Star Fox: The Saurian Adventure

Chp. 11

Krystal's dreams were, for once, devoid of nightmares; no premonitions of impending peril, no dark memories of past tragedy. She slept more soundly than she had slept since Cerinia's immolation – so she was more than a little irritated to have her slumber interrupted by a tickle on her nose. She tried to ignore it and go back to sleep, but the sensation persisted. Eventually it became too much to ignore, and she opened her eyes – to see nothing in front of her. The tickle persisted, so she crossed her eyes to focus on the tip of her muzzle, and saw a butterfly that had landed on her nose. The tickling sensation she felt came from the insect's tiny feet as it walked across her face and spread its wings to catch the rays of the morning sun. She sneezed violently, the blast of air catapulting the butterfly up a foot into the air, where it tumbled for a second before regaining its balance, and flew off to a more stable perch.

"Cheeky insect," Krystal murmured to herself in Cerinian. Her nose still tingled, but the urge to sneeze again didn't return. Morning was breaking over the horizon, the soft glow of sunrise barely visible over the cliff that ringed Thorntail Hollow. She sat up and stretched, luxuriating in the feel of a good night's rest, then looked down to see Fox still snoring gently beside her. She smiled to herself; despite his mercenary profession, there was an air of nobility about him. It wasn't a matter of bloodlines; it was a purity of heart and mind (well, perhaps not completely of mind) that made her feel comfortable in his presence. She nudged him gently and whispered in his ear, "Fox, time to wake up."

He mumbled slightly and rolled over, before opening one bleary eye to see Krystal watching him, with an amused expression on her face. "What? What is it?" he asked.

"It's time to get up, that's what it is," Krystal told him with a smile. "I take it you are not a morning person?"

"No, not really," Fox said. Nonetheless, he managed to sit up without any further prompting. "I'm not really awake until I've had a cup of coffee in the morning."

"What's coffee?" Krystal wanted to know.

Fox smiled a bit to himself. "Let me get a cup of water to boil and I'll show you." He took the stainless steel cup that he'd used the previous night and filled it up with water from the stream that ran through the middle of Thorntail Hollow, then he set up the camp stove again and started heating the water. While he waited for the water to heat up, he opened a package of instant coffee and inhaled the aroma.

"Mmm, that smells nice," Krystal commented over his shoulder. He jumped and turned to see her leaning over and sniffing the air near the opened packet. "Could I have a taste when it's ready?"

"Sure, I guess," Fox told her. "Although, coffee doesn't usually taste exactly the same way it smells, especially instant mixes like this one."

"I'll try anything once," Krystal told him.

The water had come to a boil, so Fox took the cup off the heat and poured the contents of the packet into the water. He stirred the liquid around, and Krystal watched in mild fascination as the water turned from clear to black. Fox waited until he was sure that the coffee had cooled to the point where it wouldn't burn anyone's tongue, then offered Krystal the first drink. She took an experimental sip, and grimaced at the bitter taste of the black beverage. "It must be an acquired taste," she told him, as he tried to hide a smile at her reaction. Truth be told, he preferred his coffee with creamer and sweetener, not black as it was now; only the fact that his taste buds were still asleep kept him from making the same expression Krystal had as he drank the rest of it down.

"I don't suppose you have…err, had anything like this back home?" Fox asked her suddenly.

"We had chtai," Krystal answered. "It was a beverage that came from the leaves of certain plants in Cerinia's tropical regions. The leaves were minced and steeped in boiling water, and the drink it made was similar to your coffee, except… a bit sweeter," she said with a wry grin.

"Sounds like I might have liked it," Fox told her with a smile.

"Yes, probably," Krystal replied, a trace of sadness creeping into her tone at the thought of something else lost with her homeworld. Strangely, though, it didn't seem quite as sharp a pain as other things had before. Perhaps it was because she was sharing good memories of her home with someone, instead of dwelling on the bad by herself. She looked over at Fox again, to see him mentally kicking himself over bringing up another sad memory for her.

"Stop that," she told him. At his blank look, she elaborated, "Don't beat yourself up over bringing up memories of my homeworld. Because of what happened, every memory will be bittersweet, but to pretend that it never existed, just to avoid that pain, is…unhealthy." She paused for a second, then continued, "Actually, I think that by sharing the good memories with you, I make them stronger. My people believed that by remembering those we love who have passed on, they lived on within us. Now, I'm the only one left to remember a whole world, and having someone to share that with makes it easier to bear."

She reached out to tenderly brush his cheek as she said this, and was more than a little amused at how his anxiety level spiked whenever the two of them were in close contact. On Cerinia, no one bothered to hide their feelings, because everyone could already tell what you were thinking. Fox was no telepath, so he wasn't used to having his entire mind on parade display all the time. He was more used to hiding the true extent of his feelings, but Krystal was convinced that all she had to do was be patient, to let him open up to her at a pace he was comfortable with. She knew, in her heart, that she liked him, and that the feeling could easily grow into love; but she also knew that if she pushed things too fast she'd be more likely to scare him off than anything else.

After a breakfast of cold ration bars, which Krystal actually ate faster than Fox, they packed up the bedding and stowed it back in the Arwing's cargo compartment. Krystal doffed the sheet that she'd had wrapped around her body, and folded it up neatly before tucking it back in the sleeping bag as Fox rolled it up. This left her in her usual bra-and-loincloth outfit that seemed to draw Fox's eyes whenever he didn't have some immediate task to focus on – as it was doing now. She smiled and asked, "So, which way to Snowhorn Wastes, then?"

"Umm, I think we go up the ladder behind the well and that passage will lead us to Snowhorn Wastes," Fox answered hesitantly; he was still a little distracted by the image of the vixen who stood before him. He shook off the paralysis that seemed to envelop him every time he let his gaze fixate on Krystal, and turned to head towards the indicated path. Something nagged at the back of his mind, something that he was forgetting; but it didn't come back to mind, so he shrugged it off and stopped at the ladder. He turned to Krystal and said, "Ladies first?"

"Actually, Fox, I think you ought to lead this time," she said with a slight grin. Fox wondered why she would say that, then realized; if she was climbing the ladder, first and he was below her…. He wrenched his line of thought away from that course before it could get him into trouble. He could feel his face heating up with chagrin, and turned towards the ladder to hide the fact that his ears were beginning to turn pink from his blush. Not that it really mattered what he did, she could probably sense the embarrassment directly from his mind. He climbed the ladder that led to the upper level, but when he got to the top, he nearly fell off with surprise; Tricky sat right in front of the ladder, grinning widely.

"Fox, you weren't thinking of leaving without me, were you?" the Earthwalker prince said with a trace of censure in his tone.

"Um…honestly, I wasn't thinking about it one way or the other, actually," Fox confessed. "Sorry, Tricky, I completely forgot." A tap on his boot served to remind him that Krystal was coming up behind him, and he quickly scrambled the rest of the way up the ladder so as to give her room to ascend the rest of the way. She blinked in surprise at seeing Tricky waiting for them at the top and asked, "How'd you get up here?"

"Sorry, it's a secret. Mom made me swear not to tell, "Tricky said.

"Don't worry about it too much," Fox told her. "Look on the bright side; it means we don't have to carry him every time we come to a ledge or a ladder."

"No small consideration," Krystal affirmed. Although Tricky wasn't that tall at the shoulder, he was longer than he was tall and, being a dinosaur, was no featherweight. Carrying him, especially for any great length of time, would likely be a royal pain.

Now that their party was fully assembled, they started on the hike to Snowhorn Wastes. The path they travelled was actually more of a tunnel that led through the cliffs and to the other region. There was a section that crossed through what appeared in structure to be a sewer, except that instead of cess clear and pristine water ran through the channel. They were saved from having to swim through it by a ledge that ran along the edge of the corridor; it wouldn't be a good idea to arrive in a sub-zero environment soaking wet. Again, the nagging feeling that he had forgotten something important echoed in the back of Fox's mind, but for the life of him, he couldn't figure out what it was.

From what Fox had been able to tell, Thorntail Hollow could almost act as a sort of hub, a central crossroads from which they could access any other territory (except for the ones in orbit, of course) without having to cross the entire rest of the planet in the process. Fox would have thought, considering the temperature difference between the two regions, that the path would have been longer, or that he would have at least noticed a distinct slope as they changed altitude, but the path was level and flat, and it was only about ten minutes before the group of three emerged in the cavern exit that led out onto Snowhorn Wastes proper. The guard didn't give them any trouble, and let them pass through without incident.

Fox and Tricky emerged into the sunlight again, blinking their eyes from the glare of light reflecting off the snow. Krystal wasn't as affected by the glare, but she had a much more urgent concern. As Fox turned around, he could see her with her arms wrapped tightly around her torso, eyes wide and teeth chattering from the cold. "I th-think I m-may be a b-b-bit underdressed," she managed to stammer out. Fox slapped his forehead in disbelief. After all that he'd suffered from the cold his last trip through here, how could he have forgotten that Krystal had nothing on that would help insulate her from the below-freezing temperatures?

He thought frantically, racking his brain for a solution. By the time a drop pod arrived from the Great Fox, Krystal would likely be suffering from intense hypothermia, so that wasn't a viable solution. He thought for a moment longer then remembered his vest; it wouldn't keep her warm in a blizzard, but it could keep her core body temperature up high enough that she wouldn't suffer from the cold much. He swiftly shucked the vest and held it out to her, and said, "Here, put this on, it'll help at least a little."

She looked at him with the utmost gratitude in her eyes, and put the vest on around her shoulders and fastened the closures in front. She frowned for a second and wiggled it around, trying to get it situated so that it was more comfortable.

"Is something wrong?" Fox asked.

"Nothing much," she said, "it's just a little tight across the chest, and…Don't you DARE laugh!" she shouted, seeing him turn away and put his hands over his mouth to stifle a snicker. He coughed to try to cover it up, and she adjusted the vest a little more before she felt comfortable with its fit. Finally, she had it situated so that it was comfortable to wear, and didn't rub or press uncomfortably against any part of her torso.

"Better?" Fox asked after she was finished.

"Yes, much," she replied. "Although, please understand what I mean when I say I hope we don't have to stay here for very long."

"Yeah," Fox agreed. "Let's find Garunda Te quickly so we can get back to a warmer environment." The three of them walked out of the cavern and across the snowfield. Fox hoped to ask the Snowhorns where they could find Garunda Te, but none were in immediate sight. His attention was diverted by the sight of a large wrought-iron gate set into a section of the cliff, with a large lock prominently set into the wall opposite the hinges. 'Eh, it's worth a shot,' he thought to himself, and pulled out the key that the Queen Earthwalker had given to him the night before. It fit perfectly into the key slot, and with a slight twist to the left, the gate unlocked with a clunk and swung slowly open.

"I can hear a voice," Krystal said quietly. "It's coming from over there." She started towards the source of the sounds she heard, with Fox and Tricky following close behind her. The trail led them around a small rise and up a hill. From there, the voice became distinct; a call for aid coming from what at first appeared to be a frozen-over pond. As they drew closer, however, it became evident that the 'pond' was actually a sheet of ice over a large sinkhole, inside which was held a somewhat haggard-looking Snowhorn. Unlike the other Snowhorns in the area, this one wore a metal cap on his head, and had metal tips on the end of his tusks. Krystal knelt by the hole that was left in the center of the ice sheet, and asked him, "Are you Garunda Te?"

"That's me," the Snowhorn said. "What brings you here?"

"Ah, we're looking for you, actually," Fox said, coming up on Krystal's left. "We were hoping you could let us into the DarkIce Mines, but…it looks like you're the one who needs help first."

"The Sharpclaws have imprisoned me in this infernal cave," Garunda Te said. "Normally, I could break this ice with little effort, but right now it's been so long since I've eaten, my strength isn't what it should be, right now."

"Just hang on there, we'll get you out," Fox assured him. He took the sharp end of his staff and began chipping away at the ice, starting at the central hole through which the imprisoned Snowhorn could still breathe. Krystal joined him in the effort, while Tricky kept watch for trouble. After several minutes, Fox stopped chipping at the ice and took a breath. "Whew, this is too slow," he said.

Krystal was about to offer encouragement when movement caught her eye. "Fox, we've got trouble coming!" she warned. A trio of angry-looking Sharpclaws sauntered out from a cavern and took up positions to attack the would-be rescuers. These were the same blue-scaled specimens that he'd faced earlier in this region, and Fox wondered if they were stationed here because they could handle the colder temperatures better than their tan-colored cousins. Others began to pour out from the cavern, threatening to overwhelm the party with sheer force of numbers.

"If you can bring me some Frost Weeds, I should be able to break myself out!" Garunda Te shouted to them. "Hurry!"

"Great," Fox said in reply. "So where do we find those?"

"Here!" Tricky called. "This tree has Frost Weeds on it!" Tricky suited action to words by ramming the tree so indicated and shaking loose one of the semi-parasitic plants that were attached to the top. It dropped to the ground and the Earthwalker prince grabbed it and rushed to the hole where Garunda Te's trunk emerged like a snorkel. The Snowhorn grabbed the weed once it was within reach and pulled it down under the ice, where he promptly consumed it. Tricky hurried back to the tree to grab another Frost Weed, while Fox and Krystal set up to cover him during his errands.

Fox met the first Sharpclaw to approach him with a rapid one-two-three strike, battering it about the head and shoulders and knocking it to the snow, unconscious. The second he greeted with a roundhouse kick to the chest that dropped the dinosaur back on its tail, then he downed it with a blow to the head. The grunt's helmet kept the blow from breaking any bones, but it was still a powerful enough hit to knock the dinosaur unconscious. Despite their losses, the Sharpclaws continued to press forward, and more emerged from the cavern to replace those who had fallen. "Just how many soldiers are in there?" Fox wondered aloud. He turned to see if Krystal needed any help, but was distracted by the graceful way in which the azure-furred vixen fought.

Several Sharpclaws were already kissing the snow where she stood, and even as Fox turned to watch, she dropped another grunt to the ground with a flurry of staff strikes. The next grunt was sufficiently far away from her that she could spare a second to kick a Frost Weed over to Tricky. The Earthwalker continued his back-and-forth errands, operating under the protection of the two foxes. Krystal then turned her attention to the approaching enemy, flourishing her staff before stabbing it straight out like a spear, catching the Sharpclaw in the stomach with the blunt end of the weapon. The dinosaur fell to the ground, curled up in a fetal position with the pain. Another grunt attempted to rush her while she was distracted, but she sensed his approach immediately and pivoted to face him, swinging her staff low to cut his legs out from underneath him, and then reversing her swing and slamming it across his shoulder blades as he fell, driving him face-first into the snow.

A glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye was all the warning Fox had of the dangers of being distracted in a combat situation. Fortunately, his pilot's reflexes were up to the task, and he ducked in time to avoid the agony of a fractured skull; a whoosh of air by his face showed him how close he had come to experiencing the sensation. The Sharpclaw that had attacked him, expecting a hit to absorb the force of the swing, overbalanced and allowed Fox the opportunity to slam his staff down on the dinosaur's back. Despite the party's success in combat, however, more and more guards just kept pouring out, and Fox began to despair of ever beating all of them. He readied himself for the next wave, but a trumpeting bellow cut through the noise of the battle, and all heads turned to the source of the noise.

Tricky had finally gotten enough Frost Weeds to Garunda Te that the Snowhorn gatekeeper had regained a measure of his old strength. He burst out of the ice that had covered his prison with a roar, ready to exact vengeance upon those who had imprisoned him. The Sharpclaws knew they stood no chance against an enraged Snowhorn bull, and as one they dropped their weapons and turned and fled. He watched their retreat with a mix of amusement and disappointment, and then turned to those who had helped him break free. "Ah, the young prince," he said by way of greeting to Tricky, whom he saw first. Then, seeing the two foxes standing next to the Earthwalker, he asked, "And, ah, who are these with you?"

"These are my friends Fox and Krystal," Tricky replied. "My mom sent us to find you; we need your permission to enter DarkIce Mines to retrieve the SpellStone."

"The SpellStone, hmm?" Garunda Te mused. "As a Gatekeeper it is my duty to guard the land from which the SpellStone was forged; but I am also the chieftain of the Snowhorn tribe, and have a responsibility to care for my people as well. When General Scales had taken the SpellStone for DarkIce mines, he came to me with an ultimatum; allow him to take the Stone back into the land from which it had come, or he would slaughter my entire tribe. Despite this threat, I could not risk the safety of the entire planet, no matter what the consequences, so I refused him. My daughter, Belina, however, disagreed with me, and used her own powers to open the way herself." Garunda looked down at the ground for a second before continuing, "She dishonored me, and all the gatekeepers, by giving in to Scales' demands."

"I'm sure she was only trying to save her people," Krystal said diplomatically. "I don't think that was a winnable situation."

"You are probably right, young lady," Garunda Te said softly. "And despite what she did, I still worry about her safety. Her actions may have saved our tribe from extinction, but instead of destroying us Scales enslaved most of us instead. He has taken his captives up to the Mines, to labor in them, my daughter included. If you should happen to see her…"

"We'll keep an eye out, I promise," Fox assured him.

"Thank you, young man," Garunda said, relief evident on his features. "I shall open the gateway for you, but you will still need a way to actually reach the Mines." The Snowhorn chieftain exhaled softly, and a trail of luminescence left his trunk and spiraled into the sky. It opened up into a funnel-like portal, eerily similar to depictions Fox had seen of black holes, a comparison he was not too happy with.

He shook off the discomfiture he felt at such a resemblance, and turned back to Garunda Te. "Don't worry, we have our own transportation." He left out the little worry he had about how he would fit three people into a craft designed only for one, but knew there was a solution somewhere. He shrugged and left it alone; like everything else so far, the solution would probably become evident once they reached that point. "Is that everything, then?" he asked the Snowhorn.

"Your path is cleared," Garunda answered him. "Success or failure rests solely in your hands now."

"Great, then let's head back to Thorntail Hollow. Is everyone ready?"

"We're ready!" Krystal and Tricky chorused back to him. The group turned to head back to their unofficial base of operations, all of them glad to leave the frigid climes of Snowhorn Wastes behind them for the time being. They passed through the entrance to the cavern without incident, and made their way through the caverns and tunnels back to Thorntail Hollow. When they emerged in the ledge that overlooked the rest of the area, Tricky simply dropped from that level down to the ground, while Krystal slid down the ladder and cleared the way for Fox to follow. Once he was down, she turned to him and asked, "What's next?"

"First order of business is to get some warmer clothes, for both of us," Fox said, chuckling at Krystal's emphatic agreement. He began walking back to the Arwing, opening a comm channel to the Great Fox in the process. Looking around, he noticed that Krystal had wandered off elsewhere to find some supplies. When the signal got through, Fox saw that Slippy was on comm duty at the time. "Hey, Slip, how's it going up there?"

"Slow, Fox," the amphibian replied. "But other than that, it's not too bad. Do you need anything?"

"Yeah, could you guys drop two sets of cold-weather thermal suits? I get the impression that the next place I'm going is rather chilly, and I don't think my current outfit is up to the task."

"On their way in just a moment Fox, but why do you need two?"

Fox hesitated, not wanting to open himself up for any ribbing over Krystal, but at the same time unwilling to lie to his teammates. "I, ah, met someone else here who shares our mission objectives, and she doesn't have any cold-weather gear either."

"She?" Slippy said with the beginnings of a smirk on his face.

"Don't start, Slippy," Fox growled menacingly. "Just make sure you get those thermal suits on the way."

"Sure thing, Fox," the toad affirmed. "I'm going to put Peppy on the line while I get your drop order ready." Slippy moved out of the transmitter's line of sight, and Peppy Hare appeared in the image instead, sipping at a cup of coffee.

"How's it going up there, old timer?" Fox asked with a grin.

"It's quiet. Just the way I like it," Peppy answered. "No attacks on the Great Fox, and we're high enough in orbit that there's no danger of asteroid impacts. Oh, Fox, before I forget, I think that if you could scan those maps in the store with your PDA, you could use the compass function to give yourself a real-time image of your location in any given region. It might come in handy."

"Great, that means I'd have to buy them first," Fox grumbled. "Otherwise the Storekeeper won't even let me near them." He grinned suddenly at the holographic image of the hare displayed above his PDA. "Looks like you'll be getting a few souvenirs out of this venture, Pep."

"Always good to hear," Peppy replied with a chuckle of his own. "One last thing; I sent General Pepper a message about those Venom drones you fought –"

"Venom?! Did he just say Venom?" Fox jumped at Krystal's voice and turned to see her just an arm's reach away, an intense look in her eyes.

Peppy looked about as surprised as Fox did, though for different reasons. "Fox, who was that?"

Fox sighed in resignation; there wasn't really any avoiding this now. "Peppy, meet Krystal," he said, turning the PDA receiver lens to focus it on her. "Krystal, meet Peppy Hare."

"Um, hello sir," Krystal said, a little uncertainly. It was a new experience for her to talk to someone without him actually being there in front of her, not to mention the fact that she couldn't sense his thoughts over the comm signal. The hare's easygoing, gentle nature seemed to put her more at ease, though.

"Hello, Krystal," Peppy said, with a mix of courtesy and geniality. "If you don't mind me asking, why did you react so strongly to the mention of Venom?"

"Because agents of Venom were the ones responsible for the destruction of my homeworld!" she exclaimed. It was the first time Fox had noticed any sort of animosity in Krystal's tone, but the look in her eyes right now made him glad he wasn't the subject of her anger. "They told us they were trying to study our world, in order to learn how to undo the damage that had been done to their own. We learned too late that they had other, much more malignant intentions, and something went wrong with what they were trying to do, and by the time we realized just what was happening…" She broke off, unable to continue. Fox put a reassuring hand on her shoulder, and she surprised him by turning it into a hug and pressing her face against his shoulder, seeking a measure of comfort in his proximity.

Peppy looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…"

"It's not your fault, sir," Krystal tried to reassure him. "It's just that every time the subject comes up, I get all worked up over it until…" She took a breath to help get her emotions back under control, and it seemed to help, because her next words were much calmer. "I was the only survivor, as far as I know. Sometimes I wonder why I alone was spared when everyone else was lost. Ever since my homeworld was destroyed, I've been wandering the galaxy, trying to find out why. Those men form Venom had some goal in mind, and just because their plan failed once doesn't mean there aren't others who would try to repeat it again, elsewhere. I want to make sure they don't profit from their atrocity."

"I see," Peppy said. "Ah, Miss Krystal..., would you mind if I had a few words in private with my team leader?"

"No, that's no problem," she told him. She looked at Fox for a second then said, "Maybe I could get some of those maps you were talking about in the meantime?"

"I don't see why not," Fox said. "Bedsides, you seem to be a better haggler than I am anyway." She chuckled at his admission, and he handed the Scarab bag over to her. "Get maps for DarkIce Mines, Thorntail Hollow, and Snowhorn Wastes first," he told her as she headed towards the store. Fox turned back to the comm unit to see Peppy with a thoughtful expression on his face. "What is it, Peppy?"

"You're behaving yourself down there, aren't you Fox?" Peppy asked, with a hint of a crooked grin on his face to show that he was simply teasing the pilot. "Keeping your hands where they belong, not letting your hormones interfere with your better judgment?" Fox's mouth quirked in a half-snarl, half-smirk. It was no secret that his personal life was almost nonexistent. While it was true that there were any number of females on the more populated planets of Lylat who would love to be seen on the arm of the great hero, Fox McCloud, Fox felt certain that it was only because of his fame. He belied the stereotype of pilots as smooth-talking womanizers; he was in fact atrociously inarticulate around women, never knowing what was appropriate to say at a given point in a conversation. Still, there was no way he would simply let Peppy get away with teasing him like that.

"Don't worry, Peppy I've been a perfect gentleman the whole time I've been down here," Fox growled. "Krystal's a telepath, apparently, so if I wanted to try anything untoward, she'd know immediately. And, if I did make any advances she didn't like, she'd probably knock me on my butt."

"How did you two even meet? And I can't help but notice that she was wearing your vest."

Oh, we just sort of…ran into each other," Fox said nonchalantly. "I offered her my vest because one of our latest trips took us to a frigid section of the planet and she was a little underdressed for the weather. And I f you're implying that I'm only trying to get into her pants…don't worry, she doesn't wear any," Fox concluded with a mischievous smile. He snickered at the choking sounds coming over the comm; apparently, he'd caught Peppy in mid-sip with that little tidbit, and the old hare was struggling to digest that image. After the hare had recovered, Fox continued in a somewhat more sober tone, "Realistically, Peppy, she seems to know what's going on here a bit better than I do, and she's no slouch in a fight. I think our mission here benefits from her presence."

Peppy nodded at Fox's assessment of the situation, and replied, "It does seem like you have your head on straight about her, Fox. If Venom was involved in something outside the Lylat system, then I'm pretty sure General Pepper would be interested to hear about that. I'll forward that information to him next time we send an update. Peppy, out." The hologram faded from sight, and Fox turned to look back in the direction of the Thorntail Hollow store. He didn't see Krystal anywhere, so he started walking over to the entrance to check up on her.

He was almost to the cavern mouth when he heard her voice: "Fox, could you lend a hand?" He hurried the rest of the way and looked down to see her juggling twelve rolled-up sheets of parchment, six under each arm. His eyes popped at the sight of so many maps, and he scrambled down the rock face to offer assistance.

"I'm sure I only asked for three maps," he said.

"You did, and I got those first," she said evenly. "But since I was in there already, I went ahead and bought the rest while I was at it. We're going to need them all, eventually."

"Alright, alright," he said. "So, how much did they all cost?"

"Altogether? Fifty-four Scarabs. I found a small alcove that apparently Shabunga doesn't know about, and I was able to find a few Scarabs there, so you have twenty-six Scarabs left in the bag." At his open-mouthed gape of astonishment, she giggled. "You did say that I was a good haggler, and honestly I think that Shabunga enjoyed the process. He managed to finally sell all the dusty old maps sitting in his store, and we have a much clearer picture of the areas we'll be travelling to. The best deal is one where each party feels like they got the better and of the bargain."

Fox shook his head in amazement at her shrewd business acumen, even as the two of them began walking back towards the Arwing. He probably wouldn't have been able to fare as well as she had against the storekeeper; granted, she could tell exactly how far she could underbid the price while it still remained acceptable, but he would have probably wound up dropping far more money at the store than she had.

Krystal's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Oh, while I was looking around the area for supplies, I found some of these," she said, indicating a trio of fuel cells. "Are they important?"

"Yeah, you might say that," Fox said. Important was a masterful understatement; with these three fuel cells added to the ones he'd already found, they now had enough fuel to reach DarkIce Mines… which meant that, if everyone was ready, then it was time for them to be on their way. He looked up into the sky, and saw the drop pod coming down on a course that would have it landing a few yards from the Arwing. Once it landed, he pulled out a pair of white snowsuits, perfectly suited for the colder temperatures they were going to encounter at DarkIce Mines. He donned his and showed Krystal how to put her own on, then turned to see where Tricky had gone to. He found the Earthwalker prince stalking a pair of blue GrubTub mushrooms, although it seemed for play than an actual attempt to eat them.

"Tricky," Fox shouted, "it's time to go!" The young Earthwalker came bounding across the field, eager to be on the way. Fox tapped a pair of buttons on his PDA and the cockpit and bomb-bay doors opened on the Arwing.

Tricky looked uncertainly at the bomb chute. "Um, Fox, are you sure this is safe?"

"Don't worry Tricky, we tested this already; the bomb bay is airtight when sealed." This was, in fact, the manner in which he and the rest of Star Fox had managed to smuggle an organized-crime informant out of a space station once, during the long hiatus between jobs they'd been waiting through. That had been back before Falco had left the group to strike off on his own. Tricky tested the ramp hesitantly, then walked up into the bay and settled down.

"Where do I ride?" Krystal asked.

"There should be just enough space behind the pilot's seat if I adjust it forward all the way," Fox said. "You could probably squeeze in there; unless, of course, you want to trade places with Tricky," he finished with a grin.

"I think I'll ride with you," she said. "I enjoy your company." She giggled at his suddenly nervous posture, and asked, "So are we all ready to go then?"

"Yeah, all fueled and ready," he said, his voice in a higher register than usual from tension. He waved a hand towards the Arwing and said, "Ladies first?"

"Why thank you sir, you're too kind," Krystal said. She vaulted up the steps that led up to the cockpit and settled herself in behind the pilot's chair, then Fox came up after her and strapped himself in. "You alright back there?" she asked her.

"I'm comfortable enough," she replied.

"How about you, Tricky?" Fox called through the floor into the bomb-bay.

"It's completely dark in here, but otherwise, I'm fine." Tricky's reply came through a bit muffled from the material between him and the pilot, but clear enough.

"All right, then, off we go!" Fox shouted, bringing the throttle up slowly and guiding the starfighter up into the air. When he had enough distance between himself and the ground, he titled the craft's nose up to the sky, and punched the throttle to full. The Arwing leapt forward as though eager to get back into space, and was swiftly lost to the sight of the Thorntails that watched from below. The group was off to get their first SpellStone.

Author's notes: Whew, this is probably the longest chapter I've typed for this story. Sorry for the delay, but I hope this chapter was worth it.