Dogfights

[Showtime 1-1]

... no, not the Michael Vick type. Aerial dogfights. Hairballs. DACM. You know.

Anyways, a while back in English class, we had a make-work short story assignment. We were to write about anything we wanted. Being who I am, I just wrote down one of my daydreams about fighter jets. Apparently it was pretty entertaining (teacher almost read it in front of the class...  ). Later I joined a forum based around airplanes (go figure), and I posted my story. I got some compliments, and after that, I wrote many more, usually based on daydreams or experiences in my flight sims.

I was bored tonight, so I cobbled this one together. It's the first one I've done with a Starfox theme, in fact, the first one I've done in over 7 months. It's my typical style of just a transcript/description of a dogfight. I don't really have as much of a mind for story as I do for action, apparently.

Anyways, I enjoyed making this, maybe some of you will enjoy reading it.

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Fox looked over his shoulder at the wolfens on his tail. All three were still there, firing freely. Fortunately, their uncharged blasts were either poorly aimed or taken care of by his Arwing’s shield. Nonetheless, he knew he wouldn’t be able to last much longer like this. Those damned targets will have to wait.

He broke off his bombing run and pulled back hard on both control sticks. He felt the G-force and tensed his muscles against it as he maintained his maneuver. A quick barrel roll threw off the inbound lasers, and a tight turn prevented attack for a spilt second. Fox looked back over his shoulder to see four Wolfens now, in unorganized pursuit.

“Damn,” he thought. “how am I supposed to get rid of four? Two maybe, but…”

  “You really need to be more careful, Fox.”

Falco dove in from above with a lone wolfen trailing him. Falco’s charged blast took out two of Fox’s pursuers.

  “Now tag this guy, will ya? I’m low on fuel.”

Fox rolled over and pulled back, keeping Falco in sight, knowing the wolfen would never see him coming. Just as his laser reached full charge, the unlucky wolfen appeared where expected, and with a flick of Fox's finger, ceased to be.

  “I’m heading back to the ship, Fox, so I won’t be able to bail you out again.”

“Thanks, Falco. I think I’ve got it now.”

Partially relieved and mostly annoyed from being saved by Falco again, Fox focused on the remaining wolfens. They were in combat spread not 500 meters behind him, both waiting for an easy shot. Fox knew that outrunning them was out of the question.

“…so I’ll just have to kill them.”

A tap of boost, a quick roll and he was in a sharp right turn. The inside wolfen angled to cut him off, but Fox saw it coming. Mid turn, he rolled on his back and pulled up, starting a vertical yo-yo. The wolfen didn’t see him and continued it’s turn, until Fox came back up directly on his tail.

“too easy. Now where‘s the other…”

The second wolfen had taken the vertical, and was diving in on Fox from his right.

“heh, you too?”

Fox simply waited for the wolfen’s shot to miss, then laughed as the other fighter tried vainly to avoid an overshoot. A tiny directional correction and the wolfen, still pulling out of it’s attack dive, appeared neatly in fox’s HUD. One charged laser and it was gone.

Fox sighed with relief. He didn’t know where that squadron had come from, why they had attacked or why they were flying elite ships that usually only ever showed up in the hands of…

“Star Wolf.”

  “It’s about time you figured it out, Fox.”

Fox saw Wolf’s ship in the distance. As they neared each other, they started circling.

“Sorry, Wolf, it’s just that your team is usually a little… better.”

  “I’ll have you know that my team is still invincible. I was simply training these, bah, common enlistees to use a weapon as advanced as the wolfen. Fate had it that the Great Fox was in our training zone.”

Fox felt a sting of regret when he realized that the wolfens they had just downed were probably piloted by nothing more then trainees. They probably hadn't known any better when they started strafing he Great Fox. Did they think it was part of their training? Did ... did I kill...

“Damn, I’ve been spending too much time around Krystal." he concluded. "They attacked us, anyway.”

                                                “But… enlistees…”

Fox didn’t even think to ask who Wolf was training them for.

  “Enough of this. I will finish you now, once and for all!”

Fox just managed to dodge Wolf’s first salvo of fire, then checked his fuel gauge. Not good.

“I have to get out of here, if I fight him I’ll never get back to the Great Fox.” Fox thought.

Wolf was coming in for another pass.

  “You won’t be so lucky this time!”

“I can’t run, Wolf’s ship is faster. I have to defeat him.”

Fox tapped the boost and climbed out of the way of Wolf’s charge. Wolf pulled up and around, back towards Fox.

  “Decided to fight me, huh? Good! I was afraid you may have gone soft!”

Wolf  was closing fast, using his ship’s speed for all it was worth. Fox craned his neck to judge the distance, then waited.

  “Just going to give up, are we?”

Wolf was getting close fast. Fox knew he had to time this perfectly.

  “you’re FINISHED!”

"you talk too much.”

Fox  tapped the breaks, rolled sideways and pulled back for all he was worth. The G-diffuser made the ship shudder under such a sudden load, then steadied. Fox rolled left and repeated the maneuver, expecting to see Wolf in front of him.

  “You’ll have to do better then that, Fox McCloud!”

Wolf dove in from above, having climbed as soon as Fox had turned. Fox was far from finished, though. He pulled a barrel roll to deflect Wolf’s uncharged shots, then dove after him.

Wolf  saw the Arwing dive after him and pulled up, but lost too much speed in the process. Fox used his boost to further close the gap. Both ships were now climbing and tumbling around each other in a scissors maneuver, both trying to get off a shot.

  “I… Will… Finish this!”

Wolf hit his breaks hard and smiled, expecting to see Fox in his sights. His smile quickly vanished when he saw his empty crosshairs.

“Sorry Wolf, I win again. Guess you forgot you couldn’t stop, huh?”

Just as Fox was about to release his shot, all the color and sound dropped out of his Arwing.

“Wait… what - SON OF A &!%<#! NO FUEL! YOU GOTTA BE-”

Fortunately, Fox’s comm. system had gone out with his Arwing, and even his ensuing barrage of intergalactic verbal abuse couldn’t penetrate the vacuum of space.

When Wolf didn’t receive the hit he was expecting, he turned around to see one very angry red fox in a dead ship. He also saw a damaged Great Fox approaching, flanked by Arwings.

“Very well, Fox. Whether you intended to or not, you have spared me, and I shall return the favor. You're just lucky your friends have arrived.”

Fox sat in his cockpit, feeling stupid. He had shot down greenhorn pilots, been saved by Falco, run out of fuel and then been spared by Wolf. As the Great Fox loomed into view, He promised himself that he would never let this happen again. Then he tried to decide how he would explain this to his team.

[Kursed]

Fox Wash your mouth out with soap

Pretty good for a non-story...

[Showtime 1-1]

Fox Wash your mouth out with soap

Pretty good for a non-story...

oh yeah, I kinda went for the mercenary-grade Fox there. I figured he wouldn't be happy if he ran outa gas.

...and thanks, I appreciate it.

[Asper Sarnoff]

Great little story. The description on the dogfighting action itself is pretty good.

[rainfyre66]

Quite entertaining! :yes:

[Guest Julius Quasar]

very good! :yes: