Chapter 6: Hunting Season
Chapter 6: Hunting Season
Military Academy, Gryphus, Griffin Kingdom
April 24th 2020, 0356 hrs
It was still early in the morning on Gryphus, but Black Star couldn’t sleep peacefully. His eyes were bloodshot, and his frown deepened whenever his eyes tried to close on their own. He couldn’t believe what was happening to him: nightmares from his past actions were growing worse and worse whenever he tried to sleep at night, and now, the dark forces behind his torture had found a way to torment him during the day as well.
Every time he closed his eyes, images of burning corpses, a crying filly, and a desolate landscape filled with countless bodies of equines and griffons filled his mind.
Black Star wasn’t exactly proud of what he had done during the war. He had ruined a filly’s entire childhood, was forced to orchestrate a war, and was too late to prevent even more bloodshed caused by his so-called friend.
“Damn,” Black Star cursed as he nearly drifted into sleep again. He slapped himself to keep himself awake, but the stinging pain soon faded. and exhaustion began to wash over his mind. Black Star tried to prevent his eyes from closing, but it was too late as he drifted into sleep.
Black Star found himself inside the void again. He walked around, shifting his eyes left and right to keep an eye out for the shadow, but his attention turned to a spark of fire, which lit in front of him and soon grew into an inferno. Black Star could only watch as the raging inferno consumed everything in its path.
The griffon tried to fly upwards, but he couldn’t. Something was wrong. He couldn’t feel his wings anymore. He turned around, and his eyes nearly jumped out from their sockets when he saw both of his wings were gone.
“What!?” He thought in disbelief as he turned his attention back to the blaze inching towards him. Black Star yelled as he lept into the flame and ran through it, ignoring that the fire could burn his body into a crisp.
To his surprise, the flame didn’t hurt at all. He ignored this fact and continued to run forwards until he saw two figures lying just a few meters in front of him. When he got closer, the figures were revealed to be the smoking remains of Firefly’s parents.
“Oh no. Not this again,” Black Star muttered as he backed off. His nightmares always led to this scene: him and the charred corpses. But the outcome of the nightmare varied randomly, so he couldn’t predict what happened next. His eyes darted around, checking every corner of his vision for any sign of his little shadow friend.
“Where are you,” he demanded. “I know you’re here somewhe—UGH!”
Black Star was taken by surprise when one of the corpses grabbed his left talon. He managed to shake it off, only to find that his left talon was slowly turning to ashes. Black Star stumbled onto his back, staring in disbelief at his now stumped left limb. He then heard ghastly moans and groans coming from all around him.
The flames now formed demonic figures of numerous ponies, from pegasi to earth ponies; all of them marching slowly towards him. He tried to escape, only to find that his back limbs were grabbed by Firefly’s parents. Soon, his hind limbs turned into ashes,
He was completely at the mercy of these demons.
Black Star look upwards and saw ghostly images of Mirage Squadron hovering above him, each of them staring at him in complete disgust. The seven pegasi soon warped themselves into a single shadow in which it took another form: Red Cyclone’s form.
“Sleep tight, Blake…” The shadow Red Cyclone chuckled sinisterly. He roared into full laughter as the demons grabbed Black Star. The dark griffon screamed in pain as his body slowly turned into ash.
“No! STOP!! AAAAARRRRRRGGGHHH…”
“Wake up!”
Black Star opened his eyes and shot upwards, finding a startled and annoyed Kestrel by his bedside. He scanned the entire room in silence with cold sweat soaking his feathers. Kestrel raised an eyebrow in confusion as she stared at the frightened griffon before her.
“Something’s not right,” she thought. “This isn’t like him at all.”
“Is there something wrong?” she asked.
“Nothing,” Black Star sighed as he got up from his bed before stretching his wings.
“Nightmares, that’s all.”
“Well, get ready, you dolt,” Kestrel scoffed as she turned around and walked to the door. “I only came here under Sir Wonderfalke’s orders to wake you up. The reinforcements are due to arrive in ten minutes.”
“And why should I care?” Black Star remarke. His answer was a glare from the pastel brown griffoness.
“Because the king has requested us to greet the Equestrians along with him and the Royal Guard leaders,” Kestrel pointed out. “Also, we will be greeting Princess Luna as well.”
Kestrel then exited the room, leaving Black Star alone. The black feathered griffon checked the clock. it showed 07:12 AM.
“I overslept,” he thought with a frown. Black Star quickly grabbed his comm and portable radar and gave his wings a quick preening before exiting the room, stumbling into Kite and Rave in the process.
“Oh, good morning sir!” the young griffon greeted. Rave just gave him a quick huff before turning her head away; apparently still mad about her humiliation from yesterday.
“Morning,” Black Star replied shortly. The three griffons then proceed to walk through the corridors, heading for the training grounds. Black Star noticed that Rave was keeping a rather tight grip on Kite’s back. Black Star decided to break the silence first.
“Are you two going for the command center?”
“Yeah, but Rave was just going to accompany me until we’re there,” Kite explained. “After that, she’ll return here for some more training.”
“Really?” Black Star said thoughtfully. He noticed the luminescent blush on Rave’s cheeks which confirmed his suspicion. He chuckled under his breath, but soon went silent again as the trio continued to walk through the corridors. Once they were outside, Black Star saw Breaker and Stalker doing a little flight maneuvering together. The black griffon smirked, the humiliation Breaker received yesterday had melted a portion of his pride. Stalker, on the other hand, was still hesitant training together with the tan griffon.
The two stopped when they saw Black Star walking behind Kite and Rave. Breaker’s face dropped into a frown while Stalker flinched a little before he gave a nervous sideways glance at Breaker; clearly remembering about that unintended punch he gave to the latter.
Black Star only kept his gaze at front before he glanced at the palace. Many griffon civilians were flying around it doing their morning routines, clearly accepting their temporary home. The skies were clear of any clouds and Celestia’s sun was shining brightly, as if the world have forgotten the attack from yesterday and the war.
Black Star stretched his wings and flapped them for a bit, warming up his muscles for the flight ahead. Before he took off, Kestrel passed overhead and heads straight for the capital, with Rave and Kite following closely behind.
After stretching his wings as well his back and his limbs, Black Star took into the skies and followed the trio to the capital.
Gryphus Command Center, Gryphus, Griffin Kingdom
0730 hrs
Once the three griffons arrived at the command center, Rave immediately asked for permission to leave, to which Kestrel complied. Before she left, she gave Kite a playful punch at his shoulder, earning a chuckle from him.
“Do your best, pip,” she said to him before she flew away. Kite waved goodbye before turning back to face the two older griffons who were smiling at him.
“What?” he asked in confusion.
“Nothing,” both Kestrel and Black Star said simultaneously. Both griffons realized this and looked at each other before Kestrel gave Black Star a death glare which he ignored completely. Kestrel scoffed and entered the palace, with Black Star and Kite following behind.
When they arrived at the command center, they saw a sleep deprived Riddle finishing his last cup of coffee while typing on the computer. Saetos was sitting beside him, he too looked like crap from lack of sleep. When Kestrel asked them why they looked like this, Riddle answered that they had been up all night formulating a plan for the upcoming operation.
Then, a Royal Guard entered the room and asked Riddle about the status of the plan under Valdar’s request. Riddle yawned before he clicked a button on the computer which ejected a small disk. He then gave the disk to the Royal Guard.
“It’s all good,” Riddle stated before yawning tiredly. “I predict a 75% success rate of this operation with a three griffon unit, a supporting griffon squad, and two equine forces.”
“I see,” the Royal Guard mused. “His majesty will be pleased to hear this. Thank you, Sir Wonderfalke.”
“Look, just call me Riddle, OK?” Riddle waved tiredly, nearly collapsing onto the keyboard.
“Three?” Kestrel thought in confusion. Before she could ask Riddle about this, the Royal Guard said that they were needed in the main courtyard by Valdar to greet the Equestrian reinforcements. Black Star was hesitant at first, but Kite assured him that the ponies had already forgiven the griffons for their atrocities.
Black Star was a little convinced by the young griffon’s words as they walked to the courtyard, but he still keep his skepticism. He just hoped that the Wonderbolts wouldn’t attack him on sight, remembering that he personally crippled their leading members on the war’s opening days. Kite, however was worried about something else.
When the group arrived at the courtyard, Valdar and several of the high ranking military officers were already there. Valdar wore his red cape for a formal greeting since Princess Luna would be teleporting the equine forces herself. Colonel Tallman of the 15th GRG, Major White Tip of the 12th GRG, and another griffon Royal Guard leader wore their armors and full gear. Kestrel felt left out since she was leading the 14th GRG, but she kept her professionalism by standing beside the other leaders for the greeting.
Black Star, Kite, and the Royal Guard member stood at the back, but Valdar motioned them to take a step forward to stand beside him. Black Star and Kite were hesitant, but ultimately complied to Valdar’s request.
Minutes ticked by as the group waited patiently for the reinforcements to arrive. Kite was nervous to his bones and started to shake like a leaf when the teleportation bubble formed in front of them.
“It’s alright, kid,” Black Star assured the young griffon. “She’s not going to bite.”
“B… but, I heard that she’s Nightmare... ” Kite stuttered nervously.
“Nightmare Moon is gone, kid,” Black Star cut him off. “You can trust me on that.”
Kite went silent, albeit still nervous about meeting the Princess of the Night for the first time. He had read the history books during his school days and he was interested in the Princesses of Equestria. Princess Celestia and Luna, who were named as Dagr and Nótt in the griffon history books, were responsible for the wonders of Equestria. They defeated the God of Chaos, Discord, and sealed the tyrannical ruler of the Crystal Empire, King Sombra in the far north.
At first, he thought these stories were fairy tales due to their absurdity, but when he found that they were all true, he could only imagine the horrifying outcome if Red Cyclone challenged the Princesses himself.
“He was toast no matter what,” Kite thought as he wiped some of the sweat off from his feathers. His heart rate began to rise when the bubble exploded into a burst of magical energy. In its place, now stood twenty equines, with one of them slightly taller than any of them.
”So that’s her,” Kite thought in awe as he saw Princess Luna stepped forward to greet Valdar in person. Valdar bowed to her and she too bowed back to the griffon king.
“King Valdar,” she began with a smile, “it has been a while.”
“Likewise, Princess,” Valdar smiled back. “Thank you for accepting our offer.”
“There is no need to express gratitude, Valdar. Equestria is always happy to aid our allies in need,” Princess Luna stated. Then she stepped aside to allow the Equestrian reinforcements to meet the griffons. The Equestrian teams consisted of four different teams.
The first was the Wonderbolts, led by Soarin’ under Spitfire’s orders. Under his command were Surprise, Misty Fly, Fleetfoot, and High Winds. The second team was a unicorn company consisting of five unicorns. They were led by a light blue unicorn, who went by her call sign: Quox. The third team was an earth pony battalion consisting of five ponies, and they were under the command of Bertz, a dark yellow stallion. The fourth and final team was a division of the Equestrian Royal Guard, which consisted of five guards, each with varying coat and mane colors. They were led by a pegasus stallion called Hammerdown.
All of them bowed to Luna before meeting the griffon king, whom they also bowed to. As each of the ponies met the griffon Royal Guard leaders as well as Riddle and his squad, Soarin’ for the first time in ten months after the war, faced the griffon who shot him down on the opening days of the war.
Soarin’ studied Black Star’s features, but there was something off about him. No longer he saw the merciless griffon soldier he encountered in the border. In his place now stood an exhausted, sleep deprived griffon who seemed to be deep inside his own world. Soarin’ coughed to snap him out of it, Black Star shook his head slightly as he groans before noticing Soarin’ standing right in front of him.
“Oh, it’s you,” he began. Soarin’ kept his mouth shut as the black feathered griffon searched for the right words. “Listen, about what happened on the border… ”
Soarin’ raised his hoof to silence him, but to his and the other Wonderbolts’ surprise, he extended his hoof to him and smiled.
“What happened back there is all behind us now. We have already forgiven you and your country for starting the war,” the light blue pegasus said. “We’re allies now, so don’t get so worked up about it.”
Black Star only stared at the light blue stallion in silence before he too extended his talon and shook Soarin’s hoof as a smile formed on his beak.
“Thank you,” he said shortly. The other Wonderbolts sighed in relief under their breaths, relieved that their second-in-command wasn’t holding a grudge on the black feathered griffon.
The rest of the introduction went smoothly with no problems on either end. Princess Luna and Valdar oversaw the entire introduction of their subjects, but when Luna saw Black Star’s expression, she could tell that something was very wrong with him.
“He looks troubled,” she silently thought. “I wonder what kind of nightmares he endures every night?”
Before long, Princess Luna stated that she was needed back at Equestria and would like to leave immediately. Before she left, she said her farewells to the Equestrian forces before turning to Valdar and spoke,
“Look after them.”
Valdar gave a nod in approval, just as a teleportation spell was casted by the princess of the night and she soon vanished from the courtyard. Valdar then turned to face the newly arrived Equestrians.
“We have no time to waste,” he began before he motioned them all to enter the palace. “Follow me to the briefing room.”
The griffons followed their king back to the palace with the ponies following behind them. Some of the ponies were nervous when they entered the griffon palace for the first time since the war began. Many of them expected the griffons to ambush them right there and then. One of Quox’s team members even whispered to his friend about this. One of the Royal Guards overheard his whisper and laughed.
“Don’t worry, we’re not going to attack you,” he chuckled. “Besides, we will gain no profit by doing that act other than being curb stomped by your princesses.”
The pony blushed in embarrassment when he heard that.
Soon, the group finally arrived in the briefing room. The briefing room was filled with monitors and radar screens more advanced than any Equestrian tech. Several griffon officers were busy inputting new data on the computers; two of them were Riddle, and Saetos themselves. The ponies gazed at the briefing room in awe.
“… *whistle*… Man, the mission control at Cloudsdale looks ancient compared to this!” Fleetfoot said out loud, earning a few satisfied looks from the griffon officers typing on the computers.
“Not to worry,” Valdar said when he heard Fleetfoot’s statement. “We’ll be sharing this gems with your country very soon. I assure you that your mission control will look like this, maybe even better.”
Some of the ponies, including Fleetfoot and Soarin’, squee-ed at the thought of improving their homeland’s technologies. Though magic still applied in Equestria, the ponies needed something else to help them with their everyday lives. The griffons who already succeeded with their industrial revolution offered technological gems to the ponies. Needless to say, the ponies, especially Princess Celestia, were amazed by how far griffons had pushed their technological knowledge to the limit. They had created computers, scanners, radios, and even an orbital satellite to transmit the signals around the world.
Princess Celestia saw a bright future for the world if these technological gems were put to good use, but she also dreaded what would happen if someone decided to use them for warfare. The Princess agreed the griffons’ proposition under one rule: that this technology shall never be used for warfare.
The griffons agreed, and soon, the techs were distributed all over Equestria and its surrounding nations. During this era, the equine world became a better place, but even old habits of the griffons still found their way out from the darkest pits of Tartarus.
Valdar went to meet Saetos and discussed about the upcoming sortie. Both he and Riddle nodded, saying that all the data were ready to be shown and briefed. The orange griffon soon motioned the group to sit down on the seats positioned in front of the monitor before leaving the room. The Wonderbolts and Aquila squadron were seated in front while the other units sat in the middle to back rows. Other than the Equestrian units, other griffon units were also there as well. Two of them were Jet and his Verde squadron and another squad of griffons who wore orange vests with blue streaks on them. The squad was led by a large harpy griffon seated in the back row.
Once they were all seated, Saetos grabbed the microphone while Riddle activated the large monitor in front of them. The monitor flickered to life as the emblem of the Griffin Kingdom appeared on the screen with a loading bar below it. The screen changed again and now showed a digital map of the Griffin Kingdom, Neue Gryphus, and the surrounding nations.
“Alright, let’s start the briefing,” Saetos began. “First, I would like to say thank you for the Equestrian forces who decided to aid us in our time of need.”
The ponies nodded in acknowledgment as Saetos continued.
“As you all know, yesterday at approximately 1317 hours, Gründer Industries have staged a rebellion inside Neue Gryphus,”
The screen now showed the Neue Belka emblem with the recorded video feed playing on the top left of the screen. The ponies cringed when they saw the body of Razorwing being hanged on the flagpole.
“This terrorist group, dubbed Neue Belka, aims to restore pride and honor to their former nation and to reclaim their lost land.”
The emblem shrunk and was placed in the top right of the screen while the main screen showed the map of Neue Gryphus. The words “Neue Gryphus” were erased and replaced with “Neue Belka,” and the entire country’s mass was shown in red with arrows shooting out to Hoofstio, and the southern region of the Griffin Kingdom.
“In under one day, Neue Belka managed to take over various areas of Hoofstio as well as the southern Griffin Kingdom. We feared that if we don’t stop them in time, Hoofstio will be the first one to yield to them, followed short by Dinsmark, Pisa, and eventually the rest of the southern region.” Saetos explained grimly. “As we speak, the Griffin Army has already been mobilized to the southern region to strengthen the dwindling forces at Dinsmark and Pisa. Crimson squadron along with Silver squadron were already dispatched to aid Hoofstio’s Air Forces to prevent the invasion from spreading.”
“Where does my squadron come in?” came the booming voice of the harpy griffon.
“I was getting into that, Colonel Rot,” Saetos stated. “Ursa Major squadron will be dispatched to Pisa to assist the forces there. Be advised, these mercenary forces are tenacious; they will do anything to take everything from us during this war. Hit them hard and don’t show any mercy.”
“Roger that, we will bomb them to Tartarus!” the harpy griffon known as Rot boomed in confidence.
“Lieutenant Johann can dispatch three or four fliers from his squad to escort Ursa Major until their delivery is complete,”
Jet nodded as he sorted out the three fliers who were going to support Rot’s team for the battle ahead.
“The Wonderbolts and Bertz’s team will be heading towards Hoofstio to support both Crimson and Silver on their operations. The rest of you should remain here on standby along with Aquila squadron.”
After Saetos finished his sentence, he ordered all the squadrons he assigned to be dismissed, in which they complied immediately. Soon, they left the briefing room and headed for their posts. The Wonderbolts had to be teleported by some of Quox’s unicorns to pass the Windshear Region.
Once they were all gone, Aquila squadron, Jet and his remaining wingmates, and the rest of the Equestrian forces turned their attention back to the screen as a new assignment was displayed.
“Alright, Aquila squadron, here’s your first official sortie: the data extracted from Gründer’s database, as well as Kriegstreiber’s personal files and memos, suggest that Kriegstreiber’s assistant will have a meeting with a possible informant from the kingdom.”
“Great, more traitors… “ Kestrel thought while giving Black Star a look of disdain which he usually ignored.
“According to the file, the meeting will discuss something about trading weapons and a new location about a secret stash that they retrieved yesterday. We don’t know the details yet, so our plan is simple: retrieve and interrogate the informant until he spits out the information we need.” Saetos explained. “The informant’s call sign is Lammergeier, and after an extended search through the citizens’ databases, we have finally found the possible identity of the informant himself.”
The screen now showed a bust shot of a middle aged bearded vulture griffon. Most of the reaction from the griffons (excluding Riddle, Saetos, and Valdar) were genuine shock as they couldn’t believe that the traitor would be him of all griffons.
“Is that…!?” Kestrel stammered, Saetos only nodded grimly to answer her question.
“Indeed, it’s non other than the CEO of the Gryphon Technologies: Aggrypa,” Saetos explained. “We know it was him since he’s got quite a history with the monarchial rule of this country, and fortunately, the electronic mail he sent to Kriegstreiber left his name and server untouched.”
“In other words, the guy is an upper class twit,” Riddle remarked, earning several chuckles from the others.
“Anyway… recent intel confirmed that Aggrypa and his bodyguards are en-route to the meeting place located at an open valley of Schmierfett Canyon, east of Pisa.”
The screen now zoomed in and showed a 3D digitized map of the area surrounding Schmierfett Canyon.
“The meeting is due within six hours. Aquila squadron, you along with Verde squadron must get to this location before the meeting takes place. Once you’re there, wait for the signal from our end until Quox’s company and the Equestrian Royal Guards are in position. Once the signal has been given, neutralize any hostiles in the area so the ponies can move in and secure Aggrypa along with possible ground threats.”
“Sounds like a good plan,” Hammerdown commented.
“Yeah, like he said,” Quox added. “We’ll teleport there as soon as we can. Don’t start the party until we show up.”
“I won’t guarantee it,” Jet answered as he turned to Kestrel. “Isn’t that right, Cap’?”
“Well, I won’t guarantee that it’s going to be a party either,” Kestrel replied flatly. “This is not a game, you two. We don’t know what information they’re trading during this meeting. One wrong step and the info will be lost!”
The room fell silent after Kestrel’s minor outburst.
“I’m afraid she’s right,” Saetos added. “This is not a game anymore. This mission decides the outcome of the incoming days, if not the whole war.”
Everyone in the room let those words sink in into their heads. Truer words had never been spoken. If this mission ended in Aggrypa’s escape, or even worse, death, then the information will truly be lost, and he will take the secrets to his grave.
“Aquila and Verde squadrons will be referred to as Raubvogel while the ground units will be Jäger. Now, any questions?” Saetos asked, but everyone remained silent. “Good, dismissed.”
Everyone in the room stood up and left as the monitor was turned off. Kestrel, however stayed behind until everyone left the room completely. Riddle, who was about to leave the room for the command center, noticed her and asked,
“What are you still doing here captain? Don’t you have to go on this mission.”
“What about you sir?” she asked. “Will you be joining us?”
“I can’t, captain,” Riddle shook his head. “I stayed up all night, and I can’t even see my own claws without my coffee.”
“But who will lead the squad, sir?” she asked again.
“Blake will.” Kestrel nearly blanched when she heard that. “Hm? Is something wrong, captain?”
“Sir! You can’t be serio—“
“I am serious, captain,” Riddle cut her off mid sentence. “I trust him with my life, captain, so why can’t you do the same?”
Kestrel never answered, she only sighed as she turned around and headed for the exit. She opened the door, but paused before turning her head slightly to face Riddle.
“I have my reasons, sir,” she responded flatly before exiting the room, leaving a very thoughtful look on Riddle’s face. The blue griffon mused about her statement before he finally let out a chuckle as he left the room for the command center.
“Griffonesses… “
Black Star was walking back to the main courtyard along with Kite behind him. They, along with the ponies, had already put on their comms and radar scanners for the mission. It would be challenge reaching Schmierfett Canyon within six hours because of the distance between the canyon and Gryphus.
Schmierfett Canyon used to be a river that started from multiple glaciers within Drakenridge mountain range and converged into a single river which carved the canyon itself before ending in Mund Valley, Neue Gryphus where the river was blocked by the Avalon Dam.
Fortunately, Quox and her team agreed to teleport Aquila and Verde along with them halfway towards the canyon. When Kite asked why Quox wouldn’t just teleport all of them at the canyon, Quox only sighed before responding,
“Our limited amount magic won’t be able to teleport all of you to the canyon,” she explained. “Contrary to popular belief, unicorns didn’t have a limitless supply of magic like the princesses have. Sorry about that.”
“Oh, that’s a bummer… ” Kite sighed in disappointment, remembering his weak stamina. Black Star the patted the young griffon’s head and spoke to him,
“Don’t worry, I’ll carry you if I have to.”
Kite only stared at the black feathered griffon with a blank look, unsure how to respond to his statement. Soon, Kite could only give his warm smile and the words, “Thank you, sir!”
Black Star found some comfort within those three words, knowing that someone was genuinely putting their trust on him and not out of fear. Oh, how he missed those days as a regular griffon citizen where everything was still normal, and Rad never existed on his life.
“Don’t flatter yourself,” came the voice of Kestrel from behind him. “I’ll be informing you two that Sir Wonderfalke wasn’t able to join us in this sortie, and he pointed you to be in command of this squad.”
Black Star could just feel the disgust coming from the tone of her voice, especially when she said that he will be in command of Aquila squadron.
“Why did he do that?” Black Star asked, causing Kestrel to scoff in response.
“He trusted you, Black Star. With his life. Now come on, we better get going.”
As soon as she finished that sentence, she spread her wings and took off without saying any word. Kite could only look at Black Star in confusion before he too took off and joined Kestrel in the air. Finally, Black Star took off into the air and joined the other two griffons. Despite her dismay, Black Star took the lead position, and soon, the squad waited until Quox and her team could finish their teleportation spell.
Soon, the translucent bubble formed around the griffon squads and the Equestrian forces before they vanished in a burst of magical energy.
Meanwhile
Outskirts of Gryphus, En-Route to Schmierfett Canyon, Griffin Kingdom
0930 hrs
The black and red feathered bearded vulture griffon, Aggrypa, was sitting quietly inside his own personal wagon towed by his own men. In his talons were some important documents he needed for the weapons exchange with that unicorn’s assistant from Neue Gryphus.
Despite his own confidence, Aggrypa was worried as hell. Ever since the declaration of war from Neue Gryphus was announced, the Griffin Kingdom’s government, especially Valdar himself, began to show some suspicion towards Gryphon Technologies’ involvement with Gründer Industries.
Truthfully, he betrayed his own country to save his company’s skin from Gründer’s claws. That mint unicorn, Kriegstreiber, threatened him that if he failed to deliver the supplies for Neue Belka, then a mercenary squadron will be sent to pay him a little “visit.” Now, there was no doubt that Valdar’s men will hunt him down, remembering that little memo he sent to Neue Belka with his name still attached to it.
Aggrypa sighed when he replayed Kriegstreiber’s threat over and over inside his mind. He needed to get to this meeting quickly before the hunting dogs could arrive to capture him. He opened his comm and spoke through it,
“Bernard, inform our client that the meeting will be moved from 1 o’clock to 12 o’clock.”
“Yes sir,” came Bernard’s voice before Aggrypa changed the channel. “Gene, step it up a little. We need to arrive before the king’s hunting dogs come.”
“Affirmative, sir,” came the voice of Gene as Aggrypa felt his wagon moving even faster than before. The clouds outside dispersed when the wagon went through it as the wagon accelerated to their destination about four hours away.
En-Route to Schmierfett Canyon, Southern Griffin Kingdom
1057 hrs
Tracking… Raubvogel Team
Aquila squadron and Verde squadron streaked through the cloudless blue skies. Their heading was fixed to their destination ahead. It had been an hour since Quox’s company teleported them to a small town two hours away from the canyon, and the griffon forces had parted ways with the Equestrians and remained in radio silence until they could rendezvous near the mouth of the canyon.
As Riddle had already requested, Black Star was leading the formation with Kestrel and Kite behind him. Jet and his team were flying beside them. After an hour’s worth of silence, Jet decided to break the silence first.
“So… Blake,” he began, prompting Black Star to turn his head slightly at his direction. “Care to tell me the reason you flew back into this mess?”
“As I said before, Valdar gave me a slip, that’s it.” Black Star replied flatly.
“No, there must be something else,” Jet retorted.
“Both of them owe each other’s life,” Kestrel cut in, much to the two’s surprise, “or so I’ve heard. It’s a surprise he still cared for another griffon’s life.”
Black Star remained unfazed by Kestrel’s insult and kept staring at the blue skies in front of him. Fortunately, Kestrel’s words seemed to answer Jet’s questions as the green feathered griffon went silent and mused about the griffoness’ words.
Fifteen minutes passed by until an emergency notice from Saetos was received on their comms.
“Altair Alpha to Raubvogel and Jäger, we got an urgent mission update for you. Sir Wonderfalke will explain it through. I’ll patch him up in a second.”
Barely a second passed by when Riddle’s voice was heard from Altair’s channel,
“This is Riddle, to all units participating in this mission. Be advised, the meeting schedule between Aggrypa and the assistant has been moved from 1300 hours to 1200 hours. You lads better pick up the pace!”
“This is Aquila,” Black Star began. “We’ll speed things up right now, we can see that canyon mouth from here.”
“Verde here, the same goes for us,” Jet added.
“This is Quox of the EAF 13th Unicorn Company,” Quox said from her end. “We’ll try to teleport along with the Royal Guards as fast as we can.”
Without any further delay, the griffons dived down towards the canyon mouth on the horizon while the Equestrians extended the range of their teleportation magic to arrive at the area as quickly as possible.
Kite’s stamina soon wore out he began to have trouble keeping up, prompting Black Star to return to him and fulfil his promise to carry the small griffon all the way to the rendezvous point. Kestrel saw this and she only huffed in response.
The brown rocky textures of Schmierfett Canyon soon began to enter the group’s vision as they made their way to the rendezvous point to wait for the meeting to commence. The Raubvogel team arrived first, just in time when they saw Aggrypa’s convoy arrive near the mouth of the canyon.
A few minutes later, Quox and the Royal Guards arrived at the point and quickly set up an invincibility spell to keep them hidden from Aggrypa’s body guards’ sharp eyes. The team also maintained radio silence as they played the waiting game.
Schmierfett Canyon, Southern Griffin Kingdom
1144 hrs
Tracking… Aggrypa
Aggrypa waited patiently inside his wagon with his bodyguards keeping an eye out for any hostiles in the vicinity. His breathing intensified when paranoia kicked in. Aggrypa snapped his head toward the window. He thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye, but there was nothing but rocks and dirt.
The waiting game was excruciating for him. He saw his clock, which only showed 10 minutes had passed since they arrived. He thought his paranoia was making him see things that weren’t even there, but he was completely unaware that both teams from Griffin Kingdom and Equestria were slowly getting into position, ready to strike their prey at any moment.
Aggrypa’s heart nearly jumped out of his chest when one of his bodyguards knocked on the wagon’s door.
“Sir, the client has arrived.”
“Yeah, coming,” came the weak reply from Aggrypa. He collected all the documents and papers before stepping outside to greet his client. Kriegstreiber’s assistant, Rohling was standing there, and he was accompanied by several unicorns. One of them was Hog.
Aggrypa slowly approached the dark gray unicorn before putting on his fake smile to ease the tension of the situation with minimal effort.
“Greetings, shall we begin?”
Tracking… Jäger Team
Quox quietly watched the entire meeting along with her company and the others. She already ordered her team to disperse and surround the wagon with each Royal Guard supporting each member. The griffons positioned themselves high on the cliff faces and they were ready to strike once the order’s been given.
“This is Quox to Altair… ” she whispered to her comm. “My team and the Royal Guards are ready. Waiting for the signal.”
“This is Aquila,” came the voice of Black Star. “We and Verde have a good position to strike them on command. We’re ready.”
“Good,” Saetos sounded. “All teams, commence the operation in 30 seconds.”
Both teams silently complied to Altair’s request and started counting down. They made sure to open their channels so each team wouldn’t desynchronize the countdown.
29… 28… 27… 26…
The countdown continued as the team watched Aggrypa show Rohling the documents. The dark unicorn smiled for a bit when he handed the documents over to his assistant.
22… 21… 20… 19…
Aggrypa continued to show the dark gray unicorn the other documents and papers, including a black envelope with no visible words written on it. Both teams tensed their muscles.
12… 11… 10… 9… 8…
The countdown grew close as both teams readied themselves to strike the unsuspecting prey below them. Aggrypa continued to discuss important subjects to the Neue Belkan forces. The countdown nearly reached its end. Both teams were ready to attack.
5… 4… 3… 2… 1…
“All teams commence the operation!”
Following Saetos’ voice, Quox’s team immediately deactivated their invincibility spells on both teams. Aggrypa’s and Rohling’s group below were shocked to see the EAF and Griffin Kingdom forces appear above them.
“SHIT!!” Aggrypa shrieked as he grabbed any papers he could find and ran back to his wagon. Rohling only let out a curse before he ordered tohis bodyguards,
“Braun Squadron, eliminate those scumbags now!!”
“With pleasure, sir.” Hog replied as he charged a stunning spell and aimed it at one of Jet’s men.
“This is Altair Alpha. All units, engage at will!” Saetos ordered. Both teams immediately complied before they headed straight down to engage the bodyguards.
Hog and the other Belkan unicorns fired their stunning spells at Aquila and Verde, but their aim was sloppy, and the griffons evaded them with ease. Black Star was the first griffon to tackle with one of Hog’s men. The unicorn fired offensive and defensive spells at random, but Black Star remained unfazed and evaded through them before landing a hit on the unicorn’s head, knocking him out instantly.
Aggrypa ordered his bodyguards to engage, but they found their way blocked by the Equestrian Royal Guards. Hammerdown was the first one to face one of the bodyguards.
“Move, equine!” the bodyguard growled while flaring his wings, attempting to intimidate the small armored pony before him. Hammerdown kept his stern look before he pounced the griffon into the ground, causing his subordinates to attack the other bodyguards as well.
Kestrel managed to separate one of the unicorns, and was currently battling him one-on-one. Unlike the other unicorns, who mostly used their magic to attack, this one seemed to know the basic hoof-to-talon attacks and defense. Despite the unicorn’s impressive display of close combat, Kestrel managed to end the fight by using her wings as a shield before she jumped and delivered a kick to the unicorn’s face.
The unicorn dropped on the ground. He stood up and decided to retreat, letting the rest of his team fill him in. Soon enough, Kestrel faced three unicorns at once, who wasted no time on bombarding her with all sorts of offensive spells, forcing the pastel griffoness to gain altitude.
“Cheap tactics.” Kestrel scoffed as she dodged another burst of magic from the unicorns. She flew around to dodge the rest of the spells while Kite passed above her with a griffon bodyguard hot on his tail. The bodyguard growled in annoyance when Kite stopped in midair, causing him to overshoot the small griffon.
“Nope, wrong way!” Kite yelled at him before he flew towards the opposite direction. The bodyguard growled when he chased after him, only to find out that Kite changed his course again and flew towards him. The bodyguard tried to catch him, but Kite evaded his claws and kicked him in the stomach. This routine continued over and over until the bodyguard was exhausted and his body was covered in light bruises.
“Stay still, you brat!” he roared. Kite then immediately stopped just below him and shrugged.
“Okay, if you say so.”
The bodyguard smirked and dived down to deliver his attack ,but he was intercepted by Black Star. The dark griffon’s fist contacted his lower beak, stunning him and giving Kite enough time to gain enough speed to perform a body slam at him. The bodyguard fell unconscious as he crashed on the cliff face before tumbling down.
“Is he dead?” Kite asked the black feathered griffon worriedly. “I didn’t mean to hit him that hard… “
“No, he’ll live,” Black Star replied, “albeit with broken bones, and severe head trauma.”
Kite flinched a little when he imagined the bodyguard’s pain right now. Both griffons then heard Kestrel requesting some backup fighting Hog’s squadmates. Both griffons complied and dived down to engage the unicorns. Black Star and Kestrel found themselves clashing against Hog, while Kite offered them some decent aerial support through hit-and-fly tactics.
Hog was outnumbered two to one, but he kept his cool and blocked most of the two griffons’ attacks. Suddenly, a notice from Altair Alpha sounded from the comms.
“Altair Alpha to all units. We’ve detected ten bandits coming from vector 188 to your location. ETA, 2 minutes.”
“Thanks for the warning, Altair. Aquila out,” Black Star responded before he switched his channel and contacted Jet. “That’s your cue, Johann. Greet the guests.”
“Roger that, Aquila,” Jet replied as he and his squad turned to the west. “Leave them to us.”
Verde Squadron sped off to the west to intercept the incoming reinforcements. Back at Black Star and Kestrel, both of them began to gain the upper hand against Hog. The green unicorn’s defensive spells began to take more time to form, and his offensive spells were slowly decreasing their power. Realizing he can’t win this fight, Hog backed down and ordered some of his squadmates to take over.
“Running away, coward?” Kestrel asked the green unicorn. He chuckled in response.
“Call it a tactical retreat. It will be foolish of me if I were to stay and fight both of you again.”
After finishing that sentence, Hog teleported away, leaving Black Star and Kestrel to engage the rest of his squadmates. Despite Kestrel’s disdain on working together with the dark griffon, both of them maneuvered each other through the waves of offensive spells casted by the unicorns before slowly taking them out one by one.
In the meantime, Verde managed to intercept the pegasus squadron from the west. One pegasus was quickly neutralized by Jet, causing the other nine fliers to attack him all at once. Jet’s wingmen dived into the battle and engaged the hostile fliers.
One flier from Jet’s flight was forced to bail out after he was overwhelmed by two pegasi at once. Jet and his remaining squadmates faced the remaining nine pegasi, unfazed of being outnumbered. Jet growled as the leader delivered his first strike at him. One of his wingmates, a griffon who went by the name Lanner, blocked the attack, giving Jet enough time to deliver his own attack to the leader. The lead pegasus dodged Jet’s attack, only to find Lanner’s claws were already inching towards him.
The lead pegasus was slashed square on his face. Jet wasted no time bringing his talons together and smashed it on the pegasus’ lower jaw.
“Good night,” Jet stated as the pegasus went spinning towards the cliffs. The sickening sounds of cracked and broken bones were heard when the leader tumbled down on the cliffs before his body stopped at the bottom of the canyon, unmoving.
This sight enraged the rest of his wingmates, but due to their leader being out of the action, their moves became uncoordinated, giving Verde an easy win for this battle.
Rohling kept his head down from the missed shots and blows thrown by the battling forces. He noticed that Aggrypa had fled into his wagon, carrying the documents he needed to complete the exchange.
Slowly and carefully, Rohling made his way through the battlefield until Kite noticed him. He panicked and galloped when the cheetah griffon flew towards him. Luckily for him, Kite was distracted by a shot coming from a unicorn. Rohling sighed and made his way to the wagon.
Aggrypa clutched the documents close to his rapidly beating heart. Fortunately for him, his wagon was made from composite material strong enough to repel any attacks from the outside, but it still couldn’t repel any magic blast.
His luck ran out when a stray shot damaged the door, causing the bearded vulture griffon to yelp as the door fell to the ground. Aggrypa quickly leapt outside and grabbed the door before struggling in vain to get it back to its former position. His attempt was interrupted when a familiar dark coated unicorn appeared in front of him.
“Oh, it’s you. Tell your boss my apologies, but he cannot have these documents due to unfortunate circumstanc—ERK!“
Aggrypa was cut short when Rohling used his magic to choke and levitate him up before throwing him to the ground. Aggrypa tried to pick himself up, but Rohling pinned him down with his magic before bringing him up to face him.
“The documents… now!” he demanded, but Aggrypa’s delayed response made him growl and tossed the griffon to his wagon. Aggrypa groaned in pain, but Rohling levitated him again before pinning him to the side of the wagon.
“My patience is running thin, griffon,” he spoke maliciously. “Give me the documents now, or I will be forced to take it from your cold lifeless claws!”
“Okay, okay, you can have it!” Aggrypa pleaded as he handed over the documents to the dark unicorn. Rohling smirked when he examined the documents, but his satisfaction was cut short when a stray blast impacted one of the documents, ripping it to pieces and scattering the rest of the documents all over the ground. What was even worse, the blast gained Black Star’s, Kestrel’s, and Quox’s attention to them.
“You! Hold it right there!” Quox demanded. “We’re taking you in!”
“BUCK!” Rohling cursed as he teleported himself away along with several pieces of the documents. Aggrypa also let out his own curse as he spreads his wings and flew into the canyon as fast as he could. Quox tried to hit him with several stunning spells, but the griffon already disappeared around the canyon’s turns.
“Quox to Aquila and Verde! Be advised, Lammergeier escaped into the canyon. I repeat, Lammergeier has escaped into the canyon!” Quox yelled to her comm. “Requesting any griffon unit to pursue, over!”
“Damn! This is Verde. we cannot pursue at this time, we’re still engaging the reinforcements at our end!” Jet responded.
“This is Aquila 2, we comply,” Black Star cut in. “I’m still engaging the hostile unicorns, but Aquila 3 and Aquila 4 might be able to pursue him.”
“This is Aquila 3, I copy. Will pursue Lammergeier with Aquila 4,” Kestrel replied before she and Kite flew towards the canyon entrance. Kite was uncertain about flying inside the tight corners of the Schmierfett Canyon but Kestrel assured to him that everything will be fine as long he remembers his training.
Kite smiled before taking a deep breath and letting it out as both griffons entered the canyon.
The pursuit had begun.
1223 hrs
Aggrypa continued his flight inside the canyon walls. If his hunch was correct, the canyon will lead him to the outskirts of Pisa. He planned to use the chaos of warfare engulfing the city to conceal him long enough for the kingdom’s forces to give up the search and leave.
But first, he had to get there.
He was snapped out from his thoughts when he nearly collided with the canyon wall. He evaded the wall and turned towards another opening on the canyon. That was too close for comfort. Aggrypa let out a sigh in relief. He must remained focused inside the canyon. One wrong move, and he will be having rocks shoved down his eye sockets.
Then he heard an echo of one of the stones crumbling from behind him. He stopped and turned around to find two griffons from the kingdom’s air force in hot pursuit. He shrieked and bolted away, descending even further to the river below.
Kite dusted himself in mid-flight after he grazed the tip of the walls, causing several stones to come loose and fall into the river below. Unfortunately, this alerted Aggrypa of their presence. Kestrel groaned when the vulture griffon bolted away, prompting both griffons to flap their wings faster to accelerate.
“Alright, Kite. Stay sharp and keep close to me.” Kestrel said to the young griffon.
“Ok, ma’am,” came the reply from Kite. The two griffons then accelerated to keep their sights on Aggrypa’s tail.
The pursuit took them around the canyon’s rocky edges. Narrow misses were inevitable. Kestrel, being an adult griffoness, needed to keep her wings close together to avoid them from clipping the edges of the canyon. Kite on the other hand, was having a hard time focusing on Aggrypa’s tail and keeping an eye for the hazardous terrain around him, but his small frame gave him an advantage of maneuvering around tight corners which caused Kestrel to climb to avoid them.
“Focus, Kite, you can do this!” Kite quietly thought to himself as he prepared to made another tight turn up ahead. He tensed his muscles before making the tight turn, the jagged edges of the rocks nearly grazed his left wing, but he was able to stabilize at the last moment and kept his bearings straight on the canyon opening.
Kestrel climbed to avoid the jagged edges of the turn and descended again when the opening was wide enough for her to fly through. She was very impressed of her underling’s performance on those turns. She then rejoined with the young griffon as both of them made another turn on a wide gap which Aggrypa could barely turn to due to his ever increasing paranoia.
Aggrypa panicked as he made another turn around the jagged corners of the canyon. He nearly stumbled upon a boulder when he made that turn. He took a glimpse to his back and saw Kestrel and Kite were still hot on his tail.
“Y… You will never take me alive!!” He screeched as he flapped his wings harder to escape, and so did Kestrel and Kite.
The changing canyon geography became more and more difficult for Kestrel to maneuver in, but Kite remained undeterred. This was his first mission as a soldier of the Griffin Kingdom, and he was not going to screw this one up just because of a little canyon terrain. However, Kite soon felt his muscles beginning to ache, a growing sign of his depleting stamina, but there something else also caught his attention.
“Ma’am, twelve o’clock above you!” Kite yelled, which caused Kestrel to look up and see a pegasus wearing a gray vest with several blue streaks on it diving straight at her. The pastel griffoness brought up her talons in defense as the pegasus tackled her.
“Damn, this is going to take a while,” she groaned as she readied herself to engage the pegasus. “Kite, I’ll handle this S.O.B.. It’s up to you to capture Aggrypa!”
Kite immediately complied with that order and resumed his pursuit of the vulture griffon. If the changing terrain wasn’t difficult enough to handle, the incoming interceptors definitely took the cake. Luckily for Kite, his speed made him almost impossible for the pegasus interceptors to catch him, and some of Jet’s wingmates dispatched by him were there to keep the interceptors off his tail.
“We’ll take care of this, go catch that snitch!” one of Jet’s wingmates, who goes by the name Wave, stated to Kite as he engaged the newly arrived interceptors. Kite smiled and resumed the chase, feeling reassured that everyone got his back. Aggrypa made another sloppy turn at a tight corner, causing several rocks to came loose. Kite avoided the falling debris and kept his eyes locked at the vulture griffon in front of him. Occasional radio chatters were heard from his comm, but he payed no attention to it.
His only objective now was to bring the treacherous Aggrypa into custody.
“This is Quox, we rounded up some of the bodyguards. What is the status on Lammergeier, over,” Quox asked through the radio,
“This is Aquila 3. Don’t worry, Quox. Aquila 4 is currently chasing him through the canyon,” Kestrel answered. “Be ready to take the S.O.B. into custody when he gets him.”
“Roger that, Aquila 3, Quox out.”
Aggrypa descended and made a tight turn near the river’s surface, grazing some of the growing plants on the riverside. He was followed suit by Kite, who managed to evade the plants when he did a barrel roll before stepping on a stone sticking out of the cliff face to propel him forward.
Aggrypa cursed when he saw that and increased his speed to no avail. He was beyond exhausted, and he was nowhere near the canyon’s end. The vulture griffon began to pant, and his flying became more and more unstable with each flap of his wings. Kite saw this and decided to end this chase once and for all. Using every last drop of his energy, Kite flapped his wings and accelerated. Within 6 seconds, Aggrypa’s tail was within his reach, and he wasted no time on grabbing before pulling it towards him.
Aggrypa yelped when Kite grabbed his tail and tried to kick the small griffon away, but due to his pampered life style and lack of combat experience, the kicks felt like nothing but irritating slaps to the small griffon. Kite sighed in annoyance as he grabbed Aggrypa’s legs before subduing his wings to stop his mobility. The blow worked, and Aggrypa was completely dependant on Kite to carry him back to the rest of the group…
Until the small griffon realized that he was not strong enough to lift him.
Both griffons began to plummet down into the river, screaming all the way down. Luckily for them, they were near the river’s surface, causing both griffons to ditch into the river with Aggrypa unfortunate enough to be used as a cushion by Kite. Both griffons struggled to get to the riverbank, but Aggrypa was thrashing wildly: yelling that he can’t swim, much to Kite’s annoyance.
“If you don’t stop trashing around, we’ll both drown, you dweeb!” Kite yelled as he tried to get to shore. “Now stop whining, and help me pedal!”
Aggrypa reluctantly agreed to the small griffon’s request and pedaled, well more like waving his talons wildly around the water. Both griffons finally reached the shore, tired and exhausted to their bones. Aggrypa was the first one to break the uneasy silence between them.
“You know what, kid?…… I’m done with those fascists…. done!” Aggrypa took another breath to continue his rant. “… I’ll tell you guys everything….… once we’re back… ”
Kite could only let out a small sigh in response before an incoming message came from his comm. The entire communicator and the portable scanner were made waterproof by the designers, since they were constantly exposed to freezing weather, and sometimes needed to be thawed out. The comm was okay, but the portable scanner was turned off when it collided with the water’s surface.
“Aquila 4. Kite, you’re not showing up on radar. What is your status?” came Kestrel’s worried voice from the comm. “Kite, what is your status? Milvus, answer me!”
“This is Kite… don’t worry, ma’am… I’m okay with Aggrypa…” Kite finally responded, earning a relieved sigh from Kestrel. “We took a dip in the… river… “
“What?”
“Nevermind that, ma’am… I got him. Requesting extraction immediately. Aquila 4, out.”
Kite kept his channel open while he stood up and shook his entire body to shake the water off him before tapping on his scanner to turn it on. He could hear Quox stating that her team was on their way to pick up Aggrypa and him. After a prolonged effort, the scanner was up and running again. It showed Quox’s group moving and teleporting steadily towards his position along the canyon.
1235 hrs
The situation back with Black Star began to shimmer down. Most of the unicorns retreated after the dark griffon, along with several of the Equestrian Royal Guards, drove them back. The pegasus interceptors also retreated after several of them were downed thanks to Kestrel and Jet and his squadron.
Black Star evaded another offensive spell from one of the last remaining unicorns before diving and slashing his neck, severing one of his major arteries. The unicorn panicked when he saw the excessive blood pouring out from his neck. He tried galloping away, but soon he stumbled before succumbing to his wound.
“Y… y… you monster!”
Black Star turned around and saw one of the unicorn’s squadmates backing down in horror.
“Y… you… killed him!!” he stammered while pointing an accusing hoof at him.
“Yes, I did,” Black Star responded apathetically. “And I will do the same with you if you don’t get out of here now.”
The unicorn quickly got his message and galloped away, screaming his head off. Black Star sighed as he reached to his comm.
“This is Aquila 2, no more hostiles at my end.”
“I can see that.”
Black Star looked upwards and saw Kestrel landing close to him, still having that ever present scowl she had when she was near him. She activated her comm and switched to Altair’s frequency.
“Aquila to Altair Alpha, we got Lammergeier,” she stated. “Quox is currently en-route to secure him.”
“Good work, Aquila,” Saetos responded. “Once you’re all set up, you’re all cleared to return home. Altair Alpha out.”
Kestrel and Black Star let out a sigh of relief, knowing that this operation was a success. They got Aggrypa alive. Now it was only a matter of taking him back to Gryphus and extracting whatever information he had in his brain.
Suddenly, an emergency notice was sent by Altair to every unit working on the operation.
“Spoke too soon, we just got several hits on our radar,” Saetos said. “Contacts confirmed to be five bogies flying in formation. They are en-route to your position in high speed.”
“This is Aquila, we copy.” Black Star responded as he and Kestrel flew up, ready to face the hostiles. “We’re ready to intercept.”
5 miles east of Schmierfett Canyon, Southern Griffin Kingdom
April 24th, 1238 hrs
BLAU
Murtair Militia
1st Air Force, 3rd Pegasus Squadron
Blau 1 wasn’t happy about the entire situation. The meeting was in shambles, that fool Aggrypa was captured by those scums, and the interceptors he sent to capture Aggrypa were forced to retreat, courtesy of the kingdom’s forces.
Furthermore, when he learned that Riddle himself was leading Aquila squadron, he couldn’t wait to get some payback for his lost eye.
“Blau 3 to Blau 1, I’m detecting 2 signatures straight ahead,” one of his wingmates announced. “Confirmed their IDs to be Aquila squadron.”
“He’s here… Wonderfalke, “ Blau 1 growled as he stroked the eyepatch covering his blinded eye. “He’s going to pay for what he did to me! Blau squadron. Engage them at will. Show no mercy!”
“Roger!!” his team shouted in unison as they trailed off into the canyon.
Schmierfett Canyon, Southern Griffin Kingdom
1241 hrs
Black Star, Kestrel, and Hammerdown could finally see the reinforcements coming straight at them. Quox and the other Royal Guards had requested them to hold off the pegasus squadron until they could reach Kite and Aggrypa’s location. Hammerdown decided to come along with several of his subordinates to offer some support to Aquila.
The group waited in silence as the pegasus squadron approached them, Black Star smirked when he saw the flight lead still had that burning hatred for Riddle in his remaining eye. Once they were close, the pegasi dispersed and surrounded the group, eerily reminiscing the scene back on the Drakenridge mountains.
Blau 1 approached them and started looking around for someone, his frustration grew when whoever he was searching for wasn’t there. He snapped his attention at Black Star and pointed his hoof at him.
“You! Where’s Wonderfalke? Where is he!?”
“Sir Wonderfalke is absent on this mission,” Kestrel said in a matter of fact tone, causing Blau 1 to snarl at her.
“No one asked you, lowly freak! I asked him, and I demand that he answer hi—OOF!!”
Blau 1 was cut off mid sentence by Black Star who punched him in his stomach. This act provoked Blau 1’s squad to attack the group in unison. The Royal Guards were the first ones to act while Kestrel flew upwards before initiating her hit-and-run tactic.
Blau 1 growled when he recovered from the blow. His nostrils flared as he snorted at the dark griffon before him.
“Filthy dog!!” he roared at him, delivering punches left and right. “How dare you attack me!”
“You showed an opening…” Black Star calmly responded, trying his best to block his blow while delivering his own. “Next time, keep your eyes open.”
This statement only angered Blau 1 to his boiling point. The mad pegasus went berserk over him, but Black Star remained calm and evaded his attacks, though one or two blows managed to hit his body. Blau 1 roared as he prepared another attack, but he was interrupted by one of Hammerdown’s wingmates. Blau 1 growled again and began to deliver insults at the pegasus about attacking his own kind. The pegasus, a young colt with a light purple coat called Featherdust, merely scoffed and said,
“Those who defy the Princesses are worth dirt.”
Blau 1 was infuriated upon being insulted like that, but before he could do any damage to Featherdust, Black Star grabbed Blau 1’s head before he kicked them away. Featherdust joined the action as he gave Blau 1 a body slam, and the armors he wore doubled the pain for the gray blue pegasus.
“AARGH!”
Blau 1 nearly blew his head off as he roared before re-engaging both Black Star and Featherdust, but both combatants used his own anger against him. The battle looked one-sided for the leader, but his wingmates actually did better than him. Fortunately enough, the Royal Guards were actually able to keep up with the mercenary squad’s attacks. After the war, the training for the Equestrian Royal Guards was doubled under the orders of the Princesses themselves.
Learning from the griffons’ method of training, Shining Armor, the current captain of the Royal Guards, staged a perfect training method for his underlings. The Princesses even requested Valdar to send some of the more experienced GRG leaders to come and survey the training themselves. It took months to re-train the entire Royal Guards, but the training finally payed off for the ones engaging the mercenaries.
For the mercenaries, this rude awakening baffled their minds. If they recalled correctly, the Royal Guards were mostly very incompetent at performing their duties. Now, these new and improved members of the Royal Guards were actually pushing them back little by little.
“Damn! When did Celestia’s meat puppets become this good!?” yelled one of the Blau members as he clashed against a mare Royal Guard with a dark red coat.
“Shut up and engage!” responded one of his wingmates in annoyance. The Royal Guards felt immense satisfaction when they heard this, but Hammerdown told them to not let their pride to get to their heads and focus back on the objective.
Blau 1 finally managed to kick Featherdust in the chest, causing the colt to retreat and leave him to face Black Star on his own. The two combatants clashed again, and this time, Blau 1 managed to tone his anger down, giving him some boost in his reaction time in blocking the dark griffon’s attacks. After a brief but heated battle, both Blau 1 and Black Star stopped and glared at each other.
“I see you have improved,” Black Star began.
“Speak for yourself, filth,” the gray blue pegasus scoffed. “I only improved so I can take out that old falcon!”
“But he’s not here, and I’m your opponent now,” Black Star stated as he readied himself for another clash with him.
“Heh, you’re not even worthy for me!” Blau 1 sneered as he activated his comm. “Second flight, you’re cleared to move in.”
Black Star heard an audible “roger” coming from Blau 1’s comm before another message from Altair was received.
“Altair Alpha to all units, second flight of enemy reinforcements approaching from vector 180.”
“This is Verde, roger that, Altair Alpha. We’re moving in to intercept,” came Jet’s response as his team flew to the west to intercept the reinforcements. Quox also noted that her team had a visual on both Kite and Aggrypa down on the riverbank. It was only matter of time before they retrieved them.
This fact angered Blau 1. Aggrypa was now within the kingdom’s reach, and he will ruin everything Neue Belka had planned. With a roar, Blau 1 bolted away and disengaged from the fight completely. When one of his wingmates asked his intentions, the gray blue pegasus responded that he planned to enter the canyon and kill Aggrypa before he could speak out the truth.
Black Star saw this and followed suit. Blau 1 noticed Black Star pursuing him as he began to perform fast aerial maneuvers in hopes of shaking off the griffon from his tail, but Black Star was quicker than he thought. The black feathered griffon followed him and performed every single maneuver the gray blue pegasus performed with minimal effort.
“Gah! Why don’t you just go away!” Blau 1 growled as he turned around and delivered a punch which Black Star avoided by flying to the side.
He then grabbed Blau 1’s head before bringing up his fist and delivering a slap to the pegasus’ left ear; effectively disorientating him. As the dark griffon was about to deal the finishing blow, one of Blau 1’s wingmates charged at him as the others flew in and assisted their crippled leader.
“Why… why… why! WHY DID I LOSE TO YOU GRIFFONS AGAIN!!??” Blau 1 shrieked as he struggled from his wingmates’ grip. The pegasus began to roar and neigh like a primitive equine as his mind started to suffer a breakdown from the losses he suffered. One of his wingmates contacted Hog’s Braun squad to teleport them away, stating that the mission had failed.
“… And prepare the straight jacket, I think Blue is having a breakdown, again.” The wingmate stated worriedly. A loud sigh came from the other end of the comm.
“Alright, we’ll have you out of there in no time. Hog out.”
Before the kingdom’s forces could react, the entire mercenary squadron was covered in the teleportation bubble before vanishing without a trace. Jet reported to them that the same thing happened to the mercenary forces at their end. This sign marked the end of the mission for them.
“No enemy presence detected in the canyon’s airspace,” Saetos announced. “Quox and Aquila 4 have retrieved Lammergeier. Mission accomplished, all teams RTB.”
“This is Aquila 2 to Altair Alpha. Roger that, we’ll do a headcount first before heading back. Out,” Black Star responded before he closed the channel and let out a breath of relief.
The group landed down, and Hammerdown started to do a headcount on his team. Hammerdown and most of his underlings suffered minor bruises and claw scars when they faced the bodyguards earlier. However, Featherdust suffered from multiple cracks on his ribcage and needed medical attention immediately.
Once the team regrouped back at the canyon's mouth, they began their preparations for the journey back home. Aggrypa was cuffed despite his protests and had to be carried through land. Quox had also collected the scattered pieces of the documents on the ground, hoping that it contained additional information.
Using the remains of Aggrypa’s wagon, the Royal Guard managed to built a makeshift stretcher for Featherdust to lie on. Kite’s wings were too wet to lift him off the ground, Kestrel was kind enough to let him ride on her back all the way back to Gryphus.
Before they took off from the ground, Kestrel noticed a single piece of paper stuck to a twig. Fearing that the paper might hold some information, Kestrel walked to the twig and snatched the paper before examining it.
“Turmfalken, we’re leaving,” Black Star called out.
“Just a minute,” Kestrel responded before she turned her attention back at the paper. The paper was half-burned by the magic blast shot earlier, but she could make out some scribbles of pen written on the paper’s surface.
{Rounds stored safely S.A.I.T.N. for conquest… }
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Really? An art block? I think I had one when making my story, I mean two months. You update yours much faster.
Good to see some good deeds out of Blake. And I'm starting to like Kite, too ^ ^
I wish you waited for me to edit this before posting it. I haven't been able to take a look at it yet. You should never release a product before it is ready. It's better to wait a couple days for for the grammar to be corrected first.
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Yeah, I suffered one when I'm writing this. I forced myself to finish this chapter, hence why the quality started to degrade on the last parts. But it's my favorite chapter to write because of the Canyon Flight with Kite and Aggrypa.