The One Year Flight

Chapter 9 The Truth and a New Home!

AN: Oh boy, I know it's been a while, but as I have stated in most of my updates as of late, things are crazy busy right now, but fear not! Nothing will hold me back, and nothing will stop me from writing…well….almost nothing. Some idiot ran into a telephone line with a bulldozer across from my house, so I haven't had a working phone line in almost three days! Currently it is (checks clock) 5:30 AM, and I haven't much time, but please accept this massive update as my apology for being absent for the past week. Anyways, I'm really sorry that this story got placed on the back burner, but I'm trying to get Winds of Change up and out as quickly as possible for reasons mentioned in its first chapter. Now, sit back and enjoy the long awaited, nearly forgotten, and probably not very much anticipated ninth chapter of, The One Year Flight!

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, however I DO own Kai, Rose, the Shadow crystal and this story.

"Speech"

"Thought"

Sound

"Dragon voice" Same as Master Cyclonis when extremely peeved in the show.

Kai held for dear life as his newly adopted and self appointed big sister hit the glacier.

"Su, are you sure this is a good idea?" He asked squeezing her waist tightly.

"Good? No. Fun? Yes!" Suzi shouted with a grin. Feeling the grip tighten around her waist, her grin got even larger.

"Hey Kai, when's the last time you gave your lungs a good work out?" She asked innocently.

"Lungs? What are you? No…oh no no no no NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Kai screamed.

" YAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" The Blizzarian shouted at the top of her lungs as the grinder flew off the end of the terra and dropped like a stone.

"Su! Su! I don't what to die!" Kai shouted.

"Oh come on boy! We almost knocked the hosier out of you; don't tell me it came back!" Suzi shouted over the howling wind as she deployed the wings.

Several minutes later, after Kai's knees stopped shaking, he remembered the encounter from earlier. To be honest, it still freaked him out a little. For a second, he had actually thought that Suzi was a vampire or something. Gingerly, he reached up and felt the spot on his neck. It still stung a bit, but the odd thing was that it felt raw.

Now, bites were something that Kai was very familiar with. For some odd reason dogs seemingly hated him. He didn't know why, they just did. He was only a few bites short of having a complete set of tooth marks from every breed of dog that walked the face of Atmos. Added to that, he had a few that were human as well.

Since he was five, well, six really, he had only been five for a few days after meeting her, Starling had been his baby sitter. As he grew older, they would on occasion fight, either to resolve some petty argument, or, when she was preparing to go to the Sky Academy, as her sparring partner. Of course there was the standard fighting instruction manuals, but Kai scoffed at some of the things that they left out, things that were in his mind obvious.

Low blows were one of them.

Hence his showing Starling that her supposedly unbreakable hold was in fact breakable. All he had to do was bite the arm that was close to his face.

He hadn't counted on her returning the favor.

Point was, Kai knew what a bite felt like, and this was not it.

"Um Su?" Kai asked as she checked their heading on the compass.

"Hm?" She looked over her should to see him rubbing the sore spot on his neck. Seeing it, the fur around her face tinted slightly.

"I uh…are Blizzarians poisonous?" Kai asked bluntly.

"What? Why would you think…ohhh." Suzi started snickering, then she outright laughed. "No, we're not poisonous, but I think I know why you think it. I guess in a way you could say that we are, but not in the same sense you're thinking." Seeing his blank look, she sighed. "What do you know about us?" She asked.

Kai though about it for a minute, trying to recall anything that he did know, which was proving difficult. "What do I know about Blizzarians? There's next to nothing on them at the library, even the archives are a bit sketchy." Snorting, Kai answered. "Next to nothing, just what I've seen with my two eyes. There's hardly any records, and nothing as far as general knowledge. You like the cold, you have great hearing, you're very good and loyal friends that will do anything you can to help a friend, and, you're all terrible pilots." He said the last part with a grin.

Suzi rolled her eyes at the last remark. "I'm not surprised. Tell me, did you notice anything missing on the terra?" She asked looking forward to check their heading once again.

"Missing? No…not really. They had plenty of food, mechanics, stores, the only thing they didn't have was a library." Kai felt like slapping himself.

"You guys don't seem to be too big on books." He replied.

Suzi snickered remembering the look on his face when she had told him the only thing he would find to read on the terra was a TV guide.

"Correct, do you know what that is?" She asked watching him out of the corner of her eye.

Kai just shook his head.

"Well, it has to do with the terra. You see, we Blizzarians don't actually have a home terra." She said laughing at his expression.

"But, if, I, I thought terra Blizzarias was your home terra?" Kai said scratching his head.

"It is" She replied waiting for his brain to break trying to figure it out.

"But, I , huh?" Right now, Kai was not at his best and brightest.

"We're nomads. Terra Blizzarias is wherever we live. It's pretty rare for us to stay in any one place for longer than a few years." She clarified.

"Ohhh. But, what does that have to do with not having any books?" He asked still not understanding.

"Well, think about it. If you're always on the move, wouldn't you want to do as little packing and unpacking as possible?" She asked.

Kai thought it over. "I don't see what the big deal is. It's just a few books….ohhhh. If it was a person moving, it would just be a few things. But to move the entire population of a terra? Wow, I never thought about that before." That's when another thought entered his head.

"Su? If you don't record anything, then how do you know your own history?" He asked still a bit confused.

This made Suzi smile. "Star was right. He is a quick learner." Looking over her shoulder, she answered him. "We tell it, pass it down from one Alpha to the next. My father was the previous Alpha of clan Lu, but I inherited it after he…" Suzi took a deep breath before continuing. "Since I was his only daughter, he would drill the bloody stuff into my head till it hurt. I could list off the last fifty clan heads if I wanted to. But that's not the point. Our history is passed down orally, from one generation to the next in the case of families, and from clan head to clan heir when it comes to the important stuff. That's why you won't find any textbooks on us, well, none that are accurate." She amended.

"Ok, but what does that have to do with your bit feeling like a burn?" He asked wincing as salt from the air started to get into the wound. "Salt air? Where on Atmos is she taking me?"

"Well….like I said. We're not REALLY poisonous, but our bite is a bit…different that most other species, or rather, our saliva is." Seeing the boys face turn green she snickered. "Yep! Your neck hurts cause its more than just a little bite, it's actually closer to being a hic" Kai cut her off from finishing the word.

"Just tell me what it did!" He shouted in a panicky tone.

Chuckling at his reaction, she decided to have some mercy on him; after all, he was her brother now. "It prevents a wound from healing properly until your blood cleans itself." Seeing Kai's face turn white, she quickly added. "I didn't bite that hard, besides, it serves a purpose." Seeing him calm down she continued. "By it preventing you from healing, it makes the mark more visible once it does heal. That way it won't be mistaken for something else. Any Blizzarian that sees that will know not to mess with you unless they want to tangle with your pack." She said grinning. "You're one of us now, never forget that." She said smiling genuinely.

Kai felt the spot one more time, and then remembered the way she had reacted to what he had said.

Flashback

"I, who have no pack, shall with yours now run." He didn't know where the words came from; they just seemed to spill out. Upon seeing Suzi's eyes grow wide however, he thought that he had done something wrong.

Flashback end.

"Su? Back at the…ceremony, why were you so upset by what I said? I didn't…I didn't insult you or anything did I?" He asked slightly worried.

At this, Suzi sighed and ran a paw through her hair before pinching the bridge of her nose. "Kai, you didn't insult me, not by long shot. But…you…you kind of put yourself in a bit of a bind." She said in a slightly exasperated tone of voice.

"What do you mean I put myself in a bind?" He asked confused.

"Well, what you said…you probably don't even understand it do you?" She asked bluntly.

"Not really. Like I said. It was like I had seen it before, or..I don't know. It just felt like the right thing to do." He said honestly.

Suzi nodded her head in understanding. "It was an instinct wasn't it? You didn't even say it; your body did it on its own without your knowing didn't it?" She asked sadly.

"Well…yeah…it kind of did." Kai was silent for a few moments. "You still didn't answer my question, why did you get so upset?" He asked remembering how they reached this point in the first place.

Suzi's face scrunched up. "How do I explain this so that he won't…..freak?" Was the best word she could use to describe to current situation. Swallowing, she decided that he deserved to be told the truth, at least in this one matter.

"Kai…you basically denounced your humanity and clamed yourself to be a Blizzarian." She replied carefully.

Now it was Kai's turn to scrunch his face in confusion. "Ooooook. But why is that a bad thing?" He asked slightly confused.

"Milkbones. Why did he have to ask that?" Suzi grumbled. "Kai….tell me…how many other species did you see back at the terra?" She asked calmly.

Kai had to think that question over for a total of five seconds.

"None."

"Correct, so, what would you say is one of the main guidelines we live by?" She asked.

"What would their guidelines have to do with they're not being any other….oh,OH!" Kai looked up quickly, understanding clearly written across his face.

"I screwed up big time didn't I?" He asked bluntly.

"Welllll….yeah…big time ace. Blizzarian's stick to their own, just like every other species. So…yeah." Suzi switched back to looking forward and checked her instruments, trying to distract herself. "Well, it's not like he has no choice in the matter. I was the only one that heard it, and I can turn a blind eye…errr…deaf ear for him. But I still wonder where he heard that from? No one has completed the pact in almost three hundred years, and only clan heads even know it." Looking over her shoulder, she addressed the near hyperventilating youth. "Don't worry bout it. I didn't hear nothing eh?" She asked with a grin.

Kai slumped at this and Suzi knew that he was relieved.

"Although…there is always her….yeah right! That'd be a hot day in Blizzarias" It took everything Suzi had not to fall of her skimmer laughing. The mere thought of those two ever settling down was the funniest thing she had ever thought of, and she had circulated fliers that Billy was going to Atmosia University last year.

"What's so funny?" Kai asked surprising her.

"Huh? What are you talking about?

Kai rolled his eyes. "Oh come on Su. I've known you long enough to know that the only time your quiet is when you're planning something or thinking about something funny. Plus I could feel you laughing; remember you're the only thing I've got to hang onto?" Kai squeezed her stomach to remind her of this point. "Unless…you were crying…uh…please tell me that you weren't crying." Kai pleaded.

Suzi couldn't hold back laughing at this point. "No, I wasn't crying. I was thinking of something funny." Suzi grinned.

"What was it?" Kai asked not liking the look of her grin.

"Well…I was thinking that it would be possible for you to keep with the pact after all since." Before Suzi could finish though, her ears twitched, which was followed by another smile, but unlike her normal grins and shark smiles, this one was almost sad.

"Well Kai, looks like this is where you get off." She said looking over her shoulder.

"What are you talking about? All I see is cloudkrill? I don't see any terra's or even a skimmer." Kai said looking around.

Ship horn

Kai nearly fell off of the skimmer as a large carrier rose up from under the cloud line.

"Ahoy! The land lover ready for a swim?"

Kai looked up in aw at what had to be one of the largest men he had ever seen in his life.

Suzi smiled warmly. "Kai, meet Tritonn, Sky Knight of terra Aquanos, and flight lead of the Neck Deeps."

End Chapter 9

AN: Ok, again, sorry that it took so long to get this out, but, like I've said a hundred times now, busy. This chapter, when combined with what a few of you know from reading a few of the other authors stories on this site caughTigger and the Rock Hearts All grow upcaugh and the previous chapter should provide some insight for some of my future work. I'm not going to give any more spoilers on the subject of her. Now, I hope that Kai's new guardian is acceptable. I originally wanted it to be the Rebel Ducks of terra Gale, but the thought of writing out their accents for seven to nine chapters nearly gave me a heart attack and stroke at the same time. Sailors speak though I can do, and no not that kind of sailor speak. Anyways, look for the next chapter to be up….sometime.

Till next time, Ja Ne!