He backed
slowly away from his cousins, trying to sink into the shadows as he
pressed himself against the corner. He was trapped. The five of them
closed in on him, as he looked around desperately trying to find a
way out. The crazed look on his cousins' faces sent a shiver of
fear down his spine.
"Whoa," he thought, "I forgot what fear
felt like…"
Dark Ace was trapped. No where to go. No where to hide. And worst of all; no one to save him from what was about to happen. He stood up strong and tall. His height was about 4 inches taller than anyone else. He drew his blade quickly and jumped up as high as he could go, higher than his cousins and he passed over their heads before they could do anything.
The tallest cousin drew a smaller, but equally as strong blade and lit it as Dark Ace ignited his own. He narrowed his eyes at his cousin and growled angrily. He wasn't going to get beaten this time. He was stronger and faster than them.
Dark Ace was determined not to get beaten. There was a clash of metal on metal as he and his eldest cousin fought hard, but Dark Ace was stronger. He could feel his cousin growing weaker and tired, but he wasn't even out of breath. Adrenaline running through his veins, Dark Ace defeated his cousin proudly; pay back for all those years of torture that seemed to haunt him these days.
He didn't think twice as he spun himself around and sprinted out his mother's house and jumped quickly on his Elite. He roared the engine into life, turned his head slightly and he saw his four remaining cousins scarpering after him, looking like hooligans.
Dark Ace's Elite soared up into the sky, leaving his cousins waving their arms around on the ground, scowling up at him. He smiled proudly to himself and drove off back towards Cyclonia.
He was playing in a puddle of mud happily outside. The wind was calm and cool as the leaves rustled undisturbed on the trees. He smiled to himself, glad that he was alone and that he wasn't being punished. But little did he know that an even greater and worse punishment was about to happen to him. His mothers shadow covered him as he looked up, suddenly drowned in fear. Her shrill voice echoed throughout his mind as he was told the worst news he could ever hear…
Dark Ace woke up to the sound of his alarm clock beeping – it was 6am. He groaned sleepily and sat up. He rubbed his red eyes and looked around his room. Dark Ace sighed and climbed out of his bed. He had gotten used to this routine and he needed a change.
After getting changed into his Cyclonian uniform, Dark Ace sat at his desk with his elbows on the table and his head in his hands and he thought. Thought mainly about the dream he had last night; the worst day of his life. The day he was told by his cruel mother than the one person that cared about him had passed away. The pain of loosing his grandfather had never gone away and all the emotion came back as he thought about the good times he used to have with his grandfather when he was three. He spent an hour or so thinking about his grandfather and what he should do. He had decided to do one thing.
Dark Ace ran his fingers over the inscription on his
grandfather's gravestone and sat down beside it.
"Hey
granddad..." he muttered quietly. His breath caught up in his
throat a few times as he read the gravestones name: 'Frank Robin
Nash'.
He was kind of named after him...
The wind was calm and cool; just like on the night Frank had passed away. No one else was in the graveyard so Dark Ace was safe to let out his true emotions. And he did.
He couldn't remember the last time he
had cried; because it was so long ago. The tears dripped silently
down his cheeks as he grieved for his grandfather.
"Why did
he have to go?" Dark Ace thought to himself, "What
did I do that was so bad to be punished for it… I was just a
kid…"
Dark Ace was desperate to find answers about the way he was treated as a child. He had tried to ask people, but they just wouldn't co-operate. This was getting too hard, too unfair. But then he thought about the way he was now, and he wasn't surprised no one would talk to him about it; after all, he is the most feared man in Atmos.
His hands wiped his tear stained cheeks; he had needed a good cry. Then he sighed. Now what was he going to do? Someone had to help him… someone out there must know the answer. The only question was, who? Who knew Dark Ace from when he was a child, and still occasionally spoke to him?
Well, there's one person. His childhood sweetheart; Jordan. She was, and still is a good friend to him. Only, he hadn't spoken to her in a year, so for all he knew she could hate him. Or worse, be dead. But Dark Ace knew he had to do something, so he stood up, saluted with two fingers at his grandfather's grave, sat on his Elite, roared it into life and sped off back to Cyclonia to start his quest to find Jordan; for answers that could help him.