Chapter 13 - Pump it!
Toshiro arrived at the shooting range, and he immediately saw the trolley on which he transported that 'not-so-perfect' training armor here. He opened the small gate in the wall. On the right, just before the shooting stand he saw a small crater. He drew closer, and saw that it was filled with bloody iron fragments.
The proof that I nearly died…
There were also other pieces of armor, fairly intact from the barrage Mio served him. He grabbed the forearm and upper arm parts, tied the straps together on each, and lifted them up.
Fairly heavy, should be enough for starters.
He went for the trolley, loaded up the rest of the junk, and exited the shooting range. Toshiro decided to go between the nearby trees and do some lifting with his makeshift dumbbells. After he found a good place, he removed his shirt, tied it around his waist and started his workout. The metal was clanking with each pull up, and it made Toshiro fall into some kind of bodybuilder trance. After a few minutes, he suddenly heard a shout above him:
"Lucchini Pounce!"
He turned around with a twitch, twisting his upper body and bending himself slightly back. He saw Lucchini leaping down on him from the tree, with her arms extended in a lecherous pose. Unfortunately, the inertia of the spin caused his 'dumbbell' to straighten his arm and make an arc with it. Lucchini got smacked in the face with an iron plate, and fell to the ground like a rock.
"OH SHIT! Lucchini!"
He dropped his gear and immediately inspected Lucchini.
I feel no broken bones… No loose teeth either… She's breathing normally… Remarkable, a normal man would drop dead after such a hit, but she will only have a nice big bruise probably…
He grabbed her shoulder and started shaking her gently:
"Lucchini… Hey, Lucchini, wake up. Lucchini…"
He started shaking her harder, to no avail. Then, an idea so cunning that one could paint it red, attach a tail and call it a fox went through his mind.
"Lucchini, Shirley's boobs, 12 o' clock high!"
As if she was hit by a bolt of lightning, she jumped up and grabbed what she thought were Shirley's tits.
"Aaaaaaw, you tricked meeee!" sShe said almost crying.
"Hahaha!" He laughed out in a friendly tone. "Anyway…" He suddenly got serious. "Does it hurt?"
"Does whaAAAAAAAA OWOWOWOWOWOW!" She screamed in pain.
She is so thick that the pain only got to her right now…
"Calm down, please." Toshiro picked up one of his makeshift training accessories, undid the straps, and placed the cold iron slab against her cheek.
"Aaaaaaah…. Betteeeeeeer…" Lucchini said after a moment "You know; you don't hit a lady just because she surprised you…"
"I'm sorry… But you scared the broad daylight out of me for a second and well… The physics did the rest…"
"You'll have to make it up for me you know…" She said in a said voice.
How could I possibly… Oh! OOOOOH! I didn't do that trick since a while, but I think I still have it in me!
"Lucchini, you're in for a show of your lifetime!"
"Huh?"
Toshiro stood up and took a few steps back. He lifted both his arms, closed his eyes and concentrated. His body wasn't one of an avid bodybuilder, but you could call him ripped and buffed. He would probably look good with spiked knuckles on his hands.
Suddenly, one of his pecks twitched.
"Oh!" Lucchini almost jumped out of surprise.
Then his other peck twitched.
"OH!"
Then Toshiro's pecks started jumping around, both at a time, one after another et cetera. Lucchini was simply mesmerized by this display of body control. At least until he opened his eyes.
"UWAAAAAAA! MONSTER!" Lucchini screamed in panic and in a split second she was back on the tree where she initially was.
Oh crap, not that stuff again… Sheeesh, are those eyes really that terrifying? Well, to be honest I never saw them myself… Now I have to get her down the tree…
"Lucchini…" He said softly.
"Go away…" She said and started crying.
"Lucchini…"
"G'WAY!"
After a few seconds of awkward silence he tried for the third time:
"Franny, please…"
She forced herself to open her eyes. She didn't see a demon, she saw a young man with jet black eyes, looking with a kind smile on his face, and his arm extended to her. She crawled on the branch closest to him, took his hand and jumped down. Then she sat under the tree and with a voice full of melancholy said:
"For a second you reminded me of my father… He always called me Franny when I didn't want to climb of a tree… I miss my parents; they stayed in Romagna, because it's rather peaceful there, despite a hive hovering over the nearby Venezia…"
"Don't worry, Lucchini…" Toshiro said and sat beside her.
"Please, call me Francesca, Lucchini is too official…" She said while maintaining a gloom look.
"Ok, Francesca, cheer up, there will be a day when you will reunite with your parents… At least you have them..."
"Oh… Toshiro… What about your…"
"I left my sickly mother in Fuso without a proper goodbye. My father died when I was twelve, but I never had the occasion to see him. His grave is just a few kilometers from here…"
"Oh…" She didn't know what to say, so she hugged him. "You know, that flat chest of your has its merit: I can hear your heart beating…" She looked up and smiled.
"Heh… Oh, before you ask, those eyes you saw – it was my familiar's feature. Don't be afraid, I won't bite hahaha!" He laughed.
"Heehee!" She snickered.
"Oh, how is that face of your now?"
She poked the place where she was hit, and let out a small 'Ouch'. There was a big violet bruise there, but nothing more serious.
"I'll manage."
"Visit Yoshika, she can heal it. If anyone asks, tell the truth, I'll face them on my own."
"Got it!" She said cheerfully and climbed the tree again.
"Hey, will the noise of my weights bother you?"
"Nah, I can sleep besides a running engine, so I'll manage." She said with a big grin.
"Okay!"
Toshiro reassembled one of his weights, and trained for another hour.
After that, he put his weights on the trolley, and made his way to the hangar. Lucchini probably heard that, and jumped down the tree and on the trolley.
"Full speed ahead!" She commanded.
"Yes ma'am!" He responded with a smile.
He activated his full magic power and speeded through the whole road to the hangar with an incredible velocity.
After they arrived, Lucchini was simply exploding with joy.
"Again!"
"Maybe later, Francesca. Now its breakfast time and my nose tells me I'll have some kind of training later on…"
"Awwww…. Okay…" She said clearly disappointed.
They both went slowly to the dining room. When they arrived, everyone was already there, of course with the notable exception on Sanya.
Everyone looked at them. First Toshiro, then Francesca, back and forth.
Toshiro blushed slightly, and said:
"Oh right, the shirt."
And he put it on, but the stares didn't stop.
"Toshiro… Do you by chance know what happened to Lucchini?" Shirley said with an angry look.
"Oh… Well, an accident while I was training…"
"Please, explain further." Shirley's look went even angrier.
And Toshiro did just that, omitting few minor details.
"Scary eyes? Do show!" Shirley said.
If I remember correctly, the ones that didn't see my snake eyes were Shirley, Sanya (probably), Eila and Perrine (because of the helmet).
"Oh well, might as well show you guys now, just to avoid confusion in the future. The funny thing is I don't know how they look like heehee…"
He closed his eyes, activated his magic and slowly raised his eyelids.
"WOAH! COOL!" Shirley shouted.
"Oh!" Eila silently gasped.
"W-w-w-what…" Perrine tried saying something but was paralyzed from fear.
He deactivated his magic, and Perrine was clearly relieved.
"Okay, you saw it? I'd prefer to eat now…"
The breakfast was the same as yesterday, only this time Lynne managed to pour the milk herself.
After Toshiro ate his portion and went from the table, the Major spoke to him:
"Hey, Toshiro, we will be conducting shooting practice today. Come with me to the hangar. Oh, and here's a present for you" She threw him something.
Toshiro looked at what he caught – it was a 4-mag ammo pouch for his Mauser. Judging by the weight it was full, but he peeked inside nonetheless. He unbuttoned the first compartment, and found a fully loaded striper clip there. He closed it, and proceeded to attach the pouch to his belt. He undid the buckle and pulled out the left side. Then he slipped it through the two loops on the back of the pouch, and returned the belt to the original position. His new ammo pouch was now safely fastened to his belt just behind his left trouser pocket.
"Heh, thanks Major, I totally overlooked the fact that I only had one clip with me…"
"No problem, now come, we have training to do!"
They walked into the hangar, and Mio walked right to the spare weapon rack. She picked up the Boys AT rifle and some spare mags.
"Here, take this Toshiro."
"Kay."
"That will be all, the stuff we need today. Let's go to the shooting range. Oh, and good job on cleaning up the armor from the range, much appreciated."
"No problem, but to be honest I want to use the armor pieces as weights, if you don't mind."
"Weights? Well, we don't 'normal' weights, so if it works out for you, it's fine with me."
"Thanks, Mio."
After a few minutes, they came to their destination. The Major started explaining:
"Today I want you to fire this rifle at the targets. The distance is about five hundred meters, so a miss would be embarrassing. What I want you to learn is the difference between firing with various degrees of magic support, and maybe something special in the end. Go to the center most stand."
"Understood."
Toshiro walked into the center stand.
"Okay, prepare to shoot without any magic."
Toshiro unlocked the bolt with a loud 'click' and pulled it back with an even louder 'clack'. He put in the magazine with five .55 rounds, and pushed the bolt forward and locked it. He decided to shoot from a standing position, which was a tad risky, given the enormous recoil, so he placed his right leg far back. He looked through the sights, and aligned them with the target afar.
"Ready to fire."
"Commence fire!
He squeezed the trigger lightly and slowly, so he wouldn't flinch.
BOOM!
An ear deafening sound was produced upon firing the weapon. The recoil was tremendous, but Toshiro managed to hold the weapon.
"An eight!" She used her Magic Eye to judge the result of Toshiro's shot. "Reload! Activate magic, but not the Super Strength!" The Major shouted from his side.
Toshiro reloaded the rifle, activated his magic and took aim. This time, he had the feeling as if he was watching through a pair of low power binoculars. His vision was narrower than normally, but he could see the target more clearly, and he felt as if the rifle was a tad lighter.
"Ready!"
"Fire!"
BOOM!
This time the recoil was almost half the strength of the previous shot.
"A nine! Reload, and now use Super Strength!"
Thus, he did exactly that.
Now, Toshiro felt as if he was holding just a twig. He felt so reassured by this sudden surge of strength, that he risked shooting the rifle one handed. He just grabbed the rifle as if it was a pistol, and aimed.
BOOM!
The recoil was barely to be felt by him.
"Unbelievable, a ten! Good job!" Mio shouted. "But don't get cocky yet. Now, I want you to shoot a round similar to what did on the Akagi."
"On the Akagi?" He turned himself to Mio.
"Yes, remember those incendiary rounds you shot at the Neuroi?"
Toshiro pondered a few seconds, and finally said:
"Yes… I remember something… But how can I pull that through?"
"Try to concentrate your magic on the weapon, that's all I can think of."
Toshiro turned back to the shooting range and reloaded. He still had two rounds in the magazine.
He now concentrated himself as hard as possible, and literally felt the magic flowing between his weapon and his hands, but he didn't feel that it would work just now.
But what made me trigger that ability? What was it… I remember… Yoshika was in danger!
The weapon in his hands suddenly was enveloped in an aura of flames.
This is it!
He immediately brought up the rifle to his shoulder, aimed and fired.
BOOOOM!
The sound made by the rifle was like a coastal defense gun being fired. The recoil almost made Toshiro fall to the ground, but he managed to stand ground. He didn't even see the tracer like last time, because it was an almost instant hit. The earth wall on which the targets were placed simply exploded, bringing up a fountain of dirt.
"Incredible… Uh, Toshiro, you'd better not grab the barrel now."
Toshiro looked at the rifle's barrel and saw that it was orange. The supercharged bullet heated the barrel up to over a thousand degrees Celsius with a single shot.
"Mio hzzz what happened?! Are we being attacked?! hzzz" A voice was to be heard over the transponder.
"Haha! I wish, but no. Toshiro just pulled off a stunt worthy of a wizard! Hahaha!"
"W-what did he do? hzzz"
"Come see for yourself if you want, words are not enough to describe this."
Soon Minna, Trude, Yoshika, Lynne, Erica and Shirley came running. Before they could even say anything, Mio simply pointed in the direction of the now nonexistent end of the shooting range. Everyone's jaw dropped. They just looked at the crater that was in place of the earth wall in true shock. The first one to regain the ability to speak was Minna:
"What… How…"
"With this." Toshiro said calmly and pointed on the Boys, with still cooling down barrel, now with a dim red color.
They were shocked yet again. This time the one to speak first was, surprisingly, Lynne.
"But Toshiro… I know that rifle for my whole career as a witch; it couldn't possibly do so much damage…"
"But you don't know Toshiro for that long haha!" Mio laughed out loud. "Toshiro, I believe you still have a round left?"
Toshiro took out the mag, and saw a single bullet sitting at the top of the magazine.
"Yup, that would be correct."
"Think you could pull up such a stunt again? If yes, you got the whole day free!"
"I'll do my best! But I see not suitable target…"
"Look behind you."
He looked back.
"And? I only see a rock protruding out of the sea…"
"That is your target."
"Okay…" He said silently.
He put popped the mag back in, and reloaded. Focusing his magic, he repeated the same procedure as before, but this time, he had a living and breathing Yoshika as reference. His rifle went ablaze, and he fired at the rock. The girls twitched, but still looked at the target. Upon impact, the supercharged bullet ripped the rock apart into dust. And yet again, one could check upon the dental health of the girls with ease.
"Hahaha! Good job Toshiro, you deserved the day of… hey!"
Toshiro fell to his knees, pushing back the Boys with a nearly white-hot barrel away from his body on an instinct.
"Toshiro!" Every girl around him shouted.
However, Toshiro made a 'halt' gesture with his hand. He was breathing heavily, but he was slowly standing up.
"Uh… Don't worry about me… I just need some rest… And I believe I deserved some, fair and square?"
"Yes…" Mio said silently.
"Good." He said, and slowly went in the direction of the base, surrounded by all the girls.
Notes:
There is a Full Metal Alchemist reference inside the chapter, wonder if you can spot it. ;)
If you want to praise/rant about my story, please leave a signed review, so we can continue via PM's. Seriously, I don't bite. Unless provoked :]
Also! Make sure you pop-in on our Discord server! We have other Strike Witches authors, and more! Link in my profile.