Lights, Camera, Hiccup!
All hail the wonderful The Alien of Pluto! Without the reviews, you wouldn't have a fourth chapter so fast! ….and yeah, I'm still working on that oracle crystal….
I do not own Storm Hawks!
On with the story!
When the girls came down the next morning, they found the Dark Ace twitchy and clutching his hot chocolate.
"Everything okay?" Master Cyclonis queried.
The Dark Ace turned to her.
"Blinking…goggles…"
Master Cyclonis looked at Piper.
"Ah, it's a glitch that none of us gave much of a second thought to, but some people might be a little freaked out by them."
Master Cyclonis surveyed the once proud Dark Ace, clutching his hot chocolate and shaking. Well, shaking to someone who knew him. They were slight trembles to anyone who didn't.
Master Cyclonis soothed Dark Ace as Piper went to wake up her team mates. She would bet slime crystals to merb cabbages that Finn had been the one to suggest the blinking.
She couldn't wait to see if a prank war would erupt between Finn and the Dark Ace. That would be amusing to watch.
She leaned over Aerrow and waited. Green eyes blinked open. It was almost scary how Aerrow just seemed to know that there was someone near him and wake up. Yawning, he stretched and greeted her.
"Morning Piper. Did Dark Ace sleep at all last night?"
"Do you think he got any sleep?"
"Nope. Finn can be evil when he gets even."
Aerrow then proceeded to wake up Radarr, Junko, and Stork.
"Uh guys, where's Finn?"
Dark Ace twitched. He glanced around, looking up, then down. He pulled himself up, then with a snarl kicked the goggles that were at his feet across the room.
"That's it! I am going to hurt that marksman when he shows up!" Master Cyclonis handed Dark Ace a steaming mug of hot chocolate as the Storm Hawks sighed about the recent batch of trouble Finn had started.
"Well, the Cyclonian goggles blink too, don't they? Cause the Cyclonian Talons I swiped the Leecher crystals from didn't see me until their goggles turned red."
Finn walked by, munching on an apple. He walked within arm distance of Dark Ace, who was standing very, very still.
Dark Ace turned to Master Cyclonis. "I am going to take a shower and wake up from this nightmare." With that, he stalked over to the stairs.
Piper shot Cyclonis a look and waved her on after Dark Ace.
Cyclonis gave her a quizzical expression, before a grin lit up her face. Oh, the Dark Ace was going to love putting the pomegranate soap into Finn's daily routine. That stuff smelled very strongly.
Cyclonis waltzed after her adopted brother to help him get even and left the Storm Hawks to breakfast.
Now, some would say that it isn't smart to leave a Wallop in the room with lots of food. But Junko found that he could eat to pleasantly full and still there would be food for the others.
No worries there.
"Finn, don't you think you took that prank a little too far?" Aerrow asked with his plate of fruit, scrambled eggs, and sausage as he sat down dangerously tipping.
"Nah, I think that whatever he does in retaliation is gonna be hilarious. If he doesn't lighten up and handle the fact that he can't 'rescue' his precious Master Cyclonis from here, he's going to go crazy. Er."
Finn pulled a bag labeled Milk off of the serving tray and poured himself some.
Stork suspiciously nibbled on a variety of food, to the point where Piper sliced his food up and ate whatever he wouldn't touch, and handed the scraps off to Junko.
Radarr ate by sharing whatever Aerrow had on his plate.
The Dark Ace showed up later that morning and helped himself to the hot chocolate and a biscuit with cheese. He was a believer that fruit was a 'snack' only item.
Master Cyclonis helped herself to some fruit and yogurt. At the Dark Ace's glare, she also helped herself to toast and milk.
Aerrow cleaned up the mess, finding a broom and dust pan leaning against the wall. Finn helped by holding the dust pan. Piper looked around the room with Stork and Junko, searching for anything that might have changed from last night.
Nothing.
Sighing, the Storm Hawks flopped down and started throwing around ideas of what to do that day.
Aerrow began to play with his daggers. Piper and Stork sat near him, Radarr perching on the back of the couch. Finn and Junko sat across from him.
"Aerrow, please be careful-"
"DUDE! You nearly hit me!"
"-when you do that. What?"
Aerrow stared at Piper. He hadn't moved. Well, the dagger was still twirling around his hand, but he hadn't gotten up and crossed the room.
But he had distinctly just seen the others from where Finn and Junko were sitting. Aerrow gulped and put the daggers back on his back.
"Well, that's not the first time it happened. Remember when Finn lost my gloves? Aerrow came into the tower and switched positions just like that, too."
Finn, who was still in a crouching, bent over position to avoid the dagger, slowly uncurled. "I must have missed that when Ravess was bashing me up."
"No, it was when you were talking to me about bluffing and he came through the clock."
"O-kay." Finn stated, uncurling and leaning back into the couch. "Any one up for berry blitzt?"
"You are not using me for a target." The Dark Ace called over. Finn scowled.
"I was talking about a drawing."
"I wasn't."
Finn sulked. Piper got up and walked around. They were going crazy in here! There were no missions, no danger, training was becoming boring, and-
There went Finn with his air guitar.
Sigh. Somehow Piper knew things were desperate when watching Finn jump around was a source of entertainment.
"Back to saving the world with his rock, is he?" Stork grumbled. He should have found another way to tell Finn to just play his guitar.
Wait a minute…. "Finn, you played the guitar right handed when you fought Ravess' music canon. Why are you playing it left handed when you do the air guitar?"
"Dude, Stork, I'm ambidextrous. I can play with either hand; I just do better with my right."
The Dark Ace snorted. Coughing, he wiped his mouth and cleared his place setting.
"What's so funny?" Finn demanded.
"Nothing that a child would understand." The Dark Ace walked away from the group, hoping that he could get the rather dirty thoughts out of his head. Finn was fourteen! He was twenty- seven!
Master Cyclonis watched him begin to jog around the room. Well, at least he hadn't had a big breakfast.
She turned back to the Storm Hawks and started debating with them what to do.
"Perhaps I can join in the training? There's not much to eat up my time without a Terra to run. Besides, there's been something bothering me for a while."
"Really? What?" Piper looked up glaring at Finn who was hefting a pillow and looking at the Dark Ace.
A pillow fight was really out of the question.
"Well, when you shattered the Aurora stone, Aerrow, you combined your daggers to do it. How come that was the only time you've ever done that?"
Aerrow rubbed the back of his head. "Well, you see, I did do it again, and they kinda got…stuck."
Master Cyclonis smirked. "And I suppose that's because you forgot to untwist them?"
Aerrow blinked. Then he blushed.
"Uhhm, yeah, that was probably it."
Piper glared at Cyclonis. Cyclonis coo'd and winked back at her. Piper blushed.
Jogging around the room, the Dark Ace rolled his eyes. Of course Master Cyclonis would take amusement in yanking the Storm Hawks around. He wondered if he should warn them. He passed the goggles he had kicked earlier.
Perhaps it would be better to let Master Cyclonis have her fun.
The day passed in training, ending with Piper and Cyclonis lecturing the boys about how to use Crystals. Dark Ace wished he had kept his mouth shut and not mentioned that he only used crystals if he could put them into his sword.
Master Cyclonis had given him her most imperious 'Sit down!' and began to talk with Piper.
Finn discretely passed pillows among the boys. Then he threw one at Piper after two hours of listening to the girls.
A free for all broke out. Dark Ace was so careful not to hit Master Cyclonis, that when he pulled back the pillow to whap Aerrow, he accidentally slammed it into Cyclonis' face.
He froze.
"Master Cyclonis, I am so-"
"It's a pillow fight, Dark Ace. And you missed your shot."
Aerrow had seized his pillow with both hands and delivered a smack-down to the Dark Ace on his chest. Dark Ace wound the pillow corner in his hand and hit right back.
Piper jumped and shoved Cyclonis out of the way on onto Finn's pillow fortress. Stork, Finn, and Junko eventually called a halt to the pillow fight.
"Guys, I have an idea. Clear the area and make a maze out of the couches. We'll need to stack them so that some people don't just jump over them."
Finn eyed the Dark Ace and Aerrow when he said that. They shrugged and caught their breath as Junko made a maze to Piper's specifications. Then they went to work. Piper spun around ten times and then rushed into the maze, so that she wouldn't have an unfair advantage.
The Hunt was on.
Stork crept through the walls, thinking that there was no way there were that many couches when they had been eating breakfast, but now there was enough to play with eight people in the whole room!
He ran as he heard a rustling of cloth from the other side of the wall. Then he ran past the same spot and checked who it was on the other side. He called the tactic a double-back and could be useful, such as when Radarr had the last bite of food.
Junko was on the other side, curled up on the couch in a hidden nook, and either sleeping or lying in wait.
He was probably lying in wait. Stork couldn't see a teddy bear.
Stork then very quietly moved to the far side of the maze and stayed there.
Dark Ace circled around Aerrow, having found him in a small clearing in the outskirts of the maze.
"This time, no mercy."
"You know what?" Aerrow stood up out of his battle ready position. "It's been bothering me for quite a while that you say that. I mean, I remember that you didn't kill me so that I could see Atmosia fall to Cyclonia, but you seem to keep getting yourself psyched up when all you do is lose."
The Dark Ace rolled his eyes. "It's because I ended so many Sky Knights before you came along."
"Really? Is that it? A shout out about your glory days?"
"No." Dark Ace looked uncomfortable. "Let's just fight."
"Oh, come on. Just answer the question. Why do you say it?"
"It's- dammit, honor is overrated. It's the Cyclonian Code to have a unique quote. What are they called in cartoons again?"
"I think it's a- no, not a gag line, or a punch line, it's a…a…" Aerrow stood there and snapped his fingers.
"What do they call a defining quote again? It's your….line?"
"Argh, I can't remember now. Let's just fight."
Aerrow threw the pillow at the Dark Ace and ran off. No way could he focus on the battle when he couldn't remember what the line was referred to as.
Dark Ace growled and let him go. That was another few hours of sleep lost to trying to remember what it was called. It was a fancy, two word statement that said that when a character says this line, any reader could recognize them, even when they couldn't see anything more than a speech bubble.
"Also," Aerrow popped his head around the maze opening behind the Dark Ace. "Isn't your memorable quote becoming 'Goodbye, Aerrow'?"
Then he was off again.
The Dark Ace shook his head. Hadn't Aerrow run out of the passage way in front of him?
Junko lay in wait, starring into the darkness. He didn't like the thought of Finn being out there alone, but Finn had told him to stay there if he didn't want to be moving around in the dark. Junko wished he had his teddy bear.
Finn pulled his head back as a pillow went flying over head. Piper and Cyclonis had found each other, and were beating each other to the point where there were feathers flying around.
Then they both froze.
"My nail…" Cyclonis wailed. Piper dropped her weapon and rushed over.
"Its okay, the paint's chipped. If the nail was broken, we'd need to trim both hands. Oooh, I know. A pedicure and some nail polish will fix this right up. Come on!"
Cyclonis stopped sniffling and cheered right up, grabbing Piper's hand. "Oh, and there's something I have to tell you. Aerrow's fun to tease, I'm not moving in on your boy."
"He's not my boy!"
Both girls ran out of the maze. Finn scratched the back of his head. The fight had gone from surreal to weird in record time.
Not even the fight against the Leviathan had been that weird, and Stork had rammed the ship into its mouth!
Shrugging, the marksman crept around the room. He was really bad at hand to hand combat, why had he suggested this game in the first place?
Oh yeah, everyone was getting stressed out.
Finn was turning around again when something landed on him, hog tied him, and gave a triumphant screech.
"Radarr! This is a pillow fight! Not a tie-up-Finn-and-leave-him-to-other's-mercy game!" Radarr chirruped at him and left.
Finn groaned. He did not want to be found like this. Forget it not being cool, Finn didn't want to be found by anyone except Junko, because he wouldn't think about what Finn could do to him if Finn found him tied up.
Of course, Junko was hiding out in a niche on the other side of the maze. Finn rolled himself onto his back, despite the protest of the weight on his shoulder, and proceeded to roll himself in a dead end and hide underneath an overpass.
He hoped Radarr didn't get Aerrow. Aerrow would be nice enough about it, but he would also think that Finn couldn't handle a fight.
Stork would grin about being doomed and help him out. But he would also insist that to show his gratitude, Finn read some of his dark poetry.
The last time Finn had read some of Stork's poetry, Aerrow had banned Stork from going near Finn until he stopped sobbing and became happy again.
The Dark Ace….Finn drew a blank.
Maybe the Dark Ace would just keep walking? But Finn had pulled that stunt with the goggles, but unless the Dark Ace messed with his hair gel, there wasn't really anything the old man could do.
Finn sighed and resigned himself to getting out of the roped before they came looking for him.
When Aerrow found Finn later, his "WHAT!" sounded a lot like the time he delivered the rozen yoga to the Colonel.
High pitched and coming through a bad connection on the radio.
Finn laughed so hard, he actually hurt himself. Aerrow cut through the bindings and helped Finn out of there, calling an end to the game; it was time to go to bed.
The Dark Ace, Stork, and Radarr came out of the maze, while Cyclonis and Piper came downstairs, giggling and waving their hands.
Stork gave them an odd look, then a hard stare, before sniffing the air. "ACK! Nail Polish! Run!"
Aerrow and Dark Ace looked at each other as Finn passed out.
"What's so dangerous about nail polish?" Aerrow queried.
"Oh, Dark Ace, care for a slumber party?" Master Cyclonis looked at her right hand man. The Dark Ace ulped.
"Actually, Master Cyclonis, I…."
Master Cyclonis was giving him the smile that said 'DISOBEY AND DIE' in a bright neon purple above her head.
"I…think that would be a great idea." The Dark Ace followed the girls to a section of the dismantled maze and surrendered his hands to their tortu- grooming.
Aerrow snuck off to help Finn.
"Aerrow, you'll stay once Stork agrees to look after Finn, right?" Piper called out, selecting an emery board from the basket of nail care products.
Cyclonis was pushing the cuticles back and trimming them on the Dark Ace's left hand.
Aerrow ulped. "Uh, sure, Piper. It might take awhile to find Stork, though."
"He's hiding in the men's room."
Traitor! Aerrow thought as Dark Ace chimed in. He reluctantly dragged Finn to the Men's Room and left Stork with some couch pillows and blankets to sleep on.
He then dragged himself back to the party. Radarr squawked when he saw him, grabbed a brush and leapt into Aerrow's lap.
Aerrow began brushing Radarr, watching the torture- session that the Dark Ace stoically went through.
"I think this shade of red will match his clothes, what do you think?" Piper held up a bottle.
Cyclonis accepted the bottle, shaked it, and wiped some on the paper towel. She then held the drying color to the Dark Ace's clothes.
"Hmmm. It would work, but I'd prefer a red that would go with his eyes…" She held the tissue to eye level with the Dark Ace, having to stretch upward to where he sat on the couch without the use of her hands.
Piper and Aerrow became very interested in their respective tasks.
The Dark Ace rolled his eyes.
Cyclonis grinned, and only the Dark Ace could see it. He gave the 'I'm not going to help or hinder' look, and she smiled.
I don't expect you too, she mouthed back.
"I think if we mix these colors together, we can get you what you want." Cyclonis sat back down and accepted the two new bottles, mixing them and holding the drying color up to the Dark Ace again.
"Yes, this will do quite nicely." The girls set to work.
Radarr, cleaned and groomed, leapt down from Aerrow's lap and left to go find Junko. He wanted to sleep, but Aerrow didn't look ready to sleep yet.
With a thankful sigh, the Dark Ace was released from his prison and allowed to go with his now dull painted red fingernails that matched his eyes.
He made the mistake of putting his head in his hand while watching the girls work on Aerrow, and Aerrow twitched.
"Something wrong, Sky Knight?" Cyclonis hissed as the hand she was working on was nearly yanked out her grasp.
"Promisenottopaintynailsgreen?"
"What?"
"Promise not to paint my nails green?"
"Aerrow," Piper interjected "green wouldn't compliment you. I'm thinking of nail varnish for him. Make them shine."
Cyclonis nodded. "Of course, that means we paint your toenails instead."
Aerrow heaved a sigh of relief.
The Dark rolled his eyes, and stood up.
"Where are you going?" Cyclonis asked, her attention focused on Aerrow's thumb.
"To bed. You should see about some sleep yourself once you're done, Master Cyclonis."
Cyclonis went to shoot back a reply, and yawned.
Which made Aerrow yawn.
Which made Piper yawn.
Which made Dark Ace say "You all need to go to bed soon. Good night."
A/N: Wow, thank you so much The Alien of Pluto! And like I said, you gave me so many ideas; they actually overflow into a fifth chapter! Thank you so much! And YamiPluto, you are right, that is something that will be a challenge to work into the story. But I'll do my best in the upcoming chapters!