Chapter 23

Cross' vision was blurred, nothing could be seen except for darkness, but then something started to slowly come into view, Cross saw a bright light, and then a pure white furred kit walked up to him, Cross recognized this place he was in, the room was large, the walls were light tan color, there were two beds over to the right, and large light brown, wooden dressers beside each of them, Cross looked at the white furred kit who's silver eyes gleamed in the light.

"So, are you ready today, brother?" The white kit asked, he was dressed in a dark blue tank-top, a pair of light blue jean-shorts, and black sneakers.

Cross had no control over his body movements as he nodded, the vulpine saw a mirror, he only caught a glimpse of himself, but where he would usually see a dark red fox with an X on his forehead, he now saw a young black furred kit in his own reflection he was wearing a pure white tee-shirt, a pair of dark blue jeans, and white sneakers, Cross turned towards a door which opened as a tall black vulpine dressed in a white lab coat, black slacks, and a pair of black dress shoes walked in and smiled at the two young kits.

"Are you boys ready for our little project?" The black vulpine asked in a smooth, calming tone as he placed his paw on top of Cross' head.

"Yes, father." Answered the white kit that Cross assumed was Ecks.

Father? No, this black fox couldn't possibly be Chaos, could it? He was far too nice, not the cold, heartless son of a bitch that Cross knew, but something in the back of his mind told him other-wise, Cross was trying to figure all of this out when a white flash blurred his vision, when his sight returned, he was in the middle of a large white room, he spotted about four or five others in the room that wore lab coats just like the one his father wore, he also noticed out of the corner of his eye that bubbles were floating upward, his right paw suddenly reached out and felt a smooth, hard surface, his only assumption was that the surface he felt against his paw was glass, he also noticed that his fur was the dark red color that he remembered as he looked at his right arm, Cross also saw that he was suspended off of the ground, held by numerous chords, Cross was in some sort of tube, his body was completely engulfed in water as he felt a mask against his muzzle, somehow he hadn't noticed this, and then suddenly his head started to throb with extreme pain, he grasped the sides of his head and thrashed about uncontrollably, his fist slammed against the glass chamber he was encased in, shattering it into oblivion, water spilled out onto the floor, and Cross looked at the scientists around him as he stood, each had a look of fear in their eyes, one black vulpine walked up to him.

"This is what we have worked so hard for," The black vulpine said, "My son."

Cross awoke suddenly, feeling a throbbing pain in the back of his head, he looked up, and noticed that he was in the cockpit of an Arwing as he saw the many stars in the darkness of space, "What happened?" Cross asked, hoping to hear a response.

"We're heading back to the Great Fox," A voice answered, Cross could tell it was Fox, "You and Ecks took a pretty bad beating." The light brown vulpine added with a slight chuckle.

"Why does my head hurt so much?" Cross asked.

"You probably hit your head when we were leaving the atmosphere, you should be alright in a few hours." Fox said as if he didn't care.

"Thanks for the concern." Cross had a sarcastic tone in his voice as he leaned back in the seat, normally he would've been having a panic attack at the sight of flying, but they had already left the planet and he liked looking at the stars, besides, he had other things on his mind, like what the hell that little dream was, was it a dream, or a memory? Cross brushed the thought away, whatever it was, it didn't matter now, time was here and now, and they still had yet to destroy Chaos.

Fox's Arwing docked in the docking bay, Fox had noticed that Katt's pink Arwing wasn't their anymore so he figured that she left, they found Zivia, Ecks and Krystal waiting for them, Ecks still had enough energy to do his little floating thing, Fox hopped out of his Arwing and walked over to the three, he looked back and saw that Cross was still sitting in the cockpit, "Hey Cross, you coming or not?" Fox asked, Cross mumbled something.

"What was that?" Zivia asked with a grin as she placed her hands on her hips, Cross spoke a bit louder, but it was still nothing more than a mumble.

"What? Speak up." Zivia said again, she just loved messing with Cross.

"I said I need some help dammit!" Cross shouted, he hated to admit when he needed help, but he had taken quite a beating in the fight with Rage, Zivia chuckled as she walked over to the aircraft an hopped onto the wing, she crouched down and wrapped her arms around Cross' mid-section, she lifted him up with ease, he was much lighter than she had expected.

"You're like a little doll." She teased, Cross simply groaned a bit, Zivia hopped down from the wing of the ship and set Cross down, he could stand, but not very well, "Do you need me to carry you to your room?" The orange vixen chuckled.

"No, I'm just fine with walking." Cross replied as he walked gingerly to the doors which led to the halls, sleep was the only thing on his mind right now, Cross promised to himself that Chaos would die the next time they met. Fox, Krystal, Zivia and Ecks had decided to head over to the bridge, they knew this would be coming to an end soon, and now they just had to find out where Chaos was, or where he would strike next.

The group had decided to go to the bridge to figure out a plan for their next course of action, "So...what're we gonna do?" Falco asked, Hax, Alexia and Slippy were also in the bridge.

"We need some sort of plan, usually I can think of something but we have no clue where they are." Fox rubbed his forehead in frustration.

"Actually," Hax started, a grin showing on his face as he reached into his pocket, "We do." The lupine pulled out a small chip.

"What's that?" Alexia asked, even she didn't know what Hax was up to.

"A tracking chip, I slipped it onto his little escape pod when he ran from us on Corneria." The lupine told them.

The group was surprised, "Hax, you're a genius." Alexia said.

"I know, and that's why you love me." The black lupine said arrogantly as he stood up from the couch and walked over to the computer terminal, he proceeded to sit in the chair, "Now we just put this little thing in here and..." He slipped the chip into a small slot on the terminal, ",..bingo." The lupine said with a grin as a radar-like map appeared on the screen, he turned around in the chair with a victorious look.

"I'm guessing that's where Chaos is?" Fox asked, pointing to a blinking red dot on the black map.

"Yep, and I can also pin-point his location." The black wolf said as he cracked his knuckles and turned back around to face the terminal, his fingers danced on the keyboard for a few seconds, "He's somewhere in the Grexian galaxy..." The black lupine informed them, "...on some planet called 'Lunixie'."

"That's probably where his base is." Fox said, if his assumption was true, then that meant this would be a bit more difficult than he thought, "We all need to get some sleep, tomorrow is when we end this." The light brown vulpine told the group as he turned to leave the bridge.

Cross was laying on his bed, he was trying to sleep, but something was bothering him, he had been thinking about it ever since their little 'trip' to Katina, who was the vixen that Ecks had fought, and how did she have the same abilities as Ecks? Ecks had told Cross that she was their mother, but he didn't understand, he thought about it a bit longer, and could only come up with one explanation as his eyes widened, no, that couldn't be it, if that were the case then Cross was...

A loud bang on the door snapped Cross out of his trance, "Who the fuck?!" He shouted as he practically jumped to the ceiling, "Who is it?" He asked, trying to catch his breath, he could instantly tell who it was on the other side of the door as he heard hysterical laughing, "What do you want Falco?" He asked, sitting up.

"I'm just here to tell you to get some sleep, we're gonna find Chaos tomorrow." The avian told him.

Cross simply lay back down on the mattress and kept thinking about the vixen they saw on Katina, oh well, it didn't matter now, all of this would hopefully come to an end the next day.

Ecks woke up slowly, he looked from the red couch he was laying in to the bed, he had decided not to sleep in the bed with Zivia from now on, he thought that the two should take things slow for a while, and she agreed, Ecks noticed that the orange vixen wasn't in the bed as the sheets were scrambled about the mattress, he looked to the clock which read 2 o'clock in the afternoon, Ecks quickly jumped up as he remembered that they were supposed to search the unknown planet for Chaos, Ecks didn't even bother to fix the bed as he rushed out of the room after quickly putting his clothes on, he wore a simple dark blue tee-shirt which was just a tad lighter than his fur, a pair of light blue-jeans and his black sneakers, the navy blue vulpine floated quickly down the halls to the docking bay, when he arrived he found Fox, Krystal, Falco, Cross, Zivia and Alexia waiting for him.

"About damn time, I'm ready to kick some ass!" Alexia surprisingly yelled, it was clear that the light grey lupine was ready for battle as she wore a full body camouflage outfit and black leather combat boots, she had a rather large grenade launcher strapped to her back, and a blaster was holstered on both sides of her waist, Zivia was clad in a silver, full-bodied flight suit with equally silver boots, the vixen had a sniper rifle strapped on her back, and a blaster in her side holster if she needed to use it, but it was a rare case that she would need to use it, Cross wore his same usual type of clothing, a black tee-shirt, black jeans and of course, his white sneakers.

"Where are the others?" Ecks asked, he'd expected to see Slippy and Hax there as well.

"Slippy's doing some repairs on his Arwing, and Hax is staying on the ship, he needs to hack the defense systems again, we did find out that there is a base, so maybe we'll get lucky.." Fox told him, "Are you ready for this?"

"Yeah, although I will need to ride with someone, since I don't know what this planet looks like I can't exactly teleport there." Ecks informed.

"Well, take your pick." Fox said, and of course, Ecks floated over to Zivia's ship, Cross hopped into Fox's Arwing, once again his muscles were tense to no one's surprise, Ecks and Alexia climbed into the side compartment in Zivia's aircraft as the others got into their Arwings, a few moments later, the docking bay doors opened up and four ships shot out into space.

"Hax, you got it yet?" Fox asked through the com. link.

"Yeah, be quick though." The lupine said, the ships then quickly shot towards the bright green planet.

The four aircrafts landed in a large grassy plain, there was almost nothing in sight for miles except for mountains and grass, everyone got out of their ships, especially Cross as he had yet another panic attack, everyone simply ignored him, "So, anyway you can sense where we need to go?" Fox asked Ecks.

"Yeah, just a minute." The blue vulpine closed his eyes, a few seconds later they re-opened, "In there." He said, pointing straight, there was nothing there however

"What?" Fox questioned.

"That's all I can sense." Ecks told him.

"Well let's get over there then." Cross said as he had recovered from his dilemma, the group started to walk, a few minutes later however, Cross tripped over something.

"Fuck!" The red vulpine shouted, the others turned around to see the vulpine holding his knee as he glared at a rock beside a small hole, the rock wasn't too big, yet it wasn't exactly small either, it was obvious that Cross had tripped over the hole and bashed his knee against the rock, Cross' eyes turned a dark red as he dug his claws into the hole and ripped a large chunk out of the ground, he proceeded to curse wildly at the now devastated piece of land, Fox walked over and noticed what seemed to be a door.

"Nice going Cross, now we won't have to walk so far." The light brown vulpine said.

"What?" Cross asked dumbfounded.

"Looks like you found us a door." Fox said again.

"Uh...yeah, I knew that was there." Cross lied, Fox opened the door which made a loud creeking sound, it seemed as though it hadn't been used in ages, there was nothing but darkness in the hole which wasn't a surprise, Fox decided to throw the rock that Cross had ever so gracefully bashed his knee against down the hole, two seconds later the group heard a resounding thud.

"I guess we won't have to repel after all." Fox said, shrugging his shoulders, Cross immediately jumped down the hole, and the others followed, it was dark, they had a small sliver of light but, not enough to see where they needed to go.

"I have an idea." Ecks said, a moment later, Ecks' body started to glow a pure white aura, it didn't give them a lot of light, but it was enough, "Let's proceed." The dark blue vulpine said, after what seemed like an eternity of walking, the darkness suddenly disappeared as the entire area lit up with light, it was as they had assumed, the group was indeed inside a cave, the crystals on the walls glittered beautifully.

"Good to see you again my sons," A cold voice echoed, "I haven't really been so nice to you boys lately, so I decided to give you a present." The voice snickered as a large piece of the crystal wall suddenly bagan to move, but then out of nowhere, a red laser shot from the crystal form at the group, they reacted quickly and jumped out of the way, Zivia and Alexia had taken cover behind a small wall of rocks, while Krystal and Fox had found a small crevice in a seperate wall to hide in, the crystal form had now stepped away from the wall it was embedded into, it moved a bit slow, two large barrels were at the end of what seemed to be arms, but the rest of its body was consumed in stone, Ecks and Cross were the only two who hadn't taken cover, another large red beam shot out at the two vulpine, Ecks teleported out of the way, and a dark red flash now took Cross' place as it dashed around the room, dodging red laser fire, Alexia rolled out from behind her cover and stood up, she pointed her large weapon at the crystal form, and a grenade escaped from the barrel, the projectile was dead-on as it exploded, but the enemy was unfazed by the attack, a red beam shot out at the lupine, she quickly rolled out of the way and back behind her cover, Fox jumped out from the crevice and fired a few shots from his blaster, however his actions proved to be futile as the shots were seemingly absorbed by the crystal form, Fox quickly made his way back to the crevice in the wall with Krystal, Cross was behind the small stone wall with Zivia and Alexia.

"How are we gonna kill this thing?" Zivia wondered out loud, suddenly Ecks appeared out of nowhere, he was floating in mid-air as crystals hovered around him, a moment later, the crystals shot at the enemy, but yet again, this proved to have no effect.

"Wait, I have an idea." Cross smirked, "Krystal!" He shouted, "Let's try to get close to this thing!" He yelled, the blue vixen nodded in return, her staff wasn't equipped with the two parts that they had obtained from Chaos, but that wouldn't be a problem, "The rest of you guys need to create a distraction." Cross said before rushing out and dodging more red beams, Zivia and Alexia ran out from their cover, Alexia fired another grenade at the crystal form, and Zivia let a shot escape from her sniper, of course these had no effect, but that wasn't the point of the attack, Fox ran out from and let a barrage of fire escape from his blaster, Krystal had read Cross' mind and the plan was clear as she quickly ran out towards the enemy, one red beam almost hit her, but Ecks threw a large crystal in the red beam's path, blocking the vixen from harm, when Krystal got close enough, she jabbed the back end of her staff onto the crystal form's mid-section and did a quake attack, the attack was enough to shoot the form back into the wall, Cross quickly followed and dashed toward the enemy, with one loud grunt, he dug his right hand into the form's mid-section, just as he thought, it was indeed a robot as he felt chords on the inside of it, he ripped a small box out of the robot and jumped away, a few seconds later, the enemy fell to the ground, not moving an inch, Cross turned around to face the group, a victorious smirk on his face.

"See, he wasn't so t--" Cross was cut off as a long silver blade extended from his chest, dripping with blood.

"BROTHER!!" Ecks screamed.

Author's Note: 'Bout damn time I got this up huh? Anyway, sorry I didn't get this up sooner, I would have, but on one sentence yet again, I didn't know what to put, that really pisses me off sometimes, oh well, once again please R&R and thank you for the support.

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