An Unlikely Enemy

Chapter 7: Refresh

"HOLD ON!" I screamed at my friends as they looked at me in confusion. My mind was reeling as it surged in power and showed me the inevitable future of just a few moment's time. In my mind's eye, I could see a terrible explosion, and that I would soon be dragged into space. Even knowing this, I tried to escape, running from the place where the hole would be with all my strength. Of course, it was all too late.

The actual explosion hit me then, and I was nearly knocked unconscious. I really wished I had been, because even without the tremendous pain and pressure that had pounded my body moments earlier, the pain inside me was beyond what I could bear. The vacuum of space ripped the air from my lungs, drawing blood from my mouth, nose, ears, and eyes. The cold him me. I was freezing to death. The pain overloaded my senses and mind, and my brain collapsed in shock. I drifted into a sleep I was certain was my last.

Even in this state, I somehow knew what was going on. It was if I had another mind inside me, watching all this unfold. I felt warmth and light, and I knew my friends were trying to save me. In my state, I didn't care what happened to me, because of the peace that comes from knowing that one will die. However, I resolved to at least try to stay alive, for my friends' sakes, if not mine.

Beyond that, I felt nothing but time passing. How can one dream of time passing? I also sometimes heard hushed voices. I couldn't tell if they were real or just my mind playing tricks. I tried to call back to them with my mind, but they did not notice me.

Then, suddenly, I awoke. It was warm, and light was everywhere. I could feel no pain, but I couldn't feel anything else either. I tried to look around as sounds turned from nothing, to muffles, to words.

"She's awake. Get me the direct ophthalmoscope, please," said a voice.

"Here you are, doctor," said another.

A black blur descended towards my right eye. I realized it was an instrument of some kind. I'm in a hospital? How did I survive?

"She seems to have no damage, but the focus is off," said the first voice.

I tried to focus on the one talking. I couldn't see his face because of the white garb he wore over his entire body. But at least I could see that he was some kind of doctor, and I felt relief at knowing I could see and understand my surroundings. I looked deeper, using my senses that no-one else in Lylat possessed. There was something strange about the doctor's mind. I couldn't quite place it. It wasn't evil, nor was it entirely good. The patterns remotely resembled those of General Scales, but the intention was completely backwards.

"Hello, Krystal. I'm Dr. Seth. Can you understand me? If you can, blink your eyes twice please," I didn't notice the doctor had been talking to me.

I looked at him and blinked twice. I tried to say something, but my eyes blinked instead. I couldn't feel my mouth. "That's strange, it's like my mouth isn't there," I thought to myself.

"Good. Krystal, do you remember what happened to you? Two blinks yes, one big blink no," Dr. Seth instructed.

I thought for a moment. I remembered that I was thrown into space, but nothing after that. I decided to say "no."

"Oh dear. Well, you were involved with an explosion that forced you outside your ship, in empty space. Your wounds were beyond repair, at least beyond normal medicine's repair. Your friends brought you here and we have been reviving you with some special technology for the last two days. We're almost done. You will be back to normal in a few more hours," Dr. Seth spoke reassuringly.

I was happy to hear that I was OK, as were my friends. My warning worked for them at least. I wondered where they were and began to look around the room, my vision clearing enough to distinguish different objects from the bright lights pointing at me.

"Krystal, they can't come in to see you yet. This operation is very delicate. I need to put you back to sleep for the final part of the operation. Do you understand?" Dr. Seth asked.

I understood, of course, but I wasn't too happy about the idea. At least I would be back to normal soon. I said "yes" and shortly after, I had a moment of fuzziness followed quickly by darkness. This time, I felt nothing. I'd been sedated before, so this wasn't new. There was however a strange yellow light.

The next thing I remember was sitting up in a normal hospital bed wearing a white nightgown. I looked down to see Fox's head laying down on his arms crossed on my bed. He had been sitting next to me and had fallen asleep. I smiled and held up my paw to my face. Wow! It's... totally normal. No scars, no pain. I felt my chest and breathed in deeply. Everything seemed to be normal. Better than normal even. I had had a slight cold that night in the gym and it was gone. My sinuses were totally clear. I thought back to what Dr. Seth had told me. "New technology," I muttered to myself. Come to think of it, not only was I unable to speak in the operating room, I realized that I wasn't breathing at the time either. I grew concerned and ran an mental checklist of the rest of my body, wiggling my toes and feet. Everything seemed normal.

The slow shaking and mumbling woke Fox, even from this sleep deprivation-fueled slumber. I could see him look up at me and he smiled widely. I smiled back. He looked somewhat humorous with the huge bags under his eyes. I think I must have been out for several days. Poor guy...

"Oh Krystal, how are you doing? Are you OK?" Fox asked half-tired, half-excited beyond words.

"I'm fine... I think. Thank you for taking such good care of me! How in the world is this possible?" I asked, looking at my paws again.

"That's good to hear. I was so worried," he said smiling again.

"Yes, but how did I get back to normal?" I pressed further.

Fox looked away, puzzling me until he said, "Krystal, I would understand if you hated me for this, but please understand that I did this because there was no other option." Fox gulped slightly and his voice wavered, almost like he would cry, "the scientists here used Andross' technology on you. You have a completely new body."

I was surprised. A new body? So that explains it all. Honestly the most surprising thing was the new body. It seemed like my body to me. Even the tattoos were where they should be. Honestly, I was just glad to be alive. I didn't care how I had come to be normal again. Fox, on the other hand... I remembered that Andross was a big threat in Lylat, the one who killed Fox's father, and I realized what that meant to him. He was probably crushed that he had to rely on his father's murderer to save me. I'm not sure how I felt about all this, but right then, I was the person in the least pain. I thought I should comfort him.

"Oh Fox, I don't hate you at all! Thank you for saving me. I know that must have been a terrible decision for you. You made the right choice. I'd rather have a new body than none at all," I said, and smiled at him.

He smiled back at me, "I had a feeling you would say something like that. Would you like to take a walk?"

"That would be lovely," I said as he offered his hand to help me up. I gripped his paw and lifted the covers off myself.

"Ah, Krystal!" Fox grimaced. "Please be careful, you have quite a grip now."

I let go, "I don't understand. Did I hurt you?"

"Heh, it's nothing," Fox said rubbing his paw. "Just take it easy. The doctor said you would have to get used to your increased strength and abilities."

"I'm sorry!" I said as I looked at my paws again and frowned. Then I slowly reached out for Fox's other hand, cautious to not cause further harm. "Tell me if I'm too rough for you," I said, apologetically.

Fox smiled and helped me up and made sure I was balanced on my bare pads. "Take it slow, OK?"

"OK," I cautiously nodded. I slowly stood up and looked around my room, then back at Fox, "Where's everyone else?"

"Getting some well deserved rest. It's been a roller-coaster ride since you were injured," Fox said.

We walked slowly through the door and proceeded to tour the halls. This place was amazingly large and surprisingly empty. I could tell that these halls must have been a bustling place during the day. However, the lowered lights gave away the fact that it was night wherever we were. My focus shifted internally. The true nature of what happened and my apparently miraculous recovery was just settling in. Fox's next words shook me from my thoughts.

"Krystal, you have no idea how glad I am that you pulled through. But I didn't really have any doubts after..." Fox looked around suspiciously, "Krystal, can you read my mind right now?"

I was a little startled, since I had decided to stay out of my friends' heads long ago, but I realized what he was getting at. It must be something private. I checked his thoughts quickly, just to make sure I could. He was thinking about his father.

"I think so, that is, if you were thinking about... him just now," I asked.

"OK, good. I'm going to think through the past few days' events for you. Listen in," Fox explained.

We stopped and faced each other as I looked into his eyes. I was not really looking at him, but rather into him. I concentrated and began to see the events unfolding before me.

...

Explosion. A frenzy of painful emotion. Fox lost me. He wouldn't give up, never. Run! Every millisecond counts. Instant plan. Contact ROB. Space suit. MY GOD! She's badly damaged. Pain and sadness. Stasis. Collapse.

I knew Fox cared for me, more than he would admit. We had left that bit of our interactions unsaid. I guess I was just waiting for him to be ready. Now, of course, I could really see the extent of his caring. He would have tried to save any of his crew with the same ferocity, but unlike the others, he just could not handle losing me. That and my body! Oh my poor body! I would never have thought I would survive. I wouldn't have even held onto hope after seeing what had happened to me. Fox sure is stubborn! I'm glad of that.

Hospital. Where was I? Where was Krystal? Doctors. Pull the plug? Thinking. Emotional strain. James? What's going on? Alive? A thought? Right choice?

So he had seen his father. He told me about that once in confidence: that a vision of James had led him out of Andross' fortress and disappeared. I had no idea if this new vision was real or imagined. It was Fox's memory, after all, not a recording. And what was that about the right choice? Fox continued.

Slippy. Explosion not natural. Upbeat. Find the doctors. Colonel's fault. KILL HIM! Write? Apology. Acceptance. Discuss options. ANDROSS? A new body. Only chance. Keep it secret.

Woah! Who would have thought? A vision of James that knew something Fox couldn't have known. I could tell that to Fox at least, none of this was imagined. How could Fox have known about the 'right' versus 'Write' connection beforehand? Could it really be James was there? Oh, and that's how I got here.

Funeral. Lies to Peppy. Board ship. Suspicion. Confirmation. Enter the base. We're ready to begin. Start with the feet. Defrost, time adjust, repair, repeat. Hoping for recovery. Hoping for painlessness.

Though I didn't move, I mentally became more aware of my surroundings. I now realized the risk Fox was taking here. He didn't believe anything these people said, except that they would try to heal me. We would have to escape in the quickest way possible.

That, and goodness! The operation was not for the faint of heart. They had unfrozen parts of me incrementally, repairing damage and adding things as they moved linearly from my toes to my head. Blood leaked out from damaged areas in slow motion due to the time dilation. Enlarged views showed actual cells dying as the moved over my abdomen. Large mechanical arms had descended from the ceiling to assist, each glowing a bright color and following the doctors' hands. As they left an area, it looked like new. Not even my fur was damaged. They repaired everything in incredible detail.

They had jumped ahead when they got to my neck, and worked on my brain. It was the only complication, if Fox's memory serves. They spent the longest time there. I think it was during this time that I woke up, with my mouth still frozen and the rest of my now mechanical body in some kind of standby mode. They put me to sleep again. Fox was watching closely. They did something with a visor over my eyes before finishing my head. During all of this time, Fox never stopped watching me. He was hoping for my recovery so passionately, each centimeter of recovered flesh added to his joy. He also hoped I wasn't in any pain. That was sweet.

Fox's memories gave only a brief summary of the following events. The doctors clothed me in a nightgown and did something to activate my new body. Monitors showed that I had begun breathing and the artificial blood had begun flowing through my veins. They moved me to the room I awoke in, shaking Fox's hand and declaring a complete success. They told him to get some sleep, as they would do the same after the thirty hour ordeal. Fox had smiled and thanked them for their work. He then took a seat at the side of the bed and waited, eventually falling asleep.

"Did you see it all?" Fox asked.

"I did. Fox, we should get out of here. We can talk about the rest of it later," I said with a sense of urgency.

"Couldn't agree with you more. Still, even if this is all a sham, we can't just leave here by force, guns blazing. There's no telling what kind of weaponry they have that could easily stop us. And if they are legit, leaving like that would be the ultimate insult after all they have done for you. We need to leave as quickly as we can, but with a good reason," Fox explained as he motioned for me to continue walking with him.

"Where are the others?" I asked.

"I have them on standby in the ship. They know I'm going to try to get you to the ship as soon as I've confirmed that you can travel. Think you can do it?" Fox asked, turning to me again.

I flexed my muscles, they seemed OK. Better than OK, actually. I nodded, "Yes, Fox. I think I can do it."

"Great. If my plan doesn't work out, you're probably gonna have to use your new strength to help us get out of here by force. From your grip earlier, I'd say we have little to worry about unless they bring out the big guns," Fox said.

Fox hugged me suddenly then. "I'm glad you're OK, Krystal," he said in my ear. He pulled away and smiled, "Abandoning ship without the captain's orders is a terrible offense. Don't let it happen again!"

I laughed and saluted him, "Aye aye, Captain! Now let's get going!"

We walked briskly down another corridor. I recognized this one from Fox's first memories of this place. We were approaching the nerve center, or at least that's what Fox thought it was. There was only a single person manning the computers now. The large round room was dark and empty.

"This must be the night shift," I said to Fox.

He nodded, "Yeah, I think it's night here on this side of Macbeth." He looked at his communicator to confirm. "Yep! This is perfect. We can just leave a message for 'Colonel Lee' and be on our way with no questions asked," Fox explained.

"After you, fearless leader," I motioned.

Fox smiled and walked ahead of me into the room, approaching the nearest worker. "Excuse me," he said, waving a paw at the bear.

"Hello. It's an honor to meet you, Fox McCloud. I trust the operation was successful?" he gruffly asked, still not seeing me in the hallway.

"It worked out very well. She's doing well. So well, in fact, that we thought we would take our leave. We have some explaining to do, and I don't want people to start asking the wrong questions, if you get my drift? Time is of the essence. Is there a way we can leave a message with the Colonel before we leave?" Fox asked.

The bear was somewhat taken aback. "Oh, I see, you've got to be somewhere else quickly or people will start wondering where you've been the last few days. Yes, of course, here's a secure line to the voicemail of our ranking officer. Your ship is down that corridor," He said pointing and handing Fox a small slip of paper.

"Thanks a lot. Have a good night," Fox said and walked towards the corridor leading to the ship.

The bear had gone back to typing and I quickly walked to the corridor behind Fox, standing just inside the shadows so as to remain as hidden as possible.

"Oh, one more thing," Fox called out. The bear looked up and Fox continued, "How do we exit the hangar?"

"Just send out a general purpose message on standard frequencies. It should say 'exit'. The computer will open the doors for you," the bear explained before again returning to typing.

Fox nodded and turned. We traveled down the corridor at a quick pace. Fox called Slippy, "Hey Slip. Are we ready to go?"

"Yes, Fox! Do you have Krystal, is she OK?" Slippy asked.

"I've got her. Have Falco bring some of her clothes to the temp quarters off the bridge. We'll be there as soon as we can," Fox said and closed the comm connection.

Within minutes we were at the ship. Fox closed the doors behind us before we proceeded up the elevator to the bridge. Fox gave Slippy the instructions on opening the doors while I went to the temp quarters and changed.

When I arrived on the bridge, Fox and Slippy were finishing launch preparations with ROB's help.

"Ready?" Fox asked Slippy.

"Yeah, here goes!" He exclaimed.

Slippy fired up the engines and activated the exit code. With a low hum and deep vibrations, the ship shuddered to life. With the engine's power cells at maximum, the inertial dampeners activated and the vibrations stopped. With forward lights brilliantly enlightening the many ships surrounding us, we began to rise towards the ceiling of the hangar.

The doors opened quickly, responding to the exit code, allowing deep blue moonlight from Macbeth's small moon. The great ship rose from the hole in the ground that moments ago was invisible to anyone who would happen to be looking.

ROB turned to Fox, "I have re-established access to inter-Lylat communications. There are no ships in the area. What is our intended destination?"

Fox stroked his chin, "Hmmm. I don't know. I honestly didn't think past this point."

Falco, who until now had been acting bored, smiled and exclaimed, "And I bet you forgot to go to the little boy's room before we left, didn't you?"

Fox frowned at the unhelpful comment. I hit Falco on the arm. He winced and cradled it, letting out a muffled shout. "Geez Louize, Krystal! Why'd ya hit me so hard?"

"Ooops! Sorry, guess I don't know my own strength." I really didn't know, but he did kinda deserve it. I couldn't help laughing a bit.

Fox smiled and turned back to ROB, "Alright, I imagine we'll have to explain some things. Fortunately, there aren't very many people who know Krystal was in an accident. Let's focus on keeping them quiet, and then we need to repair the ship. ROB, where's Peppy currently located?"

ROB responded, "News outlets are reporting that he has taken personal trip to... Planet Sauria. He is flying in his personal craft, only basic personnel... Fox, there is a news item relevant-"

Fox cut him off, "Dang! He's ahead of us. He must be trying to attend your funeral," Fox said, looking at me.

"You told him I was dead?" I was a bit miffed that he would lie to Peppy.

"Well no. I just let him think you were dead. Those guys who fixed you up, they said they needed the operation to be a secret... Now that their deception is at least partly clear, it seems silly that I would keep it from him. Man, he's gonna kill me," Fox frowned thinking of the explaining he would have to do to his long-time mentor.

"Shall I hail him, Fox? We are in communications range," ROB asked.

"Yeah, and take us to his ship," Fox answered.

ROB tuned the engines to cruising power and adjusted the flight path. Slippy, having nothing else to do, started to walk out of the bridge.

"Where ya going, Slippy?" Fox asked.

"If you don't need me, I think I'll have a look at that hole in our gym, see about in-flight repairs," Slippy said, with a tone that made it obvious he didn't want to be around for the conversation with Peppy.

Falco apparently noticed this too and walked out exclaiming, "Yeah, and I gotta see if my arm needs a bandage. Say 'hi' to Peppy for me!"

"Great... Fearless one he is." Fox turned to me, "Well, Krystal, gonna stay by my side during this tough time?"

"Always," I said, "I've been meaning to give Peppy a call."

"Alright, ROB, open communications with Peppy, but audio only until I tell you otherwise, OK?" Fox commanded.

"Hailing Peppy's ship," ROB informed.

Fox looked forward and was visibly preparing what he wanted to say. He was cut short however, by the angry sounding voice through the bridge's speakers.

"FOX J. MCCLOUD! What in Solar's name are you doing back there? I've been hailing you for hours," Peppy screamed.

Fox sheepishly responded, "Well, you see, we didn't make it to Sauria..."

"So I see! No-one has seen or heard from you since you left the hospital, not even the natives of Sauria. I thought you'd gotten raided or went suicidal on me. Do you know what you've done to this old ticker of mine?" Peppy continued.

"Calm down, Peppy! Look, there's a good reason we were delayed," Fox tried to explain.

"There sure better be! I, for one, can't imagine what you'd be doing all this time. And what about Krystal? She deserves better." Peppy was on a rampage.

"I have been thinking of Krystal, this whole time. No-one else. Now, let me explain," Fox said.

Peppy grumbled, "Fine. It'd better be good."

"Well... I have good news and I have bad news," Fox began.

Peppy growled again.

"The bad news, is that Krystal's funeral will have to be postponed indefinitely," Fox said with a slight smile. I tried not to giggle. I hoped Peppy's heart could handle what was about to happen.

"Why? ...wait, what's the good news?" Peppy asked.

Fox motioned for ROB to activate the video feed, "The good news is that Krystal won't be needing a funeral for a long time," Fox said, smiling.

"Hi Peppy!" I waved.

For a while, Peppy was speechless. He didn't move. I was beginning to think he was in shock, but he soon leaned close to the camera and eyed me. "Lordy! I AM surprised. Krystal, I'm glad you are OK," Peppy said to me. He then turned to Fox, "You and I both knew Krystal was as good as dead, Fox. The fact that she's standing there means you have more explaining to do.

"I know, Peppy. We're heading to your ship now. I'd prefer to discuss the details in person. I'm not sure who to trust right now," Fox agreed.

"I look forward to it. Peppy out!" Peppy said, ending the communication.

"He took that better than I expected," I said, looking at Fox.

"Yeah, but this isn't over you know. They're probably gonna want to do some really detailed tests when all's said and done," Fox said.

"More hospitals?" I frowned. "I've spent enough time in them lately. I'm more interested in getting some combat action out of my system."

"In time. We'll go shoot some asteroids together later, I promise," Fox bargained.

"It's a date," I smiled.

ROB swiveled towards the two foxes, "Time till rendezvous: three hours."

Fox's ears twitched indicating he'd heard the message. He still looked at me, "I'm exhausted. I'm going to take a nap. You might want to rest too."

I was quite literally wired, so rest didn't sound all that appealing. However, I did want to get more used to my new body, and the privacy of my quarters would let me practice with it. "I guess I should freshen up. See you in a few hours, Fox," I said and we both left the bridge in ROB's capable claws.

-
Meanwhile, In The Secret Macbeth Base...
-

"What did you think, son?" The Colonel questioned the bear at the desk.

"Yes sir! I did an analysis of his body language and speech patterns. It definitely seems as though Fox doesn't trust you, or this facility in general. I have no idea why. Perhaps he questions the likelihood of you being completely honest with him. I mean, I would have had trouble believing that this was a legitimate operation if I were in his shoes, what with the secrecy we have to take even with the official government agencies."

"Very good, son. Thanks for staying so late. I know a body language expert's hours are usually nine to five," the Colonel apologized.

The bear waved it away, "Eh, comes with the territory."

"I think that he might have overheard my secure communication with the facility. I used the name Colonel Lee with them," Colonel Jackson explained.

"Ah, so that's why he was so untrusting," the bear laughed. "Too many codenames."

"Anything else I should know about the encounter?" Jackson asked.

"Not much. I gave them the information you instructed on how to leave... Oh, and I pretended to not notice Krystal walking out with him," the bear finished.

"Excellent work. Yes, I think the operation was a complete success. We got away with them having the least amount of suspicion about us as possible and got Krystal back to 200%," the Colonel said proudly.

"Forgive me, sir, but why do we need to keep their suspicions at minimum?" the bear asked.

The Colonel's smile turned suddenly cruel as he looked at the subordinate sitting before him, "We can't have them knowing the truth, now can we?"

"I don't understa-" was all the bear could say before the Colonel ripped his gun from its holster and fired point blank at the bear's chest. "Why..." he whispered as he fell slumped to the floor.

The Colonel calmly cleaned his gun of the blood that had splattered and returned it to its holster. He looked up to see a large cart of large black bags being rolled down the corridor coming from the medical facility. "Hey over there! I have another mess for you to clean up," he called out.

"You could have waited to kill him until he was closer to the disposal facility," the raccoon grumbled. "I had enough trouble getting all those doctor's bodies out of their rooms."

"You wouldn't get any exercise otherwise. Have this cleaned up before the morning shift. If anyone asks, Mr. Kyle has been given an extended leave, like the doctors," the Colonel said, looking down at the fallen bear.

-
Meanwhile, In A Small Ship, Light-Years From Lylat...
-

"Sir, I've received an extra-subspace signal from your asset. The ball is in play. Krystal is back on her feet," a raggedly dressed rabbit said, hopping to the captain's chair. It was turned outward towards the stars, the ship's crew working diligently without requiring the captain's watchful eye.

The captain didn't turn, but smiled behind his sunglasses, "Very good. Looks like we're heading back to Lylat. Begin preparations."

The rabbit saluted and attended the nearest console.

"Well, this will be quite the homecoming, Fox. Hope you're ready."

-
Written: 3/30/09
Released: 4/2/09 (Special joke addition released 4/1/09)

Well, two cliffhangers this time. I'm going for a more complicated story now. From here on, I will probably be shifting attention to different groups and follow each of their stories as they all happen linearly. I hope you liked the change of perspective from this chapter, spoken mostly from Krystal's point of view. I don't plan to do it often, though. Third-person or Fox's perspective fits this story best.

And I'm in my final part of my college career. Don't expect another chapter anytime soon. I won't leave this project to die, but I will probably have to leave it hanging for a while. Thank you, dedicated readers. There's more to come.

Please send constructive criticism and comments to: mrkrystal(at)gmail(dot)com, or comment where this fic is posted (Krystal Archive, DeviantArt, FanFiction(dot)net).