A walk on the park is something many would find soothing. The chirping of birds, the kids playing around, the adults having picnics or, the calming sound of the fountain, the gentle rustling of leaves and the peaceful autumn wind blowing them… but, many don't include him. He was the Hero, the Fox McCloud, and he had every reason to be happy.

Yet he wasn't. After the Aparoid wars, the peace and quiet remained on Corneria for five months up to date, and he was already feeling wrong. He couldn't feel the adrenaline he felt all those years in war anymore, and now that he settled in for a peaceful life, he wasn't at 'peace' at all. His life was on the skies, the battle, Star Fox.

"At least I'm alive… right?"

He sat on a bench in front of the recognized James McCloud's statue. He looked at his father looking glorious, his hand pointing forward and a confident smile on his face that said 'time to win'. That was exactly what he taught him over the years, and that brought him determination when the war came and he had to take the responsibility. He had to win, and he won.

But what did hehave to win now? That was something he asked himself every day. Lylat is at peace, everyone's happy, their lives aren't in danger, no more fights…

What was his purpose now?

Fox put his hands on the blue jacket's pocket and closed his eyes, sighing. He had to come up with something, or he'd just run out of money – the one that was actually running out – and lose everything he has now. Not only that, but now that he was on Corneria, many more options opened up for him.

"I should've started thinking about that right after I jumped off my Arwing. What the heck do people do these days? I've got a lot of planning to do…"

He opened his eyes again and looked around for clues. A group of men sitting on the grass and laughing was the first thing he saw. "It's been like two months since I haven't seen the guys. I should invite them to my apartment someday, ask them what they've been doing. God, I miss them. I could also meet new people…" Last time he checked on them, Slippy was now an engineer at Space Dynamics, now married to Amanda; Falco couldn't find mercenary jobs anymore, so he simply gave up; Peppy was now the General, being more than happy than accepting it since he was still into military; and Krystal now lived in Sauria with Panther, becoming a model.

"No one has time for me anymore…"

His eyes darted to a balloon vendor giving one to a child while his mother searched for money in her wallet. "I definitely have to apply for a job if I want to live. Ugh, I don't like these 'normal' jobs, but if I almost sacrifice myself on a war then I guess a normal job won't kill me…" The only good offer he got was being a professor at his academy. It was tempting, since he at least would be in touch with Arwings and Blasters, but what was the point of that job if there wouldn't be a war anymore?

"I have no idea what to do, and no one's here to help me…"

His eyes wandered a little more, this time fixing on a family of three having a small picnic.

Family.

That was a touchy subject for him. Love was important, yes, but he never exactly knewwhat he really wanted. Krystal was someone he liked for a while, but when he tried kissing her for the first time – his first kiss – he just froze and backed away, then broke up with her. The same happened with a couple of girls back in the academy. Why? He never knew. What he did know is that he felt… out of place. Was it because of the person or because of something more?

He shook his head and stood, preventing his mind of going even further into that subject. "No, the perfect woman will come when life says so… or so dad taught me." He approached the statue and placed a hand on its base, something he did once a week when he settled in to never let go of his father. Krystal and Peppy told him that he had to stop that, and even though he nodded at them, he never did, and never will…

"Forty seven… forty eight… forty nine…" After the last push, Fox placed the lifts on the floor and stared at it, panting heavily. "Now this… is relaxing." Looking up again, he saw a muscled deer staring at him with his eyes wide open, one of his eyebrows raised. "U-uh… sorry. I… talk to myself sometimes." The deer blinked twice before returning to his activities. "Way to go, Fox. You're a weirdo now…"

A vibration coming from his pants pocket startled him. He took his phone out to see the name of the caller and a picture of him on the background, and his heart was filled with joy. "Peppy! How's it going?"

"I'm doing good, thank you! Fox, I've got a… situation going on. Could you please meet me in the office?"

Fox's brows furrowed. "Yeah, I'll be heading there now."

"Good. And… expect the worse when you get here."

The hare immediately hung up, leaving the fox frozen in place.

Odd.

The time on the bus was spent in deep thought. Fox had so many questions to ask, but only one lingered the most.

"What the fuck is going on!?"

Fox stood by the entrance of the Corneria Defense building, five stories tall, and took a deep breath. He felt his muscles relaxing and his heartbeats slowing, then he walked forward, the automatic doors sliding open and revealing the receptionist right in front of him, focused on her computer while she pressed the buttons of the keyboard quickly. "Good afternoon."

The young fox lifted her head only to stay frozen for a moment. "No way. You're… the Fox McCloud… right?" She said with her brown eyes exposing her admiration.

"Oh boy…" He nodded at her. "Indeed I am. General Peppy asked for me. Would you let him know I'm here?"

"Y-yeah!" She said with a wide smile before she took a wired phone from her desk and dialed a number. "Wow. Didn't know those were still in here." She tapped her finger on her desk three times before a voice came in from the speaker. "Yes?"

"General, Fox McCloud is here as you requested."

"Ah, thank you Alice. Please, let him in."

"He'll be on his way." Then she hung up.

"His office is on the fifth floor, room 580. It's the last one and to the right."

"Thank you very much Alice." He turned around and heard her mutter the words 'he's so polite and charming' before rolling his eyes and heading to the elevator, located a short distance to the right from the desk.

On his way, he looked around him. The walls were covered with pictures of – what he assumed were – the different generals who occupied a place on the office. He saw Pepper with his outfit, and immediately to its right was Peppy. He saw more down a hall to the left, but he couldn't recognize any of the others. "That's what happens when you don't pay attention to your story class..."

Just before stepping into the elevator, he felt something touching his shoulder. "Going somewhere, pal?"

The voice was unmistakable. He turned around wearing a warm smile. "Not without you, it seems."

Falco Lombardi, ace pilot of the Star Fox team, was wearing a white jacket and black jeans. Fox thought the contrast made him look good.

"Dude, that's so gay."

Fox laughed at the sudden comment. "I haven't seen you in a while, and you're already insulting me?"

The bird chuckled. "That's Falco Lombardi for you. But come on, Peppy's probably waiting."

"You're here for that too?"

"Yeah. The old man called me yesterday in the middle of the night. Asked him if I could bring Katt, too."

The sudden name made his eyebrows jump. "Katt? Why?"

"Guess you don't know? We're in a relationship now."

"Whaaaaat?" His amazement matched with his fallen jaw.

"Yep. Can't believe it either." He said, stepping into the elevator.

"That's awesome!" He got inside too, and Falco pressed the fifth floor button. "I'm happy for you two!"

"Heh, thanks. Have you gotten any luck tho?"

He faced away, scratching the back of his neck. "Uhh… nope."

"Whaaaaaat?" Falco imitated his act. "Now that is weird."

"Give me a break. It's not like I really need it."

"I thought exactly the same when I was single, but you have no idea what it really is until you've felt it. If you want my help, I know some girls who'd give anything to get in your pants." He winked with a wide grin.

Fox huffed. "You know I'm not like that…"

"And what are you like then?"

Fox sighed. "I don't know… But I definitely don't like one night stands." This time he turned around with a smile.

Falco laughed. "You got me there."

Looking closely at Falco, Fox noticed the avian had grown a small belly. "Someone's having a baby." He said, as he poked it.

"Side effects of having a girlfriend." Fox laughed. "But I don't feel bad at all. Katt's a beast cooking stuff, so I really can't say no to that. I'm happy; fat, but happy."

"You could've hit the gym and grow some muscles."

"Nah. I looked for one, but I didn't find any around home, so I said 'fuck it', and that's it."

The elevator slowly came to a halt, interrupting further conversation, and both males stepped out side by side. The last time he visited the general's office was to get paid at the end of the war, and now the place had a few changes on decoration; probably Peppy's idea. The walls instead of being a boring grey were white and blue. Left and right were filled with doors, many of those with plates saying a name, followed with 'office', and those who didn't have a name said 'stairs' or 'maintenance room'.

"What do you think Peppy has in store for us?"

Fox was brought to reality again, his sight turning to the avian. "What do you mean?"

"He told me to expect the worst." Falco still looked forward.

"Yeah, he told me the same thing."

"And? What do you think we'll see?" Falco met his eyes, only for Fox to face forward.

"I honestly don't know. There's so many things that could go wrong, yet nothing comes to my mind."

"Yeah, I get that feeling too." Falco snorted. "Maybe it's just another shitty meeting." They shared a laugh.

"Yeah…" And he trailed off. They were there, standing in front of the door 580. He knocked the door twice; whatever he had on his mind got replaced with 'expect the worst'.

The knob slowly turned, and his tail went stiff. The figure of a blue vixen was revealed behind the door, wearing a red sweater and blue jeans. "Guys! Come in!"

Fox let out a breath he didn't know was holding. "Hey Krys."

"You okay, Fox?" Falco said as he placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Yeah, sorry. Getting worked up over nothing." He stepped forward and hugged her. "It's been a long while…"

"Indeed." She returned the affection and held him there. "How have you been these days."

"Fine, I think? I dunno, you're the one that reads minds."

"Hey, lovebirds, I'm still here."

"Falco, come here!" Krystal released the fox and beamed at the avian before hugging him tight.

"Ah, I can't lie. I missed you." He said with a smile.

"Well, why don't you… come in?" Her face showed a sign Fox immediately understood, one that said 'you might not like this'.

Fox rushed in first, curiosity filling his mind. He saw the figure of Katt, Slippy, Peppy, Panther, Leon...

And he froze as he recognized the last person, the face he has been thinking about right after the wars.

"Long time no see, pup."

There he was, the man with the eyepatch, leaning on the table with his hand on it for support, dressed with a black shirt and black pants. Wolf O'Donnell.

"Finally."

He walked towards him carrying a stoic look, the thoughts that came at the end of the war about them – about him – had now reappeared on his mind. The wolf's face had formed a frown, and he separated from the table, making fists with his hands. "Bring it on." Wolf said, slightly raising his hands.

Then, without stopping for a second, Fox pushed the other's hands down and wrapped his arms in a quick motion around Wolf – his head resting below the wolf's neck and his hands on the lupine's lower back – and Wolf's body tensed in response to the touch.

"Thank you."

Everything went silent. Wolf didn't talk nor resist. In fact, Fox felt the wolf's body relaxing before the lupine pulled him in. That's when he felt the time had paused around them and he hugged tighter, more words forming on his head. "Thank you, for real. Without you we'd be all dead an-"

Fox was suddenly shoved away, revealing the frown on Wolf's face while he kept his hands on Fox's shoulder, preventing him from falling. "No. Enough."

The fox's body stopped working for a moment before he came back to reality, feeling awkward. "Uhh… right! Sorry." He looked away and took a step back from the lupine, seeing the shock on everyone else's faces.

"It's okay, but I've just heard the same shit." He said with a grin.

"What?" His expression filled with surprise.

"Ahem…"

His attention changed to the hare, who took a deep breath before his expression changed to neutral. "Star Wolf have been pardoned from past crimes, but with one condition." Peppy stared at the Star Wolf team – more focused on Wolf – with a serious look on his face. "Any relation with criminal activity, as perpetrators or assistants, will lead to immediate arrest. Understood?"

Wolf rolled his eyes. "I've already said yes."

"Wait, you called us just for that? What's the point for us being here? What's our benefit from this?" Falco said while he embraced Katt's shoulder and dragged her close. To Fox's surprise, the avian had been quiet all this time, probably containing the desire to insult Star Wolf… or just Leon.

Peppy's eyes turned to Falco. "I'm getting there." And now he turned to Fox. "The reason why everyone's here is because Star Fox is going to work with Star Wolf as a whole."

Everyone yelled 'what?' in unison, except for Wolf who showed on his face that he didn't care.

"Yes, you heard correctly. I have been receiving anonymous reports requesting for both team's presence on Venom. I thought it must've been important, so by absolving Star Wolf from his crimes I allowed them to be recognized as neutral and to fly freely through space again."

"Yeah, freely." Leon pointed out, frowning. "I'm sure you'll have radars under our skin even while we sleep."

"Actually, we won't." Peppy retorted with a smile. "You'll be absolutely free to do as you please, but if we notice suspicious behavior – and we will notice – that freedom will be taken and you will remain at home under custody. If under custody you try something again we-"

"Yeah, yeah, 'you'll be taken to jail and we'll fuck your ass hard', we know that already." Wolf said nonchalantly.

"Good. I'm sure you won't try anything, then."

"But how are we supposed to get there? Unless we have a phantom Great Fox or something, we can't just travel with our Arwings." Krystal spoke this time.

"I got you covered on that one!" Slippy intervened with a wide smirk. "Follow me!"

Slippy and Peppy left the room first, followed suit by Krystal, Panther, Katt and Falco, both couples holding hands with the respective partner. Leon rushed right after them, and before Fox started moving, he felt a hand stopping him. "Sorry I've pushed you like that…" The rough voice said from behind, then his figure passed through his side.

Fox stood still for a few seconds. "Now that's odd. Did he meant..." He shook his head and removed the thought before walking out of the room.

After walking a full minute through the lengthy hallways of the ground floor, a door was opened in the far end to reveal the spacious hangar, his eyes suddenly fixating on the huge ship located in the middle of the room that resembled the Great Fox, though it appeared like it had improvements on the wings that seemed slightly bigger. The vulpine stood still, mouth wide open at the sight. "When did they make this beast?" He walked forward to catch up with the rest, who were already standing beside it. "Did they have it stored in here? There's no way they made it in such short time… Ah, whatever."

"Fox, what took you so long?" The excited toad said.

"Had to use the stairs because someone didn't wait for me." He said while looking around to everyone else.

"Blame Slips for that one." Falco affirmed. "He wanted to get here fast, and he told us to leave you behind." A grin formed on his face.

"I never said that!" Slippy desperately said, while the rest of the Star Fox team and Panther laughed; the other two didn't care.

"It's alright, Slippy. I'm not mad." Fox said with a smile.

"You better not be, because it's not true! I swear!" He had his hands leveled up to his chest as a protecting manner.

"Could you stop your stupid act already?"

Everyone turned to the owner of the deep, rough voice, who was leaning on the ship and had his arms crossed. "I want to get this over with and get out."

They all remained in silence for a few seconds, with shock in their faces, before Fox smirked. "Hey, at least you finally decided to talk."

Wolf scowled and looked away. "Got you, asshole."

Peppy cleared his throat. "Slippy, as you were saying…"

"Right! This ship doesn't have a name, so we're free to-"

"Great Fox Two." Falco interrupted, rising his hand.

"That's just stupid." Panther replied, followed by an agreement from the rest.

"Oh, shut up. You don't know what cool names sound like." He crossed his arms. "Go on, Slippy."

"Alright. Let me finish, please. The ship doesn't have a name, so we can discuss that later. It has some upgrades on the plasma engines, the lasers and… nothing else? I mean, obviously the rooms are better and there's more space inside, but nothing else has changed."

Falco raised his hand again. "Please tell me it still has pool and some videogames."

"Yep! Everything's the same." Slippy answered with a wide smile.

"And what about the old Great Fox loan we owe-"

"Took care of that." Fox was quickly interrupted by the hare. "Don't worry about that anymore. In fact, don't even mention it, because pulling that off was a pain in the back."

"Star Fox doing illegal shit?" Wolf spoke again with a wide grin. "That's not playing nice."

Peppy chuckled. "I made sure it was absolutely legal."

"Money from smuggling and drugs isn't legal."

"It was money that came from the last mission."

"Wait, you what?" Fox this time, with a dead-serious expression.

Peppy sighed. "I just took a small part from your reward. 35% of the-"

"What!?" Falco yelled, preventing the hare from continuing.

"Stop!" Peppy yelled back. "It was needed for this, alright? Forgive me, but I had to."

"Okay, it's a good reason, and we understand, but don't do that stuff without telling us…"

Peppy smiled at him. "I knew you'd understand. Thanks, kid."

"Well, I don't!" The avian raised his voice again, only to be stopped by Fox's palm in front of his face

"Enough of this, Falco." Fox kept a calm voice. "This was necessary."

Falco sighed and looked away, mumbling something to himself.

"So, Peppy, about the mission. Why us?"

"I don't know. The reports said they needed both teams, but nothing else."

"They?" Panther spoke for the first time.

"It's anonymous, and we use 'they' when there is no specified gender."

"Only you use that, old man." The avian said with a smirk, regaining the sense of humor.

"You'll find yourself unconsciously using it at some point. As I was saying, the reports said it was a pirate attack, and even though it was extremely odd, I called you in case it was something serious for real. You won't lose anything if you try."

"Yes. Time." Wolf interrupted again, this time pushing himself off the ship. "We better get going now before it's too late."

Fox frowned. "Relax, Wolf. You won't get along with my team if you keep acting like that."

"Like I'd care. Last time I checked, you're all insufferable assholes, so there's no way I'm being all friendly with you after our first day on a ship."

"After our first day..." That last part stuck on his head and made him ponder about it for a few seconds; the five seconds he needed to realize the possible meaning behind those words.

"He wants to change."

Fox shook his head. There's no way he had a sudden change of heart after all those years fighting. But whatever the case, a new ally is always welcome; he had to give it a shot.

"What he said now and what he said before... He's hiding something behind all those serious faces and I'm gonna find out wha-"

"-ox!"

Fox blinked a few times, being brought back to reality after the hare pressed a hand on his shoulder. "What?"

"You didn't pay attention, did you?" Peppy said with an expression of discontent.

"Well, shit." He negated with his head. "I trailed off, sorry. What was it?"

Peppy sighed. "Are you ready to go?"

"Well, if the reeee…"

"The 'rest' are already on the ship."

Fox chuckled. "Then I guess I'm ready to go, too."

Peppy smiled and gave him a hug. "Be careful, son."

"They're just pirates; we'll be alright!"

"I know, but keep an eye out for anything strange. There has to be something big going on behind all this, so promise you'll be safe."

"I will be, Peppy." Fox tightened the hug. "I promise."

The hare stepped back. "I'm slowing you down. Go!"

Fox did a military salute before running inside the ship, the door slowly closing behind him as he stepped in. He took a deep breath. "Here we go again… Time to explore this beast!"

To his left was a hall with around fifteen doors, so that side was clearly where everyone is sleeping.

To the right was another hall that led to two doors: the first one was at the end, a frame without a real door, showing a fridge and what appeared was a stove. The other one was on the opposite side of the ship's entrance, probably leading to the control room and recreation room.

When Fox took his first step towards the bedrooms to get his own, he froze.

"I never packed anything here... Shit, my last hope is having something on the room."

He practically ran towards one of the doors, his heart rate increasing. They had an electronic device at its side that already showed his name on it, accompanied by 'press your finger here' and a green zone beside it. Fox pressed his right thumb on it, hearing ROB's voice saying "mark registered", and it opened, revealing a bed for one, a space behind an open door that looked like a bathroom, a closet and a plasma TV in front of the bed. "Now this is a room." He made his way towards the closet and found on the inside some clothes for him and a box that said "You're welcome" with Peppy's handwriting.

He took the box out and sat on the bed, opening it. There were old photos of him and his father, a red scarf, an Arwing toy he used to play with as a kid and the sunglasses' model his father used to have. A smile formed on his face, tears threatening to come out. "Not everything was lost… Thanks, Peppy." He took the scarf, closed it and put it under the bed before leaving the room to explore the rest of the ship.

"Dude, you gotta be cheating or something!"

Right after crossing the last door he hadn't seen what was on the other side, he was met with another hall– "This place is a fucking maze" – with a door on the right where the muffled voice came from, and another one to the left. He knew the one on the right was the recreation room, judging from the fights the voices were having, so he chose the left side. A stair appeared on his sights after crossing the door, and after climbing it he was on the control room, panels and panels of… control, as the name of the room implies. He got closer to one of them, filled with buttons he didn't really understand. "Who's going to be here…?"

"If it's not me, I don't know who will be."

Fox turned around with a wide smile and doubt in his head, recognizing the voice. "Peppy!? What are you doing here?"

Peppy smiled back. "What? You don't want your old man to be here?"

Fox approached the hare and hugged him. "That's not it! It's just that our farewells were stupid now." They laughed. "But who's gonna be General now if you're on space?"

"Believe it or not, Pepper's back."

"Really!?" His wide smile was now mixed with surprise. "Didn't he retire?"

"Nope. I forced him to take a break, not retire, because he wanted to keep going. I thought he might have been working too much, so I told him I'd be in charge for two years, maybe he would finally decide to stop working while he's off…" He sighed and smirked. "But instead he took a nice five month vacation."

Fox laughed. "I hope he did. At least the full team is back now!" He cheerfully said as he placed his hands on his hips.

"Indeed it is. I better start the take off sequence before we're too late. You can go and have fun."

"Right! And… thanks Peppy, for joining us."

"Don't worry, son! I'm more than glad for joining you on another adventure." Peppy gave him a warm smile.

He responded with a thumbs up and left the room. "Another adventure..." He felt that sparkle of adrenaline again, making his heart beat faster. "This is going to be good!"

Welp, that's it for this one. I honestly didn't know when should I stop, but after seeing I had like 4k words I just shrugged and stopped. Best way ever to finish a chapter.

About this story, I plan to make it a long one. How? I don't know, but I will try. Maybe 14 chapters? A little bit more? Less? I dunno. What I DO know is that Wolf and Fox are gonna end up touching their peepees, since that's my font of life (and yes, I say peepee because I'm cool enough, okay?)

I appreciate reviews regarding anything. If you wish to express yourself, do it... or not, I'm not your mom, so I guess I can't really make you do it. But seriously, I take opinions kindly as long as it's a constructive opinion. If it's only meant to destroy, then... I dunno, but something will happen to you eventually. I write stuff at night time, when I'm already tired, so if you see some typos or things like that it's completely normal, but please let me know.

Also, this story isn't planned. I said the planet was Venom, but I'm not really sure if Venom being the first planet they visit is even appropiate for the whole idea I want to make. I dunno, I'll figure something out, but wriring is a big pain in my ass... in the bad way (the other bad way... I think?)

Enough talking about nonsense. I hope you liked this introduction, even though I feel it's odd and "incomplete".