A/N: Chapter 6 of Resonance Drive. Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters except my own OCs. Valkyrie Drive Mermaid belongs to the rightful owner.

Special thanks to the reviewers and to the readers who Fav/Alert this story, I really appreciate it.

Chapter 6

The next morning...

The hum of a motorcycle engine flew through the air as the vehicle and its owner rumbled across the terrain in a leisurely manner. Using the handlebars, the owner of the beautiful vehicle guided her transportation to a point where she could lookout to the castle in the far distance, a smile plastered on her face.

"And now, for the first hit of the day..." The driver stated as she glanced at a small device in her hand that she pulled out from between her breast. A little hologram image popped up and after a few minutes the word 'Negative' flashed across the screen. She frowned a bit before looking off to the side in thought. "I wonder where it is...the black box of Mermaid."

Vroom~ Vroom~

"Mmhmm." She smirked as she put the device away and rubbed the motorcycle seat appreciatively, getting a subtle purr from the machine itself. Suddenly a noise caught her attention and she looked down to see what looked like a couple of war tanks rumbling by. "Is that..." She muttered and then a small smirk appeared on her face. "Let's get going."

Vroom~ As if in agreement, the motorcycle revved up its engine and zoomed away, trailing after the armored vehicles down below.

"Mmmmmmm!" Mamori grinned as she stretched her arms way over her head, hearing a satisfying pop before rolling her shoulders around.

"Ugh...what a horrible dream I had. My neck's killing me." Mei Fong commented sourly as she trumped down the stairs. "Oh, good morning."

"Good morning!" Mamori greeted her with a bright smile while Mirei merely nodded her head in return.

"Hey, who let a squirt like you handle the cooking?" Mei Fong teased, watching me stand on a stool with a chef's hat on my head and an apron tied around my waist. Yeoul slept with her head on the counter nearby, her mask over her eyes as usual.

"Don't you dare start this conversation in the morning." I snapped back, pointing the wooden spoon in her direction. "Otherwise no food for you. And besides I'm just helping out with the cooking."

"Yes yes. I got it, I got it." She replied meekly, holding up both hands in a 'I surrender' gesture. Who got her panties in a twist?

"Thanks so much, Akane-chan." Torino said as she waltzed in with a hum, her hair up in the messy bun like usual. "I'll take over from here."

"Did you sleep well?" Mamori asked me as I sat beside her. "I slept wonderfully."

"That's good!" I nodded my head before stifling a small yawn that threatened to escape. "Sleep is really important not only for the body but also for the mind."

"When did you become such a deep thinker?" Mei Fong chuckled before getting hit in the head by one of my slippers, falling off of her seat with a thump. "Oof!"

"Be lucky that I only threw my slipper since that's the only thing I have energy for." I frowned before retrieving my shoe. "Next time it wouldn't be such a soft object."

"Yes yes..." She mused before looking at the clock. "Well I'd love to stay and chat, but this girl has lots of errands to run and not much time to hang out."

"Mei Fong, are you headed out somewhere?" asked Mamori as the girl downed the rest of her breakfast and quickly rushed out the door. The other two followed her while I decided to stay inside to help Torino with dish washing. After I was done with that I excused myself to find the bathroom, nature calling at its finest.

"Yep, I'm going back to Feste." The cowgirl explained as she flashed them a smile. "I'm supposed to be a resident there anyway. See ya!"

"Something's coming." Mirei commented out of the blue, her eyes narrowed dangerously. At that, everyone stopped what they were doing and gazed off in the distance when the rumbling of engines reached their ears. Taking out a pair of binoculars Mei Fong detected the oncoming vehicles as the Welter armored cars.

"Wh-What are they doing here?" Panic flashed behind the younger girl's eyes as she quickly thought of some sort of escape plan.

"Coming after you?" Mirei frowned when she figured out what was happening, giving the girl an almost disappointed look. The residents of the town quickly dashed inside screaming in terror, causing Torino to put down what she was working on to take a peek outside.

"That can't be..." Mei Fong muttered before chuckling nervously. "If they find me here, it'll make everything worse." She quickly dashed to her truck and started the engine. "I'll be off. Take care of the rest for me!"

"Huh?! Mei Fong?!" Mamori called after her but the truck pulled out of the town just as the armored cars advanced forward. There was one brightly colored one and two darker colored cars as far as the residents could tell. The doors opened up and a bunch of soldiers filed out, one by one and the girl in the lead gazed at the seemingly empty buildings.

What's this sensation? I paused, gazing up in wonder before washing my hands. Something's happening...outside? Drying my hands quickly I rushed down stairs to see everyone huddled in the same room and Yeoul was still in her sleeping state.

"We are Welter from Feste." Kasumi stated in a loud voice, knowing that we could all hear her. "We are aware that a thief who stole from our warehouse is hiding here. Please give yourself up. If you do not, we will resort to force."

"Let's see who will come out of their little hiding spot." Charlotte grinned as she watched from inside her comfy armored car.

"I'll say it again. If you do not turn yourself in, we will use force." At first there was no movement but then Mirei stepped out into the open much to Mamori's surprise, standing before them in a calm manner. "You're..."

"Mirei. Mirei Shikishima." Mirei introduced herself.

"Her again..." Charlotte frowned with a little bite to her voice.

"Miss Shikishima...did you do it?" Kasumi asked her. "Were you trying to sell stolen goods to these people?" She got an affirmative head nod from the blonde. "Then we Welter must arrest you as a criminal, and take you in."

"Mirei!" Mamori called out to her when the blonde walked towards the armored cars. "You can't go. Who knows what they'll do to you?!"

"Is she your accomplice?" Kasumi asked and Mirei shook her head no. Crying out to her, Mamori rushed out just as red tendrils soared through the air, wrapping themselves around the blonde.

"Who would have thought it was you!" Charlotte showed herself dressed in some sort of armored get up as her loyal servant Angel kept the blonde ensnared. "And if you are here...that means the other two kiddies are around here as well."

"Charlotte, please let me handle this!" Kasumi told her, afraid at what her comrade intended on doing by joining in on the fight.

"Absolutely not. This girl has shamed me twice." The pink-haired girl frowned before letting her eyes focus on her captured prey. "You will pay for resisting Welter!" Her nails grew really long and sharp, itching to dig themselves into the blonde's body and tear it apart.

"Mirei!" Mamori threw her arms around Mirei and refused to let go.

"Run!" The blonde ordered but she refused once more. "Hurry!"

"Why did you go alone, without telling me?" Mamori questioned, looking at Mirei with imploring eyes. "I asked you not to be rash!"

"What a cheap show." Charlotte commented as she watched the two of them.

"Mirei, you...you..." Mamori's body trembled and tears flowed out of her eyes as she glared at the blonde. "You...Mirei, you idiot!" Faster than anyone had anticipated, Mamori pressed her lips against the surprised blonde's. Gradually the familiar light around them shined bigger and brighter, indicating that a Drive was in progress. Once it died down, Mirei broke out of Ange's tendrils easily and pointed the sword at Charlotte.

"Heh! I've been waiting for this!" The pink-haired woman smiled before rushing at her opponent with her long nails. Without blinking Mirei lunged forward as well and the two of them clashed in a flurry of blows.

There! Mirei found her chance and in one swing, cleaved off Charlotte's nails on her right hand in a matter of minutes.

"W-What?!" Charlotte stared at her destroyed nails with inner fury. "My Arm, it should be capable of slashing through anything! Impossible!" She lunged at the blonde who was quick to answer and the two of them were running back at each other eager for round 2.

"Miss Charlotte!" Ange cried out in warning which prompted Kasumi to intervene, taking matters into her own hands. The Commander of Welter ran towards the two at such an astonishing speed that Mirei barely blocked at kick that was aimed solely at her. Skidding back she looked up just as Kasumi proceeded to attack once more, ducking low across the ground and lashed out in a back kick with her left foot.

She's...tough! "Ugh!" Mirei quickly used her left hand to block the attack that would most likely have been aimed at her jaw. However the blow was so powerful that it sent her skidding across the ground, losing her grip on Mamori. Once she came to a halt, the sword embedded itself into the ground not too far away before changing back into its human form. Letting out a gasp, Mamori collapsed on the ground right next to her exhausted.

"Impressive. As expected of the Commander." Charlotte praised, clapping her hands as she admired her comrade's battle strength without an Arm. "You definitely live up to your Zero Arm name, Kasumi Shigure."

"Turn yourselves in." Kasumi commanded sternly, ignoring Charlotte's words before adjusting her glasses back in its rightful place. "My patience is running thin as it is."

"Hold up! Time out!" The Welter forces looked up as Yeoul and I revealed ourselves, giving Mirei and Mamori a chance to recover. It didn't take long to rouse Yeoul from her sleep since she knew that something was not right and she looked ready to go. "This could be like, our daily dose of exercise! Quit hogging all the fun!"

"It's that little monkey!" Charlotte exclaimed and pointed a finger at me.

"Again with the monkey comment!" I snapped irritably, shaking my fist at her from where I was perched on my partner's back. "Quit making fun of my surname you glamorous scoundrel!"

G-G-Glamorous scoundrel!? "Awww, did I hurt the short munchkin's feelings?" Charlotte taunted after being insulted by me, knowing that her jeering words were getting underneath my skin. "How cruel of me!"

"You keep saying shit like that, you're gonna get punched." I retorted, embarrassed to admit that her words were getting on my nerves.

"Bring it!" She smirked and I lunged for her, causing the other foot soldiers to hurry to the girl's defense.

"Charlotte!" Kasumi frowned at her comrade's behavior before noticing that Yeoul was approaching at high speed, perhaps faster then herself. Gritting her teeth with annoyance, she engaged in battle and blocked a kick aimed straight for the head. Somersaulting back and landing in a crouch, the redhead rushed forward again with her hand pulled back.

"Commander, this isn't the time for you to negotiate with the enemy." Charlotte stated just as I knocked out some of her guards, smiling once she noticed that her broken nails from earlier had mended themselves. "Use force! It's already come to that!"

If that's how it's gonna be..."Fine!" Heeding her comrade's words, Kasumi lunged at the oncoming redhead with her own fist pulled back. The moment their punches collided a huge shock wave occurred that nearly blew everyone else off their feet. Yeoul narrowed her eyes with a pained expression before getting a kick to the underside of her jaw, her head snapping back.

"Ugh..." She skidded across the ground before coming to a halt, spitting out the dirt that got into her mouth.

"Get up." Kasumi ordered, cracking her knuckles loudly. "I'm not through with you yet." Narrowing her eyes in response, Yeoul stood up and charged once more.

"Haha!" Darting behind Charlotte after getting rid of her guards, I used a hand to swipe at her skirt and made it go up in one fluid motion. "Left your ass wide open!"

"Kyaa!" She yelped as she quickly covered herself, lashing out with a hind leg as I hopped away.

"Oh my, that was a cute 'Kyaa'." I teased, watching Charlotte's face turn bright red with embarrassment. "Who knew you would be wearing striped panties today...! Such bright colors too."

"You...You..." She glared at me angrily with tears in her eyes. "You damn little ape!"

"What did I tell you of losing your cool?!" Kasumi shouted as she slammed her knee into Yeoul's gut. The redhead grunted painfully before retaliating with a kick to the commander's jaw as payback. The two of them broke apart, glaring at each other warily. "Don't stoop down to your opponent's level!"

"I'm going to enjoy ripping your body to shreds!" Charlotte crowed as she avoided my punches and finally wrapped her fingers around both my fists, holding me in place. "But first...!" Tightening her hold, she exerted pressure into two loud cracks could be heard and I realized that she shattered my fingers right then and there. "Now, you won't be able to form fists anymore...How does it feel?"

"Arrgh!" I yelped and sank to my knees, cradling my injured hands against my chest. Distracted by my cry of pain, Yeoul avoided Kasumi all together and instead ran towards Charlotte with her silver eyes blazing with fury.

"Where do you think you're going?" The commander spat, anger level spiking around being ignored. Pouring energy into her own legs, she caught up and tackled her enemy down, sending the two of them crashing into the ground."No one gets away from me." She quickly pinned her arms with both knees and griped the girl's throat with her left hand.

"Rangetsu-san!" Mamori yelled and Mirei ran forward to help. Sensing the approaching blonde, Kasumi avoided a punch and lashed out by using her free right hand to wrap around Mirei's throat. The blonde's eyes widened with horror as she was held in place.

"Now you are both under my control." The commander whispered and slowly started to apply pressure as the girls struggled to get out of her iron grip.

"Y-Yeoul!" I choked out.

"You should be worrying about yourself." I looked up to see Charlotte towering over me, a malicious smile on her face. "It's time for you to die!"

"Akane-chan!" Mamori screamed, covering her eyes with both hands.

VROOM~ VROOM~ VROOM~

"What the-! Eek!" Charlotte stumbled back as a motorcycle rushed on the scene, knocking her backwards. Revving the engine once more the vehicle charged at Kasumi who released her two captives and dove out of the way. Not wasting any time, Yeoul rushed to my side and cradled me in her arms before looking up at the new arrivals.

"Why are you here?" Kasumi frowned when she and Charlotte regrouped, recognizing immediately who it was that came to our rescue. "Lady...Lady."