Chapter 21

Ecks woke up, he felt refreshed, almost as if he had never slept before, the blue vulpine looked at the digital clock which told him it was four o'clock in the morning, a long yawn escaped from his muzzle, he noticed that Zivia was turned towards him, still asleep, her warm breaths brushing against his shoulder, Ecks saw the bruises on her, he took it upon himself to start healing her as he closed his eyes and his paw started to glow a pure white, and he placed it on the vixen's abdomen, a few moments later he could tell she was dreaming as a peaceful smile ran across her face, the blue vulpine decided to dive into her thoughts to see what it was she was dreaming about.

Ecks landed face-first onto a soft, mushy surface, when he pulled his face away from his landing, he noticed that he had landed in sand, but then he felt a bitter taste in his mouth, the blue vulpine started spitting madly, trying to get the sand out of his mouth, luckily none had entered his eyes, as Ecks stood up, he saw a large white building in front of him, a huge sign read 'The Best Beach Resort in all of Lylat!', Ecks thought it was odd that it didn't have a real name, but he decided to float towards the building, the blue vulpine made his way around the large building, palm trees were everywhere behind the Resort, it looked like the perfect paradise, the sand soon turned to cement behind the building, where Ecks saw a large swimming pool, and a hot-tub beside it, he noticed a bright orange vixen standing with a pink robe covering her body, Ecks instantly knew it was Zivia, Ecks decided to hide behind a palm tree, luckily some of the bushes around him were oddly blue, at least that would keep him from being seen as he peaked out to look at a robe-covered Zivia, the bright orange vixen removed the robe, she was wearing a sky-blue two-piece bathing suit, it wasn't too revealing yet, it still captured all of her beauty, Ecks' eyes widened and his jaw practically hit the ground.

"Whoa." The dark blue vulpine said under his breath, making sure that Zivia couldn't hear him as he was entranced by the vixen's beauty, he couldn't believe it, every inch of the vixen was beautiful from the top of her head to the tips of her toes, the red line that ran down the vixen's face ran to her chest, straight down between her breasts, Ecks thought this was a perfect match to her beauty as the line ran down her abdomen, she was more beautiful than he could ever hope to dream, Ecks knew he shouldn't have been spying on her like this, especially in her own mind, but he couldn't help it, after all he was still only fifteen years old.

The bright orange vixen walked over to the hot-tub, Ecks followed her with his eyes, he still couldn't believe how beautiful Zivia was as her hips swayed seductively when she walked, her tail wagged back and forth which only increased the enticing scent she gave off, Ecks felt strange, here he was, in someone else's dream of paradise, and he felt as though he was about to fall into his own little paradise, Ecks started to feel a strange feeling in his stomach, and also felt his 'little friend' start to increase in size, but he regained his composure and snapped himself out of his trance by picturing what Cross would look like in a pink dress, a slight chuckle escaped from his muzzle, Zivia's ears twitched and Ecks cupped his paw over his mouth, the vixen turned to look in his direction.

"Shit." Ecks cursed under his breath, not attempting to move even a centimeter, Zivia simply looked at where Ecks was hiding for what seemed like several minutes, but was only a few seconds before turning back towards the hot-tub, Ecks was only ten feet away from Zivia, and he thanked the Goddess that Zivia didn't see him, the orange vixen slowly stepped into the hot-tub, the warm water rushing onto her foot, Zivia slowly sat down on one of the ledges below the water, the vixen's lower body and torso were now under the water, Zivia leaned back onto the marble surface as the relaxing warm water engulfed her upper body, she let out a low growl, almost a purr of complete relaxation.

Ecks could hardly contain himself, it took everything he had not to burst into laughter, he had no clue that his healing had this kind of effect on the vixen, another light chuckle escaped from his muzzle, Zivia heard it clearly this time as she quickly turned her head back in the direction where Ecks was hiding.

"Who's there?" The bright orange vixen asked, still sitting in the warm water.

Ecks didn't dare to move, he didn't want to know the consequences of his actions.

"Show yourself!" Zivia shouted, the vixen stood up from the water, small drips of water fell from the vixen's fur, Ecks knew he had been caught, there was no denying it, he had no choice but to reveal himself, the dark blue vulpine slowly came into view from behind the bushes and palm tree, his ears were folded back onto his head and he had a sad look on his face as if he were a kit who was about to be scolded.

"Ecks!?" The vixen yelled in surprise, at first she was extremely angry, but as she looked at his now purple face and his pleading eyes, Zivia sat back down on the ledge below the water and started to laugh, Ecks' sad look was now replaced by one of confusion.

"You...You're not mad?" The puzzled vulpine asked.

"I was but, that look on your face was priceless, you looked so cute!" She exclaimed, "Like a little kid." She added, mimicking his former look, the sides of Ecks' face could now possibly melt metal as his cheeks were extremely purple.

"Heh...yeah." Ecks said nervously, his voice once again making an odd squeaking sound.

"So, what are you doing in my dream anyway?" Zivia asked.

"Wait, you know this is a dream?" Ecks ignored the question with one of his own.

"Of course I do, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy it," The vixen answered, "And now I know why it's so pleasant." She added with a seductive wink.

"Well, as much as I hate to say it, I think it's time for us to wake up." Zivia said, Ecks agreed with her choice, as he usually did.

Both foxes woke up at the same time, Ecks' eyes widened as he felt Zivia's lips pressed against his, this was usually his reaction as these moments came rather unexpected to him, but then he embraced the vixen in his arms as the two shared a passionate kiss.

"Gettin' some action are we?" A voice asked with a chuckle, startling both Ecks and Zivia as they quickly pulled away and looked at the doorway, they saw that Cross was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and his trademark smirk on his face, Cross wore a black tank-top, a pair of dark red athletic shorts, and his white sneakers, it was easy to tell that he'd been training in the gym earlier in the day.

"More than you'll get," Zivia said, making Ecks chuckle a bit, "How did you get in here anyway?" She asked.

"Fox opened the door for me, while you two were tongue wrestling, I've just been going about my day, I was hanging out in the bridge when Fox and Krystal were getting into a moment of their own, and I didn't want to be around for that, it turns out that I can't escape it today, oh well," Cross said, turning to leave the room, "Oh yeah, it's ten o'clock right now, so don't get too caught up in your little 'love fest'." He ended with a laugh as the door slid shut behind him.

"So, you want--" Ecks was cut-off as the vixen once again pressed her lips to his, Zivia pulled away a few seconds later, Ecks' face still had the same expression as he looked at Zivia.

"What was it you were gonna say?" The vixen asked.

"Uhh...what?" Ecks questioned as he couldn't remember what he was going to say before Zivia had kissed him, Zivia giggled as she pulled the covers off of her body, the vixen was only wearing underwear and a bra, Ecks looked away quickly so that he didn't accidentally start staring again, Zivia stood up, walked over to the dresser and took out two pieces of clothing, then the vixen walked over to the personal restroom.

"I'll be out in a few minutes." She said before walking into the restroom, Ecks laid back onto the bed and simply thought about Zivia, that was all he could think about after they returned from Coluxine, he promised himself to always protect her, even if he had to give his own life, she would never be taken from him again.

1:30 PM

Fox, Falco, and Cross had been training in the gym for the past two hours, Falco and Fox evened it out a bit by moving from a weight machine to one of the punching bags or a treadmill, Cross only stayed with the punching bag, it was his time of peace, despite the fury he possessed with each strike, Fox wore a white tank-top, a pair of dark green athletic shorts, and a pair of white sneakers, Falco wore a black muscle shirt, dark blue track pants, and his combat boots, a few minutes later, Krystal, Zivia, and Ecks had walked into the room, Krystal was wearing a dark blue tee-shirt, a pair of blue-jeans, and her purple boots, Zivia wore a bright red tee-shirt which matched the red line on her face perfectly, and a white pair of loose-fitting jeans, Ecks was clad in a white tee-shirt, a baggy pair of black jeans, and his black sneakers, the three foxes also had a guest with them, Falco recognized her instantly.

"Katt!" The blue avian yelled with excitement, a smile on his beak as he quickly made his way over to greet the pink feline who was wearing a camouflage tee-shirt, a pair of black cargo pants, and combat boots.

"Hi Falco." Katt greeted him back with a hug.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

"I wanted to see how you guys were holding up." She answered.

A loud grunt came from Cross as his fist hit the punching bag with incredible force, knocking the bag back but not enough to break the chain it was held by, "I'm done for the day." The red vulpine said as he was breathing heavily, Katt gently pushed Falco out of the way and walked over to Cross.

"And who's this little cutie?" She asked with a smile, the rest of the group laughed, Cross groaned at being called a 'cutie', he hated that, couldn't they see that he was a total badass? Obviously not as the girls were always calling him cute, Cross was glad that his fur was dark red because he was blushing madly, even though he hated being called cute, he always seemed to blush when it was a female who was calling him cute, and he always became nervous around a woman he hadn't met.

"I...uh...my name...is...uh." He was just going to say his name, but for some reason he couldn't find any words, Ecks floated over to the two.

"His name is Cross, my twin brother, he's also not very good at talking to girls." Ecks said, Ecks wasn't very good at talking to women either, that was until he met Zivia.

"Hey at least I'm not whipped!" Cross retorted with a glare, Katt was silent for a moment, simply looking at Ecks, then Cross, then back to Ecks.

"Both of you are just so adorable!" The pink feline exclaimed as she grabbed the two vulpine and hugged them, the air was almost completely driven out of the brothers as they gasped, Ecks looked at Fox.

"A little...help here?" Ecks asked weakly, Falco was of course laughing his ass off at the two vulpine's expense.

"Sorry, but if Katt wants something, she usually gets it." Fox said with a chuckle and a shrug of his shoulders, Ecks looked at Krystal with a pleading look, but she was too busy laughing, after what seemed like several minutes but was only mere seconds, Katt released her death-grip on the two vulpine.

"Sorry, you two are just so cute! I couldn't help myself." Katt giggled.

"They are kind of cute." Krystal agreed with a friendly smile.

"Heh...thanks." Ecks rubbed the back of his head as he blushed.

"Stop calling me cute!" Cross yelled.

"But it's true." Katt said with a smile, pinching Cross' cheek, Falco was still laughing his head off.

"I'm not a kid dammit!" Cross yelled. slapping the feline's paw away.

"Cross, we're fifteen so, technically we're still kids." Ecks said.

"Shut up! You're not helping!" Cross shouted at his brother.

"True, but neither is your constant whining." Cross had no response to this, he simply crossed his arms and sighed, admitting defeat.

"Now that is cute." Katt said before turning around and walking back to the exit.

"Don't worry, she's just messing with you." Fox told them when the feline left.

"Yeah, get used to it, 'cause there's plenty more to come." Falco added before leaving the gym as well.

The rest of the group decided to head to the bridge, not a single soul was in the room, but suddenly, "Call from Corneria." ROB said in his monotone voice.

"Patch it through." Fox said, Pepper's face appeared on the monitor.

"Fox! We're under attack!" The old hound exclaimed.

"Again!?" Fox and Krystal asked in unison.

"Yes! Get down here NOW!!" The dog yelled, after this the transmission was ended.

"Alright, you heard him, let's go!" Fox ordered.

Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter was a bit slow, and short, but this was more of a filler chapter and a bit of comic relief in certain areas, and there's something I want to bring up, I know this hasn't been mentioned at all in the reviews, but I feel the need to explain, I've noticed that I cut away from what's happening a lot when I describe what a character is wearing, I'm sorry if this becomes annoying, but I want to describe everything that I possibly can, this includes clothing and what-not, I just felt like I needed to clear that up. Anyway this was another fun chapter to write, as were the others, I hope you enjoyed reading this and thank you all for the support, oh yeah and don't forget: REVIEW MY STORY OR I WILL FIND YOU AND EAT YOU...just kidding, but yeah, please review and blah blah nothing else important blah blah.

Ignorant? Me? Ha, I don't even know what that means. ~Metallic Soul