[Keroko]

Name: Captain Takamachi Georashi Keroko.
Alias: “Deathwing” Keroko.
Affiliation: TSAB Air Combat Division.
Military Rank: Captain.
Mage Rank: S
Call Sign: Rogue 1 or ‘leader’, Stars 5 since joining Riot Force 6
Age: 19
Birthday: 8th October
Gender: Female.

Hair: 9 years old: A single short tail on the right side of her head.
16 years old: A single short tail on the right side of her head, grown a bit longer.
19 years old: A single short tail on the right side of her head, grown a bit longer.

Keroko, 9 year old:

Spoiler for Keroko, the little red-head.:

Keroko, 19 years old:

Spoiler for Image courtesy of Mercurianangel:

Spoiler for Keroko and Nanoha, sisters by soul:

Personality: Keroko is more a listener then a speaker, generally content to just stay with the group and enjoy their company. Only when a subject of her interest comes up will she start joining the conversation, and you will have to exert some effort into shutting her up. She’s generally helpful, and will likely drop what she is doing if you ask for her help. When she does work she enjoys, she tends to get sucked into it much like her sister, losing most sense of time. She also has a sarcastic streak a mile wide, and an urge to argue to boot. She does, however, now when she has reached the limit, and will usually stop if the other(s) are becoming too annoyed. When angered by people not on her ‘friends list’, she will feel tempted to lash out at them. A side effect of the years of being exposed to Neltharion’s corrupted energies. She's very impulsive, blurting out things and acting before thinking about it twice, and while she has trained to not allow this to influence her work, it does still tend to create the occasional havoc in her personal life. It can sometimes appear to people unfamiliar with her that 'work-mode' Keroko and the regular Keroko are two different people

Magic type: Aspect/Velka mixture.

Spoiler for In-dept information concerning aspect magic:

Aspect mages a unique breed of mages even when compared to the unorthodox (from Mid-Childa point of view) Velka type mages. Apect magic is focused not through a device, but rather using the energies from one of the five great dragon aspects: The red dragon aspect Alextrasa the life-bender, the blue dragon aspect Malygos the Spellweaver, the bronze dragon aspect Nozdormu the Timeless one, the green dragon aspect Ysera the dreamer and the black dragon aspect Neltharion the earth-warder.

An aspect mage wields no device, but the powers of an aspect mage who is using one of the great aspects, holds greater power then other devices. When an aspect mage is channeling the power of its respective aspect, it can rival a Velka-type mage in terms of strength.

The difference in terms of abilities gained between the different aspects is neglectable, other then status. Red aspect mages are usually courageous, yet honourable fighters. Blue aspect mages are usually seekers of knowledge concerning the ways of magic. Bronze aspect mages are usually archeologists or historians. Green aspect mages try to keep a balance in all things living.

Black aspect mages, however, are another thing altogether.

In fact, since many years, there has never been a black aspect mage. In the past, black aspect mages were protectors of the lands and skies, who would protect them at all cost. Many years ago, however, the Black dragon aspect Neltharion was driven mad by dark powers, and betrayed those who were once his allies. His title quickly changed from ‘the earth-warder’ to ‘the destroyer’ and his name from Neltharion to Deathwing. With the close connection aspect mages had with their respective aspect, any who used the power of the black dragonflight, whether for good or evil, would quickly be driven mad.

Magic color: Blood red. Pitch black when channeling Neltharion’s energy.

History

Pre-Nanoha

Spoiler for Pre-Nanoha:

Keroko’s story starts back when she was just four years old. A great disaster struck a relatively small and backward village, killing everyone and wiping everything of the face of the earth. Houses, people, animals, plants, nothing was spared. Rescue workers and researchers were a mystery what caused the disaster. Americans were quick to label it a terrorist attack; environmental supporters claimed it to be an ecological disaster caused by human interference, but no-one could explain exactly what had caused the incident. Nor could they explain why only one young girl had survived the disaster that had killed everything around her.

That young girl was Keroko.

Keroko had seen what had happened during that day, though she did not know the meaning back then. The great aspect of the black dragonflight, Neltharion, had landed near the village. His corrupted aura had seeped into every living being, burning it from the inside out. Those that survived -and they were few- went mad and started to turn on anything that moved.

Keroko would have fallen to the madness too, had it not been that her linker core, though still immature, intervened. When the corrupted aura took grip into Keroko’s soul, her linker core reacted defensively, trying to fend of the offensive aura. When Neltharion’s aura proved too great to fend off, Keroko’s linker core instead closed around the tainted energies, forming a natural -if unstable- seal.

After the disaster, Keroko was passed through a series of doctors and psychiatrists, but while the doctors were mostly concerned with the girl’s health, many of the psychiatrists were trying to find out what had happened that day. Eventually a group of doctors in Japan declared that Keroko was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and forbade any more psychiatric questioning regarding the incident. She was placed under the care of one of the doctors, who provided her a place to live, but due to time constraints could not really watch over her.

Keroko herself had suffered from more then just the trauma of the disaster. The unstable seal could not hold of the corrupted energies of Neltharion completely, causing Keroko to become very aggressive, and she retaliated to anything offensive with violence. A group of youngsters that hung around a nearby club took a liking to the ‘tough kid’ and started to look after her, tutoring her, providing her with more then just the essentials and giving her a bit of social company, despite the fact that the social part was limited to a few visits to the club, Keroko enjoyed them immensely. It was also during these times that her positive emotions caused Neltharion’s corrupted energies to subside.

At the age of 7, both the youngsters and the doctor decided that it was time for Keroko to rejoin the normal way of life, and that included school. Neither the youngsters (who were studying most of the times) nor the doctor (who was busy with work most of the time) had much time to look after the girl, but they had noticed that friendly social contact had a positive effect on the otherwise violent girl. So the doctor took care of the formalities and transferred Keroko to the Seishou Elementary school.

Unfortunately for Keroko, her reputation as a violent girl had preceded her. The local group of school bullies had recognized her the moment she had stepped onto the school ground –having suffered various beatings whenever they tried to bully her- and had immediately placed the label of ‘dangerous girl’ on her. The increased isolation and loneliness had a negative effect on Keroko, who became more violent as time went on, and got in trouble several times for starting fights with people who tried to annoy her.

It was then that Keroko became friends with Nanoha, Arissa and Suzuka. The trio found Keroko sitting alone on a bench. While their initial reaction was to try and avoid her, they were stopped by the loneliness dancing through her eyes. Having experience loneliness themselves, the trio decided to damn the risks and approached Keroko. Keroko, though initially surprised by the fact that students were approaching her without the intend to harm, was quickly drawn into the circle of friends. This served to calm her emotions, and though she still got in trouble for fighting every now and then, it was now far less frequent.

Nanoha

Spoiler for Nanoha":

Two years have passed, and Keroko has become close friends with Nanoha, Arissa and Suzuka. Though still violent, her tendency to display it is now limited to ‘knocking them down’ though it took the full two years to achieve this level. (the fact that Arissa every now and then agreed on Keroko’s methods did not help either)

Then the Jewel Seeds came.

After the group had found and rescued a ferret Yuuno, and Yuuno subsequently found Nanoha, the group was re-introduced during a meeting at Nanoha’s family store. During that meeting, one of the items that Yuuno carried with him reacted strangely to Keroko’s presence. Yuuno made a mental note to investigate the girl at a later point.

Said point came two days later. While Nanoha was fighting a particularly nasty jewel-seed possessed beast, Keroko had managed to get trapped in the barrier as well. Quickly led by the sounds of battle, she got to the scene just in time to see Nanoha getting thrown into a tree. Keroko’s anger returned full force, and stronger then ever. Never had she seen a friend get hurt in front of her eyes, and the anger produced by it was stronger then any form of anger she had felt before. The result was a torrent of the corrupted energies releasing itself, and Keroko charged in on the jewel seed, shouldering it and sending it crashing down the street. During this event, Yuuno noticed again that one of his items reacted. When he pulled it out, he saw with astonishment that it was a one of his items he had excavated. Yuuno immediately made the link between the artefact and the dark energies flowing from the girl, and realized that the item was in fact an Intelligent Device. He called for Keroko’s attention, and while Nanoha went back to the battle, told Keroko that he would have a way for Keroko to help, but she would have to trust him. Keroko realized that even if she didn’t trust him, there was no other way, nodded her agreement. Yuuno quickly created a magical circle, and with his knowledge of seals created a link for the device, Artherion, for the girl that would stem the corrupted energies, but aid her in battle. After the battle, Yuuno was wondering why Keroko was be emitting such a dark aura during the battle. As an answer Keroko, for the first time in her life, told the full story about what had happened that day.

The next few weeks, Nanoha, Yuuno and Keroko were searching for Jewel Seeds and training when the could, during this Keroko began spending more time at Nanoha’s place. Eventually, the subject of Keroko’s parents was brought up, and the Takamachi family came to the shocking discovery that Keroko was living completely alone. Shortly after that, a Jewel Seed appeared and after seeing the two exhausted girls collapsed on the bed, Shiro and Momoko decided to adopt the wayward girl.

During the initial confrontation with Fate, Keroko assisted Yuuno in holding of Arf while Nanoha and Fate battled in the sky, despite being at a disadvantage on the ground. Arf was surprised by the girl’s reflexes (trained by years of street-fights), which allowed Keroko to hold her ground against the physically more powerful Arf.

After the various skirmishes, they finally met up with Chrono, and once aboard the Asura, explained their situation. Keroko also told them about the corruption of her linker core. Lindy assured her that it wouldn’t be a problem, and even promised her that she would do everything she could to help her with this problem.

After joining the TSAB and subsequently disobeying orders they were led to what they thought would be the final battle with Fate. After failing to convince her, Nanoha pleaded her sister not to interfere, something that irritated Keroko much, but she followed the request of her sister. However, this did led to a lot of pent up frustration, which got even bigger when the group learned of Fate’s mother, and saw her abandon Fate. This is probably the reason that once they boarded Precia’s ship, Keroko proceeded to completely trash any droid send her way. Frustration combined with the wide-open areas presented a great advantage to the nimble girl, and her multiple-target spells wreaked havoc on the robotic army, leaving an open-mouthed Chrono to pick up his pace.

After the final battle Keroko returned home with Nanoha, although she promised to return to the Asura every once in a while to run a check up on Artherion and the seals. When she arrived home with her sister, she did so with a smile on her face.

Nanoha A’s

Spoiler for Nanoha A's:

Six months have passed since the Jewel Seed case, during which Nanoha and Keroko have been steadily practicing their skills. While Nanoha opted for a better control, more power, better defense approach, Keroko decided to train in better more shots, better dodging. She trained her control, and practiced high-speed maneuvers and increased her reflexive abilities. Keroko had also settled into life as a Takamachi. All in all, life was good.

Then one night, a barrier enveloped the city, and two magic presences were detected. Nanoha and Keroko decided to split up, each going to meet the source of the presences head on. Nanoha quickly encountered a red haired hammer wielding girl and engaged combat. Keroko was almost hit by a blue sphere of lightning from behind, and was saved only by her honed reflexes. The attacker turns out to be an armor clad girl in her teenage years, wielding a long glaive. Keroko asks her identity, to which the girl responds with by attacking again, this time using a cartridge system. Combat ensues as Keroko desperately tries to dodge all of the girl’s attacks, even resorting to blasting down the bullets with shots of her own. Unfortunately, it takes three of Keroko’s own shots to down one of the girl’s, and eventually the hits start raining on Keroko. Just when things are looking grim, Arf intervenes. She tells Keroko that Fate and Yuuno went to Nanoha, and that they should regroup.

They return to find Fate locked in combat with a sword wielding mage, and Arf quickly gets attacked by a wolf familiar. Yuuno arrives to combat the red haired hammer wielder and Keroko resumes her dogfight with the blue haired glaive wielder. As Nanoha informs the team on the idea of breaking the barrier with a Starlight Breaker, Keroko intensifies her assault. The blue haired girl’s defensive field, however, seems impervious to damage, and her attacks break through Keroko’s defenses easily, resulting in heavy damage to Artherion. The girl however, is impressed with Keroko’s ability to dodge most of her attacks, and introduces herself as Tesla, and her glaive Gungnir. She then asks for her name. Keroko gives hers, as well as Artherion’s.

When Nanoha is ready to fire the Starlight Breaker, a hand seemingly grabs through her chest. Fate and Keroko try to help her, but are stopped by their respective opponents. Eventually Nanoha manages to fire the attack, breaking the barrier and forcing the Wolkenritter to retreat. Aboard the Asura, Keroko joins Yuuno while Nanoha is healing. Besides Nanoha, she is also worried what effect Artherion’s damage may have on her seal. Yuuno however, assures her that nothing is wrong, as the seal has integrated itself with her Linker Core. When Nanoha arrives, something slightly more resembling a ‘happy reunion’ can start.

Shortly afterwards, Nanoha, Fate and Keroko are summoned to Admiral Graham. Graham asks Keroko if she is aware of the powers sealed within her Linker Core, and the threat they might posses. Keroko assures Graham that she probably knows more then anyone the evil that the dark energies within her contain. Graham asks her that should she gain access to that power, what she would do with it. Keroko answers that she would use it to protect her friends, regardless of the risks. Graham laughs, and mentions that the rumors circulating trough the Aspect mages stationed where true. When asks, he only says: The mages of the black aspect are rising again. Keroko asks if there are more, but Graham tells her that she is the only one, but also explains that according to the Aspect mages, there has not been a black aspect mage for millennia.

In Hayate’s house, Signum mentions to Zafira how Fate’s swordsmanship was refined enough to cut through her armor, and that if it wasn’t for the difference between their weapons, it could have been a hard fight. Tesla appears from the stairs, and agrees. Mentioning that Keroko’s agility and reflexes caused her to switch plans very rapidly, making her an extremely dangerous opponent in the air, and that her armor and more powerful shots were the only thing giving her domination in the fight. Zafira mentions that even then, they would not lose. Signum agrees, and so does Tesla, but not before mentioning that they might have to stop holding back by that point.

Meanwhile, Nanoha, Fate and Keroko are resting and living normal school lives, though they still continue to train. When they discuss their battles during the evening, Fate comments that she couldn’t feel any evil intent from the purple haired swordsman she fought. Keroko adds that she could only feel a sense of challenge from her opponent, and relates it as finding someone who can give you a challenge with your favorite game. Nanoha wonders if it would be possible to simply discuss things, but Fate reminds her how she was when they first met. Fate and Keroko then tell how it was Nanoha that dragged them both out of the downward spiral their lives were taking, which Nanoha tries to deny. The trio makes a promise to get stronger together, to make their words reach them.

A few days later, Nanoha and the devices have made a full recovery, and not a minute to soon. A group of TSAB personnel managed to capture Vita and Zafira in a barrier, Chrono tries to take them on but the Velka knights prove too powerful. Fortunately, Nanoha, Fate and Keroko could be brought to the scene quickly. After trying to activate their devices, an operating check starts. Amy explains that the devices asked for new systems to be installed, and tells them to call out their new names. The trio quickly realize their new names. Raising Heart Excelion, Bardiche Assault and Artherion Devastator.

Now evenly armed and outnumbering their enemy, they try to negotiate, an effort that is thrown in their face, and interrupted by the arrival of Signum and Tesla, who broke through the barrier from the outside. Everyone launches after their respective target, and combat of all types starts. Heavy ordinance attacks slam between Nanoha and Vita, Fate and Signum are locked in a battle of blades, Arf and Zafira fight fist against fist while Tesla and Keroko soar through the skies in a dogfight that puts wits against reflexes. With their strengthened devices, the battles seem even sided. Keroko’s strengthened blasts are now able to take down anything that she cannot dodge, and because of her greater volume of attacks she overwhelms the slightly more sluggish Tesla, who has to respond with precisely planned movements.

Just as Chrono is about to arrest Shamal, and put an end to this battle, an unknown enemy interferes. This gave Shamal enough time to use a spell from the Yami no Sho, destroying the barrier, and allowing the Wolkenritter to escape.

Back at Fate’s home, Amy explains the new properties of the devices, and in case of the Takamachi’s the risk involved. She tells Keroko that, while Artherion Devastator’s Ethereal Mode should allow her access to the dark energies sealed within her, since there was no prior testing they have no idea what kind of effect it would have on the body, so she advices not to use it for the moment.

A few days later the trio is resting at Fate’s home, having just bought Fate a new cell phone. When the try to help Fate in the kitchen, however, the alarm goes off, and while it initially looked only Fate and Arf needed to be dispatched, the appearance of Vita and Tesla caused Nanoha and Keroko to fly out as well. Keroko quickly engages Tesla in the air, using her superior firepower to overwhelm Tesla. Tesla, however, realizes that though Keroko’s offence is terrifying, her defense mainly consists of dodging what she throws at her. A few well placed, highly accurate attacks force Keroko on the defensive, and Tesla notices that Keroko’s offensive abilities while protecting herself with barriers are pretty much zero. This levels the battlefield once more as the two now both have found each other’s weaknesses, and are fully intend on exploiting them. However, the timely interference of the masked enemy forces Keroko to abandon the battle to help Fate. She arrives too late, unfortunately.

Onboard the Asura everyone is relieved to hear Fate is all right and they get down to the hacking attempt. Keroko comments that from what she had learned from her old friends, the only way someone would be able to gain access to secure areas so easily would be that they are intimately familiar with the place. Nobody likes the idea, but Lindy notes that they should not exclude it either. With that notion, Nanoha and Keroko are dropped back home.

Shortly after being dropped home, another attack is detected on a lush forest world. Keroko, who was the only one available at the moment, moved to engage the Wolkenritter, who turned out to be Tesla. Still familiar with each other’s weaknesses, the two engage in combat. Onboard the Asura, the very same hacking attempt that shut down the systems is tried once more. Amy’s attempt to defend the system is slightly more successful this time, giving them video feeds of the battle. On the battlefield, the fight seems to be going even up. But just like last time, at the moment the two enemies are about to clash once more, a hand slams through the front of Keroko’s chest. The masked man appears once more, and invites Tesla to take it. Tesla is waging an internal struggle whether to take it or not, but her concern for Hayate makes her final decision.

As Keroko’s linker core starts to shrink however, Keroko moves her hands to grab the intruding arms of the masked man. The masked man looks down, and Keroko whispers some words that manage to startle the masked man, as he looks at the girl’s Linker Core, where blots of black can now be seen interwoven with the red of her core. The masked man tries to withdraw his arm, but the firm grip of Keroko’s hands prevents him from doing so.

Then all hell breaks lose, as the black of her Linker Core flares to life and lashes out of the core in a huge pillar of black flames. The masked man desperately tries to break the now inhuman strength of Keroko, while the flames that flow from the girls Core burn through the fabric of his cloth. Finally, he manages to rip free, and stares as the black flames converge on the girl, forming two dark burning dragon wings. Keroko’s eyes are now slitted glowing red orbs of magma. With a loud roar she crashes into the masked man, and begins to trash her opponents in a berserker rage.

Tesla quickly realizes that wielding a power of this magnitude without safeguards cannot do anything but damage the body, but she has no way of stopping the girl. The masked man takes the first opportunity he has to flee, leaving Tesla to face a berserking girl herself. Fortunately for Tesla, Nanoha chooses this moment to arrive, her voice managing to get through the berserking girl, who then forces the black flames back into her Linker Core. Though with the heavy damage to Core has taken, Keroko is in constant pain from trying to suppress the dark energies from resurfacing. Tesla puts a small seal onto it, claiming that it should hold until proper aid can be given.

Back onboard the Asura, Lindy informs the others Keroko has been stabilized. She also tells them that though the damage to the Linker Core was smaller when compared to Nanoha or Fate, the damage the dark energies caused to Keroko’s body even for such a short while will cause her to be out of the battle for at least as long as Fate. When Fate and Keroko are finally released a few days later, Fate feels uncomfortable without her magic and Keroko still feels burning pain every now and then. Still, the two press on, and when the suggestion comes to visit Hayate in the hospital, the two accept without hesitation.

Then came Christmas, the group decided a surprise visit to Hayate in the hospital. When they get there they are more then surprised to encounter Signum, Tesla, Shamal and Vita. Keroko tries to diffuse the situation by pretending to have met Tesla at the arcade, and with Tesla joining in, the mood is somewhat saved.

After the party, the trio met the Velkan Knights on the roof. They try once more to negotiate with the Knights, and once more they fail. Much time for combat, however, is not there as Nanoha and Keroko are captured by a bind spell moments after starting the battle. Fate quickly exposes the masked man hiding under a stealth spell, however it turns out he is not alone, and pretty soon everyone including the Knights are captured. The masked men then proceed to drain the Knights in order to complete the book, and trick Hayate into believing that it was the trio that did it. By the time they break the barrier keeping them capture, it is too late.

As Hayate, now transformed into a dark incarnation of the Yami no Sho, starts to fight, it is clear that the trio is grossly outgunned. For every move they make, Yami no Sho has a counter. When she starts casting Starlight Breaker, Keroko notes that now may be a good time to get the hell out here. While Fate grabs Nanoha, and Keroko uses Hyperdrive, Bardiche notifies them of non-combatants on the field. Those non-combatants turn out to be Arrisa and Suzuka. Now with friends in the line of fire, the trio have no choice but to stand their ground. After having survived the blast, and having teleported their friends to safety, Nanoha starts to worry that they’ve seen them like this. Keroko reminds her they’re safe now, and they’ll have to explain later.

As Chrono tells the trio to get Hayate to stop fighting, the trio once more tries to negotiate. Their reply comes in the form of a giant worm-beast with tentacles that ensnare Nanoha, Fate and Keroko. As they break free they try to convince her that she has a heart too, ask her to release Hayate and stop attacking. Yami no Sho denies this, and absorbs an attacking Fate, trapping her into an illusionary realm.

As Yami no Sho states that Fate and Hayate will never wake up, Keroko gets more and more ticked off. She stops negotiating and states that if Yami no Sho does not release Fate and Hayate right now, she will not hold back and come at her with everything she has. Yami no Sho asks what she can hope to accomplish, to which Keroko allows a black aura to surround her body and answers “Do you think you’re the only one with a cursed power?”

Nanoha, realizing what Keroko is planning, tries to stop her. Keroko tells Nanoha to trust her, and activates Ethereal Mode. The result is a perfect transformation into Ethereal Form. Amy’s readings show the filter working at 100 percent, Keroko now has a stable access to the dark powers sealed inside her. She immediately uses them to assault Yami no Sho head on, and actually manages to drive her back. The battle looks like a clash of titans, but unlike Yami no Sho, who is a greater power, Keroko only has a small fraction of a greater power sealed inside her. The battle slowly begins to turn in Yami no SHo’s favour, Yami no Sho tells her to stop this useless struggle, but Keroko persists that Yami no Sho will not get rid of her that easily. In the end, she gets blasted into a building by her own Executor Rush, and doesn’t come back out.

With Nanoha now the last line of defense, things are looking grim. Even more so when she is about to be hit by hundreds of Photon Lancers. When the projectiles are sailing towards Nanoha, though, a small red sphere of energy darts outwards from a cracked building, and explodes in the center of the Photon swarm, taking out all the projectiles in a ring of energy. As Nanoha turns to the source, she sees a heavily battered, but smiling Keroko breathing heavily telling Yami no Sho that she told her that she wouldn’t get rid of her that easily.

Now that Nanoha has a clear field of fire, she activates Excelion mode and gives Yami no Sho hell. Though seemingly without effects, the two soon get a mental message from Hayate, which Yuuno simplifies in ‘hit her as hard as you can’. While Nanoha loads a Force Burst, and Keroko prepares to hit her with an Orbital Bombardment of epical proportions, Fate destroys her prison from the inside. The combined magical powers release Fate and Hayate, who immediately recreates her knights. A happy reunion follows, only interrupted by Chrono, the herald of doom. They still need to finish off the defensive program, and after a short session, the four girls come to the idea of zapping the thing in outer space.

The team takes turn in attacking, launching shot after shot, destroying barrier after barrier until they get to the source, after which Hayate stalls it with a petrification spell while Chrono freezes it. Now comes the big part, as Nanoha, Fate, Hayate and Keroko all fire their biggest and strongest attack on the program. A combination of Starlight Breaker, Plasma Zanber Breaker, Ragnarok Breaker and Ion Cannon Breaker pound into the program, allowing Shamal, Yuuno and Arf to capture the main core and transfer it into the path of the Arc-en-Siel, obliterating it with a final shot.

And just when all seemed over, Hayate collapses. They rush her to the Asura, where she is guarded by her knights. In the mess, Chrono tells them that the damage is to Hayate severe, and that Reinforce will regenerate a new defensive program soon which will go berserk again and has requested to be destroyed before it is too late. The trio wonders what will happen to the knights, and are reassured by their message that they will stay.

When they arrive at the place Reinforce requested, Nanoha, Fate and Keroko try to argue with Reinforce whether this is the right choice, to which Reinforce answers that they would someday understand what it means to protect someone’s happiness. Keroko asks if she is truly sure of her decision, which Reinforce answers with a smile, and says that she is just as sure now as Keroko was when she risked her life to activate her Ethereal Form, knowing full well it might have killed her. Keroko admits her defeat and the trio take their places in the circle. When Hayate shows up, she is not liking the situation one bit, and tries to stop her. Reinforce manages to calm her down somewhat, and allowed herself to be erased.

On the way home, Nanoha feels sad. Keroko explains to her that she is feeling a sense of loss, despite the fact that she hardly knew Reinforce and Fate says that such cases are always like that. She tells them that she wants to help people in situations such as herself, and asks what Nanoha and Keroko have planned. Nanoha says she wants to teach others, and Keroko says she doesn’t really care, as long as she gets to fly. And if there are more people to fly with, the better it is.

Later, while visiting the hospital, Keroko meets up with Tesla. Tesla notes that they never really went to that arcade Keroko mentioned. Keroko promises that they’ll go there somewhere this week, but also mentions that arcade games got nothing on a good shooter or RTS. Tesla makes a jab at whether Keroko can think long enough to even play an RTS, to which Keroko immediately comes with a date, time and game to see if Tesla has the actions to back up the mouth.

During the evening, the family sat down and Nanoha, Keroko and Fate with the help of Lindy explained everything from the beginning to now, and the actions they were planning to take in the future.

6 years later

Takamachi G. Keroko

Private Seishou Auxiliary 3rd year middle schooler and Time-Space Administration Bureau special investigator.
Having followed her sister in the job of Combat Instructor, Keroko turned into a trainer specialized in educating air units, and is currently the Training Officer of a talented squadron of mages.

A’s to StrikerS

(Still writing)

StrikerS

Barrier Jacket

Spoiler for Barrier Jacket Image File:

The full activation of Keroko’s barrier jacket is, coincidentally, the code of the old black aspect mages. Before they were driven mad, this code was designed to show their devotion to protect the lands and the skies.

Keroko closed her eyes as she focused on the small necklace in her hand. “We are the mages of the black aspect. Neltharion’s chosen. Guardians of the land and the sky. For every one of us that falls in battle…” her eyes snapped open “a thousand enemies shall die! Artherion! Set up!”

Barrier jacket modes

Standard form - Keroko’s barrier jacket exists of a pitch black undershirt covered by a long sleeved shirt with blood red linings, which stops about waist length. Short black pants are covered by a medium length open lack skirt with blood red linings. Black fingerless gloves cover her hands, and the set is finished with black shoes with red gems.

Ethereal Form - This form is automatically activated when Artherion’s Ethereal mode is activated. Keroko gains two plated wrist guards, reaching to about half her forearms. A diamond shaped hole appears in the back of her jacket, allowing room for the ethereal dragon wings that appear as a side effect of the seal release and the skirt gains several plated armor patches.

Interceptor Form: Gained after becoming the TSAB Supreme Air Force Interceptor, this form allows for extreme high-speed manouvers. It also has a slightly higher defensive grade then it's predececor, to compensate for Keroko's lack of skill in defensive spells. The basics are still the same, most noticably being the long sleeved black red lined shirt, but the pants have become full covering, gaining more red linings and the undershrt is now armored. The open skirt also gained armour plates as a standart issue.

Device

Device name: Artherion (Artherion Devastator since A’s).

Artherion’s stored mode materializes as the blade sides of the axe held together by a small bar, which is connected to a chain in order to keep it around like a necklace. He addressed Keroko with a respective and military ‘sir’. Since joining the TSAB, he always addressed Keroko with her military ranking, eventually coming to “captain”, which is her current rank. Since the installment of the Velka type cartridge system during the Yami no Sho incident, his full name has become “Artherion Devastator” though Keroko rarely uses his full name. The reloading of cartridges is very similar to a lee-enfield rifle, in that it forcefully ejects an empty clip of cartridges and easily enables the reloading of a new clip.

Artherion serves three purposes: The first is to give support in combat and spellcasting, just like any other device would do. The second is to seal off the corrupted energies of the black dragon aspect, preventing corruption and damage that would inevitably be caused by prolonged exposure. If the energies still flow through, then Arterion will filter them for use of more powerful spells, and will serve as a limiter for when the risk becomes too great.

Device modes:

Spoiler for Image Files:

Axe form - A Dual bladed axe, broad at the top and thinner at the bottom, thinning out in straight lines and a blood red gem in the centre. This is the standard mode, which will appear after activation. Because Keroko is by no means an expert in melee combat, this is more of a ‘back of’ button to get adversaries in proper distance, and used to defend against ones that don’t. This form has no special attacks, but general attacks like Snipe Shooter and Ion Wave are possible in this form.

Firing mode - The dual blades of the axe turn around, making the thinner points now face upwards as a focuser. This is most used form of Artherion, as it opens a wide range of long-range attacks. Spells made possible in this form: Blast Lancer, Orbital Bombardment, Ion Blaster.

Ethereal mode - Artherion’s strongest mode, a third blade forms, and the first two lower themselves by a couple of degrees, forming a focusing triangle. This mode disengages the seals placed on the black dragon’s power, and enables the filter that will make Neltharion’s corrupted energies at least somewhat usable, thereby making Keroko’s strongest spells available. Keroko’s barrier jacket automatically switches to Ethereal form when Ethereal mode is activated. A side effect of the sudden flow of black energies is the appearance of two ethereal black dragon wings, which explains the mode’s name. Two cartridges are needed to enable Ethereal mode. Spells made possible in this form: Seismic Charge, Dragon Soul, Ion Cannon Breaker.

Spells

Defensie/Suportive:

“Forcefield” - Artherion’s programmed defensive spell, it surrounds Keroko in a red field of energy.

“Empowered Forcefield” - A more powerful version of forcefield, it also gains the additional ability to reflect weaker spells back to the caster, which makes it a risk to fire at Keroko when this spell is up.

“Scatter Shot” - Fires several bursts of magic. Keroko can also shatter the spheres, scattering them into many tiny magical particles into the air, which disrupt other magical abilities already active. When used like this, it is designed to break magical prisons, illusions, forcefields and bindings.

“Drive Move” - An instant movement speed, used to close or create short distances. Keroko has mastered the use of Drive Move in combination with Snipe Shoot and

“Hyperdrive” - A movement increase speed of great proportions. This move literally shoots Keroko forward in an aura of red energy, this spell is mostly used to withdraw, give chase or get to a scene as fast as possible. When activated, it is impossible to change the trajectory. The only way to change directions is to come to a full stop and repeat the move.

Offensive:

“Snipe Shooter” - A spell that shoots a single beam of magical energy, not very powerful, but quickly to cast and usable in all modes. A favorite attack when dogfighting due to the rapid fire rate.

“Ion Wave” – Keroko slashes with Artherion, sending a wave of energy at her opponent.

“Blast Lancer” - An attack that shoots several magic beams, which can then be controlled by Keroko. This is a close second in terms of most used spells, mostly due to the increased hit rate and the ability to control the shots after firing.

“Orbital Bombardment” - An enhanced version of Beam Lancer, this attack shoots a number of beams so great; it is akin to a bombardment from space. Control is somewhat disregarded but still present, even though it’s hardly necessary, since the chance she’ll miss is rather low.

“Ion Blaster” – A siege type single beam similar to Nanoha’s ‘Divine Buster.’ Though stronger then a Snipe Shooter, the longer casting time makes it one of the less popular spells in Keroko’s arsenal.

“Executor Rush” – Keroko’s single and only melee attack spell. This spell charges the tips of Artherion in shooting mode with magical energy, after which a combination of binds and Hyperdrive is used to literally ram into the enemy. Though the binds can be skipped, it is wise to do so, since the trajectory of the Hyperdrive cannot be altered after activation.

“Seismic Charge” - This spell shoots a small, but powerful burst of energy at the target. When the spell reaches its target (or by Keroko’s command) it will explode in a circular pattern, sending a shockwave in all directions.

“Dragon Soul” - A powerful wide area spell, based on the terrifying weapon that signified Neltharion’s betrayal, which gathers as much of his corrupted energies as it can before firing. A black magic circle appears underneath Keroko, while her wings spread out. Black energy can be seen cracking around Artherion while the attack charges. When fully charged, Keroko swings Artherion in a wide arc, unleashing a black wave of destruction. Though less powerful then her Ion Cannon Breaker, this attack can hit more targets due to its wide spread.

“Ion Cannon Breaker” - Keroko’s most powerful spell, and requires Ethereal mode to be active. This attack mixes both the black and corrupted energies of Neltharion and her own red magical energies. The result is a red magic circle that emits a black aura which appears underneath her feet, and an aura of the same red-black mixture appears around her body. The energy of that aura is concentrated between the three tips of Artherion, creating an orb of energy, seemingly held in place by red lightning crackling between the tips and the orb. Once charging is complete, the two combined energies lash forward in a single beam of pure power.