Chapter Summary:
We find ourselves in Cyclonia, and the Storm Hawks sidelined by the adults. But not by the story though.
Also, meet Austry.
Clink, clink, clink. Metal against metal, back and forth behind her. Monotonous. Distracting.
"You are pacing again."
It stopped, but the blessed quiet wouldn't last long. It never did.
"I'm not allowed to be concerned for my soldiers?"
"Your concern is loud. What's the worry for? The plan went perfectly, Lotus and Nightshade are on their way back with the getaway team already."
"They still have several miles of Sky Knight-occupied territory to get through, do not think we've won this just yet, D- Master Cyclonis. Also, do we really need to use the codenames in private?"
"Yes. Someone might be eavesdropping."
Dark Ace shook his head in exasperation. "While you're waiting for Lotus to get back, I'll be preparing countermeasures for the Sky Knights that will want their crystal back."
"Alright then."
Dark Ace left the room, and Master Cyclonis was alone to finish fine-tuning the Storm Engine. A few more hours and she could finally use it to its full potential.
"This is bullshit! The Aurora Stone gets stolen, it's all hands on deck, and we get sent on a stupid fetch quest?"
Piper suppressed a groan. "Finn, it's important. Some of the available squadrons are out of comms reach, the Council needs someone to go get them so an assault on Cyclonia can be launched."
"And if I may point out," Stork interjected, "They could've sent us straight to our dooms to fight Cyclonia on our own. I don't like our non-existent chances of survival in that scenario."
"We'd have been able to do more if we had a Sky Knight already," Finn muttered bitterly.
"No, Finn, we wouldn't," Piper sighed. She sympathised with him; she really did. There was so much more that she wanted to do, needed to do, but without a Sky Knight they wouldn't be taken seriously. And in order for the new Storm Hawks to succeed and pick up where the last team left off, they needed one person in particular as their Sky Knight. She'd spent too long working for this to just stick a substitute in the role of leader.
She'd find him soon, then it would all be worth it. In the meantime though, they were stuck playing fetch-quest.
"Your highness, the Aurora Thief team has returned."
The Empress smiled, "Excellent. Bring them in."
"The Dark Ace would also like to inform you that a small fleet of Sky Knight squadrons are on the way to the stronghold. ETA thirty minutes."
Less excellent. Why did he have to be right?
"I'm sure he has a plan already," she said. She wasn't sulking, not at all. "Bring the team in, I'd like to thank them personally."
"Of course, right away."
She turned away from the Storm Engine when she heard footsteps entering the room. Standing at attention before her was Lotus and Nightshade, faces still took obscured by shadowy hoods and face paint, Dark Ace lurking behind them watchfully. Before Master Cyclonis could even speak, Lotus stepped forward and held out a gleaming blue crystal clasped in steel wings.
The Aurora Stone. She could hardly contain her excitement as she took it from him and turned it about in her hands. Raw elemental magic rhythmically pulsed against her fingertips, and giddiness surged through her in response. Her eyes flashed and for a split second her pupils almost seemed to narrow into cat-like slits. It almost felt… familiar.
"It's really as powerful as the records say," she grinned. "And Atmosia was just using it to wish away a few clouds."
"You boys did well," Dark Ace said, patting both Lotus and Nightshade on the shoulders. "Atmosia's a hard one to break."
His attention was grabbed by a litany of chirps and squeaks, and he looked up to the lanky form of the third thief perched on Lotus's shoulder. Also dressed in black leather armour, the cloaking crystal hanging from his neck still dying his fur a midnight shade of blue.
"That means you as well," Dark Ace assured the creature. A hand went out to pet it but pulled back when the little menace tried to bite him. No ear scratches for you then. "Beast."
"Commander," a voice at the door caught his attention. "Sky Knights are on the north horizon. The men are in position, what are your orders?"
Dark Ace's expression steeled as he turned to face the Talon who'd just walked in.
"Fire a warning shot," he ordered, "Don't attack in full force until they're close enough for the defence cannons to hit them. I'll be on my way now."
The Talon nodded, "Of course, sir."
"Hold on, Dark Ace," Master Cyclonis interrupted, making the Champion stop mid-step and turn back to face her.
"Yes, Master?"
She held out the Aurora Stone to him, "Take this."
For a moment, he thought she was joking. She wasn't seriously just handing him one of the most powerful crystals in Atmos, was she? A crystal that pulsed with so much power that he could feel it on the back of his tongue when he breathed. So unknown that he swore it pushed and pulled at the air around him like it itself was breathing. The more he thought about it, the more unsettled he was by it, and the fact that nobody else in the room seemed to notice.
"Show them exactly what we're capable of."
Nope, she was. Never mind all the work it took to actually get the thing; she wanted him to dangle it in front of the Sky Knights like a carrot on a stick and then… what? Use it against them?
…It would make for a big statement. He hadn't made one of those in a while.
He grinned and took the crystal from her, hoping nobody noticed his reluctance as he did so. "It would be my pleasure, Master Cyclonis. I'll make sure to give everyone a show."
Turning on his heel, Dark Ace left the room and made his way to the northern hangar bay.
About halfway there though, he stopped and looked down. The crystal in his hand pulsed in a rhythm like a heartbeat, and he could still feel that steady in and out. In and out. In. Out…
"You look worried."
He damn near jumped out of his skin, and the winds outside the fortress picked up for an imperceptible second. Standing beside him, just in the corner of his eye, was a familiar face and a shock of green hair. Austry, a lead diplomat and first lieutenant in the Talon army.
"You about gave me a heart attack," Dark Ace said, his shoulders loosening and his grip on the crystal in his hand relaxing. When had he tensed up so much? "Of course I'm worried when I run the risk of you sneaking up on me."
"Come on, you're not normally this easy to surprise. What's got the ever-vigilant Dark Ace so distracted?"
He shook his head in exasperation. "It's nothing, just…"
He stopped himself before the lie could progress further. Austry wouldn't buy it no matter what he tried.
"…This thing isn't what I expected it to be," he settled on. Not a lie, but not the full story either. Trying to explain why he was so uneasy would take time that he didn't have right now.
Austry's head tilted to one side, "How so?"
Could he not feel it? Dark Ace wondered. The air just barely shifting in and out around the crystal. Cyclonis hadn't reacted to it either, despite her affinity for crystals.
"Later," he said, stepping away. "I've got work to do."
"Feathers, you've always got work to do."
"This is the fun kind. I've got some 'guests' to welcome in with this."
"Ooooh." Austry nodded, grinning, "Alright, I won't get in your way then. But we're talking later, okay?"
"Okay, fine," Dark Ace chuckled. "I'll tell you all about it when this is done."
"I'll hold you to that."
Cyclonia was just on the horizon, the fleet of Sky Knights mere specs against its dark red sky from where the Condor watched. The Council had said that they couldn't partake in the battle, but nothing had been mentioned about the team of kids watching from a distance. So that's what Finn convinced everyone to do.
They were alternating between huddling around the radio – where Piper had 'acquired' access to the Sky Knights' comm line – and taking turns with the telescopes to get a closer look at the formations and the oppressive fortress that was their target. It was huge and looming, seeming to draw in choking clouds. Ciel could feel it even from this distance.
"They're all waiting for us on the landing strips, the smug bastards. Watch out for their cannons."
Finn and Piper were at the 'scopes when the first shot rang out, just narrowly missing a Rebel Duck's skimmer. Then the red sky was alight with energy as Talons swarmed out of the fortress like furious ants from a nest to clash with the Sky Knight squadrons.
Piper held her breath.
The Dark Ace watched with a grim expression as countless soldiers took to the skies to battle. The flashing lights of energy blasts would've given him a headache ten years ago but now? Now it only set his blood ablaze with anticipation.
At first, he just watched, occasionally prompting Talons to attack certain targets over his comms. The Sky Knights had come in so woefully underprepared that he could've laughed. How typical of them to work up into a frenzy the second their precious capital was even so much as grazed. There was no plan, no cohesion between any of the squadrons, making it all the easier to pick them off piece by piece. Hells, at this rate he didn't even need to use the Aurora Stone.
Still though, a statement needed to be made. Holding up the crystal, he took it in for just a moment more. Then he broke off the winged bracer with a swift smack from the hilt of his sword, the cheap tin falling away without any resistance. There was a feeling like a sigh of relief, but he ignored it and slotted the crystal into the clasp of his weapon. The slicksteel prongs that let him fit all manner of crystals grasped onto it and held it neatly in place.
He got onto his ride and took off to join the masses.
"Dark Ace is in the air, be on your-. Why does he have that? Are they fucking crazy?!"
A blinding blue flash, brighter than any other energy weapon, lit up the battlefield and Piper gasped in shock. The telescope showed her a figure leaping between sky-rides with a blue blade, but wearing Talon colours. Behind her, the radio picked up a cacophony of panicked shouting, and she could only make out one thing from it.
"The Dark Ace is using the Aurora Stone?" Ciel asked, his eyes wide with horror, and Piper was in full agreement with the feeling. The Talon commander was using the crystal as a weapon? Did none of them know how dangerous that was?
"They are very, very doomed," Stork said quietly. Nobody laughed.
This felt amazing. He hadn't even tried channelling the Aurora Stone's energy into a Crescendo yet, and he could feel it seeping into him from just his sword alone, and the whiteout bursts of power whenever his weapon clashed with another. His blood burned with adrenaline and power, he laughed at the panic he saw in the face of every Sky Knight unfortunate enough to come within striking range, and it was exhilarating. How had these idiots never thought to actually use this thing until now?
Movement caught his eye and he raised his blade. Yellow clashed with blue, and he was met with a very familiar face and blond hair.
"Hi Harrier!"
"What the hell are you doing?!" The Rex Guardian had to practically howl in order to be heard over the din.
Dark Ace sneered and shoved back against him, vacating his ride to stand on the wing of Harriers dusty old antique.
"Reminding Atmos what you're up against! How nice of you to show me just how lazy you've all gotten recently."
"This is insane, that crystal-!"
"This is war," Dark Ace snarled, pushing back against Harrier as if trying to shove the man off his own ride. "You don't like it? Then run away. It's what you're good at!"
He didn't pause to look at how much those words might have hurt the older man. With one last swing of his sword, he jumped off the sky-ride and back to his own.
"Corral them, it's time to finish this," he ordered into his comms, "We're finishing this."
"They're retreating, why are they-? Everybody fall back!"
The energy burned. It sang in his veins, making his heart race and his ears ring. Blue light engulfed him, a beacon against the red sky and he launched himself up from his skyride.
Time seemed to slow down, and he saw the panic dawn on the Sky Knights' faces. Felt the power pulse with his heartbeat, the rush of air in his ears. Building louder, and stronger and fiercer, the blood practically roaring through him. Right as the Knights were attempting to veer away from him, the energy rising up, up, into his throat.
It burned. It burned, this was too much, stop stop stop-
Everything burst out in a scream, a tidal wave of destructive force tore through the sky, throwing him backwards. Rides and ships were all sent flying, breaking apart as the enemy fleet all rushed to get away from it.
Piper's heart leapt up into her throat.
"Activate the-!"
"SHIELDS!" Stork screeched, already slamming his fist on the button to activate the Condor's defences.
Just in time for a bone-shaking impact to hit the ship and rattle it. The ship groaned and the lights flickered before going dark. Piper heard several electrical fuses pop nearby as she fell to the ground. For a split second there was the sickening feeling of plummeting downwards.
He hit the landing strip with a sickening thwack! Something broke, he skidded along the metal tracks and slid to a stop in the middle of a crowd of horrified Talons. His sword clattered loudly next to him.
"Feathers… Feathers!"
The Storm Hawks all groaned as they got back up to their feet. Stork had hit his head on the ships control console, Junko was in the process of trying to get the lights working again, Ciel was shaking almost too badly to stand, needing Piper's help to get up. Finn had tripped over a chair and was struggling to detangle himself from it.
That had been terrifying. Piper had never, ever heard of anyone daring to channel the Aurora Stone into a Sky Knight move before. That had been more powerful than any Move had any right to be, the shockwave had reached so far as to hit them from the safety of their vantage point. That amount of energy had to be deadly to the user.
Hopefully the Sky Knights hadn't taken too many losses.
"Uh, Stork," Junko called out, sounding nervous. "The shields are down. I think they're done for good this time."
"I noticed," Stork muttered, beady eyes on a flashing light on the console that had been dormant before. "She kept us alive though. That's something."
"What even was that?" Ciel asked, voice trembling and face pale with shock. "I've never seen anything like it."
"That was a Sky Knight move," Piper said, though she sounded breathless with disbelief. "The Dark Ace channelled the Aurora Stone into it."
It was madness. If the Talons and their Empress were so destructive as to use such a powerful crystal so recklessly, what else did they have planned with it? They could level entire Terras if they wanted, the war was as good as won, the Free Atmos doomed to be conquered faster than ever. She could feel her hands shaking at the thought. Cyclonia couldn't win, they just couldn't. Not when she hadn't even come close to finishing the task she'd been set out to do, the thing that was so important that it would save Atmos from the Empire.
But what could anybody do? A blast that powerful had to have knocked out everything it hit, the Sky Knight forces were no doubt in tatters and forced to retreat. And that was if they even could. She'd watched a whole battleship be caved in by it, they were in no state to launch another attack.
The Condor, and her team, was likely the only thing that had survived this in one piece. Downed shields notwithstanding.
"We need to get it back."
A/N: For a crystal that's repeatedly described as "one of the most powerful ever found" and "the symbol of the Free Atmos", the show really didn't do much to actually back up that fact. Sure, Dark Ace wiped out a good number of people with it, but surely it should've dealt out some more consequences than just "ow my back".
So this was my take on it. And I made it extra freaky because what's the fun in magic rocks if you can't play up how damn weird they can get.
And I'd like to introduce Austry! A character belonging to grimm-the-6th, aka ashe-alter on Tumblr. Also Grimm_the_VI on AO3. If you get the chance, be sure to check out their fic Gemini Syndrom on AO3!