//------------------------------// // 98. Aerial Assaults. // Story: Baa-Ram-Ewe! // by Darkonshadows //------------------------------// -Equus, Huoshan, Fizzle- The spa here was nice, natural hot springs and everything. It was also my treat that we were here. “So as you can imagine, I know what it feels like to be missing a huge chunk of yourself. I just came here to tell you that she’s still alive at the very least… as far as we know anyway. Also that we while we do have a way to bring Pom and the others back, but it’s dangerous to all of Equus to do so given she’d have to go to Tambelon and it would take us time to get to and rescue her. Safer methods are still in production though, but dimensional stability is being taken into account.” Being completely honest and open was what I came here to do and Tianhuo was a stoic longma of good rapport around here. “You know, a lot of people out there are kind of looking down on Pom for being a lambkin. Coming here… I’ve heard nothing but good things from the people and the guards, she’s a true community paragon from the sounds of it.” “Then she is still doing her job… and quite exemplarily at that.” Though there was a spark in Tianhuo’s eyes at hearing that Pom was still running around somewhere out there. “Pom seems like a coward to most who see her nervous exterior, but they do not know her like I do. Few can see her hidden strength, even fewer can bring it to the surface. If Pom cares about you, then she is assured to die well before you do. I worry about her daily, but I have my duties to our family and to Huoshan. Tell me, do you regret marrying the world’s most chaotic cat?” “Not a single day goes by that I will never hesitate to say no to that.” I sighed and thought about her psychological issues, she was stable and mostly safe to be out our sight now. I still had my worries, there’s something to be said about having a snuggle kitty and cuddling her too. “I have a few regrets, but Jaded will never be one of them after she came back from the impossible the hard way for me and Maries. Pom will likely have more than a few mental and physical scars ‘when’ she makes it back, so be ready for that. Just hope that she doesn’t get a huge chip in her shoulder about Saddle Arabia and we won’t be mirroring each other.” Tianhuo snorted lightly and smiled my way, then a solid pink mass popped out of the hot tub spooking me into lightning up my horn. I assessed the situation and let my sparking horn cool as I watched the wolf shaped mass lick Tianhuo on the face. I calmed down as the mass of pink shaped like a wolf nuzzled up to the calm looking longma. “Can I be part of the team that goes into Tambelon should you decide to use that method?” Tianhuo said while petting that strange mass of energy. I got where she was coming from and knew exactly why she asked that, I would want to do the same thing regardless of what anyone else said. -Earth, on an airliner, flight to Britain from Haiti, Shanty- I still be feeling a bit ill, but I be getting better at hearing a confirmation that Pom be spotted taking part in a huge incident and she is being called a super hero. I giggled at the thought of Pom being brave and heroic, instead of worrying, whining and overall being protective of anyone in danger near her. At least my hospital bill was being taken care of thanks to the local criminals, after Sly did some stealing from them of course. Spot was an interesting chicken. Not a voodoo zombie, but some kind of zombie that regenerated and didn’t have a beating heart. It almost be like a pirate curse, except she can bleed and feel pain like a living being. Usually pirate curses involved becoming living skeletons as long as the curse lasts. She had plenty of reason for going to Britain personally and we were on our way now. Bentley was keeping us up to date on the information surrounding Dr. M and the situation in Britain, the canal being blocked up by the crashed airship was causing a flooding problems. Lots of damage had been done to the surrounding areas, but very few people got seriously injured. From what Mopsy had heard, Pom was being investigated by Interpol on some suspicions about her background. I not be knowing enough to know how bad that is, Bentley wouldn’t say anything when I asked about it and that was telling enough by itself. Being a vigilante is sounding cool, at least up until you are being held responsible for the actions of what others do. It didn’t seem to be fair to be putting any blame on Pom for the mess Dr. M started and caused, Pom just be saving people and putting herself up as a distraction before taking the fight to the big butted monkey guy. “We’ll find her Shanty, she couldn’t have gotten too far.” Giving Sly my best smile, I relaxed between him and Murray. “Also we have a great secret detective with us that is going to do some asking around for us, she’ll see what animal contacts she can make and we’ll cover things from our end. We will help you find her, even if it takes us a little bit longer.” “Okay everyone, no funny moves and you’ll all live to see another day.” Several people stood up armed with weapons and a bear with snow white fur quickly took a nice bird lady called a ‘flight attendant’ hostage. “As will my hostage as long as no one makes any sudden movements.” “Oh great, a terrorist hijacking… Bentley.” Sly stated quietly to the seats behind us. “Already on it as soon as the guy stood up Sly, this is going to require that we move fast and hit them hard before they can retaliate. I hope your ready Murray, you’ve been getting some field work in recently to help feed Shanty and pay for her medical bill. This is going to be a real doozy of a situation, but I think we can manage ten armed guys in our section of the plane without too much trouble.” Looking back, Bentley was noticeably looking around as he pulled out a small, easily concealed, bunch of parts that he be assembling into a crossbow quickly. “Hmm… Spot must be getting into position to help the hostage with the gun to her head, we’ll need to get things into motion and fast. Mopsy stick behind me and Murray. Sly, you take Shanty and try to get these guys one at a time, discreetly and without endangering anyone. I’m quite sure they seeded the plane with more than ten guys if what I’m hearing from first class is anything to go by. This will give me a chance to test out my prototype crossbow at least, also I need to get to the front of the plane to make sure the pilots are okay. If they aren’t I can land the plane at least.” Sly motioned for me to get up on the ceiling, I nodded and climbed up to the ceiling from the window seat as he ducked down and started to crawl under the seats towards one of the terrorist who be looking a lot like a white furred weasel. I be looking for my own target. A seal with what looked to be a dangerous projectile weapon, then again all weapons be dangerous in this world. -On a flight to Scotland from Calisota, Lena- Not going to lie, the dragon was quite chill, but she was a bit worried about Launchpad flying us to Scotland after hearing the stuff that was said about his landings. “You’re sure everyone that’s a friend of his can walk away from all his landings without injury?” Smolder was suspicious, but she had to come along to find her friend Pom. Her friend Pom was last seen doing the world’s most awesome leap in the world, while carrying a seriously cool skateboarding Dalmatian with her. Smolder didn’t seem particularly worried about Pom as she was the adult of her interdimensional group and far stronger than she looked… she was more worried about their friend Shanty who tended to get into troubling situations. “Yep, you can walk away from any landing Launchpad makes with only an exceedingly light bruise to show for it, the real problem is how long it’ll take him to put the plane back together.” It was still amazing to see what Launchpad can do with duct tape, an ounce of grease and forty seven rubber bands on such short notice. The duck crashes like crazy, but his passengers always survived every single incident, it’s either magic like Smolder suggests or Launchpad is just that talented at keeping anyone inside a plane with him alive while crashing. If it can fly, Launchpad has probably crashed it. There’s even a bingo card for the things he has crashed… this week. It’s surprising they allowed the guy to have a driver’s license, much less a pilot’s license. “At least Hunter is willing to house us for a while when we end up in Britain, Scrooge will also be with us every step of the way and he’s one of the safest guys you can travel with.” “Don’t worry Webby, I’m sure things will go over with my parents… eh… provided we tell them that your Goldie’s kid.” Scrooge was apparently nervous about bringing up Webby to his parents, they were the only ones that F.O.W.L didn’t kidnap before the organization basically shattered under the weight of the McDucks and their many friends, I was already a part of the family and Scrooge hadn’t lied to me about that. “I don’t think they’d take the cloning explanation too well, but they wouldn’t turn you away even if they knew lass. We know your grandma liked you at least.” Scrooge and Goldie should really stop dancing around the issue while annoying each other to no end and just marry already. I looked back to Smolder cradling her sleeping best friend’s head, she was moving more and more by the day. Ocellus wasn’t going to stay comatose forever and my friends couldn’t wait to meet and talk to her personally, instead of getting an idea of what she was like from Smolder. “So how often has Launchpad crashed before takeoff?” Smolder asked warily. “It’s actually rare that he crashes on takeoff, actually asking him to crash on purpose is more likely to make him land the plane safely by accident.” I remembered the one time Launchpad did exactly that, the magical golden goose was stupidly dangerous in how close it was to changing the entire world into gold. “If you’re like us, you can simply hop in a plane without a second thought and expect to reach your destination completely intact without serious injuries. The plane… not so much. Launchpad is a lovable enough oaf that we’re willing to trust him with our lives and he really grows on you as a friend.” Scrooge barely managed that scenario in time with Huey, Dewey and Louie, who knows how long it would have taken the goose to randomly find its perch again and return everything to normal. It’s a good thing some magical people might have solved the problem eventually, I was one of the unfortunate ones to be turned into a gold statue during the incident. I thought it was cute that Webby, May and June all said that I still had a heart of gold after that incident at least. “Didn’t see Shanty with Pom, but Pom having a dog helping her somehow doesn’t surprise me in the slightest.” Smolder was quite eloquent about Pom’s canine magnetism causing a lot of trouble in the last dimension they were in. “She’s the head of canine division in Huoshan and she even speaks in barks sometimes, so she really knows her stuff.” “Uh guys, I hate to alarm you, but I think we’re under attack by that ‘Fun Car Barrage’ guy again… or was his name Bun Garbage?” The big duck dude stated from the pilot’s seat, Launchpad was everyone’s best friend quite literally and Smolder made a comment that he would be a good teacher at their school of friendship. “No, no, no, it is I, Don Karnage, sky pirate extraordinaire!” This guy was a headache and a half already, and he only just started talking. I remembered him actually being a threat too. “And I have once again found my nemesis Dewey Duck!” “So… Don Karnage… I guess we’re dewying this again!” Dewey shouted from the copilot’s seat. “Dewey has a nemesis?” Smolder asked me with a quirked brow. “Also can I set Dewy on fire to make him stop?” “What would you believe more, that Dewey has a cool nemesis or that the wolf guy named Don Karnage actually takes Dewey seriously as an actual threat?” Thinking on the second question I added. “No, lighting him on fire would just make him even more loud and annoying. You can do that to Karnage if he boards us though.” “Good point, also who would take Dewey seriously?” Smolder cracked a grin at me and I grinned back. “Okay Don, what great nefarious… uh… nefariousness have you been up to recently?” Dewey asked conversationally of a guy that was obviously about to attempt robbing us in the sky. This wouldn’t go well for him… or us for that matter. -Smolder- We were moving much faster than the airships could back home, so I could already tell this was going to be a thing. Launchpad was said to get people to where they needed to be, but I seriously wanted to see how he managed this. “Well things got a little out of hand when I visited Britain to try and steal a company’s assets for my own personal cash fund, I’m trying to make another Iron Vulture so I can hunt you down and rebuild my father’s great legacy! Also there’s this lady named Cruella, she is never paying my father back for that thing he did for her!” Don Karnage shouted, then quietly added. “That I might have destroyed said legacy for a sixth time two days ago… Arpeggio was said to be one of the best black market ship builders, but I just don’t know what could have possibly gone wrong! The ship was working perfectly up until all the cannons went off pointing inwards when we were doing a musical number and needed them for a gun salute.” “I have the immediate distinct feeling that this guy is even dumber than Dewey if he loaded those cannons with actual ammunition.” Not going to lie, but that sounded impossible knowing Dewey. Not that Dewey wasn’t cool, but the guy could get on your nerves with his narcissism pretty fast. I think I liked Huey better as the guys only issue was that he was uptight about things, but he at least didn’t force things and was a nice guy in general. Louie was a middling road for me, the guy was a schemer and said to be the evil brother. I saw it, but I preferred him trying to con something out of me than dealing with Dewey for more than an hour or two. It would be just like dealing with those two con artists Flim and Flam, except Louie actually intended to carry out what he was trying to sell… he would just be a cheapskate about it. I can respect him having ideas, but how he goes about carrying them out could use a little work. At least Don Karnage out there had some actual charisma, but his threats were rather paper thin… up until Dewey insulted him somehow and the first harpoon pierced the nearby wall of the plane. Thankfully, everyone had already move closer to the middle of the plane to avoid getting hit by those things. -Flight from Britain heading to ???, Pom- “So- bored-.” Why was Dolly capable of bonding to me again? “What… the… Pom, I don’t want to alarm you, but I think there’s something on the left wing… and I don’t know what the dog it is!” She was bemoaning how long we’ve been stuck on this airliner and was getting cranky, hungry and somebody help me if she had to go to the bathroom soon. The most interesting thing she had done was explain to me that these airliners carried a lot of people like a biped passengers around to other locations quickly, which was as much as she knew about the subject as she didn’t understand why bipeds did the things they do in general. I can also tell she was missing her family too, not much we could do about that now. I looked at Dolly still glued to the wool on my back and she was looking at me, we turned to the left wing and there was nothing there. Okay… nothing was there, did Dolly just imagine it? “What?! It was just there!” Dolly sounded confused, she even felt it. I actually believed she did see something, but I decided to rest my head. “Pom there it is again!” I lifted my head and looked and saw nothing, but I narrowed my eyes at the left wing and saw something that told me Dolly was right. It was faintly noticeable. How could something else be out here with us? We were several thousand feet in the air, it was hard to breathe and Dolly wasn’t suffering any oxygen deprivation only thanks to my wool enwrapping her and her skateboard. It also didn’t help that speeds we were moving at made it hard to cling to the airliner. I just turned my head to the right wing and went to rest it down and then suddenly snapped it to the left when I felt Dolly started to panic again. I saw it and it froze with its right claw raised to strike the wing, it knew I had seen it without even looking in my direction. It was a wooly green reptilian thing with sharp needle like teeth that just smiled in our direction, it had large claws and a fairly evil grin to it. Its dark brown eyes were set on Dolly and me maliciously as a long serpentine, almost tentacle like, tongue flicked from its mouth. It then crawled along the wing and up onto the top of the airliner seemingly coming towards us. “Uh… can you actually fight that thing like this Pom?” Not really Dolly, I needed to concentrate on keeping you safe and sticking to the top of this airliner. I gave her a look that said it all, I really couldn’t do actually do a single Dancing Flame out here. The only reason I managed on Dr. M’s airship was because it had air was flowing through the hatch on his airship before I leapt away and I had plenty of room to move about when I was moving around on top of it before, plus it hadn’t been going nearly this fast. I couldn’t do Fleet Cunning Doe since that was all about leaping moves, I think I could do some Cow Kempo, but I couldn’t do any heavy attacks without falling off unless it was with my skull. “You’re not exactly giving me comforting feelings here Pom.” Dolly was getting more stressed, also hungry considering her gurgling stomach. Dalmatians could seriously eat a lot in a day and she was probably starving by now. I think she wouldn’t need to go to the bathroom until we were hopefully over land again, but I would forgive for it if she did something to that extent in the face of what we were looking at slowly making its way towards us. I slowly released my front two hooves from the airliner and got buffeted by a mass of wind, but I managed to get standing. The monster crawling towards us didn’t look to be bothered by the powerful buffeting air in the slightest. The green wooly stuff on the monster seemed to be preventing it from being blown away as its claws weren’t digging into the metal of the airliner and I looked carefully at how the wool was shifting about in the wind… the pressure alone should be blowing it off the airliner like what was happening to me. “Oh dog, it’s getting closer Pom!” Dolly was understandably freaking out as she was helpless in this situation. I was a little less helpless, but fighting like this was going to be rough unless I could figure out how its wool was preventing it from being affected by all air around here. It would be like fighting with a three hundred pound weight strapped around my body. With a little concentration I focused on my wool intensely and it shifted ever so slightly without dropping Dolly or losing my rear hooves connection to the airliner below me. The pressure on my body lessened greatly and the monster stopped and gave me a slightly surprised stare, it started growling as it glared at me. “Did you do something to your wool Pom?” Ignoring Dolly, I glared at the monster and brought my hooves up defensively with less resistance than before. I was going to have to remember this for later when it came to gliding, I had some ideas about how to actually learn how to fly from this. “It feels different… and kind of cozy.” Paprika said it was possible, but I would eventually have to test that… after I was done saving this airliner and all the people on it from this monster. -Sly- I lashed out my hook and caught the penguin by the throat and yanked him down before smashing him the face with my left fist. I looked over the seats and saw Shanty take down the ermine with a dropping axe kick from the ceiling, he didn’t see her coming. Murray stood up from his waddling crouch and slammed both his fist into the back of an ox’s skull and barely managed to knock the guy out as it looked like he struggled to stay awake until Murray smashed him again with a painful looking right hook. No one notice the takedowns yet, one of the two lemmings nearby took a dart to the neck and went down. The other lemming was about to alert the rest of the terrorists, but Mopsy got to him first and gagged him with her both her legs. I quickly got over to her and help knock him out with my cane. Mopsy was shivering and looking a bit shaken, she was better as a lookout. I gave her a calming shoulder rub and started crawling forward. Five down, five to go in this section of the plane. That’s when Spot acted as a ton of luggage fell from above two guys and they went down, including the one that was holding the gun to the fearful attendants head. Said gun was kicked out of the bears paw by Spot’s small form and she quickly darted away to hide. The other three guys were distracted, so Shanty, Murray and I rushed them from behind before they could do anything. -Smolder- “Can you teach me how to do that?” Webby asked innocently as she leapt up and performed a perfect roundhouse to the face of a sky pirate with her left foot. Webby apparently appreciated my skills with the combat ribbon as I knocked down another pirate with a quick leg pull.