"I've told you a million times I don't want to hear a word about your stupid gadgets, Sky!" A hard punch on the dining room table followed those words.

Halle Falcon was a woman with a sharp tongue and no filters. She commanded respect and obedience from everyone. Her imposing appearance—with straight black hair cut in a bob, her athletic build, and her black, military-style clothing—was also a testament to her hardness.

"But they work!" Sky exclaimed, standing at a prudent distance from his mother in the dining room of their home. "I just hit a Sonic Echo Ranger! I swear!"

"No, you didn't." Her voice was rusty and filled with venom.

"It flew away and fell beyond the city limits," he added with exasperation. He was breathing hard and sweating, mostly due to their hurried walk back home that night. "I can go and search for it!"

"You'll do no such thing!" Her eyes scorched his retinas with disdain. "You're not an Elite soldier or a student at the Elite Academy, so you cannot fight phoenixes—yet you went out tonight to do it anyway. Stupid child! That's why I've had to leave my post and drag you back home, and you still dare to talk to me with that attitude! You're punished, young man!"

"What?!" His voice almost failed him.

"I'll also have to report this shameful behaviour of yours to my superiors," she added in a tired whisper while sitting down on a couch and massaging her temple. "That's the worst part. You won't get out of this unscathed."

"No, please," he begged in a whisper as he came closer to her. "Don't do this. I can prove I hit it, Mom."

"Stop talking nonsense!" she cried, startling him. "Sonic Echo Rangers are indestructible!"

"The fact that nobody has ever brought one of them down doesn't mean they can't be beaten," he replied seriously. "I can go and bring back some proof!"

"No, you're grounded!" she insisted with a glare. "Now go to your room! I don't want to see or hear you in the next few hours!"

He swallowed hard and his shoulders hunched forwards. I can't believe I've failed again.

When he was about to leave the room, she stood up, went to the liquor cabinet, and poured herself some whiskey.

His hand was on the doorknob, about to close the door behind him, when he heard her.

"I'm fed up with you and your stupid obsession with becoming an Elite soldier."

Unaware that her poisonous words, whispered in a seemingly empty room, had actually been heard, she downed her whiskey in a single gulp.

Sky's hands shook with anger while turning into fists. I only wanted to make you proud, Mom. He finished closing the door making noise on purpose.

Sky slammed the door of his bedroom, too. With an unrivalled fury, he paced up and down, sinking his fingers in his hair, dishevelling it.

Should I go back in time? Sky hyperventilated as he watched his time-controlling wristwatch and its tempting red button. Maybe I should. If I push the restart button, I'll go back in time right before I fired at the Sonic Echo Ranger. So, the prideful Elite soldiers, my mother catching me red-handed, this argument... None of this will ever happen if I play my cards right. 

He put a finger on the red button, but before he had time to push it, he closed his eyes and groaned. 

But I can only activate it two more times before it needs to be recharged, although then I'd lose the resetting time and place. I'm not sure that I should waste a chance when I can still...

The alarmed yet charming sound of Aunt Naomi's voice echoed through the entire house, startling him.

"Halle! I heard what happened!" her wonderful voice said, a distant echo in the house.

Sky opened the door and hurried to the top of the stairs, where the sound of her voice coming from the dining room could be heard better. He didn't bother to turn the lights on.

"Is he okay?!" Naomi asked, panting.

"No, he's not okay," his mother replied with scorn.

"What are you doing at home, then?! Why haven't you brought him to a doctor?!" Naomi asked with bewilderment.

"He's not wounded. He's grounded. Because he's an idiot. That's what's wrong with him."

Sky leaned on the wall for support as if his mother's words had physically hurt him. He closed his eyes.

"Don't you dare speak about him like that!" Naomi's pride warmed Sky's heart.

"He's my son!" Halle shouted. "I speak however I want! He's hellbent on embarrassing me day in, day out! He's a failure, a shame to this family with his obsession with technology and his wild ideas!"

"He's got an insanely valuable talent," Naomi said as calmly as possible, but it was obvious her patience was running thin, "and you choose to demote him over and over. He's frustrated because he can't find a way to make you love him. Don't you see? He hates the job you chose for him as a help desk assistant at the Forge. He's meant for something else. He's amazing. He could achieve more! He'd feel much better if you encouraged him to become an engineer, a weapons researcher, or a–"

The honeyed praise Naomi had for him revitalized the flickering flame of his traumatised ego. He sighed as he stared into the void.

"He'd embarrass the family even more. His harebrained ideas would demonstrate how useless he is," Halle went on with a complaining attitude. "Everybody laughs at him on my back."

"And on his face!" Naomi yelled. "He's not a failure or a shame!" A hand slammed on the table, echoing through the stairs, where Sky was overhearing it all. "You say he's obsessed. Well, it's you who made him like this. You have no regard for jobs other than being an Elite soldier. What's the kid gonna think?! You constantly pressure him to become someone who he's not."

"Very nice, Naomi. Nice." Halle tsked. "Now, go get pregnant and THEN you can lecture me about raising my child."

"Drop the sarcasm, sister." Naomi's voice became as judgemental as Halle's. "And the alcohol. Sky is like a son to me, especially after Alistair's dea-"

"SHUT UP!" Halle's thundering voice made the walls tremble. Then, she went on in a heart-breaking tone, "Shut... up. Don't you dare mention my husband's name."

Sky caressed his bracelet with melancholy.

"We all loved him dearly, Halle," Naomi replied with a caring voice. "I know you miss him. We all do."

"He died on your watch! You were the Head of the Elite then!"

"Lots of men and women die every time the phoenixes attack, Halle. They are vicious creatures without a soul. No one can control them. Besides, I'm only human. Many people died on my watch—as many as on yours now. I couldn't save everybody, and neither can you."

"Maybe, but I'm better than you—and you can't stand it, can you?" Halle snorted. "After being pushed into the background, you must've turned green with envy when I got promoted and took your job!"

"Drop that smirk. That's not true." Naomi replied with her self-esteem intact. "The board made a sound choice. I understood why it had to be done. My sight doesn't let me-"

"Then, stop bugging me!" Halle was losing it.

"I'm not bugging you, Halle! This is Sky I'm trying to talk to you about! His wishes, his future, his... his well-being." Naomi's voice went down an octave, to the point Sky couldn't almost hear her. "Aren't you at least a bit concerned that he might do something drastic to call your attention?"

Halle snorted again.

"He's your son, not a soldier," Naomi insisted. "Don't you love him?"

"Of course, I do!" Halle replied, smashing a fist on the wooden table. Next came a frustrated sigh.

"I know you said you wanted to make him tougher after his father's death, but this is too much! You'll break him!"

"Our pact stands," Halle replied in a murderous tone.

"No, it doesn't anymore! It's been years already!" Naomi made a brief pause only to gather enough strength to say, "You promised me you'd stop pushing him if things got out of hand. And they are! You and I are going to talk to him and convince him to choose a different career path, one which doesn't involve fighting phoenixes, and you'll accept him as he is. With a smile on your face, for a change. Period."

"How do you dare tell me what to do?!" Halle shouted.

"I mean it, sister. If he faces off against a phoenix again, he might die. The swarm of phoenixes keeps attacking us over and over because they are hellbent on killing us no matter the cost. He loves you. He will do it again, and if you don't show any sign that you love your son back, he will either leave and never speak to you again or... he will risk his life until he dies trying to impress you. Which is it gonna be, Halle?"

Sky's eyes opened wide. His mouth hung open, with dry lips. His fists hung on either side of him, clenched.

"You're not giving me any orders, Naomi," Halle replied with a sombre attitude.

Tears threatened to spill from Sky's eyes. He clenched his teeth and shut his eyes painfully.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Naomi exclaimed as if she was losing it.

I can't listen to any more of this argument—or I'll become insane. Sky entered his room and rushed to the round window. No red button can undo the damage now. I can't 'unhear' what I've heard. There's only one path ahead of me.

He opened the window. The soft night breeze greeted him as he leaned over and looked down. His long fringe floated from one side to another over his forehead as he swallowed hard.

The Sonic Echo Ranger I hit must be wounded. I'll go and find it. I'll get some proof I defeated it and I will bring it to Khali Evergreen, CEO of Anti-Ageing Inc. and the Elite's boss. She started all this mess—or so the rumours say. I wonder if they're true. An ex-employee in research and development got fired and vowed revenge on her. These cybernetic beasts are assumed to be his creations. Now, Mrs Evergreen craves the phoenixes' blood and downfall. She will listen to me if I bring her... what? The Sonic Echo Ranger's heart? No, make it its brain... no, its ears! No other beast has got those special ears.

He stepped out of the window and put his feet on the ledge. I'm on the second floor. I can make it easily down. Careful now.

As Sky zoomed away on his flying skateboard, the chaos of the battle unfolded on either side of him with rage and bloodshed.

The screams of dying phoenixes and Elite soldiers echoed through the city streets like an epic melody, mingling with the sounds of explosions and gunfire. A shiver of fear ran down his spine as he heard the roar of an Airshark flying overhead, its wings slicing through the air like razors.

Crap.

He quickly ducked behind a partly-destroyed building and held his breath, praying that the beast hadn't seen him.

It flew by, watching left and right, grunting lowly. Then, it was gone.

Phew! Now, I need to get to the elevators. Fast.

As he made his way to the glass elevators that would take him out of the city and down below, to the real ground floor since the Hovering Hive was a city hovering a few dozen floors above the earth, he saw the devastation wrought by the battle. Buildings were in ruins, vehicles were overturned, and flames licked at the edges of cars, motorbikes, lampposts, and buildings.

He even saw a holographic ad of one of Anti-Ageing Inc.'s products, "Aphrodite's Tears", glitching, its pixels trying hard to restart the image of a young-looking fifty-year-old woman using that product on her face.

"T-t-trrrry ddd-this t-t-today. You w-w-won't regre-e-et it," a joyful, off-key female voice said.

He had to move quickly, dodging the fallen debris and trying to stay out of sight.

Finally, he reached the glass elevators and hit the call button, waiting anxiously.

The sound of gunfire was getting closer, and he knew that he didn't have much time. When the doors finally opened, he leapt inside and hit the button for the ground floor, feeling a surge of relief as the doors closed, muffling the symphony of chaos.

As the elevator descended in the glass tube, he watched the vastness of the fields below and the mountains and the sea in the distance. The angry fire of explosions in the city above, hovering over the rolling fields, cast an eerie, unnatural light over the harvest.

He tried to calm his racing heart and focus on his mission. He needed to find proof of his heroic deed, something that would prove to the world that he was more than just a scared weakling and a geek.

Once the elevator reached the ground floor, the glass doors swooshed open. He exited the elevator in a hurry as he leapt onto his flying skateboard.

As he crossed the river leaving a streak of green light from his skateboard behind him, he saw the crops, bee hives, and krill breeders lining its banks, their purpose clear in his mind.

These were where the raw materials for the coveted cosmetic products and youth-enhancing drugs produced by Anti-Ageing Inc. came from. All of it to fulfil the whims of the wealthiest. But these aren't the only sources Khali Evergreen and her scientists use.

He hurried through the dirt roads. Varied crops spread over the landscape on his left and right. His eyes ached to see any signs of the Sonic Echo Ranger's crash site with the flashlight of his smartphone on. Where is it?! It should be somewhere around here.

The woods appeared ominously dark the further from the city he got, with a foreboding silence hanging over them like a shroud. The only sound he heard was the rustle of leaves beneath his skateboard, the occasional hoot of an owl in the distance, and the raging battle far behind him.

He looked back for a moment. The city, hovering over the landscape and exposed due to the lack of its usual protective dome, was in agony. The battle is still going on. And it seems like the Sonic Echo Ranger must've crashlanded in the woods. Damn.

After a deep intake of air, he entered the woods, hoping to find some trace of the fallen phoenix soon.

Graveyards are as ominously quiet as these woods. He aimed his flashlight left and right while a cold shiver ran down his spine. I hope that this Sonic Echo Ranger I hit is badly wounded and unconscious—or preferably dead. I don't want to think what it'll do to me if it's alive and conscious.

Some minutes later, his smartphone emitted a ping sound. When he checked what it was about, his eyebrows shot up in bewilderment. A Bluetooth signal? Here? What the heck?!

Guided by the Bluetooth signal on his phone, he was taken to a clearing in the woods.

His eyes roamed from left to right, mesmerised. That peaceful clearing was at the end of a gentle slope. Medicinal herbs and flowers grew everywhere. The river formed a large lake with some fog lazily hanging over it. A thin waterfall at the far end of the lake was the only thing making any sound there. The shore was full of small, round, dark-coloured pebbles. The air was fresh and cold. The place smelt like wet moss and recently cut leaves. There was also a small wooden hut nearby, in bad shape.

What an amazing place, this is. He took in the natural beauty around him as he stepped into that bit of paradise on Earth.

Then, the fog cleared on his right, revealing the unexpected.

He spotted the wounded Sonic Echo Ranger—hurt but still alive as it was lying down and wailing softly—where the pebbled shore ended on his right, near the base of a cliff. The rocks were pitch black and made of volcanic basalt, contrasting with the beast's golden and orange feathers.

Sky gasped and hurried to turn off the flashlight. The Bluetooth signal had the strongest reception as the phone was aimed at the beast.

You've got to be kidding me. I can access the machine part of its brain with my phone?!

Hello, my sugar cubes!

Imagine you could control a giant beast using Bluetooth, from your smartphone. Wouldn't that be cool?

Stay tuned!

XOXO

Mar

*NOTE: PLEASE, READ THE A/N AT THE END OF CH.1 if you feel the need to know about the differences between this story and HTTYD. Thank you.