Hello again!

This one took me some time, I know...but I got distracted in the middle of the Chapter! There was a nagging feeling in my head that I might've forgotten something rather important in the last Chapter, apparently I found 'the things forgotten' and worked them out, but that left me with another situation and I wanted to keep to the old plot, so all of this was kinda...fused into this Chapter, while still fulfilling the old plot. Believe me if I tell you that it was a lot of work within little time, so please bear with the shortness of the result... I'll try to make the next Chapter a bit longer, ok? Besides, I already tried to post this yesterday, but just wouldn't agree with me, so you get to read it today, sorry, but it really wasn't my fault, this time°!

And here they go! THANKS! to my lovely Reviewer (Yes, you got that right! Plural! There's more than one person out there who's reading and commenting this!)

SaphireCatElf: You thought the last one to be good? In that case I think you'll like this one as well! To be honest I've been playing around with the idea of another mask for months. I just couldn't get around to write it down. It was swirling through my head and as I'm always wondering what special ability would be the best one for the new mask, maybe you should suggest one? Just think about it, if you don't want to that's ok as well, but I'd be interesting what you'd come up with! Thanks again for putting up with me and my story!

AND

Angel362: You're back! I don't believe it! You've been waiting for me to continue? Sorry, 'bout that one but I was kinda busy...sorry again! ° Well, you think it's great? I think I can live with the thought of someone appreciating my work, because sometimes it really takes me hours before I think that it's human enough to be read. (meaning: I have to eliminate spelling and grammar mistakes. All on my own! Poor me...) It's really a comforting thought that I didn't scare you away with writing something you didn't like (maybe like ... the third Chapter?) But now I know you're still out there I'll try to double my efforts, as there are now two times of readers!

I think I wont keep it from you any longer now, have fun!

CHAPTER 10:

N: "WHAT? ANOTHER ONE! IT'S GONNA BE MINE!" he squealed, racing out of the Aerowing to retrieve it.

The others eyed each other warily, not really knowing what to do now and not really appreciating of the idea at all.

W: "Don't worry, he doesn't really know where to look for it and besides, we'll have to test how it works and if it's save first. After we found out what exactly it is doing, if it is doing anything at all, we'll decide what to do with it." He announced and went to join his brother, who had stopped at the feet of the ramp as he had no idea where to go from there.

Wildwing and Nosedive walked through the valley, Wildwing heading straight for the signal his mask picked up and Nosedive just running ahead into the general direction. When the valley began to pick up again Wildwing tried to determine the location of the signals source more accurately. According to the mask their position was still 128 feet above and some 427 feet away. But that would be in the middle of the rock!

W: "Nosedive! Wait a mo'!"

His little brother instantly halted in his motions, resulting in a heap of clothes and a white mallard lying on the grass. He scrambled to his feet again and bowed low to his brother.

N: "You called?"

W: "Yes, I did. I think we'll have to look for a cave in this mountain and if we don't find one we'll have to make one."

N: "Or look on the other side of the mountain." He retaliated while standing up straight again.

Grudgingly Wildwing had to admit that his brothers idea hadn't been that bad, especially if he cared to consider that there was no cave opening on this side of the mountain. He decided that they would have to take the Aerowing to fly over the mountain to search the other side of it. They made their way back to the others and were just about to board the Aerowing when the ground under their feet suddenly began to tremble. One of the surrounding mountain tops began to shake violently, reminding Wildwing of the first time they had found the Raptor on earth, disguised to look like a part of a mountain. He yelled for Nosedive to get into the Aerowing and commanded Tanya to retract the ramp while taking off. He flung himself against the door and was helped by Grin, so Duke could lock it, but before Duke could finish his task they were hit by a shot of the Raptors lasers. The force of the shot threw them off of the door and into the opposite wall of the Aerowing, except Wildwing. He still clung to the door, but as it wasn't locked it swung open when Nosedive readjusted the Aerowing to a horizontal position. This resulted in Wildwing clinging to the door handle, he held onto it with all his might, but with the constant fire the Raptor had opened onto the Aerowing Dive couldn't hold the machine as still as he needed to for Wildwing to manage to climb in again. Dive wanted to hide behind a mountain top, so the lasers of the Raptor wouldn't be able to reach them, there he could stabilize the Aerowing again and they could get Wing back into it. The mountain top shielded the Aerowing from the lasers, just as planned, but the lasers shot the rock into pieces, which hadn't been planned like that at all, because one of the pieces headed straight for Wildwing and took him to the ground, while throwing the Aerowing off balance so badly, they nearly crashed into one of the mountains.

Wildwing was aware of the rock rushing towards him and he knew that it wasn't the sort of rock that wouldn't hurt, too bad at least. After living with a rock on the team for years he knew a rock that would hurt when he saw one and this one definitely did look as if it intended to hurt him, it wouldn't cause him mortal damage, at least he hoped so, but he still wasn't exactly eager to meet it, or be met for that matter. So he leapt aside at the last possible moment and 'landed' on top of another rock, a bigger one, that flew just five feet below the Aerowing and had been nearly unrecognizable in all the dust floating around, but it would probably help him to get to the ground with just some scratches and lost feathers. Wildwing at least hoped that it would soften his landing somewhat, because his body wouldn't survive to crash down from at least fifty feet of free-fall.

Suddenly something much more unexpected happened, with a boost of energy the Raptor took off and chased the Aerowing away. Dragaunus hadn't realized that Wildwing had been separated from his team as his view of the Aerowing had been clouded with pieces of rock and dust, but the saurian knew that their new energy supply wouldn't last long, so he wanted to strike as fast as he could, by taking them out while in the air and maneuvering like they were drunk. He chased them while shooting everything he had at them, but to no avail, somehow the pilot had sobered up instantly and avoided every blast he sent at them.

Ch: "Do you think we will get the duckies this time, oh Lord of all Lords?" the Chameleon asked slyly.

Dr: "This time..." he growled and some steam came floating out of his nostrils, when he sent Chameleon flying into the next drone passing them.

Wr: "Of course the genius plan of our almighty leader will succeed you imbecile!"

Dr: "Why, of course! All my plans succeed!"

Ch: "At least in his dreams..." he grumbled to himself.

Dr: "What was that?" he asked him with a threatening low voice, while advancing slowly.

Ch: "Nothing, your Highness!" he tried to assure the angry looking saurian in front of him and surprisingly seemed to succeed.

Dr: "I hope so, for your sake. You should know by now, that I don't tolerate any back talking." He turned and walked back to the controls, scanning the gauges to know how long their energy supply would last.

Wr: "You are by far too generous, my Lord." He complimented while bowing deeply. "May I ask for the source of your sudden calmness?"

Dr: "Are you implying that I am not always calm and collected, Wraith?" he asked him sharply.

Wr: "Not necessarily. It just seemed to me as if you've been in a rather good mood for the past days."

Dr: "An excellent observation, Wraith. But as you wouldn't understand the reason for it, I won't even bother to try to explain it to your simple minds."

Wr: "Of course not." He bowed deeply and retreated into the shadows of the room.

Ch: "What? Not even our ancient spell player would understand the reason. My, my and I thought Siege had no intelligence whatsoever..." he chuckled mockingly and earned himself a burned tail.

M: "NOSEDIVE! CAN'T YOU HOLD THIS DAMNED THING STRAIGHT FOR JUST A SECOND?" she screamed nearly panicked. She hated it when Nosedive was flying but he was decidedly the best pilot on their team. Apart from Mallory herself, of course.

N: "BUT OF COURSE, MAL-MAL! I JUST LOST MY BROTHER ON PURPOUSE, DIDN'T I!" he quaked out, then burst into uncontrollable sobs and navigated the Aerowing through the laser blasts, while the others noticed that tears were streaming out of his eyes and that he could barely hold himself together enough so as not to collapse. Duke managed to get to the front of the Aerowing and pulled Dive out of the 'drivers'-seat while Tanya temporarily took over, just to have Mallory slide into the seat seconds afterwards. Duke tried to soothe the drake in his arms, but to no avail, it seemed as if the teenager was totally out of it. Duke knew that Wildwing was everything Dive had left. Their parents had died within the first three days of the saurian invasion and Dive's world had shattered, but Wildwing had managed to hold on to his brother, piecing him together until he was once again the carefree teenager all of them had learned to love. Some more so than others, but all of them definitely preferred the comic-freak over this sobbing heap of feathers. It was crystal clear to him that Dive was mourning his older brother already and a part of Duke himself was mourning with him.

Dragaunus was getting more and more frustrated by the second. They just couldn't seem to hit the Aerowing, no matter what.

Dr: "SIEGE! DO SOMETHING!" he thundered throughout the Raptor, so the orange saurian in the machine room would hear him, but the lasers kept missing their target and when their energy was nearly gone again Dragaunus had to let the Aerowing escape. They flew some miles into another direction, nearly opposite to the one the Aerowing had taken and disguised the Raptor as a little farm.

For anyone who didn't get the hint with the rock, it was about Grin, because he can be as silent, unmoving and effectively 'hiding' from the rest of the world just as good as a rock could, if he had the intention to hide himself of course...

I hope you liked the Chapter and if you have an opinion to share and some minutes to spare, I'd be thrilled if you leave me a little Review! As you may have noticed before, it sparks my inspiration!

Ciao

Dendey