Krystal looked all around the hallway, seeing the small camera nearby, promptly taking out her staff and shooting it down with a fireball. There weren't many cameras around, luckily, as Xerxes basically rushed the expansion of the base, not figuring on having too many unwanted guests in the middle of this dead planet anyway.
She dropped down onto her hands and knees, spotting a ventilation shaft, and crawling into it, just as she saw a group of Cybers tromping down the hall, scanning the area as best they could with their eyes.
"Any sign of the intruder?" One cyber asked.
"Negative…I see no traces." Another one answered.
"Keep searching…" The leader spoke again. "According to our creator, she was seen somewhere inside of this sector."
Krystal listened to this as they finally walked off. She saw little point in staying in this area, as she crawled further down into the shaft. She found a roomy enough spot, and quickly extracted her coordinates as she sat on her knees, slowly figuring out where she was, and how she could get to the lab where Fox was being held.
She crawled further on down, before she came to a juncture in the shaft, seeing a passage in front of her that went up and down, steel ladders attached to the side.
The blue vixen secured her coordinates in her outfit, as she slowly reached out to the ladder, careful not to fall down into the shaft, as she pulled herself over with her arms, quickly securing her feet to the ladder below. She looked up to the exit, making sure no one was spying on her from above, as she slowly made her way upward…
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"Yeaaaaahhhh!" Slippy yelled, blasting through a group of Cyber fighters, bringing two of them down as Fulton dove down and took out another fighter from behind.
"We've got these guys on the run!" The young wolf exclaimed with a big smile, pointing to the other Cyber fighters fleeing the scene.
"That's because they know who they're screwing with now!" Panther grinned as he flew expertly up and over a pursuing Cyber fighter, executing a great looping maneuver as he ended up right over the top of the fighter, firing away and blowing it to pieces.
The former Star Wolf member then looked behind him, seeing the remaining wolfen craft on his tail.
"Ohhhhh…you want to chase me too, now, do you?" he grinned as he held onto his controls. "Well, I'm always up to the challenge from such a quality fighter craft."
Before he could make his first move, however, an explosion suddenly came from behind the craft, the flames engulfing it as it blew up and scattered into pieces across space. Panther blinked, wondering what happened, as Fang and Falco's ships came out from behind, having just taken the craft down together.
"No need for any cat and mouse crap, Panther…" Fang grinned. "We've got it for you."
Panther's jaw dropped. "Uhhhh…thanks…"
Falco nodded gently. "So what do you say, Fang? They're retreating. Should we follow them?"
Fang nodded. "Hell yes, we follow them! That was my idea all along, to get back to Necross!"
"Let's go, then!" Fulton nodded quickly, as he flew off with Slippy. He wasn't saying it out loud, but he counted on seeing that interesting vixen he had said hello to on the Great Fox again.
Falco and Fang followed along as Panther pulled up next to them.
"Guys…" He spoke. "I have to say, I really appreciate you saving me from that fighter…I mean, Wolf and Leon, they would have never covered my ass like that. So I'm really grateful."
"No problem, Panther…" Falco spoke. "But don't take this as the start of a partnership, or anything."
Panther laughed a bit, as Fang smiled and spoke up. "Now now, go easy on him, Falco. The guy just lost his only comrades in the galaxy, and I for one wouldn't want to keep his future options limited."
"Whatever…" Falco rolled his eyes a bit. "Lets just keep our focus on the task at hand right now…"
Fang nodded with Panther as the group flew towards Necross, in pursuit of the Cyber fighters.
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Krystal slowly pulled her way up the ladder in the claustrophobic chute, slowly moving hand over hand, before she finally reached the top, going into what looked like a parts storage room, metal boxes and crates everywhere, as she sat on the edge of the chute.
She moved her pants down on her outfit just a little, finally getting some time to examine the wound on her leg, courtesy of Diamando's needle. It only stung at the moment, as she pulled a tiny first-aid kit from her pocket, gritting her teeth a bit as she cleaned it with a little vial of antiseptic, and covered it with some bandaging. It would probably require a little medical attention, but for now, it was taken care of.
The blue vixen slowly walked along the storage room, seeing the spare parts of Cybers hanging out of a few of the boxes, heads, arms, legs, and even some spare circuits here and there, all staring at her as she got a little uneasy, getting a little paranoid as she almost thought that one of them would start talking to her right there.
She found no comfort in the next room either, as she pulled the handle and opened the door. Inside of the room, there were rows of unused Cybers, all of them without a brain inside, standing against the walls, unmoving.
Krystal walked, slowly and uneasily, through the corridors of Cybers, before something else caught her eye…some of them looked different from the others.
She walked up for a closer look, and saw several metal skeletons up against the wall, in glass tubes. They were all advanced prototype Cybers, just like Diamando was.
"I don't get this…" Krystal spoke to herself. "If he has more than one of these improved types of Cybers, then why doesn't he use them?"
"Because they need my designed skin to function." A voice suddenly called out to her.
Krystal turned and scowled, seeing Xerxes as he appeared on the screen in the room, taking out her staff and getting into a stance, just in case he tried to activate something.
"Unfortunately, I need samples of genetic material, cells harvested from living beings, in order to fully create these Cybers…and I just couldn't get enough of them from my old body to create skin for more than one of them."
Krystal thought to herself as he mentioned this. "Wait a minute…is this why you brought Fox here?"
Xerxes grinned. "Well, I was mainly using him as bait, to catch you…you're the one I really want, but I suppose I could use Fox as well. He is a skilled pilot as well, after all."
"Use?…" Krystal was almost afraid to ask. "You mean…you want to harvest our…"
"Cells, yes." Xerxes smiled as he finished her sentence. "I mean Fox is a great fighter, and you're the one who thwarted my original plan. Who better for cell harvesting, than the cells of your biggest enemies?…They'd be perfect material, for use in creating skin for new, loyal Cybers."
Krystal breathed heavily as Xerxes showed her an image of Fox floating in the stasis tube. "Think of it this way…someday, you two would have probably wanted children anyway, from what I've known of your apparent relationship…these Cybers could be your children, ready to advance our new vision of life, on the reborn Corneria…Once all has gone according to plan with phase one." He then showed an image of the Life Force device, which Krystal remembered Topaz telling her about, being loaded onto the remaining wolfen craft.
"Oh my god…" Krystal almost moaned out as her jaw dropped. "You're sick…you're absolutely sick!" She stood with her staff at the ready. "I won't let you, damn it! I won't let you! Over my dead body!"
"Very well…" Xerxes sighed, as Krystal heard some heavy footsteps, the door opening again as Ares walked in slowly.
"Try not to damage too much of her…" Xerxes said to him. "I need whatever cells I can get, dead or alive."
"Affirmative…" Ares spoke, as he slowly raised his big arms.
Krystal shook her head slowly at the former General Scales. "Raised from the dead, and ending up as a goon in the process…I personally would have stayed dead."
"We'll see how that attitude fares once I've engaged you…" Ares shot back. "Last time we met, some Cornerian cream-puffs saved you…so who saves you this time?"
Krystal sneered. "When this is done, the only one who's gonna need saving, is you, goon!"
With that she jumped up into the air and slammed her staff into the metal floor, sending a shockwave as Ares steadied himself as best he could, extracting a small Gatling gun from his right palm and firing. Krystal gasped and ran from the bullets as best she could, ducking and countering with an ice blast from her staff, which hit and froze the weapon.
Ares grunted as he tried to fire helplessly, while Krystal let two other ice blasts fly, covering his feet in ice, making it hard for him to walk, as she jumped and somersaulted around him. He swung at her with his arms, missing each time, as she finally jumped in front of him, and shot a fireball right towards his face.
The metal Saurian put up his arm, the metal absorbing the blow as he growled, and suddenly grabbed Krystal, picking her up with his right arm, large fingers gripped around her from the waist down. He then slammed her into the wall a few times, making her grunt in pain, as he then simply chucked her aside like a rag doll.
Krystal was sliding right towards one of the motionless Cybers, holding out her staff with one arm as she kept herself from slamming fully into the wall. Ares then laughed a bit as he walked over, slamming his fist down into the ground as she rolled out of the way. He brought up his arm, and brought it down again, missing her once more as she rolled out of harm's way.
She then rolled right towards his front, making him swing for her again. As he missed, she slid in between his legs, thwacking him in the crotch with her staff. Ares groaned and put his hands over this area as Krystal rolled back up with a grin.
"Sorry…I just wanted to see how much Xerxes…tamed you." She giggled some.
Ares growled loudly as he heard this, his wrists opening up as the incinerators came back to life, as he roared out, Krystal standing with her staff at the ready as he lunged at her, snapping with his steel jaws. She jumped out of the way each time, finding a canister sitting on the ground nearby. She promptly tossed it at him as he snapped again, his metal teeth getting the canister stuck in them.
Krystal then decided to make her escape, before she made him any angrier, running towards the door. Ares noticed this, and spun, bringing his left arm around as he smacked her with a clothesline, sending her flying into a row of Cybers along the wall, as he turned and fired the laser on his tail, forcing her to jump and weave to avoid all of the blasts, before he finally freed the canister from his jaws.
Ares activated the third incinerator in his mouth now, as he turned to Krystal, rearing back. The blue vixen quickly looked for a shield, pushing a lifeless Cyber out from the wall, and hiding behind it as the Saurian came forward, and yelled as he blew a great flame from his mouth, firing the flames from his arms as well, all of them hitting her Cyber shield, as well as other Cybers around her, as they burst into flames.
Krystal quickly ran out, realizing how serious the situation was, as Ares laughed a bit and prepared for another fiery release, the blue vixen scrambling for another place to hide.
Before he could let the flames fly again, however, Topaz, who had been counting on meeting her ally again in this area, suddenly ran into the room behind him, her "Spirit Fury" already making her staff glow. She grunted loudly as she then hurled the glowing staff like a javelin with her right arm.
The staff slashed right through Ares' right shoulder as it passed him, slamming into the wall close by. It cut right into his fuel line, and before he could realize what had happened, he saw his entire right arm begin to catch fire.
"Eyyyaaaaahhhhhh!" He yelled in a combination of shock, fear, and pain, as Krystal grinned and stood up, putting her fingers on the head of her staff.
"Yup." She spoke as she concentrated. "I definitely would have stayed dead." The staff began to glow once more…"Spirit Fury!"
She spun her glowing staff as Topaz watched, while Ares ran around, frantically trying to put out the flames on his arm. Krystal then dove right towards Ares, her staff off to the left as she came down and swung it diagonally, ending up at her right as she landed, the staff slicing right into Ares' chest, as more fuel leaked out and caught fire on his body, Ares shrieking out in pain.
Krystal then held her staff to her left once more as she stood, getting a good grip, as she yelled "Blue flash!", using yet another move she learned from Topaz, as she swung the staff from her left to her right, creating a wave of blue energy that was aimed right towards Ares' head, slicing off a good portion of it in the process as he howled electronically in pain, the circuits underneath showing.
Krystal then twirled her staff to her side, getting into a stance as she yelled out ferociously, making the glow vanish from her staff. Ares then sputtered a bit as the energy overcame his body, his head suddenly exploding as the flames consumed his body, which was still standing.
The blue vixen gasped and looked on, as she picked up and tossed Topaz's staff to her. "He's gonna blow!" She warned her, as the two Cerinians fled the scene. Ares' arms moved just a bit, before his body soon succumbed to defeat, igniting and blowing up into an impressive fireball in the middle of the room, pieces of him scattering everywhere.
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"We're getting close to Necross, Peppy." Fang spoke as he fought off a few Cyber fighters who were trying to keep him and the others from following them. "Can you get fix on the location of Krystal or Topaz's arwings?"
"I'm way ahead of you, Fang." Peppy spoke as he gave him the coordinates, as well as giving them to Falco, Fulton, Slippy, and even Panther. "From what I can tell, there seems to be a secret entranceway, right along the planet's southwestern corner."
"Are you sure?" Fulton responded as he flew along with the group. "All of those other fighters seem to be heading northeast."
"It could be an attempt to mislead us…" Falco sneered a bit.
"Right…" Slippy spoke up. "Lead us to the wrong corner, and disappear, giving them time to regroup, and strike us again while we're standing around with our thumbs up our butts."
"Ok then…" Panther chimed in. "So we just ignore them, and head southwest, right?"
"That's right…" Fang nodded as he flew ahead of the others. "And be on your guard when we get there, all of you…Whatever happens at that entrance, you can damn well bet they're not gonna roll out the red carpet for us."
The others nodded as they followed.
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"So, how did you know I was going to be there?" Krystal asked Topaz as they ran along the passageway together.
"It was all part of my plan." Topaz smiled. "After I split up with you, I trusted you'd follow the coordinates I gave you, pretty much to a T…I had to improvise my part of the journey, but I knew at some point I'd end up right around here, since it's so close to our goal…"
"You mean…" Krystal looked to her with wide eyes as they ran up to the end of the corridor.
"Yup…" Topaz answered. "Should be just behind this door…"
She pulled the handle, as the door slowly opened. Sure enough, there was Fox, floating in the stasis tube, with his arms pointed outwards slightly, his head pointed upward as his eyes remained closed.
Krystal quickly ran up to the glass and stroked it.
"Fox…Fox I'm here…" She spoke softly.
"And so am I…" another voice suddenly called out from the shadows.
Krystal and Topaz immediately turned and stayed next to each other, as Diamando slowly revealed herself, her staff casually at her side, her mechanical eye still glowing from where Krystal had wounded her.
"You really didn't think I was going to give up on you two so easily, did you?" Diamando smirked.
Topaz smiled slightly as she nodded a bit. "For a brief moment…we did, actually."
Diamando's smile slowly faded as she got into a fighting stance with her staff, the floating figure of Fox McCloud behind Krystal and Topaz, as they got into their stances as well, preparing to face down the cybernetic Cerinian for what they hoped would be the last time…