Archangel
"Stork!!" yelled Piper, clinging on the table as the Condor swung out of control. Stork grabbed the controller, and desperately tried to park the ship lightly. Finn was holding on to the time-pulse, Junko was clinging on to the rails, Radarr was holding on toJunko.
The door swung open, and Aerrow was thrown forwards on to the window. He straightened himself up, only to hit the opposite window
"You know, you really should hold on to something!!" said Finn, still grasping the time-pulse. Aerrow grabbed on to him
"I said something not someone!!" he said, as his belt failed him and his trousers slipped down (which was not a pleasant view for Aerrow)
With a final crash on a terra, the team were forced to release their grips, and hit the window in a heap. Finn stood up, and sorted his trousers out, but not before everyone had seen his polka dot boxers. Piper giggled
"Only because you don't have some" he said his nose in the air.
"Where are we?" asked Junko
"And where is Aerrow?" asked Piper
"Maybe he was thrown into another dimension in the crash" said Stork wildly. Radarr made a noise at the thought
"Actually, he's wondering if he can stand up yet" came Aerrow's muffled voice from under Junko, who was on his legs, Piper, who was sitting on his chest, Stork, who was on his thighs and Radarr, who was lying on his face. The four got up. Aerrow got to his feet shakily, after two had been sitting on them
"I was wondering why the floor was so soft" said Piper, who was by the table, pulling out a map, and looking at it. "I think we're on Terra Celestial." She looked out the window "Yes, we are definitely on Celestial"
"How can you tell?" asked Finn
"The boarding school is right in front of us" said Piper
"Well, let's go check it out." said Aerrow "we could learn something. Apparently their school is famous for its amazing grades, and one of the best sky knight squadrons originated on this Terra"
"We need some sort of disguise to pull off the impression we're students" said Stork
Piper thought, and went outside with the team. There was a shop nearby that did the uniforms and everything else for the school
The team walked in. A woman at the counter turned to them
"New school, eh? Need new uniforms?"
"Yes" said Stork grudgingly
Radarr squeaked. The woman looked at him
"And of course, we'll need something for him to wear as well" she added, going into the back room, and minutes later bringing out some black and white clothes and shoes. The team tried them on, and they fitted fine
The woman gave each of the members of the team a bag with a sports kit (for Piper it included a cheer leading outfit), a pencil case complete with stationary and a book. The team thanked her and made their way to the school.
Once they'd walked through the doors, the first impression of the school was that it was posh, so they headed for the reception. The secretary looked up.
"You lot are early" she said "the bus doesn't come for ages. You local then?" the team looked surprised.
"No, we're not local" said Aerrow
"Where're you from then?"
"Terra Atmosia" said Piper, standing on Finn's foot to shut him up
"How did you get here then?" asked the woman
"His dad gave us a lift" said Stork, pointing to Aerrow
The woman seemed satisfied. "Well, all I can say is that it is great that you're here. We don't get many students from other Terras." The woman gave them a key each. "This is for your dormitory, room 15"
The team thanked her and were on their way. The team had returned to the Condor beforehand to retrieve some personal belongings. The dormitory, as they discovered, contained six beds, each with doors that slid around the bed to give the occupants some privacy. They each took one, and unpacked their stuff. A bus landing made them look who the other students were. Clearly, all of this lot weren't local. The local ones came through the main entrance. There was an intercom on one of the walls, and a voice said
"All students to assembly. Now"
The Storm Hawks went out of their room and followed the other students, who they had no doubt had no idea where the hall was. When they reached the main hall, they took their seats on chairs that seemed to have a built on desk, and each one had a piece of paper on it, with name, age, and subjects they would be willing to take. The team sat in a row. The subjects looked fairly interesting, but the students had to pick a few only. The subjects were: Geography, History, Crystals, Flight and Vehicles, Weapons, Music, Mechanics and Technology, Psychology, Survival and Sociology. Every student had to pick a sport, out of: Cheerleading, Boxing, Football, Martial Arts and Fighting. Not to mention free periods, doing nothing!!
Aerrow made his choices. He had no doubt that Piper would have chosen Crystals, History, Geography and Sociology, but her didn't know what sport she'd have taken. Some teachers collected their choices, and the head teacher asked them to leave, but they were allowed to explore the rest of the school, before dinner. A group of girls nearby were talking, and one of them ran up to a girl with black hair and red eyes. It was like looking at the Dark Ace, only in feminine form. She was smiling, and Aerrow had the impression that she would be trouble.
A bell rang an hour later- dinner. Although why it was in the middle of the day was beyond the Storm Hawks. Maybe Piper would know, but she was just as confused. They made their way into the dining hall, where many small tables were laid about the place. The Storm Hawks chose one near the girl with red eyes. They heard the words "sky knight", and "registered team" and that made them wonder who these people were.
Once they'd got back to their dormitory, they found letters addressed to each of them. They opened them. On every letter was their timetable for the school. Aerrow had Flight and Vehicles, Weapons, Sociology, Football, and Fighting. The timetable consisted of the subjects he wanted. Piper also had what she wanted.
In the morning, Finn joined the Fighting group with Aerrow. Over on the other side of the field, was a football game going on. Aerrow caught sight of a girl with a mop of red hair and green eyes looking enviously at the boys playing. The girl with red eyes and black hair came over to her, and the two started talking. They pointed to the cheerleaders. Their friend with deep blue eyes and blonde hair was doing cheerleading, and she looked grumpy about it. The two with a free period shrugged, and the girl made an action that made her look like an archer. The girl with black hair mouthed "shame" back. The cheerleading teacher came along, and the blonde haired girl stuck up her hand. The teacher ignored her, so after a while, the girl gave up.
After a double period of sports, Finn looked over at the blonde haired girl. She was in an argument with some fellow cheerleaders. Finn went over. Halfway there, he heard
"Well, if I can't cheerlead, it isn't my fault!!"
One of the girls made a comment, and next he heard "Well, here's what I think of cheerleading!!" and the blonde haired girl threw her pom-poms on the floor, stalked off to the stands and sat down. Finn went over to her. He sat down next to her; she seemed to be in a bad mood.
"Er, you OK?" he asked. The girl looked at him, and nodded
"What was the argument about, anyway?" he asked. The girl took her hair out of the plaits that had been put in by the cheerleaders. She took a look at the bands, made a small catapult, and they pinged off her fingers and hit one of the cheerleaders.
"Nice shot" Finn said. The girl smiled, she looked at Finn
"I hate cheerleading" she said.
"Well, what is your favourite sport?" Finn asked
"Sharp shooting" said the girl "I'm brilliant with a crossbow, the school won't let me use one, 'cos I'm a girl"
Finn looked surprised "Well, I can use a crossbow" he said
The girl turned to him "No way!"
Finn nodded. She was amazed. "I'm Fern"
"Finn" he said
"Good to meet you" she added "who are those people you came with?" she asked curiously
"Er, friends" he said. She giggled slightly. "What's so funny?"
She looked at him "Well, by the way you looked; I thought you were a squadron".
Finn was about to tell her the truth, but he stopped himself. What if she was a cyclonian?
"What's wrong?" she said
"Nothing"
"What do you have next?"
Finn looked in his timetable "Music, apparently. You?"
"Same. Do you play anything?"
"Air guitar"
"Piano and sometimes violin"
The two went down to Music together. Piper went to Aerrow
"Well, I never thought I'd say it, but I think Finn's got a girl friend!"
"No, don't worry, Fern's just being friendly" said a voice. Piper and Aerrow turned around. Some girls were standing there. Two of them were the girls he'd seen earlier on the bench, a girl with dark skin, black eyes and short violet hair had joined them.
"How do you know that?" asked Piper
"She's not too good with boys, don't worry. Her ex joined the talons, so she doesn't trust too many" said the girl with violet hair.
"Why'd she answer to Finn then?"
"She's getting better" said the girl with red hair "How rude of us not to introduce ourselves. I'm Amber" she added
"Angel" said the girl with black hair
"Pixie" said the violet haired girl
Aerrow and Piper introduced themselves
Pixie pulled out a notice from her pocket "Apparently, there's a disco on tonight" she looked up "you going?"
Aerrow and Piper looked at each other
"We'll let you think about it" said Amber "I mean, there is a talent show on as well"
"I'll go and warn, I mean tell Finn" said Piper, turning away, and running off to music.
When Piper entered music, she saw Fern playing the violin, and Finn practicing his guitar. The music sounded good, but only because they were being played together.
"Wow" exclaimed Piper when they finished "You have got to play that in the talent show!"
The duet looked at each other, and nodded. Angel entered.
"Fern, do you still know how to play that song?"
Fern went over to the piano, and tapped out a few notes. She looked up
"Yes that one!"
All of them trooped off to their separate dormitories. After all the lessons, all of them came out. Fern was wearing a pretty dark blue dress, and gloves to match. She looked really nervous. Finn, who was wearing his Storm Hawks outfit (although, without the symbol) muttered something in her ear, she looked reassured. Angel poked her head out; she was wearing a white outfit, with fingerless gloves, and knee boots. A necklace dangled around her neck, and a belt hung off her hip. Stork, after much persuasion from Aerrow, decided to go on stage and recite his depressing poetry, wearing complete black. A merb named Sunni, who was friends with Amber, decided to accompany him, wearing an artistically ripped black dress, so they ended up doing a duet. Piper and Pixie were going to do a crystal magic show, with crystals found under Pixie's bed; both wore a cape and top hat. Radarr, Amber and Aerrow were going to dance (well, Radarr was, Aerrow just played an accordion, and Amber the harmonica) someone called Izzie from Terra Blizzaris joined them, wearing a leotard and tails, Radarr wore a top hat and tails, and Aerrow just wore his usual, but without the Storm Hawks symbol, Amber wore a light blue one piece suit with belt and boots. Junko went up there, with a fellow wallop girl named Jay, and did some folk dancing, along with red, white and green costumes. There was a girl in the team that looked familiar to them, with lank black hair, pale blue skin, and fairly light eyes. Aerrow noticed she had braces. Almost for a second, she looked slightly different. It made her seem as if she was performing some kind of illusion. Wait…an illusion? Thought Stork, and then the rest of the team realised what she was
"Yes, she is a sky siren" said Sunni, but the Storm Hawks were reassured when they knew she was weaker than the average siren, and they were wondering about her act. Dreamy said she'd help out with Pixie's and Piper's act.
When each act went on stage, they all received an amazing amount of applause, including Finn's music. Everyone wanted to see what Angel was going to do. When she went on stage, Aerrow saw the Dark Ace sneak in, clearly wanting to get some cyclonian recruits. Aerrow kept his eyes focused on Angel, who had started to sing. When she had finished, Aerrow was one of the many that clapped the loudest, along with Amber's friends.
She got down off the stage, along with Fern, who had been her pianist. Finn led his new friend off the stage. Aerrow tried to keep his presence away from Dark Ace, but he had been spotted, and his enemy started to follow him and the others, including Amber and her friends. They made it to the dormitories, and they huddled in the girls' room. Noises came from the door, so they climbed out the window. Once they were outside, all of them broke into a sprint, towards the woods
"I don't mean to sound frightened" said Sunni "but aren't dark woods a bad thing?"
Stork put a hand over her mouth, to keep her quiet, and muttered in her ear "He's never been good with safety"
The friends sneaked in the woods, aware that they were being followed. They met a clearing, surrounded by trees. Noises came from all around them. They all huddled together. Thankfully, the Storm Hawks had weapons, but what about the others? Aerrow didn't think they were armed at all. They weren't sky knights. But he was wrong in thinking that.
Amber pulled a sword from her bag, Pixie grabbed a crystal staff, Izzie had her nun chucks, Jay punched her fists together- knuckle busters, Fern pulled out a crossbow, Sunni held a spanner and Dreamy floated a few inches, glowing. Aerrow looked at Angel. She held a sai in either hand. The Storm Hawks simply stared
"What?!" the other team whispered
"I thought you weren't sky knights" said Junko
"No, we're not" said Jay "But Amber and Angel are, and both are registered"
Lots of cyclonians came through the trees. All of them brandished their weapons, ready to fight. Dreamy rose a foot higher in the air, and glowed brighter, some cyclonians stepped back, realising she was a sky siren. The teams looked at her, and ducked. They knew Dreamy was a siren, but didn't know the depth of her power too well, or rather, what she could do with it. Dreamy rose high in the air, put her arms above her head, and snapped them down sharply. The cyclonians started to act strange. Almost all of them fell to the floor, as did Dreamy. Jay caught her, but now she couldn't use her knuckle- busters.
The rest of the teams tightened their grips around the weapons. A blast from all around forced them all to fall to the floor.
The last thing Aerrow saw before he blacked out was the Dark Ace's feet walking towards him.
When he awoke, he was in a cell, with everyone. Angel was rattling on the cell doors. No- one came, so she gave up. But another idea struck her. She went to Aerrow and muttered a plan in his ear. He looked at her and smiled. The two went over to the teams, and told them the plan.
"Right, all of you lot are going to get out of here, and go for help. The bed sheets tied together will make a great rope, and I think the weapon room is in the basement. The stuff will be easy to get. Get ours while you're at it" said Angel
"Rip up your uniform, put bits anywhere, try and throw them off track" said Aerrow
Radarr sighed
"Sorry buddy" said Aerrow
Angel looked at her team "Look, you know that place we visit every summer?" the team nodded "Go there, just save me one of the machines" she added. The team climbed out the window, down the rope Piper had made. The Storm Hawks let the girls go first, Finn had to climb down with Fern on his back- her leg was injured. All of them reached the bottom safely after around ten minutes, by which time Amber and Pixie had retrieved all the weapons. They gave a last salute, and headed in the woods.
Angel did her part of the plan. She yelled for the Dark Ace. He came. She said something in his ear. He pushed her back, calling her a liar. The second he was gone, she took a black crystal from her pocket. Her uniform immediately ripped on the thighs, another rip appeared on her arm, and her sleeves fell off. More rips appeared on her chest, and more of her outfit ripped away. It took Aerrow to realise that where the rips were appearing, cuts were as well. A deep gash on her shoulder opened up, and she dipped her finger into it, writing on the wall:
"You didn't believe me, now look what you've done", before falling to the floor. Aerrow ran to her, as colour drained from her face. He ran to the cell doors, and screamed for help. No one bothered to come. He went back to Angel. If this was part of her plan, he didn't like it.
Meanwhile, in the forest, the team were cutting away their prison suits, Radarr with reluctance. Stork and Sunni cut away part of their suits behind a tree. The team, besides Stork and Sunni, waited ages for them to come out.
"Hurry up" hissed Finn
"I'm not coming out" growled Stork
Sunni came out, under much persuasion from Amber. Why she was afraid of her slim figure, was beyond her team mates
"See, that wasn't so bad, was it?" said Fern. Sunni muttered "no" bitterly under her breath
Finn sighed "come on Stork"
Stork refused. Junko dragged him out. Stork, it appeared, was fairly slim, and the teams saw the slight muscles. Finn looked him up and down, amazed. Fern raised an eyebrow, nudged Sunni and smiled. Sunni did the same to Piper. Finn spotted them.
"Dude, you've been working out!" he said. Stork shot him a dirty look
"You try flying the Condor" he hissed "can I help you?!" he added to Junko, who was comparing body sizes. Junko backed off
Amber was the first to break the silence. "We've got to get help" she said. The two teams stopped admiring Stork's and Sunni's figures, and listened to her.
The others nodded, she said "follow me", and as she and Angel were the only two who knew Celestial like the back of their hand, their survival laid in her hand.
They were fairly close to a lake by now. Amber looked at the lake; across the water was a waterfall. She swam across, the other's followed. She walked through the waterfall, rather easily. The second the Storm Hawks came through, they saw a ship, the size of the Condor, and many crystals were stacked inside, as well as eight skimmers. The original Archangel's
ship was hidden in rock, the very reason why no trace of them after they disappeared could ever be found. The team went inside, and got changed into pale blue suits. They then grabbed the skimmers. Amber turned one of them on, and placed a pale crystal on it, plus the white outfit that had been worn in the talent show. The Storm Hawks had changed into their outfits, and were now heading for the skimmers. Finn jumped on to the back of Fern's skimmer. Each of the Storm Hawks jumped on the back of someone's skimmer. The gargantuan ship took off- the cliff it was enclosed in had a huge hole in the top, big enough for it
"I've always wanted to get this thing off the ground" said Sunni, smiling to herself.
They dropped the Strom Hawks off at the Condor. Fern said to Finn
"I thought you said you weren't part of a squadron"
Finn looked at her "I thought the same thing" before jumping on his skimmer
Meanwhile, back at the prison- this was near morning, Angel was still growing steadily worse. She blacked out, just as Dark Ace came in.
"Now, which one of you wants to die first?" he said, raising his sword. He stopped short at the sight of the words written in blood. He looked down at Angel, whose head rested on Aerrow's lap. He ran over to her, and grabbed her necklace. It was a locket, and the picture, was of him. He picked Angel up.
"What is going on?" asked Aerrow
"She's my sister" said Dark Ace, not making eye contact. Aerrow picked up the black crystal from the floor. He'd let Piper look at it.
Dark Ace sprinted to the school, and as usual, got Aerrow in trouble. The head teacher expelled the Storm Hawks, and the King of Celestial, forbad the Storm Hawks to come back, under payment of death. Before leaving, Amber put a small crystal around each of their necks, assuring them it would bring them luck.
"Angel gave us those, and don't worry, she'll be fine" said Pixie
The Storm Hawks smiled for them, but deep down they felt sick that they would be leaving their friends, for good.
From Angel's window, she watched the Condor turn away and leave for good. She looked at the suit she was wearing- cyclonian talons
"Thanks a lot, Ace. You've just lost me my only friends" she sighed to herself.
Aerrow looked at the necklace he had been given. Looking at a book he'd borrowed off Piper, he found that they bought more good luck than expected, and headed back, just to see his new friends. Piper saw him go, from her window.
"You idiot" she muttered, before turning, and running to Stork, to turn the ship around. He did as he was told.
On Celestial, Aerrow was already arrested. He was thrown into prison for the second time. His death sentence was at dusk, which was in an hour
Amber knew what to do- ready the crew. She poked Angel awake in the hospital
"Huh? What the?" said Angel
"Aerrow is going to die!" came the frightened reply
The two ran as fast as they could to the massive ship, buried in the woods.
"Bring on the noise Sunni!!" said Amber, a smile on her face. Sunni drove the gargantuan vehicle out of the trees, and signalled the Condor to come over.
The two ships met in mid- air. Amber looked around for her friend, but nothing. She stalked into the meeting room. The teams looked up
"Where's Angel?" she asked
The teams looked at each other, and shrugged. Amber ran over to the periscope, and saw her friend, just in the distance
"I can't believe her sometimes" she muttered
She turned back to her team. She could see a look in their eyes that she didn't like- the look of fear. She turned around to see what they were looking at. The sun was beginning to disappear.
She sprinted to her designated driver "As fast as you can!! NOW!!" she half shouted the final word. Sunni put her foot down, just after the Storm Hawks had got off, and onto the Condor.
The sun was almost down, and Angel wondered if she's make it in time to save her friend. The engine on her skimmer was failing
"You have the worst sense of timing" she snarled, as she dropped. Thankfully, the coliseum was only a few meters away, but the entrance was up a flight of stairs. At the entrance, she saw her brother holding a staff, with a black crystal. One blast with that and Aerrow would be dead. She ran past many cyclonians, past the inhabitants of Celestial, and finally, to the centre, where Aerrow was kneeling looking at the crystal with fear in his eyes. As the crystal was raised, Aerrow shut his eyes and looked away
"No!!" said a voice that echoed all around the stadium. Aerrow opened his eyes, and looked up. Angel- he should have guessed. She was standing between the Dark Ace and him, her arms outstretched- a barrier between him and certain death. She was wearing her white outfit again- Aerrow wondered why, but when he saw the silvery symbol on her back, he began to wonder whose sky knight suit it was.
Dark Ace lowered his weapon. "Why should I spare him?" he questioned her. Aerrow knew he wouldn't dare harm his sister, so he was safe behind her
Angel was looking at him "He's my friend" she said.
Dark Ace rolled his eyes "Another reason why I shouldn't kill him" he said, taking a step towards her
Angel stood her ground "You don't know me too well, do you?" she said
Dark Ace sniggered "I know you very well; you always had a soft heart"
"Does it honestly look like I still use it?" Angel said, her voice hardly more than a whisper
Dark Ace thought mockingly "you're using it now"
Angel rolled her eyes, and took a step towards him, he moved back slightly. "That wasn't my soft heart, was it?" she smirked.
Dark Ace sighed "just move it, if you think you're tough enough. Or is your soft heart going to get in the way?"
The Storm Hawks and the other team had come in by this point, wondering what she was going to do. Angel looked at Dark Ace; she hadn't broken eye contact with him. Not once. She stepped aside "Fine" she said. Her brother looked at her, and so did her team. She looked at her brother "but if you kill him, I jump", she said as she wandered near the edge. Aerrow wondered what she was doing. Everyone was asking them selves the same thing; was this a trick? Judging by the fact her eyes were still focused on her brothers, this was a test of the
mind, and will. Everyone in the coliseum knew that the Dark Ace wanted to kill Aerrow, but would he risk his sister's life too?
The Dark Ace blasted him with the crystal, but Angel didn't jump, strangely enough. Instead, she just looked at her brother with those red eyes
"I knew you wouldn't jump" he said "welcome to the Cyclonian Talons"
Angel smiled at him
Piper yelled "You traitor!!"
Angel winked at her, and said to Dark Ace "the reason I didn't jump, is because…"
"Yes?" said the Dark Ace
Angel took a deep breath "…Aerrow isn't dead"
Dark Ace looked mortified as Aerrow came towards him. Angel howled with laughter.
"You don't seriously think that I would just stand aside, do you?" she laughed
Dark Ace looked at her "Whose team are you on here?" he said out of curiosity
Angel looked at him "I'm on no-one's team" she said "But I am an Archangel" she added, turning her back on him, and walking away. Aerrow knew he'd recognised that symbol on her back from somewhere
"I'd consider getting out of here, you and you're team" she said to Aerrow, which was just what they did. The last time the Storm Hawks or anyone saw her, was when she flew away from Celestial, with all she owned.
Forever