Chapter 26: Rescue Mission

Everyone was still stood in the main entrance of the WRO Headquarters no one had taken their eyes off Max's sword which was still lying on the floor. "Please don't tell me that's his ancestor's sword…" Nightshade said with a sigh.

"It can be fixed right?" Pandora asked staring hopefully at nightshade.

"It's never been broken before," Nightshade replied darkly, "I don't know if it can be fixed."

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Emily spoke up for the first time in awhile, everyone turned round to look at her. "I'm a blacksmith remember."

"But this isn't an ordinary sword Emily," Nightshade reminded her, "are you sure you can fix it?"

Emily nodded, "Of course," she answered enthusiastically, "I can fix it and improve it, it'll take a while though." Emily picked up the sword and the fragments.

"You're welcome to use my workshop for as long as necessary," Reeve told her.

"Thanks Reeve," Emily replied gratefully, "I guess I better start getting to work fixing Max's sword, you guys just focus on rescuing him." Emily took Max's broken sword and she made her way to the workshop.

"Ok," Cloud assumed command again, "we know that Max is in Midgar, we also know that he's not above ground…"

"But the only thing that's underground in Midgar is Deepground's base," Vincent cut in.

"That must be where they've taken Max," Pandora replied.

"It would seem like a logical solution," Isis stated monotonously, "but I estimate that we'll have a 25 chance of getting Max out of there alive."

Pandora, Tifa, Sunny and Angel glared at Isis, "Isis, try to be a little more encouraging!" Tifa admonished.

"That's not her style," Pandora stated.

"Just ignore her," Sunny said reassuringly, "we'll find Max."

"I know," Pandora replied, "And I'm going." Everyone stared at her as she said this. "What?" Pandora demanded as she stared at everyone.

"You're planning on going into Deepground's old base…" Cloud asked Pandora still staring at her in disbelief. "On your own…"

"Well if anyone's planning on coming with me…" Pandora started but she was interrupted.

"Max is my son," Nightshade cut in, "I'm going too."

"I didn't think that you would," Yuffie replied playfully causing Nightshade to scowl at her, he then grinned.

"And let Pandora have all the fun," he said slyly, "I don't think so."

"I'm coming with you," Drogo spoke up and he stood behind Pandora and Nightshade, "I have a feeling that the multi-tailed pain in the ass needs my help as well."

"And I want to test out my Life Stream abilities in battle," Zack stated, "I haven't done anything this exciting in a long time, besides, I feel like me and Max had a real connection."

"Be careful Zack," Aerith pleaded with the ex SOLDIER as she kissed him.

Zack grinned at Aerith, "Hey, careful is my middle name," Aerith glared at him. "Don't worry, when have I ever not been…actually…don't answer that."

"Me and Tifa will go too," Cloud stated, "everyone else stay here, oh…Cid."

"Yeah," Cid answered as he scratched his nicotine patch.

"We're gonna need the Sierra," Cloud replied, "we need you to fly us over Midgar, and we'll jump in from the air."

"I'll go get the Sierra prepared," Cid said proudly as he left the room to get the Sierra ready.

"If we're not back, send a search party," Cloud said to the group as he, Tifa, Pandora, Nightshade, Drogo and Zack followed Cid out of the room.

Max woke up for what appeared to be the fourth time that day, he let his vision return to him before he sat up and looked around. He found himself back in his cell, he wasn't tied up this time but he still had the rune bracelet on his wrist. How long he was there for he didn't know but he knew that since he had been there Hojo and Illusion had taken more blood from him.

"Aaaaaaaaahhhhhhh…" Max moaned softly as he reached his hand up to his neck, he could feel the plaster that Hojo had put on his neck. Max knew that that was where the needles were jabbed into his neck. He looked down at his arm to see multiple puncture wounds, "I've had so many tranquilizers injected into me that I can't tell whether I'm awake or asleep." A hatch in one of the walls opened and a tray was pushed into it, Max staggered slowly to his feet and he walked over to the tray. He was dismayed to see that on the tray was a bowl of what looked like porridge only it was grey, thick and smelt like it had been prepared next to a radiator. Max sniffed the contents of the bowl and he moved his face away in disgust, "yuck…gruel…they seriously don't expect me to eat that do they?" In answer to his question his stomach growled and he realised that he hadn't eaten since he was held captive. He picked the bowl up and he slowly began to eat the gruel, it tasted horrible and Max was almost sick as he ate the grey mass but he knew that if he didn't eat it then he'd get nothing else.

After Max had finished eating he heard the familiar sound of the cell door opening, he looked up but before he even had chance to see who was at the door he was jumped and wrestled to the ground. "You know, we should play more often," a deep voice whispered in Max's ear, "of course I still want to get my revenge for you killing me the other night in Kalm."

"Change the record Loz," Max whispered back shaking his head, he struggled wildly to try and get Loz off him but he didn't have the strength. He looked down and he saw that Loz had one arm round his neck, Max pulled Loz's arm away from his neck, grabbed hold of the arm and bit down on it hard.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Loz yelled in pain and the shock caused Loz to loosen his grip on Max. Max saw his chance and he elbowed Loz in the stomach. "you bastard! You bit me!" Loz reeled his fist back in attempt to punch Max.

"Uhhhhh!" Max cried out in both pain shock as he felt Loz's fist hit him square in the jaw knocking one of his teeth out. Loz then grabbed Max round the throat, dragged him to his feet and pinned him against the wall.

"I'll make you pay for that!" Loz screamed at Max as he prepared his Dual Hound to do some serious damage to Max. "You better I hope I don't catch rabies otherwise I'll be really pissed off!"

"You'd better leave my prized specimen alone Loz!" A shrill voice yelled from behind, Loz turned round to see Hojo stood in the doorway to the cell.

"But he bit me! Loz yelled and he made a crude gesture at Max who he was still holding, "AND I'M NOT CRYING YAZOO!"

Yazoo was stood behind Hojo, he was leaning against the cell door grinning at Loz, "Awwwww…did Lozzy get bitten by the fox…" Yazoo asked in a patronising tone causing Loz to scowl at him. "You know, I heard that rabies are quite prominent in foxes."

Loz released his hold on Max causing him to slide down the wall and slump helplessly to the ground. Max was so weak after being experimented on and beaten up that he couldn't do anything but watch as Loz ran at Yazoo and the two men rolled around on the cell floor punching and kicking each other.

"YOU TAKE THAT BACK YOU BASTARD!" Loz screamed at Yazoo as he punched him the face.

"You always were the short tempered one Loz," Yazoo scoffed as he kangaroo kicked Loz off him, Yazoo staggered to his feet and he glared at Loz who after a few seconds also staggered to his feet. "Why do you think you had your ass handed to you in Kalm!"

Loz ran at Yazoo again but both men suddenly collapsed to the floor holding their heads as pain suddenly surged through them and a voice rang in their heads. "ENOUGH!" Illusion yelled in Loz and Yazoo's heads, "IF I WANTED YOU TWO TO FIGHT I WOULD'VE COMMANDED IT! ALL I WANTED YOU TWO INCOMPETENT SHITS TO DO WAS TO ACOOMANY HOJO WHILE HE EXAMINED THE PRISONER SO THAT IF HE DID TRY TO ESCAPE YOU COULD STOP HIM, UNDERSTAND?!"

"Yes Miss Illusion!" Yazoo and Loz yelled in perfect unison, the pain in them subsided and they both staggered to their feet.

"Good," Illusion spoke up again satisfied, "and if you defy my orders again I'll kill you, drag you back from the fifth circle of hell and repeat the process." Not wishing to be killed, brought back to life and killed again they both put their differences behind them, stood back and didn't breathe another word. Hojo grinned and he stepped into the room and he walked towards the semiconscious Max who was still slumped against the wall.

"How are you Max?" Hojo asked in a mocking tone as he looked down at Max through his glasses still grinning evilly. Max's eyes rolled upwards to see Hojo stood there.

"Go…to hell…you sadistic…bastard…" Max uttered barely above a whisper, he lost a ten on one battle, was experimented on and beaten up repeatedly and he wasn't in the mood for Hojo's games. All he wanted to do was sleep so that he could recover from his ordeal, but he had already been put into a drug induced sleep so many times that he wasn't sure if he could sleep even though he wanted to. Not to mention he was already vulnerable enough as it was while he was conscious…almost, if he fell asleep who knows what could happen.

"Good…" Hojo replied evilly, he chose to ignore Max's insult and he proceeded to conduct his checks on Max. Despite being in a semiconscious state Max still resented being treated in this way and he was greatly repulsed by Hojo to the point where he flinched every time he felt Hojo's spidery fingers touching him. "Hmmm…it hasn't even been a day and already your wounds are healing…impressive…" Hojo mused as he poked around in Max's ears mouth and every other orifice he could find. Max almost cried out when Hojo peeled back the plaster on his neck and ran his finger along the puncture wound.

"Ok…this is seriously creeping me out…" Dark Max spoke in Max's mind, even though Max couldn't transform into his Dark form Dark Max could still talk to him. But at that moment in time Max didn't really have the strength to talk back.

"Uhhhhh…" He grunted in reply causing Hojo's grin to grow wider.

"It looks like your blood has replenished," Hojo stated dismissively, "we'll give it a couple more hours and we can start the process again, for now…I have someone who wants to meet you, ah ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Max used his remaining strength to lift his head up as he heard Hojo say this, "Who'd want to visit…oh no!" Max spoke in his head, he was terrified of what was coming next, so much so that his body was shaking violently. His fears were confirmed when he heard the sound of heels hitting the floor getting louder and louder until…

"Hello Max…" A young Kitsune woman with red fur wearing a purple Chinese style dress entered the cell, she was giving Max a lustful stare, Max flinched when he saw that.

"Sc..Scarlet…" Max stuttered weakly as he tried to back away from the beastly woman, the woman who had ruined everything.

"I think that's my cue to leave," Hojo replied as he started to walk towards the cell door, "but I'll leave you with your play mates." Hojo strode out of the cell and locked the door behind him before he walked down the corridor. Scarlet, Loz and Yazoo were standing over Max grinning as they cracked their knuckles.

"How does it feel to be completely alone and vulnerable?" Scarlet asked still grinning evilly at her cousin. Max was too weak to respond so Scarlet carried on goading him. "Without your friends, you're nothing…" Scarlet, Loz and Yazoo laughed, Max could feel the anger and humiliation bubbling inside him and he wanted very much to snap Scarlet's scrawny neck but he wasn't strong enough at the moment.

"Look at him," It was Yazoo's turn to stick the knife in, "how pathetic he looks, I almost feel sorry for him…almost…" Scarlet, Yazoo and Loz laughed even harder causing Max to get angrier.

"I'll get him back for what he did to my arm!" Loz yelled angrily and he cracked his knuckles as all three of them started to gang up on Max, "Looks like it's time for round…what the hell let's just beat the crap out of him!"

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Max's screams could be heard throughout the entire base as Scarlet, Yazoo and Loz beat him up again.

It had been a whole hour since Pandora, Nightshade, Drogo, Zack, Cloud and Tifa had set off to Midgar to rescue Max. It took them a while but they were finally able to find the entrance to the old Deepground base which was below Midgar.

"I hope Max is ok," Pandora muttered trying hard to keep her voice down as they walked through a corridor in Deepground's old base.

"Don't worry," Tifa replied reassuringly, "Max is tough, I'm sure he can handle whatever torture they put him through."

"Yeah…" Drogo cut in, "Or he could be screaming like a sissy girl…" Drogo soon regretted those words when Pandora and Tifa glared at him.

"Sissy girl…" Both women muttered causing Drogo to shrink back in fear at the two women's anger.

"Can we just get this over with?" Nightshade pleaded with them, "this place is giving me the creeps."

"Right," Cloud agreed, "Nightshade's right, the sooner we can navigate through the base the sooner we can get to Max." The group carried on walking until they came up to a point where the path split off into three directions. "Ok…which way do we go?"

"We could take the…" Tifa was about to suggest which path they should go down when she was interrupted by a loud scream.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!" The scream echoed through the entire base, even a person who was hard of hearing could hear it.

"Was that Max?" Zack asked as he looked back and forth at the group members.

"What are they doing to him?" Pandora questioned she could feel the tears welling in her eyes.

"It sounds like it was coming from that direction," Nightshade stated as he pointed down the path that led straight on.

"Let's go," Cloud replied and the group ran down the path.

"Hold on Max, we're coming," Pandora whispered softly to herself.

Meanwhile Scarlet, Loz and Yazoo had beaten Max senseless and he was now lying on the ground unconscious, his battle wounds had been reopened and his face had been battered and bruised beyond recognition. Loz picked up Max's unconscious form and he was about to punch him again when an alarm sounded.

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!"

"Now what do we do?" Scarlet asked with sigh, Loz and Yazoo merely shrugged in response causing Scarlet to glare at them.

"DON'T JUST STAND THERE!" Illusion's voice rang in their heads, "THERE ARE INTRUDERS IN THE AREA! PUT MAX IN A STASIS TUBE AND GET HIM TO THE SHIP SO I CAN CONTINUE TAKING BLOOD SAMPLES FROM HIM!

"Yes Miss Illusion!" All three of them said in unison.

"LOZ! YOU, YAZOO AND KADAJ FIND THE INTURDERS AND STOP THEM FROM FINDING MAX WHILE WE GET HIM TO THE SHIP!"

"Yes Miss Illusion!" Loz yelled as he and Yazoo ran out of the cell, they met Kadaj at the end of the corridor and they proceeded to meet the group to stop them from getting to Max. Meanwhile, Scarlet with the help of Balthazar got Max out of the cell and she took him to the lab.

Pandora, Nightshade, Drogo, Cloud, Tifa and Zack continued to walk down the corridor and every step they took they were one step closer to rescuing Max. They were about to walk further into the base when Drogo stopped them.

"What is it?" Tifa asked the hedgehog.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Drogo replied, he held the handles of his katanas ready to bring them out if they ran into any trouble. "We could be walking into a trap."

"Looks like we have a winner!" A voice echoed in the corridor, the group looked around for the source of the voice. They could hear laughter as Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz leapt out of the shadows and formed a triangle round the group.

"You three again!" Nightshade yelled at the three men, "what did you do to my son?!"

"And my husband!" Pandora added angrily as she got into a fighting stance.

"If the girl wants to play, then who are we to stop her?" Kadaj asked in a mocking tone causing Yazoo and Loz to laugh. Pandora growled at them and she was about to charge at them when Cloud stopped her.

"I'll handle them, you take the others and find Max," Cloud told her.

"But…" Pandora was about to respond when Tifa cut in.

"He's right," Tifa agreed with Cloud, "we should go and find Max."

"Count me in too," Zack stated and he stood at Cloud's side.

"Be careful you two," Tifa pleaded with them and she kissed Cloud on the lips before she, Pandora, Nightshade and Drogo ran down the corridor to search for Max.

Kadaj, Yazoo and Loz surrounded Cloud and Zack, Cloud took his sword off his back but he was surprised to see that Zack wasn't holding a weapon. However he also knew that Zack was just as skilled if not more skilled than he was in combat and that he knew what he was doing.

"Two against three," Yazoo scoffed as he Kadaj and Loz paced round the two men, "are you sure you can handle it?"

"I'll take Yazoo and Loz," Zack whispered to Cloud.

"Are you sure you can handle both of them at the same time?" Cloud whispered back, Zack winked and he gave Cloud a sly grin, Cloud knew that look and he knew that Zack had a few tricks up his sleeve. "I'll take on Kadaj," Kadaj took out his katana and he stood opposite Cloud, the two men stood there staring at each other before they charged at each other their swords meeting with a clang as the two began to exchange vicious blows.

Loz charged at Zack at full speed thrusting the Dual Hound out in front of him while Yazoo shot at Zack with his Crimson Nightmare gunblade. A green pool oozed under Zack's feet and he disappeared into it causing Yazoo's bullets to completely miss him and for Loz to run straight passed where Zack was standing a few seconds ago.

"Huh…" Loz uttered as he skidded to a stop, he started looking round for any sign of Zack, he looked over at Yazoo who just shrugged. "He just disappeared…"

Oh…LOZZY!" A voice yelled from out of nowhere, Loz quickly turned round to see Zack stood behind him with his arms folded and giving him a very smug grin.

Loz glared at Zack, "DON'T CALL ME THAT!" He yelled at Zack, Zack merely laughed causing Loz to get angrier. He got the Dual Hound ready again and he charged at Zack again.

"You missed," Zack stated in a mocking tone as he dodged out of the way at top speed, in fact he was moving so fast that only a black blur was visible when he moved. Loz charged at him again but Zack just dodged out of the way at the same speed, "over here!" Zack yelled as he tapped Loz on the shoulder.

Again Loz charged at Zack like a raging bull and again Zack easily dodged out of the way. "Missed me, missed me! You better not kiss me!" Zack sang loudly causing Loz to get pissed off.

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Loz yelled at the top of his lungs as he charged wildly at Zack not really caring if he hit him or not, but Zack wasn't fazed, in fact he was deeply amused at Loz's feeble attempts to hit him.

"Oooooooohhhh…" Zack replied in a mocking tone after Loz missed him for no one knows how many times. "If you were just .01 of a second earlier you might've caught my afterimage!" Loz continued to charge at Zack in the same fashion still oblivious to the fact that Zack was too fast for him.

Meanwhile Cloud and Kadaj were still trading blows and at that moment it appeared that they were in a stalemate neither warrior could get an effective blow and all that could really be heard were clanging sounds as metal clashed against metal. Cloud and Kadaj were about to trade blows again when they felt a sudden gust of wind around them, they both stopped fighting momentarily and stared to see a black streak followed by a silver streak moving passed them. Cloud continued to stare at the two streaks and he brought his sword up to parry against Kadaj's strike without even looking behind him and he quickly brought his sword down again to parry a low strike.

Loz ran after Zack at full speed intending to knock him out with his Dual Hound. Zack was several meters in front of him running backwards with his arms folded grinning smugly at Loz. "You know!" Zack boasted loudly while Loz glared at him, "for someone in a hurry you sure are slow!" (A/N, I don't actually own this line unfortunately, it actually comes from an episode of Sonic Underground called Six is a Crowd, I thought I'd use the line because I thought it was funny and it sounds like the kind of thing Zack would say.)

"Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr…" Loz growled as he increased his speed to catch up with Zack. They both sped round the base, Zack still several meters in front of Loz and he was still running backwards goading Loz at every opportunity.

"Black streak speeds by! Loz is a jackass!" Zack sung at the top of his lungs as he ran causing Loz to aim a punch at him as soon as he got close enough. Zack easily ducked the punch and he increased his speed. "Too dumb for an IQ test! Loz is a jackass!" (A/N, what Zack was singing was based off the main theme tune to Sonic SATAM, of course I changed the words round to make it sound like an insult to Loz.)

Loz and Zack continued to run round the base, Loz still trying to hit Zack but failing miserably. They eventually ended up running into a room with a giant Life Stream geyser, despite running backwards, Zack was able to sense the Life Stream geyser and he turned round and skidded to a stop. Loz grinned when he saw Zack just standing there and he reeled the Dual Hound back aiming to strike Zack but Loz sped right passed him and he would've ran straight into the geyser if he hadn't have skidded to a stop just in time. However he was right on the edge of the geyser and he was losing his balance. Zack saw his chance, he crept over to Loz and with the softest tap of his foot on Loz's back he knocked Loz over the edge and he watched as Loz fell.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Loz yelled at the top of his lungs as he fell into the Life Stream Geyser.

Zack stood at the edge of the geyser grinning and he looked at his watch, "three…two…one…" With a swift movement of his hand he caused the geyser to explode and a fountain of the green liquid gushed upwards spewing out a skull which landed at Zack's feet. Zack grinned at the skull, "sure is faithful," he joked and he crushed the skull with his foot. (A/N, again I don't own this line, it comes from the film Ice Age, I just wanted to use it because it suited the situation.)

Zack heard the sound of a gun shot and a bullet flew right passed his ear and ricocheted off the far wall. Zack turned round to see Yazoo stood behind him pointing his gunblade at him. "Dude," Zack stated growing annoyed at Yazoo's shit aim. "If you're gonna use that thing at least hit your intended target."

"So you killed Loz," Yazoo scoffed choosing to ignore Zack's insult, "not exactly difficult, I'd like to see you try and kill me."

"Be careful what you wish for," Zack warned as he continued to watch Yazoo, scanning him for any potential weaknesses.

"Hmmm…" Yazoo huffed as opened fire with his gunblade, Zack jumped, ducked, dodged and did every evasive manoeuvre imaginable while singing Can't Touch This. "Stay Still!" Yazoo yelled growing increasingly annoyed at Zack's half assed approach in battle.

"Awww…" Zack replied in a mocking tone, "maybe if you weren't such a bad shot." Yazoo glared at Zack and he opened fire again, a Buster Sword materialised in his hand. He looked at the bullets and grinned, he closed his eyes and concentrated and when he opened them again time had slowed down all around him. As the bullets slowly approached him he twisted his sword hand causing the sword to curve round and deflect the bullets causing them to be sent back to Yazoo. As soon as the bullets were safely away from him, Zack closed his eyes again and concentrated, he opened his eyes and time had returned to normal. Zack looked in Yazoo's direction to see that his body was riddled with bullets, Yazoo stared at Zack for a moment, his eyes were glazed with pain before he collapsed to the floor lifeless. Zack walked towards Yazoo's body as it turned to dust, the only thing that remained was a severed hand.

Zack bent down and he picked the hand up, "here, let me give you hand," he joked as he snapped each individual finger and threw it behind him into the Life Stream geyser. "I wonder how Cloud's doing," the Buster Sword de-materialised and Zack ran out of the room.

Cloud and Kadaj were still fighting as Zack ran into the room, even though he had seen Cloud fighting a million times while he was in the Life Stream he still couldn't help but be impressed at Cloud's skill, he saw Cloud parry Kadaj's attacks with ease, sometimes without even looking at Kadaj, Zack could tell that Cloud had improved over the past four years. Kadaj charged at Cloud holding his katana out to the side of him hoping to perform a finishing strike on him. (A/N, finishing strike is a quick draw technique which strikes the opponent but the pain and damage doesn't take effect until the sword, (usually a katana) is placed firmly in its sheath. As the blade clicks into place all the wounds open up at once.) Cloud saw this and he ran at Kadaj dragging his sword behind him, both Cloud and Kadaj struck each other at the same time and they ended up at opposite sides of the room. They both proceeded to sheath their swords, Kadaj placed his sword in the sheath round his belt and Cloud placed his sword on his back. However Cloud got there first, the clicking of the sword going into place on his back echoed in the room.

"Uhhhhhhhh…" Kadaj cried out in pain as he looked down to see all his wounds open up at once, he took one look at Cloud who was grinning at him and he collapsed to the floor. Cloud walked up to Kadaj's body as it turned to dust to reveal half a bone.

"It's a good thing Drogo taught me some quick draw techniques," Cloud stated as Zack walked up to him, "otherwise Kadaj would've killed me."

"They'll be back," Zack replied, "we should catch up with the others."

Cloud nodded, "you're right," he agreed, "we should help them find Max." The two men ran down the corridor to catch up with their friends.

Meanwhile Pandora, Tifa, Nightshade and Drogo had gone deeper into the base searching for any clue to Max's whereabouts. They didn't hear any other sounds for half an hour now and it made Pandora even more worried.

"What if he's hurt…unconscious or worse…" Pandora thought to herself as she feared the worst, she didn't want to think of Max as dead. She had almost lost him once before and she didn't want to lose him again. The group carried on walking in silence until they came to what looked like an underground warehouse, the group hid as they saw countless people, both humans and Dark Kitsunes working. They were moving crates and boxes and placing them in a large ship at the end of the room.

"I wonder where they're going," Drogo whispered as everyone continued to watch what was happening in the room.

"Who knows," Tifa whispered back, "but I bet ya it has something to do with Max."

"You think he's on that ship?" Pandora enquired in a hushed tone.

"It's a possibility," Drogo answered barely above a whisper, "they could be moving him to another location, question is, where?"

"There's only one way to find out," Pandora replied, and before anyone could stop her she crept out of her hiding place and into the warehouse itself being careful to remain in the shadows.

"Pandora," Nightshade hissed at her, being careful not to draw attention to himself. "Where are you going?" Pandora ignored him and when the coast was clear she crept further into the warehouse just as Cloud and Zack came running up to them.

"Hey guys," Cloud said as everyone turned to face him and Zack, "where's Pandora?"

"She's over there," Tifa replied and she point to where Pandora, the group looked over just in time to see Pandora lift up the lid of one of the crates and climb into it.

"What does she think she's doing?" Zack asked looking from Tifa, to Drogo, to Nightshade trying to find out what was going on.

"We think Max might be on that ship," Drogo answered and he pointed to the ship, "and she's gonna go on to said ship to find him."

Nightshade, Drogo, Cloud, Zack and Tifa watched as two Dark Kitsunes walked over to the crate that Pandora was in and picked it up.

"Man this thing is heavy," one of the Dark Kitsunes complained as they carried the crate to the ship.

"Quit complaining, there's only one crate left after this one then we can go on our break," his partner replied as they placed the crate into the cargo bay of the ship. Once the last crate was loaded on to the ship Pandora could feel the ship shake as a platform underneath it rose up causing the ship to be in a diagonal position, a hole opened up in the ceiling and the ship blasted off into the air.

After ten minutes of flying and making sure that the coast was clear Pandora pushed the lid off the crate and she climbed out of it. She dusted herself off shaking off any apples that had managed to get into her dress, she walked over to the door and she pushed the button, the door opened, she stepped out of the room and crept down the corridor but she didn't get very far when she was jumped. She managed to wiggle out of her attacker's grip but she was soon jumped again and the first attacker joined the fray and they both pulled Pandora's hands behind her back and held them there. Pandora looked from side to side to Sephiroth and Weis holding her.

"So you must be the "charming" wife that Max was prattling on about in his sleep," Weis replied in a mocking tone, Pandora struggled frantically but Weis and Sephiroth were too strong for her.

"What's going on here?!" A female voice demanded, Pandora looked around for the source of the voice and she saw a female Kitsune with purple fur, long black hair, yellow eyes and wearing a black robe staring at her.

"So you're Pandora," Illusion questioned as she stared intently at Pandora. "I've heard so much about you, in fact it was the only thing that made sense in Max's ramblings."

"What did you do to Max?!" Pandora demanded as she continued to struggle against Sephiroth and Weis.

"Oh he's alive, for now," Illusion answered as she grinned evilly, she looked Pandora up and down, "come to think of it, you're nothing special."

Pandora glared at Illusion, "Excuse me!" She yelled which earned her a hard dig in the back.

"Take her to the brig," Illusion ordered as she turned her back on Pandora, "she can have a front row seat in Max's execution," Illusion walked off and Sephiroth and Weis dragged Pandora to the brig and threw her into a cell. They walked off leaving her alone.

Pandora walked up to the bars and she grabbed hold of them, "Max," she thought to herself, trying to stop herself from crying. "Please be ok."

Meanwhile, in another section of the ship Scarlet was watching Max closely as he slept in the stasis tube. She was still watching him when Balthazar entered the room. "What are you doing?" He asked as he stood next to his daughter.

"I'm watching Max to make sure he doesn't escape," Scarlet replied, not taking her eyes off Max.

"Why are you watching him?" Balthazar asked curiously as he looked at his nephew in the tube.

"He's escaped before," Scarlet answered, "but I'm not sure how he did it."

"Don't worry," Balthazar said reassuringly, "he's locked up securely in that tube, he can't get out."

"I guess you're right," Scarlet agreed, and deciding that Max couldn't escape from the tube Scarlet and Balthazar turned round and walked out of the room leaving Max alone.

For a while all was quiet in the room and Max was sleeping soundly in the stasis tube, but a few seconds later his eye lids began to flicker and his eyes fluttered open with the sound of a paper fan to reveal blood red pupiless eyes and Max's mouth curled up into a sly grin.

Finally, chapter 26 is finished, sorry it took so long but I was busy with other things, not to mention that I was stuck on ideas for a while, but I managed to finish the chapter. Will Max and Pandora be able to get out of this alive? Will the others be able to save them? Or will their fate finally be sealed? Find out in chapter 27, which could be coming soon but if it take a while to type then I apologise in advance. I may take a break from writing it for a while but I'm not too sure. Just a reminder that I don't own Final Fantasy VII or any of its characters, however I do own characters that I have created myself. I also don't own Sonic Underground, Sonic SATAM or Ice Age for which I have used for parodies in this chapter. Sonic Underground and Sonic SATAM belonged to DIC, and Ice Age belongs to 20th Century Fox.