Honoka only felt a little terrible, besides feeling her aching head focused at her nape. That was one heck of a hit, like it was purposely made to knock someone out. She knew it too well. It happened to her while she was alive, and it was getting all too familiar while it was of the same situation. Eventually, she was beginning to stir thanks to the pain that she felt, now starting to hear voices of arguing. She couldn't whose voices they were, but she can tell both voices were female. Her eyes started to move a little as she finally got herself to slowly open her eyelids. She felt herself on the floor, and she was seeing the cemented floor, like she was in a building that wasn't really finished. And as she looked in detail, she was. It would seem that she might be in the same building the gunman was pointing his gun from. But what didn't make sense, was that the girl she chased was in on it as well.
She focused on the female voices arguing, but she knew the language was foreign. Both voices were actually speaking German and she could tell thanks to her knowledge about different tongues she used to speak before. As she moved her head a little, she saw that there were two girls, seeming to be dressed in World War II clothing and in their teenage years, arguing so much about values of their actions. They know what happened to Honoka, and they were responsible for bringing her in the building in the first place. But as she was about to speak, she realized her mouth was gagged. So… she decided to listen to the two girls.
"Of course we could have gone out and asked where we were, but we're in a different world, Minna!" The brown-haired German girl said. "Look… all we know is that we got sucked in that same vortex as those Neuroi. Whatever they were up to, we knew it wasn't good."
"But…" The girl named Minna didn't finish her reply when the other girl continued.
"No buts, Minna. You've done what you can, and now you're allowing me to do what I can to figure out what to do. Then what? You reprimand me?"
"ENOUGH!" Minna ordered the other girl. "As much as I want to keep pleasantries, I can't. Those Neuroi might just threaten this new world and you know it yourself. It's up to us to find them, without them making any permanent damages. We owe it not just to those from this world, but from the world we came from. Wherever we are, we need to be ready to defend whatever life there is to defend."
"You're gonna do that while we still have no idea where we are?"
"Knowing we're in an alternate world gives me an idea that part of the history of this world is related to ours, and we can figure out the comparisons, Barkhorn. We should…" Minna was about to speak when she looked towards Honoka's direction, making her surprised. "Barkhorn, our girl's awake."
Barkhorn then looked at the nervous girl with hands behind and a gagged mouth. "Hmph. I thought I hit her hard enough."
"Barkhorn!" Minna glared at the other German. "Look… let's just let her speak. This is a misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding?! We don't know who we could trust here!"
"I trust she understands us." Minna then looked at the captive girl. "Am I right?"
Honoka had it in her to keep things secret, but Minna knows she was indeed listening. 'How did she…?'
"You've got magic inside you too and I can tell you can understand. Can you?" Minna then approached the nervous captive girl.
"Minna!"
"It's alright, Barkhorn. I know what I'm doing." Minna finally stopped in front of the captive and knelt down before removing the cloth on the girl's mouth. Then she spoke a more familiar language: English. "Were you listening to our conversation?"
Honoka knew she can't lie, with the interrogator now close to her. Now with a serious emotion, Honoka answered. "Yes. So… why did you tie me up here?"
"It's the other girl I talked to. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let this happen. She can be quite aggressive when the going gets tough. She doesn't know much about this world, and she's acting like…"
"I have the right to!" Barkhorn said it, and got Minna to glare at her and stand up.
"…not when you got them both hurt, Barkhorn!"
"WHAT DO YOU THINK IS OUR SITUATION NOW?! THE MAJOR IS SHOT AND WE HAVE TO FIND HELP, NOW!" Barkhorn was infuriated before she was witnessed walking to a table, then kicked it before seeing it hit a wall and break to pieces. Minna saw her walk away infuriated.
Minna sighed and glanced back at the captive. "You'll have to forgive her for that."
"No, I understand her." Honoka replied and tried her best to smile. "I was once desperate in doing something that it kinda happens to me too… although nobody else knows."
"I see. You know our situation, right?"
"…but how? How did you arrive here?"
"What I believe is that a vortex sucked us in."
"So it's not just you and that girl? Wait… another Japanese was around and I chased her. Was she with you guys?"
Minna was surprised of the term the girl used for a Fusoan, as Japanese. "Well…" Minna decided not to mind it, and replied. "Yes. She's with us."
"Where are you from?"
"Let's just say… we're from a world, which for now, is waging war against aliens." Minna's simple explanation made the captive gulp.
"For real?"
"Don't believe me?"
"Here's what I know: The Japanese girl I saw and chased was from Yokosuka. Second is that you guys are Germans, and I don't make a mistake on the language either. Third is: All of you guys come from a genre I kinda know of: World War II."
It seemed the captive was telling the truth. With no doubt, Minna went behind the captive and started to untie her hands. "I doubt you'll be making a big fuss, but I have to trust you. You're the closest one we can trust since you're helping me out."
"Thanks, but…" Honoka stopped when she remembered something. "Oh, crap! Where's Rin?! That girl I was with is my teammate! Where is she?!"
"Oh, the other girl? Well…" Minna decided to put the details on hold when she finally released the captive.
And time flew to the time Rin is gagged and had her hands tied to her back, while she was sitting in a spare bedroom. It was incredible: Rin was trying to make noises through the cloth gagging her mouth. When Honoka saw this, she was impressed. Rin sure has the energy. "Wow."
"I'm sorry." Minna said it regretfully before seeing the other girl approach her captive friend.
Honoka knelt in front of Rin before untying the cloth, only to hear Rin finally speak out so fast, that Honoka said: "STOP! Rin, calm yourself."
"Calm myself?! It's easy for you to say since you trust them so much, but not me! Oh, NO! I'm NOT going to let them out of my freakin' sights! Oh… When I get my gun… Hey! There it is!" Rin was giving both Minna and Honoka a clue when she looked at the corner of the room. The Cosmic Pistols were lying there. "Honoka-chan… Untie me. I'm gonna get myself some target practice."
"I'm not allowing that, Rin." Minna said this in English, seeming to understand Rin's language. "You're not fighting anyone, and we're not doing the same. It's a misunderstanding."
"Misunderstanding my butt!"
"Rin-chan!" Honoka said this, now feeling pissed of Rin, and instantly stopped the redhead from speaking any further. "Just, stop. Look… We don't want to hurt anyone, and they didn't mean to do it to us. They were scared, not knowing what this world is."
"What? Don't tell me they don't know this place."
"They really don't."
"Are you kidding me right now, Honkey? Because I swear, I might not believe…"
"For all things we've gone through, do you want to NOT believe what they're talking about? You know this kind of case too, Rin. You went through it yourself. Look… Trust me."
"Wait… Honoka… You trust them already?"
"I do." Honoka's word got Rin to calm down.
"Honoka…"
"I know they're good people, Rin. We might as well clear up the misunderstandings here."
"Well…" Rin then looked at the other girl in the World War II getup. "First off, tell me what year you came from."
"1946." The girl in the WWII getup answered. "And yes… we come from a completely different world."
"I see." Rin then glanced back to Honoka. "You sure they haven't hypnotized you or something?" Honoka didn't answer as she finally started untying Rin's hands from the binds she has. "Honoka?" As she called out Honoka, she was finally release, and Rin stood up.
"I'm not going to argue anymore, Rin. I understand them more and I know you trust me."
"Of course I do, Honoka."
"Then you know I'm right." Honoka then glanced at Minna. "Minna-san, where's the rest of your group?"
"They're currently a block away from here. It took some time before we found this building."
"You guys walked and hid from others?"
"We didn't know what we could find friendly here."
"Well, as long as you're with us, you won't have that problem."
"And I know that. You possess magic, don't you?" Minna mentioned this at a right time as Honoka smiled.
"The magic we have may be a bit advanced than what you know." Honoka opened her hands before sprinkles of magic energy surrounded it. As her hands glowed in the energy, her hands were later seen wearing golden gloves. As she clenched her fists, her gloves were seen shining before they turned metal for some reason. "See?" She smirked before putting her fist back and swung it to the floor, surprisingly making a hole through the floor thanks to the strength she exhibited.
Minna winced at it. "Wait… this isn't cement, is it?"
"It is." Honoka said before her metalized gloves turned back into cloth and opened her hands again. "I call these gloves 'Extensions' since they give me more things to do with them. In my case, my Cosmic Ton Gloves give me extra strength in attacks and any physical action. It's the same with Rin's Cosmic Pistols, although they're not hers. They belong to another teammate."
"That's enlightening."
"You said you were able to sense magic from us. How? Do you have?" Honoka was answered when Minna closed her eyes and focused for some reason, before giving out a blue hue of color around her body like a glow before animal ears came out. The ears were referenced to a wolf's ears. Honoka was also seeing a tail at Minna's behind. "Whoa…"
"In case you're wondering, my other features come from my familiar. As long as I'm a witch, I have a contract with a certain animal familiar."
"A witch?"
"That's what I am, Honoka, and so is Barkhorn and my other group members who made it here. But what are you?"
Honoka looked at Rin before they nodded at each other. Both of them looked at Minna with pride in their system. "We're Cosmos Sailors, assigned to protect life and it's own way in the universes we come to."
Minna smiled at this. "At least you both have something to protect then."
"You bet!" Rin said this excitingly, seeming to trust Minna. "Oh, my name's Rin. So you're Minna, right?"
"Mm-hmm. I know both your names. And recently, Honoka met my subordinate, Captain Gertrude Barkhorn. She's the one who tied you up, and I apologize for that."
"But who knocked me out?"
"I did. And that, I'll be more sorry of." Minna frowned at this, thinking Rin might get upset.
"Know what? Let's just skip the upsetting stuff. I'm fine with it anyway." Rin crossed her arms. "Now can I get my pistols back?" Honoka then responded by walking to the Cosmic Pistols and picking them up, and later giving it to Rin. "Thanks, Honkey."
"They're not yours, and it's a good thing you got them back with you." Honoka reminded Rin of that before the redhead let the pistols glow and disappeared from her hands. "Look… I'm sure with the others looking for us, they might think our new friends are bad." Minna was wide-eyed, while listening to her earpiece. Honoka saw this and knew something was wrong. "Minna-san? What's wrong?"
"We might be too late to stopping whatever you friends may have to say about us. They just found our other safehouse and captured my other teammates."
"They what?! We gotta get over there!" Honoka said it and the other two nodded before they ran out the room.
The other safehouse was the same as the one Minna, Honoka and Rin was in, but only larger. The 501st was lucky to find something like this, but even they didn't have an idea they would be ambushed. Mio and Yoshika were cornered along with Shirley, Francesca, Eila, Sanya and Barkhorn. For some reason, Erica, Lynette and Perrine were on their knees with their hands up while their other teammates had guns pointed at the mysterious girl group dressed in battle dresses.
The Cosmos Sailors were all winged and alert as the blonde-haired Eli approached the armed magical girls in front of them. "Where are our two teammates?!"
"Why should we tell you?!" Barkhorn said this aggressively.
"Barkhorn-san, stop." Yoshika advised Gertrude, but the Karlslander didn't listen.
"And who are you girls supposed to be?!" Barkhorn asked, making a hostile tone with who seemed to be the leader of the other girl group.
"We're not going to be hostile as long as you help us out here. Where… are… our other two teammates?!"
Barkhorn remained silent. 'I'm not telling them anything.'
Nozomi decided to speak out, holding an Ace card and glowing purple on her body thanks to her magical energy as a Mystic in the group. "This will be easier if we walk away unharmed with our two friends. We won't disturb you."
Eila then spoke to the defending captain. "Captain Barkhorn, maybe we should tell them already?"
"I'm not telling them anything." Trude replied.
Eli could tell their European languages and can understand them, so she understood Barkhorn. "Don't take us like we don't trust you."
"And I won't start trusting you either." Barkhorn replied this, still not backing down.
"TRUDY!" Erica just seemed to think Gertrude Is taking this too far. "JUST TELL THEM ALREADY!"
"Uhhn…" Sakamoto wasn't feeling well ever since the raid from the other girl group started and she was feeling it in her torso. Her arm was covering her torso for some reason, and she won't allow herself to be the cause of the loss of vigilance of the 501st. But her pain won over her. She groaned loudly before she got on her knees, forcing her to move her hand, now showing her torso is bleeding.
"SAKAMOTO-SAN!" Yoshika then saw Mio drop her weapon and collapse on the floor.
Nozomi saw this and winced. "Wait… she was bleeding the whole time?!"
Yoshika didn't mind the question as her animal familiar features came out and started to exhibit magic while putting her hands out at the bleeding major's torso. A blue glow brightened and was focused on her hands, now nearing the wound Mio has. "I'm just trying to… Why the heck isn't this working?!"
Umi saw this predicament herself. "Is she a healer?"
Barkhorn saw this as a big problem and clenched her fist, thinking of something more important: Saving a life than not trusting what can't be trusted. "Save her." She muttered, and somehow, the blonde leader was able to hear it.
"What?" Eli asked, not quite getting Barkhorn's words.
"If you want to get our trust, then save her. We can't keep Yoshika healing the major without finding out why she's not getting any better."
Nozomi decided to ask. "What exactly is wrong?"
"Major Sakamoto has been shot up by a purple beam, but I couldn't understand it. None of us could. Then when Yoshika started to heal the major, the effect of it only lasts temporarily. The major's not getting any better and Yoshika's getting tired here. We don't know why. And now I'm begging… SAVE HER!"
"HEY!" Eli shouted out once, and got the attention of a now panicking leader in the other group. "I told you… You can trust us, Barkhorn, if that's your name. Leave It to Nozomi. Let us help."
Barkhorn was battling her conscience. She knows that kinds of enemies back in her world, and she could only see sincerity of the leader of the other group. With no other choice than saving a life, she admits defeat and softly nods. "Do what you can."
"Nozomi!" Eli quickly calls out the Mystic in the group and Nozomi immediately walks to the healer of the other group, gets behind her and kneels.
"Yoshika, right?" Nozomi gets the attention of the sailor-suited girl. "Let me help you. I'll pass another kind of power to you. That'll change your healing for a bit." With Yoshika nodding at Nozomi's plan, she closes her eyes, then opening them again with a natural purple glow before putting her hands out and slowly holding to Yoshika's shoulders. "Help this girl lessen the victim's suffering. Give her a fighting chance. Give this healer the power." As she says this, Yoshika later got the purple glow on her as she focused on healing Sakamoto.
Yoshika even felt the difference of magic entering her. 'Wow… Whatever this is, it's helping Sakamoto-san… Her wound… it's completely sealing up!' She thought of this, sensing Mio's wounds finally closing up.
Honoka, Minna and Rin got there on time and Kotori was surprised of seeing Honoka. "Honoka-chan!" Kotori then hugged Honoka for seeing her.
"Where were you this whole time?!" Umi asked furiously.
"Umi-chan, I'm sorry. I got held up by mistake." Honoka replied, while she saw Umi glare at her guest.
"Who the hell are you…?!" Umi tried to approach Minna, but Rin stopped her. "Let go of me! She hurt Honoka…"
"It's okay." Honoka glares at Umi. "We can trust her."
"Trust her?! They kidnapped you and Rin!"
"Take my word for it, Umi. Please."
"Umi-chan, let it go." Kotori advised Umi. "You trust Honoka with your life, right?"
Umi was getting into her senses and slowly calmed down, now stepping back. "I don't know what's going on, but we'll be finishing up here, and soon."
"I don't think it's that simple, Umi." Honoka said this, with all of them now looking at Yoshika and Nozomi healing a collapsed girl on the floor. "They're not from around here."
"I can attest to that!" Rin said out of the blue. "Minna's a friendly person!"
"Tch." Umi snickered before hearing a loud groan of pain come from the wounded girl.
Mio screamed before a dark glow briefly showed itself on her body. Nozomi took notice of this before seeing black smoke come out of the major's mouth. With the smoke slowly leaving, Nozomi freed a hand and glared at the smoke. "So you're the culprit." She put two fingers together before a card appeared on her hand. She threw the card, then hitting the black smoke as the card hits the wall, for some reason trapping the black smoke. All of them saw it, and it looked like it was a form of a spirit. After Yoshika had done whatever she can and collapsed on top of Sakamoto, Nozomi kept her glare and stood up, looking at the sinister black spirit pinned on the wall. "Be gone, Shadow. Your stay has just been interrupted." She manipulated the card as it glowed brighter purple, then red, before it blew up in a small explosion along with the black spirit, now turned white before it faded from existence… "It's done."
All the witches were stunned to see a girl do that. And the one who's most surprised is Barkhorn, now wide-eyed and somehow feeling regretful. She looked down at this, trying to not show this feeling to them. "What have I done?" She muttered.
"You haven't done anything." Minna's voice got the others' attention.
"Commander!" Shirley, Francesca, Erica, Lynette, Perrine, Eila, and Sanya together exclaimed when they saw the wing commander finally in their midst.
Minna then got near Barkhorn and looked at her. "Gertrude, I think it's better I tell you to calm down. There's no need for hostility like this."
"But Minna…"
"I think their actions already prove whose side they're on." Minna smiled at Barkhorn before putting a hand on the captain's shoulder. "We'll be fine."
"Will we?" Barkhorn asked in a mutter, still with her face down. She then heard the major groan and turned her head to an unconscious major now stirring awake. "Major!"
Sakamoto then finally opened her eyes, feeling the blur of her vision then clearing up, seeing her own group together with the other. She saw Barkhorn kneeling next to her. "Barkhorn, what happened? Am I… okay?"
Barkhorn felt like she didn't want to just answer something… impossible. Yoshika's attempts to heal Mio were just not good. Something this different would seem unbelievable. "I don't know," is what she simply answered. Then she turned her head to Nozomi. "Is she?"
Nozomi nodded in response. "I think that Shadow, being removed from your major's body just answers the question. The whole time, a shadow was inside her. I purged the Shadow so it would leave her. I think she's feeling more than better now. Ufufu…" Nozomi giggled. And for that, the other girls lowered their weapons, without Barkhorn's word for it. It was final: The other group is friendly. They had no doubt of it now.
Erica finally put her hands beside her and it was the same with Lynette and Perrine. "Finally. Trudy could have just said you guys were good."
"Tell me about it." Perrine said. "Hmph. For once, Hartmann is right."
"Oh, come on! Not you too, Clostermann!"
Lynette gladly stood up before Erica and Perrine did. "I'm glad the major's okay!"
Shirley sighed. "We got a lot of explaining to do."
"Are we in trouble or something?" Francesca asked, now looking at the blonde leader of the other girl.
Eli glanced at Honoka and received a smile and a nod. "I don't think so either. Everyone, stand down." Eli's order then got the other Cosmos Sailors let their wings retract and fade.
And with no doubt, Hanayo ran to Rin and hugged her. "RIN-CHAN! I'm so glad you're okay!"
"Hey, hey! Can't… breathe! Kayo…chin!" Rin was trying to get loose from Hanayo's suddenly strengthened hug. Eventually she was let go and laughed. "Nice to see you too."
"We'll have to figure things out while we're here." Minna said, getting everyone's attention again. "How we got here is not a mystery, and I'll be glad that everyone helps."
"Minna-san." Honoka called Minna while walking beside her. "You don't know how much I'm willing to help you."
"Thank you, Honoka. Everyone, I think it's best we introduce ourselves." Minna made this an order, and each of the 501st witches then told their names, and a little something about themselves. Eventually, the Cosmos Sailors also introduced themselves, revealing they were the resurrected members of a school idol group in Japan, chosen to protect lives and its various ways in their multi-verse from Shadows. It took 15 minutes for all of them to finally know each other well…
20 minutes later…
The conversation then goes to how the Strike Witches arrived in the first place. The best explanation, as what Erica and Gertrude thought of, is a portal.
Hanayo then asked. "I gotta ask… What kind of portal is it, exactly?"
"That's what we don't know." Gertrude replied. "Erica and I saw it first before the rest, and we saw Neuroi enter it without slowing down. You see, we were tracking different movements from Neuroi recently. Newer and various types of Neuroi appeared in 1946. Then when we saw that portal, it explains why. They're getting more powerful in other places. And who knows? Maybe they're taking lives while doing so. When we followed squads of Neuroi flyers into this world, we figured they had a purpose here."
"Hmm…" Hanayo then closed her eyes before a magical headset appears from magic sprinkles on her head. Her Cosmic Headset was also accompanied with a wrist-gadget that appeared with it. A small holographic radar showed there as she was looking at it. "Alright… You appeared in this world directly, right?" She was given a nod from Trude in response and Hanayo pointed a spot in the holo radar before images zoomed in. As what she predicts, it was a surprise to her. "Damn… It's one of those random-wormholes."
"Random wormholes?" Erica wondered.
"Sorry… They're actually called Inter-Vortex wormholes. They transport you from one place to another, and it's unpredictable. My guess for why you were led here, is that those aliens you were finding were finding different pockets of portals to get more power. And you said you were fighting different types in 1946?"
"Yup." Shirley replied. "We saw red Arions, purple ones, heck… We even saw green ones. It was getting confusing."
"Then we may have a problem." Nozomi said this, analyzing the problem. "If they're here, they'll take chances to grab any kind of power source. And since they temporarily got hold of Shadow energy, it'll be catastrophic if we let them go now."
Eli groaned at this, seeing they have a bigger problem. "Melusine might be able to analyze what a Neuroi is. She always gets images of different worlds and she does her best to analyze every species there is. There's got to be something called a Neuroi in her vocabulary for once. Oh… I wish Sayuri was around to help us."
"We gotta try doing this on our own, Eli-san." Honoka said in response to Eli's opinion. "She trusts us well enough to get something done. And if looking for power-sucking aliens is one of them, we're going to do so. They'll do damage and endanger this Earth and universe. We can't let that happen."
"You're right." Eli then glanced from Honoka, to Minna. "Minna, you need to tell us everything you know about the Neuroi as much as you can."
"There's plenty to tell." Minna answered, now glancing at the different members of the 501st. "Everyone has a lot to tell about the Neuroi. They plagued our Earth for centuries, and it's only just recently they were getting more resistant. And now that even us have the tools to defend ourselves, we only find them adapting more and more to what we do. It's tiring. It's something to wear us out." Minna then stopped as she looked at Yoshika. "One witch got us to realize that every situation we got through reminded us we needed to band together, despite the differences we once had. Whether we'd break into emotion or not, she got us not only together, but we saw a miracle together. We have what it takes to defend everyone. And that's what we're willing to do if anybody would oppress us. That's something we have in common." She then glanced at Eli. "What I know of the Neuroi is that they're getting desperate. Ever since they lost the Super Hive in Romagnan territory, they started to use different kinds of types they could get, even getting some from the future."
"Whoa…" Honoka took this as something interesting. "They messed with time?"
"A lot of times, even non-Neuroi adversaries did it with them, just to make sure we're out of the way. But no… We were able to represent witches around the world like other Joint Fighter Wings. That's what got all of us fighting, no matter what opponent we face."
"You got a big fight ahead of you if they're still around…" Honoka then glanced towards Eli. "How long have we been doing this?"
"A lot of years, Kousaka." Eli smiled. "And we're getting progress this time, unlike those years when they were more dominant."
"It's always something good for now, but we never know when something like a roadblock could stop us. Shadows are adapting too. At least it's something Neuroi and Shadows have in common." Honoka then glanced towards Yoshika. "Miyafuji, right?" And Honoka saw Yoshika nod in response. "You remind me of the spark I once saw before I formed the group μ's when I was still in my middle school years. It first started with three, and we had a task: Save our school from closing. You know what I saw from you when I was seeing you explain things? I saw you were making a strong conviction. Knowing your father passed away is sad, but you didn't stop there. You made sure nothing was going to stop you, and so did I."
Yoshika appreciated the remarks from Honoka. "I think we'll be great friends, Honoka-chan."
"Me too, Yoshika. Me too. You drive the team forward, and I'm doing the same, this time as a leader."
Eila sighed at this, know they were getting along well. "Now all we need to do is get moving with what we know now. If you 'Sailors' will find us a way to get us home, we'd like that."
"Eila…" Sanya was surprised of Eila's sudden idea. "Don't you want to help them?"
"I do, but…"
"Tch." Sanya snickered, turning away from Eila in irritation. "I love you as much as I have before, and I suddenly find you discouraged."
"I'm not discouraged, Sanya. Don't you think we should get back anyway?"
"You don't understand, do you?" Sanya then turned back to Eila and shot a glare. "Those Neuroi are still here. Whether they're our responsibility in the first place or not, we still need to stop them from doing any damage here."
"Eh…? They're here, and we can't find them when there's a whole world we could go to."
"And we could do whatever we can understanding this world ourselves. Can't you at least try to do something right? I know you did, once you helped me defeat that Neuroi so up high."
"Wait… You…" Eila was not only surprised. She's actually starting to blush and turned her head away from Sanya. "You, remember that?"
"That's the first time I started loving you, Eila." Sanya gently touched Eila's chin and turned the Suomus witch's head before leaning, doing something the others would be surprised of: They kissed in front of everyone.
"Ehh?!" Shirley was the only one who made a sound of this and blushed herself. 'Oh, crap! I shouldn't have those thoughts!'
Minna then cleared her throat and Eila and Sanya gently pulled away from the kiss. The two of them were attentive to the wing commander now. "We should put that in an appropriate time, you too. We're glad we finally saw you kiss. Well done."
Eila seemed to be proud and smirked. "You wanna see us do it again, don't you?"
Minna winced and looked away, showing a little blush. "That's beside the point."
"Why not?" Sakamoto said out of the blue, and Minna blushed more. "I remember what happened in that cave in Romagna, even when I was drunk. Don't tell me your true feminine side was gone after that."
"M-m-major?!" Minna's panicked voice got everyone to laugh. "This is NOT the appropriate time!" And everyone laughed further before magic sprinkles appeared in the middle of everyone. Soon, magic energy started to gather up at one point.
The Cosmos Sailors got out of the way knowing what this meant: Melusine is being transported to that spot. And as predicted, a human-shaped glow was made before the 5 foot tall blue-haired girl they know finally appeared. The girl appeared to have transparent wings on her back, and she has beret worn on her head. She looked around, seeing she was in a house, now with both the Cosmos Sailors, and other girls. "Oh. Was I interrupting something? Wait… What are you guys doing here?! I have been trying to contact you! Do you know how worried I was? At first you wanted radar searches for a random type of energy signatures. All of a sudden, you guys just got cut off, talking to these girls…" Melusine suddenly stopped, looking at the witches of the 501st. "Wait a minute… you're all…" Then she glanced back to the Cosmos Sailors, towards Honoka. "Honoka… Please explain… Why are the Strike Witches here?"
That made them all gasp and jaw-drop in surprise. "YOU KNOW THEM?!" Every CS member said in shock.
"YOU KNOW US?!" The witches of the 501st were shocked to hear it themselves.
Melusine looked at both sides. "Okay… Am I missing something here? Guys… These are legendary Strike Witches of Multi-Verse Spokoystviye! Wait… They're the ones you were looking for?"
Minna decided to intervene with a reply. "We needed their help."
"On what, exactly?"
"Do you know of an alien species called the 'Neuroi?' We needed to know if you have knowledge of them." Minna's question certainly surprised Melusine. The Cosmic Fairy knew so much about different species.
Then Melusine remembered such. "We only have resources for Inner Multi-Verse travel, but we have the means to watch different kinds of shows, with different lives shown, whether it be on a completely different dimension or just another universe. When I was studying a little about the Neuroi, I knew they were going to be a problem around Multi-Verse Ambrogio. I'm sorry… You're commander Dietlinde-Wilcke, right? Why are you asking about the Neuroi now?"
"Because we might believe the Neuroi have stepped into your own backyard. We won against them when we took out a majority of their forces…"
"…but they adapt." Melusine finished the sentence. "I suppose you have also seen them fight differently. Am I right?"
"Wait, wait… How do you know?"
"There are some parts of the universes around our Multi-Verse that we can watch lives like a television show. I know this since I've gone beyond life itself and its daily bullshit."
"I see." Minna seemed to find this new. 'Like a television show? Okay…'
"Anyway to continue… They fight differently because they also suck power from other sources. They have cores. Alright, it's best I explain this back in HQ. You need to get a full grasp of not only us, or this Multi-Verse in whole… but what you're really facing… A nightmare. Neuroi are rare here as far as I know, but if they get here, while Shadows still exist, they could be a bigger problem even than the Shadows themselves." Melusine's advise was met when Minna nodded. "Then you won't mind if you're transported out of here? The way I appeared before you guys is a teleportation."
"We've seen plenty of it. Go ahead. It's best we get ready anyway."
"Great." Melusine was glad the Strike Witches understand the weight of this. She then glanced at the Cosmos Sailors. "Once we're in HQ, show them around. I want them to relax first. It's best they get some rest. From a world full of war, they need time to think well before they face unimaginable foes here. And it starts with this Earth. Hold hands! We're outta here." And with her words, all girls from the CS and SW held hands. "Transporting in 3… 2… 1…" She closed her eyes before she glowed bright in the center before the rest. Soon, they flashed bright before disappearing from the same places they once stood on.
Finding more about the Neuroi is the next step of the Strike Witches in that Multi-Verse. That's just the beginning of their adventures with the Cosmos Sailors…