New Kid On The Block

Chapter 14 – A Step Too Far?

Hey everybody! IM ALIVE! Sorry for leaving everybody hanging, college has been stressful as HELL recently and I haven't found any time to do some writing :( Anyway, hope u dudes and dudettes are all doing good. Thanks to all of you for your patience and a SPECIAL thanks to haccat for the follow and to akajust1 for the favourite :)

Loonaticslover13 – As usual thanks for your continued support, and you're welcome, you deserve all those reviews. :) aha well its only gunna get more intense im afraid! XD MUHAHAHAHA ;) glad you enjoyed the chapter and sorry for the wait.

Jacob Deitz – Thanks a bunch for your review, it's always good to hear everyone's ideas :) In answer to your review im not actually planning to introduce Kyra until the sequel of this story, so look forward to that! And thanks again for the idea :)

So when we last left off, it was not looking good for the loonatics. Tech was staring down the barrel of a gun… Literally, and Ace, Lexi, Duck and Slam were heading into one of the toughest fights of their superhero lives. How is it all going to end for our beloved anthros? It's time to find out guys. Enjoy!

Tech was frustrated at being caught, but at least he had managed to disarm the bomb. He slowly turned his head to face the robot; it simply stood there, glaring at the coyote with its crimson coloured eye, arm cannon outstretched, poised to fire. Tech stared back, not moving a muscle. He doubted that the bot was going to show him any mercy and for this reason, he just knelt there, waiting to die. But nothing happened… The robot stood motionless, as if in a trance. Tech glared at it with wonder at first but then with anger, he just wanted it to be over. "Get on with it then you stupid piece of sh-" but Tech was cut off by the whirring sound of the robots plasma cannon charging…

Back out in space the fight had begun, and it wasn't going well. "Behind ya Slam!" called Ace to the Tasmanian devil.

Slam tried to turn and face the bot that had sneaked up on him, but he was too late. A metal fist crunched into his face dealing a massive blow which caused him to stumble backwards. Although he was able to regain his balance, another strike came from the bot and once again, the Tasmanian devil had no time to react. The bots fist once again connected with Slams face, this time smashing him in the jaw, sending him flying upwards and crashing into a smaller asteroid. He groaned as pain jolted through his large body.

Ace's eyes burned yellow as he saw his friend and teammate crash into the asteroid. "Lex!" he called his fellow bunny.

Lexi was having troubles of her own. The robots just seemed to be getting better and better at fighting her. Her agility and martial art skills weren't as effective anymore. She was constantly dodging attacks from the two robots and her stamina was slowly decreasing. But she found herself just enough time to look over at Ace who had called her. "Yeah Ace?" she replied, having to shout over the loud sound of combat.

"Double team!" he shouted back to her before having to turn and block an attack from one of the bots.

Lexi only took a second to process Ace's seemingly strange words before instantly recognizing what he meant. "Ok gimme a sec chief!" she dodged yet another swing before powerfully punching one of the bots in the abdomen and brain blasting the other causing them to stumble slightly. But they recovered straight away and were about to continue attacking Lexi, but the doe leaped up and roundhouse kicked them both in the head, smashing them backwards. She then ran over to join her leader who had also managed to fight off the robots attacking him.

Ace pointed out to Lexi the bot that had punched Slam. They mutually nodded to eachother and then sprinted to attack it. The helpless robot had no time to react and tumbled to the ground as Ace dived and grabbed its legs and Lexi kicked it in the back with all her strength. "Not so tough now are ya?" said Ace icily. He drew his sword and was about to stab the bot in the chest when he was kicked in the abdomen by the robot with both its metallic feet. Ace groaned as he blasted backwards and crashed back to the ground.

Lexi gasped as she saw her secret love smash the ground. "Ace!" she shouted worriedly. But worry instantly turned to rage as the culprit robot jumped to attack her. Without a moment's hesitation, she launched herself at the bot swinging wild kicks and punches, yelling all the while. But annoyingly, no matter what attack she threw at it, the bot always blocked or dodged. She threw another punch at the bot but he bashed it away easily. It then tried to counter by hammer fisting Lexi, but she easily evaded it with a gracefully backflip. She landed and glared tauntingly at her enemy. But her anger was eased as she looked over the bots right shoulder to notice Ace, standing a short distance behind the bot with his sword in hand. He nodded determinedly at her and raised his sword above his head; Lexi knew exactly what to do. She shifted her gaze back to the robot who was preparing to run at her. "Try and block THIS!" and with that, she shot a brain blast which hit the robot in the middle of its chest.

The impact caused the bot to lose its balance and it stumbled backwards and before it could regain its footing, Ace's guardian strike sword slid through its mechanical body, straight through its main power cell. "Meh… What's up doc?" Ace taunted sarcastically, before kicking the doomed robot forwards and finishing it off with a powerful laser blast.

Lexi jogged over "You okay chief?" the doe asked, trying to sound calm despite the overwhelming concern she felt for her leader.

Ace looked back at her coolly "I'm fine Lex." He assured her with a warm smile, the smile that always made her heart melt and forget like anything else existed. "But I tink im gunna wake up with a pretty big bruise in de mornin'." He joked as he clutched at his stomach where the robot had kicked him.

Lexi beamed a glorious smile at his comment, but it soon faded and was replaced with a serious frown. "What are we gunna do Ace? We're getting our tails handed to us by these guys."

Ace seemed to have no answer. Slam finally joined them again, rubbing his sore backside tenderly after his acquaintance with the asteroid. And then out of nowhere, Duck quacked alongside them; wide-eyed exhaustion covered his beaked face. "I don't care what we do!" he began as the other three looked at him strangely. "But can you PLEASE get these things off of me!" he added and gestured at the six remaining robots which were in a line staring straight at them.

Tech stared blankly into nothing, awaiting his fate. He reflected back on his life, the things he had accomplished, the things he wanted to accomplish… Guess I'll never know what it's like to be a doctor or a universal famous inventor or… What it's like to… to be in love… The last one put a lump in Tech's throat. He'd always wanted to know what love felt like. Tech abandoned his thoughts as the robot prepared to fire. This was it… Or was it? Suddenly, the robots cannon became shrouded in a familiar blue aura, and slowly the bots arm cannon began to bend upwards. The robot tried to fight back against the strange control that had come over its arm but its resistance gained it nothing as the metallic arm continued to bend. It eventually stopped, aiming straight at the robots own head. There was a few seconds of tension before the silence was finally shattered by a bang. The arm cannon fired…

Tech slowly began to stand up as the robot fell face first to the ground. Well, it would've fallen face first if it had one, as the blast from its arm cannon had blown its head off. Tech finally looked upon the face of his rescuer. Blaze stood at the entrance to the room, battered, bruised and clearly exhausted, but very much alive, his orange eyes burning as brilliantly as ever. He smiled as he stumbled over to join his friend. "Well that was a close one" the tiger joked.

"You can say that again" Tech replied with a laugh. "Thanks Blaze" he added gratefully.

Blaze nodded in acknowledgement. "Saving people's lives is part of our job right?" he said happily. He looked down at the foot of the large Axovorinium container to see the detonator box placed carefully on the ground with various tools strewn everywhere. "Right well if you've done all you need to do, can we get outta here, this thing's making me kinda nervous!" Blaze admitted with a grin as he tapped the massive container with two of his knuckles.

Tech nodded, smiling slightly "Agreed." He responded as he began to gather his tools. Considering that he was already carrying his tool case (which was pretty darn heavy), Blaze offered to carry the detonator box and although Tech initially argued, Blaze simply waved him off and the coyote had no choice but to give in, even though secretly he was glad.

The two anthros were about just about to take their leave when suddenly a plasma shot whizzed through the air. Blaze instinctively dropped to the floor, just dodging the projectile. Tech however was not so fortunate. The coyote was sent flying as the ball of plasma slammed into his chest and exploded. "Tech!" cried a helpless Blaze as he watched his friend slump lifelessly to the ground after crashing heavily into one of the missiles control panels. He wasn't breathing…

The robot (which was headless) had now stood up and had shifted his aim to Blaze. The tiger's facial expression now changed from shock to rage as he stared into the robot's crimson eye. "You just don't know when to give up do you…" the angered Blaze said with a deep tone. He slowly got to his feet and briefly looked over his shoulder at Tech, who still lay completely still. Please don't be dead Tech Blaze thought worriedly, even though he hadn't known him long, Tech had become a good friend to Blaze.

BANG!

Blaze snapped his attention back to in front of him and had to think rapidly as yet another plasma projectile flew at him. The tiger frantically leaned to his right, but his efforts were in vain. Although he was able to avoid the plasma shot hitting him directly, the projectile scrapped his upper left arm before exploding. The impact caused him to stumble to the ground. Blaze looked at his arm and straight away saw that the plasma shot had left a large wound. Unknowing to Blaze, the explosion had disabled his communicator aswell.

The pain in Blaze's arm was excruciating, he reached across with his right hand and gripped his injured arm. He squeezed it, seeing if it would relieve some of the pain but it only made it worse. Blood trickled down his arm from the wound; his hand was drenched in it too.

Blazed could feel his vision blacking again. The pain was overcoming him, but he ignored it. As he gazed at his blood covered hand, something inside of Blaze snapped, the thing that always snapped when he was pushed too far. He glared with utter hate and anger at the bot and as his fiery eyes turned cobalt blue; he uttered a deep, sinister growl…

Meanwhile…

"Tech?" Ace spoke into his communicator. "Tech come in…" But there was no response. Ace tried hard to not fear the worst, but considering the situation the loonatics were in right now, it was difficult not to. Maybe Blaze would answer. "Blaze… Blaze do ya read?" nothing… Utter silence. "Blaze come in… Please…" he said the last word almost in resignation, were they dead?

Duck frantically tapped on the bunny's shoulder. "Uh Ace! They're charging us!" the mallard exclaimed.

Ace didn't even bother to look at the oncoming stampede; he just looked at the others who looked back with worried and expectant expressions. Ace Bunny, the usually fearless and courageous leader of the guardians of the universe, was afraid… Not for himself, but for his friends… His family. Tech and Blaze were nowhere to be seen or heard, they were probably dead and with the way things were going, Ace, Lexi, Duck, Rev and Slam were doomed to suffer the same fate.

Ace didn't fear death; he'd seen and experienced too much pain in his life to fear death. But he feared losing his friends, losing Lexi… The only girl he had ever loved. He couldn't face that… He WOULDN'T face that… He looked at his team again, a fiery determination ignited in him. His sapphire eyes gazed gently at each one of them individually, taking extra time with Lexi, who stared back, a hidden fright in her emerald eyes. Ace's lips curved into a smile and he uttered four simple, but powerful words: "Dis aint over yet…"

The others all nodded at their leader apprehensively. But they could feel Ace's drive, his determination, and that gave them hope. "We're with ya chief." assured an invigorated Lexi.

All of them turned to face the robots, which were now almost upon them. "Loonatics, ATTACK!"

Back inside the missile the tension was growing, and so was Blaze's anger. His intimidating growl was getting ever louder and deeper. He took one last glance at Tech. This one's for you buddy thought the enraged tiger, and as if a bolt of lightning had struck, Blaze took off and sprinted at the robot. In response the robot began to spam plasma shots at the loonatic, but he ducked and dodged every one of them and like a ravenous predator, he was finally on it. The robot was absolutely powerless as Blaze savaged at it with brutal punches and kicks as if possessed. Blaze's mind was a mess but as he took his rage out on the bot, his mind flashed with images from when he was a kid, when he beat up the bullies. After 2 minutes of blind anger, Blaze calmed down somewhat. He looked down on his crippled victim with a calm serenity which had replaced the mad fury that had consumed him before. The robot was now not only headless, but was battered, dented and broken. Suddenly the robot was shrouded in a dark blue aura. Blaze stared coldly at the metal heap that was before him and without even moving; he used his magnetism to completely crush the robot until all that was left was a football sized chunk of metal.

Blaze shut his eyes, putting his head in his hands, trying to block out the pain in his arm and also calm the torrent of emotions racing around his mind. He turned and looked mournfully over at Tech, who was still showing no signs of life…

MAJOR cliff-hanger! Anyway that's all folks for this chapter! We will find out next chapter if Tech has made it or not :S so stay tuned!

So, I just wanted to say sorry for the slightly shorter chapter, I just wanted to get a chapter out so that you guys knew I wasn't dead :P Hope everyone enjoyed the chapter, please review and let me know what you think! :)

Thanks guys :)