Chapter IV
(Aboard the Great Fox)
"Get us down there!" Fox ordered. "Rob, how far is it to the nearest sufficient landing point from where Eric fell?"
"Distance to nearest sufficient landing point: approximately three miles."
"DAMN! So be it! Take us down there!"
"Roger that."
"Come on, now, Fox, and be reasonable!" Peppy argued. "Five in the hand is worth one in the bush tenfold!"
"You listen here, Peppy." Fox started. "He risked his life to save ours. We could still be back fighting… that… thing… and he cut those chains and risked his life. I don't know about you, but that's friendship. The least we can do is check and see if he's still alive."
"He fell a god damn half mile!" Falco shot back. "The odds of him surviving are virtually nil!"
"I hate to break up your politics meeting, but that is Tookanuh Forest." Slippy piped up. "The leaves that form the forest's roof are said to be so thick that they can stop falls from up to the atmosphere. There's hardly any daylight down there, and the nights are pitch black! Eric would have to have fallen from outer space to be killed. My guess is his fall was softened by the leaves and then just took a painful thirty feet to the ground."
"Exactly! I knew that." Eclipse lied. She was on Fox's side. "He's likely trying to signal us, good luck trying to get us from underneath that roof. And what friends can we call ourselves? We'd to the same for each other!"
"Um, guys?" Slippy started to ask.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah…" Falco grumbled. "He'll owe us later though."
"Guys?!?" Slippy said, with increasing urgency.
"We'll set up a search party going through the forest, stay frosty and look for Eric. And, if he's lost it like he did his stick and blaster back in the hangar, look for Murasma, it'll be close by."
"GUYS!!" Slippy yelled, getting everyone's attention. "That forest is TOOKANUH FOREST," he repeated. "The odds of finding someone or something in there are on par with a needle in a haystack blindfolded. Even if we did find him, we'd have a hell of a time getting out of there because it's crawling with Venomian Hostile Lightfoot dinosaurs. They're paranoid, so they might mistake us for Venomian spies, and then there are a lot of mistakes that can be made regarding Eric and Venomian monkeys. Remember the incident with Jack eight years ago?"
Fox laughed in spite of his nervousness. He wouldn't easily forget what happened THERE… Katt was still fuming at how late Jack was. But that is irrelevant to this current state of events.
"It's decided. We'll go in, see if we can find Eric. If we can't within eight hours after sunrise, we'll leave without him. There's no other way."
(In a very dank, dark, prison cell some half a mile below…)
An hour passed before the excruciating pain in Eric's leg turned into a heavy throb. Looking around, he was in a stony jail cell, with one locked door and a window the size of a square foot. Barred, unfortunately. What little light was previously allowed to penetrate the leaf roof was blocked by the seemingly soundproof stone walls of his cell. It was pitch black outside, a sign that it was nighttime. Inside his cell, small, crude torches lit.
Taking every effort to avoid putting weight on his shattered leg bones, he limped around trying to see what he still had. Not much: a sloppy soup and the clothes on his back. He had absolutely nothing else besides the sunglasses and his booklet.
THE BOOKLET! Eric frantically looked through it, hopefully something he had written down would allow him to be able to escape! In a musty tome of useless information, when you are suddenly thrust into one of the worlds where that useless information was gained… suddenly, it doesn't seem so useless.
Spelunking through its pages and pages, Eric nearly gave up hope - Until he got to the western chapter. Thinking that absolutely nothing would come of it, he read the last page - and saw the light. Thank you Shanghai Noon!
Eric cast off his jacket aside and his shirt into a depression in the floor, probably for water. Whatever it's use, it was useless, so Eric had to improvise. Pouring the (stinky, watery) broth from the soup into the indentation, there was barely enough to thoroughly soak the shirt. Now to find something to use as a lever… He had lost his stick, and the cell was nearly barren. "Damn Murphy's Law!" Eric cursed aloud, but stopped from further profanities in fear that the guards would hear him, investigate, and have him starved. A soup pot handle… hmm… Re-reading The Count of Monte Cristo had its advantages…
He heard the people coming. He immediately put the bowl in the doorway and hid the shirt. He put his jacked in and zipped it up, then lay unceremoniously on his cot.
The guard who was in charge of Eric came in and the first thing he did was firmly plant his foot where the bowl was: Right where Eric had calculated. Success! The Lightfoot, however, was not amused.
"NXUK NUJ KXUK VEH!" The Lightfoot bellowed. "Den ceeb nxuk oei'lo tedo!" The Lightfoot was pissed, mainly at Eric for clumsiness, but at himself for not paying attention. "Vado. Ijo kxo fek. Ak ned'k mukkoh! Oei tao kemehhen!"
It took all of Eric's willpower not to say, "Yeah, whatever." Taking the soup pot as the guard left, he poured all of its contents on his shirt to keep it dry. Tying it around the bars and twisting with all of his might, most of the watery broth came out of the shirt. But it wasn't ripping any further, and after putting weight into it, the bars were bending!
This was taking time. Too much time. Not only was the sun starting to rise, from thinking, boredom, and getting his meal, but progress was exceedingly slow. It didn't help that Eric was starving in addition to his leg reacting like Greenpeace to a Sizzler buffet. It very much wanted to lie down and wither into nothingness, but Eric kept trying at the window.
There was now some decent light out, as decent as you can possibly get in Tookanuh, and the bars were open enough for Eric to try crawling through! He would have to be quick though. The guards were coming to deliver meals!
Eric got his head through no problem. Squeezing his shoulders proved to be a bit difficult, but he was so close on so little time!
Thump… thump… thump… Lightfoot feet kept hitting the stone, getting louder! Sucking in his gut, he managed to get halfway through, but his hip was stuck!
Time froze as the door opened. The Lightfoot stared for a split second as it dawned on him in the daylight. The spilled soup… the shirt cast aside… and the soup pot.
"UCUHM!" The Lightfoot bellowed. Instantly the tribe was awake! Slipping his feet through, seemingly shattering his ribs in the process, he fell on his bad leg. He barely felt it, he was free! If he couldn't escape quickly enough, however, it would all be for naught.
Limping through the bustling camp, arrows flew, nearly spearing him through the head, ending the life of Eric Shroud. But he kept running through, and almost stopped dead when he noticed part of his leg bone was poking through the skin and his jeans!
Voice lost on a soundless scream, Eric's luck ran out when he toppled headlong into a guard. Turning around, he was completely surrounded. Putting his hands up and making feeble gestures of innocence, the butt of a spear separated him from his senses.
(About two miles away, airborne.)
"Ceeb Krystal! Ad kxo Scouhadw! Kxuk'j Eric!"
"Kubo ij tend, Kyte! Ak mijk ro xam!"
(On Tookanuh Forest, three miles away from Eric's imprisonment.)
"Ok, guys." Fox whispered, not wanting to attract anything.
"And girls," Eclipse said acidly. It was Fox, Falco and Eclipse while Slippy and Peppy gave radio information.
"Remember, keep an eye out for Eric and any signs that he's nearby. No flashlights, it'll attract stuff. If we must negotiate, we have this." He pulled out a translator. "Come on, move out!"
(Eric)
Eric woke up tied - no, staked - to a tree. At first, Eric could only stare at his hands in shock, but he could see where they used torches to burn-close the giant nail wound through his hands. Then the pain set it, and a Lightfoot jabbed Eric in the stomach with a spear to get him to shut up from the pain.
"Uchawxk, jfo, oei'll walod ij odeiwx kheirco! Semo fousovicco udt kxoho nacc ro de fhercom! Fohjajkudso nacc wok oei vuh rik no'lo xut odeiwx ev kxaj wumo!"
"I don't have the slightest idea on what you are saying." Eric pleaded. He had a very good feeling he was going to die here, and Eric's instincts were rarely wrong.
"Oei bden kxo cudwiowo, reo, jfoub!" The Lightfoot prodded Eric again.
"Oey beden… what?!?" Eric cried out.
Eric couldn't tell if the lightfoot sighed in impatience, laughter, or elation at what he was going to do next. Pulling out a knife, he walked up to Eric and slashed him across the middle.
"AAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUUUUUUUGH!" Eric howled in pain. His mind was on fire, then it clicked.
The dagger was poisoned! Judging by the way his mind kept fighting every thought to escape, the poison must have been something that made its recipient more suggestive to interrogation. Much as it was a relief to know that he wasn't going to die…
"Jkacc voocadw tovaudk, ufo?" The Lightfoot smeared. Eric was writhing in his constraints. The Lightfoot went back over and applied another dose of what looked like red stew to the blade. The blade now looked startlingly like Murasma's after falling out of the tree, its hue was so red.
Yeah, Murasma. The one thing that could probably get him out of this mess, and it was god knows where.
(Just outside the camp.)
"Kyte, jukuo xoho. No'cc semo rusb ke wok oei. A doot ke wok Eric. Jkuo eik ev jawxk." A shadowy figure said to a Cloudrunner.
Sneaking through the brush, the sleek figure crawled through the underbrush, sneaking through buildings to avoid being seen by the wayward lightfoot.
"ADKHITOH!" She heard get called out. Shoot. No time. Pulling out what looked like a quarterstaff in the shadows, she fired a bluish dart.
The Lightfoot headed for the alarm went down like a sack of bricks.
On the left wall of the small shack she was in, she lit the end of the stick. A large broadsword, in its scabbard, and a composite longbow were tied up on the wall. Quietly slinging them over her shoulder, the figure creeped to the center encampment and beheld the terrifying spectacle of Eric's torture. They were still slashing at him with knives, and Eric felt both lightheaded from loss of blood and began to not feel the slashes anymore.
The figure stepped out into the clearing and thrust the staff into the ground with surprising force. Eric had enough strength to lift his head up and gasp.
"Krystal?!" Eric could barely get the strength to say her name, he was in far too much pain. Strange, she wasn't in her usual garb of a bikini, but was instead in a combat fatigue top and brown pants.
"Cok zam we!" Krystal bellowed.
"Udekxoh edo!" A Lightfoot gasped. "Kxaj edo ajd'k ud ufo!"
"Giood ev Dinosaur Planet semmudtj oei ke vhoo oeih sufkalo!"
"Dek idkac xo koccj ij nxuk xo bdenj! Xo'j u Venomian jfo!"
Krystal had seen what they did to Eric and decided to back out the hard way. Pulling out the sword, she threw it expertly at Eric. Realizing what it was (Murasma) Eric concentrated. Some of the red glow faded a bit as it telekinetically moved to sever the stakes. Blood gushed like a fountain as Eric grabbed the sword and cut the ropes. Krystal was already running to Eric, getting him out of the camp. Turning, she pulled out her staff.
"Ag ma guire ma tas, mans vaire…" Krystal muttered. It was not DPese, it sounded like a spell incantation.
Eric felt his cuts heal up at the end of the incantation, and his leg felt better, but the broken one still had the bone poking through the skin and any weight on it caused Eric to stumble.
"Come on!" Krystal called. All that happened in about five seconds, and already Lightfoot threatened to surround them.
Limping behind following Krystal, holding his sword, he heard Krystal call something in DPese before taking an arrow to the right arm and a short spear to the left leg. Turning around, Eric timed a swing at a flying spear, slicing it in half and falling on his bad leg. Pain wracked his body when he felt a something grab him by his coat and haul him upwards. Holding onto Murasma, he was flying up, up…
He looked up and saw Krystal, barely hanging onto the back of Eric's jacket, flying on a Cloudrunner. Eric noticed that it was the one he jumped onto back in the Capital City. Eric had no time to try to say anything, just held onto the Cloudrunner's leg for dear life while it sped away, leaving the Lightfoot dinosaurs in an array of fierce anger. Many were being sent out, looked like they were going to get Eric when he fell off. But Eric was free! Sheathing Murasma and running it through a belt loop to prevent it from falling, Krystal accidentally dropped the bow. Eric caught it and held on as the Cloudrunner continued flying and dodging spears and arrows.
"Eric, that looks like the Fox, Falco and Eclipse!" Krystal called down after perhaps seven minutes of flying. More and more Lightfoot seemed to be appearing out of nowhere in front of them…
"And so it does!" Eric grunted, noticing the three people on the edge of the horizon.
"Kyte, wok eloh kxoho uj vujk uj fejjarco!" Krystal called to her mount.
Kyte sped up, easily outrunning the pursuing Lightfoot. Upon getting there, Eric unceremoniously dropped to the ground and staggered to his feet. His good one, anyway.
"Eric! We were looking for you!" Eclipse said while Falco looked both glad and haughty at the same time.
"Yeah, yeah, we found him, now what?" Falco snarled.
"No time!" Krystal and Eric said in unison. "We have maybe, what, two hundred angry Lightfoot guys after us!" Eric continued.
"Kyte, go home!" Krystal ordered. The Cloudrunner flew off.
"The Great Fox is that way, and if what you say is true, we better hurry up!"
Dashing through the forest, with Eric half-hopping, half-limping the Great Fox loomed closer as they leaped over a stream (Eric fell through it). 100 yards… The bloodthirsty hoard was dangerously close… 50 yards… 20 yards…
They made it through, just missing the next spear by millimeters. Slippy and Peppy were long since ready to take off, flying out of the clearing they had parked and into space…
Eric spent the next eight hours either eating, or being attended to by Krystal's healing magic. Much pain, a cast and about twenty stitches later, it looked like Eric was going to recover, but most of the day ("space cycle," Fox corrected) for Eric was spent sleeping.
The news was good. General Pepper had promised to take care of Jade so that Krystal, never one to miss out on anything, could accompany them in investigating the increased Venomian activity. When Eric asked (rather bluntly) why Pepper offered to do this ("Doesn't he have better things to do?") Krystal's response was that it wasn't actually Pepper who would be doing the caring, it would be one of his retired officials who volunteered. Kit lover, no doubt, Eric thought.
On another high note, Sarah appeared shortly after Eric was able to walk on his right leg again.
"What are you doing here?" Eric blurted out.
"To stop you from doing anything stupid, Eric, and judging by your garb, I'm a bit too late." She said sarcastically.
"I thought this was too crazy for you…" Eric said.
"I swallowed my fear, just put on the sunglasses and came here. By the way, what happened?"
Eric told her.
"Someone really needs to look out for you, I'd hate to be the one to go to your parents with your death certificate."
Eric didn't really have a good comeback for that, so after some uneasy explanation of why Sarah appeared out of thin air ("We just have to think about our destination, apparently she thought of where I was," Eric explained) The total StarFox Fellowship was Eric, Sarah, Fox, Eclipse, Falco, and Krystal.
Most of the next few cycles went uneventfully, until a sudden jolt rocked the back of the ship.
Checking sensors, radiation degree showed a white hole exit at the end of view. Coming through it, just bad news.
"YEEEEEEEEEE HAAAA! Been a while, hasn't it, McCloud!" The face of Wolf O'Donnell appeared on the communication plate of the Great Fox.
More bad news. "Payback time, Lombardi!"
"Time to squeeeeeeeeeeal…"
"I'll think I'll take frog's legs…"
"Perfect time for the SW team to show up…" Fox muttered. "Rob! Open the doors! We're taking-" Fox stopped short as the electric lights went out.
"What the…!" Fox yelled.
"The bomb rendered the power null. We have oxygen, but almost everything else is gone."
"Great," said Fox, sweating, when Eric suddenly realized something. Something about the way the walls of the Great Fox started to cave in slightly or go convex… Something Eric didn't know. And he felt lightheaded… When it hit him.
"Fox… The vacuum support is gone."