Hey there. Welcome to the next chapter in "Strike Heroes".

Now, I am first going to address some of the reviews I have received concerning the story:

fuji92: I'm not really concerned with the ideas people have concerning the 501st and OCs. The way I see it is that they have a right to think that. It's not going to make a difference to the story. For the pairing, as stated this is the first story on this site...and I have next to no idea what some of the things do. So, to explain the pairing thing: the reason the two names (Minna & Yoshika) were chosen is because of two reasons: one, Minna is the one who picked up Roland; and two, Yoshika was the newest one (replacing Lynette's status of being the newest recruit) to join the Strike Witches. This story is going to be changing a few details to fit the ideas I have, but pairings are still up in the air. Though I have to agree with some of the pairings I've seen, especially those of Lynette and Yoshika. As for the Browning HP, Roland thought the "HP" meant "Hand Pistol". Thanks for telling me that it really meant "Hi-Power", though. Might be interesting later on if Roland has to deal with naming guns. Also: don't worry about Roland. I might have to do some tweaking, but the current way I'm thinking of him as a male Witch (I guess Wizard, now that I think about it...) should be good. I'll have to examine him along the way to keep him from becoming a Gary Stu. Though given his background for this story, he's got more problems than surviving.

cabbage cabrera: Thanks for the review. I'm working on Roland's powers to make sure he doesn't catch it.

Good, with the reviews' responses out of the way, it's time to get to the next chapter.

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Chapter 2: Honorary Strike Witch

Minna's POV

I walked down the halls toward General Weiss's office, reading the dossier I had been forwarded by Air Commodore Galland as some of the men working around the base looking at me as I moved.

I didn't really mind too much, I guess. It's not exactly every day that a Witch of my ranking walks onto a base, especially this one on the east coast of what was left of Liberion.

I instantly felt my stomach growl. Chuckling softly, I decided to make a quick detour to the mess hall to grab some breakfast, which was scrambled eggs with a strip of bacon and two pieces of toast.

You know, for some reason I can't quite put my finger on...I think it was odd with it. There wasn't exactly any Witches on this particular base, so why the breakfast like this?

Then again, this guy I'm picking up...according to the reports I had in my hands, he's male and has magic.

As I ate my breakfast, I read the file again to make sure I wasn't forgetting anything.

Name: Roland Sage

Age: 18

Sex: Male

Country: Liberion

Branch: Army

Rank: Lieutenant

Service Records: Served under Commander Ellios. Has defended Ascension alongside Lieutenant Nova.

Background: Orphan

Psychological Profile: Seems to have no real problems of note.

Notes: Has magic. While magic reserves are rather good, magic usage is wanting. Claims to have never heard of his powers before. Magic can be classified as gyrokinesis, of the telekinesis branch. Also seems to have an aura, though uses so far have been shown as limited aura reading.

I was a little confused: His magic reserves were fine, and his powers being wanting could be understood considering his background, but gyrokinesis and limited aura readings?

Attached were some other reports, particularly one of his first day in the Army, when his powers somehow sent a drill sergeant flying. Interestingly enough, for someone who had this happen to him, he was now a soldier...well, at least he has the mentality of one...I hope.

I'm almost certain that he and Trude won't be getting along very well if he was like her. Then again, I could imagine it, and I shook my head.

Who am I kidding? I can't even be certain. Who knows? Maybe they were pulling my tail (not literally, mind you; last I checked, I wasn't in my Striker Unit nor was I using my magic currently), and this boy was actually a girl.

Then again, I knew Commander Ellios. She wouldn't be pulling my tail with this one...

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Roland's POV

It's been a week since what was now called the Ascension incident, and I was instantly some sort of celebrity on the base. Hell, after returning I was rewarded with the rank of lieutenant. The next day, I graduated from training, and the day after was her funeral.

I think I should cover the funeral first. It was rather typical, surprisingly; apparently a Witch's funeral was no different from a normal human's. What was odd was that I felt this air of mixed feelings, like someone had fused fear, awe, and respect into the same area. I had watched some of the episodes, particularly episodes three to six, and I hadn't really felt this sort of feeling in the anime. Odd how being in a place is completely different from watching it...

Now, about the fact that I was famous on the base...no one bothers to ask how I felt about losing Commander Ellios. I mean, I didn't know her personally, but she was the first Witch that actually took an interest in a male Witch like me. I never learned why, but I'm sure that she had her reasons.

No, no one asks me about it. It was all about "What possessed you to fly up there without any training in using the Striker Unit?", "How did you finish off the Neuroi?", and (my "personal" favorite) "Were you scared at all?"

How many answers do I have for that particular question? Let me see... "Ah, yeah. I shit my pants."... "Naw, I had my big boy pants on."...

I mean, really: you have to ask me if I was scared?

...Sorry, I just feel frustrated. I lost the first Witch who accepted me into her squad, I killed my first Neuroi, I'm being peppered by questions on base...ugh!

I was simply lying in my cot that day, the other trainees off with some new instructor or something.

It felt odd not doing any training: I was stuck here until I could find a Witch unit that could take me, and I somehow didn't feel like doing anything. May be because I was frustrated or something.

Therefore, to keep myself from going insane, I was using my powers to practice them.

Judging from the powers I have, I can use a sort of aura. Attack capabilities: not quite sure, though I could throw things at people by encasing it in a green glow. Defensive capabilities: not sure there at all. Maybe I could use it defensively, but again I'm not sure. Other applications: none currently.

Anyways, I was simply lifting the chest at the foot of my cot. I lost track of the count, but I think I did it about a hundred times before a recruit entered the barrack.

"Lieutenant Sage?" he asked.

I turned my head to look at him.

"Yes, recruit?" I asked, sounding tired as well as bored.

"General Weiss would like to see you."

"What for?" I sat up and got onto my feet.

"Something about a Witch interested in you."

I was intrigued. What Witch would be interested in me? "I'll be there."

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As I walked into the general's office, I took in the view. The office had a desk that the general was sitting behind, with some filing cabinets to my left. Two chairs were seated on the other side of the desk, the part I could easily walk to.

General Weiss was looking at me with gray eyes. His gray-white hair told me that he was probably aging right now. I swore I saw some wrinkles on his face due to the stress factor. He wore the same outfit as I did, albeit in a larger size.

I hated to admit it, but I'm not exactly the buffest guy in the world. Yeah, my shoulders were wide…to a degree. If I remembered my X-ray picture correctly, I had my shoulders going slightly past my hips. Thanks to the training here, my muscles were moderately defined. Just enough for moderate work out on the field, like carrying a heavy backpack.

I then noticed the female figure sitting in one of the chairs in front of the general. I couldn't see her face, but she had a gray-green jacket on. Her hair was a red-brown, and assuming she was indeed a Witch she had nothing covering her legs.

"Ah," General Weiss said as he took notice of me. "Our guest has arrived."

I watched as the girl stood up and turned to face me, and I swore my heart skipped a few beats. I did managed to note that she had red eyes, but other than that I was trying to figure out why someone as…well, as attractive as her wanted me, some male Witch who hadn't really flown a lot.

"Lieutenant, this is Wing Commander Minna Wilcke," the general added. "Wilcke, this is recently-promoted Lieutenant Roland Sage, the Ground Witch."

"So you're the boy who stopped that Neuroi during the Ascension attack?" Minna asked me.

Like a smitten idiot, I didn't really grasp the question for a few seconds.

"Huh?" I asked as I shook my head to focus. "I guess I am."

"Well, I'm impressed based off the reports on you," the commander continued. "Your ability to create an aura…the fact that you were here for sixteen weeks despite the fact that you're a Witch…your natural talent on guns…"

"Oh stop." Listening to all that made me blush slightly.

"Anyways, I came here because I'm interested in recruiting you. I understand that you have had no prior experience in any Witch Corps groups, correct?"

"Uh…yeah."

"Today's your big break. Like I stated, I was impressed by the records on you. At least, the records I was allowed to see. Anyways, I lead a group of Witches that form the Five Hundred and First Joint Fighter Wing." When she saw my slightly blank expression she added, "It's also known as the Strike Witches."

"Ah. That group." I heard about them, or at least I remembered from the anime. "Why me?"

"Other than the fact that your records prove you to be an able Witch? Your training in the use of the Striker Unit could use some work, though it's impressive that you flew it like you had flown it before. We can help you with the Striker Unit. Plus, your reputation as the Ground Witch is something you could utilize given the right situation. That, and I don't think you have your powers under control yet. So…?"

I thought about it. I could either go with Minna and train in the proper way to be a Witch or stay here and…

And do what? Sit around and lose hope in getting home? Might as well do something worthwhile while I was in this world...

I flashed a thumbs-up with my right hand.

"I'm your man!" I said excitedly. "Though, not literally."

"That's great to hear, lieutenant," Minna said. "We'll be leaving tomorrow. It's going to be a rather long trip, so I hope you get some sleep."

"Oh, lieutenant?" General Weiss added in. "I have something to show you…"

XXXXXXXXXX

"A watch?" I asked as I slipped on said watch. Minna and the general were with me when we got to the intelligence building, though judging by the gift it may be more of a dumb-telligence building.

The watch had a brown strap that had notches for the little hook to enter for size-fitting and –adjusting. The edge around the watch's face was of a gold color, and it had three hands: a red second hand, a long black hand for the minute, and a short black one for the hour. The numbers were of familiar design, being the same thing I use when writing down numbers. You know, like: 1, 2, 3…

"It's not just a watch," the general said. "Some mysterious benefactor gave it to us yesterday with the instructions that it was for the Ground Witch. It even came with some instructions for it. If I recall correctly, the watch can receive your energy to activate a unique Striker Unit."

"That's a load of bull…" I started as I proceeded to try making the general see how silly that sounded. I was interrupted when, as I was sending my energy into the watch to try "activating" the device, I felt my feet get lifted off the ground as some sort of metallic framework gave me a place to stand. I then stared at my legs as they got covered by the shell of a Striker Unit. The fins formed soon after, and I recognized the decal on them: it was from the Jolly Rogers squadron of F-14s.

What were the Jolly Rogers decals doing being here?

"See?" the general said with a slight grin. "However, there's a small problem when you deactivate it, according to the instructions…"

"Which is?" I asked as I drained the watch of its energy, which was how I assumed I turned the device off. As the Striker Unit was magically disassembled, I was aware of a blue magic circle underneath me. I was also aware that my slacks were now torn up where the Striker Unit had covered said clothing. "The hell…?"

"It said that you need a specific clothing to prevent that from happening."

"Which is what, a skirt?" I was rather upset: I had these slacks since I was on the Ascension, and now I had them torn up by some stupid prototype piece of crap. And I was not going to wear a skirt! Maybe a kilt, but not a skirt a girl would wear!

"These."

A box was kicked over to me, and as I got onto one knee to rummage through the contents, I was struck by something odd: these were civilian clothes. More importantly, these were mine! I haven't seen these since I enrolled in the Army.

"The letter said that you needed the pants in there to withstand the shredding effects of the prototype," General Weiss said. "It also said that the prototype will activate and work properly with or without pants, so if you ever changed into a girl…"

'Let's stop right there," I said quickly. I was not going to get a sex change anytime soon! Or ever!

"Anyways…I'm giving you permission to wear these clothes into combat. Or rather, that's your new commander's call."

We both looked at Minna, waiting for her reply.

"Well…" she said with a slight blush. "I don't think it's a particularly bright idea, but I guess Lieutenant Sage can wear them. It'll be something unique for him."

"Thanks, commander," I said as I saluted with my right hand. "Permission to go take a shower?"

"Actually," General Weiss said. "I need you to escort the wing commander to her quarters for the night. Then you can take a shower, okay?"

"Uh, sure?"

"Here are the directions to her quarters, lieutenant."

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It took me a while before we found the room in question, and as soon as I opened it and let Minna step inside I was amazed at what I saw: the room was rather...roomy, with a twin-sized bed, a dresser for clothes (which Minna didn't look like she brought some), and a table for writing on. There was also a desk in the back of the room, near a large window.

"Well," I said as I looked at the paper yet again. "This is your room, commander. If you need anything, just ask someone on base to get it, okay, ma'am?"

"Actually, lieutenant," Minna began as she turned to look at me once I looked up again. "I was hoping to talk to you about a few things."

"Ma'am, I can talk to you about personal matters when we leave tomorrow. As for anything else, feel free to fire away."

"Okay...never thought you would be the one in control of the conversation right now..."

"Sorry, commander...I'm just frustrated now."

"About what happened to Commander Ellios?" When I looked at her, she continued. "Lieutenant, there was nothing you could have done to protect her. She was a good commander, and I know she would be proud to see that someone else took a notice toward you, Roland."

"And why did you really pick me?"

Minna sighed. "I picked you because Ellios and I had a deal with each other. She was worried about something, but she couldn't tell me what it was. So she told me to take you in before the military sent you off to a different base. I promised her that I would have you be a part of my team, and I'm not going to break a promise with her."

I was stunned. "She told you to take me in?"

Minna nodded. "You have the potential to be something great. Ellios saw it, and I can see it now for myself. Don't worry, we'll talk about personal things tomorrow. If you're up to it. For now, get some rest. You're going to need it."

XXXXXXXXXX

I was now lying on the cot, trying to get some sleep. However, that was a little difficult currently: I was now thinking about the turn of events.

Here I was: being recruited by Commander Minna because she had promised she would, having a prototype Striker Unit residing out of sight and on my wrist at the same time, having my old clothes back…

Why did it feel so odd?

Well, I guess you deserve to know the rest: as explained, I'm not from around here. Or even from this world. It's hard to explain, but somehow I ended up in this world, a world where things like I have seen occur on an almost-daily basis.

I think it was the fact that I fell asleep at my computer back in my world. Anyways, I remembered waking up in some abandoned orphanage and trying to piece together where I was. After a while, I realized that I was in that anime/manga series: Strike Witches.

At the time, I was a little freaked out: what was I doing inside an anime world? Or even a different world for that matter?

At least I could remember some details from the anime, which is probably going to come in pretty handy during the fight to defend Britannia.

That was another thing I had to deal with: the countries I remembered calling names like Germany, Britain, Japan, Russia, and all those were now changed into Karlsland, Britannia, Fuso, Orussia, etc.

At least the United States of Liberion still had the "United States" attached to it.

Anyways, I digress. I should be getting some sleep now, but it's so hard to do, especially with the idea that I'll be hanging out with a lot of cute girls.

I closed my eyes and tried getting some sleep…

XXXXXXXXXX

I think I overslept, for somehow I had missed the bugle call for wake-up time.

In fact, I barely woke up to find Minna standing in the doorway of the barrack, looking at me as I stretched.

"You get enough sleep?" she asked as a sort of joke.

"Not sure," I said as I shook out my hair. "Maybe a few more hours…" I added a slight smile to show her that I was kidding.

"We need to get moving. Mio should be back with the other recruit in a few days."

"Other recruit?" Oh right…Yoshika.

"Yep."

"Well, I hope she's friendly."

"We'll have you learn that on your own."

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Here I was: standing there in my civilian clothes, which consisted of a white shirt with a green vest over it, black cargo pants, black trainers, and my prototype Striker Unit/Watch Thingy (I don't know the official name, so I guess I should just call it "the watch"). I had a European sword inside a brown scabbard that was hanging behind my back and a rusty crowbar I had found on the base fitted into a special scabbard I made using a few materials on the base, which I had behind the small of my back.

Minna was standing at the doorway to a small passenger plane that was conveniently our ride to Brittannia.

"You ready, lieutenant?" she asked as she climbed on board using a set of stairs.

"Right!" I shouted as I raced to the doorway. I raced up the stairs quickly and was soon panting. I looked straight ahead, and I think I regretted it: I caught a view of white panties.

"You're a little red around the cheeks," Minna said as she noticed my now-blushing face.

"Huh?" I said as I tried wiping the blush off. "Sorry, b-but..."

To my embarrassment, she chuckled.

Hey, you try being a male in an alternate world where Witches most likely never existed!

Luckily for me, I avoided saying that out loud.

"Don't worry," she said. "You'll probably be doing that a lot while you're there. By the way…can I ask you about your magic abilities?"

"Hmm?" I hummed as we took a seat. "Yeah. Let's see, so far I can lift things, and I can read auras. I'm not sure about anything else, though."

"Aura can be used in spatial awareness as well as a sort of reader. I have confidence that you'll be able to utilize your aura for almost anything you need."

"Thanks. Hey, what about you? I think I read or heard about you once. Do you have anything you wanted to do?"

Minna smiled, and soon we were talking about almost anything. I told her about my training during boot camp, how I got my nickname, and Kayley. In return, my new commander talked about her dreams of being a singer, some of her teammates, and the state of the world with the Neuroi attacking.

"Can you tell me a little more about Lieutenant Charlotte Yeager?" I asked her after a while.

"You probably heard of her," Minna said. "She's rather famous, especially in Liberion."

"That's great. Um, what is she famous for?"

"I'll let you ask Shirley that when we get there."

"Aw man."

Oh well, at least I know a bit more about her than I let on. For some reason, I have to play along like I don't know them, in case something changes. Before I came here, I remembered this story where the guy had ended up inside the Mass Effect universe, but some things changed while he was there. I can't seem to remember it right now, but who knows?

Man, this is going to be difficult: at some point, I'm going to have to reveal that I'm from a completely different world and that I know (to a degree) about what's going to happen. The question was: when?

Besides, why spoil it for them? That would be like taking the element of surprise out of a prank, I think.

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We flew for a while (can't really tell how long; I fell alseep and forgot to check the time before taking my nap) until we reached my new base, which was on an island near Britannia.

However, as soon as we landed, the sirens went off. Minna, being my new commander, told me that I wasn't going to fly this mission, though there were a few Witches busy taking off.

"So what am I gonna do, commander?" I complained as I looked at her. "Twiddle my thumbs?"

"Well," Minna said quickly, "you can take a nap for a while." She then left to deal with the problem.

Nap? What am I, a cat? I did not just get told to go take a nap...did I? Besides that, why am I taking another nap?!

This left me rather bored shortly after, so I wandered around the base, making sure I turned off my Striker Unit before moving. Living up to its claim, the deforming of the Striker Unit left my cargo pants intact.

Somehow, this didn't make sense: I thought you couldn't use pants for a Striker Unit? Something about pocket dimensions and being tight or something...I don't remember! Who actually managed to make it like this? Seriously!

Oh, well...I can't complain. At least I can still feel decent. That, and I think some of the stories I read about people going into established worlds and witnessing events that never occurred and learning facts that didn't exist no matter how many times they played the games/watched the movies/read the books/whatever...

Sorry, did I make you confused? I can't believe that I said all that...

Soon, I found a couch inside what I could consider the living room and flopped on it, making sure to kick my shoes off so that I couldn't get the couch dirty or muddy. I soon fell asleep to catch up on some much-needed sleep.

I wasn't quite aware of it yet, but the way I saw the world of the Strike Witches was about to really change right before my eyes…

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Roland: Next time on Strike Heroes, this is going to be one fun first week on base.

Lynette: Um, lieutenant? What's with the radio?

Roland: Oh! Lynne! Sorry. I'm just talking here. Anyways, what's up?

Lynette: ...You okay? I mean, I can understand if you're angry at something...

Roland: Uh, what gave you that idea?

Lynette: You looked determined when you flew into battle that time...

Roland: Right. Your first Neuroi shoot-down...

Lynette: Next time: You're Not Alone...

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Well, there's the next chapter.

Just to discuss the story details so far...I remember that Striker Units usually require little to no clothing covering the legs in order to work optimally. For Roland to receive a Striker Unit that somehow removes that restriction...something doesn't smell right...

Anyways, please read and review.