Mayday.

It was the next day after that incident, and we were already on our way to the Strike Witch Base in Britannia. It was me, Miyafuji, Sakamoto, Lynette, Eila, Lucchini, Barkhorn and Charlotte. The rest were flying outside of the plane in their Striker Units defending the plane with not only normal Strike Witches, but a highly valuable kid that is suspected to be tracked by the Neuroi, because after what happened last time, its plausible. I stare down at the metal floor of the Junker 88, sometimes looking up the women in the plane as well as they talked. This is the first time I actually felt lonely after meeting them.

I guess being in a group where majority is females and you are the only male does have its flaws in this situation. Eventually getting bored, I look out the window in the Ju 88, seeing the body of ocean that separates Britannia from Europe. This is the first time I have seen the Channel, and it looks nice. I hear Sakamoto calling in the rest of the JFW since they should be safe. That is until I hear a Neuroi beam hitting metal, and it didn't sound pretty. The plane shook heavily, making me nearly fall out of my seat.

I look back up to see the Strike Witches were also surprised and shocked from the sudden turn of events, even though we should be in a safe area. I guess this really is a liability for me, the Neuroi knowing where I am 24/7… I look out the window to see the Neuroi right next to the Junker, looking like yet another Stealth. I look at Sakamoto and the others, running down to the bomb bay, guessing that is where their Units are, makes sense as well.

Sakamoto runs over to me, handing me a small device. "Put it in your ear, keep in touch with us. Since you can hear what they say, relay it to us for any added info."

I nod, putting the device into my ear, the remaining Witches go to the Bay. First time to see real Strike Witches in combat, time to see what happens. I keep looking out the window, seeing the Neuroi pulling off from the Junker as the Witches engaged. Gunfire and miasma flew everywhere; it sort of looked like a lightshow. As I kept watching, Miyafuji appears at my window, smiling widely as she waved. I wave back as she flew away back into battle. So… after a while, I'll be able to fly with my own Unit… That'll be until I am able to take off. I thought to myself, still watching. Then the same sickness hits me again, soon arriving, that dark, deep voice.

"Lilitch, pull off now and get out of there, the Cannon will be firing soon from the ground."

"Roger."

Then the Neuroi pulls off, the Witches giving chase. I then realise the mistake. I quickly look down at the ground to see a black spot. It was quite small, but it seemed to have 4 legs and it was moving very, very quickly. I then see it aiming towards the Junker, I knew even If I call it in, it'll be too late… Might as well try.

"Sakamoto! Stop chasing the Neuroi! There is a bigger threat!" I waited for a response, which was almost instantaneous.

"What? Where is the bigger threat?"

"It's below the Junker!"

"I don't see it!"

"It's right below i-." I was cut off, but the sound of a Neuroi beam hitting metal, then there was an explosion which sent me flying across the plane and into the metal wall there, banging my head heavily. However, I was conscious as my head hurt like hell. I could hear the pilot yelling from the cockpit.

"We're going down! This is Aero 97! We are going down!"

I then suddenly felt the gravity being loosened. We are going down.

And I am not going to like it when we hit Earth. I hear the engines going faster due to the force of the air, I look out a window to see that one engine is on fire, the other is dead, but the propellers kept spinning. I then look to see the ground approaching fast.

"Brace for impact!"

And those were the last words I have heard before I black out.

I wake up, pain enveloping me like a small fish being eaten by a larger one… At first, my vision was black, but then it came with colour, seeing my arm was fine, but when I looked my other arm, there was a thin, but long metal pole sticking into it, also pinned into the hard dirt, I try to pull it out, but it sent excruciating pain down my arm and spine.

"Shit…" I look around, seeing the wreckage around me, seeing the pilot was... I try to keep it inside of my stomach and nowhere else. I see the Strike Witches starting to land near the wreckage, calling for my name. Lynette spots me and calls the others over as they try to contemplate what was happening to me, I couldn't see, but there was a large shard of metal in my spine, which sent pain down it as I try to squirm in the spot.

I hear them argue on what should they do, but I knew that they had only one thing to do.

"P-Pull it out…"

I see them stare at me wide eyed.

"Just do it… it hurts e-enough…"

"Are you sure about this?" It was Charlotte's voice I heard.

"This hasn't been the best week for me… I have… little patience for this…"

"Your choice…"

I felt hands grabbing the twisted metal, sending a jolt of pain in my back, I kept quiet as they adjusted.

"Alright, here goes."

I then felt the metal being pulled out of me, I grunt from the pain. I then feel the metal ripped out of me, I pant heavily as the pain only dulled. Miyafuji immediately tries to heal me, that is when I felt the ground shake slightly. It was barely noticeable, but it was there, and it only got harder as time went on. The Witches had noticed it too.

"Do you guys feel that?" Barkhorn's voice.

"It feels like it is coming from all round." Hartmann's.

"We need to go!" Charlotte's.

"We can't leave him!" Miyafuji's.

"We gotta go as so-" Charlotte was cut off as a miasma beam hits nearby, spooking the Witches. I look up as a Neuroi Witch walks up, behind her were those 4 Legged Neuroi, on top of it looked like a 128mm Cannon, that is, if it shot shells and not beams. It looked down straight at us. I hear the Neuroi Witch speak in my head, making my headache only worse.

"Tell them that if they do not let us pick you up, they will die horrifically."

I say words which I had hoped I have to never say.

"Everyone, go. They'll kill you all if they don't take me…"

"But we can't leave you! There has to be a way for you to get out alive." Miyafuji's voice.

The Neuroi, having little time for this, would fire near the Witches again, making them back up. The Neuroi Witch would walk over to me.

"Rip the metal pole out of the ground, and you'll not have a good day…"

"You are barely conscious; you can't fight back."

"Then do it, pull it out."

The Neuroi pulls the Metal pole out of the ground and my arm, and that is when I begin. When I felt the pole leaving my arm, I swing my intact arm, hitting the Neuroi heavily, my fist going straight through the metal and out the other side. The Neuroi falls over, dead. The Neuroi with the 128 gun aim at me, the beam getting ready to fire. Then it shifted its aim at the Witches, which were still clumped together. Seeing the shift, I sprint as quick as I could, I see the Beam leaving the Barrel. I gotta make it. I managed to get in front of the Witches, opening my shield just as the beam hits it. I nearly fall over due to the force of the beam, it was way tougher than the Stealth Neuroi from before.

"Everyone! Get to your Units! I'll keep it busy!" I look over to see the same Metal pole near me. If I can throw rocks nearly as quick as a bullet, guess it applies to everything else. I pick it up, waiting for the beam to finish. I see it stops for a second, that is when I put my shield down and hurl the pole like a javelin. And just like the rocks, it increased in speed significantly. It hits the turret ring, knocking the turret off as a loud screech could be heard. This was the time for the Witches to get into the air now. I pick up another pole and throw it at the Neuroi, going through the armor. I see the core for it, I throw another pole, hitting the Core, destroying it. There has to be more than this… and there was the Stealth Neuroi. I hear their engines starting up, might as well hitch a ride.

I manage to reach them in time, Charlotte and Lucchini calling me over.

"Ready for a ride?" Lucchini grins.

"If it is a ride out of here, I'm in." I smile, taking their hands. Soon, we were off. I don't have a fear of heights, but when there is no stable floor below me, it is a bit nerve racking… Goosebumps covered my body as I look down.

"Someone scared?" Charlotte seems like she is ready to tease me.

"It's just that we are slowly gaining altitude and if something goes wrong, I'll be lying face first on the ground after going… maybe 500, 800km/h."

"Get ready for a fright then." And it was at this moment, I should've been picked up by someone that is a little bit more… reliable. I felt the grip around my hands being released immediately, then I started to fall. I let out a small yelp from the sudden turn of events, the two following me down.

"A-Alright, you have had your fun. Now please don't let me hit the ground."

The two laughed at each other, then finally grabbing me again. A sigh of relief escaped before I could stop it.

"Now you two, don't scare the daylights out of our newest member." Barkhorn ordered them.

The two rolls their eyes, now making our way across the channel. It was nice up higher, and now that I have a full 360 degrees of view, it was better. But I notice something that not even Sanya noticed, even though she was running fully of her power.

"Charlotte, mind if I borrow your M1911?"

"How come?"

"Just do it."

With a sigh, she grabs her M1911 and hands it to me, she lets go, making Lucchini's job a little bit harder. I then aim at a certain cloud; the day was clear except for that one small bit of cloud. For some reason… I know how to hold the pistol, even though I have never held any type of weapon in my life. With an exhale, I fire. There was the exact same screech that the Neuroi make whenever damaged. I fire once again, and the Neuroi bursts out of the cloud, dissipating into the small particles when killed. I hand Charlotte's M1911 back to her, then she grabs my other hand when she puts her pistol away. "Never knew you could shoot a Neuroi that far with this pistol, it should've fully stopped before even getting halfway to the cloud."

"Seems like whatever I do, whether it is shot or thrown, it gains the exact same speed boost."

"You are useful."

"Am I not?"

"I guess so."

"I have a feeling that this will be a weird year for me…"

"I won't be surprised if you try to charm any of the others."

"You challenging me?"

"Maybe…"

"I'll lose the bet anyways."

"I don't know… you might win… but who knows?"

"Only I do, and I believe I won't even woo one of you Witches."

"It's possible, you are a lot different than the boys at your school. Haven't seen your eyes drift off anywhere at all."

"I have been known to be 'different' at my school, and not being a pervert is one of them. Anyways Sakamoto said that I'll never see the end of the day if something does happen."

"I guess you have a point."

"A very valid one at that."

The conversation ends just as we crossed to Britannia. Something felt off.

"Sakamoto, something feels… off."

"What do you mean?"

"It seems way too quiet… shouldn't there be Strike Witches or planes flying past us due to the contact near the Channel?"

"True… I'll try to contact the nearby Strike Witch."

And with that, Sakamoto tries to contact the nearby Strike Witch base which was meant to be operational. But when she tried to reach them, all she heard was static. This is not a good sign.

"Britannia secured, proceed to move onto target." The voice pierces into my skull, now we need to run.

"Sakamoto! I intercepted Neuroi communication! They have captured Britannia right under our noses! We need to go!"

"What are you saying? There is no way they could be able to do that without raising our suspicion."

"Think Mio! If we had contact near the Channel, surely there would be RAF or Witches going past us, but I can't see any, and with that Neuroi that was tailing us should've pulled off before it went over the Channel, but it didn't. Think about it."

There was a silence in the ear piece, she was obviously thinking about it.

"Everyone, fall back to Karlsland." Sakamoto's voice had not only order, but concern as well. A whole country, went radio silent. Who knows what may have happened.

"Target is pulling away from Britannia; they have realised."

"Get Agnis and Felar in to intercept them, capturing the Witches is a good bonus as well." Panic and fear is starting to get a grip on me.

"S-Sakamoto! We have 2 Neuroi that will close onto our positions soon!"

"Roger. Everyone! Defensive positions, they must not reach Charlotte, Lucchini and Arnis!"

They all responded, slowly falling into a Diamond Formation, with me, Charlotte and Lucchini in the middle. I don't know why… but it feels like a target. As we were flying our way back across the Channel, I could sense the Neuroi, but looking over at Sanya, she didn't seem to sense them. Am I even human? They question was to be found out at some point.

"They are coming! Above, about 2000 meters above, going at 500k/h and increasing fast!"

"Lynette, Miyafuji, engage, everyone! Keep the formation tight! We need to make it back to Karlsland!"

"This is Mio Sakamoto of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing! Britannia is lost and we need immediate help! I repeat, this is Mio Sakamoto of the 501st Joint Fighter Wing! Britannia is lost and we need immediate help!" Sakamoto tries on all channels for someone's reply, but this far away from any area, it's no use. We gotta survive till we reach Karlsland.

I kept my head on full alert, looking at the ground mostly. I know 2 Neuroi are on their way to us, but there could be more that I can't hear, so being alert is the safest play here. I was about to look away before I spot something on the ground, rushing through the forest below. It was the same four legged one, it has to be the 2nd Neuroi. I was about to call it in but before I could, the same Neuroi voice is heard.

"All units, converge onto the target, overwhelm and capture, kill human Witches If they resist capture."

"Roger."

"Roger."

"Roger."

One after another, I can hear roger over and over again; it seems never ending. I try to count them one by one, I reach around 20-25 replies. Guess this is an All or Nothing attempt. I then sense more and more coming, and when I look over to Sanya, she picks up nothing.

"Sanya, look north, then aim about 25 degrees up. Fire."

Sanya looks over to me, then nods. I see her aim the 9 round rocket launcher to where I said she should fire. I hear the sound of a rocket leaving the chamber, seeing a long pillar of smoke heading directly for the area. The rocket explodes, at first, there was nothing, then I could just barely see Neuroi particles scatter from the smoke that was created from the explosions.

"How did you know they were there?" Sanya's calm voice comes from the ear piece.

"I don't know; I just somehow knew they were there…"

"Sort of like a tracker?"

"I think so… Sanya, south, down at the ground, near the abandoned house, a Neuroi is about to fire at us."

Once again, a missile was fired, hitting the spot dead on. And again, the same particles were seen.

"This is Xepher, Target is being defended well, we cannot reach the target."

"Roger, standby in 3, 2, 1, now." Just when the Neuroi said now, my head started to hurt like hell, my head throbbing more and more, only getting worse as time goes on, I grunt in pain. Sanya did the same, seems like that they are trying to stop our ways of hitting them before they can hit us. Then I feel air rushing quickly, way quicker than we were going before.

I open my eyes which were closed when the headache started, to see that I was falling out of the sky. I also see that all the Strike Witches were hit by the same thing that me and Sanya were hit by. When the Witches recovered, they realised I was falling, Charlotte tries to come in quick to retrieve me. But at the altitude we were at, there is a little chance that she will get to me in time. I look down at the ground, it was approaching fast. Too fast. I reach out at Charlotte out of instinct, then closing my eyes, waiting for the inevitable pain. I felt a soft, but tight embrace, then finally making contact with the hard dirt. The impact was also delivered to my head, knocking me out.

I wake up a minute later, my vision blurry, probably damaged the back of the brain responsible for vision in a way. Eventually, it cleared, seeing that something was laying on top of me. I look down, to realise that the thing laying on me, was Charlotte. Judging from what I could see infront of me, she was knocked out like I was. I look up to see that the Witches were flying above, fighting off what looked like a horde of Neuroi, they just came and came. I look back down at Charlotte, who slowly woke up. At first, she was looking around, like she has woken up from a deep sleep, then finally realizing what is happening, her face went immediately red. She gets up immediately, completely embarrassed. I quickly look at her Unit; it was completely destroyed. She isn't going to be taking off anytime soon with it, and if she was reading my thought exactly, she hops out of the unit, equipping herself with her M2 Browning that was strapped to her back, handing me the M1911.

"Might as well make sure you are able to defend yourself."

"At least you care about me." I pull back the cocking slide.

"Seems like you know a lot about weaponry."

"My dad showed me a lot of things when I was younger."

"At least you ain't useless."

"Do I look useless?"

"Maybe, come on, we need to get out of here." She starts running away from the fight happening above, I follow.

"Shouldn't we tell Sakamoto that we are leaving the area?"

"We'll do that later, now, we need to leave the area and get to a safe place."

I nod once again, checking out many rounds are in the magazine before sliding it back into place.

As we ran, I casually look back at times to see the Neuroi slowly shifting their way to me and Charlotte.

"They're moving this way." I warn Charlotte, looking back as I see a miasma beam being shot, hitting a tree nearby, for some reason, setting it on fire.

"Keep moving! We need to make sure we are safe!"

I see a Neuroi making its way over to us, it was a Drone Class. I aim at the Drone, then firing, the same boost applying the shot as a very large chunk of the Drone was broken, seeing a small core. I fire again, the core exploding and the drone shattering into the particles we all love.

"Guess it is too late to play hide n' seek."

"Guess so." Charlotte would sometimes turn around and destroy any Neuroi that would be coming towards us.

"Sakamoto, do you read?"

"Go ahead Arnis."

"If you haven't noticed, Charlotte's Unit has been wrecked in the crash landing and we are moving on foot out of the area."

"Roger, head North, there is a Karlsland Tank battalion near here, just North of us, if we can reach them, we'll have a better chance at living."

"Roger." I end the conversation there. "Charlotte, head north."

"I heard, let's get moving." And with that, we headed north to possible safety.

It was around 2 minutes into the run for our lives is when I realised a mistake. We are nowhere close to the Karlsland border; why would they have a Tank Battalion here?

"Hold on Charlotte!"

"What is it?"

"Why would Karlsland have a Tank Battalion here if we are really far from the country itself? Think about it, in the time between the last war and this one, the Neuroi could've advanced to use illusions, make us believe things that aren't true." There may be some flaws to what I just said, but it is a possibly, we are facing a highly advanced enemy, it is no surprise if they found a way to make us believe things.

"Hmmm… What you said might be true, but right now, we are being swarmed by Neuroi, it's All or Nothing."

"Alright then."

It was 10 minutes later where we reached an open field which was meant to be the place where the Panzers were waiting for us, but I see nothing.

"Get back to the tree line." I pull Charlotte by the arm back to the tree line of the forest.

"How come?"

"Don't tell me you can't see the obvious trap that has been set here."

"How can you tell?"

"Empty field, no tanks, forest completely surrounding this field, and nowhere near Karlsland borders."

"Come on, might as well check it out."

"Fine then…"

We both walk out into the open field, the Witches landing in the field near us.

"Glad to see you two alright." Sakamoto was the first to speak.

"My head still hurts like hell though." That was the only response I could think of.

"Probably it is because you may have a wound on the back of your head."

"W-What?"

I see Miyafuji walk up behind me, inspecting, I felt my hair being pulled away, it felt both wet and sticky. I felt that same painkiller relief.

"Thanks for that."

"Your welcome."

"Again, I feel like this is a trap…"

"Well, I think we got ahead of them."

"Yeah…"

A few minutes passed by.

"Alright, I am going to go look around."

"Alright, don't wander too far."

I nod, but before I could take a step, I heard something whizzing in the air, then I felt pain in my left hand, then my right. I look to see metal tips poking through them, with Wire attached to it, then it deploys to that a Triangle could be formed, I try to push it out but the metal jutting out prevents that. Then I was immediately pulled to the floor, any attempt to stand up was useless. The Witches moved in to help, but something stops them. I look to see Neuroi creating a circle around me, and again, before they could react, Neuroi Witches would get up behind them and restrain them, preventing any type of escape. The circle of Neuroi around me move away, seeing the Witches restrained.

"Let go of us! You only wanted me."

"Acting heroic are we?" A Neuroi witch walks up to me, tilting her head.

"You only wanted me and me only, why them as well?"

"For research."

"What kind?"

"That is for you to find out. Let's wrap it up."

A Neuroi walked up to me, then bringing its foot down on my head, knocking me out.

Safety, is what I wanted. What I got.

Was not.

Safety.