So I ended last chapter on a cliffhanger. I have debated this choice for some time, but I have thought too much of what I can do with it to turn it away now. So, this chapter is necessary for what is to come.

Enjoy…

Chapter 8: Who?

I turned back and saw the man getting closer and closer to me. With all my training and instincts, I knew for a fact that he was heading for me. I braced myself for something that he would throw at me, IF he wanted a fight.

I heard a scrape on the ground, indicating a sudden movement of the being. I caught it and, with cat like instincts, jumped away from the being. He had attempted to cut me with a rather large blade.

When I landed from the jump, I pulled out my pistol and pointed it at the man.

"Well, look who has a death wish." I said as I watched the man move his blade around.

He laughed, "It is you who has the death wish." He continued moving around his blade, "You shouldn't have interfered with our plans."

I was a bit confused, "Plans?"

The man smiled devilishly, "Yes plans" He started to sidestep around me in a circle. I did the same and kept the sights on him.

"Your inclusion was never predicted, nor was it predicted you would end it. That is the only reason you had succeeded." The man then said.

I was getting tired of this mysterious psycho, and quite frankly, scared, "If you don't tell me what the hell you're talking about in the next minute, I'll blow your head off of your shoulders."

"My people have been watching this civilization for quite some time. We are mentally advanced, as we had predicted and assisted in the previous war. However, we didn't think a human would ever get involved so deeply. Your inclusion caught us so off guard that you had what I took to win" He laughed, "You won't leave here alive. And if you do, the Yuthans will kill you."

I was incredibly confused and wasn't satisfied with my answer, "That's not the explanation I was looking for; tell me now!"

The man finally spoke and came out of the shadows, "You will found out yourself."

It was the grey avian that was on the news report.

I was surprised, "Oh, so you're the one that got away from the cops? Too bad I'm better than them, and have a much shorter temper."

I pulled the trigger and sent a beam of blue energy flying towards the man. Surprisingly, he dodged it with little effort.

"What?" I said in shock.

He chuckled, "Time to end this."

I was now pissed, "I don't think so"

I charged for the man and started to throw my fists. I came around for a left hook and landed a direct hit. He then came back with a slash at my face. I leaned back fast enough to dodge the attack. I came back up and threw a right hook, missing, but catching the counter; the man brought his blade upwards; I sidestepped and stopped his arm. His blade went flying out of his hands. Once it was in the air, I spun around and threw his feet from under him with a spin kick. The avian landed on the ground with great force. I ran for the blade and grabbed it. I turned back and found the man charging for me. He jumped up and threw a punch down. I sidestepped and cut the man's arm. I was so glad I was trained to use a variety of weapons.

"Argh- you son of bitch!" He yelled as he grabbed the cut.

I shook my head, "You shouldn't have tried to kill me then, dumbass."

The man released his arm and ran for me once more. He threw several punches at my face. I continuously jumped back, dodging the futile punches. As he was throwing his fists, I found and opening to attack. He drew his right fist back, allowing me to stab at him. I was successful, landing a clean hit on his abdomen. The man jumped back and stumbled to the ground, blood running onto the ground.

"I'll let the cops finish you." I then hit the emergency frequency icon on my communicator. It would immediately send a signal to the authorities, giving them my location.

The man then got back up to his feet and laughed.

"You don't know who you are dealing with." The man said.

I watched in horror as his gash healed itself in a matter of seconds. I was stunned and horrified at the sight.

"That's impossible." I said.

The man shook his head, "Not for Yuthans."

I was getting a bit scared now. This man was as powerful as Wolf, maybe even more deadly.

Seeing his potential, I decided to try and end him. The authorities hadn't arrived, but it was the only thing left to do with someone like this.

"I've been going easy on you, trying not to kill you. But you just lifted that bar." I said as I twirled the large blade around.

I then charged for the man and slashed at him repeatedly. He dodged the first few, but I hit him the last multiple times. He was knocked back from the hits I landed. Blood was now gushing from his body.

He laughed, "You're more ignorant than we had anticipated. You alone cannot kill me!"

I was getting more angry than scared now, "Shut your damn trap."

The wounds on the man's body then healed up once again. Once they had finished healing, I heard the sirens in the distance.

The man looked a little stunned, "Oh, you called the authorities? No matter. You still will die here."

I thought to myself, "If only I had my armor"

I then charged for the man once more, I slashed at him multiple times, hitting him each time. I was growing tried from the repeated attacks. I was getting so tired that I missed a slash, allowing the man to counter. He grabbed my hand and threw me back. As I hit the ground, the cops had turned the corner. There were regular enforcers and large troop transports. I got up and watched as they formed a circular perimeter around the man and me.

"Michelson, get back!" One of the cops yelled as they got out of their vehicles. I watched as the troop transports released military grade cops. They all had their rifles and pistol pointed at the man. Some of them had also deployed portable shields.

I grabbed my pistol and went back behind one of the deployed shields and pointed my gun at the man.

"Derik Boulse, you are under arrest for the murder of Felix San Juan." A cop said loudly.

The avian, Derik, suddenly yelled back, "The Yuthans will have their revenge!"

A cop looked at me, "Do you have any idea what he's talking about?"

I shook my head, "No and I don't want to know." I honestly, I had no idea what Derik was saying. It all sounded incredibly farfetched.

Derik yelled once more, "It is time I showed you my true potential." He yelled, "We will meet again, Kevin Michelson! Remember the name, Yuthan."

Suddenly, the man threw down several bomb-like capsules, releasing a large amount of smoke.

"What the fuck?" I said as the smoke began to expand. I fired several bolts into the smoke, but saw I was the only one.

"What the hell are you all doing? Stop him!" I yelled.

"Open fire!" a cop yelled.

Suddenly, a barrage of laser fire was unleashed on Derik. Luckily, we caught him in time and interrupted his escape. The smoke faded and revealed Derik on the ground, laser burns and holes riddled his body as he lay lifeless.

I stopped firing, everyone else quickly followed. His body was so mashed up that it was impossible to identify him.

I slowly came out from behind the shield and walked up to Derik. I looked over the now dead body.

"What the hell is this?" I asked when I saw the police Lieutenant walk up.

"I have no idea. But he's dead, so don't worry about it." The Lieutenant said.

I shook my head, "I'm not too sure about that. Do you know what a Yuthan is?"

I kneeled down and started to search Derik's body. I found several items on him; these included multiple drug cups and even needles.

The Lieutenant chuckled, "Drugs, typical reason for stupid shit to occur."

I shook my head, "But how else would he have known about the war? He said something about mentally advanced beings called Yuthans." I got back up.

The Lieutenant looked interested, "What else did he say?"

"Something about my interference with 'plans' was not predicted. And that our success against Wolf was because I wasn't 'predicted'." I explained.

The Lieutenant sighed, "Well, don't worry about it. We have an investigation going on, so you won't have to worry about a single thing. Worst case scenario is that he was on a lot of drugs."

I nodded, "Fine, but I don't want any of this coming back and biting me in the ass." I said as I pointed at the Lieutenant.

He nodded, "I assure you, your rest will not be interfered with this low life criminal."

I headed back to my car and passed through the blockade of cops. My car, thankfully, was unscathed from the fight. I entered the driver side and sat for a while.

"I don't think he was on drugs." I said to myself, "What the hell is a Yuthan?"

The thoughts continued to jumble around in my head. But, like the Lieutenant had told me, it was most likely drugs- the man had tons of empty bottles on him anyway.

I sighed, "Oh well, I just need to focus on my life."

I started the car and exited past the cops. I looked over and saw them placing the body in a glass floating tube. Once the body was in it, the glass tinted to the point where you couldn't see the inside. I checked both side and headed off back to the estate. I had a nice idea for the team in terms of what to do.

To Be Continued…

Please Read:

So as you might have guessed, I plan on making one final set for this Star Fox Universe. I had so many more ideas that could lead to potential books that would be absolutely horrid to miss out on. The idea right now is so big that I have already started to outline the main plot. But another trilogy is highly unlikely since this idea doesn't span as much as Crossed Paths. This will be just one, big ass book. As for my next book after this, Ratchet and Clank, the plot is already finished and writing will begin shortly (that means we are nearing the end of this book). I have one chapter left for this and it will serve as the (somewhat) prologue to my idea.

I had a lot of fun with this book. Even though I did have some issues with writing it in the beginning, it turned out to be very enjoyable and soothing to my mind. I say soothing because I listened to chillstep and other ambient type music while writing this to keep the mood.

I really appreciate that you all had stuck with me to the end of the book. I do hope that you continue with me through my journey of becoming a writer as it would really help me.

A big thanks goes out to Kit Karamak for assisting me with the thought output for this. I couldn't use all of what he told me because the book wasn't big, but really helped me nonetheless. I thank you very much, kind sir.

Until next time for the final chapter of A Time of Peace…