Note: Damn, I get bored easily. Even when listening to music I still feel bored. However, I am able to do stuff to deprive me of my boredom. Anyway, here's chapter three. Enjoy!

Chapter 3: Trouble at Corneria City Stadium

Fara was handcuffed to a pipe in the basement, with the darkness in the room surrounding her. The fennec had tried everything in order to free herself, including pulling at the pipe she was handcuffed to. Nothing she did had any effect, so she could only wait for something to happen. The sandy vixen only looked down, pondering how everything went wrong during the mission that led to her abduction alongside Fox, Falco, Peppy, Slippy, Fay and Miyu. It started out as a simple fight, but something happened. One moment, Krystal had pushed Fox out of the way of a dart, then the Mauricio Family had tasered the others and loaded them into a van, leaving Krystal to be picked up by the Cornerian Army. It was as if someone had seen Star Fox's strategy and told their eventual kidnappers to pull out all the stops in order to prevent the team from achieving victory.

Before Fara could think to herself for longer, a gray fox walked down the stairs. He was wearing a business suit and had a look on his face that was made of nothing but pure hatred.

"Well," he spoke, "looks like the Phoenix girl couldn't help herself from joining her friends in her crusade against us."

"Robert Zimmerman," Fara glared at him, "why am I not surprised?"

"Because you're used to seeing guys like me in your line of work." Robert said. "In fact, you're not going to see guys like me again when we get done with you and your pathetic friends."

"I figured," the fennec snorted, "given how you and your associates are nothing but mobsters and crooks. You're planning to execute us, I can tell, but you're going to make a mistake."

"And what would that be?" The gray tod asked.

"The Army will come for us, and they'll get rid of you creeps." She stated. "When you're the only one left, what are you going to do? Will you stand and fight, or will you run like a gutless coward, like how you often do when you're stripped down to nothing but your barehands? Well, tell me."

Robert slapped Fara across the face, earning him an angry and pained look from the fennec.

"You're a bitch, you know that?" The gray tod smugly retorted.

"And you're screwed when the Army comes." Fara stated.

Growling, Robert walked up the stairs, entering a hallway and closing the door behind him. The gray tod then let out an angry sigh.

"God," he said to himself, "I hate girls."

"And that's why you can't get a date." Simon said as he approached his brother.

"Not to mention that you're working with me now," Margaret glared at the vulpine as she walked through the hallway, "so deal with it!"

Robert shook his head in anger, grumbling as he began to walk down the other direction of the hallway.

"Come now," Simon told his brother, "we won't have Star Fox in our facility forever."

"You're right," Robert said, "we'd be lucky enough to execute them before the Army comes after us."

"I'd make them suffer longer, but executing them is fine by me." The younger tod said.

"How's Lombardi doing?" The older tod asked.

"He tried to escape a few times, but Antonio and I punished him. He's got a broken arm now, which is what that crazy bird gets."

"Where is Antonio at?"

"He's heading down to the stadium so that he can watch the game."

"And that's where one of our new employees is at. There's hardly a guard there, so they can make it out without any trouble."

"And when they get back, we'll enact the next part of our plan."

"Yeah, then no one will stand up to us, not even the Cerinians living on this planet!"

The Zimmerman Brothers then shared a laugh, walking through the hallway.

Unbeknownst to the Zimmerman Brothers, or anyone in the facility, Krystal was using a device to root through the building for information. The Cornerian Knights had already gathered information from a bar about the organization's next move, so Krystal was sent out to gather some more information. She was on the roof of a building that was miles away from the facility, so she was undetected by any of the henchman that worked for the Mauricio Family or the Zimmerman Brothers. In fact, the cobalt vixen was in her Arwing, activating the device from inside the ship. Once she got the information she wanted, she contacted General Pepper.

"Krystal," Pepper spoke, "have you gotten any information?"

"Yes," she said, "Antonio's going down to the Stadium, and a new ally of theirs is already at the place. Have the Knights go down to the Stadium, I'll meet them there."

"On it," the hound dog said, "I'll even have some of my soldiers accompany them there."

"Good idea," Krystal said prior to hanging up, "we need all the help we can get."

"Call me when the mission is finished, okay?" The General said prior to hanging up.

"Roger that, Sir, I'll do that." The cobalt vixen said prior to the call ending. Once it had ended, she took off in her Arwing, setting a course for her next destination: Corneria City Stadium.

Meanwhile, at the Corneria City Stadium, the Cornerian Knights were scouting the area for Antonio Mauricio and the new employee of the criminal organization. The team had arrived with a few soldiers from the Cornerian Army, but they agreed to do a stakeout while keeping in contact with each other via their communicators. Their positions were as follows: Prowl and Flora were waiting by the rink, Collin was on the roof with a pair of binoculars, Jethro was near the entrance, hiding behind a plant, Miriam was in the locker room, checking to see if one of the players was acting suspicious, and Pierre and Shelly were waiting near the gift shop, hoping that the new ally of the Mauricio Family and the Zimmerman Brothers would approach them so that they could take him down. So far, there had been no leads.

"Collin," Flora spoke into her communicator, "has anything interesting happened?"

"No," Collin responded, "there's nothing much going on out here."

"No one has arrived in my direction yet." Jethro's voice came out of the communicator.

"The players are coming out to the rink, so I didn't have time to check if one of them was the new ally." Miriam spoke.

"Look through the lockers." Prowl spoke into his communicator.

"We haven't had anyone approach uz yet." Pierre spoke.

"But we'll keep waiting." Shelly added.

"Go ahead and do that." Flora spoke into her communicator.

After hanging up, Flora went back to waiting by the rink with Prowl. As they waited, Krystal came up to them.

"Nothing new, huh?" She asked.

"The players are coming out," Flora spoke, "but Antonio hasn't arrived yet."

"By the way," Prowl spoke, "do you sense the new ally?"

"Not yet," Krystal said, "it's kind of hard when there is an awful lot of players on a team like the Corneria City Stingers. Don't worry, I'll find him."

The Corneria City Stingers came out, dressed in their uniforms: a dark blue outfits with hints of red and gold. Once they came out, Krystal used her telepathy to scan their thoughts, hoping to flush out the new henchman to the organization who kidnapped her allies. Before she could find him, the cobalt vixen heard a familiar voice ring out.

"Enjoying the game, hon?"

Looking up, Krystal saw Katt standing near her. The pink feline looked sad, as if someone had broken her heart. Krystal returned her sad look with her own, knowing that Katt had overheard the news. As for Prowl and Flora, they looked surprised to see the feline.

"I'm here on a mission, Katt." Krystal answered.

"Really, what kind of mission?" The pink cat asked.

"We're here to capture Antonio Mauricio and someone that his men have hired." Flora said.

"And our teammates are doing a stakeout for them." Prowl added. "It would have been better for the soldiers that are with us to shoot Antonio the moment he showed up."

"Good to know, I guess." Katt said.

"Seeing as your allies have been captured by a mob," the snow leopard spoke, "where were you when this happened?"

"I was just visiting my idiotic jailbird of a sister." The feline answered. "It serves her right for getting drunk and committing robbery."

"Prowl?" Collin's voice came out of a communicator. "Flora, are you there?"

"Yes," Prowl picked it up, "what is it?"

"Antonio's arrived." The Border Collie spoke. "He's heading towards the rink, so keep an eye out for the guy he's hired."

"No doubt that it's one of the Corneria City Stingers." Katt said.

"And I'm looking for him." Krystal said as she focused, using her telepathy to look for the player who was working with Antonio.

"Regroup with Miriam," Flora spoke into the communicator, "we'll have you meet up with us when things get hairy."

"On it!" Collin said prior to hanging up.

After the call, Flora saw a gorilla take his seat on the opposite end of the rink. He was wearing a sweatshirt, dress pants, boots and glasses. In addition to that, he looked like he was in his late forties. Surrounding the ape were two tabby cats in suits. It dawned onto Flora that this man was the infamous Antonio Mauricio.

"There he is." She said.

"And he's gotten two goons with him." Katt added.

"We can take care of them later," Prowl said, "let's just look for the member of the team who's working for him and his associates. After that, we can kick Antonio's ass!"

"One of the Stingers is approaching us." Flora stated.

A lynx skated up to them. He was moderately tall and muscular like most of his teammates. His attractive blue eyes had an innocent look to them, which was enough to convince each of them (sans Prowl) that he wasn't working with Antonio.

"How are you doing?" The lynx asked.

"We're fine." Flora said.

"Good to hear." He said. "I'm Terrence Cornell, if any of you were going to ask."

"I've heard of you." Krystal said. "I'm not a huge hockey fan, but I admire your skills."

"Thanks." Terrence said. "Stay tuned for the game."

"We will!" Katt said as Terrence skated off.

"Was it him?" Flora asked Krystal, who was still using her telepathy.

"No," the cobalt vixen said, "but it's one of the other players."

"Which one?" The red cat asked.

"That one." She pointed out to the rink.

Following Krystal's pointer finger, Katt, Flora and Prowl saw a Kodiac bear skating close to Antonio. He was tall and muscular, much more than his teammates. In addition to that, he had a look on his face that meant he could snap someone in half without feeling anything.

"Isn't that Yusef Ivanovich?" Katt asked.

"Didn't he get busted for drug use?" Flora asked. "What's he doing out of jail?"

"His employers bribed the law into letting him loose." Prowl said. "Believe me, I overheard someone talking about it when I was locked up. The cops who released him were working for the Mauricios."

"And Ivanovich is as well." Krystal said. "We need to take him down."

However, Yusef then picked up his hockey stick and aimed it towards them. Sensing what would happen next, Krystal tackled Katt and gestured for Flora and Prowl to get down.

"Krystal, what wrong is with you?!" Katt asked, more out of surprise than anger.

A plasma round pierced the glass, causing it to shatter. Luckily, Krystal rolled Katt out of the way while Prowl pulled Flora back.

"Did someone shoot at us?!" Flora asked.

"Obviously so." Prowl grumbled.

"But with what?" The red cat was puzzled. "I didn't see anyone take out a blaster!"

"That's because it was from a weapon disguised as a hockey stick!" Krystal stated. "Ivanovich is using a sniper weapon that has been customized to look like an ordinary item, and he's going to use it on us!"

"How do we evade it?" Katt asked.

"Just stay out of sight." The cobalt vixen warned as she began to move out of the area, keeping her presence hidden from the enemy. Katt and Flora followed her, with the latter looking around for anyone who would spoil their location. As for Prowl, he took out his communicator and spoke into it.

"Collin," he said, "get your ass off the roof and meet up with the others! We've found our guy!"

"On it!" Collin's voice came out of the communicator.

However, Prowl felt a hand grab him by the shoulder.

"Not so slick, are we?" A cocky voice with a Russian accent asked.

It was the infamous Yusef Ivanovich. The Kodiac bear looked at Prowl with overconfidence, only to be met with a punch to the face. That didn't bring down the athlete, as he began to fight the snow leopard. Due to his larger size, Ivanovich couldn't beat the spotted feline. In fact, he received more hits than he gave. Before he could throw another punch, the bear heard someone calling out to him.

"Ivanovich, pull out!"

It was Antonio. The ape had an angry look on his face.

"Nyet!" Ivanovich shouted. "I'm not leaving until I beat the spotted kitten in front of me!"

"What did you just call me?" Prowl spoke as he cracked his knuckles.

"Forget the kid!" Antonio yelled. "That's not part of the plan, remember?!"

"Right, I remember!" The Kodiac bear said as he began to go back to his employer. However, Prowl was immediately on his tail.

"Hold on, I'm not done with you yet!" The leopard shouted.

"Look kid," the larger male said, "as much as I want to crush you, I have more important things to do."

"And that's why I'm here, asshole!" The feline said as he rushed at Ivanovich, only to get punched in the gut. The moment that happened, Collin and Miriam arrived, approaching their comrade.

"Prowl!" Miriam cried as she put her arm around him.

"Are you alright?" Collin asked.

"Who gives a damn?" Prowl spoke. "Go after Ivanovich."

Upon hearing that, Collin and Miriam ran towards Ivanovich, only to see him running away with Katt over his shoulder. Antonio was in front of the Kodiac bear, shooting at Krystal and Flora with his blaster. The cobalt vixen and the red cat were running after them, returning fire with their blasters.

"C'mon, they're taking Katt!" Krystal shouted.

"I'm coming!" Flora stated.

"And we're providing assistance!" Collin yelled as he got out his blaster.

"Is Prowl coming?" The red cat asked.

"We might meet up with him later, c'mon!" Miriam said as she joined in on the chase.

In the hallway, Ivanovich and Antonio were running, with Ivanovich carrying Katt over his shoulder.

"Damn that Cerinian!" Antonio swore. "I still can't believe that Giorno didn't want to take her with us! My older brother is an excellent boss, but he's an utter idiot when it comes to certain things! He often underestimates some of our foes, forgetting that one of them is a telepath!"

"Head out to the limo," Ivanovich told him, "I'll speak with the kitty we've captured."

Antonio did as he was told, leaving Ivanovich with Katt. The Kodiac bear pinned the pink cat to the floor, grinning wickedly and letting out a sinister chuckle.

"Let me go, you creep!" Katt hissed.

"Not a chance." Ivanovich said. "You're quite a prize, Monroe, so I intend on bringing you to the boss. After all, your Star Fox friends are with us."

"If you hurt any of them," the pink feline spoke, "I'll -"

"You're a bit late on that." The bear told her. "We've already broken the bird's arm. As for the toad, he has been stabbed. They will get bigger punishments, worse than their executions, the more they step out of line."

Upon hearing all of that, Katt was angry. It was bad enough that not only her boyfriend, but also her friends, had been kidnapped. But now their captors were going out of their way to torture them. Murder raged through the pink cat's veins. She wanted to tear through each and every last one of the Mauricio Family's men. Not only them, but also the Zimmerman Brothers. If it killed her, Katt would make them all suffer.

"But," Ivanovich spoke again, taking out a wet rag, "enough of this, you're coming with us."

"Like hell, she is!" Jethro said as he shot the bear in the arm, causing him to release Katt. After that, Krystal, Flora, Collin and Miriam came into the hallway, helping Katt to her feet.

"Thanks guys." She said.

"No problem, Miss Monroe." Miriam said.

"Nice one, Jethro!" Collin said as he did a high-five with the salamander.

Ivanovich got up, letting out a roar as he looked at the interlopers. Before he could charge at any of them, the athlete felt a jolt of electricity surge through his body. It was from a stun gun, which happened to be in the hands of a familiar face: Officer Black.

"Ivanovich," he spoke, "it was bad enough when you were using drugs in order to enhance your performance, but now you're on the side of the mob? The jury isn't going to go easy on you, this time."

"Officer Black." Katt greeted.

"Not now," Black said, "I have to call in some of my boys to take the big guy's ass to jail."

"What are you doing here, anyway?" Jethro asked.

"I'm a cop, it's my job to protect the innocent and trap criminals." The mule said. "So, you kids are Pepper's Plan B."

"Correct." Flora said.

"Why didn't he just gather some criminals and send them after Star Fox's kidnappers?" He spoke. "That would have been better than stupidly sending out some trainees to do the job that the Army is supposed to do."

"But we took care of Antonio's men." Shelly said as she walked up to the group.

"And Jethro helped uz," Pierre joined the conversation, "he even came when Zhelly and I where overwhelmed by zhose goonz."

"Where's Prowl at?" Collin asked.

"He'z going after Antonio." Pierre stated.

"Don't worry, Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Grey are with him." Shelly said.

"Let's just hope that he doesn't get himself killed." Miriam said. "Knowing Prowl, he pretty much asks for trouble when he gets cocky."

Outside the Stadium, Antonio was getting beaten up by Prowl. The gorilla was unable to fight back, given how fast the leopard was pounding him. As for Bill and Steve, they were unsuccessfully trying to pry the younger male off of the mobster.

"Prowl, that's enough!" Bill scolded.

"If you've seen movies about criminal organizations like I have," Prowl said, "you should know that criminals won't immediately talk when they're caught by the law. Lawbreakers like our friend over here will remain overconfident and arrogant, so it's necessary to beat them up until they reveal some info."

"That's true, I guess." The gray hound said.

"Now," the snow leopard grabbed Antonio by his shirt collar, "you're going to release your hostages!"

"Not going to happen, kid." The gorilla said. "After all, their executions are set."

Frustrated and annoyed by the mobster's refusal, Prowl punched him in the face, kicked him in the gut and stomped on his feet. Antonio got back up, getting ready to shoot the young man with his blaster.

"Antonio, report back to our base!" A voice rang out of his pocket.

Prowl froze the moment he heard that voice. It sounded familiar to the leopard, having heard it several times throughout his life.

No, it can't be! He thought to himself. That's impossible!

"Alright." Antonio said as he spoke into the device thevoice was coming out of: a walkie talkie. After that, the gorilla ran to the limo with Bill running after him. The others joined him in chasing after the limo, with Krystal telling Collin and Jethro to shoot at the tires. Pierre even threw a device that not only tracked its location, but doubled as a listening device, to the trunk. An hour or so later, Officer Black had taken Yusef Ivanovich back to jail while the Cornerian Knights were getting ready to head back to the Flight Academy. Before any of them could get into their Zippers, Miriam approached Prowl, who was looking at the horizon.

"Well," she spoke, "the good news is that the game is still happening."

"And the bad news is that I let Antonio Mauricio escape like an idiot." Prowl stated.

"It's not your fault, Prowl." Miriam said.

"Why wouldn't it be?" The snow leopard retorted. "I froze up when I heard a voice. It sounded familiar, almost like I was hearing my father again."

"Your father?" The panther asked.

"Yes," the spotted feline said, "I haven't heard from him since I was a child. Mom told me that he died while serving in the Cornerian Army. While it was a tragedy for my family, my father wasn't exactly the nicest man out there. In fact, he was rude and arrogant."

"If he's dead," Collin joined in on the conversation, "then how come the voice you heard sounded like his?"

"Look, I don't know how to answer that." Prowl began to walk to his Zipper. "It might be a coincidence, for all I know. Given the battle he was in, it would've been a miracle to hear that he survived the injuries he received. Let's head back, it's getting late."

Before they went to their Zippers, Collin and Miriam spoke with each other.

"In the next mission we go on, I'm going to talk to him about what he said." Collin stated.

"We should just leave Prowl alone." Miriam said.

"I don't know, he looked bothered by something." The Border Collie said.

"While it's good that you're concerned for his well-being," the panther said, "pressing him for info won't help."

"You're right." The canine sighed.

"Yeah," the feline said, "it's a curse. Now, let's go back to the Academy."

The two got into their Zippers, following their teammates back to the Academy.

Note: Boy howdy, this chapter was a bit of a pickle to write. However, it's done, so I feel good. I had to change this chapter from four to three, seeing as I stupidly deleted chapter three before posting it. This is also the first time I used a character from another author (with his permission, of course). The character I'm talking about is Yusef Ivanovich, who appears in Yamagata's stories. However, our portrayals of him are different. I hope that you're happy I did this, man. Anyway, I hope that all of you are doing well and I love you all. Until next time guys, this is Newcomer24, signing off. Peace!