Well here is chapter 17 of the fic. This chapter continues with what was seen in the previous chapter in the plot of Peppy and Slippy. Some of Leon's past is also revealed.

Chapter 17

Memories of Fire

When he exited the elevator with Peppy, back to the floor their room is on, Slippy couldn't wait to make it back to their room so he could find out what they're going to do. Together. Alone…

Already, the thoughts of him having sex with the old hare were already flashing in his mind, causing him to blush hard all over his face. He was trying to get those images out of his mind, so he doesn't get a nosebleed with Peppy seeing it. He shook his head for a few seconds before continuing to their room.

Once they got there, Peppy used the keycard to unlock the door and the two of them went inside.

"So," Slippy began the conversation. "What're we gonna do today, now that Fox and Falco decided to skip breakfast with us?"

"Well," replied Peppy. "I was usually thinking about playing a game of cards, maybe do some poker, but we do that stuff all the time when we're on the Great Fox." Peppy went towards the bedroom they were sleeping in and pulled out a white tank-top, a pair of navy-blue shorts, and a red headband. "So, I think we should do something that we barely have time to do. Just to getting us to reacquainted with a healthy hobby."

"What'll that be?"

Peppy pulled out a gym bag he used to carry back in the early years and put the things he collected inside before turning back to the toad.

"Let's go to the gym!" he exclaimed excitedly.

Slippy's eyes widened Peppy? Working out at the gym?! He doesn't know if he should be excited to see Peppy gain more muscle on his body or concerned for the old rabbit's safety. He's already in his 50's, and he might end up taking a very critical risk of getting himself hurt if he goes through with it.

"I-Is that a good idea, Peppy?" the toad asked in worry. "What if you end up breaking a few bones, or pull a muscle very badly? You could get hurt."

"Thanks for the concern, Slip," the rabbit replied with charisma. "But I'm not that old of age. I've carried a few boxes as big as a small boulder, and do you see me getting anything broken?"

"Well, no…"

"There you go then. Now, let's get going."

Peppy went into the kitchen part of the apartment room and used the sink to fill a plastic water bottle. Despite his warning, Slippy sighed a little and got a gym bag from their bedroom too, and placed a gray tank-top, a pair of red shorts, and a light purple headband in it. He filled up his own water bottle from the sink too before the two men went down to the gym area of the hotel.

A little later, in the hotel gym area, Slippy and Peppy were in their workout uniforms, ready to pump some iron and all that good stuff. The first thing they did was the treadmills. They jogged on them for about twelve minutes before heading to the floor mat where they did a few push-ups, pull-ups, and sit-ups. Then, they take a little break before they head off to the weight, which was what Slippy was concerned for.

The toad and the rabbit picked up two sets of 5-pound weights from the shelf and started to lift them in the direction of their chests, to work on their biceps. They lifted each arm ten times before lifting from each side of their bodies, ten times each, and then lifting them up over their shoulders another ten times each. They do this routine for about five times before they decide to take another break.

"Wooh! That was a lot of fun!" exclaimed Peppy.

"Huf… huf… so… so far… so good," Slippy wheezed, catching his breath.

"It'll be okay, Slip. Really. Besides, if I need any help, I know you'll be there for me."

The toad felt touched by the rabbit's kind words. He gave a soft smile and blush of how sweet this man is towards him.

They had a few drinks of water and talked about their early days when they were going through physical fitness back in their early years. Peppy exercised occasionally when he had the chance, while Slippy never tried to put a lot of effort into increasing his muscles but was able to get a little bit of exercise when he was training in the flight academy. Peppy could only look back to how he, Slippy, and everyone else on Star Fox used to be during that time. Fox was training to be the next leader for the team, Falco would be his training partner, and Slippy would be carrying a few boxes while being forced to jog a few laps around the racetrack or to carry them while walking up and down a few flights of stairs multiple times a day.

Those really were the days…

They got up from the bench and went to the leg presses. They laid down on the seats and selected how much weight they wanted to push. Slippy pushed his weights for about twenty to twenty-five times before looking over to Peppy. He saw that the rabbit selected more weight than he did and that fear of his crush going through an immense amount of pain in his legs filled his head.

But when the toad looked the other way, he noticed just how large the rabbit's legs were and began to feel aroused of how hot he was. He then looked higher to Peppy's chest and saw how large his torso looked. Like, sexy large. He was getting excited… until he saw that Peppy was looking at him without realizing. The toad panicked and turned back to pushing his legs, pretending that nothing happened.

"So," Peppy inquired. "Impressed by my physique?"

"U-umm… yes… I do?" he replied embarrassed and in the form of a question.

"Well, I don't blame ya. Lot of people would be attracted to a bod like this if they saw it. If you work hard, you can have a body like this one day too."

"You really think so?" Slippy asked.

"Yeah, why not?" Peppy replied. "It's not like people would just see it as fat and only fat. We all have beautiful bodies when we work on them."

Slippy really admires Peppy's wisdom. He somehow knows what the right words to say are. Maybe he isn't right all the time, but he's got the right experience to know this stuff.

"Let's head to the big weights before heading to the showers," Peppy suggested, which shocked the toad. "Gotta work well on the torsos too."

"You could hurt your back on them!" Slippy replied in concern.

"If I was doing it by myself, I might. But…" he turned to the toad with a smile. "You're here to help me. And I'd be grateful for that too."

Slippy was hesitant right now. He was afraid that Peppy would hurt himself if he went through with this. He just hopes that he does his best to keep it steady so his crush can work on his chest without causing any pain.

"Okay… if you think we can make this work…"

He knew what he got himself into, but he's not gonna like it one bit.

...

Meanwhile, back at Star Wolf's apartment, Leon kept searching for job offers in the newspaper.

He had to find a job as a bounty hunter, that was all he wanted. Was it too much to ask for an offer like that?

He was not going to work at anything less, since being an office worker or something similar is something that he did not plan to do, he would rather die in the most brutal and painful way possible than sit in an office for 8 hours in front of a computer to do a boring job without any action or blood.

As he kept browsing the newspaper, he found something that caught his attention. It wasn't the job offer he was looking for, but a piece of news of a disaster that happened recently.

According to the report, a suburban house had burned down due to a gas leak crossing with a gas oven and those who lived there had been trapped inside. All the members of the family suffered from burns and scratches, they were not serious, and they were okay. Although they fortunately survived, it'll take a while for them to recover from the scary experience that happened. The government was kind enough to make sure that their medical bills would get paid and get them a new home to live in, so that's good news.

The chameleon was surprised to read that news, and how everything turned out in the end. That made him remember something of what he experienced when he was a kid, something that turned him into the bloodthirsty and ruthless being that he is today. And if it wasn't for that day, who knows how different his life would've been.

Leon was 9 years old when he used to live with his parents, Doug and Mimi Powalski. Although they lived on Venom, where many inhabitants of that planet had a hard life, the Powalski family's life wasn't so bad for them, since they were happy and had each other. Leon couldn't have asked for better parents, and when he grew up, he wanted to be just like them. But those happy memories didn't last very long. One night, when it was dinnertime, nobody had noticed that there was a gas leak, and when his mother lit the stove, there was an explosion and fire was erupting all over the house. The young chameleon was able to survive, thanks to the fortunately opened window that the impact of the explosion sent him flying through. He only got a few scrapes and bruises on his body, but his mental state was shattered from seeing the flames engulfing the entire house and the mix of the screams of agony that he heard his parents echoing from inside. That night changed his life one second after another.

From that moment on, Leon never felt genuine happiness for something innocent that he witnessed from seeing it ever again. He was put into a foster home soon after. Everything thought the chameleon would be alright, but it did the opposite. Leon began to suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder when his parents died, which began to manifest itself with horrible nightmares related to the tragic event that occurred. He was never taken to a psychologist at that point so his symptoms became worse; it first started off with a temper that ended up with anger issues that make him have the urge to attack his schoolmate without reason, and sometimes the painful memories would make him feel suicidal and cause him to cut his arms and limbs with a small blade. This behavior caused him to be expelled, and soon after that, he ran away from his foster family, never seeing them again. At age 16, he began to commit robberies. They were small at first, shoplifting small pieces of food to eat and swiping money from people without them looking. But later, they grew bigger; banks, jewelry stores, and the black market, which were starting to attract the attention of the authorities. Fortunately for Leon, he was a chameleon and could change color to blend in his surroundings, so it was easy to make them lose his trail. He kept doing this for five years, until finally, when he was 21, he got captured. During his arrest, he suffered a fit of hysteria, so they came to an agreement to send him off to the asylum where he'll be getting the treatment and counseling that he required for a long time. Until nine years later, once he turned 30, he finally got released from the asylum by Andross' allies to join his empire, which he happily agreed to.

Two years after he would join the Star Wolf team; after meeting Wolf in a bar on the planet Venom, becoming one of his teammates along with Andrew, Andross' nephew, and Pigma, who was previously a member of the original Star Fox team and, without Leon knowing at that time, was also the one who incriminated him and Wolf for the death of James McCloud.

Returning to the present, Leon doubted himself that one day his life would return to what it used to be in the past. He believed his destiny was to be in his own darkness, which is very hard to get out of, and to find a better place in life where he'd belong and would stay there till the end.

Here ends the seventeenth chapter. I hope you liked it.