right so the end is nigh!!!!! for the few people still reading this

A/N: i own nothing


Chapter 17: Space Fight and Ground Invasion

Mirage was examining a bunch of charts from the corner of her eye on the main screen of the Diplo II's bridge. Suddenly the armrest of her chair began to bleep loudly. Mirage gasped. "Helmsman, prepare the gravitic warp engine. Communications officer, give the go ahead to the rest of the flagships, here we go!!"

The people on the bridge nodded and got to work and began to punch buttons and speak loudly. Mirage felt her stomach lurch as it usually did whenever she went into gravitic warp. It was a small discomfort, but it still had not gone away, after all this time. The rest of the fleet jumped right behind them.


"Shit, what are we supposed to do while we wait for Mirage, there's gonna be at least 15 minutes of warp time!" Cliff exclaimed.

"Well the shield is down and they haven't suspected a thing yet, but if we keep going they'll discover us soon as we enter the Earth's atmosphere," Fayt analyzed.

"Grr, how are we going to buy time?" Cliff whispered.

"Shuttle, you have been given clearance, please proceed to these coordinates, immediately, or you will be boarded."

"Uhh sorry sir, we're having technical difficulties with our engines…." Fayt made up quickly.

"Alright, one of our battleships will take you in, it will take about 5 minutes."

"Gah! Mirage haul some ass and get your butts out here!!!" As if in response the entire fleet appeared at that moment with all weapons blaring.

"Hey open a line with the Diplo II , quick!" Cliff commanded. "Hey Mirage, what the heck, how did you guys get here so quickly?"

"I'm not quite sure myself but…I think that one Wise Man that Fayt spared helped. He appeared in front of the entire fleet in the middle of Gravitic Warp, glowed, then he blew up and now you see us here. It was pretty amazing actually…"

"Alright, but anyways I'm pretty sure you realized how outnumbered we are here," Cliff said grimly over the line.

"Woah you are right, grr, damn we just got hit pretty hard. Cliff, I'll talk later, I guess we'll just have to suck it up and deal."

"Yeah, alright where do you want us?" Cliff asked as he piloted the shuttle, avoiding blasts."

"I'm sending 6 fighters to fly with you, I want you guys to focus on the taking out other fighter squadrons, don't get entangled in sticky situations. You guys are the key of this operation, so don't get killed. You'll be flying under call sign 'blue' leader."

"Copy Admiral," Cliff said seriously. "Fayt get on the tail gunner. You Expellians get on the wing turrets, alright hang on tight guys!" Cliff pulled them into a barrel roll as he dodged blasts.

"Cliff we got two fighters hot on our tails, watch out they're coming in hot. Wait hold on I've got six blue ships flyin in too!" Fayt yelled frantically.

"Don't worry they are friendlies, look they just cleared the ships on our tails. Alright so we gotta figure out what the best course of action is. We gotta get down to that planet, real quick," said Cliff.

"I have an idea, it is a daring one, but it may work…We gotta tackle the Nedian flagship head on."

"Fayt that's suicidal! That ship has loads of other battleships and gunships protecting it. And the only flagship that can take it is the Diplo II. But there is a high possibility that it won't make it out alive in the process!" Cliff yelled.

"No, I mean all our forces will gang up on it, and then we'll have to take the casualties we get."

"Wait, I think there is a better option. What about the Ethereal Cannon on board the Justice Avenger?" Nel suggested.

"Nel, that cannon is untested and no one knows if it will work or not. And besides we would need a clear shot, a shot to rock the ship only a little off course, could waste our effort," Fayt said.

"Alright let's do it, its our best shot," Cliff said. He turned the ship back towards the Justice Avenger.

"Hold on Cliff, we have no idea how the weapon will work!"

"It doesn't matter, I'll worry about getting you that shot, just be ready to pull the trigger for me when you get the opportunity. Alright get to the transporter, it'll transport you to the Ethereal Chamber directly."

"Bu-Fine. I guess you are right." Fayt dashed to the end of the shuttle and scrambled into the transporter.

"Mirage, I'm sending Fayt back to the Avenger. We are going to try to use the Ethereal Cannon."

"On what, may I ask!" she yelled. She sounded quite exasperated.

"The Nedian Flagship," Cliff said simply.

"Ok, and how do you propose we get him the clear shot that is required of the cannon?"

Cliff smiled. "How do you topple a king in chess?"

"You have to eliminate the pawns…" Mirage said slowly and her eyes widened, when she realized the answer.

"Exactly," Cliff replied simply.


"Alright all wings form on me," Cliff said through the comm. line. "Alright we're runnin this one hot and quick. We just gotta make a big enough commotion to attract a lot of attention." Cliff had instructed half the fleet to attack the entire front line of the main force, head on.

Cliff led a strike on the large group of battleships. The Expellian and Klausian fleets soon joined the fray. Their ships engaged the Nedian ones, and were spectacularly outflying them. This part of the battle was going bad for the Nedians.

Mirage sat in her chair and watched the huge tactical screen. "I can't believe it. His plan is working. They've split up the entire Nedian fleet, and the rest of the fleet is converging on them. Which is leaving the Maelstrom Whirlwind…unprotected. Alright. Commander Wifra move your fleet to relieve the Expellian Fleet."

"Copy," she replied.

"Alright I also want the Tomahawk II to maneuver to disguise the Avenger's movement toward the enemy backline. I don't want any enemies to even realize that the Avenger has fallen out of formation." Mirage looked at the screen again. "I want the Adamant to maneuver to the enemies' right flank. Have the Divine Fate attack the left. Lets squeeze the life out of 'em!"

"Haha we got 'em!!" Cliff yelled triumphantly, as they saw two battleships go up in flames.

"Sir, its coming, the Nedian Flagship, its approaching!" an Expellian fighter exclaimed.

"Oh god, alright here we go, this is it, Fayt you ready?" Cliff asked over the comm. He marveled in wonder at the size of the gigantic flagship.

"Y-Yeah." Fayt responded over the comm. line. Suddenly out of nowhere, the Justice Avenger appeared right above the Maelstrom Whirlwind.

Cliff gawked in wonder, "Fayt…who really knows how strong you are…" And just as quick as the Avenger had appeared, the front opened up. The triangular ship's front split into three parts to reveal a huge cannon. The large barrel on the front was shining bright blue. The quick rush of blue energy burst from the cannon and engulfed the Whirlwind.

As soon as the blast had cleared, the ship was gone. Cliff was amazed but more worried about Fayt. "Fayt you ok?"

"Yeah, I'm kind of groggy but, I should be fine…" he said. He sounded very airy and exasperated.

"Damn it!" Mrs. Leingod yelled over the comm.

"What?" Cliff yelled.

"We've just lost all power to systems, shields are down, weapons are down, oh no!!"

"Shit! All forces protect the Avenger!" Cliff yelled. The Nedian flagship might have been destroyed but other enemies soon began to attack the Avenger.

"Hull Integrity has dropped to 50%!" Mrs. Leingod yelled.

"Damn there are just too many damn enemies to contain them! Fighters, target the ships aiming directly for the Avenger!" Cliff yelled.

Honestly it was hard to tell friend from foe at the moment. There was just extreme chaos that had resulted from the Nedian flagship's destruction. Nedian cruisers were in disarray and unorganized. At that moment a Nedian gunship lost its stabilizers and crashed into the Avenger.

"Mayday, Mayday! We are going down. I repeat the Justice Avenger is going down," Mrs. Leingod's voice rang in panic over the comm. line.

"Damn, Cliff. Did you see that? The Avenger just went down! Look take the ground forces now and go after them. They've just broken into the atmosphere, I'll send you the exact coordinates of the crash site when they hit the ground."

"Copy that Mirage, strike team heading down to the surface."

"Alright Transports 234 to 300 head down to Earth with Cliff's crew," Mirage said. "Alright all ships fall back into formation, we're suffering heavy losses. We may have taken out the Maelstrom Whirlwind but we still have a fight to win." Mirage took a look at the tactical screen, they were still outnumbered.

"Mirage, the Klausian fleet has suffered heavily," Captain Fittir said through the line.

"Alright, Commander Wifra, maneuver to Point 234, approach vector of 25 degrees. I want you to defend Captain Fittir's retreat." She took another look at the tactical screen and noticed that moving Wifra's fleet would allow the Nedians a lot of breathing room. "Helmsman, move the Diplo II to the Sharktooth's position."

"Admiral Koas!" the Communication Officer yelled. "Long-Range sensors detect gravitic warp gates opening up on the left flank of our forces."

"Damn, that is probably reinforcements from the remote stations. Captain Gordon, take your fleet to the left flank of the fleet and engage the enemy."

"Copy, Admiral."

"Damn the Klausians are getting pounded! Wifra what are you doing!" Mirage yelled through the line.

"I'm trying!" she yelled back. "They have 4 battleships that have us pinned down!"

The Sharktooth was getting hammered from both sides. It had moved in front of the Hawk to direct fire away from the Klausian ship. It was getting pounded by laser blasts and torpedoes.

"Divert all power to starboard shields. Cut power from engines and divert to the weapons system. Alright 1…2…3, fire!" The ship's disrupter cannons erupted and caught one battleship in the engines. But another Nedian cruiser replaced the ship and began to take potshots at the Vendeen craft.

"Hell, we're gonna get surrounded but, Helmsman turn the ship hard left and have our main Hyperion cannons facing those Nedian craft in sector 34."

"Copy, Admiral." The helmsman slammed the breaks. And the whole crew felt the whole ship break hard left.

"Alright show 'em what this thing has. Fire the Hyperion cannons now!" The Diplo's cannons flashed bright yellow and tore through the Nedian craft.

"Thanks Mirage!" Wifra said. "Oh no a huge contingent of fighters and bombers are approaching."

"Damn. Gunships G-1 to G-10, converge on the Diplo. Fighter squads 10 to 30 draw fire away from the cruiser!" Mirage commanded. The Nedian fighters immediately began to target the three flagships. They swarmed them, the ships' huge cannons were too slow to get the small swarms of fighters.

The fighters soon arrived but they were totally outnumbered. "Mirage this is no use! There are just too many of them!" Wifra yelled back.

"I know, but we just gotta hold on until Fayt and Cliff get their job done."

"Well I wish they'd hurry up!Damn, Gordon's ship just got immobilized," Wifra swore.

"Divine Fate I need you to cover Gordon's ass, now!" Mirage yelled. She switched lines to the Klausian flagship. "Captain Fittir how is your ship?"

"Bad. The engines are not working. And the ship's core reactor is unstable."

"Alright stay put, wait what is that!" Mirage exclaimed. She saw a huge surge of green energy suddenly rip through the Hawk. "Captain Fittir!"


"Fayt…Fayt wake up!" a voice said. Fayt slowly opened his eyes and soon began to hear loud noises of explosions. Mrs. Leingod was slapping Fayt, so that he could regain consciousness. The explosions grew louder and louder until he finally came to.

The noise around them was so ridiculously loud. Explosions, gun fire, and loud screams could be heard all around them. "Where are we!" Fayt yelled.

"We're in the remains of the Avenger. When we took out the Nedian Flasghip, we got shot down shortly afterwards." The noise was so loud that Fayt barely understood what she said. He looked around and noticed that the part of the ship to his left was completely torn open. There were a bunch of troops in front of them taking cover and returning fire at enemies in front of them.

"Mother, if you would be so kind to excuse me…" he said quietly as he slowly stood up. He unsheathed the two blades strapped to his back and disappeared in a blur. One would have had to slow down the time to witness the grace and power of his actions.

He first dashed to a spot of cover behind a blown up vehicle. Three soldiers stood there, taking cover. He pounced on the first soldier; he stuck both swords into the man's chest. He jumped off the soldier and threw a bone crunching side kick into the head of the second soldier to the left. Then Fayt quickly cast a few hand seals and threw a bolt of lightning, and he smote the soldier square in the chest.

He dashed to the second site where a mass of soldiers were. There was a huge tank, where many soldiers were also hiding behind. Fayt charged 'Destroyer' with some energy and cut through the long, slim barrel like butter. There were 10 soldiers around the tank, that soon had their guns trained on Fayt. Fayt immediately threw his sword at the two soldiers on his left and right.

In a flash he disappeared again, and appeared behind a soldier. He quickly swept him and then kicked him in the throat. Fayt jumped over the tank to get to the soldier on the other side. He simply released a flurry of blows. 10 punched to the face, 13 to the stomach, and then a good kick right in the gut to top it all off.

He went to retrieve his swords from the bodies of the soldiers but the remaining soldiers began to fire wildly at him. He had to move agily to dodge them, and he wasn't so lucky a few times. When he had retrieved his swords he dealt with the last few soldiers quickly. The tank however, wasn't done yet. Its barrel was cut off, but it could still shoot rounds!

And since it was cut off, it produced an effect such as a sawed-off shotgun. The blast was dispersed and spread out. Fayt got caught by the blast and was thrown far backwards and crashed into a crushed car. He felt himself get cut by the rough metal edges as he hit the car.

The tank's cannon charged up again but was blown to bits by an unknown force. As the smoke cleared, three tanks came into view. They were all yellow and black. They had two repulsor lifts on either side of the craft that let it move around. Two front lifts, two back lifts. It had a domed top with two mounted laser cannons. It had two missile launchers next to the mounted guns.

The hatch of the tank opened up and Cliff looked at Fayt. "You ok kid?" he asked? Cliff jumped off the tank to help him up

"Yeah," Fayt said groggily as he took Cliff's hand to stand up.

"Alright, you've managed to get yourself into a fine mess huh?" Cliff yelled. He carried him back to the tank and pulled him in. He drove back to the remains of the Avenger.

They soon spotted Mrs. Leingod. "Alright so obviously the plan was a little distorted. But where is the rest of the invasionary force?"

"I had then land in the Western District, so that they can get things set up. I told them to rendezvous with us at the City Plaza. We're gonna go on ahead, can you guys clean this up?" Cliff replied.

"Yeah sure, we'll be right behind you." Fayt's mother bid them good luck and they headed back into the tanks. Fayt was riding with Cliff, Nel and Albel. The others had crammed into the two other tanks. Cliff rumbled past the enemies and the tank was rocked as they left the area. They traveled in a line; 1 in front, 1 in the middle, and 1 at the back.

They soon encountered 4 other tanks and a huge patrol of soldiers. "Damn, well we knew this wasn't gonna be easy," Cliff complained. They broke formation and Cliff moved to take on the first tank. "Watch this," Cliff said with a smile. He sped up toward the enemy tank, like he was going to collide into it. As they got closer, Cliff hit a button on the dashboard.

Fayt felt a quick bump, and the tank jumped off the ground. It did a backflip in the air as it spun over the enemy tank. Their tank landed on the ground perfectly, despite a rough landing. Cliff's move had placed them right behind the enemy tank. Cliff immediately pulled the cannon triggers and destroyed the first tank.

However, Cliff's move had placed him right in front of the enemy tank's range. The three other tanks began to take heavy shots at Cliff's tank. "Goddamn it!" Cliff swore as he quickly spun the tank around. Kian quickly sped over and took a few smart shots at the tank. He had aimed for the tanks wheels and had disabled the craft.

Cliff pulled the tank into a sharp turn and fired the torpedoes at the disabled tank. Now there were two tanks left, and three of them. The odds were in their favor. The tanks immediately began to unload everything they had on their group.

The three tanks agily dodged the blasts and returned fire when they could. The enemy scored a lucky shot on one of Cliff's repulsor lifts. "Shit!" he yelled as they spiraled out of control and crashed into a building on the street. Cliff smashed into the steering gear, and was out cold.

"Damn, Cliff!" Fayt yelled. He pulled Cliff up and examined his bloodied face. "Gah! Albel help me get Cliff outta here. Nel pop the hatch open, we're sitting ducks right now. We gotta move quick!"

Albel moved towards the front of the tank and cut Cliff's safety belt off. Fayt pulled him out of the chair and lifted him over his shoulder. "Jeez Cliff, you're heavy!" Nel blasted the top off with some Runology and the three jumped out of the tank. They watched as the last two of their tanks engaged the enemy.

Kian's tank strafed around the first tank, while the Expellian's tank made quick work of the one enemy tank. Their tanks were just too slow, to keep up with the Agile Expellian craft. Kian quickly looped around the side of the tank and exposed the weak side armor of the tank. Kian quickly saw the weakness, and strafed to the left of the tank and quickly fired the tank's missiles. The mess of the four tanks lay defeated in a pile of rubble.

Kian floated over and picked up the three of them. They had to squeeze in tight with the others; in the already small tank. "Woah what hapanned to him?" Kian asked as he piloted the tank. "He looks like hell!"

"Nahh he should be fine," Albel smiled. Everyone in the tank laughed and Ophelia looked at him and cleaned up his face. Nel cast a quick healing spell that helped him soon regain consciousness.

"Damn, I have one hell of a headache. Ugh. So Kian, how close are we to the rendezvous?"

"Nearly there, wait what the hell!" Kian yelled. They wondered what he was going crazy about. But they saw a huge blast of purple energy surging towards them.

"Dodge it damn it dodge it!" Cliff yelled.

"I know! aww shiiittt," Kian moaned. It was too late the blast was too close. It hit the tank dead on and rocketed them into the air and it smashed against a building and then landed, overturned on the road.


" Captain Fittir are you ok. Captain, sir do you copy?" the Expellians in the other tank asked.

"Admiral Koas, did you see that? We just lost the Hawk!" Wifra yelled over the line.

"Oh my god..Captain Fittir answer me! Kirk Fittir, answer me!" Mirage yelled desperately yelled through her comm. link. There was no answer. She watched in misery as the Hawk crumbled into three pieces. And numerous small explosions erupted on the surface of the ship. "Shit," Mirage muttered as the Diplo was rocked by another explosion.

"Damn it another wave of bombers are making an attacking run," the Communications officer yelled.

"Great, this is exactly what we don't need," Mirage muttered under her breath.

"M'am we have more gravitc warp holes opening up on the starboard side again. Wait they are opening communications as we speak."

"Gah!!!!! Alright patch 'em through I guess."

"Captain of unidentified ship. What the hell is going on here?" a man yelled. He had a thick beard and a round, freckled face.

"May I ask exactly who you are? Declare whether you are friend or foe. We are attempting to overthrow the Nedian government, choose your side now!" Mirage yelled, quite overdramatically.

"Wait seriously? This is Fleet Beta X-9. We are returning from military training. We are an old Federation Fleet, that was converted to a Nedian one, during their takeover. Alright we're willing to help, where do you want us?"

"Thank god! You have no idea how much we needed help. I'm going to send your computer data to distinguish between friendlies and enemies. I want a large group of your bigger ships to maneuver to Mark 456…Point 345 to defend one of our disabled flagships. Then I want the rest of your ships to converge on my ship, the Diplo II. Our ships our pretty banged up."

"Roger, they are already on the way."

Mirage sighed but was robbed of her momentary reprieve. "M'am they are firing the Planetary Defense System. Its approaching at a bearing of 345 degrees and the computer estimates it is on a course to hit us!"

Mirage's eyes widened and she yelled at the helmsman, " Helmsman tilt the ship's center of balance to 145 degrees and completely knock out all the stabilizers on the ship's right side!"

"Yes m'am!!!" Suddenly the ship buckled and everyone in the room felt like they were inverted at a slant, due to Mirage's strange commands.. "Oh no! It is going to hit us!"

"Shit, brace for impact!" Mirage yelled. The ship was soon rocked by the blast. "AHHHHHH!!!!!!"


"Fuck! I am so tired of this day!!" Cliff yelled as be beat another soldier to a pulp with his gauntlets. They were glowing because he had learned how to focus chakra into the gauntlets. The group's tanks had been disabled by a stray mortar blast.

"Cliff, if we were just ambushed here," Fayt said as he dueled with three enemies. He slashed at them and killed them all. "What about the rest of the troops we were supposed to meet up with?"

"Damn, they are probably," Cliff gasped as he beat the heck out of another soldier. "They were probably attacked as well, they should only be a couple miles ahead." Fayt nodded. The rest of their group advanced forward, through the number of enemies.

Soon the large city plaza was visible. The City Plaza was a huge clearing in the center of the city. There used to be a huge number of shops, restaurants, and a large movie theatre there. Due to recent events, the area has been leveled to another battlefield.

As they approached the City Plaza there was only more violent fighting. Except they saw two lone figures in the center of the battlefield, single-handedly destroying their troops.

"Cliff do you see those two?" Fayt asked. He pointed at the two figures.

"Yeah, I see them alright, shit, this day really cannot get any worse!" Cliff moaned. He powered up his gauntlets. "Alright Nel go with Kakashi's unit to help our surrounding forces and try to help the wounded. Heck take the Expellian with you. Fayt, Albel and I will take on those two Wise Men."

"Alright, but if I see you three start to struggle…" Nel said threateningly.

"Yeah, Yeah, you'll come after us you fool. Don't worry about these worms, I'll protect their scrawny butts!" Albel said cockily.

Nel just scoffed and their group split up as they entered into the City Plaza. They had to be careful because there was a lot of crossfire between the two opposed sides. As they neared the two Wise Men, Fayt began to sprint very fast. Cliff tried to tell him to slow down, but Fayt was off. In one fast motion he threw himself at the Wise Man dressed in green armor and used a rapier as a weapon.

The Wise Man grunted and yelled in pain as Fayt stuck 'Destroyer' hard into his side. The Man writhed in pain, but quickly pulled out the sword and threw Fayt as far as he could.

Fayt soared in the air but he soon focused the chakra in his hands and feet, he soon found his balance and floated in the air. As soon as he gained his balance in the air, he jetted back toward the Wise Man. He began to fire pulses of ethereal energy at the Wise Man.

The Man smiled as he agily dodged each blast and then jumped at Fayt with his rapier pointed straight at him. Fayt quickly pulled a barrel roll in the air to avoid him. The Wise Man gritted his teeth and landed on the remains of a destroyed tank.

"Hey Vesper, I think he is the kid the boss wants!" the other Wise Man yelled from the center of the plaza.

"You might be right Nicolus, come and help me with him then!" the one called Vesper replied.

Nicolus was about to attack Fayt, when Cliff yelled, "OH NO YOU DON'T!" he yelled as he heaved his huge body at the god-like being. He held him down but Nicolus grabbed Cliff by the throat and slammed him into the ground. Out of nowhere Albel came falling from the air with his sword brandished.

"Take this worm! Heavenly Strike!" Albel rocketed towards the ground as Nicolus prepared to block the hit. But as Albel was a foot away from Nicolus, Albel disappeared in a quick burst of speed. He had twisted his body at the last second and rolled to the side, with the wind whipping his long hair. He landed perfectly on Nicolus's side. Then he jumped to begin hacking away at his side.

"Ahh Damn You!" he yelled in pain. As he backed away, Cliff had regained consciousness, and sprinted toward the disoriented foe.

"Take this, Fist of Might!" Cliff said, as his fist burned blue and punched him right in the face. Cliff just stood there trying to push him back, but Nicolus flat out took the punch to his face. Then, he wouldn't budge, he just smiled cheekily at them. Nicolus grabbed Cliff's hand tossed him like a doll, straight at Albel.

"Hell, why does this always happen to me?" Albel moaned as he closed his eyes and let the big oaf crash into him.

Fayt looked down at his friends and it made his blood boil. These god-like beings were seriously monsters. They had no remorse or regret of any of their actions. They were like cold machines, but actually bled like men. It seemed inconceivable that they actually had hearts and brains that would normally hold a conscience. Thinking of that made Fayt realize that, because of this, it would be easier for him to kill them.

He let out a savage cry and jumped at Vesper again. He unsheathed the ANBU sword and dashed at Vesper with two swords raised. Vesper smiled he held his hands wide open and then two objects materialized in his hands. He held a brown, tangled net in one and then a trident in the other.

Fayt saw this, and felt a brief second of doubt, but he didn't falter in his advance. Vesper moved quickly, as Fayt approached he swung the net at Fayt's feet. The net tied around Fayt's right foot and he quickly lost his footing. He fell to the ground and landed on his head. He felt his head throb and felt the blood rush to his head.

He had his stomach lying on the grounds and had his back exposed. Vesper began to thrust his trident down and crush Fayt's spine, but Fayt had recovered. He spun around on his back and brought his two swords up in an 'X' to catch the trident. He pushed his blades harder to break the head of the trident. Fayt charged his sword and blasted Vesper.

The man got blown away and conincidently got slammed into Nicolus. "God damn it you idiot!" Vesper yelled. He picked up Nicolus and dusted him off.

As the two sorted out their differences Fayt ran over towards Albel and Cliff to help them up.

"Damn, these guys are tough," Cliff spat.

"Look guys, I think we gotta keep these guys apart. Who knows what they could do together," Fayt said.

"Oh man too late," Albel said, probably not realizing that he didn't say 'worm' or 'fool'. The two Wise Men had locked hands and began to run around very quickly. They soon brewed a huge swirling vertex. It swirled up the rubble on the ground and various soldiers and was moving towards them.

"Ok Fayt, we need a plan, now!" Cliff yelled.

Fayt looked at the huge swirling vortex of terror. He suddenly remembered that time when they had fought against Robin Wind.

"Cliff, you remember that time when we fought Robin Wind in the Barr Mountains?"

"Hang on, oh yeah. That kid threw tornadoes at us too," Cliff recalled, then his eyes slowly widened as he remembered. "Oh no, I'm not throwing you too at this one, its too big!"

"No trust me! All I have to do is charge up my Blade of Fury and Albel has his new Heaven Strike. The plan is for you to throw me first so I can cut across it, then Albel will cut the thing vertically. It should disrupt their movement long enough, it should give you about a 30 second window to pull an Acrobat Locust on 'em."

"The fool's plan is foolish, no pun intended, but its dumb enough to work," Albel smirked. Cliff finally agreed, the tornado was getting really close now. Truth was they didn't have a better plan, so they either died or died trying.

Cliff threw Fayt straight at the center of the tornado and his blade shined bright blue as his blade cut threw the tornado. Half a second later Albel came thundering down from the heavens as he cut threw the tornado vertically. After a second or two, the tornado had cleared up. And the two Wise Men were in free fall towards the ground.

"Here's my chance, Acrobat Locust!" Cliff jumped so hard off the ground that he kicked up part of the street with him. The rocks actually collided into the Wise Men as he kicked them up and then kicked them down again. They landed in a mess on the ground.

The three regrouped as they looked on at their enemies. They seemed dead, but in a fast motion Vesper picked up Nicolus and threw him at Albel. Nicolus collided hard into Albel and the two flew up in the air then hit the floor with a loud thud. Cliff moved to try and help Albel but Vesper charged into him as well.

Fayt gritted his teeth and dashed over to aid his friends. Albel was soon locked in a fight with Nicolus, who was fighting with an old Claymore. Albel smiled as he saw the Claymore, it was a heavy sword and it slowed Nicolus down. Albel had his favored katana and his claw.

The hardened steel of the katana took the claymore's heavy blows quite well, and wasn't bending to the larger blade. In fact the curved edge of the katana let the claymore skim off the blade. It caused a few openings to be exposed and Albel was able to pierce through his chestplate with his claw.

Albel began to feel like he was in a delicate dance. He had been matching his foe strike for strike and soon felt like he was gaining the edge. He soon noticed a repetition to his skill. Left, Right, High, Low, Stab. As he was about to go low again, Albel rolled over the low strike. He got into a good horse stance and mercilessly cut at Nicolus's arm, completely severing it.

Nicolus screamed in pain and he dropped the huge claymore on the ground. Albel quickly snatched the Claymore and went medieval on his head. Fayt looked grimly at Albel's handiwork. "It was dirty, but I guess it worked. Wanna trade?" Fayt asked as he handed the ANBU sword toward him.

"Sure," Albel said simply. They after they had traded their weapons they immediately scanned the area to look for Cliff. They soon spotted him on top of the old movie theatre fighting 'mano a mano' with Vesper.

"How the heck did they get up there?" Fayt marveled.

"Well…Vesper probably beat the snot out of the worm and punched him to the top of that building. Then he probably jumped really high to continue beating the snot out of him," Albel said technically.

"Uh huh…you think we should help him?" Fayt asked.

"Nah! Let's watch and then we'll save the fool's life if he seems like he is going to lose," Albel sneered.

"Great works with me!"

"Oof, owie! I'm gonna make you-," Cliff yelled as he got smacked around by Vesper again. Damn it, I can't keep getting smacked around like this. Where the heck are those dumbasses anyways? Oh well they are probably busy with the other one. I'm just gonna have to open a can of Klausian woop ass on this joker.

Cliff wiped the dirt and blood off his face. "Well you are very weak," Vesper joked.

"Am I now? Well you see, I've been holding back all this time. I've been training like this for a while now actually," Cliff said as he crouched down and began unbutton these leg guards no one had noticed. "Alright, now you're gonna get it…asshole." He cradled the leg guards in his arm for a second then he tossed them off the side of the building.

As the guards fell to the floor, the two watched them for a while. Vesper took his eyes off them and looked at Cliff. "Okay now you die." But as he had finished his sentence there was a loud noise of concrete breaking. Vesper looked at the ground and saw that there was a 30 yard crater where Cliff had dropped his leg weights.

"Yeah, now you're gonna get it," Cliff smiled. "Payback's a bitch…bitch!" Cliff charged at Vesper with lightning quick speed. He had moved faster than even Fayt could move. It was amazing Cliff was punching amazingly quick and kicking even faster. He punched high kicked low so quickly that Vesper had to scramble to block each blow.

Cliff released a flurry with his right hand, and then he found an opening where he was able to smash Vesper's head with a glorious left hook. This strike had left him stunned. Then Cliff followed up with a lightning quick tornado roundhouse kick. Vesper still had not budged, but he was taking major damage. He was just stunned and could not move.

"Game over, Sphere of Might!" Cliff yelled. A swirling sphere of pure energy began to hit Vesper and had rooted him in place. Cliff jumped back quickly and then smashed the ground with his fist. "Max Shockwave!" he yelled. The shockwave hit Vesper right as the Sphere of Might had dissipated. It knocked him high in the air. "Alright end game, Acrobat Locus!" Cliff jumped up and released a heavy barrage of blows.

Cliff finally ended his attack when he kicked Vesper in the stomach, making him fall towards the ground. Cliff put on another quick of burst speed and had landed on the ground underneath the spot Vesper was supposed to land. Cliff quickly raised his palm to land a backbreaking blow on Vesper's spine. He mercilessly threw him to the ground and spat on him. "Damn that was a pain," Cliff moaned as he cracked his neck. He suddenly heard someone clapping behind him. "Damn you two, were you guys just watchin the whole time?"

"Haha yeah, you worm," Albel smirked. Fayt and Albel were perched on top of one of the water towers on top of the building.

"You freaking jerks, what if I died!"

"Impossible, you fool, we would have beat the shit out of that guy before he actually killed you."

"Yeah but.."

"Look Cliff, Albel and I were watching you, you had the situation under control."

"Whatever, I kicked his ass though, huh?" Cliff asked, like an eager child.

"Yes Cliff, you're a complete badass," Fayt teased. About a minute later Nel appeared next to them from the shadows.

"Good job guys, we helped support our troops and we have gained a stable level of control of the City Plaza. More forces are coming in from our space forces, so we are ready to strike the Federal Square."

"Wait don't we need to like at least set up some sort of base or camp?" Fayt asked.

"Already done!" Nel said proudly. She led them to the edge of the top of the building and pointed at the tiny speck that was Yamato, producing a building from the ground.

"Wow impressive. Alright let's get down there, establish command then we'll move on Federal Square. I suspect Mirage and the fleet are getting pounded by the Planetay Defense Gun," Fayt said. Everyone agreed and they stood there for a second.

"Wait, you fools, how are we gonna get down?" Albel asked.

"We're gonna have to take the stairs I guess?" Cliff suggested.

"Nah, I can fly," Fayt said and jumped off the building.

"I can stick to walls and climb down the face of the building," Nel said as she left as well.

"Shit, I guess we have to use the stairs?" Cliff said.

"I guess so, let's go you worm," Albel hissed. They found the door leading into the abandoned building and began their long descent.


"Oh my god we survived!" the helmsman yelled. Mirage scoffed.

"Of course we lived, I had you tilt the ship completely parallel to the blast and therefore, was able to avoid the blast," Mirage said. "Alright, restore all the stabilizers and get this ship straight."

"Captain, bad news," the Communications Officer said.

"What is it?"

"The Nedians are assembling the last of their battleships and converging on the Diplo."

"Alright, I'm tired of sitting in this chair. Tell the Hangar Officer to prepare my ship. I also want Steeg and Marietta to suit up. They are two of my most capable pilots."

"Y-Yes m'am!" the Communications Officer.

"Oh yeah First Officer Steele, I'm promoting you to Captain, temporarily," Mirage said as she got out of her chair and exited the bridge.

Mirage entered the hangar and spotted her fighter. A sleek Trellian X-9 Fighter. It was a fast ship, very versatile and agile. It was shaped like the Justice Avenger, but obviously a lot smaller. The cockpit glass slid open as she approached, she had programmed it to recognize her scent. She climbed from the left side into the cockpit, it was a rather small cockpit, but Mirage didn't mind.

As she sat in her chair the whole cockpit whirred to life. The engines turned on with a loud rumble and her dashboard was immediately illuminated. "Hello Mirage," her onboard computer said.

"Hello Dack," Mirage replied. She punched in a few more keys to run her pre-flight check. Dack was the AI Mirage had programmed to aid her as a 'co-pilot' of some sorts. At times Dack was able to totally take control of the ship and run evasive maneuvers. "Dack re-run my pre-flight check and make sure all systems are go."

"Yes m'am."

Mirage checked her systems again and after Dack confirmed the test, she looked outside to see if Steeg and Marietta had boarded their respective fighters yet. When she looked up she saw that both ships were occupied and both of her subordinates were running the same tests she had just finished.

Mirage had chosen their fighters to contrast her own so that they could cover her ass. Steeg's ship was a slower ship that had heavy armor and firepower. While Marietta's fighter was more balanced, and then her ship was right in the middle. "Alright, are you guys ready?" Mirage asked.

"Ready to go," Marietta and Steeg replied.

"Alright, Hangar control, Redbirds 1, 2, and 3 requesting permission to launch," Mirage asked.

"You are clear to go Admiral," a voice replied.

"Launch!" Mirage punched the button on her console and her ship gunned out of the hangar into the fray. "Alright, Steeg, Marietta form on me."

"Madam, watch the crossfire between those capital ships up ahead, it could get messy," Dack said.

"Yes Dack thank you," Mirage turned her ship upwards and they flew right above the conflict. "Dack locate the capital ships identified on the Diplo."

"You mean the ones that are supposed to be mounting a counter offensive?" Dack asked.

"Yes those very ones."

"Calculating."

"Mirage looks like we've picked up a few stragglers behind us."

"Alright, increase speed. They are all mine, just cover me."

"Mirage you are outnumbered 4 to 1, wouldn't it be smarter to fight with companions?"

"No Dack, watch this," Mirage said. She turned her ship around and flew at the enemies at full speed. She pulled her ship into a barrel roll and it began to spin at a high rate. "Dack increase frontal shields."

She pulled the trigger and the green pulses fired at the enemy ships. Due to the spin, the bolts were released in random directions and angles and the ships were destroyed. She pulled out of her spin and rejoined Steeg and Marietta.

"Well done Mirage."

"Thank you Dack, now let us proceed to those ships, have you calculated which ships they are?"

"Yes, and considering their speed I have been able to formulate their next plan of action. There are 10 Battleships on a collision course with the main fleet."

"What?!" Mirage exclaimed.

"The first ship is right ahead," Dack responded.

"Okay, looks like we've got a lot of stuff on our hands here. We just have to hold out until Fayt and the others pull through." Mirage accelerated to an even faster speed. "Alright, Steeg, Marietta lock onto the closest battleship right ahead of us, we're taking it head on."


To be Continued...