Hello, and welcome to Chapter 5 of "Strike Heroes".

Now, let's start with covering the reviews:

Cabbage cabrera: Thanks for the comments about liking what was in the story so far. It's nice to hear that Roland isn't a Gary Stu, but one still can't be too laid-back when he or she hears it. As for the knowledge Roland has, it's useful for him since he can reasonably expect something to happen. However, as he has to constantly remember, the problem with being in a world that is already established is that even one small detail can have the power to throw the entire story off in a new direction. Something he has noticed (Minna and Ellios's promise to each other, Lynette and Kayley being friends...those are just to name the current ones).

fuji92: About the line concerning Yoshika and what she should call Lynette, the best I can offer as an explanation is that Minna referred to the Britannian Witch as "Lynne" in Chapter 3 and then "Bishop" in the last chapter. As Lynette said something about calling her by "Lynette", the best Yoshika probably thought about was "Lynne". Though I have to agree with you on the fact that she should probably have called Lynette by her last name. If someone has a better explanation for that detail from the anime, please let me know.

As for the reading of people's emotions...I had looked up the idea of aura reading when I was developing Roland and was rather intrigued that auras could give an approximate clue as to someone's feelings. Of course, I'll have to refer back to the page I found concerning it, but it compliments his knowledge to a degree. Though unless he gets some training in telling what emotions each color could represent and then using a person's current actions to arrive at a good idea of what the person feels like, he can only examine the color and arrive at a conclusion by himself. For magical signatures, Roland wouldn't really know where to start as far as doing something like that, even if he has an idea of what each Witch's powers are.

There's the reviews portion...

Now it's time to continue the story.

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Chapter 5: Thanks (Part 1)

Last time, Roland met the remaining Witches, and he and Yoshika helped Lynette shoot down her first Neuroi. With his first battle having been concluded, Roland found himself befriending the two girls. However, his current situation was about to get crazier...once he woke up from a dream he was having...

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"Uh…Commander Minna…mmph…You're so…mmm…"

I flashed my eyes open and sat up, rubbing them as I did so.

Geez, that was a strange thought to be having. Especially as it's been about two weeks since I joined the Strike Witches.

Come to think of it, that was the first erotic dream I had about the commander.

"I have got to lay off the thinking," I muttered to myself as I looked at my sleepware. It was the fatigues and shirt I wore on the morning of the Ascension incident.

"What time is it?" I asked myself as I looked at the watch, which I made a habit of keeping on my wrist except when showering.

When I read it, I was shocked. "Eight-thirty? I'm gonna be late for breakfast!"

Hastily, I slid out of my clothes, changed my underwear, slid on my white shirt, vest, and cargo pants, put on a clean pair of socks over my feet, and put on my black trainers. I then had to clamber out of the room adjusting my shirt and vest and making sure I had my pant pockets not inside-out before power-walking toward the dining hall.

Yeah, I know...you're probably wondering why I was in such a hurry to get to the dining hall. See, for a while now, Yoshika and Lynette had been cooking us breakfast whenever the cook didn't have time or something to do it. Then again, I don't blame the guy...or girl: there were other people on this base besides the girls and myself. As far as what Yoshika and Lynette cooked, it was rather...interesting: Lynette knew how to make some classic meals for breakfast, and Yoshika, being of a medical-oriented background, always found something healthy to add to the meal. Then again, I'm kinda glad they're cooking the meals; Mio cooked for us once, and Yoshika and I were probably the only ones who didn't pay attention to the fact that the others' faces showed that said meal (I have no idea what it was supposed to be) wasn't exactly healthy. Personally, I felt a little queasy after eating it. When I looked at Mio a while after eating the mystery meal, I noticed that she didn't seem to care about the taste. I asked her about it later on when I had a chance to speak with her in private. Her answer: she said something about not really caring...as long as it was edible.

Incidentally, I ran into Minna as I was going, and boy was I embarrassed. I wasn't too sure about talking to her right now…

"Morning, lieutenant," Minna said with a smile.

I think she had that same smile in my dream…and I'm not even going to think about it!

"Morning," I bleated sheepishly, that blush returning to my face.

Minna looked at me and asked, "You okay this morning?"

"Uh, yeah! Heh heh, I was just remembering a dream, that's all…" D'oh!

"That's nice to hear at least," the commander told me. "I'm sure you'll clear up in no time."

"Thanks." was my reply before walking away with a wave of my hand.

I could feel Minna following me, so I slowed down just enough to let her walk beside me.

I am so glad no one here has the power of mind-reading…I hope.

"Hey, lieutenant?" Minna asked me as we walked. "Are you interested in learning about your aura reading?"

"Huh?" I asked her in return. "Why are you asking?"

"I just thought about it...you have no prior training with your magic, so I figure that I can help you in that department."

I blinked. "What do you mean?"

Soon, Minna and I were talking about the auras I had been seeing as well as explaining to me what some of them meant compared to the person I saw with said auras.

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"Yoshika!" Lynette said as the duo cooked up some food. "Did you hear? They're having Koaba Base mobilized for a missing child. Isn't that wonderful?"

"I didn't know they did operations like that here," Yoshika replied. "That's really cool of them!"

"Ah. And to think it's all because of one child." Lynette held her hands close to her chest, with the ladle's serving end pointing up.

Yoshika smiled. "Of course. How can we save a country if we can't help one person? It's such a beautiful statement it makes me proud to be here."

Lynette turned to look at Yoshika. "Yeah, I agree."

"Same here," I added from behind the counter, which had a lot of bowls and cups. "I mean, anything to help others, right? Doesn't make sense to help everyone if you can't help someone."

In case you're wondering, ever since the three of us dealt with that Neuroi from about two weeks back, the Fuso Witch and the Britannian Witch had been happy to see my face, especially Lynette considering what I had told her. I mean, neither one were really that bad: you had to deal with Lynette's occasional act of clumsiness (followed either by something that nearly burned me getting close, something messy that splashed all over my clothes, or something that could happen as a result of her act. Luckily, the stains are rather easy to clean off) and also Yoshika's almost-innocent attitude (not that I mind; according to what she told me, she hadn't been a part of the army when Mio picked her), but they were rather nice...

"You can't save everyone," We heard a voice behind us say. Well, behind them; it was on my left.

The two girls cooking turned around (while I simply turned my head to the left) to find Captain Gertrud Barkhorn, who was probably busy placing cups onto saucers for all I know. The only reason I knew her full name was because I had read it somewhere, and besides it gets boring referring to her as "Barkhorn". Right?

"No matter what you do, someone always gets left behind," Gertrud continued.

Yoshika stopped what she was doing and ran up to Gertrud. "Wait, what do you mean?"

"Nothing." Gertrud grabbed her tray (she was actually readying her tray) and turned around to walk off. "I was just talking to myself."

As we watched her walk off, I found myself thinking the following: What's up with her again?

Sighing, I grabbed my bowl and cup with a saucer and found a spot next to the commander, who was seated with Erica and Gertrud.

"Morning, Barkhorn," I said as soon as I remembered that I never told her that this morning. Looking at Erica, I added, "And good morning to you too, Hartmann."

Strangely enough, I had barely sat down when Francesca waved her hand and said, "I want seconds!"

"Coming!" Yoshika said quickly, and soon she was coming to the table with the pot.

The young girl took notice of the fact that Gertrud didn't really touch her food, and I did as well.

"Uh…" she started. "Oh no! I'm so sorry, did you not like it?"

Gertrud just stood up and cleaned her place as Yoshika and I looked at her. I was blinking in confusion.

There was a brief moment of silence before Francesca said, "Do I get seconds or not?"

"Huh?" Yoshika asked as she realized what she was originally doing. "Oh right! Of course you do! I'm very sorry!"

"Honestly, I can't say that I blame her," Perrine noted. "I mean, you've served us rotten beans. No one should have to eat that. Are you trying to poison us?"

"Not at all. Sakamoto said she liked it. It's just nattō, it's supposed to be good for you…"

Perrine had gotten upset at something and had walked up to Yoshika. Everyone else on the opposite end of the table looked at me as I gave off a visible green aura and looked at Perrine's aura. She had a green aura that, upon closer thought, didn't feel like Yoshika's green, which was more of a healing green. Hers felt like a jealous shade of green. That, and she had a slight flash of red. Anger, based on what she said next.

"Did you just call the major 'Sakamoto'?" Perrine asked her. "You shall address her as 'Major', got it? I don't even call her 'Sakamoto'. Well, not all the time. Of course, I mean…" At this point, Perrine wasn't too sure what to say for a bit, and I noticed that her red aura dimmed for a few seconds as I continued looking at her. Then she jumped back into full swing with a red flash as she added, "Whatever, it doesn't matter! I don't care if she likes it or not, this stuff is absolutely horrible, and you should never make this again."

At this point, Francesca was getting impatient, so Yoshika quickly got back to serving her while Perrine huffed.

"Taking it a little too rough, are we?" I growled as I cut off my aura reading.

"Well," Minna said as if she didn't hear the whole commotion. "Everyone's entitled to her opinion. Of course, for Roland it's his opinion."

"It's not that, Commander Minna. It's just…" I sighed quickly. "I don't feel very comfortable when my friends are being talked to like that, that's all." I ate and, to everyone's amazement, managed to finish it in only thirty seconds. "Mind if I have more, Yoshika?"

"Of course!" Yoshika replied.

As Yoshika managed to serve me faster than she did Francesca, Charlotte suddenly had a strange thought.

"Roland?" she asked me. "Where's your animal features? I mean, I just noticed it, but you didn't produce any when you used your magic."

"Huh?" I asked. That was a strange question to be asked. "Am I supposed to?"

"Well, it's just something odd about you. I mean, I think you're going to end up with a new nickname before long."

"New nickname?"

"Unfamiliar Witch?" Francesca tried.

"Like that," Charlotte said as a reply.

"Seriously?" I asked. "What's wrong with the Ground Witch one?"

"I don't think it can really apply right now. Not with you in the air now."

"Ha ha, very funny."

"Whether Roland has a familiar or not is not really important," Minna pointed out.

"Again," I decided to say. "I just learned about my powers about four and a half months ago. I didn't really put thought into getting a familiar."

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"Man," I said as I parried a blow from Mio's wooden sword. "This is getting intense."

Apparently, Mio noticed that I needed some training in swordplay, and while I didn't quite see the reason behind that I did have the sword with me. Though I was holding a wooden sword as well.

"Focus, lieutenant," Mio warned me before jumping over me and trying to aim for my back. Thinking quickly, I stepped ahead as I pivoted around to face her in time to parry her intended attack.

I stepped into her attacking range, grabbing Mio's left arm to keep her from attacking me.

Suddenly, I felt some sort of surge go through me, and I let go in pain. This gave Mio time to throw her left elbow directly into my face, sending me stepping backward before I could react to that blow.

"Don't try that again unless you want to get killed," Mio scolded me.

I don't think I actually paid attention to that; I think I spent more time tending to my right eye, which was aching all of a sudden as my hands flew up to cover it. My sword clattered to the ground quickly.

With my good eye, I could see Mio as she looked at me with a slight look of concern.

"Lieutenant, are you alright?" she asked me as she sheathed her weapon.

"I don't know," I said as I stood there.

Mio walked over to me and pulled my hands away from my face and was shocked.

"What?" I asked.

"You better look at this," she said as she unsheathed the katana and used it as a sort of mirror so I could see my face.

I was shocked as well: staring at me was me…but my right eye had suddenly turned purple. Well, the iris did, not the entire eye.

"What the hell happened?" I asked her as I looked deeper into the sword.

"I'm not sure, lieutenant," Mio said. "Did you feel anything…odd when you grabbed me?"

"Well…there was a surge of pain, but other than that…Hey, major, I can see in some sort of purplish negative."

Mio sighed. "I think I figured it out, lieutenant. Your body must have copied my magic for your use. Was there any other incidents like that?"

"Uh…no. This is the first time it's happened."

Suddenly, I watched as the eye returned to normal, which was brown. I blinked as soon as I saw this: I thought that you were only able to use powers you were born with. Why the hell did something like that happen? Then again, was it possible for a Witch to be able to copy others' magic?

"I see...Either way, your sword training is done for today. Oh, and the commander has something for you."

I see? I asked myself concerning Mio's reply. What the hell is that supposed to mean?

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Dear Letter,

For some reason, I decided on starting a sort of journal using letters. I know: I don't have anyone to mail it to, and besides...why not buy a notebook or something? I just felt that I wanted to write about what was going on, and the best way I can think of is a letter; it's rather easy to hide, and if someone finds it then at least they won't know everything I wrote about.

Now, where should I start?

Oh yeah! I joined the Strike Witches about two weeks ago, and now I got my first paycheck. I dont' want to say how much, but when I asked Mio about it, she told me that I had enough to save up for a car from Liberion (I can't use America here; it doesn't exist here. Or, at least, not the name…) in about a year or two.

Of course, I went through some more training and am currently examining my teammates around the base. Especially with my aura magic.

My findings?

Mio and Minna are the two closest people to lead, though Minna is a commander. Mio's rather kind-hearted…as long as she's not training with you. I think…The tricky parts about them are the black I see inside Minna and the yellow-and-purple aura with Mio.

Lynette and Yoshika are rather cheerful, though I feel that Lynette (sorry, Lynne) is shy sometimes. I don't really need to say much about their aura.

Perrine? Well…that's a little difficult. She seems to have been rude to Yoshika, and I was also walking by when Minna gave them both a punishment because they had started arguing. I'm troubled by her jealous green aura. I can't seem to figure out why she's acting the way she is toward Yoshika, though I did look deeper when I was observing her. I found some splotches of blue and black. I'll have to ask Perrine about her past later or something to confirm what I'm thinking.

Francesca and Shirley (aka Charlotte)? Rather friendly and they're helping me with training. Though Francesca acts like a kid sometimes by napping at inopportune times, such as when she's lying on my back during push-ups. Francesca's aura seems to be a little hard to explain. Yellow's at least one color I can see in her. As for Shirley, I think I read yellow in there as well, though I think I see orange and gold in there as well.

Eila and Sanya? I rarely have seen them apart, though Sanya is usually being carried around by Eila. I guess they're that close, huh? Plus, I can't say too much about Sanya because the few times I do see her outside her room she's usually asleep and being carried around by Eila. It's not important to note Eila's currently, and I can't seem to read Sanya very well because every time I try to, Eila somehow knows that I'm trying to do it and stops me. I guess she doesn't want me getting too close to Sanya, and aura knowledge isn't something I'm going to get without practice.

Erica…I can read some orange and yellow mixed together. Maybe marigold if I think about it, but I'll stick with an orange-yellow color for now officially.

Gertrud? She's seeming like she's troubled by something, though what? That, and her aura—whew! Green, yellow and some red. There's some black in there, but I'm not sure. Maybe whatever's causing that black color is the problem she's having.

I guess I'll just write these letters for a sort of journal. At least until I actually go and buy one, if I actually decide to even get one.

Signed, Roland Sage

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I stretched as I walked down the hallway toward the kitchen during the night. I had woken up because it was rather hot around the base. I had to resort to taking off my shirt, though I had it slung on my right shoulder in order to keep it with me.

Luckily, no one else seemed to be up...well, not that I checked without my magic. It's odd having the power to lift things and yet being able to read auras.

Feeling bored, I decided to use my magic to see if anyone was actually up.

I picked up a being in the dining hall with yellow, green, red, and some black.

"Who has that color again?" I asked myself as I put on my shirt again.

I walked into the dining hall and found Gertrud sitting there, not really doing anything or drinking anything.

Weird... I thought as I looked at her. She had her back to me, which was alright for a while. Why's she up this late?

"Captain Barkhorn?" I asked to catch her attention.

Gertrud turned around and looked at me.

"Lieutenant Sage," she said simply. "You're up still?"

"What are you talking about? I just got up for something to drink." I walked past her and entered the kitchen. A while later, I emerged with two cups of milk.

As I set a cup in front of her, Gertrud said, "I'm not thirsty, lieutenant."

"Thought you'd like something to drink, that's all," I told her as I took a seat next to her. "I didn't do anything to it, if you're thinking about that."

"Why are you really here?"

"What, don't want company?" I shrugged my shoulders. "I thought you'd want someone to talk to."

"I'm not in the mood."

"Okay, understandable..."

A few minutes passed by before I decided to drink some of the milk. When I pulled the cup from my lips, I looked at Gertrud, who was looking at me.

"What?" I asked her in defense.

"You have a..." Gertrud said simply.

I blinked before running my left hand across my top lip. I felt something wet on it, and when I examined it I realized that I had one of those "milk mustaches". "Ah. Thanks, captain."

"You know, I have a question for you."

"Shoot."

"No thanks. Anyways: what exactly do you see in Miyafuji?"

I blinked. "Miyafuji? Oh, her. Well, somehow she has this sense of protecting people along with helping them. I guess I just have the same ideals as her..."

Gertrud shook her head. "You can't protect everyone."

"I know. You said something about it during breakfast. Why are you thinking like that?"

"Because it's the truth, lieutenant. Someone will always be left behind, no matter what."

I frowned. "Now, that's not entirely accurate, you know...I think something happened to you that made you act like this. Is it Yoshika?"

"This conversation is over, lieutenant. You're dismissed for the night."

"Is it Yoshika, ma'am?" I sounded more forceful.

"I said you're dismissed."

I stood up, ready to snap at her. However I caught myself: what would I accomplish arguing with someone like Gertrud? She's a captain while I was just a lieutenant. "Alright, captain. I understand." I pushed my chair in, finished off the rest of the milk in my cup, went into the kitchen, rinsed it out, set it in the sink, and walked back into the dining hall briefly. "Just give Yoshika a chance, ma'am. She's a good person."

Without another word, I left the dining hall.

I really can't seem to tell if something entirely different was bugging the captain, but I wasn't going to worry too much about it, seeing as I had to get some sleep...

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The next chapter has been finished.

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