Note: I don't have much to say here, so let's get on with chapter two.
Chapter 2: Meet the Knights
Fox glared at the person who came into the room: a gorilla wearing a business suit. The ape's dark blue eyes locked onto the chained vulpine, having a sense of power to them.
"I admit," he spoke, "you were easier to snatch than I realized. I just didn't expect that you and some of your allies would end up as our prisoners."
"Giorno Mauricio," Fox spoke, "you're a reasonable man, so let me and my teammates go."
"Sorry," Giorno Mauricio said, "not going to happen. You're too much of a prize to let go."
"Alright," the tod said, "tell me this: where are the others?"
"Antonio is watching after them." The gorilla said. "As for the Cerinian, we didn't bring her with us. My guess is that the Army took her to the General."
"Krystal will find us." The orange vulpine said.
"Of course she will." The ape stated. "I highly doubt that she'll come on her own, though, given how many soldiers are in the Cornerian Army. They'll have to deal with many of our henchmen on their way to our hangout. Anyway, I might as well leave you in the company of another member of our organization for now."
A white wolf with yellow eyes walked into the room. She was wearing a trench coat over a black dress, leggings, and red boots.
"So," she spoke, "this is Fox McCloud? Star Fox was an easier target than we realized."
"Fox," Giorno said to the chained vulpine, "meet Margaret MacNeille. She'll be taking care of you at the moment. Have fun, you two."
Giorno walked out of the room, leaving Fox in the company of Margaret. The white wolf looked at the vulpine with utter contempt.
"If you want a quick and painless end," she spoke, "you'll do what we say. Got it?"
"Yes." Fox said.
"Good," Margaret stated, "because even I'm repulsed by some of the execution methods we do. I'm going to go check on something, then I'll be right back."
She walked out of the room, leaving Fox by himself again. Now that he was alone, the vulpine let out a sigh and looked at the floor.
Krystal, he thought to himself, I hope that you're doing okay. It's my fault that you got knocked out by that dart and that I got the team captured. I hope that you and the General are putting an army together to save us.
The Cornerian Flight Academy was almost empty by the time Bill, Krystal, and Art had entered it. However, there were still people inside of it, given how there was banter throughout the building. Walking down the hallway, the three came across the door to a recreation room. Inside were seven people sitting down, talking to each other. Hesitating somewhat, Bill knocked on the door.
"Come in!" One of the individuals said.
Opening the door, Bill, Krystal, and Art walked into the room, where the seven individuals looked at them.
"Good afternoon, everyone." Bill greeted.
"Hello." Krystal said to the group.
"Is there a reason a member of Star Fox is here this time?" One of the individuals, a snow leopard, asked. Krystal recognized the young man well, having heard about a barn being burnt to the ground by him. The feline was none other than Percy "Prowl" Granger.
"She's here to tell you guys something." Art said, turning to Krystal. "Go ahead."
"My team has been kidnapped by the Mauricio Family and the Zimmerman Brothers." Krystal stated. "The General has told me to not rescue my teammates and fight the organization alone, so he had me come here with Bill and Art in order to have you help us."
"You're asking us for help?" Another individual asked. She was a cat who reminded anyone who saw her of Katt Monroe, but with red fur and green eyes instead of pink fur and violet eyes. She was wearing a blue-green jacket, a black and pink shirt, jeans, and silver boots with red laces.
"Seeing as the Mauricios and the Zimmermans have henchmen who are undercover and would report anyone in the Army, or anyone the General hires, to their bosses, it's a good idea to get all of you assembled so that you can take them down." Bill stated.
"This is the General's Plan B: for all of you to act as back-up in case something bad happens to Star Fox and their allies." Art added.
"Zat's a good idea, but how can we ztand up to ze Mauricioz and the Zimmermanz?" A white tiger, another member of the group, asked. He was wearing an olive green long-sleeve shirt, a leather belt, black pants, and red and white sneakers with dark orange laces.
"They won't expect any of you to be threats to their power, so you would be in the clear to take them down." The Yorkshire Terrier said.
A red wolf came into the room. He was wearing a white jacket, a black uniform, a leather belt, and boots.
"Hey Steve." Bill greeted.
"I see that you have met the Cornerian Knights." The wolf, Steve Armstrong, said.
"Yes," the hound dog said, "and they're next in line to fight the Mauricio Family and their allies."
"I take it that Pepper didn't want to use Maria this time?" Steve asked. "And what about Krystal?"
"I'm working with them until I can save my friends." Krystal answered, regarding the group.
"Before we move on," the lupine spoke to the seven trainees, "all of you should introduce yourselves."
One by one, the seven walked up to Bill, Krystal and Art and introduced themselves.
"I'm Flora Contralto." The red cat introduced herself.
"Prowl Granger." Prowl introduced himself. "You probably already know me."
"Yes, you're the young man who burned down that barn." Krystal said.
"Don't remind me." The snow leopard said.
"I'm Collin Sparks." One of the seven, a Border Collie, stated. He was wearing a gray jacket, a striped shirt that was red and blue, blue dress pants, and white sneakers. He was roughly a few inches taller than Krystal, but he was an inch shorter than Bill.
"Jethro Parsons." Another one of the seven, a salamander, shook their hands. He was wearing a blue jacket, a black shirt, jeans, a belt with a gilded buckle, and black, green and blue sneakers. Despite being a salamander, he had green scales that could make anyone mistake him for Leon Powalski.
"Miriam Purr." A black panther said. She was wearing a white jacket with yellow pockets, a blue shirt with "Positivity" written in green lettering, a lace belt, leggings and tan shoes with metallic toes and soles. In addition, she looked like she could be mistaken for a relative of Panther. However, with her green eyes, braided hair and tail with a bracelet on it, she could happily be considered what the child of Krystal and Panther would be.
"Pierre Calypso." The white tiger introduced himself, turning to Krystal. "We've met before, haven't we?"
"Yes," the cobalt vixen said, "I met you while my body was growing back into that of an adult. I can sense that the member of the team that hasn't introduced herself is someone special to you."
"Indeed zhe iz." Pierre said before gesturing to the remaining member of the group: a raven with green eyes. She was wearing a blue long-sleeved shirt, a red belt, indigo leggings and dark orange hard-soled shoes.
"I'm Shelly Calypso." The raven introduced herself. "I'm Pierre's wife, before you ask."
"I figured." Krystal stated.
"We're all training to become members of the Cornerian Army." Flora stated.
"But, for now, we're just a group." Collin said.
"Well, here's your chance to become a team." Steve said. "Now, your task is to save Star Fox, defeat the Mauricio Family and the Zimmerman Brothers and rid the southern part of Corneria City of their putrid reach."
"And you'll have help from me," Krystal said, "seeing as I don't want my friends to get executed."
"Good to know." Jethro said.
"Anyway," Prowl spoke to Steve, "what are we going to fly in? I hope that our ships are not hunks of junk."
"Come with me." The lupine said.
After walking to the Academy's garage, Steve led the others to seven spaceships. The ships in question looked like the Arwings, but with a few key differences. For instance, these new ships had pointed fronts, bird-like wings and feet at the bottom.
"Here they are: the ships for the new team." Steve said.
"Impressive ships, Steve!" Bill said.
"What are they called?" Art asked.
"They're the Zippers." The lupine answered. "I worked with Space Dynamics in order to create machines that would replace the Arwings in the future. Little did we know, they would become the official ships for the Cornerian Knights."
"There's Space Dynamics for you." Bill stated.
"Now that we're here," Krystal said, "we might as well send the team out on their first mission."
"Well, what do you say?" Steve asked as he faced the Cornerian Knights. "Are you ready to take on the Mauricio Family and the Zimmerman Brothers in order to save Star Fox?"
"Yeah, we're ready!" Collin said.
"Let's go!" Flora said as she ran to her designated Zipper. Once the Knights got in their ships, they flew off.
"I'm going with them!" Krystal said as she got in her Arwing.
"Good idea, Krys!" Bill shouted as he saw her take off.
The moment Krystal was gone, Bill and Art spoke with Steve.
"How do we know that they'll beat any of the criminals who come their way?" Bill asked.
"I've had them trained in hand-to-hand combat." Steve said. "In addition to that, their piloting skills have improved since the first time they started taking their lessons. They have also been through simulations that help them understand the gravity of their missions. Besides, Krystal's with them, so her telepathy will get them out of a pinch. Trust me, the Cornerian Knights are our last hope."
"Let's hope that you're right, Steve." Art said as he looked out to Corneria City.
Note: Alright, second chapter has been finished.okay, as a bit of a confession, the Cornerian Knights are characters that originated from a dream of mine. In addition, I was their leader in my dreams. However, seeing as it would be too weird for me to insert myself into the story, I made Flora the leader. Anyway, I hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. Until next time guys, this is Newcomer24, signing off. Peace!