I remember the first time I saw St. Aegolious Academy for Orphaned Owls, or St. Aggies, as it was often referred to as. I was flying with the Fire Flash Brigade on a mission to the desert of Kuneer to pick up some supplies from a rogue smith. As we entered the desert, out of nowhere, a Barn owl came rocketing towards us. I yelled for the group to split and we made a path 4 this owl so that it wouldn't hit any of us. But as he got closer, he started to stop. Once he did, he choked out the words for us to wait. Once he regained his composure, he asked us if we were Guardians of the Great Ga'Hoole Tree. I, being the leader of the group, replied with a yes. At this response, his eyes got wide, he started running questions off faster than we could understand. So I told him to calm down, and so he did. Then I told him to say one thing at a time. He started with his name, which was Steele. Then he told us the story of how he and his friend Jexas had been captured by the Pure Ones and taken to St. Aggies. They both escaped, but Jexas had been captured again. He asked, well, practically begged, us to help him get his friend back. I looked at my team and asked them if they had any objection to taking on this new challenge. None of them objected. I myself wanted some action for the first time in awhile. That, and I was curious as to what St. Aggies would be like. So, we agreed to help this owl. He led us to the canyonlands where St. Aegolious Academy for Orphaned Owls had once resided, but now was a stronghold for the Pure Ones. There were guards everywhere. So I sent Tetsu, Likaru, and Kundra out to go take care of them. The whole Fire Flash Brigade had all been trained in the ways of immaculate stealth, and the three of them had excelled in it a little better than the rest of us. While they were out taking care of the guards, Aronn, Biscayne, Steele, and I went over how we were going to do this. Soon, Tetsu, Likaru, and Kundra returned. They reported that the guards would no longer be a problem for us. Now it was time to execute the plan. We flew into the entrance of the stronghold, with Steele leading the way. How smart of him to follow this owl that owlnapped his friend and find out where he was being kept! Tetsu and Likaru were on either side of him, just in case any more Pure Ones showed up. Luckily, none ever did. Jexas explained to us how this was a very secluded part of the canyon. We soon arrived at a door. Behind said door was the room in which Jexas was being held. The bad news is we didn't have battle claws, for that's what we were going to the rogue smith to get. But the good news is when we entered the room, the only owl in there was a Burrowing owl tied up in a corner. My guess is that this was Jexas. Those thoughts were further confirmed when Steele flew over to him and untied him. He then introduced us to him. I said we should leave now, just in case the owl that owlnapped Jexas, whose name I found out was Grime, came back. We all left the room and flew back down the corridor that we came in from. Suddenly, I heard the sound of wing beats above me. I looked up to see a Pure One flying above us. Jexas and Steele both went yeep, but luckily Aronn and Anastasia caught them. I arced upwards and went into a spiral. I was moving so fast that when I rammed into the Pure One, he didn't know what hit him. Unfortunately, he had battle claws on him, and I was weaponless. But I've fought (and won) many battles in similar situations before, so this shouldn't be that hard of a fight to fight. He quickly recovered from the hurt I just put on him, and now we were flying straight up, attacking each other every chance we had. Suddenly, I made a sharp 90 degree turn and rammed him again, and he hit the wall of the cliff, then started to fall. I flew after him. But suddenly, he spread his wings wide and went back up, while I continued to plummet towards the ground. I curved vertically, just barely missing the ground, and flew directly for Grime. Just before I hit him, he dodged left and took a swipe at me with his battle claws. I retaliated with my own talon. his was aiming for me, but mine was aimed at the battle claws themselves. My talon struck the strap that held it on, and that in turn unattached it from his talons. It fell towards the ground, and I dove for it. I grabbed it just in time before hitting the ground and attached it to my right talon. Now I guess you could say the fight was even. I flew back to where Grime was and hovered in front of him. He seemed angered that I not only took his own weapon from him, but also had no fear of him. He backstroked to back away, and I did the same. Then we flew up and then at each other. Back on the floor of the canyon where the other owls waited, the clanging sound of clashing battle claws could be heard echoing. This went on for quite awhile. Then it ended when Grime took a swipe at me, but I went under and swiped at that foot, dislodging his battle claw and sending it hurtling towards the ground. He spun around and gave me an ugly look, so I reared back and made it even uglier. I flew straight for his face with my talons crossed in front of me. He tried to go down, and did, but not far enough. My talons hit his forehead, and I ripped them diagonally downward, leaving two overlapping X's behind. That was obviously the end for him, because he flew off, dripping blood everywhere. Once he was out of site, I flew back to the owls on the ground and told them it was over. So we flew out of there and headed for Kuneer to finally get the supplies from the rogue smith.