Disclaimer: I do not own anything affiliated with "Storm Hawks". Characters, places, and other aspects of the story (except for original characters, animals, locations, and some other aspects) that are referenced to do not belong to me.
A/N: With Phoenix occupied in his training, let's see how our Swooping Sparrows are doing! Also, from now on, when words are in italics, that means it is writing from a letter (like what you'll see in this chapter).
3 months since Phoenix began his training, early afternoon, Terra Quies, on board the Thunderbird…
The crew gathered happily around the large table situated on the bridge as Crow brought in a small stack of letters.
Letters usually took forever to get to the Swooping Sparrows as they were always jumping form terra to terra on various missions.
"This one's for Finch, this one's for Warbler, this one's Sparrow's, and this one's mine!" said Crow enthusiastically as he finished arranging the letters on the table.
"This is from Phoenix!" exclaimed Finch excitedly.
"Oh, I wonder what he wrote!" continued Warbler with the same level of excitement in his voice.
"He misses my rendition of Quies-beef spaghetti!" shouted Crow with a surprised but happy tone.
"Someone remind me to make him that when he gets back." finished the merb.
Sparrow strode back to her room to read the letter privately.
Dear Sparrow,
It's been three months, and training has been going well. I even have some fancy new flying tricks to show you.
I wish I could time travel across the next nine months. I miss you guys. I miss you.
Every night, I hope you've been looking up at the moon. I know I have.
See you around.
From, your friend,
Phoenix
Sparrow folded up the letter and slid it into a drawer at her work station.
She opened a crystal mage manual and began reading. After a few moments, she saw a small dampened spot on the book. She felt her eyes heating up and welling up with tears.
She wiped them quickly, as to avoid crying any further.
"I have to focus on my studies. Phoenix would've wanted that." she whispered to herself quietly.
With that, she stood up and resumed the activity she was performing before Crow called everyone to get their letter.
She sat cross-legged on her bed for a few moments. She could then feel the three crystals she had arranged in a line on her table begin to levitate and circle around her.
Her concentration lasted another thirty seconds before she heard the crystals dropping to the ground.
She had been practicing binding, and like any crystal mage, was trying to master it.
"Everyone, report to the bridge immediately!" yelled Crow over the intercom in a more frantic tone.
The occupants of the ship quickly rushed to the bridge and arranged themselves around the large table which now had a map of the sector on it.
"You see these little uncharted isles that look like tiny terras?" asked Crow.
"Yeah." replied Finch flatly.
"The Minister of Quies has sources that say the Cyclonians are preparing an observation post here to prepare for an upcoming attack.
The crew looked shocked at the merb. The four knew that ever since their initial coup and subsequent victory over the Cyclonians, there had been little to no Cyclonian activity in the sector.
The thought of an all-out assault being planned once more on the terra sent a shiver down everybody's spine.
"We're going to head over to those isles, and investigate the situation." said Crow as he finished the briefing.
With that, Crow ignited the Thunderbird's engine and the crew soared towards the suspicious isles.
Crow stopped the Thunderbird shortly before entering cannon range of the small isles.
From there, Warbler, Finch, and Sparrow jettisoned themselves off the Thunderbird's runway and soared towards the isles on their skimmers.
The three landed and parked their skimmers under the cover of thick vegetation on one of the isles before dismounting and beginning reconnaissance.
"Looks like those sources were right." whispered Finch to his team quietly as he spotted Cyclonian personnel moving crates of supplies from their skimmers to a camouflaged base hidden in the vegetation.
"Warbler, take the Cyclonian on the right, I'll take the one on the left. Sparrow, get ready to run." instructed Finch quietly.
"Three, two, one, execute." said Finch as two crystal blasts simultaneously hit the unsuspecting Cyclonians, thereby paralyzing them temporarily.
Sparrow began her run toward the compound and now pointed her staff at the entrance.
Finch and Warbler cautiously created a perimeter around the entrance.
"Ok, go." whispered Warbler cautiously.
The doors slid open and Sparrow walked in first, staff motioning at every angle as she prepared for an ambush.
The three were walking silently when suddenly a metal door sprang up between the group, putting Warbler and Finch on one side, and Sparrow on the other.
"Things just got a little more complicated, we'll find another way out of here and report back to the Thunderbird to get reinforcements." ordered Finch.
With a nod from Sparrow and Warbler, the two groups veered away from the door to find other routes of escape.
Finch and Warbler simply walked back out through the front door, surprised to find no enemy personnel present, and continued back towards the treeline to wait for Sparrow.
Sparrow continued lurking through the dimly lit corridors.
She suddenly felt a metallic staff literally sweep her off her feet, and saw nothing but black in the next instant.
About an hour later…
Finch and Warbler had been waiting for some time now.
"What's going on in there? You think Sparrow's ok?" asked Finch nervously.
"It's been an hour or so since we last saw her, something's wrong." stated Warbler anxiously.
"What should we do?" continued Finch quietly.
"I think I can help." stated an English voice from behind them.
Finch and Warbler turned around to see a young man with brown hair and amber-eyes.
He wore a grey tunic with archaic looking armor plastered on to his shoulder and chest.
"Who are you?" asked Warbler.
"My name's Buzzard, crystal mage and admirer of the Swooping Sparrows who protected our terra numerous times." answered the similar-aged crystal mage.
"I was out here looking for a place to meditate, when I saw the Thunderbird and your skimmers speeding toward this isle. I just had to see what was going on." continued the crystal mage.
"I saw your friend being taken to an encampment not far from here. Please we only have a bit of time before they transport her back to Cyclonia for imprisonment." concluded the crystal mage.
The two friends and their new ally proceeded towards the encampment that held Sparrow.
The three found themselves staring at a fully-stocked and fortified Cyclonian encampment where there were at least twenty Cyclonian soldiers patrolling the base.
"We need to get reinforcements." stated Finch as he turned to head for his skimmer.
"My friend, leave this to me." stated Buzzard reassuringly before literally teleporting a short distance away to hide in a new bush.
"Did he just-
Before Warbler could finish his sentence, their new-found ally was tearing into the Cyclonian soldiers in the camp.
The flashes of purple, white, and red danced a lethal dance in the air as Cyclonian soldiers collapsed in pools of their own blood.
"He's insane." commented Finch still shocked by the spectacle.
Sparrow looked confusedly out of her cell as she witnessed the slaying of her Cyclonian captors.
"Another crystal mage?" she remarked quietly to herself as she saw a few more blasts of light.
Just then, her cage snapped open and in came Buzzard.
"No time to explain, follow me!" exclaimed Buzzard hectically as he grabbed Sparrow's hand and ran towards the exit of the encampment.
"Run!" he yelled to Finch and Warbler as the four made a frantic dash for their skimmers.
Finch and Warbler climbed onto their skimmers and noticed a metallic looking skimmer, that wasn't there previously, that had been parked beside Sparrow's skimmer.
"This guy is really starting to mess with my head." commented Finch shortly before igniting his engine and speeding off toward the awaiting Thunderbird.
Warbler followed and looked back to see Sparrow and Buzzard clambering onto their rides and speeding off just as the Cyclonian troops reached their original landing zone and cursed at the skimmers while beckoning their fists and staffs towards the escaped Swooping Sparrows.
"Crow, tell Quies Military Command to launch an all-out offensive on these isles. All occupants are hostile." reported Finch to Crow through his skimmer's built-in communication device.
"Got it." replied Crow simply.
"Oh yeah, and who's the new guy?" asked Crow.
"I'll tell you when we get back." replied Finch as he ended the conversation and landed on the Thunderbird's runway.