StarFox: Fugitive

Chapter 1 – Troubling Takeoff

Ten years later…

In the vast expanse of space, which promised only blackness, wondrous sights, and many dangers as well as allies, on one corner of Corneria, which went about its daily business as usual, five command ships stood guard over it like it was a valuable jewel to be protected from thieves. In many ways it was, considering that eighty-five percent of sentient life in the Lylat System lived there. Inside the main ship, the Greyhound, General Pepper II was getting rather frustrated. He had been serving in the Cornerian military for the past five years, fitting considering that his father was the first General Pepper, but after staying up for the past twelve hours on the lookout, he was ready to throw in the towel.

"Are you sure those reports were accurate?" he asked his second-in-command, another dog by the name of Ramirez.

Ramirez let out a heavy sigh. He'd already explained this, but he knew full well what type of reaction his superior would get. "Our men believed they saw unusual activity occurring somewhere near here only yesterday General," he said as calmly as he could, "They don't know for sure but…"

"Well then they need to know before they send a report like this!" the general barked, "You get paid to know, not 'believe.' It's reports like these that cause us to sit here on our tails for half a day instead of actually doing something useful for the planet! The next time I hear something like that someone's gonna wish they double-checked their sources."

Ramirez could only put his head in his hand. If there was anything he knew for certain after working with the general for five years, it was that his integrity wasn't what got him his position. Now though, he too found himself wishing something would happen, lest they end up wasting another twelve hours.

"Wait a minute," one of the pilots sounded off, "I'm picking up something on the radar."

"Yeah me too," another pilot nodded his head. General Pepper and Ramirez hurried over to the first pilot.

"Well, what is it?" General Pepper asked, "Let me see!" Pushing Ramirez out of the way, he gazed with bloodshot eyes at the monitor and saw what appeared to be four jets of the same design heading near the asteroid field just a few miles away.

"What is it?" he asked again, glad to finally have a lead.

"This is weird," the pilot said in a confused voice, "These jets don't look foreign at all. In fact, they look very much Cornerian."

"What in the sam-hill are you talkin' about?" the general asked, obviously befuddled.

The pilot put a pair of headphones over his ears to try and pick up any possible transmission, and after a moment, the wide-eyed surprised look that immediately donned itself on his face confirmed his suspicions. "General," he said, "I think you should hear this."

"Give me those." Without waiting, the general snatched up the headphones, put them on, and turned up the volume slightly. What he heard was the last thing he expected to hear from a Cornerian pilot, and in the most unlikely tone. It was that of a young female, probably in late adolescence, happily saying to what he assumed to be the rest of her cohorts, "Alright gang! Let's do this!"

General Pepper immediately frowned, and just as quickly, his temper flared. "What in blazes is goin' on?!" he asked. Without waiting for a response, he looked at the rest of the crew and added, "I want to know as soon as possible!"

While the crew instantly went into overdrive trying to figure out what this could be, entering the asteroid field just miles from their location were four Cornerian jets that looked similar to the StarFox arwings, the designs of which the owners had happily lent to the defense fleet years earlier. Inside the jets were not official pilots, not even rookies, but four students from the Cornerian Flight academy. And they were led by a white fox who, while having become a young adult in the past year, still seemed a bit too eager to fly straight into action, if not outright danger.

"Oh, this is gonna be so cool!" Vicky said, barely able to contain herself even as she held tightly onto the steering wheel. She meant to have only herself hear her say so, but her excitement was clearly shared by one of her friends.

"Yeah this is!" Kitty replied in enthusiastic agreement. Inside her jet, she turned her head around to see two more jets lagging behind. "Come on slowpokes!" she exclaimed with a nod of her head, "Hurry up!"

The two sped up, but only slightly, showing their hesitation if it wasn't already evident in their voices. "Are we really doing this?" Amber asked.

Max shrugged his shoulders. "Well, we've made it this far out," he said. With a frown though, he added, hoping at least Vicky would hear, "Still, it's not too late to turn back."

"Oh come on bro!" Kitty chided him, "Don't be such a baby! We won't be out here for long."

"Right," Vicky agreed, "And besides, we could use the extra practice for tomorrow's test." Even as she was speaking though, a pang of guilt hit Vicky's chest. Still, she reasoned, this test would be harder than the other ones, especially considering that it would be the last one of the semester. It was also early in the morning, and school hadn't started yet. Thirdly, it wasn't like they'd stolen these jets. They'd been assigned to them at the beginning of the year.

No matter how much she tried to push the unpleasant feeling aside, however, the guilt hit Vicky even harder when Amber spoke up. "But we've already been caught doing this once," she reminded them, "Two more times and, well, you know…"

Dead silence followed over communications, since all of them knew what Amber was talking about, and would rather not face the consequences, especially Vicky. Ever the fighter, she attempted again to push the feeling away by saying, "We'll be more careful this time. We're only out here for a practice run, that's all."

"Does it begin now?" Max asked, trying to remain calm but fear quickly filling his voice.

"What do you mean?" Vicky asked, her head turned back around to look at him.

"'Cause an asteroid is headed straight toward you!" Max shouted, pointing at it in an attempt to warn her.

Vicky instantly turned back around, and her eyes instantly widened when she saw that Max was right. Before she could get it though, her trained reflexes immediately traveled from her mind to her hands, and she pulled on the wheel, sending the jet up, back, and then down again in a somersault. She shook her head slightly to rid herself of the shock before she let out a sigh of relief.

"Whoa," she said, "Thanks a lot Max, I owe you one."

"Uh, no problem," Max said. Then, without thinking, he added, "My pleasure." He instantly shook his head himself, wondering at what he just said, before he felt a warmness on his cheeks. Fortunately, at least as far as he was concerned, no one else could see it.

"There's more coming this way!" Amber suddenly cried.

"Not on my watch!" Kitty replied. After readying the jet's guns, she cried out, "Eat plasma laser space rocks!" She instantly opened fire, and got three medium-sized asteroids with all three of the shots she sent their way, sending debris in all directions. "Yeah!" she said, raising her triumphant fist in the air, "That's how it's done!"

"Hey sis, I wouldn't get too cocky if I were you," Max tried to warn her.

"What are you talking abou-." Before she could finish asking, Kitty let out a frightened gasp and jumped when she felt something just about slam itself into the side of her jet. "Oh no! I'm hit!"

"See what I mean?" Max asked, making Kitty want to slap him upside the head.

"It doesn't look too bad," Amber spoke up, "I can tell even from here."

Suddenly Vicky decided it was her turn to speak. Now that they'd avoided some major accidents, it was time, she felt, to put their skills to the test before the actual test. "Alright guys, enough playin' around," she said. Gripping her hands firmly on the steering wheel, and her gray eyes narrowing like a predator eyeing its prey at the field of black space rocks in front of her, she added in a low voice, "Let's rock."

With that, she split away from everyone else behind her, and right after her, Kitty, Amber, and Max went on their way to see if they had what it took to combat an enemy, even if, in this case, it was only a few asteroids.

Max started out by taking a nosedive underneath a particularly large asteroid, and then performing a somersault to get out of the way of another one about the same size. Not in the mood to dodge another for a third time, let alone the two that were coming his way, he narrowed his eyes in the trademark feline way at his obstacles and let loose two shots of fire, both of which hit their mark, splitting the rocks in half.

Amber, trying to play it more safely, fired one shot at an asteroid above her, and then another at one below her. She smiled at the way her aim improved, but when she looked up, her eyes widened when she saw a third asteroid, twice as large as the ones she just shot, headed straight down toward her. With it being too big to roll out of the way, she dove down, speeding up faster and faster, until, as if out of nowhere, she decided to face this rock head-on. She turned the jet around and gave it a powerful blast, causing it to blow up, and allowing her smile to return.

Kitty was obviously enjoying herself. Whooping and hollering like a girl in the moment, in a style similar to her brother, left and right she dodged asteroids both big and small. When she noticed four of them coming at her at the same time, she knew she wasn't going to be caught off-guard again. She quickly performed a barrel-roll and then performed a somersault, before firing four shots at once, cheering as soon as she saw them all get blown to bits.

As for Vicky, well, as far as she was concerned, she was doing pretty much what she was born to do. Not only did she perform a dozen barrel-rolls to shield herself from any sort of impact, but she also fired laser shots at any nearby asteroid, and hit each and every one of them. When she came upon a group of asteroids too large to be blown away with a single shot, she dodged every one of them with every twist and turn of the jet she could maneuver. And as soon as she saw an even larger rock, she went up backward into a somersault, held the buttons for the lasers to charge a more powerful shot, and immediately let it loose when she was just feet away from the asteroid. The powerful blast, made it explode, allowing Vicky to pass through unscathed.

After wiping her head to relieve herself of the craziness of the previous moment, she called up her friends and asked, "How're you guys doing?"

"Awesome!" Kitty replied happily. Vicky looked to her left to see a jet performing outrageous stunts, and she was sure that was Kitty.

"Hey Kitty don't be such a showoff," Max spoke up, obviously certain as well that that pilot was his sister.

"Wait," Amber suddenly said, clear anxiety showing with that one simple word, followed by two more. "W-, what's that?"

Vicky looked to her right, and saw Amber even from where she was, and she was pointing up. All of the rest of the student pilots looked up to see what was wrong, and their eyes widened and mouths fell open as soon as they saw the biggest asteroid any of them had ever seen come down toward them. As far as they were concerned, it looked about as big as Corneria itself. Even though they knew they were probably wrong however, that did nothing to hinder the panic refusing to be stopped from rising within them.

"Look at the size of that thing!" Max said with awe as well as fear.

"Oh no! This is it!" Kitty cried, much more fearful than her brother, "We're gonna die!"

"What are we going to do?!" Amber asked, "We have to get out of here!"

Immediately, Vicky's previous guilt came back with a force three times as hard as the first. She had led her friends out here straight into danger, and now she was seeing the consequences of her actions. Still, since she had led the three out here, she slowly found herself confronted with the responsibility to keep them out of harm's way. And it was a responsibility she found herself quickly grabbing hold of. She quickly thought of a way they could get out, looking for any vulnerabilities in the asteroid that threatened to overtake them, and soon believed she had a plan.

"Well I'll tell you what we're not gonna do!" she spoke up, "We're not gonna lose our minds and we're not gonna die!"

"Then do you have any suggestions?" Kitty asked, "'Cause I'd love to hear them!"

"Everyone follow me and do what I do!" Vicky replied, "I promise I'm gonna get us out of here! Let's go!"

Without waiting for anyone else to say anything else, Vicky forced the jet forward, up toward the asteroid itself. She looked only for a moment at her radar and was glad to see that the rest were following her, but now she had to concentrate and see to it to not only get herself through alive, but every one of her friends as well. Ignoring the way her heart pounded in anticipation and anxiety, and putting every bit of her skill to the test, she pushed her jet forward to a speed twice as fast as before planning on navigating the canyons inside the asteroid in hopes that they would eventually find an opening to let them out.

Vicky first turned the wheel to the left, and then to the right, followed by pulling the jet up, and then pushing it down. Using not only her own headlights but those of the others as well, she and her friends darted and dodged again and again, managing to keep both the jets and themselves intact, until they finally came near the end of the trail. Vicky's eyes very nearly popped out of her head when she saw that the asteroid at this end didn't have an opening for them to escape through. For a moment, she thought this was the end for them, until her mind began to form another idea which then transferred to her hands.

Repeating one of her moves from before, Vicky held down on to the button for the plasma lasers, and as soon as she believed she had a powerful enough shot, she let it loose. The lasers instantly connected with the wall and unleashed a great explosion, leaving, to Vicky's great relief, an opening large enough for all of them to pass through. She kept her current speed going until she was finally out of the asteroid, and couldn't have been more relieved to see the black expanse dotted with countless stars once more.

"Alright, I think we made it," she said, "Is everyone else okay?"

"I'm good, a little freaked out but good," Kitty replied.

"Same here," Max sighed in relief, "Boy am I glad that's over."

"Me too," Amber added, "And, I don't mean to impose but, could we please go back now?"

"Sure," Vicky nodded, realizing that she was right. She certainly didn't want to experience anything like this again, at least not anytime soon. "You're right Amber. Let's go." She rubbed first one hand on her leg and then the other to rid them of the sweat that formed in her palms, but just as they were about to turn toward home, an unusual voice came up through communications.

"Not so fast." It was a gruff male voice, one none of them recognized.

"Who said that?" Kitty asked, looking around in every direction.

"Up here!" the voice replied. And before any of them could wonder any further, bright lights were flooded over all four of them. They quickly looked up in the direction they came from, and Vicky's heart immediately dropped when she saw not one, but five large Cornerian defense fleet ships. She wished that the jets had cloaking devices so they could disappear. At least then no one could see the shock and horror that flooded over her face which the light clearly exposed.

"Hey, what gives?" Kitty asked in a frustrated tone, making Vicky wish she'd stay quiet.

"This is General Pepper of the Cornerian defense fleet," the male voice called out, "And you are all trespassing on grounds restricted to all pilots. Now unless you want to face military force, I would advise you all to let go of the wheels and put your hands where we can see 'em."

"We can't," Amber suddenly said in a matter-of-fact voice, "We have to keep our hands on the wheel if we want to keep the jets still."

"Aw, we have a smart one," General Pepper replied, "But my orders still stand. You will willingly bring your jets aboard this ship, or I will be forced to send my men after you."

Vicky wanted to hang her head between her knees like her tail already was. She wanted to literally sink through her seat and be gone. Still, the last thing she wanted was to be forcibly taken aboard a Cornerian ship by military men. That would only make things worse. No. The time had come to face the music, to face the consequences for her actions, no matter how bad they ended up being.

Trying to hang her head high, Vicky sent one final message through communications. "Alright guys. Game's over. Let's go."

Meanwhile, at the Cornerian Flight Academy, the headmistress, a dark-gray rabbit by the name of Beatrice Rabbit, was tidying up her office after meeting with two of the teachers from the night before. She hadn't been looking forward to it, but she was used to cleaning. Before she became headmistress, she prided herself on keeping her home clean at all times and impressing that influence on the rest of her family. For the past five years though, she was no longer the mistress of just her own house, but perhaps the largest house in Corneria City.

After putting the last file in the cabinet, she looked out the windows, and put her hands behind her back as she watched morning unfold before her. The sun was now past the horizon, and she could already see students walking through one of the squares – some carrying books, some carrying bags, some carrying nothing at all – going about their daily routine of going to class. While she had a sense of being proud of being chosen to be in charge of these students, she was even prouder that her own daughter had decided to join to academy.

Suddenly though, her thoughts were interrupted when she heard her phone going off. She strode to her desk, pressed the button to turn on the speaker, and said, "Headmistress Rabbit."

"Ma'am, there's an important visitor out front who wants to see you as soon as possible," her secretary replied, her tone of voice slightly nervous.

"Who is he, and what does he need to speak to me for?" Beatrice asked, curious to know.

The next words made her eyes widen in alarm. "It's General Pepper ma'am," her secretary explained, "He claims to have apprehended four of your students and desires to return them to you."

"Are you sure?" Beatrice asked, an idea forming in her mind about who these students were.

"Yes, and, he wanted to let you know that one of them is your daughter."

Beatrice's mouth came open and her heart began to pound in complete shock. It took her a moment to regain herself and reply to her secretary, and she now believed she knew who the students were. "Thank you Angela," she said in her usual dignified, calm voice, "I'll report to the general immediately."

After making sure she looked presentable, Beatrice made her way through the office building, and went the usual way she now knew like the back of her hand to the very front of the campus, keeping her back straight and her head high the whole way there. And if her eyes only widened at the news before, her eyes nearly fell out of her head when she saw General Pepper standing in front of eight soldiers keeping hold of four of her students, and one of them indeed was her daughter.

"Hi Mum," Amber said in a small voice, waving as she tried to smile. Her mother frowned sternly at her and shook her head, telling her now was not the time.

As soon as she faced General Pepper though, her respectful demeanor had returned. The two promptly shook hands. "Headmistress Rabbit," the general greeted her.

"General Pepper," she replied, "I was told to see you, and, now I see why."

"Indeed," General Pepper nodded. He then turned toward the four and asked, "These kids claim to be students of yours, is that true?"

"Yes, they are my students," Beatrice replied, "What have they done?"

"Well, we apprehended them after catching each of them operating a jet in a restricted area, strictly speaking, the asteroid field," the general explained, "Now, I know I was the one who caught them, but since they are your students, I decided to leave the decision-making of this matter to you."

"Oh um, yes, thank you very much," Beatrice nodded, trying to process everything that she was hearing and seeing.

"Of course," the general added, "I'm feeling very gracious today but, if this happens again I will be forced to take action myself. However, considering how well you take charge of your students, I'm certain I won't have to make such a decision in the future."

"Why thank you general," Beatrice said respectfully, "uh, both for your words and for bringing my students back to me."

"My pleasure ma'am," General Pepper nodded, "I'll send my men to deliver the jets back to their original locations. Have a good day, Headmistress."

"You too General," Beatrice attempted a smile. After they shook hands again, the general then turned around toward the soldiers who were still holding onto Vicky, Kitty, Amber, and Max, and nodded again. "Release them," he ordered.

The soldiers did as they were told, finally releasing their iron grip from the students after what seemed like forever. But of course, at least as far as the four knew, the real punishment had yet to come. They knew that as soon as the headmistress walked over to face them, hands on her hips, her face showing how she was clearly not pleased with what they'd done. Vicky, however, bit her lip and nervously said, "Um, what a nice day, Headmistress."

"Mm hmm," Beatrice nodded, "Clearly a nice day for getting in trouble, I see."

Any remnant of a smile on any of their faces faded immediately, allowing Beatrice to give her orders. "Listen to me," she said in an authoritative voice, "You will go to your classes and will go throughout your usual day until I call for you all."

Max raised his eyebrows in confusion and asked, "What, that's it?"

"Oh no," Beatrice continued, "I'm calling all of your parents here too." Vicky felt her heart sink like a rock at the headmistress's words, but she could only look away and let out a low, heavy sigh. Fortunately, or unfortunately, she wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Beatrice turned to Amber, the frown still on her face, and said, "And as for you, I'm calling your father."

Amber nodded and hung her head low. "Yes Mum," she replied in a soft voice.

After walking around slowly with her hands behind her back, Beatrice finally turned back in front of them, and all of them stood straight with high heads as though she herself were a general and they were her soldiers. "Now, do we understand each other?" she asked.

"Yes ma'am," the all replied in unison, their voices louder and clearer.

"Good," Beatrice nodded slightly, "Move out. Now." All four immediately did as she said, hurrying around her and then rushing through the front of the campus and then doing what they had to do if they wanted to get to their classes. All the while they silently worried what was going to happen later, especially Vicky.

As the day passed though, Vicky, if she was honest with herself, didn't know what to think. It was one thing to get caught only by the academy, but to get caught by the Cornerian military, she immediately started to wonder if she'd jeopardized her future, if she was even going to get to be a real pilot at all. And her parents, her parents themselves were coming to the academy. She didn't know whether to anticipate it, or dread it. On the one hand, her parents had these great reputations, but on the other, her own paled in comparison to theirs, by a lot. And by she got to her second class, it seemed some of the other students thought so too. As soon as she noticed three of them off in a corner talking only to each other, occasionally glancing at her, she knew they were talking about her.

But at the end of the second class, the intercom sounded through the halls with the voice of Headmistress Rabbit's secretary. "Would the following students please report to the Headmistress's office: Vicky McCloud, Kitty Shorthair, Amber Rabbit, and Max Shorthair."

Ignoring some of the stares she received, Vicky gathered her things, held her head high, and knew it was time to face the inevitable. She just wished it didn't have to be announced for the whole academy to hear. Though, as soon as she got to the office, that was the furthest thing from her mind.

In the sitting area were Kitty and Max with their parents, Amber with her father, and at the far side of the room, Vicky was greeted with the frowning faces of her own parents. Reluctantly, she took a seat between them both, not even stopping to say hi to them. She already knew how disappointed they were.

Before long, she found herself the first one to be called inside. And again, she sat between her father and mother, wishing once again that she could simply sink into the floor. While Beatrice maintained a respectful demeanor due a headmistress, no one smiled through the entire conversation.

"Thank you for coming Mr. and Mrs. McCloud," she began, "I very much appreciate it."

"Thank you for having us Headmistress," Fox nodded, "Might I ask why we're here though?"

"I was just about to explain," Beatrice replied. She continued on, saying, "Unfortunately, your daughter and three of her friends have been caught flying their jets in the asteroid field by General Pepper and the Cornerian defense fleet. They brought them by this morning."

"General Pepper?" Krystal asked with a mixture of surprise and shock.

"Unfortunately," Beatrice replied, sharing her discomfort, "But I digress. As far as I know, Vicky was most likely leading them, since she is the most skilled of the four."

"What I want to know is why they were out there in the first place," Fox said.

"I think only Vicky herself can explain that," Beatrice said. In that moment, all eyes turned on an uncomfortable Vicky. After a moment, they raised their eyebrows at her too in anticipation for her to speak. Eventually though, despite herself, Vicky sighed and soon found her voice.

"We, I, thought it would be good to practice for tomorrow's test," she said, trying to keep her anxiety from controlling her, "So I convinced everyone else to come with me."

"That is what the academy is for," Beatrice said when she couldn't say anything else, "There's no need for you to go out to a clearly dangerous place just to practice."

Vicky nodded, allowing her eyes to go to the floor for a moment, before she said in a soft voice, "I know."

Turning her attention back to her parents, Beatrice crossed her arms and continued. "As you know this has happened before. And like before this is going on her record. But if something like this happens one more time, I'll have no choice but to suspend her."

"We understand Headmistress," Krystal nodded, "We just want what's best for her."

"I know the feeling," Beatrice nodded back, "My own daughter was caught as well."

Krystal gasped as her hand flew to her mouth. "I'm so sorry," she said empathetically.

As if to refocus the conversation, Fox cleared his throat and said, "Thank you for telling us though." He then looked sternly at Vicky in the eye and added, as though the words were directed to her as well, "It won't happen again."

"Thanks again for coming," Beatrice nodded, "Allow my secretary to see you all out."

With a final nod from Fox and Krystal, they, along with Vicky, were escorted out into the sitting area by Angela. All the while Vicky hung her head, though somewhat relieved that the ordeal was over. But before she could go on her way to her third class, Fox stopped her by putting his hand on her shoulder, and turned her around to face him, his eyes showing how he was ready to give way to anger. "You," he said, "In the hall with us. Now."

Not one to disobey her parents, especially now, Vicky hurried into the hall after both Fox and Krystal. Now she knew the real talk was going to happen, now that they were outside the realm of influence the Headmistress had. No. It was just her and her father and mother. And she knew what to expect at times like this.

"Vicky, look at me," Fox said through gritted teeth. Vicky reluctantly and slowly turned her head up to face her father, he went on as soon as their eyes met. "I am very disappointed in you Vicky. You've only been here three months, and yet not only could you have hurt yourself or someone else, not only did the academy catch you, but also the Cornerian defense fleet! Do you have any idea what this could do to your future?"

"I don't mean to hurt anyone," Vicky said after managing to find her voice again.

"That doesn't matter!" Fox went on, "Ever since you learned how to pilot a jet I feel like I've had to constantly watch you, and not just me but your mother too! And its even harder now that we've been helping the military more often. If you want to stay at this academy you're gonna have to learn to keep your hands off the wheel."

"Well, you dropped out didn't you?" Vicky asked, attempting to focus the spotlight on someone else other than her.

"This isn't about me Vicky," Fox shook his head, "I had good reasons to leave, you don't. So I suggest you keep your mind in check and do what they tell you."

Vicky wanted to hang her head again. In fact, she wanted to cry. Her father had been angry with her in the past before, but never in a way like this. Not only did she let herself down, but she seemed to have let her friends and family down too. It was only a matter of time before all of it became too much to bear. It already felt as though a heavy weight was being pressed on her sagging shoulders. But she wouldn't show it.

"Vicky." Vicky looked up at her mother who spoke in a softer, but still stern voice. "Vicky, I think what your father is trying to say is that, this just isn't like you. We've seen how good your grades are, and we've been told your piloting skills are excellent. Do you want to throw that all away just because you couldn't discipline yourself?"

Suddenly, as if from nowhere, not because of her mother or even her father, Vicky found herself to be at a breaking point. She'd had enough of feeling ashamed and guilty. She now believed it was time to show them that she wasn't a stupid little girl anymore. No one was going to keep her from realizing her dream, not even herself.

"Look I'm sorry alright!" she finally blurted out, not caring how either of them would react, "I really am. But don't think either of you or anyone else can hold me back from being a pilot! Can't anyone see I've been wanting this my whole life! If I have to drop out too, then I'm darn well gonna do it!"

"If you drop out you won't be getting anymore support from me!" Fox suddenly interrupted her, "Heck, you can get out of my sight right now!"

Like an unexpected lightning bolt on a clear day, Vicky immediately found herself shocked by her father's last words, shocked and stunned straight through to her heart. Tears even began to form on her cheeks, but she wasn't about to let her parents see her cry. If she had to let the tears flow, she would do it while she was alone. Giving voice to the first words that formed in her mind, she said, "Fine then! I'll be happy to!"

Before either of them could say anything else, Vicky brushed past both her father and mother and headed straight down the hall. In spite of her expectations, neither of them said anything, nor did she hear footsteps come after her. She only went through the building alone, not caring if anyone saw her. All she needed was a quiet place to cry, and it certainly wasn't her next classroom. And with every step it seemed as though a new thought had formed in her head.

She wanted to set things straight between her and her friends and family. Yet how could she let go of her lifelong dream to be a great pilot like her dad, whom she had just spurned back after he spurned her. Oh, why couldn't she just fly without the jet, and fly away from here? Vicky didn't know the answers to any of these questions, and that did nothing to comfort her. All the tears representing her current feelings of sadness, anger, frustration, and disappointment soon freely flowed down her cheeks. And they showed no sign of stopping soon.

Reviews would be appreciated.