North Winds Fall (Xianxia - Survive the Protagonist)

Autumn caught up to Kazumi and Wei while they were headed to the school library.

"There's a few things you need to know about what happened out there," she told them. So they went into the most unused section of the library: the Home Life / Home Economics section.

"No one's checked this one out, ever," Kazumi said about a particular book. "We never have to reshelve these books. I thought some of the topics here would be popular, but they're written by people who want to look down on knitting, or cooking, or whatever. It's derogatory literature!"

"Anyway, what did you want to tell us?" asked Wei.

So Autumn talked about how amazing the 1st lieutenant had been, and what the sergeant of the Regular army 1st platoon had told them.

Wei was sad about the news, but Kazumi seemed to be looking into space with determination.

Finally she said, "Wei and I want to learn how to fight! You two are new, so you haven't learned the war time protocol. All classes will be canceled as of tomorrow, and we will be training. Us boot camp platoons will be going through the boot camp every day. They will also reshuffle us into platoons based only on our strength after the next few weeks.

"We may be in different platoons, but I want to learn, I want to get stronger. Will you help us, sensei?" Kazumi said.

"I had only a bit of formal training," Autumn said. "You both have had real world experience now, Wei twice. If you want this, really really want it, you'll find a way. I can help.

Honestly, I want to be able to have good enough grades so it doesn't hold me back, but also, I want to see these things you and the other girls see. How did you score so well in the Pre-exam, Wei?"

"Auntie said you never really read the school books. I just finished reading about the West Winds before I left. There were a lot of questions I didn't know, but Kazumi gave me advice about how to guess well. And it was only the 1st Platoon grade standard."

"Don't count yourself out, Wei, you've got booksense. Shūsui, you've got fighting sense. But we will help you learn too."

They agreed to help each other training intensely over the coming weeks. Autumn promised to show them as much about fighting and fitness as she could, and Mari was even interested in helping out when she shared that the two were interested in getting better.

Morning muster was much like Kazumi had said. Autumn didn't know the platoon lieutenants very well, other than the boot camp platoons, but one of them had been promoted to take Shiraisha's place.

"First Lieutenant Yamada, is there any business to attend to?" Captain Tsuda asked.

This must be a script for him, she considered.

"Thank you Captain, for considering me for this position. Major Sumida sends his regards. He has received new orders to march south and form up with other Girls army units to become part of the defensive mesh of our nation. He has relayed High Command's orders pertaining to us. They are brief, sir."

"1st Lieutenant, read out High Commands orders."

"Go to War Footing. Conduct R&R in two weeks. Prepare for further assignment. Train for cold weather operations. Train for hot weather operations."

"Girls, you may have forgotten what R&R means, it is not rest and relaxation. It is readiness and re-evaluation. We will test all of you, to see our overall readiness. We will re-assign you to platoons as a result of your combat capacity and leadership. War footing means Cherry Blossom Girls' army base is on school break until High Command removes us from this footing.

All evening leave is canceled. You will be able to go home to your families tonight, but after that we will be conducting endless training exercises."

After that they were dismissed. The Cook crew work was irritating now. There was so much else to do that she put more importance into. Nonetheless, She tried to learn more about cooking and cleaning from the full crew.

Since those girls who could go home in the evening would be taking their last chance to be with family, the entire 25 platoon group went through the fitness, and fighting training.

Captain Tsuda wasn't running the show, instead the new 1st lieutenant loosely coordinated the platoons.

There were five boxing rings instead of one, and plenty of punching bags.

Lieutenant Tahara told 3rd platoon, "Go work on what you need to improve, help your fellow girls too!"

It was more freeform than the weekend boot camps Lieutenant Takai ran.

Autumn and Mari joined up with Wei and Kazumi to start the girls training plan.

"You've done plenty of running, let's see some bench press, and then we can rotate to the boxing," Mari suggested.

Autumn was surprised to see that while Kazumi's basic ability in weight-lifting was low, the girl was bypassing her limitations, and had a ton of fighting will to get one more rep in.

Kazumi managed to do 12 reps with 10 pounds plus the bar.

When Wei took to trying, she only got 6 reps, but Kazumi encouraged her, and she managed to get to 8.

Autumn took her turn on the bench press to give the two girls time to rest before their next set. She was not known as a super-strong fighter, but still the constant practice and exercise had given her decent strength. Being a 3rd grade cultivator made a bigger difference.

She didn't want to show off, so she only put 200 pounds on the bar. 8 reps were enough to feel the burn a little, but she could have done a dozen more. She knew that Fourth Grade cultivators who had a martial focus commonly lifted 600+ pounds.

After three sets of bench presses, they went to the squats, and then push ups, jumping jacks, running just a few laps, and then straight into the boxing ring.

They had to wait, as many of the girls of the more experienced platoons were also having practice bouts.

Wei and Kazumi agreed that Kazumi would try it first. It was a simple training method, Kazumi tried to hit her, and every time she failed to, Autumn told her how her punch was wrong, helping fully to dissect her body positioning, the importance of feet in a fight and many other factors.

Autumn didn't hold back as Kazumi repeatedly asked for all the feedback.

Finally they had to vacate the ring for another group.

"You won't retain all of that in one day's practice, but you can pick up more and more over time," Autumn told her.
When they got back through the line of girls wanting to box, Autumn was only able to teach Wei a few simple things. How to shape her hand, and how to stand, but it was time to head back to the Mess hall for lunch.

Autumn ran to catch up with the Cook crew, and served the girls tomato soup and a sandwich. She carried the big pot full of water and lifted it up onto the cook stove, not having any incidents or accidents this time.

1st Lieutenant spoke to them as Autumn and the rest of the Cook Crew ate their meals quickly.

"This afternoon, all girls with evening passes may leave when they feel they've got enough training for today. Make sure to leave some extra time for family visits, because tomorrow all passes will be revoked.

You will be training in the fighting center this afternoon. I want to see you choosing to train in your strongest weapons, now is not the time to try something new, unless you don't have a strong foundation in any weapons."

When they were done with lunch and cleanup, Autumn rejoined the other girls.

"We would have been training here on Saturday, if not for the Major," Kazumi told her.

The training center was divided like a dojo into many fighting rooms, containing a locked room with the girls real weapons, and a separate storehouse for training weapons.

"This is the closest I could find to your blade," Wei said, handing over the sword which was more like a saber than the Dao blade."

"Thanks Wei," she said, appreciating the chance to spend more time with her sister again. It seemed like every day Wei was becoming more different than the girl she had been back home.

"Consider the sword's position and direction to be part of your own stance, almost like it's an extension of your feet. Where is it pointing?" she asked the two girls.

"Mari's fighting hammer will show you how to fight against a blunt weapon user, whereas your own swords and mine will show you how to battle against a sword user."

All of the weapons were blunted, but how did you make a blunt weapon safe? Mari's training hammer had a soft material in the hammerhead. The way it moved through maneuvers was completely different than the hammer she had used during the real battles.

Autumn told them, "When facing a real hammer, momentum is your enemy and friend. If their swing makes contact, that momentum is bad, but if they miss, that momentum disorients and puts them out of position."

Mari and Kazumi faced off in a little practice bout. Although Mari's strength was substantial, Kazumi seemed to already be thinking of the things Autumn had told her that morning. She was already considering foot positions and movement, but she hadn't yet integrated it with her blade.

Kazumi used the heavier two-hand sword, which had momentum issues of its own, so the spar was a battle of heavy blade versus heavy hammer. After three minutes of positioning, fighting and more positioning, Mari got the win, by getting a clean hit with her hammer.

As Mari's hammer was lighter than a real one, she had an advantage, but Autumn remembered how some of the fighters in the Heaven's Judgment Arena had re-positioned the heaviest weapons in an instant.

Wei took Mari's place and those two sparred next. Facing Kazumi, Autumn could see that her sister hadn't yet picked up the things that Wei's friend had. The two used the battle, which was one sided, as a training session instead.

No one else tried to claim their fighting room, allowing all four of them to spend the afternoon training non-stop.

Autumn mostly practiced with Mari, who couldn't take her full fighting prowess, but had the strength to resist a reasonable blow, and they were able to make their sparring into productive training.

"One more spar! I want to challenge sensei Shūsui. I don't expect to win of course, but I want to see how I've made progress and then I can target my improvements," Kazumi said.

She had been training steadily with Mari and only glanced at the other two girls from time to time.

Mari and Wei stood off to the side and Kazumi bowed to her. Autumn bowed, and then immediately raised her guard as Kazumi charged at her.

Even the training two-hand sword had quite the momentum. She thought about the situation and decided that she would play up Kazumi's joke of calling her sensei.

Blade stepping away from Kazumi's charge, she turned to watch Kazumi fall. The girl managed to stand up quite quickly, and now she had a defensive position.

"Your way will be different than mine, Kazumi. So there is only so far you can go before you will have to diverge from your sensei's path."

This time not relying on her active abilities, she merely approached the girl quickly.

One deflection from the two-hand sword, and Kazumi attempted to step back to take advantage of her sword's length.

Autumn stepped further back letting the two-hand sword miss her and then she rushed inward, and struck while Kazumi's only defense was out of position.

"Impressive," she said and meant it. Kazumi had learned in one day what some of the members of the Fighting club couldn't learn in years.

"That's what I should be saying. You really are a tiger hiding in Third platoon. What should I do differently?"

"When you have a heavy weapon, you must think of your defense at all times. You are not required to make a full strike. Big weapons make little movements to avoid exposure. If you want to use the two-hand sword, make extra emphasis on your strength training. My own philosophy is simple: having my weapon exactly where I want it to be at all times. Swiftness, movement and it's limiting case: teleportation."

For Wei, she instructed her sister to spend time every morning practicing where she placed her feet, and Mari, to practice swinging her hammer, to gain more familiarity with its movement. Autumn didn't have much specifically to teach about hammers.

After dinner cleanup, she went to the library with Wei and Kazumi. Chieko was going home to see her family, but she had promised to help Autumn with her book learning.

Mari had no intention of joining them in the library, so it was just the three of them. Kazumi and Wei had their work detail at the school, so they spent the first hour doing cleanup.

After an hour, Kazumi said they only had book restocking to do, and the library was barely used over the past few days, so they were able to help her twenty minutes later.

She was reading about the wasteland, but she had three other books to go through in the next week. One for each of the three nations. She was curious what would be wrong in the North Winds book, but even more so, what she missed while she lived there from inattention.

The easternmost parts of the wasteland were uncharted, as the land went from a spongy yet firm consistency to quicksand and the temperatures were hot, and the parched land didn't have a single drop of water or rain.

The part of the wasteland she had experienced personally was called the Friendly Wastes.

This book was easier for her to read that the others, it seemed so fascinating.

She stumbled when reading words like 'unactivated', 'dauntless' or 'unblemished' but Kazumi helped her through them. Some of the sentences were super long, so she broke them down into pieces.

"Quiz me about this in a week, I want to actually remember," Autumn said to them as they went their separate ways to the 1st platoon and 3rd platoon halls.

Sergeant Ige was a corporal of 19th platoon promoted into the leadership track, becoming their 2nd in command of 3rd platoon. She was more formal than Furutani had been.

"Make sure not to miss lights-out Private Setsu," the sergeant said.

As she laid down in her bunk, it was hard not to think of the people who had impacted her, one way or another, since she arrived here. Her thoughts floated in currents, she kept thinking of Sergeant Furutani, the Major, 1st Lieutenant Shiraishi, and even her brothers Tuan, Chi and Son.

So much had happened in so few days.

The next morning, Autumn had only one thought: Captain Tsuda's grinning face deserved to be slapped.

Though she couldn't stand the man for believing the Major's lies and not standing up for his own second in command, she held her tongue and listened to his morning briefing.

"1st through 5th platoons, I want to see 12 hour days of intense training. Both individual, small unit and platoon level practice to take your place as a girl of Cherry Blossom base.

The rest of you, your Lieutenants have already been informed of the special exercise we have planned. Twenty platoons enter, one platoon leaves. This will give you the chance to learn to fight in extreme difficulty and not fold at the first sign of the enemy. Get your provender and prepare to march out under my banner."

The rest of the boot camp platoons watched as the top 20 marched out of the base. Autumn handed out rations to platoon after platoon.

The Cook Crew was down in numbers with the senior platoons leaving and several members still on the mend, gone AWOL or in one case killed. Including Lieutenant Matsuura, they only had four crew members to pass out rations.

And then, Lieutenant Tahara even take her away from the crew!

"I'm sorry, Lieutenant Matsuura, Private Setsu is of far more use to us as a trainer for these girls. I will definitely make sure she puts in her hours, but her supplemental job is now combat instruction. Once the war is over, she'll be yours again."

"I'll have to bargain with the Captain and bring in food from outside. We either need girls to prepare the food, or money," the Cook Lieutenant said.

So with Cook Crew duties gone, she was recognized by her own Lieutenant and ended up training not just Kazumi, but as many girls as had an interest in sword fighting.

Every day, Kazumi tried to find a chance to spar with her at the end of the day. And every day, the girl was getting better, at an impossible rate! Presently, a dozen girls were watching their fight in the largest room of the training center.

She would only use one blade step to show off during the day, but the rest were saved for her fight with Kazumi.

The two-hand sword crashed in, and Autumn frantically moved out of it's path, but Kazumi had not overcommitted and was able to step forward attacking again.

Autumn blade stepped behind the girl, and her Kazumi responded by stepping forward, getting away from the potential strike. In a moment she was in a ready stance again.

Getting in close, Autumn tested Kazumi's ability to use the longer weapon at a shorter range. Kazumi blocked strike after strike, and even got a glancing blow that skittered off her side.

Autumn feinted left, and then considered trying to surprise Kazumi with the blade teleport she had used during the Arena fight.

Rushing backwards away from Kazumi, she swung the saber in a downward slash, teleporting the blade in front of Kazumi after one quarter of the swing was complete.

The blunted saber bonked her on the head, and then clanked to the ground.

Luckily, Kazumi was okay despite the fearsome strike.

Even her running was much improved from before, and Wei was improving as well, though not at Kazumi's incredible rate.

"So sensei had to rely on a secret move to defeat me!" Kazumi said, joking.

It was a base-wide inside joke at this point, as many of the girls called Autumn sensei when they were at the Training center.

Kazumi grinned. "I'll anticipate that move next time."

"It's too dangerous to use my ultimate secret. Since I had to use my second one, you've almost surpassed me. Have they checked your cultivation, I mean Path Step?" she asked.

"I've advanced to Second step!" Kazumi responded. "Wei is at Mid First Step now."

Already Kazumi was forcing Autumn to fight fiercely, but the saber was different from Dao blade, and she still held back a bit because of the worry of hurting her spar partner.

Kazumi's style was steady, strong, resolute, straight-forward, but somehow accomplishing far more than expected.

"Come on, running quiz time!"

This was a game Kazumi had invented, to combine their training craziness together. Kazumi would ask her exam questions, and she had to answer them while still running on the track.

While Kazumi, Wei and all of the boot camp girls had trained wildly in fighting and fitness, Autumn continued to read at night, when she couldn't sleep. She rarely slept more than four hours a night.

-|>--~

The Top 15 platoons had returned from their third training exercise. Each of these were four or five days long including travel time.

Captain Tsuda was keen to talk to them about the final exercise before reassessment and re-evaluation.

"After discussion with all fifteen Platoon leaders, we have arranged the final exercise as follows: This is a mock battle with real stakes between the First through Fifteenth platoons, and the Sixteenth through Twenty-Fifth platoons. I expect my 10 platoons to defeat the 1st Lieutenant's 15.

"For all of you boot camp girls, this is your chance to get a real combat assessment included in your file, so do your best to make your superior numbers tell the story.

"As for the details of how this fight will go, I've given the 1st Lieutenant precise directions to the site of battle. You don't always know when you are going to fight, so this will be a surprise for all of us. My superiors have granted this battle site for us to use.

"You have two hours to plan a strategy with your commander, whether that's me or the 1st lieutenant."
The Captain's team marched towards the barracks hall of the 25th Platoon, while Autumn marched with the others to the area in between 1st and 2nd platoon.

1st Lieutenant Yamada spoke up when they arrived. "At ease. I know I have a couple of combat trainers here. 15th platoon, Private Isoba. 3rd platoon, Privates Setsu and Teruya, please join the Lieutenants and I to discuss our strategies."

With sixteen Lieutenants, she wasn't sure how much battle experience she could bring that would help, but Autumn listened as Yamada asked for their input.

"We don't know the battle site, but if it's organized by High command, it will have a lot of intricacies," said Lieutenant Oneida of the 15th.

"We've got a few surprises with our girls. We should rely on a reserve system to fill in our weaknesses as they appear."

"The Captain will try to detail in detail. If we match up one platoon against one platoon, he'll be able to pick us off, we have to rely on flanking and reinforcements."

After all 15 lieutenants spoke, Finally, the enlisted ranks were free to give their opinions, starting with Private Isoba.

"If we rely on a stacked formation, the 14th and 15th platoons can stagger even the Captain's precious 25th."

"Private Setsu, do you have any input?" Yamada asked.


Vote what to say to the 1st Lieutenant.


[ ] Suggest that you could use Blade step to rally parts of the line that are collapsing.

[ ] Suggest that you could use Blade step to communicate the 1st Lieutenant's orders to far flung parts of the battle line. The furthest you'd stepped in one teleport was 50 yard, but you could still be useful.

[ ] Suggest blending the platoons so each unit has some of the strongest girls in your mock army and some of the weakest. This goes against "Standard" doctrine for the girl's army but it might be effective at preventing the weaker platoons from immediate collapse.

[ ] Write in

1st Lieutenant Yamada was surprised at Autumn's suggestion, but several lieutenants, including 1st Platoon's Lieutenant Nora and Lieutenant Oneida of the 15th agreed with the idea, so they implemented it.

Each platoon divided themselves as evenly as they could into 12 over-sized groups, which became the new platoons for the training exercise. Following other suggestions, Yamada took the 3 lieutenants from 13th through 15th platoons and made them super-LTs over 4 oversized platoons each.

Autumn ended up in the 7th platoon. She recognized two of her platoon members, but didn't know their names. There were about 50 girls in the 7th, and they formed up in three rows as they followed the relayed instructions of 1st Lieutenant Yamada.

Lieutenant Oshita was the Lieutenant of 7th platoon, taking over this blended 7th as well. She was one of the tallest girls Autumn had seen in the army, but she had a friendly approach to command.

"Some of you girls haven't been out on a training exercise before, so I will give you the brief summary. There are Fitness-based exercises that just rely on pushing to the limits through marching about the countryside. There are scouting exercises which have two teams but no full-on combat. And then there are Battle site exercises, like this one.

"Battle sites rely on extensive formations and magical items, and they have limitations. The Battle Site formation makes it possible for both teams to lose members in a safe manner, and you will feel a compulsion to lay down as soon as the formation considers you out.

"As Girls army units, our Battle Sites are melee combat only, so please don't create a makeshift ranged weapon during this battle test.

"The formation is combined with the use of training weapons, and detects when the weapon would have made a devastating strike if it were a real weapon.

"Please remain out of the battle after the compulsion effect ends.

"Otherwise you should treat this like a real battle, after all we will need every advantage against Captain Tsuda and the top platoons. The Captain is a 4th step pathist and will intervene in the battle if it helps him achieve the victory. The 1st Lieutenant will do the same.

"Girls, the top 5 platoons have many trained 3rd step pathists, and many of the lieutenants and some of the sergeants are 4th step. These girls are why the Captain expects to win with a 3 to 2 disadvantage in troops. Be wary of them, and rely on your fellow soldiers."

They marched, platoon after platoon, row after row, turning south almost immediately as they cleared the army base.

The navigation information directed them precisely, taking them through clearings between wooded areas, around rivers, across bridges, and their boots got wet when they had to cross a stream through wet marsh-like ground.

Autumn couldn't keep her directions straight but it seemed like they were creeping westward a bit while traveling mostly south.

Just after the noon-day sun reached it's peak, in the middle of an ocean of tall grass, Autumn caught sight of a group of Men's special forces.

They wore caps and uniforms formed of alternating colors of grey, green and yellow. These seemed to be old seasoned soldiers. Those that she had see rushing past their own formation were at least 30, and some were surely in their forties.

Older than the Crown Prince. That was old as far as Autumn knew.

The ground inched higher and higher as they marched in utter wilderness, disturbing flocks of birds which fled their stomping boots, and attracting small squirrels, rabbits and other varmints who wanted some of their rations.

The sun was creeping close to the horizon when they finally saw the sign.

"Battle Site 18: Foggy Valley

Please do not use Ranged weapons
Please do not fight on the hillside around the valley.
Be safe, do not leap off of the cliff faces.

Your battle will start at the moment of the next sunrise, do not move beyond this sign until then. "

They were standing on top of a huge bowl-shaped canyon, with hills around the edges and a valley in the middle. the other end of the bowl no-doubt being where Captain Tsuda's portion of the Cherry Blossom platoons were at.

There was no fog that evening, no clouds in the sky. It was an exceptional night for seeing far distances and even star-watching.

It was easy to see into the valley, and she could see across to the other side, but it was far enough that she couldn't make out any details. At least, if the Captain had made camp, he ordered no fires, as surely the smoke would have been visible.

1st Lieutenant Yamada projected her voice so everyone could hear.

"We knew whatever this battle site was, it would force us to adjust. If we rush down the descending slope, we will have speed but nothing else. Our organization will be shattered before we even hit the Captain's forces.

"We have to carefully move down the slope. There should be a victory condition that might be found at the lowest point in the valley. Be prepared to turn back and set up defensive positions. They may try to encircle us.

For now, form up with your bunk mates and set up tents. Your combined officer corps has designed some special plans for the Captain. I have a few words for each of you."

She was relaxing with Autumn outside their small tent when the 1st Lieutenant showed up to speak with them.

"Private Teruya, in the event of thick fog tomorrow, your goal is to reach the center of the valley, find the objective and defeat anyone there on the other team. In the event of a clear day, you will follow standard chain of command.

"Private Setsu, your target is to reach the far edge of the valley, approach the Captain's team sign and dispatch anyone on the other team you find there. If it's a clear day, follow standard chain of command."

She thought, perhaps her own suggestion would be worthless if it ended up foggy and everyone followed individual orders. All of their plans were thrown into the dust in that case.

Maybe Captain Tsuda chose this site to make sure he won? If you lose the advantage of better numbers because everyone is scattered all over, the extra quality of his platoons would be more important.

Was this whole Tracking approach Captain Tsuda's idea? She had never heard of the North Winds armies sorting themselves from best to worst.

They would learn so much more if the best soldiers weren't seperated into the top few platoons.

-|>--~

Autumn was relieved to see that the skies were still clear that morning, and they reformed into these blended platoons to march as a combined line down the slope.

When three girls slipped, she realized just how slick the hillside was. Dew covered the ground and tricky roots and weeds seemed to be a trap laid out for them.

Their neat lines were torn to pieces by girls falling, tripping and slipping.

Their experienced girls, however, helped the others up. After tumbling over a rock that seemed to appear from nowhere, Autumn stood up and went to help the others. Gradually the lines reformed as girls walked carefully, looking at their feet, and only a few more fell.

The next hazard was soft ground. It wasn't mud, but her boots started sinking into it. There were no grass or weeds existed to give the ground coherence. It was colored a pale yellow, and the smooth flat sheets of it were soon all over the place as girls tried to walk or climb their way through it.

Autumn frowned as she stepped forward, her right foot descended a foot into the soft ground. She fell forward and got hideously dirty as she squirmed and climbed away from the lumpy soft material.

Was this dirt straight from the wasteland? It held no firmness, and three times, Autumn fell as she tried to stand.

There was no choice but to turn into a dirt monster and just crawl her way to more solid ground.

Lieutenant Oshita had her arms covered the yellow gunk, but she escaped better than the rest of them, who were completely covered.

Oshita rallied the girls along with those other lieutenants who had made it through.

For all Autumn's combat skill, she had never faced a training exercise and learned the standard tricks and traps. She was almost the last of her platoon to get out of the weird soft-sand area.

As the platoons were still forming up, Autumn turned to the last few struggling girls, seeing that Wei was just behind her. Giving her a good tug, she helped Wei stand up.

"I wanted to be in Kazumi's platoon, or yours," Wei said sadly, and hurried off to her own lieutenant.

Captain Tsuda's forces must have been much more comfortable with the obstacles as they were already rushing up the slope to take out their group before the line solidified. He had arranged his platoons three wide across the slope, and Autumn knew this would be a tumultuous clash by the eager looks of the well-trained girls headed towards them.

Autumn joined her 7th platoon's line. 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th and 12th platoons formed up behind their first six.

The slope was barely wide enough to support six platoons, they were standing close to each other. Autumn took up the blunted saber she had received and prepared to receive the other team's attack.

The first strike she deflected, but her whole body shivered as heavenly lightning coursed through her. If they weren't allowed sharp weapons, why were active powers allowed?

She resisted, having no room to manuever, but struck out with the saber as the first wave of girls pushed through them.

Now with the other team behind her and the next wave in front, she was forced to escape, blade stepping into one of the small gaps between Captain Tsuda's platoons.

She struck hard against one of the attackers, and the surprise meant her strike hit. The girl dropped onto the ground and didn't move.

"Remember, it's just the compulsion, she's okay," Autumn said to herself.

She had to use the blade step twice more just to get out of the way of the incredible momentum of the other teams' charge. There were so many girls in Tsuda's advancing forces, it felt like they had more to their numbers that the 1st Lieutenant did.

She fought desperately to not get bowled over and struck "dead', fearing that she couldn't use another blade step anyway.

But finally, there was no next wave, and she found that the Captain's forces were beyond her 7th platoon, who had managed to reform and strike them from behind.

Roughly half of the 7th was on the ground, ruled out by the formations, but Autumn joined up with the rest.

Perhaps Tsuda had thought they would leave their worst girls in the back, but his platoons found the fighting just as tough in every corner of the battle, and as more of the girls shook off the terrible fear of the charge, the fight became fierce, and double-sided.

In what could only be a Card or Active power, the next thing that happened was the fog. It didn't roll in, it simply came into being.

"Remember!" Yamada shouted, her shout-equipment causing her voice to carry.

Autumn remembered, and started running down the slope in the utter gloom. She was swallowed up by it, stumbling and falling hard, uncertain where she was. The traps were still there, but the Captain's forces had rushed by without being affected.

She dared to take another blade step, and climbed back onto her feet again.

She could hear heavy breaths and running, but as for her own pace, she took it slowly and carefully, not wanting to fall or lose her bearings. It was only the quickly leveling out slope that oriented her, and she began to walk up the reverse slope. She didn't hear as much here.

What she did here was the sound of air moved by a sword strike, and she frantically waved her own sword around, clanging against her invisible opponent's.

She stepped back and used her best intuition to guess the other girl's next move, and then ducked low, slashing across where she hoped the girl's legs were.

The sound of a body tumbling to the ground was sign enough for her to continue climbing up the reverse slope. She had her target, and it was Captain's Tsuda's signpost. How would she see it without crossing outside of the defined battle area?

She didn't hear the sound of anyone else until she saw Captain Tsuda's team sign glowing in the middle of the mist, near the top. The eerie glow allowed her to see the path up to the sign, and a few feet around it.

She heard a weird sound.

"Private Setsu, I see Major Sumida's praise was well placed. I'm sure you'll score well, but as for defeating me."

Captain Tsuda stepped towards the sign, and she could see the jug he was carrying, the sword sheath at his side. She hadn't seen him with a weapon at base.

She approached, quickly rushing the last twenty feet up the slope.

Tsuda took one more drink from the jog, and tossed it to the side, swiftly pulling out his blade in one motion. He easily deflected her chop.

His sheath fell to the ground as he attacked low, and Autumn was forced to blade step to his side, where he swept the blade up and to his left, causing her to only be able to frantically defend.

Her training saber deflected the blow, but the force of it pushed her blade way out of guard position.

She had to instantly blade step away from him to avoid the insanely fast finishing strike he'd planned. This was the last one she could afford to use, if she didn't want to suffer the same Essence withdrawals.

The Captain's movements and sword positioning were devastating. She realized he was of the school of thought that said speed of sword was most important. She didn't recognize his blade, It was curved, but less so than the saber. Masterfully made, she guessed, despite being a blunted training blade.

Quickly rushing towards her, the Captain feinted left and right, attacking in one position, and then another, forcing her guard to be stretched, and her footwork to nearly fail.

He got a clean upward strike that hit the bottom of her jaw, causing her teeth to clang and chatter.

"Oh come on, that doesn't count as a killing blow?' the Captain asked.

This was an entirely different side of the Base commander. He had a Sword way at the 4th step, and she hadn't detected it until this very fight.

Kazumi, of all people, had received orders to go here also? She joined their fight.

The Captain didn't strike again but spoke, "another girl. Private Miyata I see you've established your path. Impressive, but if your senior sister in Mid-3rd step can't deal with me, why did you think you could help?"

The Captain, if anything became faster, trying to mostly attack Kazumi, but also feinting in her own direction.

Despite their two on one advantage, she wasn't sure if she had the essence to swing things in their advantage. The Captain's sword speed was simply incredible. He was not a formulaic fighter but constantly surprising.

Had she truly recovered fully and then advanced toward Mid-3rd step?

The Captain finally got a clean strike that the battle site formation considered victory. Despite their efforts, the Captain was simply better, and Kazumi collapsed, influenced by the compulsion.

She focused on her defense as the Captain attacked relentlessly, but three more girls appeared.

Captain Tsuda found he was on the defense now, but these new girls didn't have the same skill, and he was able to keep all four of them at bay, and take down one of the other girls, but then, even more members of her team arrived.

She anticipated it, the Captain was going to use his active abilities! Not worrying about essence, she surprised him by using her blade teleport, which he hadn't seen in use yet. Her trump actually managed to get the "killing" blow when he was forced to block another three strikes and couldn't react in time to the flying saber.


-|>--~

Captain Tsuda was deathly silent as the two teams made their combined march back to base. One of the victory conditions that Autumn didn't know about, was "decapitation". If either commanding officer "dies", the battle is over, the other side wins.

The Captain's swordfighting was impressive, it was thrilling to battle him.

When they arrived back at base, Captain Tsuda called the 1st Lieutenant to a meeting in his office. The rest of them returned to their original platoon halls, as for the 1st through 15th platoons, there was celebrating the upset victory, by defeating the Captain even!

In 3rd platoon, Mari, Autumn and the other girls sang songs, cheered, laughed, told jokes, and had a good time.

At morning muster, they were all worried what reaction the Captain would have to his defeat.

"First Lieutenant, acknowledgements are due on your victory. 1st Lieutenant, ask Captain Matsuura for something appropriate for your team's reward. But such things must wait, as your evaluation and unit assessment is here. Lieutenants, please come forward and take your Path scanners."

Autumn watched as Lieutenant Tahara and the others took the rectangular devices and returned to their platoons.

"Record each girl in your platoon for their Path step and sub-stage. These values will be combined with their combat evaluation to determine final placement into platoons before our first real assignment."

She tried to watch Wei and Kazumi's Path assessments to see where they were at.

Wei was already 1st Step, Late stage, and Kazumi, shockingly, had reached 2nd Step Peak, in the matter of a few weeks! Wasn't she 1st Step, just like Wei, when they met at the Northern border base.

Autumn's own path progress matched what the Captain had said during battle. "3rd Step Mid."

She was confident she could use Blade step five or six times a day, and Blade teleport twice.

It only took a quarter hour before all of the assessments were completed. After the assessments were complete, Autumn noticed another man standing next to the Captain

"You may not know Specialist Yamauchi, but he knows you. One of the most impressive Admin-type Pathists of the West Winds, he and his fellows of the Evaluation office of High Command use their superior skills and intellect to determine your placements.

Are you ready to assign these girls to their Combat platoons, Specialist Yamauchi?"

Specialist Yamauchi spoke to the Captain, "Yes sir. Captain Tsuda, Cherry Blossom Girls Army Base. I am re-evaluating the placement of all girls by platoon, considering combat performance and Path only. As you see your Platoon number, assemble together with your fellow girls of the same platoon."

The Specialist held two spell cards. He didn't have to shout their names nor place them anywhere, but instead things started to happen right away.

The pages of combat evaluations the Captain now had in his hands dispersed into hundreds of scraps of paper and started flying around like a halo above the specialist's head.

Autumn thought on what she expected. Surely, Wei would end up at least 2nd platoon, or even 3rd, but Kazumi's new platoon was double digits, she was sure of it.

Autumn guessed the mid-teens would be around where her own placement was, and Mari might be a high single digits, like the 8th platoon or so.

The paper scraps started multiplying and numbers made up of the scraps appeared in front of each girls' head.

Seeing her number, Autumn was shocked, and couldn't understand it. Surely her lack of training exercises and practice in army-style fighting knocked her down a couple of platoons. She had a lot more to learn.

The floating 25 made of paper scraps ensured she would be thrown straight into the greatest trial. Just to earn the respect of the best soldiers of Cherry Blossom base would be an achievement. What kind of Combat evaluation did the Captain give her?

As she walked over to the other 25s, she looked for the girls she knew. All that she could see in the chaos of girls re-sorting themselves was Kazumi, now assigned to 19th platoon.

"Thank you Specialist Yamauchi," the Captain said. "Well, this morning will be your chance to get settled in, make sure to take everything from your old platoon hall. Those of you rising in rank will receive equipment as appropriate, those of you falling in rank may keep what you already have. After lunch, proceed with training according to your preference. Tomorrow, I shall receive our official orders and we will start our serious work to hone all of you into a united battle unit."

Hurrying back towards 3rd platoon's hall, She ran into Mari. She only had one possession at the hall: what was left of her Path pills, given to her by Sergeant Furutani.

"Are you still going to train with us today?" Mari asked.

"Of course. I'm sure in the coming days I'll be consumed with learning the intense exercises of the senior girls, but for today, I still want to help everyone get better."

Mari was moving up to 10th platoon. Private Toda was one of the few of their hall moving down, but even the bookworm Chieko moved up to 5th platoon.

"See you after lunch then," Autumn said as she left.

When she walked into Platoon 25's barracks hall, she realized the differences from 3rd platoon. Between larger bunks, a lounge area with chairs, and several supply drawers, the 25th was well supplied.

Most of the girls arriving congregated together in their own group, while Autumn felt lost, like she was in the den of a great dragon.

Two desks were gathered together, and an older girl was sitting at one of them.

"Private Setsu, please sit down," she said.

She uneasily took the other chair, which was likely the Lieutenant's.

"I'm Master Sergeant Kumagai, Lieutenant Sano's 2nd. Coming from 3rd platoon, and a new member of the army as well, you are probably unaware of the rank structure of the Girls' army base. There are base ranks for members of each platoon, and normally you would be promoted to Sergeant as a member of 25th platoon. However, High Command has informed the Captain and Lieutenant Sano, that we are being given Special Forces ranks and classifications.

Tomorrow, you will receive the uniform, privileges and rank of Specialist, Junior Grade, along with your fellow platoon members. What further meaning High Command has in such designation, we won't find out until we receive orders.

According to your Path evaluation, you would qualify for use of our 3rd Step Path pill which will help you to progress towards 3rd Step peak. In addition, you can choose one item from our platoon's allotment to supplement your combat strength"


Vote on new equipment for Autumn:

[ ] {Resist Mental Compulsion & Assault} This talisman made of gold and a black-colored element is on a silver chain and worn around the neck to protect the wearer from items and powers that would take control or assault the mind.

[ ] {Amplify Short-burst Speed & Leaping} These leather boots are enhanced with the strange red feathers of an unknown bird, and allow the wearer to run more quickly for a moment, and leap higher.

[ ] {Long Distance Sight & Hearing} This monocle is formed of a lens make by off-world techniques and mounted in a silver frame with connected rod. Not only capable of providing sight of far off things, the monocle will also let you hear remotely as well.