Disclaimer: I don't own Star Fox, and I'm glad I don't. Why? 'Cause if I did, it would suck, and we don't want that do we?
Note: I know, I know. You're thinking: "Wow that was quick.". Yes, it was, because since I posted the last chapter, I've been working on this one every day. I am determined not to have another writer's block. However, don't expect the next chapter to be as quick. Finals are in a couple weeks, so I need to spend more time studying if you know what I mean.
If you get confused with anything (which, I think you won't, if you catch on quickly) then ask me about what you are confused on. I'll PM you explaining the topic if you want me to do so.
Now, READ!
The Catastrophe of War
Chapter 9
"Great. Just great! What the hell am I supposed to do now?" thought Fox as his blasters reached the second level of charge power. He had them pointed at the avian, one aimed at his machine gun, the other directed at his head.
Falco's physical appearance, with the exception of his uniform, hadn't changed much. His former deep blue feathers had turned into a deep maroon, and his red eyes now blazed with the longing of combat and murder. The silver sides of Falco's uniform had turned into a deep red, just like the army of possessed Earthwalkers behind him; the other parts of his uniform had kept it's light red color, but the shoulder plates, instead of being rounded, were now finished with spikes. The Star Fox logo the arm of the uniform had changed into a Krezoa head, with a sword and axe crossed over it; his silver boots had turned into a copper color.
"Well? What are you going to do now, vixen?" sneered Falco, with a smirk and an upward tilt of his head, gazing at Krystal. "If you don't attack now, I'll take you away."
"Take her?" gasped Fox, with a worried glance at the blue vixen. "What do you mean by that?"
Falco turned his fiery gaze to the stunned vulpine, stared at him for a couple seconds, and merely said with a twisted smile, "You'll soon find out McCloud." Then he turned to the Earthwalkers behind him, and shouted: "Ted'k melo idcojj A semmudt 0ei ke te je!", and the Earthwalkers said in one clear voice: "0oj, jah!"
Fox was taken by surprise. Since when could Falco speak Saurian fluently? Then, slapping himself on the forehead for forgetting, he remembered that Falco was possessed by a Krezoa Spirit, so the Krezoa is the one speaking the dinosaur language.
Just then, a pale red light beam flew by Falco's head, missing him by a few inches. Fox and Krystal looked behind them speedily. Slippy was laying across Krystal's Arwing, aiming his sniper at Falco. His rifle was smoking at the tip.
Krystal raised an eyebrow at him. Slippy snapped his fingers, and ducked back into Krystal's Arwing. A few seconds later, he came out with a demon sniper rifle, and took aim at Falco again.
"...Just a little more to the left..." muttered Slippy's voice off of the communicators; Krystal's jaw dropped, and she cried out, "SLIPPY! DON'T DO IT! THAT THING IS TOO POWERFUL! IT'S MEANT TO BE USED ON VEHICLES ONLY! NOT-" she was cut off by sensing Slippy pulling the trigger, despite of Krystal's rather late warning.
"What a fool..." she thought to herself, and she shortened her staff.
For whatever reason, Fox heard Krystal's warning as well; it seemed that she was so alarmed that she failed to block her thought from his mind.
Slippy's shot flew between Fox and Krystal, heading straight for Falco; the avian had a wide, evil grin his face. He raised a wing, and deflected the shot towards Krystal.
Fox didn't even have enough time to say anything. During the couple seconds which the beam was flying towards Krystal, only two thoughts crossed Fox's mind: he had NO idea how Falco was able to even touch the beam without getting a mark on his wing, and that if Krystal got hit by the beam, she would obviously be killed instantly, and she would sent soaring backwards several hundred yards, yet, she didn't seem as concerned as Fox did.
Krystal had placed the staff back on her belt, and her paws were a blur as she made several dozen handsigns within a few seconds. Before the sniper shot hit her, Krystal raised her paws up, and caught the beam with a loud grunt; the plates of tile on which she was standing on cracked when the shot made contact. The beam collected into a ball of bright energy in her paws, and Krystal started getting pushed backwards, tile cracking when her feet pressed over them.
The others' eyes widened in surprise as Krystal's fur and tail rose to the sky, like there was a static current in the air, pulling her fur upwards, and small bolts of light blue lightning started crackling around her. She had a grim concentrated expression on her face, almost like a grimace. After a few seconds, the ball caused the fur on her paws to combust. She winced in pain as the beam started to burn her skin once it had burned through her fur.
"I've had enough of this." thought Krystal, and, with a yell, she sent the shining ball soaring skyward.
Fox and Slippy were speechless.
Falco started clapping as Krystal crouched down quickly and placed her paws in the blood covering the tile to extinguish the flames. "Very, very impressive, vixen. I can tell your father made a very good choice for the purpose of your life..."
Krystal looked up, eyes narrowed angrily, and paws soaked in blood. "Don't you ever...talk about my father...in front of me..." She snarled; she took her staff off of her belt in blinding speed, and before Fox or Slippy could react, she charged at Falco.
"SXUHWO!" yelled Krystal; her staff glowed a dark orange, and tiny sparks flew off of the tip of her staff. Fox quickly took out his translator, to find out what she said, but it was off, and didn't record anything. With an angry jab, he turned on the translator just when Krystal yelled, "0EI'HO TOUT!"
"YOU'RE DEAD!" shouted Krystal's voice off of the translator. Fox, with a gasp, looked down at the translator and back up at Krystal, who was about to take an almighty swing at Falco's head.
"Krystal, DON'T! FALCO IS STILL IN THERE! THERE'S STILL A CHANCE TO SAVE HIM!" shouted Fox, but it was too late.
Krystal swung her staff like a baseball bat; it had the appearance as if it was bending in the air with the speed that Krystal was swinging it. Falco continued to smile as Krystal's staff neared his head; it hit on his left side with a dull 'thunk'. He didn't blink, wince, grunt, anything; his head didn't even move.
"What-?" spluttered Krystal, and before she could pull her staff back, Falco had dropped one machine gun, took hold of her neck, and lifted her off of the ground. Krystal gasped in shock and for air, and she dropped her staff, then started to slap Falco's wing feebly.
"Krystal!" yelled Fox, and he lunged forward, charging his blasters again. A beam of light flew past his head and hit Falco squarely on the forehead. Caught off guard, Falco recoiled backwards, giving Fox an opening, who was somewhat surprised that Falco wasn't blasted backwards from the demon sniper beam. He pointed both of his blasters at Falco's gut, and fired the fully charged shots. They combined in the air, and hit Falco's midsection as a single, powerful shot. But this did nothing, and the next moment afterwards, Falco threw Krystal up onto the ramp; she rolled out of site.
"Why you...!" muttered Fox, and, placing his blasters back on his belt, attempted to punch Falco in the jaw. The red avian simply caught Fox's fist, and threw him onto the ramp. Fox tried to stand back up, but a copper boot hit him on the back, and forced him back on the ground. Fox coughed up some blood as he hit the tile.
Falco picked one blaster off of Fox's belt, pointed it at Fox's head, and started charging it. "Good night, McCloud..."
"Fox!" yelled Slippy, and he shot at Falco again; the avian effortlessly deflected it back towards the Arwing; Slippy screamed and ducked back in Krystal's Arwing. The demon shot hit the Arwing's side, and it promptly blew up, knocking Slippy unconscious, and sending him flying through the air. The toad's limp body landed awkwardly three hundred feet away from the Arwings.
"...Slippy..." groaned Fox, and he reached out with one paw in Slippy's direction. Falco stomped hard on Fox's forearm, causing Fox to yell in pain. He felt a heated blaster nozzle rest against his head.
"Sweet dreams..." said Falco softly in Fox's ear. Fox closed his eyes and prepared for the painful shot entering his skull. He then heard a small 'thunk', followed by Falco grunting, which was cut off by something that sounded close to a small explosion.
Falco let out a painful groan, and the Earthwalkers moaned slightly. Fox kept his eyes shut, thinking it was a trick, and waited for the blast, but it never came. Furthermore, Falco's pressure on his back loosened, and Fox felt something lightly hit him on the back. Fox opened his eyes slowly and turned his head around. Falco's beak was slightly open, and his eyes were glazed over; he had also dropped the blaster. Fox took this chance and pushed himself away from under the possessed avian; he rolled all the way down the ramp.
At the foot of the ramp, Fox picked himself up off of the ground, and looked back at Falco. It looked like nothing was wrong with him, besides the fact that he was possessed, so Fox couldn't understand why Falco let him escape. He walked halfway off of the ramp, then heard a faint voice come from behind the motionless avian.
"Uccen mo ke kubo unu0 nxuk xuj rood idnaccadwc0 walod."
"...Krystal!"
Fox ran up the rest of ramp, and took a look behind Falco; he let out a yell, and jumped backwards, nearly falling off of the ramp. Krystal was standing behind Falco, in a fighting stance, with her left fist clenched around her glowing staff, and her right paw was inserted into Falco's back. A blue circle enclosed the area in which Krystal's paw had entered Falco's back, and upon closer examination, Fox noticed that her paw, if she tired, would be able to touch his heart. Fox looked at Krystal's face. She was breathing heavily, her shoulders rising and falling with each breath. Fox couldn't see her eyes; her long bangs were covering them completely.
The vixen's right arm twitched, and a second later, she pulled her paw out of Falco's back, who screamed in extreme agony. Fox, for a brief moment, thought that Krystal had pulled out his heart. What Krystal had pulled out, however, was the Krezoa Spirit, by the hairs sprouting from the back of it's head. It didn't move in her paw, nor did it try to fly away; it seemed that, in some unknown way, Krystal had "killed" the Krezoa. The Earthwalkers stared up at the limp form of the Spirit, many growling, others roaring fiercely. Krystal threw the Krezoa head up the ramp, and when it hit the ground, it disappeared. She raised her right paw to the sky, and shouted "Ammeracaqo!". All of the possessed Earthwalkers froze in place, eliminating the threat of them charging at Fox and Krystal.
"How did you...?" muttered Fox, poking Krystal's shoulder.
Without looking up, Krystal replied, "I helped the vixen do so."
Fox let out a shout of surprise, and he took several hurried steps down the ramp to back away from Krystal. Her voice wasn't the way it was before; it had an eerie tone to it, and it was echoing, just like the way it was in Fox's dream back in the Arwing. He took his remaining blaster off of his belt and pointed it at Krystal, his arm shaking slightly.
Krystal smirked, then placed both paws on a now unconscious Falco's shoulders, and laying him down on the ground. She then straightened back up, and turned to Fox, who was steadily losing grip on his blaster.
"Who-what are you? You can't be Krystal! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" he yelled.
Krystal's smirk widened to a smile, and she looked up, her bangs lifting above her eyes. Fox gasped, and dropped his blaster in astonishment. Her eyes were now glowing a light purple, and her pupils, which were glowing a deeper purple, widened as they set focus on Fox's shivering body.
"I am the eldest of the Krazoa Spirits. I am the leader and overseer of all Krazoa Spirits. I, am known as Krazina."
As she spoke, a faint outline started to come into view over Krystal's left shoulder. At first Fox couldn't tell what it was, and he squinted at it. Then the outline became more prominent, giving it a shape of a Krazoa head. Then, as it became more defined, Fox saw that it had several different features than that of a normal Krazoa. It had clearly outlined pupils in it's eyes, it's "beard" curled up at the end, and it's hairs curled together.
"That image must be Krazina..." thought Fox. "And she must be using Krystal in order to speak..."
"I am glad that I was able to assist you in destroying one of my brother's minions." said Krystal; the Krazoa head's mouth moved in sync with Krystal's as she spoke. "They have brought terror and war to this planet, destroying what the citizens have worked so hard and long to build. They've turned many of the dinosaur tribes into savage, out of control monsters. Each one of the tribes, regardless of former friendships and alliances, have battled each other for no particular reason except just to do it. They find joy of killing others, and have no remorse for what they do to the planet to achieve that pleasure, and Sauria is slowly dieing because of it. They've blocked waterfalls that provide vital nutrients to the many plants of Sauria; many have died and withered away, leaving Sauria with an appearance of a wasteland. They have, with the sacrifices of some dinosaurs, angered the volcanoes so they erupt, charing the planet's crust, and destroying it's atmosphere. The Spellstones have been overloaded with evil energy, and they are unable to keep the planet stable, and most of the Krazoa Spirits have been driven out into oblivion, tearing this planet apart."
Fox was silent for a while as he let what Krazina told him sink in.
"Is there a greater purpose for the Krezoa's rampage?" asked Fox; he was now trying to speak like he was speaking to a queen, because it felt like Krazina was one. "To say, what are they trying to achieve?"
"They are attempting to resurrect my brother, Krezonate."
"And why is that significant?"
"He is the only Krezoa that is able to move from planet to planet, as I am the only Krazoa to do the same. If he is resurrected, he can then take his minions and conquer other planets, such as your Corneria."
Fox thought for a second. "What can be done to stop them?"
"Deep within Krazoa Palace, is a crystal. This crystal contains the soul of my mother, who was the one that killed my brother just when he was attempting to take control of Sauria, many, many millennia ago. If you take this crystal and put it in the crystalline cage in which this vixen was trapped in a year and a half ago, it's energy will disintegrate all of the Krezoa all over Sauria and it's new moons."
Fox nodded, and he picked up his blaster. When he stood back up, his eyes found Falco's motionless body...
"..."YOU ARE OURS, VIXEN!"..."Well? What are you going to do now, vixen? If you don't attack now, I'll take you away."..."Very, very impressive, vixen. I can tell your father made a very good choice for the purpose of your life..."
"I...I have one question...a question regarding Krystal." he said faintly.
Krystal's and Krazina's head tilted upwards simultaneously.
"Earlier...when we battled T-Tricky," Fox's voice cracked when he said the Earthwalker's name, "and Falco...when they were possessed...they said stuff like "You are ours, vixen", and "I can tell your father made a very good choice for the purpose of your life"...What did they mean by that?"
For the first time, Krazina hesitated with her answer. "This vixen is what the Krezoa have been looking for since you saved Sauria from the Apariods. They need her to bring Krezonate back to life...They need to..." Krystal and Krazina looked away from Fox.
"What? What do they need to do with her?" asked Fox quickly.
"It's...violent...they need to...they need to cut off...cut off her head, and use it as the embodiment of my brother after his resurrection."
After Krazina finished speaking, one of Krystal's eyes, her right one, turned back to it's normal turquoise color; it was filling with tears, rapidly.
"They-they need to c-cut off...my head?!" gasped Krystal in her normal voice; Krazina's mouth didn't move as the sobbing vixen spoke.
Fox had fallen to his knees when Krazina had finished as well. He couldn't even say anything; he just blankly stared at the ramp, with his mouth half-open.
"But why me?" asked Krystal to the ground.
Krazina looked at Krystal. "It's because of a deal. A deal that your...father made with my brother before he and Krezonate died." said Krystal; she was being used as Krazina's speaking tool again. "Keep this in mind: they were good friends, though I don't know how they managed to obtain such a friendship."
"Three years before you were born, Krystal, Krezonate came to Cerinia to ask your father something. Back then, Krezonate took a form of a demonic wolf, so he was able to physically talk to your father, without possessing him and asking him with thoughts. Due to their close friendship, Krezonate felt that he could trust your father. He asked your father, if he were to die before he accomplished his goal, if his minions could use his offspring, which is you, to revive him. Your father happily agreed..."
For some odd reason, Krystal's eye was now blazing with excitement; Fox couldn't understand why.
"I have one question Krazina." said Krystal. "When they...when they attempt to cut off my...head...do I have to be possessed at the time?"
"Yes." said Krazina off of Krystal again.
"And that is the only way that the resurrection will be successful? To sacrifice me when I'm possessed?"
"Yes."
Through his numb disbelief, Fox found it odd to hear two different voices coming from Krystal's mouth; it sounded like she was talking to herself.
"Ok. Then all I have to do is watch my back, and don't allow myself to be possessed."
"Good luck with that." said a voice behind Fox.
Fox turned around quickly, already knowing who it was. Slippy was standing ten feet from the foot of the ramp, holding a blackened demon sniper with one arm, pointed at Fox. His eyes were glowing red.
"Damnit Slippy...you shouldn't have gone back into that Arwing when Falco deflected that beam...you should have known that the shot would destroy the Arwing...and now look at what happened..." thought Fox, as he pointed his blaster at the toad.
Krystal's left eye and Krazina's eyes narrowed at the possessed Slippy; Krystal's right eye was filled with shock. "When will you ever understand that just about every being in this universe doesn't like war?" asked Krazina.
"Hmph...that will change once we bring back Krezonate, Krazina." said Slippy, pointing the rifle at Fox's head. "Now...to get rid of this vulpine before he causes anymore trouble." and before Fox could even fire the simplest blaster shot, Slippy pulled the trigger.
What ever happened next, Fox never knew. The next thing that he knew that he was on his butt, sitting on the ramp, looking up at Krystal, who had her back to him. The back of her left blood-soaked paw was smoking...Fox assumed that she had done something with the rifle shot, just like she did earlier, but she caught it last time. Fox looked to his left; he saw a pale beam disappearing into the storm. Fox then realized that Krystal had jumped out in front of him, and deflected the shot with the back of her paw.
"How did she...?" thought Fox.
Krystal turned her head and looked down at Fox, who gasped. Both of her eyes were glowing a very deep violet, and her pupils were the darkest purple that Fox has ever seen; Krazina must have completely entered Krystal's body.
"Fox..." her echoing voice sounded in his blank mind; he could hear "Fox" echoing several times over. "Are you ok?"
Fox nodded slowly, and he continued to stare into her glowing eyes. He felt like all of his troubles had gone away...
Fox zoned out for a bit, and thirty seconds later, he realized that Slippy was speaking to Krystal.
"...showed compassion to those that need to die Krazina. Now move."
"No." said Krystal simply. The word "no" echoed about seven times before she spoke again. "I will not allow you to use her."
"We need that vixen!" yelled Slippy. "Now get out of her body!"
"I will not." muttered Krystal.
"Fine. Then that fox will die now." and he jumped into the air, directly above Fox, aiming the demon sniper at his head.
Fox looked up, let out a yelp, and tried to crawl away from Slippy's aim, but it wasn't working. Krystal did a back flip into the air, flying backwards to get under Slippy. Slippy fired his shot, but Krystal deflected it back to him; the shot hit him in the gut, knocking the wind out of him. Krystal then lunged forward and inserted her paw into Slippy's chest. The toad let out a high-pitched scream, and a second later Krystal pulled the Krezoa out of Slippy just like she did with Falco; she threw it to the ground, and it disappeared as well.
Slippy plummeted to the ground, and hit the tile with a loud thud, followed by a crack. Fox winced as the snapping noised echoed through the air. He took a look Slippy; his arm was bent in a way it shouldn't be.
Krystal landed gracefully next to Fox, who was standing up slowly.
"...His arm is broken..." said Fox faintly.
"I know...I'm sorry I didn't catch him. I didn't have enough time after I disposed of the Krezoa." said Krystal.
"Is there anything you can do?" asked Fox wearily.
"I can't heal his arm. I can, however, teleport him back to your Corneria, where he can get medical help." said Krystal.
"...Do that." muttered Fox.
Krystal nodded and walked over to Slippy. She placed her paw over his forehead, and her paw glowed a light purple. A second later that same light purple light encircled Slippy, and he rose off of the ground. When three feet off of the ground, Krystal made a slashing movement in the air with her paw, and Slippy vanished.
Fox sighed. He was glad that Slippy was safe back on Corneria, out of the line of fire. With a smirk, he realized that if Slippy had the brains to do so, he could ask Pepper for the reinforcements once he is fit enough, and they could intercept Peppy when the Cornerian army were coming to Sauria.
Fox heard a moan behind him. Turning around quickly, he saw that Falco had regained consciousness, and was sitting up.
"What...what happened?" he asked in his original voice. His feathers had turned back to their blue color, and his uniformed turned back to it's original state, except the shoulder pads; they remained as spikes.
"You ok man?" as Fox as he held out a paw to help the avian onto his feet.
"Yeah...I think so...I just don't remember anything...all I remember was that Tricky was running at Krystal...what happened then?"
Fox's eyes darkened. "You got hit by a bolt of lightning. You're lucky to be alive."
Falco smirked.
"Krystal killed Tricky's body. The Tricky we knew was already dead." Fox added when Falco looked up at him swiftly with an alarmed look. "She just killed the vessel that the Krezoa was using."
Falco continued to gaze up at him. "Then what?"
"Just to sum it up, you were possessed by a Krezoa, and you were trying to kill me and Slippy, while saying that you were going to kidnap Krystal. Don't worry now," he said as Falco jumped to his feet. "Krystal got rid of the Spirit."
A look of relief and confusion crossed over Falco's face. "How did she do that?"
"I helped her." said another voice at the bottom of the ramp again.
Falco looked down quickly, while Fox turned his head more slowly. Krystal was standing a few feet from the ramp, gazing up at Falco.
"Krystal? What do mean by, 'I helped her'" asked Falco, completely confused.
"Oh..." muttered Krystal. "I forgot that you were unconscious. I am Krazina. I'm in control of this vixen for the time being."
"Krazina...?"
"She's the oldest of the Krazoa Spirits Falco. She is the one that allowed Krystal to destroy the Krezoa that possessed you and Slippy." said Fox.
"Slippy? He got possessed as well?"
"...Yeah, but Krazina quickly eliminated that Krezoa, but Slippy's arm broke in the process, so Krazina teleported him back to Corneria."
"I see...so what are we going to do now? I mean, what action are we going to take to kill all of these Krezoa?" asked Falco with a glance at the immobilized Earthwalkers.
"Well..." began Fox.
"We'll talk about it on the way." interrupted Krystal. "I can't keep these dinosaurs still for much longer. We need to get into the Palace."
"Right...but our ammo is low. We need to get new weapons out of the Arwings." said Fox with a step in the Arwing's direction.
"I'll get them." said Krystal. "Which ones do you need?"
"A sniper rifle and two machine guns. Those other ones are toast." said Falco looking at his former weapons floating in blood.
"A homing launcher and two more blasters." said Fox, tossing his old one, which was out of ammo completely, at an Earthwalker.
Krystal nodded, stood still for a second or two, and snapped her fingers. Three blasters, two machine guns, a homing launcher, a sniper rifle, and a gatling gun hovered out of the Arwings, and flew towards Fox, Falco and Krystal.
Fox and Falco had a dumbfounded look on their faces as they watched the weapons fly towards them.
Krystal laughed at them. "I have more advanced telekinetic abilities than this vixen." she said as she grabbed a blaster and a gatling gun as they flew by her.
Fox caught the remaining blasters and the homing launcher; as soon as he caught it, Fox hooked the launcher to his back. Falco caught his machine guns and put the rifle on his back as did Fox with the launcher.
"All right." said Krystal; she had her staff on her belt, she was holding her blaster with both paws and the gatling gun was hooked to her back as well. "Lets find that crystal."
Note: Aren't you glad that the ending of this chapter wasn't 'one hell of a cliffhanger'? Like I said, Chapter 10 coming...whenever I finish it (maybe after the holidays)!