Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in Starfox 64 or Starfox
Adventures. If I did, I'd be stinking rich and I wouldn't write this. A big
sorry to Zoe2000 for kinda stealing her idea about an Arctic Fox. I really
had no idea she had one in her stories, too. I only noticed after I was
halfway through my story. The same to Foxmerc on the Alben/Aldon thing.
Jeez, great minds think alike, eh?
Intro: Okay, setting. One year after the Dinosaur Planet incident. On Corneria, I guess. This is based on the N64/Gamecube setting, which means: Fox and his team are broke, Fox never met Fara, and General Pepper is not obsessed with suckers (haha). I never finished the game; heck, I don't even have the game; so don't hound my butt for stuff like 'hey, Fox didn't do that' blah, blah, blah. Gimme a break wills ya? But I'd appreciate it if you would send me a formal e-mail about it, and then I would change or update my story about that.
Okay, now on with the darn story.
"Ah-choo!" Fox blew his nose furiously on a tissue. He must've caught a cold from that coughing badger he met on the street.
"Darn!" Pepper backed away as Fox's snout burst with mucus, "Don't spray me like that!"
It was good to be home, but a journey back can be made a painful nightmare if you have flu virus cells going around and infecting nerve tissues. Fox's back ached and he saw little green dudes when all was silent.
The Great Fox was parked back in the hanger again, with Falco and Katt dropping in everyday, but they had rented an apartment on the outskirts of Hansonville. Bill and the other pilots also went home, but Colonel Alben decided to take up a room in Bill's house also in the little town, not far away from Fox's hanger.
Peppy was delivering Fox's usual supply of fish to his cabin and talking about what he did down there. Fox told the story over and over again about how he had shot Andross dead for the third time.
"Did a lot of blood come out?" That was Falco's question in the den when Fox made everyone gather around and listen because he was tired of repeating the story over and over again. Fox had to say yes to that.
"Were you hurt?" As was Peppy's obvious question. Well, obviously not.
"Did he drop any cool gadgets?" Do I really have to say it? Fine, it was Slippy. The answer is even more obviously not.
"Cool," Tom had said, for lack of better wording.
"Way to go, tiger," Katt patted Fox head as if he were some kind of baby that said his first word.
'I'll slip you the Emerald when no one's looking. I think I will get rid of that dreaded disease.' Krystal of course said this. Fox had told Tom and Krystal telepathically about the Ruby, and they were itching to see what it does on Fox. Too bad personal time was cut with Slippy being around all the time, blabbering about his daily paychecks from a company that sold parts to ships, along with Slippy's new patented warp drive.
"I'll be back at six to give your dinner," Peppy took the empty dish and fork and went out.
"Don't bother," Fox called after him.
Just seconds after Peppy strolled away, Krystal peeked in and thought to Fox. 'Hi, how are you doing?'
'Peachy, really.'
Krystal tossed him the Emerald of Earth from her neck. There was a familiar blinding green flash of light as Fox clasped it to his chest and as Fox felt his sinuses clear up.
'How are you now?'
'A bit peachier, I guess.'
Fox got up and returned the Emerald to Krystal's neck. Patting her on the shoulder, he skipped away to the den. Everyone stared as he jumped clear over the coffee table in the den and landed beside Katt on the leather couch. Fox picked up the remote and flicked on the comedy channel on the little television set.
"Oh!" Katt was flung off the cushion by Fox's heavy jump. She landed on the armrest and sat on her own tail. She muffled a scream by biting her lip.
"I think someone feels better," Falco sat down on Katt's former seat. Katt was still biting her lip.
"Yeah. Those white blood cells of mine are working overtime," Fox grinned. Tom grinned, too, his Sapphire glowing softly under his shirt.
"Savage, they are," Peppy commented, sitting down on the larger couch opposite Fox's.
"AAAAAAA!" Fox guessed Katt couldn't keep in the pain. Tails were rather sensitive, after all. Fox could remember the countless times that either he had stepped on someone else's tail or someone else had stepped on his tail. Those were gruesome memories that Fox hoped never to live up to again.
Fox apologized and got her some milk from the fridge to make up for it. 'Strange how they behave,' Fox thought when Katt started slurping the milk like she was stuck in the desert for a few months.
"Ha," Falco chuckled as Peppy tried to get up off the couch unsuccessfully to get his carrot that he left on the kitchen table. He burst into song as Peppy fell down for the third time, "Old gray hare, he ain't what he used to be, ain't what he used to be."
'Tsk, how rude!' Krystal thought.
'People are like that all the time. They love to poke fun at others.' Tom shrugged and gave Slippy, who just walked in, a huge wegie. Everyone except Krystal cracked up, even the victim.
"Owie, my thermal underwear," Slippy rubbed his behind.
'Tom!' Krystal exclaimed, shocked.
'Get used to it.' Fox said that whenever Krystal saw something unusual that she wasn't used to. So far, she has been forced to get used to beauty, shopping, money, and even games. She didn't understand the point in killing people on a shooting stimulation.
Yesterday, Katt dragged Krystal out to buy clothes. Katt, of course, came back to Falco's apartment with loads of stuff, but Krystal only bought a new plain, gray shirt. A few hours after, Katt forced Krystal into putting on makeup. Krystal was horrified when she saw herself with eye shadow and plunged her head in a sink full of water. That was typical Krystal behavior. You kinda get used to it when you are forced to remind her how to use the electric blanket every night.
Almost everything Krystal owned was magical. Most of the stuff she had was unusual, but known and rather familiar to Cornerians. Katt went screaming down the hall when Krystal let her try on one of her battle bracelets. Apparently, they like to squeeze the wrist of the person wearing them. Another time, Krystal let Tom handle her magic staff. Tom waved it around a little and the staff and quite having a mind of its own, it whacked him in the head several times. Tom also went screaming down the hall.
Falco had quite taken kindly to peaceful, country life instead of shooting down space ships. There weren't much of those left, anyway. He had stopped being so mean to Katt after the first few days, and they actually seemed bearable now, although Falco had to work overtime usually at the local supermarket to earn enough money to keep up with Katt's spending.
Speaking of jobs, the StarFox team returned to their old country occupations. Fox had helped some squirrel actor who was afraid of heights by doing a superb chase act with an old army jet. Slippy had copyrighted his warp drive and was making a fortune, but he was wasting it mainly on exotic fly soup. Peppy had been promoted from professor to vice principal. Tom usually helped Fox with his scenes. Krystal, well, kept to herself, as she was surprised at anything around the corner, totally obliterating any chances for a job of her own.
Fox, himself was getting pretty annoyed at all the flirting he was getting off the streets. Girls flocked around him, getting snapshots and autographs. Once, a lioness tackled him down and planted a wet kiss on his snout. Fox must've been sick for a week after that.
It has been a month from the second invasion of the Lylat System, and the StarFox team, now swelled to seven members, were getting impatient at all the goody-goody citizen stuff. Slippy, the most unlikely one, was complaining about how bored he was.
Tom's birthday was three weeks ago, and Fox nearly gave him a heart attack by pulling him by the ears out of bed to his cake. Being rather disoriented from the early wake-up call, Tom tripped over some of Slippy's old clothes on the kitchen floor and fell flat on his cake. The candles scorched his fur some, but that was easily fixed with the Emerald.
'Hey, guys. Why don't we go to the park this evening to see what the Ruby does?' Fox wondered for a sec about how inspiration strikes at the most unlikely of moments.
'Sure.' They replied in unison.
**
"Wow, look at all the stars," Krystal pointed up. It was a clear night, and the stars were twinkling overhead. Since there was no moon on Corneria, the outdoor lighting was a bit off. The glowing gems sorted that out, lighting the area with the soft glow of green, blue, and red.
The park was large, with many trees but no benches or garbage cans. Grassy hills covered the place, and the three foxes were sitting on the highest one, peering at the town and the sky before getting down to business.
"Try it," Tom pointed at the Ruby of Blood around Fox's neck. Fox fiddled with it a bit; raising his eyebrows as it glowed brighter.
"Uh, do something," Krystal said.
"Like what?"
"Jump around," Tom suggested. Fox leaped into the air and came down. It must've been fifty feet.
"High."
"Hello," Fox said dumbly. Dry jokes were common aboard the Great Fox, but Fox had some good ones up his sleeve that he wanted to save for rainy days. Fox was known for his stinginess on everything.
"Okay, run around," Tom gestured at the fields below. Fox did a few laps around the large park. He went so fast that Tom must've sworn he made a red ring around them. Fox jumped high up and landed squarely between Krystal and Tom.
"Take a blow at me," Krystal spread her arms a bit. Fox shook his head no.
"Fine, hit me," Tom offered. Fox grinned evilly and gave him one right in the stomach.
"AAAAA!" Tom landed some thirty feet away in a bush. He groaned, pained. Krystal giggled non-stop as she and Fox rushed forward and knelt beside the wounded Arctic Fox.
"Wow, that's tough," Fox said as Krystal healed Tom. Tom stood up, rubbing his head.
"Oh, dizzy spells," he stumbled around in a circle.
"Wait, I think I know one," Krystal said, pulling out her staff from the leather strap on her back. Waving it around in a circle, she pointed at Tom. A flash of white hit him, and he was thrown backwards another thirty feet into an oak tree.
"Not that kind!" Fox barked, running like quicksilver towards Tom, dragging Krystal along.
"Yeesh, how was I supposed to know?" Krystal healed Tom again, but this time, he didn't open his eyes or get up.
"Did you kill him?" Fox whispered.
"No, he's just unconscious," Krystal sat down on the soft grass. Fox did likewise.
It was a rather romantic setting: friend unconscious on the floor, starlight, nighttime, and a lot of privacy.
'Don't even think about it.' Krystal mumbled the thought, reading Fox's mind again.
'I think I already did, considering you read my thinking and thought to me not to think it.' Fox smiled.
'What?'
'Oh, never mind.'
Suddenly, a figure leaped out of the bushes and threw a large bag at Fox's face.
"Gah!" Fox was hit and hurled over the hill and landed some ten feet away.
"Ow!" The figure was also thrown over the hill as Krystal got up and tackled him.
"Ah!" Now, Krystal hurled away by the dark figure.
"Stop it!" The person yelled as Krystal tackled him again. The figure shone a flashlight on Krystal's face, "Oh, you."
"Wolf?" Fox ran over to the two fighters. It was Wolf O'Donnel, and the bag that hit Fox was full of credits.
"Yeah, who did you think it was? Your mom?" Wolf's voice, dripping with sarcasm as usual, revealed its position as it shone a flashlight on himself. Wolf, still in his black leather jacket like last time, had seemed to get a bit pudgier, but he had always been as skinny as a stick, so it didn't really matter.
"You killed my mom, remember?" Fox growled a bit.
"Chill out! No offence meant. I'm just here, returning your money, that's all."
"You tried to kill me twice, too."
"Yeesh, it was my job," Wolf sat down and shone the flashlight on Tom, who was still lying in a heap beneath the tree, "What the heck happened to him?"
"We knocked him out cold with a punch each," Krystal said. Her upper lip was curling a bit. No wonder; Wolf shot her a hundred times with a blaster.
"Yeah. Well, anyway, I got myself a low paying job and a little place of my own. I'm proud of it; since I didn't have to kill anyone to get it," Wolf waved the flashlight in the direction of the town.
"You killed Krystal's clone," Fox pointed out.
"Well, that's a clone. You killed two of Andross' clones, and you get paid well for it, so why can't I kill a few original people?"
"Because they're innocent," Krystal hissed. Wolf shrugged.
"If they didn't die, I would've. Andross would've tortured me to death."
"Selfish grant," Krystal muttered.
"Shut yer pie hole."
"What?"
"It means shut your mouth," Fox explained. Krystal struck out with a fist and hit Wolf in the stomach.
"Huh! Now we're even!" Krystal spat on Wolf. Wolf endured it, amazingly. Fox, his anger suddenly rising, felt that it was his turn. He pulled out his blaster and aimed it Wolf's leg.
"Ack, now that's g-going too f-far, Fox!" Wolf stuttered, sliding away on his butt.
"Eh, shoot me later for your eye," Fox reasoned as he pulled the trigger and the laser burnt a hole in Wolf's upper leg muscles. He howled in pain. Fox dropped the gun on Wolf's lap.
"Oh, I'm really mad," Wolf barked. He picked up the blaster, shot Fox in the arm and threw the gun away.
"Ow!" Fox cursed the gun, but went and picked it up anyway.
Krystal put the Emerald on his wound and it was gone in a flash, but the pain still was there. Krystal then bent over and placed the gem on Wolf's wound (after he scurried away some more) and his blood also seeped back in the hole and the wound itself disappeared in a split second later.
"Huh?" Wolf peeled off his eyepatch, revealing a new gray-iris eyeball that matched the other one. He gasped as he poked the new flesh.
"Even?" Fox asked.
"E-even," Wolf stuttered again. He blinked his new eye and groped around, "Wow, I haven't seen depth in what? Eight years?"
"Think of it as eight birthday presents from an old friend you betrayed," Fox hissed. Wolf hung his head.
"You didn't think I would stand wedgies for the rest of my life from Andrew, did you?"
"Well, you should've done it for Bill and me!" Fox shouted.
"You're right," Wolf sighed. He clapped his hand on Fox's shoulder like he used to and walked back home.
**
"Cool, did you guys read the paper this morning?" Slippy waved the black and white, recycled, and re-printed paper in their faces. Fox flicked a donut crumb at him and snatched the paper away.
"Hmm, there's a new exhibit at the museum," Fox read the headlines. Peppy, always interested in history and arts, peered over from his side of the table, bumping over Tom's cappuccino. The hot liquid spilled on Krystal's shirt and she screamed a little scream.
"Not any exhibit!" Slippy squeaked excitedly, ignoring Krystal as she bumped into him on the way to the bathroom, "That 4000 year old bow is magic! It can fire homing arrows, bomb arrows, and it can even fire fire arrows."
"Really? Sounds a bit like Krystal's staff," Fox examined the picture of it. It was a large, composite bow decorated with bright blue (even though the black and white paper didn't show it) gems. It really did look something like Krystal's staff.
'Krystal?' Tom asked.
'Yeah?'
'Do you know anything about a weird, four-millennium bow that can lock onto people? It looks kinda like your staff.' Tom inquired. There was a small pause.
'Yes I do.'
'Is it related to your staff?'
'I think so. I remember an old story my parents used to tell. It was about a great archer, swordsman, and a wizard who fashioned three weapons. The wizard made the staff, I think, and the other two are really obvious. After that, the wizard made three gems for three warriors and gave the weapons to them.'
'Then that thing is really valuable; not to mention that it's supposed to be in our hands!' Fox jolted up when his communicator started beeping. He flicked it open, but there was no picture.
"Fox," it was Wolf.
"What is it? Need more cash?" Fox joked. Yeah, they were like old buddies again.
"I was hacking into Leon's computer to give him a computer virus, oh, I hate him, and I found out something bad: they're attacking the town!" Wolf said. 'Wow, this guy is reliable.' Tom was peeking over and listening in. Fox told Tom and Krystal about him and Wolf after Tom regained his consciousness.
"What?" Fox said, keeping his voice down to avoid his other teammates looking at him funny.
"They're going to steal that weird bow thing."
"Jeez, they don't give up, do they?"
"Nope. Even with Andross gone, they still want violence, and that bow is dangerous! We should stop them from getting it. I think I can hack into the computer mainframe of the museum and try to trick them into giving the bow to you guys for safekeeping. I personally want that thing, but you'd hunt me down," Wolf pondered that for a second, "They won't believe a thing you say about robbers, so don't bother. If my plan doesn't work, we'll have to steal it ourselves."
"Wow, you got this all planned out, don't you?"
"Hey, you know me," Wolf scoffed.
"Well, I thought I did," Fox sighed and closed the communicator. Krystal walked in right after that. Fox dragged Tom and her into his room after breakfast was done.
"Kris, we've got a problem," Tom whispered.
**
"Aw, come on! Kris? What kind of name is that?" Krystal whined. She didn't seem the least bit worried about the bow. Tom went off to the museum to check out the bow, and Fox was stuck with Krystal and a communicator with Wolf discussing their plans. Wolf wasn't able to fool the museum 'dudes' with his computer.
"I think it's kind of cute," Falco stepped in. The two foxes fell off the top bunk bed in surprise.
"Falco! How much and what did you hear?" Fox stuttered.
"Something about you two lovebirds talking about a date to the museum. Just that much, but that's enough for blackmail!" Falco smiled. 'Thank goodness he's naïve!' Krystal thought.
"It's not what you think, Falco," Fox picked up his communicator and shook off Krystal, who landed on his back.
"Oh, it's exactly what I think."
"You are the biggest moron in the galaxy," Krystal said as she punched Falco lightly in the wing as she walked out.
"Way to go, Fox," Falco chuckled. Fox whispered a quick good-bye to Wolf and punched Falco in the wing, too, as he walked out. Unfortunately for the bird punk, Fox's Ruby was activated, and his fist on Falco's wing made a strange noise like a mouse being trodden on. Falco's feathery face contorted in pain.
"OW!"
'Time to get ready, Tom.'
'Right. Hey, that painting looks like my cousin!'
**
"Come on!" Fox hissed to his two comrades. They had ducked through bushes and trees for an hour, and they were getting tired. Nighttime travel through the urban jungle wasn't very comfortable.
"There it is!" Tom pointed forward. The museum was closed, and there were security guards around the cement pavement.
The museum was between City Hall and a government office. The whole thing was painted white, with columns decorating the outside. It looked like a parliament building. The door was fashioned out of old oak, but three bluecoats wielding clubs heavily guarded it.
"Okay, weapons check," Fox whispered as they camped out behind one of City Hall's stone columns.
"Uh, tranquilizer guns, electric shockers, thin rope, belt hatches, the works," Tom jingled the pack around. Fox nodded to Krystal.
"Oh, why me?" She put her hands on her hips.
"Because you're a girl, and we're not," Fox pointed at the security guards. They all seemed to be very peaceful looking, young male dog guards. Fox nodded, "They should be a shoo-in for your charms."
"Huh," Krystal puffed. She walked towards the guards anyway. She started talking, but the distance to the museum made it inaudible for Fox and Tom. Tom was telling her what to say telepathically, and Fox was chuckling silently at her acts. Soon, all three guards were gathered around her.
Fox and Tom crawled along and slipped around the guards. Tom picked the lock to the door quickly with a hairpin, obviously Katt's. It was open in a flash. Fox and Tom ducked in, closing the door silently behind them. Tom tucked away the pin, and told Krystal to keep them busy.
'Uh, tell them that you're single and you're looking for fun.'
'What does that mean?'
'Just say it. It's best that you don't know. We need ten minutes, so keep fiddling with your shirt; it makes them stare harder.'
Fox was close to hysterics, but they kept silent. They were to the exhibit of the bow in seconds, and Tom took out his glass-cutting knife.
A glass container guarded by velvet rope surrounded the bow. Fox realized that there was something missing. He silently told Tom to wait and Fox took out a small can of compressed gas. Spraying some of the container, the white gas revealed infrared laser detectors surrounding the thing like large spider webs.
Nodding, Tom took out his wire cutters and threw them at Fox. Fox quickly searched the outside of the container for wires, and he found a few attached to the marble stone column beneath it. Snapping it swiftly, the lasers disappeared.
Tom took out a plunger and Fox chucked mentally. Tom stuck the thing right to the side of the glass, and used the knife to cut around the plunger. A perfect circle was made, and the plunger sucked the glass out. Fox quickly took the bow out and stuffed it in his pack.
'What now?' Krystal asked.
'Erm, swish your tail under their chins.' Tom and Fox ran out quickly, but before they opened the door, they heard a high-pitched scream.
'Aw, crud. What happened?' Fox asked. No answer. Pulling out their tranquilizer guns, Fox and Tom kicked open the door.
The only problem was they weren't needed. Krystal already punched the living daylights out of all three of the guards and was casually walking towards her two comrades.
"What did you do? Oh, wait stupid question. What did they do?" Fox asked.
"Dumb animals. They don't even know my name and already they are trying skin contact."
"Uh, right," Tom exchanged confused looks with Fox, "Let's get out of here before more guys come."
Out of nowhere, four figures jumped out of the darkness. They were holding a fifth one tied in ropes.
"Too late," a French accent said. A lizard, a pig, a monkey with a wolf tied up, and a hyena that Fox had never seen before jumped out of the darkness and into the starlight.
"Leon!" Fox aimed the gun at the chameleon and fired.
Leon jumped out of the way and Fox hit dirt. Another shot was fired by no other than Andrew. His shot was better and it hit Krystal in the chest, right below her Emerald. With a scream, Krystal fell and started bleeding furiously.
"Darn! We have to go!" Tom pulled the injured Krystal along the road. Fox shot another one and his second tranquilizer dart hit Andrew. Wolf jerked his ropes that had bound his front paws away from the twitching albino monkey and ran towards Fox and Tom.
"Run! They have rockets!" Wolf screamed hysterically. Fox, Tom, and Wolf ran out of the town streets and into the hills. Beyond those hills were a river and the park that Wolf got beat up in.
"We can't leave her!" Fox yelled, pointing at Krystal. Her staff fell out of its pouch and Fox bent down to get it. Waving it towards Leon, who was still leading the chase, he fired a fireball. It blew the lizard backward into Pigma.
"RUN!" Wolf screamed, pushing Tom's hand away from Krystal and pulling them both away along the grassy hills. Seconds later, Fox heard the unmistakable sound of a bazooka being fired and the rocket blast blew all three of them forward, right into the small river that marks the town's boundaries.
**
"Can anyone say: YOU IDIOT?" Fox screamed at Wolf. Wolf had lead them back to his apartment, which was closest after they were blown away and lost to the StarHyena team, as it is now known as.
"Cool down!" Wolf pushed Fox back; "It was her life or all of ours!"
"SO?"
"I can find her again," Wolf said sheepishly, sitting down on a little rusty metal chair and typing furiously on his old computer. He brought up a map of the Lylat System.
"Where is she?" Tom asked calmly.
"Uh, the StarHyena, dumb name, had two bases. One is an underground facility right here on Corneria," Wolf pointed at a zoomed in picture of a map of their home world, "The other is on Fortuna, here." He put up another map and pointed.
"How can it have bases? There's only four of them," Fox exclaimed.
"Actually, all the remaining Venomian forces are either camped out here or there, or they're in jail. Frankly, I think they prefer freedom," Wolf brought up a profile of the hyena they saw a few hours ago, "This guy, Britch Chucklin, again, dumb name, leads the whole place now. Ace pilot, convincing voice, lots of friends, and plenty of weaponry make this laughing jerk a hard target. Orphaned at the age of ten by a Cornerian Military accident, he wants to kick some Cornerian butt. I hate him; he put me out of work."
"I see that as a good thing," Fox shrugged.
"Well, if we're going to get Krystal back, we should phone the Cornerian Army to get some help," Tom flicked open his holograph projector and pressed speed-dial for General Pepper. Three rings later, the hound's tired face appeared.
"Thomas! It's two in the morning," he yawned.
"Yeah, and we've got a problem. What would you say if we told you there was an enemy base on Corneria?"
"Nuke it," General Pepper yawned again.
"What if we needed something from it?"
"One thing is not enough to endanger thousands of things," Pepper said. Fox quickly shut the holograph down.
"I guess we can't trust him," Fox sighed, "He's too much of a savior for the majority."
"We'll have to go alone," Tom said. Wolf typed rapidly again.
"Oh, I intercepted a message," Wolf yelped happily, "Highly encrypted, but come back in a few minutes."
A few minutes later.
"Ah, your friend is on Fortuna," Wolf pointed.
"Okay, now you can tell the General to nuke the base on Corneria," Fox grinned to Tom. 'We have a flight to catch. Just the two of us.'
**
"Tell me again, why on Corneria are we trying to take on a base single- handedly?" Tom asked as the two Arwings zoomed across space.
"Peppy and Falco will want to come, and they will put themselves in too much danger," Fox shifted his position so he was more comfortable with the staff tied to his back. Fox insisted that Tom should also bring the bow. Along with the bow, there was a leather quiver tied to the string. The quiver fills itself automatically with arrows that just materialize out of thin air. The bow itself, like Krystal's staff, can retract its strings and the wooden frame to make it more compatible to small spaces.
"ETA?"
"ETA: 10 minutes," Tom reported. He was a natural in time.
"Did you bring your jacket?"
"Arctic Foxes can stand the cold, don't worry."
"Worrying is the only thing I'm doing now," Fox glazed at the white, snow planet that Krystal was supposed to be trapped on.
**
"Ow," Fox landed clumsily on his bottom as he tried to jump out. Tom did likewise. The snow was deeper than they had imagined, and they sunk through it quite quickly. The base that Wolf had pointed out was not far away, and the two foxes started right away.
"Climb on," Fox motioned for Tom to climb on his back in a piggyback fashion. They speeded along the trail thanks to the Ruby of Blood.
The base looked something like the Cornerian one on Katina, but a bit smaller in size. There were lots of guards around the place; each holding a big blaster Fox was certain would make them twenty pounds heavier.
"Hey!" Fox called as he dropped an invisible Tom off. 'Don't go anywhere. They'll see your tracks.' Tom nodded to Fox mentally.
"What the-" Fox tackled a lizard down and punched another one in the stomach. They started firing quickly, but Fox dodged the lasers like a breeze. Taking out his own blaster, he shot with accuracy into each of their heads, spilling blood and occasionally gray liquid that can only be brains.
'Go! Shut down all computer systems, but not the lighting.' Fox ordered. He saw small tracks run hurriedly towards the base. Fox grinned. Show time.
Blasting a hole in the metal walls using the staff, Fox charged in, shooting everything in sight. He was really mad. Once in a while, Fox heard an explosion elsewhere in the building that can only mean that Tom was having a good time with the bow.
"Hey, you!" A bear stormed in the office that Fox was trashing. Quickly putting the grizzly in a headlock, Fox started to push his spine. The bear growled in pain, but could not do anything in Fox's grip.
"Where is the prison?" Fox asked, putting on a nice voice to add to the irony that the four hundred pound bear must be experiencing against a mere one hundred-pound fox.
"F-fourth floor," the bear choked out. Fox dropped him and ran to the stairs. A zap was audible as all the computers shut down. 'Thanks, Tom.'
'Sure. This thing is so cool!'
Jumping the staircase six at a time, Fox crashed through the wall on the fourth floor. All the animals cowered in fear at the sight of Fox, but they were ignored as he sped down the halls, occasionally smashing some glass of an office as he passed. Fox skidded to a halt when he saw the word 'Jail' in big block letters in front of a metallic door.
Smashing through with his fists, Fox charged into the door. The whole prison was only one cell and three guards, who were expandable. Once they were down, staining the metal floor and walls with their blood, Fox turned his attention to a blue fox, paws on the cell bars, gawking at Fox.
"Wow, that was quick," Krystal said, "I've only been here for fifteen minutes." She jumped out after Fox bent the bars for her. She hugged him tight and rubbed her furry cheek furiously against his.
"Hey, stop it," Fox chuckled as he felt himself get shocked by the static electricity she was building up, "Come on, let's get Tom and get out of here."
Another second later, Fox had whisked Krystal and Tom out (it was hard to find Tom at first) and dumped them both in the Arwings. Krystal, getting the good side of the argument again, got to sit on Fox's lap for a second time as they zoomed off into space.
**
"You went where?" Peppy dropped his jaw.
"Fortuna," Tom replied, "We know, we should've told you first."
"Told me? You should've dragged me along like you always do!"
"Erm, bad back slows you down, old bunny," Fox shrugged as he dug up the lamest excuse ever created.
"Wow, I hope you get hazard pay," Falco said.
Having have to tell another long story (well, excluding the gems as always) including the part about Wolf, Fox came prepared with drinking water this time. Everyone gathered around again like a bunch of little cubs around a librarian telling a fairy tale and listened intently on what they had to say.
"Say, Tom, you didn't happen to see any of the StarWolf, er, StarHyena team, did you?" Peppy asked.
"No, I don't think so," Tom put his head on his fist and leaned his elbow on the coffee table, making him look like a philosopher. Fox and Krystal also shook their heads.
"It must've been rather romantic, right, Krystal? Your hero saving you for the second time," Katt smiled, showing her white teeth. Krystal looked confused.
"With who?"
"Fox, of course!"
"Him?" Krystal looked at Fox. Her green eyes met his green eyes for a second, "No, not really."
"What is wrong with you foxes?" Katt looked utterly bewildered, "I mean, if Falco saved my life twice, well, I would've been in his bedroom at night, then." Slippy choked on his juice. Falco looked pale beneath his feathers.
"Hey, no way! Even if you did get in, I'd never agree to do such a thing!" Falco harrumphed.
Fox looked at Krystal for a second, and making sure to make a mental barrier, he took notice of her features.
Yeah, she was the same age, same order, same species, but not the same race. What does that matter, anyway? She looked beyond beautiful, and she was pretty funny and nice most of the time. The naive part can be fixed after a few months. Fox slid back on the couch as he thought about the first time that he saw her. Fox wondered if Peppy was going to blurt it out to Krystal.
'Uh, oh, a big mental hand is smashing on my personal space.' Fox thought as he felt Krystal trying to tell him something.
'Hey!' She broke through. 'Why'd you do that?'
'It gets annoying when you read my mind all the time.' Fox shrugged.
'I'm not reading your mind! I was going to tell you about how sweet you were to think of me like that when I was in the crystal.' Krystal sounded hurt. Fox quickly stood up and ran to his cabin. Immediately after he shut the door, he slid down, back against the wall, and started banging his head softly.
'I can make your memories a part of mine and mine yours, so stop hurting yourself. I don't mind people calling me pretty or beautiful, I just mind when people judge my by that.' Krystal hacked into Fox's head for the third time. Fox stopped in mid-bang.
'Oh. I thought you'd hate me.'
'I thought you only saved my life because you needed my help on Dinosaur Planet, but a few months ago, I was proved wrong. You saved me because of the person you are: the hero that rescues anyone no matter what. It shows that you shouldn't judge people until you really know them.'
Fox slid back into the den. Fox racked his brain for something that was bugging him until he realized that the naïve part was already fixed.
**
"Krystal?" Fox peeked into her cabin. It was like Fox's, only that it was bare empty of personal objects except her armor, shirt, and staff in the closet.
"Hmm?" Krystal twisted her head a bit from her bed to look at Fox.
"Do you know where your home planet is?" Fox asked.
"No, not really," Krystal sighed. She must've wanted to take another mid- boring-day nap again, because her sandals were thrown carelessly against the dresser. One landed in, but the other landed on top of the empty wooden rectangle.
"Do you know where your parents died?" Fox tried. Krystal stopped swishing her tail around for a second, but went on as she spoke again.
"Yeah, I do," Krystal suddenly leaped up and tackled Fox to the ground, landing with her knees uncomfortably (for Fox) on his chest, "Ha! You got it! All these miserable years! I never thought of that!" Krystal jumped off of Fox and ran to the cockpit. Fox curiously followed her.
"Hmm? How do you work this thing?" Krystal rapped softly on the screen for the star-map system. Fox pressed a button next to it and a large, but incomplete map of the galaxy showed up.
"Erm, we're here," Fox pointed to a small, blue planet, "Corneria." Krystal thought for a moment, and pointed to a part of the map that was to the left side of the Lylat System. It was the part that Fox tried to discover. Krystal then worked her paw right again to Dinosaur Planet, not far from Aquas.
"Show me the position of the planets a year ago," Krystal demanded. Fox pushed a few buttons on the keyboard and the planets started moving backwards. They lurched to a halt a second later. Dinosaur Planet ended up pointing left from the sun. Krystal traced her paw again to the left, but in the middle of empty space beyond the solar system that Fox named Vulguru.
"Not discovered," Fox said.
"Not for long," Krystal then ran off again. Fox then noticed that she didn't bother to put on her sandals.
**
"Are we getting paid this time?" Falco asked as he strapped himself down for takeoff.
Slippy, preparing again as usual nailed down a bunk bed for Krystal and Katt, but Falco was forced to sleep on the couch because his old room was used for the den.
"If knowledge is payment enough," Krystal answered.
"Aw, crud," Falco mumbled.
"Hey, cheer up. At least there won't be malls for Katt to waste money," Peppy laughed.
"What?" Katt growled.
Fox shook his head and pushed on the speed lever. A minute and a large bang later, they were in space again.
"Slip, get the new warp drive," Fox motioned. Wolf hadn't bothered to give it back. Slippy slid a circuit into the computer and ran off towards the engines. Nearly a second later, he hopped back and sat down.
"Uh, you press this," Slippy flicked a small switch on the computer. What a jerk; he hadn't even let enough time for Katt to get seated again. A split second and some time distortion later, Katt was hurled against the wall, but at least they've arrived.
"You idiot!" Katt hissed.
"Whoops," Slippy cringed as Katt loomed over him.
"I hope you fattened up all right, Froggy, 'cause I'm gonna FRY you!" Katt's head had a huge swell on it. She leaped for Slippy and he ducked for cover and ran for is life.
"That's it," Krystal pointed. There was a green planet close to where they had landed. The solar system had one sun and five planets, and the green one was the second closest. All the others were brown deserts. Fox brought the joystick up a bit and shoved the lever again. Soon, they were looking for a place to land.
"Take that clearing over there, Fox," Peppy said as Katt jumped over his seat after Slippy, who actually had a better endurance when he was scared out of hit wits. Fox touched down easily and opened the hatch door. No sooner than three minutes later, all seven of them were looking around, impressed at the wildlife.
There were huge redwood trees towering high above as well as little berry shrubs around here and there. Everything was green, except a few mountains in the distance and the golden berries that were so big that they threatened to flatten the bushes.
"Wow," Tom peered up at the trees and fell over on his tail. Krystal ran over to one of the bushes and picked a berry. She popped it into her mouth and chewed.
"Any good?" Fox asked.
"Very," Krystal plucked another fat one and bit that one as well. Fox took a small one and nibbled. It was sweet, but not to the extent that it would suck the moisture out of your mouth. It was rather hard, not much different from a crabapple.
"Mmm, not bad," Tom stuffed two into his jaw at once.
"Oh, I wouldn't eat too much if I were you," Krystal smiled as Tom hesitated to fill his snout again, "It's poison to males." Fox spat his out quickly.
"What's that?" Falco pointed to the very edge of the clearing. It looked like something had flattened out on it, a bit like a broken structure. A small one, too.
"That is what we're looking for," Krystal said speeding off. Fox and Tom followed closely. As they ran closer, Fox could make out the burnt remains of what looked to be a stone and wood hut. Krystal's hut.
"Ooh, it's still here," Krystal cleared the two foot wall in a single jump and dug around furiously in the burnt ashes. There was a stone floor beneath it, and Fox could see some blackened remnants of a desk, two chairs, two rough beds, and a small cabinet.
"Hmm?" Tom opened the cabinet and took out some large jars of food, "Yuck, this must be at least twenty years old!"
"Twenty-three," Krystal pointed out as she picked up burnt pieces of parchment on the desk, "Aw, they're too damaged to read." She flipped a few pages over and found a small, unburned map of the planet. She stuffed into the pocket of her pants. Krystal looked over at a small table outside the hut.
"That was the table your parents were sitting in when they were killed," Fox jumped over after her. The table wasn't damaged, but years of sitting out in the weather beat it. A small, checkered, wooden board was sitting on top of it, and on top of the board, there were little pieces of colored wood, much like checkers.
"These are still here!" Krystal took one of the wooden pieces and examined it. It was cleverly waxed, as of the others, and they all had little markings on them. Krystal scooped them all up and shoved them in her pocket, too.
"Hey what's t - AAA!" Tom slid back in horror. Fox spun around and saw what Tom had seen. It was the skeletal remains of two foxes wearing tunics.
"They." Krystal bent over the skeletons. The rain had beat the bones until they were gray and grass grew clumsily around them. They were in the same position: both hands on top of their chests and jaws open slightly.
"Huh." Fox whimpered. Krystal touched the smaller skeleton, probably her mother, and a single tear fell. As Krystal's paw moved away from the skeleton, she bumped into the tunic and a small piece of yellowed paper fluttered out. Krystal picked it up.
"What's that?" Fox asked.
"Erm, a drawing of my staff, I think. It was done with charcoal, so it's hard to read. There's a bow and a sword, too, and there is someone standing beside each of them. The paper is a bit cut off, I think. The pictures are very detailed," Krystal waved the paper in front of Tom, "Does he look familiar?" Tom squinted his eyes to look at the paper.
"That kinda looks like the picture I have of. Me!" Tom snatched the paper away. Fox bent over to have a closer look. It wasn't exactly Tom. The tail on the Arctic Fox was slightly shorter, and the pattern on it was different from Tom's. The tip of Tom's tail had the slightest trace of a gray zigzag, but the one on the picture had the pattern of waves. Besides, the Arctic Fox in the picture was wearing battle armor, and Tom looked a bit to skinny for that. Strangely, the fox beside the staff looked a bit like a male version of Krystal with armor. He had thicker bracelets and a chest plate, but he also had the hoops around his fuzzy tail. There was a close picture representation of Fox with armor on it, too, beside a big broadsword.
"Hey, there is writing on the paper. Wait a second. Um, shoten blaclos hanrato. The wizard, the archer, the swordsman. I think that's rather obvious," Krystal shrugged and stuff the paper away, too.
"Let's go, then," Tom waved to Peppy and the others, who just caught up.
"What?" Falco stared.
"Back to the Great Fox!" Fox ushered.
"You have got to be kidding me." Falco mumbled.
**
"Was there anything interesting on the map?" Fox asked. He had locked the door to his and Tom's cabin again to avoid a nosy Katt butting in to ask something.
"No, just trees and rivers," Krystal shrugged, "There was my tattoo inscribed on it as a north-south marker, but nothing else." Krystal rolled up her gray pants up to her foreleg and showed the star-like picture.
"Hmm," Fox murmured, getting an idea, "What do the tattoos on your arm say?"
"They're just there to tell whoever that is of my race my name and all that stuff. It's way to complicated for a fox with a four-year old idea of what her language means," Krystal said, "My mother just said it says my name. My full name, but I can't make out the last words."
"Too bad." Fox looked closely at the tattoo on Krystal's leg. There was something much more to it than it looked.
"What are you doing?" Krystal started to get the giggles as Fox leaned over and squinted his eyes to see well.
"Uh, I think this is a star map, just more artistic. Wait, I'll copy it," Fox took a page from under his older charts and memos, "When was the last time you groomed your leg?" Krystal burst out laughing.
"Uh, don't get any ideas, Fox," Krystal twitched a bit as Fox covered her leg with the paper and traced the tattoo. She started laughing giddily again as Fox scribbled a little faster. Fox chuckled as he flipped the page off her leg and looked at it closely with Tom.
"Do you see the tiny dots outside the small circle?" Fox pointed. Tom nodded.
"That looks a bit like Zeus' Flame. That big constellation that you can see from the Southern Hemisphere on Katina."
"Yep, and I think that the circle there is where we'll be going next," Fox nodded.
"That fells so weird, getting information I had very near my bottom for twenty-five years," Krystal giggled.
**
An hour passed and Fox and his crew gathered around the cockpit to look at a sight very strange. The planet had been completely blown in half, the two pieces slowly revolving around each other. Cerinia was a planet quite like Corneria, but a little greener. It looked like no one had been living on it for years. Fox decided to land on the one with more cleared land, which meant there might have been more cities before.
Fox, Tom, and Krystal had to fly down on the Arwings because Slippy detected too lush vegetation and not much even ground for the Great Fox to touch down on. Slippy built another Arwing to replace the one that Krystal crashed. With a little help from Rob, of course.
The landing was smooth, and Krystal's flying had improved. Cerinia proved to be a beautiful place for one that had been destroyed. It looked remarkably like the last one that they had been to, with the same redwood trees and berry bushes, but Cerinia had more vines and slimy swamps. There wasn't a fox in sight.
"Whoa!" Tom yelled as he slipped on a rock. As he retained his posture, he fell into a dugout pit, "OW!"
"Now who's the clumsy oaf?" Fox called down, laughing.
As they strolled on, making jokes or falling into unseen pits, they stumbled into a large, brown dirt clearing. It seemed to be perfectly circular.
"Oh, that's ugly." Tom mumbled. Suddenly, as if told to by an unseen force, a strong wind picked up and blew a whole inch of the dirt off, revealing a terrible sight.
"Oh, that is NOT good," Fox's jaw dropped. They were standing before a mass graveyard of fox skeletons poking out of the blown dirt, each wearing a tunic. Fox heard Tom throw up behind him.
"Oh, my goodness," Krystal whispered as she examined a skeleton. It was very small, like it belonged to an infant kit. It had a laser hole shot through its skull. Fox felt a wave of sadness that seemed to emerge from the clearing. Suddenly, the clearing almost gave a whisper of warning.
"What's this? More victims?" A voice behind them barked. Fox spun around and leveled his gun. Fox dropped it in surprise just as quick.
"No way!" Tom said as he dropped his gun as well. Krystal, on the other hand, pulled out her staff and raised it.
"What's the matter, Fox? Too surprised to see your old man?" James McCloud laughed. He was wearing a black leather jacket just like the ones that Andross' ace pilots wore.
"You are a."
"Clone," James finished for him, "Too bad the real James had to waste his life away for some pathetic dog. It's much more fun killing people or enslaving them. I'd say the killing part was much more enjoyable." James jerked his blaster at the graveyard.
"How could you?" Tom asked, shocked.
"Ha! Once these people see you, they start shooting at you. Much more fun killing them rather than making peace, a lot less painful, too. Look!" James pointed to his paw that held his blaster. It had a hole right through it, showing bone and burnt sinew; "Andross was kind enough to give me a body again. Too bad I failed getting the Emerald the first time. Too good that I'm about to succeed this time."
"Fox, get rid of him and let's get out of here!" Krystal turned her head. In that moment, James' clone snatched the Emerald away from her. Krystal gave a yap of shock and swung her staff. James neatly caught it.
"No way-" Krystal screamed as James kicked her in the stomach. Fox fumbled with his dropped blaster, but managed to aim it at the side of James' head as he prepared for a second attack.
"Really, Fox, are you really going to shoot you father after all these years instead of having a little chat?" James laughed. Fox hesitated in pulling the trigger for a second. James' arms flashed in Fox's hesitation. One arm flung the Emerald far away, and the other one, still holding the blaster, fired a shot into each of the three foxes.
Fox, cringing and holding his stomach in the horrific pain, used a millisecond to aim and another millisecond to shoot. James' clone landed in a heap with a shot through the skull two seconds later. It all happened so fast that Fox's head stopped working for a while.
"Shoot!" Tom crumpled down on his knees. He had a shot through his shoulder. Fox himself got hit in the stomach region, probably in the liver where it would take a longer time for him to die. Krystal, on the other hand, got a much worse wound. The laser and gone through the side of her neck and had pierced her main artery. She was already lying on her back on the ground, looking pale beneath her blue fur and the fur itself and the ground was being stained with dark red as her heart kept pumping the blood out.
"Fox." She whispered. Fox quickly knelt beside her. Fox clutched the neck wound to stop the blood flow, but it proved useless.
"Fox! Oh, that's bad! I'll f-find the Emerald," Tom coughed. He ran off quickly into the woods.
'No! Don't go, Kris! Hang on for a second!' Fox frantically shook Krystal's shoulders as she closed her eyes.
'It's far too late, Fox. Don't blame yourself.' Krystal's voice, even through minds, was weak.
'You are NOT dead yet!' Fox yelled angrily. 'Don't say that!'
'Huh! Not dead? You speak the words of a hopeful fool, Fox.'
'A hopeful fool I may be, but a right one I shall prove!' Fox glared at her. She opened her eyes for a second. Krystal's eyes were soft and warm, but her body was going frigid. She was right: she didn't have long to live.
'Don't beat yourself up for it. I would've hesitated if it were my father, too.'
'TOM! Where are you?' Fox called.
'Ha! I got it!'
'GET BACK HERE!' Fox shouted mentally. He wasn't angry at all. He was scared more than anything, more like.
'It's. Too. Late.' Krystal's breaths came in short gasps, and now Fox could hardly feel her pulse.
'No, it's not. It isn't. It isn't.' Fox sighed grievously as Krystal gave a final gasp and closed her eyes. Fox closed his eyes as well as he felt the tears come out. Fox held her close for a long moment to his chest until Tom came crashing through the underbrush.
"Oh, crud." Tom's eyes started watering, too, "Fox, take the Emerald. You've got a nasty hole there." Fox turned slowly, his cheek soaked with salty tears. Fox took the Emerald with a shaky hand and felt again the warmth as his wound recovered. Fox then, although knowing that she's already gone, pressed the Emerald to Krystal's forehead as a final tribute.
Fox suddenly felt the sucking of magic again. Surprised, Fox felt himself get hurled to the ground and he landed with a bump on his tail. He was sure his eyes were not working correctly because he rubbed furiously on them.
'What the.' He couldn't talk either. Fox looked around. He was still on Cerinia, but the scenery was horribly wrong. The whole world had turned the color of a negative picture. Fox could see a black shadow, probably Tom, leaning over. Him! Fox's body was still knelt down beside the dead Krystal, with one paw still clutching the Emerald and the other paw holding her.
What was around Fox was even scarier. Hundreds of thousands of black-robed shadows were staring relentlessly upon him with dark, hollow eye sockets. Fox gasped in horror as he realized they had no flesh on their faces. Some had holes through bones and most were stained with blood. These were the dead Cerinians, the people who Krystal wanted to know about. All this time, they were all dead. Dead for a long, long time.
'Fox?' Someone asked. Fox looked at the vixen that talked. It was Krystal! She was a dark shadow like the rest, but her body still had fur and she was smiling at Fox, and was running up to him. She tackled Fox over and hugged him tightly.
'What's going on?'
'I don't know. I'm dead, I think, and you are here to bring me back.'
'Then lets get out of here.' Fox grinned happily as he pulled Krystal, more flew than walked, to where their bodies were and Fox felt again the sucking feeling of magic.
"Whoa-" Tom reeled back in surprise as Fox regained his senses and jumped up.
"Dead! I told you that you weren't dead!" Fox knelt back down again beside Krystal and held her tight. She looked mildly confused.
"But I was dead," she whispered as she hugged back.
"Okay, break it up, we should go back now," Tom said, awestruck. Fox nodded and helped his blue friend up.
"Are you all right?" Fox asked as he started to walk back, ignoring James' bloody body.
"Uh, my neck is a bit sore." Everyone laughed, not that it was funny, but everyone was relieved. Confused, but a bit more relieved than confused.
**
A/N: I know it's not done. Gimme a few more months and I should get the next one done, which should be the last. Lets see how Fox handles his destiny.
Intro: Okay, setting. One year after the Dinosaur Planet incident. On Corneria, I guess. This is based on the N64/Gamecube setting, which means: Fox and his team are broke, Fox never met Fara, and General Pepper is not obsessed with suckers (haha). I never finished the game; heck, I don't even have the game; so don't hound my butt for stuff like 'hey, Fox didn't do that' blah, blah, blah. Gimme a break wills ya? But I'd appreciate it if you would send me a formal e-mail about it, and then I would change or update my story about that.
Okay, now on with the darn story.
"Ah-choo!" Fox blew his nose furiously on a tissue. He must've caught a cold from that coughing badger he met on the street.
"Darn!" Pepper backed away as Fox's snout burst with mucus, "Don't spray me like that!"
It was good to be home, but a journey back can be made a painful nightmare if you have flu virus cells going around and infecting nerve tissues. Fox's back ached and he saw little green dudes when all was silent.
The Great Fox was parked back in the hanger again, with Falco and Katt dropping in everyday, but they had rented an apartment on the outskirts of Hansonville. Bill and the other pilots also went home, but Colonel Alben decided to take up a room in Bill's house also in the little town, not far away from Fox's hanger.
Peppy was delivering Fox's usual supply of fish to his cabin and talking about what he did down there. Fox told the story over and over again about how he had shot Andross dead for the third time.
"Did a lot of blood come out?" That was Falco's question in the den when Fox made everyone gather around and listen because he was tired of repeating the story over and over again. Fox had to say yes to that.
"Were you hurt?" As was Peppy's obvious question. Well, obviously not.
"Did he drop any cool gadgets?" Do I really have to say it? Fine, it was Slippy. The answer is even more obviously not.
"Cool," Tom had said, for lack of better wording.
"Way to go, tiger," Katt patted Fox head as if he were some kind of baby that said his first word.
'I'll slip you the Emerald when no one's looking. I think I will get rid of that dreaded disease.' Krystal of course said this. Fox had told Tom and Krystal telepathically about the Ruby, and they were itching to see what it does on Fox. Too bad personal time was cut with Slippy being around all the time, blabbering about his daily paychecks from a company that sold parts to ships, along with Slippy's new patented warp drive.
"I'll be back at six to give your dinner," Peppy took the empty dish and fork and went out.
"Don't bother," Fox called after him.
Just seconds after Peppy strolled away, Krystal peeked in and thought to Fox. 'Hi, how are you doing?'
'Peachy, really.'
Krystal tossed him the Emerald of Earth from her neck. There was a familiar blinding green flash of light as Fox clasped it to his chest and as Fox felt his sinuses clear up.
'How are you now?'
'A bit peachier, I guess.'
Fox got up and returned the Emerald to Krystal's neck. Patting her on the shoulder, he skipped away to the den. Everyone stared as he jumped clear over the coffee table in the den and landed beside Katt on the leather couch. Fox picked up the remote and flicked on the comedy channel on the little television set.
"Oh!" Katt was flung off the cushion by Fox's heavy jump. She landed on the armrest and sat on her own tail. She muffled a scream by biting her lip.
"I think someone feels better," Falco sat down on Katt's former seat. Katt was still biting her lip.
"Yeah. Those white blood cells of mine are working overtime," Fox grinned. Tom grinned, too, his Sapphire glowing softly under his shirt.
"Savage, they are," Peppy commented, sitting down on the larger couch opposite Fox's.
"AAAAAAA!" Fox guessed Katt couldn't keep in the pain. Tails were rather sensitive, after all. Fox could remember the countless times that either he had stepped on someone else's tail or someone else had stepped on his tail. Those were gruesome memories that Fox hoped never to live up to again.
Fox apologized and got her some milk from the fridge to make up for it. 'Strange how they behave,' Fox thought when Katt started slurping the milk like she was stuck in the desert for a few months.
"Ha," Falco chuckled as Peppy tried to get up off the couch unsuccessfully to get his carrot that he left on the kitchen table. He burst into song as Peppy fell down for the third time, "Old gray hare, he ain't what he used to be, ain't what he used to be."
'Tsk, how rude!' Krystal thought.
'People are like that all the time. They love to poke fun at others.' Tom shrugged and gave Slippy, who just walked in, a huge wegie. Everyone except Krystal cracked up, even the victim.
"Owie, my thermal underwear," Slippy rubbed his behind.
'Tom!' Krystal exclaimed, shocked.
'Get used to it.' Fox said that whenever Krystal saw something unusual that she wasn't used to. So far, she has been forced to get used to beauty, shopping, money, and even games. She didn't understand the point in killing people on a shooting stimulation.
Yesterday, Katt dragged Krystal out to buy clothes. Katt, of course, came back to Falco's apartment with loads of stuff, but Krystal only bought a new plain, gray shirt. A few hours after, Katt forced Krystal into putting on makeup. Krystal was horrified when she saw herself with eye shadow and plunged her head in a sink full of water. That was typical Krystal behavior. You kinda get used to it when you are forced to remind her how to use the electric blanket every night.
Almost everything Krystal owned was magical. Most of the stuff she had was unusual, but known and rather familiar to Cornerians. Katt went screaming down the hall when Krystal let her try on one of her battle bracelets. Apparently, they like to squeeze the wrist of the person wearing them. Another time, Krystal let Tom handle her magic staff. Tom waved it around a little and the staff and quite having a mind of its own, it whacked him in the head several times. Tom also went screaming down the hall.
Falco had quite taken kindly to peaceful, country life instead of shooting down space ships. There weren't much of those left, anyway. He had stopped being so mean to Katt after the first few days, and they actually seemed bearable now, although Falco had to work overtime usually at the local supermarket to earn enough money to keep up with Katt's spending.
Speaking of jobs, the StarFox team returned to their old country occupations. Fox had helped some squirrel actor who was afraid of heights by doing a superb chase act with an old army jet. Slippy had copyrighted his warp drive and was making a fortune, but he was wasting it mainly on exotic fly soup. Peppy had been promoted from professor to vice principal. Tom usually helped Fox with his scenes. Krystal, well, kept to herself, as she was surprised at anything around the corner, totally obliterating any chances for a job of her own.
Fox, himself was getting pretty annoyed at all the flirting he was getting off the streets. Girls flocked around him, getting snapshots and autographs. Once, a lioness tackled him down and planted a wet kiss on his snout. Fox must've been sick for a week after that.
It has been a month from the second invasion of the Lylat System, and the StarFox team, now swelled to seven members, were getting impatient at all the goody-goody citizen stuff. Slippy, the most unlikely one, was complaining about how bored he was.
Tom's birthday was three weeks ago, and Fox nearly gave him a heart attack by pulling him by the ears out of bed to his cake. Being rather disoriented from the early wake-up call, Tom tripped over some of Slippy's old clothes on the kitchen floor and fell flat on his cake. The candles scorched his fur some, but that was easily fixed with the Emerald.
'Hey, guys. Why don't we go to the park this evening to see what the Ruby does?' Fox wondered for a sec about how inspiration strikes at the most unlikely of moments.
'Sure.' They replied in unison.
**
"Wow, look at all the stars," Krystal pointed up. It was a clear night, and the stars were twinkling overhead. Since there was no moon on Corneria, the outdoor lighting was a bit off. The glowing gems sorted that out, lighting the area with the soft glow of green, blue, and red.
The park was large, with many trees but no benches or garbage cans. Grassy hills covered the place, and the three foxes were sitting on the highest one, peering at the town and the sky before getting down to business.
"Try it," Tom pointed at the Ruby of Blood around Fox's neck. Fox fiddled with it a bit; raising his eyebrows as it glowed brighter.
"Uh, do something," Krystal said.
"Like what?"
"Jump around," Tom suggested. Fox leaped into the air and came down. It must've been fifty feet.
"High."
"Hello," Fox said dumbly. Dry jokes were common aboard the Great Fox, but Fox had some good ones up his sleeve that he wanted to save for rainy days. Fox was known for his stinginess on everything.
"Okay, run around," Tom gestured at the fields below. Fox did a few laps around the large park. He went so fast that Tom must've sworn he made a red ring around them. Fox jumped high up and landed squarely between Krystal and Tom.
"Take a blow at me," Krystal spread her arms a bit. Fox shook his head no.
"Fine, hit me," Tom offered. Fox grinned evilly and gave him one right in the stomach.
"AAAAA!" Tom landed some thirty feet away in a bush. He groaned, pained. Krystal giggled non-stop as she and Fox rushed forward and knelt beside the wounded Arctic Fox.
"Wow, that's tough," Fox said as Krystal healed Tom. Tom stood up, rubbing his head.
"Oh, dizzy spells," he stumbled around in a circle.
"Wait, I think I know one," Krystal said, pulling out her staff from the leather strap on her back. Waving it around in a circle, she pointed at Tom. A flash of white hit him, and he was thrown backwards another thirty feet into an oak tree.
"Not that kind!" Fox barked, running like quicksilver towards Tom, dragging Krystal along.
"Yeesh, how was I supposed to know?" Krystal healed Tom again, but this time, he didn't open his eyes or get up.
"Did you kill him?" Fox whispered.
"No, he's just unconscious," Krystal sat down on the soft grass. Fox did likewise.
It was a rather romantic setting: friend unconscious on the floor, starlight, nighttime, and a lot of privacy.
'Don't even think about it.' Krystal mumbled the thought, reading Fox's mind again.
'I think I already did, considering you read my thinking and thought to me not to think it.' Fox smiled.
'What?'
'Oh, never mind.'
Suddenly, a figure leaped out of the bushes and threw a large bag at Fox's face.
"Gah!" Fox was hit and hurled over the hill and landed some ten feet away.
"Ow!" The figure was also thrown over the hill as Krystal got up and tackled him.
"Ah!" Now, Krystal hurled away by the dark figure.
"Stop it!" The person yelled as Krystal tackled him again. The figure shone a flashlight on Krystal's face, "Oh, you."
"Wolf?" Fox ran over to the two fighters. It was Wolf O'Donnel, and the bag that hit Fox was full of credits.
"Yeah, who did you think it was? Your mom?" Wolf's voice, dripping with sarcasm as usual, revealed its position as it shone a flashlight on himself. Wolf, still in his black leather jacket like last time, had seemed to get a bit pudgier, but he had always been as skinny as a stick, so it didn't really matter.
"You killed my mom, remember?" Fox growled a bit.
"Chill out! No offence meant. I'm just here, returning your money, that's all."
"You tried to kill me twice, too."
"Yeesh, it was my job," Wolf sat down and shone the flashlight on Tom, who was still lying in a heap beneath the tree, "What the heck happened to him?"
"We knocked him out cold with a punch each," Krystal said. Her upper lip was curling a bit. No wonder; Wolf shot her a hundred times with a blaster.
"Yeah. Well, anyway, I got myself a low paying job and a little place of my own. I'm proud of it; since I didn't have to kill anyone to get it," Wolf waved the flashlight in the direction of the town.
"You killed Krystal's clone," Fox pointed out.
"Well, that's a clone. You killed two of Andross' clones, and you get paid well for it, so why can't I kill a few original people?"
"Because they're innocent," Krystal hissed. Wolf shrugged.
"If they didn't die, I would've. Andross would've tortured me to death."
"Selfish grant," Krystal muttered.
"Shut yer pie hole."
"What?"
"It means shut your mouth," Fox explained. Krystal struck out with a fist and hit Wolf in the stomach.
"Huh! Now we're even!" Krystal spat on Wolf. Wolf endured it, amazingly. Fox, his anger suddenly rising, felt that it was his turn. He pulled out his blaster and aimed it Wolf's leg.
"Ack, now that's g-going too f-far, Fox!" Wolf stuttered, sliding away on his butt.
"Eh, shoot me later for your eye," Fox reasoned as he pulled the trigger and the laser burnt a hole in Wolf's upper leg muscles. He howled in pain. Fox dropped the gun on Wolf's lap.
"Oh, I'm really mad," Wolf barked. He picked up the blaster, shot Fox in the arm and threw the gun away.
"Ow!" Fox cursed the gun, but went and picked it up anyway.
Krystal put the Emerald on his wound and it was gone in a flash, but the pain still was there. Krystal then bent over and placed the gem on Wolf's wound (after he scurried away some more) and his blood also seeped back in the hole and the wound itself disappeared in a split second later.
"Huh?" Wolf peeled off his eyepatch, revealing a new gray-iris eyeball that matched the other one. He gasped as he poked the new flesh.
"Even?" Fox asked.
"E-even," Wolf stuttered again. He blinked his new eye and groped around, "Wow, I haven't seen depth in what? Eight years?"
"Think of it as eight birthday presents from an old friend you betrayed," Fox hissed. Wolf hung his head.
"You didn't think I would stand wedgies for the rest of my life from Andrew, did you?"
"Well, you should've done it for Bill and me!" Fox shouted.
"You're right," Wolf sighed. He clapped his hand on Fox's shoulder like he used to and walked back home.
**
"Cool, did you guys read the paper this morning?" Slippy waved the black and white, recycled, and re-printed paper in their faces. Fox flicked a donut crumb at him and snatched the paper away.
"Hmm, there's a new exhibit at the museum," Fox read the headlines. Peppy, always interested in history and arts, peered over from his side of the table, bumping over Tom's cappuccino. The hot liquid spilled on Krystal's shirt and she screamed a little scream.
"Not any exhibit!" Slippy squeaked excitedly, ignoring Krystal as she bumped into him on the way to the bathroom, "That 4000 year old bow is magic! It can fire homing arrows, bomb arrows, and it can even fire fire arrows."
"Really? Sounds a bit like Krystal's staff," Fox examined the picture of it. It was a large, composite bow decorated with bright blue (even though the black and white paper didn't show it) gems. It really did look something like Krystal's staff.
'Krystal?' Tom asked.
'Yeah?'
'Do you know anything about a weird, four-millennium bow that can lock onto people? It looks kinda like your staff.' Tom inquired. There was a small pause.
'Yes I do.'
'Is it related to your staff?'
'I think so. I remember an old story my parents used to tell. It was about a great archer, swordsman, and a wizard who fashioned three weapons. The wizard made the staff, I think, and the other two are really obvious. After that, the wizard made three gems for three warriors and gave the weapons to them.'
'Then that thing is really valuable; not to mention that it's supposed to be in our hands!' Fox jolted up when his communicator started beeping. He flicked it open, but there was no picture.
"Fox," it was Wolf.
"What is it? Need more cash?" Fox joked. Yeah, they were like old buddies again.
"I was hacking into Leon's computer to give him a computer virus, oh, I hate him, and I found out something bad: they're attacking the town!" Wolf said. 'Wow, this guy is reliable.' Tom was peeking over and listening in. Fox told Tom and Krystal about him and Wolf after Tom regained his consciousness.
"What?" Fox said, keeping his voice down to avoid his other teammates looking at him funny.
"They're going to steal that weird bow thing."
"Jeez, they don't give up, do they?"
"Nope. Even with Andross gone, they still want violence, and that bow is dangerous! We should stop them from getting it. I think I can hack into the computer mainframe of the museum and try to trick them into giving the bow to you guys for safekeeping. I personally want that thing, but you'd hunt me down," Wolf pondered that for a second, "They won't believe a thing you say about robbers, so don't bother. If my plan doesn't work, we'll have to steal it ourselves."
"Wow, you got this all planned out, don't you?"
"Hey, you know me," Wolf scoffed.
"Well, I thought I did," Fox sighed and closed the communicator. Krystal walked in right after that. Fox dragged Tom and her into his room after breakfast was done.
"Kris, we've got a problem," Tom whispered.
**
"Aw, come on! Kris? What kind of name is that?" Krystal whined. She didn't seem the least bit worried about the bow. Tom went off to the museum to check out the bow, and Fox was stuck with Krystal and a communicator with Wolf discussing their plans. Wolf wasn't able to fool the museum 'dudes' with his computer.
"I think it's kind of cute," Falco stepped in. The two foxes fell off the top bunk bed in surprise.
"Falco! How much and what did you hear?" Fox stuttered.
"Something about you two lovebirds talking about a date to the museum. Just that much, but that's enough for blackmail!" Falco smiled. 'Thank goodness he's naïve!' Krystal thought.
"It's not what you think, Falco," Fox picked up his communicator and shook off Krystal, who landed on his back.
"Oh, it's exactly what I think."
"You are the biggest moron in the galaxy," Krystal said as she punched Falco lightly in the wing as she walked out.
"Way to go, Fox," Falco chuckled. Fox whispered a quick good-bye to Wolf and punched Falco in the wing, too, as he walked out. Unfortunately for the bird punk, Fox's Ruby was activated, and his fist on Falco's wing made a strange noise like a mouse being trodden on. Falco's feathery face contorted in pain.
"OW!"
'Time to get ready, Tom.'
'Right. Hey, that painting looks like my cousin!'
**
"Come on!" Fox hissed to his two comrades. They had ducked through bushes and trees for an hour, and they were getting tired. Nighttime travel through the urban jungle wasn't very comfortable.
"There it is!" Tom pointed forward. The museum was closed, and there were security guards around the cement pavement.
The museum was between City Hall and a government office. The whole thing was painted white, with columns decorating the outside. It looked like a parliament building. The door was fashioned out of old oak, but three bluecoats wielding clubs heavily guarded it.
"Okay, weapons check," Fox whispered as they camped out behind one of City Hall's stone columns.
"Uh, tranquilizer guns, electric shockers, thin rope, belt hatches, the works," Tom jingled the pack around. Fox nodded to Krystal.
"Oh, why me?" She put her hands on her hips.
"Because you're a girl, and we're not," Fox pointed at the security guards. They all seemed to be very peaceful looking, young male dog guards. Fox nodded, "They should be a shoo-in for your charms."
"Huh," Krystal puffed. She walked towards the guards anyway. She started talking, but the distance to the museum made it inaudible for Fox and Tom. Tom was telling her what to say telepathically, and Fox was chuckling silently at her acts. Soon, all three guards were gathered around her.
Fox and Tom crawled along and slipped around the guards. Tom picked the lock to the door quickly with a hairpin, obviously Katt's. It was open in a flash. Fox and Tom ducked in, closing the door silently behind them. Tom tucked away the pin, and told Krystal to keep them busy.
'Uh, tell them that you're single and you're looking for fun.'
'What does that mean?'
'Just say it. It's best that you don't know. We need ten minutes, so keep fiddling with your shirt; it makes them stare harder.'
Fox was close to hysterics, but they kept silent. They were to the exhibit of the bow in seconds, and Tom took out his glass-cutting knife.
A glass container guarded by velvet rope surrounded the bow. Fox realized that there was something missing. He silently told Tom to wait and Fox took out a small can of compressed gas. Spraying some of the container, the white gas revealed infrared laser detectors surrounding the thing like large spider webs.
Nodding, Tom took out his wire cutters and threw them at Fox. Fox quickly searched the outside of the container for wires, and he found a few attached to the marble stone column beneath it. Snapping it swiftly, the lasers disappeared.
Tom took out a plunger and Fox chucked mentally. Tom stuck the thing right to the side of the glass, and used the knife to cut around the plunger. A perfect circle was made, and the plunger sucked the glass out. Fox quickly took the bow out and stuffed it in his pack.
'What now?' Krystal asked.
'Erm, swish your tail under their chins.' Tom and Fox ran out quickly, but before they opened the door, they heard a high-pitched scream.
'Aw, crud. What happened?' Fox asked. No answer. Pulling out their tranquilizer guns, Fox and Tom kicked open the door.
The only problem was they weren't needed. Krystal already punched the living daylights out of all three of the guards and was casually walking towards her two comrades.
"What did you do? Oh, wait stupid question. What did they do?" Fox asked.
"Dumb animals. They don't even know my name and already they are trying skin contact."
"Uh, right," Tom exchanged confused looks with Fox, "Let's get out of here before more guys come."
Out of nowhere, four figures jumped out of the darkness. They were holding a fifth one tied in ropes.
"Too late," a French accent said. A lizard, a pig, a monkey with a wolf tied up, and a hyena that Fox had never seen before jumped out of the darkness and into the starlight.
"Leon!" Fox aimed the gun at the chameleon and fired.
Leon jumped out of the way and Fox hit dirt. Another shot was fired by no other than Andrew. His shot was better and it hit Krystal in the chest, right below her Emerald. With a scream, Krystal fell and started bleeding furiously.
"Darn! We have to go!" Tom pulled the injured Krystal along the road. Fox shot another one and his second tranquilizer dart hit Andrew. Wolf jerked his ropes that had bound his front paws away from the twitching albino monkey and ran towards Fox and Tom.
"Run! They have rockets!" Wolf screamed hysterically. Fox, Tom, and Wolf ran out of the town streets and into the hills. Beyond those hills were a river and the park that Wolf got beat up in.
"We can't leave her!" Fox yelled, pointing at Krystal. Her staff fell out of its pouch and Fox bent down to get it. Waving it towards Leon, who was still leading the chase, he fired a fireball. It blew the lizard backward into Pigma.
"RUN!" Wolf screamed, pushing Tom's hand away from Krystal and pulling them both away along the grassy hills. Seconds later, Fox heard the unmistakable sound of a bazooka being fired and the rocket blast blew all three of them forward, right into the small river that marks the town's boundaries.
**
"Can anyone say: YOU IDIOT?" Fox screamed at Wolf. Wolf had lead them back to his apartment, which was closest after they were blown away and lost to the StarHyena team, as it is now known as.
"Cool down!" Wolf pushed Fox back; "It was her life or all of ours!"
"SO?"
"I can find her again," Wolf said sheepishly, sitting down on a little rusty metal chair and typing furiously on his old computer. He brought up a map of the Lylat System.
"Where is she?" Tom asked calmly.
"Uh, the StarHyena, dumb name, had two bases. One is an underground facility right here on Corneria," Wolf pointed at a zoomed in picture of a map of their home world, "The other is on Fortuna, here." He put up another map and pointed.
"How can it have bases? There's only four of them," Fox exclaimed.
"Actually, all the remaining Venomian forces are either camped out here or there, or they're in jail. Frankly, I think they prefer freedom," Wolf brought up a profile of the hyena they saw a few hours ago, "This guy, Britch Chucklin, again, dumb name, leads the whole place now. Ace pilot, convincing voice, lots of friends, and plenty of weaponry make this laughing jerk a hard target. Orphaned at the age of ten by a Cornerian Military accident, he wants to kick some Cornerian butt. I hate him; he put me out of work."
"I see that as a good thing," Fox shrugged.
"Well, if we're going to get Krystal back, we should phone the Cornerian Army to get some help," Tom flicked open his holograph projector and pressed speed-dial for General Pepper. Three rings later, the hound's tired face appeared.
"Thomas! It's two in the morning," he yawned.
"Yeah, and we've got a problem. What would you say if we told you there was an enemy base on Corneria?"
"Nuke it," General Pepper yawned again.
"What if we needed something from it?"
"One thing is not enough to endanger thousands of things," Pepper said. Fox quickly shut the holograph down.
"I guess we can't trust him," Fox sighed, "He's too much of a savior for the majority."
"We'll have to go alone," Tom said. Wolf typed rapidly again.
"Oh, I intercepted a message," Wolf yelped happily, "Highly encrypted, but come back in a few minutes."
A few minutes later.
"Ah, your friend is on Fortuna," Wolf pointed.
"Okay, now you can tell the General to nuke the base on Corneria," Fox grinned to Tom. 'We have a flight to catch. Just the two of us.'
**
"Tell me again, why on Corneria are we trying to take on a base single- handedly?" Tom asked as the two Arwings zoomed across space.
"Peppy and Falco will want to come, and they will put themselves in too much danger," Fox shifted his position so he was more comfortable with the staff tied to his back. Fox insisted that Tom should also bring the bow. Along with the bow, there was a leather quiver tied to the string. The quiver fills itself automatically with arrows that just materialize out of thin air. The bow itself, like Krystal's staff, can retract its strings and the wooden frame to make it more compatible to small spaces.
"ETA?"
"ETA: 10 minutes," Tom reported. He was a natural in time.
"Did you bring your jacket?"
"Arctic Foxes can stand the cold, don't worry."
"Worrying is the only thing I'm doing now," Fox glazed at the white, snow planet that Krystal was supposed to be trapped on.
**
"Ow," Fox landed clumsily on his bottom as he tried to jump out. Tom did likewise. The snow was deeper than they had imagined, and they sunk through it quite quickly. The base that Wolf had pointed out was not far away, and the two foxes started right away.
"Climb on," Fox motioned for Tom to climb on his back in a piggyback fashion. They speeded along the trail thanks to the Ruby of Blood.
The base looked something like the Cornerian one on Katina, but a bit smaller in size. There were lots of guards around the place; each holding a big blaster Fox was certain would make them twenty pounds heavier.
"Hey!" Fox called as he dropped an invisible Tom off. 'Don't go anywhere. They'll see your tracks.' Tom nodded to Fox mentally.
"What the-" Fox tackled a lizard down and punched another one in the stomach. They started firing quickly, but Fox dodged the lasers like a breeze. Taking out his own blaster, he shot with accuracy into each of their heads, spilling blood and occasionally gray liquid that can only be brains.
'Go! Shut down all computer systems, but not the lighting.' Fox ordered. He saw small tracks run hurriedly towards the base. Fox grinned. Show time.
Blasting a hole in the metal walls using the staff, Fox charged in, shooting everything in sight. He was really mad. Once in a while, Fox heard an explosion elsewhere in the building that can only mean that Tom was having a good time with the bow.
"Hey, you!" A bear stormed in the office that Fox was trashing. Quickly putting the grizzly in a headlock, Fox started to push his spine. The bear growled in pain, but could not do anything in Fox's grip.
"Where is the prison?" Fox asked, putting on a nice voice to add to the irony that the four hundred pound bear must be experiencing against a mere one hundred-pound fox.
"F-fourth floor," the bear choked out. Fox dropped him and ran to the stairs. A zap was audible as all the computers shut down. 'Thanks, Tom.'
'Sure. This thing is so cool!'
Jumping the staircase six at a time, Fox crashed through the wall on the fourth floor. All the animals cowered in fear at the sight of Fox, but they were ignored as he sped down the halls, occasionally smashing some glass of an office as he passed. Fox skidded to a halt when he saw the word 'Jail' in big block letters in front of a metallic door.
Smashing through with his fists, Fox charged into the door. The whole prison was only one cell and three guards, who were expandable. Once they were down, staining the metal floor and walls with their blood, Fox turned his attention to a blue fox, paws on the cell bars, gawking at Fox.
"Wow, that was quick," Krystal said, "I've only been here for fifteen minutes." She jumped out after Fox bent the bars for her. She hugged him tight and rubbed her furry cheek furiously against his.
"Hey, stop it," Fox chuckled as he felt himself get shocked by the static electricity she was building up, "Come on, let's get Tom and get out of here."
Another second later, Fox had whisked Krystal and Tom out (it was hard to find Tom at first) and dumped them both in the Arwings. Krystal, getting the good side of the argument again, got to sit on Fox's lap for a second time as they zoomed off into space.
**
"You went where?" Peppy dropped his jaw.
"Fortuna," Tom replied, "We know, we should've told you first."
"Told me? You should've dragged me along like you always do!"
"Erm, bad back slows you down, old bunny," Fox shrugged as he dug up the lamest excuse ever created.
"Wow, I hope you get hazard pay," Falco said.
Having have to tell another long story (well, excluding the gems as always) including the part about Wolf, Fox came prepared with drinking water this time. Everyone gathered around again like a bunch of little cubs around a librarian telling a fairy tale and listened intently on what they had to say.
"Say, Tom, you didn't happen to see any of the StarWolf, er, StarHyena team, did you?" Peppy asked.
"No, I don't think so," Tom put his head on his fist and leaned his elbow on the coffee table, making him look like a philosopher. Fox and Krystal also shook their heads.
"It must've been rather romantic, right, Krystal? Your hero saving you for the second time," Katt smiled, showing her white teeth. Krystal looked confused.
"With who?"
"Fox, of course!"
"Him?" Krystal looked at Fox. Her green eyes met his green eyes for a second, "No, not really."
"What is wrong with you foxes?" Katt looked utterly bewildered, "I mean, if Falco saved my life twice, well, I would've been in his bedroom at night, then." Slippy choked on his juice. Falco looked pale beneath his feathers.
"Hey, no way! Even if you did get in, I'd never agree to do such a thing!" Falco harrumphed.
Fox looked at Krystal for a second, and making sure to make a mental barrier, he took notice of her features.
Yeah, she was the same age, same order, same species, but not the same race. What does that matter, anyway? She looked beyond beautiful, and she was pretty funny and nice most of the time. The naive part can be fixed after a few months. Fox slid back on the couch as he thought about the first time that he saw her. Fox wondered if Peppy was going to blurt it out to Krystal.
'Uh, oh, a big mental hand is smashing on my personal space.' Fox thought as he felt Krystal trying to tell him something.
'Hey!' She broke through. 'Why'd you do that?'
'It gets annoying when you read my mind all the time.' Fox shrugged.
'I'm not reading your mind! I was going to tell you about how sweet you were to think of me like that when I was in the crystal.' Krystal sounded hurt. Fox quickly stood up and ran to his cabin. Immediately after he shut the door, he slid down, back against the wall, and started banging his head softly.
'I can make your memories a part of mine and mine yours, so stop hurting yourself. I don't mind people calling me pretty or beautiful, I just mind when people judge my by that.' Krystal hacked into Fox's head for the third time. Fox stopped in mid-bang.
'Oh. I thought you'd hate me.'
'I thought you only saved my life because you needed my help on Dinosaur Planet, but a few months ago, I was proved wrong. You saved me because of the person you are: the hero that rescues anyone no matter what. It shows that you shouldn't judge people until you really know them.'
Fox slid back into the den. Fox racked his brain for something that was bugging him until he realized that the naïve part was already fixed.
**
"Krystal?" Fox peeked into her cabin. It was like Fox's, only that it was bare empty of personal objects except her armor, shirt, and staff in the closet.
"Hmm?" Krystal twisted her head a bit from her bed to look at Fox.
"Do you know where your home planet is?" Fox asked.
"No, not really," Krystal sighed. She must've wanted to take another mid- boring-day nap again, because her sandals were thrown carelessly against the dresser. One landed in, but the other landed on top of the empty wooden rectangle.
"Do you know where your parents died?" Fox tried. Krystal stopped swishing her tail around for a second, but went on as she spoke again.
"Yeah, I do," Krystal suddenly leaped up and tackled Fox to the ground, landing with her knees uncomfortably (for Fox) on his chest, "Ha! You got it! All these miserable years! I never thought of that!" Krystal jumped off of Fox and ran to the cockpit. Fox curiously followed her.
"Hmm? How do you work this thing?" Krystal rapped softly on the screen for the star-map system. Fox pressed a button next to it and a large, but incomplete map of the galaxy showed up.
"Erm, we're here," Fox pointed to a small, blue planet, "Corneria." Krystal thought for a moment, and pointed to a part of the map that was to the left side of the Lylat System. It was the part that Fox tried to discover. Krystal then worked her paw right again to Dinosaur Planet, not far from Aquas.
"Show me the position of the planets a year ago," Krystal demanded. Fox pushed a few buttons on the keyboard and the planets started moving backwards. They lurched to a halt a second later. Dinosaur Planet ended up pointing left from the sun. Krystal traced her paw again to the left, but in the middle of empty space beyond the solar system that Fox named Vulguru.
"Not discovered," Fox said.
"Not for long," Krystal then ran off again. Fox then noticed that she didn't bother to put on her sandals.
**
"Are we getting paid this time?" Falco asked as he strapped himself down for takeoff.
Slippy, preparing again as usual nailed down a bunk bed for Krystal and Katt, but Falco was forced to sleep on the couch because his old room was used for the den.
"If knowledge is payment enough," Krystal answered.
"Aw, crud," Falco mumbled.
"Hey, cheer up. At least there won't be malls for Katt to waste money," Peppy laughed.
"What?" Katt growled.
Fox shook his head and pushed on the speed lever. A minute and a large bang later, they were in space again.
"Slip, get the new warp drive," Fox motioned. Wolf hadn't bothered to give it back. Slippy slid a circuit into the computer and ran off towards the engines. Nearly a second later, he hopped back and sat down.
"Uh, you press this," Slippy flicked a small switch on the computer. What a jerk; he hadn't even let enough time for Katt to get seated again. A split second and some time distortion later, Katt was hurled against the wall, but at least they've arrived.
"You idiot!" Katt hissed.
"Whoops," Slippy cringed as Katt loomed over him.
"I hope you fattened up all right, Froggy, 'cause I'm gonna FRY you!" Katt's head had a huge swell on it. She leaped for Slippy and he ducked for cover and ran for is life.
"That's it," Krystal pointed. There was a green planet close to where they had landed. The solar system had one sun and five planets, and the green one was the second closest. All the others were brown deserts. Fox brought the joystick up a bit and shoved the lever again. Soon, they were looking for a place to land.
"Take that clearing over there, Fox," Peppy said as Katt jumped over his seat after Slippy, who actually had a better endurance when he was scared out of hit wits. Fox touched down easily and opened the hatch door. No sooner than three minutes later, all seven of them were looking around, impressed at the wildlife.
There were huge redwood trees towering high above as well as little berry shrubs around here and there. Everything was green, except a few mountains in the distance and the golden berries that were so big that they threatened to flatten the bushes.
"Wow," Tom peered up at the trees and fell over on his tail. Krystal ran over to one of the bushes and picked a berry. She popped it into her mouth and chewed.
"Any good?" Fox asked.
"Very," Krystal plucked another fat one and bit that one as well. Fox took a small one and nibbled. It was sweet, but not to the extent that it would suck the moisture out of your mouth. It was rather hard, not much different from a crabapple.
"Mmm, not bad," Tom stuffed two into his jaw at once.
"Oh, I wouldn't eat too much if I were you," Krystal smiled as Tom hesitated to fill his snout again, "It's poison to males." Fox spat his out quickly.
"What's that?" Falco pointed to the very edge of the clearing. It looked like something had flattened out on it, a bit like a broken structure. A small one, too.
"That is what we're looking for," Krystal said speeding off. Fox and Tom followed closely. As they ran closer, Fox could make out the burnt remains of what looked to be a stone and wood hut. Krystal's hut.
"Ooh, it's still here," Krystal cleared the two foot wall in a single jump and dug around furiously in the burnt ashes. There was a stone floor beneath it, and Fox could see some blackened remnants of a desk, two chairs, two rough beds, and a small cabinet.
"Hmm?" Tom opened the cabinet and took out some large jars of food, "Yuck, this must be at least twenty years old!"
"Twenty-three," Krystal pointed out as she picked up burnt pieces of parchment on the desk, "Aw, they're too damaged to read." She flipped a few pages over and found a small, unburned map of the planet. She stuffed into the pocket of her pants. Krystal looked over at a small table outside the hut.
"That was the table your parents were sitting in when they were killed," Fox jumped over after her. The table wasn't damaged, but years of sitting out in the weather beat it. A small, checkered, wooden board was sitting on top of it, and on top of the board, there were little pieces of colored wood, much like checkers.
"These are still here!" Krystal took one of the wooden pieces and examined it. It was cleverly waxed, as of the others, and they all had little markings on them. Krystal scooped them all up and shoved them in her pocket, too.
"Hey what's t - AAA!" Tom slid back in horror. Fox spun around and saw what Tom had seen. It was the skeletal remains of two foxes wearing tunics.
"They." Krystal bent over the skeletons. The rain had beat the bones until they were gray and grass grew clumsily around them. They were in the same position: both hands on top of their chests and jaws open slightly.
"Huh." Fox whimpered. Krystal touched the smaller skeleton, probably her mother, and a single tear fell. As Krystal's paw moved away from the skeleton, she bumped into the tunic and a small piece of yellowed paper fluttered out. Krystal picked it up.
"What's that?" Fox asked.
"Erm, a drawing of my staff, I think. It was done with charcoal, so it's hard to read. There's a bow and a sword, too, and there is someone standing beside each of them. The paper is a bit cut off, I think. The pictures are very detailed," Krystal waved the paper in front of Tom, "Does he look familiar?" Tom squinted his eyes to look at the paper.
"That kinda looks like the picture I have of. Me!" Tom snatched the paper away. Fox bent over to have a closer look. It wasn't exactly Tom. The tail on the Arctic Fox was slightly shorter, and the pattern on it was different from Tom's. The tip of Tom's tail had the slightest trace of a gray zigzag, but the one on the picture had the pattern of waves. Besides, the Arctic Fox in the picture was wearing battle armor, and Tom looked a bit to skinny for that. Strangely, the fox beside the staff looked a bit like a male version of Krystal with armor. He had thicker bracelets and a chest plate, but he also had the hoops around his fuzzy tail. There was a close picture representation of Fox with armor on it, too, beside a big broadsword.
"Hey, there is writing on the paper. Wait a second. Um, shoten blaclos hanrato. The wizard, the archer, the swordsman. I think that's rather obvious," Krystal shrugged and stuff the paper away, too.
"Let's go, then," Tom waved to Peppy and the others, who just caught up.
"What?" Falco stared.
"Back to the Great Fox!" Fox ushered.
"You have got to be kidding me." Falco mumbled.
**
"Was there anything interesting on the map?" Fox asked. He had locked the door to his and Tom's cabin again to avoid a nosy Katt butting in to ask something.
"No, just trees and rivers," Krystal shrugged, "There was my tattoo inscribed on it as a north-south marker, but nothing else." Krystal rolled up her gray pants up to her foreleg and showed the star-like picture.
"Hmm," Fox murmured, getting an idea, "What do the tattoos on your arm say?"
"They're just there to tell whoever that is of my race my name and all that stuff. It's way to complicated for a fox with a four-year old idea of what her language means," Krystal said, "My mother just said it says my name. My full name, but I can't make out the last words."
"Too bad." Fox looked closely at the tattoo on Krystal's leg. There was something much more to it than it looked.
"What are you doing?" Krystal started to get the giggles as Fox leaned over and squinted his eyes to see well.
"Uh, I think this is a star map, just more artistic. Wait, I'll copy it," Fox took a page from under his older charts and memos, "When was the last time you groomed your leg?" Krystal burst out laughing.
"Uh, don't get any ideas, Fox," Krystal twitched a bit as Fox covered her leg with the paper and traced the tattoo. She started laughing giddily again as Fox scribbled a little faster. Fox chuckled as he flipped the page off her leg and looked at it closely with Tom.
"Do you see the tiny dots outside the small circle?" Fox pointed. Tom nodded.
"That looks a bit like Zeus' Flame. That big constellation that you can see from the Southern Hemisphere on Katina."
"Yep, and I think that the circle there is where we'll be going next," Fox nodded.
"That fells so weird, getting information I had very near my bottom for twenty-five years," Krystal giggled.
**
An hour passed and Fox and his crew gathered around the cockpit to look at a sight very strange. The planet had been completely blown in half, the two pieces slowly revolving around each other. Cerinia was a planet quite like Corneria, but a little greener. It looked like no one had been living on it for years. Fox decided to land on the one with more cleared land, which meant there might have been more cities before.
Fox, Tom, and Krystal had to fly down on the Arwings because Slippy detected too lush vegetation and not much even ground for the Great Fox to touch down on. Slippy built another Arwing to replace the one that Krystal crashed. With a little help from Rob, of course.
The landing was smooth, and Krystal's flying had improved. Cerinia proved to be a beautiful place for one that had been destroyed. It looked remarkably like the last one that they had been to, with the same redwood trees and berry bushes, but Cerinia had more vines and slimy swamps. There wasn't a fox in sight.
"Whoa!" Tom yelled as he slipped on a rock. As he retained his posture, he fell into a dugout pit, "OW!"
"Now who's the clumsy oaf?" Fox called down, laughing.
As they strolled on, making jokes or falling into unseen pits, they stumbled into a large, brown dirt clearing. It seemed to be perfectly circular.
"Oh, that's ugly." Tom mumbled. Suddenly, as if told to by an unseen force, a strong wind picked up and blew a whole inch of the dirt off, revealing a terrible sight.
"Oh, that is NOT good," Fox's jaw dropped. They were standing before a mass graveyard of fox skeletons poking out of the blown dirt, each wearing a tunic. Fox heard Tom throw up behind him.
"Oh, my goodness," Krystal whispered as she examined a skeleton. It was very small, like it belonged to an infant kit. It had a laser hole shot through its skull. Fox felt a wave of sadness that seemed to emerge from the clearing. Suddenly, the clearing almost gave a whisper of warning.
"What's this? More victims?" A voice behind them barked. Fox spun around and leveled his gun. Fox dropped it in surprise just as quick.
"No way!" Tom said as he dropped his gun as well. Krystal, on the other hand, pulled out her staff and raised it.
"What's the matter, Fox? Too surprised to see your old man?" James McCloud laughed. He was wearing a black leather jacket just like the ones that Andross' ace pilots wore.
"You are a."
"Clone," James finished for him, "Too bad the real James had to waste his life away for some pathetic dog. It's much more fun killing people or enslaving them. I'd say the killing part was much more enjoyable." James jerked his blaster at the graveyard.
"How could you?" Tom asked, shocked.
"Ha! Once these people see you, they start shooting at you. Much more fun killing them rather than making peace, a lot less painful, too. Look!" James pointed to his paw that held his blaster. It had a hole right through it, showing bone and burnt sinew; "Andross was kind enough to give me a body again. Too bad I failed getting the Emerald the first time. Too good that I'm about to succeed this time."
"Fox, get rid of him and let's get out of here!" Krystal turned her head. In that moment, James' clone snatched the Emerald away from her. Krystal gave a yap of shock and swung her staff. James neatly caught it.
"No way-" Krystal screamed as James kicked her in the stomach. Fox fumbled with his dropped blaster, but managed to aim it at the side of James' head as he prepared for a second attack.
"Really, Fox, are you really going to shoot you father after all these years instead of having a little chat?" James laughed. Fox hesitated in pulling the trigger for a second. James' arms flashed in Fox's hesitation. One arm flung the Emerald far away, and the other one, still holding the blaster, fired a shot into each of the three foxes.
Fox, cringing and holding his stomach in the horrific pain, used a millisecond to aim and another millisecond to shoot. James' clone landed in a heap with a shot through the skull two seconds later. It all happened so fast that Fox's head stopped working for a while.
"Shoot!" Tom crumpled down on his knees. He had a shot through his shoulder. Fox himself got hit in the stomach region, probably in the liver where it would take a longer time for him to die. Krystal, on the other hand, got a much worse wound. The laser and gone through the side of her neck and had pierced her main artery. She was already lying on her back on the ground, looking pale beneath her blue fur and the fur itself and the ground was being stained with dark red as her heart kept pumping the blood out.
"Fox." She whispered. Fox quickly knelt beside her. Fox clutched the neck wound to stop the blood flow, but it proved useless.
"Fox! Oh, that's bad! I'll f-find the Emerald," Tom coughed. He ran off quickly into the woods.
'No! Don't go, Kris! Hang on for a second!' Fox frantically shook Krystal's shoulders as she closed her eyes.
'It's far too late, Fox. Don't blame yourself.' Krystal's voice, even through minds, was weak.
'You are NOT dead yet!' Fox yelled angrily. 'Don't say that!'
'Huh! Not dead? You speak the words of a hopeful fool, Fox.'
'A hopeful fool I may be, but a right one I shall prove!' Fox glared at her. She opened her eyes for a second. Krystal's eyes were soft and warm, but her body was going frigid. She was right: she didn't have long to live.
'Don't beat yourself up for it. I would've hesitated if it were my father, too.'
'TOM! Where are you?' Fox called.
'Ha! I got it!'
'GET BACK HERE!' Fox shouted mentally. He wasn't angry at all. He was scared more than anything, more like.
'It's. Too. Late.' Krystal's breaths came in short gasps, and now Fox could hardly feel her pulse.
'No, it's not. It isn't. It isn't.' Fox sighed grievously as Krystal gave a final gasp and closed her eyes. Fox closed his eyes as well as he felt the tears come out. Fox held her close for a long moment to his chest until Tom came crashing through the underbrush.
"Oh, crud." Tom's eyes started watering, too, "Fox, take the Emerald. You've got a nasty hole there." Fox turned slowly, his cheek soaked with salty tears. Fox took the Emerald with a shaky hand and felt again the warmth as his wound recovered. Fox then, although knowing that she's already gone, pressed the Emerald to Krystal's forehead as a final tribute.
Fox suddenly felt the sucking of magic again. Surprised, Fox felt himself get hurled to the ground and he landed with a bump on his tail. He was sure his eyes were not working correctly because he rubbed furiously on them.
'What the.' He couldn't talk either. Fox looked around. He was still on Cerinia, but the scenery was horribly wrong. The whole world had turned the color of a negative picture. Fox could see a black shadow, probably Tom, leaning over. Him! Fox's body was still knelt down beside the dead Krystal, with one paw still clutching the Emerald and the other paw holding her.
What was around Fox was even scarier. Hundreds of thousands of black-robed shadows were staring relentlessly upon him with dark, hollow eye sockets. Fox gasped in horror as he realized they had no flesh on their faces. Some had holes through bones and most were stained with blood. These were the dead Cerinians, the people who Krystal wanted to know about. All this time, they were all dead. Dead for a long, long time.
'Fox?' Someone asked. Fox looked at the vixen that talked. It was Krystal! She was a dark shadow like the rest, but her body still had fur and she was smiling at Fox, and was running up to him. She tackled Fox over and hugged him tightly.
'What's going on?'
'I don't know. I'm dead, I think, and you are here to bring me back.'
'Then lets get out of here.' Fox grinned happily as he pulled Krystal, more flew than walked, to where their bodies were and Fox felt again the sucking feeling of magic.
"Whoa-" Tom reeled back in surprise as Fox regained his senses and jumped up.
"Dead! I told you that you weren't dead!" Fox knelt back down again beside Krystal and held her tight. She looked mildly confused.
"But I was dead," she whispered as she hugged back.
"Okay, break it up, we should go back now," Tom said, awestruck. Fox nodded and helped his blue friend up.
"Are you all right?" Fox asked as he started to walk back, ignoring James' bloody body.
"Uh, my neck is a bit sore." Everyone laughed, not that it was funny, but everyone was relieved. Confused, but a bit more relieved than confused.
**
A/N: I know it's not done. Gimme a few more months and I should get the next one done, which should be the last. Lets see how Fox handles his destiny.