Disclaimer: As I said before, Nintendo owns Star Fox, not me.
Note: Krystal speaks 'Saurian' or 'Dinosaur Language' for the first time in this chapter. Try to find the words when you read it, then translate them the best you can to see what she says.
The Catastrophe of War
Chapter 2
Krystal walked over to a chair near the main computer and sat in it. She had a long ordeal back on Sauria and she was glad it was over. And now, she has a place to be, no longer roaming the galaxy for answers.
'I'm glad I joined this team; now I will have some company on my personal quest as we go around the Lylat System. I just hope they don't make a mission looking for answers about my planet's destruction. There is no need...'she thought as she crossed her legs.
Krystal looked around the bridge and watched Fox tell his report to the General. She listened closely to what he said about her and noticed that he glanced at her each time he said her name. The vixen smirked and started thinking about her future as a Star Fox team member when Peppy came up next to her.
"Krystal, we are about to make our way to Corneria, and many people on the planet, including General Pepper, may be offended by the way you are dressed." said the hare.
"I can understand that..." muttered Krystal, looking down at her wrist, gazing at the armor piece firmly locked on to her wrist.
"We have a room prepared for you, ROB set it up when Fox said you could join. You could go there and change into more suitable clothes. I can show you-"
"There is no need Mr. Peppy." interrupted Krystal. "I know where the room is, I read the layout of the ship when I was waiting for Fox."
Peppy gaped at her. "How...it took me years to memorize this ship's layout...and you...memorized it in 7 minutes..."
Krystal laughed. "Lets say I have something close to photographic memory and leave it at that." she said as she stood up.
"Oh, Krystal, one more thing..."
"Hm?"
Peppy smiled. "There is no need to call me 'Mr. Peppy', just call me Peppy; if there was someone on board this ship that would need to call me 'Mr.' it would be Slippy."
Krystal smiled as well and walked past Peppy to go to her room to change her clothes.
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Fox finished his report to General Pepper 3 minutes later. "Thank you for that report Fox." said the General.
"No problem, sir." responded Fox as he saluted.
"Haha, you're just like your father...I remember that salute so well...I'll see you here at Corneria soon Fox. Pepper out." With that, his head vanished.
Fox looked around and noticed Krystal was not there, nor did he notice her leave the bridge.
"Eh...she decides where she wants to go. She is a member of this team so she has access to most parts of this ship. I don't need to hold her hand...no matter how much I want to...so I'll just go back to my room and delete that report I typed." he said to himself as he made his way to the door.
When he got to the bridge door and said "Unlock." he turned to Slippy, who was behind the computer again, a few feet away from Fox.
"Start our way to Corneria ASAP Slippy." he ordered.
"Ok, Fox." replied the toad with a grunt as he screwed in a bolt.
Fox continued to the hall and to his room. He passed the hangar, ignoring it now that he knew that the Sharpclaw ship is Krystal's, and walked past Slippy's room. As he passed the guest room, he noticed that the sign, that used to read 'Guest Room', now reads 'Krystal's Room'.
"ROB." said Fox into his wrist communicator, stopping a few yards from Krystal's room.
"Yes?" answered the robot.
"Where did you put the new guest room now that the old one is now Krystal's?" asked Fox.
"The guest room is now room #7, three rooms down from yours Fox." said ROB's voice the very second after Fox finished.
"Ok. Thats all ROB." said Fox and turned off his communicator. 'Whew...I thought if a guest was going to stay on this ship, he or she would have to share a room with one of us...haha...Krystal would not like that...' he thought as he took a step forward.
As he did so... "Fox?"
He stopped his step and turned around; his jaw dropped again, he couldn't help it.
Krystal just stepped out of her room and the door was closing behind her. She was no longer wearing the loincloth or those armor pieces. The vixen replaced them with a light blue leather jacket that matching her fur completely, and there were holes in the jacket sleeves and the pink shirt under it so Fox could see her tattoos on her arms. She also has on a dark pair of blue jeans, and those have holes in them too, so everyone could see the swirl tattoos on her upper thighs, and she also replaced her sandals with black leather boots.
'Wow...' thought Fox.
"What? Do you like it?" asked Krystal, stepping in front of him.
"Yeah...yes I do..." said Fox. Her tail flicked back and forth and she hugged him.
"Thank you Fox...no one has ever done this much for me..." the vixen murmured over Fox's shoulder.
"Like I said before...no problem..." said Fox as he looked at her on top of his shoulder. He pushed back her bangs so he could see her eyes...they are so beautiful...
"Fox!" Falco's voice snapped Fox and Krystal like a whip. They both looked around frantically but they did not see the blue avian.
"Oh, duh, your communicator Fox." said Krystal.
Fox smiled lightly and turned on his communicator so he could talk to Falco. "Yeah? What is it Falco?" he said.
"We are about to enter hyperspace, and Peppy advises you and Krystal to hold on to something sturdy so you don't go flying around..." Slippy's voice joined his.
"But don't hold on to each other!" and he burst out laughing.
Fox was about to say something to Slippy when he heard a slapping noise. "You idiot!" said Falco's voice furiously, "Why would they do that?"
"Never mind that Falco" said Fox quickly; he knew exactly what Slippy meant and when he looked up at Krystal, she was giggling so hard it seemed like she couldn't breathe. "How long until we enter hyperspace? And why are we entering it so soon?" asked Fox into his communicator.
"About 2 minutes, and if your near Krystal's room, which by the signal of this communicator, I think you are, you won't be able to get back in time." Peppy added his voice into Fox's communicator.
"The reason why we are entering hyperspace so soon Fox is because I remember you saying 'ASAP'. Well, this is as soon as possible." The hare chuckled at his remark.
"Great..." muttered Fox. "Ok, we will be back onto the bridge once we enter hyperspace. Fox out." he turned his communicator to allow only ROB's voice to be heard off it.
"Ok, lets get into your room and hold on to that bed, it should be sturdy enough." said Fox, "And I don't mean we will be on TOP of the bed Krystal!" he added as she started giggling again.
They walked into her room and Fox turned on the lights. The room was plain; a bed, dresser, a door that led to the bathroom, a sitting area and a computer near a window was all that was in the room. Laying on the table in the sitting area was Krystal's loincloth and top, her staff, her armor pieces and her old sandals.
"Ok, lets grab the legs of the bed; they are screwed into the floor." said Fox.
Krystal nodded and knelled down and held on to the lower left leg of the bed, while Fox grabbed the lower right leg.
ROB's voice sounded off of Fox's wrist. "Entering hyperspace in 5...4...3...2...1..."
The ship gave a almighty lurch; Fox and Krystal redoubled their grip and curled their bodies around the legs of the bed. The engines hummed louder than normal, and Fox felt felt his body being torn away from the bed leg. As the Great Fox speed up to 3 A.U.s per hour, everything that was not buckled down was rolling toward the back of the room; which includes all the stuff that was on Krystal's table.
"Oh no, the staff!" yelled Krystal. "If it hits this hard floor, it's powergem will shatter!"
Fox reached for the staff, which was no easy task. The G-forces on the ship were up to 6, so Fox could barely lift his arm. As he watched the staff fall, he noticed, by sheer dumb luck, it was falling towards his paw. He opened his palm with great difficulty and caught the staff.
"Got it." grunted Fox as the G-forces slowly returned to normal. Krystal let out a sigh of relief as the ship adjusted the artificial gravity to the speed it was going.
Fox and Krystal let go of the bed legs and stood up. Fox's arms were pulsing from his effort on holding on to the bed and he rubbed them as if he was cold. Krystal, however, was walking over to her closet and pulled something out of it; a small box.
"Whats that?" asked Fox as he stopped rubbing his pulsing arms and sat down on the bed.
"Its a gift, if you will, for saving me." said Krystal.
"But...why are you giving me it now?" said Fox puzzled; this seemed like an odd time to give him a gift. He didn't think he even needed one.
"Well, I was going to wait until you come into my room and...you are in my room now so this is a good time to give you this gift."
"But...I don't need a gift. I just saved you because it was the right thing to do."
"Ah..." said Krystal as she sat down next to him putting the box on his lap. "I think you will like it anyway."
"What is it?" asked Fox as he eyed the box as if it was a cheeseburger.
"Its a prototype of my staff." Fox ripped open the box like a mad man, Krystal laughing at his effort to destroy the box.
As he found the staff in the demolished box, he noticed it was silver, not gold; the gem and designs on it were a green-ish color, not purple.
"Wow..."
"This staff can do everything that my staff can do." said Krystal. "But it can't do that useless portal-opening skill." Fox laughed. "Keep it with you when we go on missions...it may come in handy."
"Yeah..." said Fox as he gazed at the shortened silver staff. He pushed a small button near the green powergem which made it extend. It is the same size as Krystal's and as the same designs on it. He gazed at it for what felt like hours.
"Ok." said Fox as he pulled his eyes off of the staff. "Lets get back to the bridge before we get out of hyperspace." he added as he stood up.
Krystal nodded and stood up too. Fox and Krystal walked out of the room, and Fox shorted his new staff and put it on his back.
"I'm glad you like it, Fox." said Krystal from behind him as he walked down the hallway. They made the rest of the way to the bridge silently.
As Fox and Krystal stepped into the bridge ("Unlock."), they noticed that Peppy, Falco and ROB were trying to pry Slippy off of his new plush seat because he had sunk into it. Fox and Krystal laughed, which announced their presence.
"Oh, Fox, Krystal; good, your ok. You didn't end up like Slippy." said Peppy. "Can you two come over here and help us get Slippy out of this mess? We need to get him free before we get out of hyperspace."
Fox nodded and Krystal didn't say anything as they both walked over to the toad stuck in his plush seat.
"Get me out...of...here..." came a muffled croak from in the chair.
"Just sit tight Slippy..." began Krystal.
"It's not like I have a choice..." muttered Slippy and a green webbed hand came out and started waving at them.
Fox laughed, but Krystal frowned and pulled out her staff.
"What are you going to-" started Fox, but Krystal put up a paw to silence him.
She she placed her raised paw back firmly back on her staff muttered something in the Saurian language so quietly, Fox could not hear what she said. As soon as she finished, the staff started to glow a faint, but dark blue. Krystal placed the end of the staff gently on the surface of the plush seat and said strongly "Ludajx!", jabbing the seat slightly with her glowing staff. The seat disappeared and Slippy was seen floating a foot off of the ground, blinking, and fell to the floor with a small grunt.
"How-" said Fox, Falco, Peppy, and ROB at the same time; Slippy was just staring at the ceiling with a shocked expression.
"Don't ask..." said Krystal with a faint smile. "It is extremely complicated and I'm the only one that can do what I just did." She turned around and walked to the door, with everyone staring after her.
Before she got to it, she glanced backwards and said, "I can sense we are going to get out of hyperspace in about three and a half minutes. I'm going back to my room and no, Fox, you can't come this time." the vixen added as Fox opened his mouth.
Fox gaped at her for a few seconds and mustered the strength to mutter "...Ok then...".
He stared into her right eye, which was the one that was gazing at him with her head turned toward him. He started to wonder if thinking if he could go to her room offended her.
Fox winced when he heard Krystal's voice in his mind. 'We aren't that close yet Fox...I can't just let you come into my room as often as you go in yours.'
Fox sighed and nodded slowly then averted his eyes to his boots, a burning thought in his mind. 'Dang it! Why did I have to think if I could come with her...its her room...and I continue to forget she is a telepath!'
Fox noticed that Krystal would have heard that; he looked up. Krystal was still looking at him with her head turned, and her eyes betraying nothing. She turned her head back and walked off the bridge ("Idcesb".) with her tail waving behind her as if it was caught by wind.
Fox reached forward with an arm, but it was no use. He wondered again if he upset her in anyway. He was also starting to feel guilty that he was acting like he and Krystal were married...
"Fox! What are you doing? Get up here and hold on!" yelled Peppy.
Fox snapped out of his thoughts and looked around. Falco, Peppy, and Slippy were holding on to a railing on the upper level of the bridge; ROB was no where in site. Fox also realized he was standing in the same spot for over 3 minutes and he gasped as he remembered that they were coming out of hyperspace. He ran over to the railing and grabbed it.
"Exiting hyperspace in 5...4...3...2...1..." came ROB's voice.
Fox was not prepared for the exiting of hyperspace, as he was still thinking about Krystal so much, that his grip was loose. As soon as the Great Fox gave another lurch, he lost his grip on the rail, flew over the crouched Falco, Slippy and Peppy and slammed into the wall behind them and got pinned to it, due to the G-forces. He was pinned to the wall for 1 minute and after the G-forces got to normal, he fell to the ground with a dull thud. However, he didn't feel the pain of hitting the hard floor as the ship slowed down...because Fox was knocked unconscious when he hit the wall...
Note: Fox will live if you thought he'll die. Remember, he is alive during Assault, and I'm not there yet! Also, A.U. stands for Astronomical Unit; 1 A.U. is about 93 million miles.