CHAPTER 4
Through the trees and the brush, two travelers climb to the top of a hill. Breezy fields of green, and mechanical carcasses…
"What on earth are these?" Captain Toad had strayed from the trail of hoofprints supposedly left behind by Rambi, and pointed out two large metal spiders that lie smoldering on the ground near the bottom of the hill in front of them. Donkey Kong didn't know or care the answer to Toad's question, and shrugged. Captain Toad rolled his eyes. "Don't you ever say anything?"
They walked past the mechanical corpses, not paying them much mind. The sun began to set. It was clear that tracking down this Rhino would be more troublesome than it might be worth. He needed to find Toadette though… There was no way he could leave her to fend for herself on this planet.
Toad and Donkey Kong trudged up another large hill. This would likely be the last bit of ground they were going to cover before they would have to find some shelter for the nighttime. When the two reached the top, a million thoughts ran through the fungi's mind.
"Oh." He muttered. "Oh my." Donkey Kong's eyes lit up as he witnessed a huge castle just over the last few yards of green. A handful of mushroom houses lined the road leading up to the magnificent edifice; all of this was encased in a perimeter wall that kept all inside safe. Rambi's tracks lead up to the gate, but then they abruptly ended. Toad soldiers stopped them at the front entrance.
"Halt! Those who enter the Princess Toadstool's Castle must prove they are no threat to the Mushroom Kingdom!" One of the Toad soldiers spouted.
"Can't you see through that big helmet of yours? I'm a Toad, just like you!" Captain Toad protested. The Toad soldier silently accepted that the Captain was of the same species as he, but then turned to DK.
"If he's a Toad, then what on earth are you?" The soldier questioned. Donkey Kong gave him an inquisitive glance, seeming to not fully understand the point of the interrogation. Captain Toad delivered his palm to his own face in disbelief at this soldier's incessant questioning. Security sure had gotten tighter since he'd been at Peach's Castle.
"His name is Donkey Kong, and he lives in the jungle north of here." Captain Toad tried to clarify. "That's where we both came from."
"Is that some poor attempt to trick me? There are no jungles near here. This is the Mushroom Kingdom: nothing more than green rolling hills as far as the eye can see" The soldier affirmed his own ignorance. Captain Toad squinted his eyes in disapproval.
"Well this isn't my home planet; you know, where the Mushroom Kingdom actually is! I don't know how Princess Peach's Castle got here!" Captain Toad fumed with anger. The Toad soldier took his extensive knowledge of the Mushroom Kingdom as proof that neither he or DK were a threat. Upon entering the Capital, he and the great ape headed straight for the castle, where they met with Toadsworth, Princess Peach's chief advisor and friend, at the door.
"Oh goodness me! A familiar face!" The mushroom butler joyfully proclaimed, running to greet the visitors at the front door of the castle. "Welcome, fellow Toad! And… oh. Giant monkey?" Toadsworth was taken aback by Donkey Kong and his rather unsettling size. Captain Toad waved his hand in dismissal.
"He's with me." The Captain said. Toadsworth cautiously nodded, and invited Toad on a tour of the throne room while keeping his eye on the ape. "So you don't remember how Peach's Castle got here?"
"None of us have any idea how it happened. Most of the guards don't really understand what's going on, and they just think the change of venue is due to a windstorm." Toadsworth told him. "But as you and I both know, something is very wrong. Most of our kind isn't quite as sharp as I'd like to admit, but thank goodness for the brainier among us to notice these things." Donkey Kong was ogling at the furnished room with carpets and fancy portraits on the walls. It was as if he'd never been inside a true structure before… at least one that wasn't made of crude wood.
"Has anyone come in over the past few days?" Toad asked, hoping the Princess's butler would know where his friend was. Toadsworth opened his mouth to answer, but the sky outside lit up unnaturally, startling everyone in the vicinity. All three of them looked to the window to see what seemed like a falling star, that had just entered the atmosphere, rocketing to the ground. "What on earth…" Toadsworth muttered to himself. The possible-meteorite landed with a loud thud near to the castle.
"Perhaps we can speak of these matters later. I'm nearly certain these cowardly Toad soldiers won't investigate this unidentified object… Is there any way you and your pet will go to see what this is?" Toadsworth requested. DK bared his teeth at being called a pet, and Toad sighed.
"Whaddaya say, Donkey Kong, want to go check it out? At least to make sure it won't kill us later." Captain Toad asked, somewhat rhetorically due to the fact that DK wasn't the most talkative. Donkey Kong nodded, and the Captain led the way.
MOMENTS EARLIER - SPACE
"I'm getting a visual of an unidentified orange craft, do you copy?" Fox reported into his radio.
"Of course I copy, I'm the only one here with you; It's right in front of us!" Falco replied, annoyed at Fox's insistence on going by the books.
"Whatever, what do you think it is?" Fox asked, trying to get a better angle to inspect the orange ship.
"It looks like a crashed spaceship. No survivors. Time to get a move on! This weird planet is giving me the creeps." Falco demanded, pushing the throttle full speed ahead. Fox scratched his chin. The craft seemed like it wrecked under extreme conditions. It had been nearly ripped in half by something… definitely not anything that could happen due to most of the usual reasons for a crash. It had to have been a different outside force that damaged it so. The question was, in fact, was the culprit of this crime still around?
Falco continued pressing the thrusters forward. His Arwing moved nearly out of radio range when he stopped, and turned to the side.
"Fox! What are you doing?" The birdman asked, expecting a really good reason for why they were sticking around so long. Fox didn't answer, but he moved in closer to the orange ship. As his visual became clearer and clearer, he noticed more detail that seemed quite bizarre. Huge jagged claws must've been what had wrecked the ship. The evidence was overwhelming. The marks were unmistakable; unable to be confused for an asteroid or other mundane causes. "Fox! Are you listening?" If he could only get a better look at what was inside… "Fox!" The Star Fox captain growled as he started to get annoyed with his avian ally. He just wanted to make sure they weren't missing the opportunity to help someone in need! There still could be survivors, and Falco was just being a jerk. "Fox! Help! I need hel-" Falco's radio went offline.
"Hello? Falco?" Fox suddenly realized he'd been too absorbed in the orange ship that he wasn't looking out for his team member, and that's when he saw it. Terrible claws, razor sharp wings, teeth like sawblades, and eyes like the sinister heart of a black hole: all bound together by the malignancy of the devil himself. It was a dragon… The monster pursued Falco throughout interstellar space. The skilled pilot dodged and maneuvered away from the winged demon, but he couldn't do that forever. Fox twisted his control wheel towards the danger as to face it head on, but he was stopped by the most peculiar sight.
An orange hand desperately clasped at Fox's ship from the damaged vessel. A tall and muscular orange-clad armored man slowly climbed out onto the hood of his vehicle. Fox was speechless. He nodded at Fox, seeing the pilot sitting in his cockpit. McCloud took this as a sign he was a friend; he didn't have the luxury to assume otherwise. The armored man motioned for him to move towards the dragon. Normally he wouldn't take orders from ransom orange people that crawled onto his Arwing, but desperate times called for all of us to make concessions.
The Arwing launched from its standstill to top speed. Fox flew towards the fearsome dragon, firing energy bolts to and fro. The armored man stood firmly on his hood as he readied his arm cannon for the impending faceoff. At last, one of the haphazardly aimed shots hit the dragon in the wing. The purple beast acted as though it were shrieking, but the vacuum of space muffled its painful turned to Fox's position, and finally let Falco alone. It zig-zagged across the stars with unpredictable flight patterns. Neither Fox nor his targeting systems could catch it. Falco attempted to aid him, but he was too far away to help. Fox's heart beat out of his chest; this could be how he died.
The armored man detached from the Arwing, floating purposefully adrift among the cosmos, and coldly pointed his arm cannon at the dragon. With a magnitude of unparalleled scale, he blasted his worst at the monster. It formed a huge and terrifying pillar of energy emerging from the man's small yet potent weapon. Fox and Falco were amazed, but it wasn't long before they were pushed away from the scene by a gargantuan shock wave. The purple dragon took the full force of the continuous ray of pure power. In a blinding flash of light, the dragon was sent off into deep space, and the armored man became like a flaming projectile plummeting towards the unsuspecting planet.
PRESENT - THE PLANET
The night sky was calm once again, and all was silent. Captain Toad and Donkey Kong had tracked the fallen star to this location. When the team reached its place of landing, they peered into the colossal hole it left in its wake.
"Hello?" Toad called out into the dark crater. "Is anyone in there?" He walked in, and started to poke around. DK stayed outside to keep watch, just in case anything approached. "Helloooo?" His voice echoed out of the pit, and into the air around. Under a thick layer or dirt and displaced earth, Samus's eyes darted open. She grabbed her pistol off her belt, and backflipped behind the unknown life form.
"Don't move." She commanded. Toad put his hands up immediately.
"Wait!" Toad screeched. "I was just here to see what happened!" Samus was just about to stun the small mushroom boy, but she heard heavy footsteps behind her. She turned to see a giant bare fist barreling towards her face: the last thing she'd remember before she was knocked hopelessly unconscious. Though there were stars in the sky, the brightest among them were those Samus saw that night.
