Rogue Fox Armageddon Soul

Chapter XXXVI

Scorned


"Well I preyed for better weather,
Now I'm a thousand miles away,
Thought that It'd be different here,
But some things just don't change,

See the way it used to be,
The way I used to care,
These are scares are still upon my back,
From the cross I used to bare,

And I'll keep my head above the water,
Until I'll weigh down from anywhere I am,
And I hope I never touch the bottom,
I've come to far to start this way again."

TESTING TOMORROW – "Water"


"Come on Fox. Just for fun ok?"

"Are you sure? I wouldn't want… to hurt you."

"Oh, don't you worry. You're not going to hurt me."

Two foxes jumped into the boxing ring. Krystal and Fox had just recently met. Krystal had become an accepted member of Starfox already. But they still knew very little about each other. And the curious vixen was intent on learning all she could about this new figure, Fox McCloud. Krystal wanted to prove herself to the male. She didn't want to be portrayed as the damsel in distress as she was found on Sauria. She was useful, and she wanted to show that to Fox. She wanted to prove herself.

Fox put a paw on the back of his head. "You really want to do this"

"What's wrong Fox?" Krystal giggled cutely. "Afraid of a girl?"

"You don't have to prove anything you know. You're already a member of Starfox."

She hesitated and lied. "I know. I just want us to have some fun. What do you say? The first one to get the others shoulders pinned? Does that sound fair to you?"

"Uhh… I guess."

"Ok. I want you to run at me full speed. Try to take me down. Give me everything you've got Fox. Come on!"

Fox took a step back. "Are you sure about this?"

"Don't worry about anything. I told you, you're not going to hurt me."

Fox took another step back. The vulpine hesitated. He took one more step back before throwing himself forward toward the female. He through his leg through the air and wasn't sure what happened after that. The last thing he saw was a fury of red and blue, and himself staring at the ceiling lights. A blue furred vixen stood above him, with a smirk of triumph upon her face. He tail wagging back and forth.

X

The night had always been his favorite. Syxx felt safe and concealed. Many feared being in the dark, but Syxx had no problem with it. In fact, he preferred it. He knew that the most terrifying thing in the woods at night was himself. Syxx knew something though. He wore nothing but the thin Marine Corps training gear. The black knife remained dull in the lack luster night. He knew what to look for and his anger fueled his watchful eyes in the night. He had made a habit of traveling through the night with the blade in his paw. His excelled senses made him invulnerable to anything in the night, using what little luminance that the stars gave off to guide him through the woods.

The black fox grunted as he jumped through the air. His strong legs propelled him upwards. He set foot on a low branch, using the bounce of the limb to slingshot himself higher into the air. Syxx landed in a tree and froze, now over three times his height above the ground. He set his blade against the wood and balanced himself perfectly on the thick limb of the tree. He didn't move. His black ears twitched as they listened attentively. His black and white tipped tail wagged before he curled it around his body, not making a single sound.

He heard the sounds of the night. Small nocturnal animals thrived while Syxx himself, owned the night they borrowed from him. He closed his eyes focusing more attention to the sounds then the little he could see. He growled lowly, and shot himself off the branch and further into the darkness. He knew of something. Something he planned to keep a secret until he had quelled the matter at hand and to strike fear into the heart of another. He kept his goal in sight and his mind at ease… for good reason.

X

Krystal signed. She fed and poked at her fire in the small camp that she had built. The vixen had reverted back to her primitive clothing, though she did keep her other outfits and forms of technologies nearby in her Cloudrunner. She had the ship parked nearby but in remained under a thick canopy of forest leaves and branches that had already grown in. She hadn't seen Fox for two or three days at this point, though she kept the bay under surveillance and watched the Slayers motions.

She crept a single finger into the little black box. She removed a photo. The one of Fox McCloud and he was smiling. It made her smile too, but it wasn't worth it. It was a dry and ancient smile. She wanted him back so badly. She still remained in sense of her guilt.

Krystal slowly looked up as something triggered her sixth sense. In another moment she looked back down, thinking nothing of it. She lived in the forest, many things snapped in the night. Her heart battered hard into her head, as she heard a loud snap and saw a bush just beyond the reach of the fires light, shift. She reached across the tree she was leaning on, and grasped the staff, holding it into her chest. She felt light headed and frightened. She couldn't hear anything, but she could sense a force. Her heart jumped again as she heard another bush move and crackle. She slowly stood and pointed the end of her staff into the trees, as the end was glowing.

"Hahahah… afraid of what's behind the walls?"

Krystal spun around on her heal. The voice had come from behind her. The tree she had her back on. A black vulpine leaned of the side of it, looking toward her. She had been stricken. She didn't know what to think or do. She was relived to see him, and yet with this black fox dwelled an uncontained fear within her that had emerged. "Fox…" her voice shuttered. "How long have you been standing there?"

The female tried to react but within a fraction of a second the black fox had already advanced on her, and had her by the neck. She had to be on her tiptoes to keep herself from being strangled.

The black fox spoke viciously, baring his golden tooth. "My name is not Fox. Above anyone you should now that by now."

She remained speechless. She didn't know what to say. There was nothing to say.

Syxx grinned evilly. "Sucks when the tables get turned doesn't it?" He laughed making the vixen shiver and gasp in fear. "Lady Karma is a b-tch. Now, what do you want?"

"I- I don't want anything."

"Why did you follow me here?" Syxx glared into her eye.

Krystal couldn't answer. But it gave her the chance to look into the empty eyes of the former Fox McCloud once again. She could still read them, but instead of making her feel safe, they terrorized her. The vixen still saw the emptiness and the anger that lived within. She felt buried tears begin to burn at her own eyes. And Syxx could see that. It made him feel good, and revenged seeing a crystalline tear fall down her face. Her bottom jaw shuttered and her perky ears drooped, making her look like a frightened kit. But so little of Fox still existed; he cared not and was past the point of sympathy… especially toward Krystal.

Syxx grasped her staff. She resisted for a moment, but then met his haunting eyes again, and she slowly released it. Syxx twirled the rod in one paw, with the other he lifted the vixen from the ground and tossed her aside. He stepped back toward the tree that Krystal had been leaning on. He saw the photo of himself on the ground. Without thought, he tossed it into the roaring fire.

Krystal gasped and jumped from the ground. "No!!!" She risked the burns to save the small photo from the fire. She smelled a little bit of burning fur. She snuffed out the flame and stopped the glowing edges from burning. She held it into her breasts and closed her eyes, now in a fetal position. The vixen opened her eyes as the light over her was covered by Syxx standing between her and the fire.

The tall Slayer growled. "Give it to me."

The vixen took a deep breath. "No."

"Give me the picture."

"No!" The vixen snapped. She folded her muzzle between her knees and closed her eyes. "You can't have it." She held away tears.

Syxx took a step back, laughing. "Just as stubborn as you've always been." He turned his back to the crunched vixen.

A tear ran down the blue fox's face. "What made you do it?"

Syxx stopped, his muzzle dropped slightly. "What?"

She spoke just above a whisper. "Do you have any idea the pain you put everyone through? How could you Fox?"

Syxx's mind sparked. He threw himself around. With brute strength he grabbed the other fox by the neck and with one paw, he pinned her up to a tree. Krystal's feet dangled as she struggled and choked. The vixen couldn't see the aggressive look over the black fox's muzzle. He was nothing but a silhouette before the flickering fire. But, still… she held on to the picture. She held it tight until the larger vulpine dropped her once again. Krystal fell to the ground. She piled up in heap.

"How could I!?!" Syxx snapped.

Krystal had already regretted saying what she did. For a moment she had forgotten what she had done, but the guilt came glooming back to her. "Fox… I didn't mean to-"

"You didn't mean to what?"

"I-I didn't think it ever turn out this way! I never thought you would change so much."

Syxx stood above her. "Look at the photo Krystal." He smiled. "You see the way it used to be? The way I used to care? Don't you tell me, what I put others through. Say what you put me through."

"Fox… I'm sor-"-

"I can't believe I came back here. I thought that it would be different here, but I guess something's just don't change… And some things do. Now…" the vulpine glared down at her, lowering his voice into a fierce and violent tone. "You."

The hair stood on the back of her neck and she turned her gaze from the photo upward. Syxx took a step forward, and she shuffled backward as he moved closer and closer to her. Soon her back was pinned to the tree. "Krystal." She looked up again as he said her name. She immediately shuttered in fear. Her breathing turned harder and faster as she closed her eyes, still keeping a firm grasp on the picture. Syxx rumbled. "You're a liability to me now. You know my secret. I've come too far, to start this way again. I don't need you running around being a little tattle tale."

"I-I-" She wanted to cry from fear and from guilt. Her eyes burned.

"Exactly… you. It's always about you. It was all about getting even with me."

Krystal knew it was true. She was upset with herself and this vulpine. She began to grow angry. She was cornered. She blindly threw a fist forward and it connected with a firm stroke. When she realized what had happened, it was so satisfying. She saw her paw caught in the one of the larger fox's. He clamped his paw down on it, maker her whine. She was partially in shock. She had always been faster then Fox. Because of her training as a Cerinian, she had always been able to beat him in close quarters. Perhaps she still could, but right now he had the upper hand.

"If you think you have the will to bring me to the ground you would be greatly mistaken. Anything you start I'm going to finish. You're weak… just as you've always been."

She spoke through painfully bared teeth. "What does it mean… what is Armageddon Soul?"

Syxx leaned down and spoke directly into the vixen's ear. "Remember when I saved you from this godforsaken planet? I taught you what you needed to survive in the new world. And when it came down to the line, you couldn't do the same for me could you? I gave you second life. You couldn't even give me a second chance. Six words… the words that killed Fox."

She closed her eyes. The words drilled through her head. She could sense the familiarity of them. The darkened voice that said them now matched with who it had come from. It had come from Fox. She shivered and shuttered in fear. The guilt sunk in. She could feel it weighing down on her. She began to cry. She opened her eyes, to stare up at her true fear, and so it stood. A dark fox whose mind she could read only on occasion; only when he let her… and only when she was strong enough.

The fox still stood above her, and as if he had read her mind, he spoke. "Care to take a look inside?" He smiled. "Find the darkest place."

X

Krystal shuddered. The light was so bright. She could hear waves. She could hear the sea. The scenery faded in. She found herself standing on a sandy beach. A light breeze flowed through her hair and through her soft blue fur. The light just peeked over the horizon, making the sky orange over the ocean. The breeze blew waves into shore, and she sat down. The waves rolled in, right up to her sandals. She was actually able to smile before she heard a wet sloshing. She looked over down the beach and saw something dragging itself along the beech. The horror story began…

The vixen's heart jumped. She leapt to her feet and ran down the beech. Soon she could see who it was. It was Fox. Krystal screamed his name. "Fox!!!" She felt the cool ocean water as she ran through it. She slowed down as she neared Fox. She leaned down to help him to his feet. She tried to grasp his arm, but… she couldn't. Krystal couldn't hold on. She couldn't touch him, like she wanted to so badly. She watched as her paw passed right through his body. She whimpered. "Fox..." But she was invisible to him. She was like a ghost.

All the vixen could do was watch the red fox drag himself to the shore. In a little while he made his way to the dry sandy shore, and the fox collapsed on the beach, and all Krystal could do, was watch. The red fox breathed deeply, and rolled himself over. He now lay on his back, propping himself up with one elbow, his entire body covered with sand. With his other paw, he searched over his body and down to his holster. Fox placed his paw on the grip of the Blaster, and pulled it out. But before he could do anything, he started coughing. Fox turned onto his side, and began to cough up sea water.

The vulpine placed both paws on the Blaster. With one, he pulled back the receiver and the weapon charged. Fox looked up into the trees beyond the shore and the beech. Something in the shadows moved. He rolled back onto his back and set the aimer of the Blaster into the branches. Krystal already knew what and who was going to emerge from the shadows. She knew, that soon, she would see the terrorizing black fox surface, and that he did. Krystal saw him jump once, and in that one jump he was already upon Fox. He stood above him, glaring down.

Fox raised one paw, the paw with the Blaster. His arm was shuddering. Possibly he was cold, but more likely, he was in fear. She could see the look in his eyes, the horrifying fear that was cast over him. He slowly drew in the trigger of the weapon to hear a terrifying click and low voltage sparks surrounding the weapon, indicating a waterlogged plasmatic weapon. The red fox shook his head and tossed the Blaster aside, and into the sand. He slowly turned his head upwards into the eyes of his oppressor.

The black fox growled. He leaned down to pick up the fox, and he did with one paw, just as before. Krystal's eyes flamed in rage with the black fur. She tried to pull Fox away but she couldn't do anything. She wasn't there, all she could do was watch in horror Syxx drew the knife, back past his waist.

Krystal cried out. "Please! No!"

Krystal's heart broke in half as Fox turned his head to her. His deep eyes begged, they pleaded for mercy and revealed bottomless fear, while remaining wide. A drop of water dashed down Fox's cheek. He stared at the blue vixen he spoke a short phrase to her. His raspy voice choked. "Please… help me."

X

Krystal took a deep breath, and the next time she opened her eyes, she was back in her camp. Her eyes looked for the Slayer. But… he wasn't there. All was dark. Not even the fire flickered. Not a single ember remained. Everything around her was dark, except for the sky which was spotted with white lights.

"Fox." She whispered into the darkness. "Please. Forgive me Fox. I don't want you to be this way anymore… please." She held back tears, trying to be strong. But soon she found that the vulpine was no longer with her. The words that Fox uttered had scarred her and remained echoing in her head. Krystal embraced Fox's fear. She found herself taking into the night alone… once again all alone.

Syxx had become a master of hiding his mind. It was extremely hard to do, and nearly impossible to complete perfectly. No matter what he did, there was always a trace and there was always a signal. But if he put enough fear into Krystal, there was no way she could. He knew of her guilt and unfortunately it was the same burden he once had to bare.

Syxx sat on top of a branch of a tree. He watched what he could in the night but it wasn't what he saw that he wanted to witness. He wanted to hear her, and that he could. He listened to her mumble into the night hysterically and her whines and whimpers until it finally put her off to terrorized silence or a horrid shallow sleep. They all satisfied him, and fed his revenge. Soon the sniveling stopped, and content enough, Syxx left the scene, pleased with his work, and his vengeance.

X

"So where did you run off to last night?" Kyla always had a way of finding Syxx, and knowing where he was. She found him sitting on the wing of a silver fighter, with his back up against the fuselage with his feet across the wings.

He lay there, looking into the sun. His black absorbed the majority of the heat in the cool morning sun. He left his sunglasses over his eyes. "Just to the beach and back."

"Oh really?"

"You know I like the dark. It's the closest I've got to home."

She smiled. "What about me? Am I not home enough?"

Syxx got up off the wing and walked off. He made his way into the entrance of the Ocean Force Point Temple where the Slayers had made a home behind the head of the Krazoa in the large room. Kyla had followed, trying to stop him and get eye contact. He had to hand it to her, she did have great perseverance. Syxx was about to say something. But a sound resonated through the air; a low and long moan from a distance. Syxx hadn't heard such a noise for a long time. He knew the sound of a Earthwalker dinosaur, and they matched perfectly. It made his heart stop.

Kyla looked past the eyes of the Krazoa statue toward the outside. "What was that?"

"It's what I've feared." Syxx ran out the mouth of the Krazoa statue and into the sunlight of the docks. Across the low valley where the water fall ran, he could see a small army of dinosaurs, all of the same species. Each had valiant wear, but one more then the others. One looked more of royalty, and nobility; the king of the Earthwalker dinosaurs, once a prince, prince Tricky… king Tricky.

Syxx stepped across the bridge, and before he knew it, the other Slayers had assembled behind him, each with their favored Mapaw variant. Without haste, Syxx stepped right in front of largest of all the Earthwalkers. He was much smaller but still stood his ground. He still recognized the prince within this larger beast that had now grown to become a king.

With maturity the prince too had lost his casualness and had grown to become more serious. The Earthwalker roared. "What is your purpose here?"

Syxx growled back. "We mean no trouble to you."

"And yet you've caused it. Leave this planet at once or suffer the consequences."

"I will do no such thing." Out of the corner of either eye Syxx saw his team take a step forward together and raise their weapons. "Stand down." He said, even after the Earthwalkers had completely surrounded them.

"Syxx." Pyro put the muzzle of his weapon down.

"Don't even think about it." Syxx turned back to the king. "We let you live in peace. You let us. Do we have a deal?"

The king snuffed. "I heed a warning to you. We may not meet on such friendly terms next time. Do not tempt my patients toward you and your comrades."

Syxx smiled, showing a golden fang. "I look forward to it."