Chapter 6
At last the second Friday of the year had finally made it. As usual the group stood outside at the front area to talk before leaving, even the girls came this time. As Fox was looking around, he noticed that Krystal wasn't here with them. He looked around and saw her a ways away sitting by herself. Fox was curious as to why she was being so distant all of a sudden, so he decided he was gonna walk over to where she was and talk to her.
He sat down beside her on the bench and she turned to see who it was who sat beside her "Oh, hey Fox." She said in what seemed like a sad tone. "You know, since all of us are friends it isn't a problem to talk with us all like we usually do." He told her with a small chuckle. He saw a small smile begin to form on her muzzle as she said " I know, it's just…" "what is it?" he asked the vixen curiously. "it's just…I like it when it's just me and you." She said sweetly as she brushed his tail with hers. Fox could feel his face turn red and heat up.
Krystal couldn't help but laugh. "Im just kidding Fox. I just think you look really funny when you're nervous or embarrassed." She stopped brushing his tail with hers and smiled at him. Fox's blush lightened and nervously said "Oh…umm yeah."
As they stood up Krystal's parents drove up to take her home, she held her books against her chest and looked at Fox. "There's my ride, I guess ill see you Monday. Bye Fox." She walked off with a happy smile. She got into the car and looked back at Fox, he waved at her and her parents with a happy smile. Her parents happily waved back smiling.
"so Krystal are you looking forward to our trip to the mountains?" Her dad asked. She smiled saying "Yeah! I've been looking forward to it all week!" "Was that Fox back there sitting with you?" Her mother asked curiously. "Yeah, I sat there because it's fun embarrassing him and I knew he would come sit by me." "that's very considerate of him." Her dad said, trying to be more positive about Fox. "well we are friends after all." She said as they all laughed.
It was around 9 the next morning. James bust the door open to Fox's room yelling"Fox wake up! We've got an urgent call!" Fox fell out of his bed at the sudden alarm, and half awake told his dad "uhmmm right, on the way."
The others had already been contacted and met the two vulpines at the docking bay. "Alright so everyone remember the crooks from about a week ago? Well they're causing trouble again, but what makes this so urgent is that there's a family out in that area for a small vacation and we need to ensure their safety." Falco rolled his eyes, "sooooo mr. command, do we even know who this family is? "we didn't get any first names, but the last name is cerina."
Fox gasped rather loudly. "that's….that's Krystal! We gotta get out there and help!" "calm down son, we'll get there when we get there. Falco smirked, "yeah Fox, you'll have time to save your little girlfriend before too long" Peppy glared at Falco after that comment.
"Falco cut that out, this is a serious deal" the old hare scolded the younger avian. "Once we get closer we'll further detail our plan via communicators, Starfox team, move out!"
Again they all shot out of the docking bay in their arwings towards the mountains. As they closed in, Bill looked on his radar, "So far I see one person out on their own moving slowly, and two that are stationary." They figured that they made it just in time. Just before he sighed a sigh of relief did and alarm go off on Fox's radar.
"Wait a second! Seven airborne units just appeared, and three are closing in on the one, that must be Krystal! Fox said as he flew off on his own. "Son wai- gah, too late now." James couldn't believe it. "I'm sure he'll be alright, I hope he is" Slippy said unsure.
Krystal meanwhile walked through the small forest surrounding their small cabin, taking in the beauty of her surroundings. All of a sudden she heard something rustling around in the bushes nearby her. She looked over and saw a small rabbit hop out, she sighed heavily. Fox was racing as fast as he could to save her from the danger unknown to her, and him. He knew that when she stopped and the other 3 contacts did that it was time to act.
A few minutes later another bush rustled and she became a little scared. "Okay if anyone is following me please come out! It's really scaring me!" It was only about ten seconds after that three wolf men emerged from the bushes,one of them saying " She's a pretty little vixen, isn't she boys?" Krystal knew what this meant they wanted and did the only thing she knew to do, run.
She ran as much as she could until it was over. She reached a cliff and knew her only option was to jump. But how could she? It was at least a 200 foot drop! She panted hard as the men reached her, one of them smirking. "you'll be panting a lot harder when we finish with you." Krystal stood about two feet from the edge, and the wolves about seven feet away from her. "No… stay.. stay away!" She yelled, terrified. "Somebody! Anybody! HELP!" All of a sudden they heard a noise from the sky and look up.
They saw something fly over and land a ways away from where they were. "Heh, so much for your rescue. By the time that person gets here we'll be finished with the fun" She sighed, nearly in tears and looked at the sky wondering why this was happening to her. But as she did she saw something unnatural. Something was falling from the sky and was beginning to take shape.
The shape of a… person? "a…fox?" She whispered to herself. "there's no way." But it was. Landing hard on his feet in front of her was, in all his glory, Fox McCloud.
"I suggest you take a few steps back,now" He said with an angry tone. He was clothed in a flight jacket, with a green muscle shirt and cargo pants with fingerless gloves, silver combat boots hiking up to his calves, his headset, a blaster holstered around his leg and a vibrant red scarf around his neck.
All Krystal could say was "Fox…" before she passed out from relief. "you know, you guys should try and find something better to do than chasing after teenage girls." One of the wolves became angry saying "Maybe you should stop trying to interfere with my entertainment!" He threw a punch, which Fox easily caught and had a good grip on his arm.
The wolf look over at him and said "Please don't break my arm." Fox looked at him with a grim expression, simply saying "No."
The wolf yelped in pain about his newly broken arm. Fox roughly punched him in the gut, and following up with a brutal knee to the face, knocking out teeth. The other two wolves ran at Fox, he did the same and slid underneath them and swept their legs when they turned around. "Come on guys im only 16. Can't you do better than that?" One of the wolves quickly got up and whispered "Why you little…."
He ran at Fox unaware of what he was doing, and Fox simply sidestepped and tripped him up and watching him fall off the cliff, wondering what he was thinking running towards a cliff that high up. The last one ran at Fox while his back was turned still. Fox turned around in the blink of an eye and lightly jabbed him in the face, then pushed him off the cliff. He had done it, he saved Krystal from who knows what.
He walked over to where she was and sat beside her unconscious body with his legs crossed. He sat there for ten minutes until she began to stir. "Unnhhh" was all she muttered.
"W-what happened?" She said, still halfway unconscious. Fox chuckled,"I-I remember now" Finally regaining composure she sat up and looked at Fox. "Fox? Fox!" She sprang at him, wrapping her arms around his neck tightly. Fox tinted red a little bit, but in return wrapped his arms around her slender body.
She pulled back to look him in the eye. " I-I thought those men would- I mean y-you, you saved me Fox." She closed her eyes and leaned her head on his chest. "Uh, well I'm uh.. glad I could save you." He had no idea what to say exactly.
She looked him in the eye once more and said with a sincere heart, "You're my hero Fox."
"uhhhh well um, what are friends for?" He turned even more red. He pulled away and stood up, reaching out his hand to help her up.
"well im sure you want an explanation about all this. Well you see, Dad is the leader of the Starfox team, usually a team of mercenaries. In times of peace we're kind of like another branch of law enforcement."
"So wait, if you came here to help then you're-"
"That's right, im a member, and so are the other 3 guys. This isn't known to the public, only the people at the docking bay know, so I need you to keep this a secret. And yes, that's why I had to leave school last week." She smiled "well if it isn't too much, can you escort me back to where I'm staying?" He smiled as she took his arm and the two walked towards the cabin.
Fox was tinted red the whole way there. They made it back as she began to speak "well here we ar-" Fox's communicator went off on his wrist, alerting him to rejoin the team. "I've gotta go now, we'll see you again soon!" He said as he ran off waving goodbye.
Fox went home that night happy. He lie in bed thinking to himself, 'I'm someones hero.' The thought of this allowed him to easily drift off to peaceful sleep.
