Hello again, my loyal readers! I hope you have all been enjoying my work so far (and based on the fact that you've read this far, I'm guessing that you have). Thank you to everyone who has followed the story up to this point. Anyway, on with the story!
One morning, as the unit was sitting down to breakfast – courtesy of Shirley and Francesca – Daniel noticed that Yoshika looked a bit down, which was itself unusual for her these days. Being the good big brother that he was, he asked her what was wrong. She then explained that she had been watching Major Sakamoto train early that morning with a unique technique – the shin reppusan – and that when she asked the major to teach it to her as well, Mio refused, saying that Yoshika wasn't strong enough.
Daniel tried to make her feel better, saying, "I'm sure that she doesn't think you wouldn't be capable eventually, or that you're not strong now. She probably just means that it's something that requires much more experience – something that she has. It's not really a lack of strength, just a lack of experience. Besides, you have some extraordinary abilities of your own, so don't sell yourself short."
Barkhorn then chimed in. "If you want to get stronger, then you should eat! Being strong is part of our mission, which means you need to consume enough nourishment, a.k.a. food, to have enough energy to fight!" Everyone else sweat dropped at that declaration. 'She really needs to dial down the intensity a notch or three sometimes,' Daniel thought. Yoshika seemed to take in both Daniel's and Barkhorn's words, as she got a look of determination while digging into her meal.
Later that morning, Daniel observed as Yoshika and Perrine engaged in combat practice, with Lynne refereeing the match. At first everything looked fine, with Yoshika flying seemingly faster than ever and making various turns and aerial movements like a pro. Just as she was about to get a close-range shot on Perrine, however, something threw off her aim causing her to miss. Daniel then noticed that the unit on her left leg began to smoke a little, causing her to struggle to maintain control, as Perrine was able to come around and get several hits with a paintball gun on her, ending the match.
Yoshika continued to struggle, as Perrine won the second and third matches relatively easily as well. This concerned Daniel, as this was definitely below the skill level Yoshika usually showed. While Yoshika insisted that she was fine, even Perrine was concerned enough to let Major Sakamoto know about it. As he observed from a distance, he couldn't help but respect Perrine just a little more. She was still a pain at times, but she had come a long way since they first met.
The base engineers checked the striker unit for any malfunction, but couldn't find anything wrong with it. Daniel, however, was not convinced. "On the ground, she seems as strong as ever, if not stronger," he said to Mio. "There's got to be something wrong with the striker unit that we're not seeing. Maybe she's just become too strong for her unit to handle?"
After Yoshika received a full checkup with the base doctor, everything seemed to back up what Daniel had said about her. Not only was there seemingly nothing wrong with her, but Yoshika kept saying that she felt as strong as ever. Daniel could tell that she was not lying when she said this – not even lying to herself. Yoshika truly believed that she was, physically, as strong as ever, if not stronger. However, seeing as no one could definitively pinpoint what the problem was, Yoshika was ordered to be taken off combat missions for the time being.
Before dawn the next morning, Daniel noticed Yoshika taking a broom out to the beach – he guessed as a way of trying to figure out how to fly properly again. Unfortunately, she ended up causing the sweeping end to explode and send bits of sweeping material everywhere. As she cried in frustration, Daniel couldn't help but feel helpless at the situation. While he hated seeing her miserable, there was nothing he could do. He couldn't even figure out for sure what the actual problem was, let alone figure out a solution.
The next morning, the unit was informed that the Fuso naval battleship Yamato was on its way to the Adriatic Sea and that they would likely be assigned to protect it at some point as it made its approach. Yoshika was mentioning how big it was when they received an emergency call from the Yamato. Apparently, there had been an accident on board, and while the ship was still perfectly functional, many crew members had been injured and needed medical help immediately.
Yoshika immediately volunteered to help, saying that even if she was having a hard time flying, she could still heal people. Lynne also volunteered to go in order to help Yoshika. No one was surprised at their altruism, and Minna allowed the two to fly to the Yamato.
Some time later, as the rest of the unit awaited Yoshika and Lynne's return, they spotted a Neuroi on the radar system heading straight for the Yamato. This was completely unexpected, as the Yamato was supposed to be travelling through a zone outside of the Neuroi's range. Daniel and the other witches immediately scrambled to their fighter units – as the loss of the Yamato and the Fuso fleet would be an absolute disaster for their battle operations!
As his X-wing was faster than the witches' striker units, Daniel was able to quickly get ahead of them and head towards the Yamato's position. When he arrived, he found the Yamato in heavy combat with the Neuroi, along with Lynne, who was defending the ship on her own. "Where's Yoshika?" Daniel asked Lynne over the comm system. "She's still on the Yamato," Lynne explained. "She was having a hard time with her striker unit and couldn't take off."
Daniel knew this was bad – not only was Lynne outmatched by herself, but Yoshika's problems seemed to be getting worse! "Let me see if I can take some of the heat off you!" he exclaimed over the comm. He then opened fire on the Neuroi with his laser cannons. While he was able to take SOME of the attention off Lynne, he wasn't able to take all of it, as the Neuroi continued to fire its lasers at both of them.
Soon, Lynne began to tire – her energy drained from defending the Yamato by herself. The Neuroi then concentrated its fire on Lynne, shattering her shield and causing her to fall towards the ocean below. "No – Lynne!" Daniel shouted, knowing that he couldn't get to her in time. The next moment, a witch in a striker unit came swooping in and caught Lynne just before she hit the water. It was Yoshika, and she was flying normally again, albeit in a striker that was different than the one she was using before.
As she flew back into the air with Lynne on her shoulders, Daniel sighed in relief that they were both alright – at least for the time being. As he continued his dogfight with the Neuroi, he heard Yoshika scream with a level of anger he had never heard from her before. "How dare you!" she shouted. "How dare you hurt Lynne!" Yoshika then put up her shield and hurled herself straight at the Neuroi, blasting straight through it at one end and coming out the other. The next thing they knew, the Neuroi was engulfed in a bright white light right before it shattered before their eyes. Daniel couldn't help but gawk both in awe and out of pride for his adopted younger sister. It was definitely an amazing sight!
That night, Minna, Mio, and Daniel were in the hangar discussing the events of that day. Mio explained that Yoshika's new unit was a new, advanced striker unit known as the Shinden. Apparently, it was something that had been in the works for years, designed by Yoshika's father himself. As Mio explained that it was designed to handle a higher energy output than other striker units, Minna commented, "It sounds like it was designed specifically for her." Daniel then said, "You're probably not far off on that. She told me afterwards that she heard her father's voice calling to her on the Yamato, telling her that the striker unit was hers."
Minna then speculated that the reason for Yoshika's problems was that her old unit couldn't handle the magic output Yoshika was now generating. "I told you it was the striker unit," Daniel quipped. Both Minna and Mio giggled a bit at this, knowing he was right. When Minna asked where Yoshika and Lynne were, Daniel told them that they had probably gone to bed already. "The both of them have got to be exhausted," he said. As he went to his own quarters, Daniel was able to rest peacefully, knowing that Yoshika was going to be alright.
Some time later, the unit took the day to go to the nearby beach for some special training (though Daniel was exempt, as he didn't fly a striker unit). As Daniel walked along the beach in a T-shirt and a pair of shorts, she saw Eila and Sanya sunbathing. He then walked up to them and greeted them, saying, "I hope you put on your sunscreen – it's a scorcher today." When they looked at him in confusion, Daniel remembered what year he was in and speculated that sunscreen wasn't in wide use yet. He then pulled out a tube that he had in his shorts pocket (one of the items in his backpack when he came to this world) and tossed it to them, explaining what it was for. As he had already put a coat on himself (and seeing as they had VERY pale skin), he let them use it for the day.
As he walked along the beach to a more isolated area, he came across Yoshika, Lynne, Perrine, and Francesca looking over what looked like a large piece of parchment paper. He walked up to them and asked, "What do you have there?" Francesca immediately looked up and exclaimed, "It's a treasure map!" Daniel looked a bit skeptical, so he said, "A treasure map, eh? May I take a look?" While Perrine didn't hand it over to him completely, she did let him see it in its entirety. Based on what he could see, it could possibly indeed be a treasure map. But the language…"This seems to be written in Latin," he commented.
"Yes it is," snapped Perrine as she pulled it back toward herself. "Do you know Latin?" Yoshika asked. He nodded and replied, "A little. I can probably get the gist of what it's saying." As Perrine started to go off in a different direction, Francesca started to follow, and Yoshika asked, "Do you want to join us?" Daniel thought for a moment and then replied, "Sure. It could be fun."
After a few minutes, the map led them to a cove where they had to swim through an underwater passage to get inside the caves. While Daniel didn't have swim trunks on, he followed anyway, thinking, 'I'm probably going to have to change clothes when this is over.' When they emerged, they saw that the caves were covered with all sorts of crystal-like stones on the ceiling (probably quartz), creating a night sky effect. When they came to a set of passages, they followed the map to the left passage. There were still a few traps along the way, like a hidden snake pit that Perrine nearly fell into. Luckily, Yoshika and Lynne were there to catch her before that happened.
In addition, they heard what seemed to be some sort of spirit laughing like a maniac. While everyone else thought it was an evil spirit haunting the caves, Daniel tried to calm them down, saying, "It's probably just someone else in another part of the cave system." Francesca then replied, "Then why was is cackling like that?" Daniel thought on that a moment and replied honestly, "I admittedly can't answer that, but I AM sure that it isn't a ghost – there's no such thing."
Perrine, however, was determined to get to the treasure and continued to run through the corridor. Now that Daniel thought about it, Perrine had been acting strangely for a couple of days. Just the other day, she lashed out in anger during battle against a Neuroi because it had clipped a bridge with one of its shots (though the attack did allow the rest of the unit to finish the job). Now she was acting obsessed over finding this treasure – something that was quite out of character for her.
Nevertheless, they reached the end of the corridor, where they were met momentarily by a bright light. When they entered the room, there was a stone figure sitting in a stone chair. However, the treasure room was beyond this room, the entrance hidden from obvious view. Francesca then saw a rapier on the wall and decided to grab it in order to have a bit of fun. This turned out to be a mistake, as the stone gollum suddenly came to life and started to attack them! Daniel instinctively reached for his side, but realized that he hadn't brought his lightsaber with him. 'Great,' he thought sarcastically, 'a time when I could REALLY use my lightsaber, and I don't have it with me.'
While he couldn't attack it directly, Daniel figured he could at least prevent it from attacking everyone else. He then got into a stance and channeled the Force in order to stop the gollum from moving. While this was going on, Francesca tossed Perrine the rapier. Determined to attack, she saw what Daniel was doing and shouted, "Hold it there – I'll get this thing!" Daniel nodded and continued to hold the gollum still using the Force. Perrine then went straight at the gollum, channeling her 'Tonnerre' lightning attack through the sword as she struck it, causing its head to come off and a hidden door to open.
When Perrine rushed inside, she was soundly disappointed to find that the "treasure" was, in fact, a room with a garden full of spices and herbs. At the same time, the group jumped in a bit of surprise as they saw Mio's figure suddenly get up off the ground, as though she had just been taking a nap. When Perrine told everyone why she was so intent on finding the treasure though her tears, Daniel understood why she had been acting the way she had – she was trying to get money for the Gallia restoration fund. Specifically, she was trying to fund the building of a bridge for some children back home so that they could all see and play with each other. He had to admit, it was definitely a noble thing she was trying to do.
As Mio was trying to cheer her up by saying that her efforts and dedication were the true treasure, Daniel tried to add in, "Also, this stuff may be more valuable than you think. I know that back in my world, saffron is a VERY valuable spice." As these words of encouragement, Perrine seemed to feel better, though Daniel suspected that it was almost exclusively due to Mio. The next moment, the rest of the unit (with Minna being carried on Erica's back for some reason) managed to find them and join them in the so-called "treasure room."
That evening, as they discussed their adventure that day (they speculated that the garden and gollum had been kept alive through the magic of ancient witches), Perrine received a letter from home. Enclosed was not only a letter, but also a photo showing the bridge she was so concerned about complete. Daniel then commented to her, "See, Perrine. Everything turned out alright after all." He then heard Mio ask where Minna was. He was about to tell Mio that he had seen Minna sitting on the beach not long ago when he got a strange vibe from Trude, Erica, and Shirley – one of embarrassment and general awkwardness. He then figured that it would be best to leave whatever it was alone for the time being.
In light of the treasure hunt portion of this chapter, how about a pirate joke?
What's a pirate's favorite letter of the alphabet? You may think that it's "R" – but in fact, it be the "C" he fancies!
You thought I was going to tell a different joke, didn't you? Hope you got a laugh!