Winds of Change Book II Distant Thunder

by RGZ Archer

Kai has assembled his team, and the group of seven must now race against both Cyclonia and time itself to prevent a weapon of unimaginable power from falling into the wrong hands. But just whose hands are the wrong hands? Who is their true enemy?

3. An Ancient Terror Awakens!

Winds of Change Book II: Distant Thunder

Chapter 3: An Ancient Terror Awakens!

AN: Ok chapter three is here! Now before I go any further, I want to apologize for two things. First for falling behind on TDT. I love the story, but it takes me almost a week just to write up one chapter of it, and I haven't had that kind of time lately. Secondly, while it might be good, this is probably the single most Suesh chapter I have ever written. Sorry, but it had to be done for reasons you'll see later.

Now, some of you have tried to guess as to what the creature is. As I said before, I doubt any of you have ever even heard of the thing, it's exclusive to a single video game that came out about 10 years ago. I do have a link to a picture of it in my profile, along with links to several other pictures that I used for inspiration for this story and some of my others, they're worth checking out as they help you get a better mental picture of what I'm trying to describe. And as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Do you really want my chapters to be several thousand words longer? Lol. Also, Arishi, since you correctly guessed the video game I mocked last chapter (Final Fantasy VII) you get to claim your prize. I'll PM you the specifics. Oh, and the book Rondana was reading last chapter? It came from a soap opera from the Teen Titans episode 'Episode 257-494' (No that's not my inner geek speaking, that was the actual episode's title) However, I will be adding to it as the story continues.

Oh, and btw, anyone else notice how several of the newest episodes of Storm Hawks are similar to my work? Yeah, I did too. So if anyone from Nerd Corps is reading this, I don't mind you using my work as a reference, I only ask 2 things. 1. That you review, and 2. PUT STARLING IN AT LEAST ONE EPISODE OF SEASON 2! P.S. A Dragon Knight is called a DRAGOON!

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will, also I do not own anything related to Legend of the Dragoon or Legend of Zelda. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, Sony Entertainment and Nintendo, however I DO own Kai, Rose, the Shadow crystal, and this story.

Shadow and Griffy are the property of ShadowQueen25

Tigger belongs to Narrator01

Marina is Star Wars Nut's

Rondana was made by and owned by MissDedodakes

Kai felt his lungs tighten and sweat form across his brow. Every hair on his body was standing on end and he felt like an electric current was passing through him. All this was familiar to him; they were the signs of an oncoming adrenalin rush. One that he had hoped never to feel again.

It was not the type that he got when free falling, nor was it the type he got from fighting powerful opponents.

No, this was the type of adrenalin rush that one got when they knew beyond any shadow of a doubt that they were more than likely about to die.

He slowly moved in between the girls and the now open viewport, and did the only thing he could think of.

Pray.

"Get moving. Now!" Kia hissed.

They all heard a cracking sound, like nut shells being crushed in a giant's hand. This was followed by a groaning and whining sound that they recognized to be metal buckling under stress.

"What are you waiting for?" Kai whispered harshly as he turned to the others.

He felt every nerve in his body go off when he caught sight of them.

He told them to leave.

He told them to leave quickly.

He told them not to look back.

They had done none of these things.

They had looked back, and now they were frozen in place at the sight of what was before them.

With the viewports open, they could see that something had been clinging to the side of the Ancient construct. Something that despite the passage of time, and being incased in molten lava, had survived.

Cracks formed across its body, cracks that spread across its surface like a spider web, and widened with each passing second.

"RUN!" Kai shouted at the top of his lungs, knocking the group back into reality and out of their stupor.

It took a second for the command to register, but just as the group turned to run; they were frozen in place by an ear shattering screech that made them fall to their knees in pain.

SSSSCCCCRRREEEEEEE

"WHAT IS THAT THING?!" Piper shouted above the high pitch screech.

None of them could move a muscle. The deafening screech held them in place until the last of the shell incasing the creature fell off. Then just as suddenly as it started, it stopped.

"GET OUT OF HERE NOW!" Kai shouted as soon as he regained the ability to move.

Tigger had almost reached the door when a huge arm came through the wall and almost crushed her.

"AHH! Where did that come from?!" Tigger shouted as she stared at the now open wall. Leaning forward, she saw that the stairs that they had used to climb up had been destroyed.

They were trapped.

"Kai! What is that thing?!" Starling shouted pulling free her weapon.

"Kai! What do we do?!" Piper called out fumbling with her staff holster.

"Kai!" Shadow shouted.

"Kai!" Tigger screamed.

Flashback

Kai was running for his life through the dark halls of an Ancient temple that he had found a few days ago.

Everything had been going fine. The place was littered with traps, but he had gotten by them without setting off a single one. He had found the crystal lab at the bottom floor, destroyed anything that he couldn't carry out, and was just about to leave.

He had been careless.

Without even thinking twice about what he was doing, Kai made his way to the exit. Confident that he had disabled all of the traps, and that there was nothing left that would pose as a threat.

The only thing left to do was destroy the large, and in his opinion, grotesque statue that was at the very back of the lab.

Pulling his slicer blade free, he made a single cut into one of its legs and was about to insert a det-charge crystal when he noticed that something was off.

"Is that…blood?" He said out loud. Kneeling down, he smeared his hand across the growing puddle that was forming at the base of the statue. Following the trickle that fed it, he saw that it was coming from the cut he had made just a few seconds ago.

"What the?"

SSSSSCCRRRRREEEEEEEEEEEEE

Flashback end

"I'll distract it, the rest of you use your emergency parachutes and jump down the stairway. When you hit the ground get to the ship, and bring it back here. But don't fire at it ok!" Kai shouted pulling his tri-staff out and extending it to its full length.

"What?! We're not leaving you here to fight that, THING!" Starling shouted dropping into an offensive stance.

"You can't fight it! Haven't you listened to a word that I've said?!" Kai shouted as he ducked under one of the creature's massive hands.

Flashback

Kai ducked under the enormous hand that swiped at him.

Said hand continued onward and broke through a nearby stone wall as though it were made of toothpicks.

SSSCCRREEEEEEE

"COME ON UGLY! IS THAT THE BEST YOU'VE GOT!" Kai shouted.

He had thrown everything he had at the creature, but nothing seemed to even slow it down.

He barely managed to roll to the side in time to dodge an ice coated foot.

Through the stomp missed him, it did break the remaining ice from its leg off.

Kai had tried blasting it with normal crystal fire. That only seemed to get its attention, not hurt it in any way, shape, or form. When that failed, he tried burning it, hoping that the thing was weak against fire, or that the pain from third degree burns would at least drive it away temporarily.

No such luck. The creature's milky white skin seemed to be completely fire proof.

Again the large hand mad a sweep for him.

Kai had no other choice than to jump over it and dodge the six gigantic claws, each of which was larger than himself.

Flashback end

"Anything can be fought! If we work as a team we!" Piper was cut off by Kai.

"If we work together the only thing that will happen is we will die together! Now do as I told you and get out of here now! That thing is going to come after me, Shadow and Marina, and it will not stop until it either kills us, or is unable to move. I don't know about you guys, but I would much prefer the second option. But I can't do that until you get out of here!" Kai shouted as he ran away from the others and begun firing at the creature.

"Hey ugly! I'm over here! Come and get me!"

Starling was torn between following the order, and helping her friend.

Her decision was made for her in the form of a large clawed hand that reached in and tried to stab them through.

"Jump!" Starling shouted as she did.

The others turned back for only a second, but did as they had been told. Each following suite and jumping down the hole that had once been a stairway.

Kai, at seeing that the girls were gone, dropped his façade of confidence and hoped that the girls would make it out alive. At least then there was some chance of the mission being completed.

SCCRRRREEEEEEEE

Kai turned from the shaft and faced the creature.

It had stopped moving and seemed to be studying him. Kai felt a cold chill travel down his spine.

He could only see a tiny part of it, but that was all he needed to see. He knew what the rest looked like; it had been burned into his mind clearly.

"Virage." Kai said coolly as he watched the creature's six shining green eyes study him. They were arranged in a circular pattern around its jagged beak like mouth, with three on each side. They had no pupils, so it was hard to tell exactly where they were looking, but Kai could feel the creatures gaze settle on him.

Then he felt it.

The hate, the pain, the sheer rage that the beast had was directed solely at him. What seemed to be a thousand years worth of pent up rage was released, nearly choking Kai with its intensity.

"I had forgotten about that. How do they do that? Not even Rose's killing intent is that strong, and she's a Dragon!"

It was true; somehow the massive creature was able to direct its emotions to those in the immediate area. Both times these emotions had been the same.

Anger, rage, hate. It didn't make sense for an animal to have emotions like these, especially with such intensity.

Kai watched as the creature opened its vertical jaw and released another ear shattering screech.

Starling watched as the ground became more and more defined, and pulled the rip cord on her flight suit. Sure enough the parachute deployed and she felt her decent slow dramatically, and ss soon as she was about ten feet from the floor she released her chute, dropping to the ground and rolling out of it to prevent any serious damage from coming to her. Looking back up she saw the others were following suit, they were just a little behind her.

"Starling! What are we supposed to do?!" Tigger shouted as she landed and quickly got out of her parachute.

"We get to the ship like Kai told us to. He must have a plan of some sort." She said with little in the way of enthusiasm.

Marina grabbed the woman by the shoulder and gave her a firm shake.

"Kai has a plan; didn't you say that he never takes risks?" Marina asked.

"Yes but." Starling was cut off.

"And didn't you say that you wanted to help him?" Rondana asked, dusting herself off.

"Yes, but I still think that." Once again she was cut off, this time by Piper.

"Then help him by doing what he asked! I've only seen Kai go full out once, but I know that he's going to be holding back until he's sure that he won't hurt us by accident."

Starling's eyes widened.

"Of course! That's why he wanted us to get out. This place isn't exactly an open field, and Kai's powers aren't always stable. He would want to be sure that we were out of harm's way before he uses Rose." Without a word Starling quickly turned to the exit and made a mad dash, hoping that those few seconds of hesitance wouldn't come back to bite her in the end.

The others followed and ran for the exit, all hoping for the best, not even allowing the other possibilities to run in their minds. They had to believe that Kai knew what he was doing, that he would win.

Once they reached outside, despite being away from the creature, they found that they were still far from being safe.

"Piper! Look out!" Shadow shouted as she shoved the bluenette forward with a shoulder tackle.

The very spot that Piper had just been seconds before was now occupied by a metal beam that would have sliced her in two.

"Where did that come from?" Rondana asked before looking up. "INCOMING!" She shouted before rolling to the side.

The others looked up and gaped as chunks of metal the size of boulders came plummeting towards them.

It was difficult, but they managed to duck and dodge the chunks until they got far enough away that they were (relatively) safe.

That's when they got their first real look at it.

The creature was hanging onto the side of the Ancient port, with one arm driven deep into it, along with both of its feet.

The creature was massive, standing at well over six stories height, and it vaguely resembled a human.

Vaguely

Two feet, two legs, a torso, two arms, two hands, and a head. But that was where the similarities ended.

Nothing about the body was normal. Its torso was incredibly skinny and twice as long as what would be 'normal' for a human of such size. Its legs were three times thicker than normal, and were reverse jointed. Though it's arms were about average, the hands were at least four times normal size. They also noticed when it pulled back its hand to thrust into the building, that it had six fingers, each with a claw the same length as its hand. But by far the strangest thing about the creature was its head.

The rest of the creatures extremities had been exaggerated, but the head was by far the most so. From the top of the creatures head down to its neck was the same distance as from its feet to its hips. The only other distinguishing feature that the creature had were the two long tendrils that ran from the top of its head to its feet, one on each side.

"What the heck is that thing? I've never seen anything like in any book or scroll." Piper said as she snapped a few shots of it with a Kodiak crystal for future study.

Tigger was about to say something when she noticed her friend shaking like a leaf.

"Shadow? Shadow what's wrong? Did you get hit or something?" She asked dropping back to her friend's side.

Shadow looked up with glassy eyes that seemed to be staring at something far away, yet at the same time very close. "It's in pain. Whatever that thing is, it's in so much pain that it's been driven insane." She answered quietly.

"How do you know it's in pain?" Rondana asked, both curious and confused.

It was then that she noticed the Griffen Stone hanging from Shadow's neck. She had seen it a few times, but she had never seen it glow before. It had a cold, almost icy blue aura radiating from it.

"I can hear it. I heard it back when we were in the tower, and I can hear it now." She said trying to regain her composure.

SSSCCCCCRRRREEE

Piper looked back at Shadow and saw her shudder when the creature screeched.

"Wait a minute, you mean those screeches are it screaming in pain?" She asked.

Shadow nodded her head yes

"Why is it hurting? It looks fine to me, well, aside from being butt ugly." Tigger said studying the creature again for any obvious signs of damage.

"Maybe it's….grumpy? I mean, we did kinda wake it from a thousand year long nap. Junko get's pretty miffed when we wake him up." Piper offered.

Shadow shook her head. "No, it's not miffed; believe me, whatever that thing is, its royally POed, and in extreme pain."

"Whatever the case, we need to get to the ship and signal Kai that we are safe." Starling spoke up for the first time since they exited the building.

"I'm on it now." Marina said as she pulled a flare from her pack and fired it into the air.

"I don't know how much longer I'm going to last dodging this thing. I feel like a mouse with its tail caught in a trap trying to dodge some nutcase with a steak knife." Kai thought as he jumped to the side, dodging the creatures attempt at impaling him for the third time.

SSSCCCCRRRREEEEEE

"Yeah! Well same to you!" Kai shouted firing several blasts of ice at the creatures face, trying to cover its eyes so he would have a better chance.

The mouth opened again, but this time instead of screeching, it spat.

"Aw man, not this one too!" Kai shouted jumping to the other side, trying his best to evade the green slim.

The mass shot over him and landed on the floor and wall behind him. Kai didn't bother looking; he knew what he would see. The hissing sound only reinforced this point.

"Great, just bloody great. This missions just started, and on the first day what am I doing? Fighting a giant lab rat that has steak knives for fingers and spits acid lugies."

Kai happened to look past the creature, and let out a breath of relief upon seeing the flare.

"Good, their safe. Time to put this thing back to bed."

"What do you think Kai will do?" Piper asked as the group reached the ship.

Starling rushed to the cockpit, ignoring the others and nearly ripping the doors off their hinges as she went.

"I don't know, I just hope it works." Tigger said following the path of destruction to the front of the ship, where she hoped to find the cockpit still intact.

"Woah! Piper! Piper! Check it out! It's Kai! He's fighting back!" Shadow shouted from the gangplank.

Piper turned and was shocked at what she saw.

A massive column of dark energy exploded from the top of the building. At first Piper thought that Kai had activated the charges, but she saw two things that went against that notion.

The first was that the building was still standing.

And second, the creature was still hanging on the outside of the building, but the hand that it had brought back to stab at what she assumed to be Kai was being held back by a large black and purple clawed hand of energy.

A Dragon's hand.

She then watched as a long, black tail shot out from the back side of the building and wound itself around it several times. The last thing she saw was two large black wings spread open, each of which was the same size as the creature.

This was all followed by a roar the nearly made her fall to her knees in fright.

Piper thought the situation was ironic, considering that she had been reading some of the works of Nietzsche just that morning. "How did that saying go? He who fights monsters should take care not to become one in the process." Piper shook her head at the sight.

"I hope this works." Kai glared up at the creature and roared. "Here goes everything! Shadow's Embrace!"

Kai felt the cold shock flow through his system, but it was far stronger than last time. He had noticed that the last few times he used the Shadow crystal; the current had been getting stronger. He mentally saw himself losing his footing, slip, and watched as the water then washed over him, overwhelming him completely.

"What's going on?!" Kai began to panic as he felt himself losing control of the energy buildup, it started as a slow slipping, then it was like someone had just let go of his hand over a cliff.

Ching

"Wah! What was that?!" Kai was really starting to panic now. He heard what sounded like a chain being pulled taunt, and at the same time could have sworn that he felt something around his chest tighten. Whatever it was, it was getting tighter, but he could feel that he was no longer being washed downstream. He was somehow being anchored in his mental river of power.

It took a few seconds, but he realized that he was back in control, mostly. The power was still overwhelming him, but there was no longer any danger of him being washed away.

Opening his eyes, Kai roared and threw out his arm to stop the oncoming attack.

Piper nearly fell out of the ship as it began to take off. She flipped the toggle to close the main hatch so that there was no danger of anybody falling out of the ship midflight before running to the cockpit.

Marina, Shadow and Rondana quickly followed her to the front so they continue to watch the fight.

SSSCCRREEEEEEEEE

ROOOUUGHHHHH

Kai threw out his other arm, creating another fist of energy, this time grabbing the Virage's head.

With an almost insane grin spreading across his face, Kai laughed as the creature screeched out in both surprise and pain.

"How does it feel to be on the other end of the whoping stick huh?! Not so fun is it?!" Kai mentally tightened the hold his tail had on the building, while at the same time spreading open his wings to their fullest, and back behind him.

SSSSCCRRRRREE

Kai shook his head. "I don't know if I can destroy you or not, but I'm going to see just how close I can get!"

Letting loose another roar, Kai flapped his wings with all his might, while at the same time pulling back with his tail.

"What on Atmos is he doing?!" Tigger shouted as she watched the fight from the copilot seat.

She was about to ask Starling what she thought when the ship learched to the side.

"Starling? What's going?" Her eyes widened in fright. "Rondana! We need a medic, now!" She shouted.

Starling had let go of the controls and was clutching her sides, obviously in great pain.

"What?" Rondana looked to the rooms only other occupant. As soon as she saw what was going on, she went into 'medic mode' and yanked her from the pilot seat to the hall behind the cabin.

"I'll handle things up here, you just figure out what is wrong with Starling!" Tigger shouted as she jumped into the pilot's seat and grabbed the controls. "Good thing I watched Kai fly this thing yesterday, otherwise we'd be a smoldering crater by now."

"Starling? Starling? Can you hear me?" Rondana gently shook the Sky Knight, trying to get her attention.

"I fell like something's trying to tear me from the inside out." The older woman said between pain induced gasps.

"What? Starling, you've got to be more specific if I'm going to have any chance at figuring out what's wrong. Is the pain coming from your stomach? Is it higher? Where?"

Starling barely opened her half glazed eyes and glared at the teen. "I've broken ribs, had my appendix rupture and had a lung collapse. Trust me, if it was any particular organ, I would know." She hissed. Closing her eyes, she groaned in pain. "It's like something reached inside of me and is trying to rip out my insides." She said between breaths.

Back in the cockpit, Tigger and the others watched in awe as the creature was pulled up, and inside of what was left of the buildings top floor.

"What is Kai doing?" Shadow asked out loud.

"I think Kai's trying to pull the creature inside of the Phoenix Den." Marina said, recognizing the move to be a variation of one of Naboroou's favorite wrestling techniques.

The keel hauler.

Kai roared as he pulled with all his might, tearing the Virage's grip loose from the building, while at the same time turning to his side, throwing it down into the hole that had been a stairway.

"And stay down!" Ka shouted.

SSSSCCCRREEEEEEE

Kai shook his head and grinned as he pulled back both of his hands. "I've always wanted to see what I could do going full out. Let's see what happens when!" Kai's eyes widened.

He felt his power suddenly began to fade at an accelerated rate, far faster than it even had before. At the same time, he felt the usual pain and ache spread throughout his body that came with using the Shadow crystal.

And something else.

He didn't know what it was, but he felt panic spread through him, panic and an almost paralyzing fear.

"What is happening?" Kai knew that he didn't have much time left, so using the last few seconds of consciousness he had left, he pulled out the red crystal from earlier, and a second red crystal from the pocket on his other leg.

"Mission complete." He said bringing the two crystal together as hard as he could.

Spark

BOOOOOOOOOOOMM

Tigger fought to maintain control over the ship as it was bounced and tossed around by the explosions shockwave. Piper, who was also in the cockpit, was tossed around like a rag doll, having forgotten her safety harness. Marina grabbed onto an overhead pipe with one arm and grabbed Shadow with the other, holding her close so that she wouldn't slam into a wall. Rondana leaned back into the wall she was beside and pulled Starling up as best she could. The Sky Knight had just enough mind left to grab onto a nearby pipe for support.

"What was that?" Tigger shouted from the cabin, once the shockwaves came to a stop.

"Ugghh. I think Kai set off the charges." Piper said, crawling up from under the consol with one hand on her head.

"What kind of charges where those? Apocalypse crystals?! " Marina shouted, stumbling into the cabin.

"Thermal induction implosion crystals, I think." Piper said rubbing the growing bump on her head.

"What?" Marina asked, never having heard of such a thing before.

"Thermal induction implosion crystals. They superheat the air around them, causing metal to rapidly expand while at the same time lose all of its tensile strength before exploding." Piper explained.

"Uh, in English please?" Shadow asked, sticking her head in through the door.

"Ugh, they make metal buildings partially melt and collapse in on themselves before forcing it downwards with a high powered shockwave. They were made to take out fortresses during the Great War by flattening them or melting them down to a pile of molten slag. Not only destroying them, but making them impossible to repair or rebuild."

"I guess Kai really is serious about making sure Lark doesn't find anything huh?" Shadow said, trying to lighten the atmosphere.

Everyone suddenly looked up.

"KAI!"

"He was on the top floor when it went off, he must have been blown clear of the area!" Tigger shouted looking around for the team leader.

"You don't think he…he..." Piper bit her lip, not wanting to finish the statement.

THUNK

"WHAT IN DIN'S NAME IS THAT?!" Marina shouted pointing at a…lump? That had landed on the front of the ship.

Tigger leaned forward and noticed the lump starting to move, turn over, and look up, before it fell back down.

"It's Kai!" Tigger shouted in realization.

"What? We have to get him down before he falls off!" Piper shouted.

"Already on it!" Marina's voice called out over the ships intercom.

Marina hopped onto her skimmer and opened the hanger doors. Revving the engine several times, she shot out of the hanger and dropped like a stone.

Waiting for several seconds, she then deployed the wings and rose back up, having used gravity to speed her up. Pulling the craft up, she quickly flew up to the front of the freighter and found the still smoldering pile that was Kai.

"Boy, you sure know how to make an entrance." Marina said shaking her head.

Being careful not to drop him, Marina hoisted him over her Skimmer and held onto him as she flew around to the back of the freighter, not noticing the large red and blue bird flying just a few feet above her.

Squawk

Darkness

No matter where he looked, all Kai could see was darkness. Everything was black, but suddenly, he saw a bright light and heard his name being called.

"Kai?"

"Kai?"

"Wha…who…is…"

"KAI!"

Kai bolted up and looked around. To his side he saw a very worried Rondana looking down at him.

"Are you ok?" She asked.

Kai chuckled. "Yeah, I think so. You scared the daylights out of me though with the whole light and calling out my name thing." Kai said still chuckling.

He then saw Rondana's face shift from worried, to slightly happy, then shift to angry.

SLAP

"Just what in the unholy name of Oblivion did you think you were doing?!" She shouted.

"I was." Rondana cut him off.

"I don't know what your excuse is, but it had better be a good one!"

"I told you, I was." Again, Kai was cut off.

SLAP

"Well? Out with it!" Rondana shouted.

Kai narrowed his eyes. "I would if you would just."

Again the hand came, but this time he caught it.

"Listen to me for a moment and STOP SLAPPING ME!" Kai shouted before wincing in pain and falling back onto his back.

"Well, at least now I know what was messing you up so bad. That crystal of yours is more trouble than it's worth." Rondana said yanking her hand free.

"Hey, I'm still alive and breathing aren't I?" Kai said defensively.

"Don't make me slap you again." Rondana said narrowing her eyes at him. "You didn't intend on making it out of there did you?" It wasn't a question; it was more of a statement.

"Actually, I did, but something…came up. My original plan didn't….work out the way I planned it to, and I had to go with what I had." Kai said studying his surroundings.

"Where am I anyway?" Kai asked, not recognizing where he was.

"You're where you belong for pulling a stunt like that."

Kai looked to the other side and saw Marina with her arms crossed.

"What?"

"You heard me, you're where you belong." Marina repeated.

"Marina, I told you that there was no other place to put him. He's not being punished, yet." She said the last part under her breath.

Kai then realized that he was in the quarters, more specify on the floor.

"Why am I on the floor?" Kai asked, starting to feel more than just a little nervous.

"Kai…you broke a couple of ribs, and we needed to put you someplace where you wouldn't move around a lot. We couldn't exactly put you in the cockpit, and most of the medical supplies are in here, so we did the best we could." Rondana said shrugging her shoulders.

"The best you could do was the floor?" Kai asked raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, I could have left you on the front of the ship as a hood ornament, but Tigger kept complaining about how you were blocking her view." Marina said with a small grin.

"Ha ha." Kai laughed sarcastically before trying to get up, only to be pushed back down.

"Where do you think your going?" Rondana asked.

"Up, why does it matter?" Kai asked dully.

"I just told you that you snapped a couple of ribs, you have to take it easy." Rondana said sternly.

"I'm fine, see OW!" Kai cringed before falling back onto his back.

"See, now you went and shifted your ribs again you lunk head." Rondana said shaking her head.

Kai sat back, and cringed as Marina helped force his ribs back into place. He noticed that the ship was awful quiet, but at the same time could hear the engines running.

"Where are we going?" Kai asked, once his bindings were rewrapped.

"Piper said that she figured out where the next location in the log book was yesterday, so we're heading towards it as fast as we can." Marina answered.

"Yesterday? I've been out a whole day?" Kai asked, surprised.

"Actually, you've been out cold for three days straight, both you and Starling." Rondana said, motioning to the nearby bunk bed.

Kai craned his neck as far as it could go, but could only make out a purple ponytail hanging off the side of the bed.

"What happened?" Kai asked trying to get up.

Rondana had anticipated this and already had her hand above him, keeping him from moving. "I honestly don't know. She was fine one minute, the next she was doubled over in pain. She passed out a minute or so after you set off the charges." Rondana answered, slightly worried.

"What do you mean you don't know? You're a doctor aren't you?" Kai growled.

Rondana shot him a look that said don't push it, before answering. "She has no visible injuries, and as far as I can tell nothing is physically wrong with her. Beyond that, I don't know." Rondana replied.

"If nothing was wrong with her she wouldn't have passed out!" Kai shouted.

He was about to continue when a sharp pain filled his chest. Looking down he saw its source.

A black leather boot.

"Now you see here. Rondana's been working her royal butt off trying to figure out what's wrong with your friend, AND put you back together, AGAIN. You can talk down to here when and ONLY when you actually have a soap box to stand on. Right now you should be kissing the ground she walks on, not berating her. Kapesh?" Marina then added a little weight to her leg, causing Kai to winch slightly.

"Kapesh." Kai said between gritted teeth.

"Marina, that's enough. I don't want to have to set his ribs again." Rondana chided.

Marina gave one last slight push before removing her foot and walked to the exit. "If he tries to pull that mess again, let me know. I'll straighten him out." Marina said walking out.

Rondana was about to leave when she heard Kai speak up.

"Could you….could you help me for a second?" He asked, looking the other way.

"Hm? Kai, I know you're not happy with being on the floor and all, but it really was the best we could do." Rondana was surprised to see Kai shake his head.

"No, not that, could you help me up for a second." He asked turning to face her.

"Kai, ribs take at least a week to set, you of all people should know that by now." Rondana said with a slight grin.

"Please, I…I just want to…make sure Star's alright." Kai said craning his neck back towards her.

"I'm sorry Kai, but you need to stay still for at least another two days. By then she will hopefully be up and around again, and if not you'll be able to see her, ok?"

"Please, just for a second." Kai said, still looking towards his friend.

Rondana thought it over for a second before an idea came to her.

"Hold on for just a minute, ok?" She said, quickly leaving the room.

Though not happy, Kai trusted that the medic hadn't simply said that as an excuse to leave the room.

A few minutes later she came back in with a beauty mirror and stepped between Kai and Starling. Kneeling down, she then held the mirror in front of her at an angle. "Here, is this ok?" She asked.

Kai was about to thank her, but the words died on his tongue.

Something was definitely wrong with his friend.

He couldn't see much since it was only a head sized mirror, but what he did see was enough to worry him.

Starling was asleep, and though her face looked peaceful, he couldn't help but notice how pale she was.

"Star's always been a little on the fair side, but she's never been that pale before. What on Atmos is wrong with her?"

Kai shook his head, returning from his thoughts to reality. "Thank you Rondana, I'm….sorry about earlier. I shouldn't have snapped at you like that."

"Your right. You shouldn't have." She said sternly, but then her face softened. "But I think I can understand why you did. It's normal to be worried about your friends." She then laughed softly. "You should have seen the Storm Hawks when they first brought Piper in. I thought for sure that I was going to have to call the police."

Kai could see the scene play out in his mind. Junko shaking poor Jim by his collar, and Aerrow shouting at the top of his lungs waving his daggers. He laughed, but that only induced more pain, causing him to cease laughing.

"Now, you get some rest. If you're hungry I could bring you something to eat." Rondana offered, slowly getting up.

Kai shook his head. "I'm fine, if I need anything, I'll let you know." Kai said staring up at the ceiling.

Rondana then left the room, leaving Kai alone, with only his unconscious friend, and his thoughts to keep him company.

"Man I'm bored." Kai thought as he glared at the ceiling.

End Chapter 3

Uh oh, looks like Kai's down for the count, and the journey has just begun. Now, like I said, this chapter was extremely Sueish, but I had to come up with a plausible reason for Kai to be out of commission for a while and this was the best I could come up with. I don't want Kai to be the main character with the others playing second fiddle, this story is about how people change, key word PEOPLE not a person. Also, I know Kai seemed a bit….overpowered in the fight, but you'll have to take my word on this, that was far beyond his normal capabilities. You'll have to keep reading to find out how it was possible. So, until then, please review! They help me keep writing!

Be on the look out for chapter 4: Forty Eight Hours of Horror and Humor! Part I

Till next time, Ja Ne!