The roar of Aerrow's damaged skimmer filled Radaar's ears as he turned, looking frantically about for their pursuer, The Dark Ace. Aerrow's face grimaced when a red flash zoomed past his right ear. "Er! I don't know how much longer we can hold out." he murmured half to himself as he stole a glance at the lower left wing. It was sparking fiercely, and rattled like it were going to fall off anytime soon. Radaar squealed when The Dark Ace moved in on them again. Aerrow pulled down and told his co-pilot, "Hold on!"
The wings retracted, and the skimmer fell from the sky. Aerrow now led The Dark Ace through a massive tunnel, dodging spikes of jagged rock and leaping from one narrow pathway to the next. Behind, the fierce Talon leader taunted, "You really think this is gonna work on me, this time!?" He laughed and pushed daringly on his speed.
Aerrow glanced back, and he really wished he hadn't when he realized that one blind moment might cause him his life. "Oh, no!" He reared to the left sharply to avoid a large boulder in the middle of the pathway, and ramped up a pointed edge that was hidden behind it. Radaar let out a squeal as they flew over a black pit, full with thorny ridges and more than anything, death. The little creature's eyes bugged out as he spotted shards of old skimmers and what could've been skeletons. He felt faint and forced himself to look at his pilot.
Aerrow snarled and concentrated on avoiding any accidents as the skimmer landed fiercely on the other side. He took the clear chance to see if The Dark Ace was still following him and traded smiles with Radaar as there was no sign of him. "Looks like we lost him."
Outside the danky caves, the two Storm Hawks pulled slowly to a stop. Aerrow wiped a hand across his forehead and took a moment to scan over the area they were now surrounded with. The towers of grassy pillars rose far up into the sky, and Aerrow thought, probably could surpass even the sun. In fact, he could now see that the clouds were just nearly half a mile below them. "Huh."
Radaar shuddered a bit as he glanced back behind them, hearing eerie sounds in the dark hole and then the wind howling around them. It was a beautiful landscape, but, the silence of no other life than the two of them somewhat irritated him. But, he had to sigh with relief when he realized that there were no signs yet of Dark Ace.
"Well, Radaar, we better get back to the Condor. Our ride took a pretty bad beating back there… " the red-haired boy ran a hand over the cracked frame of his wind-shield. Radaar whimpered at the busted pipes beside him, and frowned at the wing that used to have a decent paintjob. "Don't worry, Radaar. Once we get her back to the ship, we can fix her back up and she'll be just as beautiful as ever! Trust me!" They both hopped back on and Aerrow fired it up, the engine now making a rather concerning rattling sound. "After that, there'll be nothing on these lands or skies prettier than--" His voiced trailed off as the sound of a distant skimmer grew louder. Closer. Their eyes widened and Aerrow's grip on the handles tightened. The Dark Ace! No… Aerrow's mouth curved into a smile and his tensed state relaxed. "Wow."
Above them, a girl with long, pink hair flew twisting and rolling from left to right, up and down, and pulling off stunts Aerrow only thought he was daring enough to do. Her skimmer glimmered and looked almost brand new. It's design was new to both Aerrow and Radaar, and was most likely, they thought, one of custom build. And how rare was it to see any female flyer with that length of hair. If she weren't flying, Aerrow thought, it probably would fall down to her waist if not just above. She wore no pendants or symbols of any sky knight, nor did she appear to belong to any squadron. The sky knight lowered a brow and let out a small chuckle when she landed on a near pillar and threw her arms into the air and let out a "Whoooo!!"
"Talented flyer, isn't she?"
Aerrow and Radaar jumped when The Dark Ace pulled right up next to them. Though, he appeared to have lost all interest in the Storm Hawks now. Instead, his eyes stayed on the girl who was now tending to the tires of her skimmer. "She's good with the wrench, too. And very aggressive in the battle field. Even though she's young, she can be quite useful. Someday, she's going to be one of us."
"Not if we get her first!"
Dark Ace glared at where Aerrow used to sit, and now at Aerrow flying to the girl. He snarled and fired up his own skimmer and flew full speed ahead.
Radaar yelped. Aerrow raised his voice to the girl, who seemed to be def to the three of them coming up on her. She bobbed her head from side to side, humming a tune to herself as she put away the washrag she was using to clean the hood of the engine. Suddenly, a boy's voice broke through her song with a "Look out!" and she turned in time to see a red flash flying straight at her. The pink-haired girl dove to the side and her skimmer blew up in flames after being struck with whatever it was that was thrown at her.
"Uh. No!" She sat up. "I just finished that!!" She pressed both of her hands to her temples and let out a low groan which now became a gasp as she felt someone's arm fold around her waist and pull her up fiercely off the ground. "W-whoa! Hey! Put me down, or I'll-- wah!"
Aerrow tried desperately to hold onto the flailing girl while he dodged the energy attacks being shot at him and Radaar by The Dark Ace. He felt a tug, and then a sudden pain in his side. "Ow! Hey! Now, is that how you repay someone who just saved your life?!"
With that, the sky knight pulled her up roughly so that she could sit in front of him. His eyes met hers, grey and full of smoky fury. They calmed, and her struggling stopped when he smiled at her. "That's better. I'm Aerrow, of the Storm Hawks. And this is Radaar." Radaar waved over his shoulder, a shy smile crossing his face. She smiled nervously herself.
"Um. I'm-- Look out!!"
Aerrow's brows lowered in confusion. The girl grabbed his right hand and pulled, turning the skimmer into a loop, avoiding another red flashing attack from what she could see now was coming from the dark-haired man behind them. Aerrow turned and saw two more Cyclonians pulling up next to the Dark Ace. "Tch!" He turned to face the girl again. "You can fly! Take the skimmer and get out of here!"
"W-What are you going to do?"
He winked, "Don't worry. I'll catch up after I take care of them."
"But--!"
Before she could protest, Aerrow had already leaped off and pulled out what she thought looked like wings. Under her, she felt the skimmer rattle once and give a tug. She turned to the fretful creature behind her and smiled, "You two had a pretty rough day today, haven't you?"
Aerrow flew up and turned sideways to avoid the constant energy attacks being thrown at him. His wings retracted as he landed on one of the hood of the Cyclonian's vehicle. The goggled man protested and swung a pole at him. Aerrow jumped and flipped over him and, using his energy blades, cut off the wings of his skimmer. As the sky knight flew on, the Cyclonian frowned and fell from the sky.
Ahead, Aerrow took out the second Cyclonian warrior with no trouble at all. But, now it was down to another fierce face-off with his rival, The Dark Ace.
As Aerrow landed on Dark Ace's vehicle, he stood and pointed one his twin blades at his enemy. "Why did you try to kill her if you need her?!"
The Dark Ace laughed, "I never said I needed her, Aerrow. I was just thinking I could prevent her from making the biggest mistake in her life by destroying her." He pulled out his sword and swung at Aerrow. They leapt from one wing to another, exchanging one attack with another.
"That doesn't make any sense!" Aerrow blocked.
"It doesn't have to!" Dark Ace swung once more, this time with enough force to knock Aerrow off of his feet. He fell hard and lost both of his weapons. The Dark Ace's shadow loomed over him as he looked back up ahead of himself.
Pointing his weapon down on Aerrow as he had done to him earlier, he laughed, "You see, Aerrow. We wouldn't be in this position if you would just considered joining us! But, then again…" his eyes glanced over at a very distant terra, "We don't need you, either." He raised his weapon up to strike down and finish the sky knight once and for all.
Suddenly, a loud horn blew off and the Dark Ace lowered his weapon. Aerrow smiled and Ace frowned at the sight of the Condor pulling up next to them. Under them, Junko's voice broke through screaming Aerrow's name. He reached out and they grabbed onto each others arm.
On the Condor, Finn sat at the gun, ready to fire when Aerrow was clear from the attack. Once he and Junko were clear, Piper gave to order to fire. The Dark Ace didn't have time to entirely dodge the new attack. Instead, he found himself abandoning his ride as it burst into flames. Finn let out a loud victory cry. "OH-HO YEAH!! THAT'S HOW IT'S DONE!!"
"Great shot, Finn!" Piper exclaimed.
"Of course," Finn rubbed his fingernails against his shirt, "I NEVER miss!"
She rolled her eyes and smiled as Junko and Aerrow came into the hanger. Junko pulled out Aerrow's twin blades and handed them to their rightful owner. Piper ran up to them, worried and relieved.
"Aerrow! Are you alright?"
"Yeah. I think so." He patted his sides and looked around himself to make sure and suddenly found himself with arms full of Radaar. He took the moment to laugh with his comrads and greet Radaar with as much affection as he was showing him. But, then, she stopped.
"Wait. Radaar?!" He glanced around the ship, "But, how?"
Piper pointed out, "We saw your skimmer fly over and drop Radaar onto the Condor. It was kind of weird… but… Wait! That wasn't you?"
"No. I--" he was cut off when Radaar let out a squeal of exclamation.
The rest of the Storm Hawks looked down at him as he dug through his outfit and pulled out a small white card.
"What's this?" Aerrow knelt and pulled it from Radaar's fingers. He read aloud to the others, "'Okradana Body and Repair. The finest mechanics in all of Atmos. Terra Okradana.'"
Piper lowered a brow. "Terra Okradana? But, that terra doesn't exist."
Stork broke in, "Um, if I may point out, it does."
They looked at the merb, half in confusion and half in interest.
"Terra Okradana is the legendary 'SKY TERRA!' It is said to be so far up in Atmos, you can't even breathe!" He pulled his hands up to his throat and clenched them tightly together. "But, it holds, as the card says, the GREATEST mechanics in all of Atmost. Why, if we were to stumble across this terra, think of what magic they can work on the Condor! No more leaks, no more breakdowns, and best of all, we would never have to worry about energy-eating Kilkun Worms!!"
"Um… okay." Aerrow flipped the card over and smiled, "Whether it's real or not, looks like we've gotta make a stop."
On the backside of the card, a tiny message was written out.
"Meet me there.
-R."