Chapter 517.
"Welcoming Home the champs."
(Somewhere over Michigan.)
The Century Bomber makes its way across the sky and continues to do so on auto-pilot since Peter Harris is fast asleep, but he'll be back to manual when he wakes up, it is after all early in the morning.
In the cargo hold, we see the group from the Bald Eagle Festival all snoozing. Lincoln, Jordan, Luna, Ryan, Gretchen, Hope, Angel, Patriot, Valkyrie, Nora, Harrier, Artemis, Freya, Raptor, Apollo and Bullets.
Then Luna wakes up and she sees that both sides of her and leaning onto her still asleep are Lincoln and Jordan. Luna smiles and she has her arms around both of them, while the sleeping duo are holding each other's hands.
Just then Luna hears her phone ring and she sees a text from Sam and she smiles as she reads it.
Sam: Hey Lunes! We're all here at the Allied Outposts Runway and when I mean all of us, I literally mean all of us! We're all here and waiting for the rest of you guys to land down. We'll be waiting.
Luna then sees Lincoln, Jordan, Angel, Ryan, Hope and Gretchen stir and then wake up, and then comes the eagles. "Good morning guys, sleep well?"
"Yeah, but where the heck are we?" asked Hope. She has the box with the ribbons she and Gretchen won as 2nd place, but the ribbons belong to Artemis and Freya.
They then hear the voice of Peter Harris, he's awake and back on the cockpit. "Attention passengers, this is your pilot speaking. As of now we got two aerial escorts and they will be with us until we reach Royal Woods air space, which means we are closing into the town, I repeat we are closing in to town."
"So, if you got some kind of plan for a comeback, then I will be on standby. I'm talking to you, Lincoln Loud. I know you got a plan."
They all look to Lincoln, the boy then goes to the weapons case in the cargo hold and she smiles at what he sees. "So glad I asked for these." He then tosses each of them a bag, and in each bag is a wing suit and parachute bags.
This makes Jordan, Ryan and Luna smile, but Hope and Gretchen are confused. "Umm, why did you toss us these?" The eagles are so prepared for this.
Lincoln then asks Peter Harris through the planes radio. "Peter, what's our distance from ground level?"
"We're somewhere approximately more than 955 feet above sea level, this place can go higher and was built for heavy duty flight and combat. So, you got a plan kid?"
"Ya darn right I got a plan, Peter Harris." Lincoln then looks to the others. "Suit up and get ready, time for Royal Woods Eagle champs and young contenders to make one heck of an entrance."
Luna, Ryan and Jordan begin to attach the wing suit attachments and even the parachute backpacks, but Hope and Gretchen and wide eyed in shock. "Wait, we're gonna do what?!"
Angel on the other hand has a large smile on her face. "This is gonna be so awesome!"
(Somewhere in Royal Woods.)
Everyone is there and waiting for the return of the winners to the Bald Eagle Festival, they were proud for all of them to win especially towards Hope, Gretchen and Ryan. The folks of town are told to steer clear of the stuff around the base, so they have guards on stand by and Commander Elizabeth Krennick to watch over them all.
"So, when are they coming here?" asked Luan.
"They don't seem to be anywhere in the sky and I don't see the plane" said Lynn Jr.
"They must be close, I mean Sam said that they're nearing the borders" said Leni.
"I can't wait to see Angel again" said Mark with excitement. "She seemed full of tons of stuff when we video chat, what the heck did she get at the festival and how many did she even get."
Jessica Carson chuckles. "Well, you know Angel, when it comes to the Bald Eagle Festival, she is a total fan. But where the heck are they? They should've been here by now."
"Glad we brought some breakfast for everyone here." Lynn Sr then hands a breakfast burrito to Simon and Stella, and Jessie Rosato is also helping pass some food she made for everyone, while Rita hands the folks some coffee and hot chocolate.
Even Rosa Casagrande is there handing some breakfast to the others, which means the Casagrandes, Santiago's and the Changs are there to see them arrive back home, and they did not bring Sergio with them, but they did make sure Carl is watched over by Lalo.
Lisa looks around and sees something, she lowers her binoculars and sees two Apollo Fighters come back and Vertical land onto the Airbase. "Seems like they're close." She looks to the crowd. "Look alive folks, we got company!"
The people cheer and clap and they all get ready for the arrival of the group from the Bald Eagle contest.
(Back to the Century Bomber.)
The large bomber aircraft is now somewhere near the border of Royal Woods, and has flown right by Hazeltucky and Beaverton. The group inside are dressed in what they have planned and then Lincoln looks to all of them. "You guys ready for this?"
They all nod, but they see Hope and Gretchen didn't nod. "Girls, you dudes okay?" asked Luna.
"Guys, I don't think we can do what you guys did" said Hope. "I mean, we don't have a fear of heights, but to jump out of a plane at more than 900 feet is something we have never done before."
"I don't even know if we can even make this fall, dive, glide and jump" said Gretchen,
Ryan then goes towards her. "Gretchen, Hope. Girls, we've been through so much and we know how to be brave and handle stuff that no one else might not be able, and even though this is scary, I get it and I understand. You guys can stay here and we can meet you all on ground level."
Jordan goes towards them. "He's not wrong, we understand about you guys not wanting to do this. There's no shame in bailing out."
"Stuff this new and unknown to others can be scary, heck I was scared to ride a bike" said Angel. "But we learn and we adapt and sometimes it takes time and we know how you guys feel. We've been down the road of having trouble with stuff like this for the first time."
Lincoln goes towards them with the eagles. "You guys can wait this out, it's fine."
Gretchen and Hope think about this, and then they recall the things they have been through and the many times they have been brave to face the odds that were always against them, they then look to the others with determination.
"You know what? Forget bailing, we're going with you guys!" said Hope.
"Yeah, we can handle this, so let's get out there and show them that the winners can fly as good as their avian friends!" Gretchen then pets Artemis and Freya's head.
Lincoln smiles. "That's the spirit." He then sees that their luggage is still secured and even their wins, and then he looks to Luna who stands by at the Bombay doors. "Sis, let her go!"
Luna nods. "Let's rock on, dudes!" She pulls the lever and all of them see the light blink red, then it turns orange.
Luna gets in position with them and then Lincoln takes in a deep breath and he puts on his goggle and so do the others. "Alright guys, let wings fly!" The light turns green and the door underneath them opens and they drop down.
(Back to Ground level.)
The others look to the sky for any signs of them, and they all and I mean all of them have binoculars. They all look closely and all cheer. "There they are!" yelled Mandee.
They can all see that the group re now sky diving, and this makes Lori chuckle. "Yup, this has Lincoln's big plan to make a grand entrance, like last year. Brings back a ton of awesome memories."
"Dude! That looks so cool!" said Ronnie Anne. "You think they can let us do that with them? I wanna try the whole thing with my skateboard."
"Heck yeah! I wanna try it too!" said Sid. "I wanna see if I can do 12 is midnight dancing in the air!"
This puts concern in the Changs and Casagrandes, Frida takes a photo of the group sky diving. "I just got a new idea for an upcoming art!"
Lily and Carlitos cheers at the sight of the group sky diving and so does baby Lucas with his mother.
"I feel like I don't wanna do that" said Michelle. "But another part of me feels like trying that next time."
Albert chuckles. "Well, I'll be. Looks like the duo still got it, and now those other kids are involved. Also, are those the eagles?" they look closely and see the eagles dive with the group.
"This is something we're all never gonna live down" said Sam. They then spot the Century Bomber making a turn and then circling the base to get some level down to land.
(Back to the air.)
The group cheer and laugh at what they're all doing. Lincoln and Jordan hold hands and chuckle. "This is so cool!" They then see Patriot and Valkyrie steadily dive with them. Lincoln then laughs at what he sees. "Nice air guitar sis."
They see Luna doing an air guitar pose in the air, and so Angel takes a picture of this and then she gets to Raptor and Apollo and they take a selfie and then she goes towards Lincoln and Jordan for a sky diving selfie. Angel has her phone strapped to her right arm.
They then spot Ryan holding Gretchen's hand and the girl is just laughing and cheering. "This is so awesome! All the fear in my head is gone!"
They spot Hope diving down with the eagles, Artemis, Freya and Nora, almost like a spy is diving from the plane. Well, they did watch a spy movie last night.
They all look to the ground and see that the level is not high anymore. "Alright gang!" They all look to Lincoln. "Wings out!"
They all push the button in their gloves and the flaps deploy and now they're gliding! The eagles do the same and glide with them.
They fly right past the folks at the airfield and they all cheer at them fly by and take some pictures of them. The group then turns right and fly around the town and they are filled with so much joy doing this.
Ryan. "This is still so awesome! Makes me feel like one of them!" Harrier flies by his side and so does Nora.
Gretchen. "Forget about being afraid, this has been so worth it! Woohoo!" Artemis is flying with her.
Hope. "I feel so alive! I feel so free! This is what it truly feels like to be a high flying, eagle eyed, free-styling avian!" Freya smiles as she flies next to her.
Angel. "My name is Angel Carson, you hear me world and today, I literally am a flying angel! Woohoo!" Raptor and Apollo fly next to her and the others chuckle at what she just said.
Luna. "This is just as rockin' and rollin' as we always did. This feels so good, and I think I just got me another song in the head for the Spring Music Festival." Bullet's glides by her side.
Jordan looks towards Lincoln and smiles. "So, does this remind you of the best moments of flying?" Valkyrie flies above Jordan and then steadily glides with her.
Lincoln chuckles. "Nope, this is even better." He then looks to the others who are all having fun doing this. "Because we get to do it with some good company, to share and enjoy with." He then sees Patriot fly with him. He then glides with Jordan and Luna and they join the others.
The group then fly around the town and enjoy this moment of wing suited flight, but they'll get down… Eventually and celebrate with the rest of their friends and families.
So, Royal Woods, Michigan… The Eagle Contest Champions are back!
To be continued…
A/N: Just as the one from last year, they're back home and in style too! What's next for them? We'll find out in the next chapter. Leave a review and tell me what you all think.
Date made: 3/2/21.