Hello and welcome to my very first fanfic!
Right, where do I start? Oh, right, disclaimer!
I do not own Storm Hawks or any of the characters in the show, they belong to Nerd Corps. If I did, there would be a LOT more episodes.
For those of you how don't know, I am a big fan of Stork, and I particularly like the StorkxPiper pairing. If you don't like this, don't read and whine about it to me later.
As this is my first Fanfic, please be considerate with your comments. Constructive criticism is welcome but all flames will be thrown into the wastelands to be devoured by Lava-Scorpions! Mwaaahaahaaa!!!!
*Ahem*, sorry about that. Enjoy!
Chapter 1 – An Unusual Discovery
The Condor touched down on the sand-covered landing pad on Terra Saharr.
They had recently had a run-in with a Cyclonian Battle Cruiser and, although they had emerged victorious, had sustained some minor battle damage.
The old carrier ship had crystal-blast scars scattered all over the hull, one of the main windows was smashed and there was a small amount of damage to the left engine, so they had flown to the nearest Terra for repairs and to replenish their supplies.
All the Storm Hawks departed the ship, even Stork, although cautiously as he stepped out into the burning heat of the desert-like Terra.
"Right guys" Said Aerrow to Stork and Junko "Get the parts we need and meet back here in an hour."
With that, the other members of the team headed off for food and crystals while Stork and Junko headed in the opposite direction towards the mechanical district of the Terra. Luckily the damage to the Condor was minimal, so it didn't take long to find all they needed for the repairs.
Junko loaded all the parts into a large crate and turned to Stork.
"Ready to head back to the Condor?"
"You go ahead, I've got a few things I want to get."
Junko simply nodded and headed back to the ship, carrying the heavy crate on one shoulder as if it was nothing.
Stork watched him until he was out of sight, before heading off for the first item on his list: a new pet.
Stork had a strange fascination with some of the most highly venomous and extremely deadly creatures in the entire Atmos. He had owned several of them, but he never managed to keep them for long. They either escaped (much to the horror of his teammates) or died for one reason or another. His most recent was one he'd been particularly fond of: a rare Poison-Fanged Nightmare Fish.
He would spend hours just watching the thing in morbid fascination as it tried to lunge at him through the reinforced glass of it's tank, until he found it floating belly-up at the top of its tank which was filled with sludge. He found out later that Finn had tried to feed it some of Junko's cooking to avoid having to eat it himself.
Stork wandered the various stalls, finding many creatures that were merely 'dangerous' but nothing that was 'sending shivers down your spine just thinking about' deadly, like he wanted.
Sighing dejectedly, he headed towards the Scrapyard.
This, is where ships and skimmers go to die. It was like a graveyard for all things metal and although it was only a little way away from the usually busy stalls, it was always quiet and devoid of life. Well, except for the owner, though it was sometimes hard to think of him as 'alive' considering he seemed to be mostly made up of metal and scars.
Stork liked it here, he found it strangely homey, even though he had to admit, it was a little creepy. But he had a good reason for coming here, you see, the Condor doesn't have a great deal of spare parts on board, this is mainly because it is an old ship and parts for it can be expensive, and they don't have much money to spare after they have brought all the crystals they need and enough food to last them with Finn and Junko's seemingly bottomless stomachs.
A lot of the stuff at the Scrapyard was useless junk, but there were some real gems to be found, if you know where to look. Stork had a natural talent for finding such items, and could purchase them from the owner for next to nothing.
After only a short time rummaging, Stork was able to find a number of useful parts that only needed minor repairs, and put them in a small pile before continuing his search.
After a while he checked his watch. "Just enough time for one more quick look" he thought before diving into a large pile of scrap metal.
A few moments later he emerged, dragging his latest prize.
"A complete crystal converter?! This is my lucky day! Hmmm…a few holes, but nothing a welding torch won't fix!" thought Stork excitedly.
After loading the parts into a small cart he quickly constructed out of scrap metal and paying for the owner, Stork headed back to the Condor.
By the time he got there, everyone was waiting and Junko had just finished fixing the Condor.
"Everyone got what you wanted?" Asked Aerrow, everyone nodded with the exception of Finn, who shook his head. He was mad at Piper because she wouldn't let him buy a bunch of 'rock' records he wanted, Aerrow knew this and simply ignored him.
They quickly loaded their purchases on the Condor and were in the air minutes; glad to be leaving the unbearable heat of Terra Saharr.
* * *
After several hours of peaceful flight, Stork found a ledge on a quiet forest-covered Terra and applied the grappling hooks, mooring the ship for the night.
Instead of turning in like everyone else, Stork went down to the storage area, where his latest purchases from the Scrapyard were located. After fixing up a few small parts, he moved onto the Crystal Converter, examining it carefully for every minor defect before getting out his welding torch and patching it up.
Stork was about to patch up a large hole on one side when he spotted something. It looked like there was something jammed deep inside the mechanism; he could see it glowing a dim turquoise green.
Stork knew better than to blindly put his hand inside to grab whatever-it-was and instead got a pair of steel tongs, which he normally used when handling red-hot metal.
It was a crystal, shaped almost like a distorted 'X' and about the size of a fist. Stork had never seen a crystal like this before, and he wasn't about to touch it in case it did something bad, like turn his blood to poison or something.
Glancing at his watch, Stork saw how late it was and he didn't want to wake Piper up in the middle of the night. Holding the tongs and the crystal as far away from him as possible, he made his way to the bridge.
After the whole 'incident' with the Leechers, Stork had created a special shielded container for unidentified crystals to be stored where they wouldn't cause any harm. For once, the others agreed it was a good idea.
Carefully placing the strange crystal inside, he sealed the container and heaved a sigh of relief, before heading to his room for the night.
When he got there he quickly changed into his PJ's, which consisted of his favourite orange 'Bessie' T-shirt and a pair of black boxer shorts.
He then opened up his wardrobe, and stared at the large amount of pictures pinned to the back of the door. They were pictures of Piper. Some of them had one of two other people in them too, but all of them had Piper.
Stork let out a contented sigh, letting a big, goofy grin spread across his face as he did so.
Nobody knew about it, but Stork was madly in love with Piper.
He had felt this way the moment he met her, when she and the rest of the Storm Hawks landed in the wastelands on the newly repaired Condor.
At first, Stork thought it was just a crush, caused by the loneliness of those years spent repairing the ship. That, and he was also fairly sure that his lack of regular human-or-humanoid contact had made him go more than a little…strange.
His couldn't remember when it had first started, somehow talking to the ship became a normal habit, as well as imagining it could talk back, and it wasn't until his new teammates told him how strange it was that he realised.
Over the next year he got to know her, and his feelings for her only got stronger. He even learned to accept that it was, in fact, love. He began to study her; looking for any hint that maybe, just maybe, she felt the same.
He thought back to when she hugged him after their adventure in the Black Gorge. It had been so unexpected that he had tensed up and freaked out a little, but he had to admit, he did enjoy it.
He still tensed but every time she touched him, it was a habit that he was finding hard to break. It didn't help that whenever she touched him it felt like electricity running down his spine and overloading his senses.
He wanted to change that, as well as a few other things about himself that he didn't like. She deserved so much better, and he was determined to make himself worthy of her love.
He reached up to the top shelf of his wardrobe and brought down a tape player, with earphones. Over the last several months, Stork had been listening to this every night to help improve himself.
It was a self-hypnotherapy tape; it worked by sending the listener into a sort of deep trance where they are able to address and deal with any problems and inner-demons they may have. Though progress was slow, Stork had to admit; it did seem to be working.
He laid down on his bed, put in the earphones and allowed himself to relax, picturing Piper as he sank into the peaceful abyss of his subconscious mind.