Chapter 6: Played

There was complete chaos in the square were the fight had taken place. People had started shouting and screaming after the Dark Ace had nearly taken out half of the square. Amongst the frantic people, there was a man surveying the scene with great interest.

The fight was very interesting, in fact; it was one of the hardest fought battles he ever seen in Atmos in a long time. The really interesting thing was that battle was just a warm-up. Neither of them had gone at full strength; they were only prodding each other to see their improvements. Of course, none of the other bystanders would have notice the significance of it. Hell, it probably didn't register in their minds that Aerrow had taken a harder hit when the two hit each other with their special moves than the blast that destroyed half of the square. Not only that, he was willing to bet that Aerrow's shot was just as powerful.

He smiled to himself. He had heard that these two were strong and bitter rivals, but he didn't expect them to be this impressive. Perhaps his master will have some competition after all. He slunk into the shadows as more and more people showed up to help.

The Dark Ace was struggling to break through the crowds around him. As much as he wanted to continue the fight with Aerrow, he had other priorities. He ran into many people, who he just shoved out of the way without thinking. He must of knock down a number of people in his escape, none of any importance. Although, there was a young couple that looked very familiar to him, but he didn't have time to think about it.

The Dark Ace and the lieutenant were coming close to where the rendezvous point was. They were only a few blocks away when they looked back and saw Aerrow struggling to keep up with them. Damn it, how the hell did he catch up with us that fast, the Dark Ace thought. Aerrow couldn't learn of what exactly they were doing; he had to shake him off. He saw a narrow alley not far off in front of them. Using a wave of people walking between them, the Dark Ace ducked into the alley, pulling the lieutenant with him.

They waited for a few moments until Aerrow came into view. Realizing that this was where he had last seen the two, Aerrow looked around in all directions. After being unable to figure out exactly which way the two had gone, he had let out a soft, "Damn," but was close enough for the two to hear it. The Dark Ace smirked as he heard it. Language, Aerrow, he mockingly thought. Figuring that the two were heading towards the woods, Aerrow continued running forward.

After he left, the two stepped out of the alley. "He fell for it," the Dark Ace sneered, taking a left towards a different section of the woods, the lieutenant struggling to follow.

Avior had never seen such carnage before as he entered the square with his team. About half of the square looked like it was struck with a cannonball, and had the crater to prove it. There was also a large pile of rubble from the destroyed building on the other side of the square. All round were people running, still either away from the scene from fright or to it from curiosity. Off to the side of the scene was a large group comprised of what looked like avid listeners.

Avior strode over to the group, catching part of the conversation as he came closer.

"Really? Was it him? How can that be? He's supposed to be dead?"

"No, it was him alright. I bet my life on it."

"But the other one, he couldn't possibly be him. It had to be an act."

"Excuse me, but would one of you like to tell us what happened here," Avior said as he broke through the crowd. About four of the witnesses had been telling the crowds whatever had happened in the square. When they saw him, they immediately became quiet, obviously aware that he wanted to talk to them first. As people respectively moved out of his way, he saw an old lady with a cane still jabbering away to a group of people who looked like they wanted to desperately leave.

"I tell you, I still can't figure out if he was who that dark man said he was. I simply couldn't tell. Now, I don't know if the autograph I got my grandson was from the real Aerrow."

At this last statement, the people were so annoyed that they simply left. Avior, however, took notice of the odd statement. Real Aerrow? He motioned his team to interview the rest of the witnesses as he walked over to the old woman.

"Excuse me, madam. But what do you mean by 'real Aerrow'?" he asked, very curious.

The old woman looked up in surprised at the Sky Knight, braking out into a hysterical babble.

"Oh, Avior! Thank heavens you came! Look at this mess those two made, my goodness! They should really be more careful. Now you're here and neither one of them are here to explain themselves. Do you have any idea how much of a fright they gave us, with that fight of theirs…"

"Madam. Madam! MADAM!" She finally stopped and looked at the Sky Knight confused.

"Can you tell me what happened here, madam?"

"Well, I was on my way home from the store, buying a present for my niece's son. He's the cutest little boy you'd ever see. He has just the most adorable dimples, the biggest smile, and sparkling eyes. He's an angel. He's so good to his mother too. She spends so much time at work, yet he helps her wherever he can. She works so hard and…"

Avior listened impatiently when he heard two voices behind him.

"Look at this! This says the Dark Ace all over the place."

"Let's not jump to conclusions. It could easily be one of the new rogues running around here."

"Shame the Storm Hawks weren't here. I'd like to see them try to face whoever did this."

There was thick sarcasm in the voice, especially when he said Storm Hawks. Avior turned towards the voices. Looking around in a very clam manner was a young couple; a young man with blond hair and a young woman with midnight blue hair. Curious, Avior walked over to them.

"Do either of you know what happened here?"

Startled slightly, the young woman asked without thinking, "Who are you?"

Just as startled, Avior replied, "I'm Avior, the Red Eagles Sky Knight."

"Oh, of course… and no, we just got here."

Avior gave them a questioning look. "We heard the blast and came to look," the man said quickly.

"I see. Well, apparently, two men had a bit of a battle here. One apparently being Aerrow of the Storm Hawks."

The two perked up immediately and before she could stop herself, the woman asked eagerly, "Aerrow!? He was here?"

Avior looked sharply at her. The way she said the name made it so obviously clear that she knew him; the real Aerrow. These two knew what was really going on, even though they didn't know what happened in the square.

"So you know Aerrow, huh? The real one?"

"Uh… Well, I… I knew him three years ago."

"Can you tell me what is going on?" It wasn't a question, it was a command.

"What? What would we know about it?" she stammered frantically.

"Piper," called the man.

"We've only been here a maybe a week."

"Piper"

"Why would we know anything that you don't?"

"Piper"

"What, Finn!" snapped the girl.

"He knows," the man said calmly.

Avior looked at the two in shock. Those two names, Aerrow, the fight, and the mentioning of the Dark Ace. These two had to be the real ones.

"Are you the real Storm Hawks?" he asked in also a whisper.

They looked at one another and then nodded their heads.

"Piper and Finn of the Storm Hawks… It is an honor to finally meet you," Avior said, shaking their hands. "Why haven't you shown yourselves until now."

"That's a really long story," Finn said, but Avior stood expecting.

"Long story short, we haven't even really returned to the Atmos until a week ago. When we got here and saw what's been going on, we figured it would be best to stay low for a while."

Avior nodded thoughtfully, that's what he would have done, "And the Dark Ace?"

"Again, a really long story," Piper answered.

Avior was going to ask another question, when one of his teammates came up to Avior to report his finding.

"Avior, eyewitnesses state that there was a battle between two men, who identified each other as the Dark Ace and Aerrow. After an intense battle that lasted only about five minutes, a man who was with 'the Dark Ace' said something about their mission being finished and the two began walking away. 'Aerrow' began to give chase but 'Dark Ace' shot at the ground in front of him, causing the blast we heard, and they assume they ran down the south road. After the smoke cleared, 'Aerrow', after being delayed a brief moment by the old woman with the cane over there, gave chase down the same road."

Avior nodded as he listened to his teammates report. If they really were those two, that was an obvious conclusion. They needed to investigate more, even with the Storm Hawks. First, they needed to find the two fighters. "Did any of the witnesses give a description of the men?"

"Well, the Dark Ace was typical to his description; black hair, red eyes, and the general feeling of evil. But Aerrow was described as a young man with a black hat, black shorts and boots, and wasn't wearing a shirt."

The two Storm Hawks looked as if someone just slapped them in the face.

"What is it?" Avior asked, nervous.

"That man, he ran into us. That was Aerrow and we didn't recognize him!" They looked quickly at one another. "Then that other guy had to be the Dark Ace. How did we miss that!"

Avior looked at them quizzically. "I think you need to tell us what is going on exactly."

Aerrow ran into the woods, still trying to find the Dark Ace. He and his lieutenant had been running in this direction, so their rendezvous point had to be somewhere around here. He kept running through the woods, looking every which way he could, looking for a sign that would tell him where the Dark Ace went.

He stopped in a covered clearing, thinking. The Dark Ace had been going this way; the rendezvous point had to be here. He looked around again; there was nothing to show that the Cyclonians were here. Unless, this wasn't where the Dark Ace was really running towards.

It clicked. "You have got to be kidding me," Aerrow said to himself, putting his hands on top of his head. The Dark Ace had wanted him to think that the rendezvous point was here. He was willing to bet that when he lost sight of them and had stopped to look around, the Dark Ace was hiding probably feet away from him; waiting for him to fall for the simple play.

Aerrow looked back towards the town; there was no way he'd be able to stop the Dark Ace from escaping now. "Damn it," Aerrow hissed. How could I've been such an idiot! I fell for one of the oldest tricks in the book! I'm never going to hear the end of this; he'll never let me live it down.

Aerrow started back towards the town, furious with himself; more so at the fact that he just was played by the Dark Ace, than the fact that he escaped.

Hinting at that there is something going on more than just the return of the Storm Hawks, but we won't get there just yet. For now, the hints will have to do.

Hope you enjoyed and please comment!