Disclaimer: I do not and will never own Star Fox; no matter how much I would like to.
Note: I know I've been slow. I don't like the fact I am slow. I am doing my best to keep updating this fic, but, school-is-too-demanding. I'm spending as much time as I can on this story. Eh...that's all I have to say.
Lets-a-go!
The Catastrophe of War
Chapter 7
"...You've done well my apprentice..."
"Thank you master."
Fox froze when he heard two voices echo around the hallway corner. His breathing started to speed up, and his thoughts became more uncertain. He was walking down the Krazoa Palace's third floor, in the giant cylinder room. He was going to turn left into a tiny room where he had released a Krazoa Spirit before, when the two voices sounded around the same corner.
Fox doesn't remember how he got here, or why he was in the Krazoa Palace in the first place. All he knew now was that he needed to either find out who was speaking, or run out of the palace as fast as he could to avoid getting seen.
"Maybe I should leave..." Fox muttered to himself, as he took a small step back.
"No!" rang a second voice in this head. "Those two sound like they are plotting something. You need to find out what."
"What if I get caught?" mused Fox.
"The 'what if' statements...they cloud your better judgment. What happened to you? You weren't like this on Sauria. Go look, and see what is going on." repeated the stronger voice.
"'Curiosity killed the cat...'" groaned Fox, whacking at his head.
"But you're not a cat, are you?"
Fox sighed. If those two were plotting something, it would eventually affect Lylat, so he might was well look into it now. He quickly decided if he was spotted, he'd turn around, and sprint like never before. Fox took another step toward the room, but he heard the second voice again, so he stopped a foot from the corner.
"Master...where shall we head next? Katina hasn't seen or felt your almighty presence yet..."
Fox's jaw slowly dropped when he recognized that eerie voice, and it was echoing like the voice was spoken in a tunnel. He tiptoed toward the corner, and, ignoring the other person's reply, peered around the corner.
Fox clapped his paw over his mouth to keep himself from screaming. There was a cloaked figure with it's back to him, with huge demon-looking wings sprouting from it's back. It was about six and a half feet tall, with two feet long spikes poking out of it's shoulders. The look of the skin on the wings gave Fox a mental image of what the figure would be if it didn't have it's cloak on, but Fox didn't want to think about it too much, so he dismissed the thought. Fox stared at the massive figure in fear for a second or two then tried to locate the source of the other voice. The other person wasn't behind the cloaked figure, or any where around it, so Fox assumed she was in front of him.
"Master, look at this chart that I made for you. It shows all of the minions and pawns you now possess for your cause, and those who are resisting you."
"Ah...very good...I assume this is it?" said the cloaked figure pointing with one of it's hands, which was covered in the cloak, toward a wall to his right.
"Yes."
The figure stepped toward the east wall; reviling the person in front of him. Fox would have yelled out right then and there, if he didn't have his paw firmly over his mouth.
Standing in front of the Krazoa head, was a red-furred vixen. Her muscles where bulging slightly under her red jumpsuit, giving her an appearance like she exercised to a level in which she looked like wrestler. Her long red hair was tied into a ponytail, the many hairs that make up her pelt were moving like they were tiny flames, and her eyes burned with red fire. Her flaming tail was untied, making it fluff out, and was flicking back and forth with gratitude. She had a strange aura around her, like she was giving off an evil light. Her front white fur was marked with blood stains, and her fists were clenched.
Fox stared at her for a moment or two, then moved back around the corner, his breathing issuing in silent gasps. He couldn't believe what had happened to her. She wasn't supposed to be like this. After that prophecy...why didn't he talk to her about it? He could have prevented this. And, now...It seemed like she was converted for good.
Fox started sweating so much, his fur was soon drenched. He wiped the sweat off of his forehead, and risked another peek at the vixen.
She had moved behind the cloaked figure again, but Fox could still see the back half of her body. He stared at her blazing tail for a couple seconds and jumped slightly when the cloaked figure spook.
"This is excellent...all of Lylat, expect Katina, is now my army. Katina will be no problem to take over. But, if the Star Fox team survives...they may pose a slight threat. They need to be terminated."
"Of course..." replied the vixen, with a slight bow.
Fox's eyes widened with fear. He needed to get to Falco, Slippy, and Peppy and warn them. He needed to get out of here now, so he has a better fighting chance. The vixen's physical strength has seemed to multiplied one hundred times over, he wouldn't stand a chance here and now. Fox held his breath, and started taking very small steps away from the tiny room.
A single drop of sweat hit the smooth tiled floor. A sound like wind gusting around in the room followed. Fox, who's curiosity got the better of him, took fast steps back to the corner to see what it was.
The cloaked figure was still staring at the chart, but the vixen was no longer there.
"Oh, no...she must have sensed the sweat hitting the ground. Get out of there. GET OUT OF THERE NOW!" yelled the voice in his head.
Fox took a big step back, and pivoted on his extended right leg to turn around. When his head swung around, it slammed right into an extended paw, which grabbed his head and lifted him off the ground. Fox could barely see who grabbed him, but he could see a white muzzle, grinning broadly, showing razor sharp teeth.
"Now where do you think you're going Fox McCloud?" Fox saw the muzzle move as she spoke.
Fox couldn't muster up the strength to reply. The grip on his face and head was tightening, and he grunted in pain as his head started to throb.
"This...ugnn...is nothing. I-I can stand this for many minutes...and the rest of the team...ughnn...will be here...Just hold on Fox..." he thought subconsciously.
"Oh really?" said the red vixen, smirking slightly. "Ok then. Let's triple the pain."
Fox's eye's widened in alarm, and she turned him 90 degrees to his left. She clamped her other paw on the back of his head and squeezed with enough force to shatter bone. Fox let out a muffled yell of intense pain and the vixen just continued to squeeze harder. Fox felt her finger nails digging into his skull, and started flailing at her to try to free himself.
"NO! LET-ME-GO!" shouted Fox as loud as he could as he missed a punch to her gut.
"Fox!"
The vixen's finger's pierced his skin, and he felt her red-hot fur touch his skull directly. His eye's widened more, instantly watered up, and he let out another bloodcurdling scream, his thrashing gradually grew weaker.
"Fox! Wake up!"
A huge bang shook the Palace, and through the pain, Fox realized that kind of explosion could not have made the Palace shake that much.
"Fox! Come ON! Wake up!" and the Palace shook violently, and acted like it was being knocked over. The vixen threw Fox over the ledge, into the cylinder pit in the middle of the room. Fox tried to maneuver himself to go over one of the fans, but he missed each one.
"No..." moaned Fox as the ground came an inch from his face; he closed his eyes tightly, and braced for the fatal impact.
But, it never came. Fox opened his eyes. He saw a black surface above him, and started to thrash around for a second or two before he realized where he was.
He was laying upside down in his Arwing with his head under the control panel, and his feet on the seat head rest. His heart was beating uncontrollably, and his breathing was fast and shallow. He lowered his legs down, grabbed his knees, placed his paw on the wall of the Arwing, and pushed. He turned like a clock hand on his back, then pushed himself back onto his chair in the right position.
The terrifying prophecy that Krystal was repeating a few hours before was still playing off of the recorder, and the translator was still translating it. Fox quickly turned off the recording, and erased it. He didn't want anyone else, even Krystal, to know what she was saying.
The line that showed the recording was 7 seconds long disappeared, and when the message stopped, the translator stopped playing as well. Fox let out a long sigh, and ran his fingers through his head fur.
"That dream..." thought Fox, as he scratched the area where the vixen's fingers had penetrated his skull. "It felt so real...the sweat soaking my fur...the fear of seeing that cloaked figure...and...the pain of-" and he stopped himself before he thought any more because...
"Fox? You all right?" asked Krystal off of her Arwing communicator.
"Ye-yes. I'm fine" stammered Fox.
Krystal eyed his expression carefully. "Ok...but if you need to talk to me about something, you can always ask me about that dream of yours."
"Right...I will do that. But not now. What was that big explosion that I felt in..." his voice trailed off.
"It was me ramming your Arwing to wake you up!" said Krystal crossly. "You were yelling, and thrashing your head off in there!"
Fox didn't respond to that.
"But that's not the real reason why I tried to wake you up." Her voice hardened. "We...we've arrived at Sauria."
"We arrived at Sauria?" said Fox is a excited voice, leaning over to look out of his Arwing.
With those words, a monotone voice sounded off of the communicators in all of the Arwings.
"Destination reached."
"Arruuughh!" came a yell from the pod and a small dull thud was then heard. "Ugh...ouch...that's going to give me a headache later..." muttered Peppy as he picked himself off of the floor after he had fallen off of his chair.
Slippy opened his eyes. He saw the controls 'point-blank' range in front of him, let out a squeak of surprise and pushed himself off of them. "We're there?" he asked sleepily as he adjusted himself on his seat.
"Finally! I really need to stretch my legs!" exclaimed Falco, who flipped himself over on his chair so he was facing the right way.
"Yeah, we're there." said Fox darkly; he had his face pressed against his window to look down at the planet. "But I don't think you'll be as excited as you are now when you see it."
The others looked down at Sauria simultaneously.
"Oh...my...God..." muttered Peppy.
Sauria, which was placed back together 2 years ago by Fox, was splitting up again, but more violently this time. It seemed like each and every place that Fox visited on his adventure on Sauria was disconnected from the planet's surface. But not only that, there were dinosaur bodies floating away from, and revolving the satellites.
From where they were at, the team could see Thorntail Hollow floating next to the Moon Mountain Pass with several Thorntails flying away from their home, Cape Claw spinning in place with a couple of Hightops revolving around it, Lightfoot Village revolving around the Walled City, Lightfoots and Earthwalkers floating aimlessly nearby, and...
"How...how did that...of all things get disconnected from the planet?" whispered Krystal.
The closest piece of the broken planet floating near them was the Krazoa Palace, and it was glowing a very frightening red.
"I can't believe this...What happened? I'm positive that the aparoids didn't cause this to happen!" said Fox angrily.
"It had to be something else Fox." muttered Falco.
"But what?" asked Slippy who was staring at Sauria with huge eyes filled with fear.
"That!" yelled Krystal, pointing towards something near the Walled City.
Fox, Slippy, Falco, and Peppy looked towards the Walled City, which was not too far off from the Palace. Something was just coming around the City, and it was glowing a brilliant red.
"What...what is that thing? It looks like..." began Peppy.
"A Krazoa..." finished Fox. Peppy shot him a look over the communication screen showing that he was annoyed with Fox finishing his statement for him. "ROB! Analyze that spirit!"
"Affirmative."
Two minutes passed without anyone speaking, even though Slippy sneezed half way through.
"Analysis complete. The object is the "brother" of the Krazoa Spirits, the Spirits of Peace." came ROB's conclusion, "The spirit is one of the Krezoa, the Spirits of War."
Fox's jaw dropped. He instantly remembered what Krystal said a few hours ago, and his dream.
"...and I will assist him to rage war on all living beings..."
'To rage war...the statement that Krystal said must have something to do with these Krezoa...now that I look at it closely...that red is the exact red that Krystal's eyes were glowing...and...the color of her fur...' Fox thought as he stared at the Krezoa circling the Walled City.
'What was that?'
Fox gasped. With the shock of seeing Sauria in this condition, seeing the Krezoa, and what it truly is, he completely forgot that Krystal would read his thoughts. He very slowly averted his eyes down at her picture in the communication screen. She was leaning toward the screen, staring at Fox with narrowed eyes.
'Its-its nothing Krystal.' thought Fox with a frantic shack of his head.
'Oh, really? Then why do you seem so concerned about this "statement" that you think I said a couple of hours ago? And the color of 'her' fur? Who is this 'her' anyway? ' shot back Krystal with an angry jerk of her head.
'...Why don't we talk about it later...' Fox evasively thought.
'Why don't we talk about it now? If this is troubling you, then maybe I could help you...isn't that what you said to me before the aparoid attacks? "If you don't talk about it, then you won't feel better" Why aren't you following your own advice?' Krystal leaned back and crossed her arms.
'Krystal...now is not the time...the others will notice what we are doing...'
'So what if they notice?'
'I would care if they did. I don't want them to know about that. We can talk about it on the surface of Sauria, then I'll have all the time I'd need to explain it to you.' thought Fox desperately.
Krystal glared at him for a couple seconds, then gave him a short nod. 'Fine. You'd better tell me the full meaning of your concern then Fox.'
'I will.'
Fox tore his eyes away from Krystal's face to look down at Sauria. They needed somewhere to land to re-fuel, and if the Krezoa is causing war between the dinosaurs, there may not be any place safe on the surface. He looked closely at the main body of Sauria.
Half of the planet was covered in craters, where the disconnected parts of the planet used to be. From this altitude, it seemed that lots of the flora of the planet was burned into a wasteland. Even Ice Mountain, which was lucky enough to stay connected to the surface, became an elevated desert. None of these areas looked safe, even though there didn't seem to be any hostile beings in the wastelands, there were several explosions going off every few seconds all over the surface of the planet. Fox sighed.
"Any of you see where we could land for re-fueling?" asked Fox to the rest of the team.
Peppy's head disappeared from view of the communicator. "No, I don't see any place suitable for landing. So many burned areas..." he stated when he looked down at Sauria.
Falco shrugged. "I honestly don't care where we land."
Slippy didn't say anything, which Fox took as a "I don't know...".
"Krystal?" asked Fox. "You see any where?"
"No, I don't see any area in which we could land safely. But just because this side of the planet is burned doesn't mean the other is." she said matter-of-factually.
"But, your Arwing MUST be low on fuel by now, so you can't tow us to the other side, and we don't have enough time for Sauria to rotate so the other side would face us." said Slippy.
"Then I'll scan it myself." said Krystal roughly.
She placed her paws together into a hand sign again. Her index and middle fingers were placed together, pointing straight up, with her ring and pinky fingers curled over the top of the opposite paw. She muttered something in Saurian, and her paws glowed a faint blue. Krystal closed her eyes tightly and tightened her paws over each other more.
Falco was going to interrupt her, but Krystal flicked her tail up and placed her tail-tip over her screen in a gesture showing not to interrupt. Falco muttered something irritably.
A few minutes later, Krystal canceled the hand sign and let out a sigh. "All of the planet's surface is barren. The only life I sensed was possessed dinosaurs. All of them are hostile, and they would attack us as soon as we land on the surface. There is no 'safe haven' in which we can re-fuel."
There was a horrified silence after Krystal finished speaking.
"Did you scan the floating pieces of the planet?" asked a terrified Fox.
"Yes." responded Krystal. "But, the only area in which I did not scan was Krazoa Palace. The Krezoa blocked my telepathic scan."
"Then that must be where they have a 'base' of some kind." said Peppy. "I bet if we land there, we could get to the bottom of this catastrophe."
"I'm fine with that." Slippy added. "I never been on Krazoa Palace before; I'd like to see it."
"Like I said..." started Falco.
"You don't care." Krystal causally finished his sentence. "We know."
"So we all good?" asked Peppy. "We can land on the roof of Krazoa Palace? ...Fox?"
Fox was staring out into space, lost in his thoughts. Krazoa Palace...he didn't want to go there, even though that was the place where he first saw Krystal. He was simply too scared of the sacred place at the moment because of his dream. His head throbbed again, and he rubbed it vigorously. He was also concerned for Krystal. He didn't want her to go there because of what could happen...
"Fox! Can we please land at Krazoa Palace?" yelled Slippy. "I really need to use the bathroom!"
Fox shook himself. If they landed on the Palace, they could find out what was going on here, and they could re-fuel so one of the team members could go back to Corneria and ask for reinforcements. He just has to keep an extra eye on Krystal.
"Yes." said Fox. "Lets descend to the Palace and see what is going on."
"Ok!" exclaimed Krystal and she fired her boosters. Her Arwing moved forward quickly, then slowed considerably when the weight of the other Arwings was placed onto the wires.
Fox got lost in his thoughts again. "Ok. All we need to do is look around, find out whats wrong, re-fuel our Arwings, and go back to Corneria for reinforcements; there is no reason to linger here. Besides...I can't let her be taken by them..."
What Fox failed to notice again, was that Krystal heard every syllable.
"'I can't let her be taken by them'? What does he mean by that?" she thought to herself. "Wait...a...minute...he canceled his thoughts when he thought 'the pain of-'...The pain of what? 'The color of her fur...' The color of...who's...fur..." Krystal gasped silently. "What other female is around here? There is only one! And thats...me! What did Fox see? Why is he so concerned about me having my fur a different color and me being taken by someone? Well, I can understand me being taken, but my fur color? I'm going to find out why he is acting like this as soon as we land at Krazoa Palace." she concluded as the Arwings were engulfed in flames as the team entered the tiny atmosphere surrounding Krazoa Palace.
Note: Bah...ok. The hand sign Krystal made to scan Sauria was the hand sign for the 'Transformation Jutsu' from Naruto (the T.V. show; I think the sign is different in the anime comic...) I put that note because I don't think I did a good job of describing how it looks; whats up there is the best I could do.
Chapter 8 coming in what...a couple of weeks? -.-
Oh, Krystal is NOT completely evil (I hope he meant evil). What do I mean by that? That question will be answered later...