A/N: Okay, everyone who tripped out about Krystal's age? Rejoice! I was feeling clever and managed to make EVERYONE happy. She's 16 AND 19 at the SAME time. How did I manage that? How could I possibly have come to the conclusion that BOTH sides who argue about her age are right at the same time? Well duh, she claims to be 16, from Cerinia, but when Fox learns that Cerinia takes a lot longer to make a full revolution around the sun than Corneria takes to get around Sol, he realizes that a Cerinia year lasts longer. So, in Cornerian years (the time which Fox judges/guages his OWN age), she's almost 20. Yes, I'm so freakin' clever. So, Fox discovers, to his own relief, that she's legal by Cornerian standards. Now no one can gripe about her age anymore, and ALL Krystal fans should be able to buy into that theory ;)
I played through StarFox Assault again. Panther seems to know just who she is, because he says something like, "ah, finally, the lovely Krystal." Leon says something like, "not you again" or something, and we see that the game BEGINS with Andrew having taken over Andross' empire. Krystal seems like a self confident girl, who wants nothing more than to prove herself to Fox. She tries by saying, "Finally a ground mission with you!" or whatever, on Sauria and she's on the ground again on the Aparoid home planet. So, because this started out as a story about Krystal, between the end of ADVENTURES and beginning of ASSAULT, I'll simply detail everything that happens.
I came across this great Rare picture of Fox carrying an unconscious Krystal, but it wasn't used as an advertisement for the game, in the end. But it was on the net. It gave me an idea for this chapter, leading into the next one. It will help Fox and Krystal's friendship grow and they'll be able to trust one another more quickly than some people who may or may not date for only a year. Also, we'll see a dash of Slippy and Beltino soon. As you all recall, Slippy exclaims, "Dad, you never told me you worked for such and such!" At one point, early into ASSAULT. So, we'll find out that Beltino is involved in secret technology work for Corneria, since he sounds so awkward about Slippy pointing out that his work for Corneria was previously unknown. But don't worry, I plan to stay true to Krystal being the main character, here. This is a learning experience about her life between games, and a little hint at the history about her life, prior to entering Lylat.
I know a lot of you hate crazy cliffhangers, wondering if someone died, but since this is a prequil to ASSAULT, I promise you that Fox and Krystal live. It would make no sense if they didn't ;) ...But for those of you who were curious about MeteoLand Asteroid ThemePark (SF: Snes), you may be delighted to see a little bit of it detailed and explored in the next chapter.
Sorry I'm not updating as much as I used to, I've got two publishers (hopeful yay! Cross your fingers!) asking me to finish two of my nearly completed manuscripts that are full length Fiction Novels (nonstarfox), so I've been trying to do that, plus I'm going through a job change and move at the same time, XD
-ken (kit)
Sorry I made the Author's Note so long this time, it won't happen again -.-;;;
Chapter -6- "(Who is...?) The Mysterious Krystal."
The Raccoon took the pen back from Fox and smiled brightly. "I'm glad we were able to resolve our business so quickly. It's always a pleasure to be associated with StarFox, Mister McCloud. Is there anything else we can do for you today, Sir?"
Fox chuckled, shaking his head. "No, I think that'll be good enough. I'm having Slippy Toad and Peppy Hare pick up the order tomorrow, but I think we're good to go," He said.
"I'll definitely make note of that, sir, I'll make sure that Mister Toad and Mister Hare are as equally pleased. Please, enjoy the rest of your stay, here on Corneria." The Raccoon shook Fox, Falco and Krystal's paws one last time before the mercenary triumvirate turned to leave. Fox held the door for Krystal and Falco, and she passed through it, stopping to simply take in the lovely view of metallic mountains.
Outside, Fox put his right paw into his pocket, glancing at the watch on his left wrist. Falco stretched and turned the the two foxes with a shrug. "Well, I hate to run, but the last time I was on Corneria, I was broke. So I'm going to go and see what kind of stuff I can get into. I'll catch you guys later, eh?" The Avian casually gestured in a half-wave with a few feathery fingers then crossed the street, hailing a cab.
Krystal turned to Fox and placed her paws on his wrist. "I suppose Falco won't be joining us to look for Andrew," She mused. "It seems as though it's the last thought on his mind."
"I'm sure we could reach him by communicator if we needed him," Fox said. He'd just spent a few years without Falco. The avian's help was appreciated but it wasn't a dire straights situation. "Where should we begin."
"I don't know his thought pattern, or where to look, unless I either meet him or am very close by his location. Let me see if we can't find out something about him first, then start there?" She asked. Her idea warranted a nod from Fox and the two began to walk into the downtown area.
x-
"What'd'ya mean I'm not allowed in your cafe?" Wolf sneered. He thumbed the white band of his bionic implant and took it off of his head, the large red scar that covered his eye, just above and just below the pupil, which had been inked in red with a covering tattoo, showed a completely empty socket. He'd put glass eye pieces in from time to time, but they always messed with the direct visual inputs with his brain, so he left them out when wearing the implant. He took out his old black patch and covered his eye with it. "Do you know who I am now?" O'Donnell demanded with a smirk.
"I do, and that is the reason we don't want you here," The cafe owner said. Meanwhile, Panther and Leon had gone to a table without any problems. Wolf was just that well known and that well disliked. Wolf narrowed his gaze, reaching into his vest, for his fake ID card, but the gesture looked more like he was reaching for a gun in his inside-vest pocket.
The Cafe owner held his paws up quickly, "I don't want any trouble. Just promise me you'll leave after you eat!"
"Fine." Wolf smirked, leaving his fake ID in the pocket, his paw still half hidden in his vest and simply walked through the cafe, towards the table where Leon and Panther was. He looked amused, as if it was oddly funny that the cafe owner simply assumed he would pull out a gun. He didn't need to, he had an entire 'abandoned' space station full of men. He could have called Ruffian at any time and had thirty men come in and level this place if that's what he really wanted.
"What took you so long?" Leon asked, his scratchy voice making Wolf shutter. Leon was once the aloof, smooth talking chameleon assassin, but since being shot down over Venom in his Wolfen2, the totally redesigned Wolfen that Andross had designed, Leon Powalski's voice had been altered. Wolf remembered pulling the man from his cockpit, his throat crushed from the impact. It was an amazing trachea surgery at a Venom medical station that was able to save Leon's life, but his smooth, deep voice would never be the same.
Up to that point, Leon was wearing an eye implant, due to being shot down over Fortuna and Bolse Defense Station. But with the new technology, they were able to repair his scratched cornea and he had his sight restored. Wolf wasn't so lucky. They would have to clone a new eye to give him his original sight back, but he'd grown so completely Dependant on his bionic eye patch, he refused to get his normal eye sight back. Besides, it made him who he was.
It made him who the Cafe owner was afraid of, to be sure. O'Donnell sat down in the corner booth, looking to his best friend, to the new team mate. Panther was a good pilot and quite clever when it came to a stealthy assassination but he was a weird dimension to the chemistry of StarWolf. He was an outrageous flirt, never took contracts against females, and had a way of losing himself around them from time to time. Wolf was worried, when the time came, if Panther would be able to help them shoot down a mercenary group like IceVixen. It probably wouldn't happen, but nothing was impossible.
"So why do you like this piece of crap so much?" Wolf muttered in an inquiry. He didn't mean to insult the cafe by calling it a piece of crap, but he couldn't help hate something until it changed his mind otherwise. Panther simply smiled. Wolf didn't seem to understand, but quickly realized that Panther was practically ignoring the team leader, due to the incoming waitress. She was a pretty little thing and Panther always tipped her well. "I see. Is she the reason you like it?"
Again Panther ignored Wolf's question. "I'll have the usual, Tuits."
Leon's turn. "Nothing for me, this wasn't even my idea."
Wolf smirked. "Steak. Medium rare at the center, well done across the rest. Think you can handle that?" The lady nodded, taking their menus and left. "Panther... Really now. Tuits?"
"That's her name," Panther mused, over an unintentional snarl, purring out her name, to repeat it, as he watched the lithe little feline's backside upon her departure towards the kitchen. "She's quite a woman, and makes the best tuna-chicken club sandwich. You really should try one."
"Steak. I eat Steak. I eat it with my eggs, I eat it with a side of potatoes," Wolf said. He ate chicken, heck he even ate turkey from time to time. But steak, if made properly, was his favorite. He was quite good at making it himself, but preferred to eat fine steak when and where he could find it. When in public, he always tried to eat something meaty. No sandwich, no major side orders, none of that crap. Just a slab of porterhouse steak, a well cooked baked potato, and he was a happy lupine. Red meat, it fueled his violence, it fueled his sex drive, it fueled his personality.
"Suit yourself Boss," Panther said, leaning back in the booth seat's cushion. "They have a wonderful menu selection here. But their steak is really quite good. I've had it rather tender, and I've had it rather raw, either is quite good. I suppose it depends on one's mood for that day, hm?"
"Panther," Wolf started. But Leon finished the sentence, with exactly what Wolf would have said.
"...Shut up." Leon smirked, glancing at Wolf, then turning to Panther, once more with a shrug.
Outside the window was a collection of metal tables and chairs that were seated in the shade of umbrellas. A vulpine, that was only too recognized, sat down at one chair, with the azure furred Krystal at his side. The two spoke for a moment, amongst themselves, before placing an order with an approaching waiter.
"Mm, who is that little one?" Panther mused to himself.
Leon slapped the top of his head, "I don't know, but the man is Fox McCloud. I suppose I should go out there and put a knife in his back. This is ironic timing."
"Yeah," Wolf said, shaking his head. "Leave him alone. You remember, I'm the one who's going to tan his hide, not you Leon. Me."
"Psht, whatever."
"Fine," Wolf said to the chameleon. "Just remember when I shoot him down, who it was that caused it to happen. Give it time. For now, he doesn't know about Sargasso, so I say we let him alone for the moment.
"And who is that blue and white vision of loveliness?" Panther said, his eyes drinking in the little blue vixen outside. "I must learn more about her," He mused to himself.
"Can they see us, in here?" Leon asked Panther.
"No, it's tinted on the outside," Panther replied. "We can see them but they cannot see us. Fox McCloud, hm? Wonder what a high profile man like that is doing out of his ... region?" Panther wondered aloud. "But that woman, I must know more about her," Panther said quietly. "Perhaps in the future, no?"
"Whatever. Do you think they're looking for Andrew, too?" Wolf sneered quietly. "This will get complicated, having more people in the picture. I don't want to have a run in with them, we don't have time for it. Catching Andrew means getting Panther paid, and that means we all collect. Fox and his silly vixen can wait."
"I would love to get to know his silly vixen better," Panther jested, playfully. The trio continued their meaningless squabbles until the food came. On the other side of the window, Fox and Krystal spoke softly, enjoying the conversation with one another. He was beginning to warm up to having a female around but after only a few days, he was still quick to have a loss for words.
Fox paused the conversation when the waiting staff member returned with drinks, placing them on the table. Once they left, Fox picked up her drink, and began to explain what she was about to try for the first time.
"See," he said, turning the glass about, letting the sunlight shimmer through it, casting a delicate refraction onto the table. "This is made out of pure mangoes. they squeeze the juice with guava, add kiwi and freshly crushed strawberries and you have a blend we call, 'tropical fruit punch'." He handed the glass to Krystal. She took a sip then looked up at him, continuing to drink it, with an approving twinkle in her eyes.
Fox tilted his head, continuing the conversation from a few moments ago. "Most people on Corneria are vegetarians. Over 74 of the planet refuses to eat Meat. It's not taboo, or anything. But it's slightly more popular than a simple trend. Many hares thought Peppy was an idiot for flying with my father. Only 80 years ago, there was still a movement going on between carnivores and herbivores. Peppy saw dad for the man he was, and James saw Peppy for the pilot he was. I don't eat meat around Peppy, it kinda makes him feel awkward and sick to the stomach."
"We didn't have a mixed species on Cerinia," Krystal said, after placing the half-full glass upon the table. "That is delicious by the way. Anyhow, as I was saying, everyone ate meat unless they wanted to make the choice otherwise. Peppy seems like a very charming old man, I have a lot of respect for him, from what I've seen. So what about Slippy and Falco?"
"Well, Falco eats meat," Fox said with a chuckle. "Slippy, you know..." the vulpine trailed off and shrugged. "I've known him since 4th grade. Mom passed when I was in 3rd grade and Slippy was the first guy to help me feel like I have a friend again, after all that crap. And yet, I couldn't tell you what he likes to eat. We had to shower as a group in middle school and high school, but amphiboids take short cryo-bathes, so when it came to eating or showering, I couldn't begin to tell you where Slippy starts and ends."
"But another wonderful friend of yours," Krystal said in thoughtful tones. Fox nodded in agreeance and picked up an appetizer bread roll. "So what about bread?"
"I've not heard of it," She noted with a slight shrug.
"You didn't take dough and yeast and make bread with it?" Fox looked astonished.
"Yeast starches are bad for your body, aren't they? They produce sugars that your body can't digest?" She asked.
"Yeah, and if you eat a ton of it, bread will fatten you right up. Still," He said, using a knife to cut the bread roll into two halves, then buttered the center, putting them back together and handing it to her. "Bread has many good eating uses. I like to put a bunch of stuff between it, sandwich it together and stuff like that. Sometimes I like to shovel noodles and stuff onto a piece of bread, eat it that way. See if you like it," He urged.
Krystal tried it, finding it delightful. It wasn't too sweet but it was far from bland. The butter was even better, but the bread roll was rather delicious. She took another bite and grinned. "I love Cornerian Food. We have many similar things but the Cornerian delicacies have me quite addicted. I love the food, the clothes, I really enjoy the view of these buildings. These man-made marvels are nothing short of stunning."
"You get used to it," Fox said with a chuckle. "So, after lunch, where do you want to start looking for Andrew?" He asked her.
"No need," She explained. "I don't know who, how or why, but there's a group inside the Cafe that already figured out that, all they needs must do is find HellCat Alpha, which should be easy, they'll be on the news, covering the Andrew prison escape story, then once they find HellCat Alpha, they can stop them, rescue Andrew Oikonni and negotiate something with him."
Fox's eyes went wide. "There's a group inside that wants to stop HellCat Alpha, but at first, follow the group to Andrew, then fight them off and release Andrew?"
"I feel that is their intention. Once we get out and about, I'll possibly be able to pick up this Andrew Oikonni. But I'm afraid, if he's anything like his uncle, he's already manufactured a way to keep me from using telepathy on him," She explained.
"How is that possible? Andross made a machine that caused your telepathy to be useless against him?" Asked Fox.
Krystal shook her head, then shrugged. "To be honest, I'm not sure. He could have simply had clouded, emotionless thoughts, but that doesn't seem to act the same way. Everything he does, seems like it's passionately driven by vengeance and anger. I'm just not sure. I'll most likely never know," She said, then added, "Is this Andrew as deceitful and powerful as his Uncle was?"
Fox simply grinned. "He's a total idiot. The thing is, all the people who were obsessed with Andross may follow Andrew into another War against Corneria. I don't wanna think about that," Fox mused, glancing up at a building across the block, down the road, which towered high into the air. There was a massive screen built into the side of the building, and while he couldn't hear the newscast audio, he could see that it was something about peace negotiations already beginning with council leaders of Venom, speaking on behalf of the Oikonni Empire. The thought caused his grin to turn to a frown.
"Worried about war?" She asked.
"Are things this bad, where you're from?" He asked in reply.
"I'll be bluntly honest. There's no one left to cause war, now." Her words caused Fox to shut his mouth quickly, looking a bit embarrassed. She reached her paw out and lifted his muzzle, so that his eyes met hers and she offered a grim smile. "There will always be war. Everywhere. It's the way of the overly opinionated, trying to assert themselves on other overly opinionated people, or the way for a group to stand up for their rights against an oppressor. Sometimes it's about avenging someone, and often, it's about religious beliefs. My people, as Telepaths, never went to war with one another. And about two hundred years ago, were very aggressive towards a neighboring race who sought to lie and steal to take resources from us. We were foolish," She mused softly. "Our people fought them until their race was extinct. That was the catalyst for our desire for peace. We felt guilty and responsible for ending a race. We were so horribly offended by liars and manipulators, which we could see right through."
Fox looked a bit shocked. "What happened? Two hundred years ago was a long time, I take it that this is something you learned in history class at school?"
"Quite so," Krystal said, continuing her story as asked, "while their people were a bad lot, we had no right to fight them until they were gone. We didn't intend to annihilate an entire race. It's where we began to develop our modern day technology, and now we look back with a new philosophy, that we should fight to defend but after a certain point, any enemy can learn their lesson, as a whole. We should have stopped at some point and helped them to rebuild. They were our only neighbors, the next planet over. Times changed and our culture became bent on peace. That's why we were so willing to help Andross, who admitted to being a failed warlord. He said he'd changed his ways for the better," he paused then looked down.
"Go on," Fox baded her gently.
Krystal looked back up, but kept her eyes shut for a moment. "He told us, that he was the last of his race, and all his people lost a great war, which began over the death of a woman he loved. He promised to help us with our energy consumption and helped our technology departments, but in return, he wanted help in resources to rebuild his broken body, so he could return to Lylat. Most of us took such pity on him only because it was a similar story to our own, and generations later, we still felt guilty about what our ancestors had done to their neighboring race. It was like trying to repent for the sins of our forefathers." Finally her eyes fluttered open once more and she whispered. "Guilt is a powerful emotion."
"And you think he took advantage of your people's kindness and caused what happened to Cerinia?" Fox inquired with a polite, reverent tone.
"It's very possible," She sighed. "I just want answers. One of our religious sects spelled it out, claiming that our past misguided ways of war would lead to our eventual demise, in the future. Maybe that's what happened, but I'm not devoutly devoted to that particular line of faith. I have my own faction, believing in something else. But after a catastrophe of biblical proportions, I have to wonder." She frowned. She suddenly didn't want to talk about the end of Cerinia anymore.
Fox empathetically picked up on her demeanor and said, "So this desire to find Andrew and put him on the spot about Andross, you think we'll find him?"
"I won't let you down, Fox. I think I could learn to be a good addition to your team, I would like to think my abilities will prove me a worthy woman," She said.
"Krystal," Fox protested. "I already think you're a great person. I saw those Krazooa spirit tests, I know I was only finishing what you started and I know you had to be quite witty and intelligent to get as far into them as you had. If they were anything like I saw in them, they were wild," He said to her, remembering the test of fear and some of the other wild tests that challenged his mind, his heart and his soul.
"Fox, let me do this for your team. Let me earn it, don't just put your faith in someone who may not be good enough to achieve what your team did in the past, if the time comes for it to happen again," She said.
"Krystal, I'm a good judge of character. I know talent when I see it. Slippy for example," He said, glancing up at the waiter who was returning with their food. Once the waiter left, Fox continued, "He may not be the most academic man, but he's certainly the most mechanical. And when it comes to flying a fighter, he may not be as good as Falco, myself or Peppy in his hay-day, but Slippy is better than 85 of the academy graduates," Fox explained.
"He's really a good pilot?" she asked. "He doubts himself then. I thought he might not be all that good, because he doesn't seem to think he's all that good."
"Do you know why Corneria needed our help in fighting the Lylat War?" Fox asked with a chuckle. "Because we had four ace pilots. Just think, if every Cornerian pilot was an exceptional ace fighter, they wouldn't have needed us. I'm not saying they're morons in the cockpit, but my group was some of the best pilots, assembled into a group. Sure, there are Cornerian pilots who blow Slippy out of the water, but they're the wing commander of a group of pilots who are good at getting shot down. My team was always top notch in my book. And Falco sure can't rebuild an engine in a mere 6 hours. Slippy has a lot of talent in his hands."
Krystal smiled softly, picking up the utensils from the table, giving a sidelong glance to Fox. "You really think highly of your team, don't you?"
"Trust me, I wouldn't have survived on Sauria without my team. Slippy built a translator, added a coded program to your staff that allowed me to holographically sustain the image of a sharpclaw, powered by the recharged cell of your staff," Fox said.
"He was able to make use of the technology of my people? How long did it take him to figure out how to do that? Did you bring it to him personally?" She asked.
"No, he studied it from the GreatFox. He never laid his hand on it. Like I said, he's talented. My whole team has more than one use, and a whole lot of talent. But I can assure you of this," He said, unfolding a napkin and taking out a fork and knife. "I don't know of any telepathic pilots on any other mercenary team."
"Just let me prove this all to myself, and to you," She said with a grin. She was going to stay confident. But first, she had to learn a bit about Cornerian cuisine.
x-
hours later...
Pigma used to be the engineer of StarWolf. He was the first mechanical pilot for the original StarFox and without him, repairing a Wolfen wasn't as easy as it used to be. But Wolf was clever on his own merit. This time, when the faint blip happened on his scope, he was ready, by video recording the sensor read out.
When it finally happened again, he pulled up an extra monitor on the dash and reviewed the footage. He slowed it down just as the little red dot fluttered on the scope then disappeared again. His lips curled in a snarl and he nodded decisively, opening a channel to Panther and Leon.
Wolf spoke into the internal dashboard Mic on his communicator panel, "I think we're being followed by a ship using a radar jammer. Leon, head back and make sure we're not being followed. Panther and I will go after Hellcat Alpha and see if we can't put them out of business. Meet up with us when you can, or meet us at Sargasso, later."
The scratching chameleon's voice replied, "It will be my pleasure. I'll make sure the prey doesn't have a chance to fight back."
"I thought your species hid from danger?" Panther said, teasingly.
"Hey," Wolf snapped. "Leon is nothing like the rest of his species. He hides only to ambush. Now, let's get a move on, these Hellcat Alpha pilots aren't going to be easy for just two of us, so I want to get in quick, get the drop on them and hit them hard, before they can get their shields powered up." Wolf and Panther's ships made a sudden time space jump, leaving the immediate area, and appearing beyond the reach of the sensor scope, to join up with Hellcat Alpha, from behind.
Leon, on the other hand, stayed in the area, powering down his ship, letting it float. A black tarp erupted from a compartment above the engine casing, which covered his Wolfen completely. The way it was threaded, one could see out, but it reflected light in a way that made it difficult to see, looking down on the object. Because of the elastic-like qualities sewn into the hem of the tarp, it quickly snapped about his craft, covering it completely. It was pitch black in color and made the Wolfen nearly impossible to see from a distance.
x-
"They vanished off my scope," Fox said with a frown. In good faith, Space Dynamics had allowed them to take one Arwing, before a first payment. The collateral was their reputation as heroes. Krystal, on the other hand, had to fly her shuttle. She glanced down at the readout on her control panel and frowned.
"I don't see them, but someone's out there. I can feel it. Their heart is racing in anticipation," She said over the radio.
"Is it an ambush?" Fox asked, as they flew besides one another.
Krystal paused then said, "It's only one pilot. I can feel that he's intentionally hiding from us, but I can't sense much more than that, at this distance from him. I cannot ascertain as to his identity. But his feelings towards us are threatening."
"Let's find him, then. He might have answers, about this counter operation to find Andrew Oikonni," Fox said, speeding up his craft. Krystal raised the throttle bar under her left paw, keeping up with Fox. He knew he couldn't punch his accelerator, because her shuttle couldn't keep up with an Arwing, just like an Arwing couldn't outrun the top speed of a Wolfen fighter. He wasn't even sure why his mind just made such a comparison, he'd not seen a Wolfen fighter in 8 years.
"I recognize his thought patterns from the Cafe, we're definitely on the right track," She said.
"How far away is he, do you think?" Fox asked.
"He's pretty far off. We were at the edge of sensor's reach, let's just stay slow and cautious. I'll be able to sense when we're getting close to him," She replied.
"All right," Fox said, shifting his weight in the cockpit seat. It was more comfortable than the old style of Arwing and part of him wanted to make conversation with Krystal. He knew it was a crappy time for it, and he was usually quiet during missions, because he liked to stay serious but something about her really put him off guard. "So, I had Slippy downloading your computer logs from your shuttle, and decrypting them into a file format that our computer system can understand," he said.
"Oh? So he found a way to make our hardware communicate?" She asked.
"Yeah. He said it wasn't too difficult, it's all static binary, when you get down to it, but he said he was able to get a ton of cool information about Cerinia. It's a really interesting system," Fox said, doing a bit of math in his head before announcing, "You know, Corneria revolves a full orbital pattern around SOL faster than your planet went around it's sun."
"Which means a year takes longer for us to achieve," Krystal said, following what he meant in a way.
"Right, so by Cornerian standards, you're not 16," Fox said, still trying to do the math in his head. He needed something to write on, to get the number accurate. He drew up a calculation device on his dashboard and punched in a few numbers, then did the counter math, trying to round decimals, so that he didn't get too lost. "You are, by Cornerian year revolutions, 19, going on 20 years old. I'm not sure to the day, but someone better at math could sit down and verify it."
Krystal smiled slightly. She could tell, his mind was at ease and seemed comfortable with this math, and she had to wonder why. "Something you want to tell me, Fox?"
"Oh, nothing really. It's a silly, complicated notion is all," He replied, double checking his math the same way and smiling at the result. She was old enough to date, after all. There was no way he was going to put a 16 year old on the StarFox team. The death of a minor would have caused a great deal of problems and pain, as well as guilt, but she was old enough to date, old enough to fly, and would soon be old enough to even buy alcohol. That meant he was only 6 and a half years older than her, instead of 10. A number he was also more comfortable with. But she wanted an explanation and so he finally said, "You're old enough to be considered an adult, that's a relief."
"Why is that Fox? Can't date children?" She asked jokingly.
"I, er," Fox suddenly held his breath. It was awkward and he didn't want to touch that subject like this. "I mean, you're old enough to fly for StarFox."
Krystal could sense how uncomfortable he was with her joke and added, "I told you, I'll earn my place on StarFox. It's only fair. I want to be judged on my merit so I know if I'll be a valuable asset or if I'll only hold you back," She explained.
"Well," Fox paused then had an idea of how to word things, "You'll be plenty old enough to take the license test and get your certified piloting license. Always a plus," He laughed, pensively.
"Yes, I suppose you're right," She said. Then she suddenly cleared her throat, her tone growing serious. "He's close. I can't see him, does he have a cloaking device? I can sense him, but all I can tell you is that he's very close."
"No, fighters are generally too small for cloaking devices. Only Andross had figured out a way to keep a cloaking manifold well powered and a cooling device that was small enough to fit in an engine casing. No one salvaged that technology since he disappeared after the war," Fox explained, then said, "It could be some sort of stealth that fools sensors the way stealth normally fools radar. I don't see anything out there, though."
Krystal closed her eyes, concentrating as hard as she could. Finally, she felt confident enough to make a guess and pointed 45 degrees to the port. "There, on the left. I don't see him, but I think he can see us fine. He's at the edge of the asteroid belt."
"It's going to be difficult. If we come about, we'll put the asteroids directly behind him, and maybe we can spot him against the gray and brown rocks. I don't know," Fox paused with a frown. The only thing on his scope now, was little gray dots and a large blue circle at the edge of the sensor scope, that represented the old, abandoned amusement park built on the largest rock in the center of Meteo, that Andross half-converted to a base during the Lylat War.
Krystal opened her communication frequency to the all-channel setting. "I know you're out there. I may not be able to see you, but I know where you are," She said, trying to scare the fighter out of hiding.
"Maybe Panther was right," Leon said to himself. "There is something about that girl. Strange. There's no way she could have seen through my disguise, it's impossible." He took a moment to think about it, seeing the Arwing and Shuttle getting closer. If they knew where he was, his ambush attack wouldn't work. Fox would shoot him down all over again, and he didn't want that to happen. He finally mashed down the button that retracted the tarp and he quickly booted up his tactical computer and powered up his engines, turning about and afterburning into the asteroid cluster.
Fox blinked twice, "It's a Wolfen! And he's moving faster than your shuttle can go and possibly faster than this Arwing can go, c'mon, let's follow him, he can't run forever!" The shuttle and Arwing began a pursuit, heading into the Asteroids, looking for the retreating vessel.
Leon opened a secured channel back to Wolf and Panther, "McCloud's little blue friend knew where I was. She's got some sort of abilities, to have been able to see through my disguise. I'm going to try and lose them, then I'll meet up with you guys later."
Wolf's reply, over the radio transmission, was quite simple. "Do yourself a favor. Shoot her down and bolt. Don't let Fox know it was you, just shoot her down and leave. He'll try and save her, I know he will. Don't let them know your identity, it'll lead him back to us. He knows lots of mercenaries try to build clones of the Wolfen fighters, if we're lucky you can ditch him in the asteroid belt or something."
Panther's voice then came over the audio device, built into the headrest of the fighter seat. "Don't destroy her ship, I'm rather interested in getting to know more about this one. She sounds quite lovely. Do me a favor and see if you can't find out her name."
Wolf groaned. "Don't listen to him Leon, you keep radio silence, like I told you, then get out of there. You don't have the element of surprise, so lose them, shoot her down and get back here, and make it quick." He closed the channel and Leon was on his own again. He darted between asteroids, but Fox and the Shuttle stayed close. He was heading for the largest rock of them all, there was nothing else he could do. He finally punched the throttle again, pulling away from the large Meteo Amusement Park at the last second, piloting the Wolfen into a hollow asteroid, and powering down.
The Arwing and the Shuttle slowed their speed, coming up on the massive half-moon sized theme park and several dozen smaller asteroids in the immediate area. As soon as they passed his new hiding spot, Leon punched his afterburners, launching out of the hollow rock and slamming into the shuttle. The Wolfen's solid design and sharply angled fuselage pierced the shuttle's starboard side hull, ripping a gash into the metal.
One of the wing stabilizer assemblies clawed it's way through the back end of her shuttle during the pass, finishing off the job. Simultaneous to the maneuver, Leon opened his forward cannons up on Fox, but the vulpine was too quick, doing an immediate barrel roll, causing the laser blasts to bounce off and go into a random direction. Leon put his ship at full throttle, using his Afterburner to leave them behind. He skillfully avoided the asteroids, at such a high speed, disappearing from the scanners.
"Krystal!" McCloud shouted, seeing her ship spin about, heading into the artificial atmosphere bubble that surrounded MeteoLand. She went in, in a tailspin, heading for the ground quickly. Fox steered his fighter into the atmospheric bubble, accelerating quickly and easing the brand new fighter, not yet paid for, underneath her shuttle to try and steer her out of the nose dive.
The smooth thinking vulpine punched in a command to bring up manual control of his G-Diffuser output, directing the gravity diffusing field out of the Arwing and into a semi bubble that would half extend into the Shuttle. He pulled up hard, and groaned at the heavy G-force that pinned him to the seat. With the G-Diffusers being used to artificially lighten the force of weight of two plummeting space craft, he could feel the force of gravity sandwiching him to the pilot chair.
On the screen, it displayed a calculation of mass, multiplied by velocity with momentum added in. The computer quickly calculated the anti-gravity displacement and offered a solution for a power output, but it was something the Arwing couldn't generate in the short distance they had left. The Arwing began to scoot forward, pulling the nose up, so that the nose of her shuttle was perpendicular, flat against the top of the Arwing.
Fox looked up through his cockpit canopy and saw her horrified expression through the plexi-bubble cockpit windshield of her shuttle. He then glanced down at his readout and transfered all the power of his tactical and offensive systems into the quad G-diffusers and his retro reverse thrusters built into the bottom of the fighter, used for hovering from a vertical take off, then punched the brake boosters.
The Arwing's computer calculated the change in their speed, but they were still approaching the ground too fast. He transfered power from everything but shields, into the G-diffusers and the retro-brake rockets built into the belly of the Arwing. He took a deep breath of the fresh air that was still in the cockpit, then forwarded the power from life support into the equation as well.
Fox looked up once more, his eyes meeting with Krystal's own soft gaze. It was the last split-section action, giving one another strength over their worries. Any second they would collide with the ground. Fox offered a weak, slightly grim smile. It was all he could afford her. She nodded in reply, it was all she could afford him.
The ground rushed up to meet the belly of the Arwing, with the Shuttle atop of it, in the shape of an inverted "T". The two vessels slammed into the surface, a massive cloud of dust raising up to swallow them, vialing their impact from Leon's computer sensors, letting the chameleon half-assume they might just be dead. Leon knew better. He would never get so lucky as to have successfully killed Fox McCloud, and if he did, Wolf would be pissed.
Next Chapter: Proving Herself.