Hey everyone, it has been a while hasn't it? Well I am sorry for the long delay, I have been busy with life and was suffering from very bad case of writer's block. Just can't seem to find the inspiration to write. So that is why this chapter is so lackluster. Sorry for disappointing everyone with this turd.
Chapter 17: A Bridge to Tomorrow
A week after the attack on Pescara
Southern Gallia
A village outside the city of Marseilles
Things have returned to normal for the most part though there were still scars from the fighting as burnt out and abandoned vehicles were still on base however that did not stop the fliers from going on with their duties and doing their activities like the Clostermanns were helping rebuild a small part of Gallia.
"And here is the last of the planks." Pierre grunted as he placed several planks of wood down near the construction site.
"Just a bit more and this elementary school will be completed." Perrine said as she stood up, "This village is well on its way to recovery."
"Oui, it won't be long before this village will return to normalcy or some sense of it." Pierre nodded as he wiped the sweat off his brow.
"I am so glad." Perrine smiled when she felt something pull on her tunic. She turned to see a young girl who she and Pierre had befriended.
"Mademoiselle Perrine, Monsieur Pierre" The girl said.
"What is the matter?" Pierre asked.
"My friends…" The girl said sadly.
"What's the matter?" Perrine asked as she got down to the girl's level.
"They can't come to school." The girl added..
"That is bad." Pierre uttered.
"Oh dear." Perrine replied, "Why is that?"
"Come with me." The girl answered.
"Huh?" Perrine uttered in confusion.
"Must be a big problem." Pierre said as the two fliers followed the young girl through a patch of woods.
"There." The young girl pointed out to the river and Perrine and Pierre immediately saw what was wrong.
"Ah, that is going to be a problem." Pierre said.
"The bridge…" Perrine uttered as they stood on their side of the collapsed bridge.
"See, that's why my friends can't come to school." The girl explained though it was already clear to the Clostermanns.
"We got to do something about this." Pierre thought. He then glanced over to Perrine and he immediately saw her steeled resolve and her rekindled determination.
Three days later
Southern Romagna
Perrine and Pierre were on patrol near the town of Termoli, they are accompanied by Mio, Sakai, Gertrude, Gerhard, Shirley, Chuck, Francesca, Franco, Erica, Hanna, Arthur, Lynette, Yoshika and Muto. The sixteen fliers raced over a railway bridge which to the rest didn't seem significant but to Perrine and Pierre, their minds were on the village girl.
"Neuroi spotted!" Mio barked.
"Only one this time." Sakai added.
"Everyone, to battle positions!" Mio ordered.
"You heard, the major, battle positions." Muto barked.
"Understood!" The rest of the fliers replied as they broke off.
The neuroi immediately began firing its beams at the fliers.
"Woah, that was close!" Hanna exclaimed as she rolled away from the neuroi beam.
"Keep your head in the fight, Hanna." Gerhard said. Just then Yoshika raced towards the neuroi.
"She moved up so quickly!" Perrine barked.
"Well catch up then." Muto said as he raced by Perrine. Perrine immediately give chase.
"Merde! Don't just flying off! You're a leader!" Pierre said as he too followed suit. However as the four raced up, Yoshika and Muto widened the gap with Perrine and Pierre barely keeping up.
"Blimey, those two are fast." Arthur commented.
"Almost make me feel jealous." Shirley said.
Yoshika and Muto, once at the neuroi's altitude, immediately got to business of shooting it down.
"You went too far ahead!" Perrine warned.
"Now is not the time to be berating anyone, Perrine" Muto said as he strafed the top of the neuroi, Pierre followed suit with a torrent of rockets. Meanwhile below the neuroi, the Bishops were taking aim.
"Come on, come on…" Arthur said as he adjusted his aim. The two sharpshooters took their shot. Yoshika, Perrine, Pierre and Muto looked over to them when a chunk of the neuroi shattered.
"Got it!" Lynette cheered.
"How do you like that?" Arthur grinned as he continued to fire aimed shots at the neuroi but the neuroi regenerated and replied in kind.
"Bloody fuck!" Arthur cursed while Lynette yelped as they flew out of the way of the beam which then struck the bridge.
"The bridge!" Perrine uttered.
"The damage is minor." Mio said.
"The bridge will stand." Sakai reassured.
"Don't break formation." Mio ordered, "The next attack is incoming!"
"Get you act together! The enemy is still flying!" Muto barked. Immediately Perrine shot up towards the neuroi with Pierre right along side her.
"Perrine!" Mio barked.
"What the hell are you two doing?" Muto shouted.
"How dare you attack the bridge!" Perrine barked as she flew straight to the neuroi.
"You are going to pay for that!" Pierre declared as he fired his guns at the neuroi.
"Perrine and Pierre are amazing." Yoshika said before she joined the attack.
"Now's our chance!" Mio barked, "Everyone attack!"
"Give that bastard hell!" Muto barked.
"ROGER!" The rest of the witches and aces swarmed the neuroi.
"Have some of these, bastard." Gerhard snarled.
"Have some Browning Hotcakes, fresh from the oven." Chuck joked.
"Come on, how what a Heinkel can do." Hanna urged her plane. The pounding the neuroi got was hard and it soon cracked and her core was in the open.
"I can see the core!" Mio barked.
"How dare you blast the bridge?!" Perrine barked as she fired at the core with Pierre, killing the neuroi.
"Well done!" Arthur congratulated.
"Perrine!" Yoshika called out.
"You did it" Lynette cheered.
"Good work, you two." Muto said. However Pierre and Perrine didn't smile but they looked to the damaged railway bridge.
Later that day
"Excellent work, everyone." Minna said to which Wolf nodded in agreement.
"You all flew excellently out there." Erich smiled.
"You all fought well." Mio said, "And you are getting quite used to the Shinden, Miyafuji."
"That's my girl." Muto grinned as he rubbed Yoshika's hair.
"Oh yes." Yoshika smiled, "I want to keep practising until I can use it flawlessly."
"Good idea, best to learn your equipment as best as possible." Erich grinned.
"Alright, that's the spirit." Mio nodded, "Perrine, Pierre!"
The two Clostermanns didn't respond as they seemed preoccupied.
"Perrine, Pierre?" Wolf asked.
"Y-Yes?" Perrine looked up.
"Sorry, you were saying?" Pierre apologized.
"You two were our biggest contributor for today." Mio said.
"Oh? Thank you." Perrine said as she bowed and headed off. Pierre had merely nodded and followed Perrine.
"They seem a bit off." Shirley commented.
"Right." Francesca said.
"What do you mean?" Yoshika asked.
"Haven't you noticed, Yoshika?" Muto asked.
"Huh?" Yoshika replied.
"Cause normally being praised by the Major would make her go… Oh, Major! That's just how I am sometimes" Francesca said while doing a Perrine impression, and a good one at that.
"Please give me more of your praise" Shirley followed suit, though not as good, "Et cetera."
"That was actually a good impression, Francesca" Franco smiled.
"Shirley, you need some work." Chuck grinned.
"Hey!" Shirley pouted.
"R-Really?" Lynette stammered.
"Huh? Never really noticed." Arthur admitted.
That night
Perrine was in her room looking to her drawers.
"Of all the Clostermann family heirlooms passed down through the years," Perrine said softly as she lifted a sword up, "This rapier is all that remains. But if I sell it, will it net enough money to fix the bridge? Father, Mother, what should I do?"
"Perrine!" Yoshika called out as she entered Perrine's room, startling Perrine which caused her to nearly drop her rapier which she dropped back into its drawer shoved it closed but that caused of the top drawers to slide open, knocking her over.
"Perrine? Are you okay?" Yoshika asked worriedly.
"What's the matter with you?!" Perrine barked, "Shouting and barging into my room like that!"
"Uh, the beach." Yoshika uttered.
"Huh?" Perrine voiced.
"Everyone is going to the beach tomorrow." Yoshika explained.
"T-The beach?" Perrine repeated.
Meanwhile…
"five, six, seven francs, so that's five seven francs but they don't use francs in this world, I do have my pay but that's only a few months' worth, will it be enough?" Pierre wondered. Papa, mama, what should I do to help?
"Hey Pierre!" Muto hollered as he barged into Pierre's room.
"Sacre bleu! What the hell is that for?" Pierre barked.
"Sorry." Muto chuckled, "Just wanted to let you know that tomorrow, we all going to the beach."
"The beach? Why?" Pierre asked.
"Well, the top brass felt we need a break after what happened recently." Muto said.
"Well a break does sound nice around now." Pierre figured, "Just don't barge into people's rooms like that."
"I'll remember that." Muto said as he headed off to his room.
The next day
The small islet near the base which also houses the girls' bath had a beautiful beach and pristine waters which meant great swimming weather.
"Yahoo!" Shirley cheered as she ran for the sea.
"Hurry!" Francesca shouted, close behind.
"Hey no fair! You started first!" Amelia shouted as she chased the two girls.
"Hey be careful, you two!" Chuck shouted as he laid an old blanket down.
"Come on, we are going too." Erica smiled as she pulled Gertrude with her.
"W-Wait!" Gertrude stammered as she was pulled by Erica.
"Eh, what the heck." Amirah said as she placed her beach towel down and raced for the sea, "Last one is an rotten tomato!"
"Not so fast!" Ember shouted as she ran after Amirah and soon several splashes were heard as the girls jumped into the water.
"What nice weather." Aisyah said as she sat down on her beach towel in her white bikini with her unbuttoned shirt over her shoulders. Her light blue hair was tied into a ponytail that reached the towel as she sat there.
"Wow, your skin is so pretty." Helma said as she looked at Aisyah. Her pale, nearly white skin shone in the Romagnan sun. Muto joked that it was almost impossible to tell where the swimsuit was. It also a surprise for everyone to see that Aisyah was about the same height as Amirah and she is just as curvy though Aisyah is slightly more bottom heavy.
"Thank for the compliment." Aisyah smiled. Meanwhile in the water, Francesca was sneaking up behind Amirah who was playing with Ember by splashing water.
"Caught your belly button!" Francesca shouted as she launched herself at Amirah and holding Amirah's belly button but soon she felt something grab hold of her hands.
"Francesca." Amirah said calmly but Francesca knew she was angry as she could feel Amirah's death grip on her hands.
"Y-Yes?" Francesca asked nervously.
"Please refrain from touching my belly button?" Amirah asked.
"Yes, Amirah!" Francesca stammered in fear as she retracted her hands.
"Good, now go enjoy yourself" Amirah said as she turned around and splashed Francesca in the face.
"Hey!" Francesca shouted, "No fair!"
"Who dare wins, Francesca" Amirah laughed as she continued to splash Francesca and before Francesca could splash back, Amirah had dove into the water and swam away.
"Where did she go?" Francesca asked once she opened her eyes to find Amirah was gone with only Ember in front of her.
"She swam off Francesca." Ember said as she pointed out to sea.
"Eh?!" Francesca cried in frustration. "No fair!"
On the beach
"So are you going to swim, Lydia?" Eino asked.
"I can't swim, I never learn" Lydia admitted.
"Well I can teach you." Eino said.
"Are you sure?" Lydia asked.
"Of course, it will be fun." Eino said as he began teaching Lydia how to swim. Meanwhile Yoshika, Lynette, Perrine, Francesca, Pierre and Franco were swimming in another part of the coast after the first three were done with training. They were diving when they noticed something in the water. It was a chest, an old wooden chest, the one you would think will be a treasure chest. They were intrigued by this chest, especially Pierre and Perrine and after some discussion, they all decided to try and bring the chest up however it wouldn't budge. The six of them tried to pull at it but the stubborn would not budge and soon Yoshika, Lynette, Francesca and Franco all went up for air however just as Pierre and Perrine felt like doing the same, they remembered about their magic and activated them and they were able to yank the chest out of the seaweed that entangled it.
Meanwhile on the beach, Yoshika and Lynette were getting worried as Perrine and Pierre have yet to return to the surface. Muto, Arthur and Franco were beginning to get worried as well. brought the chest out of the water but were exhausted from the weight of the chest. Yoshika and Muto checked on them and sighed in relief that they were merely tired and nothing else.
Meanwhile Francesca was fiddling around with the padlock on the chest while Franco looked out for any "thieves".
However Francesca didn't have long as Perrine soon came around, followed by Pierre and they were not all too pleased that Francesca was trying to take their treasure. However Muto was able to diffuse the situation and the group agreed to use the treasure to help with the bridge but there was a problem, after going through several chests and solving a puzzle, they found a map and began exploring as they found it was nearby.
Meanwhile Shirley and Amirah realized that Perrine and her group had been gone for some time now and were becoming worried. So they decided to go find them but the wizards headed towards the base to look for them while the girls looked around the island and they soon found themselves in a cavern without realizing or discovering that they were in the same cavern as Perrine and her group. And after an incident which Amirah thinks came from a script which involved a trap, a jar of wine, an act of heroism which resulted top two commanders becoming incapacitated, they soon found Perrine and her group, in a garden full of herbs which got Perrine and Pierre a bit disheartened as they had hoped for something they could sell for the bridge however when Amirah and Yoshika took a close look at the herbs, they were surprised that to find that they were rare and valuable herbs. This uplifted the spirits of the Clostermanns as they now had a way of paying for the bridge.
Well that's it really, sorry it is not as long as my other chapters. But it has been a few weeks since I wrote because I was busy *cough* Fate/Grand Order and exams*cough*. But don't worry, I am getting the will to write back and hopefully Chapter 18 isn't so bad.