Chapter Two

The space captain had a pretty good idea on where to find this member of his crew and in someway felt that he was the closest friend he had, despite the rude attitude and cocky remarks. Slippy could be better described as a coworker to Fox, while Peppy tended to be more of a father to him then a friend.

Fox missed his father greatly, much tragedy in his death that occurred when Fox was only a young boy. James McCloud was not only the father of Fox but was also the captain of the original StarFox team, at that time the most elite force in the Lylat system. His team consisted of Peppy Hare and Pigma Pig, a team so fierce and unstoppable that they had little problem breaking though the intense force that a mad scientist named Andross created. As they approached the headquarters of Andross though, Pigma betrayed both James and Peppy causing them to be captured by the mad scientist. Peppy manage to escape the torment alive but Fox's father was less fortunate, ever since then Peppy looked out for Fox and raised him in James's place.

As the fox made his way down the hall towards the training room, where he suspected his friend would be, he passed the many gifts of gratitude given to him and his team over their long years of service. From the medals that were awarded for stopping the threat of Andross decades ago during the Lylat Wars to the recent thank you letters from the children of a distant planet that they helped supply, all of them were displayed with honour in the wide corridor.

Fox's mind however was not on the many adventures he has had but more on how much he was looking forward in coming back home to Corniera. They have been away nearly five years now, way too long for his liking and he hasn't even heard from the central planet of the Lylat system in years. After the StarFox team traveled the galaxies for adventures and extra cash around the ship, it will be nice to actually take a break and talk to many of his old friends again.

Lazily walking into the training room, he immediately moved to lean against the doorframe and watch the blue falcon continue to beat up the small punching bag. Fox pondered for a moment on how much more of a beating that white bag can handle and as he then crossed his arms against his chest he smirked faintly. It was always a slight wonder to the fox on how the bird could fight like that without any known formal training, yet as he leaned there he then realized that the past of his friend wasn't something he knew very much about. Finally shrugging off that thought, he decided to open his mouth in order to get the man's attention.

"Excited?" Fox asked keeping his relaxed and comfortable potion and with his eyes on the blue falcon, allowed a small smile of friendship to grow on his face. Although they were friends in a strange way, the starship captain always knew that if there was anyone on this ship that would challenge his leader ship it would be him. It was just in the man's nature really and Fox understood that yet this thought still made him uneasy at times, especially when he thinks about how his father died because of one of his team members betrayed him.

The falcon wore a white muscle shirt and brown cargo pants, his usual outfit for training. Pausing in the workout to look over at Fox, he then moved towards the large towel rack against the far wall and grabbed the closest towel to him. Dabbing his face, he placed the towel around his neck and grab his brown shirt off the bench. Then slipping it on he reached for his beige coat, which looked very similar to the one that Fox was wearing. "For what?" He asked raising a brow, which told Fox that his friend didn't quite understand what he was talking about.

"Going back home of course. I mean it's been a while since you've seen Katt and I thought you would be excited in seeing her again," the fox made it a point to keep his eyes focused on the falcon as he spoke but after awhile the man's mind began to wonder and so did his eyes. After looking quickly around the small training room and making a few mental notes on how it needs a good cleaning, he looked once more at the falcon, "You are planning to see her, aren't you Falco?"

A silent pause followed the question and Fox soon noticed an awkward feeling to grow in the room, now he started to second guess the meaning behind what he just asked. Falco kept his eyes away from Fox as he slipped the towel off his shoulders and replaced it with his coat, all done in one slow movement. During this movement the blue falcon looked down towards the ground as if he was reading what he was going to say from the ground.

Finally after several seconds that felt more like minutes to the fox, he replied in a very defensive and snappy tone. Raising his eyes to glare into Fox's he snarled, "What I plan on my own time isn't any of your business Fox." A lot of resentment was found in Falco's voice as he stormed past Fox and headed towards his room. Standing there the fox could only blink a few times, confused by the reaction of the falcon as Fox thought it was a pretty innocent question. Nothing that should have offended or angered Falco like it did.

Katt was the only one Fox knew who actually got close to the usually cold hearted and shutout bird. He met her only a few times before and from what he saw, she was a decent person who cared for Falco deeply. A pink cat of great beauty, Fox never quite understood why Falco left her as from what little he has heard there was once plans for the two to be wed but for some odd reason Falco called it off. According to Falco's personal record, Katt and Falco met when they worked in a space gang named the "Space Hot-Rodders". In the end though that life style nearly landed the falcon in prison and it was only then Fox met Falco. Apparently General Pepper had a deal with Falco that if the man joined up to the StarFox team, he would be pardoned from his charges.

It was odd how his team was formed and the more he thought about it the more he wondered how they even managed to be formed in the first place. The team's history made him chuckle slight in amusement, at one point they were a band of outlaws in the solar system and now they were the heroes of it. Oh how life can be, one minute your down the next you're right back up again. Before he could get lost in old memories an urgent call rang though the intercom of the large ship and he immediately recognized it was the sound of Rob 64.

"Paging Captain Fox McCloud to the bridge; critical situation" In seconds Fox quickly moved out of his relaxed folded arm position in order to turn and run towards the bridge room, panicked in what the critical situation could be.