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Chapter 4: Invasion
The gravel banged hard as the courtroom came to order. Emma blinked in confusion to why she was in a courtroom in the first place, or by the fact she on the prosecution stand. Wait, why was she in a courtroom and on the prosecution stand again? She was about to ask that, before seeing Harrier in a British-attorney's suit and wig.
"Hey, Harrier, what are you doing here, and why are you are you wearing a white wig?" the teen asked, still confused by the whole ordeal. The man looked at her with a sudden glare; for some reason, she felt that this was a bad sign.
"Silence, fiend," the blonde man said, before turning to the invisible people of the courtroom. Then, he stated, "Ladies and gentlemen of the courtroom, I would like to present with a criminal whose evil deeds are far by the worst than any criminal in the court by far. Her first count is transporting to Wonderland without a passport-"
"Wait a minute!" yelled Emma, who gotten the point of all this Law and Justice stuff. "Since when does travelling to worlds need a passport in the first place?! And also, I thought I was in Atmos, not Wonderland!" The man glared, which made her silent again; maybe she should have said objection first.
"Silence, Alice!" The girl blinked, before looking down at herself. She gasped as her clothes were just like those of Alice in Wonderland. The "prosecutor" coughed before continuing with the crime sheet, "Her next counts is growing and shrinking without a license, then, flooding innocent critters out of their homes, next, entering an unbirthday party without being invited, and later, cause the queen to lose her temper."
The Gaian breathed in and said, "Look, it's no big deal. I'll apologize and make it up to them. I bet the queen wouldn't mind if I do whatever she wants for a week." As much she would like to believe that, she knew it wasn't true. But still, she would have to look positive, especially if one of the person she has to apologize to was the queen.
"As much as I would like to see groveling, the sentence has already been cast," said a familiar voice, causing Emma to pale. She looked up at the judges' stand to see Ravess in a Queen of Hearts outfit; for some strange reason, she felt that Ravess fit the role of being the ruler of Wonderland. She gulped as the "queen" said, "And frankly, I'm still peeved that you messed up my perfect game of croquet."
The teen gulped as Harrier looked at her and said, "And the worst count against the entire state of Wonderland is her entire being. She doesn't belong here. She never did. And thus, it is a crime against the entire population of Wonderland to be here. That will be all, your majesty." The queen looked over at the younger girl with a wicked smile on her face. The Gaian hoped she could come up with a better argument than what the sky knight had.
"Fine then," the woman said, before banging her gavel, "Off with her head." Emma's jaw dropped as the entire courtroom shouted what the queen had verdict. She wanted a fair trial with a fair punishment; she didn't want herself to be decapitated. She looked at Harrier for help, but the man only looked away from her in disgust.
As the court started to move towards her, she closed her eyes and covered her ears. It wasn't because of the chant, but it was because something was playing really loudly.
"FINN! TURN THAT MUSIC OFF!!!!!!!!"
Emma, in her normal clothes, instantly woke up to Finn's newest record song and Piper yelling at the top of her lungs. She sounded extremely ticked off today; it was probably because of the dinner party last night. Yea, after all that practice and the party still going wrong, who couldn't blame her?
Then, the brunette remembered what happened after she left, which caused her to hug her knees very close to her chest. Harrier found out that she truly was and instead of accepting it, he just yelled that she was something that didn't belong here; she had as much right as the next person born. Well, she knew she was expecting something like this because if there are people who can accept, there are those who can't. Oh well, at least she would get off of this terra soon.
"Emma! Get up and grab your things! We need to get back to the Rex Guardian's headquarters! Now!" yelled the voice of Aerrow as he banged on the teen's door. This caused a great shock to her as she scrambled out of bed and grabbing her stuff. Why in the world would they be going back anyway; weren't they already done with the stupid party?
She quickly opened the door, glared at the boy, and asked, "What is it?" He felt a little scared seeing her like this. Of course, he probably woke her up and she was still angry about going to the party. But this was very important. This could mean the very fate of Atmos as they know it.
"There was info that Cyclonia was going to invade Terra Rex," the Storm Hawk said, looking serious, "We're heading back in order to come up with a strategy. It would involve the Condor, which is why we need you to stay on Terra Rex for a little longer." The girl's jaw dropped when she heard this; after expecting to get off this terra, Cyclonia comes and blows this in her face. And what if it wasn't an invasion, but just some trick for Harrier to get her into a jail cell? Her luck was really going downhill now.
As the boy marched away, the brunette called, "Hey, wait-" She stopped herself from saying that the leader of the Rex Guardians hated her because she was a Gaian. If she said anything, Aerrow might confront Harrier and probably have his squadron branded as a traitor for keeping her and not telling everyone about it. Besides, she needed to fight this battle on her own; she was old enough to face people without anyone's help. When the boy turned around to face her, she just said, "Never mind. Just… Forget it."
Aerrow raised an eyebrow and replied, "Okay…" Then, he started head the bridge. Something was seriously wrong here. But he shouldn't worry about it now. There were bigger problems right now, much bigger.
Well, it seemed that there was a Cyclonian invasion force heading for Terra Rex. Earlier in the morning, the Rex Guardian's received a message about an invasion coming this day, ready to take back the entire terra for the empire. Since sky knights wouldn't let that happen, both the Rex Guardians and the Storm Hawks were sitting around the library, coming up with a battle plan to keep the terra safe. Their passenger watched from a very safe distance on another table.
"So, we got at least thirty Talons riding towards this terra from where most of the terra's defenses," said Piper, pointing at a place on the map, "Even though it's not enough to take over this terra, I'm not complaining. Our most effective battle plan is to face them head-on with a conjoint force with the Guardians. Stork will use the Condor to shoot any strays from battle. Any questions?"
Finn raised his hand and asked, "Yea, will this affect my bath tonight? I think I still have fleas from that suit." He covered his head quickly after the specialist threatened to knock his head in. She quickly turned to everyone else and waited. She needed some at least something; this plan wasn't as good as it seemed to be.
The blonde girl of the Rex Guardians raise up her hand and inquired, "What if there are more than thirty Talons? Remember, Cyclonia could have sent that call to prepare for a trap." This was true; Cyclonia had tricked sky knights before, so why would this be any different? Everyone had their own account of being hoodwinked by the evil empire and its evil leader.
Aerrow looked over at the older squadron and stated, "That's why were only sending a few of us in order to give this Terra some defense. How many will be left if us and the main squadron goes?" This was a good strategy since Terra Rex had a large amount of members. It was only the five of the best that could be the main squadron.
"Probably enough to match Cyclonia's numbers," said the Rex Guardian with the headband, "But most of them are squires or trainees. It will only be evenly matched." Yea, evenly, and they need to make sure they win or else another terra becomes oppressed by a tyrants rule.
"Then, one of us has to stay," said Piper, before looking at the maps, "I know it might be risky for someone to stay if we meet the entire invasion force head on. But the people here need an edge if we don't contain the threat." The question of the matter was who? Everyone had their own skills to the battle; the two teams just needed to sacrifice someone in order keep the morale up here.
Suddenly, their problem was answered when a voice said, "I shall stay." The group turned to Harrier as he looked serious. "Since I'm this terra's sky knight, I shall stay in order to protect it if the terra does get attacked. In fact, I will even watch over your little friend as well." Oh that was just great; Emma was about one answer away to stay with a person who didn't like her guts one bits. She made signals, hoping to tell the gang not to leave her here.
Unfortunately, the red head didn't get those signals, as he answered, "Okay… Harrier." He was a little bit confused by why the leader of the Rex Guardians wanted to stay here and watched the Gaian in the first place. But that didn't matter; they didn't have enough time to argue who is staying. The older teen quickly slapped her face at that response. Yup, she was dead.
After the crew, minus one Rex Guardian and one outer world girl, left, the former took haste and quickly sealed off the doors so no one would be about to make a mad dash for it. Emma gulped, knowing that Harrier was serious about figuring out what Gaia's "plans" were. In fact, she wasn't even sure if her home had plans to take over Atmos; but she was prettying sure they will if they found out. Then, the man looked over at her and said, darkly, "So, may I ask you what your plan…is?"
Meanwhile, outside the city, a lone figure stood as he watched through binoculars at the eight riders and a huge ship flying away from the terra. He smiled evilly as they flew; his plan worked perfectly, except for one small detail. But that didn't matter for now. He can deal with the problem later.
Grabbing a communicator, he said into it, "Alright, the birds have left the nest. You may now strike it." He turned it off before hearing a response. He needed to get ready for the attack. After all, the villain needs to make his entrance more dramatic.
For thirty minutes, the Storm Hawks and Rex Guardians flew through the air, looking for Talons. They were keeping their skimmers at a low speed so they could have the element of surprise, and Stork was flying above for lookout. And even though, they haven't seen anything yet, they still managed to pass the time somehow; with the magic of communication.
"So, you have notice Harrier has been acting weird, right?" asked the young, male Rex Guardian, as the Storm Hawks looked a little bit confused. Funny, they didn't notice anything. As they shook their heads, the boy responded, "Because after you left, he gave us a really long speech about how the Gaia legend was true and so on."
Everyone blinked, as Finn asked, "What do you mean by that?" He was a little bit confused by why Harrier would believe in that legend anyway; he didn't seem like the type anyway. Piper was happy about this, though; it meant that Harrier found out about Emma and they can finally have a common thing to talk about.
"Well, last night, he found a Gaian masquerading as the girl from Terra Atmosia, and then told us to be extra careful from now on… Of course, there are no such things as Gaians," the young Rex Guardian said, before looking forward, "Because if there were, then they would invade Atmos right now."
"Emma wouldn't do that!" yelled Junko, before getting a glare from the rest of the squadron. The freckled-boy looked back at the wallop, shrugged, and then looked forward again. Meanwhile, Aerrow was thinking about the situation. Was this was Emma was trying to tell him, that Harrier hated her? He shook his head, knowing that if there was a problem, she could tell him, right?
"Ummmm… Not to interrupt," Stork voice called over the speaker, "But I see Talons." The people on skimmers turned to see a bunch of Talons, who were just flying around randomly. Everyone blinked at this site; if they were the invasion force, shouldn't they well, more organized than this? Well, they didn't care as they headed for battle with weapons ablaze.
Meanwhile, Emma wasn't having the best time of her life. Sure, she wasn't over boiling-hot lava in a scary torture room. But it was still the pits; she was still in the library, being watched by Harrier very closely and being asked what Earth/Gaia's invading plans were every five seconds. She was trying her best not to kill him whenever he asked that, but his voice was getting so annoying after a few minutes that she wanted to summon some evil demon from the darkest hell and make it crushed the irritating man with its foot. Too bad she didn't have the power to summon such a beast… Or any magic in particular, probably.
Instantly, an idea came to her that either would help him in on his good side and/or would make him be stop asking that stupid question. Either way, the teen had to try to get him to shut up. She looked at him and then asked, "Look, if I tell you our invasion plan was," 'If there really is a plan,' "What do I still get?" The Guardian blinked before thinking; this was a hard one.
After thinking hard, he answered, "Well since your people care so much about fighting and it isn't against the Code, how 'bout a duel to the death?" The girl paled; he could mean one out of two things. It could be a basic, regular fight with weapons and probably skimmers, which she couldn't fly. Or the very safe, card game called Duel Monsters that she had back on Earth; of course, she had been reading sites on the internet that the game originated from ancient times of the world and was mostly played in Ancient Egypt. So, there was a slight chance that Atmos could have had this game as well. Either way, she was doomed.
Suddenly, an explosion was heard, causing the two to fall out of their chairs. That saved Emma from Harrier's constant questioning. But why would there be an explosion in the first place? Was the invasion force supposed to be about FAR away from here?
Wasting no time, the sky knight instantly stood up and yelled, "I guess the Storm Hawks couldn't contain the menace." The teen smiled at this fact. Sure, Talons are invading, but at least it would keep him busy away from her.
"Okay, you go after those fiends. I'll stay here and keep out of trouble." she smoothly said, sitting on the floor still. If the Rex Guardian was off to battle, she could remain here while it was nice and safe. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case as the man glared at her.
"As much as I hate you, I gave my own word that I will watch you. So, you're coming with me," he said, which caused the girl to instantly stand up. She didn't want to go to a battle. She was already in deep when he found out her heritage. How would he react if he found she was with Cyclonians for a while? But she didn't have time to argue, it would be a waste a time anyway. She only looked down and nodded her head.
The man quickly ran over to the door and unlocked it. Then, he started to run to where he heard the explosion. The girl followed, wondering how she was not going to get kill one way or another.
The Storm Hawks and Rex Guardians were easily taking down Talons, probably too easily. It looked like the enemy was just flying around in circles. For most people, this would seem suspicious. But to people like Finn, this meant more target practice.
"Yea! This invasion is so over!" yelled the sharpshooter as he shot down another Cyclonian. The said-invasion blinked simultaneously. They were all thinking the same thing.
"Invasion?" questioned a random Talon, "I thought we were the decoy." Aerrow raised an eyebrow as he heard him. Did the Talon called himself a decoy? Feeling that something was wrong, he flew next to the Cyclonian for more info.
"Hey, what do you mean decoys?" the red head asked, while raising an eyebrow. If this bunch was nothing to worry about, then why were they fighting them in the first place?
The grunt looked at the sky knight and answered, "Yea, our leader said that in order to make sure not to have any problems with the invasion, some of us needed to distract you guys while the army invades Terra Rex." The Storm Hawks was shocked when he heard this; they were shooting at the wrong target. And meanwhile, Harrier and a bunch of squires with little-to-no experience in fighting in these guys are the only thing that standing against thousands of them.
Wasting no time, he yelled, "Everyone! Get back on the Condor! The real invasion is back on Terra Rex!" Then, he, his squadron, and the Rex Guardians flew back, leaving the only-surviving Talons alone there. For some reason, they were getting the same feeling that most girlfriends feel when getting dumped.
After a few moments of feeling dumped, one Talon suggested, "Wanna go to the evil convention? I heard that there was going be a free special on past bad guys who had their plans failed a thousand times." The rest nodded, and started to fly away.
Harrier ran towards the explosion, with his little prisoner following behind him. They were getting closer to where it was as they could tell by how thick the smoke was. The two made it to the entrance where they saw a duo of squires laying on the floor, battered. The door, thankfully, was locked but a person could feel the pounding going on outside. Yup, this was a sign that the terra was being invaded.
Without thinking, the sky knight rushed over to one of his fellow soldiers and asked, "Who did this?" Emma watched with great sympathy and fear. She knew that Cyclonia would destroy anything in its way, whether it is living or dead. But what scared her was the blood fest she might be in when those Talons marched in. Knowing that she wouldn't survive what was coming, she quickly hid behind one of the drawers sneakily.
The trainee woke up and said, "There was an explosion… And…" Then, he fainted. Harrier closed his eyes and set the boy down, before hearing another explosion. He quickly took out his sword as Talons came in. Next, a man emerged from the smoke with solemn steps. He was about the same age as the sky knight, with dark blonde, spiky hair, a goatee and crimson gold eyes; he was also wearing the armor and uniform of Cyclonian. The Rex Guardian gasped at who was standing before him.
It was Carver, ex-sky knight of the Red Eagles.
Author Notes:
Wow, that was fast. Now, I could rate this as my shortest chapter.
Now, you can see some story development with this chapter. There's some conflict and an antagonist now. I bet most people are going to hurt me for introducing Carver into the mix. After Second Chances, who wouldn't hate his guts now?
For copyright, I don't own Alice in Wonderland or Yugioh. To me, Alice in Wonderland is the greatest book ever written. If you guys compare Storm Hawks to Lewis Carroll's classic, you'll probably get a lot of them to the wacky characters in the story. For example, Arygyn would be the Cheshire cat, and Radarr would be the White Rabbit, with his cute, little waistcoat and a watch. You will also take note that I used what the people on Yugioh called the card game. Thus, there is no Yugioh show back on Earth as well.
I thank Kitten2007, Cold-heart-Angel23, and Flame Soldier for reviewing again and Flame Soldier faving this story. Having Harrier for an enemy might be silly since you can see in the chapter that his own squadron won't believe him. It looks like he's on his own to stop said-threat. Of course, if the nations of Earth discovered Atmos, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to invade it.
For Kitten2007, I'm sorry that the Murk Raiders didn't appear in this chapter. But I'm giving you and the rest of the readers a vote. You know Carver is a bad guy in this story, right? Well, I'm giving the peeps a choice of choosing secondary antagonist(s) from a range of choices in the poll. You can vote up to three and one with the most votes win.
And readers, praise and criticism is welcome.
So, read and review!