Again, for some reason I have a strong urge to write this story now and got nothing for my other ones, which is starting to tick some people off, so I should probably get on that… Oh well.

Chapter 11: Saying Hello

The Condor rested just outside the perimeter of Terra Amazonia as the Storm Hawks began a new set of training. Still children at heart, the training consisted mostly of games and other stunts. The only difference was the danger level. Not that they weren't reckless before, but as Aerrow's sanity appeared to dwindle, so did the sanity of many of the "training" exercises.

At the moment, they were just beginning flight training. Aerrow had been looking forward to this immensely. It would be the first time he was on a skimmer in over a year. He loved his air board and probably would use it more often than his skimmer just from habit, but still he missed his skimmer.

"You sure that you remember how to fly that thing?" Finn jokingly asked next to him.

Aerrow gave him a cocky smile, "Of course."

The two revved up their engines and in a quick burst of speed shot down into the thickest and most dangerous part of the jungle terra. It was simply a race. However, the rules were that they could only fly, which would prove difficult and dangerous in the dense forest, where thick trees and terrifying beasts were always popping out. Despite these obstacles, the two pilots zoomed through the trees, beasts, and other objects with an unnatural ease and at ridiculous speeds.

Finn concentrated hard. He was weaving his way through the thickets and animals as fast as he could. He was in the lead and he wanted to keep it that way. After some time, he looked back to see how far ahead he was. He could see Aerrow anywhere. In the past, he would have cheered and praised himself for his 'accomplishment'. He had grown a lot in the Far Side and was wise enough to know that a missing Aerrow was not a good sign. Keeping his focus on the terrain, Finn continued to fly.

Finn saw the edge of the terra and passed through the trees. He came to a stop and hovered, looking for his leader. He scanned the area and smiled to himself. Just as he did so, he heard an all too familiar voice from above.

"How's it going, Finn? Took you long enough."

Finn looked up to find his friend reclining on his skimmer, smiling. An irritated look appeared on Finn's face, "Do I even want to know how you beat me?"

Aerrow thought for a moment, "Probably not." Finn just sighed as he became level with Aerrow. Radaar was shaking in his seat, looking as if he was going to have a heart attack. This confirmed Finn's thought.

-00000-

Up in the Condor, the rest of the Storm Hawks watched the race (or at least attempted to). The dense jungle made it rather difficult to see whether or not the boys could get through the forest in one piece. After some time, Aerrow shot out of the thickets and rose above the area slightly. Not a moment too soon, Finn shot out of the jungle as well. After a brief minute Finn looked up to see that Aerrow had beaten him.

As the two laughed at the results, Piper was surprised at the race. Not that she thought Aerrow wouldn't win, she knew he would. Despite not being on a skimmer for over a year, Aerrow had a natural talent for piloting. She knew that he probably was right at home on his sky ride. What was surprising was that Finn was right behind him. She knew for a fact that Aerrow, more than likely, pulled some crazy stunt in the jungle to get ahead. Even so, Finn was right behind him.

She hated to admit it, but Finn had matured a great deal in the Far Side and the year that they were stranded. He had taken charge in a good way and made sure everyone was alright. Also, he sharpened his talents to new levels that even she wasn't sure of.

As she mused to herself, Stork came up from behind.

"Uh, Piper? We've got a problem."

Piper turned to him, eyebrow up.

"It seems that there is a small squadron coming closer from the other side of the terra. By their slow speed, my guess is that they're waiting to ambush us."

Piper quickly thanked the Far Side for the new technology they had obtained. She thanked Stork for the information, and turned to walk to the hangar, but stopped. Normally, they would all go out to face the enemy. But with their incredible increase in strength, especially Aerrow, was it necessary? Finally, she took a radio from her belt and called Aerrow.

"Yeah, Piper. What's up?"

"Hey, can you guys go over to the other side of the terra. Stork thinks that there is a squadron ready to ambush us."

"No problem."

She shook her head when the signal cut out. Of course.

-00000-

On the other side of the terra were the Red Talons slowly making their way towards the stationary carrier. They had received a tip that a ship that looked like the Condor was resting on Terra Amazonia. Remembering what Drake had said, they had hoped that these were the real ones.

As they came closer and closer, they finally got a good view of the ship and stopped.

"That's definitely the real one," Carver said firmly. Ravess nodded, all too familiar with the old ship.

Snipe smashed his mace into his hand, "Let's go smash 'em!" The other two eagerly agreed.

"Patience," Ravess hissed, "Remember what Drake said?"

Snipe huffed, "Like I believe what that runt said."

"You better believe it, Snipe," Carver said, "I wouldn't put it passed them to get stronger in the Far Side."

"But I want to smash 'em!" Snipe whined.

"Be quiet!" Ravess commanded.

"So… what are you guys doing?" a voice asked.

Everyone, who all had been looking at the bickering siblings, turned to the voice to see a young man crouching on the wing of Carver's skimmer. It was a ridiculous sight. The man was shirtless, wearing only black shorts, boots, and a hat. His hat obscured part of his face with a shadow.

"Who the hell are you?" Carver demanded, furious that someone had landed on his ride without his notice.

Before the man could say anything, another voice asked, "Why does everyone ask that question? I think this the twentieth time I've heard it."

Everyone's head snapped up to see another young man on a skimmer that looked familiar. He was blond with stubble and a rough looking outfit that consisted with a brown vest, dark blue long sleeve shirt, and faded grey pants covered by brown boots. He leaned against his ride casually, a smirk playing on his face. For some reason, this ticked off Ravess.

"Who are you?" Ravess asked, repeating Carver's question.

However, instead of answering the question the man on the skimmer squinted hard at her before widening his eyes in disbelief. She started wondering if there was something on her face when he gasped, "No way! It can't be!"

"What is it?" the other one asked.

"It's Ravess," the first one said.

Ravess smiled. So they knew of her. This would make things easier.

"So you've heard of me, have you? Good. Then you'll realize that it is foolish to fight with us," she said calmly.

The two men glanced at each other before bursting into a fit of laughter, their relatively deep voices filling the air with mirth.

"What's so funny?!" she practically screamed.

The shirtless one stopped suddenly and squinted at the others. "Let's see. That must be Snipe," jabbing a thumb at the huge warrior, "and you're… are you… Carver?" he said staring at the leader.

"Who are you?" Top Dog asked.

The man squinted harder at Top Dog's direction, "Is that? Is that you, Top Dog?"

Top Dog was taken aback like the rest of them. He and Jay weren't famous like the others, so why did this guy know him?

To voice their question, the other man asked, "How do you know him?"

"He was that kid from the Talon Academy that I told you about," the man answered.

"Oh, yeah. Now I remember. You guys told me all about him and how much he hated you."

They were both laughing, "Yeah, I had one hell of a reputation there."

"Who the hell are you!" the rogues all screamed.

The two stopped and looked questioningly at them. As the two turned back to look at them, Carver noticed something. On the breast pocket of the blond man's vest was an emblem, the emblem of the Storm Hawks. Darting his eyes quickly to the first man, he noticed a small silver chained necklace that had the Storm Hawk bird hanging on it. He eyes darted back and forth between the two, hardly daring to believe it.

Stammering, he said, "It…it can't be. You're – you're the – the Storm Hawks!"

Everyone snapped back to Carver and then to the two men. They were both smiling. "Well, it's about damn time," the blond said.

"Really," the other piped in, "it couldn't have been that hard."

"Then again, we are older."

"We have changed a lot."

"We're stronger."

"And faster."

"And smarter."

"And better."

"And not to mention better looking than we already were… well except for Stork."

"ENOUGH!" Carver screamed. The two stopped again and looked at him.

He pointed to the blond, "You must be Finn."

"Well, duh!"

Carver ignored the comment and slowly turned to the man still crouched on his wing. Narrowing his eyes in disgust, he spat, "And that must make you, Aerrow."

Aerrow gave a small salute, "Nice to see you again, Carver."

The rest just stared at the two. If there were expecting any change in their old foes, it wasn't this. They were almost unrecognizable. If they hadn't known better, they'd say that these were the imposters and the others the real ones. But their attitude and mannerisms were so on par with only slight change that it was impossible to say that they weren't the real ones. Yet here they were the leader and the sharpshooter, casually talking to them as if it were nothing.

Carver, getting over the shock of it all, and he didn't know how much more he could take, smiled evilly. "Well, you just saved us the time of coming to you," he rose out of his seat and taking out his energy blade, "let me give you a proper welcome home gift."

Aerrow's eyebrow went up, still crouching in place. Just as Carver took a step towards him, Aerrow leaned over and fell off the skimmer. Carver went to look over his ride only to have his face slammed by something hard and metal. Rubbing his chin, Carver looked up to see Aerrow standing, hands in his pockets, on his skimmer with Radaar waving at the ex-Cyclonians.

Furious, Carver made to make a swing, but there was a sharp ring, and his blade was knocked out of his hand. He turned to Finn, who was resting his crossbow on his shoulder carelessly.

"I'd think twice about doing that if I were you," he simply stated.

Ravess made for her bow, but by the time she had gotten it out, it, too, was knocked out of her hand and falling towards the Wastelands. She growled at him, but he made acknowledgement at the fact.

"Get them!" Carver ordered. As they came towards the duo, Aerrow looked at Finn and jerked his head towards the terra. "Want to go two for two?"

"Sure," and they both got on their skimmers and flew into the densest part of the forest. Had they Red Talons not have been so mad at them, they probably would have gave chase less eagerly into the dangerous jungle. But as it was, they were so angry that they didn't give it a second thought.

Less than five minutes did it take to lose the Red Talons in the thick jungle. Aerrow and Finn came out of the terra, chatting amongst themselves and complimenting each other on their skill, as if the confrontation with the ex-Cyclonians didn't happen.

Once back on the Condor, the two told the story of what happened. Once done, they decided to leave, not out of fear of revenge from the Red Talons, but simply because they were done with training and were going to see if anyone needed their help. So once the Red Talons finally managed to find their way out, the sight of the missing Condor served to only anger them further.

So this chapter is pretty much a filter to see old faces and humor. Also a bit descriptive. To point out, all the Storm Hawks now only have a small emblem on them to show their squadron. Aerrow's necklace, Finn's breast pocket, Piper has an emblem on her arm (see deviantart), Junko has emblems on his gloves, Radaar on his pants, but Stork still has a larger one on his back. They kind of going for the less is more so to speak. Anyway, not an incredibly important chapter, but still, makes for good fun.

Until next time! Please review and all suggestions are welcomed!

Disclaimer – I don't own the Storm Hawks.