Chapter 2
The next morning I started out the day at about 0400 with squats, push-ups, chin-ups, crunch's, and a few laps around the base which ended at about 0530 allowing me a quick shower before breakfast.
Upon entering I noticed that there was no one else inside. I got undressed and showed before I heard voices. "Did you hear about the male witch?" "Yea I heard that he was on Hong Kong before this." "What, no way!" "My cousin was there, he said that he was carried to an aid station by him. Apparently his familiar is a polar bear." "What's that?" "I don't know, must be some animal native to Farawayland." The chatter then died off as they walked away. 'Seems like I've got some fans.' I thought as I continued to get dressed.
I was in and out in under 5 minutes so that left me with 25 minutes to spare. Walking out I went back to my room for a drink and to grab my rifle. Though that plan was thwarted by the major when she saw me heading back to my room. "Where were you? You weren't in your room or in the mess hall." 'Shit' I thought. "I was doing my early morning workout, followed by a quick shower." I respond. "Alright well the meeting is after breakfast." She told me before leaving. 'That went better than I thought.'
Opening the door a few things hit me at once or more accurately Yoshika hit me. She had been surprised by me returning to my room so late, and had decided to stand near the door. When I opened it she jumped right into me. From experience things that jumped at me were usually bad so I drew my webley before I comprehended that it was just Yoshika. "Yoshika don't jump at me like that! I almost Damn near shot you!" I say as she climbs off me. "Hai, sorry." She responded.
"Anyway, why were you in my room?" I asked as we walked down to the mess hall together. "Well the major asked me to keep a look out for you as she wanted to tell you something." "Was it by any chance when the meeting is?" "Hai, that's it." She responded.
I soon found myself in the briefing room. I had managed to light up a smoke as I had gotten addicted. Everyone but the commander, Yoshika and myself were seated. Looking around I realized I only knew two people in the crowd. The first one was the major, while the second one was the glamorous Shirley. Then the commander clapped her hands twice and spoke. "Your attention please, good morning quick anouncement. In case you haven't gotten to meet them yet, these are our new recruits, Major Sakamoto brought them to us from the fuso empire and Farawayland. Yoshika Miyafuji and Stefan Morrison." "Thank you for having me. I'm looking forward to meeting all of you." Yoshika said with a bow. "If this is the frontlines and we have no reserve, then I can expect good pay right?" I asked only to be ignored.
"Miyafuji's rank is Sargent the same rank as you Lynne so would you mind getting her settled in." "Ah, okay." Said who I assume Lynne was. "And this is captain Morrison of the Farawayland armed forces. He was recently transferred here. And captain please don't smoke inside the buildings." The Commander said to me. I frown as I stub out my cigarette on the bottom of my boot. "Good, Now all the documents, clothing, rank insignia and identification is here." "Excuse me?" And there's Yoshika again. "Yes?" Commander responds. "I won't be needing this." Yoshika says. "Neither will I." I say while patting my webley. "This gun right here has killed more Neuroi than I can remember." "Well, I hope not, but you should keep it just incase you do." Commander spoke to Yoshika. "Sorry, no thank you." Yoshika responded. "Right." Commander said. The major laughed before saying that Yoshika fascinates her.
"That's it!" The girl with glasses said before storming out. "Well I certainly wasn't expecting that. I guess individual introductions will have to wait till later. You are now dismissed." Commander said before leaving, I started to follow her until i was cut of by Yoshika's shout of surprise.
Turning around I found that one of them was groping Yoshika. "Well fuck." I muttered. "A ha ha ha, you can never compete with this." Shirley stated while thrusting her chest upwards causing her *cough*assets*cough* to bounce. "Hi there, my name is Charlotte Yeager. I'm a flight lieutenant from United States of Liberion. But you can call me Shirley." She anouned while shaking hands with Yoshika. "Hi" was all Yoshika said in response. "You need to eat more if you expect to get bigger." Shirley stated while Yoshika looked down at her chest, by now I had reached Yoshika. "Nice to meet you. I'm Stefan Morrison." I say as we shake hands or in my situation her hand, wrist and part of her forearm. "Nice to meet you aswell."
"I'm so bored" and that was the girl that groped Yoshika she has now burried her face in Shirley's *cough*assets*cough* "I'm Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen. Suomus Air Force ensign. This is Sanya Litvyak, an Orussian Army lieutenant." A new girl joined the conversation while supporting who I assumed was Sanya. "Nice to meet you two." I responded with a smile though I knew they could tell that it never reached my eyes. "Francesca Lucchini, Romagna Regia Aeronautica ensign." The girl that was burried in Shirley's chest said. "It's Nice to meet you." I responded while Yoshika said "I'm pleased to meet all of you." "All right. That's enough of the introductions. Time to get ready for duty. Lynne, Miyafuji and Morrison will begin training this afternoon." The major said. 'Time to show them how well my striker can preform.' I thought as I went through the mental check list of all the equipment I'd need. "Ma'am." Yoshika shouted. "Excellent response. Lynette, begin by showing Miyafuji and Morrison around the base." Was what she got in return.
"Yes ma'am, okay." Lynne basically muttered. "I'm Yoshika Miyafuji. Thank you so much for helping me." Yoshika said. "Lynne you can just drop me off at the hanger. I need to get some maintence done on my striker, I fear Ursula tampered with it." The last part I muttered under my breath. "It's my pleasure. My name is Lynette Bishop." Lynne said in response.
After Yoshika and Lynne left, I stood infront of my striker. A tool box was stationed at my feet and I was busy lighting up. After finishing that I started to take off the panels to the engine and radiator. Upon opening the radiator I noticed a couple goose feathers. "Even an ocean away and those fuckers still annoy me." I state as I start removing them. Once that was done I set to work on enhancing the maneuverability so I could out preform any Neuroi I care across. Soon I got lost in my work.
What brought me out of my work was a cough from a Karlsland witch. "Who are you?" She asked. I look over my shoulder at her before going back to work. "Well I'm one of the new witches here." I state as I proceed to remove a slightly burned crumpled up ball of paper. "A male witch? Impossible!" She said. I didn't respond just activated my familiar. I could feel the ears and tail pop out. "What!? A male witch! Who agreed to this!" She shouted practally in my ear. "Well miss I was ordered here by high command of farawayland. Nothing you can do about it besides make my life a living hell, wait sorry that already happened." I ramble on. "I won't accept this. This is a female only witch squadron." She states. "Keep telling yourself that." I mumble as I finish unraveling the paper. It read 'say hi to Erica for me. Ursula Hartmann.' "Even an ocean away, she is like the damn geese." I comment absentmindedly. "Anyway, you know an Erica Hartmann?" I ask her. "Why yes I do. What do you want from her." She states while getting up in my face. I blow a smoke cloud into her face before saying. "Her sister wants me to say hi for her." "*cough*why did*cough*you blow*cough*smoke in my face!" She shouts at me. "Because miss. You decided to get up in my face. Now deal with the consequences." I respond.
I then turn back to my work and proceed to strip down the internal workings of my striker and then start to put it back together before I was interrupted by a new arrival "Trudy whatcha doing?" "Hartmann I'm making sure this man doesn't do anything!" "Hey hartmann, your sister says hi." I interrupt them, I toss the paper to Erica and proceed to place parts of the fuel injection system in 'Trudy's' hands. "Hold this will ya." I state before diving back to my work. I continue to rearrange everything inside of my striker before I take back the fuel injection system. "Looks like you're burning up. Maybe you should take a cold shower and get some sleep." I comment as her face is beet red. She starts to stammer, she stammers so much I couldn't catch what she said.
"You can run faster than that! Miyafuji! Tell me what you see in front of you!?" Major Sakamoto shouted at us, well more accurately Lynne and Yoshika. "The sea!" Was what she got back. Just then I reached the end of the runway for the twentieth time. "Lynne, tell me what's beyond the sea!?" again the Major. "Europe is, ma'am" Lynne responds. "Morrison what is the situation in Europe!?" She shouts at me as I reach the halfway point. "It's occupied by the enemy." I shout back. "That's right. It's up to you to regain that territory. The only way you're going to that is by training. Got it? Training, training, training! Move! What you need more that magical strength is physical strength!" She shouts at us. "Yes ma'am!" We shout back. "Good! Give me ten more!" she shouts at us. I tune out everything else as I proceed to put more effort into running.
"Two more sets!" She shouts at us while I'm finishing up the push ups. "I can't..." Was all Lynne said before she fell. "Me, neither..." was Yoshikas response aswell. Myself and the major sigh. "Girls if you can't complete these simple push-ups then how do you expect to win the war." I reprimand them. After that they went off for target practice while I went into the bush beside the base and took a smoke break away from everyone else.
"Next thing we need to do is get you trained on the Striker Unit equipment." The Major said while I stood off to the side preparing my Vickers guns. "Major Sakamoto, permission to assist our new recruits?" said the girl that had walked out of the meeting room during introductions. "Myself aswell." Said 'Trudy' "Permission granted and may I say I am impressed. Good to see you volunteering your time." The Major said. 'Trudy' just shot me a dirty look which I returned with a smile.
Once in the air the battle begins. I quickly latch onto the girl that walked outs six but then 'trudy' flew in from my three so I turned into the attack. Side slipping I dodge the shots before the major decided to join by attacking my six. She missed as I broke left shaking her easily. Latching onto the first girls tail again I gave a short burst that knocked her out of this fight, then 'trudy' flew in for a head on pass with her duel MG 42's I ducked under her fire and gained some more speed as I whipped around and onto the Majors tail. She tries to shake me but a quick burst from me and her strikers and lower back are covered in orange paint. "Well now this is a even fight." I comment as i preform a rolling scissors with 'trudy', both trying to win but neither her nor I could pull enough lead. I quickly leveled out and kicked it into high gear. I watched as I picked up speed. 700km, 710km, 720km, 740km, 780km, 800km. I pull up and over so now I'm inverted flying straight towards 'Trudy', I open fire at the same time she does. I dodge 90% of what was shot at me the other 10% struck my strikers and my face, as for her she took 50% of my shots. "I needed to shave anyway." I comment about the mess. "Is that really all you have to say!?" 'Trudy' shouted at me. "Not good match or demanding for a rematch!?" "Well I have to clean my striker, shave, wash my face and then proceed to check that everything is working in my striker so a rematch is out of the question." I answer while dodging Yoshika. "Watch it Yoshika, I'd rather not end up in the drink." "Sorry." Yoshika apologizes. "And possibly teach Yoshika to fly." I comment before I fly up beside Yoshika.
"Yoshika I'm gonna give you a few pointers, put your arms by your sides if you aren't carrying your gun, learn to fly straight first then try manoeuvres and finally don't look anywhaere but where you want to go unless you're shooting." I state while flying off to her side. "Hai, thank you." She respond while following my directives.
"Worn out already, Miyafuji? Well, it's your first day. That's to be expected. Though I didn't think your magic control would be so sloppy, you need to work on your baseline staminas, too." The Major said while hovering over the collapsed forms of Yoshika and Lynne. "And I suggest you start working on these things right away. Otherwise, you'll continue to be a nuisance. Honestly, I think you'd be better off going home." Said the girl with glasses. "Hahaha! She'a novice, Perrine. This is her first day. Don't be so hard on her." The Major responds. 'So that girls name is Perrine, eh?' I thought as I whipped the final bits of aftershave off my face before heading back to my room.
"Come on Yoshika keep in control. I want to see you be able to out manoeuvre Lynne by the end of this!" I shout towards Yoshika as she tries to keep on Lynne's wing. It was now the middle of the afternoon and she hadn't improved much. "Watch out Yoshika." I say as I narrowly advoid being rammed by said girl, I lost track of Yoshika for a minute and when I find her I see the commander step aside and Yoshika flies between her and the Major. "Yoshika what did I say about maintaining your altitude!" I shout as Lynne continues to preform at the peak of performance.
"Good work! You're done for today." Said the Major as she walked away. "Yoshika you have so much to improve that I don't even know where to start." I comment as 'Trudy' walks up. "Capitan Barkhorn." Lynne says. "Newbie!" she states while looking at Yoshika. "Yes!" Yoshika says with her usual tone when addressing superior officers. "Don't you realize this is the front line? Your skills in combat are all that matters here. Are you prepare to die?" Captain Barkhorn asks. "I should ask you the same captain. Are you ready to die, do you have any regrets any family waiting for you or maybe a boyfriend or husband?" I ask only for her to completely ignore me. "Well... I don't know. I just really wanna help people." Yoshika answers her. "The Neuroi aren't going to wait for you to imporve your training. So if you want to survive, I suggest you become stronger." Barkhorn said before walking away.
That night I was sitting at the end of the runway smoking. "Damn it, stuck again on the front lines." I mutter while falling backwards. "Sergeant Miyafuji, Captain Morrison!?" Lynne said while approaching. "Hi, Lynette." Yoshika answered. "you found my favorite spot here." Lynne stated. "I did? It's beautiful, isn't it?" Yoshika said. That's when I chipped in with. "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." "Yes." answered Lynne. "I got in trouble again. I need to try harder." Yoshika said looking kinda sad. "I'm little jealous of you, Miyafuji." Lynne said just as sad. "But why?" Yoshika asked. "Your ability to keep trying harder and never give up." Lynne answered. "Wow! That's exactly what it says in my report card!" Yoshika said surprised. "I don't think there's anything good anyone could say about me.I just don't belong here." Lynne responded. "That's a load of bullshit." I state. "That's not true. I saw you. You're amazing!" Yoshika said agreeing with me. "No, I'm not really. Believe me." Lynne said trying to argue. "C'mon, yes, you are!" Yoshika said cutting her off. "Only during training. During actual fighting I'm a failure. I can't even fly." Lynne continued. "But if you could do it during training..." Yoshika said only to be cut off by Lynne. "I know it's hard for you to believe 'cause you're good at everything but I'm not you! Ah... I'm sorry about that..." Lynne said before running off. "Lynette! Wait!" Yoshika called after her to no avail.
The next morning we were all seated in the briefing room. Myself I was leaning back on a chair with my feet up on the desk. "We've receieved a report from the observation post. It looks like the enemy has entered the East Grid Sector 1-14. Altitude is higher than usual. To compensate we'll be changing formation." Commander said before the Major stepped up. "Barkhorn and Hartmann will be upfront. Shirley and Lucchini will take the rear. Perrine, you're with me." "The rest of you will standby at the base with me." Commander finished. "Roger!" We all responded.
Shortly afterwards we were at the enterance of the hanger watching them take off. "Wow, look at them go!" Yoshika commented while I just stood off to the side "Yeah, it's great..." Lynne said before she trailed off. "Is there anything we can be doing right now to help?" Yoshika asks. "Not get shot in the ass." I jokingly respond. "Maybe you can... but I would just get in the way." Lynne responds aswell. "Where are you going?" Yoshika asks as Lynne ran off. Glancing over my shoulder I see the commander walking up. "Miyafuji, may I speak with you for a moment?" She asked. "Ah... sure." "Britannia is Sergeant Bishop's homeland so she's sensitive. You're aware that Europe has recently fallen into the hands of the Neuroi, aren't you?" The Commander asked Yoshika. "Yes. Lynette told me." Yoshika responds "That's why this is so hard for her. You see? Britannia may be Europe's last hope. And the pressure becomes too much for her when defending that during combat." The Commander continues. "I understand." Yoshika answers. "So what about you? Why did you decide to join the Witches?" Commander asks. "Me? I wanna help people who are in need and protect them." Yoshika responds. "You know, that's exactly what Lynne said when she first enlisted. Never forget those feelings. I'm sure your desire to help everyone will give you strength." Commander said before turning to me. "And what about you Morrison?" "Myself? Well, a few diffrent reasons but mostly better pay and a safe place to sleep." I answer only for them to look at me strange. "What, I don't give a fuck about that 'for king and country' bullshit they have plastered everywhere." I say.
I spent some time sitting outside of the hanger waiting for the others to return and so Commander doesn't yell at me for smoking indoors when suddenly the alarm went off. Booking it to my striker I get ready to take off. I end up sitting there for about two minutes before the others arrive. Eila, commander, Lynne and Yoshika. "Lets go." I say as they start to get ready. Soon we're up in the air. "Looks like the enemy will be approaching from 3 o'clock. Eila and I will move on ahead. You three stay behind and provide backup, okay?" Commander states. "Right!" We all respond. "All right. We're counting on you." Commander says before she and Eila flew off to attack the Neuroi. "Miyafuji... I was actually really scared when I volunteered." Lynne said to Yoshika. "I'm still really scared. I know this may sound strange but I would've been more afraid if we just stay behind and not done anything." Yoshika responds. "That's what I usually do." Lynne says before something catchs her attention. "What's wrong?" Yoshika asks. "Look! Over there!" Lynne shouts while pointing at the Neuroi. "Shit, we gotta get ready to intercept." I command. "Neuroi?" Yoshika asks. "I'm afraid so!" Lynne answers her. "It's coming this way." Yoshika sates. "Thank you captain obvious." I respond. "I can't do. I can' hit it!" Lynne said while foreign shots at it. "Yes, you can! It's just like when you were in training." Yoshika said. "It's taking everything I've got just to fly and I won't have enough energy to control my shots with magic." Lynne said with worry in her voice. "Fine! Then I'll support you, okay? That way you can just concentrate on shooting." Yoshika said as she flew under Lynne and came up. "I'll work as your shield." I state as I fly infront of her careful not to bloke her shots. "Huh? What are you doing? Wait!" Lynne said as Yoshika connected with her. "See? Don't you feel more stable?" Yoshika asked Lynne. "Umm... well... yeah. Thanks!" Lynne said slightly uncomfortable about the position.
"Bishop, Miyafuji, the enemy is heading in your direction. You're the one we're counting on it at this point. This is your moment!" The Commanders voice crackled over the radio. "Right!" Myself And Yoshika said. "West-north-west wind... velocity 3... and speed... position... That's it! If I caluculate the enemy's future position after evasion and use that as my target..." Lynne said trailing off "When I give you the signal, I'm gonna need you to shoot with me." She comands. "Roger." "Okay, You got it!" Myself and Yoshika say respectably. "Shoot now! Hit it!" Lynne states. Yoshika one hands her 20 mm canon, I open up with my twin Vickers K's and Lynne fires off some shots which take out the Neuroi. Over the radio I hear. "Lynette, you did it!" And I hear Yoshika say "Look at that!" "Miyafuji, did you see that? I did it. That's the first time I've ever managed to help everyone and it's all because of you. Thank you so much!" Lynne said flying upwards and flipping over so she could hug Yoshika but in her excitement they both fell into the water. "We're friends, aren't we? You could stop calling me Miyafuji." Yoshika states while they bob in the water. "Then you can stop calling me Lynette." Lynne responds. "'kay! Lynne, right?" Yoshika asked. "Yeah, Thanks Yoshika!" Lynne answered. "If you girls want I could give you two a lift." I say floating just over them. "Of course" And "please do" we're their responses. "Alright one sec." I say as I fly a bit away before swooping down grabbing their hands and pulling them up and out of the water. Using some of my magic I toss them high enough into the air that I can catch them around the waist. "There ya go." I say with a big smile on my face and my cigarette hanging out of the corner of said smile.