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A red and tan abomination charged straight at Jun and Yukiomaru. The fox reacted instantly; he twisted his body and took a step back to give the foe a smaller target. Jun didn't even have time to hold his breath when the abomination collided with Yukiomaru.

"Nishant!"

The strange and lethal claws struck at the arctic fox. Yukiomaru raised an arm to deflect the bow, as he sidestepped but the force of the strike threw him down the halls and crashing into the wall. The moment he collided with the wall, a ball of fire hurled from the abomination straight at him.

Baring his teeth, Yukiomaru thrust a paw up at the fireball and deflected it toward the ceiling with a cold mist vanquishing some of the flames. The flames singed Yukiomaru's white fur on his paw, and he was charged again.

Jun felt cold and heat gust against his fur. Yukiomaru pushed himself off of the now-dented wall and dodged the charging abomination. Using his momentum, the fox spun on his hindpaw and aimed a high kick at the abomination.

The attack was blocked, but the abomination was thrown into the wall, denting it further. The fox jumped at his attacker with a closed fist aimed at his head, but the abomination counterattacked. Yukiomaru didn't have enough time to dodge, and was brazed by the claws.

"Stand down!"

Yukiomaru kept his opponent pinned to the wall, throwing punches and kicks wherever he saw an opening; but the speed of the abomination matched that of only one of Yukiomaru's previous foes: Kazamde. Leaving only a few scratches on the enemy, Yukiomaru was countered and kicked away from the abomination giving it enough time go on the offensive again.

The fox was pinned against a wall, the claws of the abomination holding down his paws. Heat in the corridor quickly started to rise as the abomination prepared to finish off the fox. Paws pinned, Yukiomaru in the limited space he had, high enough to bring his knee to the jaw of the abomination that sent it reeling back.

The claws around Yukiomaru's wrists released when the abomination recoiled from the blow. The arctic fox intended to finish the fight and jumped at his attacker.

He fell short though suddenly and tripped to the ground, when he felt a paw grab his tail. Jun hadn't even seen her arrive, but Yelena stepped over her commander with high-powered rifle raised at the abomination. She put herself between the two who could have destroyed the entire station with their fighting.

"Nishant Gerbo, Yukiomaru Alexander, ENOUGH!" barked a red fox, who also stepped between them. Lead General Vale had his sidearm drawn as well, but he didn't aim it at either one of them.

"He's infected, sir!" yelled the abomination, Pilot Gerbo. He eyed Yelena questioningly, since she kept her gaze fixed on the springhare. He paw tightly gripping the weapon and around the trigger. It was obvious that she would not hesitate to fire, in order to protect her commander.

Jun went up to Yukiomaru who had recovered from being dropped out of midair. He was standing, not in any fighter stance, but his fur was still bristled. He was still ready to fight if the abomination Nishant tried to attack again. Jun reached for the fox's paw and grabbed onto it in an attempt to calm him. Yukiomaru tensed at the contact at first but he relaxed and gripped back on Jun's paw. His gaze never left the springhare though.

"We know," General Vale replied. "He's fighting for us. He just eradicated the entire infection on Canidera. He even killed another Perfected Infection!"

Jun didn't realize it but he was holding his breath during their fight. Seeing Yukiomaru fight like that had worried him that he might get hurt, or killed. The marten did not even want to think of that possibility.

"That's not possible," said Nishant, staring at those in front of him. Yelena had her weapon raised at him. Lead General Vale stood between him and the infected fox. The pine marten was now holding his paw. Each one of them willing to defend Yukiomaru if he tried to attack again. "The records I have accessed talked of over a hundred Perfected Infections, many of our species being infected. Never has there been a report of one defecting from the Creepers."

"Yukiomaru's infection process was interrupted by us," growled Yelena. She showed no sign of lowering the rifle. "The Creepers didn't have time to infect his loyalty to those who have died to their invasion."

"Stand down, Cassander," Lead General Vale ordered now that the springhare was calming down. Yelena hesitantly lowered the rifle.

Jun could see that Yukiomaru's fur was falling from its bristled state as well, but he could not remove his eyes from the springhare.

"I read one record talking about a Perfected Infection incubation being interrupted, but it was immediately infected with the basic infection," Nishant said. He stared at all four of them, still concerned about the infected fox. The Creeper scent was driving his urge to attack wild. "And that Infection was powered by hundreds of white bulbs, just like the one that consumed Yukiomaru on Canidera. Yukiomaru could be a spy sent by the Creepers. Why else wouldn't he have been infected if you disturbed his incubation?"

"We rescued Yukiomaru almost four years ago," Jun said, stepping in front of the arctic fox protectively. "He had plenty of opportunities to destroy us if he was really controlled by the Creepers in all those years."

"I have personally overseen the eradication of the Creepers on dozens of worlds," growled Yukiomaru. "Pilot Gerbo, what has happened to you? And why have you been gone for so long?"

"I'll brief you on that soon, Admiral," said the red fox.

"I spent months looking for you, Yukiomaru," said the abomination. "It takes just about as long to infect one with the Perfected Infection. Even if you were rescued the day I crashed on that barren planetoid, you should still be a fully fledged Creeper."

"Yukiomaru's incubation had thousands of the white flowers fueling him, and the entire planet of Velmaria that had been overgrown with the Creepers," stated Yelena. "And yet he still fights against the Creepers."

"An entire planet?" questioned the springhare. He glared at the fox with a growl rumbling from his throat. "That's not possible. He is one of them."

"Yukiomaru is not," stated Jun. In his paw, he could feel Yukiomaru tensing up again as he sensed another attack pending. "There was a storm covering Yukiomaru's pod when we had found him. We had originally thought it was a byproduct of the incubation process, or a creation of the Creepers themselves to somehow assist infected Yukiomaru. It never did make sense to me though that they'd create a storm that'd freeze their pods, and deny them sunlight. It was counterproductive. I have seen what Yukiomaru can do since we rescued him, and I know that he was resisting the infection the entire time. That storm, I believe, was part of Yukiomaru's attempt to resist. It stopped the planet's worth of energy from infecting him."

Yukiomaru's paw again relaxed, and Jun could feel with great relief that he finally took his gaze off of Nishant. The fox looked at the marten briefly, with a confused expression. It was only natural since the fox did not know all that much about his rescue.

"That..." stuttered Nishant. "Really? There... nothing about that in the records... Do you have records on the rescue?"

"Yes we do," said Yelena, she was also a bit surprised by what Jun had said.

"The council would like to talk to us," said the Lead General, glancing back down the corridor to the chambers where Nishant had debriefed the alien races on his own infection. "There are still a lot of questions we need to figure out."

"The fleet is ready to go, General," said Yukiomaru. The fox was still a little tense and he obviously did not want to be in the same room with Nishant. Running away to the fleets that were about to reinforce the retreating line was now appealing to the arctic fox.

"You'll be interested in hearing what Nishant has told us, Admiral," said the General. "Try not to kill each other while in the room. Look at what you did to this corridor already."

Yukiomaru glanced behind him at corridor leading back to the chambers. There were claw marks, dents and warped metal now defiling the corridor, all from their scuffle that lasted hardly twenty seconds. The arctic fox reluctantly agreed to return to the council chambers but he had trouble turning his back on Nishant.

Walking side by side, with as much distance between them as possible, the two infected warriors returned to the chambers. The aliens were all murmuring among themselves but it quickly quieted down when Nishant and Yukiomaru entered the room.

"What is going on?" demanded the Guardian ambassador.

"Sorry for the interruption, ambassadors," apologized the General. "A misunderstanding between Admiral Alexander and Nishant Gerbo."

Leaving the explanation to a minimal, the ambassadors started to question Pilot Gerbo on specifics of his adventure. The Guardians were interested in the origin of the asteroid that crashed on their planet, and infected the galaxy. The Stealths were interested in why they were caught in the crosshairs. What they were all interested was a way to defeat the Creepers but they were all reluctant to make their galaxy as barren as the one before.

During the questioning and discussions exchanged between each other, Jun and Yukiomaru read over what Nishant had originally told the council. The information was startling to both of them.

"Did you know about this?" asked Jun quietly.

"No, the Creeper's memories aren't transferred between those that they infect," Yukiomaru answered. "Do... do you think there might be a cure?"

Jun, who had his eyes reading the reports, now glanced up at looking into Yukiomaru's golden eyes. He wanted a cure? The marten had no way to know but he felt terrible for having to tell the younger fox the possibilities.

"I think Nishant would have mentioned it if there was," Jun answered. He saw Yukiomaru's ears fall slightly. "A cure would have been the best way to defeat the Creepers."

Yukiomaru's expression fell and his gaze went back to the reports.

Jun kept staring at him. Ever since Yukiomaru had returned, he had wanted to forget the war. When Euno turned out to be one of the Perfected Infections, Yukiomaru was angry and disappointed over it but he still kept his defenses up. This time the marten saw the hope flicker in Yukiomaru's eyes inspired by the naivety of believing a cure existed, and then die by the disappointing answer Jun had given him.

It was a moment, a small moment, that Yukiomaru's true personality came out.

"There might not be a cure but maybe this ancient civilization has some research to help create one," Jun stated. He felt his heart sink when Yukiomaru looked disappointed. He wanted to inspire the fox, not disappoint him.

Yukiomaru feigned a smile at the marten, knowing that it was an attempt to cheer him up but Jun was right; if there was any hope of a cure, then that would have been the most valuable weapon Nishant could have brought back. Instead, the springhare brought back another infection, of the opposite nature of the Creepers.

Jun hadn't realized that the arctic fox was even looking for a cure. He had never complained about the infection itself, only what it had done to his mind. That was irreversible and the fox had seemed to have gotten over it now. The marten cursed himself for wasting so much time fighting the Creepers when he and his sister could have been focusing on curing the Perfected Infection.

The alien ambassadors continued to talk among themselves. Many supported the idea of sending someone else through this gateway that Nishant had discovered to go retrieve as many copies as they could from these ancient computers. Some aliens even wanted to study Nishant to possibly replicate the infection that has taken over his body but many more were opposed to the idea. They didn't want to trade one infection for another, especially if it got out of control.

"I arranged for you to come on board Drach'n Fury with me," Yukiomaru told the pine marten sitting next to him. "It's the strongest ship we have so you'll be safest there with me."

"Thank you, Yuki," said Jun and he smiled at the fox. Before, it was obvious that Yukiomaru didn't want Jun near the front lines but he must have changed his mind after learning more about the Creepers.

"According to Nishant's statement, the Creepers have already infested another galaxy," said Yukiomaru. The fox stared at the report, carefully reading over multiple times. "How strong will they become if they start travelling between galaxies? Let us go, we're not needed here anymore."

The arctic fox stood with Jun and they both started to leave the chambers. Nishant eyed them as they left but they weren't bothered. They were able to quickly board a shuttle that'd dock with Drach'n Fury.

Nishant had requested to rejoin the frontlines as well. After reading the report on Yukiomaru's rescue, he concluded that his story was true but with all the knowledge he had gained in the past month, he was still distrustful of the little fox. If anything, he'd at least keep a careful watch over the infected Yukiomaru.