Chapter 7: Carnival


Warm clouds and leaf-filled branches obscured the glowing sun. Miyu lay on the forest hillside again, surrounded by thin, scraggly aspens. Blades of grass poked up into her back, making the urge to itch irresistible. Beside her, only a few feet away, lay her sister Lily. Both of the lynxes stared up at the sky, silently letting the afternoon pass. At the top of the hill was what remained of their picnic: a blanket dusted with crumbs, an open basket, and a radio playing unobtrusive music.

It was a peaceful afternoon. The harsh Katinese sun was blunted, the wind gently blew a cool breeze through their fur, and the nearby creek babbled mindlessly away.

Soon the clouds parted like a curtain, and the rays of the sun sliced through. They initially blinded Miyu, who flinched and covered her eyes with her arms. She was also aware of a black shadow rushing through the grass, almost like the sun had summoned a breeze there, but the leaves on the aspens didn't rustle.

Lily broke the silence. "Do you ever have the feeling like... like you're being watched?"

Miyu's arms fell from her eyes, and she looked worriedly down the hill, back through the trees.

The radio exploded with deafening static.

A gust of wind swept in, stirring the yellow leaves into a violent whirlwind that surrounded them.

The cargo transport dipped to the side, then fell and impacted the forest miles away.

Lily cried out in pain.

At once Miyu sat up, as if waking from a bad dream. She spun around to her sister, who lay paralyzed and crying on the hillside. A black asp was poised on her torso, head emerging with bloodied fangs from her neck.

Miyu scrambled to her side. She timidly grabbed the lower portion of the snake's body, but recoiled when its head spun around to face her. A sickly, pale yellow underbelly clashed with its olive scales. A coffin-shaped head stared back at her, jaw hanging wide to expose the purple-black interior of its mouth and its curved fangs. Above all, Miyu found herself drawn to the pair of golden halos in the snake's eyes that gradually soaked her with fear.

When Lily began to twitch and contort beneath Miyu, she attempted to grab the snake a second time. She managed to catch the lower coils of the snake, but failed to snatch the neck below its head. It sprang at her, but instead of biting it darted around her neck, effectively entangling her. While her sister entered a series of death throws Miyu violently clawed at any of the snake's coils she could find. She opened her mouth wide, summoning a deep force of air from her chest...


)✹◯


Miyu sat bolt-upright in her pilot's seat, screaming at the top of her lungs.

She was back in the Sveno. Through the canopy she could once again see the blinding blue sky of Bayoon, the wooden docks extending out over the lake, and Badwash's brightly-colored buildings. It was morning again—the same day.

Her hands were entangled in fibrous coils, and when she ran out of breath from crying out, she looked down at them. She was only holding the Aquan necklace, the black strand of which was looped once around her neck.

"Oh in the morning
When the Sun
Fixes you with its golden rays
I have a sneakin'
Suspicion
It's secretly an evil gaze"

There was that annoying song again. Because she left her radio on before she went to sleep she would likely hear it each time she died and woke up. Miyu slumped back into her chair, taking a deep breath and exhaling. It was only a dream again, no matter how vivid and tangible it felt. Though why did she have two dreams in a row, and about the same memory?

She held the Aquan pendant in her paw. Rubbing the smooth surface with her thumb, she stared at the hand-shaped shell and her reflection trapped within. Her miniature, ghostly outline stared back, looking just as bewildered as herself.

"'Cause you're the only jewel I see
Yeah you're the only jewel I see
'Cause you're the only jewel I see

Jewel I see"

Something tapped against the glass. The feline looked up. Leering at her from the other side of the windshield was a monstrous white canine; black lips curled back to expose rows of thick, pointed teeth all bared and gnashed in a vicious snarl at her.

Miyu jumped back, dropping the pendent, but upon her second look the beast was gone. In its place was Fay, cupping her eyes to the glass so she could see in. Miyu breathed easily again and popped the canopy open, eagerly jumping outside.

"Why so jumpy?" Fay luaghed when she dismounted. "You should have seen the look on your—"

Miyu cut Fay off with a hug of her own. This time it was Fay's turn to be taken off-guard; Miyu rarely initiated a hug. "Whoa there, what's this for? Not that I mind..." Sensing it was no time for a joke, Fay returned the hug. She could feel Miyu was upset.

"Fay... we need to talk."

Before her teammate could object, she snatched her paw and dragged her across the dock. Miyu rushed Fay through what was quickly becoming a ritual; secure their ships, meet Jeff and the pig at the ticket booth, hand over twenty credits, and leave for the restrooms. Less rattled than the time before, Miyu paid careful attention to how she went about things; she made blatantly obvious to Fay that she knew events would happen before they did. Though Fay was amazed time and time again, Miyu refused to answer any questions just yet.

After coming out of the public restrooms, Miyu realized she had forgotten one small detail; the Aquan hag. Last time she had managed to avoid a confrontation with her, meaning she wasn't at the forefront of Miyu's mind this time around. She did, however, exit the restrooms at the same time as Fay.

Back outside in the blinding daylight, the old witch seemed to materialize out of nowhere. Same peach-colored skin, tangled hair, wild eyes, and plant-fiber skirt. Fay eep-ed a little at running into the frightening woman, but Miyu stepped between them, trying to cover her blunder before it was too late.

"Sorry Fay, I forgot. This granny thinks we're some kind of chosen ones come to save Bayoon from... something kinda nebulous, I think. What was it?"

"The people of Bayoon are enslaved!" the witch croaked, waving a hand uncomfortably close to Fay's face.

"Oh, a-are they now?" Fay stammered.

"You, the off-worlders, the saviors from beyond the stars, are the only ones who can break evil's hypnotizing gaze!"

"I think that part of her spiel is new," Miyu commented. She was taken aback when the frog reached into her leather bag and pulled out a pair of necklaces, hanging from which were what looked like red chili peppers. They looked strangely familiar.

"Here, these will keep you safe!"

Miyu was going to stop her, but Fay shrugged and bent over to receive the necklace. The elderly Aquan hopped at just the right time to place the necklace around Fay's bowed head. When she straightened back up, Fay palmed the pepper in her hand. "Hey, the red matches my bow!"

Miyu sighed but resigned herself to do the same, now that Fay was pressuring her. She bent over to let the witch adorn her with the necklace, but never felt her place it around her neck. She tilted her head up slightly.

The wrinkly-skinned frog stared at something already dangling from her neck, something which actually made her eyes focus for once; the shell pendent.

"Error, crazy Aquan lady dot-exe has stopped working," Miyu joked. "What's the matter?"

The hag extended a webbed digit to touch the dangling shell, but chickened-out at the last second and withdrew her finger. "You... you are the chosen one!"

"Oh, so you admit you were lying to us before?"

The witch reached into her bag and pulled out a stack of flyers, peeling a few off for the girls. She handed them over, one each to Miyu and Fay, with the extras blowing away in the lake breeze. Miyu looked down at the flyer, and was miffed to see it advertised the woman as a native fortune-teller. Chashme Baddoor: the Oracle of the Nethermoor. Palm-reading, tarot cards, audience with the dead, crystal-gazing, evil eye protection... Basically any and all functions associated with the occult were advertised as part of her repertoire. All listed on a gaudy purple background with stock photos of common magical items.

"Find me at the blue-and-yellow-striped tent—between the belly-dancers and the clown bean-bag toss. Ah-he-he-he!"

With a whirl of her grass skirt and shawl, Chashme Baddoor spun 'round and hopped down the steps to the beach—bombing an unsuspecting couple with another batch of flyers.

"So..." Fay trailed off as both girls watched her slowly fade into the distance, "I guess we're going to stay far away from the blue-and-yellow tent?"

"Exactly," Miyu agreed. "But she's got the right idea. We need somewhere to talk, and I'm starving. Why don't we visit the festival?"

Fay lit up brighter than an ion engine. "Wait, you mean we can?! Awesome!"

"But don't get too distracted with the games and rides," Miyu warned.

"Alright-alright, let's go!"

Following behind Chashme—extremely far behind Chashme—the girls descended the wharf and walked along the beach a ways. Turning inland they walked up a flight of wooden stairs that carried them onto the fairgrounds. From the docks it was easier to see the festival for what it was: a deceptively small affair of tents, stands, and carts populating an extensive green field. But once they were inside the carnival it felt like getting lost in a psychedelic city. The myriads of posters, flashing light displays, foods, and prizes all shone in multi-colored glory—the overall effect hypnotizing. Even the bright colors of the Aquan's skin paled in comparison. A modestly-sized Ferris wheel towered over the rest of the buildings, close to which were also a merry-go-round of spacecraft and a sprawling tunnel of love complex which wasn't running yet. With the amount of lights and glowing signs popping from every nook and cranny in the three attractions, Miyu was sure they would make for a brilliant spectacle come eclipse.

While some of Badwash's residents were still in the midst of constructing their stations others had already opened for business. After traversing enough of the festival, Miyu and Fay started picking up on peculiar customs. One common game involved throwing old, beaten-up shoes onto poles—catching them by the mouth. Judging by the signs above the stations, the game was called jutti. Children paid a few cents for the chance to throw a pair of shoes, and if they landed both they won a prize. The more successes they chained together the more valuable the prize they could choose; ranging from candies at the lower tiers to more expensive toys and even electronic equipment. At first the girls didn't understand how it was possible to win. But once as they were passing a jutti booth they witnessed an older child land two in a row. The trick was to place a slight spin on the shoes before throwing them, so that they looped once before catching the pole at the right angle.

Another popular attraction for the children were piñatas. Families setup pavilions where they could hang paper mache creations. They most commonly depicted Bayoon itself, and were either covered in blue and green paint or constructed with colored papers and thinner tissues. Miyu found this strange, as the process involved beating the shit out of them before disemboweling them of candy and treats. Why symbolically destroy your own planet? And for what, candy? She would never understand Bayoon's customs.

After passing a pavilion of Aunt Sally's Pecan Pralines they arrived at a raw seafood bar. The tent was setup close to the shore, and from that vantage point Miyu could see Aquans digging in the muddy sand and combing the brackish waters for food. At least there was no doubt the food was fresh. Old Man Vibrio's Raw Mollusks! the sign above the front read. Since their main intent of visiting the fair was to get food, Miyu dragged Fay over.

The front of the pavilion featured a long row of tables holding crates, pans, and steel troughs of ice, on top of which lay all kinds of raw seafood, though mostly double-shelled mollusks. Shells in different patterns and shapes rested shivering on the ice, including oysters, clams, mussels, scallops, cockles, and a few species that seemed native to Bayoon, since Miyu didn't recognize them. Behind the tables Aquans worked on unpacking the seafood, separating them from the shells, and arranging platters and combos.

Fay took one look at the oysters sitting in their half-shells and crinkled her nose. "What kind of alien creatures do they serve for food here?"

"Those are just oysters, Fay—before you cook 'em."

"Um, yuck?"

Miyu cocked her head back on her shoulders. "What, you've never had them before?"

"I've never even had cooked ones."

"What? Your family is rolling in money! Rich people eat shit like this all the time!"

Fay looked like she was getting sick just thinking about it. "Only on business trips, and I've never had an appetite for those kinds of dishes. I don't like escargot or caviar or eels or... any of that icky stuff."

"Icky?" Miyu grabbed one of the shells and raised it to Fay's face, making the canine lean away. "What's so icky about this?"

The spaniel stared down at the glob of flesh and lake salt sitting on the half-shell. From the look of her she was trying to figure out whether or not it was dead. "Well... it's not even cooked, so you could get all kinds of diseases from it. And it's got this milky brown color, it's semi-transparent, it looks like an alien larvae that was removed from cryo a tad too soon."

"You Cornerians are just delicate little flower blossoms and pinky-pointers." Miyu shook her head and replaced the shell on the ice tray. "All of these are delicacies back on Katina. I would kill for some of this stuff. Like look at this!" She next picked up a horn-shaped shell, out of which flopped a thick, tubular siphon appendage that was twice as long as the shell itself. Fay jumped a little, to which Miyu just laughed. "These cornicellos cost hundreds of credits back home, but that's because they're expensive to import. Here on Bayoon? They're only twelve credits a kilo!"

Fay covered her nose. "Oh please Miyu, you're not going to eat that!"

"Come on Fay, don't you want to make me happy? This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance for me! I may never be able to eat one of these bad-boys again."

"Well, if you put it like that... okay, I'll pay for it."

"Yes!" Miyu slapped the cornicello as well as a single raw clam on the scale. "We'll take these, please!"

Fay became worried at the sight of the clam. "H-hey! Who's that for?!"

A strong amphibian with sky-blue skin and an apron came over to the register. "You sure you want this, ma'am? Cornicellos are natural aphrodisiacs!"

Miyu waved a dismissive paw. "Like there's any truth to that myth. What do we owe you?"

After weighing the mollusks separately, the Aquan calculated the price and Fay handed over her credit chip. The seller (could it have been Uncle Vibrio himself?) shortly gave the card back and passed the shellfish over on two paper plates with some utensils. "Enjoy! And don't eat that cornicello anywhere near them fine handsome Bayoon boys!"

"Oh don't worry, Fay will hold me back. Right Fay?"

Fay giggled a little, but didn't respond—the inside joke being their aversion to amphibian males, but it wouldn't do to insult them in front of the seller. Instead they walked a few feet from the pavilion, where Miyu passed the clam over to Fay.

"Aww, do I have to eat this?"

"You'll eat it and you'll like it; trust me. And don't gulp it down either—you have to chew on it to release the flavor."

Fay pried the clam shell open, revealing the unformed alien embryo she was talking about earlier. "Ohhh my god. This is why I can't do horror movies."

"Go on, scoop it out with the fork. It's just one clam! I'd make an entire meal from just raw shellfish."

Fay held onto the plate and the shell with one paw while using the fork to skewer the meat with the other. The globe of gelatinous flesh wobbled on Fay's shaking fork all the way to her mouth. She shoved her eyes closed and popped it in, chewing a few times before swallowing.

"And? How is it?"

Fay smacked her lips while timidly opening her eyes. "Well, it's not as awful as I thought it would be. Rather salty and sour? But it's the texture that's the worst part. It's all cold and slimy!"

"That's how you know it's alive!" Miyu explained.

Fay's eyes widened. Her hand darted to her stomach. "Oh Miyu... it wasn't. Please tell me it wasn't!"

"Hah haaa..." Miyu chuckled evilly before going to work on her own shellfish. She found it difficult with a plastic knife, but she eventually managed to saw off a few bites of the cornicello's siphon. Closing her eyes too—but for a much different reason—she slid the first bite in her mouth and bit down.

"Mmmm..."

"You're joking!"

"I am not!" Miyu lashed out with a full mouth, tossing in another slice. "This is honestly the best seafood I've ever tasted! Parts of it are crunchy, chewy, and soft. And it's got a salty and sweet flavor—almost like lobster, just with it's own unique taste."

"I'll take lobster over that any day. Now can I have some real food? Raw shellfish don't agree with my stomach; especially not the first thing in the morning."

"Fine. I've got my meal, but let's get you something. Uh... looks like there's another food pavilion over there."

Fay's stomach growled. "Great! At this point I'll eat anything as long as it's cooked."

Miyu smiled. "It serves fried alligator, snake, and eel meat!"

The spaniel threw her paws up in the air. "Nope, I've lost it completely. It's gone; my appetite's gone!"

Miyu slapped her on the back, laughing. "Okay okay, there's a nice normal food tent to the left a bit. It looks like they serve food that can satisfy your picky appetite."

"Good, I'll get a nice safe hot dog and we can leave."

While the next pavilion didn't have hot dogs or other standard fare, Fay settled on a catfish sandwich with coleslaw. She bought Miyu a Cornerian Cola while buying a locally-squeezed lemonade for herself. Finding an open area populated by benches they sat down to eat—far away from any other fair-goers.

Fay bit into her sandwich, but waited until she swallowed to speak. "So, there was something urgent you wanted to tell me about?"

Miyu continued cutting slabs of the cornicello off and chewing on them. Through the juicy pieces filling her mouth she said, "I'm a time traveler."

Across from her, the spaniel spat out a mouthful of food, exploding in laughter. "You just wanted to get me down to Bayoon so we could eat, didn't you? Talk my tail!"

"No, Fay—"

"I see it now!" Fay laughed. "You needed an excuse to go to this carnival and make me buy you that cornicello. But, your plan's not as simple as that. You've been masterminding this for a while now! Everything was a ploy to get that disgusting "delicacy"! Accepting the mission from Jetta Toré, "accidentally" letting Black Mamba escape, and casually suggesting we land here, in the middle of nowhere. Only it's not the middle of nowhere. It's the center of cornicello haven!"

"Enough with the conspiracy theories!" But Miyu was unable to suppress a laugh. "Seriously Fay, listen. And don't interrupt!"

For the next few minutes Miyu relayed almost everything that had recently happened to her over the past two days that technically didn't even exist anymore—that had no longer happened. Though in the process she did leave out a few choice memories. Fay did as Miyu told, and kept quit through her entire story, carving away at her sandwich. But she did treat Miyu with a variety of negative facial expressions.

When Miyu was finished she took a few seconds to catch her breath. Then she asked, "Any questions?" before digging back into her cornicello.

"Just one," Fay said as she pointed with her plastic fork. "And it's a long one. So, you expect me to believe that we beat up a gang of pirates on speedboats, then I consumed some magical yellow ice-cream and ate you alive?!"

Miyu crossed her arms, having finished the last of the savory cornicello. "In short, yes."

"Proof?"

The lynx leaned closer, gesturing with her hands. "Can you tell me the name of this festival?"

Fay shook her head.

"Great, 'cause I know what it is. It's called the "Munzagoringu" festival."

Fay gave her a funny look. "So? You could have read that off a sign somewhere, and I just happened not to see it."

"Oh, right. Well, how 'bout this; I know there's a famous TV star that's currently eating breakfast at..." She trailed off, realizing that hadn't worked the first time. "Goddamn, here we go again. No wait, I know. I just proved that I have foresight several times just a few minutes ago. Remember when I predicted the fare for renting the dock space?"

"You could have looked that—"

"—Looked that up ahead of time, I know," Miyu finished for her. "Then how do you explain the crazy Aquan lady outside the bathroom?"

"You didn't predict that at all, she was already there before you said anything."

"But I knew she would think we were the chosen ones!"

"Maybe there's a crazy cult of Aquans around here that thinks every foreigner landing in a spaceship is a chosen one! There are tribes like that on Fortuna. Again, you could have researched that ahead of time!"

"Grrrh!" Miyu slammed her fists down on the picnic table, drawing an array of glances from nearby citizens. "It's impossible!"

"Shh! Calm down!" Fay coaxed her. "From what you've told me, you managed to convince me you were telling the truth after you predicted the pirates' location. Right?"

Miyu buried her head in her hands. "Well, kind of. You were mostly confused and didn't know what to believe afterwards."

"Why can't you just take me out there again and show me? If they're there, I promise I'll believe everything you say!"

"I guess we could go out there again..." Miyu lazily started. "But it's really dangerous. Both times we've ventured beyond the black stump we ended up dying! Very violently, I might add!"

"You died both times," Fay pointed out, jabbing her fork. "I survived the second time."

Miyu huffed. "Yeah, if you can call turning into a zombie and eating your best friend surviving. I'm not even sure what happens after you turn. I hope you're not still aware of what you're doing and trapped in that zombified body. It would be awful to wake up and see what you've done."

"Actually, since you're still alive right now, doesn't that mean you survived both times?"

"Well, yeah—"

"That's awesome!"

Miyu finally raised her head, fixing Fay with a sleepy expression. "Wha?"

"You're invincible!" Fay exclaimed, grabbing her arm. "You've got nothing to fear from any pirates or swamp creatures or hungry zombies. No matter what happens to you you'll wake up back here. So why are you so worried about chasing the pirates again? What's the worst that could happen?"

Miyu stared into Fay's shining eyes. "I'd see you die again."

"Oh." Fay looked down at the scraps of food left on her plate. For a few awkward seconds she scraped around her coleslaw bowl, silent. Then, as an idea struck her, she raised her head and smiled brightly. "Well, I'm still here. As long as you come back I'll always be waiting for you."

Miyu opened her mouth to retort, but found no response. She hunched over and began playing with the cornicello shell dejectedly.

"Let's say you get killed again, and time resets. How do you convince me you're telling the truth?"

"I don't. It just plays out like this conversation again, and you're able to throw doubt on everything I tell you." Miyu was mumbling darkly at this point. "Unless I learn something new and am able to predict it next time around, nothing will change."

Fay climbed over the table a bit, getting closer to Miyu. She whispered, "What if I tell you a secret?"

Miyu's ears perked. "A secret?"

"A secret that I've never told anyone before. What if you're able to repeat something to me about my own life that no one else has any business knowing? Wouldn't that work?"

"I mean I guess so... but you'd have to dig up something first."

Fay plopped back down on her bench. She looked off into space and scratched at one of her floppy ears. Finally she raised a triumphant finger.

""Hey there princess, need a hand?""

Miyu cocked her head. Fay had delivered the line in a suave manner, as if she were mimicking someone else's voice. "What?"

""Hey there princess; need a hand!"" Fay repeated. "That's the first thing James McCloud said when he rescued me."

"James McCloud... rescued you?" Miyu asked in disbelief.

"That's a story for another time," Fay back-paddled, "but the relevant bits are that some hooligans tossed me in a suitcase and tried to ransom me back to my uncle. He hired Star Fox and they rescued me. Even though it was almost a decade ago I still remember as clear as day when James opened that suitcase. His frightening pair of sunglasses, but also his colorful scarf and that stupid, cavalier grin on his face. That's when he said, "Hey there princess, need a hand?" and I think I've been in love ever since!"

"Oh!" Miyu looked down at the table, slowly putting things together. That was why she was so keen on joining Star Fox to begin with. Only now did she truly understand why being rejected from the team was so hurtful to Fay.

After some more thought, she said, ""Princess"? But I call you that all the time."

"Just say it in the same dashing manner I first used, and you'll have me convinced," Fay reassuringly instructed. "Throw in the story about how James saved me for good measure."

"Great, it's settled then!" But Miyu's newfound optimism quickly evaporated. She slammed her head against the table, hopeless. "Now I just have to die so I can use it..."

Fay grabbed her hand. "Miyu, don't talk like that! What if you're wrong, and time doesn't reset? Don't you dare do something utterly obtuse just because you think you'll respawn once you die. I won't allow it!"

Miyu tightly gripped Fay's paw in return. "Alright, I promise not to throw my life away like that—anymore than I would regularly do something rash and stupid."

Fay let out a deep breath and wiped her brow. "Whew! Now that you've decided not to kill yourself, what's our real next course of action? Do you want to go after the pirate captain? Even if she's not on the other side of... Mount Oona-booga-loogie, at least we'll catch a scenic view flying there."

Miyu shook her head. "No, flying is too dangerous. They'll spot us and shoot us down, or overwhelm us with superior fighters. Or you know, they might hide. We'd have to sneak over there, through the swamp... and I do not want to go through that ordeal for a second time."

Fay snatched up both of their plates, then made a short trip to a nearby trashcan and back. "What if we pretend to be their allies again? Join up with them, offer to split the reward fifty-fifty, double-cross them at the last minute?"

The lynx sighed. "That's no good either. Black Mamba already made it to their base, and they tried to have us killed last time. When we were sailing up the river with the pirates, Gladys called and ordered them to shoot us. Well—that wasn't exactly how it went down. Iggy asked for the Aquan necklace first."

"Would he have shot you once you handed it over?"

Miyu nodded.

"Then why wait? Why didn't he shoot immediately, then pry the necklace from your helpless corpse?"

"You have a way with words Fay... but that's a good point." To aid her mindworks, Miyu lifted the pendent out of her shirt and stared at it. A scallop shell, the ridges of which were polished away to reveal the mother-of-pearl interior. A reflective surface carved in the rough shape of a hand. But what could it mean?

"I'm convinced this artifact has something to do with it."

Fay let out a quick breath of air. "What, are you implying it's some sort of magic?"

The feline shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe it's some super-advanced technology created by Ancient Aquans."

Sitting at the table next to theirs both girls noticed a fat amphibian just in time to see him pick his nose and reach behind to scratch his butt.

"No."

"Naaaah," the girls said at the same time.

"Okay, so it's unlikely," Miyu admitted. "Let's hold off on catching Black Mamba and finding Gladys. Let's hang around Badwash. Do some research. Find someone who can tell us about these artifacts. Even a museum with exhibits on the Ancient Aquans. Let's figure out what the time-loops, pirates, artifacts, and yellow food-coloring all have in common."

"Oh I already know what they have in common," Fay claimed.

"You... do?"

Fay nodded before leaning back and crossing her arms.

"Each and every one of them are complete humbugs."


)✹◯


The door to the hangar bay hissed open, and Black Mamba sauntered through. In contrast to the stark white labs contained within the base, the hangar was constructed from unpainted, stainless steel and chromium. The bay was long and arced to match the curvature of the base itself. On the outside of the curve a series of blast doors remained tightly shut, keeping the elements and the thin atmosphere at bay. Tools lay strewn about the room, supply crates sat haphazardly stacked against one another, and electrical wires and fuel hoses rested in unkempt coils. The research scientists and refuge-seeking pirates often clashed about smaller details such as the organization of the hangar. Even now Cira could see a pair of lab coat-clad scientists admonishing a group of lazy pirates reclining on a mess of equipment. They didn't seem to care—of all the scientists they only respected Andross and maybe his mistress. Each conflict always ended with the pirates threatening physical violence and the researchers backing off. It was all so pointless.

Cira marched around the inside wall of the hangar. On the way to her ship she passed by numerous crew shuttles, cargo transports, and pirate fighters—no two appearing to be of the same build. And if they were, they were heavily customized with decals, extra weapons, or internal modifications. No one wanted to be caught with a default fighter or a stolen, character-less Cornerian ship. As she neared the middle of the bay she spotted Captain Gladys' personal shuttle, as well as Dr. Andross' smaller transport. A large group of personnel were meeting outside.

The hangar was bustling with activity; pirates making last-minute checks on their ships, crewmen refueling fighters, and scientists loading medical equipment onto the shuttles. The sound of electrical discharges, engine sputtering, and yelled orders echoed off each of the chrome-plaited walls. A group of scientists carrying a medical pod unwittingly stepped in front of Cira, then skittered past when they recognized her.

At the junction between their two transports, Andross and Gladys were staring at a notepad together, going over a checklist. A few of the head researchers flanked Andross, while the Captain's Guard stood at the boarding ramp to her shuttle; two of the manliest tigers Cira had ever laid eyes on. Off to the side, away from the main group skulked Andross' pet vulpine. She looked distressed as usual, staring dourly at all the criminals and outlaws carousing together. She was probably nervous at what lay ahead, as were the rest of the scientists. None of them knew what to expect come eclipse—none except Andross.

Once she reached the group Andross and Gladys looked up from the notepad.

"Well Ms. Cortez?" Andross invited.

"I finished the background check. Fay McDomhan is indeed General McDane's niece. She's been traveling with Miyu Tsukikage under her mother's maiden name."

"You flew with Pepper's niece for two years and never knew who her uncle was?" Gladys mocked.

Cira shrugged. "She never told me, I never asked."

"She's most likely traveling in secret," the stoat extrapolated. "The old dog would never allow her to join a mercenary team. That mutt's gotta catch up to the times. There's nothing wrong with a young girl defining her own identity and going into a combat position anymore. This is 1013 for god's sake!"

"What tipped you off?" Andross asked the pantheress.

"The drone surveillance. Fay and the lynx traded passing comments in the swamp, and I managed to verify them."

Andross frowned and looked away. "Well this was unforeseen. How could I have predicted the Consulate General's niece would be prancing into Badwash in the middle of our operation?! She could blow our whole cover and bring the Cornerians in prematurely. You know someone up there hates me!"

"Calm your hairy monkey nipples, Dr. Bowman," Gladys soothed in her thick voice. "When the Cornerians come we'll be ready for them."

"You'll be ready to turn tail and flee like you did at the Sector!" Andross shouted, pointing an accusatory finger.

Gladys rolled her eyes and snapped her fingers. Her two guards—one orange and the other a less common white tiger—marched over. Andross realized too late what they intended to do. At the same time, both of the Captain's Guards grabbed his arms and kicked his legs out from under him. They slammed him down against the steel floor, knocking the wind from the unfortunate scientist.

At this point in the confrontation, Andross' pet scientist noticed her superior's predicament. She looked over with concern, growing more visibly worried than before. While Cira always knew she wanted nothing to do with Andross' research project, the primate was still her protector and possible ticket off Bayoon.

With Andross pinned and struggling on the ground, Gladys stepped over and dug her pointed heel into his stomach. She flipped open a makeup kit and began applying lipstick while looking into a small mirror. "You know Milo," she casually spoke to the white-furred tiger, "I'm so glad we stumbled upon this secret base perfectly hidden from the Cornerians. Even though I am graciously thankful that someone invited us here, I keep forgetting who our host is. If he wasn't around to constantly remind us of his worthless existence, I might forget entirely. Say if he was too... oh, accidentally step out of the hangar and plunge a few miles to his doom, I would never know he existed in the first place. And then we'd have this base all to ourselves. No maniacal ape messing with things best left alone, no bossy scientists skittering around like rats, and no insane science projects that will inevitably attract the dogs' attention."

From beneath the Captain's heel, Andross ground out, "Go ahead, throw me over the edge. I'd give anything to get away from you you sick freak."

Gladys moved her heel, digging around beneath the neck of Andross' lab coat until she located his amulet. "Of course I'd be taking this before I do. Oh this article of jewelry is too precious to leave on your corpse. There's something... royal about it. A pendent fit for an empress. It's just so me."

Andross' eyes widened when she found the necklace and threatened to take it away.

Gladys grinned down at him, snapping her makeup case shut. "Not so confident without your little pendent, are you? I could take it away and then kill you. Then my pirate empire could stay hidden in Bayoon and have no ambitious "research" project that could reveal our location to the Cornerians. I don't need you anymore Andross. You need me."

Andross breathed heavily for a few minutes, staring up at his captor. "But I can promise you the fruits of our research. When we succeed with our experiments we will have found the secret to controlling every individual in the Lylat System. Don't you want that power?"

Gladys frowned. "I have no intention of becoming a mock god. An empire is just no fun without proper enemies who can resist. I will use that power to put us on an equal footing with the Cornerians, and whenever the pendulum swings too far in their favor... I'll snap my fingers and reset it. What you're seeking is the Great Equalizer, Andross—you just don't know it."

"And you are a coward scared of true progress," Andross reprimanded. "Your banal, naïve desire is to keep the status quo for all eternity. You're a child unwilling to grow up and face change! That monster's power will unlock the next step in our evolution."

Gladys knelt down closer to Andross. "And you are forgetting that creature isn't a monster because it's huge and ugly. That very power is what makes it a monster. Steal its power and use it in the same way it intended, and you have become the monster."

"So be it," Andross mumbled.

Realizing she was making no progress with the simian, the Captain gestured her bodyguards off of him. "Your stubbornness will be our downfall, Andross. You can keep the pendent for now, but if you kill me my men will in turn kill you and send all of us back to square one. Deal?"

The orange tiger extended a hand to Andross, who was still sprawled out on the floor.

"Deal," he sighed. He took the hand and let the guard help him up. Brushing himself off, he said, "Let's not waste anymore time here. Oakley, give the order to suit up."

A scientist behind Andross nodded. "Yes sir!" He relayed the order over an intercom system, which demanded the attention of everyone in the hangar. After hearing the order, all of the scientists in the room began donning brightly-colored hazmat suits. While the pirates refused suits of their own, they did opt for gas masks, which may have been just for the intimidation factor. Some of them already wore gas masks for cosmetic purposes anyway.

As Gladys and her entourage ascended the boarding ramp into her shuttle, Andross turned to his mistress. He passed her a hazmat suit. "Here, let me help you with this. It's just a safety precaution, I assure you."

Growing impatient, Black Mamba sidled up to the pair. She cleared her throat.

Andross looked up from helping his fellow scientist don her suit. "Oh, right. Your orders." After zipping up the ridiculously baggy hazmat suit, he turned to Cira. "You have two objectives in Badwash. The first is to recover the lynx's necklace. She's managed to get herself killed twice already with it, and while I appreciate the chance to repeat this day more efficiently, it becomes monotonous at a certain point."

"And my second objective?"

"Kidnap Pepper's niece. You don't have to kill the poor girl, just bring her back to a transport shuttle or shove her in your fighter's cargo hold. We can use her as leverage if the Cornerians discover our plan too early."

"Have the necessary repairs been made on my fighter?"

Andross nodded, placing a gas mask over the vixen's face. "I believe the engine and the cargo hold are fixed. Ask the hangar crew for a full list, but your ship is completely operable. Now run along, and grab a gas mask on your way. You'll need one to."

Cira bowed curtly and left Andross' shuttle. Walking past a few more transports she arrived at the Evryali. Like Miyu and Fay's the ship was a Katinese interceptor with high maneuverability but relatively weak armor. It was wider than most, but conversely lightweight. The wings were large and formed a diamond shape together, with numerous aileron flaps for increased turning control. The rear thrusters had more mobility than standard fighter models and allowed for exceptional thrust vectoring. She kept the Evryali faithful to her usual color palette of black with purple and gold highlights.

Pivoting mid-stride she marched towards a gas mask dispensary. The crewman passing out the masks saw her coming and hurriedly readied one. Upon her arrival at the stack of open crates he presented it to her. Cira looked down at the mask with displeasure. She handed it back.

"Do they come in black?" she mumbled.

The crewman nodded knowingly before fishing through a couple of the crates until he found one.

Gas mask in hand the feline slunk back to her ship and hopped aboard. Sinking into her cockpit she turned on the internal HUD and started a system-wide diagnostics check. The previously damaged engine and all of the cargo hold functions came up green, but she physically checked them just in case. The engine screamed to life, startling a few scientists who had been passing by at the time. Worked as good as ever.

Eventually Captain Gladys' voice forced its way through her intercom, communicating with every ship in the hangar at once.

"This is your captain speaking. It is time for our task force to descend. Can whoever's closest to the control tower open the bay doors? There's a sweet sugar plum."

With a metallic jolt the gates lurched open, then continued descending into the floor and ceiling like the teeth of some monster. The air was immediately ripped from the hangar and replaced with thinner, barely breathable atmosphere. Outside was a curtain of milky white clouds, and beyond those, open air.

As engine after engine powered on in the bay, Gladys's voice once again hailed over the comms.

"All units, begin the invasion."


A/N: This'll be my last update on Y60L for the rest of the month, maybe. I have to work on a contest entry that's due at the end of June, so all of my efforts will be concentrated on that. If you're interested in reading it, any of the other entries, or even joining the contest and writing something yourself, checkout the Foxhole forum where we're hosting it. It's an OC-centric contest, and my entry is in no way related to anything I've written before (in fact that's the point of the contest). See you all later, and hope you don't mind the wait.

I've also gone back and reorganized the content in chapters 4-6, since it was so disproportionately weighted towards the latter two chapters. Now it'll be easier to read.