Disclaimer: READ THIS!!! I do not own any of the StarFox characters or any
other names that are Nintendo related or found in any of the StarFox games.
CHAPTER 8 The Truth Be Told
Fox grew panicky and franticly scurried around the sewer floor helplessly groping through the fallen debris. "Falco shoot at somewhere and make sure that you won't hit anyone, especially Krystal," Fox called in the opposite direction.
Falco reached to his left and felt along the wall making sure it was all stone and that nobody was up against it. He stepped back a couple of feet and fired directly into the wall he had just searched. The red flare from the gun ignited the sewer, for a brief moment, "I don't see her keep shooting," Fox said.
It was hard for Fox to see, the flash from the gun destroyed his night vision leaving a crimson hue in the darkness. "Does anybody see her?" Fox asked becoming even tenser, his heart was in a knot, choking the flow of blood to the rest of his body making his hands tremble.
"I don't see her Fox," Slippy said in a worried tone, "throw me you gun, I'll provide more illumination while you search." Fox obeyed and tossed his gun over to Slippy who was now standing up; the pistol smacked him in the nose and bobbled in his hands before he was able to get his finger around the trigger.
Slippy shot directly upwards, at a rate faster than Falco's bursts, Fox continued to overturn bricks which glowed red for a hundredth of a second before dimming out and becoming visible once again. Fox looked to his right and saw what looked like a hunk of purple fur curled up in a fetal position and covered in dust. "I see her," he exclaimed while running over, and then kneeling down to brush the small pieces of rock off of her. She moaned while still unconscious, Fox put his cheek next to her muzzle and his hand on her esophagus. He felt a puff of warm air come out of her nostrils, and a slight throb of blood surged through her jugular, "She's alive," Fox said giving a sigh of relief.
Fox put his hands on her shoulders, "Krystal...can you here me?" he asked the sleeping vixen.
Krystal moaned again and drew in air through her mouth, "Fox...is that you?" she asked sliding her eyelids open only to greet more darkness and the sound of Fox's voice.
"Oh thank god," Fox said helping her to sit upright against the closest wall, "are you alright?"
Krystal rubbed her head and felt something wet on her fingertips, "Yea I'll be ok...my head hurts, and I think its bleeding." Fox felt underneath her hair and felt the large lump, and the dripping trickle of blood that oozed out of her wound.
Fox held her hands in his and squatted over her, "Can you try and stand up, we need to find a way out of here and get you some medical attention," he said gently tugging on her arms. She slowly got to her feet and hugged Fox, "I thought I lost you for a second there," Fox whispered into her ear before repetitively kissing her on the cheek.
"I would never leave you," she murmured while rubbing against him; "but for now lets save the romance for later, it stinks down here." Fox let out a chuckle, feeling better that she didn't lose her sense of humor before releasing her from his grasp.
She pulled her staff out of the black leather holster she had across her back, extended it, and placed her hand over the sapphire orb in the head of the staff. A white light shown from the orb illuminating the tunnel and revealed all of which that was kept hidden in the shadows. "I didn't know that it could do that," Fox said squinting from the light given off by the staff.
"Well I've had this staff my whole life, you've borrowed it for about a week, and only gotten a taste of its power," she said looking down to allow her eyes to get used to brightness.
Krystal lead the way down the sewer for almost a quarter mile, there was an odd silence, like time had stopped. There was nothing to be heard overhead, only the tapping of footsteps against a stone floor and the occasional dripping of water. Krystal spotted a small hole in the ceiling with a ladder running up the side; it was an entrance to the sewer similar to the one they jumped down to escape the wrath of the bombers. Falco leapt up into the air, caught the ladder and swiftly ascended up to the sewer cap and tried lifting it with his arms, but it wouldn't budge. He put his back up against the sewer cap and wedged the heels of his feet onto one of the iron rungs of the ladder. He grunted as he lifted up against the cap with his legs, "I can only get it to lift up about an inch," Falco called down to his teammates.
"There's probably some rubble piled on top of it," Peppy speculated.
Fox lowered his head with a disappointed look on his face, "We'll probably have to move down to another sewer cap," Fox grumbled.
"We could always try blowing it," Slippy suggested.
"With what?" Falco asked still trying to lift the weight on the cap.
"A makeshift bomb," Slippy replied back.
Fox looked at Slippy with some curiosity, "Explain."
"First of all, Falco save your strength; secondly, we take the power cells out of yours, Krystal's, and Falco's blasters and somehow wedge them underneath the sewer cap. If Krystal can somehow hit one of them with the fire blaster on her staff it'll set off a chain reaction of explosions with enough force to blow that cap right off."
"And if it doesn't, that chain reaction of explosions is going to come right back down in my face," Krystal retorted while leaning on her staff.
"It won't, trust me on this."
"Should we try it?" Peppy asked Fox thinking critically about Slippy's plan.
Fox looked up at Krystal, "It's up to her," Fox said.
Krystal sighed and handed her staff to Peppy so she could disarm her pistol, "You'd better be right about this frog boy," she threatened.
Fox snickered at the nickname Slippy just received from Krystal as he pulled the cell out of his pistol, he took his power cell and Krystal's up to Falco who had taken his out and was now holding it in his beak. "Alright I'm going to lift it as high as I can, when I tell you I'm dropping it, get your fingers the hell out of there."
"I'm ready when you are," Fox said
Falco hoisted up the sewer cap about five inches and Fox quickly wedged all three power cells underneath. Falco then let the cap back down and climbed down after Fox, "Alright, give it a shot," Fox said to Krystal who was now holding her staff in its firing position.
Krystal nodded and signaled for everyone to get clear before she took aim. One red hot burst of fire shot from the end of the staff causing a bright red and yellow explosion when it came in contact with the cells. The blast knocked Krystal off of her feet, but she was unharmed and got back up. Everyone quickly climbed up the ladder and stood appalled at what had become of the once beautiful city.
Fox sank to his knees, "How could this have happened, it's all my fault," he said looking down at the ground. The city was in ruins, everywhere Fox looked there was either a corpse or more burning rubble and craters left by the bombs. Fox was able to hear a faint siren behind him, Peppy was holding on to Slippy who was crying at the terrible sight. Falco stood by himself staring up with a malicious look at the sky which was no longer blue, but instead reddish in color with gray smog.
Krystal came over to Fox and rubbed his back, "Fox it's not your fault, no one would have been able to anticipate such an attack," she comforted him.
Fox looked outwards across the nearby lake, gazing at the smoke on the horizon and inhaling the intoxicating smell and ash that contaminated the air. "No...There was one person who knew this attack was coming...I must find him..."
***
The team split up into two groups, Peppy and Slippy were going to go back to the Middle District to make check on Slippy's father. Falco, Fox, and Krystal were heading to the Upper District to report to General Pepper and find out what was happening.
Fox and Falco stood in Pepper's office watching his eyes trace over the words on the little note Fox had received; Krystal wasn't present, she was in the medical branch receiving treatment for her wound. Pepper's eyes suddenly exploded into a fiery rage as he squeezed the note in his hand, and pulled Fox within inches of his face by his vest, "You knew about this?" Pepper said in an intense whisper, a vein now pulsed in the side of his neck.
"I didn't KNOW anything," Fox retorted in his normal voice, "it was an anonymous tip, and when I read it, it could have meant a hundred different things."
Pepper released Fox while throwing the little note irately to the floor; he then turned away and paced to the back of the room. He slammed his cap down on his desk to rub his forehead, "I don't enjoy giving casualty speeches Fox," Pepper said in a warning tone.
"I don't enjoy listening to them either General; I'm going to see if I can find the identity of our emissary I can only assume," Fox responded.
Falco sat in one of the chairs along the side of the office, his fist was clenched into a ball over the tip of his beak; "what's the damage report?" he asked with out taking his hand away.
Pepper snatched a piece of paper from the corner of his desk, "All attacking bombers have been accounted for, no downed friendly aircraft. The Lower District got hit the worst, the Middle District took minimal collateral damage, and the Upper District wasn't bombed at all. Our interceptors were able to take down all the Venomian bombers before they reached us here. There are at least a little over a hundred fifty dead, and nearly two hundred injured found thus far, mostly in the Lower District."
A searing pain suddenly shot into the back of Falco's head, "Lower District, oh shit!..KATT!" Falco yelped springing out of the chair. "I've gotta find her, where is her apartment?"
Pepper quickly sat down in his chair and started typing things in rapidly on his keyboard while gazing at the CPU monitor on his desk. "She lives in the Four Corners apartment complex, southern building; I'm giving a mission redirect to a med-evac shuttle scheduled to arrive at another part of the Lower District. You've got clearance to be on it, it's leaving with or without you in five minutes at hanger delta seven, and Falco...good luck."
Falco bolted out of the room just as Krystal walked in with an icepack to her head; she jumped out of the way with just in time to avoid getting bowled over by Falco, "What happened?" she asked.
"He's going to go look for Katt," Fox responded grimly.
"Oh I hope she's ok," Krystal responded in a worried tone.
"That reminds me," Fox began, he flipped open and his PDA and tried calling Peppy on it, "I should see if everyone's at the shop is ok," he said thinking aloud Peppy came onto the screen with a half smile on his face, "How is everything?" Fox asked.
"Everything's A-ok, fortunately for us, they didn't get a chance to bomb this place before the interceptors took them all out," Peppy said.
"Glad to here it; Falco took off in search of Katt in the Lower District, contact me if anything comes up," Fox said before closing the connection. Fox's ears perked up for a second, he heard the high pitched whistle of a Starlight Excel Plus engine.
Although it was barely audible, Pepper was able to hear the faint sound and leaned back in his chair to look out the window, "Hmm, Bill has returned, I wonder if he can humor us with more bad news."
Minutes later, Bill came in with a grim look on his face and folded up his sun glasses which he placed in the side pocket of his flight suit. "Fox, Krys," he said giving each of them a nod, "sir it's a good thing you're sitting down," he said as he saluted Pepper. "In case you are wondering I was aware that this attack was going to take place. I would have intervened but, what am I going to do with an unarmed ship, however the things I do have will shock you."
"Why does it seem so many people knew this was going to happen except me? Well get on with it," Pepper motioned to him with his hand.
Bill pulled a small data disc out of one of his pockets and handed to Pepper who stuck it into a drive on his desk, "What's he talking about?" he said to Fox.
"I'll tell you later," Fox responded to him after plopping down in a chair next to Krystal.
A panel on the right side of room opened and revealed a large flat screen television, Bill grabbed a remote control from Pepper's desk and pointed it to the television and loaded the pictures he took. "I'm sorry I don't have more photos of this but, I was afraid to get anywhere near it, if I went for closer look it might have jeopardized the mission." When Bill loaded the picture, Fox and Pepper's jaws dropped.
"Son of a bitch," Pepper said slamming his fist down on his desk. The image was highly distorted due to being zoomed in on from about two and a half miles away. It was the planetary defense satellite Bolse, but it was a lot different looking than from how Fox remembered it. It looked a lot larger and seemed to have a transparent blue bubble around it.
"I don't know much about it but analysis shows that on top of being able to cast a protective shield around itself and another planet, it has a lot more capabilities. Bolse can now, send out jamming frequencies and lock in on our signals, anything and everything said over a radio could possibly be intercepted by the enemy. I know what you're thinking, how could we have not seen this thing? Well Bolse has been sitting quietly out of sight behind Venom acting as an observer. Right now Bolse is casting waves through Venom which is leading me to believe that we haven't seen it at maximum power."
Fox laughed sarcastically, "I certainly hope you've got enough money and materials to make more Spectral Wraiths, enough to supply the entire fleet 'cause right now, they got us pinned down. I wouldn't doubt for a second that they can draw a bead on anything we throw at them, and counterattack very quickly."
Pepper closed his eyes, "We should not have forgotten Venom, as long as that planet exists there will always be a threat looming over us," he said.
"Don't worry it gets better," Bill continued showing multiple images of large buildings and numerous facilities.
"Looks like barracks, and enough of them to house enough troops to level any planet they choose," Pepper said solemnly.
"Not just barracks, they also have plenty of command stations, weapon facilities, star ports, hangers and machine shops; next image." The next image that flickered on was a close up of the insignia the enemy wore stamped on the side of a bunch of crates.
Pepper then spoke up, "I recognize the A that Andross used as his insignia and had all of his troops wear but I don't get what that is behind it."
"No way," Fox said leaning forward, "I know what that is...it's a fusion, a fusion of the Sharp Claw Army and the Venomian Regular Army, they've joined forces." Fox was indeed right, the Insignia was an A backed by the symbol found on the sides of the crates used to hold pukpuk eggs for troops on Dinosaur Planet.
Bill smiled, "Very good, I couldn't put them both together, that was until I saw this guy. I was bored on the way there so I read the report put up by Pepper about your activity on Dinosaur Planet and I was to say the least a bit shocked," Bill said clicking the remote again.
"NO! WHAT THE HELL?" Fox shouted at the image of General Scales standing on the balcony of a giant building which was obviously the command center due to its enormous size. He looked as if to be giving some kind of speech his troops, the balcony had a banner hanging down over the railing displaying the new insignia of the conjoined forces. "That's impossible; I saw the one of the Sharp Claw hold his belt up to me when I flew over the Krazoa Palace," Fox continued.
"Did you actually see the body?" Bill said raising his eyebrow.
"Well, no but I-"
"He may have not...but I did," Krystal interrupted; she closed her eyes remembering the details of the assassination of General Scales.
***Krystal Narrates***
I quickly ducked down behind the now headless statue of the Krazoa spirit when I heard what sounded like someone coming through a warp. I poked my head out a bit to see what was happening, a Sharp Claw transport was landing in the back left corner of the roof, and General Scales was approaching it. He was followed by three of his comrades, each brandishing clubs. The transport hatch opened and was left running. Everyone exited including the pilot who was dressed differently from the rest of them; they all had a clubs except for one who was carrying a large double bladed ax. They got into two lines of four and saluted the approaching general.
Scales stopped and saluted back, the pilot's face then twisted into a smile, just then two of the soldiers behind scales of the hit the general in the back of the legs with their clubs. He groaned in pain and dropped to his knees, "What is the meaning of this?" the General roared.
I moved closer and knelt down behind the slope leading up to where I was imprisoned so I could hear better. The Sharp Claw holding the ax then booted him in the stomach causing him to double over and wheeze in pain. Another with his free hand picked the general back up to his knees, "There is going to be a change in the balance of power...General," the Sharp Claw snarled back. He then grabbed his bludgeon with two hands, and brought it diagonally across the side of his face.
The general's face lurched to the side absorbing the blow. I turned my head, placing my hand over my mouth cringing at the sound of the clicking noise I heard from the come from the general's fractured jaw. I stuck my head out once again; the general's nose was bleeding and a small bone now protruded through the skin below his muzzle. The other soldiers began to cackle hysterically as he roared in pain; he fell over to his side. I had to get the hell out of there, and that transport was my ticket, the trick was getting there. The other Sharp Claw soldiers growled with a malicious delight as they all began to stomp circle Scales, I can't exactly say I felt bad for him. Now was my chance while the soldiers were distracted; I silently crept over to the hatch and made it inside with out getting spotted and peered though the cockpit window. The one Sharp Claw holding the ax pushed the others back, and rolled the general onto his back so he could watch himself die. He brought the ax high above his head until he was literally scratching his back with it.
General Scales cried out, holding his battered chest and stomach, "You shall all rot for this," he said in immense pain.
I couldn't look, there was a fleshy, wet, chopping sound followed immediately by a clink of the bit of the ax hitting the stone floor. The next thing I heard was the sound of blunt objects hitting flesh followed by more chopping and splashes of spilled blood. I couldn't stand it anymore; I closed the hatch and lifted off at the same time. I hovered over the group for a moment, they didn't seem too happy I borrowed their ship. Scale's body was hacked up and beaten to pieces, making him look like several chunks of pulp and bone floating in a crimson soup, there was no way he was alive. As I was leaving more transports came up from behind me and dispatched soldiers onto the roof of the Krazoa Palace.
***I'll take over again***
Fox rubbed his chin now leaning against the wall opposite the television, "You do believe me don't you Fox?" Krystal asked him.
"Of coarse I do, I believe your telling the truth, just I don't believe that was General Scales who you saw," Fox said massaging the back of her neck with one hand.
"Obviously he's still alive," Pepper said putting his feet up on his desk, "I'm just curious as to who she saw, there are a lot of possibilities."
Fox scratched the back of his head, "You know what, I'm willing to bet that the real Scales was the one who I confronted in the Krazoa shrine. After he gave me the Krazoa spirit, three Sharp Claw soldiers who you must have been talking about jumped out of some sort of liquid mirror looking...thing," Fox said shrugging his shoulders. "I wonder if that was some sort of gateway set up by Scales linking to somewhere else; perhaps Venom, allowing for a quick escape."
"But how do explain the dead Scales with this picture?" Bill said pointing to the television.
"Well this is a pure guess but, I think it's possible that Scales could have escaped out of the shrine and have put a clone or look alike who knew nothing of what was going on in his place."
Pepper sighed and took his feet off of his desk, "Anything else?" he asked Bill.
"I've just got more of the same stuff, you welcome to take a look," he answered back.
Fox sat down in the chair next to Krystal's and entwined his fingers with hers; she scooted closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder. "I hope Falco is ok," she whispered to him.
"So do I," Fox said giving her a kiss on the top of her head.
***
The med-evac shuttle touched down with a thud and Falco ran out once the hatch opened with all of the medics and volunteers. Falco ran up to one of the husky medics and grabbed him by his pack, "You, you're coming with me," he yelled to him over the noise of the transport's engine powering down.
"Where are we going?" the husky asked.
"The southern building to the Four Corners apartment complex, you know where that is?"
"Yea follow me, what is it that we are looking for?" the husky said walking ahead of him.
"A pink cat named Katt," Falco said.
"That's easy to remember," the husky said now picking up the pace to a jog.
The southern building of the apartment complex was completely destroyed and was literally blown inside-out. The area around the wreckage was littered with stone, parts of walls, and personal belongings, all evenly covered with a thick layer of soot. The air was thick with fog; it stunk with the strong sent of carbon and sulfur making Falco's eyes water a little. He got a light, tingling feeling in his chest; it was kind of ironic because people always refer to it as feeling down when you are worried or sad. "Ok you start at that end and search around there, I wish we had more people to help us," Falco said. His palms grew sweaty and his legs became weak, the bubbling sensation in his heart never left him.
Falco's head snapped to one side thinking he heard someone calling his name, "Falco is that you?" he heard again. Falco's heart jumped when he saw Katt sitting by herself on the curb of the street about twenty meters away. He immediately ran over to her side, she was very dirty and had blotches of black soot and what looked like a slight burn on her leg. She was holding a rag to her right arm which was saturated with blood.
Falco got down to her level and hugged her tightly; Katt didn't hug back but instead just cuddled with him by rubbing her head against his. "I'm so glad you're alive, I was really scared," Falco said softly to her.
"I just knew you'd come for me," she said back, a tear now forming in the corner her eye.
"Are you hurt at all?" Falco asked her, she pulled the rag from her arm revealing a deep gash in her upper arm nearly bone deep. "Geez Laweeze, girl," Falco exclaimed and whistled over for the husky who made his way over the rubble and dropped his pack of medical supplies next to her.
"I can clean and field dress this but get her on the shuttle and to an ambulatory immediately after I'm finished. It's probable that she'll need to get this thing stitched up," the husky said pulling out tape, water, morphine, gauze wrap, and other medical supplies of his pack.
Falco took the blood-drenched out of Katt's paw; he was obviously very angry and sighed heavily at what a mess things had become. Katt took her hand which was now free from the rag and held Falco's hand while the husky stabbed her with the morphine hypodermic capsule above her wrist on her wounded arm. "Everything always gets taken away from me Falco," she said gripping his fingers in hers. The morphine was taking effect and numbed up every thing in her arm relieving her of the burning and itching pains.
"What are you talking about?" Falco asked.
"Think about it Falco, I could never hang with you and your friends when we were young, our parents took that away. My parents took you away from me again when we moved to Zoness, and the first time I've seen you since we moved was six years later when the Lylat War first broke out. And now..." she said slumping back against his chest, "look around you, everything I've worked for to get a good life has been blown apart."
She sobbed softly and Falco gently cradled her in his arms as the medic cleaned the wound and was wrapping it tightly to stop blood loss. "Katt, you haven't lost every thing...you still have me. You're staying with us now; with Fox, Peppy, Slippy, Krystal, and me, we're all going to take care of you, my home is yours." He was more compassionate now; the sight of a dear friend seriously injured and lying in your arms was more than enough to tear down the walls his father had built around him.
Katt smiled, she was happy to be closer to him now; it was nice to know someone who really cared. The morphine zipped though her body making every sensation go blunt and shot up into her cerebrum making her wits go fuzzy inside her brain. "There he is, my man, my lover, the only one I can truly love. I should tell him how I feel...Yea that's a good idea, how I feel," she thought to herself. Her eyesight went blurry like she was looking up from underwater, her emotions slipping into a serene state of mind; she was no longer in control of her thoughts, notions, or her reality.
"Falco," she whispered up to him, "I love you...I've always loved you, and I will forever love you."
Falco stopped, his thoughts stopped, his heart stopped, his breathing stopped, time itself had stopped. There was no mistaking what Katt had just said to him, he wasn't sure what the correct response was; should he say nothing, ducking behind the walls once again. Should he tell her he loves her too, but would he mean it? It was a standard response to that kind of statement, but he had never said it to anyone like Katt before. He opened his mouth and took a deep breath, "Katt...I-" she put a finger up to his beak and pushed it shut.
"You don't need to say anything Falco, I understand everything," Katt shushed him.
"You do?"
"Uh...huh..." she saw a couple of black spots in her field of vision, they all got larger and came together as one big eclipse, her eyes rolled back into her head, she was out.
"Katt..." he shook her gently in his arms, "hey what happened to her?" Falco asked the husky who was ripping the tape he used to hold the bandage in place.
The husky looked into her face, her eyes were closed and her expression was blank. He pulled one of her eyelids back and peered at her eyeball which looked slightly bloodshot, and released it a moment later with a puzzled look on his face. He picked up and read the label on the side of the morphine capsule he dropped next to her, "whoops, too much morphine."
"Is she going to be ok?" Falco asked.
"She'll be fine", he said flicking the spent capsule away,"...probably wake up with a headache but nothing serious, carry her back to the shuttle and stay with her incase she wakes up," he said putting supplies back into his pack.
*** Fox's PDA chirped and vibrated for a second on his arm, he flipped the screen open and the words incoming call blinked at him. Falco's face appeared in the vid-window, "Hey Fox, I found Katt and she seems to be ok,"
Fox gave a sigh of relief, "Whew that's good to hear Falco, what's your status?"
"We're on our way back to HQ now, Katt's got one hell of a scrape on her arm and she's going to need immediate medical attention. And Fox, I need to talk to you about something..."
"What is it?"
"Well...you're better at this sort of thing than I am so...Katt told me-" Fox's PDA suddenly went haywire with static.
"What the hell, Falco can you hear me?" Fox shouted at the screen and tapped it with his opposite hand. There was no response, the static just intensified and was replaced with replaced with a black screen seconds later. The words New Text Message appeared in white on the screen, and then faded out completely, in red letters this time, a virtual note was left for Fox which he read silently to himself.
"Bleeding hearts and shattered faith, do you feel a little unsafe? The war is on and gone is grace, are you ready to see my face?" the message disappeared and then another replaced it. "Tonight, eleven-hundred hours, The Eminence Alleyway Park..." the message disappeared and his whole PDA seemed to lose power.
"What was that?" Krystal asked who was looking over his shoulder.
"That would be our informant..."
Authors note: *devious face* who could it be? I know and so should you, I'll update as soon as possible. I extend gratitude to Matt J for teaching me how to do the ... thing, and anyone else who reviews. =)
CHAPTER 8 The Truth Be Told
Fox grew panicky and franticly scurried around the sewer floor helplessly groping through the fallen debris. "Falco shoot at somewhere and make sure that you won't hit anyone, especially Krystal," Fox called in the opposite direction.
Falco reached to his left and felt along the wall making sure it was all stone and that nobody was up against it. He stepped back a couple of feet and fired directly into the wall he had just searched. The red flare from the gun ignited the sewer, for a brief moment, "I don't see her keep shooting," Fox said.
It was hard for Fox to see, the flash from the gun destroyed his night vision leaving a crimson hue in the darkness. "Does anybody see her?" Fox asked becoming even tenser, his heart was in a knot, choking the flow of blood to the rest of his body making his hands tremble.
"I don't see her Fox," Slippy said in a worried tone, "throw me you gun, I'll provide more illumination while you search." Fox obeyed and tossed his gun over to Slippy who was now standing up; the pistol smacked him in the nose and bobbled in his hands before he was able to get his finger around the trigger.
Slippy shot directly upwards, at a rate faster than Falco's bursts, Fox continued to overturn bricks which glowed red for a hundredth of a second before dimming out and becoming visible once again. Fox looked to his right and saw what looked like a hunk of purple fur curled up in a fetal position and covered in dust. "I see her," he exclaimed while running over, and then kneeling down to brush the small pieces of rock off of her. She moaned while still unconscious, Fox put his cheek next to her muzzle and his hand on her esophagus. He felt a puff of warm air come out of her nostrils, and a slight throb of blood surged through her jugular, "She's alive," Fox said giving a sigh of relief.
Fox put his hands on her shoulders, "Krystal...can you here me?" he asked the sleeping vixen.
Krystal moaned again and drew in air through her mouth, "Fox...is that you?" she asked sliding her eyelids open only to greet more darkness and the sound of Fox's voice.
"Oh thank god," Fox said helping her to sit upright against the closest wall, "are you alright?"
Krystal rubbed her head and felt something wet on her fingertips, "Yea I'll be ok...my head hurts, and I think its bleeding." Fox felt underneath her hair and felt the large lump, and the dripping trickle of blood that oozed out of her wound.
Fox held her hands in his and squatted over her, "Can you try and stand up, we need to find a way out of here and get you some medical attention," he said gently tugging on her arms. She slowly got to her feet and hugged Fox, "I thought I lost you for a second there," Fox whispered into her ear before repetitively kissing her on the cheek.
"I would never leave you," she murmured while rubbing against him; "but for now lets save the romance for later, it stinks down here." Fox let out a chuckle, feeling better that she didn't lose her sense of humor before releasing her from his grasp.
She pulled her staff out of the black leather holster she had across her back, extended it, and placed her hand over the sapphire orb in the head of the staff. A white light shown from the orb illuminating the tunnel and revealed all of which that was kept hidden in the shadows. "I didn't know that it could do that," Fox said squinting from the light given off by the staff.
"Well I've had this staff my whole life, you've borrowed it for about a week, and only gotten a taste of its power," she said looking down to allow her eyes to get used to brightness.
Krystal lead the way down the sewer for almost a quarter mile, there was an odd silence, like time had stopped. There was nothing to be heard overhead, only the tapping of footsteps against a stone floor and the occasional dripping of water. Krystal spotted a small hole in the ceiling with a ladder running up the side; it was an entrance to the sewer similar to the one they jumped down to escape the wrath of the bombers. Falco leapt up into the air, caught the ladder and swiftly ascended up to the sewer cap and tried lifting it with his arms, but it wouldn't budge. He put his back up against the sewer cap and wedged the heels of his feet onto one of the iron rungs of the ladder. He grunted as he lifted up against the cap with his legs, "I can only get it to lift up about an inch," Falco called down to his teammates.
"There's probably some rubble piled on top of it," Peppy speculated.
Fox lowered his head with a disappointed look on his face, "We'll probably have to move down to another sewer cap," Fox grumbled.
"We could always try blowing it," Slippy suggested.
"With what?" Falco asked still trying to lift the weight on the cap.
"A makeshift bomb," Slippy replied back.
Fox looked at Slippy with some curiosity, "Explain."
"First of all, Falco save your strength; secondly, we take the power cells out of yours, Krystal's, and Falco's blasters and somehow wedge them underneath the sewer cap. If Krystal can somehow hit one of them with the fire blaster on her staff it'll set off a chain reaction of explosions with enough force to blow that cap right off."
"And if it doesn't, that chain reaction of explosions is going to come right back down in my face," Krystal retorted while leaning on her staff.
"It won't, trust me on this."
"Should we try it?" Peppy asked Fox thinking critically about Slippy's plan.
Fox looked up at Krystal, "It's up to her," Fox said.
Krystal sighed and handed her staff to Peppy so she could disarm her pistol, "You'd better be right about this frog boy," she threatened.
Fox snickered at the nickname Slippy just received from Krystal as he pulled the cell out of his pistol, he took his power cell and Krystal's up to Falco who had taken his out and was now holding it in his beak. "Alright I'm going to lift it as high as I can, when I tell you I'm dropping it, get your fingers the hell out of there."
"I'm ready when you are," Fox said
Falco hoisted up the sewer cap about five inches and Fox quickly wedged all three power cells underneath. Falco then let the cap back down and climbed down after Fox, "Alright, give it a shot," Fox said to Krystal who was now holding her staff in its firing position.
Krystal nodded and signaled for everyone to get clear before she took aim. One red hot burst of fire shot from the end of the staff causing a bright red and yellow explosion when it came in contact with the cells. The blast knocked Krystal off of her feet, but she was unharmed and got back up. Everyone quickly climbed up the ladder and stood appalled at what had become of the once beautiful city.
Fox sank to his knees, "How could this have happened, it's all my fault," he said looking down at the ground. The city was in ruins, everywhere Fox looked there was either a corpse or more burning rubble and craters left by the bombs. Fox was able to hear a faint siren behind him, Peppy was holding on to Slippy who was crying at the terrible sight. Falco stood by himself staring up with a malicious look at the sky which was no longer blue, but instead reddish in color with gray smog.
Krystal came over to Fox and rubbed his back, "Fox it's not your fault, no one would have been able to anticipate such an attack," she comforted him.
Fox looked outwards across the nearby lake, gazing at the smoke on the horizon and inhaling the intoxicating smell and ash that contaminated the air. "No...There was one person who knew this attack was coming...I must find him..."
***
The team split up into two groups, Peppy and Slippy were going to go back to the Middle District to make check on Slippy's father. Falco, Fox, and Krystal were heading to the Upper District to report to General Pepper and find out what was happening.
Fox and Falco stood in Pepper's office watching his eyes trace over the words on the little note Fox had received; Krystal wasn't present, she was in the medical branch receiving treatment for her wound. Pepper's eyes suddenly exploded into a fiery rage as he squeezed the note in his hand, and pulled Fox within inches of his face by his vest, "You knew about this?" Pepper said in an intense whisper, a vein now pulsed in the side of his neck.
"I didn't KNOW anything," Fox retorted in his normal voice, "it was an anonymous tip, and when I read it, it could have meant a hundred different things."
Pepper released Fox while throwing the little note irately to the floor; he then turned away and paced to the back of the room. He slammed his cap down on his desk to rub his forehead, "I don't enjoy giving casualty speeches Fox," Pepper said in a warning tone.
"I don't enjoy listening to them either General; I'm going to see if I can find the identity of our emissary I can only assume," Fox responded.
Falco sat in one of the chairs along the side of the office, his fist was clenched into a ball over the tip of his beak; "what's the damage report?" he asked with out taking his hand away.
Pepper snatched a piece of paper from the corner of his desk, "All attacking bombers have been accounted for, no downed friendly aircraft. The Lower District got hit the worst, the Middle District took minimal collateral damage, and the Upper District wasn't bombed at all. Our interceptors were able to take down all the Venomian bombers before they reached us here. There are at least a little over a hundred fifty dead, and nearly two hundred injured found thus far, mostly in the Lower District."
A searing pain suddenly shot into the back of Falco's head, "Lower District, oh shit!..KATT!" Falco yelped springing out of the chair. "I've gotta find her, where is her apartment?"
Pepper quickly sat down in his chair and started typing things in rapidly on his keyboard while gazing at the CPU monitor on his desk. "She lives in the Four Corners apartment complex, southern building; I'm giving a mission redirect to a med-evac shuttle scheduled to arrive at another part of the Lower District. You've got clearance to be on it, it's leaving with or without you in five minutes at hanger delta seven, and Falco...good luck."
Falco bolted out of the room just as Krystal walked in with an icepack to her head; she jumped out of the way with just in time to avoid getting bowled over by Falco, "What happened?" she asked.
"He's going to go look for Katt," Fox responded grimly.
"Oh I hope she's ok," Krystal responded in a worried tone.
"That reminds me," Fox began, he flipped open and his PDA and tried calling Peppy on it, "I should see if everyone's at the shop is ok," he said thinking aloud Peppy came onto the screen with a half smile on his face, "How is everything?" Fox asked.
"Everything's A-ok, fortunately for us, they didn't get a chance to bomb this place before the interceptors took them all out," Peppy said.
"Glad to here it; Falco took off in search of Katt in the Lower District, contact me if anything comes up," Fox said before closing the connection. Fox's ears perked up for a second, he heard the high pitched whistle of a Starlight Excel Plus engine.
Although it was barely audible, Pepper was able to hear the faint sound and leaned back in his chair to look out the window, "Hmm, Bill has returned, I wonder if he can humor us with more bad news."
Minutes later, Bill came in with a grim look on his face and folded up his sun glasses which he placed in the side pocket of his flight suit. "Fox, Krys," he said giving each of them a nod, "sir it's a good thing you're sitting down," he said as he saluted Pepper. "In case you are wondering I was aware that this attack was going to take place. I would have intervened but, what am I going to do with an unarmed ship, however the things I do have will shock you."
"Why does it seem so many people knew this was going to happen except me? Well get on with it," Pepper motioned to him with his hand.
Bill pulled a small data disc out of one of his pockets and handed to Pepper who stuck it into a drive on his desk, "What's he talking about?" he said to Fox.
"I'll tell you later," Fox responded to him after plopping down in a chair next to Krystal.
A panel on the right side of room opened and revealed a large flat screen television, Bill grabbed a remote control from Pepper's desk and pointed it to the television and loaded the pictures he took. "I'm sorry I don't have more photos of this but, I was afraid to get anywhere near it, if I went for closer look it might have jeopardized the mission." When Bill loaded the picture, Fox and Pepper's jaws dropped.
"Son of a bitch," Pepper said slamming his fist down on his desk. The image was highly distorted due to being zoomed in on from about two and a half miles away. It was the planetary defense satellite Bolse, but it was a lot different looking than from how Fox remembered it. It looked a lot larger and seemed to have a transparent blue bubble around it.
"I don't know much about it but analysis shows that on top of being able to cast a protective shield around itself and another planet, it has a lot more capabilities. Bolse can now, send out jamming frequencies and lock in on our signals, anything and everything said over a radio could possibly be intercepted by the enemy. I know what you're thinking, how could we have not seen this thing? Well Bolse has been sitting quietly out of sight behind Venom acting as an observer. Right now Bolse is casting waves through Venom which is leading me to believe that we haven't seen it at maximum power."
Fox laughed sarcastically, "I certainly hope you've got enough money and materials to make more Spectral Wraiths, enough to supply the entire fleet 'cause right now, they got us pinned down. I wouldn't doubt for a second that they can draw a bead on anything we throw at them, and counterattack very quickly."
Pepper closed his eyes, "We should not have forgotten Venom, as long as that planet exists there will always be a threat looming over us," he said.
"Don't worry it gets better," Bill continued showing multiple images of large buildings and numerous facilities.
"Looks like barracks, and enough of them to house enough troops to level any planet they choose," Pepper said solemnly.
"Not just barracks, they also have plenty of command stations, weapon facilities, star ports, hangers and machine shops; next image." The next image that flickered on was a close up of the insignia the enemy wore stamped on the side of a bunch of crates.
Pepper then spoke up, "I recognize the A that Andross used as his insignia and had all of his troops wear but I don't get what that is behind it."
"No way," Fox said leaning forward, "I know what that is...it's a fusion, a fusion of the Sharp Claw Army and the Venomian Regular Army, they've joined forces." Fox was indeed right, the Insignia was an A backed by the symbol found on the sides of the crates used to hold pukpuk eggs for troops on Dinosaur Planet.
Bill smiled, "Very good, I couldn't put them both together, that was until I saw this guy. I was bored on the way there so I read the report put up by Pepper about your activity on Dinosaur Planet and I was to say the least a bit shocked," Bill said clicking the remote again.
"NO! WHAT THE HELL?" Fox shouted at the image of General Scales standing on the balcony of a giant building which was obviously the command center due to its enormous size. He looked as if to be giving some kind of speech his troops, the balcony had a banner hanging down over the railing displaying the new insignia of the conjoined forces. "That's impossible; I saw the one of the Sharp Claw hold his belt up to me when I flew over the Krazoa Palace," Fox continued.
"Did you actually see the body?" Bill said raising his eyebrow.
"Well, no but I-"
"He may have not...but I did," Krystal interrupted; she closed her eyes remembering the details of the assassination of General Scales.
***Krystal Narrates***
I quickly ducked down behind the now headless statue of the Krazoa spirit when I heard what sounded like someone coming through a warp. I poked my head out a bit to see what was happening, a Sharp Claw transport was landing in the back left corner of the roof, and General Scales was approaching it. He was followed by three of his comrades, each brandishing clubs. The transport hatch opened and was left running. Everyone exited including the pilot who was dressed differently from the rest of them; they all had a clubs except for one who was carrying a large double bladed ax. They got into two lines of four and saluted the approaching general.
Scales stopped and saluted back, the pilot's face then twisted into a smile, just then two of the soldiers behind scales of the hit the general in the back of the legs with their clubs. He groaned in pain and dropped to his knees, "What is the meaning of this?" the General roared.
I moved closer and knelt down behind the slope leading up to where I was imprisoned so I could hear better. The Sharp Claw holding the ax then booted him in the stomach causing him to double over and wheeze in pain. Another with his free hand picked the general back up to his knees, "There is going to be a change in the balance of power...General," the Sharp Claw snarled back. He then grabbed his bludgeon with two hands, and brought it diagonally across the side of his face.
The general's face lurched to the side absorbing the blow. I turned my head, placing my hand over my mouth cringing at the sound of the clicking noise I heard from the come from the general's fractured jaw. I stuck my head out once again; the general's nose was bleeding and a small bone now protruded through the skin below his muzzle. The other soldiers began to cackle hysterically as he roared in pain; he fell over to his side. I had to get the hell out of there, and that transport was my ticket, the trick was getting there. The other Sharp Claw soldiers growled with a malicious delight as they all began to stomp circle Scales, I can't exactly say I felt bad for him. Now was my chance while the soldiers were distracted; I silently crept over to the hatch and made it inside with out getting spotted and peered though the cockpit window. The one Sharp Claw holding the ax pushed the others back, and rolled the general onto his back so he could watch himself die. He brought the ax high above his head until he was literally scratching his back with it.
General Scales cried out, holding his battered chest and stomach, "You shall all rot for this," he said in immense pain.
I couldn't look, there was a fleshy, wet, chopping sound followed immediately by a clink of the bit of the ax hitting the stone floor. The next thing I heard was the sound of blunt objects hitting flesh followed by more chopping and splashes of spilled blood. I couldn't stand it anymore; I closed the hatch and lifted off at the same time. I hovered over the group for a moment, they didn't seem too happy I borrowed their ship. Scale's body was hacked up and beaten to pieces, making him look like several chunks of pulp and bone floating in a crimson soup, there was no way he was alive. As I was leaving more transports came up from behind me and dispatched soldiers onto the roof of the Krazoa Palace.
***I'll take over again***
Fox rubbed his chin now leaning against the wall opposite the television, "You do believe me don't you Fox?" Krystal asked him.
"Of coarse I do, I believe your telling the truth, just I don't believe that was General Scales who you saw," Fox said massaging the back of her neck with one hand.
"Obviously he's still alive," Pepper said putting his feet up on his desk, "I'm just curious as to who she saw, there are a lot of possibilities."
Fox scratched the back of his head, "You know what, I'm willing to bet that the real Scales was the one who I confronted in the Krazoa shrine. After he gave me the Krazoa spirit, three Sharp Claw soldiers who you must have been talking about jumped out of some sort of liquid mirror looking...thing," Fox said shrugging his shoulders. "I wonder if that was some sort of gateway set up by Scales linking to somewhere else; perhaps Venom, allowing for a quick escape."
"But how do explain the dead Scales with this picture?" Bill said pointing to the television.
"Well this is a pure guess but, I think it's possible that Scales could have escaped out of the shrine and have put a clone or look alike who knew nothing of what was going on in his place."
Pepper sighed and took his feet off of his desk, "Anything else?" he asked Bill.
"I've just got more of the same stuff, you welcome to take a look," he answered back.
Fox sat down in the chair next to Krystal's and entwined his fingers with hers; she scooted closer to him and rested her head against his shoulder. "I hope Falco is ok," she whispered to him.
"So do I," Fox said giving her a kiss on the top of her head.
***
The med-evac shuttle touched down with a thud and Falco ran out once the hatch opened with all of the medics and volunteers. Falco ran up to one of the husky medics and grabbed him by his pack, "You, you're coming with me," he yelled to him over the noise of the transport's engine powering down.
"Where are we going?" the husky asked.
"The southern building to the Four Corners apartment complex, you know where that is?"
"Yea follow me, what is it that we are looking for?" the husky said walking ahead of him.
"A pink cat named Katt," Falco said.
"That's easy to remember," the husky said now picking up the pace to a jog.
The southern building of the apartment complex was completely destroyed and was literally blown inside-out. The area around the wreckage was littered with stone, parts of walls, and personal belongings, all evenly covered with a thick layer of soot. The air was thick with fog; it stunk with the strong sent of carbon and sulfur making Falco's eyes water a little. He got a light, tingling feeling in his chest; it was kind of ironic because people always refer to it as feeling down when you are worried or sad. "Ok you start at that end and search around there, I wish we had more people to help us," Falco said. His palms grew sweaty and his legs became weak, the bubbling sensation in his heart never left him.
Falco's head snapped to one side thinking he heard someone calling his name, "Falco is that you?" he heard again. Falco's heart jumped when he saw Katt sitting by herself on the curb of the street about twenty meters away. He immediately ran over to her side, she was very dirty and had blotches of black soot and what looked like a slight burn on her leg. She was holding a rag to her right arm which was saturated with blood.
Falco got down to her level and hugged her tightly; Katt didn't hug back but instead just cuddled with him by rubbing her head against his. "I'm so glad you're alive, I was really scared," Falco said softly to her.
"I just knew you'd come for me," she said back, a tear now forming in the corner her eye.
"Are you hurt at all?" Falco asked her, she pulled the rag from her arm revealing a deep gash in her upper arm nearly bone deep. "Geez Laweeze, girl," Falco exclaimed and whistled over for the husky who made his way over the rubble and dropped his pack of medical supplies next to her.
"I can clean and field dress this but get her on the shuttle and to an ambulatory immediately after I'm finished. It's probable that she'll need to get this thing stitched up," the husky said pulling out tape, water, morphine, gauze wrap, and other medical supplies of his pack.
Falco took the blood-drenched out of Katt's paw; he was obviously very angry and sighed heavily at what a mess things had become. Katt took her hand which was now free from the rag and held Falco's hand while the husky stabbed her with the morphine hypodermic capsule above her wrist on her wounded arm. "Everything always gets taken away from me Falco," she said gripping his fingers in hers. The morphine was taking effect and numbed up every thing in her arm relieving her of the burning and itching pains.
"What are you talking about?" Falco asked.
"Think about it Falco, I could never hang with you and your friends when we were young, our parents took that away. My parents took you away from me again when we moved to Zoness, and the first time I've seen you since we moved was six years later when the Lylat War first broke out. And now..." she said slumping back against his chest, "look around you, everything I've worked for to get a good life has been blown apart."
She sobbed softly and Falco gently cradled her in his arms as the medic cleaned the wound and was wrapping it tightly to stop blood loss. "Katt, you haven't lost every thing...you still have me. You're staying with us now; with Fox, Peppy, Slippy, Krystal, and me, we're all going to take care of you, my home is yours." He was more compassionate now; the sight of a dear friend seriously injured and lying in your arms was more than enough to tear down the walls his father had built around him.
Katt smiled, she was happy to be closer to him now; it was nice to know someone who really cared. The morphine zipped though her body making every sensation go blunt and shot up into her cerebrum making her wits go fuzzy inside her brain. "There he is, my man, my lover, the only one I can truly love. I should tell him how I feel...Yea that's a good idea, how I feel," she thought to herself. Her eyesight went blurry like she was looking up from underwater, her emotions slipping into a serene state of mind; she was no longer in control of her thoughts, notions, or her reality.
"Falco," she whispered up to him, "I love you...I've always loved you, and I will forever love you."
Falco stopped, his thoughts stopped, his heart stopped, his breathing stopped, time itself had stopped. There was no mistaking what Katt had just said to him, he wasn't sure what the correct response was; should he say nothing, ducking behind the walls once again. Should he tell her he loves her too, but would he mean it? It was a standard response to that kind of statement, but he had never said it to anyone like Katt before. He opened his mouth and took a deep breath, "Katt...I-" she put a finger up to his beak and pushed it shut.
"You don't need to say anything Falco, I understand everything," Katt shushed him.
"You do?"
"Uh...huh..." she saw a couple of black spots in her field of vision, they all got larger and came together as one big eclipse, her eyes rolled back into her head, she was out.
"Katt..." he shook her gently in his arms, "hey what happened to her?" Falco asked the husky who was ripping the tape he used to hold the bandage in place.
The husky looked into her face, her eyes were closed and her expression was blank. He pulled one of her eyelids back and peered at her eyeball which looked slightly bloodshot, and released it a moment later with a puzzled look on his face. He picked up and read the label on the side of the morphine capsule he dropped next to her, "whoops, too much morphine."
"Is she going to be ok?" Falco asked.
"She'll be fine", he said flicking the spent capsule away,"...probably wake up with a headache but nothing serious, carry her back to the shuttle and stay with her incase she wakes up," he said putting supplies back into his pack.
*** Fox's PDA chirped and vibrated for a second on his arm, he flipped the screen open and the words incoming call blinked at him. Falco's face appeared in the vid-window, "Hey Fox, I found Katt and she seems to be ok,"
Fox gave a sigh of relief, "Whew that's good to hear Falco, what's your status?"
"We're on our way back to HQ now, Katt's got one hell of a scrape on her arm and she's going to need immediate medical attention. And Fox, I need to talk to you about something..."
"What is it?"
"Well...you're better at this sort of thing than I am so...Katt told me-" Fox's PDA suddenly went haywire with static.
"What the hell, Falco can you hear me?" Fox shouted at the screen and tapped it with his opposite hand. There was no response, the static just intensified and was replaced with replaced with a black screen seconds later. The words New Text Message appeared in white on the screen, and then faded out completely, in red letters this time, a virtual note was left for Fox which he read silently to himself.
"Bleeding hearts and shattered faith, do you feel a little unsafe? The war is on and gone is grace, are you ready to see my face?" the message disappeared and then another replaced it. "Tonight, eleven-hundred hours, The Eminence Alleyway Park..." the message disappeared and his whole PDA seemed to lose power.
"What was that?" Krystal asked who was looking over his shoulder.
"That would be our informant..."
Authors note: *devious face* who could it be? I know and so should you, I'll update as soon as possible. I extend gratitude to Matt J for teaching me how to do the ... thing, and anyone else who reviews. =)