Sorry for the long wait on this one. I got a little sick and lost my ability to think straight for a couple days. To make up for it, here's an extra long sized chapter. Enjoy...maybe
Heart of Darkness...Final Destination
Striker stood on the bridge with his arms still open, waiting for the coming destruction with his eyes closed. After a few moments had passed, he opened his eyes. Where he was expecting a wave of destruction, he saw nothing. Stryker let his arms fall back to his sides as he stared at out the space before him.
Where's the explosion? Stryker thought frantically. What happened to the light?
He looked down where Cyclonis stood, his anger rising as his gaze shifted. He saw Cyclonis hold a sphere of raw energy above her, it's size shrinking as it became a darker color. Stryker gripped the railing as he watched Cyclonis take the energy into herself then fire a ball of energy at one of his retreating ships.
"How?" He asked to the empty air around him. He felt the anger rising in him, madness filling his thoughts. "HOW ARE YOU STILL ALIVE!?" He yelled with all the breath in his lungs. Stryker began to notice the other people around Cyclonis. Dark Ace, his smug smile irked Stryker to no end. And then he noticed a small group on their knees near where Cyclonis stood.
The Storm Hawks!? Strykers thoughts raged again They're alive too!? How? Did nothing go according to plan? Stryker let his thoughts wander before coming to the only conclusion that made since to him at the moment, the desperation that he felt was clouding his judgment. Of course! Stryker's thoughts began to put together events that must have occurred to have this happen.
"It all makes sense now!" Stryker yelled to no one but himself. "The Storm Hawks are working with Cyclonis! Yes, of course. That's how they have had so many encounters with Cyclonia and survived. It was all a trick to get people to love them and not me, the real protector of Atmos! Well I'll have none of it. I will personally see to it that both Cyclonis and The Storm Hawks are put to death right now!" Stryker turned and made his way into the bowels of his ship, still shaking from the battle that raged outside. "I'll show them! I'll show them all!"
Stryker felt the ship rock heavily from some unknown force outside the ship. He nearly lost his footing as the ship was bucked from his feet by the force of the blow.
"It would seem that the battle outside is getting a little heated." Stryker said cautiously to himself. "Best move quickly." He then picked up his pace as he moved towards the ship's hanger. It was time to take the fight to the enemy.
........
Aerrow stared in horror at the devastation Cyclonis had caused with a single shot of energy. Many of the ships that had been close by had been sent hurtling out in all directions. One carrier had collided with another, flames could now be seen erupting from their lower decks. He recognized carrier belonging to the Absolute Zeros as it was sent flying straight into the line of fire of the surrounding Cyclonian cruisers. He didn't see a single parachute from the crushed Atmosian Guard ship.
Aerrow felt anger rise in him as he regained his footing and charged Cyclonis, activating his blades as he charged. Dark Ace grabbed his own blade and knocked Aerrow's to the ground and brought his fist around to connect with Aerrow's chin. Aerrow sprawled backwards onto the floor, he had been to focused on Cyclonis to properly guard against Dark Ace. Cyclonis turned to look at Aerrow with her dark gaze, then turned her attention to Aerrow's blades that lay on the floor before her.
"Not exactly your usual color is it?" She said, her voice still carrying a demonic tone. She waved her hand at the blades, raising them off the floor by will alone. "I'm guessing Piper did some modifying so you could use some of my soldier's crystals. Not a bad idea, but we can't have you waving these around anymore." With a simple wave of her hand the crystal energy dissipated from Aerrow's blades in a brightly colored mist. She let the now, once again, powerless blades drop to the floor.
Piper still on her knees, the shock of the situation keeping her from standing. "How is this even possible? That much energy should be ripping you apart."
Cyclonis smiled at Piper. "When you live and breathe with energy constantly flowing through your body, you learn a few tricks." Cyclonis let her smile slip from her face, taking on a more determined expression. "But enough with the demonstrations and explanations. I have an Atmos to conquer. And if you think that this power is impressive...'' She began to hover off the ground now, letting herself glide up a few meters in the air. "Just wait until I get my hands on he remaining shards of the Aurora Stone." She reached out with her left hand and pulled her staff from where it leaned into her grasp. "But, sadly, you won't be there to see it." She said in a mocking tone as she reached out with her right hand, black bands made of pure energy shot from her palm. The bands quickly bound the Storm Hawks hands to the deck, putting them in a bent over position on their knees.
"What are you going to do with us now you monster?" Aerrow spat out in the most defiant tone he could muster as he struggled against his bonds.
"Do?" Cyclonis laughed. "I'm not going to do anything. But, my ever faithful servant, Dark Ace, has had his heart set on dispatching you personally. I wanted you to live long enough to see my ascension and the beginnings of your world's end, and since I have what I want now, it's his turn." She gestured with her hand towards Dark Ace.
Dark Ace bowed his head respectfully to Cyclonis, then turned to step towards Aerrow. "I have waited a long time for this day. You were better than most of the worthless sky knights I've faced. I hope that brings you some comfort in the afterlife." Dark Ace raised his glowing blade above his head, preparing to bring it down on Aerrow's exposed neck.
Honk! Honk!
The sound of a loud air horn suddenly blared out, braking through the tense air around the group. Cyclonis, still hovering a few meters from the balcony floor, turned in the direction of the noise just in time to see the front end of a small cargo vessel slam into her. Cyclonis's concentration was broken, and the bands around the Storm Hawks wrist faded away, just in time for them to roll out of the path of the speeding cargo vessel as it drove into the throne room, destroying the wall in the process.
Dark Ace, who had also just barely managed to dodge the incoming vessel, found himself on his back and without his sword. He saw it laying on the ground a few feet from him and quickly scrambled across the floor to retrieve it. But another pair of hands found their way to the sword's handle first, Aerrow's hands.
"I'm not used to a two-handed sword." Aerrow said as he steadied the blade at Dark Ace. "But I know enough."
Dark Ace said nothing a he stared daggers at Aerrow as he sat himself on the floor.
"Is everyone else okay?" Aerrow asked over his shoulder without taking his eyes off Dark Ace.
The rest of the group quickly appeared from the rubble, dusting themselves off.
"Someone wanna tell me what just happened?" Finn said with a confused expression as he looked at the crashed ship.
"Well first the ship was over there." Junko said as he pointed out towards the open sky, then pointed at the remains of the wall the ship had crashed through. "Then it came speeding through there, and now it's sitting here." He finished with a matter of fact tone.
Finn sighed and rolled his eyes. "I was more curious about the why."
As if to answer Finn's question, the rear door of the small vessel opened, and smoke began to billow out from the opening. A thin figure appeared through the smoke, clutching his side.
"Some one remind me to never fly a Cyclonian ship again. They're poorly designed pieces crap with very poor safety equipment." Stork appeared from the smoke, he grimaced as he gripped his side as he leaned against the doorway. "Pretty sure I broke something....again."
"Stork!" Piper yelled and ran up to the injured merb, giving him a concerned look. "What happened to staying behind where it was safe?"
"I got bored, so I started working on this hunk of junk." Stork said with a slight laugh. "Besides, that bright flash of light kinda gave me the feeling that no place was safe anymore. And judging by what I saw out there on the balcony, I was right."
"Looks like you got here just in time." Finn said from where he was still staring at the damage. "You just kicked Cyclonis's butt, and you only had to crash a ship into her to do it."
Aerrow was still keeping the sword leveled at Dark Ace, thinking of what the next move should be. "Stork, can we still use that ship to get out of here?"
Stork shook his head. "That crash may not of killed me, but it did kill the flight controls, and the engines weren't exactly in the best shape before anyway. They would have maybe lasted five minutes, ten at best. Now they're pretty dead, so this thing's not going anywhere any time soon."
A spark of energy shot across the hull of the ship, and the frame began to rumble.
Stork moved back from the ship. "Or not."
Dark Ace let out a laugh as he stared at Aerrow. "You fools. Do you really think Cyclonis could be be taken down that easy?"
Finn let out a groan. "Awww, c'mon. Nothing about this whole screwed situation has been easy."
The sound of screeching metal filed the room as the entire ship shook. And then as suddenly as it started, the noise stopped.
Finn, who had been holding his breath, let out a deep sigh. "Guess we're okay."
A loud Thud could be heard right as the ship flew backwards and out into the war torn sky, then fell into the wastelands below. Everyone now beheld the image of an enraged Cyclonis, bolts of energy sparked off of her in all directions. Her eyes were radiating dark energy as her mouth twisted into a snarl.
"I've had enough of these foolish games!" Cyclonis yelled in her dark demonic tone. "You will all die! NOW!"
With a loud yell, Cyclonis raised her hands and energy shot out like a lightning storm of darkness. The Storm Hawks quickly moved for cover, even Dark Ace had to dive out of the way of several arcs of energy.
Aerrow, with Radaar perched on his shoulders and Finn crouched by his feet, took cover behind a broken piece of wall, energy sparked all around them.
"Well I'd say this a shocking situation." Finn said with a slight grin while looking at Aerrow.
"Not really time for jokes Finn." Aerrow said as he tried to look around to get a look at Cyclonis only to duck back as a burst of energy shot past him.
"Sorry, nervous habit." Finn said with an anxious tone. "Any ideas on hoe to get out of this one?"
Aerrow tried to think, but the constant spurts of dark energy sparking all round them made it hard for him to concentrate. "A distraction would be nice."
"Cyclonis!" A voice yelled from outside the destroyed thrown room.
Finn peaked round to catch sight of where the voice had come from. "Oh man, now that bozo is here too."
Aerrow looked at Finn and raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
"Stryker." Finn said before adding in a mocking song. "Here he comes to wreck the DAAAYYYY!!"
Aerrow began to think. "Maybe we can use this."
Meanwhile, across the room, Junko, Piper and Stork were huddled behind a piece of hull plating that had broken off the cargo ship. From where Stork stood he had a good look at Stryker coming in hot on a sky ride that bore the usual gold and white colors of the Atmosian Guard.
"Here comes trouble." He said in a nervous voice.
Piper looked past him to get a good look at Stryker. "That's all we need right now, another madman bent on killing us."
Junko was already feeling nervous from all the energy that was shooting everywhere. "So, any ideas?" He asked Piper.
"Let's wait and see what Stryker does." Piper said in a reassuring tone to the nervous wallop. "He might give us an opening to turn the tables."
"Or he'll get blasted into a pile of cinders. I'm up for either." Stork said with a devilish grin.
Piper rolled her eyes at Stork, her thoughts scrambled to think of something that might work in this desperate situation. Only one plan kept resurfacing in her head, though she didn't like it, but she knew their might not be a choice anymore.
........
Stryker was flying at high speed on his personal skyride towards the citadel. He was going to see to everyone's demise personally, and this time there would be no mistakes and everyone would stay dead this time. He could see the inside of the throne throne room of the citadel which, for some reason he had missed, had a much bigger opening than he remembered. Inside he saw Cyclonis releasing torrents of dark energy in all directions.
"Cyclonis!" He yelled as he got closer.
Cyclonis turned to face Stryker, lowering her hands and ceasing he energy storm as she did. She cast her dark gaze at him, sending a small shiver of fear down his spine. Stryker quickly brought his skyride down onto the ruined balcony, hitting the brakes hard. He dismounted quickly and brought out his sword to level it at Cyclonis, golden energy radiating across the blade.
"Stryker, how nice of you to join our little party." Cyclonis said with a sneer, her voice still carrying it's dark tone. "You'll have to forgive the mess, we had a party crasher."
"Enough jokes!" Stryker yelled, his face turning a hard shade of red to match his rising rage. "It's time for you to die, and stay that way this time!" He jumped into the air, gold energy surrounding his body as he did. He gripped his sword with both hands ad raised it above his head. "Burning Crescent!" He roared as he brought his sword down in a hard swing, a wave of crystal energy forming off the tip. The energy flew out in a crescent shape towards Cyclonis, the energy raging like fire as it flew.
Cyclonis let out a bored sigh as she raised a hand, the wave of energy washing over her like an ocean wave on the rocks. Cyclonis gave Stryker an annoyed look. "Anything else?"
Srtyker stared at Cyclonis, confusion written on his face. With a few quick swings of his blade, Stryker sent several bolts of energy at Cyclonis. Cyclonis didn't even bother to raise her hand against the bolts this time, letting the bolts dissipate into a fine mist as they came close to her.
Cyclonis began to step towards Stryker. "Think for a second you idiot." Cyclonis said with a voice that reflected her annoyance towards Stryker. "I just stopped a bomb of unfathomable power with my sheer will alone. Do you really think your silly special move or any other crystal energy will hurt me anymore?"
Stryker could only stare at Cyclonis as she stepped slowly closer to him.
"Of course, there might be a way." Cyclonis said as she reached up with her hands to undo some of the clasps on the upper part of her tunic. "You could always try doing what your assassin did the first time I died." She pulled back a bit of her tunic to reaveal the connector plate on her bare chest. "Just stab me right through the chest. Unless, of course, your still a coward. To afraid to get your hands dirty this close to your target. It's much easier to use tricks and fools than just do it yourself." She was just in arms reach of Stryker now, she made no move to defend or attack as she stood before him. "Of course, the resulting release of energy from my body would kill you and everything else in the vicinity. But you were making that sacrifice anyway, so there's no need to hesitate. Unless of course, when it finally comes down to doing things yourself, you just don't have the guts."
Stryker simply stood there, his mind unable to cope with what he saw in front of his own eyes. Cyclonis's dark gaze seemed to pierce into his soul, freezing him where he stood. He knew what he wanted to do, but was unable to even move his arm. He had no sense of the world around him as Cyclonis stared at him, fear filling his thoughts. He didn't notice in the least as Dark Ace came up behind him, delivering a hard blow to the back of his head which knocked him out, his unconscious body collapsed onto the floor.
"You should be more careful." Dark Ace said respectfully to Cyclonis. "What if he had stabbed you?" Dark Ace reached down and plucked the sword from Stryker's grip, giving it a disapproving look.
Cyclonis looked down at Stryker's unconscious body. "Nothing was going to happen." Cyclonis said in a flat voice, still carrying it's dark echo. "In the end Stryker is neither a hero or a villain, he's just a cowardly fool."
"No reason to let him live then." Dark Ace said as he raised Stryker's sword, preparing to stab down into Stryker's back. "Right through the heart. I'd say that's poetic justice."
"No!" Aerrow yelled as he moved forward from where had taken cover. He swung Dark Ace's sword, sending a bolt of energy at Dark Ace.
Dark Ace quickly dodged the blast, bringing the sword in his hand around to guard as Aerrow charged forward, the two blades sparking as they met.
"That doesn't belong to you." Dark Ace said with a sneer as he stared Aerrow in the eyes between the glow of the to swords.
"Sorry." Aerrow said with a grunt as he continued to push against Dark Ace. "But sometimes you have to use whatever bits of trash you find in a fight."
Dark Ace roared as he pushed back against Aerrow, pushing him back a few feet. He quickly slashed down again, energy sparking as both blades collided again.
Cyclonis watched the exchange of blade strikes between the two, annoyance rising in her as she felt she was being ignored. She raised her hand, ready to unleash a torrent of energy at Aerrow. But before she could even will a spark to her palm, something struck the side of her head. She raised her hand to rub the side of her head where she had felt the hit, looking down at what had hit her. On the floor she could see a crossbow. She looked up on the direction of where it had been thrown from.
Finn had his head poked around from behind the cover, now in full view of Cyclonis. He let out a small shriek as he once again took cover behind the piece of wall. Rdaar looked up at him, a questioning look on his face.
"Sorry buddy." Finn said in a panicked voice as he looked at Radaar. "I think she saw me."
A hand of energy reached around the broken piece of wall, plucking it from where it sat and throwing it across the room. Finn was still crouched on he ground, he looked over his shoulder to see Cyclonis sanding only a couple yards from him.
"Um." Finn began in a shaky voice. "Don't suppose there's any chance that I could charm my way out of this."
Cyclonis raised her hand spaks of black energy beginning to dance between her finger. "Not really."
"Cyclonis!" Piper yelled as she stepped from her own cover behind Cyclonis. "Leave him alone."
Stork was still crouched behind cover looking at Piper. "Piper, what are you doing?" Stork whispered in a nervous voice.
"The only thing I can do." She said softly as she moved towards Cyclonis. She raised her voice now as she spoke. "I'm a much better challenge than Finn. Unless your afraid I'll beat you again."
Aerrow, still busy keeping pace with Dark Ace's strikes, noticed Piper's sudden emergence. "Piper! Don't do anything stupid!" He yeled as he raised his sword to guard as Dark Ace brought a heavy strike down at Aerrow.
Cyclonis turned to look at Piper. "Tsk tsk tsk. Silly little Piper thinks she can stop me." Cyclonis said with a small laugh. "You, above all others here, should know just how silly that idea is. You know what kind of power flows through me. Do you really think you can stop me?" She finshed with a dark grin as she stared with her dark eyes at Piper.
"It's not about power Cyclonis." Piper said as she readied herself to move, gripping her staff tightly in her hands. "It's about knowing where to aim."
Cyclonis raised her hands and unleashed several bolts of energy at Piper. Piper moved with all the energy she could muster as she moved back and forth between the arcs of energy, moving forward at Cyclonis as she did. With a quick leap, Piper quickly closed the distance between herself and Cyclonis, tackling her to the ground. She raised her staff and brought the end down into Cyclonis's exposed connector plate.
Cyclonis looked down at where Piper's staff connected as she lay on her back. "That's it?" She said in a mocking tone. "Did you think a small jab like that would bring me down?"
"It's like you said, Cyclonis." Piper said in a sad tone. "I know exactly what kind of energy is flowing through you." Piper quickly reached behind her and pulled out a crystal and slammed it into the crystal mounting on her staff and activated the trigger.
Cyclonis suddenly felt strange. Instead of energy coming in, it felt as if it were being pulled out of her. She franticly looked at the crstal that Piper had placed into her staff, recognizing it immediately.
"A leecher!" She yelled as she shoved Piper off of her, trying frantically to pull the staff out of her chest. No matter how she tried though, she couldn't pull it free. "Dark Ace! Help me!"
Dark Ace quickly turned to see what was happening, horror spread across his face. "What have you done!?" He began to move to assisst Cyclonis, but Aerrow moved into his path. "Move out of my way boy!"
"No!" Aerrow said defiantly. "This ends now!" He yelled as he lunged his sword forward.
Dark Ace parried Aerrow's lunge to the side, trying to move past the teen. Aerrow quickly kicked out with his foot and hooked it around Dark Ace's leg, causing him to trip. He sprawled forward, hitting the ground hard. Stryker's sword slipped from his grasp and skidded across the floor. He tried to bring himself back to his feet, only to feel Aerrow place his foot on his back, pushing him back to the floor. He felt his own sword being brought close to his neck.
"Your not going anywhere." Aerrow said with a pant as he caught his breath.
Cyclonis tugged fruitlessly at the staff in her chest. She felt her strength leave her limbs, causing them to flop uselessly to her sides. Her eyes lost their dark glow and had now returned to their original color, her skin was becoming more pale.
She looked at Piper, standing over her, with pleading eyes. "I don't want to die again."
Piper had tears forming in her eyes as she looked down at Cyclonis. "None of the people you killed to extend your life wanted to die either."
Cyclonis breaths were becoming more shallow now. She looked up at the leecher crystal, shining bright from all the energy it had absorbed. She closed her eyes and felt as if the last of herself was being pulled into a small space, and then...nothing.
"NOOOOOOOOO!" Dark Ace yelled from where he was on the floor. With a strong amount of effort, he pushed up against Aerrow, knocking the sky knight from his feet. He quickly rushed to his master's side, pulling the staff from her chest with a strong tug. The energy being transferred between had practically fused the metal of the staff to the connector plate. He cradled her lifeless form in his arms.
"Master?" He asked in a tearful tone as he pulled her close, resting his forehead against hers.
A sharp whine began to erupt from the crystal on Piper's staff.
Finn moved close and picked the staff off the ground. "Um, if I remember right from the last time we dealt with these things, that whine means it's about to explode, right?"
Piper quickly snatched her staff out of Finn's hands. She tried to pry the crystal from her staff, but it wouldn't budge. "It's not coming off."
"We'll have to get rid of the staff too then." Aerrow said with determination.
"But.." Piper began to protest, she wasn't keen on the idea of losing her favorite staff.
"No time." Aerrow said as he moved forward, taking the staff from Piper. He moved to the open balcony and prepared to the throw the the leecher, it's whine reaching a higher pitch.
"Wait!" Pier said, running up to Aerrow. "The force of the explosion is gonna be big. We need it out further or everyone close by could be caught in it."
Aerrow eyed Stryker's skyride, realizing what needed to be done. He moved to mount up on the bike, activating the engine.
"Dude!" Finn yelled. "What are you doing!?"
"I'm gonna take this up as high in the sky as I can." Aerrow said with a determined voice. "That way no one will be caught in the explosion."
Finn gave his leader a worried look. "That's a one way trip bro. We still need you here." Finn walked up and snatched the staff from Aerrow. "I'll go."
"There's no time for this Finn!" Aerrow said in frustration.
"Your right." Another voice said. "There is no time left at all."
A hand reached out and took the staff from both Aerrow and Finn, a foot slammed into Aerrow, knocking him from the skyride.
Aerrow fell to the floor and rolled onto his back, looking up to another figure mounting the bike. Light shined off the man's bald head.
"Stryker?" Aerrow said in disbelief.
"Protect Atmos, Aerrow." Stryyker said in a strained voice. "Do a better job than I did." He reved the engine then took off, deploying the wings as he cleared the balcony. He cranked the engine to it's maximum output as he pulled straight up, looking up into the expanding sky as his final destination.
........
Stryker's thoughts flew by quickly as he tried to think of something other than the crystal increaingly high pitched whine as he moved higher into the sky.
Stryker had regained some consciousness as he laid on the floor and had seen Aerrow fighting Dark Ace with all his strength. Finn throwing his crossbow at Cyclonis. And,finally, Piper finishing off Cyclonis. It was in these moments he had time to think about what he had become, remembering all he had done to try and destroy the Storm Hawks and how they still fought against such incredible odds and still came out victorious. All he had done was grow jealous and prideful. He had almost sacrificed the lives of loyal Sky Knights to further his own gains. He was left with one truth. They were truly living up to the their name as Storm Hawks, and he was their enemy.
But not anymore.
One last chance to prove he could be a hero. One last sacrifice.
He closed his eyes and listened as the whine of the crystal stopped. He felt the air around him become still. And then...nothing.
........
The Storm Hawks stood in a group, watching Stryker speed up and away into the far up sky. Then the sky became full with a giant explosion as darkness spilled out everywhere in a giant shock wave, clearing open a large portion of sky as it scattered the clouds.
"Woh." Finn said in a dazed voice. "It's almost pretty."
"It hard to believe." Piper said as she watched the shock wave dissipate. "All that energy was inside one person."
"So." Finn said as looked away from the sky to look at Aerrow. "Why do you think Stryker did that?"
"It's hard to say why now that he's gone." Aerrow said as he still stared at the last point where he had seen Stryker. "Maybe he finally remembered why he became a sky night in the first place. But he knew he couldn't go back, not after everything he had done."
Piper looked away from the explosion, back toward where Cyclonis was still being held by Dark Ace. She felt a hand on her shoulder and turned her head to see Stork standing next to her.
"You didn't have a choice." Stork said in a comforting tone. "She was determined to destroy us and everyone else."
"Yeah." Piper replied in a sad tone. "But I can still see her eyes begging me to spare her."
Looking at Cyclonis, Piper began to notice small cracks appearing on her face. She stepped closer to where Dark Ace still held her. The cracks continued to spread across her face, and she could make out faint lines spreading to her hands as well. Suddenly, Cyclonis body began to collapse, pieces broke off to becomes piles of dust on the floor. After a few moments, all that remained of Cyclonis were her clothes and a few bits of dust that hadn't blown away in the strong Cyclonian winds.
Aerrow stood next to Piper now, staring down at where Cyclonis once was. "What happened?"
"The only thing holding her together was the borrowed energy she had in her body." Piper said as she looked at Dark Ace, who remained silent. "Without that energy holding her cells together, time is just catching up with her."
Dark Ace reached into Cyclonis's now empty clothes and removed a black and lumpy crystal. The shape and size sparked a memory in Piper that went back to their first meeting with Stryker only a few days before.
"Cyclonis's heart." Piper said simply as she stared at the black crystal.
"The surge of power must burned it or something." Aerrow said, remarking at the crystal's dark color.
"No." Piper said, her voice still carried some of the guilt she felt. "I think it's always been that dark"
Things are coming to a close. One brief epilogue shall be out in a bit to wrap up the final details. But does it all end here? Please be sure to review.