SFP – 1:00PM
Four Months Later
Wind rushed past him as he took the familiar route to the shop. He always preferred his bike over the SUV. He enjoyed it more when the only female on his team accompanied him. The tan vulpine laughed to himself, he knew he'd see her later that day. As for now he had some business to attend to. General Pepper couldn't afford to give them as many jobs, so he was asked to revisit an old one. He still had money and could have easily survived until Lylat was in danger again, but there was something about this place that kept bringing him back. In the four months it had been since he'd last been here, he was hoping that the store was still in one piece.
Fox eased his bike to a stop and took off his helmet. He turned to face his pizzeria and couldn't help but smile. 'Seems like little has changed since I've been here.' He thought as he pulled the door open and walked inside. The familiar smells of restaurant filled his nose as the door shut behind him. The first thing he noticed was the lack of people in the pizzeria. He wondered if the store was even still making money. He quickly shook the idea out of his head, Kara was still in charge, and she had a good head on her shoulders.
"Hey, welcome to SFP how can I help... Fox McCloud?" Fox looked up to the vulpine behind the counter. He was an arctic fox, about his height, but what really caught Fox's attention was the black slash over his right eye and seemed to follow down his arm. He noticed a comm on his wrist as well that looked different from the standard issue ones normally handed out in the military. "Uh... Hello? Mr. McCloud?"
"Just Fox is fine." Fox replied extending his hand. The arctic vulpine quickly returned the gesture.
"Kiko Truman. It's nice to finally meet you in person Fox." Kiko rested his hands on the counter. "So, what brings you back to SFP?"
"Well, there hasn't really been enough activity to keep the bills paid." Fox sighed. "So General Pepper asked me to come check on things here. Is Kara here?"
Kiko shook his head. "Kara is on maternity leave." Fox's eyes widened at the news. "Yeah, I didn't even know she had a boyfriend, then she's up and preggers. I was assigned to be the interim manager until you or her came back."
"Kara's pregnant? I don't think I've even seen her boyfriend." Fox chuckled to himself before he looked at Kiko. "Aren't you a bit young to be in a management position?"
Kiko shrugged. "That's what I told 'em. Think they'd listen?" They shared a laughed, Fox knew all to well how the military made your choices for you. "So, how is the new member of Star Fox?"
"Well, Krystal has just about finished up some advanced courses." Fox grinned. "She's a hell of a pilot, picked up the controls for the Arwing faster than anyone else I've seen." The both looked over at the phone as it rang. Kiko sighed grabbed the phone, leaving Fox alone for the time being. "Hey you mind if I take a look around out back?" Kiko waved him in and continued taking the order. Fox felt waves of memories hit him as he saw his prep area, most of them from when he first met Krystal. His daydream was broken as another employee ran into him with a armload of dishes. They barely muttered an apology before walking past him towards the dishwasher. Fox continued his tour down memory lane, he didn't want to believe it, but he missed this place.
"Order up!" Kiko yelled, breaking the otherwise silent atmosphere. "Dishes can wait, orders first!"
Fox could tell that the place had slacked off since he'd been here. It looked like his nightly cleaning list had been thrown out, the floors where a mess, the prep area was a disaster. When he got to the mixer he sighed angrily. "It's like six Falcos are working here." The mixer looked like it was being held together with tape. Fox cursed in frustration before heading back to Kiko.
"I know its standards have fallen, but that is no reason for you to slack off." Kiko stared at the other employee working. "I don't care what rank you have in the military, when you are here you follow my orders or you find yourself being the scout for Venom, you follow me?" When he was finished Kiko waved the employee away.
"The way I see it, shit travels downhill." Fox walked into his old office and sat down. Kiko walked in behind him leaning against the door frame. "You've let my restaurant's standards slip very low while you've been in charge it seems, and while I should just fire your ass..." Fox stopped to think about his next words. He really didn't want to jump right back into being the manager here. "I'll give you a second chance."
Kiko wanted to speak his mind about what Fox had said but remained quiet. "Thanks Fox, it's been hard for me to even keep this place open." Kiko walked into the office and shut the door. "This isn't really my type of environment. A lot of the guys think that working here is some form of punishment." Kiko looked nervously at Fox who seemed indifferent to his comment. "You thinking of letting some people go?"
"I am letting people go." Fox stated. "I'll only need you and one other part timer, everyone else can go back to Pepper. Send in reports about their work ethic here. I'll make sure Pepper sees them." Fox looked down at the desk, which seemed as messy as always. "Have anyone in particular that you want to keep?"
"Yeah, there's one. She's the only part timer here, really knows her shit." Kiko pointed to a list of names and numbers. "Last one on the right."
Fox nodded and stood up. "I'd like to stay and chat but I've got to get home before Krys does."
"Krys?" Kiko laughed. "You give pet names to all your crew mates?" Fox shook his head, laughing with him.
"Nope that's Falco's job." Fox went to leave but quickly turned to face Kiko once more. "Listen, Kiko. I'm going to need you to let everyone other than the part timer that they've been let go. If they raise a fuss about it tell them to get in contact with Pepper, or myself." With that Fox make his way out of the pizzeria. He put his helmet back on and started his bike. He looked over the shop one last time, happy to finally be coming back here. It would take some work to get it back up to his standards but he knew his team was up for the challenge. He was about to leave when he saw Kiko running towards him. "What's up?" He asked as Kiko reached him.
"I forgot to ask, when are you guys starting?" Fox smiled.
"Tomorrow. Pencil me and Krystal in for a nine to five shift, with Falco and Slippy coming in around noon. We'll show you how to run this place." Fox put down the visor on his helmet and peeled out of the parking lot, leaving Kiko in his dust.
"I'm going to be working with Star Fox?" Kiko asked no one before going back inside. He let realization kick in and grinned. He'd be working with Fox, Falco, Slippy and of course Krystal. "I'll be working along side two hot chicks now!" His celebration was short lived as the phones began to ring once more. It didn't bother him to answer it this time. "Thanks for calling SFP, and you're not gonna believe what's happening tomorrow!"
"If it's anything other than a better special I'm not interested." The customer replied. Kiko sighed, and went back into his regular routine.
"Nope, no new specials ma'am, but we'll be under new management tomorrow."
That's right folks. The doors of SFP have been reopened! I know a few of you have been waiting for it, and I do apologize about the wait. But have no fear, SFP is back baby! This first chapter is intentionally short, the rest will be longer.
Peace,
H-T
P.S. - I am looking for 1-2 more OC's for this fic, if you are interested either says so in a review or send me a PM!
