LV. Trying To Mend

"Fox open up!" Krystal yelled loudly for a third time. She had almost put a dent in the door from the constant knocking. "What??" He asked groggily, he had spent most of his night thinking and had just gotten an hour of sleep just like the night before. "Come on Fox we've got a problem." She said loudly once more. "Coming.." He groaned getting up and getting dressed.

"Someone had a rough night.." She said as he walked out, his fur in a mess. "Yeah.." He said showing no emotion at all and sounding very tired. As soon as they came into the main room an alarm went off.

"What's going on?" Fox asked. "Well the Anglar are nearby..But Slippy spilled his drink that's what started the alarm.." Falco told him. Fox only sighed and ordered everyone to their Arwings.

"There's only a couple of them out here.." Fox said watching the radar carefully as it scanned for ships in the area. "Only eleven?" Falco questioned "What a disappointment.." Slippy added. Fox was happy it wasn't alot, he couldn't take another big battle until he rested properly. "They're mostly scattered so just split up and have fun." Fox ordered halfheartedly. "Alright.." Krystal said shocked Fox wasn't even interested in leading today.

Fox didn't even have to lift a finger throughout this battle, soon Falco had cleared eight of the eleven ships, leaving Krystal with two and Slippy with one. "Is that it?! It wasn't worth the time." Falco boasted. "With our luck we'll be ambushed on the way back so stay alert." Krystal took lead for a half-dead Fox McCloud. For the first time in the team's history they weren't ambushed after a short mission and they got back safely.

"Fox wait up!" She called for him but got no response, he could hardly hear from his fatigue. "Fox!!" She yelled again, this time getting a response. "What's up?" He asked hurrying back to her. "I think we need to talk.." She said not knowing what to expect for a response. "Alright, what do you want to talk about?" He asked, already knowing what she wanted to talk to him about. "It's about..Well what we've done wrong in the past month.." He was woken up by that, emotions swirling inside of him and affecting him at the pit of his stomach. "Krystal..I-I-" "I know you're sorry and that you didn't do it to be hurtful." She didn't let him finish, knowing exactly what he'd say.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry for all of this..I've done as much wrong as you have. I only joined Star Wolf so I'd get your attention." She told him fighting back tears. "It worked.." He said, forcing a slight chuckle. "Yeah..But I'm in way over my head Fox and I need help badly." She admitted. "I'm here for you, I told you I always would. No matter what." He smiled, his words going through her like a knife through butter. He was fighting sleep off as much as he could, part of him already feeling like he was asleep and he was having the best dream he'd had in a long time.

"Fox?" She said to him trying to snap him out of his trance. "Fox?!" She shook him violently. "Huh?" He asked, he had almost fallen asleep. "Uhh..Nothing you seem really tired..Let's talk later." She told him patting his hand. He nodded to her unable to manage an excuse, he wanted to hit himself for blowing the chance he wanted and needed. He couldn't fight anymore he flopped over on his bed and passed out.

"I can't believe he fell asleep while talking to her." Falco told Slippy in a whisper. "She'll understand why..He took a beating in the last battle and her coming back has kept him from sleeping the past two nights." Slippy replied as quiet as he could. "Yeah things will work out eventually..I hope." Falco added in, wanting his leader and friend back to normal. Krystal sighed before slumping over in her seat, why couldn't one thing work out.

"Fox another wave of Anglar are here." Slippy knocked at the door this time. "Coming." He replied back before opening the door. Slippy was shocked that Fox was already awake and had been watching the news. "How many this time?" He asked. "Alot more..They're searching for us." Slippy showed Fox how many were nearby on radar. "Great..They seem to be coming straight from Solar..Wait how?" Fox was dumbstruck that they could be coming from such an uninhabitable area. "They must have setup a temporary base there..When we killed their scouts they got angry apparently." Falco told them. "Well get ready for heavy combat." Fox said dreading what was to come.

Before heading for his Arwing Fox stopped Krystal in the hall. "I'm sorry about last night..I just haven't gotten much sleep lately." Fox explained. "I know..We'll pickup where we left off after this mission okay?" She asked him and he couldn't refuse her. "Alright..Let's see how fast we can take these guys down." Fox smiled to her before racing Krystal to their Arwings.

The battle would be harder than any of them expected, just before they got to Solar is when the battle hit it's peak. All of their shields were below 70% already and they were running low on bombs for the bigger groups. "I can already feel it getting hotter." Slippy complained while fighting off a couple ships. "Yeah but just stick with it we're almost done." Fox grunted while pushing his Arwing's limits to keep his squad safe.

"Fox behind you!" Krystal warned him but was a split second late, he looped behind the Anglar ships like he had eyes in the back of his head. "Nice." She commented before taking out a few Anglar on her own. "Fox!" Slippy called out for help. Fox flew as fast as he could to help out his teammate, he tried as hard as he could to follow the enemy behind Slippy but couldn't maintain a lock on the target. "Fox!!" Slippy yelled out just as Fox got his lock. "Gotcha." He smirked before saving Slippy from yet another enemy.

While Fox was saving Slippy Falco got to work, taking out over half of the incoming ships but the results were hardly visible. "Guys we're going to need to just charge down there they keep coming." Falco alerted Fox. "I know we've killed like a hundred out here but if we just go down there they will follow us and give us trouble." Fox pondered the decisions aloud. No matter what they did they seemed to be in a lost battle. He didn't know which would be best, to stay and hope they run out of reinforcements or to head on down for the planet with hundreds of Anglar on their tails.

"Guy's I think I should take this part on alone." Fox said boldly. His shields were the highest of the four so he was the best choice. "Are you crazy?" Krystal asked, he slightly began to think he was going crazy. "You three can make it up here and I'll be quick." He told them before heading off at full speed. "He's crazy." Falco muttered trying to keep Anglar ships off of Fox. "Yeah." Slippy agreed. They seemed to have forgotten Fox could hear them over radio.

"Fox watch out and don't burn your Arwing up, there's no coming back from there." Krystal warned him, it wasn't the first time he had gone into a place where there were no second chances. "Yeah I know." He sighed now thinking through the worst possible results before erasing them from his mind. "I've already gotten to one of their platforms..it's stocked up with supplies and ships." The Anglar apparently were very smart builders, they had somehow kept these platforms up high enough so that nothing could be harmed.

It only took a few well place shots before they would tip into the lava destroying everything. "I got an idea on how to get this done with, fast." Fox smiled before shooting the platform as much as he could. He was amazed on how effective his plan was, it only took a few hits before all the ships and supplies had fallen off into the lava. "Okay only three to go it seems." Fox alerted them. "How's everything up there?" He asked expecting them to be alright. "We're holding just hurry Fox." Krystal told him. "Our shields are running low." Slippy alerted. They had all taken mass damages in the last few minutes, Fox now the lowest one on the meter thanks to the heat of Solar.

"Fox you need to hurry." Krystal started to worry for him. Fox quickly got the next platform down with a single bomb. "Crud." He yelled aloud as debris flew towards him. He flew as skillful as ever dodging each peice knowing that he was dead if he accidentally flew into one. He took a deep breath knowing he barely got out of that situation alive and knew he couldn't use bombs here.

He fired his lasers at the third platform getting another one down quickly. "Just one left." He told everyone. "Hurry." Krystal watched over his shields seeing them going dangerously low. "Got it." Fox said as he tipped the final platform over. "Good now come help us." Falco barked. "On my way." He smiled heading away from the burning planet.

With the Anglar's reinforcements halted the battle was easier for the team, it only took a few minutes for them to take out the rest of the Anglar forces. "There done with that..Now lets go get some rest before we have a new mission." Fox told his team, they all agreed with him before heading back for the Great Fox.

Fox was excited and nervous about the chat he was going to have with Krystal soon after they returned. He hoped it'd turn out for the best.

-Author's Note: I wanted to add the end but I'm so tired right now..Getting in a great mood for writing lately though. Hopefully no errors here. Next chapter has the chat between Krystal and Fox and also more combat. Thanks for reading hope you enjoy.-