Chapter Two
"A true Wonderland…" I whispered.
Crystal energy…
Skimmers…
Air ships…
Terras…
"This is all so amazing." I looked up at the painting of the red and blue skies with the scary place and peaceful place. I had a longing look on my face. I knew that much. I stood up, holding the book in my hand. I stared at the painting. I touched the painting with my fingertips. It was all so amazing.
I then whispered seven small words that would change my life forever…
"I wish I could live in Atmos."
With that, I left the ruins.
I shot up, sweating in the middle of the night.
I had a dream about flying. Not much of a surprise considering what had happened recently. I looked at my alarm when it started beeping. It said… 9:004 EK?
Weird.
Then it started changing numbers like the clocks in sci-fi, alien movies. "Okay." I finally said. "That's just down right freaky."
I got up and pounded it with my fist to make it stop beeping. Finally, after I'd hit it so many times my fist started bleeding, I pulled the plug.
I scratched the back of my head after it finally shut up. "That was maddening." I said, with a joking British accent to top off.
I sighed and sat in my bed, too irritated to go back to sleep. I found myself wandering to the tome. I opened it and began to read more. I learned about all the Terras; from Atmosia, the capital, to Zartacla, the Cyclonian Prison. It was all amazing, even in its true, gruesome and ugly form.
A sad sigh escaped my lips as I thought of the wonders of Atmos. I thought for a moment. Those ruins completely entranced me.
"That tears it!" I said with sudden rage. I grabbed a small pack. I slipped the tome in it. I grabbed a couple of water bottles, a couple of snacks, and my iPod. I also slipped my knives into the pocket of my sweatpants that rested at my thigh. I had to slip on a bra though. That I could not live without.
I slipped on my tennis shoes and went out to the woods. I ran quickly, not wanting to slow down. Call me crazy but something just kept drawing me closer and closer to those ruins. Soon, I found the room I found the tome in.
The room was dark but at least there was some moonlight. That was when the moon light hit the door painting.
I approached the door when it started to glow. I was shocked to say the least. I watched as it changed into…well I guess a window. You ever see those movies or cartoons where the character looks into a mirror and sees another world? Well, that's kinda what I saw but not exactly.
I saw a boy with fiery red hair. He looked the same age as me. It looked like he was in a temple. He stood before a statue of a woman holding a crystal. I blinked and stared. There was a ghost of the statue woman floating before him. She suddenly pointed towards my direction.
The boy looked in my direction and stared me right in the eyes. We stared at each other for what seemed like forever. Slowly, he walked up to me. He stood in front of me, in a sense. We were staring at each other. I finally lifted my right hand. He lifted his left. I touched the window and so did he.
I gasped when I felt the warmth from his hand. He gasped too but neither of us pulled away. We were too fascinated by what was going on. I stared straight into his emerald green eyes. He was entrancing somehow.
He stared directly into my gold eyes. There was a rumbling from his end. He flinched and turned around. I looked up and saw that there was a man. He had charcoal black hair that was spiked down with a little headband on with a strange emblem on the forehead. He had red eyes.
I flinched visibly when he looked right at me from behind the boy.
He looked shocked…confused…down right pissed. He said something but I couldn't hear him, like I was losing my hearing.
I read his lips…
"Seems you've made a new friend, Aerrow."
Aerrow, as I've come to know the emerald eyed boy to be, said something but with his back to me, I couldn't tell.
The man laughed.
"We'll just see about that."
They started fighting with glowing swords. I tried to break through to help Aerrow but I couldn't.
Suddenly, the man's back was to me and I looked at Aerrow worriedly. He said something.
"Don't come through! He'll kidnap you!"
I furrowed my brows. I frowned and shook my head. "I want to help!" I told him.
He stared at me. Great. He can't read lips.
I breathed and fog onto the window.
I wrote backwards what I said.
He read it then stared at me in shock. Bad idea. Maybe I shouldn't have said anything.
Aerrow was knocked down by the man. The man walked up to my window. I took a retreating step back but stupid me couldn't move my hand. He grabbed my hand and yanked me through.
So…here we are.
I'm falling through some weird vortex that seemed to go on forever and ever. I felt pressure on my wrist so I knew the man still had a hold of me. At least I wouldn't get lost.
When I finally came out, I was yanked over in the man's arms. He had a firm grip on my left arm, like he was trying to show me who was boss. Mistake.
"Dark Ace, let her go!" A deep voice growled. I looked up and saw Aerrow. He was holding up his…energy blades! That was what the tome called them.
The man, whom I now knew as Dark Ace (Weird name, by the way), just laughed.
Hearing his laugh, I immediately thought one thing…
"You're freaking psycho, Ace-y Boy." I mumbled.
"Excuse me?" He growled, his grip on my arm tightening.
I just laughed at the pain. "Ace-y Boy is deaf as much as he's psycho."
His grip just became tighter. I stared him right in the eye. No fear…
"You should be nicer to little girls," I said with a smile. I reached into my pocket. "Girls like me aren't all sugar and spice; ya know?"
I quickly grabbed one of my knives. Yes, one of those kunai knives from that anime…Naruto. Heaven forbid! I stabbed it in his forearm.
"GAH!" Dark Ace howled. I smirked and ripped it from his arm. He released me to nurse his new wound long enough for me to run by Aerrow's side.
"You okay?" He asked. I just nodded. "That was pretty brave." He said with a smile.
"Thanks." I said.
"You little BRAT!" Dark Ace growled.
I just smiled. "Can't be a brat if I'm seventeen."
Aerrow and Dark Ace face faulted. "You're seventeen?" They both asked.
I growled at this. Sure I was small and looked like I was thirteen but c'mon! Four foot ten doesn't count me out to being a midget so it was good enough for me.
"YES, ASS HOLES! I AM SEVENTEEN!" I spun around and practically pulled my hair out. "UNBELIEVABLE! I GET MADE FUN OF CAUSE OF MY HEIGHT IN ATMOS TOO? DEAR GOD, WHY MUST YOU TORMENT ME?"
"Hey, hey, calm down!" Aerrow said, kinda panicking.
I looked over at the red head and nodded. "I'm fine. Just a little-" A sudden instinct woke up and I tackled Aerrow away. We stood to see that Dark Ace had fired at where Aerrow's head was at.
"Hold still!" He growled at me.
I just smiled. "What? Is the big, bad Dark Ace not able to catch a little girl?" I taunted.
He was now in blind fury. He shot randomly at me. He didn't care about Aerrow anymore. That was good enough. I finally charged him when he was catching his breath. He looked up only to meet a kick to the jaw.
"Aerrow!" I heard a girl shout. I felt the entire temple shaking. I saw that the woman statue was now destroyed.
"Let's get out of here! The place is coming down!" He rushed to me and yanked me away from my fight.
We ran alongside a girl with midnight blue hair.
"Who are you?" She asked in confusion.
"She came from Earth!" Aerrow said as we ran.
"Seriously!" She asked me.
"Yeah. Name's Alice."
"I'm Piper."
"Nice to meet ya. Hopefully, we'll live long enough to be best friends!" I said, smiling.
Piper smiled at me. We continued to run through the halls.
I rounded the corner and saw a blonde kid and some rhino looking guy. A human and a wallop.
"Get out!" Aerrow shouted. "The place is coming down!"
"But what about my treasure?" Blondie whined.
"There isn't any. Move!" Aerrow told him. He jumped onto his skimmer. The skimmer was in land mode. He pulled me onto the craft behind him.
"What about my future?" Blondie whined again.
A rock fell from the ceiling, barely missing him. He squeaked like a girl.
"You're not gonna have one in a moment if you don't move!" I told him.
Aerrow revved the bike as some blue cabbit (Basically a dog/rabbit mix in Atmos) jumped in a passenger car of his skimmer.
We were off as the temple came down around us. I turned around. I saw Blondie, the wallop, Piper, and a…green man? No. He was a merb.
"Who are you, girl?" Blondie asked.
"Name's Alice." I said. "You?"
"Finn. The cabbit is Radaar."
"I'm Junko." The wallop said. "The merb is Stork."
I nodded towards the merb, letting him know that I had his name memorized. He stared at me suspiciously as he nodded back. I smiled awkwardly then yelped at the sight behind Stork.
"What is it?" Aerrow asked, very worried.
"Dark Ace!" I said. Everyone looked back to see the pissed off man. I looked him right in the eye then turned back around.
"Keep moving!" Aerrow ordered everyone.
The temple continued to collapse. I looked over again and saw Dark Ace. He was lagging behind.
Just as the teens got outside, I saw Dark Ace fall off his bike and smoke fly up. Everyone stopped their bikes outside the temple. The rumbling kept going.
I watched in horror as Dark Ace's bike came tumbling out of the temple.
My body moved on its own. Even if he is a bad guy. My mind whispered.
"Alice!" I heard the teens shout as I ran into the temple. I ran about three yards in before I found the man, unconscious under rubble.
I quickly shoved the rocks aside. When I uncovered his body, he groaned in pain. He was grateful to be alive but I knew by the twist of pain on his face that his thoughts were "I'm really going to die, aren't I?"
He looked up at me as I knelt down to him. He had suspicion and confusion in his eyes.
I just stared at him apathetically. "Don't gimme that look." I told him. I grabbed his arm and pulled it to my shoulder as I positioned my body next to his. "C'mon. You hafta get up." I told him.
Dark Ace grunted and grabbed his ribs as I helped him stand. Sure he was three times my height but that didn't change the fact that he was leaning on me. We walked carefully towards the entrance.
There was some cracking above me. I looked up to see some rubble fall. Instinct drove me to dive away with the man. He growled and hissed in pain as we hit the ground.
This isn't working. My mind told me.
I knelt beside him. He looked at me oddly.
"Get on my back," I said. "It'll be easier for the both of us." Dark Ace stared at me for a moment. "You wanna die here?" I asked him.
He didn't argue and slowly got onto my back. He locked his knees after I stood.
"Hold on." I told him.
Once I felt his arms wrap around my shoulders, I bolted.
I heard him gasp in shock. When it came to running, I could run forever. He actually was light to me but that's probably because of all the training I'd gone through. I knew he was shocked by my speed and smooth stride.
I rushed outside into the sunlight as I felt his arms fall. He passed out.
I slowed to a walk before stopping completely to catch my breath. I knelt down and let the man down. I looked up to see the shocked expressions on the face of each teen I'd met plus one cabbit.
Radaar gave me as questioning chirp. I smiled lightly. ""Why did I same him?" Is that your question?" Radaar nodded. I shrugged. "I don't know." I replied. I looked at the man who'd passed out. "Maybe I'm just not enough to allow someone like him to die."
Radaar climbed onto my shoulder. He let out a growl of content when I scratched under his chin. There was suddenly a hand in front of my face. I looked up it to see Aerrow. He had a warm smile that told me "It was okay."
I smiled back and took his hand. He pulled me up with a powerful tug. Aerrow sat on his bike with me following. I sat behind him and he sped off. I saw Radaar sitting in his little car. I smiled at him then looked ahead.
We were heading straight for a cliff!
I panicked a little and my entire body tensed.
"I take it Earth doesn't have skimmers." Aerrow stated, aware of my tense arms around his waist.
"We have motorcycles and airplanes." I said. "Motorcycles are skimmers without wings. Airplanes are too scary for me."
"Then hold on." Aerrow said with an amused chuckle.
I nodded and wrapped my arms in a tighter grip around his waist. As we flew off the edge, I buried my face in his back as my eyes clamped shut. I felt him gasp somewhat so I loosened my grip a little.
I heard the empty revving of the engines. Yep. We definitely went over the edge.
A/N: Ack! Alice's gonna die!
Alice: SAY WHAT? AERROW!
Aerrow: I'M ON THE SKIMMER TOO! I'M GONNA DIE?
A/N: Read the next chapter to find out. :3
*AerrowXAlice freak out*
Piper: *Rolls eyes. Turns to audience* Alanis Cross does not own Storm Hawks. Nerd Corps does. She does however own the idea of the AIW/SH story. This is just a muse.
Me: *Bows* Please review!