It had been … difficult to get off of Terra Atmosia without the Cyclonians noticing, but Lightning had pulled it off. His cloaking crystal could still perform a few tricks that Cyclonis, fortunately, didn't know about. He was able to shield and cloak himself and his skimmer by making everyone think he was one of those Nightcrawlers flying overhead.

Lightning had flown around a little lost at first, how do you find a Terra that can move, when he noticed a darkening in the sky and decided to fly towards the ominous clouds and flashes of red and purple in the sky. It had turned out to be a pretty safe bet.

Lightning was currently dodging 'crawlers and trying to figure out who was managing this completely ridiculous yet somewhat effective assault. The good leader would be going after the evil leader, and Lightning really wanted a piece of the evil leader

He dropped the cloak and activated his chroma crystal again as he spotted the Condor in the middle of the fray. Immediately, 'crawlers started to come at him.

The first two Lightning dodged and the next got his wings blown off by two accurate crystal bolts coming from his sword.

When he came closer to the Condor, he noticed something he could only describe as bizarre. A blond mop of hair was shooting at Nightcrawlers while a blue creature to the side was handing him arrows coated with … fur? The second the Nightcrawlers tried to use their crystals to ward off the attack, the crystals malfunctioned then exploded leaving the 'crawlers sprawled out on the Condor's deck.

Deciding that they, even though they were on the Condor, didn't seem like any kind of leaders, he flew back up … and into a 'crawler.

Lightning yelled at the sudden impact and tried to get his steering back under control. His skimmer was spiralling down towards the tower and Lightning noticed a piece of his right upper wing had broken and was now flapping uselessly in the wind completely disrupting the balance.

He was now close to the top of the tower and wanted to at least right his skimmer so he could crash land on top of the damn thing instead of into it. It wasn't until his ride stopped spinning that he noticed people seemed to be floating above said tower … and that they were glowing.

'What the-

'CRASH'

The second his skimmer slammed into the base of one the beams on top of the tower a flash of blinding red light erupted over his head and send out a shockwave that connected and then shredded the strange red crystal that was apparently also on the tower. Lightning was thrown off of his ride and lay for a few seconds before slowly getting up and, ignoring the slight dizziness from the fall, picked up his blade. The blue crystal hummed and his blade was alight with blue energy.

Lightning was still actually trying to wrap his head around flying people and imploding huge crystals when, out of the corner of his eye, he saw her. Cyclonis was flying away from the battle and into her tower.

'You're not getting away from me!'

Lightning quickly looked for some sort of entrance and found it. He took the stairs down and raced passed numerous chambers, all of them empty.

'Great, how am I going to find her when I don't even know where she is … where am I for that matter!'

"Cyclonis!"

The voice was coming from his left. Lightning immediately opened the first door he saw.

"You're not getting away this time."

Lightning found himself on some sort of balcony looking out over a huge oval shaped room. The most important thing, however, was the girl with black eye liner and a crystal staff standing on a staircase that led to some sort of portal … a doorway.

'How could she have found it!'

"Then come and get me…"

Cyclonis turned back and made to step through to the Far Side, but Lightning had come here for revenge, not some game of hide and seek. He powered up his blade, jumped over the railing and with a yell performed his signature move. A single energy blast erupted from his blade and smashed into the side of the portal making the entire thing collapse.

Lightning caught himself in a roll and got back to his feet, sword up, to face the Cyclonian ruler.

"How about we stop playing games."

At this, the girl let out an animalistic shout and fired blast after blast at him. It was almost too easy to dodge them and after a few, Lightning fired a blast which hit the girl squarely in the chest. She fell down the steps, losing her staff in the process, and lay dazed on the floor. Lightning walked up to her, his blade crackling in response to the suffocating hatred that boiled up. This girl and her grandmother were directly responsible for destroying his life and so many others'.

"No more running, no more hiding. Just you and me, Cyclonis."

He was now standing in front of her. Her eyes had grown large with the knowledge of defeat and there was even a shimmer of fear within them. But all Lightning saw was an evil that had to be put down. All he could feel was immense hatred towards the person who had taken everything!

A voice was talking but all he could hear was the rushing of his blood. His heart was beating against his chest and he swore his vision went red.

Suddenly he was the one yelling. His body acted on some primal instinct and his blade swung back. The energy crackled around his hands as he moved the sword forward and down towards Cyclonis' helpless form. This would end, now!

"STOP!"

The energy and steel hit a much more solid object than a human and the shock almost made Lightning drop his sword. The red veil vanished and he found he could breathe again. His heart quieted and the rushing stopped as the adrenaline wore off. Anger kicked in as he noticed twin blue blades had blocked his attack. He shifted his stance and with an angry shout pushed whoever had robbed him of his revenge away. The person stumbled and regained his balance, still standing between Lightning and Master Cyclonis.

Lightning put his sword down so he could look at the intruder.

"What do you think you're do-

Lightning froze.

Everything stopped as the person in front of him came into clear view. The boy was panting slightly and had his steely gaze locked onto Lightning. Each hand held a blade and he was crouching slightly while staying on the balls of his feet, ready to react if needed.

But none of that really mattered, none of that really registered. All Lightning could focus on was the boy's face. It was like he was looking in a mirror, except that mirror made him twenty, or so, years younger. The same red hair, the same green eyes, even the same fiery look Lightning always used to have when practising his fighting with Ace. The name of his friend turned traitor should have brought back a whole barrage of unwanted memories and feelings, but Lightning found himself lost in the teenager in front of him.

'He looks just like … me'

"I said, stop."

"Guys! We gotta move, this whole place is coming down!"

The teenager broke the staring contest and it was only then that Lightning noticed that the tower was shaking madly and the sound of falling debris filled his head, how could he have missed that?

Lightning looked passed his look-alike and saw the blond mop of hair from before and the Condor standing outside. A blue-haired girl was holding Cyclonis trapped with crystal bonds and was dragging her kicking and screaming form to the flying machine.

Green eyes once again locked onto his and one of the teenagers hands reached out to grasp his arm.

"Look, whatever score you need to settle. I'm pretty sure it's impossible to do when you're dead, so let's just get out of here."

The tower gave another terrifying lurch and the blond kid screamed.

"Hurry UP!"

Without further incentive Lightning was following the teenager outside and onto the Condor. As soon as the bay doors closed the ship took off. Lightning kept following the boy, too stunned and bewildered to do much else, and found himself standing in a very familiar brig.

"Man, I thought she was never going to shut up."

The blond boy was lounging on the couch with his feet up on the table and his hands behind his head. He had his eyes closed and a lazy smile stuck on his face.

"Chika … cha."

A wallop went to sit next to him, a somewhat stunned look on his face, he looked at Cyclonis, at the blond boy lazing around, at Cyclonis again, and eventually at the red head.

"Did we just really win?"

Everyone was quiet for a moment as Cyclonis was struggling against her bonds and screaming into her gag, which the blond had apparently put on her, before the red head smiled and put a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Yeah Junko, we just won. We finished what the original Storm Hawks set out to do ten years ago. The Atmos is safe now."

The two on the couch cheered and high fived while the girl and Lightning-look-alike smiled at eachother.

"Uhm, excuse me."

Everyone's attention (except for Lightning who was still staring at the red head) went to the Merb at the helm.

"I don't mean to ruin the moment, but uhh, who is he."

The Merb deadpanned at the end, left eye twitching somewhat, as he pointed at Lightning.

All eyes were now on the former Sky Knight, and for the first time since following the red head onto the Condor, Lightning realised there were a lot of other people here … just perfect.

Luckily he was saved from answering by a voice on the radio.

"Storm Hawks, this is Starling, come in. Storm Hawks, can anyone here me!"

The red head quickly made his way over to the radio and answered. What he said next knocked the breath out of Lightning's lungs and made his legs shake.

"Starling, this is Aerrow. Are you okay?"

Lightning had felt dizzy before but nothing compared to the loops his mind was currently making. Things had gone from strange to impossible in a matter of minutes and Lightning was having trouble holding the extreme barrage of emotions at bay.

´It … it can't be'

They had died. His wife and son had both died in a Cyclonian attack. He had been to their graves, seen the destruction caused to their home. There was no way that the boy in front of him could be …

"Hey, Aerrow?"