Alright readers, we have now reached the beginning of the Berlin arc of the story (a.k.a. Season 3). While there is still a ways to go, we are definitely in the latter half of this story. I hope you enjoy the takes I have on the remainder of the anime portion, as well as what is to come after that.
Once the battle was over, the members of the 501st were mostly assigned back to the posts they had been at before the Neuroi offensive, with only Shirley and Francesca reassigned to a base in eastern Gallia while Eila and Sanya made their way to Libau as had been originally intended. While Daniel thought that this meant he was headed back to St. Petersburg, Major Sakamoto had other ideas. She explained that she had requested – and had been granted – for him to be reassigned to the Yamamoto under her command until further notice.
"There is more that I have to teach you," Mio said, "if you are to be ready for what is to come." A firm – if cryptic – reason given by his only teacher in this world, Daniel reluctantly accepted his situation, though his disappointment was evident. "Don't worry," Mio said, "I'll talk to Commander Rall about this and arrange for your belongings to be sent here – and I'll make sure you get to speak with Sasha."
When Daniel finally did so over the phone in the Yamamoto's command room, he could hear the extreme disappointment in Sasha's voice, despite her assurances that she understood that this was a part of the necessities of war. "Trust me," he said to Sasha, reassuringly, "there's nowhere else I would rather be than in St. Petersburg with you, but Major Sakamoto says that this new training she will be putting me through is absolutely vital. Besides, the orders have already gone through, and I can't back out." As she sighed, Sasha simply said, "Be careful, and don't be reckless." Daniel chuckled and replied, "I'll do my best. Just remember my promise that I will always come back to you. I love you." He then heard her say, "I love you, too," as she then hung up and he began his new assignment with Mio.
October 1945
Over the next month, while Mio did have him go through the usual routine of intense exercise and physical activity, she also provided an intense tutorial on battle tactics and strategies, as well as an overview on allied weapons capabilities and issues regarding personnel. While Daniel wasn't sure why Mio felt the need to give a crash course on these things to him, let alone reassign him to her just for this, he trusted her enough to feel that there was a reason for all of this.
At one point, Mio informed Daniel that she was going to Helvetia to see Yoshika, and invited him to come along. Daniel agreed immediately, but was also told to take his fighter with him. "You never know when you'll be needed for emergency combat duty," she explained. Daniel flew down to Helvetia and met up with Mio and Sergeant Hijikata at the local air force base before they rode by military jeep to the medical school where Yoshika was studying.
As they approached the Lausanne Medical School, Mio noted how lovely everything looked. Daniel had to admit, it certainly did look like a top-notch school. When they arrived, they had no idea where to find Yoshika, so they asked around for a bit before finally meeting someone who knew Yoshika and had an idea of where she was. The girl then led the trio to the library where Yoshika was – a tall stack of books in her arms. When she saw Mio, Daniel, and Hijikata, she was so excited that her stack of books fell, with her underneath them.
After gathering everything and everyone together, they headed outside where Yoshika, Mio, and Daniel engaged in conversation about what Yoshika had been spending her time at school doing. When Mio mentioned that she was being removed from the 501st Joint Fighter Wing, Yoshika was shocked – Mio would never quit the military! Daniel then reminded Yoshika, "Don't forget – she no longer has any magic. However, she will still be in the military – just in a different capacity."
A little later, Yoshika mentioned that she was planning to see a circus that was in town with a friend of hers. It sounded like a lot of fun, so Daniel and Mio asked to join her, even providing a ride into town on their jeep. When they arrived, they saw a bunch of people running around and screaming in a panic. They then saw a polar bear going after a teenage girl – the same girl who had directed them to Yoshika earlier! Yoshika recognized her as her friend, Altia.
Both her and Daniel then sprang into action, with Yoshika using her shields to keep the polar bear away from Altia while Daniel was using the Force to do the same. At the same time, he attempted to use a modified version of the Jedi mind trick to calm the bear down, telling the bear, "Whoa there, big fella." As he was attempting to calm it down, he was able to get a bead on its emotions – it wasn't attacking in anger, but in pain. There was something wrong with its…. Daniel then realized what needed to be done. He turned to Yoshika and asked, "Can you sense it too?" She nodded and then activated her healing magic – using it on the bear and telling it not to worry. Moments later, the polar bear had calmed down completely and was licking Yoshika's face in gratitude.
After they had gathered up the bear and put it back in its cage, Yoshika explained to the trainer that the bear had a cavity, and that she had healed it up. The trainer apologized to the bear for causing it pain before Yoshika turned her attention to Altia, who had scraped her knees during the commotion. She was surprised that Yoshika had been able to use magic to heal, of all things, and even more surprised that Daniel had appeared to assist her and knew Yoshika well enough to do so.
When Yoshika then referred to Daniel as her onii-chan, Altia asked, "Wait, you two are brother and sister?" Daniel then put his arm around Yoshika's shoulders and asked jokingly, "Yeah, don't you see the family resemblance?" After they got a laugh out of that, Daniel explained that Yoshika's family had adopted him.
Mio then introduced herself to Altia, at which point she exclaimed that she recognized her name from her exploits with the 501st Joint Fighter Wing. Mio then added that both Yoshika and Daniel had fought alongside her during those battles, and that Daniel was a Jedi knight. "Wait! What!? You mean you guys are part of the 501st, and didn't tell me?" Both of them became a bit nervous at her reaction as Yoshika responded, "Um? I'm sorry?" Altia then went up to both Yoshika and Daniel and gave them big hugs in profuse gratitude for everything they had done.
When they had all sat down again, Altia explained that the reason she was so grateful to them was because she was from Venezia herself, and that her father was the captain for a Venezian battleship, the Doge. She then looked a bit down, saying that it had been quite some time since she had seen, or even heard from, her father. Yoshika then suggested that they use the radio to see if they could contact the Doge, which Mio agreed to.
A few minutes later, Sergeant Hijikata had used the radio to get through to the Doge. Once he got the captain on the line, he handed the receiver to Altia so she could speak to him. At first, it sounded like a pleasant father-daughter conversation, but it then became evident that something was wrong. From what he could manage to hear, it sounded like something was attacking them – or at least following them. The radio signal then went dead, and Hijikata couldn't reestablish contact.
Both Yoshika and Daniel knew in their guts that something was very wrong, and Yoshika pleaded with Mio to allow her to fly to the Doge's position off the coast of Belgica to see what was going on. After much pleading (as well as some backup from Daniel on her gut feeling), Mio agreed to let them go, and immediately drove everyone to the Helvetia air force base, where the mechanic Maier was looking after things. While Daniel's X-wing was still in the good shape it was always in, the one striker unit available looked as though it was being held together by a thread. While Mio was about to hold Yoshika off, she exclaimed, "I'll do it! I'll make it fly!"
While Daniel and Mio were confident enough in her abilities, Daniel was still worried that flying that hunk of junk all the way to Belgica may not be doable. He then noticed a good-sized strap normally used to hold down cargo on a platform. He picked it up, turned to Yoshika and said, "I'll be coming with you. Also, just so we don't risk a break down, why don't you take this strap and use it to attach yourself to one of my fighter's wings once you get airborne. After that, just run the striker unit on minimal power until we get to the Belgica coast." Yoshika nodded in agreement as she took the strap and prepared to take off.
While Yoshika did indeed have some trouble getting airborne, she eventually got the unit humming just fine before using one end of the strap to tie a loop around herself, while attaching the other end to a loop on the right wing. She then reduced the amount of power she was using for the striker – enough to keep it airborne, but also conserving her power. With the speed of Daniel's X-wing, it wasn't long before they reached the Belgica coast and began looking for the Doge.
A few moments later, they saw what appeared to be the Doge firing on, and trying to flee from, an iceberg. Confused by the sight, they flew towards its position to get a closer look. At this point, Yoshika untied herself from the strap, detached it from Daniel's fighter, and let it drop into the ocean. When they got closer, they could see that the iceberg did appear to be following the Doge. Suddenly, the sensors on the X-wing pinged after having detected something. When Daniel looked, he saw that it was a Neuroi core that had been detected! "Yoshika – that iceberg isn't an iceberg," he stated just before a laser beam came at them from said iceberg.
"A Neuroi?" Yoshika exclaimed. "How can that be? They HATE water!" Daniel replied in a deadpan tone, "Tell that to them." Getting over the shock of seeing the Neuroi, they went to work and began to attack it and get its attention away from the Doge. As they moved to attack the Neuroi iceberg, they received a garbled transmission from the battleship below, "Hello, pilots?" it exclaimed, "this is captain Carlo Grimani of the battleship Doge. To whom am I speaking?" Daniel replied, "This is captain Daniel Horowitz of the U.S. Army Air Force, along with ensign Yoshika Miyafuji of the Fuso Imperial Navy, here to help you."
Moments later, he received a reply, "Horowitz? ... and Miyafuji? ... from the 501st?" Daniel confirmed in response, as he was given the situation – they were heading towards the port in Antwerppen and were being pursued by this Neuroi iceberg for unknown reasons. Soon after, however, Daniel and Yoshika lost the ability to get a radio signal to anybody – including the Doge.
However, everyone seemed to know what had to be done, as fire continued to come from the Doge. He then noticed that, in addition to normal shells, the Doge was firing what looked like photon torpedoes. 'I guess the Doge was one of the first ships to be equipped with them,' he thought. 'I wonder if they also have a shield generator.' His question was soon answered when a Neuroi beam was fired upon the Doge, and a shield appeared to surround most of the ship, preventing any major damage for the time being. The torpedoes, meanwhile, were causing damage, but the iceberg was too dense to make enough of a difference for the time being.
During the fight, Daniel and Yoshika attempted to keep the Neuroi iceberg at bay but weren't sure how to attack it. Soon, however, Yoshika's striker unit was sputtering. As he feared, it was on its last legs and she soon fell after it failed completely. Luckily, she landed on the deck of the Doge, where she was caught. Sighing in relief, he attempted to contact the Doge again, managing to finally get through on a different channel. Captain Grimani informed Daniel that while Yoshika was fine, it would be a while before the striker unit was ready to fly again.
Moments later, Daniel watched as the Neuroi sent an avalanche of projectiles towards the fort protecting the city of Antwerppen. The fort was overwhelmed and quickly destroyed by the Neuroi attack, leaving the crew of the Doge in shock and fear. He then saw the iceberg change direction – it was heading towards the city! With no one else who could fight, Daniel knew it would be up to him and the Doge to protect Antwerppen from the oncoming attack. If they couldn't, not only would more civilians be displaced, but an important allied supply post would be lost and hamper the war effort.
It was taking everything Daniel had to keep from getting hit, and his attacks on the Neuroi coils emanating from the iceberg would destroy them, only to keep getting replaced. The Doge continued to fire on the iceberg, and it appeared to work, as it began to chase the Doge once again into open waters. However, there was only so much one battleship could do – while its shield generator protected the vital parts of the ship, it had taken enough damage to the point it was slowed to half of its normal speed. While this was going on, the mechanics on the Doge somehow managed to make Yoshika's striker unit flyable again, if on a limited basis.
As she took off to assist Daniel, the Neuroi tried to launch the same attack on the Doge as it has with the fort, only for Yoshika to stop the bombs and destroy them before they could hit. The Doge then used several torpedoes to create a massive dent in the iceberg. Soon, it was enough to allow Daniel and Yoshika to break through the ice and access the interior, where the core was. However, before they could finish it off, Yoshika's striker unit acted up again, and she lost control of her unit. Daniel went to help her, making sure that she was safe and wouldn't be destroyed when he attempted to destroy the core.
The whole experience was taking its toll when the Karlsland trio came swooping in and provided some much-needed backup. While they were obviously glad to see them, Daniel and Yoshika wondered how in the world they knew to be there at that time. However, as Minna said, "No time to chat now," and the group continued their attack. However, Yoshika's unit stalled again, but before the Neuroi could fire on her, an anti-armor round came in and destroyed the coil. Lynne and Perrine had arrived on the scene just in time – thanks to a message from Mio. 'So that's how they knew!' Daniel thought. 'Nice thinking, major.'
Soon enough, Shirley and Francesca arrived, as well as Eila and Sanya. Now they had all the backup they needed to finish the job. Shirley went after a large Neuroi bomb that had detached from the main unit and destroyed it before it reached the city. After that, the Neuroi portion separated itself from the iceberg entirely and attempted to flee the scene. Daniel and the witches went after the Neuroi, and after dealing with some resistance, they were able to destroy it. Just then, Yoshika's striker unit conked out on her again, and she fell towards the sea. This time, she was saved by yet another witch who swooped down and caught her just in time. Daniel recognized her as Sergeant Hattori, from the incident one month prior.
However, victory was not theirs yet, as they soon realized that the iceberg hadn't stopped and was still heading towards the city on its momentum. They all raced towards the iceberg to stop it, with Daniel racing ahead of everyone else to get to the hole the Doge had previously made. As he flew towards the man-made entrance, Minna shouted to him over the comm, "What are you doing, captain?" Daniel replied, "It's too dense to destroy from the outside, so I'm going to attempt to destroy this thing from the inside."
With that, he flew through the hole and into the cavern making up the middle of the iceberg. He then used a couple of torpedoes to try to shatter the iceberg and sink it before it reached Antwerppen, but it instead caused the ice ceiling to collapse. Not wanting to get caught in the collapse, Daniel was able to get out of there just in time. However, the iceberg didn't sink, and now he couldn't think of a way to stop it in time, despite everyone's best efforts. When it finally hit land, the port facilities were heavily damaged, although the city itself remained unharmed.
After they landed, they all watched as Altia got a happy and tearful reunion with her father. However, the iceberg had caused a major problem, as the port facilities had been meant to serve as a jumping off point to get troops, weapons, and supplies for a planned operation to retake Berlin from the Neuroi. This would undoubtedly delay those plans. For how long, nobody could say.
As a result of this incident, the 501st Joint Fighter Wing would be immediately reformed and would be in charge of the defense of the region until they could get the operation to retake Berlin underway, at which point, they would join said operation. During this time, they would operate out of a base located just outside Amsterdam in the kingdom of Nederland. While Mio would no longer be a member of the unit, Fuso had sent a replacement for her in Sergent Hattori – now Ensign Hattori, as she had been recently promoted – something that Yoshika appeared to be very happy about. Daniel, meanwhile, was happy to be back with everyone in the 501st, but once again knew that this meant he would be away from Sasha for quite some time.
I had considered referring to Antwerppen as Antwerp, like in the real world. However, unlike the names of the various male military leaders, I decided that consistency would better be served by using the place names as they appear in the series (I've seen St. Petersburg referred to as both St. Petersburg and just Petersburg in the anime, so I used the one most people would instantly recognize). I hope you enjoyed this chapter!