Holy fucking shit guys, this is crazy. I'm being completely serious when I say that this next arc of Blackburn Jaeger story is based on a dream I had about two days ago. It was a JaegersxHawks mashup! I literally woke up and was like "did I seriously just dream that?" And this isn't the first time I've dreamt something about something I like and got an idea for the characters of that series we've made! City Shadows wouldn't have happened were it not for the dream I had that gave birth to the 13 Coins! It doesn't happen often, but when it does, boy, does my subconscious make good stuff or what?
But I digress. Can I just express how crazy it is that I had a dream like this! It was just such an awesome dream that I had to adapt it into a story and share it with you all! Now, I had to add some content here and there to make the contents of the dream make sense in a story format and in the world of Storm Hawks, but for the most part, everything that happened in the dream, happens here... at least for part 1.
As for continuity, this would take place after everything else that's happened (Krane/NightCrawler and OssyxCrow)
"Where are they? They said they'd be here in an hour!" Piper exclaimed in worry as she paced around the circular table on the bridge.
"Piper, relax!" Aerrow cried, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder to stop her from wearing out the floor with her pacing. "It's only been fifty eight minutes!"
"Yeah Piper, chill!" Finn added, leaning against the wall casually.
"Am I the only one worried about this? If the Cyclonians get into that ancient tomb first who knows what they'll find!" Piper cried, trying to convey the significance of the situation at hand.
"Got something approaching from the south," Stork called, before moving to the periscope, scanning the skies for the ship that the timepulse had picked up. "Oh yeah, there it is," he muttered.
"Is it them?" Junko asked.
"Do you know any other big scary black ships with a bright red hull?" Stork asked rhetorically.
The large black frigate with the bright red hull and orange sigil of a flaming bird pulled up next to the Condor before anchoring itself beneath the cliffs like the white and blue ship. Within a minute, the Blackburn Jaegers rode their skimmers off the landing pad of the Frigate and landed on the Condor's pad. Soon enough, the bridge doors opened and the squadron of five walked in, led by their bright orange-haired leader.
"We came as quickly as we could!" Crow exclaimed.
"What's the situation?" Osprey asked, walking up to Aerrow and shaking the hand he offered.
"Good to have you aboard. We've been intercepting Cyclonian transmissions and found something odd," Aerrow explained.
"Odd how?" Ossy asked.
"Well, normally their transmissions are about armaments, troop deployments, the usual," Piper shrugged, "But this time, several of their transmissions talked about Terra Crystallum."
"Terra Crystallum? Where's that? I've never heard of that Terra," Lily Ray asked.
"I have," Crow spoke up. "Back when Ossy was attending the Sky Knight Academy, I was working in the Academy's library to help pay her tuition. I remember one of the books I was reading in the restricted section mentioned it."
"What did it say?" Basil asked.
"It is said that Terra Crystallum was where Crystal Magic first originated. There was a whole citadel filled with Crystal Mages and their knowledge of every crystal and how to use them!"
"What happened to them?" Aerrow asked.
"What do you think, Aerrow?" Piper asked.
"Cyclonians!" he realized, narrowing his eyes angrily.
Piper nodded. "We only know a little about Terra Crystallum's history and the history of the Crystal Mages that lived there. But we do know that it was the Cyclonians that contributed to their decline. It happened centuries ago with the first Master Cyclonis. She led a raid on the Terra's citadel and stole all their knowledge on crystal magic. When they were done, she had her troops destroy everything on the Terra so that she and her descendants would be the only ones with the greatest knowledge of Crystal Magic in Atmos."
"So if the Cyclonians already raided this place hundreds of years ago, why are they so interested in it now?" Ossy asked.
"Apparently when they conducted the first raid, there was a whole series of secret tunnels and caves beneath the citadel. Master Cyclonis thinks there may be some additional secrets about Crystal Magic there so she's ordered her Talons to completely excavate the Terra," Piper answered.
"Do we know who's leading the excavation?" Crow asked.
"Ravess and Snipe," she answered.
"We shouldn't risk an all out assault then. We are two very good squadrons, but we don't want to get cocky. I suggest a stealth mission: a small teams goes into the underground tunnels, finds whatever it is the Cyclonians are looking for and take it before they even realize we were ever there," Ossy suggested.
"Good idea," Aerrow nodded in agreement.
"Great! I'll get my camera! I have to document everything we find!" Piper exclaimed in glee.
"No, you're not going. Just me and Aerrow," Ossy said bluntly.
"What? How come?"
"If there are as many Talons there as you estimate plus Snipe and Ravess, we can't afford to go in with a big group. It'll draw too much attention. But if we go in with a small strike team of just two people, we can slip by their defenses and make it into the tunnels and get out before they even realize. And if we do run into trouble, Aerrow and I are best equipped to handle the situation. We need you all to stay here and be ready at a moment's notice to bail us out if things get dicey."
"Sorry Piper, but her plan makes sense," Aerrow shrugged.
"Ok… But please try to bring whatever you find back in one piece! I can't wait to learn from the ancient Crystal Mages!"
"I will," Aerrow smiled.
"You sure about this?" Crow asked with a look of worry.
"I'll be fine," she replied confidently. "Krane and Basil, you two head back to the Frigate and start getting it ready in case we have to fight our way out. Crow, you and Ray stay here and keep Krane and Basil updated. If something goes wrong, I'll give the signal."
Crow locked his dark brown eyes with her light aqua green ones before closing his eyes and sighing in defeat, knowing that there was no reasoning with her. "Ok, just be careful."
"So, how exactly are we going to get into these tunnels before the Cyclonians if they haven't even finished excavating an entrance yet?" Aerrow asked.
"Simple," Piper said, "The Cyclonians are excavating from the surface, so it's going to take them a long time to reach any kind of entrance. What they don't realize, is that there's actually a secret passage right below the cloudline near the base of the Terra."
"Then we'll go in from there. Let us know if anything happens through the radio," Ossy said as she and Aerrow made their way to the hanger and rode their skimmers slowly and silently down below the cloudline and into the Wasteland. Once they reached the base of the Terra, they landed their skimmers.
"Ok, Piper said the secret entrance should be right about… here," Aerrow said, walking up to a large rock wall. "Doesn't look much like a door, does it?"
"Certainly not. But I have a feeling that it's not what it seems," Ossy said, walking up to the stone wall to examine it further.
"Just like the Forbidden City," Aerrow added. "Hey what about this?" he asked, leading Ossy over to a pedestal with a small statue of a bird on it. The bird statue was broken in half, with only the lower body and ends of the wings still attached to the pedestal while the broken off half lay on the ground next to it. Aerrow bent down and picked up the statue, putting it back in place. All of a sudden, the statue halves locked together and the eyes of the statue began glowing. The pair heard a rumbling noise behind them. To their amazement, the rocks on the wall suddenly glowed and floated out from the wall, revealing a secret passage.
"Wow…" they both said in awe, carefully riding their skimmers into the passage.
"Look, up there!" Ossy called, pointing to a small crystal apparatus on the ceiling as glowing tendrils from it held each of the boulders that made up the wall in place. "It must be some kind of crystal lock." Just as she said that, the 'door' behind them closed and the energy tendrils disappeared as a trail of crystals on the ceiling of the tunnels lit up.
"At least we have some light," Aerrow said.
Ossy nodded in agreement. "Let's move, but keep our engines quiet. Even if the Cyclonians haven't found a way in here yet, we don't want to tip them off."
As they rode, they encountered some twists and turns and alternate paths, but upon finding them mostly to be dead ends, they kept continuing down the only path that didn't end with another wall. That is, however, until their last open path wound up being a dead end.
"This can't be all there is! Dead ends?" Ossy cried.
"Hang on, I'll radio Piper," Aerrow said, reaching for the radio on his skimmer. "Piper, come in Piper. This is Aerrow. Do you copy? Over."
"Aerrow! Are you two ok? Have you found anything?" she asked. The reception was a bit staticy but Aerrow was able to make out her words.
"We've explored all the tunnels down here, but all of them end in dead ends. Do you have any information that might help us out?"
"Just a second… Oh, here's something! But I'm not sure how much help it'll be!"
"Just give it to us, Piper. Something's better than nothing."
"Ok, the Crystal Mages of Terra Crystallum worshipped a mystical being known as the White Hawk. A lot of their art and architecture was constructed in honor of it."
"A White Hawk… You think it might have something to do with that statue we saw at the entrance?" Aerrow suggested.
"Could be. I remember seeing a big stone mural of a bird back down one of those turns we tried," Ossy said, pointing back with her thumb.
"Thanks, Piper! We'll keep you posted if we find anything," Aerrow said before putting the radio back. He and Ossy rode their skimmers back down the main path and took the turn Ossy remembered. Once they reached the end, they noticed a large stone carving of a massive bird with thick, feathery wings on the wall. "Any ideas?" he asked.
"Well, before the wall opened up to let us in, the eyes of the bird statue glowed for a second."
"I see what you're getting at. Gimme a boost," Aerrow said. Ossy moved next to him at the wall and bent down slightly, cupping her hands together. Aerrow stepped one foot onto her hands and stabilized himself with a hand on her shoulders as she hoisted up to stand on her shoulders. She quickly grabbed his ankles to keep him secure while Aerrow tried to find his balance.
"Stop moving so much!" she cried, trying to keep him from falling.
"I'm trying!" Aerrow cried. He managed to reach his hand out to the wall and balance himself out. "Ok, move right up to the wall," he said. Ossy stepped up so close that her nose was almost touching the cold stone as Aerrow stretched his arm as far as he could to touch the eye of the carving. "I can't reach it! Hang on," Aerrow said, reaching behind his back for one of his blades and just touching the stone-carved eye with the tip of the blade. The eye went deep into the wall as Aerrow's blade pushed it in and he jumped off Ossy's shoulders. The wall split down the middle and slowly opened to reveal a long shaft leading straight up.
"We'll have to keep going on foot," Ossy said. She reached over to her skimmer and began rummaging through the equipment on it. As she searched, a small badge fell off her skimmer and rolled over to Aerrow's foot.
He bent down and picked up the badge and noticed that it had the Storm Hawks emblem on it. "Hey, why do you have a Storm Hawks badge?" he asked, instantly gaining Ossy's attention.
She sharply turned back to look at him, but quickly returned to rummaging as she replied, "It's a long story."
"I think we have the time," he replied, eager to learn how she acquired something with his squadron's emblem on it.
Ossy sighed, knowing that he would not let up. "It was twelve years ago; I was only six years old when it happened."
"When what happened?"
"It was the first raid on my home Terra by the Cyclonians - not the one that completely destroyed it, that one would happen a few years later. I remember seeing the skies darken with black clouds and red lightning. That enormous ship in the distance and those Talon skimmers descending on us like a swarm! Then suddenly, there was this bright flash of blue light and those Talon's skimmers were destroyed! It only took a matter of minutes for him and his squadron to completely devastate the attempted invasion and drive off the Cyclonians."
"Who?" Aerrow asked.
"Lightning Strike," she answered.
"Lightning Strike?"
"The leader of the Storm Hawks, the original ones. Even today, I've never seen anyone move as fast as he does. He was strong, brave and just downright incredible. Even after repelling the attack, he and his squadron stayed behind to help us rebuild what the Cyclonians destroyed. He was the one who gave me that badge and at that moment, I knew that I wanted to be exactly like him."
"Wow…"
"Don't you remember anything about him? He was your father after all."
"Wait, how'd you know that?" Aerrow asked.
"Come on, it's obvious. You've got the same red hair as he did and you fight a lot like he did."
"Really?"
"Jumping off his skimmer to attack others? Yeah, he did that a lot. That's why he had his co-pilot. I don't think you're as physically strong as he was, but you've definitely got him beat on speed."
"Thanks," Aerrow chuckled. "To be honest, I don't remember much about him. I was just a kid when he left, but I remember him being tall. I've heard all kinds of stories about the old Storm Hawks, but I think it'd be nice for me to have some more memories of my own of him, you know?"
"I think he'd be proud of you if he could see you now," she said, placing a hand on her shoulder and giving him one of her rare smiles.
"Thanks."
"Here," she said, handing him a small firearm-like device with a four pronged hook at the end.
"What is this?" he asked, examining the device in his hand.
"Grappling hook. It'll make the climb a lot easier and faster," she said, pointing the grappling hook straight to the top of the shaft. With the pull of the trigger, the hook shot out, followed by a thick cable. He heard it latch onto something as the cable began retracting and hoisted Ossy up the stone shaft at incredible speed.
"Whoa!" he exclaimed, watching her shoot up above him. Once she was clear, he did the same thing as her and flew up the shaft, all the while resisting the urge to shout "Woooohooo!" as he went. "This thing is awesome!" he cried.
"Krane's design. If you want, I can have him make a copy of the blueprint and you guys can make it yourself," she suggested.
"Sweet!" he exclaimed, holstering the grappling hook to her belt as Ossy did the same.
"The only question now is which way do we go?" Ossy asked as Aerrow noticed that all around them were eight different passageways. The Sky Knight duo thought in silence, trying to figure out the best course of action when Aerrow suddenly noticed another stone carving of a large bird, this time on the ceiling directly above them.
"Look up there!" he pointed.
"Good eye!" Ossy complimented, examining the carving. Unlike the one before, this carving showed the bird from a bird's eye view, rather than a portrait. "Look where it's pointing with it's beak," she noted, "That must be the right way then."
They continued down the hall on foot until they came to a large open chamber with a pedestal situated in the middle of the room with a floating light blue crystal above it. "Whoa… What Piper would give to see this! You think this is what the Cyclonians are after?"
"Could be," Ossy said as she and Aerrow cautiously approached the pedestal to examine the crystal. "I've never seen a crystal like this before."
"Me neither. What do you think it does?" he asked.
"Don't know, but we should be careful. Let's look around first, maybe there'll be some clue about what kind of crystal this is or what it does," she said, as Aerrow nodded. As they looked around, Ossy moved to the back end of the chamber, noticing writing carved on the wall. "Hey, found something!" she called Aerrow over.
"That writing looks ancient!" he exclaimed.
"It is; ancient Atmosian script."
"Can you read it?" he asked.
"I studied a bit of it back in my Academy days, but I'm a bit rusty. Let's see," she said, moving closer to examine the writing. "Ok, 'something something… too powerful… locked away… greater good.'"
"That doesn't sound good," he commented.
"No, it doesn't. I can't make out all the words, but for the most part, it looks like whatever this crystal does, the Mages of the citadel sealed it down here because it was too dangerous."
"Does it have a name?"
She nodded, "Right here," she pointed to the inscriptions and read, "'The Eternity Crystal.'"
"Eternity Crystal? What's that do?"
"Hang on…" she said, continuing reading the wall. "Whoa…"
"What? 'Whoa' what?" Aerrow cried, eager for an answer.
"This crystal… there's a reason they called it the Eternity Crystal."
"Why? Just tell me!" All of a sudden, the ground above them shook as dust and loose pebbles fell from the ceiling. "What was that?"
"The Cyclonians must have breached the tunnels. Who knows how long we have before they find this chamber!" Just as she said that, they felt another shake around them that knocked down part of the back wall on the far right of the chamber. Once the shaking was over, the two regained their footing and explored the secret room. In it, they found a tiny chamber, with a crystal statue of a man in armor with a round shield and a familiar emblem.
"That's the Storm Hawks emblem!" Aerrow pointed.
"Th-that looks just like Lightning Strike," Ossy added.
Aerrow's eyes widened at her words as he looked back at the statue. He couldn't remember much of what his father looked like, but if it was anything like this statue, he must have been an impressive figure.
Ossy moved forward to the small stone plaque in front of the statue and read from it. "'Found in the Wastelands, severely injured. Our healers did their best but the extent of the injuries he sustained were too great. Until we can find a way to save him, we have placed him here for safety. The Cyclonians cannot be allowed to find this.'"
"All this for a statue?" Aerrow asked.
"I don't think it's just a statue," Ossy said, standing up.
"What do you mean? What else could it be?"
"That crystal in the previous room, The Eternity Crystal. I know what it does."
"What?"
"It has the power to convert any living being into crystal."
"Whoa…" Aerrow gasped in awe just as she had moments ago.
"The Mages tried to use it to extend their lifespans, but once something was converted to crystal, they couldn't figure out a way to change it back to organic flesh. Anyone affected by it was transformed into a statue of crystal, trapped for all eternity. They couldn't figure out a way to reverse the process so use of the Eternity Crystal was forbidden."
"So… then…" Aerrow started, confused at what point she was getting to.
"Aerrow, this isn't a statue of Lightning Strike. This is Lightning Strike!"
So, real quick:
1. White Hawk: a character from the early stages of Storm Hawks. I think it was some mystical messenger spirit thingy that was supposed to guide the Storm Hawks or something. I just made a loose adaptation of that.
2. Eternity Crystal and Terra Crystallum: completely made those up in the moment.
3. Lightning Strike: I shit you not, that's what the dream was about: Ossy and Aerrow finding Lightning Strike... alive... kinda... you'll see when I write part 2.
PS I was so excited, I wrote all of this today!
PSS I've actually been trying to work out another oneshot focused on Basil running into Repton again after he initially defected (as requested by many), but I'm having a hard time finding the motivation and planning out the sequence of events better. So if y'all have any ideas for that, lay them on me!