Chapter 1: Prologue

You all remember what happened in IDR (Interdimensional relapse), right? Everyone was sent home after it and Link had to work extra hard to send another pair back. But that's not where the story is. Here it is.

Two years had passed in Hyrule since Link saw the last of Fox and the others. Sonic was true to his word and kept our Hylian's secret. Shadow was very relieved to hear that Zelda was okay and Concolor dead. Fox and Krystal got married (like we all know) and enjoyed their new life together. Then, a friend brought Fox some good news.

"Hey, Fox!" A rather cartoony voice called.

Fox got up off his chair from his laptop and asked, "Out of bolts again, Slippy? I’ll be sure to order you some."

The cartoony voice belonged to our favorite mechanic frog, Slippy Toad.

"It's not that, Fox. Alright, I've got some good news and I got some bad news."

Fox had a bit of curiosity in his eyes and asked, "And that would be...?"

Slippy cleared his throat and began.

"The good news is...I just finished what you asked for."

Fox's eyes glimmered. He would finally be able to go to Hyrule again and see his friend. But he forgot something.

"The bad news is...the criminal we shipped to Corneria is on the LOOSE!!!"

Fox got out of his chair and asked, "ALLOS?!" Slippy nodded in fright. Fox knew just what to do.

"You sure you're gonna try this, Fox?" Slippy asked as he began to strap something around Fox's waist.

"Positive, Slip. I'm going to need all the help I can get." He answered, knowing what he was doing.

Slippy strapped on the belt. The two were in front of a big, circular thing that looked like a large ring. On its sides appeared to be power generators and it was so tall that Fox could step through it.

"Use this belt to come back home. Just make sure your friend is touching you when you do so he can come with you." Slippy explained, "Just press this large button and you'll be teleported right back here."

Fox nodded and said in a confident voice, "Don't worry, Slip. I'll remember."

Slippy went over to the computer and began typing so fast; you could almost dance to the beat. A minute later, the inner part of the ring began to glow bright green. Fox took a deep breath and stepped inside.

 

Chapter 2: The enemy

It was a stormy night in Hyrule. Link had just finished a (reluctant) swim with Ruto. He was on Epona and riding as the rain beat down on him.

"I hope I never do something like that again! I'm going to need a STRONG bath after this." He complained as though Epona was a talkative friend.

He then caught a flash out of the corner of his eye and originally thought it was lightning. Then he remembered; lightning wasn't bright red.

Link turned to see a large, flying object. He at first thought it was a dragon, but upon closer inspection, it was made of solid steel. It flew all the way over Hyrule Castle Town and landed in a secluded spot. Link then changed course on his horse. Whatever this thing was, it wasn't friendly.

It took Link a few hours, but eventually, he found the iron 'bird'. It was on the ground with two figures moving toward it. However, one appeared to be struggling to get free. Link knew who the struggling person was when he heard someone scream his name. It was Zelda.

The minute Zelda screamed her name, the other person turned around. He was tall and bulky with armor plating on his torso. He had a head somewhat like a T-rex, but it was more triangular and complete with teeth. His feet had three toes and his hands had three fingers. He had a belt complete with all kinds of instruments Link had never seen before.

He then turned to Zelda and said, "I'll deal with you later, missy."

His voice had a bit of a snarl in it and was as deep as a well.

Link drew his sword and Mirror Shield and prepared for combat. The man pulled out a silver instrument and aimed it right at Link. It then emitted a blast of red energy. Luckily, Link put up the shield and it ricocheted off. Another series of blasts came at Link to no avail. The minute Link was in striking range, fire erupted from the back of his armor and he flew off. Link looked wildly around for his opponent, for he feared he would take Zelda away. Before he had time, a huge explosion knocked him off balance. It didn't hit him, but he did feel his sword go out of his hand. The minute he ran after it, something wrapped around his arm. It was a grappling hook and the strange creature was flying around like a falcon with Link dragging along. He had to roll to his left and right to avoid rocks. Whoever this was had quite a bit of guts.

Link then saw a tree and rolled to the right. He had gone around it and brought the rope into a kind of bend. Result: The man halted and fell to the ground without his jetpack. The jetpack flew aimlessly and eventually blew up because it crashed into a rock. The man/beast thing pulled out his blaster and tried to shoot Link, but Link was already in the air. The creature ended up with a huge leather boot right in his face. It knocked him backwards and the his gun out of his hand. Link then planted his boot into the thing's chest...to no avail. Its armor protected him from the full impact. He grabbed Link's boot and twisted it, causing him to spin like a corkscrew. The two scrambled to their feet, all the while Zelda cheering Link on.

The thing grabbed Link's shoulders, but Link ducked quickly and planted his fist into his unprotected stomach. It stunned him, but it didn't seriously injure him. The thing grabbed Link's head and performed a headbutt. Link fell to the ground and the thing almost stomped on him. Link quickly brought his foot up and it got the thing right in the face. The thing was knocked backwards and Link got his sword just when the thing got up. However, he forgot one thing; the thing had a tail. Before he knew it, there was a thing as thick as a basketball smashing into his midsection. Link got the wind knocked out of him and he didn't have enough time to catch the monster. The thing had just gotten back in its spaceship, but Zelda was nowhere in sight. She had snuck away while they were fighting and when she came to Link's aid, the spaceship had already taken off. It disappeared in a flash of red light.

Link fluttered in and out of focus with a pair of big, blue eyes staring at him.

"…ink…ake up…Link."

Link finally came back to focus, clutching his head. Before he knew it, someone was embracing him tightly.

"Link! THANK GOODNESS YOU'RE OKAY!" Zelda said in relief.

The unsuspecting hug had caught Link when he had the air knocked out of him and his eyes almost bulged out of their sockets.

"It's…good to see you're alive too…Zelda." Link strained.

However, another flash of light caused him to suddenly get back on his feet and find his sword. But this wasn't red, it was blue.
 

Chapter 3: Welcome aboard

The blue light came from a portal right behind Link. He turned and saw a familiar figure with large, triangular ears and a tail. It opened a pair of green eyes and smiled.

"It's good to see you again."

Link's eyes widened and his mouth was gaping.

"Fox?" Link asked, amazed and almost too lost for words.

Fox nodded and said, "Yep."

Link ran over and couldn't help himself from tackling his friend. Zelda couldn't stop herself from laughing as they wrestled like brothers.

Fox chuckled as he said, "Good to see you too, Link."

Link got off Fox and let him get to his feet as well as let him catch his breath.

Link then asked, "Where are the others? Sonic? Mario? Mewtwo? Shadow?…"

Fox then got serious.

"No. But I have a feeling we'll be seeing them again." He answered.

Link then told Fox of what happened before he arrived.

"A strange, dinosaur man?" Fox asked.

Link nodded.

"Yeah, he was here just a few minutes ago, he chose to pick a fight with me and nearly kidnapped Zelda."

Fox narrowed his eyes and said, "Allos."

"Allos?" Link asked.

Fox nodded and he pulled out a personal photo of the wanted criminal. It looked exactly like the thing Link fought off.

"Allos is a dimensional bounty hunter from the same world as Concolor. Like that crazy cat, he's trying to revive Ganon and let him control your world. We caught him before when he came to my world. He sat in the jail cell for more than eighteen months, all the while muttering something about sages." Fox said, pounding one fist into another.

Link's face would have been carved from stone.

"Don't worry," He said in a determined tone, "I'll protect Saria, Darunia, and..."

Fox interrupted Link by holding his hand up to stop him.

"Not those sages. We confiscated everything and we know that he's after people called the 'Dimensional Sages.' From what we have, only one exists in Hyrule. However, they have a temple that has magic energy that will reveal itself when the time comes. I can't do it alone, so I want you to come with me."

Link was a bit shocked, but Zelda was probably even more. Link looked at her, she looked on the verge of tears.

"Do what you must." Fox said.

Link looked at him as Fox made a motion with his head that said, "Go on. Do it." Link and Zelda embraced as though they would never see each other again.

Fox then put a hand on Link's shoulder and said, "Come on. It's time to go now. Hold onto me."

As Link did so, Fox pressed a button on his belt and Zelda waved goodbye one last time before they both vanished in blue light.

Fox reappeared in Great Fox with Link and the Hylian looked around.

"Welcome aboard Great Fox, Link. Let me introduce you to my team."

Fox went through Great Fox and saw his shipmates.

"The frog over there is the guy who helped me get back here. His name's Slippy."

The frog excitedly ran over to Link and shook his hand.

"Pleased to meetcha, Link!" He said eagerly.

After Slippy released Link’s hand, there was a blue bird of prey of sorts with red circles around his eyes sitting in a chair.

"The bird over there is Falco..." Fox continued.

Falco turned in the chair and said, "Yo!"

Fox continued on. "Over there is my oldest, Peppy Hare and the metal guy is ROB."

Both turned in their seats and greeted him. "So, you're that guy Fox was talking about?" Peppy asked.

"Greetings, new ally. I am ROB NUS64, but you may call me ROB."

Link smiled and said, "Don't worry, Fox. You don't have to introduce me to Krystal."

Krystal stifled a laugh and said, "What a relief."

Link had to spend a few days with the Star Fox team and help with a few things. Slippy and Falco were watching some TV with Falco channel surfing. He then came across Spongebob Squarepants just when Patrick said, "It's a giraffe!!!" Slippy eagerly arrived, but Falco changed the channel to a police chase video.

"Can't we watch Spongebob?" Slippy complained as he looked at Falco.

"No." Falco answered, showing absolutely no care.

"Tartar sauce!" Slippy cursed.

Krystal overheard that and thought it very rude that Falco did that. She waltzed over to him and slugged his arm.

"OW! Man! You hit good for a girl!" Falco said, somewhat surprised.

While Falco massaged his arm, Krystal took the remote and gave it to Slippy.

"Thanks." Slippy said as he flipped to Spongebob.

Krystal winked and replied, "Don't mention it."

Link was passing by and noticed the absorbent, yellow, porous guy.

He scratched his head and asked himself, "Why does he look so familiar?"

After two or three days, Slippy had something invented.

"Behold! The Arwing II!"

Slippy then pulled the sheet off a brand new spaceship with two seats in the cockpit rather than one. It was slightly bigger than the real Arwing.

Link blinked a few times and asked, "What is it?"

"This arwing," Slippy explained, "Can carry two people at once. I'm preparing to make a few attachments so you can travel the dimensions."

Fox raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"That'll come in handy. And it still looks like it has aerodynamic capability." He said to his friend.

“Looks like it can fly, too.” Link said, inspecting the ship.

Fox looked at Link and said, “It can.”

Suddenly, Krystal's staff began to vibrate. She took it out and inspected it. It was glowing white and there was a light on the end.

"I confiscated this information," Fox recalled as he scratched his chin, "This happens when a temple reveals itself. Krystal, if I may kindly borrow this?"

Krystal nodded and handed it to him. Fox pointed the staff's light toward a white screen and it showed a map of sorts. It was a planet with oceans, mountains, and even its place in the universe. Right on an island of the planet, there was a shining white dot.

"This one is fairly close. It's on Sauria just a parsec away. Link and I will go to the planet immediately."

Link nodded and said, "Alright, let's go!"

Fox and Link raced to the flight deck and Link was the first in. He got in the seat on the front, but Fox spoke up.

"Only go in there if you want to drive."

Link was a bit embarrassed by this and went into the one behind it. Fox hopped in and seized the controls.

"I'll give you a call when the device is ready." Slippy quickly informed, holding a wrench.

"Understood." Fox replied.

A door opened up and the Arwing II flew through the gap. Another minute and it reappeared on an ancient planet.

Back on Great Fox, Slippy already missed them.

"Puh-leeze, Slip! They've only been gone for five minutes!" Falco commented.

Peppy put his knuckle to his forehead and said, "Well, team, all we can do now is wait. What about you, Krystal?"

There was no response.

"Krystal?" Peppy asked again.

When the old rabbit turned around, Krystal was nowhere to be seen…

 

Chapter 4: Tooth and nail

The Arwing II landed in a clearing on the planet and Fox sighed. Cool, jungle air filled his lungs and some of it remained as he exhaled it.

"Ah, it's good to be back!" He said as he got out of the ship.

Link had a bit of trouble and fell out when he stepped on the wing. Fox laughed and helped Link up.

"So, this is where you found that redeye?" Link asked.

Fox nodded and said, "You know it."

Fox looked around and saw a jungle. This was the quickest route up the mountain, seeing as he knew this planet upside-down.

He then said, "Showtime. C'mon, Link."

"I'm right behind you." Link said as they jogged off into the rainforest.

When the Arwing II landed and Fox and Link went into the jungle, a small hatch opened up underneath it. Krystal had snuck away from Great Fox and stowed away. She wanted to go with Fox and see Sauria again, but she knew Fox wouldn't allow it so she stowed away. She too looked around and enjoyed the views.

"Wow. Feels like only yesterday when Fox rescued me." Krystal thought to herself.

She remembered the day when Fox rescued her from the clutches of General Scales and Andross. She remembered how Fox saved her life from a five-story drop. She remembered when she joined Star Fox and became the first-ever female on the team. Then, she straightened her mind.

"But I've got more important things to do now." She reminded herself.

With that, she tailed off after Fox and Link.

A few minutes in the jungle and they still had a ways to go. Link was looking around, but Fox spoke up.

"Careful, Link. We've discovered a new kind of dinosaur on here."

Link turned his head and asked, "Really?"

Fox nodded and continued. He remembered, seeing as it was part of his mission when he got sucked into Link’s world.

"It's a kind that's longer than a redeye, but not as heavy. We call it the Dreadfin tribe." Fox explained.

Link shuddered at the thought of something bigger than a redeye. The redeye he encountered was tall enough to look in his treehouse and longer than a Dodongo, but when he tried to imagine something bigger, he couldn’t exactly put his finger on it.

"I'm glad we won't run into that in a dark alley." He thought to himself.

Then, his foot fell deeper than the other and looked down to see a large depression the size of a kid’s wading pool.

"Hey, Fox! What's with this pool?" He called.

In an instant, Fox was with him. He then noticed that the "pool" had split into three smaller pools further down it.

"This is no pool. It's a footprint." Fox said in amazement.

Link's heartbeat began to increase. For a minute, he wondered if it was one of the dinosaurs Fox told him about.

"Dreadfin?"

Fox then looked up and answered, "No. It's something bigger…"

“Bigger? What could be bigger?” Link asked.

Krystal was hopelessly lost. She had tried to track Fox and Link, but had no luck so far. She was tuckered out and needed to rest, so she found a rock near a tree and sat down on it. Just then, the "Rock" moved. Krystal leapt off it and looked at what it really was. It was a dinosaur, bigger than a redeye and had long, crocodilian jaws. It had long spines coming from its back, but they were covered with skin, creating a kind of fin. Then, she realized that THIS was a member of the Dreadfin tribe. She then screamed at the top of her lungs just when the thing let out a roar. The scream grabbed the attention of two other people, miles away.

“What was that?” Link asked, very worried that someone was with them.

Fox heard it alright, but he heard it a second time. THAT was when he realized who it was.

“Oh no. KRYSTAL!” Fox said, very worried.

Without further hesitation, he hurried toward the noise as fast as possible. Link could only try to keep up with his friend.

Krystal took off at top speed through the trees. The Dreadfin was close behind, snapping its jaws in an attempt to devour her. She found a cave, but it wasn't big enough to stop it. Despite it, she sprinted inside and went as far as she could. Unfortunately, it was a dead end. The minute the Dreadfin was two feet away from her, it stopped. It screamed as something began to drag it out of the cave by the tail. There was a big CRUNCH and the screaming stopped. Krystal was at first reluctant to leave, but then there was something going on. Something was moving between her legs and she looked down to see a huge snake.

"Aah!" She screamed as she scrambled out.

At first, she thought that the thing that killed the Dreadfin had passed. Just then, a drop of blood that could fill a dinner plate splashed onto the ground and Krystal turned to see the thing that killed the Dreadfin.

It was a redeye, but it was TWICE THE SIZE. It towered over even the Dreadfin at a colossal fifty feet tall with a dead Dreadfin in its jaws. The minute its eyes saw Krystal, it gave chase. As Krystal ran, she heard the sound of breaking bones and guessed that the giant redeye was biting the Dreadfin in two. She then heard a thud and there was a Dreadfin head in her way. As she ran, another giant redeye appeared, exactly the same size. They were snapping at her and she screamed as she ran. Just when things were bad enough, ANOTHER giant redeye appeared. The chase scene then found itself in a clearing. The redeye almost caught her when something fell from out of nowhere and attacked.

The thing was huge and humanoid, but it had dinosaur features. It had two hooks for a left hand and a head like a t-rex. Its helmet had long horns and it had huge, three-toed feet. It even had a tail. A bewildered second later, Krystal realized THIS was General Scales, but SUPERSIZED. He was tall enough to look the redeye right in the eye. As he landed, he brought his hooks down on the largest one and left two huge scars on its cranium. The redeye shook its head in agony and roared aggressively. Scales returned it with his own roar.

At that time, Fox and Link found Krystal and saw the fight was about to begin. Fox had told Link of his story and Link was confused in a frightened sort of way.

"Fox, I thought you said Scales was nine feet tall." Link said, bewildered.

Fox turned and said, "I did, but he sure did sprout!"

Then, the three redeye growled warnings at Scales. When Scales showed he wasn’t going to back down, the three large dinosaurs sprinted at him and attacked.

The first redeye, Scales dispatched of easily. He spun away from the snapping jaws and bashed his fist into its face. Link and the others had to move because he knocked out teeth and they nearly impaled them. Another redeye came up to meet Scales and sank its teeth into his arm. Scales nearly attacked, but another one caught his other arm with its jaws. Another one nearly got Scales, but the large Sharpclaw performed a kind of 'slugger kick' and repelled it. Scales then got the others off by smashing them into each other. The one that got kicked came at Scales again, but Scales brought it into a headlock and wrestled it to the ground. When it was down, Scales scrambled over to a large rock, heaved it over his head and brought it smashing down on the redeye's head. A sickening "CRACK" told the watching trio that the redeye's skull was crushed. The Redeye’s body twitched until it went limp, its scalp lined with red cracks. There were still two more and Scales had a while to go.

The second one rushed over and bashed Scales with its large head. Scales was knocked back a step or two, but not off his feet. The second one came to grab Scales in its teeth, but Scales caught it by the jaw, pried it open, and stuck his two claws down its throat. The redeye created all kinds of gagging noises and Scales pulled out his claws. RIIIIP!!! The redeye collapsed with a pair of large gashes in its neck. There was one redeye left, but from the way Scales fought off his friends, it stood little chance. However, you know Redeyes. They never turn down a fight. That's exactly what this one did.

He charged, mouth open, in an attempt to decapitate Scales. Scales was too smart and put his hooks in the right position. His other hand, pulled the jaw open and he performed something like a lion tamer. He stuck his head into the redeye's mouth. Just then, the redeye's jaws slammed shut. Scales got out of the redeye’s mouth just in time. He was holding something in his mouth and he released it when he pulled his head out. It was a big, pink, worm-thing and it landed with a "ker-splat" near Fox and the others.

“Yuck! What’d that redeye have for lunch?” Link asked.

“Link, that’s not his lunch.” Fox corrected.

Link turned to Fox, a confused look on his face. This thing sure did look like a piece of meat.

“Swing that by me again.” Link demanded.

“That’s not the redeye’s lunch. That’s his tongue.” Fox said in disgust.

Link nearly threw up when Fox finished his sentence. Krystal looked away in disgust and almost threw up. Link actually did.

The two dinosaurs rolled around on the ground like pro wrestlers, but Scales came out on top. He had the redeye pinned and his claws had its nose while his real hand had its jaw. The redeye let out a moan in defeat as Scales pried open the redeye's jaws until they couldn't open any further. There was a sickening CRUNCH and the redeye's jaw was ripped open. The redeye screamed as much as its vocal chords would allow it as Scales grabbed it by the back of its head and sharply pulled it toward him. That broke the spine and the redeye slumped lifelessly to the ground.

Fox was amazed, Scales just killed THREE redeye and barely put up a sweat. Fox then chose to speak.

"Uhh, thanks for saving us, Scales." Fox said, a tone of unease apparent in his voice.

Scales stood up and turned to Fox. It was then that Fox knew that he shouldn’t have said anything.

"Who said I was saving you?" The large pirate asked. He then towered over them and said, "If anyone's going to kill you, it's going to be ME!"

He then drew a large dagger as long as a dump truck. He was going to kill them. Link took something out of his sack and then Scales had a look of surprise on his face. Fox turned to see Link with a stone mask on his face and was tall enough to look Scales in the eye.

"Not if I have anything to say about it." He said in a deep, thundering voice.

Link then drew a sword as long as a school bus and Scales let out a roar as a new fight began.

Chapter 5: The adventure begins

A combination of anger and the thirst to prove himself drove Scales on. Link on the other hand, was driven by the need to save his friends. Scales had a clear weight advantage, so Link had to play it cool, very cool.

Scales charged, dagger raised above his head and let out a deafening roar. Link let out a war cry and raised his own sword. Scales swung his dagger in an attempt to drive it through Link's abdomen, but Link raised his shield and the knife bounced off. However, that wasn't the only weapon Scales had. He took his two claws and raked Link's side with it. Blood droplets the size of baseballs fell to the ground and you could hear Link's grunt in pain even on Ice mountain. Link swung his sword and Scales ducked, but something landed on the ground. When Scales looked down, he noticed that the thing was actually one of his helmet's horns. Link severed it when he swung. Link swung his sword again, but the only thing he met was Scales' knife. Suddenly, without warning, Scales took his teeth and clamped down on Link's shoulder. Link screamed in pain as the fifty knifelike teeth sunk deep into his flesh. Link took his shield arm and brought it across Scales' face. WHAM! The solid steel shield increased the damage and almost cleaved Scales' jaw in two. Scales jumped backwards and kicked Link in the back. The hero of time staggered, but he never fell. Scales almost stabbed Link in the back, but by the time he was ten feet away, Link whirled around and planted his sword right in Scales' midsection. Scales was still alive, but Link yanked the sword upward and brought it up so high in Scales' body that it stopped at the ribcage. Scales was defeated for the first time ever.

Link pulled his sword out, but Scales wasn't bleeding. Instead, a kind of black mist came out of his wounds and he eventually evaporated in the stuff, all the while roaring in agony. When the large Sharpclaw disappeared, Fox got what was going on.

"This isn't Scales. It's a copy to stop us from getting the sage." Fox thought to himself.

Suddenly, Krystal spoke. "I see…"

Fox chuckled. He had forgotten that Krystal was a telepath. Link wiped sweat off his forehead and two huge drops fell onto Fox and Krystal like C-bombs. Link then took the mask off his face and shrunk down to his normal size.

"Hey, Link, watch where you drop your sweat, will ya?" Fox asked, somewhat agitated.

Link scratched his head and chuckled nervously. He would have come up with something nice to say, but Krystal got him before he could think of anything.

"Thank you, Link! You saved our lives!" Krystal said cheerfully.

Suddenly, without warning, she actually kissed Link on the cheek. Link blushed until he was as red as a tomato.

"C'mon, Link. Don't tell me you've never been kissed before." Krystal said, almost laughing.

Link scratched his head and said, "Well, I HAVE been kissed before…Just not by a fox."

Krystal stifled a laugh at this comment. Fox on the other hand, looked somewhat annoyed.

"Krystal, we're married, remember?" Fox asked, in a reminding fashion.

Fox then forgot about love and came back to reality.

"C'mon. We've got to find that sage." Fox said as he beckoned for Link.

“How are we going to find…” Link began, but this happened.

The ground began to shake and a large mountain appeared. On the side of it was a pure white temple similar to Krazoa Palace.

"Well, I guess that'll work." Fox said, wide-eyed.

Fox and Link looked at each other and they were about to race off.

Fox then turned and said, "Krystal, stay here. We wouldn't want to run into more Dreadfin, would we?"

Krystal nodded reluctantly and stayed put as Fox and Link ran off.

It took two or three hours, but they eventually reached the shrine and flung its large doors open.

"So this is where we find the sage. They need new wallpaper." Fox thought out loud.

He looked around and saw two things. One was a small slot for something to fit into, the other was a symbol of three triangles.

"Hey, I know this symbol!" Link exclaimed.

Fox turned, he had been trying to figure it out. Just then, Link stood in the center of the triangles and took out an ocarina. He played a tune and the triangle turned blue. Fox stood, mouth agape at what happened.

"That, my friend, was Zelda's lullaby; the royal family's song." Link said, to make sure Fox didn’t forget.

Fox stopped staring and began to examine the slot. He then looked at his staff's end that looked kind of like a spear point.

"Wait a minute…" Fox then pointed the bottom point of his staff downward and put it down the hole.

Link looked around, wondering why nothing was working. Then, he saw another slot right next to Fox’s and looked at his sword. He slowly went up to it and with one hand, put the sword perfectly into the slot.

A whirlwind of blue light began to pull them upwards and it was beginning to make Link feel sick to his stomach. Just when Fox thought he was going to throw up, it stopped. They were in a large black chamber with different colored things that looked like the Milky Way. The “Milky Ways” were white, yellow, blue, red, silver, purple, green, bronze, gold, and a purplish-black. A good inspection, and Fox finally broke the silence.

"My best guess is that THIS is where we the sages come in. But who's this sage?" Fox said, looking around a place that he was sure was the middle of nowhere.

Just then, the white circle began to glow its respective color and a figure came up from it. Fox gasped at the sight as a pair of familiar green eyes looked at him.

"Krystal? YOU'RE the sage we were looking for?" Fox asked in surprise.

Krystal smiled and answered, "I am indeed. I am Krystal, Sage of Ice."

Link then noticed that Krystal wasn't wearing her usual blue, skintight clothing. Instead, she was wearing a flowing white dress that sparkled like diamonds.

"I know my destiny and I'm willing to help you defeat Allos and prevent him from releasing Ganon. I will not be in your world, Fox. But when it's over, we will meet again. To aid you, I have a gift for you."

Krystal then raised her arms and a white light merged with Fox. The orb in Fox's staff turned white and magic flowed through it.

"This spell will allow you to control permafrost below the earth. Use it well."

Fox nodded and said, "Don't worry, Krystal. I will."

"Hey! What about me?" Link asked.

Krystal raised her hands to stop Link. She knew that if Link got a little too jealous, things would get ugly.

"Don't worry. Other sages have magic for you, too. Just be patient." She assured.

A blinding white light and Krystal said one last sentence. "Fox, I'll have some news for you when you return."

Fox and Link reappeared outside the Arwing II when a device on Fox's arm began to beep. Fox pressed a button and Slippy's head appeared in a hologram.

"Fox! Link! I've finished with the preparations. You better come see it!" Slippy informed.

Both nodded and said, "We're on our way!"

However, something moved and Allos' ship was beginning to take off. Fox took out a small hand rifle thing and fired at the ship. It didn't release a bullet or a blast, but it released a small disc. The minute it hit, it began to beep wildly.

Link then turned to Fox and asked, "What was that?"

Fox simply answered, "A tracking device. If he's going somewhere, we'll find him."

Link smiled and said, "Clever."

After that, They hopped inside the Arwing II and flew off to Great Fox. When they got there, Falco actually looked worried.

"Hey, guys, where'd Krystal go?" He asked.

Link looked the bird in the eye and answered, "She's one of the sages Allos is after. We'll see her again when Allos is vanquished."

Falco looked to the floor and said, in a gloomy tone, "Let her do what she has to, Fox. We'll all miss her… Now, Go find Slip, will ya'?" Falco seemed to finish his speech with the spunk Fox always loved.

Fox realized that he had forgotten about it and ran off with Link close behind.

Slippy was in front of a large, glass window showing a kind of ring with metal plating through the center.

"I call it the dimension ring. It attaches to the Arwing II and sends you rocketing through space so fast, you'll warp dimensions!” Slippy explained.

Fox was ecstatic and raced off for the hangar bay. He almost knocked over Peppy and almost smashed ROB into scrap metal.

“Alright!” He said, unable to control himself.

"Hey! Wait up, Fox!" Link shouted as he raced to catch up.

They were in the Arwing II when they received a message from Peppy.

"I'm tracking Allos on radar. I'll send you the coordinates before you warp." The old rabbit informed.

Fox pressed a button and said, "Understood, Peppy."

The ship attached to the metal plating in the center like a Lego block.

"Ready?" Fox asked.

Link gave the thumbs up and said, "For Hyrule."

The dimension ring began to glow bright blue and the pair were sent off to dimensions unknown.

 

Chapter 6: Dogfight (Or should I say fox-fight?)

Link had never been in anything so fast in his life. The dimension ring was probably pulling them at the speed of light. He couldn't understand why Fox wasn't throwing up or even looking queasy. It took a long time, but they eventually stopped.

They saw a planet, but it was far away and they were in an asteroid field.

"Darn! We stopped too soon! You'll have to wait a little longer, Link." Fox informed his friend.

Link shook his head and said, "I don't think I can handle flying like this."

"Don't worry. What could go wrong?" Fox asked.

Link suddenly saw something ahead of them. It looked like a kind of metallic, mechanical dragon. Massive thrusters boosted the iron colossus through the asteroid belt.

"Hey, isn't that Allos' ship?" Link asked.

“Oh no…Not the Drache IV!” Fox said as his eyes widened.

Allos was also on his way to this planet and then noticed a strange signal coming from behind him. He checked his radar and saw that a ship that looked like the Arwing that took him was following him.

"BLAST! That flea-bitten fox must've tagged me!" He cursed. “Guess I’ll have to play rough.”

An evil smile spread across his reptilian face and he pressed a red button in front of him. A small hatch opened in the rear of his ship and a cylindrical item fell through space.

Fox then noticed something coming for the Arwing II. "Oh no! Spreaders! Hold on, Link."

Fox warned. Link was confused and asked, "Why?"

Fox swerved slightly to avoid the bomb hitting him. However, this was an asteroid field and the bomb hit a nearby chunk of debris. The bomb exploded, but not before sending off a whole spray of bombs that destroyed any asteroid, creating a giant fireworks show. Fox had to fly at top speed in order to avoid all of them, but Allos was releasing bomb after bomb. It was like the Fourth of July and the explosions seemed to be getting closer.

Back on his ship, Allos was VERY ticked off. He gritted his sharp teeth in rage and the yoke he was holding was beginning to creak.

"These guys can't seem to take a hint! They're not going to like me when I'm angry." Allos growled.

He then brought the yoke of his ship sharply upward and he performed a somersault. Fox and Link were caught by surprise and had a hot-tempered dinosaur after them. There was a button on his yoke and his thumb was right over it. He pressed the button and a cylindrical thing came out of where the dragon’s mouth should have been that looked something like a Gatling gun. Slowly, it began to rotate, spinning faster and faster with every rotation.

"Uh-oh. Prepare for evasive action!" Fox commanded, rapidly pressing buttons on his dashboard.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Link asked.

The barrels on Allos’ cannon began to rotate faster as Fox pressed his buttons. The Cornerian then answered without even looking at Link.

"Nothing. Just hold on."

As the Gatling gun rotated, blue blasts of energy began to fire out like a machine gun. Fox quickly swerved the right and Link's head banged up against hard glass. Just when Link was adjusting to it, Fox swerved to the left, causing Link's head to go the other way. CLANG!

"That's it, Fox…" Link said through gritted teeth.

Fox didn't have time to look back and asked, "What?" as he dodged another array of blasts.

"As of today," Link still growled, "I hate flying."

Allos continued to shoot and Fox continued to fly like crazy. Every shot nearly hit the Arwing II and hit many asteroids, causing them to explode like small bombs. Then, it happened. A blast actually caught them on the wing. Link jerked forward, hitting his head on the back of Fox’s pilot seat.

“Ow!” Link said, suddenly.

“Link, we’re hit. He seems to have hit the main power generator. If this do survive this, we may only have enough power to make two trips.” Fox said, checking the damage by computer.

Back in his ship, Allos smiled and said, "Now to finish them."

A slot opened in his ship's wing and he launched two missiles after them. Fox swerved out of the way, but the missile swerved too.

"HEAT SEAKERS!" Fox exclaimed.

Link was confused and asked, "WHAT?"

Fox then began to talk in a very worried tone. Link didn’t know what a heat seeker was, but it couldn’t be anything good.

"A heat seeker is designed to explode on contact with heat. Last I checked, all warm-blooded creatures: You and me, give off heat. These missiles are going to follow us until we explode into oblivion."

Link then gulped at the thought of a bomb going off when it caught them. Fox had to pull every move he knew to avoid the missiles catching him. If they were to hit now, the Arwing II would lose both of its wings. Fox then got an idea.

"Grab a barf bag, Link." Fox warned.

He then turned his controls and the Arwing II went into a barrel roll, causing Link to almost land headfirst on the ceiling. The missiles followed the wings until they finally went BOOM!

A wicked grin spread across Allos' T-rex-like face. He was very sure that they had been blown into millions of pieces that would decorate space forever.

"That'll teach them to mess with Allos." He said, confidently.

With that, his spaceship took off toward the nearby planet. Little did he know that Fox and Link weren't dead. The barrel roll caused the missiles to collide with each other and that Fox had secretly made a momentary stealth suit so they could avoid detection.

They had to be quiet in case Allos found a way to hack into communications and they did so, to Link’s dismay. After five minutes, Fox finally spoke up.

"Okay, I think the coast’s clear." He said as he pulled out of the stealth suit and went to the planet, which was now in range.

Link looked at Fox and said, "Don't EVER do that again!"

Fox shrugged and said, "Okay, I'll try."

"NO, promise me you WON'T DO IT!"

"What if it's an emergency?"

The two then bickered all the way to the next planet.
 

Chapter 7: Thunder and Lightning

After that incident in the asteroid belt, Fox and Link found their way onto the planet. The minute it touched ground, Link leapt out and landed on the ground.

"LAND! SWEET LAND!" He said with joy.

The minute he said that, Fox blinked a few times. Not even Slippy did this and he wasn’t too fond of flying.

"Sheesh. What's his problem?" He asked himself.

Fox simply got out of his ship like it was a simple drive in a car. He inspected the damage to the wing and got a good look at the damage. The upper part of the wing was fried and it was losing power and fast. There probably wasn’t enough power to get them through or to get both of them home.

Suddenly, Fox's staff turned bright yellow and revealed the location of the next shrine. The two got a good look at the map and Fox realized what was next.

"Looks like we're going to find the Thunder Shrine." Link thought out loud.

Fox smiled and said, "I'm sure this will be shocking."

(Rim shot)

Link had that look on his face that said, "Ha ha, very funny." He then said, "Bad joke, Fox."

Fox recollected himself and the two set off on their journey.

This place was a strange one indeed. There were creatures of every shape and color. There was a strange thing that looked like an eagle perched in a tree, but it had long, flowing feathers on its head. There was a huge, round creature that was fast asleep.

"Fox, what are these things?" Link asked.

Fox thought for a second and then shrugged. He had never seen anything like these before and some looked exotic.

"Your guess is about as good as mine." He answered.

Just then, a familiar voice spoke in both of their minds. It was deep as a well, but sounded very wise, too.

"I see you made it to our world." It said.

Fox whirled around and saw no one just when Link did the same.

"What was that?" Link asked.

Fox inspected the area, but still saw a whole lot of nothing.

"Let's go. That's nothing."

Just when they turned back, there was a great, catlike thing in front of them.

"I'm nothing, am I?" The voice asked again.

Fox smacked himself in the forehead and said, "Oh. Hey, Mewtwo."

Mewtwo smiled, still keeping that piercing glare in his eye and said, "I'm glad you two haven't forgotten me."

Fox and Link nervously chuckled and said, "Uhh, yeah…heheh…"

Mewtwo's telepathy then activated again. If you were seeing it, you would probably see the slightest case of amusement on it.

"Tell me. How's Shadow? Has he learned anything from what I've taught him?" He asked.

Link rubbed the back of his head and said, "Actually, we haven't met him yet."

Mewtwo's eyelids dropped slightly and he thought, "Oh."

Just then, there was rustling in the grass and a familiar, yellow face peeked out of the grass. Link looked at it just before it burst out, happier than a robin.

"LIIIIIIIIIIIIIINK!!!!" It shouted.

Something like a yellow pinball collided with Link's midsection. The collision bowled Link right off his feet and he strained to speak.

"Hello…Pikachu. It's good…to see you…too."

Link slowly got up, Pikachu still on his tunic. Mewtwo was confused.

"Wait. How come this one speaks human?" The psychic Poke’mon asked.

Fox snapped his fingers and said, "Of course! We gave him that translator and he can still understand us and vice versa."

Link struggled and finally got the electric rodent off him. Pikachu still had a lot of energy to burn and Link knew just what to say.

"Uhh, sorry, Pikachu. We can't exactly play now. We're on a mission."

Pikachu was overjoyed and said, "Ooh! Ooh! Can I join in?"

Fox frowned and said, "Sorry, no."

Pikachu's long ears drooped and his face fell.

Fox took something out of his pocket and added, "But if we need your help, we'll use this to call you."

He tossed it and the little Poke’mon caught it by jumping.

"Mewtwo, you're comin' with us." Link said.

Mewtwo grinned and said, "I might be able to help you on your little quest. I know this world well."

With that, they took off toward the Thunder Shrine.

The shrine was located in a place called Viridian City toward a large cave. Turned out the inner part of the cave WAS the Thunder temple. It was a large room full of glass tubes, each one having electricity flow through it. Unlike the Ice Shrine, this place had many doors and no staff or sword sign in the floor. Something then came to Fox's mind.

"Oh no! I forgot to give power to Arwing II!"

For a minute, Link was thankful. But then he realized that no power meant that Allos would escape and Ganon would be unleashed.

"I know! I'll call Pikachu. He can give our ship a good jolt." Fox said, quickly remembering.

Fox then took a similar communicator to Pikachu's and pressed a button. If the device still existed, the electric rodent would hear them clear as a bell.

Back at the Arwing II, Pikachu was waiting patiently for Fox and Link to give a decent message. Just then, he saw two dinosaur-like creatures that looked like raptors. His eyes widened as one of them spoke in a scratchy, low voice.

"That's their spaceship, alright." One said as he inspected the ship.

Pikachu hurried behind a tree out of the monsters' sight. Judging from the fact that they were searching for them, he guessed they weren’t friendly. Luckily for him, they sounded somewhat dull-witted.

"Whew! I don't want those guys to catch me…"

He spoke too soon, because his communicator activated. At first, it was a loud static noise, but then someone spoke as if an invisible person was talking.

"Pikachu…Pikachu…Do you read me? I need you to give our ship some juice." Fox’s voice asked through the communicator.

Pikachu leapt into the air as one raptor looked up and said, "What was that?"

Pikachu then fumbled with the communicator for a while and sat on it. It only muffled the noise, but it enough to stop the now-suspicious raptors.

One simply said, "Get back to work. That's nothin'."

Back at the Thunder Shrine, Fox was a little worried. He hoped that the signal got through and that the mouse was okay. The three of them had checked every door. Some were rigged with traps, some were dead ends, there was even one with a monster inside.

"This place could take weeks to find what we're looking for!" Link shouted into the nothingness.

Mewtwo simply levitated him and said in a stern tone, "If you complain again, I'll rocket you to Cerulean City and back here again. There's more to this place that meets the eye."

Link nodded and Mewtwo lowered him gently to the ground. Mewtwo then seemed to be looking at the floor a few yards away from them. Mewtwo saw Link give him a clueless look and he beckoned to the floor.

Link looked at it too and asked, "That's nothing, Mewtwo. Just a dusty floor."

Mewtwo simply floated over to it and brought his tail across it, revealing a secret door. The “door” was more of a trapdoor and had a kind of lightning bolt across it.

Mewtwo cocked an eyebrow and asked, "You were saying?"

“Alright. I’ll just give Pikachu another call and we’ll see if he got my message…” Fox said as he activated his communicator.
Fox decided to try again and whipped out his communicator. This time, he hoped Pikachu would listen for once.

Miles away, Pikachu had raced over to the Arwing II's underside and found the power source without drawing attention from the raptors. His cheeks began to spark and he had it up to full power in no time.

“Whew! That last time was close.” Pikachu thought to himself.

However, the communicator then activated and Fox’s voice came out through it. This time, there was no place to hide.

"Pikachu…Pikachu…Did you hear me last time?" It said.

Pikachu quickly whipped it out and said, in a very fast voice, “Uh, sorry, Fox. I’d love to chat but there are a few technical errors in your ship I’m working on. So haveaniceday, bye.”

Pikachu quickly deactivated it after saying “bye”. Unfortunately, the raptors heard it loud and clear. They looked under the ship and took notice of him with the communicator.

“Uh oh…” Pikachu said quietly.

“HEY! You!” One raptor said, pointing its clawed finger at the electric mouse.

Pikachu quickly did the repairs on the Arwing II just when the raptor’s three-fingered hands wrapped themselves around his middle.

"Ah, stupid little rodent." He said as he lifted Pikachu into the air.

Pikachu's legs dangled in the air as he struggled to get free. Then, he got an evil twinkle in his eye and he opened his mouth. Without warning, he sunk his teeth into the raptor's finger.

"YEEEOWCH!!!" He shouted as he dropped him.

Pikachu hit the floor and used Iron Tail on the other one's leg, tripping it. Then, its cheeks sparked again and he aimed the electricity at the dinosaurs. They screamed as electricity surged through their bodies. When Pikachu was through with them, smoke billowed from their bodies.

Pikachu smiled in triumph and then said, "What would this world do without ya', Pikachu?"

He was about to go off and find his two buddies he met in Hyrule. He was about halfway there when felt energy pulsating and turned to see yellow light coming right at him.

Fox, Link, and Mewtwo went through the trapdoor to find themselves in a large room. Link knew the three triangles and knew what to do. He played Zelda's lullaby and the triangles glowed bright yellow instead of blue. Fox took his staff and planted it in the slot. At the same time, Link planted his sword in the other. After that, they were teleported to the same realm where Krystal was, but the yellow circle glowed this time. Link's eyes widened as a familiar, red-cheeked mouse appeared.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me!” Link said, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"No joke. By the way, good job, guys." Pikachu said in an almost wise tone. "I've learned my destiny as the Thunder Sage. I knew I could count on you to save your world. So I've got something for you, Link."

“FINALLY!” Link said eagerly.

Pikachu then raised his little hands into the air and yellow light touched Link.

"This spell will allow you to shoot lightning from your sword. Now you can power your ship without my help."

Link pointed his sword forward and a long blast of electricity shot from the tip.

Link smiled and said, "That's a pretty nifty trick."

Pikachu blushed and said, "Well, I've done all I can do. See ya 'round!"

They then vanished in white light. Pikachu's last sentence was "By the way, if you run into Kirby, tell him we should get together sometime."

Back at the Arwing II, Mewtwo was waiting for them with his arms crossed.

"I take it you've found the sage?" He asked.

Fox nodded and then an idea popped into his head. "Hey, Mewtwo, wanna come with us?"

Mewtwo shook his head and said, "No. My place is here. But you can visit me and Pikachu if you get the chance."

Fox nodded and commented, "I understand."

Fox and Link then got into their ship and had liftoff.

"Oh no…Not THIS again!" Link said before they attached to the Dimension ring and zoomed off.
 

Chapter 8: The speed of sound

The Arwing II zoomed just near a planet similar to Earth and detached from the Dimension Ring to zoom into its atmosphere.

"Our next destination is here, Link." Fox informed as he pressed a few buttons.

There was a big growling noise and Fox's eyes widened. He looked around wildly as if some wild animal was loose in the spaceship.

"Did someone let a lion in here?" Fox asked, suspiciously.

"No. That was my stomach." Link answered.

Fox rolled his eyes and pressed another button. Out popped a little cube and when Fox pressed it, it expanded until it turned into an apple. He tossed it behind his back and Link caught it like a baseball. Link shrugged.

"Oh well. At least we won't go hungry." Link said as he took a bite out of the fruit.

Suddenly, there was a strange tingling sensation and it ended as soon as it began. Fox felt the exact same way Link did.

“That’s strange…” Link said, “All of a sudden, I don’t quite feel like myself anymore.”

The Arwing II landed just outside a large city so they wouldn't attract attention. Fox hopped out and then noticed that the ship was notably larger.

"Hey, Link?" Fox called in curiosity.

"Yeah?" Link asked.

"Was our ship always this big?" Fox asked.

Link then came out and Fox looked bewildered. Link, feeling a little uncomfortable, felt that he should speak first.

"What? What is it?" Link asked with a shrug.

Fox's eyes widened as he spoke. His voice was very poorly trying to hide something bad.

"Nothing. D-Don't look in the mirror!" Fox quickly said as he put his arms up in the “NO” fashion.

Link looked in the Arwing II's window and screamed. Link was now a hedgehog with one large green spike and the others were yellow. He still had his gauntlets, boots, shield, and sword, but his tunic seemed to have merged with his body, seeing as his torso was green.

"I told you NOT TO LOOK IN THE MIRROR!" Fox said as he put his hand over his eyes.

Link looked back at Fox and then noticed something different.

"Uhh, Fox…Maybe you should look in the mirror too." The hylian warned.

Fox had the sudden feeling that he wasn’t going to like this. He did it anyway and had similar results to Link.

When he calmed down, Fox said, "LINK! I'M SHORT! AND I LOOK LIKE SOMETHING FROM A CARTOON!"

Indeed, Fox's clothes appeared to have shrunk to fit his new form. He looked more like Tails in a spacesuit with this new makeover. Before any of them could say anything, something fast and blue zoomed right at them. All of them screamed before they collided and tumbled through the grass like bowling pins. When the tumbling stopped, Link sat up and shook his head. When Link opened his eyes, Sonic was sitting in front of him.

"Sorry, mister, I didn't have time to stop." Sonic apologized without opening his eyes.

"Sonic?" Link asked in surprise.

Sonic opened his eyes at the mention of his name. The voice sounded eerily familiar, but he simply cocked his head in confusion.

"Do I know you?" Sonic asked as he inspected him.

"C'mon, buddy? Don't you recognize me?" Link asked, holding his arms out in the “look at me” fashion.

Sonic blinked a few times and simply answered, "Sorry, but I’ve never seen you in these parts."

Link rummaged around for something to help him. He was about finished when he seized something and took out his gilded sword.

"What about THIS?" Link asked, a little more impatiently this time.

Sonic nearly fell over again and asked, "Link? You're a hedgehog, too?!"

He then looked over at Fox and was curious about this. Sonic’s eyes widened in fascination for reasons Fox didn’t know.

"Hey, Tails, I didn't know you had a spacesuit." The blue hedgehog said as he scratched his chin.

Fox looked around to see if anyone else was there and asked, "You talkin' to me?"

Link sighed and said to himself, "This is going to take a while."

A few minutes later, Sonic finally got the whole story. He got every detail from Link’s battle with Allos to Scales smacking down those redeye.

"I see. That’s Fox in the spacesuit. So, you're tracking someone down and you have to find these 'sages' and prevent Ganon from coming back. Amazing what you can do in just two months."

Link was shocked. "TWO MONTHS?! Where I come from, it's been TWO YEARS since we last met!"

Fox dipped his head in thought. This was a tough problem, but in the end, he came to a conclusion.

"Oh. I get it! Different dimensions must mean different space/time continuum." Fox said as he put up his finger in success.

Link scratched his head and asked, "What does that mean?"

Fox looked at Link and said, "A year in your world is a month in Sonic's world."

"Oh."

Sonic got to his feet and asked, "Well, which Sage are ya' looking for this time?"

Fox and Link looked at each other, then back to Sonic. They forgot to check.

"We don't know." They said in perfect coordination.

Link got to his own feet and said, in a confident voice, "But we're sure to find him or her soon."

Just then the earth underneath his feet moved and something burst out of the ground under his legs. A red, doglike head with dreadlocks had popped out.

"There you are, Sonic. I've been…"

WHAM! The thing conked his head on something. He looked up to see that he was between a green hedgehog’s legs, with his eyes as wide as dinner plates and watering.

"Oh. Sorry, pal." The thing apologized.

Link managed to strain a few words. It wasn’t easy, seeing as the creature’s head had hit him in a place I won’t even mention.

"No…harm…done."

The creature got itself out of the ground and Sonic strode over to his friends. He looked them over as Sonic went over to him.

"Fox, Link, this is Knuckles." Sonic introduced.

Link could see why he was called Knuckles. On each of this thing's fists were two large spikes.

"Don't worry. I only bite when I'm in a bad mood." Knuckles assured.

Sonic snapped his fingers and then asked, "Hey, guys, why don't you stay here for a while? I'll introduce ya' to everyone."

Fox and Link agreed and held onto Sonic. In a second, Knuckles was simply left with a mouthful of dust.

"HEY! WAIT FOR ME!" Knuckles said as he took off.

Up on a pole, a black hedgehog was watching them. Its fiery red eyes seemed to pierce the ground everyone was standing on. This character had seen Link before, but that was a long time ago.

"It's Link and Fox again. How did they get here?" He asked himself.

He then paused and then asked himself, "Did they bring Zelda? I guess I'll have to wait and find out."

He then sped off, using his jet boots. It then turned out that he wasn't the only one watching them. In fact, there were six.
 

Chapter 9: From bad to worse

Somewhere in the bushes, three pairs of eyes had just spotted the spaceship. Then, three people came out. It was the trio who caused a LOT of trouble before; Vector, Espio, and Charmy.

"Well, what is it?" Vector asked as he scratched his head. Charmy shrugged.

"It could be one of Eggman's ships." Espio suggested.

"How do you know?" Charmy asked in a know-it-all tone.

"Charmy, 'Knowledge' is my middle name." Espio told his inquisitive friend. Charmy was confused.

"Hey, Vector, is Espio's middle name 'Knowledge'?" Charmy asked.

"No. It's Eugene." Vector answered.

Espio's head seemed to turn as if it was on a cog. His yellow eyes could probably pierce through three inches of solid steel right now.

"Well, at least MY middle name isn't SUSAN!" Espio blurted.

A muscle in Vector's jaw twitched uncontrollably and his eyes widened, leaving him gaping. His jaw stopped twitching and he clenched his fists.

Then, he slowly turned and said, "YOU HAD TO BLAB THAT, DIDN'T YOU?!"

Espio then turned and asked, “Charmy, what’s your middle name?”

“Oh, that’s easy.” Charmy said, “My middle name is ‘The’.”

Espio and Vector stood there, completely dumbfounded. Espio then spoke in disbelief.

“Charmy The Bee. What is this? Some kind of lame video game rip-off?” He asked.

"Boys, we can argue about middle names later, let's make sure Eggman doesn't try getting away." Vector suggested.

Everyone else smiled and agreed. A few minutes later, they did their work. They smashed it with monkey wrenches, took out the brakes, and even tampered with the landing gear.

After a good snigger, Vector said, "He's not going to be happy about this! And that's going to be something I'll ENJOY!"

Meanwhile, Sonic had taken everyone back to his crib. It wasn’t really much; just a simple workshop-looking building. When they entered, a two-tailed Fox came up and shook both Fox and Link's hand.

"This here's my best buddy Tails." Sonic introduced.

"Fox McCloud. Sonic's told me ALL about ya." Fox said kindly.

"Actually, my real name is Miles Prower. But my friends call me 'Tails'." The fox said in a boyish voice.

"Pleased to meet you, Tails." Link said in his kind voice.

Without warning, the doors flung open and Shadow was standing in the doorway. Sonic turned, startled. After realizing that it was a friend, he calmed down and gave the thumbs up.

"Hey, Shadow. That was quite an entrance, you know. I'm pretty sure you know…" Sonic began, but Shadow cut him off.

"I know they are Fox and Link. I saw them land and you greet them." Shadow replied in his usual cold tone.

Knuckles growled as he put his fist so close to Shadow’s face that a spike touched his black nose. The aggressive echidna then withdrew his fist, resisting every urge to punch something.

"Are you always like this?" He asked angrily.

Shadow glanced at him and answered, "Yes."

Shadow then turned to Link and slowly walked over to him. For a while, Link didn’t know what Shadow wanted. However, there was something about Shadow that he trusted and he allowed the black hedgehog to approach him.

"Tell me, Link. Is Zelda with you too?" He asked with a cocked eyebrow.

Link hung his hedgehog head and slowly shook it. Shadow simply closed his eyes and hung his own head.

"Sorry, Shadow. She's back at Hyrule waiting for me." Link said in a sorrowful tone.

“Listen, Link, I have something I want to tell you…” Shadow began sounding as close as Link had ever heard to sorrow, but something happened that changed their little.

Suddenly, there was a HUGE rumbling noise and the house actually came off the ground. Everyone saw that a HUGE robot was lifting it. Link gaped at the sight. He doubted he even saw anything this big with the exception of the giant redeye or super-sized Scales. Sonic's eyes narrowed as he realized who this was.

"Eggman!" Sonic hissed.

There was an evil laughter, shortly followed by a man with a big, bushy mustache. Eggman’s eyes were concealed by sunglasses, but one could tell that he was utterly amused.

"I see you have new friends, Sonic. Let's see them up close!" Eggman said evilly.

The giant hands threw the house away, causing it to explode into splinters on contact with the ground, and grabbed Link and Fox. They struggled against it, but the iron fingers were far too strong to break their grip. Fox doubted they would get out of this at all.

Link then got an idea, and with all his strength, shoved his sword into one of the fingers. Electricity pulsed through it and zapped Eggman inside.

"YEOWCH!" Eggman shouted as the robot's fingers released Fox and Link.

The sudden change of things sent Fox and Link plummeting to the ground. They would surely die if they hit the surface. Fortunately, destiny had different ideas.

The bone-crushing impact didn't come. Instead, they landed in some soft car seats with a trio up front. Link and Fox had landed in a dark green Corvette that appeared just under them. Three people were there and turned around to reveal Vector, Espio, and Charmy.

"Hey, Link! Long time, no see. I didn’t know you were a hedgehog." Vector heartily greeted.

Unfortunately, they heard thundering footsteps and Eggman's robot was headed right for them. Each of the metallic footsteps seemed to quake the earth.

Fox leaned forward and shouted, "TALK LATER! STEP ON IT!"

The car zoomed off with the robot close behind and catching up quick. When Link looked in the rearview mirror, he saw little white letters that spelled out “Objects in mirror are closer than they appear” and Eggman was virtually kicking the rearview mirror.

"CAN'T YOU GO ANY FASTER?!" Fox asked impatiently.

Vector answered, "I gotta obey the speed limit."

"WHO CARES ABOUT THE SPEED LIMIT?! WE'RE ABOUT TO GET CRUSHED!!!" Link shouted at the crocodile.

"Hey, guys!" Someone shouted from above.

Everyone looked up to see Tails flying a blue airplane with Knuckles in the back seat, Sonic on one wing, and Shadow on the other.

"Ready, Shadow?" Sonic asked.

Shadow simply nodded and they both leapt off the wings. They turned into living cannonballs and they appeared to fuse into a bluish-black bomb. The huge sphere smashed into the robot and the pile of metal fell to the ground. Sonic and Shadow stood there with triumphant looks on their faces.

“You stand no chance, Dr. Egghead.” Sonic said with confidence.

The robot simply got up, without a scratch on its body and reared up to its full height. The cannonball move didn’t even hurt him once.

"WHAT?! We did our best combo and it didn't even phase him!" Sonic exclaimed.

Shadow was just as surprised. They could sink a ship with that attack, but they didn't do anything to this. Eggman just laughed.

"Is that all you've got? I've built this robot with a metal that can withstand your spin attacks. Behold EMPEROR EGGMA…"

Eggman was cut off because a blast of greenish-black energy rocketed into his robot and it began to go up in flames. Link turned upon hearing the explosion and saw the that the blast of energy came from the sky.

"WHAT?! NO!! I WAS SO CLOSE!!!" Eggman shouted as he made his escape before the robot exploded into oblivion.

"What? Reinforcements?" Fox asked.

Link simply shrugged. Just then, a voice spoke up.

"Long time no see, Shadow." The voice was deep and rumbling like a waterfall. It didn’t sound good, but Shadow's eyes widened as he realized who this was.

"No…It can't be!"
 

Chapter 10: Darkness at ease

A big, black thing appeared from a giant red cloud and hovered so close to Shadow that it almost touched him. He had spikes with the same shade of red as Shadow's eyes. It had two, glowing red eyes, but there was a large one in the middle of his forehead. He didn't have a mouth, but he spoke so loud that everyone heard it.

"Have you re-thought your opinion on obeying me?" It asked. If he had eyebrows, he would surely be cocking one.

"Black Doom? But you're supposed to be dead!" Sonic said, trying to sort things out. Vector scratched his head.

"I remember Shadow wiping this guy off the face of the earth. How'd he get back?" The crocodile asked.

Doom then raised his hand and created an energy disc of some kind. He flung it at the same time he said, "DIE!"

The energy disc rocketed into the car. BOOM! It exploded into a fireball and sent everyone in it flying. Doom then fired another blast of magic into the air to hit a bullseye on the airplane. Tails and Knuckles braced themselves for landing, but instead, they crashed and got many nasty burns. Virtually everyone was wiped out. Everyone but Shadow...

Shadow turned to face his old enemy. He could feel his anger rising and a muscle twitching in his jaw. Energy began to pulsate from his body, turning it bright red.

"YOU WILL PAY FOR TRYING TO KILL MY FRIENDS!" Shadow shouted in pure hatred. If Doom had a mouth, he would surely be smiling.

"That's it, Shadow. Unleash your anger. It will take you farther from your pathetic friends and closer to ME." He said as though they were having a nice cup of tea. This only made Shadow all the more angrier.

"I'VE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU! CHAOS..." Shadow began. Doom's good mood only spread as Shadow finished his sentence. "BLAST!!!!!!"

An enormous ball of red energy engulfed the entire area, blowing up anything within twenty feet of Shadow. When the energy cleared, Doom was gone and Shadow was breathing heavily. Just then, the familiar voice spoke up again.

"Good job, Shadow. Look at what you've done." Shadow whirled around to see that, through his anger, he accidentally Chaos Blasted his friends. His eyes were wide with shock. Doom materialized behind Shadow just when he had gone to check on Sonic. If Doom's smile existed, it would've spread so far, it would have gone off his face.

"Now for my part." Doom said in a voice of casual indifference. He raised his hand and created a blackish-green fireball. With a grunt, he hauled it at Sonic. Strangely, Shadow then glowed bright blue and, at a distance, you would've mistaken him for Sonic.

"Behold the ultimate power." Shadow said. His voice was no longer angry, but calm and defensive. He then said two words. "Chaos Control."

In a flash of light, Shadow disappeared and so did Sonic. All the fireball hit was a bunch of air and the ground. Doom's three eyes widened in shock.

"What?! Where did that hedgehog go?" He asked out loud. A voice behind him answered in just two words. "Right here."

Doom whirled around to meet a shining blue Shadow. Shadow then dashed forward with the force of a bullet. It hit Doom right in the abdomen and Shadow rocketed past the Black Arm leader. Before Doom had time to recover, Shadow came back like a blue boomerang and smashed into him again. When he came around the third time, Doom reacted too late. He was cleaved right in two and black mist shot out of him like with super-Scales. After a long time of hissing and screaming, Doom vanished completely.

Shadow, who was still blue, returned to the ground and touched everyone. In a matter of seconds, their wounds were healed. Link's eyes fluttered until he came back to his senses. He slowly got up and saw a blue hedgehog heal Fox.

"Sonic? Is that you?" Link asked. "Sonic" turned around to reveal red eyes. Link's eyes widened so much, his eyes almost dried out.

"Shadow?" Link asked. Shadow smirked and simply answered, "Yes, Link. I'm Shadow the Hedgehog."

Fox got to his feet and then remembered the mission. "Link, we've got to find the next shrine. I forgot to check my staff." Fox then took out his staff and a blackish-purple light shone from the end. Fox examined it closely and then got the answer.

"We should be finding the Darkness shrine. Let's move." Fox commanded. Link nodded in agreement and they both dashed off.

After a long time, they found themselves in the same room with Krystal and Pikachu. The dark purple light cleared to reveal a familiar face.

"Hey, Link. Yes. I am the Sage of Darkness. I must thank you. If I hadn't seen you in pain, I wouldn't have been able to defeat Doom. Yes, I do have a spell for...Fox." Shadow said in a much wiser tone than his usual. He raised his hands over his head and a dark purple light touched Fox.

"This spell will allow you to detect someone you can't trust. If it senses someone with a dark heart, it will glow and vibrate. Use it well." Shadow advised. Just then, Link heard a voice in his head.

"Link, you know I have something with Zelda?" He asked. Link only nodded. "Then, you know I love her. But I know we're not meant for each other. So I ask something of you." Shadow continued.

Link said, "Fire away."

"I want you to promise that you'll keep her happy. If she's happy, I'll be satisfied. If you don't keep that promise, I'll be all over you with Chaos Blasts." Shadow pleaded. Link smiled and answered, "That's a promise I'm sure to keep."

A white light engulfed both of them. Shadow's last sentence was, "Good luck on your journey. And good luck finding Allos."

They appeared right where their ship was, but when they did, it was in shambles. "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!" They both shouted.

Sonic raced into the scene and asked, "Hey, what happened?" They turned to him and began to talk in a worried tone.

"SOMEONE TORE OUR SPACESHIP APART! HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET OUTTA HERE NOW?!" Just then, they noticed three shadows sneaking away. Fox smiled a wicked smile at the thought of his idea. He pointed past the three shadows and shouted, "Look! It's the three stooges!"

One of them whirled around and asked, "Where?" The trio happened to be the Chaotix. When Vector whirled around, Link and Fox were looking them in the eye. Vector scratched the back of his head.

"Uhhh...Sorry, guys. We didn't know it was yours." Vector apologized. But he was too late. Steam was already coming out of both Link and Fox's ears.

"VECTOR! In order to pay for this, YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS ARE GOING TO REPAIR OUR SHIP NOW!!!!!" Fox roared.

Espio sighed and said, "I told you taking the ship apart was a bad idea." Fox spoke again.

"One more thing..."

A minute later, Vector, Espio, and Charmy were in the Three Stooges' costumes. Vector smacked himself in the forehead and asked, "Do we have to go through with this?" Charmy answered like Curly, "Soitenly!" and imitated his whooping noise. Vector and his gang then enacted a scene from the Three Stooges and made Fox, Link, and Sonic's sides split.

After many days, the ship was up and running again. "Hey, Sonic, care to come." Sonic shook his head, but looked up and covered, "I'll stay here and make sure Shadow doesn't wander off. Thanks for the offer, though." Fox gave the thumbs' up and Link saluted before they blasted into space.

 

Chapter 11: Allos repeat

After a long trip through lightspeed, the Dimension Ring came to a halt. It stopped on a planet similar to our own and landed on the outskirts of what looked like a large city. The Arwing II detached from its boost and rocketed toward the planet.

When they landed, Link looked at his hands and touched his face. He then looked in the mirror and saw he was no longer a hedgehog.

"FINALLY!" He shouted in happiness. Fox rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Alright, let's find out which Sage is next." Fox said as he took out his staff. A red light poured out of it and revealed a kind of island with a volcano.

"Well, Link, since we're going into a volcano, we've gotta find the Fire Sage." Fox informed. When he turned around, Link's green tunic and hat were replaced by red copies.

"Goron Tunic. With this, I can withstand intense heat." Link explained.

Fox smacked himself in the face. He forgot to plan ahead and bring something heatproof.

"Uh," Fox said as he scratched his head, "Link, you wouldn't happen to have a spare one would you?"

Link pulled out a second tunic and said, "Got you covered."

Fox quickly pulled the tunic over himself and they were on their way.

They sprinted down the road and could have sworn they saw something soar past overhead. Before any questions could be asked, they both ran into someone. When they cleared their vision, they saw a familiar Mustached man.

"Mario?" Link asked in amazement.

"That's right! It's-a me, Mario!" The plucky Italian greeted.

Link then looked to the right and saw a taller man with green clothes and a large "L" on his hat.

"Hey, who's this guy?" Fox asked as he pointed at him.

"I'm Luigi, Mario's brother." He answered. His voice was higher than Mario's and he sounded somewhat similar to him.

They stood up and said together, "We're the Super Mario Brothers!" Fireworks went off behind them and left Link and Fox staring.

"I almost forgot, guys. Do you happen to know where a volcanic island is?" Link asked.

Mario and Luigi were in deep thought. After about five minutes, they snapped their fingers and said, "Yoshi Island!"

A few hours found our heroes at the docks and a ship waiting for them. Fox looked around and saw it was like one of those fancy cruise ships. Link had never seen a ship like this and he admitted it was very good-looking.

Mario came out wearing a sailor hat and Luigi did the same.

"All ashore is going ashore!" They both shouted.

After that, they sped off and the ship was leaving the dock in minutes.

Miles away on an island, a strange aircraft landed on the far side of the landmass. A hatch opened up and revealed Allos in a very thieving mood.

"Alright, time to get down to business." He said to himself.

He opened up a gun on his forearm and took out the red core. Then, he put in a kind of tube with long, pointy objects in it. After that, he stalked off into the jungle.

As he ran through the undergrowth, he heard something and ducked. He found out that it was just a little dinosaur. It walked on two legs, had a big cute nose, and wore red boots and a saddle of some kind. He had heard of these things in town. They were called "Yoshis" and they were perfect for his arsenal.

He looked at the green one, cocked his gun, and fired. A large dart hit the Yoshi in the leg and it yelped in pain. It looked at its leg and pulled the dart out. Allos then activated his new jetpack and flew off. He needed to find more Yoshis to dart.

Back with the green Yoshi, it was strolling through the jungle when a huge, flesh-eating lizard came out of nowhere and snarled at him. As it backed Yoshi into a corner, the dinosaur felt sick to its stomach. Just then, its eyes turned yellow and the large lizard began to shrink. Then, he realized that the lizard wasn't getting smaller. He was getting BIGGER.

The lizard saw a huge terror before it and began to run away as fast as its legs would carry it. It hadn't gone fifteen yards when something caught it by the tail. It struggled, but this thing was dragging it backwards. When he looked at it, it was a huge red thing that looked like a chameleon's tongue. As it dragged it away, the lizard felt its feet leave the ground and felt something close on its back. It felt the thing toss him into the air and with a CRUNCH, everything became nothing. Something killed this lizard.

 

Chapter 12: Yoshi Park

The ship arrived on the island and the four adventurers hopped off faster than you can blink.

"Finally!" Fox shouted, "I never liked boat travel anyway."

Link guessed that Fox liked sailing as much as he liked flying. But now wasn't the time to ask questions.

"Alright, Mario brothers, which way to the volcano?" Link asked.

Mario and Luigi screwed up their faces and snapped their fingers.

"It's right in the center of the island. However, we gotta go through the jungle first." Mario and Luigi said at the exact same time.

Fox turned to Link and commented, "Wow. That's some talent. I couldn't do that with Falco in a hundred years."

They were about halfway to the volcano when Fox stepped on something hard. He looked down and saw a kind of dart next to a large footprint similar to the Redeye track back on Sauria.

"Fox? What's that?" Link asked. Mario and Luigi were just as puzzled.

"I know what it is. It's what's inside that stumps me." Fox answered. He then opened up a small device on his wrist and put the dart inside.

"I'm sending the results to Slippy. He'll tell us what's inside this baby." Fox told them.

There was a rustle in the bush and they whirled around. They were about to run when a red Yoshi ran out of the bush, his eyes as wide as dinner plates.

"Hey! A local!" Mario said as he raised a hand.

"TALK LATER! RUN NOW!!!!" The Yoshi said as it ran past them. They looked at him for a while, but then turned around to see a blue dinosaur. It was tall enough to look Link in the eye and had sharp claws and teeth. There was even a row of spines going down its back. It was a kind of raptor, but nothing like Fox had seen.

Link whipped out his sword and shot lightning at the raptor. However, the raptor was smarter than he looked and ducked. It then began a series of birdlike calls. Then it struck Fox.

"He's calling for backup." He said under his breath.

Just then, without warning another raptor leapt at Link only to miss by a mile. Link raised his sword, but the Yoshi stopped him.

"What are you doing?! Those things are TRYING TO KILL US!!" Link exclaimed.

"I don't know what they are. But they used to be Yoshis" The little red dude said.

Mario and Luigi's mouths hung open for a second too long. A raptor opened its mouth and out came a long, red tongue. It caught Mario on the hand and began drawing him closer.

"MAMA MIA!!!" Mario shouted as he struggled against the raptor's chameleon-like tongue.

Just when the raptor was about to have Mario for breakfast, something roared and crashed out of the undergrowth. It tackled the raptor and smashed the dinosaur's head into the ground. The thing had a huge, bulky body, a spiked shell, horns on its head, and flaming red hair. For a moment, Link thought it was a dinosaur. But it then spoke in a growling voice similar to Vector's but far deeper.

"What are YOU guys doing here?" The thing asked. Mario cocked an eyebrow and scratched his head.

"Bowser? You're here too?" Mario asked.

The other raptor began to growl and Bowser simply said, "We can talk later."

Just when the raptor leapt at them, something long and red came out of nowhere and snatched it. It screeched as it was dragged away. When it had disappeared into the undergrowth, there was a sickening CRUNCH and the screeching stopped.

"We gotta get outta here if we want to see another day!" Luigi shouted as they took off. Strangely, the red Yoshi had followed them. Link turned around and began talking.

"Who are you and why aren't you like those guys?" He asked. The Yoshi sighed and took a seat.

"First off, my name is Rock. And second, THIS. Some dinosaur dude came here and began pelting the others with darts that turned them into monsters. I'm the only survivor." He explained.

Just then, Fox's sensor went off and the results came back in. Fox studied it and his jaw dropped.

"What is it, fleabag?" Bowser asked.

"It's the results. According to Slippy, the stuff in the darts is various dinosaur DNA. Most of it is from the largest carnivores in prehistory. Slippy says he even found a bit of pterosaur and crocodile in there." Fox answered.

Mario and Luigi seated themselves on a tree root. They were about to drift off to slumber-ville when something wet came down on them.

"Luigi? Is it raining?" Mario asked. Luigi shook his head and then they slowly...looked...up.

The 'tree root' they were sitting on was actually the toe of a dinosaur. It was no doubt a Yoshi, but it looked more like one of those tyrannosaurs on King Kong. In its mouth was the same raptor that tried leaping at them. We'll call it Y-rex for short.

The Y-rex tilted its head back and swallowed what was left of the raptor. After that, it roared and began to stomp toward our heroes.

"Bowser, can't you take that thing on?!" Luigi shouted.

"I'm not THAT BIG!" Bowser shouted over the snapping jaws.

Just then, a big red tongue as thick as a python burst out of the Y-rex's mouth and caught Rock. The little thing fit right into the mouth and the Y-rex swallowed it whole.

Fox rapidly typed a message and sent it to Slippy.

"HOW COULD YOU BE WRITING AT A TIME LIKE THIS?!" Bowser roared.

"I've just sent Slippy a message to send in an antidote to these Yoshis." Fox shouted.

When the Y-rex finished swallowing Rock, it was still hungry and five servings wouldn't hurt at all.

Link and the others would either reach the volcano or die trying.

 

Chapter 13: Injection

Everyone sprinted as fast as they could away from the Y-rex, with its jaws snapping behind them. Once in a while, they had to roll in order to avoid the tongue.

"GREAT! This thing is a redeye with a fishing pole. Just our luck!" Link shouted in frustration.

Link found a good, rocky place and quickly ducked out of sight. Fox, Bowser, and the Mario bros. were quick to follow. The Y-rex looked around, sniffed the air, and then trundled off to find another hapless victim.

"Whew! I can't believe what happened back there." Bowser said as he wiped sweat off his forehead.

"Answer this, Bowser. How'd you get here?" Mario asked. He had been dying to ask that.

"Well, I was flying around in my Koopa