Fox put the brakes on his jet bike after it came to a complete stop, walked right up to the ruins of the jet bike used by that last SharpClaw, the one that was carrying the SpellStone. He saw the SpellStone lying next to the SharpClaw's dead body. He picked it up, and thought, Well, now that I have the SpellStone, I'd better get back to Krystal. I hope she's okay. He put the SpellStone into his backpack. But then, all of a sudden, out of the blue, he heard a disturbing sound. The sound of a woman screaming. A woman letting out a shrill, ominous scream. "Krystal!?" He hopped on his jet bike and turned it in the opposite direction he had been driving it in. "Hang on, Krystal! I'll be right there!"

Krystal was brought to her knees in an instant, her hands practically glued to the floor. She couldn't keep the tears from coming out of her eyes. She was so close to defeating the villain responsible for all the pain and misery on Sauria and ending his reign of terror once and for all. But now that Scales has escaped, it means that he is still free to cause more suffering and havoc. Krystal felt like a part of her soul had died. She let her perfect chance to kill General Scales and end his reign of terror once and for all slip through her fingers.

As soon as Fox returned to the Treasure Room, he put the breaks on his jet bike and dismounted it. When he saw Krystal, he was ecstatic to see that she was okay, ("Krystal! You're all ri…") but then he saw that she was crying profusely, he became worried. He rushed on over to her. "Krystal!" He bent on over to her. "Is something wrong, Krystal?"

Krystal shouted in melancholy rage, "Something wrong!? Of course there's something wrong! I was so close to finishing off that slimy fiend once and for all and he evaded my grasp, prolonging his reign of terror! Now, more innocents will suffer by his cold, metallic hand all because I… Because I..." She could barely bring herself to speak, causing Fox to worry, greatly.

Fox embraced Krystal tightly. He wanted to say, "Don't worry, Krystal. We'll get him next time." But he decided against it because he thought she was afraid that by the time that "next time" happens, Scales would have caused more suffering and terror. As far as Fox was concerned, Krystal was justified in being impatient. At the same time, however, he felt that impatience wouldn't solve anything. He felt that saying, "Well, at least you're safe" would be out of the question too as she was much more concerned with the safety of the other Saurian tribes. His embrace, as far as he was concerned, was all he could do. He patiently waited for Krystal's tears to dry up. It went on for approximately three quarters of a minute. Fox wanted nothing more than to help Krystal at this moment. He was always willing to give her a shoulder to cry on.

Once Krystal finished drying up the last of her tears, she said to Fox, "I'm sorry." She got up and said, "Anyway, I think we should…"

Fox gasped in horror at the horrible slash marks on Krystal's tummy. "Krystal! You're hurt!"

During her battle with General Scales, Krystal received two horrible slash marks on her midriff after Scales took a swipe at her with his claw hand. The first one was approximately an inch above her belly button and the second was at least an inch and a half below her chest. The slash marks stretched out across her midriff and the cuts were deep, with blood leaking out of them. They were not deep enough to reach her insides and the deep layers of skin were still there, but she was bleeding badly. Unfortunately, Krystal didn't care… or at least she tried not to. "It's only a scratch, Fox. I'm fi… Ow!" She stumbled and clutched to her wounds, hoping to stop the bleeding.

"Only a scratch!? Look at you! You're bleeding!"

"I told you, I'm fine!" But she was still struggling to so much as walk.

"No, Krystal! You need medical attention!" Krystal was just about to collapse, but Fox quickly caught her and picked her up. "Fortunately, I have a first aid kit in my backpack. Let's get you to a place where you could rest so I could patch you up."

"I know you're concerned, Fox, but I'm fine."

"Krystal, I can see your injury plain as day. I need to heal you up. You're a great warrior, Krystal, but you need to rest right now. We saved CloudRunner Fortress, and now we must recover, and I must do what I can to heal you. We're in this together so when you're in trouble, I'm gonna help you. You healed my wounds back at Moon Mountain Pass. Now, I want to heal yours."

Krystal felt tense, hoping to try to argue against what Fox just said, but ultimately, she calmed down and decided that he was right. "Very well."

"Good. Now let's find a place where we could rest." Fox then proceeded to carry Krystal out of the Treasure Rooms.

"Fox, did you get the SpellStone?"

"Yep. It's in my backpack as we speak."

Krystal smiled, delighted that her and Fox's efforts weren't completely in vain.

As soon as Fox arrived at the courtyard, they walked right up to the CloudRunner Queen, who was excited to see them again.

"Fox! Krystal! I'm so glad to see that you're…" But then, the queen gasped in horror at the huge slash wounds on Krystal's belly and the blood dripping from them.

"I'm sorry, your majesty, but Krystal got herself badly wounded while she was fighting General Scales. Do you know of a place where we can rest?"

The queen looked kind of pensive. "Follow me."

As soon as the Queen arrived in a small room with two stone stone squares the size of dinner tables with cloths on top of them, Fox followed her inside carrying Krystal with him. The queen said, "You two may rest here until Krystal has fully recovered."

"Thank you, your majesty."

The queen lifted the cloth from one of the stone squares and set it aside. "Feel free to use this tablecloth as a blanket. I hope you two rest well." She left the room.

Fox put Krystal down on the slab where she lay down and rested. Krystal breathed heavily as Fox opened up his backpack and pulled out a first-aid kit, thinking, Never leave home without one. He rubbed some sanitizer between his hands, then took out a small washcloth and wiped the areas around Krystal's slash wounds, washing away the blood.

Krystal smiled. "You're so sweet, Fox. Though, I can assure you, my Krazoa powers can accelerate my body's healing rate. And thus, these injuries will be healed overnight."

Fox finished wiping away the blood from Krystal's lower wound near her belly button. He was quite happy to hear what she just said. "That's wonderful! But I don't want to run the risk of you getting infected before then." He then wiped the blood from the other wound.

"That's what I like about you, Fox. You're always so considerate and thoughtful."

"Why, thank you." He took out a small jar of antiseptic gel, opened the lid, and put two of his fingers into it, scooping up some of the antiseptic. "Now, this is antiseptic, which is used to keep any potential bad bacteria and germs out. So hold still…" He then placed those fingers into Krystal's lower wound, nearby her navel. He then started rubbing the inner walls of her wound, coating them with the antiseptic.

Without the brutal wounds she got from General Scales, Krystal's bare midriff looked incredibly smooth and beautiful. Fox thought that it would be a bit nice to feel it. He placed his ring finger and pinky on the area below the lower wound, and as he rubbed antiseptic into the wound, he felt the smoothness of Krystal's tummy. It felt so warm and comfortable, and as he kept applying the gel…

Krystal blushed slightly, and said, "Uh…" Fox took a brief downward glance and noticed that he had his ring finger touching Krystal's belly button. He quickly lifted his ring finger and pinky upwards, blushing intensely, saying, "It's not what you think, Krystal, I was just… uh…"

Krystal giggled. "It's okay, Fox. I actually like having my midriff massaged every now and then. It's been a while since that happened. And not in a creepy and perverse way."

"Oh. Right." Fox relaxed and kept rubbing in the antiseptic. As soon as he finished with one side of the wound, he put his fingers back into the jar and rubbed more gel onto the other side. He wanted to leave no stone unturned and keep the woman he loved as healthy as possible so that she could keep fighting for the people of Sauria.

Fox then coated the other side of the first wound with the antiseptic, placing his thumb on her belly. "You know, I did mention when you were treating my wounds back at Moon Mountain Pass, but now, this is starting to remind me of that."

Krystal noticed Fox still massaging her midriff. "Come to think of it, I actually do see the resemblance. Of course, I'd love to have a midriff massage from you, Fox. Though, I'd prefer it after my body is healed up."

"Good idea." Fox scooped up more antiseptic and rubbed it on the upper wound. "And another thing; I did tell you to flee from Scales if he became too dangerous for you, but to think he would end up fleeing from you? Your tribe was right to teach their women how to fight and it deserved to have you as their princess."

"Why thank you, Fox. Though my fight with Scales was pretty tough. I'm pretty sure Scales knew how much I hated him and he used that to his advantage. I kept recklessly charging at him but he kept countering my attacks. It brought me near death a few times, but I was able to use my wits and magic to escape."

"And then what happened?" Fox asked as he rubbed antiseptic on the other side of Krystal's upper wound.

"I took a moment to calm myself and recognized Scales' strategy for fighting me: it was to make me angry enough to wildly charge at him, leaving myself open for a counterattack. So, I tried using the same tacting on him. And when he took the bait, I was able to counter his every attack."

"Nice work, Krystal!" Fox then took out some bandages.

"Also, I did say before that feeling strong emotions did make my telepathy harder to use. So, after calming myself, I became capable of predicting Scales' every move."

"Wouldn't his seething hatred have also made that more difficult?"

"Technically, but figuring out which attacks he would use didn't require extreme precision. So, I was able to dodge… most of his attacks fairly easily. And I think that I was almost unbeatable when I was fighting him."

"Could you lift your body up for a minute?" Fox asked as he prepared the first bandage. Krystal lifted her body up for a brief moment. Fox put the bandage underneath her back and then wrapped it around the lower wound. "You know, back at Krazoa Palace, you did tell me about your first confrontation with Scales."

"Yes, I did. Before I boarded his ship, Kite and I flew around in a storm looking for the distress signal until we were attacked by fireballs. I attempted to deflect one with my shield from my staff, but the fireball hit before the shield could truly activate, knocking my staff out of my hand."

Fox finished tying the first bandage as Krystal finished saying that. He got out the second bandage and wrapped it around her upper wound. "And then it landed in ThornTail Hollow and that was how I found it."

"Indeed. It turned out that the fireballs were being shot at us from a flying ship with a figure-head resembling a dragon. Without my staff, I had to resort to my own Krazoa powers to fight back against the ship, so I launched orbs of energy at each cannon, demolishing them. The fact that I was completely unarmed may have been why my confrontation with Scales was completely one-sided. Or so I thought. Even with my staff back, getting impulsive was still my greatest weakness. So that was twice my own recklessness nearly got me killed."

Fox then tied up the second bandage and gently set her back down on the table. "Well, at least now you know how to defeat Scales once you fight him a third time. But when you do…" Fox touched Krystal's hand. "You won't be alone."

"You're so sweet, Fox."

"Why, thank you." He then put the blanket on Krystal and walked over to and sat on his own bed.

"You know, Fox, we did have that kiss earlier. So, I guess that means that when this mission is over, I will be joining your team."

"Yep. And before you ask me, nu-uh. Slippy will still be the one cooking and cleaning for the team."

Krystal burst out laughing at Fox's remark. Fox waited for her to be done, but he did feel a bit of an urge to start chuckling himself. After Krystal calmed down and stopped laughing, she asked, "Have other women joined Star Fox?"

"Well, two other girls named Miyu Lynx and Fay Collie joined for a time but left for… some reason… and while Katt never officially joined the team, she did help us out from time to time. Plus, she seems to have a crush on Falco and even considered joining Star Fox because of that."

"So I guess that would leave me as the only official female member of Star Fox, then."

"Yep. Also, judging from some of our past interactions, and your behavior during some of them, I'm guessing your culture's standards on sexuality were a lot more… flexible than mine."

"They were. I'd go into more details, but I think it's better to wait until our relationship reaches, well, that point."

"Maybe that's for the best. You know, judging by its cooler colors, I think that the SpellStone we got today might be for the Ocean Force Point Temple. The only problem is where to find it. I think we saw what looked like a temple back at Cape Claw. You think that might be it?"

"That does seem incredibly likely. Let's make that our first stop tomorrow."

"Good idea." Fox went onto his own bed and put the blanket on himself. "Good night, Krystal."

"Nighty-night, Fox. Sweet wet dreams."

"Sweet what dreams?"

"Never mind, Fox. See you in the morning."

Fox felt a warm sensation around him. He couldn't help but see Krystal, the woman he loved, embracing him. She smiled flirtingly as she embraced him and wiggled her hips. "Good morning, Fox. I hope you slept well."

"I… I did. Thank you."

"I love you, handsome. But that kiss was just the beginning" She brought Fox closer to her and pressed her chest against Fox's. Fox felt a surge of arousal within him. He enjoyed feeling Krystal's bosom upon his chest. It felt so warm and soft. He also felt the warmth of Krystal's body from other parts as well. Especially the… lower areas. Krystal kept pulling Fox closer towards her...

Fox kept squirming in the bed breathing passionately. He seemed pretty restless, but after a few seconds, he started slowing down and relaxing more. Fox opened his eyes for a brief moment and saw that Krystal wasn't standing before him, pressing her bosom against his chest, that she was instead sleeping in the other table across the room. He breathed a sigh of relief. He knew that Krystal enjoyed flirting with Fox and playing around with his sexual lust, but even by those standards, that was pushing it, creeping him out. Which was why the Krystal of the waking world was holding back and probably will until Fox felt that he was ready to have her press her chest and pelvis against his own. In all of that, Fox managed to find a silver lining; it would let him tell reality from his perverted fantasies. He smiled and went back to sleep.

The next morning, Fox was sleeping in due to his perverted fantasies waking him up last night. But he heard a voice. A beautiful voice. A… familiar voice. And that voice called out to him. "Fox?" He squinted a little but relaxed his eyes again. "Fahhh-ooooox…" He heard the voice call him again. He made slight grunts and started moving his head about. "Fahhhhhhh-ooooooooooooox…" He started squinting his eyes again and then opening them, moaning, "Is that… you… Krystal…" He opened his eyes a bit more widely and took a look at what's in front of him…

He saw Krystal crouching down on top of him, but giving herself some space between her body and Fox's. She had a flirty smile on her face and positioned herself so that Fox would end up looking down her cleavage. Fox fully woke up and blushed intensely. Krystal flirtingly said to him, "Good morning, Prince Charming. Ready to go?"

Fox, blushing intensely, stammered, "Uh…. good morning, Krystal. But, could you please not do that? I'd like to tell reality from my adolescent fantasies."

"Oh. Sorry, Fox." Krystal got off Fox's bed and back on the floor, and then Fox noticed something about her very quickly. The bandages he put on her were gone and her wounds were completely healed! Fox's jaw dropped in amazement. "Well, I told you, my Krazoa power accelerates my body's healing rate. Now I can ask for a midriff massage from you at any time."

"Uh… thanks. Anyway, let's get going. We've got a SpellStone to return."

Fox and Krystal walked along the entrance bridge back to the Arwing, where they were greeted by the CloudRunner Queen, her children, and Gradabug. Gradabug greeted them by saying, "Well done, Fox and Krystal. You have now have the seconds SpellStone."

The queen said, "And with Scales gone, my tribe can now start to rebuild their lives." She bowed saying, "I am forever grateful."

Krystal knelt back. "We're always happy to be of help to you, your majesty." Fox bowed as well.

Gradabug then said, "Don't forget! As soon as you get back to the surface, you need to find the Ocean Force Point Temple."

Fox nodded. He and Krystal walked toward the Arwing as the CloudRunners on the sides of the bridge lifted up their wings like they were flags. Triumphant in their victory over Scales, the vulpine duo walked proudly toward the Arwing.

When they got to the Arwing, Fox activated the signal on his PDA opening the cockpit and forming a ladder to get inside. Afterwards, Krystal hopped in behind the seat while Fox followed, jumping into the seat.

As soon as the Arwing took off into the atmosphere on its way back to Dinosaur Planet and through the energy portal, Fox noticed the blinking light on his console and immediately responded. It was General Pepper. "You did it again, Fox. The fortress is back in control of the CloudRunners! You must take this SpellStone to the Ocean Force Point Temple."

"Thanks, General. I'm on my way there now."

"It must be located near the sea. Have you been anywhere like that yet, Fox?"

"Yes, General. I'll be heading there shortly."

"Excellent. Also, Peppy told me about your new lady friend… I was wondering if…"

But then Fox quickly shut off the transmission before Pepper can finish and they took off.

Krystal asked, "Was that General Pepper?"

"Yep. That was him."

"You know, it does seem kind of rude of you to just cut him off like you did. I'd love to talk to him eventually."

"Just don't talk to him about the more… intimate stuff. Okay?"

As Fox and Krystal were speeding their way back down to Sauria, Fox asked Krystal, "Remember when you said that your staff was made specifically for you and that both it and the one I currently wield have 'chosen wielders?' You mind elaborating on that? And who was the chosen wielder of the staff I'm currently using?"

The Krazoa staffs received their power from the spirits themselves. They give them various attributes like which ones have stronger magic, like mine, and which ones have stronger physical attacking capabilities like yours. The attributes of each staff depend largely on those of the warriors chosen to wield them. I had stronger magical power and a knack for strategizing, but my brother, Sabre, specialized more in physical combat. The staff you wield now originally belonged to him."

Fox felt a little empty. Knowing now that the weapon he was now using was originally owned by Krystal's brother, a person she loved and cared about, the fact that she gave it to him so readily shows just how much he means to her, but at the same time, he felt that his staff was all Krystal has left of Sabre. He pondered on these thoughts as he returned to Sauria's atmosphere until…

An enemy was picked up on Fox's radar. He quickly attempted to steer out of the way to escape the sight of the enemy pursuing him. He made a quick turn, throwing Krystal off balance. As soon as she regained her footing, she took a quick glance at Fox's radar. She was terrified to see that an enemy was behind them. Fox identified the idon on the radar. "Wolf!? But how…"

Lasers were being fired at Fox. He shouted, "Hang on tight, Krystal" and as soon as she did exactly that, he immediately did a barrel roll deflecting the laser fire. Krystal clutched the seat to prevent herself from losing her balance as Fox did a summersault to dodge the lasers. But then, the Wolfen pursuing them crashed his ship into the wing of the Arwing, damaging it. Fox struggled to keep the Arwing steady, but then the Wolfen fired its lasers at the damaged wing blowing it off as well as the stabilizers on the Arwing. causing the Arwing to accelerate uncontrollably. Fox kept the Arwing as level as he could, so that it wouldn't crash into the ground so suddenly. "Krystal! Get on my lap!"

Krystal then hopped into Fox's lap and then Fox released his left hand from the steering and said, "Now put your left hand on the steering!" Krystal put her left hand on the steering controls, positioning it in the same manner that Fox did, and as soon as he released the right hand from the controls, she immediately did the same with her right, without even being commanded to. Fox then unbuckled his seat belt that was a buckle on his chest attached to four belts from his seat, then quickly put the buckle in front of Krystal's stomach before rebuckling the seat belt. Then he immediately opened the cockpit and pressed the "Eject" button on the Arwing's controls. The seat launched right out of the Arwing with both Fox and Krystal in it, held together by the Arwing's seat belt, and a parachute activated. As the vulpine duo gently descended to the ground into a distant jungle nearby, they breathed a sigh of relief. "That was close."

Krystal breathed in her reliefs for a bit, grateful that she and Fox were able to escape with their lives. "You've always been very quick to adapt, Fox. Now we just need to find a way back." But then a thought suddenly occurred to her. The fact that she was sitting on Fox's lap again put her in a bit of a flirtatious mood. "Speaking of 'close...'"

Fox immediately started blushing profusely. Krystal teased, "Nose bleed."

Fox took a small swipe at his lip. It turned out his nose was bleeding. Krystal replied, "It's okay, fox. I look forward to these kinds of moments with you. I just hope they wouldn't be in life-or-death situations. I look forward to any midriff massage I might have from you."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. Anyway, is the SpellStone safe?"

"It never left my backpack and I'm still wearing it. So, yeah. It's safe."

Krystal smiled very brightly and warmly, ecstatic that a key item was still safe in their hands.

Their parachute landed safely in the middle of a jungle. As soon as our heroes reached the ground, Fox unbuckled his backpack. Then Krystal hopped off his lap and then she and Fox started looking around. He started asking, "Where are we?"

"Fox?" Fox took a look at the expression on Krystal's face. She looked terrified. "I think I know about this place. This is the Komalia Jungle. A jungle infested with ShadowHunters, RedEyes, and plants with a taste for flesh! The inhabitants of this planet call it the 'Jungle of Evil!' We have to find a way out of here before..." But Krystal then detected that something would jump out at her. She drew her staff immediately and then something immediately jumped out of the bushes. A velociraptor leaped out of the bushed and attempted to bite Krystal, but she immediately had her staff in the beast's mouth, pushing the beast away, but then Fox drew his staff and rammed the tail end into the velociraptor's neck, denting a hole in it and sending an electrical shockwave into the monster's nervous system. The velociraptor screeched in pain as the electrical surged through him for a few moments, then the beast collapsed and fell to the ground. Krystal crouched down and checked the beast for vital signs.

Fox asked, "Is it dead?"

Krystal got up again. "Yes." She spat on the velociraptor's corpse. "Vile monsters like these deserve to drop like flies."

"What was that thing?"

"A ShadowHunter. Like the ones I saved those ThornTails from. And unfortunately..." Fox and Krystal posed in a back-to-back fashion, redying their staffs as more ShadowHunters lurked out of the plants and trees, glowering at the two vulpine warriors. "...there's more where they came from!"