Ah, and another hiatus... my apologies. Oh... and I have a twitter which you can find in my profile bio, in which you have permission to shout at me for not getting a chapter done or to have a chat or something. Put it in bitly form since I don't want people from my past having something else to make my life slightly more difficult
I changed my pen name if you didn't notice. Previously known as Walking Lolsaster... hopefully that would stop any one thinking this story would be one! Also updated my profile in general, take a look if you want to.
Constructive criticisms, reviews and suggestions always welcome.
Disclaimer: Don't own Strike Witches or anything related.
Herausforderer | Courtyard Arc – Chapter 8: Soviet Origins
"Put more effort in your swing Miyafuji!"
"Hai!"
Another weekend, another day, and another tough session of training for the new recruit. Despite it being a Saturday, there was no let up in the intensity and pace of Sakamotos' regime, and any sign of displeasure from Yoshika would lead to a lap around the castle... which even Perrine would call overkill.
Speaking of Perrine, she was once again watching the duo outside through her window, using her binocular stand for a restful and long view, she once again had to wipe her glasses, fuming at the extra attention the new recruit was receiving this early in the day. She felt that she was once again being undermined by this, this... raccoon!
"Taking my Mi- teacher... how dare she!" She hoarsely grumbled under her breath, fidgeting with her feet, grinding the floor beneath her with no sorrow.
"Watcha doin'?" The floor found relief when Perrine was startled by a curious yet knowing Francesca, who was grinning ear to ear at the display.
"N-n-n-none of your business Lucchini!" She shouted in a mixture of anger and embarrassment towards the youngest member of the wing, whose grin grew wider with a giggle to add.
"Not addressing me by rank, eh? Not like ya at all!" Trying to wind up the Frenchwoman more, she continued her bothering, but said subject clocked on quickly.
"Oh bug off will you, I'm busy-um..."
"Spying? I understand! Haha~"
Her laughing was cut short by a pair of binoculars hitting her directly in the face.
Shirley was not pleased to say the least.
The training didn't stop for Claire either, who spent another weekend attuning her body to her magic and focusing on getting it to work as it used to, which seemed like an eternity from when it was back in Europe. Though it wasn't impossible to make something work out of all the magic she had and the type it was, it lacked something... an effectiveness which could only be attained again through training and concentration. Through that she could begin to use more advanced techniques other than a simple ball of energy.
But even something as simple as that can be refined and concentrated and given a purpose different than the original. Something to suit any situation and produce the desired outcome instead of it just being a blast, fixated to the hand without the option of tossing it about if the strength in her legs had failed her.
It all adds up she reasoned, and it drove her to get to work and work on it. Of course, she told herself that she might not even need to do what she was doing, but the nagging doubt in her mind never faded, and the threat to extreme and possible in this day and age that she had to be prepared just in case. It wasn't just a matter of protecting herself but the people around her, despite her disdain for the majority of them... it simply had to be done.
But whenever she tried to do something extreme with her energy flow, she felt restricted... as if bound by something stopping her using her magic to it's full potential. She quickly regarded it as the lack of use, and hoped the training would 'loosen' in a sense her magic so it could be manipulated fully and ingeniously to her own will. But this other, new nagging feeling that arrived along with the feeling of dread over another attack, intrigued her greatly, with a hungry want developing to figure it out.
So when one of her few friends who lived across the street decided to visit, it put a dent in the plans and a small frown on her face.
The person in question was a women by the name of Naomi in her twenties with a thin figure and dyed pink hair with thin black glasses. She wore a a thick jacket which covered her simple, white long sleeved top. Her jeans looked new or at least not worn often, with Claire thinking it might have been a spare...
"God knows where she was last night..." Claire though, ignoring her atheism since the phrase worked and no-one gave a damn on being 'correct' if that was the right term.
"Hey! What's... up..?" Naomi trailed off as she noticed the sizeable hole in the wall in the hallway, her jaw dropping and eyes widening while fixating at the nearly a metre wide hole and the charred surroundings.
"Uh yeah... you really don't wanna ask." She responded, waving her hands in the air at the same to try and distract her friend from the damage, hoping it would work as she was distracted pretty easily.
"Why are you're hands so red?"
"Yes! It worked! It-"
"You don't have someone upstairs do you?"
The teenager face-palmed in sheer disbelief, half hiding the annoyed anger on her face over such a question.
"Shouldn't you be saving the slapping for-"
"Shut. Up."
"Ok!" It was quirk of Naomi's that Claire had to deal with almost every visit, but at least it wasn't a boring one.
"Look, what do you want?" Claire snapped unintentionally, eager to know why the friend from across the road was visiting.
"Oh Claire darling no need to be so harsh..." She trailed off once more noticing the increasingly growling scowl and the quickening tapping of her foot. "...um, ah! I was just wondering if you wanted to check out this new MMO from Japan! You know how good they are from there, they never get disturbed do they!" Claire intervened to stop the slightly nervous babbling from the women.
"Sure, why not?" And she had to admit, she was interested... plus it would make a nice change. "But not for too long, I have other stuff to do."
"No problemo Clairio-"
"Please stop."
"Ok!"
"Jane, that's the fifth time we've had Venetian troops here... five times you've blown a chunk out of the training ground..."
"...is that bad?"
The anger from Federica beamed into Jane as the commanding officer proceeded to give the American a long, loud telling off, being ordered to clean the rooms of the witches Venetian base. When Jane accidentally slipped up with a growling sigh, she was banned from the training ground for a week, and forced to only train in the air with special permission.
"Bullshit" She murmured as she swept the floor of Patricas' room as she reflected on the moment, angry that she couldn't develop he ability and shake a nagging feeling in the back of her mind, as if something was soon going to happen...
She just couldn't put her finger to it.
"Ya still mad?" Jane jumped as she heard the stoic voice of her recently new girlfriend talk to her from the doorway. Dominica still had the monotone look and voice, but it had a caring edge to it from Janes' perspective nowadays, only to her... but it was an improvement.
"Y-yeah of course I am!" She spoke loudly, her voice cracking as she did so, making her blush in the process. The dark-haired witch at the doorway walked towards the blushing blonde, who was grasping the broom tightly. Dominica could hear the wood groaning, and before she could hear it splitting and braking, she softly untangled Janes' hands from the object, resting it on the side of the wall.
"Ya need to calm down" She whispered, pulling Jane closer into her embrace. Jane tugged the older girls jacket in protest.
"But... I want to be the best..."
"So... why don't ya refine ya attacks?" Jane looked up, a questioning look on her face, unsure of what to make of the statement. Wasn't that what she was already doing?
"Uh... I mean, damn... there's a word for it ya know?" Jane continued to stare are Dominica with a bewildered look, searching for a word herself to help her, but coming up with nothing.
"Ah, efficient?"
Suddenly it dawned upon Jane what Dominica was getting at. "Oh? You mean putting learning to put more power into a smaller attack or something?"
"Yeah, sure... hn." Jane sighed, but held Dominica strongly, appreciative of the idea, before letting go, walking towards the window looking out to the beauty of the city of Venice, it's unique architecture still stunning Jane, the canals gleaning in the sunlight.
"Sorry, you know me... I change-"
"I know, ya don't have to worry Sunshine... I get ya."
Before the two could go on, the occupant of the room returned after her lunch. Startled by the presence of the two in her room, she cautiously made her presence known to them.
"I-I wasn't disturbing anything w-was I?" The couple looked towards the source of the voice, Jane reacting the most to it as she felt startled once again. After a quick conversation, Jane grabbed hold of her broom and one of Dominicas' hands as she charged out, blushing once again.
"Those two should really stick to their own room..."
Monday morning started off like any other morning for Claire as she shot upwards from that same nightmare that plagued her for so long. Annoyed at her lack of sleep thanks to her being preoccupied with games and anime with her one of two friends, she rubbed her eye and the once concealed, got up and got washed and dressed for the start of the first full school week after the Christmas break... which wasn't much of a break for her. Remembering to brush her teeth mid-way through the routine, she readied herself a quick breakfast, chucked some custard creams and school work into her black rucksack and headed off towards her bus stop.
The journey was like any other, stopping and starting and stopping again, like it would on any other workday. The same old and young people, the same vibe of depression and annoyance for all the same reasons, getting off the bus was always a good thing despite whatever the weather threw at you to make you think otherwise. She treated the walk from the bus stop to the school complex as a nice warm up, getting her body working, particularly up the hill which only really ever had cars from the owners of the houses littered along side it.
Saying that, it was odd to see a dark blue Xsara appear out of no where from the bottom of the hill and park not to far from the bottom of it. But considering the time of day and how crowded it could get on the road by the complex, it was understandable. That, and another car parked just before a little junction to another street that went behind the complex.
"I'm lookin' too much into things..."
The first lesson of the day fortunately was in her tutor room; Science, and the topic of the day was something close to home and unfortunately timed considering the recent events... Magic Science. Despite the ironic name it was a mandatory subject considering the importance of it and the developments over the decades and centuries, including the ethical and social side which always earned a few extra marks in the Magic Science paper.
"Oh God why can't we just do Physics instead?!" She cried internally, not looking forward to the awkwardness at all.
And as it so happened, Claire was the student to be asked the most questions... not just by her teacher, Sarah, but even by other students which actually seemed to have a genuine interest for the most part, which surprised Claire immensely. By the end of the lesson, and interesting round up was presented by Sarah which seemed to refocus the class despite break time being minutes away, making Sarah count her blessings internally considering how rowdy the class usually was.
"It has been suggested and theorised that it may be possible to harness magical energy into a separate substance, the main ethical issue being that it must come directly from another witch."
Claire stared intently, never hearing of such a theory.
"A proposed object would be some sort of crystal, but as there is no naturally occurring crystal with the capabilities of storing not just the magical essence... but the, oh how do I say this? Hmm, the soul of the magic itself, any experiments would be pointless."
"Wait... are you saying that, the magic that a witch 'as can be completely transferred to somethin' else? Does that mean that that witch would no longer be a witch?" A boy with freckles and a good build questioned.
"Yes and yes... and I think at that we'll leave it, but have a think about it. It might be in a question as a starter so be aware!"
At that, the class began packing away, Claire moving slowly as she processed the idea in her head.
"I don't want that happening to me. Wait a second, what happens to the trait? Does it stay or not?" Claire cursed her luck that she forgot to ask those questions earlier, and being halfway down the congested stairway to the courtyard, it wouldn't be wise to try and go back to the class to ask.
"Sigh, I'll just wait until tomorrow... hopefully she's in, don't have Science tomorrow" She groaned as well, thinking that on top of that she would likely forget the question all together.
The contrast between the warm-ish air inside the building against the cold winter air blasted her face, but felt refreshing compared to the stale air breathed by hundreds of teenagers. Not feeling hungry, she decided that she would simply walk over to the other side of the yard, noticing Nick by the other set of doors.
On the note of doors, she quickly looked over to the complex entrance, which was being blasted to pieces by blue energy. Almost as instantly as she turned her gaze to the broken glass and material beginning to fly through the air and skip across the concrete ground, she called upon her familiar, her black cat ears and tail appearing signifying that her magic was activated, and spawned a tiny shield from her hand. It blasted from her hand and expanded in front of several students, containing the blast and deadly shards of material... in barely a few seconds.
"Shit! Who is she?!" Claire exclaimed, hoping someone could have caught a glimpse of a known witch.
"She?" A distinctly male voice with an iconic Russian accent spoke through the dust and debris, Claires visible eye widened in shock.
"They're wizards now or something?!"
The man could be seen increasingly clear now as he walked out of the settling dust, his white hair and facial hair made him appear old, but he was probably only in his thirties. He sported a menacing grin, but had no weaponry that could of created the blue streams of energy. Claire then noticed something attached to his back, looking oddly similar to a jet pack, but could not see the entire configuration of the device, but she instantly concluded that it had something to do with the blue energy that blasted the doors and walls to burnt smithereens.
"I'm guessing you're 'The Girl From Karlsruhe'?"
"I'm surprised you know me from something like that! Who are you?!" "How does he know where I used to live before.."
"I don't think that's very important little girl. I've been told to capture you and considering my prize for doing so, I'm gonna make sure it is done." The grin devolved into a determined smile as he remembered his promises...
"But what about my daughter?!" He shouted, his need for this key question to be answered overwhelming him.
"I'll insure her safety within the regime, in fact... I can request for her to be sent over to you."
"..."
The general, reading the man thoughts through his face, continued: "And if you fail... well...
...I heard the orphanage might have to be closed down." He focused once more on the target ahead of him, continuing to conserve his energy within his device strapped tightly to his back.
"I'll ask again! Who are you?!" His target shouted with conviction, intent on knowing his identity.
"Hah, ok then. I'm a Sotnik, or Captain in English, of a secret ex-Soviet, now Russian project to create Wizards out of Witches... my name is Malaniv."
"Oh what a coincidence" "Well... at least we have something in common, we're both Captains, so this should be interesting." She powered down, no longer in her witch state, unknowingly now in a same state as her soon to be opponent.
"Tell me though, what do you mean 'create Wizards out of Witches'?"
"You sure you want to know? You surely know how brutal the Soviets were... I don't think a timid soul such as-" Claire interrupted him.
"Spare me the bullshit and tell me." Her patience ran thin in such a situation, becoming very demanding for the information she did not currently know.
"Ok, ok girl... fine."
"Even during the final days of the Tsardom in imperial Russia, attempts were being made to eliminate the need for witches, women being regarded as inferior and controlling, as they still were during that time."
"So, as the threat of war become evident in Europe, as well as the growing threat of Communism, the Tsar and the military came up with a plan to extract magic from witches for use by trained men."
"The first obstacle was finding something that would contain the magic, and where better to look then Siberia? Hidden among the wastelands were dozens of caves, and when explored contained hundreds of crystals. We named them 'Soul Crystals', thanks to their vast capabilities. But we were of course interested in the magic sealing property."
"During the war, we first captured witches from allies and enemies alike... I think one of them was a healing witch, Greek I think..."
"Many died through the experiments that lasted through the regime and survived into the establishment of the Federation, but a breakthrough was made before the collapse of the Union, the crystals were stabilised, the witches survived... though debilitated, and the first generation of crystal infused jet-packs were created, with boys as young as 5 being taken for the next stage of development."
"I was one of them... during that time, I saw my friends and strangers die... I was forced to work as an operative in the re-branded secret services..." He trailed off, seeming to struggle with the end of his monologue.
"I found someone, but she... they took her away from me, and my daughter. Something happened, and I was blamed.. I need this to get my girl back, to make sure she's safe." He looked determined to not let a single tear slip, and succeeded, composing himself.
"And your gonna be my ticket to her safety!" He shouted with conviction towards Claire, who simply shook her head, almost dismissively.
"I'm sorry, but I'm not your ticket Captain." She composed herself into a battle stance, he right arm outstretched while her left was closer to her chest, her legs bending slightly, her right moving backwards.
"No magic huh? Fine, lets finish this quickly then!"
He began his charge towards the 14 year old girl... a straight up, non-magic fight looking as if it would be an easy win...
Right?
I've already mentioned that I've changed around some of the ages, most of them are season 1 ages (so use the Strike Witches wiki for that), but for others I've either made them a year younger or a bit more younger for the story.
In this story, Jane is 15 while Dominica is 16. Any other age changes I'll let you all know. I remember saying Mio is a year younger so I can have her using magic at full potential for just a little longer. And remember Claire is 14, though her birthday is coming up... which is bound to be a surprise (spooooooolieeeeers).
Again, sorry for the hiatus. Please feel free to leave a review or ask me about the story through a review, always welcome. The next chapter should be up soon, and this was going to be a double upload, but I need to update at some point to show I'm not dead.
