although Krystal's incessant whacks was making it increasingly difficult.

Karyu shifted Remi's weight and powered her away, rolling her into Krystal to buy enough time to spring back up to his feet. Another great swing cut the air between Remi and Krystal, while both jumped to their feet and countered with mirrored side thrust kicks to both of his thighs, chopping him down to his knees. Again, they fired mirrored kicks straight into the Paladin's face with a resounding smack. Karyu spat out blood and stared daggers at the girls, seemingly barely phased by the attack. They attempted the same dual kicks, but he caught them both, opting to shove Krystal away and hold onto Remi. She kicked his hand with her free leg, following through the kick by flipping out of his hold and landing on her feet. Remi, knowing that he wouldn't be dissuaded by showy agility, worked on the Paladin more by throwing wild dagger swipes his direction while he did his best to deflect them. She had to admit that he was very good; taking him down won't be the easiest thing she's ever done.

Krystal sprung back to her feet and swung her staff again, landing it on Karyu's side, but he caught it in the fold of his arm when she tried to bring it back. "Enough of this," he snapped, dragging both her staff and Krystal and disposing them towards Remi. The two vixens ended up in a heap after they collided. Karyu slid over to his staff, uprooted it with ease, and pointed the glowing end at the girls. They quickly separated just as a burst of flame nearly consumed them. Karyu went after Remi first, pouring a steady stream of fire towards her in hopes of setting her ablaze.

Krystal chopped at the back of his leg with her staff, making him falter and send a shower of fire into the sky. She was forced to run away instead of following up, since the fire came right back down. Karyu managed to put up his plated forearms, deflecting the flames with ease. That slight distraction let Remi attack; giving Karyu another deep gash on his back. He snarled, kicking her away and assuming another firing stance. Remi was in no condition to evade this time, so she was lucky that Krystal hit the back of his leg again before he had a chance to incinerate her. Annoyed, Karyu trained his staff at Krystal, unleashing another barrage of fire. Remi slashed at his arm and made him miss. Karyu forced Remi away, but Krystal was right back attacking him with her staff. No matter how he cut it, he was still outnumbered.

Baring teeth, Karyu stabbed the concrete again. A wave of light radiated from the weapon, throwing both Krystal and Remi away. As she flew backwards, Remi launched the dagger at the Cerinian, who just narrowly avoided the blade. Yet, the blade continued and glanced off the Paladin's staff. A noise only comparable to a desynced guitar amplifier resonated from the staff, killing the burst of light and making Karyu duck and cover his ears.

A few people surrounding the battlefield suddenly dropped and regained consciousness. Noting this, Karyu quickly returned to his staff and stabilized it, forcing those handful of people back into their unwanted trance. The glow seemed a little weaker, but Karyu attended to it accordingly. Remi scrambled to her feet.

"Krystal! The staff!" Remi shouted. "It's controlling the people! We need to destroy it."

The Paladin laughed aloud. "I yearn to see your attempt, Remilia," he sneered, and turned his glance to Krystal afterward. "Who is this you recruited? You do not look familiar, my dear."

"Don't talk to her," snapped Remi.

"Remilia's visions are clouded with cancer, my child," Karyu stared at Krystal longingly. "She is unfit to aid our new dawn. The Architect seeks a young, promising Cerinian to rule the rebuilt universe, and since Remilia is corrupted… I sense great power in you, my dear. You can—"

Karyu was interrupted with a hard forearm blast to the back of the head. Remi then turned to try to uproot his staff, but like Krystal, she could not make it budge. Angered, Karyu swung his sword, to which Remi narrowly avoided. The follow-through saw Karyu impact his staff, sending another blast of white noise over the plaza. Another group of people fell from their trance. The Paladin rectified that problem like before, but Krystal quickly added to his troubles.

Krystal swung, but Karyu knocked her down. Remi scooped up her tossed blade and went to attack again, jumping on the back of the Paladin and forcing the blade towards his neck. Karyu was just too strong to fight against, and Remi ended up losing her grip enough to have Karyu pull her over his shoulder by her hair, slamming her atop Krystal. He uprooted and gripped his staff with his free hand, forcing enough out of the staff to launch another streak of fire at the girls. Remi kicked off Krystal, pushing them both out of the way of certain death.

Karyu bolted towards Remi as she was getting to her feet, decking her with all his body weight to send her hurtling across the plaza. His attention then turned to Krystal. He stepped over to her dazed frame and stepped on her tail, eliciting a yowl from the vixen and preventing her from standing. He merely chuckled at her pain.

"How dare you mindlessly follow youthful ignorance," he grunted. "I ought to slit your throat right now to save you the trouble of being led into the dark by such a corrupted mind. You will only know pain and suffering if you continue to follow her."

His eyes glowed a deep violet, and her thrashing movements suddenly stopped. She could only whimper as the Paladin stood overtop her and grabbed her neck, preventing air from entering her mouth. She gasped and choked, but Karyu wouldn't budge.

"I will warn you once and once only. Desert Remilia and join us in our new dawn. Grant the Architect's wish of a powerful leader."

"Screw off," spat Krystal.

"Unfortunate," Karyu sighed, tightening his grip on Krystal's throat. He raised his sword in hopes to literally cut Krystal's life short, but a dagger raked across his wrist and made him drop the blade. Krystal took her opportunity and pushed Karyu away, then scooped up her staff. One powerful swing crashed upon the side of the Paladin's face, immediately drawing blood and stunning him. The Paladin staggered backwards, to which Remi jumped on his back and slung her arm around his throat, putting him into a chokehold.

Remi's dagger rocketed towards Karyu's face, but the blade stopped before it got close. Try as she may, but she couldn't force the blade into his eye. Karyu snarled with bright glowing eyes, using his other arm to rip Remi away and throw her into Krystal yet again. Though, he didn't pounce on his prey. Instead, he backed away and tended to his wounds, which were in the process of dying his luxurious navy blue pelt a sickly shade of brown. His wrist shown a deep gash that dripped down his arm. A nasty cut raked across his muzzle, dripping crimson into his barred teeth. And that's not mentioning the numerous cuts across his body, some accompanied by crimson rivers flowing down his arms and back.

"I have mistaken you two," he growled through gritted teeth. "Your teamwork and perseverance are admirable. However, your stubbornness and inexperience will be your downfall. Allow me to show you what a true Cerinian can accomplish."

Karyu gripped his staff, and within moments, the ground underneath the two vixens became lighter. Rubble and stray papers began to rise with no indications of falling back down. Remi stood up and rushed at him, but couldn't get far before her feet weren't taking her anywhere. She swiped and clawed at the Paladin with her dagger, but she couldn't hit him. She couldn't move close enough. The sky was pulling her away.

"No!" Krystal yelped. Before she fell victim to the gravity anomaly, she threw herself at Remi to push her forward. That added momentum allowed Remi to slam into Karyu, disrupting his focus. At that, the anomaly stopped, and the two vixens fell back onto solid ground. Remi was quick to pounce, slicing another gash into the Paladin's arm. Irate, Karyu started to swing wildly, but with every missed broadsword swing, Remi delivered another swipe to the Cerinian. Cuts and spilled blood covered the Paladin by the time his swings weakened, but he refused to quit. When Karyu appeared tired, she jumped and caught him with yet another stiff knee strike to the jaw that laid him flat.

Her opening allowed her to go towards Karyu's glowing staff. She couldn't dislodge it, but after what happened earlier, she could destroy it and it would have the desired effect. Holding the dagger tight, she wound up as far as she could and sent the dagger hurtling towards the jewel atop the staff. Yet, same as when she tried to jam the dagger into Karyu's face, she stopped. She couldn't deliver the killing blow. Karyu's powers wouldn't let her. Since he had her suspended, the Paladin jumped to his feet and slammed into Remi, ripping the dagger from her grasp and sending her spiraling away.

As if her second wind hit, she jumped to her feet and charged the bigger canine. Without warning, she swiped the staff from Krystal's hands and jumped off of it like she was competing for Olympic gold in vaulting. In that same motion, she brought the staff down and would have clobbered Karyu like she did earlier with the guitar had he not narrowly avoided. In the split-second she was awarded after hitting the cement, the staff twirled around and caught Karyu in the back of the head. Again, she swung and chopped his leg out, making him fall to his knees. She hopped onto the dazed Paladin's shoulder and spun off him, then blasted the back of his head with yet another well-placed staff swing. Krystal could only watch in pure awe as Remi felled Karyu with her staff, much better than she could ever attempt to do.

Remi jumped over Karyu's prone body again and went for the glowing jewel. Karyu refused to let her get the better of him, managing to grab her tail and pull her away. Yet, when he tried to follow it up, Remi kicked him in the chin and went for the staff again. This time he pulled on her hair and yanked her to the ground. A balled fist came crashing down towards her face, but she rolled out before it could connect. Another kick landed upon Karyu's muzzle. The younger vixen was stunned; why wouldn't he stay down?!

Snarling, the Cerinian leapt to his feet and lunged at Remi, only for Krystal to dive and push the vixen out of the way. Karyu only connected with his staff, blasting his snout against the bronze. The desynced loudspeaker sound returned, disorienting Karyu even more. Immediately after, Krystal scrambled to her feet and threw a wild kick into the back of Karyu's neck, bouncing his head against his staff yet again. This time, the staff expelled a wave of power that made Karyu tumble backwards. Another golden opportunity presented itself for Remi. Scoping up Krystal's staff, she dashed over to Karyu's and primed for a killing blow.

"Stop!" Karyu barked, using one last desperation attempt to hinder Remi. Just as she was about to obliterate the Paladin's staff, her feet lifted off the ground. Her downward strike got nothing but air as she began to float up yet again. Karyu's eyes glared back at her with the intensity of solar flares, clearly using every last little bit he had to pick her off the ground. Her muscles soon became stiff, unable to move even the slightest bit. As she was locking up, Krystal's staff slipped from her hands and fell to the ground near the base of Karyu's staff. Still, the Paladin held her tight; intending to send her into the sky, or let her fall to her doom once she got high enough.

A split-second glance back to his staff let Karyu see Krystal scooping up her staff yet again. The glow in his eyes vanished as Krystal wound up. It was too late for him to react this time.

The blunt swing shattered the crystal adorning the head of the Paladin's staff, discharging a dense wave of power that jolted the entire city square and pushed everyone away from the epicenter by a few feet or more. Within seconds of the blinding flash dissipating, rain began to fall again. The wind returned and breathed new life between the skyscrapers. The hundreds gathered and hung by their hearts simultaneously dropped, slowly regaining consciousness one by one.

Despite her distance from the ground, Remi landed on her feet, using her arms to steady herself on the cracked cement. She lurched forward, scooping up the discarded dagger in her wake, then pounced upon where the discharge spat Karyu out. Bared canines and glowing eyes met with the blade as it delivered a killing downward spike through air itself and… right through the concrete.

Eyes and ears twitching violently as if she was going through drug withdrawals, she combed over the immediate area with an icepick grip, slicing raindrops in half and severing molecular compounds where she saw fit. After a rage induced handful of seconds, she finally steadied herself to gaze upon the righted world.

Karyu was nowhere to be found. Even what was left of his staff had disappeared.

Every muscle in the Cerinian's body twitched and shuddered as if she was standing in the middle of a snowstorm. Rage personified as foam pooled at her bared teeth. She clenched at the hilt of the dagger with such force that it began to bend the alloy, leaving a perfect grip for her to hold the blade should she need to again. Where the heck was he?

Krystal scrambled to her feet and ran over to her fallen teammates. She stopped at Falco, crouching down to help the bird sit up. Everyone else began to look around and get their bearings, rubbing at their heads to relieve the ensuing headache. Fox was no exception to that rule.

"Eugh," he groaned, trying to push a finger through his skull to massage his pounding brain. "That was awful."

"Are you okay?" Krystal asked.

"Yeah, I think I'm…" Fox trailed off when he realized Krystal wasn't paying attention to him, but his avian counterpart. "…fine," he finished with a more distasteful inflection. "Is everyone else okay?"

"What was that?" Falco questioned. "One moment I see that Paladin, then next I'm out cold."

"He had you guys under mind control I think," Krystal explained, gently helping Falco to his feet. "It's fine though; Remi and I fought—"

"OOH I'M MAD."

Krystal and company flinched when the angry yell belted across the plaza. The next moment saw Fox duck underneath a dagger soaring aimlessly overhead. He swore that Remi's steps could crack the concrete even more as she stepped closer to him. Instinctively, he hid behind a groggy Fara that hadn't stood up yet.

The muscles on the back of Remi's paws were stiff, making her fingers appear as though they wanted to claw into living flesh. She blew a long breath of air into Fara's face, disrupting some of her fur. "I. Will. Literally. MURDERTHENEXTPERSONTHATLOOKSATME!"

Still sort of dazed, Fara blinked and answered, "Can I suggest not doing it around me?" while clearly still in a bit of pain from her headache.

Remi's teeth clenched to the point of nearly cracking. "OH," she growled with guttural intensity, resembling a singer from a metal band rather than herself. "I'll make sure to keep the blood off your outfit, princess."

Her unstable, inhaling growls made everyone fear for their lives, so out of concern for their own wellbeing, they let the Cerinian rant and cool herself down.

"I… Cannot… Believe… THATLIVINGTUMORGOTAWAY!" she barked, her fur bristling and standing on end. Her voice then transitioned to a hoarse whisper spoken at breakneck speed. "I had him dead to rights! I had his neck! I was so close to covering his blade in his own blood; but he ESCAPED!"

Another long blow of air exited her mouth. "Calm. Down. Remi," she said through her teeth, an uneasy tone in her voice as if she was trying to stay sane. If Fox didn't know better, everything about Remi currently would conclude that she was completely psychotic. "The agency doesn't want to pay out another lawsuit you caused, so think of happy things. Happy things."

Her head craned over to Fox with a Cheshire grin and unsettling dinnerplate eyes that could see through steel. "Happy thoughts, Fox. I'm happy. I couldn't be any more elated. Can't you see? I'm right as—" she blinked, and her eyes abruptly shined bright. "DONTEVERTALKTOME!"

Fox screamed, bolting off without Fara; the latter of which fell back down after her support ran away. He disappeared into the café they had eaten in a while back. Fara slowly sat back up after rubbing her head.

"My hero," she murmured.

"Remi," Krystal started, approaching her with caution. As soon as the younger vixen caught her teal eyes, her meltdown subsided. Remi had to blink a few times before her glowing eyes returned to normal, and after looking around and seeing how many were looking at her, her ears folded flat.

"…Sorry," she whimpered. "We… we almost had him, but then he got away, and now I'm just mad."

"It's fine," Krystal tried to assure her.

"It's not," Remi argued. "It's anything but fine. That boneheaded trash bag needed to be put in his place for what he did to me. Anything less than that is not okay."

Krystal gently pushed down on Remi's shoulder, urging her to sit. "Relax for a second."

"Ow," she winced. "Adrenaline… wearing off. Ow, okay, ow."

"Calm down," the older vixen insisted with her trademarked motherly voice. "Just relax a moment."

Both Remi and Krystal sat down on the concrete as rain continued to fall on them. Neither really cared about the rain. In all honesty, the cool rainwater helped alleviate some of the pain in the vixens' minor wounds. For a while the two just sat under the cover of rainfall and caught their breath, while everyone gathered around them began to disperse.

"You fought well," Remi whispered into her folded legs.

"Me?" asked Krystal.

"Yes," she cracked a grin, but didn't look up. "The Cerinian's fighting blood has not been lost in you. He had us bested, but fighting as well as we did for as long as we did… was impressive."

"You used my staff better than I did," Krystal admitted. "How?"

Remi laughed weakly. "Now isn't the time to tell you. You'll learn soon enough."

After a while, Fox came out of hiding and gingerly stepped towards the two vixens with an umbrella. He stood close enough to shield the two vixens from soaking themselves even further (which didn't really matter at this point). Krystal looked up at him while Remi still didn't move.

"I think we're done here," he said with a small frown. "Let's go get you girls cleaned up."


Ξ


The two Cerinians took control of one of their hotel room's bathrooms to tend to their wounds better. There wasn't much damage between the two, thankfully. The worst was a feared elbow sprain from Remi, which she bound the entire appendage in compression tape and held a bag of ice to it just out of precaution. Krystal just had a few bruises and sore spots she attended to accordingly.

"Karyu…" Krystal started softly, apparently still trying to comprehend what happened. "You knew him?"

"I wish I didn't," Remi sat on the edge of the bathtub. "When Cerinia was being destroyed, people we being round up and slaughtered. He captured me but… he didn't kill me… I wish he did so that I didn't have to witness the horrible things he did."

"Did he wipe your memory?"

"He tried to," Remi's voice faltered. "He got most of it, but… I… I can't give you many answers because I just don't know much anymore."

"I understand," Krystal said softly.

"I don't know why he did what he did, or why he didn't kill me… But after what he did to me, I wanted to kill him. That's why I was so mad; I wanted him dead, but he got away."

"What did he do?"

"The one thing you never do to anyone, especially a thirteen-year-old girl," she bared her teeth at the ground, wincing at the fragmented memory.

Krystal sharply exhaled and covered her mouth.

"He ruined my life, Krystal," Remi continued. "He should've just killed me so that I didn't have to live with that suffering. What he did ruined me, and the one thing—the one thing—I want to do… is make sure he knows that pain. As much as you may disagree with me on this… in my opinion, some people just need to die for the world to be a better place."

Krystal's motherly aura personified itself in her voice. "I want to help. Do you want to talk about it? Maybe another meditation session?"

"I'm far too angry for that," Remi admitted. "But maybe later, okay?"

"Okay."

Remi cracked a small grin. "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Krystal grinned back.

Someone knocked on the door twice. "May I come in?"

It was Fox's voice. Not really the voice either girl wanted to hear, but his voice showed genuine signs of concern. Remi answered, "Sure; we're almost done."

Fox poked his head inside. "You girls okay?"

"We're fine," Remi replied. "I've had worse pain after a night with the bartender at HQ. I'll be okay."

Fox narrowed his eyes. "But you're not even old en—"

"I need to make something straight with you," the younger vixen interrupted, pushing the door (and therefore Fox) so she could get back into the main room. "You do know what that Cerinian did to you could've been avoided, right?" she hopped onto the bed and sprawled out. "Krystal and I weren't caught up in that mind-control link for a reason, you know?"

"And…?"

"And if you would stop being such a puritan, it could have been three-on-one and we could've done more to that trash bag with ears than just drive him out."

Fox shook his head. "Ugh, this again," he groaned with rolled eyes. "Remi, seriously; you're not going to change my mind. At this point I don't care if sleeping with you would grant me eternal life; I don't want it."

"Then you might as well be next to useless," Remi scoffed.

Fox laughed at the perceived absurdity of that statement. "Me?"

"Yes, you," echoed Remi. "Absolutely useless."

Fox scoffed in a very 'Fara-esque' gesture. "Useless. Okay. Do you even know what you're—"

"Do you need to go back and reread that fight?" Remi abruptly sat up. "You were completely useless. As a matter of fact, why were you even out there? You were siding with Fara in trying to get us out of there when he was literally kissing you. You stopped me from capitalizing on him after I brained him with that guitar, and you didn't help a single bit when Krystal and I fought him off. In fact, I'd say that you were worse than useless!"

The sudden realization dawned on Fox. "Oh gods, I kissed that guy," he muttered, forcefully wiping a paw over his muzzle.

"Don't pretend you didn't like it," teased Remi, but went right back to say, "You were useless and you know it. If you don't want to be useless for the rest of this story, I'd suggest swallowing your ego, quit being such a holier-than-thou puritan, and put little Foxy where it belongs."

Fox reflexively gagged. "That statement coming out of your mouth made me feel sick."

Remi rolled her eyes. "I'm doing this to help you. Do you really think that I just sleep with everyone I can see?"

"You haven't given me enough to disprove it," suggested Fox.

"Need I remind you that I can't lie?"

"I still think that's a cop-out."

"Do you want to find out yourself or do you just want to accuse me?"

Fox just groaned. "Listen—"

"No, you listen, Fox," Remi's eyes began to glow. "If you think you're being faithful to your girlfriends or following your parent's teachings, stop. Your reluctance to see the greater good will get you killed. I will spell this out for you: I don't want to see you get killed because you're too stupid to say yes to me."

"And now you're gonna guilt me into this?"

Remi slapped her forehead. "I'm getting more food," she groaned, rolling off the bed and exiting the room. "Krystal, please talk to him," she begged before shutting the door in her wake.

Before Krystal had the time to open her mouth, Fox began, "I don't suppose you're siding with her, are you?"

"I trust her."

"Of course you do."

"Fox, we've already had this discussion."

"And I told you she was on a thin line with me."

"What has she done to cross it?"

"Have you not heard all of her incessant, annoying taunts and comments about trying to get in my pants?"

"As far as I know, everything she's said is justified."

"Justified?! She's in no way proven that!"

"What more do you want her to say? She's given you every little bit of support for why, and as far as I'm concerned, every little bit of bad you think there is is totally irrelevant."

"And you're not going to take a single word she said into consideration?"

"She's got nothing to gain from lying to us."

"Except my dignity and my moral compass."

Krystal laughed sarcastically. "The irony that those words came out of your mouth."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh my goodness," Krystal was starting to become frustrated. "Fox, Fara herself is against your so-called moral compass."

"Why are you bringing her into this? She hasn't done anything wrong!"

"Yes, she has; but just because you two are friends doesn't excuse her behavior. She's done everything you've accused Remi of doing, but you haven't called her out once."

"You're assassinating her character. You just haven't met someone like her before."

"That's a good thing, because I can say that she's driving a wedge into this team while you're blind to it."

"You're just jealous of her."

That word instantly made Krystal sick to her stomach. "You're acting every little bit like her, Fox," the vixen began to sound desperate to get through to him. "Please, just open your eyes for a second. She's toxic to everyone but you just because she's playing up to you."

"Never, in my ten years of knowing her, has she ever played up to me."

"Because she's manipulating you!"

"Now that is just the biggest lie I've ever heard."

"Just because she's your friend doesn't excuse her. She's done a lot of scummy things to us already."

"And like you haven't?"

Krystal paused, reacting to the hammer that just caved her chest in. She hated getting mad, but what he just said made her totally irate. How could he ever say anything like that? Then she made the connection that those words came from her best friend, and that alone made her heart shatter. She almost let a tear slip away after that remark, but fought it back to take the high ground. If that was the way he thought, fine. But she'll be dammed if he gets the better out of this exchange.

"You know what?" Krystal stopped bickering with him and just breathed. She let any bit of ire and disappointment leave her nose with every passing breath, until her voice was soft and angelic. "Fine. You be you. If you want to do things your way, that's fine… Just leave me out of it then."

With that, she turned around and left Fox alone. The adrenaline simmering from the debate ultimately hit Fox right in the face. Did he really just say that? That was probably the worst things he's ever said to anyone, and the fact that it was Krystal that he said it to… that was nasty. Knowing he really couldn't do much but backtrack on his words and give Krystal more ammunition against him made him feel powerless. Not like he didn't deserve it; obviously he felt he needed to own up to everything to get back on track. It was just an awful feeling and position he didn't want to push on anyone, let alone himself.

Fox kicked the door in frustration. He would have kicked it again had his phone not chirped at him. Peppy was calling. As much as he didn't want to answer the phone given his mental state, he really did need to tell Peppy about what he and his team did downtown. He answered with evident reluctance.

"Hey Peppy," Fox started.

"Fox! It's Peppy!"

Fox looked around the room with a subtle frown. "Yes… hi, Peppy."

"Oh gosh darn it I'm on speaker again."

Fox bit his tongue to keep from giggling. One would think that, being the expert pilot he was, Peppy would be able to handle something as trivial as a cell phone. Alas, this was not the case.

"Okay; evening Fox! How goes the assignment?"

"Uh…" Fox stumbled with his answer. "It's kinda complicated."

"You don't seem too happy there, kiddo," Peppy's voice became concerned. "What happened?"

"Well, we found the Paladin that was in the area, but he got away."

"What do you mean he got away?" asked Peppy, a little skeptical and confused.

"Remi and Krystal fought him off, but he vanished after they destroyed his staff," explained Fox. Looking at it from an outsider's perspective, taking the team's previous encounters at face-value would make even the most brilliant minds scratch their heads. It was no wonder Peppy was slow to connect the dots.

"So you let the two girls fight him?" Peppy inquired.

"Not by my intention," replied Fox. "That Paladin had us all under mind control, except for Remi and Krystal. As much as I wanted to fight, I couldn't."

"But you scared him off?"

"Remi says that she can't sense him in the city, so my guess is he vanished back to their base."

"Nobody got hurt?"

"A handful of headaches, but nothing bad."

Peppy hummed to himself. "Fox, I… I don't know what else to tell ya…"

"Tell me about it," the vulpine sighed. "This mission made me feel like my team and I were incompetent. We didn't know what to do, where we needed to go, what we needed to do once we found the guy—if we even found him—and…" For merely trailed off. Peppy cleared his throat when he realized Fox wasn't going to speak further.

"I understand your concerns, Fox, but the truth is that Pepper and I expect results," the hare's tone solidified itself authoritatively, much like a parent talking to a misbehaving child. "We sincerely appreciate the effort, but we didn't hire your team for name alone. Osprey needs your guidance and support, but if the CDF is going to write paychecks to a glorified cheerleader, then we'll have no choice but to take Krystal and have her and Osprey do this mission alone, which you know they can't do on their own."

Fox slapped the side of his leg. "Peppy, there's not much I can do to change this," he argued. "The Cerinians are stronger than you or Pepper think they are. And frankly, what our job was here was ill-informed and grossly misjudged. That kind of intel going into this important of a job is unacceptable."

"You know good and well that we couldn't change that," Peppy's tone remained unchanged. "And I didn't raise a leader that blames other people for his failures, no matter how small or how grandiose. Of course we didn't give you much information, for one: because we didn't have much to give, and for two: we're paying you and your team a lot of money to take charge in this operation; to take matters into your own hands instead of relying on us for objectives. We know you and your team are capable of doing so. Hell, Fox, I was a part of that team."

"That lack of information could have gotten a lot of innocent people killed today, Peppy," Fox fired back. "If you didn't have the info, then you shouldn't have bothered sending us to antagonize."

"And that would have gotten people killed too," replied the hare. "Playing the waiting game would have killed just as many people as if you would have failed this mission."

Fox didn't answer.

"Listen to me," Peppy started slow and strong. "I want you to take control of your unit. Gone are the days where you can rely on me digging everyone out of a hole. As dire of circumstances these are, you need to take that next step into being a leader, for everyone's wellbeing."

"Peppy, not knowing what to do won't help either of us," interrupted Fox.

"You have a team," Peppy began. "You have Osprey and Krystal. You've got the entire CDF library of data and people at your disposal. Truth be told, you rank higher than me at this point. I don't want you sitting around complaining you don't know what to do, because I know that you can look at something and see what needs to be done, no matter the mission at hand. You need to take charge, Fox. You're the leader of the best mercenary outfit in the galaxy. Maybe one or two things must change before you realize that."

"What do you mean?"

"Adapt yourself. Change the way you look at things. Think for yourself. Learn something new. Fox, it really doesn't matter what you do, so long as it helps you in your situation. If the Cerinians have something you don't, then find something that they don't have or won't expect from you. You're so much better than any of them, but you've gotta make something change if you want to prove it to everyone."

Fox finished up his call and stood in silence for a while. If there was one thing he hated, it was being wrong about something. He'd admit defeat if/when he was wrong, but it didn't make the feeling any more desirable. In just a few short minutes, he had been proven wrong three different times from three different people that he held three different feelings towards. What ensued was probably the oddest sense of failure he's ever experienced. Failing as a leader and as a friend. Plain and simple, it sucked.

Slowly pacing back and forth between the window and the door, Fox tried to articulate the swarm of emotions and feelings swirling about his head. He was no stranger to combating these feelings before, just not on this sort of scale, nor all at once. He miraculously stayed calm throughout the introspective contemplation, but at what cost? Were they just suppressed or actually resolved? Most likely the former, but knowing that didn't dissuade him from attempting a new perspective… a new way to see himself and the trash he had accumulated just over the past couple of days. After all, Peppy did say to try something new, but was this the scale he was referring to? Did there need to be more of a change?

Adapt… that word kept swirling around in Fox's thoughts, resurfacing to the foreground every so often. That word didn't mean much to him on a normal day, as that usually meant that a mission required an unorthodox way of working to ensure it succeeded. This most certainly wasn't that rendition of the word in his head now. Er, maybe it was? Just not about tactics or objectives or whatever the case was during an assignment. The mission itself didn't need the change, it was Fox that did. Was it? He couldn't really decipher that…

Then again, Fox had been wrong three times in a row... Maybe something did need to change about him? The pacing never stopped as he tried to break the problem down. That was an important skill, so that didn't need to be changed. His attitude, probably. That was what got him into hot water with most of his team thus far. But if that changed, it may cause a domino effect with everything else about him; the leadership attributes, critical thinking… Gah, it was like he was making a spreadsheet in his mind and checking off boxes as he went down the columns. It felt so tedious and ridiculous, but knowing that it needed to be done gave him the drive to actually think about himself for more than a few minutes every so often.

He stopped. Adapt. It hit him. Oh, what a humiliating feeling, but a relief nonetheless. Well, relief could be an exaggeration knowing what he had to literally get himself into. His normal definition of adapt was an unorthodox way of tackling a mission, so in this light… adapt meant an unorthodox way of changing himself for the better. As much as he felt sick just thinking about it, there really was only one good option for him to use.

Tail tucked between his legs, he began the long trek from their hotel room down to the hotel lobby. He refrained from making an entrance, as most of his team seemed to be enjoying themselves. Still, he trudged forward and crept up to one of the tables.

"Remi?"

The Cerinian spun around to face him. "Oh, there you are! Fay and Miyu are gonna leave soon; they want to say goodbye."

Fox looked over at the duo, but held up a finger. "Can I get one second?" They both nodded. Upon confirmation, he looked back down at Remi. "Can I talk to you for just a moment?"

"Sure," Remi replied with hesitance. Fox gestured her to follow, so she obliged much to her own confusion. She followed Fox into the hallway away from everyone else, taking note of his obvious hesitance and twitchy tail. "Is something wrong?" she asked.

"Not really," Fox answered unconvincingly, peering around the corner of the hallway to see if anyone was watching, which they weren't. "It's just… Peppy told me that I need to be better suited for this mission."

Remi cocked her head. "That's… an odd thing for him to say."

"Well, he's right," Fox quickly added. "There are a few things that I do really need to change… and I hate to say it, but… I think I know what would help…"

It only took a handful of seconds before Remi smirked. "Go on…"

Along with blushing wildly and unable to sit still, Fox couldn't look Remi in the glowing eyes as he swallowed his pride and said:

"I think it's time I take you up on your offer."