Hello again! Yes, I return with my third story. As usual, it's complete, and of course one chapter at a time (11 in all). Will do my best to update quickly all things considered.

But first...Don't own Storm Hawks, Nerdcord does and they do a mighty fine job of it.

Ok - this one explores the 'What If' of Finn and Piper being stranded together and how that affects their relationship. Disclaimer - I am NOT a hardcore FinnXPiper fan. Frankly, I'm not a ?x? anybody. Doesn't matter to me who shares their affections with who, so don't go all postal if this isn't the preferred ship. I like to explore all possibilities and this particular story just happened to land on this pairing.

Small head's up, this one's a bit more wordy than my last one, more emotions and thought processes to explore, but it does have it's share of action and adventure.

And so saying, sit back, keep your hands and feet inside the car at all times, and hang on...

Chapter 1 – When the Going Gets Tough…

Piper yelped as she felt the needle sharp barbs pierce the back of her right thigh. She managed to take two steps before the leg gave way, sending her tumbling to the ground. She immediately tucked into a roll and came to a stop on her knees, her energy staff held out defensively.

The three claw-beasts hesitated, wanting to jump at the easy prey but held in check by the proximity of the thornstrike bushes. She watched as the largest of the trio tensed, preparing to pounce. A blue streak of light flashed over her left shoulder and struck the creature squarely in the chest, knocking it back to lie unconscious. The remaining pair of claw-beasts snarled and leapt out, but they misjudged the timing and were struck by an entire barrage of darts from the nearest thornstrike bushes. Yelping and screaming, the two creatures high tailed it back up the twisting ravine.

Piper closed her eyes and gave a small prayer of thanks. Then she turned and regarded the young male behind her. Finn still stood with his crossbow at the ready, willing to fire it again at anything else that might attack them. Slowly he lowered the weapon and looked down at the dusky skinned girl.

"You ok? Did you get hit? He asked, his azure blue eyes filled with concern, his normally good natured expression drawn into a frown.

She shook her head and made to rise, grimacing as seemingly millions of red hot points bit into her leg. Finn instantly was at her side, offering his hand. She grabbed hold and using her staff for support, managed to get to her feet. She twisted around and took a look at how bad the damage was. From just above the back of her knee and extending upward was a long row of thin spines. All though most of them were in her leg, there were a few that stuck out from her buttock.

Finn bent and examined the wounded thigh. "Ouch! Must be about thirty, maybe forty of the little suckers." he exclaimed with shared feeling. He gently took hold of one of the barbs and gave a small tug. Piper winced but made no sound. He pressed his lips together and pulled a little harder. This time Piper gasped and tried to pull away. Finn quickly let go. Piper sighed and reached back to try to pull one out herself, with no better luck. The six inch barbs, embedded in anywhere from an inch to three inches into her flesh, were stuck deep.

The two teammates shared a look of worry mixed with gloom. Their day was rapidly going from bad to worse. Abruptly their attention was grabbed by the rustle of something moving. It was the remaining claw-beast, beginning to stir from being knocked out by the force of Finn's well-aimed cross bolt.

"Time to move, think you can walk?" Finn said over his shoulder, his eyes never leaving the groggy movements of the large beast.

"Yes." Piper affirmed and began to limp rapidly down the ravine. Finn trailed behind her, his crossbow raised and his trigger finger ready to let the creature have a taste of another shot. The claw-beast staggered to its feet, gave its head a shake and then turned back, away from them. Finn heaved a sigh of relief as he watched the five foot tall monster with its six limbs sprouting dozens of razor sharp claws depart.

Turning around he beheld the small, light figure ahead of him, struggling to walk. Quickly he came up beside her and offered his arm. "Here, Piper, lean on me."

Piper stopped, her face sweating from both the exertion and the pain. She shook her head. "No, Finn, You need to be ready at a moment's notice. There's no telling what will jump out at us next." She smiled at him reassuringly, touched by his gallantry. "I'll be fine, just won't be doing any Sky-fu moves in the near future."

The slim blonde regarded his teammate for a moment, frowning. "Ok, but if you need any help, don't be too stubborn to ask."

They continued on their way for quite some time, moving slow, not just because of Piper's injury, but also taking great care to inspect their surroundings. It was not wise to walk the wastelands, but it was down-right stupid to amble as if for an afternoon stroll. So far they had been lucky, even with Piper's very painful injury. The surface of Atmos held many dangers and being eaten was just one of them.

Piper was becoming exhausted and it was all she could do to balance on her good leg as she swung the staff out in front of her and hop forward, over and over again. The pain in her leg had reached fire hot intensity. Every so often she would wipe her brow with a sleeve. Looking up through sweat burning eyes, she could see Finn about two steps ahead of her, his head and crossbow moving from one side to the other, constantly searching the terrain for the slightest hint of a threat.

Finn came to a stop and peered through the miasma surrounding them. He could just barely make out the dark shape of the base of a large terra in front of them. As Piper caught up with him, he turned to her "Look, that might be one. It's certainly big enough."

Piper nodded as she breathed heavily. She peered up but couldn't tell if the mass of earth rose high enough above the low clouds to be an actual terra, or was just one of the many spires that thrust up from the surface.

"What do you think, worth a try? At least we can find shelter, climb up far enough to be safe." Finn continued. "And we need to find a place for you to rest; you're just about at the end of your rope."

She frowned at him but didn't argue, too tired and hurt to really disagree.

The two approached the rocky base, keeping a close eye out for any inhabitants that might be making the rocks their hiding places. They began to walk around, searching for a way up. It was Piper, who had taken a moments rest, that spotted the almost stair step rise. She grabbed Finn's arm and wordlessly pointed. He looked in the direction and nodded. They made their way to the rocky steps and began to ascend. It wasn't long before they both began to feel a sense of security as they rose higher and higher away from the dangerous floor of the wastelands. Although they were not out of peril yet, at least they would not be attacked from all sides at once. Even the air began to clear somewhat as they climbed, the noxious fumes thinning. Eventually Finn's sharp eyes spotted a small depression in the side of the cliff wall. Motioning for Piper to wait, he carefully advanced on the tiny cave. Quickly he ascertained that the den was empty, the floor showing no signs of being occupied. He continued to advance for a bit farther on, making sure there was no danger lurking up ahead. Satisfied that they were relatively safe, he turned and made his way back to Piper.

The dark skinned girl looked up from where she was leaning against the hard wall and saw the slim youth bounce down the rocks, a grin on his face.

"Looks like we just found a place to stay. All the comforts of home, too. Rock wall, rock ceiling, rock floor and just look at the view!" He exclaimed, his arm flung out in an arc.

As tired as Piper was, she couldn't help smiling in return. It seemed as if nothing ever got the blond marksman down. This time she accepted his support and leaned against him as he helped her settle into the shelter. She turned her body so much of the weight was on her left leg and leant back against the wall. She watched out of half closed eyes as Finn positioned himself so he could grab and aim his crossbow with ease, in case anything threatening showed up. As the two sat together, they began to relax for the first time since they had ended up lost, stranded in the wastelands.

Piper closed her heavy eyelids and as she slowly drifted off to sleep, she recalled how they had gotten into this situation....