F-Zero: Justice

Chapter 8: Death at Sand Ocean

    The race was taking place at the original Sand Ocean track. The same one that Captain Falcon raced on years ago in the Knight League. Zoda had brought some of his goons with him to help him race. Luckily, the Arrows were racing too. Ace Winters looked around at his surroundings, Lily Flyer was there, Captain Falcon was here, even Jody Summer and John Tanaka. However, one person was missing. "Where's Princia?" Ace asked looking around. Jody now noticed the missing princess. "I don't know Ace," Jody admitted. "But she wouldn't miss this race. Especially since this is her last race before we take her home." Exactly ten seconds after Jody had finished talking, there was a roar of an engine. Ace turned to see an outline of what looked like to be the Spark Moon in the distance. "There she is!" he exclaimed happily. Lily Flyer sighed, she was personally hoping that Princia Ramode would not come. The Spark Moon parked itself by the other machines, but there was something different about it. It was green! The cockpit popped open to reveal Princia, but the princess was not wearing her regular red racing outfit. She was wearing a green one!

     "Hello everyone!" she said happily. Ace Winters could not stop looking at the machine. "Princia," he spoke. "Your machine, its green?!" "I decided to change the colors for my best friend," she smiled at him. "This is our last race together, and I'd hate for it to be forgettable." Princia Ramode gave Ace a hug, and the pilot hugged her back. "Will you two freaks stop flirting and race!" Zodas strange voice shrieked. Lily sighed in relief, she was grateful that Zoda said that before she did. The race would be five laps. The goal was for one of the Arrows or the federation to place before Zoda. If Zoda lost the race, he would be arrested with no resistance. However, if Zoda won, they would have to let him go. This race was important.

    Zoda, after hopping in his machine, turned on his com to address his men. They were called the Deathriddle society. "Stick to the plan!" he told them. "They'll never win if we follow it!" Meanwhile, Super Arrow was addressing his friends and companions. "We can beat Zoda!" he declared. "Justice always wins in the end!" As the countdown began, the machines rose from the ground. BEEP...BEEP...BEEP...BEEP!!! The machines took off from the start, with the Green Amazone leading the pack. Ace Winters' helmet was equipped with a comlink to communicate with his allies. He pressed the large gray button on the side of his helmet and a comlink popped out. "Jody, can you hear me?" "Loud and clear," Jody Summer spoke from the other end. "We can do this." Zoda, in the Death Anchor, signaled his men to spread out. When they did, this gave an open invitation for Super Arrow to speed up to where Ace was. The first lap was now over, and boost was granted to the pilots. Zoda's minions initiated their strategy. One of them slammed the Spark Moon and had it skidding against the side of the track. Another goon did the same to the Bunny Flash.

   Lily Flyer was not bothered at all though, her training was to know how to react in situations like these. Lily simply side-attacked the henchman away from her. His machine immediately flew off the track and exploded. One was down. Princia however, was not trained for race combat like Lily was. Lily Flyer figured she could let Princia Ramode try to save herself. But to her shock, Ace Winters came to her rescue by ramming the enemy pilot away from the princess. A gap now opened, which allowed Captain Falcon to speed through. "Get him!" Zoda shrieked. The remaining three henchmen of Zoda all went after Captain Falcon. They did not realize it would be their terrible mistake. The bounty hunter was ready to face them. In a quick swift motion, he did his signature move THE FALCON PUNCH! He plowed through the goons like a knife through butter. "Yes!" Jody exclaimed excited. Zoda was now the last pilot on the track. It was the final lap, but Zoda knew he had to do something otherwise he would be battered and beaten. Speaking in his com to Pico he said: "Are you two ready?" At the moment Pico was on a distant mountain top. He wasn't alone, Spade Winters was with him. They had a clear view of the track. "We're ready!" Pico replied. "There's going to be blood!" Pico was aiming a powerful bazooka cannon at the track. He was about to kill someone. "I wanna do it!" Spade whined at Pico. "I'm the professional here," he said. "You're the freak!" Pico took aim at the track. His target, Super Arrow, was coming up the turn.

   "I've got him sight," Pico said. "Ready...Aim-""I WANNA DO IT!" Spade shrieked. He bumped Pico away from the cannon, in hope he could use it. But his attack just caused Pico to accidently fire the bazooka. It was a misfire, so the shot flew to track. It did not hit the King Meteor, but it hit THE WHITE CAT! Jody Summer was hit in the rear of her F-ZERO machine. "AAAH!" she screamed. "JODY!" Captain Falcon yelled. "I can't steer!" Jody hollered. "I can't"- The White Cat tumbled off the edge of the track and into the sandbed below. The Explosion was instantaneous. "You moron!" Pico grabbed Spade by the neck and began choking him. With his left hand he pulled out his knife. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't skewer you!" Spade just laughed evilly.

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   It happened so quickly, so quickly that no one had time to react. No one could believe what happened either. Captain Falcon was now searching the wreckage for any trace of Jody Summer. All that he found was remains of the White Cat. "No..." Lily Flyer said softly. She was trying not to cry. Falcon did not say a word either. He just was as still as a rock, glancing at the wreckage. His gaze never left it. "She was a remarkable woman," Mrs. Arrow spoke. "I'm so sorry. I certainly will not forget her." "Look!" Princia Ramode pointed upwards towards the sky. The other pilots followed her gaze. They spotted Pico and Spade Winters. The two loonies were wrestling each other at the top of a mountain. "I'm going to slice your throat!" Pico snarled. Spade, in the middle of the fight, noticed the F-ZERO pilots looking at them. "Uh, Pico," he said. "We got trouble." Pico noticed the group. Now both of them were scrambling to get to their feet and run. They wouldn't get away fast enough, because Super Arrow had leapt into the air and zoomed towards them in flight. Spade Winters finally managed to get to his feet and run, but Pico wasn't fast enough. Pico was now at the mercy of Super Arrow as he grabbed the assassin by his shell and took him down to the ground. As soon as the superhero touched the ground, Captain Falcon stepped forward to speak. "Where's Zoda?!" he said, his white eyes on his helmet were burning with anger. Falcon also figured that Zoda would be at his base by now. "Doesn't matter!" Pico snapped. "I wasn't trying to kill your friend!" Pico pointed to Ace Winters, who was glaring too. "That boys freaking counterpart made me miss! I was aiming for Super Arrow. My orders were to take him out!" Falcon was getting impatient he now grabbed Pico and pulled him closer. "I'm going to ask you one more time!" he said fuming.

   "Oh," the assassin grinned. "It all makes sense now. You loved her didn't you? Didn't you! Well, it doesn't matter anymore. Right now she would think that you're a terrible boyfriend now protecting her!" The triggered it, Captain Falcon's right fist flew towards the villains face and made contact with his chin. It made Lily Flyer and Princia Ramode grimace. The girls could see a tiny bit of Pico's blue blood on his chin. After all, he was a cold-blooded alien. "What do we do with him Falcon?" Super Arrow asked Captain Falcon. "Let's take him back to federation headquarters," Falcon said turning around. "We can interrogate him there and ask for help from the Galactic Space Forces. Lily, can you contact your organization?" Lily shrugged her shoulders. "I can try," she said. Super Arrow and the others walked to their machines. Captain Falcon was about to attach Pico to the cooling unit of his machine. But Ace Winters did not move. The young man was still staring at the wreckage.

   "Ace, come on," Falcon said. "We can't do anything further here. We have to go back and find Zoda." The blood of Ace Winters was boiling and his fist was shaking in fury. Jody Summer was the one that gave him a life and job. Now, without her, that life had no purpose to him. Or at least not without her. "No," he said. "What?" said Mrs. Arrow. "A while ago, Jody Summer of the Galactic Space Federation took me in," Ace said now turning to face the others. "She made me who I am. She helped me feel better about my situation, made me feel at peace about the loss of my parents. She was like my big sister, to just walk away from this would be terrible!" "We're not walking away," Lily tried to soothe Ace's anger. "We're just going back to get help from the Space Forces. Then we can give Zoda the punishment he deserves." "NO!" Ace Winters shouted not enraged. "We can't just let Zoda skate by, we have to stop him now!" Ace ran to the Green Amazone, hopping in, he revved the engine of the machine. "Where are you going?" Lily cried out to Ace. "To end this!" Ace said. "Once and for all!" The Green Amazone sped away from the other pilots and out of view. "AAACCCEEEE!" Lily screamed before dropping to her knees. But Ace Winters was long gone.

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