Asuka blinked and looked into the worried face of a long-eared, handsome young man. 'So it wasn't a dream...' she thought and groaned.
Link misinterpreted her groan. "Zelda, if you're not feeling well, you should have told me. I would have taken care of the whole meeting myself... you know Prince Ralis is a friend of mine."
"I'm fine, I was just... shocked..." Asuka shook her head and sat up in bed. "But where's... where's that wolf?"
"The wolf? Zelda, that was me! You must have gotten used to my animal form by now." He smiled. "After all, that's what I looked like when we met the first time."
'What kind of world is this?' Asuka wondered. "I must have... forgotten," she finally stuttered. She stood up. "How long... was I passed out?"
"Just a few minutes," Link assured her. "You still have enough time left, but... are you sure you don't want me to take care of the meeting?"
"No, I can do this!" Asuka grumbled in irritation. "The very least I can do is to welcome him."
'You can do this, Asuka,' she told herself. 'After all, you wanted to be the princess. So you can't start complaining about your new responsibilities now.'
She smiled back at Link. "I'm feeling perfectly fine. You wanna come help me with the preparations?"
Link smiled back at her. "I thought you'd never ask."
Asuka was relieved. 'Well, at least he seems to be a nice guy..." she thought. 'Much more helpful and handsome than baka-Shinji... but I wish I knew what kind of relationship he and the princess had previously...'
"No need to worry, Zelda!" Link said. "Ralis is a nice guy, you'll like him. And when he hears that you're not feeling well, I'm sure he'll suggest pushing back the meeting to tomorrow by himself." Suddenly, he grinned. "And after the meeting, I have a surprise for you... there's something I have to show you, later, when we're back in your chambers..."
Asuka groaned. 'That doesn't sound like it's a platonic relationship...'
Rei was sitting on a bed in the sick bay of the Great Fox, the big ship that was the command center, hangar and home of the Starfox Team.
Right now, she was examined by Peppy Hare, the veteran pilot and tactical officer of the Great Fox, and ROB 64, the Great Fox's robotic operator. He was scanning Rei's arm with a special device Peppy had attached to his arm. Fox was watching everything from the corner of the room.
"No anomalies or variations in temperature detected," he then said in his mechanical-sounding voice.
"Well, seems that you are at perfect health, Krystal," Peppy explained while putting away the instruments he had been using. He looked over to Fox and smirked at his young friend. "Seems like there's no reason to be worried."
"So... you really are feeling fine, Krystal?" Fox asked as he approached her bed.
"I am fine, Commander McCloud," Rei stated as she sat up. "I suggest we proceed with our current mission."
Peppy scratched his head. "Well, I can't say your behavior is normal, Krystal... but as long as you're not sick, I don't see any reason not to allow you to fly your Arwing. Are you up to it?"
"Yes, sir!" Rei nodded, uncertain how she should address the elderly rabbit, as she wasn't too sure which rank he had.
"Well, then... go to the hangar and tell Falco and Slippy I'm coming in a minute," Fox told her.
Since she already knew where the hangar was, she simply nodded and left the sick bay.
After she was gone, Fox approached his mentor and whispered: "Peppy... can we really risk taking her along in a mission? You just saw how strange she acted. What if the Aparoids have infected her?"
"Impossible, Fox, we just scanned her whole body and could detect no anomaly," Peppy said. "We just let her fly in the Arwing for today and see how she fares. Just tell Falco and Slippy to cover her if she gets in trouble."
"All right," Fox nodded. "But I really hope that whatever makes her act like this isn't anything serious... and if she has troubles, I hope she'll share it with us."
"She will tell us in time, Fox," Peppy said confidently. "Just don't press her, okay? We don't know much about Krystal or her home planet... maybe it's just a phase."
"I sure hope so," Fox sighed.
When he entered the hangar, he was surprised to see that Krystal was already sitting in her Arwing, while Falco and Slippy had waited until Fox arrived, as they always did when he was late. It was their way of telling him 'You better not be late again, or we'll fly without you!'
"Krystal... is something wrong with your Arwing?" Fox spoke into his communicator.
It took Rei a moment until she found out how the communicator worked, then she replied. "All systems are working fine, commander! I'm just waiting for takeoff."
"What's with her?" Falco whispered. "First she runs out of the Briefing Room like a swarm of space bees was chasing her, then she acts all protocol-y. Is she mad at you or something?"
"I'm not too sure," Fox murmured. "Peppy said we should let her fly the Arwing and not bother her, she'd tell us if she had any problems. Just treat her like you always would."
"All right, but if she continues to give me the cold shoulder, she can forget about that birthday party!" Falco grumbled.
"Poor Krystal..." Slippy sighed. "I wonder what's wrong with her."
"Maybe it's 'that time of the month'..." Falco suggested mockingly.
"F-falco!" Fox stuttered. "Don't make any jokes about that. I want you to focus on the mission, we can concentrate back on Krystal after we checked out that distress signal. Now, into your ships!"
"Yes, SIR!" Falco mocked and saluted while standing as straight as an officer in the Cornerian Fleet.
Meanwhile, Rei had made herself familiar with the Arwing's controls. While it was quite different from controlling an Angel, she thought it would be no problem for her to fly it. She calmly watched how her fellow pilots entered their own Arwings, then Peppy started the countdown in the command center.
"Launch all ships!" he shouted, and the starting mechanism launched the four sleek spacecrafts out of the Great Fox's front opening, into outer space, towards the planet Katina.
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(Posted Sun, 06 Jan 2008 17:51)
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