For those of you who have read the story on the Skyhawks, this is the backstory regarding one of the deadliest adversaries in the Amos, The Dark Ace!
Ace was born sometime during the first part of summer to a young maiden named Ida and her Sky Knight husband, Sparrow Strike. Ace grew up with his older brothers Kai and Lightning, twin brother Jay, and sister Parotia, and younger brother Rocky, and sister Addie. They lived on Terra Atmosia and went to school with their future squadrons. Ace was also best friends with Carver. Ace and his siblings were subjected to physical and emotional abuse from his father, believing this would toughen him up. When Ace was seven years old, Ida came down with a mysterious illness that doctors couldn't cure. A few months later, she died from the illness in front of her son. Ace, Lightning, Parotia, and Jay were adopted by their grown-up brother Kai and his squadron The Ultra Skuas, after their father is incarcerated. A few years later, Kai rescues Ace from a flash flood on Terra Amazonia. He tries to save himself as well, but he kept slipping from his grip. With a last sad look at his younger brother, Kai allows a wave to wash him away, leaving the traumatized Ace alone. Jay finds Ace and hugs him after seeing him crying.
Ace, Jay, Parotia, Rocky, Addie, and Strike were accepted into an orphanage where Ace met and fell for a young girl named Swan and the two became love interests despite Lightning Strike trying to break them up. Ace and Jay were teased and bullied by their brother and his friends. One day, Lightning Strike challenged Jay to a swordfight with their new swords which Jay accepts. During the fight, Strike accidentally shocks Jay's chest, causing him to drop. Ace comforts Jay but is forced to watch his brother die in his arms. Lightning claimed that he killed Jay out of self-defense despite several people witnessing the event. Everyone except for Ace, his siblings, Swan, and Corvus believed Lightning.
A few days later, Ace's paternal grandfather, Jason Strike adopts his grandchildren and some of their friends and shuts down the orphanage housing them for the death of Jay. Jason dies of old age when Ace was 16. 2 years after this, Ace turns on his team and kills Lightning Strike, shocking his other siblings. He later takes his code name "Dark Ace".
As a reward, Ace is gifted a dragon whom he names Hades. He also forms his own squadron called The Cyclonian Squad, consisting of several Exosian soldiers. The team also included Ravess and Snipe. Ace had a close friendship with his second in command, Vinnie Skulk, a fox who had a similar backstory to Ace. On one battle with the Rex Guardians, the majority of Ace's squadron, including Vinnie is killed. Outraged, Ace and Hades attempt to destroy the Rex Guardians' battle cruiser. The team fires a large bolt at them. Hades rears up, letting the bolt hit his chest, saving his mater's life. Hades flings Ace off of his back and crashes into an icy lake on Terra Frost. Ace has a tender moment with Hades before the dragon sinks beneath the ice and dies. Fortunately, the helmsman of the Cyclonian Squad's battle cruiser, a hyena named Honey Spots, had survived the assault but this hardly makes Ace feel better.
After the events of Storm Hawks, Ace survives being teleported to the Far Side of Atmos. There he meets Chandra, the Exosian moon guardian, who greets him warmly. She leads him to three portals;
#1 would take him to the afterlife where he could rejoin his family.
#2 would take him back to the Atmos where he could attempt to redeem himself.
#3 would return him to the Atmos as well but he would be reincarnated as something else.
Ace chooses the 2nd door and Chandra states he chose wisely and that he had great things ahead of him.
After escaping the far side, Ace went into hiding and changed his look using a disguise crystal. A year later, Apello/ Master Cyclonis tracks Ace down and asks him to return to Cyclonia, stating she still needed his help. He refuses at first but relents after Apello states she only needed him to help her sire an heir to Cyclonia. Knowing their age difference, Ace becomes a sperm donor (though this isn't mentioned in the show) rather than having kids the other way. Apello births their daughter Athena, who is named the heiress of Cyclonia. Ace also learns he sired a son with Ravess named Daemon. Ace later falls for a yellow Exosian fox named Inez. Inez births two daughters named Kira and Ivy the first year she was with Ace, two sons named Feather and Jason, and a daughter named Kaida, the second year, and a daughter named Jayde and a son named Rocket the third year.
3 years after the birth of their youngest children, Inez disappears during a mission and never returns to Cyclonia. Ace struggles with his normal cyclonian duties and raising his kids. One day, Ace leads a squad of talons to help Terra Frost who are being attacked. He spots two young Exosians named Stormy and Tal who lose their parents in the riot. A talon raises his weapon to them, but Ace saves them. After comforting the siblings, he ends up adopting them.
After having an argument about the kids with Apello, Ace is seen training with plastic dummies, unaware Kaida (who wanted to see if he was ok) was watching. After seeing him slash through a dummy out of anger, Kaida is startled. The former hears the girl and turns and glares at her. Not wanting to end up like the dummy, she runs off. A few hours later, Ace catches Kaida playing with his new medulla crystal and startles her. She accidentally drops and breaks the crystal, infuriating her father. He asks her why she did this and why she was in his room. She tells him she was exploring and becomes afraid as her father's hostility rises. After realizing Kaida was frightened of him, Ace relents, allowing a petrified Kaida to escape. He later goes to his kids' room to calm down after a brief argument with Apello. After some gentle coaxing, he manages to find and comfort a terrified and heartbroken Kaida and apologizes for scaring her.
A year later, Kaida is kidnapped by Master Levia, an evil witch. Not knowing Kaida and her fellow kidnapped friends escaped and were in the safe hands of the Storm Hawks, Ace makes his children promise to stay in Cyclonia while he looks for Kaida and his eldest daughter Kira who had ran away from home to find her missing sister.
Five years later, Ace finds his childhood friends Swan and Corvus who help him find a time crystal that shows him that Kaida was kidnapped and his other kids were leading their own teams to find her. Outraged, Ace decides to find his children and take them far away from Atmos to live as a family. On Atmosia, Ace spots a burning building and races in, suspecting Kaida was inside. Shortly after, he finds and saves his son Feather from being trapped. The two later finds and reunites with Kaida. The reunited family are rescued by Aasira, Zephyr, and their pets. All escape unharmed.
A sad Kaida explains the truth about where she's from and what happened when they were kidnapped. Ace agrees to help defeat Master Levia and save the Storm Hawks who were kidnapped by night crawlers, as long as he gets to be with Kaida again. During the confrontation, Ace reunites with his other kids and learns that Levia had kidnapped Kaida and is outraged. Levia offers him a place back in the Cyclonian army only if he kills Kaida for betraying Cyclonia by working with the Storm Hawks. Ace rejects the offer without hesitation, stating he'd rather work with the Storm Hawks again than kill his family. Afterwards, he becomes the leader of his squadron called The Talon Resistance, convinced to be a hero and spend the rest of his life with his new friends and children. He appears several times throughout the show helping the Skyhawks.
It's later revealed Ace is the grandson of Ivan Storm, the first Storm Hawk, the founder of the Sky Knight council, and Ida's father. Ivan had given Ace a chainmail vest on his 5th birthday, which was durable against even the strongest of energy blasts. Ivan had died of mysterious causes during a critical time where Atmosians were discussing forming a peace treaty with the Exosians, something that was pushed greatly for by Ivan and Jason Strike. Ivan was even in league with Kassian Cyclonis, the king of Cyclonia, and Firebolt Cyclonis, Kassian's son and Apello's father. Ivan believed peace was possible between the three kingdoms. It's also revealed Ace's maternal grandmother was an Exosian wolf and his paternal grandmother was half Exosian.
Ace becomes a good friend and mentor towards the Storm and Skyhawks. He still keeps his appearance but changes his outfit to an all black uniform with a Golden Talon symbol on the front and golden linings. He is quite mischievous and snide but no doubt more affable. He gains the ability to transform into a wolf (making him faster) and a dragon (gaining the ability of flight and fire breathing).
Ace proved to be a loving father to his children, especially Kaida. When Kaida was a child, he scares her when she breaks his crystal (although this wasn't Kaida's intention). He is almost immediately regretful. Later, Ace goes on a searching spree when Kaida goes missing. He is fiercely protective of Kaida and is also loving and caring towards her. He is also impressed by her singing abilities and supports her any way he can. He hates seeing her upset and does his best to comfort her when her friend Celeste dies.
Ace and his son Feather appeared to have a healthy relationship both in flashbacks and in the present, possibly because he bears such a striking resemblance to the former's late twin brother, Jay. Before going on his journey, Ace makes Feather promise to stay in Cyclonia and he'll be back for him. Years later, Feather tries defending his sister against their father but relents after seeing how he's changed. Ace showed no anger towards his son for fighting or disobeying him. Father and son are now very close and always at each other's sides.
Ace always praised his other daughter Kira who claims to have been "A +" in everything. However, Kira secretly hated her father because of how he treated Kaida and Jayde. Ace is devastated on learning Kira had also disappeared and was relieved when he saw she was alive. Now, the two appear to have a good relationship. The others make occasional gags on how Kira resembles her father in appearance, lines, actions, and personality.
Ace didn't think too highly of his third daughter Jayde, the latter taking after Kaida. He isn't seen interacting with her much in flashbacks or the present. In the present, Ace and Jayde share a close bond, the former being impressed by his daughter's knowledge of animals and mythical creatures of the Atmos and Exos. Ace normally turns to Jayde for advice on anything unusual, hinting she was the intelligent one of his kids.
Ace and his Exosian son Jason, shared a distant relationship when the latter was young. Jason's main goal in life was to impress his father with his advanced tech skills but he never noticed this. However, Ace was relieved to see his son was safe and alive when he reunites with him. The two now share a close bond, being impressed with each other's new skills and abilities.
Ace and his Exosian son Rocket, shared a distant relationship when the latter was young. Like Jason, Rocket was also highly skilled in tech and wanted to show his father what he could. However, Rocket proved to be more of a troublemaker. However, Ace was relieved to see his son was safe and alive when he reunites with him. The two now share a close bond, being impressed with each other's new skills and abilities.
Ace and his Exosian daughter Ivy, shared a distant relationship when the latter was young. Ivy felt overshadowed by her sister Kira. However, Ace was impressed by his daughter's advanced mind in math and reading. He is relieved to see her alive when he reunites with her.
Ace and his son with Ravess, Daemon appeared to have been close when Daemon was little. Ace was impressed with the boy's archery skills and his fighting styles, even giving a dire wolf named Ladyblue. However, Ace rarely interacted Daemon before Kaida's disappearance. In the present, the two have a healthy relationship.
Ace's has a daughter with Cyclonis named Athena. She appear to be distant from her father; as shown being repulsed by his mercilessness. However, they seem to be closer in the present as seen talking to each other.
He becomes good friends with Aerrow and Piper and shows to have perfect attunement with them. He is also on good terms with Aasira (shown defending her in the show Hero Valley). He is also caring towards the other squads of Atmos. He marries his childhood friend Swan. Ace isn't seen interacting much with the other Storm or Skyhawks although he does occasionally speak to them or address them by name. The other Skyhawk Ace interacts with is Aasira and is shown to have a great deal of respect for her.
Ace appears to enjoy singing and dancing with the rest of the team. However, he never actually begins a musical number and is only heard singing alone when the others are doing a group song.
His love interest is his childhood sweetheart, Swan. Ace is overjoyed upon seeing his friend again but separates from her after they argue on him changing to the evil side. Later, the two reunite and reconcile. Over the series, the two become closer from friendly comments to cuddling together. It also appears they married after season 4 as the animals refer to them as mates. The only time the two are seen kissing onscreen is in their animal forms (Swan as a mountain lion) The two usually nuzzle each other warmly. Swan even licks him once (in her animal form).