Chapter 23: Stranger from Nowhere
(Intro)
A strange young boy groaned as he woke up. "Ugh, what happened? What was that…light?" He asked before he saw where he was. He was above the clouds, standing on a strange mountain land and observing multiple other lands. "Where am I?" He asked. Suddenly, he heard a strange motor noise. He turned around and saw three skimmers flying towards him. "What are those? They don't look like mecha beasts." He said. As the skimmers landed and sheathed their wings, the riders got off and approached him. "Who are you? You don't look like you're from around here." The leader said. "You're right. I'm not. Could you tell me where I am?" The boy asked. "You're on the Isles of Relaxation, a small selection of vacant relaxing terras just outside Terra Edmontonia." One of the 2 riders explained. "Terras?" The boy asked. "You're confusing us, kid. You act like you've never been on a terra of Atmos before." The second rider said. "Atmos?" The boy asked before walking away. "Okay, the kid's creeping me out a bit." The first rider whispered. "Me too. The sooner we do this job, the quicker we can get away from this weird kid." The leader whispered.
The boy looked over the edge of the terra. "I can't believe it. I'm in a whole different world. But how did I even get here? All I remember is that bright light and I ended up here." He said. "Okay, weirdo, we've had enough of your parlor games. So, what say you give us your crystals and money before you get hurt." The leader said as he and his fellow riders pulled out their weapons. The boy turned to face them. "I'm afraid I don't have any money. Or crystals." He said. "Yeah, we're not taking any more lies from you. Give it up or we shove you over the edge." The leader said. "You threatening me?" The boy asked, raising an eyebrow. "Absolutely." The leader said. As the thugs approached him, the boy reached behind his back. "Alright. Since you asked so nicely." He said. Just then, he pulled out a blaster and slung a slug creature. It transformed into a bigger slug with brick armor and blew the leader off his feet, knocking him out. The 2 thugs were shocked by this. "So, who's next?" The boy asked as he reloaded his blaster.
[3 Months Later]
The Condor was seen soaring through the clear blue sky. The Storm Hawks were presently on the bridge, looking through paper reports about the mysterious boy saving countless terras from bandits and thugs using strange slug creatures that can transform. Piper held up a report paper that had a picture of the boy in a cloak with one of his strange slugs sitting on his left shoulder as he aimed his blaster towards a group of bandits. "This mystery boy is quite interesting. Taking out those bandits all by himself with nothing, but a blaster and a bunch of strange slugs." She said. "And the people he's helped have taken to calling him the Mysterious Wanderer because he came out of nowhere and has been seen wandering about the Atmos." Skyla added. "He's not a Sky Knight though. It's only just been him and his slug creatures." Finn said. "I wonder if we might encounter him. Where did he even come from?" Junko asked. "Hmm. If we ever encounter him, we might be able to get some answers." Aerrow said. "If you ask me, he might just be a vigilante trying to play hero. But I could be wrong. As usual." Aria said, shrugging her shoulders.
"Well, I'm afraid that the Mysterious Wanderer will have to wait. We're almost to Terra Edmontonia for their annual Festival of Tranquility. It only lasts one day, from today until nightfall." Aerrow explained. The others agreed. They wanted to see the festival and have some fun there. But little did they know, their Mysterious Wanderer would be there too.
About a while later, the Condor arrived at Terra Edmontonia. As the Storm Hawks exited the Condor and entered the village, they saw the people preparing the festival with booths that sell souvenirs, game stands, food stands, fun rides and more. "Ah, Storm Hawks! Such a pleasure and an honor to have you at our festival!" The Edmontonia leader cheered as he walked up to the Storm Hawks and greeted them with handshakes. "It's an honor to be here, sir." Aerrow said. "Welcome, welcome. Please don't let us still preparing keep you from attending. Please look around, help yourselves to whatever you see fit, my friends. Enjoy yourselves while you can until night falls." The Edmontonia leader said. "Thank you, sir. We hope to have a good time ourselves." Aria said as the Storm Hawks followed the leader into the festival.
As the festival progressed, the Storm Hawks took their time to try out everything it had to offer. Skyler, Skyla and Sky were trying their hands on the game stands. Aria, Twilight, Amy Lu and Starling were having a blast on the rides. Junko, Judy and Riggorix were participating in an eating contest. Aerrow bought a beautiful crystal necklace from one of the souvenir stands for Piper. Stork and Lavender were also looking through the souvenir stands. Meanwhile, Finn was eating a corndog as he looked around the festival. "Wow. This is the most fun festival I've ever been to." He said as he took a bite of his corndog. Just then, he bumped into someone in a cloak. "Oh! I'm sorry, sir." He apologized. The cloaked boy turned to face him with his hand inside his cloak. "You trying to start something? Because you're not gonna like how it ends." He said, drawing a familiar blaster. Finn gasped as he held up his hands. "Wait a minute. Aren't you Finn from the Storm Hawks I've heard about?" The cloaked boy asked. "Yes. And you're the Mysterious Wanderer! We've heard about you." Finn said, recognizing the blaster and the cloak from the papers. "Finn! You alright?" Aerrow asked as he and the others ran over to them. "Yeah, I'm okay. And look who I just ran into." Finn said. "The Mysterious Wanderer!" Piper gasped. "That's what they call me. But for you guys, my name's Vuto." The Mysterious Wanderer, named Vuto, introduced as he took off his cloak.
Later, the Storm Hawks and Vuto all sat down at a table. "So, they say you're not from anywhere in Atmos. So, where did you even come from?" Junko asked. "Well, believe it or not, I'm actually from a whole other world." Vuto said. "Another world?" Skyla asked. "Yes. I'm from an underground world known as Slugterra. It's where my little friends here come from." Vuto asked as he brought out his slugs. There were 10 different types. The Storm Hawks were amazed by them. "Wow. So, these are the little creatures that you've been using against all those bandits and thugs." Junko said, poking the little black and periwinkle slug. Just then, the slug turned around and farted a gas cloud in his face. The mere smell of it made him faint. "Oh! Sorry about that. She does not like being poked by strangers." Vuto apologized. "So, how is it you ended up here in Atmos, Vuto?" Aria questioned as she got acquainted with the little green slug. "Well, I can't remember much. But I was exploring an interesting cavern in the Outland Reaches. There was a temple there that caught my attention. As I explored it, I came across a chamber with the walls covered with strange engravings. Nothing like I've ever seen. Suddenly, the engravings started to glow, and then there was this bright light before I blacked out. And then the next thing I knew, I woke up and found myself on a small terra just outside this one." Vuto explained. As he explained, Finn and Twilight never took their eyes off him as they developed a sudden interest in him. They wondered why they suddenly developed these strange feelings for him. "So, seeing that there was no way for me to get home, I took it upon myself to explore this new world. For 3 months, I protected those in need from bandits and thugs, which led to people calling me the Mysterious Wanderer." Vuto finished.
Suddenly, they heard the people of Terra Edmontonia start screaming in terror. They looked as the people running away in fear as they were being attacked by a pack of large wolves with thick black fur, glowing bloody red eyes, skull-like head masks and deadly sharp fangs. The wolves terrorized all of the people and tearing the entire terra apart as they let out powerful howls. The Storm Hawks and Vuto looked on in shock as they had never seen these kinds of wolves before as they were very unlikely to normal ones. "What are those things?" Piper asked. "I don't know. But they're causing harm to the people of this terra, and we have to stop them." Aerrow said. He removed his scarf and revealed the Atomic Crystal. "Skylight Unite!" He called, transforming the Storm Hawks into the Skylight Guardians. Vuto and his slugs were surprised by seeing their transformation for the first time. "Vuto, you get the people out of here and get them to safety." Finn said. The Skylight Guardians charged in to battle the wolves. Vuto led the people away from the fight to get to safety. "Hurry! Get to safety! This way!" He said as he led all the people of Terra Edmontonia to a safe area. Suddenly, there was a low growl behind him. He turned and found himself face-to-face with one of the wolves. The wolf lunged forward with its jaw wide open to bite Vuto. But Vuto was quicker as he drew his blaster and slung his slug known as a Rammstone, punching the wolf away with its rocky fist. But the wolf quickly recovered and leapt for Vuto. But he dodged it, reloaded his blaster and slung his purple spider slug known as an Arachnet, trapping the wolf in a web.
Suddenly, as he loaded another slug, another wolf snuck up on him from behind and pounced on him, pinning him down to the ground and making him drop his blaster. Vuto grabbed the wolf's snout before it could bite down on his jugulars. He did as he could to not let this dark creature kill him as he struggled against it. Just then, a blast of light hit the wolf, knocking it away from Vuto and saving his life. Vuto looked over to see Finn and Twilight. They ran over to check on him to see if he was okay. "You good, Wanderer?" Finn asked. "Yeah. Thanks, guys." Vuto said as they helped him up. Just then, Twilight saw another wolf leaping at them. She summoned a club made of shadow and whacked the wolf away. "Bad dog." She said.
Meanwhile, the Skylight Guardians continued to fighting off the wolves. During the fight, as Aria summoned her mana sword to slice one of the wolves in half, it died by turning into a pile of ash, surprising them. "Okay, that was weird." She said. "Maybe. But we now know what to do." Aerrow said. The others nodded. They began to kill off the wolves, turning them into piles of ash. Piper stabbed one down with her crystal blade. But then, another one pounced on her from behind but was soon struck by Aerrow's wind arrow. Skyler fired a stream of fire, burning several wolves to death. Stork and Sky teamed up, combining their elements. Sky created a watery tornado, sucking up the wolves. Then Stork fired electric beam from his hands at the watery tornado and fatally electrocuted the wolves. Junko delivered powerful plasma punches at the wolves as they charged towards him. Riggorix created a pair of mercury blades and sliced up the wolves that came his way. Starling threw several star shurikens, slicing off the wolves' body parts. Amy Lu froze several wolves with her ice beam and then smashed them to pieces with an ice hammer. Radarr and Skyla worked together as Radarr created a time dome, slowing down the incoming wolves. Skyla created several stalactites and fired them at the wolves as the time dome wore off, stabbing them fatally. Lavender telekinetically tossed the wolves into the air and Judy finished them with her energy blasts. Mimi threw several magma balls towards the remaining wolves when they came towards her.
Just then, one of the wolves let out a powerful howl, calling for the rest of its kind. In a mere second, more packs of wolves arrived and charged to attack. "Aerrow, we can't hold them off forever!" Aria called. Aerrow starts to think of a way to stop the wolves all at once. He looks at the Atomic Crystal and the idea came to him. He removed it from his neck and held it out as it started to glow before unleashing a powerful light. This caused the wolves to stop in their tracks and howled in fear as the light spread throughout Terra Edmontonia, forcing everyone to shield their eyes. After a few seconds, the light died down. The Skylight Guardians and the people of Terra Edmontonia unshielded their eyes and, to their shock, saw that all of the wolves have turned to stone. "What happened to them?" Skyler asked. "The Atomic Crystal must've released some sort of power that was able to stop these wolves by turning them to stone." Aerrow guessed as he stared at the Atomic Crystal as it gave off a soft glow. With the assault over, Aerrow used the Atomic Crystal to restore Terra Edmontonia's damage as the people celebrated the Skylight Guardians for defending their home terra.
Later, as night fell, the Storm Hawks, who were in their normal forms, were preparing to leave Terra Edmontonia as the people were cleaning up the festival leftover. "We thank you again for defending our home from those strange beasts, Aerrow. We hope to see you at our festival again next year." The Edmontonia leader said, shaking Aerrow's hand. "Thank you, sir. I guarantee that we just might pop by next year." Aerrow said. As the Edmontonia leader walked away, Vuto walked up to the Storm Hawks. "Glad I caught you guys before you could take off." He said. "Is there something you want, Vuto?" Aria asked. "Actually, I wish to join you guys." Vuto said. That shocked the Storm Hawks. "I know I've only known you guys for one day, but I have nowhere else to go and I think if I join you guys, I might find a way to return to my home." Vuto explained. The Storm Hawks looked at each other and nodded. "Alright, Vuto. Then we welcome you to the Storm Hawks." Aerrow said. "And we'll do what we can to help you find your way home." Aria said. "Thank you. All of you. I look forward to helping you anyway I can too." Vuto said, shaking hands with Aerrow and Aria.
Well, how'd you all like that? A young boy named Vuto, a slug slinger from another world, suddenly appears in the Atmos and starts defending the people of the local terras, earning himself the name 'The Mysterious Wanderer.' 3 months later, he meets the Storm Hawks on Terra Edmontonia for their annual festival. Suddenly, there was an attack from some strange wolf creatures. But together, the Skylight Guardians and Vuto managed to defeat the wolves and use the Atomic Crystal to turn the entire pack to stone. And with the festival over, Vuto then decides to join the Storm Hawks with hopes to find a way to get home. What new adventures will the Storm Hawks have with Vuto on their side? Will the Cyclonians ever learn of Vuto's existence? Will Vuto ever find his way back to his old home? Leave a review if you'd like.