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My apologies for the rather long delay on this chapter. Hopefully, I haven't killed everyone's hopes in Vincent's part of the series just yet.

With life, in general, just beating me down, I just didn't have enough time to go off and type this. With the added writer's block of not knowing where to progress the story as well, it didn't really help much either.

Not my longest or greatest chapter ever, but it's just a sign that I'm still alive and stuff.

Enjoy.

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[Chapter 8 - Painajainen]

[Three Hours Later - Several hundred miles away from Corneria City...]

The bus ride to the camp site was pretty tame the whole way. Falco regained his cool and the three of us got to know some of the students who wanted to chat with us on the way there. A nice little bonding experience between student and teacher.

The camp site was at the James McCloud Memorial Mountain Range. The site was obviously named after the Fox's father. As well as being a local camp site for all residents of Corneria, it's used as an outdoor training ground for students of the academy. The terrain provides enough rough work to whip any student into shape.

I remember my days of being here. When it came to the student mock battle, no one could find me sniping them. The point of the exercise was to tag your opponents with a sticker that had your mark on it. I managed to snipe all my targets and eventually win the mock battle.

Good times... Good times...

We had been dropped off at our designated area. Isolated from the other groups. Good for training purposes, bad for me since I wanted to keep an eye on Diego. Calling Spike wouldn't have done any good since there's no reception out here in the mountains. Somehow I would have to make my way over to wherever his camp site is and monitor him. I figured night time would be a good time to track him down.

The students broke into their own little groups and set up everything would need for the weekend. I figured now would be a good time for let Falco know what was going on as well as find out what was going on with this little event itself.

We had just finished putting up our own tents and the students were mingling amongst themselves until something went on. Reno was still arranging everything, so I decided to take it into my own hands to ask Falco some questions.

"Hey, Falco. What's going on with today's plans?" I asked him.

"Nothing much tonight. We're gonna take tonight to just relax and stuff and then tomorrow we start the real training."

"Good stuff, good stuff..." I paused for a moment. "Falco, I don't mean to alarm you or anything, but..."

Before I could say anything, he interrupted me. "The Yakuza thing? Yeah, Fox told me about it."

Fuck me and my predictability. I grumbled. "So do you have any ideas who it might be, Falco?"

"Not yet, but I'll probably give you my input after the instructor campout dinner."

"Campout dinner?"

"The Instructors are getting their own dinner thing. We hired a chef to make us some amazing stuff. As for the kids, we thought it would be fun if they made their own thing."

"I could only imagine how that's gonna go."

"I know Ryan actually found time out of this schedule to actually attend this trip."

"Oh, kick ass. Anyone else from my graduating class here as well?"

"Um... Tri is in Ryan's squad. Nevlamas is here, Kayrin and Kazuma are both here as well."

"Awesome." I looked back to see Reno waving to me. "Hey, Falco, I'll be right back. Reno's callin'."

"Alrighty, lover boy. Don't be too rough on him."

"Oh, fuck you." We both chuckled. Reno just finished making camp. As I approached him, he held me close and lifted me up.

"Someone's happy." I said to him hugging him back. He set me back down and just held me.

"Well, we're out here in this forest, the air is clean, the view is beautiful, you're beautiful. I couldn't ask for anything more right now." Reno said as he kissed me on the lips. Only being considerate, I returned the kiss. My right hand started moving down his back grabbing his ass.

"Oh!" he said surprised. "Someone wants some action!"

"Well, we can't do this in front of the children, babe. Later tonight, alright?"

"We're gonna get that rough?"

"Well, just enough to satisfy us both... Plus, we can't forget that Falco is in our tent as well."

"Eh, I'm sure that he'll be more than willing to join us. I've seen Ryan give him some looks before. Considering that Ryan is part of team Star Fox as well, I'm sure he's had his share of that hunk of bird."

"Well, I think the kids should be just about done. Are you ready?"

"Of course." I kissed him again to seal the deal.

"Let's go then!"

We made our way back to Falco, the kids had just started to gather around little fire pit we had made for our bonfire later tonight. It wouldn't be camping if there wasn't s'mores, now would it? Falco took the reigns of the moment.

"Alright, everyone," he announced, "As you all know, it's the student cookout tonight. Mr. Kiba, Mr. Kusagari, and I will be escorting you to the campgrounds where you'll find grills to cook on. We've supplied you with several cooking supplies which you're all free to use. As for what you want to cook, that's completely up to you. You'll have three hours to cook and eat. We'll be back to pick you up later on. Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir." The kids said in unison.

We escorted the kids to a nearby area where they were to cook and stuff.

"Three hours, everyone. Got it?"

The students nodded and ran off to get everything prepared. It's like they were competing for Iron Chef or something.

We made our way to the midpoint of the separate campsites. Here I would be able to meet all of squad captains. According to the itinerary I had received, there were six squads in total. Each group had either one or two captains assigned, with the exception of our group who had three.

The smoke from all the preliminary cooking could be seen from the distance we were at. My wolven nose could already pick up the savory scents filling the air. This dinner was going to be amazing... The nose knows, and this nose says that good food is on the way.

We reached the site to meet up with the other instructors which included several of the other Star Fox members and the five others that graduated with me.

"Hey, Ry! Tri!" That sure rolled off my tongue weird. "What's up?"

"Oh, hey, Vincent!" Ryan said back to us. He gave me a friendly hug.

"Who's the tall and sexy dragon you got here."

"This, Ryan, would be my boyfriend, Reno." He stuck his hand out to give Ryan a handshake.

"C'mon, any friend of Vincent's is a friend of mine. And considering the circumstances, we're already at the friendly hug level."

Not bothering to question what Ryan had just said, he crouched down slightly to hug Ryan and unconsciously lifted him up into the air locking him in a bear hug.

"Wow, that's some grip he's got. You're a lucky one, Vincent." Ryan said to me trying to regain his balance.

"What? As if you're not lucky? Tri is the cutest thing under the sun."

"Ahem?" Reno glared at me. I chuckled a bit.

"Alright, the second cutest thing under the sun." I had just remembered that I had never introduced my boyfriend to Ryan's boyfriend. "Oh, Reno, this is-"

"You're THAT Reno Kusagari, aren't you?" Tri said interrupting me. "I've heard about what you did in Katina regarding the Lylat Yakuza."

Am I seriously the only one THAT out of the loop?! Reno and Tri started to mingle with each other leaving Ryan and myself out to talk amongst ourselves.

I looked at the rest of the instructors. I ended up finding one I didn't know. He was an otter, looked to be about 5'7", in shape, and deathly quiet that it was scary.

"Hey, Ry, any idea who that is over there?" I said pointing over to him.

"Hmm...? Can't say I have, Vincent. Why don't you go ask him yourself?" he replied.

"That's a good idea."

I started heading over to the lonesome otter. He rocked a short, blonde mohawk on his head and was pretty muscular to boot. He was obviously an instructor, but why had I not seen him around the academy before?

"Hey!" I said to him.

I didn't even get as much of a response from him at all.

"Um... Hey..." Still nothing. I went over and tapped him on his shoulder. "Uh... Hey, I'm Vincent Kiba, one of the instructors here for the training camp. Haven't seen you around before."

He looked at me like I was a crazy person.

"Looks like you've met Seth, Rei." I turned to find Reno behind me.

"Seth? I haven't seen him around the academy at all." I replied.

"That's because he's with me. He was my partner in the Katina Air Force. When I called to transfer over here, there was no one to cover my shoes for him, so he requested to be transferred over as well."

"So... What's up with him?"

"Nothing, actually." He responded. What the hell, he actually talks? Here I thought this whole time that he was deaf or something.

"(But, I use sign language a lot. I'm an interpreter for the deaf in the Katina Air Force... Well, Cornerian Air Force now.)"

I looked at him like a crazy person now. "Babe, what the hell did he just say?"

Reno motioned out everything in sign language as well. "He said that he's an interpreter for the deaf in the Air Force."

"You know how the sign as well?"

"You partner up with a guy who knows sign language for a couple years, you tend to learn a couple of things."

"The name's Terry. Terry Mako."

"Pleasure. I'm Vincent Kiba. Pleased to make your acquaintance." We shook hands. "Which group are you with?"

"Oh, I just so happened to have your brother, Mach, as the students call him?"

"Phew, someone I could trust my brother with." I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah, I got paired up with Diego. He seems like an alright guy."

"You mind doing me a favor, Terry?"

"Let me guess, spy on him? See if he's gonna do anything under the radar to attack anyone here?"

"Everyone is updated, aren't they?"

"Pretty much, Rei. Don't worry about it, your brother is safe in my hands."

"Wait... How do you know my real name?"

"I've heard a lot of stories about you from Reno. Do you mind if I call you Reiji instead of Vincent?"

"Just as long as you don't call me that in front of everyone else."

"Fine with me."

I sat down with all the other instructors and we chatted as the time through dinner quickly passed. I ended up learning a couple of things about Terry during the dinner.

Apparently, his younger brother is deaf. Being that his only means of communication was through sign language, he wanted to make sure that the deaf community in the Lylat System would get an equal chance at being able to be treated like a normal person at the Military Base. He made it his ambition to teach others how to sign at the Katina Air Force so they would be able to communicate with those who cannot speak themselves. Because the program went so well at Katina, he was soon transferred over to Corneria where they would soon launch a new program to teach some of the students and teachers how to sign as well. The whole program would be run by him.

Ironically, the same time, Reno was scheduled to transfer because of the Yakuza Investigation. Being partners, the two were transferred together and were chosen to represent Katina at the Cornerian Military Base during their time at our end of the Lylat System during any major decisions.

As you could obviously tell, they're higher ranked in stuff than I am. Considering the size of the Katina Army, it's amazing how fast that both Terry and Reno have pushed themselves up the ranks, despite being my age.

Falco, Reno, and I brought the kids back to the campsite where we kicked up the bonfire and began the cooking of s'mores. As the kids mingled amongst themselves, Falco updated us on the situation.

"Alright, you two. It's confirmed that someone here is involved with the Yakuza, but you're not gonna believe which branch is involved." Falco reported to us.

"Which branch?" I asked.

"The Katina Branch." Falco replied.

"What? That's impossible. Terry and I eliminated the Yakuza threat." Reno said shocked.

"Yeah, but that's what command is saying. Someone here is involved with them. We've zoned it down to two people. Diego Kazama and Terry Mako."

"Terry? There's no possible way it could be him." Reno wasn't going to take this.

"Well, believe it, dragon boy. Diego was almost put on a little too quickly for this Wilderness Training session, and Terry was one of the more recent additions to the team. He was a last minute addition to the team just before you guys jumped on."

"Hmm... So I guess we're investigating the camp site tonight?" I asked.

"You got it, Vincent. Fox will be joining us as well. We'll be up at 0100 hours to trek over to their site."

"Got it." Both Reno and I replied.

[The next day... 1 AM...]

Falco had awoken the two of us up and went over to Diego and Terry's camp site. Fox was already doing surveillance when we had arrived.

"So, what's the situation?" I asked Fox.

"Nothing so far. From what I've seen, Digeo and Terry are both doing their rounds watching over the campsite, but mysteriously both of them had disappeared recently." He reported.

"Well, where could they be?" I asked. Just as I said this, I heard a gun cock behind my head.

"Diego, you fucker. I suspected it was you." I said blindly. The others turned around to find that who I suspected wasn't the one who had the gun pointed at my head.

"Terry... My most trusted partner... How could you...?" I heard Reno say.

"I have my reasons... Your father gave me the orders, Vincent... I can't disobey them... I'm taking Mach. If you try to stop me, consider him dead."

"My father...? I thought he was only involved in the Cornerian Yakuza."

"Who are you kidding? It's been three years. You act as if he hasn't risen up through the ranks."

"But Terry... Why?"

"They have my brother! He's powerless to stop the Katina Yakuza by himself. The only way that I could save him is if I follow his orders... That's the only way I could ensure his safety.

"You're falling right into their trap... That's exactly what they want you to do." Fox said. "If you allow us to, we can help you."

"Don't... I've got this handled myself." Terry pulled Spike out from behind a tree. He was bound and gagged and pretty much blindfolded to what was going on. "Please, don't follow me."

Terry ran off with Mach. I wanted to chase after him... I really wanted to, but I would be falling into their trap as well if I let my emotions get the best of me. All I could just do is stand there and let the tears fall down my face as I saw the bushes in the distance rustle knowing that my father had just regained control again.

My nightmare once again starting. I could tell things would only go downhill from here...