Just for reference, Mach one is 343 meters per second.
The Decaying Author and fractalshadow: Thanks! I've got high hopes for this one.
Guest 1: Thank you! I'm always glad to hear my stories are entertaining! I'm glad you like my writing style, too!
Guest 2: I'm not sure where to go with Prower Demonopoly. If you have any ideas, I'd much appreciate to hear them. If not, then maybe by the time I finish/get stuck on all the other ones, I'll be a better writer with better ideas and be able to continue it again.
Yori Micah: As you wish: here we go!
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The planes only let up on me once I began my descent to land. The landing strip was in terrible condition, making for a rough landing. As I came to a stop, another transmission signaled in on my radio. This time, a different voice came through.
"Stay in your plane until further instructed!" The abrupt order caught me a bit off guard, but I obeyed. In less than a minute, nine human soldiers clad in solid olive green uniforms were surrounding the plane with rifles in hand.
"Exit," ordered yet another voice from outside. I flipped a blue switch on the control panel to open the blast shield. Each of their mouths fell agape as I emerged from the cockpit. Unsteady barrels were leveled towards me.
"Step... Step out, now," said the same man with fading authority. I slowly climbed over the side and dropped to the ground with my hands still up. "Detain... him..."
Nothing happened for a moment.
"You two!" He gestured to a pair of men somewhere behind me. "Detain him!"
Hurried footsteps approached from behind, then two sets of hands forced my own behind my back.
"Search him. The rest of you search the plane." Despite the warning, a surprised noise escaped my throat as I was lifted up and my gloves, socks, and shoes were removed.
"He's clear," said one of the men behind me as he put my clothing back on. After a few moments, the men searching my plane climbed out, one of them carrying my first aid pack to the apparent leader.
"There was only first aid. Not even a parachute."
"Put it back, then." The leader gave me a scrutinizing look and walked to the side of my plane. "Permission to use your radio?"
"Y-yes, sir," I answered, taken aback. He climbed the fuselage with no further acknowledgement.
"How do you work this? And where's the dial?" he asked without hesitation.
"Er... The red button on the top left turns it on..." I heard the click of the power button pressing, and he jumped with a short laugh.
"A screen! How the Hell's it so detailed? And colored! I still don't see how you turn the dial."
"Uh... touch it and spin it like you would a regular dial."
No response, only another laugh. After a few moments, he spoke, but not to me.
"This is Cadet Bowings reporting on the intruding plane. We've landed the perpetrator, but we... I need an appointment with Chief of General Staff Dill."
"Chief Dill? What could you possibly need an appointment with him for?" The voice was filled with incredulity.
"I... I can't exactly explain it, but I swear on his majesty's name that it is worth the Chief's time. This also demands high priority, if at all possible."
"Very well," he relented. "I'll send an envoy to your location. And I'll call the chief immediately."
"Thank you."
x
Thirty minutes' time saw me being carried into the back of a large, black truck with three soldiers, and another thirty minutes saw us pass a large city and enter a military base. Once there, several men conversed outside of the truck before its doors were opened. I was presented to Cadet Bowings, two of his men, and one unfamiliar man. He was an older man with a squared, authoritative face and was wearing a heavily decorated uniform. His squinted eyes widened at my sight.
"This wasn't covered by any protocol, sir, so I found it appropriate to contact you." Instead of responding to the Cadet, the man continued to scrutinize my every feature.
"Bring it inside," he eventually barked. I didn't take much offense to it, considering the circumstances. The man turned and began to walk as I was carried to the ground.
"Oh, he can speak, sir," Bowings commented. The man stopped and faced us again.
"Speak, then," he ordered. "Tell me how old you are."
"Er... Ten, sir." He scoffed.
"Sure. Bring him in, now. I'm questioning him right now." He turned again, and I was walked forward to follow him. We entered a large building with a long hallway. We marched to near the end of the corridor before I was ushered into an empty room with several folding chairs stacked against a wall. The door was closed behind me; it was just me and him in the room.
"I'm Chief Dill," he stated. "Do you have a name?"
"Tails... sir..."
"Well, have a seat, Tails. I've got some questions." I sat, and I decided to tell the entire truth.
x
I had counted sixty-two questions so far, and not one answer did he seem to believe yet.
"Now," Dill said, "let me ask you another question: have you heard of eugenics?"
"Eugenics? I have," I answered with a nod. Sixty-three.
"Are you a German eugenics project?"
"A... No, sir!" Sixty-four.
"Who are your parents, then?" My heart sank.
"I... don't know. I was raised by my friend, Sonic." Sixty-five.
"Sonic who?"
"I don't know his real name. He never said, and I never asked." Sixty-six.
"Hm. And he taught you to fly a plane?"
"Sort of. I figured out everything he couldn't teach me, though." Sixty-seven.
"Can you fight in a plane?"
"Yes, sir." Sixty-eight.
"How well?"
"Er... I can take down a battleship's defenses, but I don't know how that compares to other pilots..." He scoffed. Sixty-nine.
"I don't believe most of what you've told me so far, but you'll be fighting in the next battle."
"Battle? Is there a war going on?"
"What do you mean 'Is there a war going on?' There's been a war going on since Hitler invaded Poland! France fell to the blitzkrieg, for heaven's sake!"
"Oh..."
"In any case, you'll be kept at a camp in Berkshire until the next battle, which could be any day now. And don't think about deserting; any and all planes leaving a battle will be shot down by both sides. Common rule. Understand?"
"Yes, sir..." Seventy.
x
I spent four days in a high security camp. The small room I was given was rather nice, but I was never allowed outside on my own, of course. I was only ever seen by high ranking officers and scientists. Each one wore the same expression as the last the first time they saw me. On the first day, scientists took samples of everything they possibly could without harming me. On the second day, I was taken to a medical facility. They took a full body x-ray of me before sending me back. On the third and fourth days, I was only observed for a few hours. The whole ordeal was quite uncomfortable, but I didn't complain.
On the fifth day, July 10, I was awakened very early by one of the few officers who had seen me at some point.
"Get up! You're plane's outside. If you're as good of a fighter pilot as the Chief says you claim to be, then get your tails out there! The Luftwaffe is over the channel right now, and they're headed straight for London!" I was still half dazed when he grabbed me by the shoulders and stood me up, giving me a push towards the door. "There's eight million people in that city, ya hear? Now get a move on!"
I nodded and ran outside. Sure enough, another officer was beaconing at me from a nearby runway, and my plane was right behind him. I spun my tails for an extra burst of speed and jumped right over him, landing in the cockpit. Needless to say, he was speechless. I shut the blast shield before he could regain his thoughts and started the plane. I wasn't sure which side of the war was right, but eight million lives were too many to waste time deciding over. I took to the sky and made east.
x
On my way east, I passed a fleet of planes; each was labeled "Royal Air Force." I couldn't bother waiting for them though; they were all moving at subsonic speed, so I sped past them. The channel was approaching quickly, as was a dark line of planes on the horizon: the Luftwaffe, I assumed. I approached their ranks at Mach six and shot down three of them as I passed. I decelerated as much as possible as I turned a huge loop in the sky. Only then were more of them breaking away to give chase. There were three planes that were ahead of the rest of them. I made a large leftwards twirl and ran my fire through two of them. I ignored the third and fired a grapeshot at the posterior group that was giving chase. Six out of eleven were hit, and I picked off four more before abandoning them. I reaccelerated to Mach three and ran right along their ranks, raining fire down on them along the way.
I couldn't count how many I had hit along the way at that speed, but every plane was in a frenzy by the time I was done. I pulled upwards, decelerated, and flipped my nose down towards the ocean. Only then did I notice that there were bombers. I didn't have time to count them; there were several planes chasing after me. I went into a nosedive and ran through four of them as I pulled up. I made a beeline towards the nearest bomber at a safe speed of Mach one and shot it down with ease. It exploded seconds after I passed it, taking down three planes near it.
Bullets were tapping lightly against the tail of the plane, almost like rain falling on the wings. I fired my rear guns and watched five planes fall in my rearview mirror. I counted three more bombers. I used the same method to take down a second one, but ran out of bullets midway through. It exploded nonetheless, and I didn't hesitate to switch to energy bullets. I would have to be more conservative with these, lest I completely ran out of power.
I weaved through and around the remaining planes, only shooting at the scarce few that I had to. I swiveled through and around them as I made my way towards the next bomber. Fewer shots than letters spelled death for the third bomber. I pulled to the sky and looped around to face the fourth and final one. Many of the remaining planes were flocking around this one, desperate to protect it. In the fastest evasive maneuvers I'd ever performed, I rocketed through the swarm at Mach four and laid fire on the final threat. The bomber and about ten planes around and below it were swallowed in the fire, marking the end of my role in this battle.
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Why the heck does this app have a character limit? I had a whole 'nother paragraph to write but I gu