Ziggy's Corner: Okay here we go, the nineteenth chapter! Round two of the fights! I hope you're all having fun reading, because I'm having fun writing!

Elisa and Morgan Skye rushed through the halls, twisting and turning from one end to the other end of the base to the other, getting absolutely no where. "It's hopeless," Elisa moaned.

"Maybe not, I have an idea," Morgan said, looking down at the little fox between them. "Can you sense your brother out there, kiddo?"

"Look I don't know what you've heard about twins and psychic connections, but it doesn't work that way," Elisa answered for her brother.

"Maybe not normally, but I have a hunch it will now… for Gabriel and his brother anyway," she said. "Look, I know it sounds odd, but if you just trust me, and give it a chance, we may find a way out of here."

"I just met you, know you only through what I have read in the papers, and you want me to trust you?" Elisa narrowed her eyes. "What you are talking about sounds very new agey to me."

"Call it what you will, but if we can get your brother out of danger's path, then we should at least try …," Morgan snapped. The two women continued to argue for a number of minutes, their voices bouncing off the silver metal walls and floor all around them.

"Fine, I'll give it a shot," the boy snapped. If they didn't stop arguing, their voices would alert the guards, and then where would they all be? He closed his eyes and focused on his brother, trying to visualize him next to him, and then to listen to his voice.

How on earth did you get captured? I knew I shouldn't have let you run off. His brother's voice filled his head as he meditated. Gabriel scowled and bit his lips trying not to say anything to mean to his older brother, even if that older brother did happen to have a problem with pooping. Sure bring that up again, why don't you?

How are we doing this? We've never been able to do it before!

Just listen to me, take the stairs you see in the next turn, and go up. You'll find the ruby that Sly was looking for, guarded by that scorpion woman. While Elisa and the other woman who's with you fight her, take the ruby from the weapon.

You are trying to kill me aren't you? We want to get out, not get into another fight!

Ringtail's friends are just outside the base, and I think I can see a few more cars coming this way. Unless I miss my guess, momma and father are in one of them. Listen we were the ones prophesized to bring back the ruby, you by taking it, me by guiding you to it and finding a way to get you out with it. Don't ask me how I know it, I just do!

Gabriel opened his eyes and looked at his sister and the other woman. "I know what we have to do, but neither of you may like it."

"What do you mean?" Elisa asked.

"She was right," he said, pointing at Morgan. "I can communicate with Christian with my mind. Momma and father are closing in on the headquarters, so are a number of other cars. He told me that we have to go up one level and get the ruby that everyone has been looking for."

"Ruby, huh?" Morgan smirked. "Sounds interesting."

"It belongs to the native people of this land," Gabriel snapped. "That scorpion ninja is using it to attack I guess."

The two women looked at each other and felt their pulses race. If ever an argument was made to go someplace they really did not want to go, that was it. "Alright, so where is this weapon?" Elisa asked with a sigh.

The boy led them up the steps, just as Christian had guided him, and they found the scorpion powering up a massive cannon. She turned and frowned as the woman and child entered. "Well it looks like Charlie-San's premonitions came true." She smiled and edged toward the weapon, a long slender gray thing that stuck out high into the air. In the middle of it was the glowing Ruby that seemed to be aching, disturbed by the evil it was going to be used for.

"We'll be taking that now, mate," Morgan said, pointing at the Ruby.

"Think you can take it?" Nyoko chuckled.

"Can't see you stopping us," the numbat said with her own smile.

"Enough of this," Elisa snapped. "If you won't give it us, then we'll have to take it by force." She moved into a defensive position and cracked her fingers. "Gus, stay back."

One moment she was standing over by the weapon, the next she was slamming down to the ground, right over Elisa's head, her whip and tail curving and twirling in vicious arches as she dropped.

Morgan made her move, leaping into the air and twirling like an ice skater, sticking her leg out to catch the ninja off guard. Nyoko grasped her ankle and tossed her into the other woman, collapsing them on each other as she landed gracefully next to both of them. A slash of her tail, and a crack of her whip forced them to part and dash on opposite sides of the room.

"Divide and conquer? How quaint," she sneered. The scorpion rushed to the numbat and flung both projectiles at her, cursing a little as the master thief caught the tail and whip in her Katana blades, pulling them in opposite directions so quick and with so much power that she nearly snapped the ninja's tail off. "You're stronger than you look," Nyoko gasped.

"I have a lot of assets that are far superior to what they appear to be," Morgan said with a sly grin. The numbat kicked the scorpion in her stomach, and brought up one of her blades to the base of her chin, but was blocked by a gloved hand.

"You are still not quicker than me," the ninja said. She pulled something from her girdle and pulled out three dark colored balls. "And I am thrice as times trickier than you could ever hope to be." She slammed the balls to the ground, and a gray mist covered the room from corner to corner.

"Who the hell uses the word thrice anymore, what are you from the middle ages?" Elisa asked. She pulled herself off of her butt, and rushed into the fog, bringing up a miniature shock pistol, took aim and fired.

"Watch your aim, wanker, I'm on your side," Morgan snapped somewhere in that rolling mist. A few minutes later Elisa could hear blade on blade, and saw white sparks flash from the cloud to the far left of the room.

"Sorry," she called out. The Interpol officer closed her eyes, relaxed and listened to the sounds of the combat, metal on metal, scraping against one another, the tap of toes sliding onto the floor and lifting their owners' back into the air for more onslaught. She began to sweat, but she kept her eyes closed ignoring Morgan's painful grunts and cries, ignoring the smell of blood splashing into the world or dripping onto the floor. She closed her eyes and counted; one, two, three, four, one, two, three, four, one, two, three, and … four! Elisa opened her eyes swerved a quarter the way around and fired her shock pistol.

"You still missed me, Fox girl," Nyoko cackled through the smoke.

"Wasn't aiming for you," Elisa replied with a tight grin. She could tell the scorpion had stopped moving, not understanding her words, and contemplating what they meant. That had given Morgan all the time she needed to regain her bearings and strike. And when she did, the pillar that Nyoko was standing on collapsed from the explosion that Elisa's shock pistol had caused. "Checkmate," she smiled.

A few minutes the smoke cleared, and Nyoko was pinned to the floor, under the pillar, with Morgan Skye holding both Katana blades in her hands. The numbat was bloody and sore, her right ear had a massive gash across it, but nothing too serious.

"Bitch cut me with my own Katana blade," the numbat growled. She looked at her blade, checking it out a few times before she was sure that it was okay and then held it back at the ninja, or she would have had Nyoko been there.

"Never take your eyes off the 'bitch'," the scorpion snapped, next to the weapon. "First rule of war, and you failed the test." She scowled and pressed a button on the control board, activating the weapon or it would have had the Ruby been there. "What!"

It was then that Elisa realized her brother was gone too, and put two and two together. She didn't know how he had managed to see through the smoke, but he had, and now was somewhere in the headquarters with it. But if it was true that he had some kind of e.s.p. he might be fine. Still she had no intention of letting any thug near him; no amount of e.s.p. could help him if that were to happen.

"I've got another hunch where he's gone, girl," Morgan said. "We should be able to get to him quickly." She looked at the ninja and scowled. "But first," she growled.

"I'm way ahead of you." The two of them clenched their fists, and slammed them into the scorpion, knocking her out cold. Then they rushed toward the boy, and once they found him, followed his directions as they scrambled towards the exit of the headquarters, ruby in hand.

S L Y

Christian looked up at the large massive fortress, watching as guns from below began pounding the citadel of evil as wave after wave of police officer began opening up on the guards. Besides him were Murray, his brothers Miguel and Ivan, his sisters, Carmen, Olivia, and Gracia, and his parents, who after a lengthy talking to and discussion decided not to arrest the hippo, at least not on this day. He knew that his brother and other sisters were somewhere in the building, he was guiding Gabriel, Elisa, and the Australian woman to safety, to a small hole in the fortress that had not been covered up during the building of the fortress, and was being excavated for their escape purposes by Bentley and his girlfriend.

What he did not know was where Carmelita or Sly were. He tried to focus on their life energy, along with Murray, but there was a fog that seemed to cover their minds as they tried. Where ever they were, someone or something did not want them to be found.

"Momma, what can we do now?" he asked, frustrated that his powers wouldn't work for Carmelita.

"Pray child," she said silently. "We can always pray."

Olivia rolled her eyes, but a swift slap in the back of her head by her father shut her up before she could say anything. She scowled and left the group to sit on a rock, half expecting Carmen to come and say something. But the truth was that the nun had more than enough of her sister's whiney ways for a while now. Now was the time to do more than think of one's self, her mother was right. Now was the time to pray.

S L Y

The battle inside was fast and furious, and both Carmelita and Sly were tired and sweating. They had managed to narrowly pull off a first round victory when Carmelita had fired her shock pistol into the water, as she had leapt into the air. If it hadn't been for Sly, she would have fallen into the water and been electrocuted, but he had grabbed her wrist and held her tight as the shark thrashed and rolled in the electrocuted water, the master thief's hand holding onto his cane, which was hooked onto a small cable hanging over the chamber.

"I've had enough of this," Charlie growled, the lights in the room growing bright red. "Nyoko fire the weapon." He waited for a long time and called again. When there was still no response his tail fin flipped on a switch, and the monitor showed the unconscious scorpion on the floor, next to his weapon, with no ruby in it. "No!" Charlie roared.

"Well that's got to be a let down," Sly chuckled, holding Carmelita tightly around her waist. He smiled and began kicking his legs back and forth until they were close enough that they could jump onto a large ledge. Once there they had to decide on a course of attack.

"If only I had more charges in this thing," Carmelita groaned, looking at her weapon. She was thankful that Morgan Skye had managed to sneak in their weapons when she rescued them, but what could were they if they didn't work properly.

"You could always smack him with it," Sly chuckled. She shot him a look and turned back to the gun. As she did so, Sly gazed down into the black, dead eyes of Charlie who was still fuming with this latest development. His tail fin was thrashing back and forth, switching from monitor to monitor, each time he saw something worse.

His lackeys were being over run, gunned down, the law enforcement and Interpol slowly moving toward the base. The ruby gone, his weapon ruined, his 'generals' either knocked out, or as it now appeared by Nyoko's case, disappeared, and everything he was working for, it was now gone.

"I hope you lot can breathe under water, because that's where this fight is taking place now!" the shark howled. He selected another button, and the room began to fill with water, from all corners.

The ledge that they were standing on slowly slid back, and a hole pumped out water than smacked Carmelita off and into the pool down below. Sly screeched her name and leapt after her, grabbing her body and holding her tight as they slashed down into the water.

Okay, I could have really thought this better. Sly hated the water, ever since he had been two and nearly drowned in a fishing trip with his father.

Daddy, why are we here? Young Sly had asked.

We'll son, there's something I really need to tell you, but I didn't know how to do it. Father had tears coming from his eyes. Every time he had been upset he had always gone fishing. Sly, son, your mother …

Sly blocked the rest of those words out as they hit the water and submerged. He hated them now as he did then. He had tried to edge his way from his father when he tried to explain about his mother, and slipped from the boat and into the water. Had his father not been so good a swimmer he might have died that day.

He held his cane and Carmelita tight, very tight as they watched Charlie smile, his teeth shining and blinding them slightly as he sailed up to them, watching them, playing with them like a cat plays with a mouse. He circled them, once, twice, three times and then same away, the colors of the water turning blacker than sin.

He knew better than to panic, but he couldn't help it. Sly made a dash for the ever growing surface and gasped for air along with Carmelita before they were pulled back down by Charlie's teeth. The raccoon grimaced, and he could feel bone crunch under the pressure of those jaws. Then to his horror his grip on Carmelita loosened and she slipped from him.

His mind raced as the shark put more pressure on his legs, tossing him around the water like he was nothing, and slamming him against the aquarium, his back groaning as it slammed numerous times against the glass. He could smell blood in the water, and he could feel the intensity of the shark as he pressed the attack, losing his mind to his primitive instincts and rage.

Carmelita felt woozy. Charlie had managed to get a hold of her foot when he dragged them back down, and she could feel blood ooze from it. Shaking off the tiredness, she tore a cloth from her shorts, and tied it on her foot. Then she headed for the surface and called out to the raccoon. "Sly, Sly answer me!" When there was no response she knew that something bad was happening. "Oh my God."

The Interpol officer gasped for air held her jaws tightly closed and dived yet again. She swam where she smelled blood the strongest, and felling with her fingers lightly, came across rough skin. She scowled and knew she had found her mark. Carmelita clenched her fingers around her shock pistol and slammed it against Charlie's gills, twice.

"You little witch," he roared in pain. The large fish slapped her with his tail and swam away, sending her into the other side of the aquarium. But in his confusion the lights switched to a soft blue, and Carmelita managed to spy a weak and nearly unconscious Sly just floating there, blood flowing from a gapping wound in his leg.

No, no I am not going to lose him again! The fox swam toward her man, and held him tight. She pulled him to the very top of the surface, was now reaching the ceiling, and coughed and sputtered water and blood from her mouth. Her hair clung to her face and cheeks and she could barely see, but she didn't care. All that was important was to get them out of the aquarium, and so there was only one option here.

The Interpol officer looked at her pistol, and then tore it open, careful to look where Charlie was. He was swimming in fast, tight circles, his eyes of hate glaring up at them bitterly. He was gasping and wheezing but it was obvious that he was determined to finish the job. Carmelita returned to the work at hand, regretting what she was doing, but she could always get another pistol. She'd never get another Sly.

"You are so fucking dead," the shark howled. He spun in another circle and launched himself up like a missile.

She knew what he planned to do. He was going to attack from the bottom, leaping into the air and attack with a jump that would probably break their necks if he pulled it off right. She was determined not to let him. Finishing at lightning speed, she rose the torn apart shock pistol and flung it at the aquarium, holding Sly under the water and bracing him with her body.

The explosion happened right as Charlie was just a few feet from them. His eyes turned from jet black to white with shock and his body was pressed against the wall and held there, as glass and plastic, water and bodies were sent flying in opposite directions.

For a long time, they all laid there, none of them moving, and then Carmelita pulled herself to her knees and tore more of her shorts and some of Sly's shirt, wrapping the fabric around his leg. "Come on Sly, don't give up."

He gasped and groaned, and finally shot some water from his mouth and looked up at her eyes. They smiled at each other, weakly and held each other for another long period of time, before they could hear an evil cackle, and the whirl of machinery. When they turned to look, their eyes would not believe what they saw.

Charlie the Great was bloody, injured, and totally pissed off. He was also in some kind of bizarre mecha suit that wrapped around his tail fin and gave him the availability of legs and arms. "Didn't know I was a land shark too, did you?" he growled. "That doesn't matter though. This round goes to you, but now my dear morsels, we've reached sudden death."

Okay this is it, chapter twenty! The half way mark of the story, and the finale of the battle with Charlie the Great, as well as the finale of the Charlie the Great saga. Come the twenty-first chapter a new foe awaits, and the families are going to have to deal with the real villains who have been pulling the strings all this time. Until then!