(The Great Fox touches down outside the Xiaolin Temple. Dojo and the Monks meet with us just as I notice a rift opening, revealing Smoke and his team with a bag of Shen Gong Wu)
Dojo: Oh good. You're here. I already brought the monks up to speed about the Elemental Egg.
Falco: So you already know how dangerous it is in the wrong hands, huh?
Kimiko: Yep. If Jack Spicer or Chase Young gets their grubby little hands on it, the world is as good as doomed.
Judy: Well, there's no way we're letting that happen.
Smoke: Who's the bunny?
Me: Oh, right. Everyone, this is Judy Hopps. She came to my base not too long ago.
Judy: Hello.
Raimundo: Now that the introductions are over, can we gear up and get that Egg now?
Smoke: Love to, but I've done my part. Archer, be careful out there.
Me: Will do.
(We enter the vault to grab some Shen Gong Wu as Smoke's team leave in the Rouge Shadow)
The Mercenary and the Princess
Chapter 6: Aparoid Assault
The Star Fox Team made their way to the briefing room, where the Scarlet Army awaited their arrival. Scarlett smiled when she saw Fox.
"Ah, Fox, you're here." Scarlett said as she noticed his teammates. "And I can assume these three are your teammates."
"That's right." Fox confirmed as took his seat next to Cole and Lucy.
"Now, I received a distress signal from King Roland." Scarlett explained as she opened communications.
"Scarlett, come in. Do you read me?" King Roland asked for a response.
"Your Majesty, what's going on?" Scarlett asked.
"These giant purple bugs are attacking Enchancia!" Roland told them, shocking most of Star Fox. A video of the creatures is seen appearing from a purple rift in the sky.
"What is that thing?" Anna asked as the bug creatures flew out and about, one by one.
"No… It can't be…!" Krystal softly said as the video displayed the townspeople fleeing in fear. The invading creatures now begin to surround Enchancia Castle. Krystal stared into the video in complete shock.
"Aparoids!" Fox shouted, remembering the creatures.
"Ah. So those are Aparoids. I fear that this invasion may be Enchancia's downfall." Roland said, bowing his head.
"Roland? What's your status? Please respond!" Scarlett demanded until Falco spoke up.
"I don't get it. I mean, seriously, why aren't they attacking the castle?" Falco pointed out. "Somehow, the Aparoids have caught the Royal Guard completely by surprise. They outnumber them twenty to one. Why not just blow the place to pieces while they still have the advantage?"
"Good point." Scarlett said.
"Whoever sent these Aparoids… what they're after… is my daughter's amulet." Roland assumed the Aparoids' intentions. Everyone in the Scarlet Army gasps at the king's assumption.
"What do you mean by that?" Fox asked in confusion as Sofia clutches her amulet in her hand.
"I'll explain later. Right now, you need to stop these creatures immediately!" Roland requested as the communication closed.
"You heard him, everyone. Enchancia is in danger. Let's go!" Scarlett told her troops as they exited the briefing room, but not before Scarlett turned to Fox and his team.
"Before I forget, Fox, the repairs on your Arwing are complete. It's ready to fly now." Scarlett informed the Star Fox leader.
"Thank you, Scarlett." Fox smiled as he saw her off.
"You knew her?" Krystal asked.
"Met her in the town. Fought off a few Aparoids some hours ago." Fox clarified.
"Right." Falco rolled his eyes.
"Star Fox, move out!" Fox commanded with enthusiasm.
"Right!" His teammates complied as they exit the briefing room and sprint toward their Arwings.
"Man, we're here not five minutes and already something bad happens." Slippy complained.
"Geez, this doesn't make any sense. How are the Aparoids still around? We already defeated the queen and destroyed their planet." Falco pondered until Krystal came up with the answer.
"Time warp." Krystal theorized.
"What?"
"These Aparoids came here through a cross-dimensional time warp. My guess is that whoever is controlling the Aparoids either has a time machine or can manipulate time and space to their will." Krystal explained.
"But how were they able to get their hands on that kind of power?" Slippy questioned.
"We can worry about that later. Right now, we just got to get those things away from the castle." Fox told them.
"Well, normally, the Aparoids' will are controlled by the queen herself. Since they can't sense her presence here, the Aparoids are completely mindless, but someone out there found a way to control their actions remotely." Slippy noted.
"So? What's your point?" Falco asked.
"Well, if we could just figure out what's controlling the Aparoids and sever its connection, the Aparoids will just become stragglers again." Slippy suggested.
"Good plan, except you left out the part about the time warp, which is likely bringing them from a point in time in which the queen was still alive! Even if we were able to destroy whatever's controlling them, they'll just go back to assimilating everything once they figure out what happened!" Falco scowled.
"What?! No way!" Slippy cried, just as they reached the Arwings outside. Everyone mounted their own Arwing, but before they have the chance to close the cockpit windows, Slippy called out to Krystal.
"Hey, Krystal! Catch!" Slippy called out as he threw a visor to her.
"What is it?" She asked.
"It's the pilot's visor I remodeled. Try it on." Slippy suggested. She puts it on and notices the visor's targeting aid moving in sync with her eye.
"Ah, the visors. I can't believe I almost forgot about those." Fox said as he turned to Falco. "Hey, Falco. Do you still have your visor?"
"Heh, for once, I'm glad you brought that up." Falco replied as he put on his visor, Fox and Slippy putting on theirs.
"Alright, everyone! Let's rock and roll!" Fox shouted as the four Arwings take off en-route to Enchancia.
The four Arwings fly right towards the Aparoids attacking Enchancia. They notice Cole, Korra, Anna and Elsa fighting off a few of them on the ground. Krystal starts shooting down some airborne Aparoids, with the help of her new visor's targeting aid, of course.
"Ha, loving this new visor." Krystal complimented the visor.
"Scarlett, any update on the Evac?" Fox contacted Scarlett through his visor.
"It's done. Sofia and I managed to evacuate all of the villagers to a safe area." Scarlett reported. "We'll join you momentarily."
"Copy that." Fox responded. Star Fox notices numerous Aparoids surrounding the castle. "The castle can't take much more damage!"
"Some welcome, huh?" Falco deadpanned.
"Switching to All-Range Mode." Fox commanded as the airships' wings spread out and engaged the Aparoids. Falco was in pursuit of an Aparoid Fighter.
"You're mine." Falco glared as he shot it down.
"Falco, you've got bogies on your tail!" Fox reported from his visor as two more Aparoid Fighters pursue Lombardi.
"Use your brakes!" He hears Peppy's voice from his visor. Falco smirks as he uses the brakes on his G-Diffuser system, allowing the Aparoids to pass him, giving him the edge to shoot them down.
Meanwhile, on the ground, The Scarlet Army members in the town are holding their own against the Aparoids, but no matter how many they defeat, more just keep on coming.
Cole blasts an Aparoid Crawler with his lightning while blasting three Aparoid Dragoons into a building with his Shock Grenade. An Aparoid Light Assault Tank fires at the conduit, but he deflects the shot with his Polarity Wall and counters with an Electromagnetic Shockwave.
Korra used her Earthbending to ensnare two Aparoid Crawlers and crush them. She then notices an Aparoid Dragoon approaching from behind, but Korra senses this and stomps, forcing a rock pillar to pop out and strike the creature in its maw, knocking it out.
Anna and Elsa are back to back, fighting off numerous Crawlers and Dragoons that came their way. Elsa used her ice powers to freeze some Crawlers while Anna used her recently obtained fire abilities to scorch a few Dragoons.
"There's too many of them!" Korra pointed out. "We can't fight them all off at this rate!"
"Unless we have some kind of giant torch or something to draw them away, these things won't stop coming back!" Cole spoke. Hearing his words, Anna came up with an idea.
"Elsa, I have an idea!" Anna shouted to her allies.
"Let me guess: Moths to a Flame?" Elsa guessed. Anna nods. The ice queen grins as she creates a giant ice torch. Anna lights the torch with her flames. Seeing the bright flame, some of the Aparoids detach themselves from the castle.
"Did that get them all?" Cole asked as Scarlett and Sofia joined them in witnessing the Aparoids detaching from the castle.
"Not yet." Krystal replied.
"Sofia, do you read me?" Sofia hears Kitana's voice from her com-link.
"What is it, Kitana?" She asked.
"I managed to make my way to your family. I told them to take shelter in a sealed room." Kitana informed her.
"How are they doing right now?" Sofia asked.
"Your father is nervous. Amber's starting to panic. Your mother and James are trying to calm her down right now." Kitana explained.
"Stay with them. We can handle things here." Sofia commanded.
"Will do, Princess." Kitana complied as the communication ended. Korra then jumped into the action.
"Now it's my turn!" Korra shouted as she created an earth torch equal in size to the ice torch and lit it with her Firebending. The remaining Aparoids detached from the castle and towards the earth torch.
"All right! It's working!" Anna cheered.
"What the…? They're actually moving into the flames?" Falco questioned.
"It's a little trick Elsa and I learned from Korra." Anna said from her com-link.
"I figured most insects are drawn to light and flame, so I thought I'd use their weaknesses to our advantage by building a life-size torch." Korra explained.
"Not too shabby for something we just put together, huh?" Elsa grinned.
"Fox, now's your chance!" Scarlett told them.
"Alright. All units, bomb volley, now!" Fox commanded as all four Arwings fired a Smart Bomb one by one at the Aparoids, destroying those caught in the blast radius.
"Yeah! We did it!" Slippy cheered. But their moment of victory was short lived as his and Krystal's Arwings were blindsided by a beam, which slightly damaged them.
"Slippy! Krystal!" Fox cried out, hoping that they didn't suffer any critical damage.
"I'm okay." Slippy reported groggily.
"Just a minor scratch is all." Krystal added as the gigantic winged Aparoid appeared from the portal.
"W-what is that?!" Korra gasped.
"Oh, not that thing again!" Falco complained, remembering the team's first encounter with the creature, when it shot down rebel leader Andrew Oikonny's flagship without any hesitation.
"Slippy, Krystal, hang back and recover. Falco, you're with me. We got to take down that Aparoid!" Fox commanded as the Winged Aparoid fired some ring-shaped shots at the other two Arwings.
"Do a barrel roll!" They hear Peppy once again as the two Arwings did a swift Aileron roll, deflecting some of the shots. They fire shots of their own, destroying some segments of the Aparoid's wings.
"Think that worked?" Falco wondered before turning his attention to Slippy. "Hey, Froggy!"
"Don't call me "Froggy"! I hate that!" Slippy snapped at Lombardi.
"Come on, Slip! Hurry up with that shield analysis!" Krystal spoke.
"Alright, I'm bringing it up now. If we destroy the segments in its wings, we might be able to expose the core in its chest." Slippy analyzed.
"Falco?" Fox asked his wingman.
"You aim high, I'll aim low." Falco smirked as he shot two lower segments on the right wing and Fox destroyed the upper segments on the left wing. The Winged Aparoid retaliated with a fiery beam from its stinger, which misses the Arwings. The Arwings destroy the remaining segments.
"Great work, you guys!" Anna cheered. The now wingless Aparoid then used its beam to lift chunks of the ground and hurls them at Fox and Falco.
"I think that victory came too early." Elsa noticed the debris.
"Incoming debris!" Cole warned from his com-link. Fox and Falco evaded the meteorites. The creature's chest cavity opened, revealing the pink orb within.
"The core's exposed! Now's our chance!" Krystal called out.
"Alright. All units, open fire!" Fox commanded as all of the Arwings fired their shots at the Aparoid's exposed core, dealing enough damage to destroy it. The defeated creature crashes to the ground, exploding shortly after.
"No way. They won." Korra gasped.
"Kitana, I believe all of the Aparoids are gone. It should be safe to come out now." Scarlett reported on her com-link.
"Understood. I'll give Roland the news. Kitana out." Kitana replied as she and the royal family exited the castle, only for one last Aparoid to release a cry from above. The Aparoid was about to pounce onto Roland, but it was shot down instantly by Fox. The royal family sees Fox in his Arwing, who gives them a two-finger salute. Roland sighs with relief as the townspeople of Dunwitty cheer on the combined efforts of the Scarlet Army and the Star Fox team.
"We're so glad you and your family safe, your majesty." Fox told Roland once he exited his ship. The other Arwings land beside him and his teammates exit them. Scarlet and her soldiers present themselves as well.
"Star Fox, Scarlett told me about you and your heroics and after seeing what happened, my family and I are now in your debt." Roland thanked them.
"So, are you certain you're okay?" Krystal asked.
"Thanks to all of you." Roland replied as he turned to Fox. "Fox, I really hate to ask more from you, but I would like you and your team to remain in Enchancia for the time being."
"Expecting more trouble, your majesty?" The Star Fox leader asked.
"These Aparoids, whoever sent them must be after my daughter's amulet and they'll stop at nothing to get their hands on it. All I ask is for you and your team to protect her at all costs." Roland requested.
"Of course, your majesty. We'll be sure Sofia stays safe." Fox accepted Roland's request as he entered his Arwing and began to ascend.
"We're all counting on you." Roland said as the Arwings take off.
"Hey, Fox!" Falco called out from his visor.
"Yeah?" Fox responded.
"Any idea what the king meant by what he said about an amulet?" Falco asked.
"I'm sure Scarlett has an explanation when we meet with her back in Cinnibar." Fox replied.
"Huh, she'd better." Falco glared as the Arwings flew back to Cinnibar, unaware that their actions were being watched.
In a dark location, a pair of dark crimson eyes is watching the Scarlet Army make their way back to Cinnibar. The video zooms in on Sofia.
"So, that girl has the Amulet of Avalor, eh?" A sinister voice rang out as its owner cracked a most malicious grin and chuckles evilly.
(We leave the vault with some Shen Gong Wu. I have the Solar Saber, Silver has the Thorn of Thunderbolt, Judy has the Mantis Flip Coin, Ratchet has the Changing Chopsticks, Fox has the Sunstone Dragonfly, Falco has the Sound Sai, Slippy has the Cannon Blaster, Krystal has the Woozy Shooter, and Sofia has the Juju Flytrap. The Monks have their signature Shen Gong Wu)
Kimiko: Your tracker said it was somewhere in London, right?
Me: That's right.
Dojo: (Grows 5 times his size) Well, what are we waiting for? Let's go and get that Elemental Egg!
(Everyone hops on to Dojo and he flies off)
Clank: I most certainly hope we reach London in time.
Me: I hope so too, Clank. You readers may rate, review or fav. Archer out!