The Great War has had many examples of the line between friends and foes being blurred.

But no one has ever known utter betrayal like those who stood up for what's right.

Soar Featherstorm is one of those perfect examples.

He was born into a family that relied on speed and gliding for various businesses.

Soar was the middle child of three male birds.

He was also the only bald eagle to be born in the family since 5 generations ago.

Soar loved the skies, and he certainly adored the sights he saw when traveling.

He was 10 years old when he first tried making his own glider, and was 15 when he was allowed to test it.

When he graduated high school, he became aware of the tensions that were building between Mobians and humans.

When the Great War broke out, Soar dropped out of college, only one semester away from getting a degree.

He enlisted in the army's reconnaissance squad 454.

This group was trained to glide behind enemy lines and return back with information on enemy positions.

It was rare for them to make a return glide, spending majority of their field missions on the ground.

Unfortunately, the war left a feeling that bothered Soar during his campaign.

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Havoc Squadron Soar Featherstorm

Tape recording #20

For most of my life, I've known what it was like to feel the sky.

Heck, I could tell you exactly what the weather was going to be just from where the clouds were.

Originally, I was going to get a degree and start Mobotropolis' first news network and weather forecasting channel.

But I guess the goddess Aurora had other plans for me.

When the war broke out, I heard that we were getting an army together to combat the humans.

My older brother was already hired as a mercenary to fight them.

My younger brother was going through boot camp training, but planned to ditch it later and join my older brother.

Unfortunately, my mother passed away from a heart attack recently when one of our relatives was reported dead in the battle between Kodos' squad and the human squad.

My father was lost with those who died trying to defend Mobotropolis.

All I had left was my older sister and my two brothers.

My sister had graduated college a year before I was close to my final semester.

She was working in a clothes shop at the time, but it's business went wild when Mobotropolis was captured.

But...she was willing to quit her job and help me with my career if I graduated.

I had a tough choice to make.

My brothers in the battlefield...

...or my sister in the business field.

My sister supported my choice, but told me I might not get another opportunity like this again.

I enlisted in what Kodos had called "an experimental squad" that was going to test if we could do stuff better than the humans.

We turned out better than he expected, even going as far as watching closely to see who would be his personal scout.

I almost got to be his scout, but I sacrificed it to make sure a fellow teammate made it through the test alive.

My teammates and I were constantly victorious in every mission we were sent to, but....

....... I felt like something wasn't right with how I was seeing things.

My superior told me not to worry about it, since war leaves a bitter taste for everyone.

I wanted to believe I was doing something right...

...but everything around me was telling me I was spilling innocent blood everywhere.

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Around this time, it was a year prior to Mobotropolis being retaken.

Kodos sends Soar's squad to a location inside human territory, supposedly to scout for a weakness on the frontlines.

It was here that Soar would see where his true loyalty lies.

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Havoc Squadron Soar Featherstorm

Tape recording #21

My last mission ever with the 454th was deeper inside human territory than my squad was used to handling.

My fellow wingman joked about whether I could read what the clouds said from where we were.

As much as I'd like to enjoy the fun moments, my mind was elsewhere, wondering why such a risky mission was given to us.

We landed two miles away from our intended drop point.

After making up for what time we lost, we arrived at where we were sent to.

I noted that we were given more arrows and sharper blades than usual.

Something didn't sound right about this mission.

I saw our destination was a human town.

Looked like a population of around 120,000 if you counted the kids.

We saw that the outpost defending it wasn't well guarded.

I figured our main mission was going to be sabotaging the outpost.

But boy was I wrong!

We took out those guarding the gates and towers before blowing up their weapon supply.

Just before I thought we were going back to HQ, my superior walks up to us gives us new orders.

We....were going to capture the town next.

Why were we capturing that place?!

There was no one there but civilians!

But.... I told myself not to question it and marched towards one of my major regrets.

We captured the town in five minutes.

I counted almost 200 men dead trying to fight back.

We were ordered to corral them to the heart of the town.

I watched as tons of men and women were forced to be on their knees as we guarded them like buzzards over a dead body.

I then saw what looked like the mayor of the town being brought to my superior.

I.....I saw him....cut at the human's throat, dropping his body to the ground like a sack.

I realized why we were really here.

We weren't disabling their defenses.

We were sent here to execute every human here like criminals.

I felt disgusted and ashamed of myself.

I'll never forget the day I saw a young kid's face.....filled with fear for his life.

I felt my resolve change that night.

Whatever choice I made here...

.... I wasn't going to let a defenseless person die.

Before the next human could get killed...

... I fired an arrow into my superior's neck, killing him instantly.

My whole squad was outraged at my actions and was about to turn me in.

A teenage human tried to distract them by taking out the nearest member.

While they were beating and clawing him up, I used the chance destroy the last com-link we had.

Furious that we had no way to call pickup, my whole squad chased me.

I ran through the woods and kept going until I found a way to lose them.

Thankfully, there was a large bridge over a nearby waterfall...

...and I had enough explosives to knock it down.

I scattered them around the important spots, and almost got hit by an arrow three times.

A shuriken hit my leg, but I got it out.

I blew up the bridge...taking the rest of my squad with it down the falls.

It was the next big regret I had in my life.

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After the mission, Soar came back as the only surviving member.

Kodos was going to award him with a high position in his main squad, but Soar refused.

After losing all of his teammates from his betrayal, Soar was filled with regret for his actions.

Soar finally decided his choice was to abandon the Mobian army and flee to human territory.

After all, it would only be a matter of time until Kodos found out what happened in the mission.

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Havoc Squadron Soar Featherstorm

Tape recording #23

I decided enough was enough.

I spoke with my younger brother, since he stopped by before planning his sneak off to join my older brother.

He was....harsh at the news of my decision.

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Normal POV

Green Heights Military Base 20:00

Soar was with his brother in the hallway talking with him.

His brother responds in a quiet yell. "What do you mean you're leaving?! You can't go to human territory! No one makes through there alive without help!"

Soar nods. "I know, I know, I've thought about that too. But... I can't stay here. Not after what I saw."

His brother crossed his arms. "So what if you were sent to kill a few humans? That's what we're supposed to do."

Soar stares out at the court. "But they couldn't fight back."

His brother shrugged. "They started this war, so they should see what it's like to lose their family."

Soar shook his head. "I didn't see a monster when I was out there. What I saw... was myself, begging and pleading for mercy, but got no mercy."

His brother groans. "You're getting too soft ever since mom passed away."

Soar glared at him. "Don't bring her into this!"

The younger brother glared back. "If you want to go help the humans? Fine! All this means is that I'm saving a weapon just for when we meet again."

Soar's brother stomped out while he looked at him leaving.

All Soar could say at the moment was, "I'm sorry, but I need to do this. I....I can't let everyone keep on hammering me into the ground...telling me what's morally right and wrong. I got to fight for my belief....not just for Mobians as a whole, but for all."

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After his final encounter with his family, Soar began an escape plan.

During the night, Soar started a fire and used the chaos to escape from the base.

He fled until he managed to make it into human territory, where he handed himself over to them.

After being searched and pleading his case, Soar was allowed to stay in the major base at Megatropolis.

During his stay there, Soar took part in exercises and drills, despite most mistreating him for being a Mobian.

But everything would change when Soar first encountered man's way into the sky: planes

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Havoc Squadron Soar Featherstorm

Tape recording #26

It was in the middle of fall when I was shown around different sections of the armed forces.

But when I heard the name Air Force, I was immediately confused.

Did they have a gliding team like us?

We were walking down the runway when I first saw them....planes scattered around.

I couldn't stop staring at the different sizes and shapes they had.

I thought to myself, "They can't really be able to move in the air with those things, right?"

I watched as one pilot got into the cockpit.

He seemed to catch my expression and chuckled at it.

I watched him go towards the end of the runway..... and take off into the air.

Not just using the air to glide...

....but he was moving any direction he wanted.

They could fly?!

They could fly!

I never thought I'd see the day someone could actually take to the sky and have choice over where they go.

It was constant freedom!

I may be a bird Mobian, but our kind never took flight in my time.

Sure there were tales about us being able to fly in the past, but we lost that ability generations later.

I was immediately all over it after I was brought back to my quarters.

In my free time, I studied everything about aviation and flight tactics.

Barrel rolls, backward flip, tail spins and just about everything.

Librarian joked that I should make the library my new quarters since I spent so much time there.

I was determined to make it into the Air Force.

Not only was I going to fight for my beliefs, but I was going to do it being what I really wanted to be.

In Mobotropolis and other Mobian territories, whatever you and your family are good at, that'll mostly be your life until you die.

But here in the human territories, any dream you want can be yours.

You just got to put the best you can into everything you can and can't do.

I finally got my chance into the test.

I was mostly getting the stares, but some laughed about the idea of a Mobian flying a plane.

I almost burst out laughing myself when they said I'd probably taste like chicken when this was over.

When it was finally my turn, the instructor told me the controls and asked if I needed anything else.

I told him I'd be fine.

I took off and stayed on course, doing everything the obstacle course that I was supposed to do.

After I was done, everyone looked at me like a king had just teleported in front of them.

I found out later that I had beaten the highest record time.....by ten seconds!

After long periods of paper work, I was the first Mobian to ever be in a human Air Force.

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Soar's first squadron was going to be the 151th, but they were all destroyed in the Battle of Queenville a week prior to his enlistment.

He was given two more opportunities, but they both weren't in a position to get new pilots.

Just when he thought he wouldn't get one, opportunity knocked.

A new squadron was being formed, but were short one pilot.

Soar jumped at the chance, anxious to get to the front lines.

He was enlisted into the new 613 squadron.

But someday, it would go down in history by another name...

The Havoc Squadron!

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