Chapter 7: Knowledge and Practice

Sakamoto walked into the room to find an… interesting scene.

"Good morning, *pfff* Yoshika." Sakamoto said, trying not to laugh.

Shone came running to the door. "Sakamoto, what's going-" Looking into front of him answered the question, and gave him a laughing fit that floored him.

Yoshika woke up to find her head between… not pillows. They were soft mind you but they were definitely not pillows.

"AH!" Yoshika pushed her hands directly into the not pillows, causing Lynette to wake up a take notice to Yoshika's hands.

"EP!" And with that the blushing and drooling Lynette returned to the wonderful land of sleep.

*Thud*

That was the sound of Shone falling to the floor, laughing. Turning around, Yoshika noticed him along with Sakamoto, was laughing just as hard. 'Oh, man. One day here, and she's already gotten into mischief!" Shone said, struggling to breathe.

Sakamoto, calming down a touch, said "Yeah, you belong here."

I swear if Sakamoto is putting me in the same boat as Francesca, I'm gonna slug her…

Sakamoto, getting full control and helping Shone up, made a proposition. "So, Yoshika, you in the mood for cooking? It's 11 am, so breakfast or lunch will do." Yoshika popped out of bed with a smile (as if the previous event had never happened) and humming a little tune. Shone went over to pick up Lynette.

Lynette woke up to the smell of bacon and eggs. "Morning." Lynette looked to her side to find Shone, smiling, and to find herself sitting in a chair.

The fact she woke up in a chair didn't seem to bother her. "I had a strange dream…" She looked at Yoshika, blushing and being glad she was too busy cooking to notice.

"Hey, Sakamoto." Sakamoto got up to see what Yoshika had to say.

"Yes, Yoshika?"

"Do me a favor." Yoshika brought Sakamoto close to her. At a whisper "Don't tell Lynette about earlier, She doesn't seem to believe it happened. In fact, don't even acknowledge it."

While not entirely sure why, Sakamoto acknowledged and respected her request. Sitting down, Yoshika finished cooking the last of the eggs, and served each a plate with Bacon and Eggs. "Sorry, we're kind of low on food, it would seem. These were all I could find."

"Oh, really?" Sakamoto turned to Shone, who hasn't yet touched his food. "Shone, can you check up on the other two groups and make sure they're still good on supplies?"

"Sure."

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"As soon as I check up on that." Shone left the kitchen, going to the door.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"I'M COMING!" Shone yelled. He opened the door to find Minna, holding a large bag and a small one.

"Sorry, Shone, but I need to talk to rest of the squad."

"Sure. Sakamoto is always happy to see you." Turning around, he didn't see Minna's reaction to that. He ran to the kitchen.

"Hey, Sakamoto, guess who wants a cha-?" Shone's face nearly fell apart at the scene in front of him: Sakamoto is already done with her plate, and starting on his. "THAT'S MINE!"

"Well… you weren't eating it." Sakamoto was trying to pass on a cute face. Shone's face, however, was not impressed. He quickly snatched, and quickly scarfed down the bacon and what was left of his eggs. "YOU KNOW WE'RE RUNNING LOW ON FOOD!"

"Well…" Sakamoto scratched her head, realizing there's no way out of this.

"I figured you two would be past that." A smiling Minna came into the kitchen.

"Some things never change." Shone and Sakamoto said at the same time.

"Well, I was going to make sure you four were good on food, but I think the answer to THAT is clear."

The four looked at each other, then back and nodded. "Still, Minna, is that all you came over for?"

"Sorta." She handed Shone the large bag. "Now, get to the pier. Perrine and Erica are waiting for you on the boat."

"Boat?" Yoshika whispered to Lynette.

"It's a speedboat designed by your father for witches to use." Yoshika went starry eyed, for a split second, at the mentioning of her father.

"Okay…" Shone took the bag, and left, muttering "You know I hate going out in public..."

Minna turned to Sakamoto, holding the small bag. "So, you and Yoshika ready?" Sakamoto nodded.

"Wait, ready for what?" Yoshika asked.

"Well, your training starts today." Sakamoto signaled her to follow. Yoshika was quick to do so, but just a quick to turn around at her roommate. "What's wrong, Yoshika?"

Yoshika was remembering last night…

"Hey, why not take Lynette along?" Everyone in the room looked over at Yoshika to make sure they heard that. "What? She needs to train, better than leaving her on her own." Minna whispered something to Sakamoto, with Yoshika only making out that Shone's name came up."

"Lynette, do you believe you're up for training today." A nod was all Sakamoto got asa response. "Okay, I'll train you both. Lynette, get you weapons."

"Yes ma'am!"

"What about mine?" Yoshika asked.

"Well," Minna answered. "I'm getting that sorted out. You see, we need to head to the warehouse for some things." Sakamoto and Minna turned around. "We'll wait outside."

Yoshika turned around to find Lynette arming her weapon: A Crossbow. "Wow! THAT'S your weapon?"

"Ranged, anyway. It's lighter than it looks." Lynette said with a smile. She then picked up her Metal Kanabo. "THIS is what I said I can't wield."

"But you can lift it?" Lynette took a moment to explain that having the strength to lift something doesn't equal being able to swing it. "Oh." She shook her head. "Anyway, let's get going."

The two walked outside, nodding at Sakamoto and Minna. "Okay, let's get going." And with that, the four began their walk to their destination.

As they got closer, however, Lynette saw the warehouse and reacted as one would expect. Upon reaching the front of the building Lynette suddenly froze on the spot, and grabbed Yoshika, pulling her behind the corner. The little "ep" she let out did not go unnoticed by Sakamoto or Minna. However, in Sakamoto's attempt to stop this. Minna stopped her.

"Minna, what are you ?"

"Shh! I want to hear this."

And so, listening in while trying not to be seen, they heard the two speak.

"Lynette, are you really that scared of the warehouse, or scrapyard as you call it?"

"YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T LAUGH!"

"I'm not laughing." Yoshika tried to calm her down. "But look, we're not here to leave you. Minna just needs to pick something up." Lynette still cowered a little bit. Sighing, she grabbed Lynette's hand. "Look, if you ever feel like you'll be left behind, just hold onto me - I promise to never leave you behind!"

Lynette nodded, finally getting the ability to walk back. Minna and Sakamoto quickly and quietly went back to the door. "So, Lynette's scared of this place?"

"I think it's sweet." Minna smiled, unlocking the door. The two noticed Yoshika and Lynette walking up to the other duo.

After the door was unlocked, the four walked into the "scrap yard" that was the warehouse. Lynette was practically glued to Yoshika, not letting go. "Hey, Minna, what are we here for?"

"Well, that's quite simple." Minna says turning to look at Yoshika "We're here to find you a weapon you - can't exactly train without one." Out of blinding eagerness, Yoshika started looking around for one with Lynette slowly loosening her grip. However, Yoshika missed Minna saying "Where is it?" and tripped over some lunk of metal - taking Lynette with her - causing another comical moment between the two. Sakamoto, realizing their position, started to turn a bit red. "Jealous, Sakamoto?"

"NO!" She quickly turned around. Whilst Minna giggled as she looked over the two, until something caught their attention - voices coming from outside.

"NO, YOU DON'T NEED ANYTHING ELSE! OUR ROOM HAS ENOUGH OF YOUR CRAP IN THERE AS IT IS!"

"Come on, Gertrud, no one else uses anything in this rickety old shed besides me and you." The two walked in to find the four searching through it. "Oh, I stand corrected."

"Hey, Erica, back already?" Sakamoto asked, prompting a confused reaction from Gertrud and Erica.

"What are you talking about?" The two asked simultaneously; Minna had some explaining to do.

Meanwhile, Yoshika and Lynette finally picked themselves up, and searched for a weapon. Yoshika saw something rather large and rusted - it looked like a gun. "This looks like a tool for fighting the Neuroi!"

"Uh, Yoshika, can you lift that?"

"Sure." Yoshika tried to grab the gun, which looked to weigh more than she does. "I.. JUST.. NEED.. TO-" Her grip gave out, letting go of the weapon, flying backwards into a pile of metal.

"YOSHIKA!" Lynette ran to make sure she was okay - she was. However, Yoshika pulled something out of the pile that broke her flight - what appeared to be a melted Striker Unit.

"Lynette, what happened to it?" Yoshika started to have some nightmarish images in her head of what kind of Neuroi it would take to do that.

"That's Shone's first Striker Unit."

Oh thank goodness.

"He's the reason we've added metal to its shell." Yoshika had a laugh at the believability of Shone melting one of these, when Erica became informed.

"WHAT! SHONE'S WAITING FOR ME AT THE DOCKS?!"

"Perrine, too." Minna innocently added. Like a speeding bullet, Erica took off. Gertrud took her attention away from her teammate (for once) and placed it on Minna.

"You never told us…"

"I didn't?" Minna scratched her head, in a manner Sakamoto usually does. "Oops…" Gertrud merely shook her head and left. "Now, where were we? Oh, yes, Now I remember where it is!" Minna stopped searching through the ground and looked up on one of the walls. "I actually hung it up where it belongs." Minna grabbed a sword off the wall, and gave it to Sakamoto, and then pulled out a pistol of some sort. "You can thank Gertrud for putting this together for you. I picked it up this morning."

Sakamoto came to a realization. "That's when you noticed they were running out of food, huh?" Minna smiled and nodded. Minna turned around, signaling Yoshika and Lynette to follow. After the four of them left the warehouse, Minna looked over to the three.

"Okay, Sakamoto, you know what to do." And with that, Minna turned around and went back to the base.

"Okay, you two, let's go to the runway!" The three went to sit down on the runway, which wasn't too far of a walk from their position.

After spending nearly a week on the Akagi, nothing will ever beat that.

"Sakamoto?" Yoshika asked. "Is it safe to be here? I mean, what if an Airplane needs to take off or-"

"Don't worry, this may have ONCE been a military base, but it's now just our little island - more or less." Sakamoto smiled, and handed Yoshika the gun that Minna gave her, along with some ammo. "First off, you need a gun." Yoshika was given what looks like a pistol. It was a bit bigger, with a noticeably larger magazine for the gun.

"Another one?" Yoshika looked to her side, revealing she still has the pistol Minna gave her.

"This one was made personally by Gertrud, you remember her, right?"

"CHRIS!" Yoshika's flashback began and ended in a second. Yeah, like I could forget…

"Well, her magic allows her to build things, like your pistol. Gertrud says it's basically a machine pistol." Yoshika started to enter her wonderland once more, trying to imagine what all Gertrud could do.

"She's doing that weird thing again…" Lynette said.

"Now, here's your melee weapon." Yoshika, popping back to reality, accepted the blade being offered to her, and just… stared at it.

"So, why give me this over anything else?"

"Cause it's a ninja sword!" Sakamoto started to sweat a bit at Yoshika AND Lynette's silence. "And neither of you understand the significance of that, do you?" Both girls shook their heads.

Damn it…

"Huh, okay, do either of you even know what a ninja is?" The two girls nodded. "Okay, good, now what makes this important is that ninjas were Fuso's first ever group of magic users!"

"WHAT!" Yoshika yelled out, causing Lynette to plug her eyes for split second. "Really?!"

"Yep!" The fist-pumping Sakamoto said. "Back in the days of war-bound Empires of Fuso, they learned magic to defend themselves from Empires and their Samurai."

"HOW?" Yoshika started to, more or less, teleport around Sakamoto, asking questions.

This caused Sakamoto to grab Yoshika by the head, and calmly (comedically) placed the now pouting Yoshika next to Lynette. "Now, that's a story for another day."

"How do you do that?" Lynette asked.

"Huh?"

"How to you so effortlessly lift things like that? No offense, but Shone's muscles are more defined than your, yet I've seen you lift more than him… how?"

"Well, Lynette, that's actually a great place to start, since you both need to learn about magic. It's a form of Enhancement Magic!"

"Huh? Enhancement Magic?" The two girls asked.

"Yep!" I should have sent these girls to a train camp somewhere first. "This kind of magic allows someone to add magic into something and increase its property. There are two types of it: we'll call them types A and B. Both involve putting your magic into the object... " Sakamoto took out her sword, and lifted her eye-patch. "With Type A, your magic gives your weapon properties of your magic. For example, my magic is piercing magic-" Sakamoto pointed to her left eye "-especially in my eye. However, I can add it to my sword to make it pierce defenses, be it magic or armor base." Sakamoto drew her Samurai Sword as it began to glow purple. "See? I can also do so with my gun, as can you two." Sakamoto smiled, closing her eye patch. She then proceeded to lift her cannon-grade machine gun with one hand. "This is known as Type B. Here, you use the magic to enhance the object's natural abilities instead of adding your own. In this case, I'm enhancing my muscles!"

Yoshika, as should be expected, was amazed by this, with Lynette at least being impressed.

"Sadly, you two won't be reaching that just yet. First, you need to get yourselves more combat ready." Yoshika now had a look of disappointment, whereas Lynette had a more binal look.

Well, what WAS Yoshika expecting?

Sakamoto reached into her bag, and gave them both Striker Units. "Now, we have two major things you two need to improve: Magic control and physical prowess."

Great. Both girls thought.

Sakamoto got an aura around her once more, one showing authority. "Now, I'm not going to go easy on you two, go it?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

"Good! Now, we're going to haul ass around the base 3 times!"

And thus began the next week of hard training. While each day had the pattern changed up, each one involved:

Running up and down the runway for as long as they could, and then to push themselves a bit farther.

Flying through the air in Strike Units, which drained their magic like nothing else. Which was almost always followed by some other third thing, be it repeating one of the two previous exercises, or simply practicing with their weapons on their own. It was tiring none the less, two days in.

So, needless to say, it was exhausting by the sixth day.

It's the Akagi all over again! Yoshika still smiled, or tried to with her being in the middle of running around. But it's not too bad, I guess. Yoshika looked over to Lynette. This certainly has it's benefits.

Yoshika, not focusing on balance, fell over and on the pavement, cutting her knee a bit.

"Yoshika!" Lynette stopped running, and turned around to help her. "Are you okay?"

"Don't worry Lynette, I'm fine." Yoshika placed her hand over the small wound. "I'm a doctor, remember?" The blood stopped, and the wound began to heal. "See, no need to worry!"

Lynette simply smiled and helped her up. "Good to know. Well, it's the end of the day, and Sakamoto doesn't seem to be around, so-"

"Giving up already?" They turned around to see Gertrud facing them. "Lynette, I was starting to think you're taking your training serious." Lynette didn't look the abrasive witch in the eyes, which have now turned their attention to Yoshika. "And you - I though a Miyafuji would be more dedicated!" The two girls looked at each other, with Gertrud walking past them to stare at the sunset. "You see, you two need to understand the threats of being here. The Neuroi could attack at any moment, and you never know if you end up being one of the ones having to put your lives on the line!" She looked back to the girls. "You two will both need to-"

"Gertrud, that's enough!" All three noticed Sakamoto walk up behind them. "I was letting them work on their own. Frankly, I'm surprised they didn't call quits earlier. I'll handle them from here, thank you."

And with that, Gertrud turned around and walked back to her condo, clearly not in a good mood.

"Okay, girls, we have one thing to do for today. We have one last thing to do today, some magic training."

The tired witches sighed. "Okay, give us the striker units."

"Oh, no, not today. Today, I'm teaching you to reach your familiar."

"Our what?" Lynette asked.

These girls are just fucking with me now, right? "Well, every person has a spirit animal, right? Well, learning how to access yours is the first true step to learning how to control magic."

Yoshika looked over to Lynette, both nodding their heads. "Than what was the point of having us do this for six days?"

"Well, Yoshika, that was a test of you will."

The two nearly fell on the ground at that revelation.

"Pick yourselves up." Sakamoto deadpanned. "Now, to access your spirit animal, it's merely concentration, and flow of magic. Ignore everything else."

And the two girls followed their instructor/officers orders. To the trio's surprise, Lynette was able to activate her animal.

"Cat ears?" She said. "Wait, how do I know that?"

"Tail, too." Yoshika said, point to Lynette's back.

"Oh…" Lynette sat there, looking at Sakamoto. "So, now what?" Sakamoto just shrugged. Lynette proceeded to freak out and run around. "WHAT AM I GOING TO DO?! I DON'T WANT TO BE A CAT GIRL! OH CRAP! OH CRAP! OH CRAP! OH CRAP!"

"I honestly think she's a cute cat girl." Yoshika giggled. "Sakamoto, is this normal?"

"No, normally Erica's the one running around."

Yoshika smiled back, getting up. Lynette stopped running like a chicken without it's head to find Yoshika squeezing her ears. "Wow! So realistic!"

"NOT HELPING!" Lynette yelled, a bit angry now. Also confused to find Yoshika giggling about being yelled at.

"Let me see." Sakamoto then proceeded to feel the ears, and tail too.

This is just wrong….

ME NEXT!

"Impressive, Lynette, I didn't think you'd get it one your very first try." Excellent magic control if I've seen it. "Lynette, just calm down, and stop using magic, you'll go back to normal. Yoshika, Your turn."

Yoshika was able to quickly do so, but with less success. Sakamoto feeling them proved so. "They feel too fake. Let's try again."

Yoshika, waiting some time, had them disappear. She would continue to repeat that process until Sakamoto eventually stopped her.

"Look, you need a break. I say we go back to the condo, and you can try again tomorrow." A frowning Yoshika nodded, but promised to wait until tomorrow to continue.

However, this was a lie. After the other two went to sleep, she got out of bed, went outside the condo, and began to practice. I'm not quitting… I need to do this… I WILL do this

Though hours of work went by with no better results. Yoshika, using what little of her brain was awake, went back to her room, and being careful not to wake Lynette up, put on her strike unit. I seem to use my magic a bit better with one of these. I just need practice…

Lynette woke up to find herself to be alone, which was odd - Yoshika normally leaves the door cracked open as a signal for Lynette. Getting out of bed, she left the room and went into the kitchen to find Shone making something to eat., with Sakamoto simply waiting. "Morning, Lynette."

"Morning, Shone. Breakfast fend for yourself?"

"Yeah, unless you feel like waking up Yoshika."

"Sure I will, where is she?" Sakamoto and Shone looked at her, with Shone dropping his bowl, luckily it didn't break.

"So, you don't know where she is?" Sakamoto, Shone, and Lynette all asked at once. With all three failing to provide answers, they fled the room to find her.

"The Bathroom!" Shone ran inside, checking any place she could be. "Yoshika?"

Not in the tub.

Nor in the sink.

Nor in the toilet.

"She's not in here!"

"She's not in the guest room, either!" Lynette yelled

"Found her!" Sakamoto yelled. The two followed the voice to find Sakamoto outside, looking at a sleeping Yoshika, with fox ears and a matching tail.

Wow. It's been over a year since I've started this. Damn. And to think that people still read this. It means a lot, honestly. Sorry for the lack of updates. Life keeps getting more hectic. But on the plus side, I'm going to start publishing my own original works at some point. So that's nice. But I'll get onto the character ID Card since last chapter didn't have one.

Name: Mio Sakamoto

Nickname: Dead-Eye Mio (Coined and used by Kyle)

Age: 20

Birthplace: Fuso

Affiliation: 501st Joint Fighter Wing

Status: Combat Officer, Squad Leader (Unofficial)

Magic: Piercing Magic (Unofficial)

Weapon(s): Fuso Samurai Sword

Likes: Training, 501st Division, Minna

Dislikes: Neuroi, Acts of Stupidity

Notes: With a rare type of magic that no other living witch possesses, recruiting Sakamoto into the Strike Witches Program was inevitable. Seen as one of the most powerful witches currently recruited, Sakamoto proudly brags about how the 501st has never lost a wingman in or out of combat. As a side not in this version, she is given an incredible appetite on account of her magic consumption.