It was a pleasant day after the desert I made yesterday, which was below par and got me chased. I had made a full salad meal with bread sticks and tomato sauce and salad dressing, which thankfully had recipes, and was in the middle of baking the desert, while they were eating. When they were done, however, I was trying to dispose of the cake when they took a bite and started to chase. I knew it was bad, but damn. They were using their magic to chase and attack me, if they could, and made me hide in a very uncomfortable sleeping spot. I left my sleeping spot when they found me and the chase was on again before my legs went stiff and I fell over. I looked back in terror and saw their faces radiating amazement. I turn over and see why, as my legs were covered in plates of metal and resembled the same units they used to fly. I was unable to move before the propellers came out and started turning, which sent me all over the base before I went airborne, finally, and was flying away from the base, while panicking and flailing around a bit, gaining and losing altitude and spinning around in aileron and barrel rolls before I felt two pairs of arms hold me steady. "Jeez buddy you are full of surprises." Charlotte's tone was welcome at this point as was the company of Luchinni, her wing-man, as they held me steady. "Okay honey, you need to use your body's angle for turning, and adjust your body's 'output' to adjust the RPM for trick shots and hard banks." She let go after I had leveled out. "Okay, before you have an accident, let's get you on Basic Maneuvers. Repeat what I do and try to keep up." She pulled ahead as I adjust the output to keep her in site. She pulled up by bowing her body backwards and raised her left leg in proportion to her orientation to turn right. I mirrored and replicated each movement as I got used to the unit, though my body was getting exhausted from having to hold it a certain way. Thankfully we landed and the metal retreated into my body as I relaxed. "How did that feel?" Charlotte asked getting a little too close, forcing me to back away.

"Relaxing." I answered with a blush. "The wind in your hair, the feeling of speed and freedom... like a bird in flight" She pat me on the back before leaving as I look back to the sky and wonder if I can fight with them. The answer from Minna was 'no' for more than obvious reasons as I would need a weapons permit, military approval and so one. Even with my special circumstances I am still a civilian and I can respect that to a point but they are going to need some help soon. So, after cooking breakfast, I was in the air, pushing my output to the limit as my breathing became labored before backing off and turning straight up and pushing my limit again. I ascended roughly 3000 feet before my engines started staling and I was losing altitude. Heading to base, I level out and came in for the landing and gave one last burst to slow to a stop and retreated the metal within seconds. Gertrud came out with her stoic expression as I sat there, catching my breath. Rex Salazar from Generator Rex could fly circles around me with the Boogie Pack, but it was like a stand alone pair of wings. These things, which I call Plane Strikers, required effort to speed up and maneuver in combat so getting it under my belt was a must as was the conditioning.

"Unless you plan on staying on the ground, I suggest you get stronger." Barkhorn was strict with training but she had no idea how bad it can be.

"Too much strength is a bad thing." I stated, trying to breathe. "When all you have is strength, you forget about weakness, and what it was like to be weak." She looked back at me, either bewildered or insulted and continued back to the building. She had a bad habit of focusing on her strength and pushing too much, while helpful for some time, can hurt your body without rest. The next morning, I was flexing my muscles in Tai-Chi motions for uniform conditioning. The results are not immediate but it may help with soreness, or so I read online before coming here. That's one thing that bugged me, no internet, but it was nice to unplug. Though I wonder if my girlfriend is okay. If she goes to that same convention, there's no telling where she may end up or what powers she'll get or if I'll ever see her again. I hope to see her again, but for now I have to focus on the Neuroi and helping the witches. Speaking of the Neuroi, I learned that they attack once a week and each attack had been random in results as some took forever to take down while others were handled in seconds. Another thing I learned was that the witches did not have these advanced striker units when they first deployed and instead had prototypes that received immediate corrections as the developers noted them. War is for the advancement of weapons, though I do hope that peace advances people.

I was in the kitchen after washing up and was cooking up a favorite, pizza. I knew how to make this one from scratch, the hardest things being the bread, sauce and cheese, which they had stocked now. Everything after that was fun. I made four, New York style pizzas with standard pepperoni, olives and mushrooms to keep the cost down. Perrine did not like it at all but the other girls were filled and happy. After cleaning the dishes, I was in the hanger, recreating the Railgun, which I named Storm Hammer. The range was immense, so much that a new target stand had to be set up after finding the max distance before the Arch Drop took effect. That made me happy for a moment before I realized I was a flying tank and needed a more rapid fire armament and started to experiment with the Oracles in my system to make a small rifle with a mid rate of fire. Three tries yielded a strange energy rifle, a standard rifle complete with ammo drum, and a high caliber sniper rifle with the problem that I would need a free hand to stabilize any of them, so the Storm Hammer would need a servo to hold the weapon apart from my arm and a trigger mechanism to fire or else a series of connectors to assemble it, similar to an Overed Weapon from Armored Core Verdict Day.

That night, I had a long soak in the bath before Sakamoto came in and I immediately put the blind fold on my eyes before I heard her laughing and she took them off before I looked away. "Don't let Minna scare you. She does look out for us though she can be a bit strict."

"You said it." That was Charlotte's voice so I covered me eyes before I heard her laughing. "Don't be so stiff honey. Being on the front line doesn't give us the luxury of the naughty bits though your expressions are cute." I uncovered my face with a pout. "Oh god. That face is precious." She and Sakamoto laughed before she spoke again. "Like she said Allen, you need to ease up a bit, have a little fun. It's what I do." I turned away to keep the perverted thoughts out before my face got an eye full of boobage before I left and headed to bed.

"Damn you Charlotte." I sneered.

The next flight was a bit hard with the Railgun's weight and correction was tough because of the effort to stay in the air but it was requested by Minna for conditioning and even had a mid air target range set up for practice. She said the ammo count needed work so I got a few designs going and one yielded a three round cylinder to handle the ammo problem while another held two rounds, one to fire and the other to load. For armaments, the energy rifle weighed the least with rounds that did the least damage while the sniper rifle had the most weight and rounds that ripped through brick and the standard rifle was the happy middle of weight and firepower. The rifles grew from my arms and stayed part of my arm for stability and easy reconfiguration, which made the mock fights better to handle for combat drills. Keeping up with the girls was no problem but it was the turns and banks I struggled with as I was trying to make each turn carefully. Later that same night, I flew in the airspace above the mainland and the added danger got my adrenaline going as my one objective was to no collide with anything. After two laps of this I headed to bed and got up three hours later for chores. I powered through my day, but not without a few mistakes and a chewing from Perrine. Minna pulled me to the side and told me not to kill myself to keep up. She didn't get my struggle to work twice as hard to get to their level. The next week, a Neuroi was sighted and the alarms blared before all of us met in the briefing room. Minna assigned the leader and Wingman, putting me with Lynette as her wingman. We headed out as Lynette stayed a distance and I drew the enemy's fire, giving her clean and open shots while the Storm Hammer was loading. The Neuroi resembled an attack chopper in make, with homing laser points riddling the large aircraft. It tried to hit me as I kept the agro before me and Sakamoto found the core. It fired on Lynette and nearly hit her, thankfully she drew her shield but it almost hit me next. It found the linchpin and wanted us grounded. That's when I noticed why, my weapon. It took me and Lynette as the more immediate threat and therefor went after us. I changed the weapons make as my chest was covered in plating, ending with heat vents on the back and a massive weapon of six chainsaws off my right shoulder. Noticing the bigger threat, it focused its attack on me as the girls laid into it to reach the core before they were targeted next. Lynette then told me to get ready as I equip the massive build and start charging it, the intense friction from the multiple motions creating air friction and therefor generating heat. Once charged, I got closer as it focused on me again and I charged forward, dispersing the beam and running right through the threat, breaking the core in the process. My weapons retreated, leaving the Plane Strikers out as we looked at the falling shards.

Back at base, Minna gave me an ear full about going against rank, abandoning my wing leader and endangering the others. I stayed silent and had no excuse, so I was put on toilet duty for a week. No cooking for me I guess. Gertrude was stern but the other girls were somewhat okay with me but they were not okay with what I did. I feel like a gear in a machine. I guess I still need some assembly. Later on at sunset, I recreated my weapons one at a time. The Plane Striker was a utility so that wasn't coming out, but my other weapons were big and bulky to the point of hindrance. I needed a set of weapons that can be made and fired in quick succession to one another, swapping out guns like ammo, a bit like the Lawgiver from the Dredd and Judge Dredd movies. The gun would be too small but the rifles could accommodate the ammo. Recalling the sword from the first day I was awake, I reformed it but it was smaller, a short blade by God Eater standards. Giving the blades a few swings, it was light to me but greatly powerful. A hard swing created wind and it was light enough to use on the ground. Getting out the Plane Strikers, there was little hindrance to my movements, but that was going to wait for later since I needed sleep.

Getting up the next morning, I cooked breakfast out of habit. This one was a collection of vegetables for taco salsa to act as a topping for the eggs and some bacon for meet. Sakamoto and Lynette took to it with vigor while Perrine, stubborn as she is, almost refused it before Minna forced her to eat it for good reason. The blonde reluctantly agreed to the meal being plenty satisfying and I got started on dishes. After finishing, I got the mop I had left by the door and headed for the restroom to clean the toilets. That took some time from the size of the place, but with me having done house work before this each one was done quickly and correctly. Thankfully, the Neuroi wasn't going to attack the same days I was working, but they are relentless from what I remember. However, this is before Miafuji became a strike witch so there are going to be a few surprises before she gets here. Still, gotta wonder, what will transpire before then.