Krystal is on her way to Papetoon to meet Phantom. What seemed so grotesque for Phantom that he wanted to meet her there?

Chapter 4: Face the remnants

She left Sargasso behind her, just so she can meet up with Phantom on Papetoon. When she left, Wolf was already watching the news broadcast for the tenth time and ate out most of Leon's popcorn. Panther was at least gentlemen enough to open the door for her. She already told everyone where she was going, why and for how long. Again, only Panther got the message. She can already see Wolf's surprised face when he realizes that she isn't there anymore. The moment she thinks that, an alarm sounds, reminding her that she is penetrating Papetoon's atmosphere when suddenly:

*Transmission*

Welcome to Papetoon. Name your identity and your business here please.

Krystal of the Starwolf team. I'm here to meet the private inspector Phantom. *pretty restricted planet it seems*

Hmmm. Ah yes, Krystal. It checks out. You have a nice day and sorry for the inconvenience miss. Since the Great Fox II burned out, we pumped up the security measures.

I understand. Of no matter.

*Transmission*

Clouds coming from the green planet are welcoming her ship, the Cloud Runner, as she bursts through everyone of them. She looks at the clock, displaying 14:23. She tries out her private channel again, something she turned off after the last encounter with Fox. She opens the comm with Fox's Arwing, but receives nothing but static on the other side. After a few attempts, she knows it's useless. Of course he doesn't have his Arwing anymore. He jumped out of it and started to punch the living daylights out of him. He seemed to have recovered from it pretty well. At last, the vision is clear as she's out of the clouds. Her targeting axis suddenly activate but quickly change into a trail of holographic dots. Another transmission comes up.

*Transmission*

No worries miss. You will be directed to the nearest spaceport in the area. What is your destination?

Papetoon city sir.

Oewh... not the best place to be there today. Maybe not even tomorrow. But since you are meeting Phantom over there, I guess everything will be fine. We have already arranged a taxi for you. It is already payed to travel to any destination in and around Papetoon city. You have a nice day.

You too.

*Transmission*

More transmission come up, guiding her to her designated landing pad, as if the auto-pilot following the path doesn't do that already.

'Krystal, pad 31 is yours.'

'Copy that. Krystal out.' she ends as he prepares her Cloud Runner to land. Blue, circle beams are activated from under her ship and guide her to a safe touchdown. A large steam exhaust is heard as two mechanical claws grabs around the main hull. A light lights up, signaling that she may exit her ship. The cockpit opens and Krystal jumps out. A brown dog with a large pair of tainted sunglasses and a large headset with a microphone approaches her.

'Krystal!?' he screams as the roars of other ships is ear-piercing. The wind coming with it is comparable to that of a hurricane.

'Yes, that's me!' she screams back, covering her ears.

The dog hands her a couple of earplugs. She puts them in and gets a signal that she must follow him. She enters a large glass building, the terminal of the airport. As soon as the door closes behind her, all roars and wind noises are gone. A small grey container is presented to her with a sign sticking out saying: "Earplugs". She unplugs them and puts them in the container.

'This way Krystal.' leads the dog before running off to another landing ship. As she walks through the metal-detectors, she sees the size of the whole structure. With the escalator, she goes down. The exit is visible from there. She needs to focus on that, she can shop at later time. Maneuvering through the big masses of people, she finally pops out of it. She opens the cab door and sits down with a deep sigh.

'Ghihihihi...' she hears from behind the wheel. Between the backseat and the front is a sheet of glass. A friendly looking green wolf turns his head to Krystal. He's in his mid-40's and his voice is damn close to that of a standard movie black person.

'Hmmm.' he complements as he takes a look at Krystal. 'Damn gurl! You look nice!'

'*giggle* Thanks...'

'Any change with me?'

'Haha... sorry. I'm already taken.'

'Argh, darn it! Ah well, not surprising. Who wouldn't fall for those blue eyes, am I right?' he states as he focuses on the road. He checks his papers on which the address is again.

'Number 32 right?' he verifies.

'That's right.'

'Auw... not a great place to be right now.'

She checks a small clock from her pocket. It says 15:12. 'Yes, I have heard that twice today. Can we just go? I have an appointment.'

'I heard the lady.' he says as he punches the throttle, racing away. Although she doesn't feel quite comfortable being in Crazy Taxi, she lets it all fall over her. Letting go of her fears, even for a brief moment, is a great relief. She opens the window and sticks her head out of the window, feeling the sun shine on her face. As the cab enters the street bordering the avenue, it stops as the road is blocked by a police blockade.

'I'm sorry miss, but this as far as I can go.'

'How much?'

'Hahaha... you don't have to pay anything. *shows the fine* Someone was nice enough to pay it for you. Lucky gurl. Now, get out! If I can't get anything done with you, you're useless to me.' he remarks jokingly as Krystal steps out of the vehicle. She closes the door as the taxi drives away. She hops over one of the fences and walks around the corner. The butchery, where everything happened on that unlucky morning, is surrounded with police, who immediately notice her.

'Hey miss. You are not allowed to be here!'

'But... but... I'm meeting Phan...'

'I don't care who you are meeting here. This is a crime scene. Take her away!'

Two officers grab her and drags her away. She resists but the officers are too strong. Giving up what little hope she had left, a shout safes her.

'Let her go!' shouts Phantom, who comes running towards her aid. He slides over the hood over a car and frees Krystal. 'She's with me. Buzz off, idiots!' He helps Krystal on here feet before turning to the head inspector. 'Yo! You gave the order? Yeah? Shut the fuck up next time! My case, my investigation!' he states. 'Are you okay?' he asks.

'Geh... I'm fine. So, you're Phantom?'

'Private investigator and etcetera Phantom by full name.' he states. *Krystal's point of view* The guy looks like the main protagonist of the Matrix with white rusty fur. Same sunglasses, same sort of attitude. The only difference is the color of his jacket, metallic instead of black. He has only one belt, going over his plain black shirt, but under his jacket as it covers his stomach area diagonally, from the left downwards. It runs from his right hip towards the end of his left, where a small holster marks the end. The belt is red, so are his pupils. On the right side of his mouth, he chews on a small spike of wood.

'Friends call me Roger, but you can just go ahead and call me Phantom. Looks and sounds cooler.'

'Why 'look'?'

'You'll see soon enough.' he claims as he walks towards the entrance. Krystal follows him. 'Well, let's take a look under the hood. See if the pictures were telling the truth.'

'What pictures?'

'Those I called horrible, remember?'

She shivers as they both open the door. The sight, is indeed as horrific as described.

'My god!' reacts Krystal as she puts her hand over her mouth. Shivers run down Phantom's body as well now as he sees the ravage. Two officers exiting the freezer quickly make their way outside, holding back any vomit forcing its way out. They leave the door barely open as cold steam (because of the cooling systems) leave through the crack. The cashier is still hanging against the wall, the other is disfigured in such a way he looks like a chair and the last one is still busy with his snack and drink for the vending machine. Phantom grabs a old school grey recorder out of his holster. No blaster, just a recorder. It even uses a cassette tape as storage.

'A little ancient?' comments Krystal, trying to enlighten the moment a little.

'Don't like my methods?'

'I never said that...'

'Good...'

*PI Phantom Audio Log, date 14 ALW, 26th of May, 15:35. The pictures shown in the documents were true. This is showcases a guy with an intense amount of rage, or just some nutshell that couldn't control himself. Either way, this case is getting more interesting by the minute. *kneels down besides the 'chair' guy* A certain Krystal is my client and she is searching for Fox McCloud, former leader of the now dead Starfox team. Fox's signature was seen here so he is suspect number 1, although everyone including me has their doubts about it. *looks to his right, towards the cashier* Hmmm... very interesting. End of log.*

He presses the record button again, closing the log and putting it back before walking towards the counter. He opens the door in the middle as Krystal follows him, disturbed by the surrounding. He pulls out the arrow of the poor man's head as falls on the ground as he spits out the wooden spike.

'Shouldn't you wear gloves for that?' verifies Krystal.

'Like I said: don't like my methods, then... *waving his hand off*'

The end of the arrow shows something interesting. Phantom sees a few small, blue feathers of the back-end.

'Falco fucking Lombardi.' he claims.

'Falco!? How do you know?'

'Hmm, only this guy as this kind of ribbed pattern on his feather. Like a leaf, a feather from Falco has its own fingerprint. Remember, Falco used to be an outlaw. Famous, for evading the police constantly. I wouldn't say I dedicated my life to catch that bastard, but if I had the change, I would nail him anytime. Unfortunately for him, someone else did that for me...'

'Who then?'

'Well, the same guy who did that *points at the others* I would suggest. He had the element of surprise so it wasn't that hard. *focuses on the open freezer* Let's check why those officers were almost puking over here.'

The two walk towards the slightly opened freezer as Phantom opens it wide.

'Those idiots turned off the light(!)... I wonder why...' he comments as he flips the switch. The same light in the middle goes on and a large pool of blood is visible with the owner, chained by the meat-hooks with his arms spread out wide while on his knees. He is not only skinless and fur-less, but also still alive. Blood drips from every hole, every spot that is skinless, enlarging the pool. The pool is dirty, full of dead skin and fur with a familiar color. Also a blaster is present in it. Even though he too was victim of the bullet storm unleashed yesterday morning, he managed to push through since only three bullets hit him around the waist area without damaging any vital organs.

'WOW!' scares Krystal.

'Holy(!)... son of a shit dude. Is this some kind of joke?'

'Does THIS look like a fucking joke to YOU! Ack!' screams the owner.

*He's still alive!?* 'Okay... take it easy then. *turns to Krystal, have her back turned on the owner* Are you okay?'

She waves if off, jokingly remarking while crying at the same time: 'Don't like my methods?'

Phantom laughs a little and focuses on the owner again. He is not afraid for a little blood under his boots, he's been through worse than the personal blood storage of some guy. He meets the owner at eye-height, one knee down in the blood.

'You don't mind?'

'Nope... *sigh*, seen worse. Now, explain to me how the hell you are still alive.' he demands as he grabs his recorder again.

The owner, in too much pain to say anything else, notches to something behind his back. Phantom rises and sees nothing since the lamp above him doesn't enlighten anything further than the owner's back, hauled in darkness as well. Reaching for his left pocket, he grabs a small finger-light and ties it around his index finger, with light under the finger itself. Despite its small size, the power isn't to be underestimated as it highlights the far end of the freezer.

'Pretty incredible thing Phantom.' complements Krystal, turned around. She holds in her tears bravely as she sees the man gasping for air. She pushes the button and sees it has been shot, just like the wall next to it, being filled with a lot of laser impacts.

'Thanks. A present from the CASF for my services.' replies Phantom a little late.

'CASF?'

'Cornerian Army Special Forces. But let's remain focused on our objective.' he says as he shines the light behind the owners back. Several transparent tubes with blood flowing through are seen being stuck in the owner's back. Following the tubes, leads to three IV bags hanging on the same pole as before. The other tubes are attached to Candace, the dead wolverine and swiss-cheesed cougar, laying in a lot smaller pool.

'Hum... it seems that you are being fed by your employees, aren't you?' he comments dry.

'Funny... argh!' bites the owner. 'One way in... *pain* one way out...'

Phantom turns to the door opening and shouts: 'Get the ambulance personnel over here! NOW!' He turns to the owner again. 'But before you go, who did this you? What sick fuck, hum?' interrogates Phantom.

'*cough* He called himself... Délarbé... reddish-brown fur, black bow on his back... and a *cough* *cough*... *deep sigh* disgusting appetite for flesh. Just look at her...' he notches to the throat-less Candace as his arms are too weak.

Phantom kneels down in front of him again and shows him a photo. 'Did he look like this?' he asks as he shows a mugshot from Fox McCloud. It's pretty old, but still has a lot of likeness to how Fox look(s/ed) like.

'Yes... somewhat, at least.'

'How "at least"?'

'He has a pentagram on his forehead...*breath* tears of blood, dried up halfway down his cheeks coming from, AUW! Both sides of his eyes. Argh... m..my family..?'

'They are save. That Déla-guy your were talking about, didn't touch them. Now, please focus. What else, uhm...?'

'Bernard, sir. He had a..a symbol appeared right under his right ear. It... looked like some sort of seal. His *pain* eye color was like magma. A real creeper... *cough* I.. I could swear that everything cooled down. *focuses on the blaster* Puh... if I wanted to commit suicide... even over that he's as hard and cold as stone.'

'That one?' points Phantom. The owner nods. Phantom walks towards it and picks it up.

'Customized blaster design. Capable of charging up to three times its own power. Fire rate is terrible, so is its damage output. Defiantly Starfox, always basic looking shit. *grabs his blaster* No, than you can better choose this one!' he states as he grabs a triple-barrel, triple-cylinder revolver in triangle formation. Completely chromed, as it shines in the light coming from the lamp.

'My own design. .50 cal AE hollow point. This packs a punch... whew. Like a shotgun blast to the face at point blank. Something like that...'

'I could swear that I saw that one before...' claims Krystal.

'Really? Oh yeah, 8 years ago, right? Spectre had some trouble with the cops and used my gun. Such a dickhead, but, he is and remains your little brother. I'm just happy that he isn't permanently damaged.' he states.

'LAAAAAARGH!' screams the owner all of the sudden.

'Jesus Christ! *grabs his heart* Don't ever be buzzkill like that, please!'

'M..my head. It..it's burning!' claims the owner.

Phantom takes a closer look. 'What... the... fuck?'

'Another thing that creeper did to me. He came back, the same night. Saw that I was still alive. He skinned me, the other guy *notches to the wolverine* and hung me on those damned meat-hooks. He made an inverted cross in my flesh! "A backup" he said'

Phantom looks at it. 'Its kinda... hard... to... see. Oh, I got it now.' notices Phantom. His attention is hauled to the ground as a piece of fur floats by him. He picks it up and takes a good look at it.

'This your fur, Bernard?'

'No... it isn't. It's his!' he claims.

'He skinned himself!?' shouts Krystal.

'Yep, right in front of my eyes. Very, very far out if *pain*, you ask me. LAAARGH! There it is again!'

The cross in his flesh starts to deform in front of Phantom analyzing eyes. Focused on it like he could be to a video game, he doesn't miss a single moment of this rare occasion. The deforming stops into something resembling a shield.

'No way in hell! *Oh, the irony Phantom. Nice joke there...*' he says as he reaches for his phone. He looks at it and realizes that it doesn't have a camera.

'Krystal, give me your smartphone. I need a camera.'

'Uh... sure.' she replies as she gets it out. The background on the fingerprint lock is a photo of Panther, holding his signature rose. She unlocks it and gives it to Phantom.

'Two things positive about smartphones: 1. I know how they work. *make the photo* 2. They work.'

'Nice one.' jokes Krystal.

'Don't mention it. Hey wait up, I know what this is.'

'Really?'

'Yeah, *gives the phone back* I've seen it before.' he claims as he grabs his PDA. 'It might not have a camera, but at least it has fast Internet. *Searching* Found it! Damn, I knew it!'

'What?'

*shows Krystal the picture* This is the Sigil of Lucifer!'

'Lucifer? You mean the devil!?'

'Devil, Satan, Beelzebub whatever you wanna call him, it's his seal.'

As Phantom starts to panic a little for no apparent reason, he gets a call.

*Phone*

Phantom here.

Wow, wow. Easy there. You arrested what?

A black guy? Are we getting racist on me?

No, we aren't indeed. How did you caught him?

Well, of course you can easily arrest it after you blow his head off with a shotgun.

Yeah, yeah. He attacked you with his claws. Wait, claws?

And you are sure this is one of those things that terrorized the city last night?

Alright, we are on our way.

*Phone*

'Hey, Bernard. Are you sure you have no clue where that guy is?'

'He.. he gave me a hint.' says the owner. He nods to the IV bags, the pole and the tubes attached to him. Phantom lays a sudden connection as his eyes spring open in fear.

'Phantom?' asks Krystal.

'We gotta get out of here...' he states.

'But...'

'NOW!' he shouts as he walks towards the door. With a slight nods to the left of Bernard's head, the door slams shut. Only annoying Phantom as he has no trouble kicking it open again. He turns around to see Bernard smirk, manically. 'Fuck you Plunder!' he insults before grabbing Krystal's arm, pulling her with him. He signals the ambulance personnel to enter as he exits the building. Krystal manages to free her arm.

'Start explaining Phantom!' she demands.

'Later! Get in the car.' he commands.

'No, until...'

'Stop using that dumb, stubborn head of yours and listen to someone for once. Get the fuck in! We don't wanna be here anymore...' he concludes as he opens the passenger door for her. She gets in as Phantom jumps over the car, gets in as well and drives away.

Inside of the butchery, things are getting grimier. Bernard refuses to be taken away, saying: 'I'm not complete yet!' the whole time. Suddenly, a small area around the building and most certainly inside, a loud demonic preach sounds:

REDNULP FO SNOS EHT OT EMOCLEW! echoes through the streets. Bystanders run away in fear as the screams of the ambulance personnel are heard. All present police officers including the head inspector enter the building with drawn weapons. Multiple gunshots are heard until finally the last one fires muffled. Silence overtakes the street, until the head inspector is thrown out the weapon. A huge claw print is seen on his face. Meanwhile, Phantom and Krystal are far away already. Phantom turns off the police scanner, to avoid detection or distraction. After a deep breath taken, Krystal commands:

'Phantom, tell me.'

'Fine... bah... I really have no idea how to tell this...'

'Give it a try.'

'*sigh* There is this legend. A hellish one. It is about a creature that was expelled from the hell. He was The Gatekeeper, an enormous snake protecting the gates of Hell. One day, he stood up against the Devil, claiming that he is the ultimate evil. He thinks that all souls should burn, not only those of the bad. He insults the Devil and fight ensues. The Devil wins with ease and sends him to a place, between heaven and hell, now called the Nether.'

'What's its real name?' wonders Krystal.

'That is not known. Simply because he changes forms everytime. Always a serpentine-like being, but on rare occasions, he looks like a red scaled dragon tail with a spiked ball at the end. The head changes into the animal it hooks onto.'

'Why does he need a host?'

'He is engulfed by revenge. He wants a rematch against the Devil. Problem has it, that he can't travel back to Hell. Only towards here and the Nether. He finds his host by amount the confidence he possesses. Weaklings, he gets onto that. He uses them to acquire the five symbols. The sixth is forbidden.'

'Why that? 6 is always hellish, at least in 666.' knows Krystal.

'True, but since he is kicked out, his number is 555. He can't get any higher. The first symbol is the Sigil of Lucifer, the second... I don't remember that one anymore but the sixth is the Goat Horn of the Devil himself.'

'In other words. He uses a host to defeat the Devil and take over the Hell!?'

'Exactly. So he can accomplish his cause: let every soul burn. I have no idea if this is true, but everything seems to point at that direction. Cause uh... well... you know... the fur I found on the floor, is Fox's.

'What!?' cries Krystal.

'I.. I'm sorry. Fox is The Gatekeeper's victim. He is already got the second. The Sons of Plunder have resurrected and are under his command. Bernard, has turned into one of them.'

'But.. we have to get back. To help those poor souls.'

'They are already lost!' shouts Phantom, breaking Krystal's hope. 'They were already done for the second I noticed the Sigil appearing on Bernard's forehead.

'I can't come along with that!' states Krystal.

'Haven't I told you that if you don't like my methods, you can get out at any time. Since you are not, I suggest you shut that head of yours and listen to your heart for once.'

'Geh... you heard of that legend as well?'

'Yeah, and believe me... at the moment... I'm very superstitious at the moment. Let's meet one of those Plunders and then we'll have a nice talk about your ex. Since that Gatekeeper got to Fox, he turned him into Délarbé and put him in the Nether. He's not alive nor dead. Do you any idea how Fox could be so... down?'

With a deep sigh and a tear, Krystal admits: 'I shouted out for Panther's safety the moment Fox wanted to finish him. It seems that I crumbled his heart. Without saying a thing to him, I left him crying in the sands of Titania. I noticed red beams, that's all.'

'It seems that you had no idea how much he meant to you. *receives a text* Wow, you really have no idea! What you have faced, are just the remnants of the total holocaust, trust me. You have faced the remnants...'

The car drives off towards the alley in the suburbs where the Plunder was shot down. The screen of the mobile phone shows this message:

*Message*

Two news cases:

1= Holy Maria Hospital Papetoon burned down. Witnesses claim Fox's signature seen there.

2= Central Papetoon City Archives has been plundered. Dead employees and missing guards. One deleted file named: Marcus McCloud=51-6. Dead embryo found with inverted cross. Positive for Marcus

*Message*

Both Phantom and Krystal now know what they are looking for. What Krystal did, was unforgivable, but no one could have predicted this outcome. With Fox in the Nether, Krystal can contact him. Will she? How will Fox react and will he forgive her?