I do not own any of the Storm Hawks characters, origional storylines, or merchandise. I do however own the OC's involved in later chapters of this story and therefore must be advised and send confirmation in return for those who with to use the OCs in any of their own future stories.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

An unexpected chain of events leads to Cyclonis asking the Storm Hawks for help and signals the beginning of a worldwide conflict. Will this newly founded fellowship be enough to save Atmos from being literally torn asunder?

Cyclonis/Piper X OC Sky Knight

Stork X Piper

(Is rated 'M' for mature scenes, character death and language).

Storm Hawks

Darkness Dawning

Chapter 1: Escape

With Cyclonis…

Cyclonis stood outside upon her restroom's balcony. She'd been thinking. She'd had never believed that her own Ace would want her dead if she hadn't heard it with her own ears. Dawn would be creeping out soon, and that would mark her end, however, there were those who were still loyal to her rule, and even though it had seemed that she looked down upon these people, it was always the opposite. Often she would seek simple sanctuary in a private friendship, since a publicly known friendship would surly make her seem less iron-fisted, thus infuriating her already rather bloodthirsty generals.

She looked down at the courtyard below her and sighed sadly. Cyclonis had always hoped that her rule would have lasted longer than a few years. Behind her lay a sack of precious belongings, such as old family photographs that she often hid away and other small trinkets to remind herself of the real Cyclonis she had kept locked away for so long.

When she first took the war into her own hands, it seemed fun, hence her infamous background, however all of that changed in time. She began to see past the narrow sighted dreams of Cyclonia's previous rulers and secretly studied the life of the ordinary people of her kingdom. She often left the palace alone, and if not, with the company of a loyal subject who she would class as being a close friend, mainly a member of her guard; a young girl by the name of Kaysha, whom Cyclonis had befriended years before her rise to power.

Cyclonis had heard from Kaysha that rumours were spreading, rumours such as a strange hooded girl only ever showing up around the royal city when Cyclonis had left the palace. More and more people began to act even more wary around her than usual, and some of the guards attempted to use excuses in order to keep her in her quarters at all times.

The Dark Ace's second betrayal began when Cyclonis's friendship with Kaysha went abruptly public. This happened rather suddenly when one of the palace guards refused to let Kaysha pass alongside his master. Cyclonis had the man replaced for questioning his master's will to have a commoner in the royal palace. From that day and several weeks on, the Ace had seemed more aggressive towards Cyclonis, ordering her to reframe from having 'peasants' in her quarters, rather than requesting it as a loyal subject should, and at one point, even going far enough to draw his weapon and engage one of Cyclonis's bodyguards in a brief conflict.

At least another week after the incident which almost cost the Dark Ace his position as leader of the Talons, Kaysha received word that he was planning an sneak assault on Cyclonis herself, within her own quarters. Cyclonis hadn't believed her friend at first, but a reconnaissance mission proved her wrong. The speech to the other Talon leaders was captured on tape, word for word…

A low rumbling sound broke Cyclonis of her thought and prompted her to search for the source. A black and grey clad skimmer bike was parked close to a large fountain in the centre of the courtyard. Cyclonis had requested help from Kaysha in order to escape and find some protection, allies or not. There was a sudden thud and the door to Cyclonis's chamber creaked open slowly.

"Could you have at least asked the guards to stand down?" said Kaysha, squeezing through the small space between the door and the wall. "Grab your things. You'll have to leave now if I'm to guarantee your safety." Cyclonis picked up her sack and slung it over her shoulder. Both of the escapees darted down several flights of stairs and numerous hallways, weaving around the unconscious bodies of Cyclonis's royal guard.

"Well, I take it this is goodbye. I'll see you around." whispered Kaysha, placing her hand out. Cyclonis took hold of Kaysha's hand and shook it.

"I'll miss spending time with my friends. Take care." She replied. With that, Cyclonis started the engine of the skimmer bike and turned away from her once proud life. She was now an outlaw, and knowing that the Dark Ace, who was next in line for the throne since Cyclonis had no family members, was after her life as well as her throne, there would surely be a rather pricy bounty on her head…

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

With the Storm hawks…

"Finn!" shouted Piper, crossing her arms and looming over his bed, disappointed. Finn lazily opened his eyes and then jumped back into the wall suddenly when he noticed it was Piper. "You're supposed to be helping with finding crystals!" Finn made a slow, drowsy nod and slumped off his bed, just about lopping over completely and knocking piper over in the process.

"Don't worry… (Yawn) …I'm on it…" he replied, shuffling his way down the hallway and down the exit bridge into the sweltering heat of Terra Saharr. A lot of skimmer pilots raced there on a daily basis and most of them would drop crystals that they probably would have never used in the first place. On top of that, there were a lot of merchants in Saharr, giving travellers a wide range of sometimes rare and valuable items.

Stork, Junko and Aerrow were already outside, kicking and sweeping away sand, just to either have it cover the area again or have it fly up into their faces. Stork scuttled back into the ship with a handful of crystals, as he had a strange gift for finding strange things, every few minutes, where it would usually take at least twenty minutes for anyone else.

Aerrow raised his hand above his face to look back at the ship. He spotted two silhouetted figures in the distance, one of which was stumbling and tripping all over the place. 'Finn's been skipping work again" thought Aerrow, kicking another pile of sand and getting a reply in the form of temporary blindness.

"Finn, can you hurry up!? This isn't easy to do!" shouted Junko, who then tripped over Stork, who had managed to get in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was a bone shattering 'CRUNCH!' and stork was face-flat in the sand, arms clasped over his head, making a rather muffled hissing sound that sounded a lot like cursing. "Oops, sorry…" Junko whispered, getting up and hauling Stork back to his feet. Stork shot him an angry glare and dusted himself off.

In fact, Stork had been acting strangely as of late. His pessimistic nature had been disappearing, but he'd started to become easily agitated and it was getting worse and worse each time the team was engaged in battle or was sent to find some 'artefact of great importance'. Piper was the only one actually aware of Stork getting worse. Everyone else just saw it as some kind of phase he was going through, but Piper really thought something was well and truly getting to him. The strangest thing about it all was that he only acted like that around the crew. He was still his stuttering, pessimistic self whenever he talked with anyone who wasn't part of the crew, but he refuses to speak with anyone but Piper when working inside the ship.

Stork turned back around and shifted to a new area to scavenge with a mutter of "bloody oaf!" under his breath. Junko was taken back a little by Stork's remark, but considering the situation, he took it in. Finn slumped down next to Aerrow and shuffled the sand around, creating a large cloud enveloping his entire body. Slowly, he stood back up and held a large piece of scrap metal, bearing the Cyclonian emblem. Everyone paused.

"There. I found something. Can I go back to bed now?" groaned Finn, still holding the metal shard to Aerrow's face. Aerrow took the piece of metal and examined it closely.

"Sure Finn. You can go to bed now." He replied. As Finn headed back to the ship, the rest of the gang, save Stork, who simply turned his head a little so he could hear what they were talking about.

"This isn't good." whispered Piper, who took her turn to examine the metal. "This piece was only a little under the sand. That means that Cyclonian's are nearby. Should we see what they're up to?" She turned back to Aerrow, who was currently looking through a pair of makeshift binoculars.

"Yeah, if the Cyclonians are nearby, then they could be spying on us. We best scout the area in groups. I'll take Junko and Radar. Finn's gone back to the ship and Stork won't talk to anyone but Piper, which leaves those two with you." He replied, still looking through the binoculars and surveying the area around them. Piper nodded and headed back to the ship, followed closely by Stork, who was once again heading back with a handful of crystals.

Piper darted inside the ship and into Finn's room, grabbing him and pushing him back out of his door. Finn gave a long, deep moan and cracked his knuckles.

"Aw, come on! I didn't even make it to bed that time." He complained. Piper gave him a light slap to wake him up and Stork muttered "wake up already!" Finn, with the help from Piper and stork, staggered to his skimmer, where he was introduced to Piper's heliscooter and stork's safety-buggy's horns. Finn shot upright and fell off his seat, ending with a loud, painful face-plant into the ground.

"What the hell was that for!?" he shouted, rubbing his forehead vigorously. "…I might be tired, but I'm not deaf!" Piper giggled, and Stork couldn't help but show a cheeky grin. Now agitated, Finn revved his engine loudly and shot forwards, leaving Stork and Piper behind in a cloud of exhaust smoke. When the smoke cleared, the two dusted themselves off and followed him, darting off, once again, into the heat of the Saharr desert.

"So, um…Stork?" started Piper, "…What's up? You've not been talking to anyone lately. Is something wrong?" Stork turned away and frowned.

"I'm sick of being left out all the time." He said, slowing his skimmer a little.

"What?" Piper asked, leaning in closer so she could hear over the roar of his engine and her rotor-blades. Stork turned around to face her again.

"I'm sick of being left out all the time…" he repeated. Piper raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"But you're not left out. You…"

"…Guard the ship and fix stuff!" Stork finished for her. "I know, and that's how I'm left out. Nobody thinks that I can actually fight! I want to go out and do something. Be 'one of the heroes' for once, but no one lets me because I look 'scrawny'. You're the only person who doesn't judge me because of how I look." He continued, pointing out the word 'scrawny' with a hateful passion. Piper smiled for a short moment.

"So, you're saying that I'm the only person you can trust to not judge your looks? Show me some muscle." She said, poking his arm playfully with her energy staff. Stork looked away again, and then turned back when he noticed that she hadn't stopped poking him in the arm. Regretfully, he pushed piper's staff away and lifted his left sleeve and flexed his arm. To Piper's surprise, Stork wasn't as weak as he looked on the outside. The muscle showed as much as Storks grin, which grew wider when he saw the surprise hit Piper's face.

"WOW! You're clothes don't help with the physique. It hides everything!" Piper said, poking his now flexed arm and examining it.

"N-nah, i-it's just a style." He stuttered. It would seem that being able to get clear of his problems for a brief time would bring back the Stork everyone knew, but the chances of him remaining happy while working for Aerrow until he saw some real action would be somewhat slim. Stork pulled his sleeve back down over his arm, which returned to its apparently weak arms. Piper blushed slightly and returned to surveying the barren desert landscape.

"I really didn't expect to see so much muscle. Not that I'm judging how you look, but still…" she said, before being cut off by a chant of 'Stork an' Piper, sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G…!" Finn had been following them the whole way from the ship. Stork and Piper turned their heads and shot an eerie glare at Finn, who was currently in a fit of maniacal laughter. Eventually, everything calmed down when Stork had stopped trying to beat Finn's face with a wrench for making fun of him.

"Anyways…" Finn began, "…that's one nice arm. Is it the same all over you body or is it just that arm?" Stork picked his wrench back up again in a menacing manner, encouraging Finn to veer his skimmer a little further away from him.

"Hey, what's that?" Piper interrupted, pointing to an area of ground that was indented, as if something had crashed. The trio lowered their speed and flew closer for a better view. Half buried in the sand was a black and grey clad skimmer bike with three of it's wings shattered and strewn over the entire area and the fourth was completely gone. The front wheel was missing and a lot of the armour plating was ripped to shreds. As they continued forwards, there were several small dents in the sand.

"Footprints?" asked Finn, turning to Stork, who currently had hold of the binoculars. "Hey, wait, I see something!" Closer inspection of the area further north revealed a half buried piece of grey cloth.

"Hey! That's a p-person!" stuttered Stork, pointing to the cloth on the ground. The three landed their skimmers and rushed over to the abandoned body on the ground. As Piper leant in to turn the body over, she saw a lock of dark, violet hair poking out from the sand, as well as the bottom of a long, crystal staff. She hastily turned the body and drew her weapon at the sight.

"Cyclonis!?..."