Chapter 36: The Phoenix Stone

James growled as he tried desperately to keep up with Void. The dark vulpine was ducking and dodging his way through collapsed buildings and other rubble, as if he were a little kid running around on a playground. I guess I should've put more time into parkour when we were on that island, James thought as he jumped the remains of an office building. He heard Diamond curse and looked over to see her regain her footing after tripping over a busted sign. When James looked back ahead of him, Void was even farther ahead. James cursed and tried to pick up the speed, but howled in pain as he slammed his shin into a fire hydrant. He stopped and held his wounded shin, continuing to mutter swear words under his breath. He heard a chuckle and looked over to see Diamond with her hand on her mouth, stifling laughter. "What the hell are you laughing at," James growled. Diamond's cheeks were bright red and she clutched her stomach as she once again had to hold back laughter. "Nothing," Diamond managed to say.

James scowled and stood back up. He looked around, but Void was nowhere in sight. "God damn it, we lost him," James growled. "Not quite," Diamond said pointing to the left, "He went that way." James stared at her dumbfounded and Diamond smiled, pointed at her head and said, "I'm Cerinian, remember?" James grunted in response and began running into the direction Diamond had pointed. Diamond took off after him, easily catching up to the orange vulpine. They ran for what felt like hours, when in reality it was only two minutes, before James found himself slamming into Void. The two vulpines smashed into the ground, causing James to hit his nose on the concrete. Void cursed and stood back up, glaring at the orange fox clutching his now bleeding nose. "What was that for?!" Void said. James growled and replied, "It was an accident. We were trying to catch up to you and I guess I wasn't paying attention." Void scowled, but didn't reply. He instead walked down the road a little ways before stopping and looking around. Diamond walked over and helped James to his feet. James removed his hand from his nose to find it covered in blood. He quickly replaced it as blood dripped from his nose onto the ground.

"Gross," Diamond said, her face cringing. "You act as if you haven't seen worse," James replied. "Doesn't mean I like it," Diamond said, smiling again. "If you two love birds are done making out, we have a problem!" James and Diamond looked over as they heard Void yell. "What is it, almighty Void?" James yelled back, as they walked towards him. Void glared at him and James averted his gaze to hide his smile. "Alright smart ass," Void growled, "As much as I love a good joke, now's not the time." James chuckled and said, "Never thought I'd see the day Void wasn't in the mood for sarcasm." Void growled, but once again didn't reply. He started walking around to different buildings, looking for something. James and Diamond kept pestering him with questions like "Where are we?" or "What are you looking for?" but Void ignored them. Eventually, James grew impatient. "What the hell is the problem?!" He yelled causing Diamond to jump in surprise. James gave her a quick apologetic look, but then looked back towards Void, his expression angry. Void stood there for a moment, staring at the ground and muttering to himself as if he were trying to solve something. It was as if he couldn't even hear them.

James growled and walked closer to the dark vulpine. Void didn't even acknowledge his presence, but instead kept walking around, muttering and thinking. James looked at Void with a baffled look and said, "Wow, you really have lost your mind." Void stopped walking and looked over at the orange and white vulpine, his face expressionless. "I'm not crazy, I'm perfectly sane," Void said. James knew that Void was, in fact, not perfectly sane, but decided not to press the issue. "What the hell's going on, Void?" James asked, "You've been wandering around in circles muttering to yourself for like five minutes." Void looked around a little bit more before looking at James with a look of defeat. "There's a slight chance we may be totally, and hopelessly lost." James' jaw dropped and he stared at Void with a look of bewilderment. "What…You…How…" James couldn't get a complete thought out, he was so dumbstruck. He heard Diamond face palm behind him. Void scowled and said, "Are you going to say something, or are you going to keep standing there like a babbling idiot?" James closed his mouth and shook his head to clear it.

Regaining his ability to make complete sentences, James said, "How the hell did you get us lost?! You're supposed to be the navigator! You always bragged about how you never got lost because of your "amazing" sense of direction! I guess that was a lie too!" Void scowled and replied, "Hey, shut up! I made a mistake okay! It's no better than your navigational skills. Had we let you lead this expedition we would be walking around the same block for an hour and a half while you tried to find your way!" Void and James were now standing toe to toe, staring each other down. Diamond, who had been silently laughing in the background, decided it was time to step in. She got in between the two foxes and pushed them apart. "Alright boys, that's enough. Now, Void do you have any idea to get us back on track?" Void plopped down onto a pile of rubble behind him, releasing an exasperated sigh. "No idea," he said, his voice low as if it pained him to admit it. "Good job, Mr. Map," James said sarcastically, causing Void to growl. "You better watch your mouth fatty, or I'll cut it off." "I'd like to see you try," James growled. Diamond scowled and said, "Seriously you guys, knock it off. This is no time for you two to squabble like a bunch of children." Void rolled his eyes and looked away while James scoffed and crossed his arms. "Alright Diamond, what's your plan then?" James asked.

Diamond blushed slightly, and looked away embarrassed. "I don't really have one," she said. "There's a big surprise," Void said standing up. Diamond glared at him and retorted, "Oh? Well, then what's your ingenious plan almighty navigator?" Void looked at her with a bored expression and replied, "You guys are totally playing that out." Diamond growled, but before she could reply, Void began walking towards a building that was somewhat still intact. Before Diamond, or James could ask him what he was doing, Void began to scale the building. Pretty soon, he had disappeared from view onto the roof of the building. James and Diamond waited for what they assumed was a few minutes, before they saw Void walk out the collapsed wall. "How did you get down so fast?" Diamond asked. Void pointed a thumb behind himself and answered, "The stairs are still intact. It was just more fun to scale it." Diamond face palmed at the sheer stupidity of Void's reply. "You wasted all that time just so you could climb up a stupid building?!" Void glared at her and said, "Shut up, it's important to stay in shape." "I can't believe I agreed to team up with you," James growled. "This hasn't been a cakewalk for me either, fatass, so do me a favor and piss off!" "Enough!" Diamond snarled, "Can we please go five minutes without you two going at each other's throats?"

"He started it!" the two vulpines replied at the same time. They then turned to each other, looks of anger in their eyes and once again in unison said, "No, you started it!" Diamond scowled and yelled, "I don't give a damn who started it, just knock it off!" Void huffed and walked away from the orange vulpine, who was still giving him a look of disgust. "I've got my bearings," he said, "Just follow me." "Yeah, because that worked out so well last time," James scoffed. Void glared at him and went to reply, but looked back at Diamond who was staring daggers at him. The dark vulpine rolled his eyes and decided it best not to reply. He instead took off in full run, heading down the street before hanging a left. James and Diamond stood there for a few seconds before they realized what had happened and took off after him. Once again, James struggled to keep up. No wonder this guy kicked my ass, he thought though he'd never say it out loud.

James' legs began to burn as they ran throughout the city. He could still hear the sounds of the battle raging in different parts of the city, and it took everything he had to not run off and join the battle. Finding the Phoenix Stone was more important. If Shadow got his hands on it, they were doomed. James' blood boiled upon thinking about the gray furred vulpine. He was going to pulverize that bastard. James kept running, not putting too much thought into where he was going, but he began to slow down as he began to notice something. He hadn't seen Diamond or Void for a while now. A pit began to form in his stomach as he realized what had happened. He had been separated. "Shit," he growled, "That's just fantastic." He called out Diamond's name, but got no answer in return. He growled and kicked a stone in front of him, sending it skittering across the blacktop of the ruined road.

He wandered around the area for what seemed like forever, sniffing the air and trying to find any sign of where they might have gone. Finally the large vulpine let out a sigh of defeat. "This is pointless," He muttered to himself, "I'll never find them." He sat down on a large slab of concrete that had fallen from a nearby parking garage, put his chin into his hands, and waited.

…

Deoxyia's mind raced with thoughts as she flew through the sky in her Arwing, the battle flaring at full blast around her. It was taking all of her strength not to lose her composure and totally flip out. She had to stop herself from hyperventilating a few times. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she took a deep breath in another futile attempt to calm herself down. After destroying the land master in town square, things had just gone from bad to worse. Shadow's aerial forces were clearly superior, and his men were more than just hired guns. They were top notch pilots. Deoxyia heard a voice crackle over the radio, alerting her to an enemy behind her. She tried to remain calm and began evasive maneuvers. She dipped down towards the ground before taking a hard left hoping to swing around and take her pursuer out from behind. She had no such luck. The enemy ship stayed right on her tail, following her move for move, and began to open fire. Deoxyia gasped as her already damaged ship got blasted again and again.

The ship began to blare a low shield warning as Deoxyia tried again and again to lose the other ship, but no matter what she did the other guy did it better. The shield gauge was empty now and Deoxyia began to panic as debris flew off the ship. The enemy was unrelenting in his assault, hitting her again and again. Deoxyia felt the ship get hot as it began to catch on fire. She was in a full on panic now, hitting buttons and switches in a desperate attempt to save herself. In her panicked frenzy, Deoxyia failed to watch where she was going, and before she knew it she was crashing head first into the wall of a building. She bashed her head against the console as her ship flipped through the building nose over tail. Deoxyia held on tightly as to avoid being flung around as her ship stopped tumbling, sliding through the wall on the other side. The ship hit the wall of the neighboring building and stopped, suspended ten stories above the ground between the two. Deoxyia groaned in pain as she tried to stop the world from spinning around her. She blinked a few times to clear her vision. Her head was pounding and there was a sharp pain in her shoulder. As she came to she felt the heat of the fire and began to panic again. If she didn't get out she would be cooked alive. She quickly began to unstrap herself, but stopped as she heard the ship groan. Suddenly, it lurched forward and Deoxyia let out a piercing scream as she was now looking directly at the ground.

She began to take rapid breaths as she quickly looked for a way out of the ship. It creaked again as it began to slide off the buildings that held it in place. Deoxyia gasped as she realized that the Arwing wasn't going to stay for long. If she didn't find her way out, she would likely end up flattened underneath this hunk of metal. She tried to finish unstrapping herself, but to her dismay the harness was bent and twisted so it wouldn't unlatch all the way. She growled and reached for her staff which she had left in the cockpit next to her. It wasn't there. She gasped and began frantically looking around for it before she caught a glimpse of a pink light inside the building she had just crashed through. She cursed as she realized her staff had fallen out. She took a deep breath and reached into her boot, pulling out a small knife. She began cutting through the strap as fast as she could, which wasn't actually that fast. She shrieked as the ship suddenly lurched forward again. She was almost out of time.

She started cutting faster. Her arm started to get tired, but to slow down would mean death. She was halfway through when the ship lurched forward again, one side now further down than the other. She cursed and kept cutting. "Almost there…" she said still cutting. The ship was now at a slow slide, the only thing keeping it from falling was the wing, as it was caught onto the building. That wouldn't last long though, the pink vixen thought. She was almost through now, just as the ship lurched forward again, causing Deoxyia to drop the knife. The knife fell through a hole in the canopy and down to the ground ten stories below. "Damn it!" she cried as she gripped the strap and tried to rip it apart. The ship kept groaning as it slid farther and farther down. Deoxyia tried helplessly to rip the strap apart. "Come on, come on…please!" she yelled. She began to hyperventilate as she looked around desperately for something to help her. Out of the corner of her eye she caught a glimpse of something sharp. She looked behind her and about a foot away was a sharp piece of metal jutting out of the wall. She pulled the strap as far as it would go, and began rubbing it on the metal. The cutting process was now going slower than before as the ship continued to slide. Deoxyia kept cutting frantically, tears welling up in her eyes.

Finally, just as the ship was about to come loose, the strap snapped in half. Deoxyia let out a cry of victory and leapt from the cockpit, cutting her leg on the piece of metal that had just saved her life. She let out a cry of pain, and now found herself tumbling onto the wing, her jump failing. The ship sprung loose and began plummeting down to the ground below. Deoxyia managed to grab onto a ledge of the building, causing the rest of her body to slam into the wall. She watched as her bright pink ship fell to the ground, hitting the concrete with a loud crash. The Arwing was now nothing but a hunk of burning scrap metal. She looked back up to see a window right in front of her. She pulled herself up as far as she could go and sent an elbow into the window, breaking the glass and cutting her arm. She tumbled into the building before coming to a rest on her back, staring up at the ceiling. She was panting, and she laid there for a minute as she tried to catch her breath. Her leg and arm were burning in pain and when she sat up she saw that a puddle of blood had formed around her. She looked at her leg, and to her dismay the cut was deep and bleeding badly. She put her hand on the wound and applied pressure as she used her other arm to rip the rest of her already torn shirt off. She wrapped her shirt tight around the wound and tied it together. She stood up, now clad in only a bra and torn, bloody combat pants. She avoided putting any weight on her injured leg as she limped over to the stair case leading to the next floor.

She began climbing the stairs, hoping to reach the floor in which she saw her staff. After a few flights she finally saw her staff laying just a few feet away. She tried to limp over, but her leg gave way and she tumbled to the floor. She tried to stand up, but her body burned, and her arm was still bleeding. She growled and began dragging herself over to her staff. After what seemed like hours, she finally reached it. She grabbed it and flipped over onto her back, a smile now on her face. Her eyes burned with exhaustion, and every part of her body hurt. "Well, looks like its nap time…" she whispered before everything went black.

…

Void stopped behind the cover of another collapsed building. Just a few feet away was the wreckage of the gigantic battleship, but it was well guarded. Shadow's men were fighting off forces from both sides, mainly Void's. Void looked around before finding what he was looking for. The ship was lying in a gigantic hole in the ground, half of it hidden in its depths. Void assumed Shadow had used that hole to get under the city, and was now on his way to the Phoenix Stone. He heard panting behind him and spun around to see Diamond running over. The vixen stopped a few feet away from him and hunched over catching her breath. "We… we lost James…" she said still panting. Void was now looking back at the wreckage as he replied, "Oh, what a pity. He'll be dearly missed." Diamond growled, "He's not dead you moron, we got separated." "That's a shame," Void said quickly as he walked over in a crouch to the next building. Diamond walked over, an annoyed expression on her face. "What the hell is the matter with you?!" She cried. Void suddenly leapt over, tackling Diamond to the ground. "What the…" Diamond began before the wind was knocked out of her lungs. "Are you insane?!" Void hissed. "Do you want to get us killed?! This area is crawling with Shadow's men, we have to be careful!" Diamond nodded her understanding and Void let her up.

The dark vulpine pointed to tall building in the distance, where smoke was rising up. "I saw a pink Arwing go down over by there. I'm assuming that's Deoxyia." Diamond's eyes widened at the news. Void nodded and muttered, "Yet another thing to worry about." He paced over to a man hole cover, and groaned as he tried to lift it off. Diamond looked at the vulpine struggling to lift it and said, "It's no good. It's stuck." Void let go and sat there for a minute. He shook his head and drew one of his katanas. He stuck into the crack and began prying open the manhole cover. The cover lifted off, but the katana blade snapped. "Shit," Void said as he put the now broken sword in his belt. He looked at Diamond and pointed down towards the sewers. "This is our way past their defenses," he said. Diamond's eyes narrowed and she walked over, sniffing the air. "After you," Void said. Diamond shook her head as she covered her nose. "There's no way I'm going down there." "Suit yourself," Void said before giving Diamond a hard shove in the back. The blue vixen swore as she plummeted through the cover and into the murky water below. Void was close behind as he dropped down, pulling the cover back over them.