Sky King

Part One: The Pilot Of No Name

     It was grey all around, no sign of the ground or blue sky around him, just the rain clouds through his breath mask and goggles. With both of his hands gripping the pitch lever, three fingers over the trigger, he looked around him, searching for his enemy, who happened to be hiding somewhere in the cloud cover. He wished he could hear the engine of his opponent's biplane, but that of his own was loud enough to almost drown out the gunfire from his dual .308 machine guns mounted beneath each bottom wing of his vehicle.

     Then he saw it, the glint of metal in the peripheral vision of his left eye. He immediately pulled his pitch lever up, dipping the nose of his plane down and accelerating towards the ground to avoid a spray of 7.62x39m. The pilot pulled left and up, trying to get behind his opponent with no luck, noticing the green painted biplane above him now, flying upside down and pulling down to take another chance at shooting him down. With limited options, he decided to play chicken with his enemy, pulling hard on the pitch lever and facing the biplane head on.

     The Syncaire pilot opened fire, the .308 casings falling behind him as the bullets shot towards the green Hellot vehicle, his enemy ducking momentarily to dodge, coming right back onto the collision course to fire back with great speed. The Syncaire pilot didn't react quite fast enough, bullets cracking through his cockpit window, one just barely grazing the left side of his head. He pulled to the right, narrowly flying away from another burst of gunfire, watching in his rearview side mirror as his enemy followed behind him. If what he had planned didn't work, he was going to more than likely lose this fight.

     Ignoring the blood streaming down his face, the Syncaire pilot suddenly pulled up, his enemy following still, trying to get a good shot to win the battle. Without warning, the Hellot biplane swerved to the right and left, taunting his opponent. What he didn't know was that that was a huge mistake. During his taunt, the blue Syncaire plane hit its air break and cut acceleration completely, pulling on his pitch lever. He flipped in the air, his front propeller motionless, and pressed the trigger, .308 rounds spraying as his vehicle front moved to face his incoming enemy.

     The Hellot pilot had no chance to react, bullets ripping through the mid section of his plane and eventually his cockpit, riddling him with holes. Restarting his engines, the Syncaire pilot pushed hard on the pitch lever, trying to push his plane into a straight line again from its lifeless back flipping. With success, he pulled up, flying straight west, watching the Hellot fighter fall towards the ground below them, smoke pluming from its engine.

     Breathing heavily, the surviving pilot leaned back in his chair, relaxing after the well fought aerial battle. He saluted the green biplane that disappeared beneath the grey clouds, acknowledging the skill of his former enemy. Having won, he headed back to the neutral air base on the coast of his country. The flight was a long one, only now realizing as he ducked out of the grey clouds that they had been dogfighting over the Garrus ocean.

     The brisk autumn air hit his face from the bullet holes in his cockpit window, feeling honestly amazing. Pain grew on the side of his head, the blood still flowing and matting his black hair. Hopefully he could stay conscious while he flew, not wanting to die to blood loss after such a good fight. The crimson dripped from his chin, droplets appearing on his flight suit and the floor of the plane. He felt his lightheadedness increasing, but minutes later the neutral air base came into view, the Syncaire Kingdom a wonderful sight for his eyes. Vast amounts of cities covered the country, all differing in size, with small spots of forests and everglades here and there.

     Engaging the landing gear, the pilot slowed his approach of the runway, black spotting almost blocking his vision, setting the plane down and decreasing the output power of his engine, slowing it to a stop and allowing the blue biplane to cruise to a halt. A crew of mechanics rushed towards him, but that was the last thing he saw before passing out in his chair.