Chapter Text
Omori wasn’t afraid of heights.
He couldn’t be. Not when he had his friends with him every step of the way, always ready to jump to his support. Not when he was certain of the condition of his machine, that each and every function and intricacy of it was in working order.
Not when he knew Mari was watching over him from even higher above, away from danger. She was safe up there, and in turn kept him safe.
The vivid purple sky above him shone into his cockpit as he screamed through the misty clouds, the stars and constellations seeming unmoving despite his aircraft traveling well past the speed of sound. A lot of ground was covered in mere moments, but most of it was left ultimately undiscovered.
Being up here felt so liberating, and everything was so small from up here. There was no reason to worry about heights when you were in a machine designed especially for high-speed flight. Omori had to wonder how one could be so irrationally scared of this type of thing, now that he feels like he could do anything up here.
He could just stay here all the time. And he would.
Although this was not a mere jaunt in the sky, Omori remembered.
“<< Little brother, do you read? >>” The gentle and soothing voice of his big sister came through to him in the bright and vast sky, snapping him out of his sightseeing. She wasn’t supposed to call him that over comms, even if it wasn’t during a mission, but Omori didn’t have the heart to complain to her.
“<< Several bogies pushing through the airspace border to the East, ten miles out. >>”
“<< Already? Well, Omori, looks like we’ve got our work cut out for us. >>” The chipper first wingman of Omori spoke up first, that being Aubrey. She flew in formation with Omori’s aircraft, behind and to the right, matching his speed. To call this cruising speed was a bit of an understatement.
“<< It’s probably sprout moles again. They always seem to be getting lost up here. >>” Kel’s voice pierced the airwaves. His aircraft pushed up to the rear left of Omori’s, being the third in the formation. He was always more prone to jumping the gun than the others, but not so much to be uncontrollably reckless. “<< How do you get lost in the sky?! >>”
“<< It's a lot easier than you might think, Hare 3. Anyone can get lost up here. >>” Hero responded, flying directly behind Omori, making a diamond-shaped formation. His aircraft was less geared toward actual dogfighting, instead opting for a more support-oriented role, but Hero wouldn’t shy away from a fight if he had to. “<< Either way, we have to be certain of our unknowns. >>”
“<< Hare 4’s right. Bogeys are now six miles out, and it doesn’t look like they’re changing course. You all ready, guys? >>” Mari gently pipped from her unseen AWACS aircraft, high above.
“<< Ready, Mari! >>” Hare 2, Aubrey gave her response.
“<< Ready as I’ll ever be! >>” Hare 3, Kel was quick to follow.
“<< I’m ready. Flight lead? >>” Hare 4, Hero, ended the chain.
There was one last confirmation he needed. Omori turned in his tight seat to the person in the rear of his tandem cockpit. Bright blue eyes shone through a reflective visor, and a little pink flower was secured on his flight suit. Upon seeing Omori stare at him from the front, he gave a quick thumbs-up in lieu of a smile.
“<< I’m right behind you, Omori. Hare 1, ready! >>” Basil meant that literally it seemed, but it was true either way.
Everyone was here, and Omori too, was ready.
“<< Five miles. >>” Mari reminded the squad on their way to the hapless fliers.
Little dots started to appear on the horizon. They would be indistinguishable as aircraft if not for Omori’s heads-up display marking them as targets, and the radar scope clearly showing little triangles pointing in their direction of travel.
“<< I see them! AWACS, bogies are unknown affiliation. Two bombers, three escorts. >> Basil alerted the team through the radio, looking into a camera display on his console. The image was somewhat grainy, especially for a high-zoom infrared camera.
“<< Care to hail them, Hare 3? I think they’re eager for the sound of your voice! >>” Aubrey teased Kel through the radio channel.
“<< Hah, age before beauty, Hare 2! Besides, last time you coaxed me into that, we had the entire enemy air force descend upon us! You do it! >>”
“<< At least I try to sound diplomatic! >>” It looks like Kel and Aubrey have devolved into another one of their spats again, Omori thought.
“<< Guys, please! Look, if neither of you will talk to them, I will. Just please don’t argue, especially now. >>” Hero, ever more mature than the others, steps in to prevent another shouting match. Even in the air, their competitive tension is still very much in play, and so inconveniently.
The four aircraft began to close in on the intruding formation. Omori peeked in the mirror and saw Basil’s eyes squinting downward at the panels on his side of the cockpit. The helmet covering his face made it hard to discern his facial expressions, and as such, his feelings.
“<< Attention, unidentified aircraft! We are not here to attack you, but you are encroaching on protected airspace. Please divert your course to 270 degrees west to leave the restricted area, and you can be on your way. Lower your landing gear if you understand me. >>”
At least Hero didn’t sound like he was reading off of a script most of the time. In and out of the sky, he was always the charismatic one. As they approached the bomber formation, Omori could pick out some unfamiliar markings on the tail and wingtips, as well as some other strange bright colors of livery that blended into the sky. They must have been a mile past the border by this time, and none of them were giving Hero the requested response.
The real kicker was looking in the cockpit and seeing the pilots. Stout bodies, stubby feet, a pair of leaves sprouting from the top of its body, and misaligned eyes above a hanging-open mouth. They even have disproportionately-sized goggles on.
“<< So they are sprout moles, but this far out? >>” Aubrey mused to herself on an open mic.
“<< Hah, I knew it! They’re just a little lost, aren’t they? >>” It was not like Kel to look for an excuse to shoot some sprout moles down, as often as it happens anyway.
“<< Let me try again. Attention, lost sprout mole formation. Please do not be— >>”
“<< They’re not lost. >>” Basil cut in the middle of Hero’s second hailing.
“<< Huh? You don’t mean… >>”
Omori could see some of the fighters break off from their escort positions, climbing upward past the bombers. The tail turrets on the bombers were swiveling in their direction as well. The responses, the formation, even the timeframe it seemed… All of it was too organized for these sprout moles to be “lost.”
Before Omori could buzz Mari for advice, the ever-harrowing beep of the missile alert began ringing in his ears, and he could see a trail of smoke curling inward toward him and his friends. Omori jerked the flight stick to the right and back, violently banking the aircraft out of the missile’s path. Basil was spun along, head and arms feeling as if they were being pulled from his body in that swift motion. A trail of smoke passed right underneath his vision as the missile harmlessly exploded out of reach of the rest of the team.
Basil’s intuition was spot-on.
“<< W-We’re being shot at! AWACS! >>” It didn’t take much for Basil to be shaken up, considering Omori’s sudden movements and what he felt was a rapidly deteriorating situation.
“<< Confirmed! Hare Squadron, engage! >>” Mari gave the final go-ahead. Within moments, Omori and his team’s aircraft swooped in, ready to pick their targets. Although there were fewer fighters than in Omori's flight, none of them let their guard down. Omori pulled up toward the sky, eager to get the drop on the encroaching fighters, while Basil held on tight.
“<< It’s only sprout moles, guys! Nothing to get too nervous about. >>” Kel gave some shallow advice in the engagement, his heavy breathing apparent through the scratchy microphone. His aircraft, as well as the others in the formation, followed Omori’s lead.
“<< Yeah, Kel? You won’t let them pull their moley tricks on you this time? >>” Aubrey had to get another word in.
“<< Shut up! Hare 3, Fox Two! >>”
Kel’s aircraft detached a missile from its right wingtip, and its rocket motor ignited immediately. In a matter of seconds, it zipped into the path of the offending fighter, who vainly attempted to pull out of the head-on charge against him. What followed was a bright flash, a heavy puff of smoke, and a resounding bang. The aggressive enemy aircraft, out of control and choking the sky in smoke, blew right past Kel’s plane as he pulled a barrel roll. Just as the machine began to tear apart in the air, a gout of fire engulfed it, leaving nothing but a clump of parts blazing down to the ground.
“<< Hahaaa! Hare 3, splash one sprout mole! >>”
“<< Watch out, there’s still two more! >>” Mari warned. Sure enough, the two remaining fighters haphazardly broke off from their escort positions while Omori and his team weren’t looking, and were soon closing in.
Omori already had an advantage, and one he was ready to use. He pushed the throttle up to afterburner and pulled his aircraft far above the enemy, forcing one of them to turn around and upward to attempt to engage. This however, left it considerably open.
“<< Don’t worry, I got your back! >>” Aubrey was quick to respond to Omori’s apparent need for assistance, and fired her plane's autocannon at the hapless enemy fighter. Each bursting shell swiss-cheesed the aircraft with fragments that quickly brought it to become another gleaming fireball to adorn the sky with.
“<< That was… a bit close, Hare 2! >>” A weary Basil sighed from the backseat.
“<< I wouldn’t let anything get by you, flight lead-- >>” A burst of autocannon fire whizzed past Aubrey’s plane just as she got done with the last fighter, forcing her to jink out of the way. “<< Aah! Where did this guy come from!? >>”
Aubrey dragged the stick as hard as she could to evade, but the sprout mole remained hot on her tail, with its stream of fire inching closer. Contrails drew dizzying shapes in the sky as their dogfight dragged on.
“<< Hold on! >>” With the flick and a click of some buttons and switches, Hero begins electronic countermeasures against Aubrey’s pursuer. It should be enough to annoy the enemy pilot enough for it to waver in its attack. “<< Press the advantage, while I have it down! >>”
Omori pulled a 180 degree upward turn even before the warning went out, and found himself with his heads-up-display's gun pipper aligned right with the sprout mole’s canopy. Without so much as a millisecond lost, Omori pulled the trigger, sending explosive shells toward the unsuspecting pilot.
“<< Hare 1, guns, guns, guns! >>” Since Omori wouldn’t make the call-out, Basil would just have to do it for him. Like the other two before it, the third sprout mole fighter was reduced to a hunk of fiery metal.
“<< That was far too close… >>” Aubrey exasperatedly returned to Omori’s side. It looked like they both got their blood-pumping fighter maneuvers in today. In the meantime, Kel and Hero had begun engaging the bombers. It appeared that the tail gunners were not at all ready for the brothers’ sudden assault, as their shells could not even graze either of them before the remainder of the sprout moles’ aircraft were all torn apart.
“<< We got them! That’ll teach ‘em to fly in our airspace again! >>” Kel gave out a triumphant cheer over the comms.
“<< Maybe not. You heard what Basil said, right? >>” Hero added.
“<< Eh, they’re just sprout moles! Even they gotta learn too! >>”
“<< No, Kel… >>” Basil got a word in between the ruminations. “<< I think we’re dealing with more than mere sprout moles… >>”
It may have been a ride all on its own, but it ended up being another shoo-in. If it didn’t end there, however…
“<< Okay, everyone! Mission complete, return to base! >>” Mari wanted to be sure that everyone got the memo before the four veered out of the operational zone.
Stabilizing his flight path, Omori couldn’t help but wonder if this was the start of something else. As he and the rest of the squad cruised back to Neighbor’s Airfield, questions ran through his head again. Why sprout moles? Why here? Why now? Part of him wanted to think he knew the answer already, but he didn’t want to make any false assumptions.
Omori let go of a breath he unknowingly held onto. No, he’d just have to hear about it later.
Snap. The telltale report of an instant camera was barely registered coming from the backseat of Omori’s jet fighter. As it was, Basil was indeed using the camera, capturing a photo of the landscape. The image seemed to come out clearly, and the vast patch of green forest contrasted nicely with the indigo above the horizon.
“<< Another one for the album, Bas’? >>” Kel chirped through the radio as Basil slipped the photograph in his flight suit’s pocket.
“<< Ahaa… I couldn’t miss the opportunity. >>”
Clouds descended beneath their view as Omori pushed the aircraft even higher. Soon, he found himself at the side of Mari’s AWACS aircraft. It was large, akin to a passenger airliner, but with a large rotating dish suspended atop its back. From where Omori was flying, he and Basil could see Mari through a little window on the side.
“<< Come to visit me, little brother? >>” As Mari’s face popped up at the window, Basil reared up his camera in an instant. She popped a full-wide grin just as Basil hit the shutter, and waited for the photo to print out.
“<< Mari, who told you? I was hoping to catch you more by surprise. >>” Basil always preferred candid photography, especially with his friends. It’s capturing life in motion, and that’s what made it genuine. Omori knew this, and he was sure that so did Mari.
“<< Oh, I couldn’t resist. >>” A hint of teasing was present in Mari’s voice, even through the fuzz.
Even getting to see Mari all the way up here brought no change to Omori's facial expression, and considering no one could see through his helmet and mask any which way, that was fine. It wouldn't change much, after all.
Omori peeked at the rear-view mirror just as Basil collected the photo from the camera. In his intermittent glances, he noticed that Basil was scrutinizing the picture particularly deeply.
“<< That’s strange. I’m certain I had it in focus… >>” If his helmet wasn’t in the way, he’d be able to read his expression more thoroughly.
But it didn’t look like he needed to, as he could sense it. Basil’s eyes shook, and his voice wavered. The oxygen valve loudly clicked open with his heavy breathing. Black tendrils began to wrap around him.
“<< No, I… she was right th… >>”
Omori turned around. The sky behind them was empty, and darkness followed him in Basil’s cockpit. Sweat accumulated beneath his helmet, adding to his already heavy discomfort.
“<< Mari… >>”
Omori held his breath again.
He turned forward again, not wanting to look.
And saw the cape at the end of the forest rushing into his canopy.
“<< She f◻◻◻◻◻◻
Crickets.
All Sunny could hear were crickets.
When Sunny opened his eyes, he found only complete and absolute darkness in the room, without even a streetlight to cast its light through the window. Whenever the crickets paused, Sunny could hear the distant patting of boots out in the streets, accompanied by Kel’s light snoring, before it was drowned out by the sheer trilling yet again. It was otherwise pleasantly quiet, but Sunny just couldn’t sleep, and he didn’t know why.
A growling was heard. Was something happening outside, another movement? Did someone want to roll up to his house at such a late hour?
A rumbling was felt. It wasn’t from the outside, and the bed did not shake. His body, however, did.
It was his stomach.
Sunny was hungry. He was awake, it was dark, and he was hungry.
Fine, he thought. If he has to, just to get back to bed. With reserved irritation, Sunny slipped from the covers and off of the bed, hoping that a wayward floorboard creak or slip would not stir Kel from his sleep. Sunny had stayed at Kel’s house long enough to be able to navigate it easily in the dark, but he still needed to take caution to not disturb Hero’s many standing trophies.
The house was pitch black, and no light was cast through the windows, except from twinkling stars. As Sunny stared down the dark stairwell, he ruminated on the days when he still lived in his own home. There were times when so much as going down the stairs was nearly, if not completely impossible for him. But now, Sunny’s hands slid down the railing like nothing as he slowly and quietly descended the short flight of stairs. If in his dreams he can pierce the clouds so high above, see the whole world, and not even flinch, going from the second to first floor should be nothing.
The kitchen and living room were equally dark, but Sunny knew his way around, so the fridge wasn’t hard to find anyway. With his head in the fridge, Sunny hopes Kel’s family won’t miss this particular plate of carne asada he’s picked out and put in the microwave.
It was only a moment to reheat the plate. Sunny attempted to stall the timer at the last second so that the bell wouldn’t ring loudly across the house, but failed. Still, it wouldn’t have been enough to wake anyone up, seeing as everyone’s bedrooms are on the second floor, behind closed doors. He felt a little bad taking food like this, what with rationing and all, but Sunny has been friends with Kel and his family for almost all his life. Kel’s house is Sunny’s house as well.
Besides, after looking in the fridge, Sunny thought that they’d be fine.
It was a quick walk back up the stairs after a quick ransacking of the fridge, and by that time Sunny’s eyes had adjusted to catch the starlight, even if by only a minuscule amount. Sunny braced himself for the telltale signs of nausea or food poisoning, but nothing came to disturb him this time around. Even if it came down to it, Sunny felt that he was prepared enough from his earlier accident.
Sunny stood at the window at the centerline of the room, gazing outside at the darkness. The winding maze of buildings of Old Towne was not discernible in the night, and the silhouettes of the skyscrapers of New City thrust upward past the starry horizon like pillars from the depths. Not a single light from the city was polluting the dark, and as such, the night sky was awash with stars. Some of the stars twinkled, and some stayed consistent in their brightness. He wondered what those stars up there were made of.
As he continued to scan, Sunny could pick out a shape on the horizon, almost completely unilluminated. It swayed in the breeze, and its tendrils hung loosely from its ovoid body, staking into the darkness, like it was rising from the deep.
He felt something was staring at him.
Sunny blinked. The shape didn’t seem to hold cohesion any longer.
Sunny let go of a breath he unknowingly held onto. As he retreated from the window to his bed, all he could think of was returning to his headspace. All he wanted was to stay inside, where nothing could come to hurt him.
Stay inside, he had.