Chapter Four

Alice

I sat on the bed in the guest bedroom. It was comfy and roomy. Aerrow promised that we could paint it if I wanted that. I thanked him for that before Piper loaned me some pj's until we got to another terra. I smiled and dug through my backpack.

I pulled out the tome and began to read it again. I was learning and when that happened, the world around me would vanish. This left me at a disadvantage.

I would lose track of time and I was more vulnerable because I would forget to become more aware.

This lead me to getting the hell scared outta me.

"What's that?" Aerrow's voice questioned from beside me.

"WAAAH!" I shouted, dropping the book and jumping away quickly. I landed on the floor, shaking. "G-Geez! You scared me!" I stuttered.

Aerrow looked shocked as he was sitting on my bed. He slowly started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" I demanded, standing with my hands on my hips.

"Y-Your face!" He said, blushing as he laughed.

My eye twitched at that statement and I whipped around. I patted my face subconsciously.

"N-No! I don't mean it like that. I mean the expression when I scared you." I glared at him from over my shoulder, only to have the glare turn more into a freaked out stare when I realized how close he was.

I stared at him. He smiled and shrugged casually at me.

I growled and tackled him, running my fingers quickly up his sides. He started crying from laughing so hard as I tickled him.

"N-No! Stop!" He begged.

"Never!" I said, following the declaration up with an evil laugh.

Ace

"Maybe I'm not strong enough to allow someone like him die."

That was the Earth girl's voice.

I opened my eyes to find myself alone. I laid on the ground of Terra Xoam. How did I-

"Get on my back… It'll be easier for the both of us… You wanna die here? …Hold on."

"…I will…" I said aloud. I looked around and noticed that it was night. I propped myself up on my elbows as I sat up, wincing in pain. I remember now. "That girl…saved me?"

I got up, still wincing. I looked over and saw my skimmer in a twisted mass of metal. How it even ended up like that is beyond me.

I looked towards the sky. Why…would she save me?

Alice

"HEEEEELLLLP!" Finn's voice echoed, making me wake up instantly. I shot up and ran out the room. I heard his cry again.

"What's going on?" I shouted, running into the main room. I saw Finn…under his teammates. At least, he was under Junko, Radaar, and Aerrow. They were dog piling on him.

"Alice, help!" Finn begged.

"Tap out!" Aerrow ordered playfully.

Finn pounded the ground furiously. Everyone got off him, practically cheering in victory. I shook, a little unsettled by Finn's cry for help but relieved when I realized we weren't under attack. I fell onto my knees then my hands.

"Don't do that, Finn." I whined.

Aerrow helped me up. "Sorry to scare ya like that." He said, shrugging casually.

"Next time, just make sure that it isn't in the morning. Talk about a wake up call." I grumbled.

Aerrow just laughed a little. Suddenly, alarms went off. The sudden loud noise caused me to jump and cling onto the first thing I came in contact with: The pipes above.

Aerrow kinda stared at me before turning to Stork.

"Stork?" He asked in kind of a demanding voice.

"Sky Sharks." Stork said unenthusiastically.

"Sky Sharks?" I asked, landing next to Aerrow. I looked out the window to see flying sharks. "OH SHIT!"

"Stork! Get us out of here!" Aerrow commanded.

"Right!" Stork said quickly.

He yanked the controls and the ship veered to the right quickly, causing everyone to tumble cartoonily into the left wall due to the G-Force.

"Everyone, hold on!" Aerrow shouted.

We finally stood outside, staring at the crashed ship.

"Great first day in Atmos." Stork said sarcastically to me. I bit back my laugh but the expression could not be hidden.

"So…" Aerrow finally said. "At least we know never to try that move again."

"Couldn't we have stopped at the next terra?" Finn asked. "This one smells funny."

I elbowed him hard in the ribs. Finn looked at me and I gave him a look.

"Just be glad we found this terra at all." I said.

Piper nodded as she looked at the map. "It's not on any of the charts."

"I needn't remind you," Stork began as he turned to us.

"Five bucks," I said to Finn in a whisper. "Doom Rant."

"Deal." He said.

"It's gonna be followed up by something serious."

"What makes you said that?"

Stork continued before he just glared at me a little. "I needn't remind you how deadly an uncharted terra can be. It's probably home to a Murk Raider outpost. Or a nest of carnivorous rud worms. Or-" Insert his infamous eye twitch here. He then turned serious. "By the way, the crystal heat dissipater is completely shot. It'll have to be replaced."

Finn groaned in protest when Stork said that and slapped five dollars in my hand.

"No problem." Aerrow said heroically. "We passed a supply depot awhile ago. I'll take a skimmer."

"Umm… Aerrow." He said sarcastically. "A dissipater's the size…of a house."

Needless to say, Aerrow looked dumbfounded then smiled awkwardly. "So, make that four skimmers."

As they were leaving, an oil covered Radaar approached. Aerrow just widened his eyes as he thought quickly. "Uh…Radaar?" Radaar chirped happily. "You should stay behind. We're gonna have…uh…weight issues."

Radaar looked at him with confusion. The poor cabbit then patted himself as they flew off.

I sighed approached the cabbit. "Don't worry, bud. I'm still here."

"Yay-e." Stork said in mock cheer.

I looked over at him. Stork just looked back. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"If you must know, I'm still a little…suspicious of you."

I sighed and looked in the direction that Aerrow, Piper, Finn, and Junko went off to. "It's cause I'm not from here, yeah?"

"Yeah."

I smiled. "That's what I like about you, Stork."

"Huh?"

Stork

"Yeah." I said as I glared at Alice's back. This human was weird and possibly infected with mind worms. I don't care if she was Aerrow's long lost sister. She could be a Cyclonian spy, or-

"That's what I like about you, Stork."

"Huh?" She must have mind worms. I admitted to not liking her cause she was from another world. "What d'ya me-"

I was interrupted by a roar below as the terra shook. We all looked at each other in shock.

Alice looked horrified. "STORK! RUN!" She suddenly shouted. I turned around and realized why she shouted.

Aerrow

The dissipater was towed behind myself, Piper, Junko, and Finn. I looked around. Where'd the terra go? Even Piper was confused.

Not a good sign.

She pulled out her charts. "These are definitely the coordinates." Piper said.

"So, where's the Condor?" Finn asked.

I had it. "Everyone, scan the area." I said as I pulled out my binoculars.

After a few moments…

"I got nothing." Finn said.

"Me neither." Piper.

"Me neither," Junko said. "But it's hard to see with that Emergency Rescue Balloon in my way."

Wait…what?

I looked over. The balloon flew higher to reveal a familiar merb clinging onto the bars.

"Stork?" I asked. What? "Where's the Condor? Where's Radaar? Alice?"

Stork just gulped. "It…it ate them."

"What did?" We all asked, very scared now.

"The terra…" He said, clearly traumatized.

The terra ate the Condor?

I got Stork on the dissipater.

"Stork, exactly what happened?" I asked.

"The entire terra…it opened…like a vast terrible mouth. Then it sank into the clouds. And disappeared."

He was more freaked out than usual. Not good. Not good. Not good.

"Well," Finn said. "I'm officially freaked out."

"Hold on." Piper said. "There might be another explanation."

"For ship eating Terras?" Junko pressed.

Stork flinched visibly. "The region could've over gone a tectonic shift. The terra might be just below the cloud layer."

I stared at her as I stood. "Whatever happened, we'll never find it in that fog." I said, motioning to said clouds. "We need a deep sonar scanner."

"We can't lug this thing all the way back to the depot." Finn whined. "Isn't there anything closer?"

"That doesn't eat ships." A terrified wallop said. Stork was still flipping out. I heard him groan something under his breath.

"Well, there is one place." Piper said, looking at his map. "The Sky Side Shanty. A way point for local sky fishers."

I nodded. Stork groaned again. "Calm down, Stork. What's-"

"Even after everything I said to her…" Stork whispered to himself. "She still saved me."

"What?"

"Alice!" He said, jumping up. "The idiot took all my insults and suspicious theories about her and just threw them aside to save me! How stupid can you be to do that?" I stared at him. Alice saved his life? Alice…saved his life…

As we walked into the restaurant, everyone looked at us funny. The cheerful music even stopped and I heard someone drop his fork.

"Hm." Piper said, trying to stay peppy. "Guess they don't get too many strangers in here."

"Let's just get a scanner and get going," I told her.

"What d'ya want?" A woman, possibly a waitress, asked.

"Uh…" I started. "We just need a-"

"Sky Food Combo Platter!" I heard Junko from outside. Geez.

OMG, it's chapter four! Yay-e! Guess who's ungrounded?

Finn: Bout time.

Me: *Punching Finn in arm* Be nice! I've already got plans for an arc later on.

Aerrow: Really? What are they?

Me: If i told you that then it wouldn't be a suprise.

Piper: Does it have to do with that mystery Love Match for Alice?

Me: *Shrug* Maybe it is or maybe it isn't.

*Stork rolls eyes. Junko jumps up and down*

Junko: Can i do the disclaimer?

Me: Sure. Go ahe-

Finn: Why does he get to do it?

Me: You can have the next one.

Junko: Alanis doesn't own the Storm Hawks. She just owns the idea of AIA.

Me: I'd like to point out that it may actually take a while to get some chapters done cause it's been a while since i've watched the Storm Hawks and i like to be as accurate as possible.

Storm Hawks: Please review!

A.C.