(Tails and I have gathered Vanellope and her friends out to the track)
Tails: Sorry for bringing you all out here while you were busy.
Swizzle: Easy for you to say. I had to leave an online match for this.
Me: But it'll be worth it once you see these!
(Tails reveals the customized Extreme Gear boards. The racers gasp in surprise)
Taffyta: Our own Extreme Gear?!
Tails: That's right. And they're customized to fit your individual racing style.
Gloyd: Sweet!
Jubileena: I can't wait to try mine out!
Me: Well, wait no further. You're about to have a practice race with them right now!
(The racers cheer as they grab a board that resembled their respective karts and began racing on them)
Heroes Unite!
Chapter 21: Island Assault
On an island inhabited by green pigs, hinted by the pig-shaped mountain, a gathering of pigs have found an oval stone marked with a compass pointing to the upper right with a crescent shape connected to the top by a blue dot at the top and what looks like an inverted number four at the bottom. Soon, one of the pigs, Leonard, shoved through the gathering.
"Alright, stand back, King coming through!" Leonard spoke up, shoving the other pigs aside before seeing the stone. "What is that thing? Some sort of rock?" Suddenly, he heard footsteps. He turns around to spot a man in a white shirt and tan pants with light brown hair with dark grey at the sides and a light brown mustache/beard combination.
"Hey! You! This place isn't safe." Leonard informed him.
The man simply chuckled. "You're right about that, Your Majesty."
"How did you know my title?" Leonard asked in surprise.
"Oh, pardon my manners. I am Cesar. I came here searching for a special stone." Cesar introduced himself. He glances behind the other pigs and spots the stone. "Ah, there it is."
"You want that thing? Take it. I'm not interested in that pebble anyway." Leonard tells Cesar as he picks up the stone and gives it to him.
"Thank you for your time, but I have a favor to ask you." Cesar said.
"Whatever it is, my pigs and I will do it." Leonard said.
"Have you ever heard of the Scarlet Warrior?" Cesar asked.
"The Scarlet Warrior? Never heard of her." Leonard shrugged.
"Well, she's on her way with some other heroes to take this stone from us. I was sent here to prevent that." Cesar explained.
"Really?"
"In fact, there's a chance your enemies will join her side." Cesar continued.
"Wait, you mean Eyebrows and his pals?" Leonard asked. "No way! I'm not letting that happen. If you want to stop her, we should work together."
"Very well, but first, I think your fortress needs a bit of redecorating." Cesar said. He used the stone to create a rift and his villa appeared from it. The villa is placed right beside Leonard's castle.
"Nice. But wait, that building looks to be unguarded." Leonard realized. "I should probably supply you with half my Piggy Army."
"There's no need for that." Cesar said as he used the stone again to call his henchmen, a slew of Egg Pawns and several Venom ships. Watching from outside the walls is a black-haired man in a torn red shirt and red bandana, black pants, black combat boots and a chain worn across his chest.
"Hmm…" He murmured before heading off to investigate.
Meanwhile, on another island that's close by, several birds, among them a red bird, a tall yellow bird and a heavyset black bird are in the main square talking about the building that mysteriously appeared on the neighboring island.
"It's true! A strange building has appeared on Piggy Island." A pink bird, Stella confirmed.
"What should we do?" Matilda, a white bird asked. "Red, you know the pigs there more than the rest of us. Is there anything we should do about it?"
"I don't know, but whatever it is, it's not good." Red informed everyone. "Chuck, Bomb and I will head over there and look into it – see what's going on."
"But the three of you can't go out there on your own. You three need help." Judge Peckinpah suggested.
"Good plan, Your Honor. Question is: where can we find help?" Red thought aloud. His answer came when he hears a rift open behind him. He turns around and sees it as the heroes emerge from the rift. "Speak of the devil."
"Where are we?" Maxi asked.
"Looks like we're on some kind of island." Tails assumed. "But what kind of island?"
Fluttershy then noticed the gathering of birds and her eyes light up. "Oh my goodness! Look at all these cute little birds!" She rushes over and embraces Red.
"Who… is this… girl?" Red wheezed as Fluttershy hugged him tighter.
"Hey! Hands off my buddy!" Chuck yelled as he tried to pry her hands off of Red. "Hey Bomb, help me out here!" The heavy black bird, Bomb, helps Chuck pry her off.
"Thanks for the rescue, guys." Red breathed.
"I guess we have our answer, thanks to Fluttershy." Twilight said.
"Well, now that that's over, I just got one thing to say: who are you?" Red asked the heroes.
After introductions and an extensive apology from Fluttershy, Scarlett explained that they came here looking for a Keystone. She asked them if anything happened recently.
"Well, apart from you guys appearing out of nowhere, there was this strange building that appeared on Piggy Island." Red explained. "My friends and I are headed there to see what's going on."
"If you're heading to this Piggy Island, then you should take us with you." Ivy suggested.
"I don't know about that. Our boat can't seem to hold all of us." Chuck spoke up.
Knuckles and Applejack look over to the boat and see its miniscule size. "Now I see why." Knuckles commented.
"Guess we're gonna need a bigger boat." Bomb joked.
"And we're going to help you build it." Stella spoke up.
"Best plan I've heard all day. Let's do it!" Red agreed as they get started building a much bigger boat. It took 5 metric tons of wood, but after countless hours of building with the birds' help, the new boat is complete.
"Whew! It's finally done." Chuck said as he wiped his brow.
"Now we can use this to reach Piggy Island." Red said.
"Red, before you go…" Stella spoke up, gaining his attention.
"What is it, Stella?" Red asked. Stella responds by embracing him with an emotional hug. Though surprised, Red hugs her back.
"Be careful out there." Stella whispered as she let go of him.
"I will." Red said as he boarded the boat with the others. "Shall we?"
Scarlett nods in approval. "Next stop: Piggy Island." With those words said, the boat takes off to Piggy Island.
On the way to Piggy Island, Master Chief meets up with Scarlett. "That was impressive, how you managed to break those two up like that," Master Chief said as Scarlett chuckled and showed him the red enchantlet around her wrist.
"I've been a Protector at the Mystic Isles for almost 10 years. Keeping the peace is what I do."
Meanwhile, Red spots Fox near the bow and decides to strike some conversation with him. "So, uh, Fox, right? Is something on your mind?"
"Oh, I'm just thinking about where my father could be." Fox replied.
"Whatever happened to him?" Red asked. Fox sighed deeply. "Oh, sorry about that, must've hit a sensitive spot."
"It's fine. I guess someone should hear about it anyway." Fox replied as he told Red the tale about his father and how he founded the Star Fox team.
"My father, James McCloud was the founder of the original Star Fox team. Five years before the Lylat Wars, General Pepper of the Cornerian Army hired my father to investigate strange activities on the planet Venom. He never returned. Despite being a backwater little rock in Lylat space, Venom had become the base of operations for a crazed scientist named Andross, who was banished there for conducting dangerous experiments. Three pilots flew on that mission: my father, James; his best friend and wingman, Peppy Hare; and Pigma Dengar, a contemptuous swine who "volunteered" for the assignment. By the time they figured out that Pigma was working for Andross, it was already too late. Pigma betrayed Peppy and my father, and led them right into a trap. In the chaos that followed, my father sacrificed himself to give Peppy the chance he needed to escape back to Corneria and report James' courageous final moments, along with the news that Andross had amassed a horrifyingly massive army, intent on conquering the Lylat System."
"So to honor your dad's memory and carry on his legacy, you formed a new Star Fox?" Red asked.
"Exactly, and I was able to gather teammates I know I can trust:" Fox said as he looked over to his teammates. "Slippy Toad, a close friend and a gifted mechanic; Falco Lombardi, a hot-shot flyboy who's got our backs, even when the going gets tough; and Krystal, the team's newest member, a beautiful and experienced telepath who can sense anyone in danger, even from afar."
"That's quite the team, Fox." Red commented. "With a team like that on our side, I'm sure we can get that Keystone. And there's nothing out there that can stop us." But as soon as he said that, the ship is suddenly bombarded by laser fire from above.
"What in tarnation was that?!" Applejack shouts. They look up and spot several space fighters firing at their boat. Falco recognized the style of the ships right away.
"Those are Venom ships! Why are they here?!" Falco asked.
"We'll look into that later. Right now, we need to protect this ship!" Master Chief shouts as he started firing at the Venom ships. Fox, Falco and Krystal pull out their blasters and start firing at the ships. Scarlett and Sofia used their magic against the ships while Rarity provided defense using the diamond shields she conjured.
"How did these things get here anyway?" Krystal asked before shooting down a Venom Fighter.
"My guess is someone found the Keystone first and is using it to bring troops here." Scarlett assumed.
"Yeah, but who could've found it?" Twilight asked.
"That's what we're here to find out." Fox said. "But with all these ships firing at us, they must be trying to stop us!" To prove his point, a giant mechanical gorilla surfaced in front of the heroes' ship and it roars, making Fluttershy hide behind Bomb in total fear.
"The Gigarilla?! What's it doing here?!" Fox shouted. The Gigarilla dealt a single punch to the ship, smashing it to pieces.
"No! We're sinking!" Chuck yelled.
"Dang it! We were so close, too!" Knuckles scowled. Everyone fell into the water with a scream. Watching from the villa rooftop was Leonard and Cesar.
"Whoa-ho! Now that's what I call a sinking feeling!" Leonard joked.
"I wouldn't underestimate them if I were you." Cesar said.
"What do you mean?" Leonard asked.
"That mechanical ape managed to sink their ship, but those heroes are still alive." Cesar informed him.
"That is a problem." Leonard noted.
"One that will be fixed soon." Cesar said as he looked out towards the shoreline where the heroes' ship sank. "I just hope that man doesn't get there before they do." He looked at the Keystone in his hand, knowing what it is capable of and is concerned that his greatest enemy is out there, waiting.
(After the practice race, Vanellope, Rancis and I are at the newly built outdoor pool)
Me: So how was your Extreme Gear?
Rancis: It was amazing! It felt like I was flying through the air!
Vanellope: Me too! I'm even happier that you were able to build this pool two weeks ago. I didn't even know about it until today.
Me: What can I say? I'm full of surprises.
Dash: (From diving platform) Cannonball!
(Dash performs a cannonball and splashes us)
Vanellope: Speaking of surprises…
(Dash surfaces and spits out some water)
Dash: Sorry. Didn't know you were there.
Me: No worries. People do that a lot. I better get going. This chapter won't upload itself, you know. You readers are welcome to leave any reviews. Archer out!