Author's Notes: Thanks for the kind and helpful reviews so far everyone. To those of you who were worried about how I was following the Nintendo Power comics blindly, a quick glance at this section will clearly show you that I'm not. It's all original from here on out, short of a few minor tidbits.

Please read and review. All reviews will be looked at and considered. Enjoy!
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Chapter 2: The Arrival
Corneria City is just like how I remember it – a huge city covering many square miles, the forest showing its beautiful side everywhere. How I've missed it. - Fox

Sitting inside their room during the rest of their trip, the group had little to do, short of thinking about their arrival the next morning. While it had only been a few years since they were last on Corneria, many things could have happened to the world they once knew, especially with the war going on around them.
To top it all off the four were worried, as not only did they have no legal right to be on this world anymore, but they were being thrust into a situation that they knew very little of – war. Fox was worried most of all, as he felt that it was his responsibility, his duty, to watch over his friends, to protect them. Instead, he had just taken them away from their home and life that they've known so well, and brought them here. He just hoped it was the right move for them all.
Upon arrival at the surprisingly quiet spaceport, Fox took a good look around for Fara, but much to his disappointment was unable to find her. However, General Pepper met their group at the gate, looking much like he did in the holo-telegram they received the other day.
The tall canine walked up to the ragged group, looking over them as he approached. "Fox McCloud?" he asked, his slight grin almost betraying that he already knew the answer, as he had their academy photos safely tucked away in his front shirt pocket.
"Yes sir," he replied stiffly, images of his last few minutes as legal citizens of Corneria coming to his mind.
The grin faded quickly as he could tell that this meeting wasn't going to go well. "Look, I'm sorry that we couldn't meet under better circumstances, but..."
"That's an understatement," muttered Fox.
"Things have changed since we last met."
"You don't kick people off their home planet anymore?"
"You know that was outside my control."
"Was it?"
Peppy looked over at his disgruntled comrade, and tried to figure out why he was so upset to be here, even though he seemed eager to arrive only a few hours ago. He had a few ideas, but he wasn't quite sure. "Fox, what's..."
"Not now."
The General looked over the four, trying to determine if it was only Fox who was holding some sort of grudge against him. While the hare seemed worried, the other two held very stoic expressions, revealing nothing helpful. "I know how you all must feel about..."
"You have no idea how I or my team feels right now!" Fox was in no mood at this point to debate how he or his team felt. He just wanted some answers as his anger came to a boiling point. Answers that he had been waiting to get for some time. "We, and the rest of the population on this planet, might have done something about Andross before he fully rose to power, but instead we and a few others got sent to exile. How do you think we feel?"
Pepper sighed, having not expected this meeting to go this way at all. "You're right - I don't have any idea of your thoughts or what you've done in the last few years."
Fox continued ranting, his teammates making no moves to stop him. They were just as curious to the answers as he was. "Why didn't you stop them? You were there when we were kicked off. You even knew my father closely, giving him missions that nobody else would attempt in his off hours." His shoulders slumped, a good sign that his anger had been drained for now. "Why?"
Multiple reasons raced through the General's mind, trying to come up with an answer to his many questions. He finally decided upon his only possible solution – the honest truth. "I simply couldn't do anything about it. I was only a Sergeant back then, as you already know, and while I heavily voiced my opinion, in the end everyone saw you as dangerous to society. And it was a mistake that the rest of the system deeply regretted afterward."
"That it was," said Fox quietly. He stood there, debating on what was said, wondering if it was the truth and not just an attempt to convert him back to Corneria's side of things.
Peppy moved between the two, trying to see if they had finished their argument. Sensing that they were done, he figured he ought to say something, to try to get everything back on track. "Now that you've said what you needed to say, may I suggest something?"
While Pepper just nodded, Fox commented upon the situation, grateful for the hare's experience and rational thought, even though his mind was preoccupied. "What's on your mind?"
"Let's start this whole conversation over again, except this time, why don't we leave what happened in the past out of this? What happened has happened, and nothing is going to change that."
"I'm willing to accept that if you are, General," said Fox. He looked over, locking his gaze upon the canine, him to do the same.
"Your logic is sound, Peppy," said Pepper, looking over and meeting the gaze. "As it always has been. I agree to your suggestion."
"Good." With a smile, he stepped back, out of the way, hoping for the best the second time around. "You may proceed."
Shaking his head slightly at Peppy's unusual logic, he figured that ultimately he had nothing to lose. And having a pilot that was on his good side, and fully accepted his mission, was a good thing. "Fox McCloud?" he asked, already knowing the answer, extending a paw in greeting.
"That's me sir," the vulpine replied, moving forward to shake paws. He still wasn't happy with the explanation, but he knew that if he wanted any chance to retaliate against Andross' forces, he had to play along, at least for now.
"Welcome back to Corneria. While I wish it were under much different circumstances, it's nice to see you back."
He nodded. "Thank you, sir."
Pepper turned to leave, beckoning the others to follow. "I have one request though before we go however. Drop the 'sir' comments, as all you do is make me feel far older than I really am."
Fox smiled, almost breaking out into laughter, a good sign that he had reverted fully to his normal self. "If you insist."
Having finished with the introductions, he led everyone off to a government owned hovercar parked just outside the spaceport and loaded them in. Slippy found a technical manual of some sort sitting on the floor of his seat, but the others were forced to look out the windows to keep themselves entertained.
The center of the city was like most well developed cities of its type, towering skyscrapers visible wherever one looked. As one moved away from the center however, the towers quickly vanished, to be replaced with much smaller businesses and many various dwellings of all shapes and sizes. In an unusual move though, one that made little sense as far as easy expansion goes, sizable groves of trees could be seen intermixed with the houses, these orchards covering more and more ground the farther they got away from the main part of the city.
As they drove off to the base, Fox grew tired of watching the various sections of the city pass by and decided to get some kind of conversation going, not liking the silence after the vocal argument earlier. "So, General, not that I'm complaining or anything, but why did you decide upon the four of us instead of any other Academy graduates? Don't you have other pilots as well?"
The General thought for a moment as he continued to drive. He tried to figure out the best way to explain this to his new pilots. "Well Junior, we actually did try. Remember the footage we showed you? It really is that bad with what we have left around here."
Pepper paused for a moment, weaving his way through traffic. Even with government markings clearly visible, some drivers continued to speed around and past him. "See, it was decided by the Defense Council that we needed as few ships as possible. Keeping costs down and such you know. To do so we needed ultra-high performance craft. As a side effect however, we made the craft outside the capabilities of our more average pilots..."
A large park was visible to one side, speeding by quickly as the General continued to explain, Fox thinking back to a similar looking area he used to visit constantly when he was younger. "Starting to worry about our choice of fighter craft, we dug through the Academy records for the past few years. It didn't take too long to stumble on yours and your friends' records. Getting in touch with you all however was much harder."
Fox tried his best from breaking out in a huge grin but was eventually unable to do so. Only the people he worked for had an easy way to contact him on Papetoon. Everyone else was considered a possible threat. "Pepper, personally I think that was a good thing. In our previous line of work, if you got found out, you were as good as dead."
"I don't doubt that, Junior. As it is, before I forget, I want to thank you all for your great job in making life for everyone on Papetoon a little easier. It has been a harsh few years to say the least thanks to Andross and his forces."
Fox looked pleased with these words, glad that somebody recognized their hard work outside of the villages they helped. "Hey, we're just glad we could help. It wasn't all that much. But in the end, it was nothing that any good person would do, right?"
Falco groaned from the back seat, remembering some of their more difficult missions, surprised that Fox and the General were on such great speaking terms after yelling at each other only minutes before. "It wasn't all that much my tail."
Peppy laughed, remembering a variant of that line being told before. "Fox, you have no idea how much you sound like your father right now. Always putting your life on the line to do good, then making sure that everyone thinks that it was nothing."
The avian continued on, ignoring Peppy's remark. "And it explains why we aren't rich and famous right now."
He looked over, shaking his head, wondering why Falco was always so negative. "We aren't rich, but we are famous to the people we have saved and helped. Isn't that good enough for you?"
"No, it isn't." Falco scowled and went back to looking out the car window.
"Junior," started Pepper, "I was never around you all much during your Academy years, but from what I remember, it seems that nobody here has changed one bit."
Now it was Fox's turn to laugh. "Trust me General, they haven't. Count yourself fortunate that you haven't been around them cooped up in a base the size of a small apartment for the last two years. It has been interesting to say the least."
With that, everyone broke out into laughter, some more than others, remembering the good and bad times they all had over the past two years, glad to finally be away from the rock and desert that was Papetoon, even though they were now in a far more dangerous situation than they had ever been. They just didn't know it yet.

A few minutes of travel later brought the hovercar out of the city and into the outskirts of a forest. As the travel lanes had ended at the edge of the city, they were free to fly however they wanted. Pepper maneuvered the hovercar high above the tree line, allowing everyone to barely make out Corneria Base in the distance.
As they approached, details could be seen on the large structure. Corneria Base was the only true military base on the planet, owing to the fact that there was only a small military presence overall. Situated on one edge of the forest they were traveling over, the base was surrounded by open grassy plains otherwise. At first glance it looked like a large molded piece of rock, instead of a structure of concrete. As they grew closer however, the artificial design began to show itself, the unnatural curves of hardened steel clearly visible.
The base had two large launch bays, one facing east and the other west. No gun turrets could be seen, but it was assumed that they could be drawn at a moments notice. It also seemed to be unusually quiet – no traffic could be seen anywhere near the place.
Pepper decided to chime in with some information, as if almost on cue. "Ah, home sweet home. As you may have realized, this base is the pride and joy of the Cornerian Military. Currently on staff are 72 personnel, with the capability to hold about triple that if the need arises without overcrowding. It is a dozen floors tall, the top two holding most of the command and control centers, and the rest containing separate living, medical, and engineering sections. Top fighter capacity of this base is thirty-six craft, and short of a dozen general security vehicles, we basically have four – the Arwings. It is hoped with successful testing and execution of these fighters we'll be able to procure more funding for the military."
Falco grumbled in the corner, thinking of the situation at hand. "Yeah, this whole peace before war aspect of our government got us to where we are today – backed into a corner with our only hope stacked on a few experimental fighters."
"No better than our odds have been over the last few years my feathered friend," said Peppy.
Slippy finally closed the technical manual on the Arwing that he had been reading the entire trip and looked up, pleased at what he had read. "You know, Falco, these Arwing fighters are rather impressive technically. We might actually be looking at a good chance here for once."
Falco perked up, that statement getting his attention. "Really? This might get interesting then."

The hovercar reached its destination shortly thereafter, with Pepper parking the vehicle in the eastern launch bay, which was almost empty, only holding a pair of vehicles just like the one they had vacated out of. Nobody was awaiting their arrival, short of an average height cheetah that saluted as they got out. Pepper quickly introduced each other. "Everyone, this is Gary, my second in command. Gary, this is the group that I've been waiting for."
Gary was dressed in a military outfit that looked much like Pepper's, and was carrying a headset in one yellow furred paw that he waved around energetically as he talked. "No offense here anyone," he said, giving the group a good look over, "but aren't you a little ragged looking considering that according to Pepper you are going to be the saviors the Lylat system?"
Fox looked down at his outfit as he grinned, thinking back to their recent adventure. "Considering that the only way we could get to this planet was by riding stowaway in a cargo container, we have the right to look a tad ragged."
Pepper shook his head and sighed, wishing his cohort wouldn't be so blunt some days. "Don't mind him. Gary, just, shall we say, speaks his mind whenever he feels like it. But he is a good person." He turned towards the cheetah, noticing he was holding something. "Now, what was it you wanted? Who's on the com?"
"Oh, this?" he said, lifting the device. "Well, nobody anymore, but there was a certain someone who wanted to get in touch with you as soon as you arrived." Gary passed Pepper the headset as he talked.
"I can't leave the base for any length of time without getting bugged by somebody." He groaned as he wondered what else went wrong in his absence. "Come on, Junior, I think he's right for once – you are all in dire need of some new outfits. I can call back whoever wanted me then."
"We're not going to see the Arwings yet?" complained Falco, wanting to get right down to business.
Peppy looked over the near rags that everybody was wearing as he spoke his mind. "Falco, I think what he means is that he's afraid that we're going to scare away the engineers that are working on the Arwings if we approach them in our current garb."
"Besides, Falco," commented Fox as they all walked to the nearby elevator, "my family line looks rather good in a military uniform. It might do you a bit of good as well." He thought for a moment, something else coming to mind. "Oh, and General?"
"Yes?"
"Please stop calling me Junior. You did it earlier, both on the recording you sent to us and when we first spoke, so why not now?"
Peppy laughed, knowing that Pepper had always called Fox by that name, even years ago when he was still at the Academy. "I think that was no more than a fluke, Fox. I remember when you tried back at the Academy. It didn't work then, and I doubt it's going to work now."
"I've just known your dad too long, Junior," said Pepper, looking back over his shoulder at Fox. "I don't think it's going to happen. Besides, the instances before were more formal greetings than anything else."
The vulpine threw his paws into the air as he gave up for the time being. It was never worth the aggravation of trying to get the General to change his mind once it was set, that much he knew.

The group, now numbering five, walked out of the elevator and found themselves in a well-lit white military style hallway, with the occasional steel colored door on either side. A dark blue carpet covered the floors here, trying their best to dim the light streaming down from above. Signs dotted the walls, marking room numbers and directions to reach the more important areas of the floor.
Pepper continued his narrative, pointing out areas of interest as he talked about them. "Welcome to floor 6, general quarters, east side. These doors lead to your quarters. You have a nice lounge area through here as well, which you can lock if you need to for mission debriefings and such. You have once nice advantage being quartered here – the mess hall is on this floor down this hallway and the medical bay is down this one."
He pointed to the doors leading to the group's quarters once more. "These doors are locked with your pawprints, and also can have a numerical lock on them as well. Just touch your paw to the scanner, and in you go. There's some clothing that has been put out on the bed inside – I've based the size on the uniforms that you wore back in the Academy, so hopefully I've guessed rather close."
The General waved them into their rooms. "Go on in, as I have a call to make. I'll meet you back out here when you get done."
Fox walked inside his quarters, quickly noticing how large his room was. A double bed was stashed on one side of the room, with a closet next to it, and a small table with a computer on top was on another wall. The other wall held a sizeable plasma TV and a fold down table underneath it. The far corner of the room held the door to the washroom. The walls were the same muted white color that the hallways were, and a thick gray carpet muffled his footsteps as he moved around.
He was shocked to see how nice his accommodations were, and he hoped that the rest of his team had the same spacious rooms. Noticing two military uniforms upon the bed, he quickly found the one more suited to his size and changed, taking a quick side trip to the washroom to make sure he was as presentable as he could. Turning towards the mirror afterward, he seemed pleased with his new outfit – a light green short-sleeved shirt with light green pants tucked into his boots, and a short-sleeved white flight jacket with white fingerless gloves finished the presentation nicely.
Fox found an odd silver helmet sitting on his bed as well. It was basically a three-piece design – one part coming to rest on his forehead, the other two came around the side of his cheeks, with a microphone and receiver on the left cheek part, and the whole thing was connected together at the back of his head. He took a quick look at the helmet, feeling that it was familiar somehow. Not making the connection he shrugged, putting it on without a further thought. It fit over his head fur perfectly, and seemed so lightweight that he hardly even noticed it.
Making one final pass of his room, he happened upon the lone source of light short of the bulbs embedded in the ceiling - a good-sized window. Even with the gray curtains drawn closed, there was a good amount of morning sunlight filtering into his room. Taking a quick peek outside, he smiled as he looked at the grass below and the trees in the distance, waving slightly in the breeze. He remembered the view he had from his hideout on Papetoon, which was comprised of nothing but sand and rock, and was glad to be somewhere a bit more colorful.
Eager to get back to the rest of the tour, Fox left his room, letting the automatic door close behind him with a muted swish. He saw the General talking into his headset a few feet away, but with his back turned, he hadn't been noticed. Not seeing anyone else out of their rooms yet, and not wanting to disturb his boss in mid-chat, he just leaned against the wall and listened in on the one sided conversation.
"So, what happened? Are you okay?" A pause. "Thank goodness." Another pause. "No, see, this is exactly why you can't do that. But as to who…" The General stopped in mid sentence, and then quieted for a moment before nodding to himself. "I see. You really shouldn't be doing that you know. Anyway, we'll be at the engineering deck shortly." Another pause. "Yes, you have my word. But as to why…" With that Pepper clicked off the headset and turned around. "Eavesdropping Junior?"
Fox just shook his head, wondering how the canine knew that he was there. "No, I just got done changing and stepped out. I love the accommodations. Everyone else have the same room I take it?"
He smiled, pleased to see that what he considered to be simple lodging was so appreciated. "Only the best for our pilots, and the same holds true for everyone else on the base."
"And who was that you were talking to anyway?"
"That was engineering. Just an update to some concerns with the Arwings."
Fox nodded. "I see." He felt that Pepper was keeping something from him, he just didn't know what or why. But he decided to play along for the time being, as he didn't dare start another argument. There was one thing he needed to know though while they were alone. "General, I have a rather blunt question for you. Why us? We aren't even legal citizens of this world anymore, and here we're trying to save it."
Pepper sighed as he closed his eyes, as if he was expecting this question sooner or later. He just hoped that it didn't deteriorate into the shouting war he had to listen to earlier. "To be honest, I'm desperate." His eyes popped open, staring at the vulpine. "The citizens of this system are desperate. It doesn't matter where the pilots come from, we just need someone skilled enough to fly the Arwings. You're pretty much our best, and only hope right now."
That was not what Fox wanted to hear. This entire plan was nothing more than a desperation move, a plan that he hoped that wouldn't end with the deaths of him or his comrades. But in the end, he knew he had no other options as well, especially if he wanted to get back at Andross after all these years. "So no pressure or anything, right?"
"None at all."
He rolled his eyes in dismay. "Great. Well, now to wait for the others."
Their wait wasn't long, as everyone else wandered out of their rooms shortly thereafter. They all wore the same flight jacket that Fox had, but their clothing was a different color – Peppy's was red, Slippy's a dark blue, and Falco sported a dark tan coloring. "Looking good guys," commented Fox, liking what he saw.
"Well, I hate it," muttered Falco, tugging at one of his shirtsleeves.
"Is there anything you don't complain about?" asked Slippy as he looked over at the avian.
"Quiet, frog face." He returned the look, glaring at the speaker.
"And who's going to make me, bird brain?"
Peppy moved between the arguing pair, as he was the closest, not happy at all to see them fighting already. "Hold on you two, this is not the way to use your aggression. Collect it, store it, and use it in your battles ahead. Not here."
Pepper cast an inquisitive eye over the group and how they acted together. It worried him somewhat, but as he told Fox before, he didn't have much of a choice. "With that out of the way, shall we continue? I have a few more things that I'd like you all to see today."
"Now you see what I've had to put up with," whispered Fox into Pepper's ear as he passed by. The canine just shook his head as they continued on with their tour, eager to see their new craft.