A/N: I apologize for the random delete of this particular work. I assure you, it was so that it could be heavily edited and then reuploaded. I am much happier with it now, and have decided to upload it! This is 'Aveil's Version' of Flying High, to give you a bit more of what happened when the Sky Knight named Cayci started her squadron. The other version can be found at (( www. fanfiction s/5843362/1/Flying_High_Caycis_Version )). Just remove the spaces!
As always, reviews would be heavily appreciated.
"And will you be entering as well?" asked the registry attendant. Aveil glanced down to the woman in the chair, with a confused look, as she hadn't been paying attention. She had been watching her friend, Cayci, scurry off backstage. "Are you entering? Or are you just here for moral support?"
"Moral support," Aveil said with a laugh. "She's pretty nervous. But winning that crystal should clear that right up." It was the attendant's turn to laugh and allowed the girl to wander down to the seating area. Aveil wondered what number Cayci was, and if this was going to be a long day, but didn't think too much of it. Maybe she'd win. No, she'd win for sure. Or Aveil would ridicule her forever. Maybe.
"Oh god…" Aveil said, running a hand offhandedly through her hair. She'd just witnessed some idiot trying to be a 'rock star' or something. Once she'd regained enough of her hearing after that atrocity, she looked to the stage and when they had called for the last entrant and saw that it wasn't Cayci walking out there.
Silently thanking herself for picking the seat nearest the backstage area, she got up and jogged on into the backstage area. "Cayci?" She called after taking a step inside and closing the door. "Are you- there you are." She adopted a relieved expression.
"I can't find my ticket!" Cayci cried, rifling through her pockets. "I don't know where it went!"
"I have an idea," Aveil said, leading Cayci to the wings just offstage. The blonde's jaw dropped as she discovered where her slip had gone.
"And you'll be singing for us today, Cayci?" Checked one of the judges.
"I will," Said the woman that stood center stage. She was taller, almost willowy, with dark red hair and a soft, husky voice.
"She must have stolen it when she ran into me," Cayci mumbled after cursing quietly. "Why go to all the trouble? Why not just register herself?" She thought aloud.
"Maybe she didn't want to use her real name," Aveil said, taking the obvious route.
"They didn't ask for proof, Aveil. I could've called myself Blueberry and they wouldn't have questioned it," Cayci reminded her, folding her arms as she watched the woman onstage angrily, with the slightest hint of curiosity.
"Hey, I have a cousin named Blueberry," Aveil remembered. "Well, really she's a second cousin, but-" She was shushed by her friend. Aveil watched the woman as she lifted her hands slowly, attempting to look like a portrait of a perfect singer or whatever may be equivalent to it.
"Those crystals. She's about to activate those crystals on her necklace," Cayci said, knowing something that Aveil obviously didn't. Aveil gave her a sidelong glance.
"Should we do something?" She asked.
"Not yet," She replied.
The woman gave a barely perceptible smirk and brushed her fingers lightly over the crystals upon her necklace, which started to glow a light green. She extended her arms in a snap with her palms out and a brilliant flash of light was emitted from the tiny gems, broadening in a shockwave over the crowd.
Aveil, clearly startled, jumped back, eyes wide. She managed to produce her crossbow from seemingly nowhere, loaded and ready to fire. "What in Atmos' name just happened?" Cayci, who hadn't moved, simply raised an eyebrow in surprise at her friend's action.
"Didn't I tell you to leave that at home?"
"What?" Aveil glanced down at the weapon in her hands, using a small scope to take aim at the woman onstage. "Oh yeah." Aveil produced Cayci's weapon, a sword with a golden Letalis stone in the pommel. "Brought yours too. I had a feeling you'd need it." This was number one on Aveil's mental list of rules. Never leave yourself unguarded. Cayci ignored them for the most part, since rule number two spoke about when it was best to eat certain candies.
"I guess I should've expected it," Cayci said with a roll of her eyes. "You never part with that thing." She took the sword from Aveil.
"Yeah…" Aveil gave Cayci a somewhat sceptical look. "You're awfully relaxed for a person who just witnessed that." She gestured with her chin towards the stage. "Want to tell the group what's on your mind?" She had a feeling that this was going to go south really fast.
"Actually, I'm waiting for her," Cayci explained, dipping her head slightly. "Those are Hypnos crystals and the blast was the infection." There it was.
"Infection?"
"For lack of a better word. But the woman has yet to give her command," Cayci said, using her knowledge of crystals to give Aveil a quick overview. "I assume she's after the shard, but-"
"The fragment of the Aurora stone has been fairly won by me," The woman's voice seemed to be magnified as it bounced off the walls as a loud echo. "No one will question or protest this."
"That's our cue," Cayci nodded.
Aveil took off in the opposite direction, in an attempt to find a good sniper nest for her to help out Cayci. She kept alert, her crossbow up, ready to shoot should she encounter someone who was not affected by the Hypnos crystal. Ha, right, it hit the entire audience. There was no way she'd run into anyone. Most likely.
Aveil crouched down behind the seats, carefully making her way towards the center. She hardly dared to breath, as to not alert anyone to her presence until necessary. She paused to peek above the seats to check on Cayci. She was being very cautious in her movements, anticipating the enemy to make a move.
Aveil looked forward once again, and crawled forth. She thought that she heard movement, and did the typical opossum thing. She played dead. Which seemed to work well enough, no one came across her. After waiting a moment or too just to be sure, she set to her crouching walk once more. She glanced up above the seats once more, and saw the woman was dangerously close to Cayci.
"My name is Rica," Said the woman who had hypnotized the audience. "And I'm going to kill you." Aveil could practically hear the smile in her voice as she said it. She clambered up onto a seat, which is hard to do from behind, it's not advisable, and aimed at the woman.
"You're not killing anyone!" She shouted, alerting those onstage to her presence. She watched as Rica tore her eyes from Cayci to look at the source of the outburst. Aveil felt the coldness from her dark eyes and couldn't help but find herself a little nervous. She swallowed, but never faltered in her aim.
"You have to wait your turn, I'll get to you in a minute," She said arrogantly. Aveil mustered a glare, which she hoped would cut down some of that confidence.
"You assume you're going to last a minute in a fight with me," Cayci said with a grin, pointing her blade at Rica. "I give you thirty seconds, tops."
"But Sky Knight," Rica said, "You wouldn't dare strike down an unarmed opponent. That wouldn't be honourable." She held up her hands innocently. "Or are you willing to sink so far?"
"To your level? Not in your lifetime," Cayci sneered. She tossed the sword in her hand to the side. "Now we're both weaponless."
"Oh?" Rica was grinning like the Cheshire cat, making Cayci uneasy and Aveil wary. Rica pulled her shirt free from her trouser waistband, showing off the belt of knives across her stomach.
Aveil clapped her hand to her face. This had all the makings of a 'it didn't end well for the Sky Knight' tale written all over it.
Aveil wasn't sure when she dropped her crossbow. All she knew was she had it, then it was gone. She hid behind a row of seats, now completely defenceless. She didn't even have a crystal on her. She crawled towards one of the row ends when she heard something. Pausing, she listened intently.
"Aveil!" It was Cayci. Aveil looked over the seats.
"Oh, hello," she said quietly. "How nice to run into you like this. You know, I can honestly say that I never thought I'd be crawling around on my knees as a Sky Knight's second-in-command." Aveil shrugged. "Not during the first adventure, at least." Cayci glared at her.
"I know, we're doing well, so shut it," she snarled. "I heard that red-head give the order to his friends to clear out the auditorium, why has no one moved?"
"They're hypnotized," Aveil said simply.
"So then why haven't you gotten the crystal from Rica and reversed it?"
"Because that would be smart," Aveil said casually. "I saw how well you were doing with-"
"Why are you down here anyways?" Cayci cut across, silencing her friend, who mumbled her answer. "What?" She didn't speak any louder. "Speak up!"
"I dropped my crossbow in the confusion!" Aveil roared.
The stadium fell silent. Aveil looked over the seats and saw the guy named Adrik coming in their direction.
"We're going to die," Aveil said in total optimism.
Neither of them moved for a moment, but Cayci was the first to do so, muttering for Aveil to stay down. She looked over the row of seats before her to see where everyone else was. Aveil could only hear weapon clashes and battle cries. She glanced up, having thought she heard something else.
"What's happening?" Aveil asked, gently pulling on Cayci's arm. "Are we needed?"
"No," Cayci said, evaluating the situation. Aveil noted that she was definitely annoyed by something.
"Can I look?" she asked. Cayci nodded and Aveil moved up to look over the seats beside her Sky Knight. "Damn," she muttered in awe, "that Wallop is doing better than you with Adrik."
"They're both like four times my size," Cayci pointed out, disheartened.
A loud, rumbling crash shook the whole building, causing both girls to lose balance, clinging to whatever they could for stability. Aveil glanced up and noticed a rather troubling crack in the roof's main support beam.
"Now's not the time to pout, Sky Knight," Aveil said. She got to her feet and pointed up towards the problem, which seemed to be getting worse by the second. Cayci looked up and saw what Aveil had seen. Aveil glanced up again just to check on it.
"Everyone needs to get out," Cayci decided, pulling herself up before starting to climb over the seats in their way to the stage. "Aveil, go open the doors!" She ordered, looking over her should at her second in command.
Aveil nodded, and jumped up onto a seat, trying to pinpoint anyone who hadn't been hypnotized for their help. The Wallop was still busy with Adrik, Rica was still busy with the red haired kid, and there seemed to be a girl with dark blue hair making her way towards Aveil, and rather quickly too.
"What's happened to these people?" the girl asked, trying to get one of the people to move.
"Hypnotized by a crystal," Aveil explained, "which is somewhere up there." She gestured towards the stage. "Are you with them?"
"Yes, and it looks like they may need my help," she answered, trotting off towards the Wallop. Aveil raised an eyebrow before jumping over the seat back to the next seat, making her way to the main entrance.
Clambering over the last seat, she took a look at the pair of doors. They were locked shut with two locks; one in the floor and one in the top of the frame. Aveil tugged on the bottom one, working in free slowly. After a few painstaking seconds, it came undone and the door started to shift. Looking up to the top of the door, she glared at the lock. She stood on tiptoes, trying to flick it open.
Severely annoyed at her lack of height, she whirled around and spotted a rod that had fallen from somewhere. Aveil nabbed it and started pushing the lock open. She cursed quietly whenever it slipped, but when she heard the click of the lock opening, she was thrilled. She repeated the procedure on the other side before throwing open the doors, allowing the lights of Terra Neon to shine in.
Aveil raced towards the side door nearest the stage. It had a simple lock at the handle, which she broke easily with the pipe still in her hand. She tossed open the door and tossed the pipe out, wondering if the crystal had been deactivated yet. This seemed to be the case as people were starting to move about.
"This place is coming down, everyone get out, now!" Aveil ordered loudly. People stood for a moment before making for the side and back doors. It took less than two minutes to get everyone out, including the dark haired girl from earlier. The Wallop was still fighting Adrik, trying to get him away from the people, though he left shortly after the girl.
Once everyone was out, Aveil made her way the last few feet to the stage, spotting her crossbow on the way. She snatched it up, wondering how it had gotten there. Putting those thoughts aside, she made her way to where Cayci, Rica and Aerrow, she thought he said that's what his name was, were.
She saw Aerrow, step in front of her Sky Knight, who was on the ground. Aveil offered her hand to her and pulled Cayci up. She received a smile in return.
"Is that everyone?" she asked, her voice slightly raspy.
"It's just us and Aerrow left," Aveil said with a sharp nod. No one spoke of the Talons, hoping they'd be just a moment too slow to escape. That would be a load off their minds.
Aveil cringed inwardly as there was a loud crack, be it from the building or something else, she wasn't sure. Adrik made an appearance at that time though, coming through the dust and debris;
"Time to go, Rica," he said, rather urgently, "this place is coming down."
"I didn't notice," she replied, moving away reluctantly. "Don't worry, darlings. I'll be back for you another day." The pair of talons ran off to one of the back stage exits, presumably.
"We've got to get out," Aerrow said, turning to usher them towards the exit, jumping when a beam nearly fell on him. "Now!" Cayci frozen in place like Adrik had been moments ago. She seemed to say something, but it was inaudible to the others amid the other extremely loud noises coming from the ceiling and outside.
"Sometimes you've just got to move her yourself," Aveil told Aerrow over the commotion. She brought her arm around Cayci's abdomen and dragged her outdoors, Aerrow in pursuit, practically pushing them out.
"You're kidding. Really?" Aveil said, a vaguely shocked look on her face as she and Piper, the girl Aveil had spoken with earlier, chatted with Aerrow, who had managed to clear everything up fairly quickly. This kid was rather different from Cayci in the sense that he was definitely more settled in with being a Sky Knight. Aveil wondered how long it would take for Cayci to get used to her title.
"I was surprised too. Usually Terra Neon's security is really careful when it comes to this type of thing," Aerrow said. "The judges have just been apprehended and I volunteered us to return the Aurora shard." He glanced over at Cayci, who seemed to be speaking with a security member. "So that's your Sky Knight? Where's the rest of your squadron?"
"Yup, that's her in all her glory. There's only three of us; Cayci, me and our… pilot," Aveil explained, using that term loosely. "So you guys are the new Storm Hawks? Those are some big shoes to fill."
"It's not that bad, only had a few problems," Aerrow shrugged. "Cyclonis is the one who should be worried."
"Never met her. Heard she's a brat." Aveil glanced over at Cayci who looked about ready to strangle someone. "I'll be back in a minute, I should probably go report back." She walked over to the sky knight who looked ready to slay the person she was speaking to.
"So then you didn't mean to surrender?"
"No."
"Okay..."
"Give us a moment," she told the young man, cutting the conversation short. "I need to talk with my Knight for a minute."
"You're a Sky Knight?" he asked incredulously.
"Is that really so hard to believe?" she asked, tossing her hands into the air.
"No, ma'am. It's just... if I had known that earlier..." he said slowly and quietly. "There's an entirely different protocol to follow when dealing with Sky Knights. I'm not the one who should be questioning you." He bit his lip.
"So I just wasted all this time...?" Cayci didn't finish her sentence. The frustration in her voice was enough to make the young man almost visibly flinch.
"I'll just... excuse myself now." He turned and skulked off like a wounded mutt.
"I'm this close," Cayci started, turning to Aveil, "to walking away without a second glance." She held her thumb and index finger so close together that Aveil couldn't even tell if they were touching or not.
Aveil started to say a somewhat smartass comment, however she cut herself short when Cayci lifted her eyebrows. She knew that look, and knew better than to go against it.
"What is it that you wanted to talk to me about?" Cayci asked, tiredly. She brushed her bangs from her face and let it fall back into place. Her rather long hair covered roughly half of her face, giving her a somewhat mysterious look. Not like it mattered to Aveil, she knew the girl too well.
"Well, the Storm Hawks' Sky Knight, Aerrow, just finished sorting everything out. They were really, really mad about the auditorium, but with a bit of convincing, they realized that it was a small price to pay for everyone's safety," Aveil relayed.
"What about the Aurora shard?" Cayci asked.
"Funny thing about that," Aveil said, reaching to scratch the back of her head. "Turns out the entire show was illegal, they should never have been in possession of a shard in the first place."
"So is it going to be taken back to Terra Atmosia for safekeeping?"
"The Storm Hawks are gonna do that," Aveil answered, nodding as well. "Speaking of Storm Hawks, here comes Aerrow."
Cayci turned to face the other Sky Knight while Aveil stood just behind her leader waving, a grin on her face at the sky knight's reaction. Cayci glanced back at her, but did not look happy. "Aveil," she said in a low voice. "Besides your mom, this is the first other Sky Knight I've met. I want to make a good impression, and if you embarrass me, I'm going to murder you in cold blood," the Sky Knight threatened, folding her arms across her chest to show she meant business.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Aveil said, innocently.
"Don't give me that," Cayci retorted, narrowing her eyes. "I know that look. You're up to something."
"You shouldn't be so suspicious," was her reply.
"Suspicious?" Aerrow asked, having overheard the last snip of their conversation.
"Don't worry about it," Cayci dismissed. "Aveil," she looked at the other girl, "was just about to go discuss technique with your marksman, weren't you Aveil?" she said, a steely edge to her voice.
"Anything you say, Cayce," Aveil grinned. "Nice meeting you, Storm Hawk."
"You too, Aveil," Aerrow nodded. Aveil left to join up with the others.
"I've been thrown from the Sky Knights' club," Aveil announced to Piper who now stood with the Wallop, a Merb, some sort of blue monkey thing, and the blonde boy from earlier in the talent competition. Who suddenly looked eerily familiar for some reason unbeknownst to her.
"Sky Knight business, I suppose," Piper replied. "Aveil, this is the rest of the squadron; Junko," the Wallop smiled, "Stork," the Merb grimaced, "Radarr," the blue monkey sort of chirped happily, "and Finn," the blonde boy sent Aveil a winning grin. Aveil looked at him suspiciously causing him to falter.
"So what do you do, Aveil?" Junko asked. Aveil glanced up at the Wallop, who seemed like a nice guy.
"I'm our marksman, and I hate to brag, but I'm pretty good," she explained.
"Finn's our marksman and he'll brag until the scoats come home about his skills," Piper said, stifling a giggle.
"No point in denying it when you're this great," Finn said in a very cocky voice. Junko issued a chuckle and Piper rolled her eyes. "Maybe we'll have to get together and shoot some blanks." He slowly realized his bad choice in words and Aveil snorted. He spluttered for better words, but Aveil cut him off.
"Thanks, but I'm taken," Aveil said. "You look familiar. Have I beaten you before?" She looked at him with a vaguely suspicious look on her face before a sudden realization hit her like a pissed off Leviathan. "No way…"
"Eh," Finn said, clearly confused. She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him along into a run towards where Cayci and Aerrow spoke.
"Cayce!" She called, panting a bit. "You're not going to believe this."
"What?" Cayci asked, assuming the worst and reaching for the blade at her side. "Have Adrik and Rica returned?"
Shaking her head, Aveil noted she needed to get into better shape. "This may be just a cruel coincidence, but look what I found." She stepped aside and half pushed Finn towards the sky knight.
Cayci said nothing for the longest time. Eventually, she found her voice, though it was hardly audible. "Finn? I-is that really you?"
"Whoa," was the most brilliant thing he could think of to say. "Cayci, I thought-" Cayci cut him off by leaping into his arms. The pair embraced tightly, giving Aveil the feeling that she and Aerrow were intruding.
"Uh, Finn?" Aerrow asked, almost hating to interrupt. "You want to explain what's going on?"
The blonde boy raised his head to gaze at his leader. "Dude, this is my sister."
A/N: I'll try and upload chapter two when I've got it all worked out! Please review!