An Unlikely Enemy : Chapter 8

by ~MrKrystal

Chapter 8: The Discussion

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The door to Krystal's room slid open with a quiet gust of air. The room was dark, the air stale from days without use. Everything was just as she had left it. Reaching inside, Krystal found the light switch and entered her room, the door sliding quietly closed behind her.

"Ok," Krystal spoke to herself, "What's the best way to test my strength?" She kept no weights or exercise equipment in her room. Krystal loved her workouts and was never one to miss her daily routine. Normally she'd go through her exercise routine in the ship's exercise room, or even the hanger bay before the Great Fox was lost. But now, with this new body, she had too much pride to let anyone see her fumbling around awkwardly.

She stretched her arms, her core, and sitting on the carpeted floor, she stretched her legs. Everything seemed remarkably limber. She stood up and walked over to the small desk near her bed. Reaching under it, she lifted the heavy piece of furniture as if it were made of styrofoam. Impressed, she moved over to her bed. Reaching down under it, she tried to lift it. It took much more effort, but Krystal successfully raised the bottom of the bed up a meter in the air. She slowly set it back down. "This is going to make redecorating so much easier," she remarked to herself, recalling that she had previously been unable to budge the large bed by herself.

Looking around, Krystal found her staff sitting against one of the walls. She grabbed it quickly and began practicing some of her fighting forms. It took her a moment to readjust to the relative lightness of her prized staff, but once she had, her movements were fast and precise. Extremely so, as a matter of fact. All of her strikes came with immense speed and power, yet she was able to stop them instantly and reverse their direction at will. Seeing no real problems with her strength or balance, Krystal quickly became bored.

"Well, I guess I could use a nice long bath," Krystal said to herself. She took an unfinished book with her as she headed to the bathroom.



Three hours later...

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Fox sent Slippy to greet Peppy at the side airlock. Within a few moments, the toad and hare joined the rest of the Star Fox team on the bridge. Peppy was overjoyed to see Krystal and ran to hug her. Krystal hugged him back with equal excitement. "It wouldn't be right for you to die before me, Krystal, I'm an old hare after all. You've got your whole life ahead of you, glad you're ok." Peppy smiled. "Thanks Peppy," Krystal said, "I'm glad to be back."

Peppy turned to Fox, his smile replaced with a serious expression. This evaporated Fox's uneasy smile he was wearing moments earlier. "Well...?" Peppy asked, adopting a father's tone.

Fox sighed, "Everything I told you was true, up until I got to the hospital. The doctors told me she didn't really have a chance. They wanted me to pull the plug." Peppy nodded, listening.

"I was devastated! I took a walk to think about what the doctor said, mostly because I couldn't deal with the choice they gave me, and..." Fox looked at everyone in the room, "I saw James." Falco, Slippy, and Peppy all expressed surprise.

"What do you mean you saw James?" Peppy asked incredulously.

"I mean, I saw James, he was standing right next to me, like you all are right now," Fox exclaimed, defiantly.

Falco was about to say something when Slippy spoke up, "But Fox, James is... you know..."

"Yes, Slippy, I know. He appeared and told me something I couldn't have known. And by the way, this isn't the first time either. Remember when I flew down into the Venom maze and destroyed Andross?" Fox asked.

They all nodded.

"What I didn't tell you was that when Andross was beaten, he tried to take me with him. My Arwing was consumed by the explosion and I couldn't see anything. I was dead, no question about it. But then James appeared, flying just ahead of me. He led me out of the maze and disappeared right as I was leaving the entrance."

Everyone looked at Fox, only Krystal's face was not one of concern.

"Yes, I know, I know. It's crazy. But he talked to me and knew things I couldn't have known. And the same thing happened in the hospital."

"What did he tell you, Fox? That you couldn't have known, I mean," Slippy asked.

"He told me, among other things, that I had to make the right choice," Fox said.

Falco, Slippy, and Peppy looked confused.

"...Get it? Who showed up minutes later with a choice and the name that sounds like 'right'?" Fox explained.

Falco and Slippy got it, "Well ain't that clever?" Falco laughed, "Still sounds like a convenient coincidence to me."

Peppy was still confused. Fox explained further. "Peppy, someone who called himself Colonel Write Lee came to me and apologized for the explosion that caused Krystal to be sucked out into space. He said he was a member of Special Operations within the military. Anyway, he told us that he could heal Krystal with some special technology."

Peppy's concerned expression returned. "What kind of technology, Fox?" He asked in a stern voice.

Fox winced, "Andross biotech."

"Fox! Dang it all! Don't you know-" Fox cut Peppy off.

"Yes! I know! It's illegal, very illegal! Lee told us that it was part of their mandate to research banned technology, including Andross'." Peppy was about to say something but Fox held up his hand, "And! We more or less figured out that there is no such Special Operations branch of the military, right?"

"Well yes, Fox. Andross biotech is banned everywhere, even within the military. We don't even have any secret branches, though I've been thinking about starting a few projects..." Peppy trailed off, "Anyway, the Andross biotech ban was an executive order by the lead council of Corneria. But then... so why in the world did you trust him, if you knew he was lying?"

"Because," Fox said, "it was my only option to save Krystal, and James led me to believe that things would work out for her. That's what I cared about. Berate me all you want, but..." He looked at the blue vixen, "I just don't know if I could live without Krystal."

"Aww Fox! That's so sweet!" Krystal said, "And kinda campy. I never figured you for the romantic sort."

Falco went slightly bug-eyed midway through rolling his eyes. Everyone else was more than a little surprised by Krystal's latest comment, including Krystal herself.

"Goodness, where are my manners? I really do appreciate you holding onto hope for me, Fox," Krystal recovered.

"Er, you're welcome, Krystal," Fox stammered, "Now, after all that excitement, how about we all head to the nearest private restaurant so we can figure out how we're going to take down that secret base? I'm tired and we haven't had a decent meal in days!"

"I think that would be best," Peppy replied, "I know a fantastic place on Zonness. I ate there just last-"

Peppy was interrupted by the ship shuttering and alarms blaring of incoming fire.

"Three large craft have decloaked at 30 by 270 degrees. Raising attack shields and returning fire," Rob droned.

Everyone looked at each other for just a moment before their combat training kicked in. "Falco! Slippy! Get the Arwings ready for launch!" Fox yelled as they headed to their tasks. "Rob, can you identify who's attacking us?"

"Ship insignia indicate they are some survivors of Oikonney's remnant army," Rob spoke.

"Those guys again..." Fox was more than a little annoyed, "Krystal... are you ok?"

Krystal was standing rigidly in the middle of the bridge as if in a trance. At Fox's question, she blinked and looked around, "Oh sorry Fox. I don't know what happened... And I should have seen that coming too."

Fox was relieved, "It's fine, probably something with your body. Maybe you should go lie down."

"Are you kidding? I've been waiting for a chance to try flying in this new body. My reflexes are fantastic!" Krystal was suddenly, uncharacteristically excited.

"Never get between a woman and her vehicle, Fox." Peppy laughed, "I guess I'll leave this one to you youngins. Just try not to scratch up this ship I loaned you."

"Will do, Peppy," Fox smiled. "Come on Krystal, let's get to our Arwings!"



Meanwhile, 400 light years from Lylat central point, and rapidly closing...

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"Attention on the bridge everyone!" James called out. Everyone stopped what they were doing and turned toward their captain who was now facing them. "We are leaving our current deep space target to pursue a new one. We will see the emergence of a new, fully formed relic soon. That's why we are heading back toward Lylat."

"Already?!" A simply dressed husky asked, "How did that happen so quickly?"

"This relic had help," James replied. "I'm sure most of you have seen the news reports: Krystal, my son's girlfriend, was horribly injured. What wasn't reported, and what only a few of us know, is that this accident was manufactured for the sole purpose of experimenting on her. You see, the explosion was caused by antimatter."

Gasps and murmurs were heard around the room, "That means..."

"Yes, Sector 38, the only Andross laboratory to experiment with antimatter. We were able to track the particle stream back to its source: a cloaked base on Macbeth," James explained.

"At last, we've found them!" An otter exclaimed before someone at the back of the bridge asked, "And the relic?"

James continued, "Rob's callback device indicates that they rebuilt Krystal's whole body using some other Andross technology. While she was under, they integrated a relic into her. It's already been activated. If we don't hurry, it will reach full awareness before anyone realizes what's happening!"

"I still don't see why we left our current relic target," the husky again interjected, "it's just some girl, what's the worst that could happen?" Several others nodded in agreement.

"Some girl?" James asked incredulously. "Some girl who is both physically and psychically gifted. Some girl that had Star Fox's rigorous flight and combat training..." The room was rapidly turning somber, "Some girl that now has a near indestructible body thanks to Sector 38's nanotech! When the relic manifests, she'll take out whole cities by herself."

"That's why," James turned again to the stars whipping past the viewscreen, "we have to stop it now! Everyone back to your stations and prepare for a fight. The last thing we need is a psychic, indestructible Andross on our hands."