This is my first fanfic actually being put up on the internet, so feel free to tell if it's good or bad. I originally put this up on deviantart, but recently decided to put up here as well. I'll put up the other already finished chapters soon. Oh, and of course, I don't own the Storm Hawks. Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Winds of Change
A dark, cold wind screamed through the canyon as the violent storm raged on. Despite the dangerous conditions, there was a man standing up on the terra's cliff. This was a strange man to say the least, and not just because he standing out in a storm that had enough force to knock down a large carrier from the sky. His skin was deathly white, like fresh bone, and eyes as black as night. Though he had startling short, cropped hair as white as his skin, he looked exceptionally young: tall, dignified, with an air of danger. He stared out into the sky with a dark grin on his face: the winds of change were brewing and he intended to ride them back into the Atmos.
At that thought, he became overwhelmed with memories. Every journey, every mission, every fight, everything; the memories of his master was prominent among them. Soon he would have his revenge on the pathetic kingdoms of Atmos, and their precious Sky Knights. Not that it really mattered anyway; he could have taken the Atmos at any time he wanted. But how much fun would that be? It had been extremely entertaining watching the little battles of Atmos all these years, especially the recent war with Cyclonia.
In that long, drugged out war, there were many interesting people that popped up: some lived, some died, but that wasn't the point. The point was that it was clear that the current age of Atmos was about to change. Soon, a new era of Atmos was going to begin: one that he could not be for certain of what it would be. Whatever it would become, it didn't matter to him. With the chaos and clashes that were going to unfold, it was the perfect time to strike. He only hoped that he would get a challenge out of it. After all, what fun was it if it was going to be easy?
Now, it has been little over three years since the second generation of the Storm Hawks squadron had gone after the young Master Cyclonis to the Far Side. With Cyclonis gone and her army defeated, Atmos returned to a sense of peace for a short while. Sure, there were some loyal soldiers that tried to rise up the fallen empire, but never succeeded. Though they no longer had a large empire to worry about anymore, there was a new threat that was harder to deal with.
Perhaps it was a twisted sense of inspiration of the new Storm Hawks status of technically being unofficial, but soon after their departure, several "squadrons" appeared from nowhere. They had no official status so they did not have to follow the rules of the Sky Knight Council to a degree; which many took advantage of and began to cause trouble all over the Atmos. These "rogue squadrons", as they are now called, are little more than petty gangs that steal, fight, and destroy anything in their paths. True, there are some that try to protect people or do good, but those ones often only provided their services for a price, an expensive one at that.
What was so tricky about them wasn't their fighting abilities, as many of them were not that skilled, but the fact that there were so many of them. If one Sky Knight squadron got rid of one of them, three more seemed to take their place. It was ridiculous and annoying to the Sky Knights. The rogues were like insects; no matter how many times you crush them, more keep coming.
If that wasn't a pain already, there was one more problem. Though most were not the greatest of fighters, there were some that were on the same level as a Sky Knight. It was these squadrons caused the most trouble, for everyone. There weren't many of them, only five known ones, but that didn't make them any less dangerous. These ones were the ones that caused large scale destruction and mayhem. Also, many of the weaker squadrons were under their protection and any harm done to them was cause for retaliation from the elite rogues. This made eradicating them all the more difficult.
This is why so many people were relieved when the Storm Hawks finally made it back from the Far Side. The moment everyone realized that they were back, many of the rogues backed off, much to the joy of the Atmos. There was something different about them, though. When they came back, the battle of the Far Side had obviously been difficult. The Storm Hawks had lost both their carrier and its pilot to the fight, but as they assured everyone, managed to rid the Atmos of Cyclonis forever. Though their looks hadn't changed much, their personalities sure did. Their cockiness seemed to be elevated to a new level and basked in their fame and glory. This is why many of their friends didn't believe them. The Storm Hawks they knew never cared for attention, well, except for Finn. But there was nothing they could really do about it; after all, their presence did cut down the rogue activity in half, mostly likely due to fear of the squadron that took down Cyclonia.
Okay, enough of the history lesson, time to get to the action. Recap, it's now little over three years since the end of the series, and the Storm Hawks have been back for about a year and a half, basking in glory and fame, blah blah blah and so on. However, unknown to everyone in the Atmos, a certain psychologically disturbed teenage girl with a severely creepy voice has also returned to the Atmos for about a year now. Along with her, is a certain man with phenomenal anger issues. Yes, Master Cyclonis did not perish in the Far Side as the Storm Hawks claimed, but survived and made it back to the Atmos, recreating her empire with the help of the Dark Ace. The Dark Ace, though, seemingly destroyed by the hand of his master, survived as well and had been found in the Far Side, to be reunited with her. After an awkward apology and failure in the Far Side by the hands of the Storm Hawks, the two managed to return to the remains of Cyclonia and started its rebuilding. Due to the destruction from the previous war, the reconstruction of Cyclonia has taken quite some time. But now it has been rebuilt with a new army, ready to lash out at the Atmos with its new power. All that was left were simple matters, that weren't needed just yet.
The rebuilt Cyclonia was full of people running to and fro in preparation of the upcoming attacks on the Atmos. Thanks to spies and still loyal members, Cyclonis had gather all the information she needed to carry out her plans. Now in her late teens, the ruler was in the throne room with her new crystal engine, upgraded with the designs of the Far Side. She was preparing new crystals for her Talons which had already proven successful in small invasions of unimportant terras near Cyclonia. She was in the middle of her forging when the door slid open. The Dark Ace entered the room and strode over to her.
"The preparations are going as plan, Master. The attacks will be carried out at your command," he said to her in his usual drawl.
"Good," replied Cyclonis, "Soon the Atmos will regret forgetting about their most dangerous threat."
The Dark Ace smiled, he had been looking forward to this for some time.
Just then, the door opened up again, and a lieutenant walked briskly into the room, shaking. The two turned to face him, as he was stammering to get his message out.
"What is it?" Cyclonis asked harshly.
The lieutenant snapped to attention and spoke (or should I say nearly screamed), "Master! The invasion force on Terra Kin has been completely wiped out!" He was shaking so bad in fright that he nearly fell over.
"And how did that happen?" the Dark Ace asked, looking intently at the lieutenant.
The lieutenant gulped. He wasn't sure of whom he was frightened more of, but still spoke, "A strange man in a black hat managed to defeat the entire squadron by only maneuvering around them with an air board. He didn't attack even once!"
Surprised at the news, the master and commander looked at one another. This would complicate things if it wasn't handled quickly. The Dark Ace turned to the lieutenant, "Did you see what he looked like?"
"No, sir, I did not, no one did. He moved around us too fast to get a good look at him. But I could probably recognize him if I saw him, there was something really weird about him."
"I see, is he still there?"
"No, he is not, but one of our spies heard that he was on his way to Terra Atmosia."
Master Cyclonis smiled, "Well, then, it looks like our errand to Terra Atmosia will be interesting." She thought for a moment, "Actually, there is going to be an awards ceremony for the Storm Hawks there in a couple of days." She turned to the Dark Ace, "How would you like to supervise the mission, Dark Ace? I would prefer that Atmos doesn't know about our return, but if you run into them or our little troublemaker, feel free to do as you please, I don't want either of them screwing up our plans."
The Dark Ace bowed to his master, "It will be done, Master." He stood up with an evil grin on his face. This just might be fun after all.
Sorry for the history lesson, but there has to be a background for it to make sense. Also, this is after the Far Side saga, which I am quite frankly just too lazy to write first so…yeah…, but I will allude to certain things in the story that I have thought of for a Far Side story so I might, eventually, write it, but for now I'll stick with this story.