25) --- Endings and Beginnings ---------------------------------------- "Thus times do shift, each thing his turn does hold; New things succeed, as former things grow old." -- Robert Herric MONDAY, DECEMBER 20 The semester was over. The exams were done. And all Philip had to do now was to pack. And as per normal Moyer Packing Procedure (subsection 12.4), this meant that most of his stuff would be coming home with him, even though he would coming back to the same room next semester. So, girding himself to the task, he began to pull out boxes and putting stuff into them. Since his roommate was studying in the library, he played his music out loud as he worked. As he packed, he reflected on the events of the past semester. To call it 'Strange' would be a _slight_ understatement. 'Bizzare', 'Surreal', or 'Unbelievable' would be better, but they still wouldn't do the job. For how could he use _one_ word to describe a semester that had contained armed thugs, bipedal foxes and ducks in cool cars, cybered velociraptors, flying cars, _sentient_ velociraptors, cartoon characters brought to life, and Cyclone power armors? Although, actually, now that he thought about it, there was one word that _could_ describe the past year's events: EXCITING! Never before had his life been like this, and while part of him was still having trouble accepting the reality of it, the other half _had_ accepted it, and was enjoying it immensely. This was the sort of stuff he read about in books and on the net; things he had always imagined himself in, but had resigned himself to the fact that they would never happen. But they _were_ happening; that was something he couldn't deny. And even better, he had some friends who were able to _share_ and _appreciate_ this weirdness! Gordo, with his easy-going good humor; Rufus, with his endless suppy of technological wizardry; and... Aerianne. "Damn," Philip muttered as he began to think about her... He had known he had an interest for her as soon as she had first appeared in his life, but, knowing where such things led, he had immediately clamped them down, instead going for the 'friend' route. And he had taken that route with a vengeance, just keeping their relationship on a "school friend" level. And it had seemed to work. But was it developing into something more? He seemed to see her more often every day, and he had never really noticed how they seemed to go to more events together than before. It had just seemed a part of his normal "friendship program". But since when did the "friendship program" include waiting for her in the mornings, trying to have lunch together every day, getting tickets next to each other in Tawes, going to TAS meetings together, studying together... and it seemed _normal_, _natural_, as if they had _always_ done it! What the hell was going on? Certainly not "Just Friends". His mind returned, complete with Wayne and Garth's Dream Sequence routine, to that afternoon over Thanksgiving when he lay down on his bed to find himself, quite literally, in her arms. Funny; when he thought about it now, it brought a smile to his face, even though he had panicked when it happened... And then there was the time after the Raptor attack, when she had gone to sleep on his shoulder... And the time when they had gotten into that pillow fight when they should have been studying... And the memories of the pain and jealousy returned as Philip's mind's eye showed Trevor shamelessly flirting with her... he tried to tell himself, He should have noticed the signs earlier, even though he had been trying to deny them. One does _not_ spontaneously break out singing "Strangers In Paradise" or "Pretty Women" when walking between classes, even if they came from pretty good musicals to begin with. (Singing "Dulcinea" and "The Impossible Dream" couldn't be considered good signs either) But how could he tell her? He was not exactly the type who would go up to a girl and tell her that he liked her, even though he understood that that was the usual method for such things. Knowing him, he'd agonize over the decision to tell her for weeks, and by then it would be too late. And the scariest prospect of all was... Could it be possible that *she* liked *him* back? Philip reassured himself. Philip's energy level reached it's high point, then he collapsed into his chair, feeling the adrenaline drain from his system. "Man, I'm depressed." He decided, right then and there, to drown his sorrows in music. He knew what he had to play. Taking one of his tapes, and fast forwarding to the right place, he pressed play, and began to dance and lip synch to the music. The tape deck played a little fast, but that was ok. <<>> At about this time, the object of his unvoiced affections, Aerianne, was studying for her last final, which was that afternoon. Needing a break, she decided to go over to Philip's room and see how his packing was going. The doors were unlocked (they almost never were locked), and entering his room, Aerianne saw Philip dancing to a song she had never heard before. She wasn't noticed by Philip, since he was facing away from the door the entire time, and since she didn't want to disturb him, she leaned against the door frame and watched. Though I've tried before to tell her Of the feelings I have for her in my heart Every time that I come near her I just lose my nerve As I've done from the start Every little thing she does is magic Everything she do just turns me on Even though my life before was tragic Now I know my love for her goes on Do I have to tell the story Of a thousand rainy days since we first met It's a big enough umbrella But it's always me that ends up getting wet Every little thing she does is magic Everything she do just turns me on Even though my life before was tragic Now I know my love for her goes on I resolve to call her up a thousand times a day And ask her if she'll marry me in some old fashioned way But my silent fears have gripped me Long before I reach the phone Long before my tongue has tripped me Must I always be alone? Every little thing she does is magic Everything she do just turns me on Even though my life before was tragic Now I know my love for her goes on [Every little thing she does is magic Everything she do just turns me on Even though my life before was tragic Now I know my love for her goes on Every little thing Every little thing Every little thing Every little thing Every little Every little Every little Every little thing she does Every little thing she does Every little thing she does Every little thing she does Thing she does is magic Eee oh oh...] Every little thing Every little thing Every little thing she does is magic magic magic Magic magic magic As the song faded away, Philip, visibly tired, stopped the tape. "I didn't know you danced," Aerianne said softly. Philip spun around in shock. "A..Aeri...Aerianne!" he half choked/coughed out. Regaining his breath (but not his composure), he said, "I.. I didn't hear you come in." Philip took a quick sip from his water bottle, trying to cool down his blushing face. "Ummm... can I help you with something?" he asked, trying to regain some sense of normalcy. "Actually, no... I came to see how you were coming along with your packing." She looked around at the half-filled boxes. "Need any help?" "NO!" he blurted out, startling Aerianne. "I mean.... no thank you, I'll do ok by myself..." he trailed off and turned away from her, realizing what he had said. "Philip, _what's wrong_?" she said with concern, placing her hand on his shoulder. "Nothing!... nothing." He tried to shake her off, but she held on tight. Being guided by her hand, they walked to the edge of his bed and sat down. "Ok... Now tell me: _what's going on_?" Philip just sat there, head in hands. They sat there for a while in silence, until Aerianne broke it by whispering, "What is it?" "No... I can't tell you..." "Why not?" "Because... Because, I..." He shook his head in denial. "I can't say it." "What? What can't you say?" she pressed on. Philip, finally realizing he had no way out now, swallowed twice, and turned to look straight into her eyes. "I love you..." he barely said. He looked at her for her reaction. Aerianne looked back and blinked. "So? I love you," she said with a small smile. "What's wrong with saying that?" Philip's mouth dropped open. "Did I just hear what I thought I heard?" he thought out loud. "Yes, you did. So, what's wrong with it?" she asked again. "Er... nothing wrong with the words themselves, it's just that..." "What?" "I mean, you must have gone through this before." "No, I haven't." Aerianne was confused. "You haven't? But how? You've had boyfriends before, haven't you?" This conversation was making _no_ sense at all to Philip. "Nope." It was a statement of fact, and nothing more. "Wait a second... You mean to tell me that you've _never_ had a boyfriend?" She nodded. "I'm sorry, but I _can't_ believe that." "Why not?" she asked, confused. "Look... You've been on campus for, what, seven months? What I can't believe is that in those seven months, you have not _once_ been asked on a date by some other guy or you have _not_ even been attracted to someone and asked him out." "Well, a lot of people _do_ flirt with me..." she admitted. she continued to herself. "There, see?" "But the only person I've been attracted to is _you_. I haven't gone out on any 'dates' at all." "No... that's _not_ possible..." "Why not? Is there anything written against it?" "No..." "So, is there anything wrong with it?" "I... I'm not sure... It's just that...that," he cleared his throat, and continued. "It's just that _I_ can't believe that someone as Intelligent, Resourceful, Focused, Caring, Alert, Kind, and (quite incidentally) Drop-Dead Gorgeous could be attracted to a (quite frankly) _Nerd_ like me." "I don't think you're a 'nerd'." she mentally shrugged. "What I _do_ know is that I'm attracted to _you_, and that's all there is to it." "Eyeah, _right_," he said sarcastically. "Somehow, I still have trouble believing this. Either I'm living a fanfic, or this is some very _vivid_ dream, or..." "You don't believe me? Fine! I'll _prove_ it to you." And with that, Aerianne grabbed his head and planted an ardent kiss on him. When the kiss was released about a minute or so after (neither were sure, their links to the National Observatory's atomic clock had suddenly gone offline), Philip let out a small "glaah?" and fell back onto the bed. "See? If, like you said, I could have _anyone_, then would I have done something like that on someone I didn't find attractive? I _LIKE_ you, Philip Jeremy Moyer, and that's all there is to it." She looked down at Philip, who was still laying on the bed. Philip, quite frankly, was still K.O.'d from the effects of the kiss, but he made a go of speaking anyway. "Yeah..." he barely made out. "But it could _still_ be fanfic or a dream or..." "Oh, could it?" she asked with a smile as she leaned down and kissed him again as evidence. "Somehow I doubt it," she said as she released the kiss. "" he replied. He was speechless. His mind had shut down. Several seconds later, Philip's mind reset and rebooted, and he spoke again in a more normal tone of voice (for him, anyway). "One question..." "Hmm?" "If you've never dated before, or had a relationship, then where'd you learn to kiss like that?" "Actually," she said, mulling it over, "I have _no_ idea. It just seemed appropriate." "Yeah, I hear you talking," he said as he sat back up, with a somewhat wry smile. "Look, Aeri... It's not that I don't appreciate this...believe me, I _do_," he smiled. "It's just that if this is _your_ first relationship (God knows it is for me!), then don't you think we should take it a little slower? Just to make sure?" "Well...as much as I hate to admit it...You do have a point..." "Can we at least start with an official boyfriend/girlfriend declaration? Something like that, and then slowly work up to better things?" he asked her. Aerianne said nothing, just looked over the room in thought. "Well, is that ok with you?" he asked cautiously. "Yeah... I accept," she said with a smile. "We've got time." And to seal the pact, they kissed again. "You know, I _could_ get used to this," he chuckled. "Don't worry, I'll be sure to keep you on your toes," she smiled back. Philip gulped. Aerianne laughed, and Philip joined in. Everything was going to be all right. 26) --- Holiday Rush -------------------------------------------------- "'Tis the season to be jolly and joyous..." -- Robin the Frog The next day, Philip and Aerianne waited for Philip's mom to come to pick them up. While they waited, Philip continued to pack his stuff. "Why are you taking so much stuff?" asked Aerianne. "It's like you've got half of your dorm room packed up!" "Well, I don't know what I'll need over break, so I might as well be sure..." he said as he began to pack his assorted lights, clocks, and stereo. "Ah..." she said looking over the small mountain of boxes. She looked over at the duffel bag of clothes and necessities that she had packed. "Right." Philip's mom, needless to say, was _slightly_ surprised to see that Aerianne was apparently going to be staying with the family for winter break. The fact that Philip had failed to mention this the day before just added to this confusion. But she took it in stride anyway, and having someone else to help carry Philip's stuff into the Suburban was definitely a plus. The drive back to Garrett Park was a little more relaxed than the one that they had had before Thanksgiving. Perhaps it was the fact that this time around, Philip was _comfortable_ with Aerianne being around him in sight of his mother. His mom just shook her head and drove. Philip reached behind his seat and held Aerianne's hand. He squeezed it in a quick "I love you", which Aeri returned. His mother caught this out of the corner of her eye and raised her eyebrows. His mother's inquisitiveness only increased when they got home. Instead of Philip retreating to his room, leaving Aerianne in the new living room, they _both_ went to his room and stayed there. When his mother came in to tell him that she was going over to school, she found them watching TV on the little black-and-white set in his room. When asked if she could trust them, they just smiled honestly. Once his mom was gone, they went out to the living room to watch on the larger color tv. However, Aerianne had trouble concentrating (yaright) on the show, and she turned towards Philip to ask him something. "Um, Philip?" "Yes?" He turned to face her. She seemed concerned for some reason, and Philip motioned for her to go on. "I've been meaning to ask you something..." "What is it?" he asked, coming over to where she was sitting. "Philip, not meaning to seem ignorant, but what _is_ Christmas? I've read about it on the net, but I don't really understand it." Philip blinked. "Er... It's kind of hard to describe.. there's a _lot_ of different meanings..." "So?" "Hold on a sec, let me get something..." He looked under the tv, and found the tape he was looking for. He put it into the VCR and pressed [play]. "This might help," he commented as _The Muppet Family Christmas_ began to play on the screen. A full two hours later, Aeri had the main secular ideas about Christmas down pat. Some of the religeous meanings she was still having trouble with, but for the most part, she knew what Christmas meant. She had yet to experience the actual day, but it was five days away, and she could wait. Thus satisfied, she and Philip then went outside to unload the Suburban. When his father came home early that day, he was greeted by Aerianne, who was carrying one of Philip's boxes into his already crowded room. "Hi, Mr. Moyer!" she said as she brought it inside. He just stared for a moment, and then looked for Philip, who was carrying a duffel bag full of puppets. "Hi, Daddy!" he said as he took the bag into his room. His father just stared after him, and was even _more_ surprised when Philip and Aeri exited his room hand in hand. He shook his head. This would be an _interesting_ break... Later, after Aerianne's and Philip's situation had been fully explained over supper, they stayed around the kitchen table to talk about the upcoming Christmas dinner. "Is there anything _you'd_ prefer for Christmas dinner, Aerianne?" asked his father. "Oh, anything's fine with me," said Aerianne offhandedly. "And of _course_ we know Philip will eat anything that we'll put in front of him," his dad continued with a grin on his face. "Oh, _of course_," his mom joined in with a smile. Philip just groaned, and let his head fall on the table. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 23 Philip brooded. Aerianne was downstairs, playing Karateka on his old Apple IIe, which was ok, because Philip had some quick decision making to do. With all the sudden changes in his life, he had forgotten one importaint thing. Now that he _had_ a relationship, it was half _his_ job to keep it going. And with Christmas around the corner, he needed gifts for Aerianne. Some he could get from around the metro area, but there was one gift in particular that he felt that Aeri would like that he couldn't get from around here. But he knew who he needed to call... "*ring* *ring* *rin-- Hello?" "Uncle Larry? It's Philip." "Philip! How's it going?" Over the phone, Philip could hear Uncle Larry yell to Aunt Gretel that Philip was on the phone. "Oh, ok... Uncle Larry, do you know of anyone up there who deals with swords?" "Hello, Rufus?" "Yeah? Oh, Hi Philip? What's up?" "Oh, nothing much... I have a question..." "Shoot." "Bang." "Huh?" " Nevermind. Anyway, have you finished the mods?" "Yeah, pretty much... Lugnutz helped on the suspension... Why do you need it?" "I need to get something really fast, that's really far, and seeing as I don't have a transporter, the Citation's the next best thing on this planet." "Ok... I'll have it over there in a half hour..." "That's fine by me. Seeya then!" "Seeya " Aerianne sat on the couch as Philip ran around the house, mostly back and forth between the phone book and the phone. "What are you doing?" she asked amusedly. "Oh nothing nothing at all don't you worry about a thing I'll be right with you" Philip mumbled in an attempt not to get her curiosity up. Which meant, of course, that he got her curiosity up. Luckily, Philip's mother was also witness to this latest episode of wackiness (Gogo Dodo would have been proud of Philip at that moment), and stepped in on Philip's behalf. "Aerianne, I'm going out to do some last-minute Christmas shopping. Would you care to join me?" "Um, I don't know. Would I?" Aerianne looked at Philip helplessly. Philip had to pause a moment before responding, in order to avoid getting whiplash from nodding his head so quickly. "Um, yeah," his voice quivered with relief, "that might be a good idea thankyoumommy- thankyoumommy." Philip's mother escorted Aerianne out of the house as Philip sighed with relief. Calling the New York Directory Assistance line, Philip got the number and address of the store he wanted, then sat down to wait for Rufus. Philip looked inside the re-modified Citation-from-Hell. Several things were immediately noticable: first, the four-point harnesses on the seats; second, the new handles installed near the seats ("Ejector handles," Rufus had called them. Philip had whimpered); unfortunately, Philip noted that there was still no radio. Rufus was walking around the car, explaining all the not-so-obvious modifications that had been made: new suspension, the addition of a diesel engine, and so on. "What about the radio? Any luck with that?" Philip asked. "Sorry, Philip, but they just don't _make_ them vertical." "Alright, alright," Philip said as he went back inside and fished out his old boom box. Philip thought, he thought to himself. As Aerianne and Philip's mother walked from the parking space into the mall, the Citation passed overhead. Philip's mother looked up in amazement. "Now what is that? That doesn't look like any airplane *I've* ever seen." Aerianne looked up and answered, matter-of-factly, "Oh, that's Philip flying around in the Citation." Philip's mother gave Aerianne a slightly patronizing smile. "Oh, Aerianne, you have such an active imagination... just like Philip..." She shook her head and smiled, continuing into Wheaton Plaza. Meanwhile, in the deepest depths of FOWL HQ [you thought we'd forgotten about them, didn't you? -Eds.]: "Sir, we picked up Ion Particle emmisions on a course heading towards New York City." "Very well. Inform Tigris that he is authorized to use any means necessary to capture or destroy that vehicle." "Aye, sir!" 27) --- Home Delivery ------------------------------------------------- "When you care enough to send the very best." -- Hallmark Cards Advertisment Philip arrived in New York with surprisingly little difficulty. Now, finding a parking space for a flying Citation, that's a different matter entirely... The yellow taxicab was about to pull into the open parking space in front of the auction when a Chevy Citation literally fell out of the sky into it. The driver blinked as a teenager sporting glasses and a goatee stuck his head out the window and shrugged at him. Philip maneuvered within the rather crowded display area to get a better look at one sword, sheathed, that lay within a glass case. "Is this a katana?" he asked the auction overseer, who was passing by at the time. "No, it's not a katana. It's a slightly shorter and straighter blade which was the precursor to the more modern styles." Philip debated with himself as to whether or not to blow potentially his life savings on a Christmas present for his first girlfriend. he decided, noting the lot number. SOME TIME (AND MUCH MONEY) LATER Philip exited the antiques shop, a somewhat silly-yet-worried grin on his face. "Gee, I hope Aerianne appreciates this little token of my affections," he giggled as he walked back to the Citation. "Although, if it doesn't work out, I could always give it to Trev..." He thought for a moment, and shook his head. "Nahhh," he smiled as he carried the bundle in his hands. "No way in _hell_ am I giving this to anyone else _but_ Aerianne!" Finally, he reached his car. His face fell. "Oh good god," he muttered. Someone had double-parked alongside his car, blocking off his exit. "Great, now what..." Then his face brightened. "Nevermind," he said with a smile as he got in through the passenger's side door, "'on the sea or on the land, the situation's well in hand'." He put the key in the ignition and started it up. Minutes later, the person who had double-parked returned. And stared. And would be wondering for the rest of his life how a compact car could have maneuvered past a 3/4 ton truck that had double-parked it, when both in front of the space and behind the space were blocked by station wagons. Philip flew the Citation out of the maze of buildings that was the Lower East Side. He looked at his watch. Yes, he had plenty of time to get home with no trouble. He settled back, and slotted a tape into his tape deck. It would be smooth sailing from here. Suddenly, his radar began to ping. He entered a code, and a portion of his windshield partitioned itself to display an ID on the unknown contacts. It displayed a side and front view of some black, trilateral fighters, along with a quick analysis. VEHICLE TYPE: UNKNOWN ESTIMATED NUMBER: 15 ARMAMENT: 3 LASER CANNON 6 MISSILES - TYPES UNKNOWN PROBABLE INTENT: HOSTILE "Oh, no, not again..." he groaned. <<>> Philip stomped on the acellerator and pushed down on the wheel. The black fighters followed with military precision. People scattered as he dove towards the surface, the enemy jets in pursuit. He leveled out as he headed for the Lincoln Tunnel. "Let's see if they're as stupid as those other guys," he muttered as the Citation roared over the toll booths and into the tunnel. The jets, apparently _not_ as stupid as the previous attempt, pulled up in formation and avoided the tunnel entrance entirely. Philip gained a momentary respite as he flew through the tunnel. "Ok, let's give them something to chew on! All I have to do is arm my weapons... which.. I.. don't.. _have_. Ohship. This is Not Good(tm)." The Memory portion of his mind recalled that he had never asked Rufus to add any weapons, for which the Logic portion upbraided the Memory portion severely. "Great, now what?" He glance to the right just in time to see the midway marker pass by him. "I've got fifteen ships hot for my blood, and I can't fight back. I need some help. I need a hero... or a pair of heroes..." He snapped his fingers suddenly. "Of _Course_!" he exclaimed. He reached into his pants pocket with his left hand, and pulled out his wallet. Pulling it with one hand, he pulled out a business card that was in the center partition. He read the phone number, and then dialed it on the center keypad, making sure to have it speed dail once he left the tunnel. "Mr Dukke, you have a phone call on line two." "Thank you, Kitty," said Daniel Dukke as he picked up the phone. "Daniel Dukke speaking." "Thank gods I've reached you!" said a panicked voice in response. "Who is this?" asked the duck. He could hear laser fire in the background. "It's Philip! We met at the Bagel Place in September!" More lazer fire could be heard, and a couple of *oofs!* as the car shook. "You would seem to have a problem..." the duck pointed out as his mind snicked into business mode (although it always _was_ in business mode). "Do you have any weapons?" "Actually... no." Deeds' brow furrowed. "Do you realize that that is a Bad Thing?" "NO KIDDING!" yelled Philip. "Sorry," he aplogized, "I'm just a little bit busy right now, what with about 15 alien fighters trying to shoot me down... How soon can you be here?" Deeds looked at his watch. "15 minutes." "What?! How?... Nevermind, I'll find out when you get here... And HURRY!" The phone hung up. "Who was it Deeds?" asked Ferdy, who was polishing one of his many large-calibre machine guns. "Just another hero wannabe biting off more than he can chew. He's up against 15 fighters with no weapons, and he's asking for help." "So are we?" "What do you think?" "Oh, yeah, right... sorry I asked." The fox stood up to his full 6' 7", and asked as he got ready, "So, what are we taking? Bombshell or Blitzkreig?" "The SR-71's aren't good for dogfighting... I was thinking more of the Valkyrie." The fox's face lit up. [No, it's _NOT_ what you think. --Ed.] Philip continued to _barely_ evade the oncoming fire; seeing as he didn't have any weapons, that was about as much as he _could_ do. Fortunately, he had spent many hours on his roommate's PC playing 'Falcon', but needless to say, a Citation has _slightly_ different performance characteristics than a F-16. He did yet another turn-and- burn (although the Citation didn't _have_ afterburners) to avoid a strafing pass, and was turning to dodge once again, when he began to hear a sound that _wasn't_ the sound of laser fire, alien engines, or his own rapid heartbeat. He wondered briefly what it was, but then decided he had bigger things to worry about. As he was dodging another blast, his radar pinged again. He looked at the HUD as he swerved and avoided laser beams and missile fire. Whatever it was, it was heavily armed, stealthy, and damn fast! But before he could determine wether it was friend or foe, it had come within visual range, and Philip got an eyeful. It was a delta-winged-- no, make that delta-_fuselaged_-- craft that for its size, was maneuverable as hell; and it managed to evade the enemy fire without so much as an eyeblink. It roared forward, splitting the enemy formation; and then turned around from behind in a 180-degree pivot and began to attack without mercy. One jet died before its pilot even realized what was happening; it was blown out from under him by the rounds from the four 20mm Vulcan cannons that the newcomer carried. The enemy scattered, to make it harder for the unknown threat to hurt them, but it was to no avail. The new jet was unstoppable. And the most amazing thing of all was that it _wasn't_ a jet. It was a helicopter. Three of the enemy jets, trying to overwhelm the helicopter with superior numbers, launched their full salvo of missles at it. The helicopter, unconcerned, dodged several of them, and detonated the others before they came within range with its cannon. And then it opened up with its _own_ missle salvo, which rocketed unerringly towards it's targets. The three jets exploded in pretty fireballs. The rest of the black fighters jinxed and dove as they tried to hit the helicopter with their laser cannons and missiles, but the team of Dukke and Fox were experts at this sort of thing, and very few shots actually reached the gunship. The gunship's shots, however, _did_ reach _their_ targets. At least four fighters were chewed to pieces by the Vulcan cannons, three were hit by heatseeking missiles, and two were holed stright through their engines by the helicopter's 50mm nose cannon. Needless to say, they didn't stay airborn long. The two remaining enemy jets, seeing that the situation had turned from bad to very-extremely-fucked-up, and that returning to FOWL in defeat would be _worse_ than death (for the short time they remained alive), took the only option left for them. One acellerated towards the Citation, and the other towards the helicopter, hoping to take them out, kamakazie-style. At about the same time that DD & FF were hosing the enemy, Philip had decided that it would behoove him to leave the area. Therefore, he was observing the fight from a "safe" distance. Seeing the last two fighters speed away from the fight, he assumed it was over, and he turned the Citation for home. This meant that he didn't notice the first fighter fly around in a wide arc and accelerate towards him. Daniel Dukke, however, did. "Get out of the way!" Daniel called over the radio as he flew the Valkyrie towards Philip and the first jet. "What?" Philip asked, oblivious to his fate. "GET OUT OF THE WAY!!" yelled Ferdinand as Daniel lined up the "shot". Philip, startled, stomped on the acellerator just as the enemy jet was about to hit. He flew out of the way just in time to avoid collision. The jet overshot him, on a direct collision course with the Valkyrie and the other jet behind it. Daniel shoved the Valkyrie's throttles to full, and it blasted forward at Mach 61.42 for two seconds. RRRRRRRRRRRROOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The last two jets were shattered by the Valkyrie's jetwash. The Citation and the Valkyrie landed at a rest stop after the battle to refuel and check on the status of the participants. "Is there anything else we can do?" asked Deeds, "Because otherwise we really need to be going. There's several drug busts that we need to attend, plus a hostage crisis, and a small terrorist bombing to take care of." "No, I don't think so..." he said as the two got into the Valkyrie helicopter. But then he had a idea, and he waved at them to get their attention. "Actually, there _is_ one thing you can do for me," he said as he pulled out a marker from his backpack. Ferdy turned around. "Yeah?" Philip returned home later that evening. He took his presents into his room to be wrapped when he got the time. "How'd your shopping go?" asked his mother. "Oh, ok, I guess. Traffic was bad, though. Where's Aerianne?" "She's downstairs on the computer," she replied. Philip, upon hearing this, shed his coat and went downstairs. At the bottom, he walked around to the Mac, where he found Aerianne logged into the UMD system. "Hi, Aeri!" he said as came around to the computer. "Hi, Philip," she answered distractedly. From what he could see, she was IRCing on #anime!, apparently "fighting" a Pandabuma. Philip decided not to ask, and instead watched as Genma thoroughly thwomped Aerianne. It was kind of amusing to watch, as she tried various attacks and reacted to Pandabuma's moves. Unfortunately, the buma gained the upper hand, but Aeri admitted defeat gracefully. As she set the /away flag, Philip chuckled and said, "Don't give up your day job. And if the Knight Sabres ever put out a want ad, _don't answer!_" Aerianne just whapped him playfully. "Ow!" Aeri snickered and turned towards him. "So, how was your day?" she asked. "_Horrid_," he chuckled as he recalled the _slightly_ surreal day. "How about you? Did Mommy shuttle you around so you could shop?" "Yeah. We went to a lot of stores. White Flint Mall was nice." "Well...What'd you get?" he tried to wheedle out of her. "Well, I..." she cut herself off as she noticed Philip's grin. "I'm _not_ saying anything," she said with a smile, but then she noticed Philip's t-shirt. "When did you get _that_?" "At the Closet of Comics...you were there, remember?" he responded. "No, I don't mean the shirt itself, I mean _these_," she said pointing to the two signatures at the bottom of the shirt. "Oh, these?" he asked, looking down at the Daniel Dukke and Ferdinand Fox autographs that had been recently added. "Remind me to tell you how I got them one of these days." Aerianne looked at him askance, but shrugged and returned to the channel. That night, after dinner, Philip retired to his room to wrap the presents he had bought for Aerianne. He wrapped the Highlander tape well, smirking as he did so. Then he wrapped a blue scarf that looked suspiciously like the one he wore often, and in a separate box he wrapped a small gift that he had found in the Jewelry Dept. at Hecht's that he had thought appropriate to the circumstances and her personality. But as he reached for the final gift to wrap it, his eyes caught on an old Construx model that he had never disassembled because it had looked cool. "No. It can't be," he said as he held the Construx model. The model, aside that it was slightly more angular due to it's method of construction, was an exact duplicate of the fighters that had pursued him.