osmicsafe74 asks: Can you upgrade the Arwings?

SnowLucario answers: I don't know. I think that they could, potentially. Maybe they will be.

My profile reached 2,000 views!

A decent length, at well over five thousand words, I should think. I hope you find this chapter very interesting.

Also, when I finish writing this, I will begin a collection of Percy Jackson one-shots that will be archived here. I will take prompts through PM, and sickfics are greatly preferred. This really will be more of a side project, because I intend to write a sequel to Wing And A Scare. You will know when this begins if you are following me.

As for when...I'm done with all but the last chapter. But the last chapter will take a while, due to its likely length. On Friday, I blew an opportunity to write when I was undergoing a 3-hour test at the hospital. I would easily have been able to had I brought my new laptop that I got for Christmas, since the hospital does have Wi-Fi. I decided not to, though, because I have severe OCD and would not want to get sick from someone at the hospital. As to why I was there...if you PM me I might tell you.

WILLOW'S POV

It had been three days and three nights since Konstantin's random outburst at his welcoming ceremony. He'd sung "Born In The U.S.A.", and expected it to earn him a spot in the good graces of the Cornerians.

In my opinion, that was pretty idiotic. I had heard that he was going to receive a detention as a result of his actions, and I knew that if we got caught doing what we were doing right now, Lucas and I were also going to face a detention.

Right now, I was sitting with Lucas under the stars. It was so beautiful, and I loved his face so much, that it was hard to imagine anything other than a happy ending for us. The wind was cold, but I didn't care. We were with each other, and there was nobody to interrupt us, at least in this one moment. We were holding hands the whole time, just appreciating the raw beauty.

"You know", Lucas said, "I wouldn't expect to see as many stars as this in such a futuristic city planet. I guess that the Cornerians must have cleaner technology".

"I know" I said.

It was well past midnight according to my watch. In the morning, Lucas would be allowed to go to Aquatics again, the first physical class he would be allowed to participate in since his incident on the mountain. It was hard to believe that it had only been a week since then. So much had changed.

"You know, when I look up at those stars, I feel like we're gonna get it. Get it together".

Lucas snorted. "You mean that song by Coldplay? Up & Up?"

"How did you know that?" I asked, looking at him.

"Dude, my dad fucking loves Coldplay. He owns every album, and I just wish that-".

He didn't need to finish the sentence. I agreed with him to the point that I wasn't even annoyed by him using a swear word. We all resented our parent's decisions to sell us here.

"I'm your family now, Lucas" I said. "You can take me or leave me, but I am the closest thing you have".

"I'm not breaking up with you anytime soon, Willow Foster. I can definitely see a future between us. I might have Asperger's, but we are going to make this thing work. And we are going to kick some Anglar ass while we're at it".

I laughed a little at the nonchalant way Lucas had said that. I loved how he was able to inject some humor into our current situation on the war, however dire it might be.

We continued sitting there, not saying anything, until Lucas pulled me into a hug. I saw no reason to protest, so I allowed him to cuddle me on the roof. It didn't feel like he was taking over me or anything, so I welcomed it. It was nice to be embraced by someone for the first time in over a month.

"Lucas, please tell me that you will never do another mission like that again".

Lucas looked at me seriously. "If people's lives are at stake, I feel that I have a moral obligation to. Besides, I don't want to just spend all of my time here. So what if I end up in the hospital wing hooked up to an IV, or dead? At least I got that adventure in, you know?"

"You're clearly braver than me, Lucas" I said.

"I'm not perfect, though" he said. "For instance, in social situations I can often talk very much about my own interests. It's not a very good quality of mine, is it?"

"No, it isn't, but I can help you work through it, can't I?" I asked him.

"Maybe sometime, some other day. Right now, I just want to appreciate this night. It might be the last one in a while. Truth be told, I think that it's too risky to do this routinely".

"I agree" I told him. "That's why I think that it's important to enjoy right now as much as possible. Hopefully, we won't get caught".

Luckily, we didn't get caught. I managed to reach my dormitory and creep in there without waking up any of the other girls. I put on my nightshirt before getting into bed.

However, sleep was a long way off. It was hard for me not to be borderline euphoric about tonight, and how it was one of the best nights I had had ever since coming here. I was just grateful to have been given the opportunity.

When your boyfriend almost died a week ago, you really do rethink your priorities.

I pondered this even more as, after what must have been two hours of tossing and turning, I fell asleep.

LUCAS'S POV

The next morning, I woke up, having gotten only five hours of sleep. Normally, I got at least seven, so I would be operating on a two-hour sleep deficit. I could only hope that there were no outward signs of this, because if there were my goose might be cooked.

I went down to breakfast with my roommates, which now included Konstantin. Ever since he had started here, he had gotten more and more withdrawn and sullen. This wasn't surprising, given what we knew already about his hatred of the place. I mean, flipping off the Cornerian flag is quite a gesture!

Breakfast on the morning of January 19, 201Y was a veritable buffet once again. I didn't know what it was celebrating, but I was glad nonetheless. Fruit salad, bagels, waffles, pastries, muffins, bacon, sausages, fruit juice...it was all there. I was definitely glad to be a part of this.

I could tell that Konstantin was thinking about his upcoming detention, which said something considering that I have a hard time picking up on what other people are thinking on occasion. That is just what I am like.

He didn't seem worried or angry about it. On the contrary, he seemed to be looking forward to it. I didn't know how I would be able to tell that, but it was just what I picked up on.

After breakfast, we returned to clean up our dorm room, which I had to admit was pretty messy. I wouldn't have wanted to live there myself if it was not going to be cleaned up. For someone who hates doing his household chores, that is also saying something.

But today, I wasn't too pissed off at the amount of cleaning I had to do. Reason being, there was another big thing that was going on today.

My first class was Aquatics, and it was the first day that I was allowed to take part in any physical classes since the mission. I was most certainly looking forward to it, because I wanted to prove that the avalanche had not turned me into an invalid.

Once we were there, the instructor helped me to perfect my front crawl. I could remember any number of lifeguards trying to help teach me this stroke better.

While it is helpful in order to swim faster, I never saw the point of learning such specific and fancy strokes. Isn't it just important to be able to swim well enough to keep yourself and others alive? Apparently not, as I would soon learn.

After this, we were going to move onto the next thing, something that, as I had seen on Surviving The Cut, was used in training for Marine Recon forces. It was called drown-proofing, and it's about as fun as it sounds.

"All right, class" the instructor said. "I know it doesn't sound that fun, but you're going to need it for some situations in the future, in all probability. You knew what you were getting into when you signed up for this".

I could barely keep myself from gasping. That was one of the most dishonest things I had ever heard anyone say. Wouldn't the instructor be aware of the fact that none of us had ever elected to go here? Rather, she was acting like we had just made the decision to serve in the military of a fictional planet in an alternate dimension, and we should have known that.

Well, obviously we hadn't, but the instructor was either in denial or deliberately lying to us.

In any case, we were each made to swim twenty-five yards underwater to the other side of one of the smaller pools, which was not something that I had ever done before. Like I've said, I'm not good at holding my breath underwater for an extended period of time. For whatever reason, I simply do not have the lung capacity required.

"Well, class, it should be no problem. It's mind over matter. As long as you don't mind, it doesn't matter".

Except that it wasn't simply a case of mind over matter for many of those people.

I was the first one to dive underwater in order to do my length of the smaller pool. I used my breaststroke, trying to make sure that my legs stayed below the surface of the water (any contact with the surface would disqualify me).

In the end, I managed to touch the other end of the pool and resurface without any trouble. It wasn't like nobody else had problems, though. Will actually lost consciousness at the bottom of the pool, and he had to be resuscitated by the instructor. After that, he was taken over to the infirmary, where he would stay overnight.

Overall, though, our group did pretty well, and I was pleased. I had managed to reintegrate myself into this group after several weeks of not being part of it.

I was going to be able to get back with the classes, hopefully.

KONSTANTIN'S POV

The day the black boy, Will, returned from the infirmary was also the day on which I was supposed to serve my detention. I had considered, as a "fuck you" to them, not showing up, but I knew that would only get me another detention. I didn't want to do that, as much as I might hate these people.

And so, I was going to go and serve my detention, just like I had earned.

At 8:00, after the evening meeting, I walked down to Katt's office, which was pointed out with magenta arrows, similar to the red Swiss crosses that led the way to the medical area. I had a feeling that I would not like what waited for me there. And, sure enough, I was not disappointed.

When I got there, Katt was staring right into my soul with those crazy indigo eyes. She looked like she was going to enjoy punishing me, and that strengthened my resolve that, no matter what she did, I would never give her the satisfaction of knowing that she managed to break me or whatever. She was not going to get the slightest hint that she was affecting me. This, I was determined about.

"Good evening, Konstantin" she said in a voice reminiscent of Dolores Umbridge when she is making Harry write with the Blood Quill. I knew that what was in store for me was going to be painful.

As it turned out, it was only going to be mentally painful, not physically painful. But I would not have been surprised if she had had a Blood Quill, with just how toxic her expression looked.

"Good evening, Katt" I said.

She dropped a stack of papers in front of me.

"This", she said, "is a stack of letters from...others, that I wish you to sort out for me. You need to sort them out in alphabetical order, based on the names of the people who sent them to me. You'll have a pile of each letter from A to Z, and you then need to put them in alphabetical order within the piles. Then, put them all in order, and move onto the next set. You wouldn't believe how much paperwork is involved in this biz".

The stack of papers must have been a foot tall, I'm not kidding. I knew that it was going to take a while to sort out.

Looking at the clock, I hoped that Katt would only keep me for four hours, until midnight, like she was supposed to. But who could tell if she would go back on that promise if I didn't manage to finish everything by that time?

There wasn't enough space for twenty-six piles all in a row, so I made a five-by-five square with an additional spot in the upper right for the F pile. Once I had gotten that done, using Post-it notes that she provided me with, I turned my attention to the menacing pile of papers before me.

At the top, I could see the last name of the person there. I was meant to sort them according to last name, not first name, so if I came across any from my family, it would go to the B pile. Any from Lucas's family would go to the E pile. It was that simple.

This was a very quick process, really. It took me only five or so seconds to identify the last name and stick it on the specified pile. Twelve letters a minute wasn't that bad, but I still wanted to know how long I was going to be here?

"Hey, Katt?" I asked her as she was biting into a meatball sub.

"Yeah?" she said, coming up to breathe.

"How long do I have to stay here?"

She gasped. "You mean you don't want to stay here, my little kitten?"

That did it. My hands sprang up, and I ripped one of the letters in the C pile.

Katt gasped again. "Oh no, you don't! Tape that back together right now, please!"

I did, and then I continued to work. It was really quite monotonous when it came down to it. See the last name, put it in its proper pile, rinse and repeat.

Every so often, Katt added a few more papers onto my stack, which I would have to sort through first before getting to the rest of them. This made the job take far longer than it needed to. She even took the clock out of the room so that I couldn't see for how long I had been working.

Finally, at what must have been one in the morning, I reached the bottom of the pile, and Katt did not add any more onto it.

"Well, sugar, it's done. But that is only half the job, you realize. You still need to sort the ones in each pile".

Fuck.

It took me varying amounts of time to arrange each pile, but it was probably at least three or four AM by the time I had finished. Then, I simply slid the Y stack on top of the Z stack, the X on top of the Y, the W on top of the X, and so on, until all twenty-six piles had been stacked back in alphabetical order.

"Sugar, you are finished. With a time of seven hours, twenty-four minutes, and fifty-five seconds, you have completed your task. You may go".

I did just that, leaving Katt's magenta office without so much as a backward glance.

LUCAS'S POV

Konstantin never did talk about his detention to me, but I could tell that it had been something exhausting. I myself had fallen asleep easily, bushed from such a physical day, but when we all woke up for breakfast we could see that Konstantin had bags under his eyes. What had he done with Katt Monroe?

For the most part, though, it was relatively forgotten. On the other hand, Konstantin just deciding to sing Bruce Springsteen in the middle of the evening meeting was not something that would get out of people's heads easily. Again, though, it would probably fade with time.

However, two mornings after Konstantin's detention, something would happen that none of us were ever likely to forget.

Through the fog of sleep, I could hear a very annoying beeping sound. It was as loud as a fire alarm might be back at home...and then I realized that it was a fire alarm.

Well, not a fire alarm. We had been taught that the school had an alarm system just in case it was being attacked, or there was some other problem that was facing the school and would need to be resolved immediately.

This was most likely that alarm.

As I pondered what it could be in my mind, I heard the others stir as well. Seventy-Four, who had his own bunk, was the only one not taking part in the discussion that soon ensued. He'd been isolating himself just as much, if not more, than Mike Kirk, and I could only wonder why. Maybe it had something to do with the reason he wore his gas mask all the time.

In any case, there was complete pandemonium in the dormitory.

"Lucas! Check the window!" Will yelled at me.

I leapt out of bed and to the window. I pulled the blinds back up, and what I saw was absolutely terrifying.

Three fish people were climbing up the windows. It was very clear that they were Anglars, and they must have wanted us dead. I wasn't going to let that happen, not without a fight.

"Everybody run!"

We were all still in our pajamas, Mike still wearing his tighty whities that he seemed to always sleep in, but that didn't matter to us. Our clothes were replaceable- our lives were not.

We got out of the dorm room and began racing down the stairs. All the way to the dining room, we didn't stop running. We didn't know if any of the Anglars had managed to breach the walls of the school, but we didn't want to risk that. None of us wanted to die. Not when we still had so much life left to live.

After going down the mustard yellow, crimson red, indigo, butterscotch orange, seafoam blue, and jungle green tunnels, we reached the hangar. Considering that I had fainted the first time I had piloted a flight simulator, I couldn't say I hadn't improved. But I still had no confidence that I would be able to fly us out of here, or indeed that anyone would be able to.

Except for Katt Monroe, who had already arrived there and seemed to be waiting for us.

"What's going on?" Cole asked frantically, looking for an answer.

"The Anglar army has discovered us here. We're not safe; we'll have to pack up, go to our other place. But it's not like we can do this without the other students!"

"Why are they so dangerous?" Seventy-Four asked, which surprised all of us. He was a man of few words, so nobody had expected him to speak at a moment like this.

"The Anglars are deathly poisonous. We do have antidote, but I'd rather we didn't need it. Dr. Howler is ready just in case. But we need everyone else to come down here so we can leave, and we need Falco to lead us!"

"Where is Falco?" Will asked.

"I don't know, but he's probably coming as soon as he can. You know, they have probably managed to get in through a window. We're not safe here anymore".

"You already said that" Cole pointed out.

"Look, guys, that's not important! We need to see how many more students come in here, and how many might end up needing rescuing".

As soon as she had said that, a veritable river of people came in through the door, flooding the room. Surely that must have been most of the rest of the school, there were so many of them.

It was a good thing there were so many ships.

"Falco's the only one who knows how to pilot our mother ship, the Great Fox. Fox himself is not here right now, so we're going to have to send someone in to find him" Katt said.

This was after pretty much everyone else was safely in the hangar. As she had said, the Great Fox was ready on the runway, but we needed Falco Lombardi in order to leave and head to the alternate location. If we didn't do that, we were fucked, essentially.

"I'm going to do it" I said, throwing my hand in the air.

"Really? I seem to remember that the last time you volunteered for a mission, you ended up unconscious under many feet of snow" she said. However, I could tell that she thought I was going to be fit to do it. Maybe she did see some potential in me after all.

"Lucas! Don't!" Cole cried. "It's not worth it".

"Yes, it is!" I yelled back. "Without Falco, we're all going to die. I need to get him if he's being held captive by the Anglars".

"Cool" Katt said. "Hey, Lucas, catch!"

Katt threw a six-inch blade towards me like a Frisbee. I'm not the most coordinated person, so I didn't know what she was thinking. To my surprise, though, I managed to catch it.

"Sorry, Lucas. This is a knife that you might need to use on one of the Anglars. It's my favorite weapon for ground combat".

I could tell, based on Katt's flight jacket, that she was probably in a lot of ground combat. It was tattered and frayed in many places, but she still wore it. Not surprising, given what I knew about her.

I turned around and bolted back into the school.

It was getting more and more crowded in the hallways, since the Anglars had evidently managed to penetrate some of the walls of the school. The people inside would no longer be safe from them.

I had no idea where Falco's office was, if that was indeed where he was being held captive, if he indeed was being held captive.

After I turned a corner, I was shocked by what I heard. It was not Falco Lombardi's voice, but it was something hilarious.

The voice of Right Said Fred, a cheesy '90s British band, was playing. I tried to ascertain the direction from which it was coming, thinking that if there was music there would probably be someone listening to it.

However, when I searched around myself, I noticed that there was no way to tell. Perhaps it was one way, but I would try to go in a different direction to see if it got louder or quieter, at least from my own perspective.

I tried not to laugh as I passed by more Anglars. One took a swipe at my leg with its fish mouth, but it didn't connect. Thankfully, as I knew that pure Venomian venom (that's kind of weird to say) was not something that I wanted in my body.

The song was definitely coming from my right. However, the only available path was to go to the left. Therefore, I'd need to go to the left and then make two right turns, and then probably a third, in order to get to the source of "I'm Too Sexy". Was Falco listening to it?

It was really quite appropriate that we got to the part about doing his little turn on the catwalk, whatever that means, at this moment. This was because I was now on the catwalk that went above the med lab for the school. It looked very comprehensive, with conveyor belts and everything.

As I ran past refrigerators where medications were probably being kept cool, the song became more noticeable. I had no doubt now that I was going in the right direction.

At the end of this stanza, I came to a door that read F. LOMBARDI. I pulled on it, and entered.

Falco's quarters were a lot nicer than I would expect. The couch and walls were in a navy blue color with yellow, orange, and red trimming on the edges. This really fit well with his coloring similar to a tropical bird. It was similar to Katt's quarters being magenta.

There were actually rumors that the two of them were in love, with the amount that they argued with each other, but I personally didn't believe that for a second. That was just for thirteen-year-old loners who liked to write erotic fanfiction, in my honest opinion.

And, on the other side of the room...was Falco. He was wearing green boxer-briefs, and just that. And...he was dancing around, like he was imagining someone next to him holding his hands.

He was dancing...to "I'm Too Sexy". Yep.

Falco definitely seemed to think that he was too sexy, as he leapt into the air and spun around like a ballet dancer. However, I didn't think he was graceful at all.

"Falco!" I said, trying to get his attention.

He was still dancing while watching Fred dance around in his mesh shirt. I wished that I could get him to see sense, but he seemed so enamored by himself, and the fact that he found the song so fucking catchy.

I couldn't manage to get him to pay any attention to me until the song was over. Only then did he seem to notice that there was anybody near him.

"Oh, hey, Lucas. What's up, I've got Rick Astley next so will you please hurry up?"

"We're being attacked by Anglars!" I shouted, because I wanted to convey the gravity of the situation to him.

That sure got his attention.

He turned to me, looking shocked. "Let's go. Do we need to evacuate the premises?"

I looked at him gravely. "Yeah. And you're the only one who can fly the Great Fox, right?"

"That is correct. We need to go!"

On the way back to the hangar, Falco seemed to be trying to use me as a human shield. This was pretty selfish-sounding to me, considering that I was his student and it was his job to protect me.

Eventually, I called him out on this. Over the noise of fish people growling, I yelled, "Why are you using me as a meat shield? You realize that you're the teacher here!"

"I'm sorry, Lucas! You do realize that if I get bitten on the way, I'm going to pass out from the poison and you won't be strong enough to carry me. Besides, they need me in order to fly the damn thing!"

We reached the mustard yellow hallway. Just five more, and we'd be in the hangar.

"Everyone else is already there" I said. "Mrs. Hooter, Dr. Howler, everyone. We've been waiting on you for forever. We were worried sick about all of us!"

"Well, I didn't hear the Anglars outside my room! So excuse me!"

After a time, I felt them nipping at my heels. Falco was managing to get a little ahead of me.

"Pick up the pace, Enfield! Personally, I prefer the air!"

We reached the seafoam blue hallway when I suddenly began to feel faint. It was something I had felt before, and it made me a little slower. Falco was still trying to keep with me, so that I no longer felt that he was using me as a meat shield.

"I feel a little dizzy, Falco!" I shouted, but it came out as a normal indoor voice. The truth sunk in, a brutal silver bullet.

As we reached the jungle green hallway, I considered it appropriate due to the poison that was no doubt coursing through my system at this very moment.

"Are you going to pass out?" Falco asked. He sounded like we were underwater. I knew then that the answer to that question was a resounding yes.

I pitched forward, but not before I felt Falco's feathery arms envelop me as he prevented me from hitting the ground. And that was that.

At least for a while.

The next thing I remember is feeling a needle exit my leg, except that it was still a little murky back then. I must have gone back to the abyss for a little bit after that.

A few minutes later, I came to again to find a very different person standing over me. It wasn't a tropical bird, it was a Bengal tiger.

Dr. Howler.

"Why do you have to interrupt my sleep, Dr. Howler?" I asked, trying for a joke.

She didn't seem to appreciate it. "You were fast, Lucas, but not fast enough. One of them got your leg"- she pointed to a long bandage running up the length of my left leg- "and Falco carried you into the Great Fox".

"Wow, that's embarrassing" I said.

"I injected you with the proper antidote, but the area is going to be sore for quite a few days to come. The Venomian toxin is very potent, and yet it is also very easy to counteract".

"That's good".

Dr. Howler backed away a little bit. "We're going, right now, to the backup location for the school. One of your dorm mates is...well, I don't want to say it right here. We're going to be there in about twenty minutes. How are you feeling".

"Other than a slight post-workout-like ache from my left leg, I feel like a million bucks. Let's see this new place".

COLE'S POV

That night, we were directed to one of the common rooms in the new location. It was really quite large and ornately decorated like one of the country clubs in the suburbs of Detroit. Not like I should know, of course, since I was an inner-city kid, but that's just what I imagined it might look like.

Considering that there were over two hundred of us in the room, it was a very tight fit. However, it did work out eventually.

When Lucas stood next to me, I saw that he had a large bandage on his left leg.

"Hey, Lucas, what happened to your leg?" I asked.

My friend rubbed his leg like it was bothering him. "I'll tell you later, but the rest of the story still needs to be told first".

Just then, Bill Grey came into the room. He ordered students who roomed together to stand with each other, so that everyone could be kept track of. Therefore, Will, Mike, and Seventy-Four were in our group. There was no sign of Konstantin.

"I bet that you are all wondering what happened today with the Anglar attack" Bill said.

There wasn't a single person who didn't nod.

"Well, our intelligence is suggesting that someone from within the school ordered them to come. There was a spy there, somewhere. We don't know who it is, but we'll need to remain vigilant, because it might be in this room. Or, it might be the person we have already apprehended".

I had a sinking feeling that I knew who it was.

"Who is it, Bill?" a boy wearing a yellow shirt and blue pants asked.

Bill looked seriously at me and my group before answering.

"Konstantin Brockenbough".

I don't know why, but I pictured Dr. Howler as a giraffe during this chapter, even though I know she's a Bengal tiger. I imagined her as looking like that one from Animal Crossing, even though I don't even PLAY that game.

This was a hilarious chapter, in my opinion. And it's pretty good in terms of length. I have an official SnowLucario playlist on my YouTube channel if you want to check it out. It's the songs I like to listen to when writing.