Storm Hawks Fan 3rd Season - Episode 57 - Part 4

Episode 57 - Wasteland Wonder

Part 4 - Underground Unknown

Everyone stood near the Condor, except Stork who was still working on the engine. They looked around a little tense, wondering what was going on.

"Well... There's definitely more to this place than we thought." - Aerrow said.

"Maybe we should apply the 'nothing is what it appears' rule from the Forbidden City in here too." - Piper commented.

"Then someone did wish for the rain, after all." - Stork said in a mocked delightful tone as he glared at Finn.

"I couldn't have known!" - the blonde crossed his arms and looked away annoyed.

"So you think this place's a wasteland that grants wishes?" - Junko suggested, drawing their attention.

"That might actually be true. After all, we shouldn't have been able to experience sunlight changes here if this place isn't shielded from the Conduit's light." - Kaya said as she bent down and brushed her hand on the ground - "This soil isn't really normal. There's something strange about this place." - she picked up some sand and rubbed her fingers against the dust to feel it.

"I have a feeling that whatever it is, it's underground." - the sky knight spoke - "Let's check out those caves Piper found earlier."

~~~

Aerrow, Junko, Piper, and Kaya were driving towards the caves, the boys each on their respective skimmers and the girls on the navigator's heliscooter. Finn and Radarr had stayed behind to watch over the Condor and Stork. That, and the blonde obviously wasn't in the mood for exploring some creepy cave in the middle of nowhere. That was Piper's thing anyway.

"There!" - the crystal mage pointed ahead of them.

They soon came to a stop near two caves. The four stared at them, examining them carefully. They had very distinct shapes, they weren't really just holes leading underground, they actually were like small piles of dust that had been shaped like seashells or something. And by what they could see, their insides weren't bland, irregular or spiky like normal caves, they were different: they had some smooth concave curves facing the inside that looked like they had been carved by something.

"Those are some strange caves..." - Junko commented.

"Yeah, there's something peculiar about their structure... But I can't seem to point out what it is yet." - Piper said.

"Only one way to find out: let's get inside." - Aerrow said as he got out of his skimmer.

"We'll split up, then?" - Kaya asked, to which the sky knight nodded as he pulled out his swords.

"Junko and I will go to this one, and you and Piper will go to that one." - he pointed to each cave with the blade on his right hand - "We'll rendezvous here in about one hour."

The two duos parted ways and entered the caves. Who knows what they'd find there.

~~~

Finn just sat down strumming randomly in his guitar. Boy, was he bored! Radarr, then, was so bored he was almost falling asleep. And the sharpshooter couldn't help but keep playing music just to make him even more sleepy. He slapped himself once in an attempt to stay awake. Then tried to hold his eyelids open by gluing them to his head with duct tape.

"You look totally quaint, Radarr." - the blonde said sarcastically.

The animal glared at him, but since his eyelids were glued open, it looked more like he was staring at him with wide eyes. The boy just laughed at the lack of facial expressions from the little guy. But then he heard a noise and looked down.

"Hey!" - he shouted.

The co-pilot had glued his hands on the guitar with lots of duct tape. Finn glared at Radarr, but the latter didn't give a care about that. Served him right! While that, Stork just tried to figure out what was inside the booster. He had already taken lots of parts out, but that thing was nowhere in sight. He even ran a scanner once again just to be sure he wasn't crazy. And the scanner confirmed there was something in there somewhere.

"Maybe it can become invisible..." - he wondered, then he put some goggles he had created to see if he could find anything - "Ah..." - he smiled a little.

He had seen the shadow of something. He picked up his screwdriver and reached inside with it to poke that shadow, but when he was about to touch it, the shadow simply disappeared!

"Hm... It fooled my goggles, huh..." - he said in thought - "I'll have to come up with something else." - he put a hand on his chin.

The merb stared at the seemingly empty booster but fully aware that there was something in there, hiding from him. Whatever that thing was, it apparently was still alive. Now that was strange... How could it have survived? Well, soon he'd find out.

~~~

Piper and Kaya walked inside one of the caves, looking around for clues. They never needed to use any lights because the Grandmaster's armor shone in the dark, illuminating everything around them.

"That kind of crystal armor is very useful." - the navigator commented.

"It is, isn't it?" - the little girl grinned broadly - "I crafted it myself."

The first officer smiled at that. Now that was talent! They observed the strange walls and how perfectly round was the cave. That wasn't normal. No cave was as symmetric as a perfect circle. The crystal mage touched the wall to her right to study it.

"This is so strange." - she said - "It can't be natural... Something must've done this."

"Yeah. The wall feels odd too..." - Kaya added as she also brushed her hand against the wall - "It's not made of very dry dust or humid rock like a common cave. It feels... Viscous." - she rubbed her fingers on each other.

"Maybe we should take a sample with us." - Piper suggested.

"Sure, here you go." - the Grandmaster handed her a piece of plastic meant for that purpose, a pair of tweezers and a very small pickaxe.

The little girl observed as the teenager one worked carefully with the pick around a nice sample she had found to loosen that piece from the rest of the rocky structure. She watched amazed by Piper's control and ability while she used the tweezers to steadily remove the piece of rock from the wall and place it inside the plastic.

"There. We can study this later." - Piper said.

"You're so skilled at this!" - Kaya commented in awe, making the navigator giggle shyly.

"I did explore a lot in all these years..." - she admitted with no false modesty nor arrogance.

"Would you tell me more about your exploring trips another time?" - the Grandmaster asked with genuine interest and excitement.

"Of course! I'm thrilled for knowing someone that even wants to listen to those stories!" - the crystal mage said just as excitedly as Kaya was.

"Wonderful, I can't wait." - the little girl smiled - "Still, I'm very happy you let me come with you." - she said while she stood up holding their bag of tools.

"I'm the one glad you came along. This is being the most fun recon I've done in ages." - Piper told her as she placed the tools and the sample in her bag - "I guess it even beats my very first exploring trip. And that was a memory I cherish until today."

"Really?! That's awesome!" - Kaya clasped her hands together while the first officer smiled warmly at her.

"Well, shall we continue?" - she asked as she stood up.

"You lead the way!" - the Grandmaster said and followed right behind Piper.

~~~

Aerrow and Junko explored their own cave. The sky knight's swords were their source of light. The leader walked ahead fearless as always, but wary about his surroundings, while the wallop followed slowly and unsure. He certainly felt creeped out by that place.

"Junko, are you okay?" - the boy asked after he noticed how nervous he was.

The flight engineer quickly nodded, but then he shook his head.

"C-Can we get this over with as fast as possible?" - he stuttered - "I really didn't like this place."

Then he saw the shadow of something move fast beside him and make a strange sound, which made him jump and scream in fear. Aerrow turned around and readied himself for battle in the blink of an eye. He expected something to come at them, but nothing. He approached the wall where the sound had come from and found out what had made that noise: a small rock had fallen from the wall. His tense position relaxed and Junko sighed in relief.

"Just a rock. No danger here." - the sky knight shot him an assuring look - "Let's keep moving."

As they kept going ahead, they realized the narrow walls were starting to open up more space. The air inside the cave felt denser than normal and soon they were able to see some mist coming from deep inside the cave. The two stared at the fog and exchanged glances. Yep, there was something strange in there. They walked further and noticed some weird stuff on the walls and on the ceiling. Junko touched it and immediately regretted it.

"Eww..." - he said as he pulled his hand completely covered in goo - "It's so sticky and it stinks!" - but to Aerrow's surprise, and disgust, he licked the goo from his hand - "Wow, it tastes great, though. Sweet as honey. Want some?" - he offered.

"No... Thanks..." - the boy cringed as he watched the wallop eat that stuff.

For someone who was scared of a rock a minute ago, Junko didn't even flinch or hesitate on taking a bite of that strange goo. Sometimes Aerrow asked himself how could he just go and eat anything he saw in front of him without having his belly hurt a lot later. Then again, he had proven he possessed an iron stomach that could take on any kind of poisonous and hazardous food before. He wondered if the other wallops could do that as well or if it was just Junko who was something else.

He pushed those thoughts aside when he was called on his communicator.

"You guys found anything?" - Piper asked.

"Junko and I found some strange goo on the walls and the ceiling." - he said as he moved his sword near the goo to illuminate it - "And..." - he didn't even know how to put it.

"He's eating it, isn't he?" - she guessed.

"Uh... Yeah." - he confirmed unimpressed with the situation - "What about you?"

In the cave beside the boys', the girls were standing in a large dark area that had quite a few peculiar structures.

"We found what appears to be an underground chamber." - she told him as she walked near Kaya who tried to pry open a strange hardened shell like pod thing on the floor - "There's that same kind of goo all over the place, but, there's also more..."

"More? More what?" - Aerrow asked.

"I can't say exactly what yet, but there's something I know for sure..." - she said.

~~~

Stork had taken all the parts of the booster out and was trying to find the thing that had rammed into them.

"...These aren't caves." - Piper continued speaking.

The merb reached inside the engine with a pair of grip pliers.

"They're actually hives." - she finished.

Once the pilot poked the strange thing, it came out of its cloaked stance and screeched at him. He screamed and flinched backward, which made him lose his balance and fall off the ladder. Upon hearing the loud thud from the impact, Finn and Radarr quickly looked at him.

"Stork, what's going..." - the sharpshooter was about to ask when he saw the huge bug looking thing screech at him, so he finished his speech with a girlish scream.

The insect was completely black with glowing greenish eyes. It looked a lot like a fat stag beetle, it had the size of a person's head, maybe a little bigger. The co-pilot quickly intercepted the beast. He leaped on top of it and bit on its armored body. Then he froze, feeling the pain rushing through his veins. Woah! That thing was really, really hard! What was it made of? Diamonds? The foreign insect didn't waste its time, though. It rapidly twisted around in retaliation and bit Radarr's nose with its pincer-like mouth. The little animal ran around like crazy trying to get that thing off him.

Finn pulled out his crossbow and aimed carefully. Then he shot, hitting the bug squarely in the head and staggering it. Stork took the chance to capture it by throwing it into a glass cage.

"What is that thing?" - the blonde asked.

They all stared at the creature screeching and ramming its tiny legs against the glass.

~~~

"So we gotta be careful. We don't know what could be living in here." - Piper said through Aerrow's communicator.

"Right. Try to avoid drawing attention." - the sky knight advised, then he turned to Junko - "Let's get this recon over with. We gotta warn the others about this."

He walked ahead, with the wallop following close behind. They strolled inside a chamber in their own cave as well. It was just like the other chamber Piper had described to them. A large space with lots of goo everywhere and some hardened shell like pod structures. The boy heard the sound of chewing nearby.

"Junko!" - he whispered harshly to his side - "Stop eating the goo!"

"But I'm not doing anything." - the flight engineer said from behind the leader, which made the latter turn around surprised.

"Then... Who's making this chewing noise?" - Aerrow almost felt regret for asking.

He moved his sword towards where the sound was coming from. And there they saw: several bugs chewing on the goo on the walls. Their eyes widened. There must have been hundreds of them! One of the bugs stared at them for a moment and froze, watching them intensely. Another one suddenly lost its grip on the ceiling and fell on Junko's shoulder. The wallop looked at it, and from that closeness, the bug appeared very creepy, especially with its orange glowing eyes, so he screamed and slapped the insect off his shoulder, causing it to fall on the ground.

The black beetle looking creature bounced twice on its back and remained lying on the floor with its belly exposed. It moved its legs frantically in desperation since it couldn't turn itself to get back on its feet. All the other bugs that had seen that immediately glared at the two boys and screeched angrily. Oh, they were mad now! They made some buzzing noise and quickly climbed down the wall and ran towards them. The two screamed and ran for the tunnel they had come from, but when they got near it, the insects appeared in front of them.

"They're blocking the exit!" - Junko shouted.

"Quick, open a path on that wall!" - the leader ordered, pointing at a wall behind them.

The flight engineer lit up his knuckle busters and punched the wall with all his might, creating a massive hole. He kept punching over and over, digging their way out on solid rock as if it was nothing. A little while later, Junko noticed one of his punches opened a hole letting some light come in.

"I think we're back on the surface!" - he told Aerrow.

"Okay, keep it up, I'll take care of the bugs." - the sky knight said.

He ran back in the tunnel they had created and proceeded to slash the ceiling with his swords. A few strikes later the roof gave up, making lots of boulders block the passage. He went to Junko again, who had already gotten out and helped him up. Once they looked around, they figured where they were: very close to the Condor.

"Guess it's easier to go back to the ship and take another skimmer to get to the caves again." - the wallop suggested, and Aerrow nodded as both walked.

~~~

Piper knelt near Kaya and watched as she used a crowbar to open one of the pods from the chamber. With a few tries, she managed to make the lid open. They peered inside. There were several glowing greenish balls there.

"I think they're eggs." - the crystal mage deduced.

"They don't look like they'll hatch soon." - the Grandmaster added.

"Yeah. I think we should leave them alone there." - the navigator said, to which the little girl agreed.

But then they heard a strange sound coming from above. They flit their eyes upwards and blinked in surprise. There were thousands of glowing larvae-looking creatures. They seemed to be focused on chewing the goo from the ceiling until one of them noticed the two girls staring at them. All of the other bugs then glanced at them as well. The two flinched in fear. Oh, no...

Quickly, the insects ran towards them. They tried to stand up to run but the creatures were too fast and easily caught up with them before they could even get up. Kaya buried her face against Piper's chest and the latter hugged her, hiding her face against the little girl's shoulder. They sat on the ground like that waiting for the imminent attack.

~~~

Aerrow and Junko had arrived at the place where the Condor was landed at. They saw the others standing near a glass container with one of the bugs inside it.

"What's going on here?" - the sky knight asked.

"That atrocity came out of my beloved Condor!" - the merb pointed at the huge insect desperately trying to get out of the glass cage.

"So it was one of those bugs that rammed into us?" - the wallop figured out.

"Wait, did you say 'those bugs'?" - Finn asked.

"Yeah. Those caves Piper saw are actually hives for these insects." - the leader told them.

"Eww... I knew this place was creepy from the start." - the blonde crossed his arms with a look on his face that said 'I told you'.

"Shouldn't we release it?" - Junko referred to the bug.

"Don't you dare let this thing loose near my ship!" - Stork threatened him - "If you wanna free it, take it back to the cave where it belongs to!"

Suddenly, they all heard the echoes of screams coming from far away.

"It's the girls!" - the flight engineer said.

"Junko, stay here with the others, just in case those things try to reach us from underground." - Aerrow ordered - "I'll go find Piper and Kaya and release this one." - he said as he picked up the glass cage.

He quickly went to the hangar bay to borrow Finn's ride. Then he drove as fast as he could back to the caves.

"Aww... He's gonna scratch my ride real bad, I just know it." - the boy commented in an upset tone.

Yep, Aerrow could be pretty reckless, especially when it came down to rescuing his friends. And he was known for pushing his skyride over the limits...

~~~

In a few minutes, the sky knight had arrived at the two entrances of the hives. He dismounted from Finn's ride and walked towards the cave on the right, carrying the glass container. Once the bug saw its home it seemed to settle down and become much calmer.

"Well, guess I can carry you on my back now that you cooled off a little." - Aerrow said as he pulled his swords out and placed the cage's hooks onto the holders for his swords on his back.

He entered the hive without hesitating.

~~~

Piper and Kaya were hugging each other waiting for an attack. But nothing happened. They slowly opened their eyes and let go of each other. The insects were just standing there, staring curiously at them. One of the caterpillar looking creatures hopped on the crystal mage's leg and climbed up her arm until it was near her face. Then it stuck its tongue out and licked her cheek, making her giggle. It left quite a trail of sticky saliva on her face, which she cleaned with her hand, but she didn't mind that much.

"So, they're friendly..." - Kaya said as she allowed another one of them to settle down on her lap.

The fat caterpillar rolled on its back, showing her its belly and sticking its many legs out as if they were arms open for a hug. The little girl couldn't help but give it a belly rub.

"They're so cute too!" - she giggled.

"I wasn't really expecting that." - the navigator commented, then she felt the bug on her shoulder licking her cheek again - "I think their saliva's that peculiar viscosity from the soil." - she said as she cleaned her cheek again and felt the sticky moisture's texture in her fingers.

"You're right, Piper." - the Grandmaster agreed - "I think I now know what this place is. This was once a wonderland, but the Great Storms changed the place into this wasteland. I believe these little guys are the only survivors." - she told her as she petted the insect on her lap.

"What kind of wonderland are we talking about?" - the first officer asked.

"The most wonderful place you could ever imagine, literally." - the little girl said - "I even had a book about here, but I didn't recognize it before because it's so different. It used to be such a beautiful and colorful place, filled with so much life. It's just sad that it became this." - she stared at the ground upset.

"I wish there was something we could do about it." - Piper said.

All of a sudden, all the caterpillars stood on their "rear legs", shaking their bums like happy dogs. Then many of them climbed on top of the crystal mage, some began licking her face and others rubbed their heads against her like cats. The girl laughed helplessly.

"That tickles!" - she shouted between chuckles - "Stop it!" - she laughed again.

On another section of the hive, Aerrow ran through the tunnels until he got to a wall.

"A dead end?!" - he shouted in frustration, but then he heard a shout of someone yelling for something to stop - "It's Piper!"

The beetle looking creature inside the glass cage rammed its head against one of the container's sides, trying to get the sky knight to understand it was pointing to the direction they should go to. But instead, Aerrow mistook that as the insect becoming distressed, so he tried to think of a way to quickly get them to the girls, like a shortcut. A shortcut... That was it!

"This better work." - he hoped.

He spun his swords in his hands as he absorbed the energy of the crystals, enveloping himself in an ethereal armor, then he charged at the wall on his left, breaking through it.

The two girls played with the little caterpillars when they suddenly heard a loud noise, like an explosion, coming from a wall on the entrance of the tunnel behind them and looked towards it startled. Once the dust settled down, they saw Aerrow standing there, with his hair completely messed up from the rough ride he had just put himself through.

"Oh, look! Our knight in shining armor came for the rescue!" - Kaya teased him, making Piper giggle at the irony of the situation and also mostly at his hair - "I see you finally got the move right. Congrats."

The boy blinked perplexedly after seeing they were safe and sound all along.

"But... I thought... You were in danger..." - he was genuinely confused - "I heard you scream from miles away." - he deactivated his blades as he walked closer to them.

"We did think we were done for a minute ago." - Piper admitted - "But turns out these little guys are very friendly and playful." - she told him while she picked one of the insects up and petted it under its head.

Aerrow approached them and crouched on the ground beside them. One bug studied him a little then leaped on him. He chuckled as he caught it in the air before it hit his chest, then observed the little guy climbing up his arm and settling on his shoulder.

"Oh, the guys managed to catch one of these." - he said as he pulled the glass cage from his back and placed it on the ground - "This one'd rammed into the Condor. I hope it's not hurt." - he spoke concerned while he opened the hatch of the container to let the bug out.

"Aww, poor thing. It must've been very scared being stuck in that booster until now." - Kaya said in sympathy as she reached for the insect and softly petted it - "I think it's fine, though, so that's good."

"So, have you figured out this place yet?" - the boy asked them as he looked around, the bug on his shoulder mimicking him, which caused him to smile at it and pet its head, amused by its antics.

"Kaya'd told me it used to be a wondrous place a long time ago, but after the Great Storms it became a wasteland." - Piper briefly explained.

"And what about those strange weather changes?" - he questioned.

"We believe these bugs are the key to that." - the Grandmaster said - "Their saliva must have some special properties, causing the weather to change at anyone's will, as long as they stand in here."

"We were also wondering if there was a way to help them find a better home or something." - the navigator said - "This place is way too harsh for these little things. It'll soon take its toll on them."

Aerrow put a hand on his chin in thought.

"What if we try to wish for it?" - he said his idea.

"Are you suggesting their saliva is magical and can grant wishes just like that?" - Piper was a little skeptical about it.

"It's just a thought. Maybe it could work." - he shrugged.

"Well... I guess it's worth a shot. In the worst case nothing will happen, right?" - Kaya said, trying to be positive - "Uh... I wish for a better home for you guys."

Then suddenly, the cave started shaking a lot as if it was about to collapse.

"Or maybe in the worst case this place'll get destroyed!" - the crystal mage was alarmed.

"We gotta get out of here!" - Aerrow shouted, then he noticed the bugs opening a new tunnel and gesturing for them to follow - "This way!"

The three went through the new tunnel, running as fast as they could. Kaya was the one in the front, so she could barely see the ground ahead of her when she tripped on a small rock and fell on the ground. Aerrow and Piper quickly ran by her with their arms stretched out so she could grab their hands. Once she got a good hold of them, they pulled her up fast and dragged her with them. Since they were taller than her, she felt almost like she was flying when they gave those long strides of theirs.

Soon they saw the sunlight and reached the surface, throwing themselves on the ground to get out more quickly. They panted for a while, trying to regain their breath. They noticed all the bugs from the other hive had gone out too. They stared distressed at their collapsing home. The three sat up looking sad at the insects and exchanging worried glances among each other.

"What have we done?" - Kaya felt awful for that.

But then, something amazing happened: a miracle! Grass started growing under them and all over the place. A soft drizzle poured down, filling up a small lake nearby. Even trees suddenly appeared, growing very fast and even producing some fruits! The three looked around in awe, gasping happily.

"The wonderland... It's coming back!" - Piper said excitedly.

Once the land was done with its change, all the bugs cheered. At last! After so many centuries, their wonderland was restored! The trio stood up, smiling at the insects.

"I'm glad they have their home back now." - Aerrow commented as he put his fists on his hips.

Then they all looked upwards after hearing the sound of the Condor's horn.

"Hey, you guys! Are you alright?" - Junko shouted from the hangar as he watched over them.

"We're fine, Junko! Did you see that?" - the leader replied.

"Yeah! That was totally awesome!" - the wallop said.

The ship hovered in very low altitude, then Finn and Radarr quickly jumped on the ground. The co-pilot ran to Aerrow and occupied his place on his shoulder, while the blonde boy went right to his skimmer to check for any scratches.

"Oh, c'mon, Finn, stop that, I didn't ruin your ride." - the sky knight crossed his arms.

"Just confirming, you know every time you act that way whatever ride you're on doesn't survive." - the sharpshooter said.

The leader just shook his head. Yeah, he knew that. But he just couldn't help it. He'd be nothing without his friends, his family... He observed the insects easily getting along very well. They were also a family that cared for each other for all those years. He couldn't be any happier for them.

Junko got near the bugs chuckling. One of them kept rubbing its head against his leg, so he picked it up and tickled its belly.

"This little guy is so tiny." - he said - "I'll call him Mr. Softy." - he smiled as Kaya approached him.

"That name suits him." - she told him as he lowered his hands to her height so she could pet the caterpillar - "Aww, he's ticklish." - she said when seeing the insect wriggle around a bit - "He's so cute!"

The girl and the wallop exchanged glances knowingly, then stared at the others with pleading eyes.

"Can we keep him?" - both asked in unison as they blinked twice.