Chapter Two: Quick Meetings and Kidnappings
The skies of Cyclonia were dark on a daily basis; one part due to the evil activity that occurred and another being the pollution that was attributed from all the experiments of Master Cyclonis' top researchers and her own work on crystals.
Speaking of the young empress, she was just done with her conversation with the crystal cult, as her high ranking officers called them. They honestly didn't see why their master was even enlisting their help in the war.
As everybody who knew them, or at least heard of them, they were just a derange group of crystal mages. A group of terrorists who simply wanted to boast their 'god-like' powers against 'lesser' beings.
A Cyclonian soldier entered her throne room, kneeling down. "Master Cyclonis. I am pleased to report that all weapons and vehicles are up and running again."
"Good. It would be real troublesome if that were to happen again, no wouldn't it?" The Talon winced at the coldness of his masters tone, of course he couldn't blame her.
It would be dangerous if everything went down again at the most inconvenient time.
"Prepare one of the rooms in the lower levels. We are expecting a special guest from our friends..." The soldier blinked in confusion. There wasn't any rooms in the lower lev - oh, wait...
As he got up and left, he pitied the poor fool who would be sent down there, himself included. The torture chamber was possibly one of the worst places to be assigned to on Cyclonia.
Fae looked on at the jungle as she sat under a tree's roots, waiting for the rain to stop. The burrow she was in seemed long abandoned, at least she hoped it was. So far, those men haven't found her, or in her highest hope, are dead from the cave collapsing.
She looked down at her reflection in a small pool of water, making a noise as she saw how badly her condition looked. The teen's brunette hair was almost as messy as her grandfather's and body littered with scratches and bruises as they were covered in dirt.
Her tattered clothes were caked in mud whenever she fell over due to exhaustion. The ones in the worst state were her socks, which had holes at the soles, showing off her foot padding.
Sighing, she rolled them off and tossed them aside, seeing that they were beyond saving. And she really liked that pair too!
Closing her eyes, her hand drifted down to her pocket to check on her locket, to see how badly it was damaged. Her eyes widened in realization that she left her locket with those bastards.
The teen groaned. 'Great. Grandpa's going to chew me out for this...' A loud boom of thunder was heard. As she looked on into the jungle again, she could have sworn to have seen some sort of movement in the plants that wasn't done by rain. 'Assuming I even find a way back home...'
The open skies of Atmos seemed endless to most until they reached their destination. While some choose to make their homes on one of the many mountain top kingdoms, above the dreaded wastelands that resided below the cloud line, some have taken to a life living on an airship, happy to go where ever the wind took them
This included the young Sky Knight squadron of the Storm Hawks. While some claimed that they aren't an official squadron, as they lacked a Terra to call home and protect as well as age, that has yet to actually stop them from helping out those in need, fulfilling the duty of the Storm Hawks before them.
As of now, their ship, the legendary and temperamental Condor, soared through the sky as the sun began to set. It's pilot, a nervous looking merb did his best to keep the ship on course.
A red head boy on next to him looked at his squad mate with concern, as he seemed more on edge than usual.
"Stork, everything alright?" The pilot slowly turned towards the young Sky Knight, eyes wide and twitching.
"If by alright... You mean horribly traumatized by the fact that we nearly sank straight to our deaths into the flaming pits of the Wastelands due to a malfunction with the ship?" After taking a deep breath, the merb turned back to focusing on the course they were on. "Then, yeah. I'm good..."
Aerrow sighed. The Condor did in fact stop working for several minutes, causing it to dip down and nearly hit the Wastelands. He nearly had the team abandon the ship when everything came back to life, barely missing the heat of the lava pools and dangerous beasts that lurked down below the cloud line.
Soon, the teams navigator entered the bridge, books and documents in hand, looking annoyed. So far, she couldn't find a single thing that could explain the strange, power failure of not only the ship, but the weapons, skimmers, and even the appliances.
While it would have been easier to think that the Condor was breaking down again, as it was older than the modern cruisers of Atmos, it didn't quiet explain why it was that everything else went disarray as well.
The red head scratched the back of his head. "Piper, I'm guessing you didn't find anything?"
"Nothing yet. It's so weird!" The tanned girl deposited her armload of work onto the round table at the center of the room. "There's nothing that can explain it. Not even Stork's book collection."
The merb had a habit of collecting things that warned and explained the several dangers of Atmos, and none of the theories fit the bizarre incident.
"Dudes! You are not going to believe what we just found out!" The three turned to see their blonde sharpshooter and wallop engineer rush out to the bridge.
After catching their breath, Junko started. "We got... A lot of distress calls..."
"Yeah, not only did our ship nearly wipe out, but every other ship and crystal technology on the Terras in the quadrant did too! They just stopped working for a moment before restarting again" This got their attention. How is it possible that things just stopped working and go back to normal?
"Makes me wonder what was strong enough to cause it..."
Aerrow's face grew serious. "Makes me wonder if the Cyclonians are involved..." While it was too soon to assume that, it was a possibility. After all, it would seem to strange for everything to stop working just suddenly. There was a chance that they were testing out some new energy drainer or something of the sort.
"Finn, what places got hit the hardest?"
Over at the map, the blonde helped give Piper the coordinates of where each distress call was. Once they were done, they saw where the most pin pricks were close to. The young Sky Knight turned towards their pilot. "Stork; set course for Terra Amazonia! We need to find out what's causing this."
The merb groaned, but did so. Sometimes he wondered why he stuck around suicidal people like his team when it was obvious they were doomed.
The crystal mages divided into two groups; one would be scouting through the Terra to see if they can locate the thieving girl and retrieve the locket as the remaining group stayed at the caverns to see if they could come up with the stone or the girl's body.
While they could try to sense the stone, seeing how it was out of power would make it near impossible since the energy would be too weak to detect. Their best bet was to find the girl, as she was the most likely person to run off with it.
Their leader was down right determined of that fact and even more so to locate her.
He didn't spend all these years searching for his stolen stone just to find it out of power and gone missing again. Once he caught the brat, he would have his questions answered and what was rightfully his returned.
Upon stopping at a clearing, he knelt down, pulling a crystal from his pocket to absorb it's energy. After several moments, he returned it into his cloak and spread the palms of his hands onto the ground, getting the feel of the energies around him.
He could feel the sort of life that plants and animals gave off nearby, even some small traces that they left behind in their passing.
The man smirked when he found a specific trace, the one of that strange girl. She had been here, and she was still close by.
Night had fallen quicker than she had realized. While it was still too dark to see where she was going, the teen continued on, not sure where she was going, but not wanting to be caught by those lunatics again.
As she walked barefoot through the jungle, having ditched her ruined socks a while ago, her thoughts were consumed about home. What time was it there? Did her father and grandpa notice her missing yet? Did they file her missing yet?
These thoughts made her stomach churn at the sort of distress it would cause her family, especially her mom cop. The woman had enough stress from her work, she didn't want to make her distracted with her disappearance.
Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a growl nearby. Freezing, she slowly turned her head to see a pair of golden eyes staring right at her through the plants.
Well, crap...
Carefully, she knelt down to pick up a heavy rock before making a dash for safety. The hidden animal immediately jumped out and chased after her, revealing itself to be some sort of big cat that had tiger stripes and leopard spots around it's dark brown body.
Once it was close enough to the girl, it swiped it's claws at her right leg, causing her to trip and fall down a slope. Fae groaned as she slowly sat up, feeling a sharp pain in her leg. She gasped when she saw the big cat slowly advance towards her. The rock still in her hands, she raised it, prepared to through it at the beast.
"Back off!" She had to give herself credit for trying to sound threatening, but it was hard to be when you were shaking and a mess. Fae couldn't help but feel silly doing so, as a rock may not be able to do much.
When she threw it, it missed. Somewhere, where the situation was probably not so serious, someone was probably thinking this was truly comical or something.
The big cat let out a roar as it jumped right towards her, causing her to scream.
She covered her head with her arms instinctively, closing her eyes tightly, waiting to be torn to shreds. However, the strike never came. Instead, she felt a strange energy pull as she heard fighting.
With her eyes averted from the scene, she could see the big cat retreating back to the jungle.
Fae looked up, surprised to see that her savior was a red head boy with crystal blue twin blades. He winced a bit at the sight of her scruffy state."Uh, are you okay?"
"N-no... Not really..." The older teen shakily got up, pulling a plant out of her hair before crying out in pain. A small blue anmal emerged from behind him in a tiny uniform, sniffing the stranger as she tried not to cry as she held her leg.
After kneeling back down, Fae looked back at her leg, seeing how badly injured it was. While the claw marks weren't too deep, they did look serious as blood kept running out.
More footsteps were heard, coming towards them. "Hey, Aerrow! What's with you? You rushed off without telling us any - oh god..."
The group paled at the sight of Fae's bloody leg and the claw marks. They didn't know who she was, but it was clear this girl needed medical attention.
As the kids helped the injured girl, they didn't notice that they were still being watched. The crystal mages looked down from the vines of the tree tops.
The lead cloak turned to one of his brethren. "Return to the caverns, see what they have found and report back. This mild annoyance may not be so mild anymore..."
"Have you... Lost your minds?!" Back on the Condor, Stork was not taking the news of their temporary guest very well. A filthy, possibly diseased stranger on his beloved ship? Of course he was freaking out. "We don't even know her; for all we know, she could be a deranged killer!"
The group sighed. They had just brought her onto the ship to help see what they could do for her injured leg, and of course their paranoid merb friend had to through a hissy fit.
Aerrow placed a hand on his shoulder. "Come on Stork, she doesn't look like one."
"Yeah, even if she was one, she's too injured to do anything to us." Everyone stared at Junko. That was not the sort of thing to help calm down their carrier pilot.
The Sky Knight restarted the conversation. "She's not going to be with us long, just until we can get her to a hospital. Maybe there she could contact her family."
A majority nodded in agreement. They always went out of their way to help those in need.
Stork just grumbled as he made his way back to the controls. Since when did the Condor become a transport service?
The brunette sighed as she laid down on one the bed that these kids provided for her. The room she was in was purple with a yellow horizontal stripe around the walls of the room that included a locker of some sorts. It had an odd smell to it, but other than that, it was alright.
According to one of the kids, it was a room they were saving for a friend of theirs who had a tendency to come and go.
As she laid there, Fae would instinctively reach out to her leg when ever she felt a sharp pain. They had just bandaged and disinfected the cuts. She was thankful that the animal didn't hit her directly, otherwise there was a chance she couldn't walk right.
They told her she may need stitches, thus promised to take her to a hospital once they were done examining the area for some sort of disturbance. They also saw that her ankle may have been twisted when she fell and her head still felt tender from falling on it in the cave.
They didn't really specify who they were, just that they were the Storm Hawks. She still didn't get it, but kept that to herself since they didn't ask her many questions due to her condition.
Fae groaned a bit she she tried to sleep, feeling both pain and exhaustion creep into her from not getting any rest since she escaped from the cave
She heard the door open, looking to see the tanned girl with amber colored eyes, holding a bottle of pills and an ice bag.
"Wasn't sure how you were holding up, but I brought you some ice and pain killers to see if it could make it more bearable."
Fae smiled painfully with relief. "That'd be great..."
After placing the ice on the ankle and popping in a few of the paper flavored pills, Piper decided to break the awkward silence and asked, "So, what's your name?"
"I'm Faelynn, Faelynn Jones. Most people call me Fae for short." Fae wasn't certain if she should be telling anything about herself, even to these kids. She barely made it out alive from the cave because of those creepy bastards in the hoods.
However, she also barely made it alive from the giant cat and it's thanks to these kids that she isn't bleeding to death or cat food.
"Fae? That's kinda an interesting name. My names Piper. So... What were you doing out there? Aerrow said that he found you by yourself. It's not always smart to wander on the grounds of Amazonia at night."
"Yeah... Kinda figured that out myself..." Fae paused, uncertain if she should go on with anything else. However, maybe it was the fact that she was talking to someone who wasn't going to hurt her or the fact that the pain killers she took made her feel out of it already that had her continue.
"I honestly... Have no idea, to tell the truth... One minute I'm in my room at my grandpa's house, and the next I'm here..."
A serious thought hit her. "Um, did... Did you by any chance come across any of these weird robed guys? They had hoods covering their faces..."
Piper blinked at that question. "No... It's usually hard to find anyone else around here, especially with how inhospitable the ground floor can be. Lots of locals make their home in the tree tops. Hey, Fae? Can I ask you some-" The younger girl looked back to see the brunette fast asleep. Maybe she should have only given her one pill.
The navigator sighed as she got out of the room. Oh well, she wasn't going anywhere, there'd be plenty of time for the rest of her questions.
The mage leader sighed as he looked at his last few paralyzer stones . He hated using up crystals, but there was no time to waste. The portal to Cyclonia was one that took a lot of energy and could only be done at night. It would be sunrise soon.
The less annoying these Storm Hawks were at interrupting them, the better.
The small group that he brought watched as three skimmers depart from the ship, causing the leader to smirk. Okay, so this may actually be even easier than anticipated. After waiting for a bit, they leapt into the air, allowing the wind currents to guide them down as glider like wings expanded from their backs.
Once they landed on the carrier's deck, they made their way to the hanger's doors. After prying them open, an alarm went off. Sighing, the leader went up to the blinking red light, extending a hand towards it. Soon, the alarm went and light went dead.
No doubt the ones remaining heard that, but he was prepared none the less for whatever these children pulled off. No sooner was that thought up in their minds, the lights went out and several cult members were knocked down.
Growling, their leader, pulled out a crystal, lighting the room up to reveal the several metal punchers that had come from the walls. He raised the hand that absorbed the paralyzer stones and the mechanisms froze as they were ready to punch once again.
Storming down the halls, they made it to what appeared to be the bridge. A very terrified looking green merb backed up to the wheel as they approached. When they got to the center of the Storm Hawks emblem, the merb smirked as he pulled down a lever, causing the emblem to sink. Without warning, several were sent flying into the air, through an open hatch as the others jumped out of the way in time.
His unseen eyes narrowed as he ran towards the annoying pest, hitting him with an energy wave that paralyzed him. He was in the process of preparing to sprint when he was hit, thus toppled over.
As he went up to examine the paralyzed merb, a blast of cold flew past him and hit the window, causing frost to grow. He looked over his shoulder to see a tanned girl with her amber eyes narrowed and an energy staff in hand. It was powered by a frost crystal and aimed right at him. "Who are you guys?"
"Where is the girl? Tell me!"
The tanned girl looked confused before returning to a battle stance, causing the leader to sigh in annoyance. Why did children these days have to be stubborn?
Before she could raise her staff to send another crystal blast at cloaked man, he quickly ran up to her and sent a wave of paralyzer stone energy, freezing her in place and falling over to the hard ground like the merb.
With that done, he walked passed her and into the halls again, determined to find the girl that caused him trouble earlier.
"Brother! We have found her!" The leader turned to see one of the cult members poking his head out of a room. Upon entering, he saw the girl they were searching for, in a condition worse than when they first found her in. She also looked out cold. Seeing the pill bottle next to her bed told him all he needed to know. This type of painkillers had a tendency to send it's consumers straight to sleep after having a certain number.
Upon lifting her up, the group made their way down the halls as the remaining Storm Hawks were unable to stop them.
As the group neared the clearing, they could see their brothers finishing up their portal spell to Cyclonia. Shifting the girl around in his arms, the leader asked, "Did you find the locket?"
"My apologies, brother, but it was not in the caverns or even around the outside entrances."
Their leader cursed under his breath upon hearing this. This was not good. There was a chance that it was hidden somewhere on the ship or on the Terra itself.
He looked back at the brethren that did the digging. "Your group will remain here. Spread out and search everywhere, leave no stone unturned. And keep an eye on these Storm Hawks. I doubt they know anything close to what Cyclonis knows, but just in case..."
The man nodded as he finished up the crystal glyphs on the ground. After placing his hands on the symbols, it began to glow and hum a a circular portal showing Terra Cyclonia grew.
Once it was large enough, the leader and his group entered the portal, carrying the unconscious girl with them.
Aerrow, Finn, Junko, and Radaar walked down the halls towards the bridge. So far, their search for any sort of source of the crystal disturbance turned out to be a dead end here, as many of
"Guys! We couldn't find anything! And what's with the traps? They're-" The three stopped at the sight before them. Stork's booby traps were hanging out, broken. Further inspection showed the merb himself lying in an odd position
"... Am I the only one getting a serious deja vu here?" The blonde sharpshooter asked, recalling Stork being in this position when the Condor was eaten by the Leviathan.
They were so surprised at seeing their friend like that, that they didn't notice their navigator sprawled on the floor until Aerrow tripped over her stiff body.
The Sky Knight craned his neck, shocked to see Piper down like this. "What happened in here?"
Grunting and struggling to get up, even with the paralyzing effects fading. "W-we got... Ambushed... These guys in cloaks broke into the ship... I think they took Fae!"
"Oh no! That's terrible!" Junko's face soon scrunched up with confusion as he paused, thinking a bit. "... Uh, who's Fae?"
"The girl we found!"
Finn and Junko looked at each other as the information soon processed into their minds. "Oooh..."
Aerrow felt his stomach drop as he helped Piper sit up, wondering what those men were planning on doing to that poor girl and if it was too late now to help her again.
Fae slowly began to awaken, groaning a bit. The pain killers that she took were starting to wear off, as the numbness in her body began to fade and the pain in her calf returned.
She then heard footsteps as her vision started to return. Her stomach dropped when she realized that she wasn't in the purple room anymore. No, where she was in was dark with only a few crystal lights dimly lighting the stone walls and flooring.
Fae found herself lying on what looked to be an old fashioned torture devise, strapping her down.
The teen looked around a bit, trying to find someone. "Aerrow? Piper? Weird green guy whose name I didn't really catch?"
"None of the above, I'm afraid."
The brunette turned her head to see a hooded, violet eyed girl with a cloak. The girl looked around the age of the kids that found her, yet there was a vibe that she was giving off that made her uneasy.
"Um... Who are you?"
A cold smile came upon her face, sending cold chills down the older teens back. To add more to the creep factor, her hood opened in the form of a spiked collar. "For the time being, your gracious host."
... Why did Fae have a bad feeling about this?
Author's Note: You know how most people automatically have their OC's say they're from Earth on their first meeting in "This-person-teleports-from-Earth-and-into-another -world" themed story? Well, I wanted to try something different, where it's discovered later on about Fae's heritage back on her birth planet.
I don't own Storm Hawks, they're owned by Nerd Corps.