Strike Heroes (Story)

**Status** | Complete

Strike Heroes is the first story in the Strike Heroes series as it follows a young man who ended up in the world and is recruited to the prestigious Strike Witches. This story was first published on June 12, 2013 and went for twenty-four chapters before being completed on September 6 the same year. It is succeeded by Strike Heroes 2: Roland's Return.

**WARNING: This page contains spoilers for the story in question. If you haven't read the story beforehand, then proceed at your own discretion.**

## Story Summary

The story focuses on an eighteen-year-old boy named  Roland Sage who, having participated in an incident called the Ascension Incident, is recruited by Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke to join the Five Hundred and First Joint Fighter Wing, the Strike Witches. Along the way, he befriends some of his new teammates and learns more about his powers, including a secret power that unlocked inside him.

## Chapter Summaries

***Chapter 1: Boat Combat***

Roland Sage, a male Witch-in-training, and one of his teammates are caught in a Neuroi attack while on the Ascension. Even with Commander Hannah Ellios, their leader, coming in to help out, the commander is shot down and dies in Roland's arms. The male Witch then uses Ellios' Striker Unit to fly up to the Neuroi and, after blasting a hole big enough for him to see the core, throws a grenade into it and destroys it. Later on, he and Kayley talk to each other and the male Witch gets worried about what could transpire while he was there.

***Chapter 2: Honorary Strike Witch***

Minna arrives on the base a newly-promoted Roland is stationed at a week after the Ascension incident, having been given a dossier by Adolfine. Roland is called into General Weiss' office and is introduced to the wing commander, who asks him to join the Strike Witches. General Weiss gives the male Witch a prototype Striker Unit bound to a watch and asks Roland to escort Minna to the room she would be sleeping in for the night. Alone once they get there, Roland asks Minna for the reason why she chose to recruit him, the commander telling him that she had promised Ellios. The next day, they take off for Britannia, arriving just as the Neuroi attack from Episode 2 of the anime makes its move. Minna tells Roland to go rest while she and the others takes care of the problem.

***Chapter 3: You're Not Alone (Part 1)***

The day after he and Yoshika are officially inducted into the Strike Witches, the two bump into each other by accident and are escorted to the meeting room by Minna. There, the duo are introduced to the Witches inside the room, Lynette being chosen to show them around the base. During the tour, ynette mentions that Kayley had told her about Roland, which catches the male Witch off guard. After the tour, the trio are trained by Mio in how to use their Striker Unit, helped by Perrine.

***Chapter 4: You're Not Alone (Part 2)***

Roland works on some training separate from Yoshika and Lynette with the help of Charlotte and Francesca and practices combat with Erica in the afternoon. At night, he and Yoshika sit at the edge of the runway and are joined by Lynette, who seems down about something. The next morning, Roland is woken up by the alarm warning of a Neuroi attack and sees the main team off with Minna, Yoshika, and Lynette. When Lynette runs into the base, Roland follows her and tries to talk to her, being refuted by the Britannian Witch. Yoshika arrives shortly and explains to Lynette about why she chose to keep trying before she goes off to convince Minna to let her fly. Roland takes the chance to tells Lynette to focus on impressing herself instead of thinkingthat she's worthless, and the Britannian Witch takes her teammates' words to heart as she and the male Witch go off to catch up to Yoshika and volunteer to go with Minna and Eila. Being selected to stay behind in case the true Neuroi threat gets past the more experienced Witches, Yoshika, Roland, and Lynette manage to work together to bring the target down as Roland learns a little more about his aura capabilities.

***Chapter 5: Thanks (Part 1)***

Waking up from a dream he had concerning Minna, Roland rushes into his clothes and out to breakfast before running into Minna, who he decides to walk with as they chat about Roland's aura sense magic. At breakfast, Gertrud appears to be worried about something and leaves without eating much, a point Perrine makes by describing the nattō beans Yoshika chose to make with breakfast as being "rotten". During a bokken-used spar with Mio, Roland accidentally discovers that he somehow copied the older Fuso Witch's magic eye and is unable to figure out why he did it. Later on at night, Roland and Gertrud talk for a bit before he brings up her reaction to Yoshika, which makes the Karlsland captain dismiss him for the night.

***Chapter 6: Thanks (Part 2)***

The morning after his talk with Gertrud, Roland wakes up to find that Sanya had slept next to him when she came back from night patrol and tries getting her back to her assigned room before he finds Eila at his door, who proceeds to slap Roland across the cheek. After lunch, Roland is busy relaxing when he spots exposions in the sky. Activating his Striker Unit, he joins Minna, Lynette, Mio, Yoshika, Perrine, and Gertrud in taking on the Neuroi and tries figuring out why Gertrud was acting cold towards the little Fuso Witch. When Gertrud is shot down, Perrine, Yoshika, and Roland fly down to catch and protect her. Yoshika attempts to heal the injured captain, who urges the little Fuso Witch to use her magic to fight the enemy instead of saving her, Roland snaps and yells at Gertrud about her behavior, adding that he knows exactly how the captain feels because he was unable to save Ellios. Perrine's shield fails after a while, forcing Roland to protect the others with a rushed shield as a shot from the Neuroi comes into their view. When the dust settles, Gertrud is able to fly into the air again and destroy the Neuroi as Roland tells Yoshika and Perrine about why he chose to snap at the captain. Later, the male Witch and the little Fuso Witch are thanked by Perrine and Erica, and Roland decides to apologize to Gertrud the next day about his actions during the mission. Gertrud apologizes as well about her attitude and is told by Roland that a ride was there for her. Yoshika, finding out that Roland had told Gertrud about the ride already, coining the nickname "Roland-kun" for the male Witch.

***Chapter 7: Fast, Big, Soft (Part 1)***

Barely waking up, Roland hears Yoshika hitting the floor after her dream and rushes to her door along with Lynette, and the duo find the little Fuso Witch as she recovers from her injury and looking embarrassed around Lynette. After getting dressed, the trio bump into Mio, who smacks Yoshika for groping her as Roland looks through a nearby window before they are asked to head to the meeting room. Once there, they learn that they were heading to the beach for training, a fact Yoshika was happy for until she realized that they ere going there to train. Minna then asks Yoshika and Roland to relay the information to Charlotte, the little Fuso Witch asking Lynette to come along. Finding Charlotte in the hangar and tinkering with her Striker Unit, the trio also find Francesca there as well and watch the buxom Liberion Witch test her modifications out before she tells them about her land speed record and tells them about her dreams of breaking the sound barrier. Later on, Francesca accidentally wrecks Charlotte's Striker Unit and hastily pieces it together before anyone found out, being found by Roland once she left the hangar to avoid suspicion.

***Chapter 8: Fast, Big, Soft (Part 2)***

Mio enters the kitchen the next morning to find Yoshika and Lynette watching Roland and Perrine start a game of chess, the Gallian Witch making the first move of the game. When Yoshika goes into the kitchen to make them some breakfast, she is joined by Roland and Lynette as the male Witch decides to make the team some cheesy eggs (with some toast made by Lynette, who had to operate the toaster due to Roland's inability to figure out how to use the model, and nattō beans courtesy of Yoshika). At the appointed time, the team head to the beach, where Roland, Yoshika, and Lynette are drilled on water movement inside Striker Units by Mio and Minna. After their training, the trio lay on the sand and are joined by Charlotte before Yoshika notices something odd flying in front of the sun, the buxom Liberion Witch and Roland placing it as a Neuroi. The team make their way to the Striker Units, Charlotte reaching them first and taking off followed by Roland, Yoshika, and Lynette. The trio manage to watch as Charlotte breaks the sound barrier and rips through the enemy before catching her and her Striker Unit before either one hits the water. They then discover that Charlotte's swimsuit had disintegrated completely, leading Roland to take the lead to avoid looking at the buxom Liberion Witch. A week after the break in the sound barrier, Roland is dragged into the bath by Mio, who is escorted by Yoshika and Lynette, and the group find Charlotte using the bath, resulting in Roland fainting after a while.

***Chapter 9: We're the Same (Part 1)***

Returning from a meeting in Britannia in a plane, Minna, Roland, Mio, and Yoshika discuss about the meeting for a bit before Sanya flies close to escort the plane. When a Neuroi makes an appearance, Sanya takes on the enemy but is called back by Mio after a while. Reaching the base, an emergency meeting is held to notify the others about the Neuroi, leading Minna to make a night patrol team and assigns Sanya and Yoshika to it, Eila volunteering to be with Sanya and Roland deciding to join in order to get experience in night patrols. The next morning, the night patrol group have blueberries for breakfast before being sent to Sanya's room to rest up for the night patrol. A little while after, Eila chooses to read Yoshika's future as well as Roland's, the Suomos Witch saying that he will bring balance to the lives of many. Waking up from their rest, the group are treated to some marigold herbal tea made courtesy of Perrine, who is offended by Lynette (who then apologized) calling it an old wives' tale. Roland then asks if things like that were all old wives' tales, who is promptly snapped at by the Gallian Witch before remarking that some could be considered "young wives' tales" and receiving a smack to the back of the head powerful enough to send his forehead into the table. Going out to begin night patrol, Yoshika is escorted into the sky by Eila and Sanya and they and Roland take off.

***Chapter 10: We're the Same (Part 2)***

The morning after their first night patrol as a group, Roland and the others are treated to cups of fish oil, everyone except Minna not enjoying the drinks to varying degrees (Roland makes the mistake to have more despite not liking the taste to get used to drinking anything). Heading back to bed, Sanya tells the newest members about her family's current situation and, once they wake up, the four head to the sauna for a bit. The girls head outside to bathe while Roland goes into his room to rest, where Minna finds him and they talk for a bit before the male Witch has to get ready for the patrol. While out, Yoshika reveals that her birthday was that day, and the others congratulate her before the Neuroi from two nights ago engages them, destroying half of Sanya's Striker Unit before the four band together to destroy the enemy. After the battle, Sanya and the others hear her father's song as Eila reveals that Sanya's birthday was the same day as Yoshika's. The next evening, the team enjoys cake made by some of the girls, and Roland is rewarded a second slice by Sanya herself for the help (which was almost promptly nearly run down his throat in possible retaliation for him volunteering for the night patrol).

***Chapter 11: Nice and Breezy (Part 1)***

Roland enjoys the morning air for a bit before Mio finds him and tells him that Erica's commendation ceremony is that day. Heading in, Roland finds Minna (the male Witch later explains that she had asked him to come with her off the base) and the two meet up with Lynette before heading out to go pick up Erica's medal. While waiting for Minna, Lynette mentions Roland's gaze toward the commander, something Roland is slightly annoyed at due to the Britannian Witch trying to figure it out. Heading into the city, the trio are greeted by Adolfine (who is introduced to Roland after Minna tells him her rank) and decide to go grab some parfait. While going to their destination, Roland feels a breeze that makes him chilly out of fear before snapping out of it and continuing onwards.

***Chapter 12: Nice and Breezy (Part 2)***

Inside the shop, Roland tells Adolfine about his memories of the Ascension incident, and commodore asks him about why he was with the Strike Witches. Minna tells her about the dossier, but Adolfine reveals that she had next to no idea that Roland was a Witch (more specifically, the Witch mentioned in the story about what happened on the Ascension). When their parfaits arrive, they eat them while Roland tells Adolfine about his time with the Strike Witches so far, making sure to avoid telling her some details like the time he fainted in front of Charlotte in the bath, before they are greeted by someone. The newcomer then tries taking Minna hostage but is thwarted by Roland, who goes all out and knocks the man out before fainting due to over-exerting his magic powers. As Minna and Lynette get ready to take Roland and head back to base, Adolfine warns the commander to keep an eye on Roland in case anything happened. After waking up, Roland is awarded a medal for killing ten Neuroi but ends up fainting at the same time as the ending for Episode 7 of the first season.

***Chapter 13: I Won't Forget You (Part 1)***

The day the Akagi comes to the base for a while, Roland is called into Minna's office and informed that he is affected by a regulation the commander placed into effect. When a sailor who wants to give Yoshika a letter approaches Roland for directions, Roland tells the sailor that he could get the letter to the little Fuso Witch if he did so discreetly and quickly. While shooting at the firing range, he is found by Minna, who gets into an argument with him about the fairness of the regulation before the commander tells him that she had already lost someone before, making Roland shocked as Minna orders him to stay out of the air until further notice. In her office after the incident, Minna is found by Gertrud, who asks for permission to look into Roland's dossier and mentions that some of the others, including Yoshika, heard Roland and the commander fighting.

***Chapter 14: I Won't Forget You (Part 2)***

The next day, the argument still in his mind, Roland gets breakfast and bumps into Minna briefly while leaving to eat it in his room for the moment. After a while inside his room, Roland discusses his situation with his mind before trying to take a nap, being interrupted by a Neuroi attack. Heading into the command room and listening to the radio, Roland tries to gauge the severity of the attack before running out to join the others. He arrives with the girls and attacks the Neuroi alongside them, the male Witch entering Neuroi Mode for the first time in the heat of the battle. Using his newly-awakened powers, Roland makes short work of the Neuroi. Later on, after the battle, Roland comes into Minna's office to apologize for his actions towards her but is apologized to by the commander as well. Lifting the restrictions, the duo organize a sort of farewell gift for the Akagi crew (mentioned by Roland in his narration), and the male Witch remembers that Mio ended up in a dangerous situation and goes to Minna's office to stop it, ending up being trapped by Mio and Minna.

***Chapter 15: What We Want to Protect (Part 1)***

Having caught Roland in a trap, Mio and Minna try figuring out about Roland's actions during the battle from before and are a little unsure of the answer, though Minna grounds Roland once more to avoid repeating it in case things went south because of said powers. The next morning, Roland and Gertrud discuss the male Witch's actions taken so far, Roland getting a little worried about how she sees him so far. While getting dressed after a bath Mio dragged him into, Roland tries to prevent Perrine and Yoshika from entering a duel with each other in hopes of avoiding any more problems, but the little Fuso Witch agrees to the duel once Roland leaves. Relaxing in the woods by himself, he is found by Charlotte and the two talk about Roland's Striker Unit's origins before Roland wonders about the consequences of hiding his secret from the others. When a stray bullet misses them, Roland realizes that Yoshika and Perrine were dueling and flies up to stop it.

***Chapter 16: What We Want to Protect (Part 2)***

Roland interrupts the duel and tries to talk Perrine out of continuing the fight but is shot at by the Gallian Witch, forcing Roland to get involved, He tries to beat her but after trying a trick he is injured by her rapier, which puts a cut in Roland's right upper arm. Meanwhile, Minna and Mio are watching the duel and the events as well before Minna points out something going towards them. Mio recognizes it and goes to her Striker Unit to stop it. After receiving the cut, Roland orders Perrine to shoot him to avoid seeing his life get ruined but manages to snap out of it with Yoshika's help. As the trio float there, a humanoid Neuroi approaches them, and Mio arrives to fight it. However, she is shot down by a hidden Neuroi, which leads Roland to aim at it before the humanoid Neuroi gets in his way, making Roland decide not to kill them. Taking Mio back to the base, Roland beats himself up mentally over Mio's injuries and watches as Yoshika uses her magic to stabilize Mio when the major's life signs drop. Minna and a doctor arrive to check on them and the commander asks for Yoshika and Roland to come outside the infirmary to speak with her.

***Chapter 17: We Want You to Believe (Part 1)***

Minna disciplines Yoshika and Roland concerning the fact that they failed to shoot down the Neuroi (for Roland), let Mio get hurt, and attempted to fraternize with the enemy (for Yoshika), placing them under room arrest. Roland tries arguing with the commander but stops and hesitantly tells Minna about why he failed to shoot the Neuroi. As she turns to leave, the male Witch asks Minna about her reason for Gertrud looking into him and is saddened by the fact that everything was beginning to go wrong for him. In the evening, Sanya brings him dinner and, after hearing him try belittling himself after asking her about the trust she has towards him, tells him that she would trust him no matter what. While eating, Roland decides to go into the air and try figuring out the answers he wanted to know, and he makes a quick stop at Yoshika's window around four the next morning. After telling her of his plans, Yoshika decides to come along in hopes of getting back the Roland she knew as well as be able to heal him if he needed it. Causing a panic among the maintenance crew and driving them out of the hangar, the two collect some supplies and take off in their Striker Units. Waking up and thinking of a plan to get the two jailbirds back, Minna is told about a call from Maloney and choses to have Lynette stay on the base in Yoshika's place as Perrine volunteers to keep an eye on Mio. Answering the call, Minna is given the orders to kill Yoshika and Roland on sight by Maloney and chooses to disregard said orders, stating that she would not kill her teammates as well as someone she's grown to trust. With Yoshika and Roland, the two are found by the humanoid Neuroi from before and are led to a nest.

***Chapter 18: We Want you to Believe (Part 2)***

The others manage to reach the nest Roland and Yoshika are led to and are forced to stay put in the hopes of the duo getting out alive, Sanya mentioning what she and Roland had talked about. Going into the nest, Roland and Yoshika discover that Roland has a Neuroi core fused in his body and learn about the Warlock (for Yoshika). However, said Warlock crashes into the nest and begins destroying it, forcing the being to imprint a mental plane into Roland so that the male Witch could learn more about it. Making their escape, they run into the Warlock and manage to outwit it for the time being, barely getting out before the nest is destroyed. Recovering from the explosion, they are accosted by the others, where Roland places the entire blame for their actions on himself. When they approach the base, they discover that Maloney had taken over the base and chose to disband the Strike Witches.

***Chapter 19: The Truth***

After hearing that the Strike Witches are disbanded, Yoshika tries arguing with him but is unable to once the general asks her about how she learned of the Warlock's existence. Roland chooses then to jump in and learns that Maloney somehow knew about his secret. In anger, the male Witch tries to strike at him with his crowbar but is stopped as Maloney locks him out of his Striker Unit via a device as the general explains that he was the one heading the development of the Striker Unit Roland used. Furious about the revelation, Roland tackles Maloney to the ground and, in the midst of his anger, blurts out his secret in front of the girls. As he's about to deliver a blow to the general's face, Minna orders Roland to stop, making the male Witch calm down and realize that the Strike Witches now know his secret. Forced to leave Maloney alone, Roland and the grils walk away to get away from the base, where the others question Roland's origins and reasons for lying to them. When Roland reveals something Yoshika never told him, he reveals that their world was made up from his world's view. In anger, Minna lashes out at him and slaps him before pulling her pistol on him and forcing him off the team with the threat of death if she spotted him in the air again. Roland leaves despite Yoshika's pleas not to out of remorse, and the others split up to go their separate ways. While traveling, Gertrud and Erica talk to Minna about the commander's anger towards Roland, Minna trying to defend her right to be angry before considering how Roland could have saw it. She decides to go find Roland to learn why, Gertrud and Erica following. Meanwhile, Roland arrives at the spot he was at before the duel and talks to his reflection about what had transpired, being found by Minna while talking. Asked by the commander for his reason why he lied to them, Roland tells her that he didn't want their sympathy along with a few other reasons he thought of on the fly. After being slapped once more by the commander, he is allowed back on the team and agrees with Minna's plan to keep tabs on the base and the Warlock in case things went south. Elsewhere, Sanya asks Eila about her trust towards Roland since his secret was revealed to them, and Lynette hopes that the team would come back together with Roland's help.

***Chapter 20: We Will Fly (Part 1)***

Camping inside an abandoned cabin while keeping an eye on the place, Roland talks to the girls about why they weren't angrier at him among other things before he faints for an unexplained reason. Waking up inside a sea of purple light, Roland is greeted with the humanoid Neuroi from the nest, looking like Ellios, as it explains that it unlocked Roland's missing memories except for a two-month period between him being pulled into the world of Strike Witches and waking up in an orphanage and applying for the military. The being also shows Roland a vision of them failing to stop the Warlock when the Neuroi Witch (who had been given that moniker by Minna after being let back on the team) asks for it. With Roland waking up, the four discover that the Warlock had begun renegading on its creators and chooses to go in and stop Maloney, the girls deciding to join him and being given the role of leader for the moment by Minna.

***Chapter 21: We Will Fly (Part 2)***

Reaching the guarded base, Roland devises a series of ideas for them to try, ultimately going with climbing the building to get to his window. While trying to slip inside, Minna accidentally loses her footing and is caught by Roland before being pulled in and ending up on top of the Neuroi Witch. The commotion alerts some guards, who are disposed of by Gertrud and Erica. Deciding to fight their way through to Maloney since they were spotted, the four reach the command room and are ambushed by some of Maloney's men, Roland managing to avoid capture. Maloney and Roland exchange some words as well as more information on the Striker Unit and Roland's still-lost memories before the general threatens to kill the Karlsland Witches if Roland tried anything. Minna tries to tell Roland to run and not surrender as Maloney encourages him to give in, but Roland chooses to defy both of them and, with some deft shots from his pistol that even he was unsure of pulling off, manages to free the girls. Meanwhile, Eila and Sanya decide to head back to the base using the train they had just gotten off of.

***Chapter 22: Strike Witches (Part 1)***

After being freed, Gertrud and Roland fight off some opponents as Minna finds the files on the Warlock. Maloney tries using the device he used to lock Roland out of his Striker Unit to kill him but is stopped by a well-thrown crowbar to the inside of the general's arm. Catching the device with Erica's help, Roland unlocks his Striker Unit and destroys the remote under his foot before letting Gertrud tie Maloney up, letting the general know that they would let the world know about his stunt. Gaining entry to the hangar to get the Striker Units and weapons out thanks to Gertrud and Roland (who copied the Karlsland captain's magic to help out), the others begin to arrive, Lynette being the last to arrive. Assembled for the moment, the team takes off to help Yoshika.

***Chapter 23: Strike Witches (Part 2)***

Yoshika is rendered unable to move by a melee attack from the Warlock and is about to be finished off when Lynette's bullet hits the enemy's head, making the charged shot enter the ocean as Roland flies past to take it on. Talking to the Warlock, Roland decides to fight and manages to disable the core's control over the unit by severing its head with the use of his sword. However, the core manages to fuse the Warlock with the Akagi, leaving the now-complete team to finish what they started. Punching their way in thanks to Charlotte and Francesca, Roland, Yoshika, Lynette, and Perrine go in to find the core, encountering heavy resistance. Roland uses Neuroi Mode to better protect himself and, once they reach their destination, leaves it and copies Perrine's magic to help her make a hole for them to go through and reach the engine room. Yoshika decides to use her Striker Unit to finish the core off, and Roland is forced to protect the others by using his shield. This leads to Gallia's liberation.

***Epilogue: A New Question Forms...***

Roland reveals that he and Yoshika had been dishonorably discharged despite having helped save Britannia and liberate Gallia and is asked by the girls about his plans. As they argue amongst themselves about his ultimate plans, Adolfine comes in looking for Roland. The commodore then gives Roland the chance to participate in morale rallies, and he decides to go through with it with the request that he ad Yoshika were to be allowed to fight alongside the Strike Witches if it ever reformed. Close to six months later, Roland is taking a slight break when he is asked for an autograph. Giving the young kid one, he is then greeted with Amaki crashing into the bush next to his door. Recovering from her crash landing, she gives Roland a letter from Minna along with an envelope from Doctor Ichirō Miyafuji containing the Neuroi Witch's diagnostics.

## Characters Featured

Roland Sage

Kayley Nova

Hannah Ellios

Minna-Dietlinde Wilcke

Yoshika Miyafuji

Mio Sakamoto

Lynette Bishop

Pierrette-Henriette "Perrine" Clostermann

Gertrud "Trude" Barkhorn

Erica Hartmann

Eila Ilmatar Juutilainen

Aleksandra "Sanya" Vladimirovna Litvyak

Charlotte "Shirley" Yeager

Francesca Lucchini