Chapter 5:

To be honest, shooting for The Big Parade was MUCH different to the game version. We actually had scripts to read out during the movie that was actually very well-written, talking about me, the star of the parade, being a person from another planet and just wanting to be accepted, so I became the leader of the parade in order to become accepted... and the crowd was at first an angry mob, but then, after seeing the performance, they then accepted me and started to cheer rather than want me dead.

It was no surprise that the film was very popular after the filming had finished. But even then, it didn't matter. After Train Rush aired shortly after, the absolute impossible happened. A tie. A. TIE! Fifty-fifty split, right down the middle, for both films' audience and critic score!

"This has NEVER happened before in the entirety of the Annual Bird Movie Awards!... I wonder how we're going to go about this," Conductor asked when he saw the scores, mainly because the decision was going to be happening overnight, it going to be decided by one of the biggest movie critics on the planet, which just so happened to be none other than the Empurress herself. For being from the last story based DLC, she had quite a lot of importance in this story for some reason. Hell, I even got to speak with her when she visited the studio and she immediately noticed something about me... which made me confused.

"You, come here," she said when she met me, which I went over to her in response. "I have an eye for talent... as well as detail. And I can tell that you are not from this world. Where do you happen to come from?" she asked, which stunned me at how she was able to tell the difference between me and the others in the studio.

"I uh... come from another dimension. I was sort of warped here out of nowhere and I have to help these two kids collect some important items so they can go home... and when that happens, then I can go home... sounds stupid, I know," I sighed.

"Hmph. I can tell that you are truthful. Your scent does not have the same kind of smell as everyone else in this studio. It smells... how to say, non-electrical, if you get the gist," the Empurress said, me feeling a bit clammy at her saying that. "You come from a dimension outside of ours, that much is a fact. I feel I could use you for good things, but not at the moment. You may need some more training before you can come work with me," she said, me blushing a bit at that, as well as her claws tickling under my chin when she spoke.

"O-Okay... well... if I do work with you in the future... maybe I could be given the recipe for the burger soda?" I asked, her smirking and doing a small chuckle.

"You just want the recipe so you can sell it in your world when you go back, I can tell just from the tone of that question. You'd be a perfect colleague," she smirked, me blushing a bit. "But, if you do work for me in the future, one rule must be followed. Never steal my lovely jewels. Otherwise, your life will be cut short," she said, me smiling at that.

"Right. I kind of have a rule when it comes to girls. Don't hurt them, don't steal from them, never insult them. I've been hurt too many times by saying the wrong thing at the wrong time. And uh... just a bit of a head's up, but if you see anything that looks like this," I said as I showed her one of the Time Pieces, her being surprised by the shine on it. "These are the things I'm trying to help the two girls collect. And no, they aren't jewels. They're hourglasses. Hourglasses that can only be used by their species, the Fabricans. If misused by someone that isn't a Fabrican, bad things will happen to the entire universe," I said, her mulling it to herself and me then looking at her with seriousness. "Also, I already know about you being a crime boss. I know I can't really boss you around, since you're too powerful to be put in jail at all. But know that, if you do happen to use these Time Pieces. It'll be worst for you above all others. You'd either become a maniac bent on world domination, ruin everyone's lives, including your own, or even prevent certain people from being born, causing a butterfly effect. So uh... yeah..." I said, her finally leaving me alone after I'd told her that stuff. And I could see from her movements that she was seriously thinking it through.

Regardless, that was just a private discussion between myself and her. No one else noticed it, as I was speaking to her when she was first visiting, before speaking to anyone else. She then spent the rest of the night watching the four different movies, nitpicking small details in certain stories and trying to decide which of the two birds was going to be the winner. And the waiting was tense, especially for DJ Grooves and the Conductor. The penguin master had stopped dancing in place and simply sat down in anxiousness, while the Conductor was twiddling his feathers in anticipation.

As for our group, we were simply waiting patiently, eating the food on set and speaking to each other about the fact that the Empurress was the final voice for who the winner was going to be for the Bird Awards.

"I didn't expect that she'd ever leave her base of operations in the Metro. But if they're bringing her in, I have to wonder if this place is crooked or corrupt in some way," Winston Mill asked in concern, which made his wife nod.

"Unfortunately, I have a feeling that there might be a bit more behind the curtain. But I'm not really sure if there's corruption here or not. We need to find out at some point," Flower said, Pepper frowning at that.

"I already don't trust those blokes, or this whole studio. The final decision is a criminal queen? I smell a rat," Pepper said with a frown.

We waited for roughly 6 hours, our breath getting wavered as the Empurress then proceeded to give the announcement at the awards.

"The competition this year was very, very hard to decide on. Both DJ Grooves and the Conductor have made such marvelous movies. But, in the end, a choice has to be made... the winner of the 50th Annual Bird Movie Awards... is..." she said as she then got the card on her and she spoke. "The Conductor... AND DJ Grooves! I declare both of them the winners!" she said, that making everyone shocked. The two directors looked gob smacked at the decision, before then approaching the podium with wide grinning beaks. "You both will share this trophy, correct?" she asked.

"Heh, might as well," the Conductor smiled... but then I approached them and spoke my mind.

"Ahem! About the deal? Remember?" I asked, them smirking at me.

"Oh, darlings, how could we forget? Here, have our final four Time Pieces," DJ Grooves smiled as he and the Conductor gave up the full quota of 8 Time Pieces, which we then went back to the ship afterwards... but then, when we got back to the ship as a full unit, we got a call on the phone in the ship.

"Who... who's calling us? Nobody should have our number unless they've seen our passports," Hat asked as she then went to the phone and answered it. "Who is this?" she asked. But then, the voice on the other end spoke.

"The award ceremony was rigged. It was an inside job. The directors still have two Time Pieces. They've learned of the power they possess and wish to use them for evil. The answer lies buried underneath Dead Bird Studio. What goes on in Dead Bird Studio when no one's around? Get in there and blow the cover off this thing. I'm counting on you, fellow express owls," the voice said. It wasn't even disguised. It was one of the crows!

"Why those little, no-good double-crossers! They had two other pieces this whole time and never told us! We need to get back there tonight!" Hat said with anger in her voice.

"What time does it hit night for the bird side of the planet?" I asked the group of mustached humans, them speaking after.

"It should be nighttime and closing time for the studio come half an hour. We'll need to go there via our secret passcodes that we've received from being with Grooves for a year or so... I can't believe that a single time piece usage and they've already gone mad with power," Flower said with a sigh.

"We need to be prepared for anything. If they try to rewind time for anything, then it's up to me and Captain Hat to fix their screwups," Bow said with a serious frown, us then proceeding to go around the ship to inspect for anything else that needed done. We did manage to open the way back to the bedroom and to the 'invention and engine coolant' room, as Bow and Hat called it. And after we did these things and got some supper in the form of some foreign cuisine (it tasted like pizza, despite being purple and glowing meat), we then went back to the engine room and used the escape hatch to get down to the planet... and as for the non-Fabrican members, I warped them to the planet ahead of us so they could open the way.

By the time we'd fallen down to the ground outside of the studio, the doors were already opened up for us to go in, but Pepper's parents and siblings stayed behind at the front entrance.

"We're going to stay here for two reasons. One, to call the authorities. And two, to make sure that those birdbrains don't bring reinforcements. We can take them, no worries," Basil said, his voice sounding like if you took the voice of Knuckles from the 4 Kids anime version, only while going through puberty.

"Be careful, guys. I don't want to lose you again," Pepper said, them nodding at me. "And when we finish up with those foul fowls, we still need to get the Time Rifts handled, right?"

"I handled both the Time Rifts after the shootings of Picture Perfect and Train Rush, so we're good on that. So we need to stop those dirty birdies in order to get a total of 21 Time Pieces in total," Hat smirked. We then went into the studio proper and proceeded to go through the studio to the elevator, which all four of our group went into and we pressed the button that said Basement, employees only. We pushed the button and waited... for roughly 5 minutes of going down the elevator. We saw small glimpses of things to expect, such as the store room and the director rooms, which gave us a small glimpse of what to expect.

"We must be roughly 100 feet below ground... why so much space, though?" Bow asked.

"Clearly, these birds have secrets that need uncovered. Let's uncover them," Hat smirked, us then going out of the elevator doors and maneuvering our way through the bottom portions of the basement. We had to move across the wires in order to proceed. Easy for the kids, more challenging for someone a foot taller than them, AKA, me. I managed to get across them after using the time slowing power to make my movements make the cords unable to snap under my weight, which I needed to time the usage just right. Once I got past them, the next part of getting across the upper parts via hook shot was a bit easier than in the game. Why? Because Hat and Bow both already had their hook shot powers and I could use my hook shot with the cane I had via my all-powerful, homemade badge. But I did have to hold onto Pepper to get both of us across, otherwise she wouldn't have been able to do so.

"Thanks. You're strong," Pepper smiled, me smirking at her and rubbing her head.

"Just to make it clear, you may be an adult, but my world was a bit different in terms of age of consent. My state has age of consent being 18. So unless you stay in this world or we lie and say we're children in my world, then it won't be seen as anything but a crime," I said, her smirking and snubbing her nose at me.

"Eh, I like you, though. But if you wanna wait for a bit, I understand. I can be patient," she smirked, which made me smirk. We had now reached the giant storage room filled with giant piles of boxes stacked atop the other, with some cameras in place to catch intruders. And among the items, we saw that they had a ton of props for their movies, food that had gone expired, and some more incriminating items, such as bombs, combat knives, and explosive disco balls. We continued to climb the stacks until we got to the air duct, which we followed into the next room, which was the director rooms. And it was here that we saw that they'd already used the Time Pieces to do some bad things. They'd turned everything in the room into a luxurious style. Velvet and leather chairs, golden walls, the works.

"Looks like they made themselves rich already," Hat frowned in annoyance.

"Then we've gotta fix something already," I frowned as we made our way through the rooms, where we saw they'd actually made their rooms combined and that they had the room filled with trophies being their combined bedrooms. And they had all 50 trophies, which I knew wasn't possible when they didn't even look to be 30 years old.

"Cheaters. No-good cheaters!" Pepper frowned in annoyance.

"Once we beat the sense into them, we gotta get them to realize their mistakes," I frowned.

"Easier said than done. They might go further and try to kill us when they see us arrive," Hat said, her face scrunched up into a grimace.

"Yep," I frowned as we finally made our way to the ending elevator, where we went inside and pressed one of only 2 buttons, this one being called 'party room'. After waiting for roughly another minute on the elevator, the doors opened to show that our opponent... was going to be both of the directors. Death Wish time? Death Wish time.

"Ohohoho! Lookie what we got here! Looks like ya found out our little secret, didn't ya, kiddies?" Conductor asked with a smirk.

"These last Time Pieces are all for us, darlings. If you want 'em, well, you'll just have to come and get 'em!" DJ Grooves said with a smirk, them then jumping to the rafters and attempting to slam into us like in the Death Wish DLC! We managed to dodge just in time before then slapping them in the faces with our weapons in the form of my cane, Bow's hammer, Hat's parasol, and the fist of Pepper. The duo looked to be a bit hurt by that as they then jumped back to the stage and growled angrily.

"I can't believe we let you be the stars in OUR movies!" Conductor shouted in anger as he and Grooves then got the knives out.

"These ones aren't rubber!" Grooves smirked as we then had to dodge both of their incoming knife attacks, us then clobbering them again so they could get back onto the stage, before then grabbing their exploding disco balls.

"Ladies and... gentlemen!" they shouted as they slammed into the ground, us jumping before impact and then slamming our feet into their faces, them then retreating again as the lights turned off... and then, the piano started to play before the duo then sat on the chairs with us looking at them in anger.

"Come over here, kids. Let's talk," Conductor smiled as I frowned at them.

"You attack us with knives and exploding disco balls hoping to kill us and now you want to talk?" I frowned at them in annoyance.

"Darlin', you're so rude. Just sit down," Grooves said, me rolling my eyes as me and the three girls sat down with me sitting down right in between the two birds... and I smiled at one specific thing. Where I was positioned, I was able to see the two Time Pieces they had on hand, both of which being in their coat pockets. But I simply waited. I needed to spring at JUST the right moment and then I could kill two birds with one stone.

"Ever since you lot appeared, these Time Pieces have been falling from the sky. Now I understand why you think they belong to you, darlings... but did you know they can rewind time?" Grooves asked, Hat Kid frowning at him.

"Yes, and that's dangerous," she frowned.

"Oh, you don't know what yer talkin' about, lassie! With these Time Pieces, Grooves and I can finally get all the trophies we lost to complete nobodies. The awards of 12, 32, 39, and 48 specifically. Can't you just let us keep these two Time Pieces?" Conductor asked as I simply frowned. I had something to say.

"You're asking the wrong questions, birdholes. The real questions are these: How can I make my movies better to win next year? What's the right thing to do? Will I be going to prison for attempting to kill numerous children? Because I can tell you that you will be having the latter happen to you if you do not give those hourglasses back to us. Refuse, however? I break your beaks, your wings, and your peckin' feet. Take your choice," I frowned with venom in my voice to them, not even looking them straight in their faces.

"Hahahahaha! Hah... hehe... heh... eh...?" Conductor started to laugh before I gave him a glare while using the powers of the laser power to make my eyes glow in the dark and make him look at me in fear.

"You think I'm being funny? Give me a straight answer. Or it's bye-bye to your life of movie making forever," I growled, him then sweating from his yellow fur and then relenting to me, mainly because I'd deepened my voice in order to sound more threatening. And when the Conductor gave over his Time Piece, Grooves immediately did the same and then they got back to the stage, far away from me.

"That's more like it. Now that we understand each other, time to undo the damage that you've already caused. You'll forget everything that you did while abusing these pieces powers," Hat said as she then focused on the two Time Pieces and, after she chanted her alien tongue, the entirety of our group then warped back to the studio lot, and I saw that Grooves and the Conductor looked around in confusion.

"Whatta what?! W-What happened?" the Conductor asked in confusion. No cops yet, thank goodness, but I did see that Pepper's family was surprised by our sudden appearance.

"I suggest you get to leaving effective immediately, guys. The cops are coming and I don't know what for," I said, lying intentionally. Grooves and the Conductor then got into their cars and drove off, still being very confused.

"Well... that was surprising. But at least we undid all their bad stuff! Now, where to next?" Cindy asked with a smile.

"Well, it's hard to say, but I'd like to go ahead and have a bit of sleep before we go to the next place. It's in an area that looked like a very dark forest, which could be accessed from the bedroom's escape hatch," Bow smirked. But Pepper's parents and siblings?

"A dark forest?... Oh no, we ain't coming with you for that one!" Winston said with seriousness.

"Why not? The least you could do is stay on the ship, right?" Pepper asked, them gulping at her.

"We don't want to go to Subcon. It's cursed! No one has ever come out from that place unscathed for over 100 years!" Flower said with fear on her face, me tilting my head.

"Question. Why is it cursed and why has no one ever come back unscathed?" I asked.

"That's the thing. Nobody knows. Whoever comes out of that forest is usually on death's door before dying shortly after. I don't want that to happen to you, sis, please don't go!" Basil said with concern, Pepper smirking at them.

"You forget who you're talkin' to, blokes! If I could survive the Mafia for roughly 2 years straight, I can take on a stupid curse! You just take care of the ship, and we'll get the forest's junk back," Pepper smiled, me nodding.

"I'm in agreement with Pepper. She's a tough cookie, and Bow, Hat, and I are also very tough. If you don't want to come, that's fine, we won't force it. Instead, you can be in charge of guarding the safe that holds the Time Pieces along with Roombi," I smirked.

"Look at you takin' charge! That's supposed to be my gig usually," Hat smirked at me.

"Fine, but if anything bad does happen, you come back immediately before the curse kills you," Basil said, Pepper smirking and nodding.

"Yeah, yeah," she groaned as we then went to the ship and place the Time Pieces in the safe. Afterwards, Hat put the security features on for every room minus the bedroom before we then went inside and proceeded to crash on either the soft and comfy bed, or the even softer pillow fort. I opted for the pillow fort along with Hat, Bow, and the kids of the Mill family while the parents slept in the bed, as it was big enough for both of them.

"Ah... this is the comfiest thing I've ever slept on..." Cindy smirked... but I frowned at how Pepper had already fallen asleep.. and it was in my lap on at least three other pillows.

"Yep. It's official. She's chosen me as her bed," I frowned.

"Nothing wrong with that. It just means she likes you," Flower smiled at me.

"Mom, hush. You're embarrassing Freddy," Basil smirked. I sighed and simply forced my eyes closed as Hat clapped her hands together to turn the lights off... and we finally were able to get some sleep.