Chapter 1:

"Heroes are made, not born." Something Fox's father had told him a few times. As much as Fox tried he knew he could never be a tenth of the hero his father was. Fox was currently living out of an apartment in downtown Corneria working high end security or military contracting jobs. Something his father would never do. His father though, was not around to discourage him from these jobs. Three years ago when Fox had just turned eighteen when James took off on a mission to investigate a man named Andross who had been banished to a planet named Venom with two of his wingman, Pigma Dangar and Peppy Hare. Forty hours after that, Peppy came back in his father's flagship only to deliver the message that he and James were backstabbed by Pigma. Peppy would sadly, succumb to his injuries soon after.

The Great Fox was placed in a hangar bay his father paid for. The ship was barely airworthy after its last fight. Seals had been breached, only one of its three engines worked and the astral navigation system couldn't even recognize that it was on Corneria. This was a blessing in disguise in a way. James had insured it fully and with the destruction in battle it was determined to receive it's full value. With the money he got from battle, he paid off all of the Great Fox's loans as well as some of the repairs. Three years of using his father's reputation for work and three years of guarding the Cornerian elite has made him enough to repair almost everything. All that remains are the engines. The home stretch however was always the hardest. Engines like the Great Fox's run at around twelve million credits each. Fox had some mechanical experience but not as much as his partner Slippy Toad. Slippy was the son of Space Dynamics lead engineer Beltino Toad. As such he could get a few deals on parts and put them on the Great Fox in a matter of hours. This next job would be one of the more important ones to Fox for this paycheck would signify being a quarter of the way to buying one engine.

Circumstance led him to his new employer, Lawrence Builter, a twenty year old badger actor who invested some money into local charities on Fichina. He had an awards meeting on Fichina then a formal party afterwards. It was Fox's job to ensure he wouldn't be harmed. While not common on Corneria, crime bosses kidnapping and holding ransomes was a regular sight on any of the recently colonized planets. Fox was nearly a custom to it at this point in his career. So much so that when walking around Corneria he could spot who had a gun or knife hidden just by subtle clues. His mission to protect Mr. Builter had been happening on and off for around six months. Whenever he left the planet he took Fox and his other mercenary friend Falco with him. Falco stuck with Fox no matter what. True he may take a leave of absence every once in a while but if Fox needed help, Falco was not far behind. He and Falco were on their way to give a briefing on the route they would most likely take from the star port to the hotel they would be staying at. They drove in a pickup that used to belong to Fox's Father.

"So Fox…" Falco started. "You bringing anyone with you?" The vulpine looked at him with confusion.

"No this is bodyguard mission. Another person would just cause me to look after two instead of one." Fox answered

"Well I'm bringing Katt to the party and we might seem less like targets if we aren't focusing on the biggest VIP of the party." Fox thought about it for a minute. He couldn't argue with that logic. He didn't have anyone he could really ask. He could ask Fara, though that might cause more problems than it was worth. The CEO of a rising company would very likely make her more of a target than his current mission. Maybe Miyu, but she may not want to take on leave from the navy just so Fox could have a date. The more he thought about people he could take, he became a bit sad at each 'not her' he had to think. Soon they reached their rendezvous at a diner with Mr. Builter. "You'd think that for a rich guy like Builter he'd pick somewhere nice for us to eat."

"Maybe he'd like to eat somewhere he won't get recognized. He doesn't really like to act rich. Remember last time we met him he had us meet him at one of Corneria's top rated. He got asked for autographs non stop. I think he's just tired of being famous." Fox ended with that. They walked into the diner. Builter had already sat down at a booth looking at a menu with two across from him. He sat the menu down at looked towards the door. Upon seeing his bodyguards, he waved them over to his table. Fox and Falco walked over and took a seat.

"And how are my favorite bodyguards today?" Builter asked with a sincere tone.

"Were fi-" Fox started.

"Wondering why we don't eat in nicer places." Falco cut off Fox. Builter laughed.

"Falco, good to see you haven't changed."

"Why change, I wouldn't be able to call you an asshat then." Again Builter laughed.

"Ah Falco how I've almost missed you." Fox took this as is moment to get this conversation back on mission.

"Alright if we can get things back on track we still have to go over the mission at hand."

"Fox, always the serious one. Alright let's talk shop, where am I going after we land." Fox pulled out his phone and set lit on the table. A hologram manifested in front of them. It was a map detailing their route. Fox started to go over his plan.

"Once we touch down we will-"

"So here's a thought." Falco interrupted.

"Falco were briefing now."

"It may seem less suspicious if we have dates with us. I'm bringing Katt and if he brings someone then we'll blend in with the crowd." Builter looked back at Fox with a grin.

"Fox I know you when it comes to women." Builter started. "How about this, if you get a date for the party I will throw in a bonus." This annoyed Fox as it suggested that he needed encouragement to ask someone out.

"I can get a date without the bonus thank you."

Falco spoke up though. "What kind of bonus are we talking here?"

Builter seemed to think for a minute. "How about an extra two?"

"Hundred?" Falco chimed

"Thousand." Builter responded.

"How desperate do you think I-" Fox was speaking until a feathery arm wrapped around his muzzle and prevented him from speaking.

"We'll take it, he'll take it, you'll take it." Falco's looked at Builter for the first part and looked Fox dead in the eyes as he said the last part.

"I look forward to see I'll be giving a bonus. Now though I have to be on set before it's dark out so Fox, I wish you luck." Builter got out his his booth and walked out of the diner. Fox slid over to the other side and Falco moved to where Fox was sitting. He mulled in annoyance over the deal that had just occurred. He looked up at Falco who had an expression as if he were about to talk.

"I can get my own date Falco."

"If that were true then that conversation wouldn't have happened." Fox gave an almost angry look at Falco. "How about this, when the waitress comes to get our orders. You'll ask for her number."

"Fine if it will make you shut up about it." Falco nodded. The next few minutes they sat around looking over the menus deciding what to eat. They made some more small talk and laughed a bit albeit at each other expense. Fox had never really dated much. It wasn't that he didn't want to but he didn't have time for it outside work. In Fox's mind he Great Fox was of more significance than any relationship would ever hold. Soon a waitress came over ready to take their orders. Fox looked at the waitress and realized that he had made a mistake in saying he could get her number. Their waitress was Fox's neighbor Krystal. Beyond her name and that she lived in the apartment next to his, Fox knew almost nothing about her. She was also a fox who had an exotic blue fur dye and cute little accent he thought she had, but beyond that he knew nothing. She walked up to his booth and held a little notebook in her hand. She wore a red dress shirt and tan khaki pants. She looked at Fox and instantly recognized who he was. Both of them tried to avoid eye contact.

"Hi my name is Krystal and i'll be your server today. Can I start you off with something to drink?" She asked. Falco spoke first.

"Yeah i'll just have a water and could I get a cheese burger with a side of steak fries?"

"Sure." she looked at Fox for a few seconds. "And for you sir?"

Fox's mind went into a panic. 'Can I do it? Could I ask my neighbor on a date while she was working?' "I...um could I um… I… could I have the same thing he's having?" Fox managed to stutter out. Both foxes visibly awkward toward another.

"Sure I'll put those right in for you." She walked away. Fox hadn't noticed it till now but Falco had a smile on his face a mile wide. Falco put on as straight of a face as he could. Then, in a british accent he said.

"Mission failed. You'll get em next time." Fox couldn't help let out a slight chuckle. For some 'unknown' reason, krystal didn't bring out their food to them. Fox could guess that a conversation like 'those guys I just served are being kinda creepy, could you take over' happened. Seeing her at anytime after this a wave of embarrassment would overcome him. When their food came, it was delivered by a waiter instead of her. They ate sort of quickly. A few minutes later when they had finished, Falco informed Fox that Katt would pick him up in a few. Fox decided to leave at that moment. He climbed into his truck and turned the key. The heavy sound of guitars and intense drumming played through his radio. He put it in drive and got onto the main road. Fox had only made it a few hundred yards before he saw something familiar, or rather someone. A Blue fox standing alone by a bus stop. In between them was stoplight intersection. Fox's light was red. He sat in his truck stopped in front of a beautiful vixen. His father's voice started to speak to him in his head.

"Heroes are made, not born. Bravery is earned and not given out. Sometimes to be a hero, you'll have to be brave and face what your scared of." Fox said in a whisper to himself. The light turned green. He drove forward until he came to the bus stop. He drove the truck next to the sign that signaled it was a stop. As he looked at her, he could see that she didn't have the look of someone who just got off work, rather the look of someone who had just received some bad news. "Hey Krystal," she looked at him. She seemed almost surprised that he was there. Almost like she didn't her him pull up. "Would you like a ride?" She looked like she could break down and cry at any minute. With a defeated smile and a raspy sad voice she said.

"Sure, I guess." she sounded almost hesitant. She stepped up into the cab and looked out the open window. Fox had somehow done it. He managed to ask her a question with a stutter or voice crack. Maybe he could even his luck and get a few more in before his nervous self boiled backup to the top and would make sure he wouldn't be able to speak again.

"If you don't mind me saying, you look kinda sad. Anything happen?" Krystal turned her head toward him. He was driving with his right hand on the wheel and the left laid on the crease the open window.

"Do you actually want to hear about it?" She asked curiously. She almost didn't believe him.

"I do." Totally unbeknown to Fox, Krystal read his mind expecting some lustful goal in sight for him. She was surprised to only find someone who was genuinely curious about her well being. Up to this point, everyone wanted something from her on this planet. No one was pure or truthful. Everyone she had met had some deceitful goal she could detect. Not him though. It was almost like she could trust him. "Alright, I just lost my job. It's one of three I've had in the past four months. It's not that I'm afraid for myself. I can always find ways to make enough for food and rent. It's my tri-" she stopped, "family. I come from a place that no longer even exists. My family is having a hard time adjusting to their new life. I send back what I can so they can buy food and pay for neseties. I'm scared that if I don't, they may not make it in this world. I scared if-" again she stopped and looked at him. "Sorry, I got carried away."

"It's not a problem. Believe it or not my story is almost like yours." She looked at him in disbelief. "Three years ago the CDF contracted my father and his team to investigate a planet with only one known inhabitant. As they approached, one of my fathers wingmen, Pigma, fired on him. He ordered his other wingman, Peppy Hare, to get out and warn the CDF of Pigma's betrayal. He later died because part of his control panel came loose and cut his neck. He made it back in time to tell what had happened over radio but by the time he got to a hospital he had lost too much blood. My mother died when I was ten from a car bomb. The person who placed it was the sole inhabitant of the planet my father had to investigate. I don't have much left of either of them. Except one thing. My father a requested a ship be built to help him in his missions. It was wrecked in the last fight my father was in. Little by little and piece by piece. I've been putting it all back together. A ship may not be family but to me, it's all I really got left of them." Both of them sat in silence the rest of the drive home. Twelve uneventful minutes later, Fox and Krystal arrived at their apartment complex. As they got out of Fox's truck and walked up the stairs, a question burned itself into Fox's mind until it came out. "Hey so, this may be kind of sudden but I have a mission coming up and I sort of need a date."

"What do you mean 'need' a date?"

"Look I'm going to be guarding an actor during a formal party and I may look like less of a bodyguard if I have a beautiful date to a company me. Also if you want I could probably conjure up some danger pay since you're technically in the line of sight." Krystal was taken aback. Not only could she get a vacation, she'd be paid for it too. Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew it wouldn't be a minuscule amount either. Not a whole lot, but maybe more than she'd make in a day as a waitress.

"When would this happen?"

"Two days from now and we'd be gone for around three." Krystal thought about it. Then a minute later she had her decision.

"Sure Fox it's a date."

A/N: This isn't my first story on this site, but it might as well be. Last time I wrote one was when I was fifteen and they were for A/O. So please, if you read those don't expect that from this story. If there were any mistakes (I'm sure there were many) please tell me so I don't make them in the next chapter.