Sorry for the long wait. With school and all, I'm having a real difficult time moving this story along, but I finally got around to it this week (10/17-10/22).
All Starfox-related characters, names and places are © Nintendo/Rare. All other characters are © to me.
Chapter 4: Sneak Attack
As usual, Corneria's military base was heavily bustling. Officers of different species speckled the landscape performing their various duties. Fox parked his vehicle on the western side of the base where the hangar was located. Here he hoped to find out how the mysterious flowers and the albino feline Angora were connected. Krystal hung on Fox's arm, eager to discover the mystery herself and finally recollect the memories of her vague encounters with Angora's sinister aura. As they stepped inside the enormous hangar, a waft of cooler breeze greeted them, a far cry from the hot, humid air outside. Peppy was talking with General Pepper while Slippy was on his back tinkering with the underbelly of a random arwing fighter. The battle-scarred Great Fox dominated the building; the hangar had to be built around the massive vessel it was so big.
Fox waited near the hangar doors for Pepper to leave before he ventured further. Fox preferred not to engage in conversation with the general for the simple reason that Pepper would make a fuss about Fox's incentive for coming. When one talked with the general, he normally coaxed out the reason for coming. He was also adept at seeing through lies – something Fox was always a bit nervous about. When Pepper finally left, Fox walked in, but didn't get much more than halfway inside before Peppy noticed him and Krystal.
"Hey, Fox. Nice to see you again! What brings you two here?"
Krystal removed the odd flower from her jeans pocket and gave it to Fox. He then gave it to Peppy. "It looks like an ordinary violet, but it has a real sweet-smelling odor and I don't think it's from anywhere near here. Perhaps you would know where it came from?"
"ACHOOO!" Peppy sneezed and snorted in front of Slippy's dropping the tool he was holding. The sneeze startled the toad that he dropped whatever he was holding right between the eyes. Peppy continued despite Slippy's colorful language. "Yes, it definitely doesn't smell like a normal violet." The elderly hare inspected the flower thoroughly and sighed. "I don't know, Fox. I don't recognize it from anywhere. However, we could take this down to research and find out more there."
Fox sighed. "That'll do. Will Slippy be fine here by himself?"
Peppy looked at the beleaguered amphibian struggling with a hatch on the underside of the arwing. "It shouldn't be long."
"Okay then, let's go."
The research lab wasn't located very far from the hangar; it was by far the largest room in the main building. Walking into the lab was like floating high in the air because everything was a different shade of blue – except the researchers themselves, of course. A female hare approached the trio; from the joyous look on her face – she appeared to be a much younger relative of Peppy's. Much taller than he, she stooped down and embraced the older hare. Relinquishing the embrace, Peppy turned to his two escorts and introduced them in a semi-hoarse voice.
"Krystal, Fox, this is my niece, Rose. She's worked here for a while but I believe this is the first time either of you have met her."
The auburn-furred Rose approached the famous pilot, anticipation and nervousness in her voice as she shook his paw. "Wow, Fox McCloud. It's a pleasure to finally meet you. How can I be of assistance today?" Rose's pink nose twitched briefly before she quickly rubbed it away.
Fox released his grip. "Krystal here found a unique flower." He gestured toward Peppy, who revealed the violet to his niece. "I know it looks like an ordinary violet, but its smell isn't what it's supposed to be."
Rose took the flower and sniffed. Her hazel eyes grew wide in surprise. "That's odd. It smells like chocolate."
"Chocolate?" The three others said in unison.
Rose scratched her chin as she walked over to Krystal. "Where did you find this flower?"
"In the bedroom of our friend's house. Why?"
Rose smiled and took a pair of glasses out of her lab coat and rested them on her face. "Let me put it this way: what does chocolate plus a bedroom equal?"
Fox, Krystal and Peppy appeared somewhat dumbfounded. Fox scratched his head. "Uh, I'm drawing a blank, Rose. What're you talking about?"
Rose flashed a dainty smile. "Sex."
Looks of shock replaced looks of confusion. "Say what?" Peppy asked.
"Silly uncle Peppy," Rose laughed, "chocolate is an aphrodisiac. I thought you knew that!" Rose nudged her slipping glasses back up on her nose. "It's the most potent kind and extremely effective."
Fox pointed behind Rose at a small contraption wired to the computer. "What's that thing?"
Rose took the violet flower from Peppy and opened the door on the front of the cubical device. She delicately placed the violet in the center of the machine's cavity and closed the door. Sitting down at the computer, Rose entered some commands into the computer and initiated a program. Light shone through the tinted window as the device slowly hummed.
"What is it doing?" Krystal asked.
Rose cleaned a smudge on her glasses with one of her sleeves. "That machine is scanning all the physical and olfactory properties of that flower and is attempting to match them with the corresponding records in our database. We have records of all known plant life in the Lylat System; if it exists, we have a file on it." Rose frowned as she read the results on the computer screen. She sighed and scratched the back of her head. "Unfortunately for you guys, I can't find a record of anything resembling a plant with this flower's exact properties." Rose sat back in her chair and bit her lower lip in thought.
"Could it have come from outside the Lylat System?" Fox asked.
Rose shrugged. "That's the only possibility I can think of. This computer only has records of plant life within the Lylat System. No one we've recruited has been willing to explore other parts of the galaxy." Rose stood up and removed the flower from the machine.
With time to think, finally, Krystal thought of the equation Rose had stated earlier. "If the scent of those flowers is meant to arouse sexual behavior, and if that white cat took those flowers to Katt…" Krystal gasped in horror. She pulled Fox close and whispered to him. "Fox! I know what Angora is! He's…"
KRABOOOOM! Before Krystal could explain, the roof violently exploded, sending a shower of debris onto everyone in the lab. What emerged from the jagged hole in the ceiling was extremely ugly. Four bipedal bat-like creatures landed with a ground-shaking thud. Chaos and bedlam ensued as a monstrous screech echoed from each of the monsters' forked tongues.
Peppy reached for his blaster. "What the heck IS that thing?"
Fox motioned for the two girls to get behind him and unsheathed his own blaster. "I don't know, but it's about to eat some of my blaster!" He aimed his weapon at the head of one of the monsters that was wrecking havoc on the lab and on the other scientists. Three quick blasts from Fox's blaster struck the beast hard. The creature recoiled, but its white eyes glowed with rage as it bared its long yellow fangs at its attacker. Before Fox or Peppy could get off another shot, the monstrosity lashed out a seemingly frail arm and knocked the four back with surprising force and strength. Rose bore the grunt of the blow, being in the very back and viciously striking her head on the edge of a cabinet, knocking her out.
Fox sat amidst the dust of the debris, looking around frantically but couldn't find his blaster. While the other three creatures lay waste to the lab, Fox's attacker loomed over him with fetid breath blowing mercilessly in his face. Spotting his blaster within feet of his position, Fox rolled to the side, but he wasn't quick enough. With a clawed hand, the bat creature swiped up the vulpine with ease and attempted to squeeze the breath out of him. Struggling frantically, Fox tried kicking the beast in its skinny chest. The beast winced from the force of the kicks and at last violently hurled Fox hard to the littered floor. "GAAAH!" The fox instantly grabbed his left arm; it had landed on a jagged shard of glass on the floor and opened a gash; the blood was now soaking through his jacket. Fortunately for him, he was right next to his blaster.
"Great! Maybe now I can put this thing away!" Fox aimed the blaster straight toward the monster's ribbed chest and fired. Fox's expression turned grim when he saw the green flash disappear into the creature's gummy flesh. The creature snarled, swiping at Fox again but this time he managed to avoid the monstrous claw and duck out of sight behind an island counter. Fortunately, the other monsters did not see him. "What the hell are these things made of?" Fox held his breath, for one not to give away his position, but also not to inhale the putrid breath of the monster. Working cautiously, Fox crept around the island, staying ahead of the monster's advances. When he approached the area where he left his three companions, however, Krystal was missing, while Peppy and Rose lay unconscious. Fox felt his heart skip a beat when a foreign paw covered his mouth and pulled him back into darkness.
"Krystal?" Fox whispered in surprise.
"Quiet! I lost my staff and I'm trying to find it."
"But what about Rose and Peppy?" Fox asked.
"If I tried to wake them, I'd be putting their lives at risk. Those creatures out there think they're dead. I know it sounds selfish, but I had little choice, Fox."
"I suppose I understand. Where are we anyway?"
"We're in an empty storage cabinet." Krystal replied. "I'm waiting for an opportunity to retrieve my staff from those monsters." She slowly reopened the cabinet door and looked to one side; it was clear…or so she thought. In a flash, a giant claw snatched Krystal by the head and yanked her out of her hiding place. The monster raised her to eye level and grinned maliciously, yellow fangs and all; the putrid stench flaring from the creature's nostrils wafted Krystal in the face.
"UGH! LET GO, YOU FOUL BEAST!" Krystal flailed arms and legs relentlessly as Fox peeked out of the cabinet. Oddly enough, smoke began seeping from between Krystal's head and the creature's large claw. In a screech of pain, the monster dropped the Cerinian hard to the floor and shook its claw furiously. The other three creatures in the room became alerted to their companion's plight and rushed over as quickly as possible. Fox jumped out to keep the creatures at bay.
"Krystal, are you okay?" Fox knelt down and helped Krystal to her feet.
Krystal pointed to the attacker's injured claw; the gummy flesh on the claw had been singed clean off. "Apparently they can't touch me." She realized.
"That's good to know." Fox replied. "I'll stay close and help you look for the staff."
The lab was quite large, and this made the search more difficult than either Fox or Krystal had hoped. Jumping through a broken window at the front of the lab, The two foxes maneuvered around the injured bodies of scientists and security guards and ultimately found the staff resting on top of a security officer.
"Ah, yes. Here it is!" Krystal exclaimed in excitement, but the excitement didn't last. Before Krystal had a chance to pick the staff up, she and Fox felt a violent shove from behind.
"GUHHH!" They both stumbled forward. Krystal's foot caught on a prone body and she crashed forward. Fox tumbled ahead, screaming when he landed on his injured arm. Howling in apparent triumph, one of the monsters ripped a nearby water fountain out of the wall and advanced toward its prone victims.
Krystal pushed herself up on her paws and knees, rubbing her head. Woozy at first, she shook her head but found a dark shadow approaching her. She quickly rolled over and saw the closest of the three monsters raising the now mangled water fountain over its head. Water spilled out of the twisted pipe in the wall and created a small puddle where the bat creature was standing. The other two creatures retrieved objects as well; one had a fire extinguisher, while the other pursued something much bigger – a golf cart.
Not removing her sapphire stare off the hideous beasts, Krystal reached back for where she thought her staff was, but was stricken with shock when she turned and found it missing again, but then saw it lying next to Fox, who was still attempting to recover. "Fox! Hurry and grab my staff, quickly!"
Realizing where he was, Fox achingly pushed himself up to a kneeling position and picked the staff up. The monster with the fountain saw him and instead of dropping it on Krystal, unleashed it at Fox. Thinking fast, Fox dodged out of the way, the water fountain denting the linoleum floor as it crashed harmlessly. That gave Krystal an opening. She leapt at the monster in a screaming fury. "YAAHHHH!" She latched onto the creature's upper torso, planting her paws on the monster's face.
The monster screeched long and loud; wherever fur touched thick skin, the mere touch burned the flesh off in agonizing pain. The creature staggered about the hall, flailing its arms blindly through the curling smoke. At the risk of singing the flesh off his other claw, the creature grabbed the blue vixen by the scruff of the neck and dropped her among the other unconscious bodies. However, Fox had already fired an energy blast at the creature. Due to its size, the monster had limited movement and had trouble maneuvering. The blue energy ultimately struck the beast hard in the chest. Almost instantly, the beast exploded into a cloud of dust. Now all that was left were the other two creatures.
Fox sank to a knee from the lack of energy, but had little time to rest; the fire extinguisher came out of the dust cloud like a missile aiming for his head. On instinct, Fox ducked, but the staff unleashed another energy blast toward the incoming projectile. Seeing this, Krystal jumped back into the demolished lab just in time for the two combustible elements to explode on contact. The vociferous blast blew Krystal forward, into the air and over one of the island counters, knocking over glass test tubes and flasks. Some of the glass cut her on her legs and abdomen as she landed on her back. She sat up holding her back, now sore and held a bruised hand to the wound on her stomach. Ominous footsteps pounded the ground behind her. Krystal turned and saw the final monster carrying the golf cart with effortless ease. Body wracked with pain, Krystal stood up defiantly. Roaring, the monster raised the cart to drop on the vixen, but Krystal painfully dodged the large projectile as she rolled to one side. However, something was amiss – the cart didn't crash. Looking up, Krystal saw the cart still in the monster's claw-like hand; it had merely swiped at her with it. Lying prone on the ground and without a weapon, Krystal scurried backwards on her paws but found her back against a cabinet door. The monster raised the cart again to crush the vixen. She covered her head, closed her eyes and prayed for the best.
PSSSSSH! CRASH! Krystal heard the cart crash, but realized she was still alive. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw Fox, face and body covered in soot and ash, standing over a pile of dust, handing the staff back to Krystal.
"Krystal, are you okay?" Fox stated with concern. "They're all dead."
Despite her dirty face, Krystal's face glowed with happiness and relief. Fox helped her up, but in her weak state fell to the ground on top of him. Despite their awkward position, the two foxes stared into each other's eyes for what seemed like the longest of times.
"PEPPY!" Fox shot upright before the situation got any more intimate. Krystal quickly scrambled off Fox and assisted him to a standing position.
"Where are he and Rose?" Krystal asked.
"There they are." Fox pointed to where the two unconscious hares sat.
"Fox! Krystal!" A familiar high-pitched voice followed. Slippy came stumbling in, obviously out of breath. "What happened? I got here as soon as I could!"
Slippy rushed over to Peppy and helped Fox support him while Krystal assisted Rose. "Slippy, I couldn't tell you what that…that thing was."
"Well I do, at least now." Krystal responded as she helped Rose up. "But we best revive these two first. They'll need to hear everything."
Like an army of ants, lines of police cars zoomed past the avian biker with sirens blaring loudly. Falco kept his attention divided between the road and the passing vehicles, curious as to what was so important that was behind him. Although he had asked Fox to apologize to Katt for him, he still felt obligated to tell the pink feline himself how he felt, not to mention a feeling of doubt eating a hole in his morale.
"What if she didn't believe him? I haven't heard from Fox yet so I can only hope he simply forgot to tell me. I'll just have to find out for myself."
Falco sighed as he approached the turn lane. He knew what he was doing was risking further humiliation, but he just had to discover his dilemma for himself. He slowly motored down the neighborhood road. Falco obviously wasn't in any hurry to get disgraced again. Before long, Katt's abode greeted him, but with an eerie aura; something wasn't right and Falco could feel it in the pit of his stomach. He parked his bike next to Katt's sleek sports car.
"Well, she's probably already seen me now, no sense in chickening out." Falco muttered to himself. He took his helmet with him to the door and knocked. No answer. "Maybe she's asleep. I'll try her phone." Falco pulled out his mobile phone and dialed her home phone. With each missed dial tone, Falco grew more and more impatient. He was determined to talk to Katt today. Frustrated, he stuffed his phone back into his tan jacket. He thought of one final option, but he could only hope it would work. He turned the knob. Unlocked. "Odd, Katt never leaves the door unlocked." Falco ventured into the feline's house, the unsettling atmosphere continued to bother him. He never had this feeling before and it was beginning to scare him.
"Katt? Are you home? It's me, Falco. We really need to talk." Silence. "Katt, I'm really sorry for acting the way I did and I wanna make it up to you." Still silence. The dead quiet chilled Falco's nerves as he approached a nearby hallway. Katt's room was at the very end and with every step toward it Falco grew more and more nervous.
"Katt, I…" Falco peered into the room and instantly froze in horror. Katt's bedroom had been completely trashed. Mirrors were broken, blankets littered the floor, shreds of fur and clothes lay everywhere, and deep claw marks were in the carpet. "KATT! Please answer me!" Panicked, Falco searched in the closet and under the bed. No Katt Monroe.
"Stay calm, Falco. Everything's fine…" Falco uttered as he sat hopelessly on the bed. "Aw hell, WHO AM I KIDDING? NOTHING IS FINE! THIS IS ALL MY FAULT!" Falco shot back up and pounded a pair of blue, feathery fists down on the disheveled nightstand. He raised his fists to pound back down again but noticed something red on the side of his right fist. He sniffed it – dried blood. Looking around the room, small splotches of blood dotted the white walls. Something else caught Falco's keen eye. On the same right sleeve, a small tuft of pink fur. Catching his eye on the nightstand was a tuft of white fur. Falco began seething; he now knew who was to blame. He bunched his feathered hand into a fist and shook with uncontrollable rage.
"Angora…" Falco muttered. "ANGOORRRRAAAAAAA!"
Stay tuned for Chapter 5!