Chapter 13
Early in the morning I slipped out into the forest and back to the clearing. "Once more." I mutter as I try another strike. "Morrison, if you keep going like this all your magic will be gone." Jarvis spoke up. 'Jarvis, there isn't much else I can do.' I respond to my core.
At breakfast Yoshika was late, which was surprising even to me. Everyone else was seated around the table except Shirley and Lucchini, who were both cooking. I was going through a couple letters from men in my old unit. Mostly informing me on progress and casualties. So far over half had been replaced. "Another one bites the dust." I mutter as I remove an image of my old unit from boot camp half of them had a black X over their faces. Marking another X. This time over the man that was crouching next to me. "May you rest in peace Johnnson." I mutter before putting it away. As I do Yoshika walks in and sits down across from Barkhorn and beside Lynne. "Oh, Miyafuji. You're late." Shirley says greeting her from the kitchen. "This morning is zuppa do farro and vongole bianco!" Lucchini states from the kitchen while snapping a pair of tongs. "We made it." Lucchini continued. "Okay." Yoshika responds. "What's dragging you down Yoshika?" I ask. "Oh, nothing at all." She responds. "If you're feeling down what usually works for me is either some strong booze or a few days of solitude." I suggest. "No, I'm fine." Yoshika turns me down. "Then eat!" Barkhorn snaps. "Even if you're not hungry. You think someone who doesn't fuel themselves will be 100% ready to fight in an emergency?" "U-Understood..." Yoshika says. "Fuel?" Me and Shirley question. "Geez... I don't wanna hear army lectures every waking moment." Erica says to Barkhorn. "Hey, Hartmann! Is that how a Karlesland solider should speak?" Barkhorn responds. "There she goes again." Erica says to me. "Listen to me. Unlike the situation in Britannia, we're heavily lacking in firepower. Our role has never been more critical." Barkhorn snaps at Erica. "Thanks for the meal!" Yoshika calls out breaking apart Barkhorn and Erica. "Hey Morrison What's in your mail?" Asks Lynne. "Just some information on how my old unit is doing." I answer. "Really? Let's see.!" Erica says as she grabs my letter. "Hey Erica, give that back." I say as I try to grab it from her hands. "'I heard you got promoted to squadron leader, sounds like a comfortable stationing far from the frontlines with lots of cute girls around. Must be nice, all we got out here is the mud and the insects which are keen on sucking us dry and, then the Neuroi, they seem to want to kill us all, but hey the feelings are mutual. Anyway the main reason I'm writing to you is to tell you Lieutenant Johnnson took a Neuroi blade to the head a few days ago, wasn't pretty when we found him. Aperantly he was supposed to bring back a few solider who had gotten lost in the woods a few days before but was ambushed by four Neuroi. He ffought hard and took down two before one got him in the back of the head, you can now cross him off. At times like these it feels like no one from the original unit but you will make it out alive.'" Erica reads gradually getting quieter and quieter after getting to the part about Johnnson. "The infantry have a hard time at the front. Many of them were no more than kids when they signed up..." I trail off. "Anyway. May I have my mail back." I ask as I hold out my hand while Erica gives it to me. "Now I'm off to get some stuff done." I say before tucking in my chair and leaving.
Awhile later I'm out on a training run with Yoshika, Perrine and Lynne. I was off to the side by Lynne as Yoshika and Perrine went head to head. I watched as Yoshika used her supirior manoeuvrability to get on Perrine's six before I saw smoke come from her left engine. Yoshika fires off to Perrine's left and she took advantage of that by climbing and circling onto Yoshika's tail and painting her head to toe in orange paint. That's when Lynne blows the whistle and announces. "The match is over. Perrine is the winner." "B-But of course. She never stood a chance." Perrine states. "Morrison. You're up next." Lynne says to me. "Alright." I mutter as Perrine and I fly off. It's really sad watching them try to best me in aerial combat. In the end, Yoshika lost to Perrine multiple times while Perrine lost to me the same number of times. The last match was between Perrine and Yoshika. Once Perrine shot Yoshika I began to notice a trend. That's when Lynne blew her whistle again. "The match is over. Perrine is the winner." She announces again. Looking over to Yoshika I ask. "Yoshika you good, looks like you could use a couple hours of rest. Maybe you should get some R&R while I take a look at your striker." I suggest as the engine once again gives off a strange sound. "No I'm fine." Yoshika argues and I don't push the matter. I leave the others to help Yoshika as I fly down to the Major.
"Major I suggest allowing me a look into her striker. I've seen thick black smoke coming from it. Might be something off inside." I say as we walk down the hall. "Alright you look into that and I'll schedule her a check up." Major agrees with me. "Alright I'll do that now." I say before walking off.
"I cross checked everything, but didn't notice anything unusual. The magic engine has been given a complete overhaul. I even swapped in some new spark plugs and oil, but I think it might be that the striker is either to old or Yoshika has grown so powerful that the engine can't keep up with the power and Ah floods the engine. Early spitfire engines had a similar problem with their floating carburetter in negative g manoeuvres or if you rolled the aircraft." I explain as I whip my hands off with an oily cloth. "I see. So nothing's wrong with the striker. Understood. Thank you Morrison for looking into it." Major said as she stood infront of me. "Welcome. Glad I could be of help." I answer before turning back to Yoshika's striker which was laid out on a table behind me. "I'll just finish putting everything back."
"But that makes it all the more odd." I hear Barkhorn state from within the medical wing. "Barkhorn... when did you get here?" I hear Major ask. "I verified that you're having trouble flying. Until we get to the root of the problem, I cannot send you into battle. So Morrison has agree to run a few tests to find the root of the problem." I hear Barkhorn say. I open the door and state. "I never agreed to anything like that Captain Barkhorn And since I rank higher than you, you can't order me to." Walking in I continue. "But I do have a couple theories on it and would like to run some experiments. Nothing harmful just a few hours of flying and combat manoeuvres in different strikers. That's all." I stop to stand beside Barkhorn. "As for you Barkhorn, don't drag me into things again, I've never dragged you into my troubles willingly." All the while the girls are looking nervous. "Is that true, Yoshika? You're having troubles flying?" Lynne asks Yoshika. "I'm ordering you grounded until we know what's disabling you." Barkhorn says. "I'll get some paper and we can start a test now if you'd like. It's quick but I can see what I'm working with. It might mean you need a new model or maybe a different style of aircraft." I continue. "No! I swear I can fly!" Yoshika shouts. "I've seen the black smoke of a flooded engine from your left striker. When I looked into it, it showed some signs of too much magic being used." I calmly responded. "That was an order from a superior officer." Barkhorn drowns me out. "Yeah. I think it's for the best." Major agrees with Barkhorn. "No way!" Yoshika shouts again. "Yoshika..." Lynne says calming her down. "Yoshika I can start some testing if you'd like, I just need you to come with me." I say as I wave to her to follow me.
Mince we were far enough from the medical bay I spoke. "Yoshika you may be grounded for now but I'm gonna get to the root of this sooner or later. It's your choice, help me out now or wait till tomorrow." I say. "Either way I'm running some tests." "I'll have to think about it." She said. She sounded defeated. I let out a loud sigh before saying. "Yoshika, believe it or not but you do have troubles flying, either the A6M2 is not doing its job or it's not capable of doing its job for some reason. We can rule out that it's not doing its job but we can't pin down the reason for it not being capable yet so please listen to barkhorn for now." I try to cheer her up before leaving her to think my offer over.
"Barkhorn. I know you worry about Yoshika but... *sigh* you cant be so protective. She's not three." I say as I walk into our room with her behind me. "I'm not being protective and I don't worry about her." Barkhorn stubbornly refuses. "Stubborn as always, you need to work on that and show that you care in some other way than shouting at her." I say as I climb into bed. "Anyway, night." I say.
The next day was eventful. Between trying to get the A6M2 to work and training Yoshika to restrict the flow of Magic I had it tough. "For once, work with me." I mutter as I proceed to disassemble the engine and piece it back together with Yoshika standing over my shoulder. "Hey Morrison. Nice to see you aren't dead yet." I hear someone call out from behind me. Looking over I spot Williams getting out of a truck. "Yea you to Williams." I respond before returning to work. "Yoshika hold your hand here please." I say as I continue to go throught the engine. "If this works you can fly twice a day with no stress. But if you're stressed it will flood the engine." I explain. "So who's the girl. Your girlfriend?" Williams questions me. "Far from Williams, she's just a friend, you'd be amazed at her raw talent, anyway your here for a reason, do tell." I respond. "Ah, well you see I'm being transferred to Gallia Command for a couple weeks to help out in the radio room, so I thought I'd stop by for a chat." He explains. "I wasn't expecting you to be fixing an engine, I thought you only upgraded them." "Yea well, I got dragged into this by Captain Barkhorn." I say. "Wasn't that the girl who threatened to kill you?" Williams asks. "Barkhorn threatened to kill you?" Yoshika asked. "You don't know? Well let me explain to ya what he did to me." Williams satarted off. "Williams no. Do that and I'll call her here." I threaten. "Ha you wouldn't." He says thinking I'm bluffing. "Barkh-" I go to call before he covers my mouth. "Okay you win." He says. "You need to take risks. Anyway, Yoshika why don't you give him a quick tour and introduce him to some of the girls." I say. "Uh. Okay." She responds before leading him off. "Heh, now I can really work fast." I mutter as I dive back into work.
I wake up to the sound of an explosion. I duck under the table on reflex before I realize that it's just the broom Yoshika has that exploded. Looking over I see Lynne approach Yoshika and sit beside her. I come out just in time to hear. "Isn't the Adriatic beautiful?" "Yeah it is." I answer before theh realize I'm there. "We looked out at the sea like this once before. Do you remember?" Lynne continued after recovering for the surprise that was me. "Yeah." Yoshika answers. "Want me to help fix the broom?" Lynne asks. "Yeah. I'd appreciate that." Yoshika answers. "I'll help too." I say before either could ask me. "It's always good to help friends right."
"Central command dispatched a radio message that in order to strengthen our Romagnan presence, the Fuso fleet and its flagship, the battleship Yamato, will arrive tomorrow." Commanded explained. I was leaning on the wall behind Yoshika and Lynne and had a mug of coffee in my hand. "So it's finally coming here." Commander ended. "The Yamato?" Yoshika asks. "You know it, Yoshika?" Asked Lynne. "Yeah. I saw it when it was docked in Fuso. It's huge!" Yoshika explains. "World record holder of most torpedos used to sink a ship, that number is 19 aswell as holding the record for the biggest naval guns at 18.1 inches." I explain before being interrupted by the phone ringing. "Yes?" Commander asked. "What? The Yamato was in an accident?!" "What?!" Everyone else said while I about spat out my coffee. "All right. Understood." Commander said before hanging up. "That was an emergency request. Earlier, there was an explosion in the Yamato's sickbay. Quite a few people were injured in the blast. They want us to dispatch a medic immediately." Commander explained. "All right. Ready the Type 2 Flying Boat." Major said. "Please let me go!" Yoshika said while standing up. "I might not be able to fight, but I can heal and fly!" "I'm going, too!" Lynne said while standing up aswell. "I can put bandages on people." "Fuck it, I'll go too, it'll help in understanding what's wrong with Yoshika's striker." I say as I walk up to Yoshika and Lynne. "They would arrive much earlier than the flying boat." Major argued for us. "All right. Miyafuji, Lynne, Morrison, head to the Yamato at once." Commanded ordered. "Roger!" We responded.
Mouth flight was simple, Lynne to the left and back abit and Yoshika to the right and back abit. I heard Yoshika's engine sputter. "Are you all right, Yoshika?" Lynne asked. "Did the left engine flood again or no?" I ask. "Y-Yeah..." she responds to Lynne before turning to me and answering that she can't tell. "I'll have to look at it after we patch up those poor fellows who were injured in the explosion." I explain. "The Yamato!" Yoshika suddenly called out. "It's so big!" Lynne said. "Never thought I'd see it above the waves." I say.
Yoshika pushes open the door and walks in followed by Lynne then me. Looking around all I see is injured sailors. "Are you Miyafuji, Lynne and Morrison?" The furthest one asks. "Yes." Yoshika responds while walking up to him and a wounded man laying on the table. "This man sustained the worst injuries. With the equipment here, we can't do anything more for him." The medic explained. "Such horrible injuries..." Lynne said. "Understood." Yoshika said before using her magic to start to heal him. "The bleeding stopped!" The medic sounded surprised. "Medic take me to the explosion Center I'll see what I can find." I say. "Right away." He says as he takes me to the sickbay where I could look for the cause.
suddenly the alarm goes off. "Morrison, Neuroi are here to kill us." Jarvis speaks up. "We got to get airborne and destroy it." 'alright let's go.' I respond before booking it out of the room and down the hall towards the new sickbay where Yoshika and Lynne were. Just as I reach them the Yamato fired its canons. "Are you okay, Lynne?" Yoshika asked holding Lynne. "We don't have time girls on your feet and let's dispatch the Neuroi now!" I shout as I drag them to their feet and start to drag them down the hallway. Then a shot from the Neuroi off to the right of the ship caused me to stumble. "Damn the Neuroi." I mutter. "We have to get airborne girls. Otherwise we can't help the fleet. Let's go!" I called back to them before continuing in my sprint for the hanger.
MI'm the hangar I could feel the ship rocking from the close calls. I watch as Yoshika's engine sputters and comes to a halt. "Why? Why won't they fly?" Yoshika mutters. "Yoshika?" Lynne asks. "H-Hold on a second." Yoshika says while trying to get it to start. "The engine was just flooded with magic Yoshika. Putting more magic in only makes it worse." I explain. "Cruiser Takao, badly damaged!" Came over the radio. "Damn. Lynne we have to go." I say to Lynne. "Sorry Yoshika but we have to help out the fleet." I explain before going to take off. "Wait! I said, wait!" Yoshika calls after us.
Mince in the air I look over to a smoking cruiser and watch as one of its 20 cm turrets. "This is bad." I say as I climb up to attack the Neuroi only for it to fire again at the cruiser and Lynne to bloke it. "Can you all hear me?" Lynne asked over the radio. "Retreat while we block their attack!" Lynne continues. "We can only buy you a little time! Hurry and retreat!" "All ships, full speed to port!" The admiral calls out. "All ships, full speed retreat!" As he calls this out the Neuroi finally notices me coming up to engage it, a beam comes my way and I throw up a shield only for it to push me back down a few hundred feet. I'm pushed onto the defensive and watch as Lynne fires a shot at it only for it to bounce. "Damn it! We don't have the fire power for this!" I shout as I dive to bloke another shot going for the fleet.
I watch as Lynne starts to run out of magical energy. "Lynne head back to base. I'll deal with this." I tell her. "No! I won't leave you alone out here!" She shots back. "Then try to conserve your energy." I answer before a Neuroi beanie fired at Lynne. She blocks it but just as the beam starts to let up her shield breaks. "Lynne!" I call out before I'm forced to block another beam heading her way. As I'm distracting this Neuroi I see Yoshika zoom in and catch Lynne. "Way to go Yoshika!" I shout only to realize to late that a shot was fired at me, slipping to the right the beam flies by me, later I would realize that I was hit and bleeding badly. I watch as Yoshika makes a shield and rams the front of the Neuroi and enters the beast. I watch as she comes out the back and the Neuroi explodes shortly afterwards. "Yoshika!" Lynne cries as she hugs Yoshika. "Congrats Yoshika, you killed another one." I say while hovering near her. "Lynne, Morrison." Yoshika says. "We did it, Yoshika." Lynne says. "Yeah!" Yoshika agrees. "Yea hug it out you two." I comment before letting my arms fall to my sides. When my left arm hits my left side I feel something wet. "Did I splash myself on takeoff?" I question as I look down at my side only to see that I have a bloody patch instead of the side of my uniform. "Damn I was hit." I say before I start to black out. "Morrison!" Was the last thing I heard before everything went black.
"I don't want that to happen again." I mutter as I come to in my own bed. I could feel the bandage wrapped around my side. Looking around I spot Barkhorn asleep in a chair. "*sigh* Barkhorn you need to stop worrying about me. I'll live." I mutter as I get out of bed and tuck her into her own before heading back to mine.