Chapter 2

The Rider looked back, catching a last glimpse of the airship before it faded back into the clouds. Are they friend or foe? She considered the idea of going back. The decision was made for her as the Talons appeared again, emerging through the clouds where she had left the ship behind. She gave another low animal growl deep in her throat. They just don't give up! Releasing the throttle, she shot up through the final cloud layer.

Abruptly the Switchblade's engine sputtered, and then stalled completely. "Uh-oh, not good" The Rider mumbled then gave a start as a red energy blast shot past her face. "Really not good!" She glanced behind her; the Talons were practically right on her tail. She revved the engine a couple times. Another energy blast warmed her ear. Come on…It roared to life on the fourth try.

"Yes!" She pulled to the left, dodging another round of enemy fire. A new sound reached her ears, something much louder than a skimmer, the Rider turned to look behind her once again. It seemed the Talons could hear it too, for they had stopped firing and were also searching for source of the sound. Suddenly, with its deep horn blaring, the airship she had almost careened into broke through the clouds. Friend I think. She thought with a small smile.

x x x

"Finn, what's the count?" Aerrow asked as soon as they were free of the clouds.

The sharp-shooter took a moment to scan with the periscope. "At least 20." He replied.

"Two patrol units" The Sky Knight muttered thoughtfully. "Stork…" He turned to the Merb "Stand by if we need cover fire, otherwise hold your position." Stork nodded and returned his attention to the helm. "Storm Hawks…" The redhead turned to his squadron with a grin. "Let's fly!" The teenagers whooped and raced to their skimmers.

x x x

The Rider's Switchblade had long since run out of energy blasts; instead she resorted to close-quarters combat. Talons swarmed around her, one appeared in front of her suddenly. Reaching behind with her right hand, she quickly drew her energy sword and passed the flat of the blade in front of her face. The bitter smell of an energy burn reached her nostrils as one of the shots from the Talon's Switchblade deflected off her sword, while the other seared her left arm. She hissed in pain, pulling her skimmer into a tight left hand barrel roll to avoid colliding with the Talon. There were too many, and her ride was practically out of fuel. She was debating on whether a trip to the wastelands would be a better choice when she noticed a decrease in enemy fire. Risking a quick glance behind her, she saw the reason. More than half of the Talons had broken off of the main group to engage a new enemy; four sky rides had taken off from the new come airship. Relief washed over her, but was quickly forgotten when one of the Talons still after her tried to behead her with a wing.

He came down high from the right, she didn't even see him until the wing tip was a few feet from colliding with her head. The Rider braked hard and pulled up into a stall, feeling the cold sting of metal slide across her throat. The wave of Talons broke around her stalled skimmer. Gravity once again took over and the Rider steered the skimmer into a dive and levelled out, she watched as the six Talons turned and made their way back. Her arm burned, her neck stung, and her eyes blazed.

"My turn" she said calmly, and activated her energy sword. Gripping the hilt of her sword, she sped towards them. A thought entered her mind that maybe going six against one wasn't the smartest thing to do. Too late. They fired at her, she dodged and rolled, narrowly evading the energy blasts and then struck out with her sword as she passed, placing two enemies out of commission to float down towards the Wastelands.

"Two down…" she said as she sheathed her sword, extinguishing the golden glow. Her gaze swept over the skies "…and many more to go." Her new found friends seemed to be having their own share of troubles. Time to fix that. She decided, and shot towards them as swiftly as she could.

Skimmers were everywhere, she darted among them acrobatically and the remaining Talons tailing her ended up either crashing into each other or dealing out friendly fire. The Rider spotted one of the newcomers from the ship; he was being shadowed, but the blond was too busy targeting his own prey to notice. She altered her path to intersect them and approached from below. When the blond was just above her she pulled up sharply with a roll and her Switchblade's wing connected with the Talon's ride, effectively slicing it in half. The startled blond looked behind him, then at her as she straightened out her ride above.

"Right on, thanks for the assist!" he said, breaking into a grin.

She grinned back, but before she could speak, movement above caught her eye.

"Incoming!" yelled the Wallop as he dove between their skimmers. He had a multitude of Talons in hot pursuit.

"Whoa!" The spiky blond shouted, and then hurried after his friend. "Hang on there Junko, I got ya covered!"

The Rider was about to go after them, however, she had picked up another batch of Talons. She went back to her aerial acrobatics to try to shake them. The Switchblade's engine began to sputter; she twisted around to look at it, pleading no, not now. She returned her eyes forward in time to avoid sideswiping another newcomer. She dove and rolled smoothly under the just as surprised redhead, but one of the Talons hounding her was not so lucky and crashed into another Talon who was chasing the redhead.

The Rider watched the Talons chutes open. Well that was close.

x x x

Aerrow watched the rider fly away, then turned to Radarr, who had covered his eyes with his long blue ears. "Well, that was close."

Radarr peeked out from behind his furry blindfold and whimpered.

"Now let's take care of the rest, hang on!" The Sky Knight braked hard, ignoring his co-pilots squawk. As Aerrow passed between them, the two Talons were swept from their seats by the wings of his skimmer and now clung to them for dear life.

"Care to do the honours Radarr?" He said, arching an eyebrow his co-pilot

Radarr chattered happily and pulled the lever to retract the wings. The two Talons yelled in surprise as they fell towards the clouds. The Sky Knight's skimmer dropped a few feet until the wings unfolded once again.

A shout sounded behind him, and Aerrow whipped his head around to see another Talon fall towards clouds, black smoke coming from his ride.

Piper was riding along behind him. "Too easy," She said, twirling her energy staff with a smile.

Aerrow smiled back. Their good mood was interrupted by a crackle from their radios.

x x x

"Uhh, guys? Don't mean to ruin your fun but…" Stork turned to face the windows on the bridge, off the starboard bow in the distance he could just make out a large Cyclonian airship. "…we're all going to be in real trouble, real soon. There's a Patrol Carrier on its way and I don't think it's here for a pickup!" He finished, watching the activity on the airship's deck with his binoculars.

Aerrow's voice came back through the radio. "Copy that Stork, hold your position."

"What! Are you crazy?" Stork shouted frantically at the radio.

"Just do it! Aerrow out." The radio went silent.

Stork sighed in defeat. "This won't end well."

x x x

"Perfect." Aerrow muttered. Already he could see the rest of the Talons retreating to the Carrier behind him. The redhead grimaced and opened a comm. channel. "Everyone back to the Condor" immediately he remembered the rider. He searched the surrounding skies and spotted her off to his left.

"Piper, make your way back to the Condor." He looked back at her. "I'll go inform our guest of the change in plans"

Piper nodded and steered back towards the Condor.

"Let's go Radarr." The animal made a sound which sounded like agreement and they took off towards the rider.

x x x

The Rider lowered her sword and watched from her perch on the nose and wing of her ride as the last of the Talons retreated. Only a moment ago she had heard a message come through her Switchblade's radio, now she stared off into the distance with a sense of dread; the Patrol Carrier was barely visible through the clouds, but there was no doubt in her mind that it was there. The red haired youth she almost – literally – ran into earlier approached her, with a strange blue animal accompanying him.

"Make for the ship!" He shouted, and pointed to the airship that had come to her rescue from the clouds.

She raised her sword in salute and hopped back into her seat to follow him. Though she knew this was all in vain; there was no way they could defeat a force that large, and they couldn't escape. Cyclonia wouldn't let her escape. The Switchblade's engine struggled again for a moment, coughed, then died completely, actually she was amazed that it held out for so long, these were supposed to have the worst fuel efficien- That's it! She thought excitedly. Reaching to one of the small pouches on her belt, she pulled out a small yellow-gold crystal, immediately the crystal began to gather energy and glow. Opening the Switchblade's fuel tank she dropped the crystal inside, instantly the engine roared to life and the sky ride began to pick up speed. The Rider aimed the nose of her ride to the Patrol Carrier and locked the steering. Time to wing it.

x x x

Radarr chattered in alarm.

"What is it buddy?" Just then Aerrow caught a glimpse of movement above him and to the right of his skimmer. It's just her. He thought, a little bit confused. What…?

"Wait a second." The Sky Knight followed her current trajectory. "She's heading right for the carrier! Aerrow anxiously searched his mind for possible answers. Could we have been wrong? Could she really be a Talon, and was just stalling until backup arrived?

The rider was now making her way over him. "Keep going!" She yelled to him.

Aerrow breathed a sigh of relief, no, she wasn't a Talon, but what was she planning? She can't think she can take them alone… He watched as her ride as it continued to pick up speed, showing no signs of slowing down, the very skimmer began to glow with a golden aura. …unless. Aerrow followed her path again; it would take her directly over the Condor before heading straight into one of the Patrol Carrier's engines.

The redhead looked to his co-pilot. "I think we're in for quite the light show Radarr." His blue friend gave him a worried look.

x x x

The whole sky ride began to shake with strain from the speed. As she came closer to the friendly airship the Rider closed her eyes and took a deep breath, exhaling slowly. Here we go. She thought as she opened her eyes.

The ship was coming up fast. "One…" A dark rumble began deep inside the skimmer. "…two…" The rumble grew louder, gauges on the dash that were already above maximum cracked and shattered. "…three!" Now directly over the ship the newcomers came from, the Rider jumped. This might hurt a bit. She wished she had a parachute.

x x x

Piper hurriedly joined Finn on the flight deck. "What is it Finn?"

The blond was shading his eyes, watching something flying above the Condor. "I think she's going to jump!"

Piper strained her eyes to see, and watched in horror as the mysterious rider leapt from the speeding Switchblade, aiming to land on the Condor's roof.

Junko landed and parked his ride near the two and joined them.

Piper gripped Finn's shoulder. "Why is her chute not opening?" No one answered. Piper gasped and gripped Finn's arm tighter but she couldn't tear her eyes away as the rider landed feet first and rolled across the Condor's roof, almost rolling in the process.

"Hey Piper?" Finn grunted painfully. "Can I have my arm back now?"

Piper looked over at Finn in confusion, and then at his arm, she had both hands around it in a death grip. "Oh, sorry." She said letting go with a weak laugh. Finn rubbed his arm and gave her a wary look.

Aerrow's voice crackled through the radio on Junko's skimmer. "Everyone keep your eye on the birdie!"

The three Storm Hawks returned their gaze to the rogue Switchblade still speeding its way towards the Patrol Carrier, the ride was now glowing like a tiny sun.

Piper gasped again. "It's going to-"

"It sure is!" Junko and Finn said at the same time.

Aerrow landed and joined the rest of his team in time to see the Switchblade ram into the carrier's port-side engine. There was a vast, release of golden energy and then a huge explosion. The Storm Hawks shielded their eyes against the glare and watched the carrier sink to hang askew in the clouds.

An appreciative whistle came from behind the team. They all turned, and stood in stunned silence.

The rider stood beside them, shielding her eyes to watch the Patrol Carrier's doom. "That should keep them busy for a while." She stated in a pleasant voice.

x x x

Aerrow didn't know what to say, he had never seen a species like her; she had a long tail covered in what he couldn't decide if it was feathers or fur, she was easily as tall as Stork on feet that reminded him of the great mountain cats on Atmosia – and probably had equally sharp claws hidden in them – her auburn hair was done up in a braid. She was dressed simply and lightly armoured with a sword belt hanging around her waist carrying a short curved blade. Her right hand rested lightly on the abnormally long hilt while she shielded her eyes with her left. That was the weird thing; her right hand was completely normal and, well, human looking, but the left… From the elbow down it was scaly like that of a bird, and ended in a hand with all five fingers tipped by wicked black claws.

The Storm hawks continued to stare as she turned to them. Aerrow noticed something else; her left eye was a deep brown-green but the right one, partially hidden by her hair, was a bright golden yellow.

She gave Aerrow a grin, showing off sharp canine teeth. "Oh excuse me, where are my manners these days?" She held out her right hand to Aerrow. "Hi, I'm Gryphon."