Skies above (Pilot - Dragon Girl)

"RPM is... Alright. Fuel... I guess I have enough for a couple more kilometres."

Michael, after figuring that everything was under control, laid back on his seat and looked out the small plane's cockpit to the side. Outside, he could see the landscape of tall mountains and open fields, tinted of a slight yellow color by the morning rays of the sun that reflected off the glass window.

"I've gotta clean this thing one of these days." He mentioned, noticing just how much dust had become stuck on the glass. Such was the degree of filth that he could see most of his reflection clearly, of his blue eyes and black hair that reached down his shoulders
. If he was old enough to have wrinkles, he was sure he'd be able to see them too.

However, as he stared at the result of his negligence when it came to keeping something clean, he noticed a strange creature flying in the distance, with a silhouette that was unlike any bird he had seen. It was the first time he had seen such thing, flying with its great wings almost in the same direction as him, seemingly not having noticed him and his plane. Curious, Michael simply slightly turned his plane with the rudder towards the strange being and pushed the throttle a little bit forward, now flying in the same direction but eventually having to cross paths should it keep flying in a straight line.

As he got closer and closer at a gradual pace, he tried to figure out what it was. The wings were far too big to be a normal bird, and its body seemed awfully long. He could not figure out what it was, nor what it could even be. All he knew was that it was the first time he saw such thing.

"It's a vulture. Yeah, probably a vulture." He said to himself as he raised an arm and rubbed his eyes with his fingers in utter confusion.

Overthinking it would serve of no purpose, and what he saw must have been a normal occurrence. Perhaps an exotic bird or something he had not seen before, but normal nonetheless. He accepted the fact that it was a bird without much complaining, and removed the fingers from his eyes to take another look at the creature. Unfortunately, it had disappeared.

"Huh...? Where is it...?" He asked himself, looking all over the scenery for a clue of where it was.

He looked above and below, but found no sign of it.

He figured it flew away after noticing him. After that thought, he sat back and decided to return to the airfield, slowly turning his plane around.

As soon as he stabilized his plane and headed straight for the airfield, his peripheral view caught something besides his plane, as if something was flying next to him. A bird, he though, although unlikely but possible. Curious, he turned his sight to where the creature was, only to find something just as big as a human flying right next to his plane, staring at him. It was a woman with most of her skin covered in green scales, with her arms and legs being entirely covered in them and with claws replacing her feet and hands; a green loincloth on her waist, with a green cloth covering her breasts and neck; enormous green wings that seemed to be made entirely of scales; a long tail of the same material; long hair that reached down her waist, of a colour close to a mixture of purple and blue; and fiery red eyes that Michael could see from his seat. He was left paralyzed by the sight, having not seen anything like that in his life, and the creature being aware of his presence.

The strange woman simply stared at Michael for a few seconds before deciding to fly away, just in the opposite direction of where Michael's plane was headed by turning around through sheer force of her wings.

"T-That's it. That's it." Michael stuttered, snapping out of his paralysis and focusing on returning to the airfield. "I'm fucking leaving."

---

After a short time, Michael was back at his house. His house, unlike the normal town house that a common person would live in, was built rather close to the airfield and along a few dozen houses, as if it all was a fancy barracks. The airfield, along with the houses, were placed far away from any town or city, for it was a private airfield owned by the ones who resided there, Michael included. For anything that they needed from civilization, a road connected the airfield to the nearest town, but apart from that the airfield was the only place where he and the others lived in. Next to the houses were the hangars that stored the planes the residents flew most days.

Michael stepped into his bedroom with a glass of whiskey and walked up to his computer, without need to turn on the light thanks the sunrays that snuck through the blinds of the window. He took a sip and placed the glass over the desk before sitting on a chair nearby and dragging it closer.

"Went for a glass. Got anything?" He wrote on a chat.

"Nothing. I still have no idea what it could be." A person with the username 'Thomas' replied. "I think I heard of humans with animal parts a couple days ago."

"Seriously?"

"I'm not even joking. Animal parts. Give me a minute."

It didn't take long for Thomas to reply, but instead of text, he replied with a link. Curious, Michael opened it and was led to a news page. While it loaded, Michael took another sip of his whisky and waited, until the page was fully loaded. In it, he saw something relating to a lab accident, where strange beings that appeared to be human-animal hybrids had escaped. He gave a quick look at the walls of text as he scrolled down the page, and came across a short video. He questioned to himself if he should watch it, but after noticing it was barely a few seconds long he gave it a go and clicked the play button after putting on his headphones.

In the video, he saw how a reporter interviewed a policeman, but noticing something in the sky above the building. The cameraman immediately moved focus and zoomed in, recording a strange, human-sized being with wings for arms and what looked like bird legs flying away. It was all he could see before the policeman shouted 'There is nothing to see here!' and attempted to seize the camera.

"Is that thing real?" He questioned.

"You know what you saw up there. I don't know if it's real or not, but if I saw what you saw I'd believe anything."

"Touche."

"Who knows, maybe it lives there."

"Do you really think that?"

"Whatever it is, it's not a normal human. I don't know anything about it. You don't either. The fact that it was flying there could mean it decided to live nearby, if it's not a nomad. Maybe the next time you fly you'll see her again."

"The thought frightens me, to be honest. I don't know if it's friendly or not."

"Take it as entertainment then. Hell, if you end up dying, it'll be by facing the dragon girl in a sky duel instead of dying in a boring way somewhere else. Right?"

"Dragon girl?"

"According to the description you gave me, it seems to be closer to a dragon. Actually it's a flying lizard, but if we take into account mythical beings, the closest thing to it would be a dragon. It shares the characteristics of it, and of a woman. It's best to call it as such, if only for simplicity's sake. Tell me, did it breath fire?"

"Didn't see. I don't know, maybe it does. I'm sure as hell not going to purposefully try to find out."

"Well, there are two possibilities: Either you fly out, meet her, and find out it's friendly, meaning that you befriend her... Or it's hostile. If it's the later, you'll not be flying around anymore as long as that thing is out there. You have a sheet of metal protecting you, that thing doesn't shoot bullets. You'll be fine. Hell, even if you get wrecked, you can still crash land safely if you don't outrun it first."

"Convincing argument. I'll see what I can do later today, probably afternoon or later."

"Alright. You going to take the plane in hangar 7?"

"No."

"Is it not ready yet? I thought it was."

"It is, but not really worth it. I'll just use the old plane."

"Alright. I'll wait on the runway for when you return, then you tell me what happened. I have to go check on the fuel for the plane in hangar 2, so I'll be going now."

"Got it. Do me a favor and tell everyone else not to fly until I check on that thing. Just in case."

"Understood."

Finishing their conversation, Thomas disconnected. Michael was left alone with his thoughts, wondering what he would really do after seeing that creature, simply staring at the keys of his plane left on his desk.

---

By the time Michael had arrived to the place where he met the 'dragon girl', it was already late afternoon. He was circling the area in the sky on his plane, looking for her with no success despite his best tries. It was an old plane, but for his intentions it was more than enough.

"Where are you...?" He whispered to himself, with the noise of the wind and the engine filling the atmosphere as he stared outside his cockpit in all directions.

No success. Despite having spent more than an hour flying in the same area for the sake of meeting the dragon girl again, he had not seen her, nor had he seen anything that would look like a nest, cave, or anything she'd most likely live in. Thoughts that it might have flown far, far away because of his presence started reaching him, for they'd explain why she was nowhere to be seen again. Still, with a small amount of hope, he kept on flying just for a small chance to see her again. After all, there would not be any opportunity like this again.

All of a sudden, as if it was the devil itself calling for him, something struck against the glass window of his plane, blocking almost all sunlight from coming through. Frightened beyond all measure, he raised his arm and covered his head while leaning opposite to where the glass was struck. He could barely recover from the fright, slightly lowering his arm but being paralyzed by the new sight: The dragon girl. He was unable to lower his arm completely in fear, covering half his head below his eyes, staring at the dragon girl clinging from the window and staring at him.

He could barely believe his own eyes. The dragon girl was clinging to the window edges by her feet and hands, with her breath being clearly visible on the glass, making a thin veil of mist over it. He could see how it looked like she was panting, but with her expression leading him to believe that it was not exhaustion. Her eyes were wide open and staring deep into his soul, and with her mouth sporting a wide, open, lustful smile. Curiously enough, she seemed to be blushing too.

Not being able to think of anything that would serve to help him or even how to act, Michael simply lowered his arm while raising his hand in a slow but irregular manner, as if he was fighting the paralysis he was under. He slowly, with an expression of horror and confusion, moved his fingers in a way that would look like a small, awkward greeting towards the dragon girl.

The dragon girl lowered one of her hands from the top of the plane's window and placed it on the glass, with her expression changing from lust to confusion. It was unknown to her what a glass window was, let alone that it existed, thus her attempt to move her hand towards him was halted. She'd have none of it, so she moved her hand back and clenched it into a fist, with her former expression returning to her just before she threw all her weight into the window and shattered it entirely, just with a punch.

Michael's fright of the dragong girl shattering the window and presenting herself as hostile, coupled with the shards of glass flying dangeoursly close to him and the sudden, deafening noise of the wind entering the plane caused him to let out a scream that was almost drowned out by all the noise. Feeling his heart almost breaking out of his chest, he attempted to get rid of the dragon girl by recklessly rolling his plane.

He pushed the handling stick all the way to the side and braced as best as he could. A split second later, the plane began rolling, with the shards of glass moving by the force of gravity remaining the same as the plane turned itself over at a tremendous speed. Michael closed his eyes to prevent the glass from getting in them with the plane spinning on itself, feeling how the gravity pulled him in all directions at a predictable rate. Soon enough, he could hear the soul-piercing sound of metal being teared apart, almost like nails scratching a chalkboard but magnified tenfold, until it abruptly came to an end. The wind noise also became louder, making him know that the dragon girl, who had the window slightly blocked, had been thrown away by sheer centrifugal force alone.

He opened his eyes barely enough to be able to see and, at the same time, prevent the shards from entering, until he witnessed where he was flying to. He had lost control of the plane and was heading right to the ground at a dangerously steep angle upside down. It was fortunate for him that it was not caused by a stall, or else he would soon be dead despite his best efforts. Trying to keep his calm, he firstly turned his plane right-side-up. Then, he used the elevators on his plane's tail to bring the angle his plane was flying in to a horizontal line, avoiding a straight course into the ground. He had been at a high enough altitude to make this task simple and with far enough time to accomplish it, but the danger of the dragon girl catching up with him remained. Immediately, he scanned his surroundings and gained a rough idea of where he was, and most importantly, where the airfield would be. The airfield, as he had imagined, was in the direction opposite of where he was heading towards. Then, he looked at where the dragon girl was: Right behind him, falling behind by the sheer speed the aircraft had gained in such a dive. The dragon girl was right between him and the airfield, that was far enough to be out of sight. Feeling confident but still nervous, Michael slightly decreased the angle of his plane to keep a faster speed, able to do so by the still high altitude he was in, and made a wide turn towards the airfield so as not to let the dragon girl maneuver towards him should he make a sharp turn.

After a short distance, he could see the dragon girl breaking pursuit and flying away. He had succeeded in running away from the engagement, avoiding an unknown fate. Victorious, he gave a loud sigh of relief and laid back on his seat, letting all his muscles rest, and closed his eyes as he laid his head to rest against the seat's headrest.

"Jesus..." He spoke, with his voice distorted by a sligh laughter he attempted to hold back. "That was... Intense..."

---

Michael's plane arrived to the airfield, flying low and slow until its wheels touched the runway and began decreasing speed, with the characteristic sound of the wheels of a plane braking on the asphalt being heard through the broken window. It was dusk, he not only had taken off late in the day, but his search and unfortunate engagement had lasted for most of what remained of the day.

His plane decreased speed further and further, until Michael could see the dozen people who resided with him in the airfield's houses grouped near the end of the runway, waiting for him. It would have been strange for them not to, as the prevention of further flights save for his was also his idea, to which there were no complaints. Of course, it was overshadowed by the fact that everyone knew it was him who decided to take the chance to figure out what the creature was, and returned. Once Michael's plane came to a halt and stopped in the runway's end, everyone rushed to him to find out anything they could.

Wanting a drink already, Michael unlocked the door of the plane, the door that had its glass window shattered, and pushed it open with his foot. He unlocked his belts that were attached to the seat, grabbed what remained of the frame as support to push himself out, and stepped out of the plane into the runway.

"Michael, Michael!" Thomas called for him while running towards him. "What happened there?"

"Take a look at the plane and give it a wild guess." Michael answered in a low, irritated voice.

Thomas, standing still while Michael walked to his house, turned his head to Michael's plane. There it laid, with the glass of the side window almost completely gone, and with the roof and frame of the door marked by three crevices, the ones the dragon girl caused as she clung to the plane before being blown off.

"...Holy shit." Thomas cursed in complete surprise before catching up with Michael as he walked. "Did that thing do that?"

"You think anything else would?"

"That's reinforced glass, it takes a damn bullet to even dent it! And the metal, by God."

"And that thing shattered it with a single punch. Go figure."

Thomas became silent, both awestruck and terrified at what had happened. He had not seen the dragon girl with his own eyes, but the damage it had caused was enough to send a shiver down his spine.

"We should call the cops, or anyone before something worse happens." He spoke.

"No. Don't. Don't call anyone, tell the others not to call anyone." Michael interrupted.

"Why?"

"It... It feels like there's something about that thing. Something I want to know about, you know. It's also the first time we see something like that, and we have not heard of that thing even existing. We could be the first ones to see it, you know. To fly with it."

"Something bad will happen."

"I was the one in that plane, and you know how it ended up. I think I know what I'm dealing with, and that's a risk I'm willing to take."

"...Alright, I'll bite. I'll tell the others not do do anything."

"Good boy."

Just as hey finished talking, they both arrived to Michael's house's door, standing before it. Michael opened the door and stared at Thomas.

"I'm going for a drink. Get someone to park my plane."

"Alright. I'll see you later."

"M-hm."

Thomas turned around and began walking away, leaving Michael to step into his house and close the door behind him. Immediately, he headed for the fridge. Once he reached it, he opened it, letting the light from inside illuminate his expression of tiredness as he looked around for a bottle. He found it quite quickly, taking out an almost empty bottle of whisky that made the all too known sound of glass bottles hitting eachother as he took it from a clumsily organized fridge before closing it. He opened the bottle and took a big gulp, letting the alcohol burn through his throat and giving a sigh of relief as the air entered his mouth while looking up.

"I needed that badly." He stated.

As he stared at the ceiling, resting his mind, he began wondering about several things. Thoughts and questions crossed his mind, questioning without answer why the strange creature was there, where it came from, how it could exist, and questions similar to those that anyone would ask. But one thing remained imprinted in his head, along with the dragon girl's expression that was burned in his memory.

"...Why was it blushing...?"

His attention shifted to the direction of the door when he heard chatter outside. Chatter that seemed to have started all of a sudden, as if something had caused it. Curious, and without anything else to do with his time, he headed to the door with his bottle in hand.

"Michael, Michael!" He heard Thomas calling for him, with his voice getting closer and closer as he walked to the door.

Once Michael reached the door and opened it, Thomas barged inside while almost tripping, for he was about to grab the door handle. Michael nonchalantly dodged him as he tripped in, and stood silent to listen at what he'd have to say.

"It's here. That thing's here." Thomas stated, panting. It was clear he had been running all the way to Michael's house, judging by his exhaustion.

Michael frowned in confusion, having difficulty in believing the situation. He walked past Thomas through the open door and stood outside in the darkness of dusk, then look above. There he saw her, the dragon girl, circling around the airfield at a tremendous altitude while everyone else looked up in confusion and fright. It seemed that it arrived so soon nobody even had the time to get the plane off the runway. Apart from that, the dragon girl was not doing much else.

"Shit." He cursed before raising his bottle and drinking what little remained of his whisky. As the last drops ran down his mouth, he threw his bottle away and cleaned his mouth with his arm, hearing the glass bottle breaking against the asphalt as he turned around and walked to his house again.

"Thomas." Michael called.

"Yes?"

"Get someone to move that plane off the runway, I'm getting the one in hangar 7."

"Are you serious? You know very well that thing won't leave it intact."

"I'm the one who built it, I know what's at stake."

"...Alright, as you say."

"Meet me in hangar 7 once you're done."

Without delay, Thomas ran off towards the group of people in the runway who had been staring at the dragon girl above. Michael, on the other hand, walked back inside his house and closed the door behind him. He walked past the main room of his house and into his bedroom, where he headed for a closet in the corner of the room. He placed his hands on the handles and, with a bit of strength, pulled the two doors open. He took a few clothes inside, placed them on the bed, and closed the closet again. He began undressing and, once done, started putting on the clothes that he had taken out. Firstly, a pair of thick, khaki-coloured trousers. Once raised, he buckled up the belt and sat on his bed, taking a pair of heavy brown boots and putting them on one by one, tying the shoelaces and stomping on the ground to make them fit properly. He tucked the bottom of his trousers in the boots, and stood up. He grabbed a white, simple shirt and put it on, buttoning up and tucking the bottom inside his trousers. He put on a heavy, dark-brown leather jacket with a white fur lining on, and zipped it up. He grabbed a leather cap and placed it over his head, then grabbed a pair of goggles and placed it on his head with the cap, leaving the eyes of it over his forehead for now. He tucked a simple, white scarf on his neck. Finally, he grabbed the well-preserved parachute backpack and strapped it on, finalizing his preparation.

"Time to shine, grandpa." He boasted, tapping his chest where his jacket absorbed all of the force.

With no time to waste, he walked up to his desk, looked for a particular set of keys, found them, grabbed them, and walked out of the room. Through the main room of the house he walked until he reached the door, opening it to hear the engine of his old plane roaring, seeing it moving away from the runway to leave space for one particular plane. Thomas, as Michael had asked, returned to him and began walking besides him as the two of them headed towards the hangars.

"Everything ready, I assume." Michael stated.

"It is. The plane will be out of the way by the time you take the other one. You should hurry, there's no telling when that thing will descend."

"It won't."

"How do you know?"

"It didn't descend yet. If it had no reasons to, it still has none. It's looking for something. Waiting."

"What do you think it's looking for?"

"Me." He stated, just as the two of them reached the giant door of Hangar 7.

Michael stepped forward to the lock of the door and unlocked it with the key he already had in hand, letting the lock drop to the asphalt with a solid thud. He turned his head to Thomas as he held the edge of the giant door and nodded, silently asking him for his aid. Thomas complied and moved next to him, holding the edge of the door and pushing it with him.

The loud creaking and scraping of the door's lower wheels against the concrete could be heard from anywhere in the airfield as they opened it.

"Fifteen years, Thomas." Michael spoke. "Fifteen years have I spent building this thing, and I'm gambling it tonight. Most of the money I've ever had, had gone to this thing, you know. A pastime, a hobby, but hey, it's still the best thing I have right now. Despite being a replica of an old plane of the second war, it was still built by me, for me. Now I'm risking it."

"You're insane, you know that?"

"Thank God for that, or else my life would have no meaning at all."

Once the hangar was completely open, the early rays of the moon shined towards the plane, illuminating it. Compared to the rest of the planes, which were mass-produced civilian models, this one was truly a sight to behold.

"You never told me which model it was." Thomas questioned, standing still and staring at the plane.

"Spitfire." Michael answered, starting to walk towards it as he finished his answer. Thomas followed behind him. "Well, it was originally intended to be a replica, but the exact parts were almost impossible to come across, and I mean of the entire Spitfire line. Trying to stick to one design like the Mk Vb was literally impossible, so I had to make do with whatever I could get my hands on and give up the dream of a complete replica. Not the end of the world, though. Internally, it's completely different and flies different. Hell, even if it was the exact thing it'd still fly slightly different since it has no guns nor ammo to weight it down."

"Damn, man..."

"At least I could keep the aesthetic close to the Spitfire. Beautiful plane, isn't it?"

As he reached his plane, he opened the cockpit glass and climbed on it. From inside, he could see the entire interior of his plane, carefully crafted to be as close as possible to the historical model.

"Wait, what are you going to do with no weapons on it?" Thomas questioned.

"I have no idea, to be honest, but if it wants a sky duel, I'll accept even with nothing to fight back."

Michael turned on the engine and the power unit, giving the control surface much needed light, and making the engine roar furiously as the propeller in front started to spin.

"If I don't survive!" Michael yelled, laughing, having his voice drowned by the engine and having to spit out a cliched line. "Tell everyone I dueled a dragon with no weapons! Probably the first one of our age!"

"If you die and the plane's intact, I'm taking it!" Thomas answered, laughing.

"Thanks for the concern!" Michael said, gripping the cockpit's glass' edge and pulling it to close it. "I'll make sure to crash it to the point nothing is salvagable, then!"

Michael sat back on his seat and buckled up his seatbelts. After that, he gripped the handling stick with his right hand and the throttle control with his left one, pushing it by a slight marging to gain enough speed to make the plane move. Slowly but steadily, he managed to make his plane roll out of the hangar into the runway, turning to the direction he need to go to take off properly with the rudder. A quick look outside the cockpit to the side revealed the other dozen people, grouped up near the hangars, cheering for him as he moved. Smiling, he turned his sight to the front and pushed the throttle forward. The speed generated and wind caused by the propeller was enough to make the plane lean forward and stand on its two front wheels, making Michael slightly pull the stick towards him to avoid the plane from over-arcing and planting its nose against the asphalt. Despite the violent vibrations caused by the wheels moving at a tremendous speed over the runway's asphalt, it seemed stabilized enough. Michael look up, staring outside his cockpit into the sky, and saw the dragon girl still circling the airfield.

"Well... Let's see where this goes..." He taunted the dragon while dragging his goggles down to his eyes with his left hand, just before placing it on the throttle, pushing it almost to the limit.

The engine roared louder than before, and the speed was enough for the plane to generate enough lift to take off. Metre by metre, his plane climbed higher and higher along with its speed. As he had already taken off, he raised his plane's flaps completely.

The dragon girl took action, diving towards him from the sky at a tremendous speed. Michael noticed this, attempting to turn away despite still being at a dangerously low altitute and speed.

Unfortunately, he failed, as the dragon girl firmly latched herself against the plane's window exactly like before, but with the obvious difference of the cockpit's design. The two began staring at eachother. The dragon girl, with her wide open eyes and lustful smile, just like before, but Michael with narrowed eyes, with a frown and a giant sadistic grin, filled with expectation of the duel that had just begun.

"Let's see who gives in!" He yelled at the dragon girl, immediately rolling his plane like the last time, but with the added control of using the rudder and elevators to keep complete control of his plane, mantaining an horizontal flight while blowing off the dragon girl with the centrifugal force created. "My plane, or your wings!" He added, pushing the throttle to 100% and stabilizing his plane, trying to gain altitude at a slow enough pace to make speed gain a higher priority.

Michael turned his head around to check for the dragon girl's whereabouts, finding her chasing him at the same speed he was flying at. He figured that if he angled his plane high enough to keep the same maximum speed while gaining altitude, he would be able to both tire her out a small amount, and gain enough altitude to maneuver properly at the same time. He followed his plan, able to keep the dragon girl close enough to his plane's tail to avoid making her break off pursuit, while at the same time having enough altitude to do a few maneuvers of his choice.

He decreased his plane's angle and entered a dive to increase the space between him and the dragon girl, all while turning around to the opposite direction where they were heading. The weight of the plane, added to the propeller's work and the dive were enough to make Michael's plane skyrocket in speed, taking the advantage of diving for speed until his plane almost hit the ground of the airfield, rising it and hearing the wind striking the earth. It wasn't until a few seconds later that the dragon girl made her pass through the same spot, being far behind in speed and distance. With the added speed, Michael climbed as much as he could while turning to avoid a stall, being several hundred metres above and away from the dragon girl. He attempted to turn around to face her, but as he turned he could see the dragon girl flying right over his cockpit. As if it was slow motion, the image of the dragon girl staring at him with the very same expression became imprinted in his mind, but his sadistic smile had never been erased since the start.

"You'll get tired eventually!" Michael ranted as he followed the dragon girl with his sight, yelling. As soon as it was out of his sight, chasing him from behind, he returned his focus to the front. "Fuck, is this how my grandpa felt fighting the japanese!? Hell, at least he had guns to begin with! Well, it's not like it matters if I can't even aim my fucking plane properly to begin with!"

He kept on ranting and ranting, until one simple thought entered his mind. He had realized that the dragon girl, just like the infamous japanese planes, had far more maneuverability than him in any and all ways, but what she lacked was speed. Even as he checked behind him, the dragon girl could barely catch up with the hulking steel plane that was his Spitfire copy. They were both circling the airfield, with Michael's plane angled so that he would be gaining altitude. Soon enough, an idea came to his mind.

With the altitude he had gained, he angled his plane to dive down to the ground, gaining an incredible amount of speed. The dragon girl followed from behind, but, as he had expected, her wings did not allow her to go any faster. Michael had no fear of making the dragon girl break pursuit, thus, his mental limit of his plane's speed was irrelevant. Just in a few seconds, the dragon girl was so far behind that she had decided to give up and simply remain flying at the same spot.

"I got you now, motherfucker!" Michael yelled, noticing the dragon girl not chasing him any further, but waiting in place instead.

Quickly, he made a sharp turn towards the dragon girl. The dragon girl, seeing him turning towards her, decided to fly towards him once more. Soon enough, both of them were flying straight at eachother.

Michael's idea was simple, yet with two alternatives: In the case that the dragon girl knew what a plane was and how it maneuvered, the idea of one flying straight at her and being able to do so several times as long as it had enough fuel would frighten her enough for Michael to win the engagement. In the case she didn't know what a plane was, a hulking, perpetually roaring deafeningly loud steel mass flying at her enough times would send the same message. In either case, he would have the upper hand.

"Come on... Come on!!" Michael kept yelling, seeing at what tremendous speed both of them covered the distance towards eachother, and having her where his gunsights would be if he had any.

In the split second before the dragon girl and the plane would've made contact, Michael rolled his plane a full ninety degrees and turned aside, avoiding what would have been an unfortunately bloody encounter. Still, the result turned out horrifying once his expression changed from a grin to shock, with his skin almost pale as he almost lost control his plane at the exact same moment he heard an ear-piercing sound, exactly the same as before when the dragon girl ripped the surface of his old plane. He desperately stabilized his plane as best as he could, but failed to do so. He looked to the side and found the heart-crushing source of the problem.

The dragong girl had struck with her claw the beginning of his left wing with enough strength to cause it to be ripped off by the wind. He now had no left wing.

"S-Shit!! Shit!!" He screamed, attempting to bring his plane to a level flight with his remaining right aileron, his elevators and rudder.

Despite his best efforts, it seemed hopeless due to several factors. He had not learned what to do in case a wing gets ripped off, nor did he have enough altitude to afford learning on the spot by trying. Almost immediately, his right wing began disintegrating by the sheer force of scraping against the earth, ripping it off. It was too late to eject, and too dangerous due to the rolling angle he was flying in. Ejecting would send him straight against the ground, killing him instantly. All hope he had of survival remained to luck.

And just like that, the fuselage of his plane began disintegrating as well, with also his speed decreasing as a result of the plane sliding against the grassy field, just before entering a violent, brutal spin. All he could do was scream, before all turned black.

---

Michael barely regained a fraction of consciousness. He could feel nothing. No pain, no wind, not even his own muscles or skin. He could not hear anything either. As best as he could, he invested all his strength into opening his eyes.

With what little he could see through his eyelids, which he could barely open at all, he noticed he could see nothing through his left eye. All he could see was, below him, the destroyed control panel and cockpit, with a giant trail of dirt that went through the grass field up to him, and with pieces of metal and other components scattered around. A few small fires around were what allowed him to see properly, with a grim, deaf silence leaving him in the night.

Slowly, weak and tired, he raised his hand to his eye, trying to figure out why he could not see with it. He placed his hand on his head, but could feel nothing. He had not yet recovered feeling. He moved his hand away, but as he lowered it, he could see a dark, red luquid drenching his hand whole. He knew very well what it was.

Blood.

Without remaining strength, his hand dropped down to his thigh. He was still strapped to the seat that, funnily enough, remained upright along with the cockpit despite most of the plane having been destroyed whole. He opened his right eye a little bit more and raised his sight in front of him. Behind the fire, he could see something moving. Something walking towards him, a humanoid figure with a tail and wings, with an outline that made it apparent that it had scales instead of skin in most of her anatomy, and with claws instead of hands and feet. Despite barely mantaining his consciousness, he knew very well it was the dragon girl he had unsuccessfully challenged.

"Guess I... Lost..." He spoke with his remaining breath, wheezing with every word that escaped his mouth. He had accepted his fate as the one who had lost.

Without strength left, his eye closed, and all turned black for him again.

---

Slowly, Michael woke up once more, regaining consciousness at a greater pace than before. Before he opened his eyes, he felt how he had regained feeling of his skin and muscles, and even his hearing. The first thing that he heard were the birds singing, muffled, making it known that he was inside a building. He felt how he was lying down on something soft, his bed, with a blanket covering him up to his neck. As he opened his right eye, he saw how he was in his own bedroom, his house.

"Nnngh..." He grunted, attempting to move his hand to his head, rustling the blanket that covered him whole. As soon as his hand touched his head, he felt the texture of a bandage that went around his head, and also covered his left eye. What he had experienced was not a dream, but reality.

"The only thing that actually looked like a dream, and it actually wasn't..." He remarked with a weak voice.

Feeling his strength returning to him, he decided to place both hands against the mattress and push himself up, sitting up. As the blanket fell off his torso, he found out he was no longer in his grandfather's pilot suit, but in a normal shirt and trousers.

Another thing that he noticed, making his heart skip a beat, was the very same dragon girl with her arms on his bed and knees on the floor, sleeping by his legs, as if she had been waiting for him to wake up all day and night.

"You're awake. That's good." Michael heard a voice greeting him.

He turned his sight to the side, where he found Thomas sitting on a chair next to his bed.

"...Did it all really happen?" Michael rhetorically questioned, remembering the unfortunate engagement and his fall. Of how his wing was ripped off, of how his plane almost disintegrated in the crash, and how he saw the dragon girl walking towards him from the wreckage.

"The fact that you remember already means you're recovering well. We would have gone to recover you from the crash in an instant but... Well, the dragon girl here brought you back. She was faster than any of us would have been, too."

Michael kept silent for a few moments, turning his head towards the dragon girl and staring at how she slept. It was difficult for him to believe that what had been fighting him decided to help him.

"Why?" Michael asked.

"She didn't want to cause you any harm at all, she said. She didn't know what the consequences of what she did would have been. Hell, she didn't know anything about planes, which would have explained her behaviour. When she flew back to the airfield with you in her arms, she was crying and almost having a panic attack, thinking she had killed you. She found you covered in blood, and with the plane completely destroyed. She got desperate and brought you here to get treated. You're lucky a medic lives here too, had it not been for that you'd have bled out, but apart from that there wasn't much danger present, which is why you're not in a hospital right now. Sorry about your eye, though. Nothing he could do about it."

"I'm still alive, it's fine. I have another spare eye anyways."

"What about depth perception?" He asked, laughing at Michael's lighthearted joke.

"I'll deal with it eventually."

Just then, their conversation came to a halt once the two of the saw the dragon girl moving. She was waking up. Still half asleep, she slowly raised her head from her arms and, with one of her arms, rubbed her eyes to wake herself up completely. Once done, she lowered her arm and looked at Michael, petrified once she found him both awake and looking at her. Her face was blushing almost scarlet, and her expression paralyzed. All that followed was a silence between the two of them.

"Why don't you present yourself?" Thomas suggested the dragon girl, aware that the silence would keep up without his intervention.

"M-My name..." The dragon girl stuttered, lowering her head. "Is... D-...Draika."

Michael was surprised by the dragon girl being able to speak proper english, despite Thomas already implying so. It had to be witnessed to be fully believed.

"I see..." Michael stated, having difficulties in believeing what was right in front of him. Only now could he see with clarity the dragon girl, with his mind at ease. "I'm glad to meet you, Draika. My name is Michael."

Out of all the confusion, Michael remembered something important to him.

"...Thomas," He asked, turning towards him. "What about the plane? Could anything be salvaged?"

"Barely anything works. If we don't count the fuselage, only a fifth of the plane survived. You crashed at too much of a speed for the plane to survive."

"Ah... Shit..."

"I'm sorry..." Draika apologized, lowering her head further and narrowing her eyes in deep sorrow and regret. She even raised her claws to her head to cover herself.

"Think nothing of it."

"I was told you spent most of your life building it..."

"I know. And that night I had the opportunity to fly it like a true plane should by flown. If it was up to me, I would spend another fifteen years and my life on the line again to have another chance."

Thomas smiled at Michael's words, and how he was starting to talk with Draika on his own.

"Listen, I have to go now." He spoke while standing up, gaining Michael's and Draika's attention. "We're still trying to carry whatever remained of the plane to the airfield. In hindsight, we should've gotten a forklift ages ago."

"Alright, then." Michael acknowledged. "Good luck with it."

"Luck? Me? You're the one who got most of the luck here with that crash."

After his statement, Thomas walked through the door and closed it behind him. A few moments of silence followed, as Michael's and Draika's eyes met again in the silent room.

"I'm sorry..." Draika apologized again, but with her voice being changed by the tears she had been holding back. "I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry..." Soon enough, she was holding her head while desperately repeating her apology, sobbing and crying.

"D-Don't think anything of it, it was just a plane! Really!"

"No, not about that... I... I almost killed you... You lost an eye because of me..."

At that point, Michael realized the real implications of his lost eye. As he raised a hand and touched the bandage that covered his eye socket, feeling it empty behind it, he realized that whatever may have happened, if it was just a little more distance towards him, he would have died instantly.

"...Tell me." Michael spoke.

Draika didn't answer. Instead, she looked at him with her tearful eyes, waiting to hear him.

"When we first met... When you broke the glass of the other plane, I thought you were trying to kill me. But... You didn't mean to, right?"

"N-no..."

"...What were you tying to do, then?"

Draika remained speechless. She knew what she was doing, but had no way to properly tell him. Even as she desperately tried to come up of a way to tell him, she could not, and every second of Michael's silence seemed like a pressuring eternity to her.

"I...I-I..." She attempted to answer, but her words could not escape her mouth.

Michael awaited her answer, tilting his head to a side with curiosity.

"I...I-I-I....I... I...I-I..." She kept stuttering, with her thoughts changing from sorrow and regret to complete embarrassement, blushing and losing her composure.

"Uhhh... If you don't want to say it..." Michael attempted to reassure her.

"I fell in love with you!" She yelled, slamming her arms on the bed.

The only thing that followed with the awkward silence, was Draika panting and staring at Michael.

"...So you were trying to kidnap me?" Michael questioned as best as he could.

"W-what? H-how could... Why would you... I'd not even... Yes." He answered, looking aside nervously while scratching her cheek with one of her claw's nails.

Michael remembered something he had been asking himself after the first time he had seen Draika from close enough. Apart from her normal appearance, he remembered how she was blushing when she shattered the glass window of his plane. She was even panting back then, and her smile, now that he knew of her intentions, implied something different entirely. He could barely contain himself, starting to laugh in Draika's presence.

"W-...What are you laughing for?" Draika questioned, feeling like he was laughing at her.

"Ahh, nothing, I'm sorry." Michael apologized, rubbing his right eye, almost tearful.

It was depressing how fast Draika's mood dropped to sorrow and regret again, seeing Michael with only one eye. For her, it was obvious that it was because of her.

"...Have I been an idiot?" Draika questioned.

"...Sorry?"

"My actions nearly killed you, simply because I wanted you for myself. You're alive, but you lost an eye, and it could have been worse too... The thing you've invested most of your life in is destroyed... I should have stayed away and not caused you so much suffering..."

"Is that what you believe, Draika?"

"...What do you mean?"

"Do you believe you have brought me suffering?"

"How else could it be?" She questioned, with a tear running down her cheek. "What joy is there in losing what you have?"

"I have lost nothing, Draika."

"But... Your eye... Your plane."

"I didn't 'lose' them. They were an investment."

"...What?"

"...Ever since I was born, ever since flying became my passion... I could only dream of flying like a true pilot. I could hear tales of my grandfather flying a plane in a great war, but in reality those were just tales... I thought I would never experience the thrill of flying like a pilot, of the sky itself testing me instead of just floating in the air and looking around. That night, when we both took it to the air... That night was something I would never forget. You, Draika, allowed me to fulfill what hopeless dreams I had since long ago, that I thought would never happen. Yes, I have lost my eye. Yes, I have lost the plane I've worked on for fifteen years... But despite that, you have made me the happiest man in this world."

Both of them stared at eachother in silence. Michael, with a smile, and Draika, speechless. Just a single tear began running down Michael's cheek as he looked at Draika, the monster girl that had fulfilled his dream. Draika, too, had tears running down her cheek, but of joy of making Michael happy instead of bringing him suffering.

"Michael..." Draika whispered, sobbing, but out of joy instead of sorrow.

Trying to hold back her tears, she gave a happy smile just before standing up and throwing herself at him.

"Oof!" Michael grunted, being thrown against the pillow and embraced by Draika. Sharing her happiness, he embraced her.

"Can... Can I stay with you from now on?" She asked.

"What about your family? Your home?"

"I... Have none... I just want to stay with you, wherever you go. I can make myself useful if I must. I'm strong, if I learn enough I can help you all with the planes."

"Say..." He began asking, snickering and smiling. "...Since my plane was destroyed, I figured I'd need to make a new one. Most of the years I spent working on it were just learning how to build it, so it won't take so long. What would you say if I asked you to help?"

"Yes! Of course!"

Michael tightened his embrace, filling Draika with a warm feeling she had never felt before.

"This will be the start of something beautiful. I'm sure of it." He said.

"I say the same." She answered, hugging him tighter.