Star Fox: Eclipse

Chapter 13: One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

That night, Fox's dreams were haunted by the shrill cries of aparoids as they plagued through the streets of Corneria City. He stood in the center of the city, helpless as the home he knew and loved was torn to pieces by enormous swarms of the alien insects. Towers burned, roads were broken, and black smoke filled the sky while a battle raged on. Cornerian pilots on the ground and in the sky fought desperately to repel the endless onslaught of invaders.

Fox noticed that the rest of his team was there as well, some flying in Arwings and others aiding the Cornerian soldiers on foot. Falco's ship soared just above his head and wind rushed past him as he flew by, ruffling his fur. A swarm of spider-like insects with four legs crawled their way up the ramp leading to the top of the platform Fox was standing on, and he recognized them immediately as aparoid crawlers. They each had one single turquoise eye and two small pincers below it, snapping furiously as they neared him.

Reaching into his holster on his right hip, Fox realized that he didn't have his blaster and began to panic. Before he could retreat, a large green beam of energy pulsed through the air and struck one of the aparoids, destroying the entire swarm at once. He traced the beam back to its source and found that it came from a Landmaster piloted by Slippy. The blue and grey tank was similar in design to the Arwing, rolling along the ground on four treaded wheels with a long barrel at its top. Fox thanked his toad friend with a brief nod and scanned the clearing for someplace where he could make his combat skills useful.

At the bottom of the four ramps surrounding the platform, a multitude of aparoid hatchers clung to the ground, glowing green as they spawned more aparoid crawlers. Their dark, hexagonal caskets were surrounded by honeycombed energy fields, destroyable only with gunfire. The aparoids must be spawning from the hatchers, Fox thought as he wondered where he misplaced his blaster. He raced to the bottom of the ramp to search for another weapon when he heard a cry in distress.

Following the road ahead of him, he soon realized that the voice was Krystal's. She wielded her staff and held her position firmly while she fought with the fox pilot responsible for Bryan Grey's death. He stood tall with a laser sword in each hand, his eyes still unreadable behind the visor covering them.

"Help me, Fox!" Krystal called. Though he ran as fast as he could, Fox couldn't seem to reach her. "Fox!" She called again, extending one hand out to him. He reached with his arm as far as he could, but still could not touch her fingertips. "Fox!" The vixen's voice rang in his head a third time before everything went black and he found himself awake in his bed inside The Great Fox. He rose to a sitting position and shook his head, still echoing with the sound of his friend in danger.

"Fox?" The familiar voice sounded from across the room. Krystal was really there with him, standing in the middle of his doorway with a concerned expression on her face, still wearing her Star Fox uniform. Though the pilots slept, they still wore their combat and piloting gear sometimes in the event that an emergency rose during the night. "I read your brain patterns from across the hall... Are you alright? I sensed that you were having a nightmare," the vixen spoke with worry for her friend.

"Oh, um... I'm alright," Fox sighed, unwilling to admit that the aparoids had disturbed his thoughts as much as they did.

Krystal obviously didn't buy the lie, as her expression turned cross. "You know that I am a telepath; you can't hide your thoughts and fears from me." She placed her hands on her hips, awaiting an explanation.

"I guess it's the aparoids bothering me," Fox admitted. "We now know that Oikonny was aware of the aparoid attacks on Fortuna and possibly the entire aparoid invasion, but that doesn't change anything, does it? We defeated the Queen and the homeworld was destroyed without a trace of the vile creatures remaining." He wasn't sure if he was asking a question or trying to convince himself that the aparoids were no longer a threat.