Author's note: I know that Fox's mother was killed by a car bomb in the comic, but the thing is: I don't know the details about that scene. All I heard was that it was a car bomb that killed her. Thank you. On with the story now.

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Fox felt a tear running down his eye.

"I'm sorry, Dad," said Max, "I didn't mean…"

"No, no." Fox said, "It's alright. I have to thank you for listening so far."

"Her death was indeed a tragedy." a voice in the room said.

Startled, Fox turned to face the voice. Peppy was standing there in the doorway.

"Peppy!" Fox said, "How long have you been standing there?!"

"A few sentences ago." said Peppy, "I was having trouble falling asleep myself and I couldn't help overhearing your story."

Peppy had started showing more signs of aging. His back was getting weak and he now had to carry a walking staff to get around. Despite his age, however, his memory remained intact.

"You mind if I continue the story?" he asked, "After all, I was a witness to some of the things that happened next."

Fox looked at Max.

"Yeah, sure." Max said, "Go ahead."

Peppy slowly came in, pulled the chair from Fox's desk, sat down, and continued the story.

Jim and Fox were never quite the same after your grandmother's death. Fox was often visited at the hospital by his friends as well as his teacher and the principal. It was about two weeks when he was released from the hospital and Vixy's funeral came shortly afterwards. A number of officers, including General Pepper, offered their condolences to Jim.

Vixy's murderer was eventually caught by the police and was given the death penalty, but even then your grandfather found it hard to go on with his life. Everyone tried to cheer him up, but he just got more and more depressed each day. Then, one day, I met up with him and he had a smile on his face. You can tell I was astonished.

"Jim!" I said, "You haven't smiled in weeks! What's up?"

"I just had a dream." he said, "I dreamed that Vixy's spirit came to me last night. She told me that she was doing fine in Heaven and that she would always love me. When I told Fox about it, he said that he had the same dream."

Fox nodded.

"I did." he said, "I still remember it to this day."

Peppy cleared his throat.

"Oh, sorry." Fox said, "You were saying?"

Peppy continued.

Ever since then, Jim and Fox were able to move on in their lives but they never forgot. When Fox was old enough, Jim took him to the academy, where he trained to be a pilot for the Cornerian airforce. Fox started out having some problems, but later on he began doing surprisingly well. After four years of training, he was one of the top five most skilled pilots in the academy and Jim couldn't have been prouder.

Then on the eve of Fox's graduation I got a call from General Pepper. He told me that he needed to see Jim, Pigma, and me in his office as soon as possible. When we got there, Pepper told us that there was some strange activity going on at the planet Venom and he needed us to investigate. Jim didn't want to miss your father's graduation, but he couldn't disobey the General's orders. As we headed to our Arwings, I noticed that he had a look of sadness on his face.

"Don't worry, Jim," I assured him, "There's probably nothing to worry about. We should get back in time and if not, I'm sure he'll understand."

"Yeah, you're right." he said, "Let's go."

I had no idea how wrong I really was.

* * *

Upon arriving at Venom, we did our best to watch out for radars. We had been surveying the planet for what seemed like hours, until we suddenly spotted what looked like a military base. We could see soldiers being trained and vehicles and weapons being built.

"The General was right." said Jim, "Andross is building an army!"

"How could he do all this?" I said. "Where could he have gotten the funding for something like this?"

"Never mind that now. We better report this A.S.A.P."

Suddenly, I heard an explosion and when I looked I saw Jim's Arwing going down!

"Jim!" I yelled.

That's when I heard Pigma laughing.

"Pigma! What have you done?!" I yelled at him.

Pigma didn't answer. He just started shooting at me. I tried my best to get out of his range, but it was no use. My Arwing went down less than a minute later. I quickly ejected, before my Arwing hit the ground. From in the air, I saw Jim on the ground taking off his parachute. After I landed, I took mine off and ran to find Jim.

When I got within sight of him, he was surrounded by Andross' troops! Then, I saw Andross walk up him and take his blaster. I couldn't make out what they were saying, but I knew Jim wouldn't tell him anything. Finally, Andross ordered his troops to move out. I was relieved at first but then, to my horror, Andross pointed the blaster at Jim and shot him in the chest! Then he tossed it on the ground next to Jim and walked away.

"No!" I said, "No, no, no!"

I ran to Jim as fast as I could, not stopping until I got to him.

"Jim!" I said, "Jim, speak to me!"

Jim slowly sat up with his hand over his wound.

"I…I don't think…I'm gonna… make it." he said.

"No! Don't do this, Jim!" I said.

I'll never forget the last words he said to me.

"Please… tell Fox I'm… I'm sorry I… couldn't…"

Then he fell to the ground, lifeless. There was nothing I could do. James McCloud, my wingman and best friend, was dead. Almost immediately afterwards, I heard General Pepper's voice on Jim's radio.

"James, come in! Are you there? James, do you copy?!"

I picked it up.

"This is Peppy." I said.

"What's in blazes is going on there?! Did you find anything?"

"Yeah. Andross is building some kind of army. He's probably planning an invasion."

"I don't believe it!" he said, "How could he… Why am I talking to you? Where's James?!"

I hesitated for a second, then said, "Jim… didn't make it."

"What?"

"Pigma was a traitor. He shot us down, after we found out about Andross' army. Jim was interrogated by Andross and…"

"And what?!"

"Andross… shot him."

The phone was silent for a few seconds, then finally I heard Pepper say, "I'm going to send a strike team to rescue you."

It took about two hours for the strike team to find me. They escorted me onto a transport and carried Jim's body there on a stretcher.

* * *

As soon as I got back to Corneria, I was escorted to the General's office by one of the soldiers. When I came in, Pepper had his face buried in his hands. After a few seconds, he furiously knocked a pile of papers onto the floor before looking up at me.

"I just can't believe it!" he said, "It's bad enough he had to conduct those damn experiments in the first place, but now Andross has murdered my best pilot in the entire airforce! Now, with the Star Fox team gone, we may never stand a chance against his army."

"There is still hope, General." I said, "Jim's son, Fox, has become a pretty good pilot. If we can rebuild the Star Fox team, he would make an excellent leader."

Pepper thought about it.

"Well, it's a long shot, but I guess it sounds like a plan." he said, "In the meantime, there will be a military funeral for James tomorrow. I hope you and Fox will come. And ask him to come see me when it's over."

I nodded. As I left the headquarters and got in my car, I said to myself, "The poor kid. How am I going to tell him?"

* * *

When I the got to the academy, most of the graduates had already left. Fox was sitting on the sidewalk looking at the ground. I could tell that he'd been waiting for his father for quite a while. I pulled up close to him and got out.

"Hello, Fox." I said.

"Oh, hi, Peppy." he said, "Have you seen Dad? He promised he'd be here."

"Listen, Fox. There's something I need to tell you about that."

I told him everything.

"No!" he said, "Th-that's not true! That can't be!"

I could see tears in his eyes already.

"I'm really sorry, Fox."

Fox started crying. I felt guilty about telling him, but I just had to. I sat down next to him and patted him on the back, trying my best to comfort him. It was a long while before we left.

"Come on," I said, "I'll take you home."

Fox slowly got up, wiping his eyes and got in the front seat. We didn't say much until we got to Fox's house.

"His funeral will be tomorrow at 9:00." I said, "I'll pick you up in the morning. And the General would like to see you afterwards."

Fox nodded, got out, and waved as I drove off. As I reached my house, I held my fist in the air and said, "Pigma, I swear someday I'll get you for this!"

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Next Chapter: The conclusion. Yes, I know this seems like a pretty short fic, but I tried to make it as long as I could.