Welcome to the next chapter of "Strike Heroes".
Now, as usual, let us cover the reviews before we delve into the story:
fuji92 (Guest): You'll have to wait and see how he deals with the problems up ahead.
GAT-X104VividPanzer: Concerning slaps by some of the girls, Roland's lucky they weren't all going to slap him. Though so far only two girls (Eila for that incident where he was trying to get Sanya out of his room, and Minna for his deception) have taken the spot.
Dragonman75 (Guest): Thanks for the review. To answer your questions, you'll have to wait and find out... ... ...I forgot that I don't have a maniacal laugh track here. :)
Amir-015: I'm assuming that the PM you sent me was a sort of review, so I'll answer your question here. As far as the question you posed to me goes, it will be answered by the end of the story.
Now, with that out of the way, let's continue with the story, shall we?
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Chapter 20: We Will Fly (Part 1)
Roland's POV
"How long are we going to be waiting here?" Erica complained as we were sitting inside an abandoned cabin at a strategically-placed location overlooking the base we once occupied. Minna and I were busy keeping an eye on the place via a medium-sized window and two pairs of binoculars while Gertrud and Erica stood by for a switch just in case.
"As long as we need, Hartmann," I heard Gertrud tell her.
Erica sighed. "Well, it would be a little easier if we could just go in and deal with it right now..."
"Wouldn't work," Minna said as I looked at her. "Who would believe the word of someone who isn't even from this world? Besides, if we tried that, I'm fairly certain that the general would take us out and turn us in by the time we could get what evidence we needed."
"Besides," I added as I turned to look at Erica and Gertrud (Erica lying on a couch that was coincidentally inside the cabin and Gertrud standing near the door in case someone got the rather unlikely idea of checking for any Witches trying to snoop around), "according to Maloney, he hasn't done anything to make anyone question him yet. If the Warlock actually does work..." Which it won't, I told myself. "...then he's got us replaced. However, I know that it won't happen."
"What does that mean, Sage?" Gertrud decided to ask me.
I thought about what the being showed us. "Uh, nothing..." I then tried changing the topic. "Since I got here, I think I'm beginning to question some things..."
"Like?" Minna asked me.
I sighed. "I don't recall Kayley or Commander Ellios ever appearing in the series at any point, and to be honest...I never got past the first season..."
"Hang on," Erica said quickly. "There's a second season after this?" She then looked slightly confused. "Um, what do you mean by a season?"
I sighed again. "After this is all over, I'm as clueless as you guys. Let's just keep it at that." I looked back outside the window. "I wonder how the others are doing..."
"Why are you worried about that?" Minna asked me.
"I get the feeling that my secret seemed to have caused some trouble in your minds...I know that you three may have forgiven me for it, but I'm not too sure about the others..."
"Judging by Miyafuji's reaction," Gertrud said, "I'd say she was the most affected...though I'm fairly certain that she's not angry at you. I think she wanted you to stay..."
I wished I could have stayed too...but Minna's threat and my own regrets toward hiding my secret wouldn't...
I frowned.
"What's wrong, lieutenant?" Erica asked me.
"I..." I started as I thought about everything I did for the girls. "I don't...I don't get it...why aren't you guys more furious toward me? I mean, I lied to you...I lied to you all...and yet...you let me back on the team, commander." I turned my head to look at the redhead. "Why didn't you let me go?"
I felt a hand grab my left shoulder gently, and when I looked I could see Minna smiling sincerely.
"You're a part of the team," she told me. "No matter what happens, we keep an eye out for each other. You and Miyafuji have done that more than anyone else, and look at what happened until recently...everything that happened aside, it's been an honor serving with you, lieutenant." She then nodded her head.
I opened my mouth as if to say something but decided to stay silent. I looked at Gertrud and Erica and asked, "And you two?" instead.
"Well, you did save Trude..." Erica said.
"That he did," Minna added.
"What about you, Trude?"
"I still trust Sage," Gertrud told me. "Aside from convincing me that my way of thinking was wrong, I was thinking of whether my life was supposed to have been ended by that Neuroi. I guess now that you're here and you know about it...what happens to me in your world?"
I blinked. That was a little strange to be asking someone from a different timeline and world...but I wasn't going to lie. Besides...
"Yoshika and Perrine still catch you before you hit the ground," I told her. "If you're worried that my presence prevented your death, I can assure you that you were safe for the most part..."
"Most part?" Erica asked as she blinked.
"My experiences here has shown me one main thing: no matter what you manage to do, some things have a chance to be changed."
"Meaning...?"
I sighed. How do I put it? "Well, I never thought Lynne would be friends with Kayley."
"That's it?" Gertrud asked next.
"Well, there's a few other things I could use, but..." I stopped and found myself swaying back and forth, a feeling of lightheadedness filling my head.
"Lieutenant?" was the last thing I heard from Gertrud before I blacked out.
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Minna's POV
"Lieutenant?" I heard Barkhorn ask as I felt Roland fall against me, his head landing on my chest.
My first instinct was to try slapping him for some reason but I paused before I could do just that: Roland hasn't exactly been known to just do something like this on purpose. I looked at his face and noticed that his eyes were closed, like he had fainted from something.
But from what?
"He's fine," I replied. "I think...Help me get him to the couch. Hartmann, could you move please?"
"Sure thing, commander," Hartmann said as she got up and, with help from Barkhorn, I laid Roland on the couch.
"Now what?" Barkhorn asked me. "The lieutenant fainted on us, and we've got a chance of being discovered before he wakes up."
"For now, we'll take turns keeping an eye on the base, Roland, and the door."
"Why the door?" Hartmann decided to ask.
"Unexpected guests?"
"Oh, right!" Hartmann gave off a quick salute. "I've got watching Lieutenant Sage!"
"I'll take the door," Barkhorn suggested.
I nodded.
"Good idea," I told her. If someone did barge in at least Barkhorn didn't really need a gun to deal some harm. Though I'm kinda glad we decided not to use the guns for this (though Roland did object to being completely unarmed; I allowed him to carry all his weapons except the BAR); I don't want to have any deaths at this point, Maloney's men or our team.
I walked back to the window and looked out before the memories I had of Roland came into my thoughts. When I first picked him up, he had been rather normal despite losing Commander Ellios (that, or he was hiding it from me; I know that he said that he didn't let her death get to him, but somehow I think he couldn't deal with it the way he wanted to). As he and the others warmed up to each other along with Miyafuji, I started noticing that things were rather different somehow. I don't remember if it was because of Roland or Miyafuji, but there was one thing I could agree with: those two had different ways of thinking than us, but they still brought something to the team.
They brought hope and togetherness...
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Roland's POV
"Uh..." I groaned as I started coming to.
What the hell happened to me? One second I was talking to the Karlsland Witches, and then next thing I knew I fainted.
I opened my eyes and took in the sight I was greeted with: a complete field of purple.
Okay, I don't know what exactly one should see when they die, but somehow I was fairly certain that the color purple everywhere was not something that they saw. Maybe their life flashing by, maybe some sort of deity or something, but not this.
Wait, is it all purple?
I turned my body around and saw nothing but purple...okay, maybe I should correct myself: seeing as there was nothing I could call a ground (considering that I don't even know which way was up) that I could stand on, I think a better statement would be "I twisted my body through the eternal purple I had found myself in and saw that it was indeed all purple".
Confusing? Try telling me where I was, and maybe I can fix my entire description here.
...
Okay, did I just break the fourth wall again?
I shook my head and looked around.
Purple...
Purple...
Purple...
Some sort of being materializing to the right of me...
Purple...
Purp-
Wait a second! Some sort of being?
I turned back to look at it and found...okay, I think I'm going crazy.
For some reason, I could see Commander Ellios floating there, without her Striker Unit.
"Commander?" I asked her as I blinked. "But you're dead...I...I saw you die in my arms!"
"Be calm, Roland," Ellios told me. "I needed a form to assume while talking to you in this place, and the one that I thought would help best was your memory of Commander Hannah Ellios."
I needed a form to assume...? "Hang on, are you...?"
"I am indeed the being you saw inside the Neuroi nest. When I performed the procedure, I inserted a shard of memory inside you that worked independently of the rest of your mind. Until now, I tried to get you to come here...unfortunately, the one time I succeeded you ended up fainting, so I had to find your mental body."
"Mental body? Where am I? And why is it so...purple?"
"This is a plane we had reserved for us, though its existence is only to serve as a place for us until we show you what you need to know. Once our purpose has been completed, this plane as well as ourselves will be erased. Now, you're still wondering what exactly happened back then?"
"Duh!" I was annoyed: you did some mumbo-jumbo to me, you tried getting me to interact with you and ended up making me faint, and your plane is all purple...what was I in, some backwards version of Vandread? Oh well, could be worse...
Ellios looked confused (Funny how the being knows how to show some form of emotion; I think it used mine as a reference, though). "We take that as a yes then. What can you remember?"
"Well, I remember being at a computer and then waking up in an orphanage..." I stopped. "Wait, did you...?"
"We restored the memory you had lost. Now, we want you to see this and understand that this is one of the events that led to the formation of the legend."
"Legend? What legend?"
"The one whose heart is fused with a core will decide the fate of the Neuroi. That is what we Neuroi believe in."
Heart fused with a core? "Wait, that's why I can understand you? But...how?"
Ellios smiled slightly. Is it creepy that she's not the real Ellios I knew? "Let us show you..."
I was soon shown a scene I found myself remembering. I was sitting at my computer typing up something on the screen, but my stance looked more like I was dead tired.
"I think I'm beginning to remember," I said as I looked at myself. "I was up trying to type up some story idea before I forgot. But what happened next?"
"Keep watching..." Ellios told me.
I then watched as the past me clicked on something onscreen, but soon afterward I saw myself rest my head on the keyboard.
"I need a place to take a break..." I said as I yawned.
Okay, I'm confusing myself with this narrative crap at this particular point, so maybe I should make it better on everyone: I'll refer to myself as Past Me for this vision.
Past Me lifted his head to look at something, but he was soon drifting back to sleep.
...Okay, that at least looked better...I hope...
"That's all?" I asked Ellios.
"Just watch..." she told me.
I watched as the screen decided to show a blue screen with a lot of text. At first I thought that a virus had gotten on, but what I saw next made me blink: I watched as the blue turned into a purple hue as something red started showing on the screen.
I was surprised: I was watching a Neuroi core form behind the screen, and Past Me was just dozing off.
Past Me must have felt something was up, for he picked up his head and nearly fell onto his back as he pushed his chair back in an effort to get away, even going so far as to press and hold the power button before going for the reset button. However, The core made its move. It ripped through the screen like it was a liquid and slammed into Past Me's chest. The boy tried removing it from his body, but by the time he could do anything the core had decided to create a red force field. They were soon covered inside its "shield" before a bright red flash emanated from the room, blinding even me. When my eyes managed to readjust themselves, I saw that the room was now empty, the computer now black as it showed that it turned off.
Soon, the vision faded, and I was seeing purple again.
"That's it?" I asked Ellios. "That's what you had to show me?"
"Yes," Ellios answered. "That occurred about two months before you woke up inside an orphanage. Unfortunately, that was all we could recover. Your interaction with the Neuroi core caused you to faint, leaving you to only guess what happened."
"Why didn't you recover any more than that?"
"Because in order for you to not make a hasty choice, we need you to see this conflict for yourself. We needed you to be able to make decisions without feeling anger toward anyone involved in the war. Only when the time comes should you weigh your options and choose what you think is fair."
"So...let me recap that: I have to go on whatever I experience in order to complete some legend that I'm not even sure is possible?" I mean, come on: one man can't decide the fate of some force...wait, I forgot that Commander Shepard did that.
Okay, now that I think about it, has my entire experience involved making choices that would have been irreversible? Catching Charlotte's Striker Unit instead of letting it fall into the ocean? Not killing the Neuroi that shot down Mio? Going against Minna's orders to help the girls?
Okay, what the hell?
"We understand that this is all a bit much to throw at you," Ellios said, "but we wish for you to see this so that you can start to understand your destiny. You had said that nothing was set in stone. We're not sure what you mean by that right now, but we do know that if you and the ones whose trust you hold fail to stop what you call the Warlock, your demise will be inevitable. As will ours."
"Demise? What happens to us?"
Ellios looked hesitant. "You wish to know what will befall you?"
"Yes."
"Why? Knowing your fate could shock you."
"You can't see the meaning behind our fates not being set in stone? Well, I'll explain how I see it to you. I've seen the end, and no matter what happens I will defeat the Warlock. I'm not letting anyone die, and if this is as bad as you claim then I'll use it as a drive to not fail." I placed a hand to my chest. "I need to know!"
Ellios looked at me before sighing. "Very well, Roland. I will show you."
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I was floating there, scratches littering my body alongside burn marks from the Warlock's lasers. I had my aura actively searching to see who was alive, but I could only sense Gertrud as she was holding up Minna and Perrine. For some reason, their auras were weak, like they were dying.
I raised a barrier in time to deflect a laser from the Warlock, but I heard Gertrud scream as I turned around and saw her get hit with the attack.
"Gertrud!" I shouted as she started plummeting toward the water alongside Minna and Perrine. Turning my attention to the Warlock, I gave off a bloodthirsty scream as I flew at it inside my Striker Unit. The Warlock simply side-stepped it and drove one of its blades into my stomach.
I coughed up blood as we floated there. I fired off a few shots from my pistol, but the bullets didn't do much to its armor. Soon, I could see it open up its body to reveal a Neuroi core.
"So that's it, huh?" I said through my coughs. "You've ended up like me, huh?"
The Warlock aimed an arm at me, and I saw a red glow starting to emanate from the cannon on the arm.
The last thing I saw was red...
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I opened my eyes and found myself looking up at a ceiling. For some reason, I felt my heart racing.
Was I dead? That vision sure felt real...
Wait, why am I lying down? Wasn't I in the air?
I raised my head and noticed that I was lying on the couch inside the cabin. There were also a bunch of playing cards lying on my chest and stomach.
"Why are there cards on me?' I asked.
"Oh, lieutenant!" I heard Erica say as I noticed that she was on her knees next to me. "Sorry, but there weren't any tables to use, and I didn't want to use the floor..."
"What the devil are you talking about? What happened? Why am I lying down? And what were you playing?"
"You fainted for some reason," Minna told me as she and Gertrud entered my field of vision. "We put you on the couch."
"As for what happened since then," Gertrud included, "we just kept an eye on the place."
"What happened anyways?"
"Huh?" I asked, confused. "To me?"
"Yes, lieutenant," Gertrud said as she nodded.
What did happen to me? I'm still trying to figure that out.
That vision of our fate should we fail...that was just a vision? That was too real; I'm hyperventilating and everything right now.
I shook my head. Whatever actually happened to me, there was one thing I could agree with right now: Maloney needs to pay for what he's doing. And he's going to give me some much-deserved answers!
"I have unfinished business with the general..." I growled.
"With?" Erica asked.
I stood up, swept the cards off my body, and walked slowly over to the window. When I got there and picked up a pair of binoculars that was nearby, I could barely see the Warlock as it was stopping just outside the Neuroi nest. It looked odd, like it was trying to think of something.
"That's odd..." I said as I felt Minna look over my shoulder.
"What is it?" the commander asked. I handed her the binoculars, and she took a look for herself. "The Warlock certainly took care of the Neuroi inside...but why isn't the nest going away?"
I frowned. "That's what I feared..."
The vision had the Warlock with a Neuroi core...in the original, Yoshika was shown a Neuroi core by the Warlock itself...
No...that bastard!
"What's happening, Roland?" Minna decided to ask me.
I crouched, grabbed the extra pair of binoculars, and stood back up in time to use said binoculars to watch as the armor of the Warlock started emitting some red sparks.
"I need to go," I told her. "Now!" I dropped the binoculars and made a dash for the door, but Gertrud slid in front of me.
"We're not letting you go in there alone," she told me. "You want us to trust you? We'll go with you. We need to stick together."
"Agreed," Minna added. "You're the only one who knows what needs to be done. We lose you, it's all over."
"Even if we all die?" I asked them.
As I looked at them, each of them looked a little shocked, but they recovered and smiled bravely.
"Of course," Minna said. "We're a team, remember? We win or lose together."
"It's time I repaid you for helping to save my life," Gertrud added.
"Finally we decide to get in on the action," Erica concluded (how come I wasn't too surprised considering that she was probably bored with sitting around and waiting?). "Just give us the word and we'll follow."
"Give you the word?" I asked as I looked at Minna again.
"For this part, you're leading," Minna told me. "We're ready when you are."
I nodded. "Maloney...we're coming for you! Just you wait!"
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There's the next chapter in the story.
Please read and respond, and let me know what you thought of the chapter.
Thanks.