The wind brushed happily across their faces as the heliscooter and the air skimmer soared through the morning air. The sun was just beginning to rise, illuminating the clouds in a soft orange hue. The warmth, radiance, and life that the sun emitted began to spread across their skin.

As Piper felt the tickle of the sun upon her flesh, her mind began to wander to thoughts of the Aurora Stone. The stone had the ability to control the weather which was the reason Cyclonis had attempted to steal so long ago. That lead her mind to visions of Cyclonis. All that she could imagine at the this point was the troubled expression she wore in the infirmary. It disheartened her, forcing her to question her usefulness. Aerrow's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"I always miss this, flying through the Atmos. I forget how beautiful it really is," he said as if flying for the first time. Piper looked back at him; it wasn't just his words that held a strange sense of wonder. Within his eyes, his expression, and his body language, she could perceive a genuine air of amazement as if this was his first time soaring across the sky. She saw within his emerald green eyes a sense of freedom and a long forgotten sense of peace.

That was something she always liked about Aerrow. No matter how much a situation deteriorated into chaos, he was would always remain optimistic, hopeful and daring. The war brought a lot of things to many people, peace being one of them. The carefree expression of excitement that Aerrow gracefully wore now washed over most of the postwar world.

However, there were those that the newfound peace didn't help. There were those like Cyclonis. Piper looked away from the handsome boy just behind her and focused once more on the direction of their flight. A slight sadness rested upon her chest.

Aerrow's voice began to rouse her attention. "You know, if it wasn't for Cyclonis and the Dark Ace chasing us around, the war, and the threat of global domination from Cyclonia, the whole world traveling thing wouldn't have been so bad. Now that I think about it, the entire experience was actually kind of fun in a certain light."

Aerrow paused, noticing the worried look on Piper's face as she nodded absentmindedly. His smile melted into a small frown. Today was supposed to be a day where the two could get away from it all.

"Piper," he said. "Please, relax. I promise the world isn't going to change in one day without us."

She grimaced a bit, replying in a low whisper. "Let's hope so."

"Hey, smile. Just look around. It's a beautiful day and we finally have time to spend together. Promise me, just promise that you'll have fun, ok?"

With that, he deftly pecked Piper on the cheek.

The female Storm Hawk blushed; a small smile overtook her face.

"There we are," he said pleased with Piper's response, "that's what I like to see."

Seconds later one of his arms shot forward, index finger extended. "Look up!" His anticipation was radiant and dashing. "Up ahead! It's Terra Tropica!"

Piper flew her heliscooter over the narrow land formation. The terra's island was ripe and active with festivity. Multitudes of people ran and danced upon the sands of sparkling beaches. The waves fell and crashed upon the shores with a very natural and calming rhythm. A feeling of freedom seemed to emanate from the heart of the island. It was as if Terra Tropica was almost alive, speaking.

"This is wonderful," he whispered.

"So, what do you think? Should we find somewhere to go for a swim? Maybe a private spot?"

Piper twisted her mouth in a small pout, looking towards the clouds as she mulled over the question he presented her with. Another smile broke across her face as she began to speak.

"How about we try the social scene first? I mean, only if you want to. It could be fun, but if it gets a bit hairy, we'll find that private spot. What do you think?"

A public beach would mean a lot of people which would mean a high probability of someone recognizing them as the Storm Hawks. Despite the war being won, it didn't mean they didn't still have their fair share of enemies. However, she looked him with a light hearted grin, something he hadn't seen from her in such a long time. He couldn't say no.

"Sounds good," he said almost instantly. He was eager to allow this trip to go as smoothly as possible; disagreeing on a choice of scenery would be counterproductive to his part. He was a little off put by her decision, but he chose to honor it without a hint of animosity. Besides, she was right, it could be a good time.

"Alright, to the beach we go," Piper said with excitement. "Lands land here," she said and prepared the heliscooter for landing.

The machine let out a growling noise as it was carefully landed on the solid rock formation beneath it.

It wasn't half a day later that Aerrow found himself on the Condor talking to Finn.

"So, what exactly did you do?" Finn asked curiously, looking at his friend who was slouched onto on of the metal chairs on the ship.

Frowning, Aerrow looked upwards towards his friend and puffed. "I didn't do anything."

"Well, you and Piper wouldn't already be back if you didn't. So, spill it, what happened out there?"

Aerrow sank deeper into the chair and grumbled softly, letting out an incomprehensible string of sounds.

Finn poked at Aerrow, attempting to elicit a response; nothing. This time, instead of his arm, Finn poked his head, from different angles; no response. He tried once more, using his the end of a broom to jap at his chest. Aerrow returned Finn's playful gestures with a disgruntled frown.

"Alright, buster, have it your way. Just know, if I only have to rely on Piper's version of events, I might have to rough you up a bit," Finn said, shaking his fist comically in front of Aerrow's face. The smile Finn wore quickly slid off his face after failing yet again to get a response from Aerrow.

"Boy, it must have been bad, huh?" He asked in a low, inquisitive voice.

"No, well, at least not at first and that's the weird part," Aerrow blurted out. "It started out with a simple mistake that was entirely situational. I… look, just know that it wasn't really any fault of mine."

"Ok, I believe you, because Piper has a tendency to take things far too seriously every now and then. I think we got enough of that over the past year." Finn said as he plopped in a seat adjacent to Aerrow's. "So, start at the beginning. You two were going to Terra Tropica for some nice R and R and then…"

"Then we decided to got to the beach," Aerrow said.

"Ah, now that sounds fun. I don't see how that could have been a problem," Finn laughed.

"Well, she gave me a choice and we went to a public peach."

Caught mid laugh, Finn continued to speak. "You're serious, aren't you? How many people were there?"

Aerrow let out a muffled answer. "A lot."

"You guys must have been mobbed the second you set up your blanket!" Finn said, still in the throes of laughter.

"No," Aerrow said from the sanctuary of his hands. "They were on us the second we landed our vehicles."

"What did you think were going to happen? You think people would just ignore the Atmos' two most famous skyknights landing on the beach?"

"Look, I didn't know it would be that bad," he said, almost shrugging off Finn's ridicule.

"So, is that it? If so, then she's definitely overreacting. Sure, dealing with all those people must have been pretty stressful, I get that, but if that's all then I say we forget about it and move on. Seriously, sometimes I wonder if Piper is wound up too tightly."

Aerrow sighed. "Well, that's not all."

Finn raised his eyebrow and leaned forward in his seat.

"There are hundreds of people, all circling us. They were crowding around, screaming, and asking for us to sign this and kiss that."

Finn's face shifted into confusion

"Yeah, people were freaking out, I'm not really sure why," Aerrow said as he shrugged.

"Uh, you saved the Atmos. Duh," Finn said, slacked jawed with his finger twirling to the side of his head. "So, what else happened?"

Letting out another labored breath, Aerrow reluctantly began explaining. "I kind of might have accidentally flown off with the wrong girl."

Finn's face betrayed no emotion. "What?" He asked in more as a statement than a question.

"When we went to our vehicles, I grabbed the wrong girl," Aerrow restated in an almost unsure shrug, looking for a sympathetic laugh.

"No, I'm sure I heard you. I'm just going to need you to explain," Finn said, with a harsher tone, definitely looking for some type of answer.

"Look, there were a lot of people. THey were a mob, really. Things got a little too crowded a little too soon and I thought it was best that we got out of there. They were everywhere, Finn," Aerrow explained, wide eyed and expressively.

Finns simply stared.

"Everywhere!" Aerrow blurted out, practically begging Finn to understand.

"Uh huh." Finn said.

"Well, in the haste of things, I grabbed the girl near me and put her on Piper's heliscooter. Piper was standing at that exact spot, I swear."

"Let me get this straight, you grabbed the wrong girl, hopped onto your air skimmer, and realized it was the wrong girl," Finn reasoned, attempting to place the pieces together.

"Almost…" Aerrow trailed off.

"Wait…" Finn slowly said, his eyes and smile growing equally wider. "What else?!"

"I grabbed her and we started to fly. At that point I flew off, but I turned back around once I realized it," Aerrow revealed.

Finn was consumed with laughter. "And you didn't hear Piper yelling for you?"

Aerrow's brow dipped and his hands shot up in the air. "There were a couple hundred people in a dense crowded area shouting my name. How could I hear her?"

Finn continued laughing, slapping his knee and doubling over.

The young squadron leader attempted to slip in an additional piece of information to the story as Finn seemed distracted enough for it to be casually missed. "The Tropica girl may have also began showering me in kisses the second we were in the air."

Finn fell out of his chair in laughter. "You land on a public beach, you're mobbed by your adoring fans, you grab a girl who isn't Piper, she's pecking away at your head, and you ride off into the sunset romantically leaving Piper behind."

"It wasn't even close to dusk, it was late morning, but yeah, that's the gist of it," he said, sheltering his face within his hands once more.

Still lying on the floor, Finn tilted his head back to look at Aerrow's upside down figure.

"Dude, you're in trouble," he said with a grin.

"Yeah, tell me about it," Aerrow sighed as he slumped into the chair once more.