Giant Strike

(hellcatcrimson)

The sound of raucous laughter rang through the halls of the dining room once again. Flying Officer Perrine H. Clostermann, esteemed noblewoman of Gallia and elite member of the 501st Joint Strike Fighter Wing, had embarrassed herself in front of her fellow witches once again. This time, she had tripped and splattered her lunch all over the floor. Her face turned as red as the tomatoes on her head as she heard her fellow witches laughing at her latest pratfall. How dare they laugh at such an honorable member of the elite! This wouldn't have happened if this poor excuse of a castle had some waiters to serve them. Perrine, who had grown up in a castle surrounded by maids and butlers, still had to suppress her urge to order her fellow witches to get her food for her. The last time she had tried to do that, the more devious members of the group did as they were told and gathered Perrine's portion of that night's meal and proceeded to eat it themselves, leaving Perrine hungry and upset at their indolence. Even now, the cold salad dressing running down her face did little to cool down her blushing cheeks. It was embarrassing enough to make a fool out of herself on any day, but to do it in front of the girls that had made fun of her since the first day she had arrived on base was just too much. At least Major Mio Sakamoto wasn't around to see her sprawled on the floor. The Major was the only person that treated Perrine fairly since day one, a fact that immediately endeared the older officer to the Gallian girl. The Major was like a big sister to Perrine, and Perrine would do anything to curry her favor. Unfortunately, Perrine screwed up about as often in training as she did on the ground, so words of praise for her did not often escape the Major's lips. But she didn't mind, since Perrine simply enjoyed being around the Major. She always felt safe around her, like everything would be okay so long as the Major was around to protect her.

As Perrine struggled to get chunks of lettuce out of her long blonde hair, she heard the one sound that immediately gave them butterflies in their stomachs: the air raid siren warning of an impending Neuroi attack. The Neuroi, mysterious beings that had taken over all of Europe, including Perrine's own homeland of Gallia, had been the terror of humanity ever since they first appeared suddenly years ago. No one knew were they came from or what they're after, but the only things certain about them is their insatiable hunger for land and their singular drive to eradicate life. Every inch of land that they conquer is turned into a lifeless desert, every living thing destroyed and the land itself consumed by the Neuroi to replicate more of themselves. When they had first appeared out of the blue, human technology was no match for their laser weaponry and impenetrable armor. Country after country fell in short order to the Neuroi, and terrified survivors told tales of entire cities being laid to waste in minutes by the unearthly invaders. It was only now that humanity was beginning to fight back by tapping the power of witches, young women with extraordinary magical skills. Magical power was well-known among humanity since ancient times, but as it only occurred rarely in women, never in men and had little practical use other than the healing of light wounds, was considered by most to be a strange facet of human existence and little else. However, the work of a visionary scientist unlocked the power of witches to be recruited to fight the Neuroi, using magic-amplifying striker units to enable witches to be able to control their magical power to soar through the air, erect magical shields to protect themselves from the Neuroi's withering attacks, and fire magical machine guns to finally destroy the invaders. However, for most of Europe, it was already too late. The Neuroi had already taken over most of the continent and were now threatening to invade the island of Britannia, one of the last safe havens in Europe. It was up to Perrine and the girls of the 501st to ensure that Britannia would never fall to the enemy, and right now, the air raid siren buzzing in their ears told them that an enemy attack was imminent. Silverware clattered to the table as the witches jumped up and quickly ran out the door. All of their rapid-reaction training drills made finding their way to the hangar second nature by now; the Major had even forced them to run from the dining hall to the hangar in the pitch black of night until they could navigate the castle's labyrinthine walls by heart. However, Perrine tried to take advantage of the momentary confusion to sneak off to the kitchen and rinse her hair out; after all, a prim and proper noblewoman such as herself could never charge into battle whilst disheveled. She only made it a few steps toward the sink when she felt a strong grip on her arm and a harsh voice in her ear.

"Perrine! Where do you think you're sneaking off to now?! Don't you realize there's a battle going on?!"

She wheeled around to face the harsh brown eyes of Flight Lieutenant Gertrud "Trude" Barkhorn, the witch responsible for rounding up the girls to prepare for battle in the event of an attack.

"I was going to wash up! One cannot face the enemy unless one's uniform is immaculate!" Perrine argued, attempting to put a positive spin on the fact that having salad dressing under her collar simply made her feel icky. But Trude was buying none of it. She began to drag Perrine toward the hangar, and since Trude's special ability is super strength, it would be foolish for Perrine to try and resist.

"The only thing you should be bathing in is the blood of your enemies!" yelled Trude, as they ran down the hallway together. She was the epitome of the Karlslander tradition, a fierce warrior with spartan tendencies. Perrine saw little point in combat prowess if it isn't coupled with equally amounts of beauty and fashion sense; she dismissed most Karlslanders out of hand as little more than barbarians. Even Trude's uniform was just a plain grey, standing in sharp contrast to Perrine's brilliant blue uniform.

When they arrived in the hangar together, the scene was already a bustling hive of commotion. The witches were busy inspecting their weapons and putting on their striker units. Perrine quickly ran to the raised central portion of the hangar, where the striker units were stored. She jammed a radio earpiece in her ear before kicking off her shoes and gently lowering her feet into the opening at the top of each striker unit. She could feel an electric tingle race up her spine as the unit became synchronized with her body's magical aura. The magical propeller blades at the bottom of the unit began to turn, adding to the noisy din in the hangar. The ears and tail of a Chartreux cat, her animal familiar, sprouted from Perrine's body. The Chartreux was a proud a noble animal, fitting for a member of a dignified house such as herself. Several witches had already taken off, and Perrine transitioned from a hover and propelled herself down the runway. The droning sound of their propellers split the flawless blue sky as they rose into the air. Commander Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke gathered the witches around herself to brief them on the interception mission. She was always so calm and composed, even under the most pressing circumstances, and was beloved by the whole team.

"Everyone, there's a large enemy squadron approaching from the southwest. They have split into two groups that will converge on the base. I will lead one interception team, and Major Sakamoto will lead the other. Erica, Charlotte, and Eila will form up on me. Trude, Sanya, and Francesca will go with Mio. Lynette, Yoshika, and Perrine will form a rearguard. I have a feeling that those aren’t the only enemies in the area. Get to your positions and let’s go! Don’t let a single one through!” their commander shouted. Her clairvoyance ability gave her the ability to instantly know enemy numbers and formations, and her subordinates always had the utmost trust in her orders. If she felt the need for a substantial rearguard, then she must know there’s another pack of Neuroi hidden in the area. Still, even though Perrine had complete trust in Commander Minna, she was a little upset at being chosen for the rearguard. A proud noble such as herself should be leading from the front, not babysitting the two latest recruits to the squadron. Did Minna still harbor some doubts about Perrine’s abilities? Lynette and Yoshika exchanged nervous glances with each other, the prospect of battle still giving them butterflies. Perrine relished battle, as each clash with the Neuroi led her one step closer to liberating her homeland; in addition, it also let her be closer to the Major. As Mio and Minna’s groups peeled off to confront the Neuroi, Perrine double-checked her machinegun and raised her gaze to the sky to be on the lookout for any Neuroi that tried to ambush them. She could see the pitched battle being fought in the distance, with tracer shots and lasers being exchanged. The dusty explosions indicated that several Neuroi had already been destroyed, but there was a steady stream of them pouring out of the clouds. No wonder Minna had insisted on a rearguard, there was a very real chance that even one Neuroi could slip through and attack their base, as even the weakest Neuroi could cause massive devastation to an undefended base.

So far, the battle has been going well, giving the rearguard very little to shoot at. However, Perrine saw the sunlight glint off of something high above her. Craning her neck, she was shocked to see that a third squad of Neuroi was descending from the clouds right over her head! The original attack was simply a diversion! The rest of the witches were still busy mopping up the remnants of the original Neuroi squads and couldn’t come to their aid. Turning to the two junior witches behind her, Perrine decided to take the offensive herself.

"I’m going to take them on head on! Yoshika, cover me! Lynnette, make sure none of them escape!”

"Yes ma’am!” the two younger witches exclaimed in unison. Perrine immediately began a sharp climb towards the Neuroi, who were barreling towards her in a power dive. Yoshika’s machinegun fire rippled through the column of Neuroi and forced many of them to break and evade, but still many more of them brought their lasers to bear on Perrine, who easily raised her shields and protected herself. At this close range, she could finally see the shape of this particular strain of Neuroi. These ones had fat, oblong fuselages with stubby wings and a large engine-like structure in the tail. A shrill buzzing sound emanated from their bodies. The different shapes of the invaders were some of the greatest mysteries about them. They seemed to take the form of grossly perverted human aircraft and tanks, but no one knew if they took this shape to mock humans or as a form of mimicry to adapt to Earth’s conditions. Either way, their red-and-black crystalline bodies were frightening in any shape. When Perrine felt she had reached the middle of the swarm of Neuroi, she began to convert her body’s magical power into electricity: this was her own personal ultimate attack. She could feel her hair stand on end as the electric field around her body grew in intensity, amplified by her striker units on her legs. Pointing her finger towards her hated enemies, she released her stored electricity in a massive blast.

"Take this! Tonnerre!” she yelled, as the Neuroi surrounding her were engulfed by the electrical discharge, which reached deep into their bodies and shattered their cores, causing them to explode in a cloud of crystalline dust. Perrine was briefly hidden from view of the other witches by the quickly dissipating cloud from destroying so many Neuroi at once. She emerged unscathed, which the only casualty being her hair. It was spread out in all directions from the power of her electric attack.

Upon returning to Yoshika and Lynette, Perrine was incensed to hear them giggling to each other. How dare they mock her after her glorious victory!

"What are you brats laughing at? You had better be mocking the Neuroi and not your superior officer!”

Yoshika pointed a finger at Perrine’s head. "No, there’s something in your hair!” she said between giggles. Perrine brushed her hand through her messy hair and found a cabbage leaf that had hidden in there since her lunchtime accident earlier. The incident had shown up to embarrass her again. Disgusted, she threw the offending vegetation in the ocean. Between Perrine’s back turned away from the enemy, and the two other girls giggling even harder now, none of them saw the damaged Neuroi that came barreling toward Perrine. Her only warning was a loud shout through her radio earpiece.

"Perrine! Look out!” came the Major’s voice. Perrine could hardly turn around before Mio tackled her out of the line of fire and absorbed the shot herself. The weakened attack was still enough to shatter the Major’s shield, however. Yoshika quickly destroyed the Neuroi with a burst from her machinegun before flying over to the Major’s side.

"Major Sakamoto, are you alright? Your shield disintegrated!” she asked, preparing her healing spell in case of injury. Mio looked none the worse for wear, however.

"I’m fine, really,” she assured her fellow witches. "I was simply worn out from fighting all those Neuroi earlier! I’ll need to train harder! Hahahaha!” She tried to reassure them with her trademark laugh, but she knew she was telling a bald-faced lie: the truth was, she was simply too old to continue fighting on the front line. All witches experience the peak of their power around their mid-teens; after that, they experience a rapid decline in magical power. At the age of 20, her magical power had fallen too far to erect sturdy shields in combat. Even her extraordinary talent and phenomenal training couldn’t turn back the hands of time. Every time she stepped onto the battlefield, she knew she might never return. Now, it was only her training and combat skills that kept her alive. She could easily retire from active duty and only concentrate on training new witches, but she couldn’t stomach the thought of letting her trainees on the battlefield without her at their side to protect them. As Perrine had just demonstrated, her trainees still let their guard down at the worst times. Mio could never forgive herself if one of her trainees ever lost her life in the line of duty.

Meanwhile, Perrine was furious that that annoying raccoon dog Yoshika was the first one to reach the Major’s side. She wanted to be the apple of Mio’s eye, but lately the Major had been lavishing her attention on Yoshika. Sure, it was true that Yoshika had tremendous talent for a witch, and if she could get over her timidity she could be a fine warrior someday. But Perrine wanted a monopoly on Mio’s attention. If anyone was capable of training her to be tough enough to liberate her homeland, it was the Major. Perrine wanted to show her appreciation to the major by being the strongest witch in the land, but so far she had found the training to be frustrating and could never get along well with her fellow witches. A burst of static coming through her radio earpiece broke her from her thoughts.

"Good work, everyone,” crackled the voice of Commander Minna. "All targets have been eliminated. Let’s return to base!” The witches cheered at this last statement. Perrine just breathed a sigh of relief, eager to get this day over with.

After dinner, the witches gathered in the briefing room to discuss the day’s battle. In particular, Perrine was singled out by Minna for taking decisive action to eliminate an imminent threat to the base. Commander Minna’s warm praise always buoyed the heart of any witch who received it. Thankfully, no mention was made of Perrine’s nearly disastrous screw-up towards the end of the battle. The girls went over the next day’s duty schedule and left to tend to the evening’s chores. After she had dutifully finished mopping up the floor of the dining room, Perrine was ready to tuck in for the night. Walking down the dark hallway, she saw a dark figure coming toward her. As she got closer, the candlelight revealed the person to be Major Mio.

"Ah, Perrine. Headed to bed?”

"Yes ma’am. Um, Major, I want to thank you for saving me earlier. I know you always teach us to be aware of our surroundings at all times, and I promise to be more alert in the future.”

Mio placed a reassuring hand on Perrine’s shoulder. "It’s fine. I’m just glad you’re safe. Now get to sleep so you have lots of energy for tomorrow’s training! Hahahaha!”

"Yes ma’am!” Perrine replied, slightly overenthusiastically. They parted ways and she soon arrived at the door to her bedroom. Her room was furnished with the few things she managed to bring with her during her evacuation from Gallia, along with some stock Brittanian items. Her most prized possession was an antique rapier that had been passed down in her family for hundreds of years. It was no match compared to Mio’s katana, but Perrine still cherished the blade. Her wish was to return to her hometown with her rapier in hand, announcing the restoration of her noble lineage to the region. However, she had no idea if her family’s castle was still standing or not. Even such a grand and majestic feat of architecture like Castle Clostermann was impotent in the face of the Nueroi. Completely exhausted physically and mentally, she quickly changed into her pajamas and fell asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

However, her rest was short-lived as she was woken from slumber by a mysterious growling noise. Expecting a stray animal to have wandered into her chamber, she was relieved when she noticed the sound was coming from her own stomach. Deprived of lunch earlier in the day, she was starving after the day’s strenuous combat. Certainly, no one would object if she snuck down to the kitchen and grabbed some food. After all, what if there was a night raid and she had to sortie? She certainly couldn’t fight on an empty stomach. Slipping her feet into a pair of slippers, she quietly snuck out of her bedroom and made her way to the kitchen. As she walked down the castle's dark halls, she noticed a door that was slightly open. Curious, she peeked her head in. She had stumbled on one of the laboratories inside the castle where new striker units and other magical technologies were built and tested. It was full of dangerous equipment and most witches weren’t allowed to go snooping around in there. Looking around for anything that might help her in her struggle to liberate her country, her eyes settled upon a small glass vial filled with powder that glittered coldly in the moonlight. Even from the doorway, she could feel magical power emanating from it. Was it a new weapon in the fight against the Neuroi? Neatly placed next to the vial was a handwritten note. Risking detection (and getting chewed out by her superiors for being somewhere she didn't belong) she turned on a nearby desk lamp and began to read it.

Dr. Miyafuji,

We've retrieved a sample of a dead Neuroi as you've requested. A team led by Flight Lieutenant Marseille was able to trap and destroy a large land-based Neuroi and capture some of its crystalline dust before the wind could disperse the powder. We hope it can be of some service in prosecuting the war.

Regards,

Lieutenant Colonel Porsche

Perrine had heard of those names before. They were the valiant witches fighting on the front lines in Africa. She had heard tales of their dramatic exploits in the harsh sandy conditions of the North African theater. However, this letter was addressed to Yoshika's father, the brilliant Dr. Miyafuji, the man who invented the very striker units they use to battle the Neuroi, who disappeared several months ago. They must be unaware of this; otherwise they wouldn't have gone to such extremes to capture a Neuroi sample. It's a shame, since he's the only one who could possibly decipher the motives behind the mysterious and deadly creatures.

"Oh well, if that brat's father isn't around, then I guess it's up to me to unlock the Neuroi's secrets and free my homeland. After all, it's up to the nobility to lead by example,” she thought, while she poured a tiny bit of the powder into the palm of her hand. It was warm to the touch and sent a slight chill down her spine when it contacted her skin. She cupped it tightly in her fist and snuck back out of the lab, a plan beginning to coalesce in her head. She completely forgot about her snack run. Thankfully, she didn't run into anyone on her way back to her bedroom. If she were caught stealing from the lab, it might be construed as espionage on behalf of the Neuroi, or worse. Quietly shutting her bedroom door behind her, Perrine carefully dumped the powder into a spare handkerchief sitting on her dresser. Feeling suddenly drained, she slipped back under her sheets and fell asleep.

As her eyelids slowly fluttered open again, she was staring up at a different ceiling. She recognized the color and pattern as the ceiling of her childhood bedroom. She had somehow awoken in her family’s castle. She had worried it had been destroyed in the war, but now it looks untouched. Was her whole experience of being a witch just a long dream? Perrine got out of her bed and walked out into the hallway.

"Hello?” she called? "Mother? Father?”

She heard her mother's voice call her name, faintly, from the opposite end of the hallway. Running in that direction, she burst into her parent's bedroom. She could feel something warm and wet pooling around her bare feet. Looking down, she saw her father's face, twisted in pain. Perrine gasped in shock and shook his shoulders but he wouldn't wake up.

"Perrine, run!” yelled her mother. A strangle dark figure stood over her mother, clutching a sharp knife in its hand, blood dripping from its blade. But something about this shape looked familiar. It was humanoid in shape and of medium height, but it was made out of the same black and red crystalline material that Neuroi were also created from. From the shape of its body, it had a distinct resemblance to Perrine herself. Had the Neuroi gained the ability to clone human copies of themselves now? But it looked distinctly inhuman, as if they had tried to copy her shape from a blurry photograph. The candlelight glinted eerily off the creature's skin. It glanced at Perrine, dropping her wounded mother to the floor. It took smooth confident strides toward Perrine, who was frozen with fear in the doorway. The creature leapt into the air with the grace of a cat, before landing hard in front of Perrine. She looked down in horror to see the knife buried up to its handle in her chest, the Neuroi's expressionless face hovering in front of her. Such indignity, to be killed on the ground! Her last thoughts before she closed her eyes were of her mother and how she'd failed to save her homeland.

"Mother, I'm sorry!”

As she sat up in bed, Perrine could only hear the echoes of her own voice along with her own panting breath. The morning light streaming through the windows revealed that she was back in her own bed, not at home but in the 501st’s castle base. Checking her chest for any injury, she could only feel a patch of sweat but thankfully no blood. Thank goodness, it was just a nightmare. Was it caused by the Neuroi powder she found? Perhaps some of it was absorbed through her hand and infiltrated her brain. She had a chilling thought of herself morphing into the creature from her nightmare and attacking her comrades.

Putting such thoughts out of her head, Perrine got out of bed and proceeded to get dressed. She was on duty this morning to make breakfast for the rest of the unit. She found it silly that she was forced to make food for everyone. After all, isn't that what servants are for? And to boot, she was on cooking duty with that detestable girl Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen, who only knew how to cook that horrid Sumoi food. It was nauseating compared to elegant Gallian cuisine. But right now, Perrine was hungry enough to eat almost anything. She glanced over at the Neuroi powder, still sitting in a lump on her dresser. She figured that if she fed a little bit to the Major, it would recharge Mio’s magical batteries and enable them to fight together longer. Who knows, perhaps Perrine had stumbled onto a major breakthrough that would enable witches of all ages to improve their magical ability. She found it a tad morbid that she was going to use a Neuroi’s corpse as a dietary supplement, but Shirley was always talking about using bold strides to solve a problem. After putting on her pantyhose and uniform, she balled up the handkerchief containing the powder and stuffed it into her chest pocket.

As she arrived into the kitchen, she found Eila already at work stirring a huge vat of porridge. Perrine silently gave thanks that she wasn’t making another batch of black sausages. Using animal blood in food? How ghastly.

"Good morning, Perrine,” Eila said, without even turning her head. "Try not to spill anything today, ok?”

Perrine simply stuck her tongue out at the Suomi girl. A large batch of freshly baked bread had already arrived in the kitchen this morning, so Perrine decided to make sandwiches to go along with Eila’s porridge. As a result of wartime rationing, the kitchen was bereft of gourmet foodstuffs. However, there were still enough ingredients to make toast with butter and strawberry jam on top. As she began to slice the bread, she could already hear the other witches beginning to greet each other in the dining area. She lightly toasted the bread in the oven as Eila was just finishing the porridge and began to spoon it into bowls. Making sure Eila wasn’t watching, Perrine quickly took the handkerchief out of her pocket and tried to mix a pinch of the Neuroi powder into the butter on Mio’s toast. However, her plans were thwarted when Eila jammed her elbow into Perrine’s back.

"Hurry it up! The last thing we need is Francesca getting impatient and storming the kitchen again,” Eila complained. As a result of her jab, Perrine’s hand titled forward and dumped all of the powder into Mio’s food. She was initially horrified, but when she realized that she had no idea if her plan would work at all with any amount of the powder at all, she decided to feed it to Mio anyway. She hoped the Major would forgive her for tampering with her food, but if her hunch was right, this could be the thing that will finally tip the war in humanity’s favor.

The two girls carried the food into the dining area and began to serve everyone. Breakfast went by uneventfully, with Perrine carefully watching Mio to see if she suffered any adverse affects of the powder, but the Major didn’t even complain about the taste. After the dishes were cleaned up, it was time for another training session. Today’s training involved high-speed, low altitude interception to counter some Neuroi’s tactic of flying just above the surface of the water to avoid detection until the last minute. Perrine felt a bit of trepidation as she took off down the runway. She was beginning to regret feeding the powder to the unsuspecting Major. After all, it probably had an equal chance of poisoning her as it did to boost her magical power.

The focus of low altitude interception training was to defeat the enemy without falling into the ocean yourself. Complicated maneuvers can quickly drain a witch’s altitude until she ends up in the water, so she had to defeat the enemy quickly while watching her own height above the drink. Mio had gathered the witches in front of her to explain the morning’s training session.

"Today’s training method is like the game of tag. Form up into pairs and chase each other around. Every time you get caught by your partner, you’ll owe me 10 pushups. If you fall into the ocean, you’ll also owe me 10 pushups. Restrict your altitude to no more than 3 meters above sea level, and…” Mio abruptly stopped midsentence and raised a hand to her mouth. The color drained from her normally tanned face. The witches gasped in concern as their trainer looked to be in considerable discomfort. A shock of fear wormed its way up Perrine’s spine. She knew she shouldn’t have fed that horrible powder to Mio! Before she could apologize, everyone gasped as Mio fainted on the spot and her striker units began to sputter and stall before falling off her legs altogether before the Major tumbled down into the water with a splash. Thankfully, she wasn’t very high above the surface of the ocean, but she might still drown if she doesn’t gain consciousness quickly. But before anyone could enact a rescue, a massive column of water exploded from the sea, blinding the girls with spray. As the mist rained down around them, they opened their eyes to an incredible sight. Mio’s head and shoulders emerged from the water perfectly fine, but something was… off. Perrine began to dry off her glasses with a spare handkerchief, but when she placed them back on her face, she began to wonder exactly what that powder did. Mio looked the same as usual, with her familiar’s dog ears still standing proudly on her head, except her wet black hair was now plastered to her forehead and her eyepatch was similarly soaked with water. But her face was now much closer to the witches than she was when she fainted. Did the current drag her that close so quickly? To Mio’s perspective, it was the opposite view. The witches hovering above her looked much smaller. Did they quickly gain altitude for some reason?

"What are you all doing?” barked Mio. "Get down here so we can continue the lesson.”

"But Major, we didn’t move an inch. You’re the one who swam closer to us,” Erica said, trying to rationalize the surreal situation before them. But it was Eila who figured it out first.

"Hey, I think the Major turned into a giant,” she said.

"Like a storybook giant? How is that possible?” asked Lynette.

Minna said nothing, but just flew closer to Mio’s forehead. Grabbing a chunk of Mio’s wet hair, she confirmed that the Major had indeed grown somehow, as she held up the huge strands of hair for everyone to see.

"It looks like Eila’s right,” Minna said. "But how did this even happen? Is this some sort of magical accident?”

"Perhaps all my training finally paid off, hahahaha!” Mio’s laugher boomed around them.

Perrine wasn’t about to spill her secret, since if she told everyone she’d still get in trouble for sneaking around in parts of the base she wasn’t supposed to be in. But she was ecstatic with this outcome. Now Mio might be powerful enough to destroy even the biggest Neuroi with a single punch! Perhaps she could even singlehandedly liberate Gallia. She imagined the giant Mio strolling through Paris while crushing Neuroi underfoot, with Perrine riding on her shoulder the whole way. However, at the moment there were more practical concerns; namely, getting Mio out of the water.

"Training is over for now,” Minna ordered. "We’ll escort Mio back to the base now and then we’ll figure out our next move,” she said with her typically calm demeanor. Nothing fazes her, not even having her second in command suddenly skyrocket in height. To everyone’s relief, the witches seemed to be taking the whole thing in stride. Mio had already begun to swim back to the shore, the witches flying in escort formation around her head, on the lookout for any Neuroi that might be behind this strange turn of events. Perrine was simply hoping that she wouldn’t live to regret her decision.

Chapter 2

Mio strode ashore, her fellow witches flying in formation above her head. All of the base workers who were outside at the time stood slack jawed as the giant witch walked onto the island. However, seeing that the rest of the witches were beginning their landing maneuvers, they quickly regained their composure and ran about getting the hangar ready for the girls. Being far too large to fit inside the hangar, Mio simply sat down on the beach and watched her fellow witches go through their landing sequences. She took off her soaking wet officer’s jacket and laid it on top of some trees to dry, leaving her wearing only her blue one-piece swimsuit. Minna, who was worried sick about her friend, stayed behind with Mio.

"Are you sure you’re feeling alright?” she asked.

"I’m fine, really,” the giant witch replied, with a dismissive wave of her hand. "If anything, I feel better than ever!”

"Well, I’m going to have the doctor look you over anyway. After all, we have no idea exactly what happened to you,” Minna said, before flying away to take her place in the last slot of the landing order. Once safely on the ground inside the hangar, she gathered the witches for an impromptu debriefing.

"Everyone, I know what happened today must have you a little spooked, but I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure that Major Mio is unharmed by the incident. Furthermore, I don’t want anyone to discuss what happened today with anyone off the base. It could attract undue attention. Is that understood?”

"Yes, Commander Minna!” said the witches in unison.

"Good. All further training for today has been canceled. You are dismissed for now.”

The witches snapped a smart salute and left the hangar to bathe and get dressed. Minna entered the corridor leading down to the hospital section of the base, buried deep with the castle. Certainly one of the doctors there can help her figure out what’s going on with Mio. The whole scenario felt like something out of a dream. Magic could accomplish many wonderful things, but turning someone into a giant seemed just too unreal. Arriving at the base hospital, Minna opened the door and stepped inside. Inside, a nurse was busy cataloguing a fresh shipment of medical supplies. Training accidents were a common occurrence among new witches, and the hospital staff always had their hands full treating the cuts and scrapes of their newest recruits. Battle wounds were always much more serious, however, and as such the base hospital was equipped with a full surgery suite that rivaled the most advanced hospitals in Britannia. Still, Minna had her doubts that even their most skilled doctors have ever dealt with something like a human growing into a giant. But as her first priority was always the health and safety of the witches under her command, she couldn’t rest until she was sure that Mio wasn’t in danger. Minna asked for the doctor and the nurse pointed towards the back, where an older man was sitting at a desk. He looked up as Minna approached him, the troubled look on her normally serene face telling him that something serious must’ve happened.

"Doctor, you need to come quickly. There’s been… a situation.”

Fearing that a witch had been shot down in battle, the doctor leapt from his chair and followed Minna out of the door, the nurse following right behind him carrying a first aid kit in her arms. He always dreaded the thought of the girls getting injured, yet at the same time knew it was his solemn duty to treat them as best he could. However, what greeted him when he exited the castle and walked into the bright sunshine was certainly something he has never treated before. He rubbed his eyes to make sure that he wasn’t hallucinating. The nurse behind him almost dropped her first aid kit in shock. Sitting on the beach before him was the giant form of Major Mio, sitting cross-legged on the beach. All of the broken bones and bullet wounds he’d ever treated couldn’t prepare him for this. For her part, Mio simply smiled down at him.

"Commander, how in the world did this happen?” the doctor asked, scratching his grey hair in confusion.

"We were on a training mission when she collapsed and fell into the ocean. When she swam to the surface, she was already this size. How or why this happened, I’ve no idea,” Minna explained.

It's certainly the strangest thing I've seen," the doctor agreed.
"The only thing I remember was feeling dizzy and falling out of the sky. When I came to, I was already like this. At first, I thought it was everyone else that shrunk, hahaha!" Mio explained, giving her own take of the events. The volume of her booming voice startled the bewildered doctor.
"Doctor, right now I'm worried about her health. I need to know if whatever happened made her ill or not before we can proceed to figure out the cause," said Minna.
"Right, of course, capital idea. Ah, nurse, go perform a checkup on the giant lass, will you?" the doctor said, gesturing the nurse toward Mio, too scared himself to come much closer to her. The equally-frightened nurse took a few stumbling steps toward the giant witch before realizing a problem: she could only reach up to Mio's knees.
"Doctor, I can't do a checkup just on someone's legs," the nurse complained, turning back to the doctor. "Here, allow me," said Mio, realizing the problem and lowering her hand down to the nurse's level, laying it flat on the beach. The nurse cautiously approached the giant hand, its fingers nearly as large as she was. She carefully climbed aboard the hand and sat down in the palm. Mio's hand gently rose to the level of her own chest, allowing the nurse to use her stethoscope to measure Mio's heartbeat. Meanwhile, on the ground, the doctor was scribbling some numbers onto his clipboard.
"Doctor, can you even tell us how tall she is now?" Minna inquired. "By my rough estimate, she's about 50 feet tall, which is quite a growth spurt," he said with a nervous laugh. His expression grew more serious as they watched the nurse now try to insert a thermometer under Mio's armpit to take her temperature, her short blonde hair blowing in the breeze of Mio’s breath. "But there's something that just doesn't make sense. The human body can't function when it's over a certain size; by all accounts, our friend's lungs here should've collapsed before she even made it to the shore. If I were to hazard a guess, I would wager that a magical field is supporting her body from within."
"Do you think this is the work of the Neuroi?" asked Minna, growing even more worried.
"I haven't the foggiest idea, lass. Wherever this magical field is coming from, if it were to suddenly collapse it would have drastic consequences for our friend here. Unfortunately, our only magical field-sensing equipment broke shortly after Yoshika arrived, so I can't even test my hypothesis. A shame, seeing as how we may be looking at a scientific breakthrough here," he lamented. Minna frowned, careful not to let her growing frustration show on her face.
"With all due respect, the health of my teammate trumps any kind of scientific curiosity that might be gained from this."
The doctor threw his hands up defensively. "My apologizes, Commander; I was out of line. You're absolutely correct; the well-being of the girls always takes priority." Minna could never live with herself if she allowed her best friend to become some kind of magical lab rat. Fortunately, the island's isolated location should keep prying eyes away for a little while at least.
"Anyway, can you order some new equipment from headquarters?" she asked.
"Already ahead of you lass, but the newest, most sensitive detectors have been doled out to the experimental units in North Africa instead," he said, rubbing his chin. "Ah, but I have an old friend from medical school who just happens to be in my debt, and she's one of the foremost magical experts to boot. With your permission, I'm sure I can pull some strings and convince her to pay us a visit. If anyone can figure out what's happened to our wee lass here, it's her."
"Do it, but be discreet. I don't want what's happened here to become public," said Minna. She feared the worst if this got out and the military took Mio away for testing, never to be seen by her friends again. By now, the nurse had finished doing her checkup. Mio gently lowered her hand back down to ground level, allowing the nurse to climb back down.
"Well, what's the verdict on the lass here?" the doctor asked.
"Temperature and heart rate are all normal, and there's no sign of a fever or any illness. She's right as rain," said the nurse, visibly relieved she survived the examination of her giant patient. The doctor greeted this news with a hearty laugh.
"See Minna, you worry too much! I told you I felt fine! Hahahaha!" Mio said, joining in the laughter. Minna, however, was far from jovial. The doctor's remark about Mio's magical condition worried her greatly. If Mio's magical field suddenly collapsed, her body would quickly succumb to its own enlarged size and not even Yoshika's prodigious healing powers could save her. And due to Mio's advanced age among the witches, her magical field might finally sputter out any day now. In her mind, the only solution was to restore the Major to her previous size as soon as possible, any scientific breakthroughs be damned.
"Thank you again for your help, doctor," Minna said.
"Don't mention it, lass; after all, this is our job. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go ring up my friend," the doctor said. He and the nurse gave Mio a final wave goodbye before turning to go back into the base, the nurse right behind him.
"Mio, I feel terrible that you have to stay outside for now," said Minna, addressing the problem that Mio was simply too big to fit inside the castle. Even the hangar, which was designed for the witches and not for airplanes, was not big enough for her to stay in.
"Don't worry about it. When I was in training myself, I had to sleep outside during rainstorms to toughen me up! Hahaha!" Mio replied.
"I have to go check on the other witches now. Are you sure you'll be fine by yourself?"
"Go ahead. I still have to do my post-workout cooldown exercises."
"Alright. I'll try to bring you something for lunch later," Minna said, as she left to head back inside the castle.

Around the dining table, the witches were having a heated discussion about the day's events while eating their lunch.
"I think it's awesome," Erica said, between shoving forkfuls of spaghetti in her mouth.
"Erica,don't talk with your mouth full!" Trude rebuked her.
"I think she's right," Eila chimed in. "With a giant Mio on our side, we'll never lose!"
"But what if she never returns to normal?" Lynette added. "Living like that for the rest of her life would be hard. She can't even sleep in her own bed or fit into her childhood home now!"
"I think I would hate being unable to fly, too," Shirley mused.
"The war would be over in no time if we were all that big!" Yoshika shouted, getting excited at the thought of seeing all of her friends at that size. Perrine ate in silence, unwilling to share her secrets behind Mio's transformation. She smiled to herself, knowing that if all goes well then she could easily grant Yoshika's wish and turn them all into giants.
"I wonder, how can we make lunch for the Major? It would take a lot more than a bowl of spaghetti to fill her up now," said Yoshika, while the girls cleaned up after their meal.
"I was wondering that myself,” came the voice of Minna, as she walked into the dining room.
"Oh, Commander! How's Mio holding up?" asked Trude.
"Thankfully, she's fine. We have no idea what caused this to happen, but for now she's perfectly healthy.” The witches greeted this news with a sigh of relief. "But Yoshika is right; we simply don't have the resources to make enough food quickly for her. I'm open to suggestions, if anyone has any ideas.”
"When I came here from Fuso, we brought a lot of rice with us to the base,” Yoshika remembered. It reminded her of the first time she met the Major on that sunny day in front of her school, and how much she’s grown under the Major’s tutelage. "Rice lasts a long time, and it’s really easy to make too! There should still be lots left in storage.”

"That’s a great idea, Yoshika!” said Lynette. Minna tried to remember the last time she looked at the inventory of food on the base. They were considerably well-stocked, and able to withstand a prolonged enemy siege for months, but with a giant-sized teammate she calculated that their food stocks will run dangerously low within a couple of weeks, giving her another reason to cure Mio as soon as possible. To make matters worse, resupply missions were sometimes few and far between, owing to their dangerous location so close to the enemy. She concurred with Yoshika's idea, but she'll need everyone's help. "Listen up, everyone! We have a new mission: Operation Feed Mio!"

Chapter 3

It was hard to believe that such an industrial-sized operation was being undertaken just to feed one person. The witches all helped bring the bags of rice up from the storeroom to the kitchen, where Yoshika and Lynette were busy cleaning and cooking it. They used the largest tubs and pants they could find to wash and cook all of the rice.

"I hope the Major doesn't mind going without dessert," Yoshika said, while cleaning out a large pot. "It would be impossible to make a pie big enough for her."
"Even if we could, Erica would just eat the whole thing up anyway," joked Lynette.

The beach began filling up with empty tubs of rice as Mio devoured pounds of it. She unceremoniously dumped it into her mouth, lacking chopsticks big enough to use properly. "Thanks for the food, everyone!" she said, appreciating the amount of effort the witches had expended on her behalf. Minna sat down on the beach to take a break from hauling the big tubs of rice when her radio earpiece crackled. "Commander, there's been a Neuroi sighting!" came the voice of the base's radio operator. "It's squadron sized, and it's closing fast!"
Upon hearing this, the witches immediately dropped what they were doing and ran towards the hangar. Minna looked up towards the sky but couldn't see anything due to the thick clouds that had suddenly rolled in. "Mio, can you see them?" she asked her friend, whose magical eye could slice through any obstacle to reveal the Neuroi's crystalline cores. As the core was the heart of the Neuroi, destroying it was the only way to quickly defeat the enemy. Mio's magical eye was invaluable in combat, allowing her to spot enemies hidden in the clouds or lying in ambush so she could relay their positions to her comrades. Even the largest, most well-armored Neuroi had their cores laid bare to her piercing gaze, giving the witches an unparalleled advantage in being able to spot and destroy the core quickly, bringing down the toughest foes in seconds. Some of the strongest Neuroi were so adept at regenerating their bodies that slowly wearing them down with gunfire was simply impossible and the only way to destroy them was with a precision strike at their cores. It was this ability that made Mio an indispensable member of the team. Many battles were decided just by the presence of Mio and her magical eye alone. She often used her magical eye in conjunction with her sword to slice the Neuroi to ribbons, but since she's far too large to wield her sword now all she could do was act as a spotter for her fellow witches. However, it came with a price, namely that she couldn't turn her magical eye off and on at will. As a result, she was forced to wear an eyepatch over her magical eye to restrict her vision; otherwise it would be a constant drain on her magical power.

The soft purple glow of her magical eye illuminated her face as she lifted up her eyepatch. The bright cores of the Neuroi glinted in her sight like diamond dust on the wind. "20 enemies, column formation, approaching from 10 o'clock!" she called out. The girls had already begun to take off when Mio realized that the formation wasn’t escorting a large Neuroi. Normally, the Neuroi sent the small fry to escort their heavy hitters, but this enemy squad was comprised solely of smaller ones. The witches began tracing sharp arcs through the sky as they began to clash with the Neuroi. Mio had her eyes to the sky, calling out enemy positions while she lamented being unable to join the battle. Even at her enlarged height, the Neuroi still flew far above her head, and the machinegun she normally used was only the size of a toy to her now. She could see the cores of the Neuroi blink out one by one as her comrades swiftly destroyed them. As she was calling out the positions of the remaining Neuroi, she felt something cold and slimy wrap around her left leg and pull her to the ground. She gasped as the impact forced the air from her lungs and quickly found herself flat on her back, staring up at the spiraling contrails in the sky. Wondering what had just assaulted her, Mio struggled to free her leg from whatever had grabbed it but her adversary was just too strong. Propping herself up on her elbows, she finally got a look at what had just attacked her. It had the black and red crystalline body common to all Neuroi, but it appeared to be a land-based version, the likes of which was rarely seen in the European theater. Most of the combat reports of large land-based Neuroi had come from the North African battlefields, making the appearance of this one quite an anomaly, but then again, few things have been normal for the witches in the past few days.

Concerned that she hadn’t received a new report on the enemy's location in several seconds, Minna glanced down to the beach to see if Mio was in trouble. She could hardly believe her eyes when she saw Mio sprawled on her back, struggling with a massive Neuroi. The creature resembled Karlsland's experimental Maus heavy tank, a failed attempt at building a vehicle that could stand toe-to-toe with the Neuroi, except this one was mutated to over three times the normal size of the human tank. It must be an amphibious unit that snuck up from the water and assaulted the Major while she was busy spotting the enemy positions. In place of a gun barrel, however, the Neuroi had a mass of tentacles that wrapped tightly around Mio's leg. Noticing this new threat, Trude flew alongside Minna to speak with her. "The airborne squad must've been a diversion to allow that amphibious unit to land ashore," Minna noted. "Commander, we still haven't finished off all the enemy units in the sky. Should we break off the engagement and help the Major?" Trude asked, worried about this new development in the battle. After all, they had no idea what this new foe was capable of. Using her powers of clairvoyance, Minna could quickly discern the enemy's intentions: the smaller squad was indeed a diversion attempting to distract the witches for long enough until the enemy amphibious unit could sneak ashore, but if they turned their backs now, the smaller squad would quickly pounce on them from behind and pick them off one by one. Her heart wanted to help her friend Mio immediately but her head know it would place her witches in a precarious position. "We'll deal with the diversionary force first!" she ordered. She could only hope that Mio could hold out long enough against her adversary until everyone could come to her aid.

On the beach, Mio was finally able to free her leg from the Neuroi's crippling embrace. Her respite was only temporary, however; the Neuroi's tentacles wrapped around themselves in front of the turret, forming a crude representation of a gun barrel. The crimson light emending from the end of the barrel indicated that the Neuroi was preparing to fire its trademark laser at point blank range. Mio, knowing that she was the only thing standing between the Neuroi and her castle base, threw herself in front of the attack. She was quite aware that her depleted shield couldn't stand up to even a much weaker attack, but this laser blast would completely obliterate the base if she didn't block it with her own body. Resigned to her fate, she crossed her arms over her face and squeezed her eyes shut tightly. The ruby red light that filtered through her closed eyelids told her that this would be her final battle. In a last act of defiance, she erected her shield, knowing that it would do little to protect her. Suddenly, a tremendous laser blast sundered forth from the barrel, illuminating the entire sky with its blood red light. Mio felt the collision between her shield and the laser blast like a punch in the stomach, as she poured every bit of magical energy she had into maintaining her shield for as long as possible. The witches, shocked at the immense power of the Neuroi's cannon, could only gasp as they watched the Major become engulfed in the torrent of deadly light. Mio, expecting her shield to shatter at any moment, instead felt a surge of magical energy rush from deep within her body rush into her shield. The sky changed color again as the crimson light of the laser was overtaken by the blue light of Mio's expanding shield. Her newly strengthened shield easily contained the monstrous tank's laser beam, halting it inches from her body and quickly pushing it outward. The massive shield grew in size until it completely covered the Major's body in its protective light. As the Neuroi's laser sputtered out, Mio opened her eyes, expecting to find a gaping hole in her chest. Instead, she was almost blinded by the radiant light of her shield, which faded away as the tank's laser blast ceased. The force of the collision was enough to knock Mio's eyepatch clean off her face, and her magical sight revealed the Neuroi's core to be deep within its hull, approximately where the engine would be located in a human tank. Seizing the opportunity, Mio began to slam her fists down on top of the Neuroi's turret, intending to smash the creature outright. Deep thuds reverberated through the earth and shook the sand as the Major's balled fists began to rain down upon the tank. Cracks in its armor began to spread from the force of Mio's assault. As if realizing that it was waging a losing battle, the Neuroi's treads began to churn the sand as it sought to back away from the giant witch and seek refuge in the sea. Knowing that if she allowed it to escape the Neuroi could terrorize coastal communities worldwide, Mio was determined to destroy it quickly. But how? Its armor was simply too tough for her to smash through, and her razor-sharp sword that could allow her to slice through the core in one deft stroke was far too small for her to use effectively, being little more than a toothpick at her size. Suddenly, she recalled a conversation she once had with Shirley, where the mechanically-minded Liberion mentioned that a tank's armor was always thinnest on the bottom of the hull. Perhaps if the Neuroi copied the human's tank design, it also copied the tank's weaknesses, as well. Throwing up huge clouds of sand from under its treads, the Neuroi had just begun to enter the water when Mio grabbed the tank's barrel in a tight grip. Her bare feet dug into the sand as she braced herself against the weight of the tank. The tank’s treads howled as they furiously tried to gain purchase in the wet sand. With a triumphant shout, Mio succeeded in lifting the tank free from the muddy sand and threw the creature clear over her head. Landing on its turret with a thunderous crash, the overturned tank's treads clawed uselessly at the air, its core glowing brightly under the thin armor of the hull's bottom. Mio jumped into the air, stretching out her leg for a final kick at her vulnerable opponent. Letting out a war cry as her giant form sailed through the air, Mio's bare foot came down like a landslide on the Neuroi, smashing clean through the tank and leaving a crater in the sand. She could feel the Neuroi's core shatter under the ball of her foot, and the rest of the tank's crystalline body followed, dissolving into the familiar white powder upon its death.

Just as the final diversionary Neuroi had been dealt with, Minna glanced over her shoulder, hoping to see that the Major was still in one piece. Instead, she was astonished to see the Major flying through the air, delivering a lethal drop-kick onto the overturned Neuroi that had been menacing her only moments before. Trude hovered alongside the Commander, sharing her amazement. "Looks like the Major dealt with that enemy pretty decisively!" Trude marveled. "But I'm amazed she was able to withstand that laser blast. We all know how weak her shields have been lately. Do you think her resurgent magical powers are related to her giant size?" posited Minna. Trude simply shrugged. "I have no idea. Still, I'm glad to see that she's unhurt."

Mio was in the process of retrieving her fallen eyepatch when her fellow witches swarmed around her, showering her with praise and admiration. "Major, you were so cool!" Yoshika gushed. "That Neuroi didn't stand a chance!" beamed Francisca. Mio, relieved that the base was safe yet again, simply brushed off her eyepatch and placed it back on her head. However, her demeanor brightened when she saw that all of the members of the base, grateful that the Major risked her own life to save them all from a certain death, were leaning out of windows and streaming out onto the runway, cheering loudly, chanting Mio's name and waving handkerchiefs in the breeze. A smile formed on Mio's lips as she basked in everyone's adoration. "I'm just glad everyone's safe! Hahahaha!" But no one was more excited about the day's events than Perrine. She finally felt vindicated about her decision to steal the mysterious powder. After all, if Mio wasn't a giant, the entire base would've been obliterated. She hoped that Commander Minna would soon realize Mio's potential and order an invasion of Gallia soon. Perrine could feel the liberation of her homeland was soon at hand.

Chapter 4

The skies clear once again, the witches began landing for the second time today. Having fought two strenuous battles in one day, they were all physically exhausted but their spirits were buoyed by Mio’s exciting victory over the deadly Neuroi. Minna was walking down the halls to go give the after-battle debriefing when Getrud caught up with her.

"I can’t believe we’ve been assaulted twice in one day," Trude said, walking alongside her commander. "But I’m glad Mio’s on our side. She sure saved our butts."

Minna, however, could barely hear her subordinate through the headache that began to cloud her thoughts like a growing thunderstorm. "Indeed. Without her, we wouldn’t have a base to come back to at all. Still, two attacks in one day is certainly a cause for concern. I hope we can have a brief respite before…" Minna could not even finish her sentence before a headache shattered her mind and caused her to stumble, instinctively lunging out with her hand for to steady herself with the wall. Instead, she felt a pair of firm hands wrap around her waist to keep her upright. "Commander, are you alright?" Trude asked, her words laced with worry. "I-I'm fine. I'm just a little exhausted," Minna stammered, trying to blink away her dizziness. The reality was that she was so worried about Mio that she could barely stand. She had certainly been an asset in combat today, but what if the next enemy wasn't such a pushover? At her size, she would be hard pressed to dodge an attack, and Minna had no idea when the Major's shield would fail. Perhaps her super-powered shield Mio displayed earlier was just a fluke. If so, then Mio would just be a gigantic target in the next battle. How could Minna possibly protect her when she was simply too big to protect? After all, it's not like Minna could simply ground the Major to prevent her from fighting; there was no place on the island big enough to shield her from a Neuroi assault. At any rate, Mio had previously ignored Minna's requests for her to stand down in light of her weakened shields, so now that she's used her new abilities to save the base it's even less likely that she'll listen her commander's pleas for her to stop fighting.

As they entered the briefing hall, Minna and Trude were confronted by a cacophony of noise. The witches were all abuzz about the day's events, busily chatting amongst themselves about their personal achievements during the battle, as well as Mio's trouncing of the huge Neuroi. Minna made her way to the podium as Trude tried to calm the girls down. Once everyone was settled, Minna cleared her throat and began to speak. "Everyone, I'm pleased with today's performance," she began. "As we have all seen, the Major's new size is certainly an asset in battle, but from now on our first priority in battle is to protect Mio and keep her abreast of any threats. We still don't know what happened to her, but for now all we can do is to make sure she's safe, in addition to our normal duties of protecting Britannia. I only ask for your patience while we try to ascertain how to reverse Mio's condition." A voice rang out in the room, loud enough to even wake Sanya from her slumber. "Commander, we shouldn't waste our time standing around! Let's go retake Gallia now! With Mio on our side, we can't lose!" Perrine shouted, slamming her hands down on the table.  "Perrine, calm yourself! A hasty attack could only end in disaster!' Trude admonished her. "I thought you'd understand! Every second that ticks by is another second that Gallia remains imprisoned by the Neuroi!" Perrine fumed. Seeing that her subordinates were beginning to get tired and frustrated, Minna decided to end the meeting and let the witches get some blow off some steam and get some rest.

After bathing and reporting the results of the battle to her superiors (leaving out the details of Mio’s new size), Minna decided to see how Mio was holding up. She found her giant comrade sitting on the beach, still wearing her swimsuit and watching the sun go down. She was so absorbed in the brilliant sunset that she failed to notice her friend until Minna tapped her on the leg. Careful not to flinch and accidentally crush her companion, Mio gently lowered her hand to the ground and waited for Minna to climb into her palm. Silently, she lifted her hand up to her shoulder and held it steady as she felt Minna’s tiny footsteps glide along her skin and stop at her neck. Settled in the hollow between Mio’s neck and shoulder, Minna admired the view. The orange sky stretched out before them with a few clouds hanging in the sky, catching the last rays of sunlight from the fireball that was quickly dipping under the horizon. It would be a picturesque scene, if the threat of a Neuroi attack wasn’t constantly gnawing at their minds.

“It was certainly an interesting day, wasn’t it? Everything’s been happening so fast that it’s hard to take it all in. I just hope we can handle whatever the Neuroi throws at us next…” Minna said, relishing the chance to finally speak alone with her friend. “Of course we can! After all, we’re the finest group of witches in the world,” Mio assured her, confident of her squad’s ability to withstand any enemy attack. “I certainly hope you’re right. Perrine is all fired up about using your new power to go retake Gallia. I don’t think she realizes how dangerous Gallia is right now. It’s swarming with Neuroi and we can just barely hold the line here.  If we go on the offensive now, we’d only be throwing our lives away. I swear, that normally sullen girl can be such trouble sometimes,” Minna said with a sigh. Mio simply let out one of her trademark laughs at this, unaware that the slight shaking of her body nearly threw Minna off her shoulder. “Well, a fiery spirit beats being gloomy!” she said as Minna straightened herself on her perch on her friend’s body. “I agree, but I hope she doesn’t do anything reckless again,” Minna said, suddenly feeling the fatigue of the day’s events catching up with her. Her droopy eyelids combined with the warm summer wind combined to make her suddenly sleepy. Just meaning to rest her eyes for a moment, she leaned against Mio’s warm skin and closed her eyes, only to fall into a deep sleep on her friend’s shoulder.

Meanwhile, in a dimly-lit bunker somewhere in Britannia, Air Chief Trevor Maloney sat reviewing plans for air strikes against the Neuroi. His contempt for the witches was well known throughout the ranks, since he firmly believed that war was a man’s occupation and that adolescent girls had no business waging it. However, after watching the near-total destruction of his finest fighter squads at the hands of the alien invaders, he had no choice but to rely on the witches to defend his homeland… for now, anyway. His finest scientists were secretly at work developing a new weapon that would finally tilt the balance of power firmly in the human’s favor, and hopefully put the witches out of business for good, as well. He had heard that the new weapon was an autonomous fighter plane powered by top-secret technology, but Maloney had only a dim understanding of its abilities. However, he was constantly  assured by his scientists that it would finally wrest the skies away from both Neuroi and witch and make Britannia a global power once again. That is, if they can finally work all the bugs out. Maloney was lost in his thoughts of using this new weapon for global supremacy when a pilot rushed into the bunker and thrust a photograph into his hands. “Sir, you must take a look at this!” the young man shouted.

Annoyed at being rudely interrupted from his daydream, Maloney took a quick look at it before dismissing it out of hand. It just seemed to be a basic aerial photo of the base that Minna’s squad was currently stationed on. Maloney had ordered surveillance flights over the base to keep an eye out for Neuroi, but, unbeknownst to the witches, to keep a close watch on the witches he hated so much, as well. “It’s just a pointless photo! Don’t bother me with such rubbish!” Maloney yelled. The pilot pointed a gloved finger at a strange shape on the beach. “Look here, sir!” Sighing in frustration, Maloney took a second glance before something caught his eye. A strange shape was sitting on the beach, casting a long shadow in the waning light. It almost looked like a human, but impossibly big. Maloney dismissed it immediately. “It must be a processing error. What utter nonsense,” he muttered, throwing the photo on his desk. “But sir! I saw her with my own eyes! The witch from Fuso with the eyepatch, she’s grown somehow! That Neuroi tank mentioned in the after-battle report wasn’t destroyed by conventional fire, that huge witch actually stomped on it! I was on aerial recon duty over the base and I observed the whole battle myself!” Convinced that the young pilot had gone insane, Maloney thanked the pilot for the report and gave him a week’s leave. Once the pilot left, a thought began to creep into Maloney’s brain. Strange things have happened in the world since the Neuroi invaded, and perhaps a giant girl wasn’t completely impossible. And if it were true… perhaps he could use her to finally destroy the Neuroi’s grip on humanity, and perhaps take over the world, as well. Surely he could find a way to control her for his own ends, somehow. After ordering more surveillance flights over the witch’s base, he began to plan again, this time not of defense plans, but about how he would rule Britannia.

To be continued…