The first explosions were expected yet they made my heart lurch when they came. Panic started to set in, but I quickly clamped it down. I forced my eyes and my mind on what was in front of me.

I blinked my eyes and the first thirty lines of our ships were all gone. We all knew that the first several lines were always the first ones to go. It's not that I'm a coward and that's why I didn't go up front.

And almost no one wanted to be in front. But now, many brave souls had dared to attempt that task which was equivalent of certain death. In front of me, one of our fighters came up from the bottom and just before crashing into a Red Eye fighter that was streaming towards me, he said, "Ok, King Spiny. Path's clear for you! It's been a pleasure serving you, sir."

My vision turned to one reminiscent of the windshield of a carwash as the front lines came down like flies on front of us. "Okay, our brave first-liners just made it us possible for us to go through!" Larry yelled.

I let out the breath I'd been holding so as to not cry. Not now anyway. "Okay, let's show these idiots who's in charge! Left quadrant leaders, report!" I said.

"Yes, this Left Alpha, checking in!"

"This is Left 5-H, checking in!"

"This is Left 3-Y, checking in!"

"Left 4-K, present, teacher!"

I heard laugher on the radio and ordered, "Okay, I want you all to take your troops and find those power plants! Take them all out! The less energy in the organism, the better we chances we have of killing it!"

"We got that! Here we go! To the brains!" the left quadrant leader yelled.

I sent the right quadrant towards the downtown area of the city while Larry and I and our men headed for the government buildings. For the first hour or so, it seemed as if things were going pretty well. I mean, we had really taken the Red Eye by surprise!

Larry and I rushed downward towards the main streets, blasting the area around us with sonic booms. I caught only slight and quite diminutive glimpses of red-eyed-black-bodied civilians passing by, their arms angrily waving at us. One of them was even shooting at us! Just goes to show you just how twisted the Red Eye society is. If you think of it, it's not their technology that makes them so unbeatable.

It's their own people's support.

I was suddenly thinking of that when Larry yelled, "Hey, Spiny! Do you plan on being the first Amarkian kamikaze pilot?"

"Huh? Why do you ask?"

"Because you're about to crash into a Red Eye tank unless you swerve starboard now!"

I blinked my eyes and saw the giant double-barreled lengths of silicon metal, their inside glowing with white plasma energy.

The white solid beams pulsated from the gray weapon and the brilliant flash blinded my vision. I panicked. I let of of the controls and shielded my face not just from the light but also from the potential danger of having my face being vaporized.

I felt something strike the back of my fighter and I was thrown forward by the impact of the blast. When I pulled my face away from the windshield, blood dripped from my jaw and I felt the jagged ends of my broken front teeth. I felt a warm sensation on my cheek as the injury from the incident back on Earth had now opened and fresh blood stared flowing, staining my hair and the insides of my helmet.

I felt a violent impact beneath me and the fighter started spinning wildly. The feeling of vertigo and nausea came back and I clenched my jaws to fight vomit. The still vision of the city became a sideways roller coaster as I once again gripped my hands on the control and tried frantically to veer in the opposite direction.

Red emergency lights started flashing and alarms began to blaze. I heard the low groaning of cracking metal behind me as the vent that had been created by the energy blast started making new cracks and everything was flying out.

I shut my eyes to try to calm the vertigo, but it was even worse. I heard a loud shatter and felt lots of tiny prick and lacerations on my face. I didn't dare open my eyes as my safety goggles had somehow managed to fly out. I felt the whole world spinning.

The air rushed effortlessly through my lungs and when the air reached my stomach, I started panicking. My heart started palpitating and my temples began to pound as I felt the blood rush out of my head.

"Spi…wha…ave to…ress Eje…ow! You…ash…to…ed…buil…alace!" I didn't recognize Larry's voice when I heard it. It sounded alien and distant, even though he was probably next to me, watching my fireball crash down to wherever he was we was yelling.

I heard the crash before I felt it.

The impact was strong enough that my titanium-webbing seat-harness torn apart and the force flung me forward towards the crashed wall. My face crashed into the solid metal wall and I heard the sound of celery stalks crunching.

Throbbing pulses of pain erupted over my face and then the rest of my body as it crashed and I felt the heavy sensation of dozens of metal bricks crushing my extremities. I cried out in pain and instantly felt my mouth fill with plaster and dust, making me feel like when I just breathed in a lot of flour.

But this flour was abrasive, sharp, and crude like little shards of shattered glass. The shards got in my eyes and I felt stinging, almost unbearable tears coming out and falling down the sides of my head over my temples.

My body cried out in agony as I started to move. Just the action of moving my hand to my face made me flinch and more stinging tears of pain came out. I could hear the distant noises of spacecraft roaring, blasts of energy and plasma weapons firing, sirens soundings, the crackle of fire.

The scent of smoke burned my nostrils and my vision was clouded. I suddenly felt scalding and drops of sweat started to gush down my face as I gasped for breath. I coughed and the hacks of cough made my temples pulse again.

I turned onto my torso and the vertigo returned. My hair strands covered my face, stained in blood. I could feel the dust layer on my face and my eye blinked as they got off my eyelashes and pinged my retinas.

My already beleaguered eardrums were nearly ruptured when I heard a loud explosion that rocked the ground and more dust and plaster got into my face. I was so startled that I stood up quickly and banged my head against a piece of tiling above me.

That bang sent a new wave of head pain, dizziness and nausea. I clenched my teeth and frantically looked around me to find an exit. The only place that I could escape too was where I'd crashed and my fighter was now on fire.

There was a wall of bricks next to it that seemed quite unstable. I'd never crashed through anything harder than a wall of wet plaster, and that had been a prank. Behind the wall of plaster had been a wall of solid bricks.

Even with my ruined physical condition and with the nausea levels skyrocketing, I decided that I was going to live. I shut my eyes and mentally braced myself. You can do this. You're made of metal. You can crash through anything. Just do it! Larry's probably outside waiting for you!

I pumped my legs, which were now burning and weak. I felt the side of my body explode and the crash of bricks and was meet with fresh air, feeling the sunlight of Kako Fos. The pain was now unbearable and I was now crying.

The sounds of dogfights miles above me continued to play in my mind as they happened.

I heard the pattering of light footsteps. My heart lurched as I felt the shadow of the Red Eye over my head. The breathing was raspy and tired and I felt the long claws grip my shoulders.

I was pulled up quickly into a standing position and my eyes opened. I almost fainted when I saw the familiar tan-and-brown-striped face with the long snout and hundreds of tiny teeth. "Larry?!"

"Oh, Spiny! I'd thought we'd lost you! You okay?"

Considering my Space Fighter was struck three times, erupted into flames, crashed into the side of a building, and I nearly didn't make it…yeah, I'm okay. "I'll be fine! What's happening?"

"It's a stalemate now! Neither side is winning! I secretly send additional troops to try to conquer the uninhabited planets. Where they grow all their crops and all."

We heard a crackling sound and we both darted to our left. Larry pushed me out of the way where the side of the building came down and my head impacted on the road. More dust caused more coughing. My throat was now dry and felt like it had been scarred at with a knife.

The place where Larry had been was now a mass of tumbled bricks and bars of steel sticking out. I suddenly felt cold and I was sure I was turning pale. No…no…Larry…

"Ah, I see we meet again, Spiny!" That voice ran chills down my spine and goosebumps erupted all over my devastated body. I whirled around and saw the massive Red Eye with his iridium-silicon armor come to me with a nefarious smile.

"Ferralzo?" I responded, trying not to sound weak to the Red Eye prince. The very son of the Great Emperor Igétis.

"You have caused enough trouble, you and your Boy Scouts. I think it's time we ended our little dispute," he said, pulling out his Rayblade, it's light-blue flash filling it's titanium container and making its distinctive Pssshhew sound.

He stepped towards me menacingly, the electro-energy contained beam pointed at me. I stepped backward and felt myself back into the corner. I tripped over a long, thin object. I don't know what made me think…I just did it.

I pulled it, pushed a rainbow-cube button and the dark gray empty containment lit up light blue, making its own Pssshhew!

"It'll be a pleasure to kill you," Ferralzo said.

"Not if I can help it," I answered, swinging my Rayblade towards him.