A Star Fox FanFiction. More than three decades have passed since the Lylat Wars. James McCloud, by some miracle, is still alive and has not aged a day since he disappeared. Returning to a now peaceful Corneria, catching up with everything that has happened will prove to be a challenge, especially with what awaits him when he sees Peppy.

Part 2: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/19700039/

Making Up For Lost Time

My eyes opened and I looked around to see what had happened. Something wasn't quite right here. Everything was normal as far as I could tell.

"No problems with the engine, the G-Diffusers are online, and fuel gauge says the tank is completely full with enough to get home. I imagine Fox is..."

I paused as my thoughts drifted to my son.

"Andross!" I was shouting to myself. "Peppy! Team Star Fox! The mission!"

I pulled up the coordinates for Venom on the central hub of the Airwing to see that I was in fact right outside of Venom airspace.

"Just focus on completing the mission," I reminded myself.

Looking down at the planet ahead of me. I could see a planet covered in lush shades of ocean blue, forest green, and dirt brown. This planet was alive and well. This planet right here in front of me was a planet very much habitable and filled with life. None of these traits were like the planet named Venom that was described to me by General Pepper in my mission description.

"Is something wrong with my nav system?" I asked, double checking to make sure there was nothing wrong with that.

Much to my surprise, everything registered correctly and nothing had malfunctioned. This was indeed Planet Venom.

"Peppy! Something is wrong here! This isn't the right planet that where Andross is hiding out at!"

No response came over the com.

"What the hell?" I muttered under my breath, now frustrated that I wasn't even able to get a reply from my fellow Star Fox team members.

I slumped down in my seat as I turned on the auto-stabilizers on my ship, letting me stay in place for a moment while I tried to think this through my very bizarre situation I was currently facing.

"There some part of my memory that I am missing here. What is it?" I asked myself.

Something had happened in between the span of time from my travels from Corneria to Venom. But what was it?

"Shit! Why can't I remember a damn thing?" I cussed, smashing my hand upon the thick glass pane that separated me from the vacuum of space. Sighing, I decided that it would be best to fall back to Corneria and regroup with General Pepper there so I could an explanation as to what the hell was going on.

Flying as fast as reasonably possible through the Lylat System I managed to make it to the High Cornerian orbiting satellite in about five hours. Everything was coming along well so far. I did not see a single ship that belonged to Andross's fleet at all on the way. It both relieved and startled me, but it wouldn't matter as everything would figured out once I could establish contact with someone from the Cornerian Space Unit.

I gazed out over the planet as it came into view. As a pilot, the sight of my home from outer space was always a pretty one. It was one of the many things I cherished in being a pilot.

Continuing to enjoy the view as I approached the planet, I saw a group of about seven aircraft come flying toward my direction. All of them were green in color and had sleek bodies with three wings on each side of their cockpits.

"Those aren't any ships I have ever seen before," I thought. They had probably been the most recent models. While watching the ships, it was suspicious to me that as they kept on coming closer to where I was, they were aimed at my ship with their weapons.

"Attention unidentified pilot. You are in possession of a stolen aircraft and flying in a restricted Lylat Airspace. Power down your engine and land or we will be forced to take you down by force," a voice chimed in over my com.

This shocked me. How could these people not have recognized my ship? While I may not have been a celebrity or anything. I was James McCloud, founder of Star Fox. I was leader of one of the most well known mercenary groups in the whole Lylat System. Surely this had been a mistake.

"This is James McCloud, leader of team Star Fox," I answered with a clear hint of annoyance to my voice. There was a dead last silence on the communicator for a second.

"Funny story buddy. You aren't fooling us with this joke. You aren't the first one to fly an unregistered Airwing type aircraft and pose as the legendary James McCloud just to attract attention to yourself. He died thirty years ago trying to save the Lylat System," a different and yet vaguely familiar voice said back.

My eyes widened upon hearing this statement. Had I really disappeared for so long without even realizing it? This question lingered on in the back of my mind as I figured there would be no way of convincing these men of the law that I was not an impostor.

I reached my hand over to the comm's switch and pressed it.

"Very well. I'll land. Just show the me way and I will follow," I answered.

The group of ships surrounding me proceeded to lead me from the outer atmosphere and down to the planet.

As we descended further and further towards the surface of the planet, the lush hues of green and blue became more focused as I could make our more details of landscape below.

"It's been a long time since I have seen this. Flying above the countryside of the Cornerian landscape right outside the capital city. It's one of several little things I love about flying." I thought to myself.

Approaching the city of Corneria itself, I saw that not too much had changed outside of the fact that there were now a higher number of flying vehicles and some more sleeker looking high rises.

"Follow our lead. We will be landing in that open field just outside of Corneria's Military base. Make any attempts to escape and we will not make hesitate to use lethal force and take you down. This is your only warning." That same familiar voice from before stated. A smirk come across my face as I realized who it was that was speaking. "Sure thing Bullet Bill," I said back to bulldog that was piloting the military ship. I had run into Bill Gray, a good friend of my son Fox. He was pretty much like a son to me whenever he and Fox would play when they were kids. "What did you just call me?" Bill said back to me on the comm. I could sense the shakiness in his tone. No one other than me ever called him that when he was little, due to his former obsession with wanting to become the fastest pilot alive.

"You heard what I called you Mr. Bullet," I sarcastically said back to him. After a few more minutes of silence and of us landing, he finally broke the silence.

"Just know that if you aren't James McCloud, when I see your face I will personally knock you out before we get you detained."

I laughed back at him as the group of us finally landed on solid ground. "This is the police. Step out of the ship and come out with your hands up. We have you and your ship surrounded. Any and all resistances made to try to avoid this will be met with a use of force."

Listening to the demands of the cops, I opened the hatch and stepped out like instructed. Setting my blaster and hidden knife on the ground, I raised my hands to let them know that I had nothing to hide. There was small trio of policeman with two cars and along with the circle of ships that completely surrounded me from every direction. Every single one of these people stared at me as if they had seen a ghost. I knew what they were thinking. They were all most likely shocked that I was still alive. I was supposed to be dead.

"Is that really him?" I heard one of the husky canine policeman ask the female cocker spaniel right next to him. This silent talking amongst all of them continued on for about two or three minutes before a bulldog in a tan brown sheriff's outfit standing at nearly my height, stepped out and approached me. All of his fellow officers went dead silent. Taking off his sunglasses and looking straight at me for a few seconds, a smile formed across his face. Tears formed in his eyes as he realized that I was in fact not an impostor.

"I can't believe it. Mr. James. It really is you. After all these years of being dead and you haven't aged a day," he said.

"It's good to see you again, Bill," I smiled at him and placed a hand on his shoulder.

Tears streamed down Bill's face as he was still in a state of disbelief. "Mr. James," he muttered under his breath "You're alive. Thank God."

This caught me off guard, but I smiled and returned the gesture putting my arms back around him.

Releasing from our hug. He wiped the tears from his eyes and turned back to his subordinates.

"Call General Peppy! We have to let him know that James McCloud is alive!" He ordered of his men.

"Come with me," He stated. "Peppy is going to want to see you again."