Chapter One

"What will I tell him?"

Peppy Hare listened to the beeps coming from the heart monitor that he was hooked up to. The beeps increased with his heart rate. He was growing anxious knowing that soon Fox McCloud, his best friend's son, would be there soon and Peppy would have to tell him of his father's fate.

His thoughts wandered back to that fateful night and the events that followed. Well, what he could recall of the entire incident. He'd had to rehash the main points of his and James McCloud's capture and escape to the appropriate authorities several times, but the events leading up to that had been irrelevant in those reports. And what was he going to tell Vivian? So far, his fiancé had been understanding of all the trauma and hadn't pressed him for more details, and hoped she'd leave it at that. But Fox…Fox never liked unanswered questions, and he'd be sure to want to know everything. And there was no way that Peppy could tell him everything.

It had all started on the night of Peppy's bachelor party…

"Lookin' good, Pep," James McCloud said as he entered Peppy and Vivian's apartment. He glanced at his own reflection in the mirror and gave an approving nod, lowering a pair of sunglasses over his eyes.

"Hey James," Vivian waved. "Nice shades. Just make sure my groom gets back in one piece so he can get me to the church on time, you hear?"

"No worries, Mrs. Hare. I can assure you tonight will consist of just good, clean, male bonding fun." James grabbed Vivian and twirled her around.

"I don't even want to know!" she pulled away, laughing. As she walked away into the other room, Peppy looked a little nervous.

"What is it Peppy? I swear, while tonight's fun ain't necessarily going to be good and clean, there's really nothing too crazy planned. You know I wouldn't let you get in trouble with the old lady."

"What? No, it's not that, Vivian's cool. I just can't help thinking about what Pepper said about the activity they saw on Venom. I got a bad feeling about that."

"Me too, Pep, but we can worry about that when fly out in a couple of days. Tonight, let's just worry about making sure you have a good time." James slung his arm around Peppy and ushered him out the door. They got into the James's car and headed toward Star Fox's headquarters.

"Check these out," James tossed a pack of something over to Peppy.

"Are these real Fortune Cigars?" Peppy slid a stogie out of the pack and sniffed it. He winced at the strong odor that came from the cigar.

"Only the best rolled blend of Fortuna tobacco and flora that money can buy."

"That must have cost you a fortune!"

"Hey man, it's your bachelor party extravaganza. Why not get some extravagant shit for my best friend? Don't think I forgot the bachelor party you gave me."

Peppy laughed. "James, you don't remember shit about that night."

"Exactly, because it was an awesome party. Now, we're going to meet Pigma at headquarters, and then we'll all board the Great Fox."

"I still don't see why we're taking the Fox if we're just heading to downtown Corneria City."

"Because you never know where the night's gonna take you, Pep. You might get a hankering for some Fichina frozen yogurt, and chances are we're going to be way too sloshed to fly, so why not try out ROB's designated flyer abilities."

"I hate that fucking robot."

"You'll see, it was all worth the money spent," James said. They pulled up to the headquarters and got out of the car. James looked at his watch. "Where the hell is Pigma?"

As if in answer, a sleek luxury space cruiser slowed its jets in front of them. The door lifted open, revealing Pigma Dengar.

"That's right. A luxury cruiser," Pigma said, pleased with himself.

"Pretty sweet ride, Pigma, but I thought we agreed we were taking the Great Fox," said James.

"James, nothing's too good for the Pepster. Why take that flying tanker when this has got satellite television from every planet in Lylat, a fully-stocked mini-bar," he waved an empty bottle in the air. "Hey, you bringing little Foxy along, to show him what it means to be a man?"

James took the bottle from Pigma's hand as he moved past him to get on the ship. "Fox is man enough, he doesn't need to see his father's friends make drunken asses of themselves."

Pigma grunted. "Too bad, we could really show him a good time. Hey, I got somebody I want you to meet. This is Andrew Oikonny." Pigma pointed to a tall and skinny ape sitting on the plush seats of the cruiser. "It is cool if he comes, right? He helped hook me up with this cruiser." Andrew gave a cool nod in their direction.

James and Peppy glanced at each other and shrugged. They were used to this sort of thoughtless behavior from Pigma. "Yeah, sure. The more the merrier, right?" said Peppy.

James noticed there was a pilot up front. "Holy shit, we've got our own private pilot."

"Yup, León will take us wherever we wanna go," said Andrew.

"Well, it's supposed to be a surprise. Did you tell him already, Pigma?" asked James. Pigma nodded, smirking. They took off into the air. James opened a bottle of pricey champagne and poured out four glasses. They toasted to Peppy's last nights of bachelorhood. After a few moments, James watched the coordinates on León's screen. "Hey, wait a minute. Those aren't the coordinates to where we were going…"

"I know," said Pigma. "That place is for losers. First stop, the exclusive Club Xio on Zoness."

"Zoness? Where are you getting the money for this?" Peppy said incredulously.

"Money has a way of finding me. Anything for a friend," said Pigma.

James shook his head smiled. "I'm kind of worried about whatever other surprises you got for us tonight, Pigma. I have a feeling shit's only gonna get crazier from here on out…"