(Note: Sorry for the lack of updates in the past month or so. I was busy lately, battling a writer's two worst enemies: school and writer's block. I will make sure to update more frequently to make up for this, especially since the school year just ended. Once again, sorry. And now, without further ado...)

Ground Defense Force
Mao-Chan


Chapter 5:
Shall We Eat Something For Now?


"May, Day X.
"Today we are going to read Urashima Taro. Everyone please get out your textbooks and turn to page 732," said Miss Kagome.
It was the next day at school for Mao and Misora, though their minds were elsewhere. They were both thinking of Sylvia Maruyama in the Sea Defense Force. Although they only met her once, the three had already developed a good friendship. They were just wondering when they would see her again when the classroom door opened.
Miss Kagome looked over at the door. "Yes, who is i---AAAAGGGHH!"
Everyone in the classroom very quickly looked up at Miss Kagome, whose face was pale and sweaty, then to the door. Mao and Misora gasped in shock.
Sylvie was standing there, looking perfectly normal (if looking brain- dead could be considered "normal"). One slight difference from the day before was that she was wearing half-moon glasses. Miss Kagome, though, was looking at Sylvie as though she were something the cat dragged in. As Sylvie walked up to her, Miss Kagome clutched her chest, panting heavily, then fainted and collapsed onto her desk. Sylvie stopped at Miss Kagome's desk, then turned to the class. After a moment, she spoke.
"Uh...I, the officer, think that if our napping teacher had to say something to us all," Sylvie started, gesturing to the unconscious Miss Kagome. She didn't look like she noticed the stunned looks on everyone's faces. Mao and Misora were possibly the most stunned out of them all. They didn't expect to see her again so soon.
"This is what she would say: 'OK, class, pay attention,'" continued Sylvie. "'This is Sylvia Maruyama, and she'll be joining our class today.' And I, the officer, would reply, 'You can just call me Sylvie.' She's probably thinking, 'please let her feel welcome'. I, the officer, will take my seat now."
Sylvie then began walking through the desks in the room, trying to find the desk that suited her best. She eventually made it to the empty desk next to Mao opposite Misora, and sat down in it. After a few moments, Sylvie looked over at Mao and Misora.
"How do you do?" said Sylvie, as though she were meeting them for the first time. Mao and Misora were quite confused.
Doesn't she remember us? Mao thought.
She must have short-term memory loss, I say, Misora thought.
"But we met before, Sylvie-Chan," Mao informed Sylvie.
"Yes, we certainly did, I say," said Misora. Sylvie was somewhat confused for a moment, but then her expression changed from confusion to comprehension like a traffic light, and a smile crossed her face.
"You remember us?" Mao asked.
"Of course I do! How could I, the officer, forget?" Sylvie said, pointing at Mao. "You are Private E-2 Mao Onigawara of the Ground Defence Force, granddaughter of Chief of Staff Rikushiro Onigawara," she pointed towards Misora, "and you are Second Lieutenant Misora Tsukishima of the Sky Defence Force, granddaughter of Chief of Staff Sorajiro Tsukishima, right?"
"Yes, that's right, I say!" exclaimed Misora.
"Misora-Chan, isn't it amazing?" said Mao, "A Sea Defense member remembered exactly who we are!"
Then a thought hit the both of them, and Mao decided to ask Sylvie.
"Um, can you tell us why you didn't have glasses on yesterday, Sylvie- Chan?"
"Well, my grandfather told me not to. It was a defence mission, remember? He doesn't want my, the officer's, glasses to break. I was wearing contact lenses yesterday. I, the officer, don't wear them much, because they hurt my eyes.
"By the way," Sylvie said, apparently remembering something, "Would you two like a tour of the Sea Defence Force headquarters after school? They have such delicious tangerines!"
"Yeah, OK!" said Mao.
"I certainly would, I say!" said Misora.
Chinami and Yuriko were watching Mao, Misora, and Sylvie with binoculars from a distance. Chinami had an expression of mingled anger and shock, but Yuriko looked almost pleased.
"I can't believe it," muttered Chinami, so low that even Yuriko, who was right next to her, could barely hear her. "Now they even have an eight- year-old girl in the Sea Defense Forces." The spite in her voice was so obvious that Yuriko could almost reach out and touch it.
"Y-yeah," mumbled Yuriko. Then a thought struck her, a thought that caused even the mighty Galaxy the Great, King of the Cute Aliens, to tremble. She voiced this thought to Chinami: "Chinami-Chan, could it be possible these three are the ones mentioned in the Prophecy?"
Chinami seemed to know exactly what Yuriko was talking about, because she looked at Yuriko, wide-eyed, and half-stated, half-shouted, "Impossible, Miss President! I did a full background check on them, and their parents are all full-blooded Earthlings! So they must be as well! How can you even think that?"
"I know," said Yuriko, "It was just a thought." Both then looked over at Mao, Misora, and Sylvie again.
But they can use the Light of Kusanagi-Sama, thought Yuriko, Who knows what other abilities they will discover, if they are the Chosen Ones...Sylvie-Chan...those glasses of hers make her look cute...even though she already is---
"Miss President, your ears!" Yuriko heard Chinami whisper in her ears. Yuriko looked up. Sure enough, her ears had popped out again. She pushed them back into her head just as Sylvie looked out the window in their direction.
"Perhaps we should send a report to headquarters," said Chinami, "To send another swimming alien to Japan. We know the Sea Defense Force member can't swim, so we'll dispatch it far out to sea..."
The rest of the school day proceeded as usual, with the exception of Miss Kagome looking like she saw a ghost whenever she looked at Sylvie. Although Mao, Misora, and Sylvie didn't know, Kagome was in shock that she had to look after all three elementary school Defense Force members. Her first thoughts when she regained consciousness were, Why is this happening to me?
The school day ended, and Mao, Misora, and Sylvie left for Defense Force headquarters. Sylvie lead them down a road Mao and Misora never noticed before (fortunately, Sylvie was wearing her glasses), which took them to the entrance to the Sea Defense Force headquarters.
The layout of the Sea Defense Force headquarters was identical to that of the Ground and Sky Defense Forces, with the exception that the walls were jet-black. Mao and Misora complained of being sweaty a few times, but they managed. They were impressed by the scale and the modernity of the Sea Defense Force headquarters. As they toured the headquarters, Mao asked, "By the way, Sylvie-Chan, what's your Defense mecha like?"
Sylvie looked at Mao bemusedly, then her face brightened. "Oh yeah! Follow me!" said Sylvie, running down a corridor. Mao and Misora ran after her. When they caught up with Sylvie, she was standing in front of a door. It was marked:

SEAMAN RECRUIT MARUYAMA'S DEFENSE MECHA
NO UNAUTHORIZED PERSONNEL

Sylvie opened the door, and Mao and Misora's eyes widened in astonishment. "Amazing!" said Mao and Misora in unison. In the middle of a large pool in the center of the room was a large dark-gray submarine with a whale-like appearance. In its "mouth" were two graspers, each with two fingers and an opposing thumb. On either side was Sylvie's gray clover.
"His name's Black Whale, but I call him Nahchan for short. Would you two like a tour of the sea?" asked Sylvie, and Mao and Misora accepted instantly. Within minutes, Nahchan was out in the ocean, floating through the depths.
Mao and Misora were impressed. The control room of Nahchan was nothing more than a room with a window in the front, a ladder in the back that lead outside, and a table behind the window. On the table was a sunflower, though it had two bulbous eyes. Next to it was a pile of trading cards, all of which had Sylvie on them, with or without her glasses, in or out of her Type 2 Marine Gear. Next to that was a bowl full of tangerines.
Sylvie turned to the flower, and said to it, "Nahchan, prepare to rise." And it hit Mao and Misora what the sunflower was for. It was Nahchan; rather, it was Sylvie's way of communicating with it. The sunflower nodded, and Nahchan started to rise. In just moments, they were at the surface, bobbing like a small stone in a lake. They were looking at the mainland currently, and taking in the sights.
"Look, there are the Hinata Apartments, I say!" said Misora, pointing towards a large hill. Mao and Sylvie looked, and sure enough, there it was in all of its beautiful glory. "My grampa told me that staying there is good luck for passing the Tokyo U entrance exam!" said Mao excitedly. "I, the officer, think I saw that place somewhere before..." said Sylvie in an awed voice. The three of them weren't quite sure, but they could have sworn that they saw someone flying from it, tumbling through the air.


"WHERE'S MAO?!" raged Rikushiro. He was in the Defense Force Strategies Room, asking everyone he could if they knew where Mao was. One of the operatives in the room decided to answer him.
"Pardon me, sir, but my sister in the Sea Defense Forces says that she saw Private Onigawara and Second Lieutenant Tsukishima with Seaman Recruit Maruyama in the Sea Defense Force headquarters."
There was a silence in the room, a silence so deep that it could almost be felt.
"What-- what did you say?" muttered Rikushiro in a would-be calm voice. A vein was pulsing on his forehead.
"I-I think she went over there to play," said the operative, "because they're currently offshore of the Hinata region in Seaman Recruit Maruyama's support mecha."
"Chief of Staff!" called Kagome. Rikushiro ran over. "What is it, Miss Kagome?"
"A Cute Alien capsule," said Kagome, back into 'military mode', "has been spotted falling towards the sea, just a mile or two from the coast of the Hinata region."
"But why are you telling me this if it's out to sea?" roared Rikushiro, vein pulsing to the point of bursting in his forehead.
"Because Private Onigawara is out to sea!" said Kagome, a clever smile crossing her face. At this realization, Rikushiro's vein stopped pulsing, and his rage was abated.
"Miss Kagome, contact Private Onigawara and Second Lieutenant Tsukishima and warn them of this alien," said Rikushiro.
"But what of the Sea Defense Force member?" asked Kagome. But this was a mistake, as the vein in Rikushiro's forehead began pulsing again.
"What about her? That damned fool Adalbert, who made trading cards of his granddaughter to try and out-advertise Mao, should never have made her into a Sea Defense Force member." Everyone in the room flinched. They all knew that Rikushiro never swore unless he utterly hated someone, so they decided to do what he said.
"R-roger," Miss Kagome replied shakily, then turned to a nearby computer monitor.


"Would you two like a tangerine?" asked Sylvie. But before Mao and Misora could answer...
BEEP! BEEP!
"Private Onigawara! Second Lieutenant Tsukishima!"
Mao and Misora froze. It was Miss Kagome's voice. It was coming from Mao's clover, which flashed green every second or two.
"A Cute Alien has been seen falling from the sky to a location not too far from you! Please download your Type 2 Gears immediately!"
"Roger!"
"Roger, I say!"
Within moments, Mao and Misora were in their Type 2 Gears and Sylvie was standing before them, clapping.
"Wow, that was pretty flashy, you two!" she was saying.
"We're sorry, Sylvie-Chan..." began Mao.
"...but we have to defend now, I say," finished Misora. Then they turned and began to climb the ladder. They heard Sylvie mutter, "That's too bad..." below them. When they tried to turn the handle and open the hatch...
"It won't open!" exclaimed a surprised Mao.
"It certainly will not, I say!" said a similiar Misora.
"Well, I, the officer, guess that Nahchan doesn't open his hatch unless he's docked in the Sea Defence Force headquarters," said Sylvie below them. Mao and Misora were so surprised that they accidently let go of the ladder, falling down and landing on top of one another. They scrambled to their feet.
"But that would mean that we will not be able to defend, I say!" Misora said exasperatedly.
"Guess not," muttered Sylvie in an 'it-was-bound-to-happen' voice. She peeled a small piece of a tangerine off the one in her hand and put it in her mouth.
"Sylvie-Chan, can't we go back to Defense Force headquarters so that Nahchan can dock?" asked Mao, equally panicstricken.
"Well, that depends. Nahchan's mood changes from time to time. Today, Nahchan seems kind of moody and shy," said Sylvie, causing Mao and Misora to sweatdrop. But before anything else could be said, a large object crashed into the water, generating giant waves. The waves hit Nahchan, causing it to rock violently back and forth. Mao, Misora, and Sylvie were knocked to the floor; so was Sylvie's bowl of tangerines, many of which were squished. When the rocking stopped, they got back up. Sylvie's glasses were unbroken.
"What the bugger was that?" exclaimed Sylvie, though her question was soon answered. Floating just a few yards ahead, was a...
"That's the Cute Alien capsule!" shouted Mao. No sooner did she say this, than a TV next to the window lit up. It was Adalbert von Maruyama.
"I am zhure you know vhat to do, Zylvie," said Adalbert, taking a puff from his cigarette.
"Roger, grampa!" said Sylvie. Adalbert's platinum eyebrows lowered slightly.
"Zhat's 'Chief of Stahff', Zylvie. And remove your glassez," corrected Adalbert.
"Roger, Chief of Staff!" said Sylvie, who removed her glasses, and saluted. "Type 2 Marine Gear...download!" She touched the clover's face. "Kai-bo!"
In a flash of light, Sylvie was her Type 2 Marine Gear once more.
"Sylvia Maruyama of the Sea Defence Force!" Sylvie saluted. "The Japanese seas are my seas!"
"Good luck, Zylvie," said Adalbert, and the screen went black. Sylvie turned to Mao and Misora, a ditzy look back on her face. "So, how am I, the officer, s'posed to defend?"
Mao and Misora fell on their faces in shock. "Sylvie-Chan, you're the Sea Defense Force member!" said Mao, struck by panic again.
"You must defend, Sylvie-Chan, or else Japan and everyone in it will-- " said Misora, before Sylvie interrupted her.
"I guess you're right," she said, then she smiled, "well, we should probably get something to eat first!"
"What're you talking about?"
"Why are you like this, I ask?"
Mao and Misora then began a strange war chant that consisted of: "Defense! Defense!"
"Well," said Sylvie, putting on her contact lenses, "You know what they say: 'you can't fight on an empty stomach.' Since we're out of tangerines, Nahchan here can catch fish with his magic hands," Sylvie turned toward the sunflower on her table, "Nahchan, catch fish."
Instantly, Nahchan's two graspers reached out, feeling forward for any tasty morsel that may cross its path. Mao and Misora were both crying, upset that Sylvie cared more for food than defense.
"What should we do? What should we do?!" cried Mao.
"If this keeps up, we will not be able to defend, I say!" replied Misora.
"Oh!" said Sylvie. "I, the officer, think Nahchan caught something!" Mao and Misora looked, but couldn't really see what it was that Nahchan had in its graspers; their eyes were still filled with tears.
"It looks like a whale egg!" said Sylvie. She spoke to the sunflower, "Nahchan, spin it around." Nahchan did. "Aww, that's so cute!" said Sylvie at the sight. Mao and Misora's vision cleared, and they saw clearly what was in Nahchan's grasp. It was the Cute Alien capsule! Inside was a rather cute dolphin. "That's the..." Mao and Misora began to say, but Nahchan began banging the capsule against itself.
"Wha-- Sylvie-Chan, tell Nahchan to stop!" shouted Mao.
"If the Cute Alien is set loose, it will go after Japan, I say!" yelled Misora.
But Sylvie seemed more interested in what Nahchan was doing. After a few seconds, the capsule opened with a POP. The Cute Alien emerged...
...and its eyes were swirling around! It was out cold.
"The Cute Alien is out of it!" said Mao, quite glad that they managed to defend.
"It most certainly is, I say!" said Misora, feeling the same as Mao.
"That's good to hear!" said Sylvie, who turned back to the Cute Alien. "So, you want to cook this or what?"
"No!" "You mustn't, I say!" was the response.


"This award for capturing a Cute Alien without a fight," said the Prime Minister before the Defense Force headquarters, "goes to Seaman Recruit Sylvia Maruyama of the Sea Defense Force!"
He handed the medal to Sylvie, her glasses replacing her contacts, who immediately smiled widely and said, "Much obliged! I, the officer, will hang this up inside Nahchan's cockpit!"
"Good for you...good for you..." muttered the Prime Minister, wiping sweat away with his handkerchief.
Mao and Misora, who were standing in the crowd, felt glad that Sylvie had succeeded in another defense mission. Of course, she only succeeded by accident, just like her first defense mission. But they were sure Sylvie would eventually come into her own and begin to defend on purpose.
Adalbert stood beside Sylvie. He, too, was glad for Sylvie, but for different reasons entirely. He was glad because she was able to defend before Rikushiro and Sorajiro's granddaughters. Adalbert thought, Rikushiro...Sorajiro...it izh my little Zylvie who vill defend Japan...


TO BE CONTINUED...