Chapter 22

Song of the Day: Sound of Madness by Shinedown

2:00 PM

Everyone was prepared for the battle at hand as they were all in the docking bay, Fox, Krystal, Falco, and Slippy were all in their battle gear, Katt was still wearing her camouflage tee-shirt, her black cargo pants, and black combat boots, Zivia was dressed in the camouflage flight suit she wore when she first came to the ship, and a pair of black boots, Hax wore a grey tee-shirt, a pair of light-blue jeans, and a pair of combat boots as well, Alexia was clad in a black tee-shirt, a pair of dark blue-jeans, and it seemed that combat boots were popular as she also wore a pair of the heavy footwear, Ecks wore a white tee-shirt, baggy black jeans, and his black sneakers, and Cross wore his black tee-shirt which had a flame-engulfed skull on it, a black pair of baggy jeans, and his trademark white sneakers, Fox looked at this and it felt like deja-vu to him.

"Is everyone ready?" The light-brown vulpine asked, recieving nods of approval from each individual, "Right then, Cross, Ecks, Hax, and Alexia will cover the ground, while the rest of us cover the air, is that clear?" He asked.

"Just don't get in my way." Falco said, everyone else simply nodded their heads, Fox, Krystal, Falco, and Slippy climbed into their individual Arwings, Katt jumped into her pink one, Hax and Alexia entered the side of Zivia's unique ship, Zivia gave Ecks a quick kiss on the cheek.

"Be careful." Ecks told her with concern.

"Don't worry." Zivia replied with a smile as she climbed into the cockpit of her aircraft and closed the hatch, she couldn't even be visibly seen through the cockpit, but Ecks knew she was looking at him, Fox decided it best that Ecks teleport himself and Cross to Corneria so that Cross wouldn't have a panic attack, Ecks closed his eyes as Fox and the others were getting set for take off, Ecks placed his paw on Cross' shoulder as his eyes opened, revealing his dark blue irises, the white aura engulfed the two vulpine, and they vanished.

Cross and Ecks appeared right in the line of fire, they instantly had to dodge blaster fire wildly as it wasn't expected, a few seconds later the two quickly found cover behind a dumpster in an alley, Cross pulled the dumpster with one arm so it would block any fire that came their way, "Bet you didn't see this one coming." Cross said with a chuckle as his irises turned dark red.

Ecks laughed a bit, "You ready?" He asked.

"Hell yeah!" Cross exclaimed before leaping into the air, the dark red vulpine landed on a purple-clad soldier, a scream of death could be heard over the entire area.

Ecks floated a bit higher and peeked over the dumpster, only to a massive amount of red lasers come his way, he quickly dropped down behind the dumpster, they were waiting for him, "Alright, if you want to play that way." Ecks said, backing up a bit, he simply looked at the dumpster, a moment later it shot straight out, and crashed into a building, blood leaked from the side of the dumpster as Ecks floated out into the open, he immediately started to teleport constantly so as not to get hit by any blaster fire, and he had a city full of objects at his disposal, the blue vulpine teleported behind three enemy soldiers, two of the three were sent flying into the distance as spheres of air slammed against them, the one soldier couldn't react in time as a trash can smashed into his helmet with immense force, no matter how small or big an object was, Ecks could use it with lethal intent, another soldier unloaded a barrage of lasers from his assault rifle, but Ecks reacted by covering himself in a barrier, the laser fire reflected off the barrier and shot right back at the unlucky soldier, blasting holes into the soldier's chest, Cross was also handling himself just fine, gracefully dodging red laser fire with ease, the red vulpine grabbed an empty glass bottle from the ground as he ran by, and hurled it at an unsuspecting soldier, the bottle hit the soldier on the side of his helmet, the force of the thrown object was so immense that it cracked the helmet and knocked the soldier unconscious, Cross became bored with dodging as he ran straight at the four soldiers who were firing at him, and in one quick motion, all four soldiers fell limply to the ground, blood could be seen rushing from the dead bodies, there was a lone soldier behind Cross who had the barrel of his rifle pointed directly at the vulpine's head, but before the soldier could fire, a blue laser shot pierced his skull, Cross turned around to see the soldier fall to the ground, he looked to where the shot that saved his life came from, and saw a black furred lupine with his own rifle.

"Just thought I'd help you out!" 'The lupine shouted.

"Thanks Hax!" Cross yelled back, just then, an explosion occurred right next to the dark red vulpine, sending him flying towards building, but Cross regained his composure just before slamming into the wall, and flipped to where his feet were placed on the side of the building, Cross hopped off of the wall and landed on the ground with amazing grace, and saw a large purple tank, unfortunately it was set to fire again, and the barrel was pointed directly at Cross, but just then, a barrage of large blue lasers hit the tank, causing it to explode, Cross looked to the sky and saw a Wolfen.

"We got your back kid!" A voice yelled to Cross.

"Wolf?! What are you doing here?" Fox asked as he took out two purple air-crafts.

"I figured that I like this place, plus we're getting a pretty big pay-day for helping you guys out!" The lupine answered as two more Wolfens came into view, blasting more purple air-crafts.

"Impudent Doombringers! You are nothing to the Great Leon!" The lizard yelled.

"Anything to help my sweet, beautiful Krystal." A low, smooth voice said.

"Ha, in your dreams, Panther." Krystal said over the com. link, Cross smirked, it seemed that they would win the battle after all.

Alright, the air forces have been taken out." Fox told them.

"Great! But we need some help down here!" Hax exclaimed.

"I'm sure you can handle the rest, good luck kid, Star Wolf, let's go!" Wolf ordered as the three Wolfens took off, just then, a white beam shot into the sky, clipping the side of Slippy's Arwing.

"Sorry guys! I gotta get back to the Great Fox!" Slippy said as his Arwing took off into the sky, Cross looked to where the white beam had come from, he saw a cloaked figure holding a large pistol.

"Chaos." Cross growled, speeding towards the black vulpine, Chaos was unsuspecting as Cross snatched the weapon from him.

"You!" Chaos exclaimed.

"Yeah, me, and it looks like you can't do much without this." Cross smirked, showing his left fang.

"Ah yes, but I am not alone." Chaos returned with a smirk of his own, suddenly, Rage appeared right in front of Cross, and a forceful punch sent Cross smashing into a building, luckily he han't let go of the large pistol.

"Cross!" Ecks yelled in concern for his brother, but before he could help the red vulpine, a massive paw grabbed him by the throat and slammed him into a wall with destructive force, then Ecks was slammed into the ground, Zivia had landed and climbed out of her fighter as Ecks fell unconscious, a large lupine was standing over the dark blue vulpine as Zivia and the others approached him.

"You bastard." Zivia said, taking her battle stance, Fox, Krystal, Katt, and Falco all took their fighting stances as well, Hax and Alexia were dealing with other problem on another side of the city, so it would just be the four of them against this massive wolf.

"I do not have time for this," Chaos said, pushing a button on a small device, a small pod appeared next to him, and the black vulpine entered, "After you kill them, bring me the weapon, do not fail me Thrash." Chaos said before the small pod shot into the sky.

"You five? This should be easy." The large lupine said, getting set to charge them, but just as he did this, he couldn't seem to move, he looked down to see that Ecks had regained consciousness, and his eyes were completely flushed over with white, suddenly the lupine was lifted into the air, and slammed onto the ground, leaving a large crater, the wolf stood up slowly, but Ecks was right in front of him, a furious look on his face, the lupine was suddenly sent flying into a building, Ecks followed him, his right paw started to glow an even brighter white than the rest of his body as he bundled it into a fist, the lupine just barely dodged the punch, which completely disintegrated the building, Ecks slowly turned around as he floated high in the air.

"Kidnapping Zivia was the worst mistake of your life." Ecks said in a harsh tone.

Cross was in the rubble of the building he had smashed into, "Now I finally end you," Cross said, a moment later he burst from the rubble, and stood before Rage, "Krystal! Take this!" He yelled, throwing the pistol to the cerulean furred vixen, she caught it.

"You won't defeat me Cross, I know every move you will make before you even make it." Rage told the red vulpine.

"Then I guess I'll have to mix it up." Cross said, he grabbed the sides of his head in pain and fell to his knees, his eyes started to wash over with a blood red, a few seconds later, he looked to the sky and roared loudly, this even sent a shiver down Rage's spine as he felt true fear for the first time, and enraged Cross dashed at the black vulpine, slamming his fist into Rage's jaw, but as Rage was lifted into the air by the heavy punch, Cross grabbed his leg and slammed him forcefully to the ground, Rage recovered however and leaped high into the air, slamming his foot into the side of the red vulpine's face when he came down, Cross staggered a bit, and Rage then landed a straight punch to Cross' nose, making him stagger back a bit more, Rage went to land another heavy punch, but Cross countered by grabbing the black vulpine's arm, and pulling Rage towards him, Cross shot his knee out and it slammed into Rage's stomach, forcing the air out of him, then he shot his fist straight into the black vulpine's chest, sending him flying and crashing through a building, on the other side, Rage was getting to his feet slowly as Cross approached him, his eyes still completely red.

"It seems I have underestimated you, this will be a good fight." Rage said with an evil grin as he spat out a clot of blood, the two vulpine would continue their battle.

Thrash and Ecks were still going at it, Ecks had the advantage on multiple occasions, but the large lupine was persistant, Ecks had telekinetically slammed him on just about every inch of the area, but every time he would go in for the killing blow, the lupine still found a way to counter it, Ecks was ready to strike his final attack as his fist began to glow a pure white, he teleported right in front of the wolf, and shot his glowing fist at the lupine, but once again, Thrash countered with a brutal punch to the side of Ecks' face before he could do anything, sending him flying backwards, Ecks caught himself as he floated in the air, he had to end this soon, he wouldn't be able to keep this up for much longer, Krystal was fiddling with the pistol that Cross had thrown to her, she had no idea how to use it, but then, something popped into her head as she pulled out her staff, and extended the weapon to its full length, she propped it into the outer barrel of the large pistol, the metallic structure of it forged itself around the staff, turning it into a long rifle, Ecks took his final chance at the massive lupine, he flew towards the wolf, his right fist started to glow, Thrash was ready for the attack, but suddenly, his body lifted into the air, and slammed against the ground, when the wolf's body bounced back up, Ecks slammed his glowing fist right through the stunned lupine's stomach, Ecks pulled his arm out of the wolf's torso, Ecks wasn't finished, his right arm became enshrouded in a white, blade-like aura, then, in quick motion, he slashed the lupine's throat, blood started to pour from the large gash as the wolf grasped his own neck.

"Do it now, Krystal!" Ecks yelled, Krystal closed her eyes as she pointed the weapon at Thrash, when she opened them, her eyes were flushed over with white, and a massive white beam shot from the barrel, the beam was as large as a small building, Ecks quickly teleported to where the others stood, the huge beam engulfed Thrash, disintegrating his body to nothing, Ecks' eyes reverted back to their normal silver gleam as he fell to his knees, Zivia came to the young vulpine's aid.

"Thank...the Goddess...that's over." Ecks said in-between heavy breaths.

Cross an Rage continued their heated fight, each would land heavy attacks, but neither would let up, Rage dashed at Cross, but Cross shot his right leg out in a roundhouse attempt, Rage ducked under the heavy kick, and swept at Cross' leg supporting him, Cross hopped over the sweep kick and threw a punch at the black vulpine, Rage quickly dodged as Cross' fist left a small crater in the ground, but Cross stayed on the offensive as he shot his left leg upward, smashing into Rage's mouth, the black fox stumbled backwards a bit and Cross quickly threw a punch as his left paw connected with the black vulpine's stomach, driving the air out of him, Cross then did a back-flip, the toe of his shoe hitting Rage's chin, lifting the black vulpine off of the ground, Rage recovered and back-flipped into a perfect landing, Cross dashed at the black vulpine once again, but Rage saw this coming as he cut Cross off with an elbow to the chin, Rage followed up with a straight kick to Cross' chest, sending the dark red vulpine flying through a building, landing on the other side, Cross looked over to see that the others ha defeated Thrash, Cross struggled to stand as Rage casually approached him.

"There will always be destruction, you are just post-poning the inevitable, so why do you fight?" Rage asked.

"I fight, for a chance of hope, for a chance that someday the destruction will stop," Cross said weakly as he stood, "I fight to rid the universe of shit like you!" He yelled.

"Pity you fight for such meaningless things,but now you must die." Rage said with an evil grin, just then, the black vulpine dashed at Cross, but Cross caught him by the throat, Rage had a surprised look on his face as he struggled to escape the dark red vulpine's grasp.

"No, it's a pity that you actually thought you could beat me." Cross said before ripping out a chunk of the black vulpine's throat, causing blood to leak everywhere, Rage grasped his own throat, trying to gasp for air as his body thrashed about wildly as he lay dying on the ground, but in mere seconds, the black vulpine stopped moving, he was finally dead, Cross dropped to his knees from exhaustion as his eyes changed back to their golden shine.

"Now there's only two left." Cross said before passing out from pain mixed with exhaustion.

Author's Note: First off, I'm not very good with air battles, I'm better with physical hand-to-hand combat, I'm not great at it, but I'm at least half-way decent. Anyway I originally thought about ending the story on this chapter, but then thought better of it and figured I could work it out a bit longer, this was yet another fun chapter to write and I'm thinking about a sequel-type...thing for it, not really gonna go into details about it though. Once again, please review if you want to, and I'll be sure to read them, thanks for reading and I deeply appreciate the support.

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