Big Eyes, Small Mouth (BESM): In the Shadows of the City - Episode 1.5: Loose End (One Post Fiction)

[Fiona Warner]

Anne stood face to face with challenges before. But nothing like how she felt regarding this.

The boy she called Raptor. A Senior and the club president of the Aviation club. Someone she soon regarded as a bad influence on the club and a worse sportsman.

Many of the underclassmen were behind Anne. The only underclassman behind Raptor was a brown-noser named Rattler. Anne refused to even acknowledge him by his actual name. He was a snake and the technical genius that probably arranged the sabotage of the simulators during the last free-for-all.

She already got dressed for the occasion. She ran home and got her flight gear on. She loved getting into character, and she noticed that Raptor took it serious too. But unlike her, she loved the game, loved the duel. He was nothing more than a dominator.

They chose neutral ground, but Raptor changed one aspect of the battlefield that Anne wanted. He didn't want anyone from the school outside of the club watching this. Anne wanted this more than anything and acquiesced.

She was sure Mayumi and Aoi would record every part of the battle. They wanted to see Anne win fair and square.

"So... the Nugget has returned?"

"Yeah, Raptor. And the Name is..."

"Nugget. You'll always be a Nugget. I don't care what sort of rep you picked up in the UK or anywhere else. You're in Tokyo now. This is my skies."

"Well don't talk... prove it!"

They stepped into their simulators. Miho and Aoi stood next to her as she got strapped into the simulator and got her helmet on. "Go get him, Anne!"

"Yeah! You got his number now!"

Anne smiled. "Well... hopefully that is the case, guys."

She lowers the hood on the simulator and it comes online.

Raptor went through the same process, only watched by his few of the people who lived in his shadow forming his cult of personality.

"You understand the stakes, Nugget? It's all or nothing here. I win, you quit the club. You win, You become president."

"And you stop calling me Nugget."

"That wasn't part of the deal."

They both were in F-35s chosen by the shop owner. He also made sure the fuel levels, ammunition, and even systems were properly loaded and set up.

Okay, I want a good, clean fight.

Ace, you are flying the north aircraft carrier.

Raptor, you are flying south aircraft carrier.

Stay in the engagement area. The fight begins when you cross the threshold.

Understood?[/code]




"Copy that, Airboss. Ace is on the Tarmac now. Systems are hot and all reading green."



"Copy that command, Raptor is ready for action."



[code]Very well, happy hunting you two.

They took off at full speed, screaming into the fight in a matter of moments. Then the two pilots crossed each other... something that has become a tradition between Raptor and Ace. Then the battle began. The two birds of prey danced and dodged, swooped and parried, but the first blood was Raptor's as Anne heard the plinks of Raptor's cannon on her aircraft's armor. "Dammit! Get off me!" Anne fired her missiles, unfortunately Raptor's countermeasures took care of the shot. She peeled right but then felt a rattle as a missile exploded near her. Her countermeasures distracted a quickly fired retort from Raptor and she immediately saw her fuel levels begin to drop. Actual damage... She turned quickly, facing down right into him and opened up with her cannon in a fly-by but it was a distraction as she had fired another salvo of missiles. again, she missed, and his cannon once again plinked into her. Her turning became sluggish and she was hemorrhaging fuel. Anne gritted as her plane rocked. Her instinct to eject now was starting to come to the fore, but she had to win. She spun to the side and faced him head on for one more pass, but at the last second she flipped to her back and fired every missile she had at near point-blank. It worked. Brilliantly. He couldn't even eject.

Confirmed Splash and Kill, Ace! You won!

"You'll never get back to base, Nugget." Raptor said.

"Yeah, you know the bylaws, you gotta get back to base to make the kills count!" Rattler said.

"This was a duel, You two, you never mentioned..."

"Rules are rules." Rattler said.

Anne leveled out and pushed her plane back to her friendly carrier. But her fuel runs out 5 kilometers from the ship. She had no choice but to eject or lose her profile.

She opens her cockpit after the ejection logs her out, and she sees her avatar slowly drifting down to the ocean.

"Looks like it's a Draw, Nugget." Raptor said, grinning.

"I got you Raptor. I own your profile and I own you."

"Nope... and you know what... as Class President... I'm kicking you out."

"WHAT?"

All the underclassmen were in shock. They knew what was about to happen. They had planned it.

"Really?" Anne said with a smirk.

"Man... that's lame she got him..."

Aoi walks up next to Anne. "I believe I speak for all the underclassmen when I say to hell with your technicalities. Ace is our president, not you."

"This isn't a democracy." Rattler said, getting into Aoi's face.

"Well it will be." Miho says. "I took the liberty of getting the paperwork set to form a new aviation club. Your club now, since it only has 3 members is under the quota for a viable club. Since the deadline is tomorrow for reviewing club sizes before the next festival, you're done. We'll refile for our club when registrations open up in a few weeks. You use technicalities, so will we!"

"You can't do this!" Raptor shouted.

"We just did." Anne smiled. "Let's go gang. dinner is on me! At the noodle shop!"

The underclassmen cheer as they march out of the shop, leaving a fuming Raptor behind them.

"I'll get you for this, Anne Aceworth!"

"Oh, you'll need a new profile first, Nugget!"

[FIN]