A/N: Whew, that took a WHILE to complete this chapter. Sorry for the wait, but alas, here it is! Hope you enjoy and review if you have any comments, suggestions or questions and I will get back to you as soon as I can!

Chapter One: Corneria Circuit

"Ten minutes until start, I repeat ten minutes until start", said a booming voice over a PA system that echoed off the walls of a large, metal building which was a hangar. Sparks came from all sorts of vehicles as their riders worked on and tuned them up on their each separate platforms connected only by small, one man elevators and one larger elevator that was for vehicle transport. Fox was on one of the platforms and he was hard at work trying desperately to patch a hole in the upper left G-Diffuser that he had obtained during his last race. "Ugh!", Fox exclaimed as he forcefully tightened a bolt he applied over the thin metal he had placed over the hole to keep it tight. "There, that should do it", he said standing up to stretch his legs. Fox stopped stretching and took a couple steps back to take a look at his fixed Arwing II. Fox examined every inch of his ship and started to smile. 'It's been a long journey, hasn't it", he said to his Arwing knowing that it wouldn't respond. "Yeah", he sighed and turned to look over the long and large hangar which was full of hard working vixens and canines alike, "Yeah".

"One minute until start, I repeat one minute until start. All contestants are to report to their designated launch tubes at this time", said the voice over the intercom. Fox revolved and calmly walked over to his Arwing. Pressing a series of buttons on a PDA he was carrying, the cockpit to his Arwing opened slowly and Fox grabbed the side and hoped in. "Time to do this", he said to himself while putting on a pair of white gloves. As the cockpit receded to its closed position, Fox watched as the ships Heads up Display came online and presented a flow of colors blue and silver. Fox reached out with his left hand and proceeded to press the small silver and holographic buttons in front of him. After pressing the buttons in a certain order, the old Star Fox logo appeared and disappeared, followed by a holographic layout of his Arwing.

Fox grabbed both throttles and slightly pulled back on them, causing the Arwing to slowly lift of the metal platform it was on. "Alright, nice and easy", he said to himself as he slowly thrust both throttles forward, causing the nose of the Arwing to dive slightly and the Arwing to fly forward. Fox pulled back a little on the throttles as he passed a multitude of platforms which had been cleared of their craft and approached a very long wall of deep blue tubes. "Ok, this is number twenty-one, right", Fox said to himself as he look over to his right to see the number 21 on the wall. Fox Carefully glided his Arwing into the twenty-first blue tube until the gravity locks kicked in and suspended his aircraft in midair. "Fox! You're late, again!" yelled a familiar, overconfident and cocky voice that came through Fox's headset.

"So you finally decide to contact me, after four weeks of not even showing up!" Fox yelled in return. "Nice to see you, too, Fox", the voice said again as Fox's blue tube began to accelerate upwards. "I came to see how you've been since we last saw each other", said the voice once again with a hint of sarcasm. "Well, I've had worse days, Falco", Fox returned. The blue tube which Fox was in had begun to slow down dramatically. Fox look straight up and witnessed a silver metal door, which he was slowly elevating up to, start to slide sideways into the wall behind the Arwing, letting a great yellow light flow in and engulf the entire tube. Fox slowly dropped his head until he was looking directly in front of him. The blue tube gleamed bright as Fox had exited the elevator-like shaft and was greeted by what seemed to be thousands of dogs, vixens, lizards, toads, falcons and a mix of other species as well.

Fox tightened his grip on the throttles as the silence in the Arwing was interrupted by a mess of screams and shouts from the crowd. "Do this right, Fox. I don't need you ruining our reputation", Falco said over the headset with sarcasm. Fox didn't respond, he was too focused on examining the other racers' ships to see if they had any weaknesses. "Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to the Zero-Gravity Grand Prix Championship race!", said the man over the intercom with great excitement. The crowd had screamed and shouted even louder after they heard the man. "Yes! Yes! We know you're all excited to see if Martin Lizard will hold his title of the best racer in Lylat, or if a new racing champion will come and take it away!", said the man on the intercom, once again causing the crowd to become loud. Fox tilted his head down as if he was trying to clear his mind of all other thoughts. He closed his eyes, trying to focus on his one goal, winning. Fox allowed his body to relax and settle, the voices outside became quiet and low. Fox inhaled and felt the air rush into his lungs, rejuvenating his blood. Fox slowly opened his eyes and gazed upon the large grassy plane which he would race on. He tightened his grip on the throttles even further, he felt strong. Fox allowed the voices of the crowd to come back into focus, he knew that he would win. Fox shifted himself in his seat as the gentleman once again spoke over the PA.

"Alright folks, the race counter has been activated! Let's get ready to race!", exclaimed the gentleman which then caused the crowd to become louder than ever before, so loud that Fox could feel the vibrations of the mass of voices even in his Arwing, however Fox was not focused on that. He had slouched forward and had kept his eyes on the timer, which was counting down from 30. "Good luck, Fox", said Falco over Fox's headset. "humph", Fox retorted, allowing a mischievous smirk cross his face, his eyesight now planted on the orange numbers which slowly counted down to zero.

When the countdown timer reached 15, the numbers turned red and caused the man on the intercom to speak once again. "Alright folks! c'mon, let's give these energetic racers something to hear!", the person on the intercom said as he walked on top of a silver metal walkway that stood atop the blue tubes which temporarily housed the racers' vehicles, revealing his black and white stripes, sleek mane and his popped-collar leather racing jacket. The roar of the crowd was deafening, but everyone knew what was about to happen next. "Join in everyone! 10, 9, 8...", the announcer continued to count off the numbers, but was soon completely overshadowed by the crowd who were also continuing to count down.

"7"

"6"

"5", Fox could hear Falco say over his headset.

"4"

"3"

"2", Fox pulled back on his throttles.

"1"

"0", Yelled the crowd as the gravity locks were released, allowing all of the assorted vehicles to fly out of their tubes at blazing fast speeds. Fox had thrust the throttles forward with great force and felt the roar of the g-diffuser engines as the Arwing glided out of the gleaming blue tube and out into the world. He was free.

Floating only mere meters off the ground, the assorted vehicles whined and whaled as they passed and fell behind each other, engines slowing down and speeding up as the race went on. Fox knew there was no competition from the bulk of the racers, he waved through the crowd of vehicles despite it being extremely contested. The only source of resistance that would stand between him and the Zero-Gravity Grand Prix Champion Cup was Kelvin Ferdinaze, a fierce runner up and Martin Lizard, the current champion. Fox smirked to think of having Martin watch as his 7-year win streak come to a sudden end. Just as Fox sped past the final vehicle in the large congestion of racers, he quickly drew this throttles back, causing his Arwing to slow down dramatically and graze the last vehicle Fox passed. It was Kelvin Ferdinaze.

He had no grin on his face, no smirk or any sign of amusement. His black canine face was as emotionless and shameless as ever. Fox grit his teeth and slowly sped up his Arwing, attempting to catch up and eventually pass Kelvin. "Hey, Fox! You better watch out, you got competition! Ha ha!", Falco teased over the headset Fox was wearing, making Fox grit his teeth even harder. "Oh yeah? Watch this!", Fox exclaimed, he thrust the throttles forward and nearly caused his Arwing to run into Kelvins' Red and grey Tracer, which was shaped like a triangular wedge with wings that bend down and face forward. Kelvin must have known that was coming, he tilted the left throttle down and the right up and positioned his Tracer in front of Fox and his Arwing, blocking their escape. Fox tried to move to the left and Kelvin moved left also, Fox tried to fly right and so did Kelvin. Fox then knew that the race was not going to be as easy as he hoped, and he would lose if he stayed in this position.

Soon, the rest of the racers who made it pass the dense clump had started to fly right by Fox and Kelvin, not even caring about their situation. Fox had seen this and lowered his muzzle down towards the holographic panel which lay in front of him, he was being purposefully delayed. "C'mon Fox, what are you doing!" Yelled Falco, he was watching Fox from one of the coaching booths. A robotic camera was focused of Kelvin and Fox, and seeing this made Falco aggravated. "Fox, don't let this punk run over you like this! If you lose, I won't let you hear the end of it!", Falco had walked over to the glass window and put his left hand on it, despite that he could not see the racers anymore, he still peered out to look over the beautiful Cornerian grass planes. "You can do it buddy".

"You are not giving up on me yet, are you!?" Fox responded. Falco turned back around to face the wall-mounted screen to see that Fox had boosted his G-Diffuser power and had sped pass the Tracer, the Arwing now flying vertically. Falco nodded and said, "Not bad". Fox returned his Arwing to its normal horizontal position, but he kept his speed and continued to fly past the contestants. Fox kept on going until he was far ahead of all the people who passed him, and until Kelvin was out of sight. He breathed a sigh of relief and re-positioned himself in his seat and prepared to face the even bigger challenge, Martin Lizard.

Several minutes had passed with no racers in sight, 'How did he get so far ahead', Fox thought. He scratched his head and continued to ponder on that question. "That's where he went!" Fox exclaimed, "That was kind of random, Fox", returned Falco.

"Falco, am I headed for Jackson Canyon?" Fox asked, a little demanding.

"Yes you are, why?"

"Martin is down there"

"Fox, it's not just Martin, you're in twelfth place, and the two-hundred some racers behind you are catching up. Have you already given it your all?" Falco chuckled like a maniac, but Fox did not mind nor did he respond. Several streaks flew past the blue and grey Arwing, followed by the blazing sound of engines at full power. The Arwing sped up, but kept behind the racers in front of him at a distance, he knew what was coming and he didn't want to be the first to be caught.

'There it is', Fox thought, he gulped as he and the rest of the racers drove closer to the canyon. Most of the racers seemed eager to pass by the famed Fox McCloud, shouting inaudibly and making faces at him as they passed. Fox didn't mind, he knew that they would get what was coming to them as soon as they entered the rocky, grey, forbidding Jackson Canyon, infamous for many vehicle crashes and disasters. Fox tightened his grip on his throttles, his Arwing speed dropped, and he forced the nose of the Arwing up. He had glided off the edge of the canyon cliff, along with the other racers, their engines screaming sound did not echo off the canyon walls, it had instead faded out to nothingness.

Fox slowly allowed his Arwing to levitate above the rocky ground and pick up speed, his eyes planted forward, gazing for any walls or any objects that would block his path. Fox noticed that he could no longer see the blazing twin suns of Lylat, or feel their heat as much as he could before. They seemed to have become distant shadows in an eerie fog which slowly crept over the assorted racers. Fox could still see the racers beside and in front of him, but just barely. Fox turned his throttles and moved his Arwing right, avoiding a canyon wall which jutted out from the side, then he turned left to avoid another. Soon, Fox could not see anything but his Arwing, he could see no racers beside him or in front of him, he felt alone. "Agh!" Fox exclaimed as he quickly maneuvered his ship, forcing it to fly over several rocks, he did not even notice the fog thinning and revealing a huge patch of them. Fox tightened his grip and grit his teeth, he knew he had to go through them.

Fox swerved his craft through the patch, avoiding as many rocks as he can. Fox felt the Arwing turning side-to-side when he swerved right then left to avoid rocks, his center of mass shifting when he turned. Fox widened his eyes and pulled back on his throttles, he had been caught behind another racer, but he could see the red and grey of the pod and immediately knew who it was. Kelvin was at it again. Fox violently shifted his throttles and turned his Arwing right, barely missing a large rock wall, he and Kelvin were separated but he knew not for how long, prompting him to think and fly fast. Fox sped up and quickly swerved to the direction of the wall. Fox could see something in the distance, was it Kelvin? A bright light with something black rising from it. Fox slowed and prepared himself to move quickly, he didn't want to lose to Kelvin. As Fox approached the light, he was surprised to find that it was not Kelvin, but another racing pod. The light was flames, the blackness smoke, the walls grazed and chard. The racer pod was wrecked and the racer sitting on its edge, his hands on his face, he was sulking. Fox sped on, he did not want to find out who or what did that to the pod and his owner. "Fox, look out!" Falco abruptly screeched as Fox witnessed a red and grey pod fly glide from above the Arwing to in front of it. Kelvins' pod engines burned the tip of the Arwing before he halted his ship, smashing him into Fox. "Agh!" Fox showed his teeth and exhaled, pulling the throttles to the side and forced his Arwing between the Tracer and a rock wall. Kelvin was not surprised, he maneuvered his ship to smash Fox against the wall. The first emotion Kevin showed, and it was dark grin as Fox was nearing his end.

"Come on! I can't get out!" Fox yelled, aggravated, he could see his Arwing planted between Kelvin and the wall, sparks emitting from it. The sound of grazing against the wall was like the sound of chalk being scratched against a board. Fox finally pulled his Arwing out from that death trap but only to find himself behind Kelvin once again with no escape plan. Fox was focused on the Tracer ahead of him, but something caught his attention. Fox peered up to witness the light of the twin suns once again shine through the dark and unnerving fog. "Oh, no", Fox said under his breath, he knew he was nearing the area which he dreaded the most, the area where most of the racers would be caught in, the Dead Zone.

Suddenly, Fox noticed that the fog was clearing up rapidly until he could see it no more, his Arwing and Kelvins' Tracer shot out of the thick grey cloud at enormous speeds, causing the fog to form several circles along their exit path. Fox desperately maneuvered his Arwing away from Kelvins, he had to land perfectly or he knew he could be fatally injured. Several spires of rock sliced through the sky, some as small as a person and some as stretched all the way up to the top of the canyon. 'Come on', thought Fox, he could see that Kelvin was forcing himself in front of Fox no matter where he went. They were nearing the ground, and a multitude of crashed racing pods became visible as well as some emergency transportation vehicles. Fox glided his Arwing over Kelvins until he was directly above him, Fox thought he should he should thank Kelvin for such a great race "He he, see you on the other side", Fox said, and he dropped his Arwing on top of the tracer, causing it to lose its trajectory. Fox could barely see Kelvin through his dark cockpit shield, but he thought he could make out Kelvin glaring at him, not removing his eyes from him, until his ship grazed the ground and smashed into another crashed pod, resulting in a small explosion. Fox sighed a great sigh, and glided his Arwing softly onto the rocky ground and maneuvered his Arwing between the rock pillars. Fox didn't think he was going to beat Kelvin so soon, and that made the ride infinitely easier. "Guess I was wrong about Jackson Canyon, it wasn't going to be as hard as I hoped", Fox said to himself as he exited Jackson Canyon via the green Zero-Gravity racing track, the great Lylatian suns were beginning their decent, and set a nice bright glow over the great grass plane Fox had returned to.

The suns were setting, and cast a mess of orange light across the Cornerian Planes. For the past couple of hours, Fox sped past fewer and fewer racers and the trip was mainly uneventful, but Fox knew that he was nearing Martin, and they were on the final stretch home. If Fox didn't catch up to Martin soon, it would mean losing, and that wasn't on Foxes' mind right now. Fox was laid back in the cockpit, he had nothing to do, no one was close enough to challenge him and the heat from the twin suns was comforting. "Ha ha, wow Falco, where did you hear that?" Fox chuckled over his headset. "I over heard some guys talking at the spaceport on Venom, I thought I would just listen in", Falco replied, Fox thought he could hear him laugh in the background. "On Venom, huh?" Fox remembered what Venom represented a long time ago, fear and injustice. After the Anglar Blitz however, Dash Bowman- the grandson of Andross- had lead the turning of Venom from a remote and decaying wasteland into a thriving metropolis full of diverse people, Fox sighed to think about it. While Fox continued his conversation with Falco from the safety of his Arwing, he was ignorant of the approaching craft behind him. "That's when I said that I-", Fox stopped short as he could see his proximity sensor warning flash red. "Hold on Falco, I have something coming at me, really fast", Fox re-positioned himself upright and took hold of the throttles, shifting his eyes towards the holographic map that was projected across his left cockpit window, which showed the Arwing being followed. Fox breathed and felt his heart beat, he could only watch as the holograph depicted the red triangle closing in on the blue Arwing.

Fox held tight to his throttles, not daring to look away from the Arwing's holographic map. "Fox, what's going on?" Falco inquired, he was still by the lone glass window that overlooked the great Cornerian Planes. Fox turned his head over to look straight ahead, he could see something out of the corner of his eye which caught his attention. It was the Zero Gravity Grand Prix Start and Finishing building, and behind it was Corneria City, golden within the setting suns' gaze. Fox slowly sped up his Arwing and maneuvered his trajectory towards the finish line, his Arwing streaking past the ground, creating a deafening roar and causing the majestic grass to fiercely sway, some even were plucked from the ground and glided in circles. "Fox! Look out! He's right behind you!", Falco screeched over Fox's headset and caused Fox to immediately break his course and sway right, his Arwing tilted dramatically. Fox could hear his connection with Falco dwindle, morphing into static, until Falco was replaced by a new, deep, and calm voice, "hello, Fox McCloud".

Behind Fox, a large, orange, and intimidating craft appeared and was slowly on a pursuit course. It had four sharp, dazzling wings and several engines in the back which gave off a deep red glow. The nozzle pierced through the air as the craft slowly approached the blue and grey Arwing. Fox tried to maneuver out of the way, swerving left and right, but to no avail, the orange craft seemed to move even faster than his. As the craft enclosed on the other, its speed was suddenly increased dramatically, causing it to glide directly into the the Arwing, smashing and removing the thin metal plating Fox had applied on his upper left G-Diffuser earlier. "Agh", Fox exclaimed as his body fell forward and almost causing his head to collide with the glass Heads-Up Display. Several of the holographic images around the cockpit flashed red and the layout of the Arwing alerted Fox of the breach of the G-Diffuser and loss of acceleration. "Not surprised, are you McCloud?" the new voice said again as the other craft slowly leveled itself out right beside the Arwing. "Martin", Fox said under his breath, tightening his grip on the throttles and exhaling.

Fox couldn't keep very good control over the Arwing for long, when Fox tried to keep it straight, it just seemed to drop altitude. On top of that, the Arwing's acceleration was very low and Fox could barely keep up with Martin, and they were getting dangerously close to the finishing line. Fox knew this wasn't going to end well if he didn't find some way to surpass Martin, which seemed like it was nigh near impossible. "F-o-x!" Fox could hear a voice say over his headset, but it was faded and overshadowed by heavy static, but Fox could guess who it was. "Falco, I can't hear you, Martin is jamming or connection somehow", Fox retorted, glancing to his left as if he could see the back of his head. "I-th-ink I-f..." Fox could really hear the static, it was becoming louder and meant that the connecting to Falco was fading away. Soon, Fox could no longer hear anything, not even the static. "Martin! What are you plotting you crazy fool!". Fox yelled through his microphone, expecting an answer from inside the orange craft that flew silently in front of him. "Your end in this race", Martin responded and maneuvered his craft so that it was directly in front of the Arwing. "Goodbye, Fox McCloud", Martin said followed by maniac laughter. Fox showed his teeth and waited for the right moment, Martin had just made a big mistake.

Martin slammed his breaks, the green lizard with somewhat squinted eyes grinned, but he would soon realize what a terrible decision he made. Fox had quickly pushed on the breaks and waved the Arwing over the top right side of Martin's craft. Martin felt for any sign of hitting the Arwing, anything that would show that he triumphs even over the great Fox McCloud, but he felt nothing. "Ugh!", Martin glanced over his shoulder to witness the blue and grey Arwing hovering right over his ships' right wings. "Don't underestimate me", Fox said with great confidence, as he continued to drop his Arwing on top of the twin wings. "Don't underestimate ME!", Martin retorted fiercely as he maneuvered away from Fox's Arwing, but only to fly right back into it and cause sparks to emit from both ships. "AGH!", Fox screamed as he felt one of the wings of his ship forcefully ripped off, and propelling him in undesired directions. Martin was laughing like a true maniac, they were not far off of the finish line at all, and Fox was all but certain to lose.

The Arwing was in terrible shape, one of its wings was ripped off and fires were emanating from where the wing used to be, smoke rose from where Fox patched the hole in his upper left G-Diffuser and the front windshield of the cockpit was nigh on breaking. Fox could start to hear the crowd at the stadium once again, but very faintly. "Oh, no folks! It looks like McCloud's racing pod is in pretty bad shape!", Fox could hear the zebra announcer say with enthusiasm and cause some of the crowd to gasp at his statement. Falco was outside when he heard the announcer, and he quickly turned his body away from an Arctic fox he was chatting with to face the massive view screen that lay in front of the entire stadium. The screen showed Fox and Martin both clashing their vehicles together as they approached the finish line, sparks emanating from both. He laid his hands on the thin metal rail and watched intently, he could not help Fox now, he would have to win on his own. Fox was showing his teeth, constantly ramming his Arwing into the side of Martin's racing pod, Martin was also doing the same thing. "C-Come on McCloud! Is that all you've got?" Martin teased, aggravating Fox even more. "I haven't even gotten started", Fox retorted and rammed his Arwing into Martin's craft yet again. Martin sighed, he had enough of Foxes' futile attacks, he brought up the craft and brought it to a halt, and then he swung it about to face the Arwing. "Fox McCloud, I cannot allow you to go any further, this is my race and mine alone! Stop your futile resistance and save your Arwing from being totaled", Martin had said with absolutely no emotion, reminding Fox of Kelvin. Fox grit his teeth, he knew that his Arwing had reached its limit but he had not. 'Would I risk my only racing craft to just win this race?'.

Fox was silent as he stared down at his comfortable wool seat. "What is this? It seems that Martin Lizard has halted the advancing Fox McCloud, could this be the end of him folks", the zebra announcer inquired and brought about a mess of gasps and yells of excitement. "I guess that's the end of it, huh Fox", Martin asked with a devilish smirk. With that, he began to shift the throttles and turn his ship back towards the finishing line. Martin could see several more racing pods as he turned, but something caught his eye immediately. A blazing fast streak of blue and grey flew right past him, and towards the large building. "You thought I was done, did you? Well, I have news for you, I was just waiting for the right moment to show you exactly what an Arwing and his pilot can do", Fox yelled over his headset as he approached the finishing line. Several of the holographic layouts and system schematics inside the Arwing cockpit had started to fade out, Fox had diverted almost all of the power to the remaining three Gravity Diffusers and the main engine. "You won't make it Fox, my ship is still faster and more capable than yours", Martin retorted as he came into view behind the Arwing. Fox smirked a smug smirk, and slowly turned the left throttle up and the right throttle down as he maneuvered directly in front of Martin's path. Martin was surprised at how quickly Fox could still turn the Arwing despite having only one wing, but he only thought of the attempts at stopping him as futile and petty. "What are you doing McCloud, you know this is useless!"

"I don't think that it is!"

"We will see about that McCloud", Martin then positioned his ship upwards and increased his speed, but to no avail. Fox had already re-positioned himself in front of the orange craft. Martins' eyes widened, he realized what was happening. "No", Martin muttered under his breath as both crafts had come within less than one thousand meters of the finish line. "It's now or never! See ya on the other side Martin", Fox said as he increased the speed of the Arwing to its maximum. "MCCLOUD", Martin screamed over Fox's headset as Fox sped away from him and onto the silver metal platform which held the holographic white and black checkered line. The crowd in the stands were silent, Falco's beak was somewhat open and behind him the Arctic Fox watched with his arms folded, Fox held his smirk, and Martin glared at the blue and silver craft. "Heh", Fox muttered as the Arwing knifed through the holographic, and checkered line, making it fade out then back in. The crowd entered an entirely new level of sound as most of them stood and screamed words of joy and excitement. "Oh my! First place has been taken by our rising star Fox McCloud!", the zebra announcer stood straight and put his hand on his side, he held the microphone up to his lips and continued with,"I present to you people of Lylat, the newcomer who has outmatched our greatest racer and who has taken the new Zero Gravity Grand Prix Champion Cup, Fox McCloud", the announcer said with great excitement as he quickly swung out his hand towards the now idle Arwing. Fox had violently ripped off his headset and threw it down on his seat as he jumped out of the Arwing cockpit and onto the cool and solid ground. He held his hands up high and smiled a great smile at everyone sitting up in the stands, the vibrations made his knees somewhat unstable. He chuckled and continued to turn his body in circles to get a good look at everyone. Martin had climbed up and out of his cockpit and immediately glared at Fox, whom was still staring up at everyone and smiling. He moaned and put his fist against his face, resting his elbow on his knee. Martin then glared at a wall as he sat there and listened as several engineers came outside to assess the damages done to each ship. "Humph, he won after all", Falco said to himself, he still clenching onto the thin metal railing with his right leg crossed over his left, he glaring at Fox who had just made an impossible comeback.