//------------------------------// // Bloodshed // Story: Ghost 13: Bloodshed Ace // by Kitsune_Kenshi //------------------------------// Skull 1 knew he have to react fast, this guy's not to be messed with. His memories flooded his brain; from the day he enlisted in the Diamondian Air Force many moons ago, he has been told an Urban Legend about a 'Ghost'. At first, he simply laughed it off, thinking it was some fiction that the old birds made up to freak the rookies. That was until that very day... When he was on the airfield, he saw it with his own eyes; A smoking Mig-29, with the Diamondian camo, was desperately trying to shake off a bandit. The bandit was closing in fast, it bite hard on the Fulcrum as if it was glued onto it, despite the Mig's all-out effort, a single missile ended its miserable life. Then the bandit made a hard dive down, it pulled at least 8G, and it was coming towards the airfield. Skull 1 could still remember its color; bright yellow wingtips, with the devious number 13 labeled on the side of its nose... This... 'Ghost' wrecked all of the hangers with its payloads, then soared off into the distant skies, disappearing from our radar. After the attack, Skull 1 met the survivor; one of the old birds that told him about the 'Ghost'. The surviving pilot told him, that they were on an air-to-ground attack mission, and they were halfway to their targets when it came for them. "It... It happened so fast...", the survivor's trembling voice said, "The... The Ghost just swoop in like a shark... each bite took out one of our planes..." "Did you guys fight back?" Skull 1 asked. "It's no damn use..." The survivor took a shaky breath, "It fired all of its missiles, then gunned the rest of us down one by one... It's... Desperate... Honestly, I still have no idea how I made it back in one piece..." The survivor committed suicide a day later, he's been traumatized so deeply, the night before he killed himself, he has been screaming maniacally about the 'Ghost' coming for his soul, and some other shit that can be heard from a mentally unstable stallion... That's when he realized... Skull 1's mind snapped back into reality as his RWR screamed in full volume in his ears. Despite his trembling paws, Skull 1 immediately took a hard break left while dumping chaffs and flares. However, despite his RWR's continuous scream, there's no sign of smoke trails in the air. He's toying with me?! Skull 1 finally understood why that poor guy committed suicide, it's too much for a mortal brain to take in... He felt as if his heart was about the burst open, then, his plane shook as streams of rounds whizzed past his tail, which torn 1/3 of it down. He snapped. "AAAAARGGHHHHH!!!!" Skull1's eyes became red with blood vessels now flooding his sclera, "FUUUUCK YOU GHOST!!!" He then pulled hard onto the stick, now taking verticle, "DAAMMNN YOU!!!" His desperate plan is to stall the bandit out, although doing so would put him at a disadvantage as well. However, the Su-37 is still maintaining the same safe distance behind Skull 1's six. Finally, the Su-30 stalled out first. Its nose fell straight down, Skull 1 has lost his mind, in range, he fired a stream of rounds toward anything in front of him, but of course, it hit nothing. The 'Ghost' opened its brake as it magically turned a smooth half-circle down. With the RWR once again screaming, Skull 1 pulled his plane horizontally and began to aimlessly roll. while dumping large amounts of flares. Skull 1 doesn't know how long it has been, time itself is as if was wiped out of existence, Skull 1 looked toward the back mirror, however, there was nothing behind him, and at the same time, his RWR stopped screaming. Everything went dead silent. Skull 1's mind began to cool off, Where? His heavy panting filled the cockpit with anxiety, then it went downhills. He felt a blast behind him, then the jet went out of control, his stick wouldn't respond, the HUD turned off, and the fire alarm went crying out loud, "NO!!! AT LEAST LET ME SEE-" Then the second explosion occurred, and the entire cockpit was blown to pieces. Out of the smoke and debris, the Su-37 rose into the air from the bottom, using the same tactic he use to take out that one Diamondian squadron many moons ago. The Terminator continued to survey the airspace, inside the cockpit, through the dark visor, showing a calm pair of eagle eyes. Wind Blade looked down at the data link, so far so good, and slightly disappointed at the quick death of that unlucky bandit, Wind Blade shook his wings as he prepared to turn back. Suddenly, his date link blinked, however, it disappeared a second later. "Another group of bandits..." He murmured as he flew towards the bandit group, "Stealth fighters huh..." On the other side of the airspace, the group of bandits revealed its identity; another squadron of Diamondian fighters; their wide wing spread, split tails, thurst-vectoring capable engines, and the 'stealth' paints, it'd appeared that the Diamondian forces finally decide to let out their fifth-gen Su-57 Felons. The Bulker Squadron is one of the most unique squadrons of the Diamndian Air Force; not only is it the first unit to arm its newest stealth fighter, but its members were also handpicked by the Air Force colonial himself as elite members from each regular squadron. Before switching their aircraft to the Su-57, each Bulker Squadron member flew Su-35s, before their war, they use to go to flight schools in Equestrian, in which they learned and acknowledged some characteristics of the Equestrian aircraft. They were kept in secret by the military with their explanation being 'to keep the best in check and use it in the right moment', this angered the Bulker Squadron; each member was dedicated to their nation and felt as if they were a joke now. As a result, after they received the order of engagement they were onto their target really fast. However, when they got there, all they saw were wreckages and smoke, as if someone had just swooped in and stolen their food. "Something isn't right, said Bulker 1, the leader, "Bulker 3 and 4 go survey the airspace sector 24. Bulker 2 and I will go for sector 13." The formation then splits as the pairs part ways. On their way here, Bulker 1 received an order to take down a single bandit which had taken out the Skull Squadron, instead of nervousness or confusion, the Bulker Squadron all went hotshot mode; These members were brainwashed and can be extreme when they're onto something. However, their radar wasn't picking up anything, which made Bulker 1 frustrated, "Ugh, I thought they said the Felon's max scan range is 400 kilometers." "Bulker 1, this is shittier than I thought." Bulker 2 groaned, "Ya know, after all that we did for them, they just send us off like a death squad or some other bullshit..." "Whatever they said, just get this over with and we'll get the hell outta there." Bulker 1 sighed. Suddenly, radio static from Bulker 3 and 4 came, it lasted several seconds before becoming completely silent. Bulker 1's heart missed a beat, "What the hay? Bulker 3 and 4, status report!" However, continuous radio statics is what came to reply. "I wouldn't be surprised if this thing gets blocked by some jammers, heh." Bulker 2 scoffed sarcastically, "Bulker 1, excuse me cuz I'm gonna look after the boys myself." He then broke off formation towards the airspace where Bulker 3 and 4 are last contacted. "You better pull your head outta your ass Bulker 2," Bulker 1 groaned as he followed his wingman, "I'm not gonna look after your six this time." When the two Felons got to sector 24, all they saw were clear spaces, no sign of Bulker 3 and 4. "They went into the mountain range didn't they?" Bulker 2 sighed. "Hold on, are those..." Bulker 1 turned his aircraft upside down, and what he saw made his eyes widen, "Shit..." he murmured. "Why do I see two wreckage on the damn floor?" Bulker 2's voice came through in a frustrated tone, but was immediately swapped, "Huh? Hold up! Can't be, this... how?" "Bulkers 3 and 4 have been taken out, I don't see any SAMs nor receiving radar locks anywhere!" Bulker 1 grunted as he lowered his attitude, after a closer look at the wreckage, he sighed, "Yup, they're goners." He then turned to look at Bulker 2, who was flying right above him, "Bulker 2 can you-" His sentence paused dead in his throat as he saw a fireball rained down from where Bulker 2 once flew. "BULKER 2!!!" Then he saw the attacker, it shot out of the sides of the cliffs, a Su-37, with yellow wingtips and- "HAH! THE GHOST!" Bulker 1's blood began to boil, "SO YOU ARE REAL!!!" He then went full thrust chasing the Terminator, "NOW I'M A BELIEVER! HAHAHAHAHA!!! I DON'T GIVE A FLYING FUCK ABOUT YOUR IDENTITY! BUT THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE GHOST EXISTING IN THIS WORLD! I'LL PROVE IT TO YOU!!!" The two aircraft clashed with each other, the duel began with a merge. Water vapors formed along the wings of the Felon as extreme G forces were being crushed onto the airframe, its thrust vectoring squeezing everything it'd got, flaps are down, and the pilot in the box straining his stamina... The Su-37 Terminator is in the same condition, and their same thrust vectoring caused the two aircraft to enter what seems like an endless dogfight. Hearing the short-lived tone, Bulker 1 fired his missile, its infrared seeker lost track almost immediately when the Su-37 did a sudden 9G turn in the opposite direction. The Felon repeated the high-G turn as well. It's now no longer a duel of aircraft, but a duel between two Ghosts... With the victorious one being the final writer of its final legend... The Felon made a slight decrease in airspeed, the Terminator caught the chance; a missile came whizzing past the Felon as it exploded a few feet away, one of the shards left a long scar along the smooth surface of the Felon's airframe. However, the Felon's nose made a sudden uppercut as air dragged the aircraft backward towards its enemy, which the Su-37 dodged, however, the tide has been turned with the Felon being on the offensive. At least that's what Bulker 1 thought. "YOUR MINE!!!" Bulker 1's crimson eyes nearly explode upon seeing his current status, he pressed the pickle as a Fox-2 shot followed by a stream of gun rounds burst toward the Terminator, however, his wishes did not come true. The Su-37 made an unbelievable stall maneuver as it flipped above the Felon, two flips is all it took for the hunter to become the hunted. Of course, the missile could not handle such a sudden load of extreme G forces and went stupid. "AAARGGGH!!! WHY WON'T YOU DIE!!!!!!!!" Bulker 1 screamed in rage as he did a hard barrel roll to the left while dumping flares, dodging an incoming missile. The two fighters went up, down, left, right, diagonal, high roll, negative dive, cobra, and extreme overload... All that they could think of... 30mm rounds whizzing past each other, and the explosions of failed missiles, they all turned this duel into a concert of death. "GHOST!!! I FOUND WHERE I BELONG!!! AHAHAHA!!!!" Bulker 1 exclaimed through the radio as if this can be heard by the Ghost himself, "AFTER ALL THAT I SERVED FOR MY NATION!!! THEY ENDED UP DUMPING US LIKE SOME STREET DOGS!!! WE FIGHTERS HATED BEING USED AND TRASHED, IT'S NOW!!! I FOUND THE REAL PARADISE!!! LET'S FIGHT FOR THE REST OF THE ETERNALTY!!! WAGHAHAHAHA!!!!" However, what he wanted to say after was cut dead by a cold voice through the channel. "Great speech, but it ends now." Bulker 1's mind exploded, followed by heavy panting and his gradually hoarse voice, "ENDS NOW?!?! I DON'T FUCKING THINK SO!!!" With his final desperation in an attempt to reverse the hunting role, the pilot in the box has unlimited and infinite potential, however, the Felon has already reached its critical point... With an explosion from the air intake, one of the engines broke down. "NO! NO! NO! NO! NOOOOO!!!! AAARGGGGGHHHH!!!!" Bulker 1 screamed as if he was being taken over by the devil itself, "I'LL KILL YOU! GHOST! I'LL FUCKING KILL YOU!" Ghost's reply to that was simple. A missile went straight into the dying Felon's remaining engine, it penetrated through the structures of the airframe as it ignited inside of the aircraft, setting off the fuels. "THIS WILL NOT BE THE E-" The Felon was torn inside out with a huge fireball. "Splash..." Came to the same calm yet cold voice from the Su-37, however, if listened closely, a sense of exhaustion and tiredness can be heard from a simple word... The Ghost won another battle, however, it's his last... Not everything could handle such stress, Wind Blade knew he ended this fight in time, otherwise, the wings of the Su-37 would've come off. Windblade breathed heavily through the oxygen mask, his legs, and talons were slightly shaking, not from the dying excitement of dogfighting such an entertaining opponent... But from his dying body...