Greetings from SeekerMeeker.
Here we go, the last team for a while!
Girls Wild Rise
Chapter 7: Rabbit Punch
Unnamed cave nearby the river
6:00 AM; October 11, 20XX
Miho watched the sun rise over the river, as a young girl slept by her side.
"Oh..." the girl moaned, as she slowly got up and yawned. "Oh...ohayo gozaimasu."
"Good morning," Miho translated, smiling as she patted her. "Finally got some good sleep?"
"Yes..." the youth groaned. "Finally, after looking after my team for a few days, keeping them alive..."
She drowsed, as Miho put her down to sleep.
"Sleep more," Miho said, comforting. "Thank you for keeping your team alive, Azusa-chan."
Sawa Azusa was the leader of the latest group to be saved. Called "second Miho" occasionally by her own team, Azusa had some resemblance to Miho, down to her short hair and gentle but determined personality. However, she had dark brown hair, and was shorter than Miho, standing at 251 cm tall. All of her teammates were exactly 100 cm taller than when they were normal.
"Got to," she began. "Watch...oh yeah...they're safe."
Despite her youth, Azusa clearly displayed fatigue, exhausted from keeping her team alive. Although her face had no wrinkles, Miho could tell that she had strained herself a lot, as she was frowning a little more than usual.
"Sleep well," Miho said again. "You're all safe now."
A gentle snore ensued, allowing Miho to carefully stand up, leaving her to sleep. She then walked a short distance, and entered the cave, moving away the curtain.
22 well-designed wooden beds were stuck to the cave walls, lining them and evenly spaced. The girls all slept together by teams. The Anglerfish and the Duck teams were at the cave entrance, lining the right and left walls respectively. The others slept behind. Being a smallish cave, with the end only about 40 m away, six new beds lined it.
Six new girls.
All scared but finally glad to be safe.
Only two beds were empty, since Miho and Azusa had a short but sweet talk outside.
Smiling, Miho then carefully walked out, and breathed.
"Ah," she sighed, the fresh air of the morning savanna filling her lungs. Nearby, the boat floated serenely. Apparently, everybody, including her, forgot to have at least one person on the lookout, because everybody was busy celebrating the joyous reunion of their fifth team:
The Rabbit Team.
She decided to check the boat, but soon saw that nothing was searched. Breathing a sigh of relief, Miho looked around, and decided to take a small run.
"Hmm," she wondered, as she jogged a short lap around an area near the cave, so that she had a clear view of the cave and the boat. Fortunately, the area had few hills; despite the dense vegetation, Miho could clearly see the camp from some 100 m away. She jogged around.
"It's been a while..." she wondered. "I wonder how others are doing..."
She thought as she jogged. Panting, she could imagine the remaining teams...
The Mallard Team trying to maintain order, while traversing a wild world...
The Anteater Team throwing and lifting logs, in order to stay fit...
The Leopon Team fixing their tank as usual, while journeying through...
"Oh," Miho recalled, stopping for a moment. "The other schools..."
St. Gloriana, struggling to be elegant in a barbaric world...
Saunders...well, they have a lot of money.
Anzio. Enough said.
Pravda, with Katyusha getting others to do the stuff for her.
Kuro...
Miho flinched, as a single tear came out.
"Onee-chan..."
"Rette mich."
Save me.
"Jemand kontrolliert mich!"
Someone controls me!
A few German words suddenly exploded inside Miho's head, causing her to stop and pant.
She then held her heart with her right hand, while touching her head with her left.
"Onee-chan," she mumbled, a single tear falling out.
Miho took a deep, VERY deep, breath. Then, in order to distract herself, she stared at the horizon...
Animals of all shapes and sizes frolicked in the wooded savanna. Herbivores munched on vegetation peacefully, while carnivores relished a wide variety of carcasses. Omnivores rooted and searched for anything to eat. Trees swayed in the breeze, while an impending thunderstorm was looming miles away.
Miho sighed.
"Better get going," she said to herself, jogging back to base, unaware of something lurking behind a massive tree, its trunk hiding its silhouette...
Unnamed cave nearby the river
9:00 AM; October 11, 20XX
"Oh..."
"You don't need to do anything."
"But Miho-senpai..."
"Just rest."
Azusa groaned, as she was lying down on a bed still, this time on the barge, while others did about their own business. After another heavy meal (Saori grunted about Chosen Ones all becoming "multiple Hanas"), the girls now packed up all of their belongings, reserving their most valuable ones inside of their own tanks. Now, five tanks were ready to move, as the driver of each started to rev the engine up. Multiple roars echoed, resonating throughout the landscape. A few animals raised their heads, curious.
"Man!" Saori grunted. "We finally have finished!"
"Later than usual!" Momo blurted out.
"We had to," Yuzu said. "Because of the Rabbits, Momo-hop."
"Momo-hop?!" Momo screamed, throwing a fit. "Now you nickname me?!"
The others giggled and laughed at the duo's antics, as they were cleaning up the camp further. The only team being "forced" to not help was the latest one:
The Rabbit Team was the latest team to join, and all six girls were exhausted. Apparently, their days were spent surviving quite a lot.
Miho was right next to a bed, on which Azusa lied down.
"You girls must have had it bad," Miho remarked.
"Well," Azusa began to speak, but coughed.
"Please stay down," Miho advised. "You did great with keeping them all alive."
"Not easy at all," Azusa muttered. "We're so glad to meet you all!"
Of all the teams, the Rabbit Team appeared the MOST exhausted. Although strong enough to survive in the wild, all six were clearly fatigued, lacking much of the energy of their usual antics.
"Mi-Miho-sen...pai," Azusa whispered.
"Please be silent," Miho advised her, fixing her blankets. "You clearly are the most tired of the six; you need to stay down and be silent."
Azusa suddenly shook her head. Grunting, she raised up her right hand, mustering up the last of her strength, summoning her Hand.
"Wait!" Miho began. "Hold your...energy."
A giant staff with sparkles and bright colors appeared. It looked like the kind that magical girls used on TV.
I remember my okaa-san not approving of such 'un-womanly' shows, Miho thought, giggling. But onee-chan secretly allowed to watch, so I enjoyed seeing magical girl shows.
Azusa's staff caught her eyes easily. It had a long, hot pink pole, with the bottom tip having a tiny, white orb. On the top of the staff rested a huge symbol: a giant, red cross with a light pink ring. Two white wings stuck out from the left and right arms of the cross, while red, white, and blue gems dotted the central cross.
"A Celtic cross staff!" Miho gasped, gazing at it. "It fits you well. But calm down please."
"Well," Azusa groaned, raising it up.
"No," Miho said sternly, holding it. "Azusa-chan, please restrain your-"
Suddenly, the staff glowed, and a popping sound echoed, as a nova of light pink energy rippled around the two. Miho suddenly felt better, and so did Azusa.
"Ah..." Azusa groaned in relief. "Much better!"
"Good thing you are," Miho said, grabbing the staff and laying it down on Azusa's body. "But save your energy; sure, we are Chosen, but we still need food and sleep."
Miho then looked up. The other five members of the Rabbit Team were much better off. Yamagou Ayumi, the tallest one, was chatting casually with Taeko and Caesar, laughing as they shared their own stories. She appeared to be the least tired, perhaps due to her mature physique. In fact, she was sitting on top of her strange Hand of God: a giant grimoire.
"That's one big book!" Taeko uttered. "Can it open?"
"No," Ayumi admitted with a sigh. "I don't know why, but this book is big enough for me to sit on its top like a chair, but it is covered in chains."
She was right. Her Hand of God, looking like a giant mahogany-colored tome, was covered in pink chains and a daisy-shaped lock, which bound the book together.
"I tried to open it," she said, lifting it up like a dumbbell. "But the lock has no keyhole, and I have no idea what this even does."
"Must be something secret!" Erwin noted, joining the conversation.
"Dunno," she replied, lifting it up and down before throwing it up into the air and catching it easily. Miho could tell that Ayumi spent a lot of time playing with her grimoire.
"So how do you fight with it?" asked Caesar.
"I just swing it around," Ayumi replied.
"Like a club?!" Caesar, Taeko, and Erwin asked in disbelief.
"What can I do?" she asked rhetorically, playing with her weapon like a toy.
Miho giggled, as she looked at the others.
Maruyama Saki was staring into space as usual. However, like the others, she was drowsing, her head going up and down. Her Hand of God was a set of two lanterns. Both looked like a hybrid of Chinese paper lanterns and European street lanterns. She was waving them, and Miho noticed what looked like colorful butterflies floating around the lanterns.
"Fairy lanterns?" Shinobu asked, as she sat down with Saki.
She nodded in reply, smiling as she swung them back and forth. The butterfly-like things fluttered around like real butterflies or even moths, floating around the lanterns. One of the magical butterflies then flew towards Miho, who then lifted up her right hand up.
It landed on her index finger, and popped into a tiny cloud of apricot-colored dust. Miho looked at her, who smiled back as she listened to Shinobu.
Miho nodded, as she noticed the other three.
"Eh-eh-eh~eh..." the brown-haired girl stuttered, trying to stay up but ending up being carried by Momo.
"For goodness sake!" Momo grunted. "Sakaguchi Karina-chan!" Please stay up-ow-ow-ouch!"
Karina suddenly summoned her Hands of God: two wands that had blunt tips, so that they looked sort of like heavy clubs or even maces.
"Giddy up~" she moaned, smacking them into Momo's head.
"Ow-ow-ouch!" Momo cried out in pain.
Miho giggled, as Momo dropped her and restrained her.
"Mirror, mirror, on the wall..." a black-haired girl muttered, playing with some tent herrings on the boat, right next to Hana (who was playing with some ropes too).
However, Utsugi Yuuki was also wielding her own set: a magical, portable mirror and a feather duster. She kept dusting off the mirror, its wide, oval face shining in the sunlight. She was gazing at it.
"Does it say anything?" asked Hana dreamily.
"Nothing," she replied. "But it's fair after all."
Miho giggled at the girls' weird antics, but a small crowd gathered around the last Rabbit girl.
Like the others, Oono Aya was tired, but seven of the girls were gathered around her, watching her utilize her Hands of God.
"Can they see the future?"
"Can they see something?"
"What do they do?"
Miho shook her head, but smiled as she got up to settle the crowd, yawning.
"Girls," Miho said, keeping the crowd away from Aya. "Give Aya-chan some space. And you have interesting weapons."
"Th-thank you," Aya replied, blushing. Hers were a set of what looked like six floating crystal balls; however, one of them is in her right hand as a globe, with a hand to hold it like a scepter.
"But why is everybody curious?" asked Miho.
"She didn't tell you?!" the others gasped.
"She said it does not always work," Oryou said. "But she said that sometimes, she can gain contact with the outside world."
Suddenly, Miho tensed up, and stared at Aya straight in the eyes.
"Sorry," she replied, relaxing. "I just want to know what's going on, too."
"Let me try," Aya said, as she munched on a large, yellow banana. She concentrated, then one of the globes started to glow a pale, whitish-yellow color.
"Sometimes," Aya explained, as the orb continued to glow. "The balls change color, meaning that I have contact with something. But sometimes."
One of the floating globes suddenly changed color, becoming black with white and red stripes snaking around like rivers.
"I have contact!" Aya blurted out.
"Can you open it or something?" asked Erwin, as the crowd started to form around her.
"Unfortunately," Aya admitted. "Sometimes, it's one of those...boys, who just chat about where I am, and whether I am a zombie or something."
Everybody shivered.
"But," Aya said, as the globe continued to glow. "Sometimes, I don't know what to do."
Suddenly, Miho noticed something vibrate on her skirt.
"Your phone?" asked Miho.
Aya blinked, then took it out and opened it.
"What's this number?" Aya asked, as she clicked it. "Huh, I put it on vibration, too. No wonder I didn't notice."
"Moshi-moshi?" she asked.
"Moshi-moshi," said a stern voice. "Who is this?"
Aya shivered, but Miho gasped.
"O-okaa-san!" she suddenly yelled. The others gawked.
"Miho?!" the voice suddenly lowered to a whisper, as Aya immediately gave it to her.
"I am here!" Miho answered, holding the phone very tightly until she heard a cracking sound. Apologizing in a low whisper, Miho then loosened her grip, and snapped her fingers to repair the phone before answering.
"Miho!" Shiho's voice blared, as Miho held it at a distance, as the noise was loud. The others clearly heard the voice.
"What-how-how did you get this?!" Shiho's voice continued. "The island's strange nature disrupts all communications! The only way is to overcome the jam with magic!"
"Okaa-san!" Miho said. "Where are you? Still at the boat?"
"Worse," she growled. "They doubled the security, and now we feel like in a literal, floating prison. Things now feel less..."
She trailed off, as the others listened in.
"But how did you get the connection?" Shiho's voice blared out again. "I cannot use the tablet, because they now monitor whether we're charging up something. But they do allow us to use our cell phones."
"One of us," Miho explained. "Managed to use her power to gain a connection."
"But before you do so," Shiho's voice began to crack, as the connection started to lose. "Be careful with whom you trust! And do not - your guard down. No! Connection is -! Miho!"
"Okaa-san!" Miho called. "I...love you, Shiho!"
Suddenly, the connection was silent, and the girls stared.
"Is it lost?" asked Aya.
"Miho," the voice blared again. This time, it sounded...softer.
"Tha...thank you," she said, then regained her usual tone. "But before - do so, watch - for the New Si-. The - Silicon! New Silico-"
Snap!
The call was cut, and the phone's screen went blank.
"New...Silicon?" asked Yukari.
All of the girls were now present. All five teams stared in silence, contemplating what Shiho said.
"What is that?" asked Ayumi, sitting down on her grimoire.
"Wait a minute," Mako said. "I think I do know."
The others stared at her.
"What is New Silicon?" asked Miho, representing everybody's curiosity.
"Some type of new company," Mako admitted. "I don't know much, but they seem to be some sort of monopoly-ish organization. I heard about it being a conglomeration of three major industrial organizations."
"Is this like PAMC?" asked Saori with a growl.
"PAMC?" some of the girls asked.
"The one that started the zombie apocalypse," said Mako. "Only to be shut down for good as a result."
"The company may be shut down," Miho said. "But the people may still...exist."
Everybody suddenly shivered.
"Hopefully this New Silicon is NOT like that," Erwin said, her smile gone.
"But why is Shiho-senpai so scared about that one?" asked Anzu. "It's obvious that something...happened to cause her to panic. I have never heard her panic like that."
"Whatever it is," Miho began. "We'll have to move..."
Her face turned pale, as she stared at the horizon. The others looked, and gawked.
"What the?!"
"What is this?!"
"Not again?!"
The wooded savanna suddenly shifted, as the earth somehow gave way. Cracks suddenly appeared, causing even the animals to be caught off guard. Elephants, giraffes, and all kinds of animals panicked, struggling to flee from the fissures that formed so suddenly. The vast, flat and hilly lands now suddenly developed entire canyons in only a few seconds, so that many animals fell into the fissures below.
The clouds also turned dark, covering the azure sky in a blanket of sickly color. The black and rainbow colors reminded the girls of petroleum on the ground, causing some of them to feel sick.
Birds and strange animals that could fly also took off, trying to escape, only for some of them to suddenly fall down, as if the air above was poisonous. The grounds below continued to shake, causing entire trees, some hundreds of feet tall, to fall down with great thuds.
"Not another earthquake!" Erwin groaned.
"I am tired of earthquakes!" Saori screamed. "I hope this is NOT another zombie attack again!"
Suddenly, a volley of strangely colored thunderbolts struck the earth, obliterating entire patches into craters of pale sand. Animals continued, as the storm above suddenly twisted, and rainbow-colored tornadoes went down, ripping into the earth. Suddenly, blazing balls of strange colors rained down upon the savanna, looking like some twisted meteors.
In front of the girls, the cave suddenly groaned, and the roof gave way, crashing down and obliterating the entrance. The ground started to finally shake under their feet.
"I am scared!" Yuuki, Karina, and Aya all screamed, cuddling up to their other friends.
"Hold still!" Miho said. "Girls! Get to the tanks, now!"
Everybody obeyed, as they all ran to their tanks; even Azusa got up from her bed, her energy fully restored. Miho stood her ground, as she saw others...
Anzu, Momo, and Yuzu immediately entered into the Hetzer's cupola, revving up the engine. All of the Duck Team except Noriko jumped into their I-Go, while Noriko helped the Rabbit Team up into their M3 Lee before leaping into her team tank. Oryou and Saemonza went inside their StuG, while Caesar and Erwin looked around before getting in. All six Rabbit girls went into their tank, screaming as they tried to get in. Saori and Miho helped them to calm down, before they and the rest of the Ankou Team went into their Panzer.
Suddenly, the M3 Lee rammed into Ankou's back.
"Hey!" Saori screamed. "What was that?"
"So-sorry!" Azusa cried out, coming out of her cupola. "We-we don't want to lose you all again! Not since last time!"
Miho nodded in silent understanding.
"Steady!" she called out, coming out of her turret to stand on top. Her presence got the others' attention, despite the strange storm in the background. The ground continued to shake, albeit less violently than before.
"We come together now!" Miho said, taking out a set of ropes. "Here! Grab them!"
Azusa reached out, grabbing the rope. She then threw it at others, and all five tanks were now connected together.
"What about the barge?!" Momo screamed out, peeking her head.
"Leave it!" Miho commanded. "We have to go!"
All five tanks roared and moved away, just as a fissure suddenly appeared right behind them. The fissure cracked all the way into the river, causing the barge to bounce. Suddenly, the river turned a sickly rainbow color, and the barge seemed to-
"Melt?!" Noriko gasped, as the boat's layers turned into mush and sank into the river, which was draining into the fissure.
"OK!" Saori screamed. "This is worse than the earthquake from before! Zombies? Crazy! Earthquakes? Ridiculous!"
"And now some magical mayhem?!" Momo screamed with her. "This is NOT scientific at all?!"
"Hold your heads!" Miho sternly told them. "Let's go! Mako-san! Keep going straight!"
The girls continued to move, as the surroundings were turning bizarre. Trees continued to fall down, while wildfires appeared out of nowhere, engulfing the bushes in flames. Animals continued in their stampede, only to fall into newly created cracks and fissures. The sky remained a sickly blackish color, as strange thunderbolts zoomed in and out. Flocks of birds screamed and wailed, trying to fly away, only to be electrocuted by the bolts in the sky.
"Keep moving!" Miho yelled, as the five tanks moved on.
Suddenly, she felt something fall on her neck.
It hurt, and she looked up.
The rain started to fall, but it felt like-
"Acid rain?!" Miho gasped, reaching out with left hand up in the air. More drops fell, and they all felt like acid.
"Girls!" she roared, as she and others went back inside their tanks and communicated through their radio. "Keep moving! Noriko-san! Where is the button for the speed boost?"
"It's shaped like an Air Force emblem of sort!" Noriko replied through the transmission.
Everybody checked.
"On my order!" Miho screamed, as the surroundings started to get even worse. Trees vaporized, as the flames turned from red to a sickly green color. Bushes turned to ashes, as the animals suddenly became emaciated, and collapsed as if dead from thirst. The clouds raged, turning a bloody-red color.
"Press it when I say it!" she cried.
"Three!"
Mako, Yuzu, Shinobu, Oryou, and Karina all saw the buttons on the panels of their respective tanks.
"Two!"
They kept driving, and new fissures started to crack, approaching them.
"Now!"
Click!
BOOM!
All five tanks started to rise up, doing a wheelie. Then, the engines roared and blasted the girls away. Only the I-Go opened up its wings and floated about two meters above, while the others merely raced with engines roaring like race cars. Fortunately, much of the vegetation was lost, so that it was mostly flat land, allowing the girls to race away easily.
"Where should we go?!" Yuuki's hysterical voice screamed into the radio.
"Follow me!" Miho called out.
She looked around, using the hatch door to shield herself from the acid rain that started to weaken.
Yet, the whole savanna was gone.
The river was gone.
The boat was gone.
The whole world was now colored rainbow, a sickly one. The clouds had a variety of colors, streaking through like oil spills. Meteors continued to rain down, slamming into the fissures below. Tornadoes of all colors roared through the landscapes, while a few animals managed to keep dodging. Even a few plants, and even fewer trees, struggled to hold on.
Miho stared, shocked at the turn of events, but quickly got out, as the rain was gone. She then looked around, and saw it.
"There!" Miho screamed, seeing something in the distance. "Mako-san!" Go to that mysterious wall there!"
"That blue wall?!" Mako muttered, but did as she was told.
All five tanks raced towards what looked like a clear, blue wall. They were now only about a mile away from the wall, which mysteriously appeared out of nowhere.
Behind them, the storm seemed to sense the five tanks, and started to roar, as multiple tornadoes and a colossal wall of fire started to race towards them.
"Help us!" a voice cracked the air.
Miho looked to her left. A single, dark-brown baby rhinoceros was running, trying to run away from the storm.
"You dare not!" Momo began. "Keep going-no!"
Miho immediately checked her rope, tying on around her waist before leaping away. The baby rhino was running parallel to the tanks, allowing her to grab it. The size of a pig, Miho easily lifted it up, before her team's tank raced towards her, allowing her to get up and restrain the baby around the turret.
"Close call!" Saori moaned. "But try and not do that again!"
Miho said nothing, holding onto the frightened baby rhino for dear. Miho vaguely noticed it, but it barely had a horn protruding out of its nose.
"It's alright," Miho said, gently patting it. It was frightened, but licked Miho in face.
"Hehe," she giggled, before looking behind with a serious eye.
The storm roared, and started to pick up speed.
"Here we go!" Miho roared, staring at the strange blue wall. She noticed that the storm did not touch the wall. The tornadoes and the wall of fire started to get closer and closer...
"Miporin!"
"Miho-san!"
"Nishizumi-dono!"
"Miho-senpani!"
"Nishizumi-chan!"
Miho panted, her breathing getting harder and harder.
"Anyone!" Miho panted at last. "Give us time!"
Suddenly, all five tanks made a final push, and the tanks roared into the wall, passing through it like it was nothing, just as the wall of fire crashed into the wall a split second later.
All five tanks creaked to a stop. Everybody onboard was panting rapidly, almost hyperventilating. Miho looked back.
The strange, blue wall kept the storm at bay. On the other side, the storm continued to rage, as if furious that it had missed its quarry. On the side where the girls were now, lush, green grasses and herbs grew in abundance. In fact, the sky in that area was tranquil and calm, with the sun shining down with a sunny smile.
"Girls!" Miho gasped, panting. "We're...we've...ha...made it!"
Then, everybody collapsed, except Miho, who stared up at the sky.
The azure-blue sky calmed her soul, as the vermilion-red flowers danced in the wind. Silver-white rays reflected from bluish-black parts of their own tanks, as Miho gazed into the sky above, imagining...
"I wonder how Heaven is like," Miho suddenly blurted out. "Wait."
She got up, shaking herself, ready to slap herself if necessary.
"This is no time to lose it," she admonished herself. "I wonder what to do...girls?"
She looked back into her tank's interior. Mako leaned into her driver's seat, snoring. Saori's glasses were cracked in the aftermath, but she was perfectly alive, just snoring silently.
"That's a long cannon..." Hana moaned in her sleep.
"And a strong shell..." Yukari grunted in her own dreamland.
Sighing in relief, she then got up and checked the other tanks. Everybody else was alive.
"Ah," she realized herself. "We slept due to exhaustion."
She checked her phone, but to her shock, it was not working.
"Oh," she noted. "Jammed? No, batteries out? That cannot be possible."
Sighing but smiling, she put it back into her pocket, and then hopped out, deciding to take a walk around. The field was also a savanna, albeit more grassland than woodland. Trees dotted more loosely; between the trees, numerous grasses and herbs grew. Miho stooped down and picked a few up.
"Ah!" she sighed in relief, smelling them and even eating a few. "Garlic and some wild herbs."
She then looked around. To her surprise, behind her was a small creek, with was flanked with plenty of trees. Snaking above, she sighted a low mountain, which could be mistaken for a giant hill.
"Let's see if we have fresh water around," Miho said to herself, climbing back into her tank, and coming out with an empty water tank. "We forgot to get enough water, so..."
Carrying it in her right hand, she walked towards the creek, and knelt down to look.
"Wow!" she remarked, staring at the crystal-clear water. She cupped some water, and smelled it.
"No impurities," she noted, before dunking her water tank into the creek, filling it to the brim.
She then lifted it up, and was about to return when she noticed something a few meters away.
On the stream bed grew a bunch of plants with heart-shaped leaves and white flowers. Upon closer inspection, Miho dashed towards them, dropping her water tank on the bank.
"Finally!" she gasped in relief, picking one up. The plant was unmistakable; its stout, warty stems looked almost like roots, but Miho ripped in half to check the inside.
"Green!" Miho sighed in relief. "Wasabi!"
She then scraped a few pieces, using her chainsaw sword, which she converted into an over-sized grater to turn a part of the root-like stem into paste, and tasted it.
"Ooh!" she winced, as the wasabi's taste was far stronger than she expected. "But this is real wasabi! My mom personally had a fresh supply sent to our house every month."
She sighed in relief, glad to feel "Japanese" for once, then commenced checking the field. A sizable field of wasabi plants grew, so she made a mental note to let others know. She then was about to return downstream, when something stirred in a bush nearby. She changed her grater back into a sword, ready to strike.
The bush stirred again, then...
A rabbit came out, a dark-furred individual with short ears and a weird face. Although it was a rabbit, Miho could tell that it was a primitive kind.
"Amami rabbit!" Miho realized, watching it closely. "A rare kind native to an island of Japan."
The rabbit looked up, its reddish eyes looking straight at Miho. After a few seconds, the rabbit silently went up a hill. It was not running away, and kept looking back.
"Hmm," Miho pondered, then decided to follow it.
The rabbit kept looking at her, then eventually stopped looking, and kept hopping-no, slightly scampering along. Unlike most rabbits, the Amami rabbit had short legs, so that it walked more than hopped. After about 100 m, the rabbit came upon a cave, which it entered. Miho then followed in.
The cave was empty and blackish, much like the one in which she and her friends lived in. However, as Miho entered and looked around, she sensed...something.
A small squeak emitted from a pile of rocks. Miho realized what happened, and helped to dig the rocks out. A small kit whimpered, as Miho looked at it closely. It squealed and rolled up, but the mother saw it and squeaked back. The two apparently called to each for a few seconds, their high-pitched voices echoing throughout the cave.
"I got you," Miho said, slowly reaching out.
The baby squirmed, but the mother whistled back. With some encouragement, the kit reached out, its face of wide eyes so...
"Cute," Miho whispered, as she gently pulled it out, and put it with its mother. The two squealed with delight, before cuddling up to Miho and running away.
"Well," she sighed, stretching. "That was good. Guess that was what I sensed."
Suddenly, something flashed behind her. She raised her sword, looking around.
Small drops of water fell down to the ground, making small echoes in the cave floor. The cave made an echoing sound, almost hypnotizing with each drop that fell.
"False alarm," Miho sighed in relief, as she turned around to leave the cave.
Something flashed again.
Miho turned around again, because of a noise of rocks being moved. She then cautiously approached a pile of rock, which did not move before. She then moved a few rocks away with her sword, and a cobra hissed beneath.
"Another false alarm," she sighed again, as she walked away. Unknown to her, something glittered a little inside of her chest...
"Miporin!" she called out. "Where have been?"
Saori and a few others managed to wake up from their sleep, as the sunlight started to render their tank quite hot.
"Man!" Noriko groaned, stretching. "The tank felt like a sauna!
"I am back," Miho said, bringing the water tank in her right arm, and holding a couple of wasabi stems in her left.
"Wait a second!" Oryou noted, getting out. "Is that wasabi?!"
The others suddenly got out, and ran towards her.
"Wasabi!" everybody screamed, glad to find something from Japan.
"Careful!" Miho warned, as a few of the girls just bit into the stem. "You have to use it as condiment..."
"AHHHH!" they screamed in pain, as they drenched themselves in the water tank, before rushing towards the stream that Miho just came from (it was not that far away).
Momo put her left hand in a face palm, while the others giggled.
"Well," Miho said. "At least we are fine now. Let's take shelter next to that giant tree there."
Under the shade of a giant tree
1:00 PM; October 11, 20XX
"Another cooking again," Saori said, as she rubbed her stomach. "Am I getting fat?"
"You can't get fat," Miho said, giggling as she helped out.
The girls now set up camp under a colossal tree, its crown casting large enough of a shadow to provide shade for all five tanks. Miho split them all up into four three: one to go out to hunt and gather, one to cook, and one to do the rest of the job.
The Anglerfish Team, Anzu, and Yuzu all did the cooking part, while the Duck and Hippo Teams went out to hunt and gather for food. The rest were checking their belongings; the only things saved were everything inside of the tanks. Plus, a few of them went back and forth, bringing in water tanks and bottles full of water.
"Not enough grills or pots!" Saori groaned. "And make sure you cook the water to purify them!"
"Do you always groan?" asked Mako, somewhat teasing her.
"At least we know how to make bonfires!" Yukari squealed, as she inspected the few grills that they saved, such as tripod grills.
"Food is definitely not an issue," Momo mumbled, as she munched on a strange fruit from the tree. "Hmm, what is this?"
"You like this?" Mako groaned, making a face at the fruit's taste. "I don't recognize this fruit at all."
"It's one of those trees from Africa," Hana said, opening up a pod. "What was it...boat? Bob?"
"Baobab," Mako replied, recognizing the name. "It's a unique type of tree mostly from Africa. Natives rely on it heavily for food, water, and timber; hence, it is sometimes called the 'tree of life.' It's also called an 'upside-down tree' because of the shape of its branches."
The others looked up. Despite the heavy foliage, the branches were indeed root-like: more gnarly than usual for a tree branch. The branches also bore very robust, white flowers, with mature fruit capsules hanging down, swaying slightly in the breeze.
"But only Miho seems to know about this fruit," Saori noted. "Having visited Brazil once, she knows-"
"You've been to Brazil?!" the Rabbit Team girls squealed in excitement. Even Saki, who normally gazed into space, stared at Miho with a rare passion.
"When I was a kid," Miho explained, sweating a little at the sight. "My mother took me and my onee-chan to Brazil for a vacation. There, I met a variety of people and food. I saw the baobab fruit only three times, but that's why I know about this fruit."
"If you did not," Azusa groaned. "We would have never eaten those..."
Miho smiled.
"Most fruits," she explained. "Are edible for humans, with rare exceptions. The whole point of fruit is to be eaten, as if..."
Miho looked up at the sky.
"Ah!" she realized, looking down to regain her composure; the others were staring at her, curious. "Sorry about that. How are the grills going?"
To her relief, the hunting group arrived, causing everybody else to shift focus, as the girls commenced the butchering process...
Under the shade of a giant tree
2:30 PM; October 11, 20XX
"Done!" Saori finally blurted out.
Despite the loss of the boat, and the cargo onboard, the girls had some grills inside of their tanks, and some of the girls already had experience with basic survival skills. Hence, the girls still managed to have another feast, relishing an abundance of game, vegetables, and fruits.
"What animals are these?" asked Noriko, biting on a rib of meat, while dipping its bits into a bowl of freshly ground wasabi.
"You ask that?" Mako groaned. "While eating it?"
"Some kind of a camel," Noriko said, shrugging. "At least it's edible."
"We have ten giant pigs," Momo said, swallowing her morsel with wasabi. "Eight antelopes, five cattle of some sort, three camels, and..."
She stared at a deer-like animal, except it had huge hindlegs and small arms. Saori, most of the Rabbit girls, and some others avoided eating it.
"It's kangaroo," Miho said, biting into a rib. "Mm! It's sweet!"
"Me too!" Hana sighed in relief, on her third rib. "This is amazing!"
"Not bothered by eating a kangaroo?!" Saori gasped. "They're such cute animals!"
"This is survival," Miho explained. "You cannot be picky with what you eat."
Saori and most of the Rabbit girls sighed.
"But yeah," she said. "We now eat a lot more now."
"Perhaps it's due to the magic?" suggested Mako. "Now that you say it, after we use up our powers, we feel hungry."
"Us too!" the Duck Team roared in unison.
"Does the tree have more fruits?" asked Yuzu, looking up. "That one fruit is almost ready, I think."
"Those fruits," said Mako. "Take about six months to ripen."
Some of the girls, including Yuzu, moaned.
"Good thing we're lucky," Mako continued. "At least we have a little food."
"Can we make them grow faster?" asked Yuzu.
"Let me check that one fruit," Miho said, summoning her sword. She raised it up, in order to cut the fruit's very long pedicel.
Suddenly, a burst of energy went out of the sword, and rapidly turned the fruit from yellow to brown.
"Oh!" Miho gasped, as others watched. The blade cut through, and the fruit fell down. Miho caught it, and cracked it open.
"It's ripe!" she noted.
"Do you mean..." Saori trailed off. Everybody else summoned their own weapons, and directed the weapons to some plants. Wherever the girls pointed, bursts of energy came out, and caused the plants around them to grow faster. Some of them even pointed towards the flowers. Bursts of energy sprang out from their weapons, and the flowers wilted, then started to form fruits. However, only the yellow pods became fully brown, ready to be eaten.
"Much faster," Mako blinked, showing surprise.
"So these weapons," Azusa said, inspecting her staff. "Can not only attack enemies, but also encourage plants to grow faster?"
"Why that power?" asked Karina, as she jumped up to snatch a fruit.
"At least now," Mako said. "We can get ripe fruits faster."
"But only the immature fruits," Miho remarked. "The flowers wilted, because they are not ready to be fruits yet."
"This whole island thing!" Momo yelled again, getting into a fit as usual. "Is annoying! First, we become this Chosen-thing! Second, we are now superheroes of sort! And three, this magic-thing is both crazy and annoying!"
"You mean awesome," Anzu corrected her, munching on her dried sweet potato.
"For now," Miho said, causing her sword to disappear. "Let's pack up, get water, wasabi, and anything we need, and go."
On a strange savanna
3:30 PM; October 11, 20XX
The girls continued on their tanks, this time at a leisurely pace. The girls were driving the new savanna, which was easier to traverse, thanks to the abundance of grasses and herbs, instead of trees and bushes from before. The animals were also slightly different, as Miho noticed more camels, deer, and even wild horses and bison.
It definitely felt more like a typical "American wilderness" than the previous savanna.
"Strange," Miho noted, surveying around. "This is a different place, yet feels so...familiar."
She then gasped.
"This is just like California!" she noted. "Especially the Central Valley!"
A few girls noted, and gasped in agreement.
"Good thing!" Momo remarked, almost sarcastically. "Hopefully no zombies around!"
"There are none of them, so far," said Yuzu, teasing her. "Momo-bie."
"Why are you giving me nicknames?!" Momo screamed in annoyance. "And I am NOT a zombie!"
Miho and the others giggled, as they continued their drive up towards...anywhere.
Brrr...
Brrr...
Brrr...
The tanks groaned, as the caterpillar tracks crushed the grasses underneath, leaving behind a trail of five tracks in their wake. However, Miho noticed that only a few meters afterwards, the grasses started to rebound, as if by magic.
"This magic," Miho remarked, gazing at her chainsaw sword. "Is weird, after all."
"Now somebody is listening!" Momo blurted out.
"But does it have any limitations?" asked Miho rhetorically.
"Limitations?" Anzu asked, getting out. "Well, all we know that this magic-thing has dramatically improved our chances of survival. However, it also altered us, so that we are stronger but way, WAY taller than usual."
"I wonder why?" Miho pondered, thinking. "Is that a consequence of using magic...?"
"Are we going somewhere?" Mako interrupted.
"Oh!" Miho answered, her train of thought gone. She looked around.
Still vast expanses of grass and herb stretched throughout, dotted evenly by trees. Herds and herds of animals grazed the lands, while wolves, pumas, and even lions prowled the landscape, looking for a suitable target. The winds blew serenely, the trees and grasses dancing with them.
The girls kept on driving for miles and miles.
"Are we going somewhere?" Mako asked again.
"We're..." Miho said, looking around. "Just moving on."
"Hmm," Erwin noted. "This is like the battle of..."
She frowned, trying to think of a battle.
"Look!" Miho suddenly shouted, getting everybody's attention.
They all looked. There was a single signpost, wooden but clearly manmade.
"Nice!" Saori roared, eyeing the post with enthusiasm. "Civilization at last!"
"Let's a go!" the Rabbit girls screamed, as Karina pushed the speed boost button. The modified M3 Lee then roared, charging straight towards the signpost.
"Wait!" Miho tried to yell over the roars of engines, as more tanks drove with speed boost. "Do-don't just run towards..."
Four tanks floored their engines, and just rushed towards the signpost. Only the Panzer went at a steady pace, as Miho looked on.
The first tank to reach the signpost was the I-Go, which stopped just inches away from the wooden post. Noriko then hopped out, and so did the other girls inside the tank. Others reached the post, and eventually the Panzer arrived.
All of the girls then got out, and checked the post.
"Eh?" Karina groaned, staring at the post. "There is nothing there."
Suddenly, Miho sniffed the air.
"Hey," she began. "Do you notice-"
Pop!
She heard a small pop, then 21 more pops followed. Miho noticed something hit the back of her neck, and realized what it was.
"Tranquilizer dart!" Miho shouted, but it was too late.
All 22 girls suddenly felt drowsy, their legs weakening and stumbling.
"Oh..." Momo groaned.
"Well," Mako said, lying down immediately. "I can finally sleep."
All except Miho soon fell down to the ground, snoring and sleeping. Miho collapsed too, but knelt.
Suddenly, something glowed on her chest, although she did not notice.
"Ha...ha!" she gasped, as her body somehow resisted the sedative. The strange glow was gone, but Miho panted a little, and managed to get up.
"Who's there?!" she shouted out, raising her sword, only to wince and drop it. Although she was still awake, her body was now weaker, unable to raise the sword, which then vanished in a cloud of golden dust.
"I guess I have no choice," Miho sighed, then raised her hands in surrender, while kneeling down.
Three figures suddenly appeared, right behind her and her girls' tanks. Miho was amazed that they followed them, without being noticed. As Miho kept her hands up, she observed them.
They were dressed in strange jackets and shirts, made of leather and cotton. Squinting her eyes, Miho noticed that the clothes were covered in fur, and she realized.
Ah, she thought. They wore fur, made of lion's fur, which concealed them. That's why even I did not notice them; they were camouflaged!
She also noticed them wearing strange boots, which were also camouflaged like the rest of clothing. They also appeared to have some fur, so that it was even harder to notice. The strangest thing, however, was the three figures taking something out of their pockets, and putting feathers on top.
Miho gasped.
"Native Americans," Miho whispered, as the three figures approached. "Not Chosen Ones but...how were they able to sedate us so easily?"
Three men, dressed in unmistakable Amerindian outfits, stared at Miho with intense eyes. Although she felt nervous, she stared back with her own eyes.
A tense moment followed. The winds continued to whistle. The trees swayed. The grasses bowed. The girls continued to sleep, making snoring sounds.
"Who are you?" asked the middle man. Although all three were dressed alike, they wore something on their chest. All three wore emblems, stitched unto their shirts. However, all three were different; the middle man's had turquoise in the middle, crafted so that it looked like a beautiful amulet. Even Miho gazed at the jewel, mesmerized.
Suddenly, the left man snapped his fingers, and Miho looked at him. He also looked like the middle one, but his emblem had a strangely crafted wood, which looked like some precious timber. It was shaped to look like a lion's jaw.
"Uh..." Miho muttered, then cleared her throat. "I am Miho, one of the survivors."
The right man glared at her, but Miho reciprocated with an honest eye. The right man's emblem, however, was made of a variety of teeth, the white enamel glittering a little in the sun. In fact, the tooth emblem was shaped like a sun, with the canine teeth lining the circle like the sun's rays.
"Who are these?" the right man growled. "All of them are Chosen, but she's the only one to resist our darts!"
"But she's weak now," the middle man said. "And definitely wise enough to surrender."
"A noble soul," the left man mumbled. "But how was she able to resist?"
"I honestly do not know," Miho admitted. "We-we just survived a strange storm of sort, and managed to pass through the blue wall. We're not exactly in a bad state, but thank you."
The men stared at her, surprised but grateful for her words. Even the right man's face lost its frown, and he nodded slowly.
"Friends," the middle man said, kneeling down. "I think she and her group are not a threat."
"But let's bind them," the right man said. "For now, remember what happened when we spared one of the Chosen Ones?"
The left man hesitated, then nodded slowly.
"You got ambushed?" Miho asked.
"We were attacked by some Chosen Ones," the middle man explained, binding her with ropes. They felt...strange.
"That's why we have to take precautionary measures," the left man said, as he checked the other girls. "Mankiller, sound the call, and rally others to transport our prisoners."
Mankiller?! Miho thought with shock, although her face did not show it. Scary name...
Mankiller nodded, then breathed in and yelled.
"AYAYAYAYA-KAKAKA-MAMAMA-HATAHATA-NANANA!"
The strange shout echoed in the distance. Then, rows of men suddenly appeared from the fields, and Miho marveled at how good they were with hiding.
"For now," the middle man said, letting her stand up on her own. "We'll have to restrain you all."
As they bound her friends and carried them, Miho could not help but ask.
"Who are you?"
The three men looked at her.
"We are the Nuroks," the middle man said, before beckoning her to follow.
And that's it! Please review, like, and favorite! Thank you!
P.S. Remember that a review is posted only once per chapter, so if you have a burning question, please PM me first just in case.