Alrighty then! Again, thanks go to Unleash the Shadow for their editing skills and suggestions and thanks to SakariWolfe for their ongoing support!!

Sorry I haven't updated in so long, but part 2 of chapter 8 is 4,500 words and up, and maybe close to 10 pages... so it took a while. Sorry that you had to wait so long!

Just a heads up, lots of POV switching in this chapter, I've marked where the switches are. This chapter starts in Aerrow's POV. Enough of my babbling, on with the story!

I do not own the Storm Hawks, they are the porperty of Nerd Corps. (How many thimes have I told you guys this anyways?)

Chapter 8, PART !!


Chapter 8

Confessions and Memories

Part 2

"Aerrow? Aerrow? Wake up sleepy head." I heard a voice say to me. I opened my eyes and was greeted with a smiling Piper with dancing orange eyes.

"Hey." I said as I picked my upper body off of her bed. I must have fallen onto it when I fell asleep a while ago.

"Hey yourself." Piper said continuing to smile like there was no tomorrow. "Why are you in my room?"

"Don't you remember anything from this morning?"

"Aerrow, it is morning!"

"Huh?" I said as I looked towards her window. She was telling the truth. The sun was rising up from the Eastern horizon.

"Wow, I must have camped out here for a while."

"What do you mean?" Piper asked, confusion hinting her voice.

"I mean that we only got back this, er… yesterday morning. Besides, you were knocked out when I brought you back. You had been in your room all day, and I came over here last night after Finn was done his shift of watching you."

"So I was knocked out all of yesterday?"

"Ya."

"How did I manage to do that?"

"What?"

"I said… how did I manage to do that?"

"I know what you said, but don't you remember anything at all about yesterday?"

"You said I was knocked out yesterday. How am I supposed to remember anything?"

"You weren't knocked out all of yesterday; you were with it in the morning."

"Then how come I don't remember it?"

Does she honestly not remember, or is she trying to avoid talking about what she knows I saw?

"I don't know why you don't remember it. But you should!" I said as I got up from the chair I was sitting in, my anger rising as I started walking towards the door.

Turning around before I left I said, "I don't know what type of game you are trying to play Piper, or if you simply can't remember, but friends trust each other. I trusted you, and now you won't tell me a thing about what happened yesterday morning. Turning around, I walked out her door as I said quietly, "It's not everyday that one of my friends willingly jumps off of my skimmer and dives into the Wastelands you know."

"Aerrow…." I heard Piper say from her room, but I kept walking towards the bridge. I needed to make sure things were ok after me being gone for so long.

I really hope I didn't hurt her feelings, but she won't tell me anything, she's acting like nothing happened yesterday! She's trying to convince me that nothing happened. Is she right? Did I dream it? No, that can't be right, I know what I saw.


Piper's POV

Oh wow, I really blew it that time.

I sighed as I looked at the ceiling of my room.

How can I tell Aerrow about what's been happening? I don't understand it that much myself, so how can I tell someone else about it? I knew I would have to tell him eventually, but why didn't I ever plan on what I was going to tell him?

The only thing I could remember about the crystal when my mom still had it was that it was always glowing, especially when she was around my dad.

Why did it suddenly stop once she gave it to me?

There was one other thing I remembered though….

Flashback

"Mom, mom?" I called out as I walked behind our house and into the alleyway.

I started to poke my head into the cracks between our house and our neighbour's house when I heard my mother's familiar voice behind me.

"Piper? What are you doing out here so late?"

"I couldn't sleep mom. The jungle animals are just too noisy tonight."

"Alright then." My mom said as she pulled me into her embrace.

Looking up, I saw skimmers approaching in the distance. "Mommy, who are they?"

"I don't know Piper, but stay here where it's safe." I nodded my head as my mom walked out of the shadows to come face to face with a group of Cyclonian Talons.

"What do you want?" My mother hissed as she stared the leader down.

"Our master has need of your…abilities." The leader said evilly.

What type of abilities is this guy talking about? My mommy isn't special; she's like all of the other mommies in the village.

"To bad I have no desire, nor shall I ever have any desire to serve under Master Cyclonis or any of his descendants."

"You shall pay with your life for your disrespect of the Master!" The talon shouted as he unsheathed his sword.

"Oh is that a fact?" My mom said smirking.

My mom isn't afraid of him; she's amazing!

What happened next took my breath away. With her blue crystal pulsing with light, energy from it radiated from her body, and as it dissipated, where my mom had been standing a few minutes ago, a feared Black Amazonian Panther now crouched, waiting to spring at it's enemies.

"Wow" I whispered as I watched the panther attack the Talons.

Once the Talons had retreated, the Panther slowly trotted over to where I stood.

"Piper?" I heard the panther say.

"Mom?" I said as I walked out of the shadows. The panther wasn't my mom, but it had her voice.

"Piper!" The panther happily purred. It strode up to me, and then in a blur of light blue energy, the panther was replaced with my mom. I could only stare.

Kneeling down so that she could look me in the eye my mom said, "Piper, I don't want you to tell anyone about what happened tonight alright? If anyone ever figures out who I am, it won't just be the Cyclonians that are after me. Murk Raiders, Raptors, any form of evil would want the abilities I have. The abilities that I most likely gave you."

I stared at my mom with my mouth open. "I can do that?"

My mom nodded. "When the time comes, it will come naturally to you.

And that it did. I was only four when I was told my family secret. A few months before the Cyclonians attacked my village and I met Aerrow It was my fifth birthday and I once again found myself in the alleyway behind my house.

"Come on Piper! You can do this!" I said staring at my hand, giving every ounce of concentration I had to it.

"Just do what mom said, concentrate on an animal you've seen and imagine you are that animal."

Focusing, I closed my eyes and once again thought back to the night when I first found out about my abilities. Opening my eyes, I peeked down at my arm.

"Yes!" I cried as I saw that my arm was now black and furry with a paw replacing my hand, with sharp claws where my fingernails would have been.

I turned around to run inside to show my mom when I ran into someone's leg. Looking up, I saw my mom smiling down at me. "Well done Piper." My mom said continuing to smile. "You've homed your abilities long before I did. Congratulations." My mom said ruffling my hair before she headed back inside.

Looking down at my hand, I saw the black fade back into a dark brown, and the paw shrink into my hand. Smiling at my accomplishment I scampered back inside after my mom.


Shaking my head, I tried to put my memories to rest.

Sighing, I got up from my bed and walked across the hall to Aerrow's room. I knocked on the door, and as it opened I said, "Aerrow…" I cut myself off when I saw that no one was there except for Radarr.

"Oh, sorry Radarr." I said leaning down. "Do you know where Aerrow is? I need to talk to him." Radarr nodded as he scampered down the hall, motioning for me to follow him.

Well, I had better get this over with. The sooner I tell Aerrow the truth about me, the sooner I can pack my bags and leave.

I sighed as I followed Aerrow's furry blue companion down the hall.

I just hope Aerrow listens long enough for me tell him; it's a pretty long story...


Aerrow's POV

I looked up when I heard the door open, with Radarr coming in first, and then following behind him was Piper.

"Are you feeling better?" Junko asked, beating me to the question.

"Um, ya." Piper said stealing a nervous glance my way. "I'm a bit better now."

Junko nodded as he walked away to fix a few pipes that had steam coming out of them again.

Walking over to the table, Piper stood across from me and said, "Aerrow?"

I looked up and into her tangerine eyes and I saw hurt, confusion, and fear in them, among other things.

"Ya Piper" I said turning my gaze back down to the table and some of the charts of Amazonia that were still laid out from our recon mission.

I'm hurt and confused too Piper. You told me to trust you, and now… I don't know what to think.

"I need to talk to you about something really important." Looking up, I saw something urgent in her eyes.

"Um… sure?" I replied as I walked around the table and stood across from her.

Really Important?

I could see Piper look over my shoulder and then she added in a whisper, "I need to talk to you alone." I turned around and followed her eyes. They had been looking at Stork, Junko, Radarr, and Finn.

Nodding, I walked past her and said quietly, "Meet me on the roof in five minutes."

I could feel Piper's eyes following me as I walked off of the bridge.


Piper's POV

After Aerrow had left the bridge, I sat down by the table with a sigh.

Great, a whole five minutes for me to lose my confidence and not tell Aerrow about my secret; yet something else to make Aerrow have another reason to hate me.

My elbow on the table, I leaned my head on my hand as I stared down at the maps below.

Ugh. This stupid recon mission started this whole thing. I should have just told Aerrow in the first place I didn't want to go anywhere near Amazonia, but no; he told me everything would be fine. It's a good thing that I told Stork to land here...

I continued to study the maps, and was about to put them away and go meet Aerrow when I noticed something on a small aging map of the terra.

That's strange... I never remembered a waterfall there...

I rolled up all of the maps and put them away. All except for the yellowing map I had just discovered.

I walked out of the bridge, and towards my room to drop the map off.

Then it's off to the roof to talk with Aerrow... This isn't going to go so well...


Finn's POV

I watched Piper as she left the bridge and said to the others, "What do you think she had to talk to Aerrow about?"

"Oh, probably just something about another mission that will doom us all..." Stork said turning around from the helm of the condor with his left eye twitching.

"But usually they just do that sort of thing right here on the bridge." I whined as I pointed to the tables where the maps had been spread out a few moments ago.

"So?" Junko said looking up from his book.

"You know you're reading that upside down, right Junko?" I said to my best friend.

Looking at the book and flipping it, Junko adjusted his glasses before he said, "Oh, so that's why I thought it was written in code."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. "Come on guys, something is going on here." I said insistently. "Why did Aerrow bring Piper back unconscious?"

"Cyclonis did have those crystals Finn…" Junko said, not even looking up from his book.

Sighing I said, "But did you guys not just see or hear what happened? I heard Aerrow yelling in Piper's room earlier this morning."

"What was he doing in her room?" Stork said.

"I don't know," I said before continuing, "But he was there last night waiting for Piper to wake up, maybe he camped out there for the night. Anyways… when Piper told Aerrow she had to talk to him just a minute ago, she said she had to talk to him alone. She's never had to do that before!"

"Your point?" Ever optimistic Stork said.

"My point is that something is going on, and I'm going to find out!" I said to my friends as I stormed off of the bridge.


Piper's POV

Taking a deep breath, I walked up the spiral staircase that led to the hatch that opened to the roof of the Condor. Opening it, I climbed out onto the roof and shut the hatch, locking it firmly.

I turned around, to see that Aerrow was sitting on the edge of the roof, his legs dangling off the side.

Well, it's now or never...

I walked up to him and quietly said, "Hey."

"Hey, nice of you to drop by again." I smiled as he motioned for me to sit down as he spoke.

I sat down next to him, our shoulders touching. Looking down at my crystal, I saw it faintly start glowing. It stopped when I moved away from Aerrow a couple inches to put more space in between us.

That's weird, why does it keep doing that?

"So," Aerrow began, looking down at his dangling feet. "You wanted to talk to me?" Aerrow looked up, and I couldn't help but notice the familiar spark in his eyes.

"Ya." An awkward silence followed as I tried to think of how, or where, I could even begin to tell Aerrow, in all truth, my life story.

Sighing, I continued, "I'm sorry about earlier this morning… I just didn't know what to tell you, or what you would think if I did."

"Think about what?"

Looking at my folded hands in my lap I replied, "What you saw yesterday morning."


Aerrow's POV

So she does remember after all.

Reaching out my hand, I touched Piper's face and lifted it so that she could see me, but her eyes just avoided mine. I wasn't sure, but I thought I saw a small trace of red in her cheeks.

It's probably just the wind; it is kind of cold out here.

"Piper, look at me." Piper glanced up at me, and I could see the evidence of tears welling up in her eyes. I let go of her face and said, "Aw Piper, what's wrong? Why are you crying?"

I haven't seen her cry since the day I met her over ten years ago, and the day of my parent's funeral.

"I'm not crying." Piper said as a single tear fell down her cheek.

I reached up and wiped the tear away from her cheek. "Yes you are."

"Sorry Aerrow," Piper said as a few more tears streamed down her face. "It's just that this past week has been so confusing to me, and lately I've been remembering things I haven't thought of in years."

"I know what you mean Piper. Just last night I had a dream about when we met. I haven't thought about that for a while."

"Not just that," Piper said looking up at me as her tears subsided. "I've been remembering things about this…" Piper said as she fiddled with the crystal around her neck. "About who I really am."

"What do you mean?" I asked in confusion.

I heard Piper take a deep breath before she said, "Do you remember Ayrgyn, and how when we first met him, he was a bird?"

"Ya…" I said not sure where she was going with this.

"Do you remember what he was called?"

"A shape changer, right?"

"Ya. He can only change from a bird to a human. That's why he is called a shape changer."

"You're point?" I asked, starting to feel uneasy about where she was going with this.

"Well, my mother was the greatly feared Amazonian Black Panther that guarded our village because we didn't have a squadron."

"How can your mom be a panther? You're a human, it doesn't make sense."

"I'm human, because my mom wasn't really a panther; she was a lot like Ayrgyn."

"She was a shape changer?"

"Sort of…." Piper said as she looked towards the terra of Amazonia.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, in correct terms my mother was a shape shifter. She could turn into any animal that she had ever seen."

"Oh." I said, still not quite getting it.

"Aerrow, I inherited some really special abilities from my mom." Looking up at me she continued barely above a whisper, "I'm a shape shifter Aerrow."

"Oh." Was the only reply I could summon to come out of my mouth.

Another awkward silence ensued until I finally thought of something to say.

"But I've never seem you change into an animal, except for maybe yesterday, but I'm still really confused at what I saw. I mean, it wasn't at all like when Ayrgyn changed, there was a cloud swirling around you." Piper once again stared at her folded hands. "Piper, the cloud was the same colour as the crystal on your necklace." Once I had said that, Piper's hand flew to the crystal that was hanging around her neck.

I've never seem a day where she wasn't wearing that crystal.

When Piper still didn't say anything, I voiced my thoughts, "Piper, I've known you for over 10 years, and never once have I seen you without that necklace, and never once have I seen it glow until just this week." Pausing for a moment, I turned around so that I was facing her. Piper looked at me out of the corner of her eye, she almost seemed fearful of what I would say next.

"Piper, what's going on?"

"It's complicated, really complicated."

"Try me Piper."

Sighing, Piper began her story.

"I first found out about my mother when I was four. I had wandered into the alleyway where you first found me. I had found my mom in the alleyway and was about to go inside when some Cyclonian Talons on skimmers showed up. My mom hid me in the shadows, and walked up to the Talons. At first I thought she was crazy, but then when they threatened her, I saw a version of what you must have. A could of light blue energy and light emanated from her, and once the cloud dissipated, my mom was nowhere to be found, just the black panther."

Piper glanced at me to see if I was listening, and then she continued. "After the talons had fled, the panther changed back into my mom before my eyes."

Just like the phoenix I was yelling at ended up being you...

"She told me that she was a shape shifter, and that it was more than likely that the abilities that she had would no doubt surface in me one day."

"I guess they did huh?" I said as Piper nodded and she continued with her story.

"On my fifth birthday, a month or so before you found me; I was in the same alleyway again when I managed to turn my arm into the arm and paw of a black panther. What was surprising to me though was that the blue cloud didn't surround my arm, it just kind of morphed into what I had intended it to be."

"So, what happened since then that made the blue cloud show up?" I asked interrupting her story yet again.

"My crystal." Piper said playing with the crystal around her neck again.

"What does your crystal have to do with anything?" I was starting to get confused again, and I was going to guess anything that the confusion was showing in my eyes.

"I think… everything. It has to do with everything." Turning around to face me, Piper explained herself further, "Before my parents hid me in the alleyway that night you found me after the Cyclonians trashed my village, my mom gave me this crystal necklace. You said that you can't remember a day that you haven't seen me without this crystal; the same thing went with my mom, until she gave it to me." Letting go of the crystal, Piper looked straight into my eyes and said, "My mom told me to never ever take this necklace off, and it wasn't until we met Ayrgyn that I figured out why."

"What happened?" I said returning her gaze until she broke it.

"On our way to terra Neon to 'train' Ayrgyn took me aside for a while and let me in on a few secrets of this crystal my mom gave me. When he asked me where I got it, and I told him my mom, he said, 'You're the daughter of the Amazonian Guardian?' When I told him yes, he asked me if I had any idea of what the crystal did, and he seemed surprised when I didn't know what it was."

"So you didn't know hardly anything about the crystal until about a year ago?"

Piper nodded her head and continued from where she left off. "He said that it was the legendary Amplifying Stone. Only one had ever been found in the entire history of the Atmos."

"I was always told by my mom that Amp Stones were a legend."

"I thought the same thing, until a little bit ago." Glancing at Piper, I nodded and she said, "Ayrgyn said that an Amp Stone is very powerful, and has the ability to enhance a person's natural abilities 100 fold."

"So it's a, lot like the purple enhancer crystals Master Cyclonis gave to the Dark Ace, Ravess, Snipe and the Raptors to wipe us out with?"

"Right, except there are some big differences. The Amp Stone occurs naturally in nature, while an enhancer crystal doesn't. Enhancers enhance the properties of weapons and vehicles, while the Amp Stone amplifies a person's natural abilities."

I nodded as I was beginning to understand.

"But there is a hitch as to how an Amp Stone works though." Piper said, her hand once again playing with the crystal hanging from her neck.

"Isn't there always a hitch?" I said, trying to lighten the situation.

Smiling and nodding, Piper explained herself, "While it amplifies your abilities, it also has a mechanism of sorts that controls when you use them. As far as I know, you can only use your abilities when the crystal is glowing, indicating that it has been activated somehow. The crystal only activates when the owner, their friends or family are in a dire situation."

"Then how come it hasn't activated before this week?"

"Another drawback to the crystal is that if you take it off, it takes ten years for you to be able to use your abilities with your own strength again, and when you wear the necklace for the first time, it takes ten years for it to be able to activate. During those ten years, you aren't able to use your abilities at all."

"I guess that makes sense, it's been a little over ten years since we met. We're sixteen now, and we met each other when we were five."

Piper nodded, still holding onto the crystal.

I slowly reached towards Piper's crystal, and she looked at me surprised as my hand wrapped around hers, as I tried to get a closer look at the Amp Stone.

I had to stifle a loud cry as her crystal suddenly gave off a flash of brilliant blue light, and started to glow vibrantly.

I let go of Piper's hand and the crystal, and the glow inside the Amp Stone slowly went away.

Looking into the sky, I tried to determine if there was any danger. When I was certain the coast was clear, I turned back to Piper and said, "What happened? There isn't any danger."

"I know, I think something is wrong with it. It has glowed a few times over the past week or so, and there hasn't been any danger."

"That's weird."

"Ya." Piper said looking at her feet as she stood up. "I'm going to go pack my bags now."

I quickly jumped to my feet and latched onto Piper's wrist as I said, "Where are you going?"

"Aren't you mad that I kept this secret from you so long? Don't you never want to see me again?"

"Why would I never want to see you again? You're my best friend."

"R-r-really?"

Did I just tell her that she was my best friend...?

"Really! Besides, I'm not mad at you. I'm more or less disappointed and hurt that you didn't trust me enough to tell me your secret earlier."

Tears once more threatened to spill down Piper's face as she turned around and threw her arms around my neck as she sobbed into my shoulder, "I'm so sorry Aerrow; I just thought you would hate me…"

"How could I ever hate my best friend?" I hugged Piper a little harder in reassurance that I meant what I said.

After a few moments, Piper' tears subsided, and she was just resting her head on my shoulder, still embracing me, the effects of the week had finally take their toll on her.

I was about to suggest that she should go inside and get some rest when I heard her whisper in my ear, "I trust you Aerrow."

A smile slowly crept over my face as Piper gave me one last squeeze before pulling away.

I looked down and smiled at her and said, "Let's get you to your room so you can rest."

Piper yawned and nodded as we walked towards the hatch that led down to the inside of the Condor. Piper leaned on my shoulder, and though I was surprised, I put my arm around her shoulders to help keep her upright; as I could see her eyelids were becoming heavier.


A few minutes later, Piper was in her room sleeping. I walked over to my room and I laid down on my bed hoping to get some more rest myself.

It's not even noon yet, and I'm already tired. I guess that goes to show how much sleep I got in Cyclonia.

No wonder Piper has been acting a little different when she was in Cyclonia, and just now. I mean, would she really hug me otherwise? The hugs probably meant nothing. Piper was just really glad to see me in Cyclonia, and then just now, she was glad that I wasn't mad at her. They couldn't have meant anything, could they?

I sighed as I looked up at the patterns on the roof. I couldn't help but wonder what was going on with Piper's crystal glowing when there wasn't any danger.

It even was glowing when I was helping her back to her room, we weren't in danger then. What is going on here?


Yes, I know that may not have been as good as you expected it, so I'm sorry! You can all whack me on the head later, how's that?

Alright, a very mini cliff hanger here, I still haven't told you one of the key details of Piper's Amp Stone! Muhahaha I am evil! (At least I haven't killed anyone yet... I've had a lot of chances you know... :P

Anyways, I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll get the next chapter out as soon as possible, I'm still working it out in my mind :P (I can be sooo organzied at times)

So anyways, feel free to leave a review, I love em'

Crimson Fox4

Hey, has anyone else noticed that in my story Finn almost comes across as smart sometimes?? ... Kind of weird, isn't it?