CHAPTER 5: Save Jody!
The Federation arrived to help out,
only to fall prey to the villain...
When Falcon arrived at the smoking power plant, he came across the wrecked Wonder Wasp.
John's around here somewhere, he thought. Sure enough, there was John Tanaka, right in front of the machine. He was in a crumpled heap, but he was alive.
"Are you all right?" asked Falcon.
"Jody's still inside the building!" pleaded Tanaka.
"Jody" was Jody Summer, named Miss Galactic Space Federation in a fashion show years ago. She was only a 3rd-year racer, but already quite skilled. She was also as beautiful as Captain Falcon himself was known worldwide.
"Wait there!" said Falcon as he drove off. He jumped the Falcon into the power plant and drove to where the core was. There was an F-ZERO racer propped up against the wall there. It was battered and badly damaged, but Falcon still recognized it. It was the White Cat, Jody's racer. And sure enough, in dead center of the core room, there was Jody, lying on the floor, badly hurt.
"Jody!" shouted Falcon as he jumped out of his racer.
"Ungh...Falcon?" she just managed to say. Falcon hoisted her up and put her in the Falcon. Just as they turned toward the main exhaust hatch, the main power blew. They started down the shaft, Falcon boosting the entire way. But the blast was slowly catching up to them, and the Falcon was at max speed. Finally, however, they reached the end of the tunnel with the fire hot on their heels (pun intended) & gaining. But the exhaust door was just about closed.
"Hang on to something, Jody!" warned Falcon as they approached a ramp that, from the looks of things, would give the Falcon just enough height and distance to get out of the vent. He aimed for the center of the ramp, flattened the boost button, and shut his eyes, braced for death.
Meanwhile, John Tanaka was standing, barely, needing to use his wrecked machine to hold himself up, praying all the while for the safe return, not only of Jody, for whom he had long harbored a crush, but also of Falcon, who was even now selflessly risking life, limb, and racer to save someone he barely knew. Had Tanaka had the presence of mind to look around, he would have noticed some trouble in the Lightning Area, right behind him. But right now, all his attention was fixed on the smoking power plant. As he watched intently, the power plant was suddenly replaced by a bright vermilion ball of flames. The explosion was massive. Tanaka was blinded by the light (& wrapped up like a deuce with another rumor in the night).
Oh, God, please let Jody and Falcon be OK,he thought desperately. When his vision cleared, he saw the Blue Falconspeeding toward him. It stopped in front of him, and a familiar feminine figure (try saying that five times fast) got out.
"John?" she said slowly and softly. "Is that you?"
"Jody!" he cried, relieved. She limped into his waiting arms.
"What happened?" he asked soothingly. "Was it Black Shadow?"
"No..." Jody struggled to answer. "Someone else...I couldn't see who it was."
"I see," mused Tanaka. "Well, at least you'll be OK."
"Correction: at least you're OK," replied Jody. As if to emphasize her point, she slowly leaned in and gave Tanaka a peck on the lips.
"Uh...OK," stuttered Tanaka, once Jody had pulled away. "Shall we...uh, get ourselves to hospital?"
While Tanaka was checking Jody over for injuries, Falcon was looking around. He saw a man in a black demon suit just running around, raising hell.
"Black Shadow..." He punched his open palm with his right fist, walked toward the Falcon, fired it up, & raced toward the site, thinking,
I'm going to kill his ass come tomorrow.
TBC...
NEXT: Black Shadow's Trap