Hi! It's me again and I hope you missed me! Thanks Caleb for warning me about Brad!
I blocked him so he can't flame me anymore! Anyway, I was just reading over
my story the other day when I found a typo in chapter 12. As I told you already, when I
put the words in italics it means they're having a dream or thinking. Though at the end of
chapter 12 the italics kept on going even after the dream ended. Sorry, but I can't change
that! Ever since we changed to cable one chapters 1-14 are gone from my computer's
memory! I hope it didn't cause too much trouble. Anyway on with the story.
Was it a dream? It had to be. This wasn't possible, how could it be? Moments
ago the hollow was obliterated, now it was normal. During that flash of light everything
that had happened disappeared. The warpstone's garden was back, so was the wall along with the
Warpstone. The thorntails were alive and about. The well was…still blown up but the pieces were
together in a pile. Finally, the temple…the temple was back to normal. Fox and Clay's spirits soared
with joy. Nothing was dead or injured, and nothing was broken or destroyed. The well was an
exception though. The sky had returned to a magnificent blue color and the water was crystal clear.
The ground was green and lush with grass. The trees were healthy and strong looking too. It was like
a dream, only much more beautiful.
"Fox, what happened?" asked Clay, who was still looking at the renewed land before them.
"I'm not sure, I think the hollow has been fixed." Replied Fox who obviously wasn't really paying attention
to what he was saying.
Fox walked over to a tree and kicked it. The tree swayed and groaned as Fox felt the rough bark with his
paw.
"Yep, it's real." Said Fox as he backed away from the tree.
"Great, now for the next question. How the heck did this happen?"
"Again, I don't know. How could my staff and your sword combine their powers and fix something
that had been destroyed moments before?"
"Well, maybe something happened in the past that created a link between the two."
"But what? What could have possibly happened to link them?" asked Fox.
Fox and Clay turned towards the place where their weapons stood. Both the staff and the sword
were still faintly glowing from the earlier miracle that they had performed.
"I don't know. We don't have a clue where that staff came from and we also don't know where
my sword was created."
They walked over to their weapons and slowly picked them up. Both of them could feel
tremendous amounts of energy being released from the staff and the sword. Though something
peculiar caught their eye. The blue gem at the top of Fox's staff was glowing a dark blue. The
Star Fox symbol in the middle of Clay's sword was glowing a dark red. They remembered that
these were the two colors that shot up into the sky and formed the purple beacon. This was also
odd because of this reason. Each planet in the Lylat System had a national color. Venom had
vomit green, Fortuna had white and Katina had brown. The color red belonged to Corneria.
Since Star Fox worked for Corneria it made a lot of since for the sword to give off a red color.
Fox's staff was very strange though, what planet had blue? Macbeth? No, that was gray. Could
it be Aquas? Nope, Aquas had black. It wasn't Zoness, which was orange. Titania was…gold.
There wasn't any other planet in the Lylat System that could have the color blue. Maybe this
planet was destroyed or maybe it was evacuated and didn't have a color. Unless, the thought
hit Fox and Clay like a train, no it couldn't be, it just wasn't possible.
No, that couldn't be right. It couldn't be, could it? Thought Fox. Little did he know that it
was the planet he was thinking of. This staff came from the planet that he failed to save.
The only mission that he failed. The only mission that he gave up on.
"Fox? Hey Fox? Are you all right? FOX!" Clay yelled as he got Fox's attention.
"Huh? Oh, what is it Clay?"
"Do you have any idea where your staff came from?"
"Yeah but I don't think that it's possible, do you?" asked Fox.
"Well, if we're both thinking about the same planet then I would have to agree with
you Fox. It just couldn't be possible. The only way that we can find out is to find
that girl. If this really is her staff and if she is from that planet we'll know when we
see her."
"Right. Now what should we-." Fox was cut off as they both heard Tricky yelling from
inside the cargo hold in Fox's arwing.
"Fox! Clay! Where the heck are you guys?"
Fox and Clay had totally forgotten about the prince! They jogged over to their arwings
but waited to see how long Tricky would keep on yelling, for amusement. His yelling
and screaming kept up for about 5 minutes until he stopped. Fox and Clay chuckled
as they heard Tricky breathing deeply from the cargo hold. Fox grinned at Clay and put
his face down by the cargo hatch.
He took in a deep breath and yelled, "HEY TRICKY!"
They heard the mad scrambling of the prince as he received the yell. Fox and Clay
roared with laughter as Tricky began to regain his composure.
"Very funny Fox! NOW LET ME OUT!"
Fox rolled his eyes as he pressed a button on his wrist communicator. The cargo hatch of
Fox's arwing slowly opened with a soft hiss. After a couple seconds Tricky came stumbling
out of the arwing, he was obviously a little shaky after Fox yelled at him. Tricky squinted his
eyes as the bright sun shone down on the three, it felt great to move around freely again. Tricky
bounded around the hollow with a gleeful look on his face. Fox and Clay were glad…and relieved
that Tricky never found out what happened here moments before. Fox and Clay looked at each other
and decided it was best that Tricky never found out what happened here.
"So, what do we do next?" asked Clay as he looked around for any possible path that they could take.
"Don't you know? We need to go to the Volcano Force Point Temple! Duh!" said Tricky as he looked
at Clay with a look of pity on his face.
"Oh…uh, yeah. I knew that. I was just checking to make sure that you knew!" Said Clay as he tried not
to look stupid in front of a kid. He knew he wasn't stupid; he just didn't want to give off that impression.
"Sure you did." Replied Tricky as he rolled his eyes.
"Ok that's enough guys. We need to get this spellstone to the force point temple." Said Fox as he tugged
on Clay's shirt so they could get going.
"I know Fox! I just don't like a kid smart talking me."
"Hey, it's not my fault that you're forgetful." Said Tricky in a mocking tone.
"Now that's enough! As your team leader I command you to cease this nonsense Clay!" Fox yelled as he
stomped his foot on the ground.
Fox never liked to talk like a commander in the Cornerian Army, as a matter of fact the only time
that he ever had to talk like that was when Falco was on the team. He never had to talk like that to Clay though.
Fox knew that Clay didn't really like that kind of talk either, neither did Peppy or Slippy. They all felt like that
talk meant that they weren't disciplined and they couldn't follow orders. Clay proved this as he lowered his ears
and put his head down. He didn't stand like a soldier though, the whole team knew that that was just plain useless.
"Sorry Fox, I didn't mean to get out of hand. He just kept mocking me though!" said Clay with his head still down.
There was something in Clay's voice that made Fox want to apologize for yelling at him. He just
sounded hurt and upset with his actions. Clay was like one of those perfect school kids; he wanted to do his best
but he still wanted to fit in. Something like getting yelled at really made him feel bad. It was the same thing at the
academy, the sergeants would go tougher on him just because he was a tiger so they expected more out of him since
he was bigger than the others.
"It's okay Clay, I shouldn't have yelled. We need to stay calm if we're even to survive this mission. If we get angry
with each other, we might not make it."
Tricky was feeling kind of bad that he got Clay in trouble but he didn't want to get in trouble himself so
he just stayed quiet. Fox could send him back to his mom right now if he wanted to, he didn't want to make Fox do
that.
"Tricky that goes for you too. You need to be a little more serious about this, you know that we could get killed."
Said Fox as he looked down at the prince.
Tricky just nodded, he didn't really have anything useful to say about the subject.
'Well, keeping quiet didn't work. I guess I'll just have to stay more serious about this mission. Fox is right
though, we could get killed. I sure wouldn't want that to happen, to any of us.' Thought Tricky as he
continued to nod in agreement with Fox.
"All right, now that that's all settled, we're off to the temple!" Said Fox as he walked down the path.
"Wait Fox! Do you even know where the temple is?" Clay yelled as he jogged over to Fox.
"Uh, well…not really. I was kind of hoping that you knew." Fox said as he looked over at his friend.
"Weren't you listening? That was what Tricky was mocking me about! I don't know where the temple
is either."
"Ok, ok. No need to get excited. Lets just ask our little friend here where we can find the temple." Said
Fox as he motioned down to Tricky who was bounding along side them.
"Just keep going." Replied Tricky as he continued to walk ahead.
"Huh? But, we would just end up at the well." Said Fox.
Fox was right. Ahead of them were the ruins of the ancient well. Tricky however, knew another
way to go.
"Yeah, but what if we went around?" said Tricky with a smile on.
"Oh yeah, I never thought of that." Said Clay as he mentally kicked himself for not thinking of that.
"Come on, we want to get there before dark. Or else we'll have to wait until morning. I have no clue what
lurks out here in the dark and I don't want to take any chances." Fox announced as he jogged towards the ruins
of the well.
"Hey, wait up for me!" yelled Clay as he quickly caught up with his friend.
Fox and Clay didn't have any idea where the Volcano Force Point Temple was. Not even Tricky
knew the exact location. As they passed the ancient well the three saw some red mushrooms up ahead. Beyond
the mushrooms was what looked like a small cliff, just taller than Clay. It was about 4:00 in the afternoon and
light of Solar was off to the west. It would be dark in about 3 hours. When the three reached the red mushrooms
they avoided them as best as they could. Fox and Clay remembered what these things could do from when they
were in the ancient well. Thankfully, the mushrooms didn't feel threatened so they stayed still as Fox, Clay, and
Tricky sidestepped them. They had now reached the small ledge and down below they could see more red
mushrooms.
"Are these things all over the planet? They're really starting to bug me." Said Clay as he looked down at the toxic
plants.
"Just ignore them. They won't attack unless they feel like they're in danger." Replied the prince.
Instead of risking their health the three simply jumped over the mushrooms. Fox and Clay landed gracefully
on the other side while Tricky landed flat on his face. Fox and Clay laughed as Tricky got up with a dazed look on his
face.
"Nice jump, you should really consider doing that for a living. It looks so professional." Said Fox as he chuckled at the
prince.
"Oh shut up. I haven't done this as much as you guys, I'm not used to it."
"Yeah we know. Now come on, it's getting close to dusk. We have to hurry if we're to make it to the temple by
nightfall." Said Clay as he motioned ahead.
The path ahead looked pretty clear as far and Fox and Clay could see. Though it was a lot mistier and
it seemed a lot darker too. What made it seem really spooky was the shape of the landscape. Jagged, dark colored
rocks lined the entire area. That was really weird, how could the land change so dramatically that fast? Well, they
did have to go through a tunnel, they must have found the area next to Thorntail Hollow. What was it's name and
what kind of creatures lived here? Further more, is this the area where they could find the Volcano Force Point
Temple?
"Man, this place gives me the creeps." Said Clay as they proceeded into the tunnel.
"I've only been here once before. When I was younger I ran down here out of curiosity. I never would of if I knew
what was down here." Said Tricky as he looked around the dark passage as if something was going to jump out at
them.
"What do you mean?" asked Fox.
"Well, lets just say that there are monsters here that you won't find anywhere else on the planet."
"By the way, do you know where we are Tricky?"
"I never learned the name of the place. None of the Thorntails ever talk about it and my parents have never
mentioned it either."
"How do you know that this is the way to the temple then?" asked Clay.
"My parents did tell me how to get to the temple. They said 'Through the path of darkness and up the cliff of danger,
you will find the magic of fire.' They never did tell me the name of the place though."
"Well let's just ask Peppy then shall we?" said Fox as he punched some buttons on his wrist communicator.
After a few seconds Peppy's head popped up in all of its holographic glory. He smiled when he saw that
the three were all right.
"Good, you're ok. Since you hadn't called in a while I thought something had happened to you guys."
"Thanks Peppy, we're all right. We seem kind of lost though. Do you think you could pinpoint our coordinates?"
"Sure thing. You guys are on your way to the temple right? I mean I would like to know how far you guys are."
"Yeah we're on our way to drop off the spellstone. After that we don't know what." Said Clay as he crossed his
arms.
"Good, now lets see."
Peppy typed something on the computer and his head disappeared on Fox's communicator. A map of
Dinosaur Planet replaced it, though he began to talk again.
"According to this map you're just outside Moon Mountain Pass. It's an uninhabited area on the planet that is
home to the Volcano Force Point Temple. Be careful though, my research shows that there are some sharpclaw
guards patrolling the place. If you see something that looks suspicious then stay low, we don't need you guys
getting killed."
"I wouldn't worry about us getting hurt by a couple sharpclaws, they're easier than a couple of Andross's bogies."
Clay reassured the old hare.
"Thanks for everything Pep. How is it going up there?"
"Well, I've been catching up on my sleep and Slippy has been bored as heck so it's pretty normal up here."
"All right. We'll call if we need anything else, thanks Peppy. Oh, and tell Slippy we said hi." Said Fox as
he pictured the scene of Peppy sleeping and Slippy lying on the ground bored.
"Will do, Peppy out."
"Fox and Clay out."
Fox turned off his communicator and looked and Clay and Tricky.
"Well, now we know where we are. We also know that we need to keep an eye out for sharpclaws." Said Clay
as he looked out towards the exit of the tunnel.
"Yep, I guess we just have to keep going and we'll reach the temple. I wonder how far it is?" added Fox.
"The only problem is that it stays this dark all the time. We won't know when the sun sets." Said Tricky who
was now worried.
"That's ok, we've got watches." Said Clay as he held showed Tricky his wrist with his digital watch on it.
"How can that help us?"
"It tells the time so we'll know when it's night out."
"Oh, cool" was all that Tricky said before they began walking towards the exit of the tunnel.
Fox and Clay's boots made clinking noises as they made contact with the hard rock surface. Before
long they had reached the tunnel exit. To there left was a solid rock wall but to there right was a rocky slope that
lead up the pass. Along the pass were many jagged rocks that jutted up out of the ground. This made it difficult
to see what was at the top of the pass.
"Well only one way to go and that's up the slope." Said Fox as he looked up the path to make sure it was safe.
"We have to remember that there are sharpclaws around here. We don't want to trigger a full-scale assault."
Said Clay as he took a couple steps out into the open.
Moon Mountain Pass, now Fox and Clay could see why Tricky wished he had known what was here.
In this area even the sky was a dark, eerie green color. The shadows on the rocks made them look alive, and the
wind nipped at the exposed parts of their bodies. There was no plant life, just solid rock. In fact, it didn't look
like there was any form of life at all. Not even sharpclaws could be seen or heard. Wait, that was probably a
good thing no matter where they were.
"This is really weird. Look how everything changed so quickly! The settings went from sunny, warm, and happy
to dark, cold, and gloomy. Why did they put the temple here?" asked Clay.
"To keep it safe from evil. Not just anybody can walk into the temple!" replied Tricky.
"No matter what the climate is we have to keep going. Look it's already 4:20!" Said Fox as he pointed to his watch.
"Right, lets go."
As they began there ascend up the pass Fox and Clay noticed that the spellstone in Fox's pack was glowing
faintly. If this was due to the fact that they were nearing the temple then they must be on the right track. The
darkness showed no signs of lifting and the wind didn't die down a bit. This wasn't a place that the three wanted to
stay in very long. One good thing was as they walked on there was a less amount of rocks jutting out of the ground,
which made visibility of what was up ahead a lot better. That, as they would soon find out, probably saved their lives.
Clay went around another rock as the three continued up the slope towards the temple.
"I wonder how much farther we have to go?" asked Clay as he looked up the trail.
"It shouldn't be much farther now. The temple has to be somewhere up ahead." Replied Fox.
"Right. Lets keep going." Said Tricky as he continued up the path.
Meanwhile
Captain Zacos was very excited for what his general had planned for him to do. He was to lead a full
scale assault on Lightfoot Village in order to take out the last free tribe on the planet. The lightfoots wouldn't
stand a chance at defending themselves. He couldn't wait to attack and kill the unsuspecting creatures, it would
be hordes of fun. If this went without error he might get promoted to Major! For now though, he had to wait
and be in charge of the guards at this barricade on Moon Mountain Pass. This was so boring, nobody would dare
come up the pass and try to break through the barrier. At least he got to stay in the fortress and not out in the cold
with the guards. Besides, the general safely hid the spellstones where nobody could find them. Why would anyone
try to get into the Force Point Temple? If they didn't have the spellstones then they couldn't do anything. The general
told him to kill anybody who comes up the pass and tries to break through the barrier anyway. Lately he had
overheard the guards talking about these two figures that were traveling with the earthwalker prince to gain the
spellstones and defeat the sharpclaw army. They were last seen in Darkice Mines where they had supposedly stole
the spellstone from the general. He would have to keep an eye out for these three 'cause if he let them sneak by then
it would be the most painful torture that the general could come up with. Zacos was just about to take a nap when
one of the guards came into his quarters.
"Excuse me captain, but I need to tell you something." Said the guard as he wobbled into the room.
Great. It was the one guard that Zacos didn't like. This buffoon was always messing up during
training or falling asleep or even injuring one of the other guards just because he was clumsy.
"Permission granted, now what do you want?" asked Zacos in a gruff voice.
The guard gulped, he didn't know what to say. He didn't want to anger the captain but he wasn't
very good at reporting something to him either.
"Well, uh, you see, it goes kind of like this."
"Come on soldier! Just tell me what you came in to tell me!" yelled Zacos as he pounded his fist down on his desk.
The guard jumped and began to tremble.
"Y-yes s-s-sir. I have g-gotten word that three figures have been making there way up the pass towards the barrier.
They match the description of the three that raided Darkice Mines." Said the guard who was still trembling.
"Hm, are you sure?"
"That's what I heard from our spies sir."
"All right. They must be coming up here to return the spellstone to the Force Point Temple. We can't
let them break through our defenses."
"What should we do sir?" asked the guard who was now wide-eyed.
Zacos was starting to get annoyed by this guy. Of course they were going to try and stop
them! After they finished off these guys he was going to make sure this guard was moved to another
sector.
"Prepare the archers. Have them hide on the ledges of the cliffs so they are well hidden. Get the troops
as well, have them waiting on the balconies at the top of the fortress just in case these guys get past the
archers. And when you kill them, bring their bodies to me. I want to see who they are." Ordered Zacos.
Zacos expected to see their dead bodies lying at his feet soon. Nobody had ever gotten past
his archers, he was very proud of them and he trained them well.
The guard saluted Zacos in a messy fashion and yelled, "Yes sir!" and ran out the door to prepare the
defense.
Back to our heroes
Fox, Clay, and Tricky continued up the pass as the amount of rocks on the ground became
small.
"How big do you think the temple will be?" asked Clay.
"Well I'm sure that we'll notice it when we get to it." Replied Fox.
"I'm sure it'll be really…"
Tricky didn't get to say anymore as an arrow whizzed down and stuck into the solid rock
ground.
"What the…LOOK OUT!" yelled Fox as more arrows came down on them.
Clay jumped back as an arrow landed in front of him. Fox rolled and looked behind him and
saw three arrows in a perfect line. Behind them Tricky was having tough time dodging all of the arrows
as he zigzagged across the path. None of them could see where the arrows were coming from but they knew
that if they wanted to live then they had to keep going up the path. Fox looked at Clay and nodded as he
ran over to where Tricky was and at the same time dodging more arrows.
"Fox help!" yelled Tricky as a lone arrow came out of the sky towards him.
Fox didn't say anything, he just picked up Tricky and ran forward just in time to avoid getting
killed. Up ahead Clay was still jumping out of the way of the arrows as he ran up the path. Fox was doing
his best to dodge the arrows and still keep control of Tricky but it was very difficult. Clay looked up and saw
many arrows coming down on top of him and he knew that he couldn't dodge them. Just before the arrows
pierced him though he whipped out his sword and blocked them all. Sparks flew through the air as the
arrows ricocheted off of Clay's sword. Fox ran up to him, still carrying Tricky.
"Are you ok?" asked Fox as he continued to run up the slope with the prince in his hands.
"Yeah, but we have got to find these archers. The only problem is that they're really well hidden and
I can't see with all these arrows flying around!" yelled Clay as he blocked some more arrows that were
coming down on them.
If Fox weren't carrying Tricky around he would be helping Clay block the arrows with
his staff. Clay was starting to get tired when he saw something that would really make this fight fair.
Up on a ledge in the cliffs was what looked like a sharpclaw with a crossbow. Though Clay could
only see the silhouette he was sure that it was a sharpclaw. Clay decided to use the sharpclaw's weapon
against them. When the sharpclaw fired its next volley of arrows Clay extended his sword and a red barrier
formed around the tip. When the arrows made contact with the barrier they zipped right back at the sharpclaw.
The sharpclaw's eyes widened as he saw the arrows coming right back at him.
"Ah crap." Was all that he said before he fell dead with 3 arrows in his chest.
"One down, who knows how many more to go." Said Clay as they continued to run up the pass.
As they ran, the three were beginning to notice that fewer arrows were being fired at them. Clay
decided to take a chance in order to find out were the archers were hidden. It might give their position away
but it would also give Clay something to shoot at. Clay raised his sword into the air and it began to glow a
bright yellow color. The light steadily became stronger as the whole path was filled with light. As Clay
predicted, more arrows suddenly came down on them, only now some came from behind. Along with
that Fox, Clay, and Tricky could now see the archers that were shooting at them. Clay wouldn't bother
with the ones behind them, just the ones that were actually a threat, there were about 6 archers. Clay
raised his sword yet again and another bright light shined from the weapon, only stronger now. When
this light got to its maximum intensity it shot up into the air like a backwards lightning bolt. The bolt
of light went into the sky and disappeared into the clouds above. The sharpclaws looked up and
wondered what the heck was going to happen. Fox, Clay, and Tricky in the meantime took advantage
of this and sprinted up the pass away from the archers. The sharpclaws began to chuckle as they thought
that the attack was a bluff and were just about to shoot at the enemies when it happened. 6 bolts of lightning
shot down from the sky and fried all 6 archers that posed a threat to Fox and company. Clay looked back and
saw 6 dead, smoking sharpclaw bodies lying on the path.
"All right, we're safe." Said Clay as he put his sword back into his pack.
"Good, that was a real heck of an evading test." Chuckled Fox as he set Tricky back down on the ground.
"We have to be careful though. Those archers were probably sent by a bigger group to kill us. We better
keep an eye out for them." Said Clay as he looked up the pass.
"Good thinking, but either way we have to keep moving." Said Fox.
They continued up the pass and watched out for anymore ambushes that might await them. They
sure found one when they came to a large fortress that blocked the whole path. There didn't seem to be anyway
around so the only way to get to the other side would be to go through it.
"This is really starting to tick me off." Said Fox as he got out his staff just in case.
"Well I don't want to wait for any ambushes to go underway so lets just bust through it." Said Clay as he took
out his sword and prepared to charge.
"Right, lets just go right through. Ready…GO!" yelled Fox as the three of them charged the fortress.
Sharpclaw Guards
Every guard on the balcony of the fortress became alert when they heard the yell. Not knowing
what was down there every sharpclaw on the top of the fortress leaped from their perch and landed with a loud thud
on the rock solid ground. In front of them they found a fox, a tiger, and the prince earthwalker charging the fortress.
Fox and Company
Fox, Clay, and Tricky all stopped when they saw the sharpclaw guards land on the ground in front of
them. All of them were snarling and swinging their weapons except for one lone sharpclaw who stood there trembling.
"Jeez, don't you guys ever die?" Yelled Fox as he got his staff ready to attack.
"Just so you know what we're going to do to you, I'll give you a little example." Said Clay as he pointed his sword at
the trembling sharpclaw.
"What? N-no, please d-don't, AHHHHHHHH!"
A white beam shot out of Clay's sword and vaporized the frightened sharpclaw. When the beam lifted, only
the sharpclaw's mace remained. The other sharpclaws weren't even phased by this and they charged the three.
"Oh well, I warned you." Said Clay as they charged the sharpclaws back.
Fox quickly froze a couple sharpclaws, which turned them into solid ice; he just left them there frozen. Clay
sliced a sharpclaw's arm off and blood splattered all over the ground as the sharpclaw howled in pain. He then ended
his misery by cutting his head off. Tricky was able to take out a couple enemies too as he began breathing fire all over
the soldiers. Some soldiers were torched and died instantly while others screamed as they were set a flame. They
slowly burned to death which was obviously extremely painful. Now about 13 sharpclaws remained as the battle
continued. Fox tripped a sharpclaw and slammed the end of his staff into the middle of it. The sharpclaw made a
couple gurgling noises before it coughed up blood and died. Tricky continued his little conflagration while Clay
vaporized a few more enemies.
"Don't let them use their magic!" yelled one of the sharpclaws as he charged Fox.
When the sharpclaw was a couple yards away Fox threw his staff at him. The staff hit him right in the chest
causing his heart to rupture. The sharpclaw fell down dead as blood sprayed all over the ground. Fox walked over to
the sharpclaw and pulled his staff out of his chest. When he did more blood gushed out of the body.
"Ah man, you stained my pants!" said Fox as he looked down at his blood-covered pants.
While Fox went off to fight the more enemies Clay got an idea. He decided to have a little fun as he put his
sword away. Clay ran back to one of the dead sharpclaw archers and picked up his crossbow. He then picked up the
quiver from the ground and loaded an arrow. Clay found a target, a lone sharpclaw that was chasing Tricky around
since he had run of fire and needed a break. When he locked on to him Clay let the arrow go and it zoomed across
the battlefield and pierced the sharpclaw's skull. The sharpclaw was killed instantly. Tricky looked back and
smiled when he saw Clay loading up another arrow into the crossbow. Another 4 arrows hit with succession as the
three cut the number of sharpclaws down to one. This last one was fighting Fox, who took care of it by hitting it in
the face a couple times with a fire blast. When the sharpclaw fell down dead Fox looked around and saw Clay
walking over to him with a crossbow in hand.
"Now that wasn't fair. You got to attack from a distance while I had to fight right in the middle of the fray!" complained
Fox as he put his staff away.
"I was in the battle for a little bit. I just wanted to have a little fun, that's all."
Clay set the crossbow down and looked at the corpses on the ground.
"23 of them, they must have been here to guard the temple from intruders."
"I don't think we got the leader though. None of these guys look special in any way, they're just soldiers."
"That was really fun though! I liked burning those guys!" Said Tricky in an enthusiastic tone.
Fox and Clay chuckled then turned to the fortress in front of them.
"Well, should we finish what we were going to do before we were distracted?" asked Fox.
"Sure thing, just stand back." Said Clay as he got his sword out and pointed it at the front of the fortress.
His sword began to shine a bright green and it released a powerful energy wave. The wave blasted through
the front of the fortress and setting a bit of it on fire. Clay, being satisfied with his handiwork, put his sword into
his pack and looked at Fox and Tricky.
"Wow, nice job." Said Fox as he walked up to Clay.
"Yeah, now we should have no troubles getting to the temple." Added Tricky.
"Thanks, now lets go. We don't have much time, look it's already 6:00."
The three carefully stepped through the hole that Clay made in order not to step in any fire. Above them
were the insides of rooms, hallways, and doorways. There didn't seem to be any sharpclaws in the fortress so they
concluded that they were all dead. When they were past the fortress their hearts soared when they saw what lied
ahead of them. Just ahead of them was a large stone doorway with the symbol of fire above it. They had finally
reached the Volcano Force Point Temple.
"We're here! We made it!" yelled Tricky as he jumped up and down in joy.
"Come on, we have a spellstone to return." Said Fox as they began to run towards the stone doorway.
Captain Zacos
Zacos groaned as he looked up. His quarters was in ruins along with the rest of the fortress. He could
faintly remember a large explosion that threw him against the wall. Everything went black after that. As he stood
up Zacos realized that something must have happened to his guards that were fighting the intruders. He walked over
to where his door would have been and looked out. Zacos saw the whole middle part of the fortress lying in ruins with
some parts set on fire. He looked out towards the front of the fortress and saw what he suspected. His guards, all 23
of them were lying dead on the ground. Even his archers were killed. Something caught his eye though, about 5 of
his guards had arrows in their bodies. He knew that his archers were excellent shots and wouldn't shoot their
comrades. Somebody shot his men with his archers' arrows. Even one of his archers had been killed by his own
weapon. Who could have used his men's weapons against them? Who could shoot his archers with their own
arrows? He needed to know because when he found out who did this to his men, he would make sure that they
would receive the most painful tortures known to sharpclaws. Zacos turned around to see if anybody was on the
other side of the fortress and he was glad that he did. On the other side of the fortress he saw a fox, a tiger, and the
prince earthwalker running towards the Volcano Force Point Temple. Zacos growled, he now knew that these guys
were responsible for slaughtering his men and that they were the ones that raided Darkice Mines. Captain Zacos
chuckled to himself as he leaped from the fortress and began to pursue the intruders.
I'm done! Hooray! Now this is my longest chapter! A lot of things in this chapter were different than in the
game. I sure hope it wasn't too long! What will happen in the temple? Only I know! Hahahahaha! Anyway, thanks
for reading and stay tuned for the next exciting chapter! Bye!
Tiger64