The Witch of the Neuroi
Disclaimer: I own nothing. Except the OC's. I own all the OC's.
Chapter 7: The Karlsland Incident
It is but 12.30 am in the morning... but Yoshika was awake... She is awake... but she does not move...
She stared at the ceiling thoughtlessly for quite some moment before waking up completely...
"Sigh... I'm not sleepy at all..." Yoshika sighed as she walked to the window. "1 o'clock in the morning... not even close to sunrise" Yoshika complained as she open her window and see the night sky.
The sky is so clear through her eyes...
She looked around. She could see the little forest by the edge of the base.
The little critters and the crabs at the beach. (Yes she got night vision)
Yet she did not open it to see the stars nor to look around.
Magic hummed in the area as Yoshika closed her eyes. Her ears and tail appear and when she opens her eyes... they're red.
"Armatura." Yoshika whispered to herself as she materialized her armor. "I better check up on those guys..." Yoshika said as she flew out of the window quietly.
She flew low near the ocean and when she is in a safe position, set her wings on speed and went into supersonic drive.
Within minutes, she flew through few thousand kilometers towards the Gallian hive without detection.
When she is nearing the Hive... she received a transmission.
"Identify yourself!" A scouting Neuroi screeched.
"It's me..." Yoshika answered (With Neuroi Screech).
"Co... Commander!" the Neuroi replied.
Yoshika stopped in front of the Neuroi and asked "How is the Hive doing? Is Axion handling it well?"
"Ma'am! We are focusing our troops here in Gallia! We have asked to move some forces from the other Hives here! Enemy forces might attack at fastest a week! That is all I know, ma'am!" the Neuroi reported.
"I see no need of checking myself do I... keep up the good work!" Yoshika complimented the Neuroi Scouter.
"Ma'am!" The Neuroi said as it flew off towards another direction.
'They'll be fine... I guess I should head back... this time maybe I should look around a bit...' Yoshika thought. 'I'll make a long detour through Karlsland.' Yoshika finally concluded before speeding off towards Karlsland.
After a few minutes, her map showed that she has passed the border.
She stopped her flight and activated her "Telescoping Search Eye" to look around.
She could only see debris and ruined buildings.
'So much destruction…' She thought to herself for she is one of the few that did not go on the Karlsland campaign.'Is conflict and destruction unavoidable?' Yoshika asked to herself as she saw a stone block turn into dust on her left hand when she picked it up. "NO! I will not allow this to continue..." She said to herself as she comes to a conclusion. "This day will be the beginning of tomorrow." Yoshika said resolute of her decision.
She flew towards the Karlsland Hive that is still far away with her "Telescoping Search Eye" still active.
She kept looking out for scouts and stayed under the radar. She then went down to the ground to find a perfect position to spy on the Hive.
She deactivated her eye and walked under the dark morning sky.
It is 3 am in the morning.
A few Karlsland soldiers were walking around trying to get closer to the Hive and find survivors if possible.
"Sigh... What the hell is the Fuhrer thinking telling us to come to this wasteland without support?" a soldier, most probably the squad leader complained to himself.
Crack! A sound of stone breaking was heard and a nearby house fell into ruin.
The Squad leader in an angry voice shouted "HEY! WATCH IT!"
"Cough! Cough! Sorry, SIR! Cough!" The soldier that touched the house support replied still coughing from the dust.
"Be careful! We do not want to alert the Neuroi of our presence..." the leader said as he looked around as if waiting for anything to suddenly jump out of the dark sky.
After a while, it's still silent.
"It seems there's nothing..." The leader said as he told his men to start moving again.
"Nothing at all, sir!" A private confirmed.
"Nothing except for debris and us sir!" Another private assured.
"Move out!" The leader said to the team.
They traversed the barren town and they heard footsteps.
Suddenly the whole squad is alarmed. They heard the footsteps from a nearby building.
They slowly entered it aiming their gun at the darkness. In end of the dark hall there is a shadow looking out of the window.
They don't know what it is so they moved carefully.
"Who's there?" The squad leader shouted at the shadow.
Whatever made that sound was shocked as she gasped out loud.
The soldiers put down their weapons when they heard the female voice.
"A survivor!" A private said with surprise.
"A survivor..." The leader said without happiness as if pitying.
The shadow however started to run away.
"Wait!" The squad leader shouted. "All of you! Get her to safety!"
"We are here to help you!" A private yelled.
"We're not here to harm you!" Another private yelled.
The soldiers chased after the mysterious girl.
Yoshika was walking around in the morning sky.
There's nothing around except debris.
She was walking around and suddenly she heard people shouting.
'It sounds like soldiers.' Yoshika thought.
She jumped from the road to the second floor of a nearby house and watched from the windows. (Imagine a house no roof and yes... Miyafuji basic RPG stats are now basically superhuman without magic and multiplied when she does use magic.)
'What are they doing here?' Yoshika wondered.
The soldiers moved slowly and silently. One soldier suddenly looked into the house that Miyafuji is hiding in. His friend touched the support pillar, the only one that's holding the battered building up.
Yoshika, in panic of being found out, tried to jump onto another house.
She succeeded but the strength of her jump brought down the house.
'Is that person all right?' Yoshika thought with worry. The soldier came out of the door coughing from the dust. 'It seems they're all right.' Yoshika thought, relieved.
The soldiers then wait alarmed and moved after a while.
'It wouldn't be bad to watch them and listen to them before spying on the Hive.' Yoshika thought to herself. 'But I need a disguise...' she thought as she found a long piece of tattered black cloth at the corner of the house. 'Just perfect.' she thought as she covered her head and whole body with it. 'I should be well hidden in the dark like this...' Yoshika thought to herself.
With this thought in her mind she jumped from building to building unseen by the soldiers.
Sometimes walking through halls of houses to hear the soldiers' conversations.
Suddenly, "Bzzzt... Bzzzt... Bzzzt…"
But she just couldn't hear it clearly enough but then she heard something.
'This wavelength... a communication channel... Where from?' Yoshika wondered as she looked out the window.
Wanting to hear the sound clearer she walked towards the window. Little did she know that she stepped loud enough for the soldiers outside to hear.
The soldiers crept quietly and Yoshika heard a shout "Who's there?"
Shocked, Yoshika gasped. She held tight onto the cloth that covered her face and body. The voice in her head disappeared and she continued to stare at the soldiers.
After staring at the soldiers who are getting relaxed, she ran reflexively.
The soldiers started chasing her. In panic she kept running.
She could not transform with them looking and she couldn't show herself to them. She wasn't able to simply fly away, either. She thought every possible choice she could take but the simplest way is... 'Run!'
She ran around with the soldiers chasing her.
The soldiers are getting tired. They are breathing raggedly but Yoshika is in top condition.
'I can do this!' Yoshika thought hopefully.
But that hopeful thought is not enough.
She ran into a dead end.
The soldiers are at her back.
One of them is saying, "Finally!"
"Don't worry we wouldn't bite!" another soldier said.
"Where were you from?" another asked.
Yoshika backed up against the wall... without anything she could do she shivered in fear...
"All of you BACK OFF!" The squad leader shouted, "You're scaring the little miss!"
"Sorry, sir!" a soldier replied.
The troops all start backing up.
"We'll rest here for a while!" The leader said. "Look at you guys! Tired! After chasing a little girl!" The leader complained.
"But..." a soldier wanted to explain.
"NO BUTS! After this mission, I'm whipping your asses into shape!" The leader promised.
The soldiers could only groan.
The soldiers then made a campfire.
They started taking out their breakfast rations. The squad leader opened his can of bean soup.
Yoshika... hungry stomach growled in response...
The squad leader noticed that and pointed that can to her saying, "Here you can have some."
Yoshika doubted for a while and then slowly take the can and ate the soup.
"Thank you..." Yoshika said in perfect English.
Yoshika watched the bulky bearded old man. She saw that his rank is lieutenant corporal... quite high...
"My name is Henry McMarlow" The bulky man introduced himself.
"That guy is Jones, Marstringer, Alan ..." The corporal introduced his unit. 24 people in all.
The soldiers that noticed they were being introduced wave their hand when being pointed at.
"Where were you from?" the corporal asked.
"Britannia..." Yoshika answered. 'I'll try to lie as least as possible.' she thought to herself.
"What's your name little miss?" the corporal asked.
The soldiers all went silent to listen to Yoshika.
Yoshika thought of any name she could think of and said, "Lily... my name is Lily."
"So... Lily... where are your parents?" The corporal asked with pity in his eyes.
"I don't know..." Yoshika answered. Inside herself she thought, 'I'm sorry to deceive you...'
"Your home?" the corporal continued.
"I don't know." Yoshika answered again.
The soldiers around started giving a depressed look and some gave pitying looks.
'Don't look at me like that...' Yoshika though to herself.
Then she notices something. Something is moving at high speed in the air.
"You people better leave this place..." Yoshika said with a warning tone.
"AHAHAHAHA why is that little miss?" The corporal asked.
"It's dangerous..." Yoshika kept warning as she looked at the sky.
"As if we did not know!" The soldier named Billy joked.
The soldiers all started laughing but a purple beam fired in their direction.
Yoshika's reaction is a bit too late.
She expanded a barrier as large as possible but the beam came first.
Out of the 24 soldiers, only 8 survived and the corporal survived with half his body gone.
"Argh... Damn it... Is this where I die?" the corporal asked to himself. "ALL OF YOU RUN! RETREAT! DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME! LEAVE!" the corporal shouted.
The petrified soldiers snapped out of their trance and started running away with the cover of the building.
Yoshika stood by the dying corporal.
"Little miss... you better run too... I wish... I could see my daughter one last time..." The corporal said as he looked at a tiny picture he took out from his pocket.
After looking at that picture one last time his hand fell lifelessly. He stopped breathing.
Yoshika closed his eyes as tears dropped on the man's face.
'I caused this to happen...' she thought to herself.
In anger, she stared at the night sky, located the Neuroi and screamed, "Aaaaaa... aaaaAAAA... AAAAAAARRRGGHH!"
Yoshika jumped upwards with full strength.
With a blast, that blast of the cloth covering her flew into the air, and she was ready for battle.
"There shall be no mercy for you!" Yoshika shouted with tears in her eyes as she flew towards the Neuroi.
She stared at the Neuroi that fired the beam earlier.
"Who are you!? A single Witch? This will be a nice night!" The Neuroi screeched.
"Do not underestimate me, for this will be over in a second!" Yoshika shouted with anger.
"Who are you? How are you able to speak Neuroican?!" The Neuroi shocked by the strange Witch.
"No time for words... die..." Yoshika said before firing multiple beams.
'Wings set to offensive.' Yoshika changed wing mode.
'Fire!' she thought as energy charged at her back and beams fired at her enemy.
The Neuroi was shocked. "Beams!? A Witch is using beams! This is something I must report to the King!" The Neuroi thought aloud.
"If you survived." Yoshika said coldly as more beams fired from her back.
"Hah! What do you think your beams can do to...?" The Neuroi laughed. The sentence never finished as multiple beams punctured the Neuroi and tore it apart. It shrieks loudly in pain. "Impossible... my armor... like paper..." The Neuroi said in disbelief.
"Disappear." Without mercy Yoshika extended her claws wider than the dark sky glowing bright into a huge sword.
She swung her sword of light down striking at the Neuroi.
The Neuroi couldn't even fathom anything. It was destroyed instantly... Not a single trace of the Neuroi is left...
After confirming total destruction of the Neuroi and checking the vicinity for further threats, Yoshika flew down to where the body of the kind corporal lies.
She looked around for the 16 people that disintegrated from the beam.
'This is all my fault.'She thought as she looked at the aftermath of the beam. She looked at the picture that the corporal had dropped when he died. It was a normal family picture. 'His wife and daughter will never see him again…' she thought sadly.
She fell to her knees.
Yoshika started sobbing...
As tears fall of her face... she could only say two words... "I'm sorry..."
It was around 5am in the morning. The sun is starting to rise in the horizon.
Mio is meditating at the beach with her bamboo sword by her side. She had finished her set of swings and is now in mental training.
When she is focusing she heard flight.
When she opens her eyes she saw Yoshika landing at the beach, whose mind was occupied by her thoughts and failed to notice Mio watching her.
Mio wanted to call out to her and ask what is she doing... but she stopped when she saw that her eyes are red, possibly from crying.
'What happened?' is the only thing Mio thought at the moment.
Yoshika walked around the base for a while before finding the way to the cafeteria.
When she walked in, Lynne is in the kitchen.
Noticing someone had entered the cafeteria for breakfast she shouted as she looked out of the kitchen window, "Wait a little bit more! It's almost do..." Lynne stopped when she saw Yoshika. "Yoshika-chan! What are you doing here this early?" Lynne asked as she headed back in to check the stew.
"Nothing actually..." Yoshika replied, ending the conversation.
It was silent for a while before Yoshika asked, "Can I help you with anything?"
Lynne giggled and pointed at the vegetables at her side.
Beside her, batches of vegetables in baskets are stacked.
There are tomatoes, lettuces, cucumbers, Turnips, and many more.
Then Lynne says, "Why don't you help me cut these vegetables? I'm making salad."
"Sure~" Yoshika said as she entered the kitchen.
"Here's the knife... chop gently like this..." Lynne showed the chopping knife and demonstrated how to use it. "It's easy, right?" Lynne asked as she chopped the first batch of vegetables.
"Umm..." Yoshika nodded her head and tried to chop the cabbage.
The results... were horrifying.
The vegetables are cut unevenly. Some are cut beyond recognition.
Yoshika even got cuts on her fingers.
"Uhhuhuhuh..." Yoshika cried a bit disappointedly as she cut her finger again.
"Ummm... it's fine~" Lynne try to console her. "In a while you will get the hang of it!" Lynne explained as she went to take the plasters again.
"Ah! There's no need to..." Yoshika stopped her.
"But... your finger... ah..." Lynne said confused but stopped when she saw that Yoshika's fingers were healed.
'It's as if it never happened in the first place...' she thought.
Yoshika peeled off the plasters that were on her fingers.
To Lynne's surprise, all the cuts have disappeared.
"I heal fast..." Yoshika said. "Does this scare you?" She asked.
"No... Not at all!" Lynne replied immediately.
"Hey, hey! When are you going to finish cooking at this rate?" Mio urged at the side.
"Ah! Right!" Lynne said as she hurriedly continued cooking.
"Oi, Yoshika... I have a question for you... come here for a sec." Mio tells Yoshika.
"?" Yoshika walked out the kitchen towards Mio who went to sit by a table.
"Sakamoto-san... how long have you been here?" Yoshika asked as she sits on a chair directly on the opposite side facing Mio.
"I've been behind you all this time." Mio replied.
Yoshika wondered a bit and she remembered about her landing on the beach without checking the vicinity.
"You saw me... on the beach..." Yoshika said.
"Yes..." Mio confirmed.
"What's your question?" Yoshika said as she gets serious.
"What happened?" Mio simply asked.
"Eh?" Yoshika said as she is confused by the question.
"?" Mio is confused at the reaction Yoshika gave.
"What happened?" Yoshika repeated the question.
"Yes... I want to know what happened! I saw you wearing a sad face... did anything happen?" Mio asked in consideration.
Yoshika thought for a while before remembering the incident she was involved in.
"Ah..." Yoshika exclaimed.
'Did I look that down?' Yoshika thought to herself as she remembered.
"So?" Mio continued her question.
"..." Yoshika stayed silent.
"..." Mio waited.
They stayed silent, staring at each other, until...
"It's... nothing..." Yoshika said as she stood up.
"So be it... if you want to share this to anyone, know that I'll always be listening." Mio said.
Lynne who heard the whole conversation also said, "I'll be here too Yoshika-chan... sometimes it's better to share rather keeping it alone, you know..."
"Thanks..." Yoshika said as she left the cafeteria, losing her appetite.
Yoshika wandered aimlessly around the base.
She walked and thoughtlessly went into the meeting room. To her surprise, Minna is there filing her paper and reports.
"Ara? Miyafuji?" Minna asked quite surprised.
"Ah... Minna-san" Yoshika replied as she snapped out of her trance.
"What are you doing here?" Minna asked.
"Nothing actually..." Yoshika said as Minna continued to write something, noticing that Minna have written quite a lot.
"Is that a report?" Yoshika asked.
"Yes... It's hard to report everything that happened yesterday... I barely had any sleep." Minna answered. "I don't think they'll believe this whole report anyway." Minna continued.
Yoshika thought to herself quite a while and finally spoke. "Can I ask a favor from you Minna-san?" Yoshika asked.
Minna stopped her pen, looked in the direction of Yoshika and asked, "What is this... favor?"
"I would like you to omit and change some part of that report." Yoshika said seriously.
"Is it about your identity? Don't worry; I didn't even mention it." Minna asserted Yoshika.
But Yoshika said with a mischievous smile, "That's not what I want you to do..."
"Then... what is it?" Minna raised her left brow in question.
"I would like you to hand in a false report..." Yoshika started.
"Tell nothing about the Queen and King; for I will explain them myself." Yoshika continued.
"Yourself?" Minna asked.
"Yes... myself... here is what you will write. 'We made contact with a Neuroi. Its leader said that it will act as a diplomat to discuss our future. War or peace. It requested to meet the queen of Britannia for it asked for the assistance of the Strike Witches'."
"What will this hope to achieve?" Minna asked with a little smile for she knows what Yoshika is thinking.
Yoshika too knows that someone like Minna would understand but continued to explain anyway, "I want those bastards hiding in the shadow to panic from lack of information and at the sudden appearance of me. I am sure someone will replace Trevor as general and this time... let's hope that he or she is on our side."
Minna nodded and said, "All right... that I can do... but... what will we do?"
"After filing that report... I'm sure I am going to get called to the Britannian Army Headquarters... we can start from there...I hope they have not found much about me..." Yoshika speaks of her plan.
"Let's see then..." Minna said as she scrapped the report she was making and started on a new one.
Both of them flashed smiles at one another, excited at what the results will be.
Yoshika then left the room and headed towards the lab.
As Yoshika nears the lab, she hears her father and Ursula working.
"... Is it here, professor?" Ursula asked to Ichiro.
"Yeah put it right there in the middle..." Ichiro replied.
Ursula slowly moved the contraption she is using to fit a small part into the earpiece they are making.
Yoshika entered the lab and was surprised to see two dozen earpieces with the last two in the making.
Ichiro, surprised by the visitor, dropped the piece. He grumbled a bit while picking up the metal piece.
"Yoshika! Where did you go this morning? I couldn't find you anywhere." Ichiro asked as he continued to put in the parts into the small piece.
"Ummm... I went out early morning for a breather." Yoshika lied perfectly.
"Is that so?" Ichiro replied.
"How is the piece working?" Yoshika asked to change the topic.
"If we make it right, it's supposed to work." Ursula said.
"We don't have a Neuroi to try it out with... Yoshika, why don't you call one of your friends?" Ichiro asked after explaining.
"There's no need to. I can speak with their language." Yoshika replied.
Ursula and Ichiro were quite surprised with the statement and stopped for a moment.
"I guess it's quite reasonable isn't it..." Ichiro said before he continued working.
"How do you learn it?" Ursula asked.
"Well... I need to... not all Neuroi can understand human language." Yoshika explained.
"How do those three manage to understand the human language?" Ichiro asked, referring to the "Invincible Trio".
"Those three are exceptionally intelligent~" Yoshika said proudly. "They are the strongest Neuroi in the Gallian Hive besides me! Even though I am the strongest, even I may not beat them when they're working together perfectly."
"Ah... right." Ursula said without interest as she finished her work and is now inspecting it.
Not long after, Ichiro too finished his piece.
The pieces were lined up on the table as Ichiro and Ursula looked at their creation.
"Why don't we try it now? Here…" Yoshika said as she gave an earpiece to Ursula.
"Right." Ursula took the piece and put it into her ear but asked, "How do I use it?"
"Theoretically, activate your magic and it will turn on by itself." Ichiro said.
"Is that so?" Ursula replied as she activated her magic and her ears and tail popped out.
"Can you understand me?" Yoshika asked.
"Why are you asking me in Karlslandian!?" Ursula asked.
Ichiro wore a surprised look at Ursula. "Karlslandian?" He asked.
"What?" Ursula asked the professor.
"Take off that piece and hear what Yoshika says..." Ichiro replied.
Ursula took off her piece in confusion while Yoshika smiled before saying, "Do you understand me now?"
"Wha!?" Ursula exclaimed in surprise.
"It works really well." Yoshika said as she nodded her head in admiration.
"She doesn't even know that you're not using human language..." Ichiro says in happiness.
"And I heard it with my mothertounge?" Ursula asked.
Before Ichiro could say anything else, Yoshika said, "It will make do for now... too bad only Witches can use this..."
Ichiro then noticed about the fact and nodded before saying, "That's true..."
"So what are we going to do?" Ursula asked.
"What else?" Ichiro said with a smile.
Yoshika too smiled before saying, "Lets tell everyone about it."
They took the pieces and head out calling all the Witches in the base into the meeting room.
They did not notice that the sun had gone quite far down and the sky is red.
A/N: This fic is now a collaboration fic between me and P4Nd0RaS, so please thank him too!