12 Hour Journey

12 hours until Sauria

The Great Fox III was on a trip to Sauria that was estimated 12-hour journey. Due to its upgrades, the amount of time was drastically reduced from 24 to 12 hours. The unfortunate part was the teleportation that was set up by Cornerian Forces was jammed by an unknown source. Which could have made the trip less than 4 hours instead of 12 hours. It didn't matter to Lucy, as she analyzed the monitors and radars. "What's the ETA status, R.O.B?"

"ETA is 12 hours until arrival." Lucy acknowledged his response. Slippy was also in control of the ship, making sure everything was in working condition. With Amanda sitting right next to him and keeping watch on his health. They both had such caring hearts with each other.

"We should be fine, enough for a month of traveling." They had everything required for their entire trip to the necessary planets: Sauria for Krystal's staff, and Fichina for Grey's sword. Fay had already discovered her secret within Corneria's Demon Realm. (The secret is basically the Demon's Realm within a specific world). They just needed to get there alive and well.

10 hours later,

Only 2 hours have passed since they left Corneria to Sauria. What was everyone even doing? Let check up on Falco right now.

Falco sat in his room, thinking about the times where Fox was still on the team. Katt was also inside his room to keep him company. Falco laid on his bed and looked at the ceiling. Man, I wonder how hard it must be to not have freedom anymore. I pray every day that Fox is safe somewhere inside that demonic bastard.

Katt saw Falco's slight frown, a look of discomfort. She didn't want him to feel like that. "You doing okay, Falco?" Katt didn't want to bother him but also felt worried.

"I'm fine, Katt. It's just a weird feeling without Fox here." Falco sat up from his bed and turned to Katt. "You know, if it weren't for Fox, we wouldn't be here."

"I guess your right," Katt replied. Before they became Star Fox members, they were part of another team, Hot Rodders. How they became a part of Star Fox was something they kept secret but it happened. "I'm glad he accepted us as part of the team." Suddenly, Falco's room door opened up, Krystal came running in.

"Hiya guys, I just wanted to say sorry for my atrocious act that day." What Krystal did was unintentionally transform to Kursed and attacked Falco by choking him. Luckily for Krystal, Grey managed to stop her. If he had not been there, Falco would have died and Katt could then be at risk. Continuing on, it didn't stop there until something happened between Krystal and Grey. Grey becomes heavily injured but Krystal returns the favor by healing him.

Falco didn't mind and brushed off that terrible memory. "It's alright, Krystal. The past is in the past, Grey told me about it and I didn't really know about your powers." Katt felt quite hysterical about Krystal's demon form, however, she did in fact, see her other eye's violet color.

"Krys, did you hurt yourself or do you just have heterochromia?" An odd question to ask but Krystal still answered. "I've never seen you with eyes like those before."

"It's because of my Demon Hunter powers. Both Fay and Grey have it too," she answered. Fay doesn't have this odd eye color but Grey does.

Her violet eye could potentially see demons as it is cursed apparently. There are exceptions with only Grey since he actually lost his eye, and becoming a Hunter created a brand new eye. It also applies to any other Demon Hunters but is completely different for Reverse Hunters. They have active mythical type powers instead of seeing demons. Just like Demon Hunters, Reverses can lose their powers to a Demon Hunter and vice versa. Like Krystal when she stole Kaitlyn's time powers, her aquatic blue color disappeared and reverted to normal.

"Demon Hunter?" Katt questioned. "What kind of bullshit is that? You know powers like that don't exist."

"Then explain how I almost killed your dear Falco." Katt shut her mouth, in fact, Krystal wasn't wrong, because she had proof from others. "Fay, Grey and I have these kinds of power."

She also remembered that future Marcus also had a power like that but she wasn't allowed to mention it. She continued, "Except there's one problem." Krystal materialized her staff. "I'm not perfect at all."

Katt paid close attention to the staff's dark colors. "I don't understand. What's wrong with it?" She asked. Katt had seen the staff before with golden colors but didn't seem to care about remembering it.

"A perfect weapon follows a perfect heart," Krystal quoted. "Something I haven't mastered at all but Fay somehow has because of a little secret," Krystal emphasizes the word secret.

"Little secret?" Falco thought it was suspicious. "What is this little secret?" Falco also emphasized the word secret.

"There's an alternate world beyond these other planets you see here." Krystal continued her explanation. "Corneria's secret was discovered by Fay when herself and Grey first traveled to the Demon's Realm." They continued to talk about all the things that happened in the past.

11 hours later,

Miyu and Fay were at the shooting range, where Miyu asked all sorts of questions to Fay. "What's it like being a Demon Hunter like Krystal and Grey?"

"Well you see, I just became one yesterday and it felt odd because it just happened," Fay explained how she prefers to use blasters instead of non-modern weapons like swords and bows. "It's not normal to have one of these you know." Fay materialized the bow into her hands.

Miyu's eyes were astonished to sight the heavenly bow that Fay wields. "WOW!" Her eyes beamed with gleam but also noticed something was off. "Where are your arrows?"

"It doesn't come with a quiver with arrows but it requires spirit to use it." Fay places her two fingertips and thumb on the bowstring and a blue arrow formed in between them. "You see, the bow only makes an arrow whenever I have enough spirit to wield it." Fay releases the arrow and fired at the target. The arrow traveled at light speed without arcing, making it a useful weapon at any range.

Miyu was pretty mesmerized by its power and speed. "Fay, can I try it?" No one knew if a non-Hunter could wield a Hunter weapon. Fay insists on trying that and handed it over to Miyu. The moment she grabbed it for 2 seconds, the bow vanished from her hands and reappeared in Fay's hands. Fay guessed that only she could or another Hunter could wield these kinds of weapons. It was seen with Krystal holding Grey's sword and Kaitlyn's revolver. Fay could probably hold their weapons but Miyu would be unable to wield them.

Miyu shrugged her shoulders. "Damn, that's a shame that I can't hold it but it doesn't matter." Miyu has an idea. "How fast can you hit 10 targets in under 20 seconds?" Fay didn't have an answer yet but she knew what Miyu was trying to do.

"Okay, line up and get ready to fire away," she exclaimed. Miyu has a timer readied for Fay's marksmanship and also set up 10 different targets. She started a countdown and Fay readied her next shot. "3...2...1... Go!" Fay pulled back the bowstring and fired a single arrow. It traveled from the first target to the next and onwards at such high speeds. Miyu didn't even have time to see the arrow but it did hit the tenth target. "That was less than a second!" It could be possible that Fay could control the arrow as she did say spirit was required.

8 hours later,

"So if this plan works, we could potentially get back Fox but he probably won't be in the best condition." Former General Peppy said to Grey in the conference room.

Grey leaned back in his chair and arms behind his head. "I'm not sure this is the brightest idea but it's the only one mentioned. Can you follow through the plan again? General Peppy?"

Peppy nodded, "Yeah sure, and you don't have to call me General anymore, I'm not a General anymore just call me Captain Peppy or Peppy if you like." Peppy pulled up a whiteboard and drew everything out. "First when we arrive and before you get off, you need to change your looks into Fox."

Grey disliked that part of the plan but he still had to follow through. It was part of the Captain's orders he remembered.

Peppy continued,

"Second, you and Krystal will land in ThornTail Hollow, where Fox's trace was last sensed. Since you look like him, there may be a chance that he will trace you down too. Then, if he does appear, you two will engage and fight him head on and see if you can free him, and if not just let us know and Slippy and Amanda will shield you guys from harm. Finally, we get him the hell out of that demon freak."

"Now I need to ask you something important," Peppy said to Grey.

"What is it," Grey answered back.

"This is something personal but also very important. I know you've been through so much trying to help us out, but you should retire after this mission." It was a recommendation from Peppy. After all, it was pretty much true.

Grey answered back, "Yeah I should, I haven't had the best in a while. I mean look at me, I have scars to prove it." What that meant was that Grey lost an eye during the Aparoid War and lost his arm just recently. It hasn't shocked him quite yet but it's going to take a toll on him. Surprisingly he hasn't quit or given up after his body began to change.

"It's up to you if you want to stay with the team, Grey."

"I understand, Captain." Grey acknowledged.

6 hours later,

Krystal quartered inside of Fox's room. It still has Fox's aura in this room. On his table was a broken photo frame and a torn photo of Fox and Tricky. The photo seems to be incomplete as something was missing. Krystal took the photo she had in her pocket and compared it. The two pictures lined up and they were the same.

"He was really devastated wasn't he?" Krystal projected a vision from holding the torn photo. She saw a depressed Fox crying his soul out.

"I don't understand, I kicked her off the team just so I could keep her safe. But she just wouldn't understand and went with that rat bastard, Panther." Fox looked up and took the photo frame and threw it across his room out of anger and anxiety. The glass broke and he saw the photo of himself, Krystal and King Tricky from Sauria.

"I remember Tricky talking about a honeymoon, I felt that was something we had, but now look at this." Fox tore off Krystal from the photo and left himself and Tricky on there. There was anger in his blood and bones. Fox sighed aggressively and planted his hands into his face. "What do I even do at this point?"

Krystal phased back to reality in fear. She felt the guilt rising back up to her chest. "I'm sorry... Fox, I didn't know that's how you felt. I just wanted to get revenge on your act but all I did was turn you into a monster." Krystal noticed another torn photo inside the trash bin. It was the image of herself inside the bin. Krystal picked it up and set it next to the original torn photo. "We will be reunited once again, except as enemies my dear Fox." A shadow suddenly appeared inside Fox's room and emerged from it was Marcus.

"Hello, mother," Marcus said after emerging from the shadow. "Is something troubling you?" Krystal turned around and noticed Marcus standing behind her.

"It's nothing, Marcus, just thinking about this photo of us." Marcus took a glance at the photo. "Is that what father really looked like?" After seeing Fox without a demon made Marcus feel a little off balance. "Well, I guess that's how it is then." It also seemed that Marcus had rocky emotions inside his body, and Krystal sensed it inside him. It was something he wasn't allowed to mention about. A forbidden art and secret that no one else should know except for Krystal. He wasn't going to allow Krystal to know everything about him just yet.

"Something seems odd about you, Marcus. Why did you come here?" Krystal demanded an answer from her future son. He had no purpose coming forth to see Krystal except for one thing. It was between the psionics beings, Krystal and Marcus. They could sense each other and nothing could stop them from reading the other.

"Forget it, I can no longer maintain this guilt." He gulped down. "I'm a Reverse Hunter."

"Marcus? You are a what now?"

"A Reverse Hunter, I betrayed the Reversed. I defeated Bill Grey to restore his body and soul. And now everything is going to fall back to me." He kept ranting about the Vel and the other Reverse Hunter were going to kill him for good. "Now please don't tell anyone, only you should know about this. Once you defeat the other two Reverse Hunters, just end my life."

Marcus started to sound suicidal but Krystal wasn't going to allow that. He started to move chaotically and his movements were uncontrollable by words. His dark powers began to turn against him. Marcus began to scream demonically inside Fox's room. He tried placing his hands on his head to relieve his throbbing headache from his guilt but it didn't seem to work. He started to scream louder in agony and pain.

Krystal slowly walked over to Marcus and tightly hugged him. "Now then, there's no need to be guilty at least you told the truth, my sweet child." Krystal rubbed and patted his blue-furred head to soothe his cries of pain and terror. Krystal began to sing the Song of Peace that she remembered when her mother, Sapphire used to sing it to her when she felt sad. It was sung in her own Cerinian tongue. Marcus slowly began to calm down into a peaceful sweet slumber. His dark powers began to fade away from his body. Cleansing his aura and his soul back into pure innocence.

Marcus's black eye restored back to normal as he slowly closed his eyes. Krystal carried him towards Fox's bed and laid him there. Marcus' body began to age back to his teenage years as Krystal saw. "It must be the time reverting his age." He was getting younger until he looked older than a child's age but younger than a teenager's. Krystal's voice reached out to him. "Sleep tight, my sweet little child." She kissed him on his forehead and let him sleep away.

Krystal didn't want anyone to go into this specific room. She didn't know how to prevent that from happening, but luckily, Slippy is currently inside the control room. Krystal pushed a red button from inside the room. "Hey, Slippy?"

Slippy took a short while to respond. "What's up, Krystal?" She explained the details to Slippy and he agreed and only allowed Krystal inside this room. Before she left, she whispered into Marcus' ear. He would still be able to hear before she left. "When you awaken, don't leave just yet, you need lots of rest, my child." Krystal let the young blue fox sleep away. What she didn't know, was that Marcus still had Reverse Hunter powers.

4 hours later,

Inside the training room, Krystal and Grey decided to duel each other. The purpose was to see who stood above the other after many years. Krystal had a higher mastery with staffs and lances than Grey but he was faster just a bit with swords. Everyone was watching from the side, even Slippy. Luckily he set R.O.B to guide the ship to Sauria.

Grey struck in a downward motion with his sword. Krystal blocked his attack with two hands on her staff in an upwards motion. The two even agreed to fight with whatever they had up their sleeves. Telepathy was a useless power in this fight. Both sides would just block it off with a mental barrier. Telekinesis could be useful but it didn't seem like the smartest to fight with. Teleportation was just wasn't allowed between the two. Slippy stated it would jam the ship's tracking system. Time was another thing that would advantageously give Krystal the win, so she didn't use it.

However, they were allowed to fight with their demonic forces. That turned out to be quite a craze. Both were equally as fast and strong as the other. It was also in their eyes. Both of their cursed eyes began to glow immensely with power. Someone really wanted to win over the other. It wasn't until they had clashed once again for the final attack and then it happened. The two attacks collided and a huge ringing noise was made. Everyone covered their ears from the loud resonating noise and they saw everything. Grey's sword and Krystal's staff both hit the floor at the same time. The duel resulted in a draw and both sides were tired from the fight and sat on the floor.

Grey panted from his lack of stamina. "Nice one... Krystal." He could no longer move.

"I can say the same to you, Grey," Krystal panted back. She also was unable to stand up.

Their demon force ended up being the destructive power that ended the fight. Everyone saw how powerful Demon Hunter's force was up close. Lucy took note of that. "Good duel, you two. Now rest up before we orbit."

2 hours later,

Krystal sat inside her room after showering. Her duel with Grey showed how much control she had over her powers. It was getting much better, she had more control and also was getting stronger with it. She had a chance against Demon Fox, but how was she going to save him? It didn't matter as long as she could recover Fox from the situation. The pendant she wore, the Heart and Soul began to glow.

"What's going on?" Her mind has another vision in this particular room. The pendant wanted to show Krystal the last of Fox's actions.

In her own vision, she appeared levitating above the kitchen in the Great Fox and saw Fox and Falco. His close friend, Falco saw how depressed he was, lack of sleep, eating, and no will to move on. He really was stuck on Krystal, unable to erase his memory of her from his head. "Falco, I can't do it, she's in my mind now. It won't go away."

"Fox, it's going to be okay, it takes some time." Falco made an attempt to calm him down.

Fox downed another beer. Actually, almost a dozen of them, there were plenty of empty bottles on the table. His tolerance for alcohol was pretty high, he wanted to drink so much that he would want to die or to forget Krystal forever. Falco needed to stop him, it was really getting out of hand. "FOX!" He slammed his feathered hands onto the table. Fox stopped drinking to look at Falco. "What!?"

"Look, buddy, you need to stop drinking. It's taking a toll on your body. I mean look at yourself." Fox's breathe smelled terrible, he hasn't showered at all, and bagged eyes from lack of sleep. Falco wasn't kidding at all when he meant toll on his body. "It's fine..." he said drunkenly. Then he passed out from over drinking. "God damn it. Fucking Krystal just had to be the one to ruin his life. Fox needs to move on away from her." He carried the passed out Fox back to his room.

Krystal's vision faded away and came back to reality. She felt sickly terrible but all that went away when she saw Marcus. He was the one to guide them back to normal. Just like in the past Fox, he also passed out. The past must be taking a toll on the future as well. Slippy came into the room.

"Hey," he waved. Krystal acknowledged his presence of arrival.

"Hi, Slippy, thanks for stopping by."

"What's going on now, Krystal?" Slippy noticed the young Marcus. He started to look just like a child. "Oh, is that him alright?"

"Of course, he's my child from the future but he was older than this. It's kind of too much to explain."

"No worries, I'll see what I can do."

"Thanks again, Slippy and don't mention this to anyone but Peppy and Grey please."

"Sure thing," Slippy said. Why include Peppy he thought when Grey should be the only one to fully be aware. Krystal left behind both Slippy and Marcus. She then remembered about what Marcus said before he started to panic. There are two more Reverse Hunters, but who could they be?

Suddenly, an explosion could be heard in the distance. It came from outside the Great Fox, more onto the western side of the ship. "What was that?!" Krystal shouted. She rushed out the quartering halls to the situation. Upon reaching the location, there was an attack against the ship. "Oh no, who is that?" She carefully saw through the mysterious assailant's fighter ship. It was similar to an Arwing but know no had an idea to its design.

Peppy was watching the western side's camera. He saw Krystal staring outside, he too also had a look at the pilot. Peppy zoomed the camera closer to inspect the Arwing's design. It followed closely to the first Arwings, the ones when the first Star Fox team existed. Peppy zoomed in on the cockpit of the Arwing and saw a familiar face. "No way, you can't be alive, I saw you die?!"

A voice of distortion could be heard through the camera's speakers, Krystal was also listening carefully. "I can never die, not under the will of the King."

"Is that the legend himself and he's become a Reversed too?!" Krystal felt her nerves become uncontrollable. Peppy was also in a state of shock. It seemed like these two recognized this person as someone familiar in the past. Who could it be?

To be continued...