(Part of this chapter is songfic. I hope you like it)
Chapter 4
PLANET MACBETH, 12:00 P.M., DECEMBER 17th
"Eugh!"
"Gwoh!"
Not standing a chance, the two law enforcers dropped to the ground in pain, right in front of a military complex. The lynx and robin clutched their bruises as they wondered what the strange attacker would want. After all, what could a single vixen hope to accomplish by attacking Macbeth's police force.
The robin cop pulled out a communicator from his vest.
"This is Miller! We need back-!"
Before he could finish his message, the device in his hand had been blanketed by a sheet of ice. He turned to the source of the ice, with a look of pure awe.
"I'm going to ask one more time," Ice hissed. "Where's Fox McCloud?"
The lynx pushed himself and coughed up a bit of blood. His forearm came up to wipe some of the crimson ooze off of his face. "We don't have any business answering to hot-headed vigilantes. If you got a problem with a hero like McCloud, you got a problem with us, you psychotic bitch."
She kicked him the stomach and froze his hands to the ground. " 'Hot-headed'? Ironic choice of words, officer." Despite the humor, Ice was far from smiling. "And I don't know what you consider to be heroic about this McCloud character, but I see things from a very different perspective. Now where can I find him?"
"Didn't ya hear him?" the robin spat. "We don't talk to freaks like you. And everybody in this galaxy owes Fox big time. Tough break, sister."
"Owes him? Owes him! That…THAT MURDERER!" she growled.
Oblivious to her misinformation, the two unfortunate officers thought she was referring to Fox's honorable kills, specifically the lives he took for the sake of the exponentially more he saved.
"Murderer perhaps, but only when it came to the scumbags that had to be destroyed. But I guess you've got a problem because you're Venomian, am I right?" the lynx snarled.
Ice flipped her bangs out of her eyes. She held up her hands and froze both of their bodies, save only their heads. "Wrong," she said simply.
The two struggled to free themselves but to no avail. The ice was too thick for them overcome. "So we can see," they muttered.
"I'm the last of the Cerinians," she stated clearly, proud yet disheartened by the burden.
The deadly young woman approached her captives slowly, her eyes glaring so sharply as if to see through the two troops. "And your false hero is the last Kyitsunian, responsible for genocides on a scale so great you idiots can't even begin to fathom it."
"I'll say it again, bitch," the robin remarked. He was still under the impression that his captor was referring to Star Fox's assault on Vemon all those years ago. "Fox is probably Lylat's biggest savior. And besides that I think you were misinformed. He's from Corneria. Anyway, if you want to find him so bad, do it yourself. We're not giving you shit!" the bird spoke quietly.
Ice looked at them silently, her iries glowing as her power began to surge through her body. Her arms lifted until her palms faced each officer in the head. She fired two shots of ice at the two and froze them completely. Now that they were of no more use, she felt she might as well try elsewhere.
"Corneria, is it? Very well then. Get ready, Fox McCloud," she hissed under her breath.
She made her way back to her ship, with a new destination already in mind.
ooo
Fox hummed to himself as he and the gang walked into the Great Fox's current docking bay. The mega arena-sized harbor was filled with maintenance machinery, commanding officers, recruits and countless pilots, many of whom were looking with admiration upon the team's signature vehicles, the Arwings.
Over the past twelve years, the famous Star Fox fighter ships had gone through their share of remodeling. Fox would be likely to admit that the upgrades that were in effect during the Sauria crisis weren't as major as prior fix-ups. However, the modifications made just before the Aparoid assault were still hard to surpass even today. The ships trademark blue "shoulders" had been rebuilt to contain four g-diffuser ion engines. The original weapon systems had been kept the same, only upgraded now and then to keep up with the progress being made in plasma-based weapons. The Arwings' nose had since been redesigned to be much sharper and aerodynamic for missions in an atmosphere. The mobility, speed, handling and shielding of the ship still outclassed those of any other fighter, save perhaps the Wolfen.
"Look at 'em all, admiring our babies. It makes me so proud," Slippy joked as he pretended to wipe a tear from his goggle eye.
"Hell Slip, I still look at mine like that now and then," Krystal laughed.
"I'll even admit it. You do some damn good work Slip-up," Falco grinned.
"Maybe too good. You think you'll ever be able to enhance them even further?" Fox chuckled as he nudged his elbow.
Slippy grinned cockily. "I've got the blueprints in my head as we speak."
"Good to hear," said the captain. He stopped as he turned to his squadron. "All right then team, here's the plan so far. We're going to take flight again tomorrow and set up in Corneria's space territory. We'll be monitoring the sector for any unusual incoming ships. If we run into some unwanted visitors, I'll lead a solo attack on them, seeing as I'm the target. If they've got an armada, I'll draw them back to you guys and we'll all strike them. We'll keep some warp gates ready in case we need the military's help."
"Wait, Fox. What if they're expecting some patrol? They might be willing to take the long road and enter the planet from a non-travel zone," Falco suggested.
"You're counting on Corneria's satellites I presume?" Krystal asked.
"Bingo," the male vulpine nodded. "General Pepper'll contact us if he thinks they're going to look for me on the planet. At that point he'll probably prepare the anti-aerial weapons and buy us some time before we arrive at the scene."
"Nice strategy, boss," Slippy complimented.
Fox winked. "Why, thank you."
Falco thought about the plan for a bit. "Tomorrow, you said? All right then. So what should we be doin' in the meantime?"
"Get prepared, and then rest up. So let's get home and enjoy the day, how about it?"
Krystal clapped her hands together in a thank-you sign. "Yes please! It's still only 4:45 and I should still be in bed."
"Ditto," all three guys voted in agreement. The four of them started to head back to the parking lot, but not before saying their quick goodbyes to Jenny, who kept winking at Krystal and Fox, to his annoyance and to her confusion, and to Slippy and Falco's amusement. It was an uneasy ride home for the two foxes and a drive full of kissing sounds and stifled laughter for the falcon and the toad.
ooo
The team had arrived home some hours ago, allowing them to catch up on some much desired sleep. It was still very early at 8 a.m. when Fox started to toss and turn uncomfortably in his sleep. He started to perspire and breathe quicker, reliving an all too familiar dream. Soon enough, he woke up at the same point in the nightmare, giving the frightening images a lot more thought.
He held his head as he tried to calm his heart. "That was the same dream. Not similar, but…..completely the same. Wait. How in the hell does that happen?"
Although it seemed rational for one to experience the same mental images in their sleep two times in a row, Fox knew better. He wasn't one to dismiss the more unusual possibilities that there might be something foreshadowing about the dream. The only issue was trying to think of what the strange pieces of the dream could mean. Above all else, it was the fiery vulpine head that scared him most. The way it taunted him, grinned at him, arrogantly smiling deviously as it looked at Fox in the dream right before it unleashed its burning power upon him. It seemed like a threat that was too powerful, too malicious to be destroyed and conceited for it, like Andross had once appeared.
As these thoughts flowed into Fox's mind, it steered less from fear and more towards anger.
"What does it mean…." McCloud started to ask himself, clenching his fists. He immediately remembered the part where Krystal seemed to just vanish. As much as he didn't want to, he had to realize there may have been very tragic meaning behind it.
But he'd never accept that, not so long as he had anything to say about it. "What if this is supposed to be the enemy? Is that my dream's meaning?" As he probed deeper he started to focus more on Krystal's role in the nightmare. And while he began to imagine the possibilities, he started to become furious.
"If they were to hurt her…" he began, whispering harshly. He got out of his bed and walked to his dresser. He picked up a framed photo of himself and Krystal, making silly faces for the photo. "If anyone were to hurt her!" he repeated, this time in growling voice.
The red fox imagined the fiery apparition looking on Krystal instead of him, preparing to do to her as he had done to Fox.
"NOOO!" Fox called out in his room. He started to feel his body tense up with a powerful stress. He grabbed his head and fell on one knee, grunting in pain. His body started to heat up, quickly and alarmingly. As he snarled and growled, he could see small flashes of little lights dancing all across his vision, a symptom of one losing consciousness.
"Grah! Come on Fox! Ergh! Come on dude, get a grip," he grunted at himself. He tried to calm himself down by thinking about his cerulean roommate. He figured if anyone could bring down his anger, it was her. Sure enough, it started to work, though slowly.
When he felt a little more assured it was over, he picked himself up off the floor and lapped up some water from the faucet. He got in a few swallows before he heard a feminine yelp from the other room.
"Aahh!"
"Krystal!" he whispered as he ran out of his room. He stopped in front of her door and placed his large pointed ear against it. All he could hear was Krystal breathing hard, obviously trying to calm down.
"The hell's goin' on?" he thought while he knocked gently on the door. "Krys? You ok?" he called out, trying to make it loud enough for her to hear but so as not to wake up Falco and Slippy.
"Y-yes. I'm all right, Fox. Just a bad dream is all," she answered. "You can come in if you want."
Fox opened the door quietly and peered inside. She was sitting her bed, one hand on her chest as she relaxed her tense heart. The male fur also noticed that in her stress, she had neglected to warn him that all she was wearing was her white undershirt and thong. He nervously took a seat next to her and waited for her to calm down a little more.
"Nightmare. Seems to be a trend lately,eh?" Fox humored her.
Krystal ran her fingers through her damp hair. "I guess. It was so vivid though, and parts of it were almost familiar."
The vixen sighed and leaned against Fox. He at first felt unsure of what exactly to do, but just covered her warmly with his arms, feeling that he should try to console her.
"What was it about?" Fox asked kindly.
Krystal sighed again and closed her eyes. "A number of strange things. Among them were some of the pieces from your nightmare, actually. Plus another sight that seems familiar too."
On the inside of his snout, Fox gritted his fangs against each other. "What types of strange things?"
Krystal opened her eyes and looked at him, then down at her hands. "I saw several unusual sights. Among them were the Saurians, the Krazoa, Cerinia, the Aparoids, Star Wolf, Corneria and even the burning apparition from your nightmare."
Fox thought silently. "Which of those was the one that was so 'familiar'?"
She shuddered nervously at the thought. "Well, I didn't even name it yet. I saw the silhouette of a mysterious fur, and I'm not sure what it was but it was a female. When I looked at her in the dream I felt strange: first a sudden chill, and then a great sense of relief. After that, is when I saw the fire-fox and then I woke up."
"You know, I had another dream about that damn thing," Fox informed her.
Krysal looked at him oddly. "Again?" she was silent a moment as she looked away in deep thought. "I don't like this, Fox. For my people, an occurrence like this is generally taken as an ominous vision. To dream of something you can't remember, not to mention in two consecutive sleeps."
Fox grinned. "I may not be a mystic, but even I had a feeling about that."
The vixen gave him a confused glance. "So then, what's with the smile?"
Fox adjusted himself to be closer to her so she could lean her head against his chest. "Well it's not like any harm would come your way," he remarked with a slight chuckle.
She grinned, her curiosity piqued by his attitude. "How are you so sure?"
"Because if it did..," he began. He held his hand out in a fist, and then opened it swiftly, releasing his claws. "It'd have to get through me."
Krystal sighed gently as she nuzzled his frame. "Of course," she laughed. "My knight in baggy green flight pants."
Fox couldn't help but laugh at his own boldness. "Thanks. Thanks for that. Seriously, though, I mean it."
She continued to chuckle. "I know Fox, I know. It's just flattering that you'd let yourself be so bold for my sake. Hmm. Now that I think about it," she started with a grin, leaning her snout closer to his, "why so intent on protecting me, hm Foxie?"
"Tryin' to fluster me?" Fox answered with an evenly coy tone. "Well, without you here, I couldn't do this!"
She blinked. "Do wha-!"
Not even two complete words could exit her mouth before she became paralyzed with surprise. She looked wide eyed down to her snout, and then followed it to Fox's snout, whose lips were now gently pressed against her own. After a second or two, she found her eyes closing as his had.
The male soon pulled away, blushing somewhat through his white muzzle. He rubbed the back of his neck and smiled at her nervously. "Guess I'm a little exited about the mission. Sorry."
She licked her lips and smiled at him. "Don't be," she said with a wink.
Fox resumed his original grin and winked right back. A small chortle escaped from his closed mouth.
"What? What's so funny?" she asked, starting laugh in her own curiosity.
He looked down, then back to her. "I just noticed this is the first time I've talked to you under these circumstances," he remarked in a sly manner. His eyes were shifting back and forth from her eyes towards downward.
After a moment, she realized what he was doing and shifted her gaze downward also, immediately recognizing her lower apparel.
She blushed a deep shade, making her blue cheeks turn violet. "Wow…I guess I forgot about that," the vixen spoke quietly. "Although…."
"Although…what?" Fox asked.
"I'd finally like to get a second opinion," she smirked, with mischief written all over her devious smile.
Fox held his fingers up in the "ok" and winked at her.
She laughed at him. "Good enough."
A moment or two passed as the pair just enjoyed each other's company. The atmosphere was very calm. Fox could feel himself in two situations: the one at hand, and he remembered how when he was younger he with some of his girlfriends from school would come over and they'd relax on the couch on a Friday night while it would rain without mercy outside. But this was way beyond that, in Fox's opinion. He honestly believed Krystal to be the hands-down most beautiful fur he had ever and probably would ever see. This was among the list of excuses he used to justify how shy he was.
His thoughts wandered from simply her and back to earlier, thinking of her role in his nightmare. He didn't experience the same unusual, furious reaction as he head earlier, given the calming presence of the curvy vixen leaning on him. Nonetheless, something about the whole idea just gnawed at him, just simply pissing him off in a somewhat childish way.
"Oh my Kyuubi," Krystal suddenly spoke as she got up. She was perspiring a decent amount, particularly wherever she had been leaning against Fox.
And, to his surprise, she finally asked, "Fox, are you ok?"
He blinked at her. "What do you mean? I should be asking you that."
She started to fan herself. Her canine side also took over and her she let her tongue hang out a bit, panting.
"Are you serious, Fox? You honestly don't feel that? Because I'm pretty sure that's you," she said, wiping some of the sweat off of her cheek.
Again, he simply blinked at her, clueless. "Feel what?"
"Are you kidding me? Fox,…well… you're hot!" Krystal exclaimed.
"Wow," came his answer. "Thanks Krystal. I uh…guess I should tell ya' that I think you're really hot too, in a polite way," he complimented with a bright smile.
Krystal looked dumbfounded at her smiling friend. Then she struck his temple with her middle and index fingers. "Not like that, dumbass. I mean you're burning."
The male fur rubbed his head with an "Ouch!" Then he turned his attention back to her. "What are you talkin' about? I feel fine. I think you might be comin' up with a fever though."
"No. Not me," she shook her head. "I'm completely fine fine. As soon as I moved this way I felt cool again. You on the other hand, are hot. This really isn't normal Fox. Grab my thermometer, it's in the top drawer in my side table."
Fox did as he was told and grabbed the small tube from the drawer. He checked it first as he held it. It read at about 55, as was common for Corneria during the winter season.
He held it so Krystal could see the mercury, and smiled. "See, you're just imagining things, probably from the nightmare messin' with your powers. It's only 55 in my grip."
He saw immediately that her face was growing alarmed.
"Um…I think you mean it was 55 in your grip," she spoke.
Fox looked at her, his smile no longer present. He checked the mercury again, and his face started to take on the same expression as Krystal's.
212
His eyes widened at the sight. "This can't be right. Something's wrong with your thermometer then. If I was 212 then I'd probably be dea-!"
The red-orange vulpine was cut off as he saw the thermometer crack on the inside, and as the mercury began to seep within the outside shell of the device. He sighed and tossed it into her wastebasket.
Krystal would have scooted back over to him, were it not for the overwhelming heat he couldn't seem to notice. "Fox, are you sure you really don't feel that heat. I mean…this is a real phenomenon. And you're right. For a person to be 212, they'd also probably be….well we get the idea."
"Honest to Kyuubi, Krys, I don't feel different at all. Your guess is as good as mine."
As she sat silent, obviously concerned, he gave it his own thinking, and immediately remembered his peculiar anger session from earlier, as well as his solution. Of course, for her to help him, he'd have to give her all the important information.
"Hey Krystal," Fox spoke up.
She awoke from her trance-like concentration. "Hm? Yes Fox?"
"I guess I should tell you," he began, "this isn't the first weird thing that happened to me physically this morning."
Krystal looked at him, very focused and serious. "What do you mean?"
He scratched his ear, then sighed. "Well, I had the nightmare again, I told you that. And when I woke up, I got out of bed, you know, just to calm down and stuff."
"Right..." Krystal said, signaling for him to continue.
"Well, anyway, I was trying to collect myself and so I looked at that picture of you and me from the mall, with our silly faces."
"I remember that one. Our first day out, just you and me," she smiled.
"That's the one. The thing is, when I looked at it, I started thinking of you in the dream. And it scared me: the thought of some fiery head or a bunch of raptors or just whatever happened to you in the dream- I was really afraid, even though it was just a dream."
Krystal felt her heart skip a beat at that.
"And that fear started to become stress, and from stress to anger: I just hated all those demons. It felt like an overwhelming urge to protect, crossed with a strong vendetta. And so I started to feel weird. I've been angry before, but this wasn't normal. Everything started blurring, and I couldn't stop growling, like one of our feral ancestors. My head started to throb with some kind of headache, like my mind was splitting or something."
"Ouch," Krystal said simply, though she listened with deep concern.
"And the visions were strange too. It was my room one second, and then the next I'd see that flaming fox, and then me, and then my room again."
"So, how then, did you make it stop. You came in her looking pretty normal," Krystal pointed out.
"Well, I," Fox paused. He knew he was going to thank himself for this later, but at the moment he wished he didn't have to. "I thought of you. The rest, as they say, is history."
Silence hung thick in the air as neither of the two vulpine said a word.
Krystal was the first to collect herself from the stillness, and slowly brought her lips to his, quietly and gently, before pulling back in the same manner.
"Thanks, Fox," she said in her kindest voice.
"No, thank you," he smiled. "I should be good for a year after that," he joked.
The vixen just laughed. "You're such a tard."
"Oh gee," he answered sarcastically. "Thanks, Krys."
"You're welcome."
They sat a while longer, Fox's bizarre temperature having dwindled.
"Well, the heat died down," Krystal asked. "Wanna catch a few more Z's before we get up?"
Fox nodded. "Yeah. We should both rest after all that crazy shit anyway," he grinned.
He got his paws off the bed and started to get up when a hand grabbed his tail. He turned to see Krystal giving him one of those grins that said "Get real."
"Fox, do I even need to say it?" she said through her smile.
He was quiet a moment before he sat back down and pulled the blanket over both of them.
"No."
They exchanged their "goodnights" and a quick kiss before he took her in his arms. They slept soundly, and didn't need to worry about another nightmare for this morning.