I'm With the Band

After eluding Goth and Throbb again, Shade and Marina fly onward over a mountain and through a blizzard. While looking for a roost, Marina's need to belong threatens her friendship with Shade when they discover a cabin filled with banded bats. They meet the charismatic leader, Scirocco, and Penelope, a Brightwing bat cast out of Marina's colony because of her band. Offered a home and faith that her band is special, Marina decides to accept their invitation to stay although, the invitation doesn't include Shade. Meanwhile, Mercury and Ariel wonder if they belong in a colony run by Bathsheba, especially when she decides to stop and roost at a dangerous human airfield. A close call with a landing passenger jet leaves a subtle feeling of doubt in the colony over Bathsheba's leadership. When Scirocco demonstrates how bats will one day transform into humans, Shade recognizes the wavy human image as an echoprojection and accuses Scirocco of being a fake. Shade tries to convince Marina, but her desire to belong prevails. Shade leaves the cabin and Marina, but as he stops to rest, he sees Goth and Throbb fly overhead and towards the cabin. Shade realizes the depth of his friendship with Marina and rushes back to save her. Using an echoprojection of his own, Shade ultimately saves Marina, Penelope and most of the banded bats from Goth and Throbb. After another narrow escape, Penelope leads the rest of the banded bats to the Eastern Valley in search of Ursa while Shade and Marina continue onward to Hibernaculum.