Note: I'm sorry if anyone is unable to read the chapters from the original version of the story. I probably shouldn't have deleted them, considering how I'm rewriting the whole thing from scratch. The original version can probably be found on The Wayback Machine, or probably not. I don't know for sure. Before we move on, I want to say something to two reviewers.
Big Bossk Man 92: The thugs will be lucky if the team defeats them quickly. They would even be lucky if Krystal doesn't go into a frenzy and feed on them.
The White Wolf named Alex: Thanks for the review. I hope that you're ready for the next chapter.
Now that I've gotten that out of the way, it's time for chapter three.
Chapter 3: Attack at City Hall
Upon landing in Corneria City, Star Fox got out of their Arwings. Before going into city hall, the team gathered each gadget that they needed. They refrained from bringing explosives with them, as they didn't want to destroy city hall. Knowing that the thugs holding everyone hostage was armed, Star Fox had their blasters on hand. Their deflector shields were on, so that they could block any projectile that came their way. With everything gathered, the team ran into city hall.
As she entered city hall, Krystal could feel that sweet smell getting stronger. Trying to ignore it, the cobalt vixen kept her mind on the mission. Her telepathy scanned the building, trying to look for the thugs and the city council. After a minute, the vulpine sensed that the thugs were holding everyone in a board room. The room itself was on the second floor, so it wasn't far from the team.
"Got anything, Krystal?" Fox asked.
"The city council is being held in a board room on the second floor." Krystal said.
"Are they still alive?" Slippy asked.
"Yes, but I have a feeling that the thugs will execute one of them if we don't hurry!" The cobalt vixen said.
With that in mind, Star Fox ran into an elevator, deciding to take it to the second floor. Once they were inside, Krystal felt the sweet smell die down quite a bit. However, something told her that it would go back up. The moment the cobalt vixen walked out of the elevator, the smell would more than likely become stronger than before. She even had an idea on where the smell was coming from, but put it aside. If the team found out what she was, the vulpine felt as if they would put her down.
Once they were on the second floor, Star Fox got out of the elevator. The team had no trouble in finding the board room, as it was around the corner. From inside the room, there was a harsh voice screaming. Said voice undoubtedly belonged to one of the thugs, presumably their leader. Knowing that, Star Fox decided to sneak up on them, wanting to prevent them from killing anyone. A door to the board room was ajar, meaning that pulling off a sneak attack was easy. If anything, it would go off without a hitch.
Upon seeing the thugs holding the city council hostage, Fox aimed his blaster at the leader. The leader happened to be a bobcat with green eyes. Each of the thugs wore leather jackets and gym clothes underneath, along with bandanas on their heads. As the leader aimed his gun at the head of the council, Fox knew he had to act quickly. Gesturing for his teammates to wait, the orange tod took aim for the leader's gun. Without hesitating, he pulled the trigger.
Without warning, the leader let out a pained scream. Not only had the bobcat's gun been knocked out of his hand, but he had received a massive wound on it. Alarmed, the other thugs went over to him. One of them, a brown bear, held the leader's hand. Now that they were distracted, Star Fox moved in. As Fox, Peppy, and Slippy held their blasters out, Falco stood by the door and Krystal freed the city council.
"Who shot me in the hand?!" The Bobcat Thug shouted.
"That was me, pal!" Fox spoke.
Upon hearing that, the thugs turned around. Standing next to them were Star Fox. Like them, the mercenary team had weapons on hand. The ones they were facing were Fox McCloud, Peppy Hare and Slippy Toad. Falco Lombardi was standing by the door, but there was no sign of the newer member. However, the city council was just about out of the room, meaning that someone freed them.
"So," Fox spoke, "will you surrender, or will we have to fight?"
"We aren't going down without a fight, merc, and that's a fact!" One of the thugs, a Doberman, said.
"Yeah, you guys are going down!" The Brown Bear Thug said.
"Very well." Fox said.
Drawing out their weapons, the thugs fired at Star Fox. However, the mercenaries were quick to retaliate, returning fire with their blasters. Falco and Krystal joined in, trying to take down each thug they saw. Fox was the first to kill, shooting a pigeon thug in the head. As for Peppy and Falco, they shot down the Brown Bear Thug together. Slippy was quicker than his teammates, as he shot two of the thugs, a cardinal and a Rottweiler, in their heads.
As she was firing at the thugs, Krystal got splashed in the face with some blood. Once that happened, she felt the sweet smell become stronger than before. The cobalt vixen had the urge to clean her face, but resisted due to being in battle. Despite that, she let out a sigh, knowing that she had found out something she didn't want to.
Of course, it's blood! Krystal thought to herself. I have to avoid everyone I know to get away from the smell, but I can't!
Star Fox continued firing at the thugs, trying to take them down. Only four of them remained, but they were proving to be tougher than their fellow crooks. Despite that, one of them, a badger, was shot in the head and the chest by Krystal. Fox looked over to the cobalt vixen as she fired round after round. He saw that she had blood on her face, but was wincing out of disgust. She just looked like she was going to be sick.
"You okay, Krys?" Fox asked.
"I'm fine." Krystal said.
"Are you sure?" The orange tod said. "You can sit this one out if you -!"
"I'm fine!" The cobalt vixen snarled. "Let's just take down these bastards!"
Fox was taken aback by how Krystal spoke to him. While the cobalt vixen was capable of being angry, she had never spoken to him in such a way. Ignoring it, the orange tod continued shooting at the thugs, taking down the Doberman Thug by shooting him in the head several times. The second-to-last one, a coyote, was shot in the chest by Falco. To make sure the coyote was dead, Slippy shot him in the head.
Now that he was the only one left in his group, the Bobcat Thug was trapped. Star Fox surrounded him, holding their blasters. If he moved, they would shoot him. If he didn't move, then he would be arrested. The feline had no other option than to surrender. However, that was until he remembered the smoke bombs in his pocket.
"Put your hands up!" Peppy said. "We're handing you over to the police!"
With no other option, the Bobcat Thug threw a smoke bomb on the floor. Once it went off, he saw his opportunity to escape. Running out of the board room, the feline was ready to get away. That was until he saw a silhouette behind him. Upon seeing it, the Bobcat Thug wanted to take whoever it was as a hostage. Little did he know, the person would be the one to kill him.
Back to Star Fox, they were struggling to get out of the board room. One by one, they fell out. First to fall was Peppy, who landed on his back. Falco and Slippy were next, landing on top of the hare. As for Fox, he collapsed out of another door. Once they were out, the team could see again. However, something didn't feel right.
"He got away!" Slippy said.
"We can go after him in a bit," Peppy told him, "we just need to get away from all this smoke!"
"Yeah, but where's Krystal?" Fox asked.
"She's not with us?" Slippy asked. "She was with us in the board room, wasn't she?"
"Guys, might want to see this!" Falco called out.
Getting up, Fox, Peppy, and Slippy saw that the smoke had left the room. Falco was standing by the window, looking out of it. Heading over to him, the team looked out of it with him. While doing so, they saw the Bobcat Thug running away. What they didn't expect was for a familiar cobalt fox to tackle him into an alleyway. She was even quick enough to disappear in a flash.
"Was that Krystal?" Slippy asked.
"Of course, stupid!" Falco said. "Who else has blue fur like that?"
"She got him!" Peppy cheered.
"But she's not usually that fast!" Slippy said. "What's going on?"
"I don't know, but good for her!" Fox said.
"Yeah, good for her." Falco spoke.
"Get away from me!" The Bobcat Thug yelled.
Krystal slowly walked towards the Bobcat Thug. It got to the point where he had no form of escape. The feline had no smoke bombs left, and his gun was shot out of his hand. Even if he could escape, he had no way of defending himself. All he could do was crouch, unable to get away from Krystal. However, the cobalt vixen stopped walking, bending down to the bobcat.
"Look," Krystal spoke, "I didn't want to join my team in a mission today, but I have to either cuff you or kill you."
"Isn't that usually how your missions usually go?" The Bobcat Thug asked.
"Yes, but I'm going to kill you in a different way." The cobalt vixen said. "I don't want you to see this, so close your eyes."
"Close my eyes while I die?" The feline was puzzled. "That's weird, and kinda scary."
"I'm sorry!" The vulpine said as she grabbed him by the shoulders.
Shocked by how Krystal grabbed him, the Bobcat Thug screamed. He closed his eyes so that he wouldn't see what was going to happen to him, like how the cobalt vixen told him to. Something sharp dug into his neck, followed by an odd feeling. The feline felt like his blood was being drained, as if a doctor was putting him through the blood drive. The last thing the Bobcat Thug felt was the sharp object leaving his neck, along with his last breath. He collapsed, landing on his side.
Now that the Bobcat Thug was dead, Krystal gagged on her breath. She had fed on him, draining every last drop of blood in his body. The cobalt vixen could not believe she had given into the animalistic side of her new powers. Even if Wolf had warned her about this, the vulpine did not want to kill someone to satisfy her hunger. The only bright side was that none of her teammates was there to see her do it. However, her telepathy was picking up someone, meaning that she wasn't alone.
"Not bad for your first time!" A familiar voice chuckled.
Hearing the voice alarmed Krystal, to the point where she nearly screamed. The person who spoke to her was in the shadows. Despite that, the cobalt vixen was able to see who it was. Standing in the shadows was Wolf, who wasn't wearing his usual armor. Rather, he was wearing the bodysuit he wore underneath. The lupine had a proud smile on his face, looking happy.
"You scared me." Krystal said.
"Well, I saw that you were out with your team, so I teleported to Corneria City to see what would happen." Wolf said. "Little did I know, you would have your first feeding!"
"I'm not proud of it." The cobalt vixen said.
"You should," the lupine said, "because you had to do it."
"It did cause the sweet smell I've had in my nose to die down." The vulpine said. "But, I can't feed on people all the time. If I did, my team would stake me in the heart!"
"In that case, I'll get rid of the body. However, I can't promise that you won't give yourself away."
"Then I'll have to head to a blood bank to get blood bags or something."
"Krystal?" Fox's voice rang out. "Are you there?"
Upon hearing Fox calling for her, Krystal froze. Not only would he see her talking to Wolf, but he would see the drained corpse on the ground. The cobalt vixen had to get out of there, primarily to show Fox that she was okay. He was approaching, so she had to be quick.
"I should go." Krystal said to Wolf. "If Fox comes here, he'll get more suspicious."
"Before you go, here!" Wolf said.
Wolf threw something at Krystal. Being quick to catch, the cobalt vixen caught it in her hands. To her surprise, the object was a glass jar full of a red substance. The substance itself looked like jelly, but she had doubts that it was. The vulpine saw Wolf holding the corpse of the Bobcat Thug in his arms. He turned around, not making eye contact with Krystal.
"Consider it a gift." Wolf said. "Now, go meet up with Fox! You don't want him getting suspicious, do you?"
Turning back, Wolf saw that Krystal had already left. He smiled, knowing that the cobalt vixen was proving herself. The lupine knew that it was only a matter of time before he gave her an important mission. Knowing that the vulpine had to remain grateful to him for turning her, he wanted to put her through training to help her gain a better mastery of her powers. But, for now, he had to wait for the right moment. Using magic to teleport away, Wolf left Corneria City with the corpse of the Bobcat Thug, hoping to use it for something.
Note: That's it for the chapter. It looks like Wolf wants Krystal to do stuff for him. However, she might not want to do anything he wants her to. In this case, she might not have a choice, given how she was turned into a vampire by him. Unless someone finds a way to free her, she's pretty much stuck. Until next time, guys, this is Newcomer24, signing off. Peace!