Summary: Ok, so I'm a new Strom Hawks fan, but I love it! Alas I've only seen up to episode 9, so if you have and helpful hints or suggestions don't be afraid to say so! Anyways, summary, my fic is about our favourite Sky Knight squadron who go on some crazy misadventures that I've set up for them. Along for the ride is a new character who I've invented, who you'll meet shortly. Pairings? So far it looks like a Stork/OC, I'm a total Stork freak. Oh, and there is gonna be some blood, gore, violence and swearing, but that's just how I roll. You have been warned.
Disclaimer: I don't own Storm Hawks, but any characters that are not part of the original Nerd Corps cast are mine.
Note: "quotations" are obviously speech, italics are thoughts. I'm sure you've all heard that before. K, lets get this show on the road!
1
Uncharted Terra
Emergency lights glared and warning sirens screamed at the crew of the Condor as they raced around the carrier ship, trying to figure out the problem.
"We're losing altitude!" Piper cried. "Stork, do something!"
The Merb pilot pulled desperately on the steering handles and was somewhat successful in levelling off the shuddering ship.
"What's going on?" Aerrow asked him, coming over beside him and keeping his arms out a little to keep his balance.
"Something's wrong with the Condor" Stork said sarcastically, hands clenched around the steering bar and trying to keep the ship under his control.
'Well, duh!" Finn snapped from where he was pointing out steaming engine valves to Junko. "What is wrong with the Condor?"
Stork growled to himself. As if he knew everything about the Condor just because he spent the most time on it! "I dunno, might be because of that hit it took from that Talon ship yesterday."
"But I thought you said that was nothing!" Piper said, clinging to the table to avoid sliding across the bridge as the Condor banked violently.
"Well, that's what I thought, it could have damaged something and we never noticed until now and now we're all doomed because of it." Stork said, righting the ship with difficulty.
"Land ho!" Aerrow suddenly said, spying the outline of a Terra in the distance. "Stork, do you think you can get the Condor to that Terra?"
"It'll be a close one. I'd say we have a 10/90 shot of making it."
"That's a close one?" Finn snapped.
"It's our kind of close one. Aim for that Terra, Stork." Aerrow directed and Stork angled the quaking ship towards the large land mass.
"Which Terra is that?" Junko asked, stopping from his mad dashing to the steam valves briefly to squint at the Terra.
Piper glanced over the map that she had spread on the table, which had only managed to stay there because Radarr was sitting on it, monkey-like fingers clutching the edge of the table.
"Well, according to the coordinates I had before the ship started to go out of control, we were….and that would put us……wait, that can't be….."
"What?" Finn stumbled over to look over her shoulder, although the map didn't make any sense to him. Aerrow came over as well.
"Well, if I've calculated this right, then we should be right here." Piper pointed to a spot on the map. An empty spot. "But that can't be right, because we're close to a Terra, and there are none on the map!"
"Maybe you've got it upside down." Finn said helpfully as the ship gave another violent shudder.
"The map is right!' Piper snapped indignantly.
"So it's an uncharted Terra." Aerrow said. "That doesn't matter, the nearest labelled Terra is two hours from here and I don't think the Condor will make it that far." As if accentuate his point the Condor groaned loudly and started to drop in altitude again. And this time, Stork couldn't pull up.
Aerrow raced back up to Stork's side to peer out the window. The Terra loomed ahead of them, sheer cliff face slowly but surely becoming level with the Condor. Aerrow gauged the distance and the rate at which they were dropping and grit his teeth. This really was going to be close.
Stork tried to angle the Condor for an at least half decent landing, although that didn't really matter now. They were going to be lucky to make it onto the Terra, let alone land without exploding on impact.
They were almost there now, with only 20 feet between the Condor's belly and the rocky edge of the Terra. They were so close…
"We're going to make it!" Finn cheered, but then the Condor's engines spluttered and died.
"HOLD ON TO SOMETHING!" Aerrow shouted and grabbed hold of the handles of the periscope. Finn dove under the table and grabbed onto the pole that attached it to the floor of the Condor. Junko wrapped his arm around five different pipes and braced for impact. Piper lunged for the circle of pipes in the middle of the bridge and hung on for dear life. And Radarr leapt from the table and landed on Aerrow's shoulders, clutching his red hair tightly in his little fists.
The tips of the Condor's pontoons were over the edge of the Terra when they completely lost altitude. With a terrible, grinding screech of metal on stone and a sickening crunch the total front end of the Condor collided with the Terra, jarring them all. Stork barely managed to hang on to the controls and keep the Condor balanced so it didn't completely roll over. It spun on its side, mowing down several trees as it continued to rush over the soft earth at frightening speed. It titled over and rode along for over a hundred feet teetering dangerously on one pontoon before slamming back down and coming to a screeching halt a few yards from the border of a tangled jungle.
"Is it over?" groaned Finn from under the table. He crawled out and pushed aside Junko's tool box and the time pulse navigator, glancing around.
"Well, what do you know?" Stork muttered from where he was practically hugging the controls of the Condor. "We aren't burning to death. Although I suppose we've all got horrible internal injuries and our intestines are just waiting to go off like time bombs…"
"Excellent manoeuvring, Stork" Aerrow said, getting back to his feet, Radarr holding onto his hair in a death grip.
"Nobody's hurt?" Piper asked, smoothing back her hair.
"I hit my head. Probably have some serious cranial damage. I'll probably have to wear a helmet for the rest of my life." Stork sighed, letting go of the controls with difficulty.
"I'm alright, but I'm not too sure about the Condor." Junko said, holding up three broken pipes apologetically.
"Good thinking, Junko. Let's go find out what sort of shape the Condor's in." Aerrow said, leading the way down the hall.
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As it turned out, the Condor was in better shape then anyone of them would have thought. Well, on the outside, anyways.
"Oh yeah, we can definitely buff these out." Finn said, rapping his knuckles on a dent in the Condor's hull. "And those holes? No problem! A bit of scrap metal'll patch those right up!"
"Great!" Aerrow said with a smile "Could you two start patching up some of the bigger holes right now?"
"Sure thing, Aerrow." Junko said, already carrying a sheet of metal under one arm and his tool box under another.
With a nod Aerrow left them to go check on Piper and Stork, who were inspecting the interior of the ship.
He found Piper crouching outside one of the hatches in the hanger, holding her Solaris crystal in front of her like a flashlight.
"How's it going?" Aerrow asked as he approached.
"So far, so good." Piper reported, turning to face him and moving the light.
There was a clash, a thud, a clatter and a groan from within the hatch.
"Piper!" Stork said, sounding irritable.
"Sorry!" Piper cried, moving the light back into place. Aerrow crouched next to her in front of the hatch.
"How's it look in there, Stork?" he called, not even going to bother to ask how the Merb had managed to force himself into the cramped crawlspace.
"I'm certain all this grease is going to give me some kind of horrible reaction…. Piper, can you lift that light a little higher?"
"How's this?" Piper asked, adjusting the light.
"Better…ow…ok, crystal charge transport lines intact, support cables all where they should be, turbo thruster lines are fine…." Stork listed things off, sounding like he was talking more to himself then them. Aerrow felt confused; if everything seemed to be fine then what had brought the Condor down? Aerrow looked at Piper quizzically and she shrugged.
"Stork?" Aerrow called after the Merb had been quiet for some time. "What's up?"
"Did you find the problem?" Piper asked.
Stork was swearing quietly as he hauled himself out of the hatch, looking very greasy indeed.
"This is the problem" he growled, holding up a small metal box. Or, what looked like it could have been a box, at one point in time. Now it just looked like a twisted hunk of scrap metal.
"Er… what is it?" Aerrow asked.
"What is it? What is it?" Stork eyes stretched wide and he looked like he couldn't believe Aerrow had asked such a question. "This is one of the most important parts of the ship!"
"Really? 'Cause I thought it looked more like one of the pieces from Junko's collection." Piper said.
Stork oogled at her. "It most definitely is not! This is-was the Crystal Energy Balance Converter!"
Piper looked like she understood the gravity of the situation now, but Aerrow was still very confused. "What does it do?"
"What does it do? What does it do?" Stork sounded slightly hysterical now, like he had back in the Black Gorge when Junko had suggested they take Mr. Cheaper's shortcut. "Without this we might as well not have an engine! This is what sends the energy from our crystals to all the other parts of the Condor's system when they need it! Without this, the ship can't fly!"
"Oh," massive understatement. "But why didn't we realize it was damaged right away?"
"The Cyclonians hit us a few times yesterday. Due to the fact that we didn't immediately fall out of the sky and plummet to our deaths, I'd say the area around the CEBC was damaged but the CEBC itself was fine. Then today something most likely gave, like a piece of scrap metal and hit the CEBC, scrambling it and making it over heat. And now here we are." Stork explained, eye twitching.
"Well, shit!" Piper exclaimed.
"That's what I was thinking."
"Well can't you fix it?" Aerrow asked, trying to sound optimistic.
"Does this look like it can be fixed?" Stork demanded, thrusting the Crystal Energy Balance Converter at him.
"Do we have a spare?" Aerrow asked faintly.
"I'll have to check, but I'm thinking no."
"Well, shit!" Aerrow said.
"You can say that again! Not only are have we lost our CEBC, but we crashed on an uncharted Terra! I looked over all my other maps, Aerrow; this Terra isn't on any of them! No one would ever find us here! We could be stranded forever!" Piper said, starting to sound a little hysterical herself.
"Ok, look, we all need to calm down. Let's get Junko and Finn in here and think of something to do, alright?"
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"Well, shit!" Finn said, reiterating the phrase for the third time that day. Aerrow had just finished explaining their situation to him and Junko as they all sat around the table in the wreckage of the Condor.
"But it's not that bad," Junko said, trying to sound confident in his own words "I mean, we can just get another CEBC, can't we?"
"Well, maybe if we crashed landed in the middle of Atmosia." Stork said sarcastically. "But in case you haven't noticed WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!"
"Stork, calm down." Piper said, sounding sharp and soothing at the same time.
"Ok, so there's no place here where we can get a CEBC" Aerrow said, trying to lift everybody's spirits, which seemed to have crashed with the Condor. "But there's other Terras nearby, one of them's got to have a garage where we can get a new one."
"Considering we make it that far." Stork muttered. Aerrow shot him a warning glance but Piper came to Stork's aid.
"I'm not trying to shoot your plan down, Aerrow, but Stork's got a point. The nearest Terra is about two hours away from here, and that's by carrier. I don't know if our skimmers can make it that far." she said, motioning to one of her maps.
"Well, that's ok" Finn said "We don't know if this place really is uninhabited. Maybe there is someone here who can help us out."
"Good idea, Finn! Did anyone see anything like a town or city while we were coming down?" Aerrow asked.
"Sorry, I forgot to check while we were speeding towards certain doom," Stork said and earned an elbow in the ribs from Piper.
"Stork, I know it's hard for you, but let's try to be optimistic here, ok?" she said in "I- don't-want-to-hear-another-paranoid,-pessimistic-word-leave-your-green-lips-or-else" tone.
Stork saluted her, making an exaggerated, jackassy point to keep his mouth shut.
"Alright, here's the plan. We need to save the power in the energy crystals in our skimmers in case we do need to take off for another Terra. Plus, this place looks pretty densely forested. I don't think we'd be able to ride through that jungle, and if there are people here and they see us fly over, they may think we're Cyclonians and attack. Who knows, this place could have blaster cannons like on Bogaton. So I think the best plan of action would be for us to trek through the jungle one foot." Piper said, her tactician skills kicking in.
"Alright, but let's take our weapons, just in case." Aerrow added, feeling like he should at least contribute to the plan. "We don't know if anyone who might live here is friendly or not."
Stork was struggling to keep his mouth closed at this point. Taking his chances with whatever the "or else" Piper had in mind, he burst out "Are you all insane? Do you know how crazy that plan is? It's suicide! You don't know what could be out there! Carnivorous Thorn-Whip Constrictor Vines, Giant Venomous Stalker Moths and Amphibious Fanged Leeches! Not to mention snakes that'll bite you and melt your insides, huge jungle cats that could swallow you whole, vampire bats and flowers that'll latch their tendrils onto you and slowly suck out your soul!!!"
"What, no Spiny Gorge Sloths?" Finn asked, also earning an elbow from Piper.
"Gigantic Poison-Toothed Spiny GorgeSloths." Stork corrected snappishly, lifting a finger.
"Whatever. And I guess we'll all come down with Jungle Madness, right?" Finn asked, wiggling his fingers and faking a look horror.
"It's possible." Stork said, oblivious to his sarcasm.
"Ok you two, cut it out. Piper's plan makes sense and we don't really have many options here." Aerrow cut in, reminding them of their current situation. "Come on, let's get going while we still have light."
'Have fun with the giant tarantulas and razor leaves." Stork said, moving to go and check his booby traps to make sure they weren't damaged in the crash (you never knew when you might need a trip wire to save your life).
"Oh no you don't!" Aerrow said, grabbing the Merb's shoulder. "You know what the ship needs, you're coming with us!"
"What? I don't think so! All the Condor needs is a CEBC, it's pretty standard air ship part! You don't need me to come with you!" Stork said, trying to shake off Aerrow's grasp. At least he hadn't fainted like back in the Black Gorge.
"Actually Stork, we do. They need proof of a Carrier Pilot's licence before they can give us the part. You're the only one of us with one, and since obviously none of us look like you, you have to come along for the identification." Piper said, mimicking the way Stork lifted his finger whenever he pointed out a flaw in their plans.
Stork scowled at her and then glanced warily out at the jungle through the windshield.
"Oh, come on Stork. Besides, if you don't come with us, you'll be all by yourself to defend the Condor when those Amphibious Leeches of yours come over for lunch." Finn said with a wicked little grin.
"Oh, fine. But don't blame me when we come back to find the Condor-"
"In the same shape and place that we left it." Aerrow said sternly. "Now come on, let's get going."
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From her place high in the canopy of the jungle, on the edge of clearing where the Condor had crashed, she watched the five-six if you counted the strange creature they had with them-misfit teenagers leave the wreckage their air ship and head into the jungle. She'd seen the whole thing from her hiding place, the crash of the strange old airship, the mismatched crew pour out of the ship and examine the damage and then she'd watched them all have a group meeting in the bridge of the ship. And now they were heading out into the jungle, for God knows what reason.
Try as she might, she couldn't pick out anything about them that proved they were Talons. But that didn't matter. This was exactly sort of thing that the Cyclonians would do to try and draw out unsuspecting Sky Knights. Anger roiled in her gut at the mere thought of those slimey Cyclonian bastards. As if sensing her mood, her companion growled from his place on a nearby branch.
"We'll follow them and find out what they're after. If they show any signs of hostility…" she paused to snap her neck quickly and grin wickedly "Leave the first shot to me."
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As it were, they were not attacked by venomous moths or amphibious leeches. In fact the jungle was anything but threatening. It even had a haunting beauty about it: there were plenty of exotic flowers, all painted bright colours and with intricately shaped petals (none with soul sucking tendrils though). The trees grew tall and crooked, covered with spongy green moss and draped with cord-like vines. There were plenty of colourful birds and butterflies flitting about the tangled jungle and there were even mushrooms that sprouted from among the intertwining tree roots and that shed eerie glowing fluorescent light across the earthy jungle floor.
"This place is beautiful." Piper said, reaching out to touch the petals of a brilliantly red flower and ignoring Stork's disdainful, "are you trying to get your fingers bitten off?" look.
"I just wish it weren't so thick." said Aerrow. They'd made Junko walk in front so his large frame could carve them out a path, but even then it was slow going.
"Let's just cut a path, you know, Crocodile Dundee style." Finn suggested, pulling out one of Aerrow's lightning blades and chopping it around him like a machete.
"What's Crocodile Dundee?" asked Junko from ahead.
"Oh, come on, you guys don't watch enough TV." Finn said with a pout.
At that moment there was a slight noise from over head, almost like something large slithering over the branches up above their heads. They all stopped and looked up, Stork making a strange whimpering noise and pressing closer to Piper.
"Giant Rear Hook Fanged Pythons." she heard him mutter and he reached into the satchel he'd brought for something or other.
"Keep together." Aerrow said coolly, trying to keep them all calm.
There was a creak from overhead, but from a different place then they'd heard the first sound.
"It'll go for Aerrow first" Stork was muttering to himself "With hair that red…"
"Shush." Piper hissed at him.
Suddenly something detached itself from the shadowy branches and dropped onto ground in front of them and made a horrible snarling sound. Stork yelped and grabbed onto Piper's arm so tightly she lost feeling in her fingers.
"So I was a little off on the size." he whispered in her ear and she took a hesitant step away from the sleek black jungle cat.
"Uh, nice kitty? Kitty kitty kitty?" Junko said, reaching a hand out to the cat tentatively. The cat let out a roar and Junko leapt back in alarm.
The cat moved back in forth and then crouched into a hunter's stance, tail lashing wildly and baring its teeth with a snarl.
"Finn?" Aerrow whispered.
"I got it." Finn said, lifting his crossbow and taking aim.
That's when the second hit came.
Something came crashing down from the dark canopy and landed directly on Finn's shoulders. Finn crumpled with a muffled yell, dropping his crossbow. Aerrow moved to try and haul the figure off Finn, but it had already moved away, lunging at its next victim.
Stork had leapt aside when the figure had plunged from the trees, also dragging Piper out of the way. Whether this was a planned act of bravery or not, it put him in the path of the crazed creature and not Piper. He toppled over as the figure smashed into him, bowling him over. He caught a flashing glimpse of electric blue before the figure had an arm around his neck and had rolled behind him, clutching him in a tight strangle hold. He gagged and tried to scramble away, but the figure's hold was too strong.
Junko had been stunned when he saw Finn go down. Now he snapped out of his daze and reacted, snatching the figure up by the back of his shirt and lifting him clean off the ground. Unfortunately the figure still had a good hold on Stork and he was lifted from the ground too.
"Jun…ko!" he choked.
"Let him go!" Aerrow snapped, drawing his lightning blades.
To his surprise, the figure did let go of Stork. He fell back to forest floor where he lay, coughing and gasping. Aerrow was confused at the abrupt co-operation of their attacker until he realized why he had released Stork so quickly; he'd needed his arm free.
The figure's hand went to his belt and whipped out a long, thin scimitar, which flashed bright blue.
"Junko!" Aerrow shouter, bringing his blades up to try and parry the figure's scimitar before if could get hooked in Junko's ribs. He didn't have to worry, though: thrusting the figure far away from his body, Junko shook him until the scimitar slipped from his grasp and then slammed him up against a nearby tree. Aerrow held one blade out, inches from the attacker's throat.
"Go ahead and do it, then." the figure growled and Aerrow took a surprised step back. He'd been sure their attacker was a male… but that voice was so….
The attacker looked up and left no doubt in Aerrow's mind.
"Huh. You don't look very much like Cyclonians." the girl said, glancing over them all.
So, you know the drill, R&R! (please). And I know the Strom Hawks are supposed to be too young for pilot's licenses, but I needed a good excuse to get Stork off the Condor. And I'm not really sure how old they all are supposed to be, so I'm just gonna go with sixteen.