'Inner self'
'Thoughts'
"Speaking"
Chapter 3 prt 2
I was still staring at Aerrow strangely and too surprised to actually be angry that he made me fly my skimmer in the center of the diamon formation; Aerrow in the front, Piper in the back, and both Finn and Junko on both sides. Yup, boxed in...sorta. I was broken out of my thoughts when I heard Aerrow speak.
"What's with Junko?" he asked Finn.
"He's fine." Finn said. "Just lost three games of Splonk in a row."
"But that's-" I began. I was going to really say what was wrong, but Finn interrupted me with an uneasy and nervous laugh as he glared at me to pipe down.
"So," he said changing the subject. "What would anyone want with a boring old clock tower anyway?"
"The Time Pulse beacon is relayed to every airship in the Atmos. Without it, travel between terras is impossible. Any craft bigger than a skimmer is grounded." Piper explained.
"So we're taking ours to Glockenchime to start it back up." Aerrow added.
'So it's an important, boring old clock tower. And what kin of name is Glockenchime anyway?' Inner Phoinix asked. I twitched. This manefestastion is rather flippant about it's remarks.
"Or," Finn's voice broke through my thoughts. "Junko and I can hang back with the Condor. You know, keep Stork company, maybe do a little recon down on the surface."
"Finn, what are you talking about?" Aerrowe questioned. "Ranndi's the one who stayed behind. Besides, I need your aim and Junko's strength." he flew his skimmer ahead and Piper sped up.
I hung back with Junko and Finn. "You know," Finn started," in a lotta ways those Busters were just a crutch."
"You're right. 'Cause without them, I'm lame!" Junko said.
"No!" Finn said quickly. "I mean you're Junko, meanest, toughest Wallop in the Atmos!"
"If you say so." Junko said turning back to the sky.
I frowned at Finn. "You're horrible at comforting people."
"Maybe if Ranndi was here instead, she would've actually have agreed with me." Finn retorted. "Like before." he added smugly.
I rolled my eyes. "That was a fluke, 'sides, you don't know much about her to get her to like you." I sped up my skimmer to catch up to Aerrow and Piper, while ignoring Finn's, "That's not true!"
"So, just like we planned." Piper started. She looked back at the three of us. "You three find the Time Keepers while Aerrow and I head for the crystal chute. We rendezovous at the mainspring. You got that?" Piper seemed to take Junko's sigh and shrug as agreement, cause she flew ahead with Aerrow, who wasn't looking to happy.
I could take a guess that it was because it was originally suppose to be Ranndi here on this mission and not me.
"Ah, sure." I heard Finn call after them. "No problem." The three of us flew to the tower thing I was guessing was the clock. We hid close to the hangar bay and kept out of sight. Two Talon Switchblades flew out in front. "Cyclonians. Should've figured." he said. He turned to us and shushed us.
We flew and landed in the hangar bay. I saw Junko glancing around as Finn drew his crossbow and I drew my sword. "I'm really not sure about this, Finn." Junko said. "I should've stayed back on the Condor."
"I'm telling you, you'll be fine." Finn whispered. "Now just watch out for Talons."
Suddenly, Finn's crossbow and my sword were shot out of our hands by two red energy pulses. Finn put his hands on his head in panic and surprise as I watched our weapons land on the bottom of the staircase.
Junko pointed past us. "There's some."
Finn and I turned around. There were three Talons standing at the top of the staircase with their staffs. As quickly as we could, we turned tail and ran in the opposite direction as the Cyclonians shouted at us angrily. As we reached the bottom of the stairs, Finn took the lead and scooped up his crossbow and I scooped up my sword as I passed it as well.
We saw an open doorway on our left and entered it in a flash. I could hear Junko and Finn breathing heavily as we ran, though it was like we weren't going anywhere. When they looked down, I did as well and felt incredibly stupid. We were on one of the wheel gears of the clock and it was turning in the opposite direction.
'Idiots.' Inner Phoinix hissed derisively.
Junko glanced back behind us and his eyes widened before grabbing a hold of Finn's shoulder and reached over toward me and forced us down as a red blast shot overhead. Since we were no longer running, we went with the wheel and we tripped up the Talons that had been behind us. While the Talons were flung off, the three of us held onto the wheel, though only Junko and Finn were crying out fearfully. I was scared too, but not that scared. I mean, my own dad threw me off his Switchblade!
As we spun undeneath the wheel and came up again though, we were sent flying into the door onto the ledge that was on the other side of the one we came in on. Finn slammed into the door first, Junko landed on top of him, and since I was the last one, I ended up on Junko. I head my head as I tried to regain my bearings.
As impossbile as it was, the Talons had managed to get onto the ledge and approached with their staffs and had snarls on their faces. As they approached, Finn straightened.
"Tear the door open Junko!" he said and Junko hesistated. "Busters or not, you're still a Wallop!"
Junko raised his fist, but I saw him grow disheartened when he saw no Knuckle Busters. "I ...I can't."
I too began to feel despair. 'If only I could teleport.'
'But you can't.' Inner Phoinix shot back.
I saw Finn turn to the Talons, laughing uneasily as they got closer. "Hey." This was no time to be friendly Finn! Regardless of my mental thoughts, Finn picked up a pair of brown work gloves. "Aw, this better work!" he mumbled. Just as Junko turned to him, he shouted, "Here, catch!" As Junko studied the gloves with unease, Finn smiled. "Cyclonian Knuckle Busters. Wway more powerful than yours!"
I raise a brow. 'What are you trying to pull?'
The Talon group got even closer. "Get the Wallop first!" The lead Talon growled.
A Finn looked at Junko anxiously, the Wallop put the gloves on and smacked them togther. Nothing happened. "These are just dirty old gloves." he said. Junko never saw the Talon fire at him, but I could swear there were sparks in his eyes. "I can feel it!" he suddenly exclaimed. "Like millions of energy crystals inside of me!"
Oh if only he knew just how accurate that was.
This though seemed to boost his confidence as Junko turned to the doo and dug his fingers into the metal, with a roar, he pulled the door out of its frame, whirled around, and threw it at the Talons, with it pinning them underneath it. The Wallop turned to us. "Lets go!" he said in a determined tone. Once that was said, he marched through the now open doorway.
Finn laughed as Junko walked away. "What do you know?" he asked looking at me. "He bought it!"
"Even a broken clock is right twice a day." I snarked as we followed Junko out, Finn sending me a glare for the jab at his intellegence.
"You're right Finn." Junko began. "These are way stronger than mine!" he then started doing a bunch of punches. That's when it went downhill. "Whoa! Oh no! They're too powerful!" he ran one way, then the other, all the while probably thinking it was the gloves.
"Quiet!" Finn whispered. "The guards are gonna hear you!" We watched as Junko went back and forth. "Those Knuckle Busters aren't really-" he was cut off as Junko's fist cam at his face. He ducked and the Wallop's fist made contact with the wall that was behind Finn.
Junko then headed for a bookshelf, still punching at nothing but air. "I can't shut these things off!"
As I watched Junko continue to destroy things, I couldn't help but blame Finn...that and wish I probably shoudn't have argued with Aerrow and stayed back on the Condor.
