Chapter Seven

Squadron Log

Date:

Location: Somewhere else

This is it. It has to be. I know I say this every time we head out scouting, but this feels different somehow. It could be the concussion speaking, I don't know.

Even if we don't find Cyclonis, or anyone, there's still that powerful energy source out there somewhere. It could be a trap. I know that. I'm taking the precautions to make sure we aren't caught off-guard.

I was just reading back through my entries while the guys set up to get going and I've gotta say, from a professional standard, they're pretty bad. Someone's going to find this in the future and get a real kick out of it. Piper's been highlighting all the specifics, like the team's roles for the day, the summery of all of the reports (I wondered where they all went), among other things. I go on about strange noises the Condor makes and I think there was an entry about this crazy dream I had one night where I was being chased by a feathery white blob or something.

I have so much going on in my head, but as soon as the pen hits the blank page, that's all I can think about. Blank. I can't say anything I haven't already said a thousand times.

There were nightcrawlers yesterday. I don't need to go into detail about how that went, do I? Piper's report mentions that Domiwick somehow made it through here and I do not think it was a lucky break. This is the guy that turned to Cyclonia to try and get his hands on the key. It's all a little too suspect.

Hours had past and they were barely making headway. The journey through the overgrown and decaying forest was proving difficult and Aerrow had lost count of how many overhanging branches he had to cut his way through with his unlit energy blades. The fog that lingered about the trees removed most of the visibility from below, meaning that they had to keep testing their footing before heading forward.

Piper was following close behind with the pinging crystal tracker in her hands. Aerrow was constantly thrown off by the sounds of her screwdriver scraping along the back of the device as she attempted to fix the signal. He remained composed and said nothing about it.

Radarr had an easier job navigating the twisting branches and tangled patches of grass due to his size. The small creature would often slip ahead of the two of them, out of sight until Aerrow had sliced through the foliage, allowing him to be located.

"Stop, stop!" Piper blurted out suddenly, prompting the redhead to misplace his already gawky footing and stumble over a protruding tree root.

"What is it?" He huffed, turning to the girl and wearing a frown. Radarr appeared out of the grass and climbed up behind his shoulder. "Have you got that thing to work yet? I feel as if we're walking in circles."

Piper swept her indigo bangs out of her face with the back of her wrist, the screwdriver still held loosely in her hand. "What if this entire rock is the power source?"

Aerrow raised an eyebrow, his sights on the half-dead landscape around them. "So, some kind of zombie crystal, then?"

Piper's fierce scowl gave him the impression that she were about to hit him. "You know what I mean."

Aerrow shrugged, the blade in each of his hands pointing in opposite directions. "This is the biggest wave we've seen so far." He reminded her, sidestepping closer to a rotting tree trunk and placed his hand against the bark to steady himself. "We can't just write it off as another-" He felt something engraved in the wood with the tips of his fingers. The shape was rough but deliberate. Aerrow's voice trailed off into a mumble as his gaze met with an extremely prominent arrow burnt into the wood, pointing deeper into the forest. "-dead end…" He exchanged a quick glance with Piper, who looked just as stunned and began studying the marking more closely. "It's recent." He realised, noticing how the tree's remaining sap gave the layer of bark below a richer tint of brown, compared to the chalky colouring of the decomposing outside. Despite the arrow being a prominent shape, it looked as though it were scrawled hastily in passing with the sharp edge of a burning knife.

"Trap?" Piper questioned, watching Aerrow's expression carefully.

He looked to the ground in thought and shook his head. "It seems too obvious."

Radarr tapped his shoulder and Aerrow looked up to find him pointing into the trees. The Sky Knight followed his gesture and saw that this arrow was the first in a long trail of directions. Further in, there was a tree with an arrow pointing left scorched upon it and it was still smoking.

"I think we should go right. Let's go right." Aerrow decided, leading the small team the opposite direction.

They weren't fighting through the leaves for long when a loud snap made all three of them jump back a few paces. The large hollow up ahead let out a long moan that sounded an awful lot like thick branches creaking in the wind and the odd formation rose from its mossy bed of bright mushrooms and winding ivy. There was a thud as a muddy mess of roots slammed against the grass like a giant foot, followed by another.

The tree was alive.

"Run." Aerrow hissed, shoving Piper back the way they came. They did not stop until they had reached the marked tree once more, but this time, there was a message etched below. Fiery hot embers attacked the sharp edges and fizzled out into black. There were three words.

Told you so.

Aerrow lit his energy blades and the azure glow instantly altered the many overhanging shadows into various flickering shapes. He scanned the area; this was now more difficult to achieve when every shadow looked as though it were moving.

Radarr growled from the perch behind his shoulders and Piper drew her staff, twisting the centre so that the two sides shot out.

"This can't be good." Piper whispered by his ear. "Shall we call for backup?"

"And attract more attention than we have to?" Aerrow murmured back, barely moving his lips. "I don't think so." The team may have stripped the hawks from their uniform, but if they continued operating like a squadron, the masquerade would be pointless.

A flash of warm orange light immediately illuminated the next marked tree in the distance that rumbled like a blaze of flames, below, Aerrow made out two words.

Your call.

"Stay on alert." Aerrow ordered, marching ahead.

"I don't like this." Piper called out to him. "Perhaps we should go back."

Aerrow cut back a dying tree branch and peered over his shoulder with a smirk. "Come on, it will be fun." He carried on walking. Piper huffed loudly and followed along behind.

The marked path had many twists and turns and Aerrow wondered if they were being led astray deliberately.

The scorched trail came to an end at the foot of a great ruined stone archway. There was a figure standing beneath it with a vast assortment of storage crates.

As they approached, Aerrow could see that the figure was an older male. Not just any man, a human.

He had an engraved hanger sword and an odd looking firearm attached to his belt. He wore a battered looking bandana around his neck that was a dark shade of burnt umber. The leather jacket he was sporting over a white tunic was cut short. The holsters for his weapons were buckled over his leather breeches. Like himself, this man had fastened armour plating over his shoulders and the same wavy engraving covered them as that of his sword.

The man folded his arms and placed one of his boots against the nearest crate. He had his back to them, but peered over his shoulder at their approach. There were scarred claw marks over his right eye and the pair of them were, unmistakably, bright yellow.

"I wasn't expecting you to be so young." He spoke in a husky voice, sounding slightly amused. "It's not often we get visitors up here." He ran his hands back over his sandy brown hair that remained slicked back, excluding a few wild strands.

His relaxed posture indicated to Aerrow that he meant no harm. He unlit his blades, but Piper was quick to place her hand on his shoulder in a warning to remain cautious. The stranger merely stood there with his hands grasped lazily behind his head.

Aerrow's heart was pounding. This was actually happening. They had encountered a resident of the far side. He had so many questions, yet he could not verbalise any of them.

"We don't get visitors up here." Said an inimical voice from the shadows of the looming trees. A younger male stepped out into the sunlight. He had jet black hair that covered half of his features. He was pale and wore a long leathery coat and the trail split into two behind his knees. He held a silvery metal staff in his hands that twisted into a jagged blade at both ends. He appeared slightly younger and less battle worn than his accomplice, yet still older than Aerrow was. Early twenties, perhaps?

"Point taken." The older of the two responded, turning on his heels and paced up to the three of them. He was roughly half a foot taller than Aerrow and he could not help but feel intimidated by this. "Unless you are indeed nightcrawlers in disguise, we can label you 'intruders' instead." He added, placing his yellow gaze on them in turn, frowning. His fists went to his hips and he loomed over Aerrow, eyeing the blades in his hands. "I suggest you put those away if you do not intend to attack me out of turn."

"I don't think they understand a word you're saying." The other smirked. He was crouching on a nearby ruined pillar.

Aerrow exchanged glances with Piper and Radarr. They seemed as bemused as he did. Exactly how much did these two know about them? He sheathed his blades.

"Were you the one who left the trail for us?" Piper asked uncertainly, turning to the oldest of the two.

"Trail?" He repeated, looking confused.

"Yo." The other said idly, with a flick of his hand. "That was me."

"You idiot!" The oldest barked over his shoulder. "Don't you listen to a damn thing I say?"

"I got them here, didn't I?" He spat back. "They were armed! How was I supposed to know they wouldn't attack me on sight?"

"Smart plan. Now anything can find us. I thought I could smell ash. It's a wonder you haven't set the entire forest ablaze."

The other grumbled something incredibly offensive and threw his staff blade first in the dirt.

"Who are you?" Aerrow managed to blurt out.

"Axel." The man responded quickly, scratching his stubbly chin. He gestured over his shoulder. "That's Pike."

"You know about the nightcrawlers?" Aerrow pondered, looking between the pair.

"'Course." Axel snorted. "They're everywhere. They practically own the Ridgeland. Everyone knows that. I'm more interested to hear about you."

He swallowed. This was going to be difficult. "My name's Aerrow, that's Radarr and this is Piper."

"How old are you?" Pike grunted, raising his voice to be heard from his perch on the rubble.

"Does it matter?" Aerrow frowned. "I haven't asked your age."

"Touchy subject?" Axel smirked, folding his arms. "Alright."

Aerrow's gaze fell on the pair's collection of supplies. They were not unlike their own caches, however these wooden crates were considerably shallower and stamped with a white crest that resembled a dragon with outstretched wings. "What are you guys doing out here?"

"We're Rangers." Axel answered, as if it was the solution to all his suspicions. "What's your excuse?"

He felt Piper's grip tighten around his wrist. "We've come to warn you, actually." Aerrow said, thinking quickly. "We're here to bring a hostile to justice. A crystal mage. She's a threat to this world and already has numerous crimes against our people."

Axel raised an eyebrow. "And who exactly are your people?"

"Not from here." He said shortly. "We travelled here in our airship."

"Aye, we saw you arrive." Axel frowned. "An unusual sight that was."

"You guys don't have airships?" He realised.

"We have shipships." Pike grumbled, flattening his sleek hairdo, however it did nothing to tame the outer wild strands of his dark hair.

"Shut it." Axel spat, holding out his hand to silence him. "If you've nothing intelligent to add, I suggest you start loading the supplies."

Pike rolled his eyes and slid from the ruins. The tail of his coat swished around his heels as he stood and he began stacking up the crates into piles.

"Where are you taking them?" Aerrow asked, nodding at the cargo.

Axel looked at him oddly. "Seriously?"

Pike let out an annoyed huff and slammed down the crate he was holding. "Just tell them, Ax, they're no nightcrawlers."

"There are strict rules around that." Axel said hurriedly. "I can't tell every sodding invalid that shows up on our doorstep where we take our freighters."

"So, what are they supposed to do, stand out here like lemons?"

Axel sighed, but it came out more like a snarl and he ran his fingers over his temples.

"We take the stuff to the city." Pike explained matter-of-factly. "People down there don't get out much. Kill some things on the side, raid some places. Pay's really good. Occupational hazards and all that."

"That's not even a fraction of what we do." Axel stated flatly. "Shut up before you embarrass yourself." He turned to Aerrow and hooked his fingers around his belt. "Anyway, if you want to get inside the city, you have to go through me. Call us the border patrol."

There was an entire city below their feet. Aerrow was kicking himself, it was so obvious. How had he not realised it sooner? All their scans for crystals showed that the majority of them were beneath the earth.

It seemed these Rangers operated not unlike a squadron. From what Aerrow had worked out from their hurried ramblings, it appeared they protected the people of this so-called city from assault. Bonus points for fighting monsters instead of Cyclonians, although he feared there would be little difference now that Cyclonis had dropped off the grid.

"So, you're in charge, then?" Aerrow speculated. Whatever position Axel held, it seemed the closest equivalent of a Sky Knight.

Axel waved his statement away. "For now. Not my most favourite job, but someone's got to step up."

Pike caught Aerrow's eye and whispered out of the corner of his mouth. "He's just mad 'cause the Ranger-Commander quit on his sorry a-"

"That has nothing to do with you." Axel snapped.

"Oh, I think it does." Pike retorted, lifting one of the crate stacks and slammed it down on a nearby mass of sleek metal that was hovering an inch or so from the parched grass.

Axel straightened up and folded his arms behind his back. "This mage you're after, what's their classification?"

"Excuse me?"

"One, two, three or four?" He elaborated, yet Aerrow was still clueless. Axel noticed his blank expression and raised an eyebrow at him. After a moment's pause, he turned to his accomplice in a silent plead for help.

"One element…" Pike started, clicking the fingers on his right hand and summoned a flame like it was nothing. It flickered and danced on the end of his fingers before he extinguished it. Piper let out an excited yelp from beside Aerrow. "Two elements…" He clapped his palms together and all the surrounding trees dropped their decaying leaves at their feet. "Three elements…" He shot out his palms, waited for a moment and then quietly apologised before trying again. A sharp gust of wind rippled through Aerrow's hair. "And I'm not even going to attempt the fourth." He finished, sauntering back to his work. "All crystals are variations of the four elements. There are a few, however that fall under the fifth… blah, blah blah... I'm not having the crystal talk with an outsider."

"You're a crystal mage." Piper said in awe. "How are you able to-"

"Uh, Piper." Aerrow interrupted. "Now is not the time to geek out."

"Right." She chuckled, "Sorry."

"Yeah, it's all beyond me." Axel insisted. "So, what are we dealing with?"

Aerrow looked at Piper. Her amber eyes were wide and he knew she was thinking the same thing.

"Cyclonis is a five." He announced.

"No, no, no." Pike objected loudly. "There's only-"

"No, there isn't." Piper cut him short. "Trust us."

"A class five mage." Axel related and cursed harshly.

"She's been working with the nightcrawlers." Piper added. "Or at least, was."

"This is the Nightingale's territory." Pike muttered to Axel, who stood stroking his chin in thought.

"We can't get her involved until we're sure this intel is sound." He murmured in return and sighed heavily. "Listen you two, you have to realise how questionable this is. I want to trust you. I do. But, this whole thing is a lot bigger than just me."

"I understand your concern." Aerrow acknowledged, stepping forwards. "But, we wouldn't be here if we weren't desperate. You have to believe us."

"I don't see how you fit in to all this." Axel stated. "What are you planning to do – fly around aimlessly in that airship of yours and hope you stumble into them? Lithos is a big place. I'm assuming you're on your own. What will you do for supplies? You did not think this through, did you? I don't mean to sound rude, but if this mage is as dangerous as you say, I'd be sending someone with a few more years of experience, or, I don't know, an army."

And with that, the Storm Hawks had gone full circle. Aerrow was fuming. Piper pushed him aside and addressed Axel. "Be that as it may, we made it this far and we're all still in one piece."

Pike snorted. "'Can't say the same for your threads - GAH! AXEL, YOU NYAFF!" He rubbed his forearm, for he had just been punched.

"There's a Ranger based on the far side of the island you should meet." Axel said hastily. "I'll let her know you're coming."

"Why?" Aerrow frowned, looking at the two Rangers in turn. "Who is she?"

"Her specialties are a little more unorthodox." Axel explained. "Doesn't come back to the city very often. She keeps tabs on nightcrawler activity. Keeps us in the know. That kind of thing. If your mage has been working with the nightcrawlers, she might be able to shine some light on the situation."

"How will we find her?" Aerrow asked. He folded his arms and watched the Ranger turn his back to them.

"She'll find you." Axel put in, stepping away from the group and fiddled with a device in his ear to make his call.

It was this moment that Pike finished piling up the cargo and he jumped up onto one of the stacks and sat there watching Axel as he idly ambled back and forth.

"You're a crystal mage." Piper repeated elatedly.

"Really?" He snorted, lifting one of his feet onto the crate and draped an arm over his knee. "I hadn't noticed."

"Are crystals really categorised like that?" She pried. "I've never heard anything like it before. I mean, I know you can get the basic elements in their purest form, but I had no idea-"

Pike cut off Piper's ramblings with a loud groan. "Can you shut up?" He said emotionlessly. "Thanks."

"I did warn you." Aerrow muttered out of the corner of his mouth and Piper elbowed him in the ribs.

They stood in silence. Aerrow felt considerably awkward and messed with the back of his hair.

"Alright, here's how it's going down." Axel announced finally, striding back to meet them. "Call your little friends to pick you up and make your way to the east coast. Pike and I have a job to do, so we shall part ways shortly."

"That's it?" Aerrow prompted, arching an eyebrow.

"That's it." Axel repeated. "What were you expecting? A fanfare? We're not about to drop everything for your benefit, kid. Some of us have to work for a living." He span on his heel and clicked his tongue at his accomplice. "Let's get moving."

Pike leapt from the crates and kicked a switch with the back of his heel that caused the floating platform to shift into motion.

Axel turned to face them and began walking backwards. He eyed Aerrow – who was still fuming – and winked at him. "Don't look so glum, kid. You haven't seen the last of us. I'm not about to leave a bunch of teenagers out in the Wounded Wood, regardless of what your intentions are." He let out an amused chuckle and indolently cupped his hands around his mouth as they disappeared into the trees. "What kind of person do you think I am?"

Aerrow turned his back to the pair and folded his arms. Radarr let out a small whine, but Aerrow ignored him.

Piper was smiling at him and this did nothing but irritate him further, so he turned away from her as well and fumbled with his earpiece.

"Aerrow, to Condor. Do you copy? Over."

"Wilco, over." Came Finn's lazy reply, yet he left the line open and spoke to the others. "Watch out, guys. Aerrow's in a bad mood."

"What?" He blurted out, "No, I'm not!"

Finn was laughing. "Lair. I got five by five on that lingo, over."

"Now you're just messing with me." Aerrow growled.

"You'll never guess who we just ran into!" Piper chimed in eagerly.

"Master Cyclonis?" Junko asked.

Aerrow could not tell if he was joking.

"No, silly." She laughed. "Far siders! Come pick us up and we can explain everything."

"Dude! Are things going right, for once?" Finn gasped sarcastically. "It's been a month and we're only just now finding someone that won't bite our faces off in this crazy place. I'm shocked. Shocked."

"We never said that." Aerrow muttered. "Can you hurry up? My ankle's killing me."

"On it, dude." Finn confirmed. "Stork, you heard the man. Aerrow, I'm watching the trees. Need your signal."

He retrieved his energy blade and charged the crystal just enough to let out a bolt of blue energy that reached the treeline.

"I see it." Finn said instantly. "We'll be there in a second. Out."

Radarr tapped him on the shoulder to get his attention and tilted his head to one side.

"Do I look like a defenceless teenager to you?" He asked, leaning against the archway to support himself.

Radarr clearly saw his extra weight was giving Aerrow grief, so he leapt from his shoulders into the grass, but shrugged nevertheless.

Piper giggled.

Aerrow shot his glare at her. "What are you laughing at?" He snarled, stowing his blade away.

"Aerrow." She grinned, shaking her head. "Just be thankful we're finally making progress."

He sighed, folding his arms and his gaze dropped to his feet. That is not how he saw it at all. Once again, he felt like the fourteen-year-old staring helplessly at the Sky Knight Council as they slammed the door in his face. He had accomplished so much since then and no one here would batter an eyelid. They may have taken a step forward, but in hindsight, it felt like they had taken another two backwards. What he hated the most was that Axel was right – they were in over their heads. It did not matter what titles they held, out here, none of it mattered. There were six of them against a world of unspeakable power. They may be the ultimate guardians of Atmos, but this was not Atmos anymore.

"What's on your mind?" Piper asked timidly, stepping towards him.

"How do you suppose we stop Cyclonis?" Aerrow glowered, his eyes darting up to meet hers. "Lock her up? Give her a slap on the wrist and tell her to be a good little crystal mage? Not likely. She's not going to give up. We were born amidst a war against the Cyclonian Empire and who knows how long it had been going on before that!" He straightened up and gained the little height he had over her. "You wanted to know why I'm so worked up all the time. The way I see it, this can only end two ways – she dies, or we do."