Striker Report Chapter 11

                                           Striker Report
                                  Chapter Eleven: Vital Piece

After getting back to headquarters, the head squad decided to get a thirty minute break for their good deeds and efforts. After all, they could return back to the scene anytime they wanted to. But Sandra could tell that Tikal wanted to make sure that the two children were given a chance to prove themselves. Sandra had a few things she wanted to work out on her own though. She decided she would talk to the Spectators on her own and find out what was really going on. She started piecing many things together and the theory she came up with was something she really didn't like at all.

In the room...
      Sandra smiled as she brushed back her sand colored hair. "I'll be right back team, I just need to talk to the Spectators about something. Make sure you're ready to go when I get back." the leader remarked. "Alright." Tikal said as she began to take out her sketch book. Jasmine nodded as she began to shadowbox across the room. "Uh huh... gotcha." the light brown vixen answered and continued shadowboxing. Kenya sat down quietly and was reading a novel, "You got it Sandra. We'll be ready." the cobalt hedgehog replied and continued reading. The sand colored vixen then turned towards the door and left the room. 'I have to find out what is really going on here. Those cloaked morons know what's going on, and they're hiding something from me.' the sand colored vixen thought.

      She reached the Spectators room and watched as all ten of them quickly and immediately faced towards her. They had been huddled near each other as if they were speaking silently in whispers. "Yes Sandra, what is it that you need?" one of them asked blankly. Sandra walked closer to them slowly as she thought about the situation. "Listen, you guys sent us on this mission. You told us specifically to watch Lex and see who his future lover is supposed to be. Now what I don't understand is that you have much better equipment and foresight than us hunters, but you gave my squad and I such vague details that it took us almost the entire tournament to figure out which girl it was. Now I know that you guys knew who it was the whole time and I have to say I don't have the patience nor the time to play games." the sand colored vixen began to argue as she clenched her fists. The ten cloaked figures looked at each other uneasily as they thought about the predicament they were in.

      They had anticipated that the hot vixen would be trouble for them, and would figure out many things. But they didn't expect her to figure them out so quickly. This was going to cause many problems with their plans. They had no other choice but tell her some of the information, but fortunately for them they had a back up plan just in case for this situation. "Relax Sandra, relax. Yes, we held back some information from you. We knew that his future lover was Pyra Mind. We knew before we even sent you onto that mission. We also knew that Lex was supposed to lose the tournament, and because of that, the two began to have a fued at first. But this later turns into a passionate relationship as they continue being around each other." one of the cloaked figures explained. "So what about the islands? If you know what's going to happen, tell me what we need to know so we don't have to waste any more of our time." Sandra asked with hostility in her voice. She never liked being toyed with, and she saw that she would have to get her point across immediately to not let it happen again. Indeed the strategy worked, because her straightforwardness and confident attitude began to give the Spectators a headache. Once again, they hesitated until one of them finally decided to answer.

      "Look..." he began and then pressed a button on a remote control that he took off of a desk. Suddenly a small screen slid down near the back of the room against the wall and then something came onto the screen. A video of a jet was flying out in the ocean and was heading towards a mass of land. "That must be the jet right there that the announcer was talking about, so they're already heading to the island." Sandra remarked lowly. "Well yes, but there's something you need to know. Originally, Lex and Pyra split up and go to different islands. As you should know, this will not determine whether or not our theory is crystal clear. We need them to be together at this point right now in order to be certain that Lex's and Pyra's relationship is extreme enough to be concerned about." he continued explaining. Sandra raised an eyebrow, "So what do you propose we do? We can't force them to be on one of those two islands. How are we going to basically shove them onto one of the huge islands without them realizing it?" Sandra asked.

      The ten figures shook their heads as one of them walked out of their assembled line. "We wouldn't do that, that takes too much work. Instead..." the cloaked figure began and then raised his hand with his index finger pointing at the jet. He then jerked his finger quickly to the right and then quickly made a circle figure with his hand. Immediately the jet's engines exploded in smoke and it began to descend quickly. Sandra went wide-eyed; she was halfway impressed and halfway terrified. The Spectators certainly were not just show anymore to her. It seemed that they had extreme power and they weren't on the high chain for nothing. But she was terrified at the situation that they had put the pilot and the two children in. "Why did you do that? They're still on that jet! They'll crash and die!" Sandra shouted frantically. The cloaked figure shook his head and then waved his palm at the screen. The image changed to the inside of the jet and then showed the pilot trying to take control of the fast plane. "It's engine failure along with jammed controls. I don't know what's going on. Hurry kids, put on the parachute packs that's under your seats." the pilot instructed loudly as he continued trying to take control of the plane.

      The image quickly changed to Lex and Pyra reaching for their parachute pack and then putting it on. "So why in the world did you do that? It still doesn't make sense..." the sand colored vixen said. For the first time, she was beginning to fear for the two children's lives on a personal level. She didn't want them to get killed over a prophecy that could have been wrong. "Sandra, I told you, relax. I only cut the fuses in the plane. That will give them enough time to be able to get out of the plane unharmed and be stuck on a third island that the announcer didn't tell them about. That gives them the perfect chance we were talking about for both of them to be together and to see what they will do." the figure explained. Sandra nodded and then continued looking at the screen, "So what about the pilot then? I mean, wouldn't that kill the chances to see what the two children will do to survive?" the sand colored vixen asked. The ten figures snickered and for the first time the sand colored vixen felt a cold chill run up her spine. "You need not worry about him. As he was destined to die anyway." one of them said. Sandra went wide-eyed, "Wait, what do you mean?" she asked them. One of the cloaked figures just pointed at the screen and smirked, "Just watch." he instructed.

      The sand colored vixen continued watching the screen and witnessed the pilot looking for his parachute. "He never brought his parachute with him on the jet. He had gone free falling with his friends earlier that day and forgot to restock his compartment with another parachute. Later on that jet was supposed to crash in the ocean after coming back from dropping the two children off. And we played the scenario of what would happen if we let him live through the incident, and seems he would only rob a bank the next day and get killed in gunfire. So we thought that the natural way would be better for him and serve our purposes at the same time." the Spectator said and then watched the screen. After the jet's side doors opened up, the screen backed out from the inside of the jet and showed the outside of it. It was still descending and was much closer to the island. After a few seconds, Sandra saw two small bodies get sucked out of the jet and into the open sky. Then after that, she saw the jet hit the island at full speed and explode on contact. Sure enough, the two children were in the sky and Lex had yanked Pyra's parachute as well as his own. They both floated to the island and then lied there unconscious. The figure with the remote clicked a button and then the screen went blank. It then rose into the ceiling where it had been before.

      "Now, are you satisfied?" one of the Spectators asked. Seeing these new turn of events, all the sand colored vixen could do was nod and remain silent. She couldn't believe that the Spectators had changed the outcome of life itself and the route that the two children were taking without even being near them. 'Hell, they weren't even in the same time frame, they were in this one and caused the fuses to break on a jet in order to change the outcome. I'll have to keep a closer eye on these ten. Seems I had underestimated their abilities and their knowledge.' the sand colored vixen thought. She turned towards one of them and then smiled warmly, "Thank you so much, I can definitely breathe easy now. I'll go inform my squad on what we need to do next and observe the two on that island." she said and then walked towards the door. The Spectators nodded and then looked at Sandra, "Don't worry about it, any time we can help just ask." one of them said kindly. Sandra walked out of the room and the Spectators only eyed each other. Only they could see beyond the hood of their cloaks.

      To everyone else, it was like trying to peer into darkness itself, but they knew exactly what the other one's expressions were all of the time. "She's getting too close... and so fast. How did she know that we were holding back so much information? I can see if she would have figured out that we were holding back Pyra's name, but she knew we were holding back a lot more than that." one of them whispered. Another one only grunted as he put both his arms parallel to each other, making the sleeves of the cloak connect together. "Easy now, we have to wait and see where this goes. I thought we could have easily taken care of this matter ourselves, but with the head squad now obviously involved, it will be much tougher." the other one said. A third one simply sat down in a chair and sighed, "It's true that the sand colored vixen packs a huge punch. She's very intelligent and she's no push over, I can assure you. But however the rest of the squad are just simply tag along females that can be manipulated easily. It's not Sandra we need to worry about now... it's that cobalt hedgehog." he informed. The other nine Spectators nodded very quickly and began to chat with each other in a low voice. "Yes, it's her who eavesdropped on our plans, we have to take her out. We're only lucky that she hasn't told yet. She's too shy to mention it because she doesn't believe Sandra will believe her." one of them exclaimed. Even though it could not be seen, another one made an evil grin. "And when their assignment is finally over and she goes home, we shall pay her a little visit. I'm sure she won't mind if we drop by." he said in a dark tone.

      Their concern was not Sandra, she was smart and very observant, but they had dealt with others like her. It was their careless mistake for leaving their door cracked open and having a hunter pass by the room. That was the problem they needed to settle at the moment. "Now as for the Lex issue, we can't afford for this to go on any longer. If Sandra really does erase both of their minds, that's alot more off of our chest and we won't have to worry about it anymore. But if she doesn't, we'll have to find some other way to clean this up. Pulling that stunt of making the jet crash will only slow down our ultimate goal. And if Sandra wasn't so nosy, we could have just sent some anonymous person to take care of the two children." one of them explained. "Easy... we just have to wait, we can't take care of the problem ourselves... You know the Destiny Gods are watching our every move. That's why we can't have any of us do the work ourselves, they'll know something is up for sure..." a taller one said. He was no doubt the leader of the other nine looking clones.

      He walked over to a desk and sat down. On the desk was a chessboard with game pieces set up for a game. He simply looked at the chessboard and smirked, "We have to put the pawns in the right places and let the chessboard do the work for us..." he began. On that note, the pawns moved in various places on the board by itself as the Spectator concentrated on moving the pieces with his mind. After several seconds, he had the pieces where he wanted them and then smirked again. "Eventually the one we truly need to take care of will get trapped on his own, and then, all we need to do is make the final checkmate." he said as the king piece fell down. The Spectator laughed evilly as the rest followed suit. The ten Spectators were enjoying their chess game of fate as they thought about what they had in stored for the Time Bounty Hunters.

In the head squad room...
      Sandra entered the room softly and closed the door. The sand colored vixen sighed as her soft green eyes scanned around the room thoroughly. "Alright, did you get a good break? I hope you did, because we're heading out to finish this up." the leader ordered firmly. Sandra put her wristband into clear view for the other three hunters to see clearly. "Alright, I'm going to show you something new about this thing. Only the leaders of each squad know about this, so you'll have to bear with me on the explanation. After pressing these two buttons..." she began and then indicated which ones by pressing two certain buttons on her wristband slowly. "You will need to press these buttons in this exact order." she said and then pressed three keys in a certain order. The other three hunters followed suit carefully and then waited for further instructions. "Ok, this will have you floating in the sky when we get into the portal. You will be automatically invisible and you will feel no desire to eat or sleep while you're in this state. It's different from just floating in the sky and levitation. This actually sets you into a different... mode while you're in that time frame. That would be the best analysis anyway. Don't ask me how it's done, cause I don't know. All I know is that this mode was created for observing your target without you being seen by anyone and you wouldn't have the worldly defects of fatigue, hunger, or thirst. You also won't be able to feel anything at all. A good example of this is if it rains, it will just go straight through you. This is perfect for watching the target during every second and not worrying about being caught." she explained. The mode was strange enough, but from the things that Tikal had seen so far, she wasn't entirely surprised.

      Sandra then sighed as she looked at the wristband, "However, you can not stay in this 'form' no longer than thirty hours at a time. After thirty hours have maxed out, you immediately 'enter' into that dimension again and you are clearly seen. You won't be able to use your wristband for a good five hours because of it being maxed out and it automtically tries to cool down. It's fully charged like I said after five hours. So make sure that before the thirty hours are up, you're on the ground, because you'll forget that time is near and when you fall... it's not pretty. We're hunters, so I'm sure that you'll have fast enough reflexes to catch yourself. But I see many times when a leader's ankle is sprain because they forget their timer was almost up." she explained. The other three hunters nodded and then waited for Sandra to open the portal. "Without further delay, let's finish this assignment." Sandra remarked. After pressing a final button on her wristband, a portal opened up in front of her and the four hunters quickly entered into it. They quickly hopped in and then waited until they reached the end of the portal. After a few seconds, they reached the end of the portal, but they didn't step down. They floated in the sky above the island and looked down at the two children walking along the beach.

      Tikal felt a smile creep across her face, she was so happy to be so open with the sky. Even with her being able to glide because of her heritage, she never even dreamed of being so high from the ground. It also felt different to her as well, she had put absolutely no effort into staying up, where as usually she would somewhat concentrate to start floating on her own. They could see the whole entire island in their view, and it was quite alot of ground. As Tikal couldn't resist it any longer, she suddenly felt a hand grab her arm firmly. "Tikal, no. We came here to watch these two very carefully and to see what their reactions are to each other. We don't have time to fly around and enjoy ourselves. At least not right now, you can do that when they're sleep." the sand colored vixen said. The orange echidna simply pouted, but kept silent. She knew she was the reason the two children didn't have their memory wiped at the moment, so she wasn't going to try her luck. The four hunters watched as the two young expert fighters walked towards a cave and into the core of the island. They noticed the waterfall that had a cave that was behind the base of the falling water. Where the water was falling was into a body of water that was set in front of the cave. The four hunters continued to watch as they saw the two reach the body of water and then noticed Pyra sigh and take her shoes off. They saw her quickly sit down and put her feet into the water.

      Kenya began to giggle as she pointed at the grey feline, "See, at least someone's trying to relax." she remarked. Tikal and Jasmine joined the cobalt hedgehog in laughter as Sandra only sighed, "I promise after this that we get a well-earned break once we get back to the base." she said. The reaction from her squad was a bit overwhelming to her as she saw them cheer in excitement. "I wonder where we'll be heading? Will we go shopping? Go to the beach? Go to an all day spa?" the girls asked. The sand colored vixen laughed nervously as she rubbed her head, "We'll decide all of that when we get back. Right now, let's just finish this assignment." she said. The other three nodded and looked back towards the two furries. They suddenly realized that the two children were arguing and then Lex stormed off towards another part of the island. This seemed extremely confusing to Sandra and Tikal, already planning that the two children were actually going to have time to become excellent friends. But their prediction was wrong as they saw the grey fox disappear out of sight into a cave that was to the right of the waterfall. "Tikal and I will follow Lex, you two stay close to Pyra and keep a very watchful eye on her." the leader instructed. The two hunters flew away slowly to the last location they last saw Lex and then descended down towards the ground. Jasmine and Kenya simply just watched Sandra and Tikal disappear from their sight behind the rocks and then sighed. "Good thing while I'm in this mode I don't want to eat, cause any other time I would be starving." Kenya remarked and then descended down closer to get a better look of Pyra. Jasmine followed and they got a much better look of Pyra's situation.

A couple of hours later...
      Jasmine along with Kenya didn't see anything too particular happen with Pyra. In fact, they were quite impressed to see the feline make herself a tree umbrella for the entrance of the cave along with snagging some trees and branches. She had even gotten some fruit to hold off for the rest of the night and for some the next morning. But Lex was a different case. He had to do extreme work in order to make a few spears out of broken trees that he had to chop down. Then he had the luxurious work of using the spears to fish. After that, he had to spend the time to get a fire started and then cook the fish. Of course he didn't have that much time to do it since there was a thunderstorm rolling into the area. Tikal watched as Lex looked into the sky one time after feeling a drop of rain. He simply finished eating and sighed, then he went into the forest next to him and sat under a tree. "Strange... why isn't he going to make some type of shelter?" Sandra asked. Then that was when Sandra and Tikal noticed that Lex had nothing to use as shelter, especially in time before the thunderstorm really kicked in. "I don't think he's planning on wasting the energy." Tikal assumed as she continued looking at the grey fox.

      Jasmine and Kenya continued looking at the grey feline and noticed that under her spunky attitude was a scared little girl. She was almost curled up beside the fire she made in the cave as the thunder outside began to get loud. Jasmine and Kenya felt sorry for the feline as they realized how scared she looked. But they had no idea that the feline wasn't thinking about herself at the time. Pyra was scared about Lex's safety and the whereabouts of him sleeping. She had a sturdy and reliable cave that she was in, but where was Lex sleeping? After awhile, the wind blew the fire out and the three were left in pitch black. This didn't phase Kenya or Jasmine, but they could clearly see the feline shiver as a bolt of lightning cut through the sky. 'It's almost torture for a kid to try and survive out in the wilderness. Especially if they're not used to it.' Kenya thought. A few minutes after Pyra fell asleep, Jasmine sighed again. "What's wrong?" Kenya asked the light brown vixen. "I thought Sandra said that we couldn't feel anything while we were in this mode?" she questioned. Kenya blinked a few times, "Yeah, she said that. Why do you ask?" she asked. "Because I feel very bored, and that's not helping my situation. Seems my wristband must be broken." she said. Kenya only snickered a little before sitting onto the ground in the cave. Jasmine followed suit and then watched as the thunderstorm outside of the cave only seemed to get worse.

      Sandra and Tikal heard the loud boom of thunder above them right after a series of flashes appeared in the clouds above. They however couldn't feel the hard pounding rain like Lex could. Lex had his arms crossed and was shivering a little as another loud boom of thunder filled their ears. "So he's just going to stay there the rest of the night? He's not even going to consider going into that cave?" Sandra suggested and pointed at the cave a few feet from the fox that he had entered to get into the small field. "Yeah, you're right. I'll go tell him to do that now." Tikal said and then tried to glide towards the grey fox. "No you're not!" the sand colored vixen ordered as she grabbed her leg. "We can't get into contact with either one of them right now. We'll jeapordize everything we tried to do so far. He can make it, don't worry about it. It seems he's more stubborn thinking about Pyra than to save his own skin. It's admirable, but at the same time stupid. He'll have to decide a few times on the safety of himself... the hard way." the sand colored vixen explained and then nodded towards Lex.

      Tikal looked at the shivering grey fox and watched as he slowly curled himself closer, trying to sleep the storm away out of his sight. "Hmm...." she managed to ponder and simply just sat in the sky. The two hunters stared at the fox without moving, not making any more sounds and just watched as the grey fox slept. A thought crossed Tikal's mind and it lightened her mood as she thought about it some more. 'With us looking over him like this, I really do feel like I'm his guardian angel. I would love the day he calls me that...' she thought dreamily as she thought about how it would sound like. Her mind began to replay her small fantasy as she thought about the grey fox smiling and laughing with her when she finally had the chance to get into contact with him. But she knew at the moment that would never happen. It was forbidden, it was against the rules, and it was something Tikal wanted to change.

      The next day was something that told everything that the hunters needed to know. As the two woke up however, nothing special happened. The four hunters regrouped in the sky as they watched the two children groggily get up and get ready for the day. "Ok, I don't know about you, but this no food and thirst thing really sucks WHEN you're not doing anything. Can we please just get out of this mode a little earlier than thirty hours, this is torture, I want to eat." the light brown vixen whined a little. Sandra burst out into laughter, which caused the rest of the team to give a puzzled look. It was really rare to see the leader laugh so wholeheartedly, but they knew it was comforting to see. As Sandra wiped a tear from out of her eye and tried hard not to burst out into another fit of giggles, she nodded. "Yes of course, I forgot how much of a hyperactive person you were Jasmine. Please forgive me for not remembering. I'm pretty sure nothing will happen at the moment, so why don't we just land completely on the other side of the island where they have no chance of seeing us. We can eat and rest there." Sandra instructed. The other three hunters had no arguments there as they quickly flew towards the other side of the island completely away from their 'working zone.'

      After being certain that the two children would not find them, they descended to the ground below and landed in a forest area. They had seen a small clearing in the forest with a body of water in it. Sandra looked around more carefully and noticed it was a grove. "Ah... this seems perfect." the sand colored vixen said and then pushed something on her wristband. Suddenly she felt the cool breeze around her and she inhaled the fresh air around around her. The other three hunters wasted no time in taking in the signs of life as they took in their surroundings. "I'll go round us some fruit." the light brown vixen chimed and walked away from the group. "I'll get us some firewood." Kenya said and then ran into the forest. Tikal looked at Sandra and then smiled warmly, "What are you going to do?" she asked. The sand colored vixen smiled as she took out a small device. It was something small, metal, and smooth. It almost looked like the shape of an enlarged metal pebble. The sand colored vixen pointed at the body of water in front of them. "You see that? I'm pretty sure you know it's cold." she stated. Tikal nodded, "Yes of course, it's pretty useless, and I would hope that it could turn into a hot spring, maybe then it could be of some use, but I know there's no point." she said.

      The orange echidna noticed the sand colored vixen smirk and then threw the metal object into the water. "Actually you're right, there is no need to hope. It's already happening." the leader informed and then looked at the water. The orange echidna put on a quizzical look and then walked closer to the body of water. It was large enough to fit twelve people in it, definitely enough room for four female hunters. She got onto her knees and then slowly put her hands towards the clear liquid. She expected an icy touch to shoot up her fingers and through her hands, but as she dunked her hands into the water, she felt a warm sensation go through her hands and arms. "Oooo this feels so soothing. I can't wait to get in." the orange echidna exclaimed and then began to jump for joy. "Yes, a much better thing than firewood. Of course we may need that if we want to cook fish. Tikal, could you go get us some meat for us? I'm pretty sure by the time you get back, everything will be set." the sand colored vixen asked. The orange echidna smiled and nodded, "Ok, I'll be right back." she said and then ran deep into the forest.

A few minutes later...
      The orange echidna came back with two armfuls of fish that was squirming on her chest as she quickly walked towards the grove. "Ah, there's Tikal. Hurry, I want some meat ova here." Jasmine said with haste as she licked her lips. The orange echidna quickened her pace and she finally reached the three hunters. Jasmine had brought a bunch of fruit and had them stacked neatly on a bunch of spreaded out leaves. Kenya had already gotten a small fire going with some extra long leaves to use as napkins to keep their food off of the ground. Tikal set the fish onto one of the clean piles of leaves and then sighed, "There ya go. About fifteen fish ready to get eaten. I'm a bit hungry myself so I can't wait to dig in." she said and smiled. The four hunters began to eat happily and laughed as they enjoyed their little break. It was a while since the last time Sandra could even remember that she relaxed. And even beyond that much amount of time when she had fun with her team. The four hunters told jokes and laughed at each other's stories, enjoying their company and strengthening their friendly bond. Sandra suggested the hot springs that she created earlier and the other three hunters nodded with approval.

After getting undressed and getting into the water...
      The four hunters sighed heavily as they felt the warm water completely flow around their bodies. It soothed them to a degree of pleasure as they felt the water get even hotter. "This is the life..." Kenya said as she lowered her body deeper into the body of water. "Tell me about it, if I didn't know any better, I would have forgotten that we were on a mission and would have continued enjoying this island for a bit longer." Jasmine remarked and curled her toes. "Well no matter how much we do relax, we can't forget that this is a mission... just a relaxing one at the moment." Sandra cooed and smiled after letting out an exasperated breath. "Best mission ever..." the orange echidna moaned as she closed her eyes and lied her head back. The four were enjoying themselves quite nicely for quite some time before they saw some water fall into the body of water they were in. "What was that?" Kenya asked quickly.

      The four hunters looked up slowly and noticed that the clouds were grey. Then they felt the numerous cold raindrops fall onto their body and they quickly pouted. "Oh that's just great, that's exactly what I needed at this moment." Jasmine sighed and then got out of the hot body of water. She quickly began to get dressed and then Kenya followed suit. "Yeah, that totally blowed." the cobalt hedgehog stated as she continued getting dressed. "Well that must be a sign telling us to get to work... we'll continue our lovely spring when we get back to base; don't worry." the leader said and hopped out of the hot water. "Sure... but I was enjoying it now." the orange echidna sighed and got out of the water. She reached for her clothes and put them back on as the other three hunters adjusted their outfits. "Ok... let's get back into ghost mode and we'll find Lex and Pyra. It's been well over five hours anyway." Sandra remarked. The other three hunters sighed and gave a comment, confirming that they were ready to head out. They pressed the neccessary buttons on their wristband and then immediately felt everything stop touching them. The rain fell straight through them and they quickly flew into the sky.

      In a few seconds, they reached where Lex and Pyra had been and they noticed the feline on the other side of a canyon. She was a little away from her original location near her cave. "Hey look, isn't that Pyra?" Kenya asked and pointed down into the clear grassy field. The other three looked down as well and noticed that she was running very quickly away from something. Suddenly they saw a huge beast that was no shorter than eleven feet run after the small feline and began to charge after her. "Hey, what does it plan on doing to her? What is it's problem?" Jasmine asked. Sandra shook her head and flew towards the beast. The others followed quickly and flew low towards the ground. "I don't know, but it seems that this may be a sign and an answer we're looking for." Sandra replied and continued flying after the creature. They followed for a few seconds and then reached the inside of another forest. They watched as the beast eventually got in front of Pyra and made her fall onto her back. The grey feline let out a heart-pounding scream and the four hunters only watched on. 'What's going to happen? Hopefully Lex would have heard that and come to help her... I know I would... but that's against the law.' the sand colored vixen thought.

      The grey feline stood up and then decided to fight, getting into a stance and baring her teeth at the creature. After a few minutes of a gruesome and brutal fight, the creature had the feline on the ground trembling at its feet. The feline was on her back and her eyes seemed to be glazed over. "I have to go in and help her, she's going to get killed." the orange echidna said lowly. But she knew she couldn't jump into the fight, it would mess up the whole purpose of seeing what was going to happen. However she didn't like watching people suffer, and that was not in the job description. "Hold on Tikal..." the sand colored vixen said lowly as they watched lightning cut through the sky. Just as the beast was about to crush the little cat, the four hunters saw Lex jump out and bite the creature's neck. Tikal smiled as she saw the creature howl in pain and then back up from Pyra. 'Thata boy Lex.' she thought and then clenched her fist as she continued watching the intense fight. After a few minutes of Lex stepping in, they noticed how hard it was on the grey fox to try and keep the beast at bay.

      Sandra noticed Jasmine gritting her teeth as she continued watching the grey fox getting hit around the fighting area. "This isn't right. We should step in and help him. We won't find out anything if they're both dead!" the light brown vixen shouted heatedly while flailing her arms at Sandra. The other three hunters remained silent and continued watching. They saw the look in Lex's eyes as he continued trying to fight back. The look that had appeared at the end of the tournament that almost took Pyra's life. 'Hmm... he's using the Desert Fox again... I can't believe he could tap into it at such a young age... of course, he still doesn't know what he's doing with it; which still makes him weak for now.' Sandra thought and crossed her arms. After a few more minutes of Lex getting pounded, the sand colored vixen noticed Tikal begginning to get edgy. "Listen Tikal... don't go down there, we have to watch to see what happens." the sand colored vixen instructed. "No! I can't watch anymore. Lex is dying down there, and he needs our help. We're just sitting here watching, watching, watching, always watching and he could die!" she yelled as she pointed at the scene below. The beast brought his arm back and punched the grey fox in his stomach and then continued as the grey fox coughed up blood. Sandra saw the frantic look in Tikal's eyes and ultimately realized that she was not going to convince the recruit.

      Just as Tikal was about to fly down there, Sandra held both of her arms and quickly positioned her body behind the orange echidna. She then slid her arms up to stop Tikal from resisting to a heavy degree and felt as she tried to struggle anyway. "This is for your own good, you can't go down there Tikal." the sand colored vixen said heatedly and continued to hold her back. The other two hunters couldn't decide who's side to choose, and decided just to stay out of the fight. "Please Sandra, Lex needs me! I want to be his guardian angel, and I couldn't live with myself if I know that he died while I could have done something!" Tikal shouted. Sandra continued to hold the orange echidna, baring her teeth as well. She was giving it everything she had in order to hold the orange echidna. Tikal had more power than she thought she did. "Listen Tikal, you can't go! Let destiny save him if he's meant to live." she warned. "Destiny?! Wouldn't it be better for a person to come and save you so you can know that someone cares for your life?!" Tikal cried. Loud thunder boomed across the island as Sandra took in the young rookie's words. Sandra then realized what she was really fighting against, and when she realized what it was, she only let go of Tikal softly. "Go... save him..." she said softly as a flash of lightning covered the sky. Sandra knew it was raining, but she also knew that the rain couldn't touch either one of them at the time. So the wet marks running down the orange echidna's face were not because of the storm. Tikal turned slightly to Sandra and then nodded slightly, "Thank you..." she whispered and then flew fast towards the scene. 'What have I been doing... We forced Lex into this situation... and I could have almost killed him...' the sand colored vixen thought to herself as she halfway closed her eyes in realization.

      As the orange echidna pushed a series of buttons on her wristband and was about to push the final key, she saw something unexpected happen. She was only two feet away from the beast, literally in touching range. All of the hunters gasped as they saw Pyra leap into the air and cling onto the back of the beast. Then the grey feline swung onto the beast and onto the back of its neck. She lunged a piece of sharp wood at the beast's neck and then pierced it's throat. The grey feline continued pushing the wood deep into it's neck and then jumped off as it fell onto it's knees. The feline didn't let her guard down until the beast fell faceforward on the ground. Tikal was wide-eyed, she had literally watched as the beast was taken down by the small feline. If she hadn't been in the ghost mode, she would have gotten blood sprayed all over her body. The orange echidna was still in shock at what had just happened right in front of her as Sandra and the other three hunters slowly descended down towards Tikal. "It's over Tikal... they're alive... and they saved each other. See? That's what we needed to see... they survived..." the sand colored vixen said softly.

      The orange echidna got out of her shocked state and then nodded slowly, "Yeah... yeah... they did it... they survived... on their own..." she repeated softly and then began to lift into the sky. "Do you think they'll make it back to safety though? This storm really isn't something to joke about. It's pretty heavy and I'm sure they're feeling all the effects of it. As if that wasn't enough... the crap was beaten out of them a few minutes ago." Jasmine remarked. Sandra smiled, "Oh don't worry, I could bet money that Lex and Pyra make it safely to the cave." she remarked. They finished flying towards the other side of the canyon and then began flying up a slope. After a few seconds, they reached the waterfall with the body of water under it; they had reached Pyra's cave. After twenty minutes, they saw Lex walking Pyra slowly out from the right side towards the cave. And after two minutes, the two small fighters made it into the cave safely. The four hunters smiled warmly as they saw the two actually make it to safety alive. "See? What did I tell ya? I knew he was going to make it." Sandra remarked. Tikal nodded and clasped her hands together, 'It's good to see a comeback for the day finally.' she thought.

      The next morning was nothing special. The four hunters looked blankly at the cave and noticed the two young children get out and stretch. "About time. I was getting bored." Jasmine stated and flipped around a few times in the air. "Man, I didn't know ghost mode could really kill your mood, I'm bored too." Kenya said and then began to fly aimlessly in a small circle. "Unlucky for you I have something to do." the orange echidna said and then took out her sketch pad. "Well I'm pretty sure that it's almost over. Oh... and I forgot to mention that last night I called their parents." the sand colored vixen remarked. The other three hunters stopped immediately what they were doing and then looked at the sand colored vixen, "You did what?! How come you didn't tell us?" Tikal asked. Sandra only shrugged, "Well I didn't think it was that important. I didn't tell them it was me, I just said that I knew where their missing kid was. They were already very frantic and scared for their kid's life, so I couldn't dare let them be in the dark any longer. I told them that they could check the last jet's coordinates, and they simply said they would go back to the tournament building and find out through the announcer where the jet last logged in at." the sand colored vixen explained.

      "Well at least they're coming, which means this mission should be done soon. The second they come, the second this mission is over." the light brown vixen informed while folding her arms. A few minutes went by and they heard the grey vulpine yell out in extreme pain. The four hunters looked down and then put on a puzzled look. "Either Pyra just put Lex's broken arm back into place or she punched it that way." Sandra mumbled. "Hmmm... I might go for that second option." Jasmine remarked with a giggle. "No... I think it's the first one. Lex and Pyra seem to be at very good terms with each other now." Tikal said happily. The rest of the day went by smoothly and they watched as the two children suddenly went to go outside of the core of the island. "I wonder what they're planning to do?" Kenya asked after flipping back her brown hair. "I don't know, but whatever it is, I know that they saved me the trouble of making them go out their towards the beach. That solves a number of problems." Sandra said and then flew towards the huge cave that they entered in order to get to the core of the island. The other three hunters followed and then they descended down towards the ground. "Oh? So we're walking now?" the cobalt hedgehog asked. Sandra nodded, "Yeah, pretty safe to say we're going to be appearing in front of them soon. I just have a feeling about something, and when I see it, we'll turn this mode off and then wipe their memories." she explained.

      The four hunters walked until they reached the wreckage of the jet. It was no longer on fire, and was simply a black metal heap with a few broken pieces of metal surrounding it. Sure enough, the two children slowly walked towards the jet as well and then looked at it. But upon quick inspection, they put on disappointed faces and then sat down onto the beach and looked out towards the ocean. "Lex?" Pyra called out softly. "Yeah?" the grey fox replied in the same soft tone. The grey feline looked over at Lex as her hair blew softly into the wind, "Do you think we'll ever be able to get home?" she asked softly. Lex looked at the feline and his hair began to blow slightly into the wind as well. "I don't know Pyra, but I can only hope. Worst case scenario... no one will ever come for us... and we will be stranded on this island forever. But the bright side of that scenario is that we'll always be together..." Lex remarked. Lex suddenly felt the grey feline's lips press against his lightly and he remained still with his eyes wide open. He was clearly shocked by her action, but he kissed back lightly. "Always..." she whispered and then rested her head onto Lex's shoulder.

      This caused three hunters to drop their jaws as one of them uncrossed her arms and smiled warmly. "Ha. I knew this was gonna happen. Pure love." the orange echidna remarked dreamily as she clasped her hands together and then looked at the sky and sighed. "Well pure love or not, that was the sign I needed, so everyone turn their ghost mode off and get ready to follow my lead." the sand colored vixen ordered. The other three hunters nodded and then pressed a few buttons on their wristbands. Suddenly they appeared in front of the two children and the young fighters jumped back in fright. For a few seconds, the grey fox and the grey feline were sure that the four hunters were there to either kill them or severely hurt them. But as the grey fox noticed Tikal, he smiled happily. "Miss I'm so glad you're here. I don't know how you got here but am I glad to see you." he said with a happy look on his face. "Don't trust them Lex... they don't look like they're nice people..." the grey feline whispered from behind him. She grabbed tightly onto his hand and Lex squeezed her hand firmly. Jasmine, Kenya, and Tikal smiled warmly at the two young furries, but Sandra had a blank look on her face. 'This is bad... it's happening too soon... and I don't think it can be contained unless we wipe their memories. We have no other choice.' she thought. "Alright, we need to make sure that it's taken care of right now before anything else happens." she stated firmly. 'I don't want any mistakes.' she thought again.

      After hearing a noise, the four hunters turned towards the ocean and noticed a jet coming towards them. The sand colored vixen smiled, 'Right on time.' she thought. Sandra looked towards Tikal and smiled, "I can trust that you will take care of this, since this is your assignment." she remarked. Tikal nodded, "Don't worry about it, I'll get it done cleanly with no traces." she replied. Jasmine, Kenya, and Sandra pushed a key on their wristband and they suddenly disappeared in a flash of light. Tikal noticed the look of disbelief on both the children's faces and tried hard not to laugh at their expression. 'That must be their first time witnessing a hunter using their wristband.' she thought. Tikal took the hood off of her head and let her dreadlocks flow down naturally into the air. She looked at the two furries with a serious expression and then raised her hand in front of her and faced her palm towards the grey feline first. 'I have to do this... it's so these two won't suffer later on in life. They'll definitely thank me if they saw what their future held.' she thought. "I'm so sorry that I must do this, but it's for the safety of the universe." the orange echidna remarked.

      The grey fox extended his arms out at first as he stared at Tikal with a deadly look in his eyes. The grey feline behind him was holding onto his shoulders as she looked softly at the orange echidna in front of them. Lex growled slightly at the orange echidna and then he balled his fists up and got into a fighting position. "I won't let you do anything to Pyra. She hasn't done anything to you! I thought you were here to help us, but I guess you're the enemy." the grey fox said in a serious tone. Tikal only halfway closed her sapphire eyes and looked at the two in a daze as something in her palm began to shine. She became slightly sad at how Lex was growling at her, not what she had daydreamed about only a day before that he would be calling her his guardian angel. "I will never be your enemy Lex. But it seems that your own strong feelings become the foes of your future. I can't take the risk in order for that to take place. I'm so sorry Lex." she remarked. But then she went wide-eyed as she saw the fox do something she didn't expect. He put down his arms and then walked defenselessly towards Tikal. "Please... for me, don't hurt her. I don't know what's going on, but I'm assuming that you're saying something is going to happen in the future because of me. Well then please... take care of me instead, don't touch Pyra... I ask you to just take me." the fox said and then kneeled in front of Tikal.

      Pyra only ran towards the fox and then hugged him tightly, "No Lex. I won't let you sacrifice yourself. I'll go too. I won't let you do it." she cried. Tikal only winced from the sight in front of her. 'You've got to be kidding me. They're bond is simply that strong when they're only seven years old. These two are only children, but they act like they are a devoted married couple. I can only imagine what they're like when their actually old enough to even understand love.' she thought. Tikal put down her hand and then she sighed as she looked up at the sky. By now the jet was only half a minute away and it was getting closer to the island. 'I can't do it! I can't keep these two apart! I know, I'll just knock them out and then say that I erased their memories. That way they can still see each other, then I'll explain to their parents on the situation. Yeah... yeah that can work.' she thought to herself. She raised her other hand quickly at the face of the two furries. She quickly swiped her hand in front of the two and their eyes went wide as they fell back slowly onto the sand below them. The two furries were immediately unconscious and they both lied on the sand with their eyes closed. The jet had landed onto the beach of the island and the door quickly opened. Two figures quickly ran onto the shore of the beach towards the three figures. There was an older grey feline and an orange vixen. When the two reached the area, they looked at the two motionless bodies lying on the shore. The grey feline had began to hiss and got into a fighting position along with the orange vixen. "What have you done to my daughter?" the feline asked in a serious tone. But as the orange vixen realized who the figure was, she let down her guard. "Tikal, I'm assuming that there is a reason for this." she inquired.

      Tikal nodded and then put the hood back onto her head and covered her face. "Yes, I have only made them unconscious. I can make up the excuse that their memory was stronger than I had anticipated, and that they somehow remembered what went on. I just simply knocked them out for now. I can't ensure that someone else won't try to finish the job and fully erase their memories though, but if somehow it is possible for these two to live with their memory fully intact, let me tell you this. Please keep these two away from each other at all times in public. At least let them see each other rarely, so they won't feel as if a large void in their life is missing. But I would advise telling these two to at least play off that they don't know each other until they are fully alone. That's all the advice I can give you two at the moment." she insisted and then pressed a key onto her wristband. "Goodbye Michelle and hopefully one day we will be on friendly terms with each other." she said. Suddenly a flash of light appeared where Tikal was standing and it disappeared quickly.

      Tikal began to travel to her original time frame and she looked around her casually as she traveled through the portal. 'Hopefully everything will turn out alright. I don't think those two should be separated, just told to cool the heat on the relationship.' she thought to herself. She reached the end of the portal and then saw the room with Jasmine, Kenya, and Sandra in it. She stepped down as she reached the room and then sighed. "It's been done, I clearly wiped both of their memories, and I explained to both of the mothers that they should keep the two separated at all times." the orange echidna explained. Sandra smiled, "Excellent, then it's settled. We shouldn't be having any trouble with that incident ever again. Wonderful work Tikal, let's go out and party, I know we deserve it." the sand colored vixen said and then laughed. She put an arm around the orange echidna's shoulder and began walking towards the door as Kenya and Jasmine followed. "Ooo I haven't partied in ages. It's going to be fun." the light brown vixen remarked cheerily. The orange echidna put on a smile, but became worried at the thought of what she had truly done. She had actually kept the two together, and she was the only hunter that knew this. 'I should be happy right? I mean... I did save both of them the trouble of changing their fate. They should have met that day at the tournament, and they should be good friends, nothing should take that away from them. I just hope I made the right decision.' she pondered.

                                              To Be Continued