Hello, and welcome to the next chapter in "Strike Heroes".
Before we get going, we have a few things to cover. First, the reviews:
fuji92: I think I considered Hanna-Justina Marseille to appear, but I decided that it somehow wouldn't work out. So when I thought about it some more, I remembered running across Galland's name. So I found it again and, after reviewing it, decided to put her inside this particular arc. As for your wish...I've been thinking of that particular idea for a long time, since I started on Chapter 2 (Considering that Roland described himself as a "smitten idiot", the idea is strong).
Oh, and could you tell me who said that particular quote please? I don't think I ever heard it before...
Dragonman75: It's nice to know you feel that way. Just remember: I still have a few more things to cover, so hold on tight and keep letting me know how I'm doing.
Arisa Le Creuset (Guest): Thanks. Roland would probably appreciate your thoughts on his predicament (though it's hard to be certain if he would).
Alright, with the reviews out of the way, it's time to continue the story...
XXXXXXXXX
Chapter 12: Nice and Breezy (Part 2)
"So tell me," Adolfine said as she and Lynette sat across from me and Minna, "how exactly did you end up in the Strike Witches?" The exact seating arrangement was Lynette and I on the outside and Adolfine and Minna on the inside.
We had bought some parfait, but we only had enough cash (I was the only source of money in the group: Adolfine evidently didn't have any money, Lynette forgot that she left hers in her room, and Minna admitted that she thought of the parfaits rather spontaneously) for two parfaits. So I got some strange idea and decided to make the orders the same: strawberry-banana parfaits with chocolate inside them. Now we were waiting for them to be done.
"Oh, me?" I asked in confusion. "Well...it's a rather quick story for that part..."
So I explained what had happened on the day I lost Commander Ellios.
"I see," Adolfine replied as she nodded her head. "Ellios seemed to have saw something in you, but why are you with the Five Hundred and First?"
"I can continue that," Minna added. "Ellios and I had made a promise to each other. When you forwarded me the dossier on Roland, I decided to go through with my promise."
"Dossier?" Adolfine blinked a little. "But I wasn't even aware that Lieutenant Sage was a Witch."
"Wait," Lynette asked as what Adolfine said was starting to make me think, "you mean that you sent a dossier about someone you weren't aware of?"
"Maybe it was a typo," Minna said.
Adolfine nodded and replied with, "I mean, I read the story, but it was a month after the Ascension incident. Anyways," Adolfine looked at me. "You're the lieutenant that used that grenade to destroy the Neuroi that day?"
"Uh, yeah," I told her, still disturbed by what she said: how did Minna get my dossier when Adolfine didn't even send it? Besides, last I checked a typo would have messed Adolfine's name up or something. Either someone had absolutely no idea how to spell it and decided to look for someone else whose name they could spell...or there's something I wasn't aware of.
"There's something I learned today. The story never mentioned whether you were male or female. Then again, Witches are generally female."
"Your parfaits are ready," a lady said as she placed the parfaits on the table, one in front of me and Minna while the other sat in front of Lynette and Adolfine.
"Oh, here," I said as I reached into my pocket to pay the lady. However, she decided to stop me.
"No need to do it, sir. It's on the house." The lady then walked off.
On the house? Why?
I then looked at the girls I was with.
Ah...the company I'm with...I think...
"This looks odd, lieutenant," Adolfine said as she examined the parfait.
"May look like it," I said as I grabbed a spoon. "However, strawberries and bananas go well together. For me, at least."
"I can agree with you, Roland," Lynette said. Realizing what she said, she instantly blushed as she stuttered with, "I-I-I mean, lieutenant."
Adolfine looked like she was about to say something about it, but I stopped her.
"Let her," I replied. "I gave Lynne permission a while back when I first got here."
Adolfine nodded, though she was probably a little irked that I had told her that. I couldn't help but wonder if it was because I had let Lynette call one of her superiors by (in my case) his first name. Then again...
"Anyways," Minna said as she too grabbed a spoon. "Let's eat, ma'am."
We ate our parfait for a minute before Adolfine decided to say something.
"Hey, Roland?" she asked. "How did you deal with your time in the Strike Witches?"
Blushing slightly, I told her what had happened. About Lynette and her first Neuroi kill. About Gertrud and her close call with death. About Charlotte breaking the sound barrier. About my time in the night patrol. I was careful to leave out anything about my past as well as the things I had seen that I wanted to forget, especially that time I fainted inside the bath after seeing Charlotte...
I reached in and scooped up a bit of parfait with my spoon, and I watched as Minna used her spoon to follow my lead. However, I felt our hands brush against each other lightly as I was pulling out my portion.
"You seem easily embarrassed," Adolfine noted as I got a little redder around the cheeks.
"It's how the lieutenant is," Minna said in response. "It's hard to be one of the few male magic-users in the Witch Corps."
"Witch Corps?" I asked the commander. They had an actual group consisting of Witches (and others like me)?
"Of course," Adolfine replied. "You're a part of it. Well, officially now that I think about it."
"But how can that be?"
"I can answer that one," Lynette decided to insert. "When you joined the Five Hundred and First alongside Yoshika, you became a part of the Corps. All it has are Witches."
"Like the Army, Navy, and Air Force?"
"Pretty much," Minna replied. "Air Commodore Galland is the head of the Witch Corps."
"Really? Guess you really do learn something new every day."
"Uh, heads up, lieutenant," Adolfine told me as she pointed behind me. "We've got some company."
I turned around and saw that there was a guy walking toward us. The way he was dressed struck me as strange: he wore blue jeans, I was assuming a pair of biker boots (not with high heels, mind you), a black leather jacket, and some black leather gloves. As far as physical features went, he had black hair, blue eyes, and a rather muscular build. If I wasn't mistaken, he looked like he was one of those biker stereotypes.
"Hey there," the man said as he stopped a little behind me. "You four were talking about the Witch Corps?"
"Uh, yeah..." I said hesitantly. I closed my eyes and felt his aura. I couldn't be clear about his color, but I aura-watched as he slid into the booth behind me and Minna.
"Well, that sounds rather impressive. I mean, a male Witch in the Corps?"
"There's not a whole lot, though," Adolfine pointed out. "Then again, male magic-users are considered weaker than female magic-users."
I felt myself gritting my teeth. It's hard to be forgetful of the fact that I feel like I was an exception. No matter what, I had to be one of the weaker Witches on the team. Not sure who's weaker, but I had to be one of them.
"Really?"
A flash of red appeared in his aura.
XXXXXXXXXX
Lynette's POV
Commodore Galland and I watched in horror as the man who was chatting with us suddenly grabbed Commander Minna, wrapping his left arm around her neck to keep her from moving.
"Commander!" I shouted as the commander's hands dashed to the man's arm to try prying it off.
"Wilcke!" Commodore Galland added as she made to get up.
"No one move," the man said as he brandished a knife and held it under Commander Minna's chin, "or this one gets it."
"I'm fine," the commander told us before the man stopped her. "Uh!"
"Quiet!" He then looked at us. "Now, you ladies stay right where you are or else..."
Suddenly, there was laughter. A guy laughing. We all looked at Roland, who had his face buried in his arms as he was trying not to laugh loudly.
"What's so funny?" the man demanded.
"It's funny, ha ha," Roland said as he raised his head. The look he gave us looked like something I was almost certain I had seen before. It was a look Yoshika would give when she was set on doing something (and I had been around her long enough to know). Sometimes, I saw Roland with the same look, but he was somehow giving off a new version of it. A stronger version. "You come right to this table, to a table with four unarmed Witches, one of them being male...you grab one of the girls and hold her hostage as you tell the others to not move..."
"So where's the humor?"
"There's not really any humor in it...in fact, I'd go so far as to say that it's painfully unhumorous. Why might that be, you ask?" I saw his eyes dart between me and the commodore before gazing at their cup of parfait. "Well, you made two mistakes. The first was laying your hands on my commander..."
"And the second one, tough guy?" The man looked like he was enjoying this little talk.
"Second...second, you caught me on my bad side by touching her. Now...have a little taste of justice..."
I watched as Roland started glowing green as the cup of parfait received one as well. What he did next was a little too fast for me to see clearly: all I saw was the parfait crashing into the guy's face. Out of pain, he let go of Commander Minna as Roland stood up, turned around, and threw a right hook into the man's face. As the man's back hit the table, Roland somehow gave off a brighter glow around him as the man received the same glow. Effortlessly, Roland slid him across the table and sent him onto the floor as the glow disappeared.
"What?" the man said as he climbed onto his feet rather clumsily. "Too scared to fight like a man?"
XXXXXXXXXX
Roland's POV
"Like a man?" I asked him with some metaphorical venom in my voice. Usually I was not this angry, but I was damned if I was going to let him try to hurt Minna. Besides, we did nothing to him to make him act like that. "Oh, I can do that..." I clenched my right fist and slammed it into my left hand. "Come on, pal."
The man rushed up to me and swung an uppercut. I stepped just out of his swing and returned it with a straight punch to the face. This sent the man reeling back a bit before he caught his balance. By that time, I ran up to him and performed a sweeping kick that took the man's legs out from under him. Before the man could touch the ground with his back, I rose up quickly and, recalling my gyrokinesis powers, threw him back a lot more. This sent him into a wall that had some sort of trophy on a display case. As soon as he hit it, the trophy wobbled a little before it decided to fall off. The man had landed on his rear and was about to stand up when the trophy hit him on the head, and it was lights out for him.
"Lieutenant, are you okay?" Adolfines voice asked as the others stood just behind me.
I powered down my aura and panted heavily. I usually only expended a little energy lifting things, but throwing that man around took a lot out of me. I mean, a lot.
"I'm...fine..." I told them between breaths. "Just a nap...for a while..."
I fell onto my knees, and I felt Minna catch me as her right arm landed against my chest.
"Thanks, Roland..." Minna told me.
"No...prob...lem...Min..."
I closed my eyes and blacked out.
XXXXXXXXXX
Minna's POV
"Are you sure you two can handle the lieutenant?" Galland asked me as Lynne and I slid a sleeping Roland into the limousine so that we could return to the base.
"Yeah," I assured her as Lynne stepped inside. "He's fainted a few times. We're kinda used to it."
"Has he ever blacked out due to over-exerting his magic?"
"Actually, this is the first time, ma'am. But don't worry: Roland did it for a good reason."
"I'm aware of that, commander. Just be careful, okay?"
"Don't worry, commodore."
As I moved to get into the vehicle, Galland added, "Oh, Wilcke? Can I tell you something in private?"
"Uh, sure."
Galland led me a good distance away from the limousine before saying something. "Listen, Wilcke...keep an eye on the lieutenant. I didn't send that dossier, and chances are that whoever did wanted something to happen. He seems to be involved somehow. Promise me that you'll keep an eye on him."
"I will, ma'am." I saluted. "Roland's as much a part of the team as he is a part of the Witch Corps. Besides, I was the one who got him, so he's my responsibility."
"Good to hear, commander. Now, you better get going before you miss Hartmann's commendation ceremony."
"Right, ma'am."
I walked over to the limousine and stepped inside. I waved a quick goodbye through the window as the vehicle drove off toward the base. I maneuvered myself so that I was sitting next to Roland's head. For some reason, I decided to pick up his head gently and laid it inside my lap.
"He looks peaceful when he's sleeping..." Lynne remarked in awe as I took a look at him. He did look rather peaceful...and somehow, he looked cute...
"He's still an adult," I informed her. "Though the way he's going..." I then thought about what Galland had told me. If it was true and Roland was a part of something big, then I needed to know what it is.
"Uh, commander? Are you okay?"
"Huh?" I looked at Lynne. "Oh, I was thinking, that's all..." I gave Roland another look.
I couldn't help but remember him...
XXXXXXXXXX
Roland's POV
Dear Letter,
Well, here's yet another letter.
Well, this time I want to talk about a few things: first, there was the matter of Francesca.
See, after I woke up from my black-out and asked about it, I learned Francesca's punishment as well as what had happened.
Well, she needed some form of punishment. Besides, I was busy trying to figure out how I forgot about the fact that things were going on inside the base. It was a long story, but luckily (or unluckily. I'm not really sure.) the details were rather easy to understand.
Anyways, apparently the two leaders decided it would probably be funny if they had Francesca sit through Erica's commendation ceremony without her panties...
I stood at attention as Erica and I were on the stage. I was inside my military uniform, using my cargo pants instead of my slacks (since I still haven't replaced the damn things).
Apparently I had been told a few minutes after waking up that I was receiving a medal for achieving ten Neuroi kills (apparently a lot of things I couldn't cover in my letters).
Hey, it's not a lot, but it's still good. It'll be a while before I break past fifty, though.
I took the time to look at each of the girls as the announcer droned on about something or other. Something about why we were getting the medals...I'm not sure.
Anyways, I could see that of all the girls, Francesca looked the most uncomfortable. Somehow I felt sorry for her: I don't know why, but I did feel sorry.
"...Lieutenant Hartmann will receive her medal for destroying two hundred and fifty Neuroi," the announcer concluded for one of us.
Finally! It's not that I was feeling impatient, but I felt like I was about to fall asleep standing up.
"Next, we have a medal for Lieutenant Roland Sage," the announcer began before the strangest thing happened.
I felt that same breeze from before as it blew past me from the front, and I suddenly thought of something: if Francesca took Perrine's panties in the first place, then who took hers...?
...
Oh...
Oh...dear...
I took a quick look at Erica and blinked before I blacked out for the second time that day...
I…don't know what to say…One minute I was listening to the announcer as he was about to talk about me…the next I was unconscious.
I had just figured out who had taken the Romagnan Witch's panties, and boy was it not a good idea...
Hell, I don't even know who took Erica's panties in the first place.
Whoever it was, damn you!
Anyways, I hope you guys are doing okay without me. I'll be back as soon as possible.
Signed, Roland Sage
P.S.: I have a picture of Charlotte with her autograph attached to this letter. It's a copy of the picture that was in that biker magazine the girls were looking through.
P.S.S.: Why is it I've been fainting of embarrassment since I got here? I'm serious; first, Charlotte and the bath, now this...if this keeps going, I think I'm going to start questioning my sanity more heavily.
XXXXXXXXX
Roland: Next time on Strike Heroes-
Minna: Um, Roland?
Roland: What is it, commander?
Minna: Something about you is starting to make some of us a little worried...
Roland: Considering that rule you put up, somehow I don't doubt it.
Minna: I'm serious! How much do we not know about you?
Roland: Um...
Minna: Never mind. Next time: I Won't Forget You...
XXXXXXXXXX
There's the next chapter for this story. I'm not sure how well that particular bit about the fight did for finishing this pair of chapters, but I will be going into Minna's dilemma for the next two chapters, so hang in there.
Oh, and I hope I got you thinking about that little bit of information Roland and the others discovered: if Adolfine didn't send Minna Roland's dossier, who sent it to the commander?
Plus, if you want...pertaining to pairings, I'm wondering: what pairings could you see as being possible, and who do you think (personally) Roland could end up with? I'd love to hear from you guys, but it's your choice if you want to let me know. Just send me a PM or put it in your review (if that's allowed). Don't worry, you will not be mentioned alongside your choice, but I'm interested in what you guys think. Be warned, however: I'm only asking out of curiosity. I'm still juggling a few ideas around, so I won't be changing my plans anytime soon. though I'm willing to consider the idea...
Anyways, please read and respond, and if you want get back to me on your ideas of pairings.
Thanks.