Skies over the wasteland. (Chapter 2 is up!)

[stickdude]

Skies over the wasteland

Chapter 1: Birth of a Hawk

In a canyon that stretches for many miles, this is the stage for the final race of the world championships. Only the best racers in the world remain now, and today a new champion is crowned.

Eight jets wait at the start line, tension is high in the air as the racers and spectators alike wait for the start of the race. All the racers look around, checking out the competition, most popular among the other racers was a young pilot was named Leon Crescent, Flying a jet named “Blue Hawk” and if he won this race he would become the world champion then, he would begin to chase his real dream.

Leon looked to his right, his friend and rival Beast was looking back at him grinning mischievously, he gave Leon a quick thumbs up before looking to the front again. Leon smiled as the start lights came on; all the racers fired up they’re engines, and the crowd cheered in anticipation.

The final light went out and all the racers stormed away from the line, Leon was perfect off the start and pulled into the lead.

“Gotta’ keep cool, gotta’ keep cool.” Leon said to himself inside his jets cockpit “We’ve got to do it this time Hawk!” The young man was nervous; he had crashed more than a few times in the past on this course, but this time he had to win. The course was called ‘Avalon: The requiem.’ It started in a deep canyon with a lake at the bottom, the canyon itself that got thinner as it went then lead into a series of winding tunnels, followed by an all out burn to the finish.

The size of the canyon made it a bit hard to maneuver but Leon was in the lead so he only had to worry about keeping it that way. They all blew past long bridges that spanned the canyon, weaving around corners and trying to avoid pillars of rock. One of His competitors came up close behind him, sliding into his slipstream, Leon did a quick weave and roll trying to shake him off but he was still right behind him “Okay then, try this!” Leon pushed up the throttle and flew in close to the ground, his opponent was still right behind him.

Leon smiled and weaved through some rock pillars, once again in an attempt to shake him off. His opponent narrowly missed one of the pillars and decided to back off “Yeah, that’s right!” Leon spoke in a sly fashion as he pulled back up to a higher altitude.

Leon looked around quickly, Many places could bee seen where other jets had crashed, they were clearly visible in the rocky sides of the canyon. As they closed in on the tunnels up ahead Leon’s heart began to pound quickly, he tightened his grip on the flight stick. This was where things got tricky.

Leon shook off his nerves and dove into the tunnel without any hesitation, so determined to win he barely even slowed down, this was very dangerous, however it gave him quite a lead on his opponents “I’ve got to do this!” He began to weave in and out of the passages throughout the tunnels, it was dark, and outcroppings of rock were everywhere.

Images of his past crashes in those tunnels flashed through his mind, breaking his concentration for a second. He narrowly missed a pillar of rock as he flew around a corner “Whoa!!!” Leon yelled in surprise. He grunted and shook the images out of his head and grabbed his throttle lever and pushed it all the way up.

Full speed through the Avalon tunnels? That’s a great way to get yourself killed, even with all the measures in place to assure a pilot would never die again. Even all that wouldn’t do much in the case of a headfirst full speed crash…

Leon continued weaving through the tunnels and came to the exit, just as he did one of his opponents flew out of the tunnel with him. It was Beast, him and Leon had been the biggest rivals since day one, and now was the time to settle that rivalry. The two jets came up beside each other, Beast motioned ‘Bring it on!’ and Leon smiled devilishly in response.

They both hit the afterburners at the same time, now it all came down to this; it was all up to the jets now. Leon was pinned into his seat by the force of the speed; this was what he loved most about flying, the pure speed. He did his best to keep the flight stick steady; at this speed even a wayward twitch could send the two crashing into each other.

With only fifteen miles to go the two were neck and neck, the others were nowhere in sight. An odd sound could be heard from Beasts jet just before a loud explosion rang out. Leon looked around quickly; it had come from Beast’s engines. He had over-strained them, which caused one of his afterburners to blow out.

He quickly fell behind, trailing black smoke as Leon sped into the lead and took out the win.

“YES!!” Leon yelled in excitement thrusting one of his fists into the air almost hitting his jets canopy, the crowd below cheered as loud as they could. A mans voice came through the loud speakers in the surrounding area “And the Blue Hawk takes out the win! We have a new champion ladies and gentlemen!!”

Leon swung the Blue Hawk around and landed in the winner’s circle, he released his restraints and opened the canopy then climbed onto the back of his jet and threw his fists in the air victoriously as the crowd cheered below.

The young pilot took off his helmet and let his shoulder-length hair fall. He shook his head quickly and slid off his jet onto the ground where a man was waiting to interview him

“Leon Crescent! The Blue Hawk! You’re the new word champion, congratulations!!” The man spoke excitedly.
“Thank you!” Leon began “But Avalon is no joke, and my competition just made it more challenging. They’re all great pilots, a real thrill to fly with! The work I did on my jet last night couldn’t have come at a better time.”
“You’ve just been named the greatest racer in the world, how do you feel?” The man asked.
“Great! But. Sadly, that’s going to be my last race.” The crowd fell quiet for a moment “Now I’m moving onto the combat league!!” Leon raised his fist in the air as he spoke, and the crowd cheered once again.
“What’s your motivation for that?” He asked.
“I dream of flying with the legendary pilot ‘Mobius’ I intend to fight against him and be named the greatest pilot in the world, not just the greatest racer.”

“Well, I wish you luck in that, and I’m sure your fans will be behind you all the way! Isn’t that right people?” The crowds cheered in response as Leon climbed back into the cockpit and got ready to leave.

“Yo! Hawk!!” A voice called from bellow. It was Beast, his hair scruffy and unruly as always “Don’t think I’ve given up yet! You were just lucky today! Someday I’m gonna’ kick your a** and prove I’m better than you!” He directed his fist toward Leon in a challenging style and smiled.
Leon also directed his fist to Beast “Heh! You can try!” The two exchanged eye contact and a quick laugh before parting ways.

Leon sat back in the cockpit, put his helmet on and did up his restraints then closed the canopy “We finally did it Hawk… And soon, we’re gonna see just how far we can go!” He fired up the engines and took off “This is just the beginning…”


A few weeks later…  

[stickdude]

Chapter 2: Combat academy ace: Enter the Lady Dragon!

The decision to enter the combat league was a big one; it was nothing like the racing league. The flight style, and even the jet settings were totally different. Leon thought he was more than ready for it, and today was his first day at the combat academy.

‘The wasteland skies combat flying academy.’ This was the place where every pilot in the combat league starts. No matter how good you are, if you want to fight, it all begins here.

Leon was strapping himself into his jet on the academy runway when his instructor’s jet came up beside him “I’ll see you in the sky kid! It’s my job to see what you’ve got.” He said just before taking off

This was a basic initial examination every newbie had to go through to see they’re skill level and where they should start at the academy, and also what they need to focus on. In essence it was just some flight maneuvers followed by some lock on evasion.

Leon got up into the sky and formed on the wing of his instructor, he turned his head to look at Leon “Okay kid, the names Indigo, I’m your instructor for this exam.” His voice was deep and booming, but not in any way intimidating “Now what I want you to do is show me what you can do in the ways of maneuvering. Then I’m gonna’ start chasing you to see how well you can think on your feet, got it?”

Leon nodded and replied “Roger that!”
“Okay then, break formation when you’re ready.” Indigo turned his head back to the front and waited for Leon to break away.

Leon wasted no time in speeding ahead of Indigo he began to maneuver around the same way he would on a canyon course. Quick and sometimes sharp banked turns followed by rolls.

“Not bad. Seems you know your way around your jet, but your movements are a bit stiff, ya’ need to loosen up a bit.” Indigo said observing Leon’s movements “I have another student helping me out with exams today. Ah, there she is now.”

A red jet formed up alongside Indigo, it seemed slightly intimidating, and the way the wings were set out they almost looked like they had claws. A girls voice came over the radio “Hey Indigo! Whose the kid?” she asked “Talon. This is Leon, the Blue Hawk.” Indigo said back.

“Blue Hawk? So the world champ thinks he can make it in the big leagues huh?” She sounded slightly annoyed. “Leon this is Talon Dragoon. Known at the academy as ‘Lady Dragon’ She’s the one helping me today.”

“Nice to meet you!” Leon said waving to Her.
“Yeah...” Talon replied in a dull tone
“Okay! Time for the chase, why don’t you kids play for a while. I’ll observe, Talon, you’re the chaser, Leon, the runner.”
“Roger that!” Leon said
“Alright newbie! Lets see what you’ve got!” Talon yelled going after Leon like a bat out of hell, already aiming him up.

“Whoa! She’s aggressive!” Leon went to full throttle and did his best to try and stay away, but Talon was on his tail the whole time. “Just as I thought! Just some showboating racer with no hope in combat.” Talon mocked Leon over the radio.

“Alright, that’s it! I don’t know what problem you have with me, but I’m not about to let you insult me like this!” Leon spoke sharply but calmly, turning his jet over and going into a reverse loop. Talon had just made a big mistake. She chased after him, still matching him move for move ‘How can his flying form be so calm?’ Talon thought to herself ‘Maybe there’s more to him than I thought’

“Okay Here goes!” Leon dropped his throttle and slammed on the breaks, as he pulled up hard on the flight stick. Talon blew right under him, the two jets narrowly missing each other; Leon straightened himself out and threw the throttle back up. In what seemed like a flash, Leon was now on Talons Tail. Talon and Indigo were both shocked at what Leon had just done. Had this been a real match, Talon would have just been shot down.

It took Talon a few seconds to realize what had just happened, a look of shock and surprise painted on her face. “What… Just?” She uttered hesitantly. “Okay, that’s all I need to see!” Indigo’s voice came booming over the radio “Form up you too!”

Both Leon and Talon got into formation on either side of Indigo’s jet as they headed back to the academy “You two did great! I’m very satisfied.” Indigo looked in Talon’s direction “Talon, great flying as always!” He then looked over to Leon “And you Leon, I see no need for the basic classes, your going straight to the advanced courses! Congrats, looks like you two are gonna’ be classmates!”

Talon’s voice come over the radio “What!?” She yelled
“Yep… Come on Talon, you cant hate him forever” Indigo laughed slightly as he talked “Humph!” Talon huffed, broke formation and flew off.

“What’s up with her?” Leon asked curiously.
“Ah, don’t let it get to ya’ kid, she just has an unhealthy amount of pride.” Indigo said back “Not sure if you realize this but… You just out maneuvered one of the best students in the academy.”
Leon was shocked “A-are you serious!?” His jet wobbled slightly as he spoke.
“Yup. ‘The Lady Dragon’ She’s strong, skillful and way to proud for her own good. She’ll warm up to you eventually kid, just give her some time.” Indigo described.
Leon sighed, “If you say so…”

The two landed back at the academy, Indigo walked over to Leon, gave Blue Hawk an once-over and nodded.

“Anyway, we gotta’ get that jet of yours fitted with some ordinance. You any good with a wrench?” Indigo asked
Leon smiled and replied “When I was a racer, I did all the work on my jet by myself.” Indigo smiled back “Great, so then we won’t need to ask for much help.”

The two moved Blue Hawk into one of the hangers and began on the modifications to turn it into a fighter.
They both worked for hours on installing the weapons. When they finally finished, both were a mess.

“Right, it’s about time I explain some of these arms.” Indigo began walking to the front of Leon’s jet. He pointed up to a pair of machine guns they had installed on the nose area. “Right, here we have your standard cannons. Just about every jet has at least one of these, now with your setup…” Indigo thought for a second “About a ten second spray if you hold it flat.”

Leon nodded “Got it!”
Indigo moved over to the wing of the jet, where some missiles were rigged up. “Alrighty! Here we have your missiles, these are gonna’ be your main weapons in most dogfights. Now, technology has come a long way, these are what’s called ‘Regenerators’ Just as the name would have you think, they regenerate a few seconds after they’re fired.”

Indigo moved underneath the jet and knocked on a panel. “We’ve given you a normal sized generator, that’ll give you about thirty missiles” He moved over to the cockpit and pressed a button, which opened a compartment on the back of the jet, and two missiles came out “Now this is where things get interesting. Here we have your special weapons, two turbo missiles. Put simply, they’re just missiles that are three times faster than your standard, and have four times the range.” Indigo explained

“Nice!” Leon said happily. “Yup, that pretty much covers the basics. Now go clean yourself up and get some rest, see ya’ tomorrow kid.” Leon nodded again “Okay, later indigo.”

The following day…