That Essay Aeon's been BOTHERING me about.
So Spitfire and Aeon…
There is a lot of history here lurking under the surface, that will probably never get touched on again in canon which is really kind of sad because they’re both fabulous retards, and they have a wonderful dynamic together. So, this is going to be an essay a little about them, a lot about Spitfire, and mixed together with a healthy dose of my own opinion. As such, you are welcome to disagree with me at any point and discuss the matters. I am willing to listen, and as people can tell you, I love taking Air Gear down to it’s barest bones and talking about the ins and outs and logic behind the series (which I’m sure is occasionally stretching things).
To reiterate: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!
Timelines
Okay, to kick things off, I want to do a time line. Now, Oh!Great’s not really well known for his timeline abilities. Alright, fine, so they’re about as confusing a thing as you can possibly get. So this will be my speculation and take off of the timelines as I’m playing it (at least until I get more information to the contrary).
-- Age 21: the present. This is the point that we see him in most.
Now, this is where assumption is going to have to start coming into play pretty heavily. I’ll start by speculating that for Spitfire to be as well known as the Flame King as he is, he would have had to have held the regalia for the second time for probably 2-3 years. This would have given him time for his position to become solid foundation and common knowledge among the Storm Riders, and allowed them the easy recognition of his position that we see so often.
-- Age 18-19: Reacquiring the Regalia.
According to the Sora Scans translation of the manga, it took Spitfire about 4 years to get his regalia back. This makes a lot of sense considering his injuries following the Sleeping Forest/Kilik battle. Judging from the images we have of him immediately following the battle, and sometime shortly after the battle, I’m going to say that he probably at least partially severed his Achilles tendons. I’m basing this off of two things. 1) We can clearly see that his right leg is bleeding above the A-T on page 21 of chapter 42, and though we cannot tell the extent of the damage done to the left leg, it does appear to have blood dripping from it. 2) On page 13 of chapter 158, we can clearly see that both of Spitfire’s legs are heavily bandaged below the knee.
-- Age 14-15: Sleeping Forest/Kilik battle; losing the Flame Regalia.
Using this basic outline, we can begin to add Sano into the timeline. He was not shown in the flashback of Spitfire’s recovery when his teammates showed up to support and encourage him through his recovery and rehabilitation. This is our one solid clue that their battle was actually after Spitfire’s recovery. Using this information, we start adding back on time to the timeline. An Achilles tendon injury can take between 4-6 months to recover. Considering that he had both of his severed and the extreme stresses that A-T places on the legs, I’m going to hazard a guess that it took him at least a year to a year and a half to become comfortable in battle again. Certainly it took him at least that long to become good enough to start trouncing on little Riders with a hint of his former finesse.
-- Age 15-16: Spitfire/Sano first battle.
Again, adding more time onto the timeline, we know that Sano was with Spitfire and the Volcano group for a number of years. There seems to be a good deal of evidence from the flashbacks that Spitfire might have been training Sano to become the successor of the Flame Regalia. When Spitfire himself won back the Regalia, Sano quit the teams seeming to consider himself unnecessary anymore. We’ll come back to this later.
-- Age 18-19: Sano leaves the Volcano group.
Another two-ish years passed and we’re back to the beginning of the timeline and the defeat of the Behemoth team by Kogarasumaru. Sano has created his own firm identity as Aeon Clock, and has adapted his knowledge from Spitfire into the creation of his own Road.
-- Age 21: Behemoth defeated; Aeon Clock/Kazu battle.
Spitfire and Aeon: First Fight
From the information we’re given in canon, the fight that changed Sano’s life forever did not have any small impact on Spitfire. He remembered the battle some five or six years later. There’s a lot about the battle that we don’t know, though, that would give the fight more impact. I would dare to speculate that it could have been one of the first fights that Spitfire started winning after his recovery. I’m quite certain that these victories would have stood out significantly in his memories. There is also the fact that Spitfire seems to be incredibly adept at sensing potential in Riders and in judging their abilities.
All that aside, we do know that Spitfire remembers the fight, and sometime probably shortly afterwards, Sano joined Spitfire’s team. Ah the realm of speculation.
Things we know:
-- Sano was with Spitfire for a number of years before leaving the Volcano group.
-- They often worked as partners during their time together.
-- They apparently fought like cats and dogs the entire time.
-- Spitfire was training Sano in the Flame Road.
-- Sano had his head and heart set on acquiring the Flame Regalia.
-- Sano was apparently a lot wilder and more vocally vulgar at 16-17 than he was 2 years later.
Now comes the question: how close was close for these two?
In answer to this question, I’m going to say “extremely”. In chapter 59 page 5 (175), Simca says to Spitfire: “Spit-kun, you picked him out and taught him your moves but… he returned to you as an enemy to you… Maybe in reality you feel a bit relieved?” As she says this, Spitfire laughs, but the frame immediately following it is the first time we get a glimpse of his range of emotions. It is one of the first deep expressions that we have seen Spitfire wear to this point in canon. He appears to be truly unhappy at the thought of having Sano as an enemy.
I’m not going to say that the two of them were lovey-dovey. That is beneath both of them, and their relationship seems to be too caustic even when they were together for it to have been a sweet, sappy romance. Spitfire says a number of times that the Flame Road is based on passion; and most likely the physical relationship that developed between them during Sano’s time on the Volcano teams was often the product of high tensions, a devotion to each other, and a sudden walling following a good training session or fight.
Between the two of them, there is a great deal of trust built up. From the work they had to do to develop a co-dependant fighting style to the constant work Spitfire was doing with him to prepare him for the Regalia battle, they spent an incredibly large amount of time in each other’s company. There is a sense in their interactions with each other that most of their time was spent at each other’s throats. I’m sure Spitfire’s constant poking at, teasing, and egging on about Sano’s uptightness helped bring this into being. However, Sano’s not entirely blameless either. He certainly seems to hold his own in their later interactions, and Spitfire even goes so far as to say that he “liked him better when he flung his glittery killing sense about without regard for those around him.”
The falling point for these two is of course, when Spitfire reclaimed the Flame Regalia. During the brief flashback in chapter 59, it is readily apparent that this was a major blow to Sano’s pride and ego. He had been hand chosen by Spitfire to be the next Flame King and trained by him for that purpose. The sudden loss of his importance was a shock to the system. Angry, frustrated, and prideful, he abandoned Spitfire and the Volcano group, declaring that he would come back someday to kill Spitfire. Presumably, this bit was another reference to his determination and desire to possess the Flame Regalia, and probably a healthy bit of just pure pissed-off teenager.
In the Shadow of the Behemoth and Genesis
During the two or so years that Sano was with the Behemoth teams, evidence strongly supports the fact that he and Spitfire did not interact very much. I would say not at all, if it were not for Sano’s apparently high status within the structure of Genesis as Simca’s go-to man. This relationship actually indicates a couple of things about them. The first being that it was likely Spitfire who introduced Sano into the inner circle of Genesis (and it was possibly this that allowed Sora to pinpoint immediately that Spitfire was attempting to pass on the Regalia in volume 18). Simca seems to know quite a deal about the outward relationship between Sano and Spitfire. However, she seems to seriously misjudge their feelings and the inner workings of their relationship. This misjudgment could be umbrella-ed by a sudden coolness to their relationship following his secession from the Volcano group. Still, Behemoth was a member of Genesis so occasional meetings between the two of them were inevitable.
Most likely, during this time period, they maintained a strictly business relationship. I highly doubt that Sano’s pride would have allowed him to cave before he had acquired his own Regalia, and Spitfire was wise enough during this period to not push the matter for fear of breaking things further between them. He comments on page 8 of chapter 159 that “It’s been a long time since we did it together.” This further emphasizes the fact that they had not worked together or fought together during Sano’s time with Behemoth. Judging by further evidence, there was also a bit of subtle pressure on Sano during this time. He mentions in chapter 161 that Ryou used to talk quite often about their first meeting and how he changed from that point.
By the time we finally see him in the Behemoth/Kogarasumaru battle, Sano has completed his metamorphosis from Spitfire’s heir. Gone are the flashy clothing, the “killing sense”, the long hair, and the abrasive attitude. He is quite in control of himself, and it is Aeon Clock that Spitfire sees Kazu fight against. His intense interest in the fight, leads one to believe that even though they had mild contact with each other during the intervening years, Spitfire had never had the chance to witness one of Aeon’s battles. It is also during this fight that we witness an interest in Kazu’s abilities. While Aeon later goes on to dismiss and disparage the boy, Spitfire again selects someone to become his heir.
Dying in the Service of the King
Don’t ask.
In any case, we do know that Sano appears in chapter 159 to rescue Spitfire from death by helicopter. Ryou seems pleased to see the two of them together even though she does say that she hated it in the past. This is possibly owing to the fact that two still can’t be within each other’s presence without it digressing into a pissing match, arguing about techniques, skills, and powers. This does give us a pretty clear picture of what the two of them were like before Sano left the Volcano teams. The words “wearying” and “exhausting” pop immediately to mind, but as Kazu points out, the two of them are incredibly powerful. It is likely that they gravitated to each other because of this similarities as well as the way their opposite personalities meshed (and the sex was probably good too). Whatever the case may be, it is obvious that following Ryou’s death, Sano is quite willing to sacrifice his life to allow time for Spitfire and Kazu to escape the Soras.
Now, I’m going to state here and now that Spitfire did not intend that Sano to be anywhere near that building that night. He most likely knew that it was one of his family’s buildings and would have considered it to be a rather neutral meeting place and somewhere accessible to only a very few people. He knew that his passing on the Regalia and his other betrayals of the Soras would be tantamount to a death sentence from them. He took rather great lengths to be able to pass along the information he needed to. The READ file and the computer programs were obviously not something that had been thrown together at a moment’s notice. He had known for a long time that he would be passing on the information whether he was alive or not.
That the Soras and then Aeon showed up at the towers was a rather large shock -- Aeon much more so than the twins. In the end, he used Sano’s time window to rescue Kazu, in whom he was trusting the future of the Flames, and then he returned to Aeon’s side.
There’s a line in chapter 162 on page 16 that offers no small amount of speculation: “After all, I’m just the seed of the ‘flame’. But there was a time when I… when I was said to be needed by someone…” There are many different interpretations of this line, and again I’m using the Sora Scan’s translation. What stands out to me in this phrase is that based on their history before, Sano probably did need him, and that was possibly one of the most attractive features to Spitfire. Whatever the exact meaning of the line is, he returns immediately to Sano’s side, relying on Kazu to find the READ on his own, and it is together as partners that they are killed. Though the moment is bittersweet for them, there is a sense of satisfaction and completeness between them in the moment of their deaths.
Conclusions
Oh!Great needs to give us more information about Spitfire and Sano.
More seriously though, there is a lot of history that we don’t have a lot of information on (which will probably be the topic of my next essay). We don’t know anything for certain, though there seems to be a lot of supporting evidence of them being partners in bed as well as A-T. They have a very clear and volatile dynamic when they do work together, though it is masked by the years in which Aeon spent with Behemoth.
Long story short: I LOVE THESE TWO LIKE BURNING… even if I can’t picture them going at it like bunnies at the moment.
There is a lot of history here lurking under the surface, that will probably never get touched on again in canon which is really kind of sad because they’re both fabulous retards, and they have a wonderful dynamic together. So, this is going to be an essay a little about them, a lot about Spitfire, and mixed together with a healthy dose of my own opinion. As such, you are welcome to disagree with me at any point and discuss the matters. I am willing to listen, and as people can tell you, I love taking Air Gear down to it’s barest bones and talking about the ins and outs and logic behind the series (which I’m sure is occasionally stretching things).
To reiterate: THERE WILL BE SPOILERS! YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!
Timelines
Okay, to kick things off, I want to do a time line. Now, Oh!Great’s not really well known for his timeline abilities. Alright, fine, so they’re about as confusing a thing as you can possibly get. So this will be my speculation and take off of the timelines as I’m playing it (at least until I get more information to the contrary).
-- Age 21: the present. This is the point that we see him in most.
Now, this is where assumption is going to have to start coming into play pretty heavily. I’ll start by speculating that for Spitfire to be as well known as the Flame King as he is, he would have had to have held the regalia for the second time for probably 2-3 years. This would have given him time for his position to become solid foundation and common knowledge among the Storm Riders, and allowed them the easy recognition of his position that we see so often.
-- Age 18-19: Reacquiring the Regalia.
According to the Sora Scans translation of the manga, it took Spitfire about 4 years to get his regalia back. This makes a lot of sense considering his injuries following the Sleeping Forest/Kilik battle. Judging from the images we have of him immediately following the battle, and sometime shortly after the battle, I’m going to say that he probably at least partially severed his Achilles tendons. I’m basing this off of two things. 1) We can clearly see that his right leg is bleeding above the A-T on page 21 of chapter 42, and though we cannot tell the extent of the damage done to the left leg, it does appear to have blood dripping from it. 2) On page 13 of chapter 158, we can clearly see that both of Spitfire’s legs are heavily bandaged below the knee.
-- Age 14-15: Sleeping Forest/Kilik battle; losing the Flame Regalia.
Using this basic outline, we can begin to add Sano into the timeline. He was not shown in the flashback of Spitfire’s recovery when his teammates showed up to support and encourage him through his recovery and rehabilitation. This is our one solid clue that their battle was actually after Spitfire’s recovery. Using this information, we start adding back on time to the timeline. An Achilles tendon injury can take between 4-6 months to recover. Considering that he had both of his severed and the extreme stresses that A-T places on the legs, I’m going to hazard a guess that it took him at least a year to a year and a half to become comfortable in battle again. Certainly it took him at least that long to become good enough to start trouncing on little Riders with a hint of his former finesse.
-- Age 15-16: Spitfire/Sano first battle.
Again, adding more time onto the timeline, we know that Sano was with Spitfire and the Volcano group for a number of years. There seems to be a good deal of evidence from the flashbacks that Spitfire might have been training Sano to become the successor of the Flame Regalia. When Spitfire himself won back the Regalia, Sano quit the teams seeming to consider himself unnecessary anymore. We’ll come back to this later.
-- Age 18-19: Sano leaves the Volcano group.
Another two-ish years passed and we’re back to the beginning of the timeline and the defeat of the Behemoth team by Kogarasumaru. Sano has created his own firm identity as Aeon Clock, and has adapted his knowledge from Spitfire into the creation of his own Road.
-- Age 21: Behemoth defeated; Aeon Clock/Kazu battle.
Spitfire and Aeon: First Fight
From the information we’re given in canon, the fight that changed Sano’s life forever did not have any small impact on Spitfire. He remembered the battle some five or six years later. There’s a lot about the battle that we don’t know, though, that would give the fight more impact. I would dare to speculate that it could have been one of the first fights that Spitfire started winning after his recovery. I’m quite certain that these victories would have stood out significantly in his memories. There is also the fact that Spitfire seems to be incredibly adept at sensing potential in Riders and in judging their abilities.
All that aside, we do know that Spitfire remembers the fight, and sometime probably shortly afterwards, Sano joined Spitfire’s team. Ah the realm of speculation.
Things we know:
-- Sano was with Spitfire for a number of years before leaving the Volcano group.
-- They often worked as partners during their time together.
-- They apparently fought like cats and dogs the entire time.
-- Spitfire was training Sano in the Flame Road.
-- Sano had his head and heart set on acquiring the Flame Regalia.
-- Sano was apparently a lot wilder and more vocally vulgar at 16-17 than he was 2 years later.
Now comes the question: how close was close for these two?
In answer to this question, I’m going to say “extremely”. In chapter 59 page 5 (175), Simca says to Spitfire: “Spit-kun, you picked him out and taught him your moves but… he returned to you as an enemy to you… Maybe in reality you feel a bit relieved?” As she says this, Spitfire laughs, but the frame immediately following it is the first time we get a glimpse of his range of emotions. It is one of the first deep expressions that we have seen Spitfire wear to this point in canon. He appears to be truly unhappy at the thought of having Sano as an enemy.
I’m not going to say that the two of them were lovey-dovey. That is beneath both of them, and their relationship seems to be too caustic even when they were together for it to have been a sweet, sappy romance. Spitfire says a number of times that the Flame Road is based on passion; and most likely the physical relationship that developed between them during Sano’s time on the Volcano teams was often the product of high tensions, a devotion to each other, and a sudden walling following a good training session or fight.
Between the two of them, there is a great deal of trust built up. From the work they had to do to develop a co-dependant fighting style to the constant work Spitfire was doing with him to prepare him for the Regalia battle, they spent an incredibly large amount of time in each other’s company. There is a sense in their interactions with each other that most of their time was spent at each other’s throats. I’m sure Spitfire’s constant poking at, teasing, and egging on about Sano’s uptightness helped bring this into being. However, Sano’s not entirely blameless either. He certainly seems to hold his own in their later interactions, and Spitfire even goes so far as to say that he “liked him better when he flung his glittery killing sense about without regard for those around him.”
The falling point for these two is of course, when Spitfire reclaimed the Flame Regalia. During the brief flashback in chapter 59, it is readily apparent that this was a major blow to Sano’s pride and ego. He had been hand chosen by Spitfire to be the next Flame King and trained by him for that purpose. The sudden loss of his importance was a shock to the system. Angry, frustrated, and prideful, he abandoned Spitfire and the Volcano group, declaring that he would come back someday to kill Spitfire. Presumably, this bit was another reference to his determination and desire to possess the Flame Regalia, and probably a healthy bit of just pure pissed-off teenager.
In the Shadow of the Behemoth and Genesis
During the two or so years that Sano was with the Behemoth teams, evidence strongly supports the fact that he and Spitfire did not interact very much. I would say not at all, if it were not for Sano’s apparently high status within the structure of Genesis as Simca’s go-to man. This relationship actually indicates a couple of things about them. The first being that it was likely Spitfire who introduced Sano into the inner circle of Genesis (and it was possibly this that allowed Sora to pinpoint immediately that Spitfire was attempting to pass on the Regalia in volume 18). Simca seems to know quite a deal about the outward relationship between Sano and Spitfire. However, she seems to seriously misjudge their feelings and the inner workings of their relationship. This misjudgment could be umbrella-ed by a sudden coolness to their relationship following his secession from the Volcano group. Still, Behemoth was a member of Genesis so occasional meetings between the two of them were inevitable.
Most likely, during this time period, they maintained a strictly business relationship. I highly doubt that Sano’s pride would have allowed him to cave before he had acquired his own Regalia, and Spitfire was wise enough during this period to not push the matter for fear of breaking things further between them. He comments on page 8 of chapter 159 that “It’s been a long time since we did it together.” This further emphasizes the fact that they had not worked together or fought together during Sano’s time with Behemoth. Judging by further evidence, there was also a bit of subtle pressure on Sano during this time. He mentions in chapter 161 that Ryou used to talk quite often about their first meeting and how he changed from that point.
By the time we finally see him in the Behemoth/Kogarasumaru battle, Sano has completed his metamorphosis from Spitfire’s heir. Gone are the flashy clothing, the “killing sense”, the long hair, and the abrasive attitude. He is quite in control of himself, and it is Aeon Clock that Spitfire sees Kazu fight against. His intense interest in the fight, leads one to believe that even though they had mild contact with each other during the intervening years, Spitfire had never had the chance to witness one of Aeon’s battles. It is also during this fight that we witness an interest in Kazu’s abilities. While Aeon later goes on to dismiss and disparage the boy, Spitfire again selects someone to become his heir.
Dying in the Service of the King
Don’t ask.
In any case, we do know that Sano appears in chapter 159 to rescue Spitfire from death by helicopter. Ryou seems pleased to see the two of them together even though she does say that she hated it in the past. This is possibly owing to the fact that two still can’t be within each other’s presence without it digressing into a pissing match, arguing about techniques, skills, and powers. This does give us a pretty clear picture of what the two of them were like before Sano left the Volcano teams. The words “wearying” and “exhausting” pop immediately to mind, but as Kazu points out, the two of them are incredibly powerful. It is likely that they gravitated to each other because of this similarities as well as the way their opposite personalities meshed (and the sex was probably good too). Whatever the case may be, it is obvious that following Ryou’s death, Sano is quite willing to sacrifice his life to allow time for Spitfire and Kazu to escape the Soras.
Now, I’m going to state here and now that Spitfire did not intend that Sano to be anywhere near that building that night. He most likely knew that it was one of his family’s buildings and would have considered it to be a rather neutral meeting place and somewhere accessible to only a very few people. He knew that his passing on the Regalia and his other betrayals of the Soras would be tantamount to a death sentence from them. He took rather great lengths to be able to pass along the information he needed to. The READ file and the computer programs were obviously not something that had been thrown together at a moment’s notice. He had known for a long time that he would be passing on the information whether he was alive or not.
That the Soras and then Aeon showed up at the towers was a rather large shock -- Aeon much more so than the twins. In the end, he used Sano’s time window to rescue Kazu, in whom he was trusting the future of the Flames, and then he returned to Aeon’s side.
There’s a line in chapter 162 on page 16 that offers no small amount of speculation: “After all, I’m just the seed of the ‘flame’. But there was a time when I… when I was said to be needed by someone…” There are many different interpretations of this line, and again I’m using the Sora Scan’s translation. What stands out to me in this phrase is that based on their history before, Sano probably did need him, and that was possibly one of the most attractive features to Spitfire. Whatever the exact meaning of the line is, he returns immediately to Sano’s side, relying on Kazu to find the READ on his own, and it is together as partners that they are killed. Though the moment is bittersweet for them, there is a sense of satisfaction and completeness between them in the moment of their deaths.
Conclusions
Oh!Great needs to give us more information about Spitfire and Sano.
More seriously though, there is a lot of history that we don’t have a lot of information on (which will probably be the topic of my next essay). We don’t know anything for certain, though there seems to be a lot of supporting evidence of them being partners in bed as well as A-T. They have a very clear and volatile dynamic when they do work together, though it is masked by the years in which Aeon spent with Behemoth.
Long story short: I LOVE THESE TWO LIKE BURNING… even if I can’t picture them going at it like bunnies at the moment.