Ch. 22

Blowing off steam

After Josh got off the elevator he made his way over to the cafeteria area. It was too late in the day for there to be any breakfast, but surely there would be lunch prepared. He walked through the door way and into the cafeteria; it was there he noticed Fox and Falco who was wearing brown pants, same metal boots as Fox, a black and orange shirt and a white unzipped jacket. The two were sitting at a table across the room. At first he was going to leave and wait until they left before he would eat. Then he thought that since they would be spending a day or so together anyway then they might as well get to know one another, surely Krystal would be thrilled to know that her ex fiancé and her new boyfriend were on good terms with each other. Josh quickly got his food and made his way over to the two aliens.

"Hello." He said to them, the two looked over and saw the human. Falco just merely nodded his head and turned back around; Fox however seemed a bit confused as to what the human wanted. There was an awkward silence for a few moments before Josh cleared his throat. "Would you two mind if I joined you?" He asked. More silence, Falco stared at his food while he ate and Fox continued to look at the human for some time. It wasn't like he was trying to intimidate the human; he merely wanted to get a sense about who the human was.

"Of course." Fox finally replied, Josh smiled and sat down at the chair across from them so he could see both of their faces. Fox turned his gaze away from the human and went back to eating his food. Josh tried to figure out how to break the ice, it was very awkward trying to make friends with your girlfriends ex fiancé, the guy she was going to marry. The guy that she loved with all her heart, the guy who broke her heart. Don't get him wrong, deep down he had a pit filled with anger for what the light brownish/tan Vulpine did to Krystal. She was such an amazing person and Fox was a fool and a dick for leaving her. Yet what could he do about it? Get into a fight over something that happened two years ago that had nothing to do with him? Krystal wouldn't like that at all; the last thing he would want is for her to be mad at him.

"So." Josh finally said, "What's it like flying through space and being mercenaries?" He asked. He noticed the two aliens shared a quick glance with each other, and then they looked back at their food.

"Good most days." Falco said without looking in Josh's direction, "Shitty other days." It was a very bland answer, Josh had hoped for a few details. Suddenly Fox looked up at him.

"Why are you interested?" He asked. Josh thought for a moment and wondered if he should tell Fox that him and Krystal plan on becoming mercenaries.

"Well, Krystal has asked me to join her as a mercenary. She wants us to continue to be together when…" Suddenly Fox cut him off.

"Together?" He asked, Josh could see mixed feelings displayed all over his face, "I ah…Didn't know you two were together." He said, his voice was mixed with jealousy and a bit anger. Josh clearly heard it, as did Falco who wasn't in the mood to break up a possible fight. He suddenly cleared his throat to get the two men's attentions off each other.

"So tell me Josh, have you ever fired a blaster before?" He asked, Josh turned his gaze to the blue bird and shook his head no. "Well, we have a ship filled with blasters and a big shooting range, come with me and we'll shoot stuff." He said.

"Alright." He replied and the two walked off. Fox watched in anger as the human walked away, suddenly Fox pressed his hand to his face and rubbed his forehead.

'What's wrong with me?' He thought, 'I shouldn't be feeling these things…I have…I have a family now. A wife and a son…Why am I feeling these feelings?' Fox asked himself and placed his hand over his aching heart. He stood from the table and started to walk off, he needed to find Peppy, surely the old rabbit would know what was wrong with him. Fox left the cafeteria in search of Peppy. As he walked on he came to an elevator that opened, and inside were Krystal and Slippy.

Fox immediately felt his heart stop when he saw her, she noticed him and quickly changed her normal face to one of annoyance. Slippy noticed the two and quietly walked away from whatever scene was about to happen. The two stared at each other for a few moments before Fox spoke.

"So, you and the human are together." He said, Krystal's brows narrowed.

"Josh…And yes we are together." Fox nodded.

"So you two plan on forming your own team?" He asked.

"What's it to you?" She asked and crossed her arms. Fox tried to fight his feelings, he wasn't thinking clearly right now and suddenly he let something slip.

"So we break up and you go running straight to someone else?" He asked and instantly regretted it. He didn't mean to say it, it just popped out. Krystal suddenly felt two years of anger wash over her and she approached him.

"Let me tell you something Fox, I haven't seen you in two years. Two fucking years and now you just show up and get mad because I found someone else? Did you think I would live the rest of my life alone in hopes that you'd want me back? I've tried to forget all about you, hopping I would never see you again. Yet here you are."

"Yeah I'm here…I'm answering your distress call remember?"

"I didn't want you to answer it! Hell I would have rather a Sharp claw come pick me and Josh up." She shouted.

"Oh so you two are planning on running off together huh?" Fox shouted back. Krystal tightened her fist and grinded her teeth.

"Yes we do. What's the matter Fox upset that I'm with someone who's much better than you?" She asked, Fox scuffed.

"That human is nothing compared to me…Nothing! He can't protect you like I could…He could never care about you as I did and he sure as hell can never love you as much as I did! That human is a choir boy compared to me…A choir boy!" Krystal nearly reached out to slap Fox across his face. Instead she took a deep breath and walked away.

"If you're looking for your human he's on the Great Fox, have fun with your little pet." He called out to her.

"He's not so little Fox." She quickly replied and walked off. Fox gritted his teeth and punched the metal wall as hard as he could. It sent a painful shock all through his arm and he quickly brought his hand to his chest and held it with his other hand.

'Damn it! What the hell is wrong with me? Why did I say those things to her? This isn't me…I don't have a problem with Josh, not really. If anything I'm happy for the two, I'm glad Krystal has found someone…SO WHY THE FUCK DID I SAY THOES THINGS!' He shouted in his head.

Josh and Falco entered the Great Fox's weapon range, it looked like just an open empty room. Falco brought Josh up to a yellow line painted on the floor, he reached into his white jacked and pulled out a blaster. It looked much like a small sawed off single barrel shotgun, it was a silver and black. Falco looked at Josh and showed him a better look at the blaster.

"This here is my baby…The 74 Calvone Blaster, the most powerful hand blaster in the galaxy…Hell I'd bet it could take some one's head clean off." Falco used his thumb and flipped a switch on the side of the barrel. "Activate Shooting range." He called out. A few seconds later the room brightened up a bit and suddenly three blue holographic looking targets popped up. Falco placed both hands on the blaster and aimed at the first target. He squeezed the trigger and a round of green plasma shot out of the barrel which resulted in a loud crackle sound. The plasma round hit one of the targets and destroyed it. Falco smiled and aimed at the last two and fired at them, hitting both targets which summoned three more holo targets.

"You try." He said and handed the blaster over to Josh. Josh reached out and grabbed the blaster and much to his surprise it was very light.

"Wow…Doesn't weigh anything does it?" He asked and aimed the blaster at one of the targets.

"No it doesn't." Falco replied and gave Josh an evil looking grin. Josh didn't noticed and squeezed the trigger. The green plasma shot out of the barrel and hit the target. The recoil however made Josh take a few steps back.

"Whoa." He laughed, Falco joined in.

"It might not weigh much, but it sure as hell can kick huh?" He asked and gave Josh's shoulder a friendly slap. Josh nodded and aimed the gun again. He held a tighter grip and a firmer stance and fired, the gun kicked and sent his arms upward a few inches. He destroyed the last two targets and Falco smiled.

"Well, we know you can hit targets standing still. However if you plan on becoming a mercenary like us, you need to know how to shot a moving target." Josh smiled and figured now was the time to brag about his military career.

"Well, being in the Marines I think I know how to shoot a moving target." He said, Falco raised a brow.

"A military man? Nice, well I'm sure you can shot just fine with Earth weapons. Blasters are a different story. I did some research on your planet and their weapons. Blaster rounds can cause much more damage than your bullets. Plasma rounds aren't solid, yet they are nearly as hot as the sun and can easily melt through flesh and certain metals…Set up moving targets." He called out, suddenly the targets started to move.

Josh aimed the blaster at one of the targets and was about to fire when…

"Josh." Krystal called out. Josh looked over his shoulder and found Krystal, she looked very upset.

"Uh oh…Am I in trouble?" He asked.

"I need to talk to you right now." She said, sounding very pissed. Josh looked back at Falco then to Krystal.

"Sure…Can you give me a sec, I want to shoot these things real quick." He said, Krystal let out an angry sigh and approached him. She reached out and took the Blaster out of his hands and with one hand fired the blaster at the three targets destroying them, without barely moved an inch.

"Holy shit." Falco said in disbelieve, Krystal handed him back his blaster and looked back at Josh, she still looked annoyed. "Ugh, it's nice to see you Krystal." He said to her.

"It's nice to see you too Falco." She replied while still looking at Josh, who was looking at her very nervously.

"You wanted to talk…Lead the way." He nervously smiled; he had no idea what was wrong with her, or what he could have done to upset her. Krystal tightly grabbed his hand and lead him out of the shooting range room. They walked down the grey metal hallway and then came to another open area, this one was filled with work out equipment, most seemed very familiar to what humans use. Krystal brought Josh to a door at the back and pushed the push pad opening the door. In side they were in a smaller room with a blue mat in the middle. Josh instantly figured that this was the practice fighting room.

"Ah, Krystal what are we doing in here?" He asked, Krystal released her hold on his hand and stood a few ft. from him.

"I wanted to talk…But I'm too upset to discuss anything right now…So instead I'm going to let out all my frustration by helping you train to be a mercenary."

"Train?" He asked, Krystal started to pop her knuckles.

"We're going to fight, I need to know how well you can use hand to hand combat." She said plainly and got into a fighting stance. Josh groaned.

"Krystal I don't want to fight you." He said. Krystal looked even more annoyed.

"And why not?"

"Because I don't want to hurt you…You're my girlfriend why would I want to cause you any harm?" He asked, suddenly she looked furious at him.

"Alright fine…In here I'm not your girlfriend, and you are not my boyfriend, Deal?" She asked.

"I don't know…"

"Good…Coming at you!"

"What!?" Suddenly Krystal descended on him and raised her knee and made contact with his gut. Josh let out a painful cough and dropped to the ground, he placed his left hand over his injury and looked up at Krystal.

"That was a cheap shot." He said and slowly stood, still feeling the effects of the blow, suddenly she came at him again and went for the same attack, Josh quickly jumped back and missed the blow. "Come on Krystal stop this." He begged. She ignored him and ran up to him and jumped into the air and spun around using her foot to hit him in the side of the face. The attack caused him to spin around as he fell to the ground. He was able to taste blood in his mouth where he bit his cheek.

He placed one of his hands on his jaw and flinched at the pain. He slowly stood and felt a bit dizzy. He looked over just in time to see a blue blur hit him in the gut once again sending him to the ground. He felt like he was about to puke as he tried to get up. He looked over and saw she was already coming in for another attack. She went for a kick to the face, as her leg went up Josh quickly intercepted it with his hand and gripped her ankle tight. He then used his leg to chop her other leg out from under her knocking her to the ground. She landed on her back and wasted no time in getting up and preparing for the next attack.

"Stop, come on please." He begged but she wouldn't listen and attacked again. He realized that this wasn't training, it was a beat down. She threw a right hook which he blocked with his forearm and then quickly rammed his fist into her gut sending her to the ground. A gaps left her mouth as she doubled over. Josh instantly felt his heart sink. "See, I told you to stop." Next thing he knew, she was crying.

"Krystal?" He called out and quickly dropped down next to her and placed his arms around her body. "Krystal I'm so sorry…" He was cut off when she rammed her elbow into his face sending him to his back. She then quickly jumped on top of him and grabbed the collar of his shirt and lifted his face up close to hers holding a clinched fist ready to bust his face in.

"Never ask your opponent if they are alright…You go for the killing blow." She said to him.

"Well you're not my opponent Goddamn it!" He shouted at her, this sudden outburst caught her off guard and she loosened her grip on his shirt. He placed his hands on top of hers and forced them off of his shirt, and then shoved her off of him hard. He stood and glared at her. "I don't know what your deal is Krystal…But trying to beat me to a bloody pulp won't fix anything…The whole time I have known you, you have never acted like this." He said, Krystal lowered her gaze away from him and felt shameful. Josh didn't say anything else after that, he just walked out of the room and disappeared into the hallway out of sight.

Krystal brought her legs to her chest and held them with her arms, her ears had lowered as far as they could. She felt a tear run down her face, she looked up at the door way and part of her hopped he would walk back, but she knew he wasn't going to…She didn't just hurt him physically, she hurt him emotionally again. She couldn't blame this on Fox anymore; she wanted to, it would be much easier to say that him being here has messed up her emotions. However she's the one who acted out, this one was on her.

Fox entered his bed room on the Great Fox. He felt like such an ass for what he said to Krystal. First time they really talked to each other in two years and they fought. He took a deep breath and walked over to his bed, he sat down at the edge and unstrapped the magnetic straps to his metal boots and pulled his feet out. Next he pulled his Scout marshal Blaster out of its holster and sat it on the night stand dresser, right next to a framed picture. Fox reached over and picked the picture up and brought it to his face.

It was a picture of him with his arms wrapped around the waist of a brownish/red vixen with long red hair. Resting in her arms is a small vulpine child who had the same fur color of Fox; the only difference was the red hair on top of the child's head. The background was that of a forest. Fox smiled and remembered the day his family took the picture. They had just got back from a job and Fox made his way to Corneria, where his wife Talia and their son Damon lived. They had not seen Fox in almost three weeks, so needless to say they were happy to see him walking through the front door. Although Damon was barely a year old his small mind wasn't able to comprehend what has happening. However what he did know was that he was seeing his daddy again, which caused the baby to smile and cheer.

Later that day the three went to a park that had a lot of trees, Fox had his arm wrapped around his wife's shoulder as she held there son tightly against her chest. They then decided to take a picture; they asked some random person walking past them if he would take the picture, which he kindly agreed to. Fox had pictures of Damon posted all throughout the Great Fox, no one complained though. The rest of the team loved Damon, even Falco who called him Fox Jr. As Fox looked at the picture he started to forget why he was upset, he then thought about the last time he saw his family, and then thought about why he left. Then it all came back and his heart started to ache.

He had no idea what was wrong with him or why he was feeling the way he was. He felt so angry and sad all the same time and didn't know why. He later called Peppy to come to his room so they could talk. A few minutes past and the middle aged rabbit walked in donning his classic white coat and tie.

"Hey Peppy."

"What's wrong Fox?" He asked and made his way closer to the son of his best friend. Fox sighed and placed the picture of his family back on the dresser, he didn't answer Peppy right away. Instead he looked at his feet as if they would tell him exactly what to say. Peppy already knew what was bugging Fox, but he didn't know what to really say to him. He had never been in a situation like this, all the skills he acquired over his military career and being a Star Fox member didn't teach him how to deal with something like this.

"What's wrong with me Peppy? Fox asked and looked over at him. He looked like he was close to tears and it broke the old man's heart. Peppy sadly sighed and placed his hand on Fox's shoulder.

"Fox…I don't have the words to even begin to describe what's wrong with you. I guess the best way I could put it is that you're…Jealous." Fox raised a brow.

"Jealous? Peppy come on." He said while snickering at the last part, "Why would I be jealous?" Peppy tried to quickly think of the right words to say. He reached into his heart to find them and spoke.

"Because you once loved Krystal with all your heart…One day you break up with her and she leaves. You don't see her for two years and when you do finally see her again you find out she's with someone else, and she's happy with them. You broke up with her, to keep her safe… Now you find out she has someone else who will protect her. You're finding out that this Krystal is not the same Krystal you knew. You're not mad at Krystal or the man she's with…You're mad at yourself." Fox looked back at Peppy when he said that.

"You're mad because you seeing her with someone else after two years, and it has brought up old feelings, and you're mad at yourself because it's a constant reminder of what you gave up… It's okay to feel this way Fox, it's natural. It's up to you however not to act on these feelings and destroy the family you already have. You and Krystal never got the chance to end things right, and now you need to talk about where you two stand with each other. Otherwise these feeling won't go away while she's around…After she leaves again though, these feelings might grow even stronger, and you'll be in torment for a long time." Fox looked away from Peppy.

Peppy stood from the bed and told Fox he was going to get something to eat and that he would see him later, Fox nodded and laid on the bed as Peppy closed his door. Fox looked up at the celling and thought hard on what Peppy had said to him.

And there we go, hope you guys liked these two chapters and as always please read and review and let me know what you think.

see you some time next week.