I did a concept art of Kai if anyone wants to see: lilahjae. deviantart .com/art/Kai-Storm-Hawks-156881902 (remove the spaces in the beginning); there's another up there as well, a recent sketch as of yesterday. Take a look in my gallery for that.

Everyone, while you're at it, Youtube Upular by Pogo. Amazing mix from Disney's Up sound clips.

Also, I'm very happy for the new reviews, however if you don't sign your reviews I can't properly thank you! I fear the only reason I'm not getting more readers is because of my OC. SHES NOT TAKING OVER she's just an addition with a spotlight in the story. No one's personality is going to change because of her, I'm not entirely a rabid fangirl.

Unexplained

Aerrow

You know, this could be good for the team, having another girl on board. Not only would it help balance out the sides but it could keep Piper off our backs. With the bulk of the team being male, Piper was easily annoyed and aggravated. Maybe having Kai here would help her find an escape…

She can even talk things out with her, like things she wouldn't dare think of speaking to us about.

Now that I'm extremely thankful for and hopes she picks up on the idea as well. The girl needs to talk to someone about those things, and I don't want to be the one she resorts to anymore.

Walking around the foreign vehicle, I examined all the tell-tale signs. What her bike needed was a fresh coat of silver paint, gunmetal paint, and/or any other color of her choice. I'd have Junko get the paint out of the storage once we removed the Cyclonian insignias.

"What else do you think needs to be done?" she asked, tearing off the seat. She reached in and removed a few fix-it supplies.

"It would be smart to put some armor on it, seeing as you might have to take battle to the skies…"

"The armor for it is back at my house…"

"Then you'll have to buy some new armor," I laughed. "We'll make a pit stop to get Storm Hawk plates and get some armor too."

She smiled. "Thanks, Aerrow. This… you have no idea how much this all means to me."

"We're stopping at a bazaar tomorrow so we'll do what we can today and head out there in the morning."

After assessing what needed to be done on the internal parts, I found Kai's handiwork to be extremely above par. Compared to what I've seen done on the ship, we might just have ourselves a new mechanic. I laughed at myself for thinking any less of Kai's work to begin with.

However, with our destination in mind, I thought twice about fixing up her ride for the time being. "You know… We're going to be passing by the Talon Academy in the next few days…"

Kai perked up, interested in the new topic. "Talon academy… I was almost going to enter that thing."

I laughed for a moment. "Here, come with me. I want to try an old idea out on the team…"

Walking her around the ship, I noticed it didn't take long to gather everyone in the bridge, knowing Stork wouldn't budge long enough to explain myself.

"Remember our last trip to the Talon academy?"

Radarr growled.

Piper seemed to like the idea already.

"I know it's been done and we can't go back…" I urged Kai to come out from behind me. She couldn't hide… She had to learn to be a part of this team. I took a seat at the circular table, everyone following not too long after.

"Dude, we can't go back. Your cover was blown and I doubt a Chroma crystal would bother with you two again," Finn laughed.

Lifting up a small box of crystals from the floor, Piper rummaged through it. "I don't think we have any functioning Chroma crystals left anyway… I'm dissecting one, but it doesn't work anymore. Ah!" Piper pulled one from the box, an array of colors glowing from the cracks of glassy volcanic obsidian ((Look obsidian up. It's beautiful…)). What powered the crystal was a mystery, but it's origins from the volcanic Wastelands was nothing less than frightening.

When you think about the fact that a crystal like that originated from such a foreboding place, it's almost scary to think what else goes on beyond a human's ability to travel through there.

Taking the crystal, Piper warned me, "This one's extremely unstable. Chroma crystals should never be that color." It was true—I'd only ever seen the obsidian take on an odd silver color… Maybe it was a newly born crystal and color changed with age? Who was I kidding… I knew nothing of the science behind crystals.

I nodded, handing the crystal to Kai. "Do you know how to use one of these?"

Kai's hand lingered above the crystal before changing her mind, retracting her reach. "I… I'm not so sure I want to even touch that thing."

"What're you thinking? You're going to send a highly untrained girl into the Talon academy?!" Stork screeched. "That could have extremely disastrous effects… She could even be manipulated to the point of turning on us!"

Kai snorted. "Ha! I may not know much about the Cyclonians but I know enough not to trust them!"

"How does she not know about the Cyclonians?" Piper muttered to herself.

Kai huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Look… before we can even consider this, we have to have a plan. I want to send Kai into the academy no matter your opinions. And, let's face it, our last encounter with a batch of talons didn't exactly go so well and we have a new, untapped resource."

Finn stifled back a laugh, along with Kai.

Rolling my eyes at the implied joke, I continued on with a sigh. "We have new means of communication and we'll have to use anything we can get our hands on to protect her if things go wrong. New or otherwise, Kai is now a part of the team."

I felt bad for springing any plans onto Kai, her only having been here a few hours.

"Since Piper and I can't go with you…" I hummed thinking it through. There was no rhyme or reason to send her in other than for information and she was untrained. It was impractical to send her there alone, but what choice did we have?

"Um…," Finn raised a hand. "I could go with her."

Finn could get himself into quite a bit of trouble unsupervised… I wasn't sure if I could trust him alone with Kai anyway. A new girl on the team, another chance to score—that was his mindset.

"I'll consider it."

Kai grumbled a few profanities at the idea.

"Stork, set a course for the Talon academy. If we don't have every inch planned out by the time we arrive, I'm calling it off."

The team, not all too surprisingly, was quite content with the idea. As long as it was planned…

"Assuming Finn goes with her, they'll have to fly in together. Taking one of the Skimmers is a dangerous and potentially cover-blowing action. With her Switchblade, it's a much more plausible idea. They may take the bike, I'm not sure."

Kai cringed. "I'm not letting them touch my bike. It's mine. A hell of a lot of work went into that thing!"

"I'm just saying… I don't entirely think freshmen are allowed sky rides, especially at your age. You can retrieve it in your escape."

"Aerrow," Piper chipped in. "She can't just walk out. The only way to leave is to take it by force, causing her cover and Finn's to be blown. We'll almost be wasting our time there."

I shook my head. "So long as we come back with some information, it's never a waste."

"At what cost?" Kai asked. "My life, possibly?"

"No… at the chance that the Dark Ace may show up."

Finn laughed. "I doubt he'll show his ass."

Kai slapped the back of Finn's head.

"If he shows up, that's our ticket in."

"If not?" Piper asked.

"Then you two will have to get whatever information you can without him," I nodded.

"So, uh, how are we going to get in?" Finn asked.

"Kai has a Switchblade and the only people with access to those are Junkyard salesmen, Talons, and younger generations of talons."

"Ah! What if she is a family member of a talon?"

"A famous talon!" Finn laughed.

Junko laughed as well. The idea was quite outlandish. "How about Dark Ace?"

"Does he even have any living relatives?"

"She could be his sister. Like… a long-lost one," Finn laughed.

Piper sighed. "No known relatives…"

"That could be a good thing, but could back-fire too," I nodded.

"Guys, don't I have a say in this?" Kai slammed her hands down on the table, capturing all of our attention.

We instantly went back to planning it out.

Kai sighed, sitting back down.

"What about his daughter?"

Kai burst out in laughter.

I glanced over.

"The guy's too young to have a daughter my age."

We all watched her for a moment. Wasn't this the girl that knew almost nothing about Cyclonia?

"If there is any Cyclonian I know about, it's him. The Dark Ace is twenty six, and unless he was able to reproduce when he was twelve, I doubt I could pose as his daughter.

We all hummed, continuing to think. "Well, the only other route is to actually be truthful—she's the daughter of a mechanic who had a clunker Switchblade. "

Kai looked at me. "Or we could just not mention it."

Finn laughed. "There's a thought."

"First things first," I continued. "Tomorrow, we will go to the bazaar and get whatever else we need, including armor, parts, and supplies to fix up Kai's bike when we're through with the academy. We also need to get something that constitutes as a uniform for Kai."

Finn looked at her. "She looks fine to me."

"…Trust me, Finn, though it may distract a Talon, it's not entirely practical."

Kai protested, "Hey! I can move just fine wearing this!" she pointed out her shorts and tank top.

"It's still impractical," I noted.

"This crystal is still very unstable, Aerrow. I could try to stabilize it but who knows what kind of effects it will have."

"Chroma crystals are unlikely to surface at the bazaar so we'll have to settle for what we have."

"It's not dangerous, is it?" Kai asked.

"It's only dangerous if the crystal is shattered while in use or if it's unstable."

Kai whimpered.

"It'll be fine…," I reassured her.

"Can we get on with it?" Finn asked, beginning to grow bored.

I nodded. "The plan is, once we get there, to have you two attend," I told them, settling with the fact that Kai needed someone there, and Finn was the only man for the job. Finn quietly cheered to himself. "Once in the academy, you'll have to keep a story straight. Finn, you'll need a name. Trust me, you don't want to get stuck on that question after the fact. And none of your bullshit names, okay?"

Finn grumbled, sliding down in his chair.

Though his nicknames may fit a superhero, he's not tempering with the laws of physics today.

"How about Bob?" Kai joked.

"Might as well call me 'Stupid,'" he muttered.

Stork nodded. "That one sounds fine."

Now angered, Piper kept Finn back from Stork by his shoulders. Once he was calm, we resumed brainstorming.

"I know!" Kai chimed. "I'll be… Zaria!"

Piper and Junko agreed it fit her well.

She smiled. "Yay! I think it's a very pretty name too."

"How about Jared?" Finn asked.

"I don't know…," Kai mumbled. "It doesn't seem to fit where you come from."

"Precisely," he winked.

"It's a good idea not to stick with your origins here," I reminded her.

"Ahh…," she nodded. "Jared sounds fine. Zaria and Jared…"

"You two were meant to be together!" Piper joked, laughing.

"Oh shut up, I was kidding," Kai laughed.

I joined in, laughing as well. "Okay, okay… If you two are flying in together you'll need an excuse."

"Brother and sister, maybe?" Kai added.

Finn sighed. "Not entirely what I had in mind, but it could work."

I rolled my eyes. "Finn, I have to talk to you later about just exactly what you had in mind."

Kai giggled. "Oooh, you're going to get iiiiit."

I sighed. This was growing to be more of a joke than a time to plan out something extremely serious.

"Dude, do we really have to plan everything out? The only reason we were planning initially was because she was going in alone! I'm going with her, I know the ropes, can we say case closed already?"

A moment of silence.

I nodded. "Fine. But, I swear, if Kai gets one scratch while she's down there I'm going to rip your head from your body and shove it up your—"

"God, Aerrow, I'll be fine. I can handle myself."

"I'm not worried that you can't handle yourself, I'm worried that the Talon instructors can't keep their mouths shut. Trust me, it wasn't a pleasant experience when I was there. They will drill you into the ground leaving you with broken bones, tears, and bleeding palms."

Finn laughed at another implied theme.

"Damn it, Finn! One more time and I swear—"

Kai and Piper stood up to restrain me.

"Aerrow!" Kai growled.

"What are you getting so worked up about?!" Piper asked, her hands gripping my arm, as were Kai's on my other.

Kai's hands trailed down to my hand, trying to console me.

"… We're done here. You can go now," I walked off, a million thoughts swirling through my head.

Kai and Piper stood behind me, speechless and answerless from the scene that just unfolded.