Review Responses:

UnidentifiedWhistlingObject - I'm going through all that stuff too, I know how you feel! In fact, I just got accepted into my university pick, though I decided to take a bunch of hard classes for my Senior year. I can understand why you can't review all the time, and that's fine, I can barely get these chapters out myself! Hope you enjoy the story going forward!

Pt35 - For now the futuristic weapons are a bit basic, as I haven't put too much thought into them, but later on when they become more involved with the multiverse, I can experiment with some more interesting weapon designs. Perhaps even weapons based on the different tribes and their abilities!

The energy shield was from the cyberpunk Sky Kingdom, Hidden snagged it from the arena.

I'm thinking about having some characters get seriously injured later on, but for now the story is meant to be a bit more lighthearted, so injuries are generally nothing too terribly life threatening. I've wanted Xavier to be in the next episode, but considering his injuries, I could either have a short time skip between this and the next, or just have him sit it out. Their wounds don't heal instantaneously though, Lin's fractured leg will take two weeks to heal, and while it's a lot faster compared to how long it would take with modern technology (based on a quick google search I did), I think it's slow enough to make it meaningful.

Chapter 30: The Mothership

Northeast of Possibility

Mid Afternoon

Not long after the arrival of the Salvation, the soldiers driving the vehicle Maple had been hiding in received new orders. Maple wasn't able to make out the full conversation, but from what she could hear, they were to head toward the forested hills to the northeast of Possibility, and aid in the capture of the two escaped aliens.

Ricky and Xavier…. Maple thought, as the vehicle lurched around and began to head back the way it came.

Waves of heat rippled across the hot desert sand, the vehicle's black rubber wheels crunching against the worn grey road ahead. Maple spent much of the hot, miserable trip out of the rolling dunes staring at the glistening shape of the Salvation on the horizon, wondering why Hidden had shown up all of a sudden.

Shortly after its appearance, the Salvation had begun to cruise over toward the forested hills too, but for some reason, it changed course, rising higher into the sky and hovering in place above the sparse clouds.

She sighed, turning her attention to the world rushing by her as the vehicle entered the outskirts of the city, the buildings there far shorter and covered in odd colorful paintings. They eventually emerged on the other side, veering down a gravel road that cut its way through the rolling hills of tall dry grass.

The terrain was beautiful, and while the sun still beat down relentlessly, a cool wind blowing through the fields made it slightly less unbearable. Though, it still didn't change the fact that she was hiding in the back of an enemy vehicle, riding out into the middle of nowhere.

Before long, they began to enter a sparse forest, clusters of trees gathered atop the hills slowly converging into a sprawling canopy of green. Maple wasn't sure how long it had been since they had first left Possibility, nor how many others were heading in their same direction, but they had already fallen behind another government vehicle, with a third trailing close behind them.

The short convoy continued to wind its way through the increasingly dense forest, before it arrived at the entrance to a small clearing. A man dressed in a fancy sandy colored uniform walked up to the vehicle ahead of them, discussing something with its drivers before looking through the cargo it carried.

Maple froze, immediately realizing that if she didn't get out now, she'd get captured just like Reggie. The vehicle lurched forward, stopping next to the well dressed man as he began talking with the woman behind the wheel.

"We were taking this ammo back to base when we got the call, figured you could use it!" the woman explained, nodding to the back of the vehicle. Maple shuddered, it was now or never. She slowly lifted up the tarp, and silently slipped out of the back of the vehicle, carefully resting each foot on the gravel below as to not make too much noise. By the time the inspector had come around to check the vehicle's load, she had already slipped behind some nearby bushes.

The inspector slapped the back of the vehicle twice, and it drove into the clearing without incident, Maple letting out a long sigh of relief. From her spot in the bushes, she could make out about a dozen or so vehicles parked about the clearing, soldiers marching to and fro as officers barked out orders. Every now and then one of the vehicles would head off further into the woods, one or two more quickly taking its place.

Looks like some sort of waypoint. Maple figured, watching the vehicles come and go, Probably shouldn't stick around to find out, though.

She slowly started to back up from the clearing, careful not to step on any twigs along the way. When she was far enough away that she figured the rumbling of the vehicles would mask out any noise she made, she relaxed, finally taking the time to truly admire the scenery around her.

It felt surprisingly like home, despite the warmer temperature and darker colored trees. Leaves and branches crunched beneath the white shoes that had come paired with the jumpsuit she had put on back at the salvation, the bright fabric such a stark contrast to the leaves, she wondered why no one had seen her sneaking away.

"Hey! You there!"

Maple froze. Should she run, like she did back in Possibility? Then again, if the soldiers had those gun things, they could kill her at a distance. Perhaps it was best to surrender; maybe then she'd be taken to where they took Reggie?

"Maple…? Is that you?"

Maple looked up to see a small machine descending from the leafy canopy. It had a round white body, and four rapidly spinning propellers within shiny white rings attached to its sides. It hovered just above her, a black eye looking thing staring at her in a way that reminded her of the "waiter" back at the pancake house.

"H-Hidden?" she asked, finally recognizing the voice.

"In the flesh...or, drone, I guess." he replied, his voice slightly distorted.

"Wh-where are you right now? And what is that thing?" Maple asked hesitantly, the "drone's" small, beady eye unnerving her.

"Back at the Salvation, where else would I be? And this is Bippy." Hidden explained. Maple swore she had heard Reggie mention it once, though she hadn't been expecting it to be...this.

"Speaking of which, what are you doing here?" he continued.

Maple paused, casting a quick glance back towards the military encampment not far behind her. "It's a...long story…."

"You can uh, tell me once you're back on the Salvation, kapish?"

"Wait, but isn't it…?" she replied, not quite sure what that last word had meant. Last she had seen, the Salvation was hovering far above the clouds, and unless Hidden was going to fly down and pick her up himself, the only way she'd be able to get up there would be to….

"Wait...you're not seriously suggesting that I ride that thing all the way up there?" she asked, pointing a finger at the drone.

There was a brief pause, before the drone descended down next to her, it's four rapidly spinning blades kicking up dust and leaves. "Yeah, that's exactly what I'm suggesting." Hidden clarified, "Don't worry, I'll be sure to fly extra careful."

Hidden's statement wasn't exactly reassuring, though considering her other options, Maple hesitantly nodded. She carefully walked up to the machine, eyeing the spinning blades warily, and leapt up onto Bippy, scrambling to get a hold on the drone's slippery white shell.

She slipped right off the first time, but on the second, she managed to latch her fingers onto a small notch on its back, pulling herself up until her body was balanced atop it, her legs dangling precariously over the front with no real foothold.

"Hey, uh, do you think you could move your feet?" Hidden asked, "They're uh...they're blocking the camera."

Maple slid her legs to the side, out of the way of the drone's eye. "Hidden?" she started, already starting to feel her grip on the drone loosening, "I don't think this is gonna…."
Before she could finish, Bippy shot up into the air, Maple nearly slipping off as it rapidly ascended. It abruptly stopped once it had cleared the treeline, flinging Maple into the air a bit as she struggled to keep a good hold.

"Sorry 'bout that! Never really flown this thing with a passenger before, gotta account for the added weight. You alright Maple?" Hidden asked.

"Hidden, I swear if this thing kills me!" Maple grumbled, having to pull herself away from one of Bippy's blades. She could already feel herself growing nauseous, and the Salvation was still so far away.

"Relax, I think I've got the hang of it now." Hidden said.

Bippy jerked forward, gliding over the treetops. Maple watched as the sea of green flew by beneath her, the clearing quickly disappearing into the distance. The drone soon angled upwards, rising higher and higher until the trees looked like dark smudges amidst a vast green canvas.

Despite the fact that she felt like she could fall to her death at any moment, the view was still breathtaking. A flock of birds flew in the distance, their cries just barely audible over the drone's buzzing. Soon even they became mere dots over the landscape, as Bippy rose up through a lone, puffy cloud, the condensation causing the drone's shell to become even more slippery.

The drone burst up through the cloud, Maple turning her head around to see the Salvation glistening behind her, a beacon of hope amidst a vast blue sky. Just a...just a little bit longer…. she thought, her stomach already starting to retch from the bumpy flight, and her fingers aching from grasping onto the back of the drone's shell.

The rear hanger of the salvation was hung wide open, Bippy carefully hovering down just above the metal floor. Maple immediately slipped off of the drone, kneeling onto the floor as she tried to keep herself from puking. She heard another buzzing noise pass her by, and turned to see a second drone, this one without a shell to cover up its inner mechanisms, fly past her with some sort of package.

"What the...ugh...Hidden, what was that." Maple asked, feeling right on the verge of vomiting.

"You go blowing chunks on the floor, you're cleaning it up." Hidden said through Bippy, "And that was Bippy 2."

"Bippy...two…?"

"Yeah, I built it outta some leftover parts once I finished fixing up the original Bippy here. It ain't as fancy, but it's good for carrying stuff." Hidden explained.

"Where's it going?" she asked, staring out of the hangar. Her stomach was starting to feel a bit better, but she was still dizzy from the flight.

"Oh, Xavier sent me another message while I was flying you here, it looks like they went further into the mountains. I packed some medical supplies on Bippy 2 as well, apparently Xavier was shot up pretty bad."

Another message? I guess that explains why Hidden's here.

"At any rate, Xavier's pretty tough. I'm...sure he'll be fine." Hidden finished, though there was a slight hint of worry in his voice.

"Why not go down there and deliver the supplies yourself, or send down a shuttle to get them?" Maple asked. There were still five more of the smaller ships parked in the massive chamber, after all.

Hidden chuckled in response. "Heh, there's no way I could send anything larger than a drone down there without causing an absolute riot. You saw all those military dudes, didn't you?" he said, sighing. "Though, it also makes getting Ricky and Xavier outta there pretty difficult, and I wouldn't want to give away where they're hiding with a massive search party out there looking for 'em."

Bippy began to hover off towards one of the adjacent hallways as Hidden continued speaking, Maple standing up and walking after it. "For now, I'll have Bippy 2 deliver them medical supplies so Ricky can patch Xavier up, and while they hide out, we can work on dealing with the army guys."
"What about Reggie?" Maple asked, remembering the soldiers tackling him back in the city.

"I thought he'd be with you."

Maple shook her head. "He was captured by the government, not sure where they've taken him though." she explained. The truck she'd hidden in had been heading towards wherever their main base was, prior to the Salvation's unexpected arrival.

"They probably won't hurt him, for now at least." Hidden stated, "All the more reason to smooth things over quickly, right?"

Maple soon realized that they were approaching the med bay, which was only a short distance further down the hallway. A short distance for a dragon, that was, as getting anywhere in the Salvation felt like a marathon to a human like herself.

"So, how are Lin and Darkstalker doing?" she asked.

Hidden seemed to think for a moment before responding. "Well, Lin's just about the same, though she seems a little more irritable than usual. I'm pretty sure Darkstalker's already fully healed, and just can't leave since whatever device he used to travel between timelines was stolen from him."

"You know, I saw Darkstalker listening to something on what looked like Ricky's PDA." Maple said, remembering her harrowing escape from the med bay days prior.

"Oh, yeah." Hidden said, "Ricky left him his PDA so he could listen to music while he got better. He acts like he doesn't care, but I've totally got recordings of him jamming out when he thinks no one's looking, thanks to Bippy here."

"You WHAT!"

Maple and Bippy froze, both slowly turning simultaneously to see Darkstalker standing angrily in the med bay's doorway. Smoke swirled from his nostrils, and a bright white energy pulsated through the nodes and cables attached to his body.

"Oh, uh…." Hidden began timidly, "Hi...Darkstalker…feeling better?"

The fuming NightWing shot a blast of blinding white energy at Bippy, Hidden barely managing to pilot the drone out of the way as it scorched the wall across the hall. Bippy flew off further down the hallway, Maple having to dive out of the way as Darkstalker trampled past her, shouting angrily in draconic and firing off more energy blasts at the drone.

Maple chuckled, getting up to her feet as she listened to the echoes of Darkstalker's shouting reverberating throughout the halls. She turned towards the wide open med bay door, and stepped in to see Lin lying on one of the cots at the far end of the room.

The EarthWing had been silently watching the commotion with a slight grin on her face, and skeptically gazed down at Maple as she approached the cot. Maple waved at the large, dark-brown scaled dragon, who replied with a somewhat quizzical expression.

"Hey, um, Lin, was it?" Maple started. Lin cocked her head at the tiny human, and Maple slapped her forehead, remembering that she didn't speak Human, or Syllabic, as Reggie called it.

Lin grumbled something in draconic, which Maple assumed to be something like "Why is this tiny person talking to me?". Maple sighed, and smiled up at Lin.

"I'm Maple!" Maple shouted in her best draconic, trying to project her voice up to the dragon lying on the cot that was twice her height. Lin looked down at her with mild surprise, and a tad bit of amusement.

"It's nice meet you, Lin!" Maple continued. This time, the EarthWing chuckled in response, angling her neck down to get a closer look at the human. Her amusement was cut short though, as she winced in pain, turning towards her bandaged leg.

"It hurt?" Maple asked.

Lin paused, staring at her injured leg, and shook her head. "It's...it's fine…." she replied. She said something else in draconic, which Maple roughly assumed to be "Not as bad as what Hidden's got coming."

The two chuckled for a bit, when the SandWing in question stuck his head into the med bay, warily shifting his gaze about the area.

"Hey, Maple!" he whispered, "Darkstalker didn't come back around here, did he?"

Maple shook her head and walked over to the SandWing, briefly pausing to wave goodbye to Lin. "Last I checked he was chasing Bippy. Did he catch it?" she asked.

"No, I've got it on a program Xavier made that should keep him busy for a while." Hidden said, smirking. "Come on, there's...something you need to see."

Maple followed Hidden down the twisting halls of the Salvation, stepping into the massive dragon-sized elevator with him to ascend to the upper levels. All the while, the SandWing constantly checked his PDA, Maple guessing that it had something to do with whatever that "program" thing he mentioned was.
They eventually arrived at the bridge, a wide floor to ceiling window sprawling across three of the four walls of the chamber. Screens and controls lined two lower areas on both sides of the chamber, with a single control panel set up at the end of the middle walkway. Hidden helped her up onto it, pointing at a projection emanating from the back of the podium.

"I was hoping you'd know what this is all about." the SandWing explained.

Maple squinted. The rectangular image seemed to be depicting a zoomed in perspective of the vase desert that sprawled out to the west. A tiny dot could be seen gliding across the sandy dunes, and while Maple couldn't make it out at first, as it grew closer she quickly recognized it as one of the Salvation's shuttles.

"That's...the shuttle we used to come here." Maple stated.

"Yeah, I know that. But why is it flying across the desert towards us when Ricky and Xavier are way off in the mountains?"

Maple knew the answer. After the cacophony of that morning, the government had seized the shuttle, and carted it off to their base. Now, somehow, they'd figured out how to fly the thing, and were coming straight for them.

"It's the government, it had to be." Maple said, turning back to Hidden.

"Oh, great, well, someone should probably go down there and meet them, or something." Hidden remarked, turning to Maple with a grin.

"Wait, you want me to go down there? Why don't you do it! You're the one who can fly!"

"And, I'm also the only one here who can fly the Salvation. Lin's injured, and Darkstalker is...preoccupied…."

"But how am I supposed to get to them?" Maple asked. "I am not riding Bippy again."

Hidden shook his head. "Nah, I was thinking something...bigger."

Maple thought for a moment. She couldn't possibly pilot one of the shuttles by herself, so the only other thing Hidden could mean would be….

"Wait, you don't mean?"

Hidden grinned. "Yep! You think you could make the Reggie-tron fly?"

AN:

Chapter 30!

It's crazy to think how far this story has come, and how many adventures there already have been. I still have so much more I want to add to this, and it's a bit daunting, but looking back at what I've already managed to write, it seems a lot more doable. Still had to seriously crunch to get this chapter done at the last minute, though. School's been ramping up big time.

I've noticed that this story doesn't seem to get as much attention as some others on the site, and I think I have an idea as to why. A lot of the other more popular stories on the site tend to center around popular themes and story lines within the fandom, stuff that is much more appealing to someone browsing the site. This story's a bit more unconventional in its premise, and as such likely doesn't attract as much attention as the others. Essentially, I'm working with a niche audience within yet another niche audience, and I'm hoping to branch out. It would be nice to see more people leaving reviews on my story, to have a larger number of voices and opinions about my writing. That way I have a better idea about what works and what doesn't, and it might also be beneficial to my overall morale in writing. I've been hesitant to ask people to leave reviews though, but I think I have a solution. I'm considering posting WoF related sketches I make onto the WoF Reddit page, mainly stuff related to this story. I probably won't post new chapters there, as there's already so much of the story written it would be impossible to catch up. Still, I think it would allow me to branch out and attract more readers to this story, and perhaps see what they think about it. At the same time, it would be a nice way to share some of the backlog of sketches I've made based on this story.

With that rambling out of the way, I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Stay tuned!