501st Defends Fuso!
By Rizon72
Part 5: Beach Time
Yoshika put the biscuits into the oven, turning to look over at Lynne. Her friend finished putting out some jams and pitchers of milk, coffee and tea for the others. They had fallen into a regular routine lately, making breakfast for the group. Usually everyone made it for the meal, except for Sanya if she went on night patrol, and Eila who usually was with Sanya.
"Ah, Miyafuji, I didn't see you outside today," Sakamoto said, walking into the dining area.
"Oh, Sorry Sakamoto, but I wanted to try out this recipe," Yoshika said, looking at the major then at the biscuits she had made.
"Well, don't be too lax in training," Sakamoto said. "We can never be too careful in our training."
"No ma'am," Yoshika replied. She did not mention that she spotted Lynne exiting her room this morning and decided to spend time the Britannia witch. Sure she spent time with Lynne, but today seemed right, relaxing. She heard Lynne chuckle slightly at the conversation, the belief that Yoshika trained every day because she wanted to. Yoshika felt sure if Lynne knew the truth, she might not find it funny. She had to do something with all that energy she had when waking up, especially after some of the dreams she had.
Shaking herself out of those thoughts she looked over to see Trude and Shirley walk in, also early risers. Trude had taken her new responsibilities very seriously, reminding Yoshika of Sakamoto, her mantra was discipline, something Hartmann always shrugged off, and Lucchini managed to avoid. Somehow Eila was never around either, leaving her, Lynne, Perrine and Hattori as the ones always doing training. If it helped her protect the people she cared about, she would do it.
Sakamoto and Trude started talking about recent Neuroi attacks around the world. Yoshika listened in a bit, hearing that the hives in Europe also had started strange attacks. Though no other suicide attacks had occurred, something everyone felt happy about.
"Sounds strange, we always assumed they acted independently," Trude said.
"Yes, that's true," Minna said, walking into the room. "With the new hive it seems like they are acting as a unit."
The timer went off, interrupting Yoshika from listening in.
"Here," Lynne said, sitting down a bowl for Yoshika to put the biscuits in.
"Thanks," Yoshika replied.
"Do you think the Neuroi are acting weird?" Lynne asked, as Yoshika placed the hot pan on the counter.
"Hmm, not really, they always acted strange to me," Yoshika said, thinking about everything she had been through. The interaction with Sanya and the strange witch like Neuroi her first year, and the new bigger hive the second year.
"Yeah, I guess that's true," Lynne replied.
They placed the biscuits on the table, as Lucchini bounded into the room beating everyone to the first one. Perrine and Hattori walked in next.
"Is she always like that?" Hattori said, looking a bit shocked about something.
"Unfortunately yes," Perrine replied. "Absolutely no discipline at all, honestly, I can't imagine how she gets anything done."
"But she really should wake up," Hattori said.
"Who are you talking about?" Trude asked, sighing as she knew who they were talking about.
"Lieutenant Hartmann, I thought she'd be, well, different," Hattori said. "She is from Karlsland."
"Let me guess, she asked for forty more minutes," Trude said, taking a biscuit.
"No, fifty," Hattori said, sounding shocked. To Yoshika it sounded about right. The blonde Karlsland witch always asked for more time, no matter the situation. And if you asked a second time, the amount did not go down, but increased instead.
"Let her be, it's better to have her sleeping than making trouble," Trude said.
"She's trouble?" Hattori said, not looking very surprised.
Yoshika realized Hattori had not been around Hartmann too much. Trude snorted.
"Well, it's more like when isn't she trouble." Trude said.
"Yeah, she took my pants one time," Lucchini said. "And I was the one who got in trouble over that!"
"It all worked out, and we did finally find where she put them," Minna said, pausing slightly to look around before continuing. "I guess I can tell you all since most of us are here. We'll be going to the beach today."
Yoshika perked up, before realizing that they would probably do training again. But she knew they would have some time for having fun, provided they did not wear her out first. The first time had been interrupted by a Neuroi, the second time, they undertook a treasure hunt.
"Yah, the beach!" Lucchini said, hopping up and down in her chair. "Lynne, are you finally going to wear a two piece instead of a one piece?"
Yoshika turned to Lynne a bit in shock. Her mind quickly imagined the sight before quickly forcing the image from her mind. Lynne blushed slightly but said nothing.
"Remember there will be some training, we need to make sure you can swim with your strikers on," Minna said.
Despite the idea of some training, everyone appeared excited by the idea of going to the beach. Yoshika hoped nothing different would happen this time, and she hoped to spend some time with Lynn.
"There will also be a surprise after lunch," Minna said to them.
Yoshika looked at Lynn who shrugged.
"We'll meet at ten to head out," Minna said. "Think you can inform everyone Hattori?"
"Yes ma'am!"
SWSWSWSW
Mio watched as Yoshika went down once more.
"She really hasn't improved much, has she?" Minna said.
"No," Mio answered, wondering how Yoshika managed to survive so long. She tried hard, yet always seemed to be last, except for running which Hartmann as last, if she participated, and yet, seemed to do the right thing at the right time.
"Instinct," Trude said, from where she watched. "Some people have that ability."
"You don't seem to upset that she's lagging behind," Minna said.
"Been hanging around Erica too much, she's like this in training as well, always goofing off, see," Trude said, pointing over to Erica, who along with Lucchini, were building a sand castle. "She is the worst witch to train, but in battle, she's serious and won't let you down. Yoshika is like that. In a serious situation I know I can count on her to do her best. She can't do it training, but during battle, she'll excel."
"I guess it's the thinking outside the rules, neither one likes rules," Mio said, watching as both Lynne and Yoshika finally completed the training and dragged themselves out of the water, collapsing on each other.
"Commander, the food is here," Hattori said.
"Okay," Minna said, watching Trude head over to help set up.
"Your new protégé is doing well," Minna said after Hattori walked away.
"Both of them are. I'm proud of them," Mio said. She looked around spotting Hattori hanging around Perrine, as normal. "I'm glad Hattori gets along with Perrine so well, I was a bit worried about her."
"Who, Hattori or Perrine?" Minna asked, looking over at the group as well. The two girls were having fun playing in the surf.
"Perrine," Mio said. "I was worried about her, she still has a fascination on me, but," she trailed off thinking about it.
"She appears to be growing up," Minna said. "I think she'll always have that crush on you."
Mio said nothing else, not wanting to say she did care back for Perrine, but never in the way the Gallia witch would want. She knew about the crush, but maintained a professional approach, much like she and Minna had done. They cared for each other, perhaps if one of the other pushed it might go even further, but they maintained the professional relationship needed for the base.
"I don't see Eila or Sanya," Mio said.
"Oh, I think they're around," Minna answered, her voice a bit strained for some reason.
"Oh well, they'll come for food," Mio said.
"Yes, probably," Minna replied.
"Hey," Mio shouted out to those on the shore. "Lunch is ready!"
"Oh great, I'm starving," Yoshika said, from where she lay next to Lynne.
Mio turned and walked over to the food, set up on a table, and a few tables nearby for them to eat on. Hartmann and Lucchini already had some food and were sitting down. Mio took some sandwiches and sat down. She watched while eating as the rest of the group walked up, taking some food and sitting down. Even Eila and Sanya appeared from where ever they had been.
"Eila, Sanya, where were you?" Yoshika asked.
"Sanya has sensitive skin, we found a shady spot," Eila said, Minna coughed.
Mio glanced over Minna frowning at her sudden attitude. She thought for sure Minna blushed slightly.
"Hey Sanya, you have some leaves in your hair," Erica said.
Mio watched as Eila brushed the leaves out, and they both blushed slightly. She looked back over at Minna, who now was focused on her food before putting a couple of things together. Minna's attitude, Sanya and Eila blushing, leaves in the hair, shady spot, it all added up to one thing, she just never expected them to be so, well, outgoing. She had learned to knock on their door for the same reason. That though made her blush, and she quickly tried to think of something else.
"Huh, something I said?" Yoshika said.
Mio fell silent for a second before laughing, further confusing others who did not hear the conversation. "Don't worry about it Miyafuji."
"Um, okay," she replied, still confused.
"Any word on when the next Neuroi attack?" Mio asked, hoping to change the conversation. The last thing she wanted to discuss was Eila and Sanya's sex life.
"No, but then intelligence is still working on it," Minna said.
The discussion turned to the latest intelligence on the Neuroi, much to Mio relief. She listened as Minna talked about what was going on around the world. Since the initial attack a few weeks ago, things had settled in once more. Attacks were a bit more frequent, but so far each attack had been beaten back. Now intelligence had to rework their thoughts about how the Neuroi worked.
"So, when will they arrive?" Trude asked.
"Lucy said after lunch sometime, they wanted to run some training drills this morning," Minna said.
"Like we did," Mio said, seeing confusion on almost everyone else's face.
"The 3rd armor squad will be joining us this afternoon," Minna said.
The rest of the 501st seemed excited by that.
"And you're to be on your best behavior," Mio said, looking directly at Lucchini, who said nothing but did not deny anything either. She could only hope nothing went wrong, this was to get everyone to work together.
SWSWSWSW
Yoshika watched as a couple of jeeps pulled up nearby, with several girls in it. She figured that was the 3rd armor squad that Minna told them about. Seven girls got out and started walking towards them, most were tall to Yoshika. One had to be taller than Shirley for sure, and wore a similar type uniform causing her to wonder if the witch was also from Liberion. The others all wore swimsuits.
"Lucy, you made it," Minna" voice said.
"Yep, wouldn't miss a chance on the beach, though I was surprised when you mentioned it," a girl Yoshika figured to be Lucy replied.
"We do water training quite often, as we're flying over it a lot," Minna replied.
"Makes sense, let me introduce you to my squad," Lucy said.
"This is Major Michelle Whittmann, Karlsland," she said, motioning to one of the tall girls, with short blonde hair and blue eyes. "Lieutenant Jesse Ekins, Britannia." She had long light brown hair and brown eyes. "Lieutenant Jenny Boelter, Karlsland." She was about the same height, with long blonde hair and blue eyes, and small breasts. "Lieutenant Dulce Lavinenkko, Orussua." She stood slightly shorter than the rest, with shoulder length black hair and brown eyes. "Lieutenant Kerry Knispel, Karlsland," A witch with long brown hair and blue eyes about the same height as the others. "And ensign Sydney Waters from Faraway Land." She was the shortest of the group, with short red hair, green eyes and the largest breasts of the group, though to Yoshika smaller than Lynne or Shirley.
She listened to Minna introduce them. Once introductions were over Yoshika made her way over.
"Hi!" she said to them, hoping to break the ice. She noticed a few seemed a bit awed by her, and realized her reputation preceded her. Despite not liking war, she had become a household name around the world, along with everyone else in the 501st.
"So you're really Yoshika Miyafuji?" the one named Jesse said. "Destroyed two hives?"
"Well," Yoshika said, with a laugh, running a hand through her hair slightly embarrassed by the attention. "I had a lot of help."
"We were about to have dessert, care to join in?" Sakamoto said.
"Sure, why not," Lucy said.
They made their way over to where several watermelons were laid out. Yoshika noticed Mio had brought a sword and wondered what might happen now.
"Ever had a slicing contest?" Sakamoto said.
"Sounds like a Fuso custom, but I'm game," one of the others said, Yoshika recalled her as Michelle, the short-haired blonde.
"We blindfold you, and you try to slice the watermelon in half with the sword," Sakamoto said.
"Let's do it."
Yoshika sat back a bit with Lynne watching as Sakamoto and Michelle attacked the watermelons, taking turns. She turned slightly to see the Britannia witch sit down beside them.
"You're sister is Wilma, isn't it?" she asked Lynne.
"Yeah, did she do something again?" Lynne asked. Yoshika knew Lynne's sister, while good, had a bit of a mischievous streak in her, reminding her of Hartmann.
"No, I have a friend in her squad, she's always telling me stories," Jesse said. "This is my first assignment, so I'm not sure about anything. I'm so intimidated by everyone, they've all had combat experience, and Wittmann has over fifty kills."
"That's a lot for a land witch," Lynne said. "Why is she here?"
"I don't know, I have some trouble about them all," Jesse said.
Yoshika paused in her wondering to looking over as Michelle took a swipe at the watermelon, as Hartmann swooped in grabbing some to eat.
"Hartmann, come back here?" Trude yelled. "We're sharing all of that!"
They watched as Trude raced after a retreating Hartmann before turning back to Jesse.
"I understand," Lynne said. "So does Yoshika."
"What? But you two are aces," Jesse said.
"Yeah, but when I joined there was Commander Minna, Hartmann, and Barkhorn, both have over 200 kills," Yoshika said. "Everyone in the squad seemed elite."
"They are," Lynne said. "You'll do fine."
A sharp yell caused them to look in a different direction. They spotted Lucchini standing behind Sydney groping her breasts. The short witch had spun around and protected herself.
"Well?" Shirley said.
"Awesome, though Lynne and yours are slightly larger," Lucchini said.
"Can't compete once more," Shirley said, showing off her buxom.
"Ha-ha, told you Sydney, she'd grope you for sure," another one said, who Yoshika recognized as Kerry.
"Go grope her," Sydney said, pointing at Kerry.
"Eh, they don't look that big," Lucchini said looking over at Kerry.
"What? These are great breasts," Kerry said, showing off a bit.
"She so vain," Jesse said, with a sigh.
"So, who is that?" Yoshika said, looking over at a where Sanya and Eila sat, along with a blonde witch.
"Oh, that's Jenny, our night witch, I rarely see her," Jesse said.
Yoshika looked on seeing that both Sanya and Jenny's skin were white. It appeared that Sanya and Jenny knew each other, probably from the night patrols. She knew the night witches talked to each other with some sort of long range communications.
"Hey, come on, let's play volleyball!" one of the others said. Yoshika looked on, seeing Dulce pulling out a volleyball and a net out of one of the jeeps.
"Of course," another one said.
"Sure, I'm game," Shirley said. "How about the 501st against the 3rd armored?"
"You're on," Dulce said.
"Come on Yoshika," Shirley said, grabbing her hand.
"Shirley, wait, I'm not any good at sports," Yoshika said, being dragged along.
Despite not wanting to play, Yoshika found herself playing anyways, along with Lucchini, Erica, Trude and Minna, against everyone expect Jenny of the 3rd armor squad. The others watched, eating watermelon, laughing at the game. A few, like Trude and Michelle were very into the game, wanting to win. Yoshika tried her best, but her enthusiasm could only make up for so much. She played in the back, as she wasn't tall enough to play in the front. The game went back and forth, with each team leading.
"You're doing good Yoshika," Lynne said, from where she sat watching.
Yoshika laughed slightly, knowing she was not that good, and Lynne was doing her best to cheer her on. She smiled at Lynne then went back to work.
"Neuroi!" Sanya suddenly said, causing everyone to turn towards her. Trude held the ball, ready to serve, frozen looking towards the night witch. She had her magic activated and looked around.
"Neuroi? It's too early for them," Minna said, who looked over at Lucy, but everyone was alert.
"I feel one too," Jenny said, having activated her own magic.
"Where?" Trude asked, now looking out at sea.
Yoshika felt worried, especially considering they had not heard any alarms.
"I'll contact our base," Lucy said, running off towards a jeep. "This is Colonel Pool come in."
"We read you colonel, is there a problem?" the reply came back.
"Any Nueroi on the radars?" Lucy asked.
"Um, no…" The reply came before the radio shorted out, causing Lucy to jump back.
"What the?" she said, confused by the sudden development.
Yoshika had a strong sense of deja'vu developing. She had seen something like this before, but where? She looked around seeing Lynne have a similar face. She racked her brain trying to recall, then remembered something about electronics shorting out in Romangna.
"Yikes," Sydney said, jumping up and down, pulling at her swimsuit bottoms.
"What?" Sakamoto asked, as they all looked at her.
She finally stopped after a second. "Something was in my swimsuit bottoms!"
"Oh come on?" Michelle said, making a face. She stopped, make an 'ekk' sound and turned slightly red.
"You too!" Sydney said, pointing at her.
"Um, no," Michelle said, slightly strained.
"A Neuroi bug," Minna said. "We encountered one like this last year."
Yoshika finally remembered, the small bug that seemed to go after everyone, crawling into their pants.
"A bug, where," Lucy said, jumping up slightly.
"It likes to crawl into our pants," Minna said.
"What? Then its Michelle's bottoms!" Dulce said.
"No, it's gone," Michelle said.
Before anyone could say anything else the wail of the alarm sounded from their base.
"Neuroi," Trude said.
"We need to get to our base," Lucy said.
"No, the core is here, that bug," Trude said.
"Are you sure?" Lucy asked.
"Yes, when Minna destroyed the core last time the one approaching was destroyed," Trude said.
"Still, you, Erica, Perrine and Hattori scramble, the rest of us will try and destroy the core here," Minna said. "Sanya, Jenny, can you track it?"
The four went running off as the rest gathered around keeping a close eye out for anything. Yoshika looked around for a small black bug that might be flying around. Both Sanya and Jenny looked around before slowly turning towards Lynne, who jumped looking around. She suddenly jumped slightly. Yoshika knew then where the bug was, rushing over to her friend. She quickly looked despite Lynne trying to avoid everyone. Yoshika saw it, the black bug fly out from Lynne's swimsuit.
"There it is!" she yelled out, diving to capture it. She fell short watching as it burrowed into the sand.
"Where?" Sakamoto asked, looking down at Yoshika.
"It dug into the sand," Yoshika said, quickly standing. She did not wish to give the Neuroi an opportunity to get into her bathing suit.
"Ya know, I'm not sure which is more annoying, the large ones of the small ones," Lucy said.
"At least with the large one we can shoot," Michelle said.
Yoshika had to agree, and at least the large Neuroi were not perverts like the small ones seemed to be.
SWSWSWSW
Trude reached the hangar, where the strikers were ready to go. She hopped in, activating her magic, along with the Hartmann, Perrine and Hattori right behind her. She quickly launched getting directions from the tower of where a radar contact had been spotted.
She watched as the Neuroi came into sight, a large black mass which appeared shaped like a large flying wedge. They split, with Perrine going to the left and her going right. Both Hartmann and Hattori stayed with their wingmates, providing cover.
Trude opened fire on the Neuroi, her shots opening up the enemy, even as it returned fire. She easily blocked the attack, as Perrine and Hattori made an attack from the other side.
"Um, if we can't destroy it, and the core is back on the beach in that small bug, then why are we here?" Hattori asked, during a pause in their attacks.
"Two reasons," Trude replied, taking a moment to evaluate where to attack. "One if to slow this thing down, give them time to destroy the bug, the second is in case this is a separate Neuroi with its own core."
"Oh, okay, so I should keep an eye out for a core," Hattori finally said.
"Exactly," Trude said, as she swooped down for another pass with Hartmann following her.
SWSWSWSW
Yoshika looked down warily at the sand. So far several had been 'attacked' by the Neuroi. She had avoided it this time. A part of her wished she could have gone with Trude to fight the Neuroi on its way here.
"Anyone see it?" Dulce asked, scanning the sand.
"No, and its hiding from our magic," Jenny said. Both she and Sanya had their magic activated and were looking for the Neuroi.
"There," Sanya pointed. Everyone looked in the direction, seeing Lynne, who nervously looked around before freezing. That same startled look everyone got when the Neuroi was there.
"Quick, pull off your bottoms," Lucchini said, jumping up heading over.
"Nooo!" Lynne squealed running away as everyone converged on her.
Yoshika stood frozen as Lynne ran behind her using her as a shield.
"Um, hold on, wait everyone," Yoshika stammered out as they surrounded them.
"It's not there anymore," Lynne said quietly.
"We should check," Shirley said, her voice going up a notch, as she stiffened.
"Shirley!" Lucchini said, concerned, but racing towards her as Shirley started dancing around tugging at her bikini bottoms.
"Where is it?" Lucy's voice said, standing with Minna, both of whom looked around.
"There!" Eila's voice said. They looked at her, then where she pointed at the sand close to Shirley, who backed away from the spot.
"Most annoying Neuroi ever," Dulce said, her hands covering her bottom.
Yoshika looked around, with Lynne still behind her. Yoshika understood what happened, it happened to her last time. The thought of it happening again, well, she had no desire to go through it again. Everyone appeared on edge, and hoping they were not next.
A squeal caused them all to look over at Sydney, who looked back at them with shocked eyes.
"Ah-ha!" Lucy said.
Yoshika watched as a flurry of movement happened. Sydney started to run, Lucchini dove towards her to prevent her from running, and missed, instead taking off the witches' bathing suit bottom. Sydney tripped, falling into the sand, even as Lucy, yelling, dove forward.
The slap seemed to echo across the beach, followed by a sharp cry.
"She got it," Sanya's voice said.
"I no longer detect a Neuroi presence either," Jenny said, agreeing with Sanya.
Yoshika relaxed a bit, feeling better now that the Neuroi had been defeated.
"That hurt Lucy," Sydney said, rubbing her cheek where Lucy had smacked her.
"Perhaps you should dress, we are in public," Lucy said. "Though you look nice."
Yoshika watched as Sydney blushed a deep red, and hastily pulled up her bottoms.
It took a while, but finally everything was straightened up, as Trude and the others returned, the Neuroi they were fighting had shattered at about the same time Lucy destroyed the bug.
"That's one fight I prefer not to do again," Lucy said.
"I'll agree with that," Sydney said, giving Lucy a glare.
SWSWSWSW
Minna sat back in her office looking over the intel from the last battle. They had fought another Neroi like the one in Romangna. Was this hive reproducing previous attacks as well as inventing new ones? She had no answer to anything. She looked up at the knock at the door, seeing Mio walk in.
"Well, successful day, despite the Neuroi," Mio said.
"Yeah, wasn't expecting a Neuroi attack," Minna said. "But yeah, I think working with the 3rd Armor will work."
"I did some looking about why they are here," Mio said.
"Oh, more than one thing?" Minna asked, slightly curious about it. Their actions at times, even today, showed they were all good, but something happened.
"They all have combat experience, mostly in Africa, and Asia," Mio said, handing out an envelope.
Minna took it, opened it up, and started reading though it, taking a moment after the first page to look up at Mio, who merely nodded.
End Part 5