Meanwhile, on the Great Fox...
Fox was sitting in the break room, talking to General Pepper on his comm. device. He got in contact just before the old dog was about to do something important for work. When he was asked where he was in the city yesterday, Fox told Pepper of how he ran into Dash (but left out the part of being Andross' grandson for his friend's sake) and when the two of them met the Star Wolf at the steakhouse and how strange but good things went down.
Pepper was surprised with Fox's reply at that point, he would usually think that Fox would just freak out and went on attacking Star Wolf within the facility. Fox gave off a sarcastic laugh at that comment. He probably would've, but for some reason there he didn't feel like wanting to beat them up when he saw them twice, once before the press conference and the other outside the restaurant.
It may have felt weird that he and his old nemesis were having peace with each other, but hey! Shit happens, right?
Then, he remembered when Wolf had saved his life from that moment when the Aparoids invaded the planet and how grateful it was to him. Even though Wolf said that he only did it so that he could finish him off himself, he still felt grateful, yet utterly offended. Thinking back from that moment, Fox realized that there really was more to Wolf than what he was showing off, and he really could change. he just thought he was due to propaganda that was put up during the war between Corneria and Venom at the time and he and Wolf were the posterboys for that war to...
But that was then, and this is now. He knows he has a lot of making up with Wolf, and catching up too, so that's why he called Pepper.
...
In the main deck of the ship, Peppy was on his comm. device, talking to his daughter, Lucy. He was still feeling grateful for Lucy to put in a good word with the government to make a new Great Fox for the team. She said that there was no need for him to thank her, but he insisted on doing that anyway since this is his daughter he's talking to.
They talked for a bit about the news on Star Wolf being innocent. Lucy was just as shocked as her father was, maybe even afraid of what would happen now. Peppy said that they'll just have to find out for themselves and hope for the best, but even he's scared about it too. He didn't even dare to bring up Fox hanging out with the formal criminals as it would freak her out even more, especially since there's some thin ice between their teams.
Okay. Scratch that! There's a chaos amount of thin ice between the rival teams. This is going to be a huge mess
if only they can take a vacation.
...
In the training room, Krystal was fighting holographic warriors to keep her reflexes sharp, and to let out some frustration to relax herself.
She sent one punch of a holo-fighter to another, dodging their attacks from below to give them a high punch and dodging attacks from above to send out low kicks to their waists. When she's surrounded by two or three enemies, she uses either a spinning punch attack or a spinning kick attack to subdue them and, just within a second, they disappear while more of them keep on appearing.
She needed to vent some more due to yesterday from hearing what Falco told her.
'If he doesn't like you that way, then you need to move on,' the words echoed in her mind.
After finishing the last of the holograms, Krystal pushed a button on a small remote on her belt and the simulation turned off. She walks towards a bench, grabs a towel from the water bucket next to it, rinses it and rubs the back of her neck with it as she sits down. She breathes in and out for a few seconds before drinking some water from a bottle.
'Maybe he's right,' she thought. 'Maybe I should just let him go.'
She then lifted her legs up and turned to the left so she could lay down on the metal bench and look up at the ceiling.
'But maybe I'll just enjoy it while it lasts. Who knows, maybe he WILL fall for me one day too!'
...
Falco and Slippy were in the bathroom doing their business like anyone else would. They had spicy burritos for breakfast with a little bit more spice. Falco spiked his burrito with hot sauce and spiked Slippy's burrito with it when he wasn't looking. Smart move, wise guy.
The poor frog is a little mad at the pheasant and Falco got the karma he deserved from it. Despite that, the mischievous bird is still snickering.
...
In the city of Corneria, back at the motel where Star Wolf's staying in, Wolf was watching the news about the reconstruction from the Aparoids. Lots of construction workers were working their tails off to rebuild this city back into its former glory while reporters were just doing their job explaining the situation. A little bit of politics, plans to help the city, the economy, supplies needed, blah blah blah. Same old, same old.
Wolf yawned at the sight of the news while he sipped a cup of coffee on the small table. Panther and Leon were getting ready to clean more of the apartment in the meantime and the sound of a few neighbors exiting their rooms in the hallway can be heard. It sounded like they were all going to work, which made the former mercenary leader growl for a bit.
'If I'm gonna have to start over in my life, then I gotta find myself a job too,' he thought for a moment. He looked over at Panther and Leon on the other side of the room and felt pity for them too. 'Well, the three of us do. But I doubt that anyone would wanna give us any job, aside from cleaning this hell hole.'
That last part was true though. The landlord of this motel would only allow them to stay here if they cleaned the apartment they had to stay in from top to bottom, and they'd have to get it all cleaned by the end of the month so they could earn any gratitude. Otherwise, he would just throw them out on the streets and let them starve and freeze.
He then turned off the T.V. and got up from the couch to go help the other two with the supplies.
...
At the drop off point, a spaceship lands and lets off a bunch of passengers, mostly tourists, to allow them to venture into the city.
A pink and white cat wearing a white shirt, matching navy-blue leather jacket and skirt, khaki socks with black glossy shoes and a nametag, which read 'Katt Monroe' on it, walks down the stairs of the ship with her suitcase on wheels feeling eager to walk on solid ground again.
After Katt exited the space station and got into a taxi that was expecting her arrival she took out her phone and opened her messages. She scrolled down before seeing Falco's name on the list, then she pressed the name on the screen to send a message to her old friend.
'Falco -
It's been a while, hasn't it? I wanted to know how you've been doing since the last time I saw you. I know you're still heated about our previous encounter, but I just want to see you again. If you even get a chance, call my number. Can't wait to hear from you.
Katt'
Katt then sent the text, turned off and put away her phone, and looked out the window to see the wreckage of the city. So much has changed since she left, and now she's wondering how much Falco had changed too.
...
Bill and Sabre continued their tour that took them to an ice cream parlor, one of Bill's favorite places from his childhood. He remembered when he attended there with his friends, Fox and Lucy, who were also accompanied by James and Peppy. The dog was always disappointed that Pepper couldn't go with him, but he understood the reasons why he couldn't as well. That's why whenever he attended that place, he would buy an extra ice cream for his adoptive father.
When they went inside, Bill ordered a strawberry flavored for himself and a vanilla flavored for Sabre, and then sat down at the table to eat them. Sabre stared at his ice cream for a few minutes with a puzzled on his face. The dog took notice of that look.
"Sabre," he started with curiosity. "It seems to me that you're never had ice cream before, have you?"
"You're not wrong there," Sabre replied. "This is my first time eating something like this. To be honest, this didn't exist in Cerinia. We always had to live with what nature provided us, and I never came across a store that sold ice cream during these past few years of training for the army
"
When Sabre started to trail off from his conversation, he could see that Bill looked away. Although, when Sabre saw the look on the dog's face it wasn't because of some bad memory, but something else seemed wrong too. Bill just hoped Sabre didn't read his mind and found out who his father was. But before either of them could say something, two voices were heard greeting the dog in unison.
"Hi, Bill!"
When the dog and the wolf turned around to see who they were, they turned out to be two old acquaintances of Bill, whom he'd never seen in years.
"Miyu! Fay! What a surprise to see you!" Bill said happily.
"Well, we were a little bored from being home all day, so we decided to go for a walk," Miyu explained.
"And we see that we were not the only ones who had a similar idea, since I see that you're not alone," added Fay.
"Oh yes," Bill realized. "Let me introduce you. This is Sabre. He's a new member of the Cornerian Army who I'm giving a tour of the city since he's new to the planet, and Miss Krystal's older brother." He turned to Sabre next to introduce the girls. "And Sabre, they are Miyu Lynx and Fay Spaniel. They studied at the Corneria Flight Academy I went to and were roommates too. With the help of General Pepper, they got a job in the army a few years ago, since there were positions available that they could do."
"We met Bill on our first day," Fay exclaimed. "I'm the daughter of one of the richest families on the planet. We hope you feel welcome on our planet!"
"Nice to meet you, Sabre," exclaimed the lynx. "I wasn't born in a rich family growing up, just grew up with a regular childhood with Fay."
"The pleasure is mine, and thank you very much," Sabre replied, rising from his seat and giving them a kiss on the back of their hands as a sign of greeting.
They both blushed due to the wolf's chivalrous gesture.
"We have some time. If you'd like, you can sit with us for a little bit," Bill suggested.
"Of course," supported Miyu. "Let's not be in a hurry."
Both girls sat on the spare chairs at the table.
"So, tell us. What were you doing before we arrived? Apart from the tour that Bill mentioned," suggested Fay.
The brown wolf told the girls a little about his past, and they were excited to learn about him.
...
In another part of town, Dash finds himself in the hotel room he started staying in from the day before yesterday. He'd momentarily went out to buy a newspaper since to stay on the planet he needed to earn money and he planned to do it honestly. He didn't want to follow in his grandfather's footsteps, nor did he want to follow Andrew's. There were job offers, but he didn't have the qualifications that were needed. He turned a few pages until finally, there was an announcement that caught his attention, and he believed that it could be a job where he could develop well. He quickly got up from the bed and grabbed the phone from the nightstand, dialed a number and waited for an answer
while holding the ad in his hand.
"Hi Fox, it's Dash!" he replied in glee. "I just saw your ad in the newspaper." He paused for a moment, listening. "An ad. For an internship on the Star Fox team?" Listened again. "It says so in my newspaper. Requested by
Falco
Lomdi? Oh, wait! Lombardi! Falco Lombardi!"
