This is my first fanfic ever, so criticism is welcome!

Disclaimer: I don’t own Storm Hawks or Dragon Booster (from which drocat racing is roughly based on).

Maya’s grin grew wider as her mount raced across the lush green fields of Terra Africana. Her sleek black fur blew in the wind complimenting her panther-like face. She looked behind her; there were only two racers still in view. Maya loved her terra’s sport of drocat racing. She preferred living, breathing companions, not those things people call converters. Her drocat, named Masquerade, was the fastest anyone had ever laid eyes on! Why would she want to ride something with a speed limit, when she can ride something that can go whatever speed it puts its mind to? This is what her father had always said to her and his squadron, the Night Falcons. Her father was one of the best sky knights she had ever seen! Now Maya only wished that he could see what a good sky knight she is. She wished that she could talk to him one more time and tell him that she had followed his every footstep…

She shook that thought out of her head.

No! That cannot happen now. Your father is dead! You must comprehend! She told herself.

She pushed the thoughts away with a sigh and got her head back in the race. The other racers were only a few yards behind her. With a quick glance at the incoming cliff, she urged her mount to go faster. In one swift movement, Masquerade jumped off the cliff and held out her front legs, unfurling her bat-like wings. This is what Maya loved the most about racing: the flying. She felt like nothing could reach her as she drifted above the beautiful terra below her. The obstacles up there were few, unlike the many rocks and trees on the ground below. This was the home stretch of the race. Whoever was first now would most likely win.

Maya winning was no surprise to her or anyone else. She was reigning champ of Terra Africana. This time, however, she was a little nervous of her fellow racers. One farther behind her was one she had raced against before. He was good, but not good enough to beat her. The other was someone visiting the terra. He was a human racer, quite good for a human racer, too. He gave Maya a bad feeling though. She couldn’t tell why, but whenever she looked at him, she got a chill down her spine. She had never heard of him, his squadron, or his so called Terra Xerxxis. She was starting to wonder if he was a Cyclonian, the whole of Atmos’ enemy. The Cyclonians had tried to send someone in disguise before, but they failed. Why would they try again? Unless…

No, it couldn’t be him. It just couldn’t…

The thought of Master Cyclonis wanting the terra so badly to send Him in scared the fur right off of her back.

While pondering about the masked newcomer, she had failed to notice that he had caught up to her. With a quick movement, Maya took out her crystal staff. With a click, its full length appeared as the bars at either end jutted out. To her surprise, the strange racer didn’t take out a crystal staff. Instead, he pulled a huge talon blade out from behind his back. Maya’s eyes grew wide with fear as He swiped his blade down. Luckily, Maya had great reflexes. She brought her staff up just in time to block the attack.

Maya’s head was spinning.

It is Him!! I don’t stand a chance against him!

She looked around. The other racer was out of view. She jumped up from Masquerade’s saddle and stood in a fight position on her mount’s back.

“So, you’ve decided to fight like a sky knight instead of running away like the other racers did?” Dark Ace sneered as he looked at the panther-like teen.

“Why would I be afraid of someone who can’t even beat a group of kids in his own terra?” she asked, trying to cover her fear. Dark Ace’s evil smile disappeared. It was true. Normally he could beat every squadron there was! Then, the unofficial group of teens who called themselves the Storm Hawks came. He couldn’t beat them. He had tried over and over again, but he had always lost to them. He didn’t say another word. Maya could tell she made him angry. With vicious amount of strength, Dark Ace swiped his blade down again. This time, the blade went right through her crystal staff and hit Maya right on her shoulder. She yelped with pain. The Dark Ace took the moment of weakness for another chance to strike. This time, he hit her with a fire bolt. It knocked her right off of Masquerade.

She could feel the wind on her face as she fell further and further down. The terra was coming closer and closer. She looked up to see Masquerade flying down at top speed trying to catch her. It was then she could have sworn she heard the sound of a skimmer. She did. She landed with a thud on the fold-out wings of a converter. She looked over at the driver only to see a blue-grey weasel type thing at the controls. Very confused, she looked over to the Dark Ace as she heard the clashing of energy blades. She couldn’t believe her eyes.

There, on the wings of the Dark Ace’s ride, was a red-headed boy no older than herself fighting the dreaded Dark Ace. She smiled as she saw the insignia on the wings of the ride that saved her. It was of a hawk in mid flight against a red background.

The Storm Hawks!

Again, her mind was spinning, but this time, it was out of disbelief. She had always admired the Storm Hawks, but she never thought she would ever meet them, let alone be saved by one!

In the midst of her thought, she was grabbed by the back of her shirt and pulled onto another ride. She looked at the driver. This time, it was a wallop. She positioned herself so that she was sitting behind him.

“Hello!” he said enthusiastically.

“Um, hi.” Maya replied. The wallop pilot pulled onto a landing strip on a huge ship. The wings folded up as the wallop landed into a garage. He was followed by a girl on a heliscooter, a blonde boy on another skimmer, and the same red headed boy she had seen fighting the Dark Ace. She was very happy to see Masquerade come in also. She hopped off the ride and introduced herself.

“Hi, I’m Maya, and this is Masquerade,” she said as she patted her mount on the head. “You must be the Storm Hawks!”

“Um, yeah we are. How’d you know that?” the red-head asked.

“I know because I really admire you all. I have a squadron myself. We call ourselves the Dark Stars.”

“Oh yeah! The Dark Stars of Terra Africana! Hi, I’m Piper,” said the girl. She had dark skin and even darker blue hair.

“I’m Junko” introduced the wallop.

“I’m Stork.” A green merb said flatly.

“I’m Finn. Best sharp shooter in the Atmos.” The blonde said coolly. Maya gave a nervous look as Finn raised his eyebrows repeatedly.

“Don’t worry, he does that to every girl he meets. I’m Aerrow.” The red-head said, “This is Radarr.” He motioned to the little furry thing that had been driving his skimmer earlier.

“That was really brave of you to fight off the Dark Ace like that. Our terra is terrified of him. He led the attack that destroyed the original protectors of Terra Africana. My friends and I decided to create a squadron to work as a replacement. We never figured we would end up facing anyone.”

“Something tells me that Dark Ace isn’t the only Cyclonian here. Want us to stay here just in case?” Aerrow asked. Maya new that the elders may not like them staying at the terra, but they needed their help if there were more Cyclonian talons out there.

“Well, if the elders say so, I guess it would be of much help if you stayed at Terra Africana for a bit.”

“Oh yeah!! Surfs up Junko!!” Finn yelled.

“Um, Finn?” said Piper, with a laugh.

“What?”

“Terra Africana doesn’t have any beaches.”

Finn just looked at her. “WHAT?! I thought you said this place had lots of em!”

“I just said that to get you to come along, Finn.” Piper said with a laugh.

With a disappointed groan, Finn put away his surfboard.

“You can stay at my home if you would like to…” Maya began.

“Stay at another persons house?! NO WAY” Stork interrupted.

Aerrow sighed. “Thanks for the invite, but I think we better stay here, for Stork’s sake.”

“We would be doomed if we didn’t.” The pessimistic merb mumbled under his breath and went back to the steering wheel.

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Author’s note: Like I said, this is my first fan fic ever. Please criticize or comment!