Dawn of a New Age

Chapter Twenty One

Chapter Twenty One

"You hear that?" Aerrow asked looking at the clouded sky.

"Hear what?" Junko asked looking up from their game. "I hear an engine or something. It's probably just Finn snoring." He said dismissively.

"No Junko. Finn's snoring isn't that loud, yours on the other hand though." Aerrow said absentmindedly. The Sky Knight stood up and looked around. The clouds were very thick and dark with rain. Canada got to his feet and looked around as well. He suddenly felt claustrophobic with the cloud cover. The nation's eyes scanned the clouds looking for anything out of place. "There." Aerrow said poking his shoulder and pointing.

Matthew looked to where he was pointing and saw a few dark shadows in the clouds. "Those definitely aren't birds." He said as the shadows materialized into skimmers. He could see the symbol of the Cyclonians on the riders and skimmers.

"Get to your skimmers. Protect the Condor!" Aerrow said helping Junko up. The trio ran back into the hanger hearing alarms sounding. "Junko, go wake up Finn." The Sky Knight said starting his skimmer. Junko nodded and ran back into the ship. "Let's go!"

Matthew started his skimmer and sped down the runway after Aerrow. The talons were already firing at them before they were off the runway. Canada pulled his wings and kept close to Aerrow. The Sky Knight was missing his co-pilot. The blond looked around and did a quick count of the Cyclonians.

"There's at least fifty, maybe more." Matthew said over the coms. He broke away from Aerrow after hearing blaster fire behind them.

"Keep them away from the engine." Aerrow called. "Piper, we're going to need to get out of here. Quickly!"

"We're trying!" Piper said. He could hear some banging in the background of the audio.

"We can't finish the upgrade. We're going to have to patch it for now." Stork said sounding panicked. "It could take a little while."

"Do what you can." The red head said calmly.

Canada only heard bits and pieces of the conversation focusing on keeping in the air and shooting down the talons that got close to the Condor's engines. Matthew ducked as a bolt of energy flew over his head. He looked over his shoulder to see a trio of Cyclonians on his tail. He reacted quickly, pulling up until his skimmer stalled. He shifted all his weight back and fell backwards to where the other skimmers were still flying up after him. He started to shoot as he fell; downing one of the talons and damaging one of the others.

Matthew levelled out as the pair that was tailing him was joined by three others. He gritted his teeth and started to pitch and roll out of the way of the talons shots. He spotted Finn coming down the run way with Radarr on his back. They flew over to where Aerrow was shooting down Cyclonians. Once the pair got close enough, Radarr jumped onto the Sky Knights skimmer. Finn broke away and went after other talons.

Canada was distracted for a second watching the teens and one of the talons managed to land a hit. "Shit." He cursed seeing the huge burn spot on his lower left wing. The nation looked over his shoulder again to see more Cyclonians after him. He pulled closer to the Condor where Junko was manning a cannon.

The wallop made easy work of the Cyclonians, picking all of them off. Matthew smiled and gave him a thumbs up. Junko returned the gesture and aimed the cannon at more of the talons.

"Aerrow!" Finn called over the coms. The nation looked around trying to spot the teens. He spotted Finn's blue thrusters among a sea of red. The blond was pointing at someone in the distance. "Dark Ace is here!"

"See him. He's got a few more squads with him." The Sky Knight said. Canada saw Aerrow turn to his left to meet the Ace in the sky. "Piper how long on that patch?!"

"Ten minutes, maybe longer." Piper replied. "How's it going out there?"

"Not too bad. Minimal damage to the Condor and our skimmers." Aerrow said. "Dark Ace just showed his face and brought along a few more talons."

"Not the right time for rhymes." Finn commented. "Wait, was that a rhyme?"

"Be careful out there." Piper warned completely ignoring Finn.

By now the fight had drawn away from the Condor and further out into the sky. Aerrow and the Dark Ace were fighting on top of the older man's skimmer. Canada kept a close eye on the pair as he shot at other talons. The fight circled the pair, but didn't interrupt them. Junko had hopped onto his skimmer and joined the battle.

Matthew shifted his focus back on the remaining talons. The Storm Hawks were making quick work of them easily knocking them out of the sky. The nation saw a talon that was shooting at Radarr and fell in line behind the man. He shot at the enemy and the Cyclonian broke away from Radarr. Matthew followed him and shot at him until the skimmer was falling from the sky. He looked around for his next target and spotted a skimmer that was getting a little too close to him for his liking.

The nation pulled a tight turn and charged straight at the talon. He was playing chicken with them waiting for the talon to flinch first. Matthew narrowed his eyes as they got closer not doubting for a second that the Cyclonian would break away first. The talon bit their lip and pulled left at the last second. Canada laughed and made a sharp U-turn to follow the enemy. He shot out the talons engine and watched them bail and pull their shoot.

Matthew looked around again. There were fewer talons in the sky than before, but Junko was now flying Finn's skimmer as the blond teen shot at the Cyclonians with his cross bow. Radarr was off in the distance dogfighting a pair of talons. The Canadians attention was suddenly caught by a pained scream and he looked over in Aerrow's direction.

The Dark Ace had him by the throat and was holding him just off his feet. The Sky Knight was weakly struggling against the man's grip, but stopped as a sword was pointed at his face.