Chapter 2: The Demerit of Youth

Aerrow and his team went to the Sky Knight Council Hall. Once in the main hall, they handed in their papers to the head member of the council behind a large desk that was taller than all of them. The papers contained information on their backgrounds, particularly Aerrow's. He needed the council to recognize him as the heir of the Storm Hawks squadron before he could take their name and position. They also needed his Sky Knight papers; after all, you can't have a Sky Knight squadron without a Sky Knight to lead them.

The registrar was certainly past his prime; grey hair surrounded his head, dark circles hung under dark eyes, and blotches on his face marked it worst for wear. The glasses and large nose added to the affect. To Aerrow, the man would have looked ancient if only he had a few more wrinkles.

The old man studied the papers carefully, mumbling to himself as he did so. The Storm Hawks watched anxiously, awaiting his verdict. Aerrow's heart thudded in his chest. If there were two moments in his life where the hope, meaning, and the pain of waiting could not be express in words, it was waiting for judgment at the Sky Knight trials and this.

At last, the old man raised his head with a smile. "It seems everything is in order."

Aerrow smiled in relief and placed on hand on Radarr's shoulder. Each exchanged a look that scolded the other playfully. And you were worried!

"See?" Aerrow heard Piper whisper. "Just a formality."

"I'll need your names and positions for the registry," the council member told them as he opened the registration book and dipped his feather pen in a bottle of ink.

Aerrow's chest swelled up with pride. He figured that, as the Sky Knight, he should go first. Standing tall, he saluted the head council. "Aerrow," he introduced himself, "Sky Knight and leader."

"Finn," Aerrow heard his sniper say, "wingman," he pointed his fingers like pistols, "and sharpshooter."

The Wallop waved his hand next. "Junko," he said, pointing to himself with his thumb, "flight engineer and, uh . . ." He thought a minute, thinking he needed something else to add to it just like the others had. Finally, he thought of it. Flexing his muscles, he added, "Heavy ballistics."

Piper held up her finger. "Piper," she introduced herself, "navigation and tactics."

And first officer, Aerrow added silently. There was no one else he would rather trust to lead the team in his absence. He knew he could count on Piper.

Stork looked a bit nervous as he held up his finger. "Uh, Stork . . ." He sneezed. Wiping the mucus on his shirt, he finished through a stuffy nose. "Carrier pilot."

Now it was Radarr's turn. He leaped up in front of the stand and performed a series of kicks and punches fit for any warrior and then stood proudly before the registrar with his paws on his hips. The old man just looked at him skeptically. "What is that?" he asked distastefully. "Some kind of pet?"

Radarr growled at the man for the insult, and Aerrow was quick to intervene. He knew that it could turn out badly for anyone who called Radarr a pet unless he calmed the furry creature's temper. Kneeling down beside his copilot and placing a hand on his shoulder, he corrected, "Uh, he prefers 'mission specialist'. Uh, we just call him 'Radarr.'"

The registrar grunted disinterestedly but made no further comment on the subject. Instead he went back to business. "The council will be most pleased," he said, "to hear that the new Storm Hawks squadron has formed." He smiled knowingly. "Your predecessors were greatly admired." His eyes landed on Aerrow, and he gestured toward him with his feather pen. "You have much to live up to, Aerrow."

Aerrow could feel the moment was coming. "We're ready," he insisted.

The registrar turned the book around and offered the pen. "Sign here please." Aerrow nodded, unable to stop grinning. This was it. He stepped forward and reached for the pen.

At that moment, the old man adjusted his glasses so as to get a better look at the Sky Knight. What he saw surprised him. He jerked the pen back. "Wait just a minute!" he exclaimed. He adjusted his glasses again. "How old are you?"

Aerrow winced. The moment was gone.

The doors to the Council Hall closed in front of the unofficial Storm Hawks. The moment wasn't coming.

Aerrow stared at the door as it closed. Fourteen. What's wrong with a fourteen-year-old Sky Knight? What's wrong with most of his squadron being no older than himself? Sure, they were young. Sure, Aerrow was the youngest Sky Knight ever to register. Sure, Aerrow didn't even have his own special move yet, as most every Sky Knight has a signature move. But what difference did that make? Who needs registration, anyway?

He was interrupted from his thoughts when Finn kicked the ground with his foot in annoyance. "Told ya it was a waste of time!"

Aerrow could sense the feeling was mutual among the team, and he went about amending it. "So we may not be 'official'," he told them. He placed a hand on his heart, "But I'm still a Sky Knight," he gestured toward them, "you're still my squadron, and we're still friends, right?"

"Oh, I-I'm only with you until something better comes along," Stork said, his eye twitching. His eye did that a lot, Aerrow noted. The young Sky Knight was actually starting to get used to it. The paranoid twitch is what told him now that Stork meant what he said, but he was willing to bet that he would not follow up on it. His was much more loyal than he made himself out to be.

Piper sighed and starting walked down the steps. "I just wish people would take us seriously," she told them. "We're not just kids." She turned to Aerrow. "We have the skills, we have the gear . . ."

"We have Finn," the sharpshooter interrupted, pointing a thumb at himself and adding his pistol fingers and his famous, "Chica-cha!" Aerrow smiled in amusement as he watched Radarr roll his eyes. Finn was always so full of himself.

At that moment, five red and tan III Air Skimmers drove around the corner, each baring the symbol of a soaring red eagle. "It's Carver and the Red Eagles!" Junko announced excitedly.

Carver and the Red Eagles. Aerrow's pulse rushed with excitement as a cheer rose up among the people in the street. A Sky Knight squadron could be referred simply by its name, but sometimes the name of the Sky Knight is mentioned as well. The Red Eagles, led by Sky Knight Carver, were the defenders of Terra Atmosia, thereby guardians of the Aurora Stone. They were the best Sky Knight squadron in the entire Atmos!

The rest of the team seemed as enthusiastic as Aerrow felt. "Come on!" Piper motioned toward them. "Let's go meet them!"

The Red Eagles' Skimmers slid to stop before the large crowd that had gathered to see them. Among them were Gull and his son from earlier on. Gull had his hands on his son's shoulders as the boy waved to the Red Eagles. "Now there's a real Sky Knight squadron," Gull told him.

Aerrow approached Carver, noting proudly that he also drove an Air Skimmer III Ultra. Aerrow had once thought that the feat of approaching someone so important would be harder, but he found that as long as he thought of himself as a fellow Sky Knight, it wasn't hard at all. "I'm Aerrow," he introduced himself to Carver, adding hesitantly, "of the Storm Hawks." He held out his hand. "It's a real honor to meet you."

Carver didn't take Aerrow's hand. He didn't even look at him. Instead, he scowled and studied the group behind him—all of them smiling, Piper waving, and Finn twitching his eyebrows stupidly. With an amused smile, he finally addressed Aerrow. "Aren't you a little short to be a Sky Knight, kid?"

Aerrow's hand, smile, and admiration fell as one. His eyes narrowed at Carver, cold resentment welling up in throat. He clenched his teeth, determined to hold his tongue, although he was deeply offended.

He let the shock of the comment—and its source—sink in as he watched the Red Eagles drive away toward the beacon tower to take their post. Twice that day he had thought less of because of his age, once even by a fellow Sky Knight, and he was beyond irritated, if not downright insulted. He'd passed the Sky Knight trials. His team had trained hard. What more did they want? Age? That shouldn't matter, Aerrow decided.

Aerrow realized Piper was watching him sympathetically and looked as if she was going to comfort him. Aerrow hated admitting he needed comforting, even to Piper. In order to avoid an uncomfortable conversation, he gave orders. "Come on," he said to his team. "Let's go." He was unable to keep the disappointment and resentment from his voice.

Piper sighed as she followed. "That could've gone worse," she commented. Aerrow just glared ahead of him. He wasn't in the talking mood.

Behind them, sitting on a tree, a red-eyed bird black as night cawed and took flight. A raven—an omen of bad things to come.

On the Terra of Cyclonia, Master Cyclonis, the new Cyclonian empress, stood in her throne room. She addressed six characters—her petite perfectionist of a sniper, Ravess; Ravess' burly, dimwitted, mace-wielding brother Snipe; and the Raptors, a rogue squadron of reptilian humanoids called, not coincidentally, Raptors. Led by Repton, the Raptors' other members were Repton's brothers—burly Hoerk, big fat Lugey, and skinny little Spitz. Ravess and Snipe were loyal servants; Repton and his Raptors were simply there for business.

"Once upon a time, Cyclonia controlled the entire Atmos," Master Cyclonis reminded them. Cloaked in a purple hooded robe, her back was to them as she worked on her machine, pressing various buttons to make its arm-like structures grab and fix various parts of itself with different crystals. "Then along came the Sky Knights," she continued, "and all that got messed up. I want things back the way they used to be. And as soon as our Talon squadrons clip the wings of the Sky Knights, they will."

At that moment, the doors opened with a loud clank. Ravess and Snipe both turned with a respectful yet resentful gaze on a new figure. His boots clanked against the metal floor of the throne room. The dark warrior stopped before the stand and spoke. "That would be my pleasure, Master Cyclonis."

A smile lit the Master's face, although her audience could not see it. "The Dark Ace," she addressed the warrior without turning around. "So glad you could join us."

Repton took this time to speak. "I could care less about your plans, Cyclonis!" he growled. "What's in it for the Raptors?" He added a snake-like hiss to his S.

Master Cyclonis turned around with a crystal in hand, her hood opening to form a sort of crown. "Untold riches to start," she told Repton. Repton's eyes narrowed suspiciously. Master Cyclonis activated the crystal. A large, red, hand-like power picked Repton far off the ground and pinned him against the wall. His brothers stared in fright as Repton growled in anger and defiance . . . and perhaps even with fear. "And I'll promise not to crush your measly little Terra Botagon!" Cyclonis finished her explanation, deactivating the crystals as she did. The hand dissolved, and the Dark Ace watched with satisfaction as Repton fell to the floor with a heavy thud and a groan.

The Raptor raised himself off the ground and shook his head to clear its fogginess. Untold riches were rather appealing, but Terra Botagon . . . Repton knew that Cyclonia had the ability to destroy that terra which he called home, and they would. Unless he cooperated. "I believe," he told Cyclonis, "something can be arranged."

"Good," Master Cyclonis responded. "Then let it begin. It's time to send a message. The future of Atmos belongs to Cyclonia. It belongs to me!"

Back on Terra Atmosia, Carver approached the front of the beacon tower, studying it thoughtfully. "Carver, sir," one of his squadron members called to him, "is something wrong?"

"That depends entirely on your point of view," he responded. He reached for his sword hanging from its sheath on his waist. "Long live Cyclonia!" he vowed. Then he turned around and raised his sword to attack his unsuspecting squadron.

The Aurora Stone was removed from the center of the beacon tower, and the sky of Terra Atmosia darkened.

Everyone pointed and stared, worried. A murmur rose above the crowd just as the Storm Hawks were mounting their skyrides. Junko was the first to vocalize the situation. "The beacon tower!" he exclaimed, pointing. "It stopped, um . . ." He tried to think of a word to use but only came up with, "Beaconing!"

"Something must be wrong with the Aurora Stone," Piper told Aerrow, her eyes wide with concern and darting from the beacon tower to Aerrow, looking at her leader expectantly.

Aerrow understood perfectly. "Storm Hawks," he told his team, "let's fly." They drove their Skimmers toward the tower.

When they reached the tower, they all stopped and stared. "What happened?" Finn exclaimed.

Aerrow wondered the same thing as he observed the horrifying sight. The Red Eagles, minus Carver, where all frozen, each with their bodies twisted at weird angles that betrayed their surprise and inability to escape, attacked before they even knew what was going on. The door of the tower was bent and burned from being broken into. "Whoever did this," Aerrow heard Piper comment grimly, "has to be powerful."

Aerrow refused to look at the frozen bodies that formed the isle that led up to the door. Instead, he removed from his Skimmer two wing-shaped twin energy blades and slipped them into the sheaths on his shoulder so that they hung from his back. Eyes narrowed, he led his team to the tower, determined to concentrate on the problem at hand and trying to set an example to his shaken teammates. They followed him in single file, most glancing around at the sickening icy figures around them. Junko was aghast and wondered if the Red Eagles were still alive or whether he was looking at frozen corpses. Stork, who took up the rear, stopped to look at one of them who was frozen with his mouth gaping and his eyes crossed. Crossing his eyes to match his, Stork shivered and tried to calm himself with a nervous laugh.

This could not end well.

Author's Notes: No, I didn't make up Gull's name. He's in the credits. Go see for yourself if you can.

Hmm, I think that turned out a little better than the last. I didn't have to focus so much on explanations and really got to dive into Aerrow's character, a character that I happen to know very well. He and Piper are easy for me to relate to. Anyway, please review and tell me how well written this was (or wasn't).

And I'm still pushing those votes!