Welp, that's that, I guess. Planet saved, the team's back together, and we're getting paid. The best damn ending I've had in a long while.
After we all met in the command center, I quickly excused myself to get back to my room. I know everyone wants to party, but I just came back from a backwater planet feeling and smelling like I just grew up on a backwater planet. I needed a change of clothes, stat.
When I got to my room, however, I barely had any time to settle down before I heard a knock on the door. I yelled out "come in!" and saw Falco strutting his way inside with a smile on his face.
Lemme tell ya, I am so freaking glad Falco came to save my skin in the end. I'm sure he's here to gloat about it any minute now, the prick, but eh. I'm in a high mood, I'll let him have the glory.
"So, I come back around to say hi, I see you failed at killing Andross the first time, I help you not get killed the second time, then we get back to the Great Fox which looks like the last few battles it's seen is spaceship depression, you smell like absolute shit, and now there's this new girl on the ship as well. What the hell did I miss?" he asked.
Well damn, didn't need to roast me like that.
"Ya missed a whoooole lot, buddy. Sauria down there was looking like it had a terminal case of the Explosions right when we came along, and General Pepper called out to us because if the planet exploded any more, apparently it would damage the Lylat. I don't know how it would, but he offered some big slick cash for it, and we've been needing money for a long while, so I took the job. Turns out, I have to trek through literally all of the broken continents fighting freaking dinosaurs in order to bring them back together using the planet's magic like I'm some sorta space wizard. Then somehow that apparently brought Andross back to life. Then we gave him a magic Alaka-blam back to the dead. Thaaaaaat's all!" I replied, smiling at him and hoping he was not about to bring up—
"Uh, you're forgetting something there, captain Clouds. Your side chick that came after, what's up with you and her?" he asked, furrowing his brow.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" I exclaimed. "She ain't my side chick! She's just one of the folks I found and rescued on the planet, that's all!" I exclaimed. Getting caught out like this in my own room was almost making me blush right in front of the bird-brain. Almost.
"'Your inner temperature is rising!' is what ROB said. So again, I have to ask: What. In the hell. Happened. Between you two?"
You know, for how much I'm grateful that Falco is finally back on the team after his little sabbatical and drama with Katt, I'm now remembering why we were starting to butt heads in the first place.
"Ugh, nothing happened, Falco! I rescued her from falling to her death after Andross broke free, she forgot to thank me then so she came up to thank me now. That's all!"
Even with the full truth, Falco's shit-eating grin was begging to be a fist-eating grin. "So the sexy blue chick comes up, says thank you, and her barely clothed form hugs you and you light up red like a tomato. That's all for the rescue?"
"That. Is all!" I repeated. And how dare he comments on her like that! She isn't just a piece of meat he can salivate over!
"And your staring at her the entire time she was on the bridge with a slightly open mouth that everyone but her saw was also part of her rescue?"
Motherfu—
"Look," I explained, trying to steer the conversation away from me, "She was a prisoner on Sauria, she's probably still trying to calm down from the intense stress and shock. I'm gonna go talk to her later and see where she's from, we'll give her a ride back on our way to get our reward checks and we'll be a happy team again. Deal?"
Falco threw his arms up in the air in mock defeat as he turned around to walk outside the room, "Alright, alright, a guy can get a hint he's pushing buttons. It's good to see you, V."
Even though I glared at him with my arms crossed as he was walking out, I couldn't help but reciprocate. "It's good to see you too, Falco."
He closed the door and left me in my old sterile room aboard the Great Fox. By the Stars, it actually looks a bit alien all over again. Sleep either in the canopy of the Arwing or under the various environments of Sauria, and you'll either miss the comforts of civilization or grow fond of the savagery of nature. Think I'm gonna redecorate my room, the walls could deal with something that isn't bleached white, and I could afford a few plants around.
Really, that forest just did wonders for my snout and stress levels. Think if I stayed any longer I might have gone native.
I noticed my mirror next to the door of my bathroom, and I decided to "check the damage". Down on Sauria, I had nothing else but water puddles to look at myself, and I know some of those SharpClaw hits landed.
For a mercenary who just basically did a whole planetary rescue operation by herself, I was looking... Really good~. Aside from a few scratches and nicks on my planetside uniform, the whole adventure did nothing but help tone me out after all that time on the Great Fox doing zilch. I noticed that my hair, which was usually just a simple Mohawk that I kept short to fit my headset, grew out in the back to a whole Mohawk ponytail. I actually liked it better that way, if I was being honest. I definitely gained some muscle too, I could see my arms and my shoulders being a bit buffed out compared to how I looked before as any average spacefarer. I couldn't help but strike a muscle builder pose and flex my biceps.
Vixen McCloud. Two-time star system hero! If that ain't gonna impress anyone in the Lylat, I'd think I was born in the wrong millennium.
Speaking of impressing anyone...
The guest bedroom on the Great Fox was hardly ever used, so it wasn't cleaned or prepared for our new resident. It had the amenities, sure, but I think we probably could have done a bit better with showing off how we aren't slobs, judging by how I can see some scorch marks from Slippy's private experiments or one of Falco's old socks still somehow being under the bed. I could only hope the new girl didn't think that's how we lived, we were a liiiiittle bit caught off guard with her coming up to our ship.
For one thing, how the hell did she get up here?
"Oh, hello again!" she called out to me, seeing me at the door to the room. She was sitting on the bed, cross-legged over the blankets and still in her tribal clothes. "Please do give my thanks to Mister Peppy for the bed, I hope you don't mind me staying for a bit?"
Yes, please stay! "Oh, nah, not at all!" I replied. "I'm just glad it was usable when you got here. We don't really have more people than just us three, so sometimes we use this room if we want to get away and have some time to ourselves. Also, just call the hare Peppy, he thinks being called mister ages him faster than he already is."
"Just you three? Forgive me, but I thought there were four of you?" the girl asked.
Oops. Hope she doesn't hold it against Falco. Or me. "Falco was actually gone for a while before he showed back up just when Andross showed up. The entire time I was on Sauria, I was only helped by Peppy and Slippy on the Great Fox while I was planet-side."
"Sounds like quite the adventure. I'd love to hear more of it sometime. Again, thank you for rescuing me at the palace. If I may be honest, however..." the girl looked up and away from me, like she was debating with herself on what she was going to say. "I was not expecting someone like you to rescue me."
Uh, was that supposed to be harsh or a compliment?
"Yeah," I sighed, "Listen, I know that we got on the wrong foot back on Sauria. I appreciate how you at least still came by to say thank you after everything though, sooooo... I want us to try again."
"Try again? For what?" the girl asked.
Cmon, don't whimper around! Try to get to know her fully this time instead of ogling her like before! But I don't know what I could say to get any info out of her! Ahhhhhh...
"Well, we never introduced ourselves fully, so let's try introducing ourselves again! Hello!" I stretched out my hand to the girl. My mouth grinned widely before I toned it back down a little, as I felt it was showing off a bit too excitedly. "My name is Vixen. Vixen McCloud. My father is dead."
Oh my stars I'm gonna scream. Aaaaaaaa...
Krystal's face scrunched into one of confusion, before stretching her hand out to shake mine. "Um, hello. My name is Krystal of Cerenia. My father and mother are both dead... as well?"
I felt my grin grow wider again under duress. "Great! Good to hear we have something in common!"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!
The even more confused look on Krystal's face told me all I needed to know. Stars I wish I could just give myself a nice punch to my jaw. "I... Guess it is? Mine passed away at the hands of that mad scientist Andross, seeing as he was responsible for the destruction of my planet. How did you know Andross, by the way?" she asked.
I resisted the urge to say what a coincidence! in my rapidly failing calm, and instead just held an arm up to scratch the back of my neck nervously. "Andross and I go... Years back. And not in any good ways. He killed my mother and father as well and declared war against Corneria to take over the Lylat system. I was the one that stopped him at the time. I thought he was dead then, but I guess you can't count out a mad scientist without making sure he didn't have a backup plan."
"In any regard, I hope that is the last we will see of him. I'm sure your parents are proud of what you've accomplished," Krystal said, smiling at me. She has a lovely smile.
I took a moment to contemplate what Krystal said. I've heard a lot about my parents being proud of me from Peppy, especially right after the Lylat Wars. I do have to wonder what my pops would have thought of me now having literally brought a planet back together. I'm sure he'd laugh about how I still ended up "saving the girl" in the end, like how I always complained about hearing in his or other stories. I always felt like those were cheap endings, the heroic prince always seemed to be some complaining jackass or a sarcastic smart-ass. They didn't do anything but just luck around until he did one good thing that helped the exotic princess girl out of whatever dangerous crap she was stuck in.
Me? I'm just any ol' mercenary trying to find her next paycheck to spend it on... Whatever makes me forget my lot in life as a killer pilot for hire. In the end, I became the prince instead, cuz I doubt I'll have a prince save me anytime soon.
I've saved a bunch of folks, but I don't really know if my folks would be proud, or just expected it of me. Loafing around just mindlessly listening to music and playing video games in the emptiness of space after getting paid to kill thousands of probably brain-washed soldiers under Andross certainly ain't something to be proud about.
"Thanks. I'm sure they are. And I'm sure yours are glad that you're safe. But, wait, you said your planet was destroyed?"
"Yes. Cerenia was a doomed planet that was held back from its fate because of our people's mind-link to its core, but he disrupted that link when he came during his conquest," she explained, and for a brief moment, I could see in her eyes fleeting memories of pain and suffering. Ugh, that ape wanted to leave a legacy, and it's gonna be a whole generation remembering his name in terror.
Something else struck out to me in her explanation. "Mind-link? What do you mean? Like, some sorta hive mind psychic link?"
"In a simplistic way, yes. We were not a hive mind like the insects and bugs of our world, but we held strong links to each other and our world, housed within our minds."
That's... Lady, that's a hive mind.
"—The strongest among our people had such strong links that they could use the planet's destructive energy and will it to rewrite reality around them," she continued. Yeesh, a whole race of psychics ruled by fiery entropy that was gonna blast their planet out from under them. That can't have been good for stress levels.
"What about you? How, er, powerful is your mind?" I asked. In a way, I think I already know how it felt. The way her staff could cast fireballs as it did without any trigger mechanism, whenever I held it was like it begged me to release its energy out.
Krystal sighed, lowering her head down in shame. "The truth be told, I am not sure. I have a few memories of how I used my mind and had it amplified by the planet's energies, but after that link was cut off I only have very," she paused, looking up as if in thought, "limited understanding in how I can use my abilities. I would need to meditate by myself for the next few months if not years if I am to see my full potential."
"Uh-huh..." I affirmed, a sudden thought entering my mind. "What abilities do you have for now?"
Please don't be a mind reader, please don't be a mind reader, wait, hold on, if you're reading this... PINK ELEPHANTS PINK ELEPHANTS PINK ELEPHANTS PINK—
"I can sense mental distress signals, much like how I responded to one at Krazoa Palace before I was captured. It's," she hesitated, "Hard to explain how I sense them. It's like hearing a cry for help, except you feel this crying all around your whole body, and it's this collective level of crying at the same time. Along with that, I can also use the energies in my staff to perform a few spells."
Ooookay, mind-reading but not really and in only specific circumstances. I think I should be safe as long as I don't yell out SAVE ME in the middle of the bathtub next to her ready to charge in with a fireball spell.
... On second thought, wonder if we can use that thing as a quick fur dryer?
"I get what you mean with the staff. There's no trigger mechanism on it, just think and it blasts a ball of heat. Put a cycler on it and it could probably handle up to our weapons if it had full auto."
At that last part, she looked a bit offended, which threw me off guard. Oh stars what did I say? "Our staffs aren't just meant as weapons of war! Sure it is a powerful one, more so after you've upgraded it, but we don't believe its only use is in destruction! Our balance with Cerenia's fate was that we would lead against its fires and apocalypse, for every darkness, there were light and peace. It is a symbol of our home itself, its dark desire to end in flame yet still holding a deep beauty that we learned from, and we held back and kept the peace until the—"
She hesitated, before lowering her head down again. "Until the end. When our links were cut somehow, and those of us who could see the near future saw the incoming destruction of our planet. Only a few of us were sent with rudimentary starships, propelled and teleported by our strongest wizards. Randorn set up mine, but then he told me how my parents were killed by Andross, and to find the Krazoa to find my destiny. Now that everything is done with the Krazoa, I don't have anywhere else to go…"
Riiiiight, with no planet for her to go back to, she doesn't have a home anywhere else in the Lylat. She could find a job easy enough, I'm sure the rebuilding efforts would love to use her staff while the military studies it to see what practical use their soldiers could get out of mind-linked weapons.
Something tells me though that considering her special kind of loneliness of no parents or magical space wizard, she might not want anything to do with the Lylat system. The only people she knows are either the dinos down on Sauria or—
Or me. She knows me, and a little bit of my team. And Peppy has been waiting on that pilot retirement for a while now...
"Well, if you don't have anywhere else to go, and since I've got Star Fox's name back on the map after our little stunts down there, I can have you stay up here and become part of the team," I said. A stray thought then occurred to me, "If you're ok with staying, that is. If you wanna head back down to Sauria on... Whatever it is you got up here, I'm cool with that as well."
Actually I'm not and would rather you stay here with me.
... Oh stars above and beyond, I've fallen for the exotic princess.
"While I am sure Tricky and the Earthwalkers would appreciate accommodating me, I think it is time for me to move on and find out more in my life. If it is to be with your Star Fox team for a while, I don't think I could complain about that," she replied, smiling again. I think I felt my heart flutter a little at hearing Krystal say she'll stay.
"That's—!" I hesitated, trying quickly to figure out what I wanted to say. "That's great! Good to hear! I'm sure you'll fit in me like a glove!"
"Like what?"
"You'll fit in the team like a glove! You know, like the flight gloves that we—oh wait," I said, stopping myself after looking at Krystal over. Yeah, those tribal clothes are not gonna work for even daily ship life, much less planetside trips or Arwing g-diffused combat. "Well, before anything else, we're gonna have to kit you up when we get to Corneria. Bodysuit, flight suit, ship clothes, and then I need some stuff for my own, and I know Falco will probably want a change of clothes. Yeesh, gonna need a receipt roll of all the things we need to shop for while on Corneria."
Krystal held up her hand to her mouth and giggled a little. She has a nice giggle. "It has been a while since I've been on a shopping trip. Does your currency tend to skitter around?"
Eugh. Valuable or not, the one thing I will not miss is scarabs on Sauria. Fuuuuuuuuck that. "Oh stars no, Lylatian credits are just electronic chips, nothing more. Blech, I hated hunting for Sauria's scarabs."
"I think they are rather cute, in their own way. The rarer ones shine bright, and they don't tend to bite as well," she reminisced.
This girl ain't right in the head if she thinks those little shits were cute. I made a point to lift my hand, showing off the still healing scar from that one fast orange scarab. "Lady, I don't know which scarabs you're talking about, but you made better friends with them than I did."
We both chuckled at the thought. If she thinks those bitey little shits were adorable, I think she'll fit right in with our brand of craziness here on Star Fox.
...Juuuuuust gotta wash up and make sure she changes up her clothes before Falco gets to her first.