SBS Time!
Astral Albeiro Knight: Do you have Beta Reader?
Game2002: Honestly saying, I didn't give a single thought about it until you brought it up… I went to try it out after you told me about it, though I'm still trying to figure out how it really works.

Astral Albeiro Knight: How much of a challenge would it be trying to pull off a Metal Gear arc?
Game2002: Sorry, but questions involving arc cannot be answered due to spoiler-related reasons.

I need to clarify some stuff from the previous chapter. For those who don't know, the anthropomorphic dinosaur (most likely a velociraptor) who eating a piece of meat in an uncouth manner is Bio Rex. The two bank robbers ARE NOT Gomar and Shioh. I didn't actually notice the robbers' slight similarity in descriptions with those two guys until after I posted the chapter, and Gomar is actually short, not fat.

Another thing to tell you about is about Youmu's swords in the previous chapter. In the Zelda arc, Ganondorf managed to take Youmu's sword from her and used it temporarily. The one he took was the Roukanken, and the reason he is able to use it because he really isn't considered a human. Actually, the term 'human' is somewhat ambiguous in the Zelda series and makes one wonder if the likes of Hylians and Gerudos are considered human. Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is, to my knowledge, the only time where the series tries to distinguish between humans and other beings with Byrne referring to Hylians as humans, implying that Lokomos, which he is, aren't humans. One can also say it is because of Ganondorf's evil powers and alter ego Ganon that gave him qualities of a demon, so he is able to wield the Roukanken. The dialogue between Samurai Goroh and Youmu in the previous chapter has been altered slightly to make mention of this, and slight mentions of Myon has been added as well.

Also, the SBS answer for JakeCrusher's question regarding male characters in Touhou has been altered slightly. F-Zero tournaments are also changed to being called F-Zero grand prix.

The chapter title has been changed entirely, as well as the preview for it in the previous chapter. The reason for this will be explained after the end of chapter.

Also, I have an important message to tell you after the end of the chapter, so make sure that you DO NOT stop reading after the 'TO BE CONTINUED' message.

Chapter 34
Girls are Driving

Captain Falcon dusted his hands after punching Michael Chain away, and then he went up to the girls and said to them, "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, we're fine," Reimu told him. "Thanks for the help."

"I'm glad to hear that! The Bloody Chain is known for causing trouble once in a while, and they never seem to learn their lessons no matter what."

"They called you Captain Falcon, didn't they?" Youmu asked. "I remember Douglas saying that this world's representative who participated in the Smash Brothers Tournament is called by such a name… Does that mean you are that very same Captain Falcon?"

"That's me all right!"

"Wait a minute… Your voice sounds familiar," Aya said. "You have the exact same voice as that guy named Douglas! Aren't you Douglas himself?"

"Yeah, he does have the same voice as Douglas!" Reisen said.

CF remained silent for a while after hearing this, and then he said as quietly as he could to the girls, "It's a secret to everybody. My true identity is supposed to be known to everyone, but I'll only let you girls know about it since you've managed to figure out who I really am."

"Don't worry; we won't tell anyone about your true identity," Sanae assured him. "Superheroes are known to hide their true identities after all!"

"So you think that I am a superhero, eh? I'm actually a bounty hunter, though I do admit that I also enjoy helping those in need."

Suddenly, they all heard the sound of police siren and then several hovering police cars showed up at the scene. The policemen came out from the vehicles and pointed their guns at the girls and Captain Falcon. The news reporters also came along with the police. "Don't move!" the captain of the policemen said. "We have you surrounded!"

"It's the police!" Sanae gasped. "Are they here to arrest us for causing trouble?"

"Um… Did we do anything wrong…?" Nitori said.

"Fear not," CF said to the girls. "I will explain to them about what happened." He raised his arms diagonally sideways into the air and then walked towards the policemen saying, "Those girls are innocent! They were victims of the Bloody Chain earlier, but now those villains have been taken care."

The police captain gave orders for the other policemen to lower their guns and then said to CF, "Well, it looks like you saved the day again, Captain Falcon! Good job as always! We'll make sure that the Bloody Chain pay for the property damage that they have done."

"The girls themselves managed to hold up against those villains for quite a while too; otherwise they would've taken out by the Bloody Chain by the time I got here."

"Yeah! They were all easy to deal with-ze!" Marisa said as she held and placed her broom over her right shoulder.

Meiling went over to Remilia and held a parasol over her mistress. "Mistress Remilia, are you all right?"

Remilia took the parasol from her and said, "Yeah, I'm all right. It's a good thing that its already evening out here, otherwise the sun would be too strong for me to fight properly."

Meanwhile, Nitori and Dr. Clash were looking at each other and they were waving around their mechanical arms in the air. "Nice mechanical arms you've got there!" Nitori commented.

"Your mechanical arms are nice as well!" Dr. Clash told her.

Marisa looked at them and said, "They sure are getting along well like I thought-ze!"

The policemen started to round up the members of the Bloody Chain, including Michael Chain himself. That was when a white F-Zero machine imprinted with the number '02' on its body showed up and it was closely followed by another F-zero machine that was light blue in color and was imprinted with the number '26'.

"Ah, it's Jody Summer and John Tanaka!" CF said.

The woman with long, brown hair dressed in a pink and red jumpsuit came out from the white vehicle and approached CF. "Captain Falcon," she said. "It looks like you saved the day! Good job as always!"

"That's the second time I heard that. By the way, I want you to meet these girls first."

The woman looked at the girls and then said to them, "My name is Jody Summer. It's nice to meet you!" She stretched out her arm to Reimu and shook hands with her.

"It's nice to meet you too," Reimu said.

"Why the expressionless face, Reimu?" Marisa said to her. "Smile more often-ze!"

"Fine… It's nice to meet you!" Reimu said to Jody again, this time with a smile that looked more annoyed rather than cheerful.

Suddenly, a man with dark brown hair dressed in blue and white jumpsuit showed up next to Jody and shook hands with Reimu as well. "My name is John Tanak," he said. "My job is to protect Jody Summer!"

"Jody, these girls are actually from another world," CF said to the woman. "They came here using the World Light, the same thing that transported us to Smash World before."

"Now that's interesting to hear!" Jody said in surprised tone.

"But according to them, the World Light is broken, so they aren't able to go to Smash World. They are currently looking for the Light Essences, eleven objects that can fix the World Light and then bring them to Smash World. They have found four already and are currently in this world looking for the fifth one."

"I see…"

"Because I was a participant of the Smash Brothers Tournament, I feel that I have the responsibility to help them find the Light Essence of this world, but even I do not know where the essence is."

"Don't worry; I'm sure the Internova Police Force will lend a hand on this matter."

CF then turned to the girls and explained to them, "Jody is from the Galactic Space Federation, which is in charge of handling F-Zero grand prix as well as several political and economical matters. The federation also has close ties with the Internova Police Force, so she is also considered to be part of the police force. All right; let's get down to business at once!"

After their conversation was done, the group started to leave for the Internova Police Force's headquarters. Unknown to them, a bizarre-looking humanoid with violet-colored skin was listening to their conversation the whole time from behind a black vehicle. He also had a black tube growing out of his head and the tube went underneath his right shoulder from behind before going into the right side of his chest—Zoda.

"Heheheh! I've heard something really interesting!" the bizarre-looking humanoid—Zoda—said. Black Shadow should be pleased to hear this as well! Time to report to him about this!" And then he ran towards a slender, blue F-Zero machine with the number '13' imprinted on its body.

High up in the air above a rocky wasteland, a brown, spherical-shaped base with a small extension underneath it was floating among the clouds. Within one of the rooms of the fortress, a man with bull horns dressed in a black jumpsuit that covered him from head toe was sitting in front of a large screen, watching a news report.

"A group of girls was attacked by the Bloody Chain at the bar, Dollars, but Captain Falcon managed stop to the Bloody Chain gang members before they went too far," the news reporter said.

"Captain Falcon… Always playing the hero…" the man grumbled. "Just you wait, Captain Falcon! The day will come when I put an end to your heroic ways as well as humiliating you in front of millions of people!"

Suddenly, Zoda's face appeared on the screen and he said to the man, "Black Shadow! I have something I want to tell you about! It's about Captain Falcon!"

"If you're talking about the news report, don't bother," the man named Black Shadow said. "I'm watching the news already."

"Well, that's one thing I wanted to tell you about, but there is another thing that I heard while I was there, and you won't believe it!"

"What is it?"

"You see, I heard from the conversation over there that those girls who were attacked by the Bloody Chain gang members are actually from another world! They came to this world using something called a World Light which was supposed to bring them to the Smash World, but never got there for reason and ended up here instead."

"So what's about it?"

"They are currently looking for something called a Light Essence which has the power to bring them to the Smash World. If I remember correctly, Smash World is a place where the tournament called Smash Brothers was held, right?"

"Yes, I remember that," BS said as he stood up from the sofa and then paced around the room slowly. "Even though I never participated in that tournament, I do know that Smash World is a place where the elements of several worlds are combined together, and one can gain access to several other worlds with ease when over there. Hmmm…" The villain pondered about something in his head for a while, and then a wicked smile appeared over his face. "Now that I think of it, it sounds like a great idea to go to Smash World! Imagine what I can do once I am there! With the power to access several worlds, I can make Dark Million Organization well known throughout several worlds and rule over them all!"

"That's a wonderful plan, Black Shadow!" Zoda said. "Soon, the whole world shall tremble under the name of the mighty Zoda as well!"

"All right; keep an eye on Captain Falcon and those girls! I'll contact you after a while to hear about your progress, so don't disappoint me!"

The Gensokyo girls arrived at the headquarters of the Internova Police Force riding some of the police cars. After stepping out from the vehicles and entering into the headquarters, Jody said to the girls, "All right; we will go and scan the entire city to look for signs of the Light Essence. In the meantime, feel free to take a look around this place. However, I'm afraid that we cannot harbor visitors here."

"Don't worry; they can stay in the hotel nearby," CF said. "I'll pay for their rooms."

"That is nice of you!" Reimu said. "Thanks!"

Jody left with some of the policemen into another room and John Tanaka following her closely. CF then said to the girls, "You can go and take a break in the guest room, but if you want to have a bit of an excitement, you can go and try out the F-Zero simulator."

"What's that?" Cirno asked.

"It's a simulation machine that allows you to experience what it is like to be in an F-Zero grand prix."

"I know that!" Sanae said. "In the outside world, they have this simulation games that make you feel like you are in the game itself! However, the technology itself is still relatively new and it isn't exactly available to everyone in the public yet."

"It's a pretty common thing in this world," CF told her as he led the way down the hall. "Even though it feels exactly like the real thing, it is perfectly safe and you will not suffer injuries of any kind even if you crash. I'm sure you will enjoy it!"

As they continued down the hall, they came across a door at the side and CF said, "This is the guest room. Feel free to take a rest here if you are tired."

"Don't mind if I do," Remilia said as she went into the room. "I'm not interested in the simulation thing that you said just now." Meiling was going to follow her into the room, but the vampire girl said to her, "Go and have some fun, Meiling."

"Really, Mistress Remilia? Can I really have free time?"

"Yeah, go and do whatever you want. Enjoy you break."

"Thank you, Mistress Remilia!" And then Meiling followed the others down the hallway.

CF led the rest of the girls into a large room that had a white F-Zero machine in the center of it, but this vehicle was attached to a base at the bottom. This is the F-Zero simulator that I told you about," CF said, pointing his arm at the vehicle. "Would you like to try it out?"

Sanae was the firs to raise her arm. "Me! I want to try it out first!"

"All right! Go on inside! I'll adjust the settings for you," CF said as he walked up to the vehicle and then opened its cockpit for Sanae to climb inside. After that, the cockpit closed and then CF pressed the buttons on the control panel next to the vehicle. "Okay, this should do! Remember to strap your seatbelts! Even though you're not actually going anywhere, the simulation is so real that you will be tossed and turned all over the place if you do not put on your seatbelt!"

Sanae strapped her seatbelt around her waist and then held the steering wheel tightly. "This is the first time I'm driving a car, and not to mention playing a simulation game!" she said excitedly in her mind. "I'm so excited about this!" When the cockpit closed, it became pitch black all around Sanae, but then a bright flash occurred and then Sanae saw that the scenery of a racetrack built in a futuristic city had appeared outside. It was as if she was inside an actual F-Zero machine. "Wow! This is cool!"

"Start your engines!" said a loud voice.

"Uh oh… Which one is the gas pedal…?" Sanae nervously thought. She started to panic as she moved her feet around to try to find the gas pedal.

"Ready… set… GO!" shouted the announcer, and then the F-Zero machines around Sanae took off.

"Oh no! They're leaving!" Sanae said in panic. Finally, she found the gas pedal and so stepped on it to move her vehicle forward. Unfortunately, she pushed the gas pedal all the way to the bottom and this caused the vehicle to zoom forward at max speed. "WAAAAAA! TOO FAST!" She started turning the steering wheel left and right with great panic to avoid crashing into other vehicles.

She eventually came to a sharp turn and so steered to the left as far as she could to steer her vehicle in that direction, and she managed to avoid crashing into the side. "Phew… That was close…" she said in relief. "I'm actually starting to get the hang of it!"

For the rest of the race, Sanae went down the racetrack smoothly and avoided trying to crash into anything, including her rivals. Suddenly, a rival vehicle crashed into her from the right. "Ow! Why did you do that?" she cried. "I didn't do anything to you at all!"

Sanae quickly steered away from the vehicle, but it followed her and kept on ramming against her.

"Ow! Stop it already! I want to race peacefully, not violently!"

Suddenly, a small screen that was on the vehicle's control panel showed her the word 'WARNING: LOW ON HEALTH'.

"Oh no! What do I do?"

Luckily, her vehicle ran over the pit at the side of track and recovered from it. When the rival vehicle rammed into her again, Sanae became frustrated. "Enough already!" she shouted, and then she forcefully moved her vehicle to the right and rammed into the rival vehicle, causing it to crash into the railing at the side.

CRASH!

"Oh my god! What have I done?" Sanae said in shock. Nevertheless, she went on with the race and eventually went across the finish line, acquiring first place.

"Winner!" shouted the announcer. Immediately after that, the scenery of the racetrack disappeared, and then the cockpit rose open and Sanae climbed out from the vehicle.

"Congratulations on getting first place!" CF told her. "We saw everything using the screen on the wall."

"You're great, Sanae!" Aya said to her. "Who knew you would get first place during your first try!"

"Yeah, I'm actually surprised about this myself too!" Sanae said. "It was really exciting as well!"

"Actually, I set the difficulty setting to the easiest level since this is the first time you're playing this," CF admitted.

"There's this one vehicle that kept on hitting me, but I ended up ramming him down instead… I can't believe I did something like that…"

"That happens often in actual races. You should be glad that this is only a simulation where nothing is real. All right; does anyone else wants to try next?"

"Me!" Cirno said, raising her arm.

"All right; get inside and then buckle up your seatbelt!" CF said to her as he went to the control panel to adjust the settings.

After he was done, the vehicle cockpit closed over Cirno who had her hands gripped tightly onto the steering wheel. "All right! I'm ready to take off! I'm the strongest!" Cirno said as she punched the air with one arm, but ended up punching the underside of the cockpit above her. "Ouch!"

From the outside, CF and the girls looked at the screen as it showed the racetrack that Cirno was looking at. From their point of view, the vehicle moved forward the moment the race began, and the vehicle ran down the racetrack as fast as it could and eventually rammed into the railing when it failed to steer to the left, and then the vehicle rammed into the railing over and over.

"Steer to the left!" CF shouted at the vehicle. "Steer to the left before your…" He never got to finish his line as an explosion could be seen on the screen and then the message 'GAME OVER' showed up on it. The cockpit opened and Cirno stepped out from the vehicle.

"Lame! It's too short and is nothing like what Sanae played at all!" she complained.

"Well, that's because you didn't steer to the left and ended up killing yourself from ramming into the railing too many times…" CF told her.

"That's Cirno for you-ze!" Marisa said. "She's not bright enough to realize how things work most of the time"

"Can I try out next?" Nitori said, raising her arm. "I really want to play it!"

"Go ahead!" CF said as he went to adjust the settings on the control panel again.

And so, Nitori got into the vehicle to play to play simulation racing game. She fared pretty well in the race and managed to get first place. After she was done with the game, Aya tried out next and asked for CF to adjust the difficulty setting to the highest. The captain simply shrugged and then did as she said.

With the difficulty setting set to the highest, the rival vehicles were incredibly violent in the way that they kept on ramming into Aya's vehicle. Not only that, but the racetrack was also a different one and had several tight turns, mines, and lava panels that deals damage whenever one drives over them. The lack of railings also made it easy for one to fall off the racetrack. The tengu girl did her best and drove at top speed, and despite moving at such a speed, she had no problem getting around the tight turns as well as avoiding the traps.

"Wow! She's good!" CF commented.

"When it comes to speed, Aya is the fastest in Gensokyo," Reimu explained to him. "So she's accustomed to dodging things even when moving at high speed."

CF and the girls continued to watch as Aya made her way through the treacherous racetrack. When she was low on health from getting rammed by the rival vehicles, she would get onto the healing pit to restore her vehicle's health. "Take this!" Aya shouted as she rammed her vehicle into the rival on the right, knocking it out of the way. Another rival vehicle came to her left, but she instantly rammed it away. "Ayaya! This is fun!" Aya thought. "I'm going to get first place at this rate!"

Aya got ready to steer to the right for the 90-degree turn ahead of her, but suddenly, a rival vehicle rammed into her from behind and forcefully pushed her forward. Because this came so unexpectedly, Aya had no time to recover from the impact and her vehicle flew off the racetrack. "WHAT? NOOOOOOOOOO!" Aya screamed she spun her steering wheel around in panic, but she could not do anything as her vehicle crashed onto the ground and exploded.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

When the explosion ceased, the scenery outside of the cockpit turned dark and then the cockpit opened up for Aya to climb out of the vehicle.

"Whoa… That was frightening… The explosion is so real that it's almost like I'm actually being consumed by it! Too bad I lost… Man, I should've been more careful."

"That happens often in actual races as well," CF told her.

"The actual races sound really dangerous…"

"Okay, who wants to try out next?" CF asked again.

"Me!" Meiling said, raising her arm.

"ME!" Marisa said loudly as she raised her arm.

"Your friend over there raised her arm first, so let her ride first," CF told her.

"All right…"

"Yes!" Meiling said as she got into the vehicle. "I'll try my best!"

"Okay… Let's tone down the difficulty a bit…" CF said as he adjusted the control settings. "This should do!"

Once everything was ready, Meiling found herself at the racetrack, and she stepped on the gas pedal the moment the announcer gave the signal to begin the race. "Yippee!" Meiling shouted as she went down the racetrack at max speed, going past several of her rivals. "This is fun!"

Apparently, she was having a bit too much fun with the steering wheel and made her vehicle move left and right constantly, and as she did, the vehicle moved faster and faster.

"Incredible! She's performing the snaking technique!" CF said in surprise.

"Snaking technique?" Reimu asked curiously.

"It's a method of increasing your vehicle's speed by sliding left and right constantly and quickly, and this will make your vehicle will move at a faster than usual speed. This is considered by many people to be a technique that is very hard to pull off… She must have natural born talents to do be able to this on her first try! Or has she been driving before?"

"But there are no cars in Gensokyo…" Sanae said.

Meiling continued to 'snake' down the racetrack at a really fast speed; however, she eventually went so fast that she failed to steer to the right when she encountered a 90-degree turn ahead of her, and as a result, she crashed into the railing so hard that her vehicle flipped into the air and off of the racetrack. "YAAAAAAAAAAAA!" Meiling screamed as the vehicle spun through the air and then exploded upon hitting the ground.

KABOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!

After the explosion had dissipated, the cockpit opened up and CF ran up to the vehicle to see Meiling breathing heavily on the seat. "Wow! That was one amazing snaking that you've performed!" he exclaimed. "Too bad you fell off the racetrack…"

"That was scary… but fun and exciting at the same time!" Meiling said.

Inside a cavernous tunnel that had a racetrack over lava, a door appeared out of thin air on the surface of the lava, and a staff-wielding figure could be seen standing behind the door. The staff-wielding person looked at something that was held on his hand and said, "This is the very spot that he fell into. Now let us give him another opportunity to show his face to the world again!" And then he let go of the thing in his hand to let it fly outside the door and hover in the air above the lava.

It was black square-shaped device that was only as big as a palmtop and even had a screen on it. A small stick resembling a lightning rod came out from the device's backside and then started emitting purple electricity for a few seconds before firing a purple lightning bolt at the lava. When the square-shaped device was done releasing the lightning bolt, it went back inside the door and onto the staff-wielding person's hand.

"Good!" he said. "I wonder if he really does live up to his name. It will be interesting to sit back and see what he is capable of."

"What's the point of reviving him if we're not planning to recruit him?" said the voice of annoying person from behind him. "It's a waste of time coming here if you do not plan to recruit him!"

"We do not want people who will fail in the end such as Ganondorf, Cyrus, and Giovanni; therefore, I have decided to see what the Champion of the Underworld is capable of first before deciding whether or not is worthy enough to join us. Now let us go back and watch the fun!"

After that, the door closed up and then disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared. Shortly after the door disappeared, the part of the lava where the purple lightning bolts struck started to bubble furiously, and then purple, robotic hand reached out from it and grabbed onto a nearby ledge that was sticking out of the cave wall.

"That was fun!" Reimu said while stretching her arms into the air.

"You're actually a better driver than me…" Marisa said. "I got the second to the last place and yet you got second place in front during your first try-ze…"

"At least you did win the place. I got destroyed by my rival…" Reisen cried.

"And I got last place…" Youmu said.

Marisa turned to Alice and asked her, "Alice, you haven't played it yet. Don't you try it out? It's really fun-ze!"

"I'll pass," said Alice while shaking her head. "I'm not a big fan of fast paced activities like that."

Sanae went up to CF and asked him, "Can I play it again? I want to try a harder difficulty this time!"

"Sure! Feel free to play it as many times as you want to!" CF said to her.

Just then, John Tanaka came into the room and said to them, "Jody Summer has something to tell you. It's about the Light Essence."

"Has she found it already?" Youmu asked.

"Yes, but there's a problem… You should just go over to her first."

After saying this, John led them down the hallway to get to the room where Jody was. Along the way, they also came across the guest room and told Remilia, who was watching TV while slouching on the sofa, to come along with them.

John eventually brought them into the room where Jody was. There were also several computers in the room as well as a giant screen on the wall. "Wow! There are a lot of computers here!" Nitori asked as she looked at the computers with wide open eye.

"Judging from your expression, it would seem that your world doesn't have a lot of computers, am I right?" CF asked her.

"Computers are very common in the part of that I came from," Sanae explained to him, "but in their part of the world… All I can say that the majority of them either do not know what a computer is or how it works…"

"Now I'm a bit curious about your world. Would you mind telling me about your world when we have time?"

"I don't mind," Reimu said.

"All right; I'll be looking forward to it!" CF then turned to Jody and asked her, "So did you find the Light Essence?"

"Yes," Jody replied while nodding her head, "and you won't believe where it actually is."

"Where is it?"

"It's at the starting point of the Mute City Grand Prix that is going take place two days from now."

"What? Why is it over there?"

"Apparently, we have that thing along with us the whole time. The Light Essence is actually the very same trophy that we plan to give out as a reward to the grand prix's first place winner along with the prize money!"

"Really, huh? Never thought that the Light Essence would end up being a prize for the grand prix… So basically, if these girls want to get the Light Essence, someone would have to win the race first and then obtain it as the prize before giving it to them?"

"The details of the grand prix were made known to everyone in Mute City already, and I don't think they will be happy to hear about the sudden change in one of the prizes… We'll try to negotiate with the other members of the Galactic Space Federation about this first."

"Don't worry; even if we cannot get the permission to take the Light Essence without winning the race, I will enter the grand prix two days from now and try to win first place in order to obtain it for the girls." CF then turned around to face the girls said to them, "Trust me; I will help you obtain the Light Essence no matter what!"

"Let's hope everything turns out all right…" Reimu said.

"We managed to find out where the Light Essence is, but now we cannot get it just yet…" Youmu said.

"In the meantime, go ahead and enjoy your stay at Mute City!" CF told them. "By the way, I think I'll take you to the hotel nearby here now. Nighttime is coming, you know. Don't worry; I'll pay for your rooms."

"Thank you!" Reimu said.

"By the way," John said all of a sudden, "may I ask about something?"

Reimu turned to him and asked, "What is it?"

John looked at Youmu and asked, "What is that white thing floating around her?"

Youmu let out a sigh upon hearing this. "Sigh... People sure ask me about this a lot..."

Back in the Dark Million Organization's base, Black Shadow was talking with Zoda through the screen again. "Did you find out anything about the Light Essence?" BS asked Zoda.

"Not yet," Zoda replied. "Admittedly, I couldn't find a way to sneak into the Internova Police Force's headquarters…"

"I figured as much… Anyway, just do whatever you want until I call you again!" With that, BS ended the call.

Then a man who looked identical to Captain Falcon in terms of physical appearance approached BS from behind. The major difference about this man was that he wore a red jumpsuit and a purple helmet that had a skull insignia rather than a blue jumpsuit and an orange helmet that had a falcon insignia. There were also spikes on his shoulder pad and a picture of a skull on his back-Blood Falcon.

"What do you plan to do now? It's no good if we do not know where the Light Essence is. Heck, we don't even know what it looks like!"

"Then we shall go with the oldest trick in the book!" BS suggested. "Do you know what I mean?"

"Wait a minute… Let me guess…" BF rubbed his hand underneath his chin and wondered for a few seconds before finally guessing it. "Aha! I think I know what you're talking about now! So you're planning to…"

But he was suddenly interrupted by an evil-sounding voice. "Long time no see, Black Shadow!"

"Who is it?" BS asked as he turned to the door, and then he was shocked to see the person who was standing there. "YOU!"

Standing in front of the door was a robotic person with a black and red body, purple gloves, and a large, red cape behind him. The most striking thing about him was that the top portion of his head was made of glass, revealing his brain inside—Deathborn.

BGM: Deathborn (F-Zero GX)

"Deathborn! You're still alive!" BS said in shock as he moved back several steps in fright. "What are you doing here? And how did know about this place?"

"A base this big should be visible even from the ground, so I came here to find what this place is, and who knew that it would turn out to be your base all along! It seems that you have risen to power ever since Captain Falcon defeated me. I'm even more surprised that you're still in this planet even though I banished you into the outer limits of space!"

"Black Shadow managed to return using the help of a transportation machine that we built," BF explained. "Using that machine, we were able to pinpoint his exact location in the outer limits of space and transport him back to this planet."

"I will never die, no matter what happens to me!" BS claimed. "After you banished me to the outer limits of space, I ended up on a small, barren planet that actually has enough air to keep me alive, and then I waited until my minions brought me back. After that, I gathered together all sorts of evildoers to form the Dark Million Organization. Since then, our reputation has grown a lot and now everyone sees us as a threat to the entire planet and even the whole universe!"

Suddenly, Deathborn grabbed BS by the neck and lifted him into the air while choking him. "Fool! I am the one who can never die!" Deathborn shouted into face. "However, I do not admit that my resurrection this time was a bit strange and different compared to how it used to be. Whatever the case, the fact that I am once again alive means that you will serve under me like before! From now on, Dark Million Organization is under my control!"

"Hey! You can't do that!" BF angrily told him. "Black Shadow is our only leader and we will never let someone like you be the leader!"

"You do not have any say in this matter!" Deathborn shouted as he hurled BS into BF to knock the evil clone onto the floor.

"Ouch!" BF cried when BF flattened him against the floor.

BS quickly sat back up and moved backwards while facing Deathborn who came closer and closer to him. "Listen to me, Master Deathborn!" he said. "I am currently trying to come up with a plan that will let the both of us rule not only this world, but also other worlds!"

Deathborn became curious upon hearing this. "What do you mean?" And then BS immediately explained everything regarding Smash World, the World Light, and the Light Essence to him. Deathborn listened to the story all the way to the end and nodded his head with interest. "Interesting… I didn't know about this at all."

"As you can see, we will be able to take over other worlds as well if we manage to get out hands on the Light Essence," BS told him.

"Then get to it at once! I will not miss this perfect opportunity to make my name spread all the way to other worlds! Find this Light Essence at once in the shortest time possible! You better not fail me or else…"

"Don't worry, Master Deathborn! I'm already working on a plan for finding the Light Essence!"

"Remember! Failures are not accepted!" Deathborn said before walking out of the room.

After he was gone, BS let out a sigh and then slowly stood back up. "Argh… Why does he have to show up now…? Asides from Captain Falcon, he is the other person in this world who cannot stand!"

"What do we do now, boss?" BF asked him.

"Go along with the usual plan… We better not disappoint him, or else we'll really regret it…"

TO BE CONTINUED

As some of you can see, this arc also takes elements from the F-Zero anime, F-Zero: GP Legend (subtitled as Falcon Legend in Japan) in the form of Dark Million Organization, Black Shadow's base, Zoda working underneath Black Shadow, and Jody being related to the police, although she is actually a police in the anime. However, character portrayals are closer to the games and this arc is meant to take place after the events of F-Zero GX. I can't say that I've done something original as Specter24 used the same concept for the same arc as well.

Anyway, the reason for the change in chapter title is because I do not want this arc to become to similar to Specter24's version of the same arc. I originally wanted the Light Essence to be found in the same way as in Specter24's story, but it wasn't until after I posted the previous chapter did I decided to change it. Now that the way the Light Essence will be found is changed, the chapter title also had to be changed in order to reflect this alteration in plot.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: I am going on a church retreat on Tuesday morning (Monday night for those who live in U.S.A.), which is tomorrow. I will be gone for five days, so I'm afraid that the next chapter will take a while to come out. Don't worry; I'll try to get the next chapter out as soon as I can when I return from the church retreat. God bless you all!

Next chapter: Millions of Dark Attacks

Trivia:
1. Meiling's crazy driving and snaking technique is inspired by her crazy and dangerous driving skills in the Web-based Touhou 4-koma series, Life of Maid, made by someone named Colonel Aki and is therefore not official.

GAME2002 EXTRA SHOW

Once again, I'm going to talk about my favorite characters in the series as well as those I have a soft spot for. Note that even though Mokou, Keine, and to some extent, Sakuya, are my favorite characters as well, they will never be listed in this kind of extra show because the fact that I planned to use them in this story already shows that they are my favorites.

Flandre: Cute little girl that causes lots of destructions… Can you call her a yandere? For those who don't know, yandere refers to someone who is lovable and adorable, but will become mentally unstable whenever they feel like it or when they snap. Actually, Flandre isn't really mentally unstable, just playful and destructive, so I don't really think she's a yandere. Her unique-looking pair of wings also makes her look more charming!

Utsuho: She has one of the most unusual character designs in the series, and admittedly, it's her third eye that got me interested in her in the first place. Having raven wings isn't really anything unique, but with a right leg that is increased in concrete, a left leg that has atoms orbiting it, and an arm cannon which is supposed to be her third leg replacing her right arm, how can you not call her strange? Using her in this story would have been a good idea, if it weren't for the fact that nuclear powers are way too deadly and overpowered...

Iku: Electricity is cool, and that makes Iku cool. Drills are also considered to be something awesome, so that makes Iku awesome as well! Now that I think of it, it may have been interesting to consider her as one of the main characters of this story…