Winds of Change Book II: Distant Thunder
Chapter 9: On The Road Again!
AN: Muhahaha! After five months of writing and planning, I finally get to show this thing off! This chapter serves as a filler of sorts and will show what's going on with some of the other characters that will be appearing in later portions. Some familiar old faces will return, as will two…memorable, yet still unknown characters. I hope you all enjoy! Also don't forget check out Arashi21's new story: Fighting Wings! Which ties in with the Winds of Change series. Oh, and I posted a one-shot called My Reasons, it's worth taking a look at.
Oh, and in case anyone didn't know, I still accept anon reviews!
Disclaimer: I do not own Storm Hawks, and never will, also I do not own anything related to Legend of the Dragoon or Legend of Zelda. They are the property of Asaph "Ace" Fipke and made by Nerd Corps Entertainment, Sony Entertainment and Nintendo, however I DO own Kai, Rose, the Shadow crystal, the Wasps, and this story.
Shadow,Griffy and Nagera are the property of ShadowQueen25
Tigger belongs to Mrs J Black
Marina is Star Wars Nut's
Rondana was made, and is owned by MissDedodakes
Scarlett is the creation of Love Flame
Kestrel was made by Arashi21
Soft footsteps echoed throughout the empty hallways, as a dark skinned hand slid softly across the cold metal wall.
Flashback
"Tell me what you have done with Starling NOW!" She demanded.
"I…I…I told you! We haven't done anything! We were waiting for her! You have to believe me!" Hamish begged as he tried to break free from her iron tight grip.
Eye's narrowed; she carried the man by his neck with one hand and navigated through the maze of unconscious Talons until she reached the edge of the terra.
"Tell me now, or you'll be inhaling lava for the remaining three seconds of your miserable existence!"
"I swear! We don't have her, we've been waiting for the last two weeks, but nobodies heard anything from her in nearly a month! I swear I'm telling the truth!" Hamish screamed.
With a half feral snarl she tossed the man to the ground and stormed back to the others.
"One of them must know something. Starling was never one to waste time before, why would she start now?"
Flashback end
"So long, I can't believe it's been so long since I've been here." Sporting a wistful smile, the robed figure allowed her fingers to rest on the cool metal surface for several seconds, immersing in old memories of long ago.
"Ten years. Ten year's since we were betrayed and I last saw my home." Shaking her head sadly, the woman made her way to one room in particular. "And I don't even get the chance to enjoy it." She had to suppress a chuckle at that one. She was on a mission, and nothing would stop her.
Flashback
"You might have gotten the drop on me before little missy, but now ya in for a heaping of punishment!" Mr. Moss shouted as he brought down his whip from behind.
Not even turning, the woman's arm shot out like a snake and grabbed the whip in mid air.
"If you were smart, you would have kept playing possum." Yanking the whip from the man, she turned and leveled him with a glare. "I will return tomorrow morning. If by then you are still here, I will drop every last one of you into the Black Gorge. Do I make myself clear?" She asked with a hiss.
Mr. Moss fell flat on his rear and tried to back peddle, but found his legs unwilling to work.
With that, she went back to her skimmer and took off, knowing that extreme measures would now have to be taken.
Flashback end
Coming to a stop, she looked at the name engraved on the slightly ajar door. She was surprised at what she saw.
"This is new." With a small grin on her face, the young woman traced her fingers around the freshly engraved nameplate before pushing the door open and stepping into the room.
Looking around she saw the many shelves that lined the walls, some filled with books, others with maps or various assortments of crystals. Exactly what she would have expected to see in the room of the ships navigator and crystal specialist. There was one thing however she did not expect to see.
The ships captain asleep over the corner desk, with various papers spread out under him or around the chair he sat in.
"So he's looking for a clue huh? We'll just have to do something about that now wont we?"
With a playful smirk on her face, the woman reached into the folds of her robe and pulled a single piece of parchment, neatly folded it up, and slid it into a book on a nearby shelf.
It was hidden, but not very well. The top of the parchment stuck just above the pages of the book, so even though a passive observer would miss it, someone actually searching would have had a hard time missing it.
Looking at the sleeping figure, she reached out with one hand, but stopped several inches short of the young mans red hair.
"No, now isn't the time to dwell on the past." Looking at her watch the woman let out a disappointed sigh. "I'm out of time, I have to get back or he'll start worrying again." Shaking her head in disappointment, she left the room, but not before casting one last sorrowful look at the young man.
"Please, please be the Sky Knight that I knew you would be. We're counting on you, all of us."
Slinking out of the room, the figure quickly made its way through the narrow halls and back to the ships bridge, before slipping out under the open window and hopped down the side until her feet met solid ground.
Climbing aboard her skimmer, she was forced to repress a shudder as the wings of her skimmer deployed. The silver insignia of a once proud bird of prey, that was now marred by slash marks and burn scores matching the large blue one on the ships hull.
"Keep it together girl, the past cant hurt you."
"Not anymore."
"Besides, we have bigger issues at hand. If we don't find Starling soon, things are going to get bad, I just hope they can do their part in this." She thought looking over the small ship she had called home so many years ago.
Rooster crows
"God how I hate that stupid thing." Aerrow thought as he rubbed the sleep from his eyes. Looking down he sighed.
"I still can't believe she didn't leave us anything. Piper should know better than to just go running off without a backup plan. What if something happens to them? How would I…we…how would anyone find them?"
Getting up, he stretched his back to work out the kinks from his uncomfortable sleeping position when something caught his eye.
"Hey guys! Guess who's here?" Finn's voice called out over the ships intercom.
"Finn! Cut it out!" A noticeably more feminine voice called out over the still active mic.
Chuckling at the irritation that was in her voice, Aerrow grabbed a book from the nearby book shelf and left for the bridge.
"So, Scar's here huh? I wonder what will happen this time." Aerrow thought as he suppressed a groan.
"Mind telling me what you're doing here so early in the morning? How did you even find us?" Finn asked as he cut off the intercom.
Scarlett rolled her eyes at Finn, but her beaming grin made it obvious she was playing.
"I was called here by Kai remember? Where is he anyway? All the message said to respond A.S.A.P."
Finn's face dropped at this. "Uh, Scar, he's like, gone. Been that way for a couple of weeks actually."
"What?! I missed him? Aw man! I hope it wasn't important. My radio was busted and I could only receive messages. I tried to find you guys as fast as I could to get back with him but….welll…..you know how things go with me right?" Scarlett asked with a shrug.
"What happened this time? Ran out of fuel mid flight? Flesh eating Meattraps? Vulcabats? Mindworms?" (If you have to ask who this is stop reading now.)
Scarlett gave the resident Merb a light slap on the shoulder. "No…..not the Mindwoms anyways." She said frowning.
Finn was gripping his sides laughing.
It was no secret that their friend was cursed. Every time she went anywhere or did anything, SOMETHING would happen. The fact that 'something' usually entailed a life threatening and or changing event had made her somewhat of a pariah. But her friends welcomed her all the same, some actually enjoyed that particular aspect of her (Aerrow and Kai) with others sympathized, knowing the pain of having a curse continuously slapping you in the face (Finn).
"Not like it matters anymore, if he's gone then I wasted the effort," Scarlett said crossing her arms with a sigh.
"Awww, didn't you miss me at all?" Finn asked genuinely hurt.
"Oh toughen up you big baby," Scarlett said giving Finn an affectionate punch to the shoulder.
Just then the doors of the bridge opened and Aerrow walked in.
"Hey, long time no see," Aerrow said with a grin.
Scarlett gave a small smile before noticing the book in his hand.
"Miss her so much you started reading?" She teased.
Aerrow tinted slightly before speaking up.
"No! I mean, uh, I was just trying to figure out where they went is all. It's my job to watch out for my squadron, and I don't like the idea of not having some clue of where they went."
"Yeah right, he's just worried that Kai's trying to move in on his turf," Finn whispered behind his hand to the others, resulting in a few snickers.
"Well, I'm a bit lost; care to explain what I missed?" Scarlett asked flopping down into the bridges comfy couch.
It didn't take too long for Aerrow to recount the events concerning Kai's brief stay aboard the Condor. Scarlett wasn't too surprised by Piper's actions; she knew the girl was an honest one that would do what she thought was right, even if it meant breaking the rules. She was also a bit disappointed that she hadn't arrived sooner to help out.
"So….what your telling me is that Kai and the others are on a seek and destroy mission huh?"
Finn nodded. "That pretty much sums it up. Things have been getting…weird lately though."
"Define 'weird,'" Scarlett said raising an eyebrow.
"No Cyclonian attacks, no real movement from the Council, no alerts and no problems," Finn answered counting off on his fingers.
"Soooo pretty much everything's good right?" She asked, confused by the others reactions.
Stork then stepped in. "The quiet before the storm," he said solemnly.
"Huh?"
"For the last eleven years, there has rarely been a single day that passed without some form of conflict. Every now and then we'll have a day or two, but for things to be quiet for several weeks…" Stork let the rest hang.
"Don't you think your being just a little too pessimistic?" Finn asked.
Stork shook his head. "Something…..something is wrong. The air feels….thick. Something is out there, watching, waiting, and biding its time."
Scarlett was about to dismiss this as more of Storks paranoia, but something was different about him. His eyes weren't darting around, his breathing was normal; he didn't seem to be panicking at all. If anything, this was the calmest she had ever seen him.
That scared her.
Swallowing, she spoke. "What…what do you mean? What's out there?"
Stork's head slowly turned to face her, and was a blank mask with no emotion.
"Something that has been here for quite some time, but….not a threat. Like a great beast stirring from a deep slumber."
"What's that?"
Everyone turned to Finn, who was pointing at the book in Aerrow's grip, silently thankful for the distraction.
"What? This? I just pulled it from Piper's study, looked like a good read," Aerrow replied.
Finn sighed and got up. "Not the book, this," Finn said pinching a piece of parchment with his finger nails and pulling it free from between the books pages.
"How did you even see that?" Scarlett asked wide eyed.
"Ppppth, as many times as I've scrounged around looking for loose change, I can spot something like this from a mile away," Finn said proudly.
"Not to mention how often you go snooping around other peoples stuff," Aerrow said taking the sheet from Finn.
"It…looks like a crossword puzzle, with numbers," Junko said scratching his head.
"I think they're coordinates," Aerrow said squinting.
Finn looked over the leaders shoulder to get a better look.
"Huh, it's fresh too."
Everyone turned to look at him.
"What? See how the ink is smeared? That would have rubbed off if this was old. This was written recently…and in a hurry," Finn noted looking over the parchment.
"How can you tell that?" Aerrow asked, being the first to snap out of his stupor.
"Duh, I write my own music. I know when someone wrote something in a hurry, and this was done in like, two minutes," Finn said with a proud grin.
"Ok, so why would it have been done in a hurry?" Scarlett asked looking over the coordinates, and surprised at some of the places listed.
"Maybe…..maybe Piper wrote this before she left?" Everyone turned to Junko.
"Well, it's just that Piper is always writing things down, and that's her favorite book. She's always reading it. She probably meant to take it with her but forgot it when they left."
"That….makes sense actually," Aerrow said blinking.
"How you figure that?" Scarlett asked.
"Well, like Junko said, this is Piper's favorite book, but she's not exactly….always on the ball," Aerrow said rubbing the back of his head.
"So you're thinking that this could be a list of all the terra they are going to visit?" Scarlett asked with a small grin. She already knew where this was going.
"Wellll if that's the case, we could always drop in and say hello," Finn said grinning.
Aerrow weighed the options available. He knew that they were watched like hawks by the Cyclonian's, but Stork was right, something just didn't seem right. Things had been running as normal, but then just came to a screeching halt. Besides, it never hurt to have back up he reasoned.
"Stork, set a course for the first set of coordinates and make sure the Condor's in top shape, that includes the impeller. Finn, you and Junko check out the skimmers and supplies."
"What about me?"
Aerrow turned to Scarlett. "Well, you're not really on my squadron, so I can't just order you around, but we can use all the help we can get."
Scarlett grinned. "I'll check over the coordinates and see if I can figure out their course. If Kai's anything like he used to be, it won't be easy to find them."
Nodding, Aerrow watched as the crew carried out his orders and gripped the handrail.
"Stork was right. A storm is brewing. I just hope we don't end up making things worse trying to help out."
Wiping her forehead, Kestrel checked her instruments again.
"Found you!" Slamming the accelerator to max gear, she flew towards the signal at top speed, knowing that she had no other choice than to continue playing this cat and mouse game.
Over the course of the last few days, she had been following the signal from the tracker in HER skimmer. Falconsight was out of the question due to the substantial lead he had on her, so it was the only choice she had at the moment. It was a good model, and according to the manufactures for most of the parts she had used to build it, could survive the harshest of conditions.
Apparently, their idea of 'harsh conditions' didn't include whatever Starling was up too.
The signal would be working for a few hours, then go for a day or two without giving off as much as a beep.
"Either he rigged it to the battery and it only works when the skimmer's actually running, or she's docking in something heavily shielded."
In this case, she was actually preying for the former over the latter. Even though it meant that Kai had 'defiled' her skimmer, the latter meant that Kai probably had backup, which would make things even harder.
On his own, Kai was a hunter's dream and a trapper's worst nightmare. Able to elude pursuers and ditch trackers with little effort, the teen was a proverbial living ghost, appearing and vanishing at will without a trace.
When cornered however, he was far from helpless. Though she had only seen him fight once, and that was several years back, she knew based on the reports she found of him that he was at minimum, low Sky Knight Grade. Starling herself was a known rank A level according to the Cyclonian bounty and her own personal research. The two of them together would not be easy to take down. If they had backup however, depending on who they were, could make her mission all but impossible.
"I still don't like this." She thought, recalling her initial suspicion of this particular job. " Scabulous and his entire crew together don't even come close to that bounty. With a price like that on his head he'll have every weapon wielding yahoo and hero wannabe in the Atmos after him once this thing hits open market. At least the Council is giving me a head start. If I can get a solid trail on him before the competition starts up I'll be alright."
Hearing the beeping sound stop, Kestrel groaned.
"Well, at least I have a heading. Might as well follow it until I find a terra, then hopefully I can track him without this useless thing. All I can do in the meantime is wait for him to make his next move."
Somehow, in the back of her mind, she knew this was going to be a long, long hunt.
Cold hard eyes narrowed through a pair of binoculars.
"Looks like a couple dozen Cyclonian destroyers, six cruisers and one battleship."
Snorting, the man put away his binoculars shaking his head.
"Looks like the information was worth the cost after all. If nothing else I can have some fun," grinning, the man accelerated.
"Let's say hello to our new neighbors, shall we."
"I wonder what was so important that he would have summoned me in the middle of the night?"
Walking at a brisk pace, Nagera made his way through the maze like passages of the palace.
"There is no way that he would have just remembered something and had me summoned. If it was important he would not have forgotten what ever it is. On the other hand, if it was minor, he would have merely waited until tomorrow to speak with me."
Following this line of thinking, he could only come up with two possibilities. One, it was something secret, or two, something had happened. Either way, it meant the same two things. He was being denied his sleep, and more than likely he was going to be sent somewhere he had no desire to go.
Reaching the familiar door, he knocked three times.
"Enter."
Taking a deep breath, he opened the door and entered.
Giving a half salute, Nagera waited.
"I am aware that you wish to simply skip straight to the point, so I will do just that. As you are aware, Domiwick has made a recent discovery of which Master Cyclonis is most interested in securing."
"Sir, are you giving me baby sitting duty? Something like this could be handled by any of Cyclonis's peon's," he interrupted.
Dark Ace grinned. "I am aware of that. Moss was dispatched two weeks ago to collect….insurance for the mission's success. However," Dark Ace stopped at the younger mans questioning look. "However, they came across….something, unexpected."
"Unexpected sir?"
Picking up a small crystal, Dark Ace pointed it at the wall. Seconds latter a short recording played. It was only about seven seconds in length, but it played over and over on a continuous loop.
The recording showed a dark figure armed with a staff fighting several Talons. It seemed that with each staff swing two or more would fall.
"As you can see, a new player as entered the field. Mr Moss did not take a run of the mill Talon squadron with him for this mission. They were to capture Sky Knight Starling. This person, whoever she is, was able to dispatch them all in a matter of seconds."
Watching the recording, Nagera knew the person was above most Sky Knight's level of ability. But if that were true, where had they been all this time? Currently there were no Sky Knights who wielded a staff, that much he knew. Also, he knew the person couldn't be some random nobody, because their style of fighting was a mix of Sky Fu and professional military.
Whoever they were, they had military training, years of it. That coupled with the ferocity they used on the Talon's made it apparent that they held a personal grudge against Cyclonia.
"I want you to accompany Domiwick undercover as a Talon lieutenant. You will have complete command over those that accompany you, but you are to keep your identity secret for as long as possible. That means you will have to follow Domiwick's orders for the time being," Dark Ace said sternly.
Narrowing his eyes, Nagera spoke. "Anything else, sir," he asked.
"Yes, actually, there is. Should your path cross with hers, you are to gather as much information as you can, and if possible, capture her."
"When do I leave?"
Dark Ace grinned. "Why do you think I summoned you now? Head out as soon as you are able."
Nagera scowled.
"Have fun," Dark Ace said with his usual mildly mocking tone.
"Uh, sir. We're detecting something on radar."
Rolling his eyes, the captain of the Cyclonian battleship sighed. "What is it lieutenant?"
"Well…we're not exactly sure. It's coming in fast, but it's too small to be a carrier."
That caught his attention. Following the young officer to the radar readout, he frowned. "Are you sure this equipment is working right?"
"Yes sir, we contacted both the Aegis and the Farrigus, both vessels report identical readings, the equipment is accurate."
"Hmmm that's awful small to even be a skimmer. Send out two scouts to investigate, and I want an open channel with them. Something doesn't smell right here."
Static
"Ok, listen up boys. Looks like someone's snooping around our perimeter. I want you to engage, and subdue whoever it is."
"Sir yes sir!"
Static
The captain watched as two small blips took off from on of the destroyers towards the incoming object.
"Ten thousand yards and closing, nine thousand, eight. Sir the target is accelerating! Its speed just doubled!"
"What?"
Static
"We have a visual on the target, it's coming from the east, so it's difficult to see."
Static
"East? Why would someone be coming from the east this early in the?"
"GET OUT OF THERE NOW!"
Static
"Sir, target has entered visual range, it appears to be….what are those? They look like clasccccchhhhhhhh"
Static
"Scout one report! Scout one respond! Scout two?
Static
"Sir, scouts one and two just vanished from radar, and the target is continuing to accelerate. What are your orders?"
"It destroyed two skimmers in less than three seconds? What is this thing?" Looking up, the captain narrowed his eyes.
"Open a channel to all vessels."
"Channel open sir," the tech said nervously.
Nodding, the man took a deep breath. "All hands, hostile target approaching at high speed. All hands, battle stations!"
The massive fleet took their positions around the battleship, all facing the east where the target was coming from. Soon they launched their skimmers and heliblades for combat, and readied their cannons.
"Sir, target at five thousand yards, it's in range!"
"Fire," the captain was taking no chances. Whatever it was, the target had destroyed two skimmers with no trouble and was faster than most destroyers.
All of the ships fired their cannons at once in a single huge volley, forming a wall of crystal fire.
Suddenly, they saw a flash.
Static
"Not a bad shot. Now it's my turn," a cold, emotionless voice spoke over the radio.
Static
The flash turned into an explosion of green sparks.
"Sir, target's speed has doubled again! It's right underneath the Farrigus!"
Next thing they saw was a series of small explosions along the side of the ship.
Static
"Port side cannons have been disabled! What the heck was that?!"
Static
"I'm over here," the voice called out in a sing-song voice.
Static
Suddenly there was another series of explosions on the opposite side of the fleet.
"Sir! Destroyers Aegis and Acagie are disabled! Their going down!"
"What?"
The skimmer pilots were confused; all they saw was their ships riddled with explosions, but no apparent source of fire.
"What's going on?" One of them asked.
"Man I don't know, wait a second, what is that?"
Cling
Both skimmer's wings fell off and they dropped like stones. The pilots deployed their parachutes, but were unable to do anything else than watch in horror as their fleet was torn apart like a wet paper bag.
"HAHAHAHAH! WEAK! THEY'RE ALL SO WEAK!" A deep voice boomed through the sky.
The skimmer, and the heliblade pilot's felt their hearts turn to lead and their skin crawl. The laugh was, inhumanly deep. Something about it struck them deep at the core, and left them feeling nothing but fear and dread.
One squad of heliblade's top routers were suddenly sliced clean off, followed by every cannon on the cruiser they were beside.
"Fire! Fire! Don't let it get any closer!" The captain stopped shouting when he saw something land on the deck of his ship right in front of the bridge.
As far as he could tell, it was human, but its body seemed to burn with an ethereal crimson light. The body itself was pitch black, almost as if it were drawing in all the surrounding light to itself.
"What is that thing?" The captain asked as the creature walked towards the window.
"Bring about the cannon now! Fire!"
"But sir, if we fire the blast could hit us."
"I DON'T CARE! FIRE NOW!"
One of the cannons on the deck spun around to face the bridge, but just as it was about to fire the creature spun around and knocked the blast away with the back of its hand into a nearby ship, knocking out its engine.
"Big mistake."
Two translucent wings spread open, and with an explosion of green light it took off.
Flying upwards, it then did a back flip and dived towards the ships deck, flying through the top and out through the bottom. Then without massing a beat it flew to the front of the ship.
"Now you get to see what happens when I don't feel like playing around!"
Slamming its fist together, then reeling back, it threw both fists forward into the ships armor plating.
"It's cutting thought our armor like a can opener!" One of the men shouted.
"By the Oracle stone, it's, peeling the armor!"
Sure enough, after getting a good hold on it, the black creature flew sideways, popping rivets and pulling up the ships side plating like an old rug, completely exposing the side to the air.
It dropped the large panel it had torn then flew off to the other ships, quickly severing their engines and sending the ships crashing to the terra below.
After only a few short minutes, every last one of them had been disabled. The only remaining airborne figure being that of the 'black creature'.
"Pth, pathetic. Luckily for them, it would have taken me longer to destroy them than it did to disable them." Wings closing, and burning aura fading, the figure lowered to the terra below and pulled out a small crystal.
"Now, where are you hiding?" A 3D holographic map appeared with a flashing white dot in the center.
Grinning the man stepped into the dark cavern before him with a chuckle.
"Soon, soon things shall be set aright. The mistakes of the past shall not be repeated again."
Sitting in a dimly lit room, a middle aged man with green hair and a fringed cape sits before a chessboard. Sighing, he lifts and moves his left knight up two spaces, and drops it one square to the left.
"All the pieces are in place now. The only thing I can do, is watch and see how this plays out."
End Chapter
AN: DU DU DUN! In the words of Finn, on a scale of one to ten, I think that's an awesome! This has been part of my original idea since chapter on of book I, and I've been itching to get it out. (Guess what part lol) Yes, the two 'mysterious' people mentioned waaaaayyy back at the first use of the Gate of Mayfil are the same two here in this chapter. I'm not going to give any hints as to who they are, you'll have to figure it out for yourself, or wait till the part when they are revealed. I'm trying to balance tidbits and clues with mystery. Rest assured I'm not creating a Sue here. Everything has a purpose, and everything that happens, happens for a reason.
Now, I want to draw your attention to my good friend and editor Arashi21. He has a story connected to mine called 'Fighting Wings'. It revolves around his OC Kestrel and her connection to the plot. Please read it!
Now that we have that out of they way, I hope you enjoyed this overdue chapter. Please review! I accept annons!
Be on the lookout for chapter 10 soon!