Anguirus111 Note: I think the distances to various locales on Dinosaur Planet were ridiculous so if it takes the characters a few hours to get somewhere it's because according to the maps of the planet that's how long it should've taken. BTW, the pod that Scales traveled in to Venom looks identical to the one in the Planet of the Apes remake.
Planet Centria, halfway between Dinosaur Planet and the Lylat System: The Mantia came rocketing out of warp speed and was quickly escorted to its berth by dozens of fighters and a couple of Grazan cruisers. Since General Scales had crashed on Venom so many years ago, the UVCAF forces had expanded outwards and had conquered three inhabited systems bringing many new creatures under the banner of the UVCAF forces. It had been a rocky road, but in the end it had all paid off. The Mantia entered into its berth and was quickly tended to by various mechanics and engineers. Andross exited the ship with the Starfox team and were escorted to a conference room. On the way they passed a team of photographers who took their photos to be put into propaganda campaigns on various planets that had been and had not been conquered. The team and Andross entered into the conference room that had a spectacular view of parts of the spaceyards and the sparkling blue planet below. Then the doors were sealed shut and abruptly all noise stopped.
"So, how do we plan on taking over this one?" asked Fox as he hopped into a chair and leaned back, propping his feet up on the table. He reached into a pocket and pulled out a toothpick and twirled it around before putting it into his mouth. The rest of the team sat down as well and leaned on the table with their elbows. Androsss simply walked to the head of the long table and the chair automatically slid out and turned towards him so Andross didn't have to do any work. Then the chair slowly moved straight forward and closed to the table. It stopped and Andross carefully lay his hands down on the table.
"Simple," he said. "By not conquering it."
"I don't follow," said Fox clearly baffled.
"It's simple really, you three show up on the planet and introduce yourselves as members of a system wide alliance. You'll tell them you want to inspect their planet to see if they could be admitted into your alliance. Scope out the place, take a few pictures, identify critical weaknesses, and a week later Warlord Hammer shows up with part of the Seventh Fleet and you conquer the planet. Similar to Cerinina," said Andross simply. Fox sat up in his chair.
"Speaking of Cerinia, we encountered one today on Dinosaur Planet. Leon blasted her though so I don't think she's coming back," said Fox. Andross seemed to digest this information with a little difficulty.
"Then I don't think it's safe to count her as dead yet. The Cerinians are notably resilient which is why we blasted them to pieces. Just watch out for her and anymore. But back to the mission, your Arwings are being prepped as we speak. You'll fly in with the Falcon's Nest as it does its regular supply run to the Autinian system. It'll drop you off and blast off into warp again. That means you'll be on your own for a week while you conduct your mission. If you're somehow ambushed by enemy forces during this time you're on your own," said Andross. Fox closed his fingers together in front of his face.
"I see. And where will Scales and his Sharpclaws be during our mission?" asked Fox.
"He and his men will be taking up strategic positions around key sites that they'll strike while we conduct our attacks as well. You'll meet up with Scales once during your week, but it's up to him to contact you and arrange it," said Andross. Fox nodded slowly.
"I see, now is this is an official sanctioned mission or not?" he asked. Andross sighed.
"No, it isn't. This planet doesn't pose a threat to the UVCAF forces in any way," said Andross. Fox had begun to slouch but now he sat straight up along with the rest of the team.
"What? Why?" he demanded. Andross looked at him plainly.
"The planet is virtually devoid of any technology that we can locate," he said simply.
"No offense Emperor, but then why the hell are we bothering to invade this planet at all?" exclaimed Fox. Andross sighed and leaned back in his chair.
"Unfortunately you and your team are not privy to that information," he said. Fox leaned towards Andross with a small growl on his face.
"What exactly do you mean by not privy? My team is possibly risking their lives on this invasion and you're not even going to tell us what for?" Fox asked incredulously. Andross leaned towards Fox as well with a growl on his face.
"Remember who you're talking to McCloud. I am Emperor of the UVCAF forces and I say what they can and cannot do," said Andross before taking on a more relaxed pose. "While there may not be anything militarily dangerous about them know this. That planet may very well harbor a secret more deadly than anything we've ever come across before. Everything we've accomplished in the last nine years and before that could very well be at stake. I don't want to see our hard work come to nothing. Do you understand?"
"I understand," Fox grumbled still not entirely satisfied with anything that was going on. Andross meanwhile plastered on a fake smile.
"Good. Now then you'll rendezvous with your ride at 0800 hours. That gives you time to prepare anything you might need. Fox don't worry, it'll all pay off in the end I guarantee it," said Andross with fake confidence. Fox and his crew got up to leave. As he passed by Andross who was still smiling Fox bent down and pointed his finger at him.
"This isn't over," he said. Andross turned to face him still smiling.
"No," he said shaking his head. "It's only just begun. But rest assured when this is all over you will be thanking me. After all, yours is not to wonder why—yours is but to follow my instructions and eat pie in the sky."
Fox growled and left the room with his team. They walked down several hallways in silence as Fox sulked before entering into a Spacer's Bar filled with various individuals. Since they were all off duty at the moment, they all ordered beers and filed into a booth. Fox leaned back as far as possible as he continued sulking. Andrew and Leon just looked at each other nervously before taking sips out of their beer.
"It isn't fair, we have a right to know," said Fox softly. Andrew and Leon nodded but said nothing.
"He should be able to trust us after all we've done for him, but he doesn't in regards to this, but why? Something is very wrong here and I think that by the time we find out it'll be too late for all of us," said Fox. Leon shrugged his head.
"Yeah but there's nothing we can do about it. He is still the Emperor and he could still have us executed for heresy. Even what you said right now could be construed as such," said the lizard. Foxes chronometer beeped and he looked at it.
"Somehow I think dying would be better than what we're going to eventually find out. Let's go boys, our ship awaits," said Fox. He sighed, took one last swig of his beer, and tossed it into a garbage can along with the rest of them on their way out. They walked down a couple more corridors before arriving at the berth for the freighter they were taking. The security guards searched Leon, Fox, and Andrew before they entered the ship. Upon entering they cast down their duffel bags and faced the captain of the ship, a fierce looking bulldog.
"Listen up boys, my name is Captain Keyhorne. I run a tight ship here and I don't need you UVCAF punks messing it up. I don't care that you're the Starfox team, you do not have free reign on my ship is that understood? You are not to touch anything, you are not to walk around without a purpose, and you are not to do anything without my permission. My mission is to get you to your target and that's it," said Keyhorne crossing his arms. Fox sighed and rubbed the bridge of his nose with his hand.
"Listen…captain. On this ship I technically outrank you. Now I don't give a damn about you or this ship either. If you leave me along I'll leave you alone is that understood?" he asked. The bulldog huffed.
"Whatever maggot. Your quarters are on deck three sections C-1, C-2, and C-3," said the bulldog.
"Thank you," said Fox who gave a fake bow. As he walked past Keyhorne he immediately grabbed his arm and thrust it behind his body. As Keyhorne was wincing in pain, Fox pulled out a blaster and held it to his hand.
"Listen up buddy, no one calls me or my crew a maggot. I could space you right now and never be questioned about it. I'll ignore this outburst for now, but don't do it again or I will kill you," said Fox. Fox put his foot on Keyhorne's back and kicked him forward where he smashed against the wall giving him a bloody nose.
"Let's go," said Fox to his team and they left Keyhorne and his guards in silence.
Dinosaur Planet, 3 hours later: The Falcon's Nest came rocketing out of warp and opened its front bay door. Three spotless fully repaired Arwings zoomed out of it and the freighter promptly re-entered warp.
"Back again it seems. I hate this place," said Andrew.
"You're preaching to the choir, prepare to enter Dinosaur Planet's atmosphere. We're going to set down in a place called…Thorntail Hollow. I don't honestly know what that signifies, but clearly it's not important. Hang on, we're entering the atmosphere, it's a rough road ahead. And with that the three Arwings plunged into Dinosaur Planet's atmosphere.
Thorntail Hollow: Tricky was with his mom and dad inside their summer cavern just off of Thorntail Hollow and in front of the Portal that would open up a warp gate to the Walled City was. While Dinosaur Planet was still in one piece, it beat walking all the way there to their palace. Tricky playing with his ball while his parents discussed politics and dealing with the Cloudrunners. Tricky pounced on his ball, but accidentally landed on it causing the ball to roll out of the cave. As he ran to retrieve it, he looked up at the daytime sky and saw three bright lights slowly coming down.
"Mom! Dad! Look!" he shouted with excitement as he wondered what they could be. His parents came out of the cave and looked at the lights above.
"Cloudrunners?" asked the Queen. The King shook his head.
"Impossible. They can't fly that high and they most certainly don't make that noise," said the King at the whining noise.
"Then who?" the Queen asked. The King shrugged.
"I don't know, but we're about to find out. Come dear, Tricky stay here," said the King. He ran off with the Queen towards the Thorntails congregating in the meadow. Tricky watched as the three lights shut off revealing three metallic birds.
"Wow," said Tricky in awe as the three birds landed in the meadow amidst the crowd of dinosaurs.
"The natives are restless eh Fox?" asked Andrew laughing. Fox was watching the dinosaurs awe at them with a smile.
"And they have no idea what's coming. Let's not keep them waiting any longer team," said Fox. He shut down his Arwing and opened the canopy before descending to the surface below. He approached the dinosaurs that parted giving a clear path for a large pair of Earthwalkers to come through. Fox plastered on a fake smile when they approached.
"Who are you and why have you come here?" asked the King. Fox cleared his throat.
"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Fox McCloud, this is Leon Powalski, and finally Andrew Oikonny. We are all proud members of the…VRF," said Fox finally. Leon and Andrew each clamped their mouths shut to keep from laughing. Fox shot them a warning glance while The King nodded.
"Good, for a moment there I was afraid you were part of the UVCAF forces. We may not have had any encounters with them, but we're told they're deadly and take what they can get," said The King. Fox nodded solemnly.
"Yes, we hate the UVCAF with all our hearts. That's we've been actively opposing them over the years. Andross is a deadly threat to us all," said Fox.
"Good, we look forward to talking with you then," said The King. Leon and Andrew ran from the group and far away from the group where their laughter couldn't be heard. Fox just slapped his forehead.
"What's with them?" asked The King. Fox watched them keel over behind a pair of rocks in laughter.
"Motion sickness I think. We were on a long journey, sometimes it gets to them," said Fox and then said quickly under his breath. "Idiots."
"What exactly do you plan on doing here?" asked The King. Fox shrugged.
"I just want to scope the place out, see what it has to offer. Then we'll see if we can't establish a small VRF base here," said Fox. The King nodded.
"We'll assist you in any way we can. Do your men need help?" asked The King. Andrew and Leon were rolling on the ground. Fox shook his head.
"No. I guess they just went slightly space crazy instead of being sick. They'll pull through soon…or else," Fox said softly growling. Leon and Andrew finally walked back to the group while rubbing tears from their eyes. Leon intentionally coughed as he approached the group.
"Sorry about that," he said pounding his chest. "That space craziness really does get to you."
"Yes, I'm sure it does," said Fox staring at them. Leon and Andrew gulped knowing they'd be chewed out for this later, but for now they just went along with the mission.
"Are your men going to be okay?" asked The King. Fox nodded.
"Space craziness isn't permanent, they should be through the worst of it. Just rest assured that they might find a few things funny for the next few days," said Fox with another fake smile. The King nodded slightly nervously.
"I see. Well if you're up to it I guess you'd want to start your survey now," said The King as he moved out into Thorntail hollow. "How long are you here for?"
"A week. We want to get in as much surveying as possible," said Fox. The King nodded.
"I see, now will you need anything to aide in your journey? After all, this is a foreign territory for you," said The King. Fox nodded.
"Yes, I'll need some maps of the surrounding areas to make our journey easier," said Fox. The King stopped just in front of the river in the middle of the meadow. He pointed his head at a building on the other side.
"Shabunga's store will have plenty of maps for you to purchase. Since we dinosaurs have instinctual knowledge of every place on the planet we don't need them. You'll have to see if he'll exchange your currency with his, if not there's not a whole lot than can be done," said The King shrugging helplessly. Fox nodded his head.
"We'll try our best. Leon, Andrew, check out the ships to see if they're okay, that turbulence was rougher than I thought it would be," said Fox walking off to the store. Leon and Andrew nodded and walked back towards the Arwings. Fox walked into the store and leapt down into its main hallway before entering into a central area with many strange devices around it. The owner, Shabunga, was hovering above the floor.
"Hello McCloud," said Shabunga. Fox nodded his head.
"Shabunga. It's been awhile hasn't it?" Fox asked. Shabunga nodded.
"At least seven years. How're you doing?" asked the dinosaur. Fox shrugged.
"So, so, at least I'm still alive. I take it you're our contact with General Scales," said Fox. Shabunga nodded.
"That's right," he said. Fox looked around at the store.
"Nice place, very homey. How long've you been here?" he asked.
"About three years. The originally owner, how should I put this, mysteriously died all of the sudden and bequeathed everything to me. I moved in and set up shop and I've been here ever since making goody goody with the locals," Shabunga said. He spat out the last part like it was poison. Fox nodded.
"I feel for you, these people are idiots no doubt about that. But they might still surprise as yet," said Fox. Shabunga shrugged.
"Maybe. Listen, do you know why we're here? I don't see anything worth risking an invasion over. Sure there are vast mineral deposits, but we could simply strip mine the place and be done with it. Why are we invading?" asked Shabunga. Fox shrugged helplessly.
"I don't know why. I was hoping you could've told me. Do you see anything worth taking on this planet?" asked Fox. Shabunga held up his hands in defeat.
"Only that some of these dinosaurs and a large Warpstone are capable of opening up warp gates to other parts of the planet. Now that would pose a threat that I could see justifying taking over the planet. The ability to open up a warp gate without technology could be a threat to the UVCAF and also be a great bonus if we were able to access it. But I don't know how these dinosaurs do it and what makes them able to do it. It would be easier simply to eradicate them than study them, but that's just me. Anyway, what is it you want?" asked Shabunga finally.
"Maps," said Fox simply. Shabunga nodded and left the room. He came back with a stack of maps in his arms. He then dropped them on a table and Fox began scanning them into his PDA. When he was done he turned to leave.
"Ahem," said Shabunga holding out his hand. Fox turned around.
"What?" he asked slightly annoyed.
"Well there is the little matter of my fee," said Shabunga innocently. Fox shook his head incredulously.
"Forget it. This money isn't meant for you. My team needs to save it for anything else that might arise," said Fox. Shabunga laughed.
"Like what? No one's going to take UVCAF credits and if anyone else found out they'd arrest you. Give me all of your credits and I'll exchange them for scarabs, the local currency. That's after I deduct my fee of course," said Shabunga with a sly grin. Fox crossed his arms.
"How do I know you won't be cheating me?" he asked. Shabunga laughed.
"First of all I wouldn't do that. Secondly, do you really think I could cheat you out of your money without Andross finding out? He would eventually I promise you that and then it'd be my head. Rest assured, I'm not going to cheat you. Besides, all the money is pretty much going back to The Emperor anyway, it's not like it'll benefit me in the least," said Shabunga. Fox nodded.
"Isn't that the damn truth. Alright go for it," said Fox. Shabunga nodded and left only to return a moment later with a large bag that was rippling. He handed it to Fox who kept it at arms length.
"What the hell is this?" he asked incredulously. Shabunga laughed.
"Scarabs. The dinosaurs use these living bugs as currency. Hey, I'm as disgusted as your are, but there's not much we can do about it," said Shabunga still laughing. Fox looked like he was going to be sick, but gulped it down and moved on.
"Hey Fox! Here!" shouted Shabunga. He tossed Fox a trio of cardkeys.
"What're these for?" Fox asked after catching them.
"There's a little gift waiting for you in the archway between ThornTail Hollow and Cape Claw. It's in a little tunnel on the left. Trust me you'll enjoy it," said Shabunga. Fox merely nodded having turned a little green when looking at the sack and left the store. He walked back towards the Arwings where Leon and Andrew were having a small snack. They offered Fox some but he politely declined.
"Let's get going, I have some maps downloaded into my PDA and I think Cape Claw would be the best place to start," said Fox. Leon and Andrew nodded and prepared to head out when The King appeared from behind them.
"If you're going to be wandering about I think you should have a guide. And I think the perfect guide would be mine since Tricky," said The King. Tricky appeared behind his father's back and walked to the group. Fox, Leon, and Andrew nervously laughed.
"Thanks, but that won't be necessary," said Fox turning to go.
"Oh but I insist," said The King. Fox turned around.
"That won't be necessary. He'll just slow us down," said Fox. The King shook his head.
"On the contrary, my son is one of the fastest creatures on Dinosaur Planet," said The King.
"It's a nice offer but I'll have to decline," said Fox.
"Let me put this in layman's terms. You willtake him or there will be no VRF base here and we'll force you to leave our planet. We may not be technologically advanced, but we can do what we want," said The King. Fox held his head while mumbling out some obscenities before facing The King.
"Fine, your majesty. Let's go," said Fox. He and his team walked off with Tricky bounding behind them.
"Are you really from outer space? What's it like out there? Have you fought a lot of battles? I can't wait to go to outer space, I'll be the first dinosaur to leave our planet in a long time!" shouted Tricky.
"Yeah isn't that great," said Fox clearly annoyed.
"We're going to have so much fun together, you'll see," said Tricky not catching onto Fox's tone. Fox groaned as they passed into an archway. Partly there they find the cave with three large crates in it.
"What're these?" asked Tricky bounding up to them. Fox shook his head.
"We're about to find out," he said. Fox pressed the keycards into all of them and they slowly opened revealing three state of the art jetbikes.
"Impressive. Who brought them here?" asked Leon and as they pulled out their bikes and hoped on. Fox tossed his gear and the scarabs into the holding bin before leaping behind one and pumping the accelerator.
"They're from an old friend. Let's go boys Cape Claw awaits. Sorry kid, end of the line," said Fox. Tricky looked at them.
"But, but, my dad said I should help you!" he said helplessly. Fox looked at him.
"Kid, first rule of survival. Don't use any thing that can't benefit you in some way. What do you have to offer us?" asked Fox crossing his arms and leaning against the bike.
"I'm strong, I'm fast, I can breath fire," began Tricky before Fox cut him off.
"If that's the best you can do you can forget it," said Fox sitting behind the throttle assembly on the bike and gunning the engine.
"Wait, how much do you know about where you're going?" asked Tricky. Fox let the RPM's die on the bike. He turned to face the tiny dinosaur.
"Not much. Why? Are you offering you services in the form of information?" Fox asked. Tricky nodded vigorously.
"Yes, yes! I know a lot about this whole planet. Stuff you won't find in any book and I'm perfectly willing to tell you if you bring me along," said Tricky. Fox sighed and crossed his arms as if debating what to do. Finally he turned to Tricky.
"Fine, you can come with us. But we're not responsible for you and once your information runs out, we leave you behind. Let's go, we haven't got all day," said Fox. Tricky leapt onto the back as Fox hit the afterburners and the three bikes rocketed off towards Cape Claw.
Back at ThornTail Hollow, The King watched the group leave and vanish into the path leading to Cape Claw. The Queen walked up to him.
"Why did you insist they let Tricky accompany them? It wasn't necessary," said The Queen.
"On the contrary, it was. There's something not right about those three and I'm hoping they'll slip up and reveal something to Tricky about who they really are and what they're doing here," said The King. He stared at the tunnel a few moments longer before turning around heading off back to his cave. Then he stopped and sighed.
"I'm returning to The Walled City. I need to have a meeting with the other members of the council. Stay here until I return," said The King. A warp vortex opened in front of The King and he walked into it and disappeared. The Queen looked around helplessly at the situation she was in when she noticed Shabunga staring at her from outside of his store as he was eating an apple. He continued watching her passively even as she observed him. Finally Shabunga finished with his apple and tossed it away into the meadow before proceeding backing into his store.
"As if things weren't complicated enough…What is your interest in all this Shabunga?" thought The Queen. Somehow she had the premonition that when she finally did find out, she'd regret it.
Cape Claw, a few hours later: The denizens of the area were enjoying themselves immensely in the summer sun when a loud noise was heard. A group of dinosaurs scattered near the entrance ramp to the cape when three jetbikes zoomed down the ramp towards the beach itself. The bikes screeched to a halt before the water and the dinosaurs watched in surprise at the bikes and their occupants.
"What?" Fox demanded angrily. The dinosaurs shrugged not wanting to anger the individual and noticing that Prince Tricky was them and of his own volition they assumed he had the approval of the King.
"Smooth Fox," said Leon powering down his bike. Fox huffed.
"You'd think they'd never seen an alien before," said Fox crossing his arms. Tricky shrugged and hopped off the bike.
"We don't get visitors that often so everyone at least has some interest in them. But of course it'll pass in time," said Tricky. He ran down to the water and splashed in it along with other dinosaurs. Fox and Co. started down to the beach as Leon began snapping photos of the surrounding area.
"See anything here we should be concerned about?" asked Fox watching with slight disgust at the dinosaurs frolicking about. Leon dropped his camera and pointed to the other side of the Cape.
"Just that cannon over there," he said. Fox and Andrew snapped up their Hi-Def display goggles and viewed the cannon. A dinosaur was mounting it and observing the ocean outside of the cape.
"Odd, you'd think they were expecting trouble," said Fox.
"Yeah but from whom? Do you think from the island out there?" asked Andrew pointing out of the cape towards an island that was oddly shaped like an ape's head.
"Maybe. Tricky!" yelled Fox. Tricky turned and bound up the sand before shaking water everywhere.
"What Fox?" he asked genuinely wanting to help. Fox looked a couple more moments into the goggles before dropping them.
"Why is that cannon pointing towards the ocean and what is the deal with that island out there?" asked Fox. Tricky seemed to shy away from the question.
"Tricky you promised to give us information. If you won't we'll just have to leave you behind," said Fox sternly. Tricky sighed.
"Okay, okay I'll tell you. That island belongs to the Kongs, a group of very intelligent apes who rule over several islands in the ocean. They've been at odds with the dinosaurs for a long time and only communicate with them if it's a last resort. Things almost turned very bad when King K. Rool and his band of Kremlings were forced to leave the dinosaur's land and they took their boat and went to war against the Kongs. They blamed us while we said it wasn't our fight and it almost turned into a civil war because they began attacking some of our coastal settlements. That was almost ten years ago and they haven't spoken with us since but there's always fear of reprisal so we have to defend ourselves," said the prince. Fox bent down so they were face to face.
"There, now was that so hard?" he asked simply. Tricky shrugged.
"Well no but," began Tricky before a scream was heard. The group spun around to see several dinosaurs running from some smaller ones who were terrorizing them.
"Who're those jokers?" asked Fox clearly annoyed. Tricky spun around and ran off.
"Run! LightFoots, they're deadly!" he shouted. Fox, Leon, and Andrew sighed before pulling out their blasters and checking the charges. Fox aimed his blaster at one of the LightFoots and squeezed the trigger. Sand flew up in front of the LightFoot's face as the blaster bolt struck near it's feet. Abruptly all the LightFoot's stopped terrorizing the other dinosaurs and rushed towards Fox, Leon, and Andrew growling. They skidded to a halt when the trio held their ground and faced the group without fear.
"Who are you?" one of the LightFoot's asked. Fox crossed his arms.
"That depends, who's asking?"
"I am LightRay, the fastest LightFoot. I have brought back many trophies for my people and I'm looking to make your toy a new acquisition," said LightRay pointing to Fox's his blaster. His hand zoomed forward like a blur to take it, but Fox was faster and retracted his arm faster than the dinosaur's. Fox then did a backflip kicking the dinosaur in the head.
"You'll have to be faster than that," said Fox grinning. The LightFoot growled.
"Get them!" it shouted. Then the beach was turned into a flurry of activity as Leon and Andrew began blasting LightFoot's while Fox and LightRay began playing a game of cat and mouse.
"C'mon LightFoot you're boring me!" shouted Fox with a smile as LightFoot tried desperately to tackle him but was consistently too slow. Fox finally sat down on the ground against a palm tree.
"Well if that's how you want to do it I think I'll take a nap," said Fox closing his eyes. LightFoot roared fiercely and leapt into the air. As he was plummeting towards Fox, LightRay extended his claws and prepared to slash the fox in half. But before he could get the chance a laser blast struck him in the back and LightRay plummeted towards the ground in pain with a massive hole in his chest. Fox perked up his head and opened his eye.
"Second rule of survival, always watch your back," he said with a smirk. Andrew twirled his blaster and put it away as he and Leon slowly walked towards the dinosaur. As he lay there bleeding to death, Fox appeared over his head.
"Who are you?" asked LightRay in fear as blood flowed out of his mouth. Fox leaned in close.
"I'm Fox McCloud of the UVCAF forces and I've come to conquer your world," he said softly. LightRay looked up at him in fear and tried to yell something to warn the others, but then his eyes dimmed and he died. Fox shrugged and stood up.
"So much for that," he said. Tricky ran up to them.
"Wow," he said in awe and surprise. The other dinosaurs were also shocked at the carnage, but begrudgingly had to admit that the group had ultimately saved their lives and their possessions. They nodded in respect at Fox who shrugged and turned his direction back towards the island.
"Tell me Tricky, how much technology do the Kong's possess?" asked Fox as if the whole sequence of events with the LightFoots hadn't occurred.
"Tech-nol-ogy?" asked Tricky confused by that word. Fox looked at him.
"Yeah, like our ships and bikes are examples of technology. How much do the Kong's possess?" asked Fox as he looked through his Hi-Def device again. Tricky shrugged.
"I don't know," he said helplessly. Fox looked at him slightly annoyed.
"How can you not know? You must know something," said Fox. Tricky growled at him.
"Look, no one's been to that island for years okay! I don't know! You'd have to ask the Council of Elders," said Tricky. Fox sighed.
"Can we at least go out there? You know, charter a boat or something?" asked Fox. Tricky adamantly shook his head.
"You can't go out there by any means that we possess. If you fly out there, you will not be welcome back here again. It'd be the same as if you were over there. We have a strict non-interference policy with the Kongs. Now stop asking difficult questions!" shouted Tricky angry. Fox laughed.
"Fine, fine. Now then, what can you tell me about that temple?" he asked pointing to a large temple built of the rock face at the end of the Cape. Tricky expressed a sigh of relief.
"That is Ocean Force Point Temple, entrance to the area that houses the Spellstones," said Tricky.
"Spellstones?" asked Fox, his interest piqued.
"Yeah, four large stones that hold the planet together. If someone were to remove them they planet would break apart and it would take a lot of effort to put them back and bring the planet back together," said Tricky. Fox huffed.
"I certainly wouldn't bother putting them back it isn't worth it. Tricky that's enough for now," Fox said. Tricky ran off to the beach while Andrew stepped forward.
"Not even for money?" he asked. Fox considered this.
"Depends how much and even though I'd probably say no," Fox admitted.
"So I guess we won't be bothering to remove them," said Leon. Fox watched Tricky playing in the water and then out to Kong Island.
"Only as a last resort and even then only if we're going to obliterate the planet. But I'm more worried about these Kongs. They must have sufficient technology to warrant the dinosaurs to develop their own military technology. I'd like to get a better read on their technology but to do so would ruin our cover. Maybe Scales knows more about it than we do," said Fox. As they were still contemplating it, a shadow briefly passed over them. They each looked skyward as a trio of dinosaurs flew overhead. Tricky growled as the dinosaurs swept over the cove and flew out towards the ocean.
"Who're they?" asked Fox. Tricky continued growling.
"CloudRunners, we've had an uneasy truce with them as well. They've despised us ever since we became rulers of this planet. They've been quiet up until now but recently they've become more agitated," said Tricky.
"Why?" Fox asked, already suspecting the answer.
"One of them was brutally murdered and they think we did it even though there's no proof," said Tricky still growling. Leon and Andrew silently chuckled.
"I see, well that's too bad. But nevertheless I'm afraid we'll have to visit them because they'll pose the biggest threat to our operations if we were to build a base here. The Kongs we can avoid, these we can't. Is that okay?" asked Fox. Tricky shrugged.
"You can go, but I won't becoming with you. CloudRunner fortress is off limits to just about all saurians except for a lone BoneClaw. Now if you'll excuse me it's going to be dark soon and I'm bedding down for the night," said Tricky. He walked down to the beach and laid down among the other dinosaurs.
"What do you want to do Fox, break into the temple, communicate with Andross, what?" asked Leon. Fox sighed.
"We can't do anything at the moment, let's just bed down and go to CloudRunner Fortress tomorrow. Tricky won't be with us so we can set down and communicate with Andross then. Who has got first watch?" asked Fox. Andrew sighed.
"I'll take it," he offered. Fox nodded.
"Fine, I've got second Leon you've got third. Let's get some sleep," said Fox. He lay down on his bike while Leon laid down on his. Andrew meanwhile started a fire and sat down reflecting in it while he held his blaster at the ready against any offense.
Above them, General Scales boat slowly crept along the nighttime sky. It flew quietly over the ocean towards Kong Island. Scales looked out through a spyglass until he finally located his quarry, a boat resting on the surface of the water. Scales steered towards it and the boat slipped silently onto the water next to the other large boat. They sat side by side and Scales grabbed a line and swung over to the other boat. He walked silently along the deck as if prowling his prey when several large lizards popped up and attacked him. Scales began flinging them off one by one and deflecting their attacks. Finally he dispatched the last lizard over the side of the boat. As he lay there expecting another attack a light flicked on at the other end of the boat in front of the Captain's Cabin and a clapping was heard.
"Excellent Scales excellent. It took you more of an effort the last time you tried to get help from me," said King K. Rool sitting in front of a desk with his back to the cabin door. Scales growled and took his sword and flung it at K. Rool. It flew forward and smacked into the door right next to K. Rool. He reached behind him and tried to pluck it out but he couldn't so he gave up.
"Come now. Temper, temper. Why so angry to see me?" asked K. Rool with a large smile as he rested his hands on his overly rotund belly. Scales growled and walked forward to K. Rool. He stood there angrily growling at him before flinging the entire desk into the drink.
"You didn't show up with reinforcements causing me to loose my battle to the dinosaurs. That resulted in my spending a long six months in the cold of space," said Scales angrily. K. Rool laughed.
"Well you're back aren't you? And like I told you earlier I would only give you reinforcements if you could prove you could conquer the planet on your own and you didn't. What has changed? Can you take the planet on your own? Did you fine your famed UVCAF forces you kept jabbering on about?" K. Rool asked with a smile knowing that he didn't. Scales laughed as well as he regarded a device in his hands.
"Actually, I did find the UVCAF forces and together with them we're going to conquer this planet. But I didn't come here to tell you this I came here to give you a proposition," said Scales. He set down the device on the deck and it activated showing a hologram of Andross.
"K. Rool, I am Emperor Andross of the Lylat System and Commander in Chief of the UVCAF forces. In less than a week the UVCAF is going to invade that planet of yours and bring under the UVCAF banner. What does that mean to you? Simple, it presents you with a choice. General Scales informed of your failure to provide him the backup he needed to conquer the planet unless he could conquer it on his own. Now then it all boils down to his. You and your…kremlings are going to assist him in taking out various installations just prior to our arrival. Failure to do so or incompetence on your part will only result in you and your underlings being turned into slaves or worse and spending endless hours doing meaningless work. I hope you know what's best for you and put you and your forces under General Scales command until we show up and take control. Do not fail me K. Rool," said Andross. Then the hologram fizzled out and the whole unit disintegrated. Scales looked at K. Rool with a grin.
"I trust you're interested in providing your support?" asked Scales. K. Rool nodded nervously.
"O-of course. You have my full support general," said K. Rool gulping. Scales laughed out loud as his vast carried over the ocean.
"Good, set course for Dragon Rock. Once we get rid of the heavy artillery there, nothing will stop the UVCAF from conquering Dinosaur Planet and once we do, my revenge will be complete! Nothing can stop us now!" Scales shouted to the heavens as the boat moved out and his took to the sky once more. Unknown to both of them, they were being watched from Kong Island behind them.
"Well that can't be good," said Donkey Kong looking through a pair of binoculars at the two boats.
"What's up?" asked Diddy Kong standing next to him. Donkey sighed.
"Looks like Scales is once again trying to conquer the dinosaurs again with the help of K. Rool and from the looks of things they've got some big league help this time," said D.K. before speaking into his comm. system.
"Funky, better prep all barrel fighters and all of our other defenses, I think we're about to have a major invasion coming our way soon and I want to be ready for it," said D.K. An affirmation came over the comm. and D.K. watched the boats once more.
"Somehow when all this is over, I think we're all going to be suffering in the end," he said before turning back towards his treehouse.