fandomhigh | Flight and Flying (Friday, July 14, morning)

Anakin stood in front of the Flight Club shed with his hands hidden in the folds of his robe, looking every inch the confident Jedi. He didn't realize that he was imitating Obi-Wan's way of standing.

He gave a short nod to the class as they assembled in front of him. "Welcome," he said. "My name is Anakin Skywalker, but most of you know that. You can call me Anakin or Master Skywalker--I don't really care." Secretly he was hoping someone would call him Master Skywalker, but he wasn't going to mention that. He looked at the students and continued. "Today, we're going to fly podracers." He cleared his throat and opened the door. "Well, in a simulator, anyway." He gave Peter a small smile. "The last one I built was made for, um, much smaller people."

Inside the shed were two 6 foot-long simulators sitting side by side. Anakin walked over to one with evident pride. "Okay," he said, pointing at the controls, "everything you need to fly a podracer is located on its handlebars. You push them forward to go faster, pull back to slow down, and pull one or the other towards you to turn." He pointed at the buttons in the center of the console. "That controls the engines," he said. "You push the big button to light them up, and on these two models, you can push it again for an extra burst of speed." He looked at the class. "Which burns your fuel very, very quickly, so save that until you need it."

He raised an eyebrow. "Normally, these things are attached to giant engines--like 6 or 7 meter long engines--but these aren't real, and the simulator won't really give you the noise that's normally associated with the podracer. But the simulator has been programmed to go very, very quickly." He pointed to the simulator on the left-hand side. "This one, properly piloted, can get up to 950 kilometers an hour. The other can get up to 900. To fly a podracer at those kinds of speed requires iron nerves and split-second reflexes."

He clasped his hands in front of him. "Okay. Today you can take a turn learning how the simulators work, then pair up to fly against each other." He gave them a slightly predatory smile. "Since there are nine of you, the person without a partner will get to fly against me. I built the real version of this podracer," he patted the left-hand simulator, "and used it to win a race when I was nine years old. And I won't give you a head start."

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"As I said, I'm Anakin Skywalker. I graduated from Fandom in May and I've been flying since I could walk--both land and space-based vehicles."

He turned and pointed at random. "How about you?" he said. "Name, year in school, flying experience." He smiled. "And if you have one, your favorite thing to fly."

"Molly Hayes. Sophomore," Molly said with a grin and a wave to Anakin. "I've never actually flown anything, but back home we have a ship named Leapfrog that doesn't really fly, but he takes big enough jumps that it's almost the same thing. I also got to ride with Alec on his swoop bike. That was a lot of fun, but it was only once and I didn't get to drive myself."

"Bridge Carson, Junior... I've had a few years flying experience thanks to Zord piloting classes at the Academy, as well as some basic shuttle training."

"I'm Marie D'Ancanto and I'm a freshman," Marie said. "I flew the simulator once and that's it. I've never even been on a plane."

Anakin tried not to gape at someone who'd never been on a plane before. "Welcome to class," he said.

"Peter Parker, junior, and limited flying experience that consists entirely of a weekend a few months ago when I was small and some video games. I am very familiar with... let's call it 'high-speed controlled falling' around New York skyscrapers, but that lacks a vehicle, so it's really not the same thing."

"Z Delgado, junior, and I don't really have any flying experience. I've been in shuttles a time or two, but we didn't even leave atmosphere."

"Dean Winchester, sophomore," Dean said. "Flying experience is pretty much zero, which was how I thought I'd keep it until someone," He shot a dirty glance Alec's way, "signed me up for this. I'm still pretty sure I'm happier with both feet firmly on the ground."

"I'll change your mind," Anakin said, smiling. "Flying's one of the best things ever."

"Speed's good," Dean admitted. "Just prefer it to be within reach of the ground. Stalling out shouldn't lead to death."

"I guess," Anakin said slowly. He'd never really thought about it.

"Alec. I'm a Junior and I have training and pilot certifications for several types of aircraft," he said, grinning. "But my favorite's probably the F-16."

Anakin grinned. "The F-16 is fun. We'll be flying a sim of one in a few weeks."

"Really?" Alec could be happy with a sim; it wasn't the actual plane, but he hadn't actually thought they'd do that anyway, really. "I'll be looking forward to it."

"I'm Alanna Trebond, going to be a Senior and I have never flown, not even in those things, um planes. I don't really want to fly now that I think about it can I just stay on the ground?"

Anakin blinked. "No."

"My name's Zack Addy," he said. "And I don't even know how to drive, I think I signed up by mistake."

Anakin tried not to boggle at the collection of students he had this session.

It sort of worked.

Flight and Flying (Friday, July 14, morning)

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