............................... Oh my god.  It’s the final battle.  It’s incredible.  Please enjoy! :)

Quote of the Chapter:

“Never was so much owed by so many to so few.”

~Sir Winston Churchill

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Chapter 32: The Unsung War

December 31, 2010, 0130 hours…

Blaze

While we neared Oured, Pops came on, asking us if we needed anything when we landed.  The four of us immediately started naming things and he had to stop us because he couldn’t understand a word we were saying.  I think at one point Grimm might have said he wanted Megan Fox…

“One at a time,” Pops ordered with a chuckle. “Blaze, you first.”

“Blankets, pillows, and a bathroom.  I need to pee like a plane going Mach Two… and then sleep because I cannot believe I just said that out loud,” I muttered.

Everyone started laughing and then Nagase said she wanted food, water, and a toilet.  Grimm said he wanted Cassie, food, and once again, a toilet.  Snow’s request consisted of only a toilet.  It was quickly decided that they were going to need a lot of port-a-potties.  I tried to convince them to get me a pink one but Pops told me they didn’t exist.  Dang it…

We were ordered to land on Erasmus Bridge.  It was an architectural pride in Oured.  It was pretty cool but landing without hitting those cables was a pain, or at least when you’re almost a literal version of a walking zombie.  When all four of us were landed, people immediately went to our planes and started doing maintenance and restocking our weapons.  Pops, Genette, Cassie, Andersen, and Geller were there waiting for us but when Nagase and I screamed, it wasn’t because they were there.  It was because we saw four port-a-potties… my scream was louder because believe it or not, there was a pink one.  Nagase and I looked at each other before bolting to it.  Thank God I reached it first!  I laughed evilly as I heard her curse at her slowness.  I knew Nagase was tired if she was cussing since she never cussed.

When I walked out, Genette was grinning at me; he looked beyond tired but happy nonetheless to see me.  I charged him and he swung me up in a hug.  I don’t think I had ever been so happy to see my brother.  Of course, I winced at the sight of the bruise on his cheek but I don’t think he saw.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Surprisingly, yes.  Flying through that tunnel wasn’t so bad,” I admitted. “I was expecting it to be a lot worse, a lot smaller.”

Genette snorted. “You’re psychotic.”

“I know,” I chirped. He rolled his eyes.

“We got some blankets and pillows.  We went to the president’s house to get them.  They gave us practically all available blankets and sheets.  Unfortunately we couldn’t get cots but we layered the sheets on top of each other and I got to say, it’s really comfy.  You’ll have to share it with Nagase, Snow, Grimm, Cassie, and me.  Cassie and I haven’t slept since y’all left.”

“Let’s go get some sleep then,” I said; I gave Pops, Geller, and Andersen a hug before my brother and I walked over to the makeshift bed; Cassie was already there, cuddling with a pillow.

“Hey, Blaze,” she mumbled.

“Hey, Cas,” I replied, crawling in next to her.  I plopped down in exhaustion.  I fell asleep almost immediately, only semi-waking up to feel Nagase and Snow and Grimm getting into the makeshift bed.  After that, I was asleep.

_______________________________________________

Pops

Blaze, Grimm, Genette, Snow, Nagase, and Cassie were all sacked out on the makeshift bed.  Blaze was in the dead center and it seemed like everyone gravitated towards her.  She was on her stomach and had her hands under the pillow she was using.  Cassie was right next to her, using the dip in Blaze’s back as a pillow.  Nagase and Genette were on her other side, sharing Blaze’s shoulder as a pillow.  Grimm was using Blaze’s other shoulder as a pillow and has his arm stretched protectively across Cassie’s waist.  Snow was next to Nagase, sharing Blaze’s back with Cassie as a pillow.  I knew if Genette was awake, he would’ve taken a picture so I reached over for his camera but it was gone.  Looking up, I saw Geller had it and was already taking the picture.  He smiled sheepishly at me before placing the camera back down.

“Are you Pops?” A guy shouted.  I turned around to see two guys walking towards me.  They were tall, both in jeans, white tees, and leather aviator jackets.  They were the same height, and I recognized one of them but not the other.  The other was lean but muscular, he had blonde hair, and at first, I thought he had green eyes, but when he reached me, his eyes were brown.  My guess is, like Blaze, he had hazel eyes that changed depending on the light.  The other guy I knew and I gave him a smile.

“Pixy,” I said with a smile.

“Hey, Pops,” he answered calmly.  His voice reminded me too much of me when I was younger, when I was more Belkan than Osean, when I had that carefully controlled tone in my voice.  I still had it usually.  Rarely did I let my tone get out of control.

“Who’s your friend?” I asked, turning to the blonde guy.  His hair wasn’t platinum blonde like Cassie’s; it was darker, a mix between blonde and brown, and it looked completely natural too.

“Hello, sir,” the blonde guy greeted respectfully, although there was a slight mischief that reminded me of Chopper.

“What’s your name?” I queried; the more the guy talked, the more he sounded familiar.

He hesitated and Pixy assured, “If Blaze trusts him, you can trust him.”

The guy still hesitated before answering. “I’m Jason Banks.”

I knew immediately who he was- of course he was Blaze’s uncle, the infamous Jason Banks that told her so many secrets of the Belkan War that only a selected few knew.  However, that didn’t explain the reason why I thought he sounded familiar.

“Were you in the Belkan War?” I prodded.

“Yes, sir,” Jason replied.

“What was your call sign?” I was determined to figure out who he truly was.

“Cipher.”

Well, no wonder I knew him.  He pretty much saved my life before Grabacr shot me down over B7R, also called the Round Table.  Ironically, the day he saved my life was the day that I got shot down along with Bartlett.

“I knew you seemed familiar.  You saved my life fifteen years ago,” I told him.

“I did?  What was your callsign?  Because I don’t remember saving anyone by the name of Pops.”

“I was called Huckebein the Raven, The Colonel, and others,” I informed.

“Oh!  I remember you!  You asked me to help you!” Jason exclaimed, a goofy grin spreading on his face. “God, I’m not even forty and I’m already having memory issues.”

“You sound just like Blaze,” I noted.

“Where is she?” He suddenly demanded, looking around.  His eyes rested on the makeshift bed with everyone asleep on it. “How is she?”

“Besides a minor skirmish with Genette on the Kestrel, not too bad.  Chopper’s death really messed her up; it’s one of the worst cases I’ve seen,” I said grimly.

“What happened on the Kestrel?” Cipher asked, his voice deceptively calm.

“She was the one that suggested flying through the tunnel; all of us were against it, and Genette… he, uh, inferred in his argument that she was going to destroy the control panel by crashing into it so she could join Chopper.  Blaze slapped him hard.  He left the room and she went after him.  They must’ve worked it out because they’re fine now.”

“I can’t believe he said that,” Jason said.

“He didn’t say it outright but anyone could figure out what he truly meant,” I corrected.  We stood there, just watching the six of them sleep.  For the first time in a long time, they all looked peaceful, stress-free, particularly Blaze.

“So what are they up against?” Pixy inquired, turning to face me.

“The SOLG.  I’m assuming you’ve heard of it?” I looked at them expectantly.

“It was an unfinished project by Osea, a defense weapon capable of launching nuclear weapons from high altitude at any location of its orbit,” Pixy responded immediately.  It didn’t surprise me he knew about it.  Jason, on the other hand, looked troubled.

“I thought it was scrapped though.  How did the Belkans get a hold of it?”

“North Osea Gründer Industries got a hold of it, and they finished it off by getting supplies secretly from the Basset Space Center.  This is going to be no picnic for them.”

“I have faith in them,” Pixy stated firmly. “I’ve seen the way they fly.  They can do it.” With a grin, he looked at Jason and said, “I think Blaze could give you a run for your money, buddy.”

“Oh yeah?  Why’s that?” Jason countered with a smirk.

“She’s more kamikaze than you,” Pixy retorted.

“I’m not sure if that’s a good thing,” Jason joked.  I looked at my watch and saw it was two-thirty in the morning.  We still had three hours before the Razgriz would have to get up and get ready.

“What are you two going to do while we wait?” I questioned.

“Whatever you want us to do.  We’re here to help, sir,” Jason replied.

“Well, there’s not much to do here.  Everything is being taken care of…”

“Then we’ll just stand here and chat until we are needed,” Pixy said.  I nodded and walked over to Andersen and Geller and we started working on the briefing.

_______________________________________________

Blaze 

I woke up to Genette shaking me awake.  When I opened my eyes, I involuntarily cringed at the sight of a very distinct handprint-shaped bruise on his face.

“I’m fine, Blaze,” he reassured, seeing my expression.

“That doesn’t make me feel any less horrible,” I mumbled.

“I know, but a brother can try, right?” He winked at me.

“It’s not natural to be so cheerful in the morning,” I pointed out.

“Non-normalcy seems to run in the family.  Speaking of family, there’s someone here who I think you would love to see.  Come on,” Genette urged, grabbing my hand and pulling me up.  I groaned but followed.  I was expecting to see maybe a distant cousin or someone we considered family.  I was not expecting to Uncle Jason standing near the side of the bridge talking to Pixy.  I’m pretty sure my mouth dropped open and my eyes went the size of dinner plates before my uncle turned to look at me.  Pixy followed his line of gaze and grinned.  My feet moved towards him on their own accord.  Uncle Jason gave me a bone-breaking hug which I willingly returned.

“How you doing, Elizabeth?” He whispered.

“Good,” I replied.  We broke off the hug and Jason turned to Genette.

“You been taking care of you sister?” Uncles Jason inquired.

“It’s more like she’s been taking care of me,” Genette replied lightheartedly.

“No I haven’t,” I protested.

“Have to,” Genette retorted.

“Have not!” I argued.

“Have to!”

“Have not!”

“Have to!”

“Have not!”

“You two haven’t changed one bit.” Jason laughed as my brother and I glared at each other.

“Blaze!  Briefing is about to begin!” Nagase shouted.  I hurried over to her with Genette and Jason at my heels.  Pops nodded in respectful acknowledgement to Uncle Jason.  The screen for the briefing was smaller than I was used to, but it was big enough for me to distinguish what I had to do thank God.

A briefer’s voice spoke up and I saw the guy from the Kestrel, the one that always gave the briefings. “The SOLG’s descent was detected by our radar at 0045 hours.  We believe it was programmed to automatically descend if control was ever cut off from the surface.  We have calculated the SOLG’s course of descent from its previous orbit.  Its estimated landing point is downtown Oured, the capital of Osea.  Get to the SOLG’s descent point as quickly as possible and destroy it before it hits Oured.  You must complete the mission, and come back alive.  Anything less in not acceptable.  Razgriz, we wish you the best of luck.”

Operation: Arcadia

Location: Oured

Date: 2010/12/31

Time: 0600 HRS

I looked up at the briefer, catching his eye.  He shockingly gave me a smile.

“You can smile!” I exclaimed.  He smiled a little more before saying “My name is Franklin Baelz, and I’m a first lieutenant.  You know, many pilots have been hailed as aces; only a few have truly earned it.  And no matter what anyone says, your squadron, both Wardog and Razgriz, are true aces.  Don’t forget that.”

I was put into a stunned silence.  This guy had never spoken a word to me the whole time I was on the Kestrel and now he’s giving me a speech about how my squadrons and I are aces?  What the hell is going on here?  So, instead of asking him all that, I simply and sincerely said, “Thank you.”

We dispersed and I headed over to the concrete barrier and sat on it, my legs dangling over the edge of the bridge.  Heights like this usually scared me but for some reason, today it didn’t.  Maybe it was because I was holding on to a cable wire and there was absolutely no wind to blast me off.  Maybe it was the fact that I knew I was going to be facing something much more deadly than sitting on the edge of a bridge.

We were launching in ten minutes, and I was ready to go, ready to end this stupid war.

“Blaze?” Uncle Jason inquired, coming to stand next to me.  He sat next to me on the bridge.  For some reason, out of all my family, I got along with Uncle Jason the most.  He seemed to understand me when others couldn’t.  In all honesty, he reminded me so much of Chopper is was scary, because Chopper had been the same way.

“Hey, Cipher,” I replied with a smile.

“How are you doing?” he asked, looking out of the horizon.  It was slowly turning that periwinkle blue, a mix of dark and light.

“I’m doing well,” I told him.

“Don’t lie to me,” he ordered kindly. “I know when something is wrong with you.  Now what is it?”

“It’s not that anything is wrong necessarily… I’m just thinking,” I said hesitantly.

“About what?” Cipher prodded.  I have never in my life been able to hide anything from him, no matter what it was.

“About Grabacr and Ofnir.  I want to meet them in battle, I want to fight them, I want to shoot them down, and I want them to be brought to justice.  I don’t want to kill them though, because I know they’d rather die than be caught,” I suddenly ranted in a surprisingly calm voice.

Cipher was quiet before saying, “What else is on your mind?”

“They’re coming.”

“Who?”

“Grabacr and Ofnir.  I don’t know why but I know they’re coming to meet me in battle on the way to the SOLG.  The SOLG is their last chance to weaken Osea enough to take us over, destroy us, plot world domination, whatever the hell they want to do with us.  The Gray Men are going to do everything they can to protect it.”

“Are you ready for them?”

I didn’t falter or waver in my answer. “Yes, and they better be damn ready for me.”

Uncle Jason looked at me with his eyebrows raised. “If I didn’t hate them so much, I would feel bad for them.  You’re forgetting one thing though…”

“I am?” I questioned confusedly.

“Chopper.”

I swallowed. “What about him?”

“It’s not hard to see how upset you are.”

“I know it’s been a month since he died and I know our engagement was kind of a whirlwind courtship, but he wasn’t just my fiancé, he was my best friend and my wingman.  He was family before he even asked me to marry him.  It should’ve been me that crashed, not him.  It’s getting the crew back alive; that’s always what I’ve believed.”

“Let me see the ring,” Uncle Jason said.  I lifted my hand, still not looking at him, although I did look at the ring.  It shone in the little light there was. “It’s beautiful.”

“Thank you.  I remember when he asked me, I fell out of the hammock.”

“He asked you in a hammock?” he laughed. “Sounds like something I would do.”

“Oh my God, he was just like you.  Mannerisms and everything, although I think he shot his mouth off to the superiors more than you… and I think he pissed them off more, too.”

“Yeah, I never really shot my mouth off or pissed off superiors unless they really, really pissed me off.  Did he change from when he was in high school?”

“Besides getting handsomer, funnier, and becoming more responsible, not really.”  Cipher laughed good-naturedly.

“Well, I think it’s time for you to go,” he said, glancing at my squadron members starting to get ready to get in their planes.  We hopped off the barrier and walked over to my plane, still the F-22A Raptor from the last mission.  I stared at the four planes, lined up one behind the other.  My plane was first, followed by Nagase’s, Snow’s, and then Grimm’s.  Genette had his video camera on while Geller had Genette’s camera.

“Stand by your planes!” Geller yelled.  I looked at him curiously, so did everyone else, but we listened. “Now look at me!”  We did as ordered and he snapped a picture. “Sorry, I couldn’t resist.  I’ve always wanted to take a picture like that.”

I chuckled and said, “As long as I look semi-decent in the picture that’s fine.”

“Blaze, since when do you ever look bad?” Nagase queried.  I gave her a raised eyebrow and she added hastily, “Never mind.”

She gave Genette a kiss before she got in her plane.  Grimm gave Cassie a kiss before getting in his plane and Snow simply gave a casual, two-fingered salute to everyone on ground which they returned.  I grabbed my helmet and before getting in my plane, I looked up at the lightening sky.  I didn’t pray often, but when I did, it was usually to someone who wasn’t with me.

Chopper, if you’re listening to me right now, please watch over us.  Please make sure none of us are killed.  I don’t plan on dying anytime soon, even though it would mean I would be with you, but I know you would be so incredibly pissed if I did that to my family and friends.  I’ll be with you one day, but just make sure that’s not today.  I love you and I always will.

The sound of a camera snapping a picture brought me out of my reverie.  Genette now had his camera and he was looking at me with a slight smile.  He came over to me and gave me a hug, followed by Geller, Pixy, Pops, Andersen, and finally, Uncle Jason.

“You’ll do just fine,” Uncle Jason whispered.  I could only nod.  With a wink, he went over and joined the group watching us leave.  Giving them a confident smile, I got in my plane and turned on the engine.  The roar of it soothed my nerves.  I was going to be all right, I could feel it.

“Your final sortie… it’s almost kinda sad, huh?” The controller said wistfully.  In a way, I understood what he meant.  Once this war was over, I had no clue what I wanted to do.  I did know I didn’t want to fight anymore, but I wanted to fly.  It’s where I belonged. “All right, launch preparations complete.”

After signaling the crew that I was ready for takeoff, I hit my afterburners and shot forward on the bridge’s highway.  My speed climbed higher and higher.  I reached about one hundred fifty miles an hour before lifting my plane up, going completely vertical.  Nagase, Snow, and Grimm were quick to follow.  We had only five minutes to get to where the SOLG would reach orbit altitude, meaning we had to book it faster than a Belkan after land.

“This is Oka Nieba.  Hurry to the target area,” he ordered.  I was glad Sky Eye was our AWACS and not Thunderhead because Sky Eye was pretty good about not stating the obvious.  Of course, I had only known him for one mission, and that’s hardly any time to get to know someone. “The later you get there, the less time you’ll have to attack the SOLG.”

I do believe I spoke too soon…

“The SOLG will descend to a vulnerable altitude in five minutes,” Sky Eye informed.  Yeah, I definitely spoke too soon…

“The SOLG is falling!” Grimm exclaimed and I imagined him pointing at the far off target area.

“We have to get to the SOLG, fast!” Nagase added.

“Thank you Captain Obviouses,” I said sarcastically.  With a dramatic sigh and a sweet-sounding Southern accent, I added, “Oh my, whatever should we do now?”

“Captain!” Grimm said hopefully.

“Blaze!” Snow jumped in.

“Blaze!” Nagase joined.  I didn’t need them to tell me anything; I knew what they wanted.  That’s why I loved my squadron.  We could say one word and know exactly what the other wanted, even if that one word barely went hand-in-hand with what their actual meaning was.  We were just that awesome!

“Engage!” I commanded.

“Roger!  Archer, engaging!” Grimm shouted, masking his cheerfulness.

“Roger.  Swordsman, engaging!”

“Roger.  Edge, engaging,” Nagase replied, not bothering to hide her excitement.  The sky was getting lighter and I took a brief minute to take in the beauty of everything from up here.  On the ground it’s really pretty, but up here?  There’s no comparison.  It is absolutely breathtaking.

“Four minutes,” Sky Eye warned, completely crushing my moment.  That happens a lot.

“Well hell,” I heard Nagase grumble.

“Oi!  Woman!  That is my line!” I snapped lightly.

“It’s catchy,” she retorted.

“Hey, Blaze!” A gruff but friendly voice greeted me over the mic. “Kick some ass out there, okay?”

“Yes, Captain Bartlett!” I replied.  In a more casual tone, I said, “When all this is over, you’re taking Nastasya on a real date with real food without guns and without people trying to kill you, okay?”

“Sheesh, you’re as bad as Cassie.  She told me almost the same thing,” Bartlett retorted.

“Great minds think alike, and I’m not trying to sound conceited when I say that.”

“You could save the world single-handedly and still say you had help, even if it was by a snail.  Brag about yourself once in a while, Blaze, to maintain a healthy level of sanity.”

“Like you?”

“You catch on quickly.” Bartlett chuckled.

“These fighters are definitely the Razgriz,” a voice sneered.  My attention was instantly caught, my warning alarms in my head going off like crazy.

“Blaze!” Nagase exclaimed worriedly; it was as if she sensed my sudden change in attitude.

“Kick ass, Razgriz,” Bartlett said.

“Looks like you were right, Blaze,” Cipher said.  I only vaguely heard him.  I was too focused on the horizon, where the enemy squadron was coming from.

“Oka Nieba to the Ghosts of Razgriz.  New enemy planes on the radar.  It’s a double Belkan formation- Ofnir and Grabacr.”

I felt my nostrils flaring, my heart hammering, my pulse pounding.  This was it, and I was ready for them.  They sure as hell needed to be ready for me.  I saw their planes closing in on us on the horizon.  I hit my afterburners even harder but it did no use; I was already going flat out.  I switched to special weapons, not really expecting the LASMs to shoot them down, but more to scatter them, to break formation.

“We will restore the pride we had fifteen years ago!” one of the Grabacr declared heatedly.

“What pride?” I answered sarcastically.

“It’s time to settle this, evil ravens!” an Ofnir guy growled.

“Whoa, raven?  Learn your names.  Razgriz is a demon, not a raven.  Its animal is a raven and if you see one, then you know Razgriz is nearby,” I said.  My plan of shooting my XMAAs at them worked better than I expected it to.  One of the guys of Ofnir hadn’t pulled up in time and my missile hit his plane, sending it spiraling towards the ocean in a fiery blaze.

“Eight tough enemies… My heart’s racing!  My whole body’s shaking!” Grimm mused fretfully, more to himself than to any of us.

“You’ll be fine Grimm.  Just fly on instinct,” I instructed gently. “And it’s seven now.”

“Keep going!” Snow encouraged. “Our mission is clear!”

“Don’t fight by yourself.  Take them two-on-one,” an Ofnir pilot barked, sounding strangely like an actual dog.

“Actually, it’s two-on-one for three of us and then one-on-one for one of us seeing as how there’s only seven of you,” I pointed out.

“WHAT?!” he screeched. “Where did Ofnir Three go?!”

“I shot him down,” I replied blatantly.

“Captain!  Two enemy planes on your six!” Nagase admonished frantically.

“Hello, boys!  How are y’all?!” I went up in a loop and pulled off a High-G, which is where you make your plane make a really sharp turn by accelerating and decelerating at the same time.  It’s best at high altitude because it can cause you to stall but this is me, and I’m not normal and should probably be in a mental institute.  The enemy planes lost me and I got behind them.  I fired two missiles at one of them and hit it.  I recognized the plane as Grabacr.  So, two down, one from each squadron.  Six more to go…

“You act as if you’re a god… well,” the Grabacr guy said with a scoff, “The sparkling god must be slain!  He will be slain!”

“Dude, I’m a girl,” I corrected huffily as I rolled to the left to avoid getting destroyed by missiles.

“You shall fall to your deaths and lead the way for the SOLG as it smashes into the earth!” The Grabacr leader stated passionately.

I snorted. “Well, if that is the case, then at least let me go down in a Blaze of glory!” I chirped going into a loop and losing the Ofnir plane on my tail.

“You did not just make a pun with your own callsign,” Grimm said with a laugh.

“So what if I did?”

“Truth be told, I found it utterly hilarious,” Grimm confessed.

“Good.”

The Grabacr and Ofnir leaders were shouting more commands.  It was almost in their own language and it certainly wasn’t Belkan so I didn’t understand a word they were saying.

“We got to take out the one in command!” Grimm urged.

“No kidding.  Take him out and everything falls apart,” Nagase agreed.

“Where is Han Solo and his kick-ass flying skills when we need him?” I queried as seriously as I could.

“Here we go again…” Grimm grumbled as I got behind a Grabacr plane.

“These nutty and random thoughts are what keep me sane,” I announced.

“Then think away,” Grimm said.

“We’ll return to haunt you for eternity!” A Grabacr guy yelled before I shot him down.  Then all you heard from him was, “Aaagh!”

 “I’ve been haunted by kittens more frightening than you,” I snapped.

“Kittens?” Snow sounded so confused that I felt somewhat bad.

“I was being sarcastic,” I told him while I got behind an Ofnir plane.

“Oh… I so knew that!”

“That’s what they all say.” I trailed the enemy plane that was trailing Nagase.  She had been trying to lose it but hadn’t been having much luck.

“This battle is over.  Accept your defeat!” Snow said.

“We will never give in!”

“Suit yourself,” I said with a shrug no one could see.  I know you’re probably wondering why I was being sarcastic to the enemy when all the times before, all I sounded was completely pissed and out for vengeance.  Just for the record, those feelings haven’t changed, but after my argument with Genette, I knew I couldn’t let my friends see that side of me; I couldn’t let them know how completely messed up I was because of Chopper’s death.  This façade I was putting on was for them, but it surprisingly came easy to me.  Ever since Chopper died, I started thinking “what would Chopper do?” (or “WWCD”) and the answer was be sarcastic or try to be humorous in bad situations.  It surprisingly worked and eased my nerves.

“This is it,” Grimm claimed. “This is what we’ve been training for, right now.  I don’t have time to be afraid!  We’ve got to get past them!”

I lost count of how many enemies were left, but all I needed to know was that they were still flying and as long as they were up in the air with us, there were too many.

“Two minutes,” Sky Eye cautioned.

“Captain Chopper…” Grimm began hesitantly. “If you’re here, please look after us!”

“He’ll always be with us.  He’ll hurt anyone that tries to hurt us.  That, or sing rock and roll until they go crazy,” Nagase said.

“Knowing Chopper, he would do the latter.  He never let anyone get off easily from his punishments,” I commented.

“Very true,” Nagase agreed.

“Damn the ravens of Razgriz!” Grabacr number… something said, and the statement was followed by a few curse words I would rather not say. “I can read the tricks of the Razgriz like a book.”

“Is that so?” I said. “Then tell me why we’re shooting y’all down but none of you have been able to shoot my squadron down?  And we’re the ones that are outnumbered here.  Tsk, tsk… you’re losing your mojo.”

“Don’t tease them too much Blaze,” Nagase groaned. “They already want us dead.”

“Let us be blessed with glory as we cross the gates of hell!” An Ofnir pilot cried.

“…  Does anyone else see the irony in that statement?” I questioned, attempting and succeeding in getting behind an enemy plane.

“What do you mean?” Snow inquired.

“Well, I’ve always been taught that if you’re blessed you go to heaven but if you’re damned you go to hell… now I’m certainly no expert on religion but how can you be blessed if you’re going to hell?”

“I see your point,” Grimm acknowledged.

“These Belkans are stupid…” I muttered.

“They’ll fall apart if we take out the lead plane!” The Ofnir leader observed.

“Oh this is on like Donkey Kong in a- never mind,” I said hastily. “Although it is on like Donkey Kong.”

I fired missiles at the enemy plane I had been trailing and it went down in a fiery mass.  Apparently, shooting down the plane captured the attention of the other enemies and they figured out I was the captain.  How lovely…

“That’s him!  Get him!” Ofnir leader bellowed.  Like hell they were going to get me…

“Bartlett and Huckebein were no match against me.  And you think you even stand a chance?” The Grabacr leader sneered.

“Ashley Bernitz, right?” I queried. “I remember hearing you were shot down by the Demon Lord.”

“He was unnatural, a freak of nature,” Bernitz snarled.

“Thank you for calling my uncle a freak of nature,” I said sarcastically as I shot down two planes within a minute.

“He’s your uncle?” Bernitz sounded shocked.

“Correct, kiddo.  So, who is able to piss you off more, me or him?” I inquired as I shot the second to last plane down according to my radar.

“I… I never thought you would be this good…” Bernitz confessed in a strained voice.  Apparently, he was the only one left.  Wow, we destroyed them…

“Shoot them all down.  We will not allow a single one of them to live,” an Ofnir guy said.  Damn… I didn’t see him on my radar.  So we had two guys to destroy?  I still didn’t seem him on my radar so, experimentally, I rolled my plane upside down and saw the Ofnir leader below me.  He looked up and I pulled a ‘Chopper.’  I flipped him off. “Razgriz, go back to the pits of hell you came from!”

“So we get to stay here!  Sweetness!” I exclaimed.  Grimm, Snow, and Nagase were unusually quiet.  I vaguely wondered what they were doing.  I wasn’t worried about them because they were all on my radar and there were only two enemies.  I shot the guy from Ofnir down, leaving only Bernitz.  This guy was mine.

“One minute,” Sky Eye said.

“We don’t have time to be dealing with you right now!” Snow said in aggravation.

“My god!  They’re alive!” I joked. “Geez, where have y’all been this whole time?  You’ve been unusually quiet.”

“We were trying to focus,” Nagase defended.

“Easy, woman.  I didn’t mean any offense,” I said.

“Pupils of Huckebein!  We will decide once and for all who is superior!” Bernitz declared.

“Bring it!” I shot back.

“So they think the same moves will work twice?  Swat them down!” The Ofnir leader shouted.

“Didn’t I shoot your sorry ass down?” I retorted in annoyance.

“I think they bailed out,” Grimm commented.

“And the zombie wakens,” I said with a snicker.  I was enjoying myself way too much right now. “It’s stupid on their part.  No one is coming to their rescue.”

“I overheard Pops and Cipher and Pixy ordering a group of men to deploy a Coast Guard boat in case they needed to pick anyone up.  I bet you anything they’re going to pick up the Grabacr and Ofnir,” Snow said.

“Good!”

“After we destroy you, we’ll open up the tunnel to the south!” the Ofnir leader declared. “We will have our revenge on the two nations.  Then, Belka will once again claim the southern lands!”

“Wow, having some delusions of grandeur there?  The Ofnir leader is a little crazier than you, Bernitz, and that’s saying something,” I noted.

“Do you ever stop talking?” Bernitz queried.

“When I know it annoys someone I don’t like, no,” I replied frankly at the same time I shot him down.  We only had about thirty seconds to get to the SOLG’s drop point.  I charged to the area with my squadron trailing behind me.

“Don’t think you’ve won this.  This isn’t over yet!” The Ofnir leader claimed.

“Yeah, yeah.  Have fun in the water,” I said airily.

“All enemy planes destroyed,” Sky Eye announced.  It was some of the best news I had ever heard in my life.

“Blaze…” Nagase murmured.

“Nagase?  Are you okay?” I asked.

“You don’t realize it, do you?” She countered softly.

“You’re scaring me woman.  What’s up?”

“They were all shot down, Blaze,” She pointed out.

“Well aren’t you a Sherlock Holmes.  Thanks for pointing it out!”

“Shot down by you, Blaze,” Grimm added.

“… What?” I demanded in shock.

“You shot each and every one of them down by yourself.  We did nothing,” Snow told me.

…  Did I really?

“I-I…” I couldn’t say anything.  I mean, what do you say to something like that?

We went up to about twenty thousand feet.  I was guesstimating what altitude the SOLG was going to greet us at.

“I see light to the east… morning’s coming,” Nagase mused wistfully.

“Our night flight is over,” Grimm acknowledged. “I can’t wait to see it.  The most beautiful sunrise ever!”

“And the sun will continue to rise, now and forever,” Snow said in a philosophical tone.  I was tempted to say that that wasn’t true and that scientists said the sun wasn’t going to be around forever but I didn’t want to ruin the moment.

We fell silent before Grimm suddenly said, “I just remembered… my birthday’s coming up next week.” Nagase and I chuckled.

“See?  Aren’t you glad you’re still alive?” Snow questioned.

“I bet my mom will be happy to see my brother come back home from Yuktobania.”

“You oughta go make her happy, too.  We’re almost done here.”

“Thank God.  I couldn’t have asked for a better squadron.  I hope y’all know that,” I said bashfully.  I wasn’t one for creating sappy moments but hey, I think we deserved it this one time, especially after all we’d been through.

“Captain, I want to thank you,” Snow said.

“… Captain Snow?” Grimm queried.

“Flying as a wingman again, I now know how my men felt,” Snow confessed.

“I do hope I wasn’t an ass,” I said.

“Not at all!” Snow laughed. “Maybe psychotic as hell in your flying, but an ass?  Never… okay, maybe to the enemy but they deserved it.”

“The SOLG has fallen to an altitude low enough for you to attack.  I know you can do this.  Destroy it!” Sky Eye ordered. “I’ve received a data link from your guy ‘Pops,’ with the SOLG’s structural details.  The SOLG’s outer shell has a rotating accelerator.  The only way you can attack its core structure directly is through the gaps in this accelerator.  That’s bad news.  This’ll be tough.”

“Well hell…” Grimm mumbled.

“That’s my line!” I whined.  Grimm only chuckled.

“We gotta stop that thing, Grimm!” Snow encouraged.

“I know!  I’m not that blonde!”

“You’re not even blonde,” Nagase pointed out.

“He’s blonde at heart,” I commented.

“Like me,” Nagase noted.

“The SOLGs eighty miles from Oured,” Sky Eye announced.  By now, I could see the monster and saying it is massive is an understatement.  I swear to God it was the size of a small moon.  The SOLG was intimidating with its black-gray color, rotating accelerator, and the fact that I knew there was a nuclear weapon on there.

“It’s falling… it’s so huge,” Grimm scrutinized.

“We gotta destroy it!  Don’t let it hit the ground in one piece!” Snow encouraged before adding, “I’m used to desperate situations… but this one is the worst!”

Pieces of debris were breaking off of the contrivance and floating right in our line of flight.  At one point, I had to roll my plane to avoid a crash with a solar panel.

“Shoot the panels.  They should break easily,” Nagase informed. “Watch out for the fragments falling off the SOLG.”

“I’m not gonna get done in by some falling fragments…” Snow muttered.

“You’re not gonna get done in by anything… period,” I told him as I fired missiles at one of the four targets.  They didn’t take many missiles to destroy but the thing that made this whole thing tricky was the rotating accelerator.  You had to time your firing just right.

“The enemy’s laid its strongest cards against us… but no matter,” Snow said.

“I won’t let them finish us.  Not here!” Nagase declared, firing missiles at another target.  We had each taken it upon ourselves to fire at one of the targets.  However, we were all weaving about as to avoid debris and each other.

If Chopper were here, he’d be cracking jokes… probably rude ones.  He would know how to ease our nerves; he would know how to ease the tenseness of the situation.  I remember when we had been at his house after we had attacked the Yukes’ weapon’s factory and he was being a complete smartass to Melissa and so she finally said if he was going to be such a smartass, he might as well have a name for being one.  So Chopper called his smartass comments ‘smartass-isms.’  So clever, right?  We had all laughed that.

“Captain!  We need you here!” Snow shouted.

“Sorry,” I apologized sheepishly, not realizing I had been daydreaming… or would it be morning dreaming since it wasn’t technically day yet?  I should really stop thinking so much…

“You can see the SOLG fragments reflecting light,” Grimm observed.

“If only the lights were fireworks instead of deadly pieces of debris that could kill us,” I said. “When this thing is destroyed, it’s going to explode with a hell of a bang.  It’s going to be like one big firework.”

“We need to watch fireworks one day, and one’s that don’t involve gunfire or explosions,” Grimm added. “… I swear we’ve had this conversation before.”

“I don’t know if we have or not; I can barely remember what we did last night let alone if we’ve had a conversation before.”

“Tell me you’re joking about last night,” Nagase moaned.

“Of course I am… mostly…”

“You scare me so much,” Nagase said.

“I know.  I’m your best friend.  It’s my job.”

Truthfully, besides dodging pieces of debris and having to fire the missiles at the SOLG’s components at the right time, it honestly wasn’t that hard.  Okay, maybe for me it wasn’t, but Grimm, Snow, and Nagase seemed to be getting frustrated.  I fired about ten missiles in total at my target to destroy it; unfortunately, these devils used a lot of missiles.  I was going to have to make sure that every shot count.  I drifted over to help Snow beside me.  He and I had taken the two bottom targets while Nagase and Grimm had taken the two top ones.

“Need help Snow?” I questioned, although it was more a rhetorical question than anything else.  I was going to help whether he liked it or not.

“Gladly,” he admitted.

A thought struck me that could possible help us get the SOLG destroyed more quickly. “Nagase, Snow, Grimm, a lot of the fragments are coming off on their own.  See if you can speed it up.  The less fragments we have to worry about coming at us, the easier it will be for us to destroy the SOLG.”

“Roger.  You’re going to destroy the components, aren’t you?” Nagase said.

“Yeah.”  I sped up to the front of the SOLG and lifted my plane up; its rotating accelerators were only about ten feet in front of me.  I was high enough where any debris most likely wouldn’t hit me and I was low enough to get a good missile lock on the components.  I started firing at the component that Grimm had been firing at earlier.  It was already semi-damaged from when he had been firing at it.  The main problem was that I had to wait for the accelerators to unblock the target before I could fire.  That’s what took so long.  With one destroyed, I had three left, including the one I was working on.  It was halfway damaged.  Nagase and Grimm and Snow were rapidly depleting the excess pieces on the SOLG, such as solar panels and whatnot. 

“Remember those craters in the Belkan mainland.  Don’t let it happen again!” Grimm stated.

“I will never let that many people die again,” I declared.

“We have the hearts of thousands backing us!  And the lives of so many more in front of us!” Grimm exclaimed.

“Literally and figuratively,” I mumbled.  I started to recognize the feeling of not necessarily nervousness, but more of anxiety.  Where was that coming from?  The only times that had happened was with my first battle and when Chopper crashed.  So why was it happening now?  Then it finally clicked in my brain that this was the final battle.  There would be no more fighting after this.  My anxiety was coming from what I was going to do after it was over.  Before, I had it all figured out.  Chopper and I were going to get married, I was probably going to start training nuggets, and he was going to go into the music industry.  But now everything changed.  So, doing one of the things I do best, I pushed the thoughts out of my mind and told myself to think about them later, that I needed to focus on what was happening right now.  That wasn’t a complete lie, but you could also say I was procrastinating.

I hadn’t realized I had kept firing at the component and now it was destroyed.  Two left.  I shifted to the right and started working on the component Nagase had been working on.  It was halfway damaged.

“I believe in her!” Grimm exclaimed. “As long as the Captain’s with us, we can do the impossible!”

“And the psychotic,” I added. “Don’t forget the psychotic.”

“You just love to ruin the moments, Blaze.” Grimm chuckled.

“You know I’m not one for sappy stuff… but thank you, Grimm… even if you did make me feel old calling me Captain and acted like I’m not here, I’m glad you believe in me.”

“Don’t forget me and Snow!” Nagase said.

“I won’t,” I assured as I destroyed the component I had been working on.

“Anything built by human hands can be destroyed.  This is no exception,” Snow claimed.

“We’ve flown through tunnels, both man made natural, and underground.  This is easy compared to those feats,” Nagase mused.

“Yes.  So don’t let up until it’s over,” Snow heartened while he destroyed the last three solar panels on the right side of the SOLG.

“We’re still not doing enough damage to stop it, but…” Nagase trailed off.

“But we’re the only ones who can,” Grimm finished.

“That’s right.  We have to stop it,” Snow said determinedly.

“No pressure, right?” I said casually.

“We’re gonna do this!  Just believe in yourselves!” Snow encouraged, joining Nagase and Grimm in shooting down arms of the accelerator.  Those were going to be a bitch to avoid (excuse my language).

“Snow, you should hold seminars for encouraging people.  I think you’d be really good at it,” I told him.

“I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic or honest,” Snow answered in perplexity.

“Both, but mainly the latter one.”

“Good to know.”

We fell silent and one of the four long arms of the SOLG detached and barreled straight towards Snow.  He dodged out the way, narrowly avoiding being hit.

“I’m not through yet!” He growled. “This is for all my men who fell before me!”

“This is for the rookies that died because of the stupid Base Commander sending them into battle when they were unready!” Grimm shouted.

“This is for everyone in this war who never knew what they were fighting for,” Nagase stated.

I knew it was my turn to say something, so I thought of my words carefully. “This is for everyone, military and civilian.  This is for the future generations in hope they never have to deal with a monstrosity like this… This is for Chopper, who gave up his life to save thousands.  This is for my uncle, who has had to hide from the Belkans for his safety.”

“This is for Pixy and Geller, who went against their own country to help us,” Nagase added, destroying another arm.

Grimm joined in. “This is for Pops, for having the courage to refuse orders from his superiors and help Osea fight against Belka fifteen years ago and for saving us when Hamilton tricked everyone on base into thinking we were traitors.” He destroyed the third arm.

“This is for Major, for obtaining the disc for the SOLG’s structural details,” Snow included as he destroyed the fourth arm.  Now the SOLG look like one, long… pencil.  Yes, that’s it.  It looked like a pencil.

“This is for Andersen, who gave us shelter and hospitality when we had nowhere else to go,” Nagase said, firing at the two remaining solar panels.

“This is for the Kestrel crew members who helped us through everything along the way,” Snow declared, helping Nagase.

“This is for my brother, who made me want to go into the military in the first place,” Grimm said, finishing the panels off.  We all scattered to avoid being hit by them.

“This is for my brother and Cassie who were always there to greet us after a hard day and to cheer us up… and, this is for Bartlett, who, without him, I would never have learned to be so incredibly nuts,” I joked.

“Hey!” Bartlett protested.

“Hey, yourself!” I laughed. “Don’t worry, that was a compliment.”

“It better be,” He muttered.

I was almost done with the last component.   Almost there…

“This is our final flight.  We will get through this!” Nagase stated sternly.

I stared at the final component.  This was it.

“It’s all yours Captain,” Snow told me softly, pride in his voice.  I took a deep breath, waited for the perfect timing… and fired my two missiles.  They hit directly.  I let out a breath I didn’t know I’d been holding.

_______________________________________________

Genette 

We stood on the bridge, watching as the SOLG came into view, starting out as a speck but growing larger and larger by the second.  It was moving rapidly towards Oured.  Everyone lined up: me, Pixy, Uncle Jason, Pops, Andersen, Bartlett, Geller, Cassie, and Nastasya.  We stared out over the horizon, wondering what our fate was going to be.  The city was silent.  Most people had evacuated the city or had gone into underground shelters.  Only the eight of us were stupid enough to stand outside with no protection whatsoever.  If the situation hadn’t been so critical, I would’ve found the silence to be peaceful.

An ear-splitting scream over the mic shattered the stillness of daybreak.  My heart dropped when I recognized the scream as Blaze’s.  I grabbed his mic and started shouting, “Blaze!” into it.

“WE DID IT!  WE DID IT!  WE DID IT!” She screamed back gleefully.  It took us a few seconds to register what she had just said.  Only then when Nagase and Grimm and Snow started cheering and hollering that we caught on.  We all started laughing in amazement, not knowing what else we could do.  Of course, Bartlett grabbed Nastasya and kissed her in front of everyone.  She seemed completely shocked but she didn’t try and push him away; in fact, I think she egged him on for more.  Hastily, I looked away.  Pixy, Cipher, and I high-fived each other, Pops, Andersen, and Geller were grinning from ear to ear.  Cassie gave me a huge hug.  We looked back at the horizon and finally saw the four black planes flying towards us.

The fluttering of wings caught my attention and I looked up to see a bird landing on a lamp post.  It looked around briefly, settled itself in a comfortable position, before jerking its head up towards the sky.  And that’s when the SOLG exploded high above us.  It resembled a pink firework… if a firework had the sound of a nuclear explosion.  We covered our ears to save our hearing and it definitely helped, although not near enough as I would’ve liked.  The roaring of engines in the distance made me uncover my ears and I saw the Razgriz, in standard formation, flying straight towards us.

I smiled as an absurd thought entered my mind: When history witnesses a great change, Razgriz reveals itself… first, as a dark demon.  As a demon, it uses its power to rain death upon the land, and then it dies.  However, after a period of slumber, Razgriz returns, this time as a great hero.

I knew that when the time came to reveal who the Razgriz were, I was going to make sure this was said.  It explained their story almost exactly.  Each of the Razgriz did a spin before shooting straight up into the air.  That’s when our mics started exploding with cheers from Oseans and Yukes alike.

“We did it!”

“We won!”

“Salute the Aces of Razgriz!” Everyone started chanting “Razgriz” and I knew my sister could hear them; I wondered what she thought about it.

When they landed, Blaze hopped out of her plane and charged Uncle Jason.  She gave him such a forceful hug that he almost fell back but Pixy stabilized him.  Nagase rushed at me and like Blaze, tackled me in a hug.  Unlike Blaze, I didn’t have anyone to make sure I didn’t fall so Nagase and I crashed onto the pavement.  She gave me a kiss but she was laughing so much that it was a short one.  Grimm was holding Cassie in an embrace, her legs wrapped around his waist.  I’m pretty sure she was crying.  Next, Blaze came over and hugged me so tightly that I thought I was going to asphyxiate.  Just my luck to not be killed by some killer Belkan invention but by my sister hugging me.  One by one, everyone was hugged and hugged again… and again… and again.

Once we had all gotten most of the hugging out, about eight armored vehicles pulled up to us.  We fell silent and stared in shock as President Harling alighted the middle one with Prime Minister Nikanor.  We all stood at attention; Blaze saluted them and we followed likewise.  President Harling and Nikanor returned them.

“At ease, soldiers,” Harling said.  We obeyed. “Nikanor and I will never be able to repay you after what you have done for this country.”

“It was an honor to know all of you,” Nikanor said. “You will always be welcome in Yuktobania.”

“I have made a few decisions that I would like to discuss with each and every one of you.  Of course, I would prefer to do it in private and in the security of Versailles,” Harling told us (Versailles is the living place for the President of Osea.  Whenever you’re president, you live there).  No one objected and so we each got into a car; Blaze and Snow got in with Harling and Nikanor.  Cipher and Pixy and Geller took another (apparently Geller and Pixy knew each other).  Nagase and I shared a car, Cassie and Grimm did the same, Pops and Andersen took a car, and Bartlett and Nastasya took one.  In total, we used six of the eight cars.  I stared out the window with Nagase’s head on my shoulder.  She fell asleep on the way to the palace.  She wasn’t the only one.  In fact, all the Razgriz pilots fell asleep.  President Harling was laughing saying how he and Nikanor had looked at each other for barely five seconds, looked back at Blaze and Snow and the two of them were completely out.  However, by the time we reached Versailles, they woke up and groggily stumbled into the palace.

We headed to the cabinet room, where most discussions the president holds take place.

We took a seat and Harling started to speak.  None of us were expecting the offer he made, and none of us could predict the hell storm that was about to happen.

_______________________________________________

I’ll admit, I got a little teary-eyed writing this in the beginning.  It is sad knowing this was the final battle.  Well, before I get too sappy, I want to thank all my reviewers!  And, since this was the final battle, how about a review? ;) Until next time!