Air National Guard Base, Charleston, West Virginia, USA.

"How's the checklist Juno?" A male voice crackled over comms.

"It'd go better if you'd quit askin' every two minutes Marcus." Replied a female voice from the cockpit of the HH-60M “Mike” model Black Hawk.

"It's BASE! This is an official mission!"

"It's a glorified test flight! All we're doin' is flyin' to the asscrack of the state to check out some horseshit claim by a drunk Sheriff!"

"Regardless! We just got these things and I don't want my ass chewed because we didn't do it right!"

"Will you two quit bitchin'! You sound like a old married couple!" Came the male voice of their resident Medical Officer from the back of the chopper.

"All of you zip it!" A fourth voice ordered as the man it belonged to climbed into the co-pilot chair.

"Sorry, Sir!" Came a unison reply.

The Staff Sergeant got settled while his Cadet went through the instrument checklist.

"Base, this is Juno. All instruments are green."

"Copy Juno. You are clear to lift-off."

With that the Medevac Black Hawk whirred as it began to power up. Once the rotor blades buzzed to life the helicopter began to ascend into the air of the Air Base.

With a final nod and thumbs up to the Control Tower the flight crew turned and headed in the direction of Somewhere. The mood was quiet as the Cadet was focused on checking all the dials and switches that would let her know if something was wrong. The Staff Sergeant did much the same, though with less frantic energy and a more relaxed manner that came with years of practice. The Cadet was startled momentarily as the side door was drawn back and the Medical Officer dangled a leg out of the medevac while fiddling with a tin of SPAM.

"Jesus, Baker! Can you NOT do that while we're flyin'?!" The Cadet cursed.

"Gotta get used to it if you wanna do more than test fly!" Medical Officer Baker claimed as he finally popped top off the tin of processed meat.

"He's right, Cadet. You're a lil high, go down a couple feet. Just stay focused on what you're doin'." The Staff Sergeant stated as the Cadet corrected course.

The only noise was the semi-muted whirring of the blades, the roar of the wind from the opened door, and the sounds of Baker chewing on his snack coming through the headset.

"How can you eat that?!"

"What? It's just meat!"

"Yeah? What KIND of meat?"

"It's... meat. Just worry about flyin' and let me worry about what I'm eatin'!" Baker retorted. A brief glance at the tin didn't say what EXACTLY the meat was. But he just shrugged his shoulders and continued to eat.

-----

Somewhere.

Sloth lumbered easily through the woods doing his daily routine of hunting for boar. He had already collected a decent enough haul already, but a few more couldn't hurt. It's not like there seemed to be any shortage of them.

The creatures of the forest were getting more and more used to his presence as of late. He already saw a few deer stop at the edge of a glade where he waited for boar. They didn't stay long, but they didn't out-right flee like usual. Other creatures were more friendly. Small chirping birds would land on his broad shoulders and chirp and hop as he waited.

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He didn't mind though, it reminded him of home. The birds there would do much the same, though some would even follow him around as he would wander the mountains. He missed them. But now he had new birds that called him friend!

But then the birds chirped in alarm and alert and the small flock flew away from him. At first he was confused. The boars weren't here yet and so he hadn't struck.

Then he heard it. A vibration in the air that was joined by a humming sound. Sloth bent up and gazed at the sky in fear and terror. He remembered the tales his father told him of the Sky Giants. But it couldn't be them. The clouds, though dark as always, were too far away to be one of their Lightning Raids.

But the sound kept getting closer and closer and Sloth looked to the sky, frantically looking for what it might be. The closer the sound got the more scared Sloth became. The only thing he could think of that could cause such a noise was something that caused him to drop his daily haul in terror.

Thunder Birds.

They were rare, so much that they were believed to be myth to all but the oldest of giants not returned to stone. Favored pets and guardians of the chaotic and destructive Sky Gods, their feathers were hard as mortal steel and crackled with an eternal charge that was said to last even in death! It was said that the most cruel and ruthless of the Sky Giants would receive one of the great birds as a mount that they would ride atop of and lay waste to whole regions of land, forests, mortal cities, even mountains weren't safe from the raw destructive force they brought to bear!

So Sloth did the only thing he could even think of in that moment. He ran. He dropped his food for the day and ran to the only shelter he knew of that just the thought of filled him with some small amount of comfort. He didn't care for preserving the trees and forest around him right now. He ran straight to his great tree with reckless abandon as a swath of forest was uprooted in his terrified wake.

-----

En route to Somewhere.

The Cadet and the Staff Sergeant looked over the instruments while maintaining a constant eye in front of them for any wayward birds or planes. Medical Officer Baker stared out the open side door with boredom as he continued to munch away on his processed mystery meat.

His munching stopped as he paused and gazed at a trail of destruction to their right. More specifically, the literal giant crashing through the woods!

"Uhm? You guys see that too?"

"See what Medical Officer?" Came the voice of the Staff Sergeant as he nudged the steering slightly to account for the mild distraction of the Cadet.

Medical Officer Baker stared at the giant for a long moment before glancing down at his tin of "meat" with a concerned look. He swallowed the bite he had before tossing the half-eaten tin out the door.

"Nothin'."

"Well next time, try not to distract us with 'nothin'!" The Cadet snapped.

Baker looked in the direction of the giant before shaking his head and went to close the door. But not before seeing the mass of bodies.

"Please tell me you can see THAT?"

The two in the cockpit gazed ahead as they saw the mass of people in and around the town of Somewhere.

"Yeah, Medical Officer. We see 'em."

The Staff Sergeant brought a hand to his headset.

"Base, this is Juno."

"Readin' you Juno."

"Tell the brass that we have eyes on Somewhere."

"Is that all Juno?"

"No, tell those boys in engineering to pack prefabs... ALOT of prefabs. The big ones too." The Staff Sergeant stated as the chopper buzzed over roofs and heads before turning around and making a beeline back to base.

-----

Somewhere

Clive walked down the trail to check on Sloth as he did at least once a day. Once he got some decent sleep, this time without being awoken by a pestering halfling, he went about his routine.

As he got closer to the tree though, he could tell something was wrong. Sloth was in his tree but he was huddled in as small a spot he could get. His arms were wrapped around his legs and he looked up at the sky like it was going to fall.

"Sloth?" Clive called out as he got closer. But the giant wasn't paying attention to him and had his gaze firmly on the sky above.

Clive wasn't sure what had him so spooked. Until he could hear the sounds of a helicopter. He thought he could hear it on his way over but he thought he would have a bit of time before the State sent someone over.

"Sloth! Sloth! It's alright buddy! It's ok!" Clive called as he tried to calm the several stories tall giant. But nothing he said would rouse the giant from his hidey hole.

Cursing, Clive looked around. He could see the trail of destruction that Sloth left. Probably trying to get away from the helicopter, Clive thought. He wanted to get closer and comfort him. But he was so big that he didn't want to accidentally get crushed!

Then an idea came to him. He left Sloth alone for a moment as he ran and dragged over a couple large branches that had fallen that still had some needles and leaves on them. When Clive got close to Sloth he did his best to not startle the giant as he placed them on him.

He was so scared of the helicopter that he didn't even react to the presence of the foliage. So Clive continued. He would gather branches and more foliage and drag them over to Sloth, where he would then delicately place them like a blanket onto the giant where he could.

After more than a few trips he wasn't sure if it was doing any good. Sloth LOOKED calmer, or at least he wasn't shaking the ground anymore he was so scared. He still looked up at the sky though.

He wasn't sure why the helicopter scared him this bad though. At his size he could probably swat the chopper if he tried to. Whatever it was, Clive could only hope his foliage blanket was working as he didn't really have anything else to help!

Fortunately, Sloth began to calm after a time. The sound of the helicopter faded into the distance until it couldn't be heard anymore. Once it was gone, Sloth would lean forward and peek his head out and gaze at the sky.

He did this for at least an hour before he was satisfied that nothing more was going to happen. He looked down at the foliage that Clive had placed on him. Well, more like around him. He put a large finger on Clive's head as softly as he could.

"Cly-ven."

Clive patted the giant finger in return. Glad that his friend was no longer afraid. Sloth lifted his finger and gazed sadly at the state of the forest was in after he fled. A rumble formed in his chest that vibrated the earth. Clive took a few wide steps back as Sloth shuffled forwards out of his home. Pushing and knocking aside the foliage as he did so.

Then he stood up. He would need to retrieve his food before something else got it. He also wanted to repair the forest. He rumbled and lumbered away towards the devastation he caused. His first objective was the forest. He righted the closest trees to him and pushed a great handful of dirt to hold down the tree until its roots could anchor it once more.

Then he went to the next and did the same. Then to the one after that one. Then the one after that. Clive just stood and watched as his friend took meticulous care in restoring the forest. As much as he wanted to help, this was beyond his scope and capabilities. For now, he had to be content in calming Sloth and making sure he was alright.

With that done, Clive left his friend to his reforestation.