And here's part 2! Some people have expressed interest in seeing the Jaegers and Storm Hawks meeting. Of course we've been thinking about that, but so far all we've got it how they'd meet at first. As for any sort of mini-adventure/team up, we haven't thought of anything yet. So if you've got some ideas, shoot them our way!

"The ship is empty. There is no sign of the helmsman aboard," reported one of the NightCrawlers.

"Are you sure you searched the ship thoroughly?" the leader hissed.

"Yes," answered the second NightCrawler.

"Hm, well he couldn't have gotten far. Their helmsman must be nearby. Ha, what could their helmsman possibly do? You place too much faith in your underlings," he mocked to Osprey.

"Teammates, not underlings," she corrected. "And you don't know our helmsman."

The leader heard the quiet hum of an engine and noticed the black glider in the distance. "I thought you said you all came back from their ship! It's one of ours, but I only sent the two of you to investigate their ship," he said, noticing that the approaching craft was a NightCrawler Skimmer. The Skimmer landed and braked to a halt. The rider hung his head low, but Lily Ray could just make out the long white ponytail and strand of white and red hair hanging out from the hood.

"Hey, isn't that?" she started, before she was quietly silenced by Osprey.

The rider stepped off the Skimmer before walking up to face the lead NightCrawler. He stopped before slowly raising his head.

"KRANE?" Crow, Basil and Ray shouted in unison.

"Well, well, well, look at what the cat dragged in," the leader hissed. When Krane said nothing and simply continued to stare at the leader, he continued speaking. "What? Still taking that 'vow of silence'?"

"Krane, you're a NightCrawler?" Basil cried in surprise.

"Oh? This is the new crew you're running with? Haha! You're their helmsman? Tell me, Krane, did you ever tell them about the crowd you used to run with?" Again, Krane didn't answer.

"Krane, what's this hoser talkin' about, eh?" Ray asked.

"You don't know? Krane here, your 'helmsman' used to be one of us! And he was just one of us; he was the best, he was our leader!"

"WHAT?" they exclaimed.

"That's right! You see, back in the day, my old friend, Krane, here and I were part of the Terra Neon circus. We got recruited into the NightCrawlers together and rose to the top of their ranks. Krane became out leader and I, his lieutenant. But somewhere along the way, Krane got soft; he got WEAK! He started feeling bad for everything we did and made the decision to leave. But he was oh so noble and tried to get me to come with him. But I wasn't a weakling like him! I knew that serving Master Cyclonis as a NightCrawler was the highest honour any Atmosian could hope for! You were an idiot to throw it all away Krane! And they chose me to replace you," he grinned maliciously. "You picked the losing side, Krane! What did you think? That you'd be able to just march up to me and my NightCrawlers to rescue your friends? I'll tell you what, just to give you a slim fighting chance, we won't use our crossbows. How's that sound?" he taunted. He turned to his NightCrawlers and waved his hand, ordering them to attack.

The NightCrawlers descended onto Krane. As the black hoods nearly blotted out the spot of white hair, there were sudden flashes of blue light flashing from the horde. Krane dodged, kicked and elegantly danced his way across the area, firing paralyzing bolts from his crossbows, which instantly froze the NightCrawlers they hit in place. Within a matter of minutes, the other NightCrawlers were frozen in place with a faint blue glow surrounding their bodies. Krane looked back to the lead NightCrawler, who casually clapped his hands.

"Very impressive, Krane. It seems that fighting for the Sky Knights hasn't made you lose your edge," he complimented, strutting up to Krane who readied himself for another attack. Once the two got close to each other, they simultaneously moved to attack, but each strike that one made was easily blocked by the other. For minutes this repeated over and over, nearly one able to land a hit on their target until…

Krane felt his head pull back as the NightCrawler leader yanked on his long, white ponytail roughly. Krane lost his footing and the leader took his chance to trip Krane onto the ground. He felt the air rush out of his lungs as he landed on the dirty ground, but before he could turn over and pull himself up, the leader placed his foot over Krane's chest and pushed him back down, using his weight to pin the ex-NightCrawler in place.

"You know what this is, don't you?" he hissed, holding an oval shaped, dark purple crystal in his fingertips. "This was Master Cyclonis' gift to me the day I took over as leader of the NightCrawlers. She gave it to me on the condition that I use it on the disgraced warrior we once called our leader. There was no need for her to tell me so. I already knew I wanted to use it on you." Krane narrowed his eyes and said nothing, which only angered the leader more. "Still? Still you have nothing to say? You turned your back on us, our empire and everything we stood for! And now you will get everything that is coming to you!" The leader outstretched his hand that held the Oblivion crystal and squeezed it tightly as the crystal began glowing. A bright purple light shot from the crystal to Krane as his caged teammates cried out. However, when the lied faded, Krane remained unharmed. "What? But how?" he cried in astonishment.

Krane took advantage of his enemy's loss of focus and blasted him in the chest with his crossbow. The leader fell back onto the ground roughly as he lost his grip on the Oblivion crystal at it fly into the air. Krane pulled himself back onto his feet and caught the Oblivion crystal in his hand before walking over to the leader with his crossbow pointed out.

"An Oblivion crystal destroys your enemy in an instant, but it does not work on friends," Krane uttered.

"D-did Krane just… talk?" Ray asked.

"I… think he did," Crow answered.

"But we're not friends! Not anymore!" the leader shouted back.

"That doesn't matter. The crystal only cares if a friendship existed. I don't care what you choose to do with your life, Rail," Krane whispered grimly as he reached down and grasped Rail's collar tightly before pulling his old friend in close, "if you harm my friends again, I will make you wish we never left Terra Neon." Krane delivered a swift punch to Rail's face, instantly knocking him out as he released Rail's collar from his grip. Krane moved to the cage that held his friends and blasted the lock with his crossbow.

"Good job," Ossy commented as Krane gave her a curt nod in response.

"Krane! Why didn't you tell us you were a NightCrawler?" Ray exclaimed. But before Basil and Crow could join in on the questions, Ossy cut them off.

"Enough! We'll do what we came here to do and then when we're back on the Frigate, you can ask all the questions you want!" she ordered.

"So, questions?" Krane asked.

"Maybe you should start from the beginning," Crow suggested.

"Very well. You all know I used to be in the circus on Terra Neon?" he asked as they all nodded. "Well, my best friend at that time was Rail, who you now know as the leader of the NightCrawlers."

"That guy used to be your friend? How did that even happen?" Ray exclaimed.

"Ray, let him continue," Ossy said.

"Right, sorry."

"Life in the circus wasn't always the best. Everyone was always looking out for themselves and Rail and I were barely surviving. We were like brothers, looking out for one another, protecting each other. One day, the Cyclonians came. They were recruiting soldiers for their army and offered us power and prosperity. We were stupid children at the time and we didn't realize just what we were signing up for. Eventually, I became leader of the NightCrawlers," Krane continued as his hand lightly brushed over his old uniform. "For years, I believed I was doing good, I was so brainwashed into thinking the Cyclonians were meant to rule Atmosia. After each raid, I began to see what monsters the Cyclonians were and my part in helping them spread terror. I wouldn't have any part of it anymore. I tried to leave and Rail tried to stop me. I tried to convince him to leave with me, but my friend was too forgone. He was completely brainwashed into serving the Cyclonian Empire; he wasn't my brother anymore. I can't imagine what you all must think of me right now," Krane mumbled, hanging his head low.

"That's why you never let anyone in your room," Crow realized. "You were afraid of us finding out."

"Well, you're not a NightCrawler anymore, Krane! You're still a Jaeger!" Ray exclaimed, wrapping her arm around Krane's shoulders and bringing him close.

"We all have a past, sometimes one we're not proud of. I used to be one of the Raptors after all, and you all still gave me a chance," Basil added.

"Yeah! Ossy, you can't kick Krane off the team, you just can't!" Ray pleaded.

"The whole Frigate would fall apart without him!" added Crow.

"Relax," Ossy relieved them, "I already knew."

"WHAT?" the three of them exclaimed.

"Krane… was worried it would come out at some point, an obviously well-predicted worry, and he didn't want me to think the worst of him. He told me a few weeks after he joined so that there could be no doubts about him. He wanted me to hear it from him."

"…and you kept this from us?" Ray cried.

"It wasn't my secret to tell. I figured Krane would tell everyone once he was ready."

"Well after seeing the way you took down all those NightCrawlers, maybe you should get out of the Frigate and come with us on more missions, Krane," suggested Basil.

"Maybe… once in a while would be nice," Krane mused.

I think it's kinda weird writing Krane since I always imagined him being the character who almost never talks... but honestly, the rest of this chapter couldn't work without him talking. Still felt weird though lol