EPISODE FLUFF

PART ONE: Crystals Are a Girl's Best Friend

Stork growled in exasperation. " I said no chocolate. No chocolate. Does the word no mean nothing to you?"

He glanced over at Finn who was stuffing his mouth with another bonbon, foil wrapper in hand.

"C'mon Stork," he said, mouth full. "Everyone loves chocolate." he shook the more-than half-eaten box in his face.

Stork growled and retreated. "I'm allergic Finn!" Then he turned into panic mode. "I can already feel my hives coming on." He took out a small aerosol can and proceeded to spray himself on the arms with it.

"Here Stork," said Piper holding up a nicely wrapped box with a little card stuck to it. "Special made sandcakes and Merb cabbage pie." She said smiling.

Stork took the box. "Merb…cabbage pie?" He said, a grin overcoming his features, the threat of hives temporarily erased. "Well…I suppose it could do no harm."

Piper continue to smile. "Happy Valentines Day Stork." She said and hugged him. Stork reacted with shock and discomfort, but after a second , unsurely and awkwardly hugged back with one arm. They parted but not before Finn started making obnoxious "Ooooh" noises.

"Finn," Stated Piper frowning and folding her arms.

"What?" he replied before finishing off the last bon bon from the box he planned on giving Stork.

Piper just sighed.

The Storm Hawks sat around the table on the main deck. The surface was littered with red, pink, white, and other wrappings. Junko had attempted to make traditional Wallop Frump cookies , which everyone had politely accepted despite the bubbling goo and occasional movement of the cookies themselves. Finn had bought everyone the same small boxes of chocolate with little post-it-notes on them declaring "Happy V-day!". Stork had distributed packages of Anti-Placbug floss which smelt partially like mint and partially like swamp gas. Piper had given everyone a nicely wrapped box filled with their favourite treat. Even Radarr had made little cards signed with paw prints for everyone. Aerrow gave his gifts last. He went around the table and put down little bags filled with heart-shaped candies with a little tags attached, but when he came to Piper's spot at the table he put down a small box instead.

"What's this?" Piper asked confused.

Aerrow sat back down at the table. "I picked it up back at that last terra while on recon. I figured you'd like it more than a bag of candy."

Piper looked down at the box that was small enough to sit on one hand and opened it. Inside was a sparkling, iridescent crystal. The crystal was shaped basically like a Geyser crystal, but with more, thinner, six-sided, pyramid topped columns that grew off the main crystal. It's surface was cut in many places and each of its many faces reflected the light.

Luminous, semi translucent, and prismatic, the crystal brought on a series of gasps from Piper and the rest of the squadron.

"It's an Iris crystal…I think." Said Aerrow with a doubtful smile.

Piper held up the crystal so it caught the light better; it shot rays of different colours around the condor. Radarr looked down at his chest and, to no avail, tried to catch some of the dots of light on him.

"You're right." Said Piper marvelling at the crystal. "An impressive one at that too." Although truthfully, she was more impressed that Aerrow had actually known what type of crystal it was. She shot him a brilliant smile, which he also returned.

"Ooh…Shiny," said Junko a hypnotised look on his face. Finn's mouth was hanging open. Then he shook his head and, looking sourly at Aerrow, muttered "Showoff."

Piper put the crystal back in the box still smiling.

"Thanks Aerrow!" She said glancing at him again.

"It was nothing," he replied. Nothing for me that it is. The terra hadn't exactly been…well...it wasn't treacherous…but it was wild enough. Wild enough to be a fun challenge anyways. He had rather enjoyed meandering around and it was just plain luck that he'd spotted the crystal.

The gears at the very back of Finn's mind had begun turning and new thoughts drifted to the surface. A mischievous look overcame his features and he leaned back leisurely in his seat.

"That doesn't look like nothing," He said pointing at the box raising his eyebrows in an all-knowing fashion. "Infact, it looks like a lot of something. Uh huh."

His instigations went nowhere.

At that point Stork seemed to slouch over to Piper's side and examine the crystal in it's box with a somewhat ominous look.

"Ummm…what exactly does an Iris crystal do?"

"Yah! What exactly what does this so called Iris crystal do?", Finn remarked, still trying to cause trouble. He edged as close to Piper as he could from the other side of the table. He looked over at Aerrow still grinning. "You didn't get her something dangerous did you?" he said as though the idea was hilarious.

"No," said Aerrow. "…not really anyways." He'd been prepared for this. After retrieving the Iris crystal he had been sure to do his research (a helpful tip he had picked from his navigator).

"Iris crystals don't really have any special qualities ," he explained. "Occasional they're used to focus light rays and also for decoration. They're only dangerous if you ingest them."

"What happens if you ingest them?" asked Junko who would ingest pretty much anything.

Aerrow looked uncomfortable. "Then they would be..uh..poisonous, but..uh..only if you ingest them." He emphasized the last bit.

"So you're trying to poison her?" said Finn amused.

"No," said Aerrow. "Piper's not going to eat the crystal."

"Junko might." Finn retorted.

"Hey!" Interrupted the Wallop, but then amended "I'd ask first."

"No. Aerrow's right." said Piper who explained. "Iris crystals are only poisonous if you crush them up and then dissolve them in water. And they're near impossible to crush." She smiled again at Aerrow. "You really did your research." She was even more impressed that he had known the properties of an Iris crystal.

Aerrow just shrugged and smiled.

"As long as it doesn't destroy the ship," said Stork. "Unlike the last time someone brought unknown crystals on board." He glared at Finn as he said it. The rest of the crew remembered quite well the incident with the Leech crystals; their true identity had been discovered only moments before the Condor was drained of energy and sent plummeting to the ground- a little too late for comfort.

"How was I suppose know they were Leechers?" said Finn raising his hands up innocence.

Stork made a sort of growling noise.

"I'm going to go put this with the rest of my collection." Said Piper happily and she took the box back to her room.

After she'd left Finn decided to make his move.

"So…" he said nonchalantly. "What gives?"

Aerrow looked questioningly at Finn. "What do you mean?" he replied.

"C'mon," said Finn. "A crystal like that? That means something you know."

Aerrow still hadn't quite caught on to where Finn was headed. "I just figured she'd like it more than some candy." He said uncomfortably.

"Duuude." Finn said as though it was obvious. " You practically asked her to go steady."

Aerrow's eyes went wide.

Stork and Junko were equally shocked. They looked at Finn and then at Aerrow. Each was replaying the previous scenes in their heads trying to see whatever Finn had seen.

"Woah, woah woah," Said Aerrow raising up his hands in defence. "It-it's nothing like that. " He insisted. "Were just friends."

"Wait," said Junko slightly confused. "You mean Aerrow and Piper…?"

"No, no, no Junko." Said Aerrow still frazzled. " It's nothing like that. Finn's just misinterpreting."

"Uh huh." Said Finn, completely unconvinced. He put his elbow on the table and rested his face in his hand while his other arm rested on the table. "What was it Cyclonis said? Perfect attunement?"

Aerrow was starting to sweat now. He had leapt from mountains, jumped skimmer to skimmer while thousands of feet in the air, faced squads of Talons, Murk Raiders, Raptors and fought the Dark Ace, the legendary pilot of Cyclonia, one on one but this? No, this was one conversation he wasn't brave enough to bear.

"Uh.. I don't know. " He said. "I'm..uh ..gonna go..check the furnaces." He rose from his seat while he spoke.

"Didn't you check them yesterday?" asked Junko pointing a finger at Aerrow.

Aerrow was already backing up out of the room while he replied.

"Umm…yeah well I thought ..I uh ..heard them making some weird noises, so I'm just gonna go check it out .Now." And when he finished he zipped out of the room.

"Oh yeah." said Finn also getting up. He folded his arms over his chest. "Definitely something."

"I'm still confused." said Junko looking up at Finn.

"Don't worry buddy. Let the Finnster explain his almighty plan."

Suddenly the green Merb's face was right in front of Finn.

"I know what you're trying to do," he said pointing at finger at Finn's chest, "It will end in disaster."

Finn put a hand on Stork's shoulder and moved him out of the way. "Relax Stork," he said walking away from the table. He turned to back to face him. "They'll be thanking me later. You coming Junko?"

"Uh…yeah." said Junko, who was still confused. He got up from the table and went after Finn.

Stork watched them leave. From under the table emerged Radarr, whose face was covered in chocolate. He licked his lips, looked around the room and then chirped at Stork as though to say, Where did everybody go?

Stork looked down at Radarr. "Yup," he said before glancing back at the doorway.

"Disaster."