Application

Aerrow

Though it had only been a year since I applied for a license to fly a Skimmer, I hardly remember the application process. Who verified my application? I was thirteen… Did they even allow thirteen-year-olds to apply? Kai's fourteen, right?

Maybe because I was in the Academy they allowed early applications. I was required to take flight training… I had to learn special tactics and tricks that ordinary commuters wouldn't even dream of. And being underage, my academic adviser must've verified my application. Though he was a teacher and had evidence that applied to an early application, Kai is old enough to apply… She just needs someone over the legal age to verify it. Or a Sky Knight with benefits.

Looking over my shoulder, Kai didn't seem as confident in my driving skills. After the partial scare during the flight to Tropica, I don't blame her for being scared. Though I knew full-well what I was doing, she still doesn't entirely know what I'm capable of.

Though, she'll soon find out exactly where my flying skills can get me, that didn't fix the current issue.

The application process, from what I recall, can take as little as four days, but as long as a year. Taking a strategic approach, we would apply as soon as we got into town. While we waited for a response from the council, I would see what Kai knew about Skimmers.

Kai knew the road rules. She drove around town, right? Then she must know. With most citizens on foot, the rules of the road were simple. And the only rules of flying in the sky were stay out of others' way and don't fly while intoxicated. The rest was simple common sense. Of course, if you were flying a ship such as the Condor, things were quite a bit different, but I doubted Kai would ever get her hands on a large ship that she'd have to navigate.

Once in town, Kai surprisingly decided to pick up a little conversation while we walked to a familiar official building. "You don't have a place to stay, do you?"

I hummed, thinking. The guys were staying back on the Condor, flying back each night when they finished the tasks at hand. Though I'd tried to help them, they insisted that they'd lost the bet. Bent out of shape about it, they still stuck to the bet and wouldn't let me lift a single item. I was grateful, but I still felt bad.

I shook my head. "Not entirely. Why?"

"Dad's leaving tomorrow morning. I could ask him if you could stay at our house until it's time for you to pack up."

I chewed on the inside of my cheek. "Kai, I don't think that's such a good idea…"

"Why not? I'd feel better if you did. It would be making up for how I acted earlier."

I shrugged. "If it's what you want to do, you can ask your father. I don't have a problem with flying back to the Condor…"

"Their ship?" she whispered quietly to herself. "Seems a little far out," she looked out toward the edge of the land, spying a ship docked in the distance.

"I don't mind."

I smiled as one of the guards stood upright, welcoming me to the Council's headquarters.

Raising a brow, Kai's gaze tracked the guard until he was too far behind us. "A little formal… where are we?"

I pulled open the door. "I have to talk to the Council for a bit. You don't mind, do you?"

She shook her head. "No, it's fine."

Navigating through the building, I found the appropriate room and stood in front of a tall podium. Kai wandered off, sifting through all of the artifacts hanging on the walls. "These are the city's documents, right?"

"Every last one. Even the one that says Atmosia has the right to exist."

Kai laughed, leaning back to read the ones much higher up. "God, I'm too short for this…"

"Come here, you'll feel even shorter." The podium next to me was taller than I was.

She smiled, rushing over to see for herself. "Wow, you're right… You know, I never noticed how much taller you were than me."

I laughed nervously. To double check that our time here wasn't a waste, I asked, "You are fourteen, right?" Her height made me think twice, and signing an application for anyone younger than that would be disqualified on the spot.

She nodded. "Yeah, I get that a lot. My mother stopped growing when she was twelve and I got her genes" She shrugged, her eyes immediately turning to an elderly man that walked into the room. "Aerrow? What are you doing back so soon?"

"So soon?" Kai repeated, glancing at me.

"I came here to sign documents not too long ago," I reassured her. Though they weren't entirely official documents, they were still important. "Uh… I need an… application for Kai, here."

"Wait, why?" Kai asked.

The man grew suspicious of our reason for being here.

"Kai doesn't have her license and I thought it would be nice to start the application process while I'm in town."

"Isn't her father away for business?" he asked.

Kai, in a state of shock, lacked the ability to respond.

"He's in town for the day but won't be here to complete the process. I will be, however. Do you think I could verify her application?"

Raising his glasses to rest them gently on his nose, the man paused for a moment to think. "I don't think I've ever had anyone of your age stand in such a high position… Nor anyone your age with the power to verify any legal document." He knew very well that I had signed legal contracts before and been able to uphold them.

The constant mentioning of my age ticked me off.

"Though I doubt there will be any question in the legalities… You are in fact a Sky Knight and have the right to it. Why not!" He pulled out a few sheets of paper from the podium and handed them to me. "Have her fill them out."

I nodded. "Kai… Are you all right?" I asked, seeing she hadn't moved since the mention of applying for a license.

"Y-yeah… are you sure?"

I smiled. "Yes, now come on. We'll be back in a few minutes."

The old man nodded, taking his belongings and leaving the room.

I led Kai out to the front of the building, grabbing a pen on the way out. "Do you want to do it or shall I?"

She shoved the papers back in my direction. "You can… I'm still a little stunned."

I laughed. "All right. Uhh…" I filled out everything that I knew so far, pausing here and there to think back. "Last name?" I asked, slightly embarrassed.

Kai reached over, filling that one out for herself.

"Birthday…" I set my pen down on the line, waiting for her answer.

"April twelfth."

She was only seven months younger than myself. I wrote the year following my own birth down and went to the next question until the entire application was filled out. However, Kai neglected to respond when I'd asked about her mother. I assumed it was acceptable to leave the information blank, as it wasn't apparent that her mother lived with her, and stood up. "Let's head back inside."

Feeling slightly better, Kai seemed more alert.

"Sorry for the surprise… I thought it'd be nice."

She smiled. "It is… thank you so much. You have… you have no idea how much this means to me."

Letting the door close behind us, I dropped all thoughts of being repaid for my act of kindness. It was selfish to wish for anything when Kai was already trying her best to be nice.

After turning in her application and returning to her house, Kai went on a rabid hunt for her father.

"He's not home…," she spoke quietly, hiding herself on the couch.

I scratched at my scalp, unsure of what to say. "How about we leave then? Keep your mind off of it?"

She shrugged. "Where do you have in mind?"

"Terra Saharr. It's a little far but well worth it."

"Any reason specifically?"

I nodded. "It's basically a wasteland. It's clear and barely anyone goes there. And I think it's an appropriate place to get some training in. Bring… bring a weapon with you, just in case, though. You do have one, right?"

She nodded softly. "Yeah… it's in my room."

"We should pack supplies," I told her, searching for the kitchen.

Hearing her climb off the couch, Kai then rushed after me. "Why? How long are we going to be there?"

"Not long, but you can easily get dehydrated there. Better safe than sorry. You don't mind if we stop by the Condor for a few navigation supplies on the way there, do you?"

She shook her head. "You're the one driving."

With a smug smile, I responded. "Not entirely." I couldn't fly two Skimmers there on my own…

Having told her father not to fix my bike, I knew it was still in their garage, while her father must've taken the team's wherever he left to. Since mine had more safety features and stabilizers, I'd let her fly mine out just to get started. It has a better ability to regain stability on its own if control is lost. But once there, she'd fly hers. After all, learning to fly on someone else's Skimmer and then flying your own can be tough. Seeing as she's already going to have to do that, I don't want to make it any more difficult than it must be.

"The, uh… kitchen is this way, she pointed out, taking the lead.

Once we had a pack full of necessities, I had Kai show me to her Skimmer. That's when the real surprise reared its ugly head.

"Kai, that's not a Skimmer."

She looked at me, confused. "What do you mean?"

"That's not a Skimmer." It was, in fact, a Switchblade. Though it lacked the armor necessary for war, it carried just about all of the weapons and everything else I learned to fight against with the Dark Ace.

"I can't fly this," I stated plainly. I could fight against it, but there was no chance in hell I was going to fly it.

"What is it?" she asked, ignoring my last statement.

Dropping the supplies by the door, I walked over and leaned down to clear some of the dust from the insignia. My fears were confirmed. The plates on the wings bore the Cyclonian insignia. "It's a Cyclonian Switchblade. You said your father let you fix it up?"

She nodded, backing away from the bike.

"You didn't see the plates before?"

"I did… I never thought anything of it. I've… heard of the Cyclonians and the damage they've done… I just don't know how to identify them."

Had she not seen their insignia before? The Cyclonian Talons had invaded this place not too long ago… Where was she when that happened?

"Look, it's fine. You know more about this bike than myself. You fly it." Truth was, her bike was safer than mine stability-wise. Mine may match it in maneuverability, and with practice, stability, but on its own it held a higher safety rate, hence why Cyclonis allowed her boneheaded Talons to drive them even when they lacked experience.

"You know I can't fly this! I don't know how!"

"Oh, shush, yes you do. You have to know to be able to fix up a bike," I smiled. "To properly fix a bike you have to know its functions and how they're put into play."

She shrugged. "I guess…"

"Do you need help getting it out of here?"

She nodded. "It's bolted down back here, hold on." She grabbed a bulky power tool and squatted down, loudly removing bolts from the cement.

"So this is your workshop?" I asked, once the noise had died down.

She nodded, wiping her hair from her eyes before hanging the tool back up. "It used to be a gardening shed but dad would bring back old tools that weren't up to professional standard but still in working order and they collected here. After he brought this in," she nudged the bike, "it became a workshop."

"And you know a lot about sky rides… from your father?"

She shook her head. "Taught me shit. I had to learn it all on my own. He's gone all the time, when did he have the time to teach me anything more than how to open and close a door?"

I looked down at my feet, unsure of what to say to console her pent-up anger toward her father.

"I don't mean to bother you with my family issues… Let's get this thing out of here and head out."

I nodded, pulling the front wheel out of a stand and onto the cement. Once Kai had the backend free from its stand as well, we dragged it out onto the grass before we hit her driveway. "You can drive it now, right? Nothing you have to do first?"

She nodded.

"I'll meet you out front." I rushed around the house and opened the front door, making my way to the back door, opening the garage. I led my Skimmer onto the driveway and waited for Kai. She pulled her Switchblade around and stood by it.

"I have to return the skimmer I borrowed. I'll be back in a minute or two." Having left the other Skimmer in the garage as well, it was only another moment before I had that one out as well. She waved as I drove off, and I made sure I ran all the way back.

Kai was surprised it had only taken a minute and that I didn't get caught up in conversation. In any case, I was back, and we could leave now.

Unsure of how well she could handle her bike, I watched as she climbed on and started it up. "You ready?" she asked, smiling.

I nodded. "Head toward land's end!" I told her, starting up my own.

"What do I do then?" she asked, unsure.

"Don't think about it. Drive off the end and let your instincts take over!" I revved the engine, picked up my feet, and rode off ahead of her. Worried about if she could handle a bike she'd never driven before, I kept an eye on her as often as I could.

Though she kept steady, I could tell she was still worry about the takeoff. I was unsure as well when I'd first learned to fly. It may have been in a closed-off arena in the academy, but that didn't change facts that I was still scared of screwing up. She had a different circumstance that would almost instantly confirm death if she screwed up. Clouds that lead to possibly nowhere spelled out the rest of her eternity if the wings failed, or she didn't know how to release them.

But she fixed up that bike, she knew more about it than most people. I was sure she'd be fine.

Drawing ever closer to the edge, Kai slowly grew tense and her driving became more ridged than flowing. I sighed and confidently drove directly off the edge of Atmosia. My Skimmer instantly lost air, but I drew out the wings and was flying in a matter of seconds.

Kai, being a ways back, was still on the pavement when I was in the air. I kept an eye on her as she drove right off the edge. Frantic hands were already sitting on the lever before her wheels left solid ground.

I closed my eyes and smiled. She already had it figured out. She was going to be just fine.

I slowed down and let her catch up, glad to see she was flying.

"Do you think this is legal?" she asked, laughing nervously from the successful takeoff.

I shook my head. "Probably not! But you're with me, you have an excuse. Now, follow me! We'll stop at the Condor before we head to Saharr." Piper and Stork were probably back at the ship right now.

Apparently, Kai wasn't entirely sure how to sit idly in the air and ended up flipping over. Though that was the gist of what had happened, she was still pissed that I couldn't stop laughing. Folding her arms across her chest, she let her legs keep her on the bike. Her long ponytail dangled below her.

"Oh, shut up and help me turn over."

Once I was able to stifle the laughter, I showed her how. I turned my bike over and hung beside her. "The bike will follow your movements when flying. Use your body and flip it back over." While the blood began rushing to my head, I flipped my bike over and waited for her to as well. After a few tries, she had it down.

"I assume that's why you told me not to move when you let go of the controls," she smiled.

"Yeah… you move, the bike moves, and you're screwed if you don't have complete control."

Looking forward once more, Kai's eyes caught the Condor. "Okay."

I nodded and flew off ahead of her once more.