I stood there in the hanger bay, seeing a ship similar to a second generation Arwing, landing next to Wolf's Wolfen. Everyone had gathered around me, as I just stared at the fighter powering down, finally seeing the canopy open.
I looked at the figure stand up, revealing the familiar collie I remembered. Matt. Was still alive. "What's up, buddy?" He said, as he jumped off the ship, falling about seven feet, landing on the hard metal floor. "Your ship wasn't that hard to find. No one in the galaxy has a ship like this."
I didn't respond, I just stared at the collie, trying to see if I were dreaming or if he were real. I wasn't dreaming and he was definitely real. I just approached him slowly, coming within a foot of him, before finally I wrap my arm around his neck and hugged him.
"Geez, Krieger. I didn't realize you missed me that much." "Go fuck yourself, man. I watched you die in my arms." "Clever planning, wasn't it?" "What?" I said, getting angry after what I just heard.
"My death was faked. Gave me the perfect opportunity to do some internal investigations, ya know?" Without expectations, I pulled back my arm and punched clearly in his face, knocking him to the ground. "You cock sucker! You realize what the fuck your death did to me?" I yelled at him, threatening to continue to kick his ass, but everyone did their best to restrain me.
"I'm sorry, Krieger, but I had to. I needed the perfect decoy to get them off my back." "You selfish, son of a bitch!" "Hey! Calm your fucking ass down! Aren't you at least happy to see me?"
"How the fuck am I suppose to be happy to see you when I find out that your death was faked, just so you can play with yourself?" He pulled out a disk, causing me to calm a little. "What the fuck is that?" "My investigation. Everything you could possibly know about Lector's operation."
I stopped struggling, as I just stared at the disk, then back at him. "How the fuck did you get all that?" "Wasn't hard being a ghost either." I slowly approached him, grabbing the disk from his hand, staring at it as if I were reading the information inside.
"This is what you been doing this entire time? Just sitting in Cyrus' headquarters, doing research? Just so you can come back to find me, and give me this shit, just so we are able to put up a fight to try and stop him?"
"Umm. Yeah. Well…basically." "Hot dog! Alright!" "So much affection. That's what I love about you." "Oh god. Not with that gay crap again."
We sat in the bridge, going over the information Matt had found. Some intense shit was in here, when the battle would take place. It was going to be an orbital bombardment. The Allmachtiger was going to lead a fleet of thirty ships, and attack from space upon Corneria.
"I'm not sure if there is enough ship power to defeat that fleet, especially when all the ships Corneria has are barely larger than the Great Fox." "Don't you mean the Ultra Falcon?" "Ryan. Don't make me kill you." "Shutting up."
Matt just laughed at the response the husky just gave me. "You sure are able to maintain order around here." "You can maintain a lot of things when you look like me." "God, Krieger. That fucking had to hurt." "You be surprised, but Matt. Something you need to know."
"What?" "My name ain't Krieger." "What the fuck you talking about?" "Name's Fox. Fox McCloud. And she ain't Kursed. Her name is Krystal." "So you are telling' me that you two are the ex-StarFox members?" I looked at her, as she stared at me, both returning to nod our heads 'yes'.
"You son of a bitch. You fuckin' lied to me?" "Hey! Don't pull that shit on me! You just pretended you were dead for close to three months." He just stared at me, only to nod in agreement. "I'm sorry, man, but I had to."
"If only you knew what your death did to me. These three know, but I don't want to go down that path anymore. Not when I look like this." Matt just stared at me, feeling guilty that he was responsible for my anger, really he was only part of it.
"By the way, your bitch of a girlfriend, Michelle, is a fucking whore!" "What?" "She never liked me, man. She only liked me as a friend because of you. When I told her you died, I basically had to read her mind to find out she hated my guts."
"What? She never told me that!" "You can go to Detroit and talk to her for all I care, but that bitch got she deserved." "What the fuck did you do to her?" "I threw a chair at her, only missing her by inches. From that moment, she's pisses her pants every time she sees me. The way it should be."
"God damnit, man. You got anger issues." "Don't make me go down that path." I threatened, breathing harshly, while clinching my teeth. "No, Fox! Calm down. Please!" Krystal said, hugging me, doing everything she could to calm me.
Matt just looked at me, then at everyone else, who can a nervous look on their faces. They had seen me get angry, they feared me when I did.
"I'm sorry man. I didn't mean for my selfishness to ruin you." I just stared at him, trying to slow my breathing. "Luckily, I had people around me to try and be there for me. Even able to put up with my anger…Especially this little vixen right here." I said, hugging Krystal as I kissed her lips.
Matt couldn't help, but smile. "At least you found a girl. I remember all the times you complained that you couldn't get one to talk to y….." "Don't go there, man. Too many bad memories."
I laid in bed, just trying to relax. It had been a hard day, thinking your best friend was dead, only to find out his death was faked. I tried hard at times to prevent myself from punching him again, but Krystal was always there to restrain me.
I stared at the ceiling, thinking of how I'm going to play out my plans against Cyrus. A one on one battle against the Allmachtiger would still favor to him. The only advantage I had…was speed. He out powered me though.
"You okay, Foxy?" Krystal said from the bathroom, combing her hair as she had just gotten out of the shower. "Mhmm. Just trying to relax and think. My thinking is preventing my relaxing." "Well, I got something that will relax you." "Hmm?"
The door slowly began to open, only partially. Krystal slowly began to walk around the door, I couldn't help, but stare at the figure that was emerging. When I saw her fully, I couldn't help, but smile. "God. I missed that outfit so much." "I'd knew you like."
Krystal slowly walked to the bed, wearing her Cerinian outfit see was wearing the first time I saw her. She swayed her hips, while wagging her tail very sexually, which got my tail fidgeting, which caught her attention. She couldn't help, but laugh.
"I swear, I have never seen my tail do that before." "At least I'm able to do it." She said, crawling on the bed, only to stop right on top of me. I scanned her body, looking at the outfit I always loved seeing her in.
She rested her body on me, as we pressed our lips together, only to have our mouths open wider to let our tongues explore each other's. I began to rub the back of her with my right hand, starting with her back, finally ending up on her ass.
We rolled over, having me on top like before. At this point, I began to undress myself, as was Krystal, who had little trouble getting her clothes off. Both of us, laid there naked, she had her arm covering her breasts, but she moved it aside as I began to kiss her chest.
Her breathing, normal, but taking in deep breaths, as she tried to slow her heart, but the sensation she was receiving was too enjoyable. She though, let out a loud yelp, but it sounded like I had hurt her.
"You okay?" I said, looking at her face, then down at our groin regions. "Just shut the fuck up and do it already. Please." I just stared at her, only to put a smile on my face. "You never cease to amaze me." "DO IT!" "Alright. For your rudeness, I'm gonna have to punish you."
And with that, the punishment began….
Twenty minutes later…
I had finally stopped, Krystal just laid there, her eyes closed, as tears made its way past her eyelids. When I said I would have to punish her, I basically meant I was going to be rougher than I wanted to.
She had her hand over her heart, trying to slow down her breathing. I just hovered above her, sweating as my body temperature was way above anyone's comfort level.
"God damnit. Did you have to be that rough?" Krystal said, breathing hard and unable to slow it down. "You shouldn't have been rude to me." Krystal slowly opened her eyes, able to see them watering from tears. I couldn't tell if she was hurting or if they were tears of pleasure. I just couldn't tell.
I rolled off of her and fell on my back, trying to relax as I had been hovering over her for a long time, I needed to rest. She rolled on top of me, resting her head on my chest, all I could do was just hold her in my arms.
"I kinda wish that wasn't metal." "Oh Krystal. That was all Fox." She laughed, she figured that I wasn't telling the truth, but her senses told her that it was all me. There was nothing metal about me. We laid in the bed for another half hour, before finally our exhaustion took over, putting us to sleep.
Natasha sounded the alarms the next morning, revealing that we were passing a planet. I woke up and began to get dressed. I put on a pair of boxers, along with a pair of baggy forest style cameo pants, along with a white long sleeved shirt.
Krystal just put on a silver thong, along with a matching bra. Finally, she put on a blue tank-top. More aqua than the blue of her once blue fur, along with a pair of white jeans.
We walked down the halls, finally meeting everyone on the bridge, seeing the planet that sat a few kilometers away from us. "Natasha, do a scan on the planet. And shut off the alarms."
The computer responded immediately, as the alarms stopped making noises, and the computer focused on scanning the planet. Took it several moments before finally coming up with the results.
"Planet name: unknown. Planet status: stable. Atmospheric Gasses: Nitrogen, Oxygen enriched atmosphere, Vegetation: on all continents except for the far most northern continent, ice covered and active volcanoes. Animal life: minimal. "
I just stared at the planet with confusion. "Natasha? If there is little life, then why did we stop?" "Planet contains traces of Nitrous Helium. Main source of fuel and weaponry." "Nitrous helium? That's like insane stuff." Adrian said, staring at the planet.
"I think I'm gonna go down there. Do some readings. I want all of you to be on standby, that way when I call you, you all can come and we can start collecting some of this shit, to bring back here."
"Let me come with you." I looked at Krystal, a nervous look was on her face. "I love how much you worry about me. I'll be fine." I said, giving her a kiss on her lips, before walking out of the bridge. Still, everyone had to follow me.
I sat in the Z.J., powering up everything, before I was finally able to fly out in space, seeing the stars all around me. In the distance, I could see the star that warmed this planet, I would had to say this planet was about ninety million miles away, almost the same distance as Earth is to the Sun.
The hull began to glow as the heat from the atmosphere, I was glad there was going to be oxygen. I hated wearing an oxygen mask. The dark sky began to glow blue, as the red heat surrounding the ship began to dissipate.
I was over a large forested region, who knows why a planet of this size would have little animal life. I found a small clearing, just large enough where I could slowly lower the Z.J. into that empty spot of land.
I powered down the ship, and opening the canopy at the same time. I looked over the area, hearing birds singing or flying away from being scared from this new anomaly. I jumped off the side of the ship, landing in the soft dirt below, kicking up some dust.
"Not bad. Not bad at all." My thoughts were interrupted, when I started hearing thunder in the distance. "Figures." I started to walk into the forest, holding my revolver, just for protection. Something wasn't right though, something about this land was messing with my telepathy. I couldn't get any sense of life.
"The storm. It's messing with my neural links in my brain. Fucking hell!" I yelled, as I continued to walk farther into the forest.
I walked over a falling tree, seeing it has been dead for quite some time, in the distance though, I could hear running water. "River?" I thought to myself, as I made my way towards the sound of water.
Took quicker than I thought, two minutes, before the river bestowed upon me. Looked so clear and cool, made me thirsty just looking at it. I couldn't take it anymore. I stepped to the edge of the river, kneeling down and dropping my rifle at my side, so I could form a cup with my hands.
I took a sip of the cool liquid and it felt so refreshing. I felt recharged. I had to have more. As I took my second sip, I backed away, looking at some sort of fish swimming in my hands. Like the size of a tadpole.
I chuckled as I saw it swimming around in my hand…at least for now. "Mother fucker!" I said, grabbing my hand as that tadpole like bastard had bit my hand. I just stared at the water, growling at it. "You're lucky I can't see you, you shithead!"
I looked at my hand, but something started to change in me. Something was coursing through my body and I had a good feeling that that thing was poisonous. It effected me fast, I just fell to my knees, collapsing in a matter of seconds.
Rain was down pouring in this forest, animals all over took shelter, just so they couldn't get wet. I laid there, thinking that I was dead, but to realize that I was very much alive. I felt weak, but the metal in my body filtered out some of the poison, but it could only do so much. I was alive for the moment.
I looked around, feeling very druggy, always hating this feeling. Similar to coming out of the affects of anesthesia. I heard a noise to my right, I had a hard time trying to look over there. When I was finally able to, I saw a figure, a silver figure to be exact, hard to say, but it looked like a fox.
I tried to clear my vision, but I could only do enough to realize that that fox, was female. I saw her put something down, some sort of mixer, I couldn't really tell. She spun around on her heels, as she was holding a bowl.
She took my hand, in my weakened condition, I couldn't put up much of a fuss. She poured a liquid upon the wound, which had swelled up from the poisonous bite, causing it to sting like a bitch. I clinched my teeth, as this pain completely sucked, mainly because I was unable to move.
When she finally finished, she leaned in to look at it, the liquid was already having an effect on the wound, as the swelling was already going down. I couldn't take any of this anymore, I just wanted sleep. As soon as I thought that, I fell asleep again.
"Anything from Fox?" "No and that's the weird thing, Ryan. I can't sense him. There's something down there that's preventing me from sensing his mind. I'm reading a storm and I think there's enough electrical interference that's blocking his mind." "Don't worry, Krystal. He'll be fine."
The rain still fell, harder than before, as I finally started coming around. My vision was better this time, but I could still see blurriness in some parts. When I finally was able to see clearly, I saw that the vixen was hovering over me, she was curious about my face.
When she saw my eye opening, she jumped and backed away from me, huddling in a ball, scared of what I might do to her, if I had decided to attack her. I had no intentions, as I was too fucked up to do anything so physical.
"Oh god. What the fuck happened?" I said, placing my hand on my head, as I had a bad headache. I looked at my hand and saw there was a scar, but nothing too serious. It would be there forever. Didn't bother me, just another wound to tell people about.
I looked up and saw the vixen, scared at the sight of me. I couldn't blame her, I was pretty scary. "Hey. It's okay. I won't hurt you." I said as calmly as possible, also waving her over, just trying to show her I was harmless.
She just stared at me for a moment longer, before finally starting to approach me, slow and cautiously. She came within three feet of me, before stopping, not wanting to approach me any further. "Where am I?"
She just looked at me, it seemed liked she couldn't understand, but all she did was point up. I looked up, but all I saw was small decorations like dead birds or lizards, leaves and flowers everywhere. "Is this your home?" She nodded.
"Do you speak?" She just looked at me, a solemn look came upon her face as she lowered her head and shook her head. "You do understand me though, right?" She nodded. "That's a start."
I looked around, just seeing everything she had in her little tree home. When I came back to look at her, she was focused back on the metal on my face. She seemed hypnotized by it, like she had never seem it before.
"Come on. You can touch." She hesitated, she was afraid to anger me. "It's okay. I don't mind." The vixen carefully approached me, crawling on her hands and knees as she got a closer look of the metal. I couldn't help, but stare at her gray eyes, as she placed her hand in front of the metal, seeing her reflection. She was fascinated by it.
She finally touched my face and she shuttered from the cold sensation. "I know. It's cold, but very tough. Watch." I said to her, knocking on my face, producing a ringing sound that she seemed amused by. "Go ahead. Try."
She leaned forward again, raising her hand and formed it into a fist, before she knocked on my face. She gave a slight giggle, as she did it one more time. She knew I would get irritated eventually. She wanted to stay on my good side.
She continued to stare at my face, but brought her attention to my glowing, left eye. "It's an optic implant. I lost my eye some time ago and this helps me see. Just because it glows green, doesn't mean I can't see like you." She leaned closer, trying to find what exactly is producing the green glow. I couldn't tell her, because I honestly still don't know.
"You all alone out here?" She looked at me, only to nod.. The poor thing, had to be eighteen if I had to guess. "Really? That has to be horrible. You glad you found someone…like yourself?" She nodded, seemed very happy indeed. "What's your name?"
She didn't know how to tell me, but then looked at the dirt. She started tracing, forming letters into what finally became her name. "Zeria? That's rather pretty actually. My name is Fox. " She smiled, as I could tell she was beginning to like me.
"You wanna be my friend?" She immediately nodded, which made me laugh. "I like to be your friend too." I said, just staring at her, finally looking at what she was wearing. It looked like it was made out of moss, as it was a one-piece, but looked more like a dress than anything.
A cold wind blew into the small burrow, as she shuttered from the sudden drop in temperature. "Hey. Here. Take this." I said, taking off my leather jacket and giving it to her. She looked at it with confusion, but I showed her how to put it on.
She just stared at the black material, finally she felt how smooth it was and how it instantly made it warm. She smiled in approval, as I just looked at her with a smile on my face.
A bolt of lightning, soon followed by a crash of thunder erupted nearby, causing the scared vixen to scream in fear. She ran over to me and hid in my chest. I held her, just trying to get her to know that she was fine. I could feel her quiver, I did all I could to calm her down.
"It's okay, Zeria. You'll be okay." We both looked down, as I could feel my stomach growling, which made me laugh. "You wouldn't by any chance have something to eat now, would ya?"
Zeria scanned the area, only to find a dead corpse of what looked like a rabbit. I couldn't believe that I was hungry enough to eat, what could be a relative of Peppy's. I had no choice though, but to eat the poor thing, but not when it was raw.
I scanned the burrow, finding a small pile of wood, I dug into my pocket, hoping to pull out of lighter, luckily, it was there. Zeria just stared at me, watching me pile the wood together, and lighting it on fire.
She stared at the light, hypnotized by it just like my face. I let her see it, but I couldn't let her touch it. She would most likely burn herself. I flicked the flame to life, as she opened her mouth in awe, amazed by the sudden magic.
I finished eating, of course I wasn't going to let her starve so let her eat with me too. She enjoyed the food, I don't think she ever had cooked food before. "Did you see my ship?" She looked at me, confused. I thought for a moment, trying to think of something she could understand. "That big black thing that flies….like a bird, but loud like thunder?"
She began to think, but shot her head up as if she knew the answer. She was about to get up, when she saw it was still raining. I looked outside, then back at her. "Wanna wait until the rain stops?" Her head nodded.
I looked outside, seeing that it was starting to get dark. I looked at Zeria, as she was crawling over to her bed, which was nothing more than a thick pile of moss and leaves. She continued to wear the jacket, as she tucked herself in underneath all the foliage.
She then looked at me, as if she were waiting for me to tuck myself in next to her. "I certainly hope Krystal doesn't find out about this." I walked over to her, but stopped for a moment. I had to make a call. I could only pray that my phone still worked. A faint signal, but just enough to make the call.
"Fox? Where the fuck have you been? You realize how long you've been down there?" Krystal said, yelling over the phone, which caused Zeria to stare in shock. "I know it's been a while, but something bit me down here and I was poisoned. Some native down here saved my life. I'm still not feeling good, Krystal. I'm not risking my life trying to fly my ass back up there."
"This native…a girl?" "She's been alone down here for God knows how long. I'm not just gonna leave her here. I'm gonna bring up tomorrow." "You're not developing a crush on her, are you? You know what will happen." "Nothing is happening. Do you trust me?"
"Well, of course I trust you." "Thank you. You know I wouldn't do anything to you. Not again." "I know, Fox. I'm sorry." "Hey. It's okay. I love you." "I love you too." "Thank you." I said to her, before hanging up the phone.
I looked over at Zeria, who was staring at me, confused, but she looked a little, well confused just about wraps it all up. I put away my phone back into my pocket, before finally tucking myself underneath all the foliage, which surprisingly was very warm.
I started to close my eye, only to open it back up as she took her claw and started tapping on my face. She giggled a little, as she stopped, finally going to bed. I followed shortly after.
Morning slowly made its way into the small tree burrow, as light started casting upon items that Zeria used for decoration. However, a shiny object was casting a light, as the sun off of it, shooting the light shot right into my eyes, causing me to wake up abruptly and it pissed me off.
I looked to see what the light was hitting, only to realize that it was my dagger. I chuckled a little, as I picked it up. "I was wondering what happened to you. Thank God I didn't lose you." I said, as I shoved the weapon back into its sheath.
I looked around and noticed the young vixen was gone, I grew worried, as maybe something could have taken her as I was sleeping. I began to get up, only to stop at mid way, as a series or cracks and pops made me stop. "That's it." I said, with a little hint of pain in my voice. "No more sleeping on the ground."
I finally stood up all the way, and gave my back a quick stretch. It was one of the only things in my body that wasn't protected by metal. I pulled out my revolver, and saw that all the rounds were spent, couldn't remember from what.
I pulled out the chamber and gave it a quick spin, which reloaded the weapon. Jerking my hand to the right, the chamber popped back into place in the revolver, and now it was ready to shoot once again.
I shoved it back into its holster and started to make my way out of the burrow, only to stop at the archway. I stared at Zeria, who went out to pick fruit, but by the look on her face, she looked sad that I was leaving.
"Oh thank God, you're okay." I said, losing my balance and fell backwards, falling on my ass, as she walked in with a confused look on her face. "I thought something took you. I was about to go out and search for you."
A smile cast upon her face, as she seemed flattered that I was worried about her. She took a seat on her knees, and handed me various fruits, similar to apples, oranges and grapes. I took a bite out of the apple and sighed happily as I felt the juice escape the fruit and immediately quench my thrust.
"This is good." She just smiled at me. "You know we are leaving today right?" As soon as I finished talking, she looked up from her fruit, then looked around her home, she looked sad. I knew what was wrong.
"I know you are sad that you're leaving your home, but you get to come with me. Meet more people that are wanting to be your friend. Plus, we get to fly amongst the stars." She looked at me, then looked at the sky. She always wanted to know what it would like to go up there.
She gave me a series of hand-gestures, but I was able to make it out. Asking if 'she would be able to touch the stars?' "No, but damn awfully close." She began pondering, then with another series of hand-gestures. She asked, 'Do these people look like you? (you meaning Fox.) Like with the metal on my face?'
I shook my head. "They look more like you. I'm unique. Some may have battle scars like these." I said, raising my shirt and showing her the scars I suffered from plasma shots. "But none of them have injuries like these." Pointing at my face.
She began with more hand-gestures, saying 'Will they be mad that I can't talk?' "Of course not. Everyone up there is very nice….for the most part. One you have to watch out for…is Ryan. He's a bit of a nut."
She giggled, but asked, 'which one is he?' "He's the husky. A mixture of white and black. He eats the most out of all of us." She giggled one last time, before she took my hand and dragged me along behind her. Luckily, I still had the apple to chew on.
We arrived at the Z.J., seeing it glisten under the sun as raindrops rested on the hull. She was fascinated by the large ship. "You think that's big. Wait until you see my home." She looked at me, confused, but ran after me as I ran towards my ship.
"Natasha. Open canopy." I said out loud, which scared Zeria as the canopy started to open, like magic. I climbed the small ladder, as I hopped into the pilot seat. "Come on. Don't be afraid."
Zeria slowly made her way up the ladder, only to see all the lights and switches before her. She looked at me, as I was hooking my thumb behind me, towards the back seat. She climbed over the side and hopped in the chair.
I spun around and grabbed her restraint harness and buckled her in, and tightened it, just to make sure she wouldn't hurt herself, but my rough flying. I could tell she didn't like it, but I told her it would keep her safe, so she obeyed.
I began to close the canopy, and activated the life-support system. I could feel air starting to seep through the cockpit, but something was a little different to Zeria. It smelled spicy in here. I just smiled. I always loved the smell of cinnamon.
I turned on the engines, only to hear a loud boom and a series of trees falling to the ground. We both looked around and saw three trees now on their sides. She gave stared wide-eyed with her mouth open. "Oops." When the engines fired, it produced a sonic boom. The engines are similar to the one's on the Matchitehew, which is why it did that.
I increased the thrust, which made things a little too loud for Zeria, but the ship now started hovering above the ground. Seconds went by before we were above the tree line. "Hang on. Try to make yourself as relaxed as possible."
Zeria, just stared at me, confused as I pushed the throttle lever to max, as the ship took off at incredible speed, the only thing I heard was her screaming. The screaming lasted the entire trip up, until finally we made it to the stars, were she finally stopped and saw what amazed her most.
The stars laid before her, she reached up and tried to grab one, but the canopy stopped her hand. She lowered her hand, but continued to look at the billions of stars around her, she was speechless. (Go figure.)
"Over there." I said to her, as I was pointing at the Matchitehew, which was approaching us fast. She stared at it, amazed by it, but as the minutes went by. She grew afraid, as we were flying parallel with it, only a few meters away, the sheer size of my ship scared her.
We flew into the hanger bay, only to see everyone was waiting for me. I landed in my usual spot, and back to power everything down. I opened the canopy and lifted myself out of my chair, after I freed Zeria from her restraints.
"Where the fuck have you been? You have any idea how worried we were about you?" Krystal said, Zeria recognized her voice from the call I made to her. "Try getting poisoned. It's a lot of fun." I said sarcastically.
I jumped off the side of the ship, landing on the metal floor below, but Zeria took her time climbing down the ladder. "Who's your little friend? I think I'll like her." Zeria hid behind me, and looked at me, as I spun my finger next to my temple. Telling her he was Ryan. She giggled.
"What? I'm not crazy. Go fuck yourself." "Honey? You are a bit odd." Ryan turned his head to look at Fay, only to shake his head in disbelief. "Everyone is against me."
"Everyone. This is Zeria. Zeria. These are my friends. You already remember, Krystal. The red one here." Krystal smiled as she gave her a small wave. Zeria returned the favor, but still was nervous. "You already know, the crazy one." "Shut up!" She laughed at his response.
"The gray wolf here, is Wolf and the lady next to him is Fara. The white wolf next to her is Adrian, with Miyu next to him. Next to Crazy is Fay. Followed by Matt." Everyone waved at her, as she waved back, slowly coming out from behind me.
I looked at her, she looked liked to wanted to say something. I was gonna have to translate. "Crr….crrr…aaaaa…zyy." I just stared at her, unable to believe she just spoke. Ryan was pissed. "Oh come on. Now, she's gonna be calling me by that name forever."
Zeria grew upset, but I told her it was okay. He just likes to give people a hard time, but eventually I reminded her his name was Ryan.
Everyone stared at the young vixen, as she scanned the hanger bay, only to look upon the cars I received from Cyrus. She made her way over there, starting to look at each individual one. Her gaze came upon a car, that upset someone. "Oh come on! Don't tell me you're going to give her the GTO?"
It felt good to finally feel me again, well almost. My telepathy came back not long after I landed, now I was able to put the block back up, just in case Krystal wanted to read my mind for whatever reasons she has.
I gave Zeria her own room, just down there hall, across from Adrian and Miyu. She seemed to take huge fascination in the bathroom, particularly, the Jacuzzi tub. Reminded her of a hot spring that was near her burrow, which I never got to see.
Krystal found me working underneath the Z.J. with Adrian helping me. Since he lost his ship during the explosion that crippled the Great Fox, he's been hanging around my ship, just to make up for his lost.
"Oh come on, dude. It had to be done. There are some sacrifices that have to be made." "You don't understand, McCloud. I had that ship for who knows how long. It was the first I had when I moved out of my parent's place. I lived on that thing, until I finally saved enough money to buy an apartment."
"With the money we are going to make, you'll be able to buy like ten of them before you realized. 'What the hell am I suppose to do with ten Cobalts?" "It's the sentiment of the thing is what meant most about it." "You think I didn't feel any remorse when I lost the Great Fox. I had to blow it up. You think I felt nothing?" "I don't know. Did you?"
"That hurts, man. That really does. You'll understand fully what it means to be sentiment when you lose your favorite girl. Your father's ship that started the family business. Your best friend." "He came back, didn't he?" "Do you realize what the fuck it did to me inside? It completely changed who I am, physically and mentally."
"Hey? All those wounds were from Fara and Panther. Not to mention Cyrus." "Exactly my point." "What?" "Never mind." "Hey. Tell me what you mean?" "I don't feel like explaining….Besides, Krystal is standing right there."
Adrian pulled himself out from underneath the ship, seeing Krystal was standing right there, next to the toolbox. "No, Fox. Tell me what you mean?" "Make me." She didn't answer, she just started climbing the ladder, entering my ship.
At this time, I was working just next to the turbines of the engines. My right hand occasionally touched the motionless turbine, but the one time I did. The turbine instantly spun to idling speed, slicing off my skin and fur. "Mother fucker!"
I said, pulling myself out from underneath the ship, holding my hand as blood was gushing everywhere. "God damnit, Krystal! What the fuck were you thinking?" I yelled at her, trying to wrap my hand, trying to stop the bleeding.
She just stared in fear, couldn't believe that just happened. "I….I don't know. I didn't think your hand would be right next to the turbine." She said, starting to cry, as finally I got enough gauze to wrap my hand in to stop the bleeding, but I needed to get it checked.
I just glared at her, then at Adrian. "You see. She hurt me physically and it changed my calm mentality into an angry one." I said, walking away while still holding my hand.
Krystal just watched me walk away, tears falling from her eyes. Adrian wrapped an arm around her, trying to comfort her, but it was no use. In fact, a couple seconds after he did, she started crying rather hard. The only thing he could do was hug her.
I sat in the infirmary, I stopped the bleeding by doing the same thing to my face, burned the wounds shut. I cried in pain, but when I was done, I stared at my hand, watching the neural links work as I moved my fingers around. I finally just wrapped a bunch of gauze around my hand, preventing myself from looking at my hand further.
Wolf walked in and saw my bandaged hand. "What the fuck happened?" I just shook my head. "Don't ask." I said, as I tried moving my fingers around, making sure the wrapping didn't interfere with my normal hand movement.
"Kinda hard to look at you, pup while you have white fur." "It ain't changing anytime soon. I've really grown attached to it. You should dye yourself white. I will never be able to tell the difference between you and Adrian." I could hear a low growl from his throat.
"My god man. You still holding a grudge against him." "He started it." "It doesn't matter who started it. The matter was I ended it. Remember a certain vulpine grabbing your throats." Wolf just glared at me, before turning his head away.
"He's right, you know. I've seen this bastard angry enough to the point that he single handedly took out a bar, just with his fists and martial art skills. Never once reached for his dagger or revolver." Matt said, walking through the door.
"How long have you been listening?" "Just the last part. Heard Krystal fucked your hand." Wolf just turned to look at me, and smiled. "So that's how it happened." "Go fuck yourselves. Would've hurt worse if my arm wasn't metal." "I can understand that."
"By the way, have we gained enough Nitrous Helium for this ship?" "Yeah. Ryan just finished bringing up the last load. This ship has enough fuel to blow a hole right through the Allmachtiger." Wolf said, feeling the confidence I never heard he had.
I nodded my head in response, as I just slowly made my way out of the room. "I know for a fact Krystal will be looking for me. You see her before me, tell her I'll be in the mess hall." "Will do." Matt said, watching me disappear around the corner.
I sat in the mess hall eating a small meal, just a brat and fries with a root beer. As I just sat there, a presence entered the room. "Finally found me, huh?" Not bothering to turn around, already knowing it was the maroon vixen.
"How's your hand?" "I was able to see what makes my hand work. That was something." Taking a sip from my drink, as I continued to eat. Krystal took a seat next to me, scared to be around me.
"Fox. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean for that to happen." "Let me ask you this. What did you think would happen?" "I didn't know your hand was rubbing against the turbine. I just wanted to scare you, so you come out from underneath your ship."
"Well. I came out, didn't I?" "Not the way I wanted you to." I finally raised my head to look at her. She had been and still was crying. "I guess I deserved that some way or another." "No. You didn't deserve that at all. I was just being stupid."
"We all do stupid things. Though, its injuries like these that is going to make me go back to the doctor to get more surgery, so I can at least look somewhat normal again." Krystal just stared at me, her eyes were covered with tears. "You still mad at me?"
I let out a heavy sigh, before standing up. Though, the only action I did was I grabbed the chair to my right, and threw across the mess hall, shattering the window in the wall, separating the kitchen and mess hall. I just looked at the glass fall, letting out another heavy sigh. "I'm good."
"Why didn't you just slap me or something?" I took a seat back in my chair, and grabbed her chair and pulled it around the table, so she was sitting right next to me. "Because there's isn't anything you can do to me that would make me want to hurt you. Besides. I know it was an accident."
"What if it was on purpose?" "Then I would hurt you." I said, wrapping my arm around her. She rested her head on my shoulder, as I rested my head on hers. "I love you too much to do anything bad to you." "I love you too." She said, as she continued to cry.
Four days later:
The Matchitehew was in orbit around the planet called Taurus. A planet that Lylatians colonized just about the same time they started to re-colonized Earth. The beautiful thing was that Cyrus had no knowledge of this planet. It was the perfect time to repair the ship.
It was no doubt the biggest ship around, and it barely had enough space to park in the dry docks, I stared out the window of the bridge, looking at all the ships working. Members of this station were allowed aboard to fix all the electrical shit, etc…
On the surface, the city we were in, had its qualities of Corneria City. I preferred to stay in the classy part of the city, didn't want to endanger my crew, especially as someone as primitive as Zeria.
I wore my usual clothes, only this time I was just wearing baggy jeans, but with my usual gray long-sleeved shirt. Along with my black leather trench coat and my sunglasses. They could only hide so much, as people were still able to see my face, and moved away from me with fear.
I got the most attention at a restaurant we went to. It was a simple diner sort of place and the hostess there was afraid to seat us, just 'cause of my face. I took a huge offense, but who can blame them. I hated my appearance. The one time I wanted to look normal, people fear me.
"Perhaps I shouldn't have left the ship." "Come on, Fox. You can't let them get you down." I scanned the place, then stopped to stare at a couple right next to us. I lunged forward, as if I were about to attack them, but I just wanted to make them flinch.
"This sucks." "Where's my Jager?" Ryan said, knocking on the table, attracting a little attention. I just lowered my head into my hand and shook my head. "Ryan? It's a fucking diner. They don't serve Jager."
The waitress finally brought our drinks, which made Ryan upset, as he had to settle with lemonade. I sighed as I looked at Zeria, who had a hard time thinking on what she wanted to eat. She wanted my help, but she was afraid that she might anger Krystal, and she was nervous to ask anyone else.
I looked at Krystal, and she just smiled, giving me a nod, telling me I could help her. "Alright, Zeria. Let's see what we got here." I said, leaning up next to her, looking at her menu, but I realized why she was having a hard time. She had trouble reading.
"You know your alphabet. Think what sound each letter makes in your mind, and try to spell out the words." She returned her gaze back at the menu, as I read her mind. She was doing what I was telling her. Made me smile.
"H-haaaammm-b-b-burrrrr-gerrr. Ch-chiiik-en. Saaaannnd-wi-wi-iiich." She continued like that, saying all the foods underneath the sandwich section of the menu, but she just looked confused and upset.
"I go with the BLT." I whispered to her. She looked at me and I just smiled and gave her a nod. She just smiled. "I think we're good." I said, leaning back into my chair, only to have Krystal lean over and kiss my cheek. "You're a good teacher. I was reading her mind too."
I smiled at her, as the waitress approached us, wondering if we were ready order. I looked around, everyone was definitely ready. I could tell they were all starving.
"Alright. For this one right here. She'll have a BLT, with fries and…." I looked at her, giving her a pondering look. I finally cast a smile. "A Mountain Dew." She just stared, confused because she didn't know or remember what fries and Mountain Dew was.
The waitress took our menus and walked away, leaving us by ourselves once again. "So what are we going to do about Cyrus? We saw the power of his flagship. We saw all the influence he has. How are we going to beat that?"
I stared at Ryan, he made a valid point. We needed help, but who would help a group of bounty hunters like us? "I may know a couple people. But it'll take a lot of convincing."
Everyone just looked at me, until I turned to look at Wolf. He was the first, except for Krystal, to figure who I meant. "You're going to call up the toad and Peppy, aren't you?" "Got anyone else in mind?" Wolf just stared at me, but shook his head 'no'.
"What about Leon?" Fara said, which made more sense to Wolf then anyone else. "All he has is his fighter. What good would that do against a ship like the Allmachtiger?" Krystal said, confused as much as I was. Wolf continued with her thought.
"Fox. Krystal. Not his fighter. The station itself." "What? Explain." "We know when he'll be attacking, am I correct? We ambush him there. Several thousand kilometers away from Corneria. We will have the Sargasso Station, the Matchitehew, the Orbital Gate has some armed defenses. Plus maybe a small armada that Peppy and maybe even your buddy, Bill can put together. Even try to get your bird friend."
I just glared at him, couldn't believe he just mentioned Falco. I could only shake my head no. "Oh come on! Who else do we have?" I just lowered my head, I didn't want to fight with him. He hurt me too much.
"Fox. I know this sucks for you, big time. Sometimes, you have to put aside your differences, just so you can get things done." I looked at Krystal, then looked at everyone, basically all having the same facial expression, even Zeria.
"Michelle even knows a few people." "NO!" I yelled at Matt, causing everyone to look at me. "I will not have her around. If I see her again, I'll probably kill her. Who's to say I won't kill Falco when I see him?"
I scanned the diner, everyone was still staring at me. "What the fuck you looking at? Get back to your meals." Everyone immediately did so, but when I turned to face Matt. I just shook my head. "No Michelle. That's crossing that very thin line."
My phone started ringing, as answered, but from I recognized by the ring tone. It was Natasha informing about the progress in repairs. "Krieger. The engines and sensors are back up to one hundred percent. Weapons are at seventy percent will take a little more than two hours."
"Thank you, Natasha. Report back to me when the weapons are back up to one hundred percent." "Of course, Krieger." I hung up the phone, and everyone was staring at me. "I love that computer."
Everyone finished eating, and waited for the bill to come. I couldn't help, but laugh as Zeria made a pig out of herself. She really seemed to enjoy her food. "When was Cyrus planning on attacking Corneria?"
"If I recall. In two days I think." Wolf said, wiping his mouth with a napkin. "How long will it take to get Sargasso at the rendezvous point we were thinking of?" "A day. I can see if Leon can get my entire empire over. That's about ten warships. Though, they're only about the same size as the Great Fox." "Get them over. We need all the manpower we can get."
I pushed myself out of the chair, after paying for the bill and made my way out of the diner. Krystal and Zeria seemed to have stuck very close to me as I began to make phone calls.
"Hello. This is Slippy Toad." "Slippy. Oh God it's so good to hear your voice again." "Who is this? How do we know each other?" "Take my word for it. I have never lied to you before. It's Fox."
The line was silent, I knew Slippy was in shock. "F-fox? But you're dead?" "Fake my death my friend." I said, looking around seeing that Matt was giving me an angry look. "You get all bent out of shape, because I lied about my death? What about you?" "Shut the fuck up! We'll talk later!"
"Hello? Who else is there?" "Sorry Slip. Just a friend of mine. Listen. This isn't a social call. I need your help. Be even better if your dad was able to help. He's got a lot of influence when it comes to important people."
"What is it you need me to do?" "Well. I'm gonna talk to Peppy as soon as I hang up, but I need you to prepare an armada of Cornerian and Katinan ship. I also need the Orbital Gate to prepare for war." "What? What the fuck is going on?" "A man by the name of Cyrus Lector. He's declared war on Corneria. He plans to attack in a couple days."
"Jesus, Fox. Yes. Of course. I'll get on the phone with my dad right away." "Thanks, Slippy. You still have yet to let me down." "Fox? If it means anything. I always knew you were alive." I just chuckled. "At least someone believed that."
I hung up the phone, and immediately started to call Peppy's office. "Hello. Cornerian Defense Office." "Claudia? If that's your voice then I'm glad to hear it." "…..F-f-fox?" "Good to hear from you again." "Oh my God. You're alive?" "Shocking isn't it, Listen. I love to chat with you, but I need to talk to Peppy ASAP."
"Of course. Anything for you." She said, putting me on hold, I stood there, listening to the music in the background. Solsbury Hill by Peter Gabriel. Couldn't help, but dance a little, which made everyone stare at me. My only response was…..the Finger.
"Fox? Please don't tell me this is some sick joke." "You know me too well, Peppy. I wouldn't joke when it came to something like this." "But…where have you been this entire time?" "Krieger Aurelius." "You were Krieger?" "Yep."
"Oh Fox. It's so good to know you are alive. If it weren't for Lucy, you be the child I never had." "I know, old man. You've always been there for me too, since James….." "I know." "Listen. I just got off the phone with Slippy. Cyrus basically declared war on Corneria. I need you to set up an armada and I want you to get Bill Grey and Katina involved. As we speak, Slippy is talking to Beltino and we're trying to get the Orbital gate as a turret. Wolf is talking to Leon and we're trying to get Sargasso and his warships over here."
"How many ships are we dealing with here?" "Worst than I thought. After my latest readings over in Sector Z, over fifty ships are present. Including the Allmachtiger." "Good God. This is horrendous." "You think you can pull a few strings and get what I need done?"
"Fox. It'll be just like the old days. I'll be right besides you in my warship." "The Matchitehew and the Black Mamba, fighting along side. Can't wait for that. And do me a favor." "Of course." "Call Falco. Tell him to get the Ultra Falcon II over." "Fox…..I heard what he did to you. You sure?"
"In a situation like this, my friend. We got no choice." "I'll see what I can get done. How long do we have?" "Couple days." "I'll see you three hours before the deadline." "Thank you…..Peppy." I said, hanging up the phone, starting to cry a little.
Krystal embraced me in a hug, as everyone just looked at me. "I missed that hare so much." I said, on the verge of bawling, as I continued to hold Krystal in my arms. "Fox. I just got off the phone with Leon. He's making the necessary preparations to move the station. Should be ready to go in a hour. Should arrive at two tomorrow. My fleet should also arrive within the next two days."
I pushed myself away from Krystal, and walked over to Wolf, collecting him in a hug, then grabbing Fara by her shoulder and brought her for a group hug. "Thank you both…for being here." "Where else would we be, pup?" I backed away, then looked at Fara.
"Since when did Fara ever start calling me, pup?" "I don't know. This is the first time I heard her say it." "I wanted to see what it was like." "You like it?" "It's pretty fun." "Now, she knows why I do it." Wolf said, laughing as he collected Fara in his arms.
I walked over to my original partners, Adrian and Ryan. I just looked at them, they knew it was coming as we all collected each other for a group hug. "Thank you, you guys. For putting up with my bullshit." "Come on, McCloud. You weren't that hard on us." Adrian said, then looked over at Ryan. "Well, on me."
"You were a bit of a dick." "And I still think you're crazy." "Yeah. Yeah." I laughed, as I walked up to Miyu and Fay and gave them a kiss on their cheeks. "Thank you for being here. Your support has been very helpful." They just smiled, as I walked up to Matt and Zeria.
"Matt. I have to say. If you hadn't died, I would never have taken this job." "At least I gave you enough motivation to do so. I'm sorry for all the pain I put you through. With me and Michelle." "You I forgive, but not her." He just chuckled and smiled. "I have to say though. When I was Krieger, you were my best friend. Thank you for putting up with me."
"Oh come on, man. Not all of it was bad. I just hope you took excellent care of my stuff." "Oh I did. You can have the Vista Cruiser back, but I'm keeping the weapons." "Oh like hell you are!" We both laughed, as I pulled him in and gave him a hug.
I turned to look at Zeria, who just stood there, putting on her weight on her right leg, standing cross-arms and had a mischievous smirk on her face. "Zeria? I consider you my friend. I'm glad you are here with me right now, but this isn't really your fight. You don't have to stay. I'm giving you the choice."
She looked at everyone, then back at me. Only to give me the middle finger. I stared wide-eyed at her, but she made the gesture of 'joking', but then made the gesture that she was going to talk in her mind.
"Fox. I'm glad to have met you. I don't know if you feel the same, but I consider you my best friend. I also love you, but I know you love the maroon one. Of course, I'm staying. Nothing will separate me from you." I just smiled at her, as I brought her in to hug her, and kisses her on her cheek. "Thank you."
Finally, I turned around to stare at Krystal, who just smiled at me, as I approached her. I embraced her and held her by her waist. "I have to say, if Panther hadn't shot me. I know for a fact none of this would've happened. We wouldn't have gotten a second chance. Krystal. I love you so much and you being with me to this day. No offense to anyone, but out of all the people here and who I'm about to share the battlefield with. You are the one I'm glad most that is here. I couldn't imagine anyone else, to fight along side me, as we take down Lector."
She just laughed and smiled. "Boy, you do know how to save the best speech for last, don't you?" I smiled at her, as I we leaned in and gave each other the most passionate kiss, either of us have received from each other, ever.
I looked at her, and I could see tears building up in her eyes, she saw the same with me. Though, I already had been crying. I continued to hold her, but I looked at everyone, who just smiled at us. "Let's get everything we need ready, so by the time the Matchitehew is ready to go. So are we."
