Video: Love at War

Chapter IV - The Ambush

Soon it was 9 o'clock, and Piper met Aerrow and Radarr near an improvised landing strip as he had instructed her to. She had a backpack with her, filled with several different kinds of crystals.

"I see you're well prepared." - the boy commented after noticing her bag.

"Ha, I hope I'm prepared enough." - she said nervously as both walked towards the rides - "Who knows what we might encounter on this journey."

"I'm sure we'll be fine." - he stopped by his skimmer - "Have you ever flown a heliscooter before?"

"Not really." - she confessed - "But it certainly looks more maneuverable than the heliblade I snatched from the Cyclonians." - she placed a hand on the frontal plate.

"And you're right, it is. But it's a little slower than a skimmer." - he said as he climbed on his ride.

"I think I can catch up." - she smiled while she sat on the scooter's seat and accelerated it, going a little bit ahead of him.

He saw her and blinked quite impressed, then accelerated his own skimmer, quickly getting beside her again. He noticed she was a lot eager and also happier and more enthusiastic than a while ago. He was glad he had helped her. For some reason, she seemed to give him more confidence when she acted like that. She gave him strength, and he surely would want her to be around.

They drove for a few seconds until they reached the edge of the Terra. Then they took off smoothly, flying in the skies.

~~~

They flew for a while, the soft breeze blowing on their faces, a refreshing feeling of being free washing down their worries.

"It's been a while since I've last flown like this." - Piper said.

"Yeah, same here. The sky is so calm today. We're lucky." - Aerrow commented.

However, soon the universe felt like opposing him because some shots were fired towards them, startling them and making them stare behind them. A group of switchblades was charging at them.

"I'm afraid we just got out of luck." - the girl cowered nervously - "We managed to run right into a Cyclonian patrol unit."

"No, they're not patrolling..." - the Sky Knight narrowed his eyes - "That's an ambush, they're reinforcements."

"Reinforcements? Why?" - she asked.

"I guess it was my fault." - the boy assumed - "When Radarr and I went to your Terra, I kind of... Caused an explosion there."

"W-what? What did you do?" - she questioned him.

"Well, ya know, the old toss crater of leechers on a pile of crystals prank." - he smiled sheepishly as he rolled his eyes playfully - "I just wanted to get back at them for what they did to your Terra." - he shrugged.

Piper blushed at that, a shy smile gracing her features. He simply never ceased to make her feel good, to show that he cared. But her little moment of joy was quickly interrupted by another wave of shots aimed at them. Fortunately, they managed to avoid the blasts.

"Split up!" - Aerrow shouted as he sped up to a different direction.

The two went separate ways, each dragging a few Cyclonians behind them. One of the enemy soldiers shot at Piper and hit the only booster on her skyride. Her heliscooter malfunctioned a little, but it could still fly. The Cyclonian moved his hand near his ear as if he were about to give a command to the rest of the troops.

The girl saw that and quickly retaliated, grabbing a tiny green crystal from her bag and unleashing a shockwave towards the switchblades following her. The Cyclonians' earpieces were fried instantly, cutting off all the communication between them.

"That should prevent them from calling more troops after us." - she smiled proudly as she maneuvered towards some clouds in an attempt to lose the soldiers chasing her.

While that, Aerrow had some enemies to fight as well. There were two soldiers following him as he flew fast in the sky. He looked in front of him and saw more three attempting to flank him. He grinned to himself, then nodded a command to Radarr.

The boy jumped on his skimmer's wings as the little animal quickly assumed the pilot's position. He then leaped on the nearest switchblade, slashing against one of its wings, jumped to the next one, slicing the rear booster off the ride, and destroyed the engine of the third one, somersaulting off it and landing back on his skimmer.

After that, there were only two more to deal with. He kicked the first Cyclonian off the switchblade, then jumped, spinning in the air and drawing some energy from his blades. A pair of wings formed behind him, then he moved his swords in front of him, making the angelic wings collide and turn into a bolt of energy that flew fast and blasted the last Cyclonian away.

Piper was observing from the distance. She was completely mesmerized. He looked really amazing when performing his Sky Knight move. He literally resembled some kind of angel! Could he ever be any more impressive? Then she saw him blowing up two skyrides with one single special move. Yes. Yes, he could... She clenched a hand in front of her heart, smiling and blushing softly. But she barely had any time to admire him when another shot collided with her heliscooter, severely damaging its booster.

She nearly lost control of the ride and to make things worse, the booster stopped working at all and smoke came out of it. She desperately tried to keep some altitude, since at least the propeller was still functioning. Three switchblades pursued her. Aerrow noticed that and immediately took the pilot's seat to go help her.

"Piper! Hang on!" - he shouted as he sped up after them.

But another talon got in the way, obliging him to take the soldier down before going to assist Piper. As he jumped on the enemy's ride, he glanced towards Piper to see if she was still flying. He watched as she dodged some shots and pulled out a green crystal from her backpack.

"Stabilize!" - she shouted as she clenched her fist against the crystal, activating it.

The crystal created a force field around the damaged booster, repairing it instantly. Now being able to accelerate again, the girl flew faster to buy her some time to grab the crystals she needed in her bag. Once she got hold of two crystals, one blue and another yellow, she lifted them in the air, absorbed their energy then rammed them against each other in front of her, unleashing a huge shockwave.

Aerrow blinked at that. What was happening?! Several shockwaves came like pulses, colliding with the Cyclonians and completely destroying their rides. The moment the boy got rid of the soldier he was fighting against, he quickly landed on his skimmer and chased after Piper.

"Sorry for the delay. I hope I didn't cause you any trouble." - the girl said as he approached her.

"Trouble? Not at all!" - he said - "But... Wow! What was all that power? I've never seen anything like it before."

"That's the art of the Crystal Mastery." - she told him - "I've been practicing it ever since I was very young."

"That was incredible!" - he smiled - "You actually had the power to take down the whole reinforcement squadron with one single blow!"

"Yeah, but I still need to train more. There's so much to learn." - she said - "At least I think I know enough to take care of myself."

"Talk about taking care of yourself..." - he commented - "And here I thought I'd have the chance to help you again. Guess maybe another time."

Piper blinked and blushed once more. Was he actually saying he wanted to... Rescue her? He wanted to be her knight in shining armor? Her... Hero? Nah, now that was a lot. She figured she was just daydreaming too much, that simply had to be wishful thinking coming from a girl with a crush on a guy, an awesome guy, alright. Who wouldn't love to be rescued by the person they are infatuated with anyway, right?

She pushed those thoughts aside as they flew in the skies towards a Terra, towards their next objective. There a ship was supposed to be waiting for them. To take them to their destiny, which would end the war once and for all.