Questions and the truth

heh heh, loooooooooooong wait. We might be moving, school, i had the flu, friends, pets, blahblahblah and im writing two other stories beside this one. Anyway, review. hopefully you'll like it and, remember, pllllllleeeeeeeaaaase do not skip around! you'll miss info!

The Atmosian council peered down at the squadron from the balcony, obviously a bit surprised at their strange request.

The lead council adjusted his tiny glasses at the tip of his sharp nose. "You want to know about Terra Odranoel? What happened that would stir up your curiosity about such a place?"

Piper, the elected spokesperson of the team, clasped her hands in front of her and did her best to look innocent. "We heard the most fascinating tale about a man's grandfather's voyage to the terra at a shanty in the Saharr quadrant. It was so interesting; we'd just like to know more."

The council withdrew so far from the balcony's edge that the team could only see the top of their balding heads. They talked and scratched their scalps and stroked their chins, none getting any point in amid their arguing. Aerrow tried to cut in. "Sorry, we didn't know it was such a big deal…"

A noble looking man sitting at the end of the balcony, the only one not participating with the others, leaned over the rail to speak. "Terra Odranoel is indeed interesting, but you do realize that it's gone, right?"

"Yes, we do," Piper replied.

He leaned back in his chair. "Then there is no use in chasing after spilt milk. Why don't you kids go catch some cloud krill? You can get a decent pay at the market."

Piper halted Finn's outburst and stood in front of the fuming sharpshooter. "You misunderstood our intentions, sir. We-"

The man cut her off. "You young people are all the same. You hear a legend, chase after it with high hopes, and then come back to us broken and scarred with half your squadron dead or missing forever. Believe me when I say it; some things are just better to be left alone, especially legends like Terra Odranoel."

Another, a short man, spoke up. "Not to mention that there's an old law in Atmos records that prohibits serious information of Odranoel to be given out. If you want to know anything, then look in the 'Terras of Atmos' by Richrey Gibsonn."

The lead council adjusted his glasses. "There have been four sky knight squadrons in the past fifty years who had ignored the law and gone off to their deaths in their search for Terra Odranoel. Only two of these twenty one men came back, and were arrested for life." They all leaned forward menacingly. "You don't want that to happen to you, now do you?"

Piper was pale. "Uh… okay. That's enough info for today. Thank you, sirs." She took Aerrow's arm and led the team out from the room.

Once the heavily decorated double doors shut behind them, Finn burst, "go catch some cloud krill? Who does that man think he is? I'll catch some alright, and stuff it down his big mouth!"

Piper hastily covered his mouth. "They could still hear us, Finn."

She dragged him a ways until they were outside. The sun was shining, birds were singing, and their vehicles were hot to the touch as Aerrow swung onto his bike. "Stork isn't going to like this."

Piper released Finn. He glumly retreated to his own bike and she sat in her heliscooter. "Well, it's either that or we become criminals and get arrested for life." She looked down at the ground. "Something's wrong with that terra, and I'm not about to go against a century old law of Atmosia to find out."

Junko shuddered. "Only two out of all those men survived? What's wrong with that terra?"

Aerrow shook his head. "Something that the council doesn't want us to know. And, hearing the consequences, I think it's for the best."

"What?" Stork demanded.

Aerrow flinched at the merb's outburst. "That's what they said, Stork. Word for word."

Piper sat at the table, flipping through her book of terras. "The book that one man recommended is the one I already own. No more than we already know."

Finn lifted a headphone, filling the bridge with unreasonably loud rock music. "And I don't think any of us are up to getting killed over some invisible terra, some giant eyeball, and your screwed up little nightmares, Stork."

Stork raised a threatening hand toward the sharpshooter. "I'm going to strangle you, Finn."

Finn released the raised headphone and the music was muffled. "Sorry, what?"

Stork turned back to the others. "I'm serious, guys. I know, just for some reason, that we need to find that terra, and fast!" He rubbed the back of his skull. "I'm getting Atmosian skull infliction, a sure sign of anxiety."

Junko looked up from reading over Piper's shoulder. "Maybe we should ask Starling."

Aerrow gazed out the window. "No, she's over on the opposite side of Atmos right now with the cadets. It'd be useless trying to call her up."

Stork, not in the least bit happy, crossed his arms huffily and looked from face, to face, to face in disbelief. "So that's it?"

They all looked at him. "What do you mean?"

The merb spread his arms out. "We're the great and mighty Storm Hawks. We go where no one has ever gone before and back. We've defeated the famed Dark Ace countless times, take on other villains like Ravess and Snipe, Repton and his brothers, and we always come out the victor. We've defeated a Morphing Crystal, kicked Stajj and his clan's butts, and we totally defeated the worst enemy Atmos has ever seen."

Aerrow didn't like how Stork was adding it all up. "Yeah?"

Stork's yellow eyes narrowed. "So we're going to let a few stories and a council obsessed with rules stop us from going on what may be the best adventure of our lives?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Finn burst in, mouth smeared with chocolate pudding. "You're usually the one discouraging the best adventures of our lives!"

Stork adverted his face from Finn's. "This is different. Now wash your face."

Finn, offended, walked away and sat in a corner. "It's just pudding…"

Piper flipped through the book, discouraged. "Same information…. Same information… Stork, this isn't going to work."

The merb clenched his fists as if pure will could change their minds. "But I know we can find it!"

Aerrow's patience wore thin. "Why are you so obsessed with finding this terra anyway? Usually you're complaining about missions."

"We gotta find it before someone else does," Stork responded. "Don't ask me how I know, I just do."

The sky knight crossed his arms. "And who, may I ask, could find it first? I thought only you knew how to find it."

"I don't know how to find it or where it is. I just know some details, that's all." Stork pressed his fingers to his forehead. "I wish I knew more…"

"Like if those visions of yours are driving you crazy?" Finn had recovered from his pride injury.

Stork fixed him with a dirty look. "No, Finn. You're the one driving me crazy."

Finn went back to his corner. "I'm only trying to help…"

Piper closed the heavy book with a wham, startling them all and sending a cloud of fine dust blowing up into Junko's face. "I think I know somewhere that we can go to settle ourselves." She leaned an elbow on the book's leather cover. "Let's go to Skyside Shanty."

Skyside Shanty, located just above the clouds, was teeming with pirates and sky fishers as it always was, especially in the morning. The Storm Hawks walked in, noting with some satisfaction that only half of the tavern's occupants turned to stare instead of the usual… everyone.

The waitress looked up from wiping the counter with a greasy rag as they stood silently at the doorway. "Ah, you again. Why you come here so often? You Sky Knight usually go to Terra Atmosia for breakfast."

Aerrow sat himself down wearily at a stained table close by. "Sometimes, a guy just needs a break."

She turned, scooped up a platter from the window sill and stretched across the counter to place it on the table top. Flies buzzed around the unappetizing array. "Thought your wallop would come with you. Got ready just in case."

Junko plopped down beside Aerrow and tucked in whole heartedly. "Hohoho! We really should come here more often!"

The waitress put down her rag and netted her fingers beneath her chin, narrowing her eyes. "So, what brings you this ways, Storm Hawks?"

A cloaked man, a big, ragged hat pulled low over his face, turned his sharp eyes to the table behind him. He licked his cracked lips, a hiss escaping from between his gaped teeth. "Storm Hawks?" Quickly he turned back to his drink, but kept one ear tuned in on the conversation going on behind him.

Aerrow sighed. "Ah, nothing much. We've been bored out of our mind for a few months now, and just when I thought things were going to get exciting again, it turned out to be nothing."

Stork grunted unhappily.

The waitress straightened her back. "Well, maybe I can help. I've heard so many adventures from people all over Atmos that it could put your books to shame."

"That wouldn't be hard," Finn grumbled.

"It's Terra…" Piper lowered her voice to a whisper. "Odranoel."

The eavesdropping man nearly dropped his drink. He swiftly steadied himself, glanced around to reassure himself he was the only one who heard, and then hunched in close to the table. "Ah, Odranoel…" He put the rim of the tankard to his lips in satisfaction.

The waitress appeared more startled than the Atmosian Council. "Odranoel? That cursed place? What would you want with that legend?"

Aerrow gestured at Stork. "He thinks he knows how to find it."

She didn't seem all that convinced as she eyed the young merb. "He does, eh? Weren't you the one with Sky Shock the first time you came here? Made you go all crazy like?"

Aerrow rescued his pilot from further embarrassment. "The thing is; why can't Terra Odranoel be found anymore?"

The waitress shrugged. "Been gone for centuries. Never concerned myself with thinking up a reason."

"What if it's not gone? Just… invisible?"

She cocked her head thoughtfully. "Hmm… could say that that sounds crazier than a cloud krill eating a leviathan, but I suppose it's possible. A lot of things I've heard don't have a logical explanation, and yet are true."

Aerrow glanced at Piper for encouragement. She urged him on with a nod. He turned back eagerly. "What about the stuff that the terra is made of? Is it ice or something else?"

A light sprang up in the waitress' eyes. "Ah! An answer I can give you. The entire terra is rumored to be made of pure glass. Noth'n but glass. Has no native crystals, no noth'n. Everything, even its trees, if they're really alive, are made of solid glass."

"So there's nothing but glass?"

She thought deeply for a long moment. "Nah, that's it from what I've heard. Noth'n but glass."

"Absolutely nothing?"

The waitress became impatient. "Look, what do you want? The Terra's solid glass! Do you want to find it and hack away pieces to sell at a market or somethin'?"

"No!" The sky knight denied it firmly.

A winning smile stole over her face. "Ah, but you do want to find it, eh?"

"You wouldn't be fooled if I said no."

"Well, you have gone through a lot and survived," the waitress said. "The way you took on the leviathan really surprised me. I suppose you know all the stories of the sky knight squadrons who chased after this Terra?"

Piper nodded slowly. "Only two survived."

Junko took a green leg of some kind of amphibian meat from his mouth and pored more vinegar on it. "Out of four squadrons."

The waitress shook her head grimly. "That place is a death trap to any who dream of catching it. Wither it's destroyed, invisible, flying, or shrunk, I really think it's best left alone." She absentmindedly picked up a smeared mug and polished it with the greasy rag. "Not to mention it's against Atmosian law…"

The sky knight stayed her hand. "But do you think it's possible?"

The waitress met his eyes. She held his gaze for a long moment, and then clenched her fists so hard that they turned white and the mug threatened to crack. "Aw, man, I sure hope I'm doing to the right thing." She gestured for them to come close. They all leaned in. The waitress cupped her mouth and hissed, "a man came by not too long ago. Said his name was Corwyin and that he was from the Terra Odranoel. Took four drinks of our strongest and started to blabber to me about some adventure he had. Poor guy, he was scarred beyond human and mad as a frog. Old too, so old that he must have been on his last legs when he left this place. Haven't seen him since."

Finn swallowed hard. "And?"

The waitress glanced behind her. "his babblings were mostly nonsense, but I made out something that sounded like it could be possible." She turned back. "He was flying along in his rusty ole heliscooter when he spotted somethin'. He said at first he thought it was a mirage, says he, but then it became too clear and stable to be a fake. It was all weirdly messed together as if it were a chunk of thick ice, and yet an unmistakable landmark since it was not far from Terra Saharr. Any ice would had melted right away in the heat. He flew after it in hopes of catching up, but suddenly, it was gone. Vanished. Went as soon as it appeared. All what was left were clouds and the Saharr."

"Wait, you said that he tried to 'catch up?'" Aerrow asked.

The waitress shrugged. "From how he said it, it sounded like the entire terra was moving. I dunno if it was slow or fast, but there you go."

"Corwyin? Is that his name?"

"That's what he told me."

In an instant the sky knight was running for the door. "Thanks for all your help!"

The others quickly followed. "Yeah, thanks!"

Junko alone was left at the lonely table, a fork loaded with spicy eyeballs halfway to his mouth. The waitress' cold gaze flicked from the backs of the vanishing squadron to the wallop sitting before her. "So… about that bill…"

Junko looked down at his platter. "Uh…"

Cyclonia was enveloped in one of the nastiest storms of the week, black clouds swirling above it's highest point like ghastly vultures and lighting streaking across the sky like blinding slashes in the heavens. Talons patrolled every floor and the daily patrols flew back and forth on their duties despite the lashing rain.

A lone heliscooter, red with rust and half blown apart from abuse, wobbled dangerously close to the deadly spikes jutting from the milky fog filling Cyclonia's moat. The man at its controls, hat pulled low over his eyes, laughed breathlessly as the wind nearly blew him from his seat, shaking his fists up in the air and steering the vehicle with his knee. "Cyclonia! I am here! I am here!"

Two talons, patrolling the ground levels of Cyclonia's base, pulled in their vehicles to a hover as the crazed man flew in closer. One nudged the other. "It's him again."

His companion wielded his spear. "Wanna see if I can shoot him right off the seat?"

"No," the other said unhappily, flinching as the heliscooter veered downward. "We had better take him to the Dark Ace. Whatever this guy's doing here, it has to be important."

His companion was doubtful. "You sure it won't be another one of his long stories of gibberish? He must have lost his sense back in his sky knight days."

"Terra Odranoel," the other grunted as they flew in close to their visitor. "Who wouldn't? He should be dead!"

Dark Ace stood tall under a rock ledge as the old man tottered from his heliscooter and stumbled toward him, grimy hands outstretched. "I heard them. They have a plan. They know where it is!"

He hunched over at Dark Ace's feet, nibbling on a black fingernail. Dark Ace couldn't help but curl a lip at the old man's presence. "Spit it out. Do you have something to say or did you get shot again?"

The lead Talon recoiled in horror as the man grabbed at his feet. "Odranoel, my beautiful. You're still alive. I knew it to be true."

Dark Ace regained his posture and shook the man's greasy hands from his foot. "This again? I've told you before, you old fool. Your precious terra's gone. You lost your squadron, remember?"

The man rocked back and forth, shaded eyes filmed over. "No, no. Corwyin, that rascal, he's alive. We're alive…"

Dark Ace had enough. Pulling his warm cloak tighter around his shoulders, he nodded to two talons waiting nearby. "Send him back where he came from. I don't want to hear him ever again."

Suddenly the man realized that he wasn't getting through. He began to cry, wither from joy or disbelief or no reason at all. "Storm Hawks, my king! They know! They know! Corwyin, that rascal!" He raised his tear stained face. "It's raining!"

Dark Ace stayed the two talons. "Repeat."

He began to rock back and forth again. "Skyside Shanty, the Storm Hawks go there." He looked up at Dark Ace and crackled. "Oh, but you know that, don't you. Yes, you are one…"

"No, I'm not anymore, you old fool," Dark Ace said impatiently. "How do the Storm Hawks know? What do they know?"

The old man turned his crying to laughter. He raised his hands and sat down, smiling happily up. "That's the question, now isn't it? Hahahahaha!"

Outside, just a few stories up, a talon turned to his companion. "You hear something, George?"

His companion shivered in the rain. "No, Fred.

Fred and George joke from PART TWO. couldn't resist bringing them in again. REVIEW! REVIEW! REVIEW!!