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The flames rose high growing violently, the sound of moaning metal and sirens blaring, the smell of burning oil lingered throughout, and the heat radiated the area, the firemen hosed down the burning wreck. The ashes flew into sky blotting out the sun, the bright flames flickered and glowed that it almost seemed like the sky was on fire, all that could be seen was a pair of eyes looking down with a glare filled with anger.

"YOU DID THIS!"

\Reality/

Gasping wide awake Daulton found himself laying on the ground, but his head resting on top of something soft.

"You're awake, that's good," Nonna said softly.

Finally getting a grip back with his consciousness Daulton saw Nonna hanging right over him and turned out his head was resting onto her lap.

"Try not to move much, you're lucky to still be alive," Nonna told him.

"Yes, very lucky indeed," Klara added closing a white tin box with a red cross on it.

"What else is new," Daulton retorted, slowly and lightly brushed his fingers on his head feeling the soft bandages around his head.

"Klara, bandaged your wound the best she could,' Nonna explained, "But you'll be fine, the shrapnel only grazed you."

Daulton tried getting up, but Nonna prevented him placing her hand down onto his chest.

"You must rest," Nonna told sternly.

"I'm fine," Daulton stubbornly said otherwise, but Nonna wasn't being fooled.

"No. You are not," she told him assertively pressing down on him harder to prevent him from getting up.

"Daulton!" Miho cried out.

Turning his head Daulton can see Miho and her friends running up to him, each with a worried expression on their faces.

"Daulton, my god we thought you were a goner," Saori cried out.

"That was crazy, Daulton, you could've gotten yourself killed," Yukari said.

"Well, I didn't, so calm the f-."

"THANK YOU!" Katyusha cried out running up to Daulton with tears in her eyes, "Thankyou!thankyou!thankyou!" she cried wrapping her arms around Daulton's neck.

"Uh... you're welcome?" Daulton said confusingly.

While Katyusha was thanking Daulton, the wind suddenly started to kick up, blowing picking up dust high into the air, when looking up everyone saw that it was a Kawasaki OH-1 lowering itself to land.

"It's Miss. Chono," Hana immediately figured out.

"I'm in trouble am I?" Daulton asked frankly.

\Sometime Later/

Back on the carrier, walking down the street with the fading sunlight Ami and Daulton had just came back after much giving scolding from the Federation.

"Hold it," Ami abruptly stopping in the middle of the side walk, but Daulton ignored her, "I said stop!"

With that Daulton finally halts, but kept his back turned to her.

"That was the down right the craziest and-,"

"Dumbest thing you ever seen! I know! I KNOW!" Daulton exploded.

"You used to be a great pilot, Peter," Ami reminded him.

"Well sorry if I'm a freak'n disappointment, but-," Daulton cuts himself noticing something about his surroundings, seeing that he was back at the front gate at Ooarai, "What the hell are we doing here?" Daulton questioned.

Ami approached him standing by his side placing a hand on his shoulders, "Come with me," she told him guiding Daulton inside.

Walking through the gates the lights at the school automatically turned on glowing in the calm night, walking off to the field Ami took Daulton to the hanger seeing it dark and silent.

"What's this?" Daulton asked.

"You'll see," Ami bluntly told him.

"Oh I get it, you're gonna off me," Daulton phrased it, "Well go right on ahead! I don't care no more, and another thing-,"

"SURPRISE!" suddenly the lights came on from the hanger blinding Daulton and the sound of all the girls cheering happily.

Looking inside Daulton was confused to see that the whole Ooarai team gathered at the hanger along with the other commanders from St. Gloriana, Saunders, Anzio, Jatkosota, Chi-Ha-Tan, and even Kuromorimine with a banner saying "You're Alive".

"The girls wanted to throw a little celebration for your recovery," Ami said with a soft smile.

"Dude, that was insanely awesome," Kay complimented.

"I never been so on the edge of my seat before," Darjeeling expressed.

"Such recklessness, but recklessness that helped saved a life, that is something," Kinuyo said.

"I have to admit... that was gutsy of you," Erika spoke slowly clapping.

All the girls were cheering and expressing their amazement of Daulton's actions and his quick brush with death, Daulton looks around the hanger seeing the ecstatic and cheering faces of the girls then came to the sight of glass bottles sitting on the table along with some food. Daulton had a expressionless face and as he walked passed the girls looked on him with confusion as he seemed to ignore them. Picking a bottle right off the table Daulton rips the cap off and starts chugging the contents until he spat it back out with disgust.

"What the hell is this?" he asked wiping off his lips.

"It's non-alcohol," Yuzu told him.

"Non-alcohol? how am I supposed drown myself with this?" Daulton questioned.

"Why would we get real alcohol?" Maho asked.

"Because you're freak'n high schoolers," Daulton put it.

"Hey! this 'Girls und Panzer' not 'Superbad'," Momo reminded him.

"WELL SCREW ME!" Daulton yelled out throwing the bottle down.

The glass shattering made the girls jump back at Daulton's sudden outburst, he then grabs the end of the table and flips it without much difficulty throwing whatever is on it onto the floor, the girls watched as Daulton destroy the table, after that Daulton walks over the the Mark IV and starts banging his (already damaged) head onto the side of the tank.

"Daulton! stop!" the girls screamed trying to pull the boy away from the tank.

They grabbed his arm trying to yank him away, but Daulton throws them off, he flips over with his back leaning against the tank, sliding down to the ground, and for the first time the girls saw Daulton what he really is. A broken down man. There the girls saw Daulton sitting on the ground his head buried in his hands hearing him sob.

"*sob*... It's my fualt- *sob*...it's my fault he's dead," Daulton cried.

"Who?" they asked.

"My brother, I'm the reason why he's dead, why he died in that crash," Daulton confessed.

"No, Daulton, it wasn't your fault, it was the landing gear that killed him," Yukari told him.

"... How'd you know about that?" Daulton looked up and Yukari realized that maybe she shouldn't have said that.

"We... looked you up," Miho admitted.

"What?"

"But it's still not your fault, it was an accident," Yukari repeated, then she brought out her laptop, she brings back the link to the article of the accident, "It was the landing gear that killed your brother."

Seeing the photo of the burning plane Daulton relieved the memory of the very day.

"You're not paying attention," he said, "Look at the tail of the plane," he told her.

They took another look of the photo, this time more focused to the part they neglected to look over, and saw the name, Delta, printed on the tail.

"That's my plane. That's my plane he died in," Daulton confessed.

\Years Ago/

It was bright and clear day, the warm rays of the sun raining down on a young boy working on his plane.

"You stupid plane! work!" Daulton shouted banging hard onto the side of Delta.

"You're not gonna get it to work that way."

Looking over the engine of his plane Daulton spotted his older brother, Taller than anyone on his team, Johnathan had his spare pilots pants covered in old oil stains, along with his dirty tank top, and his hair was the same as his little brother's.

"It's not starting," Daulton said trying to get the engine to fire up.

"Treating it like that isn't gonna get it going," Johnathan told him calmly taking the tool from his hand.

He looks in under the hood and the next thing Daulton knew, Delta, came to life, and turned to Daulton with a 'I told you' expression.

"There's still a problem with the hydraulics," Daulton added jumping down from the steps a little mad.

"What's wrong Peter?" Johnathan asked dropping down next to his brother.

"It's, Delta, she's falling part," Daulton said, "She's a piece of junk, when are we gonna replace it?"

"Hm... Not anytime soon, Peter, you know how it is," Johnathan told him, "There's nothing, but pocket change in the donations account, and our side jobs combine would take years until we can get a new one."

With that Daulton groaned, "It's no fair I have to fly in this piece of junk while all of you fly in perfectly good planes that won't crap on you," Daulton said comparing the state of his plane to the others in his team.

All the other Mustangs were in clean and working condition.

"That dosen't stop you from flying, though," Johnathan reminded him, remembering all the stunts he pulled despite, Delta.

At that moment a basket ball flew right into Daulton's gut.

"Hey, Peter, why not pass the ball to your brother, so we can have real game," James shouted, although he was bigger in his way, he wasn't tall as Johnathan. He chuckled as he purposely threw the ball to Daulton just to annoy Johnathan's younger brother.

Daulton gets up and threw the ball back hitting James just as much as he threw it to him taking the wind from his gut, the two bothers laughed as even the youngest of them wasn't gonna take it from anyone.

"Why not me, Jimmy? too afraid to lose?" Daulton taunted.

"As if, you serve," James threw ball back accepting the challenge.

But as the ball went half way, another boy shot passed, and intercepted the ball.

Spinning the ball on his finger tips, there stood a slender boy wearing big square glasses, with a shaved head, and had a big goofy smile.

"Pfft... I can take all you guys at the same damn time," Squirrel remarked.

"As if, Squirrel," James retorted.

"Hey!" another voice shouted out, "Are we gonna play or what?" Austin asked standing at the court with Michael.

"Yeah, hold up!" Johnathan shouted back, "C'mon bro, take a brake."

"I'm gonna cream you, shrimp," James pointed at, Daulton, before running off.

With that Daulton took the dirty rag from his back pocket and scrubbed his hands off, smiling as he saw his friends and brother just having a good time, before he stuffs the rag back running off to join them.

\Overlord vs Raising Suns/

"C'mon guys we're gonna be late!" Micheal shouted at the back of the hanger as he tied his helmet on.

"Just go, we'll be right there," Johnathan shouted back.

Micheal jumped into his cockpit, started the engine, and took off.

"Peter! let's go!" Johnathan cried out to Daulton.

"I can't open my locker," Daulton shouted from the other room.

Johnathan rolls his eyes running over to help his brother, but as he enters Daulton was hugging right up against the wall, and as Johnathan walked passed, he slips behind him.

"Wha- where are you?" a confused Johnathan called out not seeing his little brother anywhere in the locker room.

"Right here!" Daulton shouted.

Johnathan turns around seeing Daulton in his plane, Foxtrot.

"Hey!"

"See you in the air, bro!'" as Daulton waved him off as the plane ran down the run way.

Looking to the only other plane in the hanger Johnathan rolled his eyes as he ran over to, Delta.

Up in the air James, Michael, Austin, and Squirrel were waiting for the two brothers to join them so they can fly over to the match.

"Where the hell are they?" James asked getting impatient.

"Gale was having trouble getting into his locker," Michael explained.

"Hey, there's Johnny," Austin pointed seeing Foxtrot flying to them, but when the plane got closer they saw it was Daulton behind the controls instead.

"Gale! what are you doing riding, Foxtrot?" Squirrel asked.

"Oh, Johnny and I decided to switch planes for today," Daulton lied quite happy to be in a good working plane.

Not too long after Johnathan came up flying in, Delta.

"Johnny, you wanted to switch planes?" Squirrel asked.

Glancing over to his side, Johnathan, kept his composure when seeing his brother's smug face sitting in his plane.

"Yeah... thought it'll be fair," Johnathan covered for him, "C'mon, we got a match to get to."

\One Hour Later/

It was a tough challenge for Johnathan as he tried to accomplish his goal, but struggled with the poor condition of Daulton's plane.

"No wonder he complained so much, Delta, sucks!" Johnathan said trying to get the gears to work all the while trying to avoid the Zero on his tail.

"You need some help bro?" Daulton called out.

"Naw, I got it," Johnathan responded, but then a bullet zipped through the windshield, "O.k, maybe a little."

With that Johnathan kept heading straight trying to avoid getting shot and a spark flew out from the panel.

"Agh! how the hell do you fly this?" Johnathan asked and shots flew out towards him.

In the pursuing Zero the Japanese pilot was trying to get Johnathan into his cross hairs, but right when he got him right in his sights Johnathan dove down, and to the surprise of the pilot saw Daulton gunning for him. Daulton fired off his guns, the Japanese pilot tried to peel off, but had left the belly of his plane completely exposed taking multiple shots until the engine spewed out black smoke. After the Zero gave out the pilot bailed out, jumping from the cockpit, and seeing his white parachute deploy.

"So much for their engines," Daulton remarked, "Hey we just made this great and powerful plane engine, that give you performance like no other,"

"That sounds great, what are we gonna do with it?" Johnathan played along.

"We're gonna crash'em into bunch of boats," Daulton finished and both boys laughed.

"I might be mad that you took Foxtrot, Peter, I have to admit," Johnathan said, "You're a hell of pilot to fly in this flying crap."

"Thanks, John,"

"Peter... dad would've been very proud."

"... Thank you, Johnny."

\Later/

After their victory against the Raising Suns, Team Overlord, flew back to the airfield where reporters and sports journalist had gathered to meet the boys.

"Let's get this over with, I wanna go to bed," James said.

"C'mon, Jimmy, don't you bask in the glory?" Austin asked.

"Don't call me, Jimmy!" James snapped at him and the other boys laughed.

Austin, Michael, James, and Squirrel were the first to touch down, and when sliding the canopy back the journalist swarmed around flashing their cameras away.

When touching down Daulton had the journalist all around him shooting questions at him as they blinded him with their flashing cameras.

"Gale! Gale! how does it feel to win this year's games?" one asked holding up his microphone to the boy.

"Well, I don't like to answer these things without my brother he's the one that really carries the team," Daulton told the reporters.

"Then where is your brother?" another asked.

"He's gonna touch down right now."

Looking over to the last plane everyone saw Johnathan lowering down to the landing strip, inside Johnathan can see his brother waving to him, and he reaches over to deploy the landing gear. The wheels ejected out about ready to land the gears jam, before Johnathan could react fast enough to the problem that had happen, Delta, had already slammed down on the strip.

Everyone froze in horror as the plane failed to land skidding across the strip, tearing up the asphalt, inside Johnathan held on tight to the stick trying to keep himself steady.

"JOHNNY!"

The other boys cried out in shock, the plane spun as it slid across the runway, but Johnathan's eyes opened wide as he saw that the plane was heading right for a fuel truck. The plane collides with the truck, but flips it over, and damaging both the truck and the plane, Johnathan looked over to see the truck spilling and the sparks form the plane lighting up the fuel.

The boys ran across the field trying to make it to their commander.

"JOHN!" Daulton cried running faster than anyone else, but before he can get closer the plane exploded blowing Daulton to his back.

Getting up dazed Daulton saw, Delta, burning hotter than hell and the smoke raising higher than heaven, Daulton tried to get up, but Austin and Squirrel came and held him back.

"Let go of me!" Daulton demanded.

"Peter, it's too late!" Austin tried to tell him.

"Just let me-,"

*KA-BOOM!*

A second explosion echoed out this time tearing the plane apart in half, Daulton looked on in total dread as the fire consumed all that was there, Daulton threw Austin and Squirrel off him, and continued running. But as he approached the scorching flames Daulton felt the sting of the heat across his face and felt his body beneath his suit sweating. Without a second rational thought Daulton still believed, or to be more honest, tricked himself to thinking he can save his brother, he reaches out grabbing onto the side of the plane, but as he placed his right hand onto the surface Daulton felt one of the worst pains he can ever feel.

Daulton staggered back grabbing hold of his right hand as the burning plane scorched his hand, he screamed in agony as the skin on his hand turned red, the next thing the young Daulton knew was that he was being dragged off.

"YOU!" a voice filled with anger spoke out and Daulton saw that it was James with raged filled expression, "YOU DID THIS!"

\The Present/

"After, John, died I couldn't keep up with the bills, and since our house was within one of the dogfight zones the insurance was too high to pay, so it wasn't long til the bank took the house; the gang was long gone, and I had nothing left," Daulton told everyone still sitting where we last left off.

"So that's why you only wear one glove?" Naomi said.

"And why you were so mad about the plane," Miho realized, "It wasn't yours, it was your brother's, and-,"

"It was all I had left of him," Daulton finished, "After I lost the house I took whatever money that was left, and just rode the wind to wherever it took me... then you jackasses happened."

The girls glanced around each other now with a better understanding to why Daulton did what he did with Miho settling down next to him along with Ami trying to comfort the troubled boy as he hummed to himself the same tune the girls keep hearing him do. However this time Daulton whispered it to himself.

"Little bird, little bird"

"Flew though my window"

"Little bird, little bird"

"Flew through my window"

"Little bird, little bird"

"Flew through my window"

"Find molasses candy"