"Fox?" Krystal asked, bringing her boss's attention back to her. Fox shook his head turning to face his girlfriend, a slow smile forming on his lips.

"Hmm?" He questioned, his train of thought completely derailing as he got lost within her eyes. Krystal giggled; his mind focusing on her was cute, but she really wanted to know what had happened in the past. Why was he so famous? What kind of things did he do? How did this team get formed? Krystal has tons of questions she wanted to ask, seemingly endless lists. She held them all in for now, she had promised not to pry, however it was Fox who brought this up.

"It began eight years ago?" She giggled more as Fox blushed in embarrassment. "Don't worry about, I don't mind you staring, your eyes are quite easy to get lost in as well.

Fox chuckled nervously. "Ok, well… I-it began eight years ago, just after the end of the Lylat war." Krystal snuggled into Fox's chest, comfortable enough for the story to come. Hoping all her questions would get answered.


SFP – A History

8 years ago – Cornerian Military Head Quarters – 7:00 pm

"Damn it." Falco swore as he sat in a provided chair. "Fox man, you know how I hate being tied down."

Fox rubbed his head, fighting off the headache the bird was giving him. "I know Falco; you don't need to remind me, or the whole damn building okay?" Falco snorted, folding his arms in front of his chest, turning to stare out the window. "Pick the warmest day of the year to be cooped inside."

The two other members laughed at Fox's joke, making Falco even more irritable.

"I need some air." Falco quickly left the room, growling as he did.

"Can't say as I blame him for wanting to get moving. Pepper said he had another job for us… hopefully he wasn't pulling our leg." Peppy stretched his arms before relaxing back into the plastic chair as best he could. "If I was General this place would be a lot more visitor friendly."

"You'd need to be about ten years old to even qualify for the entrance exam!" Slippy laughed, he had a prototype of some sort in his hands. "Besides you're still a part of the Star Fox team, why leave the best merc's in the system?"

Fox looked over at Peppy, he didn't really want to see the hare go; he had been the father figure he needed since James had died. "He's too stubborn to leave; we'd have to pry him off the team with a crowbar!"

Peppy sighed, smirking at the comment. He kept silent though, knowing his time in the arwing was over.

"Star Fox." Pepper opened the doors to his office, waving the three members in. "Falco out and about?"

Fox shrugged. "He said he needed some air, guess he'll be back soon." Pepper walked behind his desk, resting his hand on the leather chair.

"Can't keep a bird caged forever." Pepper motioned for the team to sit, Peppy and Slippy taking full advantage. "I know I had said that we could use your help, and my offer to join our ranks still stands."

Fox sensed the uneasiness coming from the general, something wasn't right. Either Pepper was hiding something or he simply didn't want to tell them the information he had. "C'mon General, just spit it out."

"We have no foreseeable need for your team in the near future." Pepper said, watching three jaws hit the floor. Pepper sighed, knowing that this wouldn't be easy. "It seems your work in the Lylat war has brought crime rate down to an almost nonexistent state. Andross's men are scattered and leaderless, and no one wants to do anything wrong with Star Fox patrolling the system."

"So, you could use us to patrol some rougher quadrants in the system!" Slippy picked his invention back up, cradling it gently in his lap. "And Star Wolf! They're still on the loose!"

Pepper held up his hands in defense. "Star Wolf right now has two members, one in really bad shape. Oikonny and Pigma have fled, Oikonny to the ruins of Venom, Pigma… well we don't really know where he went. Honestly my military can handle the system."

"So… we're SOL, huh?" Fox muttered, he sat down resting his chin on his hands. "This day ain't turning out so good." Fox hear his wrist communicator go off, dreading the reality of what he had just said.

"Hey Foxie, this is Fara. Sorry to tell ya but I lost my job as a tech here since they don't need as many military personal, so I guess I'll have to sponge off you until I can find another job. Talk to you later!" Fara's head disappeared as she winked at him. Fox slid further back in the seat, frustration now working its way through his body.

"Fox, this is Falco, look I'm going to take the arwing for a few days, I'll be back don't worry." Falco smirked at him before disappearing as fast as he showed up.

Peppy stood up, rubbing his back as he did. "Call us if anything comes up General, at this point, even after what you paid us, we will need the income." With that Peppy led the two other Star Fox members out of the office, patting Fox on the shoulder as they reached the elevator. "Don't worry about it Fox, you've earn this break, and I'm sure we'll get another mission soon."

"Somehow, Peppy, I doubt that." Fox groaned as the doors closed. A soft ping sounded their departure from Pepper's office.


Present – McCloud Residence

"As you can see, things didn't start out great." Fox was absent mindedly stroking Krystal's hair, causing her to relax, nearly falling asleep as Fox went on. "We had just been told that we had no income for the near future, Fara quit her job, and Falco had taken off.

Krystal pulled herself away from Fox's warmth. "So what did you do to get so much money?"

Fox stared hard at the wall. "Andross declared war on Lylat, he was an evil scientist hell bent on destroying Corneria, he also killed my father…" Fox felt Krystal hug him and kiss his cheek. "I went on a mission to stop him and his plans. It took us awhile but we beat him. We had the credit for stopping the most wanted criminal in the system, and a lot of his army, Pepper paid us by the kill and we certainly killed a lot of Andross's followers."

"So that's why you guys are so famous, you're heros!" Krystal released her grasp on him, sitting beside him. "And you want me to join the legendary Star Fox team!"

"You are a part of it Krys, I don't see that changing anytime soon." Fox smiled, stealing a kiss from her, Krystal sighed into the embrace, feeling comfort she had only dreamed about. Fox pulled away from the kiss with a pleased sigh. "I guess I should get back to the story… We left HQ and headed for home, with nothing else to do but watch the time go by."


8 years ago – McCloud Residence – 5:15pm

"Fox, stop pacing." Peppy snapped, drawing the young leader's attention. "Things are going to be fine!"

Fox didn't seem convinced in the least. He went back to his pacing, his mind far from the idea of things being fine. Slippy seemed content to work on some random gadgets, and Peppy's constant reminders of this being fine really had the opposite effect on him. He seriously thought he was the only one concerned about the financial situation they now found themselves in. "Pepper doesn't have missions for us, Falco's gone for who knows how long and now Fara is going to be living her with us while she's getting a new job…"

Slippy scoffed. "Mechanic's are in high demand now a days, she didn't get fired she quit. They also get paid top dollar an hour, she left one heck of a nice job."

Fox glared at Slippy. "If she said she was let go then she was let go. Fara wouldn't lie to me."

"Yup." Slippy mocked saluted him, tossing his broken invention away. "Wouldn't mind that kind of pay myself, but I don't do mornings or having more than one person yelling at me a day."

Fox growled, holding his head to keep it from exploding. "I can't believe you guys."

Peppy pulled out a book he had been reading, the bookmark he'd been using fell to the ground. Bending over to pick it up Peppy became death to Fox's rant. The picture had been one of the last James had drawn, it was a silly idea at the time, but right now, it seemed like the best thing that had happened to them.

"And I still don't know how much damage the Great Fox took, that could be another Fifty thousand credits right there!" Fox grabbed a mug of coffee and gulped is down in record time, wishing the caffeine to work its magic and pray that the aroma of the beans would calm his nerves. Fox felt a tap on his shoulder before he could turn to face Peppy a picture fell into his hands. On it was three simple letters, behind those letters a shop. The windows on the front promised fast service, and fresh slices. Fox knew now what he was looking at, it was his father's one drink to many, idea and it would take most of his extra money to get this going, but right now it was the only thing that would get him some steady income, not to mention keep everyone busy.

"James would want us to do this. It was his merc retirement plan. To just open up a shop of some sort, he knew that everyone loved this type of place, and he wanted something for you to have should he pass on early." Peppy sat down beside Fox. "It's a risk but I know the spot where we can get this place set up for cheap."

"Dad was more than tipsy when he dreamed up this 'brilliant plan'" Fox carefully moved the picture around in his hands. "I think we should go for it, the worst that could happen is bankruptcy." Slippy looked up from the table, trying to act like he was interested in what was going on. "Hey slip, I need you to draw up some specs on a pizza joint."

"Uhh…. Kay?" Slippy took the paper from Fox, studying it intensely. "What does SFP stand for?"

Fox grinned, standing up quickly. "It's going to stand for Star Fox Pizzera, and we've got a lot of work ahead of us! Come on Peppy, let's go check out that lot!"


I welcome you all back to SFP, lets see how everything came in to place shall we?

H-T