Dawn of a New Age

Chapter Twenty Five

Chapter Twenty Five

The Canadian looked up to see the Dark Ace standing on his wing tip. Matthew frowned and pulled his controls to do a roll, but they wouldn't respond. 'Well shit.' He thought.

"Hello." The man said with a smirk. Canada continued to frown. He stood up and stepped onto the wing to be level with the Cyclonian. The Ace pulled his short sword and Matthew pulled his dagger.

Dark Ace jumped forward and attacked the nation. Matthew sidestepped, but the Ace was expecting this. He grabbed the blond by the collar and swiped. He cut across Canada's collar bone with his sword. The Canadian grunted and pushed the talon away from him.

"Payback." Dark ace laughed and attacked again. The blond didn't have time to take in the damage before he blocked the talon's attack. He used his height to his advantage and pushed Dark Ace back.

Matthew looped his foot behind the Cyclonians leg and tripped him. Dark Ace landed flat on his back and the blond pounced. He was to slow as the Dark Ace started to roll to his feet. He grabbed Canada by the hood and pulled him back. Matthew yelped falling onto his back. Dark Ace went to jump on top of him, but earned a kick to the gut instead. Canada climbed back to his feet at the same time Dark Ace was.

The pair stood and stared at each other, neither making a move. The Dark Ace suddenly spoke. "I have something you might want."

"And that would be?" The nation asked raising an eyebrow. He saw Aerrow in his peripheral vision. The Sky Knight was being swarmed by talons, but was holding his own.

"Oh, you can talk. Good, this makes things easier." The talon pulled a crystal out of his uniform. Matthew kept a neutral face, but on the inside he was freaking out. "You know what this is?" Canada nodded. "Good, you can have it if you join us."

"Really? Come on." He laughed. Dark Ace looked confused. "No thanks. I think I'll pass."

"That's it? No dilemma? No inner turmoil?" The Dark Ace asked waving the crystal around. "Do you not need this crystal?"

"I do need it, but not that bad." Matthew shrugged and winced at the pain in his collar. "You can keep it."

"Oh, well." Dark Ace cleared his throat. "In that case, you can have it." He said tossing the multicoloured crystal at him. Canada caught it and half expected it to burn him or explode, but it didn't. The Dark Ace turned and jumped back onto his own skimmer and flying away leaving a confused Matthew.

"What just happened?" He muttered to himself watching the talon fly off. Canada put the crystal in his pocket and sat back down on his skimmer. He looked around seeing the few remaining Cyclonians retreating. Matthew bit his lip after moving his neck and groaned. The cut was in a bad spot. It made moving his head painful. He used the sleeve of his hoodie and his forearm to put pressure on it. His controls had started to respond again, but they were still delayed.

-❄"I'm Mary Poppins y'all!"❄-

"Matthew! Are you okay?" Junko yelled running up to him as he landed, the other Storm Hawks not too far behind.

"I'm fine, it will heal." The nation said calmly. He reached into his pocket and took out the crystal. "Ace gave me this. I don't trust it."

"That's the dimensional discord crystal!" Piper gasped carefully taking the crystal from Canada. "You're bleeding a lot. You should look at that."

"It's okay." Canada said taking his hand away for a second. It looked like it was starting to scab over already. "It's not that deep."

"Still!" Aerrow said crossing his arms. He was worried for his friend.

"Really, it will heal in a day or two. Quick healing is a nation thing." Matthew explained. "I don't need to waist the supplies we have on me when it's not need."

"If you say so." The Sky Knight said eyebrows furrowed.

"I'll analyze this to see if it's real." Piper said putting the crystal in her satchel. She started off towards her workshop. "I'll let you know as soon as possible."

"Why did the Dark Ace have the crystal?" Fin wondered out loud. "He was the man in the coloured poncho?"

"Why would he get the crystal then the Cyclonians go back again after?" Junko pointed out.

"To trick us?" Aerrow suggested. "But why would they want to throw us off in the first place? How did they know we wanted that crystal?"

"Maybe they heard of us asking around?" Canada shrugged. "But Gundstaff said he gave it to poncho man months before we got there. So around the sameish time I wound up here."

"There's no way they could have known that." Finn said shaking his head. "How do they know now?"

"Maybe we're thinking about this too much. It could have been a coincidence." Junko shrugged.

"I doubt it. It's too perfect to just be a coincidence." Aerrow said crossing his arms. Radarr chirped in agreement from his shoulder. "They know something we don't."

-❄" The plan is to fan this spark into a flame."❄-

"It's the real deal." Piper said setting the discord crystal on the crate in front of Canada. The nation stopped what repairs he was doing on his skimmer and sat up. "I have no idea how to use or activate it."

"We could ask the Vapos people." Finn suggested popping up from behind his skimmer with a wrench in his hand. "Maybe they'll know."

"There's no real rush." Canada shrugged. "I'm not dying to go back right away."

"We can try a few different things before we ask. I'm just worried that it's a onetime use and we'll waste it." Piper said with a concerned face. "I'm going to look through my books and see if I can find anything as well."

"I'll help with that as soon as I'm done here." Matthew said and Piper nodded heading off. It would take some time to finish the repair. The control column was fried and needed a lot of wiring work done. He sighed and got back to work.

"Want some help with that?" Junko asked coming over and crouching down. Canada was currently working on the last few connections.

"Thanks, but I think I'm okay." Matthew said with a smile. "Just about done."

"Okay, I'm going to make some supper then. Want any?" The wallop asked.

Canada shook his head. "No thanks, I'm alright." The nation had made the bad decision to try some of Junko's food before. His stomach wasn't very happy with him for a few days after.

"Suit yourself, I'm going to make some juicy cave spiders siskababs!" Junko said walking off towards the kitchen.

It only took Matthew another half an hour to finish up the last few important repairs. The cosmetic ones could wait until later. He cleaned his tools then his hands before going to the kitchen. Junko had already been and gone judging by the mess. He grabbed a quick bite to eat before going to help Piper.

Matthew and Piper read until late at night, but found nothing. They were both getting tired and stopped for the night. Canada went to his room to grab a blanket before going to his spot by the window. It wasn't too often that he would actually sleep in his room.

AN: Another longer chapter! I normally keep them right around 1k and try not to go to far over. Been trying to not worry about going over anymore, its not working to well...