COVELIGHT II: VALKYRIE
Written by SavageCaliber22 'Elysium'
Nightbring and its characters are owned by Evolution
Pokemon is a property of Gamefreak and Nintendo. No copyright infringement is intended.
This is an Alternate Universe of our own creation with its own lore and timeline, thus Pokemon's lore has been slightly altered to conform to this AU.
M for heavy language, violence, depictions of gore, and sexual references. No lemons are present.
Whoo boy, I know, I know, I took forever to put this one out, I get it. I won't get into excuses here, they'll be at the end of the chapter. Just know, that I had a FUCKING BLAST writing this chapter as it's nothing but pure action. Trust me, this chapter will be WELL worth the wait. 7453 WORDS! 26 PAGES LONG, THIS IS A BIG ONE BOYS!
I would pay attention though, as this is also one of the most IMPORTANT chapters in this story as it essentially sets up one of the main plot arcs throughout the story.
Anyway, you ready? I know I am, THIS IS CHAPTER 5 BABY WOOP WOOOOP!
(Oh and one more thing, there's a lot of Ace Combat references in this one, haaaave fun with that!)
CHAPTER 5: MAYDAY! MAYDAY!
Narrative Control: Jackson
Equinox plains.
July 8th, 2210, 6:30pm
"That G-Diffusion suit snug, Vi?" I ask the Snivy behind me as she shuffles around in her seat.
"It's a bit tight." she notes. "Though, I suppose that's the point, huh?"
"Well you weren't wearing one last time, so hopefully this will help a lot. I don't expect us to be doing any dogfighting, but that will keep you from passing out if we do. Just remember, you-"
"Yeah yeah, I still gotta flex my muscles and take deep breaths, I got the briefing." Violet bluntly states.
We find ourselves at about 9,000 feet in the VTOL-X Prototype, farmland and meadows seen for miles in all directions. The weather is partly cloudy, the large clumps of water vapor maybe coming in handy as cover should things get ugly.
"Saturn, how long till we meet with the convoy?" I ask aloud.
"Answer: Entering the Radar and Radio range of the friendly Airborne Warning And Control System within: One-Minute. Estimated Time of convergence with the Convoy: Two-minutes." An automated voice immediately fills the cabin.
"You think we're gonna get any resistance?" Violet asks.
"Answer: My calculations indicate that there is a 75% chance that we will encounter ho-" Saturn responds.
"I was asking Jackson." Violet interrupts.
"Correction: Understood." Saturn bluntly replies.
"Hey, he's learning, go easy on him. Speaking of which, good job on referring to yourself in the first person." I commend the machine.
"Acknowledgement: With every sentence, I learn more about how to speak. I estimate that I will be able to fully replicate your speech in- forty days." Saturn notes.
"...that's slower than I thought." I mention.
"Statement: Learning takes a lot of- Observation: We are receiving radio transmissions from Spade Squadron, tuning frequency." Saturn notes.
=AWACS Joker=
"This is the Spade Squadron of the Covelight Air Force, unidentified craft, state your affiliation." A stern, older male's voice comes over the speakers in my helmet.
A perfect transcript appears in my HUD in real time as Joker speaks (hence the formatting I've used in the telling of this story.) I smirk and hit the transmit button on the side panel.
"This is Solaris. Sorry for the confusion, this thing is so fresh outta the oven it doesn't have working IFF yet, I'll get the lab boys to amend that." I reply.
=Spade 2: Zodiac=
"Look who's late to the party! Been a while since you've flown with us, Chaser." I hear an upbeat female voice over comms.
"Well as fate would have it, I brought a friend along with me, say hi, Covelight." I probe my untrained WSO behind me.
A sigh comes through the radio.
"This is the one and only Violet Covelight, filling in as Solaris' WSO."
=Spade 5: Half Life=
"What?!" A gravely male voice follows.
=Spade 6: Havoc=
"The Boss's daughter is here?!" followed by a low female's voice.
=Spade 3: Echo=
"And I thought today would be boring." A deep male voice booms.
"The one and only." Violet continues. "Apparently I'm the only one qualified to be the WSO, and as much as I hate being this high up, the mission comes first."
=Spade 4: Clutch=
"Afraid of heights, Ms. Covelight?"
"No." She bluntly replies.
"Very." I respond immediately after.
"Shut up." She blurts.
=AWACS Joker=
"Well, fortunately, we're not expecting much resistance from the Nocturne Syndicate."
=Spade 2: Zodiac=
"Is that what our enemy calls themselves?"
=Spade 7: Hunter=
"Yes, as they no longer ally with the Nightbring they've adopted the name of their new leader." The sound of heavy wind is heard alongside a raspy female voice.
"Alright guys. We're coming up on your six, bearing 42." I announce to the group.
=Spade 1: Monarch=
"Just don't get in our way, Solaris." a muted, growly male voice comes through last.
"Cheerful as ever, Spade 1." I joke, only to hear a humph come from the other end.
I find myself popping out of a cloud and falling into formation with the rest of the convoy. With four large VTOL cargo planes alongside the entirety of spade squadron. All flying black and white F-777 Staraptors with blue wing tips, save for Spade 7, who is a Salamence flying without the assistance of a jet. The F-777 Staraptor is a stealth jet that bears a pretty strong resemblance to the F-35 of the 21st century. I look on either side and see Spades 5 and 6 slow down to form an element with me. Element being military talk for a group or cluster. Nodding to the Toxicroak on my right, Half Life, and the white and red northern or 'Hisuian' Zoroark on my left, Havoc."
=Spade 6: Havoc=
"So that's the new toy, eh? Seems like a bit of a downgrade from the triple-sevens, it's 3 cylinders and a cone with wings. What's so experimental about it?"
"This is the VTOL-X Prototype. It's far from the final design I've been told, but this is the base for a new jump jet. Definitely an early draft though, it turns like airliner. I tell you what though, flies like a bolt of lightning, not a lot's gonna be able to outrun this puppy."
=Spade 5: Half Life=
"Looks like something my kid brother would doodle in his notebook."
"Oh yeah, forgot to ask, Saturn, what are we loaded with?"
"Answer: 100 Standard MPM-4 Missiles. 54 4AAM Missiles. 46 2AGM-21 Missiles. Two wing mounted Hydreigon Rocket pods. One red matter cruise missile. A WSO operated Plasma turret is present on the bottom of the fuselage. Finally, a Volcarona Gatling Gun." Saturn responds.
"Wait, how the hell are we carrying all that? That's like 200 missiles!" Violet notices.
"There's a Cyberlock drive on both wings. Each drive carries half of the total missiles. So there's 100 per wing, you may notice there's nothing on the hardpoints, that's because the Cyberlock system will automatically materialize a missile on the hardpoint once a weapon has been selected, and it will reload them automatically." I explain
"Huh, I didn't know there were Cyberlock drives in our planes, too. What are the differences in the types of missiles, anyway?" She asks
"Oh, that's pretty straight forward. MPM-4s are basic multi purpose missiles. They can lock on to both air and ground targets, we use those the most, which is why we have so many of them with us. 4AAM stands for 4 Anti-Air Missile, This is a salvo of four missiles that can each lock onto a different aircraft. Useful for taking out multiple bandits in one shot. 2AGM, or 2 Anti-Ground Missile does the same thing as the 4AAM, but it only works on ground targets, and only two at once rather than 4."
"Why only two?" Violet asks.
"I dunno, bigger explosive yield, much heavier I'd assume." I guess.
"Sorry about asking all of these questions, by the way." Violet apologizes.
"Trying to keep your mind off the altitude?" I ponder.
"Y-yeah."
=Elite: Crimson=
"This is Crimson. Just got finished with the first wave with no trouble. Figured I'd earn some overtime and help out with you guys."
Violet and I glance to each other in surprise. "Huh, didn't think we'd have Jasmine with us too." Violet notes. I smirk, "Neither did I, but hey, I won't complain." I reply as I turn back.
=Spade 2: Zodiac=
"Two Elites on one mission? That's rare, guess this is a really important one."
=Elite: Crimson=
"Two?"
I hit the transmit button.
"Three if you count my passenger."
=Elite: Crimson=
"Oh, hey Solaris! I probably could've guessed. I'm about 40 clicks ahead of you guys, what's the sitrep?"
"Pretty quiet so far. Joker will let us know if there's any resistance from the Syndicate." I respond.
=Elite: Crimson=
"Heads up."
Suddenly a blur of red flies by us in the opposite direction, the turbulence rattles the plane as Violet yelps from the backseat and I adjust the stick to fall back in formation.
=Spade 4: Clutch=
"Jeez! I forget how fast you can fly compared to the rest of us!"
The Latias turns on a dime and falls in formation with us, glancing down at my canopy, her eyes are masked by her flight goggles, but I can see the look of surprise on her face.
=Elite: Crimson=
"Wait, Violet? I thought you hated flying?"
"Yes, it's me. I still hate it, yet here I am." She replies.
=Elite: Crimson=
"Well it's good to see you regardle-"
=AWACS Joker=
"Heads up, everyone. Patching in the ground convoy."
=Vorpal Squad=
"Alert! We have what appears to be a group of tangos pursuing us from 150 yards back, they have opened fire! Requesting air support!"
=AWACS Joker=
There also appears to be a large blockade in front of the bridge, you all will have to split up and take out both threats individually.
"Understood, Crimson form up with me. We'll go after the ones chasing the convoy." I call through comms.
=Elite: Crimson=
"Wilco."
That's short for "Will Comply", for those uninformed.
"Spades 2 and 3, you come too."
=Spade 1: Monarch=
"You do not get to order my men around, Solaris, Spades 2, 3, and 4, form an element with me, we're going to take the tangos pursuing the convoy."
"Roger that."
"Got it."
"Alright."
=Spade 1: Monarch=
"5 and 6, Go after the blockade. 8 through 12, remain with the air transports, we cannot leave them unguarded."
They say nothing but obey regardless
"Jackson, we should help 5 and 6, they don't have the numbers." Violet notes, to which I nod.
"Crimson, assist the ground convoy, We'll help 5 and 6 with the blockade." I order, the Latias locks eyes with me and nods, breaking off.
I pitch down and lower my altitude.
"Joker, can you see any AA within the blockade?" I ask the AWACS.
=AWACS Joker=
"There are three SAM turrets and a pair of AA guns."
"Okay. 5 and 6, Our first priority is to take out those SAM turrets. I'll take the middle turret, you two hit the sides."
=Spade 1: Monarch=
"What did I just-"
=Spade 5: Half Life=
"Just can it, Monarch. We have a job to do. We'll follow you Solaris."
=Spade 6: Havoc=
"I'll take the right, Half Life?"
=Spade 5: Half Life=
"Righto."
I smirk and break through the clouds, watching a cluster of green squares dot my HUD. "Saturn, target the middle SAM turret and switch to AGMs." I order the machine as one of the squares starts to blink.
A slow, low frequency beeping tone starts resonating through the cockpit.
"What does that mean?!" Violet begins panicking.
"SAM's locked onto us!"
The tone escalates to a rapid, high beeping sound as I watch a missile exit my target.
"JACKSOOOON!"
"I KNOW, I'LL DEAL WITH IT!"
I lock onto the SAM turret, ignoring the AA missile currently speeding towards me to shoot me down.
The square turns red with an accompanying "beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee" noise. I press the red button on the top of my flight stick and I watch my own missile launch from my right wing. I then yank the stick left, rolling onto my belly and then pulling up into a short dive, the enemy missile blazes past the underside of my aircraft and I level out to watch the SAM turret erupt into a ball of flames, taking out a pair of tanks stationed next to it.
"Uuurrrhhh...don't do that again...!" Violet groans
"Solaris, three tangos down." I announce over the radio
I watch the other SAMs burst as well.
=Spade 5: Half Life=
"Spade 5, Target down!"
=Spade 6: Havoc=
"Spade 6, Scratch two."
"Lets get the rest of those vehicles 5 and 6." I order.
=Spade 5: Half Life=
"Way ahead of you."
I watch a couple more tanks pop, now feeling the weight of my other AGM on the left wing. Deciding to ditch said weight, I lock onto an APC in a cluster of other vehicles and let loose the other high-yield missile. I pull up before I am able to confirm any kills, as I am out of room to do any more damage in this current pass. A few anti-air rounds hit the hull of the craft, but I'm not receiving any warnings so I assume that only the hull itself is damaged.
"Violet, use the thermal ball cam to confirm how many we got with that while I turn us around for another run." I order.
"4 targets down." She responds.
"Great."
=Spade 6: Havoc=
"Three down."
=Spade 5: Half Life=
"I'm gonna drop one of my heavy bombs in the middle of the road, see if I can't use the force from the explosion to clear the road for the convoy."
"Good idea assuming you don't obliterate the road in the process, any idea to work around that?" I ask.
=Spade 5: Half Life=
"I can set it to an Air Burst munition, I just need someone to spot for me so I can time the detonation."
"I can spot for you." Violet says over the radio.
=Spade 5: Half Life=
"Much obliged, Ma'am."
"I'll hang back and deal with the infantry after you're done. Spade 6, follow 5 and take care of any remaining armor after the bomb goes off."
=Spade 6: Havoc=
"Wilco."
I circle the blockade from a distance.
"Hey...you, A.I. thing?" Violet asks.
"Clarification: Are you referring to me? Miss Covelight?" Saturn ponders in response.
"Yeah, can you calculate how high up Half Life's bomb would have to be to cause enough damage to the enemy armor without damaging the road so our convoy can get through the area?"
"Answer: It will depend on multiple factors, all of which I can calculate. I can give you a countdown on your screen for when to give the signal, if that would be satisfactory." Saturn responds
"Yeah, do that."
I watch Spade 5 level out heading toward the blockade.
=Spade 5: Half Life=
"Dropping Payload now."
After a couple seconds, Violet shouts.
"Ready? NOW!"
A large explosion decimates the blockade, all remaining vehicles are now either destroyed or have been flipped. "Good hit, well done." She follows.
=AWACS Joker=
"What's the current status of the two groups?"
=Spade 1: Monarch=
"All EKIA"
"The roadblock is cleared, I'm gonna get a closer look and help the convoy get through." I explain
=AWACS Joker=
"Understood, everyone regroup with the air transports, Solaris carry on."
I drop my altitude and slow as if pulling in for a landing. "Violet, get on the turret." I order.
"We're going to mop up the stragglers?" She ponders.
"We're going to INTIMIDATE the stragglers, we'll have the convoy take them in as prisoners, but if they shoot back- Yeah, gun em' down." I clarify as I enter hover mode and pull above the now ruined blockade.
I stare back at a bunch of dazed and confused Syndicate soldiers and hit the intercom. I hear the turret spool up.
"Do anything funny and you'll be taken home to your families in body bags. Make your move, people." my voice projects to the blockade below. Who all promptly drop their weapons.
"Good move." I remark as the Convoy, now pursuit free enters the area. I throttle up to gain altitude and rejoin the formation.
"This is Solaris, heading back to the ot-" I'm about to announce my return when Joker interrupts me.
=AWACS Joker=
"Hold that thought. All Units, I'm picking up an enemy fighter squadron and their AWACS on my radar. Bearing 290."
My eyes widen, my heart begins to race.
=AWACS Joker=
"All Units, maintain formation, stay with the transports. We have other interceptors in the AO who will take care of it, you are the last line of defense, understood?"
"This is Solaris." I grin, "Moving in to engage bandits, over." I explain, changing from hover to flight mode and speeding off towards the group of enemy fighters.
"WHAT!? NO! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" Violet panics from the Co-Pilot's seat.
"What I've been waiting three years of my life to do." I respond with a modicum of a chuckle in my voice.
=AWACS Joker=
"Negative Solaris! Your orders are to-" I turn my radio off.
"JACKSON! STOP! HEAD BACK TO THE CONVOY!" Violet screams.
"Those interceptors aren't going to get here in time, the transports will be sitting ducks if we don't thin the herd for the rest of Spade Squadron." I explain.
There's a pause from the backseat.
"You could've led with that."
"Relax. I've been training for this kind of situation for three years."
"That gives me less confidence than you think. Look, if we attack them head on like you're doing, we're going to end up getting slaughtered, you know that right?"
"You got any better ideas?"
"Well, this thing doesn't have working IFF, right? Why don't we try and sneak behind them and hit them from behind? Aren't fighter jets supposed to have stealth capabilities?"
"Some do, but this one doesn't, this thing probably shows up like a beacon on radar."
"Fucking perfect."
"...I do like your idea though, I think flanking them and catching them by surprise is our best bet."
"But wait, if this isn't a stealth fighter, how do we get behind them without being spotted?"
"Well, lemme give you a brief summary of how radar works. A plane gives out a wave and anything that wave hits will bounce back to the plane. Now the ground is constantly moving, so it factors out anything moving at the same speed the ground is moving. What that means is that anything moving faster or slower than the ground gets picked up and can be locked on to." I explain.
"So what you're basically saying is that we're screwed?"
"Not quite, there's three ways to avoid this, one is to have a stealth aircraft which deflects radar, thus making the waves never come back to the plane. Two is to fly below and perpendicular to the plane emitting the radar. And Three, what WE'RE going to do, is arguably the stupidest option."
"Stupid in WHAT way, exactly?"
"Well you see, the third option." I explain "It's simply to just become PART of the ground."
"...Are you serious? We're going to LAND and let them go over us?"
"Told you it was stupid."
"This better work, Jack." She grumbles.
Fortunately as I haven't climbed much since holding up the remaining blockade. I put the plane back into hover mode, lower the landing gear, and touch down softly on a grain field post-harvest.
"Right, now we wait." I note. "Saturn, how long before we'll be able to take off and meet them if we were to fly perpendicular to them?"
"Answer: Estimated time- Two Minutes"
"Hm. Longer than I expected." I remark as I take off my oxygen mask and open the canopy. "Here, get some fresh air." I offer.
Violet says nothing. I look back at the blue eyed Snivy behind me. She stares out at the fields, a frustrated and worrisome look plastered upon my face.
"Hey, you doing alright?" I ask.
A huff escapes her nostrils as she sneers at me, "What do you think?"
"Look, Vi. This is gonna work. I know it will."
"How? How do you know it's going to work, Jackson?" she growls.
"I may...seem like I'm being a bit reckless, but I was able to do more than this in the Sim with little difficulty. I kno-"
"That's in the Sim, Jackson, this is real life!"
"I know!...I just..." I trail off, "I promised that I would protect you no matter what. So...I wouldn't be doing this if I didn't think I could handle it."
She pauses again.
"...And what if you're wrong? What if these Syndicate Pilots are just WAY better than what you've seen before?"
My turn to pause.
"Well if I'm wrong, then I'll still keep my word, anything in my power...Do you have faith in me, V-..." I cut myself off.
"Lexi, will you have faith in me?" I ponder. She meets my eyes upon hearing her real name. Her face starts to slightly relax as she resumes staring out into the distance.
She makes a sharp exhale as she makes a small smile with closed eyes. "You're so dramatic." She jokes. "Alright Jackson, I'll trust you. If we pull this off, I'll treat you to dinner." She smirks, her confidence now at least slightly restored.
"That's what I like to hear, alright, get ready, I'm about to take off."
It's at this moment I spot a middle-aged Nuzleaf staring at me with a hoe in his hand. His face carries no expression, he's just...staring.
I wave in apology as I throttle up. Feeling the bird lift off the ground. "Saturn, give me a heading for a perpendicular intercept." I ask the computer.
"Answer: Bearing - 200" it replies.
I line up with the bearing and change to flight mode. A number appears under my current airspeed.
"Notice: I have given you a speed to match to intercept accurately, match this speed as best as you can." Saturn adds.
"Dang Saturn, where you been all my life?" I joke.
"Answer: I have been under development for-"
"No-no I was kidding." I clarify.
"Acknowledged."
I throttle up and match the speed as close as I can. Now a silver, blue and gold ant ascending into the vast blue sky.
"Hey Violet, you're gonna do the lock-on for this ambush." I note.
"Eh, why me?" She asks.
"If we use Radar to lock onto them, they'll be alerted to our position, so we'll use the thermal camera to lock on instead." I note.
"I can do that?" Violet questions again.
"Saturn, mind helping her out with that?"
"Acknowledgement: Will do." it replies.
Before long, I spot a cluster of dark spots contrasted with the blue abyss of the sky. "We're still hidden, right Saturn?" I ask.
"Answer: Correct."
"Alright, switch to the 4AAMs, Violet get ready to scare the shit out of these guys."
"On it." She notes.
After a brief pause, she follows. "Alright, 4 of the 9 targets have been locked by the thermal cam, let her rip, Jackson!" She orders.
I grin, "Hey Saturn, get ready to broadcast on all frequencies." I order as I speed up for my fly-by.
"Done."
I rapidly approach the bandits from below and fire my salvo of missiles. Watching all four of them chase after different targets, until finally, their targets erupt into fireballs and begin to rapidly descend.
"WOOOOHOOHOOHOO!" I cheer as I watch the squadron's formation disperse as the rest of them panic. "All targets down, Booyah!" Violet follows.
"SURPRISE BITCHES!" I shout over the radio and zoom over the squadron. "Saturn, switch me back to the Multi-Purpose!" I order, followed by a tone from my plane alerting me of the change in armament. As I roll and pitch up to turn back around, I gaze up at the remaining fighters, spotting one who has fallen the furthest out of formation. I hit a button on my console to set him as my target and complete my turn, leveling out to give chase.
"Attention: I have hacked into enemy comm frequencies, patching you in now." Saturn alerts.
"No shit?" I ask, impressed.
=Daredevil 1: Hush=
"FUCK! NOBLE! YOU BROKE TOO MUCH! DAREDEVIL 4 KEEP THE BANDIT OFF OF HIM!"
Fuck me, Saturn was able to decrypt enemy communications within the blink of an eye, I can see now why he's so valuable. Hearing the enemies while I dogfight them is gonna be invaluable, especially when it's 5 on 1.
"Bring that tail here, boy!" I shout as I slip in behind the JT-9 colored a dark gray with a single red wing. He dives, I dive. He turns, I turn. I stay locked onto him, tone buzzing in my cockpit, and yet I don't fire my missiles. Instead I try and line up a reticle in my HUD, finger on the trigger of my stick.
=Daredevil 6: Noble=
"FUCK, I CAN'T SHAKE 'EM OFF!"
"Jackson, we got another tailing us!" Violet strains, clearly she's having a little trouble dealing with the Gs.
=Daredevil 4: Monolith=
"I'll try and get him off of you Noble!"
Finally I'm able to line up the reticle and pull the trigger. The guns on the underside of the cockpit open fire and shred his engine. With flames now bellowing out of his plane, I break away and attempt to shake my own pursuer.
=Daredevil 6: Noble.=
"Shit! Motherfucker got me! I gotta eject!"
I hear an alert sound in my cockpit.
=Daredevil 4: Monolith=
"I'm locked! Fox 2!"
The alert turns to an alarm as the bandit fires its missiles at me. I get an idea and call back to Violet "HANG ON, VIOLET, THIS IS GONNA BE SCARY!"
"YOU'RE JOKING!"
I slam on the air brakes and pitch up, simultaneously full throttling my engine. The plane rattles and groans as air pelts my wings. My craft suddenly turns vertical as I pull a cobra maneuver, the missiles soar under my engine as the sudden G's cause my plane to flip end over end and fall behind my chaser, pun not intended.
=Daredevil 4: Monolith=
"What the shit?! He's behind me!"
I level out and lock onto the plane that was behind me mere seconds ago, Violet groans in response to the Gs. The tone sounds in the cabin again and I fire, throwing two missiles into his rear end. The tail of his plane separates from the body in a blaze.
=Daredevil 4: Monolith=
"I'm hit! AAAAAHH-"
The rest of his plane explodes, there's no way the pilot survived there.
=Daredevil 1: Hush=
"SHIT! NOBLE AND MONOLITH ARE DOWN, DAREDEVIL SQUADRON, BREAK AND ENGAGE BANDIT!"
"Okay! Time to go!" I shout as I turn to fly past them.
"Saturn, new plan, where's the enemy AWACS?"
"Answer: Bearing- 234, Altitude- 20304 meters, Distance- 101.06 kilometers."
"Thank you very much!" I chirp as a bullet ricochets off the canopy, leaving a crack in the glass. "Oh shit!" I correct as I dive and go max throttle.
"Jackson, what are we doing?!" Violet asks.
"Well, if you weren't here I would have kept going, but seeing as we have no easy targets, nor any backup, I think if I stuck around I would be putting you in danger. So instead we're gonna take out their AWACS."
=Daredevil 1: Hush=
"He's running! Fall back into formation, the transports are our priority!"
=Daredevil 3: Rage=
"Negative Rage, this bastard just killed my little brother! Permission to engage bandit!"
=Daredevil 1: Hush=
"...permission granted, Rage, give him hell."
I keep the throttle maxed out as I speed off towards the river, hoping to outrun the plane behind me.
"What will destroying the AWACS do?" Violet ponders.
"Well the AWACS is essentially a flying radar station, their radar is incredibly powerful, and they use it to see all aircraft in the AO, friend and foe alike. They relay that information to all their friendlies, which is how they know where the air transports are. The Radar on fighters is much, much weaker by comparison. So if we take out the AWACS, they'd have to use their own radar, essentially flying blind, this way our interceptors can mop up the rest of them much easier." I explain
The plane behind me fires missiles, however, due to my speed, they fail to connect and run out of fuel.
"Same can't be said for this dumbass chasing us. We're too quick for him to hit us. We have to keep this speed up so that when we take out the AWACS, we'll be far enough away from him that we can slip into the mountains on the other side of the river and regroup with the others." I explain.
"You came up with all this...really quickly."
"I came up with it when we were chilling in that Nuzleaf's farm, I didn't expect someone to be tailing us, though."
"I suppose we should probably fill in our AWACS about our plan."
"I guess so. Saturn, tune us back to our own frequency."
=AWACS Joker=
"Solaris is now moving away from the AO, the bastard."
Oh boy, here we go.
"Sorry about that fellas, I just thinned out the herd for you all, your squadron of 9 has just turned into a squadron of two."
=Elite: Crimson=
"WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!"
"The interceptors weren't going to make it in time, I had to take initiative."
=Spade 1: Monarch=
"You disobeyed a direct order."
"I saved your asses is what I did."
=AWACS Joker=
"If that's the case, why aren't you regrouping with us?"
"Well, I figured this mission would be greatly benefited by the lack of an enemy AWACS."
=Elite: Crimson=
"...Smart, but it would've been nice if you had relayed this to us sooner!"
"Well I'm relaying it to you now."
=Spade 1: Monarch=
"Solaris, Arceus so help me, you get back here and into forma-"
"With respect Monarch, I outrank every one of you except Crimson. So I'm taking that AWACS down, I don't care if I have to apologize to General Void afterwards. So, Crimson, should I come back and bring with me the very angry redwing on my six, or do I take out their AWACS and keep them from finding the transports in the first place?"
=Elite: Crimson=
"...We can take it from here, Solaris, just keep us in the loop and take out that AWACS."
I hear Monarch grumbling over the radio.
"Wilco."
I begin to lower my altitude as I pick up even more speed, gunning it for the river reflecting the sunlight into the canopy.
"Saturn, mark the AWACS on my HUD." I order.
"Done."
I see a green square appear in my HUD above me. Alright, here goes nothing. I pull up and hit the afterburner, using my previous momentum to gain altitude. "Come on, come on!" I chant. "Fly little lightning bolt!"
Bee-Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee...
"Solaris, target locked! Fox 2!" I shout over the radio as I fire a salvo of missiles at the target, before diving down to keep my speed up and keep out of range of the JT-9 behind me.
I stare up at the large radar plane as it passes over me. "YOU GOT IT!" Violet shouts. I laugh loudly, "BANDIT SPLASHED, I REPEAT, BANDIT SPLASHED." I cheer into the radio.
=AWACS Joker=
"Well done, Solaris! Use the mountains to shake your tail and regroup with the convoy."
"Wilco."
I dive to the water and escape into the hills. Violet and I breathe a sigh of relief, before both of us start chuckling.
"WHOOOHOOHOOHOO! YEAH BABY!" I cheer.
"JACKSON, THAT WAS INCREDIBLE!" Violet cheers alongside.
"WE'RE FUCKING UNSTOPPABLE!" I laugh.
"Alright...I guess a promise is a promise." Violet chuckles.
...
"Jackson?"
I say nothing as I feel something...like I'm being watched by something...familiar, and yet horrifying.
"Saturn, we're not being targeted by anything, right?"
"Answer: Negative, but I am detecting an influx of energy from this region, I cannot identify the nature nor the source."
Energy...what kind of energy makes you feel like this?
"Are you okay, Jackson?" Violet asks worriedly.
"I feel...some kind of presence...and it's...scaring me."
"I don't feel anything, you sure you're alright?" Violet follows.
"It almost reminds me of how I felt when I first met..."
My eyes widen.
"...AVA!" I scream
I spot a flicker of red for a split second and then-
...
...
...
My ears ring, my head hurts, my vision is blurry.
"Chaser." I hear a muffled voice calling my name.
"Jackson Chaser." I hear it again, more clearly.
"JACKSON!" I hear it perfectly clear alongside an alarm. My eyes shoot open, still disoriented. "S-Saturn?" I groan.
"We have been hit. I have cut all power to the engine, to undo this would mean the destruction of this plane and everyone in it." Saturn calmly explains.
"What...hit us?"
"We have been hit by that unknown energy signature I detected. I am unable to determine the source, but it's signature bears heavy resemblance to Ava Nocturne's Fear powers."
"Wh...What about Violet?"
"Ms. Covelight is unconscious, I have estimated that she may have suffered a concussion from the blast."
My eyes suddenly focus. "Violet?!" I shout as I look back to the Snivy in the Co-Pilot's seat. Her head is limp against the canopy glass as blood trickles down her oxygen mask. "SHIT!" I shout as I reach for the Ejection lever.
"Don't." Saturn says.
"W-what?"
"Ms. Covelight's Ejection seat has been damaged from the explosion and has ceased functioning." Saturn explains
My eyes widen as I stare at the lever in my hands.
"To eject now- would mean leaving Ms. Covelight to her death. This goes against your personal mission of protecting her at all costs."
I glare at the lever as I take my hands away.
"I'm not leaving you to die, Vi." I speak aloud.
"So, I have to do a crash landing then?" I continue.
"Correct, I have marked an area within our current glide path that is suitable for a crash landing. I recommend we lower our airspeed to under 300 knots. I will do all that I can to keep the plane stable. You need to shave off as much speed as you can."
"Is the VTOL engine functioning?" I ask as I take note of my gauges.
"It is functioning at- 15 percent, this will not make the plane explode, use wisely." Saturn answers.
"Got it...let's do this." I straighten out the aircraft and pull up on the stick, slamming my feet into the brake pedals. I drop the landing struts for added cushioning, whilst also firing the VTOL engine, groaning as it sputters to the smallest bit of life. I slam forward on the throttle, trying everything I can to get this bird to land on its belly instead of its nose.
The air rattles the plane as I rock back and forth through the sky to shave off as much speed as I can.
I hit the radio transmit button.
"MAYDAY! MAYDAY! THIS IS SOLARIS! WE'VE BEEN HIT! ACTIVATING TRACKER! WE CAN'T EJECT, SO I'M GOING TO ATTEMPT A CRASH LANDING! OVER AND OUT!"
I only hear garbled static on the other end, but if anything, that means my message got through, lest I wouldn't hear anything.
Watching the relatively flat clearing get closer and closer. I growl as I fight the stick for dear life.
"CAUTION - ALTITUDE!" The automated computer yells.
"PULL - UP! PULL - UP!" It follows.
I yell in fury as I start to see so much detail on the ground that I can probably count the boulders in our path. "CUT THE VTOL ENGINE!" I scream as I level out and look at my speedometer.
349 knots
"TOO FAST!" I scream.
...
The Plane slams into the ground, the landing struts groaning and snapping off of the body and causing it to shift slightly to the right. I'm knocked out yet again. The jet screeches across the ground as the right wing hits a large boulder, tearing it clean off of the body of the plane and putting the jet into a flat spin, the tail whipping off of the frame, before finally slamming into the trunk of a cypress tree, stopping and crinkling the main fuselage like a tin can.
...
Again, I awaken in a daze. The stench of jet fuel permeates through the air. The sky is black with smoke. I groan as I barely get my bearings enough to undo my harness and crawl out through the shattered glass of the canopy. I lay there, panting for a second, before my eyes shoot open. "Violet...!" I whine as I groggily get on my feet, stumbling back over to the cockpit. I grab her by the pauldrons and lift, but she doesn't budge. I look down in shock and notice her left leg is pinned under the console, twisted and mangled. "No...!" I cry as I set her back down and try to push against my own seat to try and free her. I slam all of my weight against it, it doesn't budge.
I look right to see a large flame slowly inching its way towards my half of the fuselage, where more fuel is leaking. I panic and form a Blast Saber in my hand, pouring a lot of energy in an effort to carve her leg out of the console. Thankfully, I manage to free her and pull her broken body out of the canopy. In one final move I pull the stick containing Saturn out of the console as well.
I turn my back to the jet and limp away as fast as I can before the plane explodes violently, setting the Cypress tree ablaze and launching me and Violet in the opposite direction, out from the cover of smoke and into the sunlight. I painfully twist my body to take the force of the impact. I cry out in agony as I slowly lower Violet onto the ground. I writhe and groan for a few minutes.
After a couple minutes, I feel it again. That same feeling I felt right before we got hit. This feeling of imminent Doom, of Dread.
Of Fear.
I sit up and quickly scan my surroundings.
"WHO'S THERE?!" I scream in rage.
I hear mechanical footsteps to my left, I turn to the source. I see a Silver Genesect, with a black head crest, yellow claws, feet and eyes, two air intakes instead of teeth.
...Pluto?
"My pet's upset you killed him." Ava's voice echoes in my mind, prompting me to dart my head in all directions.
Suddenly Pluto morphs into that monster he turned into when Ava used her powers on him, he snarls. My eyes widen as I clutch Violet harder.
Then, as if my own vision glitched, Pluto vanished.
I hear what sounds like a wet, gurgle noise come from right in front of me. I snap to the new target.
What I see, I almost can't describe.
It has the general profile of a bug Pokemon, but it appears to be made of this...sludge. The sludge is almost pitch black when I look at it, but there's an outline of red on it. The sludge oozes off of it's body as its single staring, unblinking red eye on the left side of its head gazes back at me. The eye has all of these...cracks coming off of it, and yet it's a perfect circle. A multitude of tentacle-like tendrils sprout from it's back, wriggling and writhing, all dripping the same substance.
A breathy moan comes from the...monstrosity as it begins shambling itself towards me. In a panic, I form a ball of light in my hand and drop it to the ground, creating a domed bubble shield over Violet and I. The entity halts in front of the dome, growling.
This thing...it has to be the conjuration of a Fear Chosen somewhere. I quickly start scanning the treeline for the creator to no dice. I look back to the entity, who is now dragging it's claw across the surface of the dome, as if testing it.
"I WON'T LET YOU HURT HER, MOTHERFUCKER! NOW WHERE'S YOUR MASTER!?" I shout as I continue to clutch Violet in my arms.
The Entity pauses and stares at me.
"...no..." It whispers, before it raises its claw and slams it down on the dome, I can feel just by the amount of light used this thing is immensely strong.
It slams again in the same spot, the dome cracks.
I set Violet down and stand up, now worried.
It slams again, and a large metal claw bursts through the dome. At this point I realize that the sludge isn't what the thing is made of, it's just a coating!
The claw splits open, turning into what look to be razor sharp pincers. It pulls it's forearm out of my shield and the shield shatters like glass. "AAH!" I yelp as I double back. There's no way! That barrier is unbreakable!
I form a Blast Saber in each of my hands as I stand in between this thing and Violet. "YOU'RE NOT GONNA LAY A FINGER ON HER, YOU HEAR ME!" I scream, before quickly being backhanded into another tree. I grunt as I hit the ground, quickly opening my eyes in terror.
The entity glances at Violet. "NoooOOOO!" I growl. It makes a scoff like motion and turns to face me, growling.
...This thing...it's not after Violet? No...it's after ME!
I right myself, clenching my jaws from all the pain compounded over the past 10 minutes. "Fine then, you want me...come get me." I grunt, forming a Glistener and hurling it at the entity of metal and slime. To my horror, however, the entity's right claw opens up into a pincer again and it effortlessly catches my javelin of light within its grasp. I feel the weapon groan through its tether to my hand as the entity snaps it in two, sending a ripple of energy through the tether and causing the pool of light in my soul to evaporate. I gasp as I stumble forward to keep myself from passing out. I hear the entity get closer, turning my gaze up to find its tendrils now sharpened into a pair of dreadful blades which then proceed to puncture my skin over and over again. I can barely even scream. It stops its barrage and uses one of the tendrils to catapult me over the entity, landing back next to Violet's near-lifeless body.
This thing...it could have easily killed me back there...why didn't it?
As I writhe in agony on the stony ground, eyes bolted shut from the torture I'm enduring, not a single sound exiting my vocal chords. I feel those razor sharp shears grab the back of my neck as the entity forcefully drags my face against the gravely surface, multiple cuts and scrapes add to the already impressive set of injuries I've sustained in the past few minutes. Finally it lifts me off the ground, turning me around in its claw, creating shallow lacerations around the base of my neck. I can hear a torrent of liquid hitting the ground. Frankly I can't tell if what I'm hearing is the thick slime covering this thing's exterior and obscuring its appearance, or if it's my own blood. My eyes drift open slowly, meeting the gaze of this thing's staring, unblinking eye.
"Wh..." I choke.
"What...the hell...are you?" I groan.
I hear what sounds like a laugh come from this creature.
"I am..." A breathy whisper exits the sludge.
"...the incarnation of your sins...Jackson." it follows.
This thing...it doesn't want to kill me...it's toying with me...This thing has a personal grudge against ME, but I don't even know what this THING is!
It snarls in my face, before lifting its free claw to pummel me some more, however...A hail of gunfire abruptly impacts the entity's back, causing it to scream and drop me to the ground.
I stare at the entity as its eye tracks Jasmine blazes past overhead, about to make another gun run. It looks back to my broken body and throws its head upwards, emitting out this deafening, haunting laugh, before slowly lowering its head to meat my gaze.
"See...you...soon...lightbringer..." it finishes, before it slashes the air with its claw, and as if it cut the fabric of spacetime itself, a deep red portal opens beside the entity. Sounds of bloodcurdling and horrified screams echo from the portal as the entity steps inside and vanishes without a trace.
The only thing I see in my vision is the one I swore to protect. Her bloodied form now forming small puddles beneath her, and as I feel myself being gently lifted by a pair of soft paws, I lift my hand towards her, as if reaching to grab her hand once more.
"I'm...sorry..." I sob.
"I'm...sorry..." I repeat.
"I should've done more...I should've done more..." I sob again as I'm floated over to her.
"Shh..." I hear from above. "You're safe, Jackson...she's safe...I'll make sure of it." I hear a female voice.
"J...Jasmine?" I ask weakly.
"Yes...you can rest now."
As I watch another red paw grab the bloodied Snivy before me. My adrenaline wears off, and my vision goes black...
Oooooooh….I got chills, man. I really do, 'WHO WAS THAT?' You may wonder? Some of you more attentive readers might've already taken a guess as to who that is, I'll give you a hint, he's in one of the prologues for Covelight 1. Anyway, in case my description of "The Stalker" didn't do any favors visually. There's an illustration of this creature on the NEW SavageCaliber22 Deviantart!
…Yeah, I made another Deviantart account, BUT I'M ACTUALLY USING THIS ONE THIS TIME! Anyway, you'll find the image under the "Story Concept Art" folder in my gallery alongside Nicole from re_Incarnation.
…
OH RIGHT! re_INCARNATION!
So, for those of you who care enough about my life to wonder why the hell it took me so long to get this chapter out, it's because of well, 3 things.
One - There was like a good 2 month period where I was just super burnt out and made absolutely NOTHING.
Two - I wrote a concept for a NEW STORY in a NEW WORLD…it's still Pokemon but it's a NEW AU! It's a post-apocalyptic, mad max style odyssey called re_Incarnation, I got the idea while I was browsing Fanfic for any GOOD Genesect fics and lo and behold all I found was a sea of boring one shots, joke-fics and anthologies …Except for one fic called Existence by Fylkii, that one's actually really good, but it seems to get updated about once every 4 years so that's a bit of an issue. Anyway, I figured, if I couldn't find any Genesect stories that were worth reading (except Existence) then I would MAKE a Genesect story worth reading! Thus, Binary Dreams, or as it's now known: re_Incarnation was born! The story only has a concept Pilot chapter at the moment, as I already have two fics I'm writing at the same time and definitely can't tackle a third as I actually VALUE my sanity. Anyways, it's on my profile, so go check that out, I'm really proud of it!
Three - And this is the biggest reason. I'VE BEEN ANIMATING ONE OF MY FAVORITE FICS IN VIVA REVERIE'S "_ But really really fast" STYLE! Yeah, that's the biggest reason, another project simply took up my time. It's still not even finished! Anyway, the video is called "PROJECT REVERIE - THAT GLACEON BUT REALLY REALLY FAST" and I've worked, so, so, SO hard on it. It's got jokes, it's got voice acting by yours truly and my VERY good friend TemperanceProject, and overall it's a fun time. I put out the first half of the animation on Youtube under the channel "RForce Studios / That Universe" and you should absolutely check it out if you've got the time!
Oh, and make sure to keep an eye on that channel, because soon I'm going to post a video of Jackson's voice! Yeah! I say a lot of quotes from both Covelight 1 and 2 and you'll be able to put a voice to the text!
…okay, okay. I'm done with all the shameless self-promotion, any more and I'm gonna start coming off as a narcissist.
Anyway, hope you all have a FANTASTIC rest of your day, this is Elysium, over and out!