Chapter 26

Stork

We ran as quickly as we could. It was all we could to do avoid the Dandelions, Snap Dragons, Foxtails, and so on and so forth. Basically, any freaking animal you could think of in flower form!

How desperately I wanted to find Alice and get out of this crazy place.

"This way!" Cheshire said as he flew through a bundle of vines.

Finn skidded to a halt and froze in place. "No way!" He said.

We all turned to him. "Finn, come on!" Aerrow said. "We've gotta get out of here."

"Nuh uh!" He said. "I'm not going into a bunch of vines. It just screams some kind of snake thing coming out at us!"

I gulped and turned to our leader. "Actually, he has a good point. Snakes are usually pretty bad and we don't know anything about this place. If we were to get attacked-"

"It's our only way out!" Lady said from Cheshire's arms. "Either come wif us or play in the scawwy garden." She finished through pointing at the flowers.

I gulped and proceeded forward. "I'm not going in there! Every time I'm near anything weird, I get eaten!"

As if to prove a point, a snap dragon gobbled the blonde up. "Idiot." Piper said. The snap dragon flicked upward, sending the blonde into the air screaming.

"Piper!" Aerrow shouted.

"I'm on it!" Piper pulled out her crystal staff and shot at the snap dragon's head. The creature flinched and was unable to catch our comrade. He was plummeting straight to the ground. Thankfully, Junko caught him in his arms and we all ran straight through the vines. Weaving over and under and in between vines, we found the flowers had given up the chase.

We all made our way out of the vines and found ourselves in a clearing where we caught our breathes. I looked over and saw a snowy mountain in the very far distance.

"You guys are stupid!" Lady shouted. I looked over to see a guilty looking Finn and Junko. "You knew my flowers were sweeping and you just shout?! How would you feel if someone shouted in your ear every morning? It's a miracle you weren't eaten on the spot!"

"We're sorry." The two answered in unison.

Everyone got up before Dark Ace stepped beside Lady. "Is that the mountain?"

Lady looked up at the tall man and then to the mountain. "Yep. That's it. Mount Firestorm. I hope Mr. Inferno isn't asleep."

"Why's that?" I asked fearfully. "Is he as grumpy when he wakes up?"

Everyone gulped. "Nope. He's just really hard to wake up." Lady answered. "Let's go!"

With that, the little girl began marching towards the direction of the mountain, the rest of us following cautiously.

Alice

I woke up from a groggy sleep. Ever since last night when I saw that boy with a cat costume, I haven't really slept well. I dreamt about this group about my age. One with red hair, one with blonde hair, a girl with blue hair, a big rhino-guy, and some lanky green guy. They were all smiling and laughing with me. I had never felt so happy.

Brushing my dark brown bed head, I sighed heavily. "It was just a dream, Ali." I told myself. "Nothing of the sort exists. It can't."

Knock, knock, knock. "Come in." I said as I tied up my hair, which was now at my shoulders.

Matt came in. "Hey, kiddo. Mom and Dad are at work." He said. "I'm going out for the day. You gonna be alright on your own?"

"Yeah. I need to study and do a few chores anyway." I said with a smile.

Matt looked sad but smiled and gave me a big hug. "Alright. I'll see you later then, Ali."

"Later."

He was out of the house in less than five minutes. No surprise there.

Aerrow

Thirty-minutes had passed and we were already at the river. The water was all that blocked us from the mountain, which was only a couple yards from the bank.

Radarr walked up to the bank and jumped onto a small rock. There was a series of green stones that lead to the other side. Chess simply picked up Lady and teleported across though. We all followed Radarr's idea and hopped across on the stones. We were all across, save Finn, who slipped into the river.

"Finn!" I'd shouted when he fell in. We all ran alongside the bank. I saw him grab a grey rock. He was literally just feet away from a waterfall.

"We need something for him to grab." Piper shouted.

We all fanned out for something. Junko came back with a vine. "Grab on!" I shouted to our marksman.

He grabbed at the vine. It suddenly rose out of the water. "SNAKE!" He screamed. Junko dropped the vine and Finn made for his rock again but missed. He was heading straight for the waterfall.

"Finn!" I shouted. Over the falls he went.

"Daneyba! Get him!" Lady shouted. From the river came a huge creature. It swam quickly to the fall and went down.

All we could hear was Finn screaming like a girl before a large green dragon was in front of us. It put Finn down on the ground gently and growled out of happiness. I swear I saw a smile.

"Good job, Daneyba." Lady said. The dragon rested its head next to the small girl who began to pet the snout.

"That's so weird." Dark Ace said.

"how does she do that?" I asked Chess.

"To put it simply, Lady is our queen. She rules with absolute kindness. She can have much authority when she is in her true form."

"Wait," Stork said. "True form?"

"Yes. This is her child form. Unfortunately, she cannot become her true self until she discovers herself." Chess then looked down at the key in his hand. "Maybe I can help her unlock it."

"Have fun, Daneyba!" Lady said, waving off the dragon. Said dragon swam back into the river. "Are you guys ready?" Lady asked us.

"How are you friends with such strange creatures?" Dark Ace asked.

"It's better not to ask or else it'll hurt your head." Lady then marched towards the mountain. "Let's go!"

Okay. Technically it's the first of the month but it works. :-P

Aerrow: So what's going on? I'm completely confused.

Me: It's quite simple, my dear. A quest is taken. An item is needed. Within good time, all will be known.

Piper: That sounds like something from Alice in Wonderland.

Me: What's your point? Yo! Stork! Disclaimer!

Stork: Storm Hawks belongs purely to Nerd Corps. All OCs belong to the author. There, now, I'm going to go steer the ship so we don't die.

Me: Gotta love Stork. Alright guys. I'll see ya later. Gotta write, write, and write some more. But first, I need a soda. Peace!