A fireplace burned and crackled as it brightly glowed in the darkness of a forest. There sat on a log was Max. He looks over at you with a small surprise "Ah! I see you have come to listen to another one of my many adventures, hm? Well, come and sit down and I shall explain to you one that I remember when I was aged 18...Ah...Let me think this now... Ah, right. Today's story shall be the story of when I became a genetic soldier fox....Now, although my augmentations are now broken when I gained my own family's powers, I still remember the many powers they gave me...It all started one dark night..." After what seemed like minutes, Max didn't realize the time as he was hanging in the bar. Hearing the tradition of a bar's ambience where glasses clanged with one another, people talking, playing poker and so on. Max looked at a clock "Oh, crap! Is it that late already?! I think its best if I head home soon." Max thought to himself. *One hour earlier.* As Max was having his drink and was somewhat alone on the stool, a soldier canine covered in green camo with armor of what appeared to what a soldier would be wearing poked his back. "Say, you seem alone. You also look quite strong like us. How would you like to talk to one of us soldiers down over at our table?" Max leaned his head over and saw the crowd of soldiers laughing and having a great time almost as if it was their life's last day. Max knew nothing about them, but he knew that they looked like they were getting ready for something. "Okay, sure. I don't really have much to do, so I guess why not?" a smile comes to the soldier as he walks back to his table. But as he does, he turns around and says to Max "Oh, by the way? I'm Lieutenant Jensen. You don't need to tell us yours, Max. We know you very well as you were the son of the Wicked Duke." Max froze and gave a look of seriousness "I wonder how they knew about my father...?!" Max thought. Leaving the thought aside, Max walks to the table and sits down. The soldiers of what appeared to be cats, dogs, bears and even rats. What was more stranger is how each was dressed in differant types of armor and clothing. Some of them silenced and stared at Max. Before one of the bears who looked like he was in heavy armor and looked very rather strong and big says "Jensen, don't you ever tell us why you bring us random people to our table?" Jensen shakes his head "Well, this guy here is differant. My fellow comrades, who you are looking at is in fact, Max. The Son of the Wicked Duke" The table looked with shock as some gasped as well. The bear looked as though he had been forcefully shut up. Some gossiping continued. Max wasn't at all surprised as that had happened to him since he was 5. The bear lifts his paw over at Max. Almost spilling a drink due to how big his arm and paw was "Nice to meet ya. Name's Jack. Jack Bearstone" Jack said with his deep and growly voice. Jack's fur was a faint yellow colour and looked as he had complete brawn on the outside, but a big softie on the inside. Max lended out his paw and shook it. "I guess I don't need to tell you my name since you know me well." Jack began to give a shocked smile to his face thinking to himself. "O-Oh my gosh! I just shook paws with The SON OF THE WICKED DUKE! Could this night get any better!?" Jack thought to himself. One of the rats said with a slyful tone "Ah, a fox of the Wicked Family...This seems very fortunate." Jack then replied back by saying "Say, Max? Are there any more of you out there that are in your family?" Max's ears perked down and said with a sigh. "N-No....I'm the only one left." They all silently stared at Max as some looked sorry for him. Jensen pats Max on the back and says "I-I'm...Sorry to hear that, you must have went through some serious issues..." Max looks up with a face of depression "...Serious issues indeed. But I've moved on from that and now, I feel like alot of things for the best have indeed changed. And so, a conversation of many questions and few discussions went on...Until one conversation strikes up "So, Max! We're heading out to war tomorrow! Its gonna be one hell of a fight! But I'm sure we'll pull off fine! Hell, I bet if you were with us, I bet they wouldn't stand a chance!" says Jack. Max says to himself in his head "A war, huh...? Certainly sounds dangerous..." What the group didn't notice that one shadow emerged with a smile as he walks out the bar.*Around half an hour later...* Maria sits on her chair reading a book as a candle dimly glows in the light. "Say, John. What do you think Max is up to right now?" John looks with a small chuckle "Likely doing things that a adult fox should! Spending his life at its finest!" Suddenly, a phone rings. "Ah, I'll get it!" John says. "Thanks, dear!" Maria replies back. John picks up the phone "Hello, Coons residence?" Max replies on the phone "Ah, hey John. I wanted to let you and Maria know that I may come in late because I'm at the bar. I promise I won't do anything risky or dangerous." "Okay, son. Just promise you won't be out for too late! You know how dangerous it is at night. Especially since you are a Wicked." Max nods as he replies on the phone "Yeah, I know. Anyways, I'll be back before things get dangerous! Love the two of you! Bye!" John nods with acceptance "Okay, son! Have a good time with whatever you are doing! Stay safe!" John puts his phone down and sighs with a smile "Ah, bless him...He sure has grown." Max places the phone down and walks back to the table *Back in current time* Max rubs his head as his vision was a blurry only by what appeared as minimum "Ugh, I think I may have had a little too much to drink. Likely the reason why I forgot what I was doing..." Max thinks to himself. "Yeah, guys. I'm gonna...Head off now...Its getting late and I don't want...Things to get too dangerous...So..If you please...I shall take my leave now..." Max swerved a bit slowly out to the door and saw it was very rather dark out in what appeared as the village countryside air got to Max. "Well, guess that was one heck of a night I had..." Max says to himself. But as he makes a couple of steps. He heards a loud few footsteps as suddenly, WACK! Max fell to the floor out cold as he was hit in the head to what appeared to be like a wooden bat....Black was the only thing Max could see for what felt like a few hours... "...U-Uraaaagh....My head...W-Where am I and what the hell happened...?!" As Max slowly awoke he looked around him. It appeared he was in some sort of bio tube...His arms were stuck! They were tightly stuck in a metal latch! As Max looked out, he saw a crazy looking bat in a scientist coat in front of him. But as Max also looked down at himself, his entire bare body was showing and he was only wearing some sort of test subject swimming kind of trunks! "W-What the hell is the meaning of this?!" Max shouted. The bat gave a evil grin as his bright red eyes shined in the darkness of the lab. "All in good time, you will see...Fox of the Wickeds..." Before Max could even think of what that ment, he was suddenly shocked as he also saw he had some sort of wounds that were closed and patched up! "ARRRAGAHH!!" Max yells as he is shocked. The bat laughed like some maniac. As the shocking stops, Max sways his head down and breaths whilst growling. His vision appeared very differant...It felt like machines were inside of him and working on him like crazy...Suddenly, a bright blinding light in front of Max and behind the bat appeared as a door opened. A bunch of what appeared to be were soldier canines, rats in some assassin armor, bears in heavy armor and what was stranger, is they all appeared armed. A familar face appeared as a bear walked forward. "Max! My god what the hell...?!" It was Jack! Max smiled with relief "J-Jack! Jensen! Guys!" The bat growled and yelled "Nyheheh! You may have caught me this time, but next time! You won't be so lucky! Ciao!" With that, the bat covered himself with his wings and disappears by using some sort of spell. Jack ran to the tube Max was inside of. "Hang on! I'll get you out of there! Somehow..." Max suddenly felt a strange urge that of one he never felt before...Jack pulls out a pistol and says "Max! Stay very, very still! I may shoot you otherwise!" Max nods and closes his eyes as the bear slowly aims at the metal latches and shoots one off and then the other. Max rubbed the crushed parts of his wrists as he is finally freed. Suddenly, the urge grew bigger and before Max could think, he punched the glass and actually broke it in one punch! The soldiers cover their faces over their arms as the glass shards fly before hitting the floor. Max looks at his paw with a shocked face "D-Did I just do what I think I just did?!" Max says. Then Jack lowers his arms and he has a shocked face as well as Jensen as they say at the same time "D-Did you just do what we think you did?!" as Max hopped out of the broken tube, he felt a screeching headache run through his head "Aaagh...What the hell did they do to me..." One of the rats stood there. In full knowledge of what was going on... "....I know what that bat did to you, Max..." Max gave a look of major surprise before saying "W-What DID he do to me?!" The rat walks up to Max and looks around him in many gestures as though he was examining Max "...Just as I thought...Max, they augmented you and now you have miltary genetics built inside of you...If you were in the army, you would have been known as a Genetic Super Soldier Fox..." Max didn't know what to say. It felt like all too much happened at once. "So...I now have powers...?" The rat shook his head as his tone was a bit russian "Not exactly, but you do have classified powers of that of a super soldier. You have many abilities like better accuracy, senses, speed and most importantly, combat." Max looked at the rat for a moment. As a strange thing overemarks his head. "Arragh...I feel like I know your name as my brain just read it out for me...Y-You're...Draco." The rat nodded "I forgot to mention you can scan people as well and get info of who they are as well!" Max then looked at Jack's pistol "If that's true...Jack, give me your pistol. I'm gonna see if I can shoot that bottle of water." The bottle of water was outside on the door and if you were to go that way, you'd see a window pane with a glass of water there. Jack accepted Max's request and gave him the pistol. "Uhm, have you used a weapon before, Max?" said Jack. Max shook his head "No, but I've seen many weapons being used. So hopefully it can't be hard." Max places his two paws on the pistol's handle and slowly aims. But as he does, a yellow target like thing appears in his right eye. They all looked at Max with surprise. Except for the rat who smiled and said "I knew it, these augmentations are becoming far too noticable." Max's vision was weird as it felt like he was seeing through yellow as well as a target on the water bottle. Max pulls the trigger and fires as he stumbles back a bit. Surprised by the recoil. "Whoa...Maybe firing a pistol isn't all that easy after all..." says Max. But Jack looked like he was in full disagreement. "You made that look FAR too easy, Max! Aiming and shooting a weapon accurately takes a lot of time but its your first time and you succeed in one shot! That's incredible!" Max still wasn't fully used to this built system inside of him as his vision blurred around him as he went on his knees "Agh...This headache and these wounds around my body are seriously screwing me up..." The rat nods and says "Do not worry too much, it only lasts at least a couple of days. Your body is still getting used to its new additions. Rest and drinks should hopefully speed up the healing process" Jack lifts Max up and places his arms over his own big arms. "In any case, its very late. Getting close to dusk in fact! You aren't looking good either Max! Let's get you home." On the table by the tube lay Max's clothes. Max struggled to pick them up but after a few attempts, he manages as Jack and Max slowly walk while the others speed ahead towards Max's home. Once they were by the entrance of Max's home, John and Maria see the slightly wounded Max. "O-Oh my goodness! Max! What happened to you?!" Max, who was getting very, very tired from the effects as well as dusk slowly coming slowly whispered. "Someone knocked me out as I was about to walk home and I was taken to a lab to be tested on..." Maria hugged the wounded Max and says "You need sleep! You sound and look exhausted! Thank you so very much for bringing our son home." Jack nods with a smile and says "Just doing our job, Miss! Well, Max...I think its time to say goodbye." Max slowly looked over at the rat who was smiling but looked worried of Max. "Max, you seem like you'd be a very good fighter. I hope maybe in the someday future we can drink together once more! Tonight was quite a experience. Take this knife if you ever need it for something. But be aware it is not just any knife....It has many features that you could possibly imagine. Farewell, my comrade. I hope to see you again after the war." Max nodded as he took the knife. Next was Jensen. "I could say the same to you of what Draco said! We'll have to meet up again someday! If you ever need us, we'll always be by you. Cheering you on! I want you to take this." It looked like a charm. But a special miltary kind. "This charm is said to have saved many lives in combat. Many of which its rumors and facts are true. I hope that you too will watch over us, Max. I wish you the best of luck in your life." And after a last few goodbyes to others, Last was Jack. "Ah, Max pal! You really pulled something off tonight! Next time we meet, I'll drink you right under the table! All drinks on me after the war! As you've gained your new powers, Max. I wish you to take this and this." Max is given is what looks like a square but has some parts that looked like a tool would be used for. "This thing here, is a ammunition maker. You can use resources to make bullets with this thing and even give it special kinds of stuff. You could even craft a bullet that is wooden and it would still work fine! But as I am giving you this, you will need this otherwise there would be no point. Its my pistol. I want you to have it to remember me as what happened this very night. I want you to know, we will always be by your side. No matter what the risks or dangers! Just call out for us and you'll have us running to you!" Jack says. "Well Max buddy, I'm gonna miss the fun time we had today! I hope to see you again another day! Where the world will be at peace! Farewell Max. We'll remember you as a honour for tonight." And so they wave as they walk off back to their duties. Max slowly waves back weakily as he slowly tries to move but can't manage. As Max attempts again, he falls. But John manages to catch him before he hits the ground "Whoa, easy son! Let's get you to bed. I think it will do you the world of good." John places his arm over Max and takes the given stuff off of him as John slowly walks Max into the house and to his room. Before helping him lay on his bed. "One second while I patch your wounds up." John walks off and comes back with a first aid. First taking out some disinfectant and bandages. Slowly placing some disinfectant on the slightly open wounds, Max growls in pain "I know son, but c'mon. You'll be fine. It will only hurt a bit." says John in a comforting voice. After doing so, he patches up a bit of the bleeding wounds while others were just plainly normal wounds. "There you go, that wasn't so bad now, was it?" says John in his fatherly tone. ".....Zzzz...." Max slowly snores. John chuckles at how fast Max fell asleep as he strokes him around the head and the ears and Max smiles "Rest well, son." In Max's dreams, he also remembered he was given another thing before Jack left. "Take this silencer. Just so when you fire the pistol, people won't get startled." Also in Max's dreams, everything felt so....Cyber..It felt unreal. The next night, Max attaches the pistol with the silencer and makes wooden bullets from which he chopped some wood up and then used the shreds on the ammunition maker. Max places five logs of wood from a very far distance. One with a alarm clock to let Max know when to start. As soon as Max heard a *RIIING* Max aimed his pistol with his senses high above sky high. But, something very odd happened as he aimed...Max felt he froze time as his vision turned to a dark yellow. As he points at each of the logs. After a short period of time as Max felt his augments place targets on each log, Max felt his senses turn normal again as he shot each one directly in a matter of seconds without missing once. To this day, before he gained The Wicked Sword, he had these many skills ever since. Never failing him. The fireplace slowly dies down but still crackles peacefully. "And thus, that's how I became a genetic soldier fox...Quite a tale if you ask me. Although these augments are gone, one thing hasn't...My aiming." Max sits up from the log and walks far back from the fireplace. Before pulling out his Wicked Gunlance and closing his eyes and focusing his power on it...He felt the weapon go warm and suddenly knew what he just did. He made the bullets of The Wicked Gunlance become fire bullets. Or fire balls in some way. Max aims the pistol and fires once as a crackle of a flame flies by and hits the fireplace. Adding much more life of fire to what it had before.... *THE END*