Here we are! It's been a little over a year but I'm back with another chapter of No More Lonely Days. I hope this update won't be disappointing. The next chapter is currently in progress so I'll make sure it's done by the beginning of February. Thank you all for reading!

Chapter 3: Kidnapped

Darkness was all that he could see. His body ached terribly as his cold sweat ran down his forehead without ever stopping. The atmosphere of that particular place was extremely cold and humid. Actually, it felt very similar to being inside a cave. Struggling, he raised a foot and gave a small stomp on the floor. The sole of his sneaker made contact with a metallic surface. 'Where am I?' He asked himself as his mind wandered through the memories of the event that had occurred to him the other night. Everything had happened so suddenly... But for now, Eric had no choice but to wait for a clue of where he was. He felt desperate and anxious, but above it all, he felt a deep sadness invade him. It felt like being inside the deepest hole on Earth; a hole in which he'd remain isolated from the rest of the world for eternity. Eric tried to scream and cry for help, but the only things that left his mouth were muffled, unintelligible noises. Shocked, the boy tried to move his body away from the chair he was sitting on, but it was futile.

Frustrated, the young man dove inside his thoughts a little more. He could not understand what was going on in his life; why this was happening to him. After not being able to come to a conclusion, Eric began to think about his life and his past. He thought about all the people who had once surrounded him, but the human boy was most concerned about his friends. What were the possibilities of them getting kidnapped? Were they alright; were they safe? Eric determined that he'd probably never know. All this deep thinking eventually led him to reminiscing about his family.

Fall, 2008. The day was particularly cold and the dry brown leaves of the trees littered Fairport's roads and streets. It was a Wednesday, with only a few days left until springtime. That very day, Eric had been involved in a fight with one of the small gangs of kids that used to abuse him back then. The pain that their blows had caused him were making him feel as if his insides were burning, although the strength of those bullies was nothing compared to Garrett's, whom Eric would meet a few months later.

Mrs. Mayflower, the nurse, finished evaluating the damage. The old woman fixed her spectacles and told Eric that he was okay. He had some bruises on his arms. Eric was so full of rage and anger, that he didn't say anything to the nurse and then he walked out of the room. Not even a simple thank you was heard. He stomped his way out of Ellis Middle School and got on his bike to ride back to his house.

As was custom, his parents weren't home. Eric recalled they were away on some business trip; typical. Good Uncle Leo was there though. The 40-something year old man had been trustworthy all throughout the times when Eric needed to have someone watching over him. Of course, he felt a bit embarrassed now that he was a couple of months away from turning 15, he thought he could manage himself at home; however, Leo was a kind comprehensive soul and, frankly, Eric needed him now more than ever. The scared boy knocked on the front door desperately, he couldn't bear to be standing outside anymore. After a few more knocks, the tall man with the bushy beard and moustache opened the door, only to find his nephew with his head down on the verge of bursting into tears.

"Boy, you don't look alright," said Leo, grabbing his nephew's chin to get a better look on his face. "What's happened to you?"

Young Eric gasped for air trying to avoid crying, but he found it terribly difficult. Unable to say anything, he just hugged his uncle, not even uttering a single word.

Being the wise man that he was, Leo returned the hug in silence. Only after a couple of minutes did he start to speak.

"Whoever is causing you trouble, Eric... Leave them be," Leo broke the hug for a second to look at his nephew's face. "Those who live by the sword, die by the sword. You know that they'll get what the deserve one day."

"But Uncle Leo," Eric was trying to regain his composure, but simply was unable to. "They were hitting me, a- an- and, kicking me. It hurts!"

"I know it does, but believe me," Leo took off his glasses and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket to soak up his nephew's tears. "You are a young man destined for great things."

"How do you know that?"

"It's simple. You are resilient," Uncle Leo grabbed Eric's face with both hands. The tone in his voice did seem to be getting louder. Not necessarily stricter, but he wanted to inspire his nephew, beyond just being an emotional support. "A wise man once said that it is not in the stars to hold our destiny, but in ourselves. Forget about what those bullies say about you; it's all nonsense. You decide who and what you are, not them. No matter how many times they kick you down, you'll stand back up with the might of the sun."

Uncle Leo's wisdom seemed to be doing its part. Eric seemed to be calming down.

"How much more of this do I have to endure?" The boy was now looking at Leo with sparkling hopeful eyes.

"You are stronger than you think, and never forget about it," Leo hugged his nephew once more and took a step back. He knew his answer was somewhat vague, but he felt that it was better than giving a fake estimation. "Now come inside and have dinner with me. I've made your favorite lasagna."

Eric smiled with renewed confidence and stepped into the doorway.

The memories were cold and painful, yet somewhat warm and comforting but, in that moment, the silence and the darkness that were present were even worse. When he realized that it was likely that he had lost everything that mattered to him, the boy stopped torturing himself and lowered his head until his chin touched his chest. He remained in that position until the lights were turned on without a warning. He gasped in surprise and turned his head sideways to analyze every feature of the room, which looked like one huge cylinder. He looked downwards to realize that he was on a small platform which seemed to be placed at the center of the cylinder's circumference, between the roof and the bottom of the chamber. The cool light blue light that rained down on him from above came from a massive ring that was fixed to the perimeter of the ceiling. The whole surface of the prison was grey. Also, Eric somehow deducted that there was some sort of machinery within the walls since he was able to hear some humming.

Then, the young human looked at himself. All of his clothes were gone, except for his now dirty grey t-shirt, his jeans, and his sneakers. Suddenly, a rectangular hole appeared on the wall a few feet away in front of Eric's platform. Then a wide metallic bridge emerged from the wall, connecting the opening in the wall with the platform. As soon as he saw this happen, Eric tried to speak but then was reminded of the piece of duct tape over his mouth. Instinctively, he attempted to stand up but noticed that he was wearing a set of chains over his abdominal region which essentially prevented him from breaking free while also immobilizing his arms, but he still struggled against them nonetheless.

As the young man fought to break free from his bonds, a tall and slim figure entered the chamber by walking onto the bridge, approaching the young human. As he got closer to Eric, some of his features became more noticeable. From Eric's point of view, it seemed like it was a man who stood 5'7" feet tall and as weird as it may sound, that strange person had some sort of a handfan-shaped tail coming out of his lower back. Eric focused a bit more on the being who was coming for him but he was unable to make out any other features because the lighting in the chamber wasn't bright enough.

The stranger approached Eric and pulled out an object that looked like a syringe, which contained an intense purple liquid from a pocket in his jacket. Eric shivered but he stayed still afterwards, giving in to what the man had prepared for him. He received a second shot. However, the effects were different this time. Unlike the dart that had hit him back at Fairport, he was able to keep his consciousness but each of his body's limbs began to ache until they went numb shortly afterward. The numbing effect made its way through Eric's body in no time. He couldn't move or talk, but his eyes, his mind, and his vital systems were still functional.

"Sorry about this," said the man. "You pesky humans offer quite a lot of resistance when you feel threatened."

The man loosened up Eric's chains and removed them along with the duct tape, freeing him. Then, another person entered the prison and helped the fan-tailed man carry Eric to the exit. Outside, a wide hallway with grey carpet on the floor and white opaque panels covering the walls and the ceiling awaited them. Apparently, there was a lighting source behind the panels. All of this looked very strange and futuristic. Eric wanted to communicate, but his tongue and his vocal cords had been rendered useless for the time being.

The two strangers kept on carrying the human along the hallway until they reached the other end, where they found an elevator. Eric and his captors boarded it and ascended several feet until they reached the next level. The platform stopped and the door above them opened up dropping some dirt and small pebbles on them, revealing the sky and the sounds of birds.

Outside, there were many trees and some boulders of varying sizes. The vegetation mainly consisted of pine trees although there were some bushes here and there too. It was clear it was a common forest reserve somewhere in the country.

"Where... the hell are... we?" asked Eric in a very weak voice tone as he was finally able to move his eyes.

"He's recovering," said the man.

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious, genius. We've got to hurry," answered the other figure, whose voice was that of a young woman with a British accent.

Both figures kept walking while carrying Eric for a few more minutes until they came across a vehicle that resembled a tank with four wheels instead of treads. The vehicle sparked another memory the moment that Eric saw it. It was the same tank, the one on the cover of the Star Fox game he had played at Nick's house!

The vehicle had two needle-like objects coated in blue paint on its sides, big enough to cover the rear half of the tank while the rest of the vehicle was white and silver, except for the wheels, the underside and the front cannon, which beared a black color. Eric was lifted and placed carefully inside the hatch on top of the tank. Afterwards, he was gently pushed to the back of the interior, while his captors just sat on dual seats at the front, behind a complicated metallic dashboard that held a myriad of buttons and levers. One of them pressed a button which started the machine. As soon as this happened, the dashboard became even more complicated as green holographic components came up, including a central windshield-sized holographic screen with live video feed from the front and the surroundings of the tank. Meanwhile, Eric had almost fully recovered. He used his increasing mobility to get closer to the front. The woman touched a few sections on the smaller holographic screens.

"Setting course to the Great Fox," and the tank began to move.

The tank was soon bouncing up and down due to the aggressive surface of the forest. Eric had a not-so-pleasant reaction to this and suddenly began to feel nauseous, although he chose not to throw up whatever the contents his stomach were, because he figured out that if he showed mobility, he'd probably get another shot of that strange substance. He moved forward slightly with caution. He had an almost perfect view of the dashboard now. He proceeded to observe and analyze the data on the screens, which ended up making no sense to him. He began wondering what the words "great" and "fox" meant to him when joined together. He felt that he knew what the woman had talked about. He was convinced that the answer was buried deep inside his mind; as he had already heard them somewhere else beforehand.

The forest appeared to be getting more and more dense, the terrain more rugged and unforgiving. The tank began swaying left and right because the environment now presented even bigger obstacles that the person piloting the tank had to avoid.

The trip was relatively quick according to Eric's kidnappers. Now they were parked in a small clear spot with a tall rusty tower rising above them. The driver started the tank again and kept on driving towards a hole in the ground which lead downwards as if it were a ramp heading underground. The tank slowed down as it entered the cave, its bright and powerful headlights guiding it. The people behind the dashboard remained still and quiet. They were paying more attention to the images of the outside that were being transmitted to the screens, while Eric silently dragged himself back to the where he had been put. He could hear the wheels of the tank slipping on the mud that was on the floor of the cavern.

'I hope they won't cause any collapses in here,' Eric thought to himself when he saw the man handling the steering and the throttle delicately. The man pulled off a bunch of complicated maneuvers, after which he shut the tank down and announced that they had finally made it to the so-called Great Fox. Eric pretended he was still stunned on the floor but unfortunately, his trick didn't work. When his kidnappers went to pull him out of the tank, they slipped two metallic rings on his wrists. After this, not only did the rings tighten around Eric's wrists, they also generated a magnetic field that made it impossible to separate the rings from each other. Still pretending to be affected by the serum, Eric understood that these things worked like handcuffs. Much to his dismay, these weren't ordinary handcuffs. At the snap of the fingers of the man, a surge of electricity struck his body intensely for a few seconds.

"No, please! Stop it!" Eric screamed out to his captors, his body curling and shaking as the electricity traveled through his nervous system, making him suffer. The handcuffs stopped sending electricity through the human's body at a second snap of the fingers.

"Just so that you know, we aren't stupid," said the man with a cocky attitude, but at the same time there was a hint of uneasiness in his voice. He kneeled beside the boy. "I told you the effect wouldn't last. We gotta neutralize you."

Eric didn't reply. He was still laying down, gritting his teeth to muffle his whining. He was still in pain.

"Alright, that's enough. Let's get him out of here." The woman intervened with an authoritarian tone.

He was escorted outside. Eric and his captors then made their way to a huge rectangular hole on the rocky surface of the cave's walls. His kidnappers, whose identity remained a mystery, were carrying flashlights to shed light on their way. Eric looked at the opening. There was something out of place. There was a metallic edge on the perimeter of the wall. Eric's mind trailed off and began to wonder if such thing was possible.

"Walk slowly and do not stop unless I order otherwise," said the man.

"But first tell me who the hell you are!" Eric's voice was now shaky. He turned around to try and see the faces of the mysterious figures. Much to his dismay, they turned off the flashlights but a small red lamp on the upper edge of the metallic frame revealed a couple of furry triangular ears on what seemed to be the female's head.

"You'll find out soon enough. Just keep going," the woman calmly replied.

The human did as he was told and walked under the frame. His captors were right behind him. His legs shook as if they were about to snap and give in under his weight. No one was making a single noise.

"Stop right there," Eric froze in place. "Now wait just a moment."

One of the figures walked right up next to him and touched something on the stone. A series of beeping sounds were audible. The rock crumbled into dust, revealing a huge metallic gate. Said gate moved upwards slowly, showing an entrance to another room. Then, someone flipped a switch.

The room he had walked into was immediately filled with pure white light. The walls and the floor were made of steel. Some areas on the floor had gratings instead of grey metal tiles. The ceiling was very tall and so was the highest part of the entrance. There were white LED lamps distributed across the high points but there were also never-stopping fans and pipes running across the ceiling. The most impressing parts were all the starfighters with blue and silver colors, stored in there and arranged in neat lines across the room but they were not the only machines in sight, there were also tanks like the one his kidnappers had used to take him there. All in all there were eight starfighters and two tanks.

Eric finally understood... He knew what every single vehicle was, and who the owners were but what he couldn't understand was why all of those things were there...

'This can't be happening. This CAN'T BE HAPPENING!'

"Welcome aboard," said the woman with a big smile on her face.

Thanks for reading, guys. Stay tuned for the next chapter! I hope you enjoyed this new addition to the chapter count!

Updated on 10/05/2016.

Updated on 03/31/2021: Added a little inspirational fluff featuring Uncle Leo, which substitutes the nonsense story about Eric's missing family. Also, added some small fixes.