Chapter 1: Calamity in Cyclonia

A boy of age sixteen walks through the metal hallways of a flying ship famously known as the Condor. The door opens, sending a gust of air to blow through his messy red hair, and he looks around the bridge with olive green eyes at his teammates. Piper, a brown-skinned girl with blue hair sticking upward by a band, looks at some maps and squadron logs on the central table. Finn and Junko, a blonde haired, skinny man and a dinosaur-like beast, are busy having an eating contest at the kitchen. Radarr, a blue-furred creature that looks like a lemur with long ears, busily snores on the round couch. And Stork, a green-skinned Merb with greasy black hair and a strong case of paranoia, steers the ship across the yellow skies of Atmos. Aerrow, the leader of the group known as the Storm Hawks, smiles before stepping into the bridge, predicting his team's expression when he tells them the news.

Piper's the first one to notice Aerrow walk in and she asks, "Hey Aerrow, what's up?"

"Do I have news for you guys," he says excitedly. The other friends turn away from their duties and Finn, noticing a certain glint in his leader's eyes, says, "Wait, you have that I-have-a-wild-and-reckless-plan look in your eyes. What is it?"

"Well you're right, Finn. I do have a plan in mind."

"Of course," Stork interjects, sliding over to the group in his usual, over-cautious walk, "a plan, I might add, that will most likely lead to our doom and destruction."

Aerrow says, "Doom, not so much. But there will be plenty of destruction."

"Alright, I'm in. What'cha got?" the sharpshooter eagerly asks.

"I've just heard that Cyclonis is working on a new toy that she states 'will surely bring all of Atmos to their knees'. So I was thinking that we sneak into Cyclonia, get inside the fortress, and destroy the machine before Cyclonis can start it up," he answers, pounding a fist into his open palm.

The carrier pilot mutters, "I knew it. Doom and destruction."

"I like it. It's short and to the point," Junko says, grabbing a bowl full of octopus tentacles.

"So, we're all good with the plan?"

Everyone agrees, with the exception of a paranoid Stork, and Piper goes ahead and plots a course to stealthily enter Cyclonia. Aerrow grins wider and announces, "This is going to be fun."

Amongst the red clouds and fog is one outcropping full of hangers and spires. Inside, at the very top of the city, is a young, pale girl about sixteen years old. Her black hair that glows unusually purple is hidden underneath the spiny hood and reaches down to barely touch her shoulder. Her slender fingers, nails painted black, press against a bunch of keys, sending many mechanical arms to grab a certain glowing crystal and dispose it inside the large machine at the end of the room. Master Cyclonis adds more power to her crystal when she hears the door behind her creak open, signaling a Talon is at the doorstep. "Is the machine ready?"

"Yes, Master Cyclonis. Everything is charged and operational," the Talon says, saluting to the master.

"Good. Now leave." When she hears the door slam close, the crystal mage stops her typing and walks to the side of her machine where a slot sits. She grabs the handle and pulls to let a bright purple radiance emits. She reaches inside and takes out a light purple stone, the center glowing pure white, and she grins wickedly. The crystal mage then hears the door open again and turns to see her most loyal Talon. "Ah, Dark Ace. Come to see the show up close?"

"Master Cyclonis, I am skeptical about this plan you have," he says.

"What's there to be skeptical about?" She walks down and the two head down a hallway to the machine that's part of Cyclonis's plan. The loyal Talon says, "Call it a hunch. This plan, I think, seems to be missing a few pieces of the equation. Not to mention the Storm Hawks dropping by to foil us again."

"If the Storm Hawks do come then you'll just have to delay them like usual."

"Delay?" he repeats, feeling insulted, though Cyclonis ignores it.

"I will not have anyone stop me now. Conquest is so close I can practically taste it," she whispers, a dark, separate voice echoing in the background.

"But still, I have some doubt about all of this."

"You doubt my plan?"

Dark Ace plainly says, "No. I doubt the machine. Before, I had some doubt about the Storm Engine but every theory was carefully analyzed. This machine has some holes in its speculations that look too great to ignore."

"You're exaggerating, Dark Ace. I have calculated everything. And with this crystal," she holds up the light purple stone, "it'll have enough juice to wipe out an entire quadrant."

"If you say so, Master Cyclonis."

Master and soldier finish their walk through the fortress and come to a fairly large room with the roof missing, letting the red sky be seen above. In the middle of the room is a bulky machine topped with a shaft that has four spikes on the front. The middle of the shaft is covered in small red crystals and the same rocks also speckle the base of the machine. Cyclonis walks up and sets her made crystal on a stand inside a glass case. She closes it and starts typing on an old-fashion keypad, making the spiked chute whir to life and rise over the walls that slowly bend down, pointing to the sky. The crystal mage grins diabolically and asks, "Now, which Terra should I obliterate first?"

"How about Cyclonia? I'm sure everyone will love that."

The master and Dark Ace quickly pivot around, the latter getting his sword out. Jumping out of the shadow is none other than the leader of the Storm Hawks, Aerrow, holding his blue-glowing, twin blades, his co-pilot Radarr at his side. The two Cyclonians grimace and Cyclonis asks, "How did you get here?"

"How else? We flew here," he kids. "Now, the right thing to do would be to shut down the machine, but we all know that's never going to happen so why ask?"

The crystal mage looks around the large room and smirks, asking, "Where's your other friends, Aerrow?"

"They're a little busy. Right now, it's just you and me."

Cyclonis smiles wider. "That's where you're wrong." She snaps her fingers and the doors burst open. Talons with glowing pole-arms hurry in and surround the sky knight. The surrounded Storm Hawk scans the Talons when the Dark Ace gloats, "Not so tough now, are you Aerrow?"

"Actually, it all went according to plan," he smirks before raising a hand, holding up three fingers. "And you'll see why in three, two, one."

On cue, the ground below the Cyclonian guards start shaking, shocking everyone except the sky knight, and then all the soldiers fall down when the metal floor collapses. Aerrow and Radarr quickly jump to a safer platform before he can fall with them.

From the newly-made hole, Junko, Finn, and Piper jump up in front with weapons ready. The leader turns back to the master with his victorious grin. "So, you ready to surrender?"

The Cyclonian leader snarls but then looks behind the Storm Hawks before smiling again. "You're not the only one with backup."

The Storm Hawks stare at her in confusion when a sound of a pulled string alerts the leader of someone behind him. He turns his head and has just enough time to dodge a glowing-red arrow that flies past his head. He turns around and sees Cyclonis's other henchmen, Ravess and Snipe, the tall, magenta-haired girl having a few feathers in her hair. "Thanks for giving us that issue with that stanker crystal!" Snipe snarls.

"Not to mention that little dilemma with the chickens!" adds his enraged sister.

Finn says, "Heh heh, my idea."

The red-haired sky knight turns back to his nemesis who asks, "Now, are you ready to surrender?"

Aerrow turns away from her to look at the doomsday machine then shouts, "Storm Hawks, destroy the weapon!"

Immediately, everyone takes action. While the squadron battles the Cyclonians, Aerrow goes straight for the machine. He was about to bring it out of commission when a red blade stops him in his tracks. Following the blade, he finds the other end being held by the smirking Dark Ace. The redhead smiles and asks, "Ready to get beat again, Dark Ace?"

"I don't think so." He swings, forcing Aerrow away from the weapon and the two fights just like old times. Meanwhile, the two crystal experts duel alone, using crystal energy to try and get the upper hand. Piper fires a blast of ice from a frost crystal attached to her staff, but Cyclonis melts it with a blazer. "Oh, come on Piper. That's the best you can do after two years?"

"You wanna see what I can do? Well, here it is!" She uses her Solaris crystal to send an intense light and momentarily blind her enemy before sending a white ray at her. The master smiles and dodges the attack before sending the expert back with a blast from her crystal. The expert flies across the room and crashes on the opposite wall, slumping on the ground all discombobulated. Satisfied, Cyclonis turns to another small fight to see Aerrow, again, overpowering her right-hand man. He knocks the sword away then kicks the Dark Ace into a statue, which topples on top of him. The sky knight grins but then looks at the master and dodges a purple shot from her staff. He turns back to her when she says, "You may have been lucky in the past, sky knight, but this is where it ends."

"For once, I agree," he smirks, "but different ending."

The Cyclonia leader throws another beam at him before attacking with her staff. The redhead quickly dodges the crystal energy and blocks the staff between his blades and pushing it down before taking a swing. Cyclonis ducks to trip her attacker then, when he's down, she thrusts down the end with the extended spikes straight at Aerrow's heart. With his eyes wide, he quickly grabs two spikes to keep the fatal blow away. The master grins, seeing victory mere moments away, but the sky knight quickly puts his legs underneath her and kicks her away while pushing the staff away, making the witch fly over the sky knight with a scream. He gets up and looks at the glowing stone in the center, slowly charging the machine. "Say goodbye to your energy source, Cyclonis." He focuses on his center and slowly starts glowing blue. He jumps and sends a large ray, known as the Lightning Claw, to the crystal, creating fractures on the front upon impact.

"No!" the witch screams.

Purple energy starts erupting from the crystal, growing beyond the glass case and shooting electricity everywhere. Winds from nowhere start blowing toward it and a low hum emits, catching everyone's attention. Cyclonis gets up and asks, "Do you realize what you've done?!"

"Um, maybe the same thing I did with your Storm Engine," he says cockily, "I shut it down."

"You arrogant sky knight! You didn't destroy it! The crystal is overwhelming with energy!"

"Uh, what does that mean?" the Wallop asks.

A frightened Piper answers, "She means the crystal and the machine's going to explode!"

Junko and Finn mutter, "Oh." Soon, though, the sharpshooter screams, "WHAT!?"

Aerrow looks back at the charging crystal then orders his squadron, "Everyone back to the Condor!"

The Storm Hawks try to make a beeline to the hangar but Snipe roars and knocks Junko, who was closest to the door, back with his mace, blocking the only exit.

"You aren't going anywhere!" Cyclonis barks before resuming her attack. The Storm Hawks leader quickly jumps over her and lands near the ticking time bomb. She snarls and twirls her staff, sending another purple blast at her pest. The redhead reacts by ducking, making the ray dash just millimeters from the tip of his hair and into the crystal, making the purple glow turn white and hum louder. Aerrow turns to it and says, "That might've not been the best decision." His eyes widen and he quickly grabs the staff before the master can do some real damage. The two struggle with only the purple staff the line. Piper notices the crystal's light growing larger and she screams, "Aerrow, we need to get out!"

Hearing her, the said-person pushes the leader away and tries to follow after his friends, who are busy keeping the Talons busy, but Cyclonis pulls out a red crystal out and sends a hand of energy to grab the sky knight and throw him against the wall.

The overcharged crystal sends a ring of energy everywhere, sending everyone except the two closest against the wall. Cyclonis and Aerrow turn toward it, which is roaring with energy and shaking the entire room, with utter fear overwhelming their minds. Suddenly, a light brighter than a solaris crystal shrouds the room and blinds everyone, preventing them from seeing their leaders. The sound of a crystal shattering with force echoes and a great blast of heat hit the Storm Hawks and Cyclonians before the light vanishes. The two teams move their hands away and find the machine ripped and twisted to an unrecognizable shape and dull purple shards littering around the base. But something is missing.

Dark Ace shouts, "Master Cyclonis!"

"Aerrow?" Piper says worriedly.