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I continued following him until I lost sight of the ship. By the time I did I was already inside Venom's orbit. It wasn't a very pleasant planet by the look of things. I had read enough that had gone on here in the past. Particularly Andross with his devious plans. I followed the given coordinates exactly for a good fifteen minutes until I found our landing spot. Zio didn't say anything the whole time. I was pretty sure that he didn't have much to say, and I was determined to find out who this new guy was. I landed carefully and switched the ship off, opening the hatch so I could get out, and Zio followed suit quickly. I gave a long deserved stretch before looking around the surroundings, It was all like a barren wasteland, there was some yellow green plants spread around, but I paid no attention to it as I looked around the expanses of cliffs that surrounded us, spanning up several hundred feet above our position, and even more below. There was a lot of room to move and walk around though, which I was thankful for, considering a slight fear of heights that I have. I looked beyond the trail instructed by the stranger and began walking, only to stop for a second remembering Zio.

"Right," I said to myself before reaching into my pants pocket to pull out the ignition key, and tossing it to Zio.

"If you get into any trouble," I began, "take off without me. Other than that, just stay with the ship." Zio looked at the key for a moment before nodding at me.

"Just be very alert and focused Ryan," Zio spoke sharply, "okay?" I nodded at him and walked off, turning around the corner and continuing along the trail that I was meant to follow. The trail expanded longer than I thought, but I wouldn't rest until I found out what was going on. After another fifteen minutes of walking, the trail expanded to one large overview. The coordinates had matched exactly, and I peered over the cliff to see what it was. What I saw was probably the remains of an old base. I was quite a distance from it, but it was easy to tell that it was abandoned and destroyed.

'Was this what he brought me here for?' I thought for a moment, 'is this where he had led me?' I thought for a moment more and decided to check it out. I followed the next trail down the cliff and in another ten minutes, I reached the entrance of the base. It was even more trashed up close. Broken metal, glass, and robot parts scattered around the barren land. The deep orange atmosphere adding to the effect that no one was living in the general area. I walked inside and took a deep look around the entrance. It compared to outside was even more trashed. It was dark with very few working lights, many computers and tech stuff shooting sparks every now and then to signify that it was badly destroyed. The only thing that really held up in this place was the metal expanse and outline of the walls. After a little while I continued inside to explore. As I did I started hearing a noise. Like something was colliding against metal, I thought it was my footsteps, it was only until after another minute or two could I pick up the noise. It was gunshots, and not ones from blasters, it sounded metal, like a rifle or something back on Earth.

"Great," I said to myself, "this guy has got a gun." I followed the noise for bit until it died down once more. If this guy was playing hide and seek he was doing a very good job at it. I found another large room after another minute. It was empty but not that trashed, and it also didn't look like the other rooms. The middle was carpeted in a deep green that led to a large flight of stairs leading up a floor. A balcony was about 20 feet over my own head, supported by numerous pillars circling the room. I took some small careful steps around, it was way too quiet in this room and with the hairs standing up on the back of my neck I could tell easily that somebody else was in the room.

My heart started beating more rapidly as I looked around, stifling my breath so I didn't make a sound. Some thing else caught my attention, I looked down closely suspecting the worst. A bright red dot had shone right on my left breast, and in quick panic I dived behind the nearest pillar. Just like that I heard a loud shot and could feel a bullet stick into the pillar. As I heard a very deep laugh I could tell exactly what he had.

"A sniper," I said to myself before the voice from before cut me off.

"Cougar was right," he said, "you are quick on your feet. Now I actually have to try this time to kill somebody. You should consider yourself worthy to be killed by me, the galaxy's greatest marksman."

'Vincent's better,' I thought to myself, "Who are you?" I asked.

"Why don't you look for yourself?" he asked.

"I don't think so," I said back. I knew that he had the sniper rifle with him, it's going to be even harder than I thought it would be.

"Wise choice my young friend," right on que I heard another gunshot fly right past my left ear, "but it's not good enough. I can see you right through that pillar. I can see your body heat, and through objects, it's pointless to hide." This guy I knew now that he had the ability of different visions. One very worthy to the Claxan I decided and stood up, but not leaving the pillar. I closed my eyes and stood silent. I could hear very silent footsteps coming from the stairs. I knew he was converging on my position, and the only weapon I could really use against him is my own hearing.

"I feel like playing a little game," the man said again, "a nice little game of kill the enemy." It was then that I remembered a key question to ask.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked him.

"Why else?" he asked in reply, "to show you the remains of a glorious empire. One powerful ambitious dream that was to become reality. Everything about it was perfect, to mold and bend Corneria to his will. All of that was ruined by one thing." I heard another gunshot before he continued. "The mother fucken Star Fox team."

"Why do you care about this place so much?" I asked, "you're a Claxan aren't you?" I heard him laugh loudly before he spoke again.

"Of course I am," he said, "but the rest of them are all idiots. They had no true sense of power unlike my dear old friend Andross." The name cut through my mind quickly. Did this guy really know Andross? Are there more of his colleages and friends within the Claxan. I had to find out, but now that I know something new I wasn't going to just give this guy the slip.

"So this is one of Andross's old bases," I stated.

"Correct," he said back, "now that you know I thought it fitting to give Andross a nice gift of killing a Star Fox member within his remembrance."

'So that's why that bastard brought me hear.' I thought as I silently reached for my twin blasters. There was only one way now that he had me cornered for one of us to get out alive. One would have to kill the other. I had another thought cross my mind remebering what Panther said about numbers.

"What is your number?" I asked him. He gave a laugh before he spoke.

"I don't see why I shouldn't tell you," he said, "the number is 17. Since you'll die soon I'll tell you that my name is Zack." That was enough info and I closed my eyes to figure out his position, based on the was his voice came from, he was about 20 feet behind me, deirectly behind me. With my heart racing I bolted out of the pillar and faced him, firing ever so rapidly as I hid behind the next pillar. He gave a laugh as I did.

"Desperate are we?" he was wrong, I got a good look at him as I did. He was quite a tall lion. His gold fur complemented by a powerul looking mane. I spent a good few seconds thinking about how to approach the situation. Before I could do anything though I felt both blasters get shot right out of my hand. I turned to where the shot was to see Zack holding the rifle with great ease. Just short of panic I summoned by ray shield just as he fired again and watched the bullet disolve into the shield. I stood up again and charged, turning on the accelerator as I kept the shield up, charging right into the lion at a quick speed and knocking him into the wall. I stopped both techs and pulled out my sword and swung the rifle away as he tried to recover.

"Sneaky Bastard," he said before pulling a machete out of nowhere and swung right at me. It was on as I quickly defended myself with the blade. We quickly got to the middle of the room as the blades went flying, expertly smacking into one another as the blades drew each other from the owner's body parts. Zack was clearly a good fighter with the blade, but I had now spent some serious time practicing with the blade and was nowhere near being a slouch. We continued circling around the room swinging our blades against each other, before Zack caught me with a spin kick to the stomach. I backed up a bit to the stairs as he smiled and charged me again. I backed up more as he continued to barrage me with his attacks, going all the way up the balcony, where the fight continued.

My adreniline was pumping through me faster than a fire hose, and I tried my best to rationally focus myself from the aggressive attacker. I deflected another blow as I backed some more and only by a fluke did I deflect a second one right by my leg. I tried to swing low at his feet, which he jumped to avoid. As he did in midair I took advantage with a low kick right to his knees. The kick connected clean on target and he landed square on his back. I held my ground and in a split second changed into the aggressor. I swung at him as he staggered up to his feet to dodge the blow. Now I was the one assaulting him, and I did so with much vigor. All he could do was back up as I threw each powerful blow after him. After deflecting another blow he counter attacked me and swiped right at me, which I quickly sidestepped. The blow dug right through a rail supporting the over look of the balcony. I quickly spotted this as a perfect opportunity and jump kicked him right in the back. This caught him off guard and sent him over the railing falling hard into the ground. I looked over for a second and heard him groan a bit as he tried to get up. I took a deep breath and jumped down after him. I aimed the jump right on top of him, but he was ready and as soon as I landed on him he grabbed me quickly and slammed me onto the ground hard, and he even got on top of me as I struggled and he pinned my arms down. I looked up at him angrily as I tried to fight off his weight.

"Now I've got my prey," he said licking his lips and pulled out his machete again, "now it's time to die pathetic human." I wasn't ready to just give up and die, and with a huge heave I gave him a kick right where I needed to as it crashed hard into his nuts. He gave a huge yelp of pain and I landed a few quick punches right at his face and neck and pushed him off of me. As I got up I gave a quick round house across his face and dived for my sword. As I turned he quickly ran the other way, and I knew instantly what he was going for. With a quick dash I ran over to my basters and picked up one of them, charging it to full blast and turning around to see him pick his up and fired. Of all of the times to miss, this was now one of them as the blast grazed his shoulder. I quickly picked up the other one as he turned to face me. His look was one of complete and utter hatred. I quickly ran as I shot round after rounds at him, and he was not amused. With a sudden burst of speed he charged right at me, he had an accelerator also. He reached around and ripped off his shirt, revealing his very bulky build as he charged with his rifle in hand. All I could do was run quickly as I desperately tried to fire at him. Each blast that hit him left burn marks in his skin, but he did not show many signs of slowing down. We were soon back up on the balcony for a second time as he charged and he aimed right at me. I quickly dived as he fired. The blast hitting farther away than I had anticipated. I continued running and thought for a moment, he was angry and not doing anything rational enough. I then quickly spotted nearby a chain that was tied to a nearby railing. It was risky but I took the long chain in my hand and swung down it to the first floor again.

"You're not getting away from me you little shit head," Zack yelled as I swung down. I took a deep breath and heaved my body upside down on the chain which violently swinged. I aimed my blaster upwards and charged it up to full blast. I held my position as I swung myself into Zack's view and saw him aim right at me. Time seemed to have slowed down dramatically as I picked the time to shoot, it was either hit or die. I quickly let go the trigger and the blast fired as Zack shot himself. I nearly fell into shock as I let go of the chain and fell onto my back, the pain from the landing was quite large. I staggered to get myself up as I heard a large thump next to me. I looked on as I saw Zack lying square on his back. It took me a second to realize what had happened. I felt around my body to see that he had missed, but as I looked on the blood oozing out of his forehead had shown that I hit him dead on. He was not moving, and as I checked him, he wasn't breathing either. I nearly collapsed while I panted in relief. I had survived a horrifying battle, and even more I killed off a Claxan member. I spent a good minute before I got up and retrieved my stuff. Once I did I heard someone laugh softly. I turned around looking for the source, and realized shortly that it was Zack. He was standing on his feet laughing high into the ceiling. I couldn't believe that he was still alive. Even more so that his eyes were glowing a bright red, the pupils had dissolved though. After he stopped his maniacle laughing he spoke, but his voice was as if he was two people speaking at the same time.

"Now you really have impressed me Ryan," he said, "I must say that I didn't expect much less."

"How can you do that?" I asked.

"Just another one of my powers," he said, "you should know at least a little about the extent of my power. Especially from the display of power you saw from destroying the president's office."

"Cougar," I said bluntly.

"Correct," Cougar said through Zack, "I can control and use dead bodies for as long as their soul remains tied to this dimension. However a certain person likes to speed up the process in which they are put to their proper place."

'Jovey Jadestar,' I thought to myself.

"But enough of that," he said again, "time for another test. I suggest a test of speed. Time limit, 3 minutes." After that Zack's eyes returned to normal and he collapsed. I ran over to him to check him again. He was dead for sure this time, and after that I saw a device over his neck like a necklace. I heard a series of rhythmic beepings and checked them. A set of numbers started counting down from about 2:21. He was serious, I only had less than three minutes to get the hell out of there. I panicked and bolted out of the place, running through hallway after hallway trying to remember where the entrance is. I had the timer counting down into my head, and time for sure was against me. There was no way I could get out of the range of the explosion in time.

'I'm screwed,' I kept repeating into my head as I ran. 45 seconds remaining, and I still hadn't found the entrance. 30 seconds counted down just as I found the main lobby and bolted for the door. 18 seconds as I just got out of the door. And I sprinted my uneven breath gasping as I tried to get away from the explosion. 7 seconds and it was over, I could tell that I wasn't quick enough to get away from the explosion.

'This is it,' I shouted in my head, before another voice pierced it for me.

'Don't give up,' I was caught off guard from the voice as I was swept off of my feet just as the explosion occurred. I could feel myself get carried away from the blast. I could feel the burning debris behind me as I was continuously carried farther away from the explosion, until it finally stopped gaining distance. I felt my feet softly touch the top of the cliff overlooking the base. A huge cloud of smoke covering the place as it formed the shape of a mushroom. I realized that someone had saved me after a few seconds and turned to see that it was none other than Jovey.

"I sensed that you were in danger," Jovey said, "so I came to help. You have a strong spirit, that is why I found you so quickly."

"I'm glad you did," I said, "this will be one hell of a story to tell the others."

"Then let's go," Jovey said, "Zio is expecting you." I nodded and with a flash we hurried to where the ship was. Once I was back I saw Zio rush out of the ship and nearly tackled me in a hug.

"I saw that explosion and thought the worst had happened," Zio said.

"I'm perfectly fine," I said, "let's get back to the Great Fox." He nodded and we got into our respective seats. As we did I turned to Jovey.

"Do you have a way out of here?" I asked.

"I will meet you back at the Great Fox," he said and then just dissappeared. I shut the hatch and took off, hailing full speed back into space. I turned on the tracker which led me to the Great Fox in just a good short minute. They obviously spotted me and opened up the hangar bay to let me in. I quickly parked the ship inside and got out of it, then helped Zio out it. There were more ships around, which I could tell was everyone else's ships that came with me to find Fox and the others. I quickly took off to the bridge to find that everyone was waiting for us there. And nearly everyone gave us cheers.

"Alright Ryan," General Pepper spoke sternly, "time to start explaining."

"We're listening," Fara said. The Star Fox team and the others were gathered around and Zio joined the crowd, and I spotted Jovey waiting patiently in the crowd as well. I nodded and explained everything that happened, not leaving out a single detail about Zack and the fight. Once I was done Fox spoke.

"One down, Twenty-two to go."

"This battle won't be easy," Falco said.

"The next discussion is private," Fara stated, "I only want Star Fox and Jovey here to remain." The rest of my rescue group took off, they we're obviously tired from all of the action, so while I let them sleep, we continued our discussion.

"Jovey here came to us not too long ago," Krystal said to me, "he said that he was going to help you because he sensed that you were in trouble."

"Because of that," Fara continued, "we have a joint mission for you, Jovey, and the rest of the Star Fox team." I had a feeling that this could only get more interesting as I continued to listen in.

"There are a few great mercenaries out there that have gone MIA," Pepper explained, "the mission is simple. Jovey will sense for the mercenaries, and you guys shall go for them. There is a bonus for any Claxan members eliminated. Thanks to Ryan, our soldiers have now gotten some confidence over the Claxan. They are tough, but they ain't invincible."

"Understood," we all saluted General Pepper and went straight to work. General Pepper left the room to get some rest. Krystal, Falco, Peppy, and Slippy followed suit, leaving me, Jovey, Fox, and Fara to work.

"So where to first?" Fox asked

"The nearest place I sense it one on Katina," Jovey said.

"Then Katina we go," Fara ordered and we took off at break neck speed towards planet Katina.

"Number 17 has been eliminated," Cougar said to the rest of the present members. Draxor, Arxgon, Roxanne, Natoya, and Mayson were gathered there with a couple other cloaked members.

"That weakling deserved to die," Mayson said, "what kind of a lame power is multivision anyway?"

"Regardless," Draxor said, "this is the absolute first time a Claxan member has died."

"What shall we do now?" Arxgon asked while swinging his axe around.

"Time to put you into action," Cougar said pointing to a particularly short figure hidden in his hood, "number 22, Ryan is currently heading for Katina. Eliminate him and you shall be greatly rewarded." The figured stepped forward and gave a snarling chuckle.

"It shall be done," he snorted and left the room to make preparations for planet Katina.

"You do realize that weakling is even weaker than Zack was," Natoya explained.

"Of course I do," Cougar said, "we're getting all of the dead weight off of the Claxan right now. We always should know that a team is always as strong as it's weakest link."

"So the more we shorten the weaker players," Roxanne said playfully, "the stronger we actually are."

"A gambit," the other hooded figure spoke, "set up by an incredibly skilled opponent."

"I didn't think you talked," Mayson said at the figure who went silent yet again.

"How correct you are," Cougar said, "number 24."