07- Fox

The recently-famous R-Wing pilot was laying back in his chair, smiling as he napped. He was currently relaxing in the Great Fox, about a month after his team defeated Andross.

After becoming the saviors of his solar system, as well as potentially the universe, the team were recognized as heroes, and were currently on a well-deserved vacation.

Slippy was with his family, Peppy was at home contemplating retirement, and Falco was going planet to planet, reaping the full benefits of his new life as a hero. The leader however, having no family, no plans to retire, and a hell of a lot more humbleness than his friend, chose to lay low and relax his body as he waited for the next crisis to occur.

He had their large mother ship parked in an area of Corneria with few people and spent most of his days exercising, practicing his shooting, and sleeping, with a but of social interaction in between.

Today was a "sleep-in-till-noon" sort of day, coming after a full day of hard training.

His rest wouldn't last that long, however. He was woken suddenly by the lights on the ship flickering on and off with a siren sounding soon after, alerting Fox of an unknown power surge. His trained instincts kicking in, he jolted up, armed himself with his blaster, and ran to the ship's navigation room.

As per Slippy's design, it was already scanning the threat and analyzing it. Fox stared curiosly as the screen showed a cute, yellow rodent smiling at the ship, an envelope in hand.

"ERROR. ERROR." Yelled ROB, the Great Fox's navigator. "CREATURE UNIDENTIFIABLE. PROCEED WITH EXTREME CAUTION." The robot continued in it's monotonous voice.

Fox frowned, preparing himself for a battle. He ran out to the ship's exit, waiting anxiously as a ramp lowered to the ground. He cautiously walked down, gun aimed directly at the intruder.

The creature made a cute squeaking noise as it extended its little hands, giving the envelope to the pilot. Very slowly, Fox grabbed the letter and opened it, keeping his blaster pointed at the little monster as it stared with an undeniably cute obliviousness to the threat in front of it. It read:

"Fox,

You have been personally invited to participate in a tournament comprised of the universe's eight greatest fighters. Your prowess in defeating the tyrant Andross makes you a perfect qualifier to fight for the title of 'Champion of the Universe'! You will have a month of preparation before a representative comes to get you. The only prerequisites are: You may only fight on foot, and you may not tell anybody else about the tournament. Best of luck!

-Hand"

Before he could ask any questions, the mouse had already run off and was too far to catch up to.

Fox wasn't sure why, but he had a feeling he could trust this invitation, and knew he had to prepare for a physical battle.

Getting an idiotically genius idea, he called up a friend. "Hey Slippy! No time to talk, get here as soon as you can. And bring as many spare parts as you can!!"

AN: Alright, a lot to go over hear. First off, I want to thank everybody for all the support I've been getting!! If any fans of this series have any ideas of interesting things to implement, want to vote on who should end up winning the eventual tournament, or anything else, just let me know and I'll do my best! Next is a fun fact: this was actually the very first chapter I wrote, it wasn't until after finishing that I decided to do these in order instead. Also, this is gonna be a long time from now, but if I ever get to covering Ultimate,I've decided I'm definitely counting Starlink as canon to the series, because I'm freaking pumped for that. Lastly, Isabelle in Ultimate! I'm not a huge animal crossing fan, but she seems adorable, and I can't wait to write about her if I get that far. That's all for now!!

P. S. Just wait, the secret characters are coming real soon, I have a lot in store for them