THE RISING DEAD - Halloween Special

On a quiet night in the Saints Petersburg citadel., Hikari Karibuchi was preparing for something special as Hallows eve was around the corner. She walked over to a closet and smiled as she opened it, inside was a robe and a scythe.

"hahaha! took a while to gather the materials... and all the cutting and stiching potato sacks into a robe, but it's worth it! and the scythe was just laying around!" Hikari gleemed with more than a little pride in her makeshift work.

Putting on the robe and heading out of her room, she decides to head down to the dining area. as she walks down, she remembers something that Gundula had told her recently. her sister Takami promises to come over this halloween. this prompts Hikari to start thinking of what she might wear.

"Fufufu, maybe a maid? or a bird!" The young witch gets lost in her thoughts as she accidentally bumps into the clumsy Nikka Katajainen. The two witches stare at eachother, Apologizing. The blonde witch was wearing a pointed hat while holding a broom.

"Hikari, do you happen to have any... black shirts I could use?" Nikka asked. Hikari unfortunately didn't have any.

"Ah, I wanted to dress as... those stereotypical witches! It's most I could think of..." Nikka muttered under her breath.

"Oh! Okay... You look fine!" Hikari told the sumous witch. The two smiled as they got up and went back on their way. Upon arriving in the room they see Edytha rossmann, Dressed in regular clothes but now sporting a stahelm helmet, There was also Sadako and Georgette, their face and body were wrapped in bandages in an attempt to replicate ancient mummies from Egypt, and finally Kanno Naoe with the best costume, she put her head in a pumpkin with holes to see and eat.

upon seeing the glorious sight of Kanno's attempt. Hikari and Nikka immediately burst into laughter, agitating the short tempered fuso. Edytha however looks at Kanno, making sure she doesn't attempt to punch a hole in the two.

"Ahaahahah! What is this?!" Nikka asked the pumpkin witch, turning red from laughing hard, in an agitated tone, Naoe responds "Nipa! This pumpkin isn't going to require alot to do! Besides, I've had enough troubles making this!!". Edytha stares at kanno, dumbfounded at what she just said. Kanno soon begins to tell Nikka the events she had to go through.

Three hours ago, Kanno gathered a few pumpkins outside the hanger to carve. However, the knives were being used elsewhere. The witch simply thought of trying to punch holes in them instead, She punched too hard on the first few causing them to explode all over the place, much to the dismay of Georgette who Immediately brought them back into the kitchen for her and Sadako to cook. Even after making sure her punches don't annhilate the pumpkins, She wasn't pleased with how they looked and only settled for the one she's wearing an hour ago.

Hikari finally stops laughing to ask a simple question. "Where's Krupinski, Sasha and Gundula?". Edytha looks at the fluffy haired girl. "They're busy, Gundula is busy talking to the 503rd Joint fighter wing over the phone, Partially to wish them a good holiday".

Sadako also perks up with another question, "Wonder how it's going, Maybe it's all peaceful..", the other witches hope for it.

In her office, Gundula talks to Huberta over the phone. Sasha and Waltrud standby, bored but vigilant.

"So yeah, Everything is fine over here... nothing much happens aside from raiding neurois"

Huberta explained, almost sounding a little bored.

"Glad to hear such news... From our side, things are mostly fine after-" Huberta quickly cuts off Gundula with a slight groan

"Yeah... cool... very cool, all that stuff... heard about those Karibuchis, they sound adorable", Waltrud smiled upon hearing it too, "Agreed! Cute girls!". Gundula was not amused.

"say... They're calling you a mom... right?" Gundula chuckled, Huberta laughed over the phone alongside her.

"Yep! That's what some are saying.... tonight... It feels a little too right... But hey, Hallows eve is going to be fun with pranks and all". Huberta said, cheery over the phone.

But in a turn of events. The door to Huberta's office is heard slamming open with Galina rushing in. The two are heard talking about slow moving figures heading for the base. Gundula seems worried but Huberta reassures her.

"They may... just be civilians coming to give some gifts! or prank us... Who knows! haha!" Gundula just sighed and tells her.

"stay safe... alright?"

With that, after their goodbyes, Gundula hangs up and orders the two witches with her to head for the dining room. maybe Huberta was right, those could be just some civilians, but the worry doesn't subside at all.

In the hanger, Hikari sits down, and soon her sister arrives wearing black clothing and fangs. The hero of libau is dressed as a vampire, impressing her sister by quite a bit. Landing her striker, Takami rushes to hug her sister.

"Oh... I see that you worked with what you had right?" Takami asked her little sister.

"I did onee chan!" Hikari said, looking amazed at her sister's costume. The two head into the dining room, The rest of the Squadron happily greet Takami, complimenting her costume. The fuso is a little overwhelmed by all of it, however quickly she starts to talk alongside her fellow witches.

Gundula finally walks in, waltrud and sasha by her sides, The three are just wearing their regular clothing. Rall tells them, they'll be back in a moment as they head off to their rooms, As the three head off to the dorms, Kanno decides to wonder

"What will they wear? Rall would be the most interesting!" exclaimed Naoe. The others start speculating too, Most eyes are Gundula's choice of costume.

time passes as the three witches return, Waltrud is in a skimpy bunny suit, holding a bottle of wine, Sasha has a nurse type of uniform on and Gundula mostly just modified her regular wear with karlsland infantry webbing a field cap, much to dismay of most of the other witches.

"Alright, Sadako, georgette, Please go cook the meals" Rall ordered. The duo go off to the kitchen. "Everyone else, just standby", the others decide to just relax with the exception of Sasha heading to the hanger to inspect the strikers. unclear of what she wants to do, Hikari just heads back to her room with Takami.

However, Kanno seems to have something planned as she walked off to a spot only she knew of. stepping before a seemingly random spot in the snow, she looked around and started clawing at the snow, revealing a box. pulling it out, she smirks to herself, opening the box to reveal some firecrackers and a can of whip cream.

"Haha, all set!" Kanno boasted as she headed back with the stuff, "I'm glad I found these among the stuff the Britannian fleet had!". Kanno heads back inside and silently sneaks towards the hanger. Inside was Nikka watching her striker being repaired by sasha, The aloof witch was too busy to see Kanno light one of her firecrackers and roll it towards one of the pillars. As Sasha was about to look at Nikka, Kanno fled and hid behind a box, and within seconds.

BOOM!

The Duo were startled and looked at the source of the explosion, The firecracker was now only a scorch mark against the undamaged pillar. in a flash, Sasha gritted her teeth as she saw the pumpkin pranker run off., her shock turns to anger as she screams out Kanno's full name. Kanno simply ran off, chuckling like a child, she runs back into the dorms and decides to go for Hikari and Takami next, She sets down the box in a hidden corner and grabs the whipped cream.

Takami and Hikari were heading back to the dining room, the sisters seem to be engaging in a personal matter. It seems to about how harsh they were to eachother a few days ago, with Takami seeming especially apologetic, Kanno felt a little hesitant but felt that maybe she'll lighten up the mood a little. The two are about to shake hands, looking into eachother's eyes when suddenly.

The two yelp as Kanno, the pumpkin witch unleashes the power of Reddi-whip, Spraying white cream onto them. Naoe quickly rushes off, chuckling as she yells out "Sorry Takami!", The Karibuchi sisters are less than amused as they wipe off the cream. Kanno continues as she decides her next target is Gundula. unbeknownst to the pumpkin prankster, Sasha and Nikka are following her and they have just convinced the Karibuchis to follow aswell.

Kanno arrives at Gundula's office, She looks inside and sees Gundula and Edytha inside. She stops and looks, Gundula is seemingly stressed as she talks to someone over the phone with Edytha looking concerned.

"Huberta! Get your squadron to safety now! Fly over here if you have to!" Gundula spoke, trying to keep composure. Kanno looks in, now feeling concerned, her mind is trying to figure out what the big picture is, So focused that she doesn't notice Takami about to whack her ass using a book.

Gundula puts down the phone and sinks into her chair, Before the wing commander could even put her head down, Takami smacks the book right into Kanno's left ass cheek making her let out a loud scream. Gundula quickly stands up with Edytha rushing over, Sasha is standing next to Kanno, shaking her head in disappointment.

"Seriously? That's such a childish prank" Sasha quickly asked "Firecrackers... WHERE DID YOU FIND FIRECRACKERS?!", Kanno is busy rubbing her bruised bottom as she tells her how she found it among the supplies of the Britannian navy. The witches now look at Gundula and Edytha, the two are surprisingly tense.

".... Don't try any pranks or such with me right now.. I've got alot to do right now, Gundula told Kanno, stern but with a hint of fatigue. She walks back into the room with Edytha standing by the door. "We'll try joining shortly.. We just have some things to do.. wait in the dining room" Rossman told the group. The instructor heads back in, Gundula gripping her head and gritting her teeth, Rall felt like screaming as she looked to Edytha. The short instructor put on a reassuring look for her as she spoke.

"We both know Bonin will pull through this with her squadron, her team faced starvation and murderous neuroi, Shambling hordes aren't going to bring them down" said Rossman, looking to slowly calming Rall.

"Once they get out of there with any other survivors, all we have to do is clear out the living dead", Edytha delivered that with a reassuring smile, "Anyways, for now.. let's eat, we don't want to worry the others now".

Gundula sighed and replied "You are right, maybe I'm just, overreacting", the two witches calmed down and decided to join the others.

Meanwhile the other witches headed into the dining room, Sadako and Georgette have just finished making the food with Waltrud relaxing with a wine bottle at her side. The witches all take a seat, with Kanno getting more than a few stares. Waltrud looks at them and begins to ask about what she did, Sasha tells Krupinski about the pumpkin witch's antics causing the Fake countess to laugh in amusement.

"ohohooho! Naoe's being a little mischevious tonight isn't she?" Waltrud said, looking at Kanno who is chuckling along. Sadako and Georgette finish putting the table together as they place down pumpkin pies and steak served alongside glasses of pumpkin juice.

"Alright everyone! Let's eat!" Sadako announced to squadron as they sat down to feast on the food. Hikari starts biting into the steak on her plate, her eyes light in satisfaction as she enjoys the taste. Takami looks at the cooking duo to give her compliment, "Great work as always you two" She says before taking another bite of the well cooked steak, Sadako and Georgette are immediately flustered.

Gundula and Edytha finally join, the wing commander looking somewhat troubled and even a little upset, but it lasts short as she looks at the food and sits down with Edytha to eat. Kanno and Waltrud look at Rall with concern, the wing commander however pays no attention to them as she eats. Rossman looks at the two and gestures them to mind their business, the two nod and continue eating.

An hour and half pass as the witches finish up the meals, Waltrud has gotten a little drunk inbetween, Sadako and Georgette are regretting the idea of covering their mouths in bandages and Gundula has gone back to her office rather quickly.

Hikari lays back as she speaks, "That was some good food! what else are we doing?". Takami looks at Waltrud and sighs, Sasha takes a look and quickly realizes that she might have to carry the drunk countess to her room. Takami and Sasha stand up and head for Waltrud and were about to carry her, until the Orussian takes a look under the table.

Right there was a firecracker.

The witches quickly distance themselves from the table, It thankfully never goes off. They also now notice the fact that Naoe is missing, Causing Edytha to order a search for the pumpkin witch.

Kanno however wasn't doing it for fun as she was near Gundula's office. The firecracker was meant to be a distraction as she has gotten a little curious about her wing commander. Listening in, She starts to hear alot more distress from the phones with Rall repeatedly trying to respond.

Gundula decided to head out and do something, She spots and Kanno and tells her to follow. The pumpkin witch follows her order and heads for the hanger, not knowing the rest of the squadron had spotted her.

In the hanger, Gundula quickly cut two holes in her hat to let her familiar out then she looked at Kanno, the Fuso takes off the pumpkin for now. "Alright, Let's grab the guns and then go out" Rall told Naoe, the two went into the armory to grab their respective weapons. As they headed for the strikers, the rest of the squadron had arrived to confront Naoe, Gundula looked at them.

"Ah, I forgot tell you all to be on guard.... Edytha and Sadako, Follow me, the rest stay behind" Said the wing commander, The two other witches paused for a little then quickly nodded to grab their weapons to follow her. The four take to the sky, heading south and looking around.

Sadako uses her ability to aid Gundula in spotting the supposed threat, Rall looked at rabbit witch, and as she was about to tell her what she was meant to find, Sadako suddenly screamed at the sight of one of the most horrific things in the world.

Gundula took her binoculars to see what frightened the poor witch, in her sights was a massive horde of corpses that were once civilians and soldiers. That alone would've been enough to scare Sadako, however something else caught the Commander's gaze and looking closer.

It was a horse, disembowled and being consumed alive by the dead.

Gundula quickly put down the binoculars around her neck and gagged, Sadako on the other hand, threw up immediately. Edytha flew close to Simohara to ease the shaken witch while Kanno was stuck with a horrified expression.

For a minute. they looked upon the terrifying mass of the dead. Gundula spoke once more as she looked to Kanno, "Alright, This is an order Kanno Naoe, you go back and get the others to fortify the base, Sadako and Rossman are with me", Kanno nodded and flew to the bridge leading into their citadel.

Sadako and Edytha followed Gundula to figure out the amount of dead currently present in Saint's Petersburg while Kanno headed back to base to tell the others. Gundula called the local garrison, telling them to protect the Citadel with everything avaliable. As Rall got off the radio, she spots something in the northwest and orders Sadako to use her ability to look at them, Simohara however refuses with a tramuatized look in her eyes.

Edytha tried calming and persuading her into taking a proper look, Sadako sighed and winced as she unleashed her ability to see the northern horde. Gundula grabbed her binoculars to gauge the strength of the horde with Edytha pulling out her own binoculars to join in, there were more of shambling dead than in the south and once more, Sadako screamed as she saw another gruesome sight, causing the other two to look.

All three witness a squad being torn to pieces by the living dead, the soldiers screaming into the night.

Gundula radioed the garrison to inform them of the northern horde, Edytha decided to try helping by firing two rockets at the horde, pieces of walkers flew as the rounds hit the masses. The other two witches joined in and fired upon the horde, but it was apparent those soldiers were dead, Gundula called for the team to stop firing and to save their ammo, they were going to need every round to defend the citadel.

Meanwhile, Kanno was telling the others of what she saw, the way she described it was a little too visceral, causing Georgette to feel sick. Takami wasn't sure if she could believe it, until Gundula came over the radio to confirm it.

Sasha decided to bring Hikari and Kanno with her to start fortifying the base, Takami brought waltrud into the armory while she sobered up a little and Georgette brought Nikka along to see the amount of supplies they have.

Kanno and Hikari were struggling to properly board up the ground floor windows as both argued on how many nails should be used. "No! You idiot! We're supposed to use four nails each!" yelled Kanno, "it'll be too easy to break through!" Replied Hikari.

"WE WEREN'T GIVEN THOUSANDS OF NAILS HIKARI!!!" Kanno screamed, Hikari looked a little mad, Sasha broke up the fight and decided to handle the Nail dispute. "I Swear, you act like a bunch of children" muttered Sasha, "Because... we are still kind of.. kids.." Hikari said to Sasha. The three went silent for a moment and Sasha spoke once more "Ok... uh, Aside from that... Back to work", the three went back to fortifiying the base.

Back with the three witches in the air, Gundula looked at the abandoned houses and thought of something. "We could knock all these houses down.. on the hordes.. Preserving ammo and killing multiple walkers.." Rall looked at Edytha, the silver haired witch understood what her squadleader was planning.

Aiming her fligerhammer at one of the older buildings with the intent to knock out the front portion, she fired a single shot. The rocket flew directly into the fourth floor and exploded and before the smoke cleared, a second rocket impacted into the building and sending it tumbling down upon the hordes. Gundula smiled as Sadako looked at the wreckage to confirm that most of the horde is dead, Rall looked at Edytha and spoke "Now, to take down a few more buildings".

For a good thirty minutes, Rossman used her fliegerhammer to bring tall buildings down upon the walking dead. Gundula looked at Edytha once more, "Ok... how many rockets do you have left", That smile on Gundula's face instantly died when Edytha uttered "Not one left.... we have some back at base but... I think they'll better used in blowing up the bridge and the surrounding ice..".

The three agreed to fly back to reinforce the base and to also see the progress of the other witches.

WILL OUR BELOVED WITCHES SURVIVE?

WILL THE DEAD CLAIM THEM?

TO BE CONTINUED!