Sorry, it’s been a while. This role play will contain some spoilers.

*crash land*

*Most of the dragons around you are staring up at the sky in confusion, aside from the leafwing dragonet that took off towards the Poison Jungle. The leafwings around you now were now focused on you and were trying to help you get treatment for your injuries. Suddenly you hear another dragonet take off. If you looked up, you could see this one is a little older*

???: IVY, COME BACK! *she roared in pursuit of the other dragonet*

*a Hivewing tried to follow her too but her tail got caught by a leafwing adult coming over to help you*

????: you’re not going in the poison jungle, it’s dangerous.

??????: why do Ivy and Maple get to go then?

????: they shouldn’t be going at all.

ow

(… you know you could just reply to my reply with the story right? It keeps things slightly more organized.)

Windbreaker (My WoF OC. Windbreaker is a Terebrid Dragon, who was born under three full moons, and is an Animus who made herself immune to every other Animus spell when she was younger. Her mother was a pure SkyWing and her father was a NightWing-SandWing Hybrid. She is also an adult.): Woah!

Maple: finding my friend. I only asked because I’m surprised you managed to get here without help.

Windbreaker: *snorts* I know my way around here. Need help finding your friend?

Maple: I’m surprised you do considering you’re not a leafwing, but that’s actually great. Also any help is appreciated. Just don’t get eaten by any plants.. I can’t tell you the amount of trouble I went through to save the last dragon that got caught in a dragon trap. I could use an extra set of eyes though. Thank you..

Windbreaker: *nods*

*you both follow the long trail of pulled up plant roots and fallen trees, a little further to the side you see an even longer trail of dirt*

Maple: “something new?” Yeah I can see that. Careful, there’s some dragon traps that fell there… We’re close, she’s nearby.

Windbreaker: *nods*

Maple: whatever crashed here must have been huge. *you’re following the path from the side in the trees. Maple keeps guiding you away from it, the further you travel down, the side of the path, the safer it becomes and the less plants on the dirt path there are*

*You and maple start to hear waves. After another minute Maple spots her*

Maple: there. I see her. She standing in the middle of it… *she lands in a safe area without coming onto the trail of dirt kicked up from the crash* Ivy?

*no response*

Windbreaker: *lands and nudges Ivy*

*Maple steps out onto the pathway*

Maple: *looking at Ivy first* Ivy, whaa— *she turned her head down the path the way you were following.* What is that? *she tried to get closer to it but Ivy’s arm shot up, blocking her*

Ivy: *quietly* I don’t think that thing is pointing a weirdly shaped and painted metal stick at as for no reason.

*down the trail was a clearing. A large metal object as large as a dragonet was resting half off of the cliff edge, it appeared to be damaged with some metal pieces fallen off and exposing some sort of mess underneath. It looked like different colored string. Some sparks were coming off it, and occasionally different parts moved as if it were repairing itself. Next to it was a strange light emitted by a small metal thing on the ground that looked like a square, it had some text on it that no one could understand and several graphs and other pictures you you three couldn’t make sense of. And finally, there was what looked like to be a scavenger next to it holding something metal, it wasn’t one of those pointy sticks they had, it looked like the end of it had a barrel. The scavenger completely covered in some kind of blue armor, parts of it seemed to be glowing, one part on its chest was even spinning. It also had a metal backpack of some kind.*

Ivy: … I think that’s a scavenger, they have a lot of them in Pyrrhia.. but none are like that. It looks dangerous.

Windbreaker: *walks over to investigate*

(Sorry for not responding for a while, I was busy)

*Most of the dragons around you are staring up at the sky in confusion, aside from the leafwing dragonet that took off towards the Poison Jungle. Suddenly you see another dragonet take off, this one is a little older*

???: IVY, COME BACK! *she roared in pursuit of the other dragonet*

*a Hivewing tried to follow her too but her tail got caught by a leafwing adult*

????: you’re not going in the poison jungle, it’s dangerous.

??????: why do Ivy and Maple get to go then?

????: they shouldn’t be going at all.

(Sorry for responding so late, I’ve wasn’t expecting to be so busy today)

(Tis alright)
Windbreaker: *hides in the bushes*

*the two dragons that just left are racing towards the poison jungle following the fireball. They’re so far you can’t hear Maple screaming at Ivy anymore.*

Windbreaker: *cautiously follows*

*both flew into the Poison Jungle unaware that they were being followed*

Windbreaker: *continues to follow them*

*for a little while, it was just the sounds of the jungle. You could occasionally hear a shout coming from Maple. Twice dragonfly traps tried to snap at you when you got too close to their vines. Suddenly you see Maple ahead of you, and a large dirt path created by the crash was on your left, there lots of fallen trees and dragon eating plants mixed in with the normal ground fauna. Some of them even looked burnt. Maple was looking around, flying cautiously.*

Windbreaker: *purposefully makes a noise*

*she quickly turns around*

Maple: what the heck are you doing here?

Windbreaker: I could be asking you the same thing.

Ivy: what the heck is this?!

Maple: looks like whoever they are, they’re at war with something.

*they’re flying extremely fast. The machine is weaving trying to avoid getting hit, occasionally it spins around. At one point Sky pulled back a lever and the machine completely halted midair. The other machines chasing it fly by extremely fast, Sky pushed back the lever again and “The Challenger” began to accelerate again. Aanvi managed to take out one of the enemy machines that way, destroyed it as it flew past*

Sky: nice shot.

Aanvi: thanks.

*the machine sped up to it’s original speed, though you could see it got hit several times. One time it got hit really bad, the inside of the machine shook*

Sky: shields are down. *somewhat panicked fiddling with the controls.*

Aanvi: hang in there. Almost got another one.

*another couple shots punch through the hill of one of the other machines, it starts smoking before it explodes, the left over sheet metal falls into the ocean. Unfortunately 4 more arrive in flashes of light in the atmosphere*

Aanvi: four more just warped in.

Sky: this is gonna be one hell of a race.

Windbreaker: *is strangely quiet*

*you can see on a graph on the left side, power was being redirected towards the engines, increasing the speed while Sky turned to another panel to attempt to fix the shielding.

Aanvi: Sky, watch the air traffic.

Sky: what?

*the view of outside the machine switched to an angle from above the glass area. 7 dragons were in front of the machine which was approaching them rapidly from behind. Sky barely had the time to switch panels to move out of the way, he nearly hit the seawing’s claws, it was the party that came to destroy the othermind.*

Aanvi: too close. You’re giving me a heart attack just from looking at that.

Sky: a better heads up would have been nice.

Aanvi: I’m doing the best I can.

Ivy: were they who I think they are?

Maple: yeah, that looked like Tsunami.

Aanvi: *loud squeaking, it translated as “WATCH YOUR RIGHT” Ivy had to cover her ears*

*one of the other machines was now flying side ways, cannons pointed directly at Sky’s flying machine*

Sky: I see it.

*Both Sky’s starfighter and the other starfighter fired at each other at the same time. Sky did an aileron roll right to avoid it and the top of The Challenger was now facing the ground, and the sentinel machine below him. Aanvi began firing at it, and most of the shots looked like direct hits, but it wasn’t doing much. The areas being hit were turning a blue light that was slowly turning red*

Aanvi: that bucket of bolts has some tough armor.

Sky: keep the pressure on it.

*eventually the light broke, two shots into the hull and it was smoking, though several shots went through Sky’s wing as well. His right wing was now smoking as well. One shot went into the sentinel’s engine and it blew up, the remains of it crashed into the ocean.*

Aanvi: keep going, we still have more hostiles on our tail.

Sky: I wasn’t planning on stopping.

Windbreaker: *is still quiet*

(Sorry it’s been a while. Just had a lot going on this weekend. I should pick up more again soon)

*another sentinel fighter came up along side The Challenger opened fire. After disabling its shielding, two well placed shots to the engine caused the whole thing to explode. A piece of the debris he got stuck in The Challenger’s wing. At the same time, that part of the wing got shot through, and a part that was previous lighting up red was now gone. The Challenger was sent careening towards the water*

Sky: *shouting* Stabilizer’s gone!

*on the screen, you could see the landing gear was being deployed*

Aanvi: are you planning to use the Challenger as a boat?

Sky: better than having to eject, give me some time to—

Aanvi: you don’t have time!

Sky: then give me some cover.

Aanvi: *she turned towards someone next to her* get some combat drones in there ASAP. He needs backup.

Someone you couldn’t see: They’re already on their way, but yes sir! *running away from the transmission*

*Sky grunted as the starfighter hit the water, it was now gliding on top of it using its landing gear to stabilize itself. Aanvi was now firing directly into the air, hoping land hits. Smoke was blocking part of her vision. A couple seconds later, another sentinel fight crashed into the water on the left side.*

Aanvi: heads up, island, dead ahead.

Sky: I see it. I can’t turn to avoid it in time.

*the camera changed views again to back over the area with the glass, dead ahead was a small island. Sky was turning toward a beach on the island’s southern side*

Windbreaker: *watches*

*the challenger plowed into the beach, at one point it got air from hitting a rock, an alert showed up saying “HULL BREACHED” and you could hear something fall. Sky then hit something out of view and the alert went away. The engine cut out and Sky was able to steer the starship towards the water, though it was still drifting along the beach and still moving very fast. Without the dust obscuring vision, Aanvi managed to shoot down the last enemy machine
and like the others, it fell into the ocean, though it exploded upon contact because it fell in shallow water. There was another bump and the stabilizer was working again. The engine was turned back on and Sky’s starfighter began to fly higher again*

Sky: now that’s what I’m talking about. Good shot!

Aanvi: *the cheering in the background was so loud not even the translator could pick up what she said initially* … … *the crowd that had gathered behind Aanvi began to quiet down* -own, settle down! *she sat back down* Sky, I’m not sure if there are more hostiles coming. So be careful and fly low. You’re not exactly hard to spot right now but the very least you could do is try to avoid detection from their scanners.

Sky: understood, Aanvi.

Aanvi: hang on I’m picking up a weak signal… and I’ve just received data. Let me decrypt this.

Sky: somehow it seems like it’s smooth flying from here, though I have a feeling this is going to get much worse.

Aanvi: … if this isn’t confirmation she’s on the surface, I don’t know what is.

Sky: what?

Aanvi: Apparently The Challenger’s just received a data transfer from Stardust, or a part of it at least. *Ivy suddenly got tense* So she’s either here, or somewhere in the star system, I’m betting money she’s somewhere on this planet. Should we launch a frigate for support and rescue? They know we’re here already.

Sky: no, we need to find her first. If we launch a frigate now, it’ll be a sitting duck for any sentinels here, it’ll most likely be destroyed in the void from the current battle. Focus most of our resources towards that, if we control the spatial anomaly, we can safely send more ships here. A frigate would draw too much attention right now.

Aanvi: alright then. *alert appeared on everyone’s screen that just said “DATA TRANSFER RECEIVED.”* Looks like it’s done. I’ve got a map of a continent and several short entries. I’ll try to get a lock in that signal.

Sky: Let’s see if this thing can even make it to the next island after that.

Windbreaker: *continues to watch*

Maple: since when could scavengers develop machines that fly?

*Ivy didn’t respond, She seemed to be staring at the name “Stardust” until it disappeared from the screen*

*It seems to be smooth flying from there are on out. Sky’s attempting to recharge the shields of The Challenger. No more enemy space craft showed up so he began letting the shield’s recharge themselves.*

Aanvi: … yep. I’m transferring you the coordinates now, they seem to line up with the eastern coast of this mountain pass here, but of course that’s just going off the information we’ve been sent. I don’t know how accurate the map is, but it looks like we’ve got a lot of ground to cover. *the map of Pyrrhia showed up on the screen, a yellow circle in the middle of Pyrrhia showed up as well, the center of it is on the outskirts and eastern coast of the skywing kingdom.*

Sky: well, if we don’t have any more complications, we should get there very quickly.

Aanvi: … I’ve just realized this data transfer is very incomplete. It looks like she tried to send more but we’ve only got a small amount. I’ll tell you what we have. The continent’s name is Pyrrhia, we have a rough map, there’s three moons which are the same three The Challenger scanned in, in fact you should be able to see them now. I have a couple short entries, one of Pyrrhia as a whole, one of something called “Leafwings,” and I have a small entry for something called “Hivewings.” I’ll read them once you get the Challenger on the ground.

Sky: *nodding, continue to fly across the sea. The speed of The Challenger of the Void looked like it was flying faster than any dragon could, even while severely damaged.*

Windbreaker: *walks over to stand next to Ivy*

(Sorry for not responding again)

*The scavenger didn’t have time to reply. Part of the cliff begins to break off, taking the scavenger and the damaged flying machine with it. The scavenger managed to grab the flying object before it went over, the glass window slid open to reveal some kind of control system, Ivy quickly sprinted and leaped over the cliff intending to save them.*

Maple: *running to the cliffside* IVY WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

*Ivy couldn’t answer, she was trying to grab a smoking piece of the machine, she ended up getting a hold of it for several seconds. Suddenly a light appeared from the back of the machine as it oriented to point itself out towards the sea. Then it took off, and it was fast. Ivy was forced into the cliff from a gust of wind that appeared to have been produced by the machine. Ivy hit her back on cliff and she was knocked into the water. All that the scavenger and the machine left was a faint blue trail that was quickly fading, the machine was still visible in the distance. It’s definitely much faster than any dragon. Once Ivy could get out of the water, she slowly flew up. She was out of breath, like the wind got knocked out of her. Maple had to catch her and help her up.*

Maple: what were you thinking?!

Ivy: *coughing* I wasn’t… I wanted to save it. *more coughing and wheezing*

Maple: don’t do that again. Especially not when whatever that thing it got into is there.

Windbreaker: *launches herself into the sky, shouting* I'M GOING AFTER THEM!!

Maple: look, none of us are going to catch it. You saw how fast that thing took off?

Ivy: *laying down near a tree, still wheezing and breathing heavily, occasionally coughing, she looks like she’s having more trouble breathing.* she’s.. *coughing* right… I don’t even think the *coughing* skywing could catch it. *more coughing*

…

*the disk the scavenger left on the ground was still there, the graph and other symbols have changed and the diagram of the scavenger’s machine grew larger*

Ivy: hey guys.. *coughing* it left whatever that is..

Windbreaker: *sighs, landing*

Maple: Ivy, are you alright?

Ivy: *more coughing* I’m fine… *finally getting control of her breathing, it’s still heavy* I’ve been in much worse situations. This is nothing. *you could see she was scraped along her back, even bleeding in a few places from some of the cuts. Her wings looked injured too. This was probably from when she was blasted back into the cliffside.*

Maple: seriously, don’t do that again.

Ivy: I don’t *cough* *cough* plan on it.

*suddenly a blue light starts scanning Ivy, it’s coming from the disk on the ground the scavenger left, it made a noise and then it showed the three as large creatures, or maybe it was just from a scavenger’s eye level, in a small box that appeared, more symbols you didn’t recognize were there. After that an alert overlapped the original box, you could read it at first but then the symbols changed into dragon. The new alert said “DATA TRANSFER RECEIVED.” When that alert disappeared, you could see what the small box said “New Creature Detected caution is advised.” The boxes disappeared after a few seconds, leaving you with just the images of yourselves copying whatever any of you three did and displaying it on the screen.*

Ivy: huh..?

Windbreaker: *mutters something at Ivy*

*Ivy stares at you a little confused wondering what you said*

Maple: that’s so weird, it’s like a mirror. *she waved her claw through it.* Wait is this how scavengers see us?! We’re huge! Well, not really, but still! *There was no reaction from the screen other than part of the image was distorted. The text then changed to “New User Detected”, this time the box was under all of you. It appeared to be partially see through.*

Windbreaker: *smiles*

*Ivy was able to get off the ground now*

*another box of light appeared under the one showing the three of you, this time it had a bunch of different symbols all spaced out, none of them were letters in dragon. Ivy waved her claw over it and it disappeared*

Ivy: … ok? That happened…

*both boxes disappeared, in place of the image of the three of you, a see through screen appeared of what the scavenger had before it. There was a map of the surrounding area as the primary screen*

Maple: woah, what did you do?

Windbreaker: Did something to that thing and healed Ivy.

*no one in the screen seemed to react to you, but Maple and Ivy both look at you a little strangely*

Ivy: is there another dragon here?

Maple: maybe someone came to look for us.
————
Aanvi: I know but we don’t have time for—!

*the robotic voice spoke again, it was coming from a more scavenger-like figure, their helmet had a small light that was blinking in different patterns when they talked*

???: I understand, I was suggesting we wait for the best possible chance to send supplies, otherwise they may end up somewhere else. Possibility that it ends up in the correct location is less then 0.002% right now, making it through the spacial anomaly will be a whole other challenge in itself. Again I suggest you wait out the blizzard. Besides, opening cockpit with the current weather outside might do more harm than good.

Aanvi: *staring at the scavenger-like thing before turning away* you’re right.. but I can’t just leave him down there.

???: I am suggesting you send the drop pod as soon as possible, the drop pod is ready and on standby for launch. *the figure walked away*

Aanvi: … *turning away from the camera* Everyone back to work.. we still have a fleet to run. *the crowd behind her began to disperse, Aanvi turned back toward the view of the camera, hit something on the control panel, and her screen disappeared, what was left was the image of Sky’s arm hanging over there panel on his screen. The outside view indicated the ship was slanted at an angle with the cockpit facing up, the “nose” of the craft was pointed into the snow.*
————
Ivy: what in the book was that?!

Maple: maybe the events that happened on the screen just happened now.

Ivy: then that means we have a strange visitor on Pyrrhia that’s from Clearsight knows where. And he has a flying machine that can rip a dragon apart in seconds. I don’t think it’s here to kill us but it’s still dangerous, unless it’s dead.

Maple: well, it said they were on a rescue mission… we’ll have to check the disk again later..

Windbreaker: *snarls* COME OUT NOW!

Ivy: what are you talking about?

Maple: … I think he’s right, someone is nearby. Hopefully just a dragon looking for us because they’re worried we flew in here like lunatics and not something or someone that wants to murder us.

(Windbreaker is a female)
Windbreaker: *snarls* I AM AN ANIMUS! COME OUT NOW OR I WILL FORCE YOU TO!

(My bad)

Maple: Hey! We’re over here!

Ivy: *scared* you’re an a-animus?

*Aanvi’s screen briefly reappeared they were with someone who appeared to be a doctor or someone from the medical field ready for combat in armor, they had a Red Cross on their left shoulder pad*

Aanvi: can you tell anything from here?

Med personnel: ideally I’d like to be standing over him, but the ship’s scan indicates no broken bones or other life threatening injuries despite the severity of the crash. Heart rate seems to be normal, I believe he will live but you should keep an eye on him. You made that starfighter well, it protected Sky from most of the crash, his own armor did the rest. Give him a couple hours and he might be moving again.

Aanvi: … thanks. *the background suddenly turned red and some loud alarm could be heard, Aanvi grabbed a helmet that was left on the console and quickly put it on. The image quickly left the screen again before Aanvi had time to shout something.*

Maple: well that looked ominous…

*Ivy manages to accidentally turn the disk off*

Maple: why did you do that?

Ivy: sorry, just trying to figure out how this thing works.

Windbreaker: *launches herself into the brush*

Maple: hey! Wait up! *she tries to follow you*

*Ivy hesitates before going in you’re general direction, but ultimately deciding to check up above*

Windbreaker: *moving silently, uses her magic to locate*

*another dragon is by Ivy towards the clearing, there is another dragon nearby, close behind them*

Maple: *attempting to use leafspeak to find them* back towards the clearing I think. The one that flying machine made.

*just now you heard yelling*

Ivy: Sumac, how in the three moons did you— OW, HEY!

A dragon *presumably Sumac*: where’s Maple? We need to go back before someone else comes looking.

Ivy: Sumac, let go of my ear.

*Maple is right, it’s coming from the clearing*

Maple: oh great… well at least it’s a leafwing.

Windbreaker: *silently rushes back to the clearing*

*Hoverfly looks confused, she doesn’t seem to know what an animus is*

Hoverfly: um… thank you. Aren’t you coming with us?

————————————————————————

Sumac: what were you and Ivy doing in there really?

Maple: what Ivy said we were doing actually.

Sumac: sure.

Maple: there was no other reason for her to follow that fireball.

Hoverfly: come on, you both were just curious like I was.

Maple: that was probably part of it. Though when it comes to this sort of thing, she takes it seriously. I think she feels like she still needs to prove herself to Belladonna and the rest of our tribe.

Hoverfly: why?

Maple: I’ll explain later…

Windbreaker: *nods* Yup.

Sumac: how would Ivy prove herself by finding the ball of smoke?

Maple: maybe helping out potentially injured dragons or making sure it didn’t damage too much of the jungle. Her leafspeak isn’t as good as yours or mine but it’s still enough to help, besides, with training she could be much better than we think she is, she never got the chance to really learn how to use it.

Hoverfly: what’s leafspeak?

Sumac: great, now we have to tell the parasite what it is. Thank you Maple.

Maple: shut up Sumac, it’s not like it’s a big secret anymore. Besides, most of the older hivewings mad silkwings probably knew. Essentially, we can… manipulate plants by “talking” to them. It’s difficult to explain, easier to just show you. I think I have a couple seeds left in one of the pouches back at camp. If not, I’ll ask Rose if we can come back to the edge of the jungle for me to show you.

Hoverfly: it sounds interesting.

Windbreaker: *watches*

*Behind you you could see Ivy and Rose had left the jungle and were now attempting to catch up*

Hoverfly: so what’s the weird rock circle thing you got, Maple?

Maple: what? Oh.. it’s nothing.

Sumac: nothing my tail. You wouldn’t be carrying it if it was nothing.

Maple: I’m serious it’s not important.

Hoverfly: *actually confused* why did you bring it with us?

Maple: just thought it was interesting.

Sumac: *shaking his head, muttering something along the lines of “the world’s gone mad.”*

*Ivy went dead silent*

Maple: I was referring to Ivy… wait what do you mean you healed Ivy?

Ivy: *suddenly scared* a-animus…

Windbreaker: *nods* Don't worry though. I'm a good Animus!

*Even with you’re reassurance, Ivy’s brain goes into panic mode*

Maple: … I’ve never seen Ivy freak out like this. Not even when she was exiled from our tribe a few years ago.

Ivy: *she stands there paralyzed, you feel as if her brain is screaming*

Maple: *clueless* Ivy, what’s wrong with being an animus?

Ivy: *thinking: “can’t trust— what if he is Darkstalker in disguise? Was Darkstalker really defeated? Can’t trust her! Don’t trust her!”* …

Maple: … calm down, I’m sure whatever you’re thinking isn’t true.

Ivy: *thinking: “right, calm down. You weren’t this freaked out about animuses before, and there is almost no chance of Darkstalker willingly disguising himself as a tri-hybrid, let alone disguising himself as a regular hybrid.”* ok…

Maple: better? Alright, I’ll ask again, what’s wrong about animuses?

Ivy: nothing… just scared of them.

Windbreaker: *nods*

*Ivy turned back to the weird device that the three of you have in your possession*

*on the side is a picture of what the flying machine used to look like appeared. The glass is black so you can’t see the inside. It has wings that are almost flat. On the backside it has a foil and a the place that emits light, it’s labeled as an “engine.” There is a short description under it which reads:

Challenger of The Void

This starfighter is a one of a kind starfighter designed to cross the spatial anomaly currently known as The Void safely. Unmanned craft have already proven it is possible, but the ongoing battle in The Void has made it impossible to preform reconnaissance necessary for the rescue mission. Avoiding combat is recommended.

The description ends there.*

Ivy: what?

Maple: … something weird must be happening on their end.

Windbreaker: *nods*

Ivy: let’s take this thing back with us, maybe we can learn more from it.

*the light immediately stopped when Ivy picked it up. A couple seconds later it started whirring again and a new light appeared. This time it was a picture of the machine from the top down, listing how badly each part was damaged on the right side of the “move through box”. The right wing was marked in yellow, the left wing was almost all orange and red. However the entire middle section including the labels “cockpit,” “engine,” and “hull” were green. On the left top corner was an image of the scavenger sitting from inside the machine at a 3/4 angle. It was a moving image and no damage could be seen from the inside, it appeared to be controlling the machine. Below that was another moving image from the outside of the machine on the right wing looking back. There were three more of the other flying machine you saw attack the scavenger. It looks like it was measuring something because at the bottom left corner was numbers rapidly changing going both up and down. Below the image showing the damage to each part of the Scavenger’s machine was writing words as the scavenger was speaking them in dragon. Above that it said “Rough Translation to Dragon, still a work in progress.” Anything the scavenger was saying was being translated and they appeared to be contacting someone.*

Scavenger: *after translation* come on...

Ivy: is he trying to contact us?

Maple: one way to find out. Set it back down, let’s see if we can respond.

*Ivy’s claws were large enough to cover all of the disc, but because of the way she’s holding it, only the part that emits light can be seen. Ivy sets it back down*

Windbreaker: Hello?

*the scavenger didn’t answer*

Ivy: maybe we need to push this first. *Ivy goes to tap a flashing button but it looks like someone else answered already*

*another screen appeared below the scavenger it appeared to be coming from within a metal structure. A short feathered creature in similar armor to the scavenger was there sitting at some sort of control panel. More creatures were walking behind them in various different sizes, but most of their faces were either behind helmets and masks or out of frame, they all seemed scavenger like but were covered in similar armor.*

Feathered Scavenger: *after translation* Sky? Never mind I can see what trouble you’re in. Need backup?

Scavenger (Sky from here on out): No, can you reroute power remotely?

Feathered Scavenger: would be more effective if you could do that, I can take control of the cannons and be gunner for you. *she motioned at someone behind her*

Sky: that’s perfect, the longer I keep this thing flying, the better chance I have at pulling this rescue off. *multiple different beams and balls of light were beginning to fire past the scavenger’s flying machine*

Feathered Scavenger: I’ll make sure you keep breathing. Taking control of the guns now. I could use a bit of target practice anyway. How are the shields?

Sky: almost nonexistent. One bad hit and they’re done.

Feathered Scavenger: alright, time to be the best pilot in the galaxy commander. Now we really need you to be. *to the scavenger next to her* prep some drones, better to have some ready to go than to not end up needing them.

*the other scavenger nods and runs out of view*

Sky: good luck, Aanvi.

Feathered Scavenger (Aanvi from here on out): *chuckling* I’m not the one that needs the luck. Just a reminder we packed four proton missiles on that thing. They’re there if you need ‘em.

Sky: *shrugging* just trying to be nice.

Aanvi: seriously, try not to get the Challenger scrapped. Those corrupted sentinels are gonna be calling back up.

Sky: let’s see what I can do with the odds I’ve been given.

*one “cannon” can be seen from the view of the outside of the starfighter, it did a full 180 and began firing back, it was firing at a much faster rate. Maybe it was a different type of weapon than what the “corrupted sentinels” were using.*

Windbreaker: Woah.

*Ivy doesn’t react besides moving over for you to stand there, she seemed focused on something else.*

Maple: how do you think they built these machines?

*Ivy still doesn’t talk, she seems to be thinking about something*

Aanvi: can The Challenger still “pulse jump” or is it too damaged?

Sky: one way to find out. *he pulled back a lever and suddenly the starfighter slowed down for a second before accelerating to a much faster speed* there’s our answer. *they immediately lost their speed but they were now on the coast of the sandwing kingdom. It was night time there.* Never mind, the pulse engine gave out… and we have more friends.

*three of the sentinel fighters of similar make were descending from the cloud’s above. It looked like just a patrol, they emitted a small purple trail from their engines. Once they got closer they began to dive at Sky’s flying machine*

Aanvi: I think they see you, get out of there.

Sky: don’t have to tell me twice. *the engine revved up and the smoking starfighter shot away going northbound along the coast. The enemy machines were not far behind and quickly accelerated. Most of the power appears to be going towards the engine with a little towards the guns for defense. The guns began firing again and soon there were bolts of light flying passed the machines again both ways.*

Aanvi: keep it study will you?

Sky: trying my best.

Windbreaker: *whispers* Ivy? You okay?

Ivy: *almost startled/jumpy, like she initially wasn’t paying attention* huh? Yeah I’m fine. Why?

Maple: you were spaced out for a while—

*an explosion was heard from the screen. Sky looks like he was almost forced out of his seat. Behind him, you could see sparks coming from the ceiling and back wall.*

Aanvi: be careful!

Sky: … *he was now flying down the coastline and suddenly it got to be very snowy. The icy coastline suggested he just strayed into icewing airspace. The Challenger began to climb higher as more machines showed up. Suddenly something pinged on the screen*

Aanvi: Why is your distress beacon online? Normally I wouldn’t question it but it’s pinging nowhere near your current location.

Sky: I didn’t activate it, must have lost it. Focus on the battle.

Aanvi: I hope you have a plan.

Sky: no but I can improvise. *he suddenly made a sharp left turn and started flying towards the enemy machines, he blew past them in two seconds. Aanvi was able to score a couple hits on starfighter, sending it into the ocean. 5 more they needed to shoot down*

Aanvi: why didn’t we install a mining beam on this thing?

*Sky made a sharp turn around again, it seemed to confuse the sentinels less this time though. Aanvi was able to shoot two more down in the following exchange and Sky continued northbound up the coast*

Aanvi: I’ve got a weather hazard—

Sky: great, maybe it will slow ‘em down.

Aanvi: it’s a blizzard. I advise you avoid it. *she shot down another fighter, one of the bolts shot towards the challenger tore through the upper part of the wing. 2 remaining enemies but the Challenger looks like it can barely take another hit* Yikes, that was close.

Sky: I don’t have a choice. I’m going to have to fly into it to lose them.

Windbreaker: *her ears perk up*

(I changed my username, so sorry if it looks weird now that I have different username.)

*Ivy cautiously glances at the translation box again before looking up at the screen*

*The Challenger flew directly into a blizzard. Sky was following the coastline as best as he could. You couldn’t see much past the wing anymore. Occasionally you could see the ground and coast line and whatever bolts of light flew past the view from the wing. Somehow, Aanvi managed to shot another machine down, it hit the cliffside in a large explosion. Nothing seemed to be left to it and it was quickly lost to the blizzard. However Sky’s own starship now had much more damage. The engine was now critically damaged, one hit in the right place would essentially vaporize The Challenger, and him with it. There was still one more enemy sentinel out there, and Aanvi seemed like she was firing blind into the snow storm.*

Aanvi: you’re still close enough that you’re both picking each other up on your radar. The only problem is judging elevation.

Sky: just do your best *he made a sharp right turn inland. Fire could be seen inside the cockpit. The screen now displayed a large red flashing text box over everything that read “WARNING: REACTOR CORE IN CRITICAL CONDITION.” Aanvi looked like she was starting to panic.* Well isn’t that just nice.

Aanvi: PORT SIDE!

Sky: SH— *an explosion rocked the left side of the starship and Sky began to lose control. The Challenger began to lean left. The camera feed briefly became static. When the image returned, it was Sky frantically hitting several buttons and switches on one of the panels of the machine. Even in its severely damaged state, The Challenger flew on. Aanvi shot down the last enemy starfighter. The explosion was seen far below them before it disappeared.*

Aanvi: Sky, land that bucket of bolts now!

Sky: *cutting in and out, but with what came through the translator, it looked like he was saying something along the lines of “losing control” of the spacecraft*

Aanvi: I don’t care, land before The Challenger blows up! That is an order!

Sky: *cutting in and out again* This thing is going to land, but I don’t think it’s gonna make it in one piece.

*you could see that the machine was leaving a trail of smoke from the outside camera. The leftwing looks completely on fire and all you can see is flames and smoke on that side. The underside of the machine looks heavily damaged from the camera angle*

Windbreaker: *whips her head around*

*Ivy looks at you for a moment, Maple looks around to make sure nothing is sneaking up on the three of you*

*there was now a loud fast paced noise coming from the background that sounded like “BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP” along with another warning that the “reactor core” was severely damaged.*

Sky: *even more staticky and distorted* I’m detecting a massive structure near me, the sonar is a bit messed up from the wind but it looks like a castle.

Aanvi: disregard it, The Challenger cannot continue flying.

Sky: — *the camera became static again for a few seconds* I’ll attempt to steer clear if I need to. *he hit another button, you can see on the screen with both the diagram of the starship and the view from below the starship that the landing gear was being deployed again*

Aanvi: you’re passing over the detected structure now. Watch out for towers.

Sky: *one of the towers of the icewing palace came into view, he nearly scraped the side of it with his wing. Just as quickly it was lost in the blizzard* I believe we’re clear of any other structures.

Aanvi: alright, find a safe place to land and—

*a loud boom was heard, on the underside view of the fighter, a massive explosion was seen from the bottom left corner.*

Sky: *breaking up* AANVI. Listen to me. If I die, do NOT send someone to collect this starfighter or me. Stardust’s rescue is the priority. I made that kid a promise, and I expect you to keep it if I’m unable to. *there was another explosion, this time even louder. The starfighter started spiraling out of control. It was losing altitude quickly. It was impossible to tell how it was going to land*

Aanvi: I— *she looks shocked* I—…. Affirmative.

Sky: *trying to be positive, trying to minimize any stress* Aanvi… don’t worry. I think I’ve got a pretty good chance at surviving this as long as the core or engine doesn’t fully explode. We built this thing to be tough, it’s survived several crashes most starfighters would not even be partially functional afterwords, let alone fly. I’m sure it will protect me one more time.

*you could see Aanvi nodding but she didn’t say anything, it looked like she was trying to hold back tears*

Windbreaker: *low growl*

Sky: If I don’t make it out… *brings his right hand up to his head, just above where his eyes would be, his arm and elbow stuck out. It might have been a salute* It’s been a pleasure serving with you and the crew.

*Some other life forms joined Aanvi in the background watching in dismay as the starfighter crashes, many of them were taller, most wearing armor similar to Sky’s but with different helmets and paint. Aanvi was the only one that wasn’t wearing a helmet.*

Aanvi: just hold on, keep it together.

Sky: *nodding, hitting several switches, he tried restoring power to the the stabilizer and it failed. All he could do now was continue to hold onto the control stick in an attempt to slow the spinning.*

*there was a moment of silence, all that could be heard was the failing engine that sounded like it was ready to explode again, the wind, and the flames*

Aanvi: Brace for impact!

*you heard the fighter hit the ground from the video, it looks like it managed to land with the cockpit facing up, but it hasn’t stopped moving yet, in fact it was still moving very fast. It hit something and jumped once and the starship started rolling, the straps holding Sky in place on the chair were broken and he flew up and hit the window. The Challenger finally came to rest with the cockpit on its side. Sky wasn’t completely visible, but just enough to tell he was on the floor.*

Aanvi: *distressed, worried* SKY!

*there wasn’t an initial response, Aanvi began typing furiously at the control panel she was on, whatever she did it ended up replacing the diagram of The Challenger with a line that occasionally fluctuated with a beep. It was labeled heart rate. Under that were some strange numbers under a category labeled pulse.*

Aanvi: Sky, can you hear me?! … Sky, if you hear me, please respond!

*Sky wasn’t moving*

Aanvi: SKY, DO YOU COPY?

*suddenly you see a thumbs up appear over the the console the camera angle was on and the hand fall limp again*

Aanvi: *looks like that helped her a little* okay… he’s still alive. *turning around* Prep a drop pod with a medical bot and supplies and have a fighter escort prepared. Looks like he’s just going to be unconscious for a while.

*a new voice was heard, it didn’t seem natural, and the translation was still appearing under Aanvi’s name*

???: the blizzard will affect the drop pod’s targeting system. I suggest we wait until the blizzard subsides for optimal conditions. The chances the drop pod makes it through the void is 2%.

Windbreaker: *growls* I know you're there.

*you both make it back to find a sour leafwing holding onto the hybrid’s ear*

Ivy: can you let go? You’re hurting me.

Sumac: *looking around* where is she?

Maple: I’m here now. Seriously Sumac? That’s not necessary.

Sumac: *lets go of Ivy* what the heck have you two been doing? Rose is getting worried.

Ivy and Maple at the same time: uh… *glancing at each other* nothing..

Windbreaker: *casually walk into the clearing, her aura crackling with Animus magic* Hi.

Sumac: *confused* Hello? *waving it off* seriously what have you two been doing?

Maple: we told you, absolutely nothing.

Sumac: I don’t believe you two just flew in here for no reason. Specifically following the path the fireball took.

Ivy: we were just a little interested in what it actually was.

*With Sumac currently looking at Ivy, Maple takes the time to stuff the weird disk device in a bag she was carrying*

Sumac: *facepalming*

Windbreaker: *uses her magic to play with clouds*

Maple: you would have done the same and you know it.

Sumac: yeah sure, can we just go back before Rose kills us all? Or worse, those two hivewings decide they’re gonna kill some of us as revenge for imprisoning Wasp?

??????: I want to do what now?

*a Hivewing dragonet around Ivy and Sumac’s age poked her head out of the underbrush*

Sumac: HOVERFLY, YOU FOLLOWED ME?!

Hoverfly: yeah? What, you thought I was going to miss out on all the fun?

Sumac: you little—

Hoverfly: what did Rose say about fighting? *smug look on her face*

Sumac: well, does it look like Rose is here?

Maple: oh Clearsight, can you two shut up? No one is planning to kill anyone.

Ivy: permission to paralyze Sumac?

Maple: no. Let’s not get into more trouble than we already are. Did Rose send you?

Sumac: *turning away from the Hivewing to face the rest of you* what do you think?

*the Hivewing shakes her head to tell everyone that no, Sumac didn’t get permission to be in the poison jungle either*

Maple: I think you’re a liar whose tail is on fire. Rose was probably on her way as soon as she noticed you and Hoverfly were missing.

????: AND YOU WOULD BE CORRECT. *an angry looking young adult leafwing appeared standing over Hoverfly, who was now cowering beneath her, you now realize this was the Leafwing and Hivewing you heard before flying after Maple and Ivy*

Windbreaker: *continues to play with the clouds* Hiya.

Rose: WHAT THE HECK WERE YOU THINKING? ALL OF YOU?

Ivy: s-sorry Mom.. I wasn’t… I thought they were going to send some dragons to investigate anyways and I wanted to help.

Maple: I was trying to catch up to and stop Ivy.

Sumac; *he seems to be the most afraid next to Hoverfly* I-I was coming to l-look for them w-when they didn’t c-come back..

Hoverfly: *too scared to even speak*

Rose: *while looking at Hoverfly she seems to understand why Hoverfly followed Sumac even though Hoverfly didn’t say anything, her tone lightens up a little, but still very serious and angry* Ivy, over here. Now. *she nudges Hoverfly all the way into the clearing while she walks into the jungle with Ivy, they both speak in low voices away from everyone else*

*Ivy slips the disk over to Maple before walking over as discreetly as possible*

Hoverfly: *standing next to Sumac* what do you think she’s saying?

Sumac: Rose is probably making sure Ivy is ok before she starts lecturing her…

Maple: yeah, that’s usually how it goes, we’re next.

Windbreaker: *walks over to Hoverfly* You okay?

Hoverfly: y-yeah I’m okay. I can see why Rose doesn’t want me in here now.

*Sumac grumbles something under his breath.*

Rose: *she turns back to you and Maple for a moment* thanks for finding them and making sure they didn’t get into more trouble. I was trying to keep Hoverfly from coming into the Jungle too but as you can see they’ve slipped past me. Maple, take Hoverfly and Sumac with you back to camp. We’ll be right behind you.

*Maple nods, Hoverfly and Sumac somehow didn’t notice.*

Maple: come on guys, let’s go.

Sumac: thank the trees.

Hoverfly: wait for me!

Maple: *turns to you* let’s get out of here before one of those giant panthers show up. Also… thanks for helping me.

*Maple, Sumac, and Hoverfly’s took off flying out through the clearing and along the coast, Maple still has the disk and is keeping it safe and hidden from view*

Windbreaker: Wait! *she hands Hoverfly something and whispers to her* This is for you. I'm an Animus. You won't ever be able to lose this.

*The scavenger turns towards you pointing whatever weapon they have at your head, they still don’t say anything. They gesture the unknown weapon forward and to the side two times.*

Ivy: … I think it wants us to move back.

Maple: are you sure? *looking from you to the scavenger*

Ivy: no, but unless you have a better guess of what it wants us to do, then I think we should back up.

Windbreaker: *mutters something, and the three dragons now can understand the Scavenger and vise versa*

*Ivy pulls you backwards, the scavenger isn’t saying anything, just motioning for all of you to back up*

*Ivy and Maple back up a few feet, the scavenger lowers whatever weapon they were holding, it walks backwards as well, keeping an eye on the three of you. The third eye attached to the backpack seems to help it see behind it.*

Maple: … hey, do you have a lot of these types of scavengers in Pyrrhia?

Ivy: not ones that look like that.

Windbreaker: *shakes her head*

*the scavenger finally squeaks a little, and of course, despite the spell you casted, none of you understand it. Maybe you were too far to hear what it said. The scavenger turns toward the metal object currently hanging over the cliff, the thing that looks like a third eye is now looking at the three of you.*

Maple: any clue what it said?

Ivy: look, just because I’ve spent more time on Pyrrhia than you, doesn’t mean I can understand a scavenger.

*the scavenger picks up a tool it left on the ground and begins rummaging through a hole in the strange object’s wing where some sparks were flying off of it and begins connecting wires back together. The small disk on the ground emitting the strange square light with some symbols on it changes to a map of the current surroundings. There were some more symbols on the side with a picture of what the metal object once used to look like, some of the symbols just under it were large but the rest were small, one of the symbols next to the picture of the object was changing continuously.*

*finally it said something you all could make out*: .. come on, stop getting stuck… there *some clanging occurred, he spliced another two wires together*. *maybe it took a second for the spell to work?*

Windbreaker: What spell?

*the other dragons look at you weirdly*

Maple: what do you mean?

Ivy: *Ivy proceeds to ignore what you said and changes the subject for some reason* … should we try to help the scavenger?

Strange scavenger: *almost at the same time Ivy spoke, you could barely hear them* that should do it.

*the scavenger seems to have finished it’s task and pulls the metal plating back over the hole, it somehow seals itself. Everyone heard some sort of whistling noise. The scavenger looked over the edge of the cliff, then quickly turned around and barked something at the three of you. Seconds later, another metallic object had appeared from behind the cliff and was now hovering above the scavenger’s position.*

Maple: what the—

*the flying object started firing balls of light from barrels attached to the wings, they rose slightly above them. The scavenger jumped backwards, and much higher than it should have been able to, landing on a fallen tree and was using it as cover. Most shots that hit the ground caused the dirt to spray upwards. One hit a tree and burned a hole straight through it.*

Maple: GET DOWN!

*Maple shoved You and Ivy down behind some more fallen trees dove towards the other side of the artificial clearing. It doesn’t appear that any of you three are the targets, just the scavenger is.*

Windbreaker: *snarls*

*the snarling doesn’t help the situation, the fire rate of the lights increased, burning more holes into any plants they hit*

Strange scavenger: I know, I see it.

*the scavenger unholstered something from it’s waist, it looked like a smaller version of the weapon it seemed to be threatening the three of you with. It loaded something onto it, and from behind cover, fired it towards the flying object. It looks like a grappling hook, it latches on to the flying metal object. The scavenger jumps up from behind the tree and swings towards it, it swings under the object and flips back over to land on top of it, from there, the metal flying thing can’t hit it and attempts to shake it off. The scavenger plants severel items on its back and wing and jumps off, landing on the cliff, it presses a button on it’s wrist armor and the flying metal thing explodes, spinning as it descends towards the water. Before it could reach the water, it hits the cliff and the rest of it exploded in a cloud of smoke, the scavenger puts the small weapon back in its holster. The engagement barely lasted 30 seconds.*

Ivy: *poking their head up to make sure it’s safe* … *surprised* did you guys just see what I just saw!?

Maple: *shocked* I don’t believe it either.

Windbreaker: *to the scavenger* Thanks.