Silence. Piper inhaled deeply, enjoying the momentary silence. She walked down the hall, letting herself relax and step in time to the song she was listening to on her music player. It was so silent, so peaceful. Aerrow and the other's, minus Stork of course, were playing some keep away game outside, letting her work on her crystal experiments. So far, she was stuck on one part of the experiment in which she didn't want to mess it up; due to the fact she was sneezing a lot. Her rumbling stomach pulled her from her thoughts as she paused, realizing she was hungry.
"To the kitchen then…" Piper mumbled, turning her feet towards the kitchen as she pondered what to eat. She opened the fridge, peering inside, hoping to find something to just eat. Nope. She sighed, closing the door lightly. Turning to the table, she spotted some fruit, and had an epiphany.
"Smoothie it is!" She said; a smile now upon her dark face as she grabbed the blender from the nearby cabinet, placing it upon the table and cutting up some of the fruit as she placed it inside the glass cylinder. She started to hum along to her song as she placed the lid on top of the blender, and pressed the smoothie button.
Suddenly, she felt her feet slip from under her, as a large shattering boom echoed throughout the metal insides of the ship.
"W-What the…?!" Piper gasped, wiping some fruit mush off of her as she got up slowly, peeling some hair that got into her face.
In front of her stood three people, a large ring of soot and smoke dissipating from around them as they looked around, obviously confused as to why they were there.
There were three of them, Piper counted. The one closest to her was the tallest, her long violet hair covering her left eye, and cascading down her back, stopping at the knees. Her baby blue t-shirt complimented her powder purple eyes, which now held an angry annoyance. Her foot was tapping on the metal ground angrily, her short black skirt swishing lightly in time to the tapping. Piper was slightly curious as to why they were there, but before she could ask, the violet haired girl spoke first.
"Great, just great, look what you've done now, you fool. We're nowhere near where we wanted to be." She growled; a slight anger in her voice as she glared at another, slightly shorter female, farther away from Piper and leaning on the wall behind the girl.
"I'm sorry, Renji. But…I couldn't help it! It was red! RED!" She cried dramatically, waving her arms as to try and show emphasis. Her snow white shoulder length hair was twirled into a lazy braid, which was lying across her shoulder, slightly covering her striped red and black shirt. She patted her cargo pants, as if to dust some invisible dirt from them. Her orange eyes then flicked to the youngest looking girl, a smile growing on her pale face.
"Ne, Riu, you pushed it too~" She teased, twirling some strands of loose hair teasingly. The green haired girl, named Riu, stomped her foot and glared. Her goldenrod colored eyes flashed angrily, a frown turning into clenched teeth.
"M-My fault! You're the idiot who went and pushed it first, Yumi! I was just trying to stop it! And everyone knows, red means stop!" She yelled, a bit too loudly, as she continued stomping her foot. Renji cleared her throat, which got the attention of the two bickering females in front of her.
"Sorry…" They mumbled at the same time, the fight stopping there. Piper decided she should make her presence known.
"Ummm…Hello?" She said, straightening up slowly. They all stared at her, like they were trying to figure out what to do. Yumi was the first to react. She lunged at Piper, her arms wrapping around into a hug of death. Her grip was like solid iron. Yumi swung her around happily, squealing strange things such as 'cute' and how 'wonderful it is to finally meet you'. Piper couldn't get out a sentence between gasping for air and the girl's spazzing. Finally, Riu sighed and shook her head exasperatedly.
"Yumi, let the poor girl go, you're scaring her!" Riu scolded. Yumi paused, looking at Riu. Then, she stuck her tongue out, but soon let Piper go, deciding instead to walk down the hall, as if she knew where she was going. Piper wanted to tell her to stop, but she was still trying to catch her breath, deciding instead to turn to the two others in the room, intent on finding answers to her questions.
"Ok…" Piper started, straightening up to face the girls as calmly as she could. "Who are you and what are you guys doing here?" She asked, crossing her slim arms in front of her chest, looking more at the tallest one, Renji. The girl looked at her a moment before answering. "Well…We were supposed to get transported to terra Neon, but Yumi pushed a button, and we were instead transported here."
Now it was Riu's turn to scoff, rolling her eyes before she added, "She's such a child. She won't stop pushing buttons."
Piper was about to question more, but froze as a high pitched scream suddenly penetrated the otherwise silent ship.
"STORK!" Piper shouted, running through the halls towards the main deck, hoping he was ok. She skidded to a halt on the main deck, ready to pounce on whatever threat he was screaming about. She looked down to see Stork in a fetal position, rocking back and forth while muttering about doom and the like. Piper sighed, thinking it was another one of his false alarms.
"What's the problem, Stork?" She asked, looking mildly annoyed. Stork looked up, before slowly standing.
"I-I-I heard noises…and voices…coming from behind me..but…n-no matter how fast I t-t-turn, there's nothing t-there!" He whimpered. Piper cocked an eyebrow, not convinced. Stork sighed, looking down in defeat. As he did so, Piper noticed the girl from earlier, Yumi, hanging on the pipes with her legs, as she swung down behind Stork.
"Stork, I think I know who made those voices…" Piper said. He looked up quickly.
"R-Really? Who?!" He gasped, quickly looking everywhere but behind him. Piper pointed, and he turned to come face to face with Yumi.
"Hiya!!" She yelled. He screamed and jumped back, tripping and falling onto his butt. She giggled and flipped down, landing in a crouching position, before straightening up and walking back over to the other two girls.
"Stork…this is Yumi, Riu, and Renji." Piper said, pointing to each girl one at a time. Stork twitched, wondering why in the Atmos they were on his precious ship. They probably had germs! Renji was about to say something when a voice came from the hallway.
"I didn't know we had guests!" The voice said, walking into the room. It was Aerrow, leader of the Storm Hawks. He was a bit dirty from playing that keep away game outside, but Piper still thought he was as attractive as ever. His bright red hair stuck to his forehead, as his lively green eyes looked at the girl one at a time, before resting upon Piper's eyes. She blushed slightly before smiling and turning to look at the nearby window, and gazed at the clouds as they slowly drifted by.
"Oh my God~! Hot chicks!!" Finn giggled, his blue eyes focusing on the nearest one; Riu. She scoffed and pushed him away, turning to talk to Renji instead. Aerrow scratched his head as he walked over to Piper, smiling his usual goofy and trusting grin as he pointed to the girls. "Who are they?" He asked innocently. Piper sighed and pointed to each one at a time.
"Well, the one Finn just failed at hitting on with the green hair is Riu. The violet haired one Riu is currently talking to is Renji, and…where did Yumi go?" Piper asked, looking around.
"Here I am!" Yumi yelled, popping up behind Piper and Aerrow. Radarr, who was currently on Aerrow's shoulder, screeched and flew off his shoulder, landing on the couch and growling angrily. Aerrow and Piper only jumped slightly at her sudden appearance.
Junko smiled sweetly, looking at Renji. "Excuse me, but why are you guys here?" He asked. Renji smiled a little, then turning towards him slightly. "Well, we were going to Terra Neon." Finn looked at her, currently rubbing his sore cheek from where Riu slapped him. He was just horrible when it came to not ticking girls off.
"That doesn't explain what you're doing here." Finn said weakly as he got up slowly. Yumi suddenly appeared behind him giggling. He screamed and fell once more as Yumi smiled even more. "We're here because I pushed the wrong button, my little girly man!" She cooed, suddenly disappearing once more and appearing again leaning on the wall near Renji.
"Where did you guys come from?" Aerrow asked, peeling his eyes away from Piper to look at Riu, the closest one to him for the moment. Riu scratched her head awkwardly. "Well, we just came from C-"
"Carmen's house! On terra Atmosia!" Yumi butt in, earning a strange look from Renji, but she didn't call Yumi out on it. Aerrow bought the answer, nodding a bit. Yumi then turned slightly, and seemed to disappear once more.
"How does she do that?" Junko asked, cocking his head to the side. Riu smirked and shook her head, placing her hands on her hips.
"She kinda just does that. That's her job." Riu explained, pausing to scratch her neck in a bored fashion. "She's an espionage agent. She basically makes it her business to know things."
"And what do you guys do?" Finn asked. Renji yawned slightly, looking a bit tired.
"Well, I'm a mechanic and Riu here is a helmsman, and basically handles cooking as well, since I hate cooking, and Yumi burns water." Renji stated, looking back at Finn.
Yumi turned to talk to Stork, but he just glared at her. "Go away…I don't want to catch your Melvornio Mass Madness." He grumbled, turning to go back to steering. Yumi huffed, but then slowly smiled. Making sure no one was watching, she quickly climbed up onto the overhead pipes again, she hooked her legs onto a sturdy pipe and lowered herself down, so she was right next to Stork.
"I'm going to give you mind worms, Stork…" She whispered, sounding almost exactly like Master Cyclonis. Stork screamed twice as loud as normally, threw his arms up in panic and ran, sliding and hiding behind Junko. Yumi cackled evilly, sliding off the pipe and back onto the floor.
Stork just glared at her.
Piper left Aerrow's side as she walked over to Renji. "Do you guys want to stay here for now? We can drop you off where ever you need to go." She said, smiling lightly. Renji turned to her, slightly shocked.
"Really…?" Renji asked. Piper nodded. Now it was Renji's turn to smile.
"Sure…We would greatly appreciate it!" Renji answered; looking a little more happy sa she turned to watch Riu scold Yumi about scaring the pilot.
