Author's Note: Well, here's another chapter! I hope you all enjoy. :)
Flashback...
"Did you pick up the ring?" Flame asked her lover as she unmounted her Switchblade.
"I did," he confirmed, "I still don't understand why you would choose the Firebolt Crystal." he spoke as they made their way inside their beautiful getaway home.
"I assume it's the same reason you chose the Frost Crystal." she smiled at him.
He smirked, "Does it really remind you of my eyes? I've never seen the resemblance."
"That's because you don't see yourself the way I see you, Ace." she told him, placing a hand on his cheek, leading him to the back door of the house and outside, next to the brilliant, clear sea.
Flame pulled out the ring, a Frost Crystal, cut and shaped smoothly, the platinum edges pressing the three layers of the ring together to finish the design perfectly. She gently placed the ring on her lover's bare finger, admiring how it decorated his hand.
"Wow..." the Dark Ace commented. "You expect me to compete with that?" he asked with a smile.
She laughed, "It doesn't matter how the ring was designed, Ace. What matters is the thought behind it." she reassured her soon-to-be husband that she didn't care for any sort of intricate design.
The Dark Ace gently pulled out the two pieces of jewellery: a teardrop-shaped Firebolt Crystal, securely held by the white gold band. While it looked like two pieces, it was actually one, as the white gold protruded from underneath the tip of the crystal, latching on to a smaller band completely made of the Firebolt Crystal itself.
Flame looked at the gorgeous ring, unsure as to how he'd managed to think of such a simple and beautiful design, "I...this is absolutely beautiful, Ace..." she spoke, still taken back by the design.
"I thought you wouldn't like it," he admitted, "I tried to think of something that wouldn't be boring to look at."
She looked up at him, eyes beaming with excitement, "I love it!"
He was glad to see her smile the way she was now. It wasn't something he got to see often. Sure, they had their laughs and whatever fun they may, but she always seemed to have empty eyes out of the bedroom, "Let's get this on with," he spoke, his eyes wandering her body wherever they could, "I want to start the Honeymoon."
"Patience really isn't your strongest aspect, is it?" she smiled as she pulled out two pieces of paper, "Now, this is a spell. You have to do as I say in order for this to work, alright?" she asked as she handed him one and he nodded, "Touch my crystal with yours," she started and he did as told, "We have to read this together. The spell is going to be activated by both of us reading it and once we do, we cannot break the crystals away until I say so nor can we stop looking at each other."
"You had to make this complicated, didn't you?" he frowned.
She raised an eyebrow in curiosity, "Fine. We're done, we're married." she smiled, turning around to go inside.
"No! Flame, come on! I was joking, babe," he reassured her, "I want to do this with you."
"Are you ready?" she asked and he nodded once again, both of them reading the spell aloud:
Within this ring,
Within the crystal it bears,
I have chosen
With much thought, love and care;
And in this ring
My love and life bound,
The bond created cannot be unwound.
Only by great force
Could it be broken:
Through death,
Or the love taken.
Should I die,
Or the crystal break,
Far or near,
My love shall know
Within my heart,
I will always hold them dear.
A bright burst of light emanated from the touching Crystals. They felt immense and painful pressure, but they were both adamant to follow this through. She grabbed on to his arm to keep it from moving away and he did the same, remembering not to break away from her eyesight. Soon enough, the light faded and the pressure slowly dissipated. Their arms were aching, but the spell worked, a glow flowing over the rings. The Dark Ace wasn't sure of what the glow was for, but he would figure it out soon enough. It was probably something so stupidly obvious that if he asked, she might laugh at him, so he'd just have to figure it out on his own.
"Now," Flame spoke, moving toward her new husband and kissing him passionately, "On to the Honeymoon." she smiled.
He bit his lip as he looked at his new wife, picking her up and carrying her inside the house while she wrapped her arms and legs around him, kissing his neck.
Flame looked at the ring on her finger as she broke out of her memory, a smile forming across her face, her cheeks heating from her knowledge of what followed after for many days.
They chose Terra Tropica to hold their little 'ceremony', a small way to make the union feel more official, rather than just hiding it all away. Only a select few would know about their marriage—people they trusted not to spread word to the wrong people.
She and the Dark Ace had only been married for a few weeks now, both of them having much work to get done. Their honeymoon only lasted for a week, but it was enough to never forget how much they meant to each other; to never forget that he was her husband now, and she was his wife.
She shook her head, deciding to concentrate more on making her way to the Condor.
Once on board, everybody was looking at her with odd expressions painted on their faces. What was going on? What were they all thinking?
"Is there something wrong?" she finally asked them after a few moments.
"That ring is gorgeous!" Piper beamed, lifting Flame's hand up to examine it better, "A Firebolt Crystal?"
"Yes, it's a Firebolt Crystal." Flame smiled, blushing slightly.
"The design is magnificent," Stork added, taking a closer look, "Very unique and intricate."
"Flame, you're glowing!" Piper complimented the Sky Knight, lifting a hand up to her face, "Are you having a baby?!"
"What?!" Aerrow exclaimed, "Of course she's not! There's no way!" he refused to accept such a theory.
"Oh, you're just jealous, Aerrow." Finn spoke.
Aerrow twitched at the comment, "What could I possibly be jealous about?"
"If Flame is having a baby, that means you won't have all of her attention soon." the blonde chuckled, suddenly being smacked over the head by the Guardian of Atmosia herself.
"I'm not with child, you guys," she reassured them, Aerrow exhaling in relief, "I just..."
"You what?" Junko asked.
"Well...Ace and I are—"
"You just said you're not having a baby!" Aerrow complained, his hopes diminishing once again.
"We got married, not pregnant!" she exclaimed, having enough of their assumptions.
Piper squealed in excitement, jumping around and hugging Flame, "What was it like? Did you guys have a ceremony? No, we would have been there if you had a ceremony. Did he get this ring for you? Was it romantic? Where did you guys get married? Did you have a honeymoon? How was the honeymoon? Does Cyclonis know about this? Would she even be okay wit—" the teen was interrupted by Flame putting her hand over her mouth to calm her down.
"He didn't just get the ring for me, we designed each others' rings. We got married on Tropica. Yes, there was a honeymoon. Yes, Cyclonis knows about this. Yes, she's okay with it and it was extremely romantic and absolutely amazing!" she finished her explanation in a higher pitch, both of them squealing and hugging.
"Girls are weird." Finn commented.
"Very..." Aerrow added.
Everyone's attention was suddenly diverted when a very special looking bird landed on a banister in the hangar.
Oh no...
Flame knew that birds didn't generally look like that. There were only certain birds that carried such extravagant feathers and they tended to not be birds at all. She knew this one quite well.
"Aw! The little fella must be lost!" Junko said, the strongman instantly being softened by the bird.
"Junko." Flame spoke out in an attempt to warn him, but he, of course, couldn't hear her in such a state.
"Come here, birdy!" he encouraged the creature, only to be picked at and he instantly withdrew his hand.
"You wouldn't come here if it wasn't serious," Flame spoke to the bird, "Why don't you just let us know what's going on?"
The bird leapt off the railing and onto the floor, the true identity of the creature being revealed as a man and, for the most part, freaking out the teenagers.
"Can we help you?" Aerrow asked the man.
"Depends," he spoke, his voice as flamboyant as his clothing, "Know any good pie joints? I'm feeling peckish!"
The teens looked at each other before looking back at him.
"Ah, I'll take that as a 'no'..."
Flame shook her head, a small and embarrassed laugh escaping, "You never were any good with jokes."
"Actually, you're the ones needing the help." he spoke, pointing toward the Storm Hawks before pulling out a sceptre, killing the generator.
The room went black and Aerrow ordered Stork to turn on the lights from the backup generator instead of waiting for it to kick in. When the lights flickered on, the man was nowhere to be found. Aerrow ordered the Storm Hawks to split up and find 'it', still unsure of what was actually going on. Flame stayed in the hangar, knowing that she had nothing to worry about and this was their fight.
Finn was the first one to come across the bird-man, certain that he would bring him down. He was caught off guard when he suddenly disappeared, appearing from behind him and upside down. The man's words didn't make any sense to the teenager, but that didn't stop Finn from hollering out to Junko that the mysterious man was heading toward the engine room.
Junko wasn't able to catch him either, not even seeing the man despite the Wallop hearing his voice directly behind him at one point. Junko informed Stork that the bird-man was heading toward him and the Merb felt ready, geared up in his pots and pans. A trap that Stork had set up fell and in his thoughts of victory, exclaimed that the bird was his now, only to notice that there was only a piece of cloth inside the small cage. Stork got knocked out by one of the Condor's traps, the bird-man mumbling something about how difficult it was to find that specific material lately before taking off.
Piper had her staff, ready to charge off anything that she saw, but was surprised when she realized that her weapon had been snatched right from her hands. The bird man admired the crystal that decorated the top of her staff, but informed the young mage that rocks aren't always going to be there for her. He killed the life in her crystal, tossing her staff back to her and suggested that she thought over her outfit before taking off.
Next was Aerrow. He looked around, weapons ready until he noticed the bucket of water sitting on the floor. He kicked it over and gave Radarr the go ahead to attack and the creature did so, catching the bird-man. Everyone had made it back over to the area, except Flame, who hadn't moved at all. While the Storm Hawks were upset and wanted to attack him, the Sky Knight stood in place, knowing this routine all too well.
The man clapped, the lights coming back to life, "I gotta say, not too shabby," he complimented them, "But your place is entirely another story."
Flame rolled her eyes. He was always one who went to the extreme when it came to appearances. His costume alone screamed that.
"Excuse me, again," Aerrow spoke, "But who are you?!"
The bird-man took his hood off, his wild green and purple hair being spread out in any direction, "It's your lucky day!" he exclaimed, "Arygyn has arrived!"
"What have you done to yourself?" Flame asked him upon seeing his hair. She didn't recall it always being that way.
Arygyn waved her off impishly, looking at Radarr, "Do me a favour, will you, floppy? Watch the slacks." Radarr looked up at him, letting go of the man's ankle and scurried behind Aerrow.
Piper gasped, "You mean, you're Arygyn?" the teen asked.
"Don't stroke his ego more, Piper." Flame spoke, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"So you've heard of me!" he said excitedly with a chuckle, "Now look, you're making me blush!"
"Wow! It's an honour to have you on board, sir!" Aerrow spoke up, extended a hand to the man.
"Seriously, did I miss something?" Finn asked, being informed by Piper that the man was the 'Arygyn the Skeeler', but the blonde still didn't understand.
"World-famous warrior trainer and shape shifter, to put it simply," Flame spoke up, standing next to said man, "I'm sure that I've mentioned on more than one occasion that I had been specially trained by Arygyn."
"Your speed makes sense now." Aerrow commented.
Arygyn chuckled, "You did always admire my speed, Ice Queen." he spoke to the Sky Knight.
"Ice Queen is fitting." Finn muttered under his breath, receiving a glare from the woman.
Arygyn turned around, "I've had my eyes out there, kids. Trouble is coming for you."
"Why do I have a feeling that my husband is involved in this?" Flame asked herself aloud, Arygyn having an uncertain look on his face once turning to face her.
"It was Ravess. She never missed a shot." Arygyn began, grabbing everyone's attention, "And then there's Snipe, stronger than ever. The Buzzards didn't stand a chance. Same story for the Screaming Queens."
"Here it comes, Flame." Finn commented, looking at the woman with a victorious smile as Arygyn explained how much more powerful the Dark Ace was now.
"That's what you'll be up against," he warned them, "Which is why I brought you to the best place in the entire Atmos for training."
"Are you really doing this to them as well?" Flame whispered to him, "This is torturous, Arygyn!"
"No, it's not! Hush, you'll ruin it," he spoke to her and she could help but laugh. She was once in this position and all of them, except Stork, seemed just as excited as she was at first, "Okay, you can take off the blind folds!" he chimed.
The Storm Hawks took their blind folds off, to see Arygyn cheerfully present the training grounds to them.
"Terra Neon?" Junko asked.
"Sweet!" Finn exclaimed.
"Wait a second," Aerrow spoke as he approached Arygyn, "If the Talons and Raptors are causing this much trouble, shouldn't we be out there trying to stop them?" he asked the Guardian.
"Do you like losing?" Arygyn asked Aerrow, "'Cause that's exactly what's gonna happen if you go after them. You need to be prepared. You need this! I pulled a few strings so we could have the whole place to ourselves." he said proudly, "It's good to be famous."
"It does have its perks." Flame agreed.
"You're not famous, Flame!" Finn argued.
She looked at the blonde, "What gave you the idea that I'm not famous? I received one-on-one training with Arygyn for years, graduated with Honours from Atmosia Sky Knight Academy, was offered to teach advanced training at that same school and I'm also the sole Guardian of Atmosia; not to mention that I'm the first daughter of the wealthiest family on Terra Mesa, the daughter of veteran Sky Knights and the niece of Lightning Strike himself." she reminded him, "There's not a single soul in Atmos that doesn't know who I am."
"Oh, look at you, flaunting your accomplishments. You make me so proud!" the Guardian spoke to her despite knowing that it wasn't something she often did.
Finn frowned, "You're also adopted."
"Don't go there, Finn." she warned the blonde.
"Is this guy really for real?" Piper asked Aerrow.
"He better be." Aerrow stated.
"His methods may seem extremely unreasonable," Flame began, "But I assure you, he knows what he's doing."
"Well, why doesn't Flame have to train?" Finn asked.
"I have been trained, but I'm not worried about being captured, Finn." she stated, arms behind her back as usual.
"Why? Because he's your husband?" Finn tried to tease her, but her subtle smirk brought down his attempt.
Flame quickly made her way next to Arygyn, wondering exactly what he had planned for the Storm Hawks. While he did seem oddly unrealistic and irrational, she knew that all of the Guardians had their own ways of helping others.
Finn took to the shooting ducks game, taking out every target, as expected. Arygyn told the teen to win him a giant prize, Flame giggling at how childish the man could be at times.
"Arygyn, I don't mean to be rude, but I thought we were supposed to be training." Aerrow approached the Guardian.
"Lesson one." Flame spoke, knowing full well that the training had already begun.
"Trust me." Arygyn told Aerrow, "Oh, and, uh, do something about that hair!" he spoke out as he sped off.
Flame placed a hand on her cousin's shoulder, "Don't listen to him about appearances, Aerrow. If it were up to him, you'd look just like...him." she smiled, restoring the teen's confidence slightly.
They approached the whacking game, Arygyn exclaiming how fun it would be as he handed the large hammer to Piper, who could barely hold it with her entire upper body.
I didn't know she was so weak...
Piper tried to kindly turn down his orders, but wasn't given the chance.
"Bells won't ring until you swing!" Arygyn spoke, laughing out, "I crack myself up."
"You're the only person who finds amusement in your lame jokes, Arygyn." Flame reminded him.
He looked at the Sky Knight with a frown, "Don't be mean—"
She shook her head and spoke out the rest of the sentence with him, "Ice Queen." looking at him afterwards, "You still remember that after all these years?"
"You're my protégé!" he explained to her, "Of course I remember our training!"
"I'd expect your 'protégé' to be a Macaw covered in glitter, to be honest." she snickered and he laughed, stating that he should get one since he didn't have any children.
Piper looked so uncertain, her eyes looking up to the bell. She tried to lift the hammer, but the weight was just too much for her.
"Don't give up hope, Piper," Flame reassured her, "I had to do everything that you all are and this was a vacation for me compared to the training I underwent with Arygyn." she smiled.
Piper gave a half-hearted smile back to the Sky Knight as she was still wracked with uncertainty, but Flame's words brought her some comfort. She finally managed to get a better hold of the large mallet, tossing it over and hitting the platform. The fist on the scale went up, but missed the bell by two points. She would have to keep trying and was sure that if the hammer didn't cause her to break her back, she would die from exhaustion.
"I haven't flown a bumper pod since I was a little Wallop!" Junko said excitedly as he sat down in one of the little vehicles, seeming much too big for such a ride now.
Aerrow and Stork stared at Arygyn with unimpressed looks in their faces while the man didn't seem to notice at all. He used his sceptre to start the ride and Junko seemed very happy while riding around. He bumped into one of the pods, two others being drawn to him and he got a small electric shock as a result. He thought it was rather 'cool'.
Poor Stork was put onto the mechanical bull ride, not happy at all with having to hang on for dear life.
Arygyn mocked what the Merb was probably saying, giving out a laugh, "Man, I'm a cruel, cruel man." he spoke to Aerrow.
"That you are, Arygyn." Flame smiled.
He wrapped his arm around Aerrow, "Come on, I've got a great idea!" he told the redhead, leading him to the roller coaster.
"Don't you just love these things?" Arygyn asked him as the cars went by, "It's like butter on a biscuit! Hop on."
Aerrow had a seemingly confident smile on his lips, "But Arygyn, it's going like a hundred miles an hour. Now can we please start training?" he asked the Guardian.
Flame smirked, an eyebrow raising from the entertainment. Considering their unusual methods for practice, she was surprised that Aerrow didn't realize that they were already in the process of training to take on the enhanced Elite Talons.
"I'll tell you what, kid. If you can get on that moving coaster, I'll teach you something that's guaranteed to stop the Dark Ace in his tracks."
"You're on!" Aerrow agreed.
Flame and Arygyn left the redhead to do his thing while they sped off to check up on Finn.
"This is too easy for him." Flame commented, "Give him a challenge. Something that will piss him off." she smiled mischievously.
Arygyn nodded his head, using his sceptre to increase the speed immensely to the point where Finn was now missing every single shot.
They checked up on Piper, who was now able to hold the hammer and that showed quite some progress.
"This time, you're mine!" she spoke to the game, putting everything she had into the hit.
Arygyn, however, raised the bar—quite literally. There were now more points as the pole had been extended drastically and it lowered her confidence once again.
"That was just mean, Arygyn." Flame told the Guardian.
He smiled at her, "It's necessary if they're to have any hope in fighting against the Dark Ace and the other Talons.
"Fair enough." she accepted.
Junko was next to experience Arygyn's rather unfair tactics, the speed of the bumper-pods increasing. He was bombarded by the other pods, unsure of what was happening. His enjoyable ride suddenly turned into a nightmare as he was constantly being surrounded by the other pods.
When they got to Stork, Arygyn leaned against the controls.
"Oh, no," Flame spoke up, "Stork can't handle this as it is. I think it's best we leave him." she suggested.
The man looked at her, "You think they'll go easy on him out there, Ice Queen?" he asked her, his point silencing her.
The mechanical bull's eyes turned red, the speed increasing as the bull violently spun and jerked the Merb around.
Aerrow continued to try getting onto the speedy coaster, almost succeeding, but hanging onto the end wasn't going to help him get to the front seat. The lack of grip caused him to fly back and he was once again standing where he started. He turned around, slipping on a banana peel and fell, his arm hitting a lever that stopped the coaster on the second track. A confident expression came upon his face. This might be doable after all.
Arygyn wasn't taking it easy on the teens at all. Finn was now chasing a runaway duck that somehow flew off and his patience was depleted as it began to fly back around to smack him in the head. Flame couldn't stop herself from laughing, but continued watching as the blonde closed his eyes and took a deep breath, aiming his crossbow at the approaching fake duck and managed to take it down in one shot. Both Arygyn and Flame were impressed that he'd finally managed to concentrate effectively to eliminate his target.
Junko was still being chased around by the other bumper pods. A few were behind him and while he was concentrated on that, looked forward to see a group of them heading straight toward him. A smile formed across his lips as he got the brilliant idea to move out of the way at the last second, causing the pods to crash into each other while his bumper pod flew out of the ring and fell apart.
Piper, still at it, decided to take several steps back. She took a deep breath and began running toward the platform, hammer in hand. She leaped as high as she could, taking a mid-air spin to conjure up more strength and aimed straight for the platform. The fist accelerated to the top, knocking the bell right off of the pole and continued to fly through the air. She was very impressed with herself as she watched the red bell disappear from sight.
Stork, still hanging on for dear life, had enough of the mechanical bull. He grabbed it by the horns and began pushing back with as much force as he possibly could. He was actually beginning to enjoy himself when the ride suddenly stopped, the power to the bull cutting out as he'd finally broken the machine. He hopped off, grateful to be on solid ground until he's realized that he tore his uniform, his baby blue underpants with small skulls on them peeping out from the torn cloth. That dampened his victorious moment slightly.
Arygyn and Flame watched as the coaster went by, the first one not having anyone on it. They heard the second coaster, looking to see Aerrow on it as he was quickly catching up to the first one. Flame had a rather large smile on her face when the two coasters met, expecting Aerrow to jump onto it. Suddenly, the familiar sound of Arygyn's sceptre chimed and Aerrow's coaster began to speed out of control. She could hear her cousin's frantic but short yelp from the unexpected twist. Aerrow suddenly jumped from his coaster, using his glider to lower himself toward the first one and landed right in the front seat of the speedy cars.
Arygyn called the ride to stop and bring the coaster in, impressed with how the redhead had managed to improvise and change his approach to reach his goal.
The coaster stopped, Aerrow leaning back and rather relaxed with a confident smirk on his lips looked at Arygyn, "Now, about that training." he reminded the man.
"Oh, that?" the man spoke, throwing his hands up in the air and dismissing the teen's request.
Aerrow was taken back by his nonchalant attitude considering everything that was going to take place quite soon—the reason they were on Terra Neon in the first place. The other Storm Hawks approached. Junko seemed rather happy, but the others were irritated with the Warrior Trainer—Finn not forgetting to get the super large prize for Arygyn.
"You did it." Flame spoke out, looking at the man.
"Anyone up for a snack?" he asked them all.
"Am I!" Junko agreed enthusiastically.
"Now hold on just a minute," Aerrow spoke. Flame knew that tone and she knew that her cousin was more than unimpressed with Arygyn by now, "This has gone on long enough! You're supposed to be this great Warrior Trainer, but you haven't taught us a thing! The Talons are out there going after our friends and we're on Terra Neon wasting time! So what's it gonna be?!" he asked the man.
Arygyn looked at the teen, fingers on his chin in thought, "Well I hear the flame corn here is excellent." he suggested with a smile.
Aerrow groaned, looking at his teammates, "Come on, guys. We're leaving." he told them and began to walk off, tired of Arygyn not taking anything seriously.
"I'll catch up with you all on the Condor." Flame informed them.
"What about cloud candy? Yeah, everyone likes that!" Arygyn suggested with a laugh as they continued to walk away.
"Stop teasing them already, Arygyn." she told him with a smile.
He looked at her, wrapping his arm around her shoulder and they began to walk around the deserted Terra.
"Tell me more about the redhead." Arygyn spoke.
"Aerrow?" Flame asked.
"Yeah, that one. What's the deal with him? He's very serious for a kid."
"He was defeated by the Dark Ace during the attack of Atmosia, but his life was spared for what reason, I'm not sure, but I am grateful. He and the other Storm Hawks went into Cyclonia to retrieve the Aurora Stone and Aerrow actually defeated the Dark Ace during their second encounter. He was temporarily knocked unconscious by Ace while attempting to get the Aurora Stone, but nonetheless had managed to bring it back, despite it being in pieces." she explained.
"The first Sky Knight to defeat your devil of a husband, hm?" Arygyn spoke, no longer ignoring the fact that his best student was married to one of the most evil people out there.
"Yes. Even after all my years of training under you while learning at the Academy as well, I was only able to become his equal. I never defeated the Dark Ace." she admitted. She wasn't happy with the fact that she herself wasn't able to defeat him, but she was very proud of her cousin for doing so at such a young age.
"He is his father's son, indeed." Arygyn complimented the teen.
"Most definitely." Flame agreed with a smile, "I'm very proud of him."
"Does he know?" he asked her.
"He knows that he's Strike's only son, yes."
"And you?" Arygyn asked her.
"He knows that I'm his cousin as well."
"And you?" Arygyn asked again.
She realized what he was trying to say, "No, he doesn't know about them." she answered, releasing her wings for some air as they continued to walk.
"Flame," Arygyn spoke gently, "Do you even know yourself?"
"What? What kind of odd question is that? I 'ought to know who I am, Arygyn."
He chuckled and shook his head, "In time, my dear." he assured her, giving her a kiss on her forehead.
"What was she like?" Flame asked. It was a question that she'd repeatedly asked Arygyn, but he always dismissed it by either telling her to concentrate on her training, pretending not to hear her or even simply saying that he wouldn't talk about it. Still, that didn't stop her from trying to get an answer from him any chance she got.
"I think she was the only woman I ever felt attracted to—perhaps I can even say I loved her." Arygyn admitted, causing Flame to look at him in shock.
"I would have expected you to like Strike more." Flame giggled lightly.
"Your mother was an amazing woman. Power beyond any I've ever seen, and that's coming from a Guardian. Her beauty, well, neither the Phoenix Crystal nor the most exotic flower in the entire Atmos could compare to her."
"Did she love you as well?" she asked, uncertainty in her voice as to why she would ask such a thing.
"I'm not your father, Flame," he told her, causing her to roll her eyes and smile. She was pretty sure that she gathered that much simply from looking at him, "Her heart belonged to some else. She had an attraction to dangerous men. I see where you get it from." he brought to her attention, keeping in mind that the Dark Ace was a force to be reckoned with, "As long as you don't let that man cloud your judgement, I won't say anything about the decision you made."
"He won't," she reassured him, "But I'm beginning to wonder if I'll ever find out who my father is." she thought aloud with a sigh, her wings folding and retracting back into her body.
"Was." Arygyn spoke, correcting her and giving her an idea that he knew much more about her than he let on.
"He has passed?" she asked, looking to the ground, "That is unfortunate."
"I wouldn't suggest snooping around to find out who he is," Arygyn warned her, "The truth will be eye opening, but I know you. You will be complete, but feel like you've lost more pieces to your puzzle."
"What kind of discovery could possibly make me feel more bloody lost than I already do, Arygyn?" she laughed and he chuckled lightly as they stopped by her Switchblade.
He placed a hand on her shoulder, "Trust me." he smiled.
She placed her own hand atop his, "You know I always have."
He wrapped his arms around her and she returned the gesture, "Just remember, you're more like your mother than your father." he assured her.
"It's comforting to know that." she whispered, "Thank you."
"Piper, put out an all channels call," Aerrow ordered, "Find out who's left. If we join forces, it might not be too late for the rest of us."
The alarms blared off in the helm room, grabbing everyone's attention.
Stork looked into the scope, seeing the Dark Ace himself heading straight for the Condor, "Yeah, it's too late." he said with a gloomy expression.
"You always expect the worst, Stork." Flame smiled.
"You don't even have anything to worry about, Flame," Finn commented.
She rolled her eyes, "Of course I have something to worry about. I don't want any of you being captured by Cyclonians."
Aerrow ordered everyone to the hangar to fight against the Talons. Flame had mixed feeling about attacking Talons. She was well respected by Cylonis and knew that upsetting the young Empress could potentially jeopardize where she stood in those relations. Perhaps she would stay away from the Elites and only attack the others. It was common knowledge that regulars could be easily replaced.
They took off, wings deploying as they hit the end of the air strip and dove down. They continued to make their way toward the Cyclonians, Flame flying just a bit higher than the rest of the Storm Hawks.
A large airship appeared from the clouds, where captured Sky Knights could be seen locked inside large cages on either side of the ship.
"Take a good look, Storm Hawks," the Dark Ace spoke out, "In just a few moments, you'll be joining them."
Flame looked at her husband, wondering why she had to fall in love with such an evil man.
Aerrow ordered the Storm Hawks to split up to draw them away from the barge, but Flame knew that they were only playing into the Dark Ace's hands.
The Dark Ace ordered the Elites to go after the now separated team while he kept his eyes on Aerrow.
Aerrow made his way over to the captured Sky Knights, informing them that he and the rest of the Storm Hawks would set them free soon enough. Suddenly, he was quickly spun around, unsure of what caused it until he saw the Dark Ace quickly appear from a bright flash of light.
"Don't make promises you can't keep." the Dark Ace told the teen.
This was going to prove difficult for the redhead now that he saw what the Talon was capable of. How could Flame love somebody like that?
Junko was being chased relentlessly by Ravess' arrows. Every twist and turn he made in an attempt to evade the tiny weapons just followed him as they were locked on to his position. He took to the ground of the Terra below, activating his knuckle busters and taking down trees. It stopped the arrows, but not the Talon who was still after the Wallop.
Snipe spun his mace around, eyes on Piper as he hurled the chained ball toward her, knocking the back of her Heli-Scooter. She flew off, dark smoke emanating from the engines as she tried to escape.
Meanwhile on the Condor, the Raptors were flying around, Stork looking in every direction possible in an attempt to not lose sight of any of them. Spitz decided to cut out the Merb's eyes, which only irritated Stork even more than he already was.
Leugey was enjoying himself whipping the surface of the Condor, being punched by a mechanical arm that retracted back into Stork's Mobile, ordering the reptile to get away from his ship. Hoerk and Spitz appeared next to Leugey, the three looking at each other with mischievous smirks and laughed as they looked back at the Merb.
Finn kept his Skimmer airborne and in place, looking around for a target through his crossbow when he saw a boomerang flying quickly toward him. He ducked in time, looking back to see the weapon land in Repton's hand. That might have been a problem.
While Aerrow was being constantly harassed by the Dark Ace, the captured Sky Knights tried to escape. Flame approached them on her Switchblade after taking out the Talons guarding the cages, trying to find a way to unlock it. She tried using her scythe to cut through the chains, but they were too well-built and it would damage her weapons. There wasn't much she could do without giving away just how powerful she really was and that was something she made sure nobody knew. She looked back at her cousin, getting more aggravated that her husband was relentlessly harassing the redhead.
The Dark Ace stopped to laugh at the helpless teen while hovering above him while upside down before adjusting his position. Aerrow pulled out his short blades, ready to take out the Dark Ace. He concentrated and jumped, firing his Lightning Claw toward the Talon, but fell out of the sky as the Dark Ace took off quickly, luckily being caught by his Skimmer, thanks to Radarr.
Why do I love that man?! Flame thought as she became more furious, still trying to think of a way to free the prisoners.
Leugey, Hoerk and Spitz latched their whips onto Stork's Mobile. The Merb chuckled nervously as he looked at the three Raptors surrounding him.
"Let's give him the ride of his life!" Hoerk said, tugging on the whip locked on to one end of the Mobile, jerking the Merb a bit. Leugey and Spitz followed suit, tugging as hard as they could.
Stork continued to get jerked around, the motions causing him to remember the mechanical bull back on Terra Neon and he began to laugh, "You call that a ride?" he asked the three raptors, "I'll show you a ride!" he yelled, grabbing hold of the controls and pulling up and down over and over until he finally pulled down hard enough that the three reptiles collided with each other and freeing the Merb of their harassment.
Piper was still flying away from Snipe, who decided to use the energy in his mace to his advantage, the wave killing the engine in her Heli-Scooter. She jumped out of the seat, landing on the ground as Snipe approached her.
"You better stay back!" she told the brute.
"Or what?" he asked, laughing out as he lighting bounced the end of his mace in his hand, getting off of his ride, still tapping the weapon in his hand while the young woman approached him, "Tell you what," he began, "Because you're a girl, I'll let you take the first shot." he smiled as he pointed to his jaw.
Piper smiled, "My pleasure." she agreed, putting her all into the punch and caused the brute to go airborne, landing somewhere in the forest nearby. Even she was surprised that she was able to do such a thing. Perhaps that time spent trying to hit the bell came in handy after all.
Junko, still evading Ravess, was taken back by her firing several arrows toward him. He neared a cliff and drove off, deploying his Skimmer's wings immediately, looking back at the multiple arrows flying toward him. He realized that they were just like the bumper-pods back on Terra Neon, remembering how he avoided crashing into them. He turned around, making sure the arrows were still following him as he was now flying straight toward Ravess. He flew over her and she looked back at him, unsure of what the Wallop was doing only to look back at her own arrows aiming straight for her.
Her ride that was now out of control crashed right into the large holding cell on the opposite end of the airship, the now free Sky Knights walking out toward the Talons that were guarding them.
While Finn continued to avoid Repton's boomberang, he too saw that it was just like the duck. That gave him hope as he casually aimed and fired, hitting the boomerang dead center, the weapon crumbling into pieces. Repton was uncertain as to what just happened as Finn approached him, not hesitating to shoot and knocked the reptile off of his ride.
Aerrow realized that the Dark Ace's movements were just like the coaster back on Terra Neon. That was something he could work with. He pulled out a Nitro Crystal, popping it into the crystal converter in his Skimmer and the ride took off with great speed. His Skimmer began to dance around the Dark Ace's Switchblade, eventually disappearing. The Dark Ace stopped to look at Aerrow's Skimmer taking off without the redhead.
"Pleasure doing battle with you, Aerrow." he spoke with a menacing smile.
"Actually," Aerrow spoke as he landed on the wing of the Talon's Switchblade, "The pleasure's all mine." he finished with his two energy blades up and ready.
"Just one question," the Dark Ace said, "How?" he asked, wanting to know how the teen could have possibly overcome such intense speed.
"How else?" the redhead spoke confidently, "We've been training." he stated simply as he used his Lightning Claw maneuver to knock the Dark Ace off of his Switchblade, returning to his own Skimmer.
After everyone was freed, the Storm Hawks and Flame took off on the Condor, flying wherever Stork felt like.
"I have to admit," Aerrow spoke, "I may have doubted him, but all the time, Arygyn actually knew what he was doing."
"He always does, Aerrow." Flame smiled, giving her little cousin a hug before taking off from the ship and returning to her home in Atmosia.
Flashback...
Flame used her impressive speed and toppled the Dark Ace over. He hit the ground and a sound of pain emanated from his lips as he looked up at her hovering over him, "Where you really trying to run, Dark Ace? I wasn't aware your balls were lost along with the Condor."
He smirked.
"You find this funny, do you?" she asked, a curious expression on her face.
He grabbed her wrists, starting to sit up without letting her go, "Do you really think you're stronger than me, Flame?"
The look on her face was one of shock, unsure of how it was possible for him to be stronger than her after all the time she'd spent on overpowering him and observing him in every way possible. Still, she didn't move even though he had her pinned down to the ground at this point, both of her wrists bound by his hand. His eyes told her that he had something up his sleeve and she was curious as to what he had planned.
He grabbed the hilt of his double-edged sword, "I've got something special for you today." He spoke, a menacing smile appearing across his lips as the blade lit up with a familiar blue glow.
'Lightning Strike's crystal...' "You bastard!" she yelled, her leg instantly connecting with his groin.
"Fuck!" he hissed in pain, dropping his sword to hold the area, "You bitch!"
"Did you honestly think using something so dear to me would provoke some sort of weakness, Ace?"
He chuckled after recovering from her reaction, "It was worth a try."
She picked up his sword, looking at the weapon as it once again lit up, more concentrated on the Striker Crystal. She never thought she would see it again.
"Why did you keep it?" she asked him, her eyes never leaving the weapon.
"I don't know."
"You don't deserve to use it, Ace." she informed him, handing his sword back to him.
He held the hilt of the sword and looked at her as she continued to hold on to it tightly. He knew what she wanted,
"I won't use this as long as you don't crush my nuts again."
"I won't have to as long as you don't use it again."
She opened the front door of her home to see him sitting on the couch, pinching the bridge of his nose, "What are you doing here?" she asked him, clearly unhappy.
The Dark Ace stood up and walked up to Flame, his head low, "I didn't mean to cause you so much trouble, babe."
She let out a sarcastic laugh, "You tend to put me in awkward positions, Ace. As you said, it's nothing I can't get myself out of."
"I just hope this will make up for everything," he spoke, pulling out a familiar object and holding it up for her. She gasped and covered her mouth, eyes stuck on the Striker Crystal, "There's nobody else in the entire Atmos that deserves this more than you." he told her.
"Ace..." she spoke lightly, her voice cracking. She moved to touch it, but for some reason was afraid, as if touching it would cause the crystal to lose its purity or lose some part of Strike that she clung on to.
"So, it was a weakness that day?" he asked as he observed her reaction.
She looked up at him, smiling and wiping away her glowing tears, "Of course it was."
I hope you all enjoyed this chapter :) See you in the next one!
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