MS Girls: Into the Unknown

by DragonKnightRyu

When a Colony ship passes too close to a dying star the crew is dragged into events far beyond their understanding as some of them awaken powers that have never been seen before to face the unknown that lies before them

8. Chapter Eight: Desert Assault

Disclaimer: Bandai and Sunrise are the undisputed Tyrant rulers of Gundam, RISE UP AND FIGHT THE OPPRESSORS!

"Talking"

'Thinking'

"Radio"

"Alter Egos"

"Jigen Haoh-Ryu techniques"

MS Girls

Lesson Eight - Desert Assault

The Next Morning - en route to Desert Area

"Is everyone ready?" Ryu shouted out over the dull roar of the Converse's engines, clad in his combat suit while carrying his custom assault rifle and a monomolecular blade.

"I think I am…" Hanami fidgeted, back in her teenaged form and naked in preparation to immediately go into her armoured form upon their landing without tearing anything - compression suits were in relatively good supply, but if every MS Girl tore theirs upon transforming, they were going to run out pretty soon. And she was definitely not tearing up her new clothes, skimpy or not!

"Might've been faster to just fly there myself," Ibuki said, looking out the window similarly naked.

"Well not all of us can fly you know!" Chris protested, puffing her cheeks out angrily. "And I'm not about to let you carry Ryu all by yourself!"

"We could've taken one of those new Base… Base… Jumpers?" Kaede got the name of their new transports hilariously wrong.

"Base Jabbers," Ryu corrected absently as he looked over his weapons. "And they're still being tested."

"Useless flesh. Useless flesh everywhere," a certain midget muttered in disdain from her corner of the cabin, still clothed in a compression suit of her size.

"You didn't have to come along, Xiao Lin…" Ibuki looked sympathetically at the midget.

"She's just grouchy because everyone else is 'bigger' than her," Ryu said teasingly.

Ibuki's hand was once again in place to neatly catch the slash directed at Ryu from Xiao Lin's drawn sword - a Chinese jian this time.

"Shut up, little brat," Xiao Lin muttered, sheathing her sword and muttering something about insolent students and young people not having any respect for the old.

"But you look even younger than us…" Hanami asked in confusion, not having heard about the midget's actual age.

"You're her student, Ibuki?" Ryu asked, looking over to his fiance.

"For a short time," Ibuki shrugged. "The Yagyu Shinkage-ryu didn't quite fit me so well, but I managed to learn the basic techniques and master the Mutodori."

Ryu hummed in response. "Interesting," he mused. "That must have been fun to have this loli as your teacher when she was an old crone."

"I'm not old anymore!" Xiao Lin snapped, throwing her sword this time. Ibuki again caught it between her fingers. "Insolent brat!"

"She was an old crone before?" Kaede asked in a similar state of confusion as Hanami.

"Before she underwent the transformation process like you guys," Ryu explained. "Plus she was a lot taller and more… stacked."

"Useless flesh!" Xiao Lin repeated.

"They're not THAT useless…" Ibuki grinned, sidling up against Ryu and pressing herself against his side affectionately. "Ryu-koi loves them."

Ryu chuckled as he placed an arm around her shoulder. "I won't argue against them," he admitted. "But not the most important thing."

"What, breastfeeding our future children and you is the most important thing?" Ibuki grinned cheekily.

All of the Unicorn girls let out small gasps and went red together.

Ryu rolled his eyes, grinned at Ibuki. "You know what I mean," he scolded half heartedly. "You guys are the most important thing."

"Aww, such a romantic," Ibuki beamed and blinked a few times when Hanami of all people actually stepped up and hugged Ryu around his back too, although she did hesitate slightly.

"Ryu's such a sappy romantic~" Chris squeed, red dusting her cheeks. "Isn't it just… so… EEEEEEE~"

Xiao Lin had her cheeks puffed up as she looked away from the scene. "Useless flesh," she repeated with a huff.

"I think someone's jealous," Chris said perceptively, narrowing her eyes at Xiao Lin. "You want to be in the same position!"

"No way!" Xiao Lin groaned out loud, smacking her forehead. "This is why I can't stand insolent little brats…"

"You voice says no, your blush says yes," Chris countered with a cheshire grin.

"Stupid hormones!" the midget began banging her head against the side of the cabin, actually leaving a few dents in it.

"What's going on back there, Captain? The computer's reporting damage to the interior of the cabin…" the pilot asked through the intercom, politely not using video comms to avoid seeing the naked MS Girls with Ryu.

"Facewalling," Ryu answered. "For when the facepalm is not enough."

"Er, right…" the pilot replied skeptically, but decided to let it be.

"Oh, right! You don't know what your parent Mobile Suit is, right?" Ibuki looked at Xiao Lin.

"Did you manage to awaken your armored form?" Ryu asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I did, but I didn't visit R&D to get it analysed," Xiao Lin nodded. "Finding the core and unlocking it is easy peasy for a swordmaster like me!"

"Whoah, your way of speech really changed," Ibuki blinked. "You're… kinda using cuter phrases now."

"DAMNED HORMONES!" Xiao Lin resumed banging her head against the wall.

Ryu chuckled in amusement. "It's pretty cute," he said with a grin. "Rather adorable actually."

"ARGH!" Xiao Lin performed a particularly strong bang that set an alarm off in the cabin.

"Captain, whatever is going on back there, stop it! Any more damage is going to rip a hole in the hull!"

Ryu reached over and planted a firm hand on Xiao Lin's shoulder before yanking her away from the wall and into the seat next to his. "Enough of that, young lady," he said sternly. "Don't make me spank you."

Xiao Lin glared at the captain. "You're having too much fun with this," she muttered threateningly. Her size and the pout on her face ruined the effect.

Ryu ruffled her hair with a laugh. "Far too much," he agreed. "But admit it, you love it too."

"H-Hormones! It's only because of the hormones!" Xiao Lin protested.

"Uh huh, sure sure, whatever you say," Ryu said in faux agreement.

"Stop teasing me!" the midget pounded on Ryu's chest, or rather tried to. It was a little hard to do that when your arms were shorter than the person holding you back.

Ryu sniggered as he held her still. "Now now, no temper tantrums," he teased. "Don't want to crash us, do you?"

Xiao Lin stopped struggling and held still, though glared at Ryu defiantly. "I'm getting you back for this when we return to the ship."

"Sure you will," Ryu said with a chuckle. "I believe you and shudder in fear of your retribution."

Xiao Lin let out a low growl, but refrained from lashing out again.

"Is she really the best swordmaster on the ship now?" Hanami asked skeptically. The midget really wasn't acting the part.

"From what I saw on her file, yes," Ryu answered. "And the brief spar we had, also yes."

"I think it's the first time I've seen a desert for myself…" Kaede whispered in awe as she stared out the window, getting everyone's attention. "But I don't quite fancy getting sand in my armour… I hope it doesn't."

Chris giggled as a thought struck her. "Well, I'm sure Ryu wouldn't mind giving us a personal cleaning," she pointed out. "I think I'd rather enjoy that myself."

Hanami made a face. "I got a lot of sand in my bikini once when I went to the beach…" she muttered, shaking her head.

"Only because you lost your top in the waves, Hanami-chan," Kaede rolled her eyes. "She scooped it back up and put it back on without realizing there was sand in it."

"Ka-Kaede-chan!" a scandalized Hanami yelped.

"Oh my, Hanami flashed the entire beach?" Chris asked in excitement. "How many boys saw it?"

"She was mostly underwater the whole time it happened," Kaede chuckled. "I was the only one who saw it happen."

"Aww…" Chris pouted. "Maybe we can cause a repeat when we go to the beach!"

"No!" Hanami protested, smacking Chris hard enough on her back that she fell over.

"Ack!" Chris cried out as she fell before glaring at the silverette. "I know Pervy Hanami would agree with me."

"I'm not letting her out again!" Hanami declared resolutely, her face bright red in shame.

"You know you want to Hanami," Chris whispered in a seductive voice, getting in closer to her friend. "She does all that you want to do but are too shy to do it!"

Hanami turned an even brighter shade of red, a sign that Chris had hit the nail on the head. "S-S-Shut up!" she whimpered, running over to hide behind Ryu as if it would protect her from the goldette.

Ryu sighed as he patted Hanami on the head. "No teasing Hanami in attempts to get her to faint before deployment, Chris," he scolded lightly, making Hanami cheer up a bit, before paling at his next words. "After we get back you can."

"Ryu-kun!" Hanami squeaked.

"What, if I outright deny her she's just going to get worse," Ryu protested. "But, if you really feel strongly… you can sit in my lap."

Hanami stared at Ryu for a few moments before nodding slowly and planting herself down on his lap.

"Not fair! Me too!" Ibuki complained, suddenly joining Hanami and nudging her over slightly to make room.

Chris pouted as Ryu wrapped his arms around the pair to keep them steady in his lap. "Pooh, I should've thought about that," she whined. "Unless, I call dibs on Kaede's lap!"

Kaede raised an eyebrow. "I'm not sitting," she pointed out in a perfect deadpan.

"Then you can sit on my lap!" Chris replied helpfully, patting her thigh.

"When I said I'm not sitting, that means I'm not going to put my butt down on anything," Kaede added.

Chris grinned before she suddenly grabbed Kaede and wrestled the blackette into her lap, using her surprisingly strong limbs to pin her into place. "See, isn't this better?" she asked cooingly, being sure to rub her bust against Kaede's back. "I thought you'd like this after last night's… skinship."

"Useless flesh." It didn't take a genius to guess who had said that.

"Hey, let go of me!" Kaede yelled, struggling to get free. A particularly strong thrust from her elbow put a dent in the cabin wall.

"Captain, I thought I told you to tone it down!"

Ryu let out a groan in response as he tried to prevent the oncoming migraine from hitting him. "It's going to be a loong recon mission…" he muttered, Hanami and Ibuki both stifling their giggles.

"We're almost at the LZ, Captain. I trust you can keep things under control until then at least?" the pilot asked skeptically.

"Chris, Kaede, if you don't settle down and stop damaging the ship I will tie you both up in the corner and leave you there for three days, without potty breaks," Ryu warned, making the pair let out an eep as they stilled.

"Meanie," Chris pouted, letting go of Kaede.

"I don't want a repeat of the last time…" Kaede whimpered.

Inside the other Converse

"Looks like something interesting is happening in the other Converse," Leon blinked a few times as he looked out the window, watching it shake violently a few times and even noticing a few dents apparently from impacts to the cabin interior. "Wouldn't doubt it's Ryu's girls stirring up trouble again."

"Again?" Charlotte blinked from the other side of the cabin, clad in simple clothes that she was planning to discard later on before transforming. "Are they really that bad, Leon?"

"Probably way worse than what you're thinking," Leon rolled his eyes. "I swear, that Chris is even worse than Kat on a bad day. You remember that incident a while back where Kaede went berserk because Chris teased her too much?"

"Yeah… the maintenance crew submitted an interesting report slash rant on rampaging MS Girls messing up their hard work," Charlotte sighed, recalling that particular report that had left her staring in disbelief. "At least I'm not as bad…"

"Well, we still haven't seen you on low energy yet," Leon pointed out, ruining her moment. "I don't know how much using your Phase Shift Armour and Mirage Colloid will affect your energy usage… I'm not even sure if the GN MS Girls with true GN Drives can really have infinite energy either."

"Maybe they just have a higher limit than others?" Katrina suggested, sitting as close as she could to Leon. "Or the aphrodisiac-like substance has a different trigger for release?"

"We won't know for sure until it happens," Leon frowned. "And that's what worries me."

Charlotte gulped uncomfortably. "Don't make me lose my resolve to fight now!" she pleaded.

Katrina looked at her oddly. "Really, that makes you lose your resolve?" she asked. "The thought of getting Leon here pounding my pussy makes me fight even harder."

Charlotte turned bright red and opened her mouth to say something only to close it again and look away from Leon.

Katrina giggled as she turned to Leon. "Mm, I wonder how hard that makes you fight, Leon?" she asked temptingly.

"Hey, no fair, Katrina!" Kira shouted at Katrina. "Why is it that I can't experience the same fun you guys can yet?! This isn't gonna end up good at all, me running low on energy while incapable of recharging it faster!"

Leon groaned out loud. "You girls are just here for backup in case anything happens, Kat, Kira! And go easy on Charlotte, will you?"

"I… appreciate it," Charlotte nodded slowly, still trying to get the thoughts Katrina had unwittingly burned into her head out of her mind. It wasn't quite working.

"Pooh," Katrina pouted sticking her tongue out at Leon. "You're no fun Leon."

"You can have your fun when we get back to the ship, or if we can catch a break later," Leon sighed, looking out the window. "We're almost at the LZ, it's mission time. Kyou, have you memorized all the terms we'll be using on the radio yet? I know they're a little different from the Miltian ones."

"Yes, I managed to memorize them," Kyou nodded from her spot in the Converse. "Ready when you guys are."

Charlotte swallowed audibly, looking out the window. "It's going to be really hot out there…"

"Temperature's a toasty 43 degrees Celsius," Leon frowned, studying a readout on his tablet. "I'm just glad I'll be staying in the command suite for most of the time."

"Aww… is little Leon afraid of getting all hot and bothered?" Katrina asked in a cutesy voice as she reached over and pinched his cheek.

"Later, Katrina, later," Leon said firmly as he got up and moved over to a set of consoles in the back of the Converse and put on a headset. "Odin to Overwatch 00, how're things looking on the ground?"

"This is Overwatch 00," a feminine voice replied, flying high over the battlefield was a MS Girl based off of the Murasame Reconnaissance Type in her jet form. "There is no detected enemy presence above ground, and heavy metals are disrupting my penetrating scans, updating you with maps."

Leon still found himself blinking when a file showed up on the console containing a high-resolution map of the whole area. "How in the world you MS Girls figured out how to send data to our consoles in perfectly readable formats I will never understand," he shook his head as he studied the map. "It looks like a good place for gunnery training, discounting the heat."

"Just a heads up, I personally was a hacker before joining this expedition," the MS Girl, one Specialist Sam Conrad, informed. "And I'll make sure to mark the location."

"Those ruins… can I get a more detailed picture?" Leon frowned as he studied a large collection of dilapidated buildings arranged near an oasis. "Something doesn't seem quite right about them."

"Give me a second," Sam responded, a few seconds later a high resolution picture of the ruins appeared on his screen. "Is that better?"

"A lot," Leon nodded, looking at a tall building with a frown. "The way the light is being refracted seems inconsistent with that of a desert mirage…"

"You think it might be a holographic overlay?" the MS girl asked. "Hold on, IR might be useless due to the heat, but Magnetic Imaging may not."

"Go ahead, but link up with Overwatch 11 and 22 first. Blast the whole area with the scan once and then get out of there. I hope they can't track you, but better safe than sorry in numbers," Leon agreed, glancing over at the other Converse that was already setting down.

"Roger that, I'll report it when we find something," she informed.

"Ryu, I've got a possible camouflaged site, not sure who it belongs to but it's definitely a good idea to go in there armed," Leon switched to another channel to say.

"Roger that," Ryu replied as he stepped out of his Converse, his rifle sweeping the area. "Have your Bird remain in air for the moment, I'm going to do a quick recon."

"Got it. Stay frosty…" Leon paused as he considered what he had just said. "Although that might be the wrong word considering what kind of climate we're in. But 'staying hot' doesn't seem to work…"

"Very funny," Ryu commented. "I'm just glad these combat suits are climate controlled, I don't feel any heat."

"I'm not feeling any heat either…" Ibuki added.

"Really?" Ryu asked in surprise. "You're stark naked in a Converse, which I remind you has no air conditioning…"

"Um, MS Girl?" Kaede offered helpfully.

"I mean, we're awesome like that, right!" Chris chipped in happily. "It's like we are air conditioners!"

A small squeak was heard over the comms. "Not really, Hanami's boobs are feeling a bit on the hot side, I think it's just that we can't exactly feel the heat inside," Ibuki remarked.

Ryu's groan was audible over the radio as he shook his head. "I'm going radio silent," he announced. "If I don't report back in a half hour, scrub the mission and return to the ship."

"Like that'll ever happen to you, Ryu," Leon rolled his eyes, looking out the window at the other Converse as they both set down on the ground gently. "Get your ass back here in one piece."

"Roger that," Ryu announced. "Later." with that he slipped into the shadows being casted by the sun and disappeared into the ruins.

"You know something," Katrina announced as she looked out the window. "If the Captain can disappear like that on his own… imagine what he could do with actually working stealth tech."

"Ummm, like mine?" Charlotte fidgeted uncomfortably, looking at the sole male in the cabin.

Roughly getting the idea, Leon shook his head slightly. "I can't exactly leave this console to go out so you can change, Charlotte. If you do want to take your suit off so you don't bust out of it while transforming, I'll look away. Just tell me when you're done."

Kyou turned to Charlotte and asked, "Do you want us to distract him for you, Beauvilliers-san?"

Kira nodded at Charlotte enthusiastically. "Yeah, do you want us to, Char-chan?"

"C-Char-chan!?" Charlotte gasped in shock, looking over at Kira.

Leon made a face. "On most other names the -chan suffix would work, but when you add it to Char it just sounds… weird."

"J-Just call me Char! I'm not used to those Japanese suffixes anyway," the French Major sighed, rubbing her head. "And while I would appreciate you two distracting him, I… I think it'll end up distracting him from his work too. I'll be fine."

With that, Charlotte reached for the zip on the back of her suit as Leon looked away, focusing on the screens. "Kyou, you should strip too if you're going to sortie with her," he added.

"Alright, Leon," Kyou nodded and began to strip with Charlotte, even helping the other woman get her zipper down. "Here, Char."

"Thanks," Charlotte nodded gratefully, pulling her suit down with a quick look at Leon to make sure he wasn't peeking.

"You're welcome, Char," Kyou said. At that moment, she began stripping in full, making sure that her clothes stayed intact. "Kira-nee, why don't you strip, too?"

"She won't be able to deploy unless it's an absolute emergency," Katrina informed as she pulled off her jacket and shirt. "With her still adjusting to her new body we're not sure what the energy loss will be like for her."

Kyou, now fully undressed, blinked at that. "Oh… whoops," she chuckled nervously.

"Especially now that we know artificial MS Girls are less energy efficient than original MS Girls," Leon added offhandedly, making sure not to look back.

Charlotte finally got her compression suit off and took a deep breath as she closed her eyes. A bright light started to radiate from her, and the Converse let out a slight creaking sound from the added weight as her armour formed around her - a plate formed over her breasts and a U-shaped piece covered her cleavage, although her underbust was left exposed. Spandex panties wrapped around her hips, with five plates of skirt armour forming over it covering her butt, sides of her hips and the front of her thighs. Greaves covering her legs from her knees downward and sharp shoulder pauldrons were the next to appear, followed by gauntlets. To finish off the ensemble, a tiara with a V-fin appeared on her head.

Except…

"It's all gray," Leon noted.

"Hm?" Katrina hummed. "Does that mean something, Leon?"

"So as I suspected, since you need to activate it yourself, Phase Shift armour seems to consume extra energy the longer it's operational, huh…" Leon frowned, watching as colour faded onto Charlotte's armour, turning it black with red highlights although the V-fin kept its traditional Gundam gold.

"Huh?" Katrina responded with a confused look on her face. "What are you talking about?"

"It's a special feature of the G-Weapons from Gundam Seed," Leon explained. "A special kind of armour that basically nullifies physical weaponry, but consumes power to do so."

"I can't activate it together with my stealth function," Charlotte sighed, materializing her weapons - a large shield on her right arm with three missiles under it, as well as a sharp, anchor-like object on her left arm.

"Well, handy to have strong armor I guess," Katrina mused, sliding off her shoes. "How should we do this, Leon?"

"Katrina, you're to escort Kyou and Charlotte to the mission area and then remain on standby in case anything happens," Leon quickly ordered. "Don't step in unless you absolutely have to, I hope it doesn't come to that. Kyou and Charlotte will link up with Ryu at the rendezvous point and await further orders. Make sure you retreat when your energy levels start running low."

"Roger that!" Katrina chirped, flipping off a salute before she transformed into her armor form. "You two ready for this?"

"I guess so…" Charlotte took a deep breath.

Kyou simply transformed into her MS Girl mode as well, before nodding. "Shall we get going?" she asked.

"Just a moment," Charlotte turned towards the monomolecular sword in its lightweight aluminium sheath in the weapons rack beside her. She paused for a moment to try and figure out where she could put it, before sighing and just slinging it around her so it rested on her back, slightly in danger of being toasted by her thrusters.

"Hmm, maybe we should talk to engineering to get mag plates to hold our extra equipment," Katrina commented as she saw Charlotte's conundrum. "But it should do for now," she turned to Leon. "Do I get a good luck kiss?"

Leon rolled his eyes and planted a quick one on Katrina's cheek. "Good luck out there," he smiled, turning to Kyou and doing the same as well.

Kyou and Katrina exchanged a look with each other before they suddenly grabbed onto him, Katrina being their first to capture his lips with her own for a half a minute long make out session, quickly followed by Kyou. "Now that's a good luck charm," Kyou informed happily.

Leon blinked a few times, his cheeks flushed. "Uh, okay…" he nodded absentmindedly.

Charlotte looked on with a very prominent blush.

Katrina gave Leon a saucy smirk before turning to the two armored girls. "Let's get going, don't want to keep the Captain waiting," she announced with a chuckle.

"R-Right…" Charlotte nodded slowly as she fought to regain her composure. As the girls turned to leave the Converse, she craned her head around to give Leon a long glance as he went back to his console, her blush still persisting.

"Oho… someone is crushing~" Katrina sang teasingly with a smug look towards Charlotte.

"Gaaah!?" Charlotte gasped, backing away from Katrina in shock. "I-I-It's nothing like that! I'm just… kind of… envious?" she added weakly.

"Mmhmm," Katrina hummed, an unconvinced look on her face. "Just so you know, I'm the first wife, followed by Kyou, got it?"

"Geh," Charlotte took another step back, before slumping. "Merde, why am I feeling like this at my age…?" she groaned.

"Because we have new hormones flooding into our system and it makes us feel like puberty all over again," Katrina said blithely.

"And seeing people in love apparently makes MS Girls all the more hornier," Kyou added.

Charlotte fought her blush, but didn't quite succeed as the MS Girl side of her started filling her mind with images of herself and Leon in bed.

"Not to mention proximity to sex," Katrina added. "Also… there's a theory that even talking about it makes us hornier than normal women."

"Merde!" Charlotte exclaimed, not feeling comfortable at all about the feeling of something trickling down her thigh. She hoped no one noticed it.

All hope crashed down around her as Katrina spoke. "Yeah, I kinda do that to," she commented, pointing at the French women's thigh. "I wish these suits came equipped with absorbent pads."

"NON!" Charlotte shrieked in embarrassment, much to Katrina and Kyou's amusement.

"Such denial!" Kyou called out. "I wonder if she was thinking about Leon's thick meaty d-"

"Se taire!" the French Major hissed, clapping an armoured hand over Kyou's mouth while looking back at the Converse fearfully.

"Oh he doesn't care," Katrina said, waving off the girl's fear. "All you'd have to do is ask all nice like while showing off your dripping canal."

"I'll pretend I heard nothing," Leon announced over the comms in a flat tone.

Charlotte tripped and fell face first into the desert sand.

"You heard it all and it made you hard," Katrina countered. "I'll be sure to bring her for the after mission fun time."

"I heard nothing. Initiating communications blackout," Leon said, before the comms went silent.

"He heard it," Katrina affirmed before becoming serious. "Charlotte, you're going to have to find the captain and link up with him, I'll be remaining behind incase you need heavy firepower, or in the case of Kyou here, a meat shield."

"O-O-Oui," Charlotte nodded, powering down her Phase Shift armour to conserve energy as she climbed back to her feet with a blush that could light up a whole room.

"Now now, don't heat up so much, they could have infrared scanners," Katrina said teasingly. "Good luck."

"The nerve of her…" Charlotte groaned quietly, wiping some sand off her face, instead finding herself pleasantly surprised when her hands brushed across a translucent barrier that wrapped around her body like a second skin that had apparently stopped the sand from getting into her armour. "But I wonder why he's acting so… standoffish…"

"Leon?" Katrina asked. "I think he's still getting adjusted to the fact he has a harem."

"Maybe it's conflicting with his own honour?" Charlotte suggested, trudging along across the sand, almost stumbling a few times before she got adjusted. "I know he's from somewhere in the East, the people there are known for their honour."

"Maybe, we'll sit him down and have a talk with him later, after this mission," Kyou agreed. "I know that in the men in Miltian are pretty reserved when it comes to relationships, it's up to the women to start them."

"It's usually the other way around on Earth," Charlotte explained. "But things seem to have taken a very big turn from our time on Earth - mainly because of the existence of MS Girls now."

"I think Leon is still adjusting to the fact," Katrina pointed out. "I mean, we normally don't need sex to make sure our lust doesn't go overboard."

"Neither did we Miltians," Kyou added. "I guess being with everyone here has… corrupted me slightly."

Charlotte opened her mouth for a moment before sighing and shaking her head. "I haven't felt this slaved to my emotions since forever," she muttered.

"Since puberty, right?" Katrina asked with a giggle. "Feeling like a crushing schoolgirl all over again?"

"Don't remind me," Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Especially when my school was filled with prideful French males who thought they were suave gentlemen."

"I know, you could practically see the testosterone pouring off of them!" Katrina said in exasperation. "I got my 'Hurricane' nickname after I blew up on a group that kept pestering me."

"When you're in romantic France, it's a little worse," Charlotte chuckled, reminiscing back to her time on Earth. "But I think we should stop talking about old Earth. We left it behind when we decided to come on this journey after all."

"Yeah, we did," Katrina agreed soberly. "Time to face forward and move on."

"I… think I might… try things out with Leon after all," Charlotte sighed, rubbing her head. "He's a lot better than most of the guys from my childhood after all…"

"He's a lot better than a lot of people," Katrina amended with a wide grin. "Especially in the 'packaging' department."

"Packaging department?" Charlotte tilted her head to the side in confusion, before she eventually got it a few seconds later and started turning bright red again. "Oh… Oh my…"

Kyou giggled. "Plus his hands… his fingers can really hit those… sweet spots," she agreed.

"I can't hear a thing!" Charlotte hurriedly clapped her hands over her ears.

"Will you three quiet down," Ryu hissed harshly, appearing from one of the shadows, his helmet's faceplate depolarized to show his annoyed face. "I'm surprised we're not up to our balls in enemy forces with the noise you're making."

"Merde!" Charlotte froze at the sudden appearance of their commander. "S-S-Sorry, captain!" she quickly snapped off a military salute.

"Sorry," Katrina mumbled, an embarrassed flush on her face. "Not that we have balls anyway…"

In response Ryu sent her The Look, the one any commanding officer used when their subordinates said something that just created a new peg on the idiocy scale. "Fall in," he ordered, his faceplate polarizing, hiding his face one again. "I found a possible PoE."

"What's a PoE?" Hanami asked, coming up behind Ryu as she attempted to balance on the shifting sands.

Ryu sighed. "Point of Entry," he answered patiently. "Ibuki, remind me to include a crash course in military jargon for the training camp."

"They're likely to forget it all though," Ibuki chuckled at Ryu's expense. "We'll need to drill it into their heads for it to stick, and I don't think we can manage that in a short training camp."

"Drill it into them when their doing the physical training, anytime they can properly translate the jargon, add more of their current activity," Ryu commented. "It'll stick pretty fast then."

"I get the feeling they're discussing our impending doom," Kaede said in a perfect deadpan, looking at Chris and Hanami.

Chris nodded. "Like Death is walking over our graves," she agreed. "Should we run? Hide?"

"Umm, Ibuki-san would track us down easily…" Hanami pointed out.

"Damn," Chris muttered. "What do we do then?"

"Just brace yourselves for it," Ibuki appeared behind them grinning. "There's no escape."

"Double damn," Chris cursed as they started following Ryu.

"Right, our PoE is a collapsed house," Ryu announced as he led them into the ruins. "It's right on the edge of the holographic mirage Overwatch said was being emitted, primary entry into the holographic zone will be done by me and Charlotte, when we signal the all clear, the rest of you will follow in."

"So Leon's suspicions were right?" Charlotte narrowed her eyes. "There's an alien base of some kind in the ruins?"

"Possibly," Ryu affirmed. "I never entered into the holographic zone, but the house should provide cover for any surveillance that the enemy may have set up."

"I'm getting nervous…" Hanami confessed, squirming uncomfortably.

"Don't be," Charlotte encouraged, patting the younger girl's head.

"You guys are ready for this," Ryu assured, his faceplate depolarizing to allow her to see his calm smile. "I wouldn't bring you if I didn't think you were ready."

"T-Thank you, Ryu-kun…" Hanami whispered gratefully, blushing slightly at the praise before she clapped her cheeks once. "Right, I'll work hard!"

Chris nodded in agreement, pumping her fist into the air. "We'll kick their asses!" she shouted in excitement.

"Killing people is never anything to be excited about," Xiao Lin added gravely, stepping forward still in her compression suit. "You must be prepared to shoulder the burden of their lives as your blade cleaves through them."

Chris looked at Xiao Lin with an oddly serious look. "I don't take it lightly," she informed her with a solemn voice. "It does weigh on me, but I made an oath to my mother, that I would keep on smiling, no matter what."

Kaede had to blink as she checked to make sure Chris hadn't gone into her NT-D mode. "Chris, that was weirdly serious coming from your usual self," she remarked, before turning to Xiao Lin. "I must admit I've never thought of our enemies like that though…"

Hanami was oddly pale. Sensing her discomfort, Ibuki patted her young charge on the back softly. "Hanami, Xiao Lin may have a point, but remember who and what you're fighting for. We'll all be right behind you for support."

"I can put you in touch with a psychiatrist if you need someone to talk to," Ryu offered. "I know a pretty good one on this ship."

"N-No need, I'll be… fine, Ryu-kun," Hanami took a deep breath. "Because they were so insectoid, I… I never thought of the possibility of them having families in the same way we do…"

"Hanami, we don't know much about their way of life just yet," Ibuki advised calmly, looking at the door of the house they were headed towards with a frown. "It'll probably be better for you to focus on our current mission for now. We can worry about the aliens' lives when we get more intel."

"This is it," Ryu announced as he slipped into the house. "Not quite Five Star accommodations, but it'll do."

"Umm, Ryu-koi?" Ibuki asked as she stopped outside the door.

"Hm?" Ryu asked from where he was doing a weapons check.

"I… can't fit through the door," his partner blushed as she stretched her mechanical wings to make her point. While standing her wingspan reached much higher than the doorframe, even when she folded them back. Crouching wouldn't help enough either.

"Mugyaa!" Hanami yelped as she entered the house, only for her horn to catch on the doorframe and end up causing her to fall backwards onto the ground.

Ryu sweatdropped in response as he looked them all over. "Umm… have you tried turning off your armored form?" he suggested. "Then turning it back on when you're in?"

"Ack," Ibuki slumped, mentally berating herself for not thinking of it sooner. She quickly dismissed her armour, and yelped when the full force of the desert heat fell against her naked body. "HOT HOT HOT!"

"Better get in before we burn!" Katrina yelped as she leapt into the house, her wing binders no longer in her way, and quickly reformed her armor. "That's… better…"

"It must be troublesome being big," Kaede muttered, crouching down so she didn't suffer the same fate Hanami did as she entered the house.

"I don't know Kaede," Chris mused as she mimicked the action. "You seem to enjoy being 'big' with Ryu."

Kaede blushed. "You know what I mean!" she snapped, gesturing at Ibuki's now-reformed wings.

Hanami was turning an interesting shade of red as she sagged slightly beside Ryu, cradling her breasts.

Ryu chuckled lightly as he placed a comforting arm around her shoulder. "You alright there, Hanami, aside from your ego I mean," he asked playfully.

"I… I'm scared of sagging," Hanami confessed with a blush. "My okaa-san always told me they'd start sagging if they got too big…"

"Useless flesh," Xiao Lin grumbled, still in her compression suit.

"You'd be beautiful even if they do happen to sag," Ryu assured, giving her a small peck on her cheeks. "Plus, if they didn't sag when you went into your NT-D Form, I doubt they will."

Hanami let out a timid squeak, before an impressive cloud of steam burst out of her ears. "T-T-T-Thank you, Ryu-kun…"

Ryu chuckled as he gave her a firm hug before letting go. "Charlotte, are you ready to go?" he asked the french MS Girl.

"Huh?" Charlotte snapped to attention from where she had apparently been… sizing herself up against the younger white-armoured MS Girl. "O-Oui!"

"We're moving out now," he said to the others as he finalized his weapon's check. "I'll radio if we're going to go loud."

"Man, I hate standby," Katrina groused. "I can't do anything fun then cause then 'I'm not ready for combat' or 'you're distracting everyone' or 'You revealed our position'."

"Xiao Lin, aren't you going to armor up?" Ryu asked the loli who was still in her unarmored state.

"I can't change with you around, insolent brat!" Xiao Lin snapped, even as she looked around the house for somewhere to discard her suit. "I'll go somewhere with more privacy first!"

"Just bust out of the suit like some of us like to do," Ibuki shrugged, folding her arms over her chest. "It's actually kind of fun."

Kyou looked around the room they were in, before noticing something. "Hey, wait a minute… what's a TV doing here?"

"Seems to be the same case as the first settlement we found," Ibuki remarked, walking over to the TV and inspecting it. It seemed to be some variant of an LED screen. "Inhabitants gone with no sign of where they ended up and minimal damage. Maybe the battle damage from the other one was because they put up a fight before whatever happened to them happened."

"This place is older though… a lot older," Ryu commented his eyes sweeping over everything. "This is… eerie…"

"T-T-T-There aren't any g-g-g-ghosts, are there…?" Hanami suddenly appeared behind Ryu, shaking as she pressed herself against him for comfort.

"Very unlikely," Ryu said with a repressed chuckle. "So, Xiao Lin, do you want us to turn around or something?"

"No need," Xiao Lin said as she walked into an adjacent room. Moments later, there was a bright flash of light, before she came back out in her armoured form.

Ibuki blinked. "That's… different." she whispered.

Xiao Lin's armour covered her upper torso in a blue and white armour with yellow vents over her chest. Oddly enough she didn't have any skirt armour at all, her hips were covered in white and gray spandex panties. Her armour featured white greaves and gauntlets with blue highlights, as well as blue pauldrons on her shoulders and a blue backpack that linked over the back of her shoulders to two frames holding significant-looking conical devices. Her V-fin circlet featured a standard white V-fin, but an additional set of two yellow fins in an almost vertical angle.

"Hey, I think those are the GN Drives Leon was talking about," Katrina commented, looking at the devices on Xiao Lin's shoulders.

Kyou blinked for a bit, before she asked, "Are they Tau or True?"

"Umm…" Katrina frowned as she mentally reviewed the information. "I think hers are the true version."

"Yeah… they're the true versions," Hanami gazed at Xiao Lin with wide eyes. "Xiao Lin… your parent mobile suit is the 00…"

"Er… could someone please explain to me what the 00 is supposed to do that makes it so amazing?" Kyou asked. "I only knew that there were two kinds of GN Drives from what Leon shared with me when I was paying attention, and that the true version has a TD Blanket, whatever that means."

"It's basically…" Ibuki paused as she tried to dig up the information recessed in the corner of her brain where she had chucked it after Leon's overly scientific explanation. "Argh, too much science. Yes, it's science!"

"Basically, while the 00 is a unit of interest due to the potential of the Twin Drive System, it's the upgraded form we're most interested in," Ryu answered. "The 00 Qan[T] is capable of Quantum Teleportation on a massive scale."

Kyou blinked at that. "Wow… does this mean we can get home to our proper dimensions this way?" she asked.

Hanami shrugged. "In the original series it was only capable of teleporting through space-time. I don't know if it can actually dimension jump… we can probably test it once Xiao Lin-san unlocks the ability. But it's dangerous to use without the 0 Raiser support unit…"

"I'm sure we can figure out how to develop the 0 Raiser when we get back," Ryu assured. "Alright, me and Charlotte are going to head out now, will you all be all right here?"

Kyou nodded. "I'll be alright… what about the rest of us?" she asked that last part to the others.

"We'll be on standby until Ryu-koi gets back from recon," Ibuki sighed. "I'd go as well but this armoured form doesn't lend itself well to stealth and I don't want to burn out there naked."

"Yeah, gold kinda sticks out," Chris agreed, sticking out her tongue childishly. "And I burn easy."

Kyou sighed a bit. "Alright, I guess we'll be alright here," she said.

"We'll have to be," Kaede frowned. "Incidentally what's the point of having overhead watch when we're under radio silence?"

"We're under radio silence from them as well," Ryu pointed out. "They'll only contact us in an emergency situation."

"Well, Overwatch should be making another pass soon," Ibuki looked up at the ceiling as if she could see through it. "I think Leon will probably break radio silence soon to report."

"Possibly," Ryu agreed. "Charlotte, we'll move in once they pass, see if there is anything that they have to report."

At that moment, a deafening crack shook the house, followed by the characteristic sonic boom of a projectile entering supersonic flight. Similar sounds, but more muted quickly followed indicating the presence of more of the same guns but further away.

"Ryu, Overwatch is taking fire!" Leon chose that moment to do exactly what Ibuki had predicted, breaking military communication protocols slightly in his haste by referring to Ryu by name.

Ryu cursed. "Charlotte, on me, our priority is to sabotage those guns," he ordered before opening comms. "Lieutenant, keep Overwatch back until you get the signal."

"They're already pulling back! Overwatch 00 and 11 are equipped with long-range guns, they'll provide cover fire while 22 and 33 hang back to cover them," Leon said, taking a deep breath over the comms. "At least we know there's something there now…"

"Roger that, cutting comms," Ryu responded, cutting the link before turning to the others. "I'll send up a red flare to signal your attack, if it's black, pull out, ignore us and pull out."

"Like hell we're doing that!" Kaede growled, swinging her right arm to her side angrily. "If it's black, it's the signal for us to go rescue you, is that clear!?"

Ryu gave her a sad smile. "If it's black, then I'm dead already, Kaede," he said grimly. "My combat suit is rigged to send off a black flare when my vital signs flatline."

"Well then, why don't we all just go in right now?" Ibuki suggested. "They know we've spotted them, their defenses will be scrambling on high alert already. If we wait too long we'll give them time to respond."

Ryu shook his head. "You guys are the trump card," he pointed out. "All they know is that we have scouts in the air, if things go south, I need you in reserve to hit them hard on their flanks."

"Argh, fine," Ibuki slumped, before she walked up to Ryu and gave him a hard poke in the chest that even he felt through the armour. "But no matter what happens, you're not sending up that black flare."

Ryu gave her a grin, gripping her hand and brought it up to his lips and kissed the finger that the ring he had given her rested on. "I made a promise, didn't I?" he asked her softly, his voice filled with emotion.

Ibuki's eyes misted over. "I lost a lot of comrades back on Earth to ISIS," she murmured. "Make sure… absolutely sure that you're not the first one I lose on this new planet."

Hanami, Kaede and Chris nodded their agreement as well as they closed in to wrap their arms around their harem master.

Ryu nodded, his eyes closing as he enjoyed the closeness of his lovers. "I will return," he promised. "Never doubt that, I will always return."

"And for some added incentive…" Ibuki paused as she considered whether or not she should reveal the information with so many people around. In the end, she decided she needed to and started caressing her belly. "I haven't had my monthlies yet despite having de-aged and it being roughly a month since we've touched down…"

Ryu blinked as he stared at her. "You think…" he started, his mouth slacking slightly as he staggered a bit. "You think you might be…"

"I'll be checking with Dr. Wilson once we get back," Ibuki confirmed with a light blush. "Sheesh, I'm going to get fat again…"

Kaede was staring incredulously at her mother's belly.

"I… I don't know what to say," Ryu breathed. "I… when I joined this mission, my oaths were repelled due to the need for… well… everyone to… put in an effort for population… but… this… wow…"

"Umm… Kaede?" Hanami looked at her black-haired friend, her brow creased as she tried to figure something out. "What are you going to call him or her? Nephew, niece or brother, sister?"

"Don't ask me. I think my brain is short-circuiting right now, too," Kaede muttered.

"I'm jealous," Chris admitted, puffing out her cheeks as she stared at Ibuki. "Man, not only did you get the ring, you also got the baby too."

Charlotte was squirming uncomfortably off to the side as she started thinking of her own future as well.

"Aw, isn't that just adorable, Kyou?" Katrina asked with a happy smile. "Man, I don't think I've seen the captain that flustered, even when that coven of stripper assassins attacked him."

Kyou blinked a few times. "Wait…" she started slowly. "Stripper assassins?"

"Yeah, someone had a grudge against the captain and sent them after him, they were all dressed like some kind of fetish nuns," Katrina explained. "By the time security had arrived he had taken them all out with nothing but some garrote wire and his hands… it was kinda scary actually thinking about."

"Captain, I hate to break up the party, but you really need to get going," Leon reported in with an even voice.

"Right," Ryu agreed, slipping from the embrace of his lovers. "Charlotte, on my six."

"Right," Charlotte nodded, unsheathing the sword she had been holding on to, while she gradually faded away into the background leaving behind only an indistinct silhouette of distorted air.

Ryu nodded to the others before he pulled out his own sword and stepped out of the house, slipping into the shadows and heading towards the holographic zone.

"That was cool," Kaede gaped, looking at where Charlotte had basically disappeared to the naked eye.

"I think Ryu was cooler though, he doesn't need any fancy dancy equipment to disappear," Chris said with a proud look.

"His stealth training is on a completely different level compared to mine," Ibuki agreed. "But then again I think I have too much… bulk to make use of mine now."

"I kinda wish I had your… bulk," Katrina muttered, eying Ibuki's bust as she folded her arms overtop of her own. "Why is everyone always bigger than me, or a freaking loli."

"Useless flesh!"

"She's… pent up, isn't she?" Chris asked in a low mutter.

"She is," Ibuki whispered back. "Funny how everyone else has their boobs exposed in some way, but hers are completely covered."

"Man, she's going to get hit hard when the aphrodisiacs hit, isn't she?" Katrina murmured. "At least you broke your dry spell first, eh, Ibuki?"

"I suppose so," Ibuki let out a small smile as she caressed her tummy. "I never thought I'd get to do this again…"

"Well, I can only think of one person better to do it on the ship with again," Katrina said, with a giggle. "But since I am fucking the other guy, I suppose my judgement may be affected by that."

"You guys are awfully carefree," Kaede commented with an odd look at the two older ones.

Katrina shrugged. "The way I see it, this can go one of two ways, red smoke pops out and we go in, or nothing happens until the Captain and Charlotte are out," she said. "Either way, I'm not keeping myself wound up, it's killer on my shoulders."

As they spoke, the gun nearest to them apparently ceased fire, judging by the lack of gunfire.

"My, my, Ryu-koi works fast," Ibuki giggled.

The holographic shield rippled and then fell from the kinetic energy of the explosion, allowing them to see the base. "Impressive setup," Katrina commented in an impressed tone, looking over the base defenses. "No defense against ground assaults though."

Arranged around the base, which was apparently centered around a large complex built right in the middle of the ruins, were what seemed to be large, shell-firing anti-aircraft guns mounted on towers. Judging by the glowing green tubes leading to them from tanks recessed into the sand, they seemed to be some kind of acidic rounds too. The one nearest to them had toppled over from the destruction of one of its supports, and was causing some added chaos when the barrel of its gun crashed into what seemed to be a barracks while firing.

"That doesn't look pretty at all," Ibuki wrinkled her nose at the sight of the melting building with insectoid soldiers running out of it in a panic, some half-melted from their own acid.

"Wow… they're so relaxed they're admiring the architecture while chaos is happening in the base," Chris commented. "Not even five meters away…"

"You can't exactly deny it's fascinating to see them get what's coming to them," Ibuki shrugged, watching a few of the insects approach the scene with large hoses that spewed out a liquid that seemed to neutralize the acid and cause the building to stop melting. "Hey, we need to grab some of that stuff later. It might be useful to help develop a counter for their acid weapons."

"Right, I don't think our combat suits are acid rated…" Katrina agreed eyeing the green acid. "Damn, Captain's evil for letting that out, good thing it's a desert, else the Agriculture Division would have his head."

Indeed, it looked like Ryu had intentionally targeted that particular support for demolition so the gun would crash into the barracks.

"Well, let's just watch him topple more of them, shall we?" Ibuki grinned, making sure to stay out of sight as she peeked over the windowsill. "He'll probably get the one on the completely opposite side of the base next."

Sure enough, seconds later an explosion tore apart the foundation of the vat, causing it to tip over, spilling the acid out in a large wave that crashed upon the buildings, including another AA Gun, burning away at the metal. "Damn, that's cool to see," Katrina said with a wide grin. "The Priests of Felra are something else, eh?"

"I'd rather he leave some stuff for us to shoot at least," Ibuki nodded. "At this rate he's going to kill everything before we can get to it."

She was proven wrong, however, as a column of red spoke appeared in the sky, signalling them for their attack. "Yay! Time to crush the enemy!" Chris shouted cheerfully as she hefted her Beam Magnum.

Hanami nodded slowly as she stepped forward, materializing her own beam magnum with a shaky hand. Ibuki noticed and laid a gentle, encouraging hand on the silverette's shoulders. "You'll be fine, Hanami. Just do what you did last time," the older woman smiled softly.

"R-Right…" Hanami didn't look too encouraged, but she nodded nonetheless and tried to steel herself for the battle.

"Alright then," Katrina announced as the Mega Particle Cannons on her chest began to charge. "Let's do this!"

She fired the cannons, obliterating the wall of the house that was facing the base, along with some poor mooks who just happened to get in the way,

"Could've let me open that one up, considering my Buster Rifle apparently has enough power to level a base in one shot…" Ibuki grumbled, roughly guessing where Ryu was before bracing herself and aiming her rifle at the other side of the base. A yellow sphere of energy began to build up in front of the barrel of her gun, before she released the trigger to fire.

A loud screech filled the air as a massive beam burst forward, obliterating one third of the whole base and superheating the sand beneath into molten glass. The mooks that were fortunate enough not to get vaporized by the beam quickly found themselves burning from the sheer heat left behind by its passage, or just sinking into the molten glass. Either way, they burned. And hard.

Ibuki stared at the smoking business end of her gun incredulously.

"Umm… maybe you should dial that back a bit…" Katrina said, staring at the destruction in awe. "Because Ryu and Charlotte are still there."

"Duly noted," Ibuki nodded dumbly even as she cracked open her rifle to eject a smoking energy cylinder and replace it with a new one from one of her racks. "… I wanna do it again."

"Of course you do, just tone it down will you?" Katrina asked. "I pretty sure you don't want to explain to your baby how your incinerated Daddy."

"Erk," Ibuki winced - that was something she definitely did not want to do. "Alright…" she pouted and pointed her rifle at an approaching soldier, frying him with a more normal-sized beam.

"D-Don't come any closer!" Hanami yelled out, squeezing off a beam that tore through an approaching ragtag group of insectoid soldiers… without hitting any of them.

Chris quickly covered for her miss as she fired her own blast that tore through the group. "Hanami, focus!" she shouted out. "We need your head in the game!"

"I… I…" Hanami whispered, her shaking arms struggling to keep a proper aim on her next target.

Xiao Lin calmly strode up and gave the younger girl a jab in the ribs, even as she casually flicked one of her beam sabers towards an enemy soldier and nailed him right in the forehead. "Remember who and what you're fighting for, Hanami," the loli said, walking over to retrieve her beam saber and leaning out of the way of several acid globs that flew her way, even as something inside the two GN Drives on her shoulders rotated to face backwards almost excruciatingly slowly, all the while emitting the green light characteristic of true GN Drives.

A moment later, she was gone, and four soldiers in front of her stopped moving before their heads rolled off. Xiao Lin herself reappeared behind the four corpses, sheathing the katana she had brought along with a loud click.

"Alright, that was cool," Katrina admitted. "And if I could use my Funnels I would so show you up."

"You're welcome to try, brat," Xiao Lin said smugly, folding her arms over her chest.

In the meantime, Hanami was taking several deep breaths to try and calm her raging heartbeat. "I… I need to fight to protect everyone else in our family!" she reminded herself verbally, before raising her rifle and aiming it at one of the AA turrets that hadn't been taken down yet. Narrowing her eyes just slightly, she squeezed the trigger with a loud yell of, "I'm sorry!"

The beam struck true and tore the turret apart, causing an explosion as debris fell upon the soldiers. "Like that Hanami, let's go!" Chris shouted as she started moving forward.

"I need back up at mine and Charlotte's position!" Ryu shouted out over the radio. "We are pinned down in the center building of the complex, some kind of elite troops or something!"

Xiao Lin immediately raced off in the direction of said building, tearing open a large gap in the enemy forces as she danced between them with her katana and a beam saber outstretched, one in each hand. Each blade traced a visible arc of green particles as they cut through the air, severing flesh and slicing clean through the armoured exoskeletons of the insectoid soldiers with little effort from the unseeming blademaster.

It struck a very large contrast with the rifle-equipped Unicorn girls, Katrina, Kyou and Ibuki, who were just shooting everything around them. Katrina had apparently taken to basically shotgunning anything that came near her with pink scattered beams from her mega particle cannons.

"Xiao Lin, get to the Captain!" Katrina shouted as she used a beam saber to bisect a soldier before blasting another group. "We'll keep these guys busy!"

Xiao Lin gave a nod in reply as she sheathed her katana and stood in front of a wall to the building. Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes as she settled into an iaido pose, she calmed herself in preparation for her next strike. She then opened her eyes and drew the katana in one fluid movement, slashing at the wall so fast that anyone watching only saw her resheath it after pulling it out a little.

Nothing seemed to happen after that, at least until Xiao Lin stepped closer and tapped on the wall with the hilt of her katana lightly. A perfectly square section of the metal then fell backwards into the building, revealing a corridor.

"Why can't I do that?" Chris asked in shock. "I mean, I have freaking lightsabers!"

"Well, she is a swordmaster…" Kaede sighed. "She probably knows a thousand different ways to use a sword."

Chris pouted all the same. "Well, at least I got a cool gun," she mumbled hefting her Beam Magnum.

"W-We need to follow her!" Hanami said, racing off after Xiao Lin into the base.

"Hanami, wait up!" Chris shouted, following after her. "If it isn't one thing it's another with her."

"Argh, I don't want to get left behind…" Kaede growled, kicking a mook that had gotten too close hard enough to send him flying over the horizon - damn their enemies were light. "But I don't think I can go with so many enemies around!"

"Which is why I had sent Xiao Lin," Katrina growled. "Dammit, why did Hanami run off like that?"

"Well, we could always wipe them out…" Ibuki said with an ominous gleam in her eyes as she hefted her buster rifle. "After all, Ryu and Charlotte are inside the base now…"

"Just be careful," Katrina said with a sigh. "We don't know if they have prisoners here or not."

"Well, I'm pretty sure Leon would kill me for destroying potentially valuable sources of intel on the planet's original inhabitants…" Ibuki sighed, looking over at the glassed section of the desert that her buster rifle had torn through earlier. "He's probably going to be plenty pissed as is."

"You're damn right I am," Leon growled. "But I'll let you off for that first shot since it took out so much of the garrison. Don't do any more collateral damage - and do tell the Captain that I have similar feelings about his wanton breaching of acid vats."

"We'll let him know," Katrina groaned. "Xiao Lin and Hanami went to rendezvous with him, he's pinned down at the moment."

"I heard," Leon said. "Just keep the rest of the grunts outside busy so they don't go in and complicate things for the Captain."

"No worries on that end," Katrina muttered as she kicked the lizardman impaled on her sword. "They just keep coming."

Kyou used her armor's shield as a grenade launcher, promptly firing grenades at the lizard-like people, taking out a group at a time. "Okay, this is starting to get ridiculous," she said. "I'm starting to think my past experiences with kobolds is coming back to haunt me."

"Kobolds?" Kaede asked, disintegrating another with a blast of her Beam Magnum. "What are those?"

"Lizard people back in the general region of Miltia's territory," Kyou answered. "They're known to worship what they call in their tongue 'true-trueblooded', AKA dragons… and I don't know how those creatures are still alive either."

"Huh… Kinda wish we had a dragon right now," Katrina commented. "It'd be my pet, I'd call it snugglekins and it'd toast these guys with it's fire breath."

"Or, more realistically, it'd try to turn your armor into part of its treasure hoard," Kyou deadpanned. "Dragons are naturally greedy, so they say… which I'm afraid to admit is true."

Katrina sent a glare to Kyou. "Don't ruin the snugglekins dream," she pouted.

"Wait, actual fire-breathing dragons?" Kaede almost missed a shot thanks to the sudden revelation. "Your world sounds like something right out of one of Earth's fantasy novels."

Kyou shook her head. "No, more like this is one of the worlds we conquered half a millenium ago," she explained. "We're still trying to clean the place up tech-wise, but it's really slow going, sad to say."

"Conquered, huh…" Ibuki frowned, dropping a group of mooks with a few comparatively low-powered shots from her rifle.

"Would you rather we let that planet discover technology on their own with no way to spread it about the population?" Kyou asked, even as she fired a shot through a mook. "Believe me, one of our observations discovered that they had a ruined space ship lodged somewhere that had a fair bit of its tech stolen and replicated by locals… who were hoarding it like dragons would precious materials."

"Still, never tried this new thing called negotiation?" Katrina asked. "That's how we unified."

"We actually tried it for once… unfortunately, the planet was not united itself," Kyou shook her head sadly. "When we tried negotiating with one country, well, we found out that it was being overrun by entities you'd expect in a typical evil setting… and had to fix their country from the outside. The rest… was history."

"Well what else do you expect, I take it your culture is heavily militarized?" Katrina asked. "When all you have is a hammer…"

"Er…" Kyou trailed off, unsure how that saying went.

Katrina groaned. "Everything looks like a nail," she finished.

"Oh," Kyou stated dumbly. "Still don't know the meaning to that… sorry."

"Gonna have to send you that book of phrases soon," Katrina sighed, blasting again with her Mega Particle Cannons. "Real soon."

"Can you girls discuss the differences between our worlds later?" Ibuki groaned as a few more mooks got too close for comfort due to the girls' gossiping, forcing her to run in close and shield bash them into a wall, before squeezing off a beam that vaporized them in one shot.

"Sorry, ma'am!" Kyou snapped a salute to Ibuki, before firing more beams out of her rifle at the forces advancing on their position.

"I hope Ryu's having a better time of this than we are," Katrina sighed.

With Ryu and Charlotte

"GET SOME YOU COCKFACE MOTHER FUCKERS!" Ryu shouted as he blind fired his assault rifle in full auto overtop of the overturned desk he was using as cover.

"I don't think my invisibility is going to be any good in a narrow corridor like this when they're just spraying and praying…" Charlotte sighed, poking just her shield over the top of the desk and popping off shots from the beam rifle built into it.

"Just keep their attention," Ryu retorted as he grabbed a grenade and threw it down the corridor.. "Xiao Lin should be here soon to flank them."

Just as Ryu spoke, the wall adjacent to the troops firing at them suddenly fell apart, along with one of the soldiers who just happened to be standing beside it. Some of the soldiers immediately spun around to face the new threat, only to be forced to back off when a katana covered in a translucent coating of green particles cut through the smoke and rubble.

"Now, advance!" Ryu shouted as he leapt out of cover, firing his assault rifle in short, controlled bursts as he and Charlotte moved down the corridor.

Xiao Lin herself stepped through the smoke menacingly, her glowing green eyes only further adding to the effect as she sheathed her katana once more and drew a beam saber to replace it. Her childlike proportions threw off the remaining enemies for a few moments, allowing her to make use of it and dash forward in a burst of GN particles and cut down two of their number before they even realized what was going on.

"She's… relentless," Charlotte commented somewhat fearfully, firing her rocket anchor at one of the distracted enemies and pulling him in close right into a beam saber.

Ryu shot a trio of bullets into the back of another lizard's head before reaching behind him to grab his knife and threw it at another Lizard that turned to face him and quickly reloaded his rifle. "Definitely impressive," Ryu agreed as he chambered a round before opening fire.

"Hmph, it's only to be expected!" Xiao Lin stated proudly, sticking her nonexistent chest forward. "I'm a master of the sword after all!"

"Save the arrogance until after we're home!" Ryu retorted as he fired another burst. "We're heading for the lower levels to perform a data dump on their mainframes."

"Cheeky brat! I don't need you to tell me what to do!" the midget swordmaster fired back, rushing in close to the ground before launching several upward jabs with her beam saber against a soldier, perforating the lizard thoroughly. Her cheeks were slightly flushed from exertion already.

"Tell that to your unadjusted body," Ryu snarked back as he fired over her head, pegging a sniper taking cover around a corner in the shoulder before finishing him off with a round to the head. "This way!" he called before heading to a flight of stairs.

"I'm getting used to it, and you're not supposed to be perving on your elders, brat!" Xiao Lin snapped, racing after Ryu although she had to use her GN particles to boost herself to catch up with the taller male's strides.

"I don't get those two," Charlotte shook her head as she followed behind.

"Breathing a little hard there Xiao Lin, having trouble keeping up?" Ryu taunted as he leapt over a banister. "I thought you were an almighty swordswoman?"

"It's hot inside here, alright!?" Xiao Lin groaned. "It has nothing to do with me being a swordmaster! What kind of desert base doesn't have air conditioning!?"

"The military kind," Ryu answered. "Plus, if you read the autopsy reports I sent you, you'd know these guys are cold-blooded and like the heat."

"But the heat feels perfectly alright to me…" Charlotte blinked a few times. "I thought our armoured forms had some kind of built-in climate control?"

"Oh, is our little Xiao Lin starting to develop an itch?" Ryu asked teasingly. "Are you finally hitting puberty?"

"Gah, I've had to go through that once already! Once is enough!" the midget snapped. "I couldn't stop thinking about the males at the dojo for months! It completely messed up my concentration!"

"Let me guess, you never lost that virginity of yours, did you?" Ryu asked humorously.

A blush spread across Xiao Lin's cheeks. "I tore it during training! And why in the world am I telling you all this!?" she groaned out loud, smacking her forehead.

Ryu laughed. "I meant sex!" he pointed out. "Even we Priests popped our cherries before we took our vows, something about hormones needing to be released."

"S-S-S-Sex!? W-W-Why would I think about something like that!" Xiao Lin momentarily lost her composure and stumbled, her cheeks a bright scarlet. "Love and romance are not needed as a swordmaster! Much less having t-t-t-that thing jammed into me!"

"Who said anything about love and romance," Ryu countered. "I think someone has a regret or two! I was talking about sex, fucking someone, throwing them down onto the bed and riding them before discarding them like used tissues!"

"H-How shameless!" Xiao Lin shot back. "That is completely unacceptable for my code of honour!"

"Helps get those icky hormones out of the way and lets you focus," Ryu said as he stacked up against a door, pulling a breaching charge off a mag clip on his leg. "Breaching formation, close your eyes."

The other two did as they were told, although Xiao Lin did look reluctant to do so.

Ryu slapped the charge onto the door and held the detonator. "Charlotte, once the blast clears, go in and sweep, me and Xiao Lin will be right on your heels," he ordered, getting a nod from the french woman. "Breach in three, two, one…" Ryu pressed the trigger and a bright flash was quickly followed by a roar and smoke as the door was blown off.

Charlotte ducked into the room with her Phase Shift armour at full power, quite glad that she had done so because several globs of acid hit her as she did and slid right off without doing any damage. She raised her shield to deflect the rest, and when the gunfire eased up just a bit she took careful aim and fired off the three lancer darts carried underneath her shield. Each found their target in different soldiers and went right through their armour with enough energy to lodge themselves in the enemies further behind before detonating.

Ryu and Xiao Lin were in right on her heels as they quickly scanned the room. "Room clear!" Ryu called out. "Move up," he took off again in a light jog as they made their way deeper into the complex. "Hold up, picking up unknown life signs ahead."

"What do you mean unknown?" Charlotte asked curiously, keeping her sword drawn.

"As in it doesn't match known life signs," Ryu replied as they stacked up on the next door. "Close to human, but definitely different, hold up," he pulled out a small fibre optic camera and slid it under the door before linking his HUD to the camera. "Looks like a prison/surgery room, I think they were doing experiments here, one humanoid, can't get a good look at it though."

Charlotte bristled at the implications of the room. "Sick bastards," she growled.

"We going in," Ryu informed as he tested the door and found it unlocked before slowly easing it open, raising a hand he signalled for Charlotte to pull out her sword as he pulled out his combat knife before the trio quietly slipped into the room.

Whatever was inside the room, with only its silhouette visible, looked up and stared right at them, before speaking up in an unfamiliar language… and in a feminine voice.

Ryu raised a hand in a universal stop signal before gesturing to where his ears were and shook his head. "Leon, can you read me?" he asked, opening the radio signal.

"Right here, Captain. Please tell me you're not about to ask me for permission to blow the whole base to kingdom come," Leon replied.

"Not yet but I may be doing so without permission soon enough, I need you to bounce a signal to Sigurd and download that translation software she developed," Ryu explained. "We got a POW here and she doesn't speak anything close to our language."

"Oh for the love of God…" Leon could practically be felt rolling his eyes. "Keep as much of that base intact, because we can take it over and use it as an outpost for when we start the training camp. And I'm sending that software over now."

"Roger that," Ryu confirmed, closing the link as soon as the download was completed before bringing it online and linked it to his external speakers. "Please, can you tell me your name?"

The Humanoid spoke again in her strange language, the program analyzing it quickly before translating it for Ryu. "What did you say, I cannot understand you?"

Nodding, Ryu tapped a few keys and fully synched it. "I am Captain Ryu Hisanaga of the Colony Ship Sanctuary," he spoke, the program translating it and projecting it over his speakers. "Are you alright, do you need medical aid?"

The figure tilted her head before a small gout of flame escaped from her mouth, momentarily lighting her features up. Her red eyes glowed slightly in the darkness, slitted like a serpent's, and she actually sported a pair of horns jutting out from the back of her head, and had long pointed ears. The silhouette of a pair of large wings spread out behind her, and she let out a serpentine hiss as she stood up. She still kept replying in her own language though, which was apparently different from that of the lizardmen.

"I-Is she…?" Charlotte blinked and took a step back.

Ryu listened carefully to the translation, grimacing as he hit a few keys on his gauntlet. "Damn, translation still not perfect," he muttered to himself. "She says her name is…damn translation still rough, couldn't pick it up…"

The woman hissed again and backed off away from the group defensively, all the while apparently cursing at them in her native tongue.

Ryu sheathed his knife and raised his hands placatingly before speaking. "We mean you no harm," he stated, the translator doing it's best to translate his words. "We want to help you."

"A… dragon?" Xiao Lin blinked.

The woman didn't exactly look reassured as she breathed out another gout of fire, although it was weaker than the previous one. The darkness was still concealing her appearance.

Ryu took a cautious step forward, keeping his hands in the dragon woman's view. "I'm going to be unlocking the cell," he announced calmly, a translation, sounding much closer to the woman's language chirping out.

The woman actually looked surprised as she jerked backwards at the sound of her own language coming out of Ryu's combat suit. Her moment of surprise over, she approached the wall of her cell cautiously, stepping into the light and provoking sharp intakes of breath from the rest of the group.

She really did look half-dragon, as the patches of red scales covering the sides of her hips, the large batlike wings spread out behind her, and the long, scaly red tail jutting out just above her butt attested to. She was quite curvy as well, not quite as well-endowed as Hanami was, but coming quite close already with a cup size in the G range and wide hips. Her long red hair, dulled from her period of imprisonment, fell to her waist in a right mess.

"You speak my language… Computers? The scaled ones never cared to translate for me," the woman spoke, the software working its magic.

"Yeah, well… we try to be a bit more… civil during first contact," Ryu said with a nod as he started to work on the lock of her cell. "Not quite sure if it translated properly, but I'm Captain Ryu Hisanaga of the Colony Ship Sanctuary, sorry for the rough start."

"Captain Ryu Hisanaga…" the woman mulled the words over for a moment. "I would give you my name, but it seems that it would be nowhere near pronounceable by your vocal chords. I thank you for rescuing me regardless."

Ryu nodded as he looked around. "Was there anyone else with you?" he asked curiously, eying a particular dark stain on the 'operating' table.

Tracking Ryu's gaze, the woman shook her head. "I took a bite out of one of the scaled ones that got too close while my sedative had not fully kicked in yet," she explained with a fanged grin, her tail wagging slightly to show her elation. "One of the more… interesting moments of my incarceration. The taste, on the other hand was not very enlightening."

"I bet," Ryu muttered to himself. "Never did like Fortu's fried lizard special." Shaking his head a bit he looked her over. "Do you need any medical aid? Not exactly a brain surgeon but I am capable of battlefield first aid."

"I will be fine, my race is built… tough," the woman shook her head, folding her wings before stretching her limbs to relieve some tension. Her body was actually still in good shape for a prisoner. "I only wish I could have done more to help my people… The scaled ones invaded my planet and took everyone by surprise. I was… useless as a defender."

Ryu eyes grew soft as he looked at the slumping woman. "At least you're still alive," he declared. "Where we come from, we believe that so long as one of us is still kicking and screaming, nothin' ain't over, so in the end, you ain't useless, you're a survivor."

The woman let out a snort. "Where I am from, the term would be kicking and roaring. And I suppose I do live again to avenge my planet… Captain Ryu Hisanaga, why are you here? People of your kind are supposed to have become extinct after the Age of Depravity."

"Huh… well… that one's a bit harder to explain," Ryu stated slowly. "Basically, best as we can figure, myself, my crew and another ship, are not from this dimension… we both got caught in the wake of a dying star and bad things happen whenever that does happen."

The woman's eyes narrowed. "Dimension travellers? Interesting. I heard you say colony ship earlier as well, I assume you are here with the intent of locating a home away from home? This planet was only recently purged - I was only moved here to conduct genetic research together with the local inhabitants as punishment for my continued resistance in captivity."

Ryu narrowed his eyes as he listened to her. "Hold on, almost got the lock," he shimmied his combat knife into a small groove and with a harsh yank cleaved through the mechanism, allowing him to open the door. "There, and I suppose that would explain the light resistance we've been getting, they already conquered this planet."

"Precisely," the woman nodded. "They only left a token garrison behind for research purposes and in case they missed anything. Their deep penetrating scans usually mean they get everything sentient, though. Their space fleet should have mostly left already. You arrived at a very opportune moment."

Ryu nodded as he stepped away from the door, allowing it to swing open. "Agreed, and we've always been opportunists," he commented with a grin. "So, how would you like to start taking your pound of flesh?"

"I would very much love to, but I am not in any condition to do so," the woman sighed, stretching her arms and feeling her joints pop from disuse. "Today, the battlefield is yours, Captain Ryu Hisanaga. It pains me to ask you a favour on our very first meeting, but would you take me in? I have no means of returning to my home world alone, and I am no idiot so as to believe I can defeat the scaled ones alone."

"I thought it went without saying," he said as he held out a hand to her. "Welcome aboard… uhh… I have no idea what to call you if we can't pronounce your name…"

"I do not believe I can come up with a name suitable for your native tongue," the woman chuckled, studying the hand closely. "I will leave it to you and your companions. Is this a custom of your people?"

"Ah, right," Ryu muttered to himself. "We grip hands when we meet each other as a sign of peace and friendship," he explained as he began to withdraw his hand. "Sorry about that… really need to watch that in the future…"

"I… see…" the woman nodded slowly, mimicking Ryu's earlier pose from before he withdrew the handshake. "Peace and friendship," she intoned seriously.

Ryu let out a light chuckled as he reached out and gripped her hand lightly. "A pleasure to meet you," he returned. "Now, I'm sorry to say, but we've yet to actually complete our objective, we're going to be pulling whatever info we can from their mainframes before calling in the regular forces, I can have Charlotte here escort you to the rendezvous point with the rest of our squad if you wish."

"Very well," the woman smiled, turning towards the black armoured woman. "It seems I will be in your care then."

"Um, Captain, in case you forgot I don't have the translator installed…" Charlotte looked at Ryu in confusion.

Ryu nodded as he pulled a comm piece off of his belt and handed it to her. "It'll translate for the both of you," he explained. "Make sure you stay out of the line of fire."

Charlotte nodded, clapping the object into place behind her ear.

Ryu nodded and turned to Xiao Lin. "Ready?" he asked.

"I… I'm ready…" Xiao Lin panted, her cheeks a healthy shade of red as she stared at Ryu.

Ryu noticed the look and let out an internal sigh. "Xiao Lin, if you need us to pull out, say so now," he ordered sternly. "Are you good to continue?"

Xiao Lin turned even redder at the sound of the words 'pull out'. "T-That won't be necessary!" she declared as she brandished her beam sabers threateningly, although her posture was wavering somewhat. She was also trying not to look at Ryu and look at him at the same time.

"If you're sure," he turned to Charlotte and the alien woman. "We'll meet you topside."

"Umm, Xiao Lin, are you alright?" Charlotte had a sneaking suspicion as to what the midget swordmaster was going through, and she didn't like it one bit. Especially not when Leon was waiting for her back in the Converse… Her eyes widened as she realized she was starting to go through the same thing too.

"I'm perfectly fine!" Xiao Lin insisted, shaking her head to clear the mist that had fallen over her thoughts. "It's just the desert heat! I'm trained to resist it!" That done, she followed Ryu out the door, sticking a bit closer than she had been before.

"When we get back we're going to have to sit down and have a talk," Ryu commented as they moved. "But I hope it can wait till then?"

"I can wait!" the midget quickly replied, breathing heavily as she bumped slightly into Ryu's side, "Damn these hormones!"

"I'll make sure we'll have the Converse to ourselves, if you need for the return trip," Ryu said with a sigh.

"I… I can handle myself…" Xiao Lin's legs finally gave and she collapsed against the side of the corridor, the edges of her armour beginning to dissolve into particles. "I… I refuse to give in to my desires!"

"She's… really strong," Charlotte commented, having followed them out of the room and holding her hand to her chest as she found herself starting to breathe more heavily.

The alien woman was paying close attention to the ongoing conversation, her long pointed ears visibly flicking as she processed the incoming information.

Ryu bit his lip as he considered his options. "We're double timing Xiao Lin, or are you too horny to keep up with me?" he asked challengingly.

"H-Hmph! I can keep… keep up with you without breaking a… sweat…" Xiao Lin groaned out loud, forcing her body to move as she completely dissolved her armour, revealing her naked, childlike body to the world. She found that she couldn't care less for it at the thought of not being able to keep up with the warrior priest though. At least she still had her katana.

"Then I'll be heading the other way," Charlotte nodded as she turned around, the alien woman following her lead. "Stay safe, Captain!"

Ryu waved in acknowledgement as he took off in a near sprint, the child like warrior hot on his heels as they moved quickly through the base, sacrificing stealth for speed. "We only have to get down two more levels!" Ryu shouted over his shoulder. "We can do this."

"R-Right!" Xiao Lin shouted out, thinking a bit more clearly now that she wasn't constantly burning energy to keep her armour activated. "And don't you even t-think of perving on me, you perverted brat!"

"Why would I perv on someone that can't even keep up with me?" he taunted over his shoulder, using her competitive spirit to keep her moving.

"Tch, I will show you keeping up!" the midget roared, putting as much strength into her run as she could… which, even enhanced with her MS Girl powers only meant just barely keeping up with him because of her stature.

Ryu smirked as she seemed to become a bit more revitalized as they came up to the stairway a single, unfortunate, soldier intercepted them only to be bowled over by the pair who actually managed to beat his two story fall down the stairs on foot. "Wow… that was actually cool," Ryu commented as the soldier splattered against the ground.

"Heh… yeah… you're actually good for something, little brat…" Xiao Lin breathed, sheathing her katana again.

"What, you mean other than being a totally awesome and ruggedly handsome warrior priest?" he quipped back.

The midget tripped over, but turned it into a roll to conserve her own momentum before catching up with Ryu again. "I-Idiot! If you say stuff like that now, I will…" she trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

Ryu raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything as they came up to the room they suspected was the Mainframe. "Here's hoping we're right and this is what we're looking for," he muttered as he quickly pulled out a breaching charge and placed it on the door. "I'm throwing a Stinger Grenade in and going in, stay out here until I call all clear, without anything between you and the gas…"

"Tha… that is fine… I will just… r-rest for a bit…" Xiao Lin heaved, collapsing against the side of the corridor, breathing heavily as her hand started to go down to her sopping wet lower entrance. "I… It pains me to say so after coming so far… b-but… I cannot take any more…"

Ryu bit his lip but nodded. "I'll be right back out," he promised as he quickly signalled for her to close her eyes before detonating the charge and tossed a spherical device into the room that exploded into a gas like substance, the guards that were inside quickly began choking as gasping for air as the airborne chemical was breathed into their lungs before it started absorbing the oxygen in the air.

Normally the Stinger Grenade was a restricted weapon, for good reason as if there was one little flaw in its creation, the half-life of the chemical would not trigger allowing it to spread until it absorbed all ambient oxygen on the planet.

Counting to five, Ryu entered the room to find a group of guards and scientist, collapsed onto the ground, oxygen deprived, but alive. Moving over to the computer terminal Ryu quickly located an optical port before firing a data laser into it, the program Sigurd installed into his suit's onboard computer quickly unlocked the computer and downloaded it's contents, just barely managing to store it all.

"Xiao Lin, objective secured, we're extracting," he called out as he stepped out and up to Xiao Lin.

"Ryu…" Xiao Lin moaned piteously. "T-Take me back… I cannot let myself be… s-seen in a condition like this…"

Ryu nodded as he quickly, and gently, picked her up into his arms, cradling her into his chest before he took off in a light jog, heading back to the surface. "Hold on Lin," Ryu whispered comfortingly. "We'll get you home."

"T-This is so shameless… I cannot believe I'm letting m-myself be manhandled like this…" Xiao Lin whispered, burying her head in Ryu's chest.

"Sorry," Ryu whispered regretfully as he ran through the base. "If I was a better Captain and made sure the route we took was safe… then we would have never have been caught in that star…"

"Psh…" the midget snorted weakly. "You were in… cold s-sleep at the time… l-luck brought us here, not y-y-your negligence…"

Ryu nodded slowly. "Still weighs heavily anyways," he admitted. "Having to rely on all of you to fight for us… it's… frustrating."

"Ryu-kun, where are you!?" a loud yell could be heard reverberating through the base.

"Hanami?" Ryu asked incredulously, coming across the silverette and the goldette. "Chris? What are you two doing here?"

"W-Well… there were no signs telling us where to go in the base…" Hanami scratched the back of her head sheepishly.

Ryu looked at the two with a strange look. "We'll talk about this later," he said sternly. "We need to get out of here, you two are on point, I can't fight and carry Xiao Lin at the same time."

"Okie Dokie!" Chris said with a salute. "Umm… can you tell us which way to go?"

Ryu sighed before nodding. "This way." he said, jerking his head. "I'll call out directions as we come up to them."

"R-Right!" Hanami nodded, stowing away her rifle and drawing her beam saber for fear of causing too much damage to the base.

"Make a left at the next corner," Ryu called out as they moved. "How are youholding up, Lin?"

"Ugh…" Xiao Lin grunted, trying to restrain herself from moving her hand any further down.

"I-Is she…" Hanami whispered, eyes wide open in shock.

"I think her younger body in combination to her abstinence is causing the aphrodisiacs to hit her harder than others," Ryu said as he leapt over a dead lizard. "We need to get her back fast."

"I… I don't thi-think I can hold out until we… reach the ship…" the midget whispered, letting out a low moan.

"If you can hold out till we reach the ships, Lin, I'll shut up forever about calling you a midget," Ryu promised, flashing her a smile.

Xiao Lin groaned, forcing her hand away from her wet entrance with what seemed like herculean effort. "You… are one… incorrigible brat…"

"Unashamedly," Ryu agreed. "I blame the elder priests, they were worse than I was."

"Ryu, are you going to…" Hanami asked worriedly.

"Only if she wants me to," Ryu commented. "Turn right here, it's entirely up to her."

Hanami nodded, skidding around the corner and yelping as she came face-to-face with a lizardman. On reflex, her beam saber carved a wide arc across in front of her, and she gasped when its body separated from its head. "Ugh…" she whispered, trying not to look at what she had just done as she raced off further down the corridor.

"Ugh… why is this h-happening to me…?" the midget whimpered. "Is… Is this another of those… MS Girl things…?"

"You have goddess knows how much aphrodisiacs pumping through your system right now," Ryu explained. "Didn't you read any of the material the scientists sent to all those affected?"

"Too… too technical…" Xiao Lin groaned, wrapping her arms tightly around Ryu. "Tell your… scientists… t-to explain in English…"

"I'll threaten them with sparring matches against you," he swore, smirking as he heard her snort. "Hold on, we're just about there - third door!"

"I… I can't hold on much longer…" Xiao Lin whimpered. "G-Get the Converse here…"

"Leon, we need immediate Evac," Ryu said, breaking comm silence. "Everyone else, meet at Rendezvous point Charlie."

"Way ahead of you, Captain," Leon reported in. "I took the Converses in the moment all AA guns went down."

"Right, thank you Leon," Ryu said with a sigh. "And sorry to ask, but can you fit my girls onto your Converse?"

"Hmm? No problem, but why…" Leon chose that moment to tap into Ryu's camera feed from his battlesuit and immediately connected the dots together when he saw what his captain was holding. "Oh shit."

"Yeah, she needs some privacy," Ryu agreed. "It's hitting her harder than the others."

"Well, I suppose we do need to survey the whole base and see what we can repurpose anyway, so I'll kick out the pilots too," Leon sighed, even as the sound of metal clinking could be heard. "The girls outside are about done mopping up the place, I'm heading out myself as well."

"Alright, see you back at the ship," Ryu said as the Converse came into view. "Hanami, Chris, link up with Ibuki and the others."

"Aw, do we have to?" Chris asked with a pout. "Hanami's just going to get us lost again."

"Y-You wouldn't exactly do much better either, right?" Hanami countered with a blush, even as she turned her head towards the source of some gunfire off to the side nearby. "And they're being too noisy not to find anyway…"

Chris huffed. "We wouldn't have gotten lost if you hadn't just run off like that Hanami," Chris pointed out. "Why did you do that?"

"Um… uh… I… was w-worried about Ryu-kun!" Hanami blurted out, shuffling her feet in the sand nervously. "After all he was talking about before we went in…"

Ryu sent her a careful look before being distracted by a groan from Xiao Lin. "Hanami, we can talk later alright," he said to the silverette. "Just the two of us, alright?"

Hanami ducked her head in shame and nodded softly.

"I'll meet you guys later," he said hurried giving the both of them a kiss on the cheek before dashing to the Converse with Xiao Lin in his arms.

Hanami was silent for several moments as she watched Ryu dash off, her eyes mostly focused on the midget in his arms. "Chris-chan, our family is getting b-bigger," she muttered.

"Yeah," Chris agreed, an unreadable look on her face. "But… I don't know, one part of me is okay with it, the other part…"

"Worried there's not enough room in his heart for all of us?" Kaede suddenly appeared beside them.

"Eek!" Chris squeaked in surprise. "Kaede! Don't do that!"

"Well, we're pretty much done mopping up the place without your help, thank you very much," Kaede grumbled. "So oka-san sent me to get you two."

"O-oh," Chris responded with an embarrassed flush. "And yeah, the whole, enough room in his heart thing worries me."

"Still…" Kaede glanced at the Converse nearby, where Ryu could be seen just entering it as Xiao Lin stole a kiss from him. She bristled slightly but kept going, "I'm a little less worried about there not being enough room in his heart and more worried about how… illegal that looks."

"Right… Loli," Chris agreed. "Well… we're not exactly of age… yet."

"But then… will R-R-R-Ryu f-f-f-f-fit in…" Hanami trailed off with a massive blush adorning her face, poking her fingers together shyly.

Chris and Kaede blinked as they considered what Hanami said. "Oh," Chris murmured. "Never thought of that."

"Um," Kaede simply said, her mind trying to process the mental image Hanami had just given them and struggling at it.

"I think we should find something to keep ourselves busy," Chris announced looking over to the Converse as it lifted off. "Very busy."

"Y-Yeah…" Hanami silently agreed. Trying to imagine their intended sheathing himself inside a loli was just a little bit disturbing.

Inside the Converse Ryu gently set Xiao Lin down on one of the chairs after setting the aircraft onto autopilot. "Do you want me to leave you alone here?" he asked her. "I can go into the cockpit and seal it for your privacy."

"N-No… Don't l-leave me here…" Xiao Lin tugged at his sleeve weakly with her free hand. The other was down below, although she was keeping her fist clenched in an impressive show of willpower.

"Are you sure?" he asked her gently. "I don't want to force you into this…"

"I… I never planned on giving myself to any men… but in the past… during my h-hormonal teenage years…" Xiao Lin sucked in her breath to calm herself. "I… I always envisioned myself b-being with a s-s-s-strong w-warrior of a man…"

"I guess I fit that description," Ryu agreed with a sigh. "Alright, if you're sure," he pulled off his helmet before he picked her up again, placing her into his his lap as he sat down. "Can you wait, or is it that bad?"

"I-It's really bad…" Xiao Lin whispered, closing her eyes. It didn't help much considering she could feel the man's… thing poking her thigh.

Ryu nodded as he undid the clasps for the ceramic armor that sat overtop of his suit before shrugging them off. "Alright then," he whispered, gently clasping her chin. "Having sex with a pre-pubescent looking girl, and still only the second most awkward thing I've done in my life."

"I d-don't want to get torn open…" the midget whimpered meekly, even as her body began to emit a soft pale green glow. "B-But I can't take it… anymore…"

Ryu looked as her in surprise as she let out something that was a mixture of a uncomfortable groan and an aroused moan as her body seemed to age at a rapid rate in his lap, stopping around twenty, that of a woman caught in between her adult and teen years, Ryu shifting uncomfortably at the increased weight, feeling her bottom press against him, he could feel the muscles rippling underneath her soft skin, her arms growing as she held them around his neck, her bust filling out to a decent D-cup size, causing them to press up against his chest, making her moan as her hard nipples raked against him, with her hips growing to match the growth, pressing even tighter against his privates. Even her hair grew out, her bun loosening and causing her hair to naturally fall in two tails down to her waist. "Huh… that's new."

"I… I have no need for such… u-useless flesh…" Xiao Lin groaned in a much less childish voice, even as her hands went up to her newly grown assets and began rubbing them.

Ryu blinked but passed it off for now. "Well, I find that the flesh has some… interesting uses," Ryu informed as he placed his hands on her, drawing his head closer to hers. "Do you want me to show you?"

Xiao Lin nodded meekly, turning her head around and capturing Ryu's lips in her own.

As the two kissed Ryu pulled her body tighter against his own, one of his hands reaching to her breasts to begin slowly massaging them. "You have a strong body, Lin," he whispered to her as they separated. "And a beautiful one."

Indeed, Xiao Lin's new body showed some clearly developed muscle definition, even more than Ibuki's. It showed off her hard work throughout the years mastering the sword. She let out a small chuckle, only to get interrupted by a moan when Ryu began pinching her nipples. "M-My voice is so weird…" she whimpered.

"It means your body is enjoying this," Ryu explained assuringly as he kiss her neck. "Does it feel good for you?"

Xiao Lin nodded, letting out another erotic moan. "I… I've never felt like this before…"

Ryu let out a chuckle. "This is just the beginning," he promised, one of his hands leaving her breast to travel down lower. "I take it you never explored your own body?"

"N-Never…" Xiao Lin groaned. She froze when Ryu's finger brushed across her clit, and suddenly tensed up and let out a rather loud cry as her juices spilled out onto his lap.

"I see you've discovered what an orgasm is," Ryu murmured as he eased up on his ministrations to allow her to recover. "Did you like it?"

"I… It felt…" Xiao Lin breathed, unable to find the words to describe what she had just been through. "... indescribable…"

"Yeah, I guess it would be hard," Ryu agreed. "Do you want to keep going?"

"Y-Yes…" the not-midget had recovered enough sanity to reply more or less clearly. "Just so you know, b-brat, I chose this myself, not because of the influence of being an MS Girl!"

Ryu chuckled. "Glad to hear it," he affirmed as his hand reached down for her pussy once again. "I'll make sure you don't regret it," he slowly pressed against her wet slit, sliding a finger inside of her. "You're warm inside of here."

"R-Really?" Xiao Lin asked, sliding a finger into her slit herself to join Ryu's and shivering as she did so. "So it is…"

Ryu began to slowly pump his finger in and out of her pussy as his other hand began to slowly tease her nipple, making her moan. "Still think the flesh is useless?" he asked with a smirk.

"I-It is not fair that everyone else is still bigger than me…" Xiao Lin whispered, finally letting out her true thoughts on the matter. "And I was stuck in the body of a midget…"

"Well, you are a cute midget," Ryu commented with a smirk. "Still, you have nothing to be jealous over just because you're a loli, some people go crazy over them."

"The first impression you give off is that of a man who prefers… curvier women," Xiao Lin pointed out. "Considering all the girls in your… harem are fleshy…"

Ryu snorted. "You don't think I realize how that looks?" he asked in amusement. "But, I find beauty in more than skin, I find beauty in things like your passion for your swordcraft, in Ibuki's unending love for others, Hanami's innocence, Chris' ability to find joy in anything, Kaede's inner strength, all those things are more beautiful to me than your physical forms."

"That may be the case…" Xiao Lin admitted, testing her arms as she hugged Ryu tight. "I admit, those years of abstinence have prevented me from learning much about love and romance. I hope you can help me… remedy that."

"Of course," Ryu whispered as he lightly brushed his lips against hers. "I don't have much, but, I'll give everything I can to help you find some happiness."

"You had better take responsibility for this, you brat," Xiao Lin smirked, looking down and finally seeing exactly what kind of package the male was packing. "So this is a…" she trailed off, trying to look for the right word. "A man's… t-thing…"

Ryu chuckled. "Yeah, this is a man's dick," he said as he pulled off the rest of his combat suit, leaving him as nude as she. "You're free to touch it if you want."

A very fascinated Xiao Lin reached down and wrapped her hand around it only to let go a moment later in surprise. "It's so… hard and warm…" she whispered, poking at its tip.

Ryu groaned lightly in pleasure as she touched him. "Yeah, it definitely gets like that when a beautiful woman is in my lap," he agreed.

"How flattering," Xiao Lin enunciated with a smirk, still staring at Ryu's rock hard member. "I… I am not sure what to do with it…" she confessed in shame.

"You'd be surprised," he informed with a smile. "But, we don't have to do actual penetration if you don't feel comfortable with it."

"N-No… I need it," Xiao Lin shook her head. "I… can feel my body… y-yearning for it…" she pointed down at her sopping wet entrance.

Ryu nodded as he lifted her slightly, positioning her so that her entrance was positioned over his member. "Lower yourself down nice and easy, take it at the pace you feel comfortable with," he instructed softly.

Xiao Lin nodded as she gently lowered herself down onto Ryu, bracing for whatever feeling she was going to experience. She shivered when his rod came into contact with her soft, moist folds, and closed her eyes. She ended up buckling from pleasure and yelping when she accidentally went too fast and felt it jab at her walls. "Y-You're inside me…" she breathed in shock.

Ryu nodded, doing what he could to ease the pain of being split open. "Told you I'd fit, quite snugly too," he commented. "Get used to the size before you start moving, you'll just hurt yourself otherwise."

A teary-eyed Xiao Lin nodded in understanding, wrapping her arms around Ryu and squashing her breasts into him as she adjusted herself while still impaled on him. After a while, she started lifting herself up slowly, gasping as the pleasure invaded her brain again and almost made her blank out. "M-My midget body would never have been able to fit this…" she commented.

"Yeah, might be why you suddenly grew," Ryu speculated with a slight grunt as her wall rippled tightly around him. "To protect you."

"I… could get used to this," Xiao Lin let out a small smile, letting herself drop back down on top of Ryu, this time with a little more control so she didn't accidentally impale her own walls on him.

"You're really tight, Lin," he whispered to her. "I think I'm going to be cumming soon."

"I… I don't know what that is… but something's coming!" Xiao Lin got out.

"It's your orgasm," Ryu explained as her movements became erratic. "Lin," he breathed out. "Cum with me."

"I'm cumming!" Xiao Lin groaned out, arching her back as her juices poured out from within her.

Ryu let out a moan as she clamped down around him, her juices spilling into his lap as he came inside of her, pouring his seed into her pussy. "Ha… ha… how… do you feel?" Ryu panted out as he recovered from his intense orgasm.

"I… I don't know how to describe it…" Xiao Lin whispered, closing her eyes and leaning back against Ryu as she felt her energy returning to her slowly. "It… it felt so good…"

"Still think it's a waste of time?" Ryu asked with a small grin.

Xiao Lin shook her head, still panting from exertion.

Ryu chuckled. "How are you feeling?" he asked as he gently rubbed her back.

"Like I missed out on a lot of things due to my abstinence…" Xiao Lin whispered softly.

"Well, I think we have time to catch you up another round," Ryu offered with a grin. "There's much more to teach you about."

"Well, I do not think I will mind doing that for the foreseeable future…" Xiao Lin grinned saucily, turning around and straddling Ryu with her legs so she was looking right into his eyes and squashing her bust against his chest.

Ryu grinned at her as he gently held her. "Just so you're aware, the family dynamic is… chaotic," he admitted. "Expect confusion, orgies, and fashion induced hysteria."

Xiao Lin rolled her eyes as she wrapped her arms around him and began using him as leverage to start gyrating her hips on his lap. "I believe I have seen enough to figure that out from our previous… interactions before we landed," she pointed out.

Ryu let out a groan as she gyrated against him. "Yeah, we do make an impression, don't we?" he asked humorously as he began to slowly massage her ass. "They definitely keep me on my toes."

"Mmm…" the white and blue-haired woman hummed, savouring the moment. "Will the others mind me joining in? I do believe I have insulted them with the term 'useless flesh' far too many times… ahn~"

"Honestly, I think Ibuki was expecting this to happen," Ryu admitted, grinding his hips against her, willing to follow her slow place. "As for the three girls, I think they understand your position, not sure what they'll do in retaliation to your comments though."

"I… hope my body stays like this…" Xiao Lin panted as she began picking up the pace slightly. "It would help with my reach issues when I swing my swords…"

"Can't say for certain, I ain't no expert on the way your bodies work," Ryu said, letting out a small grunt. "Although I think I'm quickly gaining mastery on how to please them."

"You do have a lot of… sex partners," Xiao Lin groaned out loud. "And you… you are hitting that sweet spot… every time! Are you psychic?"

"Actually, I seem to be," Ryu admitted, pressing his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. "Something called a 'Newtype' or something from what the tech heads said," he explained, speaking telepathically to her.

Xiao Lin let out a cute squeak and jerked backwards, letting out a groan when she remembered that Ryu was still sheathed inside her. "Do… do not scare me like that!"

"Sorry," he said with a grin, making it up to her as he hit one of her sweeter spots. "But, it is rather helpful."

Xiao Lin's only reply was a loud squeak and a pout.

"What's wrong?" he asked mentally. "Want to know some of my weak points?"

"O-Of course I do!" Xiao Lin shouted, mashing her breasts against his chest once again. "But my code of honour demands that I find them out myself instead of you telling me!"

Ryu chuckled as he met her eyes. "Of course, it's more fun like that," he told her before capturing her lips with his own before lifting her up and pushed her against the wall. "Shall we begin exploring?"

"You will regret this," the former midget declared with a confident smirk, leaning in close and nuzzling her head into the crook of his neck. "I'll have you submitting to me in no time!"

"Really?" he asked as he started pushing into her, angling himself to hit certain points. "Not even if I do this?"

A loud yelp escaped Xiao Lin's mouth before she hurriedly covered her own mouth to stop herself. "S-Stop that!" she squeaked indignantly.

Ryu chuckled. "Well, you were challenging me, weren't you?" he asked with a wide grin. "Shouldn't I try to 'beat' you?"

"T-That is n-not fair!" Xiao Lin protested, struggling to get off Ryu, if a little reluctantly. "Not when you have your… t-thing stuck in me!"

"Do you really want it out of you?" he asked as he ground against her cervix.

"Y-Y-Ye… No!" she forced out in between sensual moans. "I-I-I mean no! What am I s-saying!?"

"That you like having me inside of you?" Ryu pointed out.

"Ye-Ye-!" Xiao Lin clamped her mouth shut before she could dig her grave even deeper than it already was. It didn't quite work out considering Ryu had caught the opening syllable.

"You can go ahead and say it," Ryu said temptingly. "After all, it is just the two of us."

Xiao Lin shook her head, a hand still clamped over her mouth even though she stopped her own resistance and resumed sliding up and down Ryu's shaft, causing her breasts to bounce violently.

Ryu grinned as he leaned over a bit to capture one of her nipples in his mouth, nibbling on it slightly before sucking, watching her reactions carefully.

A high-pitched squeak escaped Xiao Lin's mouth before she could block it, and she began squirming as Ryu continued to suck on it. Beads of cold sweat rolled down her neck as she constantly let out low moans of pleasure.

Ryu began to pick up the tempo and strength of his thrust, pushing her harder against the wall. "Well, Lin?" he asked as he could feel her ripple around him. "Do you want me to pull out now?"

Xiao Lin shook her head, gasping as she felt Ryu repeatedly thrust into her.

"Are you sure, you were so vocal about it earlier…" Ryu commented, slowing his thrusts into her.

"I-If you slow down now, I will make you regret it later on!" Xiao Lin ground out between her teeth, smacking Ryu's back as hard as she could… which wasn't very hard at all given her current state of weakness.

Ryu chuckled in response. "Alright, then," he announced as he suddenly hammered into her with harsh thrusts. "If that's what you want."

"This is… so good!" Xiao Lin moaned, feeling her mind start to blank out despite her impressive willpower.

Ryu panted as he kept pounding into the Chinese woman's body. "Lin… I'm going to cum soon," he informed as he began to massage her breast.

"R-Release it anywhere but inside me and you will regret it!" she whispered, hugging Ryu tight and clenching her eyes shut as she felt her impending release as well.

"If that's what you want," Ryu agreed as he let out a low groan. "Here it is!"

Xiao Lin's mind went blank with pleasure as she let out an erotic moan. Ryu's discharge was accompanied by her own, the explosion of juices inside her leaking out onto the floor of the Converse. With a heavy, blissful sigh, she sank onto Ryu. "I regret not knowing this p-pleasure earlier…" she whispered softly.

"Well, you know about it now, and we apparently have a lot of time to catch up with," Ryu commented as he sagged back into a seat, carrying her with him. "Y'know, regained youth and all that."

"Very well," Xiao Lin nodded, pulling herself off him with a small wince and settling into the seat beside him. "And what will you do should we have any… accidents on the way?"

Ryu shrugged. "Deal with them as they come," he said as he place an arm around her shoulders. "I honestly wouldn't mind having kids, and if it turns out that your oven is cooking, then… I'll do everything I can to help."

"I… am not sure if I want more young brats crawling around us…" Xiao Lin confessed shyly, leaning on his shoulder and using it as a pillow. "Those three are enough of a handful it seems."

Ryu chuckled. "I can agree to that," he said in amusement. "I won't force you into anything Lin, just know I've got your back."

At that moment, Xiao Lin's body started glowing again as her eyes began drooping. "It seems… that was more exhausting than… I initially… thought…" she yawned, her body falling from Ryu's shoulder onto his lap.

Ryu looked down at her as she began to shrink back into her childlike form as she slowly drifted into sleep. "Well, looks like she'll be annoyed when she wakes up," he muttered to himself as he gently lay her across the seats as he stood up, the loli swordswoman whimpering slightly at the loss of his presence as he quickly pulled his combat suit back on, moving over to her next he looked around for something to cover with before settling for an emergency blanket that he draped over her tiny body before pulling her head into his lap. "Still, she is rather adorable like this."

Chuckling slightly as she seemed to growl in her sleep in response, he leaned back against the hull of the Converse. "One hell of a long day," he muttered, yawning himself. "Napping sounds really good right now."

---

END CHAPTER