FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

***

Just in time for the 3-year anniversary of the story, a special thanks for everyone's support in this effort. I promise to continue working on it until the very end. And again, any advice or helpful critique is welcomed.

Oh and this chapter has some expression of a homoerotic nature in it. If you are offended by such stuff and too young than don't read it, otherwise enjoy.

Oh and official VG characters in this story belong to Nintendo.

Certain naming schema were inspired and credited to Square Enix.

Other characters copyright of me and various other owners, please don't use them without our permission.

***

It was fortunate that the other three who were knocked out by Angulo didn't die. Zio really was good at his job, while they weren't able to do much besides walk to where the others were. I was beside myself, my thoughts trailing from all the damage this part of Sauria took to the confrontations with Angulo. Bahamut seemed to share some of the questions that lied within my mind as we walked back to where the others are.

"Man," Blaze started with a groan, holding his head a little, "what is with that guy and his punches?"

"Sounds like he has an out for you," Kuro stated behind me.

"He certainly doesn't pull his punches," Blaze replied and stretched a little.

"I don't think any of them held back," Tri followed suit, his feline tail twitching idly, "if that's what one of their stronger ones are capable of then we certainly have a formidable foe."

"That would be nice," I replied slowly, "if he wasn't actually holding back."

"What?!" The other four collectively shouted. I turned and faced them, a serious look spread across my face.

"When I was on Titania," I began, "I was nearly defeated by another of Claxan's lower ranking officers, and Angulo came to my rescue. The match seemed somewhat even, until Angulo pulled out a piece of his power. One jump and spell later, and his opponent was vaporized, not even a speck of dust remained. Trust me, he was holding back the past two times, except with poor Concord of course, and we know what happened to him." The rest of them stopped and fell silent a bit; it was Zio who spoke next.

"It's really hard to believe this," the dragon began, "I know that he stopped and left you alone both times, but every time else? The thought of that really scares me." I couldn't blame him for that, so I decided to try lightening the mood a little bit.

"Don't worry guys," I stated, "we'll be fine as long as we stick together." The others smiled as if in agreement and nodded. We then doubled our walking efforts back to returning to the others. And fortunately it wasn't long until I ran into them.

"Took you long enough," Wolf said impatiently, "what's the status?"

"Mission complete," I stated plainly, "Gungho is dead, and we have three injured here."

"Very good," Wolf stated and smirked a bit, "now your permanent record will look a little bit better." I rolled my eyes a bit.

"We can let the nearby relief base take care of the others," Leon stated reappearing right beside the lupine leader. I looked at him and nodded a bit, before letting my eyes wander the rest of the nearby area.

"Where's Panther?" I asked them.

"Beyond the bushes to your left," Wolf said, "he's talking to someone, although I don't care who. Go tell him that it's time to move."

"Right," I stated and headed over to the bushes quickly.

***

Angulo looked around on a nearby balcony near the heart of the base, which was large enough to allow little chance of random conversation. Only the higher ups knew of his real significance, those amongst the lower ranks wrote him off as simple filler. He looked to the ground a little bit, many thoughts in his mind.

'If only they knew what Cougar wants...' His thoughts were broken with the calling of his name.

"Angulo," he turned and saw a large dragon, his emerald scales reflecting the pale light of the silver infrastructure that surrounded them.

"Number 7," the Pegasus stated, "nice to see you here."

"No need to be formal around me," the dragon stated, "Draxor will do just fine."

"Right," Angulo shrugged, "I find it fascinating how even though you're number 7 to the big boss, Cougar treats you like his second in command."

"He says that's how it should be," Draxor explained, "but the current number 2 also has close ties with the superior, everybody knows that."

"Do they now?" Angulo scratched his chin.

"How's the human progressing?" Draxor asked.

"Just fine," Angulo started, "the base of Ryan's abilities is set on the table, and the latest addition to his arsenal sets the last piece down on the plan."

"You don't have much enthusiasm," The dragon flexed his wings idly, "still find fancy in the human? Or maybe you still cling onto the hopes of the past."

"What's past is past," the Pegasus flexed his own wings, "I'm only doing what needs to be done."

"Do you really think that you have what it takes to go through with this plan?" Draxor asked, "It seems like your loyalty is always one to question."

"Death does not frighten me," Angulo said bluntly.

"No I suppose not," Draxor stated, "that bit was plainly obvious. I didn't believe it at first until Cougar informed me, that's rare even amongst the rest of our cursed lot."

"Does anyone else know about me?"

"Only Arxgon, Raphael and Siegfried know about you besides me and Cougar."

"So those within Cougar's special circle..." Angulo stated.

"Not all of them," Draxor corrected, "but the biggest of them yes. Now you plan to fight the human next, correct?"

"Yes," Angulo stated, "My fight against him will serve many purposes, to bring out Ryan's new power and to set him up with something more. The one I bring with me will merely serve as a catalyst to play Ryan's hand."

"Hmm..." The dragon hummed a bit, "again your response seems ambiguous, distant. I hope you don't have a little extra planned up your sleeve. Even Cougar wouldn't hesitate to strike down an old friend."

"Again, what's past is past," Angulo said, "all I need is to do what needs to be done. But answer me this..." Angulo turned to face the dragon, "do you have what it takes to strike down an old friend, Rador?"

"I told you never to call me by my real name again," The dragon huffed, "I'll be watching the match from afar, and so will he, so try to give us a good show." With that note, the dragon disappeared. Angulo looked down again, observing the specks below, showing various Dawx soldiers making their rounds, his thoughts focused on Ryan and the battlefield of choice.

"MacBeth," he said, "Ryan... all I need is to create a new hope." And soon he disappeared too, heading posthaste to the planet of choice. His proxy was already there.

***

"We've arrived," Fox stated as the Great Fox touched down a ways from their destination.

"Certainly wasn't an easy trip," Peppy stated, "an ambush from a flank of camouflaged ships."

"It's a sign you're getting old, old man," Falco teased lightly.

"We need to hurry before the insurgency gets any worse," Krystal explained.

"Stay here and guard the ship ROB64," Slippy ordered, and the bot in question complied, as the whole team climbed into the Landmaster tank. After the team fastened up the tank started up and pulled out, just as ROB64 lowered the main hangar door for the team. MacBeth was a very hot and desolate terrain. It's very tough to make the trip on foot, and the volcanic debris in the air also makes air travel difficult too.

"So what's going on at the base we're heading to?" Falco asked sitting one seat behind Fox, to the left of him.

"There's an insurgency going on at the nearby prison base," Krystal explained, "it's a riot that according to guards have revealed Dawx origins. They seem to be working on recruiting new members this way."

"It would make sense for them to do that," Peppy stated, "but we should be careful because of it, the situation is very unpredictable."

"There's not a lot of us too," Slippy stated, "but that may prove to be an advantage."

"Our small numbers can allow us to remain inconspicuous," Fox explained his ears twitching a little, "it's our best bet at not attracting too much attention."

"Too Late!!" Peppy shouted, "we have a bogey on our tail." Fox calmly and quickly turned on the radar.

"He's right," Krystal pointed out, "but it's more than one, we have a couple coming in from the front too."

"Preparing for battle," Fox stated, activating the tank's main artillery. The bumpy ride didn't help much but it was the best that they could do.

"Brace yourselves," Slippy shouted hanging onto his seat. There were five total enemy ships that quickly dispersed to the Landmaster's location. They quickly opened fire as they circled the tank, closely missing each shot. Fox did his best to dodge, spending his time paying attention to the road and not the weaponry, this wasn't good.

"Falco," Fox ordered, "take control of the weaponry and return fire."

"I'm on it," the avian replied, quickly taking over the nearby controls where he sat, and returned fire quickly. Despite Fox being slightly better, Falco had a reputation of his own, and soon nearly two ships were down, and one other damaged. Krystal kept a look on the status of the tank, as well as keeping the rest of the team updated. The tank shook though as a sixth ship arrived, landing a stray hit down upon them.

"The Landmaster's main shield is down to 89%," the vixen replied.

"Quick, seek cover under the elevated train tracks," Peppy pointed out. As the tank came around the bend, Fox spotted the tracks in particular and quickly maneuvered the ship under the tracks, diverting some of the fire away.

"This isn't good," Fox said, "we can't get to the base with these guys following us. We need to beat them before we reach there."

"How close are we?" Slippy asked.

"Approximately 40 macro-units away," Peppy said, "that will be approximately 9 minutes away."

"Then we'll just have to beat them before that time," Falco said concentrating his fire on the nearest ship. Krystal quickly looked at the fox and avian at the front and thought to herself.

'How soon can this secret keep up I wonder?'

***

Meanwhile on the Wolfen, The Star Wolf team, Zio, and I were being briefed by General Pepper on the next mission over the hologram projector.

"Team," he stated, "we got trouble. There's a rising insurgency on the Planet MacBeth."

"MacBeth?" I asked, I hadn't heard much of the planet yet.

"It's a highly volcanic planet," Leon began, "The Lylat system uses that planet to detain most of its prisoners. It's rough hot terrain makes it the ideal spot for criminals to keep from escaping."

"Well that' the problem," The head dog explained, "the Dawx army has snuck into one of the more prominent bases, one that manufactures machinery. Inside there they started a riot with the other prisoners, and now they're on the loose. We need you and a few others to help quell the enemy forces. It's problematic to lose the eye on the prisoners here."

"We're on our way," Wolf said bluntly.

"One more thing," Pepper stated, "there is also confirmed sighting of a couple of Claxan members there, so be cautious."

"Understood," The wolf replied and the transmission ended. "The destination is roughly an hour away on hyper drive. Ryan, no detours or training this time, you'll need your rest." I nodded, knowing that Bahamut would detest otherwise. Zio walked up to me and asked.

"Remind me again why the others stayed behind?"

"They volunteered to help with cleanup in Sauria, and boy do they need it."

"Yeah," Zio agreed, "I hope King Tricky and the other Earthwalkers will be alright."

"They should be fine," I pointed out simply, "we need to focus on the next mission. Which reminds me, why did you decide to tag along again?"

"Well," Zio began as we walked back out into the hall, "without me you'd be in more trouble. You can save my ass, and I can heal yours when you need it." I chuckled lightly and hugged him a bit.

"It's an ass worth saving," and I gave him a kiss on the cheek.

We headed back down to the guest bedroom for another quick rest, fortunately, I suffered very small bruises on the last fight, making rejuvenation much easier. As we walked I came into contact with Bahamut in my mind.

'Shed any light on the situation?' I asked.

'Not much,' He replied, 'but I found some fascinating details about the new power that was given to you by Gungho's defeat.'

'What is it?' I asked curiously.

'Do you know what a Limit Break is?' The dragon asked me.

'No not really,' I replied.

'It's an uncontrollable surge of power,' he explained, 'one that very few warriors can use. Nevlamas the Bloodscale can use this ability, and Nordic too, to a point. Despite that, it can potentially be awakened in just about anybody.'

'So was that power awakened inside me after beating Gungho?' I asked.

'Correct.'

'So how do I use this power?' I asked again.

'You can't,' he replied simply, 'it's uncontrollable, it'll only activate in an extreme situation, such as when you're near death or a powerful surge of emotion washes over you.'

'I see,' I said scratching my head a bit as we reached the guest room, 'suddenly it's a lot less impressive.'

'It makes me wonder though,' he said aloud in my mind, 'why would Angulo bring Gungho along if he had that kind of power?' I thought for a bit too, it was certainly curious.

'Hm...' I thought scratching my chin a bit, 'I shall have to ask him. I'm betting more than a few credits that the Claxan on MacBeth at the moment is Angulo.' Zio turned to face me just shy of the door.

"Are you coming in?"

"Sorry," I said walking into the room, the door shutting automatically behind us, "I got lost in thought."

"Well we can get lost in thought in the shower," Zio pointed out, "you kind of smell." I rolled my eyes, much to his amusement as I walked into the bathroom.

***

"We have 90 seconds to hangar bay," Peppy stated as they got hit by another stray missile. The team gave an audible yip in discomfort as the tank shook violently.

"The shield is down to 21%," Krystal pointed out, "we can't take another blast."

"Damnit," Fox said, "we're almost there, and only two ships left, hang on." Fox punched the throttle and sped up, the team bracing tightly to their seats.

"Damn the terrain is too rough," Falco pointed out, "I can't get a good aim on the two ships. Damnit hold still!"

"Fox," Krystal quickly pointed out, "One of them charging up a proton blast, if it hits our shield is gone."

"Hold on tight," Fox gritted his fangs, putting faith that his avian partner will pull through.

Fortunately, help arrived just in time. Out of nowhere, too shots landed accurately on each ship, causing them to nosedive and crash behind the Landmaster. Fox saw this and blew a sigh of relief.

"Someone saved us," Slippy said, "what's that?" He pointed out his nearby window, "to the southwest quadrant." Peppy looked at his monitor and thought hard.

"It looks familiar, like an Arwing."

"Bring it up on the monitor," Fox commanded and the hare did so, pulling up the screen revealed the ship more closely, he pulled to the nearby hangar bay of the base and the ship set down.

"Whoever it was we owe our thanks," Falco said, and everyone paid close attention to the ship's cockpit as it opened up, and jumping off onto the smooth metal ground below him, was a 5'8" human male, that they all recognized immediately.

"Ryan!!!" The four males shouted out. Krystal snapped her head up, looking at the monitor and at them.

'Ryan's here?' She thought examining the human on the monitor carefully. She immediately got confused and a bit suspicious. 'I thought he was with Star Wolf.' The human saw the tank and waved at them as they pulled up next to him.

"All the easier," Fox said, "the team is back together again. But I was wondering where's he's been recently." The tank parked a little ways away on the hangar bay and the group got out slowly.

"Hey guys," Ryan spoke with a happy tone, "fancy meeting you here." Ryan was also wearing his usual Star Fox uniform, which also seemed to throw Krystal off a bit. Falco ran up and glomped Ryan eagerly.

"You're alright," Falco stated, "where have you been recently?"

"Oh here and there," the human said, "I saw you guys in a bind and decided to give you a hand."

"Well," Slippy said, "we're glad you did."

"Did you hear about the riots here too," Fox asked.

"Yeah I did," Ryan answered, "other soldiers and mercenaries arrived just before I did. They should be able to handle the insurgency but we should give them a hand."

"Absolutely right Ryan," Fox said, "let's hurry it up." He turned to see Krystal, her face was struck with a serious tone and he looked at her. "Is something wrong Krystal?" The vixen turned to face him.

"Um," she said, "no, it's just the fumes are getting to me."

"Well don't push yourself," Fox stated and turned, "let's move out."

"You guys start ahead," Ryan said, "I'll follow from the rear, to make sure they don't follow." The other team members nodded and went ahead, except for Krystal, who was deep in thought next to Fox.

'This is getting more and more suspicious by the minute,' Krystal thought to herself, 'I can't get into his mind easily, neither can I sense the dragon he harbors there either. It's almost like... wait a minute.' The vixen turned quickly, seeing the human right behind Peppy, his sword held firmly in his hand. The sword, the hilt looked dull, nothing like Ryan's actual blade.

'That's Not...' She gasped and shouted, "PEPPY BEHIND YOU!" As the human raised his blade up.

"What the?" Peppy turned and gasped, just as the other team members turned in shock.

"RYAN!" Fox shouted.