Author's Note:

Big thanks to Erold for beta reading this next batch of chapters! It was a lot of work considering how many of them there were. Hopefully I'll have the next set published in two weeks or so.

Inside one of the many shower stalls, Bill lifted the nozzle and began hosing down the rogue Cerinian. She sat at the bottom of the stall just like he'd found her: with her knees pulled close to her chest and head bowed in shame. Her despondent countenance still hadn't changed, and Bill couldn't help but feel pity for her. She hadn't spoken a word in the past hour, and made no move to escape or resist; she just shuffled with her head hung low wherever he led her.

It was dark in the showers; the labs were still on lockdown, meaning the main lights were off, and the vixen had destroyed all the red warning lights in the area, too. To make up for it, Bill propped up his flashlight to aim at the stall, the beam of which illuminated the Cerinian's bare back in pale, fluorescent light.

Now that they were in close-proximity, boxed-in by the cramped stall walls, her tangy iron scent nearly overpowered his canine nose. By now the blood was thickly caked and dried into her fur. In order to cleanse it, Bill rolled his sleeves up and dual-wielded the showerhead and a medical rag he found, scrubbing her clean. He was amazed by how much crimson liquid washed free, staining the bottom of the stall as he worked. The sight would've been stomach-churning for anyone else, but he'd numbed himself to the color red years ago.

The vixen hardly reacted to his touch. She just stared at all the blood as it left streaks toward the drain, only shifting whenever Bill rubbed too hard and disturbed her balance.

She was lucky to be alive, Bill thought. They had every right to kill her: every reason to. She had slaughtered so many researchers and soldiers during the short time she was free, and they didn't have any way of knowing that she wouldn't snap back to her old murderous self and continue her rampage. But for his part, Bill felt confident enough to take that risk.

He wanted her to live.

After all, Bill was the first one to find the Cerinian and her sisters in the lab. He knew of the great but mysterious power they possessed. Not that he knew what it was exactly; just that it was something beyond Corneria's wildest dreams.

If the enemy's weapons could be captured and used for good—purified, washed of their misuses—then they had every responsibility to do so. She was a powerful tool, neither good, nor evil in her own right. Her actions were not the fault of her own, but of her former possessor. Bill was confident he could cleanse her of the enemy's influence. He had to make sure she found use in good hands: not evil ones.

The captain put aside the showerhead and lathered a bar of soap between his paws. He set to work running his fingers through the Cerinian's long, violet hair, which turned bluer in hue the longer he washed it. His paws, on the other hand, came away stained with red.

Inevitably there would be missteps and mistakes made along the way. A few innocent lives would die due to the lingering effects of the enemy's poison, but one had to be prepared to soil their own hands to fight for freedom and prosperity. He thought he'd heard someone put it that way recently…

Bill raised the showerhead above the Cerinian, letting the lukewarm water cascade down her hair and chase the suds away. By now her flowing azure locks and all of her back were blood-free, revealing a white 19 tattoo on her shoulder. The canid gently guided the woman around to face him so he could get at her front. Her eyes kept flicking up to meet Bill's own, but her shame always focused them downwards again.

She knows what she's done, Bill thought to himself. She's… sorry.

He reached out and lay a finger beneath her chin. Gently he angled her head up to face him and forced a weak smile.

She has to know everything's alright; that she can be forgiven.

The gesture worked. The fear and shame swallowing the vixen's face gradually vanished, replaced by admiration and gratefulness for Bill's care. When he lifted the washcloth again, she uncurled from her tight ball. She sat cross-legged with her arms at her sides, exposing her filth in anticipation of Bill's cleansing. Gingerly this time, he took the washcloth and rubbed away at her blood-matted underbelly.

By the time he made it to her arm, he had to address the bandana wrapped around it. He cautiously went to untie it, but the Cerinian shrunk away and guarded it with her other hand.

"Is it really that special to you?" he asked.

When Bill first saw it he had jumped to conclusions. He assumed the Cerinian must have killed his best friend and made off with his bandana as a sick trophy, but then thought better of it. Someone else had to have tied the knot around her arm: someone who cared. But it didn't change the fact that Fox was missing or that he wasn't answering radio calls now. Did she… trick him?

A flashlight beam fell on the pair, and canine and vixen alike turned their heads towards the door. Lieutenant Lynx stood on the threshold, shining her light on them. She looked uncomfortable finding them in this state, shifting awkwardly on her feet.

"Er, Captain, we've sighted them. Cerinian 28 is traveling with an unidentified man through the wastelands."

Bill nodded to her. "Thanks for notifying me. Is there any word from Fox yet?"

"No sir, he's still MIA. But headquarters has requested your assistance in reclaiming the escaped specimen—since you proved successful with… this one."

Bill sighed. He switched the water off and rose to his feet. "Alright. Watch over the Cerinian while I'm gone—"

But before he could leave, a soaking-wet paw darted out and grabbed the hem of his uniform coat, holding him back.

Bill stared down at the Cerinian woman sitting in the shower. Her long hair shielded her eyes, masking her expression as she gripped him.

"Don't worry. I can't let anything happen to you. Too much is riding on your shoulders." He firmly removed her paw, but held it in his own for a moment. "I'll be back."

Turning to Miyu, he unceremoniously dumped the towel in her arms. "Here, dry her off."

The lynx fumbled with the cloth. "B-b-but sir!"

Bill smirked and saluted the lieutenant, forcing her to shut up and salute back. Once he left the lockers, Miyu turned and looked down at the Cerinian, whose inquisitive eyes had shifted to her.

"P-please don't eat me!"

Mission No. 13

Venom
Capital City Outskirts

"Beneath Ambrosia"

ㅤ⨶ㅤ

In the nick of time Fox ducked behind an outcropping of rock. He breathed heavily while the dull red beam swept over his hiding place, making the rest of Venom's terrain surrounding him appear to be covered in blood.

At once Fox guessed the vixen's game; she was using the spider mech to force him to back down. If he wanted to remain hidden, he'd have to give up the chase and remain behind cover till the spider mech crawled away. Meanwhile, Krystal was free to make her escape…

Oh no you don't!

As soon as the beam passed by without detecting him, Fox darted out of his hiding place. Rather than give up the chase, he forced himself to run faster to catch up—and quickly he did.

When Fox was only a few feet away from the vixen he dove forward, locking his arms around her waist and tackling her to the ground. They hit the rough terrain like a sack of bricks, knocking the breath from Krystal in a sharp yelp. Just when the glimmering red eye turned towards them again, Fox rolled with her beneath a short overhang, barely avoiding its gaze.

Krystal struggled at first, but Fox firmly held onto her, pinning her arms to her side. She grunted and fought to break free, but her weakened limbs were no match for his own.

Realizing her efforts were futile, the vixen gave up and lay in his arms, panting.

'I thought you wanted them to catch me? Why not hand me over now and be done with it?'

"Shh!" Fox clamped a hand over her mouth.

Krystal's eyelids closed halfway, unamused. 'And this accomplishes… what, exactly?'

Realizing his blunder, Fox released her muzzle—but he held her all the tighter, making sure she didn't break free.

"They have orders to kill you on sight! I can't turn you over until I've had the chance to talk to them."

She sighed. 'You know, this could look really bad for you. If they saw us like this, they'd think you were kidnapping me. Your friends would be very confused.'

A metal stabilizer foot landed right in front of them, causing both foxes to jump. The spider mech passed directly overhead, but the overhang continued to hide them from its infrared scanner.

'I could even speak to the Venomian—sorry, Cornerian—inside that creature. It doesn't matter if he's in a metal shell; my thoughts would still reach him. I could tell him where we are… unless you let me go. Right now.'

But Fox held on. "I don't have to be a mind-reader to know you're bluffing. You'd never turn yourself over to them."

They locked eyes over the vixen's shoulder, silently challenging the other to make a move. But their standoff was short-lived; the surveillance mech soon passed out of range again, its sound fading to little more than a distant rumble.

Fox released a breath. "Phew, it's gone—"

At once Krystal resumed her violent struggle, twisting in his grasp. She flailed her legs wildly till she inadvertently kicked him in the groin. Fox grunted, and when his grip weakened around her, she delivered the final blow; snarling, she clamped her teeth around his wrist, biting him.

"Yow!"

Fox instinctively tore his wrist from her mouth, clutching his stinging hand—but in the process he inadvertently released his grip on her. Krystal seized the opportunity to roll out from beneath the overhang, sprawling on all fours for a second. By the time Fox had sat up she was already sprinting away again, stumbling over the rocks.

When it looked like she was about to disappear into a labyrinthine maze of boulders, Fox was left with no other choice. He scampered up the side of a boulder and perched on the top, drawing and aiming his blaster.

"HALT!" he shouted.

The vixen turned, surprised to see his gun trained on her.

'Really?!'

In his head, her voice sounded just as loud as if she were standing right next to him. 'You'd threaten me to keep me with you? You are just like the Venomians.'

Fox set his jaw firmly. "I'm not going to let you kill yourself!"

She laughed, but it turned into a fit of coughs. 'So… you're going to kill me to keep me alive? You Cornerians have a funny way of thinking.'

"It's set to stun! Now would you like to walk to Ambrosia conscious, or will I have to lug you there myself?"

The vixen grinned at him smugly, hands on her hips. 'Ha! I'd like to see you try! You'll never take me—'

Krystal stared down Fox's back, watching the barren ground pass underneath his boots and swinging tail. Her arms dangled limply behind him, while her legs hung useless in front of his chest.

She groaned, alerting Fox she was awake again.

"Sorry I had to do that."

'Nnff… I can't feel my face…'

"That's natural."

'I can't even move my lips… What did… what did you do to me?'

"I told you, it was a stun blast."

Fox felt her struggling and grunting atop his shoulder, and he rolled his eyes. Try as she might, Krystal couldn't move her arms or legs to hit him.

"That won't do you any good. You'll be paralyzed for at least another hour or so. But the effects are only temporary."

When she saw it was futile she stopped her struggling. Her voice went silent in his head, and he only heard her slow breathing behind his shoulder.

"You understand why I had to do that, don't you?"

No response.

"If I chased you any longer the filter would've run out, and then we both would've suffocated out here."

She continued to ignore him, her limp arms gently slapping his back.

He went on, beginning to feel like he was talking to himself. "The mask barely filters anything out anymore, but at least we're almost there."

'Almost where?'

Fox paused, swinging around so Krystal could see where they were going.

Ahead of them towered a large glass dome, reinforced with a hexagonal network of steel beams till it looked like a bug's eye. The faceted roof was so tall it could comfortably house skyscrapers of a moderate size. All-in-all it resembled the same domed-cities built beneath Aquas' oceans, though rather than withstanding copious pounds of water pressure, it instead kept out Venom's poisonous atmosphere. The skyscrapers and high-rises inside glittered with warm lights, while the dome piece sparkled like a jewel: a diamond in the otherwise lifeless Venomian wasteland.

"Ambrosia," Fox explained. "Formerly Venomia, the capital city of Venom. It's been reconstructed and renamed since we defeated the empire. Now it's the capital of the Venomian mandate, shared by Corneria and her allies till they can figure out what the hell to do with it."

'Corneria?'

"And allies, yes."

'Oh…'

After the exchange she fell back to giving him the silent treatment. For the rest of their journey through Venom's wasteland, he never heard her voice in his head again. Even when she needed the mask, she wouldn't speak; he could only tell by her sudden coughs.

Entering the city proved challenging. The main entrances were all elevated gates to hangars meant for space travel. Very few passages led in from the surface, as rarely was someone foolhardy enough to hike through Venom's wasteland on foot—like Fox was now. A few dirt roads crisscrossed and circled the outlying lands, but only military vehicles such as hover tanks and all-terrain rovers patrolled them. They entered and exited through a few surface-level gates, but each one was heavily guarded, and only opened to admit or release such patrols. Fox only briefly considered faking his way through such a checkpoint; if the air controller from earlier wasn't willing to make an exception for Fox McCloud, he didn't think he had much chance with these men, either.

With Krystal still slung over his shoulder, Fox began circling the city's dome. He carefully scanned the base for an entrance, but only ever encountered guarded gates, sewage outlets, and ventilation shafts. The latter two held the most potential, but so far they looked impenetrable.

Their luck changed when Fox spotted a section of the concrete base damaged during the battle. While much of the city had been repaired in the year since, other sections were still lacking, and patch jobs had to suffice (if any effort was made at all). Here part of the sewer grate was damaged, leaving a hole big enough for a person to squeeze through—if they didn't mind the putrid water and rank air leaking out.

Descending the rocks to the wall, Fox came to the sludge-like creek seeping from the sewage drain. He leapt over the mire, grunting when the vixen's weight came to bear upon him after landing.

'Yuck, what's that awful smell?'

"The sewer system."

For a moment Fox felt her groping around in his mind, identifying the relevant sensations he associated with such a phrase.

'Ugh…'

"Hey, it might reek, but it's cleaner than Venom's air."

Still, feeling sorry for her, he reached back and replaced the filtration mask over muzzle.

'Nnff. This smells like you. I think I'll take the sewer.'

"Good, because we're there."

Fox huffed, scaling the rubble that had fallen at the base of the pipe. Laying Krystal down, he pushed her through the torn opening in the grate, sliding her across the concrete.

'Ow! You're scraping me!'

"Sorry, sorry! But if you didn't run and force me to stun you, you could've climbed in yourself."

Scooting Krystal out of the way, Fox sucked in his gut and wiggled in after her. Once on the other side he stood up, finding the sewer tunnel just tall enough to avoid scraping his ears against the top. He picked Krystal up and carried her princess-style now, heading into the darkness.

Inside the stench was much more concentrated—almost unbearable to Fox. But at least the oxygen content was much higher, and the presence of noxious gas non-existent.

Fox grunted, shifting Krystal in his arms.

"Hey, were you originally from Ambrosia? Maybe back when it was called Venomia? Just wondering because you do speak Venomian."

'No. I'm not from this planet at all—none of my sisters are.'

"Makes sense. I guess I can't really imagine someone like you being from around here. Well then, where are you from?"

Her thoughts went quiet for a moment, and Fox began to wonder if she was ignoring him again.

'It doesn't matter,' she finally said. 'It's not like I can get back there anyway. You'll just turn me over, and they'll keep me here for the rest of my life.'

Fox fell silent, regretting the decision he had to carry out. Now it felt like the vixen weighed heavier in his arms.

Eventually the maze of tunnels led to a central sewer nexus. In reality it was little more than a cave with branching paths the Venomians incorporated to minimize excavation work. Bombing had collapsed the ceiling, leaving a wide gap that exposed the towering, dilapidated buildings and yellowed sky above them. Asphalt, concrete, and Venom's desolate shale hung into the compound, while several feet of solid rubble carpeted the floor. Exposed, decapitated pipes poured water into the ruins, feeding into the central river at its base.

Here Fox breathed deeply, relieved to smell the (relatively) clean air of the city after several minutes of repugnant sewage vapors.

Finding an out-of-the-way hiding space, Fox finally laid Krystal down. Since she still couldn't move on her own, he arranged her as comfortably as he could, once again placing his jacket as a pillow beneath her head. All the while she watched him apprehensively, scrutinizing his moves but unable to do anything.

Sighing, he plopped down next to her for some much-needed rest.

"Well, we approached from the north, which means we should be beneath Eladard's occupation zone. Not ideal, but at least we're inside the city. Given Eladard's rivalry with Corneria, however, they'd be hostile to us. They resented Corneria for keeping the labs to themselves. I'd wager they're desperate for anything that makes its way out of there, which means they'd snatch you up for their own purposes in a heartbeat. No, if I tried to contact Eladard's authorities about you, they'd seize you right away."

'And you think your people would be any better?'

"I know they are. I have good relationships with the head of Space Dynamics and the head of the reclamation program. They'll listen to me." He leaned forward, steepling his hands beneath his chin. "But first, I need to get you to the Cornerian occupation zone—without the Eladard police force spotting you. To do that I'll need to make a trip to the surface and buy you some clothes—"

The vixen's stomach suddenly growled, interrupting him.

"…And some food," he finished. "I haven't eaten anything since this morning, and you've only had a granola bar since waking from cryosleep after god knows how long. But please, don't go anywhere while I'm gone."

Krystal glanced down at her useless limbs. "Haha."

"Don't make any noise, either. I won't be gone long—just enough to find you some clothes and food—but there still are plenty of unsavory characters around here. And just in case you regain motor function before I'm back…"

He took a pair of handcuffs from his belt, usually reserved for bounties. Instead of binding her wrists, he clasped them around her ankles, ensuring she couldn't walk even if the effects of the stun charge wore off.

'When you come back,' she asked worriedly, 'will it be with the Cornerians?'

Fox stood up, sighing as he looked down at her.

"No, not yet."

Krystal's eyes sparkled at him, and he grimaced, feeling her mind dig around in his to discern his earnestness. It was an uncomfortable, intrusive sensation, like having someone scour through his thoughts with a microscope. Unlike the way she gently read his surface thoughts to understand his conversation, she now dug in with rough, grasping fingers. She seemed so suspicious of his intents even Fox began to doubt them himself.

When her search was complete Krystal looked away, mentally withdrawing.

'Alright. I believe you…'

When Fox returned forty-five minutes later, he kept his promise, arriving alone. He crept back behind the rubble, now holding two styrofoam boxes of food and a bag of clothes. He'd bought and changed into a set of civilian garments himself, hiding his easily recognizable Star Fox uniform in his bag as soon as possible.

Fox half-expected the mysterious Cerinian to have vanished when he got back, and every trace of her to have been some bizarre hallucination.

He was right.

When he rounded the corner behind which he'd left the vixen, she was nowhere in sight. All that was left of her was the mask and pair of handcuffs, unclasped and in a pile in the rubble. She had disappeared, just like… just like…

Panicking, Fox dropped the food and clothes on the ground. He scrambled up the rock hedge, perching atop it to scan all around the collapsed chamber.

"Krystal?!"

Nothing.

Backtracking his steps he examined the ground where she had lain, trying to trace her path. But he wasn't enough of an expert tracker to spot the stones she'd dislodged, nor did he have the patience in the moment to look closely; he couldn't shake the feeling she was getting away while he wasted time searching with his nose to the ground.

Unable to focus, he climbed back up the rocks and hopped from mound to mound of rubble, surveying from each new vantage point.

"Krystal!"

He swiveled his head back and forth, sizing up each of the exits from the chamber. She couldn't have climbed up, which meant she was still down here. But there were two many sewer tunnels she could have taken, and if he picked wrong…

Suddenly the sound of gravel crunching reached his attentive ears. He jumped down, navigating the rubble till he came upon a secluded valley. There at its base lay Krystal, feebly but determinedly crawling away.

"There you are!" Fox sighed in relief. He slid down into the valley, approaching her.

He stood over the vixen, but when he looked down he realized just how much she'd gone through to get even this far. Her legs, while free of the cuffs, were still paralyzed and dragged uselessly behind her. Her only form of propulsion were he arms and elbows, which she had used to writhe and drag herself over the crumbled concrete. The rocks scraped her limbs and stomach and tore through the lab coat.

When she heard his voice and footsteps, Krystal relented. She let herself sprawl over the rocks, giving up her escape. Oddly, her back and shoulders began shaking—her face hidden from him.

"Krystal?"

Kneeling down, he lifted her onto his lap and turned her over. He was stunned to see tears streaming from her eyes.

She shook her head. 'Please… please don't take me back. Don't let them take me there again!'

For a moment Fox just stared down at her in shock, holding her shaking torso in his arms.

'I want to stay here. I want to stay anywhere else but there!'

Fox didn't know what to do. He wanted to comfort her and stop her from crying, but he felt frozen. He'd never had anyone to comfort him before—at least, not in ways that meant anything to him. When his mother died, his father hugged him. Then when James died, Peppy hugged him—but he didn't know what good it did. It wasn't like a hug could bring back the dead or wipe away his sorrow. Besides, it had only ever been people trying to comfort him: he didn't know how to comfort someone else.

Well, it had never meant much to him, but maybe it would help her.

Gingerly he hugged her to his chest, holding her tighter and tighter with the more confidence he felt.

"Krystal—"

'You don't know what it's like in there. I hate the endless sleep. I hate the darkness. All I have is nightmares in there!'

Closing his mouth, Fox decided to try another approach. He leaned his head against hers as she had done with him earlier in the wastelands, knowing his words would never be as convincing as his thoughts.

'You'll be okay; I promise. You're not going back there again.'

For a time Fox held her, gently cradling the vixen as she cried into his shoulder. He could feel her warm tears staining his neck. Eventually, however, the sobs wracking her shoulders ceased, and she sniffed less.

From the way she soaked up his embrace, he wondered how long it had been since her last one…

Fox still felt awkward about the whole thing. He couldn't even tell if his care was genuine; he felt like a robot, like ROB. But if someone could read his mind and take solace in his thoughts, part of it had to be real.

He shifted. "Um, I brought you some food. Would you like to eat now?"

She sniffed into his shoulder. 'Yes.'

Fox picked Krystal up and carried her back to their meager hovel. When he set her down again she avoided his gaze, drying her tears on her long, dirty sleeve.

Fox picked up the fallen handcuffs, turning them over again in his paws. He showed them to her. "Hey, how did you do this?"

She glanced at the cuffs, then looked away. 'They were uncomfortable, so I took them off. Y-you forgot to lock them; that's all.'

Fox scratched his head. He was sure he'd locked them before leaving. Clumsy mistake, he thought. If she had been a bounty, she would've escaped—or ambushed him when he returned. Then again she didn't get very far regardless, but he was starting to worry his mercenary skills were beginning to dull after a year of disuse.

After pocketing the cuffs, Fox grabbed their food. "Are you strong enough to eat on your own?"

She nodded, sitting up with some lingering difficulty.

Fox opened one of the styrofoam containers and stuck a plastic fork in it. The food inside was still steaming hot, and a delicious aroma filled the air, making both their stomachs growl in anticipation. He set the box within Krystal's reach, along with a bottle of water he preemptively uncapped. "Here, help yourself."

Krystal reached down, going for the water first. As Fox dug into his own food, he watched her trying to drink from the corner of his eye. To her frustration, she still had much difficulty. Her joints were sluggish to move, and her fingers couldn't manage a tight enough grip around the bottle. When she raised it halfway to her lips it slipped suddenly from her hand, falling to the rubble.

"D-damkuso…" she cursed in Venomian.

She went to pick it up, but the water was spilling on the dried rocks fast. Fox's hand reached it before hers, and he sat it upright again.

"Need some help?"

'It's fine, I can do it—'

Against her protests, Fox lifted the bottle to her lips. She admitted defeat, tilting her head back to accept the water and raising her limp wrists to help steady it. She drank deeply, not having had a drink in… who knew how long. When she had her fill she pushed it away, gasping and wiping her chin with her sleeve. 'Um, thank you.'

She went to grab a piece of food from the container, ignoring the fork and extending her claws, but seemed more hesitant this time. Fox took the initiative and skewered a piece himself, raising it. "Here. It's my fault for leaving you this way, so let me make up for it."

Acquiescing, Krystal let her arms rest. The todd scooted closer, keeping both boxes of food between them. Apprehensively she let Fox plop the first piece into her mouth. He waited to see her reaction, and wasn't disappointed; as soon as it hit her tongue, her eyes lit up.

'This is… good!'

She savored the taste for a moment, sucking on it.

"Uh, you gonna swallow that?"

She furrowed her brow, slowly working her jaw—but she seemed lost. With a grimace, she closed her eyes and forced herself to swallow, then immediately erupted in a fit of coughs.

"Whoa, are you alright?"

'I'm fine, it's just… I'm not used to eating food like this.'

"Were you able to chew it enough? The stun blast might still have paralyzed your jaw."

'My jaw is fine, but the food feels uncomfortable—like I'm choking. I don't normally, um, eat this way.'

Fox raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Everyone eats this way."

Krystal looked away. 'Just give me more please, and… be patient. I eat slow.'

Fox scooped up another piece, feeding it to her. But he thought he knew what was going on.

"Your body must not be used to eating after so long in stasis. It'll take some time to relearn, I guess. Here, we'll take it slow."

The todd alternated between popping pieces of food into Krystal's mouth and his own, and in this manner they ate their meal. Krystal's next few bites garnered a similar reaction, and she grimaced and coughed after each. Over time, however, she seemed to get used to it.

While Fox half-expected to get food-poisoning from the sketchy-looking street vendor, their meal was delicious. The first item he bought was a synthetic, stir-fried meat mixed with nuts and vegetables, then coated in a salty, spicy sauce. The second—and soon to be Krystal's favorite—were imported, whole prawns from Eladard: tails, legs, feelers, eyes, and all. Rather disgusted—especially after their trip through Andross's aquarium level—Fox took great pains to gnaw off the heads and spit them out before giving the remainder to Krystal. They were lightly battered in crispy, golden flakes, and smothered in a creamy, sweet honey sauce: a taste the vixen couldn't get enough of.

'Mmmm. I've never had anything like this before…'

More and more she requested the honey shrimp in lieu of the other meal, and Fox obliged. He smiled at how fast she chomped the pieces off his fork, swallowing them eagerly now. Even though it was cheap, low-quality street food from Venom, she still greatly enjoyed it. To her, he realized, it was like a delicacy at a five-star restaurant Fara might take him to, or nectar straight from the gods. The young vixen looked so cute as she took each bite off his fork; the way she trusted him enough to let him feed her like this…

Fox shifted uncomfortably, clearing his throat. "Look, Krystal… I've decided I'm not going to turn you over right away."

She stopped chewing for a second, looking at him with a mouthful of food. She sighed deeply, decompressing her shoulders.

'Thank you.'

"At least," he rushed to say, "I don't want to return you yet. Not until I'm a hundred percent certain their intentions are good for you, and they plan to release you as soon as possible. I'll hide you and keep you safe for now, but during that time, I want to learn more. I want to know what the Cerinians are capable of, why Andross was keeping them, and how Space Dynamics intends to free them. If their answers don't satisfy me…" He sighed. "Then I'll just have to find something else to do with you."

Krystal swallowed, blinking. 'So… you're not turning me in?'

"Not until I know for sure they're going to release you. I can get in a lot of trouble for what I'm doing, and I'm already on thin ice for some… past mistakes, so I just want to be sure I make the right decision and don't jump to conclusions. For now, I'll keep you hidden."

The vixen remained silent. He could see in her eyes she still didn't like him keeping the possibility of returning her, but for the moment he'd abated most of her fears.

Once they finished their meal, Fox gave the two of them some time to rest. But after Krystal regained enough motor control to walk, he deemed it time to make their move.

Grabbing the clothing bag, he unfolded the articles and held them out to her.

"Here, put these on. Sorry they're kinda plain; I don't usually buy clothes for girls, but they're certainly better than nothing. After all, you can't go running around like that up there."

'Because they'll know the coat came from the labs?'

He looked the near-naked vixen up-and-down, smirking. "That's… one of the reasons."

Krystal reached for the pants, but Fox held them back. "Wait, you'll need these first." He extended a pair of underwear, unable to forget the funny look the cashier gave him when he checked out with them.

The vixen looked at the article apprehensively, turning it over in her hands. 'Um, where does this go?'

Fox raised an eyebrow. "You mean you don't know?"

Her eyes narrowed. 'Of course I know! …But I thought Lylatians might wear it different. How do you wear it, Fox?'

He blushed. "Oh, I don't—"

'Can you show me?'

"N-no!"

'Why are you acting so funny? Just show me in your head.'

Ignoring his protests, Krystal quickly invaded his thoughts. Fox cringed, unable to keep himself from imagining risqué images of the vixen wearing the undergarment—and nothing more.

'Oh… yes, I thought it went down there.'

Dropping her lab coat she went to put them on, causing Fox's cheeks to burn even harder. He felt ashamed of watching her—even for an instant too long—and taking advantage of her naivete. So he quickly turned around, sitting on a rock to give her some privacy till she was done. After a time though, she seemed to notice.

'What?'

"What what?"

'What are you doing?'

"I'm uh… just watching for enemies. Yeah. You're vulnerable while you change."

'But no one else is here.'

"Yeah, well, you can never be too careful…"

The rustling of clothes continued behind him, with Fox wondering just how different Cerinian culture and clothing was to his own. Then another pause came.

'Um, Fox?'

"What?"

The bra hung down in front of his face, dangling before his muzzle. 'This goes…?'

Ears flattening, he gave in and projected an image of her correctly wearing the garment.

'Thanks!'

Once Krystal finished, Fox turned around again, curious to find her stuffing a folded paper into her pocket. She was now dressed in cheap shoes, jeans, a t-shirt, and a gray hooded jacket—a stark contrast to the filthy lab coat, and far from the initial state he'd found her in. It was hard to tell that she'd ever been a prisoner of Andross—besides her unique cobalt fur.

'Is this right?' she asked.

He grinned, nodding. "Yeah, that's… that's how we wear them around here." He cleared his throat. "Uh, you look good."

She held up the unfastened bra. 'Um, I still couldn't figure this one out. I tried to wear it like the woman in the photo, but—'

"It's fine, it's fine…" He rushed to take the undergarment back and toss it aside, along with the rest of the trash. Her disguise was perfect in every way, but they still had to do something about that telltale blue fur…

"Here." Fox stepped closer, taking the gray hood and pulling it up over her head. "Your coat will stick out like… well, like a blue fox up there. Keep this over your face, and your hands in your pockets. Don't let anyone see your fur, don't tell anyone where you came from, and don't talk to anyone with your thoughts—in fact it's best if you just let me do all the talking, period."

Krystal's ears folded down. 'I… understand.'

Together they began scaling the rubble to the surface, approaching the adventure that lay before them with slight trepidation. Fox's mind raced with the possible threats ahead, trying to come up with contingencies and plans for each one, while Krystal couldn't shake the feeling that something was still following her, even after they'd escaped the wastelands…