Hello!

This is Baeowulf, but most of this chapter was actually written by my good friend and co-author Jaybird. Anyways, it's good to see you people again; hopefully from now on it will be on a weekly basis. Anyways, we're back, and we sincerely hope that you are enjoying Star Fox: Deception.

And now, we return to our feature presentation...


Reaper strode forward slowly, dragging Fang along the ground next to her. Bright red sparks sprung from the ground at the tip of her sword, and the jackal's grin widened at the nervous look on Krystal's face.
"Onyx, please..."
Reaper sneered, a cold, uncaring look of utter contempt crossing her features. It was not an appealing look.
"I thought we already had this conversation. Don't call me that."
Doing her best to stand straight, Krystal put on her most determined look. It wasn't easy. "I'm not afraid of you, Onyx. I've defeated you before."
"I told you -" a sword slash, which the vixen barely dodged, "- not -" another near miss, "TO CALL ME THAT!"
Reaper's blade whistled through the air straight at Krystal's skull. She held her staff up feebly, already tiring, and winced as the impact knocked her off her feet. She was amazed at the jackal's speed, she had seemed much slower the last - oh...
"No Fox here to save your skin here this time, eh, sister?"
oops.


Fox groaned. Nothing good ever happened when those marks showed up on his radar. Three marks so perpetually annoying he had customized them to sound an alert when they were anywhere nearby. He really didn't need them now, but there they were. Three little blinking red arrows, closing fast. He activated his comm. panel.

"Star Wolf, six o clock."
"Aw, come on!" moaned Falco. "Will we ever get enough of these guys?"
"Bring 'em on," Katt growled.

"Alright, they saw us. Remember, that Sci-Pon guy told us to kill them if possible, but I doubt we can. He told us to distract them from the battle, which it looks like we've already done." Wolf relaxed in his padded command seat. "This looks like the easiest job ever. All we need to do is stay in the sky."
"Excellent," said Panther. "... although it really is a shame that Kry -"
"shut it, Panther. I'm looking forward to this, try to be less annoying than normal." snapped Leon shortly.
"Engage!" shouted Wolf.

As the six ships convened in the center of the city, each started firing at the opposing side. The Wolven fighters, strangely, did not seem to actively try to bring down their quarry, however, instead retreating. Fox saw them approach the Red Squadron. Bill was in there.

"Oh, no, you don't." muttered the vulpine angrily, and shot after them.


Leon sat boredly at his panel as he flipped around in a loop, dove toward the ground at the speed of sound, pulled up only a few hundred feet up, and corkscrewed away from the avian in close pursuit behind him, matching his moves with equal ease. It would have been so easy to turn around, now, and actually bring the fight to the stupid bird, but he knew it would mean that Star Fox could then engage in open combat, exactly what Psion didn't want. So he kept trying to fight off tiredness as he found new ways to keep his ship at a safe distance. A carefully-aimed shot from behind him soared at the tail of his fighter, and he waited until it was about to critically damage his steering before pulling up and watching the bolt hit a giant sign, collapsing it onto the street below. Unfortunately, thought Leon, nobody was hurt. He chuckled, knowing that the blue bird behind him was mentally berating himself for the destruction. Not that it mattered. Leon took every chance he had to fire off volleys at any important-looking structure he saw. Stopping in the middle of a barrel roll to fly upside-down underneath a sky bridge, he could see Wolf and Fox in the distance, similarly engaged...

It took every ounce of self control Fox had to not ram Wolf's ship. A bounty hunter, sure, but helping Psion?! This was low, even for Wolf! Fox veered around in a tight turn, pulling his arwing in a tight circle around Wolf's ship. Fox fired, beams of green energy lancing from the cannons of his arwing, but they just barely missed Wolf's ship, disappearing into the distance as they passed just behind the Wolven's tail.

"Getting a little rusty, pup?" snickered Wolf, sneering. Fox's temper rose, threatening to boil over.

"Don't you wish!" Fox killed the engines of his ship, dropping about 100 feet before reactivating them. He swooped up behind Wolf, and nailed the vulpine pilot in the tail with three well placed shots. A small plume of smoke erupted from the rear end of Wolf's ship. Wolf cursed under his breath and Fox grinned widely, chuckling under his breath. "Who's getting rusty, Wolf?" Fox said, smiling before bringing himself back to his senses. "Why are you helping Psion attack Corneria? Don't you have any dignity left whatsoever?!" he shouted into the comm. Wolf laughed.

"Don't act so high and mighty, Fox," he said, his voice sinister. "I know all about what Krystal did to Reaper; you're no better than I am!" Fox snapped.

"How DARE you insult Krystal!" he shouted, wheeling around in rage. He fired again and again, but he was getting careles, and his shots flew wide to the sides. "Krystal told me everything; Reaper betrayed her, not the other way around!" Wolf sat in his ship, easily dodging Fox's poorly-aimed shots.

"Whatever really happened, it doesn't matter now; Reaper's probably wiping Krystal's blood from her sword as we speak!" This sent Fox over the edge. Wolf sat smugly in his cockpit as Fox charged him. Wait for it, wait for it, he thought to himself, and just as Fox was about to ram him, Now! Wolf hammered on the brakes, pulling behind the Arwing. He sent shot after shot ramming into Fox's ship, and explosions erupted from the vessel. Even after the vessel was mortally wounded, Wolf didn't stop firing until the engines and wings had dissintegrated beneath his fire. As he fired the last shot, an unnatural scream erupted from the cockpit of the Arwing, and it shifted into a white pod, plummeting towards the ground in flames. Wolf wasn't surprised; he'd seen stranger in the past few days. The lupine pilot grinned smugly, holding his craft still in the air for a few moments.

"Goodbye, Fox," he muttered, and zoomed off once more to join the fray.


Now that she knew that she was on her own, boxed in, with Reaper, Krystal was a lot more cautious than normal. For the most part, she was doing her best to stay as far from her old sister as possible, where her psychic powers gave her a significant advantage. However, she was having trouble aiming while running, and couldn't unleash her earthquake in the middle of Corneria, so she wasn't having any more luck than Reaper was.

"Come on and fight, coward!" her adversary taunted.
"Ordinarily I would, but you have a sword and I don't." replied the vixen calmly, looking for a way to get back to her ship. She didn't know she would be fighting one, strong, opponent, and so had left her blaster in her borrowed Doppelganger ship. "Stupid," she thought, berating herself.

It was hopeless. Reaper blocked her at every turn. They resumed circling each other, neither wanting to draw closed. Krystal would lose the fight within seconds, and Reaper was all too familiar with the disadvantages of reckless attack. They stopped, merely staring each other down. A stray Doppelganger creeping up behind Reaper, obviously unfamiliar with her status of ally, was skewered without the jackal even turning around. Grey sludge spattered her dark black-purple fur, and she smiled. Her unspoken meaning was clear: you're next. Finally fed up with waiting, Reaper lunged forward, her blade flying, but Krystal easily dodged the frantic swipe. Despite her initial strength, Reaper was tiring fast, whereas Krystal needed merely to step aside as Reaper wasted energy. It was strange that she was getting so exhausted. Surely her sword wasn't that heavy... Her sword... Reaper's mental defenses slipped, Krystal easily gained access to her mind, and she saw what the jackal was thinking. And then her uneasy look, her growing restlessness, and her steadily mounting mistakes hit Krystal all at once. She remembered.

She remembered the day they had each graduated, the day she had gotten her staff and Reaper her blade. She remembered the elders telling them about the special properties of each. For the first time in a long time, she remembered the specifics of the ceremony and the tactics associated with the weapons.

The elders stood before her like it was yesterday. Strange that she could see them so clearly after so long...

"Krystal, you have graduated with not a few misdemeanors under your belt, but also with an astounding record for instantly learning anything we present you with. You have displayed an incredible aptitude for navigation in the astral plane with our guides, and can use your powers in combat to devastating effect. You have proved your worth, and you are deserving of this staff, animus. Animus has long been a symbol of your intellect, courage, and power."

Reaper beamed at her. It looked almost foreign on her face to Krystal, now.

"Reaper, you have received every merit of courage and prowess we have to offer. You have rapidly risen through our ranks despite your late induction into the academy, and have surpassed every test of fortitude and strength we have given you. Your skill with a sword is near legendary, and as such we have seen fit to give you Fang. Use it well: its power grows as it saps the strength of your targets. However... It will also draw on your energy if it goes without fuel. It is a sword which only the bravest dare use, and you are our bravest. Your education is completed. Go well, Krystal and Onyx. Find... truth... go forth... when...

Krystal's eyes snapped open as she dodged Reaper's third blow. That was it. Reaper was trying so hard to kill Krystal now because she needed the energy, or her sword would drain her and eventually be only a piece of metal wielded by an exhausted and battered warrior. Which meant... all she needed to do was not die, and she would tire slower than Reaper would. Reaper knew this. And so do I, thought Krystal.

But a determined fighter with nothing to lose is still dangerous, and Reaper was by no means down and out. It could take half a minute for her to lose her energy, it could take ten minutes, it could take an hour. Krystal hoped it was soon. Knowing now that her primary goal should be to merely hold Reaper off, rather than to defeat her, The vixen leaped at her opponent. When the dark jackal sneered and raised her sword to defend herself easily, Krystal adjusted her swing to instead hit Fang's hilt. The blow caused a metallic clang as both of them were jarred and thrown off balance by the impact. Krystal, having a lighter weapon, recovered faster and rolled away from Fang's tip as it lodged in the ground beside her.

Reaper gasped at her, realizing that Krystal was no longer trying to attack her directly. The smile playing at Krystal's lips was all the explanation she needed. Krystal knew. It was time to end the battle, NOW.


Katt wasn't one to lose her cool in a combat situation, so Panther's inane drivel didn't really affect her. Nevertheless, she kept her lines open; partially so that her team could contact her, partially because Panther was just distracting himself.

"I'd like to see you again once this is over."
Katt was silent.

"Really, you're being quite impolite," Panther said as he spiraled around a skyscraper before flying off. Katt easily followed, but couldn't get close enough to fire safely. Clearly, this is what they all wanted.
"Shut it, loser."
"Ooo, hostile! Almost a bit... feisty..." Panther raised an eyebrow.
"Have your fun, and then stop deluding yourself. You're so desperate now that you -"
"Okay, I can take a hint. Think you could at least hook me up with Krystal? Is that so unreasonable? Really, I'd love it if we could just -"

And on, and on, and on. Katt realized that it was by now so easy for Panther to come up with stupid things to say that he could do it unconsciously, and without impacting his flying...

She casually tapped the "mute" button on her panel and grinned as Panther's mouth continued moving wordlessly.

A red light flared behind her, and a second later an explosion rocked the ship. Katt quickly checked her shields, then her radar: 60%, with another wolven fighter behind her. She closed her communications to all but her team and restored the volume. "Fox, Falco, there's another fighter on my tail. I think we actually need to work together here, there's more of them than us."
Falco's face appeared. "I'm kinda busy here, Leon's learned a thing or two recently about flying."
"Fox? Could I borrow you from Wolf for a moment?"

"Fox?"
"Foxie? You okay over there?"

Then Katt saw a plume of smoke and the wreckage of a doppelganger ship far below. She panicked, then forced herself to stay calm. He's fine, she thought. I just didn't have my communications open to the eject pods, he's just fine... He can go help Krystal and Amanda and Slippy... please?
"Fox is a good pilot, Katt, he'll be fine."
"I hope so... Let's go. Two of us, three of them. I'll see if I can lure them over to -"
"I don't think so. Just stay in the air, I shouldn't have too much trouble pushing Leon over. Falco out."


Fox was anything but fine. The navigations on the eject pod were completely foreign to him, and he had managed to kill the engines by pressing random buttons. Foolish... This was definitely new. He was free falling, at a random angle, without any way of stopping or steering. All he could hope was that he could jump. His face brightened as he saw Krystal ahead of him, holding her own against Reaper...

Reaper screamed as she charged Krystal. With no source of energy nearby, she had lost steam fast. She knew she was on her last legs, but Krystal was right there... It was so painful to know that she was seconds away from finally avenging herself, but simply couldn't do it. If there had been a horde of soldiers backing her up, it would have been easy: kill the soldiers, use their energy to fight Krystal. But she was alone and unguarded, and as such was completely safe from the most feared warrior in the entire system. Talk about humiliating.

Krystal easily sidestepped her swing and knocked Fang out of her hands. The enchanted blade lost its glow and skidded to the other side of their makeshift arena, stopping about twenty feet from where they each stood. Reaper considered running for it, but knew she would be unconscious before she got halfway there. Instead, she stepped away from Krystal's staff, barely dodging the expected blow, and drew a long, curved dagger from within her gauntlet. Her eyes narrowed to slits as she whispered "I'll kill you yet."

Fox's elation at watching Krystal defeat Reaper quickly turned to horror as the jackal drew a wicked knife and lunged at his wife. Focused on the battle, he realized he was nearing the ground far too late, and bailed out of the falling pod only a few dozen feet from the ground.

Krystal gasped as Reaper stepped away from her swing and drew a dagger from her gauntlet. Something caught her eye, a white ovular pod falling from above them, and she looked. Reaper saw her opportunity and leaped forward, dagger outstretched.


Looks like Krystal's in trouble! What will happen to Fox? Will Corneria be destroyed? Will Psion prevail? What is the truth behind Krystal and Reaper? Only time may tell...

The winds of time blow on, shifting the sands of reality into ever-changing patterns.

- Baeowulf