Any one else feel like this week has been dragging on? Well here we go the next two chapters. For those who have been patiently waiting for an action chapter...Here you go, in this chapter we explore a little bit into Krystal's life on Sauria, it does get graphic. Just in case some one wants to bring this up, let me go ahead and stop you...Yes I know in the game Krystal didn't actually live on Sauria, she only went there because of a distress signal, this is fanfiction which means stuff changes a little.
On another note, PyroSolrac III has informed me that I've been doing the star systems wrong which I thank him for. so lets restart on that. Earth in inside the Sol System in the Milky Way, Lylat is also in the Milky Way not it's own galaxy. Thanks for clearing that up PyroSolrac III
I would like to take the moment to say that this chapter idea was given to me by VulpineLover, who was also generous enough to lend a few more ideas for this chapter. This was quite a fun chapter to write and I hope you all enjoy it, I love this chapter so much that I had to do a quick drawing for it, head over to my deviantart account to check it out. A very big thanks to you VulpineLover.
ALSO BE WARNED, THIS IS A VERY LONG CHAPTER...14,880 WORDS
Ch. 11
Of Friends and Fossils
Krystal stared at the devastating sight before her. Her planet was destroyed; the once blue and green planet was now a sickly brownish/grey color, large chunks of the planet were gone giving the dead planet a rotting corpse look. She wasn't sure how long she had been asleep; she arrived at the sight and nearly died. Her home was gone; everyone she ever cared for was gone. Her father, her mother, her brother, Rye her future mate gone. All of them, everyone was gone. The sight had forced her into a crying fit that lasted almost an hour and resulted in her passing out. When an unknown amount of time had passed she awoke. She took one last look at her destroyed world and brought up her Starship's slip space. She clicked on a Star system called Lylat; she had never heard of it and didn't really care. She clicked on one of the planets, not looking to see what the name was or if it was even inhabitable. She just didn't care; all that mattered was that she got away from this heart wrenching sight before she broke down again.
The Slip space travel took her an hour to reach the system and a few minutes to reach the planet, the Starship's Slip space engines powered down and her ship left Slip space. She approached the blue and green planet and entered its atmosphere. She eased on the thruster lever and slowed the ship so it wouldn't burn up on entry, the whole time she was thinking about her family, the man she was going to marry and have a family with. She started to cry again, suddenly rain started to pour down on the ship and the flash of lightning was seen all around her visual area. She held a firm grip on the controls and lowered the ship to head towards the ground. The rain was falling very fast and hard, soon she wasn't able to see through the windshield, she was now flying blind.
Suddenly she heard the loud crack of lightning hitting metal and her ship started to shake violently. A red light started to flash and a red holo screen appeared, it showed a white colored image of her Starship and the left wing was flashing. Krystal quickly pressed the flashing wing and a text popped up stating that the left wing engine had malfunctioned. The ship was now hard to steer, the rain blocking her visibility wasn't helping her situation at all. She later noticed she was approaching some object in the distant, it seemed bulky and black. As she got closer she discovered that it was a mountain, and she was approaching it fast. She jerked the controls to the left as hard as she could, the ship slowly moved out of the way. However the right wing crashed into the rocky surface and her ship start to spin out of control. She screamed as she tried to keep the ship from spinning, but the ship wouldn't respond and suddenly she crashed and blacked out.
"Krystal." A gentle voice called out, "Krystal wake up." It called out to her. The Vixen slowly opened her tired eyes and noticed the being standing next to her with one of its hands on her shoulder, very gently shaking her.
"What? Who ugh do you agh…What?" She said still half sleep.
"You were having a nightmare." It said, Krystal started to rub her eyes and noticed her human friend.
"Josh?" She called out.
"Yeah…Are you okay?" He asked. Krystal slowly sat up from the bed and moved some of her hair out of her face. She looked at the human and gently nodded.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, the human showed a concern look.
"You were crying in your sleep, are you sure you're alright?" He asked, Krystal nodded and noticed Josh was still wearing the dog tag she had given him last night. She was glad that he liked it, she was also very touched that he seemed worried about her.
"I'm okay, really…It was just a dream." Krystal leaned over to the human and gently kissed his cheek, "Thanks for your concern though." The two stared at each other for a few seconds, at least that what it seemed like, when in fact they had been staring for over a minute. It was a timer going off that caused the two to take their eyes off each other.
"Breakfast is almost done." He said and started to walk out of the room. Krystal turned her attention to the dresser and made her way there; she started to get out clean clothes and then made her way to the shower, she looked over to find Josh cooking something on the stove.
"I'm going to take a shower real quick." She said, Josh looked over at the vixen and nodded.
"Have fun." He said and returned to finish cooking. Krystal walked into the bathroom and started to undress; as she did she started to hum a song. It had been a while since she had last sung. Josh was able to hear her humming, he hadn't heard of the song she was humming, could be she was humming a song that wasn't even from earth. It was a peaceful and beautiful song though.
After breakfast was made Krystal walked out of the steam filled bathroom, feeling refreshed and in a very good mood. She made her way to the table and sat down and then waited for Josh to bring the food over. When he did she saw they were having eggs and hash browns. A common breakfast meal for mercenaries, it was quick and easy to make. The two started to eat their food in silence; Krystal kept her gaze on the food while Josh kept his gaze on her.
"So…" He started to say, Krystal looked up at him, "What was your dream about? If you don't mind me asking?" Krystal lowered her gaze and went back to eating.
"Can't really remember to be honest." She said with a mouthful of food, "What about you? How was your dream?" She asked, Josh shrugged his shoulders.
"It was okay I guess…It was weird though, it had something to do with flying pigs and midget clowns, lollypops and candy canes."
"That does sound weird." She said and gave him a small smile, "So what are we going to do today?" She asked
"I'm not sure…I'll think of something. Hey what were you humming in there?" He asked, suddenly Krystal looked up at him with red burning cheeks.
"You…You heard that?" She asked, the human nodded. Instantly she felt embarrassed, she didn't think he would have heard her.
"Yeah…It sounded beautiful, what was it?"
"It…It was a song some of the inhabitants of Sauria would sing when night came…It's called The Nights Harmony." Krystal looked back down to her food and continued to eat it. Josh watched as his friend ate her food, and then out of nowhere a thought came to his mind.
"Krystal, would you like to go to a museum?" He asked, the Vixen looked back at the human.
"What kind of museum?"
"I don't want to say…It'll be a surprised for you." He said.
"A surprise? For me?" She asked, the human nodded, "Why?"
"No reason really…I just want to." Krystal smiled a little.
"Okay." She said and could feel her tail wag.
Krystal had awoken to a painful head ache that stretched all over her head. She softly groaned before sitting up in her seat, she slowly opened her eyes and could see her console pad's button flashing. Wires that had been split apart were starting to cause sparks. Krystal placed her hand on her head and then pulled it away at the pain; she looked at her hand to find red blood mixing with her blue fur covered palm. She grunted and moved out of her seat and fell onto the ground. Her thin silk white and blue Greek style robes did nothing to keep the cold metal from touching her skin. The Vixen slowly stood and started to feel unbalanced, it was then she noticed everything seemed slanted. She cautiously made her way over to the control pad of the ship and tried to send an emergency beacon for pick up, however the ship was completely totaled. The Vixen sighed and then noticed her staff laying a few feet from the pilot's seat.
She started to make her way to it and then the image of her father appeared. Krystal grabbed her chest where her heart was and could feel it break even more. She wanted to cry, but she knew that now wasn't the time. She had to get off the ship and find some help. Krystal reached down and grabbed the spear and attacked it to her belt across her waist. She approached the ships exit door and pulled the emergency release. The door blew off its hinges and started to fall to the ground, thing was…It took it a while to hit the ground. Krystal approached the now opened exit and immediately noticed she was in a jungle. She looked down and saw she was stuck in a tree very high up, a hundred or even two hundred feet up.
"Ah Fukaye" She cursed and slowly started to climb down the side of the crashed ship. It took her a while to make it all the way down to the ground, by then she needed to rest for a little bit. The crash and the long climb down took up all her energy and she was completely spent. The lone Cerinian sat down and leaned her back up against the tree's large trunk, she was close to panting. She closed her eyes and tried to focus on her breathing techniques her mother had taught her. After a few moments her breathing had slowed and she stood from the ground. She took a moment to look around, as she already figured she was in a jungle and didn't know which way to go. She knew if she picked one of the wrong directions she could very well end up walking for days until she died of thirst. She loudly sighed angrily at the situation.
She randomly picked a direction and started to walk off. As she did she couldn't help but think on how this jungle look much like the lush forest that grew close to her home…Krystal wiped a lone tear from her eye, she gritted her teeth and kept moving. There would be time to mourn and cry, but this wasn't it. She had to focus; she had to stay alive if she ever wanted to know what happened to her planet.
It felt like half a day had passed and she was still walking in the damned jungle. The Vixen could already feel the side effects from dehydration; it must have been a day or so since she last drank anything, and the humidity was unbearable. Which she was paying the price for. Her tongue moved around her bone dry mouth, she was feeling tired and lightheaded. Her whole body was begging her to stop and rest, but she knew it wouldn't help. The only way her body would get better was if she found some water, but there wasn't any around. A few more hours had past and she felt the need to cry, but no tears came out. She knew if she didn't find water soon she would die before the day was over. Suddenly a thought came to her mind, it was a sickening thought, but she was taught that it could save her life. However it should only be done in extreme dehydration emergencies. Well she was sure this counted as one, yet the thought that it will save her life didn't make it easier to think about doing, but she knew it was this or death.
Out of habit she looked around to make sure no one was there, if there was she wouldn't have to do this, however she was alone. She took a deep breath and felt the humid air pass threw her dry mouth. She reached down and grabbed the end of her silk blue and white robe and pulled it up to her midsection and squatted down. With one hand she held the dress; with the other she reached in-between her legs and started to urinate on her hand. She took another deep breath and quickly moved her hand to her mouth and started to drink her pee. No words could begin to describe how warm and salty the taste was. She instantly threw her hand away from her mouth and started to gag, she wanted to throw up but forced it down and stuck her hand back between her legs and finished emptying her bladder onto her hand. She brought her hand back to her mouth and drank the last hand full which nearly tasted worse than the first. She gaged again and fell to her hands and knees in a couching fit.
It didn't do much to ride her of her dehydration symptoms, but she would live longer than she would have she not done that. The Cerinian stood from her spot and continued to walk on.
Krystal had walked on for a few more hours after she had drank her own piss. While she felt dirty and disgusted with herself, she knew it was for survival. It would seem luck was on the Cerinian's side as the sun was going down and the humidity had decreased drastically and she actually could feel Goosebumps forming under her fur from the cool air. As she walked onward she heard a distant sound and her ears flickered. The sound was a godsend to her; she rushed toward the sound and came to a large creek bed with a water fall many yards away. Krystal's legs nearly buckled as she looked in awe. The young Cerinian rushed to the water's edge and forced her face into the cold water and nearly inhaled it. She opened her mouth as wide as it could and sucked as much water as she could possibly take and forced it all down in a painful gulp. It took a few gulps before her mouth lost its dryness and returned to its natural wet form.
Krystal moved her head out of the water as her need for air increased, she started gasping for air and when she had enough, she went back down for more water. Soon she felt like her gut would explode and thus she moved away from the water. Her body was now fully rehydrated; however she was exhausted and could barely move. She then noticed a hollowed out dead tree and decided to rest for the night there and in the morning follow the creek until she found a town or city. The Vixen made her way to the hollowed tree and picked a spot that seemed most comfortable and instantly dropped and fell asleep.
A few hours later the two got ready. Josh wore a blue shirt and blue jeans while Krystal changed into her human disguise. The pare left the apartment and drove for an hour before coming to a large building. Josh pulled up to the parking lot and turned the car off; Krystal looked out the window towards the building and saw the name was 'Cherry Wood Dino exhibit' Krystal immediately turned to face Josh.
"A dinosaur museum?" She asked, Josh shrugged his shoulders.
"You said you missed that dinosaur planet you were on, so I thought you would like to see some dinosaurs." The Vixen gently smiled at the human.
"I would love to see some." She replied. The two got out of the car and started to make their way to the building. There was a couple of stairs that they had to walk up on before reaching the doors. As they came to the last stair Krystal noticed two small pillars about five feet high with strange feathered lizards gently sawing to the left and right. They had short scrawny arms with long claws, they suddenly hunched over and looked like they were about to attack. Krystal instinctively grabbed Josh by the back of his shirt and jerked him out of the way. Josh fell to his side and looked up at Krystal who looked like she was about to get in a fight.
"Ouch…What was that for?" He asked very upset, he started to stand up but Krystal threw her hand back to him as if keeping him from getting close to her.
"Stay back, they're about to attack!" She snapped and then she waited for one of them to attack first. She stared the two creatures down and waited, and then waited some more. Suddenly they went back to their idle swaying.
"What the?" She asked, Josh rolled his eyes and stood from the ground and approached Krystal.
"There fake Krystal." He said and walked past her, Krystal lowered her arms.
"Fake?" She asked and watched as Josh approached one of the lizards.
"Yes fake, their animatronics…Like robots…See" He said and placed his hand inside the open mouth of the lizard, at first Krystal was about to yank him away from the creature, but then she saw how it was completely ignoring him and swaying to the left and right. Suddenly she started to feel like a fool.
"I'm…Goodness I'm so embarrassed…Are you okay?" She asked and approached him when she noticed a red skid mark on his forearm. She gently placed her hands on his arm to get a better look.
"Yeah I'm fine…Look there are a few more animatronics inside…Just remember that nothing in there will hurt you." Krystal nodded, she still felt embarrassed at the scene she caused. But it wasn't her fault, all she knew was that some creepy looking chicken think that looked like it was the offspring of a sharp claw and Falco, was about to attack Josh. Josh ended up placing one of his arms gently around her shoulder and leading her on into the building.
Once inside they came to a round looking room with three doors leading into other rooms, in the center of this room was a few glass cases with what looked like rocks inside of them, Josh left her said stating he would be right back. Krystal made her way to the center of the room and looked at the glass casings and the rocks inside; upon further inspection she found out that they were fossils. It looked much like sea shells, suddenly she heard a roar. It was a loud monstrous roar, she then heard a kid shouting. She turned toward the sound of the roar and it appeared it was coming through the open door way in front of her. She immediately ran into the open door way and could see a little girl crying by what looked like a fake pillar. Krystal approached the crying girl.
"Are you alright?" She asked as she knelt down right next to the child, the little girl looked up at Krystal and nodded.
"It scared me a little." She said, Krystal gently smiled and the little girl seemed to calm down a little bit.
"What scared you?" She asked, the little girl then pointed behind Krystal.
"That." She said, Krystal turned around and froze in her spot. Her breathing started to quicken as did her heart. The little girl stood up and walked next to Krystal who looked petrified.
"I sometimes forget that it's fake." She said and walked away. The Vixen however was glued in her spot, still staring at the monster in front of her. She knew it wasn't real, but her fear had overcome her reason. All she could do was stare into its blood red eyes. The animatronic T-Rex blinked a few times before growling at her and then it roared.
Krystal later awoke to the sound of something shouting. The Cerinian sat up and her ears twitched a little, she slowly stood and walked out of the hollowed tree. She wasn't sure how long she had slept, the sun was still up a little so she figured an hour or two, she then heard the shouting again and quickly turned around facing the direction the shouting came from, which lead back into the jungle. The Cerinian started to head toward the sound of the waling cry, whatever was making that sound was clearly hurt. Krystal started to slowly run toward the sound. Every time it cried out it seemed to get weaker and weaker. It wasn't long before she made her way to a clear opening in the jungle, there were no trees. Only empty dirt covered ground, it was there she saw what was making the sound. There were two creatures, one was lying on the ground, it was a large creature with two large horns on its head and one smaller one on top of its beak like mouth; it also had a fanlike shape boney frill attacked to the back of its head. It had blood all over it and spots where flesh had been torn off; the pour creature was still alive, but barely.
The other creature was the one responsible for this act, it seemed very lizard like. It was much larger than the one laying on the ground. This one was on its two legs, it had small scrawny arms and a large body, it had a long face and wide mouth filled with razor sharp teeth with chunks of bloodied flesh hanging loosely from them. The worst part of this creature was its blood red eyes. The large creature didn't seem to notice Krystal and leaned its head down toward the half dead creature under it, it opened its mouth and sank its teeth into the poor things torn open sides. The wound being cried out in a tearful cry. Krystal watched in horror as the other creature roughly jerked its head back and tore out what look like the other creatures intestines and started to eat it. The wound creature made a God-awful sound and lowered its head onto the ground and remained still.
Krystal placed her hand over her mouth to keep from vomiting from the sight, but more so the awful rancid smell, her eyes started to fill with tears at the horrible sight. She slowly started to take a few steps back and then heard a snapping sound, she looked down to find she had stepped on a twig. She looked back up and the creature was staring right at her. She Vixen gasped as the Red-Eye stared at her while still chewing pieces of flesh in its mouth. In that moment it felt like the longest stare down in history. Her cyan eyes stared into its red soulless eyes. The Red-Eye swallowed what was in its mouth and the pulled its head back while taking a deep breath. It then lunged forward and let loose a bellowing, bone-chilling roar. Krystal instantly took a few steps back out of great fear that was spreading through her whole being.
The Cerinian wasted no time in running away as fast as she could, the Red-Eye instantly chased after its next meal. Krystal could feel her heart pounding away in her chest beating in unison with the creature's thunderous footsteps that forced her to push her legs to move faster. As luck would have it, the thick jungle trees offered her some protection as the Red-Eye would have to change its course and try to find a way that would allow its body to pass. The strong hunger driving the beast to kill started to increase as did its blood lust. The Red-Eye roared once again and rammed its body into the trees knocking some of them down.
Krystal watched in horror as her only protection was being torn down as easily as paper. The monster opened its wide maw and showed its yellow stained teeth that still contained bits of flesh from its last meal and continued to chase after Krystal. It wasn't long until the Vixen had to rest; her body still hadn't recovered all its energy since the crash. She felt major fatigued and quickly crawled inside a hollowed log that was lying on the ground next to dead trees. The Vixen lay on her back and tried to control her breathing, however the sound of the Red-Eye moving closer to her and roaring loudly did nothing to help. Was this really how she was going to die? To be eaten by some monster? Was this what her whole life was leading up to? To be someone's diner?
Suddenly everything was quiet, not a sound was to be heard other than her breathing. Everything was so quiet her fox ears couldn't pick anything up. Was it gone? Krystal wasn't too sure on what to do, should she make a run for it, or should she wait and be sure that it was really gone. Her decision was already made as through one of the cracks in the log the blood red eye was seen staring at her. She shouted in fear which caused the Red-Eye to roar and open its massive mouth. It grabbed the log by its mouth and lifted it in the air; Krystal then slid out of the log and fell to the ground, instantly she felt pain flare up at her ankle. She quickly got back up and started to run, but pain in her ankle caused her to drop to her knees, she nearly cried as she forced her body to keep moving.
She looked behind her to find the Red-Eye swinging the log around in its mouth like it was a chew toy, and then it spotted Krystal and growled. Next it clamped its teeth down and the log shattered into hundreds of pieces. The beast approached the wounded Vixen slowly causing her fear to increase as her inevitable doom came closer. The beast opened its mouth and brought it toward Krystal to end her life. She closed her eyes and waited for the painful feeling of having her flesh and bones chomped on. Suddenly a loud shriek came from the sky. The Red-Eye removed its mouth away from Krystal and looked up as did the Vixen. Next thing she saw was a winged creature quickly landing between the two. The two creatures stared each other down.
"Akana to for a, setika elusa vorta." The Winged creature shouted, the Red-Eye stared at the Cloudrunner and growled before quickly spinning around to tail whip the Cloudrunner. The winged creature quickly jumped into the air and flew on top of the Red-Eye's back and started to use its claws to tear at its flesh. The Red-Eye roared in pain and started to spin around to get the winged creature from its back. The Red-Eye fell down onto its side, the Cloudrunner then turned his gaze to Krystal who looked at him with fear, he jumped off the Red-Eye and quickly rushed to Krystal who reacted by trying to run away. The Cloudrunner flapped his wings and flew after her; he gently grabbed her by the shoulders with his talons and flew off with her.
"Krystal?" Josh called out; the Vixen looked as if she was in a state of petrified fear. Josh gently placed his hand on her shoulder and gently shook her, "Hey are you okay?" He asked. Krystal rapidly blinked a few times before she turned her head to look at Josh.
"I'm sorry?" She asked, Josh raised a brow.
"Are you alright? Do you want to leave?" He asked, Krystal shook her head.
"No, I'm fine…It just startled me a little." Josh looked over at the animatronic T-Rex and smiled.
"That's the T-Rex…Although some people use the full name Tyrannosaurs Rex, just seems like a mouth full to me. Just about every dinosaur has two names, the short easy ones to remember, and the long ass ones scientist come up with…Oh here put this on." He said and handed her a blue wrist band, "It's for the tour that's about to start."
Krystal grabbed the blue wrist band and slid it over her left wrist, then the two left the area and went back to the main entrance room where they saw three groups of people, each group had a different wrist bands, Blue, Green, and Red. The two made their way to the blue group and then the tour guide started to speak, she was a young woman who was probably late teens early twenty's.
"Hello, how is everyone doing today?" She asked with a smile, no one answered yet she kept the wide smile. "Well my name is Kristine and today I will be your tour guide…We just have a few rules that everyone must follow. Rule one is to not touch anything, rule two is to not have food and or drinks, rule three is to stay with your group at all times. If you should get lost find a security guard and they will bring you back to the group…Alright lets go have a fun and educational day." She said and shook her hands in the air. Everyone kept their normal expressions and wait awkwardly for the guide to move on.
'Fucking cock sucking motherfuckers, I hope you all fuckin burn in hell.' The tour guide thought. To which Krystal heard.
"Oh my." She said, Josh looked over at her.
"Something wrong?" He asked.
"I believe our tour guide is having a bad day…Best we abide by her rules." She said and looked over to find Josh opening a snack sized bag of chips and placing a chip in his mouth and slowly chewing it. He then turned his attention to Krystal and held the bag near her.
"Want some?"
The tour group started to walk down a hallway filled with artifacts sealed in glass cases. One such casing caught Krystal's attention. She walked up to it while the tour guide was talking to the others. Josh stayed close to her as they walked. Inside the casing was a fossilized flower, nothing really special about it other than it looked cool.
"Did they have fossils on Sauria?" Josh asked, Krystal looked at him through the glass reflection.
"Yes, although so far from what I have discovered is that your Earth dinosaurs are much different from the ones on Sauria."
"How so?" He asked.
"Well, for starters they couldn't talk…Words that is. Next your dinosaurs have feathers that covered little to most of their bodies while Sauria didn't. Yours seem more feral and were not very intelligent. There could have been a chance of your dinosaurs surviving the asteroid if they pulled their resources together and seek shelter, but they seemed to prefer killing each other.
"Over here we have these small guys called Ornitholestes, which means Bird robber. It's said that they lived in North America in the late Jurassic period about 154 million years ago." The tour guide said, Krystal and Josh made their way over to small stage like area with a small animatronic dinosaur.
"Well he looks familiar." Krystal said.
"You had these on Sauria?" Josh asked, Krystal nodded.
"Yes, they were called the Lightfoot. They were a secretive and a bit reclusive Tribe of dinosaurs. They didn't have the best of manners." Josh looked at Krystal to find she was in deep thought as she looked at the animatronic.
Krystal was dropped on the swampy ground by the Cloudrunner who had enough of her clawing at his feet to let her go. Krystal quickly stood as the flying creature landed, she reached for her staff and gripped it tightly and pulled it off her belt and activated the small foot and half rod into its full five foot length. She pointed the spear tip at the Cloudrunner; her face was filled with fear.
"Akenu tey fortanu!?" She called out, the Cloudrunner tilted his head a little as he couldn't understand what this creature was saying.
"Seca taqul ves unalsa." He spoke, just as he couldn't understand her, she couldn't understand him. The Cloudrunner took a step closer to Krystal which prompted her to growl and ready her staff. The Cloudrunner held his winged arms up as if showing his hands.
"Akeyah anuta vura." He said and slowly brought one of his finger claws to his chest and tapped it. "Awena Kyte." He said, Krystal still looked confused so he tapped his chest again. "Kyte." Krystal then figured he was telling her his name.
"Kyte." She replied which caused the creature to nod his head and slightly bow. Krystal turned her staff back to its smaller self and reattached it to her belt, next she started to tap her chest.
"Anuway Krystal."
"Krystal." He replied. Suddenly Krystal placed her hand over her stomach after it painfully growled causing her to grunt a little. Kyte noticed and took a step closer.
"Zequla tes anua?" He asked then remembered that she doesn't understand him, he opened his beak and pointed his claw finger at his open mouth. "Azula." Krystal raised a brow. Kyte shook his head and noticed the swamp water and approached it. He waited by the creek bed, Krystal watched as he ducked his beak into the water. A few seconds later he pulled his head back and she saw a fish trapped between his toothless beak trying wiggle its way out. Kyte then chomped his beak down crushing the fish and killing it, he then walked to Krystal and dropped the fish in front of her.
"Ate." He said and then opened his beak and closed it several times to simulate chewing. Krystal looked at the bloodied crushed fish that was still twitching. Normally she would have taken the time to gut it, skin it and clean it as well as cook it. However she was starving and very tired. She grabbed the fish and brought it to her muzzle, she opened her mouth and took a large bite out of the fish. She had eaten raw fish before but never freshly killed raw fish. It wasn't bad though, however she was too hungry to think about how it tasted, she just wanted to crave her hunger. Within a few moments all that was left was the fin tail, bones and the head. Kyte had already brought her another fish which she was eating slower than the first.
As she was eating she noticed Kyte was scattering fallen leaves around in a pile, she ignored what he was doing and turned back to her half eaten fish. When she was finished she let out a long yawn and her eyes started to get heavy. She was about to fall asleep until Kyte nudged her with his beak, she looked over at him and he pointed towards a tree, that's when she noticed what looked like a bed of leaves. She looked back at the Cloudrunner who nodded his head, the Cerinian stood from her spot and walked over to the bed of leaves and lied down. She looked up at the night sky which was filled with stars. Krystal let out another yawn before falling asleep.
It had been nearly a year since the Cerinian had crashed on Sauria. Her time there was spent mostly with her friend Kyte who had taught her how to speak Saurian, she in turn taught him to speak Cerinian. Krystal had made her way to one of the Lightfoot tribes in the swamp, word had reached them that two Lightfoot tribes were at war with each other. The King of the Earthwalkers was going to send some of his warriors to deal with the situation; however Krystal volunteered to put a stop to the fighting.
"Be careful Krystal." Kyte said in Cerinian as he started to flap his wings to take off, "The Lightfoot are very stubborn, if a fight breaks out between the two tribes I want you to run away and let them fight it out."
"There won't be a fight Kyte, because I'll stop it." She replied and watched as Kyte flew off. It was nice to have someone to speak Cerinian to; Krystal was at peace with knowing that she might not ever get off Sauria, but the thought that her culture would die with her was heart breaking. She had taught Kyte, but none of the other denizens would even try to learn it. The lone Cerinian pushed the thought away and made her way to the entrance of the Lightfoot tribe, just as Kyte had warned her earlier, the second they saw her their warriors had surrounded her and pointed their spears at her.
"What do you want?" One of the warriors asked in Saurian. Krystal turned her attention to the one that spoke.
"I'm here to bring peace to the two warring tribes." She replied in their language.
"Those foolish under grounders won't accept any form of peace, and we'll be damned if we send one at all." The Under grounders was the warring tribe, they were called that because their tribe were underground, the tribe Krystal was with were called the Swampers because they lived by the swamp.
"So you would rather fight than try to make peace?" She asked.
"Of course not…But the decision is not up to us, it is up to our chief." Another Swamper said and lowered his spear, "If you truly want to try to stop the fighting then you must speak to him, he's in the red hut." Krystal looked over and saw the red hut the Swamper was talking about. Krystal walked past the warriors and made her way there, once inside she was met with the chief. He was a few inches taller than the others and had a feather head dress on.
"Who are you? Why have you come here?" He asked, Krystal placed her hand over her heart and bowed her head.
"My name is Krystal, I have come to seek peace between the Swampers and the Under grounders." The Swamper chief started to laugh.
"There can be no peace between our tribes." He firmly stated.
"Why are your tribes fighting in the first place, I was sure you were allies?" She asked.
"The Under grounders have stolen our sacred orb, and the thieving animals refuse to give it back. That is why we must fight." Krystal crossed her arms and started to think on a peaceful solution.
"What if I can convince the Under grounders to give your orb back, will there be peace then?" She asked, the chief started to scratch his chin as he though.
"They would still have to answer for taking the orb…But no, there would be no need for a fight."
"Then that's what I'll do, I'll have them return your orb." The chief laughed again.
"Good luck, if the orb is not returned by sunset then we march for war." He said.
Krystal left the Swamper tribe and made the two mile walk to where the Under grounders were at, she made her way to a cave where she could see some Lightfoot warriors. Just like with the Swamper tribe as soon as they saw her they surrounded her and had her at spear point.
"You!" one of the under grounders called out, "Our spies have told us that they have seen a blue creature talking with the Swampers…Are you with them? Are you an assassin come to kill our chief!?" He called out and readied his spear for an attack. Krystal held her arms up in the sky.
"No, I'm not with the Swamper tribe, nor am I an assassin. I'm here to bring peace between your two tribes." The under grounders started to talk to themselves for a little bit, then they turned back to Krystal.
"We will take you to our chief, word of warning blue one. Any suddenly movements and you're finished." One of them said and started to walk into the cave, Krystal followed a safe distance behind. She hopped she wouldn't have to get into a fight with them, however it seemed like she just might have too. The Vixen walked deeper into the cave and then they came to a cavern. There were a few Lightfoot who were watching what was going on. Krystal started to get a bad feeling, but kept on walking. Soon they came to a small rocky building. They walked inside and were met by the chief.
"What is the meaning of this? I'm planning the attack and you bring this creature here, explain yourselves."
"I believe I can speak for myself." Krystal stated, "I'm here to bring peace between your two tribes…If you hand over the Swampers orb then there will be no need for a fight." The chief chuckled.
"So that's what those frog suckers said huh? What if I told you we didn't take anything from them? What if I told you that they stole our own orb?" The Chief asked.
"You both have orbs?" She asked to which the chief nodded.
"I've tried to tell those damned fools that we Under grounders respect our alliance with the Swampers and would never do anything to betray them. But those stubborn fools won't listen, on my return I discovered that our orb had been taken. I know they took it...I wish we could have peace, but so long as they have our orb we will never have peace." Krystal sighed and leaned up against the rocky wall.
"The Swampers say you have their Orb, you say they have your Orb…Is it possible that another rival tribe stole them so you would fight?" She asked.
"I suppose it could be possible…However there are no other tribes close enough…The closes tribe is nearly half a day walk from the area, and our scouts would have seen the thief with the orbs…No I'm afraid our alliance with the Swampers is at an end, at sunset we head out for war, if you'll excuse me I need to make preparations." The chief turned his attention away from Krystal and went back to work. Krystal lowered her head and started to walk off.
As the Vixen was about to leave the area she came through a clearing in the swamp, she couldn't believe that she had failed to bring peace, there wouldn't be any way of finding out who took the orbs. All evidence would have been washed away by the rain. Krystal sighed and continued to walk on, surely there must be a way to bring peace. She just needed a place to meditate and think for a little bit. She moved a few leaves out of her way and sat down crossing her legs. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, hearing the sound of the wind gently blowing past her. She remained this way for some time until she heard the sound of someone stepping on a dried up leaf. The Vixen opened her eyes and saw two small Lightfoot children.
"Hello." She said, the two children adverted their eyes from Krystal and both looked very sad.
"You…You were trying to stop the fight right?" one of them asked who sounded like a girl.
"I'm still trying; I just need to think on a different way to stop it."
"Well." The other child spoke which was a boy, "We know where the Orbs are." Krystal's eyes widened a bit and she stood up, towering over the small dinosaurs.
"How do you know where it is?" She asked, the two children remained silent and refused to meet her gaze, "Well are you going to tell me so I can stop the fight?" She asked. The two kids looked at each other and then looked up at Krystal.
"I'm the Under grounders' chief's son." The boy said and looked over to the girl Lightfoot, "This is the daughter of the Swampers' chief…We were playing and thought that bringing the Orbs would be fun…However as we played close to the Swamp a bad creature attacked us and took the orbs away."
"We wanted to tell our fathers what happened, but we were scared." The Girl spoke and was about to cry.
"Don't cry, I'll get the Orbs back." Krystal said with a smile, "Just tell me where you were attacked at."
Krystal made her way to the swamp where the two kids told her they were attacked at, the water was a sickly green color and the trees looked dead and withered. Krystal had never been to this part of the swamp before; Kyte wouldn't let her come near this place. Krystal approached the green water and looked around.
"I know you're here…You have something that doesn't belong to you, return the two orbs and that will be the end of it." She spoke out, she waited for a response. She noticed in the middle of the swampy water started to bubble letting her know something was there. Krystal reached for her staff attached to the side of her loincloth. She got into a fighting stance and activated the staff to its full length. A few more seconds later and something large broke through the water's surface. The creature stared at the Vixen with yellow glowing eyes. The beast looked like a cross between a sharp claw and a large fish. The creature opened its mouth showing its two rows of teeth; it then let out a rancid smell that caused Krystal to gag.
"Who bothers me?" He asked in a loud deep voice. Krystal regained her posture and stared the creature right back.
"I am Krystal; you took two orbs from Lightfoot children. I need them back right now before the two tribes go to war."
"The children offered the orbs in place of their lives…The orbs are mine, leave before you become my next meal."
"I'm not leaving."
"So be it." Suddenly the creature lunged out of the water and opened its mouth to eat her. Krystal quickly jumped eight feet into the air missing the attack, as she fell down she landed on the creatures head. The beast growled and flung his head up launching Krystal back into the air. The Vixen back flipped and landed on her foot and knee, she quickly looked up at the Swamp creature charging at her. Krystal quickly rolled out of the way as its wide mouth came close to her, the creature rushed past her and skid across the ground as it tried to stop itself.
Krystal quickly approached the beast and swung her staff hitting the creature behind its knee making it drop to its knees. Suddenly three tentacles sprang from its back and grabbed the Vixen.
"What the?" She shouted as the tentacles lifted her into the air and towards its open mouth. The foul stench quickly engulfed her and caused bile to rise up. As it lowered her to its mouth she quickly used her free hand to dig her claws into its tentacle. The beast roared and flung the Vixen away, she crashed on the ground hard but quickly recovered. She held her staff tight and activated its firing form. She aimed her staff and fired three shots of red fiery energy at the beast. The fire balls melted into the beast body which caused another roar. Krystal was about to fire another shot until the Swamp creature used it's tentacles to smack her, her staff flung out of her hands and into the swamp water.
Krystal looked back at the beast just into catch a glimpse of its yellow eyes as it rammed it's reptilian snout into her torso and started to force her backwards really fast. The beast then rammed its face which Krystal was stuck to against a dead tree. The Cerinian crashed through the tree and fell to the ground. She grunted at the pain flaring at her back. Suddenly she felt one of its tentacles wrap around her ankle and lifted her into the air and slammed her back onto the ground. The blow knocked the air out of her and her vision instantly started to blur. She was then lifted back into the air and thrown into the swamp water. The beast roared as it knew this fight was over, it then made its way back to the water to claim its meal.
As Krystal's vision started to return she started to sit up and could feel something under her hand, it was her staff. Just then the beast charged at her with its open mouth. Krystal waited until the last second and then lifted her staff out of the water; the spear tip went inside the beast's mouth and exited out the back of its skull. The beast made a sickening sound before closing its eyes and rolling over dead. Krystal took the moment to take a few deep breaths, she stood and yanked her staff out of the creature's mouth, she then turned it back into its smaller form and reattached it to her waist. Just then she noticed the sickly green water slowly started to clear up, as if this beast had invoked a curse and its death broke such curse. Within a few seconds the water was crystal clear, and then she noticed two glowing balls under the water which could have only been the orbs.
The sun had set and the two tribes had met at an open field, each of the warriors was shouting for the battle to start. The two chiefs began to approach each other.
"Return our orb and this will end." The Swamper chief ordered.
"Return ours you thief!" The Under grounder shouted.
"Rock eater!"
"Frog sucker!"
"So be it, prepare for battle!" The Swamper shouted and pointed his spear at the Under grounder.
"Get ready my warriors." The Under grounder shouted and aimed his spear at the Swamper.
"ATTACK!" The two chiefs shouted and were about to stab each other until.
"WAIT!" A female called out, everyone turned to find Krystal approaching the battle field holding the two orbs in her hands.
"The orbs!" The chiefs called out in unison and rushed to the Vixen, once there they grabbed their own orb and began cheering.
"Where did you find them?" The Under grounder asked.
"A Swamp creature took them from your children who took the orbs to play with."
"They did what!?" The fathers shouted, they both took a moment before looking at each other.
"I suppose…We were wrong, I apologize." The Swamper said and bowed to the Under grounder.
"We…Are also sorry. If something as small as the orbs disappearing causing us to turn against each other, then maybe we need to build up a stronger trust between our tribes." The Under grounder spoke. The two chiefs shook hands and nodded. The Two tribes went back to their areas leaving Krystal alone on the field.
'Thanks would have been nice.' She thought and shook her head and then started to make her way back to the Cloudrunner realm.
The human placed his hand on the Cerinian's shoulder; she looked over at him and smiled.
"Tours moving on." He said, Krystal looked over to the group as the tour guide was leading them on.
'Come on, let's go you pieces of shit…God I hate my life.' The guide thought, 'If one more mother fucker asks where the bathroom is, I swear I'm going to explode!'
"I wonder if there's a bathroom close by." Josh asked. "Maybe the guide will know…Excuse me!" He called out and raised his hand to get the guides attention, Krystal quickly reached up and grabbed his arm and pulled it back down to his side.
"You should probably hold it." The Vixen said and then wrapped her arms around his to keep him from raising them again.
"But I have to go really bad…I've been holding it all day." Krystal tightened her grip around his arm.
"Hold it." She said in a firm commanding tone, Josh sighed.
"Fine…If I piss myself, I don't want to hear any bitching." The group continued to walk on. Krystal kept close to Josh while she looked around, she was amazed by all the fossils and dinosaur bones the humans had collected throughout the years.
"Paleontologists are making new discoveries every day, in fact they now believe that the Brachiosaurus, that's the Long Neck dinosaur to us might have had wings and could fly short distances." The guide spoke with a smile and pure wonder in her tone…
'Someone please kill me.' She thought. Krystal cringed a little bit.
"That woman needs help." She said and looked over to find Josh rushing to a door that said 'Bathroom' Krystal rolled her eyes and waited by the bathroom door for him to finish, as she waited she heard the muffled sound of her human friend.
"Ahhhhhhhh, that's better." He said, Krystal then noticed the tour moving on, she gently knocked on the door.
"Josh the tour is moving." She said.
"Go on ahead; I'll meet up with you when I'm done." Krystal looked back at the tour and back at the closed door.
"Are you sure?"
"Yeah I'm sure, I'll be in here for a while…Those chips have turned on me." Krystal cringed again.
"Gross, okay then see you." She said and walked away from the door and made her way back to the tour.
"Wait Krystal you still there?" He called out, but there was no answer. "Krystal, this bathroom doesn't have toilet paper…Krystal? Shit."
The tour group made their way past many more dinosaur animatronics, which the guide would talk about, and then would cuss everyone out in her mind. Needlessly to say, Krystal was able to add a few more colorful words to her vocabulary. As the tour moved on they ended up coming to another Dinosaur animatronic.
"This big guy is called Triceratops; they were here in north America around 68 million years ago, the term Triceratops literally means three-horned face, believe it or not but the Triceratops would sometimes eat meat if food was scarce…" The tour guides words slowly faded out as Krystal approached the animatronic dinosaur that was slowly looking around, Krystal noticed how the creature had quills on its back, and its horns were a little curved.
"What an evil looking Earthwalker." The vixen said and took a few steps back.
"No! I forbid you to go with the Earthwalkers to the underground lair of the walled city." Kyte spoke in Cerinian and glared at Krystal. The young twenty year old Cerinian let out a frustrating groan.
"The Earthwalkers will need all the help they can get, the Red Eyes will break free from the walled city and will once again attack the other tribes." She argued back, Kyte shook his head in disapproval
"Child, that is why the Earthwalker King has a special warrior task force team that goes down there to make sure the Red Eye won't break free…You are not needed."
"Then why would they send a messenger to each tribe asking for help? I can help them just fine Kyte, I'll be just fine." She said.
"You weren't fine the last time a Red Eye escaped the prison, if my memory serves me well, which it does…Had it not been for me you would have been killed."
"I was caught off guard, and weak from crashing here. Had I had my full strength I could have handled myself just fine." She said and while crossing her arms. Kyte sighed.
"Of course you think that, but you don't know for sure…Krystal please listen to me and do as I say."
"You're not my father Kyte; you have no right to tell me what I can or can't do!" Krystal snapped and started to walk out of the cave that had been hers and Kyte's home for the past two years. Kyte lowered his gaze to the ground.
"Your right Krystal…I'm…I'm not your father, regardless of that I've always looked over you as if you were my own daughter. I love you Krystal, I love you with all my heart. I can't bear the thought of something bad happening to you…You don't know the Red Eye like I do child…It's because of them…That I lost my wife and daughter." Krystal froze in her spot, she had no idea Kyte had a wife and child; he most certainly never spoke about them. The Vixen turned around to look at the Cloudrunner and could see him walking towards the back of the cave with his head down. "I have no right to tell you what to do…If you truly want to go to the walled city under lair…Then that is your wish, as much as it pains me…I can't stop you." Kyte laid down on his nest like bed and had his back facing Krystal. The Vixen lowered her head to the ground.
"I promise I will return Kyte." And with that the Cerinian walked out of the cave, leaving the Cloudrunner in tears.
Krystal made her way to the walled city; she headed toward a pyramid shape building where she saw a few Earthwalkers and Cloudrunners. As she got closer an Earthwalker approached her.
"Hey you." He called out to the Vixen; Krystal turned to face the Earthwalker and bowed.
"Greetings." She said.
"What are you doing here?" He asked, Krystal stood up straight when she answered.
"I'm here to help in making sure the Red Eye doesn't escape." The Earthwalker laughed.
"And how do you plan on protecting yourself? That little stick won't do much against them." Krystal was about to prove the Earthwalker wrong by showing him just how she would defend herself however just as she was reaching for her staff…
"I'll watch over her." A male called out, Krystal looked over to find another Earthwalker approaching, he was larger than the other one, the first thing she noticed was the shiny jewel engraved armor pads he wore. The other Earthwalker lowered his head to bow.
"Prince Aragorn, I had no idea you would be going in the under lair." He said, Aragorn scuffed.
"Figures, you don't know much do you…In fact if I recall correctly, shouldn't you be watching my kid brother?"
"My…My prince, the Queen and her body guards are with the young Prince Tricky…" The Earthwalker was cut off when Aragorn stepped closer.
"Then I suggest you go and act as extra protect for my mother and brother."
"Of…Of course my Prince." And with that the Earthwalker walked away, Krystal turned to the Prince.
"Thank you…But I could have handled myself…" She was cut off when Aragorn started to walk away.
"Gerald has more confirmed Red Eye kills than any other Earthwalker…You would have died, I saved your life…By more grateful next time, if you're coming then move along. If not, then go run back home." Krystal quietly growled at the Earthwalker, he can think whatever he wants to, she knew she would have won the fight with the Earthwalker. Prince Aragorn walked up to the front entrance of the pyramid building.
"You all know why you're here…Every year we head down into the lower levels to make sure the Red Eye have not broken free from their prison…We have confirmed that some of the Red Eye have broken free and wonder the underground path. We are to kill those that have broken free and make sure the others remain in the prison. If any of you are cowards…I suggest you leave now…Any cowardice once we are inside will not only get you killed, but those around you. Three teams have been assembled already; I will lead a team to the most depths to make sure the Red Eye King is still locked away…You know your jobs, move out." He spoke and looked at Krystal, "You are with me blue one." He added and turned around and headed into the building.
Once inside the group split up into their three teams and went their separate ways, Krystal, Aragorn and two other Earthwalkers headed down to the lowest level of the underground lair. The deeper they went the darker it got, the fresh clean air started to take on a musty smell, the smell was almost too overwhelming for the Vixen, but she continued on, despite gagging every once in a while. Soon it got to the point she had to ask.
"What is that smell?" No one answered her for a few seconds, she was about to ask again until Prince Aragorn answered her question.
"Nearly ten years of built up Red Eye shit…It only gets worse further down girl." He said without stopping or looking at her, Krystal covered her nose with her hand, but nothing would keep this rancid stench from her nose. Part of her was thinking that she should have listened to Kyte and stayed away from this place, just the utter feeling of the place made her fur stand up.
They walked deeper and deeper and soon could hear the distant sound of Red Eye's roaring in the upper levels, the roar was bringing back memories to when she crash landed two years ago and was attacked by a Red Eye. Krystal could feel her knees buckling at the memory. The Cerinian wasn't afraid of much, but she was grown up enough to admit that the Red Eye scared her something terrible. Krystal placed her hand on her staff when they heard the sound of a Red eye roaring up ahead.
"Get ready." Prince Aragorn calmly spoke out, Krystal couldn't believe how calm he was, she was close to pissing her own fur and he was acting as if the Red Eye were no big deal. Soon they could hear the loud thumping of the Red Eye's feet and soon felt the ground shake as it came closer. Krystal pulled her staff away from her side and activated its firing form. Soon enough the large Red Eye appeared from the corner. The green skinned monster stared its fresh meat down with hunger in its eyes, the beast roared and charged after them.
Aragorn charged head first at the beast and stuck his horns into the Red Eye's gut. The dinosaur roared and took a step back from the Earthwalker; the feeling of the horns being removed from its body caused the Red Eye even more pain. Suddenly the other two Earthwalkers rammed their horns into the beast's sides. The force of them pushing against the Red Eye sent it crashing against the wall. Aragorn took a few steps back and then charged at the Red Eye again, he put as much force into the attack as he could and rammed his head into the creature, gallons of blood started to pour out of its large wounds, with all the blood the Red Eye was losing, the battle was already over. The Red Eye tried to move off the wall but the other two Earthwalkers stabbed it again with their horns. It was then that the beast dropped onto the ground writhing in pain.
"Let's finish it men!" Aragorn shouted and then all three Earthwalkers rammed their horns into the Red eye, a final roar left its mouth before the creature laid its head down with blood flowing out of its gapped mouth. Its blood red eyes stared right at Krystal before it died. The Vixen could feel bile rising up at all the blood that covered the floor. She looked up and suddenly saw another Red Eye approaching.
"Look out!" She shouted, the Earthwalkers looked around and saw the next Red Eye.
"I'll handle this!" One of the other Earthwalkers said and charged at the Red Eye, suddenly a second Red Eye came into view, the Earthwalker couldn't stop himself in time. The second Red Eye opened its wide maw and chomped down on the Earthwalker's back. The beast roared in pain as his blood rolled off his back onto the ground, he tried to squirm out but the Red Eye had him. The Red Eye lifted the Earthwalker up and swung him to the left, it released its bite and the Earthwalker crashed into the wall and fell to the ground. The beast tried to stand but the Red Eye slammed it's foot on the Earthwalker's back pinning him to the ground, next the Red Eye chomped down on the wounded Earthwalker's neck. A painful gasp left his mouth, the Red Eye then yanked its head back ripping the flesh from the back of the Earthwalker's neck.
Krystal quickly adverted her eyes to find the Prince and other Earthwalker were fighting the other Red Eye; Krystal forced her eyes back to the Red Eye who was eating the now dead Earthwalker. Krystal aimed her staff and fired a few fire rounds into the Red Eye, the shots burned into the beast skin and it quickly jerked its head toward Krystal. It roared and began to charge after her, Krystal kept firing her staff and the rounds hit the Red Eye, however it's blood lust was so powerful that it couldn't feel the pain, it opened its maw, Krystal quickly leapt into the air and landed on top of its head, she then ran across it's back and front flipped off of it. She landed on the ground and quickly continued to fire her staff, the Red Eye turned around and charged again only much faster. Krystal quickly jumped to the left as the Red Eye ran past her. It slammed its feet onto the ground to stop itself, it then turned back around and roared and charged.
Krystal aimed her staff and fired a single fire round into its eye, the flaming ball melted its eye causing the creature to roar in pain and crush against the wall. Krystal wasted no time in running up to it and jumping on its back, she held her spear tight and started to stab the Red Eye over and over. The beast roared and started to get up which caused Krystal to fall off and land on her back, the Red Eye raised its foot up over Krystal and brought it down. Krystal quickly rolled out of the way, it's foot landed on the ground. Suddenly Prince Aragorn leapt over Krystal and dug his horns into the Red Eye's side forcing the beast onto the ground,
"Finish it Krystal!" He shouted. Krystal looked up at the Prince.
'How does he know my name?' She thought, she quickly cleared her mind and picked her staff up and charged at the fallen Red Eye. She jumped onto its side.
"Its heart is under its left arm, strike there!" He shouted Krystal looked where he told her to strike; she lined up her spear and shoved it through the Red Eyes flesh. The spear tip punctured the heart and the Red Eye cried out in agonizing pain before dying. Krystal yanked her staff out of the Red Eye's body and looked around to make sure there wasn't any more Red Eye, luckily it was only those three. Krystal noticed the other Earthwalker pulling his horns out of the last Red Eye and then making his way to her and Aragorn. Krystal looked over at the Prince who started to walk on.
"Wait." She called out to him, Aragorn stopped and turned to face her. "How did you know my name?" She asked.
"Kyte told me." He replied.
"Kyte?"
"He arrived an hour before you did…He saved my life in the war with the Red Eye and wanted to use his one free favor. He told me to protect you as he once protected me." With that said Aragorn turned around and continued walking. Krystal felt her ears and tail lower to the ground; she wanted to take back what she said to him earlier that day. He might not be her blood father, but she couldn't deny that he had been a father to her.
'Oh Kyte…I'm so sorry.' She thought and looked up to find Aragorn and the other Earthwalker were nearly out of sight; Krystal quickly started to chase after them.
The group made their way to the bottom layer of the under lair, and as Aragorn fear the great door to the Red Eye King was opened.
"Damn it." He said and quickly ran inside the open room, it was very dark and he couldn't see, but he knew something wasn't right. Something in the air was off…
"SEAL THE DOOR!" He shouted, Krystal and the other Earthwalker looked at each other with confusion. Suddenly they heard a loud monstrous roar; it was much louder and lasted much longer than the other Red Eye roars. Behind Aragorn in the darkness the two saw a pair of large glowing red eyes. "SEAL THE DOOR YOU FOOL!" Aragorn shouted, suddenly a Red Eye emerged from underneath the Glowing red eyes and rammed its body against Aragorn knocking him to the ground.
"My Prince!" The Earthwalker shouted and charged into the darkened room. The Red Eye sank its teeth into Aragorn's back, causing the Prince to roar in pain. The other Earthwalker rammed his horns into the Red Eye's side forcing the beast to release its hold on Aragorn. Krystal quickly rushed into the dark room and knelt next to Aragorn.
"Are you alright?" She asked, the Earthwalker started to cough.
"Foolish girl, forget about us and close the damned door. If the Red Eye King escapes then many will die." He said and painfully stood up. He turned his attention to the Earthwalker and the Red Eye fighting, he roared and charged sinking his horns into the meat eater. Krystal quickly made her way out of the darkroom and looked up toward the left and saw a stairway leading up to a stone platform. She turned around to find another Red Eye had entered from the darkness; the large glowing red eyes of the Red Eye King remained in place. Krystal turned her attention back to the stairway and started to run up it.
The Earthwalker warrior felt a sharp pain at the end of his tail, suddenly he was dragged against the floor, the Prince looked over to find a Red Eye dragging the warrior back into the darkness. Aragorn yanked his horns out of the fallen Red Eye and charged after his fellow warrior, just before he could reach them another Red Eye attacked him and he fell to the ground, he helplessly watched as the Earthwalker warrior was dragged into the darkness. Aragorn quickly stood up and attacked the Red Eye.
Krystal made her way to the stone platform and noticed a push pad, she shoved her hand against it and heard the sound of the large stone door closing, Krystal turned around to find it slowly going down, she quickly made her way down the stairway and back into the darkroom.
"Hurry and get out of there!" She shouted, Aragorn pulled his horns out of the Red Eye's neck and the beast lay dead. He looked up at Krystal and started to make his way to her, Krystal noticed another Red Eye charging in from the darkness. She activated her staffs firing form and fired a few fire rounds into the Red Eye. Aragorn turned around just in time to stand on his hind legs and ram his horns into its chest. He pushed forward and the Red Eye fell backwards. He then noticed the door was very close to closing.
"Run girl! Or you'll never make it!" He shouted, Krystal shook her head and rushed up next to him.
"I won't leave you to die alone!" She shouted back and readied her staff. Aragorn looked over at the door which was only about twenty feet from closing and closing fast.
"I keep my promises girl." He said and quickly spun around tail whipping Krystal against the chest sending her out of the room and rolling over three times. She painfully coughed and looked up at the door just in time to see Aragorn charging after three Red Eyes head on.
"No!" She shouted, and then the door closed. Sealing in the Red Eye King once again. Krystal stared at the closed door for a long time with teary eyes. When she could finally find the strength to move she stood from the ground and began walking off. Telling the King and Queen that their eldest son sacrificed himself to keep the Red Eye King from escaping wasn't a pleasant moment. Seeing the Queen collapse onto the ground in tears broke Krystal's heart and she couldn't help but cry as well. After a while she left the walled city and made her way back to Kyte's cave.
As she walked in she found Kyte making his way out, he gasped when he saw her and cried.
"Thank heavens." He cried and grabbed Krystal into a tight hug. The Vixen cried once again and wrapped her arms around Kyte; she started to beg for forgiveness for what she said to him. The Cloudrunner gently smiled as a tear rolled down his cheek and stated that he was never angry at her for her words, thus she had nothing to apologize for.
Krystal felt a tear roll down her cheek and she quickly wiped the tear away. She sniffled a few times and looked over to find the tour group had left. She started to walk off in the only other direction they could have gone.
"Where did they go?" She asked.
'Fucking fuck bitches!'
"Ah, this way." Krystal took a turn and found the group; they were looking at fossils and much other stuff that the Cerinian found interesting. She took the time to look at each fossil and to read its description. Once fossil in particular fascinated her the most, she checked the description for a name.
"Horseshoe crab." What fascinated her so much was their nick name, the living fossils given to them because they have been alive for 450 million years. Once she was done looking she looked around the group of people in the tour and couldn't find Josh.
'Is he still in the bathroom?' She thought, 'I should go check and see if he's alright.' The Vixen started to make her way back from where she came from. As she walked on she noticed a door to the left, she had completely missed it on the way through. She decided taking a quick peek wouldn't hurt and so she took a left and entered a room, it was a slightly large room. However there were only two things on display, a statue and a large glass casing of some bones. Krystal was about to leave the room, that was until she got a look at the statue. Her eyes opened wide and her mouth was slightly gapped, she couldn't believe what she was seeing. Krystal made her way closer to the statue, it was Kyte. Or at least it looked almost like Kyte, same shape and skin color. The only major noticeable difference was that this creature had a fluffy pile of fur on its back, much like that of a baby chicken. The second most noticeable thing was its eyes; Kyte had green eyes with round pupils while this thing had yellow eyes with slit pupils. Still it was a very close likeness. She looked down and noticed a description.
Pteranodon
One of the largest known flying reptiles was toothless and had a wingspan of over twenty feet. Lived during the late Cretaceous geological period of North America.
Krystal looked away from the description and looked at the glass casing next to the statue; it looked like a solid chunk of rock with bones halfway protruding out of it, Krystal noticed how the skull looked much like the head of the statue next to her. It clearly told her that the bones in the case were that of the Pteranodon. Krystal couldn't help but think of Kyte and placed her hand on the glass case.
It had been a year since Krystal became an official member of the Star Fox team. Her and Fox's relationship was building up to the point that they were clearly more than friends, yet neither one of them had made a move to break the friend barrier. Yet they really didn't have much of a chance to with the Aparoid invasion. The Vixen was laying on her bed trying to rest; this was the first time since the whole Aparoid attack started that she found herself with time to rest. Fox had handed R.O.B the core memory that he took from the crashed spaceship Pigma was on. After the ordeal he asked to be left alone for a few moments. Fox had told her how Pigma had betrayed his father, it appears that after all this time Fox had finally avenged his father. Andross had killed his Dad and Fox killed him, Pigma betrayed James which led to his death by Andross, and now the pig was dead by Fox's hands as well. It was highly possible that was why he wanted to be left alone, such a long and forgotten dream had just recently been fulfilled. Krystal sighed as she wasn't able to sleep, she stood from the bed and left her room and made her way to the bridge. The doors opened to the bridge and she was surprised to see Fox and the rest of the crew there. She took a step towards Fox to talk to him however a holo video image of General Pepper came up.
"Good work, Star Fox."
"We've retrieved the Core Memory. It should reveal the location of their home world right?" Fox asked.
"That's right Fox. Indeed, the time to face the Aparoid queen has come…The source of all Aparoid will; the queen herself makes her vile nest on their home planet. As long as the queen exists, the Aparoid will continue to multiply." Instantly Krystal started to feel something pass through her mind.
"Understood. We're on our wa…"
"Fox." She called out, the Vulpine turned his attention to the Vixen.
"Hm?" He asked.
"I'm sensing a distress call from planet Sauria."
"Sauria? From Tricky?" He asked. Krystal shook her head.
"I'm not sure…But I sense cries of agony."
And with that the Star Fox team made their way to Sauria and discovered the Aparoids had attacked. Fox and Krystal stayed on the ground while Falco and Slippy stayed in the air with their Arwings to take care of the targets in the sky, it was a long and hard fight yet in the end the team managed to force the Aparoid off of Sauria. Even though they had won the fight Krystal couldn't shake this feeling that something was wrong. She didn't know what it could mean and decided it must have been nerves. They left Sauria and made their way to the Aparoid planet where they fought the queen and won, saving the Lylat system from total destruction.
Over the next two days the feeling in Krystal's gut had not gone away. Afraid that something had happened she and Fox took a shuttle with a Slip space engine as they had not yet upgraded their Arwings to carry the engine. They took the shuttle and made their way to Sauria. As they approached the planet her gut feeling got worse and she started to worry. As they landed the shuttle Krystal quickly exited the starship and rushed outside, she stood in the hot sun and closed her eyes. She took a deep breath and concentrated, she wasn't sure on what she was trying to find, but she knew she would find it. Which she did, only much sooner than she thought.
"Krystal." A voice weakly called out to her. The Vixen focused on that voice like a moth to light, "Krystal." It said again. Instantly Krystal felt her chest tighten painfully.
"Kyte…Oh God." She said and ran off toward the Cloudrunner domain.
With each step she took it felt as if she had taken a blow to the chest, she ran up to where his cave was, the same cave that was once her home for almost three years. As she ran in she noticed it was empty and an even more powerful blow to her chest knocked her to her feet.
"Where are you Kyte?" She asked herself, she didn't give herself much time to think and quickly stood back up and rushed back out of the cave, there could be only one last place for him to be. At Cloudrunner Fortress with his aunt, the Cloudrunner Queen. Krystal and Fox made their way to the Fortress. Once inside Krystal started to call out for Kyte, after a few moments the Cloudrunner Queen entered.
"Akaya zulatah Krystal." She said, Krystal slightly bowed before speaking.
"Enatua zel for a Kyte ena shy…" Fox reached into his vest and grabbed an ear piece communicator and placed it in his ear. "Etshl vyud huhsg…And he wasn't at his cave, please tell me Kyte is here." The queen lowered her gaze to the floor, Krystal instantly felt her heart breaking.
"Kyte was badly wounded during the attack Krystal…How he's managed to survive this long is beyond me…But I know in my heart that today is his last day." Tears started to fall from Krystal's eyes.
"I…I need…I have to see him." She chocked.
"He was badly damaged child…Don't be alarmed by what you will see." The queen spoke and walked off with the two foxes following her. They made their way down a stone hallway, each step caused the Vixen to grow even more anxious. They came to an open door way and entered, there they saw Kyte lying on a bed. Krystal gasped at his sight, the queen was right about him being damaged. His left wing was tattered and burned by plasma rounds. His right wing was slightly bent in an unnatural way. Claw narks etched his body, his left leg was gone and wrapped with white bandages. Lastly was his face which was covered completely up on the right side. Krystal quickly ran to his side and knelt down, she gently placed her hand on top of his chest.
"Kyte." She cried, the Cloudrunner opened his uncovered eye and looked over at Krystal, the Vixen noticed a smile form on his face.
"Krystal…I was worried that…That I wouldn't get to see you one last time before I go." He said in Cerinian.
"Shut up!" She shouted at him, "You're not going anywhere Kyte, Something…Something this…Small isn't going to stop you." She spoke and tried to hold the tears back.
"Krystal…We know I don't have much time left. I can feel my strength slipping…My eyelids grow heavy and beg me to take the long endless sleep…I can finally join my wife and daughter again…Please don't cry for me child." He said and smiled at Krystal
"You're going to die…and you'll be gone from my side." She cried.
"No Krystal…The memories we have shared will always be a part of you child…Remember them, and I will always be by your side…I'm so proud of you Krystal…I've always thought of you as my daughter." He said, Krystal slightly nodded.
"And I've always looked up to you as a daughter does her father…I'm just so sorry it took me so long to say it." Kyte painfully chuckled.
"Better late than never right?" Krystal sniffled and wiped her eyes with her hands while nodding.
"Yes…Better late than never."
"I love you Krystal."
"I love you Kyte." And with that the Cloudrunner gave his last breath and one last smile before closing his eyes forever.
Krystal felt tears roll down her cheek as she looked at the bones of the dinosaur, she sniffled a few times before she felt someone place their hand on her shoulder, Krystal turned around to find Josh, he looked very concern for her.
"Are you okay Krystal?" He asked, the Vixen wiped her eyes with the back of her hands and then held her arms out embracing the human in a hug. She nestled her face against his chest and took a deep breath of his scent.
"Yes…I'm fine…Now that you're here." Josh placed his hands around her back and held her tightly.
"I'll try my best to all ways be there when you need me." He replied.
"I know Josh…Thank you, my life is filled with sad painful memories…Memories that I will never be able to get rid of…But I have many good memories too…Like this moment right now, I will cherish this memory for the rest of my life. Every memory I have about us…Every memory I have of you, will help keep the sad ones away. I'm am so blessed to have you in my life, I don't know how I can make it sometimes…But I know that…That if I ever fall, I know that you'll be there to catch me." She said.
"To be honest…I may do more than catch you Krystal." The two looked deeply into each other's eyes, suddenly they slowly started to lean in to kiss. The closed their eyes and puckered their lips.
"Excuse me, but this place is off limits." A security guard called out to the two, breaking the kiss apart before it could even happen.
Night's Harmony-Thorntail hollow night theme