Fox dozed lightly in the cockpit of the Great Fox. It was set on a course for Corneria, his home. He would be there shortly and finally get the vacation that was long coming to him. After losing in the preliminaries at the tournament, he was going to need a little R&R before he was going to be able to return to the fleet. He was brought out of his sleep when a call came in.
He sat up and rubbed his eyes. After letting a yawn pass, he hit the radio. The face of General Pepper was on the monitor. Fox straightened in his chair and gave the screen his complete attention.
"Good to see you Fox," the general said.
"Good to see you, too," Fox said.
"Your fight in the tournament was broadcasted all over Corneria," the general continued. "Most impressive. Too bad that Marth got that lucky shot. Knocked you right off of the stage."
"He does have some strong attacks," Fox added. "But it'll be good to get some rest."
"That's why I'm calling," General Pepper said. "I'm afraid you'll have to stay out a little bit longer."
Fox cursed silently to himself. This really wasn't what he needed. But he sucked it up and asked, "What's the problem?"
"There's some sort of conflict happening on Yoshi's Island," the general said. "We need you to go check it out."
"Yes sir," Fox said, punching in the course change.
"You are the closest, otherwise we would send someone else. Sorry about this, McCloud."
Then something came to Fox. The Yoshi don't have communicators. They couldn't have reached the general even if they wanted to.
"How did you learn of this conflict?" Fox asked. "Certainly not from the Yoshi themselves."
"No," General Pepper said. "We have been contacted by the Master Hand itself. This mission is of utmost importance. Do not fail us."
Then the screen went black, leaving Fox to ponder over the recent turn of events. The Yoshi were having problems big enough to warrant interference by the Master Hand? What could this trouble be? Of course there was also the possibility that his crazy brother had been trying to pull a prank. Whatever the reason, Fox had his orders.
Oh well, he thought to himself, leaning back and closing his eyes. At least I can get a little sleep on the way.
Fox left the Great Fox in orbit and took his own Arwing down to the surface. He landed in an open field and left his craft. He stood up and stretched, breathing in the fresh air. It was good to be out of his ship and on solid dirt. Looking around, he examined the landscape. It all seemed pretty peaceful.
He returned to his ship and checked his radar. It showed a lot of activity to the north. He looked that way, but saw nothing. Not wanting to cause anymore trouble than what already be there, Fox decided to walk. He grabbed his blaster and closed his fighter. Then he headed north.
After a while, Fox became aware of the person tailing him. As casually as he could, Fox grabbed a hold of his blaster, still walking. When he heard the sound of footsteps, Fox spun around, drawing his blaster. He leveled it out and was about to pull the trigger when he saw who it was. He pulled his blaster back and holstered it.
"What are you doing here?" he asked.
"I suspect I'm doing the same as you," Captain Falcon said. "Following up on some orders from the Master Hand or, quite possibly, his crazy brother."
"That seems about right," Fox said. "Shall we continue?"
Falcon nodded. They continued to the north.
"I heard about the tournament," Falcon said, trying to make conversation. "I can't believe you were beaten by a newcomer. And in the Preliminaries, too."
"That guy had some pretty good moves," Fox said. "But they were all from his weapon. Take his sword away and he'd be a pushover."
"Ban any kind of weapon and many of them would be easy prey," Falcon pointed out. "Take Samus for example. She's only good because of her suit. Without it, she'd be a goner."
"Yeah," Fox said. "Then the prize would go to people like Bowser or DK."
"That doesn't even bare thinking about," Falcon said.
Neither of them was a big fan of the giant contenders.
"Why weren't you there?" Fox asked. "We might have gotten a chance to fight."
"Had a bounty to hunt," Falcon said. "Besides, I wouldn't want to hurt you too badly."
"You wish," Fox said.
"Who did win the tournament?" Falcon asked.
"Don't know yet," Fox said. "Tournament's still going on."
"Why didn't you stick around?" Captain Falcon asked.
"Didn't feel like," he said. To himself, he though, I really didn't need all of Marth's talk about victory.
"Shhh. Do you hear that?"
Fox paused to listen. With better hearing than the human, Fox was able to identify the sounds they were hearing.
"It sounds as if there is a struggle going on," Fox said, gripping his blaster again. "Come on."
They both broke out in a run. In a few minutes, they had reached a secluded part of the field. Here, the two Smashers saw maybe twenty Yoshi. They were all swarming around a dark figure.
He wore a black trench coat, a white shirt and dark blue jeans. Around his feet were some heavy-duty hiking boots. Coiled around his left leg was a tail as brown as his hair with dark purple stripes. His hair was too short to do much with, but long enough to be unruly. Stick up from it were two, pointed ears. Sharp claws extended from each of his fingers. And on his right, ring finger, he wore a strange looking, eight-sided ring.
All the Yoshi were attacking him. One jumped at him. He punched it, sending it flying into others. One tried getting over him to do a Yoshi Bomb attack. The man jumped back and kicked the Yoshi, sending him down. Five more tried to flank him. He spun around, claws out, and slashed each of them across the face. Soon, all the Yoshi were lying on the ground in pain.
"This is amazing," the figure said. "Even better than I imagined. My strength has doubled at least." He looked around at the Yoshi. "Now, he said. The final test."
He went over to a fallen Yoshi and extended his right hand, palm down. It slowly began to glow. Fox and Falcon decided not to wait any longer.
"Hold it right there," Fox said, leveling his blaster at the man's head. "Put your hands up and step away from the Yoshi."
"Better do as he says," Falcon added, cracking his knuckles. "It will make this whole mess a lot easier."
The man turned from the dinosaur. He looked at the two Smashers and smiled. He began to walk towards them. A deep chuckle could be heard coming from him.
"Ah," he said. "If it isn't the legendary Captain Falcon and the heroic Fox McCloud. So good of you to come here. My name is Pyra. I could more practice."
"Not one more step," Fox said, never moving the blaster from his target.
The man didn't stop moving. He rolled his head, cracking his neck and just kept advancing on Fox and Falcon.
"The Yoshi were far too easy for me to test my real strength. Perhaps you'll indulge me."
Fox fired off a couple blasts. The man saw them coming and jumped right over them. He did a flip and landed again. He looked up and Fox made eye contact with the man's bright blue, cat-like eyes. He holstered his blaster and turned to Falcon.
"Looks like we do this the hard way," he muttered.
"Fine by me," Falcon said, grinning.