Chapter 14: Until It's Gone

Part 3: Crash Course

In the cockpit of Krystal's arwing, Phoenix was getting rather nervous. The giant dreadnought's engines had gunned behind them, and the whole ship was beginning to rumble. The vulpine felt a jolt of inertia as the Great Fox rose into the air before it leaned forwards and exited Sargasso's number four hangar.

"I'm opening the gates now," Slippy said over the intercom.

Red emergency lights illuminated the ship's docking bay, and a warning siren began to blare over the ship's speakers, signaling the airlock was about to be released. In front of Krystal's arwing the hangar bay doors slowly crept open, revealing a sea of stars, asteroids, and mismatched ships outside.

"Krystal, I don't think this is a good idea," Phoenix whimpered as the massive void of space opened itself up to him.

"Whaddya mean, Lionheart?" Krystal ignored Phoenix for a moment as she leaned forward to prep her fighter for launch.

Eyeing the curves of Krystal's lithe back, Phoenix explained, "Well, there's a bunch of asteroids out there... you know, floating rocks? It-it would be much better if I learned to fly in like, empty space. And then there's gonna be the Cornerians, right? And I guess we're the bad guys here, which means they'll be shooting at us. Do you... do you really think I can dodge asteroids and laser fire?"

"Ahhh, don't worry about," Krystal said, waving him off. She leaned back, crossing her elbows behind her head and kicking her feet up onto her arwing's dashboard. "You've got an expert pilot with you. If the going get's tough, I'll take over."

"Gee, I-I-I don't know, Krystal," Phoenix continued, but Krystal began to lose patience and elbowed him in the stomach.

"I guess you'll just have to hit the ground running, Lionheart." Then, after a sudden change in attitude, she sat up and turned towards him, bracing her arms on the seat's armrests and leaning intimidatingly close to Phoenix's face. "Remember what happened earlier today, Phoenix? You haven't exactly escaped from that mess, yet. One more whiny comment out of you, Phi, and you're a goner. It's over. I shoot you, open the canopy, and set you loose in outer space. Got it?"

Phoenix gulped and nodded.

"That's more like it."

Falco's ship rose up beside them, and slowly tilted forward until it had cleared the hangar. Once it was a few meters away from the Great Fox, Falco's engines lit up with a blue glow and propelled the ship away at lightning fast speed. All Phoenix could do was stare wide-eyed at Falco's rapidly disappearing ship. He shook his head slowly. He was not ready for this.

"Ow! Geez," Phoenix exclaimed; something was jabbing his hip.

"Ugh! What is it now?" Krystal complained, exasperated. Looking down between where they sat, she noticed her gun holster pressing uncomfortably into Phoenix's side.

Sighing, she removed the gun and handed it to Phoenix, who reluctantly accepted it.

"Er, what do I do with this?" he asked.

Silently, Krystal glared at him and gestured to a side pocket underneath Phoenix's half of the seat.

"But... what if it goes off?"

"Just put it in already!" Krystal shouted.

Startled by her sudden outburst, Phoenix shoved the gun into the pocket and settled down in his seat.

"Alright, Lionheart, here we go; grab onto something, and try not to piss yourself."

"I'm... I'm ready, Krystal. Just... don't go too fast."

Krystal pressed a series of buttons, and her arwing slowly lifted into the air. She eased the control yoke forward, and the nose tilted slightly down, dipping the fighter towards the gate.

"Let's get this over with; I like to get off quick and dirty."

"Huh? W-what do you mean?"

Krystal's only response was to gun her arwing's engines before they had even left the hangar, causing the ship to leap forwards and zoom out into open space. The sudden increase in g-force took Phoenix by surprise, and he sucked in a quick breath as he was pressed back into the pilot's chair.

"What's the matter, Phoenix?" Krystal teased as she sped the ship up even faster. "Does it hurt much?"

"No-no, it just gave me a little surprise. It is my first time, after all."

"Well don't worry, you'll get used to it."

Phoenix glanced out the left side of the canopy at the formations of ships and clumps of rocks passing by, which began to make him a little airsick. He moaned. "Are you sure we shouldn't go a little slower?"

"Pssh, yeah right. Hey, watch this."

Without so much as a warning, the azure vixen jammed the control yoke to the left, causing the ship to go into a wild spin. The orange clouds of gas, stars, and rock formations blurred together as the ship rotated on its longitudinal axis. Phoenix cried out and instinctively grabbed a hold of Krystal, whose eyes widened in surprise.

"Hey! Whoa there, Lionheart; be careful what you grab! I didn't mean for you to hold onto me, idiot!"

"S-s-sorry," Phoenix stammered as he let go of Krystal's waist, awkwardly trying to find a position for his paws.

When Krystal looked over and noticed the worried expression on his face, she said, "Aw, come on now. Look on the bright side! Remember when we first left Corneria? At least you're on the inside and not the outside this time. That was one wild ride; you did okay for having to be on top."

"Well, well, well, what are you two lovebirds up to?" a provocative voice cooed over their comm system.

Immediately following the transmission, a blood red fighter whizzed by their arwing, slowly spinning in a lazy circle before coming to hover a few meters in front of them. Phoenix recognized the ship as none other than Scarlet's interceptor.

Krystal reached for the call button, but noticed it had been jammed in the "on" position the whole time. "What are you driving at, Scarlet?"

The coy vixen giggled at the other end of the line. "Oh, don't play cute and innocent with me, Krystal; I know what dirty little things you and Phoenix have been doing in that cockpit. It's no wonder you were so eager to have him all to yourself!"

"You moron, I'm just teaching him how to fly!" Krystal growled back at Scarlet.

"Well, listening to the last five minutes of your communications log, you certainly would have fooled me. Getting it on with Phoenix in your arwing? I just love it!"

"Oh, geez, why..." Phoenix thought back to their previous conversation, grimacing the more he replayed it out of context.

Scarlet continued to giggle. "And what a creative setting, too! Why, even I haven't tried–"

Krystal slammed her first down on the mute button, after which both of the foxes' faces turned bright red. They awkwardly looked away from each other, though both were painfully aware of the unavoidable contact between their bodies.

Suddenly turning to Phoenix, Krystal thrust an accusing finger in his face. "Listen up! If you try to so much as touch me, I will personally impale your sorry ass on the giant drill of one of those Meteo Crushers!"

Phoenix cowered down in his chair and raised his hands defensively. "No! Of course not! Wouldn't even think of it!"

Eying him warily, Krystal settled back down next to him and crossed her arms. "Alright, then. Now that we got that cleared up, it's time for your lessons to begin."

Pointing to Scarlet's interceptor, which was pulling off various stunts in a desperate attempt to get their attention, Phoenix asked, "Hey, is uh... shouldn't we unmute Scarlet? It might be safer that way."

Krystal rolled her eyes and leaned against the seat's right armrest. "What, and have to listen to that bitch spout even more crap? Honestly, I can barely tolerate her. I don't even know why we're still frien–"

"Hey, watch it!" Phoenix exclaimed. Diving forward, he grabbed the arwing's control stick and forced it down. The agile fighter craft swooped downwards, narrowly avoiding an asteroid several times larger than a house.

Krystal gasped as they dove beneath the rock, regaining her bearings after a moment and taking the controls back from Phoenix to right the ship. When they were cruising safely along again, she turned to Phoenix, slack-jawed.

"Whoa... nice one, Phi. We would've wrecked the ship if it wasn't for you. Those were... those were some nice reflexes! Damn, Phoenix; how'd you get to be such a good pilot?"

"Well..." Phoenix trailed off, staring into the distance as he remembered all the hours he spent at home playing video games on his couch.

"I hate to admit it," Krystal growled, playfully, "But you might have the makings of a good pilot in you."

"Good to hear. So, is that a wrap? What say we call it quits for today?"

"NO!" Krystal barked. She sighed and rolled her eyes in disgust. "Honestly, you are the most... just grow a pair and learn to fly, okay?"

"Alright, fine, fine. Just teach me already. Please, just get this over with."

"Thank you. So, controls first. That lever you just grabbed is the control stick; tilt it forwards, and the ship dives. Pull it back, and the ship climbs. Gently tilting it left and right will cause the ship to tilt in that direction. Tilt and pull back at the same time, and you'll perform a turn. Use more force and she will roll left or right."

"Like a barrel roll!"

"No, you fucking moron! It's called a... a... what's called? Well whatever it is, it's not a goddamn barrel roll! Get your terms straight! God damn, you're so eager to do your little barrel roll, aren't you, Phoenix? It really gets your hard on, doesn't it? I bet barrel-rolling makes your little dick hard, huh? Of course it does; fans like you are aaaall alike. Fine! You wanna know how to barrel-roll? Just pull back on the stick a bit before tilting it left or right. Wanna try it now, Lionheart? You wanna get all excited and shit, is that it?"

"No, no; it can wait. Just explain everything else to me, first."

"I thought so," Krystal scoffed with a smug look on her face. "So, you have the basics of directional movement down. That lever you see on your left is the throttle; push forwards to accelerate and ease off to decelerate. As for weapons..."

Krystal once again patted the central control stick. "See the red button on the left side of the stick? That fires the lasers."

"How do you aim?" Phoenix asked, still keeping his hands a safe distance from any of the instruments. "Can't you point the cannons in a specific direction?"

"The arwing was only built for one pilot, meaning you fire in the direction the ship's nose is aiming. I'd like to see you try to fly in one direction and fire in the other. The only time that would happen is if your ship were flying in two pieces! Now wouldn't that be a sight!"

Krystal wrapped her arms around her chest as she began to shake with laughter. Finally, she began kicking the dashboard and guffawing outrageously. "I can just see you now! Ace pilot Phoenix! Your ship's brutally bent halfway down the body, you're flying one way and your cockpit and little laser cannons are pointing the other! God I'd want to see that happen."

Phoenix frowned, and his ears flattened against his head. "I don't think it's that funny. I was just asking."

"No no, really!" Krystal exclaimed, beginning to cry. "When you come up on a meteor, you don't try to go around it! You just split your ship in half and pass it on either side!"

"Alright already! Just stop it and continue with your little lesson!"

Drying her eyes, Krystal calmed down a bit and apologized. "Sorry, I'm sorry; I just get carried away sometimes. Now where was I... oh, yes: weapons. The green button on the right side of the control stick charges up a shot that's more powerful than a regular blast. As for the bombs..."

Krystal pointed to a red button encased in a safety glass covering. "Turning that little nob will pop open the case. Hit the red button inside to arm a nova bomb and cause the button to light up; once it starts blinking, press it again to fire. The default setting is for the bomb to explode on impact. Otherwise, you can change it with the system computer, but I'll handle all of that. So... that about wraps it up."

Phoenix blinked, confused. Krystal had left hundreds of glowing lights, buttons, levers, screens, and dials completely unexplained.

"So, I don't need to know what any of these do?" he asked, gesturing to the wide array of uncovered controls.

"Pssh, naw! Of course not! Those are all of the boring safety features and gauges they teach you about in flight school. I never pay most of them any attention, and they're all too advanced for your current level," Krystal tried to assure him.

"Alright, well... what about the brakes?"

Krystal grinned, evilly. "I don't brake."

Phoenix nervously smiled back.

Reaching across him, the vixen slammed the throttle down and exclaimed, "Now let's get out there and kick some Cornerian ass!"

I

For the next half hour, Krystal let Phoenix try out some basic maneuvers as they circled around the colossal hegemony that was Sargasso Spaceport. He was far from perfect, but the vulpine managed to pick up some moves and could hold his own out in the void of space. In fact, he only narrowly avoided collision with other ships seven or eight times. It was a spectacular feat, even, considering the ever-growing cloud of rogue ships circling the spaceport.

However, no matter how much training Krystal was able to pack into the short time they had before the storm hit, Phoenix would never be ready for the actual battle. And when Wolf O'Donnell's gravelly voice announced the Cornerians' arrival over the universal comm network, he felt his stomach sink.

"Listen up, gentle ladies and ugly bastards; it's time. The approaching Cornerian invasion force is more or less four hundred thousand kilometers from the spaceport, and that's four hundred thousand kilometers too close for my liking. What say we show them who owns the Lylat System! We may be the lords of the criminal underworld, but it is we who control the heavens! So get out there, boys, and show 'em who's boss! Let's whip their asses so bad the Cornerians piss themselves whenever they look up into the night sky! No one messes with us, you hear me!? Now go get them!"

"Just listen to that dumb mutt," Krystal scoffed, kicking her feet up on the dashboard again. "Thinks he's so big and important because he has to play daddy to all these unruly outlaws. Where would we be without him, right? What an atlas complex."

Suddenly, Wolf's voice lost its inspirational, commanding tone as he desperately added at a rocket-fast pace, "And if my ex-wife, Sheila, is listening in; please, babe, will you come back? I promise I'll do anything! I'll even give up my drinking hab–"

Krystal flipped the switch that muted his channel and leaned back in their seat. "Pshhh. Pathetic specimen of a lupine, if you ask me."

On opposite sides of the donut ring of fighters circling the spaceport, two wolfin rose into the air, breaking away from the main swarm.

"To all Sargasso pilots; this is Panther speaking," the leopard's hispanic-accented voice announced. "We will be using the universal comm network to communicate. Now, we have already discussed the best method of destroying the Meteo Crusher–"

"Oh no, I wasn't there for that!" Phoenix quietly exclaimed to Krystal.

The blue vixen merely waved her hand dismissively as Panther continued talking.

"–And discussed the basic coordination of our defense run, but I will go over the latter part again. To defeat the Cornerians, we cannot simply rely on our customized craft and lone-muchacho fighting styles; we must work together. That means, no showing off, no infighting, and most importantly, no going it alone. But to work together as a team means we must have a plan; tactics, strategies, and directives. We must all play a part, and perform some special function in this operation. First, Leon and my humble self will split you up into fleets, squadrons, and task forces, appointing designated leaders to guide your defense run. Now, are you with me so far?"

The channel was silent for a moment, before the radio erupted as a loud voice shouted, "LEEROOOOOY JENKIIIIIINS!"

A single fighter broke free from the ring of ships circling the station, making straight for the sea of asteroids.

"Well, he's got the right idea," Krystal said, sitting up again. Pointing to the lone fighter entering the asteroid belt, she commanded, "Follow him."

With some difficulty, Phoenix pointed the arwing towards the incoming Cornerian force, which still was not yet visible through the field. The other fighters were already following suit, ignoring the strategic plan Panther was attempting to work out. Lacking any semblance of order whatsoever, the rogue fleet swarmed away from the station and into the constantly shifting gaps between the ocean of asteroids. Navigating the field of space rocks proved extremely difficult for Phoenix, and Krystal had to take over every time they came upon a particularly dense section of the field.

Once again, Scarlet's interceptor flew ahead of their arwing, flourishing a little as it took up a position in front of them.

"Ughhh!" Krystal moaned as she reluctantly unmuted the vixen. "Fine, Scarlet. What do you want now?"

"Well, it's about time you got to teaching Phoenix the ropes, eh, Krys? After wasting all of that time having–"

"Sorry, Scarlet; I think we're breaking up again," Krystal said with mock distress as she reached for the mute button.

"No-no-no! Alright! Fine! I'll stop. I just wanted to remind you that my offer to be your extra wingman still stands if you choose to accept it."

"Would saying 'no' really stop you? Sure, go ahead if you must. Knock yourself out."

"Aw, you should really be more grateful. Flying with the kid means you won't be up to your normal skill level, right? You need someone to look after you two."

"Hey, I do have Falco on my tail. Right, Falco?"

The radio was silent for a minute before the avian answered. "Er, uh, yeah, I've got your six. I'm just having a bit of trouble catching up to you. All of these extra fighters make it like flying through a beehive, but I'll be there in a minute."

"Glad to know you have my six, feather-brains," Krystal said, sarcastically. "Well, Scarlet, you can follow along as long as you can keep up, but we ain't slowing down for you."

The comm system erupted in laughter. "Really? Me keep up with you? Krystal, Krystal, Krystal; look at me! Just look at this!"

The crimson vixen began flying in large, lazy arcs around Krystal's arwing.

"I am literally flying circles around you – in an asteroid field. That won't be a problem."

"Yeah, well, Phoenix is learning! So shut it or I'll mute you again!"

"Heads up, you two – or three – I've spotted the Cornerians up ahead; some of us have even started to engage."

"You wouldn't dare mute me again, Krystal. You're dead meat without me, and you know it!"

"Well, duh doy, Scarlet; I've got this 120 pound bag of pure useless weighing down my ship right now – a 120 pound sac without balls that can't fly to save its life!" Krystal finished, shouting angrily at Phoenix.

Falco cleared his throat. "We're getting closer–"

"Hey, I never asked to learn how to fly during a battle in the middle of an asteroid field!" Phoenix shot back. "On the one day in several years when all of the criminal underworld goes to war! The largest-scale battle since like... what was it... you all had to save beer from going extinct, or something!? Why did you have to pick today of all days!?"

"Because Scarlet was going to take you out if I didn't!"

"So!? She's not my boss! She's not on my team! You are!"

"Oh, would you two lovebirds shut up and kiss already? I am very quickly losing interest."

Falco was becoming more desperate. "Hey, ladies, listen!"

"Don't you start in with that romance bullshit again, Scarlet!" Krystal warned as she pointed an accusatory finger at the comm's speaker. "I'll mute you! I'll swear to god, I'll mute you again!"

"Don't you dare! Don't you dare touch that button! Move your finger away from that goddamn button, Krystal!"

"Incoming!" Falco urgently yelled.

When Krystal and Phoenix looked up, another massive asteroid was looming over them, fifty times larger than their arwing. By the time they noticed it, it was too late; they were already close enough to make out each and every crater and valley in the surface of the floating rock.

Instinctively, both foxes dove for the flight stick and pulled it backwards, but the maneuver proved unnecessary. Giant fault lines appeared in the massive boulder, splitting the stone apart into several large chunks and thousands of smaller pieces. A large, rotating drill burst through the asteroid, narrowly avoided by Krystal's arwing. As the pair passed through a newly created gap between two of the asteroid's chunks, the full, hulking form of a Meteo Crusher became visible.

"Wow..." Krystal breathed. "Falco... I think I know what I want for my birthday..."

Gawking at the hybrid ship, Phoenix said, "So that's they look like... and Andross invaded Corneria with these things?"

"Yup. Punched a hole straight through the asteroid belt," Krystal answered. "I haven't seen one of these before, since they were only used in the field that one time, but damn; Andross made one badass ship! Imagine what you could do if you rammed one of those into a Cornerian cruiser!"

The vixen took over the controls, spiraling away from the Meteo Crusher until they were a safe distance from the Cornerian forces. From their removed vantage point, the pair of foxes were able to see the entire invasion force the CDF had mustered; there were three main columns of ships, each with a Meteor Crusher at their vanguard. The re-purposed Venomian craft lumbered through the asteroid field, splitting and destroying any rocks that strayed in their path, while the long train of Cornerian cruisers that followed behind picked off any remaining debris themselves. Hundreds of Cornerian fighter squads circled the battleships, though they were already in the process of breaking off to meet the attack force of outlaws.

Pulling up alongside Krystal's arwing, Falco said, "Look at them; they're not even going for the Meteo Crushers. Wasn't the plan to take those out first so the cruisers would be trapped? Instead, they're just starting right in on their rival fighters."

"Aw, let 'em have their fun!" Krystal defended the pilots. "They just want to carve a few more tallies into their ship's hulls."

"Then I assume we'll just have to pick up the slack, right, Krystal?" Scarlet said as she maneuvered her own fighter in front of Krystal's.

"Right you are. Phoenix; turn this ship around. We're beginning our attack run."

"Huh!?" Phoenix grunted. "Attack run? On-on what?"

Krystal jerked her head back, indicating the Meteo Crusher.

"That."

A/N: I did it again; I split up the chapter. Hopefully I can make it up to you all in the next installment, but if I had kept the two chapters together, it would have dragged on for supper long, and too much stuff would have happened in the same update. Plus, if I waited any longer, I would have missed Columbus Day weekend, and wouldn't be able to work on it again for who knows how long. Thank you, Columbus. Without you, I would never have had tomorrow off and been able to finish this chapter. But besides giving us a day off, do we really care about Columbus at all? I mean, I think he discovered the continent we live on, or something like that... but didn't he like, mistreat the Indians? And didn't Leif Erikson and the vikings... no, it was cave-men that crossed a land-bridge or something screw it, it's late and I'm rambling.

I've also got a bit of a special announcement to make; as a reward for winning the contest last month, Sheppard Studios originally offered to write me a one-shot. After a contest like that, I think myself and many others were a bit one-shoted out. So, instead, Sheppard Studios has agreed to write the next story arc of The Hunting Party with me! It's gonna be pretty awesome, I'm sure. I've already written up a basic outline, and we've been juggling ideas and jokes back and forth since then. In fact, he's waiting to start writing until I finish this current arc, and he's gonna hate me for this, but I'm sorry, Shep, I'm going to have to add one last chapter before we can get to it. I know I promised I would only have to write one more installment last chapter, but I swear this time it's really only one more update!

Maybe I should have PM-ed that to him, but who cares. See ya'll soon, I hope.