A few hours later, he was approaching Shellion. A dark, skinny planet, with air full of toxins and with metropolises built just about everywhere on the inhabitable areas of its surface. Those who had enough money lived in apartments with imported fresh air, others were emigrating to colonized planets or suffering from the pollution. The central point of Shellion culture was clearly visible even from outer space. This giant dome would surely be Dark Shell’s palace. Jazz flew close to it, looking for an entrance. Finally, he spotted a window and boosted right through it, breaking inside regardless of the reinforced bulletproof glass the window was built with, and then going straight on a big crowd of turtles. Jazz catapulted out and his Jazz-01 spaceship exploded right in the middle of the hall. The flames almost reached him, but he made it out successfully. Only one of his wristbands got burned and fell off. Jazz landed and ran towards the center of building. Of course, he encountered resistance, but it was simply blasted by him from the rocket launcher. He ran to the only survivor and grabbed him by the neck.
-WHERE’S DARK SHELL?!
-I… I don’t know… - the turtle paused for a cough, swaying. -He hasn’t returned here yet… But he should return… - he paused again, suffering from Jazz’s tight grasp. -Soon… with his fleet…
-Thanks, too bad I don’t need you anymore. – said Jazz and broke turtle’s neck with one quick, brutal move.
Jazz followed through more halls, killing everyone in his way. Every time he ran out of ammo, he just threw the gun away and picked up another. Soon, he reached a Shellion spaceship and hopped into it. There was a turtle inside.
-Get out! – screamed the turtle and shot. He missed Jazz, but hit his remaining wristband, cutting it. It touched the floor at the same moment as turtle’s head. Jazz started the spaceship and piloted it to the orbit. The lead spaceship of Shellion fleet could be already seen in the distance… Among with about thousand ships following it.
The mothership wasn’t positioned in front of the fleet. That would be foolishness. It was hidden behind a large amount of big battleships, each only a bit smaller than Devan’s Twin MegaBattleShips. The lead unit could still be seen even from Shellion's surface – it was enormous. One would guess it wasn’t capable of landing anywhere, since it was almost as big as a planet. Someone who would attend to destroy it could be considered as a deranged freak – and that’s exactly what Jazz was about to do. Without any strategy he just aimed straight for the mothership. As soon as he reached the sight field of the nearest ship he was caught under fire without a slightest warning. He maneuvered the stolen spaceship and continued going for Dark Shell’s mothership. Now, he was in-between the fleet and under attack of every ship around him, but still was continuing the course, dodging the shots with incredible accuracy. Eventually, the fleet was shooting itself. Since Jazz was in a Shellion spaceship, he could hear the communication between battleships:
-Hot Shell 014 to Hot Shell 045, stop shooting us or we will respond with fire, I repeat, stop shooting our unit or we will respond with fire, over.
-This is Hot Shell 045, we were not aiming for Hot Shell 014 but for Dodgemachine 714, we’ve got a message from the planet surface that a Galactic Rabbit is piloting it, over.
-This is Hot Shell 014, Hot Shell 045, we KNOW about the rabbit. This is a standard response procedure and you’re damaging our shields. Over and out.
Jazz sighed and continued the course. He was nearing to the mothership when his vehicle was shot in the starboard and started spinning. Luckily, the dock was somehow open and he slipped in, crashing the spaceship just like when landing on Shellion. Jazz stood up after a hard landing and started running through docks, killing all resistance he encountered. They tried to stop him… but even snipers weren’t enough. All they managed to take down was Jazz’s LFG-2000 Blaster. When it broke apart, Jazz grabbed the last machine gun on his back and shot the nearest spaceship’s fuel tank. It might’ve looked as a foolish action of last resort, but Jazz jumped and used the explosion as a very effective boost, letting himself break through several floors. He took some heavy damage, but continued to blast everyone in his way to the cockpit. What he didn’t know was that the explosion he caused has triggered the destruction of engine’s other highly explosive elements. The great construction was falling down like a domino track.
-ALERT! ALERT! Critical damage on engines and flight stabilizers! The mothership will hit the surface of Shellion in 34 minutes! – the voice of announcer was sounding really thrilled, and its tone was so jolted that it was driving on everyone’s nerves. Everyone knew there isn’t enough escape pods to keep everyone alive. The madman race towards shuttle bays started.
-Oh God, oh God, oh GOD!!! Please, I don’t want to dAAGH!
The troop didn’t finish as he was just trampled down by others. Everyone cared only about themselves, dashing above everything that got under their feet, and a single trip over any obstacle could mean an awful, long death. Only the elite units stayed on positions, trying to save the situation bypassing the systems and repairing physical damage that could still be repaired.
-How come this is our biggest and most important fleet unit and it can be damaged so severely by one single rabbit in so short time?
-I don’t know, but whoever he is, he must be a demon of destruction… I heard of warriors that could stand against whole planets, but I didn’t know there is someone like that in this part of galaxy… - the turtle paused for a moment to adjust in a new segment of a partly scorched and melting construction. – I only heard of Jazz Jackrabbit, but they say he’s the good guy, fighting the rebels from our planet.
-Maybe he’s not only against rebels, but our whole race…
Suddenly, Jazz appeared in the area shooting from a rocket launcher he found on the way. Characteristic bruises and wounds had been showing that he also encountered the hordes running in amok.
-I… it is him all right! Run!!!
It was too late as another explosion reached the two chatters, burning them in several seconds. Although injured, Jazz still remained unbeaten as he progressed to Dark Shell at all costs.
-Where the hell are you, freak?! Huh?! Huh?!?! I won’t stop destroying your good-for-nothing spaceship until you show yourself! – Jazz was starting to lose his already heavily drained patience.
-It would be no fun if I just stood there in the middle of this mess, don’t you think, my friend? – Dark Shell’s voice spread all over the area Jazz was in.
-Quit the whole melodramatics! You came out there in Devan’s place, you’ll do it again here!
-I do what I want to. After all, I am the emperor here!
-Then watch as I’ll turn your empire into ruins!
-25 minutes until impact, everybody except for elder technicians and generals abandon positions! – shouted the same voice in speakers as before.
-How do you like that, Dark?! – Jazz started laughing maniacally. –This whole mothership of yours seems so tough on the outside, but really it’s just a pile of rubbish like everything you’ve got! You don’t want to stand in a face-to-face fight? Then you’ll die like a meaningless worm! Yes, you’ll die just like everybody you killed in that one moment, a worthless element of swarm! HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT?!?!
There was no answer. Meanwhile, the construction started heating up; it looked like the mothership has started entering Shellion’s orbit. Time was running out and nothing happened… Nobody responded… All the life on the mothership, all the crew somehow disappeared all of sudden… Only a single green rabbit stood in the middle of the mess he caused all by himself. Jazz was looking around, losing his mind. It now seemed like it all had no sense… He came all this way for vengeance, but he still couldn’t feel any satisfaction, nor relief. Dark Shell was somewhere out there alive and he could have an escape plan. Maybe he already left while Jazz was talking. Not really knowing when, Jazz became a melodramatic freak himself. Or maybe he already was one before? After years of fighting Devan… The two enemies could become more close to each other than anyone would guess. Like reflections of each other, mirroring their pros and cons, their feelings and their needs. Jazz always fought as the good one, as the defender of his home planet. Now that what he used to be defending was gone, what more good could he do? This time he was fighting just for himself. Whatever he would do, it wouldn’t bring his friends back to life. Revenge? What did it mean? Maybe just an urge to fill up his ambitions? He fought just for himself… He did it for himself. Even Devan had a better meaning for his actions. Until he died from the hand of Jazz, of course.
Jazz felt as if his legs couldn’t stand his weight anymore. He tried standing still, but just couldn’t help but fall on his knees. While everything around was becoming warmer and warmer, he felt incredibly cold inside. Why did he act like that? When did he lose control over himself? Time was passing and he just sat there trying to grab onto any reason that could come to his mind… Other than an urge to revenge.
But then again, could he just leave it all behind? Let Dark Shell go like that, without any punishment? What was the right thing and what was the wrong? It’s not like he didn’t kill hordes of turtles before… It was just the way he did it. Certain he did the right thing, because he did it for somebody else. And so, again and again, his thoughts went back and forth confusing what is the right way to finish all this, as time passed.