FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

"Zio!" I shouted as I ran up to him, helping him sit up as he groaned in displeasure, "Blaze, are you guys alright?"

"What on earth happened?" asked a dizzy Blaze as Leon helped him up quickly, "I remember this figure in a black coat, and as I took my fighting position, a fist flew at my face, and then nothing." As he stood he gripped his head in pain, obviously starting to feel the effects of the battle earlier.

"Ryan," Zio said as I sat down, letting his head rest in my lap for a second, "I'm sorry, we were no match for him... He was after Concord."

"And he succeeded," Wolf said bluntly, setting the body down and sitting back in the chair. He didn't look at poor Concord after that, the blood staining most of his clothes a bitter reminder of the terrible casualties that war brings. Even if this war hasn't begun yet, it's definitely still showing its effects on us.

"If it wasn't for the other guy," I said to myself, "Concord may still be here."

"You can't blame yourself for this," Panther said, putting a hand on my shoulder, "if you did get there in time, chances are you may have been killed to." I lowered my head, Panther's words didn't make me feel any less guilty. Wolf pulled out the files handed to him by Concord and examined them closely.

"We can't let his sacrifice go to waste," The lupine said and slipped the files into his main console. "It'll take a little bit of time to transfer but you can read it after it's done transferring." I nodded softly and Zio started to sit up slowly, and I stopped him.

"You took quite a beating Zio," I laid his head back in my lap, "you should rest, my magic pool is exhausted at the moment." He nodded softly.

"Sorry," was the only thing he said. I looked up at Blaze.

"You too Blaze," I stated, and he drooped a bit. After a minute he shrugged and sat right next to me, leaning back against me and laying his head on my shoulder.

"You put too much weight on your shoulders," Blaze said quietly, "it's not good for your health."

"You're worried about my health right now?" I pointed out to him, Gungho and Angulo gave me quite a beating but I didn't get knocked out really badly. He shrugged and continued to lay there. I meditated for a little, to help quickly build some of my strength back up. As I did so, I called out to Bahamut in my mind, he either had nothing to say, or he was trying to avoid me for a little while. This was disturbing, because he usually never hesitates to answer me when I called him. Panther took it upon himself to do the very unpleasant job of moving Concord's body to the preservation chamber of the sick bay.

***

"What?!" General Pepper slammed his hand on his desk, before rubbing his weary eyes, "Angulo, one of them, but how?"

"It's plain as day on the files being transferred from the Wolfen," Fara stated, shaking her head a bit, "what do you want us to do?" Pepper stood a bit thinking.

"I'm afraid our sources are spread too thin right now. Ryan is on his own against Angulo if they should find themselves face to face. I would send Lucian Snow and Nordic to assist Ryan, but unfortunately both have their hands full. The former is dealing with an insurgency on Fichina, and the latter is guarding the president, while he covers some important business on the planet Aquas."

"What business does the President have there?" Fara asked, "I was never notified about that." Pepper stood up and treaded around his office.

"He plans to negotiate with the life forms there," he said, "He holds good relations with them, and with their help we may have a better chance of finding the Claxan based if they're hidden there." Fara nodded in understanding.

"One more question," she began, "What about Jovey Jadestar? He was the one who recommended Angulo to teach Ryan."

"That's what bothers me about it all," Pepper said thinking, "it doesn't make sense. Both of them saved Ryan's life in the past, and both have been tremendous help to us. We know Angulo is a Claxan, but it's contradicting each other."

"Perhaps those two have their own underlying reason," the fennec fox replied.

"In any case, Ryan is caught in the middle of it all," Pepper sighed and sat back down, "I didn't want to do this, but I have no choice." He dialed a number on his hologram projector. Krystal's face came up on it.

"Krystal reporting," she began.

"Starfox," The commanding officer began, "it's time for your next mission. Where is Fox?"

"Fox is currently unable to come to the projector at the moment," She said, "give me the mission briefs." Pepper hesitated a little before speaking.

"We are sending you to control possible insurgencies on planet MacBeth," he said, "Be sure to bring your Landmaster, as it will prove advantageous on the tough terrain."

"And you plan to have us help Star Wolf along the way," Krystal interjected.

"That's not what I said," Pepper stated.

"No but that's what your mind says," she bluntly stated, "I know what's going on, and I know that Ryan is currently working with Star Wolf at the moment. And I'm not happy that he didn't tell us, even it was to not hurt our feelings."

"You didn't tell Fox or Falco did you?" Peppy asked.

"Not yet," she said, "but I'm not that happy either. I can at least be more forgiving, but I'm not sure how well they'll take the news. At this rate, they'll find out soon enough." Pepper sighed, still pondering whether this idea was good or not.

"It's a risk we have to take," he replied, "Angulo has been found a member of the Claxan, and thus Ryan's life is much more in danger than before. He could be walking into a trap, and if he does, he won't stand a chance."

"Understood," Krystal said, and cut off the transmission. Pepper sat back and held his paw up to his face.

"What a mess."

***

Fox and Falco walked out of the nearby room, quickly slipping their uniforms back on as Krystal walked away from their home console.

"Who were you talking to?" Fox asked Krystal.

"The General," she stated, "we have a new assignment, we are to report to MacBeth immediately."

"So bring the Landmaster then," Fox stated bluntly, "let us go then." Falco walked upstairs to grab Slippy and Peppy. Fox looked at Krystal in question, "is something the matter?" She snapped up and looked at him closely for a minute.

"No, we'll just be aiding Ryan on his assignment," she explained, "indirectly of course."

"Fair enough," Fox nodded, "Ryan is the one the Claxan really wants, it only makes sense. Besides, he's our team member. There's no way we'll leave him high and dry." Fox walked out, and Krystal sighed a little, looking at Fox's back with a worried face.

***

Angulo stood looking over various proceedings over the Dawx military camp, his overly large sword resting over his back. His cloak lay tightly over his usual garb of clothes, various tears to accommodate his wings, that lay stretched out and flexing ever so slightly. His thoughts were sharp and yet light as he noticed he was not alone.

"Do you miss the light?" Angulo asked as the other cloaked figure approached.

"Light is nothing but another aspect to destroy," The figure said, slipping the hood off of his cloak, "I am a harbinger of destruction after all."

"Why did you become like this Cougar?" Angulo asked, facing his superior, "I may be cursed like you, but being dead has brought back the memories of who I once was. I remember who I was before, and I also remember who you were before."

"It's not that I don't remember old friend," Cougar began, pacing back and forth every now and then, "it's that I choose to forget. After all it was how I was programmed, I never forgot how the superior made my power, and warped me to accommodate it. The hatred merely complements it."

"You weren't always like that," Angulo said, "so why must you continue to push this black agenda now?"

"Because I can," Cougar said, "you are forgetting where your duties and loyalties lie, number 23. You're only job now is to continue to lure Ryan right where I need him."

"If you need him so badly, why don't you just kidnap him?" Angulo asked, turning to face Cougar.

"Because," Cougar explained, "the human just isn't ripe for the picking yet, we need to wait until he is ready. You already know how the process has been going. You just need to continue luring Ryan out, just like you and 24 have been doing up to this point." Angulo said nothing at first, pondering the plan being carried out.

"What are you planning with 24 anyway?" Angulo asked, "I can understand Ryan, but having a replica of him running around seems superfluous and suspicious."

"I have my own agenda with 24," Cougar said smirking lightly, "one not even the superior knows about. I shall say one thing though, don't think that just because the superior created us that he owns us. He especially doesn't own me." Cougar disappeared, going back to his dark chambers. Angulo stood there, and turned back to gaze upon the foot soldiers going about their assignments.

"Ryan," he said slowly before disappearing himself.

***

After a half an hour of restless meditating I stood up, letting Zio stand on his own strength now. Blaze did the same, and everybody looked at me.

"Are you making any more sense of the situation?" Leon asked. I shook my head.

"No, it still doesn't make any sense," I summoned Bahamut's sword back to my hand, "but I know I must persevere for all of our sakes." In a split second later, a bright light emanated from my sword and nearly blinded me.

"What the hell?" Wolf shouted as we all shielded our eyes.

"What's happening?" I asked myself as my sword shook violently, and a powerful heat from the blade caused me to drop it in shock. Various loud bang and sounds flooded the bridge, thankfully keeping the tempered material in the windows from even cracking. With an echo and a snap the light started dying down. I kept my eyes shut at the moment, only opening them a few moments later slowly. Before I could gawk at what I saw, a loud sibilant roar protruded the room, from a large maw that was right at my face. Before I could react a large claw swiped me and knocked me onto my back, and then latched itself over my torso, pinning me to the floor.

"YOU!" He shouted, "HAVE YOU COMPLETELY LOST IT! YOU ARE GROWING TOO RECKLESS!!!" The voice was familiar, and I froze in shock as I realized who he was.

"B-Bahamut?!" Indeed it was, standing right above me was a large noble dragon, roughly 4-5 times my size, just like in my head, only he stood hunched above me, physically in the flesh. Everyone had stepped ten steps backwards from shock of the voice. The only one who didn't move was Wolf, who merely kept sitting in his chair.

"Ryan Lewis," he growled, "you dragged yourself outside into space and nearly got lost forever. Then you nearly got yourself blown up by the crazy nut job kamoto dragon. And finally, you let your guard down to your former teacher, who could have easily killed you as easily as Concord died. And now you are ready to jump headlong into another possible battle without properly resting first. Have we taught you absolutely NOTHING Ryan? If you don't shape up I may just tie you down and never let you out of my sight. Have you anything to say for yourself?" I could only think of one thing, and I smirked.

"I love you too Bahamut," I kissed him in the nose and he snorted a bit before loosening his grip. Panther came back just in time to see this.

"Who's the big guy?" He asked, and was greeted with another audible roar from the noble wind dragon. Panther nearly collapsed from the sound waves, he was definitely caught off guard. "Okay okay, I won't bother."

"But in all seriousness," I began to ask, dusting myself as I stood up, my legs were still a little weak from the shock, "how on earth are you not in the blade anymore? I thought you were just a spirit."

"To be honest, I don't understand it all myself yet," The dragon began, and I realized that everyone could understand what he was saying, "but I can say this. Some emotion brought inside you from Angulo's betrayal gave me an out of body experience, and a new connection to the physical world. It was like I was given a second option besides the sword to place residence for my soul."

"Can you change back into the sword?" Blaze interjected, and I looked between the two of them.

"Yes I can," Bahamut nodded, "I still don't know how I am able to, I just know that I can do it now."

"This can bring Ryan new possibilities in battle," Wolf said calmly, he was the only one who didn't seem intimidated by Bahamut's presence, well seemingly not intimidated by him. "Can you fight?"

"Don't insult my strength," Bahamut began, "although I cannot show you here, perhaps on the next mission." I nodded and heard the transmission from headquarters come in. Wolf opened up a channel and began to speak.

"Thanks for the information Mr. O' Donnell," the dog began, "we have completed the transfer, so the alpha copies are now yours to review if you so wish. It is unfortunate to have to go through such a betrayal, but knowing the threat is half the battle to overcoming it." He looked around us and saw the noble dragon standing right next to me. "Who the hell is this?"

"Let's not go any further than that right now," I began, "what I can tell you is that he's on our side." General Pepper looked a little skeptical about that but shrugged it off slowly.

"Fair enough then," he said, "Although I'm afraid I have more bad news. Star Wolf, you are the closest, we need you to report to Sauria immediately. We've been informed by our Dinosaur relations department that they are under heavy attack. A cloaked person is blowing up everything in its sight."

"A Claxan member who is blowing up stuff?" Leon asked, and I thought for a quick second.

"It must be Gungho," I said, "the one who was with Angulo. He seems crazy enough to be that reckless."

"We fear for their safety, go there now and defeat the insurgency," Pepper stated immediately, "try not to use your blasters and arwings though unless absolutely necessary. The biggest job here is to save the nature of the planet, not blow it up. Good luck Ryan, and Star Wolf." Everyone nodded and the transmission ended. Wolf began.

"We should be there in 2 hours," Wolf said, "Ryan, here." He tossed the files to me. "The mini console on those files will let you view them in its raw format. Feel free to read them and get rest while we wait, will that satisfy you dragon?" The noble dragon nodded, and concentrated. It began to grow a bright white light before its shape retracted and turned back into the sword. I was still a little stunned about it as I retrieved it and let is dissipate into the air, flowing back to my mind. This only added to the myriad of questions that I had for myself and everything else that was going on.

"Alright then," I said, "let's take a look at these files." I walked out of the bridge and headed back into the guest room that was suited up for me. I shut the door behind me and locked it once I got there, taking a seat back into the desk. I set the files on them and took a few looks over them. It was like nothing I've ever seen, another show of advanced technology that I wasn't familiar with. "How do I get these open?"

'I think there's an activation switch on the bottom of the package,' Bahamut relayed in my mind. I smiled.

'Talking to me again now?' I asked teasingly as I looked for the button in question.

'I already got what I needed off my chest,' he explained, 'leave the past where it is now.' I finally found the button in question and pressed it. The files protruded up and folded out into the shape of what reminded me of a laptop. The words "Welcome to the Data Mainframe" appeared upon the screen. I pressed one of the new keys that lay flat on the desk and a list of information popped up. I quickly checked the console for outside connections to it, and found that it was its own local machine, and took a sigh of relief.

"Let's see here," I said to myself and saw an Acronym of interest, "CMD? I wonder what that is." I hit the enter key and the screen changed, the title text reading "Claxan Member Data" appeared on shortly afterwards. Bingo, this was something that would be really useful. Below the text was a key prompt, asking for a number. I thought on which one I wanted first and decided to choose 24. It was after all my replica, who fortunately hasn't made an appearance in a while. Unfortunately, all that popped up was a facial picture and the name "Ryan Replica" over the screen. The rest of the data spaces, "Element", "Species", "Status", and "Overview" remained blank. I was disappointed, and hit the key that prompted moving one number up. Sure enough, the next one on the list was Angulo.

"Angulo Louis," I stated out loud, "Number 23, Element, Light, Species, Pegasus, Status, Probation?" I rubbed my forehead softly, "oh what a mess."

'It says he's on probation,' Bahamut said, 'that's extremely suspicious if you asked me.'

'What do you mean?'

'I mean that if he was completely traitor against us, he wouldn't have that status on his record would he.'

'I'll admit it is strange,' I replied, 'but perhaps there may be some other agenda behind it.'

'Only those who have suspicious behavior against the organization are put in status like that,' the dragon pointed out, 'it means he's done something unfavorable by the organization he serves.'

'You're right on that,' I thought, 'but it's not enough to jump to any conclusions yet.' I switched it up one.

"Fario," I read out, "Number 22, Fire, Red Cat, Deceased. I remember fighting this guy on Katina." I switched it up one at a time and read out the content for each. "Venir, Number 21, Wind, Red Hawk, Deceased. Mikhial, Number 20, Ice, Polar Bear, Deceased. Most of these are ones I've already seen and defeated."

'Keep going up,' Bahamut suggested, 'You've only killed seven out of twenty four possible, there has to be more data.' I did so, and found one that I haven't seen before. She was what looked like dove, with beautiful features not too different from a swan. She definitely looked graceful, even for a member to such an evil organization.

"More evidence that beauty deceives us," I said aloud, "let's see, Name, Lady Loveless, Number 19, Element, Fortune, Species, Dove, Status, Normal. Sounds pretty out there to me."

'The most dangerous ones are the ones with the really unorthodox abilities,' Bahamut stated, 'it's hard to expect any one thing from those particular foes.' I continued reading up the ladder.

"Mayson, Number 18, Earth, Rottweiler, On Assignment. Zack, Number 17, Scan, Lion, Deceased." I turned it up one more and frowned, "Unauthorized level of access. Level 2 access required." I went up another one and was greeted by the same message. Every four to six people I found the restriction level higher, all the way until I got to number 1, who I knew was Cougar.

"The Data here is Corrupted," I read out loud with a frown.

'It seems that Cougar thought out everything, he must not want even his own associates to read his information,' Bahamut stated

"It would only make sense to keep himself in the dark so that information of his possible weaknesses doesn't get in untrusted hands," I explained the possibility, "It looks like that's all we can get, only information on one unseen Claxan member, that doesn't help much. It's also disturbing how my replica's information was completely blank. It isn't like the information wasn't there, it looked more like it was erased for some reason."

'Try looking through the other avenues,' The dragon suggested and I did so. The next on the list was a compilation of weapons currently in development. This was mostly gibberish to me unfortunately. But no one knows the specs like Kenta and Robert, they'll make better use of this. Plus with the help of Slippy, we should definitely be able to fight the Dawx army over equal grounds. I moved on to the next set, and I was greeted by the same restrictions as before, and I grew annoyed.

"Stupid machine," I gave a quick pound on the desk and slammed a finger on a key hard.

'Careful don't break it,' Bahamut chastised. I hit a couple more keys and another screen popped up. I did a double take before carefully examining what it had to say.

"Creator's Journal, a True Log," I read out loud and found a key that flipped a page in this hidden E-book. "Through the torturing days of my old age, I dedicate the fruition of my life studies to the creation of what I would call to be the ultimate weapon. All information pertaining to my creations shall be documented here, and viewed only for my eyes to see in the years to come." I turned another page and started reading what it had to say.

"The Beginning. I lie here in this deep dark lab far away from any signs of civilization. Those poor inconceited fools just don't understand the potency behind my research. I'm afraid the jokes on them however, after the recent success of my latest experiment. After recruiting a few, well let's say, neutral volunteers, I have managed to achieve something that they will never within their mightiest dreams hope to accomplish. I have created the ultimate biological weapon, so powerful, that even I fear the potency of their newfound abilities. Because of this alarming power, I have decided to give them a rare name befitting their strength. The first is the symbol of the key, or an X in some books I have read, and of other organizations that used it. The next I have taken the first name of my ultimate weapon, and replaced the original spelling of the word. And then two of my first letter and one of my second to spell out their team name. C-L-A-X-A-N, the true alarm to the universe to say, welcome to thy destruction."

'A brief overview of the Claxan's creation,' Bahamut stated.

'Too brief, it only says why they are named so and some vague references to the events leading up to it, but nothing on how they were created specifically. But what disturbs me about this isn't that, it's the fact that an excerpt like that is there in the first place."

'What do you think it means?' The dragon asked.

'It means that someone created them, probably out of either willing or unwilling victims, duly noted by the rhetorical 'nuetral' in the sentence describing them. If the creator is still alive, then it probably means that even Cougar himself has to answer to someone. Like they have a superior or something.'

'So possibly means we have a total of 25 adversaries then to deal with,' Bahamut said, 'well 18 when you subtract the seven before this point.'

"Could this superior be even stronger than Cougar, or is he merely the same scientist depicted in this journal, who simply has himself armed with Cougar, who is probably the 'ultimate weapon' depicted in this journal. Of course this is still theory." I said this aloud to help myself think.

'Try to read ahead and see what else you can find,' I did so, most of what followed remained the same, but I had no more use for introductions. But after I got about 20-30 or so pages in to the journal I was greeted with a bunch of strange characters on the screen. A little line of text read "Encryption Key A Active. Decryption Key A Required." displayed over the screen.

'Seems like it's well protected to me,' the dragon pointed out, 'with so many forms of protection it makes it really hard to get access to anything here.'

'There may be other consoles like this that have these keys or higher level access, retrieving them may allow us better access to more vital information.

'Well there isn't a hint on their base location yet,' Bahamut said, 'another dead end on that.'

'Not quite yet Bahamut,' I explained, 'it's a longshot, but other Dawx military bases may have a more complete machine than this. By seeing even this much information on here convinces me that there has to be more of them. We should try to find them as we're on our travels.'

'Now then,' he said to me, 'it's time to rest Ryan. Even 90 minutes is enough to build your reserves back up.' I nodded and walked over to my bed, but as I did I heard a knock over my door.

"Who is it?" I spoke up.

"It's Zio," the dragon said through the door, "Blaze is here too." I walked over to the door and opened, seeing the two smiling at me.

"Star Wolf said we had to stay in here with you, no other rooms to stay in at the moment," Blaze explained, "so I hope you don't mind."

"Not at all come in," I said and walked back over to my desk, closing the files and tucking the compressed size away in an inside jacket pocket. "I was just about to get some rest; we don't have long before we get to Sauria." They nodded and we crawled into bed together, snuggling up close to each other. They carefully sandwiched me in the middle, causing a small knowing giggle from me, and we quickly drew ourselves into a quick nap. Bahamut began charging up my energy as I slept.

***

I was awakened quickly a crashing sound from outside. I spurred awake quickly, along with Zio and Blaze, and we quickly sprung our equipment and fled the room. I called Wolf over my communicator.

"What was that?" I asked.

"We needed to land quickly on Sauria," Wolf said, "you can already see the damage outside, we have our hands full." I closed the communicator and ran to the nearby stair case, already lowered to let us outside. It was obvious just as Wolf said, the place was devastated. Palm trees were under fire, debris was everywhere, and every now and then were wounded or dead dinosaurs. I saw a white explosion in the distance, and a shrill cry of laughter.

"Gungho," I said shortly, running out across the ground. I was quickly followed by Blaze and Zio.

"The Earth Walkers are in trouble!" Blaze shouted.

"I can see that," I said as I ran. Gungho wasn't alone though. We quickly found Wolf and Panther in an open field, going fist to cuffs with several Dawx soldiers. I was about to go aid them when Wolf shouted.

"No Ryan," he said snapping an enemy's neck, "we're fine here, go find the Earth Walkers." He growled and returned to the brawl, and I quickly continued into the nearby jungle. Zio, Blaze and I continued to run, jumping over knocked over brush and branches. It wasn't long before an Earth Walker came into my sight, a perfect rendition of the Triceratops. But before we could reach him, about a half a dozen Dawx soldiers jumped down around us. An ambush.

"Drop your weapons," One of them said, "surrender the human and we'll spare your lives." Shortly after though, the one in question was dragged back up in to the trees, and dropped shortly after with a broken neck. The others were quick to follow, the source of the melee not visible. When they all fell I looked up into the trees.

"Thanks Leon," I said, and he came out of his camouflage with a smile before swinging off to eliminate any future ambushes from the group. We hurried to the Earth Walker in trouble and I summoned the Bahamut sword into my hands, activating a piece of its power. The dinosaur was surrounded by the usual probe droids. Blaze jumped ahead, using his twin blades to slice through a few, and Zio rushed in between the dinosaur and robots to make distance with the two. This left the rest distracted from my blade, and with a jumping blitz, I crashed through a few.

"Thunder," I shouted and sent a few bolts through the rest, short circuiting them. The three of us looked around for any other enemies and found none. Zio quickly examined the dinosaur and pulled out some gauze expertly to patch up some small wounds.

"Thank you so much," The dinosaur said and looked at me, "hey I remember you." I was confused.

"You do?" I asked.

"Of course I do," he said, "you ran into me a long while ago. You ran off while I was trying to talk to you. You looked like you saw a ghost or something." Oh yeah, that's right. It was when I first ended up in the Lylat system.

"That's right," I assured myself, "so are you alright?"

"We've been better but personally I'm alright," The triceratops stood up and greeted himself, "my name is King Tricky, I rule the Earth Walkers. But please call me Tricky." I nodded.

"I'm Ryan Lewis, just call me Ryan, no need to be formal," I looked between my comrades, "This is Blaze and Zio. We're here to help you defeat the invasion."

"Much appreciated," he said, "I was in the middle of evacuating the others when I was ambushed. A purple scaled creature wearing black gave an evil smile before snapping his fingers and causing an explosion."

"Then we have no time to lose," I said, "where did he go?"

"He went over to the north near the warp statue," he said, "please stop him before he destroys it, or we could be cut off from the other species." I nodded and turned to the others.

"Think you guys can escort him back to his people?" They nodded. "Good, then let's split up." I ran ahead, and with a heave, the other's took King Tricky the other way.

I saw another explosion in the distance as I ran, and I bolted to try to catch up to its trail. I got a better view of the damage as I found myself in an open field. This will be tough for them to recover from this. And I heard another shrill cry of twisted laughter in the face of another explosion.

"Death! Destruction! I'm Going to Destroy Everything! Try to run if you CAAN!!!" I growled at this taunting of his power.

"I'm never going to reach him in time," I cursed myself out loud.

'You're forgetting one thing Ryan,' Bahamut said.

'What do you-? Oh,' I remembered what happened just a couple hours ago, and I pulled out my blade and tossed it in the air. "I summon you Bahamut. Fly high into the sky." A bright flash and Bahamut was quick to return to his dragon form. He flew down quickly and rushed to my side.

"Get on quickly," he kneeled down and I climbed on. As I got my legs settled I looked at his neck confused.

"Where do I hold onto?" I asked as he jumped to the sky with a flap of his wings and sped off. "Woooaaaaauuugghhh!!!" I stumbled horribly, and my legs wobbled as I latched onto a spire on his neck. We were definitely covering more ground than before. It wasn't long before a jumping Gungho came into view. He saw us coming by a mile unfortunately, and began to throw his energy balls at us, at least to do that he stopped blowing up anything else. I lurched as Bahamut took a sharp turn to avoid the blasts that came in.

"Hold on tight little one," Bahamut relayed as he took a spin to avoid more blast. I couldn't really say anything as he spun, other than shouts of obvious discomfort. As he returned upright again I saw a large statue in the distance. He was alive and moving albeit unable to move from the spot in particular, much to my quick surprise. It was then I realized that was Gungho's target.

"Bahamut, we gotta stop him now," I shouted.

"Then brace yourself," he tensed and held his maw open, and began taking in a bright red energy.

"What are you-?"

"MEGA-FLARE!!!" Bahamut shot a humongous ray of bright red energy, and Gungho looked on wide-eyed, and gave a shout as he was hit right on target by the forceful blast. The shockwave of the blast completely knocked my grip off, and I fell off the dragon. I gave a shout and closed my eyes as I braced for impact. It wasn't long before I hit the ground hard, brushing over branches, leaves and bushes along the way.

"Ow," I said staggering to my feet quickly, and brushing myself off. The statue was not far off, and I ran to the field near where it was. I looked for Gungho, where could he possibly be?

"He's over there," I heard a loud booming voice come from the statue. He pointed at an open field nearly 30 feet over. I ran to the direction, and I soon saw the Kamoto Dragon on the ground. His eyes were closed, and his tattered cloak was seething hot, steam rose from it where burns were left. Whatever Bahamut just used was obviously extremely powerful. He didn't move at all for the next minute or two. I slowly approached closer and closer to him, my curiosity growing, wondering if he's dead or not. Just I got up to his face did his eyes snap open.

"SURPRISE!!!!" He shouted and bam, a hot flash of white light exploded in my face, and I was flung backward several feet, and hit my back. I got back onto my feet shortly afterward, and Bahamut landed next to me. He kneeled and I noticed this.

"You alright Bahamut."

"It seems being out of my body for several millennia has left me really rusty," he said and returned to his sword form, which I quickly caught in my hand, 'the rest is all up to you.' His mental connection reconnected with me, and I felt the usual power boost bring me up to strength.

"You're such a BUZZ KILL!" he shouted, "why do you have to ruin my fun?"

"Because you use your fun to hurt other people," I answered plain and simple.

"But hurting others MAKES it fun!" he chuckled, "destroying things is the only thing we're good for. You, me, everybody and everything, we can't create, we can only destroy. The very root of my power is chaos itself."

"Go get bent already," I said and took my battle position, "even better yet, I'll do it for you."

"Let me ask you this though," he growled a chuckle, "how did it feel to be betrayed by a close friend? It must have hurt didn't it? Did you suffer? Did you cry? Did you just cringe and hope someone would just END all of the pain for you?"

"Shut Up!!" I shouted and charged at him. He jumped aside with great speed, an attribute I noticed among all reptiles.

"Life! Dreams! Hope!" He retorted, "Makes me want to puke my guts out. I'll just blow everything up until there's nothing left." He then jumped, high into the trees. "Heehee, where am I? When will I come out, nobody knows." I looked quickly and sharply, activating my scanner hovering over my left eye. It picked him up from a tree right behind me just in time. "PEEK-A-BOO I KILL YOU!!" He threw another large ball of energy at me. I hit my belt, activating a replacement deflector shield that I received, and used the blue shield to catch it just in time, throwing it back at him. It hit him dead on and he dropped, growling in obvious annoyance.

"Clever little sneak!" He shouted and jumped to the ground.

***

"Another one down," Blaze shouted as he sliced up another couple of robots with his blades, while Tricky stomped the remaining of the foot soldiers that had ambushed them just shy of the shelter the Earth Walkers hid. They ran deep into the dimly let temple, where they were greeted with cheers of relief and approval by the others who evacuated.

"Your majesty," a male said, "you're alright?"

"We're so glad you're safe," A young girl stated. Tricky nodded and turned to the other two.

"You two go back and help Ryan," he said, "he may need help dealing with that mysterious enemy."

"Right," both phoenix and dragon replied, and nodded to each other. They turned, and quickly bolted out of the temple. As they ran they were greeted by an Arwing flying in the sky.

"Who is that?" Blaze shouted and they stopped as the Arwing opened up, it was a familiar face to both of them.

"Guys," the cat shouted as he lowered, "get in." It was Tri Gunner, and a welcome relief it was to the other two.

"Tri," Zio began, "what are you doing here?"

"I was currently assigned to the Sauria relief branch," he said, "it's easy because it helps train my weak navigation skills. Get in, I can get us to Ryan faster."

"We have no time to lose." Blaze jumped in, just as a second Arwing showed up and landed. The cockpit of that opened up, and revealed Kuro Razgriz.

"Zio, in here," he shouted, and the dragon nodded, jumping in. The two cockpits took off, quickly heading to the battlefield, signified by explosions in the distance.

***

I dodge rolled to the side of another explosion and charged with my sword again. I only managed a quick swipe at his side just enough to draw a little blood, before dodging another burst of energy.

"STAY STILL BRAT!" He shouted at me and jumped up to the trees once more. I got an idea and started spinning my blade high in the air.

"Aerora," I sent the cutting wind out of my blade, high into the tree branches in every direction, and he jumped back out with a yelp of pain. It didn't hurt as much as a direct strike, but I managed to leave him vulnerable. I then pulled another spell combo, jumping to a spot a couple feet in front of him and slammed by blade into the ground before he could use another burst of energy.

"Thunder Field." A round burst of electrostatic discharge, flooded around me, and he was thrown back a few feet, but not before he left a quick round of energy at my face, causing me to fall back too. I stood up slowly, shrugging some pain off and quickly bringing my sword back up to my face, pointing at him, while my free hand stays up front, ready to deter attacks.

"Getting tired yet you brat?" He shouted and threw several more shots. I brought up my deflector shield and cast another spell.

"Wall!" Another barrier surrounded my other one, deflecting the bulk of the attack. But the barrage still shook me up, and I collapsed to my knee from fatigue. Just as I looked up, he was right there, grabbed my throat hard, and lifted me up into the air. He gave me a sickening smile as the hand that grabbed me charge.

"I'm going to enjoy the barbeque," he chuckled slowly, and I grabbed his wrist and kicked him, but he didn't stop. I closed my eyes ready for the terrible fireworks to come.

But instead I heard a shrewd cutting sound.

I opened my eyes and saw a look of shock on Gungho's face as Blaze jumped from above, and sliced his back clean open with two blades. I took advantage of the back attack, and grabbed his face with my other hand, letting go of Bahamut.

"Fira," The blast of fire flew right into his brain, and a small explosion knocked him clean off of me. I landed hard on my back, and Blaze quickly helped me up on my feet. Gungho landed too, but nothing could help him up and out of that wound. He was dead for sure, nearly overkill. Blood, lots of it, and even a couple of organs flooded out of him. Only charred remains of his head remained, nothing remained of his twisted brain.

"A twisted end for a twisted mind," Blaze said softly and then turned to me, "are you alright?" I turned to him and nodded.

"Yeah I'll be fine," I said slowly, "Thanks, that was absolutely perfect."

"I try," he said smiling, "can't let Jovey or anyone else out class me being your hero." He teased and I hugged him.

"I don't see Jovey like that but thank you," I said slowly. Two Arwings landed, and Zio got out of one, followed by Tri and Kuro. I was definitely glad to see all of them.

"Ryan wins again," Tri shouted jumping in delight.

"You look alright," Kuro said bluntly.

"Yeah I'm fine," I nodded and looked around, "albeit I can't say the same about this forest." They looked around all the charred remains and nodded. I let my mind wander for a bit, I could only wonder what new power would be available to me after defeating this one.

'Eight down,' Bahamut said in my head, 'only sixteen or seventeen more to go.'

'So what can I do with uncontrollable power anyway?' I asked.

'I will need time to process this kamikaze element. I'll give you an answer the second I finish.'

'Right,' I told him and went back to the others, but something didn't seem right. "Uh guys, where did Tri and Kuro go."

"Ryan!" Zio shouted, pointing up beyond the trees. I looked up and tensed. Up in the sky, holding an unconscious Tri and Kuro in each arm, was Angulo. His wings resonated in the sunny sky as he lowered to the ground. When he landed, he tossed the two aside.

"You bastard," Blaze said, charging his two swords in a coat of fire and charged forward. This wasn't to be though, and Angulo warped just as Blaze swiped, and appeared right behind him. Just as the phoenix turned around, I could tell he experienced Deja Vu as he was punched square in the face by a powerful haymaker, and was out cold on the ground once again.

"Angulo," I shouted, "what are you thinking?"

"I suppose I must congratulate you Lewis," he began and stared me in the eyes seriously, "being able to defeat a relatively strong member of our ranks by yourself is impressive."

"If you were paying attention," I began, "you'd see I had the needed support and help of my comrades."

"I hardly call a cheap back attack fair play," Angulo said, "besides that one attack you fought him tooth and nail on your own, you have really grown from being my student."

"I don't understand you Angulo," I began, "being dead must have killed your brain cells. Again, what are you thinking? And whose side are you on anyway?" He slowly walked around the battlefield, as Zio ran behind me, looking at Angulo with obvious tension.

"I'm" he began, "not really sure myself. All I know is that I have a job to do, and so do you. But know this. Everyone is right, I am a traitor. The first few plots of my short term plan with you are already set in motion. Soon, Ryan, soon you'll see what I hope to accomplish too."

"You aren't making any sense," I told him.

"Of course not," he explained and summoned his Broad Sword into his hand, "now, are you ready to put up?"

"Not until I get some real answers," I said, "I refuse to fight you."

"Then I have nothing more to say," Angulo said dissipating his blade and walking away from the battlefield. As soon as he was out of sight Zio and I relaxed a bit.

"That was bold of you Ryan," Zio said, "but reckless, just as Bahamut said."

"I know," I said, "and I'm sure Nordic will be interested in hearing about this too."

"Right," Zio said, "but for now, let us help the others out." I ran with him over to the others for quick care. As I did I looked back at the living statue, who seemed to look at me with a nod and a smile, as if to say thank you.