[Nanya01]

Nanya-muse: WHEE! End of another Arc!
DC-muse: ...Isn't it a little... Soon?
Nanya-muse: Nah! Cutting to the next arc right now! WHEE!
DC-muse: ...I think you went too fast on this.
Nanya-muse: Hmm, maybe...
DC-muse: ...Since when are you serious?
Nanya-muse: I had this planned for weeks now! WAAAAH! No one ever believes me!

Also, SSX is up on FF.Net in its entirety, so after this one, I won't link to SSX anymore.

SSX

ViVid 1-20

ViVd 21

ViVid 22

ViVid 23

Spoiler for Blood That Flows - ViVid End:

Einhart sighed as she opened up her suitcase to unpack some clothes. She didn't pack much, only about five or six different outfits. If the training was going to be as hard as Vivio hinted, she was going to need several pairs of clothing, they'd all be caked in sweat and dirt quickly enough. Einhart didn't mind the thought of being sweaty when fighting, sparring or training, but she would wash it off as soon as she could.

After all, who wanted to walk around in sweat-soaked clothes?

Einhart's eyes widened and she stepped back as her panties suddenly stood up and moved around in her suitcase. "What the?" She stepped back, wondering if maybe a shrunken troll was in her suitcase and if she should burn her clothes to ashes.

"PWAH!" A familiar head popped out from under her underwear. "I thought you'd never open that up!"

"Sylph?" Einhart blinked as she looked at the Unison Device. "What are you doing here?" The Device looked at her sheepishly. "...And why are you hiding under my underwear?"

"Ah!" Her pupils seemed to disappear as she swung her arms up and down. "I overheard Wendi telling Subaru that she wanted to be able to hide in Nove's suitcase so she could join in this weekend." Einhart nodded as Sylph continued her story. "So, I thought I'd hide in your suitcase, and, I wanted to talk to you." Einhart tilted her head in confusion. "Um, I was wondering if we could be partners."

Einhart blinked and was about to say something when she felt Tio suddenly jumped onto her shoulder and jumped at Sylph. "MRAW!" He seemed to growl as he landed on Sylph and pinned her against the bed. "Mraw! Mraw!"

Sylph's eyes widened. "Ah, no, no. Not that! I wouldn't replace you, Tio, I just wanted to work together with Einhart." She gulped when Tio narrowed his eyes and growled at her. "I promise! I'm not trying to replace you. I just want to help Einhart for the future is all. And..." She pouted and sniffled. "Is it so wrong for me to want a real master?"

"Mraw?" Tio tilted his head as his tail twitched behind him.

Einhart wanted to hug her plushie device, it looked so cute right now.

"Please?" Sylph's eyes teared up. "I won't kick you out, you'll still be her main device, I just want a master of my own to help out."

"Sylph," Einhart stepped forward and pulled Tio away from the Unison Device, "why me? I don't have any wind magic." She blinked as Sylph shook her head. "Okay, I can use wind magic, but I'm not a natural with it and..."

"Does it matter anymore?" Sylph floated upwards and smiled at her softly. "Considering that everyone can use elemental magic these days, even if it's really draining on lower ranked mages and knights..." Sylph blushed at the looks she got from both Tio and Einhart. "I hang around Quint a lot and I overhear a lot of conversations."

"Yes, well, with that information, you know that you could partner with anyone, why me?"

Sylph sighed softly. "Because there's something about you that resonates with me. So, please?"

Einhart rubbed her forehead. "I am not sure that we could be compatible, however, if we are, I will work with you for awhile."

Sylph smiled brightly. "Thank you."

Einhart held up a finger. "However, any work to be compatible with each other will have to wait until after this weekend. We are going to have morning training and after lunch some mock battles." Einhart didn't know what was planned exactly, would it be just a bunch of one on one fights or maybe a team battle? She didn't know if she would work well with others in a team battle, but at least it wasn't like anyone had lethal spells that they would use in the battle.

(---)

A couple of hours later...

Nanoha nodded as she and Raising Heart looked over the team match tomorrow. Tre asking to join them tomorrow in training had been a welcome surprise. Nanoha was actually eager to get back at the tall cyborg after their fight a couple of years ago.

Oh, she forgave Tre for nearly giving her a scar from that fight. Despite everything that she thought she knew about Tre, the older woman was actually a pretty decent person, even if she was a bit on the 'cool' side when dealing with most everyone. Plus it wasn't in Nanoha's nature to hold a grudge.

It didn't mean that she didn't want another shot at her though. She was sure that Fate would forgive her for the team pairings. "Myself, Yuuno, Subaru, Vivio, Corona, Lutecia and Caro against Fate, Teana, Nove, Tre, Rio, Einhart and Erio." Megane and Due had opted out of the sparring match, she didn't know if Arashi wanted to join in and Zest...

"Mind if I join in?" Nanoha spun around to look at Zest, who was looking at her intently. "It would make things more interesting."

Nanoha nodded at him. "Sure, I don't mind. I'll need to think so that the teams aren't too unbalanced of course." He nodded and she turned back to the planner, before sighing. This was going to keep her busy for awhile.

"Why don't you go and relax in the hot springs?" Zest said as he stepped up to where she was. "Megane and I can look this over and organize the teams." Nanoha nodded her thanks to him as she went that way. "And don't worry about Sein making a fuss, Tre said she'd keep her busy." He smirked as Nanoha stumbled.

(---)

Fate looked up as Nanoha, having just a towel on, slipped into the hot water with her. "Hey..." She smiled as Nanoha ducked into the waters until her head was the only thing poking out. "Feels nice, huh?"

"We should turn some of the rooms we have at home into a hot tub room." Nanoha leered at Fate. "Then we could all get into the hot tub and do so much as the jet streams made the water all bubbly."

Fate giggled softly and blushed heavily at the thoughts that suddenly came to her mind. "We'd have to change the water a lot." She let out a small yelp as Nanoha giggled and splashed her with water. "Hey! Nanoha... Knock it off." Her eyes widened as Nanoha got close to her. "Ah... Nanoha..."

"Faaaateee..." Nanoha grinned and before Fate could say anything, the redhead suddenly grabbed Fate and pulled her into a kiss, pressing their bodies against each other as tightly as she could. Both girls shuddered and groaned as tingles went up and down their spines.

"Nanoha..." Fate gasped as they parted several minutes later. "That was..."

"Exciting." Nanoha was grinning while she panted. "Sorry, but I couldn't help it, you looked so... Yummy like this."

Fate blushed heavily. "Um, I invited Yuuno to join us..." She gulped as Nanoha grabbed her rear. "N...Nanoha!"

"Good, he'll get a show then." She grinned as Fate's face turned even redder, if that was possible. "Now, now, Fate... We're going to have some fun."

Fate let out a yelp as Nanoha kissed her on the neck. She mentally hoped that Yuuno would take Thoth off before joining them later at least.

(---)

The next morning...

Lutecia stretched and winced as her back popped. "Hee hee... Maybe I should have taken it easy on those two last night." A leer came to her face as she thought about what she had done last night. At least Erio remembered to lock the door this time.

Lutecia still got a giggle when she thought about her partners forgetting to lock the door when having fun like that.

"Still..." She muttered to herself, wincing slightly and sighing. If she didn't like Caro and Erio as much as she did, she would probably hate what she was doing all the time. "Corona!" Her eyes lit up as she saw the only other person who was up so early. "What are you doing up so early?"

Corona smiled and held her device up. "I wanted to get some time to bond with my device, Brunzel." Brunzel, a device in the shape of a five petal rose crystal, flashed in response. "So, where's Caro or Erio? Vivio told me they get up pretty early, but then she said that sometimes they smelled bad and..." She trailed off as Lutecia giggled and grinned. "What?"

"Oh, nothing, let's just say that I kept them up until a couple of hours ago." Lutecia winked at Corona, who just looked at her in confusion. "OOOOH! You are so CUUUUTE!" Lutecia suddenly jumped and hugged Corona tightly. "I want to keep you all to myself!"

"Didn't you say that yesterday?" Corona looked relieved as Lutecia let go to look at Ixpellia and Rio standing there. Ixpellia shook her head at the two of them. "Vivio, Einhart, Nove and Arashi will be joining us soon." She shrugged at the looks she got from Lutecia and Corona. "I looked into all the rooms before coming here, and those four are the only ones awake right now."

"Thanks, Ixy." Corona smiled at her.

"It's Ixpellia." Ixpellia sighed, wondering why no one ever got her name right.

"Anyway..." Lutecia ignored that and sighed. "Excuse me," she took off into a run and the other three girls blinked as she ran off.

Rio shrugged and looked at Corona. "That's Brunzel, huh?" Corona nodded and Rio grinned. "Good, now I can finally get a proper sparring match against you!"

Corona paled at that thought before sighing. "Fine, but it'll have to wait until later."

"Sure!" Rio grinned and turned as she heard Vivio call out to them. "Vivio! Arashi!"

"I'd still be asleep, but this dummy wouldn't let me sleep." Arashi grumbled as he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Ah! Who cares about that?" Rio smirked at him. "I can't wait to get to the fun stuff! It gets boring waiting!"

"Careful when you say that," Corona spoke up, "someone might make you work extra hard."

Rio grinned at her. "Good! I hate being bored."

"That's funny," a new voice spoke up and the group looked up and gasped as they saw a petite teenage girl in a skin tight black body suit sitting in mid-air. "So do I." She had yellow eyes and long silver hair. "I'd be cliche and say something like 'sorry about this', but... I'm not sorry at all." She smirked and snapped her fingers, an array snapped around Corona, Rio, Ixpellia, Vivio and Arashi before clear energy shot straight out of the ground, engulfing them. "Don't worry, you won't die, not from this."

"Vivio! Rio! Corona! Ixy! Arashi!" The girl turned her head to see Einhart and Nove rush to try and help out the five in trouble.

"I wouldn't do that if I was..." She trailed off as the two touched the energy at the same time and disappeared. "Oh well, they'll need all the help they can get." The energy faded into nothing just as Lutecia came back and stared at the scene in shock. "Oh, hey, I need your friends for a bit, so... Don't worry, they're alive, but..." She shrugged and faded away herself. "How long isn't really my call. Later!"

Lutecia just stared in shock. "...What... What happened?" All she had to do was use the bathroom and when she got back, all her friends were suddenly gone. "...Vivio? Einhart? Arashi? Ixy? Corona? Rio?" She whimpered, wondering why everyone left her all of a sudden.

Standing up, she trembled as she walked back to the lounge.

This was... Not going to be fun.

- ViVid End