Hello, and welcome to the next chapter in "Strike Heroes".
Before we begin with the final arc in the story, let's deal with the reviews:
fuji92: Don't worry. Hopefully I won't disappoint anyone. After all, that would be rather poor management. As for the side-stories, I have confirmed that I was beginning work on it, but it's going to be a while. So be sure to hang on until then.
Dragonman75: Thanks for the review. See above for information about the side-stories. As for your PM...honestly, I didn't give it much thought. That question does have some importance, but you'll receive a definite answer at some point. Other than that, enjoy the final arc.
guest (Guest): Thanks for the review as well.
Guest: I want to focus on a few projects at a time, but when the side-stories are going on I'll let you know of the future plans. Besides, I need to figure out a plan of attack for the second season.
...Okay, I think I have a slight headache now... :)
Alright, with that out of the way, let's get going on the final arc in the story of "Strike Heroes"...
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Chapter 22: Strike Witches (Part 1)
Sanya's POV
"Sanya, wake up."
I heard someone say that, but I wasn't sure what I was waking up for.
"Sanya, wake up please."
"Hmm?" I mumbled as I slowly opened my eyes.
"Can you wake up a little faster please, Sanya?"
I looked up and found myself looking at Eila.
"Eila?" I asked as I lifted my head off her shoulder and stretched my arms. "What's wrong?"
"Look out there," Eila told me as she pointed outward.
I followed her hand and saw a ship out on the water as something was busy pelting it with lasers.
Wait, lasers? Roland had used a sort of laser when he sported those red lines on his body before...could he...?
...No. It can't be!
"Is it Roland?" I asked my friend.
"No," Eila told me. "It looks like the thing Roland called the Warlock out there. It's attacking one of our ships, but why?"
"I...I'm not sure. Maybe it's looking for Roland?"
"What makes you say that?"
I thought about it for a few seconds. "I'm not sure, but maybe Roland snuck on board...?"
I think Eila smiled a little. "Sounds reasonable, but that can't be right. Wait, aren't Miyafuji, the major, and Four-Eyes on that ship?"
I blinked. "I think they are."
Eila looked down the tracks. "Let's hope this train gets us back to the base before that ship's destroyed."
I nodded. If anyone died before we got there, who knows what will occur...
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Roland's POV
"They're getting tired. We've got them."
"Heh...no way, bub!"
One guy got a taste of mine and Gertrud's fists at the same time, and I think I broke a few teeth as I shook my right fist. The captain then performed a drop kick to save me from a kick to my back. We then performed our Back-To-Back Kicks attack on a third and fourth guys, and the fourth guy was more resilient to the attack...until Gertrud used her nails to attack, scratching the guy up a lot.
I winced in pain as the guy who got scratched fell down in defeat. Okay, now I was afraid of making her angry...
"Who's next?" Gertrud asked the men as we readied in anticipation for another round.
No one stepped forward to even try fighting us.
And why would they? Just because one of us doesn't have full access to his or her magic powers right now didn't mean that said person wasn't incompetent. Besides, you think they forgot that I was in the army for training? Yeah, I got some training in guns from Kayley, but I didn't rely on my magic a lot.
"Got the data," Minna called out from above us. When I looked at where she was, she was at the general's personal area inside the room, looking through the reports and findings.
At least someone was making good use of the time we spent fighting these bozos...
"Any good evidence?" Gertrud asked.
"Pretty much," Minna replied as she perused through the reports. "According to the reports, there's a Neuroi core inside it. Which explains the fact that the Warlock could defeat those Neuroi so easily."
"Of course," Erica stated. "The only two things that can defeat a Neuroi are a Witch's powers or another Neuroi. So Maloney here decided to make something that would replace the Witches."
"He also needed a reason to disband the Wing, so he gave the orders to kill Roland and Yoshika. When I failed to follow the orders, Maloney disbanded the Witches and assumed control of the base."
Wait, Maloney tried to kill me and Yoshika?
I watched as Minna tensed up slightly.
"Hang on, I sense the Warlock…There's someone fighting it above the Akagi," Minna told us.
"Who is it?" Gertrud asked her.
"It's Sakamoto's Striker Unit!"
"But how can she fly it?" Erica tried. "She's still injured from the last time."
"That's the problem. The energy I'm getting from it...it's not her."
I see where this is going...
"It's Yoshika," I said quickly. This was getting close to the end.
"She's up there?" Erica asked quickly. "We've got to help her."
I was about to say something, but Maloney decided to add in something.
"Not so fast," Maloney said as I watched him reach into his pocket. "I've still got the one thing that I can activate."
Without realizing it, I readied my crowbar and threw it at Maloney as he pulled out that remote from before. While I miseed his head and chest completely, I managed to make it collide with the inside of his arm. Wincing in pain, he let it go, and we watched as it flew up into the air before some of his men decided to try rescuing it. However, Erica managed to jump up and grab it, throwing it into my open left hand as I caught it. I then studied the remote: there were two buttons. One said, "LOCK/UNLOCK" (I assumed that I had to push that to negate whatever Maloney did to me), but it was the other button that made me think.
All it said above the button was "TERMINATE".
"I assume that this would have killed me?" I asked him as I readied my empty pistol and raised it so that I looked like I was going to shoot him. I made sure to have my thumb over the button in question so that he knew.
Maloney frowned as he said, "Yes. Once locked out of your Striker Unit, pushing that button would send an electrical current that would have overloaded your nervous system. I was planning on saving it for when I had no other choice of taming you."
No other choice of taming me? "Look here, bastard." I flicked the pistol a little to get my following point across. "I am not a monster for you to control. I was born human, and I'm still human regardless of whether I have the Neuroi core inside me or not. Now watch me and heed my warning well." I pressed the button that unlocked my Striker Unit, and I felt my power surging back through me. Somehow, I felt more energized than usual. I then threw the remote onto the floor and raised my right foot, using that to crush the device under my shoe. For safety measure, I twisted my foot around a little to ensure that I had destroyed it. "If I find you threatening any of my friends or teammates...or anyone else who met me at all...I'll hunt you down and end your miserable little life myself, rules or not." I turned around and holstered my pistol. "Now that I've got that out of my system...Gertrud?"
"Yes, lieutenant?" Gertrud asked me.
I hitched my right thumb at Maloney. "Take care of the general, will you? Show him our hospitality."
"Can do, Sage."
As she worked on using some of the computer wires to make some bonds for Maloney, I walked over to Minna, who was now holding onto the files we needed to prove Maloney's guilt in making the Warlock.
"Now what?" I asked her.
"Well, we need to get access to the Striker Units again," Minna told me. "After that, we need to hope that everyone can get here. Whoever comes will come with us to help out Miyafuji and the others."
"Sounds like a plan." I looked behind me slightly. "Gertrud, you ready?"
"Almost done," Gertrud said as she was finishing up tying Maloney still. To the general, she remarked, "I get it now: to deceive your enemies, you must first deceive your allies."
Gertrud stood aside as I turned around and came up to him.
"Let me tell you something else," I said before I proceeded to strike Maloney with a right punch to the gut. "That's for everything you've put me through as well as for the others. Now, learn your place and don't worry…" I gestured to Minna and the files. "We'll be sure to let the whole world know about your little stunt."
As we ran out of the room to get ready to help Yoshika, Gertrud probably already figured out what I called her back there.
"Gertrud?" she asked me. "How did you know that?"
"Research," I told her simply as we ran.
The bigger question she should have asked was: "Why didn't you call me by my rank?"
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Perrine's POV
Damn...how in the world did it all come to this?
Miyafuji, Major Sakamoto, and I were watching as the Warlock dispatched the Neuroi nest that was nearby, but something seemed ton have happened...it suddenly decided to attack the Akagi. As the crew got to their battle station, we tried thinking of some way to distract the Warlock until the crew could evacuate.
That was when the major revealed that she had hidden her Striker Unit inside her wheelchair.
We spent a few seconds trying to settle who would fly the only Striker Unit we had. the major offered to fight, but I objected to it because she hadn't fully recovered from her last set of injuries. I wanted to fly it, but Miyafuji decided to volunteer. I wanted to go up there and fight it to protect the major, but as I watched the little Fuso Witch fly into the air I realized that protecting the major from the ground might be better than doing so in the air.
Not long after, the Warlock decided to fight Miyafuji. She looked like she could barely handle it considering that it kept firing at her as she dropped her barrier, fircing her to put the barrier back up to avoid being killed. A few minutes of doing that occurred before the Warlock decided on slamming into her barrier and forcing her back for an attack option. At one point, it turned its attention on us and unleashed a salvo of missiles that slammed into the ship. The major was caught in the rocking of the ship, and her wheelchair started rolling toward the railing. I tried to stop its advance, but it wasn't enough: we went over the rail, and it took a split second for me to grab the rail with my right hand as I caught Major Sakamoto with my left hand.
That's about where we were right now.
"You okay, ma'am?" I asked the major.
"Uh, yeah," Major Sakamoto told me. "I'm fine Perrine."
I tried pulling us up, but I didn't have the upper body strength to do it.
"We need help!" the major added as she was busy watching the battle taking place in the sky.
"I can't hold on much longer, major," I said in fear as I felt my arm aching from the weight I was trying to keep safe.
It only took a few seconds after I said that for the ship to shake, and I lost my grip on it.
As the major and I screamed while falling, my mind was racing at a very fast pace.
It can't end like this! I yelled mentally. I'm not dying right now! Not without knowing that Gallia's been liberated!
I closed my eyes, expecting to hit the cold water.
THUD!
...Huh? Is water supposed to make a thud when you land in it from the height we were at?
I opened my eyes and found Lucchini looking at us as I noticed that we were flying away from the Akagi and Miyafuji. the major and I were in the plane, sitting behind Shirley.
"You two alright?" I heard Shirley ask as she looked at us.
"Uh, yeah!" I said quickly. "Thanks, Shirley."
"No problem. We look out for each other, right?"
We look out for each other? I furrowed my eyebrows.
"What's wrong, Perrine?" the major decided to ask me.
"What Shirley said...it sounds like something Lieutenant Sage would say..." was all I said.
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Roland's POV
"Whoa," I said as we looked at the hangar, which had been sealed with steel I-beams standing up vertically. "They really went overboard with this one, huh?" To Gertrud, I nodded as I grabbed her right shoulder and copied her magic like I did for Mio and Minna. I felt my strength rise to a new height as I readied the new power. "Ready, Gertrud?"
Gertrud simply nodded and replied with, "Ready."
We grabbed two I-beams that were situated side-by-side and managed to lift them up and hurl them behind us. As soon as we did that, I think Minna spotted some people coming toward us.
"Eila," she said as we turned and faced the Suomos Witch and the Orussian Witch. "Sanya. How did you get here?"
"Well," Eila tried. "We kinda fell asleep on the train, and when we woke up we were here. So we came to see if you guys needed some help."
"Well, not exactly," Sanya said in response to Eila's tale. "We gave it some thought before we caught the train and rode it back to where we started."
Eila looked at her Orussian friend as I chuckled.
"You're not the only one who's bad at lying," Minna joked as they looked at me.
"Guilty as charged on the lying, I guess," I said as I smiled. "Do you have any ideas where the others are?"
"Not really," Eila replied. "We thought everyone else was here. Besides Four-Eyes, Miyafuji, and the major."
Four-Eyes? Right, Perrine...
"Well," I said as I nodded at the opening we created. "We need to collect the Striker Units and whatever weapons we need. Let's go."
As we went inside to grab what we needed, Sanya grabbed my right hand.
"Roland?" she asked me.
"What is it, Sanya?" I asked her in return as I turned around and looked into her eyes.
"Are you...back with us?"
I chuckled. "I guess I am, Sanya. Don't worry. I won't betray your trust again.
I think Sanya gave off a smile. "I'm glad to hear it."
She let go of my hand and went off to get her stuff.
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We had barely finished grabbing all the Striker Units and some weapons out of the hangar when Charlotte and Francesca arrived inside a biplane. When I looked at the vehicle, I could see that Perrine and Mio with them.
"Perfect timing, Shirley," I said as she jumped out of the plane. "We just finished getting ready."
"Roland?" Francesca asked as the others got out carefully. "But I thought..."
"It's fine, Lucchini," Minna said in my defense. "Roland's been of great help so far, right?"
"Yep," I replied.
"Besides," Erica noted, "things are getting more interesting around here."
"Huh?" Perrine asked her.
"Let's go, guys," Gertrud said as she tapped my shoulder. "We can't wait around forever."
"Alright, Gertrud," I told her as I turned to face her. "We still need Lynne here, so hang on just a little longer..."
"Wait," Eila said as she did a quick head count. "One...two...three...where's Miyafuji?"
"She's that-a-way," I replied as I pointed at the battle going on around the Akagi.
"Let's gear up," Minna ordered.
Soon, we could see Lynette as she was running toward us.
"Come on, Lynne," I said kindly as I waved at her. "If I can get back on the team after everything that went on, you can make it over here."
"You're the last one to make it," Francesca added.
I think Lynette renewed her efforts to get to us.
"Sorry I'm late..." she said as she was panting upon arriving at where we were.
"It's alright," I told her as I grabbed her left shoulder. "You're on time, actually. Get geared up and we'll go finish this once and for all." I reached for an Arisaka we had in our collection to sling onto my back.
Before I could grab the gun in question, Lynette decided to lunge at me and hug me tightly.
"Lynne?" I asked in confusion.
"You and Yosh were the reason I've tried my best," Lynette told me plainly. "No matter what, I won't stop trying. I want to protect everyone too."
I smiled. "Don't worry, Lynne. No one's going to die." I hope... "Now hurry up and get ready so that we can end this." After that, I powered up my Striker Unit as I reached over and grabbed the Arisaka. I then slung it over my left shoulder.
Now, the final battle was coming closer...
"Let's do this!" I shouted as I took off down the runway.
"Right!" everyone else replied as they followed suit after a while.
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There's the next chapter.
Just for some quick notes about this chapter...the narrative in Sanya's point of view is supposed to be set sometime within the Warlock attacking the Akagi while Roland and the others were doing what they were doing. I hope that the way I wrote that part makes sense, but let me know if I need to fix anything.
Anyways, please read and respond, and let me know how you found this chapter. I want to finish this story strong, so your feedback is very valuable at this point.
Thanks.