Soara was having a difficult time maintaining her footing as Dark Ace pressed on with their grappling struggle on the edge of the high plateau. She heard the engine roar from across the expansion, which also caught the attention of Dark Ace.
"Seems Aerrow hasn't quite given up on you yet," Dark Ace smirked. "To bad he's too late to save you!" He pressed on further, threatening to push Soara over the edge.
"Have you learned nothing of this family?" Soara grinned. "We never give up! Don't ever count any of us out!"
"Dark Ace!" Aerrow pulled the Slip-wing up to the edge of the cliff before the struggling pair. "Back up off my sister, if you know what's good for you!" He drew one of his energy blades and aimed it at Dark Ace.
"You are hardly in any position to warn me, Aerrow!" Dark Ace glared at the youth. He pulled his blade back and grabbed Soara by the wrist, twisting her around and now posing her as his hostage and shield. "Your determination never fails to blind your better judgment."
"Wait! Don't hurt her!" Aerrow withdrew his gesture. "Soara!"
"I'm alright Aerrow," Soara replied with a slight wince to her twisted arm. "Don't worry about me! You should run! Get away from here while you still can!"
"I…I can't!" Aerrow shook his head furiously. "After all this…I can't just leave you here!"
"Aerrow, if you wait any longer," Soara jerked against Dark Ace's hold. "The Talons will swarm the area and catch you too-!"
"That's the idea," Dark Ace murmured into her ear. He then returned his attention to Aerrow. "Now dismount from that ride like a good Sky Knight. We wouldn't want anything bad to happen, now would we?" Aerrow hesitated for a moment, but reluctantly eased Soara's Slip-Wing to land on the terra plateau as instructed. Harvey blinked a few times before going into a standby mode.
"Drop your weapons and step away from the vehicle," Dark Ace demanded. Aerrow again, reluctantly obeyed. Soara began to grow more cross with Dark Ace using her to manipulating her brother like this.
"I will never forgive you for this!" Soara seered.
"I told you, I'm not leaving here empty handed," Dark Ace gloated. "Looks like I will have both of you to take back to Cyclonia after all!"
"I'm afraid I cannot allow that!" Soara then threw her head back, clocking Dark Ace square in the nose and forcing him to falter back and allowing her to wrench free. She dove for her discarded bladed staff, and reassumed a defensive stance. Aerrow then seized this opportunity and took back his own energy blades, taking a stance near his sister.
"You okay, Soara?" Aerrow asked as he locked his gaze onto Dark Ace.
"I'm fine," Soara replied. "But seriously, Aerrow, you should have run when I told you to. I can take care of myself."
"Soara…I-" Aerrow tried to respond, remembering how he turned her away earlier, but a sudden energy blast from Dark Ace's sword flew past Aerrow's head, barely missing the young knight by inches, and returning his attention to the present.
"So it's two of you against me?" Dark Ace sneered. "It doesn't really matter now. My Talons are breaking through you measly blockade, and soon both of you, and the rest of your friends will be prisoners of Cyclonia!" Dark Ace mounted his Switchblade and launched his ride into the air. He quickly circled back, throwing blast after blast from his sword's charge at the sibling pair. As Aerrow jumped back to avoid the blast, Soara charged forward toward her Slip-wing.
"Harvey! Emergency start!" Soara ordered as she jumped into the vehicle's seat. The little box blinked on and the Slip-Wing's engine kicked in. She whipped the bike around and full throttled the engine to launch. "Aerrow! Get on!" She held her arm out for him to grasp. Aerrow quickly complied and reached for his speeding sibling, allowing himself to be hauled aboard her sky ride.
"What do we do now?" Aerrow asked as they took to the air, heading toward a swarm of Cyclonian Talons following after the Dark Ace.
"Well, there's two of us," Soara surmised. "And about fifty of them. Not very fair odds, is it?" She glanced back at Aerrow with a smirk.
"Not fair at all," Aerrow returned the grin. "For them. So what's the plan?"
"Let's share in the fun," Soara replied. "You can take the first wave. I'll take the next. If there's more, we'll improvise. How's that sound?"
"Sounds good to me," Aerrow readied himself and his blades for the battle.
"BZZT! BZZT!" Harvey replied with a flashing red light. Soara scowled at the mechanical box.
"I wasn't asking for your opinion, Harvey!" Soara spat. "I just need you to give us as much power as this thing can put out! Let's get to it!" Soara gunned the engine to full power and the Sky Knight duo sped fast into the fray of Talons.
Piper, Junko, Finn and Stork were doing all they could to fend off the ever increasing numbers of Talons, but it was soon becoming apparent to them that they were on the verge of being overwhelmed.
"There's too many of them!" Finn shouted. "I haven't got enough shots left to keep up with these guys! Don't they ever run out people?!"
"I'm running out too!" Junko warned as he shot off a couple more missiles.
"That's it…" Stork groaned. "We're doomed."
"Just hang on for a little bit longer!" Piper urged her teammates. "Aerrow and Soara are counting on us! I'm sure-!" The sudden panicked shouting of scattering Talons caught their attention. A quick blur of blue flew past the Storm Hawks and tore through the masses of metal making the sky rain with bolts and steel. Talons fell from their rides, and parachuted to safety as their crippled switchblades dropped into the Wastelands below.
"Nice moves, Aerrow!" Soara smiled. "I'm impressed. You've gotten a lot better over the last few years!"
"And that was some pretty good flying, Sis!" Aerrow smirked. "But if you think THAT was impressive, just wait! I'm only getting warmed up!"
"Well, save some for me!" Soara said as she motioned for Aerrow to take control. "This next wave is mine!" She jumped to the wing of her Slip-Wing while Aerrow jumped into the seat.
"Aim for the bellies of the Switchblades!" Soara stated as she stood astride with one foot on the wing, and the other on the nose of her ride. She pulled out her bladed staff, locking it into a single staff, and as they ducked under the swarms of switchblades, Soara gutted the chassis, engines, and slashed the wings of each Talon's ride as they sped under the vehicles.
"Great work!" Aerrow cheered as he watched the Talons fall. Then he spied two Talons on their tail. "Uh oh, we've got a couple of Talons, six o'clock!"
"And there's another group 12 o'clock high!" Soara pointed out. "They'll try to cut us off!"
"So what do we do?!" Aerrow eyed the talons above them.
"You take the top!" Soara smiled. "And I'll take the bottom!" She then back-somersaulted off the nose of her ride, allowing Aerrow and her slip-wing to fly out from under her, letting Soara freefall. Aerrow looked over his shoulder, just in time to see Soara deploy her Glider Wings and tear through the talons that were coming up from below. Aerrow smirked and flew up at the Talons that were in an attack dive toward him. He drew out his Energy Blades and slashed through the small group, sending the trashed Switchblades down into the Wastelands while their pilots managed to parachute to safety.
Dark Ace was fuming with rage as he watched the two siblings working together and dispatching many of his Talons with ease. He wasn't going to stand for this humiliation any longer. Down below in the molten belly of the Wastelands, Dark Ace spied the Levitation Crystal that Soara had tricked him into dropping. It was still safe and whole, sitting on a slab of rock jutting out of the river of lava.
"Time to bring this little game to an end," Dark Ace smiled and flew his Switchblade down to retrieve the powerful crystal. Soara quickly noticed Dark Ace's speedy change of direction and saw what he was after.
"I can't let him recover that crystal!" Soara sneered and grabbed hold of her glider wings. She folded them halfway down, like a pair of fans, and dove straight for Dark Ace as he swooped in to seize the crystal. The moment he grasped the gem and started to pull up and away from the magma, Dark Ace felt a heavy collision as Soara slammed into him and his Switchblade with a powerful and fast kick. The vehicle was sent spinning out of control as both sky warriors grappled and battled for possession of the crystal.
"Soara!" Aerrow and the other Storm Hawks shouted as they watched and battled through the Talons, helpless to aid their ally. The Switchblade slammed into a rock, catapulting both Dark Ace and Soara, and throwing them harshly against a cliff face and letting them collapse on a thin ledge over a pool of magma. Both of them tried to shake off the shock from the impact.
"You stupid little…" Dark Ace stood up warily, but before he could move against Soara, the cliff face suddenly quaked from below, making both he and Soara jump with their backs against the rock. Down below, a pack of magma worms had gathered, roaring and slamming their serpentine-like bodies against the cliff, trying to knock the two individuals from their perilous point. Both Dark Ace and Soara checked their gliders hoping for a quick escape, only to find them torn or damaged from their impact with the cliff.
"Oh great!" Dark Ace spat. "Look at what you've done!"
"Better to end up like this, than to let you have that crystal!" Soara shouted but then replied back calmly. "We'll get out of this…" Another body-slam from the worms below shook the cliff. Soara could hear the rocks from underneath them as the impacts of the worms were slowly crumbling away the ledge under their feet.
"C'mon guys!" Aerrow shouted. "Soara and Dark Ace are stuck on that ledge!" The Storm Hawks broke off their battle and raced off to help their friend. The Talons, now seeing that their commander was also in danger, flew after the Storm Hawks to aid Dark Ace.
"Soara!" Piper swooped in as close as she could. "Take my hand!" Soara reached out to take hold but a violent tremor from the magma worms suddenly made the ledge give way making both Soara and Dark Ace fall toward the hungry, beastly worms. Desperatly, Soara raked her hand on the cliff as she fell, luckily catching a small grip of rock. Instinctively, she reached out and grabbed Dark Ace's wrist before he could fall beyond her reach, and they both dangled only a few feet beyond the magma worms' snapping jaws.
"Drive those worms back!" The Talons shouted. "Use any means you can! Protect the commander!" The launched a swift and dangerous assault against the worms trying to keep them away from Dark Ace, but their efforts only seemed to irritated the worm's thick, heated hides. Soara was straining as she held on, bracing both hers and Dark Ace's weight with her one hand and arm. Aerrow then swooped in once the Talons had the worms momentarily distracted.
"Soara!" He called to his sister and reached for her. "Grab hold!"
"Aerrow…" Soara gritted. "You know…the only way I'll be able to do that…is if I let go of him…" She glanced down at Dark Ace as he narrowly avoided the jaws of a magma worm.
"But…if you don't…" Aerrow stammered.
"We are Sky Knights, Aerrow," Soara managed a small smile. "We made an oath…to defend and protect the people of Atmos. I would be breaking that oath if I let go."
"But Soara," Aerrow shook his head. "Its Dark Ace! He's-!"
"Of Cyclonia," Soara nodded. "But you forget my brother…Cyclonia is of Atmos. Even if we are at war with them…even though he betrayed Atmos…He is still a person of Atmos. We are all…people of Atmos."