Chapter 14

(Office of Colonel Eric Howitz, the following morning)

"Okay, let me get straight to the point," the gruff German shepherd said. "A factory used to produce Black Snake weapons and vehicles has been pinpointed to somewhere deep in the mountains, many miles beyond the base you recently captured. Your mission is to search out this factory." "Why not send a reconnaissance-equipped fighter or something?" Falco asked. "The blizzard that is currently in the area prevents our ships from conducting a proper search. You will have to go out on foot," he answered.

Fox's eyes widened. "You mean where supposed to find this place at the height of a blizzard?" he asked. "Yes" the colonel replied. "Once you have located the factory, contact Commander Grey with the coordinates and we will commence an attack using a cannon-equipped satellite that is currently orbiting at 100,000 metres above the planets surface."

Everyone was amazed by this. "You're gonna blast it from space?" Katt asked. "Yes. As I've already said, the snow and ice prevent us from conducting a traditional attack using fighters," Colonel Howitz answered, turning his attention to Katt. "Grey is to fly you to the edge of the mountain range. From there, you will disembark and continue on foot. The reason for this is because we believe that, since blizzards hit that area regularly and Black Snake is aware of this, they have adapted their radars to the wintry conditions. If you went on a dreadnought-class capital ship like the Great Fox, you'd be detected."

"How are we supposed to find this place in and endless maze of mountains?" Falco asked, sounding irritated. "The blizzard has been over the base for longer than it would naturally. It is possible that Black Snake is using a generator to keep the blizzard going. Of course, this makes the source of the blizzard the strongest, so where the centre of the storm is, that's where the base is," the colonel answered. "Good luck. You're dismissed," he finished.

Fox and the others left, not at all excited about their new mission. "You'd think that they'd send a specialized team on a mission like this," Falco commented. Fox just shrugged. "Is it just me, or does Colonel Howitz keep sending us on potentially very dangerous missions?" Krystal asked. "Well, we are a mercenary team. It is our job to do this kind of stuff," Falco answered. "Yeah, but that doesn't mean we enjoy it," Fox commented. "True, but we do get paid," Falco finished. Fox shrugged in agreement.

The jagged mountain sides made traveling even a few yards quite difficult. The team eventually sat down and ate lunch early in the afternoon. As far as they could tell, they were no closer to the base than they were hours ago. Clouds hung over the entire mountain range, and all the mountains were snowcapped, from being so high up, so they couldn't find any way other than to walk around and hope they found the source of the blizzard.

After several hours of searching, it became clear that this mission was going to be much more difficult than previously anticipated. The group decided to break for lunch. Falco had been carrying provisions for the team, and after they found a reasonably comfortable place to eat, settled down to lunch.

Everyone was frustrated with their apparent lack of progress, but it was Fox that took it the worst. He paced around angrily, trying to think of a plan. When nothing came to him, he vented his anger verbally. "Damn it, how are we supposed to find this friggin' base when we have absolutely no idea where it is?" Slippy, not wanting his friend angry, thought of a solution. "Hey Fox, I could try amplifying the reception on the communicators with the tools I have, and we could split into separate groups and cover more ground," he suggested. Fox turned to him, "Slippy, why didn't you do this in the first place?" he asked angrily.

"Well, I don't know how effective it will be, and if we lose the signal, we're screwed. Also, doing that uses a lot more power, and the battery could die at any time," Slippy answered nervously. Fox sighed. It wouldn't do any good to yell at his teammates. "Sorry Slippy, I'm just frustrated is all," Fox said. "It's okay. Falco shouts at me all the time any way," Slippy answered with a chuckle. Fox put on a fake half-smile. "Okay Slip, how long do you think it'll take for you to fix the communicators?" Fox asked. "About an hour," Slippy answered. "Okay," Fox sighed.

Slippy set to work adapting the wrist communicators, while the others waited. Peppy dozed off, and slept the entire time. Falco and Katt had a light-hearted conversation. Krystal was observing the mountains, which, when one wasn't trying to navigate them, were actually quite beautiful.

Fox, however, sat on one of the nearby rocks and stared at the ground. Sure, he'd had tough missions before, but, never with this lack of progress. They hadn't even located the blizzard yet.

Fox eventually got bored with sitting around, so he decided to go for a walk. "Hey, I'm gonna look around some more," he told the others. "Don't get lost," Krystal replied. "I'll be fine," he assured her.

Fox had been walking for about half an hour and had still found nothing. The mountains spanned for hundreds of miles in every direction. "You'd think a blizzard would be easy to find," he grumble to himself. As if on cue, he felt a cold drop on his head. He looked up to see dozens of tiny snowflakes slowly floating down from the dark sky.

Fox smiled to himself. This was the edge of the storm.

After telling the others of his discovery, Slippy had finished adapting the communicators, and the teams split into groups. As always, it was Fox and Krystal, Falco and Katt, and Slippy and Peppy. Fox led them back to the edge of the storm, and they split up.

The area they were in was basically a giant valley, at least 300 metres high and twice that length across. The base was littered with jagged rocks, and, just like the rest of the mountains, was completely devoid of life. Falco and Katt had gone up one side, Fox and Krystal another, but Slippy and Peppy took the centre. They were to fan out and contact the others if they found anything.

They started their trek, and slowly spread out to cover the vast distance between them and the base. Fox and Krystal had a hard time of climbing up the rock wall. The hazardous rocks and the steadily increasing snowfall made the task even more dangerous. More than once, Krystal slipped and almost fell, but, every time, Fox caught her.

After two hours of climbing, they reached something of a path along the side of the mountain. Fox looked back down the mountain side and sighed after the exertion of climbing. "Whew, that one was hell of a climb. We're pretty high up," Fox said. Krystal, not being as strong as Fox, though by no means weak, was quite winded. "Yeah… that was… really tough," she said in between pants. Fox gave her a weary smile and Krystal returned it.

Fox diverted his gaze from down the steep climb he and Krystal had just braved to the valley floor. Fox could clearly see Slippy's green form scampering along. He searched for Peppy, and soon found him. His grey fur made him harder to spot, but they both seemed fine. He looked across valley to the other mountain, and saw a tiny speck of blue, which was Falco, and another dot of pink, Katt.

Suddenly, the metallic communicator on Fox's arm buzzed to life, and Slippy's face was clearly displayed on the screen. "Hiya Fox, you gettin' this?" the green amphibian asked. "Yep. It works just fine," the vulpine answered. "Okay. I'll check to make sure that Falco and Katt's coms work as well." The amphibian's face disappeared as the screen shut off.

When Fox had turned off his communicator, he turned back to Krystal. The pair continued trudging along until they reached fissure. Fox peered over the edge into its never-ending depths. Fox shook his head. "Well, it's too far to walk around, so I guess we'll have to jump," he said. Krystal spun around in shock at her companion. "What?" she asked. Fox pointed at a ledge some fifteen metres to the left of them. The outcropping cut the distance they had to jump to three metres.

The two made their way to the cliff. They would have a running start, but it was still a long jump. Krystal looked off the edge and gulped. Fox put a comforting paw on her shoulder. She looked at him and he smiled. "I'll go first," Fox said. He took a few steps backwards, prepping himself for the jump. Then, he ran as fast as he could and leapt into the air. He looked down at the abyss below him as he soared.

He landed, both paws firmly on the ground. He checked himself, out of habit, and turned back to Krystal. She smiled at him and he at her. Fox then backed up a bit, giving Krystal ample room to land. Unfortunately, he didn't notice that his landing had severely cracked the underside of the rock. Krystal then backed up and dashed forward, as Fox had done. Fox held his breath as she jumped.

Krystal's paws hit the cliff a few inches back from where Fox's had. Fox released the air he had been holding when he saw her land. However, his relief didn't last long. Suddenly, a sickening crack rang out. The two looked around franticly for the source of the sound, only to find that it came from the cliff Krystal was standing on. Krystal screamed as the cliff gave way. Fox dove forward and grabbed her paw, leaving her suspended in mid air.

Fox strained to keep her up. His arm was digging into the sharp rock face, cutting into his skin and causing blood to flow. He could feel his grip slipping, Krystal's paw coming free of his. Krystal looked up at him with eyes filled with terror. She knew that Fox couldn't hold on any longer.

Finally, Krystal's paw slipped free of his own and she fell. "Krystal!" Fox cried as the beautiful vixen fell. Krystal simply screamed as she plunged to her death in the never-ending darkness.

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(A/N: (Readers gasp and glare at author, currently backed up in the corner of the room) Me: Please, don't hate me! I would never kill off Krystal. She'll be back! I swear! Have mercy! (Author breaks for the door as the readers give chase, armed with pitchforks Simba out.)