Chapter 13

The Breakaway

I was dazed at W-Dad's recovery. He pushed himself up with his arms, but he collapsed back into bed.

"Just tell me how to fly the ship, and I'll be good to go." I said. "The manual is right here-" He pointed to a small leaflet on his bedside table.

"Okay, thanks. Don't worry- I'll take care of things here." I replied kindly. "No, I want to help you-" Wolf started. "It'll be okay, just leave it to me." I cut in. Dad started getting out of bed, using all of his strength. "No! Don't!" I cautioned. But W-Dad just plowed himself out of bed and staggered to the piloting room. I sighed and trailed after him, making sure he didn't fall.

"Would you pick up the pace, Fox? We don't have that much ti-" Falcon started.

"Quiet! Fox would eat you alive if he heard you say that to his dad." Krystal whispered fiercely. Falcon quickly quieted down after her remark. I was amazed at how much my only two friends cared for my relationship with my father. Yelling from outside of the ship shattered my thoughts. Dad was already sitting himself in the seat and using all his strength to grasp the piloting gears. I scrambled over to him and watched Dad glance at the manual a few times before pushing a series of buttons. I didn't even realize he had the manual, until he started to use it. I felt the ground lurch upward and the yelling die down.

"Wow! Come look at this, Fox!" Krystal whispered in awe. Falcon didn't seem impressed, but I could tell he was still wowed by the view. I peeked out the window and watched as lush green forest and cloud-dotted sky met on the horizon. Krystal almost managed to grab me, but I side-stepped and she missed. I gritted my teeth for the next attempt, but she gave up. I glanced back to Dad, and he seemed to have no trouble at flying the ship. But he was looking at something else. I walked over to him.

"What are you looking at?" I questioned.

"The letter from Katt." Father replied.

"Why?" Why would he care about a letter?

"Because it has the directions to her house. Could you tell Falcon to come over here for a second?" I gave a nod, and headed back to Falcon.

"Falcon, my dad wants to talk to you." I stated.

"Sure." Falcon replied uneasily. He followed me into the piloting room, with Father waiting there for us.

"Shouldn't you be driving?"

"I'm on cruise mode."

"Oh." I finished the conversation clueless. "Falcon, which mountain did you live on?" Father pointed to the large mountain range ahead of us. Falcon paused to look around for his home, and pointed to the one to the far left. "Okay, so that means one, two, three..." Dad trailed off and squinted to the fifth peak. In the distance, you could see tiny lights flashing.

"We found Katt's house! And just in time!" Krystal cheered unexpectedly.

"Krystal!" Falcon and I shouted with annoyance.

"Sorry, but I didn't want to be left out of the situation." Krystal whined.

"Come on now, we don't need to start a fight before a party, do we?" Dad always found a way to settle uneasy nerves.

"Everyone can start to change into their clothes." Father told to us. Krystal dashed to her room while Falcon and I walked. Falcon seemed worried about something, but I didn't know what. "Are you okay, Falcon?" "Y-Yeah, I'm fine..." He stuttered. I wanted to say more, but I had reached my room. I ran back to the windows to get my clothes from the bag, and dashed into my room to change for the party.