A TAIL OF FIVE FURRIES
Chapter 6: Tails's Tale
Tails woke up on another island. He looked around. No sign of the other foxes.
Tails soon noticed a racetrack. He walked up to it and saw a race going on. He walked up to the front desk and said "Can I enter the next race?"
"Sure," said the clerk. "The winner gets either a million dollars or can go through a dimensional door.
"I don't think so," said Benks Fuller, a bully who stood with his younger brother Jirk. "We'll win the race. We're champion. Plus you just fell from the sky. You don't even have your own vehicle."
"I can run on foot," said Tails. "I've raced alongside Sonic and Knuckles before."
"Hey, are you… are you Tails, by any chance?" said the clerk.
"Of course he is," said Fearow Robinson, a man with long purple hair. "How many foxes have two tails?"
"Good point," said the clerk. "I've heard all about you, Tails! You, Sonic, and Knuckles have won several races before."
"I bet 500 Rupees that I win the race," said Ingo, who was riding a horse. "The great king Zant put me in charge of the mansion. And I am one of the few he allowed the great power he's received."
Tails did not know what power Ingo was talking about, nor did he care at the moment. Now was the time to focus on racing. He would be facing Benks and Ingo, two undefeated champions.
The next race came. Tails was on foot, Ingo was on horseback, and Benks and Jirk were in a sports car, with Benks driving.
"Ready… set… go!"
They began racing. Tails, Benks, and Ingo were quickly in the lead. It was close, but they kept trading leading positions. As they neared the finish line, Tails was in the lead, so Ingo grabbed one of Tails's tails and pulled him backward! In the process Ingo himself was slowed down, and Benks and Jirk won.
As usual, the two bullies chose the million dollars.
Tails wanted to go through a dimensional door. He was sure that at least one of the other foxes might be behind it.
Ingo was sore about losing to Benks. If Zant found out about his humiliation…
"Hey!" said Ingo. "How about another race! If you win… you can keep… the horse!"
"Count me in," said Tails. "Ingo, I'll be ready for you if you try to grab my tail again!"
"Darn!" said Ingo.
Benks was getting drunk in his victory, chugging down beer.
"Hey," said the clerk, "Mr. Champion! Tails and Ingo both want a rematch so you should enter the next race."
"HUH?" said Benks. He had not expected anyone wanting to lose to him twice.
"Is that beer?" said the clerk suspiciously.
"No, it's Gatorade," said Benks. "But um… I'm a bit tired from the last race so Jirk should drive."
"Me?" said Jirk. "Well, OK."
The race began. A new entrant, Dario, was riding a Dodrio. He was pretty evenly matched with Tails, Ingo, and Jirk. Ingo tries to grab Tails's tail again but Tails ran to the side. Ingo knew this wasn't going to work, so in desperation he used the last carrot for his horse. This was a mistake; now the horse would take a lot longer before another carrot could be used to speed him up.
"FASTER, Dortmunder!" said Ingo.
Tails was in the lead again. Dario was neck in neck with him.
"Do it, Dodrio!" said Dario. Dodrio pecked at Tails. Tails was briefly slowed down, but shot an energy ball at Dario in retaliation – after all, the race was "anything goes". Dario and Dodrio were jerked a little toward Benks and Jirk. Ingo, meanwhile, was catching up, having recovered his carrots. They were mostly neck in neck by now, and Tails had a slight lead.
"Do it," said Benks.
Jirk swerved the car to the left, smashing into his three opponents. Ingo, Dario, Dodrio, and Dortmunder, the horse, fell into the abyss below the track. Tails had not noticed the bottomless pit before – this race really WAS anything goes! Spinning his two tails around like a helicopter, he made it back up to the racetrack, but the minute his feet touched the ground, Benks and Jirk crossed the finish line.
"WOOHOO!" said Benks.
"WE WON!" said Jirk. "But Benks… we'd have kept the horse if you hadn't told me to throw it over the cliff."
"So what?" said Benks drunkenly. "Our car is better, and if we hadn't done it, Tongues would have won."
"His name is Tails," said Jirk. "But you're right. VICTORY!" He began drinking champagne.
Tails was determined to win a dimensional trip and meet the other foxes. He challenged Benks and Jirk to another rematch.
"This isn't good!" said Benks. "If we decline, he'll think we're cowards!"
"But we are," said Jirk.
"Jirk, you should drive," said Benks.
"Are you crazy?" said Jirk, raising the half empty beer bottle. "I can't drive!"
"And I can?" said Benks.
"That's Gatorade, remember?" said the clerk.
"Right," said Benks. He made up his mind and got into his car.
There were no other contestants this time – only Tails, Benks, and Jirk! The race began! A quarter of the way around the track Benks took his foot off the gas pedal.
"Hey!" said Benks. "The Triumph Forks ate the bird that was scrounging for cats in the ocean's front porch!"
"HEY!" said Jirk, panicking. "HE'S GONNA WIN! DRIVE FASTER THAN YOU'VE EVER GONE BEFORE!"
Benks slammed his foot on the gas pedal, but turned too slow and slammed into a wall. Their car flipped over. Benks and Jirk managed to dive out of their car in time before it fell off the cliff. Tails reached the finish line first.
"And Tails is our winner!" said the clerk. "Tails, do you want a million dollars or a dimensional door?"
"A dimensional door," said Tails. The clerk gave Tails a small capsule.
"Throw this and a dimensional door will appear," said the clerk. "Who knows where it might lead?"
Benks and Jirk were crying, Sailor Moon style.
"Hey, cheer up," said Tails. "You still won several million dollars from previous races."
"Oh yeah!" said Benks. Suddenly a mugger ran by and stole all of Benks and Jirk's money and they began crying even more.
Suddenly, a yellow spacecraft appeared and rammed the mugger. He dropped all his money and fell into the pit. A mechanical arm reached out of the ship and grabbed the money.
"Heheheheheh!" said Pigma. "All the money is mine!"
"GIVE US BACK OUR MONEY!" said Benks and Jirk, dashing at Pigma.
"LOOK OUT!" said Tails, but Pigma's ship whipped them with its mechanical arms, and into the pit fell Benks and Jirk.
Two dimensional doors appeared and Fox and Lucario entered.
"Pigma!" said Fox.
"Fox!" said Lucario.
"Tails!" said Fox.
"Fox! Lucario!" said Tails.
"Looks like they're all here," said Pigma. "In that case, I'll have to show them my true power!"
He pressed another button, and merged with his ship into a gigantic machine with six octo claws and a giant Pigma face on its center.
Fox threw a capsule. It turned into an Arwing. Fox hopped in the Arwing, with Lucario and Tails riding its wings, and they fought Pigma. He reached for them with his octo claws, but Fox, being the most skilled pilot of Team Star Fox, dodged their every blow and shot at the Octo arms. Lucario and Tails shot at separate claws as well until all of them were totaled.
"I sense a mighty force," said Lucario.
"I guess it's time to show you my true power!" said Pigma, and his face in the center was revealed again.
Fox shot a bomb at Pigma's face at the same time Tails shot an energy orb and Lucario shot a Kamehameha. Pigma powered up for a Hyper Beam but was not quick enough. All three attacks hit him directly. There were several explosions, and what remained of Pigma fell into the pit. Everyone watched him fall until the light from the fire and explosions faded away into the dark nothingness below.
AN: If you're confused about the "carrot" thing, when you're riding the horse, Epona, in Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, you press A to make Epona run faster, and it used up one of the six carrot icons. They slowly recover over time, but take longer if you use the last one. You race Ingo on horseback in Ocarina of Time.