It was late afternoon in the crammed military base. The sun glared at the group with intense light, but it has not fazed them one bit. As Blu, Scarlet, and Jewel added the new entrants to the Avian Special Forces Detachment, a howling cry echoed and bounced from the humid air above them. The A-10 thunderbird fiercely glided down towards the runway nearby where they were. Its landing gears slowly engage outward from the metal bird as it finally touched down to the ground below. It stopped to a screeching halt; it's jet turbines cooling down. The plane has now stopped functioning and stood still. The airman Raven took off his helmet and respirator and stumbled out of the plane, still stunned by the G-force trauma he went through during his flight.
"Good afternoon, Sergeants!" The Raven cried. He got at attention and saluted both Blu and Jewel.
"At ease, you just out of a plane." Jewel commanded.
He relaxed and spread his legs apart. He crossed his wings to the front of him.
"Good afternoon. How was the mission?" Blu asked.
"It went well. I had neutralized a few enemy tanks as ordered."
"Good work. I would like you to meet our new recruits." He gestured the Raven to follow him. They walked over to the group of soldiers who were chatting away, sitting down together on a table. The group noticed the new Raven around and settled down.
"This is Captain Smoke, the leader of Team 1."
Smoke extended his wing to the Raven.
"It is nice to meet you," He paused and closed his eyes. He opened them back up immediately, revealing his Sharingan. "Rysul."
The Raven was thrown into complete shock hearing him mention his name. "How…did you know my name?"
"I can read your entire life like an open book, including the incident at Burma with those Hornbills you slaughtered. So don't try to hide anything from me!"
Rysul was at a loss for words hearing his past being unraveled. He was annoyed by Smoke's eyes, appearing evil in its dotted, blood red appearance.
"This is one of Smoke's best ability. He can retrieve information from a bird just by looking at them." Blu said.
"Err…nice to meet you too." Rysul said in worry, shaking his wing awkwardly.
"Next, we have a Hornbill-" Blu was interrupted.
"HORNBILL!? No, one of those things that killed my best friend?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"
The Hornbill extended his wing to the Raven. Rysul was furious to know that a Hornbill is in the ASFD.
"It is an honor to meet you, Rysul. I don't have a name unfortunately." The Hornbill said, smiling in excitement.
"Hmph." The Raven folded his wings in disgust and looked up rudely.
"What's your problem now?" Jewel demanded. She wanted an explanation from Rysul's combative attitude.
He robotically stood up straight and smiled at the Hornbill, shaking his wing. "It's nice to meet you too." He was thinking of hurting him later.
"Ok then…" The Hornbill replied.
"Ok, well, next up is Sergeant Crystal and Angel." Blu announced.
They got up and marched to Rysul, extending their wings to him in gratitude.
"Hello, sir. I know we'll be great friends." Angel spoke in a respectful tone. Rysul firmly shook his wing.
"Hi there. You might need to chill out." Crystal said. Rysul did the same as before. He felt frostbitten by her cold wing.
"Umm…nice to meet the two of you." Rysul said in puzzlement.
"Well…We have another soldier, but she's in the infirmary. You could say hello to her when you get the chance." Scarlet said.
"That's everyone. You all can do as you wish for the duration of the day. By 05:00, we need all of you ready for your first operation as a team together. Fall out!" Blu called.
Everyone saluted him as he and Jewel walked away together.
"Well, what do you know? We all have the rest of the day to ourselves. What do you wanna do?" Crystal asked.
"I want to spar, against you!" Rysul shouted, pointing at the Hornbill.
"Spar?" the Hornbill replied, confused as to what he meant.
"To fight, dimwit!"
"Ok, sure. Why the hostility my friend?"
"I want to spar with you, now!" Rysul was getting pissed off, wanting to spew out his anger through punching him.
So the group went to a worn-out boxing ring. Rysul had put on his gloves, ready to punish his "rival". The Hornbill did the same; he assumed this was an expedition match, not a grudge match. They both climbed into the ring and waited to fight one another.
"Go ahead…" Smoke softly said, standing in the middle of the ring. He walked off as Rysul charged towards the Hornbill. He threw down two massive hooks across the Hornbill's face with each hand. The Hornbill's right eye swells up from the impact of the first hook.
"Take it easy, well you? I don't want to hurt you." The Hornbill cried.
"Shut up and fight, you prick!" Rysul yelled, shooting up explosive jabs to his opponent's body. The Hornbill couldn't breathe; his wind was cut off from the blows received. More intensive strikes bombarded the Hornbill. He began to drip a large amount of blood from his face. The pain he was receiving increased in threshold.
The group watches in horror of watching the Hornbill suffer.
"Relax everyone. The more pain he feels, the more likely he'll strike back when Rysul is exhausted. He isn't the best when it comes to close quarters combat, but he thinks where to strike back. It's not how hard you hit, it's how hard you can get hit and keep going. Rysul will soon learn that in a few seconds." Smoke said.
The Hornbill could no longer take it anymore. He realized this was no friendly fight, it was a battle. Rysul ran short of breath, his momentum near depletion. He tried one straight punch to the Hornbill's beak. To his surprise, the Hornbill caught his wing mid-air.
"It's my turn." The Hornbill spoke, aware of what he became. He looked at the frightened Raven with glowing red eyes.
Track "Fateful Encounter by Auxcide" Plays.
The Hornbill's eyes changed to a purple and lavender pattern. He punched Rysul's stomach softly. The Raven looked at him thinking the blow was a joke.
"Is that all you go-" Rysul got pale and excreted his partly processed food from his mouth.
The Hornbill slammed a hard cross to Rysul's cheek. The Raven coughed up an ounce of blood out of his mouth. He tripped down to his knees, still glaring at his opponent.
"I don't wish to be your enemy. I am not those men who tried to kill you." He said calmly.
"Shut up!" Rysul yelled, shedding a tear. He remembered his beloved friend Mica and how she was killed by weaponry of the modern era. How she was killed by his kind. He lunged at the Hornbill with another jab, but that seemed no use. The Hornbill dodged the incoming attack with clarity. He touched the back of his shoulder, causing it to painfully dislocate. Rysul cried out in pain, trying not to lose to the "thing" that would end the match. He fell on his knees once more.
"Why take it out on me? I never was part of what happened to you." The Hornbill said.
"You don't get it, do you?! I lost my friend because of your dark-hearted species. I'm going to end every one of you if that's the last thing I do!" Rysul got up a tried to strike him once more. The Hornbill grabbed him by the throat and lifted him off the floor. He shook some sense back at him.
"I thought of the same thing too! It'll be fun trying to find my awful parents and kill them for what they did to me! They forced me to hate and to kill everything I saw. But I refuse! That is not who I am! I had chosen to leave my parents long ago just for me to make all sorts of friends! So why can't you be friends with me?!"
He dropped the Raven to the floor. He started to cry even more, still traumatized by the loss of his friend and how ironically gentle the Hornbill is.
"I just want her back…" he quietly sobbed. "I'm sorry."
The Hornbill placed Rysul's shoulder joint back in place.
"It's ok. I could understand why you took your frustration out on me. Let's not do that anymore."
TRACK ENDS. NEW TRACK STARTS
Track plays "Azure Skies by Talkboy Arcade"
Rysul has reflected on his past once more. He understands that he needs to let go of what happened to his friend and painfully move on. He is glad to learn to get rid of being prejudice toward the Hornbill. Enjoy the music. More chapters soon!
