Sorry that it's taken so long to update this story, but with exams finally over, I had time to type up the final chapter of this story! That's right.... this is the last chapter of 'Music to my Ears' and as such, it's also the longest chapter ;)

Enjoy!

I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the property of Nerd Corps.


Chapter 9

"Stupid slime on my records." Finn mumbled as he walked in front of where Aerrow and I were hiding underneath said sharpshooter's bed. Pausing in front of us, I faintly heard Finn mumble, "Dumb Piper making me clean up a mess that isn't mine! I'll show her, I'm not going to clean it up! Even if it means I can't listen to my records for a bit, so be it."

My hands that were in front of me slowly fisted as my anger grew towards my pig-headed squad-mate. I probably would've gotten out from underneath the bed and pummelled the unsuspecting blond into a pulp if Aerrow hadn't placed his hand on my shoulder in an attempt to calm me down.

Luckily for Finn's health, Aerrow's action worked. This time.

Finn's feet moved out of our field of vision as he moved to our right. Soon I heard the sound of guitar strings softly resonating as Finn tuned his guitar mumbling, "I'll just play my rock machine instead. Who needs records of someone else playing when you can make your own music?!"

Turning to Aerrow, I whispered as quietly as possible, "Did you put that green and yellow crystal beside Finn's guitar amplifier like I asked?" When Aerrow's only reply was a sheepish grin, I moaned, "Aerrow!"

"Sorry!" Aerrow hissed in a whispered reply before he reached into the back pocket of his pants and handed me the small crystal I had instructed him to get from my lab earlier. "I didn't get a chance to hide it because I dove under here when I heard your footsteps in the hall. Once you knocked on the door, I knew it couldn't be Finn, but then you hid under here too, and well, yeah..."

As Aerrow trailed off, I listened once more to Finn's tuning, and I realized that he had just finished tuning his final string.

Placing the crystal in Aerrow's hand again, he gave me a confused look before I hurriedly explained, "Chuck it in Finn's direction when I say 'now', got it?"

My red-headed Sky Knight once more gave me a perplexed look before he hesitantly nodded and replied, "Alright."

I listened attentively for a few more moments to try and figure out when Finn would start playing his 'music' when I heard him take a deep breath, and the beginnings of a strummed note met my ear. As the volume slowly began to increase, I hissed, "Now Aerrow!"

Upon hearing my words, Aerrow flung the crystal from his hand, and after a few bounces and skips across Finn's floor, the small yellow and green object skidded to a stop right in front of the room's owner.

As Finn's music began to get louder and louder, the pulsing energy inside of the crystal soon grew, causing me to inch further underneath the bed and close my eyes as the sound of what could've been mistaken as a loud explosion ripped through Finn's room.

Turning to Aerrow, I whispered in his ear, "Let's get out of here! Hopefully the slime covered his face and he won't be able to see us!"

Aerrow nodded as he quickly bolted out from underneath Finn's bed with me on his heels. Once we were standing up straight, we slowly slipped and slid towards the door as I marvelled at likeness in appearance of Finn's room to that of what my lab had looked like yesterday.

It was taking awhile for us to get to the door since our progress was being hindered by the slimy green goo on the floor of Finn's room, and unfortunately for us when we were only a couple of feet away from the door our blond friend recovered from his initial shock.

In the edge of my vision, I saw Finn's hand move up to his face to wipe the slime away from his eyes.

With only a foot to go until we were home free, Aerrow and I dove into the hallway in desperation as soon as the automatic door of Finn's room opened itself. But as we stumbled down the hallway trying to hold in our laughter thinking we had just gotten away scotch free, Finn's voice echoed after us with a snarl that could've put the Dark Ace to shame, "I'm going to kill you two!"

Uh oh... did I end up taking this plan just a little too far?

I winced inwardly as I heard a muted thud come form the direction of Finn's room as I guessed he had slipped on the slime and fell. Aerrow and I glanced at each other after not hearing another sound coming from our team-mate's room.

Hesitantly, Aerrow and I peeked around the corner of the hallway that led to Finn's room only to immediately turn away and race toward the bridge as Finn rounded the corner running after us, resembling a tar monster from the Black Gorge that had eaten one to many Brussels sprouts.

"That's right! You better run!" Finn called after us, shaking his fist which caused some of the slime attached to it to fly off and paste itself to the walls of the Condor's corridors.

As Aerrow and I continued to flee from a very angry blond, I was surprised that Finn was able to keep up with us despite the fact he was covered in slime.

He must be pretty mad if he's pushing himself to keep up....

Seeing the bridge door coming up on our right, Aerrow and I tried to slow down but had no such luck as the remnants of the gooey substance on our shoes caused us to slide right on by and down the rest of the hallway a fair ways. Looking back, I saw that Finn was slowly catching up, but my head whipped around to face frontward as Aerrow yelled, "Piper, look out!"

It was too late though as I tripped over a small potted tree in the hallway and as I tripped I accidentally fell on top of Aerrow which caused both of us to topple to the ground in a tangled mess.

Moaning, I looked up from the floor and noticed that I had landed on top of Aerrow's back who I was currently involuntarily pinning to the ground. "Sorry!" I exclaimed in apology as I got up quickly and helped Aerrow peel himself off of the ground.

As Aerrow tried to get his head to stop spinning, I turned around to see that thanks to our tumble, Finn was almost on top of us, and if our lack of needed friction to stop was any clue, Finn would barrel right on through us if we didn't move even if he tried to stop.

Hoping that Aerrow had gotten his feet back underneath him, I pulled on his wrist as I took off in a run again, the doors to the hangar bay right in front of us, offering a place to hide.

Looking back quickly to see if Aerrow was doing fine, I saw him shake his head before he stared ahead of me on saw the hangar bay doors becoming closer and closer. His eyes suddenly widened as if he had just realized something before he cried, "Piper, no!" before he quickly tackled me to the ground, and we landed just a few feet away from the door.

As Aerrow pulled me to one side of the door, I asked, "Aerrow, what are you-"

But Aerrow cut the rest of my sentence off as he whispered, "Trust me!"

"But we're sitting ducks!" I hissed in reply.

Before I could say anymore though, Finn slid by where we were sitting as he tried to slow down so he could clobber us, but much to his obvious dismay, he slid right through the now open hangar bay doors.

Turning around to look at me, Aerrow gave me a wide grin, one that was just a bit too wide, even for a person like him.

"Aerrow, what did you do?" I asked with my eyebrow raised in question.

If it were possible, Aerrow's cheesy grin grew wider as he replied, "Wait for it."

Nothing.

"Wait for it…."

Still nothing.

"Wait for it!"

I was about to ask Aerrow again what he did, but that's when I heard several bangs and yells that sounded strikingly familiar coming from inside the hangar.

Still not sure what Aerrow had done, I accepted the hand he gave me to help me up from the floor before he lead me into the hangar bay.

As I looked around the hangar bay, I noted that nothing seemed to out of place or abnormal, save for the fact Finn's feet were tied together, he was covered not only in the green slime form my crystal, but now there were feathers sticking to him as well. Not to mention the fact he was hanging upside down from the ceiling.

Trying desperately to hold in my giggles, I gasped, "You didn't…"

"I did." Aerrow replied, a hint of laughter in his voice destroying the serious look on his face.

"You couldn't of…"

"I did."

"You're evil."

"I know," Aerrow began, a grin on his face as turned to me and added, "You were the bad influence though."

"I know." I replied, smirking.

Aerrow's grin slowly turned into a smirk as well as he asked, "What do you think the Cyclonians would have to say if they saw us now?"

Snorting in surprise, I replied, "They probably wouldn't say anything, they'd just hand us Talon uniforms."

"Ha, ha, very funny you guys." Came Finn's voice. As Aerrow and I looked up at where the sharpshooter was hanging, he stated, "If you guys become Talons it'll make it so much easier for me to get back at you!"

Before either Aerrow or I could reply to Finn's remark, the doors that led from the Condor's hallways into the hangar bay opened once more and Stork was soon standing to Aerrow's left, and looking at Finn and his situation quite approvingly.

"So I take it our trap worked?" I heard Stork ask Aerrow casually.

"You bet," Aerrow replied before adding, "Thanks for helping me with it Stork."

"What!" Finn exclaimed in annoyance. "You were in on this too Stork?"

Stork just shrugged before he said, "Music like yours attracts mindworms. Sorry, but I had to help them teach you a lesson."

"What lesson?" Finn exclaimed as Stork slowly walked out of the hangar bay. "I haven't learned anything from this except that I need to get some major payback in once I get down from here!"

As Finn continued to yell at us in disgust, I couldn't help but notice how red his face was getting, though I couldn't really tell if the reason behind his flushed face was his anger towards Aerrow and I, or from all of the blood rushing to his head.

We stood there for awhile longer listening to Finn rant and rave until we decided to leave him alone for a bit so that he could calm down – we'd send Junko down here later to free Finn from Stork and Aerrow's trap.

As soon as the door to the hangar bay closed behind us, Aerrow turned to me and asked, "So, do you think it was a good idea to do this to Finn after all? I think he's pretty close to yelling bloody murder at us." Aerrow's voice was pretty serious sounding, but I could still clearly see the amusement in his eyes.

"Aerrow," I began, a small grin appearing on my face, "Even if he does try and get back at us, that," I emphasized as I pointed my thumb towards the closed door that was muffling Finn's yells of protest. "That is music to my ears."


Well, it was fun while it lasted, but alas, this story is over... I think....

Sorry if the ending was a little bit weak, but hey, what'cha gonna' do?

Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and the story itself, and again, I'd just like to encourage anyone who's been bored or fighting with writer's block as of late to come and check out the forum that Unleash The Shadow, SakariWolf and I have made.

Crimson Fox4

PS. For those looking for a new chapter of APAH:AA, it's coming, so please be patient with me for now! But on the up side, I should finally be getting around to finishing that Christmas story of mine in the next couple of days....... and YES! I know it's a month late, but hey, better late than never, right? RIGHT?