For the duration of this entire story I would just like to say; I do not own the Storm Hawks. I envy those who do, but hey, they thought of it, not me...right, on with the story.

Lightning had decided that it'd be best if he talked to as few people as possible. He'd come across a very nice man who owned a bike-repair shop and was allowed to stay there seeing as Lightning's home Terra had been destroyed. It hadn't been a total lie, his home Terra really was gone, it had just happened around nine years ago. Lightning helped the man with everything and anything, and in return he was allowed to sift through the 'old junk heap' and keep anything he found useful.

It had taken Lightning a few days to even find something that remotely resembled a skimmer and it would probably be another few before it could actually fly. The Cyclonian patrols and Nightcrawlers (as they were apparently called) kept a very watchful eye on all of the people in Terra Atmosia. Lightning could only work on the ride a few hours every day without the Cyclonians getting suspicious. The rest of the time he pretended to be as down and fearful as the rest of the citizens, which wasn't that hard seeing as he'd had seven years of practice.

He was currently walking outside, merely wandering around but secretly noting to himself in what intervals the patrols surveyed the street and how the Nightcrawlers seemed to fly in pairs of three. A memory from a long time ago suddenly resurfaced and a wry smile made it to his face as Lightning swore he could hear the high-pitched voice from his three-year-old son.

"Can I go with you daddy, please! I want to fly to!"

Cora stood off to the side, her hand hid her smile but the twinkle in her eyes betrayed her. Lightning glanced at her and smiled as well, Aerrow sure was persistent. He'd begged to go for a ride on his dad's skimmer every day for the past two weeks. Lightning got off of his skimmer and crouched down in front of his son, bringing himself to the three-year-old's eye level.

"Tell you what. I'll make the same deal with you that my father made with me. When you're big enough to reach down to the pedals and manage the steering at the same time, then we'll go for a ride. And with the way you're growing, that shouldn't take too long!"

Lightning ruffled his son's hair as a slight frown marred the boy's chubby features. The child was doing his hardest to look serious and it was taking all Lightning had not to laugh.

"Promise, daddy! Make an oath as a Sky Knight that you'll take me flying when I'm big enough."

A small laugh escaped him and Lightning took a hold of his son's shoulders. He looked straight into two pools of innocent green and was reminded how little Aerrow knew about the world and its ugly secrets. Lightning wasn't about to teach him any time soon.

"I swear, on my honour as a Sky Knight, that I will take you flying when you're big enough."

It had been one of the two promises he'd broken towards his son. If given the chance, Lightning would fly his son to the end of the world and back, if only to hear him giggle and see his smile.

The thought faded and the pain came back full force before Lightning shook his head and cleared his mind. He couldn't let the pain win, not anymore, he had a score to settle. He'd fix the skimmer (and add a few upgrades) and then he'd take the fight right to Cyclonia.

Or maybe Cyclonia would just come to him. Or at least, the floating head of Master Cyclonis would.

Lightning had known Master Cyclonis had had a granddaughter, but he hadn't known that she was the new ruler of Cyclonia. It had been one of the shocks he'd had since coming topside again. Things sure had changed in seven years.

The giant apparition looked pissed. It probably wasn't all that strange for their evil ruler to look, well, evil. But something told Lightning that whatever was about to happen, it really wasn't good. Her black lined eyes were drawn into slits and after a few seconds she started to speak, her voice coming from all around them.

"People of Atmosia. Thanks to the actions of a few petulant criminals, you'll be paying…with your terra!"

Cyclonis looked to her left and everyone on the Terra followed her gaze to see the instrument of their demise floating towards them. Terra Cyclonia was heading straight for Terra Atmosia and all Lightning could do for a second was just stare at the great abomination that had caused so much grief. The tower was as he remembered it but the fearful glowing spikes jutting out from beneath it were new, probably what made the damn thing fly in the first place.

The wind was picking up and the sun had disappeared as soon as the announcement had made place but people didn't start panicking until the Terra started shaking and the knowledge that they were going to be crushed made its way into everyone's head.

People were jumping, screaming, running and falling over each other in a matter of seconds. Lightning quickly got out of the way of the moving stampede and stood close to a building but had to move again to avoid being bashed by falling debris. The shaking of the Terra was creating cracks and tears in the buildings. A few Cyclonis statues had already fallen but Lightning could only smirk at that.

Just when the first cracks appeared in the ground it all stopped. The ground stopped shaking and one by one, people stopped screaming. Lightning picked himself up from the ground where he'd jumped to to avoid getting crushed and followed everyone's gaze up to the Cyclonian tower.

The Terra had stopped trying to demolish them and now everyone could see why. The Condor was slowly lowering itself onto the Cyclonian loading dock and as soon as it touched down it was securely anchored before Terra Cyclonia moved away from Terra Atmosia and floated in a different direction.

People were slowly starting to move and walked back towards their respective houses, heads hung low and shoulders drooping. Lightning stood in the middle still looking at the sky.

'They couldn't have!'

There was no way the Storm Hawks could have just given up. They were the only ones left still going against Cyclonia. Their methods had been a little childish but they brought hope that this war could still be won. They couldn't have just surrendered…could they?

Lightning took another few minutes before he moved. First he was walking, than running and finally sprinting towards the workshop. He didn't care if he had to work all night or if he had to fight every single Cyclonian to get to that tower. He was going to find a way to do it and he was going to take Cyclonis down even if it killed him. He'd given up once before and look where that had gotten the world. People were scared for their lives every minute of every day and the entire Atmos was overrun with Cyclonians.

Lightning burst into the workshop, grabbed a toolbox and set to work. He was going to end this one way or another. Cyclonis may think that she now had every single Sky Knight trapped on her own Terra, but she couldn't have been more wrong. Lightning was going to finish what he'd started ten years ago, and this time, nothing and no one was going to stop him from finishing off Cyclonis.

He would get his revenge for all the lives lost, with or without help.