Oki doki! Time to write.
Cyclonis Tower, Cyclonia
"You did what?!" the queen screeched.
"Well, we didn't see it was them at the time…" Sir replied nervously.
"Send him to the dungeons, I'll deal with him later."
"Yes, your highness," Three guards stated while dragging the struggling captain from the room.
"Come in Dark Ace," she muttered as the door opened.
"You called?" he asked.
"It has come to my attention that the girl is still free….that there is a bit of a problem," she replied.
"Yes, but-"
"And you have neither defeated the Storm Hawks, nor have you captured her."
"Well, you see-"
"Therefore, the only proper course of action is for me to directly attack said person. Send a message to our dear friends, a war is about to begin," the queen stated with a malicious grin.
Condor, landing on Atmosia:
"So we can spend about a day here, but then we really should be off. Of course, Starling could come with us if she-" Piper started.
"No, thank you Piper. Sun and I are enough fro a team," replied the older Sky Knight.
"We're about to land," Stork muttered. He pulled a lever and the landing gear hit solid ground.
"This is going to hurt, isn't it?" Finn asked right before the Condor jerked on impact.
"Yeah, that hurt," the Merb replied.
"Come on guys, we got to get going," Aerrow said as he started for the Bridge door.
Atmosia:
They rode on their skimmers through the streets until they came to an out-of-the-way house painted in bright colors.
"Oh! Look at the yellows!" Sun stated clapping her hands and admiring the strangely painted yellow roof.
"Yeah," Starling said bopping the Sky Wing on the side of her head. Sun frowned and picked up the crate of crystals. The Storm Hawks followed the Interceptors up to the door and watched anxiously as the purple haired Sky Knight knocked on the door.
A small wrinkled man appeared at the door with goggles that made his eyes look huge.
"Oh my, thank you, thank you, thank you!" he cheered taking the crate and stepping inside, "Please do come in, come in!"
"These are the Storm Hawks. They assisted on the mission," Starling stated.
"Ah, well, thank you Storm Hawks. I am Dr. Shplunk. It looks like all of my crystals made it back safely. No telling what those blasted Cyclonians would do with them," he replied patting the top of the crate.
The squadrons looked around. Sun was nearly squealing with every yellowish object she saw, earning bops on the head from her Sky Knight.
"Excuse me sir, but, between two crystal enthusiasts, could you explain to me how you refined the crystal's aura to such a high quality blocking crystal?" Piper asked.
"Well you see, I just continuously tried random things on each crystal, you see each one required something different. One even needed apple juice!" He laughed. Piper just looked confused and smiled back.
"Okay then…" she replied.
"Here you go," he said handing Starling one and then to Aerrow.
"Well, we don't really need a reward sir," Aerrow said.
"Yes you do! These will protect you no matter what crystal is used. I only have four, so use them well," he said smiling pleasantly.
"Thank you sir," Starling replied and yanked Sun out before she could go fawn over some other yellow-looking object….that was bubbling.
"What's with you and yellow?" the blond Sharpshooter asked Sun.
"Well, I think yellow is the most cheerful color ever! Huh! You have yellow hai-" she exclaimed.
"No, Sun, no," her Sky Knight said holding her back, "I guess this is where we split. See you later, Storm Hawks." They waved and then parted ways. About two hours after the Interceptors left the clouds gathered and the air grew thick.
The Condor:
"Storms are bad, this is an omen. We're all doomed," Stork said looking out of the Bridge.
"Stork, what going to happen? It's not like the world is going to blow up," Junko replied wolfing down some waffles.
"Uh, then what's that?"
They all looked out the window, some pressing their noses to the glass to see if they could get a better view. Outside in the air were three Cyclonians, one recognizable as the Dark Ace.
"Storm Hawks!" Aerrow yelled and they ran down to the Hanger, leaving Stork in the Bridge.
The Sky:
"Ah, well if it isn't the kidy brigade," the Dark Ace spat. Aerrow returned with a snarl and reached for his energy blades.
"Slow down there, short stuff. We're not here to fight…more to deliver a message," replied the older man.
Aerrow kept his blades out for safety. They watched each other for a while preparing for all of the other's tactics.
"What message?" Piper growled.
"Impatient little ones, aren't you?" replied the Dark Ace with a devious smile.
"Get to the point already!" Finn yelled aiming an arrow straight at his minion in case of attack.
The Dark Ace pulled out a message crystal and grinned madly. A voice came through, loud and clear. It was definitely female and the Storm Hawks recognized the voice of Master Cyclonis. It could be heard all over Atmosia.
"Give us the girl, and no one dies…..yet. You have one week, or a war shall begin greater than any you have seen before!" the master laughed and then, by the time everyone snapped back to reality, the Cyclonians had gone.
"What the….what girl? What are they talking about?" Finn asked looking around.
The entire time Aerrow had noticed Tallen, whose grip was usually slack, had nearly been clutching to him for dear life. Her ruby red eyes were wide and she could only be compared to a deer in the headlights. Aerrow put a reassuring hand over were she clutched his abdomen.
Tallen seemed to snap back to reality a little later than the others. She looked down at the ground with narrow eyes. Now Aerrow knew exactly what Master Cyclonis wanted. But why? What had Tallen ever done? The only explination was…..
"Storm Hawks, lets head in," Aerrow stated.
Hanger:
Finn was still complaining to Junko about not knowing what the message crystal spoke of. Piper had her own ideas and once in a while gave a worried glance in Tallen's direction. Finally Finn used the intercom to tell Stork, who already knew and was muttering something about doom again.
As they all left Aerrow stayed behind. "Tallen, could you help me with something down here?" he asked. The Sky Knight gave a concered smile as the door closed and she walked back in. Feather and Radarr gave one last look to them before wandering off into the halls.
"Yeah?" she asked standing in front of him.
"What do they want from you?" he replied putting a hand on her shoulder. He had promised to protect her, but what if she wouldn't let him.
She was silent and looked at the floor.
'They would give the ultimate sacrifice if Atmos needed it,' the words raced through Aerrow's mind again.
"Tallen, what is it?"
Yippy! Another chapter completed. Sorry this took so long!
Next Time: What do the Cyclonians want with Tallen? Is she able to remember her past? What strange hypothesis does the rest of the team come up with?