Hey, everybody! Sorry about the late chapter upload. My personal life has been keeping me pretty busy lately. Anyway, like it was told in the last chapter, I'm giving the Elites an overhaul on some of their clothes, as well as their weaponry. Eon's not going to be changed, though. I was thinking about having evil OCs to help out in the fourth boss fight, but I decided to scrap that idea. Sorry to those who are disappointed. I thought that it would be a good idea at first, but I guess I was just getting a bit carried away. Also, if you want to see the new weapon upgrades for Rick and Eon and the weapon given to Omega, look up the weapon names on Deviantart or Google. You should find them. And I'd like to thank you guys for voting on the poll. I really appreciate it.

And now, without further ado... Let the next chapter begin!

Chapter 14:A Declaration of War

(No P.O.V.)

"Guys, hold on a sec!"

The group instantly turned around before going through the door to see Gary holding all of the team's weapons.

"I know that we're in a rush, but don't you guys want to see the new gear that I made for you?" He asked them.

Rick and the others soon swamped him and started snatching all of the weapons out of his hands. Rick decided to take a look at his newest weapon. It was a single-egded sword that had spikes of a yellow-colored steel chainsaw on one side, the blade on the other, and it had the revolver chambers placed on the second handle to it. On the other side of the blade, there was a name engraved into it. It read, "The Titanus Sword" on it. The sword was a bit smaller than his older versions and there was a small dial on the handle that had a set of numbers. He also noticed that when he grabbed it, the small razor-like openings near the sword began releasing smoke. But even with these new upgrades, Rick still had one complaint that he thought was important.

"Uh...Gary? There's only one blade here." Said Rick.

"Oh! Right! Sorry! I forgot to mention that. As you can see, i've been able to add some new features to your weapon. I thought that you might've needed to lighten your load, so I gave it a special brainwave detector so that it'll float and respond to your commands. It's like the AI that I installed in Greta's tomahawks. Now they can fuse into a single sword and split up, too! Go ahead. Give it a try."

"Ok... How do I do it?"

"Just concentrate the way you did with your powers."

When he released the sword, he noticed that it began to float in mid air. Probably due to the upgrades that Gary had made. As Rick focused on the blade, it became covered in a very bright light. It soon split itself into at least two swords. One sword for each arm. He immediately wanted to see how they would feel and he made no hesitation to grab them all at once. They were both incredibly light and easy to swing.

"Whoa... This is badass!"

"I'm glad you like it. You see that dial there near the handle? That's an indicator to the power levels of the blades that you're using. It might be best for you to start off at 2 since you're already adept at using two blades at a time. The amount of blades aren't what you need to worry about, it how much power that you're going to use that you need to focus on. Just be careful when using the sixth level. Everyone else, take a look at the rest your stuff as well. I think that you'll all be very happy with the new modifications that I've made."

Eon took a look at his new dagger. It was called "Steel Apocalypse Trelek." The dagger's handle was jet black and it had small, red stripes. There was a small carbon spike going along the middle, it was made out of titanium, and there were small blades on the sides. Like his old dagger, he was able to duplicate it and use the same powers as before. The only difference was that it was sharper than his old one.

Although his weapon didn't look too different, Trevor accidentally pressed a new button on the handle of his blade and it launched a small grenade from the flat top that most military soldiers would see from firing a War Machine like from Black Ops 2. Instead of blasting a giant hole into Flurrie's house, the grenade released a blast of liquid nitrogen on impact onto the wall that instantly froze up, causing spikes of ice to extend towards the group. Trevor didn't seem to mind his newest upgrade as he only laughed in joy for its new upgrade.

"Oh yeah... I think I'm gonna really enjoy this..."

Greta's and Gary's weapons still seemed the same, but Gary only grinned after looking at his reflection in the shine that it made after he had cleaned it and put it on his back. Once the Elites had gotten their newest weapon upgrades, Gary soon started handing out new clothes for all of the Elites, except Eon and Rick. As everyone else had changed their clothes, they all examined each other. Trevor had put on a light blue, long-sleeved hoodie with a picture of ice crystals on the back of it. On the front, there was a giant snowflake. He was wearing navy blue jeans, and he had a pair of dark blue sneakers for shoes. He was also given a sash that was held around his torso, holding the frost grenades for his sword. Trevor's face was covered with a large blue scarf and he had a knit cap that was covering his eyes.

Greta had on an orange, long-sleeved shirt that was accompanied by a pair of black jeans that were hugging her lower body. Her shoes were orange with green accents and she had a gold bracelet on her left wrist. Gary's new clothes consisted of a pair of tan cargo pants with a utility belt that held a .44 Magnum revolver pistol and some of his tools, such as a pair of smaller wrenches, a bolt gun, and a drill. He had on a black, t-shirt with short sleeves. He still had his goggles on his head, and he was wearing a pair of special combat boots.

"Alright. Now that we've gotten everything in order, let's head for the Great Tree. Eon? If you would?" Asked Rick as everyone was finished preparing.

Eon simply nodded and clapped his hands together. He teleported everyone in the same fashion as before and brought them all to the tree's base in no time flat. Punio took the moment to his advantage and brought Flurrie up to the area where he believed that the secret entrance was. As she exhaled, a strong gust of wind was blowing away a large amount of paper that seemed to have been covering something. Once it was blown away, Punio exclaimed, "That's the secret entrance! We can finally get inside! Here I gooooooo!"

Punio made no hesitation to rush into the passage, while the others just watched and waited. As they all examined the passage, it had a large sign that was placed over the hole that said "SECRET PASSAGE" written on it in bold. Gary just had a sweat drop on his head as he crossed his arms and brought down his head saying, "Oh, you've have GOT to be fucking kidding me."

"Ah, bitch about it later." Said Rick as he rolled his eyes.

"Aren't Punies just the most precious little things? Mario, I feel I must ask... Did you know that I used to be a rather famous actress? I was a diva of the stage! I was known as Madam Flurrie the world over... But...the filthy outside the spotlight repelled me. So I came to the woods. And soon enough, I glimpsed the beauty of these Punies and their pure little hearts... It reminded me of my own innocence as an actress. And that made me realize... I shall ever love the stage! I must feel the spotlight shine on me again! I MUST! As you can see, these dear little Punies helped me find my true self... That's why I must help them however I can before I go on my own adventures." Flurrie explained.

"You sound like you really care about them, Flurrie." Said Gary.

"Guys! Can you hear me?"

The group turned to see the metal door open up to reveal Punio.

"Check it out! I was able to open it from the inside! C'mon! Over here!"

"The time has come to repay my debt to the Punies. Come along, darlings!"

As the group went inside the tree, they were in both shock and awe when they observed the entire tree from within. There were several statues that had plenty of symbols that were in another language.

"Holy damn, this place is amazing. It sure is WAY bigger on the inside!" Said Rick.

"That's just putting mildly. I didn't even think a tree like this could exist! And look at the walls! You can see the water flowing inside!" Replied Trevor.

The ice elite was right. Within the black and white bark of the tree was the water that flowed through every last area of the tree. Flame only hissed at this fact and hid behind Rick.

"What's up, Flame?" He asked.

"Master... I'm a fire elemental. I...I REALLY don't like water..." Flame said timidly.

"Don't worry, little one. I'll protect you."

"Uh... Hmmm? Weird... Normally, everyone's right here... What the hay? Hey! Elder! Everybody! Come out! HELLLLLOOOOOO?" Punio yelled out.

"I sense someone approaching." Said Eon.

Like he claimed, two soldiers, the same ones that Rick had originally seen in Rogueport walked through another metal door like the one outside and approached them, but kept their distance.

"Wha!? Who are YOU guys?! How did you get in here?" Asked the one on the left.

"Whoa! Dude! Is that... Isn't he that Mario guy?" Asked the right one.

"WHAAAAAAT?! He IS? We'd better get him, then!"

"But, dude, Lord Crump told us to tell him IMMEDIATELY if we found Mario, remember?"

"You idiot! Use your head! If we capture him, we'll get all the credit, man! Duhhh!"

"Oh yeah... Right on. Let's rock this chump!"

"One, two, three...BREAK!"

(CLICK)

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, dick heads." Said Rick.

Once the two X-Nauts turned their attention to him, they were both greeted with Rick holding two Desert Eagles, Trevor on Rick's right, aiming his combo gun at the right one, and Gary aiming his Magnum at the left one.

"Come on, guys. There's 13 of us and only 2 of you. You know how this is gonna end." Said Rick with a smirk on his face.

They both only backed up to the door, starting to show signs of fear until the left one started to whistle. In the instant he did, at least 20 X-Nauts charged through the door, all pulling out red and white rifles simultaneously. At that moment, they all fired lasers at the heroes, prompting Trevor to be the first one to act.

"GLACIER WALL!"

Trevor raised his arms and a blast of water crashed out from the wall, quickly freezing over in front of them and blocking the barrage of enemy fire.

"Damn it! When the hell did they get THAT kind of tech!?" Rick said in frustration.

"That's not just ANY kind of tech... Those are MY damn laser rifles!" Gary exclaimed.

"Wait, what?! But how did they get 'em!?"

"I HAVE NO CLUE!"

"GAAAHH! GODDAMN IT!" Rick yelled as some of the lasers began making holes in the wall of ice, nearly hitting him.

"Uhhhh... Guys? I can't keep this up forever!"

"20 seconds until the wall falls, you guys! Whatever you're gonna do, you'd better do it now!" Gary said, typing on a keyboard on his right arm.

With little time to spare, Rick grabbed the handle of his sword and got close to Trevor and Eon.

"Eon, listen, once the shield falls, I'll need you to bring up a second one when I give the signal. I'll charge in and do the rest."

"What!? Bu-"

"JUST TRUST ME!" Rick said cutting off Trevor's objection.

"10 seconds until the shield fails, you guys!"

Rick got into a running stance, facing the ice as if he was ready to crash right through it.

"5..."

"Get ready!"

"4..."

"Rick! What're you doing!?" Yelled Hooktail.

"3..."

"What I have to do."

"2..."

"Protect my friends."

"1..."

"On my mark..."

"0!"

"NOW!"

Once the signal was given, the ice instantly liquified, giving Rick the moment he needed to charge in. His friends ducked from the lasers as he dashed and performed a forward dodge roll into the ground, allowing him to gain some momentum to execute his plan and allowing Eon to create a kinetic barrier. Rick blasted off with an enormous rush of speed, deflecting and knocking away all of the lasers that were about to hit him.

"SHIFT!"

As if time was slowing down around him, everything became black and white as he appeared next to all of the X-Nauts, except the first two that he encountered in the tree, slashing away at them with an incredible level of agility and leaving small trails of blood. When he reappeared in front of the first two, he had sheathed his blade at the same moment he had stopped using Shift. The moment it clicked, body parts were flying from the soldiers and blood was gushing from their wounds, landing on both the floor and him as they yelled their lungs out in agony from Rick's ruthless combo until they began to pass out from blood loss. He glared at the two unharmed X-Nauts with the eyes of a killer and teleported in front of them, pulling out his pistols and aiming for their heads.

"Last chance to run before you get capped, assholes. Your choice." He said in a nonchalant tone, as if he could care less about what happens to them.

"Dude, maybe reporting back to Lord Crump isn't such a bad idea, after all!" Said the right one as they ran for the door and locked it behind them.

"Yeah, that's right! Run, ya little shits!" Rick said tauntingly.

Everyone except the elites and Punio were in a state of fear as they witnessed the Alpha's destructive capabilities in combat. Punio was in amazement as he complimented Rick on his quick dispatchment of the enemy forces.

"Pretty slick work, handling those guys, Rick! Seriously, way to go! But the question remains... Where did everybody go? What could possibly make everyone leave?"

"Dunno. Eon, get rid of the bodies. We can't just leave them there." Rick said in a leader-like tone.

"You are aware that by letting those two go, you'll be letting them alert the entire tree of our presence, correct?" Asked Eon.

"Do I look like I give a fuck? With powers like ours, those X-Naut idiots are just cannon fodder to us. Now, can you please do what I asked?" Replied Rick.

Eon only nodded and teleported the bodies to another area. Rick decided not to ask since he could care less about the guys that he killed. Everyone looked around for a bit until Punio saw something behind one of the statues.

"Finally, SOMEBODY shows up! What're you doing hiding back there? Come out, for Pete's sake! I found us some powerful allies!" Said Punio to one of the other Punies.

He started dragging one of them over to the group, trying to show them that there was nothing to fear.

"They're... They're huge!" Said the Punie in front of them.

"Uh... Are you sure your huge friends won't try to eat us?" Said another still hiding.

"Huh? Hey! Who's that? Who else is back there?" Asked Punio.

Soon, more and more Punies started peeking from behind the statues and totems, staring at them with wary gazes and muttering to each other about the heroes and that they looked like possible threats.

"Now, don't worry, everyone. This is Rick and Mario, and they're our friends. They're here to help! All those bad guys? They'll crush every one of them, just like those last goons." Punio said assuringly with full confidence.

After hearing that, the hidden Punies revealed themselves to the team, still being careful, but with small glimmers of hope in their eyes.

"Is this it? There are so few... Well, we have to make do! Let me formally introduce... Rick and Mario..."

"WAIT!" Said an unknown voice.

Another Punies came out from behind the statues, however, this one was more chubby than the rest.

"How do we really know if these burly fellows are our allies? They might be with the X-Nauts!"

"Puniper! What're you saying? They're not with them! Listen, we can all fight alongside these guys and chase those goons out of here! We can take back our tree. We can take back our homes!"

"Hah! Big, bad Punio... Listen to yourself! Trying to sound all important-like! You have no idea of the kind of troubles we've been through while you were gone!" Said Puniper.

"What? What are you talking about, Puniper? ...And why are there so few of you here, anyway? What happened to everyone?"

"Well, they've been captured...by those goons! The elder... Everybody... Including... Your sister!"

"WHAT?! PETUNI?! Tell me it isn't so!"

"Oh, it's so, all right! She was taken off somewhere with the rest of them! They said it was because we wouldn't tell them where to find some Crystal thing. We told them we'd never heard of it."

"Oh, poor Petuni... Well, that absolutely tears it! We've all got to go look for them right away!"

"What are you saying, Punio? We can't do anything to those giant goons! Besides, they aren't alone. The cursed Jabbi tribe is in league with them. They're hoping to make this tree their own once we've all been driven from it. This is it for us. The end! And adding this band of misfits to our ranks won't help a bit!"

"How can you say that? You can't know that! We HAVE to try! Don't you see? Think about it! If we all get together we can take care of any stupid Jabbies! So, who's with me, huh? Come on, everyone! Let's pool our strength!"

"Hah! Punio, Punio, Punio... You'll have to convince me...because I think you're nuts."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Tell you what: you, the titan, and Mr. Mustache here can get the revolution started! If you can free our friends who got locked up somewhere in the tree...then I'll join your little crusade! Hah! Like that'll ever happen! Please!"

"Fine! We'll show you! Right, guys? Right? C'mon, follow me to glory! Let's go help them!"

And with that said, the group took the nearby warp pipe that was near the metal door on the far side of the room.

(No P.O.V.)

MEGATech Inc., Training Simulation Room, April 11, 2013, Friday, 7:58 A.M.

Hundreds of ruined Gladiator mechs and dead soldiers were scattered among the area as Omega stood in the middle of them in the center of the room. The metallic shells and bodies were either melted, blasted, ripped apart, or blown up. A final mech that was still standing charged right at her, full speed. With a blank, emotionless look or her face, she made no movements whatsoever. The drone tried to grab her, but without saying a move or even blinking, she disappeared from sight at the last second, forcing the mech to search for her.

Omega reappeared behind it, forcing the robot to attack once more. However, before it was able to strike again, the drone suddenly realized that it was beginning to fall apart from being sliced up. With one last look from its optical cameras (or its eyes, to be more clear), it noticed that she was holding a large claymore in her right hand. It was a 7 foot long rectangular double-edged blade, and there were small letters on one of the sides that read, "Obsidian Titan Edge." The blade was dripping with a mix of both blood and oil. That was all the robot saw before the last of it was destroyed. Omega looked back with an ice cold stare, completely void of any emotions or mercy, knowing that she made a clean kill.

"Excellent work as always, Omega." Said Levins on the intercom.

"Thank you, Father." She replied in a monotone voice.

"LEVINS!" Said a familiar voice in an unpleasant tone.

The yelling came from General Fisher, who was wearing a long-sleeved jungle camo shirt that was decorated with badges on his left side with a matching pair of pants, and a beret on his head with an eagle emblem on it. The right side of his pants had carried a holster for his gun, which was one of the new MEGATech models. It was the Olympus Armaments PL-709 Distressor Plasma Pistol with an under-barrel laser targeting guide. On his left side was a special combat knife that was marked with the initials C.R. on the sheath.

"I've been waitin' on a report from you for the last two days about the prime subject for Project Alpha!" Said the General in an angry tone.

"Sir, I assure you, we WILL capture him. Even with the casualties that we've earned from this endeavor, I feel confident that she can provide us with results." He said pointing to Omega on the training floor.

"Allow me to demonstrate who Evans will be dealing with this time." Said Levins as he turned his attention back to Omega.

"How do you feel, child? Are you feeling strong enough for the next wave?"

"Yes, Father."

"Very well, then. BEGIN THE 46TH WAVE! MAXIMUM DIFFICULTY!"

(Rick's P.O.V.)

The Great Tree, April 11, 2013, Friday, 10:58 A.M.

As we continued to move further into the tree, we ran into another group of X-Nauts along the way. There were probably about 8 of them and they were also with a few strange, floating robots that were shaped like the letter X. It was safe to say that they were working with them. As they fired, Trevor had put up another wall to protect us, which really granted me some comfort to know that he had more power. They kept shooting at the wall so much, that dust was being kicked up from the ground.

"HOLD YOUR FIRE! Did we get 'em?" Asked one of them.

"I don't know..." Said another in an unsure tone.

"MISSED, BITCHES!" I yelled out as I jumped out to attack them.

"Aw, damn it..." Said the first one before I knocked him and the rest of his buddies out with Shift.

After those guys were taken care of, we kept walking until I ended up tripping on something that was stuck in the ground.

"Ow! Oh, what the fuck! What the hell did I just... Wait... What is that?" I wondered as I dug the strange, glowing object out of the ground.

I brought it up to my face and in front of everyone else to examine it. It looked like a small, rainbow-colored box that could light up. It was like some kind of children's toy.

"NNNGGGH! AAAGGGGHHH!"

I felt it again. That same surge of pain that blasted through my head. Only this time, it was even worse than before. I began to feel more visions and images assaulting my mind as the pain began to grow. The images began showing me some things from within MEGATech. I started seeing entire rows of people in chambers. They were all stuck inside of those things like the woman that I saw from before. There was also a set of five warriors. I couldn't make out the silhouettes too well, but most of them looked native to this world. What really surprised me was the fact that the one in the middle had six arms like me! That wasn't all I saw. I began seeing the Diamond Star in a pitch black void that was filled by nothing but darkness.

"You must protect what you hold dear to your heart... Their ambitions shall help guide you to your destiny..." Said a familiar voice.

I soon came to realize that it was the Crystal Star that was talking to me the whole time. It immediately shattered itself and began putting all of its shard back together in a new order. The star soon began taking the shape of one of my friends. It began to like exactly like Goombella, as if she was made out of diamonds.

"Who are you?! What do you want from me!?" I yelled out to the fake Goombella.

"You shall find out soon, Child of Vukan..."

"WAIT! T-That's...!"

Before I could finish, the vision disappeared almost immediately and I was dragged back to reality in a flash of light. I opened my eyes to see myself on the floor in a fetal position and holding my head.

"Another headache?" Asked Greta.

"Yeah... This one felt way more intense than the others." I said slightly panting.

"Are you ok?" Asked Gary.

"Yeah, I just felt like a weird flash...urgh...ah!" I said with my head still hurting.

"The fuck was that?" Asked Trevor.

"Dude, I don't even have a freaking clue. I'm sure that this thing was definitely the cause of it, though. It reminds me of the Thousand-Year Door. I mean, just look at it! All of these weird markings, patterns, and colors, and they even have a star on each side! What is this thing?" I replied.

Gary approached the cube and used a small green beam on the cube. I didn't have a clue as to what he was doing, but I was still too mesmerized by the object to care. I felt as if there was a heartbeat coming from the cube. It felt as if...it was alive.

"You may be right, Evans." Said Gary.

"Huh?"

"This little cube seems to carry a carbon dating that goes back about a whole millennium! I'm also detecting a small level of power emanating from it. Whatever it is, it's pretty powerful. Hold on to it. Something tells me that we're gonna need it."

"Whatever you say, bro."

I tossed it into my backpack and kept advancing as we looked for the other Punies. I still felt a bit bothered by the cube, but I wasn't about to let that stop me. Still, whatever that fake Goombella said stuck to me, like friggin' glue.

"That name... How did she know that name?"

(No P.O.V.)

The Great Tree, Supply Room

"Man... This is brutal. How much longer 'til we find that stupid Crystal Star?" Asked a lone and bored X-Naut.

"Not even those puny Punies we captured know anything about it. And they live here! After all this pointless searching, I'm thinking we're looking in the wrong place..."

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a shadow before getting smashed in the back of his head and getting knocked down.

"Um... Ouch?" He said weakly before blacking out.

Back to Rick's group.

(Rick's P.O.V.)

I was beginning to get a bit frustrated on the fact that we had barely made any progress inside of the tree. After going through another warp pipe, we arrived in a room that had a red cage.

"Elder!" Said Punio as he rushed towards the red cage.

The elder definitely looked like any old person would. Her skin was pretty much sagging and her purple pom-pom was drooping right above her face, unlike the way that they usually have it over their heads.

"Punio! Is that you? You're looking well." Replied the elder.

"Why are you so calm, Elder? You're trapped! And this is our daring rescue of you!"

"Oh, a rescuing, is it? Well, thanks, I suppose. Those are quite exciting. But...I think you ought to help the other Punies before you rescue me."

"Man, she sounds ancient!" I thought as she talked.

"Where are the others?" Asked Punio.

"...Big brother?! Is that my Punio?" Exclaimed a nearby voice.

Punio scurried over to the source of the sound to find a separate cage that was filled with Punies. One among them was at the front of the cage with a small mole on her face and she had a pink pom-pom. Just seeing all of them imprisoned in those cages were starting to make my blood boil.

"Petuni! Thank heavens! You're here! You're safe!" Punio said with a sigh of relief.

"I knew you'd come for me, Punio! I just KNEW it!" Said Petuni with a hopeful tone.

"Of course I would, dear sister! And I've brought us mighty allies! Look at them!" Punio said turning to us.

" 'Sup?" I said, making a peace sign with my hand.

"We're going to get you out of there right away, I swear. You just hold tight a second."

"OK!" Replied his sister.

"Wait, couldn't we just break the cages open? Asked Koopie.

I mentally face palmed myself and tried swinging at the cage with my sword, only to start shaking like a pager after I struck the blue one.

"Owwwwww... B-a-a-a-a-a-a-d i-d-d-e-e-a-a..." I said still shaking.

"Alright, let's go find the cell keys. They have to be somewhere nearby." Trevor said to the group.

We walked into the room on the far side of the cages and were surprised to see an X-Naut that was knocked out in front of us. What surprised us even more was the fact that our favorite thief was just finishing collecting something from a chest. She turned around and gave us a smirk.

"Oh great... Her again..." I thought while I was starting to sweat a bit.

"Whoa..." Said Trevor as he eyed Ms. Mowz.

"Keep it in your pants, dude." I growled defensively for some reason.

"Oh, well, isn't this a treat! We must stop meeting like this, don't you think?" Ms. Mowz said to me while I just looked away.

"Excuse me? We must what? Is she a friend of yours?" Asked Flurrie.

"More or less... Either way, friend is kind of a strong word for someone I barely know." I responded.

"Oh, wait... I see. And I most certainly do NOT approve!" Said Flurrie.

"Well, anyway, I heard there were some nice badges to be found here, so I came looking... Only problem is, I've been running into more trouble than I expected." She said before started walking over to me and swaying her hips as she did.

This time, she gave me a dry kiss on my lips, making my body heat spike and my face turn red. I even felt steam come out of my ears as it all happened. My whole brain felt like it just shut down in that moment, making it seem like my eyes had gone completely white. There was no doubt in my mind that I could also feel a murderous aura appear around Goombella at that moment.

"Lucky bastard..." I heard Trevor mutter silently under his breath.

"Mmm hmm hmm hmm! But who cares about that? LOVELY to see you again!" She said before performing a backflip and hopping up to the window.

"Oh, mercy me! Rick! You're popular with all the girls, aren't you?" Asked Flurrie.

"Heh, didn't realize that you were such a player, Rick! Ha ha ha!" Said Gary.

"WHAT?! NO! LOOK, IT...IT'S NOT LIKE THAT! I DIDN'T..." I said, trying to put words together in a panic.

"Alpha, dude, I'm just fuckin' with you, man! Relax!" Gary said laughing.

"The precious Crystal Star you're looking for is near the bottom of this tree. Good luck finding it before the others! Mmm hmm hmm! Take care, my handsome firebrand fighter! Let's get together soon!" Ms. Mowz said before winking at me and jumping out the window.

"Well! Don't worry, boys! I'm not too jealous. What a shameless flirt, though!" Said Flurrie in a displeased tone.

"Urgh... My aching... Hey! You! You're the dirtbag who hit me from behind, aren't you? Yeah, real fair, you scum! You fight dirty, you get dirty! And I'll be doing the dirting!" Said the X-Naut that woke up.

"Ugh... Impact!" I said as I raised my left arm at his face, sending him flying into the wall on the opposite side and leaving him barely conscious.

"Evans, we've already left quite a few of them alive. I believe that it would be best to keep the number of stragglers at a minimum. If we do not, they will surely hamper our progress." Eon said to me.

"What're you suggesting?" I asked.

"That we do not allow them to hamper our progress."

"Ok." I said, unsheathing my sword and pointing it at the X-Naut.

"Oh, come on, buddy. What're you gonna do? Kill-"

(BANG!)

"I ain't your buddy, pal." I said after a bullet was fired from my sword, blasting the X-Naut in the forehead and leaving a giant hole in the back of it.

"Good suggestion."

"You're welcome." Responded Eon.

"Dude, you are one cold motherfucker." Said Trevor.

"Yeah, I know. Greta, search the body."

"Alright, boss."

"Don't you think that was a little harsh?" Asked Hooktail.

"I want to send a message to the X-Nauts. A message that they're not welcome here. Spilling the blood of my enemies to show that I mean business doesn't seem like overkill to me."

"Found a red key! Let's get back to the elder." Said Greta.

Once we had arrived back at her cell, I used the key to open up the lock and get the elder out, only to see that Punio was rushing inside after passing under me.

"Elder! We're back! We're here to rescue you!" Said Punio.

"FOOLISH CHILD! Punio! Sit down this instant and keep your mouth shut!" Snapped the Elder.

"Huh? What? Why? What did I do? Uh... Listen, Elder, I don't know why you're mad, but we came here to help you..."

"Stop your mumbling, you! And mind your elders! You whelp! How could you abandon your poor sister and run off like that... Absolutely shameful!"

"Oh god... I can feel a lecture happening soon... I've gotta get outta here..." I thought.

"But... But, Elder... I just went to find help... To rescue you..."

"Oh, stop with the whining! You never interrupt an elder mid-lecture! NEVER! You wonder why the other Punies call you a "doofus" sometimes? That's why. And your time to be a doofus is over, because you have to lead our Puni tribe one day! That day is not far off! ...And THAT is why you need to listen! Now, first of all..."

"Psst... Gary... I'm gonna take Hooktail with me and go check out the supply room and see if there's anything useful in there."

"Ok!" Gary replied in a low voice.

Being able to use Shift really came in handy to get us both out of that snooze-fest. We looked carefully around the crates and other shit that was lying around to see if there were any more of those rifles anywhere. I also managed to mimic and create Eon and Trevor's shields so that we wouldn't have to hear all of that drivel that was back there. The next thing I knew it, I detected someone close by trying to strike me. My sights were on Hooktail as I turned around to see her knocked out on the floor. I wasn't able to get a good enough look at whoever attacked us before I got jabbed in the back of my neck and falling unconscious.

"...Urgh...my head... Wait... What the...!?"

I woke up to see that my hands were tied up behind my back in chains. Naturally, my head was still spinning and my vision was blurry, but I was able to see something red and white in my sight.

"Mmm hmm hmm hmm! Finally awake, are we?" Asked the person.

I knew at that moment that it had to be Ms. Mowz. What had me curious though, was why she was back here. And why I was fucking chained up.

"Care to explain why the hell you knocked me out? And where's my friend?"

"Sorry, sweetie. It's nothing personal. Your dragoness ally is on the other side of the crates behind me. As for knocking you both out, allow me to explain my reasons. You see, for a long time now, even before you came into my life, I've been having these constant urges during my heat. I've always been forced to keep myself under control through basic means like masturbation, but it was never enough. I could never really find the right man, either. Most males that I find tend to be cowards, weaklings, or jerks. But, you..." She said while unzipping her red jumpsuit and walking over to me.

"...You're different." Ms. Mowz said in a lustful tone with her eyes half closed and her heels still on.

Her entire body was simply jaw-dropping. Her slender figure complimented the entire body perfectly. My nose suddenly started bleeding from the sight of it all. A clear sign that I was beginning to lose my self control. I tried looking away as she only got closer.

"Well...how am I different? Besides all of the stuff that you just mentioned, of course." I asked, still trying to avert my eyes in embarrassment.

"You care about others. You place yourself in danger to help the people you care about and you show such compassion and mercy to your enemies. Even when you're hurt, you don't hesitate to be kind. You're smart, strong, and quite handsome...hmmm hmm hmm!"

"Is...Is that so?"

I turned my eyes for a quick second to see that she had crawled on top of me. Ms. Mowz was giving me a very seductive and wanting look when I realized that she was really close to my face, making me blush and get a little nervous.

"Mmmm hmm! Oh! And it seems that your little friend agrees with me. Hmm hmm!"

It was easy for me to figure out what she was referring to at that point. My sights were brought down to my groin as I noticed that I had gotten hard. She crawled back a bit to undo the zipper and pull down the pants to reveal my erect length in her face. I could've sworn that it got to up to 10 inches since the last time.

"Well... Bon Appetite!" She said before she started licking my member.

I was groaning in bliss as she circled her tongue around the tip. She kept staring at me with those wanting as she went further down, engulfing my cock. There was no doubt in my mind that she was way better at this than Goombella. Part of the animal genetics that I had mixed into my blood started to kick in and take some control of my instinct as I grabbed her head and started forcing it down her throat. It just felt incredible the way she sucked me off. Ms. Mowz caught me by surprise when she knocked away my arms and took her mouth off of my member.

"S-Sorry about that..." I said, a bit upset with my carelessness.

"Don't worry, sweetie. I was actually wanting to try something. After all, you shouldn't be the only one that gets pleasured." She said slyly.

I could already tell what she wanted to do. The image just popped into my head. She picked up her breasts and placed them around my member. Her soft, furry breasts felt so amazing. They were like the softest pillows on the planet! Once she started moving them up and down along my shaft while licking it again, it was only becoming more and more difficult to control myself. My fingers were clawing into the dirt on my sides, showing Ms. Mowz that she was doing good and making her go faster. Several minutes later, I realized that I was about to reach my peak.

"Ms. Mowz... I think...I'm about to..."

"Go ahead, my cheese hunk. Let it all out!"

Like she said, I let myself go and launched a huge load into her mouth. Ms. Mowz was quickly trying to swallow every last drop of my semen, giving her a chance to taste it to its fullest.

"I always knew you were cream filled, sweetie. So strong... So thick!" She said lustfully.

"Man, that was a huge load." I said while trying to catch my breath.

"We're not done just yet." Said Ms. Mowz as she crawled back on top of me.

She was trying to position her entrance right above my member as she grabbed my head and pulled me forward for a kiss.

"Tell me, Ricky...would you rather have a little girl at your side...or be with REAL woman?" She asked me as she looked into my eyes.

"Ho...ly...shit..." I thought in a stunned state of mind.

Once she mashed her lips against mine, my whole body completely froze. It felt like my brain was struggling to process everything that was happening at once. I could just feel myself getting stupid.

"Tell me... Am I better than that Goomba girl, little boy?" She asked me as my cock slid right inside.

"What...did she just call me?" I thought with anger beginning to take form.

I've said this shit before. Nobody should ever call me a child. What she did was either the best or worst mistake of her life. My power felt like it had spiked after my extra arms extended from my back and I broke my chains. With an evil grin appearing on my face, I used a small Impact attack, not enough to hurt her, but to push her off of me and onto her back. After I got on top, I easily managed to take control and become the dominant one in this little game.

"I'll show you who's a child..." I growled.

She didn't expect me to get so angry over being called a child, and she definitely didn't expect me to be so rough with her. She gasped as I rammed myself into her pussy and began moving at a savage pace. True, I could've just beaten the crap out of Ms. Mowz, but something inside me prevented the usual actions that I would've taken. It was good to know that I had some degree of control over my anger. Ms. Mowz moaned in bliss as I rapidly pounded her at a quick and steady rhythm. She was really loving this. Considering the fact that she hasn't gotten laid in a while.

"Ahhh! Yessss! It's incredible!" She yelled

A devious thought entered my mind, giving me a chance to toy with her a bit before continuing. I pulled myself out, causing her to make a curious face.

"Is something wrong, my little thief?" I asked with a smirk and an evil look in my eyes.

"P-Please... Please D-Don't." She pleaded to me in a desperate, yet, cute tone.

"Don't what?" I arched an eyebrow.

"Don't stop. Don't hold back."

In response to her request, I gladly did what she wanted. My extra arms extended from my back and started to grab on to Ms. Mowz. My top arms started to grab onto her ears and begin massaging them. Thanks to that book that I read, I found out that it was an area of pleasure for her kind. I used my main arms to grab her breasts and start playing with them. Just to mess with her a little bit, I began biting on her right nipple while fondling her left breast. The last two arms below went for her lower regions. The left one pinched her clit and the right started fingering her "mouse hole". Ms. Mowz moaned even louder from the overloading stimulation of pleasure.

After a while, we both couldn't keep control of ourselves anymore.

"M-Ms. Mowz..." I groaned.

"I...I know...sweetie. Aah! G-Go ahead." She said in between breaths.

"But...won't you get pregnant?" I said with some worry in my tone.

"Even if I do, I'll still be happy knowing that it'll be your children. NOW PLEASE, CUM INSIDE! MAKE ME YOURS, ALPHA!"

Her inner walls clamped down on my member as I shot my seed deep inside of her and as she climaxed with a flash flood of juices trailing down her pussy as she fell back a bit tired. My instinct was still going and I was about to continue when I began hearing some rusting behind some of the crates that Ms. Mowz had mentioned earlier. I remembered to focus my energy and I created a clone to go and take a look. He made a quick warp back with an embarrassed Hooktail, trying to cover herself up and blushing after not only viewing me and Ms. Mowz, but on the fact that her clothes were off and her lower regions were all wet.

"So, decided to watch us while we were having fun, huh? And here I was thinking that you couldn't get anymore naughty." I said with a devious smirk.

"Speechless, huh? Don't worry. You can play with us, too. What do you think Ms. Mowz?"

"Why not? It'll be more fun for us!"

Hooktail only looked away in embarrassment, ashamed that she was watching us the whole time. That only gave me more reason to mess with her the same way she did to me back at her castle. The clone only looked at me until I nodded, giving him the signal to play along with us, while Ms. Mowz got onto all fours and started licking Hooktail's wet snatch while playing with her own. She would've fallen over if my clone hadn't caught her. Like me, he had the same look on his face and he managed to reach past her wings and start grabbing Hooktail's breasts.

"What's wrong? I thought that this was what you wanted. Heh heh..." I chuckled, knowing about the irony of her attitude from before.

"But...I... Ah!"

The clone pressed his lips against Hooktail's, trying to calm her down. Once that was taken care of, I decided to pick up where I left off. I started rubbing my member on her other entrance. My sudden actions only made her only stopping eating away at Hooktail and smile seductively at me.

"Oh, my! Naughty little boy..." She said as she started spreading her ass and her tail turned into an arrow pointing to her other hole.

I wasn't sure if she was just trying to push my buttons just to get a rise out of me, or to test me, but at that point, I didn't even give a shit anymore.

"Let me make this clear for you, Ms. Mowz..." I said in a darker tone as I grabbed her from behind, which caught her by surprise.

"I AM NOT A CHILD!" I said as I thrusted with full force into her tail hole.

She yelped in both pain and pleasure as I rode her like before. My clone was watching how much jealously was building up on face Hooktail from looking at us, so he decided to help her out. He quickly turned her around and lifted her up, placing her pussy right over his cock. He dropped her right on top of it. It slid right inside and he began lifting her up and down, receiving a deeper moan each time. It wasn't long before she locked her legs around his waist and grabbed onto his head to pull him into a kiss. The clone created six arms like I did and used the lower arms to grab her for more control and increase the speed, while the higher ones pulled her head forward to make the kiss even deeper.

My attention turned back to Ms. Mowz, who was moaning loudly from the newest sensation that I gave her.

"More! MORE! FUCK ME! FUCK ME! AAAAAHHH!" She yelled in ecstasy.

"So, still think that I'm just a child?" I asked with a large amount of dominance as I grabbed her tail and started spanking her.

"N...NO!"

"Well then... Tell me... What am I?"

"YOU'RE MY ALPHA! MY BIG, STRONG ALPHA!"

"You're damn right I am!"

It felt like we were all going at this for almost an hour until I was nearing my limit. I wasn't sure how, but my clone was about to hit it too. I guess it was just because we shared the same mind. Our thrusts kept getting faster and faster as we were getting close.

"Rick... I think... I'm gonna cum!" Moaned Ms. Mowz.

"M-Me too!" Yelled Hooktail.

It wasn't long until we all let ourselves get consumed by the pleasure. To make sure the others couldn't hear us, I leaned over and pressed my lips against Ms. Mowz's lips to muffle her yell. My clone did the same with Hooktail and embraced her in another deep kiss. We all climaxed at the same time. The girls letting torrents of their fluids on us and shooting seed deep inside them. My clone and I pulled out of them with two audible popping sounds and we all fell onto the floor exhausted, but happy and relaxed. Ms. Mowz took her opportunity to get her jumpsuit back on and take her leave from the tree. She also dropped a bunch of laser rifles and shotguns like the ones from earlier in front of me.

"Well, I have to admit that was quite fun! Oh! Before I forget..." Ms. Mowz said reaching into one of her pockets.

"Hmm? Gah!" I yelled as something light hit me in the face.

It was... It...was... It was a pair of her panties.

My blush reappeared, not just out of embarrassment, but also out of confusion and surprise. Enjoying the moment, I took a large inhale from it. The smell was incredible. It was just like her scent from before.

"Goodbye, my alpha! Hope I'll see you again soon!" She said before blowing a kiss to me and jumping out the crack in the tree like before.

"So, my alpha..." Said Hooktail, who started pressing her breasts against my back.

"...Shall we head back to our friends?"

"Heh heh... Y-Yeah, Hooky. Let's get back to the others. They must be bored as hell out there. Grab those rifles, will ya?"

She started to giggle like some kind of school girl for some reason. I was kind of curious as to why.

"What's so funny?" I asked.

"You just called me Hooky..." She responded.

I looked away with my blush getting brighter as I tried to brush that shit off. As I took down the barriers and we both walked out fully clothed and left no traces of our "fun times" together, we arrived to see that the elder was still rambling and that everyone else(except Punio) had fallen asleep.

"Jesus... That old hag is still talking? Talk about blabbermouth." I thought.

"...or else! You got that? From now on, you've got to get your act together, Punio!" Nagged the Elder.

"...Yes, Elder. Yes, I understand." Responded Punio.

"Bah! Only answer ONCE! ...But say, by the way, why are you here, anyway?"

"Uh, I was just telling you. We came to rescue everyone. We started with you, Elder."

"Oh! Is that so? Well, good! In that case, get me out of here already! Criminy! This cell is cold, which isn't good for the old back, and there's this damp stench..." She said before crawling out of the cage and into the warp pipe.

"Uh... Well, there she goes. Enough standing around!" Said Punio.

He crawled back over to the other cage with a determined glint in his eye.

"Just you wait, Petuni! I'll be back for you!" He said to his little sister.

"OK, big brother! I'll be waiting." She replied.

I turned my attention back to the others. Most of them had already woken up. Trevor was still busy in dream land, but I was sure as hell about to give him one rude awakening. I reached into my bag and yelled, "WAKE UP!" before I pulled out an air horn and pressed the button. He jumped so hard from the shock that he smashed his head into the ceiling, giving everyone a good laugh before we yanked him out and left the room to catch up with the Elder. I'll admit that it was little asinine for me to do that, but hey, payback's a bitch.

"You sleep well?" I said still snickering as we walked.

"Fuck you."

End of Chapter 14...

I almost forgot to mention, right after Chapter 15, I'm going to make an Ask the Elites Q&A chapter for you guys. Feel feel to ask any questions that come to mind and I'll have the heroes and myself answer them. Anyway, you guys know the drill. Review, PM, Follow, Fav, and I'll catch you all later. See ya!