Own Code, Own Honor

Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks. I do own Emma though. All characters, places, concepts, and ideas belong to their respective owners.

Chapter 1: The Invitation

"Yes, yes, yes, this is so wonderful!" said an overly excited Piper as she held a piece of paper close to her chest. She was waiting for another chance like this; another chance to prove that she and the rest of the squadron wasn't just a bunch of kids. This time, it wasn't going to mess up.

But her fantasy shattered when one paranoid helmsman asked, "You mean my Mind Worm Repellant came?" She looked over at Stork with an annoyed look on her face. They were on the bridge of the Condor with their red-haired leader and his little pet. They were staring at her, while leaning against the wall as the merb was steering.

"No, Stork. I just received message from the Rex Guardians," the tanned girl said, "They invited us to their anniversary dinner. Isn't it great?!" To her, the Rex Guardians were totally model sky knights as they had gotten class, discipline, and most importantly, organization. Even though they made a mistake of giving the Phoenix Crystal to the Dark Ace, but they were training of learning how to not to apply everything to the Code, the oath of all sky knights. Not only that, they were still considered the best squadron in the Atmos, other than the Storm Hawks.

"That's cool. When is it?" asked Aerrow as he continued to lean wall. As much as it would be an honor to attend a dinner dedicated to the first sky knights, it would be a hassle if it was really late. Sure, they were near the terra, but if it wasn't for a really long time before the dinner started, it would be a hassle to stay on the terra for that long. And it would be a waste of crystal fuel if they had to go somewhere else and then come back when the party started because of how close they were to Terra Rex. That and he felt that the Rex Guardians were a little… uptight.

"It's tomorrow night," the specialist said, before pulling out some maps and examining them, "And if we go head there now, we'll probably make it at before night falls, which we'll have plenty of time to prepare for it." She knew how these parties went; they were all fancy-like. And the rest of the squadron was… Not probably the finest when it came to table manners. So, it was her job to get them ready for the dinner.

The leader nodded and then turned to Stork, commanding, "Alright, Stork, let's head for Terra Rex." After some mumbling about certain doom, the pilot applied and started to head for the terra. Everything was going along smoothly, at least until a scream echo throughout the entire ship.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"

That definitely made some skins jumped as Finn and Junko ran onto the bridge, trying to look for a place to hide. As the two were looking for a place to hide, the rest wondered what would have caused their panic. The merb had one theory, "They probably saw the horrible Viapime. Yea, with their way of numbing the body before sucking out their victim's organs, I would probably scream too."

"It's not that, Stork!" yelled the blonde, as he still looked for hiding spot, "She wants to give us diarrhea!" Suddenly, hearing the sounds of running footsteps, both the sharpshooter and wallop went behind Aerrow's back. Whatever was coming must have been the something that got the two all worked-up. The crew was ready to fight whoever was coming, until the door opened to reveal a strange girl with brunette hair and wearing strange clothes. She seemed to be a little short of breath as the group stared.

After catching her second wind, she looked up at the group and stated, "I'm not going to give them diarrhea… Probably. I just wanna know if that thing really was true." The Storm Hawks sighed in relief, realizing it was just their new passenger, Emma. It had been a week since they caught up to her, and after some explaining, the group decided that she could stay until they could figure out where her older sister, Katie, was. Easier said than done when that said sister was in the hands of Cyclonia, who is trying to keep their plan on invading Gaia/Earth a top secret. Not much has changed to her except now she was wearing a collar with a dog-tag on it from the team. She thought it was a little gift in order to prove that past was in the past, but it was in fact a tracer in case she went on her own like the times before.

"… What's really true?" asked Aerrow, a little interested. He was the one trying to get the Gaian to be more social with his team; he tried to get her to talk about the things she liked back on her own world and her culture in particular. He didn't learn much about it except most of the Atmos was similar to Earth in a way. But he was still wondering what a cow was and how it could be in a cheeseburger.

The teen sighed as she explained, "I learn from a show back home that if you pressed a certain point on the head, you can give a person diarrhea. I just wanted to see of this was really true." Everyone was silent for a few moments; who in their right minds wanted to get a person sick?!

"And why did you decide now would be the best time to test that theory out?" asked Stork, a little curious. Sure, he wouldn't mind seeing a sick Finn. But he didn't want to have a mess on the Condor, especially one that could spread germs to himself in particular.

"… I recently remember it when I was being bored." the older girl said, before everyone groaned. That seemed to be a problem when they were traveling with no direction. The squadron knew that she had strange toys from Gaia to play with, but her reasons were that she didn't want to waste battery on her DS and cellphone; which was one of the side projects for Piper was doing to convert the Gaian electrical power into crystal energy. That and she got bored with playing Solitaire with her Tarot set.

"That's still not a good reason to do that. I don't want my wingman and mechanic to be sick on the job." said the leader as the blonde and wallop sighed in relief; they were glad that Aerrow had sternness in his voice, especially when it wasn't directed at them. "Besides, did you have chores to do?"

The brunette stared at everyone blankly as she asked, "… What chores?" Now, Piper groaned at this one; she couldn't believe how forgetful this girl was when it came to working. They constantly reminded her and ever showed her to the chore chart. But the other girl said that she had something that her parents called selective hearing, which was sort of an excuse for teens slacking off. Getting back to the story, the older teen looked at the rest and asked, "So, where are off to now?"

This time it was the team leader's turn to answer, "We're heading for Terra Rex, home to the Rex Guardians." Finn and Junko were excited to hear this, especially Finn. All those fan girls were waiting for him on terra Rex; this was going to be awesome. Unfortunately, Emma was a little bit confused.

"Terra Rex…" she muttered as her mind began to work. "… Are the Rex Guardians lizards as well?" Everyone sweatdropped as she beamed brightly. The sky knight squadron accepted her liking for all things reptilian, including the Raptors; they just needed to remind her that they would rather eat her than be friends with her. But how she related the Guardians to Raptors, they'll never know.

"No! They are not lizards! They're humans!" shouted Piper as she took out the big guide to Atmos, as the earthly girl would like to call it, "In fact, they are the first sky knight squadron in the history of Atmos. Not only that, they are the best squadron in the entire world… Well, second best." After the competition between the Hawks and Guardians, most people would agree that the Storm Hawks were the best, even if they didn't win due to stupid technicalities with the Code.

This definitely made the brunette frowned a bit. For once, she wanted to meet really good lizards instead of the ones that wanted to eat her. That and she didn't feel very comfortable with other sky knights; it was due to the fact that they and other Atmosians would probably want to see her burning at the stake. Her slight depression ended when she heard Stork yelled, "We're here!"

The Gaian looked up and stared outside along with everyone else. There was a really big terra that was mostly flat with trees, but also had a lot of mountains on one side of it. On the other side, there was a really big, golden arena with a lot of stands and a long landing strip in the middle. There were also a lot of cheering people from the arena as they saw the Condor in view. Finn smirked with pride; it looked like they still had fans here.

Suddenly, five golden skimmers appeared in the sky and in front of the carrier, started to lead them towards the forest. Emma took noticed of their appearance; they were all blonde, all blue-eyed and all wearing gold armor; the only differences were their sizes, their facial features, their hairstyles, and one of them was female. The one leading the group was a fairly muscular man with a clean, high back pony-tail and a proud sense of what he was doing. She watched as they descended back into stadium and felt that the ship descending as well. She looked at the team on board as the leader began to speak.

"Looks like Harrier wants to speak with us privately." he said, as he continued to stare outside. But he was wondering why though; he knew how the Guardians like to put on a show for their people. Maybe it was a private matter about the party. It seemed like a plausible reason; maybe he'll ask the squadron's leader once they landed.

When the skimmers and Condor landed, the red-haired leader and tanned girl stood near the exit. "You guys stay here until we figure out what we are going to do." The red head said, as he watched his crew's reaction. They were okay with staying onboard for a little longer. The only one who was really disappointed was the Gaian.

"… I guess I'll have to wait then." she said to herself, as she sat down and laid her head on the table. Everyone stared at her with sweatdrops; they knew their companion had a weird way of getting off. First, she comes running out and then she starts hugging the ground while kissing it. To them, they thought it was just some ritual back on Gaia, but to someone with acrophobia, this was just a way of saying that they were thankful of being back on solid ground again.

The specialist and boy blinked, before heading out the door. Soon, everyone went into doing something on the Condor; Stork with his preparing for combating doom, Junko and Finn with their fun, and Emma with her boredom. She was going to wait to do chores since they didn't need to be done anytime soon. So, the problem was what to do with her time now.

That's when she noticed it. There, sitting on a table, was Radarr. The co-pilot stayed behind because he wasn't properly groomed for going outside at the moment. As he continued to brush his tail, the furry noticed the brunette eyeing him evilly. She smiled like a mad man before asking, "Hey, Radarr, wanna help me with my experiment?"

The cabbit looked at her strangely. This wasn't going to end well.

Aerrow and Piper walked outside and were greeted by Harrier, the blonde, pony-tailed leader of the Rex Guardians. He bowed, gentlemen-style, as the specialist curtsied. The Storm Hawks leader blinked at this; he'll never understand formality.

"Ahhh, Storm Hawks," said the Guardians' leader with a proper British accent, before standing up, "I see you got the invitation." He looked like he accepted their company very well than last time, but he wasn't sure that it wouldn't be like last time. When the younger squadron last came, they made utter fools of themselves. He hoped that they were a little better with their etiquette than last time.

"Yea, it was a good timing that we were near and your dinner is tomorrow night." said the red head, as he smiled a bit. He wanted to go to this party for one small reason; it was to celebrate the first sky knights who freed the terras from tyranny. He just hoped the classy squadron would accept their… tackiness.

Harrier stiffened up before asking, "Now, are you prepared?" The boy didn't get it; it was just dinner. What else is there to do? The tanned girl seemed to have got it as she went into answer-mood.

"Don't worry! Everything will be perfect for this celebration!" she said, smiling big. That reassured the Rex leader; everything will be going as plan. There will not be any minor detail to be left forgotten… Well, except one.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!"

Suddenly, someone ran out of the ship and accidently ran into the blonde sky knight. She was a little bit disoriented by running into the armor and started to walking staggered towards a tree. Once there, she attached herself to it and was about to climb, but not before a bluish blur came out and attached itself to her butt. The two Storm Hawks looked away in realizing how Emma was in pain from Radarr's bite. The brown-haired teen grimaced, trying not to scream out in pain, as she walked over to the young sky knight and girl.

"Let me guess…" said Aerrow as he examined, "You tried to touch Radarr's head, but he revolted." The older girl nodded, her lips quivering; she was trying to use her mind over matter to ignore the pain. Then, she noticed the blonde as he stared at her strangely. She stared back, and even though they didn't have enough mind power to have a mind link, both shared the same thought.

They weren't going to like each other.

Piper, sensing some tension between the two, decided to ease it by saying, "Harrier, this is Emma. Emma, this is Harrier of the Rex Guardians." The brunette looked a little bit relieved, but she still didn't like him. He reminded her of someone that didn't help her out when she almost became lunch; yea, she can hold a grudge for a long time. She slowly started to limp away, wanting to get rid of the mini-furry on her bum.

The blonde scowled and commented, "Strange girl… Strange clothes also." The two Storm Hawks smiled sheepishly; they knew the reason why she was so strange but weren't going to tell him. They promised not to tell anyone else about their companion's heritage. The last thing they needed was a riot on how to take over the world. "So, is she a new member?"

"Actually, she's just staying with us for a while." Aerrow answered, looking a little bit uneasy. The only reason why the Gaian wasn't a Storm Hawk was because she wanted to remain neutral until she figured out who's right and who's wrong. But then again, she simply didn't care about choosing sides anyway. The elder sky knight looked disappointed at this.

"You brought a civilian with you?!" he exclaimed. Sure, it was okay to bring some kids interested in being a sky knight along in a squadron for a short while. But to have an untrained civilian on your team, it was needless and dangerous. Besides, she could be a Cyclonian spy for all they know.

"Yea, but it's okay. We don't bring her along on dangerous missions. In fact, she only does the chores around… Mostly." What the specialist said was generally true, but the Hawks' leader wanted to get the outer-worlder more involved with team and Atmos a little more. He knew after the chores were done, she will go back to her room, lying on the bed and being bored. Even though it was her choice, the boy still wanted her to be more sociable; it would be more simplify that way.

Harrier scuffed again before saying, "Well, I best be off then. See you at dinner tomorrow… And I hope to see your new friend there as well." The two were shocked at this; even if Gaians had parties like Atmosians, were they civilized enough for these kinds of parties? Before the Hawks could say anything, the Rex Guardians had already left. They looked worried, but afterwards, Piper smiled and started to walk back into the ship.

Aerrow looked over at her with a cocked eyebrow, asking, "Are you sure about this?" He knew what his teammate was planning and he knew it wasn't going to end well. If there was one thing he learned while living with the brunette wasn't the best person to do requests. Sure, she could do chores when she was cattle-prodded enough, but when it came to fun events, he wasn't sure.

"I'm sure. If Emma is still being bored, she is definitely going to say yes."

"No."

After her fourth asking, Piper was gawking at the fact that this girl doesn't want to go to the dinner. She said she was bored and still, she wouldn't go to a dinner. While the Gaian was relaxing on some crates in the hanger, the tanned girl hovered over her while the guys were watching from a distance; they wanted to not get killed if there was going to be an argument.

"I thought you were bored!" exclaimed the specialist as she was starting to lose patience, "Why don't you want to go to the Rex Guardian's dinner?!" Emma stared at her with a laid back look on her face. She still was bored, but she would rather stay on the Condor than go to some stupid party where she was odd-man-out.

"Wasn't this for sky knights and their squadrons? In which I'm not any of the two. Besides, I kinda don't do well at parties, especially the ones where you require really high manners skills and those tight dresses that make you choke to death." That was true; the squadron was required to dress, eat, and act nice during the celebration. But these were the Rex Guardians, they were the most respective team in the Atmos and they acted like it to boot. "And watching the Condor won't hurt. I bet I could do a lot of things on here while you aren't around."

Suddenly, Stork came out of his hiding place and said, "Actually, I want to stay here also to protect her." The specialist went paled as the blue-eyed teen smiled sweetly.

"Thanks, Stork, but I'm fine," she answered, thinking that the merb finally started to see her as more as some disease-spreading freak. But that wasn't the case as he looked at her with the same old look when he usually says things about doom.

"I don't mean you. I meant the Condor." the pilot said, before cringing down from a foretold hit of pain. The two female humans just stared at him with sweatdrops forming. There are some things you can't change and one of them was Stork's undying love for the Condor.

A second pass and Junko popped out, saying, "Actually, can I stay behind too? That squire might be still mad at me." All the Storm Hawks paled when they remembered that moment. It was their first time meeting the Guardians and the wallop thought that a cough to get some attention was actually choking; he did say he was sorry though.

Then Finn walked out and said, "I want to stay behind too, because this is going to be lame." Piper could not believe this; an anniversary dinner for the first sky knights and most of the team didn't want to go?! Sure, the Guardians intimidated them when it came to class, either that or the Storm Hawks like to be vulgar, but this time, they will definitely get it right.

"Guys, this is important, not lame! And with my training, our squadron will be the best conducted ever yet." the specialist said, causing the others to sweatdropped. Something was going on in Piper's mind, and they were scared of it.

"Wait, what training?" asked Aerrow as he appeared with Radarr on his shoulder. Sure, he was up for training when it came to fight. But whatever the crystal expert had in mind, he wasn't sure.

"Oh, just some lessons in proper etiquette. If we speed these lessons along, we'll be so formal for the party." she responded, causing Finn to groan. This meant more work, work that would probably be meaningless in some way other than getting joy out of it. This was definitely something that the sharpshooter didn't want.

"There's no way I'm not doing that." said Finn, before commenting, "It's probably going to be a waste of time." That comment was the one that set the bomb off. The lessons weren't a waste of time; they were going to be helpful in life situation such as these and they were going to do them whether they like it or not.

"Oh, you are doing them! In fact, everyone is going to be doing them and including you, Emma!" This definitely caused the Gaian to jump from her sitting place and land on the floor with her face. She at a really fancy party with snobs that are probably going to criticize her for being from a world where they attacked Atmos and being lower class was definitely not something she would rather do. Now, the teen being in a lively bar would be a little more likely, but this was going make her bored out of her skull.

"Piper, I can't go. I'm not a formal party person and… I think Harrier doesn't like me that much." The brunette protested, grabbing her arm. She didn't care about what other people thought about her anyway, but in the case of trying to prevent an interworld war… Let's just say that staying away from people who don't like her was the best policy for now.

The tanned girl smirked and said, "Harrier invited you and according to proper manners, you can't deny an invitation, especially if the invitation is from a Rex Guardian. Besides, you also could use those lessons because as a girl, you are required to have some ladylikeness to your appearance instead of your strange, Gaian-style." Everyone else stared at her, wanting to make up an excuse or protest as well. They didn't want to do lessons in manners; they were perfect just the way they were. But before they could speak, the specialist left the room, saying, "The first lesson begins in ten minutes and you have definitely have to be there or else…"

Once she left the hanger, everyone felt silent. And even though they still didn't have ESP they all shared the same thought,

'What have I done to deserve this?'

Author's Notes:

A new story for me to write! And the shortest chapter I ever wrote as well. I know I said I would write some more non-OC stories before going into a story like this, but this idea kept bugging me and bugging me until I couldn't stand it and I had to write this. Some of it is still in planning, but I'll do some of it.

Speaking of some planning, I have two stories on hold in order to write the first story. I'm not going to tell what they are just yet, I'm that sneaky.

The next two chapters of this story will have scenes based off My Fair Lady and Pygmalion, the non-musical version of My Fair Lady. I do not own these, nor do I own the show that showed the chi medium pressure point.

A few OCs are going to be welcome in this story, but you probably have to wait to see them… Unless they have a revenge thing against the Storm Hawks or Rex Guardians, are jealous they didn't get invited, and/or just plain party crashers.

Please Read and Review!