Welcome back ladies and gentlemen… I hope you all have had a nice break since chapter 8 . As it stands I have a few twists and some other things, like what is going to happen in the next chapter.

ALSO, I have been placing UPDATES on my profile. It's all nice and clean and easy to read so go check it out and remember check back for more stuff I have to say to you all!

Let's get on with the story…

Deadly Overextension

I stood in shock looking at the image of my old friend, falling to my knees in disbelief. I felt so much pain in my body, so much more pain than I have ever felt; more than when I lost so much, more than when I witnessed the death of countless lives. Nothing I have ever experienced has given me this amount of pain, it was unbearable and I couldn't even think on the manner. Fox, who had appeared from the elevator behind me just as I was sent into my state of shock, slowly walked into the room with his eyes fixated on the image.

"Kevin?" He said softly as I sensed him approach me, "Kevin…" he said once more before placing a hand on my shoulder. I couldn't take my eyes off of the image and I could hardly take my mind off if it either.

My head lowered and I looked at my hands, they were open and my mind was still incredibly boggled and hurt by the discovery. Finally I took action and clenched my fists tightly, shaking my hands and slamming them into the floor with a loud grunt. "WHY?!" I yelled as I slammed my fists down. I felt tears slowly roll down my face as I buried my face into my fists, still clenched on the floor, "Why would he…" I stopped, "…he died…"

Fox looked down at me, I could tell that he was at a loss for words. I couldn't blame him at all, the sheer magnitude of this was so much to handle and was too much to even fathom. I wasn't surprised that he couldn't say anything.

Krystal then came running through the elevator doors, stopping dead in her tracks. She saw the image and looked at Fox and I. Immediately she knew what was happening and was at a loss for words as well.

I looked back up and slowly rose to my feet. Staring at the image I felt my pain turn into anger and lust for revenge. Woods was a close ally and one of the two pilots that escaped that massive ambush with me, but if he was so daring and so contempt on killing me, targeting me for Austin, then so be it. He was no longer a friend of mine and he would feel my wrath and see what happens when someone turns their back against the Star Fox team.

I took a deep breath out of anger, "He isn't going to live much longer…" I said under my breath, "… Woods made a mistake..."

Fox nodded slightly, not saying anything and unable to speak. Krystal simply watched and couldn't even think.

"I'm contacting the others… we need to make a plan…" I said as I brought up another console.

Fox finally spoke, "On what information?" he asked, "We have no idea where Austin is or where Woods vanished to. Do you really think I'm going to simply send us in blind with nothing known?"

I reached over to the console that controlled the locked file and showed him the intelligence. One of the files read "Rendezvous", meaning that Woods was supposed to return.

"We need to intercept them before this intelligence becomes useless to us. If we act now then we may be able to catch them at their rendezvous." I said as I pointed to the screen and staring Fox down. "And if we don't then we'll lose them and may never find them again, while also losing Penny.

He shook his head, "Kevin we have no plan and no safe method of engaging Austin directly. What if we show up and he simply renders our bodies useless, paralyzing us with whatever telepathy he has."

My eyes wandered away from his as I thought on the possibility of this happening. What Fox just said was that Austin was virtually invincible, unable to reach, and so much more powerful than even Prometheus was. Attacking him directly was, quite literally, suicide. Then suddenly I felt something click inside of me, something I had forgotten a little too easily. Honestly, I felt embarrassed for forgetting such an immense subject.

"Wait" I said, "Krystal and her teachings… I have a power that can keep that from happening!" I said suddenly.

Fox was a tad bit confused, "Teachings?"

I looked over at Krystal and raised an eyebrow at her; she simply shrugged speaking to me through her mind, "I never told him"

Looking back at Fox, I reached into his mind, "Right now I can block Krystal from entering your mind, easy and effective. As a matter of fact I'm doing it right now and you have no idea. It's a lot to tell you so just bear with me. If I can work this power, exercise it to the point where I can spread this ability then we can safely engage Austin and his men and save Penny, kill Austin and Woods, and win this bullshit fight."

It was true, the only way one can become more proficient at whatever it is they do, they must work at it and practice to push the boundaries of what they used to be able to do. All I needed to do was to practice with my capability of blocking out another essence and hopefully be able to create some kind of telepathic force field, keeping Austin out of the minds of anyone near me.

Fox wasn't keen on the idea. Ever since Austin re appeared, Fox has been extremely cautious about making any moves against him. I couldn't really tell why and it didn't really add up for me; Fox was always leading us into attacks and making the plans to get us closer to winning. Surely Austin was strong, even stronger than Prometheus, but Fox usually was never phased by the power of the enemy.

"Fox" I said as I raised an eyebrow, "Don't tell me that you think this is a bad idea. Think about it, this thing is fool proof. If I can hold Austin back from our minds then we can take him out and get Penny back!"

Fox was still skeptical about it, he was so cautious about it, yet I couldn't find out exactly why. However he accepted it nonetheless, "Fine, we'll contact the others and get the planning phase started." He said as I turned to walk out of the bridge, "And Kevin," he said as I was about to enter the elevator to start my practice, "If this plan fails… we may never be able to eliminate Austin…"

I nodded once in agreement, "You know me Fox… I always have a personal back-up plan."

"Let's hope so" He said as the elevator doors slid closed. He knew exactly what I was talking about when I said "personal back-up plan". If this doesn't work, then, as usual, I will handle it with my own hands.

I was confident that I could do what it was I just promised Fox, but something else was bothering me. There a feeling in my gut that told me something was up with our leader. I realized that Fox was definitely hiding some kind of feeling that I can't get to even with my telepathy, just then I felt him hiding something, something that he obviously didn't want Krystal or I to find out about, be it a feeling or some kind of secret. I didn't remotely think it would be some form of secret he was keeping, I knew he wouldn't do such a thing, but it still bothered me slightly whenever the thought comes to my mind. I almost felt like this thing he was hiding had to do with Austin coming back and his sudden shift in cautiousness. Nonetheless I needed to focus on the mission at hand and train myself to become, essentially, more powerful than Austin.

I felt the elevator start its decent down into the docking bay. Krystal had taught me so much and had entrusted me with Cerinian teachings that are beyond powerful. Ever since she finished with her teaching sessions and I had all the information and skill to use such skills in telepathy, I would go down to the docking bay and go into the virtual training room to meditate, becoming closer to my skill and learning to control the power even more.

To Be Continued...

…Like right now…

Yup, chapter 10 is already up as well, so go ahead and check it out!