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The ship had left orbit in less than a minute, and we were on the move. We were also moving much faster than usual, as the Wolfen remained in a state of hyperdrive. This was a pattern I noticed ever since the announcement that Cougar made galaxy wide. I was sure I had an answer but I decided to ask the question anyway.

"Why are we moving so quickly?" I asked Panther a minute after walking into the bridge, where they were waiting.

"We're on a time limit," he explained, "In a state of maximum security emergency, the demand for high power fuel cells goes up nearly 200 fold. Although it takes lots of money and work, it has the power to get us from one end of the system to the other in a matter of a few hours. Fortunately for us mercenaries they give us an insatiable supply to use, and our ships become customized with it too."

"That reminds me, is my ship here?" I asked him, he shrugged.

"Ask Leon when he gets back from the hangar bay. He's doing a quick check on our own ships so it's ready to go just in case." I nodded and turned to Wolf, who was sitting in his captain's chair.

"Better get changed Ryan," he said lazily staring down at me, "no point in me going all out on your new duds if you're not going to wear them." He had a point, I was still wearing my exercise clothing from earlier holding my new clothes. It certainly wasn't fair to let them go to waist, and I turned to walk out.

"No need to leave human," Wolf said twiddling a lazy finger, "it's not like we haven't seen your dick and ass before, you can change in front of us."

"You're just saying that because you like what you see," I teased sticking my tongue out at him playfully.

"Would you rather I rip your clothes off right now and fuck that little ass of yours until you bleed?" He said, "I may have a soft side when it comes to comrades, but I'm not afraid to get rough with anyone in an instant."

"Fair enough," I said nothing more in agreement, since I knew full well that he was good about his threats. My new uniform was nice enough to come with a new pair of secure fitting boxer briefs. It was even black to match; do they really pay that much attention to detail? I was stripped and redressed quickly, receiving a quick whistle from Panther as I did so.

"It looks even better on you," Panther said chuckling, as I fitted the jade eyepiece over my left ear, sliding it so the scanning piece itself was right over my left eye.

"I must admit, it has some badass pizzazz to it," I said taking a twice over on myself, "So captain, what's the briefing on our mission?"

"We are currently about to rendezvous with a small group we used to know back in the day," Wolf explained, "they don't have clean backgrounds by any means, but I've given them incentive to do some spying deep within the Claxan for us. We have learned unfortunately that the Claxan's base is completely isolated from the Dawx military that they train. Only the soldiers with close ties with a Claxan member can even get tabs on where their location is, which lead us to a frustrating dead end."

"They must have anticipated spies long before they first surfaced then," I interjected, and the lupine nodded, resting his head over a held up hand.

"We've been trying to get them to find any leaks from their "commanding officers" for any leads," Wolf said, "About an hour ago they contacted me over an unlicensed line that they found something juicy, and that is our first priority."

"Where are they located?" I asked him.

"They've been last sighted within the pathway between Katina and Titania, so we agreed to meet up in interjected ships inside the Asteroid belt in Sector Y." I nodded.

'It makes sense,' Bahamut explained in my mind, 'In the belt it would be hard for anyone to instigate an attack on any side, which although dangerous provides a good defense.'

'In a time like this,' I pointed out, 'we have no time to be cautious, but enough time to not be reckless.'

"How much longer?" I asked them.

"About another hour," Panther said, "although the hyperdrive will need to be disabled by the time we get to the belt, so we don't accidentally shred ourselves." Leon had walked back into the bridge, and I decided to ask him about my ship.

"Hey Leon, how are the ships looking?"

"Up to date now," he said, "fuel cell accelerators have been added to allow us some quick speed, and a new more powerful version of spacial camouflaging has been added, for stealth in the case that the Wolfen goes to space dust."

"And my ship?" I asked.

"Star Fox still has them, besides, we'll need you to hold up the ship in the case that we're attacked.

"Right," I said, "Isn't there a master control system or something to keep the ship's basics running? Like how Star Fox has ROB64 to work with."

"Ours aren't integrated into an android," Wolf explained, "but it's more efficient, as there is no remote access to it, making it harder for someone to hack into, unless they broke into the ship." I nodded and dropped the subject.

"So what do we do while we wait for our arrivals?" Just as I asked that, the intercom beeped, and Wolf switched it on, bringing the terminal screen in front of the windows down. The screen turned on, to show Pepper and Krystal. From the sight of the vixen I quickly jumped out of view from the screen, taking refuge in a blind corner right next to the terminal.

Panther silently mouthed the word smooth to me as I did so, and I flicked a finger at him. General Pepper was to speak.

"Everyone we have a problem," General Pepper said, "Krystal has just notified me here that someone suspicious has just boarded your ship. Be on the lookout during your rounds."

"Are you sure?" Leon asked, "I just got back from the hangar bay, and I didn't see anything suspicious, and if anyone is hiding here, the hangar bay would be their only real access point."

"I don't usually warn the likes of you," Krystal began, "but be careful, I was sure that someone boarded your ship. Don't let your guard down."

"Over and out," Pepper said switching off the console, my thoughts raced as the terminal raised to it's original position.

'You don't think she saw me did you?' I asked him.

'The way she said it, it may be possible that she did, but did not realize it was you,' Bahamut reassured, 'regardless, best keep your thoughts suppressed around her.'

'Right,' I said and had a random thought, 'I wonder if anyone managed to successfully block out her powers completely?'

'If they did,' Bahamut stated, 'They must have had a very high chi level.'

Panther decided to go walk around and investigate just to make sure, and I sat back in the middle of the floor, and crossed my legs. I gently met my hands together, resting my arms on my thighs, and closed my eyes. I was meditating in less than a minute.

Training with Bahamut was certainly an entirely different experience. I wasn't able to bring Bahamut's blade form in my mind, relying on the Star Fox blade instead, and couldn't use any of his advantages training. My magic was so much easier to use though anyway, as according to the ancient dragon, I was technically only projecting the spells from my mind, where it's sourced. It's like cutting out the middleman in a refinery of some sorts.

I was broken from meditation when Panther came back in.

"I just searched the whole ship," he said, "I really didn't see anything out of line."

"So it was probably Ryan that she saw," Wolf yawned a bit and got out of his seat to stretch a bit, growling a bit as he crackled his knuckles. Panther and Leon decided to have a quick sparring match, preferring to use the space of the bridge, so they can keep an eye out for the rendezvous team. I went back to meditating for the next little while.

After an hour passed we were just about to hit the Sector Y asteroid belt. It was then that another message came up on the terminal.

"This is a little quicker than I expected," Wolf said hitting the button, "report Concord, are you ready for entrance?" Another voice replied, but I knew for sure that it wasn't this Concord's voice, because I heard one that I knew.

"Is that this guy's name?" He asked, "If you're his contact he mentioned, I hate to break it to you, he's the only one alive. All his other comrades are dead."

"Zio?" I asked running into view of the terminal, "is that you?"

"Sure is Ryan," The dragon on screen said, "Lucian Blaze is here as well. We caught his distress signal about a half an hour ago and decided to investigate. It was nasty, like something ripped their ships to shreds from the outside."

"How is Concord?" Wolf asked, and another lighter furred wolf cam on screen.

"Well well well," The wolf chuckled, a voice much lighter than Wolf's, "sorry O' Donnell, they found out our little game. But I still got the info with me."

"Everyone get in here then, what's your damage Concord?" Wolf asked.

"I got out with only one major scrape, but nothing to keep me down with," he replied. Within another few short minutes, the new ship had safely landed in our hanger bay. I was glad that a couple other friends were here for the ride, but I was also disappointed that they had to see me with Star Wolf like this. But there was no chance to avoid it this time, as they held our wounded accomplice on their person.

"They sniffed out their game," Panther said to Wolf, "they may or may not know that we're their rendezvous."

"Regardless we'll keep ready for battle in the case that they find us," Wolf said. We nodded, and awaited all three's arrival at the bridge. We kept our ship moving slowly, taking refuge inside the asteroid belt for protection. It didn't take more than a few minutes for them to arrive. Zio walked in first, followed closely by Blaze holding Concord up by one arm.

Concord was very much a wolf, and looked very much like Wolf did, only he was a few inches taller, with a lighter fur color and lack of white head fur. Zio ran up to me and gave me a quick hug.

"I'm so glad to see you Ryan," The tall dragon said, "deep space can get lonely sometimes."

"Hey," Blaze said in some annoyance. Zio looked at him then back at me.

"Like I said, deep space can get lonely sometimes," Blaze collapsed in a grumble.

"Don't worry Blaze," I assured the phoenix, "I'm still glad to have you around. And of course you too Zio."

"Right," Blaze said, "but in all seriousness, what are you doing here? And with Star Wolf none the less?"

"Are you willing to keep a secret?" I asked them, "And that means you can't tell Krystal Blaze." The phoenix shrugged and nodded. The red dragon did the same.

"Alright then," I began, "I volunteered to be kept on constant duty to try and find the Claxan. But Star Fox was currently on assignment dealing with rioters on the home front. So I decided to continue outside investigations, and Star Wolf was the first to come up. I didn't tell Star Fox because I didn't want to open old wounds, and I expect you to do the same." The two nodded and hugged me again.

"So Concord," Wolf began, "how did they find out?"

"That's something I don't even know," Concord said, he had a bunch of bandages wrapped around his waist. "It's as if the information leaked. I was hidden trying to dig some dirt, when a couple of my comrades were called in a line up. A cougar in a black trench coat made a visit to them. One second he looked at them closely, and the next, he drew his blade and struck them both down. I called emergency abort just before I was attacked by a bull with a large axe. He was wearing the same trench coat and identical symbol."

"Cougar and Arxgon," I said, "did they just show up out of nowhere?"

"I didn't see where they came from," Concord said, "but we only barely made it back to our ships. In fact only two of us six survived that far. We were chased, but made it into the asteroid belt. From then for some reason some unknown force slowly tore our ships to shreds. Good George found himself without a ship within minutes, and shortly dead. I was lucky to come across these guys, who got me onto their ship in time."

"Damn," Wolf said, "what information did you manage to salvage?"

"I managed to hack into a local computer system of theirs and found some juicy information about some of the Claxan's lower rung members, as well as blueprints for new devices created by the Dawx army."

"That's excellent," I said shooting a fist, "We can finally get a preemptive strike. Anything about key locations or anything?"

"I don't know the whole depth of what I got, because I was in kind of a hurry," Concord said, "but after you transfer it to Corneria's main base you are more than welcome to look it over yourself. It could bring you advantages in battle."

'It seems our visit has brought some vital information to fruition,' Bahamut stated, 'Even if they don't have a base location, they may hold a vital clue.'

'Right,' I wondered, 'but I'm curious how their ship was being dissolved like that. It's scary when you think about it.' My thoughts were interrupted when a huge shock wave caused our ship to shake greatly. The emergency lights flashed bright red and the loud alarm went off. Most of us were knocked off our feet, Concord and Blaze in particular.

"What in the world was that?" I asked holding onto the wall.

"We're under siege," Wolf said calmly turning on the terminal, "there's a fleet awaiting us on the outside, and by the looks of the ship, it's the Dawx army."

"I guess they don't care if we're in the middle of a fucking asteroid belt," Panther said rubbing his forehead a bit, "let's go." Before anything else happened, the system voice went off. It was a sincere female voice if anything, but it was clearly a recording.

"Danger, deflector shield is abnormally draining," It repeated, "Repeat, deflector shield abnormally draining, movement detected on the ships outer surface."

"It's just like our ships from before," Concord coughed, "Something is trying to dissolve the ship." Wolf turned the terminal cameras to face the outside surface of the ships. Unfortunately, nothing was turning up as the warning detected.

"I don't get it," Wolf growled, "why aren't we seeing anything."

'Ryan,' Bahamut shouted, 'something's there, concentrate your device on your face and you can see them.' I nodded and did so, flicking the scanner on. Then with a little bit on concentrating, I shouted the spell.

"Scan Reveal," This spell combines with my scanner, allowing it to detect and reveal invisible objects. The target of the spell was the terminal itself, giving it a temporary boost in its mechanics.

"What are you doing?" Zio asked.

"Just watch," I said, and concentrating on the terminal sent it out throughout the ship, and the lofty intruders came into view within an instant. They were small robots much similar to the ones found during the Claxan invasion on the planet. Everyone was taken aback.

"Camouflaged Protocols," Leon stated, "we don't have much time, they're eating the shields life fireworks."

"It's too dangerous to shoot at them from the ships or we'll blow everything up," Wolf said twitching his fingers, "we need someone to take care of them on foot." I rose my hand.

"Got a space suit," I said, "If it's possible that you can only see them through this monitor, I can be able to see them by myself regularly and dispatch them." Everyone was skeptical, especially Bahamut. But Wolf sighed.

"I hate to send you out there but you're right. Hurry, a spacesuit is available right near the hatch on the very top floor. Get to the elevator now." I nodded and ran at full speed heading toward the bridge. As I did Wolf spoke to the others with sincere orders.

"Leon, Panther, You come with me to dispatch of these annoying insects," They nodded hurrying away, "The rest of you, Stay here and fend off anyone who gets their annoying selves inside the ship. Use lethal force if you have to." Wolf then left the bridge, quickly following Panther and Leon to their hangar bay. I got to one of the available elevators and hit the one leading to the top dock. As the elevator sped up Bahamut spoke loudly in my mind.

'Ryan, you don't have any experience in space outside a ship, it's too dangerous,' Bahamut said, 'what's worse is I can't help you directly in space, as there is no air in space. You can use the sword, but my boosting abilities are null and void in space, just like space itself.'

"I understand that Bahamut," I said aloud, "but no one else is able to, Star Wolf has better flight experience then I do, and can handle themselves. The other group can handle themselves just fine, they have all sorts of necessary abilities to protect themselves. It's time I protect them in the crucial way they need it."

'I know this is an emergency Ryan, but you aren't handling this rationally,' He said as I exited the elevator and grabbed a nearby spacesuit hanging on the wall, 'This could be a trap. Space has absolutely no friction, if you get hit once in anyway you could find yourself floating endlessly through space immemorial.'

"I know but I still have to try," I sealed the space suit good and tight. Compared to the earthly version, it was a very tight fit, and conformed to my body almost like it was a second skin. I summoned Bahamut to my hand and hit the button leading outside. Seeing space like you were walking out on it was a whole new feeling in itself. But this was no time for gawking. There were more than a dozen robots trying to eat the ship up, and there was no way I was going to let them complete the deed.

"Thundara," I shouted, sending a good flurry of lightning bolts towards the nearest three robots. As if a swarm of ants, all of the bots turned their attention towards me and I charged back. Fighting on top of a ship in space was a completely new experience. I could still jump, and stay in air much longer before my feet landed back on the surface. With no resistance, my attacks followed through quicker and stronger. But I still had to be careful, as they could to. I jumped and rolled my way through the crowd, sending several different spells around them.

"Aero," I shouted, sending a good flurry of wind their way when they swarmed. I spotted the three Wolfen ships flying around as they did, expertly taking down enemy ships. I could count my lucky stars here, as the Dawx ships were too busy with them to spot me, but it wasn't long after I finished the last small robot when I was in for a rude awakening.

"Is that all of them?" I asked, casting the scan spell again to try and detect anymore.

"RYAN, ABOVE YOU!!!" Blaze's voice shouted over a nearby intercom.

"Huh?" I looked up in confusion, and jumped back just as a large tentacle swiped at me. I landed on my feet with a graceful backflip bringing the Bahamut blade up to defend me. "Whoa that's huge." This was a much larger version of the robot, roughly twice the size of an Arwing. This one had resembled more of a shape of a jellyfish, and seemed to emit electrostatic discharge from it's tentacles.

"Blaze! What's the status?" I asked, "Shell!" I shouted the protection spell, bringing up a small barrier just in time to block a small thunderbolt.

"Not good," Blaze said, "the computers detected two cloaked intruders in the lower levels, and the ships defenses are failing against them. I think they may be Claxan members."

"I'll hurry and try to finish this last one off," I said, and charged at him. With a jump in the air, I stabbed my sword forward and shouted a combination spell that Nordic had taught me.

"Aero Dash," A gust of wind propelled me forward, nearly ripping through the bot's side. When I landed I backed off just enough to avoid a lunge from the monster.

"The defenses can't last much longer," Blaze shouted, "We may have less than three minutes at best." This was bad, one Claxan they might be able to handle, but two would be hard without the rest of us there, I needed to hurry, and hurry fast. I struck at the beast and fast, but my normal attacks didn't work much.

"Blizzara," I shouted as it lunged, the spell managed to freeze the thing right to the ship, exposing it's head for attack, and I did, charging another spell as I struck.

"Fira Blade," I shouted, coating the sword in flames just in time to strike, leaving a severe burn mark on the robot's head. This didn't stop it, and with deliberate force it broke free from the ice, sending a cold gush of shards everywhere. I kept my body weight forward so I wouldn't get blown away, while pressing my arms up over my visor for protection.

One minute down and I was nearly in a panic to hurry, and it was then that an unknown ship flew out of nowhere. It was similar to the Dawx ships, albeit shaped differently, and it was close enough that I could glimpse into the windshield. I could tell the figure inside was feminine, but nothing beyond that. In a split second, it fired a round right at us, and flew off at a blinding speed.

"Huh, what's that?" I asked, and Bahamut shouted.

'RYAN, FOCUS!' I turned in time to see a giant hole ripped through the monster robot and after a huge amount of static discharge it exploded. The blinding force was strong and instantly knocked me off of my feet, sending me soaring through the air.

"Whooooooaaaaaa!" Was all I could shout, as I was send flying far off the ship. I couldn't stop spinning and moving, no matter how hard I could try. The only I could do was hold tight so I wouldn't lose Bahamut. 'This can't be, is this mission failed already?' Just as I thought those words I collided hard on another object, and I found my direction changing. I was able to gain motion just in time to see what it was.

"Now that was a close one," Panther said winking at me through his windshield, "One second more and you'd have become eternal space debris." Now this was what piloting skill was about. He managed to catch me with his whole ship like a catcher's mitt. After another quick minute he lowered me to the main ship and I jumped back on it, quickly regaining my waning balance.

"Thanks Panther," I said bowing a bit, "I owe you one." I nodded and ran back into the ship, opening up the dock, and sealing it.

"Ryan hurry!" Zio shouted, "They're about to break through the last defense." I ran to the elevator, ripping the headgear off of my head. As the elevator lowered I managed to get myself out of the rest of the suit.

'Bahamut,' I said, 'Are you back with me.'

'Yes,' he said, 'But I have a few choice words for you.'

'Save it for later,' I said as the elevator opened to the hallway to the bridge. Like lightning I bolted as fast as I could, holding the blade close to me. It was then that an unfriendly face interrupted me.

"Surprise," He shouted in a high pitched voice, and I was knocked back hard by a blast of energy. I landed hard on my back, and groaned as I quickly tried to get up.

"Out of the way," I shouted, charging before even seeing whom it was.

"Be careful now," He said snapping his fingers, I screeched to a halt as a big explosion caught my face, "weren't you ever taught your manners you snot nosed brat?"

"Obviously you weren't," I shouted, trying to see past his hood. He pulled it back just long enough to expose his identity.

"Gungho is the name," he said cackling in a disturbing laughter, "The master of uncontrollable bursts of force. I am considered number 8 by our leader." This Gungho was a dark violet scaled species of kamoto dragon. His scales were complimented by menacing yellow eyes, with thin black slit pupils in the center.

"You just love to crash a party don't you," I said. He gave another long weird laugh; it was quite shrill and had a mark of insanity in it.

"But that is what makes life FUN," He shouted in emphasis of the last word, "and I love nothing more than seeing someone gaze in terror as I rip they're life away from them. But I'm so dissapointed that the other guy made me deal with you while he does the killing. How boring." That reminded me that I needed to hurry.

"I don't have time to deal with the likes of you," I shouted pulling my blade up, "out of the way you crooked demon." I swiped the blade at him and he stepped aside, trying to run past. But he managed to jump in front of me.

"SURPRISE!" He shouted, hitting me square in the face with another blast of white-hot energy. I flew the air out of control and hit the ground hard a good few feet back. I was disoriented but quickly got back to my feet. "Just because I like to have fun doesn't mean you can Mess With Me!" His mood changed from cheery to angry in an instant as he spoke the last three words. This guy was missing more than a few nuts and bolts from his brain obviously. He was nuts crazy. "Oh well, I guess I'll go now and kill you later, the other guy probably already dealt with them already. It's too bad Cougar sent him to finish him off, I wonder why." With a flick of his wrist he disappeared.

"What are you babbling about?!" I yelled, getting angry, but then remembered the others. With a change of mind I bolted my way into the bridge, and was taken aback at what I saw. Zio and Blaze lay on the rug, on either side of the room. They weren't bleeding but were out cold, nearly dead to the world. The cloaked figure in the middle had his hood down, and I recognized who it was from the back of his head.

"Angulo?" I put my blade down walking forward, "is that you?" I had felt relieved for a second, until I moved an angle to the side. It was for sure Angulo, but he stood there, holding his oversized broadsword straight out in front of him. It had been driven through Concord, straight in the middle of the chest. He was spasming as he bled profusely everywhere.

"Welcome human," he said with a stern voice, lifting his sword up high, before spinning around, launching Concord high into the air, and he shouted as he hit the ground hard. I looked at Concord in deathly pain then back at Angulo, a new rage building up inside me.

"So, working for them now?" I asked with furrowed brows, "what is it you're after?"

"World Domination," he said inhesitantly.

"That's not even funny man," I retorted.

"Than how about Revenge?" he asked.

"For what?!" I shouted.

"That's usually what a monster's true motives are, either one or the other," he said, "us Claxan, we are all monsters, who don't know where we came from or how we are what we are."

"How is that possible?" I said, "the Claxan is nothing more than a fancy terrorist organization."

"Isn't that a popular word these days," Angulo said, walking past me, his blood soaked sword dripping everywhere, "but allow me to show you what I mean." He stroked the front of his mane a bit, then held his left arm out. In an instant, two bright white wings sprouted out of his cloak. I stared in wonder as a few feathers fell here and there.

"A Pegasus," I said. He turned to face me.

"The two of us are a lot alike," He turned to face me, "both of us are the only one of our species in the whole system. The biggest difference between us, is that you aren't cursed like we are." All this was getting to my head, and my adrenaline ran again, as I tried to process my thoughts.

"It was you," he said, "you were the one who spied on us. You gave all the sensitive information to make us vulnerable to attack. You gave Cougar the access codes to hack the public servers. It was you, it was all you." I clenched my fist in anger; I had never felt so betrayed.

"You really are bright," he said, "but you still have a lot to learn, and I still have yet to teach you what you don't know. Now..." He raised his blade up in a fighting position, "show me what you are made of." I looked at him and shook my head as I examined his wings.

"You're wrong," I said, "those aren't the wings of a monster."

"Then what do you call them?" he asked glaring at me after flexing his wings a bit. I leaned down and picked up a feather, holding it in my left hand.

"Angel's wings," I said turning to face him, "How could an angel work for such an evil organization?" A lone tear fell off my cheek, as I held the feather close to me.

"See if you can figure out the answer human," He said, and charged right at me, shouting as his blade grew a bright white, his wings gave him speed and he flew at me at a quick charge. Before I could do anything, the blunt end of the blade hit me hard in the stomach, and sent me flying high in the air. I gave a loud cry of pain as I hit the ceiling hard. A dent was left as I fell to the ground, hitting Wolf's chair freely like a rag doll.

When I landed on the ground I coughed hard, taking all my energy just to breathe correctly. The Pegasus walked up to me and held my chin up with the tip of his blade. I was afraid this was it.

"Angels only want one thing out of everything in the universe," he said staring deep in my eyes, "the right to live." He let go of me and backed off, before disappearing into thin air. I coughed deeply, trying to sort out my feelings of betrayal and physical pain while regaining air control. In just one invasion I was knocked against walls in painful blows more than a half dozen times. The door to the bridge slid open, and Wolf O' Donnell ran in. He spotted Concord, and ran to him.

"Concord, speak to me!" he ordered, the wolf coughed.

"Sorry Wolf," he said, "it's too late for me, but I have good news. I kept the files hidden out of their view. Consider this my last sacrifice, my penance for all the crimes I committed against Lylat." He pulled the files from his jacket and handed it to Wolf. Surprisingly, it was the only thing not covered in blood.

"Concord stay with me," Wolf said, "you can't die yet you stupid fool." Concord gave one last body spasm before falling limp. Wolf howled high into the air, the echo spreading all across the room. I still had one spell that might save him, and I tried it.

"Cura," I held my sword up in the air, expending what magic energy I had left in me, channeling the healing energy into the fallen wolf's body. But it did nothing, he still did not move, and Bahamut spoke in my head.

'It's too late little one,' he said, 'He shows no vital signs, he has passed onto the other side.' I collapsed on the floor sitting, trying my best not to cry. Wolf just sat there, holding Concord's limp hand in his own, for a good ten minutes. Panther and Leon walked in slowly afterwards, feeling tired.

"The fleet fled, it seems we're safe for now," Leon said, Wolf looked at them and then at me before standing up.

"Mission successful," Wolf said, "but we failed in another aspect, let's pay silent respects to our fallen comrades." I just sat there, trapped in my own little world, not even noticing as both Zio and Blaze stirred back into consciousness.