The crowd erupted into cheers as the blue and white racer blurred across the finish line, securing his place in first, followed shortly by his partner and some times rival in second place. It was the final race of the Corneria World race set, and with that finish, Fox McCloud, Pilot turned Racer, secured his first place win for the series, moving onto the championship in Mute City on Planet Earth. Fox couldn't help but take one hand off his control sticks to pump a fist in the air in celebration.
As he slowed down his racer and pulled into the pit area, he couldn't help but wonder about the direction his life had taken these past eight years. Being an F-Zero racer when Falco had suggested it had seemed odd at the time, but he couldn't lie to himself that spending what little money he had left constantly getting sauced in every bar on Corneria hadn't been a great way to spend his time either.
It hadn't taken Fox and Falco long to start gaining attention in the racing world. They had converted two of their spare Arwings to fit the specs for an F-Zero racer, the space craft style G-Diffuser allowed for better control, and they kept the same paint job, only adding their names to the side to distinguish the ships. The result was something that attracted attention and got them a entirely different type of fan base.
Sure there were some that thought Fox and Falco had turned away from their cause in life. But for every single one of those fans had left, two more had joined. People it seemed were always trying to get the pairs autograph, even if they tried to disguise their looks with a hat or something, there was always one person who saw the duo for who they were.
Thinking about the fans and his old team had him thinking about Slippy Toad. The little green guy had stuck around for a bit, while they were still an underground hit, but eventually a job working on advanced technology with his dad came up and Slippy took it. The last message from the toad had been a few years ago at least. He had mentioned a promotion coming up, but he hadn't sounded happy about it.
Fox sighed, his good mood ruined by his own thoughts as he pulled into the hanger where they kept the racers. He finished the shut down sequence and popped his canopy right as Falco Lombardi pulled into his garage bay. Fox hoped out of his racer and brushed off the sleeve of his red jumpsuit, where a little bit of grime covered the Team Star Fox name. He looked over as Falco popped his canopy and hopped out in his green jumpsuit, after starting the shut down of his engines, instead of waiting like Fox did.
"Good race old boy, I only trailed you by a couple seconds that time. If I had managed to pass you on inside of the last turn, I would be the one going onto the Grand Prix."
Fox shook his head "Whatever Lombardi, You still would have been a buncha points behind overall."
Falco laughed "I'm the arrogant one Fox, not you."
Fox grinned as the two of them made their way towards the garage exit. "Maybe you've just mellowed in your older age, your what, going on forty now?"
Falco punched Fox playfully on the shoulder. "Its thirty-eight thank you, and you're only a year behind me, so you have no room to talk about that."
Fox shook his head as he walked out of the garage with Falco, both heading for the locker rooms to change. They walked into separate stalls with their clothes draped over their arms and started changing.
A few hours later, Fox and Falco boarded the ship that would take them to Earth for the Championship Race at Mute City. As the ship departed from Corneria, A sleek pterodactyl-shaped fighter took off from a hidden platform and followed the racer's ship.
