Episode 59 - The Switcheroo
Part 1 - King of the Condor Once Again
The Condor was flying towards its next destination. They slowed down just a little when they got to a specific location. The sky was clean from absolutely any clouds, except for the huge wall of fog ahead. It was so thick they could see nothing beyond it. They were all gathered up in the bridge.
"I'm bored." - Finn said from where he stood, resting his back against the window with his arms crossed - "Are we there yet?"
"No, we're not." - Piper told him as she shook her head disapprovingly at his behavior - "We're supposed to meet up with Kaya here before we go any further."
"Do you think she'll catch up with us soon?" - Junko asked a little concerned as he looked out the window - "Isn't that too much to fly?"
"I'm sure she'll be here at any minute." - Aerrow said reassuringly.
"Yes... If she's faster than a carrier ship, that is." - Stork mumbled.
"You shouldn't underestimate me." - a voice said, drawing everyone's attention - "I'm a lot faster than it looks." - Kaya spoke as she entered the bridge through the solar roof and transformed into her human self.
"Kaya!" - Aerrow, Piper, and Junko said in unison and smiled, while Stork and Finn just blinked.
"Hi, guys." - the girl knelt as the two little animals on the ship went to greet her - "Radarr! Mr. Softy! How are you two? Did you miss me? Because I missed you!" - the three hugged for a brief moment.
"How did your investigation with Detective Fire go?" - Aerrow asked.
"We found a good lead." - she told them - "We might actually track Dr. Sins and Cyclonis down with it."
"That's great news, Kaya." - Piper commented.
"Yep. We're getting somewhere at last with the searching and all. Now you guys need to prepare for incoming battles." - the Grandmaster said then she turned to the navigator and the sky knight - "You two need to master the bridge of the body. While the rest of us will stay on the Condor and work on some training about teamwork." - she then looked at the others with a sly look - "Besides, you gotta learn how to fend off for yourselves when the number one and two guys from the team aren't here."
Aerrow and Piper exchanged glances awkwardly. It was true that they kind of did most of the planning and coordinating of the team and... That none of the others was an actually capable leader... But still... They had their perks. Yet, they knew Kaya had a valid point. It'd be good for the others to learn how to lead and plan on their own. To... Use their brains more wisely. They couldn't depend on the two like that forever.
"That... Shall be interesting." - the merb commented with a tiny smirk on his face.
The boy and the girl blinked surprised. If Stork had said that, imagine what the others thought?! And their guess was confirmed when they looked at Finn, Junko, Radarr and even Mr. Softy. The blonde had a pleasant grin across his face, the wallop smiled happily, the little caterpillar mirroring him, and the co-pilot seemed eager as well.
"Well, we'll be off, then. Kaya will be in charge." - Aerrow told them as he began to walk towards the door.
"Oh, me? But I'm not even a squadron member." - the little girl said shyly.
"You're the Grandmaster, our trainer and guide, it's just natural that you'd be in charge." - he shrugged.
"Thanks. I'll do my best." - she saluted him - "Good luck, you two. Just remember, you'll head into the fog and fly until you reach the mountain. From then on you'll have to climb."
"Right." - they responded in unison and nodded determinedly, then went to the hangar bay.
When the two were no longer in the Condor, Kaya turned to the others.
"Okay, guys, time to begin our training. We'll be focusing on leading, planning and coordinating." - the Grandmaster announced - "And don't worry, everyone will get to lead."
"Alright! I'll be the first!" - Finn eagerly volunteered.
Stork and Junko grimaced at that, Mr. Softy just blinked blankly and Radarr looked at the two squadron members confused for a moment, then it hit him. Oh, God... That was going to be a long and dreadful day...
Aerrow and Piper flew in their skyrides towards the thick fog. They stopped for a moment before venturing in.
"I can't see anything." - the girl said.
"Yeah, we better be careful. Let's just move forward slowly and stick close." - the leader told her.
"Here, we better use these so we can locate each other, just in case." - she pulled out two blue flare crystals and handed one to him while she put the other on top of the handlers of her heliscooter.
"Great idea, Piper." - he placed his crystal behind the windshield.
The two headed into the fog and disappeared among the thick cloud of smoke.
Back on the Condor, Finn was the one giving the orders.
"Let's begin, I'll be taking notes on how well or bad you go." - Kaya said as she pulled out a list and a pencil.
"Any sign of anything suspicious around?" - the blonde suddenly asked.
Junko looked through a periscope while Stork and Radarr watched the windows.
"Negative." - the wallop replied as the other two just shook their heads.
"And... Kaya, will Aerrow or Piper be needing us any time soon?" - he turned to her.
"Hm... No, I don't think so. They should be fine on their own, it's just a little test for them." - she told him.
"Perfect..." - he grinned - "Okay, as the leader, my first order's to throw in a quick party celebrating my awesome leadership, since we're not in danger or needed right now. Then we'll go back to work." - he put it bluntly.
The flight engineer and the carrier pilot sighed, their shoulders falling. Again...? At least he bothered to check their surroundings first this time. Radarr and Mr. Softy blinked in disbelief. The Grandmaster just wrote something in her list and didn't say a word about that.
"What are you waiting for? Let's get this party started!" - the blue-eyed boy said as he headed for the hangar, the others following him.
"Hey, Finn, how about a challenge? Can you make your quick party last for less than 15 minutes?" - the little girl suggested - "We kind of need to see how you lead in other situations, and there's the rest of the guys who have to go through the test too. We only have one day, you know."
"Fine, fine, but just because we're short in time today." - he crossed his arms.
"To make things a little easier, let me provide the material for this." - she said as she snapped her fingers and a few party decorations and balloons appeared inside a box, so they could get to it quickly.
In another box, there was some food that could easily be prepared, like sandwiches and some soda.
"Now that's more like it." - the sharpshooter grinned - "Stork, you'll be on the decorations. Junko, you'll be the cook. Radarr and Mr. Softy, you'll take care of the music but I have to approve your selection first. This time it just can't go wrong."
Kaya nodded slightly and took more notes on the list. Well, at least this time he chose the roles wisely. Now she'd have to see if he could handle the pressure of the leadership. In a few minutes they actually managed to set up a nice decoration and prepare a ton of sandwiches, even the music was alright... Maybe not so much for Finn, since he shook his head at the playlist chosen by the two animals.
"This is actually looking pretty neat." - Kaya commented - "Not bad for a random coordinated activity. I have to admit that you passed in that aspect this time."
"He did?" - Stork and Junko asked in unison, and Radarr chirped questionably.
"Being able to coordinate means having the ability to make the team do something together and succeed as a group, no matter what something it is." - she explained - "You were able to throw a party and everyone seems fine with it."
"I... Can't believe I'm saying this but I did feel more at ease by being on the decorations instead of cooking..." - the merb admitted, feeling almost ashamed for that.
"Well, and I like cooking, so I had no problem at all here." - the wallop said, smiling at the big plate of sandwiches he had just made.
Radarr gave Kaya a thumbs up, confirming he also had success in the role he was put on, along with Mr. Softy.
"Yeah, that all meant Finn managed to choose the right perks for you guys. So he passed. You all passed too." - she said.
"Heh, I'm the best, am I right?" - the sharpshooter grinned proudly.
"That was the easiest part, though. Now, we're gonna put your skills to the test for real." - the Grandmaster told him - "The planning trial!"
All of the squadron stood near the gate to the landing strip, which had been prepared by Kaya for their training: there were several activated blazer crystals on the ground, to simulate lava, two pairs of logs with hundreds of needle crystals to serve for spikes moving from one side to another, a few dummies and a pair of rotating saws moving up and down. Beyond all that was Mr. Softy, sitting on a bench.
"Alright, guys. Your objective is to rescue Mr. Softy. You'll go there and bring him back through the obstacle course." - Kaya said - "Finn, you're supposed to get everyone out of the course unscratched. Go when you're ready."
The blonde walked towards the starting point and stood there, observing the course. He was actually analyzing his surroundings and thinking of how to use his teammates' abilities to their fullest, after all, if he had to lead, he had to do a good job, or the guys would never let him hear the end of it.
"Okay, I got it." - the sharpshooter said after a few minutes as he walked towards the group - "This is what we're gonna do: Junko will throw Radarr on top of the two logs; Radarr will detach the logs so Junko can place them as bridges above the blazer crystal pit; we'll cross the logs, then I'll stun the dummies while you guys charge them; when we get to the saws, I'll disable them with my crossbow so Stork can pass and catch Mr. Softy; and then we'll come back."
"You figured that out all by yourself?" - Stork asked with sarcasm in his voice, causing Finn to glare at him - "Because apparently, you didn't consider the logs are filled with spiky needle crystals, making it impossible to cross them, and you don't even know if your arrows can stop the dummies, much less the saws."
"And you obviously didn't see how I got everything covered." - the blue eyed boy crossed his arms - "Just trust me."
He got up and the squadron followed him. They'd follow his lead, after all, they had to cooperate. At least if the plan backfired they knew who to blame. They headed for the platform where the starting point was.
"Are you guys ready?" - Kaya asked them.
"As ready as I can be." - Junko responded a little demotivated.
And that was understandable, after the last time Finn had led them, he just couldn't fully trust him again on the job. But, he didn't really have a choice, and, who knows? Maybe the blonde had learned something. The Grandmaster gave them the signal to start and she proceeded to count their time in a chronometer. Finn gave the orders.
"Junko, toss Radarr to the other side." - he told him.
The wallop picked the animal up and threw him over the blazers pit. The mission specialist managed to land on top of the second trap, which was the pair of logs with tons of needle crystals on them. He used his wrench to loosen the screws sticking the logs to the upper bar and detached them. They fell towards the pit, and Junko quickly grabbed a hold of them by their tips, so he'd not hurt himself, then pulled them to their platform.
"Great, now watch and learn." - the blonde said as he shot an arrow straight ahead, breaking all the crystals and leaving the log completely free of spikes.
The merb just looked away unimpressed, not wanting to admit his defeat. That was just lucky anyways. They all crossed the improvised bridge as the co-pilot got rid of the other pair of logs and the flight engineer pushed them aside. The next challenge was the dummies. They all stopped before a marked line on the ground, which was obviously the trigger for the inanimate training dolls. Finn stood on the very limit of the line and motioned for the others to prepare themselves.
He quickly shot extra charged arrows that stunned the dummies, so they couldn't pull out their weapons. With that, the others charged at the dolls, disarming them completely, so when the stunning effect wore off, they'd not be able to attack anymore. After that, they calmly walked to the last obstacle: the rotating saws on the floor and ceiling.
"I'm so not gonna cross that." - the carrier pilot said a little nervous.
"C'mon, don't you trust your leader?" - the blonde asked him.
"You mean, acting leader." - the merb emphasized - "And for a matter of fact, no, I don't trust you in charge."
"You at least trust me as the sharpshooter, right?" - he insisted seeming clearly irritated.
"Aerrow trusts you as the sharpshooter." - Stork told him - "I'm just rolling with it."
"Well, then you better trust me now because you're going there whether you want or not!" - the boy said as he pushed the green humanoid towards the saws.
The tech specialist screamed as he felt the air being cut by the rotating blades very close to his face, then he saw an arrow hitting the metallic circle of doom and dislodging it from its place, causing it to fall on the ground like one huge coin. Another arrow hit the saw on the ceiling, disabling it just the same. Stork looked at Finn with a horrified expression. He almost got him killed! But all the blonde did was shrug knowingly with a smug grin. The merb shakily walked across the field with the disabled saws towards Mr. Softy, who just sat on the bench eagerly waiting for someone to pick him up.
"Okay, you fat slimy bug..." - he said to the little pet - "I'm gonna take you back now."
The caterpillar jumped on his shoulder, which made him shiver grossed out. He really hated the fact that thing was so slimy, it was plain disgusting and most likely filled with bacteria... He just didn't get how Kaya and Junko thought he was "cute". The little guy did have a nice face and all, but that simply couldn't erase all the goo he was drooling on his armor. Ugh... Just ugh... Yet, Mr. Softy showed him some affection by rubbing his face against his cheek. The pilot just glared at him from the corner of his eyes, but let that go. He grumbled irritated and came walking back to where the others were waiting for him.
"Haha, we got you, Mr. Softy." - Junko said as he picked their mascot up, much to Stork's relief who sighed gratefully for having been rid of the caterpillar.
They all could calmly walk back to the starting point without worrying about any of the obstacles.
"See? I told you I got it all covered." - the blonde boasted about himself - "Now we can just waltz back to the starting line and finish the test easily. Talk about a brilliant leadership."
Junko and Mr. Softy smiled, Stork was too bothered by the slime on his shoulder to even pay attention to Finn, and Radarr rolled his eyes. Yeah, right, try besting Aerrow, then he can say he's good at leading...
"You know, guys, you should speed it up, remember I'm counting how long you'll take here." - Kaya reminded them as she pointed at the chronometer in her hand.
The group blinked and quickly dashed over to the starting line, finishing the test within seconds. They stopped for a moment, panting from all the running.
"Yeah, well, that was just a minor setback, nothing to worry about." - the sharpshooter said between his deep breaths.
The others just looked at him with blank expressions. The Grandmaster approached them to give them her report on the test.
"I have to admit, you guys worked very well under Finn's leadership." - she told them while nodding approvingly - "I'm glad everyone was willing to go through with it, despite what happened last time he got to lead."
They all looked at her knowingly. Heh, she could read auras, of course, she figured out about what had happened the day Aerrow had to leave for a mission with Starling and left Finn in charge because Piper allowed him to take the role for once. Especially after their obvious reactions to the idea of having the blonde lead again.
"At least this time he bothered to make a quick check about what's really important before throwing in a party..." - Stork said.
"Yeah, last time he and Piper made my head hurt from so much ordering around..." - Junko spoke.
Kaya giggled at that.
"I bet if Piper were here right now she'd be commenting about that ridiculous banishing stuff." - she remarked, causing Finn to shrug sheepishly at the memory, while Stork smirked almost evilly, Junko laughed and Radarr facepalmed - "I mean, seriously? You were grounding your teammates to their rooms? What kind of punishment's that? Also, you gotta remember a leader has to listen and accept ideas as well. You're not here to boss anyone."
"I know, I know. I did a much better job my second time around." - he said.
The co-pilot immediately shook his head with his arms crossed, growling a little in disagreement. Oh, no, he so did not. Teaching silly stuff to his subordinates, then abandoning the team when things get grim is not a shining example of a leader.
"Okay... Then the third time around..." - he amended.
The squadron thought about that for a moment. When was exactly the third time? Wait... That was when Aerrow hadn't come back from the Cyclonian castle and Piper had to go after him, leaving Finn kind of in charge. While Starling was there helping coordinate things too, it was the sharpshooter that had to represent the Storm Hawks and... Yeah, they had to admit he did mostly a pretty good job at keeping things okay. But it was thanks to Aerrow and Piper that they weren't ultimately defeated in the end, since they were the ones who disabled the shields from the pontoons, allowing the rest of the sky knight army to take Cyclonia down once and for all. Oh, and they also couldn't forget Radarr's fur, which was the miracle thing that prevented the Night Crawlers from overwhelming everyone.
"Well, I'll give it to you that you don't screw up every single time and on some rare occasions you come out okay..." - the merb confessed, reminding him of when he had to play the role of Domo for a second time - "But don't let that get to your head."
"Oh, yeah, I totally rocked that day, huh?" - the blonde thought back to how he was a hero and saved Terra Vapos again.
The wallop and the mission specialist just exchanged confused glances, since they were never told the story of that day. Kaya approached them to give them the results of this first test so they could continue their training.
"Alright, Finn did a good job this time." - she told them - "Now who wants to be the next one to lead?"
The co-pilot jumped up, waving his arms, volunteering himself for the task.
"Right..." - the blonde mocked - "Like he's gonna be able to lead us when he can't speak."
Radarr glared at him angrily. Who did he think he was to talk about him like that? As if he knew any better than him how one is supposed to lead. Also, everyone knew the little guy would be the number 5 guy in the team. Even he came before Finn. For all he knew, even their mascot, Mr. Softy, was a better asset than him. That guy just didn't get where he belonged and still thought he was all that. One day he'd learn the hard truth, though, and maybe then he'll finally stop being so arrogant.
"Hmpf, if you can't take a hint from his actions and gestures alone, then Stork and I'll just make him a translator." - the Grandmaster said - "We'll only need a minute."
She walked to the hangar to grab some tools and dragged the merb along, so they could work on the device together.
Aerrow and Piper were still flying towards their destiny. They were going through the thick fog, the only way they knew how to tell where they were going was because of the bright crystals attached to their windshields that revealed each other's position. From that, they knew if they were flying in the right direction. Until something happened: the fog became thicker out of nowhere, but they didn't realize it until they were quite further inside the smoke cloud.
"Is it just me or the air feels heavier?" - he asked her.
"Now that you said it, I guess it does." - she responded and turned to look at him just to see he wasn't beside her - "Aerrow?!" - she called him panicked.
"I'm here, Piper. I'm still right beside you." - he quickly assured her, though he didn't know how to prove that yet, he was pondering about it.
"How do you know? I can't even see you anymore." - she was starting to regret going there as it looked like they were completely lost in the middle of an endless cloud of fog.
"Because neither of us moved away from here." - he told her, a point which she certainly had to agree with - "I just wonder what's going on with this fog, it's not normal..."
"It's a lot thicker and even though we're this close and using crystals to aid us, we can't see anything." - she commented as she analyzed the situation.
"Do you think we must fly with zero vis then?" - he suggested.
"Maybe it's part of the training." - she came to a conclusion - "It could be some kind of test. We're probably meant to find our way to the mountain without using our vision."
"And how are we gonna tell where it is if we're not supposed to see it?" - he questioned her - "Hearing it? Feeling it? Smelling it?"
"It actually is possible to hear the mountain. That's the way bats see: they make noises and are able to tell where things are from the time it takes for the sound to come back to them." - she explained to him.
"That's smart... Now we just need to figure out a way to track a sound we make." - said in thought.
"I could use an attunement with a Binding Crystal to pick it up." - she pulled the green stone up - "Then I'll redirect the sound to you so you can locate me while I move."
"Alright, I'll make the sound with this new trick Kaya taught me." - he said as he lit his swords - "I don't know if the light will reach you, so you better prepare to shield your eyes, just in case."
He slammed the blades together causing a flash of bright light to explode, along with a strange and almost deafening bell sound. Not too long later the Binding Crystal glowed a little, having picked up the sound. Piper smiled, then turned to where Aerrow was supposed to be.
"What was that?" - she asked curiously.
"A technique to stagger and blind an opponent." - he told her - "Might come in handy one day."
"She sure is teaching you a lot." - she commented.
"Yeah, I've lost count of all the new moves she showed me. And she told me there's still a lot more to learn." - he said, then he went back to the matter at hand - "So, how far we are from the mountain?"
"It's straight ahead, about 200 meters." - she told him.
"Let's fly then." - he gunned his skimmer forward.
Soon they finally reached the mountain, and to their surprise, the fog ended abruptly, right before the huge rocky wall came. They had to stop their skyrides dead really fast, or they'd crash on the wall. They looked up and saw that the wall never ended.
"That's gonna be quite the climb..." - Piper said.
Indeed it was... Their day would be pretty tiresome alright.
Kaya and Stork were working on a translator device for Radarr, so he could bypass the disadvantage of his limited communication.
"There, it's done." - the Grandmaster said as she and the merb finished tweaking a few things - "Alright, Radarr, you'll have to wear this while you're leading, so the others can understand what you're saying."
The animal looked at the device and noticed it was a collar. That definitely didn't make him pleased. So he crossed his arms and gave her a look as if he were hesitant to wear that.
"I know, buddy, but it'll be for just half an hour or so. We couldn't figure something else quick enough." - she told him apologetically.
He rolled his eyes but let her put the collar on him. Ugh, that was humiliating... At least it was just temporary. After tying the device up around his neck, she took a few steps back.
"Now... The final test." - Stork announced to himself.
Radarr took a deep breath to ignore the fact he was wearing the collar, so he'd feel more comfortable, then, he finally spoke.
"Testing, testing." - the words came out from the collar.
Everyone looked at him with a face that read "What the...?". Finn and Junko had to hold their laughter, while Kaya and Stork looked creeped out, maybe even slightly horrified. Radarr, on the other hand, was bewildered and irritated.
"Oh, my God... What kind of voice is this?!" - he demanded an answer.
Indeed, his voice was... Weird, to say the least. It was quite high pitched, it seemed a little sped up and it sounded almost robotic. Well, that's what you get from a voice synthesizer. The blonde and the wallop were almost giving in to their giggles.
"Don't you dare..." - the co-pilot threatened them, but to no avail.
The two couldn't take it anymore: they burst laughing hysterically. The worst of all was that their laughter was so contagious that the Grandmaster and the merb were also starting to giggle a little. The animal crossed his arms angrily.
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it all you want." - he said - "I hope you'll catch that laughing fever so your heads will pop."
Kaya tried to amend the situation, though.
"Aww, I'm sorry, Radarr." - she knelt beside him - "But that was all we could come up with in such a short time. If you'd like me to tweak it a little more you'll have to let the others lead first, then."
The animal sighed. He didn't really want to give her that much trouble for such a stupid thing.
"Nah, it's okay, don't sweat it. It'll be for only a few minutes anyway. I can live with that." - he shrugged - "Even if these pricks won't let me hear the end of it." - he nodded at the two laughing Storm Hawks.
"Ah, now that's the spirit of a true leader." - the little girl said - "Let's start your training as the boss here. First: a coordinated event."
The co-pilot put a finger under his chin in thought, when he heard a few giggles coming from the squadmates who were unaware that the training had started again. And it was then that an idea hit him.
"Okay, I got it." - he told her as he walked towards the others - "Alright, it's time for our cooperative task. I came up with an activity to teach you about integrity, loyalty, charity, and sacrifice. We're doing a clean up on the Condor."
The guys looked at him with confused expressions, except for Stork, who was picking up on the idea. He smirked. He most likely would enjoy that, since he knew why Radarr was really suggesting it.
They all headed for the bridge, where the mission specialist explained the task.
"The Condor has way too many things. We're on a special mission and useless stuff could get in the way, so our objective today is to get rid of anything that won't contribute to the mission." - he told them - "Now, go to work. I'll be watching if you're doing a good job or not."
Everyone went to their rooms, where they were supposed to look for stuff the team did not need in order to throw it away. The boys were actually working on the cleaning. They were piling up some stuff, but of course, they didn't put their "important" personal belongings there, even though they had quite a big amount of them and those were indeed useless for the mission. And that's what Radarr would exploit until his heart was content. He walked beside Junko, who sat on the ground, separating some actual trash from his belongings.
"Hehe, I found some leftovers under my mattress, do you want some?" - the wallop said while chewing on a slice of rotting pizza and offered it to the co-pilot.
"Uh, no, I'm not hungry right now." - he declined, trying not to sound completely disgusted, then he proceeded to watch the place - "So... You collected a lot of stuff in your locker again, for the third time." - he commented and the flight engineer nodded excitedly - "You know it's weighting the Condor and it could cost us in a battle. Stick to your top 10 favorite items only, okay?"
"What? But... I'll lose almost all my stuff!" - Junko objected.
"You already lost all your stuff twice, this time you're getting to keep something, it's not so bad." - Radarr told him - "Look, we all gotta make some sacrifices for the team. I'm sure you can handle this one, buddy." - he patted his back once, then walked away to check on the others.
The wallop sniffed sadly. Now that was mean... The Grandmaster came to him for comfort.
"He has a point, Junko." - she told him as she placed a hand on his shoulder - "Keeping too many things locked away can be bad. Like this, for example, when was the last time you saw it?" - she showed him a big piece of broken gear.
"I... I don't remember." - he lowered his head - "Yeah, you're right. These things are looking almost like old toys I don't play with anymore. We'd probably be better off melting and recycling them into something useful."
"That's great, big guy. I'm glad you thought of this." - she complimented him, so he'd feel better.
He smiled and proceeded to pile up the old metal parts he didn't even touch anymore and just kept for... Well, he didn't even know why he kept those things anyways. Kaya gave him a comforting squeeze on the shoulder, then she left to check on how Radarr was dealing with the others. She found him in Finn's room, where the blonde was separating what he considered trash. He was definitely tidier than Junko, but his room wasn't nearly as organized as Piper's or Aerrow's.
"Hm... You're not exactly making a pile of stuff to throw away here." - the co-pilot commented.
"Of course not, my stuff's awesome, I'm only taking away the trash." - the sharpshooter told him.
"Yeah, I see. But you forgot this, and this, and this..." - the animal picked up a few objects, throwing them in the bag Finn was using to gather the trash - "Wow, look at these! There are so many we could use them as coins in our game of Splonk." - he said as he held a nice bunch of guitar picks.
"Hey!" - the blue-eyed boy shouted as he snatched his picks from Radarr - "Those are for my guitar!"
"And...? You don't need that many picks for one guitar. Keep your best 3 at most." - the mission specialist crossed his arms, then he saw the huge shelf with tons of discs, some recorded by Finn himself, others about music he enjoyed - "Ah, and we can't forget those either. Just like Junko, you may stick to your top 10 from there."
"What?! That's not fair!" - the blonde objected - "Why don't you throw away your stuff?!"
"Hah, the joke's on you! I don't have any personal stuff." - Radarr put his hands on his hips.
"Right..." - but upon seeing how the little guy was dead serious, Finn couldn't help but question him - "You... You don't?"
"Nope. All of the tools I use for work are in my cockpit in Aerrow's skimmer. Which he's using right now." - he explained - "Even then, I've thrown stuff out in the sky so many times that I lost count of it already. So if I can make that sacrifice, you can too."
The co-pilot walked to the shelf, picked up a random disc and broke it in half without a second thought, causing Finn to scream.
"C'mon! That was one of my best records!" - he said.
"Was it one of your favorites, though?" - the animal asked.
"Not really, but still..." - he rolled his eyes.
"Sacrifice, Finn, we all gotta make some." - Radarr said - "And you already lost all your discs once. Be happy you can keep 10 of them this time."
The sharpshooter grumbled but did as he was told since they had to cooperate as part of the test. Leading test... Hmpf, that should be called a freaking endurance test, seriously. Kaya, who watched from the doorway, had to hold her giggles. That was simply hilarious. Finn being put down by Radarr, she wished she had recorded that, Aerrow and Piper would've had a good laugh at it.
The next one the co-pilot had to watch was Stork. The merb had already separated a crate with the stuff he didn't need. Yet, his room didn't look any... Less creepy. He had a very strange taste for how to "decorate" his room. It was tidy and all but it still looked weird and didn't feel like the most comfortable place to stay at, especially considering Stork set up dozens of booby traps in case someone tried to kill him in his sleep. Talk about going overboard...
"There, that should do it." - the merb said.
"Yeah, you finished fast. But we gotta do something about all those crates of yours in the hangar." - the animal pointed with a thumb towards the general direction of the hangar bay.
"Oh, no, you're not gonna throw my cabbages away again." - Stork warned, causing Radarr to sigh.
"Look, everyone's doing a major cleaning, so I can't simply let you off." - the co-pilot told him - "Besides, you're the only one who eats those. Two crates should be more than enough. Remember we have plenty of food from the Far Side too."
"Hmpf, one day you'll need my cabbages, and you won't have any. This way you'll learn some consideration." - the carrier pilot crossed his arms.
The mission specialist rolled his eyes.
"What's the point of having all that emergency food if we can't eat it?" - he questioned him - "When we had to resort to it, not even Junko could push it down, and he eats anything. Two crates only, that's final."
"I stand by what I told you." - the green guy said as he walked out of his room with a crate.
Radarr sighed irritated but quickly let it go. There was no point in trying to get through to him and his paranoia.