Guess what, guys… I'm not even gonna make an excuse this time. School sucks, I have no life, and there's too much going on for me to correctly and accurately unfurl anything from my mind, which is running at ten-thousand thoughts per minute, and put into words. Plus this thing, this big long thing with words and some sort of developing plot, hasn't been touched in ages.

There's a "new" (half a year old) fanfiction about Star Wars on my page if you feel like delving into some sci-fi fun. Have fun. This is supposedly where the action starts.

CHAPTER 12: Unveiling

Fire… There was fire everywhere.

Normally, Fox would have been panicked at a time like this since he remembered vivid visions of traveling into Venom's core to defeat Andross. He was strapped somewhat safely into the seat of his Arwing's cockpit, but he was franticly attempting to blast himself out of the evil scientist's labyrinth right when the villain's head exploded. Being engulfed in hellish combustion flames was something neither he nor any of his teammates were accustomed to.

But here he was, wearing a new high-tech, air-conditioned, state-of-the-art, seemingly invincible, cyborg-like hazmat. There was a zoo of butterflies in his stomach to replace his fear with crackling excitement and adrenaline. Why did he feel this way?

It had been far too long since he had had this kind of experience, obviously… But this was also a half of Zoness that had never before been explored. It was ripped open by an unknown enemy. The gaping hole which Fox's team was digging into was a Pandora's Box, shrouded in suspense and presenting things that the normal imagination would not have been able to conjure up.

Deeper and deeper the three went. The space became more open while the temperature exponentially increased. The steepness of the molten ground continued to grow, but the Lylatian equipment and resources held steady.

"Heh… Hey, I can't even see where we went in anymore!" Falco chuckled into the intercom.

"Damn, this is… incredible! Far out!" Fox responded in an awestruck whisper.

Meanwhile, Sky remained trailing in silence, suspicious of anything ahead that could possibly present problems for the group. Aegis's Tail still poked him in the side as it remained sheathed, but it was oddly vibrating. The anxious lynx wanted to convince himself that it was only a natural reaction because of the tectonic vibrations beneath Zoness's crust, but his heart throbbed with a new sense of fear. He couldn't see it from within his suit, but the blessed weapon was also glowing within its sheath… Something else was lying in wait at their destination, and the Celestian spirits were trying to warn the warrior, but there was too much to concern himself about at the present in order for that to cross his mind.

There was no longer a need for flashlights since the environment had burst into radiant magmatic life. The suits remained in equilibrium, which was enough to convince Sky that there wasn't a legitimate reason to panic yet. It was, however, no reason for the trained Zelenoan to lower his guard by even an inch.

Suddenly, Fox's voice echoed and interrupted his teammates' thoughts, "Halt!"

"Aye, what gives? We're makin' fast progress towards finding out the cause of-"

"Guys, stop! Hold your position or grab onto something!" Falco's startled response was cut short by the vulpine as a strong quake began to shake the walls of the underworld. The team safely held on, but they realized the ground was giving way beneath them as stalagmites and other formations began to rain from above in reaction to the violent tremor. The team clung steadfast while a booming moan was being emitted from much lower depths, seemingly by the crust itself as it erupted into life.

"F-Fox! I can hang on, but I can't climb up! It's… too steep!" Sky yelled over the rumbling.

"Alright then… We'll just have to let go."

"Has the adrenaline gotten to your mind?!" The lynx turned his head towards the unusually calm leader and shot him a frantic glare with a raised eyebrow.

"What other choice do we have?"

Shortly after the quaking began to subside, the team had noticed that a place to stand was no longer present just beneath them. They were easily able to hang on, but now they couldn't climb back up. The molten sediment crumbled down into seemingly abyssal depths.

"Oh, my fucking… FOX! WHAT ARE YOU-"

Falco reached out his winged arm in order to save his teammate, but Fox had nonchalantly let go of his own grip and descended down into the hellish flames too soon for the avian to catch him. There was a response a split second after the drop began.

"Calm down, it's all good."

"Fool! It appears the pressure gauge is reaching its limit! What do you mean, it's all good?!" Sky's voice cracked in the intercom. He jerked his head around and gave Falco a pleading glance, but the avian cursed under his breath and let go a few seconds after the vulpine began his plummet.

Damn it all… Might as well go with them.

Sky drew a deep breath and swung from the edge he was clinging to, far below and even closer to the Zonessian core.

…

"Any idea what that could have been?"

A disoriented avian poked his head out from a glowing pile of sediment… and did so quite sluggishly. In fact, even though he felt as though he could have had the amount of energy that derived from a level of excitement as high as Fox's, his body could only produce so much effort. The others emerged shortly after to assess themselves along with their surroundings. There was no narrow cave anymore, but instead they found themselves in a giant spacious opening, where their nearest terrain readings as well as the ceiling were concealed almost entirely by a thick haze of ash and other volcanic chemicals.

"The cause is unknown…" Sky muttered while drawing a sigh. "Ugh, why does my body seem so drained?"

"It's probably 'cause of the suits. Hell, I don't know," Falco yawned while attempting to stretch out inside of his hazmat.

"Perhaps it is the underground pressure. The deeper it gets, the denser, and gravity tends to have a much more potent effect in this range. Actually, I'm quite surprised that there are areas such as the one we are present in that exist so deep in the Zonessian underworld…"

"Underworld? I'd call it something different entirely."

"Hah… Like what, Falco?" Fox smirked while joining in on the conversation.

"This is basically hell. I wanna give this place a name though… Any ideas?"

"Fox, Falco!" Sky chimed in, "Remember the name Div Sablast?"

The two nodded, giving off a slight chuckle in response.

"It correlates directly with the ghost of a Celestian Lucifer… Therefore, how about-"

"Yo, I got it!" Fox interrupted, "Lucifer's Den. Bingo!"

The three laughed a little and agreed upon a name for the depths of Zoness. If their mission was a success, they would also be clearing an opening for an entirely new field of scientific discoveries and making yet another mark in Lylatian history. The money and rewards, the reputation they formerly possessed, the glory days, and so much more…

But Fox knew they shouldn't have thought ahead that far yet… They had to concentrate on the matter at hand and find out the cause of this freakish phenomenon. As he redirected his focus, he let another thought cross his mind. What could have caused a gaping hole to be formed that burrowed itself all the way down hundreds of kilometers below the surface? What could have created "Lucifer's Den?"

"I propose a meteor… or some sort of large space object."

Sky's voice had acquired a more quiet and serious tone as he answered Fox's mental inquiry, much to the vulpine's surprise.

Crap… I forgot our new teammate's a telepath. Sure are a lot of 'em.

"Telepaths are a rarity in any galaxy," the lynx responded. "Anyways, only something as powerful as, say… an asteroid could have dug half of the distance we've already covered."

"So what are you suggesting, then?"

"I'm beginning to have suspicions… It might only be my imagination, but I am deducing that whatever caused this catastrophe was manipulated to have some sort of immense power… something that caused its momentum to skyrocket. Not only that, I can sense as much spiritual presence here as there would be inside a tomb or a Zelenoan talisman."

"If you put it that way, sounds like it's a lure… Hey, where's birdbrain?"

"Right over here, you snails," Falco responded. His radar point was farther ahead on a different pathway than Fox's and Sky's. "There's only one way to find out answers: keep going."

The other two nodded and rushed over to join the determined avian.

Their journey in Lucifer's Den at first revealed sights that they had already seen before, but the pathway was noticeably narrowing into a sort of tunnel. A noisy blipping originating from the team's digital dashboards within their suits caused them to be more cautious of their equipment's stability. Amazingly enough, even though external conditions became lethal enough to instantly melt and rot any sort of normal life form in less than a second, internal conditions remained bearable.

"These are… crystals?"

Fox looked ahead of him to observe hundreds of brightly glowing objects that looked like radiant rubies. The team examined them for a short while before they reached a conclusion that they were rock solid formations of some lava substance, perhaps deriving from the Zonessian core itself.

"I found something better… Look, everyone," Sky whispered, swallowing and continuing a slow walk towards what seemed to be their final destination. They had reached the last checkpoint of the mission.

Lo and behold, the team stood in the presence of what could have been a god.

They gasped and feasted their eyes, awestruck at what their voyage had led to… Even though the only part visible to them was a smaller piece of it jutting out, a gargantuan-sized obsidian-colored rock, giving off a sinister dark steam, was lodged into the crust. It was determined to have a radius at least a quarter the size of Corneria itself.

"It's one of the most incredible things I've ever seen… The suit says it's bigger than the fucking Aparoid nest!" Falco muttered in a trembling voice.

"I can't read this material. It also says it's not Lylatian origin. Damn, what do you… uh, Sky?"

The lynx had taken a few steps forward. Fox tried again, "Hey, bud… Whatcha doin'?"

There was a notable white flash that blasted from Sky's suit. After the luminescence faded out, the asteroid rumbled and gurgled into life while the black mist became heavier and emitted from the object's surface at a much faster rate.

The lynx's chest started to heave as Aegis's Tail was shaking violently within his suit, and his body had also begun to glow as his eyes were mesmerized by some mystic force from within the giant asteroid. His eyes were shining a bright blue hue, and he seemed as though he was panicking slightly, as the vulpine and avian judged from his facial expression. All Sky could manage to speak over the intercom were interrupted syllables with static in between, perhaps coming from the sudden liveliness of Lucifer's Den.

"Holy shit… Is this the work of his inner ghosts or something?" Falco took a step backwards and leaned against the wall. He clutched his head almost immediately after as a deep, rasping voice echoed within his mind, apparently from the black asteroid. It repeated the same word in periodic five second intervals and gradually increased its echoing.

COME…

"Fox! What is this?!" Falco screamed into the intercom right when another underworld quake was beginning to erupt. Fox tried desperately to keep his balance while simultaneously attempting to make a run towards the asteroid to stop Sky from advancing any further. Falco only had the strength to watch his two teammates.

STRUGGLE NO MORE…

The vulpine bellowed out loudly into the intercom, but his suit's radio functions had been jammed and rendered useless by the sudden hellish activity coming from Zoness's core. He tried his control box, but the hazmat had been shut off completely. He made an effort to sprint towards the rock, only to find that his movements felt as though they were being restricted by two-hundred-pound weights. He stumbled over and fell forward, but he still strained with all his might, over the violent tremors, to regain balance and stop his new teammate from this apparent nightmare.

GIVE IN…

Sky was within inches of becoming engulfed and absorbed. His body was illuminated into a white silhouette, and it seemed as though he was disintegrating into millions of particles, which were slowly transforming into a darker shade of gray. Levitating into the air, his suit dissolved as though it were melting ice, despite the fact that it had survived a sleeping giant. Powerful gusts swept stalagmites and solid lava crystals into midair as they swirled about chaotically.

TO ZAODUH.

At long last, Fox drew in the last breath he could muster and roared out at the top of his lungs.

"SNAP OUT OF IT, DAMN IT! SKYYYYY!"

At that moment, the lynx's body brightened into its original white silhouette. The quaking stopped abruptly, and the twisters paused immediately as though time froze, keeping the loose sediment suspended completely still. The uproarious dissonance of sound generated had become completely silenced while Sky floated just centimeters away from the asteroid.

He took a dazed look around himself and shook his head around while adjusting his arms and legs a bit. Fox and Falco met his gaze in sheer terror as they stood motionless, fearfully awaiting whatever would occur next. Then, Sky noticed Aegis's Tail was also at his side…

Sensing an incredible presence of black matter from within the godlike space object, he gripped the handle of the holy sword and held it in front of him, examining the light that flooded from his body and reflected off the polished blade. The lynx then realized what had just occurred… Drawing a deep breath, he exhaled. His breathing was the only sound that rang out inside Lucifer's Den.

His eyes blazed with determination as he lowered his stance and thrust Aegis's Tail straight into the asteroid with a large grunt. The sound of scraping metal rang out loudly within the vacuum and caused another brilliant light to escape from the demonic entity as it began to crumble apart from the spiritual force of Sky's blow. Flashing lights glimmered about the area, yet not another noise followed… The area remained utterly silent.

Falco very slowly got to his feet, trying to catch his breath so he could assist Fox, who was too winded to stand straight and could only kneel. Sky only remained still as the environment around the Starfox team began to fade. Very gradually, Lucifer's Den was disappearing… It dissolved entirely into a peaceful, blank void.

…

Outer space seemed to be at ease while Mercury III was making its final roundabout to return to Zoness. General Peppy, who hadn't gotten a wink of sleep since the departure of the Starfox team on their new mission, rubbed his weary eyes and made his way towards the control area from the main deck of the ship. The captain stepped down from beside the cockpit as the vessel remained cruising slowly towards Zoness's coordinates.

"Ah, General. Right in the nick of time," the decorated bloodhound gave a greeting bow.

"The mission status remains normal, I hope?" Peppy adjusted his glasses and nodded in return.

"Affirmative. Zoness should be coming into view quite shortly…"

The two watched the constellations as they drifted by very slowly. Their surroundings held relatively normal conditions, and the neighboring waterlogged planet Aquas could be spotted not too far away. They had been making a journey back towards the Triton star system from Corneria to check the state of Fox, Falco, and Sky. Thankfully, it wouldn't be long… Or so they had all hoped.

At last, they spotted the planet. It was clearly Zoness… It had to have been, since it read the correct coordinates, and reassuringly enough, it looked as though it had been cleared of its foul atmosphere and restored to its former state. The team on board the Mercury gave a brief round of applause for the Starfox team and their apparent accomplishment.

"Fantastic work! Now we can all work on returning the Zonessian population to their homes," the captain clapped enthusiastically along with the rest of the crew members in the control room.

After their cheering subsided, the bloodhound turned to catch a glance at Peppy, who was unusually silent as he remained gazing at Zoness in a somewhat solemn manner. His eyes didn't blink. Confused and slightly nervous, the captain laid a paw on the General's shoulder with a content smile.

"I am proud of your team. Knowing the heart and integrity that has always existed within the ranks of the Starfox squad, they must have performed outstandingly."

Still, the troubled hare made no noise. Both of his arms were at his side now, and his gaze had not faltered one bit as Zoness was coming into much clearer detail. A minute or two after there was a quiet moment amongst the crowd, the rest of the crew caught on and were beginning to question Peppy out of concern.

"Sir, what is the matter? Please, speak up."

All of a sudden, the General muttered something inaudible. The captain tried to read his lips.

"What was that, Sir? Hm… the ship, you say?"

Peppy's chest rose and fell a bit quicker as his pupils shrunk just the slightest bit. Tensions within the control room rose again, and the bloodhound kept trying to interpret the mumbling coming from the General.

"The ship… Stop the ship? Is that it? Y-You want us to stop?"

The hare took a step backwards while still keeping his eyes fixed intensely upon what seemed to be the normal surface and atmosphere of Zoness. Apparently, something was quite wrong, and the pilots acted immediately upon hearing him speak up louder.

"Stop and turn around… now," Peppy calmly ordered, adjusting his glasses again while quickening his breathing pace a tad bit more. "Something's not right. I can feel it. We need to turn around!"

By the time Peppy raised his voice and glanced around the room frantically, the control room burst into action as Mercury made an effort to brake and reverse its thrusters to book away from its former destination. The confused pilots worked away at their dashboard while trying to reason with the vexed hare.

"Why this so suddenly? A-And what about the Starfox team?"

The captain spoke up now, "They aren't present anywhere remotely close to the planet currently. They must have… escaped? But what is the cause?"

"Cut the chatter and kick the engine into hyperdrive! We have to get out of range before it's too late!"

"Too late for wh-"

The startled response was cut short as the ship made fast adjustments to thrust into warp speed. Its acceleration increased exponentially as the bulky cruiser reached incredible velocities while fleeing any sort of upcoming and chaotic dangers that Peppy predicted would happen. Once the ship stopped a long distance away from the Triton star system, the crew, having gathered their bearings, rushed towards the back window quickly and anxiously.

A giant flash of blinding light caused the crew to gasp and flinch. Soon after, a gigantic explosion was witnessed… A vivid ellipse of orange, yellow and white emerged and expanded while the force of the blow caused massive turbulence for the Mercury's flight pattern. It was as though a miniature supernova were being witnessed… Beautiful, yet enormously destructive.

Peppy felt his stomach drop as he watched the cataclysm unfold. His breathing rate didn't slow, and beads of sweat trickled down his face. He clutched his forehead and shook his head in denial. It couldn't be possible, yet the combusted, empty shell stretched and flooded across space. The captain made a trembled whisper shortly after the grave moment of observation.

"Wh-What could that have… p-possibly been?!" He stuttered in wide-eyed fear.

The General looked away painfully and furrowed his brows, feeling a wave of melancholy pass through him as he knew what had happened. Shocked and confounded, his heart welled up and throbbed with despair. There were so many questions he had for the Starfox team and so much to cope with, and it would take years before it all eventually returned to normal in the absence of what had just been lost… but now he only had to break the news to his crew.

With a slight turn of his head, he delivered his words in a quiet, low-toned manner.

"Zoness is no longer."

…