Between Earth and Air

Disclaimer: I do not own the Storm Hawks. All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners. Also, this is kinda AUious so be nice.

Chapter 1: The Portal to the Strange Land

Earth, a planet mass made up of mostly dirt and water. It is a world said to be the only place where it can support life. Out of this life, there is a species that can invent and reason with the world around it. This species is called humans.

Now humans are a complicated race that relies on both emotional and reasonable values. They sometimes think of themselves too highly and fight among each other too much. In fact, one group of humans is fighting against another group for doing a monstrous deed that killed many innocent lives. At the same time, they are trying to promote peace for a better world. Yes, humans are very complicated creatures for their perspective of good and evil.

But some humans have achieved greatness through their values. They have seen new creatures, discovered new planets outside their solar system, and made accomplishments that have better their existence. Of course, some of these humans are still closed-minded and don't believe in the concept of other worlds or magic, but there were a few of those who believe in these ideals and much more.

This is the story of one of those people, her sister, and the friends she met…

In the big city of Seattle, where the rain is never ending during winter season, the humans were walking through the streets, carrying an umbrella over their heads for protection from the cold shower. Throughout these streets, one girl was staring inside a store window. Her hair was a golden brunette that went to her shoulders and her eyes were as blue as water. She was a slim, yet muscular body, with black sweatpants, and a gray t-shirt with a black ink dragon symbol on it. Under the shirt was a light gray color tank top and on top of it was a black coat to keep the rain off her. The girl's feet were covered by black and white, M.C. Escher shoes. She was staring at the shop, no one noticing her. Except…

"Emma! Let's go!"

The girl, Emma, turned to another girl, someone slightly taller but older than her. She had a darker brown hair that came to past her shoulder. The older girl was wearing a black t-shirt, blue jeans, and a blue coat to match the current weather also, with black rain boots also. Her eyes were brown to match her hair. She walked over to the teen, grabbing her arm and dragging her away.

"Come on! Emma! It's about to close." The girl said, as the other started to walk with her. Emma looked at her sister, Katie. They were siblings that said to be twins born two years apart. She didn't see why though. She was way different than her sister in everyway she thought of. The older one was musically talent with piano, was three years ahead of her in grades, and had tact. The younger sister, however, was half tomboy, liked speaking to animals and inanimate objects, and was better at the math language than the English language.

Anyway, the two were in Seattle to explore the old underground city that burned down ages ago. It was Katie's vacation from college and their mom told them to do something together. They decided on the Seattle Underground because of a rumor Emma heard about on the news about people have been mysteriously disappearing when they wander away from the group. It was probably a silly rumor, but she wanted to see it. Just to see if there were really ghosts or aliens abducting those lost or deceased before the real world comes crashing down on their imagination.

The two made it to the entrance and, with a tour group, started to walk into the dark tunnels. It was lighted by a few lamps that were strung along the wall and a few beams of sunlight came above. The buildings were old and damaged by fire. The tour was amazed at this part of history that was hidden underneath their modern city. Emma was just disappointed that she didn't get to see anything out of the ordinary.

The teen started to flick her tongue in the air like a lizard, until she saw her sister. Katie was standing near a dark part of the town, motioning her arms to follow her. The younger sibling shrugged and walked over to her sister.

Emma put her hands in her pockets and said, "What is it, Katie?" The older girl smiled and pointed to a burnt down house. The teen turned and gasped in amazement. There, near an old broken wall of a brick house was a rip. Not a rip in pants or fabric, but a rip in reality, or at least her reality.

Katie took out her camera and took a picture of the portal. Emma just stood there in awe. But it was clear that both of them were curious at what was behind it. The younger teen gulped and started walk towards it. She turned to her sister and breathed deeply.

"Katie…" The teen started, "I-." Before she could finished, an earthquake shook through the ground as the already destroyed town started to fall apart. Katie tried to get her balance, but not before watching her younger sister fall through the portal.

"EMMA!" she called, as the older girl started to run. She went into the rip as well. After that, the asphalt fell through where the siblings have been.

Terra Cyclonia, the capital of an empire that has shown terror and sadness through out the skies of Atmos. It was a warehouse of the most powerful weapons, the strongest ships, and the most talented soldiers in the world of air. Almost all the terras feared of what their cruel and unusual leader would do.

Unfortunately, these soldiers called Talons were humans and as such, were not very bright. If they were, they would have notice two girls wearing weird clothes not accustomed to their world knocked out on their floor.

One of the girls started to stirred and woke up. She blinked before looking at the other one and started to shake her. "Katie, wake up." she said, before the older girl got up. She blinked before turning to her younger sister, confused to where they were.

"Katie, I don't know where we are," the younger teen started, "But we're not in America anymore." She smirked, as she watched Katie's expression of confusion. The two stood up and started to explore the castle. They were amazed at the technology, but cautious of the guards. They were staring at an unloading dock when they heard something.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN SSSSSHE'SSSSS BUSSSSY?!"

Emma and Katie jumped, and turned to see four anthro lizards, glaring at a shrimpy-looking guard. The one who was closest to the guard had a dark-green scaly skin and a muscular built. The other one was muscular too, but his face was more inward and was taller as well. The fat one was a lighter green and had a shorter tail than the other three. The last one was so scrawny; it made him look like a female. All four had the same yellow colored eyes, and wore the same clothes, which were brown shorts and jackets, and spiky armor. The first one looked to be their leader.

The guard gulped and said, "S-she in-inside h-h-her lab, w-w-working on her n-newest p-plan, Repton." The dark one, Repton, growled and whacked the guard with his tail. The two sisters gulped as well, knowing that these are definitely people (or lizards) not to mess with.

"But we got the crystal! We demand the right to see her highnessss." he said, flicking his tongue at the guard. Emma was amazed by how Repton said "Her highness". It was made to sound like an insult. Maybe the ruler of this place was a tyrant? Also, she knew that the leader was also female. That might help with being the same gender, the two can be friends with the empress and probably, if she wasn't as tyrannical as they said, she and her sister could get out of her.

Suddenly, the sound of footsteps entered the room, as the lizards turned to see a woman heading towards them. The woman was light-skinned, with had yellow eyes and pinked hair that stood up. She was slender and wore dark pink/purple clothes with a shirt that revealed some cleavage. The woman also had tanned armor on her shirt as well. Emma suspected she was at a higher rank than the guard.

Behind her was a man that was like the wrestlers of her world. He had a huge built chest, but very thin legs. He also had purple eyes to match his purple hair, that was jelled back to make him look almost bald. The man wore green pants and a purple armor shirt that covered in orange armor. The younger sister swallowed, feeling smaller in the man's present.

The woman stopped and looked at Repton, tapping her lower arm in perfect rhythm. "Sorry, Repton, but Master Cyclonis is busy." she said, before holding out her hand, "But I'll take that crystal off your hands if you don't mind."

The lizard growled, and, holding the crystal closed to him, he said, "Oh no, Ravesss. I got thisss crystal. I give it to her." The two started to argue, as the bigger man and three other lizards growled at each other. Emma watched, realizing that this alliance was probably a shaky one. One reason was how Repton came back with how hard he got the crystal and should get the credit. Another one was how the two were fighting over who gave the crystal to their leader. This proved that the lizards didn't get along with these humans very well. It was a few minutes, before she felt a tapped on the shoulder by her older sister.

"Come on, Emma." Katie said, "Let's get out of here." Even though the younger sister wanted to stay a little more to see how it would end, she knew the risk if they stayed. The girl stood up, but bumped into a staff accidentally.

The domino theory is when one object fall, and a lot more can follow. Imagine this effect using staves. Somehow that one weapon started to fall, causing eleven more to fall loudly. The two sisters watched the effect end near the group as the last staff slowly stopped on the floor. The lizards and soldiers stopped arguing and stared at the two who weren't definitely Talons. In fact, they didn't look Atmosian at all.

"Intruders!" The big man called, his voice raspy, "After them!" Emma and Katie squeaked, watching the Talon guard and lizards run towards them. The younger one blanked off, and started to run. The older sister was ahead because she started to run before Emma got distracted. The girl caught up as the two ran through the dark, metallic halls.

"I think we should split up! We might have a better chance of not getting caught and escaping with our lives intact!" Emma said, looking forward at a split. The other sister nodded, knowing it was probably better if one of them survived and told the story. As the Katie went left and the other girl went right, the lizards split up to follow the girls; the scrawny and fat one right, and the brawny one left.

Katie ran through the hanger bay, being noticed by the other talon guards. As she ran in random directions to lose the lizard, the older sister also tried to slow it down by knocking over crates. It worked, as the creature was trying to punch his way out. She smiled, but it faded when she saw Repton standing in front of her with a glowing boomerang in his hand.

"Going somewhere, girl?" He taunted, before throwing his boomerang at Katie. She ducked quickly and started to run through another corridor. Repton growled and followed in pursuit, while grabbing his boomerang in the process.

The girl knew she couldn't run for much more and the other lizard was faster than a cheetah. She then noticed an open door. She ran into it and noticed a button next to it. Not risking to be killed by the lizard, Katie quickly pressed it, causing the door to come down just before Repton got in. She then heard a loud roar coming from behind the entrance.

Katie breathed and then collapsed to the floor in exhaustion. 'That was… fun.' She thought, but she knew. That wasn't fun, it was a nightmare. This place was different than Earth and much more dangerous. She and her younger sister had to get out of here before to get killed by these people.

Suddenly, a humming filled the room, as the girl felt something sharp on her neck. "I caught you, rat," A feminine voice said, as Katie knew she had been caught.

Meanwhile, Emma was trying to lose her half of the lizards through the forges of this world. She was swinging on a chain, the scrawny one trying to grab her. The fat one was below her, running on a converter belt hoping that the girl would fall off already.

"I got her! I got her!" he called, before tripping and landing on his face. The lizard then was dizzy as he rode on the converter belt. The other lizard growled, trying to get closer to the teen.

"Give up! Worm!" he called. He had almost grabbed the girl, but only got a touch on her back. Emma squeaked, which caused her let go of the rope and fall. She tried to grab the edge with her hands, but missed and landed on a nice, soft pile of ash. The girl popped out, coughing the dust out of her lungs.

'Crap, that was close.' she thought, before hearing a screechy battle cry from the lizard. It launched itself at the girl, out stretching its arm to grab the child. Emma did a high kick, which landed right in the lizard's face. He fell down, looking very paralyzed from the hit.

Emma smiled and started to find a way out of the fortress. She imagined herself being out of this place and trying to go through therapy after she told the news about this, who would never believe her. Unfortunately, she stopped just as soon as she realized that she was running towards a cliff.

The teen started to hyperventilate, before slowly backing away from the edge. Her fear of high places and falling were starting to get to her. She can deal with some places, but this was higher than the clouds.

As Emma caught a few breathes, she felt something next to her next. Before she could turn to see what it was, that something pressured her shoulder and it was so strong, she fainted into oblivious black.

Light entered through her eyes as Emma woke up, gasping for air. She looked around the room, thinking it was a dream, but soon found out it wasn't. The room she was in wasn't her room. It was bare with metal walls and one uncomfortable bed. Katie was also in there, leaning against the wall.

"Well, you're up." she said, as her younger sister started to wipe her eyes with her hands. "I've been captured too, that pink haired woman got me by putting an arrow next to my neck. What about you?"

Emma blinked, as she explained, "I didn't see who got me. I just escaped the two lizards before almost running off a cliff." Then, she took out a bandana that had a metal plate with a leaf doodle and a scar across it.

The older sister blinked, knowing about her sister's fear of heights. Then, she noticed the bandana and got really mad. "Emma! You brought that with you! I thought you weren't going to wear it!" she yelled, as the younger of the two turned to her with an apathetic glare.

"I didn't wear it when we were on Earth," she said, while putting in on, "I brought it for something like this. Now, help me put it on please." Katie sweatdropped and decided to help her sister. Emma's tome in her request for help was sort of rude, but the older one knew it was meant to be polite.

As she tied the bandana over her sister's forehead, she asked, "So, high up was that cliff anyway?" Emma paled a bit and started to shake. Katie was confused, why was her sister acting like this?

"I… Couldn't tell, I only saw clouds." the younger girl answered, feeling that her bandana was tied. The older one blinked as she stood up. There was no one anyone could live past the clouds.

"Clouds?" she asked, until she heard the door opens. It was the pink haired woman and the purple haired man they saw earlier today. The man leaned against the doorway as the slender female walked in, with steady steps. She watched the two with her yellow, piercing eyes.

"Well…" she started and asking, "Any explanations on what you two are doing here?" She looked like she was about to break something. The two gulped, but the younger one took the situation into her hands.

"No, but are you the person who pointed an arrow at my sister's neck?" she asked, smiling sweetly as she could. The woman turned her head to the girl and drummed her fingers on her forearm.

"Yes," the female answered, and then asked, "Why?" The youngest in the room smiled as big as she could.

"Nothing…" Emma said, before muttering just enough for her capturer to hear, "You witch." Then, she started to giggle, as the woman looked very angry at the comment. The man snickered at his superior also, but was quickly silenced when she glared at him.

Then, the woman coughed and said, "Ravess, my name is Ravess… And this is my brother, Snipe." She pointed as the man, who just turned to the front. The younger sister stopped laughing and gulped. She didn't want to fight that guy.

Katie looked at Ravess and asked, "What are you guys? And where are we?" She looked very concerned as the woman turned to her. But before she could explain, her idiot brother spoke.

"We ask the questions around here!" he yelled, stomping out of the door and in front of the older sister. Emma stiffened, and took off a shoe. Then, either out of stupid courage or swift instinct, she threw the shoe at the man's head. It hit, lightly enough not to make any damage, but hard for him to know. He turned, smiling wickedly. The younger teen swallowed, knowing she did something wrong.

The bulky man moved closer to Emma, as she started to lean down. He placed his arms next to the girl, moving closer everything second. She was afraid, but tried not to show it.

"Enough!" someone else said, as another man entered the room. The man seemed to be in his late 20's and was not as built as Snipe. He also had black, jelled hair with red eyes. He wore the red and green jumpsuit, with tan armor over it. The man also had a pump on his left arm. He stared at the room before saying, "Master Cyclonis wants to see the two girls. Have some self control and bring them to the room."

And as soon as he left, Ravess turned to her brother and yelled, "You heard him, Snipe! Stop scaring the girl and help me escort those brats." The man scoffed, moving away from Emma and stomping out in rage. Then, the woman turned to the two and said, "Come on, let's see what the master wants with you."

Katie stood up and walked outside. Her younger sister soon followed after, realizing she had no choice, and wanted to see who the Cyclonis thing was. As they walked, the two earthlings examined the castle. It was more like a headquarters for an army. They had weaponry that made the US Army look like ants, and vehicles that were almost a few years ahead.

Emma thought this stuff was cool but also dangerous. If these guys figured about Earth or the portal to it, they might try to invade for one reason or another. This could lead to a "War of the Worlds" or a nuclear war. The little sister walked up to her sibling and said, "Katie, let's not say were from Earth. We'll keep quiet about our home world and not tell them anything."

The older sister looked at her and nodded. Emma was right about not saying that they were from Earth. But, she was a little queasy about keeping quiet. The man and woman were soldiers, and soldiers can get anything if they used the right method. She decided to wait to see what will happen.

When the group got to the door leading to where the Cyclonian leader was, Ravess started to fix up the sisters up for the meeting. "Now, bow in the present of Cyclonis, speak when you have been spoken to, and don't test her anger." She said, while fixing Emma's hair with her hand. Herself and Katie nodded, one of them not listening (Guess who. D)

The little sister looked at Snipe, and blinked. From her point of view, the man looked scared. She saw that even though he was keeping a cool stance, his hands were shaking. Was the ruler really that terrifying?

When the door opened, the group walked in into a dark room. It was only lighted by dimly bright, purple crystals on the wall. There were also statues of gargoyles along the walls. In front of the group was a throne with the Dark Ace next to it, and on it was a teenage girl not much older than Emma herself.

The girl was pale, and had black hair and purple eyes. She wore a black dress with a two layer poncho over it. The top layer was lighter purple, triangular piece, with a darker piece under it. Behind her head was reddish fan neck piece. On her neck was a silver trinket with a picture of a bird crouching down like a terror symbol. In fact, the two now noticed that it was on almost all the guards and commanders as well. They guessed that she was Master Cyclonis.

As instructed by Ravess, the sisters bowed, but in different ways. Katie curtsied, while bowing her head. Emma just nodded her head and said, "Hey, Cyclonis." Ravess had to control every nerve in her body to not kill the girl now.

The Dark Ace turned to his master, who looked at him. His look was confused by the act of this prisoner. Why did she treat his master like a peasant? He wanted to see if Cyclonis wanted her to be punished, but she smiled, showing no remorse in her body.

"So," The queen started, "You are the two that have intruded in my castle?" Then, she stood up, showing she was much shorter than Emma. The two girls gulped, somehow feeling the negative vibes from the other girl.

"Well, your majesty, we're sorry for invading your castle and running away, but we had problems with your… servants?" said the older sister, trying to sound like they didn't mean any harm to their captors at all. But unfortunately, someone disagreed with that fact.

"THAT'S A LIE!!"

The prisoners jumped to see Repton and his men (lizards) were also in the room with them. They were all glaring at the two, except for the fat one, who was just spacing out at the scene. The scrawny one, however, was resisting to tackling Emma to the ground and ripping her limb from limb. He still had the shoe print that the girl gave a kick to on his face. The teen snickered and thought, 'I have no regrets.'

Repton stepped forward and said, "Cyclonis! These children were spying on us. We just took to instinct and chased after them."

"And we took instinct and ran. You didn't give us a chance to speak!" commented Emma, before smirking and then holding out her hand. "But since you're reptiles, let's be friends." The younger sister had a liking for reptiles, which includes snakes and dragons. Unfortunately, these lizards were as cold-hearted as they seemed to be.

"Thut up!" The scrawny one said, speaking with a lisp as he added, "We don't need your… thympathec!" The girl glared at the lizard and growled. They just stood there, about to fight, until a cough was heard.

The two turned to the girl sitting on the throne as she looked at her nails. She looked bored at the squabble. The empress stood up and placed her arms underneath her chest.

"Now that you're done fighting," she said, "Maybe you can tell me about you and your friend." Emma stood up straight and gulped. She felt intimidated whenever speaking. Speech wasn't really her strong point.

Katie saw the nervousness in her sister and decided to talk for a moment. "We're sisters, your grace." she said, while bowing, "You may not trust us at the moment, but we swear we have no intention of harming you and you kingdom." This was a tactic that Emma knew well. In order to survive, they must have to know that the two were harmless. She just hoped it worked.

Cyclonis raised an eyebrow, and then smiled. This wasn't a normal, friendly smile. This was an evil smile. The two felt that they have gotten themselves in a lot of trouble.

"So, where are you from?" The younger girl asked, as the older two paled. They decided to remain silent for that question. They didn't know much about this world and the places here. The sisters decided to remain silent for this.

After a few minutes, the empress got bored and started to move her pointer finger between the two. It stopped on Emma as Cyclonis smiled. Then, she took out a red crystal. The Dark Ace knew what his master was planning to do. He smiled in amusement.

Suddenly, a trail of red energy shot out of the crystal and pulled Emma up to the ceiling of the room. The girl's fear came into effect as she was up so high. Then the energy disappeared and she started to fall to the ground. She landed with a big thud on the cold, metal.

Silence filled the room, until the lizards started to laugh. The giant snickered and the woman smirked. They were amused at the little sister's fall. She was not and she growled. Katie looked at her sibling, fearful that she could have gotten killed if it were any higher.

"Well… Are you going to tell me or do you want to go higher?" Cyclonis said, as she clasped the crystal. Emma glared at the other girl with murdering eyes. She was really mad and had a rebel streak inside of her now.

"…" The girl remained, as she laid there. The empress raised an eyebrow. Breaking this one is going to be harder yet much more fun than she thought.

Cyclonis was about to grab another crystal. One she knew that would put the girl in her place. Maybe a few days in purgatory would kill her spirit. "Okay, I-"

"WE'RE OPRHANS!"

Everyone fell silent and stared at Katie. The older sister looked stressed as she yelled out loud. Emma turned to her sister and blinked.

"Yes, we're orphans." Katie said, as she kneeled down to her sister, "We were young when our parents died. That's when we also travel to get away from the memories of being alone."

Dark Ace raised an eyebrow and asked, "Then how did you get here?" The older sister smiled sheepishly. This was going to be harder than she thought.

"… We snuck in?" Katie answered, as the lizards and the commanders facefaulted. There was no way that Master Cyclonis would believe this! It wasn't logical for the most secure place in Atmos. Unless you're in a team of six teenagers and an animal, it was impossible!

The empress put the crystal in her cloak and turned to Emma. "See, it wasn't so hard to tell us you're orphans." She said, as the younger sister growled. Then, she sat back on her throne, turning to the sibling commanders.

"Ravess, Snipe, you stay here with the Dark Ace. Repton, take these two to separate rooms for the time being." Cyclonis commanded, as the Talon commanders nodded. Repton growled; another job that every Talon was lazy to do. He walked over to one that lay on the floor and picked her up. Then, he turned to his brothers.

"Hoerk, Spitz! Get the other one. Leugey, you're coming with me!" he called. The lizards nodded, as the scrawny and built lizards grabbed Katie, and the fat one walked over to Repton.

"Ooohhhh, are we going to torture her, Repton? Huh, huh? Are we?" the fat lizard said, as his tail wagged. His older brother sighed, and whacked him with his tail.

"SHUT UP! LEUGY!"

As the lizards left, Snipe turned to his master, along with Ravess. The Dark Ace stepped down and turned to the girl. They were eager to hear what she has to say.

"So?" The Dark Ace started, "What is it, Master Cyclonis?" He kneeled and stared at the master. The smile she had wasn't her usual smile. This was her "plotting-to-rule-all-of-Atmos-again" smile. Then, she stood up and said,

"She's lying."

"Get in there!" yelled Repton, as he threw Emma into her own room. She landed on her face and got up quickly. Then, the girl ran to the door, only to have it shut in her face. She slammed her arms on the door and turned to her room.

It was as the same as the last one that she and her sister was in. Katie, how was she doing? 'Probably trying to stay calm.' the little sister thought, as she thought back. She was the one who proclaimed the trip to the Underground; in order to prove that aliens were trying to kidnap tourists. She didn't think that the tourists were accidentally walking into wormholes. But Emma was used to it anyway; she played, read, and watched a lot of sci-fi and fantasy so she was more opened to.

Not wanting to stand at the door for the rest of the day, the girl decided to see what supplies she had with her. She walked over to desk and took out the things she had with her: one cell phone, a digital video camera, her Tarot cards, a Nintendo DS with her Pokemon game in it, and her ninja headband that she was wearing. This made at least five items that she had now.

Now, she knew that the cell phone, DS, and tarot set would be useless. This world probably doesn't have wireless connection and the only person she could call was her sister. The other, useless items would be used for entertainment in this place. The digital camera would help if it had enough battery juice to record this place. Emma was about to check when she heard a knock at the door.

The girl panicked, took off her bandana, and hid her things in a drawer. Then, she quickly got on her bed and yelled, "Come in." The door opened to reveal a Talon grunt, carrying a plate of… Let's just say that it didn't look like food that Emma would eat. It was probably good food, but she was a picky eater.

The teen stuck out her tongue in disgust and turned to the Talon, asking, "May I have something else, please?" She smiled to be more convincing. She really didn't want to eat this stuff.

But the Talon snickered and said, "No way. You either eat it, or else you'll get nothing at all after this." The smile faded from the girl's mouth, and she looked back at the food. She REALLY didn't want to eat this stuff. It looked like garbage; very disgusting, unfit-to-eat garbage. Thinking of nothing else to do with it, she did the only thing that could get her on these Cyclonians' bad side.

She threw the plate at the Talon.

The guy noticed it at last minute, and got the food on his face and inside his mouth. He tasted it and paled. Then, he ran out, screaming, "AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!! I ATE IT! I ATE IT!" Emma laughed and fell onto the bed, thinking about what she had done. Sure, she could starve to death after this, but after everything that had happened to her after getting here, that was worth it.

She smiled at the ceiling and thought, 'I'm going to like this place.'

Authors Notes:

I finished this chapter weeks ago, but it had to be edited in order for it to be a work of literature. The revision was taking so long, I started on chapter two. It got all the way to the middle of chapter three before changing editors. It might still be a little bit of novice work, but at least okay for me.

On other notes, I need help with the accents. If anyone has any info on the accents on the Storm Hawks show, including Scabulous', Leugy's and, god forbid, the Colonel's accent, please email it to me.

Please read and review! I respect criticism, but flames will be use for the bonfire I'll be using with Ravess' violins.