1/19/05: Finally, another update! Sorry about the UBER-long delay (swamped with college work).

WARNING: As a precaution, I warn some readers thatthere is a bit of a "dirty" scene in the flashback. It doesn't go into extreme detail, but if anyone feels uncomfortable reading such material, feel free to skip ahead in the chapter.

Disclaimer: Starfox and all its names, places and characters are © of Nintendo/Rare. All other names, places and characters are © of the author and may not be used without permission. Any similarities herein to names, places, characters or anything else belonging to any other author is purely coincidental.

Chapter 5: Dark Identity

Like a group of battered soldiers, Fox, Krystal, Peppy and Rose sat outside in the hangar while investigators inspected the disaster inside. Bandaged and bruised, they watched in silence the parade of unconscious bodies toward the ambulances waiting nearby. Slippy was uncharacteristically quiet, too shocked at what happened to say anything.

Rose brushed some dust off her blue lab coat and adjusted the ice pack on her swathed head. "What were those things?"

Krystal stared at the ground, holding a paw to her wrapped abdomen. "Minions." She said with a hint of malice. "Those were minions and they were sent to kill me."

"Kill you?" Slippy finally burst out. "Why would they want to kill you?"

Krystal was silent for a brief moment while Fox placed an arm over her shoulders as if to protect her. "It's a long story. I'll tell you when we have time."

Peppy looked at his watch. "It's 3:30 p.m., and it doesn't look like we're going anywhere anytime soon."

Krystal sighed. "Very well. It happened about three years ago…"

In the midst of the ebony blanket of space, a Cerinian craft wandered sluggishly on autopilot while its young vixen pilot sat all by her lonesome. Her most recent endeavor to discover the reasons behind her planet's destruction once again had failed miserably.

"I don't know how much more I can take of this." Krystal thought. "I'm no closer to solving this mystery than when I started." Holding her legs to her chest, Krystal buried her face into them, crying uncontrollably. "I don't know where to go. I have no home anymore." The cerulean vixen slowly lifted her puffy-eyed gaze skyward; what once were turquoise pools of beauty and serenity had now become stained with tears of anger and resentment.

"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME?" Krystal shouted at the top of her lungs, but it hurt to even do that; constantly shouting toward the heavens in hopes that a higher power would convey some semblance of pity toward her had taken its toll. The vixen slowly stood up and supported herself against the thick interior hull of the ship, massaging her irritated throat.

Except for the humming of the plasma engines, the ship lay in silence. Wincing with an irritable cough, Krystal walked over to several moderate-sized crates stored near the back of the ship; the planet she had just visited was generous enough to supply her with food and drink rations. Oddly enough, nowhere else she had gone on her journey had done such an unselfish deed and Krystal couldn't figure out why…

The vixen opened one of the crates and removed a small round container. It had a drink inside that Krystal hoped would soothe her exasperated throat. The unique brew had a pleasant flavor to it, similar to that of a daiquiri. Krystal rested herself on the metal floor again, closing her eyes and leaning her head back, allowing the cool substance to slide down her esophagus. The drink ultimately caused her to relax and, for the first time in a long time, forget about her search. Having searched as long as she had, she deserved a break.

Later…

With drink still in hand, Krystal lay huddled next to one of the food crates, her sleeping form all but motionless. Eyes slowly fluttering open, Krystal pushed herself up to a seated position, stretching her arms and baring her sharp teeth in a loud yawn.

"Ohhhh, how long was I out?" Krystal muttered to herself; she had rested for the better part of four hours. She stood up and walked to the ship's cockpit to determine where exactly she was. "Where in the bloody universe am I?"

Her train of thought was interrupted when a pulsating yellow glow from under her seat caught her attention. Krystal stooped down to reach for the source of the glow and it happened to be her ornate staff. Krystal sat down in her seat and inspected the glow with a confused look on her face. "My staff has never done this before. What could be causing it?"

As soon as she finished that thought, a loud thud slammed into the side of her ship, knocking Krystal to the ground. Standing up, she almost instantly saw an odd-shaped creature fly into her sight toward a small gray orb in the distance. Without another word, Krystal strapped herself in and fired up the engines. Whether or not this creature would help her on her quest, she did not know, but Krystal was determined to find out.

Krystal eventually reached the mysterious gray planet, following inconspicuously behind the winged creature that rammed her ship. Looking down at the planet, her stomach twisted into knots at the ominous vibe the veiled planet emanated; her staff was now pulsing like crazy. Taking one final breath, she zoomed forward into the murky mist, unaware of what would greet her.

As she steered through the planet's atmosphere, Krystal took a glance at a nearby screen. "Hmm, no signs of life anywhere. I suppose all these clouds are messing with the sensors." Waves of gray and white zoomed past her ship; the layer of clouds had to be at least ten miles thick. Any source of interplanetary light seemingly had a snowball's chance in hell of penetrating the dirty fog. Ultimately breaking through the layer of clouds, Krystal was welcomed with a plethora of gray: gray sky, gray clouds, and gray mountains. Constant black lightning created a spider web of darkness across the malevolent heavens. Coasting over the dismal landscape, Krystal couldn't find any sign of the creature she followed, not like she had anywhere to land, though. The entire surface of the planet was composed of razor-sharp, needlelike ridges – not a smooth stretch of land anywhere. All Krystal could do was sigh.

"Just my luck. Just my bloody luck to be misled once again…" but something caught her eye. In an area where the land sloped steeply, a large gaping hole appeared, and it was big enough for her ship to fit. With a slight glimmer of hope in her eyes, she urged the ship toward the dark cavity. Once inside the cavity, a sharp force yanked the ship downward until the craft landed hard on the rocky floor. Opening the craft's door, Krystal held her staff ready, illuminating the dark world around her. Everything around her was virtually pitch black, save for minute specks of what looked like an odd sort of light. Krystal tiptoed closer to inspect the source of this odd light. What she saw were sconces attached to the walls with small black lightning bolts fitted neatly inside them. The bolts emitted a grayish light bright enough to illuminate the path, which revealed a spread out network of pathways and chambers inside an enormous cave. Tiptoeing further, Krystal tightened her grip on her pulsing staff; ready to attack anything that approached her. Her ears suddenly twitched, and she quickly turned around to confront her attacker, but saw no one. Continuing down one of the paths, Krystal's ears twitched again and still found no attacker…. CRACK! The end of a weapon smacked Krystal hard in her left temple before she had a chance to defend herself. Before she sank into black unconsciousness, the image of her attacker loomed in front of her, a sinister, yellow-eyed bat-like creature…

"Excuse me."

Krystal blinked. "Hmm?"

"Excuse me, are you a Cerinian?"

The vixen winced from the pain in her head, unaware of her position. "Yes. Who are you?"

The other voice laughed. "I thought so. My minions had the most difficult time bringing you in here."

"Huh? How?" Krystal was still groggy from the hit she took to her head.

"You see, my beautiful captive," the captor said with a low tone of voice, "my kind cannot touch Cerinians; our flesh would burn right off."

Krystal tried to move but her wrists, ankles and neck were bound to a stone table by strange glowing cuffs – the same glow from which the black lightning emanated, and the same sorts of lamps that lined the walls to give the room a faint glow. "What's going on? Who are you? Why am I here?"

The source of the voice walked out of the darkness. With the head of a bat, the figure had a male body with strong, wiry wings protruding from the thick leather hide of his back. He walked on his toes, which extended into long, wide feet. In all, the creature looked like a gargoyle. From his size, Krystal deduced that he was perhaps the leader of the pack. "My, my, my, aren't we feisty?" The creature grinned, exposing sharp, yellowing fangs. "But that's what I adore about my future queen."

Krystal blinked in disbelief. "Queen? I'm not going to be anyone's queen, you freak! Lemme go!"

The creature stood at Krystal's head and slowly caressed Krystal's bangs with a gnarled hand. "As far as who I am, dear, I am Zolao, Proclaimed Ruler of Incubus."

Krystal looked at Zolao in horror. "Incubus? You're an incubus?"

Zolao sighed and held up a black talisman. "See this? It's been created out of our own black lightning; it is the only thing that can keep physical contact with you from burning my hand off! It only works for me, but once you become my queen, it'll work for all my minions!"

"Look, I'm not the 'queen' you want, so you might as well just let me go!" Krystal demanded irritably.

"Unfortunately for you, I can't do that." Zolao said with a menacing grin. "You would tell others who we are, and they would come to destroy us. Do you really think I want that to happen?"

Krystal's breaths were becoming more audible with anger. "You let me go and I assure you I won't tell a soul of your existence."

Zolao turned away and swiveled his head around. "I'm sorry, but once you lay eyes on this place, it's the last place you ever see."

Krystal's eyes narrowed with anger. "You sadistic bastard! I will kill you!"

Zolao shook his head. "You are full of empty promises. I'm afraid I must take your life." The incubus leaned over Krystal, his foul breath in her face. "But allow me this one final satisfying moment before I kill you."

Hovering over the prone vixen, Zolao strolled nonchalantly around the stone table on which she lay, surveying his captive with a perverse interest. Leaning forward slightly, Zolao took a long sniff, a satisfied smile pursing his mouth. "You are a virgin, correct?" Krystal remained silent while continuing to glare into the demon's beady eyes; her stare followed Zolao to where the incubus stood over her loins with an eager glint in his expression. Without the slightest feeling of guilt, Zolao grasped the vixen's loincloth and flung it over Krystal's abdomen to expose her procreative region.

"You've got a lot of nerve doing this to me, you pervert!" Krystal spat.

Zolao's expression didn't waver as he rested a claw dangerously close to his captive's nether-regions. "I am utterly surprised that a creature so beautiful such as yourself has yet to indulge in such wonderful carnal fantasies, but I suppose this will have to do." With that, he shoved two long fingers into the vixen's vaginal cavity and began probing. Krystal clenched her eyes shut and jerked around as much as possible to encourage a stoppage of the lascivious abuse, but this only egged him on further; Krystal's body tensed up at the slightest touch of Zolao's appendages against the sensitive inner walls of her loins.

Zolao gave the vixen a wicked smile. "Did you like that?"

Krystal sneered. "Go to hell!"

The demon's expression turned sour and he violently yanked the claw-like fingers out of the vixen, causing her to wince in pain. Zolao now stood at her head and held the drenched appendage over the vixen's face. Krystal wrinkled her snout and turned her head to one side, unable to withstand her own musky odor. Zolao held his hand over Krystal's face and allowed the stench to infiltrate the vixen's nostrils. Krystal snorted to keep the odor out of her nose, but it didn't seem to be working.

"How do you like this?" Zolao taunted with a wide smirk. Krystal's eyes burned with rage. In response, Krystal turned her head and spat in the demon's face.

"You despicable vermin! You're the filth of the universe! I'll put an end to your worthless…"

SMACK! Zolao had heard enough from his defiant vixen captive. He swung the back of his great claw across Krystal's mouth. He stared at the blood on his claw from the vixen's mouth. "Look at what your defiance got you, vixen, so just shut up and sit still!" Zolao picked up a nearby staff with long, razor-sharp spikes resembling a trident. "I've had my fun, but now it's time for you to die, vixen." The demon slowly raised the weapon over his head, ready to impale his captive on the long, metal fork. Krystal's mind raced furiously…

"WAIT!"

The spear jerked to a stop; a second more and Krystal's throat would've been crushed. She breathed a sigh of relief. Zolao lifted the trident from his captive with an impatient sigh.

"What could possibly be important enough for me not to kill you?"

"Well," Krystal began, "since I'm going to die anyway, why not tell me what you're doing here?"

Zolao took a moment to answer. "Very well. Since you won't be around to tell anyone afterwards, I might as well tell you." Zolao held on to the trident, much to Krystal's disappointment. "As you may already know," Zolao stated as he paced around the dark room, "an incubus is a demon who indulges in all sorts of carnal fantasies." Zolao smiled after he said this; Krystal just turned her nose up at him. "What you may not know about incubi is that we have a queen succubus. She isn't my 'wife' per se, but she is my main source for keeping our kind thriving."

While Zolao had his back turned, Krystal noticed something happening to her black lightning bonds – they were slowly disintegrating, and Zolao failed to noticed this. "Apparently, Cerinians have an adverse effect on this planet. Perhaps I can stall for time while I wait for these bonds to disappear."

Zolao continued. "However, every thousand years, our queen dies away and it is up to me to search the galaxy for a suitable replacement. Yes, it's a monotonous task, but if we strive for total domination of the universe, then finding the appropriate candidate to become my queen is imperative. I cannot determine whether or not the female I choose is the perfect one. All that is necessary is that she absolutely must be a virgin. Unfortunately, I can't look like this while I'm searching."

"And how, may I ask, do you accomplish this?" Krystal asked.

Zolao grinned. "Every planet has its philanderers and playboys. I simply find the most promiscuous one of them and kill him. I can then possess his body and no one's the wiser."

"But how would you find your queen without others getting suspicious?"

"Ah, that is where Lord Cephil comes in. Cephil acts as my eyes whenever I'm searching. He's always watching every candidate from his little personal station. He's like a watchful secretary for me."

"What exactly are you looking for when you search for potential queens?" Krystal asked. She glanced at the disintegrating bonds. "Almost there, just a bit longer."

Zolao sighed impatiently. "I already told you, I don't know, but the perfect queen will produce a creature more magnificent than any you've ever seen. From there, universal dominance is imminent."

"What about the duds?"

"The imperfect queens just spit out more incubi, not that I'm complaining of course; the more incubi we have, the easier our dominance of the universe will be, but having to wait a thousand years to search again gets very irritating very quickly. Any more questions before I put you out of your misery?" Zolao rudely asked. Unfortunately for him, he couldn't tell the bonds had disintegrated.

"Actually I do, Zolao. WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?"

Falling for the trick, Zolao turned around and saw nothing, but when he turned back around, Krystal caught him full in the face with a resounding kick. Finally free of her bonds, Krystal bounded out the doorway and raced through the cave. Meanwhile, Zolao clutched his face in painful agony. The imprint of Krystal's kick left a burning sensation in the side of his face. He screamed in lividness. "GET HER! DON'T LET HER LEAVE ALIVE!"

Krystal was more than halfway to her ship when approximately ten dozen incubi swooped like a wave from the roof of the cavern and gave chase. Krystal was strong physically, but the winding paths of the cave made it difficult for her to gain much speed. "Why are they chasing me? They know they can't physically touch me." As if reading her thoughts, the soaring demons re-ascended to the roof of the cave and returned with replicas of Zolao's trident; now ten dozen incubi with spears were chasing her, causing Krystal to exert more energy in order to outrun the demons. Finally, with her legs aching, Krystal caught sight of her ship, but as she was mere feet away from freedom, she stumbled over an unseen deformation in the ground. Thinking quickly, she unsheathed her staff and fired a bolt at the cavern ceiling. With a thunderous boom, the cave rumbled, giant boulders collapsing on top of the unlucky pursuers. Krystal now had considerable time to reach her craft and take off. In a fervent rush, Krystal attempted to start the engines, but they only sputtered. "No, no, not now! C'mon, start!" The vixen looked out the windshield; one of the incubi had cleared the rubble and made a mad dash for Krystal's ship. Krystal frantically flipped every switch and every button on the console, but the engines wouldn't start. "Come on, you stupid thing! Start!" Finally, Krystal pounded a fist into the steering wheel and the vehicle miraculously thrummed to life. Turning on the vertical boost, she floored the gas, shooting the ship upward in a brilliant display of extreme g-force, leaving the incubus behind in her wake. The ship grunted as Krystal was pressed into her seat from the intense pressure. Easing off the fuel pedal, she switched to hyperdrive, desperately wanting to escape the planet. "Let's see if you bastards can catch me now." Krystal punched the hyperdrive switch; stars turned to white streaks in her windshield as the vixen blasted off to safety on the other side of the galaxy.

"So let me get this straight." Fox said as he watched another wounded officer be carried through the humid hangar. "This Angora guy is really Zolao in disguise?"

Krystal nodded. "Right, and Katt's in big trouble if we don't find her soon."

Rose pulled her long ears down the side of her face. "This Zolao sounds like nothing but a dirty pervert to me. Why would he do those things to you?"

"It's in their nature." Krystal informed the worried hare. "But I swear it's the last time he'll ever do it."

"But how will we know where to find this Zolao?" Peppy asked as he tried to wake Slippy (who found the story uninteresting enough that he decided to sleep through it).

Everyone was silent; no one knew what Angora looked like. Krystal's ears suddenly perked up. "The hotel!"

"Huh?" said in unison.

"Fox, the hotel we were staying at the other night, remember?"

"Yeah."

"While we were leaving, I bumped into this tall white cat on accident, and he backed away from me holding his arm."

"How tall was he?" Peppy asked.

Krystal had to think for a moment. "I'm…not sure. I'd say he's about six feet tall."

"What room was he in?"

"I saw him walking into his room on our floor. I don't recall the exact room number, though."

Further speculation was interrupted when a loud motorcycle engine signifying Falco's arrival stopped in front of the hangar. Peppy forcefully hauled Slippy from his nap and followed Fox, Krystal and Rose to where Falco stood, a rigid look on his face. "Falco, are you okay?" Fox asked.

"Where the fuck is that son of a bitch? I'm gonna kill him!" Falco bellowed. "What the hell's going on here?" He asked, noticing the officers and doctors on the scene. "Is he in there? Is that fucker hiding inside? If that shithead is in there, you better get the fuck outta my way, Fox, or I'll knock your ass down too."

Fox quickly raised a paw to stop his avian friend. "Whoa, whoa, Falco. Calm down. Why are you so pissed?"

"That asshole kidnapped Katt!" Falco took a couple of breaths to calm down somewhat. "They had a fight. Her room looks like an earthquake hit it!"

Rose gasped. "Oh dear, I hope she's okay."

Falco was seething. He viciously kicked over a nearby trashcan, screaming. "Dammit, this is all my fault!" The avian's tirade was cut short by a beeping in his jacket pocket. Desperately hoping it was Katt, he fumbled it out and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hello, is this Falco Lombardi?" answered a feminine voice, but it wasn't Katt's.

"Yeah, who's this?" Falco replied impatiently.

"This is Dorothy with the city hospital. Do you know a Katherine Jeanette Monroe?"

"YES!" Falco shouted. "Yes I do! How is she?"

"Right now, she's in stable condition, but…" CLICK. Without another word, Falco was on his bike and speeding out of the military base.

The loud motorcycle rumbling startled Slippy. "Where is he going in such a hurry?"

Fox watched the sleek motorbike disappear into a speck in the distance. "I think he just found Katt."

Stay tuned for Chapter 6!