26
Ailey's Finest Hour
Ailey watched sadly as she and her surviving friends were being captured by the overpowering Skulblakian troops and were being loaded into space freighters to be taken to prison. There were many dead chao scattered around, and Ailey was shocked and saddened to see that Papoose and Caruso were among them. The NCPA survivors were disappointed beyond belief, having failed their mission and leaving Chao World and Emerald Hill Island vulnerable to Ozimbus's attack. Cassius was the most disappointed out of all of them, feeling depressed and upset that he had led his army and friends into such disaster.
Ailey was being handcuffed by a dark power type along with Rupie. She then began to hear the dark power type escorting her to the freighter start up a conversation with the other power type escorting Rupie.
"So, Chacky!" Ailey's power type began. "Gotten a good amount of salary lately?"
Rupie's power type, apparently called Chacky, replied, "No, I haven't. Ozimbus never appreciates great work when he sees it."
"I actually was wondering if other dark chao get a higher salary than I do." Ailey's power type replied. "Mine's only five bucks a month. Talk about rotten."
"Wow, Chaofun!" Chacky replied, and then continued, "Mine's way worse, a whopping four bucks a month! Maybe when we return to the pyramid with all these prisoners we can get a raise or something. Do you think Emperor Ozimbus would care at all?"
Ailey's power type, Chaofun, replied, "There's no telling what that character will do next. He's always up to something, wearing that cloak!"
Ailey then got an extraordinary idea, and it involved getting involved with Chacky and Chaofun's conversation.
She then looked up at Chaofun, who was walking her to the space freighter, and said, "Chaofun, I couldn't help but think about your salary problem."
Chaofun looked down at Ailey confused and said, "What would you know about our salary problems, punk?"
Ailey replied, "I know you won't be getting a raise for us prisoners, and it's because Ozimbus doesn't care about you."
"Shut the hell up!" Chacky retorted. "You don't know anything, you're just a prisoner!"
Ailey, acting frustrated, said, "I'm not finished yet. Ozimbus doesn't give you guys or any of your other soldier friends high salaries because he doesn't care about you. He just wants to use you as tools to take over Chao World, and then when it's all over he'll probably fire you and take all the glory for himself, and pin all the badges and awards of honor you deserve right onto his cloak! Next thing you know, YOU'LL be the prisoners!"
Chaofun beat Ailey. "You preach lies, hero chao!"
"No, I'm serious!" Ailey replied, recovering from the beating and acting serious. "If he did care about you he'd give you a salary like no other salary you've ever even touched! He'd maybe even give you ice cream!"
Chaofun and Chacky gasped. They exchanged glances. Then Chacky whispered, "Maybe we should ask Ozimbus for ice cream when we're done. We deserve it."
Chaofun nodded.
Ailey sighed. "But he won't give you any ice cream because you're nothing but a bunch of useless pawns!"
Chacky beat Ailey. "Shut up!"
Ailey shook it off. "Guys, I'm only concerned for your welfare. Ozimbus will never give you ice cream, it's an established fact of life. If you want ice cream, you'll have to join Chao World and Emerald Hill Island in the fight against Ozimbus."
"That's a stupid idea," Chaofun retorted.
"Yeah," Chacky nodded. "I bet Kirtie doesn't give you any ice cream either. You're just making stuff up so we don't put you in prison."
"I'm not making this up, I promise! Kirtie gives me…" Ailey paused to think of a decently high number, "Over nine thousand pounds of ice cream per month. Sometimes higher."
"Over nine thousand!?" Chaofun and Chacky stared dumfounded at Ailey, thinking of what they could do with so much ice cream.
"Exactly, how do you do you get such a high salary?" asked Chacky, anxiously.
"You join us against Emperor Ozimbus, duh," Ailey blurted out. "When the war's over and Kirtie's free, we'll have an ice cream party. Everyone who helped out in the war will be invited. But any chao who were on Ozimbus' side and didn't help us won't get any. They won't even be invited. So if you want ice cream you'd better make up your minds quick, because this gig is almost over."
Chaofun and Chacky narrowed their eyes at her, and then did a quick huddle talk. Afterwards Chaofun said, "We've considered what you've said about the ice cream salary and the ice cream party. It's true that Ozimbus hogs all the ice cream for himself. We both really love ice cream, and we have wives and children back at Skulblakia who also love ice cream, and, well, our families aren't doing well on food, so, we've decided… uh… wait… what did we decide?"
Chacky rolled his eyes and finished for him, "We'll join you against Ozimbus, but only if we get paid handsomely with ice cream."
Ailey said, acting happy, "Oh, great decision, guys! I have some orders for you now."
"What is it?" asked Chacky.
"I need you to spread the word about the ice cream party to the other dark chao. Tell them that only chao who fight for Chao World and Emerald Hill Island will be invited, and form a riot against Ozimbus' rule," Ailey commanded. Then she remembered something and added, "Don't forget to inform your troops in Skulblakia and the space station too!"
"We'll do it!" Chacky and Chaofun said as they unhooked Ailey and Rupie from their handcuffs and ran off to some other guards, spreading the word.
"Wow! Ailey!" Rupie said with a stunned expression on her face. "You really did it this time!"
"Yeah, thanks! I thought of that all on my own!" replied Ailey, smiling happily at what she just did. Then she lowered her voice to a whisper, "Now we'd better make sure there's an ice cream party after the war or we'll be skinned alive."
Rupie gulped and nodded.
The two hero chao watched as dark chao after dark chao unshackled their prisoners and went off spreading the news. It wasn't long before the entire battlefield of dark chao had joined the NCPA and began using the solar eclipse's power to call their faraway guard buddies to tell them glad tidings of great joy. For the first time since the war's beginning, Ailey felt peace and harmony begin to settle in her heart as she watched the dark chao and neutral chao working together to call any warrior they knew was involved in the war and tell them the good news. Ailey looked over the field, thinking the war may finally be won at last. There's no force in heaven or on Mobius that more powerfully brings about peace and unity than the possibility of an international ice cream party.
The mighty prison guard roared in triumph as it stared menacingly at its trapped prey. As it approached, Fang could only hope for a miracle, or that maybe Nikki would succeed in his mission, or Ailey and Rupie in their mission. Fang sincerely hoped that even though he and Chaolin would be annihilated by this monster, Nikki or someone would find a way to make things right again, and to save the trapped prisoners in the chamber.
The prison guard attacked. It clubbed Fang and Chaolin across the room. Then it ran after them and clubbed them again. It began hitting them back and forth and chasing them around, roaring with glee. Fang and Chaolin were completely helpless. They received many injuries.
When the beast got bored and raised its clawed arm for the kill, the steel door blocking the exit to the chamber was blasted to smithereens, and a dozen dark chao, mostly dark run types, came storming in with laser guns, ready to fire.
"Oh, well," Chaolin said weakly. "Here come some dark chao to watch us die. Typical."
The dark chao in the front, a dark run type, said, "Don't fear us! We're on your side!"
"Wait what?" Fang and Chaolin muttered at the same time.
The monster, angry that the newcomers had interrupted its fun, turned its attention to the dark chao. It roared furiously and stomped its way towards them.
"Get ready!" announced the run type, as he aimed his gun at the creature.
The other dark chao followed his lead.
Just as the creature was about to flatten the dark chao, the dark run type yelled in command, "Fire!"
The dark chao fired continuous blasts of dark energy from their weapons, taking advantage of the enormous power enabled by the solar eclipse, at the creature. All of the blasts hit their mark, sending the creature tumbling through the air, shrieking, and into one of the massive red windows. The window shattered on contact, while the beast continued soaring, and began rolling down the side of the pyramid, gaining speed, until it crashed to the floor with a gut-wrenching crackling sound.
Fang, Chaolin, and their new dark chao allies looked out the shattered window to see the monster sprawled out by the base of the pyramid, dead. Fang wondered how such a miracle could have happened, that some random dark chao would come and rescue them from their prison guard, only seconds from what would have been their hideous not-so-PG-rated deaths. Fang thought on as he stared at the limp figure several hundred feet down the metallic slope of the pyramid.
Nikki stared horrified at Ozimbus' cloak as it charged up for a finish-off shadow attack, trying think of how he could get himself out. He managed to get up just as Ozimbus fired the blast and dove out of the way as the shadowy bolt of lightning struck the wall, exploding violently.
Nikki charged at Ozimbus, using the shockwave from the explosion to propel him faster, and kicked him in the head. Ozimbus toppled over, but soon got up. Ozimbus slashed at Nikki with his swords, as Nikki dodged and blocked. Ozimbus then threw one of his swords at Nikki, but it missed. Nikki, distracted, looked back to see where the sword landed, and Ozimbus punched him in the side of the face with his sword-less hand, sending Nikki soaring into the wall. Nikki tried to get up, but he couldn't. He was almost sure he was paralyzed from the brute strength of Ozimbus's fist. Nikki looked up at Ozimbus as he concealed himself in his cloak and began charging up for the final shadow attack. Nikki could do nothing but watch as doom grew nearer and nearer and Ozimbus' cloak span, sparkled, and fizzed with pure evil energy.
Suddenly, the purple door blocking the exit was demolished as countless amounts of dark chao charged into the room. They all aimed at Ozimbus and fired at him with super-powered machine guns. The unexpected attack caused Ozimbus to break concentration, and the force of the assault flung him across the room. The cloak protected Ozimbus from being critically hit, however. Once he landed he stood up furiously and said, "You demons! How dare you interrupt me while I'm in the middle of a battle, much less shoot at me? Do you have a death wish!?"
"Sorry but not sorry, we don't take orders from you anymore!" a dark fly type, much like Ozimbus but a lot smaller, replied in a feminine voice.
A lady dark chao? Call me sexist but that's a first! Nikki thought in awe.
"You bloody traitors! You're asking for it! Get out of my sight before I unleash my fury on you!" Ozimbus yelled rashly.
"No," the fly type replied calmly. The army behind her had their guns fixed on Ozimbus.
"AAAAAHHH!" Ozimbus concealed himself in his cloak and began charging up for a shadow attack. The girl dark fly type crept away from the others towards Nikki. She put a drop of something in Nikki's mouth.
"It's a max revive, it'll give you all your strength back," The fly type said calmly.
"Thanks" Nikki replied, after swallowing the drop. The other dark chao stood their ground, watching Ozimbus charge up for the attack meant for them. When Ozimbus' cloak fired, the lightning bounced off of a force field around the dark chao army, sending tendrils of dark lightning in every direction, destroying what remained of the balconies and the war planning table.
When Ozimbus finished the attack and realized that he had failed to annihilate the traitors, he began cursing and cussing like there was no end.
Nikki got up, feeling much better, and asked the fly type who fed him the max revive, "Why are you helping me?"
"It's a long story… well, not really. We just want to go to the ice cream party after the war."
"Ice cream party?" Nikki tilted his head, and then looked at Ozimbus. "What's he doing?"
"Rage-quitting," She replied with large humorous eyes. "If Ozimbus gets really frustrated, not only will his aim be horrible, but he'll be so full of anger that he'll just stand there shouting. He won't even fight back."
"Oh, sweet." Nikki took a pistol from one of the nearby dark chao and shot Ozimbus in the face. He was killed instantly.
All of the dark chao, eyes wide and jaws dropped, stared at Nikki. Then Ozimbus. Then Nikki again.
"What?" Nikki said, confused. "Did I do something wrong?"
The female dark fly type spoke in disbelief, "You… killed him… just like that…"
"Umm, yeah. Looks that way." Nikki nodded.
Just then, Ozimbus' cloak, which was still imbued with unholy powers, separated itself from Ozimbus' dead body, spun around in the air for a second as if to taunt its audience, and then teleported away in a brilliant flash of darkness.
Everyone was silent for a moment.
"Damn that cloak," Nikki muttered.
"Psh, who cares? You killed Ozimbus!" the dark fly type celebrated. "You're our hero. You destroyed our dictator! All hail Nikki! For destroying the one who enslaved us into this war! Ice cream for everyone!"
Nikki yelled in triumph as the dark chao all around him cheered and celebrated, dancing and prancing and frolicking around. Nikki had never remembered feeling this relieved and excited in his entire life. The war was over. Emperor Ozimbus was dead! The war was over!