"Okay, Stork... this'll be easy, trust me..." Aerrow said confidently. The Merb merely glared at him.

"Aerrow, that's what you said about blaster training, and look how that turned out..." Stork stared at the punching bag in front of him. He had been told that it was normal to use both other people and this... thing... to practice combat moves. He wasn't sure why he needed to use both, but Aerrow insisted he at least try it.

"C'mon, Stork... what's the worst that can happen, really?" Piper said helpfully. The pilot grimaced.

"Everything, when you talk like that..." He turned back to the punching bag, and gave it a soft whack with his gloved hand. At first, he winced a bit, expecting a retaliatory punch, but when he realized it really wasn't going to hit back, he smiled a little and began resuming his training. He happily practiced on the bag, confident it wouldn't hurt him on purpose.

...

Aerrow and Piper had been dreading this part of his training since they began, but he insisted he needed it, so they agreed to help.

"Okay, Stork... I'm not sure what this has to do with combat, but..." Aerrow let he voice trail off slightly, not really wanting to finish his thought.

"You never know what skills you might need to survive out there... what if you got trapped in a gourmet restaurant, and-"

"Stork, how likely is that gonna happen, really?" Piper placed her hands on her hips. The pilot smiled sheepishly and turned back to the stove in front of him. They'd agreed to help teach him how to cook, but only because he refused to do anything else that day until they did. Seeing how little their arguing with him accomplished, they relented and followed him into the kitchen.

"Okay, now...what's the first thing you wanna do before you start?" Piper queried. The Merb scratched his head then raised his finger in triumph.

"Grab your fire-retardant apron and mitts!" He zipped over to the supply closet nearby, opening the door with a soft "whoosh". He left both Piper and Aerrow to sigh loudly, softly shaking their heads as he put them on. They hadn't anticipated that response.

"Okay, after that..."

"Um, let's see... light the stove?" Stork asked hesitantly. Piper smiled softly.

"Good! Start 'er up, Stork..." They watched as he slowly reached for the igniter switch, very carefully turning the knob until the coils began to glow. Because of some personal vendetta against the grill, Stork refused to use anything but the electric stove they kept as a backup. He cautiously placed the pan over the front burner, and listened as the butter used to grease it sizzled a bit. He winced a little before he realized what it was.

"Okay, now, what do we need for this recipe?" Piper thought out loud as she searched the pages of her cookbook. Finding her answer, she slammed the book on the counter loudly, scaring Stork with the noise.

"Sorry..." She smiled nervously, and the Merb chose to ignore it.

"Let's see here... mm-hmm, uh-huh... yep, we don't have any of this..." He scowled a bit, looking back to Piper.

"You chose a recipe we can't possible make..." His eye twitched nervously.

"Stork, every chef knows you sometimes have to improvise..." Aerrow said confidently. The Merb scowled at him, but nodded softly, searching through the cabinets for anything close to what the recipe wanted. After a few moments of searching, becoming more and more frantic as time went by, he zipped over and starting shaking Aerrow by the shoulders.

"There's no food in here!"

"Calm down, Stork, it can't be that bad..." The redhead calmly walked over and opened the cabinets. To his surprise, not one piece of food was left untouched. It was all gone. The Sky Knight closed his eyes as he growled.

"FINN!"

"What!? You don't gotta yell..." The sharpshooter came in holding a 3-layer sandwich. Piper promptly snatched it from him.

"Hey! That's my lunch!" The blonde whined annoyingly.

"And while you're stuffing your face, we have nothing to eat!" Piper yelled angrily. The others stared at Finn as he slumped his shoulders in defeat. Aerrow stepped toward Stork and nodded softly.

"Well, it looks like we're gonna have to go for a grocery run... this'll be a perfect time to get some field experience, Stork..." He oozed confidence as the pilot shook his head.

"Oh, no, I... I really don't think-"

"That's your problem, Stork... you think too much..." Finn added softly, not really wanting to make things harder on himself. The Merb glared at him, but Aerrow nodded in agreement.

"He does have a point, buddy... you need practice, and where better to practice than in the real world?" The redhead nodded softly to Piper, who stepped up and slowly rubbed Stork's back in encouragement.

"Don't worry, Stork... we'll make sure nothing happens to you... besides, if all else fails, just run and we'll follow you..." She smiled at her own joke, trying to lighten the mood. The pilot smiled a little.

"Okay... but only if we land the ship first... I don't trust Finn to fly..." He glared at the sharpshooter, who was whistling nonchalantly at the table. He smiled sheepishly and stopped whistling, trying not to draw too much attention to himself.

"That's fine, Stork... we needed a few other things anyway..." Piper added after a moment of awkward silence. Aerrow nodded his agreement, and they all, Finn included, walked toward the hangar bay. Nobody knew just how much they had actually used up...