User:Hinotori/Daisuke Sasaki/Final Flight of the Mejirozame



It's a sad fact that Daisuke's favorite aircraft, the Mejirozame, was the first one to meet a permanent demise, not at the hands of pirates, as one might expect, but in the course of a daring mid-air rescue. On his way to Tehras, the Mejirozame received a distress call from the Wataridori, an Ingersoll with a clipped wing that was unable to land safely on its own. Its pilot had a risky scheme: if Daisuke was willing, his Requin might be able to prop up the damaged wing of the Wataridori, allowing it to level out and land. Aside from the danger inherent in such a plan, there was also the issue that the Ingersoll, even damaged, had a sizable edge on the Requin in speed, forcing the Requin to nearly top out the throttle just to keep up. Nevertheless, Daisuke agreed to go along with this, and Seung, Daisuke's mechanic, bravely tightened the bolts on the Mejirozame's wing in preparation, despite the reservations he had with the plan itself. At long odds, Daisuke managed to hold both planes steady in the face of severe turbulence. In the end, the Wataridori landed safely.

Unfortunately, however, one of the landing cables intended for the Ingersoll caught on the landing gear of the Mejirozame, torquing it out of control. To the horror of all present, the Requin hit the ground unevenly at speeds it was never meant to land at. Its landing gears snapped clean off, and the propeller shattered into shrapnel as the plane dipped towards the ground, then skidded more than 100 meters into a ditch. The intense friction tore apart much of the hull, and several parts of the Requin caught on fire. While Daisuke miraculously survived the initial crash without severe injury, Seung was rendered unconscious in the seat behind him. As emergency crews desperately tried to put out the increasingly uncontrollable fire, Daisuke struggled to free his mechanic from parts of wreckage which had trapped him inside the cockpit. He succeeded and managed to toss Seung out of the airplane and into the waiting arms of EMTs at the scene; however, by this time, fire had encircled the cockpit, trapping Daisuke within. Incredulous at the fact that it seemed his end would come on the ground, and not in the air or sea, Daisuke awaited the inevitable.

To his great surprise, however, an arm reached inside, giving him something to hold onto. It belonged to none other than Drew Katokan, also known as "Copper Cheetah," who had leaped onto the front of the Requin when none of the fire crew had dared to do so. Daisuke grabbed on, and, with Cheetah's help, managed to squeeze through the shattered windshield to safety. Daisuke suffered severe burns to his back, and was whisked away immediately to the hospital.

It wasn't until after Daisuke had been moved out of the ICU a day later that the pilot whose life he had saved was allowed in to thank him. It was then that he was informed, to his great surprise, that he had just saved the life of Josiah Hrahn the Emerald Republic's sitting President. Despite being greatly humbled by the revelation, Daisuke refused compensation for the damage, insisting that he'd rather pull himself up while he could; however, he did secure the option of calling in a future favor, a request that Mr. Hrahn graciously agreed to.

Aside from a concussion, Seung's injuries were not serious. He expressed his deep gratitude to Daisuke for saving his life, and, at Daisuke's request, set off to secure a contract for a new plane. With their pooled funds, they would bury the Mejirozame before eventually take flight in the Tengu, a brand new Loki. A chapter had ended, and a new one was just beginning.