Note: Okay, this story is going to be over quicker than I thought, so sorry if I rushed through it. Before I let chapter seven begin, I want to say something to a new reviewer on this story:

Hawki: I know, my dialogue skills are not good. However, I admit, I could do better. I hope that it doesn't deter you from reading the rest of the story. If you were wondering about what the kangaroo said back in chapter two, yes, it was out of sarcasm. However, I don't think that any of the guests know that Star Fox had already taken down the being responsible for Cerinia's destruction. Oh well, they'll figure it out.

As for Randorn's goal, of course he wants revenge for what happened to Cerinia. Who wouldn't want revenge for what happened to their home planet after it got destroyed?

If you wonder why Star Fox hasn't come down to Fortuna to see Sabre and Randorn, you'll find out why in this chapter.

Now that I've cleared that up, let's go to chapter seven.

Chapter 7: Betrayal

Sabre, Randorn, Bill, and Maria had arrived in the middle of the woods. However, they were nowhere near DiMaggio's ship.

"Dammit!" Randorn growled, "This is the last time I'm using that teleportation spell!"

"I'm sure we'll reach Mr. DiMaggio in a few minutes." Sabre said.

"How can you tell?" Bill asked.

"Because I can see his ship." The former Knight of Cerinia answered.

True to Sabre's words, the ship of Adrian DiMaggio was only a mile away.

"Oh, you're right!" Randorn said.

"This was easier than we thought!" Bill stated.

"But he might shoot you when you turn me in!" Maria argued.

"I'm sure that he won't do anything like that." Sabre said.

Before Sabre, Randorn, and Bill could walk to DiMaggio's ship with the captive Maria, Sabre heard a familiar voice.

Sabre!

Krystal, Sabre responded in his thoughts, are you there?

Yes. Krystal transmitted her telepathic message, Sorry if I haven't spoken to you, I've just been busy.

Why haven't you told your team about us? The former Knight of Cerinia responded.

I did, but we were too busy to come visit. The cobalt vixen's voice echoed in Sabre's head, We were fighting a group of terrorists who were threatening Fichina. Before then, I told Fox, Falco, and Peppy that you and Randorn were on Fortuna. However, they told me that I was just had a bad dream.

Did anyone in the team believe you? Sabre thought.

Only Slippy, but I swear that he believes everything he is told. Krystal's voice went through the wolf's head.

I wish that you would visit uslike how you did on Cerinia. The former Knight of Cerinia said in his mind, After all, it's been a year since we've seen each other.

Actually, I'm coming down to Fortuna with the team. The former Princess of Cerinia's voice echoed through Sabre's mind, But it's because Bloodscourge escaped and we need to recapture him.

There's also a bounty hunter we could give to Star Fox, Sabrethoughts went to Krystal, but we're handing her over to Adrian DiMaggio.

Adrian DiMaggio?! Krystal's voice quickly ran through his head, Sabre, are you crazy?!

What's wrong? The Cerinian thought.

DiMaggio was kicked out of the Cornerian Army for trying to lead soldiers into invading other planets and enslaving the locals of each one! The cobalt vixen's voice echoed, He claimed that he was a patriot, but he showed signs of being an absolute dictator! If you hand the bounty hunter over to him, he might have you, Randorn, and Bill killed!

Come now, Krystal, Sabre thought, I'm sure that he's not as bad as you and Maria make him sound.

Look, I'll be down to Fortuna in a few minutes with my team! Krystal's voice rang in Sabre's head, Please, make the right decision and don't trust DiMaggio!

Sabre ignored the final message from Krystal. Even if DiMaggio wasn't the most trustworthy of people, he still had to turn Maria Fairweather in to the rich cougar. With the ship only a few feet away, the former Knight of Cerinia felt ready to meet up with him alongside Randorn and Bill. Much to his surprise, a bull came out of the ship instead of DiMaggio.

"You must be Sabre the Knight and Randorn the Mage." The bull spoke.

"Who are you?" Randorn asked.

"Grant Hughes," the bull introduced himself, "I'm an associate of Adrian DiMaggio."

"We need to talk to Mr. DiMaggio." Sabre said.

"Okay, I'll lead you to him." Hughes said.

Hughes had Sabre, Randorn, and Bill enter a room with the captive Maria. Inside the room, DiMaggio and Bloodscourge were sitting at a table.

"Bloodscourge?!" Bill was shocked.

"Well," the jackal chuckled, "if it isn't Bill Grey, one of the bastards who locked me up!"

"And you're the guy who killed my family!" Maria shouted.

"Looks like our bounty hunter friend knows you well." DiMaggio said to Bloodscourge.

"A lot of people know me!" Bloodscourge modestly said.

"We heard that someone bailed you out." Sabre looked at him.

"Yeah," the jackal stated, "I was saved from my sentence."

"And it was DiMaggio who bailed you out!" Maria growled.

"Come now," Randorn spoke, "I'm sure that Mr. DiMaggio is innocent."

"No, she's right, boys!" DiMaggio happily said.

"But why?" Sabre asked.

"It's a part of my plan to spread patriotism all over the galaxy!" The rich cougar chuckled.

"What does freeing a serial killer have to do with patriotism?" Bill asked.

"I'm a patriot myself!" Bloodscourge smiled, "Even if I have killed people, I always pledge allegiance to the flag I was raised under! I even pledge allegiance to my fellow patriots! When I met DiMaggio and Hughes, I decided to join them in their quest to promote patriotism!"

"And anyone who opposes our patriotic beliefs must die!" DiMaggio shouted.

"I've heard that you're more like a dictator than a patriot," Sabre said, "and I think that it's true now that you have shown your true colors!"

"It doesn't matter anyway," DiMaggio laughed, "you've brought me the bounty hunter who has been bothering me for so long!"

"Now hand her over so that we can kill her!" Bloodscourge said as he cracked his knuckles.

After a few seconds, Randorn blurted out, "No!"

"We won't let you do it!" Sabre said.

"You'll have to kill us!" Bill yelled.

"And you won't be able to do that!" Maria stated.

"Oh?" DiMaggio chuckled, "And why is that?"

"Because you have to catch us first!" Maria shouted as she freed herself of the magical trap and ran out of the room.

"Hey, wait for us!" Bill yelled as he, Sabre, and Randorn ran after her.

"You won't get away that easily!" DiMaggio taunted as he pressed a button on the table. This released a swarm of flying machines that flew out of the ship.

"Shall I go after them?!" Bloodscourge asked in excitement.

"You may." The rich cougar said.

When the order was given, the psychotic jackal ran out of the room with a machete, aiming to kill the four escapees.

As soon as Sabre, Randorn, Bill, and Maria reached the entrance to DiMaggio's ship, they were greeted by a large amount of mechanical drones.

"We're surrounded!" Sabre cried.

"Not for long!" Bill shouted as he fired his blaster, destroying some of the machines. Maria followed suit, destroying more with her blaster. However, the droids just kept on coming.

"I'll get us out of here!" Randorn shouted as he used his teleportation spell, getting the four out of the area. When they were gone, Bloodscourge saw the magic that was left behind.

"They think that they can run away from me?" The jackal spoke to himself, "They are sadly mistaken."

"You idiots!" Maria shouted, "I told you that DiMaggio was the one who bailed that crazy jackal out of jail!"

"We know that now." Sabre looked down in shame.

"We just didn't expect that he would hire a serial killer to help him spread his own twisted form of patriotism." Bill said.

"At least we got away from them." Randorn said.

"And Star Fox is coming to Fortuna." Sabre stated.

"What?" Bill spoke, "Well, that's good news!"

"They shouldn't get involved." Maria said, "They can have Bloodscourge, sure, but I'll take on DiMaggio. One of us has to keep them distracted so that I can kill the man who caused the death of my family."

"I don't know how we're going to do that." Sabre spoke.

"If one of you can contact them," Maria surmised, "you can tell them that we can handle it. But they can capture Bloodscourge when we get done with him."

"I can contact them," Bill said, "but how are we going to get back to DiMaggio's ship?"

"We'll have to walk there." Randorn said, "Even if it kills me, we will defeat the man responsible for the death of Miss Fairweather's family and defend the Lylat system from his twisted beliefs!"

Note: I have a bad habit of ending my chapters like this, but I run out of things to put in the chapter quite quickly. However, you can tell that the story is a few chapters away from the end. This is not one of my best stories, I admit that. What did you guys think about this chapter? Let me know when you leave a review or give a constructive criticism. Until next time guys, peace!