Chapter 20

"I swear I'll break that little bitch's neck the next time I see her." A large lupine said as he walked out of a room into a dimly-lit hallway, the walls were blood red and bore an octagon which merged with a six-sided star.

"A bit eager are we?" A cold voice asked, the large lupine turned around to face a black vulpine who wore a cloak.

"She fuckin' broke my nose!" The wolf yelled.

"In due time Thrash, you will have your chance." Chaos said with an evil smile.

A bright blue, cloaked vixen approached the two figures, "Why does it not surprise me that we failed yet again?" She asked.

"It was another minor setback Viera, I will not fail, our plan will take effect soon." Chaos said.

"And how can you be so sure?" Viera asked.

"I have a little surprise for them," Chaos said, he held up what looked to be a holographic image of a bright orange furred vixen, "I believe her name is Zivia." Chaos added with an evil grin.

Ecks awoke in a room he was all too familiar with as he squinted his eyes at the bright lights, his body felt numb to an extent, he couldn't even feel his arms when he tried to move them, he rolled to his side on the bed he lay in, the blue vulpine looked at the digital clock which read 10:00 PM, he noticed that on the bed to his right, his brother was sleeping soundly,Ecks smiled at this, Cross looked rather peaceful despite the fact that his mouth was hanging wide open, Ecks also noticed Zivia was sitting in a chair at his bedside, her head was leaned on her left paw which was supported by her knee, the bright orange vixen was beautiful when she slept, not even a single breath could be heard from the vixen, Ecks tried to reach his paw to her, but he was too weak, he tried to speak her name, but it only came out as a slight whisper, Ecks was a bit upset, but then remembered that he was a telepath, it took a lot for him to concentrate his thoughts to wake the bright orange vixen, he felt helpless, normally it wouldn't take any amount effort at all for him to use his telepathy, Zivia awoke and smiled at the dark blue vulpine.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Like a ship just smashed into my skull." Ecks answered weakly.

"Try not to talk too much, we escaped Katina, most of us just have a few bumps and bruises, Cross has broken ribs, he was still conscious when we left Katina, he told us that he'll heal much faster than we would.

"How long have I been here?" Ecks asked.

"You and Cross have been in here for about a week now, Cross is almost fully recovered, but you took the most damage," Zivia said, reaching her paw over to Ecks' and holding it gently, "You have broken ribs, a concussion, and many deep cuts, this whole week you've been sleeping here, a few times you even called out my name in your sleep." Zivia giggled, she was happy now that the vulpine was awake.

Ecks' face turned a deep purple as he blushed, Fox came into the room a few moments later.

"So, how is he?" Fox asked, he didn't really need an answer as he noticed the blue vulpine was awake.

"He's better, still needs to rest a lot more." Zivia answered, turning her gaze to the light-brown vulpine, Fox walked over to Ecks.

"You did a good job, if you wouldn't have been there we probably wouldn't have made it out alive." Fox said.

Ecks couldn't talk much so he simply smiled and nodded his head, Fox left the room and Zivia had also left but told Ecks she would be right back with something for him to eat, for some reason Ecks couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong, Zivia told him that he was just being paranoid because of the recent events, but his telepathy had never failed him before.

"INTRUSION ALERT!" ROB's monotone voice came over the speaker, Cross instantly woke up and jumped out of the bed, the dark red vulpine dashed out of the medical bay, leaving Ecks all alone, the blue vulpine slowly stood from the bed, he had no clue what was going on, but he wasn't just going to lay there, Ecks couldn't even use his ability to hover from the ground, when he finally left the room, he found Zivia standing outside the medical bay.

"Zivia what's going on?" Ecks asked.

"We're under attack! You need to get back in the medical bay!" Zivia shouted over the alarm, just then, down the hall, Cross' body slammed against a wall with incredible force, his body bounced limply from the wall onto the floor, a moment later, Zivia was being pulled away by an unknown force.

"Zivia!" Ecks shouted, trying to pull the vixen back to him with his telekinesis, but he was too weak, it was happening just like the dream he had, just a different area, just then, the butt of a rifle hit Ecks square on the nose, Ecks still tried to crawl as he saw Zivia being helplessly taken away, until the purple-clad soldier kicked Ecks in the stomach, Ecks had enough of this as he simply looked at the soldier, Ecks gathered all of the power he could muster, the soldier was lifted from the ground and his head twisted completely around, resulting in a loud snap, the soldier's body fell limply to the floor.

"ZIVIA!!" The blue vulpine screamed, the last thing he saw was the bright orange vixen's helpless face before falling unconscious.

Ecks awoke back in the medical bay, Fox, Krystal, and Cross were all looking over him, "Where's Zivia?" The blue vulpine asked as his eyes opened.

"She was taken onto the Doombringers' ship, we just barely defended against the attack, they had anti-radar, we couldn't even see it coming." Fox said.

"That bastard," Ecks was angry with himself that he wasn't able to keep his promise, he felt pathetic knowing that there was nothing he could've done to prevent this, "We need to get her back." The blue vulpine said, starting to stand from the bed.

"Let's go to the bridge and figure out what we'll do from there." Fox said, turning to leave the medical bay, Cross helped Ecks walk and the group made it to the bridge in minutes, Hax, Alexia, Slippy and Falco were all on the bridge, it hurt Ecks to see that Zivia was not in her usual spot on the couch, he would do anything to get her back.

"I'm still wondering how they managed to find us." Hax said as he brushed a few strands of his white hair away from his right eye, only to have it return to the same spot, the dark lupine was dressed in a black tee-shirt and blue-jeans as he paced around the room.

"My guess is that they put a tracking device on one of the Arwings." Alexia stated, the light grey she-wolf was wearing a simple white tee-shirt and a pair of black jeans that faded to white towards the ankle area, Falco and Slippy were in their usual gear.

"We have a call." Slippy informed.

"Patch it through." Fox said, a holographic image of a black fox's face appeared.

"You!" Ecks shouted, still having his weight supported by Cross, "Give Zivia back! Or--"

"Or what? You'll kill me?" The black vulpine snickered, "You were already planning to do that in the first place, so what difference would it make?" Chaos asked rhetorically, "I have a proposition for you." He added.

"And what's that?" Ecks asked, baring his fangs at the image.

"I must say that you have great taste in women my son, this vixen of your's is a beautiful one indeed, Lylat isn't as repulsive as I thought." This statement only furthered Ecks' hatred for Chaos, "Now, onto the proposition, you and Cross will come to Coluxine, trade me the staff, the cube, and the barrel for this one's life, I will come alone, it would be an intelligent move not to bring anyone else with you, be there by tomorrow, I'll be waiting." Chaos ended with an evil grin as the image faded away.

A silence filled the room, "So," Ecks spoke up, "What are we going to do?" He asked Fox.

"That's not up to me, it's her life on the line, and she trusts you with it, you make the decision." Fox said, Ecks thought for a moment.

"Cross and I will go alone, we'll trade the weapon, just as long as I get Zivia back, then we'll figure out a way to defeat him," Ecks said, the blue vulpine turned to Krystal, "I will need you to heal me completely." Ecks turned to leave the bridge.

"You know how painful this will be, don't you?" Krystal asked, Ecks turned his head and looked at the cerulean vixen.

"Pain is nothing anymore," The dark blue vulpine said, then continued to limp towards the exit of the bridge, "Nothing will keep me from her." He ended as he left the bridge, the group was amazed at the feelings Ecks had for Zivia, even with the universe at stake, Ecks was still prepared to make any sacrifice

Ecks was lying on the bed when Krystal walked into the medical bay, "I hope you know what you're doing." The blue vixen said.

"So do I." Ecks replied, when Krystal was close enough he gently grabbed her right paw.

"What are you doing?" Krystal asked.

"I am going to give you a boost of my power so that you can heal me even faster." Ecks said, closing his eyes, a moment later, Krystal felt a jolt of energy rush into her body as her eyes flushed completely over with a pure white glow, the cerulean furred vixen looked to the ceiling as her mouth opened slightly, a white glow started to escape from her open mouth as the energy surged through-out her body, Ecks let go of the vixen's paw as both of her paws started to glow a pure white aura, the vixen looked back down at Ecks.

"You are sure?" She asked.

"Yes." Was all Ecks said, Krystal then put both of her paws in front of her, each hovered above Ecks' stomach, at first Ecks felt a warm sensation all about his body, but that soon turned to excruciating pain as Ecks began to scream in pain as Krystal concentrated on healing the injured vulpine, his screams could be heard around the ship, Ecks wanted to pass out from the pain, but he refused to do so, he needed to stay conscious, passing out during this healing wouldn't make any difference in the healing process but, he promised to himself that he would stay conscious until Zivia was safe with him back on the ship, an hour passed until Krystal was finished with the healing, she had to catch her breath because of how much magic it took to completely heal the young vulpine, Ecks hadn't passed out, he stood up from the bed, all of his pain was gone, the two foxes left the medical bay and made their way to the bridge, Ecks, having regained his strength, floated down the halls of the Great Fox II, Krystal walked slowly as she was still exhausted from the amount of magic she used, the two entered the bridge where they found Cross, Fox, Hax and Alexia each sitting in a spot in the room.

"Did you have fun?" Cross asked sarcastically with his usual smirk, showing his left fang as he sat on the red couch, his fur matched the color of the couch almost perfectly

"We need to go to Coluxine now." Ecks told them, clearly ignoring his brother's comment.

"ROB, clear us for hyperspace." Fox said.

"Clearance acquired, entering hyperspace in three minutes, forty-seven seconds, ETA to destination twelve hours, thirty-six minutes." ROB said in his monotone voice.

"Everyone find something to occupy your time, this'll be a while." Fox said.

"Well, I don't know about the rest of you guys," Cross said, standing from the couch he sitting in, the dark red vulpine reached his arms over his head as his shoulders made a cracking noise, "But I'm gonna head to the gym." He added as he left the bridge.

"I'm gonna go to sleep." Slippy said, turning to leave the bridge as well.

"Sounds good." Falco added as the avian turned to follow Slippy out of the bridge.

"I need to meditate." Ecks told the rest of the group as he floated out of the bridge and down the hall, leaving Alexia, Hax, Krystal, and Fox, it was clear that he only had one thing on his mind: getting Zivia back.

"So?" Krystal started, looking at Hax and Alexia as the two sat on the couch, with a curious expression on her face, Fox already knew what was coming as he rolled his eyes.

"So, what?" Alexia asked.

"How long have you two been together?" Krystal always needed to know everything about everyone, although she could simply read their minds, she found it better to converse.

"Well, we started dating three years ago, we met in combat training, at first we were just friends but then some drunken asshole recruit grabbed my arm and tried pulling me away, so Vaughn kicked the shit out of him." The she-wolf ended with a shrug of her shoulders.

"To be honest, I had a bit of a crush on her when we first met, I was always shy around girls." Hax said, looking at the female lupine next to him.

"Sounds like someone I know," Krystal said with a giggle, turning her head towards Fox, who was now sitting in the captain's chair.

"Oh yeah? Who?" Fox asked with a grin, Krystal simply rolled her eyes.

"So exactly how old are you two?" Krystal asked, still filled with curiosity.

"Twenty." Hax answered.

"Twenty-one." Alexia did the same, Fox decided to stand up and stood beside Krystal with his arm around her shoulder, then all of a sudden, Krystal felt something on her lower back which made her jolt forward a bit.

"Stop it Fox." The blue vixen said with a giggle, playfully slugging Fox's arm in the process.

"I don't know what you're talking about." Fox played dumb, Krystal rolled her eyes.

"Well, I don't know about you guys, but I'm tired." Hax said as he stood up and left the bridge, Alexia followed the lupine, Fox and Krystal also went to bed shortly after as the next day would be a long one.

1:30 PM

Everyone on the ship was fully awake, Ecks hadn't even left his room as he was still in meditation, the blue vulpine's ears twitched as he heard a knock on the door, "Who is it?" He asked.

"It's Cross," Came an answer from the other side, Ecks floated over to the door and opened it, his red furred brother was standing there with a serious look on his face, "You don't think that when we give him the staff he's just gonna turn around and leave right?" Cross asked.

"No, he will try to fight us with it, and we'll be ready." Ecks told him.

"We should go now, I want to teach that bastard a lesson." Cross said, turning around and walking away, Ecks left shortly after and went to the docking bay, where he found everyone standing there, he saw Zivia's unique aircraft and it only fueled his desire to get her back.

"Are you two ready?" Fox asked.

"Yeah, I can teleport us there." Ecks informed.

Krystal handed Ecks her staff, the small metallic cube, and the cylider object which was more like a large barrel for a pistol, "Be careful." Krystal told them, a look of concern on her face.

"Don't worry, we'll be back..." Ecks closed his eyes, "...with Zivia." His eyes then opened, they had turned a dark blue color and a white aura surrounded his body, he placed his paw on Cross' shoulder, and the two seemingly vanished into thin air.

Ecks and Cross appeared on the dry, cracked, barren wasteland surface of Coluxine, Ecks had followed Zivia's thought patterns to find them, standing twenty feet away from Cross and Ecks was Chaos, holding tightly onto Zivia's arm, Ecks noticed that the bright orange vixen had bruises on her arms and legs, her clothes were torn, her left pant leg had been completely ripped off, this infuriated Ecks.

"What did you do to her?!" Ecks growled, his eyes had a hateful glare in them.

"I did nothing, my good friend Thrash simply had some fun with your little vixen," Chaos said with a snicker, "Now give me the weapon."

"Let Zivia go! Then you can have the weapon!" Ecks shouted.

"Fine," Choas released his hold on the vixen's arm, "You are free to go." The black vulpine told her, Zivia shot him a glare and a growl before running towards Ecks and Cross, the staff that Ecks was holding started to float towards Chaos, as did the barrel and the cube.

"Are you okay? Did they do anything to you?" Ecks asked the vixen when she was close.

"No, I'm fine, they just roughed me up a bit, nothing I can't handle." Zivia said with a smile as Ecks embraced the vixen tightly.

Chaos snatched the staff, the cube and the barrel from the air, "Now for the ultimate weapon." He said as he locked the barrel onto the end of the staff and touched the cube to the other side, the small metallic cube started to form into a pistol grip, and it formed around the staff as well, the weapon that Chaos held now looked like an extremely long pistol, the weapon was at least six feet long now, Chaos pointed the barrel at Ecks and Cross, and a huge ball of fire shot at them, luckily Ecks realized this and teleported out of the way while Cross dodged the ball of flames as well.

"Wonderful, this is much better than I thought." Chaos snickered.

"Zivia, you need to stay away from this." Ecks told the vixen, then looked over to Cross, who was on his knees, breathing heavily, his eyes were starting to flush over with a blood red color, Ecks hadn't seen his new ability, Cross stood up and let out a bone chilling roar and took off towards Chaos.

"Be safe." Ecks told the vixen as he stood.

"Always am." Zivia said, Ecks then started to hover above the ground, his body became enshrouded in a pure white aura, it was even brighter than normal, his eyes completely washed over with white as he looked at Chaos.

"Let's begin." Chaos said, Ecks vanished and appeared right in front of the black vulpine, Choas predicted this however and slammed his fist into Ecks' stomach sending the blue vulpine flying several feet back, Cross leaped into the air, planning to land a killing blow to Chaos, but suddenly, a barrier appeared around Chaos, and as soon as Cross hit, the force sent him flying backwards, the red vulpine flipped gracefully and landed on his feet, he then dug his right arm into the ground, and with loud growl, he pulled up, ripping a massive chunk from the ground, he reared back his arm and threw the huge piece of land at Chaos, but Chaos pointed his new weapon at the chunk of land, a large white beam escaped from the barrel and vaporized the boulder, but this was a diversion as Cross appeared from the dust and slammed his knee into the black vulpine's stomach, driving the air out of him, Cross then slammed his fist into Chaos' jaw, sending him directly upward, as Chaos' limp body flew in the air, Ecks appeared seemingly out of no where as a white sphere of energy shot from his paw, the ball hit Chaos dead on in the chest, as he fell towards the ground, Cross leaped into the air, and drove his leg down into Chaos' stomach in an axe-kick, the two landed on the ground hard, leaving a large crater where Chaos' body lay, Cross thought it was over, but then the ground erupted from beneath him as he was sent flying backwards by a quake attack from Chaos, the black vulpine raised the staff high into the air, pointing the barrel directly upwards and shot a large white beam at Ecks, Ecks barely managed to teleport out of the way, but then Chaos shot another beam at Zivia.

"NO!!" Ecks screamed, he teleported in front of the beam and suddenly the beam stopped, Ecks was using all of his power to keep the white beam from disinigrating both him and Zivia.

"This is when you die!" A maniacal laugh escaped from Chaos' muzzle as more pressure was added to Ecks' strain as the beam increased, Ecks couldn't keep this up, just then, Cross dashed at Chaos, Chaos didn't even see the vulpine coming as Cross grabbed the weapon, and ripped the staff part away from it, disabling the large white beam of death, then he shot his leg out, and kicked Chaos square in the chest, sending him several feet back, the staff part of the weapon that Cross had ripped off was now back to it's original form, Cross took off towards Zivia and Ecks, Ecks quickly placed his paws on Cross and Zivia's shoulders as another beam shot toward them, the weapon that Chaos had now looked to be a small cannon, Ecks, Zivia, and Cross seemingly vanished into thin air as the beam just barely missed them, the trio would live to fight another day.

Back on the Great Fox II, Fox had found the tracking device that had led the Doombringers to their ship, it had been placed on his Arwing, he destroyed the chip but just then, Cross, Ecks and Zivia appeared right before him, Cross fell to his knees, breathing heavily, this new power that he had acquired took a lot out of him, Ecks was worn out as well, but his transformation didn't have as much affect on him as it did on Cross.

"You guys alright?" Fox asked as he rushed over to help Cross to his feet.

"Yeah, but that son of a bitch is still alive." Cross said weakly.

"I'm sorry Cross, I had to get us out, I was losing power as well, but at least he doesn't have this." Ecks said, handing Krystal's staff to Fox.

"That's good, but we have to put a stop to this before it gets out of control," Fox said, taking the staff, "I think you guys need some rest, I can tell it was a tough fight."

"Yeah." Ecks said with a weak smile as he and Zivia made their way to the doors which led to the hallway, Cross left as soon as he had enough strength to walk on his own, the only thing he wanted now was sleep.

Ecks and Zivia had made it to their room, Zivia walked over to the bed and simply fell onto the mattress of comfort, "Thank you Ecks." The vixen said sleepily, Ecks looked at the vixen, she was asleep as her breaths were silent, he smiled, she looked so cute when she was asleep, but then again she always looked cute to him, the blue vulpine crawled onto the bed with Zivia and placed his arm around her stomach as he too drifted off into the chambers of sleep.

Author's Note: Okay, first off, that little thing when Krystal was healing Ecks, I kind of got that idea from reading Skullfox's story "Chains of Fate", I simply put it into shorter context and used my character instead of Fox, if he has a problem with that I can re-write that part of the chapter. Anyway this was another fun chapter to write, I'm having a lot of fun writing this story, sadly it must end sometime, but not too soon, it will probably be about 5 to 10 more chapters, maybe more, who knows. But yeah, thanks for the support and please review if you liked it or not.

Oh yeah...Song for the fight if one was needed: Constant Motion - Dream Theatre

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