Joyous Night Before the Flame

Moth gazed upon the moonlit sky of the Cyber Fortress. Whatever was inside, it was clearly out of his depth. Looking at Wolf and Firefly, he knew that this mission from the Garden was a High Priority one.

He looked behind him when he heard the familiar sound of streaming winds that seem to follow Dragonfly, and sure enough, with a golden blur, he emerged, grinning madly, but with a passenger in tow.

"Thank you for choosing Air Dragonfly!" He announced and lets Caterpillar down, a bit queasy from his trip, Firefly catches him before he could faint. Moth glanced at Dragonfly, with an expression clearly saying: 'explain.'

Dragonfly held his hands up in mild protest but Caterpillar spoke up:

"I told him to take me here. Please don't be mad at him." He squeaked and Moth's expression softened. He turned to Dragonfly and scowled a bit.

"He's your responsibility." He said in a "no questions asked" kind of tone. And Dragonfly quickly nods.

Just then, Firefly picks up her phone and talks briefly, when she was done, she had a grim expression.

"The Mission is not simple. Tetranfoo is no easy place to infiltrate, plus, we can't brute force, ram, talk, and burn ourselves inside the Datascape." Firefly said.

"Fortunately, that's where this fannullone comes in." Wolf lightly kicks on a bag beside him, which made Caterpillar yelp in surprise when the Bag moved and the head of Hawker or simply, Hawk pokes out.

His disheveled navy blue hair and groggy expression made everyone sleepy too. His rusty gold eyes were still half-asleep.

"Hawk, your time to shine." Dragonfly rapidly shakes Hawk's sleeping state, only to be met by a digital fist. Hawk yawned as pixels manifests around him, and he gave Dragonfly a disgusted look of someone wasting his time.

"You're too noisy, just five more minutes." He said as a pair of digital ear muffs materialized above him, but Moth takes it and burns it to a crisp. The scent of the smoke was enough to snap him a bit awake.

"Okay okay... Jeez you guys know how to drive a guy to the bone." Hawk mumbled as he stretched and numerous displays materialized before him. With a few rapid taps, the displays began to flicker in a speed that made Caterpillar's head spin.

"There... Security codes breached. Just don't burn the whole place down. I'm still using this place as my free wi-fi access whenever someone's watching a video." Hawk yawned as he was about to sleep again but Moth poked his forehead with a searing finger, making the poor boy yelp with surprise. "Fratello!  Sono sveglio!"

"You're on sitting duty." Moth gestured at Caterpillar, with his beady eyes as he approached Hawk's side. "Keep him safe, fratello."

"Tch..." Hawk grumbled when Moth as turned. "mostro in fiamme..."

"What was that?" Moth glanced back.

"Niente! rimani al sicuro!!"  Hawk spoke suddenly saluting too as if that would help as Caterpillar giggled.

"Moth..." Caterpillar began but Wolf blocked Caterpillar's view as Moth entered the Cyber City. Wolf followed suit as Dragonfly, Firefly, and Hawk watch via feed in Hawk's Monitor.

Firefly looked at Caterpillar, who wore a face of disappointment and fear.

"Something wrong, Caterpillar?" She asked, and Caterpillar just pouts.

"Moth's always busy. He doesn't have time to get home to the Garden." Caterpillar grumbled. "Now he might not even come to my birthday."

Dragonfly snorted. Hawk tried hard not to laugh but ultimately lost. Firefly bit her lip to suppress her smile.

"What?" Caterpillar demanded, clearly perplexed by his older sibling's reactions.

"Kid, if Moth ever forgot your birthday, then that meant he drank his own liquid flame." Dragonfly ruffled his head playfully.

"In other words, Moth has a special memory storage solely just for you." Hawk offered but Firefly rolled her eyes in disbelief.

"Ignore those two. But Moth deeply cares about you, after all... He took on this job specifically just for you." Firefly assures Caterpillar.

And as if on cue, the whole Cyber City began to light up. Not because of Moth, but because of the whole city displaying the words: "Happy Birthday".

And then the explosion happened, with Moth and Wolf coming down in a blaze of glory. Hawk just deployed a barrier mesh of pixels as debris, soot, and what looked like a key card rained down on them.

Moth landed like a ghost as Wolf landed hard, making a crack in the foundation.

"Whatever happened to not burning the place to the ground, fratello?!" Hawk demanded, but Moth ignored him. As he approached Caterpillar pensively. And he gave Caterpillar a carefully wrapped box.

"The delivery date got delayed so... I had to come here and claim it." Moth said, uncharacteristically of him to be meek and awkward, making Dragonfly rub his eyes as if he was hallucinating.

Caterpillar opened the box and inside was a pocket watch. The same pocket watch that Moth has. Caterpillar looked at Moth, and he sniffled and hugged him.

"Happy 10th Birthday... mi fratello." Moth said softly.

"Grazie... Moth." Caterpillar said in between sobs and the occasional burst of fire from above them.

"Hate to break the touching greeting but, we should probably skedaddle out." Dragonfly suggested. Moth nodded and knelt down on Caterpillar's level.

"Listen to Hawk and Dragonfly when they're being reasonable okay?" He ordered and he could see the slight panic in Caterpillar's eyes. "Wolf and I will shake off any pursuers, Firefly you're in charge."

"Understood." Firefly smiled as Dragonfly began to protest.

"Unless you want to write the mission reports, by all means, be in charge." Wolf told Dragonfly before he could say a word.

"Keep Caterpillar safe. I mean it." Moth ordered Hawk and Dragonfly and they nodded.

"Stay safe mi fratello. I will see you Home." Moth kissed Caterpillar's forehead and he and Wolf then came into view of the cameras that alerted the security bots.

Firefly grabs Caterpillar's hand and they went to the opposite direction, back to Home. Back to safety. Back to the Garden of Cinders.

And for Caterpillar, between being told Happy Birthday and having the same pocket watch as Moth. He wanted this day to last forever.