Part 2! Enjoy!
"Wow, your ship is incredible!" Piper said in awe with wide eyes as she admired the interior of the Jaegers' frigate.
"Well, that's why she's called the Magnificent Frigate!" Crow beamed.
"I don't recall inviting any of you on board," Ossy remarked as she crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.
"Aw, don't be such a hoser, Ossy!" Ray said, giving Ossy a playful smack on the arm. Ossy growled lightly before rubbing her arm.
"Fine, just don't touch anything!" Ossy warned.
"Turbo engines, four cylinder crystal turbine engine, omni-directional jib," Stork listed off, examining the ship.
"Hey! I said no touching!" Ossy shouted a second time.
"So, 'Ossy' huh?" Finn asked.
"You don't get to call me 'Ossy'. It's 'Osprey' or 'Fenix' to you!" Ossy glared at Finn, pulling out one of her katanas to emphasize that she meant business.
"Ok, ok, 'Fenix'," Finn whimpered, holding up his arms in defence.
"Well, uh, Fenix, I want to apologize again for the misunderstanding," Aerrow laughed nervously, holding out his hand for Ossy to shake.
Ossy simply stared at the hand and did not take it. "Don't let it happen again."
"We just thought that-" Piper started.
"Thought what? That because I'm a Raptor that I must automatically be one of Repton's lackeys?" Basil interjected.
"Well…" Piper stalled, trying to find the right way to organize her words.
"Next time, you should look past a person's species. And I suppose you completely glossed over the fact that I have our team's emblem tattooed on my chest!" Basil exclaimed, gesturing to the bright orange phoenix tattoo on his chest.
"Ehehe, an honest mistake?" Piper whimpered.
"Ok! I think its time for a change of topic! Krane, how about some snacks?" Ray suggested.
Krane pulled out a plate of cookies and set it on the main table in the bridge. "Ah, sweet! Cookies!" Finn and Junko exclaimed excitedly in unison. They pushed past everyone to get straight to the cookies before rapidly inhaling them.
"Ugh, your teammates are certainly… graceful," Ossy muttered.
"Ahaha, they're a lot better once you get to know them," Aerrow assured her, but she responded with silence.
"So, um, if you don't mind me asking, is it true that you guys singlehandedly fought off a Cyclonian invasion of Terra Tranqua?" Piper asked.
"You betcha!" Ray chirped.
"Oh oh! And is it true that you exposed an undercover Talon within the Sky Knight Academy and Council?"
"What is this, twenty questions?" Ossy asked.
"Sorry, it's just unbelievable to be in the presence of one of the best squadrons in all of Atmos!" Piper exclaimed.
"Eh-hem!" Piper turned around at the sound of Aerrow clearing his throat as her squadron all gave her inquisitive looks.
"Ehehe, what I mean to say is, you guys are practically living legends!" she burst excitedly.
"Sure, and how much do you know about us before we became a squadron?" Ossy asked.
"Uh…hm…" Piper started.
"Exactly! You claim to know everything about us, yet you know nothing about us!"
"Ossy, take it easy, she's just excited to meet you that's all," Crow said, pulling her back slightly by her shoulder.
"Whatever, this is a waste of time!" she groaned, pulling her shoulder from Crow's hand and walking out of the bridge.
"Yeesh, what crawled up her butt?" Finn scoffed.
"Hey, that's our leader you're talking about, eh!" Ray warned.
"Sorry, sorry, it's just that she seems so…so," Finn said, trying to find the words.
"Strict? It's not entirely her fault. She's… had it rough," Crow said.
"What happened? Before she became a Sky Knight, I mean?" Aerrow asked.
"Ossy and I grew up together; we've known each other since we were kids. It's funny actually, uh, when we were in grade school, I got picked on a lot. You know, bookworm," Crow said, rolling his eyes. "It was just another day when some jerks were messing with me when Ossy just burst in and saved me. Her hair was so bright and shining, like a phoenix…" Crow suddenly realized what he was saying and quickly moved on to another topic. "Anyway, uh, where was I? Right! We grew up together on Terra Blackburn."
"Terra Blackburn? But nobody lives there!" Piper exclaimed.
"Well yeah, not now! But people used to live there. You see a long time ago, like thousands of years ago, a phoenix rampaged across Terra Blackburn. That's how the Terra got its name: the phoenix scorched the earth so much that it was charred black. Eventually, the people that lived on the Terra made a deal with the phoenix: they would provide it regularly with food and in exchange the phoenix would no longer rampage over their lands. The phoenix agreed and presented the village leader with its Phoenix Crystal as a sign of it's honour in the deal. I'm a descendent of that family."
"Wow, that's an amazing story!" Piper squealed.
"A Phoenix Crystal… your family doesn't still have that, do they? What about the phoenix?" Aerrow asked.
"The phoenix willing gave my ancestors it's crystal, so we never had to worry about that. You see, a few years after Ossy and I met, Cyclonians attacked our home. They destroyed the village and Terra so badly that the earth could no longer support crops. Everyone had to leave. Ossy and I lost our families in the attack so we had nowhere to go. I actually swiped the Phoenix Crystal from our family's vault right before the attack to show it to Ossy; she always loved that crystal. Eventually, the two of us found our way to Terra Atmosia. Ossy decided to become a Sky Knight and I swore I'd never leave her side. So I got a job in the Academy's library to help pay for her tuition."
"And that's where I come in!" Ray interjected. "You see, I grew up with five brothers and all they were ever interested in was 'extreme!' And that just wasn't my scene. So I left for Atmosia to become a Sky Knight, you know, make a name for myself. Ossy and I were in the same training squad and we became best buddies!"
"So you're a Sky Knight too?" Junko asked.
"Actually, no. I dropped out of the Academy. I'm not sure what it was, but being a Sky Knight just didn't feel like my thing. It was always Ossy's thing; she was born to be a Sky Knight. So I left the Academy and did some soul searching, ran into Krane and came back in time for Ossy's graduation and official knighting ceremony! After that, she asked me to join her squadron and I just couldn't say no!"
"So Krane, what were you doing before you joined up with the Jaegers?" Aerrow asked.
Krane froze immediately and turned away, remaining silent.
"Uh, Krane doesn't really talk much," Crow said. "Uh…And we don't actually know a lot of what he did before he ran up with Ray! All we know is that he used to be a knife thrower in the Terra Neon circus," Crow insisted quickly.
"Terra Neon? That's cool, man!" Finn complimented.
"What about you Basil?" Aerrow asked.
"I was… running with a different crowd, so to speak," he hissed.
"He was one of the Raptors," Ray answered for him.
"RAY!" he shouted.
"What? We're all giving out our origin stories so you might as well share too!"
"So we were right!" Finn grinned.
"Technically yes, but I'm not with Repton anymore!" Basil insisted. "When Repton found out I was defecting, he and his lackeys chased after me. 'No one betrays Repton and lives to tell the tale.' That's how the Jaegers found me. They rescued me and after a while, they invited me to join the squadron."
"What made you leave? If you don't mind me asking, that is," Piper added quickly.
"Repton was harassing some of the Terradon scientists, as he always did on a regular basis. One of them however, refused to be Repton's slave any longer and tried to fight back, retaliate. So, Repton killed him. That's why I left."
"What's a big guy like you care about one Terradon scientist?" Finn asked.
"He was my cousin," Basil answered simply, earning an awkward silence from the Storm Hawks.
"Oh, I, I'm so sorry," Piper offer her condolences.
"It may be hard for you to believe, but family means something to me. And that wretched bastard took the only family I had left. My cousin and I were very close and for taking him from me, Repton will pay!" Basil muttered under his breath, tightly clenching his fist.
"So, what about you guys? What made you guys become the Storm Hawks?" Crow asked.
"Well, Finn, Piper, Radarr and I grew up on Terra Neverlandis after we lost our families. Junko was part of a group of kids that were harassing us before he joined up with us. Anyway, we found out that the old leader of the Storm Hawks, Lightning Strike, was my father. We found the Condor and Stork together and revived the squadron!" Aerrow explained, smiling to each of his friends as he recounted the story.
"Well, it's nice to know that I'm not the only ex-villain around here." As Basil spoke, Krane couldn't help but turn his head at Basil's words, glancing at his teammates briefly before turning away again.
Just then, Ossy reentered the bridge with a rolled up map clenched in her hands. "Guys, one of my contacts radioed in telling me that the Cyclonians have invaded a small Terra just a few clicks from here: Terra Concord," she explained, rolling out the map and pointing to a small Terra.
"Terra Concord? Only farmers live there, certainly not people who can fight!" Piper exclaimed.
"Then it looks like the Storm Hawks are needed!" Aerrow cried excitedly.
"Excuse me?" Ossy asked.
"Oh come on, it'll be great! Our squadrons teaming up? The Cyclonians won't stand a chance!" Aerrow added.
"I don't think so. I've seen how your team works and frankly, I'm not impressed. You can head back to your Condor now," she said, ushering them away with her hand.
"Ossy, a few extra hands might not be a bad idea," Crow reasoned.
"Fine, you can come along. But I'm in charge, is that understood?" Ossy said in a serious tone as she walked right up to Aerrow.
"All right, you're in charge!" he said with a nervous smile.
So, the Storm Hawks and Blackburn Jaegers will be teaming up ;) yay!