This chapter was originally so short, but I later decided to add more things to it. I hope you like the new version of this chapter.
Read, enjoy, and review. :)
Chapter 21: The Serious Vulpine Of The Future
Subspace
Deep inside the Great Maze
"Master Tabuu, I'm sorry to fail in this mission," General L said. "I'm not familiar with them as much as you do."
"You worthless little general… You are lucky that I saved you from your death back then," Tabuu said in an annoyed tone.
"I'll promise I won't fail this time, just give me another opportunity," he said. "I might have been defeated, but I can show you what I can really do."
Tabuu frowned in shame after hearing him out. As he frowned, he said, "Ugh...fine, you can go again. But if you fail, there will be no more opportunities for you, understand?"
"Understood," he said with a bow. "I will give them my revenge for humiliating me in battle. Until then, watch over my progress…" The mysterious figure clad in darkness turned around and dashed away to the darkness of the Subspace.
Once he was gone, the Ancient Minister approached his boss. "Lord Tabuu, we are ready to invade Corneria. The Aparoids agreed to cooperate with us," the Ancient Minister said.
"Excellent news. If everything goes according to the plan, we should take Corneria without any trouble."
"May I suggest sending some Shadow Bugs with General L?"
"Why?"
"Since we first got him, it seems that his true nature wants to break out from his own mind, and that isn't going to be good if he wakes up in the middle of a battle," he explained. "But if we boost his power with the Shadow Bugs, his true nature will be kept at bay longer."
"…We cannot lose more subordinates at this time…" Tabuu muttered. "Fine. Send the Shadow Bugs with him. Losing more men now is unnecessary."
"Affirmative," he said. "I'll prepare them to go with him."
"And do deploy the Subspace Bombs as well."
The Ancient Minister nodded slowly. "Very well."
Tabuu nodded back at him before he vanished in front of him.
"..." Once alone, the minister looked down and began to mutter something. "I believe he wants me to deploy more than one bomb…and that would mean more of my kind to sacrifice themselves to activate the bombs… There's no other way than this…"
With a depressed sigh, he went into the darkness and disappeared from the meeting point.
Smash Mansion
Command Room
In the lonely mansion, or more accurately, the command room, Master Hand floated around and sighed in depression. "God, the mansion is pretty dead silent with nobody around," he said to his brother. "We should have like 30 people roaming about doing their things, reserve matches, participate in our little tourneys, and once in a while have meetings about…whatever we do."
"Can I give free coffee if that happens?" Crazy Hand asked.
"For once, think harder than that," Master Hand said. "Days like these are nothing but pure boredom. Here I am, talking to you and nobody else. I'd do anything to get the guys back, but as you know what we did to them before… It's going to take a really long time before they slowly start to come back."
"You kind of made them go back in time when you returned them?"
"Er, no," he said. "Tabuu just sends people to their universes at the time he wants. I don't think that's much of a problem, but we have to stay alert and not mess up anything in the process," he explained. "Or else, we could have someone of the opposite gender."
"That would REALLY make the ratings go up, did you know that?"
"Again, you're insane."
"I like me."
"And I like people rambling against me for a complaint," he joked. "Okay, those guys should be back by now. I hope they like the new versions of the 3."
"Where are those 3?"
"In their rooms," Master Hand said. "They wanted to feel back right at their second home here."
"Oh, that aside," Crazy Hand began as he pointed at the screen, where the icon of Lucario was flashing bright purple. "Seems Lucario betrayed us."
"What do you mean by that?" He looked at the screen. "Oh, come now. I guess I haven't updated that thing in some days and… Wait," he muttered. "There's no way he betrayed us…"
Just then, Chris (back to his human form) and Lucario back through the portal before it vanished. The hands looked at the 2.
"Ooh, I'm jealous," Crazy Hand said. "I wanna have a "piggyarm" ride like you."
Chris blushed embarrassed and got off from Lucario's arm. "W-we're sorry for being late. We were able to fight them off."
Lucario looked depressed. "It looks like you were turned back to a human."
"Oh?" Chris looked at himself. "Oh, yes, you're right. I thought I was going to be a Riolu forever."
"(I wouldn't have minded…)" Lucario thought.
"Oh, you're back," Master Hand said. "Did something happen there?" he asked.
"It…was a weird experience," Chris said. "I mean, I got turned into a Riolu for being in that Pokémon-only world… B-besides that, there was another Subspace Bomb, but we were able to destroy it."
"Zapdos did that," Lucario said. "And there was someone else who appeared out of nowhere…"
"Who?" Master Hand asked.
"Well…there was this weird person with pure darkness around his body. We couldn't see him that clearly, but once we knocked him out, a part became visible and we saw a blue tail like Lucario's tail. Not only that, but we also heard him saying Riley before he vanished in thin air," Chris said. "But I think I know the name…"
"...Wait, Riley?" Master Hand asked. "…Ooh, right. I only know one person who knows that name. In truth, I know Riley very well."
"Who?" Chris and Lucario asked.
Master Hand looked away. "...It was the previous Lucario before your Lucario, Chris."
Chris blinked. "…So…" He thought for a moment. "…W-we fought a ghost?!"
"No!" Master Hand yelled. 'Why would you fight a ghost if you touched him? Tabuu can't go supernatural on us! Not that I'm aware of either, but he can't make pacts with ghosts as far as I know!"
"H-hmm…" Chris shook a little. "L-let me try to concentrate again… So did he survive after all?"
"He maybe survived the attack and the Shadow Bugs took his body while he was weak…" Master Hand looked at the 2. "Oh, sorry. Anyway, I don't remember what happened after that battle with Tabuu. But if my assumptions are correct…he might have survived, and he was taken by Tabuu. He is the Lucario of a Pokémon Trainer named Riley who lives in the region of Sinnoh. I sent a letter to Riley if his Lucario could participate in the tournament. After waiting a long while, he agreed and...you know what happened after."
"Riley!" Chris said. "Yes, I know who he is!"
"The Sir Aaron look-alike?" Lucario asked.
"Er, yes. The Sir Aaron look-alike…"
Chris started to get a little bit off from the main topic.
"I seriously think Riley is the reincarnation of Sir Aaron," he whispered.
"I think it's just coincidence that they look the same," Lucario whispered.
"Oh no," Chris said mildly annoyed. "The hat, the hair, the face, THE Lucario, everything falls into place."
"It's just mere coincidence," Lucario kept saying. "You're thinking too much."
"Okay, if I'm thinking too much, th-"
"Guys!" Master Hand yelled. "Talk about your reincarnations and your own supernatural things later!" he said. "For now, we have to focus on this."
"In that case…I just can't believe we fought him," Chris said. "Do you think there's a way to…save him?"
"Well, that could be possible," Master Hand said. "You'll have to save him ala Smash Bros way."
The 2 of them looked at each other confused. "Ala Smash Bros way? What does that mean?" Chris asked.
"You know, the way everything in all the universes work perfectly to resolve their problems."
The 2 kept staring at him.
"…With violence," the hand said bored. "By defeating him in a battle. That should weaken the Shadow Bugs on him."
"Violet icon, brother?" Crazy Hand interrupted.
"Oh, I forgot about that," Master Hand said. "I should replace his icon for your Lucario." Master Hand snapped his fingers and Lucario's icon changed to his normal form. "Silly me. I need to keep up with the new people."
"And..." Chris looked around. "Where are Mewtwo, Roy, and Pichu?"
"About them," Master Hand said. "Since…you know, they're from the past, I had to make some adjustments to their abilities and such. I hope they don't mind this."
"They're here," Lucario said.
Chris turned around and looked at Mewtwo, Roy, and Pichu walking inside.
"Hmm…" Chris tilted his head. "They look new for some reason.
"Oh yes, I've finished with their movesets and all the things they needed to do," Master Hand pointed at them. "Now you're watching Mewtwo, Roy, and Pichu in their Brawl forms. 30 percent less rounder, 70 percent sharper."
"I have to admit that my previous abilities were kind of stale," Mewtwo said. "I feel more comfortable with my new style myself."
"I can tolerate the pain of my own attacks," Pichu said before looking miffed. "But they still hurt…"
"And I...well, I'm still the same," Roy said rubbing his head.
"And for the final thing to add..." Master Hand snapped his fingers again and the screen made 3 more icons along with the 36 icons, the first icon had Mewtwo with crossed arms and looking away to the left, Pichu in a jumping position, smiling, and Roy with his sword crossed in front of him with the tip of the blade in front of his lap.
"When did we do those poses?" Pichu asked.
"I believe he made us do those poses…then erased our minds," Mewtwo said. "What is the point of toying around with our consciousness? That is going much farther than invading privacy."
"You 3 are submitted by the contract you signed yourselves," Master Hand said. "But of course, I don't go THAT far."
"You made us pose like that," Mewtwo said.
"You erased our minds," Roy added.
"And you made me weaker than Pikachu!" Pichu yelled.
"…Rulesarerules," Master Hand said quickly. "'Kay, Tabuu should make a movement by this time. Get ready for the alarm!" he faked excitement.
"I-I'm just doing this because of the people I'll meet!" Chris said. "Getting hurt MIGHT be with this, though. I'll avoid getting hurt if that's possible!"
"But you should get hit," Roy said. "You'll get stronger that way."
"That's the most twisted thing I've ever heard," Chris said annoyed. "If this keeps up like this, I'll wish to go to a world where everything is so dandy, peaceful, without violence, maybe fun times, an-"
The alarms suddenly went off, and Master Hand looked at the screen. "Oh boy, it's Fox's turn to shine…purple."
Fox's icon was flashing purple.
"Time for you 5 to work together now. Get happy, Chris. More reinforcements. It's going to be like this, though. Sending more people with you will make everything easier, as long as they don't screw something up…"
The hand noticed Chris somewhat worried.
"Did I say something bad to make you feel worried?"
"N-no…" Chris shook his head. "I-it's just that I'm going to go where Fox is, right?"
"What about it?" he asked. "Surely you're not intimidated by the army now, are you?"
"I-I'd say is Fox I'm being intimidated to…" Chris muttered.
"…You're intimidated by Fox? Why would that be? He's harmless if you don't piss him off a lot."
"I-I mean, this is going to sound so weird, but…"
"You're afraid of his face," Mewtwo said suddenly.
Chris blushed embarrassed and looked at the Psychic Pokémon. "D-did you read my mind or something?"
"I wanted you to get to the point, and you were being late. Think of this as a small aid I gave you."
"W-what kind of aid was that?" Chris looked back at the hand. "This is so embarrassing…"
"You're afraid of his face?" Master Hand looked at the icon. "Well, I might have changed 1 thing of 2 about his appearance, but you're actually going to see him in his Assault look. Anyway, don't get afraid, he's actually very sociable."
"Try to stare at his face for 10 seconds straight!" Chris dared.
"Fine."
10 seconds later of staring at Fox's face…
The hand turned to Chris. "Gave me some chills, but I'm perfectly fine."
"U-ugh…" Chris looked unsure.
"Are we stopping to go to his world just because of his face?" Roy said. "Well, I know he looks rather scary, but he's good at heart… Just don't look at him for too long."
"That would make him feel pissed, though," Pichu said.
"…" Everyone remained silent.
"Just go in there!" Master Hand commanded, breaking the silence.
"And do barrel rolls!" Crazy Hand said. Everyone paused for a moment and all were looking at him rather annoyed, even the alarm stopped "...Did I say something unnecessary?"
"What did I just think your brother…saw a rather annoying meme of the internet?" Chris asked. "He didn't…"
"Forget what my brother said just now! It's his hobby or the next universe! Go now! Chop chop!" Master Hand ordered.
Chris sighed with a frown before he made the portal with his control. "I-I'll try to get used to go with more members in the process. I bet I'm going to like this very much."
"Fox's face," Roy muttered.
"Knock that off now!" Chris yelled.
Lucario, angrily, punched Roy's shoulder. "O-oww! H-hey, you hit a little bit too hard!" Roy complained.
"Serves you right," Lucario responded with a grunt of annoyance.
"(Priceless,)" Mewtwo thought sarcastically.
"(I better not make Lucario feel angry… I'd die…)" Pichu thought with a gulp before they all went through the portal before it disappeared.
"Seriously," Crazy Hand began. "You're to blame for making his face like that."
"You shut up," his brother said annoyed.
Star Fox: Assault
Lylat System
Corneria
As for the futuristic city of Corneria, it didn't have a peaceful day if you considered soldiers having weird bugs taking over their bodies, patrolling the destroyed streets with weird bug cars swerving wildly. Odd thing was that there wasn't a single citizen in there. They were probably hiding underground.
And didn't it strike odd that Corneria had a city in the middle of the ocean?
"This is...horrible... The whole city is getting destroyed..." a blue vixen said over the speaker in the ear of a fox who was stepping in the city.
"Fox! We need to destroy the Jammers so we can communicate with General Pepper and also destroy the Aparoids in the process!" a hare said in the speaker to the fox.
"Got it loud and clear," the fox said as he overlooked the city from a destroyed street that went up. "Guys, cover the air and I'll cover the ground. If I have trouble, try to help me as soon as you can," the fox said.
"Are you kidding me?" an avian asked with a grin. "These guys aren't nothing. We already proved them not to mess around with us."
"I-I-I won't leave the battle either!" a green toad said in the speaker. "Falco's just showing off as usual, so it clearly means I'm still alive!"
"What the heck was that supposed to mean?" Falco asked.
"I-I imagine you as shorter, around the same height as me, with a different voice farther away than the clouds themselves…"
The other 4 listening to the toad shifted their eyes, dumbfounded. "…Slippy…" the vixen began.
"Yes, Krystal?" Slippy asked.
"What was that…supposed to mean, really?" Krystal asked.
"Don't mind him," Falco said annoyed. "He's just thinking way too much today."
"You're the one to talk!" Slippy yelled. "Peppy, you tell 'em!"
"Everyone, get yourself together now!" Peppy yelled. "A city is being slowly eaten by the Aparoids, and we're not helping at all now!"
"Just to let you know, I'm being chased by some of them right now," Fox said. "Dammit! They're shooting at me!"
"Follow Fox's example!"
"Get chased by bug things?" Falco asked. "No thanks."
"I-I mean, go out and fight them off!"
"Finally!" Falco rolled his eyes.
As Fox managed to destroy the Aparoids with his Blaster, he decided to move farther into the city.
At the other side of the city...
A familiar group stepped out from a portal that later disappeared. Guess who now.
"O-okay," Chris said. "Soon enough, I'll meet the serious vulpine, and I'll have to act normal around him…"
"I wonder how he will react when sees you with Ness's clothes," Roy said. "If you're THAT worried, don't give him bad impressions."
"I actually like Ness's clothes, though," Chris said worried. "H-he'll have to get used to what I like."
"That aside," Mewtwo began. "Roy, don't get unfamiliar with the technology of this place.
As he said that, Roy pressed a random button from a close machine, and the machine exploded, engulfing the swordsman before he came out covered in smoke. "Oops…" he said.
"Is he…that naïve?" Pichu asked.
"Roy comes from an age where technology doesn't exist. Fortunately, he'll learn of his mistakes very soon," Mewtwo said frowning.
"I-I'm slowly learning myself!" Roy said embarrassed. "I'm getting the hand of this very quickly!"
"Just learn faster," Mewtwo said with another frown.
"Pichu, you know more about machines right?" Chris asked.
"Y-y-yes I do. Using constantly many items gave me knowledge about machines at the same time," Pichu replied. "Am I something?"
"(People would hate him for using too many items…)" Lucario thought.
"Y-yes, you are," Chris said. "And see the taxi over the distance?"
A "taxi" seemed to be speeding at them from the other side of the street.
"I don't think taxis have green crystals on top of them, though," Roy said.
"…It's because it's not a taxi!" Pichu yelled.
"Dodge it, now!" Mewtwo yelled. Everyone sidestepped away from the "taxi" which was an Aparoid. It turned around harshly before locking them with its senses.
"Can I destroy this machine?" Roy asked.
"If you forgot, it was going to kill us off!" Chris yelled.
"Aw Arceus, they're everywhere!" Pichu yelled with a groan. The 5 quickly backed away to each other as more Aparoids appeared from the ground and shrieked in unison.
"These aren't dangerous," Mewtwo said. "They can be defeated with a single weak hit."
"T-thank goodness…" Pichu sighed.
"But still, they're too many," Lucario said as he narrowed his eyes.
"We need to fight back!" Roy said.
"No," Lucario said. "We can always talk to them and persuade them to join us."
"Are you kidding us?" Pichu asked.
"Guess."
"Lucario, stop acting like that!" Chris yelled.
The Aparoids shrieked another time, and made all of them get prepared to defend themselves.
Meanwhile, an Arwing came flying above the fighting place.
"Let's see, where is a Jammer hiding?" Slippy looked outside the window to find the Jammers.
For some reason, he ignored one just at his opposite direction.
"Hmm, Aparoids...trees...an announcement for a line of machines (Ooh, I need to buy that!) an infected soldier...a building burning...5 mysterious guys fighting against a swarm of Aparoids...another tree...another building on fire...another infected soldie-" He did a double-take and blinked in confusion. "Wait, what did I say just now?" he asked to himself.
"Slippy! What are you talking about?" Peppy talked through the speaker. "You're getting away from the range of the city. Turn back around and come back!"
"Y-yes! But Peppy!"
"What is it?"
"I-I-"
"I heard you saying something, but I forgot. What were you saying? You were saying something about…before buildings?"
"That I saw an infected soldier?"
"No, before that!" Peppy yelled.
"...A building on fire!"
"No, before that!"
"...A line of machines?"
"No! 2 things after that!"
"5 mysterious guys fighting against a swarm of Aparoids?" Slippy blinked. "Right! That was it! Peppy, there were some guys fighting the Aparoids in the other side of the city! One looked like a big cat, another one was red-haired, there was a small rodent, a big blue dog, and a kid with an odd sense of fashion!"
"What?"
"D-don't mind what I said about the kid!"
"What?" Peppy checked the radar and he found 5 dots on it defeating the Aparoids. "Well, this is very weird, indeed… Why would the people in the city fight the Aparoids? Unless they have weaponry or they managed to get away from being affected… Fox! Do you hear me?"
"Yeah, what is it?" Fox asked.
"There are 5 people fighting the Aparoids on the east side of the city. Go there immediately before we get casualties. We must maintain any citizen alive," Peppy commanded.
"Roger… Wait, what again?" Fox asked.
"Just go there now!" Peppy yelled. "It'll be good if you go and see what's going on!"
"…Fine, I'll go," Fox said with a nod before he ran to the east.
As for the Smashers, it was very easy to defeat the Aparoids (then again, Chris knew they were weak with one hit, so he just simply swung his bat around).
"That was way too easy," Roy said. "They made me sweat, though. They were too many."
"And considering how they were moving, they were frantically trying to kill us all," Mewtwo said.
"Oh, really?" Pichu asked bored.
Mewtwo stared at Pichu, and the Pokémon gulped before he nodded.
"Chris here just hit them senseless," Roy said.
"H-hey! A-at least I did something!" Chris yelled.
Roy looked at Lucario, and the red-haired swordsman sweated after Lucario glared at him. "I-I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean he's useless or anything…"
"Grrr....." Lucario showed his fangs for a moment.
"Lucario…" Chris said bored.
"Fine, but he should watch his mouth," Lucario said with a grunt.
"So what now?" Roy asked. "Where to?"
"Wait," Mewtwo said before he started to glow. "I'll use my power to see if there is something happening here."
"Besides the fact the whole city is being invaded by bugs?"
Mewtwo nodded. "We're in the public park, and no more of them will get here."
The group looked around. They didn't notice they reached the public park (just a bunch of trees).
"Let me see the surroundings of the whole city…" Mewtwo closed his eyes.
Chris stared at Mewtwo for a moment. "…"
"Is something wrong?" Mewtwo asked without looking at him.
Chris blinked shocked. "N-no. I-I was just thinking how useful you are."
"Why are you saying such a thing?"
"I-I mean, I don't want to offend you, but I thought you were evil from the beginning when I first looked at you."
"…I'm constantly being judged for my looks," Mewtwo said. "However, I assure you I'm peaceful like any other Pokémon out there. I won't regret to say that I once thought foolish, but dangerous things about humans."
"Oh, I see…" Chris said. "Sorry if I sounded rude."
"No, it's okay," Mewtwo said. "As long as I don't go much further into detail, it's fine. Hopefully this will clear your doubts about me, am I right?"
"I think so…"
"Take in mind I don't plan to be friends with anyone."
Chris just blinked and looked down. "I-I'm not asking you that…"
"True," Mewtwo said. "And let it stay like that. Also, be careful when you're around me because I could read your thoughts at any moment. I wouldn't want to get angry at you."
Chris gulped. "O-okay. I understand."
"Good."
The other 3 simply watched them. "That's Mewtwo for you," Roy said. "He's like that, always."
"He's the reason why I never fight nasty-looking opponents," Pichu said. "Like Fo-I mean, big Pokémon."
At that moment, Mewtwo opened his eyes. "It's clear now," he said.
"What is it, Mewtwo?" Roy asked.
"After exploring the city for a little while, I managed to find at least…10 Subspace Bombs around the perimeter of the whole city. They're at 60 minutes each, so we could try to find them and deactivate before they blow up."
"T-ten?!" Chris said shocked. "Oh please, this has to be a cruel nightmare!"
A big shadow rose from behind him.
"And besides, I don't think any of us can deactivate them with 10 bombs around and only 5 of us… I guess we should find help."
"Or in other words…" Lucario walked to his side and looked at the shadow's origin. "Him."
Chris noticed that the others were starting at the origin of the shadow. The teen gulped and frowned. "…Don't tell me…he's right behind us…"
With a sigh, he slowly turned around, and looked high up where a person watched them from the top of a building.
"(Remain there, remain there! I-I don't want to see that face!)" Chris thought. "(My god, I'm so pathetic…)
"Halt! Hands to the air!" the shadow yelled before the person jumped off from the building (and fell 18 feet without getting hurt whatsoever) and ran at them. "Who are you and what were you doing fighting the monsters just now? Answer me!"
Fox looked dead serious about the whole thing that he shot them with a glare.
And Chris was the first to faint and fall down on his back.
"…" Fox looked at Chris. "…You okay?"
Roy facepalmed. "Fox, no need to go police on us," Roy said.
The vulpine narrowed his eyes at them before he recognized the group. His glare slowly disappeared and he put his Blaster away. "Oh, it's you," Fox said. "Wait, how did you get here?" He looked at Lucario. "Who are you?" He looked down at Chris. "And why's he fainted?"
"Your face," Pichu muttered.
"What?"
"I-I mean, you freaked him out…I mean, you scared him."
"Well, I couldn't help it… Wait!" Fox shook his head. "How did you all get here in the first place? You didn't come out of nowhere, that's for sure. And you surely didn't come for the Aparoids, am I right?"
"(He's very clever about everything he asks,)" Lucario thought. "(So serious as well.)"
"Look, Fox, we can explain everything later," Mewtwo said. "For now, you have to accept our presences here for a time."
"…" Fox looked confused at the whole thing. "Okay… Thing is, I want to see if he's fine."
Chris shook his head and opened his eyes before sitting up. "Oh gosh, that was so embarrassing and…"
The teen looked up at Fox.
A small whimper sounded in his mind, but he shook the sound away. "H-hello!" Chris said, forcing a smile as he stood up. "I-I'm so sorry for fainting all of a sudden, but you just came out of nowhere!"
"…" Fox kept staring at him.
"(Oh no, I already gave him a bad impression… S-stop looking at me with that look!)" Chris pleaded in his mind.
"…"
"W-well, I-I'm glad to meet you. My name is Chris," Chris introduced himself. "This here is Lucario."
"…Hello," Lucario said confused.
"A-and sorry if I did something embarrassing, but I just got here and all that so I-" Chris noticed that Fox was still staring at him…
…With THAT face.
"…(Don't kill me,)" came as a thought of Chris.
"…" Fox closed his eyes and nodded.
The way he did it made Chris feel extremely uncomfortable.
"I see," Fox said. "Hey, Peppy, everyone, did you listen? We have some friends of mine down here who want to help."
"Hey, you guys!" Falco called from Fox's right arm's caller. "Long time no see. How have you been?"
"Why does Falco sound different?" Pichu asked.
"…Different?" Falco asked. "What do you mean?"
"I'm here, Fox," Peppy said.
"Peppy, did you listen?" Fox asked.
"Very clear. I'm sorry for being brief, but we should regroup again in the Great Fox," Peppy said. "We're in a dire situation right now."
"I guess we should do that for now," Krystal said. "We can leave the city for just some minutes to think about this again."
"Oh, are you guys friends of Fox and Falco?" Slippy asked. "I never had the opportunity to meet you in person."
"Fox, Falco, Slippy, Krystal, and everyone else, return to the Great Fox!" Peppy commanded. "Return quickly!"
"Roger!" the Star Fox team said while they nodded their heads.
"My god," Chris muttered. "They're very serious when they need to."
"What was that?" Fox asked.
"(S-stay calm.) I-I'm very surprised at your teamwork as a…team," Chris said sweating.
"We do things like this our way," Fox said. "Anyway, you guys follow me. I'll take you to the Great Fox shortly. And while there, don't touch anything."
"Um, why?" Pichu asked.
"I just want to make myself clear, that's all," Fox said.
"(He's saying that because he doesn't trust me or Lucario,)" Chris thought. "(I'm really going to have a hard time here…)"
Great Fox
Over Corneria city
Several minutes have passed ever since both teams met each other…or rather talked about the Smashers' reason behind their appearance.
"…And that's why we're here," Roy said. "We're here to stop some guys from blowing up some bombs around the city."
"Hmm, I see," Peppy said. "To be honest, there were 10 signals coming from different parts of the city that appeared plainly so suddenly," he explained. "I guess these are the bombs you speak of?"
"Y-yes," Chris said. "And we thought if we could ask you for your help."
"Here's your answer," Falco began as he crossed his legs on the chair. "Duh."
"Phew," Roy said. "I forgot why we were so nervous in the beginning."
"Thank you," Mewtwo said. "But unfortunately we lack the knowledge to deactivate the bombs ourselves. We don't have any clue about deactivating the Subspace Bombs."
"Oh, bombs?" Slippy asked. "This is the era where technology has advanced so far. Those bombs are no problem for me at all. Let me take a look at a picture of it and I'll have the device to deactivate them with a single touch."
"Look who's bluffing now," Falco said, looking away.
"Oh, quiet, Falco!" Slippy said annoyed.
"Then let us proceed with the briefing," Peppy said.
Mission briefing
"Um, here is a picture of how the bombs look like," Chris said as he handed a picture to Slippy.
"Hmm…amazing," Slippy remarked with a nod. "This bomb seems way too advanced…"
"So we can't deactivate them?" Falco asked. "Hurray."
"Oh no! Not quite!" Slippy said. "These bombs are very advanced, but they won't stand against my inventions!" He cleared his throat. "Alright, listen up." Slippy pointed at five Subspace Bombs located through the city by using the virtual map. "I've located 5 bombs spread in the east, west, north, south, and center of the city."
"Weren't there 10 bombs, though?" Roy asked.
"…Hey! What gives?" Falco began. "I was sure they were there a second ago!"
"Maybe…" Krystal wondered. "…They're probably trying to drop the remaining bombs if the first 5 are deactivated," Krystal said.
"But why?" Slippy asked.
"Simple," Fox said. "Think they're having the remaining 5 bombs as last resource. But when you think again, it seems very suspicious that they hid the other bombs so suddenly."
"We'll worry about that later," Peppy said.
"So, how are we supposed to deactivate the bombs, Slip?" Falco asked.
"Ask me anything, but I will always have my ways," Slippy said as an image of a device appeared on the screen. "I've been developing a bomb deactivator since the last month. Luckily, I've made many copies for emergency occasions. Guess what? This is one of them!"
"How do we use them?" Pichu asked.
" You only need to place them in any part of the bomb and it'll be deactivated the first moment it touches the bomb. Easy, isn't?" Slippy asked excited.
"Well, you're the genius here. Any machine created by you always comes in handy." Fox remarked.
Slippy scratched his cheek. "Geez, I'm blushing now…"
"By the way," Peppy began. "It seems they're preparing reinforcements as we speak."
"What?" Fox asked. "Show the image!"
"The Aparoids are creating a barrier of them along with the Primids to stop us!" Peppy said. The image showed both Aparoids and Primids swarming around the locations of the bombs around the city.
"Darn it, they were aware of us since the beginning," Roy said.
"Wait, aware?" Chris began. "I-I don't think this all happened just by coincidence…"
"…We're getting a signal from an unknown source," ROB 64 said.
"What signal?" Slippy asked.
"Beginning signal," he said.
Everyone looked at the screen, and there was someone clad in darkness with crossed arms, glowing red eyes, and a devilish glare. It was hard to tell the background where the mysterious figure was located. "Good evening, gentlemen…" The person looked at Krystal. "And woman," he said.
"Who the hell are you?"
"General L, you know," he said. "The same person the dog and the kid defeated some time ago."
"Y-you!" Chris yelled.
"Good to be known," he said sarcastically.
"You imbecile…" Lucario grunted. "What do you want now?"
"Nothing," L said. "I'm just here to tell you that I got word of your plans just now."
"Wait, you…hi-jacked the Great Fox? But how?" Slippy asked.
"The Subspace can do anything, should I say. I alerted the troops about your plans in secret while you were discussing," L said. "But that aside, I'm simply here to tell you that I'm going to come after you very soon."
"W-who exactly?" Chris asked.
"You know who," L said. "I'm going to enjoy our future fight. You better be ready for the bombs, though. That worthless scum you have there to help you will at least give you some help." He waved a hand to them. "Good luck…idiots."
"W-wait!" Chris yelled before he cut the communication link. "I-I didn't tell him about Riley…"
"You know that guy?" Falco asked.
"We met him some time ago, but we defeated him," Lucario said. "But he escaped before we could finish him."
"Don't worry about him," Chris said depressed. "Sooner or later we'll encounter him today…"
"…" Fox shook his head. "Forget about him for now. We have better things to do than wasting our time with someone who can't even show his own face."
"We need to hurry up, then. The bombs are at 15 minutes now." Peppy looked at the 9. "You have to form 4 teams to deactivate the bombs. I'll drop you in the center of the city so you can finish with the first bomb. Since there are only 9 of you on the ground, one will have to guard the sky."
"The sky is my place," Falco said, raising a hand. "I'm not too much of a ground fighter anyway."
"Fine, Falco. Fox, you'll decide the teams once you touch the ground and deactivate the first bomb," Peppy said. "I wish you all good luck."
"I'm ready to go," Lucario said.
"So do I," Falco said.
"Me too!" Slippy said.
"I won't say the negative here," Krystal said.
"Very well, then," Mewtwo said.
"I-I-I'm ready! …I think," Pichu said.
"I need to test my sword in the fight again," Roy said holding his sword.
"Okay," Fox made a fist in front of his face "Let's go, team!"
End of mission briefing
"…Wait," Fox looked around. "Someone's gone here."
Everyone looked around. "Chris was here just a moment ago. Did he go somewhere?" Roy asked.
"He doesn't know this place at all," Fox said. "He could get lost if he doesn't keep track of where he's going."
"Then will you go for him?" Peppy asked. "We need him now."
"Ugh, okay," Fox said mildly annoyed before he left them all.
"Meanwhile," Peppy began as he looked at everyone. "I'll direct you all to the center of the city. Get ready for this."
Most of them nodded in agreement.
Bathroom
A door with the label "Bathroom" was shown before a flushing sound came from behind it. It later opened and a relieved Chris came out. "I thought this place didn't have bathrooms," he said with a small smile. "For being such a ship for war, it has what a normal house has… Oh, right, I need to go with everyone…"
He was about to walk away, but then something stopped him.
"(Wait… I shouldn't have left them so suddenly… That could make someone I know suspicious about me for this little thing…)" He gulped. "(Please, PLEASE don't tell me he's coming for me…)"
Chris looked around.
"(ALONE…)" he thought with another gulp. "Okay… I need to go back…pretend I didn't go somewhere…stay focused in the main mission…and everything will be alright."
"Did you know you're such a bad liar?"
"I know…" Chris said as he looked at Fox, who was leaned against the steel wall with crossed arms and closed eyes. "But I must do this so you don't get a ba-FOX!!!" Chris yelled as he backed away in fear. "U-u-u-u-um, sorry for leaving so suddenly, but I had to go!" He sweated frantically, with his heart beating faster in pure horror.
"Yeah, I know," Fox said as he opened one eye at him. "I can tell by the odor."
"…" Chris blushed. "H-hey, that's way more embarrassing! I-I mean, what are you doing here? I-it's bad to spy people in the bathroom!"
"And it's bad to lie," Fox added. "And to act like someone else as well."
"…I'm sorry," Chris said. "I'll go back to the mission, sir…"
Chris lowered his arms down and walked depressed to the way he came from.
A heavy hand fell on his right shoulder. By the looks of his face, Chris was getting more frightened. "…Y-yes?" Chris asked.
"Why the hell are you acting like that around me?" Fox asked with a serious face. "Answer me."
"(OH GOD!!!)" Chris cried in his mind. He shyly turned around and put his hands close to his neck. He was seriously scared by Fox. "…I-it's because…"
"It's because?" Fox asked, raising an eyebrow.
"…I think you're scary in person," Chris said in shame. "When I first knew I was going to come here, I remembered you living here and I…couldn't just stare at you directly because…you're scary in person."
"…" Fox made a confused look. "Oh, that?"
"Y-yes," Chris said. "This is so embarrassing…but I think you're scary with even a normal look… (Don't tell him about the game at all…)"
"Hmm…" Fox crossed his arms and stared at Chris. "Then stare at me. C'mon."
"(What?!) H-huh?"
"Stare at my face. I want you to keep staring at me and see if you do get scared by me."
Chris looked away. "B-but why?"
"If you're really scared by me, you need to get over that stupid fear," Fox said. "You better do it quick or else the city below will get destroyed…"
"…H-hmm…"
"Tell me something. You don't want me to hate you for a bad impression, right?"
"I-I guess not…" Chris said without looking at him. "J-just don't hate me…"
"Then do what I told you a second ago," Fox said. "Do it."
"…" Chris slowly turned around and stared directly at Fox's face. He then stared directly at his eyes. "…"
"And no, I don't roll that way," Fox said.
Chris sweatdropped. "I-I didn't think that at all!"
"Remain silent," Fox said. "Don't stop there."
"(Oh goodness, is this my own version of the Test of Fear? I hated that part so much…and this one as well,)" Chris thought before he gulped. "I can do this…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…" Fox blinked one time and he smiled a little to Chris.
"!!!" Chris blinked shocked but he…smiled back to him. However, he blushed embarrassed and looked away, smile intact. "U-um, wow…"
"How are you feeling?" Fox asked, still smiling.
"I-I don't know what just happened," Chris said before he looked at him. "W-when you smiled all of a sudden, I-I just smiled back at you. I mean, what was that you just did to me?"
"Oh, come now," Fox said with a frown. "I made your useless fear of me disappear. Are you feeling well now that you can keep a straight face to me?"
Chris stopped smiling and he looked at Fox. "…I do. I can't believe it, I do!"
Fox nodded and smiled a little with a chuckle. For some reason, Chris smiled a little and chuckled as well with the vulpine.
"My god, that was fun…" Chris said with a chuckle. "A-and I don't know why I was scared of you either. I laugh at that whenever I remember it! How did you do that, really?"
"Good," Fox said. "Now that you're good, let's go."
"W-wait!" Chris stopped him. "Really, how did you do that to me?"
"It was just random," Fox said confused. "I…kind of thought of that out of the blue."
"…Oh," came as a response. "Well, that worked pretty well… Weird."
"Heheheh, let's go, then." Fox motioned to him.
"…" Chris blushed. "I'm sorry if I made you feel uneasy with me around."
"It was okay," Fox said. "Just don't lie…and faint when I walk to you, for crying out loud."
"I-I told you I got scared! You appeared out of nowhere!"
Fox began to laugh as they walked back.
"Y-you stop laughing at me now!" Chris yelled annoyed. "Ugh! I knew there was something devious with you! That face, I knew it had it! And stop laughing now! Fox, do you hear me? Stop laughing!"
Corneria
Center of the city
After everything was planned, the team landed just in the center of the city. Falco was already taking down many enemy ships in the air. Slippy gave them each the Bomb Deactivators (named after Slippy). Since the bomb was just in the center, Slippy tried it out first, and surprisingly, the bomb stopped.
Just then, Chris and Fox came to them.
"Finally. What took you 2 so long?" Roy asked.
"I-" Chris got interrupted.
"He was busy in the bathroom," Fox said. "Very busy."
"(You little…) Sorry," Chris said annoyed.
The teen looked at the Subspace Bombs, where 2 different robots were staring at the bomb. Chris remembered the last robots he last saw being obliterated by Zapdos. He looked down in shame before he shook the thought away.
"Alright," Fox began. "Here are the teams."
Team 1:
Fox and Krystal
North Bomb
Team 2:
Roy and Slippy
West Bomb
Team 3:
Pichu and Mewtwo
East Bomb
Team 4:
Chris and Lucario
South Bomb
"Any objections?" Fox asked.
It was revenge for Chris by Fox's teasing. "Oh, how weird. Krystal ended up with you."
Bless Chris for knowing about Fox's shy side for Krystal...a bad romance in the future.
A small chuckle came from Krystal, who seemed amused by this. Fox looked away and avoided them from seeing him blushing a little. "Y-yeah, weird," he said. "(Wait, how does he know about that anyway?)"
"By the way," Pichu began as he looked up at Slippy. "Please, watch out for Roy."
"What's so bad about him?" Slippy asked.
Just then, Roy was near another machine. "Hey, I think I can do this now. Let me see if I can turn this machine on!" he said and pressed another button, exploding in the process like the last one, and engulfing him in the process. "…I have a long way to go…" Roy said as he came out from the smoke he created by accident.
Slippy smiled…worried at this. "...Can we change members please?" Slippy turned his back and he didn't see anyone. They all just left them at that moment. "…Oh, thank you so much, you guys!" he yelled annoyed.
Roy walked to him. "What are we waiting for? Let's go!" Roy grabbed Slippy by the hand and they ran to the west. Slippy sweatdropped about what Roy was going to do.
A mechanical genius was paired up with a complete clueless idiot about machines…or at least he thought.
Preview of the next chapter
"This is Fox."
"And this is Chris."
Fox looked at Chris. "…Wait, when did you get a scouter, a jacket, and that blaster?"
"In the next chapter. Lucario also got the same job as me."
"Job? …That doesn't matter. Take it off."
"What? You want me…forget it. I'm keeping these clothes."
"I've said stop using them!"
"No!" Chris yelled. "What's so bad? I actually like the way you dress!"
"Grr!"
"Teaming Up With Thugs is the next chapter… Um, Fox? Why are you glaring at me? …Y-you can lower your right fist now… N-no! Don't hit me where the scouter is! F-Fox, you're really getting furious now. Y-you're scaring me, Fox! I-I BEG YOU, DON'T HIT ME! AAAAAAAAAH!!!"
If I do say so myself, this version came better than the last one. I hope you liked it as I did. :)
Read and review, please.