The Grand Final

Chapter 14: Day at the Beach

The month of July quickly passed just like all the other months before it. Nicholas had been training harder during this time along with Fox, Fara, and Krystal. His reason was so that he wouldn't have to use his release as much. Now against Shade was a different story. But not for the rest of the species that were under the coyote.

Sometime later found Nicholas, along with the other three foxes in the training hall of the house that Star Wolf lived in. They had just finished a sparring match with the non Cerinians and pure one against the part one. Nicholas had managed to once again knock them out. The way that worked was if they were knocked onto their backs four times, that was counted as one.

"Damn, you've gotten even better in your fighting skills and stronger as well," groaned Fox as he got up.

"Well you three certainly have as well," stated Nicholas as he let out a breath. "You've all come a long way."

"Well it seems Panther's really training hard to get stronger as well," commented Fara. Everyone took a look to see the jungle cat sparring with Miyu. The lynx had suggested it to him and had quickly proved that she could hold her own. Then Katt got into it along with Falco, Bill, Fay, and all the others except Slippy who preferred to watch. Amanda was like that as well.

"In any case, I think we're finished for today," said Nicholas and put away his Cerinian weapon. His stomach let out a small growl. "Ugh, I'm starving."

"Isn't the food here yet?" asked Fox.

"I'll admit Luna is late with it," said Fara. "Last I checked she and Wolf were preparing it."

Krystal's gaze went to the door where the two wolves had walked through and disappeared. Her mind went back to when Luna had taken the lupine.

"I'm going to make something for everyone to eat if that's alright," she had said to Nicholas before he had begun the next round with the other three foxes.

"Sounds good," answered the vulpine. The she wolf had done a quick head count before heading over to Wolf who was just about finished with working out on the machines. He noticed her approaching. The lupine went a little red.

"Hey Wolf," she said kindly.

"Hey," the lupine managed to respond back. He cleared his throat. "Is there something you need?"

"I do actually. I was thinking of making something to eat for everyone, but there are too many people. I need some help."

"Wait, you can cook?" asked Wolf.

"Sure I can," responded Luna with a smirk. "I'm more than just looks since I'm on a mercenary team."

Wolf went bright red and turned his head away from the she wolf who giggled at his response. "So I was wondering if you could help me?" asked Luna.

"Um…. I don't cook," stated the lupine.

"It's not that hard, I'll show you what to do."

"Well…"

"Please?" asked Luna, giving him a cute look. The next thing Wolf knew he had nodded and found himself in the kitchen with her.

"I can't say no to her," he thought. Wolf then had to focus on the task of making food. Luna then began to talk to him. It seemed to make the lupine a bit more relaxed as the two talked about many things.

"Hey it could be worse," she said at one point.

"Oh really? How's that?"

"I could be stuck in here with someone else, like Panther or Leon."

"Huh," stated Wolf, deciding to play with her a bit. "I thought that jungle cat was your type."

Luna let out a laugh and shoved him playfully. It was such a beautiful sound to the lupine. "Please! He's nowhere near my type!"

"Well… what is your type then?"

The she wolf brought a finger to her lips and pretended to think about his question before answering. "Well he has to be strong and brave, that's for sure. And he has to know to fly a ship, so a pilot. He has to care enough about his team mates and help them out sometimes. Plus, being good looking doesn't hurt at all."

"Is that all?" asked Wolf, turning his gaze to her.

"I believe so," she said looking at him. Their bodies were right next to each other.

"Well you don't ask for much, do you?" The two wolves found themselves getting closer.

Luna smiled and touched Wolf's arm. She wondered if she was close to making the lupine say if he loved her or not. She wanted him to say he did.

"So…" Wolf said his voice a whisper as he leaned in a bit closer to her. "Who do you know that has all of those qualities?"

"I think I know someone."

"Who would that be?" he asked hoping in his heart it was him.

"Nicholas McCoy," Luna replied with a playful smirk.

She had only been teasing him, thinking that it might cause him to respond by telling her to choose him instead so that she could tell him that she loved him. Instead Wolf didn't see it as a joke, he would kill anyone if they tried to hurt or steal Luna away from him. The she wolf didn't imagine he would react the way he did. The thought of her being with the part Cerinian, it drove him mad. A low growl escaped his throat and the grin on his face was instantly replaced with a look of jealousy and protectiveness. Wolf had never felt this way for someone before, and Luna had changed him.

The she wolf felt his arms go around her as she looked into his eyes to see them fill with hate and jealousy. For the first time she had known him, a spark of fear went through her body. But it was then replaced with guilt. Luna was certain that the lupine would never hurt her. If he had wanted to, he would have done so by now. And Nicholas had said that if anyone could change Wolf, it was her.

"Wolf," whispered Luna, leaning into his chest. "I was just joking." She heard the growl in his chest slowly die down, and saw his eyes soften; the look of jealousy and possessiveness fading.

The lupine felt sick in his stomach as he had seen the look of fear in her eyes. The fear he had caused. "Luna…" he said."I… I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… I-"

He felt her kiss his cheek. "Wolf," Luna responded. "It's alright. I was the one who caused it." She realized that what she had said had been too much for the lupine. "Even so, I'm not leaving you. Now let's get the food ready." The two came apart. But Wolf still felt bad for scaring the she wolf like that. He loved so much that it hurt.

They emerged from the kitchen a couple of minutes later. Everyone else was waiting for them. "Ah, just in time," said Nicholas with a grin. "All of us finished up with the training." The species began to eat. Emily had also arrived with Seth and his sister. They began to talk. At one point someone pointed something out.

"It's gotten hot. I wish I could go swimming." This got everyone's attention.

"I've notice it as well," stated Nami. "I'm also wanting to as well."

"Is that so?" asked Nicholas. "Actually I was thinking we all need a little R and R since most of us have been training every single day. I was thinking we should all head to one of the beaches at Belfino."

"What?!" asked everyone in shock, not thinking that the part Cerinian would come up with something like that."

"All right!" shouted Seth. "The beach!" He seemed happy about the idea. And the rest of the species couldn't say no at all.

X

The teams managed to get there sometime during late July near the end of the month and even Peppy went with them. It was going to be an all day thing and everyone was looking forward to having fun in the sun.

"I can't remember the last time I went to the beach," said Krystal as the group went up to a swimsuit store to get some since everyone thought a change in taste might be nice. The guys went off in one group, the girls in another. The males chose simple ones that either went with their eyes or the color on their bodies.

"Jeez, aren't they done yet?" asked Falco when he saw the ladies hadn't finished yet.

"You know females," said Panther. "When it comes to cloths and things like this, they take their time to look the best they possibly can."

The jungle cat was right as they were to impress the guy they secretly loved. Emily had another reason besides looking good for her husband Kool.

"What do you think of this one for Amy?" she asked the other ladies. It was a small one piece for a baby that was white in color.

"Awwww, she's going to look so cute in that," cooed Yuki. The snow monkey then found a bikini that would work with her fur color. It was like that for Nami and Lucy. Amanda chose one to go with her eyes except it was a one piece suit.

"How does this look for me?" asked Fay. The poodle held up pink bikini with flower designs on it.

"It's perfect," commented Katt. "I'm going to try this." The feline had chosen an orange one. They went with the other females including Emily who had gotten her suit to try them on. This left only Krystal, Fara, Luna, and Miyu.

"I can't decide," said Fara to herself. "There's so many to choose from." The vixen wanted to look the best she possibly could for Nicholas.

"Here, what do you think of this Fara?" asked Krystal and held up a black bikini. The other female couldn't help but feel a little jealous. The Cerinian seemed to look good in just about everything. But especially black and red. Krystal seemed to sense the mood swing.

"Don't worry Fara, just go with something to bring out your eye color," she said. "You've got beauty; I've seen guys looking at you just as much as me."

"Really?" asked the non Cerinian, hardly wanting to believe it.

"Trust me," responded Krystal.

"Oh that will look good on you," said Miyu as she saw what the blue vixen had chosen. "Does this look nice?" The lynx hold up a bikini that brought out the color of her eyes.

"It's a good color for you," stated Fara. She then found a green one and held it up to her body. "How about this for me?"

"That color really goes well for you," responded Luna as the she wolf came up with a silver colored bikini. "I figured I should get one to go with my hair color." The four ladies took their suits to try them on. Happy with what they had, the females met up with the males and the group spent the rest of the day enjoying Belfino as part of their R and R. They then went to a hotel early to get a good night's sleep for the beach.

The next day everyone got up early and met in the commons to eat breakfast. Seth was jumping up and down, just full of energy. "Has he been that hyper the whole time?" asked Nicholas who noticed.

"Not really," said Kool. "He was lights out by about nine. When he woke up it took him a bit to remember the reason we were here. In any case me and Emily are used to having our sleep disturbed because of Amy still waking up during odd hours of the night even though she's gotten better with sleeping."

"Well just as long as you're not too tired," commented the vulpine. After breakfast, the large group made their way down to the beach. It was the perfect day, no clouds were covering the blue sky and the sun was shining bright. The sound of the waves lapping at the shore seemed to excite Seth even more.

"Seth, you're going to break daddy's arm," Kool chuckled as he held his son's paw while the young feline was tugging at it to make the older one go faster. Emily was caring Amy.

"Why don't you four go on ahead and find us a spot?" suggested Amanda. "The rest of us can take our time." The feline parents nodded, and then the family seemed to rush ahead as their son lead the way.

A few minutes later a spot had been found and everything had been set up. The males were already in their bathing suits and wearing either shirts or wife beaters to cover their upper bodies. The females simply stuck to shorts and shirts with their swim suits underneath. Only Amy had just hers on and looked really cute in it just like it had been thought.

"Honey, could you put some sunscreen on my back?" Emily asked Kool sweetly after revealing that she wore a bikini that matched her fur color. The male feline stared at her for a moment before kissing her cheek.

"Sure babe," he whispered and proceed to do so. The rest of the males on the other hand were busy taking off the cloths on their upper bodies. They all had muscle, but Nicholas had the more defined ones since he had been learning how to fight from a very young age. Kool finished with Emily just as soon as the guys had taken their clothes off.

"That should do it," said the male feline.

"Thanks my banana male," cooed Emily causing her husband to blush at the pet name.

"Damn it Emily, I told you not to call me that in public," Kool hissed, his right eye twitching in anger. The other males heard this and couldn't help but laugh.

"Who cares what she calls you," said Amanda. "You should let her." The other females then took off their clothes.

"God damn…" thought the males who secretly loved one of the girls. They were stunning and beautiful in their bathing suits. Nicholas then somehow managed to undo his hair band to allow his hair to flow down since he was so distracted with looking at Fara.

"Well I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going into the water," said the part Cerinian. That's when everyone saw that Krystal had an additional tattoo on her lower back. But the vulpine didn't. When it was brought up everyone learned that the tattoo on vixen's back only appeared on pure blood Cerinians and not part ones. This was so that way you could tell who was a pure and who was a part one. When non Cerinians were marked, they also didn't get the back tattoo.

As Fara walked down to the water, her gaze lingered to both the left and right. There were many other species out on the beach with a lot of non and part male Cerinians. And the vixen saw that their gaze was directed towards her just as much as Krystal. The instant that they realized that Fara had noticed them, the males looked away, blushing like crazy. The vixen couldn't believe it; was she really on the same level of beauty as Krystal?

"Race you!" Fara heard Nicholas say to her and ran towards the water.

"Hey! No fair!" she yelled and chased after him. The part Cerinian had a grin on his face. He made it to the water until it the level was chest deep, with Fara close behind. When she reached him, the vixen shoved him hard with her paws, knocking him over and into the warm liquid. Nicholas quickly came back up.

"That's what you get for cheating," said Fara with a smirk on her face.

"Who said I was going to be fair?" asked Nicholas with a grin and dived under the water. His long yellow hair flowed out like ribbons and then the vulpine came back out to where the level of water was shorter. It only went to his knees.

"God that feels good," he said. His cross and glasses were off as well so there wasn't a worry about losing those things in the water. The vulpine suddenly felt something jump on him from behind which was Fara. Not excepting it, the part Cerinian went down again.

"Got you," she said with a grin. He came back up, looking at her with a glare.

"You want to play rough is that it?" asked the vulpine with a growl. Fara took a step back.

"You wouldn't dare," she responded. The next thing she knew, Nicholas had used the speed booster technique and gotten her in his arms.

"Nicholas McCoy, put me down now!" shouted the vixen, pounding on his chest.

"Okay," stated the part Cerinian with a grin and threw Fara into the water a bit of distance from him. A second latter, she came back up. With a shriek, the vixen swam to him and splashed the vulpine with a huge wave of water. He responded back and seeing this, the other males and females got involved in the all out water fight. After a few minutes of this, everyone stopped to catch their breath.

The next couple of hours were spent playing in the water. Wolf was wearing an eye patch instead of his eye piece just to be on the safe side. Luna had teased him by saying it made him look like a pirate. The lupine just rolled his right eye at her comment. After playing in the water, the time had come to eat something for lunch. The girls had made the food since all of them did know how to cook, just at different levels. Even Krystal; but this came to no surprise to Fox since it was she who had made him breakfast on his birthday.

Everyone then went off to do their own thing while waiting for the food to digest. Kool and Emily played with their kids in the sand along with Peppy, Lucy, and Ben. The four felines had gone into the water, but it had taken a bit of coxing to get them in. Some of the members explored the beach to see what could be found like Katt, Falco, Luna, and Wolf. Others like Krystal, Fox, Bill, and Fay ended up sitting on their towels and talked while getting some tanning in. The four sat apart from the other couple with enough space so that they could have some alone time. Fara and Nicholas spent the time walking along the beach to talk. At one point the vulpine and the vixen held paws, but it didn't lead to anything.

As for Miyu and Panther, the two also spent the time talking, but were also looking for a place to play some volleyball. They then spotted a court that wasn't in use.

"We should call everyone here and have a friendly game," stated the lynx.

"Sounds good," said Panther. "Although I can't see if there's a ball to play with." He began to walk forward.

"Maybe there's one down there," suggested Miyu who went after the jungle cat. She then tripped over a piece of drift wood that she hadn't seen and let out a grunt. Panther turned around just as Miyu ran into him. Her momentum caused the two to fall onto the sand.

"Are you alright?" asked Panther with a groan; landing on this surface wasn't the softest thing ever.

"I think so," said Miyu. They then looked and saw what position they were in with her on top of him, one of the lynx's paws on top of Panther's abs. Both of them went red in the face as Miyu raised herself up a bit; their faces were inches apart. Panther could feel the lynx's curves match his own and her deliciously soft fur against his own. Miyu found that his body despite having muscles was comfortable to be right against. The two were wondering in their heads to just kiss or say something; anything to say how they felt for the other.

"There you two are," said a voice. Both mercenaries jumped. They looked and saw Nicholas and Fara with a bit of an amused look on their muzzles. "In any case the rest of us wondered if you two would like to play some volleyball. Unless you'd rather lie there…"

"No we'd like to," Miyu said quickly and got off of Panther just as fast. The two were still blushing. The jungle cat wondered if that had been too much for the lynx. But he then saw her flash him a quick smile and the mercenary knew that Miyu and he were still on good terms.

The volleyball game went without a hitch. The members of Star Flight divided themselves up among Star Fox and Star Wolf. It all depended on who loved who except for Fara and Nicholas. They went with Wolf's side to go up against Krystal and Fox. It was a close game, but Fox's side managed to win.

After the game, everyone got back into the water to have some more fun. However, all too soon, the time came for the large group to head back to the hotel. The day at the beach had been fun. During the whole time pictures had been taken with one last of the whole group together. Everyone talked about what had happened on the way back. The next day the species returned to their homes along with their normal retunes. But this wouldn't be the last thing to happen during the summer.