Storm Hawks: The Depths of the Gem God

Prologue:

It all began on a typical day aboard the Condor. For those unfamiliar with the goings of Atmos, or who just happen to have lived their whole lives in a hole somewhere, or maybe in Terra Clockstopia, the Condor is the proud helms ship of the famous Storm Hawks, possibly the greatest sky knights in all Atmos.

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Sky knights are elite fighters who've dedicated their lives to protecting Atmos, also known as the "World of a Thousand Mountaintop Kingdoms". They each commandeer their own squadron of experts in a certain field, be it combat, science, engineering, anything needed to survive, and a helms ship. Nearly all kingdoms, also called terras, have a sky knight squadron. All squadrons are united by their mutual dedication to their homes and the world, and the scourge of Atmos; Cyclonia.

Cyclonia is a dark and unforgiving terra, a realm of destruction and ruin, ruled by the megalomaniacal queen of fiends; Master Cyclonis. Cyclonis' main and only objective, as she rules her dark empire, is to bring all of Atmos to its knees by conquest and destruction. With the infamous Dark Ace, the former co-pilot of the original Storm Hawks' leader, Cyclonis' shadow spreads fear all around the world, with only the sky knights standing in her way.

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Inside the rather rusty interior of the great double-hulled ship, Aerrow, the young and courageous sky knight leader of the Storm Hawks scanned at the various antics of his team-mates. Though only fourteen years old, Aerrow had continuously astounded all of Atmosia with his team's constant successes against not only Cyclonia, but the vicious Raptors of Terra Bogaton, the unforgiving Murk Raiders of Terra Deep and many other feared creatures of Atmosia.

At the circular table located in the capacious cockpit sat the team navigator and overall specialist Piper. Very gifted in various sciences, especially among the area of crystals, Atmos' overall source of power, she was a vital part of the Storm Hawks, her vast knowledge having rescued the team and even put them on an advantage against many foes. She was currently going over a map, using a drafting compass and ruler for calculating the distance, time and location.

Seated a bit further from Piper, sleeping, was Finn, wingman and sniper of the Storm Hawks. A great shot with almost any projectile weapon, his skill is only shadowed by his cockiness and brash antics. Finn seemed to have an actual tendency of getting himself into tight spots, forcing his team-mates, usually his best friend Junko, into rescuing him.

Sitting next to Finn, stuffing himself with… well no one really wanted to know what it actually was, considering it was squiggly and slimy, was Junko, a wallop from Terra Wallop and the Storm Hawks' strongman and engineer. Though wallops tended to be rough and generally smash things, Junko would never hurt a fly, not intentionally anyway, for despite being a weakling in his species, Junko exhibited physical power unmatched by humans or most other inhabitants of Atmos. Unfortunately he sometimes tended to forget his own strength. He was also infamous for being able to eat a whole carrier's fill worth of food, even such that wasn't often considered edible.

At the very front of the hull, his yellow, sometimes twitching eyes glued to the vision of the sky was the Storm Hawks' helmsman Stork. Stork was a merb, indicated by his scrawny build, long face, pointed ears and having only three fingers on each hand and only three toes on each foot. Stork was unusual to say the least. He was very paranoid of everything around him; simply touching him if he wasn't aware of your presence would probably send him into a screaming fit. He believed in all of the outrageous, non-existent diseases and local myths that could potentially harm him. With that, he'd invented all sorts of crazy gizmos for defending himself from all these threats, in addition to planting unknown amounts of various booby traps aboard the Condor, which despite his team-mates' chagrin, had saved him numerous times. Some can assume he must have been amazed to still be among the living since his outstanding paranoia and fear of surroundings outside the confines of the Condor is also topped with deep pessimism.

Last, but not least, was Aerrow's closest friend and co-pilot, the ever lovable Radarr. Radarr never left Aerrow's side; even then he was clung onto his back, looking over the cockpit. Aerrow was an unknown species, seemingly an amalgam of a monkey and a ferret, with silvery fur, long ears and a puffy tail. He and Aerrow were ultimately inseparable, the little creature following the boy anywhere, to the heat of battle, or worse.

The last week had been relatively relaxing for the six Storm Hawks. Cyclonian activities had been in an all-time low. All they'd had to endure in the past week was a humiliating scam by the Raptors who'd miraculously managed to brand them as Atmos' most wanted criminals until proven wrong by catching the rogues and returning various cherished items to their rightful owners. Aerrow remained puzzled how their trusted comrades could've possibly mistook their carved insignias with the Raptor's crummy counterfeits.

But that was the least of their problems. What really troubled them was Cyclonia. No-one among their ranks of interest, not even Snipe and Ravess had made any diabolical plans to lay waste or conquer quadrants of Atmos. Finn would dismiss it as if the Cyclonians had given up and ran with their tails between their legs, but everyone else found that neigh impossible. If they knew anything about Master Cyclonis, she was driven and persistent.

The only noise in the cockpit was the muffled roar of the thrusters and Finn's snoring. The latter had gradually worn out Piper's concentration, prompting her to elbow the blonde boy on the arm, waking him up and earning a whiny retort.

"Yup," mused Stork to himself, "We've officially remained completely unharmed for a week…" his somewhat calmer expression was suddenly changed to a gloomier one, "I still feel queasy…"

The others ignored Stork's comment; they knew he was fine deep down. Aerrow took the liberty to sit down with his team-mates, next to Piper who'd gone back to scanning through the map, plotting their next course while they'd been slowly drifting through the southern end of the known Atmos. Though rest and relaxation was and accepted luxury, it was high time they began looking into what their enemies had been scheming behind their backs.

Suddenly a flurry of static filled the cockpit. Everyone's heads (and Stork's ears) perked up in surprise as they listened intently for the incoming radio transmission.

"Come in Storm Hawks," said a familiar voice through the ship's speakers, "I require your assistance, desperately…"