Strangers No More
Evora
_________________________________________________________
Chapter 3, A Lesson Learned
The Great Fox roared passed millions of stars in its path back into the Lylat territories en route to its scheduled landing at the site of Corneria Airfield. Twenty-four days, two hours, and eight minutes, Fox would be greeted by General Pepper and his army, humbled by the streets filled with cheering civilians, dads and sons, moms and babies, kids climbing over each other for his autograph, although most of all would be the pleasure of arriving with Krystal on his arm, showing her off a little, taking her out to the finest restaurant in town, finding a nice quiet place to--
"So, this is your home. A ship floating through space,"
Fox lowered the newslink he'd been reading from the telepad and saw Krystal who had just entered the lounge. He watched as she ran an index finger along the shelves nearby.
"I can tell," She raised the finger to her lips and blew off a small mound of dust. "Just you guys. Seems like between the four of you, someone would take care of the housework."
One look at her and he said the first thing to come to his mind. "I'm sure you could handle it better with that little shammy you've got on." After that, he started back on the newslink, getting far as two words before the disputed garment flew across the room and landed like a shroud over his head. Dazed, he yanked it off and spun around to see her as she passed him, did a double take at the sight of the gold bikini bottom that gave new meaning to the word... well...tattoo.
"I was just on my way to swim. You want the dust rag? Be my guest." She winked and he nearly fell off the couch watching her waltz away then disappear beyond the doorway which led out to the pool.
He held up the skirt with a smile on his face then finally realized he shouldn't have been sitting there-should have been following her lead, and so he immediately tossed the telepad on the table without concern for where it fell and was hot on the trail,
"Hey, Fox!"
...damn, not now...
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Falco scowled from just beyond the door while Fox stuffed Krystal's petite piece of apparel into his back pocket.
"No, not really."
Falco poked his watch. "Ten o'clock. Time for us to take a visit down to the main generators. Don'tcha remember? Peppy wanted to make sure everything was in proper working order."
Fox looked back toward the pool then at Falco, then back to the pool again. "Everything's working fine,"
"C'mon, Fox, we gotta do it or Peppy--"
"Have you noticed any power spikes lately? I sure haven't. Besides, I don't see why we can't check it at eleven."
"We've got a meeting at eleven. Y'know, house duties?"
"Okay...okay. Then house duties at eleven, but right now, we can skip the generator testing. The power's on, no problems."
Falco gave him a sort of strange look then must have heard it when Krystal dove into the pool splash. "Man, Fox. You've got it bad. If you ask me, I think you need to slow down a little. For pete's sake, what'd you really know about her? Yeah, she's got some special abilities, you saved her, she thanked you...I'm assuming you didn't turn her down on that one, and now you can't keep your hands off when you don't even know the chick's last name,"
Again, first thing that came to mind, "If she needs a last name, I'll give her mine."
"Jeez. You're a madman," Falco stepped back, shook his head before going on his way, "See ya at eleven....I guess."
Yeah. He guessed.
Fox couldn't stop his fixation about Krystal, still couldn't pin it down but there was just something about her that gave him a feeling of total freedom, absolute peace. Soon enough he was inside the pool area, waiting as she swam toward him. In a few more strokes she'd reached the side where he knelt and took a rest on the edge.
"Coming in?"
"That depends." he shrugged.
"On what?"
"That you'll be the one to resuscitate me if I drown."
"Very funny, Fox." She hopped out of the water and sat on the side with him. "I'm sure you're a fantastic swimmer," And she began running her fingers along the sides of his jacket, slowly pulled it off of his shoulders. "As a matter of fact, you'll probably have to save me..." She murmured with a playful push and went back in, "But you'll have to catch me first!"
Accepting the challenge, he wasted no time stripping down to his standard red boxers and dashed to the far side of the pool after her, then he smashed through the ripples like a gold medallist.
"You cheated!" she came up just as he got his arms around her.
"But I had to save you,"
"And you've done a very good job of that."
Fox had a half-smile, half-grin. "Hold on, I wasn't finished yet..."
She giggled at something he did then closed her eyes as they made it to side of the pool. Everything between them had been totally honest so far, total friendship, and completely unadulterated; maybe Falco thought he knew some of what was going on behind closed doors, but he knew nothing. No one knew. For Fox, this stuff never came easy. He wasn't the aggressive type, like Falco, not the kind of guy who put all of his emotions out in front for everyone to see. Fox went about his relationships with caution, much more with Krystal than any other girl he'd ever known, because after all, she wasn't just an average girl, she was mystic with magical powers and all that. Kind of daunting. Kind of chilling. He knew he'd have to get over that sooner or later,
"Fox? Are you allright?"
She'd caught him stalling and he was a bit embarrassed but at least he hadn't let go. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Now he had to make a move or be thought of as some kind of oddball and for sure he didn't want Krystal thinking that about him. And so he made the first one nice and easy. Just a kiss. Simple, yet one that made the rest come ever so naturally...
He watched her walk away from him after spending another morning in her company and his mind for some reason went completely blank of anything else in existence other than the seductive stride she made toward the elevator.
"...I believe I'm falling in love with you, Fox.." she had said to him at the very same time he'd fallen in deep over her.
Later in the same afternoon, he decided it was finally time to come out of the lovestruck stupor and get back to the business at hand.
In the main area was Peppy with Slippy, pointing out some area of interest on the maps projected onto the overhead screens. Seems they'd been doing quite a bit of that since Krystal was around--almost like they were trying to avoid her, or perhaps they were uncomfortable with her being there, Fox didn't ask. At least not yet.
Falco, still providing the evidence that he could be the annoying pest that Leon Powalski used to call him, went over and started up with Peppy over what would be on the menu for the day which started a whole huge discussion that Fox was more than happy not to be a part of. Never mind them. He went to Rob who mentioned something about a disturbance in the atmosphere ahead, and he was about to check it when Peppy called him.
"Fox, could you come here for a minute?"
"Yeah, Peppy, sure." He went over to join the team, saw that Peppy had marked a few areas on the main display.
"This is a storm we're headed into, it's a strong energy field."
"Yeah?" Fox shrugged.
"I've had Rob gather some data for analysis. I think this is part of the energy source that was released when Cerinia was destroyed..." Peppy hesitated. "We're pretty close to where the planet used to be. I guess that's why Krystal's been off to herself most of the time, not saying much."
Fox wanted badly to disagree but held back once again. Hell he'd been doing too much of that lately.
"I guess we don't need to say anything about it to her," Peppy added. "I wonder if it'll have any sort of effect on her? Being that she's a medium and drew much of her abilities from the energy on that planet..."
"Man, this stuff is creepy," Falco scoffed. "Bad enough the last girl he had was a bit psycho, but now a psychic chick? Oh man, Fox, you've got absolutely the worst luck than just about everybody."
Peppy simply cut his eyes at Falco. "Oh yeah, I meant to tell you, King Earthwalker sent you a message not too long ago. He said he wants you to contact his head officer at Krazoa Palace and that there's something very important you should know."
Fox didn't say a word but he was thinking just maybe Falco was right after all. Maybe he did have the worst luck as the feeling he got was that this message would be bad news. Not being the type to procrastinate, he went to his station and sat down, entered a request to speak with the officer at Krazoa Palace immediately. In a matter of seconds he'd made contact, then read the words that came up across the screen of his laptop.
[We've had a slight problem since you left our planet. Our young Prince Tricky has been very agitated. Seems that he's not interested in becoming king one day. He now says he wants to be a pilot and go searching for...well....bad guys. The Queen cannot even get him to take part in our royal celebrations. He'd rather pretend he's on some sort of mission at war. We're not blaming you, Fox.. You couldn't have known how impressive he is. But the King would like it very much if you would write to Tricky as soon you can, and try explaining to him why he'll be better off a king than a spaceman. Chintor out.]
Now Fox sat back in his chair after logging out and realized how he was about ready to collapse from exhaustion--
"Alert!" Rob's monotone was urgent as he turned from his post on the upper level. "The storm is approaching fast. I will have to increase power to the main generators to get more fuel to the boosters. But Fox, dangerous electrical voltages have been detected along the secondary circuits. I recommend that we all stay here at the bridge just in case we have to make any sudden maneuvers. And you might want to check the lavatory in your room, Fox. The monitor indicates the shower is in use."
"...Just great..." Fox shut the laptop case and got up, glanced back and Peppy who looked worried, Slippy who appeared a bit uptight, and Falco, looking all smug as he probably had some dirty thoughts about Krystal again. Fox just glared at him and walked off.
Back upstairs to his room, his desk lamp was on, all the pieces of Krystal's jewelry had been placed carefully on the bed, also were a few articles of clothing that he'd already put out for the trip on his garment rack near the closet. Hanging beside them was Krystal's top and the tunic skirt/shammy sort of thing that barely covered anything and he was starting to get a bit worried about her, especially since Falco hadn't seen Katt in months and he was starting to look at Krystal whenever she was around him like a crow at a fine piece of meat. Fox slid his fingers onto the goldish halter and then the skirt and shook his head, "First thing we'll do is get you something decent to wear," and looked toward the bathroom. She had placed her staff beside that door the previous evening. Fox hadn't paid it much attention until he turned over in the middle of the night and saw the thing glowing a bright shade of green, even stronger than it had when he received the upgrades. Now it glowed again.
He went to the bathroom and knocked three times.
"Krystal? Are you allright in there?"
The water splashed on the tiles, her voice came softly over it, "Yes...I'm fine. Fox, would you mind coming in here for a moment?"
She had to be kidding. He'd activated the switch that opened the door and entered without any hesitation, then slowly, he went and stood next to shower, couldn't help but watch the cast of her shadow on the steamy glass surround.
"Yeah? Something wrong?"
"Shampoo. Do you have any?"
"Uh..." Fox looked around, spotting a bottle on the counter near the sink. "Yeah.." he grabbed it, then carefully opened the door just enough to hand it in to her. "..But Krystal, I think you'd better hurry because we've got a pretty bad storm coming..."
"Allright," she answered as she took the bottle from him, and he stayed there just long enough to smell the sweet hint of zenberries as she began lathering with the shampoo.
Soon afterwards he returned to the bedroom, telling her to call him if she needed anything else, got as far as the other side of the door when the glare from the staff suddenly flashed in his eyes. Just about blinded him. Damn he'd had enough torment from that thing already. Had to grab it....
Krystal screamed. The lights flickered.
Fox dropped the staff, rushed back to shower and practically tore the door off of its hinges getting into the place where he found her lying unconscious, water coming down on her face. At that point it was all reflex in a steamy haze, splashing in and getting her into his arms as his clothes and fur got soaked to the skin. In a frenzied rush from the bathroom to the bedroom, he'd carried her, then laid her face up on the bed.
What the hell was this? His mother was dead... His father.... Now the girl he loved was gonna die in his arms? No way.... No....
"Fox? Fox!"
Then came pounding on the door.
"Fox!" Peppy shouted from the other side. "We were just hit by a strong electrical strike. We had a malfunctioning generator. Hey, you two okay in there?"
He couldn't think. His heart raced. He panted.
"Hey Fox, open up!" yelled Falco from behind Peppy.
The panic rose to triple digits as he ran back into the bathroom to get a towel and returned with it, spread it across Krystal's body and didn't dare let her be anymore exposed to them than she already had been ...especially Falco..
"Open One!" he commanded and the door slid open just as he bowed down to listen for her breathing.
His teammates hurried in.
"Fox? What happened?" Peppy arrived first.
"I don't know...I don't know..." Fox couldn't think of what to say but had already tilted Krystal's head back slightly then pinched her nose and gave her two short breaths.
"Jeez, Fox! What happened to our ten o'clock routine check, huh?"
Fox placed the palm of his hand onto Krystal's chest and began pushing gently. "Not funny, Falco,"
"Should we get a medic?" Peppy asked.
"No time--" Fox kept going. Two breaths. Fifteen depressions. Listen. Again. Two breaths. Fifteen depressions. Listen. "...Come on... Come on...."
More. Couldn't stop.
Peppy's hand rested on his shoulder. "Fox, I think she's--"
"NO!" Fox wailed. He then raised her up and shook her over and over again, knowing it wouldn't do a damned thing but he'd never had the chance to bring back his mother or his father. "What the hell are you always telling me, Peppy..." he laid her back down and started breathing into her lungs again. "You tell me to never give up..."
Peppy said nothing, and just as Falco and Slippy, looked on in horror,
Minutes passed.
This time, Falco grabbed Fox's arm and was shoved away right at the same time Slippy spoke.
"Hey, I think you did it, looks like she's breathing..."
So much adrenalin pumped through Fox that he couldn't stop trembling after realizing that he'd revived Krystal, then thought of what had caused it and loathed himself for his own carelessness-- He nearly collapsed when seeing her eyes open and was barely able to catch his own breath. At last, all he could manage was to kneel at her side and bowed his head in silence while holding her hand.
On the floor behind them, the staff glowed brighter.
Evora
_________________________________________________________
Chapter 3, A Lesson Learned
The Great Fox roared passed millions of stars in its path back into the Lylat territories en route to its scheduled landing at the site of Corneria Airfield. Twenty-four days, two hours, and eight minutes, Fox would be greeted by General Pepper and his army, humbled by the streets filled with cheering civilians, dads and sons, moms and babies, kids climbing over each other for his autograph, although most of all would be the pleasure of arriving with Krystal on his arm, showing her off a little, taking her out to the finest restaurant in town, finding a nice quiet place to--
"So, this is your home. A ship floating through space,"
Fox lowered the newslink he'd been reading from the telepad and saw Krystal who had just entered the lounge. He watched as she ran an index finger along the shelves nearby.
"I can tell," She raised the finger to her lips and blew off a small mound of dust. "Just you guys. Seems like between the four of you, someone would take care of the housework."
One look at her and he said the first thing to come to his mind. "I'm sure you could handle it better with that little shammy you've got on." After that, he started back on the newslink, getting far as two words before the disputed garment flew across the room and landed like a shroud over his head. Dazed, he yanked it off and spun around to see her as she passed him, did a double take at the sight of the gold bikini bottom that gave new meaning to the word... well...tattoo.
"I was just on my way to swim. You want the dust rag? Be my guest." She winked and he nearly fell off the couch watching her waltz away then disappear beyond the doorway which led out to the pool.
He held up the skirt with a smile on his face then finally realized he shouldn't have been sitting there-should have been following her lead, and so he immediately tossed the telepad on the table without concern for where it fell and was hot on the trail,
"Hey, Fox!"
...damn, not now...
"Aren't you forgetting something?" Falco scowled from just beyond the door while Fox stuffed Krystal's petite piece of apparel into his back pocket.
"No, not really."
Falco poked his watch. "Ten o'clock. Time for us to take a visit down to the main generators. Don'tcha remember? Peppy wanted to make sure everything was in proper working order."
Fox looked back toward the pool then at Falco, then back to the pool again. "Everything's working fine,"
"C'mon, Fox, we gotta do it or Peppy--"
"Have you noticed any power spikes lately? I sure haven't. Besides, I don't see why we can't check it at eleven."
"We've got a meeting at eleven. Y'know, house duties?"
"Okay...okay. Then house duties at eleven, but right now, we can skip the generator testing. The power's on, no problems."
Falco gave him a sort of strange look then must have heard it when Krystal dove into the pool splash. "Man, Fox. You've got it bad. If you ask me, I think you need to slow down a little. For pete's sake, what'd you really know about her? Yeah, she's got some special abilities, you saved her, she thanked you...I'm assuming you didn't turn her down on that one, and now you can't keep your hands off when you don't even know the chick's last name,"
Again, first thing that came to mind, "If she needs a last name, I'll give her mine."
"Jeez. You're a madman," Falco stepped back, shook his head before going on his way, "See ya at eleven....I guess."
Yeah. He guessed.
Fox couldn't stop his fixation about Krystal, still couldn't pin it down but there was just something about her that gave him a feeling of total freedom, absolute peace. Soon enough he was inside the pool area, waiting as she swam toward him. In a few more strokes she'd reached the side where he knelt and took a rest on the edge.
"Coming in?"
"That depends." he shrugged.
"On what?"
"That you'll be the one to resuscitate me if I drown."
"Very funny, Fox." She hopped out of the water and sat on the side with him. "I'm sure you're a fantastic swimmer," And she began running her fingers along the sides of his jacket, slowly pulled it off of his shoulders. "As a matter of fact, you'll probably have to save me..." She murmured with a playful push and went back in, "But you'll have to catch me first!"
Accepting the challenge, he wasted no time stripping down to his standard red boxers and dashed to the far side of the pool after her, then he smashed through the ripples like a gold medallist.
"You cheated!" she came up just as he got his arms around her.
"But I had to save you,"
"And you've done a very good job of that."
Fox had a half-smile, half-grin. "Hold on, I wasn't finished yet..."
She giggled at something he did then closed her eyes as they made it to side of the pool. Everything between them had been totally honest so far, total friendship, and completely unadulterated; maybe Falco thought he knew some of what was going on behind closed doors, but he knew nothing. No one knew. For Fox, this stuff never came easy. He wasn't the aggressive type, like Falco, not the kind of guy who put all of his emotions out in front for everyone to see. Fox went about his relationships with caution, much more with Krystal than any other girl he'd ever known, because after all, she wasn't just an average girl, she was mystic with magical powers and all that. Kind of daunting. Kind of chilling. He knew he'd have to get over that sooner or later,
"Fox? Are you allright?"
She'd caught him stalling and he was a bit embarrassed but at least he hadn't let go. "Yeah, I'm fine."
Now he had to make a move or be thought of as some kind of oddball and for sure he didn't want Krystal thinking that about him. And so he made the first one nice and easy. Just a kiss. Simple, yet one that made the rest come ever so naturally...
He watched her walk away from him after spending another morning in her company and his mind for some reason went completely blank of anything else in existence other than the seductive stride she made toward the elevator.
"...I believe I'm falling in love with you, Fox.." she had said to him at the very same time he'd fallen in deep over her.
Later in the same afternoon, he decided it was finally time to come out of the lovestruck stupor and get back to the business at hand.
In the main area was Peppy with Slippy, pointing out some area of interest on the maps projected onto the overhead screens. Seems they'd been doing quite a bit of that since Krystal was around--almost like they were trying to avoid her, or perhaps they were uncomfortable with her being there, Fox didn't ask. At least not yet.
Falco, still providing the evidence that he could be the annoying pest that Leon Powalski used to call him, went over and started up with Peppy over what would be on the menu for the day which started a whole huge discussion that Fox was more than happy not to be a part of. Never mind them. He went to Rob who mentioned something about a disturbance in the atmosphere ahead, and he was about to check it when Peppy called him.
"Fox, could you come here for a minute?"
"Yeah, Peppy, sure." He went over to join the team, saw that Peppy had marked a few areas on the main display.
"This is a storm we're headed into, it's a strong energy field."
"Yeah?" Fox shrugged.
"I've had Rob gather some data for analysis. I think this is part of the energy source that was released when Cerinia was destroyed..." Peppy hesitated. "We're pretty close to where the planet used to be. I guess that's why Krystal's been off to herself most of the time, not saying much."
Fox wanted badly to disagree but held back once again. Hell he'd been doing too much of that lately.
"I guess we don't need to say anything about it to her," Peppy added. "I wonder if it'll have any sort of effect on her? Being that she's a medium and drew much of her abilities from the energy on that planet..."
"Man, this stuff is creepy," Falco scoffed. "Bad enough the last girl he had was a bit psycho, but now a psychic chick? Oh man, Fox, you've got absolutely the worst luck than just about everybody."
Peppy simply cut his eyes at Falco. "Oh yeah, I meant to tell you, King Earthwalker sent you a message not too long ago. He said he wants you to contact his head officer at Krazoa Palace and that there's something very important you should know."
Fox didn't say a word but he was thinking just maybe Falco was right after all. Maybe he did have the worst luck as the feeling he got was that this message would be bad news. Not being the type to procrastinate, he went to his station and sat down, entered a request to speak with the officer at Krazoa Palace immediately. In a matter of seconds he'd made contact, then read the words that came up across the screen of his laptop.
[We've had a slight problem since you left our planet. Our young Prince Tricky has been very agitated. Seems that he's not interested in becoming king one day. He now says he wants to be a pilot and go searching for...well....bad guys. The Queen cannot even get him to take part in our royal celebrations. He'd rather pretend he's on some sort of mission at war. We're not blaming you, Fox.. You couldn't have known how impressive he is. But the King would like it very much if you would write to Tricky as soon you can, and try explaining to him why he'll be better off a king than a spaceman. Chintor out.]
Now Fox sat back in his chair after logging out and realized how he was about ready to collapse from exhaustion--
"Alert!" Rob's monotone was urgent as he turned from his post on the upper level. "The storm is approaching fast. I will have to increase power to the main generators to get more fuel to the boosters. But Fox, dangerous electrical voltages have been detected along the secondary circuits. I recommend that we all stay here at the bridge just in case we have to make any sudden maneuvers. And you might want to check the lavatory in your room, Fox. The monitor indicates the shower is in use."
"...Just great..." Fox shut the laptop case and got up, glanced back and Peppy who looked worried, Slippy who appeared a bit uptight, and Falco, looking all smug as he probably had some dirty thoughts about Krystal again. Fox just glared at him and walked off.
Back upstairs to his room, his desk lamp was on, all the pieces of Krystal's jewelry had been placed carefully on the bed, also were a few articles of clothing that he'd already put out for the trip on his garment rack near the closet. Hanging beside them was Krystal's top and the tunic skirt/shammy sort of thing that barely covered anything and he was starting to get a bit worried about her, especially since Falco hadn't seen Katt in months and he was starting to look at Krystal whenever she was around him like a crow at a fine piece of meat. Fox slid his fingers onto the goldish halter and then the skirt and shook his head, "First thing we'll do is get you something decent to wear," and looked toward the bathroom. She had placed her staff beside that door the previous evening. Fox hadn't paid it much attention until he turned over in the middle of the night and saw the thing glowing a bright shade of green, even stronger than it had when he received the upgrades. Now it glowed again.
He went to the bathroom and knocked three times.
"Krystal? Are you allright in there?"
The water splashed on the tiles, her voice came softly over it, "Yes...I'm fine. Fox, would you mind coming in here for a moment?"
She had to be kidding. He'd activated the switch that opened the door and entered without any hesitation, then slowly, he went and stood next to shower, couldn't help but watch the cast of her shadow on the steamy glass surround.
"Yeah? Something wrong?"
"Shampoo. Do you have any?"
"Uh..." Fox looked around, spotting a bottle on the counter near the sink. "Yeah.." he grabbed it, then carefully opened the door just enough to hand it in to her. "..But Krystal, I think you'd better hurry because we've got a pretty bad storm coming..."
"Allright," she answered as she took the bottle from him, and he stayed there just long enough to smell the sweet hint of zenberries as she began lathering with the shampoo.
Soon afterwards he returned to the bedroom, telling her to call him if she needed anything else, got as far as the other side of the door when the glare from the staff suddenly flashed in his eyes. Just about blinded him. Damn he'd had enough torment from that thing already. Had to grab it....
Krystal screamed. The lights flickered.
Fox dropped the staff, rushed back to shower and practically tore the door off of its hinges getting into the place where he found her lying unconscious, water coming down on her face. At that point it was all reflex in a steamy haze, splashing in and getting her into his arms as his clothes and fur got soaked to the skin. In a frenzied rush from the bathroom to the bedroom, he'd carried her, then laid her face up on the bed.
What the hell was this? His mother was dead... His father.... Now the girl he loved was gonna die in his arms? No way.... No....
"Fox? Fox!"
Then came pounding on the door.
"Fox!" Peppy shouted from the other side. "We were just hit by a strong electrical strike. We had a malfunctioning generator. Hey, you two okay in there?"
He couldn't think. His heart raced. He panted.
"Hey Fox, open up!" yelled Falco from behind Peppy.
The panic rose to triple digits as he ran back into the bathroom to get a towel and returned with it, spread it across Krystal's body and didn't dare let her be anymore exposed to them than she already had been ...especially Falco..
"Open One!" he commanded and the door slid open just as he bowed down to listen for her breathing.
His teammates hurried in.
"Fox? What happened?" Peppy arrived first.
"I don't know...I don't know..." Fox couldn't think of what to say but had already tilted Krystal's head back slightly then pinched her nose and gave her two short breaths.
"Jeez, Fox! What happened to our ten o'clock routine check, huh?"
Fox placed the palm of his hand onto Krystal's chest and began pushing gently. "Not funny, Falco,"
"Should we get a medic?" Peppy asked.
"No time--" Fox kept going. Two breaths. Fifteen depressions. Listen. Again. Two breaths. Fifteen depressions. Listen. "...Come on... Come on...."
More. Couldn't stop.
Peppy's hand rested on his shoulder. "Fox, I think she's--"
"NO!" Fox wailed. He then raised her up and shook her over and over again, knowing it wouldn't do a damned thing but he'd never had the chance to bring back his mother or his father. "What the hell are you always telling me, Peppy..." he laid her back down and started breathing into her lungs again. "You tell me to never give up..."
Peppy said nothing, and just as Falco and Slippy, looked on in horror,
Minutes passed.
This time, Falco grabbed Fox's arm and was shoved away right at the same time Slippy spoke.
"Hey, I think you did it, looks like she's breathing..."
So much adrenalin pumped through Fox that he couldn't stop trembling after realizing that he'd revived Krystal, then thought of what had caused it and loathed himself for his own carelessness-- He nearly collapsed when seeing her eyes open and was barely able to catch his own breath. At last, all he could manage was to kneel at her side and bowed his head in silence while holding her hand.
On the floor behind them, the staff glowed brighter.