Chapter -5-: "Krystal Unleashed"

Falco was racking up hits and Krystal knew she would lose. She finally darted her simulated Arwing behind his and opened fire. The gentle bucking of the simulator helped to make her rapid open fire more realistic. Laser shots glanced off the back of Falco's arwing, ripping one of his wing stabilizers clean from the fuselage, destroying his double laser weapon. That would give her the advantage. It wasn't cheating, it was just bringing him to her level with a handicap.

Falco, astonished and partially enraged, pulled a loop, attempting to come about behind her. She darted away, trying to stay defensive, with the aggressive Falcon attempting to strike her down. A message flashed across the screen that a new player had joined that particular game.

"They said they'll have me go over the contract once it's printed up," came the voice of Fox. "They told me you guys were here, so I thought I'd join until every thing's ready," He told them.

Fox came to Krystal's rescue, starting with the destruction Krystal initiated, and ripping Falco in half. Lombardi, who's craft was already damaged, couldn't withstand the laser fire much longer, and broke off of Krystal's tail, before Fox finished him off with a smart missile. He would have to wait 30 seconds to respawn, somewhere else on the board.

Fox then eased himself behind Krystal, directly on her tail. He mashed down the tip of his joystick, and on Krystal's side, the cockpit vibrated gently beneath her. She put her feet against the rudders, to keep her legs from quivering, due to the pounding of lasers against the hull of her craft, from the backside. Each scored hit dimly illuminated her cockpit in a flash of scarlet. She glanced at her ship's shield level and knew that she was close. If she didn't pull out of his cone of fire now, it would surely be the end. The lithe blue vixen cried out, pulling back in an attempt to free herself; a victim of him consistently hammering her from behind.

"This is all rather exciting," She called out, over her communicator. The ship zigged and zagged, attempting to lose Fox, from her backside. She noticed the rudders at her feet, pulsating beneath her toe claws each time she received Fox's assault. She double tapped the left rudder and to her surprise, the Arwing went into a tight barrel roll, causing several well placed laser shots to ricocheted off of the hull. She double tapped with her other foot, causing the same effect, in the other direction. From the swirl of the display in front of her, she could tell which way she was rotating.

But these pilots weren't droids. They weren't programs. They fight with their minds and she had the natural ability to counter their skill with her own abilities. She could sense that Falco was getting excited, watching the two vulpine from his vantage point. That must have meant he was closing in for the kill. She located his 'blip' on her scanner scope and pulled up in front of him. Fox was being to flirt y with his attacks to pay Falco any mind, and thus sandwiched the fox between herself aft and Falco's forward gun.

She then mashed the brakes, causing Fox to do the same. Falco, who almost always flew hard, into the fray with full Afterburners, collided with Fox from behind. Krystal punched her throttle and pulled up quick, just in time to see Falco's rear collision with Fox, cause the vulpine to explode. Krystal giggled with glee, seeing that the rear penetration of Falco's forward gun slamming into the rocket booster of Fox's Arwing also caused the avian to blow. Shrapnel littered the area, and she did a victory barrel roll, to celebrate her successful double scoring.

She was badly damaged and wouldn't survive against their respawned fighters, free of damage, but she could certainly give them a difficult time of finishing her off. The boys swooped in, opening fire, quick to forget about getting the biggest kill score on the enemy ships. They were both impressed and surprised and needed to return the favor. Krystal half-closed her eyes, keeping them open wide enough to see her screen in front of her, but allowing herself to fall into a light meditative trance. Falco instinctually formed up on Fox's wing, she could see a blurry image of what they saw, due to the proximity of the subject she was scanning. She continued the barrel roll maneuver, until the last possible second.

Just as they were upon her ship once more, she pulled a clever loop, getting around behind them. She began to open fire as quickly as she could, mashing down the missile trigger, trying to give them everything she had left. Fox hit his brakes, and she pulled up so as not to smack into him and destroy herself the way she'd set Falco up to do so, earlier. During the sudden maneuver, she lost her meditative trance, her instincts concentrating on avoiding a collision first and foremost. As soon as she passed over Fox's Arwing, he detonated a Nova Bomb, which destroyed both Falco and Krystal's fighters.

No sooner did a score count come up, the game ended. Someone outside the flight simulators had ended the round, leaving Fox still alive, but he was tied with Krystal's kill score. Falco, on the other hand, trailed behind by one single point.

"What?" The avian groaned, pushing the cockpit hatch open from the computer simulator. "Why did we stop, I wasn't finished! What gives?" He knew if he stayed in the game, he would have caught up, surpassed them and probably led Fox by a point or two. He didn't have the wing commanding leadership skills that Fox had, but Falco knew how to rack up kills, for sure.

Krystal opened her own canopy, as well as Fox, who was looking up at a raccoon with a pamphlet of papers. "Sir, are you ready to inspect your new craft?" He asked McCloud, who nodded, waving for Krystal and Falco to follow.

"I'm real impressed," Fox mused, as the trio followed the Raccoon down the hall, back towards the Lobby, across the shiny, plush grand entrance, and into an adjacent hallway, towards the Demo Room. "You tied us, you used a clever means of catching us both off guard. How did the combat flight make you feel?" he asked her.

"It was wonderful," She said, cheerfully. "It's the most exciting, exhilarating thing I've ever experienced. I'm in love with it, and it's a real turn on, for my mood. I feel like I really accomplished something back there," Krystal told him. "I want you to train me to be as good as you. I could tell you would have bested me, both of you. I may have gotten lucky, but only because we're in simulators that are side by side, so I was close enough to sense your thoughts with great detail. The further I am from a subject, the harder it is to know what they're going to do," She explained.

"Well that's kinda cheating," said Falco.

"That's kinda my way of matching your skill and level of experience," She replied. Even Falco couldn't argue with that. Everyone has their own strong points and weaknesses. Her strong point was being able to anticipate her foe, so long as they didn't attempt to hide their thoughts or cloud their minds with a strong emotion, the way Andross clouded himself with hate, bitterness, desire for revenge and other swirls of strong emotions.

She felt that if Andross didn't die at the paws of Fox McCloud, he would have died from heart failure in due time, from the bottled cluster of heavy emotions that stirred within his soul like a passionate stew of hatred. Andross was a very passionate man. He was passionate about his vengeance, he was passionate about his vendetta, he was passionate about the hatred for his enemies. He was passionate about his desire for Control. But Fox and Falco had open hearts and unguarded minds.

She was able to use her telepathy to attempt fighting against someone of their caliber. She was impressed with herself, and that was the bottom line. As far as the space combat, it felt wonderful. She wanted to compare it to winning a marathon race, in some ways, but had no experience in such matters to make a close enough comparison. The way the group would fly in formation against an enemy, the way they moved towards and against one another, it was freedom and it was passionate and emotional. Fox was trained to keep his combat emotions stored aside, so that he didn't lose sight of his target or the situation, but Krystal, on the other hand, embraced the emotional high from the simulated dog fight.

She turned to Falco, and asked, "What about you? How does flying make you feel? I noticed that you fly with your emotions and trust in your instincts and intuition more than you trust the sensors and equipment read outs."

"For me?" Falco chuckled. "It's like sex. It feels natural, it's emotional, especially when you're in control of the dogfight. A good dogfight is like a hot night of steamy lovin' with your girl. When things are going your way, you're on top of the world and making the rest of the universe stand still. When you're losing, it's like getting told that she's leaving you, then mentions she's pregnant and wants child support. It's just a huge feeling of frustration and stuff, down in your gut. Flying is the next best thing," He said, putting his winged hands out, as if to accent his words with simple hand gestures.

"What about you Fox?" Krystal asked, half intrigued by Falco's reply, but not able to make the same link, due to her lack of inexperience in the ways of mating. It was weird, being told that flying is, in many ways, like mating. She decided to see what Fox would say about it.

"Well," he started, placing a paw behind the nape of his neck, looking as though he were just put on the spot. "I don't know about it being like sex. I've only tried my paw at dating once and it didn't work out in the end. She was a military flight instructor and I'm a mercenary and all, but It is a lot like a family reunion."

"Huh? How so?" Falco quipped. "Some family reunion, them shooting at you, you trying to kill them. Sounds like a family reunion of fighting rednecks."

"No, it's just that," Fox shook his head and sighed, "See, Falco... It's like this. You're flying with your family, they're familiar to you and you have close ties to them. The bond is thick, like blood. You overcome hardships together, you survive together, you help one another out. It's familiar in your struggles with one another. Every time you defeat an enemy, it's like you bring success to the whole household. Every time I fly, I imagine that I'm one paw print closer to being besides my father. I feel like he flies with me, watches over me, and we go through our training routine. Like taking out the trash or doing the dishes, we go through our loops, we go through our barrel rolls."

Krystal was moved. He, of them all, spoke of something in which he had little experience, and yet he spoke of it, as if he knew it well. His family was in his heart. His household was his assembly of friends, and his experience in having a family came from his heart and his imagination. She was moved.

"And when I put my family in danger," Fox added, "I expect to make enough money to put food on the table, for them. If they help me keep a neat household, and take out the trash," He said, referring to keeping the entire system safe and neat, and free of threat, "We all enjoy the spoils and everyone benefits from it."

"Damn," Falco replied softly. "That's... got to be," he tilted his head, looking for the right word to say, to describe how he felt about Fox's tender and pure feelings on flight and combat, "the most... gayest thing I've ever heard in my life."

Krystal scowled at the avian, smacking him in the shoulder. "Be nice, you're all brothers and Fox loves you very much, like one!"

"OH geeze!" said Falco, shaking his head and shrugging off the whack of her paw. "I'm sure someone like Slippy would feel that flying is just getting the job done, and you only complete it if you come home in one piece, but flying for me, really is a big deal. But I wouldn't say it's like going to a family reunion, that's just weird, man."

Fox chuckled and shook his head. The hallway ended at a set of double doors. The raccoon opened them electronically, using a key card. Beyond them, a massive bay was waiting, with several shiny new Arwings sitting in the middle of the room, as well as the newest version of the Land Master Tank. There was a set of stands, that held different models of weapons, one of which was a large red rocket launching tube, with the Space Dynamics logo on the side. Falco walked right passed one of the new Arwings and picked the rocket launcher up from the stand.

"Now this is what I'd want if I had to run around on Sauria," He said with a wicked grin. Krystal placed a paw on the nose cone of one of the Arwings, passing it and inspecting the tank for a moment, before stopping in front of the gun stands. To Fox and Falco's amusement, she picked up one of the heaviest guns on display. The Gatling gun.

"For some reason, this weapon really says, 'woman in charge, back off.' you know?" She gave a grin, then eased it back onto the display stand, turning to Fox with a wink. "Shall we look over these fighters and this tank? I really like the sleek new design of this Arwing. It's sharper and looks more in charge than your old model," She replied, placing a paw against the nose cone of the nearest fighter, once more.

Fox nodded in agreement, stepping up besides the body. He put his paws on one of the complex new wing blaster assembles and quickly boosted himself upwards, vaulting to the top. He walked down the fuselage and knelt down to inspect the cockpit.

"I like it. You could easily get inside, without having to wait for the canopy manifold to release. It seems like it just pops right open so you can hop right inside, in a jiff," Fox claimed, eying the entire cockpit assembly. "and I like how flat the top is, in front of the cockpit. You don't feel like you might fall off, while you're standing up here. It feels solid."

The Raccoon grinned and added, "If you fly at a low enough air speed, I imagine you could have someone stand on the body. Could make for an interesting aerobatics display."

"Or if you wanted someone with a rocket launcher, standing on the outside, blasting enemies," Falco said with a grin. Little did he know that just such an ability would come in handy one day.

"Also," Continued the Raccoon, folding his paws, "We redesigned the hull with a very light coating that has several purposes. One, it's a spray on lining that makes it easier to keep the Arwing clean, just spray it with water, and it makes traction rubbery, when standing on it. It won't burn off in an atmosphere crossover, and because it's spray on, you won't have to worry about scratches and dents showing up, from normal wear and tear."

"Interesting. So," Fox mused, kneeling down and touching the surface of the fighter, with his palm, pushing his fingertips against the smooth and yet slightly rubbery protective coating. It did, in fact, make traction better, walking across the body of the plane. That would make getting into the fighter and cleaning it much easier. Slippy fell off an Arwing once, while trying to clean it, and knocked the wind out of himself, leaving a bruise on his shoulder. That probably wouldn't happen anymore with this model.

Fox grinned suddenly and turned to the raccoon. "Hey, can we try them out, personally? Falco and I have copies of our pilots license, but I can vouch for Krystal here, she... just left hers back at GreatFox," He said. He knew she was a pilot, she flew to Sauria from Cerinia, but she didn't have a Cornerian piloting license, which is something he'd have to take her to get, in the very near future, if he was going to train her with an Arwing.

"I... I guess, we can make an exception for StarFox. Afterall, we did pick up a military contract and go from a huge industrial business to a multi-planetary vehicle manufacturing empire, when you use our original Arwing Models against Venom 8 years ago. We certainly owe you, because you were one of the few pilots who believed in the Arwing," said the raccoon.

Fox shrugged. "Well, actually, my father believed in them. He used an M-Class against Venom in his day, but he loved the Arwing, and he turned his best friend, Peppy, onto the Arwing light fighter class ships. It's a good vessel, and with a few modifications, Slippy and I have taken the team across the surface of SOL, itself. I doubt we'll need to beat up these new models quite as badly, but if the first generation of Arwing can handle the test of a group of teenagers, I know your latest model will be a pleaser."

"So it's true? You guys really did fight a bio weapon on the photosphere of the sun?" The raccoon asked. "Using Arwings?"

"Yeah, we stayed just beneath the beginning of the chromosphere, and were lucky enough to keep ourselves over the occasional sunspots. It was about 9 thousand degrees, but it held up as long as we stayed as far above the surface as possible," Fox said.

"It freakin' sucked," Falco muttered. "the cooling system caused it to rain in my cockpit. Between the sweat and the tropical rain forest conditions, I felt like I was swimming. I think Slippy was taking a bath in his cockpit or something, he probably loved it."

Krystal's eyes went wide. "How did this bio weapon come to exist on this... Sol?"

"Easy, Andross put it there," The raccoon answered. "Everybody knows that. About 8 or 9 years ago. Fox and the team ripped it in half, which caused an inward implosion of hydrogen, a nuclear reaction. But that's pretty normal, inside that thing, I understand. It's not like you could have a small nuclear blast on a ball of fire that big, and really hurt it."

Krystal turned to Fox, her eyes large as saucers. "Ours collapsed into a white dwarf. It didn't swell, it didn't become a red giant, it just released all of it's fuel from the center, away from Cerinia, then collapsed into a white dwarf. We were freezing, and when I'd gotten no further than the edge of our system, it collapsed in on itself, into a massive black hole. It was... awful." Her eyes lowered to the floor.

Fox, not exactly knowing how to explain to the raccoon, that she was an alien to Lylat, just gave him a sheepish smile, then put his paw around her head, drawing her face into his neck for a moment. He gently guided her away from the Raccoon salesman and begin to talk to her privately.

Falco gave a shrug, then pointed to one of the Arwings closest to the tank. "So, show me how the controls are different. I heard they used a two-handed flight yoke, that comes up from either side of your dash, instead of a stick or a traditional yoke."

"That, uerm," The raccoon glanced over his shoulder at Fox and Krystal then continued to speak to Falco, "... is correct. We have a new way of flying these, using a flight bar. You grip a stick on either side, like a ski sled. It allows the pilot to make pin point maneuvers or subtle changes, without any error. It's quick, more efficient, and my favorite new addition is the holographic message bar across the top of the canopy."

"Excuse me? Holographic message bar?" Falco repeated.

"Yes!" The raccoon said, reaching to adjust his tie with a grin. "Emitters cause a bar to open up just above your eyes, showing your entire team. That way, you don't have to look down at your dashboard. If you're in the middle of a fight, you can see through the message bar, it isn't intrusive in any way!"

While the two chatted, Fox and Krystal stood in the corner of the room, her looking over his shoulder at the line of fighters and tank, the displayed weapons and the two chatting men. She shifted her eyes back at Fox and gave a soft pouting look. "I'm sure, more than anything, that it was Andross that was responsible."

"I agree with you. He's a slimy hearted man. Don't let yourself get down over this. I don't want to see you beating yourself up over something he caused," Fox said, shaking his head. Krystal sighed softly. She was so beautiful. Her eyes were shimmering from being on the verge of tears. Fox felt so guilty, not knowing what to do. He wished he could just get up the nerve to hug her. But on that thought, Krystal sensed that it would be okay to initiate it. She leaned in and eased her arms around his waist, hiding her face into his chest. It was the first actual physical contact they ever had. He blushed fiercely, but after a moment, swallowed his nerves and wrapped his arms around her.

"Fox?"

"Yes Krys?"

"This is the first time I've been alone in my life," She whispered.

"As of the day I found you on Sauria, your days of loneliness are over. You have friends with StarFox. I think we'll be friends for a long time." Fox's words made her smile. She lifted her head from his chest, leaned her muzzle up and placed a soft kiss against his cheek. This time, he didn't blush, he just offered a tender smile. It was the least he could do, was offer her a place to stay. She was quite a capable pilot and anyone who was telepathic would make an invaluable team member. His promise would stand if she could help them find Andrew.

x-

Panther Caruso rolled the lush green stem between his padded fingertips. The velvety crimson petals of the Rose brushed against the feline's nose, causing the hairs of the back of his neck to stand on end. Something about the red rose that held so much meaning for him. He cast his paw outwards, the thorns of the stem catching the cloth of a shirt on the fallen body before him. It caused the rose to stand upwards, perfectly.

Wolf O'Donnell, standing behind Panther, folded his arms, narrowing his singular gaze. "I thought you gave these jobs up? How well does this one pay?" He asked.

"Mm, this is one I could not refuse. The pay was too good, the bounty was someone I couldn't stand and things in StarWolf are a touch slow at the moment," replied the large black cat, turning to Wolf and adding, "No offense, boss."

"Hmp. None taken. I've got my own side project on Sargasso, just remember you're a pilot before an assassin, while you're on this team," Wolf said, glancing down at the body. The political figure who was supposed to be trying to take over on Venom was a quick hit by one of the members of the Oikonni Empire, as a sign that Andrew had escaped from prison, against the democracy movement that wanted to overtake Venom, one nation of the planet at a time.

"I want to collect from this miserable whelp, Andrew Oikonni. Is he good for his word?" Panther asked, turning to look at Wolf. O'Donnell kept his gaze on the body. A soft whirring sound of the bionic implant told Panther that he was zooming in, to scan the body for any important belongings. The heart was stopped, the pockets were empty, except a simple ID card. Wolf's right ear flickered, and he sneered softly.

"Andrew will have the money. He was left a great deal of it, which belonged to his uncle. But he's an idiot. Right now, he's on the run, so he's probably hiding from everyone. How the hell did he contact you so fast after his escape from prison?"

Panther grinned, a soft snarl at the back of his throat, leading into his next statement, "The silly ape retrieved the number of my agent from one of his contacts. I think, if we follow the mercenaries that are after Andrew, we should be sure to locate him. If we sink these fools, it's less competition for ourselves as a team, and we'll put Andrew on the spot and force him to pay more than he originally intended."

Wolf simply shook his head. "You talk to much, Panther. Let's go. Hellcat Alpha will have found him if we don't hurry. Those idiots have a lot of pilots. C'mon," He said, waving for Panther to follow him back towards the pair of Wolfens sitting in wait.

Panther knelt down upon one knee, his eyes tracing the delicate curvature of the Rose. His eyes raked over the flower,laying upon the body of the dead Prime Minister Elect. "So long, my pray." He stood up once more, catching up with Wolf. "We should stop by Corneria. Someone there will know something about where we can find Hellcat Alpha. It's probably on the news."

"Corneria," Wolf huffed, with a roll of that singular gaze. "You just want to go there because of that stupid little cafe you like so much."

"Mm, now that you mention it, we should stop there too. Nothing like a first class meal after a job," said Panther, in reference to the body they left in the middle of a quiet road, at the edge of the Venomian Capitol City, Androufu. It was the Venom pronunciation of Andross, who still had quite a bit of clout, regardless of his missing status, and the war being over for nearly a decade now. From what Panther had heard, Andrew was going to try and re-amass the army of Venom and start an Assault against Corneria, but he was still in the planning stage and it would take at least a year or two to get the troops ready, get new recruits trained and get the entire thing off of the ground.

Next: Chapter -6- (Who is...?) The Mysterious Krystal...