Chapter Nine

...Like A Cosmo Burned

The first thing on my mind when I found myself laying on a bed in the Star Fox HQ's infirmary was getting to my laboratory and opening the door to my private quarters: that was where Cosmo would be. As Samus tried to recover from my sudden awakening and the dash afterward down the hall, I could hear her running towards me yelling something. She would catch up with me in the lab soon enough.

"Welcome back creator. Your…" my head nanobot tried to say as I gave him a signal to be quiet. He obeyed without question, as I had programmed him to, and I quickly inputted my seven digit security code. When I opened the door, Samus was just getting inside my lab. She didn't say anything as I walked in and saw Cosmo standing naked before the broken glass chamber that I'd kept her in. The pot which had held her when she was still a white seed was shattered inside the chamber.

"Samus, do me a favor and get me a spare uniform." I ordered Samus as she hesitated.

"What do you need it for and who's in there with you? You just woke up from being comatose!" Samus started to object as I started to get frustrated.

"I will explain as soon as you get me the uniform alright?" I yelled a little as Samus reluctantly complied with my request and walked out of the lab. She returned a few minutes later with a medium-sized, all white uniform with long sleeves. I took it from her and shut the door to the room until Cosmo had finished getting dressed.

When Cosmo walked out Samus gasped at my soul mate. After explaining everything, which took a considerable amount of time, Samus nodded at me and tried to process everything I had said.

"So what you're telling me is that you discovered that the reason that your soul mate didn't grow again after becoming a seed is because she lacked a certain element native to her now destroyed planet which the drug Regeneral contained. You injected the seed with the drug along with enough fertilizer to speed up her growth until she reached your age. The result being what I see here." Samus told me as I nodded and then told her about why I fell into a coma and about my journey to heaven…and hell.

Samus didn't say anything due to the intense shock she felt. But I got the feeling that what I'd said had reminded her of something because she signaled for Cosmo and me to follow her into the hangar. That's when she told us what was going on with Team Star Fox.

"No wonder you didn't get them when I first awoke! And you say that your last contact with them was just before they started to land on the planet Venom? How long ago did they leave?" I asked in a hurry as Cosmo and I started to get the Blue Typhoon ready for takeoff. It was no small relief to me that it was still here in the hangar.

"About nine hours ago give or take. That's what worries me: they haven't contacted me since." Samus replied as I explained a way that I could get to Venom in minutes.

"Then let's go to Venom. I just hope that Team Star Fox isn't in too much trouble." Samus answered as we started up the Blue Typhoon and took off.

A few minutes later, after using the warp rings I had on board, we began our descent into Venom's poisonous atmosphere. I could just barely see the Great Fox through the heavy cloud cover and I landed on a stretch of meadow within about fifty yards of it. And that's when I saw Dr. Robotnik, and Sonic, in the cockpit window.

Unfortunately Cosmo saw them too and she jumped out of the Blue Typhoon and sprinted to the Great Fox. When I finally caught up to her she was trying to rip the side door off the ship.

"I don't think that my friend Fox McCloud would like you trying to destroy a part of his ship." I told her as she glared at me with a look of pure hatred that I hadn't seen since we'd escaped from the depths of hell. But I knew that it wasn't directed at me.

Thankfully for the Great Fox, Dr. Robotnik opened the door thinking it was a member of Team Star Fox. He barely had time to express his shock at seeing someone he thought was dead before his companion in the ship was being kicked around like a soccer ball. As Sonic tried to recover, in the few seconds he had, he caught a glimpse of me entering the ship.

But he didn't have time to say anything to me because he had to worry about Cosmo's hands on his neck…and trying to breathe of course. As much as I wanted to join in I also knew that my friends on Team Star Fox could be in serious trouble. That and I didn't want my curse to flare up again. So as I put my hand on Cosmo's shoulder, I tried to reason with her.

"I think he's had enough payback for now…I know that you'll never get enough to make things right and we need to go help my friends on Team Star Fox. So please, let the no-good backstabber breathe again, okay?" I asked Cosmo pushed my arm away.

"Not a chance. I love you, but he's going to feel every pain that I felt. He's going to suffer for his crimes…" Cosmo growled as Sonic managed to kick Cosmo off of him long enough to respond.

"I've been banished from my home on penalty of death and I have to live with the fact that I stabbed my best friend in the back. I'm suffering enough…" Sonic said through what had to be intense pain. But Cosmo wasn't finished: she ran at Sonic and speared him with the same intensity that I'd seen her hit the nogitsune in hell with less than a day ago.

"I happen to disagree you sick bastard!" Cosmo yelled as she slapped Sonic hard across the face, stood up, and began to kick him repeatedly in the abdomen and chest: it was like she was going to stomp a mud hole in Sonic and walk it dry. I couldn't just stand by and watch this even though Sonic certainly deserved it: I walked over to Cosmo and held her down as Sonic struggled to his feet and held his battered chest with his right arm.

As Sonic held his hurting neck and started to cough, I forced Cosmo to look at me face to face and we had a conversation just in staring at each other. She began to cry as I told her, in my facial expression and in a whisper that only she could hear, that the road of vengeance was not one she wanted to take. It would only make her a prisoner again.

Before she could respond to my words, however, I started to hear the footsteps of someone coming towards us.

"What's going on?" a woman's voice said as Dr. Robotnik rushed over to the part of the ship that Cosmo and I couldn't see.

"It's okay, Maria…nothing's going on. You should get some rest." Dr. Robotnik told her as I suddenly felt bad for letting a brawl happen in front of Dr. Robotnik's cousin…even if I hadn't known she was present.

"Sorry for letting foul language and a brawl happen in the ship. I didn't realize that Maria was on board…look, when Sonic has gotten his second wind, tell him that me and him need to have a talk aboard the Blue Typhoon. I'll guarantee his safety while I ask him some questions that I have about his betrayal…just promise me that you'll make sure he doesn't try getting a ride off the planet. I'd hate to have to go looking for him." I told Dr. Robotnik as he pleasantly agreed. He knew what I'd do to Sonic if he didn't want to be an adult and take responsibility for his sins.

As Cosmo and I left the Blue Typhoon I saw Samus using the scanners in her armored suit to try and locate Team Star Fox. When she did she started running towards their location as Cosmo and I followed her at a rapid pace.

We arrived just in time to see Slippy being picked up and ensnared by one of the trees ahead of us and to hear the cackling laughter of the vile-looking creature ahead of us. On the left was Andross and on his right was Ridley: they looked very confident, but lost a little bit of it when they saw Cosmo and I…especially when Cosmo touched her hands to the ground and closed her eyes in an attempt to focus.

"This creature is manipulating the planet's foliage, but he doesn't know that I have this same ability. I'm going to rip the plant life from his grasp and free your friends, but I need you to take care of the other two." Cosmo explained to me with a little bit of guilt in her voice for what had happened earlier. I nodded and unsheathed my dire scythe as I held Cosmo close so as to let her know that I didn't hold anything against her…I couldn't imagine how hard it would be to not take revenge for what Sonic caused her to have to go through.

"Well once Team Star Fox is free, they can handle Andross so I'll keep Ridley at bay." I replied as I rushed at Ridley with a fury. The creature who was controlling the planet tried to stop me, but Cosmo ended the attempt before it began. As for Ridley, he only flew a few feet off the ground before my absolute lordship over the powers of wind brought him back down to earth with a loud and painful thud. After having a few moments of conversation, in secret, with him Samus caught up to me and put a missile lock on Ridley's head.

"It's over scumbag! You move an inch and you're going to be a head shorter. And unlike your weak and pathetic excuse for an army you won't be able to make it grow back." she threatened as Cosmo finally managed to rip control of the planet's foliage from the cat and snake-like freak. As Fox, Falco, and Slippy started to recover Cosmo used one of the trees next to Ridley to trap him. As for Andross, he was heading to Ridley's ship and fast. But he didn't get very far: the Galactic Federation and the Cornerian Defense Force had arrived. They landed their ships in front of Andross and he wisely stopped and surrendered himself.

Meanwhile Dr. Viper was struggling to free himself but with no success: Cosmo had proven that natural skill beats accidental mutation any day. But something worried me and my instincts proved correct as I saw Dr. Viper use the little bit of movement he had gained to poke a small spot on the right sleeve of his lab coat.

"I…I'll never go to prison again! You may have captured my partners but the great Dr. Viper has one last trick up his sleeve." Dr. Viper told us as a small syringe suddenly slid down his arm. It looked like something a magician would do and I would have been impressed…if I hadn't noticed that the syringe contained some kind of chemical. With one movement, Dr. Viper injected the chemical into his neck. Cosmo released control of the tree that had held him in disgust as Dr. Viper's mutated body oozed off the tree and was absorbed by the surrounding soil. Seconds later, we were saluted by who I assumed to be the commander of the GF and by General Peppy Hare.

"Great timing, guys." I told one of the soldiers coming towards us as Cosmo gave me a stare that told me that it would be a good time for us to leave.

"Where are you going, Miles? And is that who I think it is next to you? Is that your soul mate? I thought she was dead!" Slippy rambled as I smiled and silently thanked Falco for the hard slap that he inflicted on the back of Slippy's head.

"It is my once deceased soul mate…I guess I have a little explaining to do." I sighed heavily as I began to tell them about everything that had happened while I was in a coma. When the shock of the almost unbelievable news wore off, Falco moved forward a little to ask a question of Cosmo and me.

"So you and Cosmo are immortal…you'll never die." Falco said as he tried to come to terms with what I'd said, just like the others.

"Not from old age anyway and Cosmo could only die from the Degeneral drug. I could die from lethal wounds, sickness, or poisoning just like anyone else though." I replied as I noticed that Slippy was visibly upset.

"You resurrected Cosmo and went to hell to retrieve her soul while you were comatose…do you realize that you changed fate itself? Do you realize how much of a violation of ethics that is?" Slippy said as my very blood began to boil.

"For one, I didn't resurrect Cosmo. I have Sonic to thank for that…if he hadn't joined a black and red hedgehog named Shadow in resurrecting her as a white seed right after she died, I wouldn't have been able to bring Cosmo back to what she is now. As for ethics I already had that discussion with the Lord of the Afterlife, King Yemma, and I hardly think you're in a position to judge me or my actions." I said carefully so as not to aggravate my curse with anger. Fox, Falco, and Peppy, to their credit, agreed with me.

"You are out of line, Slippy. I know that if my wife had died like Cosmo did, and I had the means to, I would probably try to bring her back to life. So quit trying to play the moral know-it-all and just be happy that they have another chance to be together!" Peppy lashed out at Slippy as he cringed at Peppy's tone.

"As for where Cosmo and I are going, we have some unfinished business." I told them quickly as I turned around and saw Sonic standing behind Cosmo and me.

"He heard everything…" I thought as he continued to stand there with a look of intense sadness and regret in his eyes and face. I had to give him a little credit for his bravery: he knew that he could very well get hurt again by one or both of us. Dr. Robotnik and Maria were behind him and they showed concern for that very possibility. But to Cosmo's credit, she held back her intense hatred and desire for revenge just enough so that I could talk to him.

"I just want to know two things and I want you're complete honesty, even if you know without a shadow of a doubt that it will be something I won't want to hear. We'll meet in the Blue Typhoon as soon as things finish getting resolved here. I also want to say something else, too."

"What would that be?" Sonic stammered in fear.

"You're not the same hedgehog that stabbed Cosmo and I in the back…you've had a change deep inside because of all this. We will never be best friends like before and I will probably never be able to trust you again…but no matter what is said in the Blue Typhoon in a few minutes, I'm going to try and forgive you." I told Sonic as he began to cry in both sorrow and relief. As I took a quick look at Cosmo, she stared at me in confusion, shock, and anger at what I'd said: I knew deep in my heart that forgiving Sonic was something my soul mate would never be able to do…not in a thousand years.