FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

***

Characters from original VG series are copyright of Nintendo.

Inspirations and other themes are owned by Square Enix.

Original Characters are owned by me. Please don't use them without permission.

All third party characters owned by their respective owners, please respect their ownership by not using characters without their permission.

Finally after a year I bring you this newest installment. Thanks for your patience and I hope you enjoy. With my schedule starting to settle down now I should be able to do regular updates again, I hope.

***

It was time for round 2, and this time I wasn't going to give Angulo the chance to repeat the onslaught he had before, and I leapt forward right to him. He smiled as he brought his sword up to defend himself from my vertical slash. As our swords matched he pushed it away and spun a backward smack of his hand around. I saw it perfectly clear however and ducked, spinning the opposite way as he looked in a bit of surprise. I brought my blade and the full force of my body back towards him. He parried the stab, but couldn't brute his way off me thanks to the full weight of the attack. From this position I jumped up and landed a spin kick right to his face and we both backed off a bit. I had finally landed an actual blow on him. It hardly did anything as he just smirked it off, but I could tell I was actually starting to get somewhere in this fight.

"Good Ryan," he said, "now this was the fight I was expecting." The pegasus charged again, swinging his sword in a few directions to initiate a combo, but I kept my concentration up and dodged each attack, using my free hand to guide my body and his weapon away, while working towards counterattacking him. Our blades then met again, and we let the sounds of our blades clanking against each other ring throughout the room as we exchanged blow after blow.

He pulled back after a bit and charged his sword with light again, before sending the ball at the tip right at me. I waited a sec before jumping up to avoid it, the blow landing against some controls and destroying it instantly in an electric explosion. I felt the force behind me but didn't deter and responded with a spell of my own.

"Blizzara!" I launched the spell all around Angulo's general area. He dodged again, freezing the controls behind him, along with a good portion of the room. Unlike the outside, the conditioned room kept the area frozen, which was part of my plan.

"You didn't aim the whole attack at me," the pegasus pointed out as he charged again, "You're planning something."

"Maybe," I replied and held my ground as he came to me, dodging just before he hit me, right onto the icy floor.

'Get ready Bahamut, I have an idea,' I told the dragon in my mind, ready to tap into more of the dragon's powers. I concentrated, the blade charging up in a silvery wind as Angulo charged again. When our blades clashed, I took advantage of the momentum and pushed back, sliding on the ice, that's when I let the energy from my sword unleash, flinging several sword like slashes right against his sword. This kept him on the defensive blocking each consecutive hit as I slid away. Before I hit the wall I leapt up and back flipped, landing my feet on the wall and pushed myself off from the momentum, launching myself at him kamikaze style. By the time the attack on him ceased and he moved the sword away from his face it was too late. I swung my sword back holding it so the blunt end of the hilt was facing him, and caught his muzzle in a hard punch. The combined force sent him flying right into the destroyed controls. As he flew I landed on my feet and skidded a bit perfectly, charging a spell in my free hand.

"Fira!" I shouted, sending the spell to follow my stunned opponent. It had worked perfectly, shortly after he hit the controls the spell hit right into his abdomen. He reeled a bit and shouted in surprise as it hit him, shielding my eyes a bit from the explosive brightness.

'Good shot Ryan,' Bahamut commented. I was satisfied with myself, even if I didn't win, at least now I'm putting up a fight, and using my head in battle. As I settled from the rush I had to kneel. The plan worked but my energy is fading fast, if I didn't finish this battle quickly he would end it for me. Angulo got back up from his position, holding his abdomen a bit.

"Very good," Angulo said, "you've come even farther than I anticipated. But it'll take more than that to defeat me. Holy!" He suddenly shouted and sent a beam of bright light right to me. It came to fast to dodge it, so I had no choice but to block it.

"Runic Blade!" I shouted again, concentrating hard, tapping into more of Bahamut's energy to help absorb the attack into the blade. The force sent me right back, hitting the frozen controls hard with my back and breaking apart the ice into crystal shreds. When the light settled, I looked to see Angulo get right to my face again, vertically slashing his broadsword down. I spun to the left suddenly, his sword missing me by inches and cleaving the controls clean in two. I stabbed right for him and he parried again, starting another dance with our swords clanging against one another.

We moved towards the center as we exchanged blows, trading between offense and defense like nobody's business, until we brought the blades upright holding it right against our faces. We gazed in each other's eyes, burning with the flames of battle. In a split second I noticed him bring his hand back, charging a spell. If he hit me now it wouldn't be good, but I couldn't afford to move now so I mimicked him, bringing my free hand back and clashing against his, wrestling his grip with my own. He was prepared to send another holy element spell my way, but I concentrated hard to prevent that from happening though. The reverberating force of our two powers started growing though, and we could feel the room start to quake lightly from the sheer magnitude of the power he was charging.

It was a losing match, as I couldn't divide my concentration enough, because as he was pushing me back slowly with his hand, he was pushing his sword closer to my face. That's when an idea hit me. I broke my concentration a third time and focused on channeling the energy stored from my runic blade technique and sent it through one arm and out the wrestling hand, to match him own force. That's when it happened, I felt him ready to send another sudden spell.

"Firaga!" he shouted, and I flinched, not expecting him launch such a spell at me. My adrenaline kicked in again, and I had to think of another sudden solution, and I tried something.

"Shell!" I shouted and encased the spell in an orb just as he launched it. Unfortunately it backfired, as the sudden added pressure caused our powers to explode, very forcefully I might add. It didn't just hit me, but Angulo took quite the hit as well. He was launched clear against a moniter window, shattering it to pieces, as I flew and nearly broke my back against another panel, jamming the controls and forcing the emergency door next to me open. I was disoriented as I landed on the floor, jarring in pain. As I regained composure I looked over at the opposite end of the room as he got up slowly. I could tell he was in a lot of pain too. I was wearing him down, but unfortunately I was wearing down a lot faster. Even with this now force and tactics I wasn't going to win. I needed additional help.

"Damn," Angulo began, "that actually did a number on me. I've taught you well. Are you ready to give up yet?" He soon regained his composure and advanced toward me slowly, as I struggled to get up on my feet.

"I'll never give up," I huffed, "not until I wind up dead..."

"Careful what you wish for," he said, "you just might get it." He continued to advance as I held Bahamut up in front of me, needing both hands now to hold him up. I called to him through my mind.

'Bahamut, this isn't working,' I said, 'I need your help.'

'I'm doing all I can,' he replied, 'I've already used up 50 % of my energy thus far. We need to defeat him before it's all used up.'

'But if we keep up this strategy, we're sure to lose, even with our combined powers. I don't think this is the right way to fight him.'

'What would you suggest then?' he asked me.

'Well, if we can't defeat him together in synchronization, then perhaps we should separate ourselves, and fight him as 2 separate entities, it may be our only way to divide his concentration enough to defeat him.'

'It's a very risky strategy Ryan, by separating you lose the only power boost you have, leaving you to fight the same way you were before, probably even weaker.'

'Just trust me, we have nothing to lose by trying it, he might not suspect it, it might just work.' This got the dragon thinking a second, and then he agreed.

'Very well Ryan, I trust you. But we'll need to move to a more open area, the room is too cramped for all of us to fight properly, this will also expose you to the heat of the lava again. Can you handle it?'

'I have no choice,' I retorted and started stepping toward the exit, 'Let's do it.'

***

Krystal and Panther stood in their battle poses observing the dragon in front of them, as if observing his weapon and form, to form a team strategy to help deal with him.

"Go ahead and plot all you want," The dragon commented, "it still won't help you win. Now I suggest you attack, before I get bored and decide to watch the fight some more."

"We're going to need to work together on this," Krystal whispered to Panther.

"Agreed," Panther nodded, "So here's what we'll do. I'll go in and distract his gun away, while you go in for the attack." The two nodded and braced themselves, before charging in. Panther took the lead and jumped forward, stabbing forward with his rose blade. The dragon caught it with his gunblade easily and knocked him away before Krystal could get a hit in with her staff, and blocked it too.

"Pathetic," Draxor said, "I expected more from mercenaries of such repertoire." He used his force to push both of them back, before aiming his weapon and firing several shots. Both of them dodged out of the way, Krystal charging some fire spells and launching them from her staff. This was again blocked easily, but stopped the fire long enough for Panther and Krystal to redouble their efforts and charge in at the same time. Draxor caught both weapons easily, matching his strength against theirs.

Krystal and Panther then followed up by pulling their weapons back and changing their angles of attack. Draxor stepped back a bit and parried each successive hit as they came in. As he started backing up, Panther and Krystal kept up their onslaught, forcing him to constantly parry by rapidly backing up each other's attack, until Panther forcefully caught his weapon with his own sword. Krystal saw an opening and held her foot onto the blade, launching herself over the dragon in a graceful flip and landing behind him, spinning a low kick to knock the dragon off his feet and give Panther an opening to finish the job.

It didn't work. Before the kick landed the dragon saw the attack coming, and leapt up enough to avoid the attack, then spun to knock Panther's sword away, and landed on one arm, spinning himself and countering with his own spin kick, knocking Krystal and Panther clean off their feet. His spin didn't stop however, as he caught Panther with his leg, and spun him around to slam right in Krystal and catch both, before launching them clear back by about 15 feet, landing hard in a confused fur pile, before spinning back up gracefully, his coat following him effortlessly.

The two got up slowly, dusting themselves off and facing him again.

"He's tougher than I thought," Panther said.

"Did you figure that out by yourself?" Krystal quipped lightly before holding her staff up again.

"I was hoping for more of a challenge," Draxor said, "what a disappointment. I had more fun watching the action down below."

"We'll show you," replied Panther as the two charged again redoubling their efforts. They tried the same tactic, but to no avail. The response from Draxor was merely the same, amusing himself just enough by toying with the two fighters.

Not once did they get an effective hit in, in fact, they didn't get a hit in at all. Soon they had backed off, catching their breath, and the dragon frowned.

"I've wasted enough time here, as have you. Isn't there comrades that you need to assist?"

"Not as long as you're here," Krystal said, "we won't let you get away with what you've done here."

"Trust me young lady there are more pressing matters for you," he said pointing over the Cliffside. Down below, Fox, Falco Wolf and Leon were continuing their brawl, while some distance away, they can see Ryan being forced outside by Angulo's hand onto a fair sized observation deck.

"Not good," Panther replied, "this guy will have to wait, we better go."

"Alright," Krystal said, and the two hurried away. Draxor didn't even bother with them any further. They just didn't seem worth it to him.

"Well, at least I wasn't completely bored," He smirked to himself, then turned and walked away, having done what he came here to do.

***

"So want to take this fight back outside do you?" Angulo snorted as he stared me down. I had backed up a bit back into the narrow hall, which pretty spelled out my intentions black and white, I can only hope he didn't wise up to my real plan.

"Hpmh.." That was all I replied with.

"Well fine then," he shrugged, "allow me to help you with that." He suddenly charged in a blur of fast speed, I ducked to the side in the narrow hall from a punch, but with so little room I couldn't see him bring his knee up right into my gut, the force launching against the door so hard the metal hinges actually broke off, landing under me outside the door. We were out on a long observation deck now, overviewing another large hangar below. There was more room to move now, but I need to be careful about when I launched the next strategy.

I got up as he approached again. I jumped back a bit as he charged and swung his blade, and we matched swords again.

"What's this going back on the defensive?" He snorted, "you'll never win like this." I ignored his chiding and backed up toward the center of the deck as I blocked and parried his moves.

'Almost there,' I told myself, just about ready to formulate the next move. We eachanged more blows, with me occasionally trying to counterattack, until I backed a few more steps. Close to the edge now I jumped back and flung Bahamut in a spin right there.

"Strike Raid!" I shouted, and the blade flew right at him.

"Weak," he replied and knocked it away behind him. I then summoned my old Starfox blade to my hand, making it look like I summoned Bahamut back and launched it the same way, disguising it as a combo. He approached slowly as he parried the strike each time I repeated it, summoning it back again as he got right up to me.

"That was pitiful," he said holding the blade right up to me, "If this is the best you got then it's time to end this fight." I only smirked as Bahamut approached from behind Angulo, once again in his dragon form, and charging his powerful Megaflare in his maw. Angulo soon sensed the presence behind him and turned to face him.

"What?!" he shouted in surprise, holding his blade up. It was there that I caught him making a mistake, he had his back completely turned to me and I brought my blade up and made to stab. He gasped as he quickly caught his mistake and sidestepped. He didn't get there in time as I managed to gash his side badly with the blade, blood seeping out like a fountain. I followed this up by pulling out and spinning backwards, with a low kick that knocked him right off his feet.

The ancient dragon took advantage of this and launched his attack, hitting Angulo square in the front, I could hear the pegasus's shout of agony as he was launched clean off the observation deck and hit the hangar hard, sliding a good distance away.

"It worked!" I shouted in happy surprise. "Let's go." I jumped off the railing onto some nearby cargo, carefully jumping down to the hangar to hurry to him, to see if we had managed to finish the job. Bahamut flapped his wings and followed behind quickly.

'We must be careful,' Bahamut said, 'That took a lot more energy out of me, I don't know how much we actually have left.' Bahamut was right to say that. As we approached him I noticed him stir, his wings flapping lightly as he pushed himself back up. I grimaced, how could he recover from that? This guy is a fucking juggernaut. This was our strongest hit on him yet and yet he continues to come back.

"How is that possible?" I asked, "That should have downed you for sure." The attacked burned almost all of his clothing off, save for several rips in his cloak pants. While he wasn't down he was definitely greatly injured. He staggered and held onto his side, the rest of his body covered in scratches and bruises.

"If I was actually still alive, I would be done for at this point.." He explained as he spit out some blood from his maw, "But remember what Draxor said, I'm not actually alive, I'm a dead man who managed to come back to the world of the living. My potential is limitless here, which is why you haven't won this fight yet." It seems he was right, I wasn't sure about it at first, but what he says definitely makes sense now. He's lost a lot of blood but it's not stopping him now, in fact I think things are going to get even worse for us now.

"Get ready Ryan," Bahamut instructed, "we're both at only 25% strength now. We need to end this quickly before he has a chance to recover."

"How?" I asked, "if he's already dead then nothing we do can stop him."

"Not true," Bahamut said, "look, he's affected by all the wounds we've given him in this battle, it stands to reason that we can finish him off." I looked again, he was right. If we attack now we might just have a shot at sending him back where he came from. If he could come back from the dead, then it makes sense to be able to send him back to death.

"Alright," I nodded, "let's do this."

"Don't think I'll go down so easily," Angulo said, "you may have wounded me, but this battle is far from over. It's time that I use my full power to finish you off." He braced himself and I could feel his energy surging up quickly, his muscles visibly growing a bit to accommodate the power, and he spun his sword up to his battle stance. Bahamut and I braced ourselves, it looks like we were still fighting an uphill battle.

"Here I come!" He shouted and charged at an even faster speed then before, we barely dodged out of the way of the slash, even though the wind on its own sliced some of my clothing, leaving shreds hanging off my shirt and pants. Before I could react Angulo flew up right towards Bahamut, hoping to get him first and leave us even weaker. I needed to stop him before this happens.

"Fira!" I shouted, this time launching three homing fireballs right towards him. He turned before he got to the flying dragon.

"Your pitiful spell is predictable," he said and with a hard back swing of his hand he deflected the blasts right towards nearby fuel, essentially using my earlier strategy against me. When I caught it I jump and ducked far to the side as the explosion shook the bay. When it settled, I quickly swung to my feet only to find Angulo right in front of me, he gripped my collar and yanked me off my feet. I brought my sword up to block his rapid succession of slashes, but they served to keep my balance off as I felt his powerful boot slam right across my face, and launching me head first into a large pile of cargo. The debris collapsed on me, and I struggled to breath.

I needed a second wind, but I also needed to distract Angulo long enough for Bahamut to get another strike in. I jumped up, and haphazardly matched blades with him again, before ducking to the side and unleashing a flurry of short but fast swipes and stabs at him, causing him to just parry or dodge with extreme ease. I was quickly losing my edge and my energy. I charged a Thundara spell in my hand and brought it up to his face, only for him to grip my wrist and bend it hard.

I shouted in sudden great pain as I kneeled down buckling at the force, but concentrated enough to send the energy right into his body, as hard as I could.

"Keep that up for me please," Angulo smirked, "this little spell of yours tickles." I let go of my sword and charged my other hand with a Blizzara spell, this time freezing his other hand to his sword to limit its use.

"It's useless," he said, and suddenly headbutted me with extreme force, leaving me very disoriented, then he used the weight of his body to lift me clean over him and slam me on to the metal floor beneath us. I slide several feet, my body wracked with pain, almost paralyzing. The shock prevented me from moving at all. Only spasms of pain were all I could muster, crying out and huffing hard. I didn't know what else I could do and just laid there.

"Playtime is over Ryan," he said, and slammed his boot down right on my abdomen, trapping me, "time to die!" I closed my eyes before I could see what happened next. Bahamut suddenly landed, swiping Angulo's arm and knocking him back a bit, and before he could react, Bahamut unleashed a bright light, his Megaflare attack a second time, catching him head on and launching clean across the battlefield.

"Are you alright Ryan?" Bahamut asked, leaning over me and concentrating a small healing spell to restore my body to health a little. I felt I could move again and sat up slowly.

"Thanks Bahamut," I replied, "for a second I thought I was a goner."

"We got him again," he spoke, "but it's not the end of him yet, this isn't good, we're both only at roughly 10% of our power."

"But he's got to be at the end of the line too isn't he?" I asked turning to face where he was launched, "two consecutive Megaflares are hard to come back from." Again I was wrong. I looked on in horror as I saw Angulo stumbling back towards us. His wings flapping behind him.

"No more games," he said, "you two make a powerful team, but I won't allow this separation anymore. I'll force you two to work together." He flapped his wings and took to the sky, raising about 20 feet before charging up a powerful spell.

"HOLY!" he shouted loudly and launched the beam of light right onto the hangar itself, causing a humongous tremor.

"What's happening?" I asked.

"He's forcing us off the ground," Bahamut said, "hurry, get on my back, we must take to the skies before you fall into the lava." I nodded and hurriedly climbed onto him, and he took off to the sky just before the whole hangar collapsed into the river of lava below.

***

Meanwhile, Fox, Falco, Wolf, and Leon continued their brawl with no reprieve. From blow to blow to tag team to tag team, neither side was willing to give up so quickly. Fox and Wolf charged each other and gripped each other's fists hard, tails twitching and fangs showing as they growled at each other. This is when the scene caught their eye. To the nearby hangar bay they watched in horror as Angulo completely decimated it, forcing Ryan to retreat to the skies.

"Ryan!" Fox shouted, letting go of Wolf to look for a way to get to him. This didn't last long as Wolf caught on to the opening.

"Big mistake," Wolf said, gripping his shoulder and turning him around, headbutting him right in the forehead, then leaping up to perform a strong spin kick right on his muzzle. This disoriented Fox for a mere second, enough to lose his footing and slip off the bridge.

"Fox!" Falco shouted, backing away from Leon enough to catch Fox by the hand and quickly swing him back onto the bridge. As Leon charged, Fox took advantage of the momentum to back flip and catch the chameleon in the face with a powerful kick, before landing on his feet gracefully. His partner then kneeled to allow Fox to spin over his back and do the same for Wolf.

Wolf however managed to block the attack before backing off a bit. Fox and Falco kept close to each other as they communicated to one another.

"Falco," Fox began, "Ryan's in trouble, we need to ditch these guys and give him a hand."

"Right with you Fox," Falco said, "we can finish this later. But the question is how do we get to him?" Fox looked around, before seeing the end of the bridge opposite of him leading to a parked rail scaling down the river, where minerals were transported safely in large containers.

"Follow me on three," Fox whispered, and Falco nodded. As Leon and Wolf brought their deuces up, ready to fight again. "One, Two, Three!"

When the count had suddenly reached three both suddenly bolted right for Wolf. The lupine in question chuckled and readied himself, but just as he brought up a thrust kick, Fox dodged to the side swiftly running right past him, just as Falco jumped and gripped on Wolf's foot, using it to boost him right over Wolf. The two Star Wolf members turned to see just what they were heading for and turned in quick pursuit.

Fox and Falco jumped quickly onto the cargo and got it rolling, starting its slow ride down the rail. They weren't quick enough however as Wolf and Leon got themselves back onto the opposite side.

"Sorry Fox," Wolf said, "I'm afraid I can't let you get away."

"He's like a stalker boyfriend who won't leave you," Falco chided Fox about.

"All's fair in love and war feathers," Wolf retorted, "and this isn't love."

"Maybe not," Fox said, "but we have no time for this. Ryan needs our help."

"He's handling the fight just fine," Wolf replied, "and the rest of the riot is under control. Or are you going back on your challenge? Seems like you need to really rethink your priorities." Fox growled at that.

"Ryan wouldn't be in this mess if it wasn't for you, bringing him along with you knowing that he would be in such great danger."

"He came of his own accord," Wolf said calmly, "maybe you need to listen to him more. But that is irrelevant now. If you want to go to his aid, then you better finish this match quickly."

"He's right Fox," Falco said, "Let's just finish this quickly, then we'll go help Ryan."

"Well what do you know, the bluebird actually said something smart for a change," Leon snarked.

"Fuck you scales," Falco growled.

"Fine," Fox said shaking his head, "I'm getting really sick of this anyway, it's time we beat you once and for all and put an end to all this." Wolf smiled at the vulpine's change of tune.

"Good," he replied and pointed to a nearby inland of lava rock that was easy to jump to. "Let's finish this over there, this isn't exactly and ideal spot to conclude a battle." Everyone agreed, and as they approached the inland they hopped off simultaneously, landing on the ground with ease, a good distance away from the lava. The heat was getting to them, but they weren't about to back down now, as they rejoined to face each other and retook their battle stances.

"Time to end this," Wolf said.

"Agreed," replied Fox, and the four quickly charged back into the fray.

***

Meanwhile back at the ship, Zio was holding things up at the sick bay best he can, making sure Peppy as alright. He's not fatally injured, but he is out for a while.

'I hope we can get out of this alright,' Zio wondered by himself, when suddenly an alarm went off on the ship. ROB64's voice then came on the intercom.

"INTRUDER DETECTED, INTRUDER DETECTED! SIX UNITS APPROACHING SICK BAY!"

"Shit," Zio said aloud, reaching into his coat and pulling out a survival knife, "I've got no choice at this point." He then heard voices approaching as his communicator flashed.

"Zio, how are things holding up on the main ship?" Slippy asked.

"Not good," Zio replied, "these assholes managed to get aboard the ship, there are only a few of them, but I'm going to be strapped fending them off."

"Things aren't much better outside the ship either," Slippy said, "There are about 7 ships or so surrounding them, and I've got two on my tail already. If only Fox and Falco are here."

"Just hang on tight," Zio said, his guard up as the enemy approached his door, "just keep calm and use the tactics that they've taught you over the years."

"O-okay I'll try," Slippy said and hung up, thinking, 'Ok if I was Fox or Falco what would they do.' It took all he had to avoid the overwhelming amount of fire. Normally the two others would bust him out at a moment's notice, but now he was alone and needed to defend the ship. He did follow Zio's advice and thought carefully.

The door to Zio's room however busted open, and the Dawx soldiers came in easily.

"Hold it right there," Zio yelled and charged forward, taking advantage of the situation to surprise the larger group. He wasn't the most skilled combatant, but he swore that he would always protect those under his care.

'That's it,' Slippy thought and remembered a more advance tactic. He had nothing to lose and decided to try it, taking control of his ship and turning into a u-turn double helix, the Arwing's superior handling allowing him to quickly face the enemy, and with quick reflexes, he gunned the fire button, unleashing a flurry of fire onto the enemy. Surprisingly it worked, as the two pursuing ships crashed down instantly.

"I can't believe it, it worked," Slippy said in a burst of happiness, "Great, now to take care of the others." He then turned back toward the ship to deal with the attacking enemy more, he turned on the communicator to ROB64. "ROB, get the ship off the ground immediately, and raise defense shields."

"Affirmative," ROB64 said, and the Great Fox began to lift from the ground. Slippy then began to concentrate on taking down each enemy, remembering the many years he spent with Star Fox, and carefully putting each technique into practice, and finally it's paying off for him, as he managed to shoot each ship down until the very last one, which the Great Fox took care of with a blaster before he could get to it.

"Great job ROB," Slippy said, happier than ever. It took so long before he could finally prove his usefulness in battle. But now was no time to celebrate, and he got back in touch with Zio. "Zio, are you holding up in there?"

"Yep," Zio replied, "never better. Somehow I managed to beat all of them. So now what, the others must be waist deep in trouble right now. Ryan especially I bet."

"Right," Slippy agreed, "Come on; let's go give them a hand." Slippy and the great fox got into a proper formation as the toad lead them towards the fray, to help with the increasingly chaotic situation.

***

We managed to get to the sky, but it wasn't long before Angulo pursued us, right on our tail. This was very bad, our energy continues to fade and even worse, all of our advantages fell to pieces in one fell swoop, we were sitting ducks up here in the sky.

"We can't fight him in the sky," I vocalized my thoughts to Bahamut, "we need to find solid ground somewhere and fast."

"Hang on tight Ryan," he said, "this is a bumpy ride, but I might be able to find an inland further down this lava path." Bahamut got a second wind and took off down the path. Angulo was close behind, launching powerful balls of light right at us. I ducked and held onto a small spike on Bahamut's spine as he spun in a complete circle to keep from falling in the lava. I held my sword to my hand and chanted a spell into my head, then pointed toward the pursuer.

"Aero," I shouted and launched a stream of wind against him to slow him down. It didn't work very well though and we had to dodge another set of attacks as we flew around. I tried again, this time concentrating more energy.

"Aerora!" I shouted louder and launched a larger tirade of wind against him. He stopped and flapped his wings openly to catch and dispel the wind, but this time we actually got some distance.

"Ryan, land just ahead," Bahamut relayed to me, and I turned to see a large patch of lava rock at the base of the base, it wasn't ideal but at least it was solid ground we could regain our bearings on. We sped towards it, but not before our flank got a surprise visitor by Angulo.

"Going somewhere?" He said and hit both of us with a powerful holy spell point blank. It hit hard enough to drain the rest of Bahamut's energy, and he returned to his sword form. I was hit hard but caught Bahamut's sword and held onto it tightly. I managed to avoid the lava by several feet and landed hard, skidding on the jagged lava rock, tearing me up badly. I ended up letting go of my Starfox sword as my left hand scrapped badly. I slowly tried to get up, clothes and skin torn to a bloody mess.

Angulo landed gracefully onto his feet and approached me. I huffed hard as I struggled, holding onto Bahamut with both hands as I climbed up.

'Are you alright Bahamut?' I asked, but to my horror I got no answer. 'Bahamut? Please say something. No, you can't be...'

"Looks like you're finally at the end of the line," Angulo said, "while I get stronger, you get weaker, and now your pet is no longer here to give you a hand. He was right, Bahamut not only isn't responding, but his sword just got a lot heavier, I could barely lift it. I looked on as Angulo stepped on top of my Starfox sword and smirked.

"And to get rid of another toy," he smirked and kicked the sword straight into the lava, disintegrating it into nothingness within mere seconds. There was no salvaging it now.

"N-no," I muttered fruitlessly, that sword was a special gift, a special memento from my closest pals on this system. I was shaken, and growled angrily as I got up and flung myself to him. It was to no avail though, he swiped my blade away from my face and punched me hard in the jaw, launching me several feet and flat onto my back. I couldn't move once again.

This was it, I was down literally to my last pieces of life, my sword gone and Bahamut completely cut off from me, there was nothing left to do. Angulo approached me slowly, sword held in one hand, ready to finish the job.

"I must congratulate you Ryan," he said, "you have managed to push me past my own limits, that's quite an accomplishment. But it seems you aren't fit to save the galaxy after all. So, it must end here."

'End here?' I thought to myself, 'I can't, what will happen to the others?' I thought, another flash of memories pushing through my skull, showing all of my friends, and the happy times I shared here. I could feel all of that fading, Starfox, Starwolf, Zio, Adair, Tri, Kayrin, Vincent, Nevlamas, Nordic, and even, Angulo all disappearing in the light. I couldn't let it happen, I wouldn't, and as Angulo raised his blade for the final time, that's when it happened.

I felt a sudden surge of energy, and I was whisked away from his sword as it pierced the rock under me.

"What?!" Angulo shouted as he looked over at me. I had lost control of myself, but I was back up, kneeling, surrounded by a powerful gold aura, permeating between me and the silenced Bahamut sword. "Impossible." I don't know how to explain it, but somehow, I launched right toward him at speed faster than lightning, he blocked, only for me to launch the thrust upward, completely knocking him off balance in surprise.

"Augh!" Angulo shouted as he was a few feet off the ground now, but before he could react, my body backflipped right onto the ground behind him, and spun Bahamut back towards him. Just as his feet touched the ground, a loud piercing noise sounded and Angulo shouted greatly in pain. I remained in that position until the short burst of energy settled down.

"Huh?" It was as if I had no memory of what just happened, I was kneeling, holding my sword pointed behind me with something heavy leaning on it. I turned slowly to see what it was and gasped in surprise. There he was, Angulo, mouth hanging open, spasming greatly, blood pouring out of his mouth and down his whole body, even trailing down my sword, where I looked to see it plunged almost to the hilt straight through his heart.

"N-no way," I said, "how did I-?" I was interrupted by Angulo as he spoke hazely.

"R-ryan," he began, "y-you d-did i-it," He coughed as he dropped sword and collapsed, sliding right off the blade, blood pooling very quickly under him. I realized what I had done, somehow I had defeated him, but when I realized I had just struck down my teacher, a sudden wave of emotions hit me.

"A-Angulo," I replied, collapsing and dropping my sword, hurrying over to his side and turning, "w-what have I done?" Surprisingly, Angulo was still breathing, but only barely.

"Exactly what, you needed to," Angulo replied.

"I don't understand," I said.

"I'm sorry for deceiving you," he explained weakly, "but I needed to test you, to see if you really had what it took to defeat the Claxan and save the galaxy. Even though I'm really one of them, I wanted to stop them at all costs."

"B-but why go through all of this?" I asked.

"Because I can't defeat them, I was programmed and bound to their servitude until my soul fades. Even in death I was tied to them, but knew that I needed to stop Cougar."

"S-so you escaped and sought help," I said.

"That is correct," the pegasus nodded, "I found a soul guide who helped conspire against his teachings to help me escape back into the realm of the living, and from there I found you, the chosen."

"Chosen?" I asked.

"Yes," he continued, "you are the only one now who can truly defeat the Claxan. Now that you have inherited my power. You now possess inside yourself the key to defeating my friend.."

"You're friend... Do you mean?"

"Yes, Cougar," he said, "in our old life, he was my best friend, like a brother to me. When we fell to our fate, I had hoped to save him, the same way that you have just saved me. By killing me, you have successfully freed me from their control. Thank you so much R-ryan." Tears were welling up in my eyes as he explained this.

"B-but I," it was hard for me to explain, "I don't understand, any of this..."

"Y-you will in time," he said and reached down into his pocket, pulling out a small device and handing it to me. "Here, take this, it should shed some more light on the situation at hand." I looked at it through teary eyes in great confusion, I just couldn't register anything at the moment, the only thing my thoughts were focused on was the fact that one of the closest people to me is now dying in my hands.

"Is this... another file?" I asked.

"I leave the rest to you... Ryan..." He said weakly, "I must go now, back to the realm of death... to pay... for my... crimes."

"Wait!" I shouted, "Please don't go! I'm so sorry."

"I-I'm glad that I... Met you... Ryan... Never give... up..." His eyes then fully closed, and he went limp. When I saw what happened, I lost it, and let the tears flow freely.

"Angulo..." I sniffed, and through muffled breath I let out a cry, "ANGULOOOOO!!" My tears fell onto his lifeless body, as I just held it there, holding him close in a tight embrace, not wanting to let him go yet. None of this made sense, even though I hold the next set of answers in my hand now, it didn't matter. I wasn't ready to say goodbye, even though he tried to kill me. I was too weak to think now, too weak to keep fighting. I just wanted it to stop already. Too many lives have been lost in this fight already. I then saw a bright light, and Angulo's body get lighter. I watched as his body quickly faded into nothingness, leaving only me and the Bahamut sword in a bloody mess. I picked the sword weakly with my right hand and held it up as I heard another skirmish nearby. I was too weak to fight but decided to investigate it anyway.

I walked over a nearby hill slowly, still very winded from the conversation, but surprisingly still able to move, even with the injuries I sustained. I wasn't looking forward to what I was about to see. Right in front of me in the middle of an inland were Fox, Falco, Leon, and Wolf all in the middle of a brutal free for all. All four of them looked exhausted and in bad shape, but were still going at it.

I had about lost it, the Claxan were making a mess of this whole place, and they were fighting each other? I had turned to my right near a set of stairs where I saw Panther and Krystal heading our way, but that didn't stop me from losing my cool at this point.

"STOP THIS FIGHTING RIGHT NOW!" I yelled at the top of my lungs. Everyone stopped where they were, and faced me, surprised at my bloody presence.

"Ryan?" Fox looked on confused.

"It's not what it looks like," Wolf began.

"Like hell it is!" I spoke over him, limping down the hill, keeping a firm grip on Bahamut as I did. "The enemy made swiss cheese out of this place, and you're busy picking a fight with each other? What the hell is wrong with you? Lives have been lost here. Lives that could have avoided being lost, all because of this senseless fighting."

"Ryan let us explain," Falco began, but I interrupted again in my anger.

"I don't want to hear it right now," I huffed, "I'm too angry, too confused, too heartbroken. I can't believe you guys. If you can't find a way to get along and face our real enemy, then I don't want anything to do with you."

"Ryan-" Panther began.

"I'm just sick of all this fighting," I interrupted, "I just want this to end already. I'm done, I'm DONE with this fighting. I QUIT!" I raised Bahamut and slammed the blade onto the ground; I watched it skid towards the other mercenaries. I couldn't take it anymore at this rate, I just wanted out. So I ran, pushing between Panther and Krystal as they approached, running up the stairs. I cried through my physical and emotional pain on the way up, overtaken by the events that took place here. I hurried up to the hangar bay where all my fighting here started, until exhaustion finally caught up with me and I collapsed.

"Damn it," I said quietly to myself, emotions and tears blinding me, as I could feel a ship landing nearby. Whether it was backup or the enemy, it didn't matter to me anymore, I was too tired to keep fighting. Before I knew it, I had passed out before I could Nordic's footsteps approaching me.

***

During the time of the MacBeth incident, Cougar was approached by a Rottweiler smacking his fists together.

"Mayson," Cougar said, "To what do I owe this pleasant surprise?"

"Send me in there big guy," He gave a toothy grin, "I'm ready to smack the human around for a little while."

"You'll do no such thing," Cougar said, "Angulo is there right where I want him, you will standby and wait further instructions."

"Oh come on," Mayson complained, "I want to be the one who finished the little bitch off."

"You might get your chance if he fails, but you know Angulo's power.. Right?" He was suddenly stern with his voice, which made the canine straighten up really quickly.

"Y-yes sir, I'll wait."

"Good," Cougar said, "Dismissed." The canine walked off out of the room just as Draxor came in.

"Everything went as planned sir," the dragon said, "I even got more entertainment than I had hoped for."

"Excellent," Cougar said, "although I have to admit I am a bit surprised. Ryan actually managed to defeat Angulo."

"That's true," Draxor agreed, "However, a couple things bother me about it."

"It's about that mysterious power Ryan used isn't it?"

"How did you know?" the dragon asked.

"Simple, it's why Angulo brought Gungho with him on his initial run, to unlock Ryan's power of Limit Breaking within him, a Kamikaze power that unleashes in his most desperate hour."

"But Angulo wouldn't have let Gungho be defeated by Ryan... Unless he wanted Ryan to kill him."

"Exactly," Cougar said, "it seemed that Angulo has been controlling the game with invisible strings, even now that he's out of the picture for good. He's given Ryan the keys he needs to start turning the tables." He then gave a calm chuckle, as if expecting these events to occur.

"What should we do?" Draxor asked, "what will the Superior say? Should we destroy Ryan now before he has a chance to master his new powers?"

"For now, we will do nothing, but wait and observe, only moving when necessary," Cougar replied, "everything is how I had planned it would be, for better or for worse. Neither Ryan nor the Superior are anything for me to worry about, as I've already taken measures to ensure our victory."

"What do you mean?" Draxor asked.

"Simple, that mission I sent Ryan's Replica on is of upmost importance, and I have high confidence he will succeed, in bringing back an even greater power."

"I still don't get it, where did you send him?" Cougar smiled at the question.

"Draxor, did you know that Ryan Lewis has a twin brother?"