Chapter 12: Civil Clash

The low clouds crept through the skies over Terra Rex. Despite the overcast day, the terra was alive with uncontrollable energy. The source of the commotion was coming from the grand stadium which was filled to the brim with people. They were cheering loudly, some urging their Sky Knight to victory and others for the other side. On the floor of the stadium, the media captured every moment. Despite the praise of their fans, the Rex Guardians weren't enjoying it.

Harrier was irritated to say the least. Normally, he would love the chance to show off his superiority in front of his fans. But, this was an absolute joke. He wanted to leave, but his honor wouldn't allow him… and his pride. He and his team had managed to get themselves into a challenge against the Storm Hawks. Only problem was that they weren't the real Storm Hawks.

Harrier had gain an enormous respect for the Storm Hawks after the war with Cyclonia. The young team was, by far, the most honor-worthy team that had ever roamed the Atmos. Here were these children, so young and full of energy, leading the Sky Knights in battle and defeating the most feared empire in the Atmos. Nothing like that has ever happened before. Then, after the battle, they went and chased Cyclonis into the unknown Far Side without hesitation. After that, any remaining doubts of the Storm Hawks that were in Harrier's mind were crushed into dust. All of his taunts and jeers against the young team were now a source of his greatest shame. He was furious at himself for being such a foolish, arrogant man. Age didn't mean everything; being old doesn't make one wise nor does being young make one foolish. This exception to the rule of age and wisdom had hit him hard.

So, this is why he and the rest of his team were the most outspoken against the "Storm Hawks" when they returned. He, knowing them and their ways all too well, knew immediately that they were fakes and took each and every opportunity to make it known to the rest of the Atmos. The only problem was, since they looked so much like the real ones, people didn't believe the Sky Knight. As such though, the "Storm Hawks" didn't take kindly at the attempts to defraud them, so they would jeer the old team, gaining more affirmation by the rest of the public.

Now that the tension between the two teams had heated up to a great degree, the "Storm Hawks" had challenged the Guardians, just like the original team. If they won, the Guardians would recognize them as the real team. If they lost, they would stop being a team. So, the challenge had begun. With the Rex Guardians' training, they should have been easily the winners. However, in a twisted sense of bad karma, the "Storm Hawks" took advantage of the Guardians beloved code, and used it against them. This made the Guardians hate them even further.

The score was tied and the last event was to take place, the Sky Knight Duel. As the preparations were being made, Harrier looked at the leader of the "Storm Hawks" in absolute disgust. This – this boy was imitating the greatest Sky Knight ever, dragging all of his hard work through the mud. Then again, he couldn't even call him the leader. It was painfully obvious that the true ringleader of the group was "Finn". He'd ordered everyone around like he was a king. Harrier really wanted to hit him over the head.

"Aerrow" looked over at Harrier nervously. "Finn" had told him how to beat the veteran Sky Knight, but he still was uneasy. He had been uneasy ever since Terra Atmosia when that explosion went off. He knew that someone really powerful had done it, and he wasn't too keen on fighting any strong opponent at the time being.

The chief judge motioned for the two Sky Knights to mount their rides. Harrier was determined to beat the fool into a pulp. "Aerrow" was hoping that "Finn's" plan would work. They were about to take off when a loud crash was heard above them.

Everything came to a hush as everyone looked up to the sky. After the initial crash, several others followed, along with many others sounds. The "Storm Hawks" and the crowd were trying to figure out was the sounds were, but the Rex Guardians knew those sounds all too well. They were the sounds of battle and a big one at that. The Guardians braced themselves for battle, yet didn't go up. Flying into an unknown battle was foolish and until they could discern the fight, it was best to stay put.

They were about to send one of their scouts up to check, when there was a break in the clouds and the battle was revealed. Everyone looked at the fight in awe and fear. The battle wasn't a typically rogue/knight squabble or a fight against an Elite. It was a fierce battle of war. To make matters worse, Harrier noticed the large insignia on a large destroyer: the Cyclonian Talon. As everyone else realized the foe, a deep dread engulfed them. The Cyclonian Empire was destroyed. They were finished. They shouldn't be here. It was upon seeing this, along with the intense aerial battle, that the "Storm Hawks" slipped away, scared, without anyone noticing.

Harrier squinted harder at the fight, trying to make out who the Cyclonians were fighting. He noticed that the Cyclonian destroyer was locked in battle with a smaller carrier that looked incredibly familiar. He squinted harder and harder until he saw the emblem on its side light up from the flying energy blasts: the emblem of the Storm Hawks. Gaping at the emblem, he realized just what that ship was, the Condor. Not daring to believe it, he looked at the battle again, noticing this time that the fight was against an army of Cyclonians and four blue skimmers.

Why he didn't realize it in the first place, he didn't know. He was going to have his team go up and help when a strange feeling held him back. It was telling him not to go up, and that they would take care of it. So, he and his team watched the fight unfold above them.

-00000-

The Storm Hawks had been roaming the skies near Terra Rex when the fight started. As they were debating whether or not to visit the Rex Guardians, Aerrow randomly grabbed hold of the controls and jerked the entire carrier right. The team had barely asked what he was doing when they noticed a large energy bolt zoom right passed where they were a moment ago. A second later, the sirens rang through the Condor and Cyclonian army came into view. They ran to the hanger, mounted their rides, and went to face the enemy.

Once outside, it was complete chaos. Swarms of Cyclonian troops were everywhere, determined to end the meddlesome team. Junko chased after one group, taking them down one by one. Piper wielded her crystal staff with skill and took out ten troops in a single shot. Finn, whose ability greatly increased, flew through the ranks of enemy, taking down everyone as his arrows hit his targets.

Aerrow and Radaar weaved in and out of the soldiers, easily defeating anyone who came near them. Aerrow knew that this army wasn't meant for them; it was too small. He figured that they were an invasion force heading towards Terra Rex and upon seeing them, opened fire. Luckily, Aerrow had sensed the incoming attack, how he didn't know, and moved the Condor out of range.

As they flew around and around, he was searching for a commander. If he took out the commander, the rest of the force would fall as well. After sometime, he looked down and saw who he was looking for. He stood up, told Radaar to take over, and jumped down into the absolute chaos below. He fell right by numbers of fighting soldiers, but never was hit. He came down upon a skimmer and instead of landing directly on it, he shot passed it slightly, grabbed hold of the bottom and swung back behind the rider, who which he punched in the face. The man held his face slightly and turned to Aerrow, "I see that you're still mad about Terra Atmosia."

"Very funny," Aerrow said, carelessly.

The Dark Ace laughed, "You don't have to be so angry, Aerrow."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever," Aerrow commented, getting into a fighting stance. A moment later and the two began to fight.

Stork was, surprisingly, having fun. In the Far Side, a number of new technologies had come to his attention. He eagerly took to them and adapted them to his beloved Condor. This is why he was able to take on the large Cyclonian destroyer with the smaller ship. By pressing a button, several crystal cannons appeared on the Condor's side, firing at the Cyclonian ship. With the combined ingenuity of Finn's accuracy and Junko's power, the cannons were a devastating force.

This forced the Cyclonian destroyer to unleash its main weapon. A large cannon appeared on the side of the destroyer and aimed at the little ship. Seeing this, Stork pressed another button, and a slightly smaller cannon appeared on its side. The charged energy of both cannons were released and met in between. The force of the combined blasts pushed the two carriers slightly. Also, the blasts sent small streaks of lightning-like energy into the battle, taking down several skimmers. One of the streaks hit the Dark Ace's ride, destroying it.

The two warriors were thrown off the skimmer and began falling towards the terra below. The Dark Ace activated his glider and flew in the air to get his bearings. Upon seeing that his opponents didn't have a means to save himself, he smirked. Finn noticed the blast and tried to help Aerrow, but was cut off by the Dark Ace. He was about to fire at the enemy when he saw Aerrow waving at him cheerfully and pointing back at the battle. Again wondering about Aerrow's sanity, he did what he was told and flew back into the battle. When the Dark Ace saw this, he looked back at Aerrow who smirked at him, saluted, and that nosed dive down towards the terra. Wondering what he was up to, the Dark Ace followed.

Once the Dark Ace came closer and he was closer to the ground, Aerrow took his energy blades, pointed them behind him, and used the energy blast to propel him through the sky. He arched over to the top edge of the stadium, where he dropped down on a railing and rode down on one of his blades. When the railing stopped, he jumped up and skidded to a stop on the stadium floor. He muttered to himself, "Looks like I got to work on that landing." Everyone just blinked and gaped stupidly, including the Rex Guardians there.

The Dark Ace landed a few feet away from Aerrow, a strange look on his face. Ignoring the questions and gasps accompanying his arrivals, he asked, "Does the term 'self-preservation' even penetrate that think skull of yours?"

Aerrow thought for a moment, "Nope."

"Of course," the Dark Ace commented, rolling his eyes. He noticed the crowd and media and smiled, "Well isn't this just perfect. The entire Atmos can watch as I bring you to your knees."

"You keep telling yourself that," Aerrow commented, smirking.

Then, not a moment later, the two engaged in battle once again. It was almost like a repeat of Terra Atmosia, only they were moving even faster if that was possible. They flipped, turned, and rolled around to get an advantage to no avail. Just like Atmosia, they were evenly matched. They both jumped back and performed their special moves. The blasts intercepted each in the middle creating a shock wave that was even more powerful than the one that the two cannons had made earlier. So, everyone besides the two warriors was knocked down.

As everyone got back up, the two were at it again. They didn't know what was going on. Harrier was extremely confused. He knew that the Dark Ace was supposed to be dead, but here he was. Also, the Cyclonians were fighting the Storm Hawks, but who was this man fighting the Dark Ace. He had never seen him before. Also, he had to agree with the Dark Ace. The man was shirtless and didn't have any means of saving himself if he fell off a skimmer. Was the man trying to kill himself? Then again, the way he did save himself was completely different. He never saw someone do that before. He was racking his brain to figure it out.

The two fighters stopped and looked up when a loud crushing noise came from above. Stork had managed to destroy on of the engines on the destroyer and it began to nose dive towards the terra. There were shrieks of fear as everyone gasped at the incoming ship. A skimmer shot in front of it and a great light appeared and pushed the Cyclonian ship towards the wastelands. Aerrow shook his head, "Good thing, Piper's here. Or we all would have been toasted."

The Dark Ace nodded in agreement, "You're right. If she didn't stop that ship, our fight would have been useless. We'd both be dead."

Harrier looked at the conversation confused. One moment the two were trying to kill one another and now they were having a civil conversation.

The Dark Ace turned to Aerrow, "Well, looks like my time here is done. Until next time, Aerrow" and a soldier picked him up.

Aerrow gave a half wave, "Don't cry over your loss."

The Cyclonians left and the Condor and the rest of the Storm Hawks came down.

"Well, that was fun," Finn said, smiling.

Piper gave him an exasperated look, "Speak for yourself. At least you didn't have to move an entire destroyer on a moment's notice."

"It's not my fault you have weird powers."

And then they began to argue again. Radaar came and perched himself on Aerrow's shoulder and Junko noticed a cut on Aerrow's other shoulder, "Are you alright, Aerrow?"

Everyone turned to him and gasped at his wound. It was deep and bleeding profusely. Aerrow, noticing it for the first time, looked at it and shrugged, "Huh. Would you look at that?" He then fell over in exhaustion. On the soldier skimmer, the Dark Ace, too, fell unconscious.

As everyone fretted over Aerrow and answered many questions, the fact that the Storm Hawks had truly returned was broadcasted across the Atmos. In the crowd, a man gave a questioning glance at the recovering Sky Knight. There was a possibility that he was – but that was impossible. He got up and left to tell his master of the news.

Well, that was interesting. Yeah, the Dark Ace and Aerrow have this really weird truce thing or something going on, as that they only try to kill each other in battle or something. Hence the reason why they act almost civilly when not fighting. It's a weird rivalry that just gets weirder, trust me. Also, their fighting ability was what actually made them pass out. It drained so much energy that they just collapsed, but neither would really notice.

Hope you enjoyed and please review and give suggestions!

Disclaimer – I don't own the Storm Hawks.