Chapter VII


  The road to Capital City was uneventful, but the appearance of it was simply majestic. Giant, made of crystal ("Must be, what was the name of the princess, again?" Eric muttered sarcastically), with bustling commerce on the streets. Several planes flew overhead, and one came so close Eric had to duck or be decapitated. On the side it said, "ArWing 900", but Eric was too busy looking around at the colossal buildings.
   "Oh my…" Sarah gasped. She seemed almost as impressed as Eric was.
   "Yeah, I'd have taken a beating and nearly capped in the melon if I got to come here," Eric breathed, hypnotized.
  They spent another half-hour just sightseeing, before making a trip to the largest building. Several Earthwalker guards stood fast.
    "Halt! Who goes there! Identification papers required beyond this point!"
    Eric felt like arguing, but Sarah pulled out her student ID. Catching on, Eric pulled out his.
   "You may pass, visiting hours are until 6:00." A guard on the left said, relaxing. "Sir Fox McCloud checked your record, Shroud." He added.
    "I think I just figured something out. Fox was knighted since SFA!" Eric lamented as they walked through the door.
   "Err… Tricky was right, you DO need to get out more." Sarah mumbled, rolling her eyes. I wonder what they meant by, 'checked your record,' we haven't even been here an hour yet."
    "Hey, yeah," Eric said, checking his watch. "Whoa…" Eric realized his watch had only changed a minute. Looking at the big clock, the local time was 5:30. "We don't have much time, so let's come for whatever we're looking for and get out."
  The inside was almost as incredible as the outside. Hundreds, if not thousands, of pterodactyl creatures and Earthwalkers roaming around, some munching on what looked like food, an accountant on a desk, and one look at a sign near the elevator showed more nifty things than this.
  "Basements: restricted, Floor 19, Cloudrunner Entrance… those must be those flying things, Floor 4, food court, hey, cool, Floor 18:
Throne Room. Betcha we'll find whoever's in charge here, maybe smooth talk our way for something, or something." Eric said, reading the sign. "Or maybe…" He started with a mischievous grin.
"You don't mean…" Sarah said disapprovingly. "The basements?"
"Sure, I mean, what could they possibly have for security?"
Almost in answer to his own words, what looked like a raccoon started dashing from the elevator, carrying a briefcase and a sack, and looking in a great deal of a hurry. Roughly four seconds after his appearance, about six or seven Earthwalker guards started galloping after him. "Get him! They yelled.
Suddenly, everything Eric saw started to slow down, to the point where nothing was moving. Then, as if his eyes weren't his own, his view moved towards a shield and two halberds mounted on the wall like a coat of arms. He could even see himself vaguely, and suddenly, he knew what to do.
  As time brought itself back to the present, he launched himself not at the potentially thieving raccoon, but at the coat of arms, he brought his foot forward squarely at the bottom of the shield, knocking it off the wall and flying across the room, clocking the raccoon in the cranium while the halberds sliced down and imbedded themselves in the doorway, blocking access in or out of the building.
The Earthwalkers hit him like a ton of bricks.
  "It's Klepto Ichabod!" Eric heard one of the Earthwalkers saying as they tied the raccoon up. "The last taste of freedom he'll have, given his record." One of the Earthwalkers walked toward Eric. "Those were some nice reflexes, kid, what's your name?" He said, apparently ignoring the fact that Eric was not only furless, but had a head shaped completely different from everyone else's and lacked big ears to match.
"Uh… Eric Shroud."
"Hey, you're that one guy from, what did the archives say? The Milky Way galaxy? I can't remember that, you must be from pretty far away."
"Um… Yeah, I'd say that," Sarah said as she jogged over.
"Who's she?" The Earthwalker said, eyeing Sarah dubiously.
  "Hmm? Oh, don't worry, she's with me." Eric said hastily.
"Anyway, you wouldn't believe what Klepto had on his record. Grand theft, armed robbery, plane hijacking…" The Earthwalker trailed off. "Oh yeah! I'm Chief of the Guard here at Dinosaur Planet. The name's Spike.
"Um… ok, great name!" Sarah offered hopefully.
"Eh, you'll get used to it. Anyway, I think we should introduce you to General Pepper, He's just upstairs visiting. Krystal and Pepper will be pleased that you caught Klepto."
  "Nifty. Lead the way." Eric was getting used to this.
  Spike moved toward the elevator while his guard cronies dragged Klepto to another elevator. Eric and Sarah didn't really want to think what exactly was going to happen, but Sarah was practically skipping in the elevator. The bluish crystal the elevator was made of was slightly transparent, so they could see outside.
Finally the elevator hit Floor 18, and in spite of all that they had seen so far, Eric and Sarah gasped. A beautifully ornate room, decorated with chamber pots, carefully positioned torches, and a magnificent chandelier covered the room. A corner seemed to have rather childish features and several torn-apart blankets. Their eyes fell on a wicker casket when a voice brought him back to his senses.
"Oei cabo Jade's dijoho, ooj?" A blue-furred vixen on a chair said from the middle of the room. It brought Eric back to reality, but Sarah was still busy admiring the objects around the room.
"Uh, sorry? I mean…" Eric said, and now Sarah too was looking at them. Eric quickly recovered with some of his abysmal Spanish. "No se, No comprende senora. Er… comprende?"
  "She said, ' You like Jade's nursery, yes?'" Spike said from behind them. Eric had forgotten he was even there.
"Uh, yeah, can you tell her that"?
"Sure." Then, to the vixen, "ooj, Krystal."
Krystal smiled. What looked like a bulldog in military clothing walked up, with…
"Sir Fox McCloud!" Spike gasped, kneeling with his front legs.
"Spike, what is the meaning of bringing this civilian?" General Pepper inquired.
  "He stopped Klepto Ichabod, sir." Spike said, looking up. "I brought him here to you, figuring that he stopped perhaps the most dangerous thief in the history of Dinosaur Planet."
  "Hmm… Now that's something. Unfortunately, I'm busy with something currently…" Pepper's voice trailed off. "Military struggles on Titania, riots are costing the lives of several soldiers in the struggles…"
"And, true to military form, all this is an understatement. Maybe we can help?" Eric offered.
"I HIGHLY doubt it, but OK…" Pepper grumbled. "What we need to do is to launch an attack at a fuel center on Titania, this should cause enough of a panic to let us get through and take out their leader, who we believe is causing the riots. Here is the battlefield map, along with current soldier positions, which changes as the battlefield changes."
It didn't take Ulysses S. Grant to realize that the Cornarian army was indeed screwed. Only a few tanks, airplanes, and infantry seemed to be on the battleground, while there were too many foes on the other side of the board.
     Eric's encyclopedia mind was racing. Several Cornarian soldiers were closing in on rioters, and it didn't look like Cornaria's side of the board had the firepower.
     "Crap, you guys are screwed. Unless…" Eric said, getting an angry scowl from Pepper. "Wait a minute… What are those guys holding?"
     "They're grenades, intended to take out tanks. But the ratio of grenades to tanks is too many, what's your angle, Shroud?" Pepper grumbled.
     "My angle?!? Obviously, you didn't hit general status via military conquest," Eric snarled. "That's an APC! Less durable than tanks, and loaded with gas. Let's see how long that takes to click." Eric might have been pushing his luck, but he couldn't believe how Pepper missed it the APC's high gas capacity.
It clicked. Pepper picked up a walkie-talkie to get them to fire the grenades at the APCs. Seconds later…
"Woo hoo! Fireworks! Gotta love stuff gettin' blown up." Eric grinned. The APC's exploded in nuclear fireballs, allowing the infantry to move in and clean up what was left.
"I still say you got lucky, but thanks. Now we can interrogate the leader and put a stop to these cursed raids!" Pepper glowed.
"Hey, you want to look at Jade?" Krystal's voice was on Eric's right.
"I didn't know you spoke…" Once again, Sarah had to catch her tongue. She almost said, "English," but her mind came back to what Eric said all games made normal language. "Common."
"They're called, 'translators,' Sarah." Krystal retorted. And I never said I didn't," She said, turning the translator off. "You just assumed I didn't from our encounter.
   "What?!? And you let me do my pathetic Spanish all that time?!?" Eric shrieked.
"Well, it was very entertaining." Krystal said with a mischievous grin.
"Riiight… I'm officially pissed off now…" Eric started, but was cut short abruptly when Krystal brought out Jade.
"Coooollll…" Sarah mumbled.
"Who's the father?" Eric said, getting the hint that it was Krystal's daughter.
Krystal nodded mysteriously at Fox, who started twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling.
"Uh… Mazel Tov!" Eric called, scratching behind Jade's ears and administering a sharp cry of pain when Jade bit him. "Feisty little fox, eh?" Eric said, nursing his finger as two blood droplets fell from his finger and hit the floor. Spike and Sarah roared out laughing, while Pepper gave a disapproving glance, when there was a knock at the door. Krystal put Jade back in the bassinet.
Eric slunk back into the shadows of a corner while Pepper and Spike went to answer. "Yes?" Spike's voice could be heard saying.
"I heard the news, and wanted to give Krystal's daughter a bright new baby toy!" A voice on the other side of the door said. In walked a cheetah, dressed in a black leather jacket soaked in water. After checking outside the window, it was raining, that'd explain the H2O.
     The cheetah walked around the room as Eric's gut clenched. Something was up, but he couldn't act until he knew what was going on. The cheetah brought out a nicely detailed doll of a raccoon, and Jade wasted no time to bring her teeth into the doll. Several sounds of stitching being ripped apart sounded across the room.
     "Thanks for the gift, Mr.…" Krystal started.
     "Call me Kryss." The cheetah said. Maybe it was Eric's imagination, but he could've sworn Kryss was wincing… Bah, it must have been his eyes playing tricks on him. "Bye! And good luck with your daughter!" Kryss left, Spike followed to go check on the downstairs.
     "That was nice of him." Pepper said. "Especially coming through the rain."
Eric, however, noticed something odd. As the others were talking about Kryss and his generosity, Eric's eyes were instead on the floor. There, on the ground, were four droplets of blood, one by Jade's cradle, one between the cradle and the door, and two at the door. Eric's blood lay at the center of the room.
     The others started noticing something. "Hey- Where's my staff?" Krystal inquired. "I thought I left it here…"
That was nothing compared to Eric's whisper that cut through the room like a shout.
     "He's got Jade."