Chapter 17

Author's Note: Damn, I knew something was wrong with my last chapter, I probably should have made it a bit longer and better huh? Oh well, nothing can be done to help it now, I'll try to make the rest of the fights as good as I possibly can, now onto the chapter.

Ecks was in a city, standing paw-in-paw with Zivia on a sidewalk, the two foxes were surrounded by large buildings, all of which were sky-scrapers, Ecks and Zivia leaned in to kiss one another, but then something unexpected happened, an explosion occurred right beside the two, sending them flying, Ecks managed to catch himself and Zivia inches away from smashing into a nearby building, Ecks and Zivia had no clue what was happening, all of a sudden their were two armies battling against each other, but then an unknown force started to pull the orange vixen away from Ecks.

"Zivia!" Ecks yelled, trying to pull her back with his telekinesis, but it was no use, the unknown force was simply stronger.

"Ecks!" The vixen yelled.

Ecks could do nothing but watch as the vixen was taken away to his horror, "No..." He said, "No!" The vulpine repeated, this time yelling.

"ZIVIA!!" Ecks screamed, shooting up from the laying position he was in, his body became enshrouded in a white aura as the bed levitated in the air, waking the bright orange vixen who lay beside him.

"Ecks! What's wrong?" Zivia asked, she shot up as well into a sitting position from the loud scream, luckily Krystal wasn't in the room at the time or she probably would've killed Ecks by accident.

Ecks took a few heavy breaths, the dark blue vulpine had streams of tears running down his face, he looked to the digital clock, it read 8 AM, he turned back to the concerned vixen beside him, "Nothing, just a bad dream." Ecks told her, standing up and wiping the tears from his eyes.

"About what?" Zivia asked, concerned.

"It's nothing big." He lied.

"I know when you're lying, Ecks." The vixen said.

Ecks new that he couldn't get out of telling her about his nightmare, so he told her about it, the vixen smiled at him afterwards, "Aww, that's so sweet that you care about me that much, but I just want to let you know that nothing will ever happen to me." She assured him.

"I know," Ecks smiled and stood up, "You just get some more sleep, I need to use the restroom." Ecks told her, the vixen lay back down and shortly after she was sound asleep, Ecks smiled at the sleeping vixen, she looked just as beautiful when asleep as she did when awake, Ecks left the room and made his way to a restroom in the hall, the truth was that he didn't actually have to do anything at all except take a shower, even though he was a telepath with many powers, he couldn't just blink his eyes and suddenly be clean.

Ecks stepped out of the shower and covered himself up with a pair of underwear and black athletic mesh shorts, he turned to the mirror and thought about his dream, "Nothing will happen to her," He simply said, even though the blue vulpine wasn't born a Cerinian, he possessed great knowledge of the race, he knew that if a dream felt that real, it most likely wasn't a dream, but a vision, "Nothing." He said under his breath.

Ecks left the bathroom and floated back to the medical bay, this time he made sure to go into the with his back against the door just in case the vixen was making a surprise change to her clothes, "Hey Ecks?" The vixen asked.

"What?" The vulpine responded, still with his front facing the door he just came through.

"It's okay Ecks, I'm not naked," She assured him, Ecks turned around to face the vixen, the sides of face turned a bit purple at the sight, no she wasn't nude, but she might as well have been as the vixen was in nothing but a bra and a pair of underwear, "Normally I wouldn't ask this, but could you help me get dressed?" The beautiful vixen asked, it was amazing that she could even stand up straight, even though Ecks' healing helped the process, it was still too early for one to even think about standing up straight, Ecks thought that Zivia had amazing will power.

"Ecks?" She asked again, snapping him out of his trance from the vixen actually being able to stand.

"What was it you asked?" He asked his own question.

"Could you help me with getting dressed?" She repeated.

Ecks swallowed hard, "Sure thing." His voice made an odd squeaking sound, his voice seemed to only do this when he was around Zivia in compromising situations, Ecks floated over to Zivia who was now sitting on the bed, she pointed to a bright red tee-shirt that sat beside her and a white pair of, yes, short shorts, Ecks' face was still bright purple as he picked up the tee-shirt, he didn't use his telekinesis because his senses were out of control due to the fact that not only was he nervous from seeing the vixen like this, but also because of the enitcing scent she gave off, he slipped the tee-shirt over the vixen's head and she did the rest, putting her arms through the sleeves and pulling her head through the collar area, he then picked up the pair of shorts, Zivia lifted her legs as he kneeled down and slid the pair of shorts up her legs, when the shorts went to her thigh, she put her paw on his, making him look up at the bright orange vixen's smiling face, his face still a bright purple.

"I can take it from here." She said, noticing how nervous the blue vulpine was, Ecks quickly let go of the small pair of shorts as the vixen stood up and pulled the shorts up for a perfect fit, Ecks started to stare at the vixen as she sat down, but quickly caught himself and turned his head away.

"I'm sorry." He apologized, Zivia put her paw on his chin and gently pulled his face to look at her.

"It's no problem Ecks, I know I wouldn't be able to keep myself from looking at you, I can hardly keep myself from doing so now." She said with a wink and a seductive growl as she scaled his upper body, even though the vulpine wasn't as fit as Fox or Cross, he was still rather skinny, but not too skinny, his abdomen didn't form into a six-pack but, why should it since he was in fact a telepath with many other abilites, what did he need physical strength for?

"Let's go to the kitchen." The smiling vixen suddenly said.

"Okay." Ecks replied as the vixen stood up, he gently placed his paw on her arm to help guide her, but she moved his paw away.

"It's fine Ecks, I can walk." The vixen had incredible will power, it was one of the many things that Ecks admired so dearly about her, suddenly, as the vixen was turning around towards the door-way, she lost her balance and started falling towards the ground, Zivia closed her eyes and shielded her face, bracing herself for the impact that was sure to come, a few seconds later, she noticed that she hadn't felt any impact from hitting the ground yet, the vixen took her paws away from her face to see that she was floating horizontally in mid-air, she turned her head to look at the blue vulpine, his iris were dark blue, he was holding her up with telekinesis, he set her down gently on her feet, she couldn't believe how quick his reaction was, usually Ecks' eye color transition took a few seconds, but this time he seemed to make the transition in an instant as soon as the vixen was in trouble, the two made their way to the kitchen through the large halls of the Great Fox II, when they arrived, Fox, Krystal and Cross were having a discussion at the table.

"Well you look rather dashing today." Krystal said with a giggle as she looked over at a shirtless Ecks. Krystal wore a bright pink tank-top and a pair of sky-blue pajama pants, it would be an accurate assumption that the cerulean furred vixen had just woken up, seeing as how she had a cup of coffee in her paw.

Ecks looked down at himself, he noticed that his chest was bare, he quickly looked back at the three sitting at the table, "Should I get a shirt on?" He asked.

"Whatever you're comfortable with, just don't walk around here without any clothes on." Fox joked. The reddish-brown vulpine already dressed as he wore a green tee-shirt which bore the Star Fox logo, a black pair of cargo pants, and his usual combat boots, it was no surprise that Fox was fully awake seeing as how he always woke up much earlier than anyone else on the ship.

"I'm glad that you're okay Zivia." Cross said as he took a drink from the glass of water he held in his paw, the red vulpine really liked to drink water, as a matter of fact it was the only thing he would drink ever since he was a kit, it didn't have a taste, but Cross liked the refreshing liquid none the less. Cross wore a dark red tee-shirt that, on the chest area it read 'If it ain't metal, it ain't for me.' in black, a pair of baggy black jean shorts that went down to his shins, and as always, his white sneakers.

"Please, it would take more than a punch to take me out." The bright orange vixen said, taking a seat next to Cross, Ecks followed and sat down next to the vixen.

"So," Krystal started, "You two never did explain why your eyes change colors." Krystal added, she wanted to know more about Ecks and Cross, considering the fact that they were living on the ship, and this was the perfect time for conversation since all of the insane events that had been occuring had now sub-sided.

"Okay then," Ecks took a small breath, "You see, silver is my natural eye color, as gold is my brother's, but the powers we have also affected this, I can use my telekinesis for lifting small objects like so," Ecks said as Krystal's cup of coffee which was now placed on the table started to levitate in the air, but then was set back onto the table gently, "And I can also use my telepathy as well without putting any effort at all into it, but when I need to use more of my power, my eyes will change, matching my fur as well as the white aura that covers my body you have witnessed so many times before, however I must go through a quick form a meditation to do this, when this occurs I can telekinetically lift anything, except for extremely large objects such as this ship, I also have access to other powers such as creating a shield around my body, it isn't visible to the eye, only Cerinians can visibly see the shield I am talking about due to their psychic powers, I also can heal in this state, but there is also a transformation of some sorts which leads to even more power, the only difference in my appearance is that my eyes glow completely white, I only use this on certain occasions because I must use a lot of power to do so, in this state I have access to countless abilties such as Pyrokinesis, but possibly the most effective ability is that I can simply place my paw on someone's chest and manipulate their blood flow to make heart to explode, as well as their entire body, this state makes me seemingly unstoppable." Ecks explained, Fox and Krystal shared confused looks, while Cross simply took another drink from his glass of water.

"But when I saw you fight Rage, how did you split Cross from him?" Zivia asked, her full attention had been on Ecks for his entire expanation as she understood all of what he had said.

"Hmm..." Ecks thought for a moment, "That one I'm not sure about," The blue vulpine said, "Cross would you like to explain how your powers work?" He asked.

Cross set his glass of water back on the table, "Sure thing," He answered, "Okay, just like my brother, I can use some abilities even when my eyes stay gold, my combat skills are equivalent to those of Fox or Krystal, as you both saw when I sparred against Fox, but when my eyes turn red, I can move faster than anyone, I don't have to go through the transition my brother has to, so I can access my abilities almost instantly, my fighting skill increases by an excruciating rate, as does my strength, their is virtually no match to me in physical combat, the fastest I can run is as fast as the speed of sound, but I can't keep that up for too long, or I become exhausted, you've also seen how ruthless I am, that's because my anger also propels this, I haven't found my higher state like my brother has, so I don't know what to tell you about that." Cross explained.

"Well, I'm sorry I asked, because this is a bit confusing." Krystal said as the puzzled look still covered her face.

"What do you expect? We're science rats." Cross returned, taking another drink of the glass in front of him.

"Now it's time for me to ask a question," Fox started, "Zivia, how is it that you can fight so amazingly." He asked.

"Well, sure Hax was number one in the class when it came to fighting, but I was still a close second, they said that I was possibly the best fighter at my age, and I went into the military."

"But why did you go into the military at such a young age?" Krystal asked.

"My father was the head of a large corporation, therefore we were rich, but shortly after I turned seventeen he passed away from cancer, leaving the mansion to me, my mother had passed away before I was five, so I don't have any parents, there was a break-in at the mansion and unfortunately I was their at the time, luckily I was able to hide long enough without the robbers seeing me, I had never felt so helpless in my entire life, I never wanted to feel like that again so I decided to sell the mansion and enroll into the military where I met Hax and Alexia, so now Hax, Alexia and I share a house in which I pay the rent due to the large fortune my dad left me." Zivia told them.

Fox thought it was good to finally see that everyone was getting to know each other, "Well, I need to get to bed now." Cross before standing up and leaving the kitchen, the dark red vulpine hadn't slept in the past week because he was worried about Krystal and Zivia.

A few minutes of idle chit-chat had passed, "Zivia, would you come to the gym and spar with me?" Krystal asked.

"Sure thing." Zivia said, standing up from the table, Krystal stood up as well, it seemed like everyone was taller than Ecks and Cross, but Zivia was at least three inches taller than Krystal, it was funny since Krystal was only and inch shorter than Fox, the two vixens left the kitchen and walked down the halls of the ship.

"So, how's everything going between you two?" Fox asked.

"It's going great, I think I now know the feeling of love." Ecks answered with a smile, it seemed as though Ecks could only talk about Zivia in such a way when she wasn't around.

"Yeah, I remember when I first layed eyes on Krystal back on Sauria, it was love at first sight," Fox said, "But you just remember this, if you say you will protect her, then you should live up to your word by all means necessary."

"Thanks Fox, I'll remember that." Ecks replied, still smiling.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I have to see my girlfriend beat up your girlfriend." Fox joked as he stood from the table and walked to the exit of the kitchen, Ecks followed.

Meanwhile, Krystal and Zivia were getting prepared for their sparring match, Zivia was shadow boxing while Krystal did some stretches, a few seconds later and the two were standing on the mat directly across from another, "You ready?" Zivia asked with a grin.

Krystal simply returned with a grin of her own, then she suddenly leaped into the air bringing her left leg upward in an attempt at an axe-kick, this surprised Zivia, she barely jumped away from the blue foot that would have possibly knocked her out, Krystal expected the orange vixen to do this, and as soon as she landed, the cerulean Cerinian dashed at Zivia, landing a roundhouse kick to the side of Zivia's head, Zivia recovered as she was falling, placing her paw on the mat and flipping away from Krystal, the blue vixen once again dashed at Zivia, attempting to land a right cross to her face, the bright orange vixen ducked and elbowed Krystal in the stomach, knocking the air out of the Cerinian warrior, Zivia followed this with a straight kick to the chin, knocking Krystal backwards, Krystal recovered with a handstand back flip, distancing herself from Zivia, she noticed that the orange vixen was in an unusual fighting stance, Zivia was crouched with her left leg extended outward while her right leg kept her balanced, she had her arms spread out to her sides, Krystal dashed at Zivia again, shooting her fist at the crouching vixen, Zivia simply shifted her weight to one side, dodging the hit as Krystal's fist slammed onto the mat, Zivia shot her right leg straight up, connecting with Krystal's chin, once again knocking her back, then Zivia shifted back to her unique fighting stance once again, Krystal stumbled back and regained her balance, Fox and Ecks came through the door as the two vixens stared each other down.

"I guess we missed some of it." Fox said.

"It would seem so." Ecks replied.

"You boys ready for a show?" Zivia asked with a grin, not taking her eyes off of the blue vixen in front of her.

"Yeah." The two vulpines chuckled.

"Then take a seat." Krystal said as she dashed towards Zivia again, throwing another punch in her direction, Zivia grabbed Krystal's arm and flipped her, Krystal landed on her feet however and swept Zivia's feet from under her, Zivia balanced herself on her arms and neck, she shot her foot up trying to land another kick to Krystal's chin, but the blue vixen saw this coming and blocked the attack, Zivia then sprang up and jumped away from Krystal, and the two began another stare down.

"All we need is some popcorn and this would be perfect." Fox said with a laugh.

"Yeah," Was all Ecks could say, he didn't know that Zivia could fight this well, he was amazed at how furious she was yet how gracefully she moved which only strengthened his admiration towards the bright orange vixen, he didn't see her in the fight against Rage because he was unconscious, but this was truly amazing to witness, "Hey Fox?" The blue vulpine asked.

"Yeah?"

"Don't ever let me piss her off." Ecks said, making Fox burst into laughter as Krystal and Zivia went at it some more.

Krystal ran at Zivia again, she tried to sweep her legs out from under the orange vixen, but Zivia jumped into the air, placing her feet on each side of Krystal's head and in one swift motion, twisting her body and flipping the cerulean vixen onto her back, Zivia took this opportunity and quickly grabbed Krystal's left leg, placing it under her arm and shifting her toes applying enough pressure so that Krystal would tap out, but Krystal grabbed Zivia's leg as well, the two vixens had each other in the exact same hold, "Looks like we've reached a stalemate." Krystal said.

"Yeah, wanna call it a draw?" Zivia asked.

"Sure." Krystal said as the two let go of each other's leg seemingly at the same time, the two stood up, "Good match." Krystal extended her paw in respect, Zivia was only seventeed years old, and she was already an equal to a Cerinian warrior.

"Yeah it was." Zivia said, simply slapping Krystal's paw as more of a high-five, Fox and Ecks approached the two.

"I think it's safe to say that you two can handle yourselves." Fox chuckled, while Ecks simply stared at Zivia, his eyes wide.

"Ecks? What's wrong?" The orange vixen asked.

"I think I love you." Ecks said, still with his surprised look, Fox and Krystal burst into laughter as the two couples started walking towards the exit of the gym.

Cross was surrounded by darkness, he immediately knew what was coming, "Oh Goddess not again." He simply said in an irritated tone as a familiar black vulpine came into view.

"Hello Cross." The black vulpine said, just a glance at the red X on his forehead and you could immediately tell who it was.

"You're not going to take me over again, Rage," Cross said, "My brother told me the truth, and you will never be back."

"You still have anger inside of you, I will always be here." Rage said.

"Then I'll just have to live with that, I will get my revenge on Chaos, but I will do that on my own," Cross told him, "We should just have conversation." Cross added with a smirk, showing his left fang.

Rage sighed, "I have a better idea, since I am trapped inside of you, never to return to the light of day, I will help you in reaching your true state of power."

"Wait, you'll...help me?" Cross was in disbelief.

"I have no other option, I am your evil side, I am more powerful than you, and since it's clear I won't be reborn, I have decided that I must help you." Rage said.

"How are you supposed to do that?" Cross asked.

"I will become your sparring partner, I know more about Chaos then you may think, and since you cannot die in here, I have no reason to take it easy on you."

"But--" Cross was cut-off by an extremely hard elbow to the gut, knocking the air out of his body and sending him flying and crashing onto the invisble ground beneath him.

"Training begins the next time you sleep, I'll be waiting." Rage said with a smirk before fading away into the darkness.

Cross woke up, it was funny, he didn't feel a single thing, he could have sworn that he was in pain just now, but then realized, "Only in my dreams." He said with a chuckle.

Author's Note: I'm happy, new chapter means yay for me, I loved writing this chapter, it was fun, anyway please review and I'll see you on the next upate.

Ignorant? Me? Ha, I don't even know what that means. ~Metallic Soul