Chapter 11
The Lake
Diddy Kong swung through the vines of the Jungle. My uncle's jungle, he thought sadly to himself. His brother, Donkey Kong, had just been hit by a strange gun of some sort that turned Donkey Kong into a trophy. It had been aimed for Diddy, but Donkey Kong had punched the chimpanzee out of the way to avoid it. The message on his face as the arrow came and turned the ape into a trophy was clear: Find help. Diddy Kong was doing just that as he swung effortlessly from tree to tree. Eventually he came to a large clearing with a lake that had a perfect reflection of you. He looked to the right and saw a crashed plane. An Arwing, Diddy Kong realized. But, whoever was in that Arwing was most likely dead. It was on fire and impossibly crushed. Then there was a loud splash from the lake. Diddy Kong turned around and saw a humongous – and by humongous it was meant by amazingly long – green dragon with yellow and red highlights along the sides. It looked around at its surroundings and gave an extremely loud roar.
"Where am I?" it asked in a language startlingly familiar to Diddy Kong. He couldn't get enough chance to register though because the next thing that came was the green dragon swooping in and grabbing Diddy Kong and roaring once again.
"And what are you scum doing in my domain? I told that 'Subspace Group' or whatever you call yourselves I'm not on your side!" Diddy Kong was confused. Subspace Group? Whatever it was, he wasn't familiar with it. But…it dawned on Diddy that maybe, possibly, this "Subspace Group" was what attacked Donkey Kong.
Then suddenly, a new voice, surprisingly calm in the chaos, said, "That's because we're not on their side." The green dragon scowled.
"Giovanni? Is that you?" It paused before continuing. "No answer? I'll just figure out myself then!" The dragon shot a bright blue beam out at the Arwing, where the sound was apparently coming from. The new figure, a red vulpine standing on its hind legs, put a blue shield in between itself and the beam. In his surprise, the green dragon released Diddy Kong just before getting hit with its own beam. Diddy came down lightly next to the lake. He looked at the vulpine as it calmly approached. It was Fox McCloud, the leader of StarFox who was alive and well! Fox smiled.
"Come on now. Rayquaza's a Rare One; he'll be fighting in no time," he said and turned to the lake and the long green dragon – the Rare Pokémon Rayquaza – came out of the lake again, this time prepared to fight. He gave a loud roar and Diddy went in between Fox's legs in fear. Fox surveyed his surroundings for something decent to fight with when suddenly what Mewtwo and Lucario both had told him about how special a dragon was came back. A dragon is the most mysterious of all Pokémon, and most rare of them. They can only be severely damaged by an Ice or Dragon attack. Fire, Water, Grass and Electric attacks do very little and Ground is useless if it is a Dragon/Flying combo. Fox grimaced. This wasn't going to be an easy battle, even harder that Rayquaza was a Rare One, and among the top Rare Ones at that.
Fox however, still went and attacked first, giving a series of quick kicks at Rayquaza's lower body. Rayquaza laughed happily.
"You'll have to do better than that to get me!" he shouted and flew into the air, both the chimp and the vulpine unaware of what he was going to do next. Fox jumped up twice and tried to use Fire Fox, but to no avail. Diddy tried next, jumping on Fox's head to use as a footstool, and used his Rocket Barrel Blast, fully charged. To Diddy's surprise, he made it up to Rayquaza's lower body and strapped on. Rayquaza bared his teeth as Diddy swung over like the dragon's body was a vine and hung on.
"You dare ride me like some animal?!" Rayquaza demanded. In his anger, Rayquaza totally forgot the move he was about to use (Fly) and shot an incredibly strong Hyper Beam in the direction of Fox. But Fox McCloud was ready. He pushed the button to activate his Reflector, which reflected the Hyper Beam and hit the flailing Rare One (he was trying to get Diddy off) dead on, shooting him down from the sky. He watched the dragon fall, with Diddy still on and holding fast, slowly moving towards the head. He gave a thumbs up signal to Fox. Perfect, Fox thought happily. He took out his blaster and started shooting Rayquaza. To his relief, Rayquaza didn't notice, rather he was preoccupied with the monkey on his back.
Meanwhile, Diddy Kong was attempting to dodge every single one of Rayquaza's moves, which were plenty. The chimp on his back prevented Fly, but it certainly didn't protect him from everything. The next move that came was Rayquaza flying into the air again; trying to get into the stratosphere where he knew Diddy Kong wouldn't be able to breathe the air. This failed because Fox, noticing the danger, threw a Smart Bomb in the dragon's direction, doing massive damage. So next Rayquaza tried using Dragon Claw. Diddy successfully dodged; jumping onto Rayquaza's head so Dragon Claw hit the dragon.
"Why you little!" Rayquaza exclaimed angrily. Diddy now started beating on Rayquaza's head, occasionally holding on as the dragon would violently shake his head to get the monkey off it. Now extremely frustrated, he shot another Hyper Beam at Fox. Now, the Rare One was starting to get incredibly fatigued. The Hyper Beam had nearly knocked everything out of him. If it didn't turn Fox into a trophy or kill him, Rayquaza would most likely die from a strong Fire Fox. However, Rayquaza was a very arrogant, stubborn and impulsive dragon and rarely would think everything through, even in his age. So, as the Hyper Beam came to Fox again, Fox (once again) used Reflector and the Hyper Beam came right back. Rayquaza fell down in a jumbled heap, his head propped up slightly so he could talk.
"Ah, so you're not one of them to beat me like that…" he said, his voice trailing off. Fox walked over and nodded.
"We – I'm part of a group called the Lucario Group. Mewtwo helps out. In fact he's assembling an army against the Subspace Group right now," Fox answered. Rayquaza nodded.
"My apologizes for attacking you. I have been very angry recently. Who's Mewtwo getting for an army? The Rare Ones, I suppose, plus the Rescue Teams…but who else?" Diddy looked inquisitively at Fox; he wanted to know about this stuff.
"My team – StarFox – Wolf's team, some woman named Midna and some other people," Fox replied. He paused, considering something then added, "May I see if I can get some service? My Arwing has crash landed nearby your lake and –"
"Of course you can. After attacking someone working for the good side, it's the least I can do," Rayquaza said. Fox nodded and hit his watch.
"Falco? Krystal?" Fox asked into the watch. Nothing was heard back, causing Fox to scowl. He started walking into the Jungle when Diddy came.
"Fox! You cannot go in there! Bowser's in there with a gun and he hit Donkey – hey what are you doing?" Fox was walking away. He could easily take a gun. But Diddy wasn't giving up yet. He walked straight up to Fox and dragged him by the collar.
"We're going this way!" he exclaimed. Fox however, had a bored look on his face. Rayquaza saw it and smirked for a second. He also apparently was recovered enough because the next second, the Sky High Pokémon flew high into the air, wishing to find the rest of the Rare Ones. Diddy Kong continued dragging Fox until it was apparent that they were lost, and by then he let him go.
"Lovely," Fox said sarcastically. "You just got us lost." Diddy Kong shrugged.
"I know this Jungle like the back of my hand. I'd just know what you were doing." Fox sighed. He would have to tell Diddy Kong, no matter what swear to secrecy he had.
"Fine. I'm part of an organization called the Lucario Group. We are against people like Bowser; who's part of the Subspace Group. I was on an exclusive mission with my team to keep the Lylat System out of their control. It worked; but recently, we caught the Halberd flying around in the upper troposphere. I was sent to attempt to bring down the Halberd as Mewtwo had came up on the screen of the Great Fox I and told us that the Subspace Group was using the Halberd as a transportation tool to transport Shadow Bugs, which create Subspace Creatures. Do you have that so far?" Diddy Kong nodded. He couldn't believe it. The monkey already knew that Fox McCloud was a living legend on his home planet and was one of the crowd's favorite Smasher, but now also seeing how cool, calm and collected he was to do all of this without a second thought.
"Well, I went down in one Arwing because I didn't want anyone else risking their life on this. I didn't even want Falco, who's been my main wing mate for as long as I can remember, there with me. Anyway, I went down from space to the lower stratosphere and soon saw the Halberd – it's not too hard to find – and started shooting. Well, whoever was running the Halberd must have quickly understood what was going on, because the battleship fought back. As soon as I had a clear shot from the bow of the ship, a large arm extended out and hit my Arwing. I would've died if I hadn't hit the eject button. And so, I found myself here, in a clearing in a jungle," Fox explained. "I've been trying to get word of the rest of StarFox for a while, but either they're not there or something really bad has happened to them. I can't even get StarWolf."
Diddy, still not completely satisfied, asked, "But how did you survive such a drop?" Fox motioned to some trees, where a blue fabric was stuck in between some.
"I had a parachute. Now, would you like to get me out of here?" Diddy paused for a moment, considering what was best. Leave Fox here, or go with him on his adventures against people like Bowser? Naturally, he chose the latter.
"Okay! Follow me!" Diddy Kong said brightly, running into the jungle with Fox following. What they encountered was one of the strangest things ever. There were large metal crates blocking their way – each one giving off a grunt of some kind of animal – and a portal. Diddy Kong studied it for a minute.
"I get it!" he said. "Entering the portals will eliminate the problem and give us some kind of parallel world situation. We have to enter that portal," he pointed at the portal, "and it will turn the crates into something else. Donkey Kong and I have experienced things similar to this before." Fox grinned. Maybe bringing the monkey along to find some help was a good decision after all. They both entered the portal to find the metal crates replaced with stone. Fox could take care of this. He karate kicked each stone block to find at the other side Goombas and Koopas. Fox pulled out his blaster, but Diddy just headed forward and jumped on everything, killing them.
"You just jump on them!" Diddy Kong exclaimed. Fox ran to catch up with him. Fox ran to catch up with him. Diddy was at another portal right under Fox's feet. The hole to get there was right above a sinkhole. So, Fox fell until he was right above the sinkhole and used Fox Illusion to get there. Diddy smiled.
"You're not as bad as I thought!" he said happily. Fox shrugged and they both entered the portal. The took them to a place that looked exactly like the other jungle except for the fact that the jungle looked darker – as if it were noon almost, whereas the former looked like the morning – and all Bowser's army was missing. Fox this time went first. He jumped twice to make sure he didn't fall in it, Diddy Kong right next to him. The area next to the sinkhole was filled with members of a different army: The Subspace Army. They were mechanical birds with brightly colored feathers and pointed beaks. Most of them continued flying, but two struck down. Diddy and Fox sidestepped both of them. They were used to this kind of stuff from plenty of battling at the WarioWare stage.
"You see this?" Fox asked, picking one up. They both had their beaks stuck into the ground. Diddy picked up the other, seeing how it obeyed Fox after he picked the first one up.
"Yes," Diddy answered.
"This is a member of the Subspace Army. They are called Auroucs," Fox explained curtly, followed by throwing his into the sinkhole. Diddy did the same and an inhuman sound came out of it.
"And that is the lovely sound of Shadow Bugs dying." The way Fox said lovely you could easily hear the sneer in his voice. But he didn't dwell on it long and jumped into a ravine, Diddy following. On the way down, Fox could see the red flying Paratroopas. None of them bothered Fox, almost as if they didn't consider him an enemy. He reached the bottom in no time, but used Fire Fox to steady himself. Diddy did the same with his Rocket Barrel Blast. At the bottom there was one Goomba and two Hammer Bros. Diddy fell on the Goomba and it died. As for the first Hammer Bros, Fox used his Fox Illusion and managed to get on the other side, shocking the Hammer Bros long enough for Fox to give a high powered kick in its face, killing it. Diddy, meanwhile, went to the other Hammer Bros and slapped it, followed by using his Monkey Flip and slapped it some more. That Hammer Bros died. Fox and Diddy walked over to a blue platform.
"Strange," Fox mused aloud, "I've only seen these whenever Master Hand gives us the All-Star challenge. Who do you think set this up?" Diddy shrugged. He didn't know. Fox stepped onto the platform, Diddy following. The blue platform transported them somewhere dark, but they couldn't see anything. Fox tried to jump, but to no avail as it appeared he ran into a roof. Diddy tried to walk, but he also ran into a wall, going both ways.
Then finally, he said, "Fox? Can we use one of those Smart Bombs? It'd light the place up. Fox's eyes widened.
"No! Fox exclaimed "That could kill us! We should just start attacking the walls, if anything they'll give way eventually and we'll have some light." In his mind though, Fox was thinking of who could've possibly set this up. Not the Ridley thing, he/it wouldn't have known what would've happened to Fox. Maybe the digital Andross partnered with someone else, for all he knew, Andross could be operating the Halberd. Then there was the Zant creature…Mewtwo and Link both said the guy could use magic, however dark. It's possible that all of this could've been him. There was an explosion. Fox turned around to Diddy, to find him very happy.
"Did you use one of my Smart – ahh!" Fox couldn't finish what he was saying because the ground gave way beneath him. And the room lit up. He was under the same ravine, but somehow, someone came and put the blocks in the ravine. He reasoned it was most likely Zant, who Fox knew the least about. Diddy was however, jumping from wooden platform to wooden platform, eager to get out of the ravine. Fox saw a ladder and climbed it. Any Hammer Bros that might have been there it was apparent Diddy had already taken care of them. At the top he saw sky (the lovely sky!) and was nearly blown off his wooden platform to keep from falling back in the ravine by a Borboras – a Subspace creature with a French Horn for a head. Fox simply took out his blaster and shot it. He was so glad Slippy made that for him.
Meanwhile, Diddy was just coming back from the right side after dealing with a Giant Goomba. There was nothing over there. He saw Fox kill a thing with a horned head and the purple stuff that it had been containing ran off everywhere. Same with the Auroucs that Fox killed. Then there was another Giant Goomba that Fox killed with ease. It couldn't help but make Diddy continue to admire Fox McCloud.
Fox entered the portal, not bothering to wait for Diddy. He came across a Towtow, the fluffy creatures that looked like bison. He struck it twice before it could attack him. Because when it did wake up, its face turned red and it started rampaging. As soon as it was dead, he heard Diddy come up from behind.
"Thant was awesome!" Diddy exclaimed loudly. Fox shushed him.
"Quiet! If there's one, there's bound to be others," he scolded. Diddy Kong shut up, obediently following Fox as he walked through the jungle. Diddy didn't even need to tell him where to go. It was as if some invisible force was taking him somewhere – and Fox had no control over it. And, shortly after, Fox and Diddy ran into a fully rampaging Towtow because of Diddy being so loud. It ran straight into Fox, knocking him down on the ground. Diddy launched at its face and starting attacking it. The Towtow ignored Diddy and shook him off, later running back towards Fox. Fox got up and used Fire Fox on the Towtow. Diddy jumped in the air and kicked it hard. The Towtow fell down dead, its Shadow Bugs going everywhere. Fox brushed off his shirt as if he really got dirt on it and continued without another word. They also ran into two Auroucs that they managed to dodge, and another Towtow, but this one was still asleep. Both Diddy and Fox wished to keep it that way.
After some hours of walking, they came to a small clearing. This clearing was next to a giant cliff. Fox could see that there was a small cliff with a portal and a cave with a portal, although he knew where this one led. Diddy went to the upper portal, running at full speed.
"I choose this one!" he called. Two Shadow Bugs that seemed to stay there turned into Mites, but Fox killed these off with one kick. Diddy was not so lucky. He ran into a creature that has two giant lips and a small green body. Fox knew this as the Biculus. The thing started kissing Diddy Kong, slowly sucking the life out of him. Fox shot it with his blaster a lot, and to his luck, the thing died. Diddy laid on the ground, catching his breath.
"You know, for a thing with such big lips," he said, "you'd think it kiss better." Fox laughed quietly.
"Just stay there and catch your breath okay?" he suggested. Diddy, thankfully, nodded. "Good. I'm going to go take care of this." Fox pulled out his blaster, ready to take care of the Biculuses. He used Fox Illusion where he saw the red lips sticking out of the ground and very quickly made it to the end of the cave. Where he found a new watch with a small note.
Fox,
Figured you'd need a watch after that crash. Contact your team ASAP. The Subspace Group currently has Princess Peach, so watch for her. You can tell the trophy is a Subspace Copy because their body emits a purple glow. May Celebi live in your forests and Jirachi watch you in the sky.
~Mewtwo
P.S: If you get this, you're going to have to cross a river. I have the supplies needed for you to do so. Good luck.
P.S.S: I think Zant is trying to mess with the Jungle area. Watch out.
Fox smiled slightly. Mewtwo was looking out for him. Either way, if there was a cave in here…there had to be one in that parallel world. He strapped the new watch on and stuck the note in his pocket and ran out of the cave, using Fox Illusion again to avoid the Biculus. This time though, he entered the portal. The other area was virtually the same minus Diddy Kong (who he assumed was still lying on the ground) and the three Biculuses. Fox ran over to the end of the cavern. Oh, there was something else that was different too. There were six Goombas and one Giant Goomba waiting for him. He stood at a distance and shot the Giant Goomba with his blaster. As for the other six, he jumped on them like what Diddy told him to do. He dug around a bit in the cave and found TNT. Smiling slightly, Fox ran out back to the portal. Running back into the small cavern with the TNT in his hands, he passed the Biculuses easily until he looked up at the roof and there was a small red mark. Fox put the TNT on the red mark and then got out of the way and threw a Smart Bomb. The Smart Bomb set the TNT off, causing an explosion in the cave. But nothing caved in. Rather, another area of the cave opened up. Jumping up to the open area, he saw a button and hit it. The button went down and Fox ran back out of the cavern, grabbing Diddy Kong and throwing him over the vulpine's shoulders.
"You okay?" he asked the chimp. Diddy nodded. Fox grinned.
"Good. You'll need your strength." He jumped up, let Diddy down, and they both entered the portal at the top. After a bit of falling, they reached the bottom and found nothing else but a portal. Both entering, they were slightly surprised where it took them. It took them to a Towtow. Fox quickly gave it a rolling kick and a Roundhouse Kick. It died instantly. The two walked for a bit until they came across a large amount of logs all next to each other. On top of them was some rope that appeared made the old fashioned way until you got a closer look at them and noticed that there were no flaws and you had to note that it could've been done one of three ways: Psychic Power, Magic, or machines. Based on the letter Fox found, he suspected the first. Diddy looked at it curiously.
"Who did this?" he asked.
"Probably Mewtwo," Fox answered in the tone of voice that asked for no more questions. "Now come on, we have to tie the ropes to make a raft."
"What are you talking about?" Diddy asked again.
"We're supposed to go downstream for a bit. The jungle looks very dense here, doesn't it?"
"Yes."
"Well then, it would only make sense to take the river, wouldn't it?" Diddy didn't say anything. Fox had a point. Rather, he started working on tying the ropes. Fox did the same and it only took a matter of minutes before they pushed the large raft into the river and got on.
"See, now we won't have to worry about. Or at any rate, not as much. I didn't realize how high this river was…" Fox's voice trailed off uncertainly. The raft wavered a bit, as if responding, and the bottom fourth went into the water, quickly coming back out. Diddy Kong scowled.
"Does this mean we're going to die?" he asked. Fox shook his head.
"No." He paused, and added for dramatic effect, "Unless you can't swim." Diddy Kong gulped. He didn't bother telling the vulpine what lay in the waters below him.
The beginning of the ride was fairly uneventful. Goombas tried to swim their way across, but the current ripped them to pieces in seconds. The Hammer Bros were smart enough to not bother. Not saying they didn't come across obstacles. Paratroopas with wings would often come and attack. The first one shocked Diddy Kong so much at first he didn't realize what was going on until it head butt him and Fox jumped in front of the chimpanzee and killed it. There were some other ones, but the duo managed to kill these easily. They saw a Jyk (as Fox had explained, they were spheres that normally were surrounded in an electric or fire field) and had to duck. There were some Bullet Bills that the Hammer Bros on either ends of the raging river shot. Fox jumped in front of Diddy and used his Reflector for these, shooting them at either ends of the river, killing the Hammer Bros.
Then towards the end, there were two giant Goombas that had been dropped from the sky. Crap, Fox thought, there's only one way that could've happened. Bowser's leading us somewhere…but where? He didn't think about it much as he jumped on the Goomba on the right twice and killed it. Diddy had done the same. From there they simply rode the tipping raft until it hit land. The push was so forceful from the inertia that Fox lost his balance a bit.
"I think we landed," Diddy said. Fox nodded and jumped into the waters near the end of the raft, pushing it onto the land fully. Diddy walked off onto dry land while Fox, now soaking wet, swam towards the land.
The next area of jungle was much less dense than the previous areas, but Diddy was still taking the lead. Fox was slower this time, his wet fur dragging him down. One Fox Illusion and Monkey Slap took care of the one Paratroopa waiting for them, and Fox's blaster took care of a Hammer Bros and another Paratroopa waiting on the other side of a sinkhole. After killing another pair of these, Fox and Diddy came across a giant ravine and one of the DK Barrels. Fox knew enough about these and jumped in, Diddy Kong right behind. It took them to lower ground, where the one and only was waiting for them: Bowser.
Only he was slightly different. His eyes were a bright opaque yellow that was missing their pupils and his entire body – although the same in shape – was a dark purple. The same purple as a Shadow Bug, Fox noticed. He ran and attacked this Bowser. It retracted in its shell and blew out some fire. Fox used Reflector (to block the fire) followed by Fox Illusion. It didn't do much to this Bowser, but it did knock him in the air. This Bowser used Bowser Bomb on Fox, hitting him directly. Fox gave this Bowser a rolling kick followed by Fire Fox, giving decent damage. His enemy barrel rolled twice, giving him room for something. But Fox was ready. He pulled out a Smart Bomb and threw it at the strange, new Bowser. It hit him immediately, and the effects were taking place. Fox took out his blaster and started firing. But the Smart Bomb went out and the new Bowser ran over to Fox. Although Fox was faster, he successfully managed to use Flying Slam followed by punching Fox, knocking Fox to the ground. His enemy approached the vulpine quickly. Everything was lost…he would be turned into a trophy and the new Bowser would most likely get Diddy Kong to…hopefully Samus got Pikachu out okay so there would be at least one success…Bowser was charging a spin, all hope was lost, and then in the sky Diddy Kong came and used Monkey Slap, jumping right on Bowser's head.
Fox used this as his chance. He jumped up and grabbed this Bowser and started attacking him, followed by throwing him up into the sky. When Bowser came back, it was as a trophy. Diddy Kong, overjoyed, hit the trophy angrily. It turned into hundreds of Shadow Bugs. Fox gasped; his suspicions of something wrong with that Bowser correct. Then there was the shot of an arrow straight at Fox. He dodged it successfully, giving a small explosion. From there, the real Bowser came into view and shot another arrow bullet from his gun – a Dark Cannon – and this time he aimed for Diddy, who was on the ground from the first firing. This caused another explosion and Diddy marched (literally) after Bowser. Fox grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.
"Oh no you don't!" he muttered just loud enough for Diddy Kong to hear and jumped off a nearby cliff. Bowser laughed.
"What's the point in running? Wario has of your friends and Giovanni has your two closest friends other than your teammates trapped in his own web at the research facility. Best to give up now," he said, more to himself than anyone else. Then he held up a bright green gem that Giovanni and Zant had created for him and teleported over to a lake shore in between a forest and a plain.
