Bringing one of my favourites back. So glad I'm still updating, sorry for those who have been waiting for so long. Let's hope it's worth it.

Disclaimer: I do not own the Storm Hawks, that's only a dream.

The last of the boxes had been brought out of the ship and scattered on the grass of Terra Fauna. Jet's team sat around them comfortably, sharing lunch after their labour. The Storm Hawks looked the opposite, collapsing on the crates and panting heavily, all except for the leader and Piper. Radarr stood tall with a smirk, staring confidently at the other crew.

"See now, that didn't take too long," Jet commented after returning to the group, ignoring the snide comments from Finn. "We can now begin our adventure. Navigators and cartographers; please step forward."

About two or three men from Jet's crew stood tall and proud. Aerrow glanced around, and noticing the navigator beside him, nudged her gently in her side. She turned her head with a puzzled expression, but upon seeing his grin and his nod in her father's direction, she got the message. Piper walked forward with the other people, smiling brightly at Jet as she passed him. The older gentleman beamed happily, watching as his daughter and the others crowded around a crate strewn with maps and blank paper.

"We'll need some people to stay and check over the ships and rides; we'll need flight engineers and mechanics working now before we start," Junko shared a quick look at Finn before standing up, walking towards the open hanger bay of the Condor and pulling something out of the shadows. Stork came reluctantly, his wide, unblinking eyes darting in every direction.

"It's never a good idea when I leave her," he argued aloud, looking back longingly at his home. "Bad things always happen when I do."

"Oh, come on Stork," Junko cooed in his calm, happy tone. "You're a great engineer, and we get to work on this cool looking ship."

Stork's thin neck craned up slightly, his long face shadowed by the enormity of the ship. Jet had moved up behind them, placing a hand firmly on each of their shoulders. It did more damage to Stork than Junko.

"You like her?" he asked rhetorically, noticing their stares of admiration. "She's called The Commodore, a double winged warship built less than fifty years ago. We've constantly had to repair it after attacks and missions. Perhaps you two could look it over for us, make sure it's in top condition?"

Stork flinched away from Jet's touch, a smile twitching on his lips. "Well, maybe I'll just give it a look."

Several members of Jet's crew moved to cluster around the pair, a murmur beginning in discussion of what should be changed.

Piper's father rubbed his hands together, before doing a double take to his right. His dark eyes moved between the smiling blonde and the fuzzy co-pilot.

"Ahh, you two," he mulled, trying to avoid their gazes as he thought up positions for them. "I'm…I'm afraid I'm not sure where to put you."

Before Finn's face could reflect his disappointment, Aerrow stepped in to avoid any growing conflict.

"Uh Finn's really good with in-battle weapons," he began, draping his arm around the blonde's shoulders. "Perhaps he could work with combat men. He's the greatest shot in Atmos."

Jet's eyes widened in surprise. "I'm impressed," he smiled down at the two. "Let me go gather them and I'll tell them you'll be over soon."

He left towards his crew; Aerrow and Finn watching him walk away.

"The guy forgot about me."

The leader smiled at his teammate. "It's ok, your ego can take the hit."

Finn's wide smile demonstrated his comfort at the support, and, unfazed, Finn approached the group Jett beckoned him to, shaking hands with everyone in the circle. Aerrow smiled as Piper's dad returned to his side.

"So, just the leaders left," the man put his hand on his head, keeping his hat steady as a light wind picked up. "We're just waiting on one more person."

"Who?" Piper spoke, returning to her father.

"Well, when you reminded me of the name at lunch I thought it would be nice to call and see what he was up to." Wind grew stronger as a familiar hum of a Skimmer came closer. "I remember he did quite well in school with you, thought he would turn up good results in his later years, and I was right. He's now an elite crystal excavator, Terra activist and the youngest council committee member for Atmos."

A skimmer blurred past the gaze of those mesmerized by it. Wings of blue and hot pink sliced the clear sky, a boy with dark blue windswept hair grinning proudly from the seat.

"Oh my goodness," Piper said in a breath as the skimmer came to a clean stop in front of the now gathered team. He leapt from his ride gracefully, adjusted his glasses and stood tall. He walked forward with a spectacular smile, arms gestured out as though he were welcoming a hug, but from his point of view they were only directed to the girl standing in front of him; brown eyes taking in all they could see.

"Piper, it's been so long," he relished, wrapping her into a tight hug. The other storm hawks watched on in confusion and surprise. The mage, still in his hold, said nothing as her face remained frozen in shock. "It's so good to see you."

Once she was placed down, she shook her head to gather her senses. "Doogy?"

"This…is Doogy?" Aerrow spoke to his teammates standing beside him, though loud enough for everyone to hear. The stranger chuckled at the name, a laughter that rung out like bells on the wind. Piper suddenly felt her insides turn to velvet.

"Yes, those were…different times. My goodness I haven't heard that nickname in so long. It's Dodge, remember?" he corrected, placing one hand to his chest. Piper gasped in embarrassment.

"Oh, of course it is. I'm so sorry, I just-" she trailed off, blushing as the old friend stepped closer to her. "I guess I was stuck in the old habit."

"It's ok," he scooped her into a hug, her feet lifting off the ground as she squealed. "We have far too much to catch up on to dwell on that." His eyes darted around her flushed face. "You're just as beautiful as I remember."

Aerrow stared at this act with a raised eyebrow. When Jet had recalled the story of Piper's school friend, he pictured a scrawny boy, a gleep; with large glasses, tucked-in shirts and gelled hair. This guy, looked nothing like that. He was a little taller than Piper now, with a similar build to the Sky Knight himself. Without even meeting the guy, the leader felt uncomfortable with his friendly presence around Piper.

"Easy now," Jet chimed in, walking forward and giving Dodge a firm handshake. "Don't forget you're in the presence of her father, and her boyfriend for that matter."

Piper's father gestured his hand behind him, where suddenly cold eyes followed to the rigid Sky Knight. Aerrow held his hand up in a wave, but when it wasn't returned, continued to stare in Dodge's direction.

"I'm sorry, I had no idea," he looked back at Piper, noticing her fidgeting uncomfortably and avoiding eye contact. Dodge took a step away from Jet and saluted appropriately. "Where would you like me, Sir?"

"I'd like you to lead the portion of the crew responsible for clearing our route. We have quite a walk before we can think about pitching a campsite. For now, you can join Aerrow."

Since he had no idea who Jet was talking about, the stranger followed the man's gesture back to the boy he ignored before, Aerrow pulling a forced smile. The tanned teenager thanked his superior before making his way over to the male members of the Storm Hawks. Brown eyes locked tight with green.

Aerrow gripped the hand of the young man in front of him. "So…it was Doogy, right?

Lips pursed themselves tightly. "It's Dodge, actually."

The Sky Knight pretended to hum in thought. "I think I'm going to call you Doogy," he noticed nostrils flare in response.

"Whatever suits you," he released his grip, glancing around to the team. "You must be the rest of Piper's crew, I'm Dodge," the emphasis on his name was not subtle, but Aerrow's snort of derision certainly was.

"You know, Skimmers can do a lot of the clearing with half the effort of manual removal," Junko chimed in with a large smile over Aerrow's shoulder. Dodge looked dumbfounded.

"I beg your pardon?"

Aerrow spread a sly smile, half excited, half challenging. "No need excavating. We have our own way to do this sort of thing."

A large pop broke the unintended staring contest between the two boys, noticing Jet and his crew beginning to unload the crates.

"Excellent, start dividing the inventory and we can get these crates away," he began, clapping his hands together without realising Aerrow had come up behind him. The leader noticed Piper pulling more maps and blank paper out of some boxes, feeling uneasy when Dodge readily joined her. Junko began sifting through nuts and bolts, along with several tools necessary to keep their machines in functioning order. The crate that Finn was staring over, however, caught his attention.

"Weapons?" Aerrow asked with a surprised tone. Piper stopped what she was doing and looked over at him. "Jet, what are these for?"

The tall man stuttered nervously. "Well, you know what they say, 'can't travel without safety'," he started handing out the gear to the long line forming in front of him. Aerrow shared an uneasy glance with Piper.

"Sir, I don't think these are necessary," he picked up one of the sleek grey crystal shooter, before it was taking out of his grasp by the sharpshooter. Finn only had a second to admire it before the leader snatched it back. "With this many people around, someone could get hurt."

"Not necessary boy, all my men are skilled in handling these, we've been doing this since before you were born," he chuckled heartily. "Though if you say this young lad is the best marksman in Atmos," he placed two hands on Finn's shoulders, not realising its effect on the skinny-framed boy. "Then it wouldn't hurt them to learn a few tips here and there."

"Still, where did you get-"

"Junko, my boy. How are the rides coming along?" the Sky Knight was interrupted by Jet's question, causing the redhead to scowl. The wallop turned at his name, wiping grease off his hands.

"All rides are good and ready to go, except one."

"And who's would that be?"

"Aerrow's," his gaze shifted to the boy standing beside the older man. "His ride still isn't completely repaired after…well, your entrance. It'll take me a few more hours to get it back up to speed."

Jet hummed as he placed a finger to his chin. "That'll eat up too much time. Tell you what, a promise is a promise, and I made a promise to you," he held out the key to his ride, an orange insignia of a falcon catching the light. Green eyes widened in excitement. "Give it a test ride and I'll see for myself how good you are on a skimmer. Welcome to the Thunder Falcons."

The air behind them was full of dirt and the smell of hot rubber. Skimmers from both teams ripped through the forest easily, allowing a clear path for those walking. With weapons raised, they sliced through unruly branches and vines, their laughter and cheers silenced as cold air hit their faces.

"How's it handling Aerrow?" Junko called from far behind, considering the Air Skimmer Ultra was out-racing all the Storm Hawks rides, including the Stork-Mobile that the Merb decided to take. The Sky Knight could just barely hear him, turning to show his wide smile.

"This is awesome!" he cheered, holding one of his twin blades up to catch a tree branch. He revved the engine several times, before pulling up with all his might to lift the heavy machine into a wheelstand, allowing it to jump easily over a fallen tree. When the Skimmer landed, Aerrow turned to check in on his co-pilot; a dazed Radarr sitting behind the redhead.

"You doing ok there buddy?" he shouted, happy with the thumbs up response he received. While turned around, a flash of blue caught his eye. Piper was riding a far way behind everyone, though she wasn't alone. Travelling very close to her was none other than Dodge, who had taken this as his opportune moment to strike up a conversation. Though Aerrow couldn't hear him, he could see by the hand gestures that he was telling her something important to him, or something from the heart, whatever it could be that caused him to continue to put his hand on his chest. He had a broad smile spread, and his brown eyes stared intently at her. All of a sudden they both broke into laughter.

"Aerrow, look out!" the warning came just in time as Aerrow gripped the handbrake, the ride ceasing in split second time before it could hit the large boulder in front of him. In response to the momentum, Radarr went flying over Aerrow and spread star-fish style, hit the rock upside down. Aerrow cringed in response.

"Sorry Radarr," he apologized, watching as his co-pilot slid down. The slowing revs of Skimmers caught his attention.

"Take it easy when travelling through this kind of terrain," Dodge lectured, craning his neck to look at the high trees. "You could get seriously hurt."

Aerrow furrowed his brow in annoyance. "Yeah thanks," he grumbled. His eyes never left Dodge as he raced off, almost forgetting that Piper had come to join them too.

"Are you ok?" she asked politely, though her expression seemed irked. What had he done wrong?

"I'm fine," he argued, uneasy at how she kept looking to find the other guy again. "It's just that-"

"There's a decent sized clearing just through there," he turned to point, and looked back at Piper with a big smile on his face. The girl's face lightened with the same smile, causing Aerrow's stomach to sink. "It'll be perfect to start setting up camp. We should probably get started on that before dusk settles."

"Lead the way," the girl gestured, sharing one last sad glance at Aerrow before racing off.

Tents had been pitched, a campfire had been lit, and food had been served. Dodge had so conveniently explained that the first day in an expedition is usually just settling yourself into the environment, and thankfully no one saw or counted how many times Aerrow rolled his eyes.

People began to retire to their tents, leaving a father and a daughter to enjoy the warmth of the fire pit together.

"Sorry we didn't get to see any crystals today, honey," Jet apologized, standing up and poking at the ash. "Perhaps tomorrow if Dodge decides to do a little spelunking."

"That sounds great," the girl said, almost too eagerly. She ducked her head in an embarrassed manner when her father looked at her.

He hummed in thought as he continued to poke the fire. "Aerrow seemed a little…different today. Everything ok with him?"

Piper furrowed her brow.

"I don't know."

"Really? I thought you shared everything with him."

"We do," she tried to argue, but she could tell her father wasn't sold. The mage wrapped her arms around her legs as she brought her knees up to her chin. "I guess it was just an off day."

"I suppose Aerrow wasn't expecting another leader to arrive. I shouldn't have sprung it on him. But never mind, he's a great lad who's very helpful to the team," Jet chanced a look at Piper, noticing her expression of confusion as she pondered which great leader Jet was talking about.

Aerrow, or Dodge?

"Goodnight Sweet P."