Hi, and welcome to the next chapter of "Strike Heroes".

Now, as you probably expected, I'd like to cover the reviews:

fuji92: Thanks for the review. As far as the ending for Shirley's arc...well, that's a surprise. As for Roland's sanity, I'm not sure if he'll even have anything short of a body by the time the whole season ends itself. The way he's getting put into awkward situations (being slapped by Eila, having to deal with the girls' appearances on a daily basis, doing push-ups like in Chapter 4, etc.) makes it seem like he hadn't really had any sanity in the beginning.

Dragonman75: I'm not sure if the PM you sent me was a review or not, but I am glad to hear that I am doing a good job on the story. Though if it's not too much, can you specify the part(s) that you liked or found interesting?

Okay, now that I've covered the review(s), I want to say this: I'm sorry for taking a while to update this story. I had a lot to deal with during the Fourth of July weekend, and I tried my best to make this chapter the best I can make it. Again, I'm sorry.

Now, with that out of the way, it's time for the conclusion of this particular arc. Enjoy.

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Chapter 8: Fast, Big, Soft (Part 2)

Mio's POV

When I stepped into the dining hall after a morning of practicing with my katana to have some breakfast, I found myself looking at a strange sight.

"You two found a chess board?" Miyafuji asked as she and Lynne were busy watching Sage and Perrine playing a game of chess.

"Hey, you know how hard it was to find it on this base?" Sage retorted as he watched Perrine move one of her pawns. It seemed to me that he was probably nice enough to let her go first because she was in control of the white side. Sage had the other side under his.

"So who's winning so far?" I asked as I walked toward them.

"Oh, it's the major!" Miyafuji said in surprise as she saluted hastily. Sage looked up and saluted once he had a brief blinking fit.

"How are you this morning, major?" Sage asked as he lowered his salute.

"Fine," I told him as I stood there. I noticed that Perrine started to get a little red around her cheeks. I was about to say something about it, but I had noticed that she seemed to look like that because of Sage's presence. Well, I think it was...I'm not a mind reader... "Again, who's winning so far?"

"Um...well..." Sage tried as he stumbled for an answer. "We barely started."

"I see."

I then watched Miyafuji as she walked into the kitchen.

"Are you hungry, ma'am?" the little Fuso Witch asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "What is there to eat?"

"Um...let me see..." I think Miyafuji was busy looking around what I think was the refrigerator.

"Do we have any eggs?" Sage decided to ask.

"Eggs?" I asked him as I looked at him.

"You know, what chickens produce?"

"I know that." Though I was glaring at him slightly, I couldn't help but give off a slight smile.

"Yeah," Miyafuji called out from the kitchen. "We do have some eggs."

"Perfect," Sage said as he stood up and pushed his chair in. "How do you three want your eggs?"

"However you'll make it?" I tried. Was that a trick question, or was he actually going to try making us breakfast? I looked at Lynne, who was following Sage's example, and Perrine to see what they were showing on their faces. Perrine had that same redness on her cheeks, and Lynne looked like she was thinking of something else.

"How about I make some toast for all of us?" Lynne asked.

If there was one thing I was thankful of, it was that Sage didn't know how to make the toaster operate correctly. Somehow, it was a simple appliance, but Sage had no idea how to even use that. In fact, he had to ask Miyafuji where he had to put the bread in the appliance.

"Great," Sage said as he nodded at her. "Hey, major?" He was now looking at me, and our eyes met for a while. "You can take my spot. It's gonna take me a while to make breakfast."

"Sure, lieutenant," I told him as I nodded in agreement. I took his seat and faced Perrine as Sage and Lynne went to help with breakfast.

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Roland's POV

By the time I was finished with cooking the eggs, it was about a quarter after nine. Five minutes after that, everyone was seated at the table and eating.

Well, almost everyone: Francesca seemed to have been missing (I wonder if she's sleeping in or something?).

Anyways, I hoped I made enough eggs for everyone. I usually made about two or three eggs per person, and somehow I managed to use...let's see, two point five times twelve...that's five times six...ah! About thirty eggs, give or take a few.

Anyways, I'm still a little irked that I can't use the stupid toaster. I mean, if you saw it then you might have agreed.

...Then again, you can't really see it, so I guess imagine it? Besides, in my defense it looks nothing like the toasters we have back in my time (and world. Can't forget about the "world" bit.), so you can't blame me.

Just glad I have two teammates who seemed to enjoy making breakfast. Though the nattō beans Yoshika had made were a bit much personally.

"This is good, lieutenant," Lynette said as she took a quick forkful of the eggs.

"Thanks, Lynne," I told her.

"It tastes a bit cheesy..." Charlotte remarked as she tried it.

"Well, I felt like getting a little creative..." I put my right hand on the back of my head as I gave off a cheesy smile. I was lucky that we had a refrigerator on the base as well as having some cheese on hand. I was not sure what cheese it was, but I think it was American cheese.

As for the cheesy smile...no really. I had eaten some of the eggs before Charlotte made her remark, so...I think you can figure the rest out.

"It's rather impressive of you to be able to make eggs, Sage," Mio told me. "I wonder how you learned how to make them this way..."

"Um...luck?" I tried. Okay, Mio...first off, I'm not dumb enough to burn eggs...uh, on second thought, I had a chance of making them slightly brown on accident. Then again, what am I saying? You said that you'll eat anything as long as it's edible...I think.

"Well, we better hurry up and eat," Minna decided to insert. "We still have to go to the beach for training, remember?"

I swallowed what I had and blinked. Wait, that was today?

Oh dear...

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I was busy practicing with being able to stay afloat in the water with the Striker Unit on my legs, a pair of black swim trunks being its companion. Due to the uncertainty of the time period's attitude toward men going shirtless, I had opted to using my green shirt from my sleepware. Yoshika and Lynette were alongside me as we worked on training in the water. It was rather difficult for them: they didn't have the body strength to keep their heads up, and soon they disappeared under the wave. I was simply looking at Mio and Minna, who were counting the time since the girls went under. The commander and major had been discussing something about training and the girls, which I was assuming was poor for training effort or something.

Then again, I was barely holding myself above the surface.

"I think this is one time I can actually say that I'm thankful for training outside the Witches," I commented just as Yoshika broke the surface, with Lynette following a few seconds later. As I said, I had training before I joined, but that was with guns and going through swamps. Really? Neuroi do not walk as far as I'm concerned...

What followed next was Mio telling them to "take a page from Perrine's book" while the girl in question swam past, doing what I could only safely say was breaststroke. I swore she huffed yet again followed by Yoshika and Lynette sinking back under in exhaustion a while later.

"Um..." I started as I looked from where the girls used to be in the water to the trainers. "You two don't think this is a little too extreme for them?"

"Gotta get some training in the water," Minna explained. "If they end up in the water, they need to be able to survive for any nearby ships to rescue them if need be. Besides, you can't be too careful, right?"

"Can't really argue with that logic," I replied before I let my head go under for a while to wet my hair. It was rather refreshing, and thankfully it was hot outside.

"Okay, everyone!" Mio shouted after a while. "Time for a break!"

I powered down my Striker Unit and swam out of the water, barely remembering that the prototype was only able to preserve my cargo pants. Luckily, my gray boxers were underneath the swim trunks in case I had a problem like that.

A while later, and Yoshika and Lynette clambered out of the water, dragging their spare Striker Units along the sand. I simply walked out of the water and onto the beach, with some slight panting. Well, after I performed a series of freestyle strokes to get my feet to touch underwater land.

Soon, I watched Yoshika and Lynette hit the sand chest first and turn so that they were on their backs. I then watched as Charlotte joined them after a while, and I soon joined in, lying down between Charlotte and Yoshika. I simply activated my magic to see the aura around me, and I couldn't help but notice that all three of them had that peaceful green aura in them.

"Training's not so bad," Charlotte told us. "Besides, now you guys have a while before you train some more, so enjoy it while you can."

"I agree," I said as I lied there, looking up into the sky.

So peaceful here…so calm…

"You ever done something like this, Roland?" Lynette asked.

I lifted my head to look at the Britannian Witch.

"Not for a while," I told her. "With me being in the military, I didn't really get to actually enjoy the beach." Then again, I had been there a few times when I was younger...

Yoshika looked up at the sun, shading her eyes as she looked.

"What's that?" she asked as she sat up, followed by Lynette and me.

"What's the matter?" Lynette asked her.

"I don't know. I saw something. It's flying across the sun."

At this point, Charlotte had sat up. "What was it?"

I threw my right hand over my eyes to make a sort of visor as I looked at the object in question. I glanced at Charlotte, who had done the same. What we both saw surprised us.

"The enemy!" both Charlotte and I said as one.

"Neuroi?" Yoshika asked.

Suddenly, Charlotte stood up, turned around, and ran off. I, catching the idea, stood up and followed her, using as much of my leg muscles' remaining strength as possible to keep up. Yoshika and Lynette tried following, but they were still weak from the training they had just done.

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Charlotte was the first one over the wall leading to the hangar, Yoshika, Lynette, and me right behind her. I nimbly jumped onto the wall and stood there as the girls tried climbing the wall.

"Wow," Yoshika sighed as she looked at Charlotte. "She even runs fast."

"Let's keep moving," I ordered, seeing as I was of a higher rank then Yoshika and Lynette. Then again, it was more of common sense: no point in sitting on our rears for this one.

Soon, the three of us reached the hangar's runway in time for the main door to open up and for Charlotte to fly out of it, nearly hitting Yoshika as the young girl ducked.

"Shirley, wait!" Yoshika tried, but she was out of earshot.

"Come on!" I said as I powered up the Striker Unit I owned. "We need to get going."

After saying this, I flew into the air, following Charlotte as closely as I could. I could feel Yoshika and Lynette's auras as they were utilizing their own Striker Units to follow me. Soon, I had to kick my speed down a lot in order to let the girls catch up. After that, we picked up speed quickly. I may have made a dumb move with the drop in speed, but I was damned if I was going to be without help in case this goes south.

We had barely made it to Charlotte when she increased her speed, making us back away slightly.

"Let's keep moving," I said. "She's going to be too far if we slow down."

We kicked our speed back up to a good rate.

After a while, Yoshika said, "She's getting farther away!"

"We'll never catch up to her now," Lynette added.

"Keep going!" I said as I put more power into the Striker Unit I owned. "She'll need help sooner or later."

I was barely trying to catch up to Shirley's speed, and soon it was going to be complicated by more problems: as soon as I saw Charlotte going faster, I heard the sound of a sonic boom.

Holy crap! I thought as the others and myself felt the first shockwave from the break in the sound barrier. She's going faster than the speed of sound!

The shockwave made us all stop in our tracks, Yoshika and Lynette barely trying to maintain altitude. I was sent flying back, though I was able to correct my flight.

Not liking what was to happen, I focused on Charlotte's aura as she flew, though it was taking all I had to maintain a lock on it. Suddenly, I felt her aura flash a dimmer version of yellow as the green had already disappeared when the Neuroi was flying right toward her.

"Oh boy…" I gasped in shock as I recognized the fact that Charlotte's dimmer aura could probably only mean one thing. "I think Shirley's going to become the world's first supersonic human bullet…"

True to my words, Charlotte ripped through the Neuroi, destroying it a few seconds after impact.

Lynette and Yoshika stopped in the air, followed by me stopping as well.

"The enemy's been destroyed," Lynette said out of amazement.

"What about Shirley?" Minna asked us.

"She's, um…" Yoshika tried.

We noticed a human-shaped object start flying toward the upper limits of the sky.

"She's…She's fine!" I said in disbelief, confirming it with an aura read. She still had energy, and now her yellow aura had more green in it. A lot more peaceful green than usual.

"She made it!" Yoshika added. "Shirley's gonna be okay!"

The three of us started flying toward her. However, before we could get close enough, Charlotte's Striker Unit slipped off, and the orange-haired girl started falling toward the water head first. This made Yoshika and Lynette stop and panic, saying that she wasn't going to make it after all. We flew down, me letting the girls take point, and they managed to catch Charlotte before she could hit the water. I had barely enough time to grab her Striker Unit before it fell into the ocean.

As we flew back up to a safer level, I noted the conditions of each of them: Lynette was holding Charlotte from the back, while Yoshika's hands were on the orange-haired girl's breasts. I wasn't holding her due to the oddness added with the fact that I was holding her Striker Unit, and I was blushing: somehow Charlotte's swimsuit had been destroyed. Plus, she was unconscious.

Yoshika was surprised at where her hands were at first, but then she started playing with Charlotte's breasts happily.

"What is it?" Mio radioed as they flew there. "What happened?"

Lynette noticed Yoshika's actions and was taken aback. "Uwah! It's nothing! She's fine, major! Shirley's been rescued, but…"

"Yeah, but what?" Mio sounded irritated.

"Wow, they're gigantic!" Yoshika said, making me blush madly.

If I remembered the scene on the other end correctly, Minna was blushing while Mio was making sense of what Yoshika said.

"Yoshika!" Lynette scolded. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Dammit, sergeant!" Mio radioed back. "I demand you tell me what's going on!"

"I'm sorry, major, but it's hard to explain!"

"Think that's bad?" I radioed back as we flew back to base. "Try being in my position, major."

"I'm so hungry," Yoshika simply yawned.

I could do nothing but look at her in shock: she's dreamed about breasts yesterday and is currently messing with Charlotte's (I am still blushing here, dammit!), but yet she's...hungry?!

Okay...Just one remark, and...I can get myself mauled or killed. I'm almost certain that it's not a good idea to try getting Yoshika angry.

Instead, I just flew ahead of them, the only area where I didn't have to worry about things like what I just saw.

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Dear Letter,

My second letter here and I've got some strange things going on around here.

Where should I start?

Right. Well, there's the matter of Shirley.

See, after the Neuroi incident, I felt like I was getting these glares. I mean, I'm a guy, but I didn't do anything to her. Of course, I was assigned with Yoshika to keep an eye on Shirley, so…

Luckily I got into the room after she was covered up.

It was like that for an hour or so until Shirley woke up, and you know what?

I kid you not, she saw me as soon as her eyes opened (I was trying to check on her pulse or something. You know, see if she was still alive?) and grabbed me, pulling me in for a hug.

Sadly, she wasn't dressed at all, so I ended up…well…

Let's just say that I'm starting to get really concerned about my sanity. Which I'm still trying to figure if I still have it or not.

Anyways, she stayed in her room for a few days, and Yoshika and I took turns while we did our training. When Yoshika went, I stood watch, and vice versa. It gave me some time to make sure she was doing okay, so I wasn't worrying about if she was going to make it or not.

As for the Striker Unit, I wasn't sure if she ever did get her Striker Unit out of the ocean in the original version, but she did express gratitude for me saving hers. It seems that this is one choice I had to make on a whim, and I have just changed a detail in my time spent here.

Well, other than being inside the Strike Witches, of course...

Anyways, I'm writing this letter a few days after that particular incident. A lot can happen in that time.

So…what's been happening there?

Signed, Roland Sage

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Charlotte's POV

It's been a week since the whole thing about the training at the beach, and I had been taken care of by Roland and Yoshika.

It was rather nice of him to care enough about me to be able to help me out when I was exhausted. Really nice of him. Plus Yoshika...

I can also thank Roland for saving my Striker Unit. At least he somehow understood the work I put into Merlin. It's sweet that I can still use it, even after the trouble I went through while breaking the speed barrier.

Then again, I'm glad that I put up my shield when I crashed through the Neuroi. I really didn't want to find out what happened if you collided with something going in the opposite direction at Mach One.

Anyways, I was spending some time in the bath, just letting my muscles relax for a while. I don't know, but it's interesting that the major enjoyed the idea of the "open bath". It's a change of pace, and around other girls it's a great time to talk.

"Why am I getting dragged into this again?"

Huh? That sounds like Roland's voice...

"I noticed that you haven't taken a bath in a while," Major Sakamoto said in response.

"Uh, first off I'm a guy," Roland countered, "and second off I prefer taking a bath on my own. Though I really prefer showers."

I shook my head. I think Roland mentioned something about taking showers with the men. I'm not sure how that works out, but I think when he mentioned his usual self-cleaning location, I think the major decided to drag him here.

"It doesn't matter, lieutenant. You're a member of the Strike Witches, and we do things as a team."

"Then why aren't the other seven Witches on said team coming as well?"

Hmm...Roland said other seven, Major Sakamoto was with him, and I'm in here...who's with them?

I got my answer when I turned around. I spotted the major, the male Witch, Yoshika, and Lynne. I noticed that the two younger girls were blushing deeply (maybe due to the fact that Roland was going to take a bath with them?). Major Sakamoto looked normal as she looked at me as I waved to them.

"Hey there," I said. "You guys getting in?"

"Of course, Shirley," the major told me. "Even Lieutenant Sage is joining us today."

Speaking of Roland...I took a quick look at him and blinked. He had evidently put two and two together and was now standing there with some sort of glazed look. "Uh, major? Is he okay with this?" I pointed casually at the male Witch.

"Of course!" Major Sakamoto slapped his back in support. "He just can't wait to get in."

I looked at Roland more carefully...and he just fell onto his back. "I think he's in shock..."

"In shock of what?"

"Huh?" Lynne asked as she finally looked at Roland. "Oh no, Roland!"

I watched as Lynne and Yoshika crouched down and tried waking him up.

"Come on, Roland-kun..." Yoshika cooed. "It's okay. It's just Shirley."

"Wake up, Roland!" Lynne said in a more panicked voice.

I watched Major Sakamoto give off a simple head shake of disappointment.

Is it just me, or is Roland really not that used to seeing us in the bath yet?

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Roland: Next time on Strike Heroes,it's—

Eila: It's an entire episode all about Sanya. Finally: Sanya on the left, Sanya on the right—

Roland: Hey! Since when did you decide to cut in on what I said?

Eila: What? I'm not worried. It's going to be great.

Roland: That's not the point!

Sanya: Next time on Strike Heroes…

Eila and Sanya: We're the Same.

Roland (hearing Sanya's song): Wow, that voice…

Eila: I know! Isn't it beautiful?

Roland: Uh...

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There we go. The next chapter is up. Honestly, somehow I feel that I could have done better, but let me know in the reviews.

Anyways, please read and review. Thanks.