Chapter 7: A Streak of Bad Luck

Peppy sat at the kitchen counter browsing the internet for more recipes on his laptop when his communicator went off. The old rabbit grabbed it and answered the call to see the faces of the StarFox team. Their faces showed concern rather than the usual happiness.

"What's up boys? Is everything alright?" Peppy asked with growing concern.

"No Peppy, we're in a bad spot right now." Fox answered. "is it okay if we stay at your place for some time?"

"Yes, of course. You boys are always welcome to stay here. But... what's going on?"

Fox sighed and looked down. "We've been having some bad luck I guess. Every time General Pepper tips us off with the location of a bounty, we arrive and... they're gone."

"You sure this isn't just... I don't know... a streak of bad luck?" Peppy asked. He hated to see them so down in the dumps.

"That's what we thought at first. This has happened five times tis month. We just keep getting skunked. And now Pepper isn't giving us anything since we seem to be cursed." Fox replied.

The concern emitting from his former teammates attached itself to Peppy. He tried to think of a reason as to how this could happen. How could they know when StarFox is coming? Peppy was also concerned about what's going to happen now that the criminal underworld in Lylat was now untouched. But mostly, he was worried about their finances.

"Are you boys struggling with money?" Peppy asked.

Slippy spoke up. "Yeah, we just used a lot to renovate the Great Fox. We needed those bounties. We cant afford to keep flying"

"Well, you guys can stay at my place for a while."

"Thanks Peppy." Fox replied.

"Now... I have an idea of what you could do for some money while you stay at my place. But I don't think you're gonna like it."

"What is it?" Fox asked

"Well, you boys are basically celebrities, do some of that stuff. Make appearances, go on talkshows, those kinda things." Peppy tried to sound optimistic.

"Jeez Peppy, you know we hate that stuff." Falco remarked.

"Yeah well, it's an idea. I think you should consider it."

"I think we will Peppy. But for now we jut need to get off this cursed ship." Fox said. "Can you come pick us up, we'll get our things together."

"Alright I'll be on my way. See you when I get there."

"Thanks Peppy." Fox said.

"No problem." Peppy hung up the call, closed his laptop and got out of his seat. He decided he would go inform Lucy about this before he went to get them. Peppy made his way upstairs to her room and knocked on the door before entering. Lucy was sitting at her desk studying. She looked over at her dad and smiled.

"Hey dad. What's up?" She asked.

"Well, the Fox, Falco and Slippy are gonna be staying here for a bit." Peppy answered.

Lucy noticed that her dad seemed worried about this. "Is everything okay? How long are they staying here?" Lucy asked.

"Well, they've been having some bad luck, and they're a bit tight on money. So they're gonna stay here until they get back on their feet."

"Well I hope things get better for them, they deserve some time off." Lucy stated. She went back to looking at her laptop and notes.

"Yeah, they do. Anyways I'm gonna go get them. I'll bring some dinner on the way home."

"Thanks dad." Peppy began to walk out of her room, but stopped just before he did.

"By the way, how's your boyfriend? He's usually here, you two doing alright?" Peppy asked.

"Oh Ozzy, we're doing fine. He's just visiting some family on Papetoon for the weekend." Lucy responded.

"Oh okay. Well, I'll be back in a bit." Peppy walked out of her room, closing the door behind him. He went to the garage and got into his SUV and drove out of the estate. As he drove through Corneria City, the sun began to set. He arrived to the military airfield and made his way through the security checkpoint. As he arrived, he spotted his teammates walking down the ramp carrying suitcases. He unlocked the car doors and popped the trunk open for them to store their things. Fox and his crew put their suitcases in the trunk and piled up into Peppy's car. The team had discouraged faces and they reeked of desperation. They rode back to Peppy's house in silence.

Ozzy stepped out into one of the terminals at Papetoon's main commercial spaceports, with a duffel bag in his hand. He made his way through the spaceport, passed the baggage claim and made his way to one of the rental car services attached to the port. Thankfully this rental car company allowed eighteen year old's to rent a car. In the past, he had to use a fake identification to pass as eighteen, but he no longer needed that. He took the rental car out to a specific spot in the middle of the Papetoon desert. He sat in the car and waited until nightfall. He was a little mad that there were not any later flights, so he had a long while to wait. He listened to a podcast to pass the time. After a few hours of waiting, the sun vanished from the sky, plunging the desert into darkness. A ship emerged from the dark atmosphere and landed near the car. It was hard to see the ship as it was in stealth mode. The ship lowered to the ground, causing sand and dust to kick up around the area beneath it. Landing pads extended from the ship and it softly landed onto the ground. Ozzy got out of the car and locked it behind him. He casually walked up to the ship as the cockpit lid opened up, revealing the pilot inside. The two made eye contact and Ozzy smiled.

"Hello Wolf."

A/N: A smaller chapter for the reveal. I do hope this story is becoming a bit more interesting. I did have a lot of introductory stuff to get through, but now the juicy stuff gets to happen. I've also been thinking of changing the title of the story to something a bit better. If you have any ideas, feel free to share in the reviews. Also, check out my other story.