Hi everybody! I hope you missed me! Anyway, before I start the chapter I have to tell you something. I am no longer going to type with every thing double-spaced. I am just going to do what everybody else does. So don't get confused, ok? My old way was just too difficult, but I'm not going to go back to the previous 16 chapters and change them! With that all said and done here is chapter 17.

Fox, Clay and Tricky were amazed at the sight of the Volcano Force Point Temple. It had towers and walls galore. Bright red and yellow colors were emitting from the center area of the temple and the large doorway that stood in front of them. They could feel the heat coming from all around them. The energy coming from the spellstone had doubled if not more. Clay broke the silence as he moved towards the doorway.

"So who wants to go first?" said Clay as he peeked around the corner into the temple.

Fox rolled his eyes and walked right past Clay into the temple with Tricky behind him. It took Clay a couple seconds to realize what just happened so he ran after them into the temple. None of them could have dreamed what the inside of this place would look like. Lava…fire…heat…it was everywhere, it sure looked like a volcano temple. They stared in awe at the awesome sight in front of them. To both sides of them were large stonewalls that were as high as the tallest building in Corneria. Beyond that was a large pool…no…lake of molten lava. It bubbled and steamed as the heat rose to the roofless top of the stone structure. The light plum sky was dotted with stars even through the intense light from the melted rock. What was in front of them was what really caught their eye. A large, stone bridge that led up and above the lake of lava into a large cavern. Whatever lied after that was anyone's guess.

"Wow, it's really big." Said Fox as he moved towards the simmering lake and kicked a pebble into the inferno. It slowly sank away with a soft hiss.

"Yeah, I like the skylight but the lava makes me a little uncomfortable." Clay replied, shuddering as he remembered his bad encounter with the lava pool at Snowhorn Wastes.

Fox chuckled then motioned to Clay and Tricky to follow him up the bridge and into the depths of the temple. As they crossed the bridge the bubbles seemed to get bigger and hotter, they even seemed close enough to touch. Dust fell from the stone bridge as they walked across its ancient arc way. When the three reached the top they still could not tell what lied before them beyond the dark passage in front of them.

"What do you think is in there?" asked Tricky as another large lava bubble popped below them.

"Well we won't find out by just standing here, come on!" said Clay as he went ahead of Fox and Tricky into the dark passage.

Clay was the first one to reach the end of the tunnel; he was also the first to see the large pillar of pure granite. The pillar towered over the tiger and reached far beyond the temple walls. To his left Clay spotted a narrow staircase leading up the pillar, obviously just as old as everything else here. As Clay continued to stare at this awesome sight Fox and Tricky walked in behind him and were just as amazed. Like the room before this one there was no roof and lava covered the floor beneath them. They couldn't believe the heat that came from this room; it was almost too much to bear. This brought back memories to Fox and Clay of their mission to Solar during the Lylat Wars against Andross.

"I wish they had put some fans in here. Dang heat, my clothes are getting all sticky from my sweat!" Said Clay as he began to walk forward towards the other side of the room.

Fox just ignored him and made his way past the large granite pillar and across yet another bridge. When he caught up to Clay they were standing in front of a large passage way that seem to lead no where.

"Not again, where could this one lead?" asked Fox.

"I dunno, but lets keep going. I feel like we're being watched." Replied Tricky as he bounded forward into the passage.

Fox just looked at Clay and shrugged so they followed the prince into complete darkness. After a few seconds went by, the dark figure watching them did the same.

Tricky was now running full speed, both excited and curious to find out what else could be lying inside this ancient temple. Tricky was so gleeful that he did one, two, three jumps into the air before he went face first into the large stone door in front of him. When Fox and Clay reached him Tricky dazed and confused. He tried standing up but his feet wouldn't cooperate and he fell back down.

"Hey, good job Tricky, you found a door!" said Fox as he patted the prince on the head.

"Yeah sure, you're welcome." Replied Tricky, not entirely sure what Fox just said.

Clay looked up at the stone door. This one seemed to be made of granite too, but it had a lot of strange markings that the pillar didn't have. What really caught his eye was the weird shaped hole in the middle of the door.

"Ok, now what?" asked Clay.

"I…well maybe…ok I don't know either." Said Fox who wasn't too sure that this was the right way to go.

Fox and Clay were about to turn back when a strange light began to come from Fox's pack. Fox noticed this and quickly took his pack off and looked inside. The spellstone that they got from Darkice Mines was glowing very bright and a strange heat was coming from it as well. Clay was about to ask what was going on when the spellstone lifted itself from Fox's strong hands and floated over to the door. All three of them, including Tricky who had just recovered from his face-lift, watched as the spellstone locked itself into the strange hole that Clay had noticed just earlier. After a couple seconds the markings on the door began to glow too and a loud rumbling was heard. Before they knew it the door slowly began to split down the middle and open up to the three travelers. Dust and sand flew into the air as the ancient door opened for the first time in who knows how long. When it was open all the way the spell stone made its way back into Fox's pack, but none of them were watching because they were all looking at the site before them. The door had revealed a cavern that actually had a roof on top but lava was still obvious on the floor. However, the floor was probably a couple hundred feet down, which meant that they were VERY high up. From the door lead a narrow path, which ended up at a circular, glowing pad. They figured that this was a teleportation pad, which meant that this was indeed the right way. Fox, Clay, and Tricky continued to stare at the site for another couple minutes before Fox finally came to his senses.

"Ok, let's not waste anymore time taking in the view. Let's get this over with!" Said the leader as he picked up his pack and made his way across the path and towards the pad.

"Oh, right!" replied Clay and he ran after Fox with Tricky right behind him.

Clay stayed behind Fox and gulped slightly as he looked down and saw the raging lava lake underneath them. Tricky was behind Clay and was humming an old song he had heard his mother sing before, his childish innocence protecting him from fear of the situation. When they reached the pad Fox looked around to see if there was any sort of danger that could lead to a trap.

"Ok, looks like it's all clear, I guess we can get on th-."

Fox wasn't able to finish his sentence due to the arrow that flashed past his face and stuck in the wall behind him. All three of them looked back to see a fairly large sharpclaw with what looked like advanced Saurian armor. He had an evil look in his dark, brown eyes as he notched another arrow into his crossbow.

"Sorry 'bout that. Didn't mean to scare ya, it was supposed to kill ya nice and quick!" said the former commander of the Moon Mountain Pass Fortress, Captain Zacos.

"Who are you and want the heck do you want?" yelled Clay as he whipped out his sword.

"I am Captain Zacos of the Sharpclaw army. I was also the leader of that fortress back on Moon Mountain Pass until you guys came and blew it up! Now, in order for me to get my revenge and a possible promotion from the general, I'm gonna kill all three of ya and take your heads to Scales!" roared the infuriated Sharpclaw as he let fly another arrow.

This one was meant for Clay but he easily blocked it with a swing of his sword. He growled as he took a couple steps forward and looked at Fox for the go ahead to attack. Fox was glaring at the Sharpclaw captain with his staff at the ready. Zacos looked at the both of them and gave a loud, booming laugh.

"You think you can beat me? Ha! Don't make me laugh, I'm one of the best warriors on the planet! Now, as an order from a captain of the Sharpclaw army…I order you to DIE!"

Zacos threw his crossbow over the ledge of the path and took out a razor-sharp sword made of what looked like to be mythril. Fox gave Clay the signal and they charged Zacos at full speed, the Sharpclaw captain countered their move by charging too. Six feet pounded the floor at full speed as the battle-crazed animals ran at each other. When there weapons were about to meet Zacos pulled a trick that neither Fox or Clay expected. He slid right under their legs and parried his sword upward giving Clay a good gash in the back. Clay yelled in pain as the blade ripped his flesh drawing blood. Fox didn't give Zacos a chance to attack again and flung himself at the sharpclaw. He got Zacos a few times in the face and once in the gut before he was able to block an attack. He grinned as him and Fox locked eyes in the middle of their stalemate. It seemed like they would stay like that forever until Zacos delivered a sharp kick to Fox's stomach making him double over. He chuckled and raised his sword to slay Fox when he heard a roar and saw Clay leap over Fox and slammed the blunt side of his sword down on his head. Zacos was dazed for a few seconds before he realized that Clay was about to decapitate him. He gracefully ducked and tripped Clay causing the tiger to fall to the floor hard. Zacos got up but before he could make any move he coughed up blood as Clay's sword was jammed into his middle. Clay grinned and got up as the Sharpclaw continued to sputter and groan. Clay grabbed the handle of Zentoro and wrenched his sword free of Zacos' vile stomach. Clay thought that the Sharpclaw was too weak to do anything anymore so he looked back to see if Fox was recovering ok…big mistake. Zacos was is a terrible rage from that last attack and took advantage of Clay's battle blunder. He yelled his battle cry and charged the tiger. Before Clay could do anything Zacos delivered a kick to his face, knocking Zentoro out of his grasp and sending him over the edge of the path. Tricky's yells of protest were heard but Zacos ignored them as he walked over to the ledge. He was slightly disappointed when he saw Clay hanging on the edge of the path, dangling dangerously over the lake of lava below.

"Now you see the true power of a Sharpclaw general! You never had a chance you pathetic animal, and now I must end our little fun. So I'll tell you one last time, DIE!"

Zacos raised his sword and brought it down but the blade never reached Clay's head. Zacos went flying over the ledge screaming for help before he splashed in the lava below. Clay looked up in surprise to see Fox standing with his staff at his side.

"I hate it when people interrupt me!" yelled Fox at the burning corpse of Zacos below.

Fox reached down and with a grunt pulled Clay up from the ledge. Clay gave a sigh of relief and looked over the ledge to get one last look at their defeated enemy.

"Thanks Fox, now we're even." Chuckled Clay as he walked over a picked up his sword from the blood stained floor.

"No problem buddy. I wasn't going to let that crazy guy get the best of us."

"Good point, well now that that's all over and done with shall we go?"

"Sure, hey, where's Tricky?"

Fox got his question answered when Tricky came bounding up to his two friends.

"Fox, Clay that was amazing! Are you guys ok? Man you were in some real trouble there Clay!"

"Yeah, right, hey let's go!" Said Clay as he ran over to the warp pad.

Fox and Tricky followed him and all three of them stepped on the glowing pad, soon after they all vanished in a flash of light.

After a couple minutes of floating around in some weird area Fox, Clay, and Tricky appeared in a room with a large stone pillar in the middle. The pillar was four sided and had four holes on each side; the holes were the same shape as the one on the door that led to the warp room. Fox, Clay, and Tricky walked over to the nearest side of the pillar and were about to say something when Fox's pack began to glow again. This time Fox didn't even need to get the spellstone out, it floated out of his pack and right into the hole on the side that they were on. After a couple seconds a loud rumbling was heard and one of the four smoke streams that had been coming out of the top of the pillar vanished which told them that something was right. So with the first spellstone back in its rightful place Fox, Clay and Tricky vanished again. They had done the job without saying a word.

YES! I finally got this chapter done! I'm SO sorry about the long wait but school isn't merciful. I hope you liked the chapter and I'll see you guys next time! BYE!